Dungeons & Dustbunnies
First EditionCore Mechanic
Decrease Dice — each character has one die, starting at d20, that serves as both their health and their resolution roll. To attempt a risky action, roll the die against the Difficulty your class assigns that skill; meeting or beating it succeeds, while a normal failure costs only the attempt. The die steps down a size (d20 → d12 → d10 → d8 → d6 → d4) whenever you roll a 1, take major damage, or voluntarily force the scale to convert a failure into an automatic success. A character whose die would drop below d4 falls Exhausted or dies; sleeping in a safe shelter resets it to d20 and consuming a sugar ration steps it back up one size.
Best For
Groups who want a quick, comedic one-shot or short campaign as thumb-sized survivors scavenging a household that has become a hostile wilderness, with a ruleset light enough to read in a few minutes before the first session.
Highlights
The Decrease Dice mechanic collapses health and resolution into a single die, so every roll both tests the action and visibly wears the character down as the die shrinks toward d4. Forcing the scale lets a player turn any failure into a guaranteed success by stepping their die down a size, making each clutch moment a deliberate trade of long-term stamina for an immediate result. Monsters are rated by a Threat Die that attacks and spells whittle down, and several — the chitin-armored cockroach, the static-charged dustbunny — shrug off ordinary weapons until players expose a weak spot or switch to fire, water, or magic.
Considerations
Combat has no initiative or turn order — the GM narrates enemy intent and players react with defensive rolls — so there is little structure for tactical positioning. Rolling a 1 on any skill check — including routine Stealth, Alertness, or social rolls — steps the die down the same as taking a hit in combat, so avoiding unnecessary rolls becomes a survival strategy rather than a purely narrative choice. There is no advancement system: skills are fixed at character creation and the Decrease Die only ever recovers to its starting size, so characters do not grow mechanically over a campaign.