Roll for Smush
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How to Play Roll for Smush

The Roll for Smush system combines elements from popular TTRPGs, such as D&D, Kids on Bikes, and Roll for Shoes. The result is a simple, but fast paced, flexible, and high lethality system that does its best to honor the energy and difficulty of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.

Characters (called Crawlers henceforth) can acquire any skill, spell, or ability you can think of. Many of the mechanics of this system are based on “exploding” dice – rolling the max value on a particular die (ie, a 6 on a d6). Doing this will level up your skills, grant new ones, deal comically heavy damage, and more.

While this system is made for the Dungeon Crawler Carl universe, there’s no hard and fast setting required; roll dice, roleplay, and have fun.

How to Play TL;DR:

  1. As your DM narrates, explain how you want to interact with the world.

  2. Roll some dice!

    • If you have a skill on your character sheet that corresponds to what you want to do, roll it!

    • If you don’t have a corresponding skill on your character sheet, the DM tells you what to roll. If you roll the max value, your dice explodes; you get a new skill.

  3. The DM decides the difficulty and/or if the roll is contested. That determines success or failure.

  4. Find items, earn achievements, and get loot boxes for doing cool stuff. Those will make your skills stronger, and improve your chances in the dungeon (probably).

Stats & Attributes

Roll for Smush, similar to the Kids on Bikes system, has a particular dice value assigned to each core attribute. Each player starts with a d6 in two stats, and a d4 in everything else. There are six attribute fields, similar to D&D. Each has both a domain of skills it affects, as well as a secondary mechanical benefit to a character’s natural abilities.

Attribute List

Attribute

Skill Domain

Secondary Ability

Strength

Controls your physical attack power

Determines your Lifting Weight, which is used to store items

Dexterity

Controls your nimbleness, dodging ability, etc

Determines your Movement Speed as well as your Initiative

Constitution

Controls endurance and physical fortitude

Determines your Hit Points

Intelligence

Controls spellcraft, problem solving, and memory

Determines your Magic Points

Wisdom

Controls mental fortitude, awareness, communing with deities, etc

Determines your starting Avoid Death dice

Charisma

Controls persuasion, negotiation, speechcraft, and music

Determines your Virality Bonus, to earn better prizes from sponsors

Leveling Base Stats

A player can reach a maximum level of 20 in the dungeon. Experience is through XP leveling, which can be gained through quest completion, combat, or other DM-discretionary cool points. When you have enough XP to level up, the level indicator on your character sheet will turn green. You don’t need to care about how many XP you need to level up (but if you must know, it’s a cumulative fibonacci sequence, you sweaty nerd).

With each level up you can choose to upgrade a stat by a single die. So, for example, you can increment your strength from a d4 → d6. Or if you started with a d6 in INT, you can bump it to a d8. Base stats can reach a maximum of a d20.

Hit Points (HP)

Your HP is determined by the max value of your CON die. So, if you have a d4, you have 4HP, d6 is 6HP, etc. Hit points only reset by use of potions, spells, or a rest in a safe room.

Magic Points (MP)

Your MP is determined by the max value of your INT die. So if you have a d8, you have 8MP, d10 is 10MP, etc. Magic points regenerate after entering a safe room, or through use of potions.

Initiative

Initiative (as in how quickly you respond to a situation in combat) is a learned skill. You start without an initiative skill, and during your first combat you’ll have an opportunity to acquire it through the standard skill acquisition process. Initiative is dexterity-based.