In this week’s article, I’m going to take a look at The Storytelling System; the first of four systems of game mechanics that may serve as an alternative to the d20 system. The Storytelling System is the successor to the Storyteller System, the ruleset of the World of Darkness line of games popular in the 1990s. After the conclusion of the classic World of Darkness game line in 2004, White Wolf Game Studios rebooted the series and refined the ruleset, correcting deficiencies and streamlining the system overall. After procuring the license for the game line,Onyx Path Publishing further refined the Storytelling System ruleset, adding new rules for character conditions and revising the mechanics for gaining experience. The net result of this process of refinement is an elegant system that manages to be both sleek and crunchy.

System Overview

The Storytelling System is a d10 system, and each player should have at least ten dice. All characters have two main traits that serve as the basis for most of the dice rolls in The Storytelling System. First are character attributes, which are analogous to abilities in the d20 system. The Storytelling System features nine attributes split evenly between three categories: mental, social, and physical. Attributes have a rating between one and five, representing a dice pool for tasks involving that attribute. The second main trait in The Storytelling System are skills. There are 24 skills split evenly between three categories: mental, social, and physical. Unlike the d20 system, skills do not add a modifier to a roll. Rather, skills have a rating between one and five, which serve as a dice pool that is added to an attribute roll. Task resolution in The Storytelling System involves making an attribute + skill roll (or occasionally, an attribute + attribute roll) against a target number of 8 (rolling an 8 or above on a d10 counts as a success). Circumstances and equipment incur modifiers that are applied to the roll and add or subtract dice from the dice pool. Only one success is necessary to accomplish a task, though additional successes may yield a more impressive result. If a character is trying to roll to accomplish a task the she is unskilled in, then the player makes a straight attribute roll with a penalty to the dice pool. If the penalty reduces the dice pool to zero, then the player makes a chance roll. A chance roll involves rolling one die against a target number of 10. If the result of a chance roll is a 1, the result is a dramatic failure. While there are additional rules for extended actions (for tasks that cannot be completed in a single action) and contested actions (where two characters are competing for success in a task in opposition to each other), the attribute + skill format is the core mechanic for task resolution in The Storytelling System.

In addition to attributes and skills, there are a number of traits which serve to further flesh out a character’s capabilities. Aspirations define a character’s goals and provide fodder for story hooks. Anchors such as virtue and vice serve as a roleplaying guide and define the main strengths and weaknesses of a character’s character, as well as providing the means by which a character replenishes willpower. Willpower is an expendable resource that can be used to add dice to a roll, representing a character’s determination to succeed at a given task. Integrity serves as a measure of a character’s psychological soundness and is used to resist derangement in the face of trauma. Finally, merits are roughly analogous to backgrounds and feats in the d20 system. Merits represent unique abilities or assets that are available to the character, from wealth and status to striking looks or a photographic memory. As there are no character classes in The Storytelling System; experience points gained from completing stories are used to increase trait ratings directly. In this respect, The Storytelling System diverges radically from the d20 system.

Combat in The Storytelling System is fairly straightforward and not dissimilar from the d20 system. At the start of combat characters roll initiative to determine the order in which characters act within the combat scenario. On a player’s turn, her character can move and perform one action, usually an attack. An attack is made by rolling one of four dice pools depending on the nature of the attack: unarmed, melee, ranged, or a thrown weapon. Unarmed, melee, and thrown weapon attack rolls subtract the opponent’s defense score from the attack dice pool. Alternatively, players can elect to reserve their action to attack later in the combat round or dodge an incoming attack. Dodging doubles a character’s defense rating which is rolled as a dice pool, the successes on this roll subtract successes from the attacker’s successes. These are the essentials of combat in The Storytelling System. In addition to this basic format, there are rules for disarming opponents, grappling, aiming with a firearm, and cover and concealment. There are even rules for resolving combat with a single roll if your group would prefer to simplify combat in the interest of focusing on the narrative elements of play.

Suggested Uses for The Storytelling System

The Storytelling System was designed for telling modern horror stories within the Chronicles of Darkness setting. While the system can be adapted for telling stories within different historical time periods, it really shines when used to tell stories set in the contemporary era. If you like telling horror stories but do not want to use the CoD setting, The Storytelling System would be excellent for a Call of Cthulhu tale. The system has built-in mechanics for sanity loss via losing integrity and gaining derangements as a result of traumatic experiences, making it a good fit for a Cthulhu Mythos setting. Along these lines, the system would also serve as the mechanical foundation for telling stories in the Kult setting. Aside from horror stories, the system is well suited for telling murder mysteries. With some slight modification to the skills, the system would be a great fit for Victorian era Sherlock Holmes style stories. Since the system was designed for a modern gothic horror setting, it has a certain urban grittiness that would work well for a noir crime tale or even Bladerunner style sci-fi stories. The Storytelling System captures modern realism better than almost any other TTRPG system, and as a consequence, is not well suited to truly fantastic settings; at least not without considerable modification. Overall, The Storytelling System is a streamlined system that utilizes a unique set of mechanics for telling stories in a modern setting.

Stay tuned for next week’s article where we take a look at the Savage Worlds ruleset. Until then, happy gaming!