The Imagination Engine is the unique rules system that powers many of our RPGs. It was originally developed for Victory, the SciFi RPG of Resistance, our DriveThruRPG #PocketQuest 2023 Game Jam entry. Due to PocketQuest2023's limitations, the original game was created in one month and had to fit into 20 pages. Since then, it has been extensively playtested with multiple groups and multiple game masters. As a result, it has been revised, refined, and expanded.
The Imagination Engine is a skill-based, classless system suitable for play across many genres. It uses stepped polyhedral dice ranging from d4 to d12. You roll three dice to resolve an action where the outcome is in question - your Core Die, an Attribute Die, and a Skill Die.
Core Die: Your Core Die represents your health. For player characters, it starts at d12 and is reduced based on your wound status.
Attribute Die: You have three physical and three mental attributes, each ranked from d4 to d12. The attribute used for an action depends on your approach to the problem.
Skill Die: Your level of training in a particular skill is represented by a die value ranging from 0 to d12. As with attributes, the skill used for an action depends on your approach to the problem. The skill list varies based on the game's genre.
Each die that meets or beats the target number counts as a success.
- With two or more successes, you achieved what you were attempting.
- With one success, the result is a partial success or a success at a cost.
- With zero successes, you failed.
One of the best aspects of the Imagination Engine system is that very little math is required. Each die is directly compared to the target number, without the need to add die results and modifiers together. This makes the game quick to learn and play, and very accessible to younger players and those with math difficulties.
The character creation rules fit on one page, as do the experience and advancement rules. Characters are straightforward and quick to make; even a novice player can make a character in less than 30 minutes, and will be comfortable with the rules in less than an hour of play. A veteran player with a plan can easily create a character in 5 minutes.
There is obviously more to the system, but these are the basics. The rules are straightforward and easy to read. The Imagination Engine system is easy for GMs to use. While you can choose to make detailed NPCs, there is a system for quickly determining an NPC’s dice based on the NPC’s threat level, freeing the GM to concentrate on the fictional situation at the table.