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3DIE6 is a quick, quirky, funny, beautiful, simple and surprisingly innovative.
The bug and fungus themed art and layout is beautiful, in tones of pink and aquamarine. As a game designer myself, I'm jealous and I wish I could do things so pretty and well laid out.
You are playing small, sentient, semi-humanoid insects in a big damp cave, where you explore dangerous locations and fight bigger and terrible bugs. What's unique about 3DIE6 is that every character (Roan) has three minds, each a character with a distinct archetype (class) and stats. You can switch between them at will but with a penalty if it happens in media res. Damage causes one of the three minds to lose skills (each mind has 6, so 6 "hit points"), and when they're all lost, the mind dies. What's unusual is the absence of healing mechanics for all practical purposes: damage is permanent and every hit involves the permanent loss of capacity, meaning your character won't live long and
A good thing is that character creation is very fast pick 3 archetypes among the half-dozen available, pick 1 talent for each, roll for a unique aptitude for each and you're done!
The game system is simple: roll 3D6 + modifier vs target for non-combat actions; for combat actions, roll 1D6 (pink) + modifiers vs Foe Attack Number [on an average scale of 1-6, sometimes more] to attack, and likewise for Defense: 1D6 (blue) + modifiers vs target number. Monsters don't roll. You also get to roll a 3rd "silver" die in combat which indicates the action the monster will do next in combat, which go down in number as you cause them damage. That's something quite unique I don't remember having seen in RPGs and which lends itself well to solo play.
On the whole the combat feels similar to Four Against Darkness, but far more deadly considering that the creatures out there are far stronger than you and likely to crush you. Fortunately, a dead PC has two more minds to take over and save its skin.
The creatures, for many, are incredibly powerful and likely to kill your Roan within a few exchanges. This high mortality is definitely OSR in spirit, and reminds of Call of Cthulhu (3rd ed, don't know about the others) for its mortality, but with a "death is fun!" attitude, and Last Grasp actions to make death rememberable for each of your three mind-sets.
I look forward to experience solo play! I'll add a distinct review when the time comes to THE EGG HUNT and THE LOST CITY.
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