Rolling Checks
I NEED A HERO
Hiro the Dense inspired 2-page TTRPG
INTRODUCTION
You are a plucky adventurer of a special variety–a HIMBO (or
FEMBO). With a heart of gold and a brain of lead, you embody
purity, honor, and manliness.
Your goal: to complete your quest. What that is depends on
your GM.
This HEROIC RPG uses just d6s to play! It’s recommended
you have at least 2.
THE GOAL
You are given a task that most men would find impossible,
but you are not like most men: you’re much dumber. Gliding by
on your looks, innocence, and a bit of dumb luck you will parley
with demon lords, or maybe instead do their bidding.
Maybe you’re going off to (s)lay a demon queen, or
retrieve a legendary artifact, or find out why some village of
goblins have stopped listening to orders. Either way, you set off
with the best intentions and will conduct yourself with honor
and PRIDE, even if it’s misplaced.
The game ends when you accomplish your goal against all
odds, or when everyone’s PRIDE drops to 0 and they go home
with their tails between their legs. Characters at 0 pride can still
stay in the party before this point, but they cannot grant any
allies any EDGE.
When your GM presents you with a problem, you must
decide how to approach it. Your GM may request a specific
skill roll, or you can try to make a case for what stat of your
HIMBO you wish to use, with GM approval. To make a check,
roll 2d6 and add your relevant score.
If your total is 9 or higher, you succeed! Some obstacles
require just one person to get past them, while others require
teamwork.
A failure means you take 1 point of PRIDE damage. The
situation either doesn’t resolve, or it resolves at a cost or with a
complication.
A critical failure (double 1) causes you to also LOSE one
point of that stat and automatically fail. A critical success
(double 6) also means you GAIN one level in that stat and
automatically succeed.
Ability scores can go as high as 4 and as low as 0. If a
score goes below 0, you instead take 1 additional point of
PRIDE damage. If a score goes above 4, you instead gain
back 1 point of PRIDE, up to your maximum, because you feel
so cool for what you just did.
Edge and Drawback
Edges and drawbacks result in you rolling additional dice.
Rolling with EDGE allows you to keep the two highest results
of all the dice you roll. Rolling with DRAWBACK uses the
lowest two dice.
For example, if you have 2 EDGE or 2 DRAWBACK, you’d
roll 4 dice. Say you roll 1, 4, 5, 4. With 2 EDGE your result
would be 9 + your modifier, but with 2 DRAWBACK your result
would only be 5 + your modifier.
If you have both an EDGE and a DRAWBACK, they
cancel each other out at a one to one ratio. (So 2 EDGE with 1
DRAWBACK results in 1 EDGE.) You can only have at most 3
EDGE or 3 DRAWBACK for a single check.
The GM can decide to grant you an EDGE if you utilize the
environment or come up with an extra creative solution for a
problem.
Your Stats
As a hero, your stats are distributed via the acronym HIMBO:
Heart Your passion, compassion, and honor.
Used to keep your word and stay positive
and resist heartburn.
Interests What assorted, mostly unhelpful topics
you’re weirdly knowledgeable on. Used
whenever random facts about dinosaurs
comes in handy.
Macho Your bravery and likelihood to rush into
problems head first. Used if you ever need
to show off or put on a brave face or pose.
Biceps How strong and physically fit you are.
Used for physical activity and showing off
those rippling muscles, or if you maybe
need to grate cheese on your abs..
Obliviousness You can’t be tricked ‘cause you weren’t
even paying attention. Some people
believe this is a hallmark of purity. Used to
resist deception and temptation.
Every Hero also starts with 3 points of PRIDE, which is the
maximum. Failing checks wounds your pride by 1 point. At 0
PRIDE, you can still participate in checks and the narrative as
long as someone in the group still has their pride, but you can
no longer use your class ability nor grant allies any form of
EDGE, nor benefit from EDGE yourself. Critical successes
cannot bring you back.
Making a Character
When making a character, you start with 1 in all stats.
Choose 3 stats to increase to 2.
Next, choose a class. Each class gives an ability and a
few stat increases, which can bring a stat up to 3 to start.
Paladin. +1 heart, +1 obliviousness, +1 Interests
Ability: LAY ON HANDS. If someone is missing PRIDE,
you can grant them 1 point of PRIDE at the expense of one of
your own. In addition, if you have only 1 PRIDE remaining, you
make all checks with 1 EDGE.
Barbarian. +1 biceps, +1 macho, +1 obliviousness
Ability: SPOTTER. Whenever you critically succeed or fail
either a MACHO or BICEPS check, you can choose the
addition or reduction to affect either stat, instead of only the
one you rolled.
After, whether it was a success or fail, nominate another
player. They gain EDGE on their next MACHO or BICEPS
check as you spot them.
Bard. +1 heart, +1 Interests, +1 macho
Ability: VAIN. You may use MACHO in place of BICEPS if
the check is based on appearance. If the check is against a
creature and is successful, your next check of any kind
towards them is made with 1 EDGE.
Monk. +1 obliviousness, +1 biceps, +1 heart
Ability: THE INDOMITABLE MIGHT OF THE HUMAN
SPIRIT. Whenever you drop to 0 PRIDE, you may reattempt
the roll with +1 DRAWBACK. If you succeed, you continue on
as if you hadn’t failed; if you fail, you drop to 0 as normal. You
can keep using this feature, but each time you reroll a check,
you do so with an additional stacking DRAWBACK. Any
conditions that affected the initial roll also affect the reroll (such
as other sources of EDGE and DRAWBACK.)
Finally: pick a skill and a piece of gear! If your skill applies to a
check, you gain 1 EDGE for that check. Gear meanwhile may
help you to solve problems, or may grant you an EDGE on
checks if the GM permits. You can use the things listed here, or
come up with one of your own.
d6 Sample skills Items
1 cooking frying pan
2 fashion grappling hook
3 animals bucket
4 riding guitar
5 origami hand mirror
6 music and song hand grenade
 Author: Zedrin
https://twitter.com/Zedrinbot
https://www.youtube.com/ZombieZephyr

Inspired by Hiro the Dense (which you should go watch if you haven’t yet)

The next pages are for GMs only!

GM TABLES (optional)
Roll 1d6 for each step to determine things, if you need ideas.

Roll a d6 for each column!

d6 The group needs to… in… home to…

1 Retrieve a legendary artifact A noxious swamp A greedy dragon and their kobolds

2 Seek a truce or alliance with a powerful An abandoned, cursed A powerful demon lord and their underlings
force city

3 Defeat a dangerous foe A dark dungeon A tricky archfey with several minions

4 Deliver a valuable item A haunted forest An unpredictable sorcerer with an undead

army

5 Save a kidnapped noble A dangerous fortress A tribe of beastkin and their chieftain

6 Rescue a trapped / captured population A treacherous cave A notable dryad and her alraune followers

One the way, they encounter…

d6 NPCs Monsters Environmental hazards

1 An old lady is out at this remote A multi-eyed monster that There’s an inexplicably big pit or chasm
location and needs help crossing the really needs glasses. Watch before them, filled with [hostile element].
street/ chasm/ booby-trapped hallway out for the eye beams! How do they get across?

2 A host of goblin workers have A giant, hungry wolf. Just a big This area is too dang spooky. They hear
unionized and are on strike, leaving ol’ pupper. With big teeth. voices in their heads that tell them to do
the area ahead unfinished in its things, while it’s easy to get lost.
renovations and thus precarious

3 An enclave of elves says the party A rival to the [BBEG] appears They stumble into a dimensional rift,
cannot pass, nervously saying that the with an offer or conflicting temporarily finding themselves on a
area ahead is sacred ground. information! different plane for now. Can they ask for
directions?

4 A squad of dwarves are camping Oh no. Zombies. They seem to The way forward is obstructed by a giant
nearby, looking for friends for drinking be ambling about carelessly. boulder, a raging river, or a locked door
games And… rhythmically. where there shouldn’t be.

5 They get robbed by catboys. Their gnomes There’s some very thick foliage that
thigh-high stockings resist weapons. almost seems to grab at them to keep
them from proceeding.

6 One of the party member’s evil twin An amateur demon tries to They turn the corner or round the bend to
shows up and threatens to ruin confront the party. They kinda find that the immediate area is on FIRE.
everything! cute tho (And there’s a PUPPY ORPHANAGE
caught in the middle of it!)
In the end…
d6 What happen

1 They arrive only to realize they horrendously misunderstood their mission assignment.

2 The [BBEG] is antagonistic and challenges them! The battle will be LEGENDARY!

3 The [BBEG] REALLY needs their help with something, and they’re just in time. The party will be compensated if
they can help with some random task.

4 The [BBEG] has a super strong interest in the party or a member, and is willing to negotiate for a ‘favor’

5 Looks like the mission was just a cover for something bigger…

6 The [BBEG] is kinda immature tbh. You could fight but you’d feel bad about it. It’s like kicking a child.

GM Tips
Adventurers in-world take a few days, requiring the party to rest up, which can be a great chance to introduce new
encounters. All in all a session should only take like 2 hours.

Try to subvert expectations. Some ideas:

● The big bad demon lord is super insecure cause the party is oblivious to her wiles.
● The party encounters elves? Maybe the male leader of the group is just terrified that the party will steal the hearts
of his love interest(s) who are nearby.
● The party’s ultimate mission was to be sacrificed to the dragon, but the dragon thinks eating people is barbaric.
● Noble’s been kidnapped? They’ve been nothing but a thorn in the BBEG’s side and said villain is desperate to be
rid of their quarry.
● It’s not just a boulder. It’s a rock!
● The BBEG wants to fight. Except it’s in a rap battle.

The less sense things make, the better the results will be, generally.