A synthesis of duels using player skill and Troika! variable damage for use with B/X, Old-School Essentials, and other elfgames.
What if you didn’t roll to hit? What if you had to test player skills instead of character skill to damage your opponent?
When you make an attack with a weapon, click start on a stopwatch. Without looking at the display, click stop. If the display reads less than 5 seconds, you missed. Otherwise, consult the chart below and deal damage:
| Weapon | 5.0 | 5.2 | 5.4 | 5.6 | 5.8 | 6.0+ | Effect |
| Battle axe (1d8) | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | Melee, Slow, Two-handed |
| Club (1d4) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Blunt, Melee |
| Crossbow (1d6) | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Missile (5’–80’ / 81’–160’ / 161’–240’), Reload, Slow, Two-handed |
| Dagger (1d4) | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Melee, Missile (5’–10’ / 11’–20’ / 21’–30’) |
| Hand axe (1d6) | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Melee, Missile (5’–10’ / 11’–20’ / 21’–30’) |
| Holy water vial (1d8) | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | Missile (5’–10’ / 11’–30’ / 31’–50’), Splash weapon |
| Javelin (1d4) | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Missile (5’–30’ / 31’–60’ / 61’–90’) |
| Lance (1d6) | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Charge, Melee |
| Long bow (1d6) | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Missile (5’–70’ / 71’–140’ / 141’–210’), Two-handed |
| Mace (1d6) | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Blunt, Melee |
| Oil flask, burning (1d8) | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Missile (5’–10’ / 11’–30’ / 31’–50’), Splash weapon |
| Polearm (1d10) | 12 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Brace, Melee, Slow, Two-handed |
| Short bow (1d6) | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Missile (5’–50’ / 51’–100’ / 101’–150’), Two-handed |
| Short sword (1d6) | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | Melee |
| Silver dagger (1d4) | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Melee, Missile (5’–10’ / 11’–20’ / 21’–30’) |
| Sling (1d4) | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Blunt, Missile (5’–40’ / 41’–80’ / 81’–160’) |
| Spear (1d6) | 7 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Brace, Melee, Missile (5’–20’ / 21’–40’ / 41’–60’) |
| Staff (1d4) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Blunt, Melee, Slow, Two-handed |
| Sword (1d8) | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | Melee |
| Torch (1d4) | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Melee |
| Two-handed sword (1d10) | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | Melee, Slow, Two-handed |
| Warhammer (1d6) | 6 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Blunt, Melee |
| Unarmed (1d2) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Melee |
Basically you’re shooting for closest to 5.00 seconds without going under. Find the left-most column that the number on the display is greater than, then find your weapon in that row.
For example, getting a 5.128 on the display means while using the Battle axe means you deal 8 damage. Getting a 5.702 deals 4 damage. Going over 6.00 seconds means you’re dealing minimum damage, 1 damage in this case.
In general:
- Piercing weapons deal more damage the more precise the player is, even exceeding the dice maximums (Dagger, Short bow)
- Edged weapons are balanced and more forgiving, but have lower maximum damage (Sword, Tw0-handed sword)
- Blunt and splash/blast weapons have a damage spread that makes them half very effective, half weak (Warhammer, Oil flask)
- “Lucky” weapons have high “critical damage” (Silver dagger, Holy water vial, Unarmed)
Have opinions? Just hold that thought. Grab a stopwatch and try it first. Remember, no peeking.
…How’d you do? Try again, you’ll get better. 🙂
For armor, I’d use some variation of shields shall be splintered, or straight damage reduction like in Into the Odd.
DREAMING DRAGONSLAYER 
This is an interesting idea for bringing a more tactile videogame-y component into TTRPGs in a way that seems like it could actually be fun and not just get in the way of things. People have mixed feelings about quick time events in videogames, but that’s essentially what you’re doing here, and it makes a lot of sense in this context.