West End Games' D6 is coming back

From the email:

D6 System 2E is coming!

It’s been a long road, but we’re thrilled to be able to announce that our next Kickstarter campaign is the long-awaited D6 Second Edition core rulebook!

Get the scoop on what you can expect with this project!

This is the first in a series of previews and reveals about the upcoming D6 System: Second Edition Kickstarter! We’ve got some big questions to get into, so let’s start! This is a long-gestating passion project for the GKG team and we’re thrilled to have hit this milestone.

(This is a long email, but more information will be coming over the next few weeks!)

What is D6 2e?

D6 System: Second Edition (abbreviated to D6 2e) is a relaunch of the classic West End Games D6 System*,*** updated and modernized as needed and presented in a new full-color hardback. It features a modern, modular, and

Licensed directly from West End Games, Gallant Knight Games has been able to plumb the depths of historical D6 System content, helping to grab the best from this storied roleplaying games lineage, and bring all together into a cohesive new rulebook!

Why is it called “2e”?

Wow, that’s a good question. When we were talking with WEG regarding this project, for a long time, we struggled with the name. D6 System books often just were defined by “eras” or the systems they supported.

Finally, we all realized that even though numerous iterations and previous publications had existed, few (or none, really) of them had consistently presented themselves as an “edition”, but more as an evolution or iteration on previous releases.

Together, WEG and GKG felt that calling this corebook “2e” would mark a new era in the game’s publishing line, and would help to codify and communicate clearly where the we were aiming to take the gameline in the future, while also using language that existed in the tabletop rpg spaces common vernacular.

Modular?

Yeah! We wrote the rulebook to present the updated D6 System as a series of “plug and play” modules. Rules are presented as discreet sections, so you can append, remove, or modify the existing D6 2e chassis with whatever best fits the games you want to run at the table.

The D6 system has always been a powerhouse for a variety of styles and our goal is to honor and elevate that as a core focus of the design process!

The current modules intended for the corebook are:

  • Core Rules
  • Advanced Rules
  • Fantasy
  • Superheroes
  • Science Fiction

Each of the above modules has various smaller sections and we’ll get into that soon! We’ve got even more modules planned for stretch goals, as well as additional content and genre modules.

The Planned Project

The upcoming Kickstarter project (we’re just waiting for Kickstarter to approve the page so we can send and share a link to follow) will feature a full-color hardcover 200-page book in a 7x10" size!

The core rulebook will have three covers you can choose between, featuring the initial three genre modules. While the contents are the same in each edition, you’ll be able to showcase your preferred genre on the table.

The superhero cover is illustrated by Tan Ho Sim, and the fantasy cover is illustrated by Ludvik Skp! The science fiction cover is underway and we’ll be revealing that soon.

Be aware that these images, as well as the above information are subject to change as the project moves forward!

What’s next?

The next preview will contain more details about rules, changes, updates, and more! Stay tuned and we’ll be in touch. You can join the GKG Discord, where we have a WEG D6 2e channel to discuss this project and others.

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I don’t know about anyone else, but it wasn’t the system that ever made me a fan of West End’s Star Wars. Or of Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters International. Or Paranoia though that wasn’t a d6 game. I’m not moved that some other company has the rights to the system.

How is this company’s record with the other parts? Inspired writing, interesting setting, humor. Or will this be just the system and it up to me to actually make it role-playing?

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Not a d6 player here. My son got into it for the Star Wars. I heard some grumping about the system and he gladly switched to d20.

So I have no real opinion, but know at least one negative one.

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I got into D6 because of Star Wars, and personally I like the system. Not saying it’s perfect, but it’s a (for me) good starting system to learn if you are new to gaming. I always thought it was pretty straightforward.

Gallant Knight does have the Tiny D6 System, which is a minimalistic ruleset, and while many of their games are very generalized (Tiny Frontiers, generic sci-fi that you can drop into any world [like Star Wars or Star Trek] and other genres {fantasy, post-apocalyptic, etc}, they’ve also done Tiny Cthulhu and Tiny Supers, both of which are world specific settings. I get the impression from the email that they are pretty much going to set up an omnibus rules set (probably to a degree like Tiny D6) and let you incorporate the rules into your game as needed. I always liked D6 because it wasn’t too rules heavy in my mind.

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I really like the Tiny D6 line from Gallant Knight. I expect they will be able to do a good book for WEG’s D6. I enjoyed Star Wars using the system but created characters that broke the system a few times. We joked that when I didn’t make one session my droid shutdown in the middle of combat because there was no threat.

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Makes sense. For me, it’s not that I like or dislike d6. It just isn’t what will sell me on a game. Almost no system can sell me on a game (though there are systems that have unsold me).

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A-yup. Harnmaster… :grimacing:

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As an afterthought, it will be interesting to see if they Creative Commons (CC) this, or if they do something else with it. I’ve not joined the Discord, or really looked into it much further at this point, so it will be interesting where they go with it.

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That will be interesting. It would be nice if every game company does not Hasbro us.

That will bite their ass.

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The way I understand it with the Tiny D6 ruleset, GKG owns the rights to the rules and does license them out to other companies so they can publish titles under their own Tiny D6 lines (which would obviously have them paying GKG a little $ to use them). Not sure if something like that is going to happen with D6 2E or not (seeing as how West End Games is involved as well), which wouldn’t be a big deal if one was simply going to run a home brew world. I do know that a couple of the small publishers I’ve Kickstartered recently have put their rules in Creative Commons for use for free.