Skeleton 6 (Ideas)

I've embarked upon a mission to create for myself (and whomever may wish to use it) a light ruleset absolutely optimal for impromptu and improvised gameplay.

I call the work-in-progress "Skeleton 6", for reasons apparent in its goals:

• The game must be as simple as possible, for easy memorization and play with minimal baggage in books, paper, etc.
• The game will use only d6s, for their availability and to avoid the necessity for dice bags and further reduce supplies needed.
• The mechanics will simply be a skeleton, adaptable to a variety of settings and additions and open to modification by each DM for his own purposes.
• Ideally, the mechanics should in themselves express the tone and style of the world -in this case mine-

My influences include Microlite20 and Carcosa's "Dice Conventions" and simplified class and magic systems.


Here's what I have so far:


As in Microlite, character stats have been reduced:

Fitness (FIT)- Which embodies classic DnD's Constitution and Strength
Dexterity (DEX)- The same old measure of coordination, balance, and reflexes
Mind (MND)- The combination of Intelligence and Wisdom, though I would like to play around with Kent's idea of Wis and Int as points on one spectrum.
(Charisma has been left to the roleplaying skills of the players, as it so often becomes.)

Classes:
Fighter- Heavy Armor, Shield, Heavy Weapons
Thief- Light Armor, Light Weapons
Mage- No Armor, No Weapons
(The role of the cleric has been absorbed into the mage, which can possess offensive and/or healing spells)

As in Microlite, spells will have costs in health points, to reinforce the feel I attempt to cultivate in my games that magic is dangerous and unknown. I hold true to Vance, though, in deeming that in Skeleton 6 spells must be chosen each day.


Work continues tomorrow and whenever I can. My next concerns seem to be:

• The measure of player attributes, most likely on a scale of 1-6, with the number also being a bonus (+ level for checks)
• Damage and combat. I am leaning towards Carcosa's dice rules wherein most weapons do identical damage, with a possible decrease for light and increase for heavy weapons. Melee weapons will use FIT, ranged will use DEX. AC is undecided.

Anyone with suggestions please comment. I am aware there is a published d6 ruleset, but have been unable to find the rules free on the internet, and in any case I aim for single-page or in-your-head levels of simplicity.

I will post more as I come up with it and run some play tests.