Lately I happened upon the vsM SRD. The SRD was based on the vsMonsters game by Phillip Reed.

I was fascinated by the core mechanic, defined like this:
_Draw a number of cards equal to the appropriate Attribute. Compare the value of your highest card against the target value. If the card value is equal to or higher than the target value, the action succeeds. If it is lower, the action fails. _

You start the game with an attribute of 6, two attributes of 4, and one attribute of 3.

Target Values were 4 (Easy), 6 (Average), 10 (Hard), King (Very Hard), Ace (Impossible).

So I did what I always do with mechanics I've never seen, I did the math.

If you have an attribute of 6,
Easy - 0.999998625
Average - 0.999606651
Hard - 0.955488316
Very Hard - 0.653263007
Impossible - 0.397229661

If you have an Attribute set at 6, you will succeed. Seriously, a 40% chance of doing the Impossible. I like those odds!

If you have an attribute of 3,
Easy - 0.997466063
Average - 0.974660633
Hard - 0.775565611
Very Hard - 0.400723982
Impossible - 0.217375566

Your lowest attribute will still do pretty well.

So when you're playing this game, your players will succeed a lot. Reminds me of playing Dungeon World, and playing DW was a lot of fun. 🙂

    thanks to Thomas Deeny?, I have a copy of the vsM srd files. The primary mechanic of the system uses a deck of cards for resolution. 

I had previously been working on a game called These Common Materials that used a deck of cards and 2d6. Seeing this provides a lot of food for thought.

    Optional Skill Hack for The Red Concordant:

Anyone can attempt anything. Base roll is roll under, but not equal to, stat with disadvantage.

If this seems harsh, remember that many older games had a house rule of rolling a 1 on a d6. That is a 16.67% chance of success. This is about the same as rolling under a stat of 9 with disadvantage.

As characters advance, they can gain a specific skill. As they improve, the character evolves from disadvantage, to +2 to the die roll, no adjustment to the die roll, add 1 to the primary stat when rolling, add 2 to the stat when rolling, to rolling with advantage.

This give you six steps of advancement from totally unskilled (roll with disadvantage) to a master (roll with advanatage). The choice of six steps was deliberate as there are six steps of DC in 5e D&D.

As far as what specific skills are available, there are suggestions based on existing class abilities (like Delicate Tasks), but skills are largely determined by players. The Referee determines the primary Stat used and the player records it on the character sheet under that stat. Taking a skill promotes the character from unskilled (roll with disadvantage) to novice (add 2 to die roll).

If a player wants Ultimate Mandolin Solo as a skill, so be it. I would call the primary stat Charisma, but YMMV.

The progression with titles:
Unskilled Roll with Disadvantage
Apprentice Add 2 to die roll
Novice No modifier
Journeyman Add 1 to the associated stat
Expert Add 2 to the associated stat
Master Roll with Advantage

The titles serve as a way to talk about relative skill level more naturally, just like Close, Nearby, Far Away, and Distant are ways to talk about distances more naturally.