Base

For whom

Haunted Matter is for those who choose drama over simulation, story over mechanics, and player decisions over supernatural power. There are no levels, no classes, no builds, no flashy powers, no balance. There is risk, pseudo-realism, fluidity, minimalist rules, narrative thinking, and real consequences. It takes effort to learn, but it provides clear mechanics to keep the story grounded. This is a system for playing out a narrative.

Rules are tools, not scripture. Break them whenever it helps the story breathe. The GM decides — always — but in service of the fiction, not authority.

Core Mechanics

• Narrative first, mechanics second. Say what you want to do; the GM decides whether it’s possible and what mechanics apply.
• All rolls use a pool of d6s.
• The number of dice = the level of the relevant trait (usually 1–4).
• Main die (in a distinct color):
  • 5–6: The player can do something extra (for free), e.g. interrupt an effect in time (on a 6). On a 5, it costs fatigue.
  • 1–2: The enemy can react with a bonus effect.
• The result of a roll is the highest value among all dice:
  • 6 – full success.
  • 4–5 – success with a cost (GM narrates consequences).
  • 1–3 – failure (GM narrates consequences).
• Minimum dice: 1. Maximum: 6 (unless stated otherwise).
• A player may roll fewer dice than their trait allows if they want.
• Helping another player: +1 die, the helper gains fatigue. Multiple helpers allowed (up to 6 total dice).
• Retrying the same task after failure costs fatigue (e.g. forcing a door, lockpicking).
• The GM can modify a roll (± dice) depending on the situation.
• If the test is general (e.g. scanning a field), max 2 players can roll to prevent stat abuse.
• Critical failure (two or more 1s): automatic failure, gain fatigue.
• Critical success (two 6s): automatic success, gain 1d6 fate.
• Fate:
  • A pool of d6s the player can use at any time to try to alter the narrative (as long as it makes sense).
  • To succeed, at least one fate die must roll a 6.
  • You can use as many fate dice as you have, but can never hold more than 5.
  • Earned on critical success or as a GM reward.

Advantages & Disadvantages

• Advantage: +1 die to the roll. Disadvantage: –1 die.
• They stack and cancel (e.g. +2 and –1 = +1).
• If a disadvantage would remove your last die: roll 1 die, but your maximum result is lowered by 1 (scales with penalty).
• Enemies:
  • Disadvantage: When the enemy deals damage, subtract 1 of the player’s failure dice (lowest). Further penalties remove dice alternately: lowest, then highest, and so on. If no dice remain, subtract 2 damage from the base value.
  • Advantage: The enemy adds a failure die (value 2) to the player’s damage pool. This can be reduced by armor like any other die.

Destiny Points

• Every player starts with 1 destiny point.
• If you die, you can spend it to miraculously survive — you’re unconscious but stable.
• Destiny points can be bought with advancement points.

Madness Points

• Given by the GM for reckless actions, especially those that go against the character’s values.
• Each madness point adds 1d10 to all future rolls.
• Madness dice take priority over regular d6s:
  • 1 on any madness die = critical failure, regardless of other results.
  • 10 on any madness die = critical success, unless a madness die also shows a 1.
• At 5 madness points, your character loses their mind and becomes GM-controlled.
• Recovery: 1 month of care from a healer = –1 madness point (can be split into 4 weeks at ¼ effect each).

Chance of Rolling at Least One Six

Traits

• Physical – melee combat, aiming, endurance, athletics, dexterity, sleight of hand (theft/lockpicking/trap disarming), stealth
• Mental – arcana (occult knowledge and magic), mind (also common knowledge), investigation (including detecting danger), nature, religion, willpower
• Social – intuition, deception, intimidation, performance, persuasion, influence (connections, social leverage)
• Specializations – perception, medicine, animal handling, survival, technology (also jury-rigging, lockpicking, trap disarming), herbalism

Each character has a defined level (1–4) in every trait and rolls that many dice when attempting a related action.

HP, Inventory, and Fatigue

Slots

• Each character has 10 shared slots used for HP, inventory, and fatigue. These represent their total carrying capacity and vitality.
• HP refreshes after a scene, assuming appropriate conditions.
• Each point of fatigue occupies 1 slot — reducing both your HP and available carrying space. If there’s no free space, you must discard something. HP and carrying capacity blocked by fatigue do not recover until the fatigue is removed.

Fatigue

• At 6+ fatigue, you suffer disadvantage.
• At 10 fatigue, roll for critical damage and receive:
  • +1 madness point
  • A permanent trauma (GM decides — e.g. phobia, hypersensitivity).
• You may take 2 fatigue after a roll to gain +1 die retroactively.
• Sources of fatigue: prolonged exertion, critical wounds, extreme conditions, magical effects, etc.

Rest

• Short rest (1h): –1 fatigue, resets all powers.
• Long rest (8h): –5 fatigue, +1 critical damage die.
  • In dangerous places: group test of survival — on failure, only –3 fatigue.
• Discomfort (hunger, lack of sleep, freezing cold) prevents rest. Each morning spent in discomfort: +1 fatigue.

Inventory

• Small item: ½ slot; Regular: 1 slot; Large (e.g. two-handed weapon, tower shield): 2 slots
• Minor objects (berries, coins): do not take up space.
• Ammo / kits (e.g. lockpicks): 20 uses = 1 unit; track usage. Shares a slot with the matching ranged weapon.
• Rations:
  • Large: 1 slot, lasts 3 days
  • Small: ½ slot, lasts 1 day
• Arcana: take no space and cannot be lost.
• Ranged weapons: count together with their ammunition (they share a slot).

Item Upgrades

• Items can be upgraded up to 3 times using exotic materials (e.g. hydra scales = +1 magic armor).
• Upgrades are permanent — they cannot be swapped out.

Status Effects

• If a PC would receive a status they already have, roll for a different one. If the rerolled status is also already present, a catastrophe occurs instead — the PC suffers a permanent injury (e.g. loses a hand, an eye, an ear, suffers severe burns, etc.).
• Statuses are the main tool for weakening PCs beyond direct damage.
• Only fatigue and statuses have lasting mechanical effects on players. Everything else should either lead to or reinforce them.
• PCs should be afraid of statuses. They are common, long-lasting, and hard to remove.
• When used well, statuses reinforce the tone of a brutal, pseudo-realistic world, where failures carry real consequences, and every decision can have a lasting cost.
• Enemies do not suffer fatigue or statuses. If an enemy would gain either, they instead take 2 automatic damage. However, they can suffer conditions.

Physical Statuses

1. WEAKENED – Disadvantage on all physical trait rolls.
2. WOUNDED – Any partial success or failure causes you to gain 1 fatigue.
3. MAULED – Your injuries are severe. Each time you take damage, add 1 automatic damage.
4. SORE – Each failure on a physical trait roll adds 1 fatigue.
5. SHOCKED – You cannot benefit from armor.
6. CUT OPEN – Every rolled 1 lowers the highest result in your dice pool by 1. Altered dice don’t count toward criticals.

Mental Statuses

1. SENSITIVE – You take double fatigue from any source.
2. JITTERY – Disadvantage on all social and specializations trait rolls.
3. HALLUCINATING – You cannot achieve full successes.
4. DISTRACTED – Disadvantage on all mental trait rolls.
5. BROKEN – You can’t roll more than 2 dice, regardless of the test.
6. UNCERTAIN – A result of 4 counts as a failure.

Damage

Dealing Damage

• Every character has 1 base damage.
• Each success (4–6) on an attack roll (melee, ranged, or magic) deals 2 damage.

Enemy Attacks

• PCs take: 1 + the number of failures from their own roll (these dice count “against” them).
• Enemies attack rationally — targeting the greatest threat.
• A single enemy can deal at most:
  their combat trait level + their base damage, based on enemy type:
  • Weak (2), Moderate (3), Strong (4), Boss (5).
• If the number of failures exceeds the enemy’s trait, remove dice in order: lowest → highest → lowest… until it matches their trait value.
• Strong enemies deal 2 base damage. Bosses deal 3.
• Groups: base damage equals the number of members (or the strongest one, if mixed).

Special Cases

• Armor Penetration X: X successes always deal damage. Armor only blocks the remaining ones.
• Unavoidable Damage: Cannot be blocked or reduced by any means.

HP and Recovery

• HP represents your ability to avoid damage — not actual wounds.
• HP fully refreshes after a scene if you rest.
• HP blocked by fatigue does not recover.
• Temporary HP lasts until the end of the scene and does not refresh.
• Dropping below 0 HP triggers a critical damage roll.

Critical Damage

• Actual physical injuries.
• You roll your critical damage dice:
  • 6: no effect.
  • 4–5: gain +3 fatigue (max 9), lose 1 critical damage die, and remain standing.
  • 1–3: everything from the partial‐success result, but you fall unconscious. If nobody heals you before your next turn → you die. Out of combat → only one person may attempt your rescue. In both cases they must get a full success on a Medicine test.
• Critical damage dice return after a week of rest.

Crushing Damage

• If you take more damage from a single source than your maximum HP, you suffer disadvantage on your critical damage roll.

Falling Damage

• Low fall (up to 1 story):
  → roll a random physical status.
• Moderate fall (2–3 stories):
  → roll a physical status, take 1d12 damage.
• High fall (4+ stories):
  → roll a physical status, take 1d20 damage.

Area Damage

• Always roll at least 2 dice. If your trait only gives 1, you still roll 2 (even with disadvantage).
• Damage from successes must be spread across all valid targets:
  • Each success = 2 damage.
  • First, assign 1 success per enemy in range.
  • Any remaining successes can be assigned freely among already-hit targets.
• If there aren’t enough enemies, and an ally is in range, excess successes must hit the ally.
• Against organized groups (one unit representing several), you can assign any number of successes.

Damage Types

• Physical
• Magical / Elemental

All can be blocked by armor.
An attack can only deal one type of damage.

Resistances & Vulnerabilities

Resistance to a damage type:
Always allows you to remove 1 failure die when calculating incoming damage of that type.

Vulnerability to a damage type:
Adds 1 artificial failure (value 3) when calculating damage from that type. This die can be blocked by armor and affects only damage, nothing else.

Immunity means complete negation of that damage type — extremely rare (e.g. immunity to poison or disease).

Scars

When a PC’s HP hits exactly zero, they receive a scar — roll on the Scar Table.
You can’t get more than 1 scar per combat.

Scar Table – All effects stack. Roll 1d6. Describe a scar on your body.

Weapons and Armor

Weapons

Specialization

• There are 7 weapon types: one-handed, two-handed, dual wield, bows, crossbows, thrown, firearms.
• A character starts with 2 specializations. More can be bought with advancement points.
• Without specialization: each success deals –1 damage (minimum 1).

Melee Weapons

• One-handed (e.g. sword, mace):
  • You can hold a shield, light source, or utility item in the other hand.
  • Dual wielding one-handed weapons:
    • +1 die (advantage) to melee attack rolls.
    • –1 from the highest die result in the pool.
• Two-handed (e.g. axe, maul):
  • Each success deals 3 damage instead of 2.

Ranged Weapons

• Can attack into other zones.
• Shooting from horseback = disadvantage.
• Reloading costs 1 fatigue.

Unarmed & Improvised Weapons

• Unarmed: 1 damage per success (more only with the Monk power).
• Improvised weapons: don’t require specialization, but deal –2 base damage.
  If the first attack is a full success and the enemy is not powerful, they fall unconscious.

Conditions on Hit

• If the main die shows:
  • 5–6 (for PCs)
  • 1–2 (for enemies)
    → you may apply a condition (e.g. bleeding) if your weapon allows it.
• The player must track which enemies are affected — the effect is resolved at the start of their turns.

Armor

Physical Armor

• Armor lets you discard failure dice from your own attack roll, reducing incoming enemy damage.
• It also blocks base and environmental damage (e.g. magical beams).
• Limit: 4 damage blocked per point of armor.
• Max 6 physical armor.

Magical Armor

• Increases the max failure dice you can block from 6 to 10.
• Also protects against mental, internal, and intangible damage.
• Doesn’t impose penalties.
• Only available via arcana or exotic materials.
• Max 4 magical armor.

Armor Recovery

• After resting (end of a scene), a PC may revover all points of armor.
• Temporary armor: lasts until the end of the combat.

Armor Penalties

• Agility: applies to rolls involving dexterity, stealth, sleight of hand, and some athletics (e.g. swimming, climbing), or magic/nature requiring hand gestures. GM decides logically.
• Visibility: affects perception and aiming rolls.
• Penalty = –1 to your highest die for affected rolls (per penalty point).

Types of Armor

Powers (Specialities)

• Using a power costs 1 fatigue, unless stated otherwise.
• Using a power takes up your turn.

List of Powers

• Medic – You tend to an ally (not yourself), healing them for 1d4 or removing 1 fatigue. Can’t be used to trade fatigue between healers.
• Mobile – You move safely through hazardous terrain (e.g. climbing, rubble) or past enemies; also lets you escape a grapple.
• Precise – Your next attack ignores the target’s armor. Cannot be used with two-handed weapons.
• Protector – You take the effect, status, or damage meant for an adjacent ally.
• Armored – Restore up to 4 points of armor.
• Supportive – Grant an ally double advantage (+2d6 to their next roll).
• Stealthy – You appear unnoticed within line of sight. This is not teleportation and does not bypass terrain.
• Experienced – After your action, perform a free maneuver (grapple, disarm, trip, etc.).
• Controlling – After your action, you can freely affect the environment (flip a table, use a tool, light a torch, etc.).
• Marksman – You hit any visible target in range. It can’t be a lethal shot.
• Brutal – Each enemy hit in this action takes +1 damage.
• Enchanter – Manipulate an existing element (not create one) like fire, shadow, wind, or water to cause a single narrative effect (e.g. block a path, knock someone down). Requires at least 1 rank in magic or nature.
• Unshaken – Ignore all statuses and conditions until the end of the scene or your next failed roll.
• Awakened – Cast a spell without a bonus and without cost, even if you don’t meet the usual requirements. Treat as if you had rank 2 in the trait. Costs 2 fatigue.
• Tracker – Instantly find a trail if one is present.
• Undying – Reroll one critical damage die.
• Silent – Your next action does not reveal your location.
• Commander – Let an ally make a free move or maneuver.
• Saboteur – Successfully sabotage the environment (set a trap, block a passage, hang a curtain, etc.).
• Scout – Learn something useful and visible about the scene.
• Hexer – Turn an ally’s failure into a partial success.
• Thief – Steal or grab a small item within arm’s reach without being noticed, even in tense situations.
• Trapper – Set a trap or ambush even during combat or escape, as long as it makes sense.
• Unyielding – Ignore any effect that would knock you down, push, pull, pin, or restrain you.
• Actor – Invent a false identity or story that everyone believes as true, until it’s directly challenged.
• Threatening – Force obedience from a non-key NPC through sheer intimidation.
• Sign – Leave a hidden message that’s readable only by those it’s meant for.
• Collector – Reveal a small, non-magical item that you could plausibly have had on you all along.
• Slayer – If your next attack hits, the target also gains the FEARFUL condition.
• Peacemaker – A non-key enemy becomes open to negotiation.
• Shieldbearer – Sacrifice your shield to protect an adjacent ally, following the usual shield rules.
• Seer – Ask the GM one question about the near future of this scene (e.g. “What happens if we stay here?”, “Will someone betray us?”). The GM must answer truthfully, within the fiction.
• Hidden – You can stay hidden even after interacting with another creature.
• Bastion – For one round, you are immune to damage and statuses, but cannot attack.
• Shaman – You can sense souls, magic, or corruption in the scene, even without an obvious source.
• Distraction – You create a brief distraction (shout, whistle, crash) that redirects attention for 1 turn from a chosen target.
• Monk – Your unarmed attacks deal 2 damage per success (permanently, no fatigue cost). You can also run along walls, but not stop on them (doing so costs 1 fatigue).

Magic

Fictional Assumptions

• Magic is rare, unwanted, and illegal, known only to a few (priests, warlocks).
• Wizards are nearly extinct, and rituals require multiple participants.
• Magic is seen as disturbing and unknowable – most people’s understanding of it is distorted or superstitious.
• PCs casting spells must justify it narratively and hide it when possible.
• Scrolls can be cast by anyone, without a roll.
• Scrolls and potions are rare — they can’t be bought at markets, only found or crafted.

Spellcasting Mechanics

• Magic is a form of power. Casting a spell costs 1 fatigue.
• Roll arcana or nature, with advantage.
• GM and player decide on the spell’s parameters. Each step above base costs 1 extra success:
  • Scale: self (0) • one target (1) • group (2) • whole scene (3)
  • Complexity: simple (0) • demanding (3 dmg per success) (1) • extreme (4 dmg per success) (2)
  • Duration: turn/scene (0) • hour (1) • day (2) • whole session (3)
• If you roll fewer successes than needed, you may lower the spell’s parameters as desired.
• Roll outcomes:
  • Full success: +1 bonus success.
  • Partial success: –1 success from the pool (if you had more than one).
  • Failure: spell fails, and you gain +1 fatigue.
• Religion instead of arcana/nature:
  • No fatigue cost, but requires a full success and never grants the bonus success.
• Your spells do not harm you, but can harm allies.
• The GM can deny any spell effect that’s implausible, regardless of rolls.
• Enemy magic has no HP or fatigue cost.

Side Effects

Magical Catastrophe

If you roll three 1s, trigger the Magical Catastrophe Table, no matter the modifiers.

Corruption Clock

• A critical failure (two 1s) advances the Corruption Clock.
• At stage 4, the PC undergoes permanent mutation:
  1. –1 persuasion or influence (visible physical change)
  2. –1 armor (permanent)
  3. –1 HP/fatigu/inventory slot
  4. –2 advancement points (or take –2 if you have none)
  5. +1 madness point
  6. You may make a small magical effect permanent — discuss details with the GM

Social Clock

• Casting spells in front of ordinary people advances the Social Clock.
• At level 3, the party loses 1 point of reputation with the local faction.
• The clock can be reset by doing that faction a meaningful favor.

Optional — How Magic Works — GM Eyes Only

Don’t read this unless you’re the GM — it’s a spoiler for how the world works.

In the world of Zaya, everything — people, stones, even air — contains a soul. A soul is a mindless force journeying through all forms of existence until it returns to the Pillar of Being, expanding the world’s space. Souls shape reality itself.

Magic rips souls out of their forms and forces them to obey the caster’s will. Very few can do this. On a large scale, it causes matter to corrupt. Almost no one, including mages, understands how it truly works — this is one of the world’s great secrets.

Arcana (magic items) are things accidentally inhabited by lost souls. Most people don’t realize it, but arcana are haunted.

Giving Arcana to Players

Arcana are a major source of power.

When a player or GM creates an arcana, the item should enable narrative choices, not just mechanical boosts.
Use fatigue as the cost for stronger effects. Most arcana should have limited uses or conditions for renewal.

Example Arcana

Golden Collar of Voices
Worn in the helmet slot. An ornate gold necklace covering the throat.

Spend 2 fatigue to replicate the voice of any creature you’ve heard. Roll 3 dice of deception to convince listeners. Doesn’t work if they can see you.

• Full success: Everyone believes the voice is real.
• Partial success: Half the audience believes it. They may split up to investigate. You gain advantage on further social rolls against believers.

Warhammer of Vigor
If you hit with at least 3 successes, you’re filled with power — remove 1 fatigue.
If you have 0 fatigue, you gain advantage on endurance tests.

While wielding this weapon, you seem agitated — gain disadvantage on persuasion and influence rolls.

Hundred Mirages
A cloak. Once per long rest, you may use the Actor power without fatigue cost.

Combat

General Rules

• TL;DR: When you attack, one roll determines everything: whether you hit — if you have at least one 4+; how much damage you deal — the number of successes (dice showing 4+); and how much damage you take on a partial success or failure — the number of failures (dice showing 1–3) as the enemy’s response. If you roll three dice and get one 4 and two 2s, you hit the enemy with one success and they hit you with two. One point of armor negates one enemy failure die; with three armor you can block up to three such dice in that exchange.

• Combat happens either in theater of the mind or on a zone grid. It should stay fast and narrative-driven.
• The battlefield is divided into zones—each zone represents a space like a corridor, room, or part of one. Moving from one zone to another takes one move. Each additional zone = one extra move. There are no distances within zones: if you’re in the same zone, you can reach any opponent in melee.
• No initiative – players act in order of Dexterity + Perception – Fatigue. If surprised, players must roll a defensive test against danger at the start.
• Enemies don’t have turns – they act only in reaction to player actions.
  • On a partial success or failure, their reaction succeeds.
  • On a full success, their attempt fails.
• There are no defined actions. You describe what you want to do, and the GM rules on whether it’s possible and what mechanics apply. The system assumes you act because you had the idea, not because it’s printed on your sheet.
• A PC can typically move and take one action per turn. You may move double distance if you do nothing else that turn.
• You can draw or switch weapons/items once per turn for free.
• Using an item (like a potion) uses up your turn.
• You may ready an action in response to a specific trigger (e.g., “I strike if someone steps through the doorway.”)
• A group is a cluster of enemies acting as one unit for narrative clarity. If the group outnumbers the PCs or attacks from a safe range, their base damage equals the number of members, or the highest among them if applicable.
• Instead of attacking, you can attempt maneuvers (e.g., blind, knockdown, shove). Repeating the same maneuver on the same target in consecutive turns = disadvantage. Maneuvers against larger enemies = disadvantage.
• Maximum range of a ranged weapon = number of Aiming trait levels. Thrown weapons reach 1 zone beyond your own. You can’t throw further. Throwing a non-ranged weapon = always roll just 1d6.
• Buying effects with successes: If you score multiple successes, you may spend 1 fatigue per effect to gain something extra (e.g., free maneuver, movement, item use).
• Huge creatures deal damage to all nearby targets and can’t be affected by maneuvers.
• Sustained effects (e.g. concentration, flying, mounted combat) may break if:
  • Main die = 6 → effect ends.
  • Main die = 5 → effect ends unless the user pays 1 fatigue.

Hiding in Combat

• Roll Stealth:
  • 6 = gain HIDDEN condition.
  • 4–5 = gain HIDDEN by paying 1 fatigue.
    Refusing = no effect, continue your turn.
  • 1–3 = fail; trigger a soft reaction from the enemy.
• You can’t hide in plain sight – you must describe a logical cover.
  The GM can veto it if the terrain offers no concealment.
• If you’re in a zone with enemies, you roll with disadvantage.
• Hidden state lasts successes + 1 turns.
  Ends early if you interact with someone (attack, touch, use a power).
  You may pay 1 fatigue before acting to keep the condition.

Powerful Enemies & Bosses

• Monsters are rare but terrifying.
  At the start of combat with one, roll Will:
  • Partial success = gain 1 fatigue.
  • Failure = gain FEARFUL condition.
• Entering a boss’s zone often requires a defensive roll.
• Bosses:
  • Base damage: 3
  • 3 critical damage dice
  • Count as 5+ enemies in one zone
  • Immune to conditions, unless:
    • Player rolls a 5–6 on main die, or
    • Rolls a 4 and pays 1 fatigue

Morale

• When a commander dies, or enemies drop below half, or one loses all HP, they roll a group Will test. On failure = surrender or flee.
• If only one (non-boss) enemy remains, they always surrender, unless a suicide charge makes narrative sense.
• Morale exists to end dragging fights — use it consistently.

Conditions

• BLINDED/DEAFENED – Melee attacks use only 1 die; can’t make ranged attacks. Affected sense is disabled. Usually lasts 2 turns.
• BLEEDING/POISONED/BURNING – Roll Endurance at the start of your turn.
  • Full success = remove condition.
  • Lasts until end of scene.
  • Outside combat = 2 fatigue or 1d12 damage.
• FRIGHTENED – Can’t approach the fear source. Disadvantage on tests vs it. If in same zone = must flee. Usually lasts 2 turns.
• CHARMED – Doesn’t affect monsters. Requires Will test each turn. If you’ve charmed someone, you may command them, as long as it doesn’t violate their values.
• SLOW/FAST – Usually lasts 2 turns - On movement:
  • SLOW = disadvantage.
  • FAST = extra move or advantage.
• GRAPPLING – You drag the target with disadvantage to your attacks. You can release them anytime.
• GRAPPLED/ENTANGLED – Can’t move; enemies have advantage against you. Roll Athletics to escape.
• DAZED – You lose your turn. Every action against you is a full success and every damage die against you deals +3 damage.
• PRONE – Roll Melee/Dexterity to stand. Actions on the ground have disadvantage (unless attacker is also prone). Attacks against you have advantage.
• DISARMED – Every damage die against you deals +1 damage. Roll Melee/Dexterity to pick up your weapon.
• INVISIBLE/HIDDEN – Can’t be targeted by non-physical ranged attacks.
  Attacked with Perception.
  Gain advantage to your attacks.
  Ends if you interact with others (e.g. attack).

Organized Groups

Special enemy units represented by one marker per zone. They don’t follow normal group rules.

Squad

• 15 HP, 3 armor, 5 members.
• Use 3d6 for any traits (e.g., Endurance).
• Base damage: 2 (2 damage per success).
• Every 3 HP lost = 1 member killed (can happen in a single action). After 3 members die, players may pay 1 fatigue to force the rest to flee. If they stay, reduce rolls to 2d6.
• Can’t be bypassed. No maneuvers allowed.

Mob

• 7 members. 14 HP, 2 armor.
• Every 2 HP lost = 1 member dies.
• Use 2d6 for traits.
• After 5 deaths, they always flee.
• Can’t be bypassed.

Swarm

• 15 members. 15 HP, 1 armor.
• Every 1 HP lost = 1 member dies.
• Use 2d6 for traits.
• After 10 deaths, they always flee.
• If at 10+ HP, any PC ending their turn in the zone must roll Endurance or gain fatigue or physical status.

Equipment Breakage

When a PC rolls three identical failures (e.g. three 3s), roll 1d6 on the table below.
Applies in addition to normal consequences. Affected gear is damaged until repaired.
Arcana can be damaged like any other item.

Enemy Reactions (GM Guidelines)

• Enemy reacts after the PC’s action. If that enemy dies, another reacts (GM picks based on logic).
• On PC’s roll:
  • 6 → Enemy may move and fail an action (narratively).
  • 4–5 → Enemy performs a soft move (e.g., damage, maneuver, force defense roll).
  • 1–3 → Enemy makes a hard move (e.g., status, big attack, or two soft moves).
• Soft move: light consequence that can’t be resisted. Hard move: serious threat that can be resisted.
• Example: PC rolls 4 → deals damage → enemy attempts a hard move (status). PC rolls Will:
  • 6 = avoids effect
  • 4–5 = takes status or damage
  • 1–3 = takes both
• Enemies don’t have full stats. Use defaults:
  • Regular (e.g. guard, wolf): 2 dice, 6–8 HP
  • Strong (e.g. knight, elite): 3 dice, 10–12 HP
  • Boss (e.g. demon, general): 4 dice, 15–20 HP
• You may give special enemies one unique ability, e.g.:
  • Can pass through walls – reset
  • Walks on walls and ceilings
  • Immune to fire
  • Each damage die healed 1 HP

Sample Enemy:
The Hunger of Butchery (Boss)

• HP: 18–20 | Damage: 3 (teeth and claws, armor penetration 1) | 2 moves
• Traits: 4 dice | Armor: 4
• Special: Every damage die heals 1 HP.
• Behavior: Skinless wolf-like creature with no eyes, only nostrils. Smells blood and fatigue. Twitches uncontrollably. Mimics the voices of those it devours. Shakes with ecstasy when something dies nearby.

Character

Advancement

At the end of each session, you gain 2 advancement points (unless the GM rules otherwise).

• Spending advancement points means 6 + 1d8 days of downtime in a city, regardless of how many points you spend. This is handled as a group downtime.
• Traits cap at level 4.
• You gain +1 advancement point whenever you fail a roll and get at least three matching dice, e.g. three 1s.
• GMs may grant extra points for major campaign milestones, but no more than 3 at once.
• These costs assume a campaign lasting up to one year of weekly sessions. If the game continues longer, reduce advancement gain to 1 per session after session 20.

Character Creation

1. Choose your race.
2. Choose a name and age, describe appearance and write a short backstory. Include your previous profession (e.g. courier, demagogue, cobbler).
3. Answer 4 questions:
   1. What is most important to your character?
   2. What are their ambitions and fears?
   3. What bonds do they have?
   4. What connects them to the party?
4. Assign traits: choose 5 traits at level 2, and 1 trait at level 3.
   You cannot start with level 3 in Melee, Aiming, Defense, Arcana, or Nature.
   Chosen traits should reflect your background and training.
5. All other traits start at level 1, except:
   • Arcana, Technology, and Herbalism start at 0 unless invested in — these require training to use.
6. Choose 1 power.
7. Choose 2 weapon specializations.
8. With GM approval, select gear to fill all 10 inventory slots, and explain narratively how you acquired it.
9. You know the common tongue + your racial language.
   If human, choose one extra language.

Races

• Human
  • Choose any power and justify it in-character.
  • Increase one of your traits by 1 (up to a maximum level of 3). You may add one level to a trait you haven’t yet improved. However, you cannot start with level 3 in Melee, Aiming, Defense, Arcana, or Nature.
• Dwarf - live up to 200 years
  • Darkvision – combat effective one zone away.
  • Immune to disease and poison – automatically ignore POISONED condition and SICK status.
• Lobo (beastlike humanoid) - live up to 150 years
  • Moves on four legs, but has four grasping limbs + a prehensile tail.
  • Always roll at least 4 dice for Athletics when climbing — even on flat or slippery surfaces.
  • Can use a bow or one-handed weapon while climbing without penalty.
• Elf - live up to 250 years
  • Recover +1 extra fatigue during all rests.
  • Your senses are sharp – you always get 1 additional question during perception checks.

Character Sheet

Advanced rules

Moves

• Moves are mechanics meant to streamline interaction between PCs and the GM.
• If the GM isn’t sure what cost a PC should pay for a partial success, they pay an appropriate amount of fatigue.
• The GM has final say and may adjust these outcomes for the sake of the narrative.
• Treat these as optional tools—use whatever works best in the moment.

I Act in Secret – Stealth

When PCs have broken in somewhere and are operating inside, each failure collects 2 “attention points” and each partial success collects 1. When they reach X points, someone notices them.

I Sneak Around – Stealth

A PC tries to move unseen or hide from enemies.

• Partial success: pay 1 fatigue (or more if the GM rules hiding is very difficult), or you’re detected.

I Operate from the Shadows – Deception

Spend “operation points” to act before time runs out.

• Full success: 3 points.
• Partial success: 2 points.
  Each point lets you perform one micro-action (e.g. read a document unnoticed, steal a letter, grab a cloak). PCs can’t exceed the limit—“natural authority” (instinct to survive) prevents it. If the GM allows it, they must immediately introduce a consequence.

I Steal – Sleight of Hand

• Partial success: you fail to steal the item but remain undetected—you can’t retry unless you pay 1 fatigue.
• Full success: you steal without notice but lose 1 reputation, advance the Social Clock, and gain 3 fatigue.

I Recall Information – Appropriate Knowledge Trait (Mind, Arcana, Nature, etc.)

When a PC wants to check lore—religious ritual, monster, historical figure, special formula, etc.

• Full success: gain 3 lore points.
• Partial success: gain 1 lore point and may buy 1 more for 1 fatigue.
• For each lore point, ask the GM one question; their answer is in‐character knowledge. Questions must fit the situation.
• Two PCs can make this open test; if both earn points they ask different questions.

Sample questions:

• Do I know this creature/place/object?
• What makes it unique?
• Who or what is connected to it?
• How does it work?
• How might I use it?
• Does it have weaknesses or limits?
• What dangers does it pose?
• Are there legends or superstitions?
• Who else might know more?
• Is this common knowledge or secret?
• What rules or laws govern it?
• Known defenses against it?
• Have others tried to use/destroy/understand it? What happened?

I Uncover the Scene – Perception/Survival/Investigation/Nature/Mind

When a PC examines a specific situation—tracking footprints, inspecting a fresco, studying a curse.

• Full success: gain 3 insight points.
• Partial success: gain 1 point, may buy 1 more for 1 fatigue.
• For each point, ask the GM one question; the answer is in‐character knowledge. Questions must fit the situation.
• Two PCs can make this open test and ask different questions if both succeed.

Sample questions:

• Who passed through here?
• How far am I from my quarry?
• What happened here?
• What stands out?
• Is there anything that threatens me?
• Anything useful?
• How long ago did it occur?
• Evidence of struggle, flight, or haste?
• Anything hidden or concealed?
• Any patterns, symbols, or markings?
• Can I tell where someone went or came from?
• Unusual smells or sounds?
• What doesn’t fit the environment?
• Best place to hide?
• Any traces of magic, poison, illusion, or supernatural influence?

You may use Mind for purely academic insights (physics, chemistry, geography, psychology, anthropology, etc.) not covered by another trait.

I Get Someone to Act for Me – Persuasion/Deception/Intimidation/Influence

• PCs explain how they leverage the chosen trait against the target.
• Without specific leverage, roll with disadvantage. Leverage examples: key info, official authority.
• Targets who belong to dominant or privileged power gain additional disadvantage.
• Full or partial success + 1 fatigue (or more if the target is resistant or circumstances are unfavorable): force the target to do one of the following (GM decides what best serves the story):
  • Stop where they are.
  • Halt their action.
  • Forgo an intended action.
  • Surrender (costs 3 fatigue; doesn’t work on powerful foes or organized groups).
  • Stay in place.
  • Perform a simple task (move something, act as bait).
  • Retreat quickly.
  • Attack you (costs 2 fatigue; GM decides if narratively appropriate).
  • Do something against their nature (costs 4 fatigue partial, 2 fatigue full; no effect on powerful enemies or dominant authorities).
  • Other GM-approved options.
• Failure: immediate consequences plus GM decides if Social Clock or reputation shifts.

I Change Someone’s Values – Persuasion

PCs attempt to shift a target’s core belief about an issue. GM rules if it’s even possible (e.g. convincing a bandit to betray their boss).

• PCs must specify what belief they want changed and why it makes sense.
• Partial success: PC suggests an outcome, but GM picks whatever best serves the narrative:
  • No change, no consequences.
  • Target agrees but demands 3 fatigue and Social Clock shifts (PC may refuse).
  • Partial change—GM describes what changes (e.g. “The cultist now thinks sacrificing the mayor’s child is wrong, but still wants another victim.”).
• Failure: GM decides on immediate consequences and any reputation or Social Clock effects.

I Know Someone Here – Influence

If it’s plausible a PC could know someone in this location (PC can argue plausibility), they make a roll to see if that contact can help with the current problem.

• If successful, PC describes the contact.
• Full success: contact is privileged authority and can bypass one major obstacle.
• Partial success: contact ranks below privileged authority and can bypass one minor obstacle.
• Failure: the contact isn’t available or can’t help.

I Sense There’s More – Investigation

When a PC suspects they’ve missed important information, they roll to confirm.

• Full success: GM reveals one overlooked detail, if any exist.
• Partial success: PC learns whether something was missed, but must pay 2 fatigue to discover what.
• Failure: PC gains no insight into what they’ve missed.

I Instill Fear – Intimidation

PCs use threats to frighten or coerce.

• Full or partial success + 1 fatigue (or more if target is resistant): force the target(s) to do one of:
  • Halt.
  • Stop current action.
  • Forgo intended action.
  • Surrender (costs 3 fatigue, no effect on powerful enemies or organized groups).
  • Stay where directed.
  • Perform a simple task (carry something, serve as bait).
  • Retreat.
  • Attack you (costs 2 fatigue, GM call).
  • Act against their nature (costs 4 fatigue partial, 2 fatigue full; no effect on dominant authorities).
• Failure: immediate consequences plus potential Social Clock or reputation shifts.

I Put on a Show – Performance

PCs employ their artistic skill (singing, dancing, acting, etc.) to influence mood and behavior.

• Full success: gain 3 performance points.
• Partial success: gain 1 point, may buy 2 more at 1 fatigue each.
• For each point (unless noted otherwise) you can:
  • Draw attention—others may act unseen or you may address the crowd.
  • Earn favor—grant advantage on subsequent social rolls (costs 2 points).
  • Gain renown—become recognized in the area.
  • Learn rumors—GM shares one key local event.
  • Secure an audience with local authority (costs 3 points; GM call).
  • Plant a subtle suggestion (costs 3 points; e.g. “Go home” or “Support my candidate”).
  • Evoke a specific emotion in the crowd (costs 3 points).
  • Find a safe haven (costs 3 points).
  • Other GM-approved uses.

I Foresee – Religion or Intuition

• Religion: requires one hour of ritual plus a sacrificed component.
• Intuition: requires one hour of meditation plus a sacrificed element.
• Cannot be part of a rest period.
• Full success: earn 2 prophecy points.
• Partial success: earn 1 point.
• For each point, ask the GM one question about upcoming events (e.g. “What should I expect?” “Who will I meet?” “What dangers await?”). GM answers may be cryptic.

I Know My Tools – Technology

When interacting with a machine or device, roll to gauge familiarity

• Full success: gain 3 tech points and may buy 1 more for 1 fatigue.
• Partial success: gain 1 point and may buy 3 more for 1 fatigue each.
• Spend tech points on:
  • Asking the GM a question about the device (function, builder, purpose, age, safety, hidden features).
  • Crafting a simple tool/machine (2 points + short downtime).
  • Repairing a simple known device (2 points).
  • Repairing an unknown simple device (2 points + short downtime; then you know how to use it).
  • Safely disarming a mechanical trap (3 points).
  • Repairing a complex device (4 points + long downtime; then you know how to use it).
  • Operating an unknown simple tool (2 points).
  • Operating an unknown complex machine (4 points).

I Lead the Way – Survival

When guiding exploration:

• Full success: 2 expedition points.
• Partial success: 1 point, may buy 1 more for 2 fatigue.
• Each point lets you choose one unique benefit (once each):
  • Change one PC’s die repetition to another result.
  • Ask the GM an extra question about terrain or threats.
  • On failure, remove 1 fatigue from yourself or another PC.
  • On failure, convert one inflicted status into 2 fatigue.
  • Automatically find a component or material.
  • Prevent the loss of one item.
  • Find enough rations for as many people as your successes.

I Impersonate Someone – Deception/Performance

• Full success: you’re unrecognizable. You risk exposure if you ask >3 obvious questions or give >3 orders contradictory to the target’s values.
• Partial success: each question or order costs 1 fatigue, up to 3 total. Same logic and limits apply.
• Failure: immediate consequences and possible Social Clock or reputation shifts.
• GM may impose disadvantage based on complexity.
• Creative roleplay can earn advantage.
• Questions/orders reset only when the entire deception ends.

I Lie Boldly – Deception

GM can rule some lies impossible to sell (e.g. a king believing the queen has a lover).

• Partial success: GM chooses one:
  • Target believes you but all allies gain disadvantage on social rolls vs you.
  • You win over part of the audience—GM describes a new opportunity.
  • Target demands more proof.
  • You fail but without penalty.
  • You spend 2 fatigue to improvise a plausible detail that convinces the target (for harmless lies).
• Failure: immediate consequences plus possible Social Clock or reputation shifts.

I Perform a Ritual – Religion/Arcana

Rituals require sacrificing treasure, components, materials, and downtime, and privacy.

• Partial success: you must also spend 2 advancement points or lose 2 HP forever.
• If targeting a person, you need something personal (e.g. a keepsake).
• Ritual effects (GM determines final details):
  • Brief audience with a high priest—3 questions.
  • Remove a curse or dispel strong magic.
  • Place a curse—define with the GM.
  • Gain key narrative information.
  • Locate an object or person in the same region.
  • Summon an angel, demon, or nature spirit—4 questions to set their attitude.
  • Declare one minor future event that will certainly happen.
  • Open a portal for one day—requires a tether to that realm.
  • Close a portal.
  • Erase one memory from someone’s mind.
  • Ask one crucial question about the past.
  • Create an arcana—define with the GM.

I Grasp at Desperation – Any Relevant Trait

When other methods fail and the PCs resort to a last-ditch, dangerous effort (jump a chasm, slip past guards in plain sight, scale a sheer wall, swim through a long flooded tunnel, etc.)

• Current fatigue doesn’t apply (adrenaline surge).
• Partial success: you succeed but gain 5 fatigue and a physical or mental status (GM call).
• Failure: you fail, gain 7 fatigue, and roll for a physical or mental status.
• The GM may substitute narrative-appropriate penalties.

I Seduce – Persuasion/Influence/Performance/Deception

PCs attempt a one-night liaison for pleasure or gain (longer bonds use downtime moves)

• GM sets disadvantage based on target’s social rank: dominant (3), privileged (2), executive (1), plus circumstances.
• Full success: A night together and potentially one key piece of info or a favor, if GM allows. PC is occupied for at least 4 in-world hours.
• Partial success: arouses interest and may yield one minor piece of info (GM decision).
• Failure: immediate consequences and possible Social Clock or reputation shifts.

I See Through You – Intuition

PCs try to detect lies or hidden motives.

• Full success: you know the NPC hid something and gain advantage on your next social test to uncover it.
• Partial success: GM chooses one:
  • You know they’re hiding something but suffer disadvantage on your next social test.
  • You get one minor clue from the GM (e.g. body language tells you they resent you).
  • GM confirms deception but not details.
  • GM reveals a fact without context (e.g. “You’re sure he beat his child, but not how or why.”).
  • Partial info (e.g. “You suspect he had a letter from the baron but can’t prove it.”).
• Failure: you believe they’re telling the whole truth.

I Traverse Difficult Terrain – Athletics/Survival/Dexterity

Use when climbing slippery rock, forcing your way through enemies, crossing brambles or mud, etc. Choose the fitting trait.

• Partial success: pay 1 + 1 per failure beyond your successes in fatigue, or treat as failure.
• Use this move outside combat. In a fight, partial success should simply provoke an enemy reaction.

I Steer – Animal Handling/Technology

When controlling a vehicle or mount in a risky maneuver (e.g. jerking reins to tip a wagon), break the action into steps:

1. Command the beast to tip the wagon.
2. Aim to topple it onto foes or create cover.
3. Avoid harming riders or cargo.
4. Preserve the wagon for future use.

• Full success: gain 3 control points, may buy 1 more for 1 fatigue.
• Partial success: gain 1 point, may buy 2 more for 1 fatigue each.
• Each step costs 1 point.

I Interrogate – Persuasion/Intimidation

Extract information from a reluctant subject.

• Full success: ask 4 questions; GM must answer.
• Partial success: ask 2 questions and may ask 1 more for 1 fatigue.
• Questions must concern facts known to the subject.
• GM may lie on exactly one answer; the rest must be truthful, though not always fully forthcoming.

Other Mechanics

Group Rolls

• In a group roll, each PC adds their dice for the relevant trait into one pool. Resolve as follows:
  1. PCs total their fatigue:
     • At 5 fatigue, cancel 1 success.
     • At 8 fatigue, cancel 2 successes.
     • At 10 fatigue, cancel 3 successes.
       Canceled successes are removed from the pool and can’t be used further. The group chooses which successes to cancel.
  2. Each 6 still counts as a success and removes one failure die from the pool.
  3. If successes outnumber failures → the group succeeds.
  4. If canceling a failure via a 6 creates a tie, compare repeated numbers: the side (successes or failures) with more repeated dice wins (e.g. three 3s beat two 6s and two 5s). If still tied, the PCs win.
  5. You can’t restore dice once canceled.
  6. If the outcome becomes obvious at any step, stop there.

Opposed Tests

• When two characters contest each other (e.g. arm-wrestling), each rolls the appropriate trait.
• Whoever scores more successes wins; on a tie, the higher total pips wins.

Conflict & Party Disagreements

• If one PC attempts something the others oppose (e.g. poisoning the queen), pause the game.
• As a team, talk through what to do—maintaining a healthy table dynamic is more important than the rules.
• If you can’t reach a decision everyone accepts, consider ending the campaign rather than playing in bad faith.
• Use this approach for any pivotal moment, not just direct conflicts.

Exploration & Travel

• Outside of towns, PCs must each consume one ration per day or suffer discomfort from hunger.
• On overland journeys lasting days, you need one ration per person per day.

On a difficult terrain “leg” (snow, swamps, dense forest), once per day the group makes a group Survival roll: each PC adds their dice, then identify the most common face to determine results.

• The party’s chosen leader narrates the day’s events, weaving in successes, failures, and individual PC experiences in one-sentence snippets per PC plus a general summary.
• Example: We were up to our knees in snow, and the wind was howling across the white horizon, making every step up the slope a struggle. Player A was the first to spot odd tracks alongside our own—either there were more of our quarry than we thought, or they’d linked up with someone else. Then our trapper, Player Trapper, pointed out a safer route over the ridges—the one the locals always take in winter—so we veered off that way, hoping it led to our target. Halfway up, Player C caught their foot on a buried root and went sprawling, losing their supplies in the snow. Luckily, Player D foraged some edible roots to keep us going. We thought the day might end without further trouble—until the snow gave way beneath Player E, sending them crashing down a cliff and smashing into a rocky ledge, tearing a chunk of muscle in their side. Between all of us we hauled them back up with rope and finally found shelter in a small cave. We shoved down our hardtack, braced ourselves—and then a blizzard blew in.
• This narration is crucial—it builds a vivid story and fills each travel segment with real, unfolding events. Never leave it out.

Outcome by most-common face:

• If the terrain is easy or PCs know a safe route, skip this roll.

Chase

1. The chase has as many abstract segments as there are PCs (e.g. City → Alley → Fence → Sewers).
2. Each segment is handled by a different PC, clockwise, starting from a random PC.
3. The guiding PC chooses the trait for the segment—reasonably tied to the situation (Performance to blend into a crowd, Sleight of Hand to snatch laundry lines, etc.). The GM can veto illogical choices.
4. The group then makes a group roll on that trait, with situational modifiers applied by the GM (–1 for unfamiliar terrain, +1 if wounded, etc.).
5. PCs may each use one “speed” power (teleport, flight, etc.) per segment. Using it costs 1 fatigue and can’t be reused.
6. If a combat trait is used (Melee, Aiming, Magic), winning that segment grants the next segment’s leader +1 die; losing removes 1 die next time.
7. The guiding PC narrates success or failure for that segment.
8. If the PCs win more segments than they lose, they catch their quarry or escape; if they lose more, they are caught. Ties trigger an extra deciding segment.

Quick Catch without Full Chase

• Athletics:
  • Full success: you catch the runner easily.
  • Partial success: choose:
    • You catch them but suffer a random physical status.
    • You catch them but the Social Clock advances.
• Aiming:
  • Full success: deal your full damage; if they survive, they’re unconscious.
  • Partial success: deal full damage; if they survive, they fall prone but:
    • They alert bystanders.
    • The Social Clock advances.

Interactions with the Outside World

Items

Basic Gear

Every PC’s pack includes the following “free” items that take up no space:

• Bedroll – insulates you from the ground for better rest.
• Waterskin – holds water.
• Tinder and Flint – for starting fires.
• Small Pot – for cooking or boiling water.
• Utility Knife – for food prep, wood carving, improvised defense.
• Spoon or Wooden Bowl – for eating.
• Length of Cord – a few meters for minor repairs or binding.
• Chalk or Charcoal – for marking or writing.
• Cloth Pouch – for collecting small items, food, loot.
• Needle and Thread – for mending clothing.

Utility Items

• If no size is noted, each takes 1 slot.

1. Torch/Lamp/Set of Candles – burns 1 real hour, lights only its own zone.
2. Tool Kit (20 uses) – light; grants ability to work with technology (hammer, nails, pliers, etc.).
3. Lockpick Set (20 uses) – light; opens locks and disarms traps.
4. Flask of Oil – light; fuels lamps, makes surfaces slippery, flammable.
5. Small Cage – 2 slots; holds a creature no larger than a small dog.
6. Paper, Quill & Ink or Wax Tablets & Stylus – light; required for writing.
7. Folding Shovel – 1 slot.
8. Pickaxe – 1 slot.
9. 50 m Hemp Rope – 1 slot.
10. Chain – 1 slot.
11. Manacles – 1 slot.
12. Climbing Kit with Pitons – 1 slot.
13. Cloth Sack – light.
14. Glass Vial/Flask – light.
15. Extra Clothing (warm, fine, etc.) – light.
16. Hand Saw – 1 slot.
17. Crowbar – 1 slot; grants advantage on Athletics to pry heavy objects.
18. Magnifying Glass/Mirror – light.
19. Quiver/Ammo Pouch (20) – 1 slot.
20. Specialized Kit (sewing, alchemical, fishing, poisoner’s, etc.) – light.

Medical Supplies

• All items take 1 slot and require at least 1 hour of downtime/rest to use.

1. First-Aid Kit – cures one physical status.
2. Herbal Poultice – cures one mental status.
3. Bandages/Splints – restore 1 die to a chosen physical trait.
4. Compress – restore 1 die to a chosen mental trait or specialization.
5. Aromatic Oil/Incense – inhalation restores 1 die to a chosen social trait.
6. Balm – removes 1 extra fatigue during rest.

Potions

• Each is light; if no duration is specified, 1 real hour. You can stack different potions but not multiples of the same kind.

1. Potion of Might – base damage increases to 5.
2. Potion of Regrowth – removes one physical status.
3. Potion of Clarity – removes one mental status.
4. Potion of Renewal – restores 1 die to a chosen trait.
5. Potion of Vigor – removes 2 fatigue.
6. Potion of Prowess – +1 die on physical trait rolls.
7. Potion of Eloquence – +1 die on social trait rolls.
8. Potion of Insight – +1 die on mental trait rolls.
9. Potion of Senses – +1 die on specialization rolls.
10. Potion of Resistance – reduces all damage taken by 5.
11. Antidote – removes Poisoned condition and 1 fatigue.
12. Elemental Resistance Potion – grants resistance to a chosen element.
13. Potion of Strength – +5 backpack slots.
14. Invisibility Potion – you remain invisible until the effect ends or you attack/use a power.
15. Healing Potion – heals 2d6 HP.
16. Haste Potion – grants one extra move.
17. Rage Potion – immune to maneuvers and crowd-control effects.
18. Elixir of Immortality – when reduced to 0 HP or below, set HP to 1 instead.
19. Illusion Potion – you take the appearance and voice of any creature; on a failed social test, the illusion ends.
20. Luck Potion – any roll of 3 counts as a partial success.

Decoctions

• Each is light; if no duration is specified, 1 real hour. You can stack different decoctions but not duplicates.

1. Sleepless Decoction – no need to sleep for a day, but you lose 5 fatigue at dawn as if you’d taken a long rest.
2. Slither Decoction – you can squeeze through any gap your head fits; pack slots halved.
3. Friendship Decoction – no one treats you as a threat, but you can’t initiate violence until attacked.
4. Forgotten Decoction – no one recognizes your face or voice; you gain SENSITIVE status for the effect’s duration.
5. Breathless Decoction – you hold your breath for 1 hour, then suffer 4 fatigue.
6. Silence Decoction – you move silently and roll 6 dice on Stealth, but can’t speak or hear.
7. Ethereal Decoction – pass through walls; wear only clothing; pack slots drop to 0.
8. Memory Decoction – ask the GM one question; their truthful answer represents a memory you recall.
9. Luck Decoction – gain one reroll on all rolls for the session.
10. Calm Decoction – ignore all mental statuses; then gain HALLUCINATIONS.
11. Fortitude Decoction – ignore all physical statuses; then gain UNCERTAIN.
12. Surge Decoction – once in combat, take an extra action; next turn you automatically fail a Danger Avoidance test.
13. Shield Decoction – once per effect, convert one failure into a full success at cost of 3 fatigue.
14. Trail Decoction – in group Survival rolls during exploration, all your dice count as successes (not as 6s), and you choose which repeated-face effect applies to you.
15. Revelation Decoction – once, ask the GM the best possible move; upon effect’s end gain BROKEN status.
16. Knowledge Decoction – ask the GM questions as if you’d rolled 5 points on “I Uncover the Scene.”
17. Fearless Decoction – immune to Fearful; thereafter gain SENSITIVE status.
18. Vision Decoction – see invisible creatures; gain SHOCKED status for duration.
19. Shadow Decoction – separate your shadow for up to 1 km; it has 6 Stealth dice; if it fails to succeed, it dissipates.
20. Hunter’s Decoction – you automatically find any trail as if you’d full successes on Survival; then gain WEAKENED status.

Tactical Gear

• Each is light, single-use, and costs an action unless noted otherwise.

1. Adrenaline Shot – free; removes all fatigue for 3 turns, then it returns plus 2.
2. Smoke Grenade – in one zone (range 1 zone), inflict BLINDED on as many creatures as your successes on Aiming + 1 (spillover may hit allies, including you). Grants Stealth advantage and cancels opportunity attacks in that zone.
3. Grappling Pistol – instantly move 1 zone orthogonally (if logical). Can pull a non-huge object or creature 1 zone toward you. Breaks mount-ride or flight effects.
4. Explosive Charge – after two of your turns, it detonates: roll 10d6; each success deals 3 damage in the zone, and it can clear any logical obstacle.
5. Net with Claws – Aiming roll:
   • Full success: target gains ENTANGLED.
   • Partial: as above, but costs 1 fatigue.
   • On a miss, you can only recover it if you missed entirely.
6. Net Trap – set in an empty zone; you roll Technology:
   • Full success: first creature entering takes 2 damage per success and DAZED.
   • Partial: takes 2 damage per success and ENTANGLED.
   • Huge foes may evade with Dexterity. You can recover it if unused.
7. Investigator’s Kit – grants advantage on Investigation or an extra question for “I Uncover the Scene.”
8. Sound Dampener – blocks all sound from escaping its zone; lasts 30 real minutes.
9. Phantom Hand – invisible grappling device reaching 3 zones for an object/creature no larger than a human. If target is alert, roll Dexterity:
   • Partial: GM decides success with 3 fatigue or unnoticed failure.
   • Item shatters on any failure.
10. Braided Rope – once, fashion into a bridge, ladder, net, sack, etc.
11. Cipher Box – encrypts a single letter and decrypts it if the password is guessed.
12. Vibration Detector – senses any trap or hidden door in a room.
13. Airlock Compressor – range 1 zone; blasts out stored air, blocking passage for 3 rounds and pushing everyone out of the zone.
14. Backpack Frame – +8 slots for 24 in-game hours, then breaks.
15. Cluster Goggles – darkvision for 24 in-game hours, then shatter.
16. Revealing Lamp – reveals invisible creatures in a 1-zone radius for 1 real hour.
17. Indestructible Box – item inside cannot be damaged; the box self-destructs after 24 in-game hours.
18. Gravity Mine – inverts gravity in a zone for 1 turn; anyone not braced falls and takes fall damage. Can lift the whole party house-height.
19. Trap Disassembler – automatically disarms one mechanical trap.
20. Slime Bomb – inflict SLOW on as many creatures in the zone as your Aiming successes + 1; spillover may hit allies/you.

Jaruga’s Wonders

(Jaruga is the river god whose floodwaters mutate everything they touch. Such “wonders” are rare.)

• Each Jaruga Wonder counts as 1 treasure.
• All are light and single-use unless noted.

1. Jaruga Larvae Jar – devours all it touches; limited number (GM’s call).
2. Singing Stones – when struck, sound like water percussion; prized musically.
3. Mist Catcher – a sponge-like fungus that collects mist for a steady water supply.
4. Glass Beetles – insects with glasslike shells; kept as living jewelry; live up to a year.
5. Urchin Needles – prized delicacy; hard, then crisp when broken; salted flavor.
6. Weeping Tears – crystallized bird tears; a single one fully restores HP and energy.
7. Magic-eater Blossom – when spun, absorbs ambient magic, then wilts (does not destroy arcana).
8. Mirror Ice – never-melting ice that retains the first reflection like a 3D image.
9. Magic-drain Lily – petals arranged in a whirl; when waved, absorb all magic in a zone, then die.
10. Crystal Cactus Spines – instantly refresh all your powers; free.
11. Copper Vines – conduct electricity; wrap a weapon with them for one partial success attack that all dice count as successes; then they die.
12. Mud Pearls – allow underwater breathing for 1 real hour when held in the mouth.
13. Choking Coral – expands on contact with water, clogging pipes, doors, or a drinker’s throat.
14. Blood Lilies – dye flesh red; remove WOUNDED or MAULED, but inflict a scar (roll on Scar Table).
15. Toad Skins – used as parachutes; then they dry and become brittle.
16. Silence Thorns – embedding one silences a target for 1 real hour.
17. Razor Reed – cuts any material, then disintegrates.
18. Floating Lilies – wrap around feet to walk on liquids for 1 real hour.
19. Stone Sponge – shapes like a helmet to block one critical-damage die, then crumbles.
20. Heart of the Clear Beast – eating it grants 2 advancement points.

What PCs Can Find

• Treasure – valuable objects (jewels, tapestries) used to raise Wealth level.
• Resources – crafting or alchemical ingredients.
• Components – ritual or potion ingredients.
• Materials – crafting or tool-making ingredients.
• Exotic Materials – each grants +1 magical armor when fused with gear and may give a chosen power (with GM approval).
• All occupy 1 slot.

Loot Table (d100)

Money

General Rules

• You don’t track individual coins—PCs have a Wealth level that defines their lifestyle and purchasing power.
• To buy anything, PCs must visit a Market.
• You can visit a given Market only once per stay in that settlement.
• High-cost items (e.g. armor, wagons) are custom orders with delivery times: 3 days for most, 1 month for bespoke armor.
• Scrolls, potions, magic items must be acquired through play (they’re too rare to buy).
• Renting a room includes meals.
• Prices are fixed; haggling only if the GM allows.

Wealth Levels

1. Barely Scraping By
   • PCs are starving, can’t afford lodging, can’t buy anything.
2. Poor (starting)
   • PCs aren’t starving but can’t afford luxuries or lodging.
   • Can buy 1 ration.
3. Modest
   • Can acquire 1 utility item and 2 rations.
   • Can afford the cheapest inn room.
4. Comfortable
   • Can acquire up to 3 utility items and 3 rations.
   • Can afford a decent room.
   • As a team, you may choose one:
     • Fuse 1 exotic material (e.g. Hydra scale) with gear
     • Buy 1 expensive item (e.g. armor, wagon) → Wealth –1.
     • Hire one helper for a simple task.
5. Well-Off
   • Can acquire up to 5 utility items and 4 rations.
   • All benefits of level 4 without Wealth loss (except for very pricey items).
   • Gain one major favor (e.g. from executive authority) → Wealth –1.
   • Can afford an apartment.
6. Wealthy
   • No limit on utility item purchases (gear slots still apply).
   • Fuse 3 exotic materials.
   • Custom orders (armor/wagon) complete in 2 days.
   • Hire mercenaries → Wealth –1.
   • Acquire property → Wealth –1.
   • Gain one faction reputation increase → Wealth –1.
7. Magnate
   • All benefits of “Wealthy,” plus:
     • Major favor from dominant authority → Wealth –1.
     • Acquire a large estate → Wealth –2.
     • Found an organization (12 staff) → Wealth –2.

Treasures

• Accumulating treasures raises your Wealth level.
• To advance: find 1 + (2 × your current treasure count) treasures.
• A treasure is a single valuable object (jewel, tapestry, etc.).
• Treasures occupy 1 slot and can be lost.
• Storing treasures in a bank (downtime action) protects them; you access funds by check.
• Arcana count as 2 treasures, unless the GM rules otherwise.
• Bribes cost 1 treasure.

Downtime

If PCs spend at least one week in a major settlement (e.g. a city), they may take one downtime action. You must describe how you carry it out.

Standard Downtime Actions

1. Read a Tome – uncover one important piece of lore.
2. Forge a Contact (Influence roll):
   • Full success → an influential ally.
   • Partial (with cost) → an ordinary contact (e.g. innkeeper, courtesan).
3. Thorough Rest – regain all lost trait dice.
4. Host a Feast (Persuasion/Influence roll) – improve your reputation.
5. Send a Message – it reaches another civilized settlement.
6. Perform a Ritual – use the I Perform a Ritual move.
7. Cover Your Tracks / Repair Your Reputation (Deception roll).
8. Send a Hireling (Persuasion roll + one treasure) – dispatch an agent on a mission.
9. Acquire a Rare Item – via Market visit or established contacts.
10. Gain an Advancement Point – only once per real-time month of play.
11. Gather Underworld Intel (Persuasion/Influence/Deception roll).
12. Spread a Rumor (Deception roll).
13. Intimidate Someone (Intimidation roll) – earn a favor but lose reputation.
14. Commission Gear Repair – costs one treasure.
15. Romance – see Romance rules below.
16. Other – propose another idea to the GM.

Romance

• For a one-night affair, use the I Seduce move.
• To build a deeper bond, collect 3–5 Bond Points (GM sets difficulty).
  • Each point = a full success on a chosen trait roll, described in a romantic context.
  • You may use the same trait but not the same approach twice.
  • Critical success = +1 Bond Point; Critical failure = –1 Bond Point.
• Each Bond Point can be spent once for advantage on a subsequent roll.
• Bonds can be negative.
• The GM may award extra bond shifts based on events (e.g. betrayal might cost all points or push into negative).
• Paying for sex does not count as Romance.

Reputation

Before play begins, have players imagine they’re members of a royal court before the king. Would they risk mocking or insulting him? Certainly not. That’s how PCs should feel in this world: no plot armor, real consequences for offending powerful figures.

Track each faction or community’s attitude toward the PCs with a Reputation score, starting at –1 (Stranger). You can also maintain a global Reputation if you like. Each shift in Reputation also carries over all effects of the previous levels.

Changing Reputation

• Successful faction mission → Reputation +1.
• Unwitting service (e.g. removing the faction’s quarry or aiding its interests) → Reputation +1.
• Failed faction mission → Reputation –1.
• Mixed results → Roll Influence: full success +1, partial no change, failure –1.
• Directly opposing a faction’s interests → Reputation –1.
  • Examples: murdering innocents, caught stealing, sabotaging a faction’s business, publicly denigrating its values or deities, mistreating ordinary citizens.

Gaining positive Reputation is intentionally challenging.

Respecting Authority and Social Values

Types of Authority

Authority in this world comes in five tiers:

• Natural (e.g. instinct to survive)
• Dominant (king, emperor)
• Privileged (bishop, noble officer)
• Executive (city guard, tax collector)
• Threatening (bandit, criminal gang)

Whenever an authority issues an order that PCs refuse, they must roll Influence to resist. Higher tiers of authority impose stiffer consequences—even a full success can carry penalties.

If a PC has a strong, story-driven hate or moral objection to a particular authority, they gain advantage on Influence rolls against it. Likewise, prevailing goodwill or fear can impose disadvantage.

Open Hostility

If PCs openly defy or insult a faction’s core values—spitting on a holy altar, mocking the queen, etc.—they immediately lose 2 Reputation levels with that faction and executive forces are summoned to apprehend them. If no guards are present, PCs may flee; refusal or failure to surrender when they arrive triggers combat.

• If captured: PCs are imprisoned, their gear is sold to pay bounties/compensation, and their Reputation toward that faction becomes –4.
• If they escape: they know their only safe option is to leave that faction’s jurisdiction; Reputation still becomes –4.

Natural Authority

When PCs attempt actions obviously opposed by basic survival instincts (mass slaughter in a fearful mob, sacrilege in the face of a fanatical crowd, etc.), the GM may invoke Natural Authority—their own bodies rebel. The GM can demand a Will roll:

• Failure: the PC physically cannot proceed; they must try a different approach.
• Success: they carry on, but lose Reputation as the GM determines—and at risk levels 2 and 3 also gain 1 madness point.

Character-Consistency Rolls

If a PC attempts something wildly out of character (e.g. a virtuous priest torturing a prisoner), the GM may call for a Will roll:

• 6: the PC does it, but gains a minor mental status.
• 4–5: the PC does it, gains a mental status, and the GM may impose a narrative consequence (trauma, social rejection, etc.).
• 1–3: internal resistance stops them—GM narrates their hesitation.

The player may choose to ignore this roll, but doing so grants 1 madness point automatically.

Influence Rolls by Authority Tier

1. Against Dominant Authority (king, emperor):
   • For example, when a guard orders PCs to bow before the king on the throne and they refuse, they must roll Influence before acting:
   • Immediate –2 Reputation and +1 fatigue on any open defiance.
   • Full success: you refuse; your confidence shakes them—but the entire group suffers disadvantage on social rolls in that territory until Reputation improves by at least 1.
   • Partial success: you refuse but are forcefully expelled or combat breaks out.
   • Failure: you comply with the order.
2. Against Privileged Authority (bishop, noble):
   • If, for instance, a bishop demands PCs show reverence in his temple and they crack a lewd joke, they must roll Influence before speaking:
   • Immediate –1 Reputation and +1 fatigue for open defiance.
   • Full success: you refuse; they bristle but grudgingly tolerate you.
   • Partial success: you refuse; you’re immediately driven out or face combat.
   • Failure: you comply.
3. Against Executive Authority (guards, tax collectors):
   • If a guard orders PCs to lay down arms at the castle gate and they refuse, they roll Influence:
   • No automatic Reputation loss unless you show outright disrespect. Otherwise, refusing costs –1 Reputation.
   • Full success: you stand your ground; the officer hesitates and may refer you upward.
   • Partial success: you refuse but they call reinforcements or demand a bribe/pay a penalty.
   • Failure: you comply.
4. Against Threatening Authority (bandits, thugs):
   • If five cutthroats surround PCs in a tavern and demand compliance, they must roll Influence:
   • No Reputation penalty—this is raw coercion.
   • Full success: you refuse; they lose nerve, and you gain advantage on social rolls against them.
   • Partial success: you stall them—gain one chance to escape before you must comply.
   • Failure: you comply and go along, though you can scheme later to escape.

Use these mechanics to keep authority meaningful and to protect the narrative from PCs deliberately derailing the story.

Crafting

Alchemy

PCs can create potions. To do so, they must:

• Spend a component.
• Spend one downtime action.
• Roll on Arcana:
  • Critical success (double sixes): you may create an arcane item—work out its details with the GM.
  • Full success: you successfully brew a potion of your choice.
  • Partial success: choose one
    • You succeed, but randomly determine which potion you created.
    • Or you choose which potion to create, but you suffer a random physical and mental status.
  • Failure: the brewing fails, the component is wasted, you gain a mental status, and take 1d20 damage.
• PCs can create Jaruga’s Wonders in the same way as potions.
• Any critical failure (two ones) advances the Corruption Clock.
• Any critical success (two sixes) produces a potion combining the effects of two chosen potions.
• PCs and the GM, collaborating, may design custom potions; they should function mechanically like those on the standard list.

Herbalism / Apothecary

PCs can create medical items. To do so, they must:

• Declare the intent during a long rest (they recover 2 less fatigue that rest).
• Spend a resource.
• Roll on Herbalism/Apothecary:
  • Critical success: you combine two chosen effects without paying their normal costs.
  • Full success: you successfully craft a chosen medical item.
  • Partial success: choose one
    • You succeed, but randomly determine which medical item you created.
    • Or you choose which decoction to make, but you suffer a random mental status.
  • Failure: the crafting fails, the resource is wasted, you gain a mental status, and take 1d20 damage.
• PCs can create decoctions in the same way as medical items.
• Any critical failure (two ones) advances the Corruption Clock.
• Any critical success (two sixes) produces a decoction that either combines two chosen effects or has no side effects.
• PCs and the GM may design custom decoctions; they should function mechanically like those on the standard list.

Crafting Technology

PCs can create tactical gear. To do so, they must:

• Declare the intent during a long rest (they recover 2 less fatigue that rest).
• Spend a material.
• Roll on Technology:
  • Critical success: you combine two chosen gear effects without paying their normal costs.
  • Full success: you successfully craft a chosen piece of tactical gear.
  • Partial success: choose one
    • You succeed, but randomly determine which gear you created.
    • Or you choose which gear to make, but you suffer a random physical status.
  • Failure: the crafting fails, the material is wasted, you gain a physical status, and take 1d20 damage.
• PCs can craft ordinary utility items (shovel, rope, etc.) exactly as they craft tactical gear—but on a partial success they always choose the item created and suffer a random physical status.
• PCs can repair weapons, armor, or items exactly as they craft tactical gear—but:
  • On a partial success they choose which item is repaired and suffer a random physical status.
  • It costs one downtime action instead of a long rest.
• Any critical failure (two ones) advances the Corruption Clock (due to electrical surges or chemical backlash).
• Any critical success (two sixes) produces tactical gear that either has two uses instead of one or yields two copies of the same item.
• PCs and the GM may design custom tactical gear; it should function mechanically like items on the standard list.

Interactive Elements

Traps

• Traps are placed to kill or effectively stop intruders. They should inspire terror, so they must always be lethal or impose status effects.
• PCs roll Investigation to detect a trap only if they explicitly declare they’re looking for one.
  • Partial success – the PC notices a trap but can’t deduce how it works.
    • e.g. “You see a metal plate riddled with holes; you know there’s a mechanism underneath that could trigger something dangerous, but you can’t tell what.”
  • Full success – the PC notices the trap and understands roughly how it functions and what to do.
    • e.g. “You expect poisonous gas to seep from those holes.”
• Every trap deals 1d20 damage and/or imposes a status.
• To attempt disarmament, the PC must describe a logical method for neutralizing the threat.
• The GM may grant advantage if the proposed method is truly convincing.
• PCs may use any appropriate trait—for example, Athletics to physically dismantle it.
  • Partial success – the PC disarms the trap but suffers 2 fatigue.
  • Failure – the trap is triggered and the PC takes disadvantage on their saving roll against its effect.
• The saving roll to avoid a trap’s effect uses a fitting trait (e.g. a gas trap calls for an Endurance check; a guillotine for Dexterity).
  • Full success – the PC weathers the effect as well as possible and draws one physical or mental status (depending on the trap).
  • Partial success – the PC partly resists: either draws one physical or mental status (their choice) or takes 1d20 damage.
  • Failure – the PC suffers catastrophic effects: draws one physical or mental status (depending on the trap) and takes 1d20 damage.
• Even on a full success against a trap you trigger, the PC still suffers something—usually fatigue to represent the shock.
• The GM can warn PCs that a trap has potentially catastrophic consequences. After such a warning, you aren’t obliged to hold back from removing a limb or worse if they fail their roll.

Riddles / Puzzles

• If PCs have no idea how to solve a riddle or puzzle the GM has set, they may attempt to overcome it with a group test on Mind.
  • If they succeed, they earn one clue for each 6 rolled.
  • If they fail, each PC gains 1 fatigue and may inadvertently trigger any trap the puzzle conceals.

End of Session

At the end of the session, each player says how their character feels about what has happened.
Never skip this step!

Each player receives 2 advancement points.

One person—going around the table—volunteers to write, in bullet points, what happened and add it, with the date, to your shared online journal that everyone can view.

For the GM – How to Run

Allow PCs to Participate in Creating World Details –

When you present the world, leave space for a player to expand it by asking questions such as:

• What’s the strangest thing you see in this tavern?
• How does your character know this NPC?
• Why does this place inspire fear in you?
• What does this remind you of from your childhood?

How to Build an NPC –

• What do they want? – one clear objective
• What do they look like? – one sentence, including a distinctive trait (e.g. they keep scratching the back of their neck)
• What is one weakness you can exploit? – one sentence

Building Tension

• The world often works against the PCs. Tension rises. Time is running out. It gets harder. Will we make it? How much slack do we have left? The mechanics collected here help the GM foster a real sense of pressure and consequence.
• They all operate on the principle of clocks.

Clocks – what are they?

• Every action has consequences. Clocks measure their progress, for example:
  • the number of people the PCs must convince to change their mind in order to truly influence the social situation.
  • how many failures the PCs can suffer before someone realizes they’ve broken into the judge’s house.
  • how many of the boss’s weak points the PCs have wounded.
  • how close the bounty hunters are to finding the PCs who have warrants out.
  • how many rests the PCs can take in the dungeon before the beast finds them.
  • how many successes the PCs need to escape a trap in time.
• A clock can have as many points as needed—typically no fewer than 4 and no more than 8.
• The GM decides by how many points the PCs’ actions or events advance the clock.
• The GM decides whether the clock is public or hidden. It can also be semi-public: the PCs don’t know the total, but the GM informs them whenever it moves.

Sample Clock Mechanics

Immediate Pressure

• Each successive turn imposes fatigue.
• At the start of each turn, the GM rolls 1d6—on a 1, time has run out.
• Every round, the boss’s base damage increases by 1.
• You may take only as many actions before capture as you rolled successes.
• Each failure advances the clock by 1—every mistake costs a second.
• If the PCs don’t gather 3 full successes in 5 rounds, they fail to escape the collapsing tower.

Clocks in Combat

• PCs are defending someone—if that person is struck by ten enemy failures, they die.
• If enemies burn down four houses, the entire village the PCs vowed to save goes up in flames.
• Each round without resolving the threat prompts the GM to roll 1d6—on a 4+, a new enemy arrives.
• The boss cannot be killed until the clock fills—you must expose its weak point first.
• PCs must destroy ritual totems before the clock fills—otherwise the enemy regenerates.
• The longer the fight drags on, the more foes arrive. Each round advances the clock; at full, reinforcements show up.
• The more hits the boss takes, the stronger its final form becomes.
• The boss has a devastating attack—each PC failure advances its recharge clock.

Social Clocks

• The number of transgressions—insults, disrespect, value violations—before the community turns hostile.
• The number of debate successes required to earn the king’s trust.
• How many lies you can tell before someone starts fact-checking.
• How many questions you can ask before bystanders see through your disguise.
• How many alliance-breaking messages can reach a neighbor before cooperation collapses.
• How many diplomatic failures will ruin the plan.

Passage of Time

• After three in-game hours (accelerated by short rests), night falls and the PCs may uncover a secret visible only in moonlight.
• How many scenes the PCs can resolve before it’s too late to reach an important event.
• How many long rests before the PCs fail to reach the erupting volcano.
• How many noisy incidents the PCs must leave behind before bounty hunters catch up.
• How many units the PCs must recruit before they’re ready to retake the temple from invaders.

During Exploration

• How long the PCs can stay in a magic-tainted zone before it affects them.
• How many Survival test failures before they become truly lost.
• How many real-time minutes they can spend underwater before running out of air.
• Each rest in the desert restores one fewer point of fatigue.
• How many successes they need to survive a night in the wild without consequences.
• How close they are to discovering a secret path—each full success advances the clock.
• How long they can make noise in the ruins before waking something best left asleep.
• How many clues they must gather to locate a hidden dungeon entrance.
• How many times they can use the same makeshift crossing before it collapses into the river.
• How many turns they can spend disarming a trap before the mechanism triggers.

Building Fights as the GM

• When you as the GM find yourself needing to quickly prepare an encounter, or simply looking for inspiration, you can use the ready-made patterns and tables below to build a dynamic, engaging, and memorable challenge for the PCs on the fly.
• The following fight types don’t cover every possibility, but show how to stage many common scenarios.

Fight Types

1. Defense

• Goal: Hold out for X rounds, defend an NPC/object/location, escort something across the map.
• Mechanics:
  • Enemies attack in waves.
  • If they score X hits on the NPC/object, the PCs lose.
  • Rolling a 1 on the main die means the defended object takes 2 hits.

Examples:

• Defending a caravan from bandits.
• Guarding a magical ritual from interruption.
• Holding a bridge until reinforcements arrive.

2. Difficult Terrain

• Goal: Win the fight in harsh environmental conditions.
• Mechanics:
  • Rolling a 1 on the main die triggers a terrain hazard: lava splashes from a geyser, you slip on ice, you get tangled in thorny vines, etc.
  • PCs may use Athletics to shove enemies into hazards; enemies can do the same.
  • Certain zones are dangerous: entering or starting your turn there forces a saving throw (appropriate trait). Failure imposes a random physical or mental status; partial success lets you pay fatigue to avoid it.
• Often combined with other fight types.

Examples:

• A battle among erupting steam vents.
• Falling into a trap in a mountain ravine.

3. Escape

• Goal: Get away instead of defeating the foe.
• Mechanics:
  • Each turn, players earn Escape Points from their rolls:
    • 1 point for a partial success
    • 2 points for a full success
  • If they reach X points before time runs out, they escape.
  • Current total and required total are public.
  • Rolling a 1 on the main die means you stumble, lose an item, or lose 2 Escape Points.

Examples:

• Breaking out of a prison before the guards lock the doors.
• Racing out of a burning building.

4. Domination

• Goal: Seize and hold a key position.
• Mechanics:
  • There’s a control area—PCs must drive all enemies out.
  • Enemies attack in waves; if they push the PCs out, the PCs lose.
  • Rolling a 1 on the main die summons another enemy.

Examples:

• Taking the guard tower during a siege.
• Holding a choke point in a canyon.

5. Time Pressure

• Goal: Stop something from finishing (e.g. a ritual).
• Mechanics:
  • The GM rolls 1d6 each round—on a 1, the event completes.
  • Or each round every PC takes 1 fatigue.
  • Or each PC failure advances the end-of-event clock by 1.
  • To interrupt the event, PCs must destroy/neutralize X specific objects or people.
  • Rolling a 1 on the main die either advances the clock or re-triggers another aspect of this encounter’s mechanics.

Examples:

• Preventing the necromancer from raising an undead army.
• Closing a portal before a monster crosses through.

6. Destruction

• Goal: Destroy something rather than fight to the last.
• Mechanics:
  • The object needs X hit successes to break.
  • Enemies try to stop the PCs from reaching their objective.
  • PCs can use the environment (chop down a pillar onto a statue) to add hits.
  • Rolling a 1 on the main die means someone reinforces or repairs the target, forcing +2 extra hits.

Examples:

• Collapsing a cavern pillar to bring down the ceiling.
• Burning all the key documents in a fortress.

7. Boss Fight

• Goal: Defeat an exceptionally powerful foe with special phases.
• Mechanics:
  • Phases: Every X hits on the boss triggers a new phase or ability.
  • Weak Points: Each boss has one weak spot per phase, revealed by a full success in Perception or relevant lore.
  • Special Attacks: Every X rounds or PC failures, the boss unleashes a devastating move.
  • Each round the boss’s base damage increases by 1.
  • Rolling a 1 on the main die advances the boss’s special-attack clock or grants an extra action.

Examples:

• Two smaller foes merging into one, then splitting again.
• A golem empowered by runes—destroy the runes one by one to weaken it.

8. Hunt / Invisible Foes

• Goal: Track and defeat a foe before it escapes.
• Mechanics:
  • Tracking: Each turn PCs roll Perception, collecting points: 1 for a partial success, 2 for a full success. If the foe gathers X points, it escapes or hides successfully
  • Invisible foes can mislead PCs—luring them with sounds—forcing further Perception checks and boosting their escape chances.
  • Hidden foes may ambush and then vanish or leave traps.
  • Rolling a 1 on the main die increases the foe’s escape-point requirement by 2.
  • If the foe fails to escape, each X points PCs gather can translate into a surprise attack on it.

Examples:

• Hunting a demon that phases between shadows.
• Chasing a fleeing assassin who misleads trackers.

9. Combat in Motion

• Goal: Fight while moving—on a wagon, train, horse chase, or moving platforms.
• Mechanics:
  • Any failure risks a fall unless you pay fatigue.
  • If an attack achieves at least half successes on all dice, the target falls unless they pay fatigue.
  • Falling may remove you from combat; fights can drag on until fatigue runs out.
  • Shifting battlefield: Every 2 rounds the terrain shifts (a carriage uncouples, platforms move).
  • Rolling a 1 on the main die triggers another terrain shift.
  • X full successes smooth out the terrain and reduce fall risk.

Examples:

• A duel atop a flying giant snake.
• Battle across swaying chandeliers.

10. Chaos in a Crowd

• Goal: Precise action amid random elements—more than just foes.
• Mechanics:
  • Rolling a 1 on the main die means you collide with the panicked crowd and fall.
  • If you fall, you make an Endurance check to withstand trampling. Partial success – 2 damage; failure – 4 damage.
  • All attacks and spells have disadvantage—hard to aim or cast gestures.
  • An attack failure kills a random bystander; after X such deaths, the crowd turns on the PCs.
  • Changing zones requires a Dexterity check to push through the crowd; failure means you’re carried one zone away by the mob.

Examples:

• A melee in a crowded market where bystanders impede combat.
• Fighting amid a stampede.

11. Illusion Combat

• Goal: Identify the real threat among illusions and false copies.
• Mechanics:
  • A full success in Perception dispels one illusion—you can attempt this as an action.
  • Rolling a 1 on the main die multiplies the illusions, increasing identification difficulty.
  • Failing an attack gives disadvantage next turn due to confusion.
  • Each illusion has 6 HP.

Examples:

• A mage duel where the foe creates copies of themselves.
• A hall of mirrors.

12. Severing Power

• Goal: Weaken the foe by separating them from their source of power.
• Mechanics:
  • PCs need X points from Athletics or Sleight of Hand to damage the power source enough to break it. Partial success grants 1 point, full success 2 points.
  • Rolling a 1 on the main die means the foe temporarily strengthens the link—PCs must earn an extra 2 points.
  • A full success in Perception or Arcana (as an action) reveals one of three weak links; destroying one requires a full success and immediately grants 4 points toward severing. After all three are destroyed, the link breaks regardless of current points.
  • Until the link is severed, the foe may be effectively immortal or too resilient for direct damage to be optimal.

Examples:

• Fighting a knight whose strength comes from a relic in his armor.
• Confronting a child possessed by a demon—you don’t want to hurt the child.

Fight Tables

How to Use the Tables

• The GM rolls 4×d12 to determine Fight Type, Hazard, Opportunity, and Modifier.
• Combine them into one description and tailor to your world.
• Lay out combat zones so environmental elements matter.

1. Fight Type (d12)

2. Hazard (d12)

3. Opportunity (d12)

4. Fight Modifier (d12)

Zone Effects

• Most zones should influence the fight. You can choose or roll zones and their effects from the table below to quickly diversify the encounter.
• Zone effects stack.