RPG Rules

By NOT GOING TO BE DOXED YET THANK YOU

To Dos

Split to two booklets/sections? Read other rules to get ideas. Might be worth it to include a second booklet/section to help quickly aid referees.

Pillars of design:

Player-facing Rules

Referee-facing Rules

Appendix

Disclaimer

Prospect referees should read the intro in the [Referee Booklet] first before continuing. All players—referee included—should read through the rules and be familiar with them before play.

Referee Booklet Intro

It is expected that players will read through the players booklet before the first session of the game is held. This means that some terms and definitions will stick in the minds of the players. If you wish to modify terms or make changes—such as changing the names, descriptions, and traits of the birthsigns available to players—then notify the players of such changes. It is important that the referee becomes familiar with the rules or at least reads the rules before starting the game. It is before the first session that modifications should be made and disclaimers stated to the players. Otherwise players may create characters without the referee’s modifications, and correcting errors will take time and can confuse players.

Never be afraid to modify a rule. Consider all rules optional. Referees are the judges of the game. They must adjudicate play, and these rules are merely here to assist in such adjudication. Strict adherence to the rules is not expected, and each table will vary. Sometimes the rules may dictate events that won’t make sense in the moment. Therefore the referee can—and should—adjudicate on what makes most sense even if it contradicts the rules. Most of all: HAVE FUN.

Character Creation

Attributes

3d6 rolled to define the score for each attribute. 8 attributes total. Attributes are divided into 2 categories, Body and Spirit.

Each attribute has an associated target value, which starts at 25%, and is enhanced as follows:

Attribute Score Target Adjustment
3-4 -10%
5-7 -5%
8-13 0
14-16 +5%
17-18 +10%

Target Values

The target value of each attribute is given as a percent. This is the number that you must roll under or equal to in order to succeed a test.

Not to be confused with the attribute score, which is the result of the 3d6 rolled.

Natural Affinity

Choose one category of attributes, either Body or Spirit. Increase target value by 10% all attribute target values within the category chosen.

Callings

(At least one calling must be chosen.)

A bonus applied to an attribute target value, where every points is 1%. Which attribute and test the calling can affect is at the discretion of the referee. 40 points total to spend on callings. Points may be split between multiple calls. Splitting costs 5 points per additional calling. No more than 5 callings can be had.

A Calling represents a craft, skill, or service that sustained the life of the character before that character set out adventuring. But the calling governs which attribute target value is increased, and only one attribute can be increased per Calling.

At the discretion of the referee, a character may have more than 30 points and/or more than 5 Callings. However, such expenditure cost time.

Max Number of Callings Maximum Points Age Increase
6 50 +10
7 60 +20
8 70 +30

The PC will age and accrue attribute modifications. For details, read the Age section in the Adventure chapter.

Dedication

After heeding the call to adventure, a character must choose how to approach the call.

Dedication Restrictions Abilities
Magic No armor and most weapons Mana, use crystal ball, learn named spells, develop unnamed spells
Order No mana or crystal ball, armor and weapons restricted by Order Cast and learn spells developed by Order only, improvement points worth +1 for SP
Adventure No mana or crystal ball All weapons and armor, including magical items, improvement points worth +1 for HP

Characteristics

Hit Points, Sanity Points, Mana, and Combat Stamina can be increased over time through training. The following sections indicate the starting point for each.

Hit Points

4d4 drop lowest.

Sanity Points

4d4 drop lowest.

Mana

Requires Magic dedication.

2d12 drop lowest.

Move Rate

30ft, modified by Armor and Encumbrance.

Encumbrance Capacity

15# if STR is 7 or above. 12# if STR is 6 or below.

Maximum weight and bulk available to carry by a character. Measured in abstract units and represented as Enc or #. When over-encumbered, a character’s move rate and combat stamina are reduced. Encumbrance units represent weight and bulk.

Combat Stamina and Damage Reduction

Combat stamina is used in combat to take actions. Damage reduction can reduce incoming damage.

Armor determine combat stamina, damage reduction, and move rate as follows:

Armor Type Combat Stamina Damage Reduction Move Rate
None 20 - +10ft
Light 10 2 +5ft
Medium 9 4 -
Heavy 8 8 -
Super Heavy 7 10 -

These are base numbers only. Magic armor, monster type, training, or situations may change the maximum Combat Stamina (CS).

Shields can also nullify incoming attacks but cost CS to do so.

Birthsign

Pick a birthsign. This represents traits that the character may have. Some characters may believe the birthsign is as good as destiny, while others hold it to an abstract sign with only minimal meaning.

The 13 Signs

  1. Banner
  2. Candle
  3. Fox
  4. Fisher’s Net
  5. Hands
  6. Harp
  7. Lady
  8. Leaf
  9. Lion
  10. Ram
  11. River
  12. Shadow
  13. Staff and Orb

The Banner represents leaders and valiant men and women. Those who swear and keep loyalty and fight for a cause they will not abandon and can lead others no matter the difficulty.

Traits:

Candle

The Candle is the sign for those born with an inner light and blessed with a natural ability to ignite hope and bring warmth to others. The Candle represents light and those who kindle it.

Traits:

Fox

The Fox represents clever and cunning people who are adaptable and quick witted. Those who are born under the Fox are gifted with a great luck at achieving goals and gaining rewards.

Traits:

Fisher’s Net

The Fisher’s Net represents those who can catch things, people, or talk in an efficient manner to benefit themselves. The Fisher’s Net is for those born with the ability to ascertain rumors or gather followers naturally.

Traits:

Hands

The Hands is the sign of healing and blessing, craft and work, ingenuity and direction. Those born under the Hands are hard working and talented with whatever craft they choose.

Traits:

Harp

The Harp represents the bards, musicians, minstrels, and troubadours. Those under this sign are musically inclined and can turn poetry into magic by singing, music, and laughter.

Traits:

Lady

The Lady is the sign of the most graceful, generous, and honorable men and women. Shame or failure seems to roll off the backs of those born under the Lady.

Traits:

Leaf

The Leaf represents the natural world and the dual nature of life and death, of spring and autumn. Those born under the Leaf are protectors and navigators of the natural world, and can understand death more than others.

Traits:

Lion

The Lion roars at his enemies, and those born under it are warriors of bravery and skill. They can overcome trials through strength and strategy, and are the epitome of raw power and might.

Traits:

Ram

The Ram represents an aggressive and tough nature. Tough, strong-willed, and stubborn individuals are born under the sign of the Ram.

Traits:

River

The River is the sign for wayward souls who travel far and wide or research deeply through ancient texts. Dungeons or castles cannot hold secrets that withstand the ebb and flow of those born under the River.

Traits:

Shadow

The Shadow is the sign under which thieves, cutthroats, and brigands are born. The Shadow represents deception, darkness, and night.

Traits:

Staff and Orb

The Staff and Orb represents the majesty and power of magic, kingdoms, principalities, and all of civilization. The Staff is the power of man and the orb is the harnessing of magic by man.

Traits:

Alignment

If alignment and faction play is important to the campaign, it may be worth adding in factional loyalty and general alignment when creating a character. Alignment can be dictated by factions, and only one alignment is allowed per character.

The following alignments are available to choose from:

Change in alignment overtime can be penalized through loss of improvement points or forced alignment change.

Loyalty

If the referee wishes to include loyalty and faction play. Read the Loyalty chapter for more information.

Details

Age

A typical adventurer starts anywhere from age 18 to 25. Older adventurers should be allocated more callings.

Physical Description

Describes what the character looks like physically. High Looks will denote an attractive character, high Strength and Endurance would indicate a large and strong character, etc..

Personal Background

1 sentence (maximum words up to referee) per 3 improvement points spent.

Money and Equipment

3d6 x 10 Silver pieces (sp) to start the game. A new character also starts with appropriate equipment suited for the callings, dedication, and faction the character possesses. Such possessions are subject to approval by the referee.

Purchase additional equipment before adventuring. See equipment chapter for prices. The referee may allow or deny equipment that is available to new characters, or change the prices of equipment as appropriate.

Magic

BREAK INTO 3 SECTIONS

Overview

Includes how magic works:

Combat

Combatant can refer to a PC, NPC, or monsters.

Overview

Combatants roll dice against each other to see who is victorious. The most basic roll is the attack roll, which is a test against the combat target value. (See adventure chapter for more details on what a “test” is.)

Combat Target Value

Either STR or DEX target values, whichever the player or referee prefer. Usually whichever is higher.

Initiative

Each combatant determines order in combat, called Initiative. This is DEX or INT plus current CS. DEX for all attacks excluding magic, which uses INT.

Reaction

If two parties unaware of each other encounter each other, each combatant rolls against either DEX or INT, whichever is highest. The party with the most successes wins. If it’s a tie, the roll closest to 1 succeeds. If still a tie, both parties are aware of each other at the same time and initiate proceeds normally. Otherwise the successful party will be the surprising and all combatants in the party get a free combat round.

Procedure

Combat is broken into two units:

A single combat encounter may last several rounds. Each combatant involved takes one turn per round. Combatants take turns in initiative order. The combatant currently taking actions is considered the Active combatant, and all other combatants are considered Inactive. After all combatants take a turn, the current round ends and the next begins. Initiative needs to be recalculated, then the round proceeds.

A combatant’s turn proceeds with the following steps:

Actions

List of actions:

Splitting Actions

Actions may be split by a combatant. This allows multiple actions to occur during a single turn that otherwise would be impossible. Split the percent across the desired number of actions.

EXAMPLE NEEDED

Combat Opposed Rolls

Attacker Defender Result
Critical Success Critical Success Stalemate. Both participants roll on the appropriate fumble tables.
Critical Success Success Attacker wins the combat and rolls double damage.
Critical Success Failure Attacker wins the combat and rolls double damage, ignoring defender DR.
Critical Success Critical Failure Attacker wins the combat and rolls double damage, ignoring defender DR. Defender rolls on the appropriate fumble table.
Success Critical Success Attacker loses the combat.
Success Success Stalemate.
Success Failure Attacker wins the combat.
Success Critical Failure Attacker wins the combat. Defender rolls on the defender fumble table.
Failure - Attacker loses the combat.
Critical Failure - Attacker loses the combat and rolls on the appropriate fumble table.

Shields

Shield Type Combat Stamina Cost
Small 1
Medium 1
Large 2

Adventure

Tests and Rolling

Success

Roll result is under or equal to the character’s attribute target value.

Roll result of 1-5 is always a success.

Failure

Roll result is above the target value.

Roll result of 96-00 is always a failure. 00 being a critical failure.

Critical Success

Roll result is under or equal to 1/10 (rounded down) of the target value.

(68% target value = 1-6 is critical success range)

Critical Failure

Roll result of a double 0 (00).

High Target Values

If an attribute target value is above 100% and the test being performed does not drop the target below 100%, then a roll is still required. However, only a 00 will cause failure. Because of the mastery, a critical fail is upgraded to a fail only. Critical success and success are treated normally.

Opposed Rolls

Characters roll against the attribute target value. If one character succeeds the test, that character succeeds the test while the other fails. The successful character has the best outcome of the situation.

If both succeed then the outcome is positive to both, the referee must determine what that looks like for the situation.

If both fail then a negative outcome occurs for both characters.

Tie Break (Optional)

If both characters succeed, the closest roll to 1 succeeds the opposed test.

Improvement Points

Improvement points are gained by:

Can be spent on:

Increasing Attributes or Combat Targets

Training

Time required for attributes that have been used is minimal, only a nights rest and some study in the evening and morning. Attributes that have not been used recently must be improved via practice or mentorship.

Current Target Range Target Increase
0-33% 1
34-100% 1d4 + 1
100%+ 2d4 drop lowest + 1
Practice

If a character has not used the attribute in recently, then the character must spend time practicing. Time required to increase the target value is based on the following chart:

Current Target Range Time Required
0-33% 16 hours
34-100% 8 hours
100%+ 16 hours
Mentors

Mentors help expedite training, or allow a character to improve an unused attribute, but cost money. The mentor must at least an attribute target 25% or higher than the character in order for the mentor’s services to be rendered.

Training with a mentor or master costs silver. The average cost in a town or city with a good trainer is 500-750 sp.

Current Target Range Cost Multiplier
0-33% x1
34-100% x2
100%+ x1.5

The mentor makes an attribute roll, determined by which attribute is being taught. Refer to the practice table to get base target increase.

Mentor Test Result Target Increase Bonus
Critical Success x2
Success x1.5
Failure x1
Critical Failure 0

Experts and masters in the field of what they teach may charge up to 5 times the amount a normal mentor. Mentors that are specific to a field may give discounts to students who practice the same craft.

Aided Practice

If two or more characters work together to practice an attribute, the speed is increased. This is reserved only for characters who have more than 100% in an attribute and cannot find a mentor to further their learning.

INSERT CHART HERE FOR TIME SPENT AND BONUS TARGET INCREASE

Study Material

Books, scrolls, runes, and other materials can be bought or found to aid a character in improving attributes.

No improvement points needed, but still require the normal times as outlined in the practice section.

Grants extra dice (number of dice and die type depends on quality of material), but result is still the highest single roll. Dice results are not added together.

Usable once per character.* Study material becomes useless for training—though some material can be worth a lot of silver—to the character after use, even if the result is abysmal.

* Usable once without external conditions, see following section for details.

Reattempting To Learn from Study Material

After time has passed…

With aid from a master…

After learning a language…

Increasing HP, SP, Mana, or CS

Improving Spells

Age

Age takes a toll on the body, but increases the capacity of the mind. Assuming that such a mind did not suffer from disease or disability, and that the body has endured the consistent use that adventuring would require, attributes are modified over time.

Every row represents an age bracket. When a character is within that bracket, either equal to or greater than the number, do the following:

Age Range Lose Test(s) Gain Test(s)
40-49 DEX INT, WIS (-10%), PER
50-59 STR, DEX INT, WIS, PER
60-69 STR, DEX, LKS WIL, WIS, PER
70+ STR, DEX (+10%), END, LKS, INT WIL, WIS, PER

Attributes in the Lose column are tested, and if failed, will cause the attribute score to decrease by one point. Those in the Gain column are tested and, if succeeded, will increase by one point.

Attribute scores can increase above 18 due to age. If aging drops an attribute score to 0, then that character rolls a d100 against 50%. Failure causes death. Success mitigates the death but every year the test must be performed again.

Loyalty

A character needs to belong to at least one faction (including self-interest factions). New characters will unlikely belong to multiple factions, but this is subject to discretion of the referee. A character’s loyalty is a measure of loyalty to the faction the character belongs to. Loyalty is measured as a percent from 1% to 100% and beyond. A character may be a member of multiple factions, but loyalty represents zeal and belonging that is most important to the character and other factions can be noted but no benefits are bestowed upon the character from them.

Starting Loyalty

Add the following together to produce a beginning loyalty score:

Optionally, if a character is converted to a new faction from a 0% loyalty position, but the new faction requires additional trials or work to join, the character uses the following loyalty score:

Loyalty score returns to the normal base score when all rites and ceremonies, if any, are performed. If any change in loyalty score took place in the intermittent time period, then changes are added to the regular base score.

Faction Zeal

Base number which every character loyalty starts at and determines if loyalty tests must be conducted.

High Loyalty

High loyalty can reward characters with faction exclusive knowledge, items, artifacts, connections, or other benefits. Extremely high loyalty of 100% or more may even qualify a character to retire or control to be handed over to the referee, but only as appropriate.

Low Loyalty

Low loyalty can cause friction for a character. When loyalty drops below the Faction Zeal, or once a week while loyalty is below Faction Zeal, then a loyalty test must be conducted. If the character fails, the character may be ousted from the faction or politely asked to leave, depending on the nature of the faction. If the character has other faction loyalties, then the character uses the starting loyalty of the next, most appropriate, faction. Which faction to change to must make sense in the situation and is at the discretion of the referee.

Loyalty Test

Roll against the current loyalty. Success nets more loyalty, while failure causes a loss in loyalty. Opposed tests can be conducted between two characters or an NPC and a character. If a character’s loyalty is 0%, then that character must use WIL or CHA—whichever is better—instead of the current loyalty.

Basic

Follow standard test rules in the Tests and Rolling section in the Adventure chapter but instead of using an attribute target value, current loyalty is used. Success nets a gain of 1d10 loyalty, failure nets a loss of 1d10 loyalty. Loyalty gained or lost increases to 1d10+10 if the success or failure is critical.

Opposed

Similar to the basic loyalty test, but each party gains or loses loyalty depending on the results when compared to each other. Stalemates utilize the Tie Break rule, see the Tie Break subsection in the Opposed Rolls section of the Adventure chapter. If both parties fail only a critical failure results in loss of loyalty, and only up to 1d10 points.

Change

Character loyalty and faction affiliation can change, or be changed, over time during play. Such methods include change over time, conversion, or faction related deeds or trials. If a conversion takes place it will likely not immediately take place. Factions can take time deciding what to do with members, perhaps even calling a tribunal/council to determine what to do.

When the time comes that the character changes factions (usually after being removed from the current faction) the character uses the same starting loyalty as described previously for the new faction. If the conversion is from one faction to no faction, the character must choose a self-interest faction that most suits the situation. Starting loyalty for self-interest factions are the same as regular factions.

Time

Over time loyalty can drop. When loyalty is dropped to 0 by time, a basic loyalty test must be conducted. Failure can result in being removed from the faction immediately or in time, depending on the referee.

Conversion

A character can change factions by being converted or recruited by another faction. This can only occur when a character has 0% loyalty but is not yet removed from the current faction. This is an opposed loyalty test between two characters. A success in conversion means the losing party, who also has 0% loyalty, must change factions right there. The details of the matter and any ceremonies required is at the discretion of the referee.

Deeds and Trials

Factions may renew loyalty or demand a character to prove loyalty. This is an opposed loyalty test against a fixed number determined by the referee.

Economy

Equipment

Encumbrance

# (or Enc) is one encumbrance unit, an abstraction of both weight and volume.

100 sp = 1/3 #

When above capacity, reduces movement rate by half and -20% penalty to all Body tests.

A character cannot carry more than double capacity.

Armor

Armor Armor Type CS Bonus DR Bonus Enc Cost
Cloth and Leather Light - - 4
Gambeson Light +2 - 3
Boiled Leather Light - +1 4
Brigadine Medium - - 6
Reinforced Leather Medium +1 - 5
Ring Mail Medium - +1 6
Full Mail Heavy -2 - 12
Scale Heavy -1 - 9
Partial Plate Heavy - +1 8
Full Plate Super Heavy - - 10
Fitted Full Plate Super Heavy +1 - 9

Magic armor can modify effects, such as increasing CS or DR bonuses or decreasing Enc. Magic armor can also be very costly either to buy or to sell.

Both Enc and Cost are modified by size. Humanoids of non-standard size must have armor customized and fitted to accommodate usage. See following section for details.

Armor for Different Humanoids
Size Cost Enc
Tiny x0.5 x0.1
Small x1 x0.5
Large x2-x4 x2-x6
Huge x4-x8 x6-x12

Weapons

Melee
Ranged

Miscellaneous

Refereeing

Saving Throws

Saving throws are tests that represent the character’s ability to avoid sudden or unseen dangers. Called by the referee, including which type. Roll a test against the attribute determined by the referee.

Loyalty

When the game gets more complicated, adding in Loyalty can benefit players and referees. It can add adventure seeds, help aid player goals when players feel lost, and help add progression to characters.