Core Rules

Ability Rolls

Characters must make an ability roll to avoid negative consequences from a challenging action or a risky situation.

They pass if they roll equal or under the most fitting ability score on a d20, otherwise they fail and suffer consequences.

When multiple characters must make a collective ability roll together, roll the d20 only once. The group passes if the roll is equal or under any character’s ability score.

Ability Contests

Competitions among characters, such as racing or a game of chess, are resolved with an ability contest.

All contestants make a pre-established number of ability rolls, typically 4, and are ranked from most to least successes. Ties are broken with additional rolls. In team contests, the successes of team members are added together.

Challenge Levels

The GM estimates the challenge level of an action or situation based on the circumstances and the character’s capabilities, traits, and gear:

• Trivial: the character just succeeds, no roll needed.
• Challenging: decide the outcome with an ability roll.
• Impossible: the character can’t succeed, no roll needed.

Encumbrance

Characters can carry total bulk up to their carry limit. If they exceed half, they are encumbered: they must pass an additional STR roll each time they make an AGI roll or fail.

Besides bulk and encumbrance, it also matters how characters carry their stuff:

• They can wear what sounds reasonable: a set of clothes, a suit of armour, and various accessories (rings, gloves, etc.).
• They can hold one item in each hand. Weapons and items of bulk 3 or more require both hands to use.
• If they are wearing clothes, they are assumed to have enough containers (pouches, pockets, belts, a backpack, etc.) to store any number of items with individual bulk of 4 or less.

Followers

Each Player character may be accompanied by up to 2 followers. Players control them as their own character, assuming they are giving orders. However, followers will refuse to do something against their own interests, and the GM ultimately decides if they obey. When in doubt, passing a WIT roll is required to convince followers or keep their loyalty.

Health loss

If health drops to 0, the character dies at the end of the next activation unless healed before then. Health can’t drop below 0.

When STR changes, both maximum and current health are adjusted by the same amount.

Damage

Damage reduces health. If you roll the maximum on the damage die, roll again and add the new result minus 1 to the total. Keep re-rolling as long as this happens.

Armour reduces damage, but never by more than 3. Direct damage ignores armour.

Critical damage

Characters taking at once damage reaching specific thresholds suffer additional penalties due to critical damage. Health reduction due to STR loss, however, never triggers critical damage.

• Damage > Half current health ⇒ Incapacitated until the next stretch.
• Damage > Half maximum health ⇒ Also roll on the Injury table, which might cause ability loss, a temporary negative trait, or even death.
• Damage > Maximum health ⇒ The ability loss and affliction caused by the injury are permanent.

Incapacitated characters are knocked out or in terrible pain. They are unable to act and defenceless until they recover.

Corruption

Corruption represents spiritual taint caused by the use of magic and by demonic influence.

Characters must roll a d12 every time they suffer corruption. If they roll equal to or under their current total, they suffer direct damage equal to the roll but also heal an equal amount of corruption.

If corruption causes critical damage, the character also develops a permanent mutation chosen by the GM. A table of random mutations is presented in the Mutations chapter.

Spending omens

Omens can be spent in the following ways. Spent omens are recovered during downtime.

• Re-roll any die which directly affects the character, keeping the best result: an ability roll, a damage roll, a corruption roll, a chance roll, a roll on a table, etc.
• Save from death due to health or ability loss. Health and abilities reduced to 0 are increased back to 1.
• Cast a sacred spell.

Death

The Player characters aren’t powerful heroes, but common folks facing perils greater than themselves. Some will most likely die.

When that happens, the Player isn’t out of the game: create a new character as a replacement, who joins the company as soon as possible. The GM makes up a narrative justification, but the priority is letting the Player rejoin the game quickly.

The dead character’s companions must pay a total of 256ʂ for a proper burial or permanently lose 1 omen each. The cost is doubled if the remains aren’t retrieved. Depending on the scenario, death might carry additional penalties for the Players.