“As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary.

”
― Ernest Hemingway

Glossary
Complication:​ A special hindrance that requires successes to bypass; if you can’t (or won’t),
the Complication inflicts a narrative disadvantage, such as an injury, additional difficulty down
the road, or some other problem.
Consolation:​ A minor benefit determined by the Director in the event of an action’s failure;
while not equal to a true success, and potentially attended by Complications.
Difficulty:​ How many successes are needed for the action itself to be considered successful.
Director: ​The GM/Storyteller in Sardonyx. Many of Sardonyx’s systems and narrative style are
based around that of an action film or long-form dramatic action series; a lot of the terminology
tends to reflect this.
Effect:​ Special maneuvers or options purchased with leftover successes. Several powers or
combat options (especially damage) require the expenditure of Effect.
Momentum:​ A narrative pacing device used to speed actions towards a climatic conclusion.
Momentum can be spent for a number of lower-e effects, after it’s added to the ​black pool ​(for
players) or the ​red pool ​(for the Director).
Target number:​ The number that needs to be shown on the die for the die to be counted as a
success. 8 or higher are always successes in Sardonyx, but some Tiers may lower this.
Sardonyx uses d10s.

The Core Mechanic

The Short Version, for Seasoned Roleplayers
Roll a dice pool of Attribute + Skill. Each die that hits the target number is a success (10s
are 2 successes). If you score 1 or more successes add any Enhancement bonus
successes. Spend successes equal to the difficulty. You succeed if you have any left
over, and fail if you don’t. You gain Momentum or a Consolation for failing. If you score 0
successes rolling the dice and one or more of them show a 1, you botch and fail
especially badly, but earn more Momentum than for a failure. Consult the rules for
variations and adjustments for specific situations.

Sardonyx​ uses the following core mechanic to resolve tasks and conflicts. This forms the basis
for systems about specific actions (such as combat) and ad hoc systems the Director might
develop at her table.
Core Mechanic Procedure
1. Form a ​dice pool​ equal to the sum of one Attribute plus one Skill. The player and Director
negotiate which dice pool to use, though the Director makes the final decision. Some actions
change how you form dice pools.
2. Roll a number of 10-sided dice equal to your dice pool. These are the only type of dice you’ll
use in ​Sardonyx​ games.
3. Count each die that meets or exceeds the ​target number​ (determined by character Tier) as 1
success​ unless the die face shows a 10, in which case you get ​double 10s​, or 2 successes.
(Some special conditions score two successes from one die that hits a lower number, but when
none of these are in force, the rule is “double 10s.”)
4. Some situations provide ​Enhancements​. These add bonus successes as long as you roll at
least 1 success in the first place. If you roll 0 successes, Enhancements do not apply.
5. “Spend” (subtract) a number of successes (from both those you rolled and from
Enhancements) equal to the ​difficulty​ of the task at hand. Sometimes you might need to buy off
Complications​ in situations where you have the option to succeed, but might suffer some bad
effect otherwise.
6. If you retain any successes after spending successes on difficulty, you ​succeed​. The number
of successes left after that determine how well you succeed. Spend them on one or more
Effects​, or use them to generally measure how well you did.
7. Rolls ​fail​ when the dice score 0 successes, or the total rolled successes and Enhancements
do not exceed its difficulty. When a roll fails, the Director can offer ​Consolation​ (an ad hoc
benefit that keeps the story interesting), or you can add ​Momentum​ to the players’ ​black pool​.
Momentum increases the chance that an ally might succeed, or that players’ characters might
triumph in a subsequent action.
8. If the dice score 0 rolled successes (do not count Enhancements) and come up with the
number 1 on at least one die face, the roll ​botches​. A botch is an especially severe failure that
sets the character back but earns extra Momentum.
Enhancements before Difficulty
It’s important to ​always add Enhancements before spending successes on difficulty​.
Otherwise you might think you’ve got 0 successes left and don’t qualify for
Enhancements in the first place!
When to Roll Dice
Rolling the dice is just one way to decide what happens in the game. It’s not better or worse
than other methods, but it’s designed to generate interesting, unpredictable results that usually
fit ​Sardonyx​’s dramatic action focus.
Note that none of the following diceless options cost or earn Momentum. None are designed for
tactical, number-crunching play, either—if you want that, get back to the dice.
Never Roll the Dice When:
1. The average person could perform the action without failing, unless the character’s
background disallows typical knowledge or ability. ​Example:​ ​If you can search the internet to
figure out who won the World Cup in 1994, your character can—unless she recently traveled
through time from the 1930s or comes from a magical realm with no computers.
2. In the given circumstances, the character could perform the action without any chance of
failure. ​Example:​ ​A surgeon performing a simple operation in a quiet, well-equipped clean
operating room always succeeds.
3. Success or failure isn’t dramatically interesting, even if it’s necessary to the story. ​Example:
To experience the next scene, the characters absolutely need to find a clue telling them the
answers they seek can be found in a fortified building just outside of town. Directors, just give
them the clue!
Doing Things without Rolling Dice
Rolling dice is fun because it makes the story unpredictable, and influences pacing without the
Director just handing down events from on high. It gives players a chance to think about
developing strategies and tactics based on the rules. But sometimes it’s faster, easier or fits a
group’s style to resolve actions without dice. Here’s how:
Simple Agreement: ​If the player and Director agree on an outcome and it would be more
entertaining than rolling dice, go with the agreed-upon outcome.
Example:​ ​When a mighty opponent lifts the character up by the throat and throws her aside, her
player says, “I drop a grenade in his coat pocket while he’s distracted by kicking my ass!”
Everybody at the table chuckles and it would be a real downer if it failed, so all agree that the
action succeeds.
Character Trait Values: ​Look at the character’s Attribute and Skill dots and other traits. If the
description indicates a character would be up to the task, the Director can always permit it to
succeed. If you need to measure successes, grant one success for meeting the requirements
for the task, plus one for every Attribute or Ability dot higher than the minimum. Don’t use this
system if the element of chance would be more fun.
Example:​ ​“Only five people in the world could crack this encryption,” says their contact. “And
I’m not one of them.” The player notes that her character has Reason 4, Enigmas 5 and the
Cryptography Specialty. After checking with the Director the player replies in-character: “Make
that six.” She succeeds, though it just meets the threshold, granting 1 success.
Forming a Dice Pool
Calculate a dice pool by adding one Attribute and one Skill. The total equals the number of dice
you may roll to attempt the task. ​Sardonyx​ typically doesn’t use Attribute + Attribute pools or
anything besides Attribute + Skill.
To determine the appropriate Attribute, the player and Director should determine whether the
task primarily belongs to the Physical, Social or Mental arena, and whether it primarily tests the
character’s Force, Control or Resilience within that category. This determines the Attribute as
per descriptions in the character creation rules.
To set the appropriate Skill, look at Skill descriptions and pick the one that best fits the situation.
Standard and Ad Hoc Dice Pools
Every Skill possesses a standard Attribute pairing. This exists to speed play, not impose a
straitjacket on the dice pools you might form. For instance, Culture forms dice pools with
Reason by default. Write down these dice pools, because you’ll use them a lot.
This standard pool covers the Skill’s most common uses—but not all of them. If that the task at
hand requires a different Attribute than that associated with the Skill, don’t hesitate to go with
that alternate pairing. ​Example:​ ​The character wants to impress his host with his knowledge of
local customs. The player and Director agree Persuasion + Culture is the way to go.
Dice Pools for Mixed Actions
In ​mixed actions​ (see “Action-Adventure”) characters want to do a number of things at
once—punch somebody in the face while calculating spaceflight coordinates to be entered by
neural implant, or make a really good curry while researching unspeakable lore—whatever. In
these cases, look at the dice pools for each action. More formally, we say the character
performs one action with multiple ​Effects​—Effect with a big E has a specific game meaning in
Sardonyx​ we’ll talk about later on.
In mixed actions, roll once for all actions using the ​lowest​ of all applicable pools. ​Example:​ ​The
character goes for the aforementioned punch in the face (Might + Brawl is 8) and coordinate
calculation (Cunning + Pilot is 5). The player rolls a pool of 5 dice once.
Modifying Dice Pools (Don’t!)
Let’s be clear: In ​Sardonyx​ Directors should ​almost never modify dice pools.​ Don’t subtract dice
when something’s hard to do. Use the difficulty rules instead. Don’t add dice when something’s
easy. Use the Enhancement rules. Players and Directors may be used to tweaking dice pools
from other systems, but ​Sardonyx​ is designed to avoid this as much as possible so that players
can memorize common dice pools and avoid time adding and subtracting dice.
One exception is Momentum (see “Momentum”) which can sometimes add dice.
Target Numbers and Counting Successes
After rolling the dice pool, each die that meets or exceeds the target number counts as 1
success (2 if the die rolls a 10, and 2 for other “double” benefits, listed below). Your target
number depends on your character’s Tier. Target numbers by Tier are:
• ​Mundane:​ 8
• ​Daredevil:​ 8
Successes and Doubles
It’s a fundamental system, so to repeat: Each die that meets or exceeds the target number
scores 1 success, or 2 if the die rolls a 10.
All characters benefit from ​double 10s​, where every 10 on a die counts for 2 successes instead
of 1. Some special benefits provide ​double 9s​ (9 and 10 count for 2 successes), ​double 8s​ (8,
9 and 10 are two successes) and so on. A “doubles” rule can never lower the basic target
number of an action.
A success is the basic currency of the ​Sardonyx​ dice system. You spend them to overcome
difficulty, create cool Effects and so on.
Characters might acquire extra successes from Enhancements and sometimes other benefits
(such as extraordinary powers). These add to any successes from the dice pool.
Modifying Target Numbers
Similar to dice pools, ​Directors should almost never modify target numbers.​ For the most part,
only Tier changes modify a character’s target number. Don’t raise or lower the target number to
make tasks harder or easier. Use difficulty and Enhancements instead.
Enhancements
Enhancements add successes (not dice) to those you roll with your dice pool, but you must
score at least one success with dice to add any Enhancements. An Enhancement only adds
successes when the Enhancement specifically applies to what you want to do. However, ​all
Enhancements that apply to a task qualify.
(This is especially handy for mixed actions, where your dice may only score 1 or 2 successes
per Effect, but you might apply separate Enhancements to each).
The most common Enhancements are Skill Specialties. Each Specialty adds 1 success to the
Effect it would help accomplish. Equipment, favorable circumstances and general ease also add
Enhancements.
Always total rolled and Enhancement successes ​before​ spending them on difficulty—or
anything else, for that matter.
Difficulty
Each Effect possesses a difficulty number, even if it’s 0. That number represents the number of
successes that must be spent (subtracted from successes scored, including Enhancement
bonuses) to overcome. If you need to spend successes on more than one thing, difficulty always
comes first.
You don’t succeed at an action unless you overcome (“buy off”) all difficulty, and retain at least 1
success afterward to make things happen.
Do not add difficulty lightly! A mundane character needs about ​three dice​ to buy off 1 point of
difficulty because at a target number of 8, three dice usually generate 1 success. 0 difficulty is
sufficient for ​many​ tasks. Remember too that the system is designed to support rolling dice in
stressful, action-oriented situations, not everyday tasks. This amps up the inherent difficulty of
actions worth rolling dice for in the first place.
Complications
A ​Complication​ is a special hindrance that requires successes to bypass. If successes can’t or
you choose not to buy off a Complication, it inflicts a disadvantage, such as an injury, additional
difficulty down the road, or another problem.
Some tasks inflict bad effects if you fail to succeed. If you miss the jump, you fall. This is not a
capital-C Complication.
A Complication does ​not ​affect difficulty. It has a separate rating. Players may choose to spend
successes to avoid it, or they may ignore it and suffer the consequences.
Example:​ ​An enemy lays down covering fire. Tara can either spend successes to carefully
return fire in between bursts, or can declare that her character shoots without caring about it, in
which case she might get hit.
The Director decides which dice pool must be used to generate successes that you can spend
to counter the Complication. Directors should tell players this information—the system isn’t
intended to make them guess what Complications to look out for and spend successes blindly.
Effect
Many situations demand a more detailed result than a general degree of success, or some other
part of the system (such as combat) plugs success into additional rules. In these situations,
spend successes left after overcome difficulty on ​Effects​.
Spending successes on Effects triggers certain game systems. For instance, successes spent
on wounding an opponent purchases Effects that determines the injury’s type and severity.
Divide leftover successes among Effects. These successes must have been generated by the
appropriate dice pool and any linked Enhancements.
In the case of mixed actions, draw Effects from the multiple dice pools used to figure out the
pool for your mixed action. For instance, a dice pool figured out of the lowest of Might + Brawl
and Cunning + Awareness, may be used on Effects that knock an enemy out with fists and feet,
or to search for another, hidden enemy, but not those that could be generated by throwing a
knife.
Failure
If a dice roll scores 0 successes, or cannot muster enough successes to overcome difficulty
even after adding Enhancements to leave at least 1 success to purchase a degree of success
or Effects, the action fails.
In ​Sardonyx​, failure is never a “null action.” Players either win some kind of ​Consolation​ which
provides some benefit, moving the story forward, or earn ​Momentum​. An especially bad failure
called a ​botch​ occurs when the dice roll scores 0 successes and more 1s show up on the dice.
Beyond that, the effects of failure depend on the story. If Tara’s character fails to strike her
enemy, he sticks around, ready to hit back. If Steve’s character can’t win the friendship of a rival
hero, he can’t depend on her help during the quest.
Director controlled characters normally simply fail, though the Director can always add additional
complications to help move the story forward.
If players fail but don’t botch, the following options present themselves:
1. The Director can offer the player Consolation: a benefit that doesn’t exactly give the player
what she wants, but advances the character’s interests in some minor fashion. The player can
choose Momentum instead.
2. The character earns Momentum (see “Momentum”). The player can choose this option
instead of a Consolation if the Director gives her the choice, or the Director may choose to
provide nothing but Momentum to compensate failure.
In a complex action, the effects of failure apply per roll. However, some forms of Consolation
may not be appropriate or useful, so the Director can always award Momentum.
Note that to gain the positive effects of failure the roll must have been meaningful—if a
character spends her spare time failing to create a theory of everything in physics to try to soak
up Momentum when it has no meaning in the context of the story, there’s no system—she just
wastes a bunch of time.
Consolation Failure
Consolation​ provides a minor benefit determined by the Director. It can never provide an Effect
that would have been earned through true success. The Director chooses between the following
options:
Information: ​This Consolation provides information that benefits the character and helps move
the story along. This is never the information the character’s looking for, but comes across as a
side effect of attempting the failed action. ​Example:​ ​Tara’s character couldn’t break into the
system, but rifling through a desk for passwords gets her a list of sysadmins.
Minor Enhancements:​ The Director gives the player a 1 point Enhancement to a future action
related to what you were trying to accomplish. Multiple failures don’t cause this Enhancement to
accumulate. ​Example:​ ​Steve’s character swings wide, but he thinks he’s got a better handle on
how his foe dodges your attacks and can do better with the next blow.
Positive Impression: ​The Director provides an abstract social benefit. This doesn’t directly
affect social game systems, but does ease general conversations and roleplaying. ​Example:​ ​A
swing and a miss! Tara’s character spins off balance during the baseball game but recovers
with a smile. A baseball scout admires her spirit and sticks around to see if she’ll do better next
time.
Twist of Fate: ​In failure, the character’s action stumbles over an advantage out of sheer luck. It
wasn’t the result he was looking for, but it’ll do. If any optional Dramatic Editing is used, this is
an opportunity to do so. ​Example:​ ​Steve’s character can’t find right book—there are thousands
on these shelves. Fortunately, one of the wrong books is a lever that reveals the bookcase is a
door. It swings open to the secret room.
Momentum Failure
If failure earns Momentum instead of a Consolation, the player adds 1 point of Momentum to the
black pool. She must add the Momentum before spending it, to ensure it doesn’t exceed the
black pool’s cap. If the total would exceed the cap, discard the Momentum—the Director should
provide Consolation instead.
Momentum
Momentum​ is how ​Sardonyx​ gives players and Directors better control over dramatic pacing.
Momentum is by default “adiegetic”—it’s purely a game construct to shape the fiction. However,
individual games may situate Momentum in the world through various means, such as psychic
manipulation of quantum states or divine adjustments to destiny. Momentum provides a reward
for failure that encourages cooperation and delayed gratification, to punctuate scenes with
success after a period of failure.
Accumulating Momentum
Player characters gather Momentum in the following ways:
1. On her character’s failure, a player may either add 1 point of Momentum to the black pool
(see below) or “spend” it immediately by giving another player’s character a 1 success
Enhancement to her very next action. If she chooses either option, she doesn’t get a
Consolation for failing.
2. On her character’s botch, a player may either add 2 points of Momentum to the black pool or
“spend” it immediately by giving another player’s character a 2 success Enhancement to her
very next action.
3. When Director characters block social Manipulation, the Director gives players a black pool
award based on the severity of the block (see “Blocking Manipulation”).
4. Failed and blocked actions due to Dramatic Challenges earn additional momentum (see
“Dramatic Challenges”).
Director characters don’t gather Momentum unless player characters block social manipulations.
Each character contributes 1 point to the red pool (see below) per tier unless they’re minor
characters, in which case they contribute nothing. The same characters never earn new
Momentum until they don’t appear in play for a game session or at least a day, at which point
they reset to their starting values.
Add any award for blocking manipulations to this total. These awards do not need to have come
from blocking manipulations from those Director characters (they can even be awarded when
one player’s character blocks another) and carry over if not spent in prior scenes.
Black and Red Pools
Momentum accumulates in one ​black pool​ for all players and one ​red pool​ for the Director.
The Black Pool
All players share in a single ​black pool​—​not​ one for each character. The pool begins with 0
Momentum. Players add Momentum as they earn it.
The maximum amount of Momentum the pool can hold is based on the number and tier of
player characters, as follows:
Mundane: ​10 each
Daredevil: ​8 each
The Red Pool
All Director characters in play share one ​red pool​. As noted above, they begin with Momentum
already in the pool, which when added together determine the maximum in the pool. This is
based on the number and tier of Director characters, as follows:
Minor:​ 0
Mundane: ​5 each
Daredevil: ​4 each
Add any Momentum earned for blocking social manipulations to this total.
Spending Momentum
Players may spend Momentum in the following ways.
Activate a Power: ​Some games will include additional ways to spend Momentum. This is a
placeholder for those systems.
Immediate Aid: ​As noted elsewhere, instead of contributing to the black pool, the player can
give another player or Director character a 1 (on a failure) or 2 (on a botch) success
Enhancement to the character’s next action.
Focus Action: ​When a character has Focus, her player (or the Director for Director characters)
may spend all Momentum from the black pool, up to the character’s maximum. Players ​cannot
spend less—​ using Momentum this way is always extreme. Each point adds 1 die to the
character’s dice pool—a rare exception to the rule to never modify a dice pool.
The maximum amount of Momentum that can be spent depends on character tier, as follows:
Mundane: ​15
Daredevil: ​12
Complex Attempt: ​If you’re a participant in a complex action, a player may make an additional
attempt to overcome a milestone even after the maximum number of attempts have been used
up. This costs 3 Momentum. The player may purchase a maximum of one additional attempt per
character tier. The additional attempt uses up another interval of time—it doesn’t speed up
work, but lets the character work longer to avoid failure. The character does not need to have
Focus.
Momentum Options
Consider the following optional systems:
Acceleration:​ In an action scene, add 1 to red and black pools per round, for each
round that passes beyond the first, cumulatively (1+2+3+4+5) to a maximum of 5 cycles
(+5 on the 6th round). This bonus can’t exceed the black pool maximum but the red pool
maximum ​can​ increase. These extra points vanish from both pools at the end of the
scene.
Tit for Tat: ​Add up to 5 Momentum to the black pool once per character per scene, but
the Director adds the same amount to the red pool. This can’t exceed the black pool
maximum but the red pool maximum ​can​ increase—and furthermore, these extra dice
last until spent, even when the NPCs who formed the red pool get replaced by others.