RWBY RPG

Alpha 1.1
Void10

Aaron Pace

www.facebook.com/void10games

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This game is a creation of love and I, Aaron Pace, and Void 10
have no claim to the licence of the RWBY franchise. I am also
not affiliated with the creators of RWBY or with the franchise
in any way.
RWBY is a creation of Rooster Teeth, found at
http://roosterteeth.com/.
If you have never heard of RWBY and for some reason are
checking out this game, please go seek out Rooster Teeth and
check out the show. Support it too. Also, buy the shirts…
Thank You for viewing this rulebook. Please feel free to leave
feedback at the Facebook page on the front page.

Thanks Again.

Aaron
manuvers

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Contents
The Players.............................................................................................................................6
The Headmaster (HM)............................................................................................................6
No HM, No Problem...............................................................................................................6
Character Profile....................................................................................................................7
Name..................................................................................................................................7
Team...................................................................................................................................7
Aura....................................................................................................................................7
Hitpoints.............................................................................................................................7
Movement..........................................................................................................................7
Attributes...........................................................................................................................7
Abilities...............................................................................................................................8
Let’s Make a Character!.........................................................................................................9
The First Step Is…...............................................................................................................9
TEAM NAME!!....................................................................................................................9
The Fixed Stuff....................................................................................................................9
Attributes...........................................................................................................................9
Abilities...............................................................................................................................9
Weapons of Choice............................................................................................................9
Weapons!.............................................................................................................................10
Primary Weapon..............................................................................................................10
Damage............................................................................................................................10
Special Rules.....................................................................................................................10
Sub-Weapon.....................................................................................................................10
Damage............................................................................................................................10
Special Rules.....................................................................................................................10
Special Rules.....................................................................................................................11
Semblances..........................................................................................................................12
Super Speed – 5 Aura per activation................................................................................12
Power Metre – Passive activation....................................................................................12
Glyph – 1 Aura per Active Glyph per use.........................................................................12

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 Shadow Clones- 1 Aura per Activation.............................................................................13
Bio Electric Strength – 4 Aura per Activation...................................................................13
Spectral Clones – 3 Aura per Clone..................................................................................13
Vanish – 5 Aura per Activation.........................................................................................13
Polarity – 2 Aura per Activation.......................................................................................13
Dust......................................................................................................................................15
Element............................................................................................................................15
Effect................................................................................................................................15
Conditions............................................................................................................................15
Dice Checks..........................................................................................................................16
What is a Dice Check?......................................................................................................16
How do I do a Dice Check?...............................................................................................16
How many Dice?...............................................................................................................16
What is the Target Number?............................................................................................16
Critical Success.................................................................................................................16
Completed Dice Check.....................................................................................................17
What do I do with these Successes?................................................................................17
Assisting............................................................................................................................17
Impeding..........................................................................................................................18
I was just trying to help....................................................................................................18
Story Sequence.....................................................................................................................19
Story Encounter................................................................................................................19
Ability...............................................................................................................................19
Attribute...........................................................................................................................19
Combat Sequence................................................................................................................20
Turn Order........................................................................................................................20
Actions..............................................................................................................................20
What actions can I take?..................................................................................................21
Headmaster’s Guide................................................................................................................23
Break it Down.......................................................................................................................23
Plot...................................................................................................................................23
Challenges........................................................................................................................23

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Story Challenges...................................................................................................................24
Story Challenge................................................................................................................24
Ability...............................................................................................................................24
Attribute...........................................................................................................................24
Threshold.........................................................................................................................24
Non-Player Characters.....................................................................................................24
Complex Challenges.........................................................................................................25
Combat Challenges...............................................................................................................26
GRIMM AND MINIONS.....................................................................................................26
The Difference between Grimm and Minions.................................................................26
Types Of Grim...................................................................................................................27
Types of Minons...............................................................................................................27
Special Rules.....................................................................................................................27
Character Enemies...........................................................................................................28
Breakdown of a Gaming Session..........................................................................................29
Where to begin?...............................................................................................................29
Story Sequence.................................................................................................................29
Combat Sequence............................................................................................................29
LEVELING UP!.......................................................................................................................30
Increase Aura by 5 Points.................................................................................................30
Increase one of the following by 1; Mind, Body, Soul, Movement, Hitpoints.................30
Increase Two Different Abilities by 1...............................................................................30

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The Players
RWBY RPG works best with 4 players. Each player is a Huntsman or Huntress in the team.
It is, however, acceptable to have fewer players, or have some Huntsmen or Huntress’ as
NPC’s. RWBY RPG relies on a simple Dice System using D10s and a whole lot of roleplay
and storytelling. So, unlock your Aura, draw your weapon and prepare for battle.

The Headmaster (HM)

The Headmaster runs the game. Other games call this person the Games Master or Dungeon
Master. Their job is to tell and direct the story, manage encounters and adjudicate actions
made by the players. The Headmaster is not on the opposite team to the Players though
they will be controlling the henchmen, grim and antagonists. The Headmasters job is to lead
the Players on a fantastic adventure which is challenging though not brutal.

No HM, No Problem
Although you won’t be able to play the Roleplaying side of the RWBY RPG without an HM,
you can fight Grimm, minions and each other. The main rules outline how characters fight
both other characters and Grimm, but the appendix will go into a little more detail.

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Character Profile
A Characters Profile is made up of Several Components. They are as follows.
Name
Make sure you name your Character!!!
Species
Humans make no Adjustments.
Faunus can see in the dark, but will
sometimes be penalised in Social
Interactions due to the stigma after the
war.
Robots cannot increase their Attributes
without some kind of Physical Upgrade.
They start with 15 points for Attributes
during Character creation and are not
restricted to attributes of 5. Robots also
suffer penalties for Social encounters.
Team
Everyone who is playing will be part of the
same Team.
Aura
Aura tells you your characters starting,
and maximum, Aura. Aura moves up and
down during a game. Any time you take
damage you reduce your Aura before you
reduce your Hitpoints. When you use Aura
or Semblance Abilities your Aura is also
reduced. Aura can be increased using
specific Actions.
Hitpoints
Hitpoints represent your physical
wellbeing. Reducing your Hitpoints
represents taking physical injury. If your
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Hitpoints are reduced to 0 or beyond you
are Knocked Out.
Movement
Movement tells you how many inches, or
grid-squares, you can move during
combat per action spent on Moving.
Attributes
Each character has THREE Attributes.
Whenever you wish your character to
perform an extraordinary action, like
attacking a monster or hacking into a
computer, you will perform a Dice Check.
The Attributes are the numbers you must
roll equal to or under to gain successes in
these Dice Checks. This is known as the
Target Number.
Mind
Mind is a measure of your character’s
mental abilities. This includes, but is not
limited to, accuracy with ranged weapons
and figuring out problems.
Body
Body is the strength, speed, toughness
and overall physical ability of your
character. It is used for melee attacks,
defence, and both strength and speed
based situations.
Soul
Soul is used primarily for Aura and
Semblance abilities.
Abilities Grit

Each Character has SIX Abilities.
Whenever you wish your character to
perform an extraordinary action, like
attacking a monster or hacking into a
computer, you will perform a Dice Check.
Your character’s Abilities tell you the
number of dice you will use for the Dice
Check.
Offence
Any time you are attacking another
creature you will use your Offence Ability.
This includes, but is not limited to, Melee
attacks, Ranged attacks and Offensive
Semblances.
Grit is used for tasks that require effort
and resilience. Opening a sealed door,
lifting debris off a friend, pushing over
boxes of Breakable Thing, these are all
actions that require you to use Grit.
Resolve
Resolve is used for tasks which require
persistence. You will use Resolve when
you are trying to convince Ozpin to let you
take on a dangerous Quest, practicing for
tournaments, or intimidating some thugs.

Defence

When your Character is being attacked

you will use your Defence Ability to
negate or reduce the Attack. Defence
represents your Characters ability to
dodge out of the way, and deflect attacks.

Anima

When your character is using their

Semblance or Aura Ability in a non-
offensive or defensive way, you use
Anima. This includes, healing, conjuring,
transferring, moving etc.

Discipline

Discipline is used for tasks that require

concentration. These tasks are primarily
mental tasks, but could be anything. You
could use Discipline for hacking a
computer, studying, analysing an enemy’s
attacks, ETC.

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Let’s Make a Character!
The First Step Is…
… to name your character. Remember
that people in the RWBY universe are
often named after colours and words that
have strong affiliations to colours. Think of
a suitably awesome name for your
character.
What Species are You?
Choose a species and make the necessary
adjustments.
TEAM NAME!!
You should wait till all the players are
together before you make a team name.
Your team name should take the first
letter of each of your characters and make
a colour out of it. Re-watch some episodes
of RWBY to see the different colours that
are used, there are some crazy ones.
The Fixed Stuff
Everyone starts with 5 Movement, 5
Hitpoints and 10 Aura. Once you get
underway in the campaign you will be
able to increase these, but for now they
are fixed.
That pretty much sums it up. Grab your gear and get ready for battle.
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Attributes
You would have seen in the last section
that a character has three attributes;
Mind, Body and Soul. When you create
your character you have 12 Attribute
Points which you may spend increasing
these attributes. You may spend these
points however you wish, except you
must spend all of them and you cannot
increase an Attribute above 5.
Abilities
A character’s Abilities show how skilled
they are at performing tasks. When you
are making your character you allocate
the following number to your Abilities
however you see fit; 5,4,4,3,3,2
Weapons of Choice
Now comes the really fun part, you will
choose your characters starting weapons
and Semblance. In the next two sections
you will find a list of weapons and
Semblances, and explanations of what
they do. Until you finish reading this book
some of the rules might not make sense.
So it is advised that you do just that, then
come back and choose your weapons
after.
Weapons!
Every Character has a personal set of
specially designed weapons. In RWBY
weapons are often a combination of a
Melee weapon and Ranged Weapon.
When you are choosing your weapons you
first decide on a Primary Weapon, this is
the base of your weapon. After that you
choose a Sub-Weapon, this is the weapon
incorporated in your Primary Weapon.
The statistics for weapons are very simple.
They tell you how much damage they do
and what special rules they have. Note
there are no ranges for ranged weapons
in RWBY as the area you play on will be
too small to bother. As long as the shooter
and the target are in the encounter they
are in range.

Primary Weapon Damag Special Rules

e
Sword 3
Katana 4
Scythe 5 Large, Reach
Gauntlet 2 Readied
Rapier 2
Spear 4 Large, Thrown Weapon, Reach
Halberd 4 Large, Reach

Sub-Weapon Damag Special Rules

e
Pistol 2 Ranged
Carbine 3 Large, Ranged
Sniper Rifle 4 Large, Powerful Recoil, Ranged
Sub-Machine Gun 1 Spray’n’Pray, Ranged
Shotgun 2 Powerful Recoil, Ranged
Shield 2* Armour,
Dust Chamber - DUST!

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Special Rules
Armour
This item is not actually a weapon and
cannot be used to attack. When it is
equipped it automatically reduces the
Successes from an attack against the
bearer by the number of Damage stated
in the profile.
Dust!
This allows the bearer to imbue their
weapon with Dust. Dust Chambers have
six slots. Dust Vials are placed directly into
the chamber. You can reload any number
of chambers with one Action.
When you use the Imbue with Dust Action
you may choose any Dust type you have
loaded in the chamber. Once you have
imbued the weapon you do not need to
again until you wish to change dust types.
You will continue to use this dust until it
runs out or you switch chambers. To stop
using dust, simply announce that you will
stop. This does not take an action.
Large
A large weapon can only be combined
with another large weapon. In addition it
requires two hands to operate. , so it can
be carried in one hand but cannot be used
in combat with only one hand.
Powerful Recoil
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If the bearer of this weapon moves at the
same time as they fire this weapon they
are moved 3 spaces (9 ft. /3m) in the
opposite direction to which they fired. The
bearer may use this to increase their
movement, by targeting nothing.
Ranged
You may attack an enemy anywhere on
the board with this weapon.
Reach
This you can attack enemies up to 2
spaces (6ft/2m) away with this weapon.
Readied
This weapon never has to be drawn. It is
always ready to fight, even if the sub-
weapon is active.
Spray’n’Pray
When you shoot with this weapon, you
may spend an extra Action to add dice
equal to your Offensive skill to the Dice
Check. You may use any number of
Actions to do this. You may not combine
any of these actions with movement.
Thrown Weapon
You may throw this Melee weapon,
treating it as if it has the Ranged special
rule. Once it is thrown, you no longer have
it until you retrieve it. Make a note of
which creature it is in. You simply need to
be adjacent to the location of your
weapon and spend an action to retrieve it.
Semblances
Semblance is the manifestation of one's innate and personal power as an ability unique to
each individual, with the effects varying greatly from user to user. As a Hunter or Huntress
your character will have a Semblance which they can call upon in battle.

Below are the Semblances which you can choose from. The Semblance listings explain how
much Aura is used when you activate the Semblance and their combat effect during a
Combat Sequence. A Semblance that says Passive instead of an Aura amount is always
active and is explained further in the Semblances description.

Some Semblance activate as part of another Action. This means it does not require an
additional Action to activate it.

Semblance can be used during Story Sequences as well. You and your HM will figure out
between you exactly how they will work during the Sequence.

Super Speed – 5 Aura per activation Platform

When you activate this Semblance your
Movement is tripled and your Body
Attribute is doubled until your characters
next activation.
Power Metre – Passive activation
For every 2 points your Aura has been
reduced, add once dice to your Offence
and Defence Dice Checks.
Glyph – 1 Aura per Active Glyph
per use
Activate this Semblance to place any
number of Glyphs in any Grid, not
exceeding one Glyph per grid. Any
number of any type of glyphs may be in
play at any time. Each time a Glyphs
ability is triggered, reduce your Aura by 1
per Glyph currently in play.
Any number of Glyphs can be removed as
an action.
There are three Glyphs you can use.
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When your character or a friendly
character moves onto a Platform Glyph
you must trigger its ability. The character
which triggers the ability may move an
extra 3 spaces. This is a free movement
and is not counted as an Action. Enemies
which move over the platform also trigger
them, but do not gain the extra
movement.
Platform Glyphs may be imbued with Dust
by the character that placed them, at the
time of placing by spending another
action and a dose of Dust. An imbued
Glyph will imbue friendly characters that
trigger the glyph, will imbue projectiles
which pass through the Glyph, and an
enemy which triggers the glyph suffers the
effects of the Dust.
When performing a Melee Attack against
an enemy, any friendly character,
including you, may roll its attack an
additional time by triggering a Platform
Glyph adjacent to the enemy attacked.
Each Glyph can only be triggered once per
attack.
Haste
Time Glyphs are used to speed-up friendly
characters. When a Time Glyph is placed
on a Friendly Character they may trigger it
to immediately take a free action.
Gravity
Gravity Glyphs are used to hold enemies
in place. When an enemy character tries
to perform an action on a Gravity Glyph, it
triggers and they instead forfeit their
action.
Shadow Clones- 1 Aura per
Activation
Activate this Semblance when attacked to
negate all Damage from the attack.
This Semblance can be Imbued by
spending another action and a dose of
Dust. The attacker suffers the effects of
the Dust when this Semblance is
activated.
Bio Electric Strength – 4 Aura per
Activation
Activate this Semblance to increase your
Body Attribute and your Hitpoints by 1.
Passive Abilities – These do not cost Aura
Anytime you take Lighting Damage,
negate that damage and increase your
Body Attribute and Hitpoints total by 1.
Anytime you are imbued with Lighting,
ignore it and instead increase your Body
Attribute and Hitpoints total by 1.
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Anytime you take Water Damage, negate
that damage and reduce your Body
Attribute and Hitpoints total their starting
amount.
Anytime you are imbued with Water,
ignore it and instead reduce your Body
Attribute and Hitpoints total to their
starting amount.
Spectral Clones – 3 Aura per Clone
Activate this Semblance to create any
number of Spectral Clones. The Clones
gain three Actions immediately, and each
time the owner Activates. The clones can
only use the Move and Melee Attack
Actions. The clones have the same
statistics as the owner. Once the clones
have made a Melee attack they disappear.
If the clones are attacked, they interrupt
their attack to make a Melee attack
against them and then disappear.
Vanish – 5 Aura per Activation
Activate this Semblance to remove your
character from play. At any time you may
interrupt another Action to place you
Character back in play anywhere on the
Grid, following the regular rules of
placement. Replacing your character does
not use an extra Action.
Polarity – 2 Aura per Activation
Polarity has several ways it can be
activated. Choose one when you active it.
Activate this Semblance to retrieve your
thrown weapons instantly. You can
retrieve two weapons at a time with this.
Activate this Semblance as part of a
throwing attack to grant you 1 extra
success.
If you have been attacked by an enemy
who is using a non-natural Melee
weapon you may use the following
abilities against that enemy.
Activate this Semblance as part of a
Defensive roll to grant you 1 extra
success.
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Activate this Semblance to attempt to
disarm your opponent. Begin by making
an Anima Soul Dice Check. Your opponent
makes a Grit Body Dice Check. Compare
successes. If you gained more successes
than your opponent, they drop their
weapon in the grid in front of them. If
gained double the successes of your
opponent you disarm them and take their
weapon into your hand.
Dust
Dust is a naturally occurring energy propellant which is triggered by a characters Aura. Dust
is used in Doses, with one dose being enough to trigger and to cause the desired effect.

How does it work?

Characters use the Imbue with Dust action to apply dust to a single item. This is enough for
a single use. When the item is used next the Dust ability is triggered and the item is no
longer Imbued.

What kinds of dust are can you get.

There are several different kinds of Dust; all are readily available in cities and towns. The
types of dust and their effects are listed below.

Element Effect
If the opponent loses Hitpoints they suffer Knockback.
Wind Maintain their facing. They must pass a Threshold 2 Grit
Body Dice Test or become knocked down.
Fire Rolling a 1 or a 2 gives you a critical success.
Arcs to another enemy within 3 grid spaces. Extra attack
Lighting
against that enemy with 1 less dice.
Instead of rolling extra dice for critical successes. Any
Ice number of critical successes causes the enemy to suffer
frozen to lose an action, even if the attack fails.
Earth Successfully damaging enemy causes knockdown.

Conditions
Frozen

Place a frozen token on this character, monster or minion. Each time this character, monster
or minion tries to do an Action, remove a frozen token instead. The action is not completed.

Knockback

Move the character, monster or minion back 5 grid spaces. If it runs into another character,
monster or minion, they both suffer knockdown on the space they collide.

Knockdown

Next time the character creature or monster performs an action, they stand up instead.

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Dice Checks
What is a Dice Check?
Dice Checks in RWBY RPG are used to
perform most actions during a game.
Most of the information required for a
Dice Check is in front of each player on
their Character Sheets. The player refers
to this information and rolls a number of
ten sided dice, also called D10s. The
player then looks for successful rolls, or
successes. Successes are used to
determine the outcome of the action.
How do I do a Dice Check?
To complete a Dice Check you need to
know two things;
1. How many dice you need to roll,
and
2. What is the Target Number
How many Dice?
Depending on the Action you are
completing you will use a different Ability.
So the action you wish to complete, and
as a result, the Ability you use will
determine the number of dice you will roll
for the test.
If you are attacking someone you will use
the Offence Ability,
If you are being attacked you will use the
Defence Ability,
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If you are using a Semblance or Aura
Ability in a non-offensive or defensive
way, you will use the Anima Ability.
If you are performing an action that
requires concentration, use the Discipline
Ability.
If you are performing an Action that
requires physical effort, use the Grit
ability.
If you are performing an action that
requires persistence, use the Resolve
Ability.
Your HM will decide which Ability you will
use for specific tasks. If you feel you could
use a specific ability for a particular task,
feel free to try and sell the idea to your
HM. Though remember, the HM has the
final decision.
What is the Target Number?
OK so you know how many dice you will
be rolling now, but what do you have to
roll?
The answer is the Target Number.
The Target Number is the number which
you need to roll equal to or under on your
d10s.
The target number will be one of your
Attributes; Mind, Body or Soul. Sometimes
there are modifiers to these target
numbers. When there are modifiers you
would adjust the Attribute by the Threshold. Actions during both Combat
modifier. This modified result would then Encounters and Story Encounters use
become the Target Number. Thresholds to determine whether the
action is completed or not. In order to
Critical Success successfully complete a task you must
Anytime you roll a 1 on a dice, you have achieve more Successes than the tasks
rolled a Critical Success. Not only does a 1 Threshold. Some tasks only require one
ALWAYS succeed regardless of modifiers, Success over the Threshold to achieve the
but you get to roll an additional dice. The best result.
number of additional dice you can roll is Other tasks may yield better results with
unlimited as well. Essentially, you can more Successes. For example, if you are
keep rolling dice as long as you keep searching for food in the wilderness,
rolling 1s. which the HM has determined has a
Threshold of 3, and you gain 5 successes,
Completed Dice Check
you might find two meals worth of food.
To recap, depending on the action you are
Offensive and Defensive Actions work
doing, you will roll a number of dice equal
similar to the second method described
to one of your Abilities. You will be trying
above, but we will go into more detail a
to roll equal to or under the target
little later.
number, which is equal to the relevant
Attribute. Any 1’s Assisting
ASSISTING Example
you roll allow you
to roll an additional Yang wants to attack an Ursa, The only thing better than
dice. Once you which is 15 metres away. She says one Huntress or Hunter is a
have finished she is going to move up and punch whole team of them. Any
rolling your extra it in the face. player can have their
dice, take all the character Assist another
Ruby, who is nearby, suggests that
successes and character with a Dice Check.
instead, Ruby uses her Super Speed
count them. Semblance to throw Yang, giving When a character announces
Yang an extra boost to her punch. they want to do something
What do I do that requires a Dice Check
with these The HM agrees that this can be another character can
Successes? done and tells Ruby to roll an announce they wish to assist.
Anima Dice Check using Body. There is no limit to the
Every Action that
Ruby’s Anima is 3 and her Body is amount of characters which
requires a Dice
6. Ruby rolls her three dice and can assist, but you may only
Check has a
gets a 2, a 5 and a 7. The 2 and 5 assist once per Dice Check.
number of
are successes and so are given to
Successes that you When a character assists
Yang for her attack.
will need to beat, another they start by deciding
this is called a Yang is then placed next to the how they are going to assist.
Ursa and makes her attack. She has
an Offence of 5 and a17Body of 4.
This is a good opportunity for players to impeded players Dice Check Rather than
talk about the super crazy move, or adding to it.
amazing strategy, they would like to
When a character impedes another they
employ. Once they have decided on what
start by deciding how they are going to do
their characters will be doing, the HM will
so. Like Assisting, players should be
decide if it can be done, and what skills
coming up with a bit of a story as to what
and actions they need to complete to do
they are doing to impede the character.
it.
Once they have decided on what their
The Assisting characters then roll their characters will be doing, the HM will
Dice Checks. Any successes they achieve decide if it can be done, and what skills
are then given to the character they are and actions they need to complete to do
assisting when they attempt their Dice it.
Check.
The Impeding characters then roll their
Impeding Dice Checks. Any successes they achieve
remove dice from the Impeded
Sometimes a player may want to impede character’s Dice Check.
another character rather than helping
them. Only characters can be impeded, I was just trying to help
never Grimm or Minions. So usually this is
Sometimes your character may have the
another player, but it also may be a
best intentions of helping another but
character that the HM is controlling.
instead they just get in the way. If an HM
Sometimes a player might impede a
decides your method of assisting is not
friendly character by accident; maybe one
good enough, they may make your
of them is trying to study and the other is
attempt at assisting a character impede
trying to help but is actually getting in the
them instead. This is why it is always a
way.
good idea to come up with
Cheap? Unbelievable?
Impeding works the awesome ways for your
same as Assisting, but it Ruby and Yang are fighting an characters to synergise,
removes dice from Ursa. They are having trouble rather than cheap or
damaging it on their own so Yang unbelievable ways.
decides she is going to assist
Ruby. Yang’s Mind Attribute is
her highest, as is her offensive
ability. She decides to use those
to support Ruby, by shooting
Ruby with her shotgun to give her
a power boost.

The HM allows the roll, but

decides that being shot with a
shotgun doesn’t actually help.
The HM makes it impede Ruby’s
18
Dice Check rather than adding to
it
Story Sequence
Times when your characters are not in
combat are part of the Story Sequence.
This time grants you plenty of opportunity
to roleplay your character. The Story
Sequence works best if you rely solely on
your imagination. Your HM will have tasks
for you to complete, people to meet and
exciting places to go. You will also be able
to visit shops, have social encounters and
attend Beacon Academy for study.
During the Story Sequence, your HM will
set the scene and tell you the story. Your
characters have the opportunity to make
decisions and perform Story Encounters.
Decisions that are not encounters may
affect the story, but require very little skill
or concentration to use. Usually the HM
Story Encounter
Hack into a computer
Threaten a Thug with violence
Threaten a Villain with prison
Discover a characters Semblance
Lift a heavy thing
Resist mind control
Study for an exam
Remember that each of these is only an example. Your HM
will have many different situations to challenge you.
19
will simply ask what you want to do and
you, and your fellow players, will make
the decision and continue on.
Situations that require much more
thought, concentration or skill will require
Dice Checks; these situations are known
as Story Encounters. Depending on the
activity, the HM will have you use
different combinations of Abilities and
Attributes to achieve the result. The
combinations and what they do are up to
the HM, but there are guidelines on how
they are meant to be used. Below are
some common kinds of combinations,
though HM should feel free to make their
own depending on the situations, and
players should feel free to suggest some.
Ability Attribute
Discipline/Resolve Mind
Resolve Body
Resolve Mind
Discipline Soul
Grit Body
Grit Mind
Resolve Mind
Combat Sequence
Once you and your team make it to a Combat Sequence the game changes a little. To add
some order to the chaos, not too much mind you, combat is a little more structured.

Turn Order lost, and they are granted another three.

To interrupt an Action, once an action has
The first thing you do when you enter been declared, but before the action has
combat is work out the turn order. You do begun, you may state you wish to
this by rolling a d10 for each character interrupt the Action to play your instead.
and for each group of Grimm or Minions. Your action now takes precedence.
The lowest value number
will Activate first, the next
lowest, second, the third Miniature Combat!
lowest, third and so on. If
any characters roll the same The RWBY RPG is best played using Miniatures for combat.
number, they each roll Combat in this game is designed to be played on a RPG grid
again between them to with the provided tokens or with your own miniatures.
decide which one of them
will be next in the queue. HOWEVER, you can play a more free-form style of combat,
Once all characters and more like a skirmish miniatures game, by using the
groups have activated movement values and distances given in this ruleset as a
simply return to the first measurement in Inches. If you wish to do so, full rules for
person on the list to movement in this way can be found in the appendix.
Activate again.
If you are going to do combat the old fashion way (no mini’s,
Actions just IMAGINATION) you can either use Metric or Imperial as
follows.
When a character Activates
they are allowed to take up 1 Movement is equal to 3 Feet.
to three actions. These
or
Actions can occur at any
time until their next 1 Movement is equal to 1 Metre.
Activation. Essentially this
means they can be used
immediately or later on to Note: There is no mention of ranges for weapons and
interrupt other characters, throwing and the like, as the area you will fight in is too small
Grimm or Minions actions. to bother with them.
When it becomes their turn
again, all unused actions are

20
What actions can I take?
Good Question!
A character can take the following actions.
Move
During a move action your character can
move a number of grid spaces (feet or
metres) up to their Movement Value.
Characters can move over any obstacles,
minions, Grimm, or other characters
without any penalty as long as they do not
end their movement on top of them. Most
other Actions allow you to complete that
Action and a Move Action at the same
time. Essentially, you can move for free,
every time you do something else.
Attack
Make a Melee or Ranged Attack against
an enemy. You must be adjacent (in a grid
square next to your opponent) to attack
them with Melee Weapons. You may
attack enemies anywhere in the
encounter with Ranged Weapons. Attacks
use Dice Checks as described above. Your
HM has extra information on how these
work against different enemies. For every
Success you achieve over the Threshold
you inflict your weapons damage on the
target.
You may Attack and Move as a single
Action.
Support
Make an Assist or Impede roll to help or
hinder another character. You may
Support and Move as a single Action.
Transform Weapon
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Change your weapons between their
Primary and Sub-weapon form.
You may Transform Weapon and Move as
a single Action.
Recover
Increase your characters Aura by 3 points,
up to its maximum value. You cannot
Move during a Recover Action.
Activate Semblance
Activate you Semblance Ability. This will
be different for each character. Some do
not even need to be activated. Semblance
Abilities usually use some of your Aura to
activate. If it does it will be outlined in the
Semblances description. If a character
does not have enough Aura to activate
their Semblance it fails to activate.
You cannot move During an Activate
Semblance Action.
Imbue with Dust
This is basically applying one dose of dust
to an item, glyph or person.
Activate Aura Ability
Activate an Aura Ability. There are several
different Aura Abilities that can be
activated. Aura Abilities consume your
Aura when activated. If you do not have
the require amount of aura the ability fails
to activate.
You cannot Move during an Activate Aura
Ability Action.
Barrier
Barrier can only be used as an interrupt
action when you are being attacked. After
the attack has occurred but before you
roll your Defence you may spend any
number of Aura. For each Aura you spend,
you negate two of the attacker’s
successes. After using your Aura you may
still need to do a Defence Dice Check.
Regenerate Ally
A character can spend any number of
their Aura to grant half that number to an
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Ally. They can never increase an Allies
Aura beyond their maximum Aura
amount.
Use Scroll
You can use your scroll to contact other
characters, look up information, take
pictures and call your locker.
You can may Use Scroll and Move as a
single Action.
 Headmaster’s Guide
Your job as the Headmaster is to lead the Hunters and Huntresses on an awesome action
filled adventure. This section of the rulebook is designed to give the Headmasters all the
tools they need to do so.

Tabletop RPGs have a pretty sweet advantage over other board games; only one person
needs to have a thorough understanding of the rules. That person is you. Just like being a
real Headmaster there is a little bit of work involved. But fortunately this RPG system is fairly
easy to organise and manage, thanks to the simple, yet engaging rule system.

Break it Down
When you are designing your adventure it is easiest to break it down into two parts; the Plot
and Challenges. Let have a more detailed look at each.

Plot
The Plot is basically what connects the challenges together. This is the overarching story
which you will use to engage your players. Some HMs may have an awesome idea for a
story they wish to tell and will construct challenges around it. Others will have some
challenges they want their players to complete, and will build the story around those. Both
of these are fine, the important part is figuring out what drives your players and building an
adventure to suit them.

Challenges
The challenges are the activities the players will be completing during your adventure. They
come in two flavours Story Challenges and Combat Challenges. Story challenges occur
during the Story Sequence and Combat Challenges occur during, you guessed it, the Combat
Sequence.

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Story Challenges
Story Challenges can be any sort of Dice Test which occurs outside of combat. They include
but are not limited to, hacking a computer or door, searching for something important, or
resisting knockout gas. Realistically it can be anything. The main thing that you as the HM
should take note of when setting up a Story Challenge is which Attribute and which Ability
will be used to beat it and what can be used to for support rolls. The table below gives you
an idea of some Story Challenges and the Abilities and Attributes which can be used. Feel
free to invent your own, or change them depending on the situation you have created.

During Story Challenges there may be times where being a Faunus or Robot may be
beneficial or detrimental. With Faunus, it is more likely that other Faunus will favour them,
reducing the Threshold and that some humans will dislike them, increasing the Threshold.

Robots, depending on their age and experience, are likely to misread emotional and social
cues from Humans and Faunus. DMs should adjust Social Story Challenges accordingly.

Story Challenge Ability Attribute

Hack into a computer Discipline/Resolve Mind
Threaten a Thug with violence Resolve Body
Threaten a Villain with prison Resolve Mind
Discover a characters Semblance Discipline Soul
Lift a heavy thing Grit Body
Resist mind control Grit Mind
Study for an exam Resolve Mind

Threshold
When you set a Story Challenge, you will give it a Threshold. A player only needs to achieve
one success over the Threshold to achieve the desired result. The best way to set a
Threshold in RWBY RPG is to be familiar with your players Attributes and Abilities. Below is a
table which shows you the average number of Successes based on Ability and attribute
figures. Remember that higher a players Ability score is, the more likely they are to roll
Critical Successes.

Non-Player Characters
Sometimes you may wish to have a person represent the challenge the players need to
overcome. This type of character is called an NPC. They are basic enough so the HM does
not have to create a full character, but complete enough so the players don’t feel like they
are conversing with a wall.

24
Perhaps they need to convince a person of something, or chase them down and capture
them. In that case, simply decide on the appearance of the character and assign them a
threshold for the challenge.

25
Complex Challenges
Sometimes a simple dice roll is not going to be enough to complete a challenge. You may
want to add some more depth to a challenge or have multiple ways of completing it. There
are two ways to add complexity to a challenge. These are Horizontal and Vertical.

Vertical Complexity

Vertical Complexity is simply having more than one way to complete a challenge. You create
a challenge and then assign multiple Dice Checks involving different Abilities and Attributes
to solve it. Let’s say you have a door which the players need to get through. They could try
and Hack the door, a Discipline Mind Dice Check, or they could try and force the door open,
a Grit Body Dice check. Using vertical complexity you can combine multiple ways to do the
same action.

Horizontal Complexity

Horizontal Complexity forces players to complete multiple dice checks to successfully

complete the challenge. When a player attempts a challenge, they make the first Dice Check
as normal. Any successes they gain from the first check are used in the roll of the next
challenge. The next lot of successes are used in the challenge after that, and so on.

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Combat Challenges
Combat Challenges are basically enemies that you fight. In this section we will look at the
array of enemies available for you to throw at the players.

There are three types of enemies you can encounter; Grimm, Minions, Characters.

Grimm and Minions have a lot in common, in terms of their attributes. Characters are
basically the same as the player’s characters, but they are controlled by the HM. Let’s being
with Monster and Minions.

GRIMM AND MINIONS

Grimm and Minion profiles are a little different to Characters. Rather than the HM rolling
Dice Tests for each of these enemies when they attack, or when they need to defend, they
have fixed values. Their profiles are as follows:

Movement

This works the same as Characters. Grimm and Minions can move up to the distance
ascribed by their movement value.

Armour

Armour is the Threshold a character needs to beat in order to damage the Grimm or Minion
with an Offence Dice Check. Each success achieved after the threshold has been beaten
causes damage equal to the player’s weapon damage.

Attack

Attack is the Threshold a character needs to beat with a Defence Dice Check in order to
avoid damage from a Grimm or Minion. Minus 1 from the attack value for each Defence
Success the character rolls. The Attack that is left over is the amount of damage done to the
character.

Hitpoints

Every-time a Grimm or Minion takes damage they subtract it from their Hitpoints. Once
their Hitpoints reach 0 they are killed in a flurry or rose petals.

The Difference between Grimm and Minions

The main difference between Grimm and Minions, at least in gameplay, is the number of
Actions they get during their turn and their tactics on the battlefield. Grimm only get one
Action each time they activate and Minions get two. Both can combine Movement and
Attacks, and neither have any other Actions available to them.

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Types Of Grim
Here is a list of the Types of Grimm you can include in your games. Feel free to invent your
own Grimm.

Type Movement Armour Attack HP Special Rules

Beowolf 6 0 3 3
Boarbatusk 6 5 5 3 Soft Underbelly
Creep 15 4 5 10
Death 10 5 5 10 Poison!
Stalker
Taijitu 6 3 5 10 Poison!
Giant 5 Walk 10 7 Ranged Attack
Nevermore 20 Fly
Ursa 6 3 3 5
Aged Grimm

As Grimm get older, they grow much larger and more dangerous. What follows is a series of
templates which you can apply to the Grimm to make older and more powerful versions.
Simply pick one template and apply the modifiers to the Abilities above.

Age Movement Armour Attack HP Special Rules

Great +0 +2 +2 X2
Major +2 X2 X2 X3
King +4 X3 X3 X4

Types of Minions
Type Movement Armour Attack HP Special Rules
White Fang 6 1 3 5 Ranged Attack
Atlas 5 2 5 5 Ranged Attack
Solider
AK-130 5 5 5 5 Ranged Attack
AK-200 5 10 5 5 Ranged Attack

Special Rules
Ranged Attack – This creatures attack can be used as a ranged attack, at half the attack
value, rounding up.

Poison! – If a Character suffers a wound from a weapon with the Poison rule, their Body
Attribute is halved, rounding up, until the end of their next activation.

Soft Underbelly – While this creature is Knocked Down its Armour is reduced to 0.

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Character Enemies
Character Enemies are exactly like Player Characters, except they are controlled by the HM.
An HM builds the Character Enemies in the same way as the Players build their Characters,
they have the same Actions available to them during Challenges and they roll dice for Dice
Tests. When a Character Enemy and Player Character face off in a Dice Check, their
successes are considered the Threshold for the test.

Further Explanation

Let’s say we have a combat between a Character Enemy and a group of players. Ruby, one
of the player characters wants to attack the Character Enemy. Ruby moves up to the Enemy
and chooses a Melee attack. She rolls an Offence Body Dice Check and scores 3 successes.
The HM now rolls a Defence Body Dice Check of the Character Enemy. They gain two
successes. That means that the Character enemy’s Defence Threshold is 2, so Ruby does 1
lot of damage to the Enemy.

Another Example. The Enemy is now going to attack Ruby with his Pistol. The HM rolls an
Offence Mind Dice Check and gains 2 Successes. Ruby then rolls a Defence Body check and
also gains two successes, making her defence threshold 2. The Enemy did not beat the
Defence threshold and therefore does not do any damage.

What is a Character Enemy for?

Character Enemies are great for your main villain and their lackeys. Make sure you don’t
make the main villain too easy to beat. They should escape before they are in any real
danger. The lackeys make great nemesis-style characters that show up every so often to
fight the characters. They will get real satisfaction from beating someone they have been
chasing down for a while. Lackeys can also make great one off fights if you want to give the
players an awesome challenge.

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Breakdown of a Gaming Session
So, you have your NPCs, Villains, challenges and hordes of baddies for your players to fight. I
guess it’s time to start your first adventure.

Where to begin?
The first things first, the team needs to be assembled. A great way to start is to prepare a
team forming exercise as you would have seen in the show RWBY. Otherwise you could skip
this and assume the team has already been formed and they are ready for their first
assignment.

Each player should introduce their characters and together form a Team name. Once a
name has been decided on it is time to head in.

Story Sequence
The Story Sequence is where all the out-of-combat action will occur. This is the time for
characters to complete Story Challenges, visit locations and decide on their next move. This
can be as directed or loose as you, the HM, would like. The Story Sequence takes place in
your mind and on paper. The story sequence is more fluid and does not have a solid turn
structure. Players can effectively do and say what they like, when they like.

Combat Sequence
Combat Sequences start when, you guessed it, the Team enters combat. The Combat
Sequence will usually take place on a RPG grid, but can take place in your mind if you prefer.
Combat Sequences have a firm structure on who can act when.

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LEVELING UP!
Once after each adventure your players can Level Up their Characters. There are no levels in
RWBY RPG! But we use the phrase Level U! Because it is exciting to say.

To level up your character you simply increase some Attributes and Abilities as described
below.

Increase Aura by 5 Points

Increase your Aura total by 5 Points. If your Aura is not full, you fill it when you level up.

Increase one of the following by 1; Mind, Body, Soul, Movement, Hitpoints.

You only increase on of these each time you Level Up! Mind, Body and Soul cannot be
increased more the 6. There is no limit on Movement and Hitpoints.

Increase Two Different Abilities by 1.

Choose two of your abilities and increase them by 1. You must choose two different abilities.

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Change Log
Alpha Version 1.1
Added Species

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