<INSERT ART #; HOW TO PLAY; 1/2H>

How to Play
Adventure waits for those with the courage to
explore the lands of Erth! You play a character who
becomes your alter ego in this imaginary world. You
make decisions about what your character does and
how your character reacts to situations presented to
you by the Sage. Your character, along with those
played by your friends, venture into dangerous
environments to solve mysteries, fight wicked
monsters, unearth lost treasures, and more. You
might hunt for artifacts of unimaginable power or
pit yourselves against diabolical necromancers who
seek to drown the world in undead. You could
venture into sprawling mazes underground or
explore haunted castles infested by lamias, ghosts,
and worse. The world is yours to explore and
whether you succeed or fail, find glory in victory or
ignominy in defeat, the choice is yours!
This chapter presents all the rules in the game for
easy reference in one place. Although written with
the player in mind, the Sage makes use of this
chapter as well and rules that apply to protagonists
also, typically, apply to creatures and objects under
the Sage’s control. If you want to know your chances
for finding a clue, how to climb up a wall, or what to
do in a fight, this is the place to look.
As exhaustive as this chapter aims to be, not every
situation can or deserves to be discussed in detail.
Sometimes, the Sage will just have to make a ruling
on how something works by extrapolating from how
the rest of the rules work. Whatever the Sage says,
goes. Also, the Sage might change or ignore the
rules in certain situations or for as long as you play.
This is OK too. If the Sage makes an adjustment to
the rules during play, wait to talk it over with the
Sage once the installment of the game has come to
end. In other words, don’t interrupt the story or
game to argue about how or why the rules work.
The Sage should have a good reason for modifying
the rules and does so in service of creating fun for
everyone who is playing.
Last, you don’t have to know everything in this
chapter right away. Feel free to skip around and
focus on the information that interests you most.
You can always come back later to find out how
something works when you need to. For now, just
focus on understanding how the game plays so you
can get down to the business of having adventures,
finding treasure, and defeating the bad guys.

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Acting in the Game
You decide what your character does in the game,
how your character reacts to situations, what your
character says, and how your character develops
over time. In other words, you control your
character. Just because you control your character,
doesn’t mean you can do just do anything you might
imagine. Everyone has limits. But, generally, your
character can do anything you could normally do,
plus, perhaps, a bit more. You can walk around, eat,
talk, buy and sell things, look around, listen, and do
other routine things without needing any special
rules to tell you that you can. Sometimes, though,
complications arise that make it more difficult for
you to do what you want. This is where the Sage
comes in. The Sage decides whether something you
say you want to do happens, doesn’t happen
(because it’s impossible), or could happen, in which
case you let the dice decide.
Attribute Rolls
You make attribute rolls whenever the Sage or the
rules instruct you. All attribute rolls are resolved in
the same way. You roll a d20, add the modifier from
the attribute you’re using, and you compare the total
to the target number. The target number for an
attribute is either 10 or it’s the score of the attribute
used to resist the roll. If the total equals or beats the
target number, you succeed. Otherwise, you fail.
For example, say you are trying to strike a wicked
orc with your sword. The rules tell you to roll
Strength against the target’s Defense. You have a +2
Strength modifier, so you add 2 to your roll of the
d20. If the orc has a Defense of 11, you need to roll a
9 or better to hit the orc, since 9 plus 2 equals 11.
Similarly, let’s say you’re walking down a corridor
and a goblin pulls a lever to open a pit beneath you.
The Sage tells you to make an Agility roll to see if
you can avoid falling into the pit. Since nothing is
resisting the roll, you need to roll a 10 or higher. If
you have a +3 Agility modifier, you’d need to roll a 7
or higher to succeed, since 7 plus 3 equals 10.
No Scores: Some creatures and many objects lack
scores in one or more attributes. Rolls made against
attributes in which a target has no score
automatically fail.
Multiple Successes: Sometimes a task requires
you to get more than one success to complete it such
as when you fighting against a poison coursing
through your veins or trying to pick a complex lock.
In these cases, make multiple attribute rolls,
accumulating successes and suffering the
consequences of failure, until you reach the
required number of successes. A roll of 20 or higher
might also grant an additional success in this case.
Making Rolls
The rules often refer to you or others making attribute or luck
rolls. When you see this instruction, whomever controls the
actor makes the roll. Obviously, creatures aren’t rolling the dice.
The rules use this language as a simple shorthand method for
determining who rolls the dice and when.
Boons and Banes
A task might be easier or harder than normal. A task
might be more difficult from an affliction or easier
because others are helping you. The game uses
boons and banes to show how these circumstances
affect your rolls.
A positive circumstance adds one or more boons
to your roll. For each boon, roll a d6. Then add the
highest number rolled on all the boon dice to your
d20 roll. For example, if you roll a d20 with 3 boons,
you roll 3d6. If the dice come up as 3, 5, and 2, you
add 5 to the d20 roll since 5 is the highest number
showing on all the boon dice.
Banes hinder your rolls and, like boons, one or
more might apply to a given roll. For each bane, roll
a d6 and then subtract the highest number rolled on
all the bane dice from the d20 roll. For example, if
you roll a d20 with 2 banes, you roll 2d6. If the dice
come up as 4 and 1, you subtract 4 from the d20 roll
since 4 is the highest number on the bane dice.
Boons and banes cancel each other out, die for
die. You never roll them at the same time. If 3 boons
and 1 bane apply to a particular roll, make the roll
with 2 boons as 1 bane cancels 1 boon. Similarly, if 2
boons and 4 banes apply to the roll, you make the
roll with 2 banes since 2 boons cancel out 2 banes.
All boons granted and banes imposed apply to
rolls provided they come from different sources. If
your talent grants you 1 boon and a different talent
grants you 1 boon, you roll with 2 boons. If, however,
you are sickened after being hit by an arrow
smeared in a toxic substance and then become
sickened again after being bitten by some venomous
beast while still sickened from the first, you’d only
make your roll with 1 bane from the sickened
affliction since the source of the banes come from
the same affliction.
Luck Rolls
Not every situation can be resolved using an
attribute. Sometimes, it falls to pure chance to
determine what happens and what doesn’t. Do you
escape the worst of the fireball that detonates in
your midst? When you listen at a door, do you do so
at exactly the right time to catch the speaker saying
something? Can you survive one more round even
as you inch closer to death? These and other
situations are resolved by making a luck roll.
Just like attribute rolls, you resolve a luck roll by
rolling a d20, but, outside boons and banes, you
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don’t add any modifiers to the roll. You succeed if
you roll a 10 or higher and fail if you don’t.
(Luck Ends): When an effect includes (luck ends),
you roll luck when you finish your next turn. On a
success, you end the effect. On a failure, the effect
continues and you can try again at the end of your
next turn. Typically, (luck ends) applies to ongoing,
harmful effects such as having caught fire or being
magically restrained by a spell.
Traits and Talents
Creatures and some objects have traits and talents
to describe their nature and reflect their
capabilities.
Traits reflect the properties of the creature or
object gained from its particular form and the
creature or object retains those traits for as long as it
remains in that form.
Talents describe abilities one might use that have
been gained as a result of training, experience, or
happenstance. A talent typically enables the use of a
new activity or modifies the use of some other
activity performed by use of an action. A creature
and object retain all talents regardless of its form.
Damage
You accumulate damage from harmful sources. A
sword strike, arrow shot, or burns from a fiery
explosion all deal damage that you then take.
Dealing Damage
Some activities you perform deal damage, such as
when you cast a spell or attack with a weapon. The
effect tells you how much damage you deal, which
might be a flat number of the sum of one or more
dice.
Damage Source
The effect that deals the damage is its source. The
source of damage rarely matters, but some creatures
are immune to damage from certain sources. For
example, a creature with the Fireproof trait takes no
damage from fire or heat.
Extra Damage
An attack or an effect might deal extra damage. You
add the extra damage to the damage dealt by the
initial effect. Extra damage only applies, however, if
the initial effect deals damage, and then is added to
the sum of the damage dealt by the source.
Halving and Doubling Damage
If the rules instruct you to take or heal half damage,
you divide the damage by two. You only halve the
damage once, regardless of how many times you are
instructed to halve the damage.
Doubling damage works the same way. Multiple
the amount of damage taken or healed by two. You
only double the damage once, even if the rules tell
you to double it multiple times.
Rounding
Whenever you have a fraction, you round down to the nearest
whole number.
Taking of Damage
You have a damage total, which starts at 0, which
indicates that you have taken no damage. When you
take damage, add the amount of damage taken to
the damage total. If your damage total is 2 and you
take 4 damage, your damage total becomes 6, for
example. Your damage total cannot exceed your
Health score.
Limits on Damage
You can take damage from a single source just once
per round, no matter how many times you would be
exposed to that source in the same round. For
example, if you enter a pool of lava, you would take
damage from the lava just once per round. If,
though, a foe makes two attacks against you and
succeeds on both rolls, you would take damage from
both attacks since the source comes from two
separate attacks.
Losing Health
If you take damage in excess of your Health score,
you lose an amount of Health equal to the amount
by which the damage first exceeded your Health
score. For example, say you have Health 20 and 16
damage. A bandit’s attack deals 6 damage to you.
That would bring your damage total to 20, with 2
left over, so you lose 2 Health, bringing your Health
to 18. Since your damage total cannot exceed your
Health, you drop your damage total to 18 as well.
Health Bonuses and Penalties
Certain effects can grant bonuses to or impose
penalties on your Health score. A Health bonus
means you can take more damage, while a penalty
means you can’t take as much. Bonuses and
penalties to Health are cumulative. See below for
more effects of Health penalties as well as how to
get rid of them.
Effects of Damage
Damage represents your ability to avoid significant
harm and until it reaches two specific values, it does
not interfere with your normal capabilities. The two
states where it does are injured and incapacitated.
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Injured
You are injured while your damage total equals or
exceeds half your Health score. While you are
injured, you make attribute rolls with 1 bane.
Incapacitated
When your damage total reaches your Health score,
you become incapacitated and any damage taken in
excess of your Health results in a loss of Health. You
then drop your damage total to equal your current
Health score since you cannot have more damage
than your Health.
For example, if you take 6 damage when you have
Health 20 and a damage total of 16, your damage
total increases to 20, you reduce your Health by the
damage remaining, which drops it to 18. And, since
your damage total cannot exceed your Health, you
drop it to 18 as well.
While you’re incapacitated, you are unconscious.
If you take any damage while incapacitated, you
lose Health equal to the damage you would take.
During the upkeep, roll luck. On a success, you
heal 1 damage. On a failure, you lose Health equal to
1 + your level. You die when your Health score drops
to 0.
Example
Fritz the level 2 fighter has 16 Health and 0 damage
at the start of the fight. In an act of brazen
confidence on the first round, he moves toward a
monster and attacks, dealing some damage.
Unfortunately, the monster attacks back and deals 7
damage to poor Fritz. He has 16 Health and 7
damage.
During the next round, Fritz strikes again, having
learned nothing. He misses. The monster has better
luck though and pounds Fritz for 9 damage. Fritz
has 16 Health and 16 damage. Fritz falls prone and
becomes incapacitated!
During the upkeep, Fritz’s player rolls luck and
flubs. Frizt loses 3 Health, so he has 13 Health and 13
damage. The damage drops since you can’t have
more damage than Health.
Next round, Anise rushes forward and uses an
action to stabilize our hero, Fritz. He heals 1 damage.
Fritz now has 13 Health and 12 damage. Since his
damage total is less than his Health, he’s no longer
incapacitated. Fritz is spared! For now….
Damaging Creatures
Creatures, other than protagonists take damage, but
when their damage total reaches their Health, they
do not become incapacitated unless the Sage
decides otherwise. Instead, the creature either dies
or becomes unconscious for a few minutes, after
which it heals 1 damage.
You can also attempt to knock out a creature
without killing it provided you use appropriate
weapons or spells. Using blunted weapons instead
of edged or piercing weapons can result in knocking
a creature unconscious, if desired.
For damaging objects, see page $@.
Healing Damage
When you heal damage, reduce your damage total
by the amount of damage healed. If, for example,
your damage total is 7 and you heal 4 damage, your
damage total becomes 3. Healing can reduce your
damage total to 0. Any excess damage healed is lost.
You heal damage naturally by resting.
Rests
You can rest at any time you choose provided you
can do so in a comfortable zone. To benefit from a
rest, you must engage in no strenuous activity, which
include anything that would involve the use of an
action or you moving out of the zone in which you
rest, though you can be moved such as in the back
of a wagon or on a travois pulled by a companion. If
you perform a strenuous activity during a rest, the
time spent resting is wasted and you must start over
from the beginning.
For each hour you spend resting you heal damage
equal to 1 + your level. Resting for 8 hours might
replenish other resources you might have as noted
in their descriptions.
Rest Activities
Sometimes, one character might need to rest when
others in the group do not. Some common activities
you might perform while your friends rest include,
but are not limited to, cooking, exploring
neighboring zone, running errands in a community,
using talents, hunting, fishing, foraging, reading,
and the like. Most times, these activities simply
happen, but they might create new complications as
the Sage decides.
Regaining Health
When you regain Health, you add the amount
regained to your Health score, up to your maximum.
Say, for example, you have a maximum Health of 20
and currently have a Health of 16. If you regain 6
Health, your Health score returns to 20 and the
excess amount of Health regained is lost.
At the end of each adventure or downtime period,
you regain Health naturally. The amount of Health
regained equals your level + 1.
Afflictions
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Afflictions describe a wide-range of possible
harmful effects that hamper or limit your abilities in
some way. The affliction’s source tells you how long
it lasts and under what conditions the condition
might be removed. If the source makes no mention
of the affliction’s removal, the affliction becomes
permanent.
Blinded
You cannot see anything. You make attribute rolls
with 1 bane and you grant 1 boon on attribute rolls
made against you. Everything is invisible to you. If
you run while blinded, you must succeed on an
Agility roll or fall prone.
Charmed
The source of this affliction is your ally. You perform
no activity that would harm, hinder, or kill the
affliction’s source, its allies, or its property.
Controlled
You cannot take the initiative. In addition, when you
take a turn, the affliction’s source decides how you
use an action and move.
Cursed
You make luck rolls with 1 bane.
Deafened
You cannot hear.
Fatigued
You make attribute rolls with 1 bane and you grant 1
boon on attribute rolls made against you. In
addition, you cannot run.
Frightened
You make attribute rolls with 1 bane and you grant 1
boon on attribute rolls made against you. If you can
see the source of this affliction, the number of banes
imposed and boons granted increases to 2.
Grabbed
The source of the affliction prevents you from
moving by holding onto your body. If the source of
the affliction moves and you would resist moving
with it, the source must roll Strength against your
Strength. On a success, the source moves and you
move with it. On a failure, you remove the grabbed
affliction from yourself.
Impaired
You make attribute rolls with 1 bane and you grant 1
boon on attribute rolls made against you.
Prone
You lay on the ground. You cannot take the initiative
and you can use a move only to crawl or stand up.
Creatures that can reach you make rolls against
your Defense and Agility with 1 boon, while
creatures that cannot reach you make rolls against
your Defense and Agility with 1 bane.
If a flying creature falls prone, it immediately falls
one zone and might fall further. If it doesn’t hit a
solid surface, roll luck for the creature. On a success,
the creature removes the prone affliction from itself
can continue flying. On a failure, the creature falls
another zone. Repeat this process until the creature
strikes a solid surface or succeeds on a luck roll.
Restrained
You cannot move. You grant 1 boon on attribute rolls
made against your Defense and Agility, and your
Agility rolls automatically fail.
Sickened
You make attribute rolls with 1 bane and you grant 1
boon on attribute rolls made against you. In
addition, you cannot regain Health.
Slowed
When you take a turn, you must give up a move or
an action. You cannot retreat or run.
Stunned
You cannot use actions, move, or benefit from your
talents. You grant 1 boon on rolls made to attack you
and you make attribute rolls with 3 banes.
Other Common Dangers
In addition to afflictions, a number of effects exist
that pose considerable danger to you.
Aging
Natural aging has no effect on your capabilities; you
can play a character of any age you like. Sudden,
rapid aging, however, causes you to become
impaired and slowed. Once you return to your
normal age, you remove these afflictions. If, though,
the aging effect is permanent, you adjust to the
changes in your body during your next downtime
and remove the afflictions before the next adventure
begins.
Immortal creatures, such as faeries, ignore the
effects of aging.
Death
Death typically occurs as a result of your Health
score dropping to 0, but other effects might simply
kill you outright. Unless the cause of death says
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otherwise, when you die, you drop prone and 13+ Your Health drops to 0 and you die.
become an object with a Health score equal to 10
times your size. If your body was made of organic Deprivation Example
material, it gradually rots away, losing 1 Health every Chris plays a human named Mikal. In the adventure, Mikal was
24 hours until nothing remains. ambushed and robbed. Left on his own to travel through a
barren landscape, he can’t find any water and has no food. At
the end of the first day, he gains 1 hunger and 1 thirst. The next
Deprivation day, he finds water, but no food. His hunger goes up to 2, but
Most people need food and water to live, though his thirst drops to 0. Unfortunately, five days pass without food
some ancestries derive their nourishment from or drink, so his hunger becomes 7 and his thirst 5. At 7 hunger,
other sources. Normally, deprivation plays little part he has 1 deprivation and 4 deprivation from thirst, bringing his
total to 5. He checks the deprivation table and sees that he has
in the adventures you undertake or your downtime
a penalty to his Health equal to half his level and he’s sickened
activities, but when circumstances prevent you from until he can start drinking water.
eating and drinking on a regular basis, the effects
can be disastrous.
Food and water are measured in units. Each day,
Dismemberment
you must spend a number of units each of food and The sudden loss of a limb makes certain activities
water equal to your size. For each day you go and forms of movement difficult, if not impossible.
without spending the minimum units of food, you Using prosthetics, such as those described in
gain 1 hunger point. For each day, you go without Chapter @: Equipment, help mitigate the effects of
spending the minimum units of water, you gain 1 dismemberment, though. The effects of limb loss
thirst. Each day you consume a food unit, you ought to be obvious, such that the loss of a leg
reduce your hunger by 1. Each day you consume a makes it difficult to stand up from prone and the
water unit, you reduce your thirst by 1. loss of a hand or arm prevents the use of that limb
You gain deprivation points as your hunger and for holding large weapons.
thirst points increase, and lose it when they
decrease. Every twenty-four hours, increase or Exposure
decrease your hunger and thirst totals to determine Extreme temperatures can kill you. After one hour
your current deprivation score. Then, find your in extreme heat or cold, you must succeed on a
deprivation score on the Deprivation table to Strength roll or become impaired. If you succeed on
determine the effects. Afflictions gained from the roll, you must repeat the roll at the end of each
deprivation cannot be removed until your additional hour spent in such conditions to avoid
deprivation score drops. becoming sickened. Once sickened, you lose Health
Half Rations: You can stretch your supplies by equal to 1 + your level at the end of each hour you
consuming half your minimum amounts. Each time spend subject to the effects of exposure. If you
you do, you must succeed on a luck roll or gain spend at least one hour in milder temperatures, you
either 1 hunger or 1 thirst or 1 of each. remove the sickened affliction from yourself and
you can regain lost Health normally.
HUNGER AND THIRST
Hunger
0–3
Deprivation
+0
Thirst
0–1
Deprivation
+0 Infection
4–7 +1 2–3 +1 People contend with sniffles, colds, and minor
8–10 +1 4 +1 ailments all the time. While these can be
11–13 +1 5 +2 troublesome and uncomfortable, they rarely affect
14–16 +1 6 +4 an individual’s ability to perform activities. Some
17–18 +1 7 +7
19–20 +1
diseases and parasites have longer-term and lethal
21 +2 effects and exposure to them can cause you to
22 +2 become infected.
23 +3 Diseases spread through physical contact,
breathing in contaminated air, or ingesting tainted
DEPRIVATION drink or food. Parasites spread either by contact,
Deprivation Effect
0–2 None
such as immersion in a contaminated fluid, or
3–6 Take a penalty to Health equal to half your level ingesting unsafe food or drink. If you are exposed to
and you become sickened. a disease or a parasite, the Sage rolls luck in secret
7–10 Your penalty to Health now equals your level on your behalf. A success means you managed to
and you are both fatigued and sickened. avoid catching anything, while failure means you
11–12 Your penalty to Health equals four times your are infected.
level and you are fatigued, sickened, and Once infected, symptoms appear at the end of the
slowed.
adventure or the downtime period, at which point

6
you suffer the stage 1 effects of the infection. The
following stages describe those of a common
infection, but magical diseases and vicious parasites
can have other, nastier effects as noted in their
description.
At the end of each period after the symptoms
appear, roll Strength. A success indicates no change
to your condition, while a failure means your
condition increases to the next higher stage. If you
roll a 20 or higher, your condition decreases to the
next lower stage. If you roll a 0 or lower, your
condition worsens by two stages. For every three
successes of any kind, reduce your stage by one step.
Stage 0: You recover from the infection.
Stage 1: You are sickened and lose Health equal to 1
+ your level.
Stage 2: You are sickened, lose Health equal to 1 +
your level, and you heal half damage from all
sources.
Stage 3: You are sickened, lose Health equal to 1 +
your level, and you heal no damage.
Final Stage: Your Health drops to 0.
Possession
Some creatures, such as spirits and demons, can
possess other creatures. A possessed creature
contains its own personality as well of that of the
creature or creatures possessing it. A possessing
creature has access to the host’s memories,
knowledge, and senses.
Conflicting Personalities: When a possessing
creature enters a host, the possessing creature
becomes a dormant personality until it uses an
action to take control. Roll Will for the possessing
creature against the host’s Will score. On a success,
the host personality becomes dormant and the
possessing creature’s personality becomes active
until the possessing creature chooses to become
dormant or is forced out of the host. On a failure,
the possessing creature remains dormant for 24
hours and cannot attempt to become active during
this time, though it can leave the host at any time it
chooses.
If the possessing creature becomes the active
personality, it takes complete control over the host’s
body, using it as if it was its own, though it uses its
Intellect and Will in place of its host’s. The host has
no recollection of time spent as a dormant
personality.
If the host personality is active, it might hear the
possessing creature in its mind or not. The
possessing creature cannot be targeted by any
attacks or effects except those that specifically end
possession. The possessing creature knows
everything that happens to the host while it is
dormant.
Sleep
You are unconscious when you sleep. If a noise
sounds in your zone, you can roll luck. You
automatically succeed if the noise is as loud as a
shout or louder. On a success, you waken and are no
longer unconscious. You automatically waken from
sleep if you take any damage or lose Health.
You need sleep to refresh yourself. Unless your
ancestry says otherwise, you need to sleep at least
six hours for every twenty-four that passes. If you go
twenty-four hours without sleep, you become
fatigued until you do sleep. Every twenty-four hours
thereafter, you take 1d6 damage per level.
Suffocation
You can hold your breath for 30 seconds or 3 rounds.
Every 30 seconds thereafter, you lose 1d6 Health per
level. Losses to Health from suffocation are regained
when you start breathing again.
Transformation
An effect might transform you into something or
someone else. You could become another person, a
particular creature, or, even, an object. Unless noted
otherwise, the following rules apply:
• The transformation affects your physical
body and leaves your Intellect and Will
unchanged.
• If the new form has a size greater than that
of your normal form, you destroy any
clothing or armor you were wearing when
you transformed. If you assume a size
greater than 1, you take a penalty to
Defense equal to your size while you
remain in this form. If your size drops to 1/2,
you increase your Defense by 2, 1/4 or
smaller, by 4.
• If you were bound by ropes or manacles,
you shed them.
• Anything you were holding in your hands
or that was strapped to your body falls to
the ground in your space.
• If the new form would normally be capable
of speech, you can speak.
• If the new form has different Strength,
Agility, Defense, or Health scores, use the
new scores for each in place of your own.
• Your damage total remains unchanged
from form to form. Similarly, any loss to
Health transfer to your new Health score.
Unconscious
Unconsciousness makes you unaware of your
surroundings and prevents you from performing
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activities, moving, or using or benefit from talents.
Any ongoing effects that you created when you were
conscious end immediately.
You are also defenseless while unconscious. Rolls
made against your Defense and Agility
automatically succeed. You automatically fail any
Intellect and Agility roll and when an effect would
allow you to roll luck to mitigate its effects, you
automatically fail. Finally, you grant 1 boon on rolls
made against your Strength, Intellect, and Will, and
make Strength and Will rolls with 1 bane.
Stacking Effects
You can be under any number of effects at a time. If
an effect comes from the same source, such as the
sickened affliction, the drawbacks and benefits are
not added together. Rather, they both affect you for
the duration. For example, say you are sickened
from a disease for an hour and then become
sickened from a venom for 1 minute. When the
poison wears off, you remain sickened from the
disease. Effects from different sources, however, do
stack and are cumulative.
Time
In brief, time passes at whatever rate the Sage
deems appropriate. A scene involving roleplaying
could play out at more or less the same rate as it
does in reality. A combat scene might move faster or
slower, while the Sage might summarize a month of
travel in a few minutes of description. This said, the
rules often reference durations measured in rounds,
minutes, and longer, so some ideas about how long
such increments take in the game can be helpful.
Rounds
The game uses rounds for managing time in combat
and so you can find a great deal more about rounds
under that section. Generally, a round lasts about
ten seconds, so a duration of one round means the
effect lasts a similar period of time.
Minutes
Some effects last one minute. Typically, a minute
covers enough time for a combat to start and end.
So, if you cast a spell that has a one minute
duration, you can just assume it lasts until the
combat ends or something ends the effect of course.
Hours
More powerful and important effects last one hour
or longer. Generally, you track time in hours when
resting, since you benefit from resting for each hour
you rest. If a rest does not interrupt game play, an
hour lasts long enough for you to play through
about three scenes, whether those scenes involve
fighting, exploring, or interacting with other
characters. The Sage might allow an effect to extend
longer than three scenes or reduce the number of
scenes if a substantial amount of time passes
between them.
Environments
The world contains many different environments.
Each environment represents a specific region
unified by common features. Forests, hills,
mountains, cities and towns, lakes, and oceans all
act as environments. Environments can be any size,
from an entire ocean or to a keep and surrounding
town on the borderlands.
Environments have features determined by
prevailing terrain, climate and weather, and hazards
one might encounter in them. Such features might
make travel more difficult, subject you to exposure
and inclement weather, as well as fantastical
features created by the environment’s magical or
otherworldly nature. The Sage has rules for
environment features.
Travel
You travel whenever you move through one or more
environments to reach a destination. Many times,
travel plays no significant part in the story, in which
case the Sage just narrates what happens during the
journey.
As a rule of thumb, under ideal circumstances,
you can walk two to three miles an hour for about
eight hours in a twenty-four period, using the rest of
the time to eat, drink, and rest. Steeds increase the
rate to four or five miles per hour, while wagons and
carts move about half the walking rate. However,
terrain, inclement weather, and other circumstance
can slow the pace as the Sage decides.
If you would travel faster or further than these
typical rates, you can do so, but you must succeed
on a Strength roll at the end of each hour or become
fatigued. If you are already fatigued, you lose 1d6
Health instead.
Zones
Every environment comprises some number of
zones, which represent discrete zones or spaces
inside the larger environment. Zones might describe
a patch of field or a hilltop rising from a range of
hills. They can also represent locations inside
buildings such as a regent’s throne room or the
antechamber of a haunted tomb. They make up
spaces inside of vehicles and, sometimes, other
creatures. A ship’s hold might be a single zone,
8
while the gullet of a deep worm contains several
zones.
Size and Scope
Since zones represents places to explore, backdrops
for roleplaying, and battlefields in which the
characters fight, zones come in different shapes and
sizes. And while it’s rarely necessary to know a
zone’s exact dimensions, a typical zone can fit inside
a cube approximately 50 feet wide, 50 feet high, and
50 feet long. Obviously, indoor zones can fit in terms
of length and width but most have far lower ceilings.
In outdoor environments, the zone extends up to
the 50-foot limit into the air and then another zone
above it begins, extending 50 feet until it reaches the
next higher zone, and so on.
Adjacency and Borders
Adjacent zones share a common border with each
other. Zones that touch but do not share a common
horizontal or vertical border lack adjacency. In other
words, two zones side by side count as being
adjacent, while those diagonal to each other do not.
A border can be open, closed, or obstructed. An
open border allows free passage from one zone into
the adjacent zone. Open doors, gates, tunnels and
passages, or the absence of any interfering obstacles
make borders open. You can make a ranged attack
and target creatures, objects, and zones with spells
you cast through open borders.
Closed borders prevent movement into the
adjacent zone since no opening exists along the
border to permit passage. The zone of a cave has
closed borders alongside its edges since those
borders are solid rock.
Finally, an obstructed border offers access to the
adjacent zone, but crossing the border requires
effort beyond simple movement. An obstructed
border might require an additional move, a
successful roll, or something else. Examples of
obstructed borders include barriers made from
flames, cliffs that must be scaled to reach the zone
above, a deep chasm that must be leaped and so on.
Obstructed borders might count as being open for
targeting purposes depending on the nature of the
obstruction. A chasm would count as being open,
while a cliff wall would not.
Range and Distance
The game usually expresses range and distance
using the following terms: reach, zone, or within
some number of zones. If something is within reach,
you can touch it. If something is within your zone, it
exists inside the same zone as you. If something is in
an adjacent zone, it is in a zone next to the one you
presently occupy. Finally, if something is in a zone
two or more zones from you, simply count the zones
starting with the one adjacent to you.
Sometimes, the game presents a number for
range, as in range four. This shorthand tells you the
effect has a maximum range of four zones. A range
expressed as zero means the maximum distance is
anywhere within your zone.
Finally, the game can also use real world units of
measurement to describe the imaginary world. A
statue might be six feet tall, the doorway could be a
yard across, an effect could push you a few feet
away. The city might be 40 kilometers up the road,
or port could be 50 leagues. Use whatever system of
measurement with which you are most familiar.
Clustering
The game uses clusters to describe who can reach
whom. When a creature can reach another creature
or object, the pair form a cluster. Any other creature
that moves in to reach the same creature or object
joins the cluster.
For example, Dani’s character, Zephyr, uses a
sword to fight a bandit. Zephyr and the bandit can
reach each other and count as a cluster. Elise’s
character, Anise, moves in to cast a spell on Zephyr
that requires Anise to touch Zephyr. She can do this
and remain out of the cluster since she’s not trying
to reach the bandit. However, if Anise was to attack
the bandit with her mace, Anise would join the
cluster.
Exploring Zones
When you enter a zone, the Sage reveals pertinent
information about that zone. If you want more
information about the zone, you need to explore it.
This means your character needs to look around,
listen, sniff the air, touch things, and so on. The
more you examine your surroundings, the more
information the Sage reveals until there is either
nothing more of interest to be revealed or you find
something interesting.
Perception
Perception describes the general use of your senses
to gain information. All creatures tend to have
similar capabilities when it comes to perceiving
their surroundings, though some might have keen
eyesight, hearing, or some other sense to give them
an advantage. Otherwise, though, everyone has the
same chance to derive information about their zone
and zones beyond using their senses.
Listening
Distance from the source of a sound determines
whether or not you can hear it. You can hear a noise
as loud as a whisper from a source you can reach.
9
You can hear a noise as loud as normal conversation
from a source within an adjacent or closer zone, and
a sound as loud as a shout from up to four zones
away.
Obstacles reduce the range of you hearing such
that for each one intervening, reduce the range by
one zone. For example, you can’t, typically, hear a
whisper through a closed door in your zone, though
you could hear conversation if it occurs on the other
side of a door in your zone. For you to hear a shout
through a closed door, the source would have to be
within three zones instead of the normal four.
When listening, the Sage might call for a luck roll
to see if you happen to listen at the right time to
hear something interesting or useful.
Seeing
You need light to see. Light can be bright, dim, or
faint. If you have no light, you are blinded unless
you have some means to see.
Bright light originating from a point inside a zone
illuminates the zone and each zone adjacent to it.
Dim light illuminates only the zone in which it
emanates.
Faint light illuminates a 3-foot radius area
centered on the light source.
Seeing Outdoors: A typical human in bright light
can see out to a distance of about three miles,
though obstacles and atmospheric conditions can
reduce the range of this vision. At night, a full moon
allows sight out to half the normal range. Anything
less than a full moon or a full moon with cloud
cover reduces the range of vision to just the
creature’s zone, as if that zone was dimly lit.
Seeing Light Sources: You can see a light source
from almost any distance provided you have an
unobstructed path to the light source and you can
usually see the zone it illuminates.
Special Vision
Many creatures possess superior forms of vision
that let them see clearly with little to no light. The
following forms of special vision appear most often
in the game.
Night Vision: A creature sees in dim light as if it
were bright light and dim light, for this creature,
sheds light as if it were bright light. For example, a
creature with Night Vision can see into zones
adjacent to the source of the dim light.
True Vision: A creature can see regardless of
available light. The creature can see invisible
creatures and objects, recognize visual illusions for
what they are, and see through mundane and
magical disguises.
Obscurement
Fog, snow, heavy rain, smoke, gas, dust, and similar
environmental effects provide obscurement, which
reduces the intensity of light in the area by one step.
Bright light becomes dim light, dim light becomes
faint light, and faint light becomes darkness.
Multiple cases of obscurement have a cumulative
effect. In a bright lit zone filled with fog counts as
dim light. Add magical shadows, and now the light
becomes faint.
Invisibility
Anything that cannot be seen is invisible. Darkness
can render creatures and objects in a zone invisible,
while a spell might make a creature or object
invisible for a time regardless of the light conditions.
Rolls made to attack creatures and objects that
cannot see the source of the attack are made with 3
boons. Rolls made to attack creatures or objects that
cannot be seen, but whose position is generally
known by other factors are made with 3 banes.
Note that invisible targets might still make sound,
retain their normal substance, weight, and texture.
Invisible targets displace water and vapor those
capable of movement leave signs of their passage or
not as normal.
Hidden Creatures, Objects, and Features
Many times, zones contain hidden foes, switches,
doors, and the like. If you cannot perceive the thing
and lack awareness of it, the thing is hidden from
you. Typically, you find hidden things by interacting
with your zone, such as by searching in a particular
place or changing the conditions that allow
something to hide. For more information on hiding
and finding, see Hide and Find under the combat
rules later in this chapter.
Other Senses
Some creatures possess special senses that allow
them to perceive their surroundings without having
to rely on vision.
Scent #: A creature with scent can pinpoint the
location of any creature of flesh and blood within
the listed number of areas without having to see it.
Awareness #: A creature with awareness can
pinpoint the location of each creature and object
within the listed number of areas without having to
rely on any normal senses. A creature with
awareness ignores the blinded affliction.
Knowledge
Broadly, knowledge describes the information
people have learned, discovered, and can recall.
Knowledge comes in four tiers, with each higher tier
representing information of increasing obscurity.
Common: Information known by almost
everyone and includes such things that people need
to know in order to get along in the world. Common
knowledge includes such things as operating simple
devices, identifying common creatures and peoples,
10
recognizing dominant religions, and recall major
recent events.
Uncommon: Uncommon knowledge includes
information known to people trained in a particular
trade, craft, or academic pursuit. Uncommon
knowledge might grant the ability to use certain
tools related to a profession, having an
understanding of the interconnectedness of certain
historical events, schools of thought, recognizing
symbols of minor religions, and so on.
Rare: Information known only to experts in their
fields counts as rare knowledge. Such knowledge
belongs to masters of certain trades and crafts,
lifelong students of specific areas of knowledge,
deep understanding of magic and cosmology, and
more.
Exotic: Knowledge of the exotic tier tends to be
secret, known only to a handful of people in the
world. Such knowledge typically has to be
discovered and might be a reward in its own right.
Knowledge Rolls
You have common knowledge generally, and
uncommon knowledge related to your profession.
The Sage might call for an Intellect roll to recall
uncommon knowledge you do not have or more
obscure knowledge by imposing one or more banes.
If you succeed on the roll, the Sage tells you the
pertinent details you seek. Otherwise, you don’t
know and you must find some other way to gain the
information you seek.
Movement
Outside of combat, you can freely move in your
zone and from a zone into adjacent zones by
walking or running. You can typically walk about 50
feet per round or 300 feet per minute. When
running, you can cover about 80 feet per round or
480 feet per minute. Smaller and larger creatures
might move a bit slower and a bit faster, but the
differences are modest enough to have little bearing
on the game.
In addition to walking and running, you might
have to perform other forms of movement.
Climbing, jumping, swimming, and balancing could
involve making rolls or not.
Challenging Terrain
Roots, rubble, ice, and other terrain features make
movement across the zones containing them more
difficult. Typically, challenging terrain prevents you
from running and retreating until you move off it. In
addition, when you move onto challenging terrain,
you immediately stop moving and can move off it
on your next turn, if you’re in combat for example.
Some forms of challenging terrain require you to
make a roll when you move onto it. Slippery ice, for
example, might require you to roll Agility and fall
prone if you fail the roll. The risk might be obvious
before you move onto the terrain or could be a
surprise that’s revealed only when you or someone
else moves on it.
Cramped Spaces
Cramped spaces offering little maneuverability
often count as challenging terrain. In addition to the
other effects, the limited space imposes 1 bane on
rolls to attack with large and medium weapons. In
addition, the spaces might disallow creatures of
larger size from entering them or cause them to be
restrained while in them.
Climbing
You can climb any surface that offers sufficient
handholds and footholds. You can, for example,
climb up a knotted rope that’s been tied off, a ladder,
a steep staircase, or, possibly, a wall provided there
are protrusions and gaps you can use for climbing.
You can typically climb 10 to 20 feet each round you
spend climbing depending on the surface. You make
rolls to do anything other than climb while climbing
with 2 banes. If you take damage or gain an
affliction while climbing, you must succeed on a
Strength roll or fall.
The Sage might rule some surfaces require a
successful Strength roll in order to climb them,
possibly imposing 1 bane or more. A failure
indicates you make no progress, while a roll of 0 or
less means you slip and fall.
Jumping
You can jump up 3 inches and jump across 3 feet
without having to roll. You double this distance if
you jump while running. You can jump greater
distances with a successful Strength roll as the Sage
decides.
Swimming
You can swim in just about any liquid, though
swimming in acid or toxic goo is never a good idea.
You can swim about 40 feet per round. In rough
conditions, you might have to roll Strength with 1
bane or more. On a failure, you make no progress
and on a 0 or less you sink beneath the surface and
face suffocation.
Flying
The flier trait grants you the ability to move in any
direction and prevents you from falling if you stop
moving and you’re not on a solid surface. The flier
trait also lets you ignore challenging terrain on the
ground. Outside of combat, you can fly a number of
miles per hour equal to ten times the number of
zones you can move.
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Being Moved
Some effects can move you against your will in a
direction as indicated by the effect. If you would be
moved into danger, such as over the edge of a cliff or
into a fire, you can roll luck and, on a successful roll,
you fall prone at the edge of the danger.
Mounts
You can ride any creature that’s willing to bear you
as a rider. A friendly prospective mount allows you
to move onto or off its back. For unfriendly mounts,
you must first successfully grab it and then move
onto its back. In either case, you count as separate
creatures and can be targeted as such.
Taking Turns: While riding a friendly creature,
the mount uses its action each round to bear you as
its rider. If it fails to do so, you must use your action
to maintain your seat—this might require a
successful Strength roll at the Sage’s discretion. The
mount then moves as you direct it.
If you’re riding an unfriendly creature, you must
use your action to maintain your seat and you can
attempt to control it by roll Will against its Will. On
a success, you decide how the mount moves.
Attacking: While you ride a friendly creature, you
can make attacks with medium or small weapons.
Some large weapons let you wield them while
mounted, as noted in their descriptions. Some
mounts can attack while being ridden, as noted in
their descriptions.
Falls: If you fall off your mount, you land prone
next to it and take 2d6 damage. If the mount falls
prone, you must succeed on a luck roll or take extra
damage equal to 1d6 per point of the mount’s size
and become restrained by the mount’s body until it
stands up or is moved off you. You can attempt to
pull yourself or wriggle free with a successful
Strength or Agility roll made with a number of
banes equal to the mount’s size.
Vehicles
Many vehicles count as zones used to travel through
other zones. Many vehicles, such as carts, wagons,
carriages, and boats, tend to be far smaller than
normal zones and thus have limited capacity for
passengers and cargo. Other vehicles might be large
enough to encompass an entire zone or multiple
zones. You can move into or off of a stationary
vehicle and, once in, you can move around inside it.
If the vehicle is moving when you attempt to enter
or exit, the Sage might call for a Strength or Agility
roll, with safe passage granted on a success or
damage and a fall resulting from a failure.
Driving and Piloting: A vehicle is either
controlled or uncontrolled. A controlled vehicle has
someone in a position inside the vehicle where it
can be driven or piloted. Controlling a vehicle
requires the use of an action and the vehicle moves
as its driver or pilot directs it or the creatures
responsible for drawing it. An uncontrolled vehicle
is stationary or gradually becomes so eventually
when it encounters sufficient resistance to stop it.
An uncontrolled cart might roll down a hill and
come to a stop when it reaches the bottom or when
it slams into a wall.
Movement: A vehicle moves so long as it has
something to move it, such as creatures to draw it,
winds to blow it, or fuel to power the motor that
moves it. Once in motion, the vehicle might
maintain its speed, slow down, or speed up as
decided by the creature controlling it.
Collisions: A collision occurs when a vehicle
would move into a creature or object of its size or
larger, which causes the vehicle to come to a stop
then or soon after. A collision deals damage to the
vehicle, its occupants, and whatever it strikes. The
amount of damage depends on a variety of factors
that include, but are not limited to, speed, weight,
and size of the vehicle. A collision deals 1d6 damage
if the vehicle is moving slowly, 2d6 if it’s moving at a
moderate speed, or 4d6 if it’s moving fast. The Sage
can have the collision deal extra damage in
consideration of other factors. The vehicles
occupants must roll Strength, taking half the
damage on a failure, or no damage on a success. The
damage sources from being thrown about inside the
vehicle. Other effects might result as well—being
thrown from the vehicle, falling prone inside or
near it, or worse.
Teleportation
Teleportation allows instant transport from one
position to another and almost always occurs as the
result of using magic. When you teleport, you, along
with everything you wear and carry, disappear and
reappear at the destination in the same orientation,
posture, and position you had when you vanished. If
you were prone when an effect teleports you, you
remain prone when you arrive at your destination. If
an effect targets multiple creatures, each reappears
in the same positions they had relative to each other.
Finally, movement by teleportation ignores the
moving out of peril rule (see page $#).
Falls
Whenever you land after falling, you risk taking
damage. The amount of damage depends on the
distance you fell and whether the surface on which
you land is solid or liquid.
If you fall from a height greater than 5 feet but no
more than 10 feet, roll luck. You make the roll with 1
bane for every full 20 feet you fall to a solid surface
or 40 feet fallen to a liquid surface. You take no
damage on a success, and 1d6 damage on a failure.
12
 When you land after falling more than 10 feet, roll
luck. You take 1d6 damage per 10 feet you fell on a
failure, or half the damage on a success. If you rolled
a 0 or less, you instead die. If you rolled a 20 or
higher, you instead take no damage.
If you land on a liquid surface, treat the fall as if
you had landed on a solid surface, but from half the
distance. This means you take no damage if you fall
10 feet into a liquid.
Objects
Anything that’s not a creature counts as an object,
whether it’s alive or not. This means rocks are
objects and so are trees, swords, vines growing on a
stone wall, and the molds staining the dungeon
walls. Objects, unless they have the animated object
trait, take no actions and do not, usually, move.
Attributes
An object’s attributes reflect its capabilities. An
object incapable of exerting force lacks a Strength
score. An object incapable of movement lacks an
Agility score. Only rare objects have sentience and
thus they lack Intellect and Will scores. If an object
has an attribute score, it can perform activities
related to it. Otherwise, the object lacks the means
to perform these activities.
Defense
Unless the object has some means to avoid harm, it
has a Defense of 0. An object worn or carried uses
the Defense of whatever wears or carries it. Vehicles
with drivers or pilots grant the objects they operate
a Defense equal to half the driver or pilot’s Agility
score. If an object can move under its own volition,
it has a Defense score equal to its Agility score
minus its size if the object is size 2 or larger or plus 2
if the object is size 1/2 or smaller.
Health
An object’s Health score depends on its size. Each 3-
foot cube of the object, which counts as size 1, has
Health 28 regardless of the material from which it’s
made. Smaller objects have Health equal to their
size times 28. So, a size 1/2 object has Health 14, a size
1/4 object has 7, while a size 1/8 object has 3, and so
on.
Damaging Objects
Objects that lack the animated object trait lose
Health instead of taking damage. When an object
takes damage from a source that can harm it, reduce
the object’s Health score by the amount of damage it
has taken. An object reduced to 0 Health is
destroyed, ruined and nonfunctional. Animated
objects, though, take damage as creatures do.
Objects might be vulnerable or immune to
certain sources of damage. A stone wall might be
scorched by fire, but take no real damage from it. A
wooden wall, though, takes damage from the flames
and might catch fire. A glass window, being fragile,
takes double damage from heavy objects, whether
they’re made of wood, stone, or metal. A cloth object
takes no damage from a blunt weapon, but takes
double damage from an edged weapon.
In all cases, the Sage makes the final
determination using common sense to determine
the outcomes.
Breaking Objects: You can break an object
without having to damage it, such as when you kick
down a door, put your fist through a pane of glass,
or burst free from rope bonds. Breaking an object
requires a successful Strength roll. The material
from which the object is made might impose 1 or
more banes or simply make the attempt impossible.
On a success, the object loses all its Health.
Secured and Unsecured
A secured object indicates it is held fast in some
way, such as being bolted in place, tied down, or
otherwise affixed to a surface. An unsecured object
has nothing to keep it in place and can be picked up
and moved.
Lifting, Shoving, and Dragging: You can lift,
shove, or drag unsecured objects. As a general rule,
a creature can lift a number of pounds equal to its
Strength score times 10. Multiply the weight by the
creature’s size if the creature is larger or smaller
than 1.
This said, rather than track specific weights of
thing, the game relies on common sense to
determine what can moved in these ways. You could
push a wagon provided it has wheels, but if it
doesn’t, it’s weight might mean you can’t budge it.
Similarly, you might topple a statue, but you’re not
likely to be able to push a wall down without serious
help. If you attempt to lift, shove, or drag a heavy
object, the Sage call for a Strength roll to see if you
can. The weight and bulk of the object might
impose 1 or more banes, or just render the task
impossible.
Dropping Objects: When you drop an object
made of some hard material, the object falls and it
takes damage from landing and deals the same
damage to whatever it lands on. If an object would
fall on a creature, the creature can roll luck and, on
a success, the creature moves out of the path of the
falling object and takes no damage when it lands.
Objects as Cover
Objects provide cover to anything behind them.
Cover can be partial cover or total cover. Something
has partial cover when at least half of it but not all of
13
it is behind the covering object. Something has total
cover when it is fully behind the covering object. For
guidelines on cover’s effects in combat, see page $#.
Hazards
Zones might contain dangerous features called
hazards. These features include obvious dangers
such as infestations of toxic mold, fire, caltrops
scattered on a floor, poison gas, and open pits.
Buried
You become buried when something covers you and
prevents you from moving, such as a cave-in or a
collapsing ceiling, but also when inhumed in the
ground. If the falling debris creates a space large
enough to contain you, you can freely move around
in that space. Otherwise, you cannot move.
While buried, you cannot see anything outside of
the space in which you are trapped. Nothing from
outside your space can target any part of you that is
covered in the debris. You can hear a shouting
creature in your zone, but hear nothing else outside
of the space in which you are trapped. You might be
subject to suffocation, at the Sage’s discretion.
You might be able to dig yourself free. Doing so
normally entails rolling Strength with 1 or more
banes, with a success allowing you to make progress
toward escape. Depending on the degree of
coverage, you might escape after one success or
several successes.
Fire
Fire deals 1d6 damage, once per round, to anything
that comes into contact with it. Flammable creatures
and objects that take damage from fire catch fire
unless they succeed on a luck roll. A creature that
catches fire takes 1d6 damage during each upkeep
until the fire is extinguished. The creature can drop
prone and use an action to roll around to put out the
flames or another creature can use an action to
smother the flames or douse them.
Wind
Wind describes any movement of air at a speed of 20
miles per hour or faster. Each round the wind blows
through a zone, it extinguishes unprotected flames,
causes protected flames, such as those inside
lanterns, to flicker and dance. Wind clears away
smoke, vapor, mist, and gas, and also kicks up dust,
while scattering small, lightweight, and unsecured
objects. Wind imposes 3 banes on rolls made to
attack with ranged weapons. It also counts as an
obstacle for the purpose of hearing.
Traps
In addition to hazards, you might contend with
traps. A trap is a hidden mechanical object designed
to slow, hinder, or harm whatever triggers it. Finding
a trap requires searching the zone that contains it.
The Sage might also require you to make a
successful Intellect roll to find it when searching if
there is some kind of special camouflage that would
prevent its detection by looking at it.
Once found, a trap can usually be avoided. If not,
you can try to use tools to disarm it by making an
Intellect roll. You might have 1 or more banes for the
roll depending on the trap’s complexity.
Communication
You communicate with your fellow players and the
Sage, often out of the game, but also in the game
when you play the role of your character. You can
describe what your character says if you prefer or
you can talk as your character, if you’re comfortable
doing so. There’s no right way to roleplay your
character. Do what you feel is right for you.
Disposition
Creatures have dispositions toward other creatures,
being friendly, indifferent, or unfriendly. A creature
has good intentions for a creature to which it is
friendly, while an unfriendly creature does not and
might be rude, hostile, or even aggressive.
Indifferent creatures lack strong feelings one way or
the other. Most people are indifferent to strangers,
friendly to their circle of friends and family, and
unfriendly to those who seek them harm.
Allies and Enemies
Combat refers to creatures as either being allies or
enemies, often for the purpose of targeting creatures
with talents and magical effects. Typically, an ally is
friendly to the creatures with which it is allied,
though it doesn’t have to be. Two characters might
despise each other and yet fight on the same side.
Languages
Communication between peoples requires having a
language shared in common. A great many
languages exist in the New Land, with many more in
the ruins of the Old Country and the Devastation.
Most civilizations use a particular language, either
one that evolved naturally or that evolved from a
previous or neighboring civilization. Languages also
include regional dialects, systems of codes, and
other forms of communication. Far too many
languages exist in the known world to account for
14
them all. For a list of commonly used languages, see
chapter 2.
Pantomime
When you try to communicate with a creature
incapable of understanding the language you use,
you might still be able to get the idea across. You
might use pantomime, drawings, or some other
method to communicate your ideas. Sometimes,
this might require the creature with whom you
communicate to make an Intellect roll to get the gist
of what you say, but simple concepts such as food,
water, danger, and can be readily communicable.
Rolls in Social Situations
If you try to convince someone to do something that
they wouldn’t ordinarily do such as divulge a secret,
give aid, betray a friend, accept a bribe, or
something else along those lines, the outcome of
your social interaction could become uncertain. As
with any situation, when it’s not clear what happens
next, the rules or the Sage can call for an attribute
roll to see what happens. You typically roll Intellect
against Intellect when you are trying to deceive,
trick, or use logic to win over someone. You roll Will
against Will when you use the force of your
personality to convince, gain trust, or threaten
someone. The Sage might let you substitute
Strength for Will if you are using brute force to back
up your arguments or might have you roll against a
different attribute when it makes sense. Boons and
banes apply at the Sage’s discretion or from talents.
A successful roll usually means the target of your
interaction behaves in the way you hoped. The
target trusts you, accepts your bribe, or gives you a
steep discount on an item or service. A failure
means you don’t get the outcome you desire. The
target refuses to help you, doesn’t see you in a better
light, or withholds information from you.
Sometimes an exceptional or a terrible result
might have additional effects. If you roll a 20 or
higher when trying to intimidate a prisoner, the
character might reveal more information than you
were asking for. Or, if you roll a 0 or lower, your
attempt to seduce the barman could make him
unfriendly.
Contacts
During your adventures and downtime periods you
might make contacts of people, organizations, and
institutions. A contact can provide assistance to you
in times of need. You could turn to a contact to loan
you the coin you need to save a struggling business,
to get you an audience with a local lord, or to
provide you with room and board when you come
to town. Once you make a contact, you retain it until
you do something to break it such as by becoming
involved in a scandal, betraying a contact, or
exploiting the contact too much.
The Sage might define the contact or solicit your
help in building the contact’s identity. Either way, a
well-defined contact can be not only a great
resource for your group but also a means for
enriching the play experience.
Contact Types and Benefits
Contacts have different functions and capabilities,
as shown below.
Financial: A financial contact can give you a loan
or help you pay off your debts.
Influence: An influence contact can make
introductions, open doors, and pressure people to
do what you want them to do.
Information: An information contact provides
you with information you need to complete an
activity.
Patron: A patron contact pays for you to have a
comfortable lifestyle.
Professional: The contact has profession related
to yours and can help you perform certain tasks.
Information: A resource contact provides you
with a specific kind of resource
Security: Security contact offers you protection
from your enemies.
Other: The Sage might provide you with other
kinds of contacts with specialized capabilities.
Nemeses
In addition to contacts, you might gain one or more
nemeses, individuals who actively work against you.
A nemesis typically has a type of kinds normally
associated with contacts, but uses its resources to
counter your contacts or make your tasks and
activities more difficult. The Sage has rules for using
nemeses in the game.
Combat
Combat happens when you resolve conflict using
violence. Since the stakes are at the highest, combat
uses special rules to track time and to make sure
everyone has a chance to contribute to the scene’s
outcome. A combat lasts until one side defeats the
other. The defeated side might succumb to their
injuries, surrender, or flee.
Battlefield
Combat takes place on a battlefield, which includes
all the zones in the scene leading up to the combat’s
start as well as other zones that might be revealed as
the battle unfolds. The Sage determines starting
positions for all combatants based and notes any
15
pertinent features in the battlefield’s zones that
could play a part in determining the battle’s
outcome.
Rounds in Combat
Combat measures time in rounds. There are six
rounds in a minute. Each round, everyone involved
in the combat takes a turn. Once each combatant
has taken a turn, the round ends and a new one
begins. The cycle continues until the combat ends.
1 Round Durations in Combat: Many effects have
1-round durations, which means they last until the
same point in which you produced the effect during
the next round. For example, say you take the
initiative and produce an effect that lasts for 1
round. The effect would persist until just before the
enemies take their turns during the next round.
Similarly, say you take a turn after the enemies take
their turns and produce an effect that lasts 1 round.
The effect persists until after the enemies take their
turns during the next round.
Turns
Each combatant can take one turn each round. On
its turn, a combatant moves and use an action at
any point during the move to perform a particular
activity. When you move, you must choose the
manner in which you move such as to walk, run,
crawl, retreat, and so on.
Surprise
Surprise happens when one or more creatures start
the combat unaware of their enemies, which lets the
enemies take a surprise turn during the first round.
This turn does not count against a combatant’s
normal turn limit and happens before anyone
involved in the combat takes their turn.
Turn Order
Combatants under the Sage’s control take their
turns first, acting in any order the Sage chooses.
Each combatant must complete its turn before
another can take its turn.
Once all combatants under the Sage’s control
have taken their turns, the players can take their
turns. The players decide the order in which they
act. If the players can’t decide who goes first, the
Sage decides for them.
Taking the Initiative
At the start of each round, any players who wishes
to do so can “take the initiative.” When players take
the initiative, they give up either a move or an action
in order to take their turn before the creatures
under the Sage’s control. Again, players who take
the initiative decide who goes first.
The Upkeep
The upkeep marks the end of one round and the
beginning of the next, but it’s also when combatants
refresh their resources and when ongoing effects are
resolved. The following events typically occur
during the upkeep.
• Any ongoing effects resolved during the
upkeep are resolved in any order the Sage
chooses.
• Each combatant replenishes resources that
return during the upkeep.
• Effects that normally end during the
upkeep end.
Using Reactions
You gain reactions from the paths you choose. With
them, you gain talents that let you spend reactions
to perform certain activities. Also, some spells can
be cast by spending a reaction. No matter how many
reactions you have, you cannot spend more than
one per round. And if you have no reactions left to
spend, you must wait one minute without using an
action to regain all the reactions you spent.
Dodge and Withstand
Whenever an effect would call for you to make a
luck roll, you can spend a reaction to make an
attribute roll in place of the luck roll. If the effect is
something that could be dodged, roll Agility or
Intellect. If the effect is something that must be
withstood, such as poison or sickness, you roll
Strength or Will. The Sage decides which attribute
you use.
Move
You can move on your turn provided a circumstance
or an affliction does not prevent you from physically
moving. You decide how far you move by choosing
one of the options presented below.
Walk
You move from a starting position to a different
position in the same zone or you move into an
adjacent zone and stop moving. If you can also use
an action, you can interrupt your walk to perform
the activity and then finish walking.
When you walk inside your zone, you could walk
up to an ally, perform an activity, and then walk
away from that ally. As a good rule of thumb, you
can walk from one side of a zone to the other on
your turn.
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Sneak
When you sneak, you walk or crawl in a way that
makes little sound. You can sneak about halfway
across your current zone or a quarter this distance if
you’re crawling per round. You can also sneak into
an adjacent zone, but you must succeed on an
Agility roll or you continue moving but with sounds
sufficient for other, nearby creatures to hear you.
Loud Surfaces: The surfaces across which you
would sneak might make noise (some surfaces also
count as noisy if you wear “loud” armor). Broken
glass, gravel, twigs, leaves, and the like all make
noise when you step on them. If you attempt to
sneak across such a surface, you must roll Agility. If
you are sneaking into an adjacent zone, you make
the roll with 1 bane. On a success, you reduce the
sound of your movement to a whisper.
Run
If you need to move farther on your turn, you can
run. You run from your zone to any point you
choose in an adjacent zone, and then into one zone
beyond that, at which point you stop moving for the
round. Running lets you move the length of two
zones.
Since running takes more effort than does
walking, you make attribute rolls with 1 bane until
you take another turn. However, you also impose 1
bane on rolls made to attack you for the same
duration.
Crawl
If you prone, you can crawl. You can crawl from
your starting position to another in the same zone.
You can crawl into an adjacent zone, but you have to
succeed on a Strength roll or you stop moving at the
edge. Moving at a crawl lets you move about half the
length of a zone.
Stand Up
You can use your move to stand up and thus remove
the prone affliction from yourself. As part of this
move, you can move to a different position in your
zone.
Retreat
You can move out of the reach of one or more
enemies to avoid moving out of peril. With a retreat,
you can only move to a different position in your
zone. For distance, a retreat lets you move about a
quarter of the zone’s length.
Fly
The flier trait, if you have it, includes a number,
which tells you the maximum distance in zones you
can move by flying. When flying, you must use a
move each round or you fall. When you use a move,
you can either fly in place or move in a direction of
your choice.
Special Forms of Movement
You can also use a move to climb, jump, swim, ride a
steed, or drive a vehicle. Refer to the Movement
rules presented above for more information.
Sometimes you’ll use these special forms of
movement as part of other movement. For example,
you might walk up a wall and start climbing or leap
over a hazard while running.
Moving Out of Peril
When a creature within the reach of one or more of
its enemies would walk, run, crawl, or fly out of the
reach of these enemies, the creature takes damage
equal to the sum of the levels of each enemy that
could reach it when it started moving. A creature
can roll luck and, on a success, takes half the
damage.
Actions
You use actions to perform activities in combat.
Common uses for actions follow, but you might gain
additional uses for actions from your traits, talents,
equipment, and spells you cast.
Attack
You use a weapon you wield to strike a creature or
object. See Making Attacks, below, for more
information.
Cast a Spell
You cast a spell you have learned, you read from an
inscription, or from an object that contains the spell.
For the spell to take effect, you must speak, gesture,
and expend the casting. Then, resolve the spell’s
effects as explained in its description. Simply follow
the instructions. If you would target something
other than yourself with a spell, refer to the
targeting rules described under Making an Attack.
For more information about casting spells from
inscriptions, see Chapter @: Spells. Objects that
contain spells provide the rules for casting them in
their descriptions.
Defend
Until you take your next turn, you impose 2 banes
on rolls made against you, but you make rolls
against other creatures with 2 banes. If you become
unable to use actions, this activity ends.
17
Find
You search in a specific place inside your zone for a
hidden creature, object, or some other feature. If it’s
there, you find it.
Help
You help one creature within the zone around you.
If the target can see and hear you, you grant it 1
boon on its next attribute roll made before the end
of your next turn.
Hide
You become hidden under certain conditions. You
must have a hiding place and you can only hide
from creatures that are not observing you. If you
meet these conditions, you become hidden.
Nothing from which you are hidden can target
you with attacks, spells, or other effects. You also
have an advantage when attacking targets from
which you are hidden, as described under Making
an Attack.
Hiding Places: A hiding place can be any location
that prevents others from perceiving you. Examples
include under a bed, inside a wardrobe, behind a
boulder, and so on. The hiding place remains a
suitable hiding place only for as long as it can hide
you. If you do anything to reveal your location when
in a hiding place, the hiding place no longer hides
you.
Observation: A creature that watches, hears, or is
otherwise aware of you counts as observing you. A
creature that has no idea you are present in a zone,
even its own zone, or suspects you might be but has
no evidence from its senses to confirm or deny this
doesn’t count as observing you.
Changing Hiding Places:
If you’re hidden in a hiding place and would move
to a different one and remain hidden, you can do so
provided no one is observing you when you move. If
potential observers are not looking your way when
you move, you might have to sneak from one hiding
place to another.
Hiding Examples
Many talents, spells, and other effects depend on being hidden
and interact with the rules for hiding, sneaking, and the like.
Here are some examples to help you put these rules into
practice.
Example 1: Chris’s character, Boris, sneaks down a
passageway and comes to an open door. From the opening,
Boris hears several raised voices. The Sage rules that Boris is
hidden from the guards since Boris has a hiding place (the
corridor) and the voices’ owners are not aware of him (their
own conversation is louder than Boris’s sneaking footsteps).
Example 2: Boris opts to dart across the open door to move
to a different hiding place, one that happens to be on the other
side of the door. Since Boris is moving from one hidden place to
another and no one is observing him, he could reach the new
place without trouble. However, the Sage decides one of the
guards (a speaker) happens to be facing the open door, and so
calls for Chris to roll luck. Chris gets a success and the guard
looks away just as Chris sneaks past the open door.
Example 3: Later, Boris and his companions get into a fight
with the guards. At the start of combat, Boris is hidden from the
enemies and so, when he takes his turn, he springs out of hiding
and attacks. The next round, the surviving guards are aware of
Boris, so Boris cannot hide from them until he moves
somewhere that they cannot see him and then sneaks off so
that can no longer observe him.
Hinder
You hinder one creature you choose within the zone
around you. If the target can see and hear you, you
impose 1 bane on its next attribute roll made before
the end of your next turn.
Interact
You interact within something you can reach in the
zone around you. You could pick something off the
ground, kick in a locked door, light a torch, pick a
lock, or do something else. The Sage determines if
an attribute roll is required.
Overcome
You try to shake off a harmful effect. If you have an
affliction or an ongoing affect that can be ended
with a successful luck roll, you can make an
attribute roll to end the effect. Some examples
follow:
You roll Strength to remove the restrained
affliction from yourself or to fight against toxins
coursing through your body.
You roll Agility to put out flames, wriggle free
from bindings, or regain your feet.
You roll Intellect to see through illusions, to free
your mind from delusions or false emotions, and
anything else that could be overcome using logic
and reason.
You roll Will to shake off fear, to break another’s
control over you, and overcome any other effect
using sheer willpower.
Ultimately, the Sage has final say over what
attribute you can use.
Prepare
You wait for the right moment to act. Choose one
activity you would normally use an action to
perform, such as attack or defend and then describe
what event has to occur for you to undertake it. If
the triggering event occurs before you take your
next turn, you perform the activity. You make any
roll required by the triggered activity with 1 boon.
18
Rush
Move one additional time on your turn.
Stabilize
You tend to one incapacitated creature you can
reach. The target heals 1 damage.
Steal
If you have a hand free, you can attempt to take one
object you on a creature or object within your reach.
The object cannot be carried in the creature’s hands.
Roll Agility against the target’s Agility. If you are
hidden from the target, you make the roll with 1
boon. On a success, you take object from the target’s
body.
Do Something Else
The activities described above represent the most
common performed in combat, but they are not
exhaustive. You might, for example, attempt to taunt
an enemy into attacking you or issue a nasty threat
to demoralize your foes or yank down a tapestry to
cover your opponents. It falls to the Sage to interpret
how to resolve these activities, but they involve,
typically, making an attribute roll or enabling
targets to make an attribute or luck roll.
Minor Activities
Activities require the use of an action require
significant effort and attention, which is why they
take up most of your turn. Some activities you might
perform represent a mere fraction of the effort.
Some examples include dropping something you
hold in your hands, drawing a weapon from a
scabbard, opening an unlocked door, and so on.
Generally, you can perform two minor activities
on your turn per round, or one if you take the
initiative. If you attempt to perform multiple minor
activities, the Sage might require you to use an
action to perform them all.
You can perform a minor activity at any point
during your turn.
Making Attacks
You attack when you use a weapon you wield to
harm another creature or object. When you attack,
you either make a melee attack or a ranged attack.
Attack Dice
You have at least one Attack Die and possibly more
gained from your paths. Each Attack Die is a d6.
When you use an action to attack, you assign some
or all of your Attack Dice to each attack you can
make.
Most other combatants have their Attack Dice
assigned to attacks as noted in their rules. If an
effect would grant a creature one or more Attack
Dice, one attack it makes deals 1d6 extra damage per
Attack Die gained.
Attacks
Your path or some other effect might let you make
more than one attack when you use an action to
attack. If you attack more than once, you must
choose each target for each attack you make and
assign at least one Attack Die to each target. If you
cannot assign an Attack Die to the target, you
cannot make the attack against it. Once you have
done so, resolve the attacks as normal.
Say, for example, you have 3 Attack Dice and can
make 2 attacks. When you use an action, you could
make one attack against one target and assign all 3
Attack Dice to that target. Or, you could make two
attacks, assigning 2 Attack Dice to one target and 1
Attack Die to the same target or a different one.
If you make multiple attacks while moving, you
can continue moving between each attack you
make.
Targeting
Sometimes, the rules require you to choose a target,
such as when you attack with a sword, cast a spell,
or use an item. You can choose any target specified
by the activity provided the target is not hidden
from you and to which you have an unobstructed
path in a straight line from you to it.
Say, for example, you’re fighting a bandit you can
reach. You can see the bandit, so you’re aware of it
and you can reach it, so you can attack it. Now, say
that bandit hides behind a boulder. You might be
aware of it, but the target is hidden and the boulder
means you have an obstructed path. You can’t shoot
it with an arrow from your current position, but if
you move so the boulder is no longer between you
and the target, you can.
Melee Attacks
You make a melee attack when you use a melee
weapon such as a sword, axe, or your fists.
Choose a Target: You can choose any one
creature or object within your reach. If you wield a
weapon with the thrown property, you can choose a
creature or object within the thrown weapon’s
range.
Strength Roll: You roll Strength against the
target’s Defense.
Result: A successful roll means you hit your
target while a failed roll means you miss. If you hit,
roll all your Attack Dice and apply the sum as
damage to the target.
19
Ranged Attacks
You make a ranged attack when you use a ranged
weapon such as a bow, crossbow, or hand cannon.
Choose a Target: You can choose any one
creature or object within your weapon’s range.
Agility Roll: Roll Agility against the target’s
Defense.
Result: A successful roll means you hit your
target while a failed roll means you miss. If you hit,
roll all your Attack Dice and apply the sum as
damage to the target.
Friendly Fire
When you make a ranged attack against a target
that’s in the reach of one or more of your allies, you
risk striking one of your allies. For each ally the
target can reach, you make your roll with 1 bane. If
you fail the roll and the total of your roll is 0 or less,
your attack strikes a randomly determined ally
instead.
Attack Options
When you make attacks, you can attempt to do
more than deal damage. You shove a foe back with
your strike, knock another one to the ground, or
lunge to strike a foe just out of reach. The following
options described many different ways to battle
your enemies. You must choose all options before
you roll the dice and effects of choosing an option
are cumulative. You cannot choose the same option
more than once per attack you make.
Called Shot: You strike a sensitive place on the
target’s body with a melee or ranged attack. Make
the roll with 1 bane and, on a success, cause the
target to become impaired for 1 round.
Darting Attack: You strike from an unexpected
direction to make good your subsequent escape.
Reduce the Attack Dice for your attack by one. On a
success, you can immediately retreat for free.
Disarming Attack: You strike to knock something
from a target’s hand using a melee or ranged
weapon. Make the roll to attack as normal, but the
attack deals no damage. On a success, the target
must succeed on an Agility roll with a number of
banes equal to the Attack Dice you assigned to the
roll. On a failure, the target drops whatever it is
holding. If the target fails by 5 or more, you have a
hand free, and you are in the target’s zone, you can
snatch the object dropped out of the air.
Driving Attack: You drive your opponent back.
Reduce the Attack Dice for your melee attack by
one. On a success, you and the target move together
to a different part of your zone.
Far Shot: You aim to strike a target beyond your
weapon’s normal range. Reduce the Attack Dice for
your ranged attack by one in order to increase the
weapon’s range by 2 for this attack.
Guarded Attack: You make a cautious strike with
a melee weapon to thwart counterattacks. Reduce
the number of Attack Dice for your melee attack by
one. If you succeed on the roll to attack, you impose
1 bane on the target’s rolls made to attack you until
you take your next turn or until something would
prevent you from using actions.
Lunging Attack: You lunge at a distant target. You
can attack a target outside of your reach but within
your zone, but you reduce the Attack Dice for your
melee attack by one.
Unbalancing Attack: You strike to topple your foe
that is no more than 1 size larger than you. Reduce
the number of Attack Dice for your attack by one
and, on a success, the target must succeed on an
Agility roll or fall prone.
Attacking with Two Weapons
If you wield a weapon in each hand and attack, you
can attack with either weapon or both. If you attack
with both, it is as if you were making an additional
attack. You must assign at least one Attack Die to
this additional attack.
Improvised Weapons
You can attack with objects that are not weapons,
provided being struck by the object could deal
damage. Examples include a frying pan, wooden
board, a bucket, or a bottle. You treat such items as
clubs and, if the object can be thrown, such as a
rock, it gains the Thrown (range 1) property. The
Sage might impose 1 or more banes on the roll
depending on the nature of the object.
Attack Modifiers
Common circumstances can make attacks easier or
harder as shown below.
Hidden Attacker: If the attacker is hidden from
the target of its attack, the roll is made with 3 boons.
Target has Partial Cover: A target has partial
cover if something covers half or more of the target’s
body, but not all of the target’s body. The cover
imposes 1 bane on rolls made against a target’s
Defense and Agility and grants 1 boon on Agility
rolls made to avoid zone effects that originate from
beyond the covering object.
If a roll is made against a target with partial cover
and the total of the roll is a 5 or less, the effect
affects the covering object. For example, if you shoot
an arrow at a bandit with partial cover from a tree
and the total of your roll is 5 or less, the arrow
strikes the tree instead of the bandit and deals
damage to the tree.
Target has Total Cover: Rolls made against
targets with total cover automatically fail and, if the
effect could affect the covering object, the object
20
becomes the target instead. If a covering object takes
damage sufficient to destroy it, any excess damage
applies to anything behind the covering object and
that can reach it. For example, you fire a hand
cannon at a door behind which, you rightly suspect,
hides an assassin. If the damage from your attack
destroys the door, any damage in excess of the door’s
Health applies to the assassin behind it.
Invisible Target: You can attack an invisible target
if you have a general idea about its position. You
make the roll with 3 banes.
Poor Conditions: Rain, snow, wind, and other
factors can impose 1 bane or more on your roll.
Unarmed Attacks
You can make an unarmed attack whenever you
make a melee attack provided you have at least one
hand free. If you can make multiple attacks, you can
make an unarmed attack for each attack you would
make, but you must assign at least one Attack Die to
each attack.
Unarmed Attacks against Objects: You can also
make unarmed attacks against objects, provided it
makes sense. You can use the following options
against animated objects, since they behave as
creatures, but punching an inanimate statue, or
shoving a column likely produces no effect. The
Sage determines what happens, if anything, when
you make unarmed attacks against inanimate
objects.
Size and Unarmed Attacks: When you roll to
make an unarmed attack against a target larger than
you, you make the roll with a number of banes
equal to the difference in size or each step in size
(minimum 1 bane). If you make an unarmed attack
against a target that is smaller than you, you make
the roll with a number of boons equal to the
difference in size or in each step in size (minimum 1
boon).
If you are size 1 and attempt to knock down a size
2 target, you make the roll with 1 bane. If you are size
1/2 and try to shove a size 1/4 target, you make the
roll with 1 boon.
Punch
You swing your fist at one creature you can reach.
Roll Strength or Agility against the target’s choice of
Strength or Agility. You ignore the effects of size on
the roll. On a success, you hit the target and deal
damage to it equal to your Strength modifier + half
your level (minimum 0). On a 20 or higher, the
target takes 1d6 extra damage.
Knock Down
You attempt to knock down one creature you can
reach. Roll Strength against the target’s Agility. You
make this roll with 1 boon if you ran before making
the attempt. On a success, the target falls prone. On
a 20 or higher, the target cannot stand up until you
take your next turn.
Shove
You shove one creature you can reach. Roll Strength
against the target’s Strength. If you ran before the
shove, you make the roll with 1 boon. On a success,
you push the target a few feet out of your reach. On
a 20 or higher, the target also falls prone.
Grab
You attempt to grab a creature. Roll Strength or
Agility against the target’s choice of Strength or
Agility. On a success, the target becomes grabbed
until you take your next turn. On a 20 or higher, you
also apply of the wrestling effects on the target. If
you take another turn and have a target grabbed,
you can use an action to maintain the grab without
needing to roll. If you do something else with your
hands or you cannot reach the target, you remove
the grabbed affliction from the target.
See the Grabbed affliction for rules on moving a
target you have grabbed.
Escape
If you are grabbed, you can attempt to remove the
affliction from yourself. Roll Strength or Agility
against the Strength or Agility of the creature that
has you grabbed. On a success, you remove the
grabbed affliction from yourself. If you roll a 20 or
higher, you can choose to cause the creature that
had you grabbed to instead become grabbed by you.
Wrestle
You fight a creature you have grabbed. When you
use an action to wrestle, you also maintain the grab
until you take another turn. Roll Strength or Agility
against the target’s choice of Strength or Agility. On
a success, choose one of the following effects, or two
effects if you rolled a 20 or higher:
• The target takes damage equal to your
Strength modifier + half your level
(minimum 0).
• The target falls prone and the grabbed
affliction ends.
• You and the target fall prone.
• You strangle the target, preventing it from
breathing for 1 round.
• The target becomes impaired for 1 round.
Combat Developments
Although many combats take place in stable
environments between you and your foes, situations
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might arise that can tip the scales in your favor or
against you.
Zone Features
Many zones include features with which you can
interact. Doors can be opened and closed, tables
flipped to provide cover, and curtains can be pulled
down to briefly tangle up enemies. Using zone
features in creative ways can give you and your
friends an edge against difficult opponents.
Hidden Features
As mentioned previously, many zones have hidden
features that must be discovered by searching or
stumbling across them. A hidden door could
provide you with an escape route from an
unwinnable fight, while stepping on a pressure plate
might send a barrage of arrows through the room, a
pit to open beneath, you or an alarm to ring that
alerts other nearby foes. Hidden features that rely
on being triggered take effect immediately when
triggered and, if they have ongoing effects, they are
resolved at the upkeep.
Changing Circumstances
A fiery blast might dispatch a band of goblins, but it
could also set fire to everything in the room.
Booming thunder might cause an unstable ceiling
to start falling in and shattering a wall with
tremendous force could cause it to crumble and
release the waters it held back. Sometimes your
activities can have unexpected consequences that
might aid you or make things worse.
Reinforcements
The sounds of combat might draw reinforcements
or other enemies into the battle, causing more foes
to appear during the upkeep. The Sage places new
combatants on the revealed zone from the greatest
concentration of combatants in the direction from
which they come.
Chases
You or your enemies might try to run away.
Assuming no one follows, the fleeing party escapes.
If one or more creatures take off after them, a chase
begins between the pursued and their pursuers.
When a chase begins, the Sage decides how much
of a lead the pursued have on the pursuers. The lead
is measured in rounds. If the pursued fled 2 rounds
before the pursuers follow, the lead becomes 2, for
example. The pursued, then, try to increase the
lead, while the pursuers work to lessen it. The
pursuers can abandon the chase at any time, at
which point the chase ends.
Like combat, the chase takes place over a series of
rounds. Unlike combat, the pursued take their turns
and then the pursuers take their turns. The upkeep
occurs and then a new round begins.
Pursued Turns
Every creature in the group being chased in the
group is assumed to be running. Each running
creature rolls Agility. If half or more succeed, the
lead increases by 1. If less than half succeed, the lead
is unchanged. A pursued creature can do something
else such as cast a spell or hide, but that creature
leaves the group of pursued. In addition, creatures
in this group might split up into smaller groups or
as individuals. Those not pursued get away.
Pursuers Turn
Each group chasing the fleeing creature is also
assumed to be running and each rolls Agility. If half
or more succeed, the lead decreases by 1 and
nothing happens if more than half fail. During the
chase, individual pursuers might split off to chase
creatures that have gone off in a different direction,
in which case the Sage treats these as separate
chases. Finally, the pursuers can also take other
actions—attacking, casting a spell, or something
else, but this usually means the creature falls
behind.
Chase Complications
The chase takes the pursued and the pursuers
through zones, which might introduce
complications as the fleeing creatures might
scramble over rubble, leap over pits, or lead the
pursuers in to dangerous places. Some challenges
might require a creature to make an attribute or a
luck roll to continue to give chase at the Sage’s
discretion.
Extended Chases
If a chase goes on for 1 minute or longer,
participants must roll Strength during the upkeep.
On a failure, the participant becomes fatigued until
the chase ends.
Ending the Chase
The chase ends when the lead drops to 0, in which
case the pursuers catch up with the pursued, or the
pursuers lose track of the pursued, give up, or do
something else.
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