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building with polymorph™
a roleplaying construction kit

by Chris O’Neill

©2024 – 9TH LEVEL GAMES

Use of this document requires authorization from

9TH LEVEL GAMES.

www.9thlevel.com/polymorph

Version 1.0 – April 2024

If you just want to make a game, turn to page 18.

1
 If you want to delve into the whys and
wherefores, start on page 3.

Table of Contents
Tabletop Roleplaying 3
A System for Roleplaying 5
Core Design Philosophies 10
built with polymorph™ 18
Emulating the Fiction 19
Each Is Its Own Game 20
Words have Power 21
To Emcee or Not to Emcee 22
Scope and Scale 25
You Only Ever Roll Your Die 28
The polymorph™ Resolver 29
The Four Roles 36
The Vanguard 39
The Fighter 40
The Tank 41
Rolling Dice 42
The Moment 45
What are We Playing For? 46
The Drive 48
The Threat Economy 52
Edges 58
Class 61
The Resource Economy 62
Hazards 65
Levels and Experience 68
The Five-by-Five Framework 71
built with polymorph™ License 73

2
 Tabletop Roleplaying
A tabletop roleplaying game is a unique type
of game and experience. While it does share
similarities, mechanics, and even systems with
live-action role-playing, board games, video games,
and (most importantly) other storytelling games –
RPGs are a unique form.

Roleplaying is often called a game (as in RPG)

but it’s never actually been clear that roleplaying
is a game. There aren’t winners and losers, per
se – or sometimes even beginnings or ends. It’s
not a competition - it’s a skill, sort of. It does
have mechanics (or mechanisms, if you prefer)
that produce a game-like structure. Defining
roleplaying is an activity that’s been going on for as
long as we have had roleplaying. Luckily, we don’t
have to answer that – we just have to make systems
to play with.

9TH LEVEL thinks that roleplaying is ultimately

an activity about stories and characters. A
combination of writing, storytelling, performing,
and gaming that isn’t like anything else. Ultimately
RPGs are about having a good time and exploring
an interesting idea or world (most often with some
friends). What is roleplaying is constantly evolving
– especially now with the influx of technology into
the tabletop space and with the rise of actual play
as a new entertainment style.

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All of the people involved in roleplaying are
“players”. Interestingly, we use the term player
because it’s a game, but it’s also a performance of
sorts – where the term “player” also conveys the
idea of being an actor or participant.

As you play, you are going to share in the creation

of a story together – through the actions of your
characters. Often, one player leads the story - called
the Emcee (MC) – and like an MC, acts as the host
for the session. The other players are the Characters
(or PCs, Player Characters). In your roleplaying
journey you will play many characters. You may
even take on the role of the MC.

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A System for Roleplaying
9TH LEVEL GAMES believes that a roleplaying
system must provide and define at least rules
for Player Characters and Meaningful Action
Resolution.

Player Characters
A roleplaying system needs to define a method for
creating characters and these characters should be
mechanically differentiated from each other. If all
of the characters are the same mechanically, the
game will veer into pure storytelling.

Roleplaying must provide someone for the

character “to be”. Defining a character is central
to the idea of roleplaying. Who am I in the story?
How much control do I have over myself and my
surroundings? Am I the protagonist?

Define a world, place, or genre that the characters

exist in. This is the stage for the performance as
it were. Create motivations and drives to force
action in game. This can be in the form of rules
(e.g. you have a “drive” that makes you protect
children) or story/setting (e.g. we are all antifascist
revolutionaries in space).

Provide a method for creating or using a character

in this setting.

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 Meaningful Action Resolution
At least, a system needs a method to determine
what happens when a character does something.
More importantly, there needs to be a method
for resoloving actions that have an effect on the
narrative. In addition, provide a way to affect the
randomness of that resolution provides the core of
the “gameness” than other forms of storytelling and
improvisation.

Defining what it is the players “can do”. Giving the

players meaningful activities and decisions within
a game is the primary activity. Roleplaying needs
to define what it is the system expects players
to do – and provide a way for them to do that.
This is affected by genre and structure (a horror
procedural is very different than a horror character
study).

Provide a method of effectable randomness – in

other words, what is the concrete activity that
determines how actions are resolved (usually
rolling dice) and in what ways can the player effect
change to the results of that randomness (bonuses,
advantage, etc.). Provide the players with means
to manipulate those outcomes through the use
of their characters’ abilities (I get a bonus on this
roll because I have this class), and their characters’
existence in the fiction (I gain advantage because I
pushed him down to the floor).

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As part of this, define the story structure, the game
needs, and what a session looks like.

Not every roleplaying game does all of these

things (though we think they should) – but at a
minimum, a roleplaying game defines WHO YOU
ARE and WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Everything
else is ultimately what makes games interesting, but
not what makes them roleplaying. Not every game
will answer all of these questions, that’s okay.

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 polymorph™
polymorph™ is a roleplaying platform.

It is neither a universal or generic rules engine,

and technically it’s not even a game in and of itself.
polymorph™ is a tool kit, a set of development
assets, and a design framework that enables
creatives to build their own Tabletop Roleplaying
Games (TTRPG).

As a design framework, polymorph™ seeks to

eliminate complex systems in favor of an elegantly
simple yet satisfying core mechanic – you always
roll your die to see what happens.

RPGs built on polymorph™ are modern, rules-

lite games designed to allow for strong, narrative
gameplay that still hold onto the core crunch and
fun of the traditional roleplaying game experience.
The goal of polymorph™ is to offer enough rules
depth to engage the players in gameplay, while
not getting in the way of the narrative experience
that you are trying to create. polymorph™ games
are built using the same “you always roll your die”
mechanic – but with each game built to emulate
and deliver the specific experience you want for
your game.

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At its most basic, polymorph™ provides a
framework for resolving actions, creating
interesting characters that have noticeable
mechanical differences, and provides a structure
for building up and emulating group stories. Each
Game built with polymorph™ brings specific layers
that are important for emulating that story shape,
for telling that specific kind of story.

polymorph™ can run games from traditional

dungeoning and dragoning to cartoon princesses
in cozy environments, to more mature games about
politics, emotions, or drama.

As some evidence to the quality of the ruleset, the

polymorph™ rules won BEST RULES in 2020 from
the IGDN Indie Groundbreakers Awards (for the
game Mazes Fantasy Roleplaying) and multiple
polymorph™ games have been nominated for
ENNIES and other awards since.

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Core Design Philosophies
The following are all core design philosophies of
polymorph™ as a game framework. These are the
reasons WHY we made the decisions that we did.
Understanding these philosophies will make it
easy for you to use this system to build roleplaying
games.

` Elegance
` System Matters
` Story Comes First
` Rulings over Rules
` Mechanical Depth
` Minimize Moving Parts
` Remove Barriers to Entry
` Funny Little Dice
` Media Agnostic
` Inclusivity
` The Rules are the Rules, the Rest is Optional

Elegance
polymorph™ strives for elegance. The rules are
limited to those that need to be there. When you
interact with a mechanic in a game built with
polymorh, it should grow out of the existing
rule structure naturally and without artifice. In
practice, this means that the rules are clear, easy
to understand, and a game master can easily make
decisions or “rulings” on unforeseen interactions.

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Design elegance intrinsically means that Esoteric
Rules Mastery is not a requirement in order to play
a game well or “the right way”.

System Matters
9TH LEVEL GAMES believes that System
matters – the rules to a game should be flavorful,
embedded, and part of the experience. A game
master has the most direct impact on a session of a
game; you can always have a great time with a great
GM, regardless of the game that you are playing.
The rules of a game define a large part of the
experience. Not all rules systems are equally good
at everything. Some game systems are better than
others at emulating specific types of stories. Every
game system rewards and punishes players with
its mechanics which will lead to widely different
outcomes.

Each game that you make with polymorph™

assumes the designer will choose mechanics and
story elements that drive the gameplay and make
that game specific, unique, and “correct” for your
goals.

Story Comes First

polymorph™ games are heavily narrative, focused
on a story being created communally. Anything
that gets in the way of the narrative is suspect and
should be eliminated whenever possible.

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 Funny Little Dice
People like to roll dice, it’s true, and there are many
ways that effectable randomness can be inserted
into a game system – cards, dice, etc. – but part of
the unique fun of roleplaying games is the funny
little dice.

polymorph™ uses the d4, d6, d8, and d10 as the

core of the characters. You could easily create
games with the d5, d7, and d9. The Resolver caps
out there - don’t try other dice with it. But you
could add other dice for other activities (a d12 for
MC randomness is something we are seeing). At
the end of the day, polymorph™ was made with the
idea that dice are essential to the experience.

Rulings over Rules

polymorph™ is ultimately very flexible. The best
and final arbiter of the experience at the table is
the person running the game. When faced with
unforeseen events, interactions, or narrative
strangeness – it’s better to just make a decision and
keep rolling with the game. We hope that the rules
project an apparent answer, and where they don’t,
we urge the game master to make a decision and
keep playing.

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 Mechanical Depth
But, roleplaying is more than just storytelling.
Having enough mechanical depth to allow
players to affect the story via the mechanics of
character is a key difference between storytelling
and roleplaying. We’ve designed polymorph™
with enough depth to allow characters to have
noticeable mechanical differences between one
another, as well as giving those characters the
ability to affect their world.

The polymorph™ mantra is “roll to find out”. When

the narrative of the game reaches a point where
we as players don’t immediately know what will
happen (because of the potential to fail, random
outcome, or because something is blocking us) –
then we “roll to find out.”

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 Minimize Moving Parts
Wherever possible remove the need for systems
and math. Small incremental bonuses and effects
created through small math are not necessary or
desirable – this isn’t academic homework. The
same is true for all systems – ask yourself “do we
need this?” before adding any additional rules or
flash. Can this function be handled with an existing
system? If it can be, it should be. Is this a needed
rule or simply a ruling on circumstances that can
be decided during play?

The fewer moving parts, the easier the system is to

grok, the smoother and faster the game will play
at the table, and the less you will need to reference
rules. All of which results in an overall better
experience at the table.

Remove Barriers to Entry

Traditional roleplaying games have had a high
barrier to entry for designers, in that system
design was arduous, and heavily focused on
balance and mathematics. Many designs start as
hacks – recoloring or repurposing things from
existing designs – without fully understanding the
underlying systems that make a good RPG work.

Our goals for the polymorph™ system are that it is

a robust platform to build games on - especially for
non-traditional roleplaying game designers - that

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work mechanically and as the designer intends –
without having to recreate the wheel every time. In
addition, the system is designed to make it easy for
content creators (authors, artists, etc.) outside of
gaming to realize their creations with a system that
doesn’t require them to “become a game designer”.

By using the polymorph™ framework, narrative

and creative designers who are not game designers
can make roleplaying games. We hope that this
encourages a wide diversity of design voices.

Media Agnostic
As the roleplaying genre of tabletop games
continues to become less about being played
around a table and more about cross-media play
– online via video and virtual tabletops – and
especially as the Actual Play entertainment genre
grows and roleplaying games are ingested not by
firsthand play but as presentation – it has become
important for a game to be constructed so that
it can be experienced and played the same way
regardless of the media it is played through. To that
end, polymorph™ is a platform to build games that
are presentable in multiple formats, require little
math, and where rules questions can be resolved
intuitively.

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 Inclusivity
Roleplaying is for everyone.

polymorph™ games are for everyone.

If you want to gatekeep with rules mastery, or

anything else, please don’t make games with
polymorph™. The usage of polymorph™ to build
a game assumes that you are using language that
promotes equality, respect, and sensitivity toward
everyone. It aims to avoid language that excludes,
stereotypes, or marginalizes certain groups. We
encourage language, ideas, terms, and expressions
that reflect diversity.

Failure to be inclusive invalidates the license to

use the built with polymorph™ framework and
iconography.

Bigots and Fascists will be punched.

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 The Rules are the Rules,
the Rest is Optional
9TH LEVEL GAMES thinks that systems matter,
that you should play games the way the rules as
written say they should be played. This is because
good games have rules for reasons that have been
tested, that work to provide the designer’s expected
outcomes for the player’s experience. That being
said, it’s your game. Especially if you are making
the game. At the start of creation, everything is
optional. Choose the parts of this platform that you
want to use, and jettison the rest.

Oh, except for The Resolver and Inclusivity. It’s not

polymorph™ if you are not using the Resolver, and
we don’t want you to use polymorph™ if you won’t
be inclusive.

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 built with polymorph™
While we encourage hacking and creative
exploration, if you want to state that something
is “built with polymorph™” you have to leave the
“mechanical core” of polymorph™ alone. It works.
It works for a reason and has been playtested
extensively. It has been tested to allow creation
built on top of the engine to run smoothly and
effectively. This means sticking to the RESOLVER,
and wherever possible staying away from
numerically or mathematically changing the die
rolls.

The current landscape of independent roleplaying

games features a large number of hacks. Since the
beginning of roleplaying people have taken existing
games and hacked them to do something different.
Oh, it’s DND but in Space. Or, it’s playbooks but
about soap operas. This is a great way of learning
how to design, but often results in games that
don’t actually do what the designer intended
them to do. If all that was done was changing the
window dressing, without actually changing the
core mechanical activity of that game, then the
game will still work but it may be pulling players
in a different direction than the hacking designer
intended.

These hacks often force a game system to do

something that the system was never designed
to do. All of these are reasons that we specifically

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ask that you not touch the “engine”. Our goal is to
make a system that answers all of the questions
of roleplaying using the least amount of rules. We
want every rule to feel organic and intrinsic to the
game. Our hope is that this framework will be a
guide that will lead you to “evolving” rules from the
core system to meet your specific needs – and that
those rules will seem obvious after being created
because they are natural extensions of the rules
presented.

Emulating the Fiction

Roleplaying games are mostly conversations
between players. Within that conversation, there
is an established and evolving fiction – the shared
world in which that game exists. The fiction is the
costume stretched over the skeleton that is the rules
system. polymorph™ refers to the FICTION often,
and by that, we are talking about “how we explain
the mechanical effects of the action in terms of the
game world”.

The single most important decision about your

creation is how you define the fiction of your game.
We can’t help you here, you have to bring the paints
and brushes – we’re providing you with a canvas to
paint on.

Rules within roleplaying are shared agreements

about how the fiction interacts with my character.
If the result is 10 damage it doesn’t matter if I

19
was shot by a cannon, laser beamed, crushed by
dinosaur feet, or ran out of resources circling a
space station ,they are all the same mechanically –
the only difference between them is the nature of
their fiction. polymorph™ says that the fiction is
easily malleable – whereas rules and dice rolls are
harder and more resilient. You can change the color
of the fiction to enhance the narrative but when
building with polymorph™ be wary of changing
the numbers.

In polymorph™, we encourage designers to think

about the world/setting/genre/twist that they want
to explore – and start there.

Each Is Its Own Game

Earlier, we stated that polymorph™ isn’t a
Universal Game Engine. What we mean by that
is while all polymorph™ games use a standard
resolution engine and have similar systems – they
do not have the same set of rules for every game.
We firmly believe that the rules of each game are
there to serve that game and “universal rules” don’t
properly address that – system matters.

When you have a sharp idea for an RPG, it should

be easy to settle on a tight “Elevator Pitch”. If
someone is excited by your pitch, they will most
likely enjoy themselves playing your game.

20
 Words have Power
When creating a polymorph™ game – change
the name of everything and anything to match
your story, style, and setting. Names are powerful
– simply changing the name of an ability can
evoke the right mindset for your game, extend
your setting, and help players pick up what you’re
putting down.

Rename the roles, the rolls, the abilities, the

economies – that way, your concept will permeate
your game.

Where possible, we have tried to use descriptive,

workhorse, names not evocative names, while
describing things in this document (like Conflict
Resolution – which is called Blades in Mazes,
Sword in The Excellents, Liquidate in Business
Wizards, and the “A Button” in Arcade
World). Descriptive working
names are designed to explain to
you – the game’s creator – what
the function of the system, rule,
or gilding is to provide. You
are encouraged to
hammer that into
evocative names
and descriptions
that will make your
game shine.

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To Emcee or Not to Emcee
When creating a polymorph™ game – you need to
decide how the game will be run (and by whom).
There are 3 standard answers to this question that
shape how a game is run and presented.

Within the polymorph™ community, we have

adopted MC (Master of Ceremonies) as the default
name for the Game Master or Referee of a game.
Like everything else in polymorph™ you are free to
change this name to anything that reinforces your
game fiction. We chose MC over GM, since we
believe that the MC is also a player and beholden
to the rules of the game in the same way the other
players are. Running a game is more about being
the player (or players) responsibility for hosting
and driving the experience, thus emcee.

MC
MC lead games (often not mentioned as MC led
games are the assumption) are the traditional
roleplaying approach.

MC driven games are best for high conflict games

(especially games where the players are playing
versus the environment) and high exploration
games (games with mysteries, exploration, secrets,
etc.). MC’d games are intended to be prepared
ahead of time.

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In an MC led game – one player is the final arbiter
of the rules, and the “owner” or “host” of the game
being played. They invite the other players into
their fiction and are ultimately responsible for the
world and the game.

Shared MC
In shared MC (sometimes Shared GM or Group
GM) games the players in the group take turns
running parts of the game – either with each player
running a portion of the game’s systems, or each
player runs a specific section or session of the story.

Shared MC Games are great for situations where

there is a lot of “improv” where the main conflict
is group versus an environment, or group versus
each other. Shared MCs roles are less good for
exploration or mystery, as those situations generally
require a single “adversary” and prep.

The Shared MC format really shines when each

player has an area of the game world that they are
responsible for. Imagine a game where you are the
crew of a ship, and each player acts as the MC for
a particular “post” – the Navigator, the Purser, etc.
When the players are interacting with that part of
the world, that player acts as the MC for that scene.

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MC-Less
In some situations, a polymorph™ game may be
MC-less (or GMless). This is the least common
model for polymorph™ games being made by 9TH
LEVEL GAMES, but they are a viable option.

Most MC-less games are about the interpersonal

relationships of the players. A game that focuses
heavily on the dynamics between the players may
not need a MC. Additionally, games can be created
with a story-driven set of prompts, an action clock,
or a similar mechanic that the players are “playing
against” where the mechanic is acting as a pseudo-
MC.

Solo Games are a form of MC-less games where

rules are put in place to take the part of the GM. As
time has gone by, interest in solo-able polymorph™
solutions has grown.

Sharing in the Creation of the Fiction

Some games will feature shared world building
but still have an MC player. The Excellents or
Business Wizards are both 9TH LEVEL GAMES
that encourage the creation of the game world and
missions as a group activity. They are then played
with a single MC (Awesome World Games) or a
Shared MC position (Business Wizards).

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 Scope and Scale
Among the key decisions for a polymorph™
game are: “What is the SCOPE of the Action and
Activity?” and “What is its SCALE?”

Scope
Scope defines what the field of play looks like.
Scope defines what the players do from session
to session, game to game. It’s a fence around the
activities in the game, but it is also permission and
encouragement to do those things.

Examples of Scope are:

` Players are adventures that go on missions to
retrieve items of power
` Players are powerful figures in world govern-
ment with the ability to start and end wars
` Players are kids who have adventures in the
creek behind their house

Scope is what the players “DO”, but it’s also what

they “DON’T DO”. If you make a game about
going down into dungeons to fight monsters, that
game is probably not the right fit for a soap opera
drama about actors and ghosts trying to share an
apartment building.

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 Scale
Scale defines the size of the playing field, as well
as the size of the effect that the players have on the
world. How much of an effect can a player have on
the world around them?

Street
The players have the power to affect their immediate
surroundings. Their decisions affect a town or a
neighborhood; the lives of hundreds. Regular people, or
heroes in the worlds of regular people. Sword and Sorcery,
nitty gritty, down and dirty. Slasher movies.

City
The players have power over a town, city, or country. Their
decisions affect the lives of thousands or tens of thousands
of people. Superheroes and legends. Fantasy and Movie
Horror.

Nation
The players have the powers of nations – with the ability to
affect an entire planet. Their actions can affect history and
the lives of millions or billions. Truly powerful super heroes
and demigods, high fantasy heroes. Kaiju and Giant robots.

Cosmic
The players are gods. They have the power to affect reality
itself, and their actions could destroy the universe.

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Let’s look at SCALE as it affects a single power
decision. In our example, we are going to punch a
zombie, and then roll our effect die getting a 3.

Street
We do 3 Hearts, doing some damage to a Zombie.
City
We deal 3, obliterating 3 zombies.
World
We destroy all the zombies, and knock the building
down.
Cosmic
We punch the zombie into space, where it crashes
into the moon.

Games could have different scales or scopes in play

at the same time, with the same rules. In Return to
Dark Tower, you can move between “street and city
level heroes” to the “level of armies fighting”.

You could play a game where the players start each

session as MegaCorporations and make decisions
about the CITY (with scope to make that happen),
and then play a procedural layer where the players
are street-level vigilantes fighting against the crime
in a capitalist hellscape of their own making.

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You Only Ever Roll Your Die
In a polymorph™ game, each player character
is controlled by a single die, and a collection of
fictions that define them (EDGES).

Each character has a ROLE – which defines which

die they ROLL. The most basic mantra, the corest
core rule of polymorph™ is

You only ever roll your die.

Depending on what DIE you ROLL, you are
playing a different ROLE. This die will be a d4, a
d6, a d8, or a d10. No matter what happens – you
will ALWAYS only ever roll YOUR die. If you are a
d4, you only ever roll the d4.

Each die has advantages and disadvantages

mathematically aligned to the Polymorph™
RESOLVER.

28
 polymorph™ Resolver
Whenever a PLAYER is taking an action or making
a save, there are six possible outcomes that a
PLAYER can access/perform, based on the value of
the roll of their die, referenced against this chart,
called the RESOLVER.

Die Roll Outcome

1 Key (Who You Are)
23 Mental Activity
345 Physical Activity
4567 Conflict Resolution
56789 Strength of Body or Spirit
Max Roll Crown (Special Circumstances)

Max here means the highest number possible on

your die – so a 6 on a d6, etc. Each die has different
chances to obtain these outcomes.

Outcomes
Mental Action (Mental)
Physical Action (Physical)
Conflict Resolution (Conflict)
Strength of Body and Spirit (Strength)

At the most basic level, when you take an ACTION

or make a SAVE, you roll your die, attempting
to roll one of the target numbers listed on your
character sheet for one of the FOUR OUTCOMES

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– Mental, Physical, Conflict, or Strength. Because
of the distribution of these numbers, each of the
roles is more or less likely to roll them - these
mechanical differences result in each role behaving
differently in the game. Combined with EDGES,
this creates unique characters at the table.

Mental
Roll Mental Activity when you attempt activities
that are about knowledge, perception, and mental
powers. Mental also covers anything sensory –
listening, seeing, remembering.

When testing MENTAL ACTIVITY, you want to

roll a 2 or a 3.

The Expert (d4) is the best at MENTAL

ACTIVITY.
Play a d4 if you want to be knowledgeable, smart,
or perceptive.

30
Physical
Roll PHYSICAL ACTIVITY when you are
attempting any physical movements or athletic
activity – running, jumping, sliding, dodging,
skulking. Physical is a character’s reflexes, agility,
and dexterity. In some settings where combat is
not the primary method of conflict resolution, this
could also cover types of fighting.

When a character is testing PHYSICAL, they need

to roll a 3, 4, or 5.

The Vanguard (d6) is the best at rolling PHYSICAL

ACTIVITY.
Play a d6 if you want to be fast, agile, or sneaky.

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Conflict
Roll Conflict whenever you are attempting an
action that is the “primary” conflict resolution
method in your fiction – whether or not you
are actually in conflict. This could be fighting,
weapons, debate, spell craft, food prep, math, sharp
words – it really depends on the game. In Mazes,
this is called BLADES – because Adventurers in
dungeons tend to resolve issues with swords but
this can be any type of attack – bare-handed, with
a weapon, or with a spell. If you are trying to hurt
something or avoid being hurt, then you want to
roll CONFLICT.

When testing CONFLICT, you need to roll 4, 5, 6,

or 7.

The Fighter (d8) is the best at CONFLICT, being

more accurate than the Tank (who does more
Effect and can take more Threat).
Play a d8 if you want to focus on offense.

32
Strength
Roll against STRENGTH whenever you need to
steel your resolve, resist pain and disease, or show
heart or bravery. Strength is both your body’s
health and your overall strength and endurance.
Roll against Strength to save versus poisons, or to
avoid getting sleepy during an all-night watch.

When testing STRENGTH, you need to roll

a 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9.

The Tank (d10) is the best at rolling Strength. They

also are the best at resisting Threat and dealing out
Effects.
Play a d10 if you want to dish out damage or to
focus on defense.

A Note about the Expert: You may have noticed

that an Expert can’t roll STRENGTH naturally.
They need their roll to result in a KEY or CROWN
bonus.

33
Key & Crown
While you are making rolls against the Resolver,
there are two other results possible outside of the
four goal outcomes – the Key and the Crown.

Key is your core ability to do things, and Crown

is that last ditch effort, the luck and the grit. Key
is about your class, your instincts, your training,
and yourself. Crown is about the situation – and
therefore is affected by other conditions in the
game.

Whenever you roll a 1, if the action is something

that your CHARACTER could do – then it’s a
success. This is often called the CLASS BONUS, or
KEY BONUS, as it is broadened by whatever class
or class-like equivalent your character has.

Key is not like the other OUTCOMES in that

it’s a bonus, not a direct roll. You don’t try to roll
KEY. Let’s say that you are looking for a thief in
a crowded room. The MC calls for a MENTAL
roll. Normally, you would only succeed if you
rolled a 2 or a 3. But if you are playing a character
whose Class would be good at spotting a thief in a
crowded room – like another Thief or a Cop – than
you would ALSO succeed if you rolled a 1. The
same would also be true for a character that grew
up on the streets, or had been a hunter.

34
Every die has a “crown” – the highest number that
the die can roll (a 4 for the d4, and a 10 for the d10,
etc.).

When you roll the CROWN of your die, what

happens is based on the particulars of the game
being played. Mechanically, the idea of the Crown
is that it might work – based on something
established in the game, or by a rule or system.
These CROWN-affecting systems are things like
Darkness in Mazes, or DRAMA in Scurvy Buggers.
These systems are usually counters, most likely a
form of Drive Track (page 48).

In Mazes, the CROWN BONUS references the

current DARKNESS (See MAZE pages 16-24).
When rolling a Crown, if things are currently
BRIGHT, you succeed. If things are BLEAK, then
you fail. While it is TORCHLIT, you succeed, but at
some cost to you.

In some games, especially those that strive for

simplicity – the CROWN may be an automatic
success, or a success that requires that you pay
some in-game currency.

35
 The Four Roles
There are 4 basic Roles (d4, d6, d8, d10). Each
role has distinct strengths and weaknesses, based
on the math of rolling that specific die as well as
the effect of rolling 1s or “crowns”. Below you will
find a description of the FOUR ROLES within a
polymorph™ framework. Each of the Roles has
strengths and weaknesses. As part of creating a
polymorph™ Game you want to think about how
to flavor these roles with your setting and game
idea – but remember that the mechanics behind
the roles are not going to change (i.e. using the
polymorph™ Resolver a d8 is always going to be
the best at offense, etc.)

The four core roles are:

The Expert d4
The Vanguard d6
The Fighter d8
The Tank d10

Important Note: The Math has been done. The

resolver works. If you want to add more dice, you
could add a d5, d7, or d9 (they are tested and do
work). The d5 is smart vanguard, the d7 a moving
fighter, and the d9 damage monster. The d12 is a
handy tool for randomization but it should not be
added to the ROLE/ROLL choices. We have done
extensive playtesting with d12s and they push the
system out of balance. The d20 is straight out.

36
 The Expert
The Expert is the most cerebral of the character
roles; focusing on thinking, talking, and using
their senses over combat and action. The Expert
uses their special skills more than other roles, and
shines when they are rolling against
Mental Activity.

They are “the best” at what they

do – they roll their KEY and
CROWN far more than other
roles.

When using a STARS economy (see page 62), they

have more Stars than other roles – allowing them
to take more direct control of their environment.

Choose the Expert if you want to:

- Be the best at something
- Use your smarts and instincts
- Solve problems
- Investigate and use perception
- Talk a lot
- Make decisions
- Use special abilities rather than excel in basic
combat
- Avoid physical exertion

The Expert’s weakness lies in their ability to

withstand threat (either in a Hearts setting where

37
they have few, or using Danger where they have a
low roll) and in combat roles in general. They are
easy to hurt and require help or defense from other
players.

The Expert’s strength lies in using Class abilities,

wisdom, perception, and their mind. Secondarily,
they are good at using skills and knowledge.
Class is very important to this role, as they will be
referencing it often. They take center stage when
the story focuses on discovery, knowledge, and
their particular skills or class.

38
 The Vanguard
The VANGUARD is the most
active of the character
roles - they are good
at almost everything
– physical action,
combat, and skills.
They shine most
when they are rolling
against MENTAL and
PHYSICAL.

Choose the Vanguard, because you

want to:
= Always be in the thick of it
= Be a decent fighter, and are okay with not
being the best at it
= Be great at physical activities, like running
and climbing
= Still be able to talk fast or pick up on clues

The Vanguard shines when the story focuses on

action, especially if their Edges are being called
into play. By their nature, the Vanguard is a great fit
to backup other characters. The Vanguard’s biggest
weakness is that everyone else is “better” than they
are at one specific thing, but everyone else also has
bigger weaknesses.

39
 The Fighter
The Fighter takes center stage when the conflict
starts. They are at their best in combat scenes (or
their equivalent – make room for our best debater).
The Fighter is always in the middle of the action
during a battle, often acting on the
offensive. They shine when they are
rolling CONFLICT.

Choose the Fighter, because you

want to:
[ Stab it, Kill it, Set it on fire!
[ Be good at physical activities
[ Survive a beating
[ Dish out some hurt

The Fighter is best in conflict situations, and

capable in Physical and Strength situations. They
are somewhat limited in the Mental department.
Fighters are good solo characters, but they also
make great team players.

Their greatest strength is being on the offense.

A warrior type with the fighter role is a beast in
combat. Take center stage when conflict is on the
menu.

40
 The Tank
The Tank is the most defensive of the character
roles. They are good in combat, and especially
good at brawn tests and health tests -
STRENGTH. They do the most
damage (or effect) and have
the greatest effect – but the
Fighter is more accurate or
consistent.

Choose the Tank, because you

want to:
] Soak up damage
] Be safe
] Defend the party
] Deal the most damage

The Tank is weakest when it comes to using their

Class ability and Mental rolls. Unlike the Expert
who strives to utilize their Class bonus often, the
Tank’s Class and Crown come into play the least.

A Tank’s strength is in their staying power. They are

strong, hale, and hard to take down. They can take
multiple conditions and still be effective at most
things. The Tank is the safest of the characters,
either having a lot of hearts or being great at rolling
against Danger. They are the threat sink, and shine
when they ignore threats.

41
 Rolling Dice
Action and Save Rolls
The conversation between the players that is at the
heart of roleplaying eventually comes to a point
where an action or reaction has a chance to fail, or
requires a random outcome. This is when -

We roll to find out.

polymorph™ is a “player active” game. That
means that the MC NEVER rolls dice to decide
Actions or Saves – only the players roll dice for
their characters. Extending from this there are two
primary types of rolls that players make – ACTION
ROLLS and SAVING ROLLS, or Actions and Saves.

When taking an ACTION or making a SAVE - you

roll your die, attempting to roll one of the numbers
listed on the Resolver.

An ACTION is a roll that a player makes to do

something they want to do. The player describes
the action that their character is trying to take, and
the MC tells them what kind of OUTCOME they
need to roll on the RESOLVER. Taking an Action is
the primary activity on a PLAYER’S TURN.

A SAVE is a roll that a player makes to avoid

something that the MC is doing against them. A
save is almost always rolled off turn – unless it is

42
a response to an action. For instance, the player
opens a door, and the MC has them make a save
because the floor falls out from under them. A
SAVE is adjudicated otherwise like an action.

Effect Rolls
In some games, a third type of roll is available
called the EFFECT. An Effect Roll is a secondary
roll used to determine how well something
succeeds (and sometimes how badly it fails). An
EFFECT determines the impact of something that
the player has done – such as Damage, Duration,
or Distance. Effect rolls are part of an action or
save and can be affected by EDGES, just like any
other roll. Sometimes, an effect is simple – you hit
something with your sword, and you roll effect for
damage. Sometimes, it’s more of a “pointer” – for
something like distance, size, or count.

Unlike Actions and Saves, Effect rolls are not about

trying to hit specific numbers but about trying to
get high numbers and making dice explode. When
you are rolling for effect – if you roll your CROWN
(the highest number on your die) this causes the
die to “explode.” When a die “explodes” you roll
that die again and add the two results together. This
larger number is the damage you do in combat. So,
while larger dice have a higher effect on average,
smaller dice explode more often. This number can
be used to express danger, damage, distance, speed,
or any other “effect” coming out of your roll.

43
 ‘Vantage
The primary way that you can affect dice rolls in
most polymorph™ games is through VANTAGE –
positive effects are ADVANTAGED, and negative
effects are DISADVANTAGED. When you have
‘VANTAGE - either good or bad - roll your die
twice (or roll two of your die if you have them).

If you have ADVANTAGE, you succeed if EITHER

roll succeeds.

If you have DISADVANTAGE, you only succeed

when BOTH rolls succeed.

You can also gain ADVANTAGE and

DISADVANTAGE on effect rolls. Since you are not
rolling against a target number, vantage is handled
differently. When you have ADVANTAGE on an
effect, roll an additional die and take the higher
result. For a DISADVANTAGE Effect, roll twice
and keep the lower result.

44
 The Moment
In an effort to keep the game more about rulings
than rules, we are actively trying NOT to over
explain and over rule. There is no need for clear
“time” or “turns” in a polymorph™ game.

During play, the game will rotate between the

players taking action and the players reacting.

Each player gets a Moment.

Taking an action in game “spends” your Moment.

A player’s Moment could be a roll, a description, an
action, or a spend.

The most important timing rule is that

EVERYONE has an option to take a MOMENT
before anyone else gets another Moment.

Once the players have all taken (or passed) a

Moment then, the MC narrates the world, and any
reactions to the players actions.

45
What are We Playing For?
In a polymorph™ game, players are generally
motivated by a HARD NEED. Most games are
laser-focused on a single idea (in Pigeons 11 you
are going on a heist for bird food) so the hard
need is something that is built into the game itself.
In other situations, it will be defined by an in-
game trigger – something like a bond or a drive, a
mission.

Unlike many traditional forms of roleplaying,

which are primarily focused on long-term
character growth, polymorph™ is very good at
short-form and one-shot storytelling. As part of the
short-form model, setting out a concrete NEED is
the easiest way to ensure that the players will “stay
on script”.

Having a NEED makes it easy for players to define

the characters that they want to play. A Need makes
it clear what the game is going to be about, and
where appropriate a Need can form the basis of an
action economy (see below).

In some situations, instead of a NEED, we may

establish a FEAR. Something that the characters
are preventing, stopping, or escaping. In most
ways these are the same things mechanically – but
explaining needs versus fears will help players
easily understand the DO THIS, NOT THIS of
your game.

46
 Example Needs/Fears
In a game where we play Dinosaurs, the players
need food. Everything about the game is focused
on the acquiring and devouring of food.

In a game where we play Psychic Dogs fighting

Nightmare Horrors, our need is safety - a place
to live, a place to be warm, and a place to sleep.
Defending our home is our primary need.

In a Superhero game, our need could be seeking

justice or keeping order. By defining which we
will engender different game experiences. Flip-
flopping this to a game of street villains, our goal
is to acquire power and money (while not getting
caught) – adding a fear and a need.

47
 The Drive
If the CORE ROLL is the heart and soul of a
polymorph™ game – the spine is the DRIVE. The
Drive is the most “Gamist” part of a polymorph™
game. Drive is a physical manifestation of the
NEEDS and FEARS of the characters, married to
their SCOPE.

The Drive in a polymorph™ game is the core

“activity” that the players will manipulate through
play – but isn’t their narrative actions. In most
situations, this drive will be abstracted into a
number (represented by tokens, dice, or something
else) that will move up and down throughout
gameplay – giving the players a sense of the status
of their Drive in a game.

The Mission
At its most basic, DRIVE takes the form of
“missions”. Players are given Missions directly by
the MC or another source, to succeed they have to
complete those Missions. Missions have parameters
that must be met, this is the spine of the action.

The Mission format can be varied, in Business

Wizards, the Mission is a list of threats that need to
be dealt with; in The Excellents the Mission beating
a “Big Bad” to a McMuffin (see page 50).

48
 Bonds
Bonds are a formal way of creating Needs between
the players’ characters and between their characters
and the world. Bonds can be informal (narratively
created and written down on index cards), or
formal (specifically created specifically for a game
and the players must choose from a pool).

Bonds tend to be written as a relationship between

a character and another character. When these
BONDS are tested or activated in play, the players
are driven to act by those Bonds.

Bonds can be “resolved” by actions taken. When

something occurs, which alters the bond or brings
it to closure – “resolve” the bond – and have the
player replace it with a new bond or some other
resource. In this way Bonds can be used to build
relationships, express debts, etc.

Bonds can also be used as triggers for Conditions.

By roleplaying a bond, the players are “driving
the story” and the reward can be Resolving a
Condition. This is a great way to show negative
needs (like an obsession or addiction) or to create
“attitudes” (like “decorum” or “thirst for justice”)

EXAMPLE:
Cyrus has a bond to “protect Ayesha at all costs”. When
something threatens Ayesha, Cyrus has to act to protect
her. Gasman has a bond with the local street gang of “Keep
the Gang’s Secrets”. During play, Cyrus takes the condition

49
“Stressed”. Since he is hitting his bond by protecting Ayesha,
the MC tells him to resolve STRESSED. At the end of the
adventure, Gasman has to break the gang’s secrets to help
Cyrus keep Ayesha safe. He resolves that bond and replaces
it with “Cyrus Owes Me A Big One”.

Alignments
For games where the focus is more
on interpersonal actions or politics,
the players could have Alignments –
where the party and the characters
have a stated “worldview” that
they are attempting to maintain.
Alignments are a simplified form of
BONDS, but without the additional
mechanical effects (resolving, hitting).

McGuffins
A McGuffin is anything that drives the plot
forward. In terms of Drives, a McGuffin is an
abstracted goal – getting the McGuffin moves the
story forward. Some polymorph™ games are built
on the acquisition of McGuffins.

50
 Drive Tracks
Finally, polymorph™ Games can use a Drive Track
to manage a game. A Drive Track is a number
– tracked with tokens or a die. As the number
increases or decreases, the situation that the players
find themselves in changes. Characters can be
motivated to increase or decrease the Track or to
put themselves into different spaces. The track can
also be used as a resource (we’ll talk about them
further along). When used as a resource (either by
the players or the MC), the value of the Track can
be spent to produce effects.

The standard drive track is “Darkness” from the

Mazes game. In Mazes, whenever the players take
an action that is considered “dangerous” (such
as going into a dark
place, splitting the
party, or ignoring
danger) they add a
DARKNESS to the
track. Depending on
the number of players,
the track can affect
how the party does on
rolls.

51
 The Threat Economy
When the Characters are in trouble, is there a cost
or penalty? Like most RPGs polymorph™ abstracts
THREATS. Unlike most games, polymorph™
works without threats of physical, mental, or
societal harm as a motivator – and so multiple
formats for emulating threats in a game are
possible in the framework – opening up options
for cozy gameplay, low stakes-high drama play,
etc. without removing the possibility of nitty-gritty
slugfest combat games.

No Threat/Low Threat
In games where there is no real threat, or no
real consequences for failure (other than the
failure itself), there isn’t a need to utilize a Threat
Economy.

For instance, all of the 9TH LEVEL GAMES

Awesome World Games (like The Excellents or
Nancy Druid) don’t have any Threat Mechanics at
all. Failure and danger aren’t options in a cartoon
world.

When you make this decision, remember that the

only negative consequence in your game is failure
to do something. Not having a Threat Mechanic
will lead to highly narrative, often cozy games –
since there is less drama tied to failure.

52
 Danger
If your game needs to have consequences for
aggressive, dangerous, or bodily actions – but
doesn’t need anything discrete – the highly
abstracted DANGER mechanic is available to use.
Danger can be used alone or in combination with
Conditions (page 55).

Whenever a character fails at a Dangerous Action

or save, they acquire a DANGER (represented by
a tick mark or a token). Whenever a character
receives a Danger, they make a Danger Roll (rolling
their die against their current Danger total).

If they roll LOWER than their current DANGER,

they suffer some narrative consequences. That
consequence is set by the game (removal from a
scene, death, detention).

If they roll HIGHER than their current DANGER,

they are fine and suffer no ill effect other than
the failure result (though they now have a higher
Danger).

If they roll EXACTLY their DANGER, they “clear”

all of their Danger with a dramatic move. Reset
the Danger Total to 0, and then have the player
describe how they pull victory from the jaws of
defeat.

53
Besides rolling exactly, you can add mechanics
around taking a REFRESH SCENE to clear you
of all your Danger, as well as in ongoing games to
clear danger between sessions.

The Danger Mechanic is very abstract, but also

balanced. It pushes a more cinematic style of
play. Choosing to use DANGER is a signal to that
cinematic style of play. Return to Dark Tower and
Rebel Scum use Danger, Kobolds Ate My Baby! and
Pigeons Eleven do as well (in the form of Random
Horrible Kobold Death Checks and Heat Checks).

Hearts
When you need discrete control on the damage
of Actions – like in a combat heavy game –
polymorph™ can use HEARTS.

Each player starts the game with a number of

Hearts equal to the number of faces on their
chosen role die (d10 = 10, d8 = 8, d6 = 6, d4 = 4).
When Hearts are being used, we suggest also using
the Star resource, as the symmetry feels good to
players and helps to maintain parity with the dice
system. Conditions are also helpful as a way of
“refilling” hearts and stars. Whenever the character
would “take damage” they lose hearts. This can be
rolled effects or stated Danger/Damage/Level with
a foe. Creatures have a DANGER (or Level) – and
that is the DAMAGE inflicted when you fail.

54
Most games that use Hearts will also need a
way of “regaining hearts” or Healing – generally
through taking a condition (see below), taking a
rest, or having some kind of refresh scene. In most
situations, the idea is that you need a narrative reset
to refill your Hearts.

Conditions
Most any kind of polymorph™ game can use
CONDITIONS as a way to simulate threats. A
Condition is a tag that is placed on a character
(or a Hazard) and has an effect on that character
– either limiting their ability to do something
(Blind - you can’t see), giving them disadvantage
to a roll (TIRED – Disadvantage on Move Rolls),
or removing a bonus or the like (Stress – Rolling a
Key is always a failure).

The easiest to parse conditions are effects that make

your core rolls harder.

Core Conditions
STRESSED - DISADVANTAGED on MENTAL
rolls, and you cannot gain the KEY BONUS.
TIRED - You are DISADVANTAGED on rolls
relating to PHYSICAL ACTIVITY.
HURT - You are DISADVANTAGED on rolls
relating to CONFLICT RESOLUTION and
STRENGTH of BODY and SPIRIT.

55
 Other Types of Conditions
A Condition can also be used to provide abilities
that are like Edges but are intended to be limited
in use or effect. Other Conditions can be used to
simulate dangers that do not express as “damage”
in a classic sense – like sickness, paralysis, muted,
blinded, etc.

Endless Conditions are available and possible.

Mazes uses Stressed, Tired, and Hurt – but also
uses DOWN, and has special use conditions like
FROZEN or TURNED TO STONE.

The Fiction of Conditions

Ultimately, you will need to define Conditions
for your game based on the fiction of the game
and what you think that you will need. In our
experience, playtesting is a great way to discover
what kinds of Conditions your game may need.

As an example, let’s say that you are working on

a game about Garden Gnomes. You realize that
most of the traditional dangers don’t make a lot of
sense for ceramic gnomes, and after a playtest, you
realize that what you really need is a condition for
“Broken”.

56
 Cascading Conditions
Cascading is a way to increase the threat of a
condition. When Conditions cascade, it means
that when you take a condition, if you take that
Condition again, you take the the “next” Condition.

With the Basic Conditions (Stressed, Tired, Hurt),

it means that if you were Stressed and you take
Stressed again - now you take Tired or Hurt.
This prevents players from dumping their threat
against their “dump stat” – like a TANK that has
no problem taking STRESSED (they assume they
are failing Books rolls anyway), and keep taking
STRESSED, since they’ve already mentally crossed
it off.

57
 Edges
A core tool in the polymorph™ framework is the
idea of “an edge”.

An EDGE is an ability that a character has that

gives them an “edge” or “advantage” in some way.
It could be ability, description, knowledge, access,
power, or something more abstract. At its most
basic an Edge will either provide a character an
ability to do something in the game that others
cannot do or will provide an advantage when the
player is doing something.

Edges can be specific, concrete things (I have a

SWORD), or they can be more abstract (I am
CHARMING). In any case, they are “invoked” by
players to gain ability or advantage. This is a very
powerful way of handling ALL skill and power
abilities with a minimalist ruleset.

In some games, Edges are a defined list of abilities

that the players select from. In these types of
games, the Edge is simple and defined. In other
situations, an Edge is more fluid – and generally,
the player of the character writes down a name or
description from a prompt – and that is the edge.

58
 Mechanical Effect of an Edge
The easiest mechanical effect an Edge can have is a
defined ability that gives the player ADVANTAGE
when they roll using it. For example, if I have the
Edge BEAUTIFUL, I gain Advantage when I try to
use my beauty to charm a person.

Other edges provide you an ability to do something

you otherwise wouldn’t be able to – JETPACK and
BIRDMAN LINEAGE are examples of an edge that
allows a person to fly (something they normally
couldn’t do in the fiction of the game).

Game Defined Edges versus

Player Defined Edges
Game Defined Edges are great for world-building,
as well as creating a sense of consistency and
control in a game. Game Defined Edges are a
powerful tool for setting scale and scope.

Player Defined Edges are great for creative

storytelling. Player Defined Edges allow for depth
and breadth in character creation – and encourage
creativity in play. Player Defined edges can be
intimidating for some players, so creating prompt
questions can alleviate some of that pressure.

59
 Invoking Edges
The players are encouraged to “invoke” their edges
as part of the gameplay. It is not the MC’s duty
to remember your edges or to ask for them. As
part of the roleplaying conversation – a player is
expected to fight for their edge but is also expected
to not argue with the MC’s or the Group’s decision
(depending on who is MCing a session).

For instance, let’s say that I have the edge DEADLY

(a Game Defined edge) which says that I have
advantage on EFFECT ROLLS that deal damage.
When I go to roll damage – it’s my responsibility
to say, “I’m deadly, so I’m rolling for effect with
advantage.” In another situation, I come upon a
peasant who has been badly beaten. I ask the MC
what I can tell from looking at the man to see
what happened, the MC tells me to roll BOOKS
(mental). I put forward, “I have the edge DEADLY,
so can I get Advantage on that roll, I know what
damage looks like.” The MC Agrees.

60
 Class
A Character’s Class is a special type of EDGE.

Classes can either be GAME DEFINED or

PLAYER DEFINED (it’s an Edge) but it is the
CORE IDEA or KEY of a character. The thing
that differentiates Class from Edges, is breadth. A
character can have multiple Edges that do specific
things, and a Class that stretches across them.

The greatest benefit of a Class is the Key Bonus and

how that operates (page 34). A Class is broad and
flexible – packing a lot of mechanical punch.

A Class may also be set up as a guidepost, giving

the player different edges, options, etc. based on
choices they made.

Games without Classes

When there isn’t a clear Class option, the game
needs a way to provide the Key Bonus in that
particular game space. These generally show up in
the form of some assistance-granting force – like a
companion, history, or faith.

In The Excellents, you have a Best Beast Friend and

in Savage Sisters a personal deity. In both of those
games, you always succeed when you roll a 1, but
the narrative is colored by the idea that you are
being saved by “your beast friend” or “your god”.

61
 The Resource Economy
polymorph™ abstracts most resources.

In polymorph™, there is no equipment, loot, or

possessions. Everything that the characters have is
either an EDGE or a form of RESOURCE POOL.

While not universal, our experience has been that

players are happiest when their Resource SPENDs
result in success. As a general mantra – you get
what you pay for – so when you make a spend
from a shared or individual Resource Pool, it just
happens, no rolls required. This is not a hard and
fast rule, so your mileage may vary.

A Resource Pool
The Resource Pool (usually represented by a die or
tokens) is a collection of things that the players can
use to take some narrative control of the story, to
provide Advantage, or to have an item needed to
accomplish a task. In some situations, you may use
a RESOURCE TRACK (similar to a Drive Track)
that has thresholds.

Defining a Resource Pool depends on the setting.

It makes sense in a game about Looting Dungeons
to have a TREASURE resource, but doesn’t
make sense in a game about Space Robots, The
US Senate, or Surviving Against Horror Movie
Slashers. But, in all of those situations, there is

62
room for a system that provides player resources.
These resources can be gained through play or play
activities – e.g. treasure is gained in Mazes (because
the treasure is in the mazes that you explore) and
Lesson Tokens are gained in Awesome World (via a
play activity, when you fail at an action you gain a
Lesson.)

The players are allowed to “spend” the resources in

the pool to:
` Succeed at an action
` Provide narrative control or resolution
` Pay some other cost (like satisfying a failed
roll, or negotiating a success)

63
 Stars
Effectively Hearts in the Threat Economy are an
individual Resource Pool, but characters can have
their own Resource Pools – the most common
being Stars. Stars are spent like the party’s shared
resource pool to pay costs or to automatically
succeed at something they can do (like fueling
magic spells). Star spends allow for a way for a
character to have a dramatic or dynamic effect –
without overpowering the character all the time.

Stars are renewable (like Hearts) by taking a

Condition or through another action arising from
your game fiction.

Stars are provided to characters in the reverse of

how games provide Hearts, where you have less
hearts for having less faces on dice. Players can
have 1 to 4 Stars based on their Die as follows:

Die Stars
d4 4
d6 3
d8 2
d10 1

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 Hazards
A Hazard is anything that prevents the Characters
from progressing through the story. Hazards can
be MC characters, traps, monsters, environments –
anything. Hazards can have resources like a player
or can be powered or controlled by the Threat
Economy.

Hazard Hearts
A Hazard – whether it’s a character, a monster, a
trap, or an environment – generally has Hearts.
Like characters, the Hearts of a Hazard represent
how much physical stress it can take before it is
overcome. These Hearts are “lost” by the character
making EFFECT Rolls after performing an action
that hurts or hinders the hazard.

So, Monsters have Hearts that show the damage

they can take in combat before dropping, but a
locked door, a flaming wall, or a bridge of mental
energy could have Hearts as well. Hearts mean
that the obstacle can be defeated through physical
violence. When attacks are successful against it,
reduce the obstacle’s Hearts by the Effect Roll.

When an obstacle runs out of Hearts, you can

refill its Hearts by spending a resource from the
Drive Track. When refreshing, reset Hearts to their
starting value.

65
 Hazard Level
When creating an obstacle, you need to define the
potential effect it could have – called LEVEL. Level
will mostly be the Damage that a Hazard inflicts in
combat, as a failure, or as a trap.

Unlike other things, this needs to be strictly

defined, since the MC never rolls dice. A Danger of
1 is low, a Danger of more than 5 is generally very
dangerous.

When a player fails against a Hazard, they will

usually either take the Danger in damage (losing
hearts), take a Darkness, or suffer an appropriate
condition.

Level can be something contested between the

player and the hazard, and when this happens, this
can result in different resolutions when bad things
happen (to the player or the hazard). See Levels on
page 68.

66
 Hazard Edges
When you define a Hazard, in addition to Hearts
and Level – you give it Edges (as you would a
character). Since everything is player-facing,
these edges don’t provide the MC Advantage
but instead produce Disadvantaged rolls for the
players, provide guideposts on how to spend your
Drive Track Resource, or provide some hurdle or
requirement that the players have to overcome to
deal with the edge (like flying for instance).

Many new hazards will have Edges that you think

up. Think of these Edges as descriptors or tags
– they don’t require complicated descriptions,
sometimes just an evocative name is enough. In a
larger more defined game, Game Defined Edges
can make hazard creation easier for everyone. MC
Defined Edges are also fine, especially in improv
heavy environments.

67
 Levels and Experience
Since the original formulation of polymorph™, the
most asked question is about how player characters
can change and evolve – i.e. how do I level up?
When we first started working in polymorph™,
our expectation was that it was a system for one-
shot adventures that didn’t require experience
mechanics, but like all roleplaying tools, there
are times and places where levels and experience
improvements are natural, required, and desired.

Level as Differentiator
Game writers that want to include evolving
character play, or who need the ability to create
Hazards and narratives that are “above” or “below”
the abilities of the characters without having to do
that through the use of excessive edges, can use
Levels to provide that function. This simple level
framework adds an entirely different mechanism of
character control.

When dealing with a Hazard or Character of a

lower level than a character, the character gains
Advantage.

When dealing with a Hazard or Character of a

higher level than a character, the character gains
Disadvantage.

68
 Level Range
When you decide to have leveling in your game,
decide on the level ranges. A game with levels 1,
2, and 3 is different than a game with 5 levels (like
Return to Dark Tower); 9 levels; and way different
than a game with 100 levels.

When creating games with a larger level range, you

may want to extend what “higher level” means. So,
in a game with 100 levels, “higher level” may mean
“more than X levels higher”.

Names as Levels
You can obfuscate the leveling system by replacing
the number for level with a word that means the
same thing. This works best for games with few
levels – instead of having levels 1 through 3, you
could have apprentice, sojourner, and master;
or amateur, pro, and star. This is best for limited
spreads of level difference as trying to remember 20
named levels is an unfun experience; but it’s really
easy and far less mathy to say “Pro Players have
advantage when playing against Amateur Players”.

69
 Gaining Experience
polymorph™ has two primary experience systems
at this time, the Bucket List and the Session Model.

The Session Model is the easiest. At the end of a

session, if the MC or the GROUP agrees that the
characters have “gained experience” the characters
“level up”.

The Bucket List is a set of actions, activities, or

Macguffins that when accomplished allow a player
to level up. So, in a game about playing Razorball,
you could have milestones like “Score the Winning
Goal” or “Get Sponsored”. When you meet one of
these goals, you mark it off and level up.

Level Up
Leveling up can lead to a variety of gained
advantages (see a few examples below) and/or can
just result in the character gaining a Level.

` Gain a level
` Gain an additional Edge
` Remove a permanent Condition
` Increase the size of a resource pool
` Change the starting number on a Track
` Gain a narrative MacGuffin

70
 The Five-by-Five
Adventure Framework
One of the most commonly asked questions is
“how do I create an adventure”. Our polymorph™
philosophy is as follows. We encourage you to
include this type of assistance in your game by
using this template and structuring it to work in
the fiction of your game.

Ask yourself these Five Questions about your

adventure seed.

` What do the players want?

` What do they get when this is over?
` Who is trying to stop them?
` Where is this at?
` When and How will this be resolved?

What do the players want?

What do they get when this is over?
What are players doing, and why are they doing
it? Give the players specific options in the form of
closed-ended questions (Are you here to plunder
the tomb, or rescue the missing dog?) Define the
rewards, even if you don’t express them to the
player.

71
Who is trying to stop them?
Define your Antagonist. Who is the Big Bad? Who
is the Marquee? Who is the Villain?
Define the baddies mechanically and narratively.
Give them a motivation - what do they want?
Where are they located? Who are their henchmen
or helpers?

Where is this at?

Where do We Start? When do we End? Where
is this all happening? What effect does the
environment have on our story? Are there hazards
here outside of the antagonist? When and Where
do we come to a resolution?

When and How will this be re-

solved?
Aim for five “scenes”. Each scene can be thought
of as a room in a dungeon. Across those five
scenes, we will have five hazards. We will have four
questions that need answers. We will have three
things that the players need to make choices about.
We will havetwo mutually exclusive options for
them to get as rewards. We will have one Boss fight.
Aim for two hours. Be happy if you get out in three.

72
built with polymorph™ Licenses
Licenses and the linked System Reference Document are
subject to change. Please check www.9thlevel.com for the
latest versions of each.

Free License (polymorph free)

The polymorph free license allows you to make roleplaying
games using the polymorph system for personal use and/or
to be distributed as a free item either digitally or physically.

This replaces any former agreements, including the

polymorph self license effective May 1, 2024.

Content
1. If you adhere to all terms included in the “building with
polymorph” system resource document and within this
license agreement, you are allowed to publish material
physically or digitally using the POLYMORPH system
without the express permission of 9th Level Games.
2.Art, text, and terminology from 9th Level Games’ titles
may not be used or translated, unless you have our explicit
permission.
3.The mechanics and any game rules in “Building with
polymorph” Document may be used and referenced freely.

73
Branding
4.You are required to use the Built with POLYMORPH Free
logo.
5.You cannot use the 9th Level Games logo or any
other POLYMORPH logo unless you have our explicit
permission.
6.You’re not allowed to give the impression that this is an
official 9th Level Games POLYMORPH product or that
we endorse or sponsor you in any way unless we’ve made
special arrangements with you.

Legal
7. 9TH LEVEL GAMES takes no responsibility for any legal
claims against your product. Any legal dispute or claims
agaisnt this license are governed by the laws of the United
States of America, and are to be settled in a Pennsylvania
court.

Additional Definitions
Personal Use –You create a POLYMORPH roleplaying
game for your own gaming group, as a gift, or for your own
personal use at home in any form factor. This means you do
not list the game publicly.
Free Item –You create a POLYMORPH roleplaying game
and distribute for free to friends or list as a FREE item on
itch.io, DriveThruRPG, or a similar site. When listing for
FREE, that means no money transaction can take place.
FREE also means that your game cannot be offered as
part of another money transaction (crowdfunding reward,
stretch goal, patreon item, shipping payment only, cover
printing costs, etc.)

Informing 9th Level Games

While not required, we do ask that you email us at
contact@9thlevel.com to let us know about your game.

74
Commercial License (polymorph
other)

The polymorph other license allows you to make

roleplaying games using the polymorph system and use
them in any commercial fashion. You must contact us for
permission and pay a $100 licensing fee to charge money
for your game using the POLYMORPH system.

This replaces any former agreements, including the

polymorph other license for any products effective May 1,
2024.

Informing 9th Level Games

1. Purchase a polymorph other license from the 9th Level
Games web store - located on the 9th Level games website
(www.9thlevel.com).

2.9th Level Games reserves the right to refuse permission

for any reason, which means that you may be contacted and
refunded after you’ve downloaded and paid for your license.

Content
3. If you adhere to all terms included in the “building with
polymorph” system resource document and within this
license agreement, you are allowed to publish material
physically or digitally using the POLYMORPH system

75
without any additional permission from 9th Level Games.
4. However, as a courtesy, we would ask that you do inform
us at contact@9thlevel.com with subject line POLYMORPH
OTHER RELEASE.
5.Art, text, and terminology from 9th Level Games’ titles
may not be used or translated, unless you have our explicit
permission.
6.The mechanics and any game rules in “Building with
polymorph” Document may be used and referenced freely.

Branding
7.You are allowed and required to use the Built with
POLYMORPH logo.
8.You cannot use the 9th Level Games logo or any
other POLYMORPH logo unless you have our explicit
permission.
9.You’re not allowed to give the impression that this is an
official 9th Level Games POLYMORPH product or that
we endorse or sponsor you in any way unless we’ve made
special arrangements with you.

Legal
10. 9TH LEVEL GAMES takes no responsibility for any
legal claims against your product. Any legal dispute or
claims against this license are governed by the laws of
the United States of America, and are to be settled in a
Pennsylvania court.

76