Game Mechanics

Be sure to read and follow the guidelines for our forums.

May 20, 2015 2:51 am
Mechanics and Character Creation in The Strange

The following is not an official document endorsed by Monte Cook Games, but a brief synopsis of the writer's understanding of the material. The Strange or The Strange Player's Guide by Monte Cook Games should be reviewed for the complete details.

All die rolls in The Strange are performed by a Player - the game master doesn’t ever roll dice. A roll is an unmodified 1d20. The difficulty of a task is ranked from 1 to 10, and the target number that must be achieved on the 1d20 roll is 3 times the difficulty. That is, if the difficulty is 4, then you need to roll a 12 or higher.

A character has three pools: might, speed and intellect. These serve three purposes:

1. They are a form of "hit points". When you take damage, it is removed from your pools, and when you run out of all three pools, you’re down. Generally, physical damage may reduce your might pool, a poison that makes you clumsy may reduce your speed pool, and a psychic blast may reduce your intellect pool. If you’re out points in a pool, extra damage spills into another pool.

2. You may need to spend one or more points from a pool to perform certain special abilities.

3. You can decrease the difficulty of an action by putting Effort into the action, by spending 3 from the appropriate pool.

A character may also have an Edge in one or more of the pools. An Edge reduces the cost of spending from that pool (other than taking damage). For example, if you have a Might Edge of 1 and you wish to use Effort on a physical attack, the Effort only costs 2 (3 normally less the 1 Might Edge).

A character may have one or more Skills. If you have a Skill, you are said to be Trained in that Skill. If you gain a Skill that you are already Trained in, you become Specialized in that Skill. If you are Trained in a Skill, your difficulty in an action involving that Skill is reduced by 1 (i.e., the target number you need is reduced by 3). If you are Specialized, the difficulty is reduced by 2.

Lastly, a character may have an Asset. This is usually an object or circumstance that grants assistance in achieving a task. Having an Asset reduces the difficulty of a relevant task by 1.

As characters progress, then may "level up". Levels in The Strange are called Tiers, and range from 1 to 6. Your Tier represents a limit to the types of special abilities that you have access to. As you progress into new Tiers, more powerful versions of existing abilities or entirely new abilities become available.

You do not have permission to post in this thread.