Dec 2, 2016 7:25 pm
The System
The goal is to keep this system simple. All actions are covered by either a single roll, or a contested roll. Not all actions require a roll though. A PC does not need to roll to walk down the street unless that street is being bombarded by bolts of hellfire from a crazed cultist.
When taking an action you are free to be as descriptive and detailed as you wish, up to the point of describing the result, as long as it fits within the established narrative.
Single Rolls - These are the basic activities that a character will partake in. Any time another character (PC or NPC) is not actively trying to stop the action a Single Roll is used.
To perform an action using a Single Roll, first you must decide your Target Number (TN for short). A TN baseline is the Attribute or Power needed to perform the action. Once the appropriate Attribute or Power is assigned, the player may look at their PCs available Skills. If a Skill seems like it would assist in the action the PC is trying to accomplish the TN will increase by 1. Any number of skills may be used to increase a TN, Skills are not tied to the Attribute or Power being used, but to the actions they might be used in. The GM has final say in whether a Skill is appropriate, but players are encouraged to make their case if they feel a Skill should be allowed, up to the point that arguing disrupts the game.
The GM may also apply Obstacles to decrease TN of an action. Once the TN is set, a player rolls a single d20 die. There are five possible outcomes of a Single Roll.
Dramatic Failure - If the die shows lands on the 20, the action has not only failed, but it failed spectacularly. In this case the GM will describe how you failed but also describe a narrative complication that may affect one or more of the characters on the side of the character who rolled the Dramatic Failure. If a character raises their TN to a 20, the option of a Dramatic Failure no longer applies. For more details on this see the description of a Critical Success.
Failure - If the die roll exceeds the TN, but the die does not show a 20, then the action failed. The GM will describe what happens as a result of the failed action.
Success with a cost - If the die roll comes up as a 1 then the action is still succeeds, but with a cost or other complication. The GM will narrate what happens, but suggestions from the players could be considered.
Success - If the die roll is below the TN but not a 1, then it is a success. The PC achieves their goal and the narrative moves forward accordingly.
Critical success - When the die roll comes up to be the exact TN for the action is is a Critical Success. In addition to succeeding at the desired action, the player gets some sort of narrative bonus. The player may dictate some thing extra that happens as a result of the action, or by happenstance, in the scene. The GM has final say, but as long as the bonus works within the confines of the narrative, the spirit of what the player wishes to happen should happen.
If a good narrative bonus cannot be decided upon, a player may always elect to grant a +3 bonus to the TN of their choice at some point before the scene ends.
As mentioned above there is a chance that a character will increase their TN up to or beyond 20. When that happens, the situation changes a little. First, the acting character can no longer fail the roll, or get a Dramatic Failure. In fact his chances of getting a Critical Success increase for every point above 20 that their TN becomes. Counting backwards from 20 until you have equaled the excess. Those numbers all become opportunities for a Critical Success.
For example, a PC named Trevor is attempting to sneak into a secret government compound to get a file on what they know about a haunting in Trevor’s hometown. Trevor is a stealthy guy and has a Coordination score of 15 (max human capability). Due to a combination of training in infiltration and the fact his friend is working to distract the guard who is supposed to be monitoring the security feeds, Trevor gets a +6 to his TN. This would take it to 21, however, in this game it instead makes either a 19 or 20 a Critical Success if they come up on the die.
Contested Rolls - Contested rolls are for actions taken against other PCs or important NPCs. The most obvious example of a contested roll is in combat, but they are not limited to life and death situations.
There are 4 possible results for Contested rolls. Certain, hopefully obvious, elements carry over from the Single Rolls.
Attacker Critically Fails - In this scenario the attacker rolls a 20. The defender still rolls on the chance the will Succeed With a Cost or a get a Critical Success. To Succeed with Cost gives an opening to the opposing side. If the defender Critically Succeeds, then both the Attackers penalty for Critical Failure and the Defender’s Critical Success create advantages for the Defender.
Attacker Fails - The simplest result. The attacker fails to achieve his or her goal. The defender will still roll to determine Success with a Cost, or Critical Success.
Attacker Succeeds, Defender Succeeds - This is the most complicated result. In a non-combat situation, the difference between the die roll and the TN are compared. The player who rolled closest to their TN is the victor in the challenge.
In combat situations, if the attacker rolls closer to their TN, then their die result is the amount of damage the defender will take, minus the defender’s die result. If the Defender has a higher die result than the Attacker, the Defender takes 1 point of Stress (more on Stress below in the Stress & Wounds section).
In the case of tie the winner of the Contested Roll will be the character with the higher TN.
Attacker Succeeds, Defender Fails - This is the most straightforward outside of combat. The attacker achieves their goal. In combat, The defender would take Wound Damage equal to the Attacker’s roll.
Taking Multiple Actions - If a player wishes to take multiple actions on their turn, they may do so, but each action beyond the first takes a cumulative -3 penalty to their TN after Skills and Obstacles have been applied. So the second actions is at -3TN, the Third is -6, and the fourth is -9, the fifth at -12, etc. If a player’s TN reaches 0 further actions may not be taken...because you cannot roll lower than a 1 on a d20. In the rare case that the TN reaches 1 and the player rolls a 1, both the Success with a Cost and Critical Success rules apply. Both and positive and negative detail will affect the scene.
The goal is to keep this system simple. All actions are covered by either a single roll, or a contested roll. Not all actions require a roll though. A PC does not need to roll to walk down the street unless that street is being bombarded by bolts of hellfire from a crazed cultist.
When taking an action you are free to be as descriptive and detailed as you wish, up to the point of describing the result, as long as it fits within the established narrative.
Single Rolls - These are the basic activities that a character will partake in. Any time another character (PC or NPC) is not actively trying to stop the action a Single Roll is used.
To perform an action using a Single Roll, first you must decide your Target Number (TN for short). A TN baseline is the Attribute or Power needed to perform the action. Once the appropriate Attribute or Power is assigned, the player may look at their PCs available Skills. If a Skill seems like it would assist in the action the PC is trying to accomplish the TN will increase by 1. Any number of skills may be used to increase a TN, Skills are not tied to the Attribute or Power being used, but to the actions they might be used in. The GM has final say in whether a Skill is appropriate, but players are encouraged to make their case if they feel a Skill should be allowed, up to the point that arguing disrupts the game.
The GM may also apply Obstacles to decrease TN of an action. Once the TN is set, a player rolls a single d20 die. There are five possible outcomes of a Single Roll.
Dramatic Failure - If the die shows lands on the 20, the action has not only failed, but it failed spectacularly. In this case the GM will describe how you failed but also describe a narrative complication that may affect one or more of the characters on the side of the character who rolled the Dramatic Failure. If a character raises their TN to a 20, the option of a Dramatic Failure no longer applies. For more details on this see the description of a Critical Success.
Failure - If the die roll exceeds the TN, but the die does not show a 20, then the action failed. The GM will describe what happens as a result of the failed action.
Success with a cost - If the die roll comes up as a 1 then the action is still succeeds, but with a cost or other complication. The GM will narrate what happens, but suggestions from the players could be considered.
Success - If the die roll is below the TN but not a 1, then it is a success. The PC achieves their goal and the narrative moves forward accordingly.
Critical success - When the die roll comes up to be the exact TN for the action is is a Critical Success. In addition to succeeding at the desired action, the player gets some sort of narrative bonus. The player may dictate some thing extra that happens as a result of the action, or by happenstance, in the scene. The GM has final say, but as long as the bonus works within the confines of the narrative, the spirit of what the player wishes to happen should happen.
If a good narrative bonus cannot be decided upon, a player may always elect to grant a +3 bonus to the TN of their choice at some point before the scene ends.
As mentioned above there is a chance that a character will increase their TN up to or beyond 20. When that happens, the situation changes a little. First, the acting character can no longer fail the roll, or get a Dramatic Failure. In fact his chances of getting a Critical Success increase for every point above 20 that their TN becomes. Counting backwards from 20 until you have equaled the excess. Those numbers all become opportunities for a Critical Success.
For example, a PC named Trevor is attempting to sneak into a secret government compound to get a file on what they know about a haunting in Trevor’s hometown. Trevor is a stealthy guy and has a Coordination score of 15 (max human capability). Due to a combination of training in infiltration and the fact his friend is working to distract the guard who is supposed to be monitoring the security feeds, Trevor gets a +6 to his TN. This would take it to 21, however, in this game it instead makes either a 19 or 20 a Critical Success if they come up on the die.
Contested Rolls - Contested rolls are for actions taken against other PCs or important NPCs. The most obvious example of a contested roll is in combat, but they are not limited to life and death situations.
There are 4 possible results for Contested rolls. Certain, hopefully obvious, elements carry over from the Single Rolls.
Attacker Critically Fails - In this scenario the attacker rolls a 20. The defender still rolls on the chance the will Succeed With a Cost or a get a Critical Success. To Succeed with Cost gives an opening to the opposing side. If the defender Critically Succeeds, then both the Attackers penalty for Critical Failure and the Defender’s Critical Success create advantages for the Defender.
Attacker Fails - The simplest result. The attacker fails to achieve his or her goal. The defender will still roll to determine Success with a Cost, or Critical Success.
Attacker Succeeds, Defender Succeeds - This is the most complicated result. In a non-combat situation, the difference between the die roll and the TN are compared. The player who rolled closest to their TN is the victor in the challenge.
In combat situations, if the attacker rolls closer to their TN, then their die result is the amount of damage the defender will take, minus the defender’s die result. If the Defender has a higher die result than the Attacker, the Defender takes 1 point of Stress (more on Stress below in the Stress & Wounds section).
In the case of tie the winner of the Contested Roll will be the character with the higher TN.
Attacker Succeeds, Defender Fails - This is the most straightforward outside of combat. The attacker achieves their goal. In combat, The defender would take Wound Damage equal to the Attacker’s roll.
Taking Multiple Actions - If a player wishes to take multiple actions on their turn, they may do so, but each action beyond the first takes a cumulative -3 penalty to their TN after Skills and Obstacles have been applied. So the second actions is at -3TN, the Third is -6, and the fourth is -9, the fifth at -12, etc. If a player’s TN reaches 0 further actions may not be taken...because you cannot roll lower than a 1 on a d20. In the rare case that the TN reaches 1 and the player rolls a 1, both the Success with a Cost and Critical Success rules apply. Both and positive and negative detail will affect the scene.