The referee describes a situation and you tell what your character would do in that context. The referee might ask you to roll a 20-faced die and add one of your character’s stat to see if it succeeds in its action. If the situation is easy, the result must beat 10 to succeed, if it’s normal, it has to beat 15, and if it’s hard, 20. Either way, the referee describes the new situation, and so on.

Sometimes, the referee might tell you that the situation gives you advantage or disadvantage. Rolling with advantage means you roll twice and choose the best result. Disadvantage is the opposite.

That’s it!

Roll 1D6+2 to determine each of your character’s core stats: Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), and Willpower (WILL). Your character has as many Hit Points (HP) as its STR.

It has an Inventory as big as twice its STR score and a Psyche as big as twice its WILL score.

Choose a Character Class. Add the class’s starting equipment to your Inventory, and its skills and spells to your Psyche. Each class level takes a Psyche slot. Note its abilities.

Give your character 1 or 2 Beliefs, which you add to their Psyche. Beliefs are anything worth dying for.

Voilà!

A Skill is an experience stored in your Psyche. All rolls that can be related to a skill you have become easier (a hard roll becomes normal, a normal roll becomes easy, and an easy roll becomes a success).

A Belief can be anything worth dying for, and is stored in the Psyche. If your character knowingly takes a deadly risk for its belief during your adventures, it will be rewarded when Carousing in town at the end of an adventure.

Inventory. Your character has as many slots as twice its STR. Inventory slots can be filled with objects. Small items like potions, daggers, and ammunition can be stacked in packs of 10 of the same type. If a character goes beyond its capacity, it becomes Prone.

Psyche. Your character has as many slots as twice its WILL. Psyche slots can be filled with Skills, class levels, spells, Followers and Beliefs. If a character goes beyond its capacity, it becomes Dazed. You can only remove things from your Psyche when Carousing.

Turn Order: You act before the monsters unless they have surprised your character.

Your Turn: Your character can move nearby, speak and do one other action, like casting a spell or attacking.

Attacking: The referee tells you if the target is easy, normal or hard to hit. Roll DEX. If you hit, roll your weapon’s damage die and the referee subtracts it from the target’s HP. Reducing a monster’s HP to 0 kills it. A roll of 20 on an attack means double damage.

On the monsters’ turn, they might attack you. In this case, you’ll have to dodge.

Dodging: The referee will tell you if the monster’s attack is easy, normal or hard to dodge. Roll DEX to avoid it. A die roll of 1 on a dodge means taking double damage.

Spell Saves: Same as attacking and dodging but uses WILL instead of DEX.

Dying: When your character reaches 0 HP, it falls Prone and starts Dying. If it takes damage while Dying, it dies. If it recovers any HP while dying, it stops Dying.

On each of your next 3 turns, your character can attempt to Stabilize instead of doing anything else: Make a hard STR roll. On a success, your character recovers 1 HP. An ally can spend their turn making a hard WILL roll for the same effect with appropriate tools or skills.

After 3 turns, if your character is still Dying, it dies. If it survives, it gains a Scar. If it dies, your companions gain a Trauma.

Healing: A 6 hours rest heals all HP losses and consumes 1 ration for the team. Resting requires shelter and heat.

Scars and Mutations take inventory slots.

Traumas take psyche slots. Note what caused the Trauma. As long as your character has it, it has disadvantage against that thing. Curses also take psyche slots.

None of these can be removed easily.

Time is tracked differently when you travel outdoors or in a dungeon.

Dungeons are divided in rooms. Inside a dungeon, any worthwhile action like investigating a room or battling takes 10 minutes. The referee rolls for random encounters every 30 minutes. You can cross 10 safe rooms you have explored per 10 minutes, or 3 if you want to be discreet.

The world outside of a dungeon is divided in hexagons (or Hexes). Any worthwhile action like crossing or exploring a hex lasts 6h of the day (Morning, Day, Evening, or Night). This unit of time is called a Watch. The referee rolls for encounters each time you enter a new location, explore a location or rest.

Improvised (wine bottle, chair) 1D4 damage, can be thrown

Light (dagger, javelin) 1D6 damage, can be thrown, can be in off-hand

Medium (sword, axe) 1D8 damage, 1D10 with two hands

Heavy (greatsword, greataxe) 1D12 damage, needs two hands

Pole (spear, halberd) 1D8 damage, needs two hands,
needs two hands, dodging attacks from targets you are attacking is easier

Two-Weapon Fighting When you hit above 20 with your main weapon, you also hit with your off-hand weapon.

Light (darts) 1 damage, can attack twice

Medium (sling) 1D4 damage

Heavy (bow) 1D6 damage, needs two hands

Mechanical (crossbow, musket) 1D12 damage, needs two hands,
takes a turn to recharge

Each Armour Point reduces physical damage by 1. Chest protection gives you 1 point. Chest and head protection give you 2 points. Full protection gives you 3 points. A shield gives you 1 extra point. You can’t swim, sneak or jump if you are fully protected.

Armour only protects against blunt, piercing, and slashing damage.

Each object you find has a certain value assigned by the referee:

• mundane (bag of copper coins)
• useful (bag of silver coins)
• valuable (bag of gold coins)
• treasure (bag of gems)

A bag of coins takes an inventory slot. A chest normally holds four bags.

When in town, you can trade items from one category for another in the same category (at the referee’s discretion, just say what you are looking for). Alternatively, 4 mundane objects are worth 1 useful object, 4 useful objects are worth 1 valuable, and 4 valuables are worth 1 treasure. More details for the referee here!

You level up when you spend a Treasure while Carousing. When you level up …

• Increase your HP by 2 (up to 20 total).
• Increase one of your stats by 1 (up to 10).

Also, gain the next level of your class in alphabetical order or take the first level (A) of another class. You can have up to 4 class levels in total. Add it to your Psyche.

When you are back to town, it’s time to spend your loot!

If you have taken a deadly risk for one of your Beliefs, you can either remove one of your Traumas, gain a new Skill related to your risky action or obtain a new Follower.

You can spend your gold the following ways. If you spend the equivalent of a Treasure, you level up!

You gain followers by Carousing and they take a psyche slot. Roll 1D6 for each of their stats. Their inventory is equal to their STR. Followers can also level up, in which case they gain +2 to all stats, a normal inventory and a class.

See Wizard.