Core Mechanics

Building momentum, pushing luck, and using teamwork.

Each character gets 3 Actions per their turn, with unlimited Chain Actions until they either decide to stop, or suffer failure. The successes and failures of their actions are additive- if you succeded on a previous roll, your next success with the same roll will be even greater. However, the more you succeed, the more devastating failure becomes.

Each Character has a Profile, with 6 different Stat Tracks. The Stat Tracks determine what kind of die you roll when called upon to make the corresponding check.

* D4
* D6
* D8
* D10
* D12

D20s and D100s will also be used as the ZM requires, but are not normally used as Stat dice.

When the ZM requires a player to roll something for a check, the check will be measured against the Difficulty Rating of whatever they are attempting.

Difficulty Ratings:

* 2- Normal
* 4- Challenging
* 6- Difficult
* 8- Unlikely
* 10- Improbable
* 12+ Impossible

## Strain, Rise, and Fall

Before any Action, you can take 1 or more Strain to Upgrade your Stat die by an equal amount.

A character can take up to 5 Strain. If you have any amount of Strain at the beginning of your turn, you must select an equal amount of options below:

* You are Slowed
* You are Weakened
* You are Shaken
* You are Intimidated
* You are Confused
* You are Stressed

If you would take Strain in excess of 5, roll 1d10. If you roll higher than 5, mark one Rise; if equal or lower than 5, mark one Fall.

If you mark 3 Rise, choose either Physical or Mental; all your Stats in that category are set at 5 for 5 turns. After five turns, you

## Actions

### Move

When you take a Move action, announce whether you are moving to a location, a character, an enemy, or an NPC. All distances are arbitrary, but here is the rough outline:

* Close Range- Within 15 feet, No Traversal Difficulty
* Medium Range- 15-60 ft
* Far Range- 60-250ft, +1 Traversal difficulty
* Extreme Range- 250ft.-1 Mile, +2 Traversal difficulty
* Impossible Range- 1 Mile+, +3 Traversal difficulty per mile

A location might be a specific, name place, or just a random piece of highground or a vine. The ZM might describe one in the setting already, or a player may create one themselves by first using an Action to Scout.

Then you announce how you are moving. Some typical options include Running (Speed), Jumping (Agility), Digging (Power), Gliding (Agility or Power), and Flying (Agility). You'll roll the corresponding Stat against the Zone or Terrain's Traversal Difficulty+Distance Modifier.

If you pass, you successfully move to where you wanted to go.

If you fail, one of the following happens:

* You don't quite make it to where you wanted to be
* You trigger a trap or hazard
* You overexert yourself, and Degrade the Stat you used by 1
* You make a lot of noise, drawing unwanted attention

### Boom and Bust Actions

Boom Actions use the same Stat, allowing you to pull off massive feats in a single turn for a single action. However, for each additional Boom Action, the ZM gets 1 Bust Point, which they can spend on Bust Actions if you fail:

* Make an Enemy attack (limit once per enemy)
* Make the Character Degrade their Stat
* Inflcit a Negative Condition on the Character (X= Risk Points spent)
	+ Slowed- Disadvantage on Speed rolls for X turns
	+ Weakened- Disadvantage on Power rolls for X turns
	+ Shaken- Disadvantage on Agility rolls for X turns
	+ Intimidated- Disadvantage on Charm rolls for X turns
	+ Confused- Disadvantage on Wisdom rolls for X turns
	+ Stressed- Disadvantage on Intelligence rolls for X turns
* Call reinforcements (one point per Minor Enemy, 3 points per Major Enemy)
* Before any Boom Action: Add Xd4 to the Difficulty Rating
* Choose any Failure option from the relevant action

### Flexible Timing

Sometimes, a player or the ZM wants to perform a Boom Action or Bust Action just before the end of a previous one (for example, attacking after a jump action in order to get a Height Advantage). This is allowable, as long as it makes narrative sense to do so. If it doesn't make narrative sense, it doesn't happen. If a solid argument can be made for either case, the matter can be settled with the ZM and player both rolling a d10, and the higher one wins (reroll on ties).

### Example Turn:

*Dart the Vole decides he wants to take out an Egg Pawn at Medium Range. The Egg Pawn is an Enemy with a Speed Stat of 1/1, Power Stat of 2/2, and Agility Stat of 2. That means it can only roll 1d4 when defending against a Speed Attack, up to 1d6 when defending against a Power Attack, and currently rolls 1d6 when defending against an Agility Attack.*

*Dart currently has 3 Speed, 1 Power, 1 Agility, 2 Intelligence, 2 Wisdom, and 1 Charm. He decides it would be best if he attacks the Egg Pawn using his Speed, which rolls 1d8.*

*However, one of the Egg Pawn's Traits is Hardness 2, which adds +2 to the roll when defending against Speed Attacks. Dart wants to stack the odds in his favor some more, so he decides to get a Height Advantage on the target, which will allow him to roll his die twice and take the higher result on his Attack.*

*He uses his first Action to Scout, with the goal of trying to find a Ramp (a piece of Terrain that curves up, allowing you to Jump using Speed). He rolls Wisdom (1d6) against the Obscurity Rating of the Zone (Green Hills has an Obscurity Rating of 2) and gets a 3. The ZM informs him that he has succeeded in his check, and spies a natural Ramp at Medium Range (the player can ask the ZM if the Egg Pawn is also at Medium Range from the Ramp. Here, we will say that ZM says "Yes").*

*Then he uses his second Action to Move. He announces he is Running to the Ramp. He rolls Speed (1d8) against the Zone's Running Traversal Difficulty (Green Hills has a Running Traversal Difficulty of 2) and gets a 6. The ZM informs him that he has succeeded in his check, and is at the Ramp.*

*Dart announces he is using his third (and final) Action to Jump towards the Egg Pawn (at Medium Range) using the Ramp. He rolls Speed against the Zone's Jumping Traversal Difficulty (2). Bartholemew rolls a 6. The ZM informs the player that they have succeeded, and has Jumped into Close Range of the Badnik.*

*Dart then announces he is going to use a Boom Action to perform a Homing Attack on the Egg Pawn. The Homing Attack ability states that it can be used as an Interrupt (meaning it takes place before the current action finishes) while in the air. The ZM gains 1 Bust Point. Dart rolls Speed, with Advantage (2d8, take the higher) against the Egg Pawn's Speed (1d4+2). Dart's highest roll is 6, and the Egg Pawn rolls a total of 5. The ZM informs Dart that his attack is successful, and the Egg Pawn is damaged. Since it has no Rings, and does not roll Death Saving Throws (being a Minor Enemy) it is destroyed.*