Special Rules and Keywords

## 6 Random but Important Rules

1. Specific rules take precedence over general rules.
2. Some rules are intentionally vague. It’s up to the gaming group to interpret these rules.
3. Infinite loops stop after 1 cycle of the loop.
4. When in doubt, use the most logical and thematically appropriate interpretation of the rules.
5. The GM gets the final say on everything.
6. Have fun. If changing the rules would make your group have more fun, do so.

## The Arbitration Rule

Your group will occasionally disagree about the rules during a game. This usually happens during rolls; the player thinks one stat is appropriate, and the GM thinks a different stat is appropriate. If the dispute is minor and doesn’t significantly affect gameplay, players should win these disputes by default. Write down the dispute; after the game ends, everyone should have a discussion about the rule to come to an agreed-upon understanding. The arbitration rule should prevent tiny disputes from slowing down your game.

## Optional Rule: 2d10

Instead of rolling 3d20, your gaming group might consider using two 10-sided dice (2d10). Add the results of the two die together. For increased rolls, roll 3d10 and choose the two largest values. For decreased rolls, roll 3d10 and choose the two lowest values.

3d20 and 2d10 both have a curved distribution, which means that middle results (10 and 11) will occur much more often than extreme results (1 and 20). 2d10 has a sharper curve than 3d20, so 2d10 will produce significantly more rolls of 10 and 11 than 3d20 will.

## Optional Rule: Critical Rolls

A critical roll occurs whenever any of your d20s match. For example, a roll of 9, 9, and 14 is a critical roll.

Any resulting Good Tales are much better than normal. Any resulting Bad Tales are much worse than normal. A triple critical (such as a roll of 12, 12, 12) is even more extreme than a normal critical.

It’s up to your gaming group to decide how extreme critical rolls are. Criticals will make your game feel more explosive and chaotic.

## Optional Rule: Alternative Stats

You can easily replace the default 4 stats with your own list of stats. Here are a few possible alternatives:

* Mind, Body, Spirit
* Dark, Heroic, Comedic, Romantic, Mysterious
* Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma

If you create your own list of stats, remember that players need to spend XP on stats. The more stats players have, the more XP it will take to increase them all.

## Keywords

A keyword is a word or phrase that represents a common rule. All keywords are underlined.

### Bolster

Players can spend their bolsters to increase a related roll. The GM can spend NPC bolsters to make a PC decrease a related roll. Refer to Chapter 2 for rules about increasing and decreasing rolls. Unspent bolsters eventually expire.

### Collaborate

Traits that tell you to collaborate are intentionally vague and ambiguous. Work with the GM to create a balanced and thematically appropriate effect. Collaborations should be an ongoing process. For example, you may discover that an effect is too strong or weak after a few sessions, so you and the GM should rebalance the effect.

### Conditions

A condition is anything that temporarily affects your capabilities or status. Refer to Chapter 3 for more details.

### Defenses

Defenses make you more resilient during Challenges. Defenses grant 1 or more boxes, which function the same as Challenge Number boxes. However, defenses have unique requirements that allow you to mark them only in specific situations.

### Minions

A minion is a creature that serves another creature through a contract. Refer to Chapter 7 for more details.

### Shrine

A shrine is a divine conduit that allows a specific deity or set of deities to affect the mortal world. Refer to the Faith theme for more details.

### Temporary Trait

A temporary trait is any trait that you did not spend XP to acquire. Temporary traits come from a variety of sources: magic items, potions, spells, etc. They’re free and don’t affect the XP cost of buying other traits. You can’t upgrade temporary traits.

### Worldbuild

Worldbuilding is a collaborative process wherein the players and the GM work together to create something about the game world. One person is in charge of the worldbuilding event, and the other players support that player. Refer to Chapter 6 for more details.

### Zone

A zone is an area of effect. If a trait affects a zone, collaborate on logically fitting zones that you can create with that trait, and write them into your trait. Here are a few example zones:

* **Blast**: An explosion that affects 1 space and adjacent spaces. Blast attacks can be melee or ranged.
* **Cone**: A 90° cone that extends out to a Close distance. Cone attacks are considered to be melee.
* **Line**: This is a line of spaces that extends out to a Far distance. Lines attacks are considered to be ranged.

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