How to Play - Eternal Odyssey

## Introduction

**Eternal Odyssey** is what is known as a tabletop roleplaying game, in which players create and roleplay as characters inhabiting a fantastical setting in which monsters and magic are ever-present, while one of the players, referred to as the Game-Master (GM) or The Dealer, creates and runs the magical world around these characters, creating challenges and rewards for the Players to face and obtain. This type of game is often equated to playing make-believe, or acting out a theater play with your friends without a script, with the main difference being that a tabletop roleplaying game is used as a structure of rules and mechanics that the Players and GM can use to facilitate play and resolve challenges.

Thus, the goal of **Eternal Odyssey** is to offer a framework in which Players and the GM can playout the stories they envision, all the while, fighting enemies, growing stronger, and engaging with the mysterious world around them.

**Eternal Odyssey** places emphases on character customization, and continual progression, possessing a wide array of abilities that be purchased, mixed and matched, for a personalized set of abilities, as well as a spell crafting system, allowing you to create and flavor any spell you desire.

## How to play

### **The Game Deck**

Traditional ttrpgs commonly use of sets of dice to generate random numbers and resolve effects, but in **Eternal Odyssey** each Player and GM possess an individual deck of special cards relating to the system. The exact contents of this deck are detailed and expanded on in the Character Creation or in the Deck and Gambit rules section. But in short, the deck is a collection of cards, with each card possessing one number ranging from 1 to 10. But as your character grows in power and unlocks new abilities, new cards are also added to your personal deck, improving your draws as the adventure advances. Whenever the game’s rules or GM calls for it, the Player must draw a random card from their personal deck and checks the number printed, with the number being used by the system to resolve challenges, or access situations.

Each card may also possess one or more of three different symbols, Might, Numen and Fate. **Eternal Odyssey** uses these symbols as a resource Players can gain and gather in order to pay for the activation of various spells and abilities.

### **Ability Checks and Difficulty**

Is a player attempting to strike a goblin with their axe? Or perhaps trying to convince the local guard to let them in through the front gates? Or more dangerously, attempting to jump from a moving horse into a speeding caravan? In all these cases the outcome of the action is uncertain, and in order to resolve them, **Eternal Odyssey** makes use of a personal Deck, as explained above, and the random numbers generated from such a deck.

Whenever an outcome is uncertain, the system uses an Ability Check as its main way of determining success or failure. Ability checks follow these steps:

1-       **Draw a number.** The Player(s) or character attempting to succeed on a particular action draw a card from their personal deck, and present the number on the card drawn. In case of NPCs and monsters, the GM draws from their GM deck, acting as the character.

2-       **Apply effects and add modifiers.** Next, any relevant bonuses to that particular skill are added, or special abilities are applied.

3-       **Compare the value to the Difficulty Target.** Finally, after checking the drawn number and adding any relevant bonuses, the number obtained is compared to a Difficulty Target (or DT for short) set by the game or GM, based on the difficulty of the task, with harder tasks possessing a higher target number than simpler tasks. If the number obtained is below the DT, the task is unsuccessful, while if the number is equal or above the DT, the task is deemed a success!

All characters and monsters in **Eternal Odyssey** possess 4 attributes, Physique (PHY), Agility (AGI), Intellect (INT) and Glamour (GLA). The value of each stat can be positive or negative, and can range from -5 to +10. Generally speaking, every action is associated with one of these attributes, which help or hinder the character, based on their prowess to a certain attribute. The system also possesses a list of skills tied to each attribute, in which characters can possess specific masteries in, granting them a bonus when they attempt to use that specific skill.

*Example:* A Player is attempting to jump from a moving horse, onto another moving carriage. Since the GM is unable to confidently access if the player succeeds or fails, the GM determines that it must test the character’s Agility, in order for the character to be able to succeed. They also further check the list of skills, and determine that attempting to jump from a moving horse is an instance of the “Acrobatic” skill, so the GM calls the player to make an Acrobatic Ability Check, and due to the tasks difficulty, secretly sets the Difficulty Target (DT) of the task at 7.

The Player then checks their Agility and Proficiency to Acrobatics, and draws a card from their deck, drawing a card with the number 5. Then the player adds their Agility (=2), and their proficiency to the Acrobatic skill (=+1). Thus, the total value of the check is (5 + 2 + 1), which is equal to 8.

Finally, the Player relays to the GM that they have scored an 8 on the ability check, and since the 8 > 7, the GM determines the task to be a success, and allows the player to safely jump onto the moving carriage.

### **Advantage and Disadvantage**

Some features, rules, or environment, may cause draws to be made with advantage or disadvantage. When a draw is made with Advantage, you draw twice as many cards but remove the lowest value cards from the pool, until you are once again left with half the cards, discarding the removed cards into your Exhaust Pile. The cards left in the pool then count as the total value of your draw.

Disadvantage works in a similar way, but instead of removing the lowest value cards, you remove the highest value cards instead.

## **Deck, Exhaust Pile and Gambit**

Besides the Deck, **Eternal Odyssey** possess two more card zones, the Exhaust Pile and the Gambit. Once a card is drawn from the deck, the card is sent to the Exhaust Pile, unable to be used or drawn again, until the game’s rules compel the Player to shuffle all cards in their Exhaust Pile, back into their Deck.

However, if the card bears one or more of the three symbols (Might, Numen and Fate), and the draw was not done as part of an Ability Check, the card is sent to your Gambit instead. While in your Gambit, the symbols on the cards can be expended to pay as cost for using abilities, casting spells, and various other mechanics. Whenever one or more cards are expended in this way, you must reshuffle your deck, shuffling the expended cards in your Gambit, and all cards in your Exhaust Pile, back into your deck.

Now that the basics of **Eternal Odyssey** have been explained, continue learning about the system by following the recommended sequence of rules sections:

1 – Character Creation

2 – Combat

3 - Leveling