Basic Rules

***Required Rules:***

Have fun.

Discuss it with the GM.

1dW = 3d10

***Optional Rules:***

Rest of source material. The rules and how they are implemented and interpreted are ultimately up to the discretion of the GM. GMs and players alike are encouraged to discuss how the rules affect their game and can be best adjusted to suit their needs to have the most fun.

***Basic Rules:***

For those of you familiar with dice-based tabletop RPGs—this section isn’t as necessary, so feel free to look back at that table of contents to see where you want to start.

Typically, this game is played with a group of 4 to 5 people but also works fine with as few as 2 or as many as can fit at your table. Of this group, one individual is the Game Master (who we’re gonna call the GM), and the rest are Players (who run Player Characters, referred to as PCs).

If you come across a term or abbreviation you don’t understand, check out the Glossary, where many of these are explained.

***What does the GM do?***

Firstly, the GM creates a scenario in which the PCs can act and explore. They give information to the players about the world and act on behalf of all creatures and characters not controlled by the players in this world. When these interactions occur, the GM acts as the interpreter of rules to judge what would happen in these scenarios. How this is done is extremely varied. Some GMs will play tavern music on their phone or speak with a silly voice pretending to be the bartender, others may describe the surroundings verbally, or use a map to display the surroundings. There is no wrong way to GM as long as the GM and the players are following the required rules listed on page one. In a stereotypical (yet still fun and classic) scenario, the GM describes the tavern in which all the Player Characters meet in order to take on their first quest. The barkeep explains that a villainous villain has kidnapped his daughter for the 30th time this year and he is running out of money to repay adventurers for rescuing her. What happens next then falls out of the GM’s hands… Enter: the PCs.

***PCs?***

PCs are the characters that the players (the people who are not the GM) have control over. These players don’t decide the content of the world; they can only decide what actions are taken by their characters, which are then interpreted by the GM. For instance, a player might say “I’m going to try to smash this rock with my hand to see if there are diamonds inside.” and the GM would then see what would then logically happen (depending on a dice roll, probably a bruised hand and an intact rock). A player would not say “I smash open this rock with my hand and take the diamonds from inside”. The actions attempted by the PCs are their own to decide, but how they affect the world is decided by the GM. Of course, when creating a character’s backstory, the player’s decisions can be used to inform elements of the world that the GM will then fill in, so creation beforehand is a collaborative effort. PCs tend to be humanoids or other intelligent creatures that through their adventures gain influence, wealth, a sense of purpose, or even the real treasure: the friends we made along the way.

In the classic scenario described above, (token sexist kidnapping) the GM presented the players with a scenario. Their next actions are up to them. A decent character might want to rescue the barkeep's kidnapped daughter out of kindness, another may want to pressure the barkeep into taking sketchy loans from a thieves’ guild to pay for her rescue. In a group where there are people of both persuasions, they may compromise to rescue her in exchange for a nice hot meal upon their return. The PCs might decide that after 30 kidnappings, the barkeep must be in on the ploy and decide to slay him. You really never know, so GMs have to be prepared for a lot. After the PCs declare what action they want to take, the GM decides how this action affects the world and relays this to the players.

***Is that it?***

Pretty much. Gameplay typically follows the pattern of “GM states situation, PCs argue then declare an action, GM describes success or failure, rinse, repeat”. Of course, there are plenty of details to give a framework for how the world interacts with everything, but this dynamic of exploration, action, and consequences fuels most of the adventure.

***And how do the dice factor into all this?***

 Many actions do not have guaranteed outcomes; these are decided by a dice roll. For instance, if the PCs mentioned above decided to attack the barkeep, one of the characters can make an attack by rolling some dice and seeing if the result is good enough that it hits. For many rolls in the game, including attack rolls, the standard dice used to determine the outcome is 3d10 (the ones that look like spinning tops). For simplicity, this will be referred to as 1dW. For weapons, damage is usually a set amount of dice. The rest of the rules are mostly just figuring out how the numbers and the world fit together.

Just a note: if you ever have to do math, round down to the nearest whole number.