The Central Oregon Expeditionary Adventuring Company

A living document recording the current practices of my open table game, where everyone is welcome to drop in to play an old school-style sandbox fantasy adventure game.

Table of Contents

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I. Core Rules

1. Introduction

Open Table Principles

• Welcoming and open. New, curious, (in)experienced, drop-in/drop-out, and (ir)regular players are always welcome. Diversity and inclusivity are non-negotiable.
• Play at the table. No preparation is needed before we sit down to play. All rules will be taught at the table as necessary.
• Dynamic, persistent world. Sessions stand alone, but occur as part of a complex ongoing campaign with emergent (unplanned) narrative arcs and themes.
• Sessions begin and end in a safe fictional place (usually camp or town). This allows a different roster of players to participate from session to session and thus facilitates drop-in, drop-out play. If you are not present, we simply assume that your character is off doing something else rather than participating in the current expedition.
• Gentle power curves. Low-level characters have fewer mechanical and fictional advantages than high-level characters, but they are not otherwise substantially disadvantaged compared to high-level characters present in the group.
• Character stables. Players may create multiple characters, though they will only send one character on a given expedition (i.e. play that one character in a given session). All of a players' characters form their character stable. If a character dies, the player may immediately roll up a new character, which will then be incorporated into play as soon as possible (even at the expense of verisimilitude).

Old School Ethos

• Exploration of a shared world. The focus of the game is the exploration of a rich, wonderous, layered world.
• Player agency. Players drive play through their characters' choices and agendas. In particular, there is no overarching metaplot or scripted story imposed by the Referee; rather, players cooperatively determine their agenda(s), destination(s), and task(s), and thereby shape both gameplay and the emergent narrative.
• Real challenges and consequences. The game presents genuine fictional challenges that do not have predetermined solutions, but rather rely on the players' skill and ingenuity to solve (not just requiring mechanical options listed on a character sheet). Fictional consequences, both good and bad, are allowed to unspool. Success is not guaranteed; indeed, legitimate failure is an important and meaningful part of old school-inspired adventuring.
• No "game balance" fetish. The Referee does not impose a vision of "game balance," but instead expresses clear diegetic signals that allow players to adapt to the difficulty of a given fictional situation or adversary. When players choose to face a difficult situation, they do so consciously and with recourse to clever plans, creativity, and bravado.
• Development through play. Story results from the choices that players make for their characters during play and from the consequences that follow, given the diegetic logic of the world. The game is often lethal, so the most developed characters are those that are played the most often and that survive the longest. Any backstory or character development is strictly created through the process of table play itself.
• Fiction first. All action begins and ends in the fiction. For example, players may not simply call for such and such a roll ("I roll my Search skill."). Rather, they describe how and what they do, and only on that basis will relevant game mechanics be invoked.
• Transparent and honest play. Transparency in all procedures is expected from all parties (no fudging, cheating, or arbitrary applications of fiat). The Referee's role is to act as an impartial judge: to adjudicate actions fairly, to follow procedures scrupulously, and to press consequences forward, regardless of how beneficial or harmful they may be for the players. Players are encouraged to question the Referee's rulings, since a discussion of these points tends to elaborate the fictional situation and help everyone involved better coordinate a vision of the shared world.

2. Core Mechanics

The core task resolution mechanic is to roll a d6 dice pool, count Successes, and try to beat a target Obstacle Rating (Ob). For a given test, your Pool will contain two dice plus a number of dice equal to a relevant Ability rating (the Referee will say which Ability applies to the action). Each die that comes up 4-6 counts as a Success. If you roll enough Successes to match or beat the Obstacle Rating (which the Referee will tell you before you roll), then you pass the test!

The Basics: Successes and Failures

When you attempt a task, whether actively (a Test) or in response to a hazard (a Save), roll your Dice Pool. A dice pool is composed of two six-sided dice plus a number of dice equal to one of your Natural Ability scores. The most relevant Natural Ability is determined by the Referee, and—along with the associated Obstacle Rating—will be shared with the player before the test is made.

On each die rolled, a 1-3 is a Failure, while a 4-6 is a Success. For an Independent Test, count your successes and compare them to the Obstacle Rating, which is the minimum number of successes that you must roll to succeed at the task. For a Versus Test, compare your successes with the enemy's; whoever rolls more successes wins. To determine the Margin of Success, count how many successes you've achieved in excess of the Obstacle Rating or the enemy's result. (The Margin of Failure is the opposite.)

Simple Tests

Almost all rolls are simple tests (or simple saves), which means that only one roll will be made. (This is true even for a situation with repeated actions, such as sneaking past a series of guards. This principle is called Let It Ride, which stipulates that a result holds until the situation changes substantially.) On rare occasions, however, the Referee may call for an extended test, which involves several Ability tests in a row. A certain total number of successful tests (or a ratio of successful tests to failed ones) may be necessary to pass an extended test. Extended tests are usually used for long, multi-part plans with discrete stages in different domains, or else for chases or crafting.

Common Obstacle Ratings

The Referee will use Mouseguard-style Factors to set Obstacle Ratings. These Factors will be shared transparently with the players. Here is a rule of thumb table for Obstacle difficulties:

Obstacle Rating	Difficulty
1	Trivial
2	Easy
3	Moderate/Risky (Default)
4	Hard
5	Very Difficult
6-7	Fiendish, superhuman

In general, Ob 1 and Ob 6-7 tests are rarely seen—the former are usually so trivial as to not require rolling, the latter so difficult that only the most dire situations or enemies might call for them. Ob 3 tests are considered to be "average," while Ob 4 tests are usual tough and risky. Ob 5+ tests are always very challenging except for the most well-prepared and well-suited characters.

Bonus and Penalty Dice

If you have a substantial advantage over your opponent(s), add a Bonus die to your pool (notated +1d). If you have a substantial disadvantage, subtract a Penalty die (notated -1d). Characters generally receive a single bonus or penalty die, but if they have a significant (dis-)advantages stemming from substantially different sources, the Referee may grant a second bonus die (or subtract a second penalty die) as he or she sees fit. (In many cases, such strong advantage or disadvantage will negate the need for a roll entirely, and will instead yield automatic success or failure.)

Helping and Teamwork

When your allies provide substantive help, they will hand you an additional Helping die to roll. When one character helps another, all characters share in the success or failure of the test. Beware: this means that you might take damage or suffer other negative consequences if your ally fails a test! In general, all helpers suffer the full brunt of any negative outcome, but the Referee must determine the consequences of failure based on the current fictional situation. The Referee will often cap the number of players that can help with a task, with the understanding that only a certain number of helpers per task will be efficacious, while others will just get in the way.

Margins of Success and Failure, Additional Successes, and Critical Margins

Some Feats or Artifacts will increase your Margin of Success by providing you with "free" successes. They are notated like this: +1s. You only benefit from the additional successes if you've already succeeded at the task. In other words, these may increase your Margin of Success, but will not break a tie in your favor, nor will they turn a failure into a tie or success. On a Combat Check, each +1s equals an additional point of damage dealt. (See Combat, below.)

Conversely, rare effects may cause you to lose a success. This is notated -1s, and it always removes one successful die from your pool, regardless of whether the test would have been a success, tie, or failure. As a result, -1s may end up reducing your Margin of Success, creating a tie, turning a tie into a failure, or increasing your Margin of Failure.

Most tests do not take into account Margin of Success or Failure, or else the Margins are already built into the mechanics (as with the case of Combat Checks). Occasionally, however, the magnitude of the Margin matters. In general, a Margin of 3 or more might drastically exaggerate the effect, whether positive or negative. (Superhuman effects or statistical improbabilities, however, are not triggered by Critical Success or Failure; rather, success/failure occurs with notable style, efficacy, brutality, speed, etc.)

Rounding and Division

Always round up unless explicitly noted otherwise. Examples of times to round down include generating Abilities in character creation and attempts to improve Abilities when leveling up. If you must divide a damage result in half, first add any additional successes (+1s benefits).

Setting Obstacle Ratings for Saves

Your Feats, spells, or other powers may call for the target(s) to make a Save with a particular Ability. When they do, the Obstacle Rating for the Save is equal to the number of Successes that you rolled when activating the power or initializing the situation. All Saves in response to player actions, in other words, are contested actions. The Referee will tell you the Obstacle Rating for any Saves required by monster powers or spells (may be static or rolled).

Combat and Damage Procedures

In combat, a round consists of everyone maneuvering and taking action. The length of time for a round is elastic depending on the context, but often signifies somewhere between 20 and 60 seconds, with 30-40 seconds being a common middle ground.

Battle Order: The Parts of Combat

See full description below for more details about the parts of combat.

• Surprise Attacks: Surprisers only act during a free combat round.
• Regular Combat: All combatants declare their actions, and melees and combatants are matched based on who threatens whom. Combat Checks are made to determine the outcome of the round, and damage or other effects are resolved and narrated.
• Fallout: Resolve any "Death and Dismemberment" checks.

Action Declarations, Threatening, and Combat Checks

At the beginning of each round, players will declare their actions for the round. During this kibutzing phase, the group will cooperatively determine who your character threatens. Normally, your character will threaten only one adversary per round, but there are many exceptions granted by specific class feats, spells, artifacts, and—of course—fictional considerations. In this phase, it is important that anyone channeling a spell declares that they are doing so (so that other may attempt to interrupt them, if desired). Spells take the entire round to channel, so take effect after any other actions.

In each round of combat, all involved characters will roll a single Combat Check. A Combat Check is a special Ability test that will determine how effectively your character fights that round, and whether they do damage to the character(s) that they are threatening.

All characters roll an Ability based on the type of action that they are taking:

• Combatants test Might when they make hard attacks, such as hand-to-hand attacks with swords, axes, hammers, and polearms, or ranged attacks made with throwing axes, javelins, or bows.
• Combatants test Agility when they make fast attacks, such as hand-to-hand attacks with knives, daggers, shanks, and many martial arts-style weapons, or ranged attacks with throwing knives, crossbows, and firearms.
• While cowering or dodging, non-combatants test Agility + 1d.
• Fel Blasters test Discipline.
• Sorcerers test the listed Ability while channeling a spell.
• Feats, artifacts, or other special powers may call for any given Ability.

Compare the result of your roll with any adversary whom you threaten. If you have more successes, you deal damage equal to your Margin of Success (or your power takes effect, if channeling a spell, activating an artifact, etc.). If you lose the Versus test and the adversary is threatening you, you will take damage equal to your Margin of Failure. (This is simply the inverse of the first rule, but from the perspective of the adversary.) In case of any ties (not just situations when characters are threatening one another), all participants in the exchange take one damage as they struggle for position or the strain of combat otherwise degrades their staying power.

Non-Combatants and Unsuspecting Foes

Cowering or non-participating characters test Agility as they spend the round dodging and hiding. If they spend all their attention on avoiding attacks, they usually roll a bonus die (+1d). On the other hand, if a character is helpless (e.g. surprised, flat-footed, restrained, unconscious, etc.), or if they are subject to a coup de grace, then they do not roll an Ability test. For all purposes, they do not threaten anyone and their Combat Check result is equal to zero. Thus, attacks against helpless characters deal as many points of damage as attacks roll successes.

Ganging Up

When a large group gangs up on a single target, they may choose to make independent Combat Checks, or they may designate a Leader who will make a single Combat Check of the appropriate type with a +1d bonus for each supporting ally. If the targeted character wins the versus test, however, then the Leader takes damage as normal, plus each supporting ally takes equal damage. The Referee will determine and communicate how many people may reasonably gang up in a particular situation.

Firing Into Melee

When you fire at a target in melee with allies, roll -1d since you must hold for a clean shot. If you fail the comparative Combat Check by more than three, you deal 3d damage to a random ally who is engaged in the melee.

Variable Damage

Many effects, e.g. from spells, artifacts, or items, cause a variable amount of damage. Variable damage is listed as a number of six-sided dice to roll as a dice pool; each success deals one point of damage. For example, "Bomb, 6d damage" signals that the grenade deals damage equal to the number of successes rolled on six dice. (These effects sometimes allow targets to Save for half damage; if so, halve and round up the damage rolled on the initial dice pool; do not reduce the dice pool before rolling.)

Damage, Death, and Healing

Toughness (Hit Points)

Keep track of your current and maximum Toughness (Hit Points). Toughness represents your staying power in a fight, and thus incorporates stamina, attention, training, skill, aptitude, and even luck. It is, in short, combat readiness and posture. As long as you have more than zero Hit Points, you have not yet become exhausted, harmed, or exposed to the point that a major or life-threatening wound is likely.

Hit Points, in other words, are actually don't get hit points. When you run out, you are in danger of suffering a serious wound or even death.

If a character's maximum Hit Points are ever reduced to zero, that character is permanently and irreversibly dead.

Bonus Hit Points

Spells, shrines, extradimensional patrons, or other sources may grant Bonus Hit Points. Such HP are placed into a temporary, non-refreshable pool. (Bonus HP gained from any source stacks into the same pool.) Whenever you have bonus HP and take damage, first subtract HP from the bonus pool. Only subtract HP from your normal pool after any bonus HP are exhausted. Bonus HP almost always expire; at the end of the established period, any remaining bonus HP in the pool (if any) are lost.

Bonus HP are never regained in any way, including by resting (short or long) or spells and similar effects that return HP.

Armor

In the hands of proficient users, armor and shields may be used to block a set number of points of damage. Each set of armor and each shield may be activated once per day in response to a fictionally appropriate source of damage in order to reduce the damage taken by the Block rating (minimum 0). When armor or shields are used to block, their entire block value is used—it cannot be divided and some points saved, for example.

All armor and shields increase the Obstacle Rating by one for each Slot they occupy for any Channeling Tests or Ability tests of endurance, flexibility, balance, climbing, and so forth.

Light Armor (Block 2)

Light Armor protects the major vital areas. It might include, for example, a chain shirt, helmet, and armpit and groin protection, perhaps with one or two additional pieces, such as greaves, bracers, shinguards, etc. The armor may be mismatched, but it works together to provide minimally comprehensive protection from serious wounds. The vast majority of "full" sets of armor count as Light Armor. Light Armor occupies one Slot of carried/worn inventory, and it may be activited to block up to two points of damage.

Heavy Armor (Block 4)

Heavy Armor is both very rare and very expensive. It provides as close to complete protection as is possible, and usually includes a full set of matched armor (plate, chain, segmented, or otherwise) that protects the whole body, from fingers to chest and head to toe. Heavy Armor may be activated to block up to four points of damage, but it is virtually always cumbersome to don and wear, so it occupies two Slots of carried/worn inventory.

Shields (Block 2)

When used defensively, shields may be activated to block two points of damage, but must be held in a Fast Slot to do so.

Down and Out

When reduced to zero Hit Points, you are down and out. You fall to the ground, unconscious and bloodied. If you receive medical aid by the end of the scene, sum 2d6 and consult the Death and Dismemberment Table below. Roll again on the table for each separate time that you take damage while unconscious. If you don't receive medical aid by the end of the Turn, you die.

Down and Out Table

Result	Consequences
2	Learning Opportunity: Gain 1 Boon
3	Resilience: Gain +1 max HP
4	Trauma: Permanently lose one point from a random Ability
5	DEATH, PAINFUL AND GRISLY
6	Broken Gear: Two random items break (Artifacts have 2-in-3 chance to Save)
7	Lingering Injury: Lose 1 max HP
8	Broken Gear: Two random items break (Artifacts have 2-in-3 chance to Save)
9	DEATH, PAINFUL AND GRISLY
10	Trauma: Permanently lose one point from a random Ability
11	Resilience: Gain +1 max HP
12	Learning Opportunity: Gain 1 Boon

Resting

A Short Rest is a brief sitdown to rest, recover, and recharge. Short rests may provide mechanical benefits to characters: once per day in the morning, and once again in the evening, Characters heal 1 HP and regain one 1 Class Resource (CR) of their choice when they take a short rest. A short rest occupies one Exploration Turn (~10 minutes).

A Long Rest is the equivalent of an overnight period of rest, including food, sleep, and so forth. After a long rest, characters recover all lost Hit Points and Class Resources, replenish any depleted spells, and regain any spent blocks from armor and shields.

3. Abilities

Aside from pool of Class Resources, all player characters are described by three types of Abilities: Natural Abilities, Town Statistics, and Cash. Natural Abilities are tested to achieve tasks (or to avoid hazards). Town Statistics are special scores that work in a variety of ways during downtime phases. Cash is a fluid pool of expendable dice that can be used to make purchases or to increase your Town Statistics.

Natural Abilities

Natural Abilities are rated 1-10. At character creation, roll each in order: scores are equal to the average of two six-sided dice (2d6 divided by two), rounded down.

Throughout play, Abilities will occasionally fluxuate up or down. Ability scores are meant to be somewhat fluid: they will go up and down over the course of a character's career as a result of Boons, bonuses from artifacts and relics, and the effects of Mutations.

The Six Natural Abilities

MIGHT
Strength, vitality, toughness, stamina

AGILITY
Coordination, reflexes, quickness, balance, grace

PRESENCE
Social intelligence, rapport, charisma, charm, leadership

ACUITY
Awareness, insight, perception, wits, critical thinking

DISCIPLINE
Resolve, composure, morale, teamwork and group coordination, endurance

Town Statistics

Town Statistics cover a range of special abilities, each of which works in a different way.

Wealth

Wealth is an abstract measure of your holistic financial position, including assets and creditworthiness. Wealth is rated 0-10 and is not directly tested (except during the Income portion of the Town Phase).

At the beginning of each session, each player rolls for their activated character's Income. (Wealth is, after all, a composite rating that summarizes the total income and assets of all businesses and other investments that a character owns.) To generate Income, roll a number of dice equal to your Wealth rating and receive one Cash die per [Success].

Whenever you want to acquire goods or services, purchase equipment, bribe guards or officials, tithe, or otherwise spend money for things that Cost less than your Wealth, you only need to pay a single Cash die (and the first such purchase per session is free). When such things Cost more than your Wealth rating, you must instead wager Cash. (See the "Cash" section below for more details.)

Lifestyle

Lifestyle is a qualitative description of your general socioeconomic wellbeing. It is derived from your Wealth score. The five lifestyle grades are:

• Destitute: 0-1 Wealth. You are probably homeless, and you own only what you carry.
• Meager: 2-3 Wealth. You have just enough to live on, including a rented hovel or room in a tenement, plus a few treasured assets.
• Modest: 4-5 Wealth. You rent or own a small home and live comfortably, though not indulgently.
• Bountiful: 6-7 Wealth. You have more than enough to provide for the basics for you and any dependants, including a modest home and property, servants, and excess money for indulgences.
• Opulent: 8-10 Wealth. You are very rich, own extensive property, and may spend money not only on essentials and luxuries, but also on greater social concerns (philanthropy, public works, cultivating clients or artists, etc.).

Circles

A Circles check is a special Presence test that allows you to find someone: a specific person, a type of person (e.g. by profession), or a person with a specific agenda. Circles is a player-initiated check that will always author or reintroduce a non-player character into the fiction. Circles is used both to establish new relationships, as well as to track down familiar characters.

Before rolling the check, the player will Ask to find the person for such and such reason, and then the Referee will reference the Circles Factors and inform them of the Obstacle Rating (which will depend on the person and the character's possible connections to them), after which the player may choose to commit to the roll or to abandon it.

To make a Circles check, roll a Pool of six-sided dice equal to two plus your Presence score (as usual for Presence tests) plus an additional number of dice equal to your Circles rating. If you belong to a Faction that would plausibly make your Ask more credible or better received, you may also add a number of dice equal to your Faction's Reputation (see section below).

A successful Circles check puts you in contact with the desired person and establishes them as generally amenable to your Ask. A failed Circles check, on the other hand, still authors or reintroduces the target—they just aren't amenable to or available for whatever you want from them without further negotionation (which may involve payment, missions, or any other complication introduced by the Referee).

Furthermore, Circles tests that are failed by a substantial margin (three or more failures) may invoke the Enmity Clause, which allows the Referee to establish the target as a new or returning rival, competitor, or enemy.

The Circles score starts as zero bonus dice, but may be improved up to six bonus dice +6d) by spending Cash.

Reputation

The players' Company (and any other Factions created by players) possesses a Reputation score with other Factions. Reputation scores start at zero, but may increase or decrease (to a limit of ±10) as a result of fictional events. Reputation is added to relevant Circles checks at a rate of +1d per point of relevant Reputation; any Circles checks benefit if your association with the Faction would make your ask more credible or better received.

In addition, the Referee may roll to check whether a character or group of characters is recognized by their factional affiliation. Roll 1d12: if the result is equal to or less than the your Reputation with the given Faction, then the character is recognized as a member of the organization in question.

Strongholds

The company as a whole may invest time and money to construct Strongholds, which range from simple fortified houses or businesses (with staff) in the city, to rural estates or fortified manor houses to temples or shrines to a proper keep, castle, donjon, or other settlement. Strongholds provide bonus dice equal to their rating to characters taking relevant activities within their walls.

Stronghold, then, is a shared, company-wide rating that represents how developed each of your collective Strongholds are. Strongholds are each rated from 1-6.

While in a stronghold and doing an activity that benefits from your established place there, you roll bonus dice equal to the Stronghold's rating. These bonus dice accrue to such various activities as defending the stronghold against attackers, researching in the stronghold's library, using the stronghold's facilities to train, interrogating enemies in the stronghold's dungeons, and so forth.

Bonus dice only accrue from plausible, in-fiction sources that have been explicitly established—for example, characters must assemble a library to gain the bonus dice on research tasks. Whenever a Stronghold rating is increased, the company may choose to add two tags to the Stronghold to express the new facilities or other upgrades to the location. Additional tags may be added through diegetic effort.

Sample tags include:

• Garrison/Staff: Laborers, servants, and guards. The working population equals the number of Garrison/Staff tags squared, times five. (With one tag, five individuals, then 20, 45, 80, 125, and 180.) With four tags, the stronghold probably begins to anchor a small, rural community. With eight tags, a town might form around the stronghold. With twelve tags, the stronghold usually anchors a city.
• Fortification: Quality of fortifications, armaments, stores, etc. With fewer Fortification tags, mixed construction is common: new and old works combined, earth and wood mixed with mud/clay, etc. With several tags, quality wood or brick construction becomes common, and multiple layers of defense begin to be added. With many tags, strongholds are improved to full stone defensive works.
• Facilities: Each tag may name a new facility created in the stronghold, such as Stables, Library, Blacksmith, etc. Additional tags of the same type increases the scope or skill of the associated facilities.
• Economy: Tags referring to the economic productivity of the area immediately around the stronghold, from agriculture (e.g. Vineyards, Orchards) to husbandry (e.g. Cattle Ranch) to taxes collected (e.g. on market commerce, trade, etc.).

Cash

Cash is an abstract measure of your liquid assets. You may gain Cash by adventuring (like finding treasure) or through roleplaying activities (like completing jobs for patrons). Cash is measured as an open-ended pool of expendable, non-refreshing dice. Each Cash die represents roughly the net income of a laborer for a month or more of work, or for several weeks of work by an artisan or skilled laborer.

Cash dice are used in two ways:

1. They may be wagered and spent to purchase goods and services.
2. They may be wagered to permanently improve one of your Town Statistics (Wealth, Circles, or Stronghold).

Using Cash to Purchase Goods and Services:

If you would like to purchase something with a Cost higher than your current Wealth rating, you must wager Cash. Spend (remove and lose) any number of Cash dice; these dice form the dice pool that you roll against the purchase's Cost, a base Obstacle Rating from which you first subtract your Wealth score. See below for more details on buying and selling.

For example, if your Wealth rating is 4 and you would like to purchase a Cost 6 service, you must succeed against an Obstacle 2 Cash test, which requires wagering four Cash dice on average (but you may expend any number of Cash to assemble your dice pool, up to your current total number of Cash dice).

Improving Circles, Wealth, or Stronghold:

To attempt to improve a Town Ability score, wager and then roll (spend/lose) a number of your Cash dice against the relevant Obstacle Rating (table below). Each Ability must be purchased one point at a time, with higher ranks requiring more successes (and thus costing more Cash).

Each session, you may only attempt to increase each different Town Ability once, regardless of whether you succeed (and gain one rank) or fail.

Wagering Cash on Town Statistics represents investing in the appropriate areas: for Circles, for example, the expenditure facilitates membership in associations, organizations, social clubs, and other Circles situations. For Wealth, in involves saving money or investing in property, business, or other assets. For Strongholds, it involves building, improving, stocking, and recruiting staff for your stronghold.

The Obstacle Rating that you must beat to successfully gain a point in a given Town Ability is listed below:

Cash Obstacle Rating by Target Town Ability Rank

Type	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Circles	1	2	3	4	5	6	—	—	—	—
Wealth	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20
Stronghold	10	12	14	16	18	20	—	—	—	—

Wises

Wises describe freeform, player-defined areas of knowledge and expertise. These areas are relatively limited, roughly comparable to the scope of knowledge that a skilled practitioner of a given field would possess. Hence, "blacksmith-wise" would encompass the knowledge and expertise of a skilled blacksmith, or "herb-wise" of a skilled herbalist, or "Venidzi politics-wise" of an informed analyst of Venidzi politcs.

Common categories of Wises may be based on: background, occupation, academic discipline, type of natural phenomena, a limited cultural phenomenon, or a given geography and topic.

Example Wises: Sailing-wise, blacksmithing-wise, soldier-wise, predators-wise, herb-wise, plant cult-wise, Umiyid history-wise, architecture-wise, navigation-wise, mountain-wise, Akhami-wise, jinn-wise, legends of Lyriamos-wise, Khourian politics-wise

When a question of knowledge is at stake, a relevant Wise indicates that a character likely knows the answer unless the question is particular obtuse, hidden, or complex. The Referee will use Wises as a central consideration about how much information to describe to players about a certain topic.

At character creation, each character has access to one or two Wises based on their background before becoming an adventurer, such as "sailor-wise" or "mercenary-wise" or "merchant-wise." It is strongly recommended, however, that players generally refrain from naming their Wises up front, but rather wait to declare them until during play as it seems appropriate.

Additional Wises will frequently be developed through the course of play. It is appropriate for these to be informally recognized and losely tracked as part of the normal fictional development of character, until one becomes highly relevant and is explicitly recorded on the character record sheet.

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II. Magic

This section covers the rules for spellcasting, the spell lists, and information about mutations, artifacts and relics, and shrines.

1. Spellcasting Rules

Players normally introduce magic into the game in one of two ways: by playing a Sorcerer who channels spells, or by engaging in rituals. Spells are the shorthand name for extradimensional plasmic entities that Sorcerers have captured and bound in a meticulously arranged mindtrap within their brain, and which they must repeatedly bend to their will. Rituals, on the other hand, are ancient codified practices that may generally be accomplished by any properly trained and prepared individual.

Overview

A great deal of mental control and attention are required to channel a spell, which releases a plasmid and causes it to affect reality in an intended way. To channel a spell, you must pass a Channeling Test tied to one of the six core Abilities. If you fail a Channeling Test, you lose control of the spell: its effect still occurs, but the plasmid thrashes and escapes, which both damages you and causes you to "lose" the spell for the day (making it unavailable for channeling until after a long rest). Unwilling targets of spells are usually allowed a Save to avoid some or all of a spell's effects.

Sigils, Signatures, and Signs

Channeling a spell is never a subtle endeavor. Unless otherwise noted, it is impossible to conceal the fact that the sorcerer is channeling. Moreover, plasmids leave substantial and clearly supernatural effects in the world, always manifested through the lens of the sorcerer's signature. A second sight spell, for example, might leave a glowing mark around the affected person's face. The marks left behind by spells are like arcane fingerprints: it is possible to study and learn the unique form of mark left by other sorcerer's spells. Only one instance of a given spell may be active in the world at a time; if the spell is cast again, all effects from the first casting are immediately reversed and the sorcerer's mark is removed (and instead appears on/at the new target).

Channeling Tests

To channel a spell, spend one Control and then make the listed Ability test. Regardless of the result of the test, the spell effect occurs. If you successfully pass the test, you will be able to attempt another channeling of the spell later today (as long as you have Control to power it). If you fail the test, however, you 1) take damage equal to your Margin of Failure, and 2) cannot channel that specific spell again until you've taken a long rest. (Alternatively, certain spells might carry other risks on failure; for example, mirror road may result in being lost in the Mirror Dimension.)

Success and Failure

The Magnitude of a spell's effect depends on the number of successes that you roll on the Channeling Test—see references to "[Successes]" in the spell descriptions. A greater Magnitude indicates that the spell's effect may last for a longer duration and that it is harder for any targets to resist or avoid the spell's effects. A greater Magnitude also makes it less likely that you will take damage while channeling a spell, largely because the effect occurs more quickly and powerfully than opponents might expect.

If you are attacked during a round when you are attempting to channel a spell (but not when attacking with a Fel Blast), use your Channeling Test result as your defensive Combat Test. If you fail the Combat Test and take damage, add the points of damage taken to the Obstacle Rating for the Channeling Test when you resolve the spell at the end of the Round—taking damage while channeling a spell makes it much more likely that you will also take damage from the act of channeling itself (since pain and external attention cause your arcane control to falter).

If you fail a channeling test by rolling zero successes, the plasmid's mutagenic energy cascades out of control: you gain a random Mutation.

Two factors increase the difficulty of Channeling Tests:

Channeling Test Factors

• Damage Taken While Channeling: +1 Ob per point of damage taken
• Armor: +1 Ob from each Slot that armor and/or a shield occupies

Spell Durations

Most spells have one of three durations: an instantaneous effect that causes permanent change in the world; an ongoing effect that depends on the Magnitude of the spell, either short (one Round per [Success] rolled on the Channeling Test) or long (one Exploration Turn per [Success]); or a non-standard duration, such as until a condition is met or for a longer ad hoc period, like a day per Success. If a duration is not listed, assume that a spell lasts for two Exploration Turns per [Success].

Resisting Spells

If a target does not wish to be affected by a spell, they are usually entitled to a Save. The Ability to be used for the Save is listed in the individual spell descriptions; the Obstacle Rating for the Save is equal to the number of Successes rolled on the Sorcerer's Channeling Test to create the spell effect. If the target fails the Save, they are affected by the spell (see the specific spell descriptions). If the target succeeds, the target takes reduced damage/effect (or, more rarely, the spell fails).

Sorcerous Materials

Forthcoming.

Acquiring Spells

Most spells are acquired through selecting Boons that grant one or more new spells. It is also possible, however, to capture and acquire wild (new, unbound) spells and to learn spells from other sorcerers, if you can convince them to relinquish their secrets.

Capturing Wild Spells

When a new spell is encountered in the wild, a sorcerer has a few minutes to interact with it before attempting to bind the spell for future use. The Obstacle Rating for a this Spell Mastery Check is equal to the normal Channeling Ability and Ob for the spell plus one. The sorcerer may expend sorcerous materials to roll +1d per unit of material spent, plus +1d to +3d based on how successfully she came to understanding the plasmid's nature during her experimentation period.

If the Spell Mastery Check succeeds, the spell is added to the sorcerer's list of known spells. If it is failed, the sorcerer can never learn the spell, no matter how many times she retries the test.

Learning Captive Spells

Sorcerers may learn spells from other sorcerers. Such secrets are closely held, and thus are rarely for sale, but a spell might be taught by an ally or patron. It takes two sessions of teaching and study per point of Channeling Obstacle Rating to prepare to capture the spell in the sorcerer's brain. Only one spell may be learned or taught during any given period, so both the teacher and the student must not engaged in any other spell research for the duration. Furthermore, both characters must be activated in the current session of play in order to advance the process's project clock.

Following the period of study, the trainee sorcerer makes a Spell Mastery Check. The Obstacle Rating for the check is equal to the normal Channeling Ability and Ob for the spell plus one. The sorcerer may expend sorcerous materials to roll +1d per unit of material spent. If the Spell Mastery Check succeeds, the spell is added to the sorcerer's list of known spells. If it is failed, the sorcerer can never learn the spell, no matter how many times she retries the test.

2. Spell Families

Each species of extradimensional plasmic entity (plasmid) creates a certain spell effect when channeled by an experienced sorcerer. Like other organisms, plasmids may be taxonomized and classified based on their attributes. Most sorcerers specialize in channeling one or two broad families of plasmids, each of which might encompass the equivalent of several orders, families, and genuses of plasmids with similar effects, methods, targets, or spheres of influence.

Spell Families

Roll	Family
1	Blood Magic
2	Diabolism
3	Hypercognition
4	Metacomposition
5	Naturecraft
6	Primal Speech
7	Psychomancy
8	Translocation

Table of Spell Families: There are eight families of plasmids that are relatively well understood by modern sorcerers. To expedite character creation, you may roll 1d8 to determine which family you have first started to master. This method is recommended for players who have not previously played a Sorcerer, since it obviates the need to learn all the spells in advance before choosing a Family.

A number of the spells—some 45 in total—are adapted from (and explicitly reference) Brendan Strejcek's excellent Wonder and Wickedness. The remaining spells are original or are derived from a variety of sources, but mostly from various editions of Dungeons and Dragons or DIY D&D. Specific derivations are noted in parathensis following the spell descriptions.

Blood Magic

In addition to Discipline, Blood Magic spells depend on the sorcerer's Might and Presence.

1. Death Mask (Might Ob 2): With a touch, you peel the face from a corpse, the rest of which then immediately rots to dust. When you (but not anyone else) wears the mask, you look and sound exactly like the person who previously wore the face, but only to people (humans, beastmen, demons, fairies, and the like--not animals, spirits, or golems). There is a 1-in-6 chance that the mask is permanent; otherwise, it lasts lasts [Successes] days before crumbling into dust. (GLOG necromancer spell list)
2. Occult Consultation (Presence Ob 2): Perform a rite to lure a gaggle of nearby ghosts and spirits to converse. If you have material remains, a treasured possession, or a spirit's true name, you may compel that particular shade to materialize. Afterwards, you and any companions may choose to accompany the departed souls on a katabasis to the Spirit Realm. (W&W 18)
3. Hekaphage (Discipline Ob 3): Summon an extradimensional immunological creature to gorge on an enchantment, curse, or magical element (Channeling Test Save negates). There is an even chance that the fat, sated hekaphage manifests in the material world after eating a powerful enchantment (Level 2 + the Channeling Obstacle of the eaten enchantment, spell, etc.). (W&W 27)
4. Hex (Presence Ob 3): Curse a living creature: they suffer ongoing bad luck, or else they become supernaturally afraid of you (Discipline Save negates).
5. Vitalize (Might Ob 3): Animate a statue, sculpture, painting, or the like. If it was previously living, it returns to life permanently. Otherwise, when the spell wears off, the animated object has equal chances to 1) return to its original, statuesque form; 2) disintegrate into raw materials or toxic goo; or 3) remain animated, but independent. (W&W 37)
6. Leech (Might Ob 4): With a touch, you transfer youth or vigor from one person to another (Might Save negates). The first party sacrifices up to [Successes] HP or years of life; the second party regains 2d of the same for each point sacrificed. There is a 1-in-6 chance each that the spell will either permanently mark the recipient with dark magic or double the magnitude of the effect (to 4d per point sacrificed). (W&W 18)
7. Genoplasm (Discipline Ob 4): Your touch is imbued with pure, vital chaotic energy. If you touch a living creature while channeling, they gain a random Mutation. If you touch a pile of fresh organs and viscera from one or more formerly living creatures, a writhing tumerous mass recombines the biological remnants and births a novel creature (there is a [Successes]-in-6 chance that you may determine one of its characteristics). If you touch a mass of inorganic material, the area (up to roughly the size of one human per [Success]) progressively softens, weakens, gestates, and metastasizes before collapsing into biologial goo. (W&W 34)
8. Graft (Might Ob 4): Fuse any object you can hold to a recipient's body (Might Save negates for unwilling recipients). If the object is biological, the recipient may use it as if it were part of their own body. The graft lasts for up to [Successes] hours. If the graftee permanently sacrifices two HP, the graft is instead permanent.
9. Corpse Craft (Presence Ob 5): Reanimate [Successes] worth of eager, overenthusiastic (but not particularly clever) corpses as undead servitors. The spell lasts up to a day per [Success]. When the spell wears off, the undead (W&W 17):
   1. Turn on the sorcerer in anger
   2. Become catatonic
   3. Dissolve into toxic biological goo
   4. Become permanent minions
10. Simulacrum (Might Ob 5): Your body rips in two. Divide your current HP between the two bodies in whatever proportion you choose. Both halves act independently but otherwise share all mechanical resources (e.g. class resources, spells controlled, etc.) for up to [Successes] Turns. When the spell expires, the body with lower HP collapses into clotted blood.

Diabolism

In addition to Discipline, Diabolism spells depend on the sorcerer's Presence and Might.

1. Poltergeist (Presence Ob 2): Haunt an area or object with troublesome spirits. The ghosts make noises, move small objects, and generally act like an obnoxious nuisance. (W&W 21)
2. Spectral Harvest (Discipline Ob 2): Collect loose, disembodied spirits in the area. Ghosts, resistant shades, or other autonomous spirits may resist being captured with a successful Discipline Save. You may speak with captured spirits at will, though they are frequently disoriented and can rarely recall anything about the circumstances of their death. Spirits are highly sought-after barter for demons. As a result, many spirits will perform a simple task in exchange for release. Captured spirits contain psychic energy that may be manipulated by sorcerers, and as such are frequently used to power, empower, or alter other plasmids. (W&W 21)
3. Covenant (Presence Ob 3): Magically seal a bargain, based on free assent, between the sorcerer and a counterparty. The souls of both are pledged to a demon as collateral. (W&W 12)
4. Demonic Blessing (Might Ob 3): Beseech a powerful demon for a demonic blessing. Roll +1d on the Channeling Test for this spell for every HP of damage that you self-inflict and for every Cash Die that you sacrifice during the ritual. The spell lasts for [Successes] Turns. Choose one of the following effects:
   • Darkvision: You can see in black and white, even in pitch darkness.
   • Black Speech: You may communicate with truly evil creatures or their allies, including demons, undead, vile spirits, and vermin that creep or crawl.
   • Demonic Wings: You grow (and may fly clumsily on) large, grotesque wings.
5. Circle of Protection (Discipline Ob 3): Protect yourself and [Successes] other creatures inside a physical, marked circle that automatically repels extradimensional creatures. Repelled creatures may cross the circle with a successful Discipline Save. Alternatively, you may trap extradimensional entities within the circle, though the effect immediately ceases if the marked circle is broken. (The trapped entity cannot affect the circle in any way.) (W&W 10)
6. Banish (Discipline Ob 4): Rip an extradimensional creature out of this reality and force them back into their original dimension (Discipline Save negates). If you learn and leverage the entity's unique weakness(es), it is automatically banished. If you roll zero successes on the Channeling Test for this spell, you are catapulted into the originating dimension instead of the target.
7. Cripple (Might Ob 4): Incapacitating waves of agonizing pain roil the victim for [Successes] Rounds (Might Save negates). The victim's pain may be bottled in specially prepared alchemical vessels, in which case it functions as a powerful addictive drug for demons.
8. Summoning (Presence Ob 4): Conjure an extradimensional creature. If you use an entity's true name, you summon that exact creature and automatically control it. Otherwise, you may name a general category of fiend. If the creature's Level is equal to or less than [Successes], you dominate and control the entity (Discipline Save negates). Otherwise, you must negotiate with the being, in which case it will make a Reaction Roll as usual. (W&W 10)
9. Black Mark (Presence Ob 5): Summon a demon and negotiate payment to kill a target whose name you provide. The target must carry an object with your sigil on it. The target's soul is always part of the payment. (W&W 12)
10. Miasma (Might Ob 5): Summon a choking, poisonous cloud of hellish gases. The miasma lasts for [Successes] Rounds and tends to drift down toward the place whence it came (W&W 13). The miasma has a random effect (at the beginning of each Round of exposure, Might Save for half damage or to resist the effect):
    1. Everyone it touches dies messily and in massive pain.
    2. The gases deal one acid damage per round, including to objects.
    3. The gases cause burning blindness.
    4. Everyone in the area retches uncontrollably (making all but the simplest tasks impossible).
    5. The gases deal 2d cold damage each round, and anyone killed within the area rises as a malicious ice revenant.
    6. Chaos gases force anyone who fails a Discipline Save to go berserk and randomly attack anyone within reach.
    If you sacrifice 3 HP, you can instead choose the effect.

Hypercognition

In addition to Discipline, Hypercognition spells depend on the sorcerer's Acuity and Presence.

1. Conduit (Acuity Ob 2): Inscribe your Conduit sigil prominently on a person or object (Discipline Save negates), where it remains for up to [Successes] hours. You may meditate to perceive the sigil's surroundings. As long as the sigil remains, you may also use the object or person as a relay for your spells (another Save permitted for unwilling conduits). (W&W 26)
2. Second Sight (Acuity Ob 2): You can see visible traces of magic. Sorcerers radiate because of captured spells, while enchanted items crackle with glittering energy leakage that reveals the general nature of their enchantment (e.g. destruction magic, healing magic, transformation magic, etc.). Invisible and spectral things are visible. (W&W 28)
3. Comprehension (Presence Ob 3): The meaning of obscured or indecipherable communication is laid bare, including any language, the true intent of a cyphered missive, and even figurative meaning like the groaning of clouds, the howling of wolves, etc. You may respond intelligibly in kind. (W&W 22)
4. Object Entanglement (Discipline Ob 3): Link the spatial movements and gross physical experiences of up to [Successes] objects that are each individually light enough to be carried. All enchanted items must be nearby when the spell is cast.
5. Telesthesia (Presence Ob 3): You and up to [Successes] willing creatures may communicate telepathically over any distance. In addition to language, you may share visions, impressions, feelings, and memories.
6. Plasmic Inception (Presence Ob 4): Implant a copy of one of your captured spells into the target's mind for them to channel once before the next sunrise. (The beneficiary must still roll a Channeling Test for the implanted spell as usual to determine potential spell magnitude/damage.)
7. Plasmic Manipulation (Acuity Ob 4): Examine another's mind for plasmic entities (Discipline Save negates), and then either steal a spell for later channeling (one time only, using the normal channeling rules), or else loose (void for the day) up to [Successes] captured spells from the target's mind. If you roll zero successes on the Channeling Test, the target may instead raid your mind with the same two options. (W&W 25)
8. Hindsight (Acuity Ob 4): You psychically travel back in time to a particular moment up to [Successes] centuries in the past. (N.b.: the Referee may modify this timeframe to suit her setting and genre.) Name a specific event that occurred or declare the specific amount of time to travel back: you observe the specified scene (and only that scene) as an invisible, incorporeal, undetectable presence before returning to the present moment. The spell does not change your actual location or reality; it just projects your consciousness backward in time. You must be physically present in the place where the event occurred or have physical possession of a focus item that was present during the event in order to channel the spell, and your perspective is tethered to that place/item.
9. Petition (Acuity Ob 5): Step through a large, reflective surface (like a mirror or expanse of still water) to be brought into the presence of a knowledgeable extradimensional entity who will answer [Successes] questions. The being will answer questions to the best of their considerable ability; although their answers are often literal and may not be entirely complete or selfless, they are always generally helpful and relevant. You may use an entity's true name to ask questions of that particular being; otherwise, the Referee will determine who responds to your entreaties. (W&W 13)
10. Spectral Body (Discipline Ob 5): Project your mind from your body into the boundary between this reality and the Spirit Realm. Your mind is spectral: it may levitate, pass through thin barriers, and see perfectly in darkness. You may raid others' surface thoughts (Discipline Save negates) by merging into the same physical space that they occupy. You must return to your body by time the spell ends or pass an Ob 4 Discipline Save to avoid having the connection to your body severed, leaving you permanently marooned as a spectral undead. (W&W 26)

Metacomposition

In addition to Discipline, Metacomposition spells depend on the sorcerer's Might and Agility.

1. Spectral Disc (Might Ob 2): Summon a strong, hard, slightly concave disc (3' diameter) that floats four inches above and parallel to the surface. The disc holds up to 100 pounds per [Success] and floats silently just behind you and at the same speed that you move. If you mount the disc, you may direct it where to go.
2. Spawn Homunculus (Discipline Ob 2): Transform raw materials like mud, sticks, leaves, water, and so forth into [Successes] small golems (1' tall), each with roughly the intelligence, coordination, strength, and eagerness of a typical four-year-old. The golems cannot communicate and are worthless in combat (and, indeed, will actively flee it in terror), but are otherwise enthusiastic minions.
3. Spectral Lock / Spectral Knock (Might Ob 3): Seal shut a door, portal, latch, lid, or window. It may only be opened with supernatural force (Might Save to open). The spell may also be cast on a person's mouth (Might Save negates). Reversible: Closed objects, including stuck objects or objects with mundane locks, are opened with a loud bang: windows and doors blast open, locks on chests shatter, people have the wind knocked out of them or vomit (Might Save negates).
4. Elemental Wall (Discipline Ob 3): Summon a thick wall of a random type: fire, ice, steel, thorns, bone, or mud. The wall may cover up to roughly 100 sq ft per [Success] and be arranged in any reasonable shape you desire, though one side must always be stably anchored to the ground.
5. Transmogrify Surface (Discipline Ob 3): You magically alter the surface of a substantial area (~100 sq ft per [Success]). You may transform the surface to be:
   1. Smooth
   2. Rough and textured
   3. Covered in vines and thick undergrowth
   4. Slippery like grease or ice
   5. Warm and hairy
   If you sacrifice a material component that is consumed by the channeling of the spell, you may instead cause the spell to imitate the component's surface texture.
6. Bind (Agility Ob 4): Entrap [Successes] enemies in magical chains, web, overgrowth, or so forth for up to [Successes] Rounds. Entrapped targets are helpless and cannot move. Targets may avoid the spell (or break free at the start of subsequent rounds) with a successful Might or Agility Save, target's choice. (W&W 10)
7. Resize (Might Ob 4): Modify the size, height, or density of a person or similar-sized object by up to 10% per [Success].
8. Spectral Fabrication (Discipline Ob 4): Create a facsimile of any mundane object that could be made by a journeyman crafter with a day's work. The object is made of pure spectral energy, so it can interact with ghosts and other spectral beings. Following any substantial interaction with the object, there is a one-in-ten chance that the object evaporates back into pure energy and dissipates.
9. Disintegrate (Agility Ob 5): You blast an enemy with pure, disintegrative entropic energy. The targeted creature takes 7d damage + 1d per [Success] (Might Save for half). If the target passes its Might Save, this damage cannot reduce it below 1 HP. Alternatively, you may target an object or structure: up to one cubic yard of mundane matter per [Success] is reduced to fine ash.
10. Glyph (Discipline Ob 5): Inscribe a nearly invisible sigil on a surface or object or else inside an object like a book or chest. You may set specific trigger conditions to determine when the glyph will activate, e.g. when revealed, when touched, when a certain type of person approaches, etc. The glyph may:
    • Make a very loud noise.
    • Stun whoever triggers it or all in a small area (Discipline Save negates).
    • Deal 5d damage + 1d damage per [Success] to whoever triggers it (Agility Save for half) or in a small area (Agility Save negates).
    The glyph lasts a day per [Success] or until triggered.

Naturecraft

In addition to Discipline, Naturecraft spells depend on the sorcerer's Might and Acuity.

1. Living Gate (Acuity Ob 2): Inscribe your sigil into the body of a willing, living creature. When you concentrate, you know the direction of and distance to the creature, no matter the distance (but not if the creature is currently in a different dimension). When you channel this spell, you and [Successes] companions may step through and out of the sigil, although this process is extremely painful for the marked creature. Channeling the spell does not remove the sigil. (W&W 29)
2. Fog Cloud (Discipline Ob 2): Summon a bank of thick fog that covers up to a large area. Up to [Successes] creatures that you designate instead treat the effect as thin fog.
3. Nature's Feast (Acuity Ob 3): Harvest local fauna to prepare a sumptuous feast for your companions. Up to [Successes] creatures you specify who partake in the feast, including consuming food and drink, are subject to one effect of your choice (Might Save negates):
   • Fall into a deep slumber.
   • Wretch and vomit.
   • Hallunicate.
   • Consider you a good friend.
   • Feel restored and well-rested.
4. Ravening (Discipline Ob 3): The growth process of several animals are accelerated, thereby inducing ravenous hunger. Up to [Successes] animals, beasts, or vermin roughly double in size and strength. Left to their own devices, the beasts will eat anything nearby, even gaining sustenance from normally inedible things (dirt, wood, etc.), though they always prefer flesh. At the end of the spell, the creatures have equal chances to either (1) return to normal and collapse unconscious, (2) remain permanently doubled in size, or (3) continue to grow until they become gargantuan and insane with hunger. (W&W 36)
5. Serpent's Kiss (Might Ob 3): You grow long, hollow fangs (+1d in melee combat) for the duration of the spell. The fangs may be used to draw out poison (negating its effect on the victim), though this process is extremely painful for the recipient. Venom so extracted is stored in a new gland in your body; you may automatically deliver it later with a successful fang bite attack. (W&W 36)
6. Bloodlust (Might Ob 4): Awaken the target's savage inner beast (Discipline Save negates): she grows claws and fangs and must violently attack a nearby person each Round. If she hits, she deals an additional [Successes] dice of bonus damage. If no targets are available, she can do nothing but rage and trash her surroundings. The spell lasts up to [Successes] Rounds. When it ends, the target must pass an Ob 4 Might Save to avoid falling unconscious for an hour. If the target rolls zero successes on the Save, she contracts lycanthropy. (W&W 34)
7. Calling (Acuity Ob 4): Summon a nearby animal, beast, or vermin of Level equal to or less than [Successes]. The creature must be living and conscious, but not intelligent. You may specify a particular type of creature or one with specified characteristics (e.g. can fly), but the spell will fail if no candidate creature is nearby. The creature happily follows your verbal commands, and subsequently will feel oddly satisfied to have helped you unless you forced it to commit acts against its basic nature. (W&W 24)
8. Carapace (Might Ob 4): A creature you designate rapidly grows thick natural armor (chitin, bark, gravel, scales, etc.). While transformed, the target is immune to the effects of exposure. The armor may be expended to Block [Successes] damage.
9. Totem (Discipline Ob 5): Shapechange another into the form of the mundane beast that best expresses their symbolic inner predator or prey, your choice (Might Save negates). Worn or carried equipment is absorbed during the transformation. (W&W 37)
10. Skinwalker (Might Ob 5): You may shapechange into the form of any animal or beast whose internal organs you have entirely consumed, raw and fresh. Worn or carried equipment does not transform.

Primal Speech

In addition to Discipline, Primal Speech spells depend on the sorcerer's Agility and Presence.

1. Gleam (Discipline Ob 2): Beseech radiant spirits of sunlight to come to your aid. You summon and direct one small flying spirit per [Success], each of which illuminates an area like torchlight. (W&W 12)
2. Rockspeech (Presence Ob 2): Awaken the greater spirit of a hill or other stone prominence. It responds (slowly) to basic commands. You may encourage it to expedite its actions, but doing so has a 2-in-6 chance to cause a powerful earthquake. At the expiration of the spell, the spirit falls back into senescence. (W&W 14)
3. Water Communion (Agility Ob 3): Invite burbling spirits of water into your lungs. You and [Successes] allies do not need to draw breath to sustain life. Moreover, when you swim, the aqueous spirits smooth your path, allowing you to swim as quickly and adeptly as fish. Local waters obey your commands, e.g. to part, raise, or lower.
4. Cacophony of Air (Agility Ob 3): Invoke and direct a discordant tumult of air spirits for [Successes] Rounds. The spirits will lift you or another willing creature aloft through the air, during which time subtle actions like quiet speech and fine manipulation are impossible. Alternatively, you may direct the spirits of air to create a strong, swirling barrier of wind around you; the winds diffuse gas, put out unprotected flames, and deflect small missiles. (W&W 14 and 16)
5. Spell of Subterranean Gullets (Presence Ob 3): Your rebuke cows spirits of the deep earth. You may command instantaneous opening or closing of a sphincter-like aperture in any stone or rock surface (up to [Successes] times before the spell expires). (W&W 15)
6. Direct Gravity (Agility Ob 4): Convince the gravitons (invisible spirits of gravity) in a local area to flow in a different direction. The spell affects a small area/melee group and "pushes" in a cylinder up to five feet per [Success] in the direction that you specify.
7. Flamespeech (Agility Ob 4): Gain complete control over nearby flames: you may cause a fire to grow, shrink, change color, create or suppress smoke, and so forth. You may also detonate the flames to deal 3d damage + 1d per [Success] to all in a melee group/area (Agility save for half damage), although doing so immediately ends the spell. (W&W 14)
8. Phase Change (Discipline Ob 4): With a gentle whisper, you cause elemental spirits to invert their form. Choose a nearby person or object to transform into gaseous, liquid, or solid form (Might Save negates for living creatures). Gaseous forms are coherent, extensible, and weigh only a fraction of their solid weight, but cannot fly or exert strength in the world. Liquid forms may move as usual or flow like water, but are only marginally miscible. Solid forms become firm, stable, and weighty. You may affect mass roughly equal to one human per [Success].
9. Primordial Command (Presence Ob 5): Confront any single mass of elemental material (stone, ice, metal, wood, bone, etc.) with a firm, one-word command, e.g. open, close, shatter, melt, part, etc. As long as it is remotely feasible, frightful spirits immediately carry out the command (Might Save negates for "living" entities).
10. Convention of Storms (Agility Ob 5): Call together or disperse the spirits of cloud and thunder over a wide area. When you summon spirits of the storm, you may call down a spirit of lightning and trap the bolt in a metal implement. The vessel will contain the charge for up to [Successes] hours. When you use the charged vessel as a melee weapon, it deals +1 damage on a hit and has a chance to knock back human-sized targets (Might Save negates). If you release the charge, a long line of lightning or a small burst centered on yourself deals 5d damage + 1d per [Success] (Agility Save for half). (W&W 16)

Psychomancy

In addition to Discipline, Psychomancy spells depend on the sorcerer's Presence and Acuity.

1. Oneiromancy (Presence Ob 2): You enter and manipulate a sleeping target's dreams (Discipline Save negates). Memories, thoughts, and feelings may be planted or erased, and you gain insight into the target's hidden aspirations and anxieties. It is always possible to travel from specific dreams into the Dreamlands.
2. Mind Trap (Discipline Ob 2): Transfer your mind into a talisman (pendent, clothing, jewelry, etc.), leaving your body behind in stasis. You may attempt to possess anyone who wears or touches the talisman (Discipline Save negates). If your new body is slain, make a Save (Acuity Ob 3) to successfully return to your original body. (W&W 21)
3. Bewitch (Presence Ob 3): When you channel this spell, you subtly infuse your speech with supernatural charm and charisma. If the target fails a Presence Save, you may temporarily alter their disposition to one of the following: trusting, infatuated, hostile, boisterous, amorous, or depressed. (W&W 22)
4. Dust of the Sandman (Acuity Ob 3): All creatures in a single melee group/area fall into a deep, natural sleep (Acuity Save negates). (W&W 23)
5. Adrenaline Spike (Acuity Ob 3): Assault another's mind with a brutal psychic attack. The target randomly flees, cowers, or attacks a random nearby target for up to [Successes] Rounds (Discipline Save negates). If you roll zero successes on your Channeling test, the effect is instead turned against you.
6. Fascinating Gaze (Presence Ob 4): Transfix the target of your gaze for as long as you maintain eye contact and don't do anything but speak (Presence Save negates). The target will truthfully answer basic yes or no questions, but will otherwise stand still and relaxed. The effect ends if the target takes damage, is subjected to a loud noise or similar distraction, or is presented with obvious danger (like perceiving its companions being murdered). Afterwards, the target's memory of the incident is foggy. (W&W 24)
7. Hologram (Discipline Ob 4): Create a convincing visual illusion of a person, creature, object, or material (basically, a high-quality hologram). Individuals viewing the hologram recognize that it is unreal with a successful Acuity Save. The illusion lacks sound, smell, and materiality, so people automatically disbelieve the hologram if they interact with it in any of these ways. You may control the hologram's actions while in visual range, or the hologram may be programmed to carry out a repetitive program (including remaining still). Illusions are always additive, never subtractive.
8. Shroud (Agility Ob 4): Mask yourself, a willing creature, or an object that you touch from the consciousness of nearby people, who attempt to treat the veiled thing as if it were not present. The effect does not work on creatures of less than human intelligence, and it is broken if a person is forced to acknowledge the presence of the concealed thing.
9. Puppetry (Presence Ob 5): Stand still and concentrate to psychically enter and control the body of a nearby person for up to a Round per [Success] (Discipline Save negates). If the victim resists, they move like a marionette (-1d penalty to their actions), but take 2d damage. (W&W 22)
10. Dread Manifestation (Acuity Ob 5): Call forth a deep, monstrous fear from the mind of a nearby target. The fear appears real to that person, and it pursues and tormets her relentlessly. The fear appears as a dim phantom to everyone else. When the spell ends, the manifestation (W&W 23):
    • Leaves behind material remains.
    • Manifests fully as an independent creature.
    • Disappears in fog and shattered glass.
    • Persists as a fear doppleganger, reflective of other's fears or nightmares.

Translocation

In addition to Discipline, Translocation spells depend on the sorcerer's Agility and Acuity.

1. Recall and Revisitation (Acuity Ob 2): With a thought, you may summon into your hand an item, good, container, or weapon previously marked with your sigil. Alternatively, you may instantaneously return you and [Successes] touched companions to any location marked clearly by your sigil. Your Recall and Revisitation sigil must be laid under the gaze of the sun. (W&W 32)
2. Spatial Coincidence (Discipline Ob 2): You and up to [Successes] willing companions may occupy the same space as another physical object. While inside, you cannot move, but you perceive your surroundings as if through a dim haze. You and your companions may enter and exit the object for the duration of the spell, but you always exit from the same space where you entered. (W&W 33)
3. Kinetic Freedom (Agility Ob 3): The target moves effortlessly despite any physical impediments, such as when moving through liquid, heavy undergrowth, mud, or quicksand, or when moving on ice, etc. The target can also slip out of any physical bonds or entrapments, and is immune to being pushed, pulled, or otherwise physically manipulated. When the spell ends, the target is paralyzed for several minutes by magical backlash (Might Ob 3 negates).
4. Mirror Road (Acuity Ob 3): Guide your companions into and through the Mirrorlands. Because of nonlinear psychogeography and extradimensional folding, you cover a real-world day's travel in just one hour. Roll encounter checks with denizens of the Mirrorlands as normal for overland travel. If your companions become separated from you, they become hopelessly lost in the reality creases, geospatial sinkholes, and shattered transdimensional reflections that make up the Mirrorlands. (W&W 30)
5. Portal (Discipline Ob 3): Place your sigil on two established doors. By channeling this spell, the two doors are connected into a single magical whole for the duration of the spell. The enchantment ends, however, if the door is closed after having been opened from a sigil-facing side. (The sigils remain.) (W&W 32)
6. Quickening (Agility Ob 4): The person or thing marked with your sigil accelerates its movements and actions: the target's speed is doubled and she gains +1d on kinetic tasks (e.g. physical combat).After the spell ends, a target creature might fall unconscious or a target object might break (Might Ob 3 negates). (W&W 35)
7. Torpor (Agility Ob 4): All creatures within a melee area are stricken with supernatural lethargy (Agility Save negates). Affected creatures move at half their normal speed and otherwise act slower than usual. The spell may also affect mechanical devices, large-scale mechanisms, or other things that engage in progress or change. (W&W 35)
8. Wormhole (Acuity Ob 4): While you concentrate and remain still, you create a wormhole that connects two points in space that you can clearly see. The wormhole is roughly the diameter of a human person. (W&W 29)
9. Dimensional Rift (Agility Ob 5): Smash a sphere of material space, along with everyone inside it, into an analogous place in another dimension, like the Otherworld (Spirit Realm), Plasmic Dimension, or the Fairie. (The sphere is 100 yards in diameter, optionally less 10 yards per [Success] down to 10 yards minimum.) Rifters may exit the sphere into the other dimension. At the end of the duration, anything inside the sphere is smashed back into the material world (or the originating dimension). (W&W 28)
10. Time Skip (Acuity Ob 5): Hurl yourself or someone you touch up to [Successes] minutes into the future (Discipline Save negates for unwilling targets).

3. Mutations

Roll 1d100 whenever something causes you to mutate. All mutations have reasonable narrative effects (negotiated by player and Referee) in addition to any benefits or drawbacks listed on the table.

Mutations are risky! Approximately 1/3rd of the random mutations are more or less beneficial. Approximately 40% are more or less neutral, with a slight tendency toward being useful or interesting. Approximately 1/4th are harmful, and the worst 10% overall are likely (or guaranteed) to be fatal.

• Mutations

4. Relics and Artifacts

Relics and Artifacts are generally unique, and each will have its own rules attached. The Referee will scatter magical treasures throughout dungeons. They may also be used as hooks for Rumors. Some Relics or Artifacts may be cursed, and all can break the rules in various ways. In general, Relics and Artifacts are priceless; they literally cannot be bought, and they can only be sold to the extremely wealthy (like the Crown). Waving them around too ostentatiously can bring status and hangers-on, but also thieves and ne'er-do-wells. Many Relics ultimately end up in the possession of churches or other established, wealthy organizations.

Some artifacts or relics are activated simply by being used. Others are used up, but leave behind a permanent effect, including some Ability-boosting relics. In many cases, however, characters must attune themselves to the plasmic entity that powers the artifact into order to access and control its power. (See the "Attune Artifact" ritual for more information.)

Roll	Random Artifact Subtables
1-2	Weapons
3-4	Armor and Shields
5-7	Relics and Enchanted Items
8-9	Sorcerous Tools
10	Plasmids

Attune Artifact Ritual

Many artifacts require bonding with the user before their esoteric powers may be unlock. After a ritual involving hours of meditation and experimentation (a long rest), the user makes an Ob 3 Discipline test. On a success, the user gains control of the relic's powers and may activate them at will (or otherwise following the rules for the specific artifact). On a failure, the user fails to bond with the artifact, but may try again the following day.

Alternatively, a character may spend a Downtime Action to automatically attune to an artifact.

Communing with an artifact strains a person's attention and energy, so it is trying to be attuned to more than three artifacts at a time. For every attuned artifact or relic in excess of that number, characters must roll -1d on all tests and saves.

Affix Spell Ritual (Create Artifact)

Restricted: Sorcerer

Sorcerers may make a spell effect permanent by binding a plasmic entity that they control into a material anchor. This strenuous ritual can only be taken as a Downtime Action.

To do so, the Sorcerer must first prepare the physical anchor. To do so requires the expenditure of 5 Cybalt and 5 Cash per point of Channeling Obstacle Rating for the spell.

Next, the physical anchor must be conditioned to receive the plasmid. The sorcerer must successfully channel the relevant spell on the anchor every day for three days. The base Channeling Obstacle Rating for the spell may be increased for particularly powerful effects, such as combining many powers into a single artifact, making an artifact "always on," avoiding a chance of breakage or burnout when the item is used, etc.

Finally, at the end of the final day, the sorcerer impresses her capacity to capture the plasmid into the physical anchor. The spell is lost for the day (but may be regained as normal), and the artifact is empowered.

5. Shrines

Shrines are places imbued with magical power. Many grant blessings (or curses) to characters who visit or who engage in special rituals or triggers at the shrine. (More Forthcoming.)

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III. Character Guide

The character-focused rules of the game are divided into four parts: Overview and Character Creation, Experience and Boons, Core (Primary) Classes, and Specialty (Secondary) Classes.

1. Character Management

This section contains general information about the gameplay lifespan of characters, including how to make new characters, how characters improve mechanically through play, and how retirement affects the creation of replacement characters.

Character Creation

Characters are mechanically defined by two sets of rules: Abilities and Classes. Each set of rules is made up of multiple components. (See those sections for more details.)

Character Generation

1. Generate Abilities: Roll for each Natural Ability in order. Set each Ability equal to the average of the sum of 2d6, rounded down.
2. Swap a Pair Abilities: If desired, swap any two Ability scores. If you decline to do so, instead take 2 Cash.
3. Choose a Class: Choose a Core Class.
4. Record Town Statistics: Your Wealth starts at zero. Your Circles score starts at +0d. Your Lifestyle begins at destitute.
5. Record Equipment: Record your equipment on the Inventory portion of your character sheet. Each character possesses the full list of Common Starting Equipment. Next, roll for random equipment on the Miscellaneous Equipment Lists. Finally, choose equipment from the relevant Class Equipment List. Finish by choosing your Basic Weapon (from the Common Starting Equipment list).
6. Record Hit Points: Begin with six (6) points of Toughness (HP). You may receive additional HP from Boons.
7. Boons: Select two Boons. You may always select boons from the generic (Adventurer) list or from your class's list.

During character creation or at any time during play, you may declare your Former Career or Origin. Your Former Career is whatever occupation your character undertook before taking up adventuring. Your starting Origin is likely one of the major regions/cultures of the world: Umiyid, Veniz, Lyriamos, or the Pearl Islands. Once established, these details may be built upon, but not changed.

Likewise, a new character's Wises may be declared during creation, or saved for later definition during play. Most characters will start with one or two Wises based on their background. It is recommended to refrain from defining Wises in advance.

Character Stables

Each player is permitted (and encouraged!) to build a Character Stable, a collection of characters from which to draw upon each session. At the beginning of each session, players decide on an agenda for the session, and then choose one character from their stable to activate (play) for the session. The other characters in the stable are considered to be occupied doing something else, like adventuring elsewhere, doing downtime activities, etc. At the end of the session, the activated character receives a Boon.

At the beginning of any session, character(s) from the stable may be retired.

Class Resources

Each Class has access to a special Class Resource (CR) that can be used to fuel various class features. Characters may normally spend only one of each type of Class Resource on a given activity unless noted otherwise (usually by, "Spend an additional CR to...").

Experience and Boons

Characters begin with two Boons, special characteristics developed through their training and experience as adventurers.

After you return from a successful expedition, your current character gains one Boon. Boons may always be chosen from the generic Adventurer list, from your Core Class list (Explorer, Warrior, Leader, or Sorcerer), and from any Advanced Class list(s) that you have unlocked. Pragmatically, this means that all players gain one Boon per game session for their current, activated character. If your character dies at the end fo the session, grant the Boon to the newly rolled replacement character.

Please note: Boons cannot be reassigned to other characters in your character stable—the only way to gain a Boon for existing characters is to activate them and bring them into danger.

When you choose Improve an Ability from the generic (Adventurer) list, follow this procedure: Pick one Ability that you'd like to improve. As during character creation, sum 2d6, divide by two, and round down; if the result is higher than your current base score (ignoring the benefit from any non-permanent enhancements, e.g. from relics or artifacts), permanently increase the Ability by one point. If you fail to improve that Ability, choose another Ability to try. Continue until you've improved one Ability, or else until you've attempted but failed to improve all six. If you fail all six, start over again.

The Feedback Trifecta: Boons, Treasure, Achievements

Aside from accumulating Boons, there are other (even more important) means of gaining power, both within the fiction and mechanically:

• To increase your dice pools, earn Boons and recover artifacts.
• To unlock additional mechanical options for your character, recover artifacts or earn Boons.
• To increase your resources and become rich, recover treasure and invest it in Wealth.
• To obtain more allies, make more Circles checks.
• To obtain better allies, invest money in building connections (i.e. improving Circles) and build Reputation with different Factions.
• To unlock additional aspects of play, explore new areas and invest in Strongholds.

Retirement

At the beginning of any session, you may retire an existing character from your stable. Retired characters live on as non-player characters with influence commensurate with their fictional development, and with access to resources as indicated by their Wealth score at the time of retirement. (Wealth and number of Boons are thus the two scoring mechanics for retired characters.) Retired characters may provide hooks or in-fiction assistance to current characters.

When you retire a character, your next new character gains the following benefits:

• Your new character benefits from the experience and mentorship of the retiring character: the new character gains +1 to a different Ability (of your choice) for each complete set of five Boons that the retiring character possesses, up to a maximum of +1 to all Abilities at 25 Boons.
• The retiring character transfers an ownership stake in her businesses and investments to the new character: the new character gains one rank in Wealth for every three full ranks of the retiree's Wealth score.

In addition, if your retiring character has a strong connection, association, or alliance with one Faction of their choice, they may use their connections, influence, and reputation to advance the Company's Reputation with that Faction. Roll 1d6 and add one point for every full set of five Boons earned by the retiring character; if the result is greater than your Reputation with that Faction, increase your Reputation with that Faction by one point.

Existing characters never receive benefits from other characters' retirement; the benefits only apply to the new character rolled to replace the retiring character.

2. Core Classes

Players may choose from four core archetypes when creating a new character. Each of these classes encompasses a wide variety of different character concepts.

• Core Class Boons

Explorer

Play an Explorer if you want a well-rounded, highly survivable character who can specialize in wilderness exploration, dungeon delving, scouting, skirmishing, or pushing their luck and succeeding.

Class Resource: Luck

Quick Starting Package:

• Starting Boons: "Gain +1 Luck" and either "Superior Senses" or "Disappear"
• Class Equipment: Crossbow/Blunderbuss; Case of Bolts/Cartridge Box; Pack Mule or a Trained Hound; Chain Shirt (Block 2); 60' Strong Silk Rope

Warrior

Play a Warrior if you want to shine in any form of physical combat, from archery to mounted combat to the scrum of melee to advanced strategy and tactics.

Class Resource: Steel

Quick Starting Package:

• Starting Boons: "Roll +1d on Physical Combat Checks" and "Gain +2 Maximum HP."
• Class Equipment: Sword or Spear; Shield (Block 2); Warhorse; Segmented Body Armor (Block 4).

Leader

Play a Leader if you want to marshal a group of followers in battle or if you want to excel in social, political, or criminal situations.

Class Resource: Guile

Quick Starting Package:

• Starting Boons: "Gang Leader" twice or "Roll +1d in Social Situations" and "Silver Tongue"
• Class Equipment: Embroidered Gambeson (Block 2); Set of Four Exquisite Daggers; Letter of Introduction from a Prominent Local Aristocrat; Sack of Contraband (worth 2d4 Cash, if you can sell it)

Sorcerer

Play a Sorcerer if you want to channel powerful spells to manipulate reality, blast your foes with arcane power, or delve into the mysteries and danger of other dimensions.

Class Resource: Control

Quick Starting Package:

• Starting Boons: "Gain 2 Random Spells and +2 Control" and either "Fel Blast (Single Target) and Gain +1 Control" or "Gain 2 Spells and +2 Control" (again)
• Class Equipment: Intricate Staff; Chest of Arcane Tools; Vials of Antitoxins (16+); Pouch of Psychoactive Drugs (11+).

3. Specialty Classes

By establishing a relevant background or status or by achieving an exploit in the fiction, you may unlock a Specialty Class. There should be some fictional antecedent for the choice, though unlocking the class might also emphasize or further develop that nascent theme.

Once you've qualified for a Specialty Class, you may take Boons from that class's boon list whenever you gain a Boon.

The duration of any activated Feats function as per spells. Similarly, any Feats that require a Save require a contested test.

• Specialty Class Boons

Generalist Classes

• Crafty: Those who use Subterfuge to manipulate and misdirect or who turn to criminal methods to solve problems.
• Devout: Those who use Faith to solicit blessings and smite their wicked foes.
• Mutant: Those who accelerate along the path of mutation and body-enhancement.
• Outlander: Those who travel from far away and are renowned for raw Ferocity in combat.
• Scholarly: Those who rely on study and Erudition to face problems with the light of knowledge.
• Wilderness: Those who make trackless wilds their home and feral creatures their companions.

Extradimensionalist Classes

• Death-Touched: Those who have faced death's Shroud and been changed by it forever.
• Demon-Touched: ??? [NOT YET UNLOCKED]
• Fey-Touched: Those warped by the Wyld powers of Fairie.
• Shadow-Touched: Those who have been marked by the Veil of the Shadow itself.
• Spirit-Touched: Those who have formed a bond with the Essence of the Otherworld and the spirits who inhabit it.

4. Equipment

This section describes player's Inventory, an important subsystem for exploration, as well as rules covering how to purchase goods and services (with cost guidelines).

Inventory Slots

A simple slot system is used to track the gear and other items that characters will quickly acquire. In general, each item of narrative importance, regardless of its specific weight or use, occupies a single Inventory Slot. By default, characters have eleven Inventory Slots with which to carry gear.

Fast Inventory (3 Slots)

Each character begins with three Slots in which to place items that are always readily at hand. Such items are usually considered to be held, worn on a belt, secured in an exterior pocket, slung over the back, or the like. Importantly, these Slots are normally immediately available in combat, so weapons and shields are frequently placed in these Slots, along with items for urgent use like antitoxins.

It is important to note that a ranged weapon's ammunition (e.g. box of bullets, quiver, etc.) does not need to be held in a Fast Slot; as long as the ammunition is held in a normal Slot, the character may use the matching ranged weapon without issue.

Normal Inventory (8 Slots)

Each character begins with eight Slots of carried or worn gear. These items are assumed to be worn, strapped to your body, carried in a backpack or pouch, etc. The items are accessible during an expedition, but not immediately: it takes your action during combat to retrieve an item from your pack/gear.

Camp/Town Inventory

As characters assumulate gear and monster parts, they will soon possess more items than they can carry in Slots. Thus, it is crucial that players mark all gear that their character habitually (or currently, if dungeon delving) leaves in camp, including that held by porters. Likewise, players must indicate what gear is stored in a Town or a Stronghold, as well as the location of the place.

Hirelings, Followers, and Pack Animals

Other gear may be carried by Hirelings, Followers, or Pack Animals. Porters and other human hirelings/Followers may each carry three Slots of gear. (As with protagonist characters' basic gear, supporting characters' basic gear isn't tracked separately.)

Pack animals may carry six Slots (or a rider with her gear). Small Carts like barrows and dog-drawn travois may transport three Slots, while Large Carts like wagons or horse-drawn travois may transport six Slots each.

Inventory: Special Cases

Common/Basic Equipment

Gear from the Common Starting Equipment list do not take up any Slots, but rather count as "free" gear that all characters are assumed to carry and to repair or replace when necessary. The two exceptions are Torches, which must be placed in a normal Inventory Slot, and the Basic Weapon, which may be placed in any free Slot as desired.

Ammunition

To use a ranged weapon, characters must also be carrying the appropriate type of ammunition in a normal Inventory Slot (e.g. a longbow requires a quiver in another Slot; a pistol requires a cartridge box; etc.).

Cumbersome Items (Multiple Slots)

Large, bulky, cumbersome, heavy, or similar items may occupy multiple Inventory Slots. The Referee and players will come to a consensus about specific, unusual items. As a rule of thumb, items will take up an additional Slot if they are either especially heavy or bulky.

Depletion of Consumable Items

Rather than counting specific numbers of items within a "package" of items—like how many torches a character has left—the game instead uses an abstract system to track Depletion.

After using an expendable or consumable piece of gear, players must roll a Depletion Check. Each item that is subject to Depletion is listed with a Depletion score from 1-20, e.g. "Torches (15+)." After using an expendible item in a scene, no matter how many times it was used during that scene, roll a d20: if the result is equal to or higher than the Depletion score, that item has exactly one use remaining before it is completely expended or broken. (That is, the next Depletion Check is not rolled and the item is depleted at that point.)

In some cases, players will not just use part of a bundle, but will instead completely use up a package of gear. In that case, do not make a Depletion Roll. Instead, simply erase the item completely.

Equipment Lists

These lists include all those used during character creation: the Common Starting Equipment List, the lists of random Miscellaneous Equipment and Hirelings that are rolled for each new character, and the lists of Class Equipment from which players make picks during character creation.

• Equipment Lists

Buying and Selling

Costs for Goods and Services

This list provides Cost guidelines for various goods and services.

Cost	Goods/Services
1	Basic Expendable (e.g. torches, lantern oil, rations, arrows, bullets, iron spikes) Simple Weapon (club, sling, etc.) Household Good Bed and a Warm Meal
2	Quality Expendable (e.g. military-grade oil, gunpowder) Basic Tool (e.g. hammer) Small Animal (chicken, cat)
3	Quality Tool (e.g. crowbar, lantern) Crude Weapon (spear, shield, bow) Medium Animal (dog) Small Livestock (sheep, goat, pig) Porter (2d, 2 HP) Cheap, Local Passage/Travel (+1 Cost per several persons) Regional Parcel/Delivery
4	Specialty Tool (e.g. alembic) Quality Weapon (sword, battleax, polearm, firearm) Shoddy Light Armor Pack Animal (horse, camel, mule) Large Livestock (cow, ox, buffalo) Horse-Drawn Cart Simple Rowboat Torchbearer/Shieldbearer (4d, 2 HP) Regional Passage/Travel (+1 Tier per several persons) Long-Distance Parcel/Delivery
5	Quality Light Armor Hut, Hovel, or Tenement Unit Mercenary (4d, 4 HP) Long-distance Passage/Travel (+1 Tier per several persons)
6	Ceremonial/Heirloom Weapon Heavy Armor Warhorse Cabin or Apartment Expert Craftsman/Professional (5d, 3 HP) or Veteran Mercenary (5d, 5 HP)
7	Small Sailing Vessel Modest House Rural Shrine
8	Seasoned Adventurer (6d, 6 HP) Sorcerous Adept (6d, 4 HP): 2 Control, may channel two spells from the same family Exotic Mount (riding lizard, giant bird)
9	Exotic Warbeast (e.g. elephant, rhino) Urban Shrine
10	Large Building (inn, warehouse) Large Sailing Ship
14	Small Complex/Estate and Land Private Security Company
18	Fortified Manor House or Tower Small Militia
24	Professional Mercenary Company (dozens of soldiers)
30	Small (Baronal) Castle/Fort
42	Large (Royal) Castle/Palace Standing Professional Army (hundreds of soldiers and support staff)

Buying

To purchase a good or service, the character must pass a Cash test whose Obstacle Rating is equal to the Cost of the relevant thing minus the character's Wealth score. Unlike Abilities, the Cash score enumerates a pool of expendable dice, any number of which may be wagered on the purchasing test. Any Cash dice that are wagered on a purchase roll are lost, regardless of the outcome of the roll.

For example, if your Wealth rating is 4 and you would like to purchase a Cost 6 service, you must succeed against an Obstacle 2 Cash test, which requires wagering four Cash dice on average (but you may expend any number of Cash to assemble your dice pool, up to your current total number of Cash dice).

If any item is discounted to Cost 0 after accounting for a character's wealth, that item may be purchased for the flat cost of a single Cash die (no wager or roll is required).

The Referee may rule that scarcity causes goods or services to be more expensive (usually Cost +1), especially in rural areas, during shortages or periods of conflict, or at other times when goods or services may be scarce.

Selling

If a good has a Cost lower than a character's Wealth score, that good cannot be sold for a significant amount of Cash. (The profits count as pocket change at that degree of Wealth). If a good has a higher Cost than a character's Wealth, subtract your Wealth score from the Cost and roll that number of dice; successes generate a point of Cash (analogous to an Income roll).

5. Followers, Hirelings, and Animal Companions

Non-Player Characters (NPCs) fall into three general classes, each of which uses the same underlying mechanics. NPCs have only three notable mechanics: Role, Pool, and Hit Points.

When NPCs make a test or save, they roll a number of dice equal to their Pool (e.g. 4d). The Referee will generally provide a Bonus or Penalty die on these rolls to help differentiate the things that such an NPC would likely do well or poorly. This determination is aided by the character's Role, which is a short descriptive tag that indicates their profession, expertise, function, personality, or similar.

Examples of Roles: Expert Survivalist, Skulldugger, Man at Arms, Carpenter, Librarian, Burgler, Nobleman.

Non-player characters have Toughness (Hit Points) as indicated. If an NPC's HP drop to zero, they are immediately out of action.

Followers

Followers are loyal companions of a character. They are not generally subject to Morale Checks, and they accompany a character for an open-ended period of time, though they might occasionally expect rewards for their service. Players control Followers' actions (e.g. in combat), though the Referee may occasionally suggest alternatives. The Referee will roleplay Followers' personalities as necessary.

If a Feat grants a Follower, it really grants a "rechargeable" Follower slot. If a specific Follower dies, another may be recruited, but is not able to join the expedition until the beginning of the session following the loss. Followers can also be gained through fictional play/the narrative, but these Followers are lost if they die or depart. (Players are not entitled to a replacement for Followers gained through the fiction.)

Animals, Animal Companions, and Familiars

Mundane animals and beasts can be bought. Untrained beasts act at the Referee's whim. Trained beasts follow players' commands to the best of their ability until they fail a Morale Check.

Animal Companions are a special term for animal Followers. They use the Follower rules above.

Familiars are Followers, but may also possess special intelligence or, potentially, other supernatural abilities.

Hirelings

Hirelings are hired by players (with Wealth and Cash) to complete a specific task, usually exploration of a site, manual labor, crafting, or similar services. Hirelings must make morale checks like monsters and other creatures, and they may need persuasion to do jobs outside of their expertise (or expected working conditions). The Referee is responsible for roleplaying NPCs.

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IV. Referee Guide

This guide addresses the Referee's rules and mechanics. It describes the general phases of play, the procedures that govern each phase, lists ("Factors") for calculating Obstacle Ratings, rules for monsters and other adversaries, and guidelines about treasure.

1. The Phases of Play

Each game session follows the same progression of phases, each with their own procedures. First, there is a brief Planning Phase. Then, a Town/Camp Phase lasts as long as necessary to complete related activities. In many sessions, this phase is short—perhaps only a few minutes or tens of minutes—but it occasionally requires more time, especially when plans are being hatched or logistical issues need to be resolved. As players begin to found strongholds, businesses, and other social institutions, this phase takes on increased importance. Third, the majority of the session is occupied with the Expedition Phase, during which players adventure. (Note that the Expedition Phase can occur in town, e.g. with an urban adventure, or else may be based around player agendas related to social machinations or issues with a business, institution, relationship, etc.) Finally, there is a very brief End of Session Phase.

Each Phase is briefly described in this section. The following section describes the procedures specific to the most involved phase and the one in which most play occurs: the Expedition Phase.

Planning Phase

As a group, the players decide where to go/what agenda to pursue during the session. Each player activates one character from their stable.

Town/Camp Phase

When the players start in camp or town, they may undertake typical Downtime Activities, such as Circles or Wealth-based activities, pursuing their independent agendas, or arranging to take on a job (start a hook). Abstract these activities to simple Ability tests when possible, and play through scenes in more detail only when it adds substantially to the fiction, e.g. when establishing a new hook or setting a scheme in motion.

In addition, if an activated character has any ranks in Businesses, check to see how many Cash they generate. Players may also wager Cash in order to gain new ranks in any Town Ability, though each Town Ability may be tested once per session.

Expedition Phase

The remainder of the session is spent following the Expedition Phase rules, which govern e.g. the passage of time, random encounters and wandering monster checks, inventory management, ability tests, combat, etc.

End of Session Phase

Players end the session by returning to town or by making camp in a safe, secure location. If they do not return to a safe haven before the end of the session, each player must roll on the Desperate Returns Table. A player's active character gains one Boon at the end of every session.

Before concluding the session, players must divide the treasure and gear that they found during the session between the present characters. Finally, each surviving character (even those who entered halfway through the session) mark one successful expedition on their activated character's character sheet.

2. Town Phase Procedures

In addition to the mechanics from the Player's Guide, the Referee uses the following procedures during the Town Phase.

Downtime Activities

During the Town Phase, play proceeds at an abstract level. When rolling is necessary, resolve actions with a single test. Roleplaying should be reserved for interparty drama and Circles checks only. During Town Phase, characters may purchase goods, roll their Businesses, and make Circles checks. In general, players may also make one Downtime Action per Town Phase.

Some Downtime Actions advance a longer-term project. Such projects are measured by Project Clocks, an abstract indicator of completion. (Players are encouraged to make small pie charts with the appropriate number of wedges, and to fill in a wedge each time that a project advances.) The Referee will tell players how many "ticks" each project requires, with 4-6 normal for more modest projects and 8-10 normal for serious, involved projects. Each session that a character dedicates time to a project, she may fill in one "tick" until the project is complete.

Circles

Players may make one or more Circles checks during the Town Phase. Unless the ask or target is extremely rare or elusive, calling for a Circles check does not count as the character's Downtime Action.

Carousing/Socializing

When players habitually narrate how they carouse or socialize with particular groups or strata of society, they are generally entitled to roll +1d on tests that might benefit from their exposure to those groups. (Rather than rolling a bonus die on Circles checks, however, the Obstacle Rating will instead be lower—see those rules for more details.) The Referee is also encouraged to present hooks, rumors, and potential jobs related to characters' carousing or socializing.

Research and Training

When players habitually narrate how they train or conduct general research, they may be entitled to roll +1d on relevant checks, but only of limited provenance (not +1d on all Combat Checks, for instance, but rather on e.g. history of religions or trapping). In other cases, they may fictionally qualify for an Advanced Class (e.g. Scholarly or Wilderness). As with carousing, Research and Training may present an opportunity for related hooks, rumors, and potential jobs. If a character researches a specific question, the Referee should set a cost in time, money, or effort. If the player seeks out a knowledgeable source, instead call for a Circles test.

Teaching/Learning Spells

To determine the project clock for learning a spell, multiply the spell's Channeling Obstacle Rating by two. Both the teacher and the learner must take this Downtime Action for the learner to advance the project by a tick.

Attune to Artifact

As a Downtime Action, a character may automatically attune to an artifact.

Other Actions

In development.

3. Expedition Phase Procedures

In addition to the mechanics from the Player's Guide, the Referee uses the following procedures during the Expedition Phase.

Timekeeping: Rounds and Turns

As described above, combat occurs in Rounds. A Round is a somewhat flexible amount of time, but for the sake of expediency we treat each Round as lasting for one minute. Both overland and dungeon exploration, on the other hand, occurs in (Exploration) Turns, which are likewise a flexible amount of time, but are treated as roughly ten minutes. The two terms are used in this technical sense throughout the rules. In addition, the rules refer to a "session" to mean one actual gameplay meeting.

Random Encounter Checks

Random Encounter Checks, also called "Wandering Monster Rolls" when in a dungeon setting, must be rolled when the party travels through the wilderness or in a dungeon. There are different check frequencies for overland/wilderness travel and for different dungeons. This section lays out the general principles for judging appropriate frequencies.

Encounter Check Mechanics

As often as is called for by the procedures of the area, make a Random Encounter Check by rolling a single die (d12):

• 1-2: There is an encounter. Make the indicated die roll on the Encounter Table created by the Referee or provided within a module or other product.
• 3: There is a a Sign or Sighting. Roll on the relevant Encounter Table to determine who/what has been sighted. The sign or sighting may include tracks, a lair, detrius, etc. In any case, it provides a clue to the players about what they might face. In many cases, a future "encounter" result will automatically reincorporate the entity that made the sign, rather than leading to a roll on the Encounter Table.
• 4-12: there is no encounter or event.

Encounter Check Frequency

In general, an Overland Turn is a day of wilderness travel (~10 hours on the move). Normally, Random Encounter Checks ought to be made once per Overland Turn. (Travel by boat, or in a very safe place, might only call for half or fewer Random Encounter Checks.)

When exploring any adventuring site (a "dungeon"), an Exploration Turn covers roughly 10 minutes, which should be used as a common, default length of time by which to count the duration of any tasks. That is, dungeon actions are usually measured in a number of Exploration Turns, and most standard dungeon exploration actions (like searching a typical room) will take one Exploration Turn.

Different dungeons may have different Random Encounter Check rates. In general, populous dungeons check once per Exploration Turn, depopulated (average density) dungeons check once every other Turn, and empty dungeons check every third turn. Expendable items—e.g. torches in a dungeon—should be subject to a Usage Die check every other Exploration Turn.

Difficulty Guidelines for Encounter Tables by Area

When creating Encounter Tables, it is often helpful to classify the general difficulty of an area, a level of the dungeon, an overland region, etc. The following five categories are used throughout these rules as a guideline, for example to help align the amount of treasure that might be found in a horde in the an area, as well as to help the Referee maintain a reasonable, consistent level of difficulty throughout the area. As always, exceptions should be made as the fiction demands!

• Easy Areas: Average encounters with L1 creatures (normal range: L0-2).
• Moderate Areas: Average encounters with L3 creatures (L1-5).
• Hard Areas: Average encounters with L5 creatures (L3-7).
• Very Hard Areas: Average encounters with L7 creatures (L5-10).
• Fiendishly Difficult Areas: Average encounters with L9 creatures (L7-14).

Number of Monsters Appearing

Encounter Tables are constructed with a "number appearing" tag that signals how many adversaries the Referee should introduce. To maintain an even degree of challenge for different group sizes, this number varies based on the number of players, rather than being a static dice expression or fixed number.

• [Singular Name] or a Pair: As listed. This amount is common for the most difficult enemies, including mythical beasts.
• Several: Equal to half the number of players ±1
• [Normal Plural Name]: Equal to the number of players ±1
• Many: Equal to one and half times the number of players ±1
• Tons of: Equal to 3-5 times the number of players

Encounter Distance

Occasionally, a monster concept will suggest an encounter distance. Sand Worms often attack from a burrowed ambush, for example, while Giant Buzzards are likely to first be seen circling high overhead. Whenever the encounter distance is ambiguous, however, the Referee may roll a single standard die to establish the relative distance at which an encounter occurs. On a one, the enemy is extremely close, perhaps even immediately underfoot. (An Acuity Test may be called for to avoid surprise.) A six is very far away, like over the next hill or in the next room with the door closed or near the horizon. The Referee can interpret intermediate results relative to these two poles and to the physical geography of the encounter space.

Reaction Rolls

Whenever a prepared dungeon/module/encounter does not list an intelligent creatures' initial disposition, or when a Random Encounter result signifies that the party encounters another group of intelligent creatures, make a Reaction Roll to determine the initial attitude of the other party. A Reaction Roll is a simple ten-sided die roll:

• 1-3: Aggressive
• 4-9: Cautious
• 10: Friendly

Morale Checks

Whenever there are questions about an adversary's motivation to continue fighting or to go into danger, the Referee uses Morale Checks to determine the opponent's likehood to continue fighting (as opposed to fleeing or surrendering). In general, mindless enemies or those immune to fear will fight to the death—undead are scary!

Morale checks are made a critical combat junctures. A morale check is normally made for a single combatant, for example, when they first take damage and when they drop below 1/3 Health. For a group, moral checks are usually made when the first creature goes down, and when half of the total number on one's side are incapitated or killed. (Groups make shared morale checks.) Morale checks are also often appropriate when a person/side is surprised and ambushed, when one side's leader is killed or otherwise taken out of action, or when the opposing side has an overwhelming combat advantage, such as the ability to deny the creature from dealing damage entirely.

Legendary creatures are not subject to morale checks.

To make a Morale Check, the Referee rolls a single polyhedral die based on the creature's discipline, bravery, and willingness to fight. In most cases, a d8 will be rolled. Particularly timid, cowardly, cautious, undisciplined, or pacifistic creatures instead roll d6, while particularly militant, disciplined, savage, or ruthless creatures roll d10. Add +1 to the result of the die roll if the enemy acts with a substantial combat advantage (e.g. in numbers, positioning, tactics, technology, supernatural abilities over one's foes, or other forms of perceived asymmetry of power). Subtract -1 from the result if the enemy acts with a substantial combat disadvantage or if the group's leader has just been killed, captured, or incapacitated.

On a result of five or higher (5+), the enemy continues to fight. Otherwise, they withdraw, surrender, cower, or otherwise refuse to act.

Desperate Returns

If the players fail to return to town or make camp in a safe, secure location, each player must roll a d6 on the following table to abstract their losses as they beat a hasty retreat:

1. Lose a random artifact (if none, lose a random mundane item, as below).
2. Lose a random item from your Fast Inventory slots (if not possible, from Carried/Worn Inventory).
3. Lose half of your Cash and Cash-equivalent Treasure.
4. Lose 2 maximum HP.
5. Lose one point from a random Natural Ability.
6. Die, messily and in great pain.

4. Obstacle Factors

To set an Obstacle Rating (Ob), the Referee will count one for each relevant category. (Determining which categories are relevant to a given task is as much art as a science.) Some categories will be used as Factors for most tests, while others will only be used when they are particularly relevant. A Factor in (parenthenses) counts as zero, i.e. counts as the baseline assumption for the task—count the first non-parenthetical Factor as +1 Ob, the second as +2 Ob, and so forth.

General Factors

These Factors are general categories that apply to all tests and saves. In general, most tests will have a target Obstacle Rating of 3-4. A lower Ob is achieveable in most cases; a higher Ob is challenging even for prepared characters.

• Complexity (Base Ob): low, moderate, high
• Pressure: (none), some, substantial
• Lighting: (good), dim, dark
• Time: (normal), rushed, breakneck
• Tools/Preparation: (adequate), inadequate
• Health: (unimpaired), a relevant serious injury

Circles Test Factors

Circles tests are a special case, and use the following Factors. Circles Factors should always be counted and shared transparently before a player commits to the test. Circles tests have a wider range of Obstacle Ratings than other tests; it is not uncommon to see tests ranging from Ob 1 to Ob 8.

To calculate the Obstacle Rating for a Circles test, begin with a Base Ob of 0 and then increase or decrease the Obstacle Rating according to the following Factors:

• Role/Profession/Identity: uncommon +1, rare +2, unique +3
• Degree of Connection: similar circles +1, not much connection +2, very different circles +3
• Aggravating Factors (+1 Ob each): hostile, in a small town/settlement, in the wilderness, in hiding
• Mitigating Factors (-1 Ob each): sincere ally or former PC, known general location, also reaching out to character at the same time

Channeling Test Factors

As discussed in the spellcasting rules,, the following Factors must be added to the base Obstacle Ratings for spells when rolling Channeling tests.

• Damage Taken While Channeling: +1 Ob per point of damage taken while channeling
• Armor: +1 cumulative Ob from each Inventory Slot occupied by Armor and/or a Shield: Light Armor (+1 Ob), Heavy Armor (+2 Ob), Shield (+1 Ob)

Contested Tests

Many tasks, of course, will be Contested Tests rather than Independent or Extended Tests that require an Obstacle Rating set by using relevant Factors. The following common activities, for example, are best resolved as Contested Tests:

• Perceive Danger: Acuity vs Acuity (mutual surprise) or Agility (ambush) or Discipline (situation of panic or disorder)
• Sneak Quietly: Agility vs Acuity
• Create Forgery: Acuity vs Acuity
• Pickpocket: Agility vs Acuity
• Interrogate: Presence vs Discipline

In principle, any action where two people are working at opposite purposes, even asynchronously, ought to be resolved as a Contested rather than an Independent Test.

5. Monsters and Other Adversaries

This section outlines the major components of monster design and statistics. The Bestiary of monsters and other foes, however, is kept privately by the Referee.

Core Stats

Level
Level measures the basic strength of a monster. Monsters generally roll a Pool of dice equal to Level plus 3. Their pool gains a bonus die for strengths, and a penalty die for weaknesses.

Toughness
Monsters have a Toughness score, which is their number of Hit Points (HP). The baseline formula for a monster's Toughness is (2*Level)+2 HP. Elite monsters have 50% more HP, while Legendary monsters have 100% more HP.

Save
Monsters have a Save score, which is the Obstacle Rating for player characters to resist their Moves. A monster's Save is equal to half of the monster's Level plus one, rounded up.

Moves

Adversaries may possess up to several Moves. A move is a special effect may occur as a standalone action, activate as part of other actions (including attacking), or be triggered by other conditions (like being hit, the characters taking certain actions, it being the end of the round, or any other conceivable fictional trigger).

Attack Options

As a standalone attack, a move often automatically deals a set number of dice in damage (e.g. 4d), counting successes as usual. Otherwise, it may impose a status effect. In either case, the move will almost always allow a listed Save for half damage (rounded up, as usual) or to avoid the effect. An example is dragon breath.

Attack moves may take different forms, like a strike, blast, line, aura, etc. Such moves are usually used either once per round (in addition to a normal attack) or once per encounter (e.g. upon engagement/being seen, at death, etc.) rather than replacing a normal attack. Diversity is the rule, however!

Special Damage

Special Damage is an additional effect that accompanies an attack.

In many cases, special damage automatically accompanies a successful attack (i.e. one that deals damage with a positive Margin of Success, but not a tie). The most basic examples transform the type of damage dealt or increase the amount of damage done.

Examples:
Spectral Claws (+2s damage).
Poisonous Bite (+4d poison damage).

Frequently, however, special damage is not automatic, but rather allows a Save to avoid the effect or for half damage. These effects are notated in two parts: first, the possible damage or status effect, and second, the type of Test and Obstacle Rating for the Save.

Examples:
Mind Spike (+4d damage, Discipline Ob 4 avoids).
Toxic Spores (-1d ongoing, Might Ob 3 ends).
Vampiric Blow (Drains 1 HP, Agility Ob 3 avoids).

A common form of special damage encompasses status effects. Statuses include paralyzed, blinded, slowed, stunned, knocked back, afraid, etc. An attack almost always allows a listed Save to avoid the effect of a status effect, or occasionally to shorten its duration. Such Saves may sometimes be repeated in future Rounds to end an ongoing effect. Status effects may or may not accompany damage.

Example: Claws (Paralysis, Might Ob 4 avoids).

Random Trap Tables

6. Treasure

Coins, Jewelry, Art, Commodities, Rarities, Antiquities, and All Manner of Lost Treasure

Rule of Thumb Table for Caches

Cash	Difficulty	Example Dangers
10 (8‑12)	Minor	Kobold Clan, Bandit Camp, Troll Tribe
20 (16‑24)	Moderate	Noble's Entourage, Wealthy Merchant's Caravan, Infamous Pirate Captain's Cache, Aristocratic Tomb
40 (35‑45)	Major	Knight's Holdfast, Regional Bank, Vampire's Collection, Major Demon Cult
80 (70‑90)	Headliner	Baronal Treasury, Giant Warlord's Hall, Mature Dragon's Horde
160 (140‑180)	Fiendish	Royal Cash Vault, Lich's Laboratory, Greater Demon Spawning Pit, Elder Dragon's Horde

Treasure Hordes: Caches of treasure are measured in a number of Cash dice, which players can divvy up however they'd like between members of the expedition. The Referee will prepare a Cash value for each treasure horde in his or her notes. Generally, caches guarded by more dangerous enemies are more valuable, as are caches on deeper dungeon levels.

Other Treasure: Single items, like a gemstone statuette, bag of precious stones, rare painting, or inlaid comb, will be rated in a number of Cash dice and will take up one Slot of inventory. Commodities are measured in Cash dice—like "Silks (3 Cash)". Commodities generally take up one Inventory Slot per 1-3 Cash dice.

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V. Authorship Notice

This reference document was written in MacDown, a MarkDown editor.
The document is copyright Stephen Parkin, 2017-20.

Inspirations

This particular game design is especially indebted to:

• Dungeons and Dragons in all its editions, for obvious reasons!
• Burning Wheel's core dice pool mechanics, themselves inspired by many earlier games, e.g. Shadowrun.
• Wonder and Wickedness, one of the best books from the OSR.
• The Black Hack, which stokes my yearning for a minimalist, Ability-check focused OD&D, and Into the Odd, a notable inspiration into how I handle relics/artifacts, and for its fast, whiff-less combat mechanics.
• Apocalypse World and Dungeon World, not only for playbooks, moves, and advances, but also for helping me learn to be a better GM.
• Mouse Guard and Torchbearer, for a consummate instantiation of Circles, Resources, and Obstacle Factors, not to mention the core dice pool mechanic.
• Lady Blackbird and The Shadow of Yesterday, in ways direct and indirect.
• Classic Traveller, a classic old school game, especially for influencing the scale of Natural Abilities and Miller's freeform/sandboxy approach to scenario design.
• Hundreds of discussions at Story-Games.com and posts across the OSR Blog-o-sphere.