The Central Oregon Expeditionary Adventuring Company

A living document recording the current practices of my old school-style sandbox fantasy adventure game. A digest of fuller rules designed for shorter-term, less complex play (especially suited for low-complexity gaming situations, such as online play).

Table of Contents

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I. Core Rules

1. Introduction: 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 Objective (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 Objective (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 Objective (Ob)—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 Objective, 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 Objective 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. Extended tests should never be used when a simple test will suffice.

Common Objectives

The Referee uses Factors to set Objectives. These Factors will be shared transparently with the players. Here is a rule of thumb table for assigning Objective scores:

Objective	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). A bonus or penalty die should be incorporated for each substantial advantage or disadvantage, though most tasks rarely incorporate mre than three Bonus or Penalty Dice, and in most cases just one die is more than sufficient.

Helping and Teamwork

When your allies provide substantive help, they hand you an additional Helping die to roll. All involved 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, Spells, 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.)

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. If you must divide a damage result in half (e.g. because of a successful Save), first add any additional successes (+1s benefits) to the result of the rolled damage dice.

Setting Objectives for Saves

Your spells or other powers may call for the target(s) to make a Save with a particular Ability. When they do, the Objective 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 Objective for any Saves required by monster powers or spells (they 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 around 20-40 seconds of time. All actions taken during a Round are considered to occur more or less simultaneously.

Surprise and Initiative

In many cases, both sides of a conflict will be aware of the other before open hostilities break out. In that case, whichever side acts more decisively (in the fiction) controls the tempo of the fight by declaring their actions first.

If one side attempts to ambush the other, the reactive side is entitled to an Acuity Save to recognize the danger. If that Save is failed, then the ambushers gain a free Round (they may act without the defenders themselves having an opportunity to act). Normally whoever is scouting, on point, best positioned to notice the ambush, or otherwise "in charge" makes the Acuity Save for the group as a whole.

Action Declarations and Threatening

At the beginning of each Round, players declare their actions for the round. During this kibutzing phase, the group will cooperatively determine who each character threatens. Normally, your character will threaten only one adversary at a time, but there are many exceptions granted by specific 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 others may attempt to interrupt them, if desired). Spells take the entire round to channel, so they take effect at the end of the Round (i.e. after all other mundane actions).

Combat Checks

In each round of combat, all involved characters roll a single Combat Check. A Combat Check is an Ability test that determines how effectively your character fights that Round, including how well they defend themselves from various threats 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.
• Witches test Discipline when they blast a foe with elemental power.
• Sorcerers test the listed Ability while channeling a spell.

Dealing Damage

Compare the result of your Combat Check with that of 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 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 point of damage as they struggle for position or the strain of combat otherwise degrades their staying power.

Combat Maneuvers

Any character may, as part of any action, attempt a reasonable combat maneuver, such as tripping, overrunning, throwing sand, swashbuckling from ropes, or anything else that they can think of. When they do, they propose an additional outcome if they are successful (e.g. "My opponent is pushed to the ground"). In return, the Referee (or opposing player) makes a contrary proposal for if they win the contest. The reverse case should be roughly at the same scope as the initial proposal, but does not have to involve merely a reversal of the two parties; that is, a counter-proposal might be "But if I win, you are pushed to the ground!" but might also be, "But if I win, I disarm you!" or similar orthogonal goals.

Once the stakes are established, the initiating character always has the opportunity to decline to attempt the maneuver at any time before dice are rolled.

Full Defense

Any character who focuses solely on protecting themselves from harm, including by dodging, hiding, or cowering, tests Agility for their Combat Test. As long as they spend all their attention and effort on evading or deflecting attacks, such characters roll a bonus die (+1d). Characters wielding a shild may instead test Might (with the bonus die).

Backstabbing

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 the attacker rolls 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(s) 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

Hit Points

Keep track of your current and maximum Hit Points (HP). Hit Points represent your staying power in a fight, and thus incorporate 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 via spells or similar effects that return HP.

Down and Out

When reduced to zero Hit Points, you are down and out. You fall to the ground, unconscious and bloodied, or else you can do nothing else but stumble around or writhe on the ground while trying to hold in your internal organs. If you don't receive medical aid by the end of the scene, you will most certainly die.

If you do receive medical aid by the end of the scene, roll 2d6. If you roll doubles, you die messily. Otherwise, sum the dice and regain consiousness. If the sum is 7+, you suffer a lingering wound: lose one maximum HP permanently. Otherwise, acquire a badass scar.

If you were struck and damaged while unconscious, repeat the Down and Out check for each separate instance of damage that you took.

Armor

In the hands of proficient users, armor and shields may protect you from fatal damage. They can also be unwieldy, however; any armor or shields that you carry each increase the Objective by one on tests of endurance, flexibility, balance, climbing, and so forth, as well as on any Channeling Tests.

Your armor and shield may each be activated once per day to Block (prevent and ignore) two points of damage. Once armor or a shield has been used to block, it cannot be used to block again until it is repaired (which takes a long rest). When an item is used to block, its entire block value is used as a lump sum (even if some would be wasted).

Shields

Shields are versatile tools. In addition to other creative uses, they provide the following benefits:

• When you fight defensively while wielding a shield, roll +1d on your Combat Check. You may use Might for this test rather than Agility (as usual for normal fighting defensively).
• When you take damage from a fictionally appropriate source of damage, you may "splinter" your shield to Block 2 (prevent and ignore two points of damage).

Armor

Light Armor protects the major vital areas, and thus reduces the chances of taking a serious or fatal wound.

• Like a shield, armor may be used once per day to Block 2 (prevent and ignore two points of fictionally-appropriate damage).
• Moreover, when you are wearing armor and make a Down and Out check, you only take a lingering wound on 9+ (instead of 7+), and you treat double 5s and 6s as a lingering wound instead of a lethal one.

Armor is heavy and bulky, however, so it takes up two Inventory Slots rather than one.

Resting

A Short Rest is a brief sitdown to rest, recover, and recharge. Once per day, when one member of the party spends Rations (11+) and the party spends two Exploration Turns to recover, everyone in the party regains up to three Hit Points. (The spent Rations must then be checked for Depletion.)

A Long Rest is the equivalent of an overnight period of rest, including food, sleep, and so forth. When the party takes a long rest and one player spends Rations, everyone in the party recovers all of their lost Hit Points, replenishes any depleted spells, and repairs any damage to their shield and armor (i.e. regains their ability to Block). (Rations must then be checked for Depletion.)

3. Statistics

Player characters are described by three types of statistics: Natural Abilities, which are tested to achieve tasks (or to avoid hazards); Town Statistics, like Wealth, Connections, Wises, and Stronghold, that engage with a variety of downtime subsystems (especially during a Haven Phase); and Cash, a fluid pool of expendable dice that can be wagered to make purchases or to increase your other statistics.

Natural Abilities

Natural Abilities are rated 1-8. Throughout play, Abilities will occasionally fluxuate up or down over the course of a character's career as a result of both deliberate training and chance interactions with the supernatural.

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

Wealth

Recovering treasure and spending it to further in-fiction character goals (gaining power, influence, followers, property, etc.) is a central dynamic of the game.

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. When such things Cost more than your Wealth rating, you must instead wager Cash.

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.).

Cash

Cash is an abstract measure of your liquid assets (as distinguished from your illiquid assets and credit, which are captured by your Wealth score). You may gain Cash by adventuring (like finding treasure or trading for valuable goods) or through roleplaying activities (like completing jobs for patrons). Each Cash die represents roughly the net income of a laborer for a month of work, or of an artisan for several weeks of work.

Cash is measured as an open-ended pool of expendable, non-refreshing dice. Unlike Ability tests, Cash dice are expended on a one-to-one basis to build your dice pool for Cash tests—that is, players do not roll two "base" dice on Cash tests, nor is Cash a static score that always adds the same number of dice to a given pool. Cash dice must be removed from the dynamic pool in order to be rolled for a Cash test. Regardless of the success of that test, they are then lost.

Cash dice are used in the everyday course of purchasing goods and services, as well as in the impactful process of improving character statistics (Natural Abilities, Wealth, Connections, Stronghold, spells known, and hit points).

Purchasing 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 Objective from which you subtract your Wealth score to calculate the final Objective for the test. See below for more details on buying and selling.

For example, if your Wealth rating is 6 and you would like to purchase a Cost 8 service, you must succeed against an Objective 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 Statistics

Cash may be spent during a Haven Turn to pay for training (increased statistics).

Connections

A Connections 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. Connections checks are player-initiated checks that will always author or reintroduce a non-player character into the fiction. They may be used both to establish new relationships and also to track down familiar characters.

Before rolling the check, the player will Ask to find such-and-such person (or the sort of person appropriate for a given reason), and then the Referee will reference the Connections Factors and inform them of the Objective (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 Connections 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 bonus dice equal to your Connections rating.

A successful Connections check puts you in contact with the desired person and establishes them as generally amenable to your Ask. A failed Connections 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, Connections 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.

New characters' Connections scores start as zero bonus dice, but may be improved up to six bonus dice (+6d) by spending Cash.

Reputation

The players as a whole (or 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 ±6) as a result of fictional events. Reputation is added to relevant Connections checks at a rate of +1d per point of relevant Reputation; any Connections 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 1d8: if the result is equal to or less than the absolute value of your Reputation with a given Faction, then the characters are recognized as a member or enemy of the organization in question.

Wises

Wises describe freeform, player-defined areas of knowledge and expertise 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 "politics-wise" of an informed analyst of regional politics.

Example Wises: Sailing-wise, blacksmithing-wise, mercenary-wise, predators-wise, herb-wise, languages-wise, death cult-wise, history-wise, architecture-wise, navigation-wise, mountain-wise, spirit-wise, chimera-wise, folk tales-wise, criminal underworld-wise, poison-wise, tracking-wise

A player may invoke one of her Wises to gain +1d on a task that relates directly to the Wise. The Referee will also freely give players information relevant to one of their Wises unless that information is particularly obtuse, concealed, or complex. Wises never provide a benefit to combat, perception, or stealth tests.

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

Additional Wises may be developed through the course of play. It is appropriate for these to be recognized and tracked on the character record sheet as part of the normal fictional development of a character.

Strongholds

Individual characters or the company as a whole may invest time and money to construct Strongholds, which describe a range of "home bases" including houses or businesses (with staff) in the city, rural estates, fortified manor houses, temples, shrines, holdfasts, hideouts, and even proper keeps, castles, donjons, and other settlements.

Each Stronghold is each rated from 1-6. Strongholds provide bonus dice equal to their rating when characters undertake tasks related to a fictional tag that epitomizes an asset attached to the Stronghold. After building a library (or similar research asset) in their Stronghold, for example, characters receive bonus dice on research tasks equal to a Stronghold's rating.

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 site. Additional tags may be developed through diegetic effort.

Sample Tags:

• Garrison/Staff: Laborers, Servants, and Guards. The working population equals the number of Garrison/Staff tags squared, times ten (viz. 10, 40, 90, 160, 250, and 360.) Growing strongholds often begin to anchor larger settlements.
• Fortifications: Quality of fortifications, armaments, stores, etc.
• Facilities: E.g. Stables, Library, Blacksmith, Ballroom, Guest Cottages, etc.
• Economy: Aspects of economic production in the area immediately around the stronghold, e.g. from agriculture (vineyards, orchards, fields) to husbandry (cattle, goats, cheesemaking) to taxes collected (on market commerce, trade, etc.).

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II. Magic

This section covers the rules for channeling spells, infusing spells, and gaining new spells through play. It also contains the spell lists, including descriptions of each of the core spells in the game.

1. Channeling Spells

Spells are the shorthand name for supernatural powers granted by the gods and encoded in runestones. By channeling the powers from a runestone and through their body, characters can cause spell effects to manifest in the world. This process is called channeling a spell. To channel a spell, the character must always be carrying the relevent runestone on their person.

Overview

A great deal of mental control and attention are required to channel a spell by releasing the runestone's energy and causing it to affect reality in the intended way. To determine the power of the spell after channeling and to avoid backlash from channeling, then, you must roll a Channeling Test tied to one of the six Natural Abilities.

The number of successes that you roll on the Channeling Test determines the potency of the spell, including establishing both its duration and the Objective for any Save that an unwilling target may make to mitigate the spell's effect.

Moreover, you lose control of the spell for the day if you fail the Channeling Test: its effect still occurs, but the runestone's energy is exhausted, making the spell it encodes unavailable for channeling until after a long rest.

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, spells 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.

Crucially, only one instance of a given spell may be active in the world at a time; if the spell is cast again, all ongoing effects from the first casting are immediately ended and the sorcerer's mark is removed (and instead appears on/at the new target).

Channeling Tests

To channel a spell, take one point of damage and then make the listed Ability test. Regardless of the result of the test, the spell effect occurs. If you successfully pass the test, the runestone's power does not fade: you will be able to attempt another channeling of the spell later today (as long as you have HP to power it). If you fail the test, however, you 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.)

Spell Potency

The Potency 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 Potency 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 Potency 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, 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 Objective 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 lose focus and inadvertently drain a runestone of power.

If you fail a channeling test by rolling zero successes, the runestone's energy cascades out of control: everyone in the area takes 3d damage per point of Channeling Objective (e.g. 12d damage for an Ob 4 spell), though affected individuals are allowed a relevant Save (default is Discipline) for half damage.

For unknown reasons, shields and armor are more likely to drain a runestone's power: the Channeling Objective for any spell is increased by +1 for each of an equipped armor and shield.

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 Potency 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 an Exploration Turn 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 Objective for the Save is equal to the spell's Potency (the number of Successes rolled on the caster's Channeling Test when creating the spell effect). If the target fails the Save, they are affected by the spell. If the target succeeds, the target takes reduced damage/effect (or, more rarely, the spell fails entirely).

Arcane Ceremony (Ritual Casting)

If you spend an Exploration Turn rather than a Combat Round when you channel a spell, you may enact a ritual ceremony to boost the spell's Potency. For every HP of damage that you self-inflict and for every Cash die that you sacrifice, roll +1d on your Channeling Test to cast the spell.

2. Infusing Spells

In addition to channeling spells, characters may also infuse a spell. To infuse a spell, the user drains a runestone's power, stores that spell energy within her body, and then later releases it to empower an action. Because infusing a spell drains a runestone's power, it makes that spell unavailable for channeling later in the day (just as if you had cast the spell and failed the Channeling Test). It takes a full Exploration Turn of mental concentration to infuse a spell.

After a spell has been infused, the rune appears on your character's body. If you take physical damage while the spell energy remains infused, you may choose to expel the infused energy to block one point of damage.

Alternatively, at any point before the next long rest, you may actively amplify and then release the spell energy to boost your performance on a single Natural Ability Test or Save. When you do so, suffer one hit point of damage (just as if channeling a spell), but then add a number of bonus dice to the roll equal to the Channeling Objective score of the infused spell (e.g. an infused Ob 4 spell grants +4d). All the bonus dice from a given infused spell must be completely spent at the same time (all or nothing).

3. Acquiring Spells

It is possible to learn new spells through play. When a character plunders a novel runestone, she may attempt to bind the spell for future use by casting it blindly. This is as dangerous as it sounds! First, you must cast the spell blindly. Then, immediately make a Spell Mastery Check. The Objective for this check is equal to the normal Channeling Ability and Objective for the spell plus one.

If you pass the Spell Mastery Check, you immediately learn the spell (and may prepare a runestone to cast it each day, as usual), while the previous owner of the runestone permanently loses the power to cast the spell.

If you fail the Spell Mastery Check, however, you not only fail to master the spell, but you can also never learn the spell in the future. Furthermore, a powerful backlash of energy punishes your hubris: immediately make a Down and Out Check (Special: armor does not mitigate this roll).

4. Spell Families

Based on their effects, spells may be categorized into eight different thematic sets known as Spell Families. Many sorcerers specialize in one or two Families.

Spell Families

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

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 derive 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.

Fell Blast (Special)

Fell Blast is a special combat spell. It takes the form of a blast of energy of a type related to the Sorcerer's signature.

• Fell Blast (Special: Discipline vs. Combat Check): Blast one or more foes with horrible arcane energy (Combat Check negates). If you successfully strike a single target, deal 4d damage. If you strike everyone in a melee area, deal 2d damage to all whose Combat Check you beat. This spell may be safely used in pitched combat—ignore all penalties from wearing armor or being damaged while channeling. You cannot lose control of this spell.

Blood Magic

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

1. Death Mask (Presence 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 Objective of the eaten enchantment, spell, etc.). (W&W 27)
4. Wandering Eye (Might Ob 3): Detach one of your eyes, which grows wings and flies like a hummingbird. When you close your other eye and concentrate, you may look through the wandering eye. You may also cause the eye to wither and die in order to curse a person it is observing: they become blind, unlucky, or supernaturally terrified for the remainder of the duration (Might Save negates). If destroyed, the eye regrows in its socket over one day.
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. Zombify (Presence Ob 5): Reanimate [Successes] worth of eager, overenthusiastic (but not particularly clever) corpses as undead servitors (3d, 6 HP). 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 obnoxious nuisances. (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 spells. (W&W 21)
3. Black Speech (Presence Ob 3): You may communicate with vile creatures or their allies, including demons, undead, hateful spirits, and vermin that creep or crawl. When you loudly recite dark incantations in Black Speech, all others who hear are reduced to retching and vomiting (Discipline negates).
4. Demonic Blessing (Might Ob 3): Beseech a powerful demon for a demonic blessing that lasts for [Successes] Turns. The blessing grants you darkvision (you can see in black and white, even in pitch darkness) and demonic wings (you may fly clumsily on grotesque bat-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 each round). 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. Your sigil appears on the target's body, which causes her to become supernaturally aware of the mark on her soul. 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 gas that lingers for [Successes] Rounds. The miasma is slightly heavier than air 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. Sulphurous hell-gases kill anyone they touch in a geyser of blood and gore.
    2. Acidic hell-gases deal 3d of corrosive damage per Round, including to objects.
    3. Frigid hell-gases deal 3d of cold damage per Round, and anyone killed within the area rises as a malicious ice revenant.
    4. Chaos gases force anyone who fails a Discipline Save to go berserk and randomly attack anyone within reach.
    If you sacrifice 3 HP of damage when you channel, you may 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. Babel (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 spell potency.)
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 invoke 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 the target in magical chains, web, overgrowth, energy, 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 foot 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 absolute direction of and distance to the creature, no matter the range. When you channel this spell, you and [Successes] companions may step through and out of the sigil. 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. Avatar of Nature (Acuity Ob 3): You may speak with any beasts that run, fly, or swim, and you may step into one large tree and out of any other within sight (up to [Successes] times).
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. Swarm (Might Ob 3): Summon and direct a swarm of biting rats, snakes, wasps, spiders, or scorpions. In combat, the swarm deals one damage each Round (no Save), has Hit Points equal to [Successes], and is immune to damage from small weapons.
6. Bloodlust (Might Ob 4): Awaken the target creature's savage inner beast (Discipline Save negates): she grows claws and fangs and must violently attack a nearby person each Round: she rolls +1d to attacks with the natural weapons and deals +1 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 [Successes] 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 (but not a creature of human-like intellect). You may specify a particular type of creature or one with certain characteristics (e.g. can fly), but the spell defaults to merely a reasonable match if the candidate creature is not nearby or if the particular creature named succeeds at a Presence Save. The summoned creature enthusiastically follows your verbal commands and will subsequently feel oddly satisfied to have helped you unless you force 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. Tunnelspeech (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 subterrane 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, mend, 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. Hypnosis (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. Celerity / Torpor (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). Reversible. (W&W 35)
7. Kaleidoscope (Agility Ob 4): Tesselate and rotate the surfaces (walls, ceiling, floor) in up to a large room. Each person or object (including doors, furniture, etc.) stands on and moves with an intact piece of space (nothing significant is divided). Any two things may be moved next to one another, but doing so whirls all the other fractured surfaces apart unpredictably.
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 (Discipline 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).

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III. Character Guide

The character-focused rules of the game consists of three parts: Overview, Character Creation, and Experience.

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 created through the use of a short lifepath-style questionnaire.

• Character Creation Questionnaire

Experience (Improving Statistics)

To attempt to improve your score in a given statistic, you must invest in training, property, alliances, or other ficitionally appropriate means of improvement. To do so, you must wager and then roll a number of your Cash dice against the relevant Objective (see table below). Each statistic 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 statistic once, regardless of whether you succeed (and gain one rank) or fail. Improvement may only be attempted during a Haven Phase. Note that improving statistics in this way does not count as purchasing goods or services, so the normal Cost and Wealth subsystem is not used. Instead, players must risk a pure wager of Cash dice (and only Cash dice) against the set Objective.

Wagering Cash on statistics represents investing in the appropriate areas: for Hit Points or Natural Abilities, for example, the expenditure involves extensive training and conditioning, usually under the guidance of an experienced teacher or mentor. For Wealth, in might involve saving money or investing in property, businesses, or other assets. For Connections, it facilitates membership in associations, organizations, social clubs, and informal alliances of various sorts, including through direct funding, philanthropy, and informal or ad hoc systems of patronage (i.e. spending money to create goodwill or gain leverage).

The Objective that you must beat to successfully gain a point in a given statistic is listed below. The Objective for the check is based on the new and improved rank that you are attempting to gain:

Cash Objective to Improve Statistic to Rank n

Stat	Improve to 1	Improve to 2	Improve to 3	Improve to 4...	Formula	Max Rating
Ability	—	Ob 4	Ob 6	Ob 8...	Ob = 2n	Max 8
Wealth	Ob 2	Ob 4	Ob 6	Ob 8...	Ob = 2n	Max 10
Hit Points	Ob 1	Ob 2	Ob 3	Ob 4...	Ob = n	Max 20
Connections	Ob 1	Ob 2	Ob 3	Ob 4...	Ob = n	Max 6
Stronghold	Ob 10	Ob 12	Ob 14	Ob 16...	Ob = 2n + 8	Max 6

Purchasing Runestones (Spells Known)

In addition, characters may improve their number of Spells Known by purchasing runestones. The Cost of a runestone, when purchased fairly from a seller, equals three times the Channeling Objective score for the spell (e.g. Cost 12 for an Ob 4 spell). When spells are purchased and the seller demonstrates how to use the runestone, there is no Spell Mastery Check required (as there is when attempting to acquire plundered runestone)—the character simply learns the spell successfully.

Settlements have limited numbers of Spells for purchase. A small holdfast (family settlement) has a 50% chance of having one random spell for sale. A hardscrabble village will generally have one random runestone for sale, with a 75% chance of a second. A thriving village will generally have two random runestones available for purchase, plus a 50% chance each for up to three additional spells. A seasonal trade meet may draw individuals specifically interested in selling spells; at such events, there are generally six random runestones available for purchase, plus a 50% chance each of up to four additional spells.

Retirement

You may retire your existing character at the beginning of any session as long as that character's Wealth score is at least four. 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 is thus the scoring mechanic for retired characters.) Retired characters may provide hooks or in-fiction assistance to current characters.

When you retire a character, your new character gains the following benefits (applied after completing the character creation questionnaire):

• Your new character benefits from the experience and mentorship of the retiring character: the new character gains +1 to any Ability of your choice (up to the score of the retiring character in that Ability).
• The retiring character transfers an ownership stake in her businesses and investments to the new character: the new character gains +1 Wealth for every three full ranks of the retiree's Wealth score.
• The retiring character passes on some of her knowledge to the new character: inherit one Wise from the retiring character.

2. 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. Each character has fifteen Inventory Slots with which to carry gear. In general, each item of narrative importance occupies a single Slot, except minor items that can fit in your mouth, which are free.

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. Armor always counts as a bulky item.

Ammunition

To use a ranged weapon, characters must also be carrying the appropriate type of ammunition in an Inventory Slot (e.g. a longbow requires a quiver in another Slot; a pistol requires a cartridge box; etc.). As long as the appropriate ammunition is equipped, the character is assumed to have adequate shots for combat.

Hirelings, Followers, and Pack Animals

Gear may be carried by Hirelings, Followers, or Pack Animals. Porters and other human hirelings/Followers may each carry three Slots of gear.

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.

Depletion

The game uses an abstract system to track the Depletion of consumable or expendable items rather than using exact accounting of single items, such as just how many torches a character possesses.

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; rather, the item is completely depleted at that point.)

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

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) Shield 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	Hut, Hovel, or Tenement Unit Mercenary (4d, 4 HP) Long-distance Passage/Travel (+1 Tier per several persons)
6	Ceremonial/Heirloom Weapon 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): 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 Objective 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 Objective 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).

3. Followers, Hirelings, and Animal Companions

Non-Player Characters (NPCs) are described by three formal mechanics: Pool, Role, 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 frequently 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, Interrogator, Fop.

Non-player characters have 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.

When a Feat grants a Follower, that position may be "refilled" if the Follower dies, departs, or is dismissed, although it takes a week to recruit any new Followers (so replacements will not be able to join the expedition until the beginning of the session following the loss).

Followers can also be gained through fictional means, but these Followers are lost if they die or depart. (Players are not entitled to a replacement for Followers gained through the fiction and not through a Feat.)

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. Unlike Followers, hirelings are not intrinsically loyal, nor are they generally willing to take risks beyond the terms of their contract.

Hirelings must make Morale Checks like monsters or other creatures. The Referee is responsible for roleplaying NPCs.

Animals, Animal Companions, and Familiars

Mundane animals and beasts can be purchased. Untrained beasts act at the Referee's whim, while 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 special animal Followers who may possess special intelligence or other supernatural abilities.

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IV. Guide to Adventuring in the World

This guide addresses the procedures, rules, and other mechanics used by the players and the Referee in the course of running the game. It describes the general phases and scales of play, the procedures that govern each scale, the Factors used to calculate Objectives, rules for monsters and other adversaries, and guidelines about treasure.

1. The Flow of Play

Most game sessions follow a similar flow between the various scales of play, which are detailed in the following section. At the beginning of each section, players normally decide on their general agenda for the session. At the end of the session, players must usually follow a very brief end-of-session procedure.

End of Session Procedures

Players generally 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 of some sort before the end of the session, each player must make a Down and Out Check to determine whether they were injured or killed while returning to safety.

Before concluding the session, players must also divide any treasure and gear that they found during the session between the present characters, and they are encouraged to set aside a share for any regular players who happen to have missed a session where a treasure horde is found (since this sometimes does not occur for several sessions running).

2. Scales of Play: Haven, Overland, Exploration, and Combat

There are four scales of play that alternative within any given session of play. The broadest scales cover days or weeks (or more) with only broad strokes; it may be enough, for example, to narrate that a given character spends their time drinking and whoring, or studiously training to improve their swordplay, or freely spending money in acts of philanthropy and to cultivate contacts, or investing in property or business endeavors, and so forth. The most minute scales of play, on the other hand, cover just seconds and focus on the details of immediate perils: the give and take of combat, the moment when a lethal trap is sprung, etc.

At each scale of play, there are different procedures for how to engage the Encounter Check mechanics. The guidelines for how often to invoke those mechanics are given here; the actual procedures governing such checks are explained in the following section.

The Haven Scale

Whenever players choose to spend a less-granular block of time in a safe place, like a town or a camp, they may engage in a Haven Turn (sometimes also called a Haven Phase). During play at the Haven Scale, time passes quickly in blocks of days, weeks, or even longer.

By definition, a Haven Phase is taken in a safe place, so no Encounter Checks are rolled.

Downtime Activities

During this phase, play proceeds at an abstract level. When rolling is necessary, resolve actions with a single test. Roleplaying should generally be reserved only for interparty drama, brief exchanges with important supporting characters, and Connections checks. Downtime Activities often present an opportunity for the Referee to introduce related hooks, rumors, and potential jobs.

During a Haven Phase, characters may roleplay, purchase goods or services, make Connections checks, and take one other substantial Downtime Action per week.

Once per session during a Haven Phase, players may also roll for Income.

Common Downtime Activities include:

• Roleplaying: Characters may want to spend a brief scene interacting with important or interesting local characters, such as patron, faction leaders, allies, rivals, personal contacts, and so forth.
• Training (Improving Statistics): Players must use a Downtime Activity to attempt to improve a given statistic (Natural Ability, Wealth, Connections, Stronghold, Spells Known). The mechanics of how to improve character statistics are detailed in the Character Guide.
• Invoking Connections: Players may make one or more Connections checks during a Haven Phase. Unless the ask or target is extremely rare or elusive, calling for a Connections 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 Connections checks, however, the Objective 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.
• Advance a Project: A freeform category encompassing long-term, player-driven projects undertaken exclusively during Downtime. (See below for Project Clocks.) If the project involves research about a specific, obtuse question, the Referee may set a cost in time, money, or effort (i.e. establish it as a project rather than a simple test). If the player seeks out a knowledgeable source, however, instead call for a Connections test and briefly roleplay the encounter.

Project Clocks

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 2-4 normal for more modest projects and 4-8 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.

The Overland Scale

When players travel through the wilds, play proceeds at the Overland Scale. During Overland Scale travel, time passes in Watches, which are a rough portion of a day: one morning Watch, one evening Watch, and one overnight Watch.

During an Overland Phase, the Referee makes one Encounter Check per Watch. The chances of an Encounter or Omen are 1-in-6 each per Watch during the day, and 1-in-10 each for the overnight Watch.

Water voyages are normally handled differently, since there are fewer interesting navigational choices and things to explore en route: a single 1-in-8 Encounter Check per day of travel is usually sufficient, with an Encounter Table that includes weather, navigational, supply-focused, and other hazards in addition to people and, when appropriate, sites.

The Exploration Scale

When players explore a site like a tomb, ruins, fortress, labyrinth, or other "dungeon," play proceeds at the Exploration Scale. During Exploration Scale play, time passes in (Exploration) Turns, which are a flexible approximation of how much time it takes to perform a single meaningful action in a room, like searching through debris, probing for hidden doors or traps, disarming traps or picking locks, engaging in combat, etc. As a rule of thumb, each Exploration Turn occupies roughly ten minutes of diegetic time.

When the players explore a site in detail, the Referee makes one Encounter Check per Turn. The Referee will also call for an encounter check if the characters call undue attention to themselves in a hostile environment (such as smashing open a door). The chances of an Encounter or Omen are 1-in-6 each per Turn.

The Combat Scale

When players engage in combat or similar activity where detailed, blow-by-blow narration is desireable, play proceeds at the Combat Scale. During Combat Scale play, time passes in (Combat) Rounds, which are a flexible approximation of how much time it takes to perform an exchange of missiles or blows.

The exact length of a given Round will vary based on the context—a tactical skirmish for position over a wide area will benefit from less granular narration than a chaotic knife fight in a packed, dimly lit room—but the crucial criterion is that each character be granted an opportunity each Round to move and to take a single substantial action, like attempting to harm someone with a weapon, casting a spell, rifling through a backpack or pile of refuse for an item, lifting a heavy beam off a companion, diving for cover and then attempting to successfully hide, and so forth. As a rule of thumb, I generally find myself regulating a Combat Round to roughly 20-40 seconds of diegetic time.

Since the Combat Scale occurs over a fine timescale, it is virtually never appropriate for the Referee to call for an Encounter Check at this scale.

3. Procedures for Encounters

This section describes the mechanics for determining whether an Encounter occurs and, if necessary, how to establish the context for that Encounter, including number of creatures encountered, distance between parties, initial disposition, and how to handle situations that might cause foes to rout or surrender.

Monster/Adversary Statistics

Adversaries are rated by Level. They generally roll a Pool equal to their Level plus two, and most have Hit Points equal to twice their Level.

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 (Minor): Average encounters with Level 1 creatures (normal range: L0-2).
• Moderate Areas: Average encounters with Level 3 creatures (L1-5).
• Hard Areas (Major): Average encounters with Level 5 creatures (L3-7).
• Very Hard Areas (Headliner): Average encounters with Level 7 creatures (L5-9).
• Fiendishly Difficult Areas (Fiendish): Average encounters with Level 9 creatures (L7-12).

Encounter Check Mechanics

As often as is called for by the procedures of the area, the Referee will make an Encounter Check by rolling a single die of the indicated type. Most often this will be a d6. The general scheme for Encounter Check is as follows:

• 1: There is an Encounter. Referees usually prepare and roll on a custom Encounter Table for the site or region. The Encounter Table may include entries for sites, people, beasts or monsters, travel hazards, or any other interesting, dynamic situations that the characters can meaningfully affect. (OSR blogs are an indispensible resource for new Referees seeking advice on how to construct quality Encounter Tables.)
• 2: There is an Omen, a sign or sighting or hint of a possible encounter. The Referee will generally either reference a keyed encounter nearby or else roll on the relevant Encounter Table to determine who/what has been sensed. 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 new roll on the Encounter Table.
• 3-5: Usually signifies No Encounter, though some Referees use (some of) these results in a dungeon to activate a special dungeon effect.
• 6: If any light sources (or similar, on-going consumables) are being used, such equipment must be checked for Depletion.

Modifying Frequency

Different dungeons or other sites may have different Encounter Check rates. In general, populous or hostile 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 Depletion Check when indicated by the die.

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 equitable challenge for different group sizes, this number varies based on the number of players rather than being limited to 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 positive 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

The Referee must make a Morale Check for all individuals and groups who face imminent harm, such as at critical combat junctures or similar flashpoints. In particular, a Morale Check is triggered by any "Oh Damn!" situation—that is, as a result of any case when an individual or a group perceives itself to be outmatched, outclassed, or facing unexpected or unacceptable danger.

Sample Triggers: First blood. Increasingly outnumbered by foes. Surprised or ambushed. Leader is killed or otherwise taken out of action. Opponent seizes an overwhelming combat advantage. Foe makes an unexpected or overwhelming display of prowess.

Mechanics

To make a Morale Check, the Referee rolls a single six-sided die. The chance of an individual saving against panic and disorder is affected by the creature's discipline, bravery, and willingness to fight:

• Militant, disciplined, savage, or ruthless creatures Save against Rout on a 3+. Normal creatures 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) also Save on a 3+.
• Average creatures Save against Rout on a 4+.
• Timid, cowardly, cautious, undisciplined, or pacifistic creatures only Save against Rout on a 5+. Normal creatures with a substantial combat disadvantage or whose leader has just been killed, captured, or incapacitated also only Save on a 5+.

If the individual or group passes their Save, they continue to fight (or otherwise face serious danger). Otherwise, they withdraw, surrender, cower, or refuse to act.

Hirelings

Instead of rolling a Morale Check for hirelings, the controlling player instead rolls a contested Presence test to enforce order.

Breaking

Creatures automatically fail their Morale Check in any "Oh Fuck!" situation—that is, in any case when an individual or a group perceives itself to be in impending mortal danger. Creatures will generally prefer to flee or, if flight is not possible, to surrender. Only if they believe that they will face certain death upon surrendering will enemies continue to fight in the face of bleak odds.

4. Factors for Establishing Objectives

To set an Objective (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 Objective 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

Connections Test Factors

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

To calculate the Objective for a Connections test, begin with a Base Ob of 0 and then increase or decrease the Objective 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, actively looking to connect with character(s)

Channeling Test Factors

As discussed in the spellcasting rules, each armor or shield carried counts as a Factor (+1 Ob) that must be added to the base Objective for spells when rolling Channeling tests. Likewise, each point of damage taken while channeling increases the Channeling Objective by +1.

Contested Tests

Many tasks, of course, will be Contested Tests rather than Independent or Extended Tests that require an Objective 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. 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 (Average)	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 (which are likewise usually more dangerous).

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 of value. Commodities and other treasure must be returned to civilization in Inventory Slots before they can be converted into (non-Inventoried) Cash dice. Referees are encouraged to mix pure Cash treasures (coins, gems, etc.) with interesting treasures that pose some puzzle as to how to be recovered and returned to civilization.

Scaling Treasure: Because the rate of treasure retreival directly affects how quickly characters gain power (both mechanically and, indirectly, within the fiction), it is helpful to reference a rule of thumb to prevent either paucity or excess in treasure. Generally speaking, the Referee should place a number of hordes in a given site (see the table here) equal to half of the average number of players in the group. (More dangerous sites will still contain greater treasure.)

For example, a ruined keep now inhabited by a tribe of vicious beastmen and by a rival vampire and her coterie might be roughly classified as an "major" challenge (that is, with adversaries averaging around Level 5). If a group of five player characters generally plays in a game, then the Referee should consider placing treasure equal to roughly two or three hordes of 40 Cash each, i.e. around 100 Cash.

In many cases, Referees are encouraged to substitute artifacts and spells for a reasonable portion of a Cash treasure. Moreover, fictional accomplishments frequently come with fictional benefits; it is certainly appropriate for some tasks to pay substantially less, particularly if they involve a counterbalancing reward such as political alliances, goodwill with a Faction, grants of land or titles, and so forth. As always, the best practice is to transparently communicate risks and rewards to players so that they can make informed decisions about how they choose to play the game (how much risk they will incur, what sort of rewards incline the campaign toward their preferred playstyles, and so forth).

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V. Authorship Notice

This reference 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.