PCs have three abilities: Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), and Constitution (CON).
If a character attempts something where the outcome is uncertain and failure has consequences, they need to make a save.
To make a save, roll a d20 and add the most relevant ability's score.
If the total is at least 10, the character succeeds. If not, they fail.
If there are factors or abilities that make the save significantly easier or harder, the roll has either advantage or disadvantage.
If a roll has advantage, roll 2d20 and use the better of the two dice.
If it has disadvantage, roll 2d20 and use the worse of the two dice.
One round is 10 seconds. This is usually the unit of time-tracking during combat.
One turn is 10 minutes. This is usually the unit of time-tracking when dungeon delving.
One watch is 4 hours. This is usually the unit of time-tracking when travelling overland.
Once per save, you may re-roll d20 and take 1 stress.
For every point of stress above your constitution, you get -1 to all saves.
For every full day of rest, halve and round down your stress.
Hit points protect you from lethal damage. Your start the game with 6 maximum hit points.
Subtract from your hit points when you take damage. If you don’t have enough hit points, subtract the leftover damage from your constitution.
You die on 0 or less constitution.
For every full day of rest, double your hit points (minimum of 1).
For every full week of rest, recover 1 from each ability score.
Characters get 1 level of exhaustion:
- For each consecutive day without enough sleep (8 hours)
- For each consecutive day without enough clean water
- For each day without enough food
- For a week of travel without a full day of rest
| Level | Effect (Cumulative) |
|---|---|
| 1 | No negative effects |
| 2 | Disadvantage on all saves |
| 3 | Takes double damage |
| 4 | Travels at half speed |
| 5 | Can’t travel. Can only crawl or walk with assistance. |
| 6 | Death |
Other conditions like forced marches, being encumbered, and yielding artifacts also cause exhaustion.
For each full day of rest with enough food, water and sleep, recover 1 level of exhaustion
PCs can carry up to 5 stones (abbreviated as "st.") without being encumbered. A backpack doubles this limit to 10.
You can think of your inventory as having 10 slots where some items take more than 1 slot and others can be grouped together into the same.
Most items weigh 1 stone, while heavy or bulky items weigh 2 stones, and light ones weigh 1/4
Items that weigh less than 1/4 stones can be all grouped into the same slot (within reason).
A bag with 100 coins weigh roughly 1 stone. Your first 200 coins don't count towards your capacity.
In ideal conditions, you can cover 3 miles per hour while travelling overland, but usually only half as fast in difficult terrain like dense forests or steep mountains.
This travel pace assumes your group is travelling at a leisurely pace while not doing much more than talking and looking around.
When travelling more than 2 watches in a day, you get 1 level of exhaustion for each additional watch travelled.
If you haven’t travelled the full watch, you might avoid getting exhausted. To resist exhaustion, you need to make as many constitution saves as extra hours travelled and succeed on every single one.
You can choose to travel faster, at 4 miles per hour, but each hour counts as two when considering exhaustion.
Carrying more than your capacity makes you encumbered and gives you disadvantage on all dexterity saves.
For every watch of travel while encumbered, you get one level of exhaustion. You can stave off the exhaustion by succeeding on as many strength saves as stones over your capacity.
You can't carry more than twice your capacity any significant distance without getting exhausted.
You can't carry more than thrice your capacity at all.
There are four general levels of light:
Darkness. Inside a dark dungeon.
Dim. Darker nights, a dark dungeon with a lamp or torch.
Bright. Brighter nights, a dark night with a lamp or torch.
Daylight. An average fall or spring day outside.
These depend on your location, the time of day and whether or not you have a source of light, which usually improves the light level by one (up to Bright).
Finding things largely depends on two things: light and time.
Hidden things have a level of concealment: the minimum light level you need to find it.
If your light level is equal or above its level of concealment, you will find it on a search.
If your light level is below its level of concealment, you can’t find it by searching.
How long you need to spend searching depends on the area. In general it takes one turn to explore a dungeon room and one watch to explore a wilderness area.
The rules for searching also apply to things searching for you. Your level of concealment depends on your location, light level, and, if you’re moving, your speed.
When moving, a fast pace lowers your level of concealment by 1, while moving at half speed, increases it by 1.
There are 3 different ways to forage for food. Each one takes 1 watch, requires a different tool and a special location.
Each 1 stone worth of rations feeds 1 adult for 1 day.
Gathering Requires a bag and dense foliage. Get 1d6 "green rations" (fruits, vegetables). Spoils in 1d6 days.
Hunting. Requires a trap or a ranged weapon and a game region. Get 1d6 "red rations" (meat). Spoils in 1d6 watches.
Fishing. Requires a fishing set and fishing spot. Get 1d6 "blue rations" (fish). Spoils in 2d6 hours.
Uncooked rations have a 1-in-6 chance of causing disease.
Setting up camp takes 1 watch, it provides shelter and a cooking site.
Lack of proper shelter will always cause 1 point of exhaustion for lack of proper sleep and has a 1-in-6 chance of causing a disease in the right conditions.
Usually caused by lack of proper shelter or contracted from eating raw rations.
Roll 2d6 for the severity. The GM rolls in secret for the actual disease and its effects.
| Total | Severity | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 4 or less | Deadly | Requires treatment |
| 5 to 9 | Rough | Less than a week |
| 10 or more | Mild | One or two days |
Stashes are well hidden locations that you can easily find again to store items without fear of losing them.
Finding a stash. Requires knowing about it from some source of information, like a map or a person.
Creating a stash. Requires searching the area for a suitable location.
Every watch spent in the wilderness, and every turn spent in a dungeon, there's a 1-in-6 chance of an encounter of some kind
In the wilds, an encounter has a given likelyhood of being danger, neutral, or even friendly, with the location determining the odds of each one.
In dungeons, an encounter almost aways means danger, the most common of which are wandering monsters. The frequency of these encounters may vary per dungeon, from once a turn to once an hour.
In some dungeons, a higher light level means more encounters, but the opposite is sometimes also true.
You will frequently find yourself in fights you have no chance of winning. For that reason, you are advised to stack the odds in your favor as much as possible.
Combat never awards experience and it's rarely rewarded with loot. It should be avoided if possible, or else engaged with extreme caution.
Combat doesn’t need to last until either side is dead. NPCs and monsters will break their morale and flee. Players are encouraged to do likewise.
Each round of combat, everyone in the fight takes a turn. Everyone on the same side takes theirs turns at the same time, in whatever sequence they want.
Which side of the conflict takes their turns first is determined by initiative.
Player characters with initiative get to take a turn before the enemies’ first turns.
To determine initiative, each player character makes a dexterity save against the enemies’ dexterity. If they succeed, they have initiative.
Player characters without initiative have their first turn after all enemies have had theirs.
If the PCs surprise the opposing forces, they all get initiative.
If the player characters are surprised, none of them can get initiative.
On your turn, you can move, then take one action. You can trade your movement to access any item of your inventory.
You can take any action in combat, as long as it’s reasonable, but attacking is a very common default when out of better ideas.
To attack, make a strength save if attacking with melee weapons, or dexterity if ranged.
If the total is equal or higher than the target’s armor class, roll the weapons dice for damage.
Otherwise, the attack is blocked, parried, dodged or otherwise ineffective.
Armor class is determined by your equiped armor and gauges how hard you are to be hurt by an attack.
Your armor class is 10 when not wearing any armor.
When you roll a natural 20 for your attack, the attack hits and it’s a critical hit.
Roll twice as many damage dice as the attack normally would. The minimum damage for a critical hit is the best damage possible with a normal hit.
1. Roll 3d6 for each of their abilities, in order. The lowest of the three dice on each roll is that ability’s score. After you’ve finished rolling, you can swap the scores of two abilities.
2. Choose a starting ability and a background that justifies it.
3. Buy some equipment. You start with 200 silver.
4. Name your character. Or don't. It’s dangerous out there.
| Description |
|---|
| You take half damage (rounded down) when out of hit points. |
| Your carrying capacity is increased by 1 (2 with a backpack). |
| You can smell magic. Each type of magic has a different flavor. |
| You have a loyal animal companion that obeys simple commands and will always return when called. |
| You and your nearby allies get +1 to armor class. |
| You deal +1d6 damage on attacks with advantage. |
| Use 1/4 st. of healing herbs to help one character. They heal 1d6 extra hit points on their next day of rest. |
| Use 1/4 st. of pipeweed to help one character. They recover 1d6 extra stress on their next day of rest. |
| Options | ||
|---|---|---|
| Veteran | Hunter | Mariner |
| Merchant | Scoundrel | Minstrel |
| Arcanist | Scholar | Ocultist |
| Farmer | Fisher | Urchin |
| Blacksmith | Herbalist | Tailor |
| Leatherworker | Woodcutter | Baker |
Even an exceptional human is just a human. Your ability scores and hit points rarely ever improve much, except through rare magical items: artifacts.
The only way to improve them is by yielding rare magical items: artifacts.
Every artifact increases an ability score by 1 or more, increases your hit points by 6 or more, and has one other unknown effect.
Yielding so much magic is not natural to humans. For every artifact you equip, you get one exhaustion per watch.
Grace is your ability to withstand the negative effects of yielding artifacts. You start with 1.
Every level of Grace prevents the exhastion from one artifact you are yielding.
The only way to improve Grace is by yielding more artifacts than you should. Every 10 exhaustion caused by artifacts, increase your Grace by 1.
| Item | Weight | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Tinderbox | 1/4 st. | 5 sp |
| Cooking Pot | 1 st. | 5 ssp |
| Frying Pan | 1 st. | 5 sp |
| Tent (for 1) | 1 st. | 25 sp |
| Tent (for 2) | 2 st. | 50 sp |
| Fishing Set | 2 st. | 50 sp |
| Rations (1 day) | 1 st. | 5 sp |
| Waterskin (1 day) | 1 st. | 5 sp |
| Healing Herbs | 1 st. | 100 sp |
| Pipeweed | 1 st. | 100 sp |
| Item | Weight | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Caltrops Bag | 1 st. | 10 sp |
| Torch (1h) | 1/4 st. | 1 sp |
| Oil Flask (4h) | 1/4 st. | 10 sp |
| Lamp | 1 st. | 10 sp |
| Rope | 1 st. | 10 sp |
| Grappling Hook | 1 st. | 10 sp |
| Chain | 1 st. | 50 sp |
| Lockpad | 1/4 st. | 100 sp |
| Manacles | 1 st. | 20 sp |
| Crowbar | 1 st. | 20 sp |
| Mirror | 1/4 st. | 100 sp |
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Backpack | 20 sp |
| Scroll Case | 10 sp |
| Vial Case | 10 sp |
| Waterproof Bag | 100 sp |
| Waterproof Backpack | 200 sp |
| Mount | Capacity | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Donkey | 10 st. | 100 sp |
| Mule | 15 st. | 200 sp |
| Horse | 20 st. | 500 sp |
While riding a mount, your exhaustion from travel is halved (down).
Mounts can only travel for 2 watches without exhausting themselves, but they are often useful for travelling 3 watches in a day (they get the exhaustion, not you).
When riding, you weight 10 st. with an empty inventory
Walking. When at more than half capacity, mounts travel at the same speed as humans.
Trotting. Mounts carrying only half their capacity or less can trot and move at fast pace without exhaustion.
Galloping. Mounts carrying up to full capacity can gallop to travel at double pace. Every hour of gallping causes one point of exhaustion.
| Vessel | Capacity | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Raft | 2 people | 100 sp |
| Boat | 4 people | 500 sp |
| Item | AC Bonus | Weight | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shield | 2 (4) | 1 st. | 50 sp |
| Gambeson | 2 | 1 st. | 100 sp |
| 2 | 1 st. | 1000 sp |
Requires one hand to wield.
The AC bonus is doubled against front facing attacks when in a shield wall.
Armour made of interlocking metal rings.
Worn over a gambeson.
Disadvantage to swimming.
It takes 1 minute to don or doff mail or gambeson.
It takes 2 minutes to don or donoff both.
Being assisted halves the time it takes to don or donoff.
| Type | Weight | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Javelin | 1 st. | 5 sp |
| Spear | 2 st. | 10 sp |
| Light Axe | 1 st. | 50 sp |
| Heavy Axe | 2 st. | 100 sp |
| Dagger | 1/4 st. | 20 sp |
| Shortsword | 1 st. | 100 sp |
| Longsword | 2 st. | 150 sp |
| Sling | 1/4 st. | 2 sp |
| Bow | 2 st. | 200 sp |
The normal damage for weapons is 1d6 damage.
Light damage means roll a second d6 and keep the lowest.
Heavy damage means you roll a second d6 and keep the highest.
Attacks use strength. You have advantage when attacking targets without a shield or melee weapon.
You can throw melee weapons, but at a disadvantage and causing only light damage.
Attacks use dexterity. Ammo is not individually tracked, but assumed as part of the weapon's bulk.
Can be thrown without disadvantage and causing normal damage.
Can attack from behind a shield wall. Must be carried in your hand.
Deals light damage. If the attack had advantage, it deals heavy damage instead.
You can use dexterity for attacks.
One-handed melee weapons.
Two-handed weapons that deal heavy damage.
One-handed ranged weapon.
The 1/4 st. capacity accounts for a handful of stones that can be easily replenished.
Two-handed ranged weapon that deals heavy damage.
The 2 st. capacity accounts for a quiver with roughly 20 arrows. Don't bother tracking arrows individually.