If you're a player

Characters

You are an adventurer, brave or foolish, willing to march (or creep) into danger in search of fame and fortune.

You’ll start with a trait, a weapon, some equipment, and a little luck.

Traits

You start with 1 trait.

Your traits set you apart from your companions.

They describe what you’re good at, what options you have to avoid danger, or maybe just the first thing people notice about you.

Example Traits

Items

You start with 6 torches, 1 week of rations, a weapon, and 3 additional pieces of equipment.

Some example items are listed below. They all have a cost, given in c, for coins (or cabbages).

Certain items such as armour, shields, and weapons can be broken to avoid injury or death. Broken items are not useful until they are repaired or replaced.

Weapons

Equipment

Luck

You start with 1 luck.

Luck improves your odds when you make a save, and can be spent to avoid injury, exhaustion, or death.

Your luck will improve with experience.

Details

Choose a name, pronouns, and describe your look. Now you’re ready to play.

Play

The referee will describe the situation. Ask them questions to clarify anything ambiguous before continuing.

Say what you do and how you do it.

The referee might ask you to clarify what your intent is, if it’s unclear.

If you attempt anything dangerous the referee will explain the consequences of failure and ask you to make a save.

The referee will then describe what happens next, and the game continues.

Saves

If the referee asks you to make a save, roll a 6-sided die to try and avoid danger.

If you roll equal to or under your current luck you succeed, otherwise you fail and face consequences such as injury or exhaustion.

A 1 is always a success and a 6 is always a failure.

If you have an obvious advantage—such as a relevant trait, useful item, or help from a friend—roll 2 dice and take the lowest result.

If an action is uncertain, but not dangerous, talk it through as a group instead of making a save. Flip a coin if you can’t decide.

You may reduce your luck by 1 to turn a failed save into a success, or to avoid injury.

Your luck can’t go below 0.

Recover luck by resting.

Combat

If you engage an enemy in combat, play as normal, describing your actions one moment at a time.

Most actions taken in combat are dangerous enough to require a save.

Injury & Exhaustion

Each time you’re injured or exhausted, cross out a trait or an appropriate item such as a shield or armour.

If you have nothing left to cross out you die.

Traits lost to injury or exhaustion aren’t useful until you recover. You may still be big or clever but you’re too hurt or tired to benefit from it.

Death

If you die, make a new character and get back to play.

Don’t spend too long figuring out how your new character arrives­—do what’s best for the table, not what’s most realistic.

Rest & Recovery

When you spend a night resting, recover 1 luck up to a maximum equal to your number of traits.

When you spend a week resting with proper care, recover one lost trait.

For every full day you go without food or rest, make a save to avoid exhaustion.

Travel

The distance you can travel depends on the type of terrain.

You can travel up to twice as fast if you are unencumbered, familiar with the terrain, or by making a forced march.

If you make a forced march, or travel for more than 8 hours without rest, make a save to avoid injury or exhaustion.

The referee will track time as you travel, and check to see if you have any encounters along the way.

XP

Each session of play you survive earns you 1 xp.

Once you have more xp than traits, you gain a new trait and reset your xp to 0. So your 2nd trait costs 2 xp, your 3rd costs 3 xp, and so on.

Whenever you gain a new trait, you gain 1 luck.