Core Rules

The following works were influential in the creation of this hack:

This work is based on Blades in the Dark, product of One Seven Design, developed and authored by John Harper, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. This work is an independent production by Emyrikol’s Games and is not affiliated with One Seven Design or the Melsonian Arts Council.

Table of Contents

Character Creation

  1. Record your Stamina. It is 16.
  2. Record your Luck. It is 6.
  3. Record baseline possessions that every character starts with: 2d6 ivory pieces and a knife.
  4. Choose or roll for a background.
  5. Choose or roll for a kind.
  6. Choose a name.

Character Advancement

When you make a difficult roll, put a mark next to the skill you’re attempting to use. A roll is difficult if the Tier of the roll is higher than your current skill rating. If you don’t have the skill, add it your sheet at rank 0 and then mark it.

At the end of each session, choose a skill with a mark next to it and improve it by one (up to the natural maximum of 4). Then clear all of your marks.

When you spend at least a week training a skill, improve it by one point. This usually requires the assistance of a teacher, manual, spellbook, or similar. The GM has final say on what is sufficient to train you; the more skilled you become, the greater the requirements will be.

When you complete an adventure, you may improve one of your attributes at the expense of another, if you wish. For example, you might shift your Grace up by 1d, but shift your Insight down in exchange. Like skills, the natural maximum for attributes is 4d.

Special Advancement

Special abilities are unique powers that allow your character to bend or break the rules of the game. Most backgrounds start with one (some magical backgrounds start with a ritual instead). After character creation, new special abilities can only be obtained by finding them in the world, like treasure.

When you learn about a new power, technique, or practice that exists in the world, decide whether your character wants to pursue it as a special ability. Before you can start doing so, you’ll need to establish a foundation: for example, by learning the basics from someone who already practises it, gleaning the fundamentals from some ancient tome, or by experiencing the technique firsthand.

Each special ability has a trigger, which you must fulfil in order to make progress towards learning it. For most special abilities, you’ll need to fulfil the trigger 4 times before you can obtain it. Track your progress with a progress clock. When the clock is full, you learn the ability.

For examples of special abilities that can be found in various places across the Archipelago, check the Seafarer’s Almanac.

Attributes and Skills

Every player character possesses five attributes:

Each player character also has various different skills. For example, they might be skilled in Knife Fighting, Spells of Influence, or Charm. Both attributes and skills have a rank between 0 and 4 that determines how capable you are in that area.

Your background determines your character’s starting attribute and skill ranks. Here’s a rough guide for what each rank represents:

Rolling the Dice

The core of this game is a conversation. The players describe what their characters do, and the GM tells them what happens. If you attempt something trivial or impossible, the GM will simply describe the outcome. If there is an unavoidable cost that must be paid or a consequence that must be suffered, the GM will tell you what the price is.

When you face an avoidable consequence from a dangerous opponent or a challenging situation, the GM will describe the potential consequences (“if you attack, you might get hurt”). They will also tell you about the effectiveness or impact of your approach (“either way, you’ll inflict your weapon’s damage”). Then you roll the dice to see if you can avoid the consequences.

The “avoidable consequence” you’re rolling to avoid might be the threat of failure, if you’re attempting something particularly difficult or uncertain. It might be some straightforward unpleasantness, like suffering a physical injury or getting caught. It might be a complication, like alerting the guards or accidentally starting a fire. Sometimes, there will be multiple consequences that you’re rolling to avoid at once.

1. Choose an approach. Depending on what you’re trying to do or how you’re trying to avoid the consequence, decide with the GM which of the five attributes is most relevant to the roll. This determines how many dice you’ll start with. For example, if your Grace is rank 3, then you would start with 3d6.

2. Add dice for additional threats. If there’s more than one threat or consequence you’re rolling to avoid, add 1d for each additional threat. Feel free to suggest additional consequences to the GM for more dice! More consequences means more danger, but the extra dice mean you’re more likely to avoid any single threat.

3. Apply skills. The GM sets a Tier rating for the roll between 0 and 6, using the same scale as attributes and skills. For example, a Tier 0 roll requires no special training at all, while a Tier 3 roll would be appropriate for an expert. A Tier 6 roll would be extremely challenging even for a master.

Compare the Tier against your character’s applicable skill rating, if any. For each level of difference:

Unskilled Rolls. If it doesn’t make sense to apply any skills to a roll, then the Tier is probably 0. Everyone has reflexes and everyone can dodge a trap, though some traps might be so fast that only someone who has specially trained their reflexes is properly prepared.

4. Roll the dice. Assign a die result to each potential threat you’re facing. If you have 0d, roll two dice and pick the lowest result.

Judge the results as follows:

Resisting Consequences. You can spend Luck to resist any consequence (whether or not it came from a roll) as long as it makes sense for a stroke of momentary luck to save you. Each point of Luck you spend allows you to resist a single consequence. Usually, resisting means that the impact of the consequence is reduced by one step (i.e. from standard to limited). If it makes more sense, the GM also has the option to rule that your character completely avoids the consequence.

Critical Success. If you have any left over 6s at the end of the roll, you can spend them to increase the effectiveness of your action, to set up an ally, or for some other benefit or useful outcome agreed with the GM.

Risk and Effect Levels

Most of the time, the GM can simply describe the potential consequences and impact of your actions in terms of the fiction. Sometimes, though, it’s helpful to have a more concrete way to talk about them.

If needed, both risks and effects can be categorised into four levels: limited, standard, great and extreme. If you’re rolling against more than one threat, then each threat can have its own risk level. For example, the blaze that is slowly building behind you might only be a limited risk right now, but the skilled swordsman facing you down might pose a great risk.

Standard is the default starting position for both risk and effect, but the Tier of the roll and the player character’s relevant skills factor into risk and effect. The GM can also adjust them depending on the fictional positioning of the roll, regardless of the Tier. Tier represents how much skill factors into the roll, not how dangerous or effective it is, necessarily.

It’s usually possible to trade risk for effect and vice versa. For example, by going all-in and fighting recklessly, you might take a bigger risk to achieve a greater effect. By keeping your distance and fighting defensively, you might reduce both risk and effect.

Controlled Position

If you are in control and there’s no impending danger, there’s no need to make a roll. The GM simply describes what your character is able to accomplish without taking a risk or paying a cost.

Rules which reduce the Tier of an action might make it controlled, if it seems like there’s now little chance of failure. Likewise, rules which increase the Tier of an action might force you to roll, even if it would otherwise be controlled.

Setup Actions

A setup action is an ordinary roll where the intent is to assist another player. For example, you might create a distraction or protect the archer while they line up a shot. Assuming your roll is successful, the Tier of the action you’re supporting is reduced (usually by 1).

As usual, you only have to roll if there’s an avoidable consequence. If you can set up an ally without taking a risk, or simply by paying some cost, then you don’t have to roll.

Group Actions

When your characters work together to overcome some obstacle as a team, everyone rolls individually to see how their part of the consequences manifest. If you’re all trying to lift a gate together, for example, each member of the party would roll separately to see if they become tired from their exertions.

When you combine your efforts, it usually modifies the Tier of the roll. For example, taking on two trained swordfighters at once might normally require an expert (Tier 3). If you’re fighting side-by-side with an ally, however, it’s enough for both of you to be trained warriors (Tier 2). In some cases, you might even have controlled position when you work together, allowing you to skip the roll entirely.

The same applies for NPCs joining a group action. They don’t roll, but their participation factors into your fictional positioning, adjusts the Tier, and informs the potential consequences. If they’re fighting alongside you, they inflict their damage as well.

More isn’t always better, though. If you’re trying to sneak through an enemy encampment, a smaller group will be easier to conceal. Adding more people won’t make the task any easier - it might even make it harder!

The Spotlight

This game doesn’t have rules for deciding who goes first. Instead, the spotlight shifts around from character to character. It flows with the conversation, always following the fiction.

It’s the GM’s job to manage the spotlight, shifting the focus around so that everyone (including non-player characters) gets a chance to do something interesting. As a player, you can also help out by handing the spotlight over to someone who hasn’t had a chance to contribute yet.

When the spotlight is on a player character, we’re asking them what they do. They’re the ones taking the initiative and propelling the fiction forward. Whether or not their action involves a roll, what happens next is in their hands.

When the spotlight is on something that threatens the player characters, like an enemy or a hazard, we’re asking how the player characters react. The GM tells the players what’s about to happen, and it’s up to them to decide how to respond.

Shifting the spotlight more aggressively is a great way to represent a more formidable threat. An enemy that seizes the initiative from the player characters, behaves unpredictably, and forces the players to react to its actions is going to be a lot more dynamic and challenging to deal with than a more passive threat.

Combat & Harm

Combat in this game works like any other action. When you engage an enemy in melee combat you will usually inflict your damage automatically, unless there’s a significant threat of failing to hurt the enemy at all. The main consequence that you’re rolling to avoid, then, is whether they hurt you back.

Ranged combat is the same. If it’s a tricky shot, you might be rolling to see whether you miss. If you’re firing into combat, you might be rolling to avoid hitting one of your allies by accident. If it’s an easy shot, though, you inflict damage automatically.

Weapon Choice. Weapons are already distinguished from each other by their damage tables, but sometimes their unique characteristics should factor into fictional positioning as well. Slashing at a giant’s leg with a dagger won’t be very effective; you’ll have more luck if you strike a vital area or use a bigger weapon. Likewise, a spear is going to be more useful than a mace when you’re trying to fight something flying overhead. Feel free to adjust risk and effect to reflect factors such as this.

Reach. Some melee weapons, like whips and polearms, have reach. Weapons like this give you an advantage (less risk or more effect) when engaging with an enemy that doesn’t have reach. Once they close into melee range, this advantage is lost.

Range. If you need a way to divide up range increments, you can use the following scale: melee range, throwing range, bow range, extreme range, too far. Assuming there are no obstacles to slow you down, it’s reasonable to move one of these increments in a short period of time (i.e. from throwing range to melee). If you are very fast or make a roll, you might be able to cover two in the same period.

Damage

After successfully harming someone, roll a d6 and consult the damage table for your weapon to see how much Stamina they lose. All modifiers to damage will, unless otherwise specified, modify the damage roll and not the actual damage inflicted. Except when resisting with Luck, the damage roll can never be reduced below 1.

Damage is, first and foremost, a pacing mechanism. It represents cuts, bruises, scrapes and fatigue - the kind of harm you can shrug off, until you can’t. Your character’s Stamina tells us how much attrition they can withstand before they’re finally taken out of the action.

Instead of stacking on more damage, the GM should always feel free to reduce the damage and inflict fictional harm in the form of conditions instead. Exactly how much harm you inflict depends on the risk (for incoming damage) or effect (for outgoing damage) of the action. For example:

Damage is a helpful procedure, not an iron rule. If it’s clear you’ve hurt someone but it’s not clear how much, use a damage roll to see how badly they fare. You don’t need to make a damage roll when the effects are obvious: if you slit someone’s throat or crush them under a boulder, chances are they’re simply dead.

Resisting Damage. Just like any other consequence, player characters can spend Luck to resist damage. When you resist damage, each point of Luck you spend reduces the damage roll by 2. If this would reduce it below 1, you resist the damage completely.

Dual Wielding. If you wield a weapon in each hand, roll the damage die for both of them and pick whichever result you prefer. If you’re wielding two different weapons, the larger weapon usually determines what Skill you roll to fight with them.

Group Damage. To cut down on dice rolls, resolve damage from multiple sources by rolling for whichever weapon is most dangerous. For each additional attacker or source of damage, add a +1 bonus to the damage roll. As usual, only bother with this if the outcome is unclear. If it’s clear that the target is overwhelmed, there’s no need to roll.

Conditions

Any fictional injury or harm that hinders or troubles your character in a concrete way is represented by a condition. This includes physical injuries, psychological traumas, and even status effects like drunkenness or poison.

For example, you might complete a perilous climb but become Exhausted in the process. The bite of a venomous creature might result in you being Poisoned. A scathing insult might leave you Humiliated, or a crisis of faith might leave you feeling Hollow.

Conditions go away on their own after a little while, as soon as it makes sense in the fiction. If you’re exhausted, then resting will clear it. If you’re poisoned, then time or an antidote will be enough to cure you. If you’re humiliated, a strong drink or a chance to prove yourself might help.

In any situation where you’d reasonably expect one of your conditions to hinder you, the GM may invoke it to increase the Tier of a roll by 1 or to introduce a new threat to the situation. If you have multiple conditions that apply, the GM can invoke them all at once.

Serious Conditions. To represent lingering wounds or deep traumas that hinder you more permanently, inflict a serious condition. A close brush with death might leave you Haunted, for example, or a devastating blow from a powerful monster might leave you with Broken Ribs. Clearing such conditions often requires an extended period of rest, the attentions of an expert healer, or powerful magic. When the GM invokes a serious condition, they can feel free to increase the Tier of a roll significantly, or to introduce much worse threats to the situation.

Recovery

If you take a long rest of 8 hours or so and spend 1 Supply on provisions, the entire party (up to 6 people) regains 1d6 Stamina and 1 Luck. If you spend 2 Supply instead, the party regains 2d6 Stamina and 1d6 Luck.

A skilled healer can attempt to adminster first aid to restore Stamina. This restores 1d6 Stamina, at the risk of using up their healing supplies. If they don’t have the right equipment, they roll at the risk of making things worse. Restorative magic is also available in the form of potions and spells that can restore Stamina.

Stamina is a representation of physical fatigue, ebbing willpower, and minor cuts and bruises. More permanent injuries will require some combination of time, expert medical attention, and powerful magic to cure. Such injuries are represented by serious conditions, and it’s up to the GM exactly what will heal them.

Death

If you fall to 0 Stamina, it means you’ve sustained an injury severe enough to seriously impair or even kill you. When that happens, make a roll using a single die. You can spend Luck to improve your odds; for each point of Luck you spend, add 1d to the roll.

Judge the results as follows:

You only need to bother with this roll if you reach 0 Stamina by suffering damage, or if it’s unclear just how screwed you are. If it’s obvious that you are dead, then you’re dead. If it’s obvious that your arm is broken, then that’s what happens.

Last Stand. When you hit 0 Stamina, you can choose to opt out of the Luck roll and take your last stand instead. When you do this, your character’s death is set in stone. Before you die, however, you will manage one last feat of dramatic defiance. No roll is required; decide with the GM and the other players what the impact of your final act will be, then die.

Magic

Spells work like skills. Every spell you know covers a category of magic, such as “Spells of Influence” or “Spells of Frost”, and has a rating. Check the glossary of spells for a more detailed description of the kinds of magic they cover, along with some example spells for each discipline.

Spells also have a Stamina cost, which must be paid to cast them whether or not the spell succeeds. The exact cost depends on the magnitude of magic you’re trying to work:

Magic is delicate and prone to failure when rushed. If you’re casting a spell in a controlled position, with plenty of time and no imminent threats, then you don’t have to make a roll. Otherwise, there’s always the risk that the spell fails, or misses the target, or is resisted by the target.

Spells are the work of a moment, but even the most taxing spells are limited in scope and duration. For more ambitious and powerful magical workings, you’ll need to turn to ritual magic.

Equipment

Having the right equipment is at least half of any adventurer’s skillset, but keeping track of every arrow and pint of oil isn’t very much fun. Instead, your character has an abstract resource called Supply, which represents how much spare equipment they’re currently carrying. It also represents things like food and other essential provisions.

At any time, you may spend some Supply to produce any piece of equipment that’s explicitly written down on your character sheet. You can also spend Supply to produce anything you want, if you can justify when you might have got it and how. Usually, you do that by explaining where you bought it and paying some coin. As long as it’s reasonable, you can produce the item in question.

When you produce an item, you must spend Supply depending on how heavy and bulky it is:

Once you’ve spent Supply to produce an item, mark the box next to the item on your character sheet. It’s no longer abstract indefinite “stuff” - you’re carrying that specific item until the next time you resupply. Any items you pick up in the middle of an adventure start out marked, of course, since it’s already established that you’re carrying them.

Establishing Equipment. Most of the time, choosing when to convert your abstract Supply into concrete equipment is up to the players. Sometimes, though, the GM might ask you to commit to having an item or not. If an NPC’s reaction is affected by whether you’re armed, for example, the GM may ask whether you’re carrying your sword. If you are, you’ll need to spend Supply and mark it as usual.

Resupplying and Load

When you have time to access all of your stuff and prepare carefully for your next adventure, clear all the marks from your equipment and decide how much Supply your character is carrying. You can venture forth with a maximum of 12 Supply, but the amount you’re carrying determines your Load:

Your Load is equal to the amount of Supply you have left, plus anything currently marked on your character sheet. For example, if you have 4 Supply left and you’ve also marked a longsword (1 Supply) on your sheet, you are carrying a total of 5 Supply worth of stuff. That’s a Normal Load.

Gaining Supply. You can only perform a full resupply when you have the time and resources to prepare carefully for your next adventure. Usually, that means returning to a town or returning to your ship. You might gain Supply in the middle of adventure, though. For example, if you loot an abandoned storeroom, you might find some useful items that increase your Supply.

Losing Supply. Your Supply simply represents the indefinite items in your pack. You can lighten your load at any time by leaving it behind. You can even pick it back up later, if you find your way back to it. In some cases, you might also lose Supply as a consequence - for example, if a thieving animal gets into your pack and eats your provisions.

Armour

There are four levels of protection that armour can grant. They are vaguely defined so that whatever assortment of protective equipment you’ve managed to cobble together can be assigned to an armour level. Armour works as a modifier to damage rolls whenever it makes sense for it to protect you from harm.

A target is considered to be Unarmoured (+1), Lightly Armoured (0), Modestly Armoured (-1), or Heavily Armoured (-2). Carrying a shield also reduces damage rolls by 1, on top of whatever armour you’re wearing.

Masterwork Gear

Masterwork equipment is rarer and more expensive than regular gear, but also more reliable and effective. Its exceptional qualities can provide assistance when they apply to an action, similar to a Setup Action.

When you get a piece of masterwork gear, make a note of what makes it special. A bow might be accurate at great distances, for example, or a shield might be resistant to fire. If the unique qualities of your masterwork equipment apply to a roll, reduce the Tier of that roll by 1.

If you have multiple masterwork items that apply to a single roll, they don’t stack.

The Dice of Fate

When the GM isn’t sure how some situation should proceed, they can use the Dice of Fate to disclaim decision making and determine how things unfold. Turn to the Dice of Fate when you’re unsure of what should happen next and want to leave it up to the dice.

The Dice of Fate might be rolled to establish the weather, indicate a random NPC’s mood or attitude, or to determine the initial position when the player characters stumble across some uncertain situation.

If some Attribute/Skill or Tier rating is applicable, you can use that as a starting point for how many dice to roll. Otherwise, start from 1d for sheer dumb luck. Add 1d for every major advantage that applies, and subtract 1d for every major disadvantage.

Judge the results as follows:

The Event Roll

The Event Roll is a special use for the Dice of Fate which the GM can use to represent the passage of time. It’s a way to answer the question of how and when a complication reveals itself - whether it’s an encounter, a change in the weather, a sudden obstacle, or similar.

The Event Roll doesn’t tell us whether something happens - it’s not a “random encounter” roll. It’s used for when you’ve already decided there’s something in the area that the players will need to deal with, but you’re not sure quite how or when it happens, or how much trouble it puts them in.

To make an Event Roll, use the Dice of Fate normally. Add dice for precautions the player characters have taken or factors which are in their favour - anything that might give them more warning or help them to avoid the event entirely. Subtract dice for anything that has the opposite effect.

Judge the results as follows:

Progress Clocks

When an obstacle can’t be resolved by a single roll, you can use a progress clock - a circle divided up into segments - to track ongoing effort or the approach of impending trouble. The more complex the problem, the more segments in the clock.

As a general rule of thumb, each level of risk or effect is equivalent to one “tick” of the clock (so two ticks are the default). Clocks should always reflect the fiction, though, not the other way around. Don’t be afraid to throw a half-filled clock away if the players come up with a clever plan to overcome an obstacle in one fell swoop.

An illustration of three progress clocks.

You can also use progress clocks to represent long-term goals and projects that the player characters might wish to undertake, or to track ongoing background events and the passage of time. For example, you might use a clock to count down to the next Event Roll.

Boons and Banes

A bane is like a condition, and works the same way, except that it is attached to an area or a faction rather than a player character. For example, messing with an ancient sacred site might earn you the ire of the elementals bane, while picking fights and throwing your weight around might make the locals wary of you. Like a condition, the GM may invoke a bane at any time to increase the Tier of a roll by 1.

A boon is the opposite. It’s an advantage or benefit, specific to some area or faction, that the player characters have earned or unlocked through their actions. For example, making a certain forest their base of operations might make it home turf, since they know it like the back of their hand. Likewise, a faction that the players saved from perdition might consider themselves indebted to them. Where it makes sense to do so, a boon can act like a setup action, reducing the Tier of any roll by 1.

Like conditions, boons and banes don’t last forever. They fade whenever it makes sense for them to do so, in the fiction. Even a faction that is indebted to you will eventually consider that debt to have been repaid, and it’s always possible to win back the trust of wary locals.

Non-Player Characters

As described in The Spotlight, the GM doesn’t roll for people and creatures; only the players generally roll dice. When the spotlight is on a non-player character, it just means that any rolls you make will be to react to their actions, rather than taking the initiative yourself.

For that reason, NPCs only have four stats: Tier, Stamina, Armour and Damage.

Tier is a way to summarise how formidable, dangerous or skilled an NPC is (especially in their element or area of expertise). It’s roughly comparable to a player character’s attribute and skill ratings. If your Sword Fighting skill is 2 and you’re fighting with a Tier 2 swordfighter, for example, you’re probably evenly matched. Although the GM will rarely roll an NPC’s Tier directly, they can use it as a rough guide when setting the Tier of a roll.

You can use the following list as a guideline when determining the Tier of an NPC:

Stamina, Armour and Damage work exactly the same for NPCs as they do for players. NPCs can also have their own unique special abilities, just like player characters.

Stamina for NPCs. Player characters can’t increase their maximum Stamina without magic; most will never have more than 16 Stamina. Bear this in mind when creating NPCs. You should use Tier and special abilities to reflect a creature’s overall threat level, rather than piling on Stamina. An ordinary person has between 8 and 12 Stamina (the heroes of our story get a bit of plot armour), so only give NPCs more than this if they really are physically tougher than a normal person.

NPC vs. NPC. Even if Tier is a rough equivalent for attributes and skills, NPCs still don’t use the same rules as player characters. If two NPCs are facing off, you can just compare their Tier ratings and fictional capabilities and decide how it goes - no dice required. If you’re unsure how things turn out or you want to represent an unpredictable and chaotic situation, you can use the Dice of Fate to decide how each side fares.

Setting Up NPCs. If a player wants to perform a setup action to help or hinder an NPC with a roll, it’s up to you how to adjudicate it. If it’s clear how the player character’s assistance changes the outcome, you can simply narrate the results. Otherwise, you can adjust the Dice of Fate to reflect the harm or help the player character is providing.