Appendices

Level One Quick Reference

Effective Level

Roll greater than 0 and not greater than your EL. Your result minus opposition or resistance is your Effect - what actually happens.

Rolling Dice

Simple Pool. Pick up one die for every point of your Effective Level (EL) and roll them all at once. Count the dice showing odd numbers - that's your result. Any die works as long as it has roughly equal odd and even faces: d6, d8, d10, d12, even coins.

Extra Effort. Roll extra dice beyond your EL. More dice push your result toward the middle, improving odds of a solid outcome. The catch: if your total count exceeds your EL, the roll fails completely - zero effect, regardless of opposition.

Action Types

Free Action. No turn required. Usable repeatedly - defense, recovery rolls, releasing a bound spell, short statements.

Direct Action. Attempt to overcome an obstacle or opponent directly. Effect accumulates against the same target across multiple actions.

Boost Action. Create an advantage. Your effect becomes a bonus added to the next relevant EL. Boosts last until used or the scene ends.

Boosts & Persistent Wagers

Instead of directly overcoming an obstacle, create an advantage for a future action. Your effect becomes a bonus added to the next relevant EL.

Persistent Wagers remove points from your EL before rolling. If your roll succeeds without them, the wagered points become a Boost that lasts for the entire scene.

Opposition & Resistance

Opposition (default). Both sides roll. Higher result wins; the winner's effect can harm the loser. Initiative is typically irrelevant - everyone acts and rolls simultaneously.

Resistance. Opponent rolls to reduce your effect but generates no effect back. Resistance rolls don't consume the opponent's turn.

Hooks

Character motivations, traits, complications, fears, desires. Hooks make your character memorable and mechanically rewarding to play.

Using Hooks. Once per scene, add your Hook's rank as a bonus to any roll where the Hook is clearly relevant.

Earning Karma. When a Hook creates meaningful problems, drives difficult decisions, or complicates your life, you earn Karma (once per session) or a Luck Token, and can rank up the Hook after the session (max = Level).

Harm & Recovery

Hindrance. Situational obstacle. Does not count toward being Down. Removed through story action - narrate your way out of it.

Complication. Temporary harm. Disappears on any successful recovery roll.

Injury. Lasting damage that reduces EL until healed. Requires daily recovery rolls to clear.

Temporary Hook. Forced behavioral condition. Acts as a Hook but grants no Karma. Poison, disease, fear, and curses often deal this kind of Harm. Must act within its constraints until resolved.

Recovery

Post-Conflict (Free Action, soon after conflict). Roll Level + any Healer boost. Your effect determines how much Harm was Complication (disappears) vs. Injury (remains).

Armor Second Recovery. After post-conflict recovery, armor grants a second roll - converting remaining Injury to Complications that persist until daily recovery.

Daily Recovery (Free Action, once per day when rested). Roll Level + any Healer boost against current Injury total. Effect reduces Injury by that amount.

Down threshold = Level + 1 Harm

Luck Tokens

1 per Level at start; +1 per scene if you spent one last scene.
1 Karma Token (the blue chip) = emergency supertoken.

Spend a Token to:

Best Possible Roll. Change any die roll to the best possible result - even after seeing the opposition's roll.

Plot Armor! Have your gear absorb ALL damage from one hit. Gear rating is reduced by the amount absorbed.

Story Point. Declare a plausible story event or fact. Negotiate with the GM - it must fit the fiction.

Wager Auto-Succeed. Spend a Token to automatically succeed on a Persistent Wager roll - the wagered dice become a full scene Boost without rolling.