Intro

Pay Attention! is a rules light, universal RPG system. It can handle anything from medieval peasants to space cowboys to multiverse-hopping loose-cannon 1980s cops who have superpowers and know kung fu, and it can do all of them at the same time. It works with any tone and power level, from very grounded settings where you play as average people to wacky superhero cartoon space adventures. It’s so quick and easy that you can take any group of bozos who’ve never played before, pick a random setting, and jump straight into playing in a few minutes. It does this by doing something different than other systems. Instead of getting caught up in using big lists of skills to limit your ability to do things, it instead focuses on something that limits everyone equally, no matter how powerful: you can only pay attention to so many things at once. You might be the fastest gun in the west that never misses, but you can still get shot when you’re not looking. You can use the same set of rules for any character, any setting. Improvise the details as you go. It just works.

It’s designed to be really modular and hackable, with a lot of optional rules you can mix and match to your tastes and to the setting. You don’t even need to use dice if you don’t want to. Sit down and play it during lunch using crumbled pits of paper and pocket change as pieces. I don’t care. I’m not your dad.

What you need to play

Something to write with that’s erasable.
Something to use as tokens. Coins, Marbles, Dice. It all works. Preferably with a way you can differentiate them somehow. (Differently colored dice are nice because they pull double duty.)
At least five 6-sided dice. But preferably 6+ dice per player (including GM).
- Amazon has large inexpensive packs of dice with different colors. You can use them for both the dice and the tokens. I recommend buying more than you think you need.
- You can also use a dice app on your phone, but that’s boring.
- Technically anything you can use for random generation works, even flipping coins or playing rock, paper, scissors.
Friends without schedule conflicts. (The hardest part.)
Common sense.

Virtual tabletop software also works. I used Tabletop Simulator extensively when making this system.

Designate a Game Master

You know what a Game Master is.

Designate a Caller

The players should designate amongst themselves a “caller”. Their job is to keep track of what everyone is planning on doing, then relaying that to the GM when everyone is ready to resolve their actions. This ensures everyone is on the same page, and allows the GM to focus on getting things ready while the players discuss their next move. The caller isn’t necessarily the “party face” in game, it’s an out of game role that the player has. The caller doesn’t dictate what other players do, they’re only a mediator between player and GM. The caller should try to accurately convey what the player wishes to do without judgement. Other players can still speak directly to the GM, the caller is just there to give some order to things so declaring actions isn’t a free-for-all. The caller doesn’t need to be the same player every session, feel free to rotate which player is the caller session to session. - You can get away with not having a caller with smaller groups, but with larger groups it’s recommended.

Core Gameplay

This is a simple, but deep roleplaying system. Your character is assumed to be competent and generally successful at what they put their mind to. Actions are adjudicated by paying Costs (many times without rolling). You have Attention Tokens representing how many things your character can focus on at once. Your character’s strengths, abilities, equipment, and everything else that positively affect you are represented with Tags. Negative things are represented with Statuses. Usually everything is loosely turn based with simultaneous actions, limiting how much people can do and making sure everyone gets to act. (Yes, even in dialogue. It’s less rigid than it sounds, don’t think D&D turns.)

Actions: Goal, Method, Cost

When you want to change something in the scene, you make an Action. Actions follow the pattern of Goal, Method, Cost. Say the outcome you’re trying to achieve, the method you’re using to achieve it, and the GM will tell you the cost of doing that action. If you’re fine with paying the cost, then you do the action and succeed. If you’re not fine with the cost, then you can back out and think of something else before committing.

Goal

When you want something to happen in the scene, you say your Goal. This is the specific effect you want to happen, not the methods you’re achieving it. Goals can be things like: “I want to get past the guard.”, “I want to get someplace I can look out for trouble.”, or “I want to get into the room with the safe in it.”

If there’s any important details to know about or obstacles in the way of the goal, the GM will let you know. e.g. “The room with the safe in it has two guards standing watch at the door.” or “There’s a tall building next door. The roof has a perch on it with a good view of the courtyard.” Both the GM and player should feel free to ask questions to get on the same page and fill out any other details. If you aren’t on the same page here, the rest of this doesn’t matter.

Method

There’s a lot of ways you can achieve a goal, all with pros and cons. The Method is the concrete steps you’re taking to make the goal happen and mitigate any obstacles in the way. If your goal is “Knock out the guard.” the method might be “Drop the chandelier he’s standing under on top of him.” Methods can be multi-step operations, don’t feel limited to a single thing at a time like some other systems. If you want to stealthily take out a guard in a watchtower, both sneaking up, climbing the tower, and attacking can be done in a single action. Just know that more complex actions have higher costs, and there’s only so much you can do at a time.

This is also where you’d declare how many Attention Points you’re using on the action and discuss any relevant Tags. (Which will be explained later.)

If there’s any problems with your goal and method, the GM can bring it up now. .e.g. “The guard’s actually standing in the corner and the chandelier is on the other side of the room.” If the method is impossible or the goal is stupid, the GM can just say no to it. But it’s better to let players know the consequences and let them decide for themselves if it’s worth falling to their deaths in a vain attempt to fly by flapping their arms really hard.

Many times you’ll say your goal and method together to speed things up, but it’s important to always cover both your goal and method when doing something. If you focus on just the method without the goal, that leads to miscommunication and fights with the GM. e.g. “I drop the chandelier on the guard.” “The chandelier drops, splattering him into viscera!” “I didn’t want to kill him, just knock him out so I could question him!” Instead you should’ve said “I want to knock out the guard for questioning later, so I drop the chandelier on him.” You want to communicate an unambiguous cause and effect with every action.

Cost

While players generally succeed at things, that doesn’t mean it happens for free. Actions have Costs. This could be things like costing attention and stress (which we’ll get into later), costing a resource (“Pay cash to bribe the guard.”), or adding consequences. (“If you unlock the cells in the puppy asylum to free your friend, that will also unleash all the insane puppies!”) If the goal is too big to do in a single turn, the cost might be that you progress towards completing the goal, but not all the way. The cost can also include a roll for extra consequences (“If you fail to pick the lock in time, the guards will notice and attack you.”), but rolling isn’t assumed. Only add a roll when it’s interesting.

A cost could be literally anything, get creative with it. It could even be doing pushups in real life. If a player has a good idea for a cost, feel free to suggest it, just know that the GM gets the final say. Players can also choose to take on additional costs to an action for bonuses. (Commonly this would be getting bonus points for rolling for an additional consequence, because players are unrepentant gambling addicts.) Below is a non-exhaustive list of different costs an action might have.

The cost of an action might be different for one character than another, depending on the abilities of the character. A random guy might not be able to lift a car, but a superhero can do it with ease. This doesn’t always mean there’s no cost, just a different one. The superhero might be invulnerable to bullets, but the innocent bystanders around him aren’t, so he needs to be careful not to let the goons to spray their tommy guns at him or there’ll be collateral damage.

Example costs

Use Attention Points
Cause Stress
Add a Status
Damage your Reputation
Call in a Favor
Cost resources (such as money)
Use up time / turns
Tick a countdown
Narrative consequences
Roll for extra consequences (including failing the action or partial success)
Gain disadvantage on a roll
Add extra targets to a roll
Monkey’s Paw version of success
Providing goods and services to the GM in real life. (Bribery is always a legitimate answer.)

Taking the action

If the player is OK with the cost, then they take the action. They automatically succeed unless one of the costs was a chance of failure.

This might sound like a lot to do at the table compared to “I swing my sword”, but when you get the hang of it things move fast. This provides a framework so everyone can communicate what they want quicker and easier, so it cuts down time spent going back and forth arguing. And by focusing on goals, you’ll cut out all the pointless actions that don’t actually effect the scene in any tangible way. Things move a lot quicker when you’re not separately rolling for stealth every 5 steps, when really what matters is if you make it to the end of the hallway without being seen. And most importantly, it keeps you out of auto-pilot and encourages doing more interesting actions. Who cares if it’s a little more involved if it’s a lot more fun?

This framework applies to all actions in all systems, not just this one. In other systems you might have Goal: “Reduce the monster’s HP” Method: “Use the attack action” Cost: “Use an action point, roll for chance to fail, and roll for damage” When you start seeing things through this framework, it makes you a lot less rigid and more open to other solutions, even when using other systems. - Players: you can splash this into games, even without the GM knowing. Just tell them stuff that explicitly covers your Goal and Method like “I want to put the monster at disadvantage when Grognard attacks by grappling it.” This is also a good way of subtly annoying them after the 50th time of “I want to reduce the monster’s HP by hitting it with my sword.” You’ll naturally want to do something more creative just to be less repetitive.

This framework doesn’t just cover moment-to-moment actions, either. This can be overarching goals your character has. “I want to stop the vampire by using the holy symbol on his coffin” “You’ll need to go into the crypt to get the holy symbol, then get to the vampire’s crypt without spooking him.”

Example Action

Player: “I want to get into a hidden position on a roof overlooking the mansion, so I can spot trouble coming and snipe it with my bow.” GM: “There’s a building with a good perch next door, but it’s private property and there’s guards about. They might see you busting in and climbing on the roof.” - Player: “I talk to the guards and convince them there’s trouble around the block so they leave” GM: “That should work, but they’ll know your face and that you were here. They’ll be asking questions after the job is done.” - Player: “I just wait for a good opportunity and climb fast before they notice” GM: “It’s going to be hard for them to not notice you with how empty the streets are right now. Roll with disadvantage to see if you sneak by. If you fail they’ll try to arrest you for breaking and entering.” - Player: “I bribe the guards to look the other way” GM: “They don’t seem to like their job, they’ll probably go for 2 cash.” - Player: “I call in my favor to send Marty the hobo to distract them. He likes getting beat up, the old pervert.” GM: “That should work, mark off your favor with him” - Player: “I knock on the door and offer to sweep the chimney.” GM: “It’ll take you a minute to find a broom and give them the spiel, and the chimney sweeping union ain’t going to like an unauthorized scab doing work without cutting them in. You’ll take a hit to your reputation with them” - Player: “I flap my arms really hard and fly up there” GM: “You won’t get up there, but the flailing will draw the attention of the guards” (or alternatively: “No.”)

Flashbacks

Flashbacks are a special kind of action that allows you to declare an action you’ve previously taken in the fiction, but haven’t announced as a player yet. (Put specific rules here.)

Attention

To Experienced RPG players: This is not actions points. Don’t skim this part, this is important. (In the book, make this take a full page by itself, the bold part taking half a page)

Attention Points

Because characters generally succeed when they put their minds to something, the main limiting factor in what your character can do is their ability to focus on multiple things at once. In active situations, actions require a number of Attention Points spent on it (in addition to any other costs they may have). They represent how much your character is focusing on doing something. The more points you’re using on the action, the better you do it. - For more info on when you spend points or not, read the section on “Turns”.

Attention Tokens

You get points by using Attention Tokens. If you want to do something, you spend one or more tokens on the action. This is called “paying attention”. Each token gives one point towards that action. You typically have 5 tokens, representing the roughly 5 things the average person can focus on at any one time.

Attention applies for the entire turn

When you spend attention points on an action, you’ll continue to focus on it the entire turn. Attacking someone isn’t a single swipe of a sword, you’re locked in melee with the opponent the entire round. Because of that, things like “be stealthy” isn’t a discrete action that happens separate from everything else, but something that affects everything else you do that turn. That point you put into stealth means everything you do that turn is now stealthy. An attack is now a sneak attack, you’re not drawing attention to yourself when speaking, etc. - For more info, read the section “Attention Tokens aren’t Action Points”.

Using multiple points

Some things require more focus than others, so some actions will require spending multiple tokens to accomplish. A common time this will happen is when you’re doing things against NPCs. For example, if you’re trying to sneak past a guard, you need to spend more tokens on sneaking than they’re spending on looking for people sneaking. If you spend more, you automatically succeed. If you spend less, you automatically fail. On ties… that’s up to the GM, but generally things will go into a middle ground. So that guard might get a little suspicious, but not quite alerted.

Some things you can succeed with one point, but you’ll get a greater effect with more points. For example, in combat the more points you spend on attacking, the better you’ll be at getting around the opponent’s defenses and the more damage you’ll do. On actions that require rolling, you’ll get dice equal to the amount of points you spent on the action. - For more info, read the section “How many points do I spend?”

Statuses

Statuses are a special kind of tag, used to represent bad things like injuries or exhaustion. The bad news is that a status will passively reduce the points a token gives you by 1, because getting hurt is distracting. If you have no tags on that token, it means that token won’t give you any points when you use it. The good news is that you can use the status just like any other tag to gain a bonus point. (You’ll notice the penalty and bonus cancel out.) As with other tags, you can only use it for bonus points if it’s relevant to what you’re doing. So to get the bonus point, you need to have the status affect your action in some (probably negative) way. It could be giving disadvantage to a roll, adding extra consequences, costing stress, or making you find some clever workaround to make the status not interfere with what you’re doing. In some cases, you might even be able to use the status to your advantage and avoid negative consequences entirely. That broken arm could be used to get someone to sympathetically hold the door open for you… into the locked facility that you didn’t have a keycard for.

To differentiate a status from a regular tag on your sheet, put an exclamation point (!) in front of it. e.g. “! Drunk”

Using a status doesn’t count towards the usual limit of using one tag per token in an action.

“He who runs in front of bus gets tired. He who runs behind bus gets exhausted.” -Confucius

Injuries

Injury statuses have some special rules. Injuries don’t have to be physical effects, they can also be mental. If you gain stress beyond what you can handle, you’ll gain a stress injury. If you intimidate an NPC, they might get an “intimidated” status for the scene, which counts towards incapacitating them.

Incapacitation

Each token can have only one status on it. If you have statuses on all your tokens, you’re incapacitated for the scene and need the statuses treated to get back into action. You’ll also get incapacitated if you gain a level 3 status. When you’re incapacitated, you’re not necessarily unconscious, but you’re not in a condition to focus on anything else. (Might change this so there’s a distinction of statuses caused from damage, and general statuses. I think things like concealing weapons makes sense as a status, but shouldn’t incapacitate you)

Field Treatments

Field treatments can potentially make it easier to get the bonus, but actually healing the status so it goes away happens during downtime. e.g. A splint can allow you to hobble along on your broken leg without assistance, but you still have a broken leg that will require rest to heal. Field treatments may also get you going again when you’re incapacitated, at least for long enough to get someplace safe to rest.

You might be able to treat level 1 statuses in the field to get rid of them. They’re minor things that can go away on their own. And level 3 statuses might incapacitate or become fatal if not treated.

Status Levels

Statuses can have levels, just like any other tag. Higher levels will reduce points even further, but also gain as many back when you use them in your action. Higher level statuses will be more severe and need more extreme measures for the bonus to count. A level 1 injury might be a sprained ankle, level 2 would be a broken leg. If you have a status, and get a second of the same status, instead increase the original status’ level by 1. e.g. If you have a sprained right ankle, and you would get a second sprained right ankle, instead make that original status a level 2 broken right leg. Statuses effecting different sides of the body (e.g. left and right foot) count as separate and don’t combine. If a status would be level 4, it either causes a permanent disability (e.g. missing leg) or is fatal. Your choice.

Permanent Statuses

Some statuses may be permanent. They can’t be healed by normal means, but they also don’t count towards incapacitation. You can add a nonpermanent status to a token with a permanent status. If that nonpermanent status becomes permanent, then move it to another token without a permanent status. If you gain a permanent status and there’s no more room for one, then you die (or retire, or are otherwise taken out of adventuring).

To differentiate a permanent status on your sheet, write a hash mark (#) in front of it. e.g. “# Missing Arm 3”

Permanent statuses can be treated to reduce effect, the same as regular statuses. That missing leg is easier to work with when you have a peg leg.

Conditional Statutes

While usually statuses are a constant source of pain and distraction, some statuses only apply to certain situations. Fear of the dark doesn’t apply when you’re out on a sunny day. In that case, “this status doesn’t apply” is a legitimate way of getting the tag bonus. If you’ve established that a status doesn’t apply, you don’t need to worry about it until the situation changes to make it relevant.

Note: this doesn’t apply to injures. Being beat up is distracting no matter what you do.

Other Statuses

Statuses aren’t just wounds, and sometimes they play by different rules. Some statuses might have special effects. Having the “On Fire” status will give you burn injuries every turn, but you can instantly get rid of it with some water. If you have a “Concealing contraband” status, then you can get rid of the status by simply not trying to hide it anymore. Because it’s a status from something you’re actively doing, you can even end it for free at the start of the turn before your actions. If someone gives you a “Charmed” or “Intimidated” status, that might continue until they leave or do something to mess up your view of them (such as slipping on a banana peel).

Unspent Tokens (Perception and Reaction)

If you don’t spend a token in a turn, they’re not wasted. Unspent tokens represent staying generally aware of your surroundings. They’re used for noticing and reacting to things. This is similar to passive perception and reaction actions in other systems. If you’re ambushed or trigger a trap, you can only use your unspent tokens to defend yourself in the surprise round. If you’re paying enough attention, you might spot them and remove their element of surprise.

Example: there’s a pickpocket that tries to steal your purse - no points: he gets away scot free and you don’t notice - 1 point: he gets it, but you notice next turn - 2 points: he gets it, but you notice this turn and can react to look for him - 3 points: you notice as he’s taking it, you can react to stop him (though it’s contested rolls) - 4+ points: you notice him eying it right before he does it. You can act preemptively with uncontested actions (though it’s still happening)

Tags can apply to noticing things when they’re relevant. Someone with the “Fighter” tag on an unspent token is more likely to notice concealed weapons, people who know how to handle themselves, or when a fight is brewing.

The GM may choose to have a status count against your perception if it’s relevant, in which case the GM will ask you if you’re doing anything to mitigate it. This will only come up when it’s actively relevant and impeding the perception, to not bog the game down.

Action vs. Reaction

Reactions just deal with the fallout of something happening. Being proactive allows you to effect the situation as a whole more. If you react to someone attacking you, you can stop the damage and might even give them some damage in return, but making proactive actions means you don’t just do damage, but achieve extra effects like shoving them prone, disarming them, commanding them to surrender, or flat out escaping the situation. The goal isn’t to just trade hit points, it’s to control the scene so that you’re in an even better position next turn. If you don’t, the other guy will.

Reactions are also more likely to require a roll than proactive actions.

Bonus points

While tokens are the primary way of getting points, and you need to spend at least one token on doing something, you can get bonus points for things like having a relevant tag or being highly specific in what you’re doing. For example, if instead of just generally searching an entire room, you said you were looking for the golden key in the left drawer of the desk, you’d get a bonus point or two for being specific. It doesn’t take as much attention to do a specific task than to do something more broad. Bonus points only apply to the action that gained them, and can’t be saved or used on other actions. - Note: The specificity bonus doesn’t apply to things that are harder when you’re more specific, like hitting a bullseye vs. the whole target. In fact, that might take away points.

How many points do I spend?

The biggest thing that trips up players from other systems is “how much do I spend on this?” This system is a lot more analog than most systems, there isn’t a set point cost for doing most things. You spend more points to get a higher chance of success or a better effect when doing it.

How much do you spend on sneaking? It depends on how much the guards are paying attention. You could go all in with your points to get past them, or you could distract them and get past with a single point. If you spend the same amount as the guards, you might get by, but they’ll get suspicious and be a little more alert later. Actions in this system require using your head a little to sus out how hard something is going to be. If all else fails you can spend a point to gather info and know how much you can get away with. There’s a big list of examples in the back of this book that will help you get a feel for things.

This gets a little more complicated when you factor in that your character’s overall power level depends on how strong they are in the narrative. A random guy is going to have a harder time doing things than a superhero. Points just tell you how much the character is focusing on doing something, but how powerful they are and what they can reasonably do is highly dependent on genre and is something you need to discuss with the GM. This system requires you to use your head a little, especially if you’re playing unusually weak or strong characters compared to everyone else.

(Put examples giving rules of thumb on how much different points should do, and then direct them to the examples in the back of the book.)

Attention Tokens aren’t Action Points

While it may look like it at first, attention doesn’t work like action points in other systems. With action points, you spend a set number of points to do a single thing once. Attention means your character is focusing on that thing throughout the entire round. If you put points into being stealthy, that means that everything else you do that round is stealthy. It’s perfectly legitimate to do things like spend a token to always stay in melee range behind a character. Even if they move later on, you don’t need to spend anything else to follow. It’s all covered by that single token. The only reason you’d need to spend more points is if the person you’re following starts moving through rough terrain that would require more attention to safely move through, and safely navigating rough terrain is a separate issue from following them anyway.

Attention also means that you can declare an action, then continue to roleplay while it works passively. If you’re talking with a shady character, you can say “I’m going to keep an eye out for any tells he’s lying”, then roleplay talking with him as usual. If something pops up, then the GM can tell you. Otherwise, you can talk without any game mechanics breaking the flow of conversation. And if you’re focusing too much on that, you don’t notice the kid picking your pocket. This is particularly useful in dungeon crawls, where you can just say “I’m looking out for traps” and go about your business.

Default actions

If you’re in a situation where you’ll keep coming back to doing a particular set of actions, such as looking for traps in a dungeon crawl, you can say what your default actions are. When there isn’t something popping up that needs your attention, you can just assume that’s what your character is doing without having to micromanage things every turn.

Stress

Stress is the other primary thing you’ll be using on actions. Attention limits how much you can do at once, stress limits how much you can push yourself without rest. Stress is the cost of doing business for an adventurer. You do things that tax your body and mind and eventually you’ll crap out without getting some rest. By default you have 10 points of stress you can take before it starts causing problems. If you push yourself beyond that, you’ll take a negative status.

Take a breather

You can relieve some stress in the field by taking a breather. This is done like any other action, with Goal, Method, and Cost. Generally you’ll reduce your stress by either 1d4 or 2. This can’t restore you above the last time you took a breather. Additional stress relief can be gained by using luxury goods such as fine wine and food, or indulging in vices (which can restore above your last breather). You may be able to shake off certain minor (mental) statuses, such as being intimidated or charmed, and you can apply field treatments to any untreated statuses you may have.

This takes a little time to do, and will tick any relevant countdowns. More involved things such as treating wounds and cooking complex meals will take longer than just taking a knee for a moment to catch your breath.

Countdowns

Sometimes you don’t want something to happen all in one action. Countdowns allow you to make progress towards something, without doing it all at once. Countdowns don’t just represent the literal passage of time, it can represent anything that requires multiple points of progress. A countdown could represent how close you are to picking a complex lock, how much noise you can make before alerting the guards, how close the city is to revolution, how many torches you have left before running out, etc. You can tick a countdown as a cost to an action or at the end of a turn. Some countdowns might even tick backwards if something is getting farther from happening. A countdown might represent a tug of war between two outcomes, something happening if it makes it to one extreme or the other. One countdown ending might trigger a second countdown to start.

Much like how Actions have a Goal, Method, and Cost, Countdowns have Outcomes, Triggers, and Size. The Outcome is the effect that happens when the countdown is finished, the Trigger is the thing that causes the countdown to tick, and the Size determines how many points the countdown has before it finishes. - Generally the trigger shouldn’t prescribe specific methods for ticking the countdown. As long as you do something relevant to ticking it, then it progresses it. - (Maybe call triggers Obstacles?)

The degrees of success from spending multiple points on an action can directly effect the progress of a countdown. Pay more attention to something, and it’ll get done quicker.

countdowns can give a visual picture of the progress the players have made.

Example Countdowns

How much noise you can make before alerting the guards.
How long you have left before the mission is failed.
Researching something.
Long term downtime project.

Countdowns can be used to great effect in freeform play as an alternative to turn tracking.

The stress mechanic is actually a countdown. In other systems with HP, that’s also a countdown.

Rolls

While this system tries to keep rolling to a minimum, it doesn’t eliminate it entirely. Sometimes you can’t beat the tension that rolling gives to the narrative. To roll, the GM gives you a series of target numbers you’re rolling against. Roll 1d6 for each point you spent on the action. Discard any die that rolls 1-3. Then compare your highest die with the highest target number. If your die is higher, you get a success. If your die is lower, you get a failure. If they’re the same, they cancel out. Then compare the next highest die to the next highest target number until you run out. Then subtract the failures from the successes to see your level of success. - Most things have a target of 3 unless specified otherwise, so rolling any die above 3 is an automatic success. Because rolls of 3 are discarded, you can’t tie with a target of 3. - Some things get extra effect with more levels of success, and likewise you may get worse consequences for multiple failures. - You may have flat bonuses added to your roll. Treat these like a successful die that rolled that number. They can have lower number than 4 and not be discarded.

Multiple target numbers

Some rolls might have multiple things going on, such as getting into combat with multiple attackers. The GM will give you separate target numbers for each. After you roll you can individually assign your dice to them however you wish. You can choose to lose to one thing and succeed against the other.

You can ask the GM if you can add an extra consequence to a roll with it’s own target, in exchange for a bonuses.

Contested rolls

Sometimes the GM will call for a contested roll with an NPC instead of just looking at who spent more tokens. Contested rolls use the same rules as regular rolls, but instead of a fixed target number, both sides roll. On ties, whoever rolled the most dice succeeds with 1 point. If that’s still a tie, then figure it out based on the situation. Try not to just stalemate with nothing happening, do something that changes the situation in some way. Preferably something minorly negative happens to both sides. e.g. in a fight you both end up prone wrestling on the floor.

Disadvantage

(This may be changed.)

If a roll has disadvantage, add an extra die and drop the highest. You can have multiple levels of disadvantage. You may be able to pay stress or attention to avoid the disadvantage, depending on the situation. If you don’t have enough dice to beat a target number, you can take disadvantage to add extra dice to make it possible. Other players may help you to avoid the disadvantage, depending on the situation. If both sides of a contest have disadvantage, they cancel out. Having some sort of advantage (e.g. having a relevant tag) may counter a disadvantage.

Advantage is applied by simply adding bonus dice to an action. The GM may allow advantage and disadvantage to counteract each other. e.g. “Normally taking a shot from this distance would put you at a disadvantage, but using your ‘cool hand’ tag will counteract that.”

Uncontested actions

If a character is entirely out of attention tokens and none of them were spent on defending, they’re unaware and can’t do anything to stop someone from interfering with them. Don’t roll for actions done against them, just treat all points spent as automatic successes. You can combine contested and uncontested actions in the same turn.

If a character is paying enough attention to do an action, and there’s no active external force trying to stop them, they just do it without a roll. It’s a good idea to interfere with characters trying to do risky things. e.g. if a character is trying to climb a wall to run away, shoot some arrows at them. They’ll need to roll to both not get hit and to not fall. Even if you miss, they might screw up and fall.

Help Action

You may help another player take an action. To do this, roll dice equal to the number of points spent to help, then add your highest rolled die to their roll. The GM may say that you need to have an appropriate tag to help them. In situations where the action uses tokens but doesn’t require a roll, spend two points to give them one point to the action.

Group Rolls

If you have an action that’s done as a group, everyone rolls dice equal to the number of points they spent on the action, then contributes their highest die to the group action. Depending on what the group action is, success will either be based on the highest or lowest die in the group’s pool, or the group’s pool vs. a target number. Actions where one person failing fails the roll (e.g. stealth) uses the lowest, and actions where one person succeeding passes the roll (e.g. finding the hidden lever) takes the highest.

Group contested rolls can be done by having both sides make a group pool, then comparing them using the same rules as a normal contested roll.

Block

You may get Block added to a roll. This adds to your roll like other dice, but it can’t add successes. If the block is higher than the opposed target, cancel them both out like you would when the numbers match. Block will usually be a flat bonus and not an extra die.

Failed vs. Countered rolls

Some things might have effects that happen on a Failed roll or a Countered roll. If you don’t roll any successes (rolling 4 or higher), your roll is considered Failed. If you roll a success, but it gets countered by the target number so that you don’t succeed the roll, then your roll is considered Countered, but not Failed. The difference is that if something is countered, you would’ve succeeded if something didn’t stop you. If you failed, you messed it up all on your own. In either case, the roll is considered to have not succeeded.

Flat bonuses don’t count for determining a failed vs. countered roll.

Rolls aren’t necessarily failure

Rolling isn’t necessarily about passing or failing the action. It’s about some negative consequence happening. If you’re trying to be sneaky, then failing a roll to climb a wall might just alert the guards as you get up there. Characters shouldn’t be bumbling idiots that can’t do basic things half the time (unless you specifically want to play a bumbling idiot, then have at it).

In fiction, you can take a failed vs. countered roll into account when determining what happens after a roll, but you don’t have to. You can have characters that are never wrong ever and just have unforeseen outside circumstances mess them up, if that’s your thing.

Turns

Once a situation becomes active (which is most the time as an adventurer), everything is done in turns. When everything is happening at once and there’s only so much time to do things, your attention will be split. When things are turn based, actions don’t happen for free, you need to show what you’re focusing on at any particular moment by using your attention tokens (on top of any other cost the actions might have). A turn is a period of time that you’re focusing on doing any one set of things at a time. When you spend a token, it continues to be spent for the full turn. At the start of a new turn, you stop doing any actions you were doing, your tokens reset, and you can spend them again. Because of this, the GM will call for a new turn by saying “reset”. Players can also ask to reset the round if they want to change what they’re doing.

How long do turns last?

A turn isn’t a set amount of time, it lasts until something appreciably changes in the scene that would change your priorities. In combat, a turn might only be a few seconds long, changing when someone gets wounded. When you’re exploring a dungeon, a turn could go on for a few minutes until you encounter a trap and stop to investigate. During down time, a turn could be a day, a week, or longer. Basically, if your character is focused on doing something, they’re not going to change what they’re doing unless there’s a reason to. There should be no dead turns where nothing of note happens. Always cut to the chase.

That said, generally combat turns are 5-30 seconds, exploration turns are 5-10 minutes, travel turns last until an encounter or you choose to stop for the night (it could be hours long), camp turns last until you go to bed, and then one turn for each watch at night. Downtime turns are too variable, the GM will tell you how long the downtime is when the downtime starts.

Turns are simultaneous.

Turns happen simultaneously for all characters. There’s no order to who goes when, unless you specifically hold your action or pay attention to do something before someone else. All actions resolve at the same time at the end of the turn. (e.g. If a thief is picking open a chest, he finishes picking right at the end of the turn.) If someone’s attention is split between multiple tasks, they’re multitasking and both actions finish at the end of the turn. Some actions take multiple turns, so they’ll finish a tangible chunk of the action (e.g. tick a countdown) or finish a single attempt when the turn ends. Every character finishes up their actions at the same time, so one action resolving doesn’t prevent the rest of them from happening (unless it’s something that would directly interfere with another action, such as shoving someone out of the way of an attack).

Turn order & resolution

Turns have a structure to them. You have the Declaration Phase and the Resolution Phase. During the Declaration Phase, you declare what actions you’re focusing on, and how many points you’re spending on them. Once everyone is happy with what they’re doing, you go into the Resolution Phase. All actions are resolved together during the resolution phase.

While actions normally resolve in fiction at the same time, sometimes one action might interfere with another. If there are actions that would interfere with each other, then by default actions are resolved in the order of: Observation > State Changes > Ranged Attacks > Melee Attacks > Casting Spells - State changes being things that change the situation that isn’t a direct damaging attack. This could be throwing sand in someone’s eyes, shoving someone out of the way, interacting with a mechanism, drawing your sword, running away, etc. - Players can choose which actions of the same type are done first among each other, and they can hold their action until later. You can pay attention to make an action go faster than it normally would. The GM will typically let the players resolve their actions first when they’re the same type, unless it’s an ambush or an NPC paid attention to go quicker. That or he’s a wangrod. - Alternatively you can roll dice based on how many points are spent on the action, and compare with the contested roll rules. Whichever rolls better has the action resolved first (though the other action still happens, if it still applies.) - This is just a rule of thumb to give order to things, use your head.

Pivots

During turn resolution, you don’t use your tokens in the same way as the declaration phase. You use your tokens for what’s called “Pivots”. A Pivot can be used to either adjust your action to a changing situation (e.g. chase a fleeing character to continue your attack), back out of doing an action before it’s resolved (note: you don’t get the points back), react to something in the scene (e.g. fight back against an attacker, dodge a trap), or declare a reasonable action at the GM’s discretion.

Rushing

Players may opt to have their characters rush by taking another turn with their unspent tokens instead of a reset. They’re no longer paying attention to what they were paying attention to before, but the previously used tokens are still spent. This won’t trigger time based countdowns like a normal reset would.

Freeform actions without turns

If the situation is more calm and your character has time to think on things one at a time, you can skim over taking turns and micromanaging your tokens. The GM will resolve problems using other costs, such as stress, favors, etc. If there’s a situation where knowing where your attention was at is important, the GM will ask “what are you paying attention to right now?” This is what he’ll say if it’s a one-off situation that you can retroactively tell him what your attention was spent on leading up to that moment. He might tell you that you need to have some points spent on specific actions you were already doing in the narrative. If the GM tells you “everyone pay attention!” that means that the situation is now active and it’s going turn based. This is the equivalent of saying “roll initiative” in other systems (but doesn’t necessarily mean combat). - One cost you can give to actions outside of turns is taking away attention from their next turn if something happens in the near future, simulating paying attention during a turn. - You could also just continue to use attention in freeform turns, using tokens as you do things and resetting arbitrarily based on vibes. Using it more like a pseudo action point system. I’ve done it and it works (even if it’s a little unstructured.) Don’t do this with a group who can’t communicate well, though.

You can still bring up relevant tags that you have in a freeform action. The GM can keep it in mind when determining the cost of the action.

Combat

Attack actions aren’t a single swipe of a blade. They’re a back and forth exchange of blows during the entire round. You may dish out (or get) multiple wounds in a single action. You can’t make two attack actions against the same target in the same turn, it’s already assumed you’re attacking as many times as you can. Even in circumstances like shooting a crossbow, then dropping it and charging with your sword, you’ll just get bonuses to the same attack action. (GMs don’t mess with this rule, it keeps the combat fast and simple.) You can attack two different targets in the same turn, each having a separate action. There’s no penalty for this, other than splitting up your attention. - Might optionally roll all attack related dice for all targets at the same time, and you choose how you divvy them out to each target. Streamlines things a bit, and reinforces that this stuff is all happening at the same time instead of allowing for resolving one then the other. (This actually nerfs two attackers at once, cause they don’t get to wombo-combo you in one turn. This is a good thing.) - There’s also no “defend” action. Attack and defense happen at the same time, from both sides of the fight. It all comes down to a single roll. If you don’t want to do damage, you can say that as part of the goal of your action. You may even get some bonus points for it.

There are no general “attack” actions that only exist to reduce hitpoints. You need to declare the specific effect you’re trying to achieve. Are you trying to hurt his arm to disarm him? Are you trying to knock him to the ground? Are you trying to stun him with a blow to the head? Are you trying to demoralize him so he gives up? All these things might cause wounds in the process, but there’s a bigger goal you’re trying to achieve than just doing damage. Each action should appreciably change the situation to put you in a better position. Get creative with it. Though if you’re being ambushed and defending yourself during the surprise round, the goal is simply “not getting murdered”.

Remember that there’s no set in-universe time for a turn. A turn lasts as long as it takes for something interesting to happen. If you’re locked in melee with someone, the turn continues until one of the two of you gets hurt. There should be no dead turns where nothing interesting happens. Even if you tie a roll, you either find a reason to pick someone who won, or both have something (preferably bad) happen to them. If you took an action and nothing happened (good or bad), then you’re playing the game wrong.

Damage from combat causes injury statuses. Doing multiple damage can either do multiple injuries, or a single really bad injury. Damage is caused either from successes in a contested roll, or from the total number of points spent on the attack. - optional rule: the severity of damage a die does is based on the number it rolled. 4 = level 1, 5 = level 2, 6 = level 3

“The enemy cannot push the button, if you disable his hand.”

Zoned combat

The playtest uses zoned combat. Instead of having a tactical grid that represents exact distances, combat is split into zones. By default the zones are “Near”, “Far”, and “Away”. Characters who are “here” can get into melee combat without spending anything to move. Characters who are “there” can attack people in the next zone over with ranged attack. If someone moves over to attack someone in “there”, that becomes it’s own zone that you can melee in without moving. Positioning can still be taken into account for things like taking cover or AoE effects, even if we smudge the distances.

Death saves

If you gain 5 injuries you’re dying. Roll 1d6 at the end each turn someone isn’t paying attention to stabilize you. If you roll equal to or less than the number of times you’ve rolled a death save + any injuries beyond 5, then you die. Outside of combat, someone can pay 5 attention to treat a dying person’s wounds to stop the death saves. Depending on the wound, it may require medical supplies to treat. A character with a medical background can treat wounds during combat, but the downed character stays down until combat is over.

Armor

(This might change. Might just have it give block to attack rolls.) Each time you take damage, armor will convert incoming damage (up to your armor value) into stress. So if you have 2 armor and receive 3 damage, you’ll only take 1 damage, but also take 2 stress. Plate armor will also reduce the stress taken this way by 1. So if plate armor gives you 3 armor and you receive 4 damage, you’ll take 1 damage and 2 stress. Or if you only take 1 damage, then you don’t get any damage or stress. Note that some weapons will ignore armor. Wearing plate armor doesn’t make you invincible!

Covert weapons

In towns, there’s laws regarding weapons that limit what you can walk around with. The most important factors for having weapons in town are legality and concealability. Some weapons would get you in trouble if you’re caught with them, but they’re small and easily concealed. Some weapons aren’t concealable, but they’re not going to get you in trouble by having them. (e.g. a walking stick that you can use as a quarterstaff.) Even if it’s legal to have something on you, it might get you in trouble to draw it without a good reason. Everyone has some sort of knife on them, but you don’t see people walking around with it drawn at the ready.

There are medium sized weapons that can still be concealed if you actively pay attention to keep it hidden from view. You can keep a dirk or even a shortbow under a cloak if you’re paying attention and keeping out of the spotlight. This is simulated by having a “concealing weapon” status as long as it’s concealed. And even big weapons might be smuggled around if you hide them in a cart or something, instead of on your person.

Some characters, particularly those of higher stations, may be licensed to carry certain weapons in town. Knights and the town guard walk around with swords and other weapons, and their ability to do so is an indicator of their station to other people. Commoners may have an excuse to have a weapon with them if they have a good reason for it, for example a blacksmith delivering a sword to a customer or a hunter bringing his bow to go hunting. Just know that you may need to provide proof that you really are of that profession and you really are actively going to work. A particularly nosey (and under bribed) guard may want to escort you to where you said you were going and make sure it all checks out and you’re safely where you need to be without causing any trouble.

Social encounters work the same as anything else. You focus on doing things like being persuasive, figuring out the other person’s true intentions, etc. and it’s compared to the other person trying to do the same. Social actions such as persuasion are a good candidate for contested rolls, and the GM may decide to keep his rolls behind the screen for an extra sense of mystery.

Downtime

(TODO: write this) The longer turns of downtime really highlights the distinction between the attention system and traditional action points systems. You’re not spending points on one-off actions that take a set amount of time, they represent what you’re focusing on throughout the week. A bard spending a token on doing performances on the side for cash might be doing a performance every day, even if they only spend 1 point on it. If you’re researching something or looking for jobs or appraising an item, that might be something where you’re putting out feelers as you go about your business that week and letting your contacts get back with you at the end of the week. You don’t need to spend points on simple one-off things, such as going shopping. You do, however, need to spend points if you’re going around town looking for the best deal from different merchants, or spending an extended time haggling for a big item.

Healing

When you’re safe in town, during downtime you heal 1 injury level per week. A level 2 injury becomes a level 1, level 1 injuries are healed, etc.

Reducing stress

When you’re in the thick of danger, it’s easy to appreciate the little things. But while the threat of death is strong in the moment, man’s heart is fickle and you quickly forget it when you’re back in safety, especially with a bunch of newly gained wealth burning a hole in your pocket. When you’re safe in town, during downtime you naturally reduce 2 stress per week as you settle back into normalcy. It’s assumed that you’re doing any typical stress relief routines that you’d do throughout the week. But while adventuring is a dangerous game, it’s also a lucrative one. Adventurers are not accountants, they aren’t going to put it all away into a 401k, they want to taste the fruits of their labor while they’re still alive (which might not be much longer than now). You can reduce more stress by blowing your cash on something that would make your character feel better. This could be anything from wild partying to collecting rare artworks to donating to the poor. The exact amount you need to give will increase over time as you bring in more wealth and your tastes get more expensive. Remember that you’re playing characters that chose to become adventurers. If they were sane people trying to make wise financial decisions, they wouldn’t have gotten into this line of work, even in dire circumstances. The good news is that in the process of blowing all that money, you might just make some new friends. And the more you spend, the higher up the food chain the people you’re brushing elbows with are.

Putting it all together

(Put an example mini session here, showing off the different mechanics in motion. That’s where you really have people understand)

Resources

Economy

The economy of this setting is a tangled web of favors and reputation, with cash changing hands as little as possible. You can tax and seize cash, but you can’t take a favor away. And a promise can be given when you have nothing else to give.

Cash

Cash is abstracted into a simple and approximate number. No need to worry about converting to different types of currency or any of that. 1 cash on your sheet is a rough handful of coins in universe. The exact amount of pennies doesn’t matter in an underground barter economy where everything is up to negotiation. Assume your characters are already reasonably negotiating prices behind the scenes so we can move on with the game, unless there’s some glaring overlooked detail you can think of that would greatly effect the price of something.

Loot

Most incidental things you find in your adventure are abstracted into “Loot”. This means you don’t need to get into deep accounting over what specifically that random bandit had on him in the middle of a session. The main thing to worry about is how valuable, how much, and how heavy it is, we can skim over the details until it’s relevant. Loot may be separated out into common, uncommon, etc. to show it’s value. You can also write a quick note about where you got it from, in case you want to use the loot for something during the adventure. e.g. You can write “Loot: Common Bandit” and then if you really need a knife you can ask the GM “Did the bandit’s loot have a knife in it?” You can only do this with loot you acquired on this adventure, because when you get it back to base you have time to look through what you’ve found. This mechanic isn’t a replacement for taking appropriate gear on your adventure.

You could hock that loot on to people to buy things, but most people (especially on the more legitimate side of things) will want cash, rather than crap you scrounged off a dead hobo or found in a crypt. If you want to turn that loot into cash, you’ll need to find someone who can fence it. A good fence is highly connected and worth his weight in gold, try not to piss them off.

Favors

Favors are what makes the world go ’round. The underground prefers favors for a few reasons. Anyone from the crown to bandits can take your cash, but a favor can’t be taken away. Cash needs to physically change hands where a favor can be sent through a letter or word of mouth. A favor can be given when you have nothing else on hand. And most importantly, a favor keeps some semblance of loyalty in a world of cutthroats. If someone owes you a favor, you have a vested interest in keeping them alive, even if you don’t like them as a person. If you kill someone who owed a lot of favors, you might just find people knocking on your door to collect the losses you just caused them.

A small favor could be paid back by simply giving an item upon request, and maybe delivering it to a certain place at a certain time. Just do it on the down low or dropping off that ladder might get you caught as an accessory to murder.

A large favor may be able to be traded down for multiple smaller ones, and vice-versa. You’ll need to negotiate this with the person the favor is involved with.

GMs should avoid turning favors into double crosses all the time, but that doesn’t mean that the favor can’t involve a little unforeseen risk. Everyone has an angle, and they aren’t asking for a grappling hook to throw a birthday party. If you’re not careful the guard could spot you at the scene of a crime with items used in the crime.

Calling in favors

When you’re in town and a situation is starting to kick off, you can call in a favor to retroactively change it in some way. Guards start walking your way? Good thing you called in a favor from Marty the hobo to distract them if they tried messing with you. Pickpocket steals your purse? Your buddy stops them and gets it back for you. Forget to bring a ladder? Well actually you told someone to bring it here. This can’t change established fiction (you can’t say you previously had the guards assassinated after they already walked in the room), you can only add to it. The table needs to agree that the favor makes sense.

You can even call in a favor from someone when they don’t owe you one, just know you’ll have to pay it back eventually. You might have to do a quick roleplay explaining how you convinced them to help you, especially if you don’t have a high rep with them. All else fails, you could offer them a share of the loot.

When you’re out of town, you’re on your own. You’re away from your friends so they can’t help. The wilderness is chaos and only the insane venture out there.

Reputation

Favors work on a more individual basis, whereas reputation works on a larger scale. Most everything you do effects your reputation in one way or another. If you kill someone you owed a lot of favors to, you’ll look like a punk that doesn’t pay his debts. If you pull off a big heist, that’s going to get you a lot of rep with the underground… but also get negative attention from the guard. If you rat someone out to the guard, people will remember that. But if you do something so stealthy absolutely no one found out, it doesn’t effect your reputation, for better or worse. Unless someone spills the beans later. If you pin it on someone else, then it effects their rep.

Reputation effects anything from the prices you get bartering, help someone is willing to offer, if they’ll attack on sight or be friendly, etc. GMs should make sure to factor in reputation when determining costs of actions.

Much like everything else, reputation is abstracted into a number, positive or negative. Rep is always tied with a specific faction or person, there’s no general reputation (but a larger faction can contain a smaller one. e.g. “The Criminal Underground” contains “The Thieves Guild”). You can use your reputation as a resource, the same as cash, favors, etc. If a faction leader is talking trash about you, you could just pay some rep and slink away with your tail between your legs. If someone owes you a big favor, you could forgive it for some rep with their faction. Unlike other resources, you can often leverage rep without losing it in the process, just don’t push it too far or people will think you’re all talk. Gaining higher levels of reputation with a faction involves increasing amounts of effort. Either by doing more tasks, or bigger ones. Doing cool and/or risky things can also earn more rep. e.g. Pushing forward to finish a job when you’re already injured and have an out.

You can vouch for someone using your reputation, but know that if they screw up, it hurts both of you. It’s assumed the whole party is vouching for each other and their reputation is tied together, so no need to track rep individually for each party member.

If you’re dealing with someone who is part of multiple factions that feel differently about you, the GM will need to make a call on how that individual feels about you and how they deal with their conflicted faction ties. If all else fails, use the larger scope faction’s rep unless you’re doing something directly impacting the other faction. So if you have good rep with the criminal underground, but bad rep with the thieves guild, a thief won’t want the guard messing with you, unless you’re actively encroaching on the guild’s territory at the time.

Bad reputation can also be useful at times. Having a bad rep with the thieves guild might make the guards more open to you. A bad rep might also work for intimidation actions. Likewise, a good reputation with the wrong crowd might not make you popular among other groups, and you might be deemed guilty by association. In either case, having a strong reputation, one way or another, draws more attention on you. There might be people wanting to knock the upstarts down a peg before they get too big.

Equipment

Equipment has tags and special effects you can do. It will explain on the card how to use it. e.g. a shield might say “once per turn, pay 1 attention to add block 5 to an attack roll.” or a sword says “Add the ‘Sword’ tag to a token.” Some equipment will have tags that stay on the weapon, instead of going on to a specific token. A knife might have the “sneak attack” tag.

Breaking Equipment

Many pieces of equipment can be broken during an action to get some extra effect. e.g. Your shield blocks all the damage from that attack, but it shatters in the process. You smash your baseball bat extra hard into the bad guy to do get past his defenses, but it breaks. You can choose to break equipment for extra effect after rolling, even if you’ve lost the roll. - Breaking may be able to let you use equipment in ways you normally can’t. e.g. You bash someone’s head in with your crossbow, damaging it’s firing mechanism. - “The zombie might be unkillable, but it can be held in place. I break my sword to run it straight through and pin it to the wall”

How to roleplay

This section isn’t about game mechanics, it’s how to actually do the roleplaying part of a roleplaying game. Plenty of rulebooks will tell you how to take an action and roll for effect, but most of them leave out half the game. And it’s the half that tells you which actions you want to take in the first place. If you don’t know how to roleplay, then you can’t play a roleplaying game. You’re just playing a complicated board game.

The full book will have a whole writeup here, but for the quick start guide I’ll just say this: Establish the Setting, Theme, and Tone. You need to know the context your character will live in before you can make an appropriate character. Come up with a Role and Motivation for your character. You need to know what your purpose is and what drives you to act. Role being “combat medic”, “dwarf fighter”, etc. Motivation being “Lust for gold”, “Stop the bad guy”, etc. A motivation isn’t a goal, goals are the concrete steps that come from motivations. You only need one motivation for now. This doesn’t need to be deep, you don’t need to know why your character has that motivation, you’ll discover more about your character as you play. This just gets you a basic stating point to get your character moving forward in the story.

You play to discover the story. You play to discover your character. Don’t go into too much detail about your character going in, that’s why you play. Your characters goals aren’t the story, they’re the engine that drive your character forward to find the story. Just because you never reached your character’s goals, doesn’t mean you didn’t reach the story.

When you play and are confronted with a situation, just ask yourself “What would I do if I was in this situation, with this role and motivation?” Then go with your gut on it. “What would I do if someone was being mugged near me, and I was a power-hungry thief?” Over time you’ll find it becomes automatic, and you don’t need to ask yourself as often.

Always take a moment after a session to reflect on something you learned about your character, and something about the world outside your character (especially the other player’s characters). It doesn’t need to be much, and you don’t need to write it down or do anything with it. Just take a moment to reflect so you get a deeper understanding and don’t go on autopilot.

Character creation

For this playtest, we’re making characters with the following tags: - Disposition - Background profession (There’s a list of examples below.) - Station (Peasant or Freeman in most cases) - Blank - Blank

There’s a war going on, come up with a reason you weren’t conscripted - blind luck not getting picked is a legitimate reason - women and boys below 15 aren’t getting conscripted

No matter the setting, people are people. If all else fails, just have Disposition and Background/Profession as your starting tags. If it’s a setting with defined conventions for roles (e.g. classes in medieval fantasy), you can use those instead of, or in addition to, the Background. The more tags you give players, the higher powered they’ll be. You don’t even need to give any tags at all, if that’s your thing. - You can also add a vice or some other quirk as a tag or status, just to spice things up.

Having more powerful tags might be offset by taking a permanent status. Your elite veteran might be missing a limb or your wizard has a drinking problem.

If a character has something unusual that isn’t covered by tags and common sense, then just make a note of it and let the GM know so he can make appropriate rulings. If you have an unusually weak sailor that gains super strength he eats a can of spinach, just write it down on a note next to your sheet. RPG systems can’t and shouldn’t have bespoke mechanics for every random thing a player can think of, and it can’t force you to roleplay your character the way you think you should, so it’s better to just communicate, use your head, and stay honest. (And it also can’t force your group to be reasonable and honest. If you can’t trust the other people at the table, that’s not a game mechanics problem, maybe reconsider playing with them.)

Starting Equipment

You wake up to the smell of smoke and the sound of screaming. The town has been overrun by some terror. It’s all a blur as you made your way out of there. What did you grab on the way out of town as it’s being destroyed? Each item or loved one takes at least one point of attention to get. Taking items from other places than your own property will take more attention then just picking something up on the way out of your home. Clothes would be a good choice.

After your first adventure, you’ll have a patron offer to take pity on you and give you some basic gear (at the cost of owing a favor).

Running multiple characters

You can run multiple characters. If they’re in town, you’ll get a downtime turn (including needing to pay for food and housing) for those characters every in-game week when you’re not playing them. You can change which character you’re using between encounters when it seems appropriate. Having another character is a good idea, cause then you can swap out between adventures while the other character recovers.

Progression

Progression isn’t just about getting bigger stats. Finding new magical equipment or gaining favor with an influential person makes your character more capable. Getting closer to your goals in your quest gives a sense of progress without changing anything about your character. The characters of Lord of the Rings don’t change much as far as their skillset is concerned, but it’s still a good story that moves forward.

Because the way your character’s abilities are tied closely to what the story says, even if the stats on your character sheet don’t change, your character may get more powerful simply because the table understands them as getting better at their job.

The GM might allow you to level up your stats at appropriate times, but it’s not the primary focus of the system. There’s plenty of fun you can have without just spamming bigger numbers.

That said, for the playtest you gain levels by moving up the food chain of society. Getting good reputation with bigger scope factions to give you more support means you have the ability to train more. Higher levels bring good things, like more tags, but it also causes your character to expect a higher standard of living, and therefore you need to spend more to reduce stress.

A great way to thrust yourself into the big leagues (and thus level up) is to make a bunch of cash. You’ll suddenly find a whole lot of friends and have a lot more ability to make things happen. Get a big score (and get away with it) and you might find yourself leveling up.

Setting

Eventually there will be multiple settings, which will probably be separate module books. Here’s info on an example one we’re using for the playtest.

Rushlight

A gritty, grounded, human-centric medieval fantasy setting where adventuring is illegal. The wilderness is full of deadly monsters and strange phenomena, only the insane and the desperate leave the city walls. In the city are criminal gangs and corrupt nobles. Players navigate a world of criminal undergrounds, political intrigue, and bureaucracy. The reward for doing a job is gaining favors, more often than money. Climb the ranks, stab some backs, maybe do some good if you have time. Or wander off into the deadly wilderness to pick the magical scraps of long dead civilisations.

(A rushlight is a kind of candle made by soaking the dried stems of rush plants in lard. It was used extensively in Medieval times as a cheap form of artificial lighting.)

The world at large

You’ve been told one thing all your life: “Don’t go out into the wilderness. You’ll be eaten by monsters.” This isn’t just some empty threat they tell to children to scare them into obedience, the monsters are real, and they will kill you.
Because the monsters and beasts that lurk in the wilderness, humanity has largely holed up in crampt enclave cities for protection, rather than spread out villages. The cities are insular and far apart from each other. Each one has it’s own culture and technology.
The less fortunate ones are in villages outside of the city, tending crops and livestock that don’t fit within the walls. They’re close enough to the cities to have a chance of getting away or getting protection from the city guard if there’s advance warning, but they’re still at great risk of monsters and bandits alike.
Those who leave the cities, even to travel directly to another city along the road, are seen as crazy. Though because of this, letter runners and mailmen delivering packages to neighboring cities are seen as heroic. The only ones that leave the cities are mailmen, criminals / adventurers, and occasionally a traveler tagging along with a caravan (usually diplomats).
The land is a kingdom in a very loose sense of the word. Things are mostly divided into independent city-states that control most the power of day-to-day things. The king is mostly a figurehead, but also acts as a middleman for disputes between cities, represents the cities to other kingdoms, and rallies people for war.
There’s a war going on far off from where you are. It’s some petty border dispute with some neighboring kingdom over land neither of them wants, but they don’t want the other one to have. A lot of able-bodied people have been conscripted and a lot of resources are being devoted to it. Supplies are harder to come by, but there’s plenty of work for adventurers because most the fighting men are off to war.
The war taking all the good men has left a power vacuum, getting sucked up by criminal organizations, crooked politicians making power plays, and monsters coming from the wilderness.
Adventuring is illegal and looked down upon. Sure, there might be the odd one that becomes a folk hero, but generally they’re seen as criminal thugs that bring nothing but trouble. Some of these feelings might’ve been because the crown has spread anti-adventurer propaganda because they would make the guard look ineffective, but that doesn’t stop people from thinking it. The only people who would become adventurers are thrill-seeking psychopaths and people with no other option. You’ll need to keep things on the down-low if you don’t want to get the gallows.
The good news is that between enforcement getting more relaxed because the war effort and rampant corruption, you should have some room to do some adventuring anyway. (Just know the right palms to grease if you start pulling in money.) Heck, play your cards right and one of those politicians might need a crew to do some jobs for him.
There’s much bureaucracy and backstabbing politics going on. It can grind things to a halt at the most inopportune times. Because adventurers have a looser relationship with the law, they can be used by those seeking power to get around that bureaucracy when all else fails. Being able to navigate in and around the bureaucracy is a very useful skill. There’s much opportunity for someone who knows to ask for forgiveness, rather than permission.
Adventurers are also sometimes employed to do things that the guard isn’t suicidal enough to touch.
Cities and kingdoms have risen and fallen over the years, there’s plenty of ruins out there to explore and to loot. And who knows what kind of civilizations and magic the monsters may have.
This is a different culture than ours. Things that would be unspeakable for us in real life are mundane, everyday occurrences. People dump crap in the street, rich men beat their slaves for disobedience in public, people gather to see public executions in the town square. Nobody thinks anything of it, and they may even fight to keep it if someone tried stopping it.
Religion is very important to this culture. You live in a monotheistic culture, with many similarities to Christianity (if not outright Christianity). People might not always follow their religion very well, but they believe in God (or at least performatively pretend to, to keep up appearances).
Looting the recently dead is generally frown upon. It’s seen as stealing an orphan’s inheritance. That doesn’t stop people, but it’s in poor taste and probably illegal.
Looting the ancient dead is seen as stealing from whoever owned the land that it was found in. Definitely illegal.
Things are generally very grounded, but the farther out into the wilderness you go, the weirder things get as magic flows more freely and chaotically.
There may be other races than men, but they’re someplace far away from where you live. If one of those races ventured out to your neck of the woods, they’d be subject to all sorts of ridicule and racism.
Don’t go to the God-forsaken swamp.

The City

There’s a curfew after dark. If you do find yourself outside, by law you must have a lit torch on you. Either way, guards will be asking you your business if they find you.
The city gates are locked at night, with guards standing watch. They’ll routinely search people headed into the city, looking for contraband and making them check any weapons at the gatehouse. There’s gibbets with notorious thieves and adventures outside the gates.
There’s a district outside of the walls, which has a lot of activity from adventurers who don’t want to deal with smuggling things back and forth. There’s inns to stay the night with comparative safety if you’re caught out after the gates lock, though they’re seedy and you’ll pay a premium for it. The guard presence is lower, but still there. Instead, you need to deal with petty criminals and the occasional monster.
There’s a tent city outside the walls, filled with refugees from recently destroyed villages. Monsters, war, bandits, and other things have displaced a lot of people recently. So many are displaced that there isn’t even enough tents to go around, leaving many on the streets. Your characters are among them.
The city of Grimhold was founded after Sir Grime fended off a sneak attack from a neighboring kingdom flanking from the ass-end of the empire’s land. The mostly worthless land was granted to now Lord Grime to build a fort to prevent any future attacks. After a political schism in the empire, Lord Grime appointed himself king of Grimland.
Various magical trinkets and raw magical resources, the scraps left behind by some ancient civilization, began to be found in the surrounding regions. This caused an influx of money to the powerful people in the city. And established Grimland, which was out of the way with little other natural resources, as a legitimate power in the world.
The city also has a number of craftsmen and merchants that export goods to other cities, there’s a growing industrial and artistic side of the city.
Magical items found in the king’s land are the property of the king. Anyone wrongfully possessing magical items are considered thieves holding contraband. If you find a magical item and return it peacefully, they may spare you from punishment.
The city is split into two halves: The old city, and the new city. The old city is the old fort and surrounding industrial buildings that the city started as. The new city is the opulent stone area that the nobles, rich merchants, guild masters, and higher craftsmen made once they got enough resources, to get away from the dirty commoners.
When the upper class left the old city, it become a glorified slum run by gangs, corrupt guardsmen, and guilds not rich enough to move to the new city.
The old castle is now the guard headquarters, jail, and offices of low-level bureaucrats. Sometimes you can hear the muffled screaming from the confession rooms at night.
The city is bisected by the Red River. The old city on one side, the new city on the other. There’s three large stone bridges connecting the two sides, with heavy security to ensure only those with official business can make it into the new city. The lower class can be allowed in for things like maintenance, transporting goods, and servant work.

Where you fit in all this

You play as peasants from the same town, you already know of each other to some degree.
Your village was recently raided and destroyed by some inhuman things. Your home is gone. Your friends are gone. Everything you worked for is gone. You’re now destitute, with only the clothes on your back and whatever you could grab on the way out, living in the streets of a nearby city without any legitimate prospects for work. It seems like adventuring is your only option.
You’ve overheard mention of a man at the edge of the city that acts as a broker for adventurers, finding jobs and fencing goods they acquire. He’s always looking for fresh meat for the grinder. If he’s feeling generous, he might even set you up with some basic supplies… just don’t ask where he got them or what happened to the previous owner.

Magic

Magic is unusual and scary to the average person. Most have never seen magic and never will. Despite this, they’re all somewhat paranoid and superstitious about it.
Magic is, for the most part, much less common and powerful than other systems. It’s subtle and used with care. The typical magic item isn’t something that will bend reality and make you like a god, it’s closer to some practical item you’d find in your pocket today. e.g. a flashlight, a phone, a camera, etc. That might sound boring, but when the power level of magic is reigned in more, those “mundane” magic items shine much brighter than the incomprehensible things you find in other games. If you’ve been tracking torches all this time, finding that magical keychain light is going to feel amazing.
There are powerful magics deep in the heart of some long lost ruins of a forgotten civilization built on the ley lines of magical power, made by centuries-old wizards who have unlocked the secrets of the universe… but that’s not your character. If you venture deep into the dungeons hidden in the wilderness you might be able to pick at the scraps of those civilizations, but you aren’t crafting those things yourself.
Magic has allowed the nerdier wizards to gain a deeper understanding of the universe, and thus more scientific knowledge than you’d expect for this time period. In fact, many wizards will call themselves “practitioners of the divine science”, at least around other wizards. Even though certain circles have scientific knowledge, the average person doesn’t, and they commonly won’t believe it when they’re told. Because of this, wizards have taken to spreading superstitions that happen to get people to do things like basic hygiene when dealing with wounds or food prep. Apothecaries tending to wounds will perform rituals (wash their hands) to stop the evil spirits (germs) from possessing someone (causing infection).
- There are actual demons in this setting, the wizards just piggyback off that to get people to wash their hands.
Magic is a physical energy in the background. It flows like a fluid, trying to spread out to become homogeneous. There are ley lines in the magical field, but generally it’s evenly dispersed unless some outside force disrupts it. Wizards can sense disturbances in the magic, and should be careful not to disturb it themselves if they can avoid it, lest they draw attention to themselves.
Some people are born with the ability to sense and tap into the magical energy. For most, they don’t consciously notice it, they just find they’re particularly lucky or talented at the things they’re good at. A master blacksmith might be unconsciously using magic just a little bit to strike the metal a little more precisely. Some people have a particularly strong affinity to magic, and they begin to study it, learn to control it better and more directly. These are wizards.
Humans can innately sense magic to a certain degree, even if they don’t know what it is or that they’re doing it. To those untrained in magic, it appears as the hairs on the back of their neck sticking up, maybe a slight smell of ozone, and a general feeling of something being wrong or unnatural in ways they can’t put their fingers on. They do this passively. If they’re not wizards, then paying attention might not help them sense it any better. How can you focus on something you don’t even know is there?
Of all the paranoid, power hungry cutthroats in this world, wizards may be the worst. If they sense an up-and-coming wizard amassing too much power, they try to cut him down before he can get established. Wizards should be careful to keep their use of magic subtle and rare, especially in places where other wizards might notice it.
90% of “wizards” you find are con men with non-magical parlor tricks. The real wizards keep to themselves. If you find a real wizard who isn’t hiding his power from you… run. Actually, don’t waste the effort. Make peace with God, running won’t stop them.
The upper class will use magic items as novelties to show off their wealth and status. It doesn’t matter if it’s even useful, as long as it looks cool and is expensive. You’ll commonly find some magic item as a centerpiece to any decent sized gathering of blue-bloods. Fencing things to them can be difficult, because it’s not just about the magic item, but getting the official permission to own it. Contraband magic items are very illegal. Usually to sell one you’d need to set up a deal in a different city with a fake pedigree, or maybe find a particularly rich criminal boss that doesn’t care.

Gameplay Examples

This is a unique system that can take a minute for people used to other systems to break their old habits and wrap their head around. So I’m providing a big list of examples and different ways they can go, so you know how to handle different situations.

Example Freeform Actions

“I want to get into a hidden position overlooking the mansion, so I can spot trouble coming and snipe it with my bow.” “There’s a building with a good perch next door, but it’s private property and there’s guards about. They might see you busting in and climbing on the roof.” - “I talk to the guards and convince them there’s trouble around the block so they leave” “That should work, but they’ll know your face and that you were here. They’ll be asking questions after the job is done.” - “I just wait for a good opportunity and send it” “It’s going to be hard for them to not notice you with how empty the streets are right now. Roll with disadvantage to see if you sneak by.” - “I bribe the guards to look the other way” “They don’t seem to like their job, they’ll probably go for 2 cash.” - “I call in my favor to send Marty the hobo to distract them. He likes getting beat up, the old pervert.” “That should work, mark off your favor with him” - “I knock on the door and offer to sweep the chimney.” “That should work. It’ll take you a minute to find a broom and give them the spiel, and the chimney sweeping union ain’t going to like an unauthorized scab doing work without cutting them in. You’ll take a hit to your reputation with them” - “I flap my arms really hard and fly up there” “No.”

Unspent Points (Perception and Reaction)

there’s a pickpocket that tries to steal your purse. - No unspent points: He gets away scot free and you don’t notice. - 1 unspent point: He gets it, but you notice at the start of the next turn. - 2 unspent points: He gets it, but you notice this turn and can react to look for him. - 3 unspent points: You notice as he’s taking it, you can react to stop him (though they’re all contested rolls) - 4+ unspent points: You notice him eying it right before he does it. You can act preemptively with uncontested actions.

A thief is waiting in the shadows to ambush you. - No unspent points: You get backstabbed. - 1+ unspent points: You have a chance to react with your unspent points. - 3+ unspent points: You notice him hiding, he notices you noticing him hiding. Start combat at a fresh round. - 4+ unspent points: You notice him hiding, and can preemptively take an action against him.

You’re walking through a dungeon corridor behind your buddy. He’s walking straight into a trap. - No unspent points: He triggers the trap and dies. - 1 unspent point: You notice a clunk as he steps on the pressure plate. You have a chance to react with your unspent point. - 2 unspent points: You notice the trap before he steps on it, but too late to warn him. You can use your unspent points to physically stop him. - 3+ unspent points: You notice the trap ahead of time and can warn everyone to hold up. You can use your unspent points to deal with the trap and continue the turn.

Combat

Two brigands approach Grognard. If he fought both at once, then they’d end him pretty quick. So he spends a point to always position himself so one of them is in the way of the other. Now he can fight one at a time without the other being able to get to him. - Remember: attention isn’t action points. You’re not doing a single action, it’s an ongoing thing you continue to do throughout the turn. It’s completely legitimate to use your attention to do things like always moving in a certain way in relation to other characters, or many other things.

(Note, don’t leave this example it he book as it’s written right now) Captain Hammer comes across bank robbers sticking up the Building & Loan with machine guns. Captain Hammer is invulnerable to bullets, so he says he’s going to charge in and beat them with his meaty hammer of justice. The GM knows that the cost of the action can’t be injuries on account of his invulnerability, but costs can be anything, so he says “You can charge right in and stop them. Their bullets won’t hurt you, but the robbers indiscriminately spraying bullets everywhere will probably hit some of the hostages.” Captain Hammer instead decides to disguise himself with a fake mustache, walk up to the robbers, do a backflip and snap their necks before they can react. Getting the fake mustache took time, but in that time only two hostages were executed, which was acceptable losses. Captain Hammer instead filled the building with knockout gas. Some of the hostages suffocated, but at least it wasn’t gun violence.

Disadvantage

(put examples of things that cause disadvantage here)

Statuses

(Put examples of different ways you can invoke statuses here. Mostly negative things, but splash in a few positive ones.) - Have a friend help you climb up something when you have a broken leg - Your messed up hand makes you drop your weapon after you attack - You push through the pain and take a point of stress for each level of the status

Effects from statuses aren’t necessarily always negative. If you can think of a positive use for a status, that’s also legitimate, as long as it’s coming up somehow. - “I need to get into this locked facility. Hey, can I use my broken arm for sympathy points to get someone to hold the door for me as they’re walking in?” “Sure, get a bonus for convincing someone to let you in” - “I’m drunk. Do I even notice or care about the ghost trying to frighten me?” “I suppose being blasted would make you more courageous…” - “I’m drunk, so should I be able to not hold back and hit harder?” “Sure, you can get a bonus to your attack. But if you fail your roll you’re breaking your hand” - “I’m drunk, can that mask the pain of my broken hand so it doesn’t distract me?” “Sure, but you’re drunk so you still have disadvantage to doing your taxes”

(Also put examples of field treatments) - Put a splint on a broken leg (lots of broken leg examples)

Playtest

This is a early alpha. All the mechanics are still being implemented and ironed out, which is why we’re playtesting
- I might change things and try different ways of handling mechanics in the session. We might go through the same encounter a few different times, trying different mechanics and ways of handling the encounter. I’ll probably make up some mechanics on the spot to handle things I don’t have any rules for.
This is a playtest. The goal is first and foremost to get info on making the system better, roleplaying coming second.
- I might restrict the characters you can play and things you can do for the sake of the playtest. I have certain things I want to focus on, and some mechanics aren’t implemented yet. I may just hand you a prebuilt character.
- Don’t expect a consistent narrative between sessions. Things are going to be changed and retconned for the sake of the playtest. There’s a decent chance I’ll have you roll up new characters to try out other things.
Right now we’re only playing as non-caster humans, because I want the baseline mechanics setup before screwing with them
Custom character sheets are provided in tabletop sim that handle tokens.
- If playing IRL, just mark off 5 different sections on a piece of paper to put your tags, then set a die on each list of tags to represent that it has a token available. When you move the die off the page (like when you go to roll it), that shows you spent the token.

Intro

What you need to play

Designate a Game Master

Designate a Caller

Core Gameplay

Actions: Goal, Method, Cost

Goal

Method

Cost

Example costs

Taking the action

Example Action

Flashbacks

Attention

Attention Points

Attention Tokens

Attention applies for the entire turn

Using multiple points

Tags

Things not covered by tags

Statuses

Injuries

Incapacitation

Field Treatments

Status Levels

Permanent Statuses

Conditional Statutes

Other Statuses

Unspent Tokens (Perception and Reaction)

Action vs. Reaction

Bonus points

How many points do I spend?

Attention Tokens aren’t Action Points

Default actions

Stress

Take a breather

Countdowns

Example Countdowns

Rolls

Multiple target numbers

Contested rolls

Disadvantage

Uncontested actions

Help Action

Group Rolls

Block

Failed vs. Countered rolls

Rolls aren’t necessarily failure

Turns

How long do turns last?

Turns are simultaneous.

Turn order & resolution

Pivots

Rushing

Freeform actions without turns

Combat

Zoned combat

Death saves

Armor

Covert weapons

Social encounters

Downtime

Healing

Reducing stress

Putting it all together

Resources

Economy

Cash

Loot

Favors

Calling in favors

Reputation

Equipment

Breaking Equipment

How to roleplay

Character creation

Tags

Starting Equipment

Running multiple characters

Progression