A rules-light, semi-crunchy TTRPG inspired by our favorite stories about what it means to be human, doing goofy, cool, fantastic little human things

Humanity,

Blessed

CC BY:NC:ND Version

v0.0.26.1

snotskie.

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If you publish your own works that use this system, please clearly label them on the cover with the phrase Humanity, Blessed ⊜ Community Content and include a link to the most recent stable version, at https://snotskie.com/ttrpg/

© 2025 snotskie

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DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14673714

After A Poet to His Baby Son, James Weldon Johnson.

Contents

Introduction

About

Welcome! This game, Humanity, Blessed ⊜, is a rules-light, semi-crunchy TTRPG system. It is inspired by our favorite stories about what it means to be human, doing goofy, cool, fantastic little human things. This system is designed to provide fun, structured challenges and to use narrative and tactile cues instead of complex sheets and board states.

The online version of this book (https://snotskie.com/ttrpg/) will automatically load in light or dark mode to match your operating system preferences. When printed, it uses a large font for easy reading.

At a Glance

Genre: While this game is genre-agnostic, tables can adjust the tone with optional Stats, Setting Ethics, and Endeavors.

Dice: For Stats, this game uses a dice array, from d2 to d10. This game also uses a d6 pool for resources called "Blessings." Dice "bump": 1s are rerolled, which feels like wiping the sweat from your brow and cutting the right wire. A special Stat, History, is unique to each character's Backstory.

Checks: Big rolls feel earned. Checks range from 2 to 20+, with a fixed success scale. Low success grants "busts," and high success grants "boons." Easy Checks round high failure up to low success, and Hard Checks require multiple successes.

Sparking: Two equal Blessings can be spent to "Spark" a roll. This combines two equal Stats, and if either bumps, both bump. This feels like trying to hold the lasers steady when you've crossed the streams.

Character Creation: Character creation focuses on character narrative. Lifestyles and Ethics represent your outlook and goals, and Apts and Specs represent what you're good at. Advancement maxes out around 10-15 sessions.

Endeavors: This game has a customizable, accessible "Endeavor" system for representing scenes with prolonged tension, like combat or racing. Endeavors use tracks and buttons: There are no numbers, Stats, or board state to memorize. Everything is narrative or tangible.

Access: This game is published for free, open source, and in a digital format that follows your existing accessibility settings. You are welcome to redistribute (but not modify or sell) copies of this book.

Community: For community content and discussions, visit https://github.com/snotskie/ttrpg/discussions.

"At Table Discretion"

The rule that matters most is "at table discretion." This phrase captures how every tabletop game is different and has different wants and needs, different players and characters, different setting, tone, genre, different supplies, pacing, time constraints, different ideas on where to take the story next, and different limits.

How "at table discretion" plays out depends on everything that goes into what makes your table unique.

For some, it could be left up to a Game Master (GM) to adjudicate what happens, where to bend the rules as written, how to interpret them, and when to make up new ones. For others, they might prefer a rotating GM, majority vote, leaving things to chance, letting an artificial intelligence drive, or "vibing" what feels most satisfying for the story in the moment.

Likely, it will be a mix of things and it certainly can change. The GM and the players can rely on one another when they forget things, blank on ideas, have had bad days, are feeling short on "spoons," or just need to change things up a bit.

A lot has been said and written by others in the tabletop community about how to make tabletop gaming fun, accessible, and equitable. All I'll say here is that however "at table discretion" looks at your table, above all else it is yours.

I hope you can take the rules that follow and run with them. I hope playing this game brings you joy and that you can tell some fun stories.

Making Your First Character

Step Zero · Set the Tone

All characters in this game have an Ethic that describes their worldview. But the setting itself also has an Ethic of its own, called a Setting Ethic.

Setting Ethics capture the tone and broad genre of the game as a whole. Setting Ethics can shape events in the story, characters, and places, as well as the consequences of rolling very high or very low.

The following pages describe Setting Ethics options. Each refers to rules that you will learn about as you create your first character and begin to play the game. For now, choose a Setting Ethic, at table discretion, based on the genre, tone, and type of story you would like to play in.

Discuss with others at your table what that genre means to you and the tropes within that genre you would and would not like to see in your game.

Setting Ethics

⚔️ Vice & Virtue Setting Ethic
This Setting Ethic is familiar and fit for good vs. evil stories. Genre: high fantasy, utopian sci-fi, shonen, optimistic post-apocalypse, mythological, magical realism, allegorical fables, urban fantasy, and children's stories. Typical Optional Stats: Hex, Ham, Holly Jolly, Headline, Hardy. Typical Lifestyle Upgrades: Blossomed, Driven, Steadfast. Typical Ethic Upgrades: Pride & Prudence, Greed & Vanity, Rite & Divinity, Precision & Accuracy. Evergreen Specializations: Ambitious, Creative, Exchangeable, Legendary, Supportive.
🌒 Fate & Knowledge Setting Ethic
This Setting Ethic resists feeling familiar, as it often subverts familiarity in order to invoke unsettling feelings. Genre: dark fantasy, gothic fiction, mystical post-apocalypse, psy-fi, cosmic horror, occult fiction, dystopian fiction, and supernatural horror. Typical Optional Stats: Hologram, Host, Hardship, Haunted, Haze. Typical Lifestyle Upgrades: Prodigious, Chosen, Warry. Typical Ethic Upgrades: Greed & Vanity, Power & Influence, Rite & Divinity, Fairness & Value. Evergreen Specializations: Accrued, Charitable, Creative, Harmonious, Wiley.
⚙️ Cunning & Capability Setting Ethic
This Setting Ethic fits stories well that have high stakes without a clear good vs. evil component. Genre: cyberpunk, steam punk, hard sci-fi, spy fiction, heist fiction, josei, surveillance-state fiction, noir, and antihero/villain stories. Typical Optional Stats: Hunch, Hardware, Hireling, Host, Hardship. Typical Lifestyle Upgrades: Crafty, Wired, Compelling. Typical Ethic Upgrades: Pride & Prudence, Power & Influence, Precision & Accuracy, Fairness & Value. Evergreen Specializations: Adamant, Ambitious, Favorable, Harmonious, Shrouded.

Character Sheets

All characters in this game have a character sheet, which tracks:

  • Your identifying information, like name, age, and pronouns.
  • The Stat Dice you'll use for each of the Stats chosen at your table for the campaign.
  • A description of your Backstory, including your current Lifestyle, Ethic, and Aptitudes.
  • A list of Specializations that grant additional effects to your Aptitudes.
  • And other descriptive information, like your appearance, items, alliances, and information learned.

You can find a blank Character Sheet form in the Printables chapter at the end of this book. Other character sheet forms are sometimes posted to the community discussion at https://github.com/snotskie/ttrpg/discussions.

Step One · Choose Highest Stat

The following pages describe the Stats used in Humanity, Blessed ⊜, known collectively as the H's of Humanity. Your table may add an additional Stat as well from the list of optional Stats provided or by creating your own.

Your first task is to decide which Stat your character is best at.

As you do, begin to think about the story your character takes on in your mind. Why are they good at this and not at that? Why is one important to them and not the other? What are they trying to improve? What do they like getting help from others on?

When you begin the game, most of your Stats are equal, using a d4 for their Stat Dice. However, the Stat you chose as your highest Stat begins the game one die size larger. In Step Two of character creation your Lifestyle and Ethic will also increase your starting Stat Dice.

All your Stat Dice may be upgraded later in the Session Shop.

Stats

All characters in this game have the following Stats, each related to a different "scope" of action:

🧠 Head Stat
Scope: Intellectual pursuits, problem solving, puzzles, riddles, scanning for information, recalling facts, insight, reasoning, operating and building complex machines, playing practiced music, picking locks. High/Low: With a high Head Stat you can tackle intellectual puzzles with ease. But with a low Head Stat you may find yourself confounded easily or solutions to puzzles just outside your reach.
✌️ Hand Stat
Scope: Athletic pursuits, endurance, activities that require physical training, raw non-violent strength, moving quietly, pickpocketing. High/Low: With a high Hand Stat you are in complete control of your physical efforts. But with a low Hand Stat you may tire easily or loud obstacles might somehow always be in your way.
💕 Heart Stat
Scope: Speaking with passion, understanding others, reading emotions, playing music improvisationally, creating expressive art, performing sleights of hand for an audience. High/Low: With a high Heart Stat you understand others' intentions easily and can act accordingly. But with a low Heart Stat others maybe just aren't as enthused about your interests as you are.
☕ Home Stat
Scope: Protecting yourself and loved ones, tending to illness and wounds, shopping, crafting, scavenging, camping, cooking, remaining calm, staying alert, coming prepared. High/Low: With a high Home Stat you can easily be depended upon in situations both mundane and dire. But with a low Home Stat your estimates of health and money matters might frequently be off or you seem to always misplace things.
👿 Hurt Stat
Scope: Nerve and willingness to inflict harm on others. High/Low: With a high Hurt Stat you can easily steel your resolve when the time calls for violent answers. But with a low Hurt Stat your caring for others' well-being seems to extend even to your enemies.
⚠️ Hurry Stat
Scope: Escaping danger, reacting by instinct, surges of adrenaline. High/Low: With a high Hurry Stat you find that your body moves easily to keep you safe from danger. But with a low Hurry Stat you might freeze up more often than you'd like.
⏳ History Stat
Scope: Unique specializations, skills, proficiencies, and hardships covered by your Backstory, as well as other aspects covered by the history of your people and not covered by your other Stats. High/Low: With a high History Stat you have achieved the specialization you set out to achieve. But with a low History Stat your specific worries and weaknesses seem to creep up more often.

Optional Stats

At table discretion, one of the following Stats may be added to your game, depending on the game's setting and tone:

🪶 Hex Stat
Scope: Use of wands, spells, potions, and other magical instruments, traps, lore, and knowledge. Setting: Fantasy.
🥕 Ham Stat
Scope: Use of outlandish solutions, cartoonish items, and pun-based bends of reality. Setting: Cartoon.
🔎 Hunch Stat
Scope: Locating clues, guessing the right solution to a puzzle, being in the right place at the right time. Setting: Film noir.
🦾 Hardware Stat
Scope: Use of machines, robotics, and cybernetic implants. Setting: Cyberpunk.
👾 Hologram Stat
Scope: Directly investigating, interacting with, noticing inconsistencies in, and reshaping the simulation the characters exist within. Setting: Futuristic.
💰 Hireling Stat
Scope: Acquiring employees, minions, or quest companions, and effectively delegating tasks and operating a business. Setting: Absurd capitalist.
🎁 Holly Jolly Stat
Scope: Drawing from the magic of the season to bring people joy, operating devices from the North Pole, and interacting with reindeer, snowmen, yetis, and other such fantastical beasts. Setting: Winter wonderland.
🎧 Headline Stat
Scope: Performing music on stage, in a garage with your band, moving in sync with the beat. Setting: Battle of the bands.
🦠 Host Stat
Scope: Drawing on the power of your symbiote to push beyond your normal capabilities. Effect: When you would perform a Check while using this Stat, you may perform the action as though you are apt in it. There may be consequences. Setting: Alien paranormal suspense.
💀 Hardship Stat
Scope: Shared narrative elements of the story setting that represent the town's obstacles, troubles, and adversities. Effect: This Stat can only be a d4. Setting: Suspense horror.
👻 Haunted Stat
Scope: Dark narrative elements representing a character's fears, a curse they can't escape, or a malevolent force that haunts them. Effect: This Stat begins the game as a d10 and can only be decreased in the same way other Stats are normally increased, down to a minimum of a d2. Players do not choose to use this Stat. Instead, whenever the thing that haunts them is present (whether the character is aware of its presence or not), after the character has performed a roll, they then roll their Haunted Stat and subtract its value from the original roll's result. Setting: Poe style.
🌳 Hardy Stat
Scope: Shared narrative elements emerging from each session's obstacles and players' combined efforts against the challenges they've faced. Effect: This Stat is shared by all players at the table, and it cannot be upgraded by the normal means. Instead, it begins each session as a d2. When a player fails a Check, this Stat upgrades to the next die size, to a maximum of a d10. Any player may choose to use the Hardy Stat Die instead of one of their other Stat Dice for any roll. When they do, this Stat returns to a d2. Setting: Coming of age.
⚫ Haze Stat
Scope: Dark narrative elements representing a character's descent into madness or confusion. Effect: This die begins the game as a d2 and only changes when the character fails certain Checks against the ever-present darkness, at which point it increases by one die size. When another character makes an action against this character, that other character may choose to use this character's Haze Stat Die instead of their own usual die for the roll. Setting: Psychological horror.

Stat Dice

Each of a character's Stats is represented by a Stat Die.

In general:

Die Sizes: A Stat Die can be one of five sizes, from d2 to d10, as described in the Stat Dice Notation table below.

Stat Dice "Bump": Stat Dice in this game "bump." This means that when you roll a 1 on a Stat Die, roll it again and add the new result to the previous result. As long as you continue to roll a 1 on the die, you continue to roll again and add this way. Success without bumping represents your natural or trained ability, and success with bumping represents your extra determination or focus on the action.

Balanced Stats: Stats are "balanced" if they use the same size Stat Die.

Sparking: You may "Spark" two balanced Stats together to create a more powerful effect (described in the Playing the Game chapter).

Also note:

Bumping Dice Groups: Some effects will ask you to roll a group of dice, denoted such as 2d6. When rolling a group of dice, if you roll a 1 on either die, then you roll all dice in the group again and add to the previous result. And as long as you continue to roll a 1 on either die, you continue to roll the group again and add this way.

Explicit Dice Grouping Only: Note, 2d6 is different from 1d6+1d6. Only when an effect explicitly groups dice together are they considered a group for bumping. For example, both dice of 2d6 are rerolled when either rolls a 1. However, the dice of 1d6+1d6 are considered separate groups, so rolling a 1 on one of the dice only affects that one die.

Stat Dice Notation

Notation Stat Die
d10 A ten-sided die. The largest die size in the game.
d8 An eight-sided die.
d6 A six-sided die.
d4 A four-sided die.
d2 Any of the above dice, treating any odd number as 1 and any even number as 2. The smallest die size in the game.

Step Two · Choose Lifestyle and Ethic

The following pages describe starting Lifestyle and Ethic options. Lifestyle and Ethic upgrade options are listed in the Session Shop chapter.

As you read the starting Lifestyle and Ethic options, begin to describe the life your character had growing up and their current outlook on the world.

Then, pick one Lifestyle and one Ethic to begin the game with.

Once you've chosen your starter Lifestyle and Ethic, two of your Stats will begin the game an additional die size larger, according to your starting Lifestyle and Ethic and the Lifestyle/Ethic Starting Stats table below.

Lifestyle/Ethic Starting Stats

Vice &
Virtue		 Fate &
Knowledge		 Cunning &
Capability
Carefree Heart
Hurry		 Head
Hurt		 Hand
Home
Eager Hand
Hurt		 Heart
Home		 Head
Hurry
Wisened Head
Home		 Hand
Hurry		 Heart
Hurt

Lifestyles

🍀 Carefree Lifestyle
Description: Your character lives a relatively carefree life, perhaps because of your naivete, wealthy upbringing, optimistic demeanor, or (in a darker setting) a nihilistic worldview.
🔥 Eager Lifestyle
Description: Your character is eager for more out of life, perhaps because of a rebellious phase, a yearning to accomplish your dreams, a person you want to impress, or a mission or faith you believe strongly in.
🧘‍♀️ Wisened Lifestyle
Description: Maybe life has not been easy on your character, but if so you've come out wiser and tougher. Perhaps you've been shaped by unfortunate events, you've dedicated yourself to your work, or (in some settings) you could take advantage of others easily because you understand how people work.

Ethics

⚔️ Vice & Virtue Ethic
Description: Deep down, you may believe that there is good in the world and that no matter how terrible it gets, the good will win in the end. You may also believe that people who live with virtue are able to live in harmony together, while excess vice manifests itself as a clear and knowable "darkness."
🌒 Fate & Knowledge Ethic
Description: You may believe that traits dictate destiny, not whether someone is "good," and that traits can never really be changed. You may also believe that your destiny can be altered to your liking by making the right deal, adhering to the right discipline, or acquiring the right knowledge—ends justify the means after all.
⚙️ Cunning & Capability Ethic
Description: At the end of the day, you may believe that the only person you can really trust is yourself. You may also believe that the world is unfair, "good" and "fate" are made up ideas, and you'd do whatever it takes to just get by.

Step Three · Describe Backstory

Begin to describe your character's story before, coming into, and outside of the game's main story. Answer the following prompts or others chosen at table discretion:

  • Describe who your character looks up to, whose work they strive to emulate, or who taught them everything they know.
  • List three specific skills that your character has proven their ability in, such as through schooling, study, training, specialization within their team, or so on.
  • List three specific people or groups that your character regularly interacts with or have connections to, whether "good" or "bad" connections.
  • Describe where your character could be found on an average afternoon before the action of the story starts.

These background details will help you and your table build the world and set your Backstory, which is used by your History Stat and your Apts and Specs (described later in this chapter). If your game's setting has non-human characters and your character is one of them, also work with your table to determine how your non-human background affects your Backstory or Stats.

And as you play, keep notes! These can help you reflect on your character's relationship to the group's evolving narrative. Maybe not everyone in the party is enthused about the items the party stole last time! Such reflection can help you shape the course of your Backstory and your character's development over the duration of the story, make important character choices during your sessions, and inspire you and your table for ideas for future scenes.

Backstory

Each character has a Backstory, a list or description of narrative elements from their background that help define the scope of their History Stat, connect them to other characters and events in the story, and set the stage for their Apts and Specs.

What makes up a Backstory is determined by the players at the table working together to craft the seeds for a good story. However, in general:

Unique: Your Backstory should define unique skills, connections, events, traits, and other narrative elements that your character brings to the story.

Variety: Your Backstory should have enough variety that not all or most of your History would already be covered by a single Stat.

If your game's setting allows you to play non-human characters, there are generally two approaches for how to represent it. The choice depends on the variety of non-human backgrounds among players:

High Variety: If each player character has a different non-human background, then the simplest option is to use each character's History to cover one or two simple actions, within reason, that characters of their background could perform unaided that humans couldn't.

Low Variety: If the player characters come from just a few non-human backgrounds, the scope of two or three Stats may be expanded at table discretion to cover one or two simple actions each that characters of their non-human backgrounds could perform unaided that humans couldn't.

Step Four · Choose Aptitudes

The following pages describe rules for Aptitudes and Specializations. You won't begin the game with Specializations, but you will start with Aptitudes drawn from your Backstory.

To help you select your starting Aptitudes, begin to imagine your character. Have you seen characters like them before? With that in mind, select two areas from your Backstory to begin the game "apt" in. For example: Tying Knots (for a scout), Swordfighting (for a knight), Breathing Fire (for a dragonborn), Reading Legal Documents (for the child of a politician), Acting (for a theater kid), Manipulating Technology (for a hacker), Stunt Driving (for a stunt performer), Friendly Interactions with the Empire (for someone raised in the empire), Unfriendly Interactions with the Rebels (for someone raised in the empire).

If you begin the game with a Stat Die of size d8, select a third area to begin the game apt in as well.

You may become apt in more areas or specialize your apt areas in the Session Shop later to gain customized effects.

Aptitudes and Specializations

Characters in this game may have a number of unique effects based on their Aptitudes and Specializations (or "Apts and Specs" for short), described below. The Session Shop chapter lists sample Specializations, which refer to rules described in the following chapters. However, for now you should know:

Aptitudes: Your Aptitudes are the important and often unique narrative areas you are "apt" in.

Aptitude Ease: When you perform a Check related enough to your Aptitudes, you may round rolls of 3 or 4 up to 5.

Aptitude Difficulty: When another character Attacks you, if the Check is related enough to your Aptitudes, its difficulty is one rank higher.

Specializations: Your Specializations are the Aptitudes you have "specialized," which grant you unique effects depending on the nature of the specialization. You may specialize your Aptitudes in the Session Shop. An example is given below.

Specialization Limits: You may not specialize the same Aptitude more than once or choose the same Specialization more than once.

Evergreen Specializations: The game's Setting Ethic provides a number of "evergreen" Specializations. All characters in the game, whether controlled by the players or not, always have the effects of those evergreen Specializations, regardless of their Backstory or Aptitudes.

Example Specialization:

  1. Starting Aptitude: Dave is a rookie cop. During his time in training, he became apt at Obstacles Courses.
  2. Choosing Specialization: Then over the course of the story, he specialized his Obstacles Course Aptitude further, with an interest in taking the Friendly Specialization.
  3. Explaining Specialization: Dave's player explains how Dave has a close relationship with his sneakers, which should be able to Help him on Checks beyond just running through Obstacle Courses, due to the storied history he shares with his shoes and the power of their bond.
  4. Customizing Specialization: The table agrees and adjusts the Friendly Specialization to fit the setting and the new Backstory elements about Dave and his sneakers.
  5. Shared Storytelling: Finally, the players at the table chat further about the flavor of this Specialization to help everyone prepare for the next session.

Finishing Touches · Appearance and Things

Finally, describe your character's appearance and list three or four things your character gained before the events of the story or always has, within reason, such as items, information, and alliances. These will be what you begin the game with.

Then, for example, you'll track a list of items that you typically carry with you, and other items you may have can be determined in the moment: Over the course of the story, you may perform Home Checks to find new items, create new items, purchase and sell items, and even see if you already have items that could be narratively reasonable for you to have.

Similarly, you'll track and perform Checks to gain, maintain, create, trade in, and already have all kinds of "things gained" beyond just items, like information and alliances.

Playing the Game

More About Stat Dice

The Stats in this game cover a range of scopes already. However, sometimes it is appropriate to bend a Stat into the scope of a different Stat, such as hacking into the mainframe (Head) by hitting the computer just right (Hand).

In general:

Unconventional Stats: Whenever an effect has you use a Stat, you may instead use any other Stat you have balanced with it, referred to as using an "unconventional Stat."

History and Optional Stats: Whenever an effect has you use a Stat, you may instead use your History Stat if the action is related enough to your Backstory or Aptitudes, or an optional Stat like Hex or Ham (if your game has them) if the action is related enough to the optional Stat's scope.

"In the scope of": Effects "in the scope of" some Stat refer to that Stat, Stats balanced with it, and your History and optional Stats if related enough.

Checks

Most situations in this game can be resolved by performing a Check.

To perform a Check:

  1. Table Discretion: At table discretion, it's determined which Stat is normally associated with the action and if the action will be easier or harder than normal, as described in the Easy and Hard Checks table below.
  2. Choose Stat: Choose a Stat to roll. Your options are any Stat in the scope of the Stat normally associated with the action.
  3. Roll: Roll your Stat Die for the chosen Stat. The higher you roll, the greater your degree of success, as described in the Check Outcomes table below.
  4. Boons and Busts: Some successes grant you narrative benefits, called "boons," while others are accompanied by complications, called "busts." If you get a boon and a bust on the same Check, they do not cancel each other out but instead lead to a more nuanced result.
  5. X: Whereas boons and busts shape narrative results, some effects also use an X symbol to represent a mechanical result size. X is determined based on the Effect X Values table below and the size of the largest or most narratively important Stat Die used to perform the Check.
  6. Gain X Progress: At table discretion, some goals may require a progress total, or tiers of progress, to be reached through a series of Checks, such as crafting items or attending school. On each success, gain X towards the progress total. Boons and busts accumulate and shape the final result. Incremental benefits, challenges, or story may come from reaching different tiers of progress. For reference, see the X Progress Scale table below.

Easy and Hard Checks

Difficulty Effect
Easy Round rolls of 3 or 4 up to 5, as though you were apt in the action.
Normal No effect.
Hard Perform the roll twice, using a mix of Stats and/or characters working together. If either would fail, the whole Check fails. Boons and busts stack.
Harder Each difficulty rank past Hard requires an additional roll.

Check Outcomes

Roll Outcome
4 or less Failure
5, 6, or 7 Minor Success: Check succeeds, with a bust.
8, 9, or 10 Medium Success: Check succeeds.
11-19 Major Success: Check succeeds, with a boon. The higher the roll, the greater the boon.
20+ Maximum Success: Check succeeds with an exceptional boon.

Effect X Values

d2 d4 d6 d8 d10
1 1 2 2 3

X Progress Scale

Total Required Expected Duration, Cost, or Complexity
3 or less Very quick, very cheap, or very trivial, such as making a snack or attending a class
4 or 5 Quick, cheap, or trivial, such as making lunch or participating in class
6 or 7 Short, affordable, or simple, such as making dinner or completing a graded assignment
8 or 9 Average, such as making dinner for several friends or completing a term project or exam
10+ Long, expensive, or complex, such as hosting a feast holiday for family or completing a year's worth of a college minor
20+ Very long, very expensive, or very complex, such as hosting a banquet or completing a year's worth of a college major
100+ Inexorbitant, such as ending a famine or completing an entire doctorate degree

Attacks

Attacks are Checks performed against another character. There are two types of Attacks: violent and non-violent.

Violent Attack: A violent Attack is when a character performs an action against another character's will using Hurt. All violent Attacks are dangerous, regardless of intent.

Non-violent Attack: A non-violent Attack is when a character performs an action against another character's will using any Stat besides Hurt.

To perform an Attack:

  1. Attack Stat: The Attacker chooses if their Attack is violent or non-violent and selects the appropriate Stat for it.
  2. Defense Difficulty: By default, the Check below is Normal. The Defender's Apts and Specs may modify the difficulty. Other effects or situations, at table discretion, may modify the difficulty further.
  3. Attack Check: The Attacker uses their chosen Stat to perform a Check to determine success for the action.

Blessings

Some effects cost "Blessing Dice," or simply "Blessings," to activate.

In general:

Pool of Blessings: You have a pool of Blessings, representing resources you can draw upon when the moment calls.

Gaining Blessings: You will be awarded Blessings for good role play, creativity, and setting-specific events according to the Setting Ethic and your relevant Specializations. When you gain a Blessing, roll a d6 and add that die to your pool of Blessings.

Spending Blessings: When you spend a Blessing, remove it from your pool of Blessings. An effect may require you to spend a Blessing of at least a certain size or multiple Blessings at the same time. The Blessing Notation table below provides examples of how these are notated.

Blessings Bump: Like your Stat Dice, Blessings also bump, but in a slightly different way. When you roll a 1 on a Blessing, instead of rolling again to increase the value of the roll, gain an additional Blessing. As long as you continue to roll a 1 this way, you continue to gain an additional Blessing.

Gain One at a Time: If you gain multiple Blessings from a single effect, gain each of those dice separately. They do not form a group for the purposes of bumping.

Blessing Deck: You may use a large deck of cards numbered 1 through 6 to represent Blessings instead of dice. This can help if you want Blessings to be more legible or if you have children, pets, or a table prone to being knocked into.

Blessing Notation

Notation Blessing Dice
⑥ A Blessing worth 6. The largest Blessing in the game.
② A Blessing worth 2 or more.
① A Blessing worth 1 or more. The smallest Blessing in the game.
②② Two Blessings each worth 2 or more.
①① Two Blessings each worth 1 or more.
① × 4 Four Blessings each worth 1 or more.
⊜⊜ Two Blessings of the same worth.

Helping

Some effects allow characters to spend their Blessings to Help one another succeed Checks.

In general:

No Self Help: You may not provide Help to your own rolls.

Once per Roll: You may not provide multiple Help effects to the same roll.

Help within Reason: You cannot Help if you are engaged in another action, if it would be unreasonable, or if the other character does not want the Help.

Multiple Helpers: Multiple characters can Help the same roll if they each pay the cost.

Help on Hard Checks: If you Help roll for a Check that requires multiple rolls, only the lowest of those rolls is Helped.

Help as Group: Providing and receiving Help is considered acting as a group.

Additional Bust: Teamwork makes the dream work, but it also complicates the situation. Regardless of the Check's result, it gains an additional bust, such as drawing unwanted attention or wasting time.

Spark Rolls

A pair of balanced Stats can be "Sparked." Sparks are what allow characters to perform far beyond what is normally possible, limited only by their imagination—and ability to control it!

In general, Spark rolls work by grouping Stat Dice and rolling them, increasing the odds of bumping. To perform a Spark roll:

  1. Spark a Roll: Before rolling, you may spend ⊜⊜ to instead combine and roll the dice of two balanced Stats as a single group, such as 2d6 formed from two Stats that use a d6. When either die bumps, both bump.
  2. Apply Usual Effects: Effects that apply to either of the Stats used in the Spark roll also apply to the Spark roll itself.

Alternatively, you can upgrade an existing roll into a Spark roll:

  1. Roll Normally: Roll the first Stat Die as usual.
  2. Upgrade to Spark: You may spend ⊜⊜ to add a balanced Stat Die to the roll. If it bumps, both dice bump as a group.

Also note:

Sparking Hard Checks: If you Spark a Check that requires multiple rolls, you choose which roll to Spark.

Additional Terms

Some upgrade options in the Session Shop describe effects that use one or more terms defined below, as shorthand for a number of rules described above:

Recharge: Some effects list a recharge Blessing cost. Once activated, these effects cannot be activated again until the cost is paid.

Ignite: Lifestyle upgrades Ignite one or two of your Stats. When you Spark a roll using an Ignited Stat, you may round it from 6 or 7 up to 8.

Bank: Ethic upgrades bank boons or busts. When you bank a boon or a bust, set it aside instead of resolving its impacts on the narrative. Track the number of boons or busts you've banked, as well as which effects you banked them through, as such effects will describe ways you can then spend them. If multiple effects would bank the same boon or bust, resolve which one applies at table discretion.

Conditions

Some events challenge your resolve, throw you off your game, cause you great embarrassment, or so on, beyond mere injury. When these happen, you may become Disarmed, Surprised, Uncool, or any of the other Conditions described in the Condition Effects table below.

In general however:

Conditions Tell Stories: At minimum, Conditions provide effects. However, they also represent small story arcs where you face obstacles and, in spite of the Condition's effects, overcome those obstacles. When you gain a Condition, consider how your character feels about the situation and what the Condition means to them beyond mere effect.

Conditions Build Connections: Gaining and removing Conditions usually happens with other characters around. Consider: Who else is around that saw the event happen? How would the people you look up to feel about it? And how could your connections to other characters help you remove the Condition later?

Condition Effects

Ache Effect: Rolls you make with the affected Stat cannot bump. Duration: Until next scene.
Cursed Effect: Your Blessings are each worth 1 less, to a minimum of 0. Duration: Until treated.
Disarmed Effect: When you succeed a violent Attack, receive one fewer boon and one additional bust than usual. Duration: Until treated.
Famous Effect: You may exert your fame over those less famous, gaining a +2 bonus in Attacks against them, but not against the same character more than once during the same session or while you are Uncool. Duration: Until removed.
Taxed Effect: You cannot Spark. Duration: Until treated.
Surprised Effect: Your rolls cannot bump, Spark, or use an unconventional Stat. Duration: Until next roll.
Uncool Effect: Your rolls are made with a -1 modifier unless you are alone. Duration: Until removed.
Vexed Effect: When another character sees you perform a Check with the affected Stat, they may have you automatically fail. Duration: Until treated.

Endeavors

What is an Endeavor?

Sometimes, the player characters will need to race to be the first to reach some destination, to be the first to acheive some action, to escape without being caught, to advance an objective before time runs out, or so on! Many such scenes where the tension is drawn out can be run as Endeavors.

There are several different types of Endeavors depending on the scenario. However, all Endeavors build on the same general rules covered in this chapter.

A few types of Endeavors are described below.

More Endeavor types are described in Humanity, Endeavored, available at https://snotskie.com/ttrpg/endeavored.html.

Rounds

Endeavors are carried out over rounds in which characters attempt to drive the narrative tension, progress themselves, and slow their opponents.

Rounds are carried out as follows:

  1. Choose Action Die: Before each round, choose a Stat to be your Action Die for the actions you plan to take. The narrative for your action does not have to be fully formed.
  2. Gain Blessings: Gain X temporary Blessings, which disappear at the end of the Endeavor or whenever you perform a special action.
  3. Follow Turn Order: Turns for the round start with whoever has the least temporary Blessings, resolving ties at table discretion. Also at table discretion, turns move clockwise, counterclockwise, or "popcorn," where characters choose who acts after them.
  4. Spend Action Die: After each round, the Stat chosen for your Action Die is "spent." While a Stat is spent, it can't be an Action Die or Spark. You may skip the next round to instead regain all spent Stats.

Also note:

Limited Action Dice: At table discretion, the Stats you can choose from for your Action Die may be limited in certain situations.

X: During Endeavors, X uses the size of your Action Die. If it is modified by Help, it is modified for only one action.

Actions

Each round during your turn, you may choose and perform one action from the set of action options available for that Endeavor or provided to you by your effects.

In general:

Limited Actions: Your action choices may be limited at table discretion in certain situations, some may only be taken if your Action Die is in the scope of certain Stats, and all actions must be narratively reasonable to be taken. Because boons and busts can greatly shape the narrative, they can also greatly shape what is narratively reasonable for future actions.

Using Action Dice: Some actions use your Action Die to perform Checks, and some don't. Even if not used, Action Dice are still spent after the round.

Only Action Die is Spent: Even if other Stat Dice are involved in an action's Check, only the Action Die is spent after the round.

Special Actions: Actions with the Special Action tag cannot be performed during your turn. Instead, at the end of the round when all other actions are complete, whoever has the highest number of Blessings chooses a special action to perform, resolving ties at table discretion.

Help as Action: Providing Help uses your action. Any unused Help effects end at the end of the round, before special actions.

Effects as Normal: You may activate your other effects as normal, whenever would be most appropriate before, during, or after your turn. These do not use your action unless stated otherwise.

Tracks

Endeavors use "tracks" to record character positions, scores, progress towards goals, or so on.

In general:

Movement: Tracks begin at 0 and go up by whole numbers as high as needed. The Endeavor's setup instructions will describe where characters begin, and its action options will describe how characters move.

Group Movement: If a group moves together an amount, they only move a total of that amount. Unless the Endeavor specifies otherwise, how the group distributes this movement among its members is up to the group to decide: they may distribute the movement evenly, give it all to one member, or any other arrangement they agree on.

Buttons: Endeavors also add a number of buttons to the track. There are two types of buttons, personal and global. Personal buttons can only be activated by the character associated with them, whereas global buttons can be activated by any character. If an Endeavor uses buttons, it will describe how each is activated and the effect that happens as a result. Additionally, buttons may have a passive effect that applies while the button is present or a cumulative effect that activates only once if multiple instances of that effect would activate at the same time.

Printable Track: A track for seven characters is in the Printables chapter.

Community: For more printable tracks and other Endeavor resources, visit https://github.com/snotskie/ttrpg/discussions.

🧟 Monstrous Endeavors

Some campaigns or sessions may involve the player characters facing off against zombies, robots, or the manifestation of someone's fear!

These are performed like any other Endeavor, with the following adjustments, action options, and buttons:

Force and Greatness: The symbol X represents your "force" for the round, such as force of will, force of strength, or so on. Your temporary blessings represent your accumulated "honor," "might", "coolness," or so on.

Monstrosities: Your opponents are "monstrosities," which are characters as usual but with a Starting Position (SP) representing how hard they are to remove from the Endeavor and a number of tags that affect their actions and buttons. Monstrosities cannot use unconventional Stats unless they have the Unique tag.

Setup: You and your "allies" begin at position 0. If an opponent has an SP of 10 (3), for example, they begin at position 10 and add a Recovery button 3 below that. All opponents also add a Defeat button at position 0.

Goal: Move all your opponents to position 0 before they can give you three Wound buttons in a row.

Wounds: When you are "wounded," gain a Wound button at the first position at or above your current track position without one already.

Ally Actions

Attack Violent Hurt Use your Action Die to violently Attack up to X opponents. On a Maximum Success, remove one of them from the Endeavor. On other successes, they move down by a total of X.
Non-violent Head/Hand/Heart Use your Action Die to non-violently Attack up to X opponents. On a success, steal a total of X temporary Blessings of your choice from them. They then gain a number of new temporary Blessings equal to the amount they lost, without bumping.
Advance Not Hurt Use your Action Die to perform a Check to advance your team's objectives. On a success, move up by X.
Protect Home/Hurry Use your Action Die to perform a Check to protect yourself or an ally from the opponents' objectives. On a success, attacks against the protected character are one rank more difficult, until the end of the next round.
Pass Delay your action so you can Help another character who has not acted this round or so they can Help you.
Unique Skill Spend ⊜⊜ to perform an action unique to your character. Take two other actions combined.

Monstrosity Actions

Attack Violent Hurt Use your Action Die to violently Attack up to X opponents. On a Maximum Success, remove one of them from the Endeavor. On other successes, wound each of them.
Non-violent Hand/Head/Heart Use your Action Die to non-violently Attack up to X opponents. On a success, steal a total of X temporary Blessings of your choice from them. They then gain a number of new temporary Blessings equal to the amount they lost, without bumping.
Advance Not Hurt Use your Action Die to perform a Check to advance your team's objectives. On a success, add X Scheme buttons at the first positions at or above your current position without one already.
Protect Home/Hurry Use your Action Die to perform a Check to protect yourself or an ally from the opponents' objectives. On a success, attacks against the protected character are one rank more difficult, until the end of the next round.
Pass Delay your action so you can Help another character who has not acted this round or so they can Help you.
Unique Skill If you have the Unique tag, you may spend ⊜⊜ to take two other actions combined.

Ally Special Actions

Perform Combo Special Action Move up by X. Then you and your allies may move down any total amount. If you do, choose opponents to move down by a total of the amount moved this way.
Declare Victory Special Action If you are at position 30 or higher, choose an opponent to remove from the Endeavor.

Monstrosity Special Actions

Perform Combo Special Action Remove up to X opponents with three Wound buttons in a row from the Endeavor, then wound up to X remaining opponents.
Declare Victory Special Action If there are 10 or more Scheme buttons in a row, choose an opponent to remove from the Endeavor.

Ally Buttons

WoundType: Personal. Activation: Activated when you move off it. Effect: Decrease your remaining movement by 1, to a minimum of 0.

Monstrosity Buttons

SchemeType: Global. Activation: None. Effect: None.
RecoveryType: Personal. Activation: Activated when you move onto it. Effect: End your movement, remove this button, and return to your starting position. Then if you have the Revenge tag, use your Action Die to Attack an opponent who caused you to move down this round, even if you have already acted this round. Then at the end of each round, if you have the Unrelenting tag, for each time you've activated a Recovery button, you may use your Action Die to Attack an opponent even if you have already acted this round. Passive: If you have the Horde tag, each time you roll, roll an additional time and ignore the lowest value. If you have the Immunity tag, Attacks against you related enough to your Aptitudes automatically fail.
DefeatType: Personal. Activation: Activated when you move onto it. Effect: End your movement, remove this button, and you are removed from the Endeavor.

🏇 Racing Endeavors

Some campaigns or sessions may involve a prolonged scene where the player characters race against one another or their opponents, whether it be by foot, horseback, sled, racecar, or even spaceship!

These are performed like any other Endeavor, with the following adjustments, action options, and buttons:

Speed and Acceleration: The symbol X represents your "acceleration" for the round, while your temporary blessings represent your overall "speed."

Setup: All racers begin at position 0. At the top of the first round, the lay of the land will be provided at table discretion for the race course environment, including any terrain elements like hills, brush, holes, asteroid fields, or so on, represented by Terrain buttons. As the Endeavor progresses, additional areas may become available, each with their own track and lay of the land.

Goal: Be the first to reach the finish line or the last one standing.

Racing Actions: All racers use the Ally Actions from Monstrous Endeavors.

Fatigue: When you spend a Blessing, gain a Fatigue button, representing your need to regroup after a hard push.

Racer Special Actions

Overcome Special Action Move up by X, ignoring the first Terrain button you would activate during this movement.

Racing Buttons

TerrainType: Global. Activation: Activated when you move onto it while moving up. Effect: End your movement. Passive: If this button has the Area tag and is the nearest such button at or below your current track position, it limits the Stats you may use for Action Dice.
FatigueType: Personal. Activation: Activated at the end of the round, before special actions. Culumative Effect: Use your Action Die to perform a Check to remain in the race. This Check is Easy, plus one difficulty rank for each of your Fatigue buttons past the first. On a failure, you are removed from the Endeavor. On a success, remove all your Fatigue buttons.

Session Shop

Upgrade Options

At the end of each session, you receive one free Stat Upgrade for your character. This may then grant you additional upgrades from the other options described below.

Stat Upgrade One Free
Effect: Upgrade a single Stat's die one size.
Limits: You may have at most two Stat Dice of size d10 and at most three of size d8.
Purchase More: You may receive an additional Stat Upgrade by spending ①①① or by downgrading one of your Stat Dice from a d4 to a d2. You may purchase additional Stat Upgrades as many times as you want and can pay for.
Other Upgrades: When you upgrade a Stat Die to a d6, d8, or d10 you may receive one upgrade with the d6, d8, or d10 tag, respectively.
Backstory Upgrade d6
Effect: Make up to two changes or additions to your Backstory, within reason. For example, you might add or change your hobbies, beliefs, interests, items, information studied, chance encounters, connections to others, and answers to questions from during character creation.
Rumor Upgrade d6
Effect: Begin, end, or modify one rumor, based on the events of the story so far, how you would like to see events play out, or how you would like to interfere with events as they stand. At table discretion, it may or may not spread quickly, be believed by others, or even be true.
Aptitude Upgrade d8
Effect: Become apt in a new area, based on the events of the story so far or how you would like to see your character grow.
Specialization Upgrade d8
Effect: Specialize in an area you're already apt in, based on the events of the story so far or how you would like to see your character grow. Select a Specialization option and explain to the table how it relates to the Aptitude you are specializing. Then you gain that Specialization's effect or an adjusted version of it, at table discretion.
Gains Upgrade d10
Effect: One thing you have gained improves to an exceptional quality, such as an item, information, or alliance. When performing Checks related enough to it, you may round rolls of 6 or 7 up to 8.
Lifestyle Upgrade d10
Effect: If your Lifestyle is Carefree, you may change it to Blossomed, Prodigious, or Crafty.
If your Lifestyle is Eager, you may change it to Driven, Chosen, or Wired.
If your Lifestyle is Wisened, you may change it to Steadfast, Warry, or Compelling.
And regardless of your Lifestyle, you may change it to Lost. If you do, at the end of a later session, you may change it to any other option for free.
Ethic Upgrade d10
Effect: If your Ethic is Vice & Virtue, you may change it to Pride & Prudence, Greed & Vanity, Rite & Divinity, or Precision & Accuracy.
If your Ethic is Fate & Knowledge, you may change it to Greed & Vanity, Power & Influence, Rite & Divinity, or Fairness & Value.
If your Ethic is Cunning & Capability, you may change it to Pride & Prudence, Power & Influence, Precision & Accuracy, or Fairness & Value.

Lifestyle & Ethic Options

🌼 Blossomed Lifestyle
Description: Your carefree nature has kept you safe from harm and surrounded by friends. When you Spark, it might take on a free and connected aspect. Effect: Ignite your Heart and Hurry Stats, as though you were aided by the love and connectedness you feel for those around you.
🔮 Prodigious Lifestyle
Description: Your studies have come effortlessly to you, and secrets almost seem to just reveal themselves to you. When you Spark, it might take on a sorcerous or uninhibited aspect. Effect: Ignite your Head and Hurt Stats, as though you were aided by a raw innate power.
🧶 Crafty Lifestyle
Description: You can envision amazing designs and, it seems, to bring them to life. When you Spark, it might take on an autonomous or lucky aspect. Effect: Ignite your Hand and Home Stats, as though you were aided by your own sudden creativity.
⚜️ Driven Lifestyle
Description: Your eager drive has found purchase in a great mission or calling. When you Spark, it might take on an incorrigible or resolute aspect. Effect: Ignite your Hand and Hurt Stats, as though you were aided by your own faith in your mission.
✨ Chosen Lifestyle
Description: You draw inspiration from the community around you, setting out on your journeys blessed, favored, or even cursed. When you Spark, it might take on a divine or noble aspect. Effect: Ignite your Heart and Home Stats, as though you were aided by the will of the people whose lives you've touched.
⚡ Wired Lifestyle
Description: Your mind is quick and analytical, and you can see solutions to problems that are unimaginably complex. When you Spark, it might take on a calculating or duplicative aspect. Effect: Ignite your Head and Hurry Stats, as though you were aided by your own mind palace.
🪬 Steadfast Lifestyle
Description: Your wise steadiness and alertness have made you adept at warding off harm and protecting your loved ones. When you Spark, it might take on a firm or dispelling aspect. Effect: Ignite your Head and Home Stats, as though you were aided by your care for others.
👁️ Warry Lifestyle
Description: You are one with the natural and supernatural worlds around you, and you have a keen sense of danger and safety. When you Spark, it might take on an astral or prophetic aspect. Effect: Ignite your Hand and Hurry Stats, as though you were aided by knowledge only you could know in that moment.
👄 Compelling Lifestyle
Description: You seem able to spin any loss into a win—or vice versa—, and you are a sly, tactical force to be reckoned with. When you Spark, it might take on an illusory or vicious aspect. Effect: Ignite your Heart and Hurt Stats, as though you were aided by your own ambition.
💎 Lost Lifestyle
Description: You feel a disconnect from your own past or former sense of self, perhaps because of an exile from your home, an erased memory, or a period of transition or deep self-reflection. When you Spark, it might take on an erratic or liminal aspect. Effect: Ignite your History Stat, as though you were aided by your quest for self-discovery.
⚕️ Pride & Prudence Ethic
Description: You have an unwaivering trust that you can overcome any obstacle, even if it means planning for the longterm. Perhaps this confidence owes to your abilities, accomplishments, lineage, or even hubris. But whatever the job, you know you will succeed. Effect: When an opponent would gain a bust in an Attack against you, you may instead bank that bust. When you are in a safe place of rest, you may spend busts banked this way to gain or give your allies a total of that many Blessings.
👹 Greed & Vanity Ethic
Description: Moderation is for fools. Why hold back when you can be exactly the dream everyone else wishes they could be? They want wealth. They want power. They want utter freedom. But they're still scared to go for it. The least you could do is show them it's possible. Effect: Once per session, when you would gain a boon from succeeding a Check, you may instead bank that boon and an additional boon for each character who witnessed your success. You may spend boons banked this way to gain that many temporary Blessings, which disappear at the end of the action.
⚖️ Power & Influence Ethic
Description: Assets run the world. The more, the better. The lines between friend, foe, fame, and fortune ultimately come down to what they can do for you. And what do you do with assets? Put them to use. Effect: When an opponent would gain a boon in an Attack against you, they may instead have you bank that boon. When you are in a safe place of rest, you may spend boons banked this way to gain that many Blessings and give those opponents a total of that many Blessings.
🕯 Rite & Divinity Ethic
Description: You can take a breath. You've earned this. Your intention is set and nothing can shake you from it. It doesn't matter if you don't know all the details just yet—it only matters that you can carry the torch high enough and pay the tolls the journey demands. Only then can you be the light for others to follow in the dark. Effect: When you succeed a Check without gaining a bust, you may instead gain a bust and bank a bust. When another character gains a Blessing, you may spend busts banked this way to give yourself and them a total of that many additional copies of that Blessing. Copied Blessings gained this way do not bump.
🔧 Precision & Accuracy Ethic
Description: You know that missteps can lead to disaster and that even the best plans can fall apart. But you also know that, in the here and now, those with the greatest dedication to detail, truth, and technique will always have the upper hand. Effect: When you would gain a boon from succeeding a Check, you may instead bank that boon. When you spend Blessings, you may spend that many boons banked this way to gain that many Blessings.
❇ Fairness & Value Ethic
Description: When you step back, it's clear that wealth, status, law, and justice only work because of our connections to one another. Even the most nihilistic among us still have interests they care about. So, you don't need a complicated philosophy. Just make good deals, and don't get screwed over. Tit for tat, eye for an eye. Effect: When an opponent would gain a bust in an Attack against you, you may instead bank that bust. You may spend busts banked this way to temporarily increase your favorability with someone by that amount, which will decrease by that amount at the end of the session.

Specialization Options

Accrued Specialization
Effect: Gain Blessings, at table discretion, during certain interactions with non-player characters, who may consider you in their debt as a result.
Adamant Specialization
Effect: When you fail a Check, you may lower the value on the die to a 1, causing it to bump and potentially turn the failure into a success. Recharge: ④.
Ambitious Specialization
Effect: Gain Blessings, at table discretion, for completing important story milestones.
Analytical Specialization
Effect: Twice per session, as Help, you may roll four d6 and group those dice into two piles of two. If addition or multiplication could make the piles equal, increase the result or X of the Helped roll by +5. For example, 1, 1, 1, and 2 could be grouped this way as 1×2=1+1.
Ascendant Specialization
Effect: You may perform a non-violent Spark roll using 3 Stat Dice, so long as those Stats are balanced, each use a d8 or larger, and you pay double the Blessing cost as usual.
Calm Specialization
Effect: Once per session, when you are in a safe place, you may perform a Check in the scope of Head or Home. Then once before the end of the session, you may use the value of that roll instead of rolling for another non-violent Check.
Charitable Specialization
Effect: When you visit a place of religious, spiritual, or community importance, you may spend any number of Blessings as a donation or act of service to the place. The more spent this way, the greater a possible later outcome may be, determined at table discretion.
Creative Specialization
Effect: Increase the difficulty one rank of a Check in a social situation, but ignore the lowest roll if it would cause you to fail. Recharge: ④.
Determined Specialization
Effect: Once per action, you may ignore the negative effects of your injuries and conditions. Recharge: ③.
Excessive Specialization
Effect: Once per session, you may destroy a thing you have gained, such as an item, information, or alliance. Until the end of the scene, you adopt its properties, the properties of a concept associated with it, or push it to its breaking point.
Exchangeable Specialization
Effect: You may spend Blessings in social situations as though they were currency. Using the X Progress Scale table as a scale, each spent Blessing contributes half its value, rounded down, to a minimum of 1.
Favorable Specialization
Effect: At table discretion, you accrue "favorability" with others as a result of your Backstory and actions. Within reason, when your favorability with someone is positive, you may call on them, decrease that favorability by an amount, and gain that many Blessings.
Friendly Specialization
Effect: You gain access to a creature companion, mechanical companion, or similar companion of your choice, within reason. The companion uses a d6 for all Stats and has its own Backstory and Aptitudes. It also has an Aptitude Value of 0-3 for each Aptitude, totaling 8. At the start of each session, for each Aptitude, the companion gains a number of temporary Blessings equal to its Aptitude Value for that Aptitude, which it may only spend to provide Help to Checks related enough to that Aptitude. Unspent temporary Blessings disappear at the end of the session. If the companion is lost, stolen, destroyed, or you lose its loyalty, replacing it may require time and effort.
Harmonious Specialization
Effect: As Help, you may perform a Spark roll using one of your Stats and one of the Stats of another willing character in the scene, so long as the chosen Stats are balanced, you both have this Specialization, and the Blessing cost is paid between you two.
Insured Specialization
Effect: A character may automatically succeed a Check to tend to your wounds, even after they've rolled. Recharge: ①. When this effect is recharged, increase the cost to recharge it by ①①.
Legendary Specialization
Effect: On your first Major Success each session, gain a Blessing. Each other player whose character witnessed or heard about that success also gains a Blessing.
Mischievous Specialization
Effect: When another character would succeed a Check, you may distract them using a thing you have gained, such as an item, information, or alliance. If you do, modify that character's result by -3, possibly turning their success into a failure. Recharge: ⑥.
Protective Specialization
Effect: When another nearby character would be violently Attacked, before rolls are performed, you may become the Defender instead. Recharge: ③.
Resolved Specialization
Effect: When an Attack succeeds against you, the Attacker receives one fewer boon and one additional bust than usual, and you gain a Blessing. Recharge: ④.
Rousing Specialization
Effect: Once per session, when your Blessings have a total combined worth of at least 10, you may share a speech, story, or information related enough to your Ethic. Each other character who hears this gains a Blessing.
Self-Accepted Specialization
Effect: When you succeed Checks in social situations while using unconventional Stats, you receive an additional boon, within reason.
Shameless Specialization
Effect: Once per session, when your Blessings have a total combined worth of at least 10, you may perform a joke, dance, or stunt related enough to your Lifestyle. Each other character who witnesses this becomes Uncool.
Shrouded Specialization
Effect: You may call upon a higher power, criminal underground, book of forbidden knowledge, or so on related enough to your Backstory to gain access to secret information or an answer to a question. This information may come with consequences. Recharge: ⑥.
Skilled Specialization
Effect: When you succeed a Check related enough to this Aptitude, gain an additional boon, within reason.
Spiked Specialization
Effect: When a violent Attack succeeds against you at a close distance, you may have your Attackers receive a less severe version of the same injury you received. Recharge: ③.
Supportive Specialization
Effect: As Help, you may spend ① to add half the value of the spent Blessing to the Helped roll, rounded down, to a minimum of 1. If the Check effect uses the X symbol, you may increase X instead.
Vibe Specialization
Effect: You may adjust the "vibe" or "music" of a situation subtly. Others can't pinpoint what changed, but the mood shifts to suit your intent. Recharge: ④.
Well-Traveled Specialization
Effect: When an item, place, piece of information, or character is encountered for the first time, you may establish, within reason, how your Backstory relates to them or it. Recharge: ⑥.
Wiley Specialization
Effect: On your first Major Success each session, gain or steal a total of three Blessings from other characters in the scene.
Witty Specialization
Effect: When a non-violent Attack related enough to this Aptitude succeeds against you, you may have the Attacker receive a less severe version of the same effect you received.

Printables

The following pages contain a printable character sheet and Endeavor track. The digital version of this page also contains buttons for printing this book in a number of color and black & white formats.

To print this book on A4 paper single-sided, use either of these buttons:

To print this book on A4 paper front and back, use either of these buttons, 1 page(s) per sheet, print on both sides, flip on long edge:

To print this book on A4 paper as a folded, saddle-bound booklet, use either of these buttons, 2 page(s) per sheet, print on both sides, flip on short edge:

To print this book on A4 paper as a cut, perfect-bound booklet, use either of these buttons, 2 page(s) per sheet, print on both sides, flip on short edge:

Name Head 🧠 Hand ✌️ Heart 💕
Home ☕️ Hurt 👿 Hurry ⚠️ History ⏳
Lifestyle Ethic
Apts & Specs
Notes
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

Index

Options

Tables