Combat
Actions
Attempt Deed
Choose one of your deeds, select targets, and make a roll to find the outcome. You can only attempt one deed each turn, though spending resolve allows you to exceed this limit
Interact
Manipulate an object or feature of the environment within arm’s reach. If the interaction involves risk or challenge, the Judge may call for a check to see if you succeed. A minor interaction, like drawing your weapon, grabbing an unattended object within reach, or opening an unlocked door, can be done as a free action
Jump
You try to dive past foes and vault over obstacles. Make a simple AGILITY | ATHLETICS check vs. 10. On a success, you can jump up to two squares in that direction, plus one per spark. On a failure, you jump one square in that direction
Move
You gain a number of movement points equal to your speed. Characters have a base speed of 5 + AGILITY, though this can be limited while wearing heavy armor. After taking this action, you can spend the movement points to move between other actions you take on your turn. Challenging movement, such as swimming or climbing, may require a check
Prevail
Spend a moment to clear your head, regain footing, or address a battlefield concern. Choose one state affecting you, an adjacent ally, or an enemy you damaged this turn. Check INTELLECT + SKILL BONUS vs. 10 + INTENSITY. On a success, you end that state
Rummage
Stow held items or retrieve items from your inventory, bringing them to hand. You can move several items with this action, within reason.
Smash
Attempt to destroy an adjacent destructible obstacle. Make a simple check of MIGHT | ATHLETICS vs. 10 (plants or ceramic), 12 (wood), 15 (fragile stone), or 18 (weak metal). On a success, it is destroyed and replaced by difficult terrain
Support
You aid an ally in sight, helping them land their attack or warning them of danger. Describe what you do, then grant the ally a support die of 1d4. If they already have a support die, increase it by one size instead, to a maximum size of d12. Until the end of the round, they can spend their support die to roll it and add the result to any one check they make. Support dice are lost at the end of each round
Take Aim
You adopt a firing position, gaining the aiming state: until you leave your current space, your range with missile attacks is doubled
Take Cover
You take shelter behind an adjacent obstacle, gaining the covered state: until you leave your current space, you gain +2 guard or resist against any attack if the attacker’s line of sight passes through the chosen obstacle
Throw
You throw a held object to a square within a range of 5 + AGILITY. Any creature in the path of the object may take a reaction to catch it with a free hand. A risky throw may require an AGILITY | ATHLETICS check to succeed
Use Item
You use a held item, such as a potion, wand, or scroll. If using it creates the effects of a deed, that counts as your deed for the turn
Reactions
Block
Take this reaction when you are hit by an attack. Roll one of your armor dice, reducing the damage by the result
Counter
Take this reaction when you spark on a guard check. If the attacker is within your melee weapon range, deal 🗡️🗡️ to them with a held melee weapon
Free Actions
Speak
You can speak or shout a few words while performing other actions
Wait
You can only take this free action in the early phase, and taking it ends your turn. Your remaining action points are held in reserve. You can take another turn at any point during the late phase this round to spend your remaining action points
Dungeon
Cast Incantation
The rest of the party keeps watch as one or more characters cast incantations they know. The complete rules for incantations can be found in the Magic chapter
Combat
Do battle with a creature encountered in the dungeon. The party automatically take this action if they have an encounter that results in combat. Even if the battle is only a few rounds long, the combat still uses a full dungeon action.
Converse
Spend a few minutes trading words with a creature nearby. The party automatically use an action to converse if they spend more than a minute or two speaking to a creature they encounter
Disarm Trap
The party attempts to disarm a trap in their current room. One character makes an INTELLECT | TINKERING check while the others look out for danger. If the trap is magical in nature, this is instead an INTELLECT | MAGIC check
Explore
Move cautiously into a new, adjoining room and begin searching it for traps, hidden doors, and other secrets. Each character makes a check of INTELLECT | PERCEPTION, investigating one room feature on a success, plus one per spark.
Hide
Wait in silent darkness for the dungeon to become still again. If the party is in a place with some seclusion from the rest of the dungeon, they can make a group check of AGILITY | STEALTH. On a success, the alarm value falls by three, plus one per spark
Interact
The party engages with a feature of the current room in some complex or time-consuming way. This dungeon action is open-ended: they could use it to decipher the ancient text scrawled on a sarcophagus, meticulously dredge a murky pool for treasure, or barricade a doorway with piled up furniture. The Judge will call for a skill check or group check as necessary
Pick Lock
The party attempts to a pick a locked door or chest. One party member can make an AGILITY | TINKERING check while the others look out for danger
Search
Linger in a room to explore it further. The party spend time to investigate each remaining room feature and learn any secrets they failed to discover during their initial explore action. There is no check required, the only cost is the time spent
Moment’s Rest
Pause exploration and take a moment to catch your breath. Each character must eat or lose 1 endurance, then spend any number of recovery dice. Each die spent restores its maximum value of hit points. Characters also regain their spent armor dice and erase two checkmarks from their focus costs
Traverse
Move quietly to a previously explored room. Unlike the explore action, you do not make any checks to explore the rooms you pass through. When the party takes this action to flee the dungeon, it always triggers one final encounter check
Vandalize
The party tries to break open a locked door or chest or do some other act of property destruction. One or more party members can make a group check of MIGHT | ATHLETICS. The dungeon’s alarm rises by +1
Travel
The Advance Action
When the party takes the advance action, they break camp and continue their journey. The terrain determines the number of hexes the party travels when they advance:
| Terrain | Hexes | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Flat | 4 | Desert, Plains, Woodland |
| Mixed / Rough | 3 | Forest, Hills, Swampland |
| Difficult | 2 | Caves, Mountains |
The party can only take the advance action once each day without penalty. Each time it is used beyond that, each party member loses 1 endurance. Any party member with a mount can advance a second time without losing endurance. They still lose endurance normally on further advances.
Roads wind through multiple hexes and ease passage along them. While the party is following a road, they can move 4 hexes each time they advance, no matter what type of terrain those hexes contain.
The party travels -1 hex when they advance in poor weather, such as a heat wave, heavy rain, or snow. This increases to -2 hexes in extreme weather, like a blizzard or sandstorm. In difficult terrain, this traps them in their current location until the conditions improve.
Each time the party takes the advance action, the Judge makes an encounter check, rolling a d10. If the result is equal to or less than the hostility tier of the current region, the party has a random encounter.
The Camp Action
Cook
You use the ingredients on hand to make an edible meal, however distasteful. Spend one or more ingredients and make a SPIRIT | ALCHEMY check. You can also spend crude rations instead of ingredients to attempt to turn them into something better. On a failure, turn all the items you spent into that many crude rations. On a success, they become normal rations instead. On a success with a spark, they become fine rations.
Craft
You create a simple tool from what’s on hand. Spend one or more material to make an INTELLECT | CRAFTING check. On a success, you create a crude tool or piece of equipment. For each spark, you can spend another material to improve the item’s quality, to a maximum of fine. The Judge may determine that certain items are impossible given limited time and resources
Explore
You explore the surrounding area for points of interest. Make an AGILITY | PERCEPTION check. On a success, you find a point of interest in the current hex, if any exist
Forage
You devote time to searching for edible plant life and useful ingredients for alchemy. Make a MIGHT | NATURE check. On a success, gain one ingredient, plus one per spark.
Fish
If you’re near a body of water, you can fish for food. Make a SPIRIT | NATURE check. On a success, gain one normal ration, plus one per spark
Help
You forgo performing your own camp activity to help an ally with their own. Grant them an extra spark on a success
Hunt
You attempt to find food by hunting wild game. Make an AGILITY | NATURE check. On a success, gain one normal ration, plus one per spark. On a failure, lose 1 endurance
Lift Spirits
You devote extra time to resting with your companions and bolstering their spirits. Choose one ally, describe what you do to lift their spirits, and make a check of SPIRIT | SPEECH. The Judge may let you make a different check if it makes sense for approach you describe. On a success, remove one of their lasting states, or grant them a point of resolve
Prepare Torches
You use the odds and ends you’ve scrounged up to craft a number of makeshift torches. Spend a material and make a MIGHT | CRAFTING check. You do not need to spend a material if you are in an environment with plentiful wood. On a success, create three crude torches, plus one for each spark you rolled
Pursue
You pursue a different task not covered by the other camp activities. Make a skill check determined by the Judge. The target number may vary depending on the task at hand
Rest Early
You rest while others labor so that you can keep watch during the next night’s rest action. If you take this action, you gain all the effects of a rest, and you can keep watch without penalty
Salvage
You search the area for discarded leather, metal, and other useful materials. Make a MIGHT | PERCEPTION check. On a success, gain one material, plus one per spark
Scout
You venture out to get a better sense of the region. Make an AGILITY | PERCEPTION check. On a success, choose one benefit from the below, plus one for each spark you roll. They last for the next full day. On a failure, lose 1 endurance.
- Party ignores mixed and difficult terrain
- Party has no risk of getting lost
- Party gains a +2 bonus to camp activity skill checks
The Night’s Rest Action
The party must devote a portion of each day to rest in order to avoid losing endurance. This is usually done as the final action of the day, after the advance and camp actions.
Taking a night’s rest action means spending a period of eight hours in downtime. You gain the benefits only when you finish the rest. If your rest is disrupted by an encounter, you can resume resting afterward and still gain the benefits when you finish.
Eat Rations You must eat each time you take a night’s rest, making a depletion check for a ration in your inventory. If you cannot, lose 1 Endurance.
Benefits of a Night’s Rest When you complete a night’s rest, you gain the following benefits:
- You regain all hit points.
- You lose your remaining recovery dice, then gain recovery dice up to your current endurance score.
- Your focus costs are reset.
Random Encounters Each time the party rests in a wild or unsafe location, the Judge makes an encounter check to see if they are interrupted by an encounter (p. 60).
If they have an encounter during their rest and no one is keeping watch, they do not make a surprise check:
- The party starts the encounter sleeping.
- The other group gets to choose any approach, including an ambush.
Keeping Watch You can choose one or more party members to keep sentry to avoid an ambush.
- Those characters do not gain the benefit of the rest, unless they took the rest early camp activity earlier in the day.
- If the party has a random encounter, the sentry can wake everyone up, preventing an ambush and allowing them to make their group surprise check as normal.
Haven
Alchemize
Attempt to alchemize a useful item from the reagents you have gathered on your journeys. Spend two ingredients and make a simple INTELLECT | ALCHEMY check. On a success, you create one lesser mixture of your choice. On a failure, you make a random lesser mixture instead
Build
Make a MIGHT | ATHLETICS check for the building project of your choice. On a success, advance its clock by one, plus one per spark.
Convalesce
Spend the week off your feet, focusing only on recovering from an injury. Make a simple MIGHT + SPIRIT check. On a success, advance your injury clock by one
Help
You abstain from taking your own haven action to help an ally with their own pursuit. Describe what you do to help your ally. If they take a haven action that requires a skill check, they gain one additional spark on a success.
Hire
Spend the week seeking out a specialist for a particular job. Make a SPIRIT | SPEECH check. On a success, choose a hireling from the available options and retain their services. They start next week. For each spark, you may retain an additional hireling.
Muster Allies
You organize the citizens to search the surrounding lands for fellow survivors and wayfarers. Make a SPIRIT | SPEECH check. On a success, increase the population rank by one. If you roll a spark, the Judge also rolls for an arrival.
Plan Building
Lay the groundwork for a new haven building, or start upgrading an existing one. Add one building or upgrade to an empty build slot of your choice, then make an INTELLECT | LETTERS check. On a success, advance the clock by one, plus one per spark.
Resupply
You spend the week preparing for the next expedition. Fill any number of empty slots in your inventory with crude rations or crude torches in any combination. Crude items have a d4 depletion die
Retrain
You devote time to refining your fighting abilities. Replace one of your known talents or enhancements with a different one, or replace one of your known deeds with another of the same tier (light, heavy, or mighty). The deeds must be chosen from adventuring crafts you have unlocked
Study Esoterica
You devote time to reading or deciphering one of the esoterica you have recovered in your travels. Choose an esoteric object in your inventory and work with the Judge to create a research progress clock with four to ten segments, based on the obscurity and strangeness of the object. Each time you take this action, including when you choose to study a new object, make an INTELLECT | MAGIC check. On a success, advance the clock by one, plus one per spark
Tame Beast
ou attempt to tame a captured animal or monster. Spend one ingredient, then make a SPIRIT | NATURE check. On a success, advance its taming clock by one, plus one per spark. Most creatures have taming clocks with a number of segments equal to LEVEL x 2
Work on Project
Work on a project not covered by the other haven actions. Describe what you do to advance it, and the Judge will call for an appropriate skill check, if any. On a success, you advance the progress clock by one, plus one per spark.