Basic Rules



This game involves a lot of heroically killing things and taking their stuff, but there’s also the non-combat side of things. To have your character do something, you announce what you want your character to do and if you think you have a skill that applies mention it. The narrator will respond with  one of these difficulty levels:

Guaranteed: This is something a common person could do without much difficulty.

Examples: Walking down the street, opening a door, riding a horse at a brief trot.

Likely: This is something a common person could conceivably do, but with great difficulty.

Examples: Climbing up a 30-foot wall, breaking down a solid oak door, riding a galloping horse.

Unlikely: This is something a common person could not do.

Examples: Climbing a steep cliff, breaking down a metal door, riding a wild horse.

Doubtful: This is something that is nearly impossible even for a hero.

Examples: Climbing the tallest mountain in the world, breaking through a stone wall, riding a dragon.

Inconceivable: This is something that cannot be done by mortal man.

Examples: Climbing a waterfall, breaking through a steel gate, riding a berserk dragon.

No, Just No: This is the narrator telling you to stop being stupid and attempt something reasonable.

Examples: Climbing to the moon, breaking the fourth wall, riding off into the sunset at midday.

 In general, you can expect difficulties of unlikely for anything remotely important, moved up to likely if you have the skill. After all, you wouldn’t be heroes if what you were doing was easy.

After the narrator gives you your difficulty, you pick one of the options:

<p class="MsoNormal">Flip a Fate Card: Turn over the top card on the fate deck and look at it. If the difficulty was likely, you succeed if it is any number card. If the difficulty was unlikely, you succeed if you turned over a face card. If the difficulty was doubtful, you succeed if you turned over an ace.

<p class="MsoNormal">Play a Card from Your Hand: Same as above, but instead you play a card of the correct type to assure success. For example, if the difficulty was unlikely you need to play and discard a face card to succeed. You can play any card from your hand as if it were a fate card. So this can be a class card, item card, race card, monster card, or any other type you might have on hand.

<p class="MsoNormal">Activate an Ability: Each card you have lists an ability you can use. Playing that card activates that ability instead of requiring you to draw for success. The right ability can guarantee success at even difficult tasks. For example, if you play the Viking Warrior card Smash it automatically allows you to smash something. You don't have to flip for it. <h2 class="MsoNormal">Opposing Actions <p class="MsoNormal">For players competing or working against each other, you first count up advantages. Having at least one skill that applies to the situation is an advantage. The narrator can also grant a player an advantage if the situation is in her favor.

<p class="MsoNormal">If one player has two more advantages than the other, he succeeds automatically. If one more advantage, he flips a card. If it's a number card, he succeeds. Otherwise, his opponent succeeds. If the players have the same number of advantages, they both flip a card. Highest card wins the competition. If they're the same, it's a tie. Aces are the highest cards, followed by kings, queens, jacks, and the number cards going from 10 to 2. Whoever wins can have the loser suffer an effect or be forced to do something. If the loser refuses, he must instead give the victor a card.

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Varieties of Cards
There are 4 types of cards:

Fate: Fate cards are used where most roleplaying games would have die rolls. They generate random numbers. You can use any deck to flip fate cards, or play any card in your card as a fate card.

Class: Class cards represent the abilities of your chosen character typ.

Monster: Monster cards are enemies that you run into.

Loot: Loot cards are items that you pick up along your adventures.

Additionally, all cards come in one of 3 values:

Number Cards: These are 2-10. Think of them as commons. They're useful, but not the most valuable.

Face Cards: These are jacks, queens, and kings. Think of them as uncommons. They're pretty useful.

Aces: Aces are your rares. They're very useful. All race cards are ace cards as well.

Getting New Cards
As you play cards from your hand, you'll notice that as you go, you'll have fewer cards. This will become problematic. Thankfully, you can replenish cards in a number of ways, though you should never have more class cards than your level.

1: Some characters can activate abilities that replenish a certain number of cards, or all cards. This allows you to fill your hand back up.

2: At the beginning of each session, you start with full cards.

3: The narrator may call for a replenish halfway through the game if the session lasts for awhile. He or she may say "everyone draws 3 cards" or "everyone replenishes all cards" or "everone but Steve refills all cards." This doesn't happen predictably, so don't count on it.

The narrator can also hand out kudos. This is usually 1-3 cards as a reward for doing something that makes the game better. Maybe it's doing something hilarious while staying in character, pulling off something epic, playing a character weakness, or moving the game forward. If you get some cards as kudos, they can exceed your level temporarily.