Rules summary #

Actions #

At the start of combat, each character must make a DEX save. Those that succeed get an opportunity to act before the first round of combat. During each ten-second round of combat, all characters get to act and then all adversaries follow. All actions take place simultaneously.

On your turn, you can move up to 40ft and take a single action. Actions include attacking, casting a spell, moving again, and other activities of similar duration.

You may retreat from a dangerous situation with a successful DEX save and a safe destination to escape to.

Abilities #

• STR — physicality, brawn, and toughness
• DEX — speed, ability to sneak, and hand-eye coordination
• CTRL — willpower and ability to tolerate the unknown

Saves #

Roll d20 equal to or under your target ability. 1 is always a success. 20 is always a failure. The party at most risk in a contested action makes the save.

Hit protection #

HP reflects your character’s ability to avoid stress and physical damage. It is lost during combat and recovered after a few moments of rest.

Taking a short rest restores 1d6 HP. Sleeping overnight in a safe location restores all HP or 1d6 points of ability damage.

Deprivation #

When you are deprived, you can’t recover HP. If you are deprived for more than a day, add fatigue to one slot of your inventory for each day you are deprived.

Inventory #

You have ten inventory slots. Most items take up one slot, but small items can be bundled. Bulky items take up two slots and are awkward or difficult to carry. When all ten of your inventory slots are occupied, your HP is reduced to 0.

Combat #

All feasible attacks automatically hit. Roll stress or damage, subtract any protections from armor or stability, and deal the remaining total to your opponent’s HP.

If there are multiple attackers, or one attacker using multiple weapons, roll all damage dice together and keep the single highest die.

Impaired attacks reduce damage and stress to 1d4. Enhanced attacks increase damage and stress to 1d12. Blast affects all area targets, rolling separately for each.

Damage + stress #

Damage or stress that reduce your target’s HP below zero reduces their STR or CTRL by the remainder. If damage, then they must then make a STR save to avoid critical damage. Failure drops them out of combat, dying if left untreated. If stress, then they must make a CTRL save or take fallout.

If any of your ability scores are reduced to zero, your character is immediately retired from the game. Whether you are dead, incapacitated, or lost to the void is up to you.