Truth and Light
There are many methods in Chaesharin by which people claim to know the will of the gods. Whether it is by lacquered cards, shuffled and dealt to read fates; or by hallucinatory potions and a wandering consciousness; or by animal sacrifice, where blood and entrails are read like scrolls; or by consultation with the dead, the dying, and the demonic; Chaesharin does not lack for voices claiming to speak for the divine. The koh, the priests of Veye in Deiyeh, have outlawed all forms of divination in their lands on pain of capital punishment, save one.
Every elder koh carries in their breast pocket two dice carved from the eyes of kaimal, Veye’s guardian messengers, who tear out their own eyes in imitation of their blind god and give them to the koh to be used to know Veye’s will. The dice are called Amatin and Avarin, Truth and Light, and Koh are trained in the use of the dice upon entering the priesthood, though only elder koh carry them and use them for real divination. When the elder koh infuses the dice with liquid magick, addresses simple yes or no questions to them, and then rolls them with the proper series of ritualized gestures, the six sided dice land on a combination of faces that answer the question with varying degrees of certainty. The dice never lie and appear to know all things in the present moment, but interpreting their faces and their degrees of certainty is not easy. Nevertheless, the elder koh can gain a great deal of insight from carefully worded questions if they are willing to spend hours of time rolling, rerolling, and reading their dice.
Introduction
The Judge Two System is designed to make every roll feel heavily consequential because every roll involves difficult choices and can have half a dozen possible results for the game's action. At the same time, the Judge Two System is quick, consistent, requires very little math, and even less reference once its basic concepts are learned. The Judge Two System is used for all kinds of actions in TWE, from martial conflicts to social conflicts, to the use of supernal powers or scenes of investigation, to large scale warfare or action packed pursuits. If dice are rolled in TWE they are rolled according to the Judge Two System.
Rolling Dice
Dice are rolled in TWE when the outcome of an action is uncertain and the stakes involved are high. The players are the only ones who ever roll any dice. The gamemaster never rolls any dice. When the players do roll dice they always roll two, six sided dice, in either two different colors or two different styles so that the two can be distinguished from one another. One die is called Truth and one die is called Light. Truth and Light are always rolled together at the same time. The higher the roll on Truth, the greater the chance an uncertain action will be successful and result in the player’s favor. The higher the roll on Light, the greater the chance an uncertain action will avoid an unforeseen cost and secure a potential advantage.
Whenever Truth and Light are rolled, the player may spend any, all, or none of their Light to increase their Truth at a one to one ratio. Light may not be spent below 1 in this way but Truth can be raised above 6. The numbers on the two dice are called First Truth and First Light before any spending, and Final Truth and Final Light after any spending.
A roll’s Final Truth is added to one of the player character’s attributes to form a sum called the action’s power (or AP). If a roll’s action power is greater than or equal to the target number (or TN) assigned to the action by the gamemaster, which represents the action’s level of challenge and drama, then the action is a success and results in the player’s favor. If a roll’s action power is less than the target number, then the action fails and results in something that opposes the player’s interests.
A roll’s Final Light decides if the action results in an unforeseen cost or a potential advantage. With a Final Light of 1 or 2, the roll results in an unforeseen cost called a guilt. With a Final Light of 3 or 4, the roll results in neither a cost nor an advantage and is called innocent. With a Final Light of 5 or 6, the roll results in a potential advantage called a glory.
Therefore, when dice are rolled in TWE to determine the outcome of an uncertain action, there are six possible results.
A Guilty Failure (AP < TN and Final Light 1-2): The worst possible result. The action fails and results in a cost that makes future actions even more difficult to succeed at for the player character or their allies.
An Innocent Failure (AP < TN and Final Light 3-4): The action simply fails.
A Glorious Failure (AP < TN and Final Light 5-6): The action fails, though it does so in such a way that the player character may immediately retry if they wish, with additional risk and chance for reward.
A Guilty Success (AP >/= TN and Final Light 1-2): The action succeeds and results in a cost that makes future actions even more difficult to succeed at for the player characters or their allies.
An Innocent Success (AP >/= TN and Final Light 3-4): The action simply succeeds.
A Glorious Success (AP >/= TN and Final Light 5-6): The action succeeds and results in an advantage that accomplishes more than the player character originally set out to.
Tests and Saves
There are two kinds of rolls that the gamemaster might call on a player to make when the outcomes of actions are uncertain and the stakes involved are high: tests and saves. Tests and saves both involve rolling Truth and Light and resolving an action in the manner described above. Tests differ from saves in three important ways however.
1) Tests are rolls for actions that are initiated by the player characters themselves, while saves are rolls for actions that are initiated by non-player characters or environmental challenges which would directly and adversely affect a player character. When a test is successful, the player character’s action achieves their desired result. When a save is successful, the player character resists the desired result of a non-player character’s or environmental challenge's action.
2) Tests and saves both add one of the player character’s attributes to the roll’s Final Truth to determine the action’s power. Tests add one of the player character’s three greater attributes, and saves add one of the player character’s three lesser attributes. The three greater attributes are beauty, strength, and wisdom, and the three lesser attributes are honor, valor, and initiative. Beauty is added to tests involving persuasion or artistic and religious performances. Strength is added to tests involving physical daring or martial prowess. Wisdom is added to tests involving intelligence, problem solving, or investigation. Honor is added to saves involving emotional distress, manipulation, or temptation. Valor is added to saves involving physical endurance or defensive maneuvers in combat. Initiative is added to saves involving quick thinking, reflexes, or surprises. Tests and saves are also subject to different action power bonuses and penalties. In this text, it is important to pay attention to when something is granting a bonus to tests or to saves, as a given bonus or penalty is rarely applied to both. For example, weapons grant action power bonuses to combat tests (using strength) but shields grant action power bonuses to combat saves (using valor).
Attribute Ranks
0 = The most common rank for average healthy adults from among the mortal kinds.
1 = A common rank for a degree of inborn talent or an attribute favored by a mortal kind.
2 = The rank of attributes developed by professional skills and discipline.
3 = A rank for attributes of elite professional ability.
4 = An attribute rank for masters of a discipline or for animals with ability beyond the mortal kinds.
5 = An attribute of powerful predatory creatures or legendary heroes from myths long past.
6 = An attribute rank equivalent to common supernal entities and the highest a vaishineph can hope to achieve.
7 = A rank for attributes of especially dangerous supernal entities like those of the underworld.
8 = The most common rank for beings of incredible power; high shaeds, behemoths, kaimal, and princely jinn.
9 = A hypothetical rank for the aihalan, if an aihalan were ever inclined to engage in conflicts directly.
10 = A possible rank for the five dalaihal, if they truly exist, and are as powerful as their worshippers claim.
3) Tests can end in all six of the above results just as they are described, but saves can only end in three of the results: an innocent success, an innocent failure, and a guilty failure. All successes on saves are treated as innocent successes, and both glorious failures and innocent failures are treated as innocent failures on saves. Guilty failures do not result in guilts for the player making the roll, but rather, result in a kind of glorious success for the non-player character initiating the action against the player character. Because of the way saves work, it is always in a player’s best interest to spend as much Light as possible in an effort to avoid a failed save.
Tests and saves are both rolled against a target number which represents an action’s difficulty or level of drama. The higher the target number, the more difficult the action is to succeed at, and the less likely that the player character will be able to achieve a result that favors them. Target numbers range from six to sixteen. On tests and saves where an action involves a non-player character, either a test initiated against a non-player character or a save against a non-player character’s initiated action, the roll’s target number is equal to the non-player character’s power number (PN). A power number is a general representation of a non-player character’s level of threat, influence, and significance. The stronger the non-player character, the higher their power number, and therefore the higher the target number to take actions against them or to resist actions taken by them against the player characters. Power numbers range from six to sixteen just like target numbers.
Target numbers less than six are mundane actions that usually do not need to be rolled to resolve.
Beauty: Flirting with an intoxicated person
Strength: Climbing up a ladder
Wisdom: Following lone footprints in the sand
Target numbers from six to nine are difficult for the average person, but achievable by someone with a little skill, a little luck, or a little extra preparation.
Beauty: Successfully haggling with a common merchant
Strength: Hiking a mountain in a downpour
Wisdom: Solving an old riddle
Target numbers from ten to thirteen are difficult even for those with a lifetime of training in a particular discipline or area of knowledge, and likely require some considerable resources if success is to be attained.
Beauty: Performing a complex musical piece before a royal court
Strength: Climbing over a fortified gate with bare hands
Wisdom: Translating an esoteric text of magick
Target numbers from fourteen to sixteen are of an epic level of difficulty, and beyond the abilities of most mortal creatures, and might even test the powers of supernal beings.
Beauty: Seducing a demon
Strength: Lifting and throwing a boulder
Wisdom: Safely navigating the underworld
A successful test or save is said to have a number of degrees of success equal to the roll’s action power minus the roll’s target number. A failed test or save is said to have a number of degrees of failure equal to the roll’s target number minus the roll’s action power. For example: An action power of eleven and a target number of eight would equal three degrees of success. An action power of ten and a target number of ten would equal zero degrees of success, since a success results from an action power that is either greater than or equal to a target number. An action power of seven and a target number of nine would equal two degrees of failure.
The higher a test or save’s degrees of success, the more fantastically the action has succeeded. The higher a test or save’s degrees of failure, the more terribly the action has failed. Degrees of success and failure are notated in this text with a number after a roll’s results. For example: “Guilty Success 2” indicates that the action succeeded with two degrees of success but resulted in a guilt. “Innocent Failure 3” indicates that the action failed with three degrees of failure and resulted in neither a guilt nor a glory. Etc.
Degrees of success and failure are not relevant for every single action. But in dangerous situations like martial and social conflicts, a high degree of success or failure can be the difference between life or death.
Below is a list of the four guilts and glories that player characters can earn on tests on account of their Final Light results. The descriptions introduce some new terminology and, at this introductory point, are phrased in a general way. Other pages will redescribe these same guilts and glories in more specific terms, appropriate to the kinds of actions that player characters are taking when they earn them. On the Conflicts in Action page, for example, is a fuller treatment of how guilts and glories look specifically in combat situations, large scale battles, naval engagements, situations of social manipulation, and other conflicts between characters. On the Whispers page, is a fuller treatment of how guilts and glories look when using supernal powers such as Whispers. Three notes need to be made here, however.
1) When this text speaks of “abilities,” it is speaking of a player character’s feats and Whispers. Feats are skills and maneuvers granted to the player characters by their choice of class which generally improve a character’s effectiveness in martial or social conflicts. The character page has a full list of classes and full descriptions of all of the feats those classes reward. Whispers are individual uses of a vaishineph character’s supernal powers, akin to spells in other fantasy settings. The Whispers page has a full treatment of how Whispers work, what they can do, how they are resolved in action, and the history, lore, and fiction behind them. When the text discusses the use of abilities, it means tests and saves that involve these feats and Whispers.
2) When this text speaks of “boons” it is speaking of items or situations that grant bonuses to a character for specific types of actions. Boons can be everything from climbing or traveling gear when traversing the wilds, to weapons and armor in combat scenes, to scrolls and artifacts when researching, to entourages and elaborate costumes and uniforms in social situations. The Conflicts in Action page and the Gear, Garb, and Factions page has a full list of the most common types of boons and the benefits they provide, as well as how to improvise new boons to suit players and their circumstances.
3) Even with these caveats, TWE still allows a large degree of creative license for how guilts and glories play out in the game’s narrative when they are earned. This license is intentional, both so that guilts and glories can be fruitfully used in a wide variety of situations, and so that, when they are used, they are exciting opportunities for players and gamemasters to apply their creativity to the ongoing action at hand. When a guilt or glory is earned, it is a sort of creative challenge to players and gamemasters to find a way to fit the unexpected occurrence into the game’s narrative, and so to add happy surprises and unpredictability to the mathematical mechanics of rolling dice and adding numbers.
When a player character’s test results in a guilty success or failure (with a Final Light of 1-2), the gamemaster must choose one of the four guilts below to apply to the player character’s action.
Fault Ability: Something about the player character’s action has become an obstacle for their nearby allies, making their own next action all the more difficult. One of the player character’s nearby allies has its action power penalized by two and they cannot use any of their abilities through their next action.
Lose Boons: Either due to distraction, confusion, exhaustion, or pain, the player character loses two boons that was in their use. Common quality boons are destroyed or lost permanently, but better quality boons can be recovered with a minor action. In martial conflicts, boons are things like weapons, shields, and armor, but also things like cover, high ground, and mounts. More information about boons can be found on the Conflicts in Action page.
Raise Risk: Something about the player character’s action has placed them in a compromised situation, making their next action all the more difficult. Through the player character’s next action, the hostile attention of all nearby non-player characters is directed toward the player character, and all saves made by the player character have their action power penalized by two.
Suffer Surprise: Either due to distraction, confusion, exhaustion, or pain, the player character loses awareness of their surroundings and immediately suffers a surprising action or effect undertaken by a non-player character or environmental condition near them. This action of effect amounts to a non-damage contested end. More information about contested ends can be found on the Action Description page.
When a player character’s action test results in a glorious success (with a Final Light of 5-6), they must choose one of the four glories below to apply to their action. A player may choose any of the four glories, but they cannot choose the same glory twice in a row.
Grant Ability: The player character succeeds in such a way that they improve the situation for their allies and put them in a better position to succeed. The next action of one of the player character’s nearby allies takes involving an ability has its action power increased by three.
Control Boons: Through ingenuity, cunning, or sheer technique, the player character improvises a boon out of the materials at hand, steals a boon from another character nearby, or simply removes a boon from another character's possession and discards it. Boons generally provide two action power to tests or saves involving specific kinds of actions appropriate for the boon in question, but a boon might also be a one time item that allows the player character to do or to attempt something they might not otherwise be able to. In martial conflicts, boons can be things like improvised weapons, shields, armor, or single use projectiles. More information about boons can be found on the Conflicts in Action page.
Break Risk: The player character succeeds in such a way that they are in complete control of their present situation and are in the perfect position to succeed yet again. All tests and saves made by the player character have their action power increased by two through their next action, or, their present action power is increased by four.
Spring Surprise: The player character’s success grants them a superior sense of their situation and their immediate surroundings allowing them to immediately take a surprising action against a nearby non-player character or the environment. This action of effect amounts to a non-damage contested end. More information about contested ends can be found on the Action Description page.
If a player character ever earns a guilt or glory and none of the guilts or glories listed on the Judge Two page are relevant to the action at hand, or if the player is taking actions so infrequently or so disconnected from one another in the game’s narrative that penalizing or rewarding a future action based on a previous action makes little sense, then instead of applying one of the above guilts or glories the player can instead take bad or good fortune as a result. If a player character takes bad fortune as a result of a guilt, at any point in the next scene, the gamemaster can play their bad fortune against them and force them to reroll their First Light during a save. If a player character takes good fortunate as a result of a glory, at any point in the next scene, the player can play their good fortune to reroll their First Light during a test OR a save.
A glorious failure is a unique situation (AP < TN Final Light 5-6). The attempted action fails and the desired outcome described by the player is not achieved, nevertheless, an opportunity is created for heightened risk or reward. Upon earning a glorious failure, the player is asked if they wish to withdraw or push on. If they withdraw, the action test is treated as a normal innocent failure. If they push on, they redo the same roll they just made, with all the same attributes and circumstances involved. If this second roll results in any kind of failure at all, it is treated as a guilty failure and its degree of failure is increased by two, and if it results in any kind of success at all, it is treated as a glorious success and its degree of success is increased by two.
Target Numbers
Tests and saves are both rolled against a target number which represents an action’s difficulty or level of drama. The higher the target number, the more difficult the action is to succeed at, and the less likely that the player character will be able to achieve a result that favors them. Target numbers range from six to sixteen. On tests and saves where an action involves a non-player character, either a test initiated against a non-player character or a save against a non-player character’s initiated action, the roll’s target number is equal to the non-player character’s power number (PN). A power number is a general representation of a non-player character’s level of threat, influence, and significance. The stronger the non-player character, the higher their power number, and therefore the higher the target number to take actions against them or to resist actions taken by them against the player characters. Power numbers range from six to sixteen just like target numbers.
Target numbers less than six are mundane actions that usually do not need to be rolled to resolve.
Beauty: Flirting with an intoxicated person
Strength: Climbing up a ladder
Wisdom: Following lone footprints in the sand
Target numbers from six to nine are difficult for the average person, but achievable by someone with a little skill, a little luck, or a little extra preparation.
Beauty: Successfully haggling with a common merchant
Strength: Hiking a mountain in a downpour
Wisdom: Solving an old riddle
Target numbers from ten to thirteen are difficult even for those with a lifetime of training in a particular discipline or area of knowledge, and likely require some considerable resources if success is to be attained.
Beauty: Performing a complex musical piece before a royal court
Strength: Climbing over a fortified gate with bare hands
Wisdom: Translating an esoteric text of magick
Target numbers from fourteen to sixteen are of an epic level of difficulty, and beyond the abilities of most mortal creatures, and might even test the powers of supernal beings.
Beauty: Seducing a demon
Strength: Lifting and throwing a boulder
Wisdom: Safely navigating the underworld
Degrees of Success and Failure
A successful test or save is said to have a number of degrees of success equal to the roll’s action power minus the roll’s target number. A failed test or save is said to have a number of degrees of failure equal to the roll’s target number minus the roll’s action power. For example: An action power of eleven and a target number of eight would equal three degrees of success. An action power of ten and a target number of ten would equal zero degrees of success, since a success results from an action power that is either greater than or equal to a target number. An action power of seven and a target number of nine would equal two degrees of failure.
The higher a test or save’s degrees of success, the more fantastically the action has succeeded. The higher a test or save’s degrees of failure, the more terribly the action has failed. Degrees of success and failure are notated in this text with a number after a roll’s results. For example: “Guilty Success 2” indicates that the action succeeded with two degrees of success but resulted in a guilt. “Innocent Failure 3” indicates that the action failed with three degrees of failure and resulted in neither a guilt nor a glory. Etc.
Degrees of success and failure are not relevant for every single action. But in dangerous situations like martial and social conflicts, a high degree of success or failure can be the difference between life or death.
Guilts and Glories in Practice
Below is a list of the four guilts and glories that player characters can earn on tests on account of their Final Light results. The descriptions introduce some new terminology and, at this introductory point, are phrased in a general way. Other pages will redescribe these same guilts and glories in more specific terms, appropriate to the kinds of actions that player characters are taking when they earn them. On the Conflicts in Action page, for example, is a fuller treatment of how guilts and glories look specifically in combat situations, large scale battles, naval engagements, situations of social manipulation, and other conflicts between characters. On the Whispers page, is a fuller treatment of how guilts and glories look when using supernal powers such as Whispers. Three notes need to be made here, however.
1) When this text speaks of “abilities,” it is speaking of a player character’s feats and Whispers. Feats are skills and maneuvers granted to the player characters by their choice of class which generally improve a character’s effectiveness in martial or social conflicts. The character page has a full list of classes and full descriptions of all of the feats those classes reward. Whispers are individual uses of a vaishineph character’s supernal powers, akin to spells in other fantasy settings. The Whispers page has a full treatment of how Whispers work, what they can do, how they are resolved in action, and the history, lore, and fiction behind them. When the text discusses the use of abilities, it means tests and saves that involve these feats and Whispers.
2) When this text speaks of “boons” it is speaking of items or situations that grant bonuses to a character for specific types of actions. Boons can be everything from climbing or traveling gear when traversing the wilds, to weapons and armor in combat scenes, to scrolls and artifacts when researching, to entourages and elaborate costumes and uniforms in social situations. The Conflicts in Action page and the Gear, Garb, and Factions page has a full list of the most common types of boons and the benefits they provide, as well as how to improvise new boons to suit players and their circumstances.
3) Even with these caveats, TWE still allows a large degree of creative license for how guilts and glories play out in the game’s narrative when they are earned. This license is intentional, both so that guilts and glories can be fruitfully used in a wide variety of situations, and so that, when they are used, they are exciting opportunities for players and gamemasters to apply their creativity to the ongoing action at hand. When a guilt or glory is earned, it is a sort of creative challenge to players and gamemasters to find a way to fit the unexpected occurrence into the game’s narrative, and so to add happy surprises and unpredictability to the mathematical mechanics of rolling dice and adding numbers.
Guilt Descriptions
When a player character’s test results in a guilty success or failure (with a Final Light of 1-2), the gamemaster must choose one of the four guilts below to apply to the player character’s action.
Fault Ability: Something about the player character’s action has become an obstacle for their nearby allies, making their own next action all the more difficult. One of the player character’s nearby allies has its action power penalized by two and they cannot use any of their abilities through their next action.
Lose Boons: Either due to distraction, confusion, exhaustion, or pain, the player character loses two boons that was in their use. Common quality boons are destroyed or lost permanently, but better quality boons can be recovered with a minor action. In martial conflicts, boons are things like weapons, shields, and armor, but also things like cover, high ground, and mounts. More information about boons can be found on the Conflicts in Action page.
Raise Risk: Something about the player character’s action has placed them in a compromised situation, making their next action all the more difficult. Through the player character’s next action, the hostile attention of all nearby non-player characters is directed toward the player character, and all saves made by the player character have their action power penalized by two.
Suffer Surprise: Either due to distraction, confusion, exhaustion, or pain, the player character loses awareness of their surroundings and immediately suffers a surprising action or effect undertaken by a non-player character or environmental condition near them. This action of effect amounts to a non-damage contested end. More information about contested ends can be found on the Action Description page.
Glory Descriptions
When a player character’s action test results in a glorious success (with a Final Light of 5-6), they must choose one of the four glories below to apply to their action. A player may choose any of the four glories, but they cannot choose the same glory twice in a row.
Grant Ability: The player character succeeds in such a way that they improve the situation for their allies and put them in a better position to succeed. The next action of one of the player character’s nearby allies takes involving an ability has its action power increased by three.
Control Boons: Through ingenuity, cunning, or sheer technique, the player character improvises a boon out of the materials at hand, steals a boon from another character nearby, or simply removes a boon from another character's possession and discards it. Boons generally provide two action power to tests or saves involving specific kinds of actions appropriate for the boon in question, but a boon might also be a one time item that allows the player character to do or to attempt something they might not otherwise be able to. In martial conflicts, boons can be things like improvised weapons, shields, armor, or single use projectiles. More information about boons can be found on the Conflicts in Action page.
Break Risk: The player character succeeds in such a way that they are in complete control of their present situation and are in the perfect position to succeed yet again. All tests and saves made by the player character have their action power increased by two through their next action, or, their present action power is increased by four.
Spring Surprise: The player character’s success grants them a superior sense of their situation and their immediate surroundings allowing them to immediately take a surprising action against a nearby non-player character or the environment. This action of effect amounts to a non-damage contested end. More information about contested ends can be found on the Action Description page.
The 5th Guilt and Glory
If a player character ever earns a guilt or glory and none of the guilts or glories listed on the Judge Two page are relevant to the action at hand, or if the player is taking actions so infrequently or so disconnected from one another in the game’s narrative that penalizing or rewarding a future action based on a previous action makes little sense, then instead of applying one of the above guilts or glories the player can instead take bad or good fortune as a result. If a player character takes bad fortune as a result of a guilt, at any point in the next scene, the gamemaster can play their bad fortune against them and force them to reroll their First Light during a save. If a player character takes good fortunate as a result of a glory, at any point in the next scene, the player can play their good fortune to reroll their First Light during a test OR a save.
Glorious Failures
A glorious failure is a unique situation (AP < TN Final Light 5-6). The attempted action fails and the desired outcome described by the player is not achieved, nevertheless, an opportunity is created for heightened risk or reward. Upon earning a glorious failure, the player is asked if they wish to withdraw or push on. If they withdraw, the action test is treated as a normal innocent failure. If they push on, they redo the same roll they just made, with all the same attributes and circumstances involved. If this second roll results in any kind of failure at all, it is treated as a guilty failure and its degree of failure is increased by two, and if it results in any kind of success at all, it is treated as a glorious success and its degree of success is increased by two.
Writhings
Every player character in The Way of the Earth has a writhing, determined during character creation. A writhing is a prejudice so deeply ingrained in the player character's mind, that not even death and resurrection could purge it from them. Vaishineph player characters are often aware of their writhings but still find themselves struggling to live a new life free from it.
In gameplay terms, a writhing presents an opportunity for players to permit their characters to intentionally fail tests or saves, by refusing to spend the Light necessary in order to succeed. When a player intentionally fails a test or save, and describes the reason as having to do with the player character's writhing getting in their way (and the gamemaster decides that the reason is sufficient), the player gains a writhing die that they may spend on any future test or save in that same scene. A player can only ever have one writhing die at a time, and while a player has a writhing die, they cannot intentionally fail a roll on account of their writhing. Moreover, a player can only ever gain and spend one writhing die per scene. When a player spends a writhing die, it is rolled alongside Truth and Light on a test or save, and its result is added to the player character's Final Truth. Therefore, spending a writhing die can allow a player character to succeed on a roll they otherwise would not be able to.
Action Summary
Over the next few pages, a few terms will come up over and over again as ways of describing actions. Their full descriptions are left to these later pages, but it can be helpful to have a broad understanding of what they mean when imagining how tests and saves play out.
Major
A major action is an action that takes enough time and energy, or has enough challenge and drama to it, that a test or save is necessary to determine its outcome. The player describes it, rolls for it, and sees what happens.
Minor
A minor action is an action that is easy enough or mundane enough that a test or save is not necessary to determine its outcome. The player describes it and it happens.
Simple
A simple action is an action whose outcome is not influenced by the actions or reactions of other characters. Simple actions can be major actions, in which case they are tested, or minor actions.
Contested
A contested action is an action whose outcome is influenced by the actions or reactions of other characters. Contested actions are always major actions, and can be either tests, if initiated by the player characters, or saves, if initiated by non-player characters.
Attacks
Attacks are contested actions in a conflict scene that attempt to outmaneuver or overcome an opposing character. Successful attacks manipulate or do harm to their targets. Attacks are tests when initiated by the player characters, or are saved against if they are initiated by non-player characters. Non-player characters are said to attack player characters even though the non-player character does not roll to test.
Defenses
Defenses are contested actions in a conflict scene that attempt to resist or avoid an attack action initiated by another character. Successful defenses negate the effects of an attack. Defenses are saves when used against non-player character initiated attacks. Non-player characters are said to defend against player character attacks even though the non-player character does not roll to save.
Gameplay Examples
Ajira - Played by: Ash - Beauty 2 / Strength 4 / Wisdom 3
1) Ash says that Ajira is attempting to follow a spy through a crowded market place in the middle of the day. The GM says it will be a wisdom test with a TN of eight; difficult, but not impossible for someone with skill. Ash rolls two dice, getting First Light 4 and First Truth 3. Ash spends two Light, giving her Final Light 2 and Final Truth 5. Ash adds her wisdom to her Final Truth for a total of 8AP. With an AP greater than or equal to the TN and a Final Light of 2, Ajira's action is a guilty success 0.
The GM chooses the "suffer surprise" guilt, and says that Ajira manages to follow the spy through the market place until he ducks into a side alley running between some small shops. Ash turns the corner only to have the spy leap out at her and shove her to the ground before turning to run.
2) Ash says that Ajira chases after the spy, sprinting at full speed in attempt to tackle him. The GM says that it will be a strength test with a TN of nine, equal to the spy's PN; again, difficult, but strength is on Ajira's side. Ash rolls two dice, getting First Light 3 and First Truth 5. Ash chooses not to spend any Light, and so her Final rolls are the same. Ash adds her strength to her Final Truth for a total of 9AP. With an AP greater than or equal to the TN and a Final Light of 3, Ajira's action is an innocent success 0.
The GM says that Ajira's athletic prowess pays off as she rushes forward at an incredible speed and tackles the spy.
3) Ash says that Ajira is attempting to calm the spy and get him to talk rather than fight. The GM says it will be a beauty test with a TN of nine, again equal to the spy's PN. Ash rolls two dice, getting First Light 6 and First Truth 1. Ash knows that even if she spent all of her available Light, she would still fail, and so she spends nothing and her Final rolls remain. Ash adds her beauty to her Final Truth for a total of 3AP. With an AP less than or equal to the TN and a Final Light of 6, Ajira's action is a glorious failure 6.
The GM asks Ash if she wishes to withdraw and take an innocent failure, or push on and try again for greater risk and reward. Ash says that she will push on and rerolls the dice, getting First Light 3 and First Truth 5. Ash spends two Light, giving her Final Light 1 and Final Truth 7. Ash adds her beauty to her Final Truth for a total of 9AP. With an AP greater than or equal to the TN, Ajira's action is a success. And not only a success, but a glorious success 2, since it was a result of a reroll after a glorious failure. Ash chooses the "break risk" glory and increases her own AP by an additional 5, for a total degree of success of 7!
The GM says that Ajia's words paralyze the spy and he relents in his struggle, allowing Ash to question him at her leisure.
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