The Core

You play someone who’s properly good at something, like a thief who can open any lock in the city or a fighter nobody wants to meet in a narrow corridor. Being good means you stack the odds in your favour before anyone touches a die.

Everything your character can do is a permission, a short line on your sheet: I can pick a mechanical lock. I can fight with a sword. I can read a room in a glance. If it’s on your sheet, you can do it, no questions asked. That’s the story side of the game: your sheet is a list of green lights.

The tactics come from stacking those green lights. Every permission that fits what you’re doing makes your die bigger, and so does every friend who puts their action in with yours. Once your die’s as big as it gets, you start getting more dice instead.

At the end of the day the question is simple: did you succeed? You roll against whatever’s in your way, and if you beat the number, you did.

Permissions

You start with two Titles. A Title is who you are, a role or a school of magic, real and specific: the best cat burglar in the city, Captain of the Guard, Master of Illusions. Every Title is an archetype too, and the Title’s the name you give it: Bram’s a Guardian, and his Title is The wall that held the harbour gate. Each archetype has a mechanic of its own, something only it can do, and they’re all in The Archetypes. Your permissions go on your Titles, three on each to start and six at most, and that’s where everything your character can do is written.

A permission finishes I can…, and it’s got two parts: a doing word, and how, what or where. Fight with a sword, talk my way past a guard and climb sheer walls are finished. Deceive on its own is only half a permission. Deceive through actions is finished, and it covers feints and misdirection when you fight or sneak, but not talking your way past someone. A good one comes up a few times a session, and it’s got to fit inside its Title. Magic’s as narrow as anything else: throw fire, not fire magic. There’s more in Writing permissions.

Your Title’s a step on anything it fits, and so is a plain item: a sword’s a sword, so it’s a step in a sword fight. An attuned thing counts through its own permissions (see Attunement). Some traits are a step too, like Vesk’s Silent Step: +1 to moving unseen. Each of these is a line on your sheet, the same as a permission.

How permissions stack

Every line that fits what you’re doing is a step, and it counts once a roll.

• Everything that fits counts, even lines that sound alike. You can have move unseen and stick to the shadows, and when you’re sneaking, both count. You just can’t take the same one twice.
• There’s no cap on Titles. Every Title that fits the moment is another step.
• Permissions don’t come in levels. One you picked up last week is worth the same 1 step as one you started with.

Set Actions

Your sheet does the counting before you play, so every roll starts from a number. That’s what set actions are for. Fight, Move, Sneak, Study and Talk are on every sheet, and you add your own for the things you do all the time, like Locks or Ward. Fight covers melee and ranged, so split it into Fight and Shoot if you like.

Put everything on a set action that fits it nearly every time: your Titles, permissions from either Title, items and traits. A permission can sit on as many set actions as it fits. A set action’s steps are 1 for the action and 1 for every line on it. When an archetype’s mechanic needs dice, you build them the same way as any roll, so a Face’s influence or a Leader’s order comes off whichever set action fits how you’re doing it.

Know how a lock’s built comes from Vesk’s other Title, Raised by the Guild, and it sits on Locks with the rest. Your set action is how you’re doing something, not what you’re trying to get done: Dorrie’s Talk gets her past the gate guard, into the harbour records and out of a fight before it starts. Filling in yours is in Building Your Character.

Steps and Dice

When things get tense you’ve got one action a round (see Conflict). Outside a round, the GM tells you how much time you’ve got: one action for a quick go, or two if you can take your time, and a second action into the same set action adds 1.

Every roll goes the same way:

1. Say what you’re doing and how, and pick the set action that fits.
2. Start from its steps. If a line on it doesn’t fit this time, leave it out.
3. Anything else that fits costs 1 Aura each to bring in, and each one’s a step.
4. Going beyond what a permission normally does costs 1 Resolve (see Going Beyond).
5. Turn your steps into dice, and give every die an intent.
6. Roll. Then, if you need it, spend 1 Aura on your archetype’s +2 (see The Archetypes).

Steps into dice

Nothing fits, not even a Title? You can still have a go. The action on its own is 1 step, a d2. It’s a long shot, but long shots do land.

The Roll

Most of the time you’re rolling against something that pushes back: a guard, a lock, a magistrate, a storm. You roll your dice, you roll theirs too in another colour, and you compare. The GM almost never touches a die in Zi’Dara. She’s busy running everything else.

• Beat it and you did it.
• Tie and it goes to whoever’s defending: you when something lands on your Armour or Confidence, him when you go at the guard. If you’re the one acting, even to stop something coming at you, you can pay 1 Aura to win the tie. The GM never spends Aura, and there’s no Aura in downtime (see Downtime).
• Roll under and you didn’t. Try something else, or spend 1 Resolve to roll again (see Resolve).

A target rolls its defence once a round. The first time anyone goes at a threat in a round, roll its die, and that roll stands against everyone who goes at it till the round’s over. It’s the same for you when the telegraphs land: one roll of your Armour against all the blows and one of your Confidence against all the pressure (see Conflict), unless you spend your action to Defend.

A wall you need to climb or a book you’ve got to get through before dawn doesn’t fight back, but it’s still a Challenge, and you still roll its die and have to beat it. A Challenge is a die twice its number, so Challenge 2 is a d4 and Challenge 6 is a d12. Threats have tags too, like Armoured or Loyal, and your wins strip them off. A win can also leave a condition, like Burning, that carries your die. Both are in Conflict.

Whenever one of your dice rolls its highest number, its top face, you get 1 Aura back. Every die counts on its own, area dice included. A die your archetype’s +2 took to its top face, or past it, doesn’t give you Aura. Small dice hit their top face more often, so you’ll see players split off a tiny die they don’t really need, just to fish for Aura. It still needs an intent, and it still uses one of your splits. That’s smart play, and I’m all for it.

When a miss matters

A miss is just a miss, unless something’s pushing back or time’s running out. Then it costs you something, a consequence, and the GM names it: your Armour, your Confidence, your body, your gear, your dreams, the crew’s Goal, or the clock. If you’d rather pay something else that fits and costs about as much, offer it (see Conflict). Picking a lock with all night and nobody around costs nothing if it goes wrong. With the guard coming up the stairs, it’s a different story.

Intents: What Each Die Is For

Before you roll, give every die an intent: what it’s trying to do, and who or what it’s aimed at. Say it out loud. This d6 is for the lock. This d4 keeps it quiet. An intent can be anything the story allows: hurt it, disarm it, pin it, shove it off the stairs, grab the key off its belt, find out what it’s hiding. Whatever you gave the die, that’s what happens if it wins.

Several dice, several intents

Put three dice on one man and each one can try something different. He’ll roll his defence once this round, and each of your dice has to beat that one roll. A threat defends with its Challenge die.

Several dice, one intent

Put more than one die on the same intent and that’s advantage: your best die counts. Dice never add together, except when you move, when a Warrior’s dice explode, and when 1 Aura puts your archetype’s +2 on a die.

Past six steps: more dice, more intents

Every die you get past six steps can have its own intent, and that’s what big rolls are for. Two dice at the same Warden are two chances to strip two tags. You can still stack them on one intent for advantage, but a d12 and a d4 doing two different things is nearly always worth more than a d12 with a spare.

Splitting: shaping your dice

You can split your steps into more, smaller dice. Every action in the roll gives you one split, so one action can turn a d8 into two d4s, or a d2 and a d6. Dice past six steps are already separate and don’t use up your splits, so going past 6 steps gives you a split on top of the one your action gives: 8 steps on one action can be a d6, a d6 and a d4. You can also share your steps out between the dice you’ve got, so a d12 and a d8 can be two d10s.

Your dice all go at things that belong to the same job. A fighter’s steps can disarm, trip and frighten someone, because that’s all part of a fight. If a die would be doing something completely different, like picking a lock in the middle of a sword fight, build it from its own action instead. There’s more on shaping your dice in Tactical Play.

Area: one die for how far

If you’re an Elementalist, one of your dice can be your area instead of an intent. It doesn’t cost Aura, but it takes one of your splits. Say what shape it is and roll it with the rest. Everyone the story puts in it defends against your other die on its own, and whatever you beat, your intent happens to it. Nobody else makes a die their area.

• Burst: out from a point in every direction, as many squares as you rolled.
• Cone: out from you the way you’re facing, as many squares long as you rolled, and as wide at the end as it is long.
• Line: straight out from you, twice as many squares as you rolled.

You can always make it smaller than you rolled. The story decides what’s in it, and a ball of fire catches friend and foe alike. Without a grid, 1 or 2 is everyone close to the target, 3 to 5 is everyone within a few steps, and 6 or more is the whole room.

Threats use the same shapes for their areas. Sweep weapons go at everyone within your reach for free, because that’s what the weapon does.

A ward or a blessing goes on one friend. Nothing pushes back, so you don’t roll it, and the die you built becomes the condition’s die on them. Split it, and the second die can put it on another friend you can touch. There’s more in Wards and blessings.

Going Beyond

Every permission, magic or not, does what it says for free, the same as a sword. You need a magic permission or a magic item to do magic at all, and once you’ve got one, it works like anything else.

Going beyond what a permission normally does costs 1 Resolve, for a sword or a spell. It doesn’t add a step. You spend the Resolve and the permission does the bigger thing.

• Phasing is free until you phase through a wall. That’s 1 Resolve.
• A master of combat fights for free. An aimed shot that takes out the tag you choose costs 1 Resolve.
• A necromancer raising the dead to attack or carry something, as part of their own action, is free.
• Isolde speaks with the recently dead for free. Calling up someone who died a hundred years ago is going beyond, so that’s 1 Resolve.

Anything that works on its own, like a summoned beast or a raised servant acting for you, is summoning, and only a Summoner can do that (see Summoning).

If you have to make a case for why it’s normal, it’s going beyond. Spend the Resolve and keep playing.

Aura

Aura is your character’s luck and flair, the bit of soul they put into a moment when skill alone won’t get them there. It pays for the small stuff.

• You start every scene full. Your maximum’s 5, unless something on your sheet changes it. A scene is one place and one problem, and the next one starts when that problem’s sorted or the crew moves on. There’s no Aura in downtime.
• Every top face gives you 1 back, except a summon’s, or a die your archetype’s +2 took there.
• Already full? Give it to someone else in the scene. Aura’s never wasted while a friend’s nearby.

Spend 1 Aura to:

• Bring something in that isn’t on your set action, as a step on your roll: one of your own permissions, items or traits, the ground (a chandelier, a crowd, the rain), a threat’s tag you know about (his pride, her greed), a Catch turned your way for a moment, or a friend’s permission through a thread you share (see Bonds and threads).
• Win a tie when you’re the one acting.
• Use your archetype. On most archetypes, 1 Aura adds +2 to one die on its mechanic. Spend it after you roll, once you know you need it. A few get something else for their Aura (see The Archetypes).

1 Aura also keeps a Catch quiet this time, and pays for a quick heal (see Healing).

Traits are free, as often as they say, unless they say they cost Aura. A once-per-scene trait works once a scene, and that’s it. You only pay for a trait when you bring it in as a step and it isn’t on your set action.

Getting it back

• Let a Catch bite, as often as you like, and take 1 Aura each time. A big bite pays 1 Resolve instead. No Catch? Bring real trouble on yourself anyway and take 1 Aura. There’s more in Catches and Trouble.
• Traits that say so, like Ash’s Killer Instinct (1 Aura when she takes a threat down) and Battle Focus (3 Aura, once a scene).
• A great setup that doesn’t land. You planned it, it was cool, and the dice said no. The GM can give you 1 Aura for it.
• Boons like Beat a threat and In your element (see Boons).

Resolve

Resolve is your character pushing themselves, so it pays for the big stuff. You’ve got as much Resolve as you’ve got Titles, so 2 to start, and you can’t hold more than that.

Spend 1 Resolve to:

• Take an extra action this round, as its own roll or in the same roll as a combo.
• Roll again. Reroll a roll you just failed, either all your dice or just one, your choice. The threat’s dice stay where they landed. It works in downtime too, where there’s no Aura.
• Go beyond what a permission normally does (see Going Beyond).
• Hold your ground against fear, lies or pressure that gets through, so you don’t drop a size of Confidence or take a Hurt for it.
• Go at a threat when you’re shaken, with your Confidence down on a d2. It’s 1 Resolve every time you do.

How Confidence swings during a scene, and what being shaken means, is in Confidence.

Get it back:

• 1 at the end of every scene, and all of it after downtime.
• 1 for a big bite, when your Catch changes the scene or costs you something you wanted. That’s instead of the usual 1 Aura, and it’s your call when (see Catches and Trouble).
• 1 from the GM for great roleplay, like facing your fear or keeping a promise to yourself.
• 1 when you strain a thread: lean on someone in the story, like calling in a favour or using their name, and the thread’s strained until you mend it (see Bonds and threads).

Catches and Trouble

A Catch is trouble written on your sheet, ready to go. It comes from an attuned thing (see Attunement) or from Hurt, the injury you write in a bar when you fill it (see Hurt). It’s got to be something that can bring real trouble into a scene, something the GM can run with. If it’d never come up, it isn’t a Catch.

Trouble’s yours to bring. Letting your Catches bite is up to you, and the GM doesn’t hand out trouble. She makes things go wrong in all the usual ways, like telegraphs and the cost of a miss.

• Let it bite, as often as you like. Say how it causes trouble, the GM runs with it, and you take 1 Aura. Every bite has to bring real trouble.
• A big bite changes the scene or costs you something you wanted. Take 1 Resolve for it instead of the Aura. It’s your call when.
• No Catch? Bring real trouble on yourself in the story anyway, and take 1 Aura.

Working Together

There’s no special action for helping. To help a friend, put your action into the same thing they’re doing. That’s a combo: two or more actions going into the same thing at the same time. Add their set actions together and roll once, between you.

• Nobody pays Aura for it, but it has to be one thing in the story, and you’ve got to be able to join in from where you are. Any number of friends can join one roll.
• Every action in the roll gives you a split, and lines on both count once.
• Joining a friend’s roll brings your set action’s steps and your action, plus any steps a Leader’s handed you. Whoever rolls gets the Aura for every top face, friends’ dice included.
• Your own extra action works the same way: bring in another of your set actions as a new approach, like Fight with Sneak for a sneak attack. Put it into the same set action again and it adds 1. Extra actions come from holding your action, spending 1 Resolve, coming out of hiding, cashing in your Confidence when you’re fired up at d12, or a trait or the Boon that says so (see Extra actions).

Leading and inspiring

Only a Leader leads. An order or a rallying song is an action: build it from your set action, then hand its steps out however you like to friends who can hear or see you. They add them to their own rolls this round, and those steps don’t have to fit. Steps you’re handed don’t give you a split. A lead can be a combo too, with friends putting their actions in before you hand it out.

Studying Something

Most things worth fighting have more going on than they show. Study is an intent like any other. Build it from whatever fits how you’re looking, usually your Study set action, and roll against the target’s Challenge. Isolde’s know the history of anything old fits an old construct, and Dorrie’s read a room in a glance fits a nervous witness. Win, and pick one:

• A hidden tag. The GM reveals one. Ask something specific, like what’s holding it together?, and she reveals the tag that answers it, if there is one. It’s how you find weak points, and the thing a threat wants that could end the fight without a blow.
• A straight answer. Ask one question about it, and the GM answers it truthfully.

Study works on people, places, stakes and whole scenes, and it finds what’s really there.

If you’re a Scholar, you can make something true instead. When you win a Study, introduce a truth: something that wasn’t obvious to anyone else. Say it, and it’s true and it matters here. It counts as a permission for anyone in the crew for the rest of the scene, free on any roll it fits, because it can’t sit on a set action. Isolde wins her Study on the brute and says his left knee never healed right. Now it didn’t, and anyone in the crew can use that this scene.