Most rolls are determined by an Attribute by itself (Recovery Checks, Untrained Checks), an Attribute + Attribute, or Attribute + Skill roll. A Success is measured as a 5 or higher on a d6, and a Critical Success occurs when three 6's are rolled, which doubles them.
As an example, let's say James is trying to escape police pursuit while driving a stolen car down the highway. Well, James is a city-slicker and never learned how to drive, so the best he can do is roll his Finesse Attribute by itself. He rolls 5 dice and gets 1, 2, 2, 3, 6. One Success is nowhere near enough to escape pursuit, but he didn't whiff by rolling no Successes, meaning that he doesn't suffer from some catastrophic complication. The police are getting closer however, and more cops are converging on his location, making the next roll more difficult. He rolls again, desperately trying to get off the highway and lose them on the side streets, and gets 2, 3, 6, 5, 5 - Three Successes. Not enough to lose them, but enough to find an exit off the highway. Unfortunately, while he might have ditched a cop car or two, the chase has now gone on long enough for the police and news media to call in helicopters. This is his absolute last chance - the storyteller (me) sets a secret Success Threshold and if James fails to hit it, he's getting cornered by a lot of very trigger happy New Jersey State Police. James rolls again, and it's a damn miracle; he gets 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, the highest he can possibly roll. Three 6's is a Critical Success, so three of them get doubled, meaning they count twice. The remaining two 6's are counted once each. That means James gets 8 Successes, one more than he needed.
What does that look like? It depends on the situation. In this case, I might say that James somehow jumps the car over a wall down to a subway track and drives his stolen car into the tunnels below. If he was out in the suburbs, I might say that he drives into a field of tall corn, obscuring himself from view by the cars and scaring a large murmuration of starlings which then fill the sky, forcing the helicopters to back away for safety.
Health is a 10 + Endurance track, with Injury Thresholds set at Endurance + Willpower. Once an Injury is occurred a character takes penalties to rolls and movement. If an Injury involves Murderous Damage, the penalties are increased. Recovery Checks can be rolled with a night's rest or a day down spent recovering. There are, of course, feats and items that can affect this. If the Health track is filled up, the character is immediately incapacitated. Should the track have any untreated Murderous Damage on it when this occurs, the character will roll Recovery Checks at short intervals to try and stabilize, with failures filling up more of the normal damage on the tract. Should every tract be filled with Murderous Damage, a character will die.
There are effectively two tiers of enemy in the game. The first is occupied by most mooks and normal beasts. This tier doesn't roll opposed checks against a PC, but instead sets a Success Threshold to be met. The second tier are significant foes and supernatural threats. These enemies will roll opposed checks against a PC. This applies to more than just combat. Seducing a guard might be a Success Threshold 3, while seducing the mob boss' elite doorman will require a character to roll against his Willpower + Relevant Skill.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Attributes
Physical
- Strength: Represents physical power, muscularity, and raw physical force.
- Agility: Represents speed, reflexes, and overall body coordination.
- Endurance: Represents stamina, resilience, and the ability to endure physical strain.
Social
- Charisma: Represents charm, persuasiveness, and the ability to influence others through words.
- Empathy: Represents the ability to understand and relate to others' emotions, as well as to perceive their intentions.
- Presence: Represents personal magnetism, physical beauty, and the ability to command attention.
Mental
- Willpower: Represents resilience, focus, and the ability to resist manipulation and attacks on the psyche.
- Wits: Represents the ability to process and recall information, and the ability to draw conclusions from what you’ve learned.
- Finesse: Represents tool usage, manual dexterity, and the ability to manipulate items and the environment to accomplish your goals.
Mystical
- Aura: Represents the internal cultivation of mystical energy and the ability to call on this power.
- Attunement: Represents the ability to perceive and command the raw forces of creation and destruction which govern the universe.
- Affinity: Represents the ability to contact, bargain with and bind intelligent sources of power, and the channeling of their borrowed or stolen power.
Sexual
- Sensuality: Represents awareness and sensitivity to physical sensations, pleasure, and intimate connections.
Skills
Social
- Persuasion
- Diplomacy
- Intimidation
- Deception
- Seduction
- Etiquette
- Leadership
- Negotiation
- Insight
- Interrogation
Physical
- Acrobatics
- Athletics
- Dance
- Climbing
- Flexibility
- Martial Arts
- Mobility
- Swimming
- Throwing
- Weapon Proficiency
Practical
- Lockpicking
- Animal Handling
- Survival
- Appraisal
- Craft (specific fields)
- Stealth
- Disguise
- Tracking
- Driving
- Legerdemain
Mental Skills
- Investigation
- Perception
- Knowledge (specific fields)
- Linguistics
- Meditation
- Research
- Strategy & Tactics
- Kinesthetics
- Creativity
- Deductive Reasoning
Arcane/Mystical Skills:
- Demonology
- Occultist (specific tradition)
- Divination
- Elemental Control
- Healing Magic
- Necromancy
- Alchemy
- Mentalism
- Telekinesis
- Illusion
Technical/Scientific Skills:
- Engineering (specific fields)
- Hacking
- Electronics
- Medicine
- Forensics
- Chemistry
- Botany
- Geology
- Biology
- Physics