For the GMChapter the Thirteenth
Setting difficulty
Set the difficulty from the task, not from the character attempting it. Decide how hard the job is for anyone, then let the character's characteristic, rank and talents do the rest.
| Difficulty | Target | The task | Frontier examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very easy | 7 | Routine for anyone who knows the work | Climb a knotted rope, calm a tame horse, find the ford on a marked trail |
| Easy | 9 | Simple, but it can go wrong | Follow a fresh trail, haggle over common goods, bind a shallow cut |
| Medium | 11 | A real test for a trained hand | Pick a simple lock, swim a fast river, talk a suspicious stranger round |
| Hard | 13 | Skilled work under pressure | Track over rock after rain, climb a wet cliff, bluff past an alert sentry |
| Very hard | 15 | Only experts succeed often | Pick a rune-lock, shoot through an arrow slit at Long range, forge a governor's seal |
| Nearly impossible | 17 | Legendary | Cross the inland sea in a storm in a birchbark canoe, talk a war party out of a raid |
Circumstances. Circumstances shift the roll, not the difficulty: good tools, poor light, haste or help are modifiers from -2 to +2.
Hidden rolls. The GM rolls in secret when the character could not know whether they succeeded, such as untrained Knowledge or searching a room that holds nothing.
When to roll
Roll only when failure matters. If nothing is at stake, or the character has time and nothing to lose, the task simply succeeds. Save the dice for danger, haste, opposition and consequences.
Talents skip easy rolls. A character with a talent that covers the task, and Familiar rank or better, passes Very easy and Easy rolls without rolling; see What talents are in chapter 1.
Trying again. A failed roll stands. A character may try again only if something changes: more time, better tools, a new approach, or a different character making the attempt. Each new attempt costs the time and risk of the first, and the GM may raise the difficulty by 2 if the first failure made things worse, such as a guard now on the alert. This rule also appears in chapter 1.
Failing forward. A failed roll need not stop the story. The character can succeed at a cost instead: it takes far longer, makes noise, breaks a tool or costs 1 Fatigue. Untrained advanced rolls always cost something; see Untrained advanced rolls in chapter 4.
Examples of play
Two players are hunting a band of surveyors who stole a strongbox. Sam plays Jacob, a Woods Runner with Wits 4, Survival at Trained (+1) and the Hunter's Eye talent. Priya plays Celeste, an Envoy with Wits 3 and Insight at Trained (+1).
GM: You reach the trading post at dusk. A trapper called Laroche is counting pelts at the counter. Three canoes are pulled up on the mud outside.
Priya: Celeste buys a cup of rum and asks him, friendly, whether any surveyors came through today.
GM: Buying the rum needs no roll; it's fair trade and nothing's at stake. Laroche shrugs and says nobody's been by all week. (The GM rolls his Deception in secret: 7 + Presence 3 + Deception 1 = 11.) Celeste can try to read him. That's Insight against his Deception.
Priya: (rolls 6) 6 + 3 + 1 = 10.
GM: One short. Ties go to Laroche, so you'd need 12 to see through him.
Priya: I'll spend 2 Luck. That's 12.
GM: Then you catch it: while he talks, his eyes keep going to the canoes outside. He's lying, and he's nervous.
Sam: Jacob slips out and looks at the mud by the canoes.
GM: Fresh tracks in soft mud are Easy (9). You have Hunter's Eye and you're Trained in Survival, so you don't roll. Three men, carrying something heavy between them, launched a canoe upriver less than an hour ago.
Sam: We follow them, now, before the trail goes cold.
GM: Following a canoe's landing marks along the bank in the dark is Hard (13). Priya, Celeste has no rank in Survival, so she can't help. Sam, roll.
Sam: (rolls 5) 5 + 4 + 1, and Hunter's Eye gives +1. That's 11.
GM: You fail by 2, but you don't lose them. You find their camp after midnight, three fires on a gravel bar. It took the best part of the night: each of you takes 1 Fatigue, and they've posted a guard.
Priya: Then we wait for him to doze off.
GM: Good. That's for next session.
In this scene the GM skips a roll where nothing is at stake, sets each difficulty by the task, runs an opposed roll with a secret roll for the liar, lets a talent pass an Easy task, rules out help from a character without the skill, and turns a near-miss into success at a cost.
Appearance
Appearance is passive: it sets how others react before you act, and it has no skills.
Appearance does not always matter. Use it only when the GM decides that first impressions count, such as meeting a stranger, seeking a favour or trying to blend into a crowd. Most of the time it plays no part.
Reaction roll: on meeting someone with no set attitude, the GM rolls 2d6 + your Appearance. The attitude then sets the difficulty of later Presence rolls.
Memorability: a low score is ugly and a high score is beautiful, and both stand out. Each point above or below the human average of 3 is -1 to rolls to blend in, pass a disguise or go unrecognised, and +1 to witnesses' rolls to recall you.
| Total | Attitude |
|---|---|
| 7 or less | Hostile |
| 8–9 | Wary |
| 10–11 | Neutral |
| 12–13 | Friendly |
| 14+ | Helpful |
These totals assume a human average Appearance of 3.
Awarding experience
At the end of each session the GM awards experience to every character who took part. Everyone gets the same.
| Award | When |
|---|---|
| 1 | The session was played. |
| 2 | The characters faced real danger, or reached an important goal. |
| 1 more | At the end of an adventure or story, on top of the session's award. |
Pace. At this rate a character earns 15 to 20 experience in ten sessions: enough for two or three skill ranks, a characteristic advance and a talent or two.
Spending is covered in chapter 7, Advancement.
Rewards
Coin is scarce on the frontier, and rune devices scarcer. Keep rewards small and let them matter. A labourer earns about 4 bits a day.
| Job | Reward for each character |
|---|---|
| A small job: carrying a message, guarding a wagon for a day | d6 bits to 1 piece |
| A real job: tracking a thief, clearing a trail of wolves | 2 to 5 pieces |
| A dangerous job: escorting a convoy through raided country | 5 to 15 pieces |
| A great service to a governor, a chief or the company | 20 to 50 pieces, or a favour |
Goods and favours. Away from the towns, rewards are paid in goods: pelts, powder and shot, a horse, a canoe. A favour owed by a person of standing is often worth more than coin, and is the usual price of a spell or a rune.
Rune devices. Give a Very easy or Easy device as a reward every few adventures at most. Medium and harder devices are the treasure of a campaign, not of a single adventure.
Spoils. Weapons and armour taken from foes can be sold for about half their listed price, if there is anyone to buy them.
Travel and the wilderness
The continent has few roads. Most journeys go by trail, river and portage.
| Travelling by | Good going | Rough going | Hard going |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foot | 20 miles | 12 miles | 6 miles |
| Horse | 30 miles | 15 miles | 6 miles |
| Canoe | 40 miles downstream | 20 miles on lakes or upstream | Portage: as on foot, carrying the canoe |
Good going is a road or a clear trail; rough going is forest, hills or open country; hard going is mountains, swamp, deep snow or thick bush. A day's travel is about eight hours on the move.
Forced march. Travelling half as far again in a day adds 1 Fatigue, and each traveller must pass Resist (Hardship) at Medium or add 1 more.
Finding the way. Off a road or known trail, the guide rolls Survival once a day: Easy in known country, Medium in strange forest, Hard in trackless country or bad weather. On a failure the group loses half the day. On a failure by 5 or more it is lost: the whole day is gone, and the next roll is Hard. The Orientation talent applies, and a Master Surveyor never gets lost.
Foraging. A character who spends half the day foraging rolls Survival at Medium. On a success they find food and water for themselves and one more person for each point of margin. In winter or barren country the roll is Hard.
Weather and hunger. In hard weather without shelter, such as bitter cold, heavy rain or burning heat, each traveller rolls Resist (Hardship) once a day: Easy to Very hard by how bad it is. A failure adds 1 Fatigue, and that night's rest counts as a poor one. A day without food is a Resist (Hardship) roll at Medium, rising by 2 for each day after, with the same cost on a failure.
Encounters. The GM may check once a day, and once a night, for anything met on the way.
Traps
Traps belong to the frontier: snares on a trap line, a pit across a raiders' trail, a spring gun guarding a cache, a poisoned needle in a merchant's strongbox. Each trap has a Find difficulty to spot it, a Disarm difficulty to make it safe, an Avoid difficulty to get clear when it goes off, and an effect.
Finding traps
Clues come first. Describe the signs: a tripwire glinting at ankle height, leaves raked too evenly, a bent sapling with no wind, a strongbox lock with a pinhole beside the keyhole. A player who acts on a clue, such as probing the leaves with a pole, finds the trap without a roll.
Searching. A character moving at half speed and looking rolls Perception at the trap's Find difficulty. The GM rolls in secret, since a character who finds nothing cannot know whether anything was there. Poor light is -1 or -2, unless the character has Night Vision.
Not searching. A character moving at full speed gets no roll, and walks into it.
Talents. Trapfinder applies to finding and disarming. With Trapfinder and Familiar Perception, an Easy trap is found without a roll. A Master Antiquarian examining an old object or ruin learns whether it is trapped.
Disarming traps
The roll. Deftness at the trap's Disarm difficulty: a full action for a simple trap, or a minute for a complex one.
On a failure by 1 to 4, the trap is not disarmed, and the character cannot try again unless something changes. On a failure by 5 or more, it goes off on the disarmer.
Untrained. Deftness is an advanced skill, so an untrained attempt rolls at -2 and uses the Mishaps table. A fumble sets the trap off. A disaster sets it off with no Avoid roll.
Other ways. Most traps can be set off safely from a distance, with a pole or a thrown stone, which uses the trap up. They can also be gone around or bridged. A Master Housebreaker never sets off a trap by failing to disarm it.
When a trap goes off
Avoiding it. The victim rolls Acrobatics at the trap's Avoid difficulty. A success means they get clear, or take the reduced effect shown. A victim who had already spotted the trap gets +2.
Damage from a trap is the trap's Damage, less Endurance and armour at the location, as for any hit. No margin is added. Roll the location die unless the trap names a location. A trap can cause critical wounds.
Held. A held victim cannot move. They can attack and act otherwise, at -2 on attack rolls. Breaking free is an Athletics roll at the difficulty shown, as a Standard Attack. Another character can open the trap as a half action, with no roll for a snare and Athletics at Medium for a steel trap.
Powder traps follow the firearm rules. Roll 2d6 when one fires, and it misfires on doubles. Damp powder, or magic used within sight this round or the last, also makes it misfire on any 1. A shot or blast is heard far off.
Poisoned traps use the Poison table in chapter 9.
Animals caught in a trap roll 2d6 + Agility to avoid it.
Setting traps
The roll. The setter rolls the skill shown at Medium (11), or Hard (13) for a spring gun, poison needle or powder mine. On a success the trap is set and works. On a failure it does not work, and the setter does not know it. The GM rolls in secret. A failure by 5 or more with a spring gun or powder mine sets it off on the setter.
How well hidden. A trap a character sets has a Find difficulty of 7 + the setter's characteristic + rank in the skill used, as in passive opposition. The Find values in the table are for a trap set by an ordinary hand.
Time and materials. These are shown in the table.
Trapping for game in downtime is covered in Earning a living, in chapter 14.
Traps of the frontier
| Trap | Find | Disarm | Avoid | Effect | Set with | Time and materials |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tripwire alarm | Medium (11) | Easy (9) | Easy (9) | Bells, cans or a chime: everyone within Far hears it. Avoiding it means stepping over without a sound. | Survival or Deftness | 5 minutes, cord and bells (2b) |
| Snare | Medium (11) | Easy (9), or cut it | Medium (11) | Held by the leg, Athletics at Medium to break free. A spring-pole snare also hoists the victim upside down, at -2 on everything but cutting the cord. | Survival | 10 minutes, cord (1b) |
| Steel trap | Medium (11) | Easy (9) | Medium (11) | Damage 4 to a leg, and held: Athletics at Hard to break free. | Survival | 5 minutes, a steel trap (2) |
| Covered pit | Medium (11) | None: go around or bridge it | Hard (13) | A fall: Damage 4 to the legs, or 6 (P) with stakes. Climbing out is Athletics at Medium. On a success the victim catches the edge. | Athletics | A day for two diggers |
| Deadfall | Medium (11) | Medium (11) | Medium (11) | Damage 8, and pinned: held, Athletics at Hard to lift it. Others can help. | Survival | An hour, a log or a slab of stone |
| Spring spear | Hard (13) | Medium (11) | Hard (13) | A bent sapling drives stakes at body height: Damage 6 (P) to the body. | Survival | An hour, stakes and cord |
| Spring gun | Hard (13) | Medium (11) | Very hard (15) | A musket on a tripwire: Damage 8 (P), random location. Powder trap rules apply. | Deftness | 10 minutes, a firearm and one shot |
| Poison needle | Hard (13) | Hard (13) | None | A needle in a lock or lid, treated with a poison from chapter 9. The victim rolls Resist (Poison). | Deftness | An hour, a dose of poison |
| Powder mine | Hard (13) | Hard (13) | Very hard (15) | A buried charge: Damage 10 to everyone within a few paces, each with their own location. On a success, half damage. Powder trap rules apply. | Deftness | 10 minutes, powder for 10 rounds (2) |
Spring guns and powder mines are newcomers' traps. Elves and dwarves never use them, and few others know how to set one: Powdermen and Riflemen most often.
Rune devices can guard a place too: a Wake-rune is an alarm no Find roll can spot, and a Lock-rune or Vault-rune is a lock, not a trap.
Carrying
A character can carry Might × 15 pounds without trouble. Weapons, armour worn and travelling clothes do not count; a pack, supplies and goods do.
Overloaded. Up to double that weight, the character takes -2 Movement and -1 on Athletics, Acrobatics and Stealth rolls, and a day's travel adds 1 Fatigue. More than double cannot be carried far.
Rough weights.
| Item | Weight |
|---|---|
| A week's rations | 10 lb |
| A wool blanket | 5 lb |
| A canvas tent | 20 lb |
| A surgeon's kit | 10 lb |
| A keg of powder | 25 lb |
| 50 feet of rope | 5 lb |
| A bundle of 20 pelts | 30 lb |
- Pack animals and boats.
| Type | Capacity |
|---|---|
| Pack mule | 200 lb |
| Riding horse (besides rider) | 50 lb |
| Birchbark canoe | Two paddlers and 400 lb of goods |
| Portage | Two people can carry it over a portage. |
Religion
Every species and people has its faiths: the creed of the southern crown, the sects of the charter colonies, and the older beliefs of the nations, the dwarves and the halflings. Faith gives characters reasons to act, and it shapes what each people wants, fears and forbids. But it gives no one power. No prayer is answered with a spell, and a priest can do nothing that a person of another faith cannot. Magic comes only from the Worldsoul.
A personal choice
On the frontier, belief is mostly a private matter. Settlers of different creeds share forts, trails and trading posts, and neighbours rarely ask what anyone believes.
Basic observance
People are expected to show a basic level of respect for the observances of the place they are in: attending a service in a mission town, sharing the blessing at a halfling table, keeping quiet on ground a nation holds sacred. Someone who does that much is left alone. Someone who openly mocks or refuses it will find doors closing.
Where faith runs hot
The exception is the Worldsoul. The crown's creed and the colonies' sects preach against it, and witchfinders hunt those who work it. They judge what someone does, not what they believe.
In play
A character's faith is a roleplaying choice. It costs nothing and gives no bonus. A talent such as Creed-Bound reflects how someone was raised, not help from above. Knowledge (Religion) covers the beliefs, rites and holy days of the peoples.