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Optional GM Mechanics

The following sections describe optional GM mechanics you can choose to implement if you or your table would enjoy them.

Fate Rolls

When narrating a moment outside the PCs' influence, the GM might wish to leave the outcome up to chance. In these situations, you can use a Fate roll, asking a player to roll only their Hope or Fear Die to decide the result. Your choice of die doesn't affect the outcome, nor does the roll result grant Hope or Fear—the die type simply adds flavour to the roll.

You might roll the Hope Die in lucky circumstances or to see if fortune smiles upon the character, while the Fear Die can be used to decide whether a hazard comes into play or how dangerous a situation becomes.

When making a fate roll, you can declare what event occurs if the result falls within a certain number range or determine the outcome based on how high or low the result is.

Examples:

"Roll your Fear Die. On a 4 or lower, the fire spreads beyond this house."

"I think it's really up to chance whether reinforcements will make it to you in time. Go ahead and roll your Fear Die—that'll determine the starting size of the countdown. When that triggers, reinforcements will arrive in your Far range."

"Go ahead and roll your Hope Die to see how big the reward at the inn is tonight. The higher the roll, the bigger the reward."

"Make a roll using your Hope Die to determine the number of Stamina Potions the shop has in stock."

Falling and Collision Damage

If a character falls to the ground, you can use the following as a guide to determine the damage they take:

  • A fall from Very Close range deals 1d10+3 physical damage.
  • A fall from Close range deals 1d20+5 physical damage.
  • A fall from Far or Very Far range deals 1d100+15 physical damage, or death at the GM's discretion.

If a character collides with an object or another character at a dangerous speed, they take 1d20+5 direct physical damage.

You can always increase or decrease the damage dice to fit the story.

Moving and Fighting Underwater

Attack rolls underwater have disadvantage unless it makes sense for a character to easily fight underwater. Use a Siren or Shark making an attack on a PC.

For any creatures that can't breathe underwater, you can use a countdown to create tension about how long they can hold their breath. Set the countdown die's starting value to 3 or higher and tick it down as follows:

  • Tick down once whenever any PC takes an action underwater.
  • If an action roll is a failure or with Fear, you can use your move to tick it down an additional time. (If the roll is both a failure and with Fear, you can tick it twice instead.)

Once the countdown ends, a PC underwater must mark a Stress whenever they take an action.

Conflict Between PCs

Sometimes a player might want their character to act against another PC in the scene. Before jumping to rolling dice, discuss the situation with both players to decide how to resolve the conflict. A roll might not be necessary to reach an outcome—but if rolling will be fun for everyone involved, make it a choice to come to a consensus on the terms of the roll, then facilitate the scene according to the results.

On an attack roll against a PC, the attacker rolls against the defendant's Evasion, just like an adversary. On any other kind of action roll, the instigator makes an action roll and the target makes a reaction roll. To succeed, the instigator must beat a Difficulty equal to the total value of the reaction roll.