Danger World

Dice Mechanics

PC Difficulties

set	narrative benefit
2	minor accomplishment
3	meaningful accomplishment
4	significant accomplishment
5	major accomplishment
6	monumental accomplishment

All dice used in the game are six-sided, though two groups of d6s of notable design or color will be needed for use as special dice.

When attempting an action, whether proactive or reactive, the player describes their intent for their PC's actions and reaches a compromise with the GM as to which two stats are most appropriate and what the difficulty of the described action is. These two stats contribute their dice to the action die pool. Additional dice may be added to the pool as describe elsewhere. The difficulty determines how the rolled action die pool will be interpreted.

The action die pool is rolled, which is called making a check. The player may then perform two rounds of re-rolls, re-rolling as many of the dice as they wish. A die not re-rolled in the first round may be re-rolled in the second. The player then looks for sets of dice, wherein a set is a group of dice with the same number showing (the height of the set) and exactly as many dice (the width of the set) as the set's height. A player may choose not to build a set even if it would be possible to do so. A single check can produce at most one set, and as such if multiple sets are possible the player must choose between them.

An attempted action is accomplished if the controlling check produces a set of at least the height of the specified difficulty. If the set produced by a check if higher than the difficulty, then the character gains an additional benefit, which should be worked out with the GM, which comes with it a one-time-use pool of bonus dice equal to the difference in height between the accomplishments. If the set produced by a check is lower than the difficulty, then the character may gain a partial success which provides one-time-use bonus dice equal to the height of the set.

GM Options

cost	narrative	mechanical
1		the character's danger level is increased by one
		add a threat die to a challenge
2	minor consequence	reduced hit against PC
3	meaningful consequence
4	significant consequence	full hit against PC
5	major consequence
6	monumental consequence	overload hit against PC

Each 1 rolled is a botch, as well as any number rolled less than a used set. Botches produce a negative consequence, which can either accompany failure or complicate success. They are spent by the GM according to the GM Options table. A setback of a given cost will typically require a successful check of height equal to that cost to directly overcome.

Example: A courtyard is being patrolled by skilled guards and sneaking past them would be a significant accomplishment, making it a difficulty-4 check. The attempt produces 3 botches. If the attempt failed this might mean that the character has not only failed to cross the courtyard, but has become trapped in a position that will require a difficulty-3 check to escape from before the courtyard as a whole can be re-attempted. If the attempt succeeded this might mean that the attempt is successful except for a final difficulty-3 check which still needs to be performed.

Special Dice

Danger dice can be added at-will by the player, up to the rank of the character's current danger zone. They act as a botch when a 1 or a number below a set is rolled as normal. Additionally, each danger die used as part of a set increases the character's danger level by one.

Threat dice are added when complications crop up on a challenge. They act as a botch when a 1 or a number below a set is rolled as normal, and additionally count as a botch if the same height as a set which is used. Threat dice are rolled once and not re-rolled.

Challenges

A challenge is a narrative element that is overcome using the mechanics of the game: obstacles, monsters, traps, skill attempts,.. anything which requires a roll of the dice. All challenges have a difficulty associated with them, which may be modified based on one or more modifiers.

For simple, reactive, or impromptu challenges this difficulty may be the only mechanical aspect of the challenge. With these sorts of challenges there will generally be a narrow range of applicable approaches and as such a single difficulty may be sufficient to encompass the challenge. Any two of Agility, Speed, and Perception may be appropriate for reacting to a pressure-plate trap, but any solution will be sufficiently similar to use the same difficulty.

However, more important challenges in the narrative may warrant more complex mechanics. As such, one or more modifiers may be added to the challenge. A modifier is a keyword or key-phrase, like a shorter aspect, which describes the challenge. For each attempt to overcome the challenge, each modifier which positively influences the attempt reduces the difficulty by one and each modifier which negatively influences the attempt increases the difficulty by one. In general, the difficulty should not have a net modification of more than one.

Player Characters

PCs start with one die in each stat, eight dice to spread between them, and three aspects. This may be improved over time.

Stats

Stats vary from 1 to 4.

Physical:

• Agility
• Endurance
• Speed
• Strength

Mental:

• Perception
• Reasoning
• Charisma
• Cool

Aspects and Story Points

Each player has a number of Story Points (SP) each session which provide the player the ability to mechanically express the benefit of free-form descriptors of the character called Aspects. An Aspect described a facet of a character relevant to the narrative. The character's player may spend SP to invoke an aspect, which adds as many bonus dice to a roll as the SP spent; expenditures may be limited by reasonableness. If an aspect may present a negative facet, the GM may pay the player SP to invoke the aspect, which adds as many threat dice to the roll as the SP spent.

SP must be spent before any rolls are made. Player SP expenditures are made from a personal allocation into the general pool. SP expenditures by the GM are made from the general pool into a player's personal allocation.

Aspects are described hierarchically. The character starts with three known primary aspects and one unknown. Each primary aspect can develop three secondary aspects beneath it which refine the primary aspect. Each secondary aspect can itself develop two tertiary aspects beneath it. The three known primary aspects are determined at character creation. The unknown primary, secondary, and tertiary aspects are decided during play, declared at any time up to and including the moment SP are spent on it. A subsidiary aspect can only be specified after its parent has been used twice. Using a secondary or tertiary aspect grants 1 or 2 additional bonus dice respectively.

The Danger Track

The danger track reflects the extent to which a PC is putting themselves on the line during an episode. An episode will typically be one to three sessions in length, a one-shot adventure or a chapter in an ongoing campaign. It builds over the course of the episode. As it builds, the character faces more personal danger, but this investment gains them mechanical benefits.

The danger track is divided into five zones, where each zone except the last contains five danger levels. The first zone contains danger levels 1-5, the second zone 6-10, and so on. A PC starts an episode at danger level 1 and it increases over the course of the episode.

The rank of a zone determines how many danger dice may be added to a check by the player, at most one die per rank.

The zone also determines how damage is taken by the PC. A reduced hit fills in the left-most unfilled damage box. A full hit fills in a damage box in the current danger zone. An overload hit fills in a damage box in the current damage zone and every box in every lower danger zone.

A short rest may be made during an episode, something between a few hours and resting overnight. A long rest will typically only be available between episodes.

1. Bashed
   • 3 boxes
   • one threat die for each filled box
   • recovers after a short rest
2. Stunned
   • 3 boxes
   • one less die for each filled boxed
   • recovers after a short rest
3. Injured
   • 3 boxes
   • one random trait is reduce by one
   • recovers after a long rest
4. K.O.'d
   • 1 box
   • PC is unconscious and unable to take actions
   • recovers after a short rest
5. Dead
   • 1 box
   • semi-permanent

Long Term Consequences

The assumption is that the PCs will succeed at their mission. The question is whether they suffer permanent consequences for doing so, or gain a permanent advantage. As players progress through the acts they accumulate positives and negatives that will determine the nature of their long-term change.

1. Temporary Loss
2. Temporary Injury
3. Permanent Loss
4. Permanent Injury
5. Killed

Moves

A move is a pre-defined set of accomplishments. These may always be overridden by specific circumstances. Often these will be expressed as examples of an appropriate use with other uses being handled by analogy. General moves are available to any character and provide example difficulties for common actions. Special moves are specific to certain characters and may represent special or supernatural abilities, and communicate the difficulties for typical uses of the ability.

General Moves

Fighting

set	rank	accomplishment
2	minor	defeating a minion or minor enemy
3	meaningful	defeating a common enemy
4	significant	defeating an officer or otherwise notable enemy
5	major	defeating a local boss
6	monumental	defeating a major campaign threat

Defy Danger

set	rank	accomplishment
2	minor
3	meaningful
4	significant
5	major
6	monumental

Aid Another

set	rank	accomplishment
2	minor	provide height in bonus dice
3	meaningful
4	significant
5	major
6	monumental

Spout Lore

set	rank	accomplishment
2	minor
3	meaningful
4	significant
5	major
6	monumental

Discern Realities

set	rank	accomplishment
2	minor
3	meaningful
4	significant
5	major
6	monumental

Parley

set	rank	accomplishment
2	minor
3	meaningful
4	significant
5	major
6	monumental

Special Moves

Healing

set	rank	accomplishment
2	minor	minor non-mechanical effects
3	meaningful	clearing a bashing box
4	significant	clearing a stunned box
5	major	clearing an injured or K.O.'d box
6	monumental	monumental non-mechanical effects

Teleportation

set	rank	accomplishment
2	minor	teleporting a few feet
3	meaningful	teleporting a few dozen yards within line of sight
4	significant	teleporting within the local area to well-known areas
5	major	teleporting outside the local area or to poorly-known areas
6	monumental	long-range teleportation