Rolling the Dice

Whenever a player rolls dice, he rolls four Fudge dice (abbreviated as 4dF) to generate a result between -4 and 4. When reading the dice, a + equals +1, a - equals -1 and a 0 equals 0. Some example dice totals are shown to the right.

The total of the dice is then added to an appropriate skill to get a result. This result can be referred to as the effort made, but sometimes, it’s just “the result”.

<Example>

If you find yourself without Fudge dice, then roll 4 six-sided dice. Any die showing a 1 or 2 is treated as -, and any die showing a 5 or 6 is treated as +.

 

Difficulty

When a character rolls for a result, he is trying to meet or exceed a target value, which is the difficulty for the roll. The difficulty indicates how hard it is to do something. Difficulties are measured on the same ladder as everything else. For instance, it might be a Mediocre (+0) difficulty to jumpstart a car, but a Good (+3) difficulty to repair that same car after a serious breakdown. Guidelines for setting difficulties are found in the GM’s section of the book.

The difference between the difficulty and the result of the roll (the effort) is the magnitude of the effect, which is measured in shifts. Shifts are used, primarily by the GM, to determine the potency of a character’s efforts and to govern the resolution of complex actions. We’ll talk about shifts more in the coming chapters.

<Example>

 

Skills

Characters have skills, like Resources and Brawl, which are rated on the ladder (page XX). Considered on the most basic level, skills represent what your character can do. When a character rolls the dice, he usually is rolling based on his skill.

Nearly every action that the character might undertake is covered by his skills. If he doesn’t have a skill on his sheet, either because he didn’t take it or the skill itself doesn’t exist, it is assumed to default to Mediocre.

Skills are covered in greater detail in their own chapter, beginning on page XX.

 

Aspects

Characters also have a set of attributes called aspects. Aspects cover a wide range of elements and should collectively paint a picture of who the character is, what he’s connected to, and what’s important to him (in contrast to the “what can he do” of skills).

Aspects can be relationships, beliefs, catchphrases, descriptors, items or pretty much anything else that paints a picture of the character. Some possible aspects are shown here.

For many, many more examples see the aspects section starting on page XX. An aspect can be used to give you a bonus when it applies to a situation. Doing this requires spending a fate point (see below). In this capacity, called invoking an aspect, it makes the character better at whatever it is he’s doing, because the aspect in some way applies to the situation (such as “Dapper” when trying to charm a lady).

An aspect can also allow you to gain more fate points, by bringing complications and troubling circumstances into the character’s life. Whenever you end up in a situation where your aspect could cause you trouble (such as “Stubborn” when trying to be diplomatic), you can mention it to the GM in the same way you mention an aspect that might help you. Alternately, the GM may initiate this event if one of your aspects seems particularly apt. In either of these two cases, this is called compelling an aspect, and its effect is that your character’s choices are limited in some way. If the GM initiates or agrees to compel the aspect, you may get one or more fate points, depending on how it plays out.

We’ll talk more about fate points shortly.

 

Edges

Edges are those things that a character can do which stretch or break the rules. They are the special tricks the character has up his sleeves. Edges have very specific uses and rules, and are detailed extensively in their own chapter (page XX). Starting characters will have three (3) Edges.

<Example>

 

Fate Points

Every player begins the first session of the game with a number of fate points (FP) equal to how many aspects he has, usually ten. Fate points give players the ability to take a little bit of control over the game, either by giving their character bonuses when they feel they need them, or by taking over a small part of the story. Fate points are best represented by some non-edible token, such as glass beads or poker chips. (Previous experiments with small edible candies have left players strapped for points!)

Characters may, at any point, spend a fate point to gain a bonus, invoke an aspect, tag an aspect, make a declaration, or fuel an edge.

Gain a Bonus

A fate point can be spent to add 1 to any roll of the dice, or improve any effort (such as an attack or defense) by 1. In practice, this is the least potent way to use a fate point – you’re usually much better off using one of the other applications, below. (Most games get rid of this rule once their players get comfortable using aspects; you can, too .)

Invoke an Aspect

Aspects (see above, page XX) are those things that really describe a character and his place in the story. When you have an aspect that’s applicable to a situation, it can be invoked to grant a bonus. After you have rolled the dice, you may pick one of your aspects and describe how it applies to this situation. If the GM agrees that it’s appropriate, you may spend a fate point and do one of the following:

1. Reroll all the dice, using the new result, or
2. Add two to the final die roll (after any rerolls have been done).

You may do this multiple times for a single situation as long as you have multiple aspects that are applicable. You cannot use the same aspect more than once on the same skill use, though you may use the same aspect on several different rolls throughout a scene, at the cost of one fate point per use.

<Example>

Tag an Aspect

Scenes, other characters, locations, and other things of dramatic importance can have aspects. Sometimes they’re obvious, and sometimes they’re less so. Players can spend a fate point to invoke an aspect which is not on their own character sheet, if they know what the aspect is. This is referred to as tagging an aspect, and is covered in greater detail in the Aspects chapter, on page XX.

As a rule of thumb, tagging someone or something else’s aspects requires a little more justification than invoking one of your own aspects. For scene aspects, it should be some way to really bring in the visual or theme that the aspect suggests. For aspects on opponents, the player needs to know about the aspect in the first place, and then play to it.

<Example>

Power an Edge

Some Edges have particularly potent effects, and require spending a fate point when used. If an Edge requires a fate point to be spent, it will be made clear in the description. See the section on Edges (page XX) for more.

Make a Declaration

You may simply lay down a fate point and declare something. If the GM accepts it, it will be true. This gives the player the ability to do small things in a story that would usually be something only the GM could do.

Usually, these things can’t be used to drastically change the plot or win a scene. Declaring “Baron Herborg suddenly falls off his horse and breaks his neck” is not only likely to be rejected by the GM, it wouldn’t even be that much fun to begin with. What this can be very useful for is convenient coincidences. Does your character need a lamp? Spend a fate point and you’ve got one! Is there an interesting scene happening over there that your character might miss? Spend a fate point to declare you arrive at a dramatically appropriate moment!

Your GM has veto power over this use, but it has one dirty little secret. If you use it to do something to make the game cooler for everyone, the GM will usually grant far more leeway than she will for something boring or, worse, selfish.

As a general rule, you’ll get a lot more leniency from the GM if you make a declaration that is in keeping with one or more of your aspects. For example, the GM will usually balk at letting a character spend a fate point to have a weapon after he’s been searched. However, if you can point to your “Always Armed” aspect, or describe how your “Distracting Beauty” aspect kept the guard’s attention on inappropriate areas, the GM is likely to give you more leeway. In a way, this is much like invoking an aspect, but without a die roll.

 

Refreshing Fate Points

Players usually regain fate points between sessions when a refresh occurs. If the GM left things at a cliffhanger, she is entitled to say that no refresh has occurred between sessions. By the same token, if the GM feels that a substantial (i.e., dramatically appropriate) amount of downtime and rest occurs in play, the GM may allow a refresh to occur mid-session.

The amount of fate points a player gets at a refresh is called his refresh rate and it is usually equal to the number of aspects the player has. When a refresh occurs, players bring their number of fate points up to their refresh rate. If they have more, their total does not change.

<Example>

 

Earning New Fate Points

Players earn fate points when their aspects create problems for them. When this occurs, it’s said that the aspect compels the character. When the player ends up in a situation where his compelled aspect suggests a problematic course of action, the GM should offer the player a choice: He can spend a fate point to ignore the aspect, or he can act in accordance with the aspect and earn a fate point. Sometimes, the GM may also simply award a fate point to a player without explanation, indicating that an aspect is going to complicate an upcoming situation. Players can refuse that point and spend one of their own to avoid the complication, but it’s not a good idea, as that probably means the GM will use things that aren’t tied to you.

<Example>

This isn’t just the GM’s show; players can trigger compels as well either by explicitly indicating that an aspect may be complicating things, or by playing to their aspects from the get-go and reminding the GM after the fact that they already behaved as if compelled. The GM isn’t always obligated to agree that a compel is appropriate, but it’s important that players participate here. See the Aspects chapter on page XX for a more detailed treatment of compels.

 

Character Creation

 

Steps of Character Creation

1. Think about your character concept, reviewing the ideas below.
2. Make up a cool name for your character.
3. Go through the five phases (see below) in order, picking two aspects each phase.
4. Assign your skills (24 points).
5. Select three edges for your character.
6. Allocate your character's eight Advances

 

Concept

While players have the leeway to explore any ideas that interest them, it’s worth remembering that the legends and folktales have a handful of easily recognizable character types. While you are far from obliged to fit characters into these neat little “boxes”, you might want to use the following for inspiration to create characters that match the overall flavor. Beyond that, you’re free to fill in details as you like. A legend can support characters of almost every stripe, but there are a few common themes worth taking a look at, and it is important to remember that in Legend of the Archons, all player characters are themselves walking Legends. Below are a few sample concepts, a few of which will be explored in more detail following. The listed concepts are broken down into broad categories for easier consumption and to spark the reader's mind with other, potentially related, ideas.

 

Sample Concepts

Mercenary:

Urban bravo, landsknecht, rodolero, condottieri, targeteer, reiter, free lance, eager young swordsman.

Courtier:

Noble duelist, diplomat, orator, politician, scandalmonger, power broker, herald, interpreter, judicial champion, advisor, court prophet, lady-in-waiting, spy.

Soldier:

militiaman, knight, officer, guardsman, hand gunner, tactician.

Criminal:

Thug, pickpocket, footpad, racketeer, charlatan, confidence trickster, highwayman, bandit chief, assassin, daring cat burglar.

Religious:

Cultist, monk/nun, theologian, priest, confessor, hermit, mendicant preacher, templar, would-be yenisarius, witch-hunter, reformer.

Mystic:

Fortune teller, seer, faerie speaker, mage, professional wizard, false Archon.

Academic:

Scribe, professor, lawyer, astronomer, natural-philosopher, linguist, classicist, renaissance man

Urban Citizen:

Merchant, guilder, jailor, executioner, city watchman, rake, bar wench, innkeeper, courtesan, rabble-rouser.

Outsider:

Heretic, foreigner, vagabond, tinker, lunatic, leper, crippled war hero, traveling performer, comedie del'arte, goliard / defrocked monk, peasant rebel.

Ranger:

Hunter, trapper, messenger, roadwarden, navigator, explorer.

 

A few of the above concepts are detailed more fully below:

Agent

The agent is a spy or other operative, perhaps for a government spymaster that can’t be acknowledged, perhaps for a secret organization. He may not know, himself. But it means he’s connected (well connected), and is privy to secrets that others just don’t know about.

His job? Whatever the agency says it is. Thankfully, that is usually exactly what the agent would be interested in doing in the first place. When conflict eventually arises between the agent and the agency, it usually goes very badly indeed for one of them or the other.

What are you doing: You’re serving a greater cause – perhaps for your government, or perhaps a higher or more secret authority than that. 

 

Condottiero

This is a "contractor" - a mercenary captain. The nations of Occida do not generally make a habit of keeping large standing armies, and small up-and-coming states with small militaries have increasingly come under attack from neighbors and from outside forces, leading to a thriving economy in mercenary muscle among these realms. The leaders of these bands have come into their own not only as warriors and strategists, but as machiavellian power-brokers whose shifting allegiances have busily and messily redrawn the map of southern Occida. Many of them are military innovators, thinking of war more in terms of military science than a test of valor. Figures like Sir John Hawkwood and Cesare Borgia are examples of this sort of man.

What are you doing: You're probably looking for the best deal, and trying to carve out a place for yourself in the post-successor wars world. Perhaps you are, on some level deep down, looking for something worth believing  in and fighting for as well, and maybe you're on the run due to betrayal or defeat.

 

Explorer

Though much of the map of the world is filled in, much of it remains blank or is simply wrong. The explorer thrives on discovering who and what is in those unknown places. The scholar-capped, sextant-carrying navigator's image of the explorer is perhaps the most best remembered of the period (think Christopher Columbus), but the same spirit can beat in the hearts of ship captains, delvers into the Underworld, or even ambassadors.

What are you doing: You’re discovering the world, opening new doors and seeking lost secrets and treasures. 

 

Gentleman Criminal

Crime is usually a brutish thing, fueled by necessity, but for some it is the only true challenge available. Usually possessed of copious talents, enough that they have already found success elsewhere, gentleman criminals pursue a life of crime because of its excitement. Such characters enjoy the good life and civilization, so the adventures of exploration hold no appeal to them, especially when compared to the thrill of the chase, outwitting the watch, and similar brushes with danger.

Often, these criminals turn into sociopathic masterminds as they turn more and more to crime. But others maintain a certain basic, albeit twisted, honesty that informs their crimes. A burglar may have a strong code to harm no one, or may rob from the rich to give to the poor. An assassin may only accept contracts on those he feels society is better off without. Most such ethical criminals can be convinced to leave their past behind them and use their talents to more challenging, world-bettering ends, but true retirement is not often in their nature. A particularly dashing sort of gentleman criminal would be the masked swashbuckler known as the highwayman.

What are you doing: You’re trying to find something worth doing. When you find it, you seize upon it with gusto. 

 

Mage

There is much more to the world than the purely observable things that natural-philosophers and rationalists concern themselves with. The mage is a devotee of that unseen world, a figure that stands somewhere between priest, scientist and scholar. While many Legends (especially those Adepts that operate under the auspices of the Church) are capable of wielding magic, the mage focuses specifically on the esoteric and occult fields of knowledge as a calling in themselves. He is an independently-minded figure seeking to plumb the secrets of the universe by the power of the mind and the spirit. For some mages, magical power and might is an end unto itself, but for many it is merely a means to the end of achieving greater enlightenment and personal ascension from the rude world of men.

What are you doing: You're seeking a greater understanding of the powers, artifacts and forces that move the universe and its interaction with the unseen worlds, perhaps for altruistic ends, purely for personal ascension or possibly for power and worldly gain.

 

Natural-Philosopher

Science (usually called natural-philosophy in this time and setting) is the door to the future, and every educated man has at least some interest in it. Despite that, it is easy to spot the committed natural-philosopher, master of one or more fields, dedicating his time and effort to the pursuit of science. Whereas other Legends seek adventure and appreciate science, the natural-philosopher seeks science and appreciates adventure.

While the scientist may have richly appointed labs or workshops, there is still too much to be found, too many theories to be tested, too much to do, to simply stay cooped up. Scientists can have one or more fields of interest, which will generally be reflected by their equipment. A chemist or botanist may have a steady supply of bizarre and unique concoctions, while an engineer might have exotic devices or weapons.

What are you doing: You’re challenging assumptions and testing theories, bringing science out into the field with the intention of proving a theory that can solve a problem or create something new and beneficial to mankind.

 

Primitive/Foreigner

Usually of a people that some explorer has ‘discovered’, the primitive is an outsider in the world that other heroes operate in. The subject of condescension and curiosity, he is also the keeper of knowledge that has been lost, or not yet discovered, by the men of Occida.

Perhaps this knowledge is some form of magic or something more recognizable as natural philosophy, like a knowledge of botany far beyond what “modern” man has discovered. One way or another, the primitive is usually quite sophisticated, albeit in a way that most people don’t recognize.

What are you doing: You are representing your people, looking for knowledge to take back to them, or perhaps trying to carve out a new life in exile. 

 

Renaissance Man

The renaissance man is the best way to summarize a character that is somewhere between Leonardo Da Vinci and Lester Dent’s classic pulp hero Doc Savage: brilliant, tough, strong, basically better than you at everything, and made that way by scientific understanding and a heady dose of humanism!

Thankfully, most renaissance men are slightly less obvious examples of the superman incarnate. A renaissance man may be someone who has benefited from extreme understanding of natural-philosophy in some way – perhaps making them a little stronger, tougher or faster than they would have been without. Such characters tend to be well rounded (though rarely to the somewhat silly level of a Doc Savage himself ) but their specific interests are frequently tied to their origin.

What are you doing: You do a bit of everything, taking all comers.

 

Scholar

The scholar lives somewhere between the natural philosopher and the explorer. The academic is compelled by his interest in his field, which is usually something like history, linguistics, theology or archaeology. The academic knows that lost, hidden, and forgotten knowledge exists all over the world. Ancient ruins, obscure libraries, mysterious artifacts – all these can offer answers to questions that have not even been asked yet.

What are you doing: You are answering questions, finding what was lost, and trying to expand the breadth of human knowledge. 

 

Wild Man

When we speak of the wild man, we’re speaking of characters like Mowgli or Enkidu, a man raised by animals, possessed of great strength and ability to communicate with or command animals.

Usually awkward in the face of civilization, these heroes act with a simpler understanding of things like justice, but with time, they can become bridges between two worlds.

What are you doing: You’re protecting your home and your pack, and attempting to understand the world outside.

 

Creating the Character

Character generation takes place over five phases. Each phase outlines events in that character’s life. The first phase sets up their general background, concept, and early youth. The second covers the early period in which the character would have been apprenticed, squired or otherwise trained to take their place in the world. The third covers the events of The Successor Wars (the continent-spanning series of wars following the fall of the Archons and centering around the collapse of the Heiligen Empire), bringing them to adulthood. The new characters become adults during the course of the Wars, and the last three phases delve into the character’s post-War adventures.

As laid out, character creation is a group activity, done at the same time, with at least three players (remember, the more players for a character creation session, the better!) in addition to the GM. The character creation process includes a number of built-in ways to establish ties and history between the characters and the setting. Character creation can often take the time of a full session of regular play, and is a good opportunity to lay out the foundations of the setting, and allow everyone to establish a common understanding of each others’ characters. During character creation, players are encouraged to talk out loud about their characters, make suggestions to each other, discuss how to make their characters intersect, talk about relationships and interactions between the characters, and otherwise establish some of the campaign background.

 

Here are a few things you might think about at this stage:

 

Preliminary Work

Before the first phase, it’s a good idea to think about the concept for your character. Your character could be modeled after a particular hero, or could be based around some specific thing that you want to be able to do, like perform incredible trick riding feats, lie your way out of trouble or carve your initials in a foe's shirt. Legendary heroes can usually be described briefly, so try to think of a concept that you can express simply. If you can express it with an exclamation point at the end, all the better!

 

A few things you will want to consider and note down at this stage follow:

• An idea of your character's homeland and species.
• A few sentences about who your character is, what he cares about and how he hopes to get it.
• A short description of the character's appearance.

 

Names

Characters could theoretically have just about any kind of name, but most human characters should likely have names that would have names that would fit in Renaissance Europe on earth, in the countries most similar to the character's own origin.

 

Species

There are five mortal sentient species in Occida that are available as player characters (if you want more in your game, then consult your GM, who may feel the same way). The primary rules effect of character species is that a nonhuman character must take an Aspect (usually during Phase I) specifying which species they are a member of. In choosing a species for your character, you have the following questions to ask yourself:

• What nifty keys and edges can I get because of this species?
• How does this species fit into the culture we're playing in?
• How does this species interact with the other characters' species?
• What does this species represent to me? Why would I want to play this sort of character?

More details of the various species can be found in The Peoples of Occida [page xx]

 

Phase 1: Background

This phase covers the character’s youth, from birth to age 14, but in a more abstract sense also covers the core concept for the character as a “normal person”. While youth may be a time of adventure and excitement, it is also the time when we are most shaped by our family and environs. This phase is an opportunity to reflect the character’s family and upbringing. When describing events in this phase, consider answers to the following questions:

• What were the family’s circumstances like? Rich? Poor? Scholarly? Isolated? Pious? Political?
• How big is the family?
• How well does the character get along with his family?
• What nation is the character from? What region?
• What were the character’s friends like at this early point? Did the character get into much trouble?

 

Phase 2: Apprenticeship

This phase represents late childhood and adolescence, the period in which the character begins preparing to take their place in the world. If the character was to take up a trade, they would be apprenticed in a guild or to a particular master. A potential knight would spend time as a squire, a potential monk or priest would become a novice or acolyte, and so on. When describing events in this phase, consider answers to the following questions:

• What was the trade or career that was intended to be the character's future? (note that this may well vary widely from the final product)
• Was the character himself interested in this career and did he have the aptitude for it?
• How was the character educated, if at all?
• Who was responsible for teaching the character, and what was this master or mentor like?
• What were the character’s friends like? Did the character get into much trouble?

Player Rules

1. Write down a brief summary of the events of the phase.
2. Write down two aspects that are in some way tied into the events of the phase, or the character’s fostering, noble, military, or guild upbringing or whatever other occupational preparations the character might have undergone at this point.

 

Phase 3: Wars

Phase three is The Successor Wars, also simply called The Wars. While the characters may possibly have been too young to serve, they may have done so anyway; as exceptional individuals, it would not have been hard for them to fake their age or, for that matter, to have been dragged into the fighting despite obvious youth. Because we’re talking about Legendary heroes here, while they may have spent some time slogging in the mud, it’s more likely that they spent most of their time on top secret missions for elite soldiers, spies, engineers or knights. Alternatively, they may have spent their time in other parts of the world, or engaged in other endeavors such as the intrigues of the Church or exploring the mysterious East.

This is the time when the characters start coming into their own, and begin realizing their true potential.

Some questions to consider during this period:

• Did your character fight in the wars? For whom? Where? In what capacity?
• Were you a member of any secret units? Did you meet any of the other characters there?
• Did you have a patron? If so, what happened to him or her?

Player Rules

1. Write down a brief summary of the events of the phase. Include the name and fate of your mentor or superior.
2. Write down two aspects that are in some way tied into the events of the phase.

 

Phase 4: Ballad

Phase four is the character’s first saga or ballad, starring him or her! Each player needs to come up with a title for the story starring his character, in a fashion reminiscent of sword and sorcery novels, folkloric tales or similar. One common pattern is:

Character Name (the.../vs./in.../and) Adventurous Thing!

As such, Karl Stauffen and the Infernal Device or Don Gianni in... The Sultan's Revenge would be ideal. The character's name need not be part of the title, though it usually will be. Then, each player needs to think up a story to go with his title. The story doesn’t need to have a lot of detail – in fact, it should be no more detailed than the blurb on the back of a paperback novel. For other good ideas on titling characters' ballads, you can look at a broad variety of sources, including magazines like Wierd Tales (in which many of Conan's adventures were published), the adventures of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser or similar figures, movie titles, renaissance or elizabethan plays or of course actual legends or real ballads (La Belle Dame Sans Merci is a good, evocative example).

 

Phase 5: Supporting Role

At the beginning of this phase, the GM writes down all the ballad titles on separate sheets of paper or a set of index cards, shuffles the stack, and hands them out. If a player gets his own ballad, he should trade index cards with the person to his right until everyone has a title that isn’t theirs. The title of the ballad a player is now holding is a story that his character had a supporting role in. For each index card, the involved players – the player whose ballad it is, and the player who has just received that tale's index card – should discuss the story, and add one or two sentences to the description of the ballad to reflect the supporting character’s role.

 

Adding Characters Later

Players who join after the initial character creation session should ask for volunteers to be in their ballad (volunteers do not get additional aspects, however). They should also pick a ballad that sounds interesting to costar in.

 

Assign Skills

(24 ranks, nothing above Great (4) at this stage, and players must follow the column)

Once all players have mapped out their phases and chosen their aspects, it’s time to pick skills. Each player gets to choose 24 ranks worth of Skills. Any skill the character does not explicitly take defaults to Mediocre. The first rank assigned to a Skill sets the Skill at Average (1) and each further rank assigned raises the Skill by one level. At this point, no Skill may be set higher than Great (4). Also, for each higher-rank Skill, the character must have an equal or greater number of Skills with a value one rank below it. Because of the “shape” of this set of skills, this is sometimes referred to as the character’s skill column. A sample skill column optimized to allow for the maximum starting number of Great Skills is illustrated below:

 

2 skills at Great:	❏ ❏
2 skills at Good:	❏ ❏
3 skills at Fair:	❏ ❏ ❏
4 skills at Average:	❏ ❏ ❏ ❏

 

Assign Edges

Each player selects three (3) edges for his character. These are likely to be edges that are associated with the character’s species and/or most highly-ranked skills, but there is no restriction in that regard unless the character's species description says otherwise. In a number of cases, it may be fine to take an edge that’s tied to a skill that the player has left at the default, if the GM agrees to it.

For more on edges and how they can affect the game, see the chapter on edges.

 

Free Advances

Lastly, players start with a number of advances (chances to improve) for their characters. This is determined by the group before play, depending on how powerful characters are to be at the beginning of the game. The standard number is eight. To figure out how to spend them, read below.

 

Advancement

During the game, each player character will get experience points (XP) for meeting the player's goals for that character's story and the GM's goals for the overall story. These experience points are converted to advances, usually at a rate of five XP to one advance. Each advance that you get can be banked toward improving your character's Aspects, Skills, Edges and Keys. The costs are found in the table below.

You can never increase the same thing twice in a row. That is, you cannot increase the same skill twice in a row. You need to increase something else in between. In addition, you cannot buy two Keys, two Aspects or two Edges in a row. Additionally, during character creation no single skill may receive more than two advancements in total (which also means that no skill may ever be advanced beyond Superb during character creation). Note that characters do not automatically begin play with any Keys. This is intentional: if your game is a one-off then Keys are probably superfluous. If, however, you intend for the game to go beyond a single session then players will probably want to devote at least one of their free starting advances to Keys.

 

The Advancement Table

Character change		Cost in advances
Buy a new Skill at Average (1)		1
Increase a Skill rated between Average (1) and Good (3)		1
Increase a Skill rated between Great (4) and Superb (5)		2
Increase a Skill rated Fantastic (6) or higher		3
Add a new Aspect		1
Add a new Edge		1
Add a new Key		1

 

Also note that, once a character has banked an advance, they can spend that advancement at any time. This does include advancing a skill during conflict resolution, just before rolling against the value of the skill in question. The character has one of those defining epiphanies as they strive for success and so their capacity to achieve their objective is increased in midstream. This can lead to some very cinematic and awesome moments if timed well.

 

Conclusion

At the end of the character creation exercise, each player should now have a complete character with:

• A summary of his childhood and apprenticeship
• A summary of his role in The Successor Wars
• His ballad and one other tale he appeared in, establishing ties to at least one other player’s character
• Ten aspects
• Twenty-four skill ranks
• Three edges
• Eight assorted advancements

 

Aspects

Characters have a set of attributes called aspects. Aspects cover a wide range of elements and should collectively paint a decent picture of who the character is, what he’s connected to, and what’s important to him. (By contrast, skills could be said to paint a similar picture of what the character can do.) Aspects can be relationships, beliefs, catchphrases, descriptors, items or pretty much anything else that paints a picture of the character.

Scenes also have aspects. Aspects in this context serve as a compact way to describe the relevant details of an environment, and can be used by the characters present in the scene. See Encountering Other Aspects, page XX, for more.

In terms of game rules, aspects are the main avenue by which a player gains or spends fate points, a kind of currency that can be spent for bonuses or earned when aspects cause problems for the player. Some possible aspects for characters include:

Quick Witted	First on the Scene
Sucker	Girl in Every Port
Rugged	Silver Spoon
Latian	Big Fish, Little Pond
“You’ll never take me alive!”	Ivory Tower
Stubborn	Honest

For many, many more examples, see the Sample Aspects section (page XX).

 

Picking Character Aspects

More than anything else, aspects are a player’s most explicit way of telling the GM, “This is the stuff I want to see in the game”. If the player picks an aspect like “Death Defying”, then he should be able to fully expect that the GM will put him in death-defying situations. GMs should want players to use their aspects; players should pick the ones they want to use, and GMs should encourage them to choose aspects that will be both interesting and useful.

Once a player decides on an idea for an aspect, he needs to figure out what aspect name best describes what he intends; there are usually many possible names for a desired aspect, which can make this choice somewhat difficult. However, most of the time, an aspect is going to be a phrase, a person or a prop.

A phrase can be anything from a descriptive phrase (“Strong As An Ox”) to a simple descriptor (“Strong”), or even a literal quote (“No One Is Stronger Than Sledge!”). Phrase aspects come into play based on how well the situation matches them; a colorful phrase adds a lot of flavor and innately suggests several different ways to use it. This potentially makes phrase aspects some of the most flexible aspects in the game.

A person can be anyone important to the character. A friend, an enemy, a family member, a sidekick, a mentor – as long as someone matters to the character, he makes an appropriate aspect. A person aspect is most easily used when that person is in the scene with the character, but the aspect can come up in other ways, depending upon the person’s history and relationship with the character. For example, if a character has his mentor as an aspect, that aspect might be useful for things his mentor would have instructed him on.

Props are things, places or even ideas – anything external to the character that isn’t a person. A prop can be useful if it’s something the character has with him, or if it’s the crux of a conflict, but it may also imply things about the character, or even be useful in its absence (if only I had my “Trusty Toolbox”!).

These three categories of aspects aren’t hard and fast. An aspect like “Maggie needs us now!" has elements of both a phrase and a person, and that’s just fine. We’ve just provided these categories to help provide a way to think about how to frame aspects.

 

Why Bad Aspects?

You may have noticed that a number of the aspects throughout this book are “bad” aspects – they indicate a downside for a character, either in their directly negative connotations, or in their two-edged nature. Aspects like Drunkard, Sucker, Stubborn, and Honest all suggest situations where the character will have to behave a certain way – making an ass of himself at an important social function, falling for a line of bull, failing to back down when it’s important to do so, or speaking truth when truth is the path to greatest harm.

So why put such aspects on your sheet if they’re only going to make trouble for you? Simple: you want that kind of trouble.

On a basic, game-rules footing, “bad” aspects are a direct line to getting you more fate points – and fate points are the electricity that powers some of the more potent positive uses of your aspects. We’ll get more into how aspects can generate and use fate points later on in this chapter.

Outside of just the rules, a “bad” aspect adds interest and story to a character in a way that purely positive aspects cannot. This sort of interest means time in the limelight. If someone’s trying to take advantage of the fact your character’s a Sucker, that’s an important point in the story, and the camera’s going to focus on it. “Bad” aspects also immediately suggest story to your GM; they tell her how to hook your character in. From the perspective of playing the game to get involved and have fun, there’s nothing but good in this sort of “bad”.

Clever players will also find positive ways to use “bad” aspects. The Drunkard might get looked over more easily by prying eyes as “just a drunk”; someone who’s Stubborn will be more determined to achieve his goals. This brings us the “secret” truth about aspects: the ones that are most useful are the ones that are the most interesting. And interesting comes most strongly from aspects that are neither purely good nor purely bad.

As a rule of thumb, when picking an aspect, think of three situations where you can see the aspect coming into play. If you’ve got one reasonably positive situation and one reasonably negative situation out of that set, you’re golden! If they’re all of one type, you may want to reconsider how you’ve worded your aspect – try to put a little of what’s missing in there. Ultimately, though, one aspect that’s “all good” or “all bad” isn’t that much of a problem, so long as you have a good mix throughout your whole set.

 

Spicing It Up

Aspects are one of the major sources of flavor for your character; they’re the first thing a GM will look at on your sheet when trying to work out what sort of stories to throw you into. This is powerful juju, and the best part is, you are in total control of it with the words you choose for your aspect.

Whenever you’re writing down the name of an aspect, ask yourself, “how much flavor does this aspect suggest?” If it seems fairly colorless, then you might well be off the mark, and it’s time to kick it up a notch. Certainly, don’t feel like you have to do this with every aspect you take, but if your character is served up as a bland dish, you may discover that your GM is at loose ends for keeping him involved in the story.

A few “good – better – best” examples are pictured here.

Bland	Tasty	Bam!
Strong	Strong as an Ox	Man of Iron
Dark Past	Former Cultist	The Eye of Balor
Swordsman	Trained Fencer	Trained by Luzitano

In each of these cases, the “bland” option certainly suggests its uses, but doesn’t really jump off the page as something that suggests story. The “tasty” option is certainly better by dint of being more specific; both GM and player can see some potential story hooks in these, and they serve to differentiate themselves interestingly from their blander predecessors. But the “bam!” options are where it’s at.

“Man of Iron” could easily be the phrase others use to identify the character, and suggests more applications than simple strength. “Eye of Balor” names the cult the character was once a part of, sends the GM looking to ancient cults and the Lords of Winter for some story ideas, and starts to put some NPCs onto the map. “Trained by Luzitano” gives the player plenty of opportunity for flashbacks to his time with Leonardo Luzitano, which may include lessons and history that don’t just have to do with fencing, and also hints at the possibility of Leonardo himself showing up in a story down the line. So when you pick an aspect, ask yourself: is this bland, is this tasty, or is this “bam!”?

 

Story Vs. Situation

Here’s a point to follow on the previous ones: more often than not, aspects tend to divide into another set of two camps – story and situation – and it’s a good idea to make sure you have aspects of each type.

Story aspects suggest one or more sources for stories involving the character, by bringing in an external element from the world at large. People and prop aspects are almost exclusively story aspects. Phrase aspects might be story aspects, but if they are, it’s usually because they mix in some elements of the other two Ps. You can most easily identify a story aspect by asking yourself if the aspect, independent of the character, is something other characters might interact with, affect, and change. Strange cults, lost artifacts, enemies, hidden lairs, foreign lands, spouses, and more, all fit into this category.

Situation aspects suggest the kind of situations a character might be in much more than they suggest the origin of those situations. Phrase aspects fall strongly into this camp, and they operate as a statement to the GM of the style of stories the player wants his character to be in. Phrase aspects like “Nick of Time”, “Stubborn as a Mule”, and “Last Man Standing” all suggest vivid situations – ones which should rightly repeat themselves over the course of playing the character – but don’t really suggest the context of those situations.

We’re taking a few moments to focus on the split between story and situation aspects, because it’s an easy one to miss if you’re not looking for it. You can very easily fall into the trap of creating a character who only has situation aspects. On the surface, situation aspects may be more attractive, since they usually apply in a multitude of circumstances; certainly, you’ll want to have at least a few situation aspects in your repertoire.

But if situation aspects are all that your character offers to the game, you run a real risk of being difficult to hook into the bigger storyline. This is why you should be certain to include a few story aspects on your character. Fundamentally, story aspects offer easy hooks to your GM to pull you into her story. You want this, since you came to the party to play the game. But it’s more than just that. By providing story aspects, you’ve provided some things which exist separately from your character. At the core of it, this means you’ve helped to build the game world. You’ve got ownership and stakes in the bigger picture. The GM will be grateful to you for it, and that kind of gratitude pays out in the form of a more satisfying game.

 

Getting on the Same Page

You may have noticed that, so far, we’re using a lot of ink to talk about how your aspects communicate things about your character to the GM. We mean it. Out of all the things in the game, aspects are probably the clearest message you can send to the GM about what you want from the game, short of walking right up to the GM and saying so. Also, in all likelihood, the GM is going to have copies of your character sheets when you’re not around, so the aspects you’ve picked are going to represent you in absentia. Once you’ve picked all the aspects for your character, take a step back and look at them as a whole, and ask yourself if they make the kind of representation you’d want them to. If they don’t, change them!

By themselves, aspects can’t say it all, of course, and it’s important to remember that. Short of making each aspect a paragraph or essay, you’re dealing with a few short, catchy phrases and names here. You want them reasonably short, because you want to be able to talk about them casually without running out of breath.

But the brevity of an aspect’s name means some things are left unspoken. Take the time with the GM to speak these unspoken things when you can. Both the player and the GM should look at an aspect not as the end of an idea, but the start of one. You’re both going to bring your own ideas of what the aspect means to the table and, at least to some extent, you’re both right. Usually this works out fine – the combined perspectives make the whole greater than the sum – but sometimes the GM and the player will have a radically different idea of what the aspect entails. Be clear with one another, and figure out how to iron out any differences – ideally, before the fate points start flying.

That said, after you’ve gotten one or more sessions of play under your belt, you might feel like you’ve picked one or more aspects that don’t “feel right”. We’re sympathetic to that, and your GM should be, too. If an aspect doesn’t seem to be working out well for you, you should feel free to ask your GM if you can change it.

 

Using Aspects

The process of using an aspect begins by declaring that one is relevant. Either the player or the GM may make this declaration. Then, determine if the aspect’s relevance is working for or against the character who has the aspect. As a general rule of thumb, if it’s for, the owner spends a fate point. If it’s against, the owner gains a fate point unless he pays to avoid it.

This is the guiding principle that all specific uses of aspects – invoking, tagging, compelling – start from. Each type of aspect use has specific rules governing how it functions, but if you ever find yourself confused about from there.

 

Invoking Aspects

An aspect can be used to give you a bonus, when that aspect applies to the situation you are in. Doing this requires spending a fate point (see below), and is called invoking the aspect. In this context, the aspect makes the character better at whatever it is he’s doing, because the aspect in some way applies to the situation. Invoking an aspect can be used to either:

• Pick up all the dice you rolled and re-roll them, or
• Leave the dice alone and add 2 to the result.

It is possible to use more than one aspect on a single roll, but you cannot use the same aspect more than once on the same roll or action; even if you’ve re-rolled the dice, that’s still the “same roll”. Re-rolls are riskier than just taking the +2 bonus – you can always end up worsening things or not making much improvement – but when a lot of ⊟ dice hit the table, a reroll can be a much cheaper way to recover.

The GM is the final arbiter of when an aspect is or is not appropriate (see “Getting On the Same Page”, page XX). Usually this means the player must invoke an aspect that is appropriate to the situation at hand. If the player wants to invoke an inappropriate-seeming aspect, he should be given a chance to describe how the action is appropriate to the aspect. The GM’s priority here is not to strictly limit the use of aspects but rather, to encourage their appropriate use by encouraging players to make decisions that keep their aspects interesting.

<Example>

 

Invoking For Effect

A player can also invoke an aspect for effect, using it for a related benefit that is not related to a die roll or skill use at all. This costs a fate point like any other invocation does. For example, a player could invoke a Secret Organization aspect to declare that the group has a chapter in town.

This is subject to the same sort of restrictions as spending fate points for minor declarations (see page XX) but is more potent due to the focus of the aspect. To be explicit, when an aspect is part of a declaration, it can make the less plausible more plausible, thus allowing the player to “get away with” more. The scope of the minor declaration can be … well, less minor, and the GM is encouraged to keep this in mind.

For example, if the GM is inclined to hem and haw over whether or not the character can spend a fate point to declare that he arrives at the exactly right moment, invoking the character’s Perfect Timing or Grand Entrance aspect for that same effect should remove any of the GM’s doubts. That said, this is not a method for the players to get away with anything; as always, aspect invocation is only allowed when the GM approves.

 

Encountering Other Aspects

The aspects on your character are not the only aspects that you can potentially use. Your fellow players’s characters have aspects, of course, as do some NPCs; sometimes even the scene itself may have aspects, like Dark or Cluttered.

To invoke an aspect other than your own, your character needs to directly interact with the object, location, or person that has the aspect you want to invoke, in a way appropriate to the action in progress. This means that if a scene has an aspect of Rigging (since it’s on a pirate ship), not only does that mean characters can be described as swinging from the ropes, but characters can invoke the Rigging aspect when they do so. And that leads us to…

Tagging

Rarely, in moments of high tension or drama, the GM can choose to escalate a compel. This is an optional rule, and really should only be used when the character getting compelled is having a defining moment in his or her story.

Escalation can occur only when a player has bought out of a compel. To escalate, the GM slides forward a second fate point, and prompts the player with something like, “Are you sure…?” If the player accepts, he’ll get two fate points instead of one; if he refuses, it’s going to cost him two fate points instead of one. In the rarest of cases, facing a second refusal, the GM may escalate a final time, making the reward and cost to buy out three fate points. If the player is willing to spend three to refuse this truly monstrous compulsion, the book is closed.

If a player’s willing to step it up, he can prompt the GM to start an escalation as well. When sliding forward his first fate point to buy off a compel, the player should say something like, “I won’t go along for one fate point…” Most GMs will look at the situation at that point and decide whether or not it’s a moment of high drama; if it isn’t, they’ll take the proffered point, but if it is, the escalation’s on!

Whatever the case, escalation should be done sparingly; it’s best as a spice, and can be overwhelming as a main dish.

 

Sample Aspects

A number of sample aspects are found on the Aspects page.

 

Resolution

Characters in your games are going to do a lot. For most things they do, there’s no real need for rules. Characters can stand, walk, talk, go shopping and otherwise do normal things without needing to roll dice. They can even take actions that use their skill, like driving to work, without worrying about the dice. The dice only come out when there is an interesting challenge with meaningful consequences.

On the simplest level, when a character rolls the dice, if he matches or exceeds the difficulty, he succeeds; if he doesn’t, he fails. When the issue is simple, then this may be all that’s necessary, but sometimes you also need to know how well a character did or did not do. Clearly, if a character rolls three higher than the target, that’s better than rolling only one higher.

The result of the roll is called the effort. Each point that the effort beats the difficulty by is one shift. If a roll is below the target difficulty, it’s a failure and it generates no shifts – there are no “negative” shifts (if you flip the perspective, the opposition could be said to generate shifts – but this is rarely relevant). If a roll matches the target difficulty, it is a success but generates no shifts. If it beats it by one, it generates one shift; if it beats it by two it generates two shifts, and so on. The number of shifts generated by a roll is used as a measure of many elements, and is referred to as the effect.

 

See the Resolution page for more details.

Skills

This chapter is focused on getting an idea of what each skill does and why someone might want a particular one for a character. This means that the information offered here is player-focused; it offers a “I have this, what can I do with this” perspective.

Skills can be enhanced by the addition of edges; edges are covered in their own chapter (page XX). There are also additional concerns for the GM involving adjudication of the use of these skills; that’s covered in the chapter on “Running the Game” (page XX).

Here, each skill has a description of what it does, and a write-up of how it is most commonly used.

Each skill also has a number of trappings, which are the rules for how to use the skill in certain specific circumstances. Whenever you encounter a trapping, you’ll see the eye glyph ◉ next to it. We’ve given these circumstances names in order to make them easier to reference. In some ways, trappings are like edges which anyone with the skill can perform. The specific rules governing setting difficulties for these various trappings of a skill are not covered here. You’ll find those guidelines in the Running the Game chapter (starting on page XX, but we’ll cross-reference it for you on a per-skill basis). Here, we’re simply focusing on giving you an idea of what the trappings are.

See the Skills page for more information on and individual descriptions of Skills.

 

Skills List

Academics	Knowledge
Alertness	Perception
Art	Craft/Knowledge
Athletics	Physical
Brawling	Combat
Burglary	Subterfuge
Contacting	Social
Deceit	Social
Empathy	Social/Perception
Endurance	Physical
Engineering	Craft
Gambling	Mundane
Intimidation	Social
Investigation	Perception
Leadership	Social
Magic	Special/All
Marksmanship	Combat
Might	Physical
Occult	Knowledge
Rapport	Social
Ride	Mundane
Resolve	Social
Resources	Mundane
Science	Knowledge
Sleight of Hand	Subterfuge
Stealth	Subterfuge
Survival	Mundane
Weapons	Combat

 

 

Keys

Keys are the motivations, problems, connections, duties, and loyalties that pull on your character. To the player, they're highly important because they generate experience points. Creating new Keys may be easier than new Abilities or Secrets - they follow very simple rules.

A Key must involve a motivation, problem, connection, duty, or loyalty.

Keys come in two types:

• Motivations. When the motivation is fulfilled in play, gain an experience point. When the motivation is fulfilled against good odds, gain three experience points.
• Everything else. When the Key comes up in play, gain an experience point. (You can use this three times per session. This applies to all Keys below.) When the Key presents a minor problem, gain two experience points. When it presents a major problem, gain five experience points.

All Keys have a Buyoff, which is a reversal from the Key by the character. All Buyoffs give the character 10 experience points. This Buyoff occurs only when you, the player, wants it to happen: you can lose a battle with the Key of Bloodlust and still keep the Key. If you want your character to undergo a change in her personality, though, adding to the story, you can take this Buyoff by fulfilling it. If you do take the Buyoff, you can never take this Key again.

As always, see the pre-made Keys to get a feel for creating your own.

 

For more information on keys, visit the Keys page.

SRDKeys

 

 

Magic

In Legend of the Archons, magic is represented through a combination of Aspects and Skills. Every spellcasting character must have at least one Aspect pertaining to magic use.

 

Aspects may be indicative of rank, social status or style, but with a caveat: at least one of the character's magic-oriented Aspects must specify which of the Thrice-Three Principles the character is most closely attuned with. This Aspect impacts the character's personality, magical nature, their style of magic use and, in fine, every facet of the character's identity. The character's magical Aspect does not straightjacket the character and turn him into a caricature, but it does influence him. Certain actions might require a specific Principle to be part of a character's magical Aspect.

 

The typical format for a character's primary magical aspect would be [Descriptor] of [Principle], where the descriptor indicates the level of training or degree of initiation that the character has in the secrets of their particular Principle. The most common descriptors, in general order of achievement, are the formal nomenclature for ranks in the Arts that are used by the academics of the Church: Novice > Initiate > Disciple > Adept > Master. Only one character in the world may have the aspect Archon of [any single given Principle] at any one time. Also, no character may have more than one Principle specified in their Aspects, though they may certainly have multiple Aspects that relate to the use of magic.

The specific principle in the magical Aspect that the character has will influence the sorts of magical effects that they wield, and thus the sorts of magical skills that the character selects.

 

For further details, see the Magic page.

 

Artifacts and Devices

The tools a character has to do their job can make the difference between success and failure. Equipment is a colorful part of the Renaissance, and is often a critical component of a character’s concept - think of how Leonardo Da Vinci's wondrous and wacky inventions are still discussed today.

 

State of the Art

While the renaissance era lacks certain modern conveniences we take for granted – cellular phones, computers, ATM machines and so on – the technology of the era was more sophisticated than many modern people give it credit for.

 

Day to day

These items have been around long enough that no one even bats an eye at them anymore. If expensive or fancy, a particular item might draw notice, but the simple existence of these items is common and well known.

matchlock Arquebus
Pistol

 

Modern marvels

These are the newest, most cutting edge technologies and procedures. They’re excellent topic of conversation and may well draw attention. Earth years of invention or earliest record are listed as well.

wheellock firearm (1500)
Musket
Caesarian section (1500)

 

 Soon to Come

These technologies are just around the corner, at least for most of the world. These are exactly the sorts of things that heroic inventors are likely to have prototypes of. The year that this technology was first introduced in our world is listed as well.

Snaphance firearms	1550s
Flintlock firearms	1610

 

Coin of the Realm

[caption]

Legendary heroes are usually a bit better off than the norm, as that is part of what frees them up to pursue their heroic interests. The actual resource system is pretty abstract, and given the wide vairation in currencies from nation to nation, trying to document the exact value of every possible product across several realms at once is largely pointless in the context of this game.

 

See the Devices page for more details.

 

Running the Game

In this chapter, we’ll take a look under the hood, and see how to make use of skills from the GM’s end of things. We’ll also talk about general principles for setting difficulties and other common situations as a GM. Overall, the focus here is to provide the GM with extensive (perhaps, at times, too extensive!) guidance on how to make the dice-rolling stuff really work. Where needed, with each skill we cover, we look at each trapping (see page XX) in depth. We’ll also look at other special uses for skills (which is why we put a section on poisons under the Endurance section, for example).

In the next chapter, we’ll pull the camera back a bit from this tight focus, and look at overall strategies for GMing from an adventure design perspective. But for now, onward, to the nuts and bolts…

 

Setting Difficulties

Before you – the GM – call for a die roll, it is critically important that you stop and do two things:

1. Imagine Success
2. Imagine Failure

It sounds simple, but it can make a critical difference. Success is usually the easy part, but failure can be bit trickier. You want to make sure that both outcomes are interesting , though interesting certainly doesn’t need to mean good.

If you cannot come up with a way to handle either outcome, you need to rethink the situation.

It’s as simple as that, because there are few things more frustrating to a player than making a skill roll and getting told that it nets them no new knowledge, no suggested course of action, no new development for the story, and so on.

So, whenever you call for a roll, be absolutely certain you understand entails. If one or the other branch does not suggest a course of action, then calling for a roll is probably a bad idea.

<Example>

Now, that said, every roll does not need to have high stakes. There should always be a consequence to failure, but there are degrees of consequence, and minor setbacks may be overcome for a larger success. If there is a large issue on the table, try not to have it hinge entirely on one roll – spread it out across the scene. Just as a roll has consequences, so does a scene, and the scene should have meaningful consequences.

The whole point of the consequences is to keep players engaged. It makes rolls into something a little more meaningful than hoping to get lucky on a die roll. That fact is the ultimate informer on how you want to set difficulties. The goal is to make any roll satisfying.

With that in mind, as a general guideline, difficulties should be set low (with a few exceptions we’ll cover in this chapter). If you leave difficulties at the default of Mediocre (+0) then characters will almost always succeed, but there is still a chance for failure. What this means is that characters will rarely fail, but failure is still a possibility in most circumstances. You can increase difficulties from that, but always stop and think about why you want to do that. The answer should always be “because you want failure to be more likely” – hopefully because failure’s cool too.

If you are tempted to make a roll so difficult that failure is likely, make sure you’ve got a solid reason why that’s so, and why you’re calling for a roll.

With difficulties set low, shifts (page XX) become critically important. When the question is not “will they succeed?” then it becomes “how (or how much) will they succeed?”, and that means the number of shifts a character generates on a roll becomes the yardstick you can use to frame how something turns out.

Effect	Description
0 shifts	Minimal success – The character pulled it off. It’s neither pretty nor graceful, but it works, at least for now.
1 shift	Notable success – This is a clear-cut success. The character’s result is solid, reliable, and while it may not be inspired, it is absolutely workmanlike.
3 shifts	Significant success – The success is sufficient enough to be noticeably well done, and will be of fine quality, very reliable and so on. A significant or better success can be said to generate spin (see below).
5 shifts	Potent success – Not only is the quality of the success remarkable, it may have some unexpected, secondary benefits, such as a deeper insight into a problem at hand.

<Example>

The bottom line here is that every roll should be fun, whether it succeeds or fails.

 

Spin

In the interests of repeating ourselves: In its broadest sense, spin is a special effect that occurs whenever a character scores a significant or better success (3 shifts or more). That special effect may simply be color – it may mean the character looked particularly cool, or is due some recognition for excellence. In some cases, as outlined in skills and elsewhere, gaining spin can result in an actual game effect. In combat, if a character gets spin on a defensive, he can add a +1 to the very next action that occurs (even if it’s not his own). Other applications of spin, found throughout the text, will exist as well, but in general, it serves as an easy way of making note that a character has done particularly well on a roll. Whenever characters roll well enough to generate spin, it’s time to sit up, pay attention, and spice up the details. See page XX for deeper details on the concept of spin.

 

Setting Declaration Difficulties

Some skills (such as knowledge skills like Academics) may allow a player to make declarations. A declaration is typically a player-driven assertion that there is a particular aspect (determined by the player) on a particular target (an individual character, group, location, scene, or story). Broadly, declarations allow players to introduce facts into the setting and storyline. The difficulties for declarations should, honestly, be based on how interesting the proposed fact or aspect is. Ideas which would disrupt the game or are just unreasonable should simply be vetoed. These are the questions to ask yourself when determining difficulty:

1. Is the declaration interesting (or funny)?
2. Will the declaration have interesting consequences if it’s acted upon but is wrong?
3. Does the declaration propose a specific and interesting or heroic course of action?

Each “no” adds 2 to the base difficulty of Mediocre. If the proposed fact is very amusing, proposes an interesting course of action and has interesting consequences if wrong (three “yes”-es), a Mediocre difficulty is appropriate. By contrast, a boring fact with a dull course of action and no possible consequences has a difficulty of Fantastic.

If your players haven’t quite got a grasp of how much they can do with declarations, you will probably need to lower the difficulties to suit – but you should let them know what makes a declaration more likely to succeed.

 

Setting Assessment Difficulties

Several skills (perception skills especially) may be used to make assessments. An assessment is an effort made by a character to discover one or more hidden aspects about a particular target (an individual, group, location, or scene). If the target of an assessment is a person or a group, the difficulty of the assessment is usually an opposed skill roll. Static entities like locations or objects typically have difficulties based on their quality. If there’s no obvious way to determine the assessment difficulty, consider the baseline difficulty to be Mediocre.

Target	Difficulty
Person	Usually Rapport or Deceit (see skills).
Location	Quality of concealment (default Mediocre).
Group	Usually Leadership of group’s “Named” leader, otherwise, quality level of the minions in the group.

At the GM’s discretion, if a character gains spin (page XX) on an assessment roll, he may gain insight into a more potent fact, or one additional fact – potentially allowing good rolls to result in the revelation of two aspects.

 

Time

When a character takes an action, it is expected to take a certain amount of time, ranging from a few moments to a few days. Sometimes characters need to take longer to do something or want to do something a little faster. When that happens, take a look at the chart on page XX and find how long the tasks should take.

Each shift the character generates that is put towards doing something fast makes the task one step faster.

<Examples>

 

Taking Your Time

When a character fails a roll to perform a task that he reasonably should be able to do, the GM can simply rule that the task succeeds but takes longer than it normally would. For each step of additional time the character spends on the action, he gains a retroactive +1 on the roll, to a maximum of +4.

<Example>

 

Time Increments

Instant

A few moments

Half a minute

A minute

A few minutes

15 minutes

Half an hour

An hour

A few hours

An afternoon

A day

A few days

A week

A few weeks

A month

A few months

A season

Half a year

A year

A few years

A decade

A lifetime

 

Adjudicating Skills

All right. Here’s where we roll up the sleeves, look at each skill on a case by case basis, and get our hands a bit greasy. As a fair warning, we will be repeating ourselves a bit here and there in the interests of making sure that when you flip to a particular skill, you’ve got most all you need to make a quick judgement call right there. Hang on tight…

 

The Skill-by-skill review as well as a few other common situations are on the Running the Game page.

 

A Few Ideas

 

Appendix: Quick Edge Packages

 

Character Worksheet

 

Character Sheet

 

Acknowledgements & Bibliography

As with any creator, here I stand on the shoulders of giants, and I would be remiss in leaving out recognition of that fact.

 

Credit Where It's Due

Most of the core game rules are pretty directly derived as a modified version of Spirit of the Century, a FATE variant from Evil Hat Productions. (see Game License below for copyright info). This game rocks my socks, and I totally encourage anybody to check it out and help keep Evil Hat in business. The open source nature of this toolkit game and of FATE in general are literally what made Legend of the Archons possible in its current form.

 

Also, certain elements of the game system, notably the keys and experience system, plus a few ideas for Edges, were either adapted or directly lifted from The Shadow of Yesterday, from CRN games. See the above comments and the Game License section for mroe about open source and creative commons, and how they apply to this awesome system. Oh, and pick up this game too. It's cool, and you won't regret it.

 

Open Game License Version 1.0a

The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc (“Wizards”). All Rights Reserved.

1. Definitions: (a)”Contributors” means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b)”Derivative Material” means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) “Distribute” means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d)”Open Game Content” means the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including translations and derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) “Product Identity” means product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f) “Trademark” means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) “Use”, “Used” or “Using” means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) “You” or “Your” means the licensee in terms of this agreement.
2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this License.
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4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty- free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.
5. Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License.
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7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity.
8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distrib- uting are Open Game Content.
9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You may use any autho- rized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License.
10. Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You Distribute.
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12. Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.
13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.
14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.
15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Open Game License v 1.0 © 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Fudge System 1995 version © 1992-1995 by Steffan O’Sullivan, © 2005 by Grey Ghost Press, Inc.; Author Steffan O’Sullivan.

FATE (Fantastic Adventures in Tabletop Entertainment) © 2003 by Evil Hat Productions LLC; Authors Robert Donoghue and Fred Hicks.

Spirit of the Century © 2006, Evil Hat Productions LLC. Authors Robert Donoghue, Fred Hicks, and Leonard Balsera.

Modified stress and consequences rules from the Evil Hat wiki, written by Fred Hicks.

Legend of the Archons © 2008, Hal Case. Author Hal Case.

The Shadow of Yesterday © 2004, CRN Games, Author Clinton R. Nixon. Information derivative of this work is used under a Creative Commons 3.0 License.

For purposes of this license, the following things are considered to be Product Identity in addition to anything covered in section 1, above:

• All art, layout, characters, “color” quotations and dialogue, names, and examples.
• The following chapters in their entirety: “Introduction”, “Background”, and “Legend of the Archons”.