Honor Bound RPG

Honorbound RPG is a tabletop role-playing game in which the characters are oathsworn to uphold the Tenets of Honor. Each of these defines the character’s moral compass, and are integral to the activities of the party, the tone of the setting, and the mechanics.

Setting

Sasara

Honorbound RPG is set on Sasara, a man-made planet many lightyears away from Earth. It was the most advanced technology ever built by humans and the height of extrasolar colonization.

A hundred thousand years later, the survivors try to understand their forgotten history and survive in the world left by their creators.

Sasara is comprised of three concentric spheres. The outer sphere is made of advanced materials that capture the energy of a nearby, incredibly bright star. The middle sphere is where all of Sasara’s inhabitants live and die. The inner sphere provides light and manages much of the planet’s systems.

Very few, if any, inhabitants of Sasara understand the way that it works. All that is known is that the horizon stretches up rather than down. And that the esoteric mysteries left behind by their forebears are incomprehensibly powerful.

The majority of Sasara resembles an odd collection of scavenged, advanced materials applied in archaic and medieval ways. Daily life is similar to 15th century Earth, with most things being built by hand.

All but the most basic of Sasara’s systems have failed or been destroyed, leaving its inhabitants to fend for themselves in the natural ecosystem created in its inner layer.

Most of Sasara’s survivors live within independent city states, well defended ruins of the once glorious civilization that lived here. Large nations and powerful factions are rare, as Sasara’s population is much less dense than that of Earth. Packs of wild beasts and brutal adabhuta make traveling through the frontier extremely difficult.

Adabhuta are humanoid, savage, violent creatures. Physiologically they are similar to size and shape to humans, but have thicker skin, more body hair, and more predatory maws. They have no known form of language, are generally incapable of using tools, but have keen senses and a hunger for human flesh.

Order of Fasann

The characters are sworn members to the Order of Fasann. The Order established the Tenets of Honor in ancient times, and are one of the few institutions attempting to create stability in Sasara. Members of the Order of Fasann come from a diverse background, and often are recruited and trained by other members.

The Order’s temples and monasteries dot Sasara’s landscape, serving as a refuge of peace in a barbaric world. Most Sasarans recognize the Order of Fasann’s sigil: a spiral shaped in the golden ratio. Many dare to challenge the Order, while others gladly accept their help.

Walk the Path

Members of the Order gain discipline, steadiness, confidence, and strength through the strict adherence of the Tenets. However, Sasara makes little room for such morality. Over the last thousand centuries, humanity has had to do what is necessary to survive. Ethical sacrifices were made, social graces dismissed.

Sasara is a broken land, and its culture has arisen out of darkness and savagery. The survivors are those who were most willing to do the dishonorable acts, those most willing to kill and lie and steal. For millennia, Sasarans traveled in small family packs, scavenging what they could from the sustenance machines that fed the Forebears, living off of the tumultuous and unpredictable landscape.

Their descendants are those who populate cities today, a hard and resilient people. The Order of Fasann tries to keep peace, nobility, and honor in Sasara. Largely, it fails.

Order members are constantly beset by the cold horrors of Sasara, but strengthened by the limitless depths of human kindness and charity. It is for the weak, the innocent, and the persecuted that the Order was built. It is for the for the soul of all those who have fallen to depravity, in the hope that their children will learn from their mistakes and their punishment.

The Order truly believes that if all of society at least attempted to adhere to the Tenets of Honor, it would flourish and usher in an era of peace and prosperity.

The Order and Sasara

Members of the Order are often loved and hated in equal measure. Many Sasarans have benefited from the Orders protection, charity, or education. But just as many, if not more, have felt the cold bite of the Order’s retribution.

As Sasaran civilization evolves, powerful regimes and stable societies are rare and shortlived. Cities will be conquered by dozens of marauding warlords, some foolishly wielding the technology of the Forebears, others at the head of an army of brutal, murdering conquerors.

The Order of Fasann maintains stability and decency. When a new leader claws itself to power, the Order often remains among the people, protecting the weak and punishing the wicked. This has, over the centuries, created many enemies for the Order.

Since Members openly wear the Order’s sigil: the Golden Spiral, their enemies are quick to confront and allies quick to support. Many smaller settlements, or those beset by what they view to be injustice, rejoice at seeing the Order approaching on the horizon. Enclaves are built, resources and shelter given, assistance is only but a request away.

And daggers find Members in their beds.

As a Member, one must always be Respectful and Compassionate, but always wary. Always Aware. The human mind is easily corruptible, fatigued, likely to succumb to base desires of fear and pleasure. While it is a Member’s duty to assist and uphold Honor, one should not be careless with one’s life.

Archons

Archons are legendary beings of immense, incalculable power. Many believe that the Archons are the last vestiges of the Creators, those that created Sasara and gave birth to the Forebears.

Archons are rarely encountered, and those that do are forever changed by the conference. The Order has sparse information on who the Archons are, where they came from, or their purpose. What legend and logic can produce though, is awe inspiring.

Archons are often said to resemble Sasarans in shape and form, but indescribably beautiful and perfect in proportion. They can extend their will outside of themselves, controlling the invisible forces that knit Sasara together. Archons can disintegrate stone, melt steel, fly, lift buildings, and level armies with a thought.

The number of Archons are unknown, and their appearance infrequent. Many believe them to be heralds of doom, or prophets of salvation. Some have traced them to the Void Lands, on the borders of the habitable zone in Sasara. Here, air is too thin to breathe, temperatures too extreme to tolerate. No Sasaran can travel here and survive.

System

Characters roll six-sided dice (abbreviated as d6) to determine an action’s success. Characters use Honor Dice (HD) as an expendable resource to increase the amount of dice rolled per action, thereby increasing their chances of success.

Characters accrue Honor Dice from acting in accordance with one of the Tenets of Honor. Each time a character fulfills a Tenet, he or she gets 1d6 to add to the dice pool. Acting dishonorably causes you to lose 1d6 from the pool.

If multiple honorable and dishonorable actions occur within the same action, or within the same Scene, any Honor Dice gained are lost. Each dishonorable act still results in a loss of 1d6 from the existing pool.

If there is any grey area to whether or not a character is acting honorably, no dice are gained or lost. If the player disagrees with the GM’s ruling, the other players can take a vote.

Acting Dishonorably

When a character acts against a Tenet of Honor, he or she is acting dishonorably. While the character loses 1d6 from the Honor Dice Pool, the character gets an immediate +1d6 to +3d6 bonus to a Skill roll. This bonus is not accrued or connected to Honor Dice.

For example, Ekram is attempting to force a group of marauders to surrender. He is alone, and while he thinks he could defeat them in battle, it is likely that he would be injured and have to take their lives.

Ekram decides to lie. This is a dishonorable act, and goes against the Tenet of Purity. He informs the marauders that he has a cadre of archers aiming arrows right at them (but in actuality, he doesn’t.) He marks -1HD from his pool.

The GM has Ekram roll an Influence to try to intimidate the marauders to surrender. Because of his lie, the GM thinks he gets an extra +2d6 bonus to his Roll. Ekram chooses to augment the roll (now a base of 3d6 rather than 1d6) with 2 HD, bringing his total amount of dice rolled to 5d6.

He rolls and is successful. The marauders drop their weapons and kneel submissively. Since Ekram acted with honor and dishonor, he gains no Honor Dice at the end of the Scene (even if his act was overall more honorable than dishonorable.)

No Honor Dice Left

If your character has used, spent, or lost all of his or her HD, the character can still act as normal and use the appropriate base roll for any action. However, characters with no HD are less likely to succeed, and therefore more likely to suffer a Consequence or an Injury. Higher Difficulty tasks will elicit more dire Injuries, so characters with little or no HD left should be wary.

Action Impact

Acting in line with a Tenet to a larger degree can grant additional Honor Dice (between 1 and 5). For example, when Ekram commits a minor, honorable act, such as feeding a beggar, he gets 1 Honor Dice. But when he makes a much larger impact on the lives of others, such as building and funding an orphanage, he gets 5 Honor Dice.

The GM will determine the appropriate amount of dice beyond the first based on the impact of the action.

Making Rolls

Whenever a character makes an action, they get 1d6 to roll for free, and can spend a number of dice from the pool on their action. Success for each die is based on the face-value of the die (such as rolling 5s, 6s, etc based on the character’s Skill. More on this later). Once the dice are rolled, they are spent. The only way to restore more dice to the pool is to act within the Tenets of Honor.

A player doesn’t have to spend dice, however the odds of success are dramatically improved for each additional die spent.

A player can’t spend more than 5d6 (for a total roll of 6d6) on a single action. The character can get more than 6d6 from other bonuses (such as from equipment, tactical advantages, acting dishonorably, and so on.)

Character Creation

Characters rank one Skill at Exemplary, one Skill at Good, one Skill at Poor, and the rest are Average. This is discussed in more detail in the Skills section.

Characters select three Tenets of Honor as their Oathsworn Tenets, which grant them those Tenets’ Maneuvers. This is discussed in more detail in the Tenets of Honor section.

Tenets of Honor

1. Altruism
2. Compassion
3. Courage
4. Dedication
5. Loyalty
6. Perfection
7. Purity
8. Respect
9. Righteousness
10. Understanding

Altruism: selflessness and sacrifice. Never allowing your personal desires or needs supercede those of another.

Compassion: kindness, charity, mercy, and empathy.

Courage: pressing forward in the face of fear, even certain death.

Dedication: the determined pursuit of all aspects of your life. Consistency to form, continuous practice, never surrendering, an indomitable will.

Loyalty: complete and utter devotion to those that depend upon you, as well as to those who trust you. Reliability and being able to support those who need you.

Perfection: grace of form and function. Seeking perfection in thought and action, from the combative arts to speech to learning. Never accepting less than the best of what you or others can achieve.

Purity: chastity, cleanliness, propriety, honesty, and overall health. Avoiding corruption in any form, whether it be physical, mental, or spiritual.

Respect: demonstrating patience, courtesy, and open-mindedness to everyone you interact with. Respect should be given to everyone, even those that do not deserve it.

Righteousness: the pursuit of what is just, good, and noble. Willing to take action in the face of evil, corruption, and hatred.

Understanding: the pursuit of not only knowledge, but comprehension. Wisdom, truth, and rigorous dedication to certainty.

Oathsworn Tenets

At character creation, each character selects three Tenets that they hold most valuable, swearing an Oath to uphold them in all facets of his or her life.

Whenever a character acts in line with one of his or her three Oathsworn Tenets, he or she gains 2d6 to the pool, rather than 1d6. Likewise, whenever a character violates one of his or her Oathsworn Tenets, he or she loses 2d6 from the pool.

For example, Ekram swears an Oath to Understanding, Righteousness, and Dedication. For each Oathsworn Tenet, a character can use a special maneuver.

Tenet Maneuvers

Understanding: for each die spent, the character comprehends one fact, or fully understands and empathizes with one individual, or can ask one reasonable, relevant question that the GM must answer truthfully.

Purity: for each die spent, the character can remove one affliction or condition on themselves or another.

Compassion: for each die spent, the character can pacify an individual, or alleviate the mental or physical suffering of another.

Loyalty: the character can freely give dice from his or her pool to another.

Dedication: for each die spent, the character can determine the way to overcome an obstacle, or press on through a physical or mental obstacle, including injuries.

Perfection: select one Skill. Each die spent in this Skill is automatically considered a success.

Courage: for each die spent, the character or one ally ignores a source of fear or hesitation.

Altruism: the character can suffer an ally’s consequences, injuries, or negative conditions in his or her stead.

Respect: for each die spent, the character selects one target that now respects another target (including him or herself).

Righteousness: each die spent on a Skill roll while acting righteously is considered an automatic success.

Tenet Maneuvers in Play

Characters can use their Tenet Maneuvers at any time, even when it isn’t their turn. When spending an Honor Die toward a Tenet Maneuver, you don’t have to roll. For example, a character spends 2 Honor Dice to create Respect between two arguing enemies, with no roll necessary.

Since Ekram has sworn an oath to Understanding, Dedication, and Righteousness, he gains each of their corresponding maneuvers.

For example, when traveling through some rough mountains, a rockslide falls and nearly crushes Ekram to the ground. He’s pinned, and the GM doesn’t think he has the strength to push the rocks off of himself. He uses his Oath to Dedication, spending one die to figure out how to leverage himself free and one die to press on through his injuries.

Later, Ekram is confronted with a hidden temple with no discernible entrance. Ekram calls upon his Oath to Understanding, spending one die to know that many of these temples have a secret entrance. He spends another to remember where such secret entrances are usually kept.

When traveling on the road, Ekram sees a merchant beset by thieving brigands. Despite overwhelming odds, Ekram knows he must intervene or witness the death of the merchant and the theft of his wares. He springs into action, rolling a Coordination Skill to fight against the bandits. Since he is acting righteously, he spends three dice to earn three automatic successes, defeating each of the three enemies.

Stains

If a character acts against a particular Tenet three times without acting in accordance with the Tenet, the character’s honor is now Stained. Whenever that character acts within the Tenet that was Stained, he or she gains no Honor Dice. When the character acts against the Tenet, he or she does not lose any Honor Dice.

A character may go on a quest of Redemption to remove a Tenet’s Stain.

For example, Ekram has acted in rage and hatred three times (against the Tenet of Compassion) without once acting within Compassion. Ekram’s Compassion is now stained. When Ekram acts with Compassion, he gains no Honor Dice. And when Ekram acts without Compassion, he doesn’t suffer the loss of Honor Dice.

At character creation, a character can choose to take one Stain.

Forsaking a Tenet

During a scene, a character can intentionally Forsake a Tenet and automatically succeed at the chosen action or end the conflict. The character must intentionally violate the Tenet that is being forsaken within the scene.

At the conclusion of the scene, any remaining Honor Dice in the character’s pool dissipate.

Until the character goes on a quest of Redemption, the Tenet that was forsaken is now Stained.

For example, Ekram is engaged in a brutal duel against a hated enemy. Ekram is injured, and only has a few Honor Dice left. His enemy is winning the duel, and will likely strike Ekram down. As a final effort, Ekram forsakes Purity, kneeling to the ground and feigning that he is unable to continue (a dishonorable and dishonest act.)

His enemy approaches, lifting his blade to make the killing blow. Ekram spends his automatic success to defeat his nemesis, and cuts him down.

The few remaining Honor Dice Ekram had left disappear, and he is left having a Stain on his Tenet of Purity. Whenever he acts with Purity, he no longer gains any Honor Dice.

Act of Sacrifice

During a scene, a character can make an Act of Sacrifice to automatically succeed at one action or resolve one conflict. While making an Act of Sacrifice, the character suffers a Consequence, Injury, or forfeits some other cherished personal item (this is largely left up to player and GM interpretation).

For example, Ekram comes upon a house that is engulfed in flames. He sees there is a child inside, and must act quickly to save a life. He has no Honor Dice to spend, and won’t risk possibly allowing the child to die.

He commits an Act of Sacrifice, charging into the house despite the intense flames. He rescues the child and leaves the house alive, but the GM forces Ekram to suffer an injury from his burns.

Until healed, all of Ekram’s Skills are degraded a rank (Exemplary to Good, Good to Average, etc).

A sacrifice of commiserate impact upon the character is necessary to overcome such a task. A task with Difficulty 5 would require a far greater Act of Sacrifice than a Difficulty 2 task.

Example Tenet Violations

• Altruism: Selfish, greedy, expect payment, conceited, prideful
• Compassion: cruelty, avarice, apathy
• Courage: attacking from shadows, cowardice, fleeing from danger, refusing to help due to danger
• Dedication: impatience, weak will, procrastination, giving up on projects, giving up easily, surrendering
• Loyalty: betrayal, sacrificing others, lack of dependability
• Perfection: doing what is only “good enough,” being imprecise, sloppy, slovenly
• Purity: engaging in vices, hedonism, seeking pleasure, dishonesty, intoxication, anger, hatred
• Respect: argumentative, disrespectful, prejudiced, closed minded, rude
• Righteousness: pursuing what is unjust, cruel, unlawful, or taking violent or physical action against any of the Tenets
• Understanding: teaching lies as fact, making assumptions, acting without the necessary information

Skills

There are eight Skills: Awareness, Coordination, Influence, Knowledge, Logic, Might, Resistance, and Stealth. Skills can be ranked as Poor, Average, Good, and Exemplary. At character creation, pick one Exemplary, one Good, and one Poor Skill, while the rest are Average. 

The Skill’s Rank determines what number determines success on each d6. Poor succeeds on 6 only, Average 5+, Good 4+, and Exemplary 3+. Multiple successes count for extra degrees of success. 

For example, Ekram chooses the following Skills:

• Exemplary: Coordination (3+ success)
• Good: Influence (4+ success)
• Average: Awareness, Logic, Might, Resistance, and Stealth (5+ success)
• Poor: Knowledge (6+)

Skill Rolls and Uses

• Awareness: perception, insight, intuition
• Coordination: agility, dexterity, balance, ranged attacks, light melee attacks
• Influence: charm, convince, intimidate, manipulate
• Knowledge: lore, nature, engineering
• Logic: deduction, strategy, learning
• Might: strength, speed, most melee attacks, carrying
• Resistance: endurance, willpower, health, immune system
• Stealth: sneaking, lies, inconspicuous, camouflage

Example Play

Ekram has 10 Honor Dice in his pool. He witnesses a local lord about to execute a (presumably innocent) commoner. Ekram goes to convince the Lord not to kill the poor and innocent commoner for whatever perceived sleight was given. 

He Rolls an Influence, and chooses to spend 3d6 on this roll, for a total of 4d6. Ekram has a Good Influence (success on 4+). He Rolls, and gets 3, 2, 3, 5 (1 success). Those three dice are gone, so Ekram’s pool is now 7 (10 – 3).

He convinces the Lord to spare the commoner, and they all go about their way. Since Ekram stood in the way of the commoner, and acted in accordance with his Oathsworn Tenet of Righteousness, he earns 2d6 (bringing his pool back up to 9).

Tasks

When a character rolls to attempt a task, he or she must roll better than or equal to the task’s Difficulty in order to overcome it. If the task is something that can be whittled down over a series of successes, such as when fighting an enemy, each success accumulates and lowers the task’s Difficulty.

The vast majority of tasks have a Difficulty less than 3. Tasks beyond Difficulty 5 are considered outside of the scope of normal human capability. Tasks with Difficulty below 1 are trivially easy.

For example, Ekram is climbing a crumbling stone wall, which has Difficulty 2. He rolls 2d6, getting 1 success. He is halfway up the wall, which now has Difficulty 1. He rolls again, bringing it to Difficulty 0, climbing atop it.

In another example, Ekram is trying to jump over a boulder while sprinting, which has Difficulty 2. He rolls 2d6, getting 1 success. He jumps up, clips his legs on the boulder, and falls flat on his face.

Consequences

If a character attempts a task, and rolls 0 successes, then the GM gets to force a Consequence onto the character. The Consequence largely depends on the nature of the task being attempted.

In general, Consequences either: force a Skill roll, remove Honor Dice from the character’s pool, or place a negative condition on the character.

For example, Ekram is attempting to leap across a small chasm. He rolls, and gets no successes. The GM grants Ekram a Might Skill roll to attempt to grab onto the ledge, as he falls just short. Ekram spends three Honor Dice and rolls, getting a success and clinging to the side precariously.

Different take: in the above example, the GM allows Ekram to clear the chasm, but suffers the task’s Difficulty in lost Honor Dice (2).

Another different take: in the above example, the GM allows Ekram to clear the chasm, but hits his leg against the edge of the precipice. Ekram’s leg is now injured. He moves at half his normal speed, and all physical tasks have +1 Difficulty.

And yet another take: in the above example, Ekram fails his first roll to jump, and his roll to grab on to the ledge. He falls down the chasm, and the GM has him roll a Coordination against a Difficulty 5 fall. Ekram rolls and gets 2 successes. He loses 3 more dice, and must make a Resistance roll or suffer a serious injury.

Ekram rolls a Resistance, and gets 0 successes (forcing another Consequence). The GM says he has a broken back, and can’t move. It is likely Ekram will die from his wounds.

Combat

When characters are engaged in combat, players only ever roll. The GM (and therefore the character’s enemies) never roll to determine successful attacks or defends.

Attacks

To make an attack, a character will roll a relevant Skill (typically Coordination for ranged attacks, Might for melee attacks, and Influence for mental attacks). As normal, a character can choose to roll the minimum 1d6, or spend Honor Dice to add to the effectiveness of their attack. The number of successes the character rolls dictate the attack’s effect.

Defends

When coming under attack, a character will roll a relevant Skill (typically Coordination or Awareness for dodging attacks, Might for blocking attacks, and Resistance for resisting mental/internal attacks). A character can choose to roll the minimum 1d6 for the defense, or spend Honor Dice to add to the effectiveness of the defense. The number of successes the character rolls dictate the defend’s effect.

Just like with skill rolls, if a character rolls a Defend and gets 0 successes, the GM can place a Consequence on the character. A consequence in battle generally takes the form of an Injury, or some other negative condition.

Movement

Characters are assumed to be moving around freely in the course of combat. In general, characters move, act, and attack all simultaneously. The details and tactical elements of each character’s exact location are not necessarily important.

For example, Ekram is about ten meters away from two bandits. Ekram decides to attack one. The GM reasons that Ekram is fast enough to move that distance and attack simultaneously, so he rolls no problem.

He gets enough successes to not only defeat the first enemy, but to defeat the second enemy as well. The GM describes how Ekram charged forward, and with two swift strikes cut down both of the nefarious bad guys.

Your group and the GM can separate actions into as much detail as you’d like, but it’s recommended that each round of action within a combat Scene feels fast, fluid, and intense. If it adds drama or intensity to the Scene to make a character potentially fail moving into cover, or catch up to the bad guy, or move out of the way of a falling rock, then the GM can always ask the player to roll a relevant Skill.

Enemies and Difficulty

Most enemies and obstacles will be rated from a 1 to 5 Difficulty. This means that a total of 1 to 5 successes must be achieved for the character to surpass the conflict. In combat, an enemy’s Difficulty describes how many successes are necessary to be defeated with an attack, or how many successes are necessary to defend an incoming attack.

For more challenging enemies, or for those that the GM wishes to play a more significant element of the fiction, different levels of Difficulty can be assigned to the enemy’s Skills.

For example, an enemy that is especially good at Stealth might have a Difficulty 3 to counter its Stealth (rolling 3 or more Awareness successes). The same enemy might be especially weak, and only have a Difficulty 1 Attack (only requiring 1 successful Defend.)

Similarly, an enemy’s Difficulty can be influenced by the nature of the action a character is attempting. An enemy might have a high Resistance Difficulty against intimidation, but might have a much lower Resistance Difficulty against bribery.

Example Combat

Ekram is fighting a Difficulty 3 bandit. The bandit attacks first, forcing Ekram to roll his defense. He chooses Coordination (one of his better Skills), and elects to roll 4d6 (spending 3 Honor Dice). He rolls and gets 1, 5, 5, 6 (3 successes). He successfully defends against the Bandits attack. Since he is only defending, his successes do not damage the bandit’s Difficulty, only prevent himself from becoming damaged.

When it is Ekram’s turn to act, he attacks and chooses to roll 2d6 (spending only 1 Honor Die). Both come up successes, dropping the enemy’s Difficulty down to 1.

The bandit strikes back, and Ekram only has 2 more Honor Dice to spend, using both on his defense. He rolls his 3d6 and gets 2 successes. Since the bandit’s Difficulty has been reduced to 1, Ekram successfully stops the attack.

He counters, rolling the minimum dice (he has no more Honor Dice to spend), and gets 1 success, bringing the bandit’s Difficulty to 0 and defeating it.

Characters failing Defends

When a character rolls a Defense that is less than an enemy’s attack (based off of the enemy Difficulty), the character loses extra dice equal to the difference.

For example, Ekram rolls 3d6 against a Difficulty 3 enemy. Ekram gets 2 successes, 1 less than the Difficulty. He loses 1 Honor Die from his pool, on top of whatever dice he spent in the defense.

If a character rolls 0 successes on their defense, the character suffers a Consequence. This can be anything from tripping, to losing your weapon, to suffering from an Injury. The nature of the attack, the Difficulty of the enemy, and the type of weapon that the enemy is using, all play a role in determining the appropriate Consequence (or Injury) the character suffers.

If a character is hit during combat with no Honor Dice remaining, the character must make a Resistance Roll. If the character fails, they are Defeated and may take an injury.  Once a character is Defeated, he or she is no longer able to act in the battle.

Characters failing rolls against enemy Tasks

When enemies attempt an action that isn’t directly a combat action, such as trying to sneak behind a character, lie, or run away, the enemy’s Difficulty comes into play.

Characters can roll (and add HD, as they wish) against the enemy task’s Difficulty. If the character rolls less successes than the task’s Difficulty, whatever the enemy was attempting to do is accomplished. If the character rolls at least 1 success, he or she doesn’t suffer a Consequence, although the situation worsens.

If the task can somehow have a direct impact on the character or characters, characters lose HD per the normal Defend rules. If the task doesn’t have a direct impact, the enemies can gain additional Difficulty.

For example, Ekram is chasing a fleeing enemy through the crowded streets of Tasali. The Difficulty of catching up to the runner is 4. Ekram rolls and gets 2 successes. He is pushing himself onward, and the GM reasons that this is somewhat exhausting and can directly affect Ekram. He loses 2 HD (the difference between the Difficulty and Ekram’s roll.)

In another example, Ekram is being hunted by an assassin. The assassin’s Stealth has a Difficulty of 3, and an attack Difficulty of 1. The assassin is sneaking toward Ekram, preparing to strike. Ekram rolls an Awareness, and gets 2 successes. He doesn’t notice the oncoming assassin, so the GM gives its attack +1 Difficulty, bringing its attack Difficulty to 2.

Injuries

Injuries are a form of Consequence, which place a penalty of some kind on the character. In general, injuries add +1 Difficulty to any Task that would be hindered by the injury. In addition, injuries can make a character move more slowly, paralyze the character, or degrade a character’s Skill.

For example, Ekram suffers a serious back injury from a fall. Even after being revitalized by an ally, he has trouble walking and moving swiftly. His Coordination Skill, which was Exemplary (3+ success), is now degraded to Good (4+ success). All physical tasks that might engage his injured back also suffer +1 Difficulty.

A character can be healed by a Knowledge Roll. The severity of the injury dictates the Difficulty (1 to 5) for the heal. It takes 1 week per level of Difficulty for the injury to be removed, even after a successful heal. For example, a Difficulty 4 injury will take 4 weeks to dissipate.

Injuries based on an enemy’s equipment are discussed in the Equipment section below.

Scenes

When characters are engaged in overcoming some form of conflict, they are within a Scene. Scenes keep time more organized, as well as provide structure for tracking character dice pools.

Before a scene begins, characters should make note of how many Honor Dice they have available in their pool. The GM should also describe the Scene, including the notable elements and people involved.

During the course of a Scene, characters can spend Honor Dice but can’t acquire new Honor Dice. Any Honor Dice gained through their honorable actions in the course of the Scene are earned after the Scene’s conclusion.

Combat Scene Example

For example, Ekram has 5 Honor Dice. He was asked to defeat a horrible creature that has been attacking the local village. He has sought out the creature’s lair, and it is rushing at him with violent intent.

The GM allows Ekram to act first. He decides to charge bravely toward the creature (in line with the Courage Tenet, earning an Honor Die) and engage in combat. He spends 2d6 on his Might roll, dropping his pool to 3. He gets two successes, lowering the creature’s Difficulty by 2.

The creature attacks Ekram, forcing him to roll a Coordination to move out of the way. He decides to spend 2 more dice, as the creature is fast and strong. He’s now down to 1 Honor Dice. He rolls, and gets 3 successes, easily dodging out of the way of the creature.

Ekram’s obvious skill with his chosen combat style falls in line with the Perfection Tenet (another Honor Die earned).

Ekram counter attacks the monster, rolling his remaining 1 Honor Die. He gets enough successes to kill the beast, striking it down with his blade.

The Scene has concluded, and the GM awards Ekram the 2 Honor Die he earned during the fight. Since he risked his own life to help the local village with no promise of reward, he earns another Honor Die by acting within the Tenet of Altruism.

Oaths

At character creation, a character swears an Oath to three of the Tenets of Honor. The character must still observe and act within all of the Tenets, but those three are most sacred to him or her.

If a character acts against an Oathsworn Tenet three times, the Oath is broken and the character no longer gains the benefit of the Oath (2d6, maneuver). The character can’t swear a new Oath until he or she has gone through a process of Redemption.

To gain Redemption, a character must go on a special quest in which to demonstrate their alignment with the broken Tenet. This quest should be long and difficult.

Equipment

There are two levels of equipment: those that allow a character to attempt a task, and those that are effective at a certain type of task.

For example, if a character is wielding a shield, he or she is then allowed to Block (a Might roll) incoming ranged attacks. Without this shield, he or she normally wouldn’t be allowed this type of roll.

But if the character was wielding a high quality shield, he or she would also be granted a +1 die bonus to the roll. This bonus is not spent like Honor Dice, and is permanent until the equipment is no longer wielded.

An Effective item doesn’t always provide a +1 die bonus any time it is used. Instead, the effective bonus is only granted when the item is being used in its most ideal, effective method.

For example, Ekram is wielding an effective sword. After striking down several enemies, he comes across one that is using a spear. Since the enemy can engage Ekram outside of Ekram’s reach, Ekram’s sword is no longer considered Effective.

Ekram rolls and successfully gets in close to the bad guy with the spear, and now gains his sword’s effective bonus due to operating in its ideal range.

The bad guy tackles Ekram, and they grapple on the ground. Ekram’s blade is not suited for this type of fighting, and therefore he loses his effective bonus again. He pulls out an effective dagger, which is well suited to this kind of close-quarters grappling, and gains an effective bonus from the dagger.

Enemies and Equipment

An enemy’s Difficulty already takes an enemy’s equipment into account. Enemies with nicer equipment will have a higher Difficulty than the same type of enemy without it.

To give additional flavor to different types of enemies, an enemy’s equipment can cause a character to suffer different types of Injuries. A character failing a defense against an enemy with a sword will suffer a different consequence than against poison, a bow, or a punch.

Here are some example Injuries based on the type of weapon an enemy is using in its attacks:

• Slashing (sword): bleeding, character loses 1 HD per turn until healed
• Bludgeoning (club): broken bone, Coordination/Might Skill degraded 1 step until healed
• Piercing (spear): internal damage, must make Resistance roll every turn/1 minute until healed
• Unarmed (fists): concussion, +1 Difficulty to combat rolls, balance, Awareness, and Logic
• Ranged (bows, crossbows): limited mobility, all tasks suffer +1 Difficulty
• Guns: combine two of the above effects

Character Advancement

Once a character has acted in line with all of the Tenets of Honor, without ever breaking one of the Tenets, the character is able to improve one Skill (Poor to Average, Average to Good, etc.) A Skill can not be improved beyond Exemplary.

For example, Ekram demonstrates his devotion to seven of the Tenets in a row through various good deeds and acts. But, when facing overwhelming odds, he flees in fear and does not fight the evildoers. This act of cowardice is not in line with the Tenets of Honor, and therefore all of his progress is wiped away.

After several more weeks, he has observed all of the Tenets of Honor without ever acting dishonorably. He is granted one Skill improvement, bumping his Knowledge from Poor to Average.

Game Master Tips

The main function of the Game Master (GM) is to help guide the players to collaborate on the story and the game. The GM will need to keep a close eye on characters that are either observing or violating a Tenet, as this plays a huge role in the system and the way the characters behave.

The GM should always attempt to give the players opportunities to be honorable and dishonorable. Members of the Order should always be tempted by straying from their Tenets, and rewarded for maintaining strict discipline.

Don’t be too stingy with giving out Honor Dice. On average, characters should replenish more HD in a scene than they spent, especially if observing their Oathsworn Tenets. If characters get low on HD and continue to engage in conflict-driven Scenes, it is very likely that they will become Injured or suffer other Consequences (which is fine, but leads to a lot of dead or crippled characters.)

Honor Dice and Difficulty Scale

The entire system is based around a scale ladder of roughly 1 to 5. The amount of HD a character can spend in a single action, the difficulty of a task or enemy, the severity of a consequence or injury. Each is tied to the scale of 1 to 5.

1. Common, minor, or easy for Order members
2. Average, moderate, or requiring effort from Order members
3. Uncommon, difficult, or requiring significant effort
4. Rare, very challenging, or requiring a large amount of effort
5. Nearly unique, incredibly hard, or requiring a significant amount of effort from multiple Order members

When determining how difficult a task is or the amount of HD gained or lost, consider the scale above. If it is something that the characters are meant to routinely overcome or accomplish, nothing more than a 1 or 2 is necessary.

Setting Scene Difficulties

Rather than make multiple independent tasks and NPCs with their own Difficulties, you can rate the entire Scene with a set Difficulty.

To set a Scene’s Difficulty, start with an appropriate Difficulty for a single character to overcome in a typical scene (maybe 3 to 4 turns.) Multiply this base Difficulty by the number of characters currently in the group (three players equals Difficulty x 3, five is Difficulty x 5, etc.)

Allow any success, whether it be combat, social interaction, or some kind of physical skill to come into play whittle away at the Scene’s overall Difficulty.

The Scene’s Difficulty for a single character (the base Difficulty prior to multiplication) can be used to gauge the ramifications of a Consequence, Injury, or HD lost from failing a defend.

For example, Ekram, Quino, and Maralin are engaged in a fight against a powerful gang. Someone has knocked over a lantern, and the gang hideout is set ablaze. The three characters are being attacked from all sides by the gang members, and can’t focus on the fire until they are defeated.

The GM thinks that the overall Task (in this case fighting the gang members as well as dealing with a dangerous and dynamic battlefield) should have a Difficulty 3. Since there are three players, the GM multiplies the base Difficulty by 3, bringing the Scene’s Difficulty to 9.

Ekram, Quino, and Maralin each have to roll a Defend against attacking gang members. The attacks have a Difficulty 3 (the base Difficulty, not the Scene Difficulty).

Ekram rolls and gets 4 successes, he suffers no consequences. The Scene Difficulty does not decrease (just like when rolling a Defend in combat.)

Quino rolls, and gets no successes. Since the enemy’s Difficulty (as part of the Scene Difficulty) is 3, this is a fairly significant Consequence. Quino suffers an Injury to his leg, hobbling him and making him lose 3 HD. Any future physical tasks have +1 Difficulty.

Maralin rolls and only gets 2 successes, so she loses 1 HD (2 successes – 3 Difficulty = -1 HD).

Ekram reacts, diving in to help Quino before he is engulfed in flames. He attacks the gang members around Quino, rolling 2 successes.

Since Ekram is attempting to overcome the Scene as a whole, his successes chip away at the overall 9 Difficulty of the Scene. It is now brought to 7 Difficulty. He fights off some of the gang members, and gets Quino out of the way of the coming blaze.

Quino rolls, spending a large sum of HD to assist with his roll. He grits his teeth against the pain and charges into battle, helping Ekram. He gets four successes, bringing the Scene Difficulty from 7 to 4. Three of the gang fall to his blade.

As the flames encroach, Maralin realizes they have to work together or die together. She tries to convince the gang members to escape with them and flee from the fire.

She rolls an Influence and gets two successes. The GM reasons that the remaining gangsters see their home about to fall in rubble, and that they’re dying quickly by the Orders’ blades. They quit the fight, fleeing from the building.

The GM allows the fire of the building itself to attack, but since the current Scene Difficulty is less than the original Base Difficulty, the players only have to roll against the lower number.

Ekram and Maralin roll above the minimum 1 successes, moving forward without issue. Quino attempts to roll, but is still suffering from his +1 Difficulty Injury. During the fight, he expended all of his HD, and has no more. He rolls, and only gets 1 success.

Since he didn’t get enough successes to overcome the task, the GM can escalate the situation based off of his earlier Consequence.

Quino collapses, his leg going out from underneath him. He isn’t going to make out of the burning building.

Maralin dives back into the fire, making an Act of Sacrifice. She is somewhat burned (suffering a minor Injury) but manages to pull the wounded and maimed Quino to safety.

______________

Copyright 2014 Ben Dutter and Sigil Stone Publishing