Rest, Energy & Ammo

You hit hard, you spend yourself, and you run out. Energy and ammo are the two clocks that force you to stop and make camp.

Energy

Energy is fuel for your Ability cards. Each Ability lists an Energy Cost — you pay it when you declare the card in a round, just like declaring an attack.

• You start at maxEnergy (10 for most characters) and track current Energy on your sheet.
• If you cannot pay the cost, you cannot declare that card.
• Being at 0 Energy does not stop you from acting — you can still attack, flee, or use Passive cards (which cost 0). You just cannot trigger Abilities until you recharge.
• You cannot go below 0.

You only get Energy back by Resting — see below. Nothing else restores it unless a card explicitly says it does.

Ammo

Some weapons Use Ammo. If Uses Ammo is true, the weapon has a linked Ammo Item (for example, <@longbow.item> → <@quiver-of-arrows.item>).

• You must have that ammo stack in your Inventory to declare an attack with the weapon.
• Each attack consumes 1 quantity from the linked ammo stack, hit or miss. Resolve the attack, then reduce the ammo item's quantity by 1 in your inventory.
• At 0 quantity you cannot declare attacks with that weapon. Narrate it as a dry click, an empty quiver, a jammed chamber — then declare something else.
• One arrow's weight still counts for encumbrance until it is spent: totalInventoryWeight counts weight × quantity.

Tell the GM which ammo stack you are drawing from if you carry more than one.

Rest

Rest is how you recharge. It is not a breather between swings — it is a real stop.

To Rest you need both:

1. A secure place to sleep — a room with a lock, a camp with a watch, a friendly haven. The GM decides if a place is secure. You cannot Rest in danger, while being hunted, or between combat rounds.
2. One meal — consume 1 quantity of any food you carry (rations from an <@explorers-pack.item>, trail meal, preserved meat) or a meal the location provides. If you have no food, you cannot Rest until you hunt, forage, or barter for one — the GM will call for a Wits or Reflex check to find it.

Rest takes roughly 8 hours of downtime — most tables take it overnight.

When you finish a Rest:

• Restore Energy to maxEnergy.
• Nothing else happens automatically. Health comes back from cards and consumables like <@bandage.item> and <@second-wind.card>; Sanity comes back slowly only when the fiction and the GM allow it. Rest just gives you the fuel to keep using your Abilities.

The GM clears any scene pressure that a secure Rest resolves, and decides whether the secure place stays secure come morning.