Resolving a Scene
This game is built for storytelling first. You are not rolling dice to find out whether you win — you are describing what you do, and the GM decides what the world does back. A firefight is just another scene with higher stakes, not a separate mode with its own rules.
Most actions do not require rolls
The GM first asks: given the character, the situation, and their abilities, what would reasonably happen? If the answer is obvious, it happens.
- A Power 7 character doesn't roll to carry what an average person lifts.
- A master locksmith doesn't roll against an ordinary household lock.
- A Social 2 character doesn't deliver a brilliant speech just because the dice were generous.
Your stats establish reality. The dice only handle genuine uncertainty.
When the GM rolls
The GM calls for a roll only when all three are true:
- Success is genuinely uncertain.
- Failure would matter.
- Either outcome would create an interesting change in the situation.
Otherwise the natural result is narrated. That's what keeps the game from drowning in meaningless checks.
Resolution
When a roll is called, the GM weighs your relevant stat + relevant skill + the situation, and decides the likely outcome before the dice come out. The dice then introduce uncertainty — they don't rewrite what you're capable of.
- High ability means high reliability.
- Low ability makes extraordinary success rare.
- The GM may keep rolls hidden, so you experience the world rather than the mathematics behind it.
What you roll under: when a trained skill applies, you roll under that skill — the trained act is decided by the skill. Without a skill for the act, you roll under the relevant stat. The GM names the governing stat when you're acting untrained.
Difficulty: circumstance shifts the number you need. A genuinely hard situation means rolling under a reduced target; a clearly favorable one means an easier target. Your scores on the sheet never change — only the target moves.
Degrees: how far under or over you roll shapes how well it goes.
- Under by a lot — it goes as well as it could. The guard not only lets you in, he forgets you were there.
- Under by a little — success, with a wrinkle. You got in, but you left a trail.
- Over by a little — failure with a door left open. You're caught, but the guard is alone and bored.
- Over by a lot — it goes as badly as it can. You're caught, and you've just alerted the building.
When two of you contest — sneaking past a watcher, wrestling for a weapon, arguing against resistance — both roll, and whoever succeeds with the larger margin wins.
Attempt does not mean success
Your input is what your character attempts — not what happens. When you say "I grab his gun and throw him through the window," the GM hears the character attempts to grab the gun and throw him through the window, and resolves what actually happens.
You control your intentions. The world controls the consequences. Failure is real, and it's allowed.
Poses are written like a novel
Write your poses long, vivid, and detailed — the way a novel renders a scene. Show the character's movement, expression, and the small physical tells; give the room its sound, temperature, and light. The more concrete texture you put in, the more the GM has to build on — and the more the scene feels inhabited rather than summarized.
The world does not scale to you
The GM creates the world's people according to who they actually are, not to give you a fair fight. A rookie whose skill is 3 can meet a professional at 9 — and the GM will not soften them. Your victories are earned, your failures are real, and your decisions carry lasting weight. That's what makes growth meaningful.
Luck
A stat for the world's small turns of fate. When a moment is a genuine coin-flip and no one's ability decides it, Luck is what the GM uses to place the fortunate coincidence — and if a flat failure would dead-end a scene, Luck can turn it into a fortunate mistake. You can ask for a lucky break, but the GM owns the call, and Luck never turns a failure into a success — it changes what the outcome means.
The rule at the heart of it
Say what you do. The GM says what happens. The dice only speak when the story has something to lose — and when they do, your score is the voice they use.