Rolling the Dice
One system for everything — d100, roll under, that's it
You've got your character. Now you need to know how the dice work. The good news is: there's only one system for everything.
The Core Roll
When your character attempts something where failure is possible and interesting, you roll percentile dice (two d10s — one for tens, one for ones). You want to roll equal to or under your target number. That's it. One mechanic for combat, magic, skills, everything.
"There's a padlock on the warehouse door. Kael, what do you do?"
"I don't have Security. Can I try anyway?"
"Sure — unskilled attempt. Your AW is +1, so that's (5 + 1) × 5 = 30. Roll under 30."
"I got a 73."
"The pick snaps. You hear footsteps inside."
Critical Successes and Failures
A roll of 01 is always a critical success — spectacular, extraordinary, the kind of thing people tell stories about. A roll of 00 (double zeros) is always a critical failure — not just bad, but memorably, entertainingly bad.
Beyond those extremes, your critical range depends on how good you are. For every 25% of your target number, you get 1 additional point of critical range, counted down from your target:
| Target Number | Crit Range | Crit On |
|---|---|---|
| 1–25 | 0 | 01 only |
| 26–50 | 1 | Target value only |
| 51–75 | 2 | Target and target−1 |
| 76–99 | 3 | Target, target−1, target−2 |
Kael's Melee target is 66. That falls in the 51–75 bracket, so his crit range is 2. He crits on a roll of 64, 65, or 66. When you're good at something, the sweet spot at the top of your range becomes a critical — not just a success, but a devastating one.
I watched a fencer in Ashenmere put down three men in as many seconds. She wasn't faster than them — she was so precise that every stroke landed exactly where it would do the most damage. When someone drills a skill until it's second nature, they don't just get luckier. They start doing things the rest of us didn't think were possible.
Opposed Checks
Sometimes two characters act against each other directly — an arm-wrestling match, a foot chase, a spell resisted by willpower. Both sides roll against their own target number:
- Both succeed? Whoever rolled further under their target (larger margin) wins.
- One succeeds, one fails? Success wins.
- Both fail? Stalemate. The situation doesn't change. The GM adjudicates what that looks like.
"The cultist tries to wrench the artifact from your hands. That's BR vs BR."
Kael's BR target: (5 + 2) × 5 = 35 (no skill, just raw strength). He rolls 22 — success, margin 13.
The cultist's BR target: 30. Rolls 28 — success, margin 2.
"You both hold on, but Kael's grip is iron. The cultist's hands slip. The artifact is yours."
When both sides fail an opposed check, the situation doesn't resolve — it escalates. The lock resists the pick AND the pick slips, making noise. The lie isn't believed AND the liar's nervousness is noticed. Mutual failure should make things worse, not maintain the status quo.
The Timing Track
One more concept before we move on. When timing matters — combat, chases, ticking clocks — the game uses a timing track instead of initiative rounds. Think of it as a shared number line. Every action takes a certain number of counts: drawing a sword is 2, firing a revolver is 3, casting a spell might be 2 to 8 depending on the spell. You place a token on the count when your action completes, and the GM advances the track count by count.
There are no turns. Everyone acts on the same timeline, and faster actions resolve first. You'll see references to "counts" throughout the rest of these rules — that's the timing track at work. The full details are in the combat section, but the core idea is simple: everything takes time, and time is a resource.
Last month on Vicker Street I watched a kid with a snub-nose drop a man carrying an arc rifle. Big guy, expensive gear, could have punched a hole through a wall with that thing. Didn't matter. The kid drew and fired before the rifleman even had the barrel up. Out there, the person who acts first walks away. The person who acts second usually doesn't.