Lone Wolf Fists: Making sure you know what to do

I want you to imagine something

Imagine you’re learning how to play Monopoly; the rulebook has all the rules for buying property and passing go and building hotels, everything, with one exception: there’s not a breath of text about how to actually move your piece on the board.

Oh, there’s the standard 2D6, and what happens when you move is all as well described as ever. But it completely fails to tell you how to roll them dice and move 1 property per dot.

As far as I can tell, that’s modern RPG design.

Consider my favorite punching bag, Exalted third edition (although this is true for every edition): combat rules, social rules, stealth rules… You might look at it’s impressive bulk and assume its rules are complete, that it tells you how to run a game when you read it.

Nope.

Let me share with you EX2’s idea of a dungeon crawl real quick, put that judgment in perspective:

Please note that, for copyright purposes, I have reproduced the map through my own mind-boggling MSPaint skills. Please feel free to download their return to the tomb of five corners here for comparison. (map is in the back)

As you might could tell from looking at this, it’s hot garbage. There are no decisions to be made here (aside from “do I leave or not?”): you go down the hall, you go in to a door. 

You know what’s through each door?  A DEAD END. I’m not joking. The closest you get to a decision is the order in which you open these doors.

But who’s surprised? Not me; there isn’t any discussion about how to make exploration interesting in EX2.

I know that, to a lot of modern gamers, things like tracking how many turns a torch burns or how encumbered characters are seem archaic, maybe even unnecessary. But these rules, when combined with a discussion about structuring -play around exploration, make a dungeon crawl into a tactical challenge. They make interesting decisions arise; how much of this gold can we carry away? How much deeper can we go before we’re stranded down here in the dark, with the monsters?

All of this was thrown out, baby and bathwater, from EX2. And then they doubled their wastefulness in EX3. Let me share with you the equivalent dungeon from EX3:

Note that there is nothing. They discarded the vestigial map and wrote the introductory adventure in pure descriptive terms. They didn’t do it out of malice, but of ignorance; the very technique of the dungeoncrawl, the technique for making exploration of the environment challenging and interesting, to make it a vital part of the game, quietly died between editions. It went out with a whimper; a malnourished skeleton of a process, now forever gone from the Exalted experience.

Here’s the thing, though: the need for environmental exploration is still there, but now GMs have no idea how to do it Let’s go back to monopoly with no movement: to play monopoly, you still need to fill that void left by the movement rules.

What happens in this vacuum? Simple; players (GMs in EX3’s case) create a process where one is missing. But now, they don’t have the advantage of an existing design framework to run it.

What does this hacked process look like? It varies; some players might stumble into rolling 2d6 and moving that many properties, but they could also elect a “move referee” to pull a number out of a hat, or just choose where players move their piece next (y’know, based on the needs of the story)

This is how you get bad ‘crawls: the techniques and design that makes exploration interesting and challenging aren’t something you can just make up on the spot. That gets you straight hallways terminating in round rooms with a door. Whoopee, what a thrill.

Hexcrawls got it worse. Here’s an overland map from Exalted:

This one’s an actual map, I really needed you to see it.

It’s a pretty good map; note that it shows you were things are, like cities and terrain features. But you might ask, as a GM, “how do I make exploring this an interesting part of the game?”

Yeah, good question. Exalted doesn’t fucking know.

But this guy does:

That is exactly the same providence, but this time with a hex grid overlay. (Cribbed from this wonderful person’s awesome site)

For the benefits of the Exalted designers and others who have no idea how to run a Hexcrawl: you can key content to those hexes Even at it’s most basic, this makes exploration interesting; when players are traveling, you occasionally tell them what they see, and then they decide if they want to explore it. They can present them with the choice because you know what’s there

Presenting players with choices and having those choices deliver the dungeons and cities and living mountain fortresses of deathlords to your players is the essence of the ‘crawl.

Maybe they’ll have to make some hard decisions; unexpectedly find a broken-down manse while you’re traveling between satrapies? Now you’ve got to weigh the danger of exploring it against your need to return to civilization and resupply. 

Note that this is way more interesting than the current ad-hoc system, demonstrated in this delightful Rich Burlew comic strip:

That’s what happens when a GM doesn’t know how to run a ‘crawl: the need remains, and a weaker process replaces it.

…

I have a gold standard for game design, and I don’t even need to talk about it really because Justin Alexander already did: The Complete Game Structure 

The basic idea is this; every need of the game is provided by the processes of playing it. I’ll let him say it for those who skipped the article:

“…You’re in a dungeon room, you pick an exit, and you go to another dungeon room (there’s your closed resolution loop). But in that room are a bunch of monsters, so you switch to the combat system (which is another closed resolution loop) until you defeat the monsters. Once the combat is finished, you swap back to the dungeoncrawl structure, pick an exit, and go to the next room (which might also have monsters in it, in which case you swap back into combat).

That’s a vertically integrated structure: The dungeoncrawl structure provides a specific trigger (“there are monsters here”) which transitions you into the combat structure; and the combat structure provides a specific trigger (“all the monsters are dead and the room is empty of interest”) which transitions you back into the dungeoncrawl structure.

(As a thought experiment, imagine that you were using a dungeoncrawl structure but you had no combat system. Can you see what happens when the dungeoncrawl delivers you to a room full of orcs? The structure is incomplete. Now, imagine that you’re using a dungeoncrawl structure but instead of a combat system the rules had a well-developed mechanical structure for resolving riddle contests. That’s a very different dungeon, isn’t it?)

It’s also possible to extend the chain of macro-level to micro-level transitions. An easy demonstration of this is a hex keyed with a dungeon complex: The hexcrawl structure triggers the discovery of the dungeon; entering the dungeon transitions you to the dungeoncrawl structure; and meeting some monsters in the dungeon transitions you to the combat structure.”

Here's a helpful visual, also stolen brazenly from his site:

The processes of the game each present players with choices to make: do we go to that mysterious structure, or somewhere else? Do we open this door or that one in the dungeon? Do we fight these guys or run away?

There’s a ready answer to “How do we resolve this?” in mechanical terms. Exploring the land? Hexcrawl procedure. Investigating an enclosed structure? Dungeoncrawl procedure. Fighting some orcs? Combat procedure.

Each one links into each other; you could flee from a battle into the overland map and go back to hexcrawling, you could encounter foes while you’re traveling and go directly to fighting. There’s never a “no moves in monopoly” situation: you always know what to do.

…

Why am I telling you all this? Because I just got the scene structure rules written. I’m honestly unsure if modern gamers will see the need for them because, as you can see by casually scrolling down a bit, they’re pretty involved.

These same processes, as I’ve mentioned, are largely ignored or covered in a single paragraph by a huge volume of modern RPGs. Complete games are very rare nowadays.

But I feel that you, my wonderful GMs and players, deserve to have an answer to the question “How do I play this game” So I wanted to give you some context for why these (and the forthcoming travel, content and exploration rules) are so much heavier than you’ve encountered.

It’s because they’re complete

....

Scene Structure

Traditional games have a very rigid but clear structure. Players take turns in a well-balanced but unfortunately artificial way. Roleplaying games allow players to experience and interact with one another and their imagined environment in a much more fluid and natural way. This natural immersion however, comes with the cost of clean and orderly turns.

To help balance and pace the game, we adopt the Scene structure from literature and film. Players take actions and roleplaying naturally within the framework of a “scene”, transitioning to a new scene as the current one concludes.

Different types of scenes allow different levels of interaction with the game, based on the time flow of that scene. There are three:

Real-Time scenes: Time flows at roughly the same pace for characters and players. These scenes allow players to speak in-character and interact with the environment and one another through their descriptions. 

Montage scenes: Time “skips forward”, allowing players to work on long-term goals, such as training, travel, or construction

Action scenes: Time goes in “slow motion”, allowing players a highly detailed, strategic interaction with their environment and other characters. This is the speed at which fights take place.

There are two special scenes that begin and end each session:

The Exposition scene begins each session. The GM uses this scene to remind the players of last session’s events (or, in the case of the very first session, establish the recent events that occurred prior to play). Play begins as this scene concludes.

The Denouement scene ends each session. The GM uses this scene to draw the events of this session to a close and discuss the game with the players. Players have an opportunity to give some feedback, make plans for next sessions, and sometimes spend their Kharma to advance their characters. The GM may use the denouement to foreshadows the looming events of the next session; an excellent technique for keeping player interest high!

A session of the game is spent playing within these scenes and transitioning between them. The scenes and transitions between them are outlined next.

 

Real-Time Scenes

Real-time scenes travel at “the speed of the players”; in other words, time passes at roughly the same rate for both players and their characters. These scenes are for interaction and roleplay, investigation, environmental interaction, and other moderately-paced activities. They represent the “default” speed of the game.

***Callout box: First reading

If this is your first reading, we recommend that you skip to the Recap at the end of this section to get a quick, intuitive grasp of scenes before diving into this deeper discussion ***

Framing the Scene

The GM begins by Framing the Scene: they establish the who, what, when, where, etc. They describe the environment to the characters, including the NPCs who inhabit the area and what is currently happening when the players begin.

Real-Time Scenes should begin in the middle of the action; rather than starting with the characters walking to a marketplace, start with them having arrived smack in the middle of it, with bustling crowds and merchants crying their wares. Don’t begin as they approach the castle; begin at the gate.

Some judgement is called for here. Clearly PCs wouldn’t blunder into a situation unprepared or otherwise act uncharacteristically dumb or incautious. When in doubt, begin by asking the players how their characters are entering the scene. Perhaps they want to sneak into the market in disguise or stake out the castle from a distance. 

Sometimes the previous scene will inform the framing of the current one. Awesome. “You manage to duck the chasing assassins by vanishing into the crowds of the marketplace; now what are you doing?”

Rounds and Turns

People act freely in the real world; we “take actions” in a continuous flow, without any kind of overarching structure. In games however, turns have strong structure; generally, every player gets a turn in strict order. 

To reconcile these two extremes of freedom and structure, Real-Time scenes adopt a loose “round robin” turn order. That is, every character (including GM characters) has an opportunity to take a turn.

It goes like this; a PC (or NPC) decides they want to do something; the GM judges their action, and they begin to do it. Another character takes an action, and so forth, until everyone has done something.

There’s not a strict order to actors; everyone can take their turn when they want to. Further, characters may opt to skip their turn, delay until later or next round, or otherwise do things at their discretion. This is like a conversation; people contribute or listen as they wish. Ultimately, it’s a good conversation so long as everyone is satisfied with it.

As the GM, it’s good practice to keep in mind that every character gets the option to take a turn in the round robin. Sometimes a very proactive player will start to string multiple actions together; this is perfectly acceptable, but take care that more passive players aren’t skipped over. 

Pause the active player once they’ve proposed an action and ask each other player “Okay, while they’re doing that, what are you doing?”. This allows everyone the chance to take a turn and helps pace the action.

If there’s some question or competition for who “acts first”, or if one or more players are pushing for a faster pace, consider shifting into an Action scene. If players start working on long-term actions like travel, construction, or other involved activities, shift into a Montage scene. 

Taking Action

Player actions are driven by their goals; one opens a door to enter a new room, one ties their shoes to wear shoes. The goal is unlocked by the action. Players will sometimes talk in terms of goal: “I want to break in to the castle”. You, the GM, focus on their method for achieving this goal: “You’ll need to climb the stone wall and break in through the skylight”

Players can achieve a lot purely through their action descriptions; take another look at the “Rank 0” actions in the Effect Charts. They show you the broad competencies possessed by characters without the need for a roll. 

The GM judges whether a proposed action lies within the easy capabilities of a character on a case-by-case basis. The player proposes an action, the GM decides whether it simply happens or whether it requires greater effort.

In the case of the proposed action being judged “Rank 0” (that is, easy to achieve for the character, and requiring no further use of rules by the player), the GM simply describes the outcome. The character’s action happens! For example, opening doors and tying shoes are generally easy to accomplish.

However, players often want to try daring, dangerous, and difficult things! In these cases, they’ll need to push their character’s boundaries to succeed. Climbing castle walls, for example, is a touch riskier and more difficult than tying one’s shoes!

Thankfully, the characters in this game are extremely capable, with lots of resources to help them on their adventures.

• They can use their Effort Pool to push their boundaries

• They can use their Focus Slots to reinforce their capabilities

• They can use their Mastery of skills to achieve greater results

• They can use Tools and other equipment to boost their competencies

• They can use their mystical Techniques to exceed their mortal limitations

Let’s talk about how to use these powers in the moderate pace of Real-Time Scenes

Effort Pool, Masteries, Tools and Focus in Real-Time scenes

The Effort Pool (p.XX) and Masteries (p.XX) work exactly as described before. Tools work the same way as well (p.XX). However, because of the relaxed pacing of these scenes, Focus Slots can be used a little differently during Real-Time scenes.

Consider this: a character encounters a difficult obstacle like a heavy stone blocking their path. They roll their Effort Dice, fail to push the boulder, and sweep some dice into the Focus slots. What prevents them from shoving the boulder again, except now with the additional advantage of the Effort dice saved in their Focus Slots?

Nothing really. Theoretically, the other players could simply skip their turns and watch them roll over and over until they succeeded. That resolution of rolling ad nauseum until the correct result is achieved is extremely dull however, and the outcome is never really in doubt. 

Instead of endlessly re-rolling, players can take a Concentration Action. This allows them to access the full depth of power offered by their Focus Slots at a reasonable pace.

For every turn that they spend concentrating and doing nothing else, they “charge” a single Focus Slot, putting an Effort Die of any Facing they choose in it. 

This means that, given a few moments of concentration, characters can unleash incredible feats. Though it comes at the cost of more interesting or diverse actions.

Players may choose to continually roll if they want to; Concentration is just a faster, more reliable alternative.

Keep in mind that there doesn’t necessarily need to be a “tradeoff”; sometimes, nothing else is going on, and the strong guy needs a few minutes to push a boulder. If everybody (including the GM) agree to it, you can “skip ahead” a little until their Focus Slots are filled and let them act with all their might. 

This is a good trick that lets you speed up play a bit so you can get to the interesting parts while simultaneously letting the players show off their awesome powers.

***Callout box: I enter every scene concentrating!!!

Some players will want to fill all their Focus Slots at the start of every Real-Time scene: they reason that this way, they will have a big advantage before any action starts, rather than interrupting themselves in the middle of the scene when there are other uses for their time and effort.

However, when a Real-time scene begins, the action is already underway. NPCs and other player’s characters begin taking actions right away. The “lull period” at the start of a Real-Time scene doesn’t exist; using your turns at the start of a Real-Time scene concentrating is exactly the same as using them later in the scene. It has the same tradeoff of action versus inaction, with the same consequences.

Keep this in mind as you frame the scene and act with NPCs and the environment; a Real-Time scene, though leisurely, is never “inactive” 

Unless of course, it is. Then it doesn’t really matter if they fill up their slots though, huh?***

Techniques, Prana and Chakra in Real-Time scenes

The full rules for Chakra, Prana and Techniques can be found in the Magic section (p.XX)

One of the great powers available to characters are their mystical kung-fu Techniques. These allow them to enhance their actions by increasing their Rank, even pushing the boundary of possibility by allowing access to the heights of the Effect Charts. Such displays of power draw attention however…

Characters can access the full power of their Open Chakra on any action during a Real-Time scene; there is ample time between actions to completely refresh their Pools. 

When a character uses Prana from an Open Chakra, this is second nature to them. They have complete mastery of this free-flowing mystical energy. They can use as much as they please as naturally and discretely as flexing a muscle or taking a breath.

Characters might want or need additional power from their Slumbering Chakra. They may Awaken them with Spirit actions if they wish, but in Real-Time scenes they may instead opt to Power Up as a diceless action on their turn. This Awakens all their Chakra at the normal Pool.

However, when characters Awaken Slumbering Chakra, there is a burst of visible mystic energy. They are swathed in a brightly glowing aura of Prana. There is an audible hum as their magical might flows to the surface. When spending Prana from one of these Pools, there is an obvious focusing of mystical energy and a loud sound as it is directed and unleash in the form of Techniques.

In addition to revealing them as mystical martial artists to any present, these explosions of magical energy are instantly detectable to any being capable of using Prana within the same Location and all neighboring ones. Such beings have a general sense of the direction, power, even identity of the character.

This triggers Orthogonal Content (p.XX), as well as having whatever repercussions the GM deems reasonable. Stealth and disguise are ruined, observers might react strongly to the display of power (many flee in terror!), and the attention of powerful, potentially adversarial entities is drawn to the character.

In this way, players must balance their need for mystical power against their need for subtlety. 

Awakened Chakra continue blazing throughout the entire scene unless a character intentionally Powers Down during their turn. This makes the Chakra slumber once more, forfeiting access to their power but quashing the burning aura.

***Callout box: Powering up in your fort

After reading the preceding rules, you might be wonder: what’s the drawback for characters unleashing the depth of their power in a safe, secure location, like their clan’s stronghold or their own well-secured territory?

Nothing! The reward for characters using reasonable caution in the use of their powers is more-or-less risk-free access to those powers. If there’s no consequence in alerting nearby hostile powers to the existence of mighty kung-fu masters, then characters can flaunt their powers to their heart’s content. 

Of course, those nearby hostile powers will know that this power is being continually accessed, which would reasonably make them wonder: to what end is this power being used? This is the sort of question that prompts such powers to dispatch spies, assassins, lightning raids…***

Exploring and investigating

Characters move through and explore Areas in Real-Time scenes. During their turn, they may:

• Explore their surroundings in the immediate Area

• Move to an adjacent Area (assuming there’s no obstacle preventing this)

This represents casual travel and exploration of the environment. An Agility action may be used to travel faster (or overcome obstacles) as per the Agility Effect Chart.

Traveling between areas triggers Horizontal Content, while investigating within them may trigger Vertical Content. The Content section has full details on this for GMs (p.XX)

Recap

• In Real-Time scenes, time moves at (roughly) the same rate for players and their characters.

• When you frame these scenes, start the players in the action. Don’t have them walking to the cavern; start them at the mouth of the cave.

• Play proceed in rough “rounds”. Once a player has taken their turn, every other player gets a chance to take their turn before that player takes another. They can pass if they want to.

• There’s no specific order to actions; players act when they like. GM characters get a chance to act too. 

• If things get too competitive, shift it to an Action scene. 

• If it gets too passive, shift it to a Montage scene

• Players can use their Effort Pool to boost their actions like normal.

• Players can use their Focus slots normally. In addition, they can take a special action called Concentrating. This takes up their turn, but in exchange they fill a single Focus Slot with a free Effort Die of whatever Facing they like.

• If they’ve got all the time they need to do something, they can simply fill all their Focus Slots and roll.

• Players can use Techniques normally with the added benefit that they don’t need to worry about Prana being refreshed in Chakra Pools; they recuperate all their available Prana every turn.

• Awakening a Chakra or spending Prana out of its Pool causes the character to flare with a bright magic Aura. This has the following effects:

• It triggers Orthogonal Content 
• It ruins stealth and disguises and makes any subtlety impossible
• Prana-using beings within miles become aware of the character’s presence
• It makes it obvious to observers that the character is using magic

• Players can Awaken all their Slumbering Chakra at once by using a special action called Powering Up. They can return them to Slumbering by taking the opposite action, Powering Down. 

 

Montage Scenes

In Montage scenes, time is “sped up”; long intervals are passed over by a brief description. This allows long periods of time to pass quickly.

Scenes are framed in terms of what the time is spent doing; “You travel across the desert” “You spend several weeks in grueling training” “You lead the construction team as they build”

Players may work on long-term projects in these scenes. A sword cannot be forged, nor a society built within the confines of Real-Time or Action scenes; you need to take considerable time, effort and concentration to pull off these larger, more complex works.

Players may roll their Effort Pool once at the beginning of the Montage. They can only use this single roll for all their actions during the Montage.

Players may work on a number of long-term projects equal to their Focus. Those characters with the ability to multitask effectively (ie: those with more Focus Slots) can accomplish more during a Montage than their less organized counterparts. 

Players may use their Techniques freely in a Montage scene; there is ample time to refresh their reserves of mystic powers and charge up costly Techniques. Using magic incautiously still causes characters to flare up, exactly as in Real-Time scenes, triggering Orthogonal Content (p.XX).

Travel

Players journey further in Montage scenes. Rather than moving into a neighboring area (as in Real-Time scenes), they move to a bordering Location (again assuming there are no obstacles that prevent travel). 

This should be presented to players as a series of choices. “You’re traveling north through the desert; to the east you see a ruined city. To the west, more trackless wastes. To the north, you can just see the tips of the rumored mountain range. What do you want to do?”

If they want to keep going, just move to the next Location, keeping track of how long this takes as per the Journey rules on p.XX

Training

Learning a mystical kung-fu Technique is the culmination of significant in-character effort. Once characters have earned the required Kharma, found a Master or Manual capable of teaching the Technique, and freed up an entire Montage scene to dedicate to their training, they may learn the Technique.

They simply spend the required Kharma and the GM describes their training regimen. At the conclusion of the Montage, the player adds the Technique to their character’s sheet.

Long-term Projects

a Long-Term Project is a tasks that require significant time, effort and work to bear fruit. Because they’re so time-consuming and detailed, it’s only possible to work on them during Montage scenes. They require multiple actions of different skills and Ranks.

Time requirements

A montage scene is roughly equivalent to a week (it’s not a specific measurement of time, but that’s a fair approximation). Therefore, each successful roll required by a long-term task is the equivalent of a week’s dedicated labor.

Skill requirements

Projects have different needs depending on what needs to be accomplished to complete them. This determines which skills are requird. If a project is:

• Painstaking, it requires Agility

• Complex, it requires Intellect

• Large-Scale, it requires Power

• Intricate, it requires Senses

• Labor-intensive, it requires Endurance

• Coordinated, it requires Heart

• Magical, it requires Spirit

Workforce requirements

If a project requires a team of people working in concert (such as a construction crew or a scientific think tank of various experts) then these people must be leveraged to work on the task. However, higher-Ranked actions can stand in for teams of lower-Ranked actors, by 2 shifts. For example:

Rank/Stands in for a team of…

1. n/a

2. n/a

3. Normal Mortals (A pit crew or construction team)

4. Mortal Experts (A group of scientists or a business task force)

5. Geniuses (The Manhattan project, the Space Race)

6. Machine-assisted Mortals (Any of the above with access to super computers or mountain-moving construction equipment)

7. Spirits

8. Minor Gods

Note that the Intellect chart already contains this scaling in its descriptions. It’s provided here more generally to scale the other skills

There are three broad categories of difficulty:

1. Simple: Rank 1-2, accomplishable by a single person

2. Complex: Rank 3-6, requiring teams or mega-geniuses

3. Impossible: Rank 7+, requiring magical agency or impossible-to-human skill

Complexity

When taken together, these elements construct a project’s Complexity.

the Complexity of a long-term task is answered by the question:

“How many weeks of what kind(s) of work with what kind of a team would it take to do this?”

• Answering for how many weeks tells you the number of successful actions needed

• Answering for what kinds of work tells you which skills are needed

• Answering for what kind of team tells you the Rank of action needed to qualify for progress

Example

Repairing an automobile: Your players happen across a broken-down car in the wreckage of a city. Great! How difficult would that be to repair?

First, determine how long the repairs would take in normal circumstances. “About a month” seems like a reasonable guess. This tells us that there are four successful actions required to complete it.

You might reasonably consider the repair of an automobile a Complex and Intricate task (requiring very specific knowledge and the repair of multiple small and interlocking parts). Therefore, we know it will require both Intellect and Senses to repair.

A skilled team of mechanics could reasonably complete the repairs without great difficulty. This tells us that the Rank of action considered a success is at most 3. 

Because a single normal person could reasonable restore a vehicle as well, we can include Rank 1 and 2 as we judge this task to be Simple.

Taking this information together, we know that we have 4 required successes, we can select between Intellect and Senses, and we can range the difficulties between 1-3.

There’s considerable wiggle room here; this is intentional. The specific difficulties and skills required should reflect the needs of the repair. A car with only superficial damage will be much easier to repair than a totaled wreck. That’s your call, GM.

 

Action Scenes

Actions scene happen in “slow motion”; time is slowed to a crawl as players push their characters to their limits. Any time things are happening quickly, and players want to respond, this is an Action Scene.

Actions scenes have a consequence for inaction. This might be danger (if you don’t defend yourself from an attack, you’re injured), but might simply be a lost opportunity (If you don’t grab the Five-Heart Manual before your rival, they’ll get it and you won’t!)

Unlike the relaxed turns of Real-time scenes, Action scene proceed in Rounds. Rounds are highly structured, proceeding in a very strict order outlined below.

1. Round begins

Every character present decides now if they’re going to act. If not, skip them in future steps.

2. Imbalance decision

Characters with Imbalances must choose between a loss of Effort Dice, Focus slots, or available Chakra, or whether they will compensate the injury by limiting their actions. The full rules for Imbalances are on p.XX, but this is the step where they manifest.

3. Roll Effort

Every combatant rolls their Effort Pool for the round. There is only one roll per round. The dice are a limited and important tactical resource.

4. Initiative Bid

Starting with the GM, players may bid Effort dice or Sets for the order in which they take their turns. Players may choose not to bid or replace an old bid with a higher one. 

Highest bid goes first, with the second-highest going next, etc. Once the bidding is complete, all bid dice are spent. Going before a foe is a considerable advantage but must be carefully weighed against the cost of out-bidding them. 

Characters who do not bid, or characters that tie, roll 1d10 for their action order, re-rolling ties until a winner emerges.

5. Turns

Characters then act in the order established in the initiative bid

During their turn, a character may take all the following actions:

• A single diceless Rank 0 action: This is commonly used to move (allowing movement between adjacent Areas), to hide behind cover, or to do something critical but simple, like grab an important item or pull a lever

• A single action, including attack, with 1 Effort die: This can be used as a weak attack, but might be used for some strategic purpose, such as operating a simple mechanism with Intellect or climbing a steep incline with Agility

• Any number of Bonus actions they wish, including attack, with a set of at least Rank 2. These actions are only possible with sets of 2 or more matching dice but are otherwise not limited. Characters that can produce a lot of Rank 2+ Sets enjoy a flurry of actions!

6. Recovery

After every player has taken their turn, the round draws to a close. Every character regains Prana in their Pools equal the Chakra’s Recovery. Newly-Awakened Chakra recover Prana equal to the Facing of the set used to Awaken them. The full rules for Chakra are in the Magic section (p.XX)

7. End of Round

The round concludes. Any round-long effects expire. Characters may choose to save any remaining Effort Dice in available Focus Slots. All other Effort Dice are discarded.

…

This step-by step process of actions allows players a huge degree of fidelity and tactical control over their actions. For many action scenes, the above rules are sufficient to structure actions and give players ample room to strut their stuff. 

However, there is an even more strategically complex situation that characters will find themselves in: Combat. The full rules for combat are next. If you’re reading this in one go, this is a good time to break for a sandwich or something.