Complete reference

Safety Tools: Lines, Veils & X-Card

Before play, establish how the table handles sensitive content. Fate’s Edge uses three standard tools.

X-Card. Any player (including the GM) may draw an X on a card or simply say “X” when a moment makes them uncomfortable. When the X-Card is shown, the described content is removed from the fiction — no questions, no explanations, no judgments. The scene is retconned or redirected immediately.

Lines. A Line is a hard boundary: content that will not appear in the game at all. Examples: “No sexual violence,” “No harm to children,” “No body horror.” Before the campaign or a session, players name their Lines. The GM and group honor them completely.

Veils. A Veil is a soft boundary: content that can happen off screen or fade to black. The event is acknowledged but not described in detail. Example: “A romantic scene can happen, but fade to black before it becomes explicit.” Veils allow the story to acknowledge mature themes without forcing players to roleplay through them.

Player-Managed Modules

Players track their character-facing resources to reduce GM overhead and keep play flowing:

• Obligation (per Patron, marked when Rites are invoked/pushed).
• Corruption Timer (for Cantors, marked when pushing Songs or GM spends SB on occult actions).
• Leash (for Summoners, marked when spirits take harm, act against nature, split focus, or cross wards).
• Asset States (Symbol/Item condition: Maintained, Neglected, or Compromised).

GMs retain all world-facing elements: Timers, NPCs, faction moves, Patron intrusions, and narrative consequences. Why this matters: when players manage their own modules, the GM spends less time bookkeeping and more time driving the story. Always verify player tracking at scene start/end.

What Is Fate’s Edge?

Fate’s Edge is a narrative-first tabletop roleplaying system where every action carries weight, every choice has consequence, and even failure feeds the story. Dice are not merely success meters — they are instruments of fate, weaving opportunity with risk.

“The road remembers. Every broken wheel leaves a mark and every lit lamp had someone behind it. The only question is which of those you mean to be.”

The Central Question

What are you willing to risk, and what are you willing to surrender, to reshape the world around you?

Tone of Play

• Cinematic: Scenes breathe; tense exchanges resolve in moments.
• Consequential: A whispered secret can topple a kingdom; a missed roll can spare a life.
• Collaborative: The GM sets stakes; the players drive the fiction.

Key Concepts

Boons Overview

Boons are narrative tokens earned primarily by failing rolls with meaningful consequences. They represent momentum, luck, or a second wind.

Earning Boons:

• Partial (0 < successes < DV): Gain 1 Boon.
• Miss (successes = 0): Gain 2 Boons (provided the roll was meaningful and generated at least one SB).
• Bond-driven action: Once per bond per session, when you act meaningfully on a Mutual Bond and provide an Intricate Description, gain 1 Boon.
• GM award: For creative solutions, sacrifices, or outstanding roleplay.

Spending Boons:

• Re-roll a single die after seeing the pool.
• Activate an on-screen Asset.
• Improve Position by one step before a roll.
• Power certain Rites or abilities as described in their text.
• During downtime, convert 2 Boons → 1 XP (once per session; max 2 XP per session via conversion).

Limits:

• Maximum 5 Boons held at any time.
• At the end of each scene, reduce held Boons to a maximum of 2 (excess are lost).
• At most 2 Boons from failures per character per scene.
• Repetition rule: the same action with the same stakes in the same scene cannot award another Boon.

GM Guidelines for Timers and SB

To keep the game flowing and avoid overwhelming the table:

• Timer Limit: Maintain at most three active timers per scene. Combine redundant timers or treat additional timers as off-screen campaign timers (ticked between scenes as a result of scene outcomes).
• SB Banking: Try to keep banked SB (unspent at scene end) under Tier + 1 (e.g., Tier I: max 2 SB, Tier II: max 3 SB). Unspent SB beyond this may carry over (GM discretion, max 4).
• Terminology: Use “Success with SB” instead of “Success with SB” for clarity — it emphasizes the narrative opportunity rather than a penalty.

Fail Forward: Every Roll Matters

• A Clean Success advances the fiction without added friction.
• A Success with SB achieves the goal but introduces a complication (GM spends SB).
• A Partial makes meaningful progress and gives the player a Boon.
• A Miss fails to achieve the goal, gives the player 2 Boons, and gives the GM SB to escalate.

Selling the Action

When a player provides an intricate description that reveals stakes, risks, or character investment, the GM may grant a mechanical edge — improving Position by one step, granting +1 die, or banking a Story Beat. This is a reward for engagement, not a tax for shy players. A simple ‘I attack’ is always valid.

No roll should result in “nothing happens.” Every outcome changes the situation.

Can I Roll Fewer Dice? No!

Never reduce a player’s dice pool. A player who asks to roll fewer dice to avoid Story Beats misunderstands the system. In Fate’s Edge, a 1 is not a failure — it is narrative fuel. Reducing dice pools breaks the math: Boons become scarce, SB dry up, and the player’s investment is undermined.

If you want tension, use Position, DV, Timers, and SB — never reduce the player’s dice pool. They earned those dice. Let them roll them.

The Resolution Loop

Every action that carries risk and uncertainty follows these five steps.

1. Declare intent and approach. The player states what they want to accomplish and how (Attribute + Skill).
2. GM sets Position and Difficulty (DV).
   • Position: Dominant (advantage), Controlled (normal), Desperate (high risk).
   • DV: 2 (routine) to 5+ (extreme). Default DV = 3.
3. Roll dice. Pool = Attribute + Skill (d10s). Count successes:
   • 6–9 = 1 success.
   • 10 = 2 successes.
4. Count Story Beats (SB). Each die showing a 1 gives the GM 1 SB.
5. Apply the Outcome Matrix.

Critical Success

Rolling a 10 (counting as 2 successes) creates additional benefits:

• One 10: Choose one – gain a free Boon, improve Position by one step, or add a narrative flourish.
• Two 10s: Choose two benefits or one powerful effect (e.g., ignore armor + gain tactical advantage).
• Three+ 10s: Legendary success – resolve the conflict dramatically and advance a secondary timer or create a significant story development.

Note: 10s are never re-rolled (even in Desperate position). Critical effects apply only if the roll succeeds (Successes ≥ DV).

Difficulty Values (DV)

Position & Effect

Modifiers:

• Player may spend 1 Boon before rolling to improve Position by one step.
• GM may spend SB to worsen Position or reduce Effect.
• The ladder ends. Position never rises above Dominant or falls below Desperate. At either end further modifiers do nothing; they do not convert into dice.
• This matters because your pool is only ever what you paid for. A character with Attribute 1 and Skill 0 rolls one die at their worst, never none — so the question is always how badly can this go, and never may I attempt it at all. It is also what lets heritage, cultural affinity, assists and gear all push on Position without any of them touching the dice.
• A fourth source of advantage on an already-Dominant roll is not wasted. It is the GM's cue to lower the DV, widen the Effect, or just say yes.

Outcome Matrix

Boons (Player Resource)

Story Beats (GM Resource)

Every die showing a 1 gives the GM 1 Story Beat (SB). Spend SB to introduce complications or escalate pressure.

Guidelines:

• 1 SB minor – noise, trace, tick a 4–6 segment timer +1.
• 2 SB moderate – alarm raised, lose Position, lesser foe appears.
• 3 SB serious – reinforcements, key gear breaks, advance a campaign timer.
• 4+ SB major – trap springs, authority arrives, environment shifts dramatically.

NPCs and Resources

Adversaries track listed Fatigue and Resilience, but no Boons or player Harm-level track. Apply Fatigue costs to their track. A Boon-loss effect becomes a fitting hesitation or loss of advantage, not an invented NPC Boon balance. See the adversary resolution procedure for Armor and overflow.

NPC Special Abilities as SB Spends

Instead of rolling for NPC abilities, the GM may spend Story Beats to trigger narrative events.

Example SB Spends:

• 1 SB “The cultist’s eyes burn – mark 1 Fatigue (near miss).”
• 2 SB “The spider drops on you – you are Grappled (escape DV 3).”
• 3 SB “The drake breathes frost – everyone in Near, test Body+Athletics (DV 3) or take Harm 2.”
• 4+ SB “The lich raises its hand – test Spirit+Endurance (DV 5) or be Paralyzed for 1 exchange.”

The GM narrates the effect; players roll to resist.

Assistance

• One helper per action.
• Total assist dice capped at +3 (unless a talent says otherwise).
• Assistant accepts any risk named by the GM.

Fatigue and Harm

Wards and Traps

Wards are magical barriers that block passage, teleportation, and shadow-walking. Traps are mundane or magical hazards that trigger on intrusion. Both use the same base resolution structure.

Maximum Dice Pool

Maximum die pool = 10d10. Any additional dice beyond 10 become automatic successes (1 auto-success per extra die).

Starting Build Points

Characters begin with 32 XP to allocate during initial creation. This represents a balanced baseline for competent starting characters.

Enhanced Starting Builds

Players may exceed the standard 32 XP build through narrative engagement:

• Bonds: Up to two player-defined mutual bonds may be taken for +2 XP total. (See the coordination rules for bond-driven Boon rules.)
• Complications: Up to two initial complications may be accepted for +4 XP total. Scenes start with +1 banked SB per character with a complication until their complications have been resolved in play.

This allows a maximum starting build of 36 XP. Players are encouraged to aim for 32 XP and use bonds and complications to enhance characterization rather than pure mechanical optimization.

The starting caps — attribute 3, skill 2 — are not raised by any of this. The one exception is the Prodigy talent, which buys a single attribute at 4 and charges for it in breadth, permanence and attention.

Step-by-Step Creation

Quick Build Templates

Learning Through Examples

See how core mechanics apply to the QuickBuild Templates:

Advanced Start: Tier II (80 XP)

For campaigns beginning at higher power, characters may start with 80 XP. In addition to the 32 XP baseline, add:

• +2 attribute points (raise any attributes; maximum 4).
• +8 skill points (maximum skill 3 at start; raise to 4 later).
• Additional talents worth approximately 48 XP.
• One Minor Asset (4 XP) or one Follower (Cap 2).
• One additional bond or complication (narrative only; no extra XP).

Session Zero Tips

• Establish the table’s tone and stakes; tie character goals to campaign fronts.
• Map Bonds among PCs; mark possible bond-driven Boon triggers.
• Seed 1–2 personal Complications per PC for early spotlight.
• Discuss Patron choices (if any) and what their omens look like.
• Review Safety Tools (Lines, Veils, X-Card) before play begins.

Build Point Summary

Attributes

Every character has four attributes rated from 1 (weak) to 5 (exceptional). Attribute ratings determine the base number of dice for any action roll.

Skills

There are twelve skills. Each is rated 0 (untrained) to 5 (master), and the rating is added to an attribute to form the dice pool. Twelve is deliberate: a shorter list means fewer arguments about which skill applies, and every one of these is broad enough that the interesting question at the table is which attribute you are bringing to it, not which skill you are allowed to use.

Combat

Physical

Practical

Social

Mental

Magic

Skills an expansion may add

Twelve is the core list, not a closed one. An expansion may introduce a thirteenth skill, and there is standing precedent for it — but the bar is deliberately high, because every added skill is a new argument at every table about which one applies.

A new skill has to clear one test: it must not be expressible as an existing skill under a different attribute. "Resolve" failed that test — it was Spirit + Endurance wearing a hat. "Command" failed it — Presence + Sway. If your idea reduces to one of the twelve with the right attribute in front of it, you have found a good use of a skill, not a new skill.

Note the shape of that justification, because it is the one to copy: a new skill is warranted when it marks a genuine metaphysical or structural distinction the twelve cannot express. Craft and Arcana are already separated that way — see Craft is slow magic above — and Psionics is separated from both on the same grounds.

Skill Uses (Common Examples)

Default Skill for Common Actions

If an action does not clearly match a listed skill, the GM may default to the most appropriate attribute alone (e.g., a raw Strength check uses Body with no skill). However, encourage players to justify skill use through their approach.

Assistance and Skill Synergy

One character may assist the primary actor using the same or a complementary skill, granting +1 die. Relevant talents may improve that contribution, up to the assist cap of +3 dice. The GM may require the helper to succeed on a small roll (DV 2) to provide meaningful help.

Awarding XP

Choose a session pacing dial and stick to it for a campaign arc.

• Gritty: 4–6 XP per session (slow burn).
• Standard: 6–10 XP per session (default pace).
• Heroic: 10–14 XP per session (fast growth).

Spending XP

Upkeep

Upkeep is paid once per Downtime period per asset or follower.

• Efficient (Higher XP, Less Time): Upkeep XP = max(1, ⌈Acquisition XP ÷ 3⌉). Minimal effort.
• Intensive (Lower XP, More Time): Cost = 1 XP. Requires a dedicated Downtime action with significant personal involvement.

Failure to pay: The resource degrades.

• Follower: Loyalty worsens one step (Faithful → Strained → Broken).
• Asset: Status worsens one step (Flourishing → Stable → Strained → Collapsed).

Rush Rule

When you buy or upgrade an ability during downtime, you may skip the normal training time by accepting a risk.

Tiers of Reputation

Reputation tiers reflect how the world responds to you and what your character can accomplish.

Note: the Mechanical Effect column for Tiers II and III was truncated mid-word in the source PDF's column layout ("un", "unloc"); reconstructed here as "unlocked."

High-Tier Play and Boons

As characters advance, the role of Boons shifts.

• At early tiers, Boons primarily buy reliability — negating Fatigue, stabilizing risky actions, or nudging Position.
• At higher tiers, Boons increasingly buy authority. A single Boon may force a truth, seal a pact, redirect consequences, or resolve a phase of a conflict outright.

High-tier characters typically have fewer Boons to rely on, but each spend carries greater narrative weight. This is intentional. Power at high tier comes from preparation, Bonds, oaths, and hard choices — not from inflating Difficulty Values. The world does not become harder to roll against simply because characters are stronger; instead, success and failure both reshape the story in larger ways.

Advancement Notes

• Attribute cost scaling encourages diversification over single-stat spikes.
• Skill mastery yields tangible, fiction-first benefits.
• Prestige abilities (6+ XP) should be gated by narrative milestones or patron bargains.

Weapons by Weight Class

A weapon's weight determines its Harm, its dice modifier at different ranges, and its tempo. Harm is applied directly when an attack hits; the dice modifier affects the attack roll, not damage.

Weight is not distance. Light, Medium and Heavy describe the weapon in your hands. Close, Near, Reach and Far describe the gap between you and the person you are trying to hit. The two sets of words never share a member, so "a Medium weapon at Near range" is unambiguous and always will be.

Ranged Weapons and Ammunition

Ranged weapons use the same weight classes and the same tempo rules, but not the same range curve — a Heavy melee weapon is at its best at Near, while a Heavy ranged weapon is at its best at Far. They need their own table.

Shooting into Close range moves Position, not dice: a Light ranged weapon manages it at Controlled, anything heavier at Desperate. A bow is not harder to aim at arm's length — it is harder to survive using.

Ranged weapons treat Reach as Near. An archer does not care whether the spear coming at them is at sword distance or haft distance; both are far too close. Reach is a melee band, and giving it a column here would be three numbers pretending to be a distinction.

Ammunition is tracked abstractly as part of Supply (see Section 6.6 below). A character may run low on ammunition when the GM spends SB on resource strain or during extended travel.

Armor

Armor does not reduce Harm directly. Instead, it converts incoming Harm into Fatigue. See the Armor Conversion Table below.

Shields (Optional)

Shields are worn in the off-hand. Using a shield restricts weapon size to Light or Medium.

Mundane Gear

Most gear is abstracted. When you need a specific item (rope, lockpicks, torch), assume you have it unless the fiction says otherwise or the GM spends SB to declare a shortage.

The following items are tracked as part of Supply (see Section 6.6 below):

• Rations (1 day)
• Crowbar
• Torches (3)
• Hammer and spikes
• Waterskin
• Sack (large)
• Rope (10m)
• Grappling hook
• Tinderbox
• Lantern and oil
• Bedroll
• Healer's kit (3 uses)

Supply Timer

Ticking the Supply Timer:

• The Quartermaster fails a travel roll (§16, Travel Framework).
• The GM spends SB on scarcity or resource strain.
• The party is forced to march without resupply.
• Extended travel through hostile or barren terrain.

Clearing Supply Segments:

• Reaching a settlement resets the timer to Full (0 segments).
• A successful foraging roll (Wits + Lore, DV 3) clears 1 segment.
• Spending a Cache token (see Asset rules) clears 1 segment.

When the Supply Timer is at 2 segments (Dangerous), each character gains 1 Fatigue per day until resupplied. At 3 segments (Empty), characters begin taking Harm 1 per day (starvation, dehydration, exposure).

Equipment Condition

All gear can become Neglected or Compromised.

• Neglected: Weapons suffer –1 die on attack rolls; armor conversion worsens by one step (e.g., Light behaves as Unarmored). Neglected gear is usable but unreliable.
• Compromised: Weapons suffer –1 die on the first attack each round; armor provides no conversion (all Harm applies directly). Compromised gear is barely functional.

Magical Items (Enchantments)

Enchantments are permanent magical modifications treated as Minor or Standard Assets (§14.2). Each enchantment costs XP and counts toward the item's enchantment limit.

Weapon and Armor Acquisition

• Mundane weapons and armor are acquired through play (found, looted, purchased with Supply, or granted as part of character background). No XP cost.
• Masterwork or enchanted items require XP expenditure (as Assets) or narrative quests.
• A character begins play with one Light or Medium weapon and one set of Light or Medium armor appropriate to their background.

Turn Structure

Each character takes 1 Action and 1 Move on their turn. Actions and Moves may be taken in any order. A character may use a Boon to re-roll their action at the expense of their Move if they still have it available.

Move

• Shift one range band: Close ↔ Near ↔ Reach ↔ Far.
• Reposition within the same range band (e.g., from behind one tree to another). This does not change your range band but may affect cover or line of sight.
• Stand: Use your Move to stand from prone.

Actions

Reactions (Out of Turn)

• Opportunity Attack: When an enemy leaves your Close range without using Disengage, you may make one free melee attack (Controlled Position, no action cost). This does not consume your action for the round.
• Protection may trigger when an ally is hit and you are in position.
• Class and asset reactions fire as written (e.g., counter-runes, ripostes).

Actions that provoke opportunity attacks when performed while engaged in Close with an enemy:

• Making a ranged attack (bow, crossbow, thrown weapon).
• Casting a spell that does not have the [TOUCH] or [WARD] tag.

Sidestep Strike

As part of a melee attack action, you may move one range band (Close ↔ Near, Near ↔ Reach, or Reach ↔ Far) without using your Move action for the turn. If you do so, your Position for that attack worsens by one step (e.g., Controlled becomes Desperate, Dominant becomes Controlled). You cannot also use your regular Move action in the same turn.

Shove

Action. Opposed Body + Athletics vs. target's Body + Athletics. On success, push the target back one range band (Close → Near). The target suffers –1 Position on their next action.

Grapple

Action. Opposed Body + Melee vs. target's Body + Athletics. On success, both characters are engaged (cannot move apart). The grappled target suffers –1 die on all actions. Breaking free requires a new opposed roll as an action.

Hiding and Cover

• To hide, a character must be behind full cover (e.g., a large tree, a wall) or in heavy concealment (dense fog, darkness).
• Take the Interact action to hide, rolling Stealth (or appropriate skill) vs. the Perception of any observers.
• Once hidden, you are not a valid target for attacks unless an attacker first uses an action to Search (Perception vs. your Stealth) or you reveal yourself by attacking or moving into the open.
• If you move out of cover to attack, you are no longer hidden for the duration of the attack and may be subject to opportunity attacks if you leave an enemy's Close range.

Ready and Overwatch

Players may hold an action with a clear trigger (e.g., "I shoot the first enemy who comes through that door"). If the trigger occurs, resolve the held action before the next exchange starts.

Refresh Windows

• Once per scene effects reset at scene end.
• Once per exchange effects reset at the next beat.

Summary Table of Actions

Rhythm of Battle

Fate's Edge does not use fixed initiative. The GM spotlights characters based on the fiction, circumstances, and tension.

• Ambushers act first. Targets respond after the opening exchange.
• Spotlight shifts mid-scene if fictionally appropriate (e.g., reacting to a falling ceiling, seizing a moment).
• Players may suggest acting when it makes sense in the fiction.

Turn Structure

Each character's turn consists of 1 Action and 1 Move. Actions and Moves may be taken in any order. Repeating the same Action is not allowed unless noted.

Range Bands

Four bands, and each is named for what crosses it. Close is decided by hands, Near by a sword, Reach by a haft, Far by a bow. Absent is not a fifth distance — it is the scene declining to contain someone.

Reach exists because a polearm is not a long sword. A spear held at the haft governs a stretch of ground a blade cannot answer, and the person standing in it is in a fight the swordsman has not joined yet. A band is the honest way to say that: it is a place on the table that both players can point at, rather than an exception carried on one weapon's card.

On names. Three vocabularies describe a weapon in play and they share no word between them. Distance is Close, Near, Reach, Far. Weight is Light, Medium, Heavy. Tags are Hafted, Infighting, Accurate, Brutal, and the rest. Any sentence combining them reads exactly one way, which is the whole reason the lists are kept apart.

Melee Flag

Two parties are "in Melee" when they are directly engaged and within a band each can threaten — Near for most weapons, Reach for a Heavy or Hafted one. A spearman at Reach against a swordsman is in Melee; the swordsman is not, until one of them closes.

• Enter Melee: 1 Move from Near (Controlled if under fire).
• Leave Melee: 1 Move to break off. If threatened, you must take the Disengage action. Without Disengage, leaving Close range provokes a free opportunity attack.

Opportunity Attacks

Moving out of an enemy's Close range without using the Disengage action provokes one free melee attack from that enemy. The attack is resolved normally (Position usually Controlled) and does not consume the enemy's action for the round.

Additionally, the following actions provoke an opportunity attack if performed while engaged in Close with an enemy:

• Making a ranged attack (bow, crossbow, thrown weapon).
• Casting a spell that does not have the [TOUCH] or [WARD] tag.

Full Turn Actions

Cover and Hiding

Height Advantage

Attacking from higher ground (e.g., a ledge, rooftop, or horse) grants +1 die or +1 Effect (GM's choice).

Difficult Terrain

• Costs 2 Move actions to traverse one band (or a full action to Dash).
• Charge and Skirmish require open ground unless the character has the Relentless talent.

Mounted Combat (Simplified)

If you have a War Mount and the Cavalier talent (or equivalent):

• Charging into melee from Far → Near: +2 dice.
• Firing while disengaging Near → Far: +2 dice.

The bonus applies only when movement is part of the action. Misses and Partials often cost mount Fatigue, equipment damage, or narrative complications.

Combat Action Options

In addition to standard actions (Attack, Disengage, Dash), characters may take:

• Shove (Action): Opposed Body + Athletics vs. target's Body + Athletics. On success, push the target back one range band (Close → Near). The target suffers –1 Position on their next action.
• Grapple (Action): Opposed Body + Melee vs. target's Body + Athletics. On success, both characters are engaged (cannot move apart). The grappled target suffers –1 die on all actions. Breaking free requires a new opposed roll as an action.
• Protect (Action): Adopt a guarding stance. Choose a nearby ally; until your next turn you may intercept one hit on them and roll to resist it. On success, reduce or negate Harm; you take any fallout the GM assigns.
• Setup (Action): Create advantage for an ally. On a success (appropriate roll, DV set by GM), grant their next action +1 Position or step up Effect.
• Defend (Action or Move): Enter a defensive stance. Until your next turn, improve your Position by one step when resisting any attack or effect (or gain +1 die if already Dominant).

Default Combat Assumptions

To keep play moving, the GM may assume:

• Default range = Near.
• Default Position = Controlled.
• Default Effect = Standard.
• Move one band per Move action unless terrain or fiction says otherwise.

Example: Melee Exchange

Integration with Fatigue and Harm

Combat frequently marks Fatigue (from Charge, Skirmish, and enemy abilities) and Harm (from successful attacks). See §9, Health, Fatigue, and Harm.

Fatigue Track

Each character has a Fatigue track equal to their Body attribute (minimum 1). Fatigue represents exertion, strain, and the accumulation of minor physical toll.

Marking Fatigue: Mark Fatigue for the following:

• Performing a Charge or Skirmish action (1 Fatigue).
• Forced marches, extreme effort, or environmental strain (GM discretion).
• Magical costs (e.g., Pushing a Rite, Backlash, Obligation overflow).
• Converting a Boon effect to Fatigue (substitution rule).

Effect of Fatigue

Each point of Fatigue worsens your Position by one step:

Dominant → Controlled → Desperate

If you are already at Desperate Position, each additional point of Fatigue instead imposes a –1 die penalty on all your rolls (cumulative).

Harm Levels

Harm represents serious injury. There are three levels:

Taking Harm and Fatigue — The Procedure

When you take Harm from an attack, hazard, or magical backlash, resolve in the following order:

1. Convert. Use the Armor Conversion Table to turn incoming Harm into Fatigue. Minimum 1 Fatigue per hit, even if conversion would give 0.
2. Apply remaining Harm. If any Harm remains after conversion:
   • Clear all existing Fatigue (the shock of a wound resets exhaustion).
   • Increase your Harm level by the number of Harm points remaining.
3. Add Fatigue. Add the Fatigue from step 1 to your Fatigue track.
4. Check for Overflow. If your Fatigue total equals or exceeds your Body (track size):
   • Increase Harm by one level.
   • Clear all Fatigue.
   • Any excess Fatigue beyond the track size is lost.

Check overflow once per resolved hit or separate Fatigue event; discard excess Fatigue.

Armor Conversion Table

Armor does not reduce incoming Harm directly. Instead, it converts Harm to Fatigue according to the table below.

Example: Light armor vs Harm 2 becomes Harm 1 + Fatigue 1. Heavy armor vs Harm 3 becomes Fatigue 2.

Recovery

Substituting Fatigue for Boons

If you have no Boons remaining (or wish to conserve them), you may pay 1 Fatigue in place of 1 Boon to activate an active, in-the-moment effect that normally costs a Boon:

• Re-rolling a die.
• Activating an Asset (GM discretion; delicate assets may not be usable while exhausted).
• Improving Position by one step before a roll.
• Powering a Rite or ability that explicitly requires a Boon.

This substitution cannot be used for:

• Boon-to-XP conversion (downtime only).
• Effects that require a Boon as a narrative resource (e.g., certain Talents or Patron bargains).

Example: Armor and Overflow

Death and Dying

At Harm 3, a character is incapacitated. They cannot take actions. They may still speak weakly or crawl at the GM's discretion.

Common Framework

1. State Intent & Approach. What do you want to achieve, and how?
2. Set Position & DV. GM determines risk (Dominant/Controlled/Desperate) and difficulty (2–7+).
3. Roll Attribute + Skill. Each 6+ = success; each 1 = SB for the GM.
4. Apply the Outcome Matrix. Clean Success, Success with SB, Partial, Miss.
5. Spend SB. GM introduces complications, shifts Position, or advances timers.

Timers in Encounters

Timers track cumulative progress or increasing pressure.

• Progress Timer (4–8 segments): Fill to succeed (e.g., persuasion, escaping a maze).
• Threat Timer (4–8 segments): Fill to trigger a disaster (e.g., reinforcements, structural collapse).
• Contest Timers: Two timers — one for each side; first to fill wins.

Ticking Timers:

• Partial: 1 tick (GM discretion).
• Clean Success: 2 ticks.
• Miss: may tick opposition timers.
• GM may spend SB to tick a timer.

Social Encounters

Use Persuasion Timers for extended negotiations, debates, or intimidation.

Environmental Encounters

Magical Encounters

Extended Rituals and Downtime Encounters

Use a Progress Timer (4–12 segments). Each segment represents a scene or a block of time. Players describe their approach and roll an appropriate skill; success advances the timer. Complications (GM SB) may add segments, require rare components, or draw unwanted attention.

Quick Reference Table

GM Reminders

• Let non-specialists contribute — use Setup and Assist actions, and allow creative skill use.
• Spend SB to escalate, not punish. A well-spent SB changes the situation, creating new choices.
• Timers make progress visible. When a timer ticks, describe what changes in the fiction.
• Follow the procedure for Armor & Fatigue: convert, apply remaining Harm (clears existing Fatigue), then add Fatigue. Minimum 1 Fatigue per hit.

Story Beats (SB)

Story Beats are the GM's currency for introducing complications. Each die result of 1 generates 1 SB. Re-rolling a 1 does not erase its SB; if the re-rolled die also shows 1, it generates additional SB.

Boons (Player Resource)

Boons are the players' resource for mitigating complications or turning the tide. See §3, the Core Mechanic, for how they are earned and spent.

Timers

Timers track accumulating threats or progress. They are a visible way to manage pressure.

Hazards

Hazards are ongoing complications that require action to avoid or mitigate.

Fear Effects

When a character escalates on the Fear Track (Shaken → Frightened → Panicked), roll or choose an effect from the table below. Apply to NPCs by default; PCs may adopt as narrative guidance.

The Deck of Consequences (Optional)

The Deck of Consequences is a narrative tool that turns Story Beats into thematic, unpredictable complications. It replaces or supplements GM fiat with randomized twists.

Integrating Complications with SB and Boons

• SB and Boons create a push-pull: SB gives the GM tools to escalate; Boons give players tools to recover or resist.
• A well-spent SB should change the situation, not just punish. Offer the player a Devil's Bargain:

  "I will spend 2 SB to have the guard turn around – but you will owe a favor."

• Timers make threat visible; when a timer ticks, describe what changes in the fiction.

Example: Complication in Action

Rating an Adversary: Threat Level

Every adversary in Fate's Edge is rated on one axis: Threat Level (TL), an integer from 1 to 10. TL is the whole rating. It sets how hard the thing hits, roughly how big its pools are, and how much punishment it absorbs before the scene turns.

Three words that look like ratings are not ratings, and never appear on an adversary:

• Tier means a player character's progression band by XP (Tier I Novice through Tier V Mythic). A creature does not have a Tier.
• Cap means a Follower's Capability, 1–5, bought at Cap² XP. A creature does not have a Cap. A Follower who fights is rated by Cap because you paid for them; an adversary is rated by TL because you did not.
• Class, where it appears in older material, is a taxonomy — Class I spirits, Class IV spirits — not a difficulty. It is a name for a kind of thing, not a number.

Resilience, not Hit Points

An adversary has no Hit Points. It has Resilience: the number of times it can be made to bleed, break, or bend before the fight is over. There are exactly four legal values, and every adversary has one of them:

• 3 (standard) — TL 1–4. Three points of Resilience loss defeat it.
• 8 (advanced) — TL 5–6. Named things, meant to last.
• 8 per phase — TL 7–9. When a phase's Resilience is exhausted the phase ends and the next begins, with its own pool and its own moves.
• None (puzzle) — the one override, and it is available at any TL. Use it when the fiction says the thing cannot be killed by hitting it: an Avatar, a demon that must be exorcised, an Echo that must be witnessed, a door that was never opened. It is resolved by a bargain, a true name, a witness, a debt paid — something other than attrition. A TL 2 spirit can be a puzzle; a TL 9 dragon can be a fight. If your adversary has no Resilience, it must have a stated Resolution.

Apart from that one override, Resilience follows from TL. If you find yourself wanting a TL 3 creature with eight Resilience, you do not want a tougher TL 3 — you want a TL 5, and its attributes and Harm should come up to meet it.

Note the two senses of the word and keep them apart on the page: Harm on a stat line is what the creature deals. Resilience is what it absorbs.

SB Moves

An adversary has no separate initiative turn. Threats frame player responses; new independent attacks and special moves cost SB as described in the resolution procedure. It costs Story Beats. Every stat block lists a short menu of things the GM can buy with the SB the players hand over by rolling 1s, and that menu is the creature's entire personality in mechanical form — write the moves that only this thing would make.

• Two to five moves. A TL 7+ creature may run to seven, because a boss needs options; below that, five is already generous and three is usually better.
• Cost 1 to 3. One is a jab, two turns the scene, three changes the situation.
• One Signature move may cost 4 or 5, and only on a creature of TL 5 or higher. This is the thing it is remembered for. A creature gets one; there is no second Signature.

Move Tags

A move may be prefixed with a bracketed tag. Tags are a filing convenience, not a rule — nothing keys off them mechanically — but keeping to one vocabulary means a GM scanning a page finds the lever they want. There are two kinds, and they do not mix.

Function tags say what the move does, and are the ones worth being consistent about:

[TIMER] advances or starts a clock • [ENVIRONMENT] changes the ground everyone is standing on • [REINFORCEMENT] brings more • [AMBUSH] arrives from somewhere unaccounted for • [SOCIAL] works on people rather than bodies • [BARGAIN] offers something, which is always worse than it sounds • [HAUNT] presses on the mind • [POSSESSION] takes a body • [ILLUSION] makes them wrong about what is there • [MEMORY] takes or rewrites what happened • [CURSE] leaves something behind • [TRAP] punishes a choice already made • [TACTICS] repositions • [OMEN] tells the truth about what is coming.

Flavour tags name the element or medium and are free-form — [FIRE], [ICE], [STONE], [WIND], [TIDE], [BLOOD], [VENOM], [SHADOW], [DREAM], [SONG], [FEY], [PRESSURE]. Invent what you need.

Not to be confused with the block icons some supplements print beside an entry — [W] weakness, [C] timer, [L] lair, [P] phase, [D] drop. Those annotate the entry; these annotate a move.

Filling In the Numbers

Where a published creature gives no attributes, Harm or Fatigue, read them off its TL band and get on with the scene. The bestiary does exactly this: every entry carries a key attribute, Harm and Fatigue defaulted from its TL, and Armor: None unless the fiction says otherwise. They are starting points, not rulings — move any of them the moment the fiction wants it moved. What you may not move without changing the TL is Resilience.

Template Format

Rating a Military Unit: Capability and Scale

Threat Level rates a creature. It does not rate an army, and trying to make it do both is how the war supplements ended up with three incompatible ladders. A body of troops is not a big monster; it is a Follower that happens to be several hundred people, and it is rated on two axes that answer two different questions.

Capability — quality

Cap is the ordinary Follower Capability rating, applied to a formation — the same 1–5 scale bought at Cap² XP, not a parallel ladder. It behaves exactly as it does for any other Follower: the unit assists at min(Cap, the relevant Skill), and no roll takes more than +3 dice from all sources combined. There is no Cap 0: a formation too poor to help is Cap 1 that the GM declines to let assist, which is a fiction call rather than a sixth rung.

Scale — size

Scale is only size, and therefore only reach: how much ground a unit covers and how much of the field one order moves. It is never quality — a Scale IV levy is a large bad army, and the two facts are recorded separately because they matter separately.

Scale mismatch. When formations of different Scale meet, the difference changes Effect, never the DV and never the dice:

• One step larger: +1 Effect on anything that covers ground — volleys, charges, encirclement.
• One step smaller: −1 Effect, unless the action is precise rather than broad. A squad cannot rout a host, but it can absolutely kill the host's commander.
• Two or more steps apart: the smaller formation cannot engage the larger head-on at all. It can raid, scout, assassinate, sabotage or delay — and those are the interesting options anyway.

Humanoid NPCs

Supernatural NPCs

Animal NPCs

Building Custom NPCs

Use these guidelines to create your own NPCs quickly.

NPC Quick Reference Table

Talent Costs

Creation-Only Talents

A few talents represent something a character was rather than something they learned. They can only be taken at creation, and they cannot be taken later at any price.

Why it costs what it costs. Raising an attribute from 3 to 4 is 12 XP by the build table, and is not permitted at creation at any price. Prodigy sells that for 8 — a quarter of a 32 XP build spent on a single number — and takes back roughly a Complication's worth of trouble for as long as the gift lasts. The result is a character who is genuinely better at one thing than anyone should be that early, and correspondingly thinner everywhere else. That is the whole idea; a Prodigy who is also well-rounded has not bought this talent, they have been given a bigger budget.

GM guidance. Offer this to a player who wants to play a specialist and understands they are trading breadth for it, not to a player looking for a larger character. The +1 SB per scene is not a punishment — it is the story the talent is for. Spend it on people noticing: a recruiter, a rival, a master who wants to see for themselves, an enemy who decides you are the dangerous one.

Magic Access Talents

These talents grant access to magic systems.

Striker Talents (Melee/Ranged Damage)

Defender Talents (Tank, Protection)

Note: Any character may use the Protect action (see Action Economy); no talent required.

Controller Talents (Area, Debuff, Terrain)

Support Talents (Healing, Buffs, Teamwork)

Scout Talents (Stealth, Infiltration, Awareness)

Monk Talents (Unarmed Specialist)

Summoning Talents

The source table for this section was column-flattened by text extraction (talent names and effects were separated into two blocks); the pairing below has been reconstructed in escalating-cost order and should be checked against the original layout.

Cantor Talents

Cooperative Talents

Acquiring New Talents

• Talents are purchased with XP during downtime.
• Training time: minor talents require 3–10 days; major talents require 1–2 weeks.
• Prestige and epic talents require narrative justification (finding a master, completing a quest, Patron bargain).
• A character may retrain one talent per downtime (replace with another of equal or lesser cost). The replaced talent is lost.

The Six Paths at a Glance

The final two columns in the source table ("Roll Skill" and "Risk Track" for Invoker and Cantor) were partially truncated in the original layout; "Symbol Compromise" and "Corruption (Spirit-based track)" are reconstructed from the fuller rules text below rather than quoted verbatim.

Caster (Freeform / Weave & Cast)

Free casters shape raw magic by combining elements and effects. They are flexible but unpredictable.

Runekeeper (Rites)

Runekeepers bind structured magic through a Codex and a Thiasos (familiar spirit). They specialize in reliable, thematic magic.

Invoker (Symbols)

Invokers channel power through consecrated Symbols. Rituals are slow but safe; Crack the Seal offers desperate speed.

Cantor (Songs)

Cantors perform Low Rites as Songs, channeling power through voice and performance. They track Corruption instead of Obligation.

Witchcraft (Hedge Magic)

Witchcraft is the magic of thresholds, knots, and small favors. It is subtle, low-cost, and accessible to any character who pays attention to the world's edges. Unlike other magical paths, Witchcraft requires no Patron, no Codex, and no resource track—just a talent and a willingness to work at the boundaries.

Obligation (Runekeepers and Invokers)

Obligation measures a Patron's claim on a character. Track it per Patron. The default Obligation capacity is:

Capacity = Spirit + Presence

Backlash (Free Casting)

Backlash is the unpredictable fallout from shaping raw magic. It occurs on a Partial or Miss, or on a Hit that shows two or more 1s.

Obligation Capacity and Overflow Summary

Capacity = Spirit + Presence

• Exceeding Capacity: Mark 1 Fatigue per segment over. Cannot invoke new Rites or perform Patron rituals until reduced.
• Clearing: Act of Service (off-screen, 1 segment) or Focused Devotion talent (on-screen, 1 Boon per segment).

Corruption Timer Summary (Cantor)

Timer Size = Spirit

• Mark a segment when you Push a Song, perform a Resonant Rite, or when the GM spends SB on your occult activities.
• When full: gain a thematic boon and burden from your last Patron; reset timer to zero.

The Eight Elements

Every spell or magical effect is built from one or more of the eight fundamental elements. The first four are physical; the second four are metaphysical.

The Four and the Four

The two halves rhyme. Fire and Life both consume a fuel to make something; Air and Fortune both refuse to be aimed; Water and Obishaal both close over a thing and give nothing back on demand; Earth and Fate are both weight, and what weight does to whatever is near it.

That is a way of remembering the list and a source of imagery for backlash. It is not a mechanic, and nothing in the game asks you to work out which half a given effect came from.

The Elemental Planes

Every element has a plane. Two of the eight have been described:

The other six exist and are unwritten. Build them when a story needs them.

Effect Tags

Effect tags describe what the magic does. They are combined with element tags to form spells.

Common Effect Tags:

[AREA] [MARK] [BANISH] [MEND] [BARRIER] [OATH] [BIND] [PASSAGE] [CLEANSE] [REPAIR] [COMMAND] [REVEAL] [CONJURE] [SANCTIFY] [COUNTER] [SEAL] / [UNSEAL] [CURSE] [DEFEND] [STRIKE] [DISPEL] [TRANSPORT] [FORTIFY] [VEIL] [HEAL] [WARD]

Building a Spell

A spell is a combination of one or more element tags and one or more effect tags. The base Difficulty Value is:

DV = 1 + total number of tags (element + effect)

Example Spells

Repair & Restoration

Two tags handle mending objects: [MEND] for quick, temporary fixes in the field, and [REPAIR] for thorough, lasting restoration.

Influence Over Mortals

These tags affect the minds and loyalties of living beings. Using them to alter free will carries narrative and ethical consequences.

Control & Countermagic

Concealment & Revelation

Boons & Burdens

Influence & Oaths

Movement & Making

Knowledge, Movement & Transformation

Outsider-Specific Tags

Elemental Backlash Coloring (Quick Reference)

When a magical roll generates SB (1s) or when a Partial/Miss occurs, the GM may apply a thematic backlash based on the dominant element(s).

Stacking & Duration Rules (Global)

• No Same-Source Stacking: Multiple scene-long effects from the same source do not stack; take the best instance.
• Identical Tag Collision: If two abilities would grant the same Tag in the same window, use the stronger; the weaker is suppressed while it lasts.
• Default Duration: Scene, unless a source states otherwise (e.g., "until the end of your next turn").
• DV by Fiction: Potency, preparation, place, materials, and opposition set DV (typical 2–4; 5+ for set-pieces).

Universal Rituals

Any character, regardless of magical talent, may attempt a universal ritual. Requirements:

• A clear intent (what you want to achieve).
• A method (e.g., summoning circle, prayer, sympathetic object).
• Components (consumed or used up).
• Time (at least one scene of uninterrupted work).

Invokers (Symbol Path)

Invokers channel power through consecrated Symbols — physical tokens tied to a specific Patron.

Borrowed Grace (Invoker Talent)

The Traveler (Ways & Journeys)

The Traveler grants rites of safe passage, wayfinding, and road covenants. All rites below are available to Runekeepers and Invokers sworn to The Traveler.

Additional Sample Rites by Patron

These Low and Standard Rites are examples. See the full Player’s Guide for complete lists.

Obligation and Invokers

Invokers track Obligation per Patron. Each ritual invocation marks +1 Obligation (reduced by displaying the Symbol). Crack the Seal marks +2 Obligation (+3 for High Rites). Obligation Capacity = Spirit + Presence. Exceeding capacity causes Fatigue.

Ritual Interruption and Counterplay

• A ritual can be interrupted by damage, loud noise, or direct countermagic before completion.
• A character may use [COUNTER] to disrupt a ritual in progress.
• If interrupted, the ritual fails; components may be lost. The GM gains 1 SB.

Who Can Summon?

Any character may attempt a summoning ritual, but only those with the Pact-Whisperer talent can reliably bind and command spirits in combat time. NPCs and plot events use the same principles: a summoner prepares a circle, pays a cost, and risks backlash.

Summoning for Narrative (Greater Powers)

Not all summonings are tactical. Sometimes the story demands calling a greater power — a patron-level entity, a forgotten god, or a primordial force. These rituals are not resolved with a single roll; they are extended challenges that drive the plot.

PC Summoner (Pact-Whisperer)

Player characters who specialize in summoning take the Pact-Whisperer talent (2 XP). This allows them to call and bind spirits for temporary aid in scenes.

Core Mechanics – Call, Bind, and the Leash

Summoning a spirit follows three steps: Call, Bind, and Leash management.

Commanding Spirits

• Quick Command: Simple orders (“attack that enemy”, “move there”, “defend me”, “retrieve that object”) do not consume your Action. You may issue one Quick Command per round as a free action.
• Complex Command: If the order requires interpretation, multiple steps, or finesse (“guard this door and alert me if anyone passes”, “search the room for a hidden key”), it uses your Action for the turn.
• Spirit Link (Major Talent): Spirits act on your turn; all commands are free actions; reduce Leash ticking for natural behaviors by 1.

Spirit Bond Progression

For spirits you summon regularly (e.g., a favoured elemental or a recurring shade), track a Spirit Bond Timer [4].

• Mark segments for successful commands, shared victories, or mutual aid (once per type per session).
• At 2 segments: Gain +1 die to communicate with this spirit type.
• At 4 segments: The spirit becomes Favored. Choose one: Leash Capacity +1, or –1 tick per command (minimum 0). Additionally, the spirit grants you +1 Boon when it departs naturally (not destroyed or forced out).

Sample Spirit Templates

Specializations (for recurring spirits)

Choose one specialization when a spirit becomes Favored:

• Combat Specialist: +1 Harm on attacks; ignores first Harm 1 per scene.
• Scout Form: Stealthy; a TL 1 spirit can carry 2 kg, a TL 3 spirit 10 kg; +2 dice to Stealth.
• Utility Spirit: Can perform simple tasks (opening unlocked doors, carrying light objects, fetching items).
• Shield Guardian: Once per round, interpose and convert an ally’s Harm 1 into Fatigue on the spirit.

GM Guidelines for Summoning

Followers

Followers are named NPCs who have a personal relationship with your character. They may be students, allies, retainers, agents, family members, or dependents. Followers act in the fiction and can grow, change, or be lost as the story progresses.

Assets

Assets are durable resources, positions, or structures under your character's control. They represent leverage — things that allow you to influence the world at scale.

Examples include:

• A safehouse, laboratory, or fortress.
• A mercantile network or smuggling route.
• A political office or religious authority.
• A powerful relic, symbol, or institutional role.

Upkeep

During downtime, each Asset and Follower you maintain requires one of the following:

• Attention (Intensive): Spend a scene interacting with them (repairing, training, socializing).
• Resources (Efficient): Spend 1 XP (or a relevant String) to cover costs offscreen.

If you provide neither, the Asset or Follower degrades one step:

• Assets: Flourishing → Stable → Strained → Collapsed.
• Followers: Faithful → Strained → Broken.

Two consecutive downtimes without upkeep collapses the Asset or loses the Follower entirely.

Terrestrial Patrons

Not all power comes from cosmic entities. Terrestrial Patrons are mortal factions or individuals — nobles, guildmasters, crime lords, generals, merchant princes — who offer tangible aid in exchange for obligation.

Player Trusts

A Trust is a shared pool of XP that players contribute to, used to acquire and maintain party-owned Assets and Followers. Trusts represent a collective enterprise — a mercenary company, a trading guild, a spy network, a religious order.

Followers vs. Assets vs. Patrons vs. Trusts

Note: in the source PDF this comparison is a four-column table whose rows were flattened and hyphen-wrapped by text extraction (e.g., "Personal sup-port," "Emotional, nar-rative"). The table above reconstructs the original row/column structure from those fragments.

High-Tier Play

As characters advance, Followers, Assets, Patrons, and Trusts become increasingly important. Higher-tier Talents and Assets consume Boons, forcing players to choose between immediate success and long-term influence.

At Tier III and above, your personal dice pool may be maxed, but a Cap 3 Follower adds +3 to assist rolls, and a Major Asset can shift the outcome of a scene without a roll.

Victory is no longer just surviving the roll. It is choosing which parts of the world move when you do.

Legs and Travel Timers

• Break a long journey into legs, each representing a significant change in terrain, danger, or political region.
• Each leg uses a Travel Timer (default size 4 segments).
• The timer advances through progress actions, encounters, or scene resolution.
• When the timer fills, the party arrives at the destination (or the next region). Unresolved complications carry forward.

Roles on the Road

Assign one role per character each leg. Roles may rotate each leg.

Each role action requires a roll (Attribute + appropriate skill, DV set by the GM). Failure may tick the Travel Timer backwards or introduce a complication.

Encounters and Events

Every 1–2 segments filled, the GM introduces an encounter or hazard. At minimum, each leg should include one meaningful encounter.

Encounters use the standard resolution loop (Position, DV, Outcome). On a failed travel roll, the GM may spend SB to introduce an encounter immediately.

Supply and Depletion

Track shared party supplies with a Supply Timer [4].

• Tick the timer when the Quartermaster fails a roll, when the GM spends SB on scarcity, or when the party is forced to march without resupply.
• When the timer fills, the party runs out of a critical resource (food, water, fuel). Apply a Condition (Hungry, Thirsty, etc.) or mark 1 Fatigue per character.
• Resupply at settlements, through successful foraging, or by spending a Cache token (see Asset rules).

Optional: Regional Travel Decks

If using the optional Regional Decks, draw a card from the destination's deck when the Travel Timer ticks. Suits suggest the nature of the encounter:

The highest rank may set the Travel Timer size (e.g., 4 for 2–5, 6 for 6–10, 8 for Jack–King, 10 for Ace).

Weather and Terrain Modifiers

The GM may apply modifiers based on conditions:

Foraging and Subsistence

A character may forage during a leg instead of taking a role action. Roll Wits + Lore (DV by terrain, typical 3–4).

• Clean Success: Gain 1 Supply.
• Partial: Gain 1 Supply but mark 1 Fatigue (time or exposure).
• Miss: No Supply; GM gains 1 SB (scarce resources, dangerous plant, predator sign).

GM Quick Cues

• Travel should advance story stakes, not pause them. Use legs to foreshadow threats, deepen bonds, or reveal Patron omens.
• Let players showcase talents in their chosen roles.
• Mix discovery and hardship to keep legs tense but rewarding.
• A failed travel roll should never result in "nothing happens." Use SB to introduce an encounter or tick a hazard timer.

Deck Structure

Use a standard 52-card deck (jokers optional). Suits map to complication themes:

Card Ranks & Severity

• Ace Scene-altering twist; compels immediate response.
• King, Queen, Jack Major complication with lasting effects.
• 10–8 Moderate complication that reshapes the current scene.
• 7–5 Minor complication; a nuisance that creates tension.
• 4–2 Subtle complication or foreshadowing omen.

Jokers (Optional)

• Red Joker: Catastrophic event (environmental collapse, Patron intervention).
• Black Joker: Dark boon (immediate help, but with lasting cost or debt).

When to Draw

The GM may draw from the deck when:

• A roll shows multiple 1s (e.g., three or more).
• The GM spends 2+ Story Beats at once.
• A major timer fills (scene or campaign timer).
• During travel to generate an unexpected encounter.

Aim for 1–2 draws per session; more if the tone skews chaotic.

Procedure

1. Note the number of SB spent (or generated).
2. Draw a number of cards equal to the SB spent (minimum 1, maximum 3).
3. Synthesize a single narrative complication from the combination of suits and the highest rank.
4. Do not reshuffle until the deck runs out or the session ends — this creates a natural "fate budget."

Shortcut Table for Fast Interpretation

Integration with Fiction

• Translate the raw card result into a fiction-first complication. Do not apply mechanical penalties alone.
• The complication should build on what is already happening in the scene, not restart the story.
• Respect player agency — allow clever mitigation, but ensure the consequence lands.

GM Quick Cues

Setup

• In Session Zero (or before the campaign begins), lay out 5–7 cards in a semicircle (the "Crown"). Use either the Deck of Consequences or a standard card deck.
• Each card anchors a motif, omen, or looming event.
• Record the spread openly on a Campaign Sheet or digital log.

Interpreting the Spread

Using the Spread in Play

• Each drawn card becomes a Foreshadow Timer [4] attached to its motif. Advance the timer when events lean toward that omen (e.g., when the GM spends SB on related complications, when a major scene involves that faction, or when a travel leg passes through an area tied to the motif).
• When a Foreshadow Timer fills, the motif manifests concretely in play — a faction rises, a betrayer reveals themselves, a curse activates.
• Tie Spread cards to Campaign Timers for pacing.

Campaign Timer

The Campaign Timer tracks rising stakes across the entire arc.

• Default size: 8 segments.
• Advance the Campaign Timer when: multiple SB overflows in a session (e.g., three or more 1s on a single roll), when travel legs resolve with major cost (e.g., a character reaches Harm 2), or when Spread omens manifest concretely.
• When the Campaign Timer fills, the Crown confrontation arrives. Play through its fallout as the campaign climax.

Ending & Legacy

• After the Crown confrontation resolves, hold an epilogue session.
• Resolve any remaining Foreshadow Timers as epilogue vignettes.
• Players may mark Legacy Bonds — new anchors for future campaigns or descendants.

GM Quick Cues

The Solo

Focus: Mastery of self, independence, one-on-one drama.

Strengths: Quick spotlight scenes, duelists, scouts, specialists.

Risks: Can drift into isolation or hog solo arcs. Needs explicit ties to group goals.

GM Tools: Use Bonds, rival duels, and one-on-one omens to keep engagement tethered to the group.

The Mixed

Focus: Hybrid adaptability — both support and lead.

Strengths: Bridges gaps in group dynamics; excels in team tactics.

Risks: May feel overshadowed by extreme specialists.

GM Tools: Spotlight them when versatility matters: flexible magic, leadership, negotiation, or sudden pivots.

The Mastermind

Focus: Schemes, plans, and command over the long arc.

Strengths: Drives strategic play, coordinates others, excels in intrigue.

Risks: May over-plan or dominate spotlight with metagame thinking.

GM Tools: Challenge them with shifting information, Patron demands, and rivals who anticipate their moves.

Balancing Archetypes

• A healthy table mixes all three archetypes, ensuring solo tension, group cohesion, and strategic play coexist.
• Encourage players to flex between archetypes scene by scene; they are fluid, not fixed.
• Spotlight balance: in a 3-hour session, each archetype should anchor at least one major scene.

GM Quick Cues

Scene Example: The Bridge at Dusk

This example shows the core resolution loop in practice across multiple player actions.

Core Outcome Matrix

Difficulty Value (DV) Ladder

Position & Effect

Range Bands

Armor Conversion Table

Fatigue and Harm

Magic Paths Comparison

Summoning Leash

Action Economy (Quick)

Opportunity Attacks

Story Beat (SB) Spend Menu

Boons at a Glance

Default Values (GM Cues)

Tags Quick Reference (Abridged)

Spark (Cantrip)

Minor Illusion

Gust

Quick Patch

Ember Cloak

Web of Fate

Healing Mist

Stone Shield

Shadow Step

Fate’s Rebuke

Sleep

Sealed Threshold

Circle of Denial

Banishment Knot

Tidemark’s Blessing

Whispering Currents

Wave-Road Blessing

Touch the Umbral Veil

Crossroads Raven

Become the Shadow at the Crossroads

Oath-Ward

Wayfinder’s Thread

Salt-Cut

River’s Memory

Bargain-Bead

Purge

Summoner’s Gate

Hearth’s Lullaby

Storm’s Call

Raven’s Omen

Knot of Silence

Thread of Memory

Bitter Dirge

Wayfinder’s Thread (Universal)

Oath-Ward (Universal)

Ember-Glass

Salt-Cut (Universal)

River’s Memory (Universal)

Bargain-Bead (Universal)

Quiet Veil

Dream-Way Marker

Purge (Tainted Object)

Ellis — Aeler Initiate (Warrior/Runekeeper)

Lyra — Vilikari Rover (Rogue/Scout)

Sera — Lethai-thora Exile (Caster)