Start here: the core mechanic

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).