CREDITS

W RITING & LAYOUT

Richard Woolcock

A RTWORK
Rick Hershey, Storn Cook, Derek Ruiz

F EEDBACK & PLAYTESTING

Jan Jetmar, ManuFS, Heike Sambs,
Daniel Krämer, Barbara Krämer,
Claudia Abele, JeansenVaars, Vasant

LEGALESE
Tricube Tactics version 1 © 2024 Richard Woolcock
All text (not art) released under the CC BY 3.0 license

Game icons by Lorc and Skoll, available from

https://game-icons.net under the CC BY 3.0 license

Publisher’s Choice Quality Stock Art © Rick Hershey

/ Publisher’s Choice Stock Art <

Cartography Stock Art by Elven Tower Cartography

2
 CONTENTS
PREFACE 4 MOVEMENT 35
INTRODUCTION 5 Battle Maps 39
Challenge Rolls 11 Abstract Zones 41
Traits & Styles 12 Range Bands 44
Perks & Magic 15 COMBAT 47
CHARACTERS 17 Initiative 48
Creation 18 Attacking 51
Advancement 20 Edge Modifiers 54
Examples 21 Stunts 58
ACTIONS 27 Defending 62
Standard 29 Weapons 64
Simple 30 Minions 75
Swift 33 Afflictions 81
Free 34 Example 85
New 34 KNACKS 87
Action 89
Edge 90
Freeform 92
Movement 94
Reroll 96
Strike 98
Examples 100
ENEMIES 101
Bestiary 106

3
 PREFACE
I originally designed Tricube Tales back
in 2019 as a way of introducing my five-
year-old son to roleplaying. But after I’d
published the rules, I began to use them
for my regular gaming group as well.
However, while Tricube Tales worked
great for one-shots, I started to miss the
tactical combat and variety of character
customization from other games I’d run,
particularly Savage Worlds. I wondered
if it were possible to incorporate similar
options into Tricube Tales, without the
game mechanics becoming too complex
—so I decided to find out!
This is not a standalone product or a
second edition. Tricube Tales is still the
core system and perfectly playable as is.
But for readers who want more depth to
combat and a wider variety of character
options, Tricube Tactics will introduce a
whole new level of gameplay.
This supplement uses the same Phone
PDF format as Tricube Tales.
— Richard Woolcock, November 2024.

4
INTRODUCTION

5
ABOUT THIS SUPPLEMENT
Tricube Tactics is a supplement offering
deeper combat mechanics and expanded
character abilities for Tricube Tales. It is
primarily aimed at groups who prefer a
little bit more crunch in their games or
would like a wider variety of options for
long-term campaign play.
This is a supplement, not a standalone
product. You will need a copy of Tricube
Tales as well—you can download it free
from DriveThruRPG (if you click on the
Publisher Preview, it’s the full PDF).

CHERRY PICKING RULES

If you’re happy with the existing Tricube
Tales combat rules, this supplement will
be of limited value. However, you might
find the subtraits and substyles useful, as
well as the reroll knacks, either (or both)
of which could be added to your Tricube
Tales games without using anything else
from this supplement. This alone would
give players a wider variety of character
options than the core system.

6
TRANSITION TO TACTICS
It’s perfectly viable to introduce Tricube
Tactics part way through a campaign. In
fact, this is often a good way of handling
it—start out with just Tricube Tales, and
then transition to Tricube Tactics after a
few adventures if the players want more
detailed combat and character options.
When you start using Tricube Tactics,
each PC gains a free knack or minion, as
described on page 18.

A LTERNATIVE TRAITS
Some micro-settings may replace “agile,”
“brawny,” and “crafty” with other traits—
for example, in Conniving Cat Burglars
there is “athletic,” “buff,” and “cunning,”
while Maidenstead Mysteries has “alert,”
“brainy,” and “charming.”
Such micro-settings generally involve
very little combat. But if you do want to
run them with Tricube Tactics, switch to
the default traits (i.e., agile, brawny, and
crafty)—otherwise, you’ll need to design
three new subtraits for each trait.

7
E XPANDED COMBAT
The combat system in Tricube Tactics is
much more complex than the approach
described in Tricube Tales. However, it
can be summarized as follows—each of
these points also has its own chapter:
Actions can be defined as “standard,”
“simple,” or “swift”. Characters may take
one action of each type every round, and
any number of “free” actions.
Movement usually involves figurines
moving around battle maps (either with
or without a grid)—however, alternative
rules are also included for using abstract
zones or range bands instead.
Combat is split into rounds, and uses
an initiative roll to determine if each PC
acts before or after the NPCs. The PCs
can move, attack, and/or perform stunts
(such as “shove” and “trip”) on their turn.
All NPCs act on the same turn, and they
can also move and take actions, but they
don’t roll dice—instead, every player has
to make a defense roll on the NPCs’ turn
to avoid any attacks directed their way.

8
N EW “M INION” TOKENS
Tricube Tales has two types of token for
players—“karma” and “resolve.”
Tricube Tactics also uses a third type
of token called “minions,” which can be
used to represent companions, familiars,
henchmen, allies, mounts, etc. These can
play a significant role in combat.
If you’re playing on a battle map, you
may wish to use figurines that double up
as tokens to represent minions.

9
N EW “KNACK” ABILITIES
One of the design goals of the original
Tricube Tales was to avoid laundry lists
of abilities that players had to reference
during play. This resulted in “perks” and
“quirks” that can thematically represent
a broad range of different abilities, while
always using the same mechanics.
For Tricube Tactics, I wanted to offer
abilities with different mechanics as well
as flavor, but I still wanted to follow the
“no laundry list” principle, so I came up
with a compromise—knacks!
Knacks are divided into six types, and
each type has its own rules. Players can
name their knacks (just like they do with
perks and quirks) and then note the type
and any other specifics in brackets. For
example, “longbowman (reroll: shoot)” is
a reroll knack that applies to shooting a
longbow, “quick draw (action: ready)” is
an action knack allowing you to ready a
weapon as a swift action, “counterattack
(strike: melee defense)” is a strike knack
triggered by a good defense roll, etc.

10
 CHALLENGE ROLLS
All challenge rolls in Tricube Tales have
a difficulty of 4-6 (i.e., easy, standard, or
hard). Tricube Tactics extends this range
with difficulty 3 (very easy) and 7 (very
hard) challenges—although these should
be used very rarely and only for extreme
situations. The various “edge modifiers”
in combat might even push the difficulty
of a challenge beyond those limits!
However, the difficulty of a challenge
can never be reduced below 3, unless you
use a perk—spending karma on a perk is
the only way to lower the difficulty of a
challenge from 3 to 2. This ensures that
perks (and karma) are potentially useful
for all challenges, regardless of any other
modifiers the players might receive.
Furthermore, if a challenge difficulty
exceeds 6, then rolling 6 on two dice is
considered a normal success, and rolling
6 on three dice is an exceptional success.
If you are rolling a single die then you’re
out of luck! However, you can still use a
perk to lower the difficulty as usual.

11
 TRAITS & STYLES
In Tricube Tales, challenges are resolved
using a trait (agile, brawny, or crafty) or
combat style (melee, ranged, or mental).
Tricube Tactics is more granular—it
splits each trait into three subtraits, and
each combat style into three substyles.
Challenges should now use a subtrait
or substyle. For example, rather than an
agile challenge to sneak past a guard, the
player would make a stealth challenge.

AGILE
This trait is split into the following:
Stealth is used for anything related to
sneaking, hiding, or concealment. It also
covers camouflage, planning ambushes,
hiding tracks, and crime scene cleanup.
Dexterity is used for tasks related to
coordination or balance, such as sleight
of hand, picking locks, and crafting. It is
also used for agile stunts.
Reflexes covers tasks related to speed
or reactions, including initiative. It’s also
used to steer self-powered vehicles.

12
BRAWNY
This trait is split into the following:
Athletics covers any activities such as
running, swimming, jumping, climbing,
riding animals, pedaling bicycles, etc.
Strength is used for any tasks related
to brute strength, such as lifting a heavy
object, breaking doors, or bending metal
bars. It is also used for brawny stunts.
Endurance covers all tasks related to
toughness and stamina. It is also used to
resist poison, disease, and other hazards,
including physical afflictions.

CRAFTY
This trait is split into the following:
Perception is used for tasks related to
the senses, such as searching, noticing
clues and details, and tracking.
Charisma covers activities related to
persuasion, charm, and social skills. It is
also used for crafty stunts.
Intellect is used for activities related
to intelligence and knowledge. It is also
used to resist mental afflictions.

13
MELEE
This trait is split into the following:
Armed is used to make attacks with
melee weapons, such as knives or axes.
Unarmed covers fists, claws, etc.
Parry is used to defend against melee
attacks, whether armed or unarmed.

RANGED
This trait is split into the following:
Shoot is used to make ranged attacks
with projectile weapons, such as bows.
Throw is for making ranged attacks
with thrown weapons, such as spears.
Evade is used to defend against both
shooting and thrown ranged attacks.

MENTAL
This trait is split into the following:
Direct is used to attack with psychic
powers, magic, or a battle of wills.
Indirect covers attacks using devices
or people, such as traps and troops.
Resist is for defending against mental
attacks, both direct and indirect.

14
 PERKS & M AGIC
Tricube Tales allows players to use their
perks to influence and impact the story.
In the context of Tricube Tactics, players
can introduce magical effects that aren’t
already covered by knacks, like plunging
the room into darkness, causing an ally
to grow or shrink, magically warding a
door, conjuring illusions, and so on.
The effect must be appropriate to the
perk. For example, the “geomancy” perk
could conjure a stone barrier (providing
heavy cover), while the “illusionist” perk
could turn the caster invisible (granting
the “concealed” edge modifier).
If the spell does something the caster
could just as easily have achieved without
magic (like summoning a ball of glowing
light instead of using a lantern, opening
the door with telekinesis instead of their
hand, or conjuring a fiery sword instead
of drawing a steel blade), then it doesn’t
cost karma—players only need to spend
karma when the perk provides an actual
mechanical benefit.

15
OFFENSIVE M AGIC
Offensive spells are normally handled as
mental attacks, although someone could
always describe conjuring a weapon and
physically throwing it as a ranged attack
instead if they prefer.
Tricube Tactics also includes “stunts,”
which can be described by the player. A
shove stunt could be described as a blast
of wind, a pin stunt might be narrated as
entangling vines, a blind stunt could be
described as a bright flash, an intimidate
stunt might represent a fear spell, and so
on. However, the stunt’s subtrait doesn’t
change, regardless of the narrative.
These options don’t require the use of
a perk, although the character could still
use a suitable perk to retroactively lower
the difficulty after rolling, as usual.

BUFFS & SUMMONINGS

Magical buffs and monster summonings
are covered through the use of freeform
knacks, which must each be thematically
tied to a suitable perk.

16
CHARACTERS

17
 CREATION
Characters start with a trait and combat
style, a concept, a perk, a quirk, 3 karma
tokens, and 3 resolve tokens, the same as
in the core Tricube Tales system.
In addition, each character gets a free
knack of their choice, or 1 minion token
instead if they prefer. They begin with a
movement speed of 3 and a size of 1.
PCs automatically start with all of the
subtraits and substyles for their trait and
combat style. For example, an agile thief
has “stealth,” “dexterity,” and “reflexes.”

STARTING KNACK
If someone has a perk that implies some
sort of special movement (such as wings)
they should take a “movement” knack to
eliminate terrain penalties. A character
with an unarmed combat perk (such as
martial arts) or heavy armor can take an
“edge” knack to eliminate the associated
penalty. A mage might want a “freeform”
knack for magical buffs. But as always,
the final decision is up to the player!

18
STARTING M INION
PCs usually begin with 0 minion tokens.
However, they may take 1 minion token
instead of a free knack if they wish—e.g.,
a ranger might choose a minion token to
represent their animal companion.

MOVEMENT SPEED
Characters start with a movement speed
of 3, representing a regular walking rate
of three strides per 6-second round.

CHARACTER SIZE
In most settings, all PCs will have a size
of 1, even if they are kids. However, the
GM can choose to allow unusually large
or small characters if they fit the setting,
such as towering ogres or tiny fairies.
Size Examples
0 (Small) House cat or smaller
1 (Medium) Human, horse, bear
2 (Large) Rhino, hippo, orca
3 (Huge) Elephant, t-rex
4 (Gargantuan) Blue whale, megalodon
5 (Colossal) Titan mech, giant kaiju

19
 ADVANCEMENT
Each time a PC advances they can pick a
new perk, quirk, or knack. Every second
advance, they may instead gain a karma,
resolve, or minion token, or train a new
subtrait or substyle.
Characters can never have more than
6 tokens of each type, nor can they ever
have more than 6 different subtraits or 6
different substyles (including those they
automatically started with for free).

E XPERIENCE POINTS
Character advancement is usually based
on sessions or milestones. However, if a
GM prefers to award experience points
instead, they can do so—players get one
advance for every 100 experience points
they earn. The GM can even refer to the
advances as “levels” if they wish!
In effect, this means the GM awards
percentages of an advance (an experience
point is 1% of an advance). This is useful
for groups that often vary the length of
their gaming sessions.

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 A RCHETYPE
Agile assassin (melee combat style)

PERK
Acrobatic

QUIRK
Code of honor

KNACK
Martial artist (negate edge: unarmed)

21
 A RCHETYPE
Agile bard (mental combat style)

PERK
Song magic

QUIRK
Trusting

KNACK
Inspiring music (freeform)

22
 A RCHETYPE
Brawny guardian (mental combat style)

PERK
Telepathy

QUIRK
Compassionate

KNACK
Laser sword mastery (reroll: armed)

23
 A RCHETYPE
Brawny marine (ranged combat style)

PERK
Tactician

QUIRK
Ruthless

KNACK
Intuitive aim (action: aim)

24
 A RCHETYPE
Crafty explorer (melee combat style)

PERK
Sharp senses

QUIRK
Fondness for cheese

KNACK
First strike (strike: enter threat range)

25
 A RCHETYPE
Crafty gangster (ranged combat style)

PERK
Gift of gab

QUIRK
Trigger-happy

KNACK
Deft-footed (combat movement: ranged)

26
ACTIONS

27
ACTION OVERVIEW
Characters may take three actions every
round: One standard action, one simple
action, and one swift action. Actions can
also be “downgraded” (from standard to
simple, or simple to swift) at any time—
i.e., a player could instead choose to take
two simple actions and one swift action,
one simple action and two swift actions,
or even three swift actions!
There are also free actions, which are
things the character can do on their turn
without using any of their actions—such
as talking or falling prone. A player may
perform as many of these actions as they
wish during their turn.
Some actions must be declared before
moving, but other than that, they can be
mixed with movement. For example, the
character might move one stride, draw a
battleaxe, move another stride, attack a
guard, and then move a third stride, and
still perform a swift action afterward.
Note: Certain actions are “PC only”—
this means that NPCs cannot use them.

28
 STANDARD ACTIONS
These actions are always taken on your
turn, and they require a roll:
Attack allows you to perform either a
melee, ranged, or mental attack. Use the
appropriate substyle for the roll.
Escape lets you break free from being
pinned or restrained. You can roll either
strength (to use brute force), or dexterity
(to slip and wriggle free). When escaping
a pin, the difficulty is based on your foe’s
choice of their strength or dexterity.
Retrieve lets you take an item out of
your bag or backpack, and PCs require a
successful perception roll (NPCs always
succeed). The difficulty of this challenge
is usually standard—but it is easy if you
left the item at the top of your backpack,
and hard if it’s buried near the bottom.
Stunt allows you to perform various
special maneuvers such as pin, shove, or
intimidate. You can roll either dexterity,
strength, or charisma for this challenge,
depending on the type of effect you wish
to inflict upon your opponent.

29
 SIMPLE ACTIONS
These actions are always taken on your
turn (even when treated as swift actions,
unless explicitly stated otherwise). They
never require a roll to perform:
Aim grants you a bonus to your next
ranged attack this turn, and a penalty to
evade (i.e., “vulnerable”) until the start of
your next turn. Treat as a swift action if
you don’t move on the same turn.
Cast lets you cast a spell or activate a
device using freeform knacks. PC only.
Dash must be performed before you
move. It doubles your movement speed
for the turn. You can stack multiple dash
actions—speed 3 becomes speed 6 with a
single dash, speed 12 with double dash,
speed 24 with a triple dash, etc.
Frenzy provides a bonus to your next
melee attack this turn, but also a penalty
to parry until the start of your next turn.
Treat as a swift action if you’re wielding
a large melee weapon in both hands. If
you’re using frenzy, you cannot also use
guard—they are mutually exclusive.

30
 Guard grants a bonus to parry and a
penalty to melee attacks. Declare before
taking a standard action, the effects last
until the start of your next turn. Treat as
a swift action if holding a small shield. If
you are using guard, you cannot also use
frenzy—they are mutually exclusive.
Mount allows you to climb onto your
mount—or dismount, if already riding.
Prepare lets you wait and strike at a
moment’s notice. You need to downgrade
your standard action to a simple action
before using prepare. Once prepared, you
may make a single swift strike (as a swift
action) any time before the start of your
next turn—even interrupting an enemy
during their turn! This swift strike may
be any type of attack or stunt. PC only.
Protect lets you defend nearby allies
until the beginning of your next turn, as
clarified on page 63. If protect is turned
into a swift action, you may use it at any
time during a round—even after the ally
fails a defense roll, letting you interrupt
and retroactively protect them! PC only.

31
 Quaff allows you to imbibe a magical
potion, swallow an antidote, etc.
Ready lets you draw, conjure, or pick
up weapons in one or both hands. Treat
as a swift action to ready a single small
weapon (not a shield)—or as a free action
for throwing weapons (see page 69).
Recover lets you remove the stunned
condition (see page 61).
Reload allows you to reload powerful
ranged weapons (see page 67). Treat as a
swift action if you reload a single small
weapon. Black powder weapons require
three reload actions! This is a free action
for non-powerful ranged weapons.
Retreat prevents you from provoking
any swift strikes when disengaging from
close combat. This benefit lasts until the
start of your next turn. If a knack or
other ability lets you retreat as a swift
action, you can do so before disengaging,
even when it’s not your turn.
Stand allows you to get back to your
feet from a prone position. Treat this as
a swift action if you’re unarmored.

32
 SWIFT ACTIONS
These actions can be taken immediately
whenever their trigger condition is met,
even if it’s not currently your turn:
Charge performs a melee attack after
moving at least 3 strides in a straight line
toward a foe while using a double dash.
This ends your movement for the turn.
Rush allows a “slow” PC to act “fast”
for one round (see page 49). Declare this
action during the fast phase. PC only.
Sprint doubles your movement speed
this turn. You need to perform a double
dash to trigger this action.
Swift strike grants you an immediate
attack or stunt under certain conditions.
Anyone can use swift strike for a melee
attack (or a narratively justifiable stunt)
against a foe who disengages from close
combat—and if multiple foes disengage,
they are all “valid targets” (see page 53).
Strike knacks and some weapons permit
swift strikes in other situations, but you
can only make one swift strike per round
for each trigger condition.

33
 F REE ACTIONS
Some activities can be performed freely,
without rolling or using up any actions.
However, they must still be declared and
resolved on the character’s turn:
Drop lets you drop things from your
hands onto the ground.
Fall allows you to fall prone. You can
even use this to dismount, although it is
far riskier than the “mount” action!
Release lets you release someone you
are holding with a pin stunt.
Sheathe lets you safely put away your
weapons. For gameplay reasons, sheathe
is considered a free action.
Talk lets you whisper, speak, or shout
a few sentences—or issue a command!

NEW ACTIONS
If the need for further actions comes up
during play, the GM can either expand
an existing action, or come up with a new
standard, simple, swift, or free action.
Try to avoid adding too many simple
actions, as this can devalue knacks.

34
MOVEMENT

35
DISTANCES
Distances in Tricube Tactics are given in
“strides,” each representing roughly two
long steps from an average-sized person
in the setting. For calculating real-world
distances, treat each stride as two yards
(if you prefer imperial measurements) or
two meters (if you use metric). The scale
can be changed to fit settings where PCs
are particularly large (e.g., piloting giant
mechs) or small (e.g., tiny insects).

MOVEMENT SPEED
Most characters have a movement speed
of “3”—they can walk up to three strides
per round, dash two (or four) times that
distance, or sprint eight times as far (i.e.,
up to 24 strides in a 6-second round).
Some creatures may have a higher or
lower movement speed. For example, an
alligator might have a speed of 2, while a
typical horse would have a speed of 4.
Movement speed can be reduced due
to encumbrance or armor—or increased
with a movement knack (see page 94).

36
ENCUMBRANCE & A RMOR
There might be some situations where a
character is overly encumbered, perhaps
due to carrying excessive loot or a fallen
comrade. In such cases, this character is
classified as “encumbered”—reduce their
movement speed by 1.
Regular gear within the scope of the
character’s concept won’t usually impact
movement speed unless explicitly stated
otherwise in the rules (e.g., heavy ranged
weapons make you “encumbered”).
A character who is “heavily armored”
also reduces their movement speed by 1,
or by 2 if they are “encumbered” as well.

37
TERRAIN
Some terrain is difficult and/or hazardous
to cross. If you’re playing on a grid, only
leaving a square counts as “crossing” it.
Difficult terrain costs twice as much
movement to cross (i.e., each stride costs
two movement)—or four times as much
when sprinting. Climbing, crawling, and
swimming are also considered “difficult
terrain” for gameplay purposes.
Hazardous terrain can be dangerous
to cross or enter, requiring a successful
athletics challenge. If a player fails, they
have to choose between tripping over (i.e.,
fall prone) or suffering fatigue (i.e., lose 1
resolve). The challenge difficulty is easy,
increased to standard if they’re using the
dash action, and hard when they sprint.
If the player rolls a critical failure, they
suffer both drawbacks (i.e., lose 1 resolve
and fall prone). Only one roll per turn is
required for hazardous terrain, even if a
PC crosses (or enters) lots of it. As NPCs
do not roll dice, they automatically lose 1
resolve—or fall prone, if not already.

38
 BATTLE M APS
The default approach to movement is to
push miniature figurines around a battle
map. If your maps have grids, characters
can move one square (or hex) diagonally
or orthogonally per stride. If your maps
don’t have grids you can use a ruler; each
character moves 1" (2½ cm) per stride.
Distances for ranged weapons can be
calculated the same way as movement.

FIGURINE SIZE
Size 1 characters use figurines with a 1"
diameter base, size 2 uses a 2" diameter
base, etc. Quadrupeds use a double base
if bigger than a human (e.g., a size 1 dog
is only 1"x1", but a size 1 horse is 1"x2").

LINE OF SIGHT
When using a battle map, it’s sometimes
necessary to measure line of sight, to see
if it is possible to attack. If you can draw
an uninterrupted straight line from any
point on the attacker to any part of their
opponent, they can make an attack.

39
CHARACTER FACING
All characters are assumed to be moving
and turning during combat. There is no
concept of “facing” in Tricube Tactics.

O CCUPYING S QUARES
Two characters cannot occupy the same
square. A character may pass through an
occupied square if the occupant permits
it or is prone, but they cannot end their
movement in the occupied square. The
exceptions are mounted characters (who
occupy their mount’s squares) and size 0
characters (who don’t occupy squares).

40
 ABSTRACT ZONES
Another way to handle movement is to
divide the battlefield into large “zones,”
either by drawing boundary lines onto a
gridless battle map, or by laying a series
of cards out on the table, with each card
representing a different zone.

MOVING WITHIN A ZONE

Each character starts within a zone. You
can freely engage in close combat with
someone within your zone, or disengage
from close combat, or both, using your
normal movement for the turn.
It is possible to have multiple melee
engagements within each zone. The GM
can also group foes together within the
same engagement—so that if you engage
one, you engage the others as well.

MOVING BETWEEN ZONES

You can move to an adjacent zone using
the dash action. Each additional dash (or
sprint) doubles the number of zones you
move (e.g., dash/dash/sprint is 4 zones).

41
ABSTRACT DISTANCES
When you are playing on a battle map,
movement speed can easily be converted
from strides to squares, hexes, or inches.
However, when playing without a battle
map, movement is more abstract—there
is no need to track (or deal with) strides.
Instead, the character’s movement speed
affects their dash actions, as follows:
Speed 1 means you cannot dash more
than once per turn, and each dash action
costs two simple actions to perform.
Speed 2 means you cannot dash more
than once per turn.
Speed 3 has no special rules.
Speed 4 means you can dash once per
turn as a swift action.
Speed 5 means you can dash once per
turn as a free action.
Speed 6 means you can dash once per
turn as a free action—and dash a second
time each turn as a swift action!
Note that someone with a dash action
knack (see page 89) can stack its benefits
with the above rules as usual.

42
ZONE RANGES
Making ranged attacks against someone
within your zone is considered range 3,
while shooting a foe in an adjacent zone
is considered range 6. Every additional
zone adds a further 6 to the range—for
example, shooting someone three zones
away would be considered range 18.

INTERESTING F EATURES
Give your zones inspirational names for
the players to reference during play, and
try to give every zone a few interesting
details, such as cover or concealment, or
difficult terrain (requiring twice as long
to cross). Perhaps a “high balcony” zone
requires an athletics challenge to reach,
and maybe a “rickety bridge” zone has a
1 in 6 chance of collapsing into a chasm
at the end of each round.
Other features might just be narrative
devices that players can incorporate into
the descriptions of their rolls (balconies,
bars, chandeliers, etc) or tie in with their
use of perks, quirks, and knacks.

43
 RANGE BANDS
If you prefer to use abstract positioning
instead of maps or zones, each character
can be placed in a range band relative to
the foe they’re attacking. There are three
bands for close combat (immediate, near,
and far), and distant for longer ranges.

CLOSE COMBAT
A character who is immediate, near, or far
from their opponent is able to engage in
close combat on their turn.
Immediate indicates distances of up
to three strides. You can freely engage or
disengage any opponent in close combat
if you wish.
Near represents distances of up to six
strides. You can move to immediate for
free, but you need to dash if you wish to
engage in close combat the same turn.
Far represents distances of up to 12
strides. You can dash to near, or double
dash to reach immediate. If you charge,
you can move to immediate and engage
in close combat the same turn.

44
DISTANT COMBAT
A character who is distant can perform a
ranged attack or move toward their foe,
but they cannot make a melee attack this
turn (unless their speed is very high).
Distant is followed by a number (e.g.,
“distant 1,” “distant 2,” etc), representing
multiples of 24 strides (i.e., “distant 1” is
24 strides, “distant 2” is 48 strides, and so
on). If you sprint on your turn, you’ll
move one step closer (e.g., “distant 3” to
“distant 2”). If you start a turn at “distant
1,” you can double dash to far, or sprint
to reach either near or immediate.

ABSTRACT DISTANCES
Range bands also use the same “abstract
distances” as abstract zones—with speed
affecting dash actions (see page 42).

RANGED ATTACKS
When performing a ranged attack, treat
immediate as 3 strides, near as 6 strides,
far as 12 strides, “distant 1” as 24 strides,
“distant 2” as 48 strides, and so on.

45
WITHDRAWING
Withdrawing works much the same way
as approaching your opponent.
If you’re at immediate, you can freely
disengage from melee or move to near,
but you will have to dash if you want to
disengage and move to near on the same
turn. You can also double dash to far, or
sprint to “distant 1.”
If you’re near, you can dash to far or
sprint to reach “distant 1.”
If you’re far, you will need to double
dash to reach “distant 1.”

SLOW CHARACTERS
A character with a movement speed of 2
requires two full turns to move a distant
step, while a character with a movement
speed of 1 needs 3 full turns—they can’t
take any other actions on these turns.

NPC MOVEMENT
The same rules apply when an opponent
actively approaches (or withdraws from)
the PC on their turn.

46
COMBAT

47
 INITIATIVE
Combat in Tricube Tactics is divided up
into a series of “rounds,” each of which
represents a short period of time. This is
typically six seconds for a normal melee
encounter or gunfight, but might be far
longer for a naval or starship battle.
At the beginning of the combat, each
player makes a reflexes challenge. On a
success they act “fast” (before the NPCs)
every round, while on a failure they act
“slow” (after the NPCs) every round.
Each character has a turn each round.
Thus any reference to someone’s “turn”
indicates the part of a round when that
character can move and take standard or
simple actions. Only swift actions can be
taken outside of a character’s turn.

CHALLENGE DIFFICULTY
Initiative is usually a standard difficulty
challenge, but it becomes easy if the PCs
manage to surprise or ambush their foes
without being spotted—and hard if they
are the ones surprised or ambushed.

48
E XCEPTIONAL SUCCESS
If the player rolls an exceptional success,
they can also act in the “surprise round.”
This is an extra round that takes place
before regular combat begins.

CRITICAL FAILURE
If the player rolls a critical failure, they
will also lose their standard action in the
first round. They can still move and take
their simple and swift actions as usual.

DELAYING & RUSHING

A player who acts fast has the option of
delaying until after the NPCs, effectively
acting slow for the current round.
Conversely, players who act slow can
rush their turn as a swift action, letting
them act fast for the current round.

NPC TURNS
Some NPCs are extremely fast, and can
act in the “surprise round.” Some NPCs
are particularly slow, and they lose their
standard action for their first turn.

49
TURN SEQUENCE
Each combat round is divided into three
phases: Fast goes first, then medium, and
finally slow. PCs always act in either the
fast or slow phase, and NPCs always act
in the medium phase. Note that minions
only move on their controller’s turn.
If multiple characters act in the same
phase, they have the option of resolving
their turns simultaneously if they wish.
For example, two players might wish to
approach and engage the enemy in close
combat before either attack, so that both
benefit from the “distracted” bonus.
If players disagree about who should
act first, the “Opposed Challenges” rule
from Tricube Tales applies—the PC with
the highest initiative roll can decide.
As all NPCs act in the same phase, the
GM can control them simultaneously as
well. Every PC targeted by one or more
NPC attacks or stunts will need to make
a single defensive roll at the end of the
medium phase. This is explained in the
“Defending” section (see page 62).

50
 ATTACKING
Characters have a threat range equal to
their size—so a PC with size 1 threatens
everyone within 1 stride. When playing
on a grid, they would threaten everyone
adjacent to them (including diagonally).
If you play without a grid, they’d instead
threaten everyone within 1".
When two characters are within each
other’s threat range, they are considered
to be “engaged” in close combat.
Attacks eliminate one effort token for
each die that equals or exceeds the foe’s
difficulty, the same as in Tricube Tales.

ATTACK RANGE
A character can perform a melee attack
against any opponent they threaten, and
a ranged attack at longer distances—but
they cannot use large ranged weapons to
attack someone who threatens them (i.e.,
who could hit them in close combat).
Mental attacks are treated like ranged
attacks (see page 70). Stunts can be made
at any narratively-justifiable range.

51
DISENGAGING
If two characters are “engaged” in close
combat, and one of them moves in such
a way that they no longer threaten their
foe (even if that foe still threatens them),
then the one who moves is considered to
be “disengaging” from close combat.
When a character disengages, anyone
who was previously engaged with them
may perform an immediate swift strike.
This is assumed to take place just before
the character moves (i.e., while they are
still within their foe’s threat range).
The same applies if an action or event
causes the character to stop threatening
their foe—for example, if they sheathe a
large weapon (while relying on its threat
range bonus), or if someone forces them
to leave threat range with an intimidate,
taunt, disarm, or shove stunt.
If someone moves without disengaging,
but their enemy no longer threatens them,
they automatically cease to be “engaged”
in close combat at the end of that turn.
This does not provoke a swift strike.

52
VALID TARGETS
When rolling an exceptional success for
an attack or stunt, a player may wish to
hit additional foes as well as the primary
opponent. This is possible as long as the
foes are all “valid targets”—meaning that
they could have been hit by the roll had
it targeted them originally. However, the
highest rolling die is always used against
the attacker’s primary opponent.
For example, if a player tries to hit an
opponent at difficulty 4, and they roll D
and E, they can use the D to hit a second
“valid target”—but the E must be used to
hit their primary opponent.
If a foe triggers a swift strike, they are
always the primary opponent, unless they
have already been eliminated.
In the case of attacks with single-shot
ranged weapons, hitting multiple targets
must be narratively justifiable.
A character may also move to expand
their list of “valid targets.” For example,
they could hit one foe, take a few strides,
and then hit someone else!

53
 EDGE MODIFIERS
When characters attack or defend, there
may be situational bonuses or penalties,
representing one combatant gaining an
edge over the other. Each bonus reduces
the difficulty of the roll by 1, while each
penalty increases the difficulty by 1.
The bonuses and penalties are listed
on the next two pages—five bonuses and
five penalties each for melee and ranged
attacks (mental uses the same modifiers
as ranged). If rolling to defend, bonuses
become penalties and vice versa. So you
suffer a penalty to parry or evade while
distracted, and you receive a bonus to
defend while heavily armored.
Three of the edge modifiers (frenzy,
guard, and aim) are applied when using
the simple actions of the same name.
Three of the edge modifiers (frenzy,
guard, and armored) count twice if they
apply to both attacker and defender (e.g.,
if the attacker and the defender are both
heavily armored, then the roll to attack
would be made at +2 difficulty).

54
MELEE BONUSES
When making melee attacks, you gain a
bonus from each of the following:
Distracted: Defender is distracted, or
within the threat range of one or more
enemies other than the attacker.
Frenzy: Attacker or defender is using
“frenzy” (counted twice if both use it).
Grappling: Defender is either pinned
or pinning someone else.
Prone: Defender is lying prone.
Unarmed: Defender is unarmed.

MELEE PENALTIES
When making melee attacks, you suffer a
penalty from each of the following:
Armored: Attacker/defender heavily
armored (counted twice if both attacker
and defender are heavily armored).
Concealed: Attacker unable to clearly
see the defender due to concealment.
Guard: Attacker or defender is using
“guard” (counted twice if both use it).
Off-hand: Attacker using off-hand.
Unarmed: Attacker is unarmed.

55
RANGED BONUSES
When making ranged attacks, you gain a
bonus from each of the following:
Aim: Attacker is using “aim.”
Distracted: Target is distracted.
No cover: Target is not using a shield,
is not prone, and isn’t behind any cover.
Short range: Target is at short range.
Vulnerable: Target is unable to duck
or dodge, or unaware they are in danger,
or they’re pinned, or they used the “aim”
action on their last turn.

RANGED PENALTIES
When making ranged attacks, you suffer
a penalty from each of the following:
Armored: Attacker or target heavily
armored (counted twice if both attacker
and target are heavily armored).
Concealed: Attacker unable to clearly
see the target due to concealment.
Heavy cover: Target is behind a large
shield and/or substantial cover.
Long range: Target is at long range.
Off-hand: Attacker using off-hand.

56
COVER & OBSTACLES
Cover represents physical obstacles that
prevent or deflect ranged attacks, and it
is classified as either heavy or light.
Heavy cover usually obscures at least
two-thirds of the target, giving attackers
a ranged penalty to their rolls.
Light cover usually obscures at least
one-third of the target, giving attackers
neither a penalty nor a bonus.
If less than one-third of the target is
obscured, then they have “no cover,” and
attackers receive a ranged bonus.
At the GM’s discretion, thin obstacles
(e.g., bushes, thin walls, etc.) may require
greater obscurement to provide cover.
Holding a large shield provides heavy
cover, while lying prone or using a small
shield provides light cover.

CONCEALMENT
If an enemy is extremely difficult to see,
perhaps due to camouflage, thick smoke,
tule fog, or darkness, attackers suffer the
“concealed” penalty to their rolls.

57
 STUNTS
These are performed as standard actions
or swift strikes. The character may pick
which trait to roll, and they choose one
effect for each success. They may apply
any additional effects (beyond the first) to
other “valid targets” if they wish.
Agile stunt: Roll dexterity to disarm,
blind, trip, or stun your foe.
Brawny stunt: Roll strength to pin,
shove, trip, or stun your foe.
Crafty stunt: Roll charisma to taunt,
intimidate, distract, or stun your foe.

BLIND
Temporarily blind your enemy, causing
them to suffer the “concealed” penalty to
attack until the end of their next turn.

DISARM
Knock one item from a foe’s hand. Put it
wherever you like within a distance from
them equal to your threat range. You can
pick this effect multiple times to disarm
more weapons—or double the distance.

58
DISTRACT
Opponent suffers the distracted penalty
until the end of their next turn.

INTIMIDATE
Scare your enemy! They will attempt to
move away from you on their next turn,
and they will even “dash” if possible—or
“sprint” if you apply this effect twice!
If your foe was previously angered by
the taunt stunt, intimidate overrides it.

59
PIN
Grapple a foe. Neither of you can move
unless you agree to move together (e.g., to
avoid a greater threat), or you choose to
release them (as a free action), or they’re
able to escape (as a standard action).
If one of you is shoved, the other will
automatically be moved as well.
If one character has a higher size than
the other, then the bigger one can move
normally, while the smaller character is
automatically moved with them.

SHOVE
Push, bash, or drive a foe 1 stride into an
unoccupied location of your choice. This
effect may be chosen multiple times.
If you try to shove a foe who is 1 or 2
sizes larger than you, this effect must be
selected two or three times respectively
in order to shove them 1 stride.
If you shove a foe who is smaller than
you, push them 1 extra stride per point
of size difference—e.g., a (size 1) human
pushes a (size 0) rat 2 strides per shove.

60
STUN
Cause the opponent to become stunned.
Stunned characters must use the recover
action before they’re allowed to take any
further actions that require a roll.

TAUNT
Anger your enemy! They will attempt to
attack you on their next turn—they will
move (and even “charge” if necessary) to
enter close combat. If they cannot reach
you, they may sprint toward you or even
make a ranged attack (GM’s discretion),
but they will ignore any other targets.
If your foe was previously scared by
the intimidate stunt, taunt overrides it.

TRIP
Trip, sweep, or knock an opponent over,
causing them to fall prone. A prone foe
may stand up again on their next turn as
a simple action—or as a swift action if
they are unencumbered.
When a mounted foe falls prone, they
also fall off their mount (see page 73).

61
 DEFENDING
Players have to make a single defense roll
at the end of the medium phase if they
were attacked by any NPCs: They’ll lose
1 resolve on a failure, and 2 on a critical
failure. In general, a player only rolls for
the most dangerous (i.e., highest difficulty)
attack—go by substyle as a tie-breaker.

OVERWHELMING ATTACKS
If a PC is attacked by three or more foes
at the same time, this is referred to as an
“overwhelming attack.”
They roll to defend as usual, but lose
0 resolve on an exceptional success, 1 on
a normal success, 2 on a normal failure,
and 3 resolve on a critical failure.

SWIFT STRIKES
Swift strikes are resolved separately, but
when a PC triggers multiple swift strikes
at the same time (e.g., withdrawing from
several foes), they only make one defense
roll. The “overwhelming attack” rule also
applies to swift strikes as usual.

62
DEFENSE AGAINST STUNTS
Players defend against stunts in the same
way as attacks, rolling the stunt’s subtrait
(i.e., dexterity, strength, or charisma).
PCs suffer one stunt effect if they fail
the roll (two on a critical failure). Against
an “overwhelming attack,” it is one effect
with a normal success, two on a normal
failure, and three on a critical failure.

PROTECTING A LLIES
If a player rolls an exceptional success to
defend in the medium phase, and they’re
using the protect action, they can help a
single ally within their threat range who
is also defending against an attack. This
does not work against swift strikes.
This causes the ally’s defense result to
improve by a step—from critical failure
to normal failure, from normal failure to
normal success, or from normal success
to exceptional success.
Note: If a player is not attacked in the
medium phase while using protect, they
may still roll to try and defend an ally.

63
 W EAPONS
Characters are usually assumed to have
appropriate equipment for their concept
and perks, but the appearance of the gear
is up to the player. One hero may draw a
dagger while another conjures a flaming
blade—but both work the same way.
A small melee weapon requires only
one hand to use. Large melee weapons
require both hands to use. Thrown melee
weapons all have a range of 3/6.
A small ranged weapon requires one
hand, and it has a range of 6/12. A large
ranged weapon requires two hands and
has a range of 12/24, but cannot be used
in close combat (see page 51).
Natural weapons needn’t be readied,
have a range of 3/6 (only if appropriate),
and suffer the unarmed penalty.
Heavily armored characters gain the
armored modifier, and they reduce their
movement speed by 1. Lightly armored
characters get a reduced wound severity
(see page 84) and unarmored characters
can stand as a swift action (see page 32).

64
W EAPON COMBINATIONS
When a character wields a large melee
weapon in both hands, they may frenzy
as a swift (rather than a simple) action,
and their threat range is doubled.
Someone wielding a small shield can
use guard as a swift (instead of a simple)
action, and they ignore the unarmed and
no cover penalties. Anyone using a large
shield gains heavy cover and ignores the
unarmed and no cover penalties.
A character dual-wielding two small
melee weapons may also guard as a swift
action. If they roll an exceptional success
to attack as a standard action while using
two small weapons of any type, and they
didn’t guard this turn, they may make an
immediate swift strike (as a swift action)
using the other hand. The type of attack
(melee, ranged, or mental) for this swift
strike depends on the weapon used, and
one attack suffers an off-hand penalty.
There’s no explicit benefit for using a
single small melee weapon in one hand,
other than it being faster to ready.

65
RANGED W EAPONS
Ranged weapons have two range values
(e.g., “12/24”). Any distance up to (and
including) the first value is “short range”
and gives the shooter a bonus; anything
beyond short range up to and including
the second value is “medium range," and
has no modifier; anything beyond that is
“long range,” which gives the shooter a
penalty. The maximum effective range is
at the GM’s discretion, but it should be
at least twice the medium range value.
Ranged weapons can also be assigned
one or more of the following attributes
(as long as they fit the setting): “firearm,”
“powerful,” “multishot,” and “heavy.”
For example, a pistol would be a one-
handed firearm, while a self bow would
just be two-handed. A sniper rifle might
be a powerful two-handed firearm, and a
submachine gun could be a multishot
two-handed firearm. A rocket launcher
might be a powerful, multishot (due to
the powerful explosion) and heavy two-
handed firearm!

66
 A modern or futuristic firearm is just
like any other ranged weapon, except its
range is doubled (i.e., 12/24 for small or
24/48 for large). These weapons tend to
be loud, flashy, and destructive.
A powerful weapon doubles its range
but requires reloading after every attack
roll. If an exceptional success triggers a
swift strike, the character must make an
immediate reload action before executing
a swift strike attack—and they’ll have to
reload again afterward! If the swift strike
is a stunt rather than an attack, it doesn’t
require a separate reload.
A multishot weapon halves its range,
but if the character rolls an exceptional
success when shooting it as a standard
action, they can perform an immediate
swift strike with the same weapon (as a
swift action). Should this weapon also be
powerful, the shooter can perform their
swift strike before reloading (i.e., they’ll
only need to make a single reload action
after executing both the standard action
attack and the swift strike).

67
 A heavy weapon must always be large
(requires two hands to use). It inflicts +1
damage (total, not per die) when the roll
succeeds while attacking as a standard
action, and it ignores the normal penalty
for attacking an armored foe. However,
the shooter can’t move and attack on the
same turn, and they are “encumbered” if
they carry the weapon around instead of
mounting it on a stand or vehicle.
Whenever the highest rolling die on a
ranged attack is 1+X or lower (where
“X” is the weapon’s attribute count), the
GM may introduce a collateral damage
complication, such as causing structural
damage or killing innocent bystanders.
For example, a bow with no attributes
could only cause collateral damage on a
critical failure, while an arbalest with
“powerful” and “heavy” could potentially
cause collateral damage on a 3 or less. A
rocket launcher with all four attributes
would cause collateral damage on a 5 or
less! Collateral damage doesn’t prevent a
successful attack roll from also hitting.

68
THROWN W EAPONS
Melee weapons can be thrown in much
the same way as shooting a small ranged
weapon, except with a range of 3/6. This
attack always uses the throw substyle.
A throwing weapon doubles its range
to 6/12 and treats ready as a free action,
but it becomes an improvised weapon in
close combat (if it is already improvised,
it cannot also be a throwing weapon).
An incendiary weapon explodes after
being thrown. If a character attacks as a
standard action and rolls an exceptional
success, they may perform an immediate
swift strike (as a swift action). Note that
these devices are highly destructive, and
they will almost always cause “collateral
damage,” regardless of the roll.
For example, a grenade is a throwing
incendiary weapon with a range of 6/12,
while a Molotov cocktail (an improvised
weapon) is an incendiary weapon with a
range of 3/6. A spear has a range of 3/6,
while a handful of shuriken (treated as a
single weapon) has a range of 6/12.

69
MENTAL W EAPONS
Mental weapons function in exactly the
same way as ranged weapons (including
edge modifiers). You must first ready the
weapon (unless you treat it as a natural
weapon), describe what it looks like, and
declare if it is small or large. It remains
readied until removed, and it receives all
the benefits and drawbacks of a physical
ranged weapon. It uses a mental combat
substyle for attack and defense rolls.
Readied mental weapons can be given
any ranged weapon attributes (“firearm,”
“powerful,” or “multishot”) permitted in
the setting except for “heavy.”
For example, a pyromancer can cause
one hand (small weapon) or both hands
(large weapon) to burst into flames, then
describe shooting fireballs at an enemy,
using the direct substyle to attack. They
could conjure a fiery sword or shield to
defend themselves in melee as well—but
those would use the melee combat style;
mental weapons only function as ranged
weapons, never as melee weapons.

70
W EAPON MODES
Some weapons may be usable in multiple
ways. For example, a bastard sword can
be wielded one-handed or two-handed,
while an assault rifle might be switched
between single-shot and burst mode.
As Tricube Tactics does not explicitly
track gear, switching weapon modes can
be handled in the same way as readying
a different weapon. For example, if you
are wielding a bastard sword as a “small”
one-handed melee weapon, you can use
the ready action to switch your grip and
wield the sword as a “large” two-handed
melee weapon instead.
The same approach can be used for a
boomerang—you can use a ready action
to catch it, as this would be no different
from readying another boomerang.

71
I MPROVISED W EAPONS
Characters lose a die for challenges that
fall completely outside the scope of their
concept, and that includes using certain
weapons (e.g., a fencer wielding a maul,
or an old wizard using a greatsword) or
fighting underwater or from horseback
without an appropriate concept.
Improvised weapons (i.e., objects that
are poorly balanced for combat, such as
chairs or lanterns) fall outside the scope
of most concepts. The same is true when
throwing a weapon that is not balanced
for throwing, using a two-handed sword
in just one hand, attacking with a shield,
or parrying with a ranged weapon.
If multiple conditions apply (e.g., the
fencer throws a maul one-handed from
horseback), they still only lose one die.
Someone with an improvised weapon
can also choose not to use it if they wish,
suffering the unarmed penalty to defend
instead of losing a die.
Note: For NPCs, reduce the challenge
difficulty instead (as they don’t roll).

72
MOUNTED COMBAT
If someone rides a mount, they gain its
movement speed (usually 4). However, if
they fall prone this indicates that they’ve
fallen off their mount—PCs have to roll
a standard athletics challenge or lose 1
resolve (2 on a critical failure); rolling an
exceptional success means they land on
their feet instead of falling prone. NPCs
always fall prone and lose 1 resolve.
The athletics challenge becomes easy
if the character didn’t move on their last
turn, or hard if they used the dash action
on their last turn. If they fall prone on
their turn (e.g., perhaps they deliberately
fall prone so they can dismount for free)
the difficulty is based on their current or
previous turn, whichever is higher.
Note that mounted combat generally
requires specialized training, and it falls
outside the scope of most concepts. This
means that most riders will lose one die
from their attack and defense rolls—but
concepts such as cowboys, knights, and
equites would not lose a die.

73
OFF‐H AND ATTACKS
In general, characters are assumed to be
attacking with their primary hand (even
if they apply some creative license to the
narrative). However, the character might
sometimes need to explicitly attack with
their off-hand—maybe due to an injury,
or because they’ve got something else in
their primary hand. Attacking with their
off-hand incurs a penalty to the roll.
This penalty doesn’t apply to unarmed
attacks, stunts, or defense rolls.

MULTIPLE LIMBS
Characters in certain settings may have
more than two limbs capable of wielding
weapons—whether they’re a four-armed
alien, a tentacled monster, or simply an
uplifted animal with a prehensile tail.
Additional limbs should be treated as
a narrative tool, offering no mechanical
benefits. Someone with four arms might
hold a large weapon and a shield, but for
gameplay purposes, they can only ready
a large weapon or a shield, never both.

74
 M INIONS
Minions are controlled by the player in
combat. They don’t have any attack rolls
of their own, nor do they need to make
defense rolls. Instead, whenever a player
makes their attack roll, they can choose
to direct some of their damage through a
minion (e.g., if the player makes a melee
attack and rolls three successes, but only
two are required to kill both foes within
their character’s threat range, they could
use the third success to eliminate another
foe beside their minion—narrating how
their minion defeated that opponent).
Similarly, if the player fails a defense
roll and one of their minions is also in a
threatened location, they can opt to let
the minion take the hit, eliminating the
minion token for the session. The token
is usually recovered next session (either
they recover, or they are replaced with a
new minion). At the GM’s discretion, it
may also be possible to recover a minion
token during a session, but this always
costs 1 karma per minion.

75
 Only one minion can take the hit for
any one defense roll. For example, when
the player fails a defense roll against an
overwhelming attack, they usually lose 2
resolve. They could choose to sacrifice a
minion and only lose 1 resolve, but they
cannot sacrifice two minion tokens.
The special exception is when minions
are threatened, but not the PC. As the PC
cannot be targeted, all of the damage is
diverted to the threatened minions—the
player loses one minion token for each
point of damage they receive.
Losing a minion token has no impact
on any perks that might be related to it.
For example, if the character has a “dog
companion” perk, and the minion token
representing the dog is eliminated, it just
means the player can no longer use that
minion token in combat—the dog might
be described as being hurt or scared, to
explain why the minion token cannot be
used in combat, but the dog would still
be alive, and the character could still use
their perk as normal.

76
ACTIONS & MOVEMENT
Minions cannot take any actions of their
own, but they can move on their owner’s
turn. They can move as far as the owner
(modified by any actions that turn—e.g.,
if you dash to increase your speed to 6,
then your minions can also move 6).
Difficult terrain will slow minions as
usual, but they ignore hazardous terrain.

77
THREAT RANGE
Although minions don’t make their own
attacks, they do still count as combatants
for the purpose of threat range. As such,
whenever a character performs a melee
attack against a target who is also being
threatened by a minion, they receive the
distracted bonus.
Players can also perform swift strikes
through their minions—as if the minion
were an extension of the character. For
example, if a foe disengages from close
combat with a minion, the player could
use a swift action to make a swift strike
from that minion’s location and narrate
it as the minion making an attack.
Whenever a minion disengages from
close combat (or triggers a strike knack
while entering the threat range of a foe),
resolve the swift strike against them as if
it were being made against the PC (i.e.,
the player makes a defense roll)—but all
damage from this swift strike should be
applied to the minion instead of the PC,
as it was the minion who triggered it.

78
RANGED FIGHTERS
Minions are treated as melee fighters by
default, but if a player wants to explicitly
nominate one or more of their minions
as “ranged fighters,” they may do so (this
is specified on the player’s turn and may
be changed on a turn-by-turn basis).
A ranged fighter no longer threatens
foes in close combat and cannot be used
to attack foes who threaten or disengage
from them in close combat. However, the
player can attack anyone else within this
minion’s direct line of sight.

TROOP COMMANDER
Some characters might prefer to take on
the role of commander, ordering troops
around a battlefield instead of personally
engaging in combat with the enemy.
In gameplay terms, this character still
needs to ready a mental weapon before
making attacks, but they use the indirect
substyle for their attack rolls, and all the
attacks are launched from their minions’
locations rather than their own.

79
CRITICAL FAILURES
When a player rolls a critical failure on a
defense roll, and their minion could also
be attacked, the damage is automatically
shared—the minion token is eliminated,
and the PC suffers all remaining damage
(usually 1 resolve, but 2 in the case of an
overwhelming attack). If the player has
multiple minions, they can decide which
one is eliminated. However, they cannot
divert any further damage to minions.
In situations where the PC cannot be
directly attacked (i.e., the defense roll was
on behalf of their minions), all damage is
diverted to threatened minions, even on
a critical failure.

POWERFUL M INIONS
If a player wishes to have one powerful
minion instead of multiple smaller ones,
then they can always assign that minion
multiple tokens (e.g., instead of using two
minion tokens to represent two separate
hunting dogs, both minion tokens might
represent a single warhorse).

80
 A FFLICTIONS
When a PC is reduced to 0 resolve, they
are automatically restored to full resolve
and suffer an affliction. They must then
roll an endurance challenge (for physical
damage) or an intellect challenge (when
resisting mental damage). The difficulty
of this challenge is easy if the PC has 1
affliction (including the one they’ve just
received), standard for 2 afflictions, and
hard for 3 afflictions. If the PC suffers a
permanent affliction, then the difficulty
of this challenge is always hard.
If a PC succeeds at the above challenge
(and they’ve not exceeded the limit of 3
afflictions), they’re “stunned”—they have
to use the recover action before they can
take any further actions requiring a roll.
On an exceptional success, the PC is not
even stunned! If they fail, they are out of
the fight—they could be unconscious, or
incapacitated, or even fleeing in terror.
If the PC rolls a critical failure against
a permanent affliction, then the affliction
becomes fatal (see “Instant Death”).

81
INSTANT DEATH
When the character suffers a permanent
affliction, and they roll a critical failure
for the brawny or crafty challenge, they
instantly die (or are immediately retired
from play if that makes more sense).
For gameplay purposes, treat this the
same as any other permanent affliction;
specific perks might be able to remove it!
For example, “troll heritage” may allow a
character to regenerate a “severed head”
affliction (as long it wasn’t caused by fire
or acid), and a cleric with “divine magic”
could possibly resurrect a dead ally.
As always, it costs permanent karma to
remove a permanent affliction.

STARTING OVER
If a character is retired from play due to
afflictions (either from having too many,
or from a fatal permanent affliction they
cannot remove), the player must create a
new character. This new character starts
with one fewer advance than the player’s
previous character (if they had any).

82
RECOVERY
Afflictions can be removed using karma
and appropriate perks, or they take time
to heal naturally. Recovery time is based
on severity—when a character suffers an
affliction, roll for the severity and (if you
wish) location, narrating accordingly.
The severity provides an approximate
recovery time, and it can be used to help
describe injuries. An affliction that only
lasts “minutes” is very minor and usually
goes away after the fight, while injuries
that require “weeks” or “months” to heal
could represent torn ligaments, broken
bones, or damaged nerves. An affliction
with a recovery time in “years” would be
extremely serious, and it should probably
require long-term therapy.
The location is purely for descriptive
purposes, and can be skipped for mental
damage, or if the location can be implied
through the narrative of the attack. The
GM can also choose a hit location if they
prefer—the random table is intended for
inspiration and is purely optional.

83
WOUND SEVERITY
Roll d6 to determine severity. Lightly or
heavily armored victims should roll 2d6
and use the lowest rolling die.
Recovery time is measured in...
A Minutes B Hours C Days
D Weeks E Months F Years

H IT LOCATIONS
Roll 2d6 to determine a hit location. The
first die indicates the region (head, body,
arm, or leg), and the second die indicates
the precise area (e.g., nose, groin, etc).
A Head
A Forehead B Left eye C Right eye
D Nose E Mouth F Cheek
B Body
A Neck B Chest C Abdomen
D Left side E Right side F Groin
C Left arm D Right arm
A Shoulder B Elbow C Upper arm
D Forearm E Wrist F Hand
E Left leg F Right leg
A Hip B Knee C Upper leg
D Lower leg E Ankle F Foot

84
 E XAMPLE
A brawny dwarven battle priest and an agile
elven ranger ambush a massive ogre and two
orcs while exploring some catacombs.
GM: You ambush your foes, so roll an
easy reflexes challenge for initiative.
Elf: D E B—an exceptional success! I
get to act in the surprise round.
Dwarf: C A is a failure, typical.
GM: The orcs and ogre are standing
about six strides away. You readied your
weapons earlier, so what now?
Elf: For the surprise round, I aim as a
simple action, then shoot the ogre—D C
C. I get bonuses for “aim,” “short range,”
and “no cover,” meaning three successes!
I eliminate 3 of his 4 effort tokens with a
well-aimed shot to the back.
GM: The ogre roars in pain! All three
of your opponents turn to face you.
Elf: I get to act again! I’ll aim and fire
once more—E D B, so I shoot an arrow
into the ogre’s throat, killing him. I’ll use
the remaining D to strike an orc with a
second arrow, injuring him.

85
 Dwarf: Hey, leave some for me!
GM: You can always use “rush” if you
want to act before the orcs.
Dwarf: Nah, I want to save my swift
action, in case I get the chance to use my
counterattack knack.
GM: Fair enough! The orcs draw axes
and dash at you. You’ll both need to roll
parry at standard difficulty.
Elf: Not good. My bow is considered
an improvised weapon in melee combat,
so I’d prefer to dodge. But the unarmed
edge modifier increases the difficulty to
hard—and C B is a failure, so I stumble
back bleeding, and lose 1 resolve.
Dwarf: YES! C E E is an exceptional
success! I block, then counterattack as a
swift action—C B E kills the hurt orc.
GM: That leaves one lone orc, and it’s
now the slow phase. Your turn.
Dwarf: Excellent! In that case, I’ll use
frenzy and swing my axe at the final orc.
F B D! I unleash a fearsome war cry as I
decapitate the orc, my blow sending his
head spinning through the air.

86
KNACKS

87
W HAT A RE KNACKS?
Knacks are special abilities that provide
mechanical advantages. Players can take
new knacks as they advance—they select
the type and make up a suitable name.
These options should thematically fit
the existing capabilities of the character.
For example, it would be reasonable for
an elderly wizard to take “teleportation,”
but probably not a thief. However, a thief
could reasonably take a “parkour” knack,
while the elderly wizard could not. Both
knacks give the same mechanical benefit
(allowing the character to ignore terrain
penalties), but they wouldn’t apply in all
situations—for example, teleportation is
not going to work if the wizard is inside
an anti-magic zone!
Likewise, a monk might have “arrow
catching” (strike knack) which would let
them deflect thrown weapons, but they
probably couldn’t stop bullets (unless it’s
a superhero setting). But an interstellar
knight could use such a knack to deflect
energy blasts with their laser sword!

88
 ACTION KNACKS
These allow a character to perform one
specific type of simple action as a swift
action. For example, “quick draw” could
mean you can ready weapons as a swift
action, “intuitive aim” might let you aim
as a swift action, “natural runner” could
let you dash as a swift action, etc.
Each action knack can be used once
per round, but you can’t have more than
one knack for the same type of action.
However, if another (non-knack) ability
also reduces that action to a swift action,
you’re able to perform it once per round
for free without expending any actions.
For example, “shield mastery” might let
you guard as a swift action, but because
small shields already allow you to guard
as a swift action, you could guard with a
small shield as a free action!
Note: Simple actions must always be
performed on your turn, even if a knack
or other ability lets you resolve them as a
swift (or free) action—unless explicitly
stated otherwise (e.g., “retreat”).

89
 EDGE KNACKS
These abilities are split into three types:
“melee,” “ranged,” and “negate.” You can’t
use more than one melee or ranged edge
knack for the same roll, but you can use
multiple negate edge knacks for a single
roll. Note that edge knacks only apply to
“edge modifiers” (see page 54).
A melee edge knack will double one
specific melee bonus, so the difficulty is
lowered by 2 instead of 1. For example,
“berserker” doubles the melee bonus for
attacking with frenzy.
A ranged edge knack will double one
specific ranged bonus, so the difficulty is
lowered by 2 instead of 1. For example,
“point blank shot” doubles the bonus for
making a ranged attack at short range.
A negate edge knack will completely
eliminate all applications of one specific
penalty. For example, “sixth sense” could
eliminate the distracted penalty in both
melee and ranged combat—even if a foe
has doubled the normal penalty by using
a “sneak attack” knack!

90
 Note that edge knacks do not double
the bonus or eliminate the penalty from
someone else using the frenzy or guard
actions, or someone else being armored.
For example, you can take an “aggressive
warrior” knack to eliminate the penalty
for your own use of frenzy, but the knack
will not eliminate the penalty you suffer
for defending against someone else using
frenzy—similarly, the “defensive expert”
knack may double your guard bonus, but
it provides no additional benefits if your
opponent uses the guard action.

91
 F REEFORM KNACKS
A freeform knack must be thematically
tied to a specific perk (usually a magical
one), and it allows the character to grant
temporary knacks or conjure temporary
minions for the scene by using the “cast”
action and spending karma.
It costs 1 karma to grant a temporary
knack, and the target cannot be granted
more temporary knacks at any one time
than the caster has freeform knacks. The
target may pay the 1 karma if they wish,
otherwise the caster must pay.
If the linked perk (i.e., the one tied to
the knack) could reasonably be used to
aid other people (e.g., magic that blesses
allies), then the temporary knack may be
given to multiple targets simultaneously
with a single “cast” action—however, in
this case, all targets gain the exact same
knack, and it costs 1 karma per target.
If the character has multiple freeform
knacks with exactly the same name, they
can create multiple temporary knacks or
minions with a single “cast” action.

92
 A temporary minion costs 1 karma to
conjure and works exactly like a regular
minion, but it doesn’t count toward the
target’s maximum number of minions. A
temporary minion vanishes at the end of
the scene if the target is still above their
maximum number of minions. If they’re
at or below their maximum, the minion
may be kept as a regular minion token.
For example, a zombie lord could use
a “necromancy” freeform knack to grant
themselves a temporary “unholy might”
reroll knack or summon a single zombie
minion—but not both at the same time,
unless they had “necromancy” twice (i.e.,
a double knack). If the zombie lord did
have double “necromancy,” he could also
choose to summon two zombie minions
for 2 karma using a single “cast” action,
so long as he had no other necromancy
spells currently in effect.
The caster can choose to immediately
end a freeform knack as a free action if
they prefer, rather than waiting for it to
expire at the end of the scene.

93
 MOVEMENT KNACKS
These abilities are split into three types:
“combat,” “speed,” and “terrain.”
A combat movement knack lets you
move a short distance after making any
successful attack, stunt, or defense roll: 1
stride on a normal success, and up to 2
strides on an exceptional success. Declare
and perform this movement immediately
after resolving the challenge roll.
Every combat movement knack must
specify a trait or combat style when first
taken. PCs can also have multiple combat
movement knacks, each of which can be
used once per round for different rolls.
This movement is in addition to the
character’s normal movement and does
not provoke a swift strike when used to
disengage from close combat. However,
a character cannot dash more than once
in the same round they use their combat
movement knack. For example, “nimble”
allows you to move once per round after
a successful melee roll (which might be a
standard attack, swift strike, or defense).

94
 A speed movement knack increases
the character’s movement speed by 1 for
one particular form of locomotion—e.g.,
“fleet-footed” increases movement speed
to 4 while on foot. A character may take
multiple speed movement knacks if they
cover different forms of locomotion, but
they don’t stack unless a setting explicitly
permits it (e.g., speedsters in a superhero
game, vampires in urban fantasy, etc).
A terrain movement knack lets the
character ignore difficult and hazardous
terrain, move through occupied squares
without permission, and enter someone’s
threat range without triggering any swift
strikes. They don’t become “engaged” by
moving past a foe, only if they attack (or
end their turn) while within each other’s
threat range. The movement must fit the
knack—e.g., “aquatic” applies when they
are swimming but not while climbing. To
take this knack, a character must have a
thematically fitting concept or perk—so
a mermaid could take “aquatic,” but not a
wood elf ranger with just an “alert” perk.

95
 REROLL KNACKS
These usually represent exceptional skill
or talent, and they allow players to reroll
a die after making a challenge roll for a
particular use of one specific subtrait or
substyle, which the player has to choose
when they first take the knack.
For example, “professional swimmer”
could be used for any athletics challenge
related to swimming, while “ace driver”
would allow the player to reroll reflexes
challenges related to driving.
After rolling the challenge, the player
may reroll one die of their choice—with
the following limitations:
1. They cannot reroll a “1.”
2. They must keep the new result.
3. A reroll is never a critical failure.
4. If multiple knacks would apply, they
may simultaneously reroll multiple dice,
but they cannot ever reroll a reroll. This
means a player can never use more reroll
knacks for a challenge than the number
of dice they rolled (e.g., if they rolled two
dice, they can use up to two knacks).

96
LIMITED S COPE
Reroll knacks always have a very limited
scope, and don’t apply to all uses of their
subtrait or substyle—for example, “keen
eyes (reroll: perception)” only applies to
perception rolls where vision could help
you, while “quiet (reroll: stealth)” would
only apply to a stealth roll where silence
is useful (e.g., sneaking up on someone).

97
 STRIKE KNACKS
These let the character perform a swift
strike whenever a specified condition is
triggered. If the condition is an attack or
defense roll, the swift strike is always the
same combat style (e.g., a mental attack
when defending against a mental attack)
or a narratively justifiable stunt (e.g., a
“shove” following a melee attack). If the
condition is a stunt, then the swift strike
is always the same trait of stunt (e.g., an
agile stunt triggers another agile stunt) or
a narratively justifiable attack (any type).
If the condition is an opponent entering
your threat range, then the swift strike is
a melee attack or any justifiable stunt.
Characters can make one swift strike
each round per trigger condition, each as
a swift action. For example, if three orcs
enter a knight’s threat range, the knight
can only make one swift strike. However,
all three orcs would be considered “valid
targets” (see page 53) for the swift strike,
meaning their opponent could hit any of
them (or all of them with a good roll).

98
TRIGGER CONDITIONS
Every strike knack must be given one of
the following trigger conditions, chosen
when the knack is first taken:
1. Exceptional success on an attack or
stunt roll when performed as a standard
action. Specify a trait (agile, brawny, or
crafty) or a combat style (melee, ranged,
or mental) for each knack. Everyone else
you can attack is also a “valid target.”
2. Exceptional success when defending
against an attack or stunt. Specify a trait
or a combat style for each knack. Other
foes who attack you at the same time are
also considered “valid targets.”
3. Someone enters your threat range
(from outside of it, without using a fitting
terrain movement knack). Any other foe
entering your threat range this round is
also considered a “valid target.”
Each character may perform no more
than one swift strike per round for each
trigger condition, even if the trait differs
or the swift strike isn’t from a knack (for
example, a multishot ranged weapon).

99
 E XAMPLES
Ace driver (reroll: reflexes)
Ambidextrous (negate edge: off-hand)
Armored tank (negate edge: armored)
Berserker (melee edge: frenzy)
Blind fighting (negate edge: concealed)
Bodyguard (action: protect)
Combat reflexes (action: recover)
Counterattack (strike: melee defense)
Expert shield block (reroll: parry)
First strike (strike: enter threat range)
Fleet-footed (speed movement)
Hardy (reroll: endurance)
Marksman (ranged edge: aim)
Martial artist (negate edge: unarmed)
Natural runner (action: dash)
Necromancy (freeform)
Nimble (combat movement: melee)
Parkour (terrain movement)
Quick draw (action: ready)
Rapid reload (action: reload)
Rapid shot (strike: ranged attack)
Shield mastery (action: guard)
Sixth sense (negate edge: distracted)
Swordmaster (reroll: armed)

100
ENEMIES

101
DESIGNING ENEMIES
As a rule of thumb, most enemies can be
defined as “weak,” “average,” “strong,” or
“elite.” These ratings should be assigned
relative to the setting, not the PCs.
For challenging fights, use 3-6 average
foes per PC. You can swap 1 average foe
for 3 weak foes, or 3 average foes for 1
strong foe—or 3 strong foes for 1 elite!
Rating Effort Difficulty
Weak 1 token 4
Average 2 tokens 5
Strong 3 tokens 6
Elite 4 tokens 7

EFFORT & DIFFICULTY

Effort indicates how many effort tokens
the NPC has, while difficulty is used for
challenge rolls against them. More effort
tokens can be added if the GM wants a
foe to be tougher, and the difficulty can
also be adjusted for any challenges that
the opponent is particularly good or bad
at—for example, an average ogre may be
difficulty 6 for brawny challenges.

102
SPEED RATING
Each enemy has a “speed” rating, which
represents their movement speed.

SIZE RATING
All creatures possess a “size” rating: 0 is
small, 1 is medium, 2 is large, 3 is huge,
4 is gargantuan, and 5 is colossal.
Size determines the area a character
covers on a battle map: 1" diameter (or 1
square on a grid) for a medium creature,
2" diameter (2x2 squares on a grid) for a
large creature, and so on. A quadrupedal
creature bigger than a human doubles its
length (e.g., a medium horse is 2" long
and 1" wide and fills 2 squares on a grid,
a large rhino is 4" long and 2" wide, etc).
Small (size 0) creatures are able to share
a space or square with other creatures.
A creature’s threat range is also based
on its size. A medium wolf can hit a foe
1" (or 1 square) away, while a large ettin
can hit a foe 2" (or 2 squares) away, and a
small cat can only hit someone within
the same space or square.

103
TRAIT & STYLE RATINGS
Foes can even be given difficulty ratings
for individual traits and combat styles if
so desired. In this case, list the difficulty
for agile, brawny, crafty, melee, ranged,
and mental challenges.
A GM may also wish to add athletics,
stealth, and perception—these subtraits
will often differ from their parent traits
when it comes to monsters (e.g., a weak
pixie may still be good at athletics, while
a stupid zombie would have no trouble
sensing prey using perception).

104
SPECIAL ABILITES
Enemies may also be given abilities that
work in a similar way to knacks:
Action abilities let an enemy perform
a specific simple action as a swift action,
exactly the same as an action knack.
Edge abilities function in exactly the
same way as edge knacks.
Immune abilities prevent this enemy
from suffering any damage from attacks
or other effects of the specified types.
Movement abilities work the same as
movement knacks as far as the “speed”
and “terrain” options are concerned, but
the “combat” option lets an enemy move
1 stride when a PC fails their challenge,
or 2 strides on a critical failure.
Strike abilities are like strike knacks.
If they have a defensive condition, they
are triggered if a PC attacks the enemy
but misses—and an offensive condition is
triggered by a PC’s failed defense roll.
Special abilities that define their own
unique rules are also possible, but these
should be kept simple and concise.

105
 BESTIARY
The rest of this chapter provides a small
selection of example enemies the heroes
may encounter during an adventure.

TACTICS
Each foe in the bestiary has an optional
“tactics” section listing different actions
they might take each round. Feel free to
ignore this section, or simply use it for
ideas and inspiration if you prefer.
To use the tactics table, players roll a
die on their opponent’s turn to see what
sort of action that foe will take.
The GM should apply this result in a
logical way—when a tactic isn’t possible
(e.g., a melee attack while the foe is too
far away to even charge, or pin while the
PC is already pinned), the enemy should
move (using dash if necessary) and then
switch to the next tactic on the table.
Similarly, the enemy wouldn’t usually
perform a ranged attack while already in
close combat with the PC, particularly if
that meant readying a different weapon.

106
COMMON SENSE RULINGS
There are no detailed write-ups for each
enemy, and it is left to the GM to apply
common sense when deciding what foes
can or cannot do, and how they react to
certain attacks. A living slime or swarm
of rats would fit through tiny openings,
will attack multiple targets, and wouldn’t
be intimidated by mere words (although
fire drives them off). Likewise, animated
skeletons do not have eyes, but they still
possess magical senses that should grant
them some form of vision.
If a creature is inspired by a movie or
an RPG setting, consider its capabilities
and powers in the source material.

U NDERLINGS
NPCs never have minion tokens, but an
enemy boss might have loyal henchmen
or bodyguards. These should be treated
the same way as normal NPCs. If a boss
can divert damage to an underling, then
this ability will be explicitly listed—e.g.,
the Death Lord (see page 110).

107
 BATTLE ROBOT
Effort Agile
2 5
Speed Stealth
3 4
Size
1 Brawny
6
Athletics
Melee 6
5
Ranged Crafty
6 4
Mental Perception
4 5

ABILITIES
Combat reflexes (action: recover)
Gripping feet (terrain movement)
Rapid fire (strike: ranged attack)

TACTICS
A Smash (brawny stunt: shove)
B Finger stab (melee attack)
C D Aim and shoot (ranged attack)
E F Shoot (ranged attack)

108
 CULTIST
Effort Agile
2 5
Speed Stealth
3 5
Size
1 Brawny
5
Athletics
Melee 5
5
Ranged Crafty
5 5
Mental Perception
5 5

ABILITIES
Fanatic (special: cannot be intimidated)
Opportunist (ranged edge: vulnerable)

TACTICS
A Villainous monologue (no effect)
B Dagger slash (melee attack)
C D Dark magic (mental attack)
E Diversion (crafty stunt: distract/stun)
F Scare (crafty stunt: intimidate)

109
 DEATH LORD
Effort Agile
6 5
Speed Stealth
3 4
Size
1 Brawny
7
Athletics
Melee 5
7
Ranged Crafty
6 7
Mental Perception
7 5

ABILITIES
Bone shield (special: redirects 1 damage
per attack roll to an adjacent skeleton)
Fearless (special: cannot be intimidated)
Lifesense (negate edge: concealed)

TACTICS
A Inspire dread (crafty stunt: intimidate)
B C Necromantic blast (mental attack)
D E F Swing sword (melee attack)

110
 DRAGON
Effort Agile
9 5
Speed Stealth
4 4
Size
4 Brawny
9
Athletics
Melee 6
7
Ranged Crafty
6 7
Mental Perception
7 7

ABILITIES
Claws and jaws (negate edge: unarmed)
Flight (terrain movement with speed 12)

TACTICS
A Roar (crafty stunt: intimidate)
B Tail lash (brawny stunt: shove/trip)
C Fiery breath (ranged attack)
D E Rending claws (melee attack)
F Bite (overwhelming melee attack)

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 ETTIN
Effort Agile
3 4
Speed Stealth
4 4
Size
2 Brawny
7
Athletics
Melee 6
6
Ranged Crafty
5 4
Mental Perception
4 6

ABILITIES
Scary (special: intimidate +1 difficulty)
Smash (strike: brawny stunt)
Two heads (negate edge: distracted)

TACTICS
A Hurl rock (ranged attack)
B C Swing axe (melee attack)
D E Body slam (brawny stunt: shove)
F War cry (crafty stunt: intimidate)

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 F UNGUS WARRIOR
Effort Agile
3 5
Speed Stealth
3 5
Size
1 Brawny
6
Athletics
Melee 5
5
Ranged Crafty
5 4
Mental Perception
4 5

ABILITIES
Blindsense (negate edge: concealed)
Deadly spores (strike: melee defense)
Long arms (special: threat range 2)

TACTICS
A Slam (brawny stunt: shove)
B Pummel (brawny stunt: stun)
C Sweep (brawny stunt: trip)
D E F Chop (melee attack)

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 GHOST
Effort Agile
2 5
Speed Stealth
3 8
Size
1 Brawny
5
Athletics
Melee 5
5
Ranged Crafty
6 6
Mental Perception
6 6

ABILITIES
Ethereal (immune: non-magic weapons)
Fast (special: act in the surprise round)
Incorporeal (terrain movement)

TACTICS
A Terrify (crafty stunt: intimidate)
B Push (brawny stunt: shove/stun)
C Trip (agile stunt: trip/stun)
D E F Throw object (ranged attack)

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 GIANT WORM
Effort Agile
9 4
Speed Stealth
4 3
Size
5 Brawny
9
Athletics
Melee 7
7
Ranged Crafty
7 4
Mental Perception
6 7

ABILITIES
Burrowing (terrain movement)
Gnashing jaws (negate edge: unarmed)
Tremorsense (negate edge: concealed)

TACTICS
A Tail lash (brawny stunt: trip)
B Tail sweep (brawny stunt: shove)
C D E Snapping jaws (melee attack)
F Swallow whole (melee attack)

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 LIVING SLIME
Effort Agile
6 6
Speed Stealth
2 6
Size
2 Brawny
6
Athletics
Melee 6
6
Ranged Crafty
4 4
Mental Perception
4 6

ABILITIES
Amorphous (immune: only vulnerable to
fire, cold, and lightning)
Natural swimmer (terrain movement)
Slimy tendrils (negate edge: unarmed)
Tremorsense (negate edge: concealed)

TACTICS
A B C Engulf (brawny stunt: pin)
D E F Consume (melee attack)

116
 RAT SWARM
Effort Agile
2 6
Speed Stealth
3 5
Size
1 Brawny
5
Athletics
Melee 6
5
Ranged Crafty
5 5
Mental Perception
6 6

ABILITIES
Gnashing teeth (negate edge: unarmed)
Keen scent (negate edge: concealed)
Natural climbers (terrain movement)
Natural swimmers (terrain movement)
Swarm (immune: only vulnerable to
attacks with an area-effect trapping)

TACTICS
A B C D E F Bites (melee attack)

117
 SHARK
Effort Agile
3 6
Speed Stealth
5 6
Size
1 Brawny
6
Athletics
Melee 6
5
Ranged Crafty
5 4
Mental Perception
4 6

ABILITIES
Aquatic (terrain movement)
Keen scent (negate edge: concealed)
Powerful jaws (negate edge: unarmed)

TACTICS
A Slam (brawny stunt: shove)
B Pummel (brawny stunt: stun)
C Clamping jaws (brawny stunt: pin)
D E F Bite (melee attack)

118
 SKELETON
Effort Agile
2 5
Speed Stealth
3 4
Size
1 Brawny
5
Athletics
Melee 5
5
Ranged Crafty
5 4
Mental Perception
5 5

ABILITIES
Fearless (special: cannot be intimidated)
Focused (special: cannot be taunted)
Lifesense (negate edge: concealed)

TACTICS
A Bash (brawny stunt: shove/stun)
B Knockdown (agile stunt: trip/stun)
C D E Swing sword (melee attack)
F Throw dagger (ranged attack)

119