The Opposition

Characters find themselves arrayed against a multitude of foes. People and creatures that stand against them use the following rules. Opposition is divided into NPCs - GM-controlled characters that behave similarly to player characters - and monsters - powerful foes that have deadly advantage during combat.

NPCs

Most sentient creatures are NPCs. They function as simplified versions of player characters. You should avoid any rolls or mechanics for an NPC that do not directly impact the characters.

If not otherwise noted, NPCs test against a TN of 7. Adjust the TN as needed to match the NPCs strengths and weaknesses. They have 2 AP. They do not have wounds, but instead fall unconscious or die when reduced to 0 Stamina. They may use an action to dodge 7 damage or parry damage equal to their weapon's TN.

Foes without Focus may not exert. They may attempt a gambit by testing with disadvantage.

Foes with Focus may exert as players do.

When running NPCs, be aware of the dangers of action economy! Numbers make all the difference in a fight.

Reaction

The fiction should inform enemy reactions. For a random result, have someone test Shine and consult the table below. Adjust the target number based on the opponent's disposition.

Morale

Very few creatures will fight to the death. Most will flee or surrender if they lose half their numbers or more than 2/3 of their health.

To let the dice decide, test Morale each round a single creature is at less than 2/3 of its health or a group of enemies has lost more than half of its forces. To test Morale, pick the character that dealt the most damage or had the most intimidating presence in the previous round and have them test their Shine. On a success, the enemy flees the battle.

Fleeing units may be chased - see Races & Chases.

NPC Stats

This is an example NPC stat block:

Skurling Fire-Belcher

A forest sprite made up of vines studded with smoldering seeds. Common where forest fires have crossed over from the Lower World.

Difficulty: Normal (-). Stam: 10. Armor: 1. Speed: 15.
Strengths: Immune to fire. Fast.
Weaknesses: Difficulty becomes Easy (+2) when doused with water.
Weapons: Fiery seed-pod (TN 13, D8 fire in 1 meter burst, 15 meter range), sharpened root (TN 11, D6 stabbing).
Personality: Chitters non-stop in a nonsense language. Entranced by any fire bigger than a bonfire. Enjoys things that smell good when burned.
Carrying: D6 fire-seeds, charred stinkroot.

Difficulty

All NPCs and Monsters have a difficulty. This is a modifier to the TN of all tests against them.

Stamina, Armor, Speed

These function identically to players. If an NPC is reduced to 0 Stamina, they are defeated.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Most creatures have some strengths and weaknesses that make encountering them interesting. GMs are encouraged to emphasize these traits, particularly to players attempting to gain an advantage during combat.

If a player wants to check for pre-existing knowledge, a skill might be used (Woodcraft, Cultures, Science, Astrology, etc). A successful roll might reveal one or two pieces of information about a creature.

Weapons and Spells

These are used as they would be with players. The NPC must make the listed Test to hit and has the same options and limitations that a player would.

Gambits

A NPC may use any Gambit by rolling their test with disadvantage. Some NPCs may be trained in certain Gambits (listed next to the test TN) and do not suffer disadvantage. Particularly impressive NPCs might even be able to perform multiple Gambits with a single attack!

If an NPC has Focus, they may spend it to use any Gambit, like players. Their trained Gambits do not cost focus.

Personality

These are suggestions for the GM how an NPC might behave. These are suggestions, not universal truths.

Carrying

What interesting things a player might find on the person of one of these creatures, be it by trade, theft, or murder.

Monsters

Certain horrifying creatures - monsters - use a different procedure during combat.

Instead of rolling Tests and taking actions as players do, monsters generate Threat each turn and spend it on monster attacks at any point during the round.

Monster Stats

Here is an example monster stat block

Tentacled Quigling

An enormous frog-like creature with four massive tentacles extending from its back. It unleashes a thunderous croak.

Difficulty: Hard (-2). Threat: 3. Stamina 35, Armor 3, Speed 10.
Strengths: Can breathe underwater, leap its Speed vertically. Its tentacles are very sticky. +1 Threat while it touches water.
Weaknesses: Endlessly hungry, vulnerable to fire.
Personality: Communicates only withs bone-shaking, belching croaks. Looks for the largest edible thing and tries to eat it. Prefers insects and slimes.
Carrying: A barrel's worth of quigling adhesive, D50 coins deep within its belly

Monster Attacks

Threat

Threat is the number of actions a monster may take during a combat round. Some monsters may have ways to generate additional Threat during combat.

Monsters spend Threat at any time before or after any player turn to perform actions as indicated by their monster attacks. In addition, monsters may spend 1 Threat to perform any of the following actions:

• Move their Speed.
• Defend, reducing damage by (10 - Difficulty).
• Force a player to re-roll a Test.

TODO: Example

Monster Attacks

Monster attacks always hit, though they may be dodged or parried as normal. Monster attacks that provide a buff are typically used at the beginning of a round of combat. Monsters should spend all of their Threat each round.

You may randomize monster attacks by rolling a die based on the monster's current Threat when you think the monster should take an action.

Creating Creatures

Description

Keep your description to 1-3 sentences. Focus on the immediate - what does the monster look, smell, sound like? What is it doing? Where can it typically be found? What are its most distinctive behaviors?

Difficulty

Difficulty represents how hard a NPC or monster is to hit and how difficult it is to resist their effects. It can be a very rough analogue to player level by using the table below.

Stamina and Armor

Combined, these two represent how long an enemy will be in the fight. We use an estimated 8 damage per round from a character to determine these ranges. Adjust Stamina or armor up or down a step to better fit the enemy fantasy.

Be cautious with armor values higher than 7 - this can lead to enemies that are untouchable by many characters. It should be accompanied by a commensurate weakness. More than 5 rounds of combat is probably too many.

Speed

The baseline Speed is 10. Very slow creatures might have as low as a 5, and very fast ones might be as high as 30 or even higher for highly specialized water or air travel.

List alternate speeds for different modes of travel, if applicable.

Strengths

List any strengths or interesting characteristics the creature has. Strengths should be both flavorful and mechanical. They can be open-ended and left to GM interpretation, or tightly specified. Every creature should have 1-3 strengths.

Here are some examples:

• Acute senses (sight, smell, hearing).
• Supernatural senses (can see magic, heat, emotions).
• Modes of transportation (can leap, burrow, fly, hold its breath).
• Environmental adaptation (resistant to heat, cold, acid).
• Stealth or camouflage.
• Poison or venom (though this can also be expressed via monster attacks).
• Resistant to magic, swords, or sweet words.
• A feat the creature favors (throwing trees, reading minds, boiling blood).
• Situations where the creature grows stronger (bonus Threat, Difficulty, or armor when bloodied, submerged, electrocuted).
• Spells that are always active or that the creature can cast outside of combat.
• Resistance to certain tests, granting disadvantage to the attacker.

Weaknesses

Like strengths, these can be as specific or vague as desired. Most creatures should have at least one weakness.

Here are some examples:

• Poor senses (sight, smell, hearing).
• Susceptibility to certain tests, granting advantage to the attacker.
• Situations where the creature grows weaker (reduced Threat, armor, or healing when on fire, in the light, carapace is broken).
• Vulnerability to magic, swords, or sweet words.
• Things the creature is scared of (loud noises, small children, disease).
• Things poisonous to the creature (water, metal, kindness).
• Locations or conditions the creature is bound by (the forest, the night, must be invited inside).
• Exploitable quirks of personality (greedy, gluttonous, sleepy)

Personality

List the most interesting aspects of interacting with this creature.

• What does it want?
• What does it fear?
• What is it likely to do when confronted?
• What tactics might it use in battle?
• Who does it hang out with?

Carrying

List some sample treasure or interesting things that might be harvested from the creature. More difficult creatures should have more interesting loot.

Creating NPCs

Weapons

List 1-3 weapons or abilities the NPC might use in combat. Consider whether any of the weapons should allow a Gambit.

To generate a TN for an NPC's weapon or ability, subtract their Difficulty from 10. Adjust up or down by 1-4 to account for special skill or adaptation.

The Skurling Fire-Belcher typically throws fiery seed-pods. Its Difficulty is 0, so a good TN would be 10. I adjusted it up to 13 to account for its skill in throwing the seeds.

Creating Monsters

Threat

For monsters, the most important stat to set is Threat. As Threat determines the number of actions a monster takes in combat, it is the best way to scale a monster's lethality. Generally, Threat should be set to the number of player characters who would face the creature in a fair fight, plus 1 or 2.

There are a few other levers you can adjust alongside Threat to make interesting monsters - Difficulty makes the monster easier or harder to hit and to avoid, and the monster attacks determine the monster's damage.

It is a good idea to add Threat modifiers as a strength or weakness. These give texture to the encounter and allow players to creatively adapt to the monster.

Monster Attacks

Each monster should have a variety of attacks that cost between 1 and 3 (or more!) Threat. Arrange the attacks by Threat. Ensure each monster has at least 1 attack that costs 1 Threat so they always have something to do, and should typically have 2 attacks of each Threat cost to make it easy to randomize attacks.

The following tables have example attacks divided up by category and suggested Threat cost. You can roll on the tables to create a horrifying creature or carefully pick. It's a good idea to have a spread of attacks on most creatures - some cheap, some expensive, some offensive, some more tactical or utilitarian.

In addition, you can use the following table of damage expressions to create your own monster attacks. It may seem like a lot of damage but remember - players have many ways to defend and a fairly large pool of Stamina.

Adjust attacks up a step if they are particularly severe and down a step if they have additional significant effect, such as area of effect or venom.

Quick

Brutal

Defensive

Magical

Debilitating

Tactical

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