The screen For the table¶
Everything a Narrator needs mid-sentence, on one page, in the order it gets asked for. Built for a phone propped behind a screen. Works with no signal.
Roll¶
How hard is it?¶
| Die | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| d4 | Easy |
| d6 | Moderate |
| d8 | Challenging |
| d12 | High difficulty |
| d20 | "Impossible" |
Both sides roll. Highest wins. A tie means both sides get something — and that happens 1 ÷ the larger die of the time, so it is common at the low end and rare at the high end. The full odds →
The four Canons¶
When a call is genuinely unclear, these decide it. Jeff's four, shortened for the table.
- Finality — the Narrator is the final arbiter.
- Fun — seek collaborative and fun solutions.
- Consistency — outcomes should be predictable. Even if they aren't predicted.
- Universality — whatever a player can do, all players can do. Corollary: whatever the players can do, enemies can do.
The three Skills¶
| Skill | Reach for it when |
|---|---|
| Body (Physical) | Strength, senses, fine motor skills, stamina |
| Mind (Mental) | Knowledge, memory, reasoning, aptitude |
| Soul (Spiritual) | Connection: intuition, empathy, persuasion, deception, nature |
If a player argues their approach fits a different Skill and the argument is good, it fits. That is the Canon of fun doing its job.
When you are stuck¶
- Say what they see, not what it means. Description before interpretation.
- Ask a player. "What does your character notice first?" costs nothing and buys a minute.
- Let the dice decide, then narrate backwards. Roll first, explain after.
- A tie is a gift. It is the one outcome where you get to say yes and.
- When in doubt, escalate the situation, not the difficulty.
Warm-up questions¶
Jeff's section. 100 Warmup Questions.md in his notes is already table-ready and belongs
here, one at a time, on a tap. It is not published yet, so this is a placeholder rather than
an invention — nothing in this section has been written for him.