Combat, harm and recovery¶
You already know how combat works, because it's the same roll as everything else: your Skill die against theirs, highest wins, and a tie means both sides get something.
What follows only answers the questions a fight raises that a locked door doesn't: how you get hurt, what happens when you can't go on, and how you come back. For who goes when, see Taking turns.
Stamina¶
Stamina is a ceiling on what you can roll. There are no hit points, and there is nothing to subtract.
You have a stamina track for each Skill: Body, Mind and Soul. It starts equal to the number of sides on that Skill's die.
When something costs you — a blow landed, an argument lost, a horror witnessed — you take one point of stamina in the Skill that suffered. Nothing else happens.
A stamina penalty caps your roll on that Skill. Roll higher than your ceiling and the result becomes your ceiling.
| Your Body die | Stamina lost | Ceiling | You roll a 6, you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| d8 | 0 | 8 | 6 |
| d8 | 2 | 6 | 6 |
| d8 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| d8 | 7 | 1 | 1 |
At zero stamina in any Skill you are out. Not dead — out. A fighter with a d20 Body and a d4 Soul is a fighter who can be talked out of the fight in four sentences.
Attacking¶
Both of you roll. You roll the Skill die that fits how you're fighting; they roll theirs.
- You win — you land it. They lose one stamina in the Skill they defended with.
- They win — the exchange goes against you, and you lose one stamina. A fight you are losing costs you something even on your own turn.
- A tie — both of you get something. You land it and they do.
A hard hit. Beat their roll by more than their die has sides, and it costs them two stamina instead of one. Beating a d4 by five is a hard hit; beating a d20 by five is just a hit.
Defending¶
You may defend as many times per round as you have actions left. Defence comes out of the same three actions as everything else, which is what makes being outnumbered frightening.
An attack you don't defend against simply lands. One stamina, straight off.
So three attackers against one defender is a real problem, and the answer isn't a special rule. It's the story: back into a doorway, put a table between you, or leave.
Leaving¶
You can always retreat. Say you're going, and you go.
The Narrator decides what it costs — the thing you came for, the ground you held, the person you were carrying — but not whether it works. Nobody gets a free swing at your back. A losing fight is a decision, not a trap.
Weapons¶
A weapon doesn't change the roll. It changes what winning looks like.
| Slashing — sword, axe | On a win, you may move the hit to a second enemy within reach |
| Piercing — spear, arrow, dagger | They lose one further stamina at the end of the round unless someone tends to it |
| Crushing — hammer, club, staff | Armour does not help them — see below |
Armour isn't a number. It's already in your Body die: a knight in good plate and a halfling who is impossible to catch can both be a d12, and each explains it their own way. Crushing weapons ignore that explanation — against a hammer, roll the die you would have had without the armour.
Hitting someone who can't fight back¶
Not everything is a contest. When they can't meaningfully resist, the Narrator rolls a Difficulty die instead of a Skill die:
| Situation | Narrator rolls |
|---|---|
| Asleep, bound, or unaware | d4 |
| Distracted but able to move | d6 |
| Moving, but not defending against you | d8 |
| Actually defending themselves | their Skill die |
What being out means¶
Out isn't a coma and it isn't a countdown. It's whatever the story says it is, chosen by the table from the Skill that broke:
| The Skill that hit zero | What that looks like |
|---|---|
| Body | Unconscious, winded, a leg that won't hold you |
| Mind | Overwhelmed, concussed, unable to hold a thought |
| Soul | Humiliated, broken, unable to face the room |
You can be carried, tied up, questioned, argued with, or left. You can't act.
The same goes for the people you fight. A defeated enemy is out, not dead: you can tie them up, haul them somewhere safe, wake them up to question them, or leave them to recover.
Nobody dies unless the table decides they do. Death is available — some stories need it — but it's a choice someone makes out loud, not the result of arithmetic.
Coming back¶
Stamina returns three ways, and each kind of hurt has its own kind of cure:
| Recovers | ||
|---|---|---|
| A moment's respite | 1 point in one Skill | Catching your breath, a word from a friend |
| A night's rest | All Body and Mind | Requires food and shelter |
| Care from someone | 1 point, any Skill | Medicine for Body, counsel for Mind, company for Soul |
Soul stamina doesn't come back on its own overnight. Someone has to give it to you. A night alone doesn't fix having been humiliated in front of people who matter.
Scars¶
When something ought to leave a mark, it leaves a mark — written on the character sheet, not tracked as a penalty.
It doesn't have to be punishing. If the moment doesn't call for a lasting disadvantage, make it something you can see: a wound, a scar, a burn. A scar is part of who someone is now. If the table wants it to carry weight, it lowers a ceiling by one. Most of the time it should simply be true about you.
What's not here¶
No grid, no flanking, no attacks of opportunity, no called shots, no critical-hit deck. No wound categories, no injury tables, no death saves. Each one would add a table to a game whose whole promise is that there are none. If your group wants them, they belong in an optional module.