Broken Moon is a rules-lite, classless, levelless roleplaying game built on the glorious, much discussed Into the Odd framework. It draws on elements of sci-fi, fantasy, dystopia, cartoon, anime, and other sick ass things. It was made to be a light-hearted kitchen-sink romp in a world of your design, but I’m a document not your mom. Do whatever. I don’t plan on focusing hard on narrative, that’ll come naturally.
Saves
A Save is a roll to avoid danger from a risky action or situation. Roll d20. If you roll equal or under the appropriate Ability Score you pass. 1 is always a success and 20 is always a failure.
Turns
Generally the Players take their turn before any enemies. If there is a risk of being surprised, characters must each roll a DFT Save or be unable to act on the first turn. On their turn, Players can act in any order they wish.
Actions
On their turn a character can move and perform an action. Attacks are detailed next, and for other risky actions the Referee calls for the character at risk to roll a Save. For example, attempting to trip an opponent might force them to pass a HRD Save to stay on their feet.
Attacks
An attacker rolls a die dictated by their weapon, and subtracts the opponent’s Armor score. Their attack causes this much Damage. Ranged weapons cannot be used in melee. Attacks that are Impaired, such as firing through cover, or fighting while grappled, roll d4 Damage regardless of weapon. Similarly, attacks that are Enhanced by a risky stunt or a helpless or vulnerable target roll d12 Damage.
Blast
Blast weapons cause Damage to all targets in an appropriate area, rolling separately for each. If in doubt as to how many targets are affected, roll the weapon’s Damage die.
Damage
When an individual takes Damage they lose that many HP. If they have no HP left, they are wounded, and any remaining Damage is removed from their HRD score. They must then pass a HRD Save to avoid Critical Damage.
Critical Damage
A character that takes Critical Damage is unable to take further action until they are tended to by an ally and have a Short Rest. If they are left for an hour without being tended to, they die.
Ability Score
If a character has their HRD score reduced to zero, they are dead. If their DFT or UND are reduced to zero the character is paralyzed or mentally broken respectively, and cannot act until they have a Full Rest.
Death
When a character dies the Player creates a new character and the Referee finds a
way to have them join the group as soon as possible. Here, quickness is required
over realism. Alternatively the Player may control a Hireling or Apprentice.
Magic and Magic Dice Magic Dice are d6s, unless otherwise stated by some shit you get later on. When casting spells you know, they get rolled. You can cast with as many dice as you have at once. On a roll of 3-6, they are spent for the day. The numbers are then used by the Referee to determine the spell's effectiveness based on your intentions. Things like damage, range, targets, etc are good candidates for determination with the Spell Dice Total. But Beware! If multiples on MD in a spell are rolled, horrible things may occur! The Referee will let you know about any unexpected effects.
Spells are a collection of magic words. If you learn spells, you can break up the words within it using conjunctions and such, or inject new words if you learn spell words specifically. Spell words can be mashed up and thrown around with other words and spells as you like. The effect of a casting of a spell is always negotiated and divined with dice and the Referee’s best judgment.
Reaction
When the group encounters another being, the character initiating contact must pass an UND Save to avoid an unfavorable first reaction. Some encounters are always hostile, or always friendly, but all have potential to change after first contact.
Morale
Groups require an UND Save to avoid being routed when they lose half of their total numbers. Groups with a leader may use the leader’s UND score in place of their own. Lone combatants must pass this Save when they are reduced to 0 HP.
This applies to opponents and allies but not Player characters. Fleeing to
safety under pursuit requires a DFT Save and somewhere to withdraw to.
Short Rest
A few minutes of rest and a swig of water recovers all of a character’s lost HP.
Resting may waste time or attract danger.
Full Rest
A Full Rest requires a week of downtime at a comfortable location. This restores all Ability Scores.
Deprived
Somebody deprived of a crucial need (e.g. food, water, shelter, or sleep) cannot
benefit from Rests.
Bulky
Items marked as Bulky (B) generally require two hands or significant storage to carry. Bulky Weapons require two hands to wield. Anybody carrying three or more
Bulky items is reduced to 0 HP.
Scars
When damage takes you to exactly 0 HP, roll on the Scars table. After you’ve recovered, roll 1d8 and add it to your max HP. Doctors can heal the negative effects, for a steep price. Some strange items and spells might as well.
XP and Growth
Broken Moon doesn't have levels or classes of any kind. Instead, you can improve specific parts of your character sheet bit by bit. Put an XP next to a stat every time you: - Roll a critical success - Miss a roll by 1 - Roll a Critical failure and Double Down: The Referee will say the result of your critical fail. If you suggest something worse and more interesting, it happens, and you get an XP
Once you have three XP next to a stat, erase them and try to improve the stat: Roll 3d6. If it is over the stat, improve that stat by 1. Some activities might give a bonus to the 3d6 roll, like training during downtime, weird potions, or magical enhancements. You can also get XP that can go anywhere on your character sheet. There are several ways to get these "free XP". This one is the most important: - Come up with a unique, interesting, simple and/or effective solution to a difficult problem, especially if it avoids rolling Here are the other methods: - Show up to a session - Obey magical compulsions (charm spells, mind control) with vigor and creativity - Swear a binding oath (if you break it, lose this option) - Create a character portrait / play report / map etc. (Quality doesn't matter, only care <3) - Blow a bunch of treasure on a massive celebration - Spend downtime learning from someone better than you at a certain thing (that is where the XP must go)
It might seem like the best source of XP is to roll your stats a lot. This is incorrect. There is a 15% chance of getting an XP from rolling dice. There is a 100% chance of getting an XP from coming up with an effective plan that avoids rolling any dice. Once you have three XP next to a trait, ability, item, or other part of your character, it improves. Adding three XP to an ability doesn't usually result in a boring numerical improvement. Instead, it increases the versatility, inverts the application, changes the context, or grants a large bonus at a cost. Likewise, adding XP to a weakness doesn't just make it go away. Instead, it might allow you to inflict that weakness on enemies, allow you to manage it in different ways, or provide an unexpected benefit under certain circumstances.
This is great! Fun button. You really must've worked hard making this :)
ReplyDeleteThank you kind stranger! I really did. If I could source everything from the button I would, but at this point it is too massive to try. Glad you enjoyed!
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