Running the Game

Enemy NPCs

Enemies use the same basic rules as player characters, making Throws with STONES, SCROLLS, SWORDS, AND SORCERY, taking Harm, using Abilities and casting Sorceries. However, NPCs are given an Enemy Level from 0–5, representing how much punishment they can withstand before being defeated.

Enemy Level does not determine how skilled an NPC is. Their Attributes, Skills, Abilities, and Words of Power determine what they can do. Enemy Level primarily determines their Harm capacity.

Each Enemy Level includes the Harm slots available to the previous Level, with a maximum of 3 Harm slots at each Level. Enemies do not need to use every Harm slot available to them; the GM decides how many are appropriate based on the narrative and the needs of the Scene.

Level 5: Ancients and Gods — Yorelle expansion

Ancient is a classification of primordial beings that predate gods and mortals, not a synonym for an old creature. Ancients and gods use Enemy Level 5, with up to three Harm slots at each tier from 1 to 5. Their standard bestiary profile is +4 in every Attribute and +5 in a defining Attribute. These are world-changing threats; encounters may revolve around escape, bargains, containment or extraordinary preparation. Ancient and Gods are separate bestiary tags.

Taking Harm

When an enemy suffers Harm, record it in an available slot of the appropriate Level.

If all slots of that Level are already filled, the Harm is increased to the next Level, continuing upwards until there is an available slot.

If an enemy cannot withstand the resulting Harm Level, they are Defeated.

Being Defeated does not always mean death. Depending on the fiction, an enemy may be killed, knocked unconscious, forced to surrender, flee, or otherwise become unable to continue the fight.

This makes lower-Level enemies quick to remove from a Scene while allowing major enemies to remain present without requiring a completely different set of combat rules.

Harm Effects for NPCs

NPC Harm penalties are applied once for each Harm Level currently suffered, regardless of how many injuries are recorded at that Level, and follow the same penalties as for the players.

Level 4 Enemies

Level 4 enemies are exceptional. They may possess Level 4 Harm slots even though Level 4 Harm would ordinarily kill a character outright.

These slots represent creatures, villains, monsters, or supernatural entities capable of surviving injuries that would immediately kill an ordinary person. Once their available Level 4 Harm is exhausted, further Harm defeats them as normal.

This should be unusual. A Level 4 NPC is not simply a tougher guard — they are something the GM expects to function as a major threat or centrepiece of a Scene.

Enemy Throws

Enemies do not possess or use Skills. Whenever an enemy makes a Throw, the GM chooses the most appropriate Attribute — STONES, SCROLLS, SWORDS, OR SORCERY— and resolves the Throw normally. The Attribute describes how the enemy is acting, rather than a specific trained Skill.

For example, an enemy might: use STONES to swing a maul, overpower someone, or smash through a barricade; use SCROLLS to outmanoeuvre a group, exploit knowledge, or direct allies; use SWORDS to stab, shoot, ambush, or strike with precision; use SORCERY to cast a Sorcery or attack through supernatural means.

Enemy Attacks

When an enemy attacks a player, the enemy makes the Throw.

The player still participates in the contested series of STONES, SCROLLS, SWORDS, but does not make a separate defensive Skill Throw. The enemy's chosen Attribute, the result of the series, and any Draw Break determine the final Outcome.

That Outcome determines the severity of the attack and the Harm inflicted on the player.

Once an enemy's attack has successfully inflicted Harm, the target may attempt to lessen or resist entirely the injury using Grit.