Anonymous
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Guild of Archivists
Search
Editing
Unwritten: System Reference Document/Game Basics
(section)
From Guild of Archivists
Namespaces
Page
Discussion
More
More
Page actions
Read
Edit
Edit source
History
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==How do we do stuff?== Players, most of the time you will just do things. As long as it makes sense, you describe it and it happens. Sometimes though, life isn’t that easy. When something is difficult, or whether you succeed or not is interesting, you will have to roll the dice to see what happens. This is called attempting an action. You will roll the dice when you’re opposing another character with your efforts, or when there’s a significant obstacle in the way. Otherwise, just say what your character does and assume it happens. ===The Ladder=== The basic measuring stick for Unwritten is the Ladder; it is used to measure skills, opposition, results and more. {| class="wikitable" |- | +8 || Legendary |- | +7 || Epic |- | +6 || Fantastic |- | +5 || Superb |- | +4 || Great |- | +3 || Good |- | +2 || Fair |- | +1 || Adequate |- | 0 || Mediocre |- | -1 || Poor |- | -2 || Terrible |} Each step on the Ladder has a name and a numeric value. The name is descriptive; you can describe an action as Epic, or someone’s skill as Mediocre. The number is used for rolls and other parts of gameplay that need a little math in order to work. Whichever version is easier for your gaming group works just fine, though this book will include both, such as "Adequate (+1)". If a GM wants, they can use levels above or below the provided ladder and name them what they wish (e.g. "Horrible (-3)"). However, this book will assume the ladder is as listed. ===Skills and Rolls=== Skills determine what a character can do and how well they can do it. Each player has a number of skills, each with a rating indicating how good they are at it. Everything else that a character does is considered "Mediocre (0)". When you try to do something, you roll the four Fate dice, add up the pluses and subtract the minuses, then add an appropriate skill. All else being equal, if the result is positive then you succeed. If the result is high, you do really well. If the value is negative, then things don’t work out for you. If the dice total up to zero, then you don’t quite do it, but you get close or make progress. Of course, nothing is ever completely equal. Other factors will shift the result up (add to the result) or down (subtract from the result). ===Opposition=== Your actions will often be opposed. The value of the opposition shifts the value down. Opposition comes in one of two forms: active, when someone is rolling dice against you, or passive, when an obstacle just has a set rating. In your favor, you may have stunts which can affect the result of your roll. They may shift the value up, or give you other options. Once the result, measured in shifts, is finalized you determine success or lack thereof. Later in the document, we’ll talk about different instances where getting shifts on a roll benefits you. ===Stunts=== Stunts represent something about the character that translates into bonuses or special mechanics that are always in play. These can be personal talents, special training, etc. One type of stunt is called a resource and reflects special items, key contacts, or locations. Resources are stunts that are tied to a specific location, person or thing. They are listed separately to make it easier to remember that the character has to be at the place in order to use the stunt.
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Guild of Archivists may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
GoArch:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Navigation
Navigation
Main Page
Random page
Categories
All pages
Recent changes
Resources
D'ni dictionary
Reference material
Utilities
Community
Forums
Jalak Game Directory
Projects
Apocrypha
Unexplored Branches
All projects
Contribute
Stubs
Wanted
Cleanup
Dead ends
Image requested
Help
Help
Guide
Policies
Wiki tools
Wiki tools
Special pages
Page values
Page tools
Page tools
User page tools
More
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Page logs