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A Thousand Faces of
Adventure: Player's Guide
Tagline
Like board games? Played Dungeons &
Dragons Once? Want to try improv? Welcome
to A Thousand Faces of Adventure!
playtest version
find latest version at https://1kfa.com
email sjb@ezide.com
1
goes from there. It might sound like chaos, but
with some faith in your friends, you will
delight at how the plot solidifies, and how real
the characters become.
Welcome to Roleplaying
A Thousand Faces of Adventure (hereafter
abbreviated to 1kFA) is a framework for
telling a story. The authors of the story are you
and your friends, sitting around a table.
Specifically, What to do
In a game of 1kFA, one person will take on the
role of the Game Master, or "GM". The other
people will be called simply "Players".
This story is improvisational, interactive, and
collaborative.
The rewards for playing are laughter and
excitement while you play, and warm
conversations for years afterwards that start
with "Remember that time we were playing
1kFA and..."
The GM
The GM's job is to know all the rules, and say
stuff. Occasionally they will write notes and
scribble some quick numerical facts.
The GM's domain is the world.
How to make a great story
T h e P l ay e r s
Imagine the audience for this story is the inner
children of all the players. What evokes the
feelings we had when we were children
playing pretend? Can you remember being 11
years old and watching a spectacular Steven
Spielberg movie? Or maybe a cheap-butawesome Sam Raimi movie?
Player, your domain is your character.
You are going to collaborate with all the other
players to make this story, so when you add
your parts, think of what will give your friends
around the table a thrill, put them in suspense,
ratchet up their feelings of tension, or make
their jaws drop with awe.
Sometimes inner children get a big kick out of
blood and guts. Your inner child might giggle
at the brothel scenes in HBO's Game of
Thrones. If you don't know what topics your
friends consider "off-limits", it is a good idea
to ask and tell before you start playing.
The player's job
Most of your time will be spent saying stuff.
You are part of a conversation. Ask questions,
use your imagination, chime in when someone
inspires you. Think about your character like a
hero of a movie, and try playing as the writer
of the movie, or the director, or immerse
yourself like a method actor standing in the
character's boots and seeing with their eyes.
The story that emerges from 1kFA is not a
precisely crafted thing. That's ok. It doesn't
have to be high art or even a cartoon on Adult
Swim. It gets shaped by each player, and when
your turn comes, you adapt, do your best
improvisational "Yes, and" , and see where it
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1kFA invites you to:
They've got an edge over regular folk, (with
special moves and 10 Stamina points) but the
game puts them on nearly even footing in a
fight. You can invent any backstory you like,
but you may need to answer questions about
how the backstory fits the character's game
limitations.
Describe your character and their
actions
•
Act out their dialogue
•
Describe how they act
‣
flourishes and stunts
‣
their facial expressions, voice, and
body language
•
Tell what they say / hear / see / smell /
taste / feel
•
Describe their thoughts & memories
•
Chime in when they interact with or
support the other characters
•
Tell parts of the story
•
Tell your character's backstory
•
Contribute ideas and assert facts when
the GM asks questions
•
Refer to your moves to generate more
ideas and see what boundaries you can
push
As the conversation unfolds, the rules will
chime in as well. When that happens you will
be called do things beyond just "saying stuff":
•
Flip cards from your Deckahedron
•
Move tokens around
•
Roll dice
This guide will teach you how to do those
things.
•
Nothing stops you from creating a hulking, 7
foot tall barbarian, with a rich history of
warring and slaughtering enemies, but at the
very beginning of the game, with a couple
unlucky flips, that barbarian may suffer a
sound drubbing at the hands of a farmer with a
shovel and his overprotective goat.
This doesn't mean you shouldn't create the
barbarian character. You should. That sounds
awesome! But if you do, be prepared to find
some narrative justification (drunkard? battleworn? magically cursed?) that they're
currently at a "scrappy adventurer" level.
C h a r a c t e r c r e at i o n - F i t t i n g t h e f i c t i o n
1kFA is a game about building up a character,
who starts as a scrappy adventurer and
grows to become someone who can make the
most meaningful change in the world.
During character creation, you will get to
determine all aspects of your character's
history, social and economic circumstances,
and personality. These are fictional aspects of
the character. You will not get to determine all
the mechanical aspects of the character
though.
Mechanically, characters start out just a little
bit more powerful than a common villager.
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The Deckahedron
Every player except the GM gets a
Deckahedron. Inspect your Deckahedron. You
should have 20 cards. There are 4 symbols, or
"suits", on the fronts and backs of the cards:
Name
Anvil
Blade
Crown
Dragon
suit
odds
indicates
the
weakest
odds
indicates
below
average
odds
indicates
above
average
odds
indicates
the best
odds
color
red
rank
rank 1
yellow
rank 2
green
rank 3
Illustration of your Deckahedron
rank 4
Look at the attribute on your character sheet -what suit is it, Anvil, Blade, Crown, or
Dragon? Take the top card and flip it face up.
blue
Shuffle your Deckahedron and place it facedown in front of you.
Whenever your character attempts something
risky, where the outcome is not certain, the
GM calls for you to use your Deckahedron and
"flip".
In conversation with GM and the rest of the
table, you'll decide what move (or moves)
your character is triggering and which of your
character's attributes -- Str, Dex, or Int -- will
be used to resolve the flip.
GM Note: The attributes used to
resolve a move are listed at the top
of each card. Sometimes a card gives
the option of several
attributes, like "Flip Str / Dex".
You may need to ask the player for
more
detail about what they are attempting
before calling for a flip.
Illustration of flipping a card
The top of the flipped card shows ✗ or ✔s.
These tell you the result of the move. When
you flip, keep in mind that the GM may need
to read the result. Being consistent with how
you orient the card will help simplify the GM's
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bookkeeping and keep up the pace of the
game.
instructions on the Defy Danger card ("You do
it, but there's a new complication") to
improvise what happens next:
You leap through the air, landing with a
thud on the other side of the pit,
kicking up a cloud of dust on this
forgotten jungle trail. Rising to your
feet, you notice that more than dust has
been stirred. The sounds of movement
and a threatening rattle alerts you to
something approaching from inside the
pit. What do you do?
Illustration of reading a card
Finally, find the move card named by the GM
and read its instructions. It tells you how the
GM should interpret the ✗s and ✔s.
Afterward, any card used during a flip goes
face-up in a discard pile. Later, you will start
another pile of cards called an Exhaustion pile.
Keep them separate.
Other ways to flip: Advantage /
Disadvantage
Some flips are a little more complicated. Some
moves in 1kFA instruct you to "take +1
advantage" or "flip with advantage".
Sometimes you are given the opposite
instruction "flip with disadvantage" or "your
foe gets advantage".
Note: some move cards give you or the GM a
choice between several options. If one of the
options is impossible (fictionally or
mechanically), it may not be chosen. Choose
one of the other options instead.
A d va n ta g e
For example,
With an advantage, flip over your top card as
usual, and then flip over the next card as well.
Compare the results (the number of ✗s or ✔s
next to the relevant suit) and resolve the flip
with the card that has the best result.
You're playing a character named Kresk. You
say:
Kresk sees the pit of spikes in front of
him, but isn't scared. He just takes a
running start and mightily leaps over
the pit, landing safely on the other side.
If it's a tie, you may choose whichever card to
be the card that resolves the flip.
All cards that got flipped go face-up in your
discard pile.
The GM might say to you:
Ok, sounds good, but let's see if Kresk's
legs are strong enough. Please flip Defy
Danger with your Strength.
Complete Flip Rule
You must flip over all the cards you were
instructed to, even if the first card shows
✔✔✔.
Look over at the character sheet and see that
Kresk has rank 3 (Crown) Str. Flip over the
top card of your Deckahedron and look for
that Crown suit.
D i s a d va n ta g e
With a disadvantage, do the same thing, but
Let's say you get ✔✔. The GM uses the
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✔ symbols were used to interpret the result of
the move)
use the worst result.
Acting against a foe that has advantage is
mechanically identical to your character
having disadvantage.
XP are a currency you spend to activate
"meta" parts of the game. See below for moves
that let you "break" or "bend" rules, or
partially take control of the narrative.
M u lt i p l e A d va n ta g e s / D i s a d va n ta g e s
Advantage or disadvantage can stack. Flips
can accumulate up to 2 advantage or 2
disadvantage. This means you flip 3 cards in
total and take the best or worst, respectively.
Other flip complications: Blessing
cards
No flip may use more than 3 cards in total, so
adding advantage beyond 2 is just ignored.
It is possible a situation might arise where you
are instructed to both "flip with advantage"
and "flip with disadvantage". If this happens,
simply add up all the advantages, and then
subtract all the disadvantages to arrive at a
"net advantage" or "net disadvantage". The
maximum is still two extra cards, so if the sum
is -3, you only flip with two disadvantage
cards.
blessing cards
Other flip complications: XP cards
Blessing cards improve your Deckahedron by
giving you better chances to succeed at moves.
Some cards will instruct you to take Blessing
cards. When instructed to do so, draw one
Blessing card at random from the supply, and
place it in your discard pile.
Whenever a move is resolved by a Blessing
card, return the Blessing card to the supply
rather than keeping it in your discard pile.
Note: some moves instruct you to match
Chinese Zodiac symbols on the corners of
cards. The corners of Blessing cards have a
"dragon" symbol, which is wild. The "dragon"
symbol matches all other symbols except for
the "goat" symbol on the wound cards.
An XP card
Resolving flips is how players acquire
experience points (XP) in 1kFA. XP are a
player's most important mechanical currency
in the game.
Other flip complications: Wound cards
Some Deckahedron cards show an experience
point symbol in the middle. These are XP
cards. After a flip is resolved by an XP card,
take one XP from the supply.
Sometimes you flip over a wound card and
must lose a Stamina point. See the Combat
chapter.
You may only do this when the card resolves a
flip. (ie, when flipping multiple cards, only if
the XP card was the one from which the ✗ or
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Other flip complications: Teamwork Flip
Interpreting the result of a flip
Before a flip is executed, if other players have
characters in the same scene as the spotlighted
character, and there is nothing in the fiction
preventing it, those other players may choose
to have their characters aid the spotlighted
character. They just chime in before the flip
and say how their character helps out.
When a player's character performs a move,
the player executes a flip, and the GM leads
the table interpreting the narrative result,
based on the text of the move card.
Another time the Teamwork Flip is triggered is
when the characters are all bound together in
success or failure. (eg, Defying Danger in a
canoe traveling over whitewater) In that case,
the GM asks the players "who is taking the
lead?". That player is the spotlighted player,
and the other players are supporting.
The spotlighted player flips as they normally
would, the supporting players say how they
are helping and flip one Anvil.
flip results
The players choose the best result to resolve
the flip.
Usually ✔✔✔ means an unfettered success,
and ✔✔ means success, but with
complication.
Only the card that resolved the flip can
generate XP, and only for the player who
played it.
When the result is a single ✅, it sometimes
means the same as a ✔✔, but often it is
slightly worse.
If there are any negative consequences
(damage, danger, etc) from the result, all the
participating characters must suffer them.
Any time a flip results in a single ✅ the GM
should add a point to the Challenge Bank -even when the move card says it has the same
narrative effect as a ✔✔.
Supporting players may not Do a Flashback on
Teamwork Flips.
When the result is ✗, it is the GM's turn to
make a move. The GM narrates the
consequences of the move the player just
attempted and has license to take the narrative
where they like.
Reshuffling
At any time before a flip, or after a flip is
resolved, you may take your discard pile and
shuffle it back into your Deckahedron.
See the GM Guide for explanations of the
Challenge Bank and for a list of moves the
GM is allowed to make.
Whenever your Deckahedron is down to 5 or
fewer cards, you must take your discard pile
and shuffle it back into your Deckahedron.
E x c e p t i o n s o n ✅ a n d ✅✗ f l i p s
Sometimes a card does not say how a ✅
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Flips only happen when the situation is
uncertain or risky
should be interpreted. In that case, the GM
gets to make a move, just like ✗.
Rarely, a card will have instructions for how to
interpret a ✗ result. These instructions should
be executed, but might only be part of the
GM's move -- the GM gets to decide if they
have more to add.
A GM only calls for a flip when the situation
is uncertain or risky for the character. If the
outcome is certain, the GM may just narrate
what happens. Or they may ask you some
clarifying questions.
When the move card has the tag IMMEDIATE,
the GM does not get to make a move on a ✗.
Instead, the GM just adds 2 points to the
Challenge Bank.
1kFA is a conversation between people, so
there is variability in how it plays out.
Different GMs will draw their line of certainty
at different places.
Consider a situation where the GM has
described your character, Kresk, waking up
after making camp in a forest. Beside Kresk is
a squirrel, nibbling an acorn.
Cards tagged IMMEDIATE
Some of your move cards have the tag
IMMEDIATE. This indicates they can be used
in conjunction with another move during your
character's moment in the spotlight. When
players take turns in the spotlight, if they
trigger moves, it is expected that they trigger
at most one IMMEDIATE move. Otherwise
the pace of the game can slow down, and other
players may feel like they aren't getting a fair
share of time in the spotlight.
You might respond by saying,
"Kresk wants that acorn! I Mix It Up with the
squirrel!"
It would be bizarre, but completely within the
rules for the GM to write up some stats for the
squirrel (1 Stamina, 1 attack power), and begin
a melee combat between Kresk and the
squirrel, and ask you to flip Str to resolve the
Mix It Up move.
Examples of cards tagged IMMEDIATE
include Good Cardio, Where It Hurts, and
Unknown Benefactor
But the GM will more likely interpret your
action, as described, as having a certain
outcome. Perhaps the GM will respond:
A moment in the spotlight might see your
swordsman character triggering the move Mix
It Up, causing damage to a foe, and then you
might also trigger Where It Hurts as you
describe the sword delivering a stunning blow,
clanging loud and hard against the foe's
helmet.
•
•
Or, your professor of alchemy character might
trigger Defy Danger as they jump out of the
way of a toppling bookcase. After you flip an
✗, the GM may start enumerating the attack
power your character must suffer, to which
you could respond by invoking Unknown
Benefactor to cancel the attack's effects.
•
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"As you raise your fist to smash the
squirrel, it darts off into the forest,
never to be seen again."
"How is Kresk going to overcome the
squirrel's natural speed and reflexes?"
"You smash your fist down and flatten
the rodent. Strangely, it didn't even
flinch. Does this odd behaviour remind
Kresk of the rumors he heard about
this forest being enchanted?"
P u s h i n g b u t t o n s o r s tay i n g i n c h a r a c t e r
Combat Stamina/Harm/Wounds
The GM doesn't always have to invoke a move
and call for a flip. But in this example, the
player literally names a move ("I Mix It
Up..."). That's a strong signal to the GM, and
the GM is likely to follow strong signals.
Here are rules to determine when your
character is able to endure exertion and injury
to keep moving forward or when they're
completely spent and collapsed in a heap.
If you enjoy playing in a style where things
flow like a conversation or a story, from
question to answer, from description to
dialogue and back around again, rather than
pushing a limited set of buttons laid out in
front of you, try playing without naming the
moves. Just describe what your character does
in a natural way.
When a character is in a fight, they are
running, dodging, striking, and being struck
and assailed by their foe. All of this stuff is
scary and exhausting. So a character gets
weaker the longer they're in this exchange,
even if they're able to dodge every blow.
"Kresk wants that acorn! I slam my fist down
on the squirrel!"
This weakening is represented by cards from
your Deckahedron being lost into your
Exhaustion pile.
F i c t i o n a l p o s i t i o n m at t e r s
Have you ever watched a boxing match or a
mixed martial arts match? During the later
rounds, the athletes are worn down, they don't
dance around the ring with as much vigor, and
drop their guard more frequently. The contest
is not always decided with a knockout punch,
it often comes down to who can better endure
the exertion.
Because uncertainty is a key requirement
before a flip is called for, the fiction that you
and your friends establish in 1kFA matters.
If a character threatens a towering Mountain
Giant with a punch in the shin, the GM will
not call for a Parley flip. A wound to the arm
or hand might be described in such a way that
would clearly make using a bow for Volley or
Called Shot impossible. Or successful
application of an Amulet of Amiability might
mean that Pick Pockets can be skipped - the
affected NPC might just offer to share their
precious items.
Every PC has 10 Stamina points. When a PC
loses all 10, they are incapacitated. After that,
their fate is up to the GM.
Phases
When your character gets attacked or falls
victim to some other danger, you have choices
about exactly how they are affected. They may
dodge, and just lose Stamina, they may stand
stubbornly against a blow, perhaps absorbing
it with their armour, or they may be wounded
by it.
The first phase is rolling dice to arrive at a
number. This number is called the attack
power.
9
The second phase is deciding whether to lose
Stamina or take a Wound.
or choose to take a Wound instead.
The third phase is optional: absorbing some
points using any relevant move cards and item
cards.
Let's further say your character had lost 3
Stamina points earlier in the battle. With only
7 Stamina points left, it's a wise time to take a
Wound.
The fourth phase is losing Stamina points and
receiving Exhaustion and Wound tokens.
Third Phase
Finally, the fifth phase: you interpret those
results into the narrative. Did your character
dive into the dirt? Did they take a punch to the
jaw and respond with a bloodied grin? Did the
spear bounce right off their steel breastplate?
In the third phase, you may absorb Stamina
and Wounds with your armour, shield, or with
moves like Good Cardio, Mystic Breathwork,
Like A Second Skin, and Sangfroid.
GM Note: The act of taking a risk,
deciding how to get hurt, and then
later, deciding when and how to heal,
with each stage having its
sacrifices and benefits, is a
miniature echo of the overall
structure of
the Hero's Journey campaign. Starting
in comfort, choosing to cross a
threshold, deciding which fork to
take in a road of trials,
then returning.
Characters have 10 Stamina points. To win at
combat, a character's foes must be subdued or
pacified before 10 cards are lost from the
Deckahedron.
Fourth Phase: Stamina / Exhaustion
When you are instructed to lose a Stamina
point:
1. Take a card off the top of your
Deckahedron, do not look at the face
side.
2. Put that card face-down on your
Exhaustion pile
3. Place an Exhaustion token on your
Exhaustion pile
First Phase
When your character suffers the consequences
of violence, you roll dice or read instructions
from a move card to get a number. This
number is called the attack power.
Second Phase
After the attack power is calculated, you can
choose to take a Wound rather than losing that
many Stamina points.
You can always choose to absorb the whole
amount of attack power by taking a single
Wound.
Let's say your character was attacked with a
sword and the dice were rolled and summed
up to 7. You can either lose 7 Stamina points,
Component layout
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Fourth Phase: Receiving Wounds
When you are instructed to take a Wound
token:
•
If you already have 2 wounds:
•
the character is incapacitated
•
Otherwise:
1. the GM describes how the character
was wounded
2. Lose a Deckahedron card to your
Exhaustion pile as you would when
you lose a Stamina point.
3. Place a Wound token on your
Exhaustion pile
4. Randomly draw a wound card from the
supply and place it in your discard
pile. It will now start cycling between
your Deckahedron and your discard
pile.
Exhaustion token
(So, if you were instructed to lose 3 Stamina
points, you add 3 cards from the top of your
Deckahedron onto your Exhaustion pile, then
you put 3 Exhaustion tokens on top of it as
well.)
If your Deckahedron does not contain enough
cards, the player must reshuffle their discard
pile into the Deckahedron and continue.
Note: Players may choose to reshuffle their
discard pile back into the Deckahedron before
moving cards onto their Exhaustion pile.
Wound token
A Wound Card
Once the Exhaustion pile grows to 10 cards,
the character is incapacitated and can take no
further actions. It is up to the GM to decide
what this incapacitation means - whether the
character is dead, unconscious, or just unable
to stand or move.
Image of wound card
Wounds
Having a wound card in your Deckahedron
causes some nasty effects.
Getting wounded sucks, and when wounded,
all intelligent creatures seek to cure their
condition as a very high priority.
Whenever you flip and reveal a wound card,
follow these rules:
•
11
Say or act out the guttural noise
emitted by your character
You must immediately stop flipping
(eg, if you were instructed you to "flip
3", you stop short once you hit the
wound card - resolve the move with
only the card(s) you flipped. This
overrides the Complete Flip Rule)
•
Lose a Stamina point
Wound cards can be used to represent different
fictional aspects. They usually represent literal
wounds, but may also be used for the effects
of disease, poison, or other effects inflicted by
monsters or the environment.
•
Encumbrance Penalties
Your character has a movement speed, a
certain lightness-of-foot, they carry a certain
amount of equipment and items, and perhaps
even a certain amount of wealth or treasure.
There are some moves that are affected by
how much stuff a character carries. These
moves have the tag "UNENCUMBERED",
and declare an encumbrance penalty in their
descriptions.
Note: some moves instruct you to match
Chinese Zodiac symbols on the corners of
cards. Wound cards' corners have the "goat"
symbol which does not match any symbol.
At any time that it makes sense in the fiction, a
character can drop items and equipment.
Daily-use amounts of money and food are not
tracked. It is assumed your character will
always be able to scrounge a meal somehow.
Unless it is relevant to the drama of the
fictional situation or inspired by the
Touchstone List, small monetary transactions
may be abridged or assumed.
It is also not necessary to exactly measure
movement speed or the sizes of all the gear
carried or to track the body part to which the
gear is strapped.
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Good Thing I Brought...
Notes on Moves
Pack - Precious and regular
Throughout the game, your character will
gain, lose, and spend equipment and supplies
that are worth tracking. These items don't need
to be specified until they actually get used.
Instead they are tracked with anonymous Pack
cards.
TODO: illustration of Pack and
Precious Pack cards
Red cards represent "regular" Pack and green
cards represent "precious" Pack. Precious Pack
is something that is found precious by
someone. It may be something made of a rare
metal like gold, or it may be simply a full
waterskin offered to a parched NPC in the
desert.
Good Thing I Brought card
Adventurers are always finding themselves in
tricky situations. Luckily, they come prepared
with adventuring gear. They have been known
to carry 50 feet of rope, smelling salts, books
of racy poems, sometimes even a 3-day-old
pork chop to distract hounds or hungry
goblins.
If the specifics of a Pack card get concretely
established in the fiction, and the card is not
immediately spent, the Pack card should be
returned to the supply and a blank card should
be taken to replace it, with the name or details
of the item written on it.
It's a fact. You know this and 1kFA knows this,
so you won't be asked to keep fine-grained
notes of every candle and spare button in your
character's inventory.
Reasonable daily-use items are presumed to be
in your character's pack. If you're unsure,
remember 1kFA is a conversation, so just ask
the table.
Your character starts off with 2 Pack cards,
enabling the move Good Thing I Brought...
But sometimes you will be in a situation where
having that 50 feet of rope or an old pork chop
would really solve a problem for your
character.
When your character reaches into their pack
and produces the item that solves their current
problem or helps them overcome a challenge,
just say what it is and execute the "Good
Thing I Brought..." move.
The Pack cards represent the adventuring gear
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a character has brought along. But you do not
need to declare exactly what that gear is until
you're in a situation where you need
something specific.
A Flashback serves as sort of a "mulligan" in
those situations, but it also provides a way to
develop your character's backstory and
personality.
If the "Good Thing I Brought..." move is
executed and the newly "declared" equipment
is something that can be returned to the
backpack after use, write its name down on a
blank card and exchange that card for the
"anonymous" Pack card(s) that were the cost
of "Good Thing I Brought...".
After a player makes a flip, and before the GM
describes the consequence of the flip, the
player can declare they're going to do a
flashback.
The player spends 1 XP. Then they describe
how something that happened in the past
particularly prepared their character for this
situation.
If the equipment is something that gets
consumed immediately when used, the 1 or 2
Pack cards just get discarded.
Then the original flip is ignored, and a new
flip is executed, using the same advantage or
disadvantage as the original flip.
If 2 red cards are spent, and the character ends
up with one card returning to their backpack,
use the fiction to justify that. Maybe they
didn't have exactly what they needed, so one
piece of equipment had to be consumed to
create the necessary tool, in a MacGuyveresque fashion.
The player may then spend additional XP to
"bump up" the result. Each XP spent increases
the result, from ✗ to ✅ to ✔✔ to ✔✔✔.
Technically, this flip is resolved only after the
XP are spent, so if the new card was an XP
card, the player should take an XP from the
supply only after they finished spending their
XP to "bump up" the results.
Do a Flashback
Mercy Flashbacks
Players may find themselves in a situation
where they forgot to do something when they
had the chance, like use healing magic while
they were resting, or leveling up a move
before they left a town, or getting some key
information from an NPC before that NPC
died.
As long as the player and the GM both agree
that the player had the necessary resources
when the action was available, the GM may
allow the player to spend those resources and
effect that action now, as a "Mercy
Flashback".
Do a Flashback card
Sometimes you plan out something really
great, and then you resolve a flip, and don't get
the results you need.
The player must spend one XP, in addition to
whatever cost the action incurs.
14
Taking a Breather
Even the most conscientious of us sometimes
loses track of small details, so the cost is kept
"cheap" at only one XP. But there must be a
cost. It is necessary to keep the flow of the
game going. This is a game of improv
storytelling, and improv means rolling with
the punches sometimes.
Critical Success
Take a Breather card
Critical Flip card
Taking a Breather is a move that a character
can take during combat. This action allows a
character to regain up to 4 Stamina points.
One of the 20 cards in your Deckahedron is
the "Critical Success card". It has a ✔✔✔
symbol on every edge and a circular green
symbol in the middle.
The player may use either Intelligence or
Dexterity to perform the Take a Breather
action.
If you resolve a flip with the Critical Success
card, you can do two things:
•
•
If they use Intelligence, they say how they
execute a tactic or recognize a favourable
position that lets them gather their breath and
their wits.
Say how your character's practice has
finally paid off, or how they had an
insight or epiphany about the move
they just accomplished. Spend XP 1for-1 to go up levels in the move that
was just resolved.
Take a Blessing card from the supply
and put it in their discard pile.
If they use Dexterity, they say how they
maneuver into a safe position that offers some
temporary safety.
Regaining Stamina may be done either by
taking cards from the Exhaustion pile and
putting them into the discard pile, or by
returning Exhaustion tokens to the supply.
When recovering cards from the Exhaustion
pile, the player may choose any cards they
want, but may not flip them face-up if they are
face-down.
When combat or a pursuit ends, and it is
appropriate for the narrative (e.g. when there's
a scene transition and the characters
15
reasonably have a few minutes to catch their
breath), the players may Take a Breather
using Str as an IMMEDIATE move (ie, no
negative narrative consequences if the result is
✗ or ✅).
SESSION 2 RULES
Good Cardio
This card makes a character an especially
resilient fighter and athlete.
In a combat encounter, a player will usually
trigger an aggressive move like Mix It Up or
Volley. In addition, players often trigger at
most one IMMEDIATE move. If they haven't
chosen an different IMMEDIATE move, they
can always trigger Good Cardio, and regain
some of their lost Stamina points.
This is a highly recommended strategy for any
character who has lost Stamina.
16
The Session Opener
Notes on Moves
Every session after the first session, there is a
special move to execute at the very beginning,
The Session Opener. It is a player's
opportunity to generate an extra XP.
B r a v e ly R u n A w ay
Your GM will lead you through a story recap
and pose some questions about your character.
Then you will be given the opportunity to Ask
for notes and Give notes to your fellow
players.
After this exercise, all participating players
will receive an XP.
The details of the Session Opener are
described in the GM Guide.
Bravely Run Away card
When players find themselves on the losing
side of a battle, or want to avoid a daunting
threat, they may choose to run away. If their
characters are positioned in a way that their
escape is possible, according to the established
fiction, the GM will allow them to escape, but
there is a cost. The players temporarily lose
narrative control and the GM gets to say where
the players' characters end up.
There may also be a Stamina cost (or Stamina
gain) depending on how weighed down the
characters were by their equipment.
The GM can resolve this move by:
•
•
•
•
17
putting the characters somewhere
completely safe
putting the characters in a place where
some (new or old) danger exists, but is,
for the moment, not directly
threatening the characters
spending a point from the Challenge
Bank and starting the Pursuit Minigame
spending a point from the Challenge
Bank and putting the characters in a
place where they must directly
confront or defy a new danger
Notes on Moves - Healing
Throughout 1kFA, players are asked to decide
how their characters get hurt, how they
respond to being hurt, and how they recover
from their injuries.
This is a small-scale echo of the whole story the Hero's Journey itself. At the center of the
Hero's Journey is a moment of pain that the
hero must fully endure before finding relief either through their own action or with the
help of their friends. The Hero's Journey is a
myth that teaches us how to take care of
ourselves, and so this game holds a puzzle
where the players to learn how to take care of
their characters.
Resting
Rest card
Resting is an action that a character may take
when they are out of combat, not traveling,
and have several hours to devote to rest
(sleeping qualifies).
•
Step 1: Return all Exhaustion tokens to
the supply
•
Step 2: Count the Harm and Wound
tokens on your Exhaustion pile
•
Step 3: Keep that many cards (player
18
Seek Help
chooses which ones) in your
Exhaustion pile, put the rest into your
discard pile
•
Step 4: Return one Harm token to the
supply
•
Step 5: Say who you blame for your
injuries
When resting, magic items that are not being
used regain all charges, up to their maximum
capacity. Remove all white-side red cards on
your magic items.
You may gird all your armour, where
applicable. Remove all Harm and Wound
tokens from your armour cards and from move
cards that represent armour effectiveness (eg,
Like A Second Skin).
Seek Help card
Time devoted to Resting cannot also be
devoted to learning skills, studying with a
teacher, or any other action that takes mental
or physical effort.
Seeking Help is an action that a character may
take when they are in a peaceful environment
where external resources with healing powers
are available.
Eg, if they are in a primitive camp possessing
medicine men or a contemporary city with
doctors and hospitals or a tranquil oasis
infused with healing magic.
The Harm token returned to the supply in Step
4 may come from your Exhaustion pile or
from a slot on a move card (eg, Bloody But
Unbowed).
That the healing powers are external is
important. Seek Help is a move where players
explore how their characters have limits and
cannot do everything on their own.
It is possible that the object of blame named in
step 5 is the character themself.
When you spend a day healing:
•
•
•
•
•
•
19
Step 1: Describe your character's
healing experience
Step 2: Return all Exhaustion tokens to
the supply
Step 3: Return all Harm tokens to the
supply
Step 4: Count the Wound tokens on
your Exhaustion pile
Step 5: Keep that many cards (player
chooses which ones) in your
Exhaustion pile, put the rest into your
discard pile
Step 6: Return one Wound token and
one wound card to the supply
•
Step 7: Say who you are closer to
forgiving
As with Resting, time spent Seeking Help
cannot also be used in activities that take
effort.
Notes on Moves - Item-related
Item Damage
TODO item damage diagram
Magic items that are not being used regain all
charges, up to their maximum capacity.
Remove all white-side red cards on your
magic items.
Damage to items is represented as black-side
red cards.
The "1-2-bust" mechanism is used to represent
damage.
You may gird all your armour, where
applicable. Remove all Harm and Wound
tokens from your armour cards.
The first two times an item is damaged, place
a red card on the Item card, black-side-up.
The third time an item is damaged, it is
destroyed. Return it and the red cards to the
supply.
Non-magical items can be damaged in 1kFA.
Usually this happens narratively as the result
of a GM move, but it can also be caused by
player moves, eg. Armour Mastery.
Sharpen and Stitch
Sharpen and Stitch card
Sharpen and Stitch is a way to repair damaged
items by spending Pack cards.
This move must be executed alongside the
Rest move.
20
Shop / Procure
be decorative or they may have narrative value
(carrying around a small barrel of brandy may
earn you a welcome from the thirsty dwarves
you meet).
Weapons
Weapons cards describe what the character has
armed themself with. These cards might
describe "weaponry" rather than a single item,
as the Many Knives card demonstrates.
Weapons have "power": d4, d6, or d10. This
determines what die to roll when you roll
attack power. Generally players can increase
weapon power with the Tales of a Weapon and
_ Mastery moves.
Shop / Procure card
The GM should decide if the weaponry incurs
any additional costs when calculating
encumbrance penalties. Is the item particularly
heavy or large?
When the Shop / Procure move is used, the
scene can be described as an everyday
shopping trip or a thieving and bribery
escapade, or anything else that makes sense in
the narrative, so long as the mechanical
outcome would be certain.
Here are the default weapons available to
characters:
Name | notes -----------------|-------------- _
Sword | Many Knives | At close range, can be
thrown. Maximum power is d6 _ Bow | Long
range, not usable at melee range
The GM presents to the player 4 cards of any
mix of items: mundane, magical, a special
commodity established in the narrative, or
even something purely decorative. It is ok for
the GM and player to discuss the items
beforehand to any level of detail, and it is also
ok for the player to outright say what they
want to go shopping for.
Armour
When an armour-clad character would
normally take Harm or a Wound, the player
may put the Harm or Wound token into an
appropriate empty slot on their Armour card.
TODO illustration of Harm /
Wound slots
The GM should be honest with the narrative,
stay true to their goals and try to provide the
kind of fun the player has signaled they want
to have.
The armour available to characters during
character creation is the weakest kind. This
kind of armour has 1 slot that can absorb a
Harm or a Wound.
The GM shall not present a player a card the
character is unable to use.
Mundane Items: Armor, weapons, etc
When a character goes shopping, goes athieving, discovers treasure, or loots a
battlefield, the GM may offer new, more
useful armour with more slots drawn on it.
There are mundane items in 1kFA, as well as
magical ones. 1kFA has rules for weapons,
shields, and armour. But characters may have
other items as well. Those other items may just
21
The GM should draw up to 3 slots on the card.
A slot shall be designated to receive either:
Harm
•
Harm or Wound
Then the GM and player come up with a name
for this kind of shield together, using the same
rules as the Armour name-creation above.
•
1 Harm token
•
or 1 Harm or Wound token
The GM should decide if the armour incurs
any additional costs when calculating
encumbrance penalties. Better armour tends to
be heavier and impedes graceful movement.
Any increased encumbrance penalty should be
written on the card.
•
The fictional description of the "shield" has
mechanical consequences. For example, the
edge of steel shield could reasonably be used
to attack a foe, so the character would have
1d4 attack power with Mix It Up. But a
character with no weapon and only leather
bracers on their wrists, the character would be
"unarmed", doing just 1 attack power.
The GM and player should agree on a
descriptive name for the armour like "Padded"
or "Chainmail" or "Full plate" and write that at
the top of a card. The GM may use the name
to create implications in the narrative -- it's
hard to sneak or swim in full plate armour.
Blocking attack power with a shield should be
considered an IMMEDIATE move, and the
GM should try to keep to the guideline of not
allowing players to make more than one move
and one IMMEDIATE move per turn in the
spotlight.
If a GM writes narrative circumstances that
cause a disadvantage on the armour card when
it is created, no points need to be spent from
the Challenge Bank to create the disadvantage
later.
Here are some example armours:
Suggested Name slots
Leather Armour
Padded Armour
Full Plate
1 Harm/Wound
2 Harm, 1
Harm/Wound
3 Harm/Wound
encumbrance
modifier
counts as 2 items
counts as 4 items
Shields
Shields provide a way to avoid Harm and
Wound tokens, but they test a character's Dex
to do so.
To make a Shield card, first the GM chooses
the ✔✔✔, ✔✔, and ✅ effects by choosing 3
sequential effects from this list:
Avoid the x
•
Avoid the x, but choose to lose 1
Stamina or this item takes 1 damage
•
Avoid the x, lose 1 Stamina
•
Avoid the x, lose 1 Stamina and this
item takes 1 damage
The x can be either:
•
22
character may attempt them.
Notes on Moves - Magicrelated
That said, using magic invokes some of the
more complicated rules of 1kFA. Players are
challenged with managing and balancing
charges, capacity, stamina, requirements, and
narrative effect. This kind of play is ideal for
players excited by complexity and the
potential of explorable branches.
Magic is an element that pervades stories of
fantasy. It can be obscure and stemming from
nature like in Lord of the Rings, it can be
elemental and allegorical like in The Wheel of
Time, and it can be linguistic and self-aware
like in The Invisibles.
The ONGOING tag
When a character executes Use a Magic Item,
they are considered to be "flowing magical
energy" into the item. Then the magical effects
happen.
To avoid presuming too much about the
narrative, the rules do not dictate the nature of
magic or the "how" of magic. That's for you to
decide during play. The rules provide a
mechanical foundation and some optional
narrative paths. You are invited to take this
well-tested framework, play with it, and
expand into it.
Some magic effects happen immediately.
Some magic effects persist even after you have
finished flowing magical energy into the item.
(eg, _ of Light, Reaching _)
Is magic woven from subtle threads that
pervade the universe? Is it based on words of
power? Is it high technology hidden in the
planet's crust by alien benefactors? Is it copied
exactly from a concept in your Touchstone
List? You decide.
Some magical effects persist only if you
continue to flow magical energy into the item.
It is up to the player to declare when their
character ceases the flow of magical energy. If
the flow of magical energy continues, they are
not considered idle for the purposes of the
Rest and Seek Help moves.
The rules give you a way to have scrappy
adventurers begin with magic items. These
artifacts have 3 charges, and are rechargeable
during Rest. Your character can eventually
build themselves up in power to a point where
they can cast magic spells without needing the
items.
Charges and Capacity
By default, magic items have capacity for 3
charges. An item is considered "depleted"
when all its charges are used. The term used
for a card's maximum number of charges is
"capacity" or "charge capacity".
The rules also give names for two sources of
magical power, "The Living Light" and "The
Blood-Bound". It's up to you to give these
names narrative meaning, if you want.
When a magic item loses a charge, take a red
card from the supply and place it white-sideup on top of the magic item card.
Sometimes charges are lost permanently. This
means it loses a charge and its capacity for
charges decreases by 1. When this happens,
place a red card on the item, black-side-up.
One thing to keep in mind is that characters
may attempt any move that resolves with Str /
Dex / Int. (See Move Levels So even if moves
like Use a Magic Item or Fundamental Magic
were not chosen at character creation or
gained via Study Under a Master, any
The Obsessive Contemplation move can be
used to gain capacity. When a magic item
23
Entreat the Blood-Bound
gains capacity, remove one black-side red card
from it, or, if there aren't any black-side red
cards on it, write down its new capacity on the
card.
Magic items cannot be damaged.
Use a Magic Item
Entreat the Blood-Bound
If it has not yet been established, when a
player first uses this move, it's a great time for
the GM to ask them a question: "Who or what
is the Blood-Bound?"
Use a Magic Item
When a character holds a magic item and
flows energy into it, the player flips Int, and on
any result other than ✗, the item activates and
the effects described on the magic item card
happen.
GM Note: this is a great way to
stretch your improv muscles. Say
"Yes,
and..." no matter if they identify
the BloodBound as tiny, parasitic
insects or as monstrous, extra
dimensional dark gods.
Using a magic item causes it to lose a charge.
This loss can be avoided with moves like
Entreat the Blood-Bound and Channel the
Living Light.
When a player chooses this card during
character creation or Study Under a Master,
they also receive the item Blade of Echoes.
Following that, results of ✅ and ✔✔ cause a
further cost to be incurred, as chosen from the
list by the GM or the player, respectively.
Note: if the magic item being used is a
magical weapon, another choice is available:
"the weapon is damaged".
The RECEIVE CARDS tag: when a player
chooses this card during character creation or
Study Under a Master, they also receive 1
magic item of their choice.
24
Channel the Living Light
Notes on Moves
Study Under a Master
Channel the Living Light
If it has not yet been established, when a
player first uses this move, it's a great time for
the GM to ask them: "Who or what is the
Living Light?"
SUaM card
This is the move by which your character
becomes a powerful force in the world.
When a player chooses this card during
character creation or Study Under a Master,
they also receive the item Sigil of the Living
Light.
When your character is in a town (a village,
city, etc. -- any safe place where resources and
commerce present themselves), you can spend
2 XP to either:
Increase the level of a move you
already have (See Move Levels
•
Take a new move card from the supply
If you want to take a move card that another
player already has or one that was scribbled
over in a previous campaign, or just has been
ruined by spilled beer, you can copy the text
onto a new card.
•
25
Move Levels
Some Move cards have icons on them that
indicate "levels". These levels represent how
good your character is at that skill. For
example, the move Pick Pockets has 5 icons.
Green card
Take a green card, and put it on top of the
move card. Put the green card black-side-up.
TODO: diagram
With Pick Pockets leveled up, any time you
perform that move in the future, you will add
an advantage card when you flip.
Pick Pockets card
These are the "move levels" for Pick Pockets.
From left to right, these icons are called:
Because the Pick Pockets card shows the "2
green" icon, you can repeat this process again
later, which would let you add 2 advantage
cards when you flip.
•
wild or "2 red"
•
novice or "1 red"
•
"studied" or "base level"
Decreased Move Levels
•
expert or "1 green"
But what about the 2 "red" levels?
•
master or "2 green"
If you chose Pick Pockets during character
creation, you would receive the card and your
character would be "studied" in the skill.
In 1kFA, any character can attempt any move
that is performed by flipping Str, Dex, or Int -even if the player doesn't have that move card!
For any such moves, all characters start at the
lowest level shown on the card. So every
character is "wild" or "novice" at every skill
that is tested by flipping Int, Str, or Dex.
Increased Move Levels
Later, you can go up a level in Pick Pockets.
Either by using the Study Under a Master
move, or when you resolve a Pick Pockets flip
and happen to get a Critical Success card See
Critical Success
Every character, at any time, can attempt to hit
two opponents in combat (via Goreography).
Every character can attempt to cast a spell (via
Fundamental Magic). But, their odds are very
low.
26
You can attempt moves even if you don't meet
the requirements shown.
SESSION 3 RULES
Just as the "expert" and "master" levels cause
the flip to be done with advantage, the "wild"
and "novice" levels cause the flip to be done
with disadvantage.
•
flip with 2 levels of
disadvantage
flip with 1 level of
disadvantage
If you perform a "wild" level move, and you
resolve that flip with a Critical Success card,
you can spend 1 XP to graduate to "novice"
level.
•
Red card
If you choose to do so, take the move card and
a red card. Place the red card on top of the
move card, black-side-up.
27
Weapon Mastery
Notes on Moves - More Power
After character creation, an armed PC will be
rolling 1d4 for their attack power. This can be
increased later on in the game via the moves
Tales of a Weapon, Obsessive Contemplation,
and _ Mastery.
Tales of a Weapon
Weapon Mastery card
The weapon mastery card allows a player to,
during downtime, create a reward that they
themself will receive during a future combat
encounter.
For the sake of balance, the GM may choose
to write a downside or limitation on the
weapon mastery card. A specific category like
"rapiers" might not incur any balancing,
"swords" might incur a light amount of
balancing, and something very vague like
"blades" might incur a high amount of
balancing.
Tales of a Weapon card
The GM should decide whether the weapon
will incur any extra cost when calculating an
encumbrance penalty. Is the item particularly
heavy or large? The GM should weigh that
cost against the weapon's other features.
This process should be discussed by the table
to arrive at a fair balance.
Here are some examples:
•
•
•
•
•
28
"Sword" Mastery: the sword must have
been forged by a competent smith
"Blades" Mastery: only applies to oneon-one combat
"Staff" Mastery: the GM can say staff
breaks if max attack power is rolled
"Blunt weapon" Mastery: only
effective in open spaces
"Fist" Mastery: foes with long weapons
can negate this Mastery
Advanced and Optional Rules
Combat in the 9-hour and 30hour Campaigns
If you are playing the One-Shot Campaign,
you can skip this section. The Harm token
rules are for the longer campaign formats.
In the 3-hour campaign, the second phase is a
choice between just 2 things: losing Stamina
or taking a Wound. In longer campaigns, the
choice is more granular.
Second Phase
During the second phase of resolving a combat
action, players have the choice between losing
Stamina or taking a Wound as explained
before, and also a third choice: to turn any 3
attack power into Harm tokens instead.
For example, you may split the attack power
of 7 into:
4 Stamina points
1 Harm token
You may even do that twice, splitting the
attack power of 7 into:
•
1 Stamina point
•
2 Harm tokens
•
•
Fourth Phase
Think of that boxing match again. If Stamina
represents dancing, ducking, and dodging,
then Harm represents landing a blow. These
rules are also for representing mental strain
that is so significant that the negative effects
last for a while.
Attack power turns into Harm tokens at
exactly a rate of 3-to-1. You cannot choose a
Harm token when facing an attack power of 2.
When you are instructed to take a Harm token:
•
29
If you already have 2 Harm tokens
on your Exhaustion pile:
Take a Wound instead
•
Otherwise:
1. Lose a Deckahedron card to your
Exhaustion pile as you would when
you lose a Stamina point.
2. Place a Harm token on your
Exhaustion pile
•
Cards with and without Stamina symbol
When you are instructed to lose a Stamina
point, you may absorb it using any relevant
move cards and item cards, otherwise:
Note, you will see this "1-2-bust"
pattern repeated in many of 1kFA's
rules
1. Reveal cards in your Deckahedron
until you find a card with a Stamina
symbol
2. Put that card aside, face-up in your
Exhaustion pile
3. Place an Exhaustion token on your
Exhaustion pile
4. The other revealed cards go into your
discard pile
Harm token
Stamina - Heroic Mode
The Stamina rules described above are known
as "Lucky Mode". Those rules allow the
players to lean on luck at the beginning of the
game, because the "worse cards" of the
Deckahedron might end up in the Exhaustion
pile, shifting the odds to increase a player's
chances to succeed at moves.
During the 9-hour and 30-hour campaigns,
players will have the choice to switch to
"Heroic Mode", sacrificing their potential to
get lucky for more knowledge and control
over their outcomes.
Exhaustion token
In "Heroic Mode" characters still have 10
Stamina points. But now, these points are
represented only by cards in your
Deckahedron with a Stamina symbol
(So, if you were instructed to lose 3 Stamina
points, you add 3 cards with Stamina symbols
onto your Exhaustion pile)
If searching through their Deckahedron does
not yield a card with a Stamina symbol, the
player must reshuffle their discard pile into
the Deckahedron and continue searching.
30
Note: Players may choose to reshuffle their
discard pile back into the Deckahedron before
searching for Stamina points.
The Pursuit Mini-game
When dangerous foes are chasing the PCs, use
these rules to determine what happens.
If there are no Stamina points in the
Deckahedron or the discard pile, then all 10
must be in the Exhaustion pile. In this case,
the character is incapacitated and can take no
further actions.
When a player first declares that they are
going to Bravely Run Away
•
•
GM Note: The switch to Heroic Mode is
a way for the players to make
a choice that echoes Chapter 5 in the
Hero's Journey. They themselves
become heroes.
By transcending randomness and meet
the challenges of responsibility,
capability, and commitment, the
players will have new power to get
the outcomes they desire.
•
•
•
•
•
When playing in Heroic Mode, you may look
through the cards of your exhaustion pile at
any time.
•
•
•
•
•
•
31
Starting player declares
Other players declare whether their
character joins
One character - the one with the most
Items + PACK is declared the "rabbit"
Best 3 of 5 rounds
Rabbit flips solo
Add the rabbit's Str + Dex, then
subtract their encumbrance penalty (the
count of all their Item and Pack cards)
Find their flip rank on the table below
For the rounds 2 through 5, the rabbit
flips, but can be helped by any of the
other joining PCs. The best result
between the rabbit's flip and the
helper's resolves the round. Each one
of the rounds can be helped by Int, Str,
or Dex, without repeating. The help
must be justified by the attribute.
Int
‣
Hiding
‣
Using words to influence a crowd
Str
‣
Climbing a wall
‣
Making a great leap
Dex
‣
Sliding / tumbling down an
embankment
‣
Dancing across a precarious
rooftop
‣
Jumping from the second floor
onto a waiting horse
The last flip must be made by the
rabbit alone.
If the pursuers ever win 2 flips in a
row, they can make a move in the
middle of the pursuit if appropriate,
like firing a volley of arrows or
sounding some kind of alarm
(Str +
Dex) Enc
Flip:
<0
0
1 2 3 4
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Player vs Player
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This game is a tool for telling stories about a
group of characters that work together to
overcome some danger that threatens them all.
The details of their alliance are discovered
through play, and those details can include
tension and disagreement. This section
provides rules for the tensions to be exhibited
in the narrative, but also tries to guide the
resolution of those tensions to a state where
the characters are afterward unified against
their common, non-player, foes.
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Combat
When a player asserts their character violently
against another player's character, the rules are
special. In general, negative consequences are
only applied by consent. These are different
than the rules for fighting NPCs and monsters.
Fights among player characters can be great to
introduce drama and increase tension in your
narrative. But they are designed so that one
player cannot force another player out of the
decision making process. The narrative you
create in 1kFA is a shared one.
When a player's character attacks another
player's character, moves are triggered as they
would normally be, and costs are paid (eg, if
the attacker uses a magic item, they may lose a
charge), but there are differences:
XP cards do not generate XP if they
resolve a flip
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Critical Success cards cannot be used
to go up levels in moves
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Attack power is not rolled
Instead of rolling attack power, the defender
alone describes the negative consequences (if
any) their character suffers. This includes loss
of resources (like Stamina / Harm / Wounds)
as well as narrative consequences.
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Optionally, the attacker may also describe
negative consequences for their own character,
mimicking the way the Mix It Up move causes
both the attacker and defender to suffer attack
power.
30-hour Campaigns: Level
cards and green rings
The GM can still collaborate with the players
to describe narrative outcomes of the
altercation, and may even use the situation to
bring dangers to bear, but may not reduce
player resources as a result of the specific
action.
Green rings / REQUIRES
If you are playing the One-Shot Campaign or
9-hour Campaign, you can skip this section.
Inter-party conflict can provide some of the
most interesting and dramatic moments of a
campaign. Those moments arise from a group
of friends at the table collaborating together.
Theft, persuasion, mind-control
Just as in PvP combat, when one player tries
to:
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reduce another player's resources
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eg, by using the Pick Pockets move
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use a move to dictate another player's
character's action
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eg, by using mind control magic
XP cards do not generate XP, Critical Success
cards cannot be used to go up levels, and the
defender gets to say what the result was.
requirements
When you Study Under a Master, the cards
available to choose from are limited by the
REQUIRES tag. If you cannot arrange your
move cards to form the number of rings shown
in the REQUIRES tag, you cannot choose that
move.
Some moves have requirements. These are
illustrated as green rings, sometimes with a
letter inside -- R, F, or W. Requirements are
sometimes separated by a slash, /, which
means "or".
For example, using the Study Under a Master
move can gain you the card Fundamental
Magic only if you have two green rings or one
W ring.
What, then, are these rings?
Take a look through the move cards and see
that there are partial rings printed on them 33
either in the corners or on the sides.
will not have any green rings at the beginning
of session 2 -- session 3 tends to be the first
session where this rule matters.
When you can arrange your own move cards
together in such a way that a ring is
completed, you "have" a ring. If your cards
can arrange to show 2 rings, then you "have" 2
rings.
level cards
Once per session, if you have more green rings
than level cards, you can choose one new level
card.
Like move cards, level cards may also have
requirements. Some require that you have a
certain amount of green rings to access them.
ring arrangements
If your card arrangement had the cards Pick
Pockets and Not On My Turf next to each
other, you could complete an R ring. If you
had the Scent of Blood card instead of the Not
On My Turf card, you could arrange it next to
Pick Pockets to complete a ring, but it would
not be an R ring or an F ring, it would be
considered a solid green ring.
You do not have to keep your cards in this
arrangement while you play.
Level cards
At the beginning of each session, players
should arrange their move cards to count how
many green rings they have. Usually, players
34
Appendices
Diceless Play
Rolling dice is a fun, tactile experience, but
not every table has the dice that 1kFA asks for.
In that case, it is possible to play 1kFA without
owning the physical dice. Each Deckahedron
card has symbols that can be used in their
place.
To roll a 1d4 or 1d6 with the Deckahedron,
flip over a card from the top of your deck, and
look for the d4 or d6 symbol on the face side,
and count up the pips (the dots) inside the
respective symbol.
TODO: illustration of d4 and d6
symbols
If the count of pips is zero, that card doesn't
count. Just re-flip and use the next card.
To roll a 1d10, follow the same process, but
add up all the pips of both the d4 and d6
symbols. This does not produce results
uniformly between 1 and 10, but instead
produces results along a specially-designed "2to-10 curve", which has been chosen to
provide statistical results that create a pleasing
and dramatic experience.
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Glossary
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1d4, 1d6, 1d10
This is notation that means "one foursided die", "one six-sided die", etc.
attack power
the number representing how powerful
an attack is
charge capacity
the maximum amount of charges a
magic item card has
depleted
the state of a magic item without any
remaining charges
halve
When you roll dice and halve the
value, divide by 2 and then round up to
the nearest whole number. 4 becomes
2, 3 becomes 2, 2 becomes 1, etc.
idle
A magic item is idle only if magical
energy is no longer flowing through it
melee
When the details of the fiction put two
combatants close enough to each other
such that their handheld weapons
might connect
More Power
Permanently changing the kind of dice
that are rolled when certain Item cards
are used
NPC
Non-Player Character (a character
controlled by the GM)
PC
Player Character (a character
controlled by a non-GM player)
ranged (or "at range")
When the details of the fiction put two
combatants far enough apart that their
handheld weapons could not connect
session
The contiguous period of time that
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you're at the table, playing the game
the supply
The area on the table where all the
cards and tokens are kept
town
Any place that offers food, shelter,
exchange of goods, and the company
of others. It could be a primitive circle
of huts or a sprawling city
XP
"experience point" or "experience
points"
Components
TODO illustration of all
components and their names
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