Post by Happy Fun Ball on Oct 18, 2019 15:51:43 GMT
Novice Rules for First-time Players
ATAW is a skills-based system, and there are no character “classes.” Your character can have any skill set you want. In addition, your chosen play style will make your character grow into a tailor-made instrument through learning “write-in” skills as you play. As much as initial character creation, play itself will determine what you are capable of, and what you become. Expect to become something more than what you intended when you started out.
Stats – What are my core attributes?
Hero points are what makes you, or a particularly nasty enemy, special. It’s your pool of chances to go above and beyond normal abilities. You can spend a HERO point to make an attack miss, reroll a failed skill attempt, or reroll any or all of the damage dice against you, from things like an explosion or a fall. Most people in the campaign can’t do this. It is your special ability.
Sanity – otherwise known as “just how crazy am I?” – is also expressed in a percentage, just like a skill. This is your skill to not lose your cool when something mind bending happens, like when you kill someone in cold blood, or find an eviscerated corpse, or see an actual leprechaun. You roll Sanity just like any other skill. If you succeed you lose a minimal amount of Sanity; if you fail, and you don’t want to fail, you might lose a bunch of it. If you lose more than 5 Sanity points in one event, you might just attack your buddies, run away, or start singing the national anthem of Paraguay, and nobody can talk you down once you’ve made up your mind to do so.
Character skills – What are they?
ATAW is a skills-based system, and there are no character “classes.” Your character can have any skill set you want. In addition, your chosen play style will make your character grow into a tailor-made instrument through learning “write-in” skills as you play. As much as initial character creation, play itself will determine what you are capable of, and what you become. Expect to become something more than what you intended when you started out.
Rolls – How do skills work?
The core mechanic is “roll a d100 and compare it to the skill.” Almost every ability you can imagine is a skill that typically goes from 1 to 100. You can start with a maximum of 60 skill points in a chosen skill, which is considered to be professional ability, but not expert. You will become an expert in-game.
There are three stats: Willpower, Learn, and Essence (WIL, LRN, and ESS). These, and their derivative stats, are the only values that aren’t expressed as a percentage and make up the essential nature of your character.
Willpower affects your ability to will things to happen, or resist a reflexive action (like screaming out in pain), or a control attempt (like an enemy trying to mind control you). It is also your ability to stay in a fight: it’s your initial hit points. Hit points are spent every time something hurts you physically.
Learn is simply your starting value for any skill that you don’t already have. If your Learn is 15, then you have at least a 15 in every skill, even ones that aren’t on the sheet. Even languages.
Essence is your mana power or supernatural ability. It allows you to make magical effects happen, and determines how many spells you can cast: it’s your magic points. Different numbers of magic points are spent when trying to cast a spell, more if the effect is more powerful. Essence also determines your starting HERO points – i.e.: If you have a 14 Essence at start, you have 14 HERO points to start with.
Hero points – What makes the PCs more special than everyone else?
Hero points are what makes you, or a particularly nasty enemy, special. It’s your pool of chances to go above and beyond normal abilities. You can spend a HERO point to make an attack miss, reroll a failed skill attempt, or reroll any or all of the damage dice against you, from things like an explosion or a fall. Most people in the campaign can’t do this. It is your special ability.
Sanity – Wait, you mean I can lose my mind too?
Sanity – otherwise known as “just how crazy am I?” – is also expressed in a percentage, just like a skill. This is your skill to not lose your cool when something mind bending happens, like when you kill someone in cold blood, or find an eviscerated corpse, or see an actual leprechaun. You roll Sanity just like any other skill. If you succeed you lose a minimal amount of Sanity; if you fail, and you don’t want to fail, you might lose a bunch of it. If you lose more than 5 Sanity points in one event, you might just attack your buddies, run away, or start singing the national anthem of Paraguay, and nobody can talk you down once you’ve made up your mind to do so.
That’s all you really need to know to play. This is incomplete, and if you want to have a better idea, and be less of a burden for more experienced players to “train up,” we suggest you read the “Basic Rules.”