Wandering Sword – Facing Challenges Guide

Guide to Facing Challenges

Foreword

When wanderers face a challenge – be that combat or some other obstacle – they roll two dice against a relevant ability threshold. If the combined total of the dice is under the threshold, the challenge is within their capabilities and they succeed. If the combined total is over the threshold, it is outside their capabilities – they fail and take a consequence determined by the guide or by the behaviour of foes in combat. If the result equals the threshold, it is a critical success, and the outcome is amplified (in combat they deal double the normal hits).

Threshold

The threshold of a challenge is equal to the wanderer’s ability score in the relevant area. For instance, if a wanderer has 6 dexterity and is attacking with a finesse weapon, they must roll under 6 to succeed. The higher the ability, the greater the chance of success.

Certain contexts may affect this threshold, such as when resisting effects. Items may add a bonus to a particular threshold when avoiding unpleasant consequences, such as armour granting a bonus to a wanderer’s strength threshold when resisting being knocked down.

Dice

The two dice rolled to face a challenge are a condition dice and a context dice. Condition represents the current state of the wanderer, and context reflects the situation and resources to hand (often being the quality of the item they are using to attempt the challenge). The outcomes of the dice are added together to provide the final result.

The condition dice is 1d6 in normal circumstances. If the wanderer has taken hits, or they are suffering from other effects, their condition may worsen and they roll a higher dice (1d8 winded, or 1d10 bloodied).

The context dice is 1d6 if the wanderer has applicable gear for the challenge (such as a weapon when fighting) or in a situation which is not disadvantageous. The dice is 1d8 when using unbalanced or improvised gear or when the situation is disadvantageous, or 1d4 when using masterwork gear or in an advantageous situation.