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The True World RPG is a free and open universal tabletop role-playing game that can be used for any genre or setting. Read the rules online at (https://rpg.trueworld.games).

Characters

Ability

Skill Sets
Skill Sets encompass the knowledge, skills and experience that represents a charac­ter's training to perform a specific function or job.
Signature Skills
Signature skills are selected from within the broad definition of a skill set to represent a charac­ter's area of focus.
Specializations
Specia­liz­ations define a charac­ter's areas of expertise within a skill set that allow them to achieve greater mastery.
A charac­ter's abilities are repres­ented by their skill sets, their signature skills, and specia­liz­ations.

Ability Rating

d4
Novice
d6
Proficient
d8
Skilled
d10
Master
d12
Expert
Ability ratings are determined by a character's Skill Sets and Specializations. Skill Sets are rated from d4 to d6, and Specializations, which represent a focus on a specific area of expertise, are rated from d8 to d12.

Boosts (Condi­tion)

Environmental
An enviro­nmental condition specifies some aspect of the enviro­nment such as weather condit­ions, temper­ature, terrain, astral alignment, visibility or noise consid­era­tions, etc.
Situational
A situat­ional condition specifies a specific circum­stance that triggers the boost such as a type of combat, or a specific task being performed.
Conditions are specific enviro­nmental or situation circum­stances that trigger or enable a boost. Boosts with a condition are invoked for free, and do not impose any cost when used.

Boosts (Benefits)

Narrative
Narrative benefits grant permission to break the rules. Narrative benefits can include altering the constr­aints of a Stardard Turn to increase movement, add additional actions, or attack multiple advers­aries, or other benefits like passive genetic traits (breathe underw­ater), special resist­ances (immunity to fire damage), or automatic successes that do not require rolls.
Mechanical
Mechanical benefits can either Improve the Odds (poten­tially improving the chance of success and the level of effect, but comes with the risk that a bad roll gets you nothing ), or Improve the Effect which guarantees that regardless of what you roll, the outcome and conseq­uences will be better.

Boosts (Cost)

Runup
The benefit adds an additional turn in prepar­ation. A runup represents spreading the physical, mental or emotional cost of invoking the boost across multiple turns. The character is deemed to be concen­trating during the runup period. If the character suffers harm during the runup, the runup is terminated and any remaining benefits related to the boost are canceled.
Cooldown
A cooldown period is required before the boost can be invoked again. A cooldown can be a number of rounds in the turn order, or more commonly for the remaining duration of the current conflict or scene.
Stress
The benefit adds 2 points of stress.
Resource
The benefit costs 1 unit of a scarce resource. The resource to be consumed by the boost must be approved by the director when creating the boost.
Grit
The benefit costs 1 grit point.
Difficulty
The benefit shifts the odds of the challenge to make it more difficult.
Drawback
The benefit adds 1 point of stress, and a mild condition to the character.
Costs represent the physical, mental and emotional burden that comes from pushing yourself to enhance your perfor­mance (health cost), or a resource that is consumed as part of invoking the boost.
  

Scenes

Standard Turn

Movement
Move to a nearby location (appro­priate to the time dilation of the scene).
Object Intera­ction
A simple object intera­ction such as opening a door or drawing a weapon.
Social Interacton
Make a short verbal utterance or physical gesture.
Action
Perform a single action against a challenge.
Boost
Invoke one or more boosts that satisfy the constr­aint.
The Standard Turn represents the combination of activities that a player character is allowed to perform during a normal turn.

Rounds and Turns

Lights
The director narrates the current situation and describes the scene for the players, highli­ghting important elements to aid player decisions. During this phase, the director may also introduce new elements into the scene.
Camera
Each player asks the director questions related to the situation, and discusses strategy with the other players. The phase ends with each player describing the intended action of their character, and what they hope to accomp­lish.
Action
The director calls on each player to complete their standard turn. The player describes their charac­ter's activity and performs any action rolls requested by the director. The director completes the players turn by narrating any conseq­uences. The phase ends when each player in the turn order has completed their turn.

Quick Actions

A Quick Action Roll is used when an action only needs a simple comparison of a charac­ter's raw ability against the difficulty of a challenge. The roll is not subject to character boosts or fictional positi­oning, and the outcome is a simple success or fail with the level of effect being ignored.
Quick actions are commonly performed when provided assistance through Teamwork to another character, but can be useful in other situations as well.

Challenges

Challenge Types

Obstacle
Things standing in the way of a character's progress such as a locked door, difficult terrain or a challenging puzzle.
Adversary
Things that are competing with, or working against a character including non-player characters, supernatural forces, or intelligent machines.

Adversary Types

Common
Common non-player characters serve as extras within a scene. These are typically servants, merchants, guards, gang members and other types of non-heroic individuals. Common non-player characters have a single skill set but omit backstory hooks and any health elements. Commoners are typically taken out of a scene when suffering any adverse condition.
Complex
Complex adversaries share all the features of full characters. Complex adversaries have health indicators and will typically require multiple adverse conditions before they concede or are taken out.

Difficulty Rating

d4
Challe­nging
d6
Very Challe­nging
d8
Hard
d10
Very Hard
d12
Extremely Hard
The difficulty of a challenge is rated using a polyhedral die and determined by the director relative to the charac­ter's ability.
  

Actions

Action Steps

Difficulty
The director determines the Difficulty Rating of the challenge relative to the charac­ter's ability. If the action is challe­nging, with a risk of failure, an action roll is required, otherwise the action is successful and the director narrates the successful outcome.
Position
If the action is difficult, the director considers the charac­ter's Position to determine if the character has Advantage or Disadv­antage on the roll. The director advises the player of the diffic­ulty, the charac­ter's position, and potential risks and conseq­uences.
Teamwork
If another player character can provide assist­ance, Teamwork can be used to support the action.
Ability
A charac­ter's ability refers to their level of expertise in performing their intended action. Ability is determined by the player by selecting the most relevant skill set or specia­liz­ation for the action being performed.
Action Roll
The player makes an action roll to determine the Outcome and Effect.
Consequences
The director, based on the result of the action roll, advises the player of the conseq­uences. On a success, the character receives a Bane. On a failure, the character suffers a Boon.
Once all players have stated their intentions for a round, the director proceeds with coordi­nating each player's intention actions. Once all player actions have been completed, the round is completed and begins again until the current situation has been resolved.

Position

Advantage
Roll two ability dice and takes the highest.
Disadvantage
Roll two ability dice and takes the lowest.
Fictional positioning refers to the specific circumstances, context, and narrative elements surrounding a character's actions. A character's position indicates if, depending on their situation, they have a relative advantage or disadvantage to performing an action.

Teamwork

Success
The assistance was helpful and the character receiving the assistance can Shift the Odds in their favor.
Failure
The assistance was not helpful, and the action roll proceeds without any added benefit.
During a charac­ter's action, but before they perform an Action Roll, another character can forfeit their turn in the turn order to try to assist by performing a Quick Action Roll.

Outcome

Success
Action roll result is greater than or equal to 0 (ties go to the player).
Failure
The result of an action roll is less than 0.
Outcome divides the result of an action roll into success or failure.

Level of Effect

1
Marginal
0-3
2
Complete
4-6
3
Critical
7+
The Level of Effect is a relative measure of success or failure. Use the absolute value of the action roll result and match to the indicated value ranges. For a non-co­nflict situation, the effect is used to determine the narrative conseq­uences of an action. For a conflict situation, the effect can be used to determine the amount of harm.
  

Conseq­uences

Boons

Marginal Success
The character gets only some of what they want.
Complete Success
The character gets everything they wanted.
Criticial Success
The character gets everything they wanted, and something extra.
Boons are positive conseq­­uences that result from a successful action. The level of effect determines the amount of impact.

Banes

Marginal Failure
The character failed, but just barely. They may get some or none of what they wanted, but something about their situation got a little worse.
Complete Failure
The character achieved nothing they intended, and their situation is worse.
Critical Failure
The character gets nothing they wanted, and life is going to get very difficult.
Banes are negative conseq­­uences that result from a failed action.

Health and Recovery

Health Indicators

Stress
Stress represents the physical, mental, and emotional reaction to negative conseq­­ue­nces, and is measured with Stress Points. New characters begin play with 0 stress. When a character suffers Conseq­­uences from Actions, it can increase stress. During periods of Rest and Recovery, players can reduce their stress. When a charac­­ter’s stress reaches the maximum, they are taken out of the scene until they can recover.
Grit
Grit represents a charac­­ter's mental, physical, and emotional resilience measured with Grit Points. Grit points can be earned during game play, and spent to improve actions and mitigate negative conseq­uences.
Conditions
Conditions are the collection of physical, mental and emotional harm a character is currently suffering. Conditions can impose disadv­antage when characters attempt to perform actions.

Earning Grit

Complete Effect
On a complete success or failure resulting from an action roll, the character earns 1 grit point.
Critical Effect
On a critical success or failure resulting from an action roll, the character earns 2 points of grit.
Teamwork
When a character assists another character when performing an action, if the action is succes­sful, the assisting character earns 1 grit point.
Narrative Inspiration
When a player demons­trates outsta­nding role-play and contri­butes a partic­ularly memorable moment to the narrative, the director can award narrative inspir­ation granting 1 grit point to the character.

Spending Grit

Reroll an Action
When facing a crucial action roll, spend 1 grit point to reroll the dice. The player must use the new result.
Soak Harm
Grit can be used to withstand harm and reduce the impact of a negative consequence. Spend 1 grit point to recover 1 stress point and reduce the severity of a condition by 1 point. If the condition is mild, it can be removed. This can be performed during the same turn that harm is added to a character.
Fuel a Boost
A player can spend 1 grit point can be used to cover the cost of invoking a boost during an action.

Rest and Recovery

Momentary
Momentary rests are a quick break during a conflict or a tense situation, when a character can take cover, and perform a healing action like applying a bandage or consuming medicine. During a momentary rest, a character to recover 1 stress point and, if approp­riate, clear a mild condition. A character may only take one momentary rest until the current situation is resolved.
Extended
Extended rests last from a few hours to a few days, but requires a safe enviro­nment free from conflict, where characters are only sleeping or performing light duties. During an extended rest, characters can reduce their stress by 2 points for each hour of rest taken. They can also apply treatment to conditions depending on available resources. Treated conditions can be reduced by 1 point (and only 1 point) during each extended rest period reflecting that more serious conditions take time to heal.
Downtime
Downtime is an extended rest that lasts from a few days to weeks, months or even years. Downtime normally occurs after a group completes a milestone and has an opport­unity to withdraw from the field to a safe enviro­nment with readily accessible resources. All stress is recovered, and all conditions can be removed. Downtime also allows characters to pursue personal objectives and side projects and seek advanced treatment options for lingering trauma.
 

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  • Published: 9th September, 2023
  • Last Updated: 3rd November, 2023

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