Encumbrance
A character has a limited amount of space on their body and in their hands that is represented by their Encumbrance. A character’s Encumbrance is a total of 10 slots, never more or less. Each slot can be filled by either Equipment, Fatigue, or Wounds. Fatigue and Wounds can replace Equipment that is easily dropped (i.e., dropping a lantern or sword), but not one another.
Equipment
Staying whole and hale is a difficult task, but the right Equipment might make or break a situation. Each piece of Equipment has their Bulk (#) listed alongside their name to indicate the number of Encumbrance slots it takes up. Bulk (0) items do not take up a slot; however, they should only be carried within reason.
Certain Equipment is Rationed, meaning it will display a die (1d4 to 1d12) to represent an approximate amount someone has access to. Whenever the Rationed equipment is used, roll the die listed. On a two or lower, the die size is reduced by one step. If at the lowest die size (1d4), then the Equipment is considered spent.
Armor and other Equipment that is more intensive to don or doff take a Rest in order to do so.
Fatigue and Pushing
Pushing a roll, failing a Challenge Clock, performing extremely strenuous actions, or not Resting at least once a day will cause a character to gain Fatigue. Fatigue takes up one slot and is removed by Resting.
Whenever you make a 1d20 roll, but before the outcome is determined, you are able to Push it which allows you to reroll, but gain 1 Fatigue.
Health Points
A character’s health is partially represented by their Health Points (HP). A character’s base HP is equal to their Strength Ability Score. Being dealt damage reduces HP and once at 0, it resets to full, but the character adds a Minor Wound to their Encumbrance. The damage dealt past 0 is carried over.
Once a character has exited combat, their HP returns to full.
Wounds
Wounds come in one of three severities (Minor, Moderate, and Major) and can be upgraded or downgraded. A character gains a Minor Wound after reaching 0 HP, the Minor Wound can be placed in an empty Encumbrance slot, replace a held item (now dropped), or be combined with an existing Minor or Moderate Wound to upgrade its severity (Minor to Moderate, Moderate to Major).
If you choose to have a Wound become Major, you do not take any HP damage beyond the amount done to reduce your HP to 0. The amount ignored this way determines the result in the “Overkill Amount” column of the table below. Until healed, the character carrying the Wound will suffer its effects.
| Overkill | Description | Additional Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Surface (1-5) | Torn Muscle | -2 on d20 rolls to make Melee Attacks. |
| Whiplash | Gain the Dazed (1) Condition. | |
| Concussion | -2 on all d20 rolls. | |
| Crushed Fingers | -4 on all d20 rolls which use that hand. | |
| Damaged Ear | -2 on d20 rolls involving hearing. Whenever you move further than 4 Paces in a turn, you cannot move on your next turn. | |
| Aggravated (6-10) | Damaged Arm | The Damaged Arm cannot be used. You drop any items in that arm’s hand immediately. |
| Damaged Leg | Gain the Prone Condition. | |
| Damaged Ribs | At the end of every turn, if you moved further than 4 Paces, you gain a Minor Wound. | |
| Damaged Jaw | -4 on all d20 rolls involving speech. Your maximum words per turn is 5. | |
| Damaged Eye | -2 on d20 rolls to make Ranged Attacks or rolls using that eye. | |
| Traumatic (11-15) | Foreign Object | At the end of every turn, if you moved further than 3 Paces, you gain a Minor Wound. |
| Cracked Skull | Critical hits targeting you deal 3x damage. | |
| Collapsed Lung | -10 on all d20 rolls involving speech. Your maximum words per turn is 1. | |
| Brain Injury | -4 on all d20 rolls. | |
| Spinal Injury | When you spend AP, you gain a Minor Wound. | |
| Lethal (16+) | Crushed Windpipe | You cannot speak. |
| Dismembered Hand | The Dismembered Hand is lost. You drop any items in the dismembered hand immediately. | |
| Dismembered Arm | The Dismembered Arm is lost. You drop any items in the dismembered arm’s hand immediately. | |
| Dismembered Leg | The Dismembered Leg is lost. -3 Speed (minimum of 1). You gain the Stuck and Unsteady Conditions. | |
| Gouged Eye | The Gouged Eye is lost. You gain the Blinded (5) condition, or worsen an existing Blinded condition by 5. |
A character with any Major Wounds in their fully filled or overflowing Encumbrance will gain the Dying condition. This condition can be ended on an adjacent target as an Interaction, causing them instead to gain the Unconscious condition.
Scars
The process of healing a Major Wound through recovery results in a Scar. Once the healing process is complete and the Major Wound becomes a Scar, the character gains 5 EXP that does not apply to the current cap. Scars still occupy a space in your Encumbrance and cannot be removed.