Game Rules

Rolling the Dice

The basis of any roleplaying game is the element of chance. It adds suspense and surprise to the game. It wouldn’t be much fun or very exciting if the players went through the story with no element of chance of success and failure. This is where the dice come in. The dice used in Elysium are ten sided dice—that is, they have ten sides that are numbered from 1-10.

When to roll dice. Whenever there is a task before a character that constitutes a challenge or something that is integral to the story, a roll is needed. Some things, like putting food in your mouth, or going to sleep, obviously don’t require rolls. Unless, of course, you have no hands or are an insomniac, then they might require rolls. But for most people, simple tasks like these don’t require rolls. That’d make the game totally too slow, boring, and complicated – but jumping a chasm, tickling a sea monster, or swallowing a golf-ball-sized hunk of wasabi without crying… now that requires a roll. There are three specific situations that require different rules for making rolls: Skill Checks, Combat Rolls, and Spell Checks.

Skill Checks

Whenever something comes along that requires a roll from a player that involves a skill, the GM will announce that all the players that are in on that action need to make rolls.

Each player makes a roll for his/her character and adds to that an ability and skill score that might be relevant (Bonuses or penalties to your skills from Trumps, Faults, Spells, Special Powers, or Magic Items are also applied). Now, the GM needs to set a Difficulty Level. The DL is a number that GM sets, typically between 0 and 30—the higher, the more difficult—that each player’s role has to meet or exceed in order to succeed in that particular task. A DL of 5 represents a task that pretty much anybody can do (See fish swimming through a river, hear a conversation in the next room, or follow muddy footprints). A DL of 10 represents a task that your average person could probably do (Swim across a lake, tell a friend is lying, find a dropped coin). A DL of 20 represents a task that few people can do (Shrug off cobra poison, steal the keys off of a guard, or bash open a heavy locked door). A DL of 30 should represent the limit of mankind’s power (Jump 8 feet in the air, bench press 700 lbs, or tightrope walk on fishing wire). A DL of over 30 should only be able to be achieved by supernatural assistance or divine intervention. If the roll fails—that is, the number rolled on the dice plus ability and skill bonuses is less than the Difficulty Level—the character fails for that attempt at the task. Some tasks cannot be retried. See Chapter Three for more details about skills.

Example: Jay wants his character Riordan to jump a chasm. The GM decides since it’s a really big, wide chasm the difficulty is rather high, setting the DL at 27. So even if Riordan had the maximum allowed stats in both his Athletics skill and Muscle ability, Jay still has to roll a 7 on his roll, which is pretty crazy. So Jay rolls his dice and the score comes up as 5. Riordan’s Athletics skill is 8 and his Muscle is 8, so the final result is 21, not nearly enough to jump the chasm and Riordan likely falls to an untimely, sticky death. Cue the GM’s maniacal laughter.

Combat Checks

A character's got to do what a character's got to do. And sometimes what they’ve got to do is smack the crap out of somebody or something, oftentimes with a blunt or sharp object.

Some actions in combat do not require a roll. These include but are not limited to moving, guarding, putting away or retrieving a weapon or item, talking, and running away.

For most offensive actions in combat, the attacking character rolls an Attack Roll – a 10-sided die roll plus an attack bonus (Agility plus the Skill Ranks in the weapon plus Muscle plus the Weapon Damage). Defending characters make a Defense Roll (Agility plus either Dodge or Parry) plus Armor and Endurance. The attack is a success if the Attack Roll exceeds the Defense roll. If this occurs, the defending character takes the difference as the damage dealt and subtracts it from his or her Health Points. See The combat chapter for more details.

Example: Jay wants his character Riordan to attack an enemy soldier with his broadsword. On his turn, he rolls a 5. His Attack Bonus is 20 (5 Agility and 3 in Broadsword, 8 Muscle, and 4 Damage for a broadsword), so the Attack Roll is 25. The enemy soldier tries to Dodge this attack and rolls a 6. His Defense roll is a total of 16 (5 Agility and 1 in Dodge, 4 endurance, and 6 for his armor), so the Defense Roll is 22. Riordan lands a hit with an Advantage of 3, so the enemy soldier takes 3 points of Damage for that hit.

On his turn, the soldier makes an Attack Roll of 20 (A roll of 2, Agility 5, broadsword 2, Muscle 7, and Damage 4). Riordan tries to Parry the blow and rolls a 27 (roll of 9, 5 Agility, 3 broadsword, 5 Endurance, and 5 armor), easily knocking the attack aside.

On Jay’s next turn, Riordan attacks again, rolling an 8, adding his Attack Bonus for a result of 28. The enemy soldier attempts to Parry the blow in return, but rolls a 3 and adds his Defense 17 (Agility 5, broadsword 2, 4 endurance, 6 armor) for a total of 20. Riordan’s advantage this time is 8, so the soldier takes 8 points of damage.

Magic Checks

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Criticals and Botches

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Effects and Environment

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