Grod_The_Giant
2013-04-29, 09:23 PM
UPDATE: A new edition is available (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?361270-STaRS-the-Simple-TAbletop-Roleplaying-System-5-0)!
STaRS
The Simple TAbletop Roleplaying System
The Promise:
No books! No math! No prep time! No more than 15 minutes to make a character and start playing!
STaRS is a universal, rules-light system, capable of handling everything from gritty noir to high-flying superheros. It walks the thin line between running on a book full of rules and running on GM fiat, all the while striving to be free of the narrative elements that haunt games like FATE. Friendly towards new and experienced role-players alike, STaRS is great for one-shots and long campaigns alike.
Checks
The most basic unit of the game is the check, a single die roll to determine whether or not you succeed. Any time your character takes an action with a chance of failure, pick the appropriate Ability and roll a d10. If the result is less than your Ability, you succeed at that action. If the result is higher, you fail.
For the purposes of example, let's take a look at Marshal John Wild, trying to lasso a wild stallion. The Director asks for an Agility check. John has an Agility score of 7. His player rolls a ten-sided die and gets a 5. Success! The good marshal drops the rope squarely around the horse's neck.
Flourishes and Fumbles
Not all successes and failures are equal. For every three points by which the result is less than your Ability, you succeed with a Flourish. For every three points by which your roll is more than your Ability, you fail with a Fumble. Flourishes and Fumbles don't always matter, but they serve to give you an idea of just how well or how badly you did. The more Flourishes, the better.
For example, say Marshal John Wild is trying to climb a canyon wall to get the drop on some cattle rustlers camped up top. With no Flourishes, he takes his time and just barely scrambles to the top. With a Flourish, he might make it up in half the time, catching the varmints by surprise. On the other hand, while a failure means he doesn't make it up the cliff, a Fumble might me he makes it halfway up the cliff before his handhold gives way!
Who Rolls When?
Stars make all the rolls. The Director never has to touch a die. When a character shoots at a foe, he rolls to attack. When the foe shoots back, the Star rolls to dodge.
Sidebar: Hey! That looks like math!
If you're the type who shudders at math, don't worry. The math in STaRS is very simple, and you only have to do it once— at character creation, you can write down what die rolls give you what results. If your Physique score is 7, you could write it out as _1_/_4_/_7_/_10_, or 7 (1, 4, 10), or any other way you can think of. If you roll a 10, that's a Fumble. If you roll a 4, that's a Flourish, and a 1 gives you a whopping two Flourishes!
Abilities
What defines a character? The most important things are in your head— how does he think? How does he act? What made him the way he is today? But after personality, the most important thing about your character are his abilities.
Each character is represented by ten abilities— Agility, Awareness, Dexterity, Manipulation, Physique, Presence, Smarts, Speed, Will, and Wits. These abilities each have a rank, a number between one and ten, representing how developed that ability is. The higher the rank, the better— a character with an Agility of 1 can hardly move, but one with an Agility of 10 will never fail. For most characters, Abilities should be between 3 and 7. There are other ways to represent super- or sub-human capabilities.
Sidebar: Why the limit?
The answer is math. Your chance of succeeding on a normal check is 10% per rank— with a Physique score of 7, you'll succeed 70% of the time. That doesn't sound amazing… but turn to the next section and read about Advantage and Disadvantage. Those are effectively a 2-rank adjustment. Suddenly, that 70% chance of success jumps up to 90%-- that's almost a guarantee, but there's still some margin of error. If we allow you to have a rank of 8, your success rate jumps up to 96%, and with a rank of 9, you'll only fail one check in a hundred. Such perfection may sound like fun, but trust us— it's boring to play. Like we said above, you can use Scale to represent characters who appear perfect to us normal humans.
Rote Uses
STaRS runs on Ability checks— all other game mechanics either modify checks, or are modified by checks. That makes it especially important to know exactly what each Ability covers. To that end, we've listed a few Rote Uses for each Ability, the most common checks it governs. Together, the list of Rote Uses should cover most things you need to do in a game. If not, it's a good starting point to figure out what Ability you should be rolling.
Categories
Sometimes you'll see references to "mental" or "physical" Abilities. You can break the list of Abilities up along the following lines:
Mental Abilities: Awareness, Intellect, Will, Wits
Physical Abilities: Agility, Dexterity, Physique, Speed
Social Abilities: Manipulation, Presence
Agility
Your Agility score represents your gross physical coordination.
Acrobatics-- Flipping, diving, tumbling, balancing, and so on are all functions of Agility.
Melee Attacks-- Most melee attacks are functions of Agility.
Melee Defense-- Avoiding or parrying close-ranged attacks, be they with swords, spells, or other, requires Agility.
Riding-- Riding a horse or other animal is governed by Agility.
Stealth-- Hiding, moving silently, and otherwise sneaking around depends on your Agility
Awareness
Your Awareness score represents your perception and insight
Perception-- Noticing things about the world is a function of Awareness.
Reading People-- Your Awareness determines how good you are at forming impressions of people and working out their motives.
Searching-- Actively seeking out fine detail-- traps, evidence, and the like-- is a function of Awareness.
Tracking-- Your ability to follow a trail depends on your Awareness
Dexterity
Dexterity is a measure of a character's fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination
Catching-- Catching a thrown or falling object requires Dexterity.
Driving-- Piloting a vehicle, be it a car or a fighter jet, generally depends on Dexterity.
Ranged Attacks-- Ranged attacks, be they a bow, a throwing knife, or a laser pistol, are functions of Dexterity.
Sleight of Hand-- Minor feats of legerdemain, such as card tricks, require Dexterity.
Thievery-- Picking locks, picking pockets, and disabling traps fall under the banner of Dexterity.
Manipulation
Manipulation represents your ability to control others, through persuasion and deception.
Deception-- Lying or misleading another is one of the main uses of Manipulation.
Disguise-- Disguising yourself is mostly a function of Manipulation.
Persuasion-- Making another agree with you requires Manipulation.
Provocation-- Provoking another to take an course of action you choose, such as attacking you, usually requires Manipulation.
Physique
Physique represents raw physical strength and endurance.
Athletics-- Most raw physical tasks, such as climbing and swimming, fall under Physique.
Exerting Force-- Exercises of raw strength-- lifting, pushing, breaking things and the like-- are functions of Physique. Without making a check, you can lift about 10 pounds per rank.
Fortitude-- Resisting toxins, disfeases, and other attacks which affect the body requires Physique
Physical Health-- Your Physique determines how many times you can be damaged by physical attacks.
Wrestling-- Wrestling, grappling, whatever you choose to call it, it's based on Physique.
Presence
Presence is a measure of personal magnetism
Intimidation-- Scaring people requires Presence.
Leadership-- Rallying allies and similar actions are acts of Presence
Making Friends-- Making good first impressions and getting people to like you is a function of Presence.
Social Health-- Your Presence determines how much social damage-- insults, cutting remarks, provocation and the like-- you can withstand.
Smarts
Smarts represents "book" knowledge, technical skill, and logical reasoning
Computers-- Hacking, programming, and the like. (If computers exist in your setting)
Crafting-- Building and fixing things
Knowledge-- Knowing about things, if not necessarily how to do them.
Medicine-- First aid, surgery, and medical knowledge
Occult-- Knowing about magic, as well as how to do ritual magic. (If magic exists in your setting)
Science-- Both knowledge and practical
Speed
Speed represents reaction time, as well as how fast you can physically move
Initiative-- At the beginning of combat, all characters make Speed checks. Those who succeed act before their foes, and those who fail act afterwards. Within those categories, characters act in order of Speed.
Ranged Defense-- Dodging ranged attacks requires a Speed check
Reflex-- Your ability to avoid rolling boulders, fireballs, and other such attacks depends on Speed.
Sprinting-- Your base movement speed in combat, along with racing, sprinting, and so on.
Will
Mental strength and toughness
Concentration-- Your ability to maintain your focus on a single task despite distractions
Magic-- Many (though certainly not all) forms of magic, psionics, and other "special" abilities are based on Will, although they may not be available to all characters, or in all settings. Stars should pick which Ability to use when they select the appropriate Power (see below).
Mental Health-- Your ability to withstand mental damage, stemming from telepathic attacks, extreme emotional trauma and the like.
Self-Control-- Your ability to keep control of your own emotions and reactions, resisting social manipulation
Will Saves-- Your ability to resist mental attacks
Wits
Wits represents a character's experience and "common sense"
Contacts-- Knowing the right man (or woman) at the right time
Memory-- When determining if a character remembers something, use Wits
Resisting Manipulation-- The ability to see through lies, honeyed words, and other social manipulations is a function of Wits
Shortcuts-- Physical shortcuts through a city, as well as metaphorical shortcuts through bureaucracies
Wilderness Survival-- Being able to survive on your own in the wild requires Wits
Advantage and Disadvantage
Sometimes a task is easy. Sometimes there a circumstances— high-quality tools, a buddy to help you, an exceptionally foolish foe— that make things easier. When circumstances help you, the you are awarded Advantage. On the other hand, sometimes things are unusually difficult. The security is top-notch, you're distracted, or your foe is highly skilled. When circumstances hinder you, the you are awarded Disadvantage.
When making a check with Advantage, the Star rolls twice and takes the better result. When making a check with Disadvantage, the Star rolls twice and takes the worse result.
For example, our friend Marshal Wild has managed to sneak up on those cattle rustlers we mentioned earlier. Wishing to weight the odds a bit in his favor, he decides to pick off one of the varmints, stealthy-like. As he prepares to smack the man upside the head, the Director awards him Advantage— the target's got no idea the good lawman is out there, so he's not doing much to dodge. The Star controlling Wild rolls an 8 and a 4. The latter is lower than the Marshal's Agility score of 7, and the attack works like a charm— one cattle rustler, laid out cold.
As he slips closer to camp, the Marshal spots where the bandits have left their guns. Great! Problem is, to get there, he'll have to cross through the area illuminated by the campfire. Hoping for the best, the Star rolls to be stealthy, with Disadvantage for moving through the light. He gets a 6 and a 9— uh-oh! 9 is higher than his score of 7, and the cattle rustlers see him moving. Cursing, Wild prepares for a fight.
Of course, things are rarely so straightforwards. When Marshal Wild is sneaking up on the camp, it might be dark (Advantage), but the guards are particularly alert (Disadvantage), but he's previously arranged a distraction (Advantage), but he's wearing bright colors (Disadvantage)… Multiple sources of Advantage and Disadvantage stack, at least to a certain level.
One application of Advantage and one application of Disadvantage cancel each other out. If a character has Advantage due to the darkness and Disadvantage due to being heavily burdened, he makes his check without any modifiers.
Two applications of Advantage increase the level at which you can attempt an action by one, and two applications of Disadvantage decrease the level by one. Doing so prevents said applications from applying to your check. We'll elaborate on what that means in the next section.
When you start looking, it's easy to find things that should give you Advantage or Disadvantage. But that doesn't mean you should. Trying to count every possible source will slow your game to a craw— a fate far worse than missing a few minor circumstances. Instead, only pay attention to the biggest, most important things.
Scale and Level
It's an unfortunate truth in life that some things are impossible. No matter how hard you try, no matter how many springs you strap to your shoes and how much training you do, you're not going to leap high buildings in a single bound. On the other hand, there are some things that you just can't fail at. Under normal circumstances, you will never fail to tie your shoes or check your email.
To make matters more confusing, different characters have different base capabilities. Sir Lancelot might not be able to lift more than a few hundred pounds, but with the same amount of effort, Spiderman might be able to lift a truck, and Superman an entire aircraft carrier!
In STaRS, every action you take can be placed somewhere along a Scale. Scale is a relative measure of capability. Characters operate on a specific level of the Scale. By default, characters can lift as much, run as fast, and think as hard as a normal member of their species. This is known as their base level.
When attempting an action at their level, a character must roll an ability check. Actions at lower levels automatically succeed, and actions at higher levels automatically fail.
Sidebar: Scale and Flourishes
Sometimes what matters is how well you do on a task, not just if you succeed or fail. If you're attempting an action at a lower level and there would be a benefit to getting Flourishes on your check-- say, if you're attacking an enemy-- roll the check as if you had a Rank of 10, and count Flourishes normally.
Powers and circumstances may shift the scale, making a reasonable task either easy or impossible. As we mentioned before, if you have Advantage from two different sources when attempting a task, you make the check at one level higher than normal. The same goes for Disadvantage— two sources of Disadvantage, and you make your check at one level lower than normal.
Scale is relative not just to the characters, but to the campaign. A group of superheroes will operate on a very different scale than a group of ordinary folks trying to escape a zombie apocalypse. Directors should come up with a Scale that fits the game they intend to run, and make sure the players understand what it means.
Normal Scale
{table=head]Level|Reference|Descriptor|Physical Example|Mental Example|Damage Example
- -|Effortless|The kind of thing that's almost impossible to fail|Sit upright|Remember your name|A gentle breeze
-|Easy|The kind of thing a normal human can do without effort|Climb a flight of stairs|Complete a simple arithmetic problem|A foam dart
Base|Plausible|The kind of thing a normal human can do with effort|Withstand a punch without ill effect|Hack a computer system with appropriate resources|A punch
+|Implausible|The kind of thing that you see "human" characters do in action movies|Leap a ten-foot fence|Develop an antidote to a new disease in a matter of hours|A sword or gun
++|Low Superhuman|The kind of thing you'd see Spider-Man do|Run as fast as a car|Invent entirely new technologies on the fly|A heavy machine gun
+++|Moderate Superhuman|The kind of thing you'd see the Thing|Lift a tank|Build a spaceship out of scrap metal|A howitzer
++++|High Superhuman|The kind of thing you'd see Superman do|Push an asteroid out of orbit|Predict the future though logic|A nuke
+++++|Godly|The kind of things gods do |Create a planet|Predict the motion of molecules on the other side of the galaxy|A supernova[/table]
Altering the Scale
By limiting what Stars can and can't do, Scale can do a lot to establish mood. Merging the Plausible and Implausible Levels of the basic Scale can help establish a comic-book feel, where even normal humans can accomplish incredible feats. On the other hand, creating a new "Practical" Level ("things normal people can do with effort but no training") and setting it as the game's Base Level can make a game feel a lot more grounded. Directors should feel free to play around with Scale to better fit the mood of the world they want to introduce.
Traits and Flaws
Abilities represent the most basic aspect of your character, but people are more complicated than that. Beyond simple measures of strength or intelligence, everyone has things that make them special— special talents, special powers, special training, special equipment, and more. In STaRS, these special aspects are known as Traits. All Traits fall into one of five categories:
Skills
Skills represent special training or gifts in a particular field. Characters can have a Skill in any Rote Use of an Ability, or a similarly focused area of expertise. Skills grant Advantage on appropriate Checks.
Knacks
Knacks are similar in many ways to Skills, again often stemming from special training. But while a Skill is active, Knacks are more passive. A Knack prevents you from being penalized by certain types of Disadvantage, such as being able to use improvised tools without penalty or function normally in darkness.
Boosts
Boosts are in many ways a more powerful form of Skill, usually stemming from extranormal powers rather than mere training. Just like Skills, characters can have a Boost in any Rote Use of an Ability, or sometimes even to all uses of the Ability. Boosts allow you to make appropriate Checks one Level higher than normal. Characters can have multiple Boosts to a single Rote Use of an Ability, making them many times more powerful than normal. A Boost to a single Rote Use is known as a Narrow Boost, while a Boost to all uses of an Ability is called a Broad Boost.
Characters can obtain Boosts to any Rote Use imaginable… but that doesn't mean they should. If the Director thinks that a Boost might cause problems in his campaign— say, a boost to Medicine in a game where a major goal is finding a cure to a zombie virus— he should feel free to disallow it.
Powers
Powers are the most open-ended Trait, representing any special talent you possess that other humans do not, such as seeing through walls, reading minds, or casting spells. What is or is not an acceptable Power varies widely, depending on what kind of game you're playing— telekinesis might be perfectly acceptable in a game where everyone's playing super-heroes, but be completely out-of-place in a game about pirates. Stars and Directors need to work together to determine if a Power is "OK" for a particular game.
Because of their sheer variety, it's impossible to provide concrete rules for how Powers work, but a few generalizations may be made:
Powers require Checks to use. Superman may be able to fly and see through walls, but he still needs to make an Awareness check to find the bomb in the next room, or a Speed check to catch up to the runaway airliner.
Powers operate on your Base Level. A character with the power of flight can't fly any faster than he can run, and a wizard using his magic to move an object couldn't exert more force than a normal man using his hands. You may purchase Skills and Boosts for your Powers, just like you may for Rote Uses of your Abilities.
Powers are sorted based on their versatility.
A Trivial Power only applies in very narrow situations, or is not very useful even when it does apply, such as speaking any language, or firing bolts of energy.
A Minor Power is useful, but has well-defined limits, such as reading (but not influencing) minds, or creating holograms.
A Major Power is exceptionally broad or poorly-defined, such as "telepathy," or "ritual magic."
Companions
Companions are independent entities who hang out with you for whatever reason. They may have minds of their own— such as a sidekick— or not— such as a special vehicle. Thus, in STaRs, both Robin and the Batmobile would be represented as Companions.
Companions are their own character, with their own set of Abilities and Traits. However, they neither start with nor earn experience for themselves. See the Character chapter for details.
A Star generally controls his own Companions. That being said, your Companions are (usually) your friends, not your slaves— if they're sentient creatures, they'll behave as such, looking out for their own well-being rather than mindlessly following your commands.
Not all Companions are capable of their own thoughts, though— vehicles are also are represented as Companions. Non-sentient Companions lack Mental and Social Abilities, although some may have Awareness thanks to sensor arrays or the like. Vehicles generally have no Dexterity score. Most of all, non-sentient Companions cannot act on their own— you must donate your own actions in order for them to do anything.
Summary
Trait
Benefit
Skill
Grants Advantage on relevant Checks
Knack
Removes Disadvantage on relevant Checks
Boost
Increases Level of relevant Checks
Power
Grants exotic new abilities
Companion
Provides a sidekick or vehicle
Flaws
The flipside of special powers is special weakness, or Flaws. Flaws work exactly like Powers, but in the opposite direction. Flaws are denoted as Anti-Traits, such as an Anti-Skill or Anti-Knack.
Anti-Skills
Anti-Skills represent unusual ineptness in a particular field. Characters can have an Anti-Skill in any Rote Use of an Ability, or a similarly focused area of expertise. Anti-Skills inflict Disadvantage on appropriate Checks.
Anti-Knacks
Anti-Knacks represent an inability to take advantage of certain advantages, either willfully or through your own ineptness. An Anti-Knack prevents you from benefiting from certain types of Advantage, such as a character who glows in the dark or who refuses to attack unaware enemies.
Anti-Boosts
Anti-Boosts represent an exceptional, possibly even supernatural weakness. Characters can have an Anti-Boost in any Rote Use of an Ability, or sometimes even to all uses of the Ability. Anti-Boosts cause you to make appropriate Checks one Level lower than normal. Characters can have multiple Anti-Boosts to a single Rote Use of an Ability, making them many times more powerful than normal.
Anti-Powers
Anti-Powers represent the loss of an ability normally possessed by humans, such as being unable to walk or speak. Just like Powers, Anti-Powers are based on their versatility.
A Trivial Anti-Power is only rarely a weakness, such as a learning disability.
A Minor Anti-Power is useful, but has well-defined limits, such as a missing arm.
A Major Anti-Power is a nearly crippling disability, such as being blind.
Conflict
Ability checks are all you need to handle characters in isolation, but sooner or later, every story involves conflict. When two or more characters are acting against each other, that's a conflict, whether the fight involves angry words or drawn swords.
The Round
The basic unit of conflict is the round— a hypothetical unit of time during which all participants in the conflict act. The length of a Round varies from setting to setting and scenario to scenario— a Round of swordplay might only be a few seconds, but a Round of verbal sparring at a ball might last for many minutes.
Turn Order
When conflict first breaks out, all characters who intend to join the conflict make Speed checks. Those who succeed may act before their foes, and those who fail act afterwards.
Within those categories, the order of action doesn't particularly matter. Groups might simple move in a circle around the table. Alternately, characters may act in order of Speed, high to low. If two characters have equal speed, determine who acts first either by common agreement or random chance—roll a die or flip a coin.
A character may choose to act later in the round, if he so desires— a choice known as holding.
Actions
There are three types of action in combat— Major, Minor, and Free. Each round, a character gets one Major and one Minor action, and as many Free actions as they'd like. You made take a second Minor action in place of a Major one, if you so choose.
Major Actions take both time and effort, such as shooting a gun or casting a spell-- generally, things for which you might have to make a check.
Minor Actions take time, but little effort, such as moving a short distance or reloading a gun.
Free actions take little time and little effort, such as talking or opening a door.
Movement (Minor Action)
A character may move a short distance as a minor action—approximately two yards for every Rank of Speed, at basic human scale. To move farther, you may make a Speed check as a major action.
Attacking (Major Action)
The grizzled gunslinger takes aim and fires his trusty Peacemaker. The witty debutante humiliates her rival with a cutting remark. The psychic crushes a mind under the weight of his own doubts. All these and more— any action designed to harm a foe— is an attack.
To attack a foe, whether that attack is physical or mental, make an ability check. If you succeed, and the level of the attack appropriate, you affect and damage your target. A successful attack deals one point of damage, plus one additional point for every Flourish.
There are three types of attacks— physical, social, and mental.
Physical attacks hurt your body. When someone makes a physical attack, they're trying to kill you— or at the very least batter you into unconsciousness. Swords, lasers, and fireballs are all physical attacks.
Social attacks hurt your feelings. When someone makes a social attack, they're trying to manipulate you into doing what they want, or reduce you to tears. Insults, intimidation, and persuasion are all social attacks.
Mental attacks hurt your mind. When someone makes a mental attack, they're trying to change the way you think. Telepathic attacks and serious trauma are the main source our mental attacks. It's possible to use words to inflict mental damage, but you need an extremely strong emotional connection in order to do so. A scorned lover could inflict mental damage, as could an abusive parent or a former torturer, but a stranger or a high-school rival could not.
Getting back to our friend Marshal Wild, we find that the good marshal has been cornered by two men with knives. With his life on the line, Wild fires his trusty six-shooter at the closer varmint. He makes a Dexterity check and rolls a 3— compared to his rank of 6, that's a success and a flourish! He pegs the man square in the chest, hitting him for two damage. The man hits the ground, leaving only one surviving bandit to charge the lawman.
Sidebar: Attacking Multiple Targets
If you want to attack multiple targets in a single action, make your attacks at Disadvantage. The maximum number of targets you can affect this way should be capped-- half of your Ability, rounded down, is a good guideline.
Area Attacks
Area attacks, whether a fireball spell or a rocket launcher, work similarly to multiattacking in that you roll attacks against all foes in the area at Disadvantage. Instead of limiting the number of targets, Directors should limit the area-- one yard of radius per rank of Ability is a decent guideline. Some attacks may have more limited spreads, such as a flamethrower, but don't worry too much about how that changes things-- better to keep the radius the same, only affect a fraction of the total sphere, and figure that the decreased area and increased ease of aiming balance each other out.
If that's too complicated, you can use static numbers instead: a 20ft radius burst, 50ft cone, 100 ft line, or 10x50ft cylinder.
Defending
When an enemy attacks you, roll an ability check to avoid the attack. If successful, you are not affected. If you fail, you're hit, and you may take damage. This is known as a defense check.
Avoiding a melee attack is an Agility check
Avoiding a ranged attack is a Speed check
Some social attacks— especially those dependent on falsehoods— may be resisted with Wits.
Most social and mental attacks are resisted by Will checks.
The bandit takes a stab at Wild, who rolls an Agility check to dodge. Unfortunately, he gets an 8— two points above his rank— and the knife cuts him right across the arm.
Damage
Failing a defense check isn't the end of the world. You still get to make a resistance check— a Physique check for physical damage, Presence check for social damage, and a Will check for mental damage. Succeed, and you don't take any effect. Fail, and you take one damage, plus one damage for every fumble on your defense check.
Damage comes in the form of Ability penalties. For every point of damage to an ability, treat it as if its rank were one lower. For example, if you have a Physique of 7, and you take two damage, your Physique is effectively 5 until you can get treatment.
Physical damage inflicts penalties to Physique
Social damage inflicts penalties to Presence
Mental damage inflicts penalties to Will
After getting cut, Marshal Wild makes a resistance check. He rolls a 7, which is higher than his Physique of 6. He takes a point of damage— ouch!
Damage and Scale
Damage depends on the level of the attack coming at you. If the attack is at a higher level than your ability to resist it, you're in a whole lot of trouble.
If the damage level is one level higher, you take normal damage on a successful check, and double damage on a failed check.
If the damage level is two levels higher, you take double damage on a successful check, and are instantly taken out by a failed check.
If the damage level is three levels higher, you don't even get a resistance check— you're taken out.
{table=head]Damage level|Successful check|Failed check
0|No damage|1 damage, + 1 damage per fumble on the defense check
+|1 damage, + 1 damage per fumble on the defense check|2 damage, + 2 damage per fumble on the defense check
++|2 damage, + 2 damage per fumble on the defense check|Taken out
+++|Taken out|Taken out.[/table]
Taken Out
If your rank would ever be reduced to zero or below, you are taken out— your opponent chooses what happens to you, although it's up to you to decide how exactly that plays out. If you are taken out by social damage, for example, your foe may declare that you withdraw from the party— but it's up to you whether or not you leave in a quiet snit or go out screaming. The events must be believable.
Being taken out by physical damage usually means you're dead, dying, battered into unconsciousness, or otherwise too injured to keep going.
Being taken out by social damage usually means that you're an uncooperative, grumpy mess, unwilling or unable to continue socializing.
Being taken out by mental damage usually leaves you a broken mess, unable to accomplish even the simplest tasks-- if you're not catatonic.
Recovery
Recovering from damage requires two things: treatment and time. Treatment heals half of your current damage, rounded up, but cannot be applied again until you take more damage. Afterwards, remaining damage heals at the rate of one point per damage type per hour.
Treatment for physical damage is first aid— bandaging wounds, setting broken bones, and the like. It requires a Smarts check, as well as medical supplies, and usually takes ten minutes.
Treatment for social damage is quiet time. A character must spend at least ten minutes alone doing something they enjoy, such as reading or painting. There is no check required.
Treatment for mental damage is counseling. It requires either a Presence check made by another Star, or a Will check if the counseling is provided by a director-controlled ally. Counseling takes at least an hour.
Maneuvers (Major Action)
What if you don't want to just stab your foe? Warriors and diplomats alike seek ways to gain advantage over foes. Warriors wrestle their foes to the ground, throw sand in their eyes or knock the sword from their hand. Diplomats set verbal traps, discredit their rivals and prepare the stage for more impressive lies. These actions and more fall under the broad category of maneuvers.
A maneuver requires an ability check of some sort— Stars and Directors have to choose whichever ability feels best. Agility and Physique are commonly used for combat maneuvers, while Manipulation is a generally good choice for social maneuverings.
If the check succeeds, you inflict a condition on your foe, such as "knocked down" or "blinded." When the condition is relevant, you gain Advantage against the foe. You might have Advantage when making attacks or defense checks against a blinded foe, but not when making a social attack. On the other hand, while you might have Advantage when lying to a foe with a "credulous" condition, but not when attacking them.
A condition persists for one round, plus one round for every flourish on the initial Ability check. Rounds are counted at the end of your turn, with the turn you use the maneuver being turn zero.
Defending Against Maneuvers
Your enemies are just as capable of attempting maneuvers as you are. The process works about the same as when you're the one maneuvering, but reversed— you make an Ability check to resist the maneuver, and if you fail, you suffer from the condition for one round, plus one round per fumble on your Ability check. When suffering from a condition, you are at Disadvantage on any relevant checks.
Aid (Major Action)
The opposite of a maneuver, an Aid action is an attempt to help an ally. Name an action your ally is attempting and make an Ability check, usually using the same Ability as you would if you were the one taking the action— a Smarts check to help your buddy hack a computer, a Physique check to help break down a door, and so on. If you succeed, your ally gains Advantage on the action. For every flourish, you ally may gain Advantage on one additional check of the same type.
The benefits of an Aid action only last a short time, usually no more than a few rounds of conflict r a minute of "real time"-- or until your ally makes the check or checks he has Advantage on. For longer-term help, when attempting an Aid action, you can make your Ability check at Disadvantage. If you succeed, the benefits can last much longer-- anywhere from an entire conflict to several hours of "real time," although the effects of Aid can still only be used on the same limited number of checks.
Character Creation
Characters in STaRS begin their lives with no Skills, no Traits or items, and a Rank of 5 in each Ability. At the beginning of a campaign, Stars have 3 Ability Points and 3 Trait Points to spend on improving their character.
Ability Points
Raising the Rank of an Ability costs 1 Ability Point per rank. Alternately, a Star can chose to lower the Rank of one of his character's abilities, giving himself an extra Ability Point to spend elsewhere. At character creation, a character's Abilities cannot be higher than 7 or lower than 4. Even later in his career, a character's Abilities may not exceed 8 without permission from the Director.
Trait Points
Traits are purchased using their own currency, Trait Points. The cost of various Traits is:
Trait
Cost
Skill
1 Point
Knack
1 Point
Narrow Boost
2 Points, plus 1 Point per additional Level
Broad Boost
3 Points, plus 1 Point per additional Level
Trivial Power
1 Point
Minor Power
2 Points
Major Power
3 Points
Companion (Vehicle)
1 Point, plus any Points spent on the Companion's Traits
Companion (Sentient)
3 Points, plus any Points spent on the Companion's Traits
Companions are created just like characters, except that they receive neither Ability nor Trait Points. Instead, you may donate your own Points to your Companions, who then spend them to increase their own Abilities or purchase their own Traits. You may not receive Points from your Companion— any Points they get by lowering Abilities or taking Flaws can only be spent by them.
Discounts
Traits can get expensive in a hurry. Stars may want a Boost or a Power but be unable to afford it. If that's the case, you can get a Discount by accepting certain limits. Each Discount reduced the price of the Trait by one Trait Point. You can apply multiple Discounts to a single Trait, but the cost of a Trait cannot be reduced to below one (for Common Traits; see below).
Restricted: A Restricted Trait can only be used a few times in a given span of time— once per hour, five times per day, or something similar. Stars and Directors must agree on what's a reasonable restriction, bearing in mind how often you're likely to want to use the power. Once per hour is a good Restriction on a Damaging ability, but would hardly matter for a long-distance travel power.
Limited: A Limited Trait can only be used in certain circumstances— super-strength that only functions in the dark, damage resistance that only works for fire, and so on. A Limited Trait should lose about half its usefulness.
Equipment: Traits can also be external, rather than internal— in other words, they come from fancy gear. Equipment functions normally, but as a separate item, Equipment can be lost, stolen, broken, left behind, or otherwise unavailable. Lost equipment can be replaced with time, money, or at least a visit to a stockpile somewhere. You can’t apply this discount to a Companion.
Common Traits
Some Traits are so widely available that it doesn’t make sense to have to pay for them. Think of a cell phone— STaRS would model it as a Trivial Power and Equipment, coming in at one Trait Point, but we’d bet everyone you know has one. Common Traits are widely available in a given Setting, either being easy and relatively inexpensive to purchase, such as a phone, or else are common in the population as a whole, such as a game where everyone has minor psychic powers. When applying Discounts to a Common Trait, you may reduce the cost to zero Trait Points, rather than one.
Weapons and armor are essential tools for many characters— so important that we wanted to make clear how they work.
Weapons are Narrow Boosts to Melee or Ranged Attack, Limited to Damage. They’re usually both Equipment and Common Traits. Basic, one-Level-Boost antipersonnel weapons— guns, knives, swords and the like—thus cost zero Trait Points.
Armor is a Narrow Boost to Physical Health, and again is typically both Equipment and a Common Trait. Basic, one-Level-Boost armor— bulletproof vests, chainmail and so on— thus costs one Trait Point.
Flaws
Since Flaws are essentially Anti-Traits, they are "anti-purchased"— each Flaw you take gives you Trait Points as if you had taken a corresponding Trait. If you take an Anti-Skill in computer use, you'd gain one Trait Point to spend on something else. If you take an Anti-Boost to memory, you'd gain two Trait Points, and so on. Directors should be wary of allowing Stars to take too many Flaws— be sure that they represent major character weaknesses. If things get too bad, groups may wish to establish a limit on how many Trait Points may be earned by taking Flaws, such as "no more than one-third the starting value."
Advancement
Character advancement is measured by Milestones.
A Trivial Milestone comes at the end of every session, or at any point during the session where characters have significant downtime.
A Minor Milestone occurs at the conclusion of a scenario or longer plotline, usually once every two or three sessions.
A Major Milestone occurs at the conclusion of a long-term story arc, usually once every five or six sessions.
At each type of Milestone, characters gain different bonuses.
At a Trivial Milestone, a character may re-assign one Trait Point he already possesses.
At a Minor Milestone, a character gains one Trait Point, which he may spend immediately, or save for later. He also gains the benefits of a Trivial Milestone. He may use his new Trait Point along with his re-assigned point to purchase a more expensive Trait, if he so desires.
At a Major Milestone, a character gains one Ability Point, which he may spend immediately. He also gains the benefits of both a Trivial and a Minor Milestone.
Adversaries
Creating Adversaries
Designing non-player characters ("NPCs")— any character not controlled by the Stars themselves— tends to be pretty simple. After all, when the Stars are rolling all the dice, there isn’t much need for adversaries to have specific abilities. There are only a few questions to think about.
Does he have a name?
Most NPCs Stars meet are not important-- they're guards, innkeepers, and civilians, there to fill out numbers and little more. NPCs of this category are known as extras. Extras may pose a threat in numbers, but one-on-one, they’re no match for a Star.
On the other hand, some NPCs are important— they’re kings, knights, and dragons, with their own histories and motivations. If an NPC is particularly important to the world or story, they’re referred to as a named character. When making checks against a named character, Stars are at Disadvantage.
“Named characters” are certainly not the only NPCs whose names the Stars might know. And the Stars might never know the name of the demon they fought at the Tower of Bones. But Tom the Innkeeper is still an extra, and the demon is still a named character. If it helps, think of named characters as the “boss monsters” of your world.
What Scale does he operate on?
NPCs obey the laws of scale, just as Stars do. If your NPC has any traits or items that change the level he operates at, be sure to note them.
How tough is he?
NPCs don’t have Abilities, so they can’t take damage in the same way as players. Instead, they have three sets of endurance boxes— one set each for physical, social, and mental health. When a Star deals an NPC damage, check off one box of the appropriate type for every point of damage. When all boxes of a type are filled, the NPC is taken out.
Extras usually only have one box for each type, although it’s certainly possible for them to have more— especially if the extra is very large or well-armored. Named characters usually have two or more endurance boxes of each type.
STaRS
The Simple TAbletop Roleplaying System
The Promise:
No books! No math! No prep time! No more than 15 minutes to make a character and start playing!
STaRS is a universal, rules-light system, capable of handling everything from gritty noir to high-flying superheros. It walks the thin line between running on a book full of rules and running on GM fiat, all the while striving to be free of the narrative elements that haunt games like FATE. Friendly towards new and experienced role-players alike, STaRS is great for one-shots and long campaigns alike.
Checks
The most basic unit of the game is the check, a single die roll to determine whether or not you succeed. Any time your character takes an action with a chance of failure, pick the appropriate Ability and roll a d10. If the result is less than your Ability, you succeed at that action. If the result is higher, you fail.
For the purposes of example, let's take a look at Marshal John Wild, trying to lasso a wild stallion. The Director asks for an Agility check. John has an Agility score of 7. His player rolls a ten-sided die and gets a 5. Success! The good marshal drops the rope squarely around the horse's neck.
Flourishes and Fumbles
Not all successes and failures are equal. For every three points by which the result is less than your Ability, you succeed with a Flourish. For every three points by which your roll is more than your Ability, you fail with a Fumble. Flourishes and Fumbles don't always matter, but they serve to give you an idea of just how well or how badly you did. The more Flourishes, the better.
For example, say Marshal John Wild is trying to climb a canyon wall to get the drop on some cattle rustlers camped up top. With no Flourishes, he takes his time and just barely scrambles to the top. With a Flourish, he might make it up in half the time, catching the varmints by surprise. On the other hand, while a failure means he doesn't make it up the cliff, a Fumble might me he makes it halfway up the cliff before his handhold gives way!
Who Rolls When?
Stars make all the rolls. The Director never has to touch a die. When a character shoots at a foe, he rolls to attack. When the foe shoots back, the Star rolls to dodge.
Sidebar: Hey! That looks like math!
If you're the type who shudders at math, don't worry. The math in STaRS is very simple, and you only have to do it once— at character creation, you can write down what die rolls give you what results. If your Physique score is 7, you could write it out as _1_/_4_/_7_/_10_, or 7 (1, 4, 10), or any other way you can think of. If you roll a 10, that's a Fumble. If you roll a 4, that's a Flourish, and a 1 gives you a whopping two Flourishes!
Abilities
What defines a character? The most important things are in your head— how does he think? How does he act? What made him the way he is today? But after personality, the most important thing about your character are his abilities.
Each character is represented by ten abilities— Agility, Awareness, Dexterity, Manipulation, Physique, Presence, Smarts, Speed, Will, and Wits. These abilities each have a rank, a number between one and ten, representing how developed that ability is. The higher the rank, the better— a character with an Agility of 1 can hardly move, but one with an Agility of 10 will never fail. For most characters, Abilities should be between 3 and 7. There are other ways to represent super- or sub-human capabilities.
Sidebar: Why the limit?
The answer is math. Your chance of succeeding on a normal check is 10% per rank— with a Physique score of 7, you'll succeed 70% of the time. That doesn't sound amazing… but turn to the next section and read about Advantage and Disadvantage. Those are effectively a 2-rank adjustment. Suddenly, that 70% chance of success jumps up to 90%-- that's almost a guarantee, but there's still some margin of error. If we allow you to have a rank of 8, your success rate jumps up to 96%, and with a rank of 9, you'll only fail one check in a hundred. Such perfection may sound like fun, but trust us— it's boring to play. Like we said above, you can use Scale to represent characters who appear perfect to us normal humans.
Rote Uses
STaRS runs on Ability checks— all other game mechanics either modify checks, or are modified by checks. That makes it especially important to know exactly what each Ability covers. To that end, we've listed a few Rote Uses for each Ability, the most common checks it governs. Together, the list of Rote Uses should cover most things you need to do in a game. If not, it's a good starting point to figure out what Ability you should be rolling.
Categories
Sometimes you'll see references to "mental" or "physical" Abilities. You can break the list of Abilities up along the following lines:
Mental Abilities: Awareness, Intellect, Will, Wits
Physical Abilities: Agility, Dexterity, Physique, Speed
Social Abilities: Manipulation, Presence
Agility
Your Agility score represents your gross physical coordination.
Acrobatics-- Flipping, diving, tumbling, balancing, and so on are all functions of Agility.
Melee Attacks-- Most melee attacks are functions of Agility.
Melee Defense-- Avoiding or parrying close-ranged attacks, be they with swords, spells, or other, requires Agility.
Riding-- Riding a horse or other animal is governed by Agility.
Stealth-- Hiding, moving silently, and otherwise sneaking around depends on your Agility
Awareness
Your Awareness score represents your perception and insight
Perception-- Noticing things about the world is a function of Awareness.
Reading People-- Your Awareness determines how good you are at forming impressions of people and working out their motives.
Searching-- Actively seeking out fine detail-- traps, evidence, and the like-- is a function of Awareness.
Tracking-- Your ability to follow a trail depends on your Awareness
Dexterity
Dexterity is a measure of a character's fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination
Catching-- Catching a thrown or falling object requires Dexterity.
Driving-- Piloting a vehicle, be it a car or a fighter jet, generally depends on Dexterity.
Ranged Attacks-- Ranged attacks, be they a bow, a throwing knife, or a laser pistol, are functions of Dexterity.
Sleight of Hand-- Minor feats of legerdemain, such as card tricks, require Dexterity.
Thievery-- Picking locks, picking pockets, and disabling traps fall under the banner of Dexterity.
Manipulation
Manipulation represents your ability to control others, through persuasion and deception.
Deception-- Lying or misleading another is one of the main uses of Manipulation.
Disguise-- Disguising yourself is mostly a function of Manipulation.
Persuasion-- Making another agree with you requires Manipulation.
Provocation-- Provoking another to take an course of action you choose, such as attacking you, usually requires Manipulation.
Physique
Physique represents raw physical strength and endurance.
Athletics-- Most raw physical tasks, such as climbing and swimming, fall under Physique.
Exerting Force-- Exercises of raw strength-- lifting, pushing, breaking things and the like-- are functions of Physique. Without making a check, you can lift about 10 pounds per rank.
Fortitude-- Resisting toxins, disfeases, and other attacks which affect the body requires Physique
Physical Health-- Your Physique determines how many times you can be damaged by physical attacks.
Wrestling-- Wrestling, grappling, whatever you choose to call it, it's based on Physique.
Presence
Presence is a measure of personal magnetism
Intimidation-- Scaring people requires Presence.
Leadership-- Rallying allies and similar actions are acts of Presence
Making Friends-- Making good first impressions and getting people to like you is a function of Presence.
Social Health-- Your Presence determines how much social damage-- insults, cutting remarks, provocation and the like-- you can withstand.
Smarts
Smarts represents "book" knowledge, technical skill, and logical reasoning
Computers-- Hacking, programming, and the like. (If computers exist in your setting)
Crafting-- Building and fixing things
Knowledge-- Knowing about things, if not necessarily how to do them.
Medicine-- First aid, surgery, and medical knowledge
Occult-- Knowing about magic, as well as how to do ritual magic. (If magic exists in your setting)
Science-- Both knowledge and practical
Speed
Speed represents reaction time, as well as how fast you can physically move
Initiative-- At the beginning of combat, all characters make Speed checks. Those who succeed act before their foes, and those who fail act afterwards. Within those categories, characters act in order of Speed.
Ranged Defense-- Dodging ranged attacks requires a Speed check
Reflex-- Your ability to avoid rolling boulders, fireballs, and other such attacks depends on Speed.
Sprinting-- Your base movement speed in combat, along with racing, sprinting, and so on.
Will
Mental strength and toughness
Concentration-- Your ability to maintain your focus on a single task despite distractions
Magic-- Many (though certainly not all) forms of magic, psionics, and other "special" abilities are based on Will, although they may not be available to all characters, or in all settings. Stars should pick which Ability to use when they select the appropriate Power (see below).
Mental Health-- Your ability to withstand mental damage, stemming from telepathic attacks, extreme emotional trauma and the like.
Self-Control-- Your ability to keep control of your own emotions and reactions, resisting social manipulation
Will Saves-- Your ability to resist mental attacks
Wits
Wits represents a character's experience and "common sense"
Contacts-- Knowing the right man (or woman) at the right time
Memory-- When determining if a character remembers something, use Wits
Resisting Manipulation-- The ability to see through lies, honeyed words, and other social manipulations is a function of Wits
Shortcuts-- Physical shortcuts through a city, as well as metaphorical shortcuts through bureaucracies
Wilderness Survival-- Being able to survive on your own in the wild requires Wits
Advantage and Disadvantage
Sometimes a task is easy. Sometimes there a circumstances— high-quality tools, a buddy to help you, an exceptionally foolish foe— that make things easier. When circumstances help you, the you are awarded Advantage. On the other hand, sometimes things are unusually difficult. The security is top-notch, you're distracted, or your foe is highly skilled. When circumstances hinder you, the you are awarded Disadvantage.
When making a check with Advantage, the Star rolls twice and takes the better result. When making a check with Disadvantage, the Star rolls twice and takes the worse result.
For example, our friend Marshal Wild has managed to sneak up on those cattle rustlers we mentioned earlier. Wishing to weight the odds a bit in his favor, he decides to pick off one of the varmints, stealthy-like. As he prepares to smack the man upside the head, the Director awards him Advantage— the target's got no idea the good lawman is out there, so he's not doing much to dodge. The Star controlling Wild rolls an 8 and a 4. The latter is lower than the Marshal's Agility score of 7, and the attack works like a charm— one cattle rustler, laid out cold.
As he slips closer to camp, the Marshal spots where the bandits have left their guns. Great! Problem is, to get there, he'll have to cross through the area illuminated by the campfire. Hoping for the best, the Star rolls to be stealthy, with Disadvantage for moving through the light. He gets a 6 and a 9— uh-oh! 9 is higher than his score of 7, and the cattle rustlers see him moving. Cursing, Wild prepares for a fight.
Of course, things are rarely so straightforwards. When Marshal Wild is sneaking up on the camp, it might be dark (Advantage), but the guards are particularly alert (Disadvantage), but he's previously arranged a distraction (Advantage), but he's wearing bright colors (Disadvantage)… Multiple sources of Advantage and Disadvantage stack, at least to a certain level.
One application of Advantage and one application of Disadvantage cancel each other out. If a character has Advantage due to the darkness and Disadvantage due to being heavily burdened, he makes his check without any modifiers.
Two applications of Advantage increase the level at which you can attempt an action by one, and two applications of Disadvantage decrease the level by one. Doing so prevents said applications from applying to your check. We'll elaborate on what that means in the next section.
When you start looking, it's easy to find things that should give you Advantage or Disadvantage. But that doesn't mean you should. Trying to count every possible source will slow your game to a craw— a fate far worse than missing a few minor circumstances. Instead, only pay attention to the biggest, most important things.
Scale and Level
It's an unfortunate truth in life that some things are impossible. No matter how hard you try, no matter how many springs you strap to your shoes and how much training you do, you're not going to leap high buildings in a single bound. On the other hand, there are some things that you just can't fail at. Under normal circumstances, you will never fail to tie your shoes or check your email.
To make matters more confusing, different characters have different base capabilities. Sir Lancelot might not be able to lift more than a few hundred pounds, but with the same amount of effort, Spiderman might be able to lift a truck, and Superman an entire aircraft carrier!
In STaRS, every action you take can be placed somewhere along a Scale. Scale is a relative measure of capability. Characters operate on a specific level of the Scale. By default, characters can lift as much, run as fast, and think as hard as a normal member of their species. This is known as their base level.
When attempting an action at their level, a character must roll an ability check. Actions at lower levels automatically succeed, and actions at higher levels automatically fail.
Sidebar: Scale and Flourishes
Sometimes what matters is how well you do on a task, not just if you succeed or fail. If you're attempting an action at a lower level and there would be a benefit to getting Flourishes on your check-- say, if you're attacking an enemy-- roll the check as if you had a Rank of 10, and count Flourishes normally.
Powers and circumstances may shift the scale, making a reasonable task either easy or impossible. As we mentioned before, if you have Advantage from two different sources when attempting a task, you make the check at one level higher than normal. The same goes for Disadvantage— two sources of Disadvantage, and you make your check at one level lower than normal.
Scale is relative not just to the characters, but to the campaign. A group of superheroes will operate on a very different scale than a group of ordinary folks trying to escape a zombie apocalypse. Directors should come up with a Scale that fits the game they intend to run, and make sure the players understand what it means.
Normal Scale
{table=head]Level|Reference|Descriptor|Physical Example|Mental Example|Damage Example
- -|Effortless|The kind of thing that's almost impossible to fail|Sit upright|Remember your name|A gentle breeze
-|Easy|The kind of thing a normal human can do without effort|Climb a flight of stairs|Complete a simple arithmetic problem|A foam dart
Base|Plausible|The kind of thing a normal human can do with effort|Withstand a punch without ill effect|Hack a computer system with appropriate resources|A punch
+|Implausible|The kind of thing that you see "human" characters do in action movies|Leap a ten-foot fence|Develop an antidote to a new disease in a matter of hours|A sword or gun
++|Low Superhuman|The kind of thing you'd see Spider-Man do|Run as fast as a car|Invent entirely new technologies on the fly|A heavy machine gun
+++|Moderate Superhuman|The kind of thing you'd see the Thing|Lift a tank|Build a spaceship out of scrap metal|A howitzer
++++|High Superhuman|The kind of thing you'd see Superman do|Push an asteroid out of orbit|Predict the future though logic|A nuke
+++++|Godly|The kind of things gods do |Create a planet|Predict the motion of molecules on the other side of the galaxy|A supernova[/table]
Altering the Scale
By limiting what Stars can and can't do, Scale can do a lot to establish mood. Merging the Plausible and Implausible Levels of the basic Scale can help establish a comic-book feel, where even normal humans can accomplish incredible feats. On the other hand, creating a new "Practical" Level ("things normal people can do with effort but no training") and setting it as the game's Base Level can make a game feel a lot more grounded. Directors should feel free to play around with Scale to better fit the mood of the world they want to introduce.
Traits and Flaws
Abilities represent the most basic aspect of your character, but people are more complicated than that. Beyond simple measures of strength or intelligence, everyone has things that make them special— special talents, special powers, special training, special equipment, and more. In STaRS, these special aspects are known as Traits. All Traits fall into one of five categories:
Skills
Skills represent special training or gifts in a particular field. Characters can have a Skill in any Rote Use of an Ability, or a similarly focused area of expertise. Skills grant Advantage on appropriate Checks.
Knacks
Knacks are similar in many ways to Skills, again often stemming from special training. But while a Skill is active, Knacks are more passive. A Knack prevents you from being penalized by certain types of Disadvantage, such as being able to use improvised tools without penalty or function normally in darkness.
Boosts
Boosts are in many ways a more powerful form of Skill, usually stemming from extranormal powers rather than mere training. Just like Skills, characters can have a Boost in any Rote Use of an Ability, or sometimes even to all uses of the Ability. Boosts allow you to make appropriate Checks one Level higher than normal. Characters can have multiple Boosts to a single Rote Use of an Ability, making them many times more powerful than normal. A Boost to a single Rote Use is known as a Narrow Boost, while a Boost to all uses of an Ability is called a Broad Boost.
Characters can obtain Boosts to any Rote Use imaginable… but that doesn't mean they should. If the Director thinks that a Boost might cause problems in his campaign— say, a boost to Medicine in a game where a major goal is finding a cure to a zombie virus— he should feel free to disallow it.
Powers
Powers are the most open-ended Trait, representing any special talent you possess that other humans do not, such as seeing through walls, reading minds, or casting spells. What is or is not an acceptable Power varies widely, depending on what kind of game you're playing— telekinesis might be perfectly acceptable in a game where everyone's playing super-heroes, but be completely out-of-place in a game about pirates. Stars and Directors need to work together to determine if a Power is "OK" for a particular game.
Because of their sheer variety, it's impossible to provide concrete rules for how Powers work, but a few generalizations may be made:
Powers require Checks to use. Superman may be able to fly and see through walls, but he still needs to make an Awareness check to find the bomb in the next room, or a Speed check to catch up to the runaway airliner.
Powers operate on your Base Level. A character with the power of flight can't fly any faster than he can run, and a wizard using his magic to move an object couldn't exert more force than a normal man using his hands. You may purchase Skills and Boosts for your Powers, just like you may for Rote Uses of your Abilities.
Powers are sorted based on their versatility.
A Trivial Power only applies in very narrow situations, or is not very useful even when it does apply, such as speaking any language, or firing bolts of energy.
A Minor Power is useful, but has well-defined limits, such as reading (but not influencing) minds, or creating holograms.
A Major Power is exceptionally broad or poorly-defined, such as "telepathy," or "ritual magic."
Companions
Companions are independent entities who hang out with you for whatever reason. They may have minds of their own— such as a sidekick— or not— such as a special vehicle. Thus, in STaRs, both Robin and the Batmobile would be represented as Companions.
Companions are their own character, with their own set of Abilities and Traits. However, they neither start with nor earn experience for themselves. See the Character chapter for details.
A Star generally controls his own Companions. That being said, your Companions are (usually) your friends, not your slaves— if they're sentient creatures, they'll behave as such, looking out for their own well-being rather than mindlessly following your commands.
Not all Companions are capable of their own thoughts, though— vehicles are also are represented as Companions. Non-sentient Companions lack Mental and Social Abilities, although some may have Awareness thanks to sensor arrays or the like. Vehicles generally have no Dexterity score. Most of all, non-sentient Companions cannot act on their own— you must donate your own actions in order for them to do anything.
Summary
Trait
Benefit
Skill
Grants Advantage on relevant Checks
Knack
Removes Disadvantage on relevant Checks
Boost
Increases Level of relevant Checks
Power
Grants exotic new abilities
Companion
Provides a sidekick or vehicle
Flaws
The flipside of special powers is special weakness, or Flaws. Flaws work exactly like Powers, but in the opposite direction. Flaws are denoted as Anti-Traits, such as an Anti-Skill or Anti-Knack.
Anti-Skills
Anti-Skills represent unusual ineptness in a particular field. Characters can have an Anti-Skill in any Rote Use of an Ability, or a similarly focused area of expertise. Anti-Skills inflict Disadvantage on appropriate Checks.
Anti-Knacks
Anti-Knacks represent an inability to take advantage of certain advantages, either willfully or through your own ineptness. An Anti-Knack prevents you from benefiting from certain types of Advantage, such as a character who glows in the dark or who refuses to attack unaware enemies.
Anti-Boosts
Anti-Boosts represent an exceptional, possibly even supernatural weakness. Characters can have an Anti-Boost in any Rote Use of an Ability, or sometimes even to all uses of the Ability. Anti-Boosts cause you to make appropriate Checks one Level lower than normal. Characters can have multiple Anti-Boosts to a single Rote Use of an Ability, making them many times more powerful than normal.
Anti-Powers
Anti-Powers represent the loss of an ability normally possessed by humans, such as being unable to walk or speak. Just like Powers, Anti-Powers are based on their versatility.
A Trivial Anti-Power is only rarely a weakness, such as a learning disability.
A Minor Anti-Power is useful, but has well-defined limits, such as a missing arm.
A Major Anti-Power is a nearly crippling disability, such as being blind.
Conflict
Ability checks are all you need to handle characters in isolation, but sooner or later, every story involves conflict. When two or more characters are acting against each other, that's a conflict, whether the fight involves angry words or drawn swords.
The Round
The basic unit of conflict is the round— a hypothetical unit of time during which all participants in the conflict act. The length of a Round varies from setting to setting and scenario to scenario— a Round of swordplay might only be a few seconds, but a Round of verbal sparring at a ball might last for many minutes.
Turn Order
When conflict first breaks out, all characters who intend to join the conflict make Speed checks. Those who succeed may act before their foes, and those who fail act afterwards.
Within those categories, the order of action doesn't particularly matter. Groups might simple move in a circle around the table. Alternately, characters may act in order of Speed, high to low. If two characters have equal speed, determine who acts first either by common agreement or random chance—roll a die or flip a coin.
A character may choose to act later in the round, if he so desires— a choice known as holding.
Actions
There are three types of action in combat— Major, Minor, and Free. Each round, a character gets one Major and one Minor action, and as many Free actions as they'd like. You made take a second Minor action in place of a Major one, if you so choose.
Major Actions take both time and effort, such as shooting a gun or casting a spell-- generally, things for which you might have to make a check.
Minor Actions take time, but little effort, such as moving a short distance or reloading a gun.
Free actions take little time and little effort, such as talking or opening a door.
Movement (Minor Action)
A character may move a short distance as a minor action—approximately two yards for every Rank of Speed, at basic human scale. To move farther, you may make a Speed check as a major action.
Attacking (Major Action)
The grizzled gunslinger takes aim and fires his trusty Peacemaker. The witty debutante humiliates her rival with a cutting remark. The psychic crushes a mind under the weight of his own doubts. All these and more— any action designed to harm a foe— is an attack.
To attack a foe, whether that attack is physical or mental, make an ability check. If you succeed, and the level of the attack appropriate, you affect and damage your target. A successful attack deals one point of damage, plus one additional point for every Flourish.
There are three types of attacks— physical, social, and mental.
Physical attacks hurt your body. When someone makes a physical attack, they're trying to kill you— or at the very least batter you into unconsciousness. Swords, lasers, and fireballs are all physical attacks.
Social attacks hurt your feelings. When someone makes a social attack, they're trying to manipulate you into doing what they want, or reduce you to tears. Insults, intimidation, and persuasion are all social attacks.
Mental attacks hurt your mind. When someone makes a mental attack, they're trying to change the way you think. Telepathic attacks and serious trauma are the main source our mental attacks. It's possible to use words to inflict mental damage, but you need an extremely strong emotional connection in order to do so. A scorned lover could inflict mental damage, as could an abusive parent or a former torturer, but a stranger or a high-school rival could not.
Getting back to our friend Marshal Wild, we find that the good marshal has been cornered by two men with knives. With his life on the line, Wild fires his trusty six-shooter at the closer varmint. He makes a Dexterity check and rolls a 3— compared to his rank of 6, that's a success and a flourish! He pegs the man square in the chest, hitting him for two damage. The man hits the ground, leaving only one surviving bandit to charge the lawman.
Sidebar: Attacking Multiple Targets
If you want to attack multiple targets in a single action, make your attacks at Disadvantage. The maximum number of targets you can affect this way should be capped-- half of your Ability, rounded down, is a good guideline.
Area Attacks
Area attacks, whether a fireball spell or a rocket launcher, work similarly to multiattacking in that you roll attacks against all foes in the area at Disadvantage. Instead of limiting the number of targets, Directors should limit the area-- one yard of radius per rank of Ability is a decent guideline. Some attacks may have more limited spreads, such as a flamethrower, but don't worry too much about how that changes things-- better to keep the radius the same, only affect a fraction of the total sphere, and figure that the decreased area and increased ease of aiming balance each other out.
If that's too complicated, you can use static numbers instead: a 20ft radius burst, 50ft cone, 100 ft line, or 10x50ft cylinder.
Defending
When an enemy attacks you, roll an ability check to avoid the attack. If successful, you are not affected. If you fail, you're hit, and you may take damage. This is known as a defense check.
Avoiding a melee attack is an Agility check
Avoiding a ranged attack is a Speed check
Some social attacks— especially those dependent on falsehoods— may be resisted with Wits.
Most social and mental attacks are resisted by Will checks.
The bandit takes a stab at Wild, who rolls an Agility check to dodge. Unfortunately, he gets an 8— two points above his rank— and the knife cuts him right across the arm.
Damage
Failing a defense check isn't the end of the world. You still get to make a resistance check— a Physique check for physical damage, Presence check for social damage, and a Will check for mental damage. Succeed, and you don't take any effect. Fail, and you take one damage, plus one damage for every fumble on your defense check.
Damage comes in the form of Ability penalties. For every point of damage to an ability, treat it as if its rank were one lower. For example, if you have a Physique of 7, and you take two damage, your Physique is effectively 5 until you can get treatment.
Physical damage inflicts penalties to Physique
Social damage inflicts penalties to Presence
Mental damage inflicts penalties to Will
After getting cut, Marshal Wild makes a resistance check. He rolls a 7, which is higher than his Physique of 6. He takes a point of damage— ouch!
Damage and Scale
Damage depends on the level of the attack coming at you. If the attack is at a higher level than your ability to resist it, you're in a whole lot of trouble.
If the damage level is one level higher, you take normal damage on a successful check, and double damage on a failed check.
If the damage level is two levels higher, you take double damage on a successful check, and are instantly taken out by a failed check.
If the damage level is three levels higher, you don't even get a resistance check— you're taken out.
{table=head]Damage level|Successful check|Failed check
0|No damage|1 damage, + 1 damage per fumble on the defense check
+|1 damage, + 1 damage per fumble on the defense check|2 damage, + 2 damage per fumble on the defense check
++|2 damage, + 2 damage per fumble on the defense check|Taken out
+++|Taken out|Taken out.[/table]
Taken Out
If your rank would ever be reduced to zero or below, you are taken out— your opponent chooses what happens to you, although it's up to you to decide how exactly that plays out. If you are taken out by social damage, for example, your foe may declare that you withdraw from the party— but it's up to you whether or not you leave in a quiet snit or go out screaming. The events must be believable.
Being taken out by physical damage usually means you're dead, dying, battered into unconsciousness, or otherwise too injured to keep going.
Being taken out by social damage usually means that you're an uncooperative, grumpy mess, unwilling or unable to continue socializing.
Being taken out by mental damage usually leaves you a broken mess, unable to accomplish even the simplest tasks-- if you're not catatonic.
Recovery
Recovering from damage requires two things: treatment and time. Treatment heals half of your current damage, rounded up, but cannot be applied again until you take more damage. Afterwards, remaining damage heals at the rate of one point per damage type per hour.
Treatment for physical damage is first aid— bandaging wounds, setting broken bones, and the like. It requires a Smarts check, as well as medical supplies, and usually takes ten minutes.
Treatment for social damage is quiet time. A character must spend at least ten minutes alone doing something they enjoy, such as reading or painting. There is no check required.
Treatment for mental damage is counseling. It requires either a Presence check made by another Star, or a Will check if the counseling is provided by a director-controlled ally. Counseling takes at least an hour.
Maneuvers (Major Action)
What if you don't want to just stab your foe? Warriors and diplomats alike seek ways to gain advantage over foes. Warriors wrestle their foes to the ground, throw sand in their eyes or knock the sword from their hand. Diplomats set verbal traps, discredit their rivals and prepare the stage for more impressive lies. These actions and more fall under the broad category of maneuvers.
A maneuver requires an ability check of some sort— Stars and Directors have to choose whichever ability feels best. Agility and Physique are commonly used for combat maneuvers, while Manipulation is a generally good choice for social maneuverings.
If the check succeeds, you inflict a condition on your foe, such as "knocked down" or "blinded." When the condition is relevant, you gain Advantage against the foe. You might have Advantage when making attacks or defense checks against a blinded foe, but not when making a social attack. On the other hand, while you might have Advantage when lying to a foe with a "credulous" condition, but not when attacking them.
A condition persists for one round, plus one round for every flourish on the initial Ability check. Rounds are counted at the end of your turn, with the turn you use the maneuver being turn zero.
Defending Against Maneuvers
Your enemies are just as capable of attempting maneuvers as you are. The process works about the same as when you're the one maneuvering, but reversed— you make an Ability check to resist the maneuver, and if you fail, you suffer from the condition for one round, plus one round per fumble on your Ability check. When suffering from a condition, you are at Disadvantage on any relevant checks.
Aid (Major Action)
The opposite of a maneuver, an Aid action is an attempt to help an ally. Name an action your ally is attempting and make an Ability check, usually using the same Ability as you would if you were the one taking the action— a Smarts check to help your buddy hack a computer, a Physique check to help break down a door, and so on. If you succeed, your ally gains Advantage on the action. For every flourish, you ally may gain Advantage on one additional check of the same type.
The benefits of an Aid action only last a short time, usually no more than a few rounds of conflict r a minute of "real time"-- or until your ally makes the check or checks he has Advantage on. For longer-term help, when attempting an Aid action, you can make your Ability check at Disadvantage. If you succeed, the benefits can last much longer-- anywhere from an entire conflict to several hours of "real time," although the effects of Aid can still only be used on the same limited number of checks.
Character Creation
Characters in STaRS begin their lives with no Skills, no Traits or items, and a Rank of 5 in each Ability. At the beginning of a campaign, Stars have 3 Ability Points and 3 Trait Points to spend on improving their character.
Ability Points
Raising the Rank of an Ability costs 1 Ability Point per rank. Alternately, a Star can chose to lower the Rank of one of his character's abilities, giving himself an extra Ability Point to spend elsewhere. At character creation, a character's Abilities cannot be higher than 7 or lower than 4. Even later in his career, a character's Abilities may not exceed 8 without permission from the Director.
Trait Points
Traits are purchased using their own currency, Trait Points. The cost of various Traits is:
Trait
Cost
Skill
1 Point
Knack
1 Point
Narrow Boost
2 Points, plus 1 Point per additional Level
Broad Boost
3 Points, plus 1 Point per additional Level
Trivial Power
1 Point
Minor Power
2 Points
Major Power
3 Points
Companion (Vehicle)
1 Point, plus any Points spent on the Companion's Traits
Companion (Sentient)
3 Points, plus any Points spent on the Companion's Traits
Companions are created just like characters, except that they receive neither Ability nor Trait Points. Instead, you may donate your own Points to your Companions, who then spend them to increase their own Abilities or purchase their own Traits. You may not receive Points from your Companion— any Points they get by lowering Abilities or taking Flaws can only be spent by them.
Discounts
Traits can get expensive in a hurry. Stars may want a Boost or a Power but be unable to afford it. If that's the case, you can get a Discount by accepting certain limits. Each Discount reduced the price of the Trait by one Trait Point. You can apply multiple Discounts to a single Trait, but the cost of a Trait cannot be reduced to below one (for Common Traits; see below).
Restricted: A Restricted Trait can only be used a few times in a given span of time— once per hour, five times per day, or something similar. Stars and Directors must agree on what's a reasonable restriction, bearing in mind how often you're likely to want to use the power. Once per hour is a good Restriction on a Damaging ability, but would hardly matter for a long-distance travel power.
Limited: A Limited Trait can only be used in certain circumstances— super-strength that only functions in the dark, damage resistance that only works for fire, and so on. A Limited Trait should lose about half its usefulness.
Equipment: Traits can also be external, rather than internal— in other words, they come from fancy gear. Equipment functions normally, but as a separate item, Equipment can be lost, stolen, broken, left behind, or otherwise unavailable. Lost equipment can be replaced with time, money, or at least a visit to a stockpile somewhere. You can’t apply this discount to a Companion.
Common Traits
Some Traits are so widely available that it doesn’t make sense to have to pay for them. Think of a cell phone— STaRS would model it as a Trivial Power and Equipment, coming in at one Trait Point, but we’d bet everyone you know has one. Common Traits are widely available in a given Setting, either being easy and relatively inexpensive to purchase, such as a phone, or else are common in the population as a whole, such as a game where everyone has minor psychic powers. When applying Discounts to a Common Trait, you may reduce the cost to zero Trait Points, rather than one.
Weapons and armor are essential tools for many characters— so important that we wanted to make clear how they work.
Weapons are Narrow Boosts to Melee or Ranged Attack, Limited to Damage. They’re usually both Equipment and Common Traits. Basic, one-Level-Boost antipersonnel weapons— guns, knives, swords and the like—thus cost zero Trait Points.
Armor is a Narrow Boost to Physical Health, and again is typically both Equipment and a Common Trait. Basic, one-Level-Boost armor— bulletproof vests, chainmail and so on— thus costs one Trait Point.
Flaws
Since Flaws are essentially Anti-Traits, they are "anti-purchased"— each Flaw you take gives you Trait Points as if you had taken a corresponding Trait. If you take an Anti-Skill in computer use, you'd gain one Trait Point to spend on something else. If you take an Anti-Boost to memory, you'd gain two Trait Points, and so on. Directors should be wary of allowing Stars to take too many Flaws— be sure that they represent major character weaknesses. If things get too bad, groups may wish to establish a limit on how many Trait Points may be earned by taking Flaws, such as "no more than one-third the starting value."
Advancement
Character advancement is measured by Milestones.
A Trivial Milestone comes at the end of every session, or at any point during the session where characters have significant downtime.
A Minor Milestone occurs at the conclusion of a scenario or longer plotline, usually once every two or three sessions.
A Major Milestone occurs at the conclusion of a long-term story arc, usually once every five or six sessions.
At each type of Milestone, characters gain different bonuses.
At a Trivial Milestone, a character may re-assign one Trait Point he already possesses.
At a Minor Milestone, a character gains one Trait Point, which he may spend immediately, or save for later. He also gains the benefits of a Trivial Milestone. He may use his new Trait Point along with his re-assigned point to purchase a more expensive Trait, if he so desires.
At a Major Milestone, a character gains one Ability Point, which he may spend immediately. He also gains the benefits of both a Trivial and a Minor Milestone.
Adversaries
Creating Adversaries
Designing non-player characters ("NPCs")— any character not controlled by the Stars themselves— tends to be pretty simple. After all, when the Stars are rolling all the dice, there isn’t much need for adversaries to have specific abilities. There are only a few questions to think about.
Does he have a name?
Most NPCs Stars meet are not important-- they're guards, innkeepers, and civilians, there to fill out numbers and little more. NPCs of this category are known as extras. Extras may pose a threat in numbers, but one-on-one, they’re no match for a Star.
On the other hand, some NPCs are important— they’re kings, knights, and dragons, with their own histories and motivations. If an NPC is particularly important to the world or story, they’re referred to as a named character. When making checks against a named character, Stars are at Disadvantage.
“Named characters” are certainly not the only NPCs whose names the Stars might know. And the Stars might never know the name of the demon they fought at the Tower of Bones. But Tom the Innkeeper is still an extra, and the demon is still a named character. If it helps, think of named characters as the “boss monsters” of your world.
What Scale does he operate on?
NPCs obey the laws of scale, just as Stars do. If your NPC has any traits or items that change the level he operates at, be sure to note them.
How tough is he?
NPCs don’t have Abilities, so they can’t take damage in the same way as players. Instead, they have three sets of endurance boxes— one set each for physical, social, and mental health. When a Star deals an NPC damage, check off one box of the appropriate type for every point of damage. When all boxes of a type are filled, the NPC is taken out.
Extras usually only have one box for each type, although it’s certainly possible for them to have more— especially if the extra is very large or well-armored. Named characters usually have two or more endurance boxes of each type.