How to Play Anesidora
Example Character Sheet
Anesidora is played through Scenes, which each contain one or more Rounds. At the beginning of each Round, the Chaos Deck is shuffled to determine the order of activation. Each player has their own card in the deck, along with individual or groups of NPCs, and Events. Enemies do not go into the Chaos Deck during Combat and instead act at the end of the Round.
When a Character’s card is drawn, they either take their Turn or can choose to delay, taking their Turn before a card is drawn at any point later in the Round. During a player’s turn, their PCs can each move up to 2 Zones and take 1 Action. An Action is something that changes or affects the story in a Meaningful way. A Character can swap weapons, open and close doors, talk, or any number of other Minor Actions during their Turn.
While moving, they must stop moving if they enter a Zone with an Enemy with a Melee Weapon. They may Run to Move triple speed, but will lose 2 Dice from all Challenges during their turn.
If a PC takes an Action that is not guaranteed to succeed, that is called a Challenge. In order to overcome a Challenge, the PC must make a Fate Roll. Most Challenges occur when a PC chooses to do a specific action, but some can occur as a reaction, such as needing to move through Difficult Terrain. In those cases, the Challenge does not count as the PC’s one Meaningful Action for the Turn.
FATE ROLLS
To make a Fate Roll, gather a dice pool consisting of 7 Fate Dice and a number of Rune Dice equal to the PC’s Skill Total (Rank plus their Tier Bonus). Then remove Rune Dice equal to the Difficulty of the Challenge, adjusted by any other situational modifiers.
Rune Dice Pool = Skill Total - Difficulty +/- other Modifiers
If the PC can no longer remove Rune Dice, they instead remove Fate Dice.
READING THE RUNES
Once the dice pool is rolled, check to see if there are 4 or more of the same Fate symbol. If there are 4 or more matching runes, a Fate Effect happens immediately.
After the Fate Effect resolves (or if no Fate Effect occurs), if there are at least 4 Circles, the Fate Roll Succeeds, otherwise it Fails.
Infinity = 2 Circles
Circles = 1 Circle
Pair of Half-Circles = 1 Circle
Biohazards , Lightning, Valknuts (Triangles), and Wadjets (Eyes) = Only used for Fate
Hubris
If a Hero fails a Fate Roll and does not trigger a Fate Effect, they may give into Hubris to reroll. Before rolling, the GM and PC agree to the price of Hubris, which is a negative effect the Hero suffers if the second roll falls. For example, taking an Injury, breaking an item, losing Supplies, or damaging a relationship. If the second roll succeeds, the Hero succeeds as normal.
Heroic Success
If a PC gets at least 6 Circles, the Challenge is a Heroic Success (as well as an additional Heroic Success for each additional 2 Circles). Heroic Successes allow the PC to achieve more than originally aimed, gain help for later, or allow an additional Character to count as having succeeded on the same Fate Roll.
FATE RESULTS
Lightning - Insight - Treat all Lightning as Circles, automatically Succeeding the Fate Roll.
Valknut (Triangles) - Sacrifice - The player may choose to either automatically fail the roll or make a sacrifice to turn all their Valknuts into Circles. The sacrifice should be similar to the price of Hubris.
Wadjet (Eye) - Divine Intervention - The gods intervene to make the situation better for the PC.
Biohazard - Divine Punishment - The gods intervene to make the situation worse for the PC.
NPC FATE ROLLS
Most Fate Rolls are made by PCs, even if they involve an NPC actions (for example, finding a hidden NPC involves the PC making an Awareness Roll against a fixed Difficulty and hiding from an NPC means the PC making a Stealth Fate Roll against a fixed Difficulty).
COMBAT
Combats follow the same Round structure as any other Scene, but Fate Rolls to attack differ slightly from other Skill Fate Rolls.
Melee Attacks can only target enemies in the same Zone, while Shooting Attacks can target enemies within Range of the weapon but need line of sight to the target (common Ranged Weapons are Range 3).
PCs attack by picking a Primary Target and making a Fate Roll as normal, but deal Damage equal to the number of Circles rolled to the Enemy’s Morale, split among enemies in the target Zone with Difficulty To Hit equal to or less than the Primary Target.
4 Circles allow the Attacker to perform a Maneuver. Each Heroic Success allows the Attacker to perform an additional maneuver.
EXAMPLE MANEUVERS
Cause a Wound
Reduce Enemy Damage
Increase Morale Damage by 2
Complete Objective (Ex: Grab an important item, save a civilian, etc)
COMMON COMBAT MODIFIERS
Ambush - Add 1 Rune Die against enemies unaware of the attacker.
Cover X (Shooting)- The attacker removes X Rune Dice from their Fate Roll, based on the strength of the Cover.
Long Range- Remove 1 Rune Die for each Zone beyond your weapon’s range.
Shooting While Threatened - Remove 1 Rune Die if the Attacker was in the same Zone as an enemy with a Melee Weapon at any point during their Turn.
Armor X and Armor Penetration X- Reduce all incoming damage by X or ignore up to X Armor.
NPC ATTACKS
When an NPC attacks a PC, they deal a set amount of Damage to the PC’s Morale. Then the GM rolls a number of Fate Dice equal to the Damage. The PC suffers a Wound for each Circle rolled. Infinity Symbols cause Injuries.
DAMAGE AND MORALE
Once a Character suffers enough Damage to reduce their Morale to 0, they must attempt to Escape the Scene at the end of the Round. If enough NPCs retreat, the PCs will win the Combat and move forward to their next objective. Otherwise, the PCs will be forced to fall back.
WOUNDS
Unlike Morale which is completely recovered at the end of Combat, Wounds stay with a Character until they are healed. If a PC has 6 Wounds, they die.
INJURIES
Injuries apply roleplaying effects that stay with a character until they are healed.
Healing
When the PCs have downtime, instead of taking other actions, characters may choose to heal themselves or others using their Knowledge, Magic, or Wilderness Skill. The difficulty of Healing depends on the conditions and access to medicine and proper facilities.
Escape
Any Character can declare an Escape as their Action if they are in a Zone with no enemies and have a clear line to leave the edge of the Scene. If the Character survives the Round, they are considered to have Escaped and must be pursued in a new Scene.
SUPPLIES AND ITEMS
Supplies represent a Hero’s ability to carry and maintain Items. Instead of tracking every Item a Hero has on them at a given time, Heroes in Anesidora spend Supplies to access any Item in their Inventory or Items they can justify through roleplaying. Once the Supply is spent to access an Item, the Hero continues to have access to that Item until the party resupplies.
Heroes have 8 Supply each, and the party transport has 2 Supplies per Hero that can be used by any Character. These numbers can be adjusted via Traits. Characters always have Items associated with their Traits.
Heroes can resupply by taking time to rest and trade in a friendly populated area, and only need to spend Supplies for food and water when traveling in Wild areas.
Items that require large amounts of maintenance use additional supply. Heavy items take an additional Supply for every 20 pounds after the first 20.
EXAMPLE SUPPLY COSTS
1 - Powerful Single Use Items that give +1 Die or a similar effect.
1 - Items required for a Skill, such as climbing gear or melee weapons.
2 - Uncommon, large, or difficult to maintain items, such as ranged weapons and light sources.
2+X - Items that give a Trait cost 2+the Cost of the Trait.
THE SETTING
Anesidora is a mythic Sci Fi TTRPG, where you take on the role of a Hero destined for greatness. Anesidora is an alien world ruled by people who worship ancient crashed spaceships as gods. The Ascended brought back the gift of Magic in the Second Age, after it was lost when the gods fell in Ragnarok. During Fimbulwinter, a multi-century long winter, society divided into 2 groups; the Chosen who lived through Fimbulwinter in the Godcites and wield the power of the gods, and the Exiled who were banished into the cold to die. It has been almost 300 years since the end of the Fimbulwinter and the start of the Third Age. While new societies have been founded during the Third Age, the divide between the Chosen and the Exiled remains.
GLOSSARY
Ancients - The first people who arrived on Anesidora.
Ascended - Enigmatic Unliving beings who taught humanity the magic of the Ancients centuries after it was lost during Ragnarok.
Changed - Those whose bodies have been altered by the magic of the gods and Titans.
Chosen - Those chosen by the gods to survive the Fimbulwinter.
Citizen - The highest ranking nobles among the Chosen. If another Fimbulwinter type event occurred, they would be the only ones allowed within the Godcities.
Exiled - The few who survived the Fimbulwinter without the help of the Godcites. After being abandoned by the Chosen, many worship Anesidora as the one true goddess.
Fimbulwinter - A multi-century winter that killed millions and split humanity into the Chosen and Exiled.
Godcity - The Godcites are great crashed spaceships many miles across. Since Ragnarok, cities have been built in and around them, under the protection of the god’s magic and weapons.
Godshards - A special material that is almost impossible to shape or damage.
Hades - Hades is a shadow realm that exists parallel to the world of the living, where the spirits of the Ancients and the dead dwell
Khat - Khat are people who are not seen by the gods or affected by magic. They cannot enter Hades.
Shade - The spirits of the dead who exist within Hades.
Titan - Powerful terraforming robots that predate the gods and ancients. They have the power to shape the world itself and change life.
Unliving - Beings made of metal and godshard that served the Titans but were driven insane by Ragnarok. Their blood is poisonous and they generate a swarm of madness in Hades
SKILLS
Awareness is used to sense your environment.
Spot or Track enemies
Search a room
Investigate a crime scene
Craft is your ability to shape, fix, and create physical things.
Create items with the right materials
Repair damaged items and magical devices
Knowledge of objects and materials
Knowledge is used for the accumulation of information and any knowledge covered by another skill.
Understand new ideas and magic
Recall knowledge about a legend, cultural practice, combat tactic, etc.
Research new information
Magic is used to interact with magical devices and shades.
Commune with a magical power
Corrupt a magic force from its intended purpose
Knowledge of magic, Hades, and the Unliving
Melee is used to fight in close quarters hand to hand combat.
Fight enemies in close combat
Win a duel
Knowledge of tactics and warfare
Physical is used for movement, strength and physical conditioning.
Perform acts of strength and dexterity
Resist the effects of poisons and the environment
Endure extended periods of physical strain, such as running long distances
Shooting is used to fight at range.
Shoot at an enemy or target
Knowledge of tactics and warfare
Social is used to connect with other characters.
Cover your lies
Convince others to help you
Knowledge of culture and society
Stealth is used to keep your presence unknown and includes thieving skills.
Hide from enemies
Cover up your presence
Avoid and disable security measures
Knowledge of security and infiltration
Wilderness is staying alive without the help of society at large.
Interact with animals
Gather materials and resources in the wild
Find a path through wilderness
Knowledge of survival and animal handling
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