Basic abilities

Abilities are the way you overcome challenges and obstacles that the GM sets before you. Basic abilities are abilities available to everyone, but how everyone performs them changes based on what makes sense. A magician might Get answers by peering into the past, where your average high schooler might Get answers by doing a search on their cell phone.

Attack

When you attack someone else, you make a test of whatever attribute makes sense for the attack, usually against the roll of somebody who is Defending against you! If your target cannot or does not Defend, the difficulty is their passive brawn. If your target isn't a character and doesn't have passive brawn, you're actually probably making progress.

When you test an attribute to attack someone, if you...

Fail: Your target either takes half damage or no damage at all, depending on how well the defender rolled. If there is no defender roll, they take half damage.
Partially succeed: Your target takes damage equal to your roll.
Fully succeed: Your target takes damage equal to your roll.
Critically Succeed: Your target takes damage equal to twice your roll.

Defend

If somebody Attacks you, you can defend and turn it into a contest of their attack roll and whatever attribute you're defending with. You can also defend against an Attack targeted at someone else as long as it makes sense, but you will take any damage they would have taken.

When you test an attribute to defend against an Attack, If you...

Fail: You take damage equal to the attacker's roll, or equal to double the attacker's roll depending on how well they rolled.
Partially succeed: You take half of the attacker's roll as damage.
Fully succeed: You take half of what the attacker rolled as damage.
Critically succeed: You take no damage.

Get answers

If you're trying to answers to questions, whether it's by researching an ancient ritual, investigating a crime scene, or getting answers out of a particularly slippery individual, make a test of the appropriate attribute and then ask the GM (or the other player, if you're targeting a PC) some questions.

When you test an attribute to find answers to questions, if you...

Fail: You may ask two questions which may be answered either truthfully or falsely
Partially succeed: You may ask two questions which must be answered truthfully
Succeed: You may ask three questions which must be answered truthfully
Critically Succeed: You may ask four questions which must be answered truthfully

If you're not sure what to ask, "What questions should I ask?" is always a good question. It counts towards the number of questions you get, but hones in on the juicy stuff your GM might have for you to discover. It's also realistic-- it's not often that a character knows what question they're trying to answer right when they start looking for information.

The answers to the questions should both make sense and should be as complete as possible given the information at the character's disposal. An investigator looking at the scene of a murder might not be able to answer the question "Who killed this person?" with the name of the killer, but they could answer that question with "someone with red hair and a blue cloak" based on a strand of hair grasped in the victim's hand and a scrap of cloth found wedged in the door nearby.

Questions cannot be wasted. If the answer to a question was already stated, it doesn't count. If the answer to a question would not normally require a test to uncover, it doesn't count. If a question is not answerable by the information available in the context of the test, it doesn't count and the person asked the question should explain why it is not answerable and how to make it answerable, if possible.

Help

If you want to help somebody out or get yourself into a better position (helping yourself), you can do that by testing an attribute and stacking dice in their favor or removing dice stacked against them based on the result.

When you test an attribute to help someone:

Stack a die in their favor
Remove a die stacked against them

Then, for every 10 in the total you rolled, do it again.

The dice you stack depends on what level you are:

Level 1-2: Stack d4s
Level 3-4: Stack d6s
Level 5-6: Stack d8s
Level 7-8: Stack d10s
Level 9+: Stack d12s

You may always unstack a die, no matter what size it is.

Hinder

Sabotaging someone's help, or putting them in a worse position is hindering them. Hindering works similarly to helping-- test an attribute, then stack dice in against your target or removing dice stacked in their favor based on the result.

When you test an attribute to hinder someone:

Stack a die against them
Remove a die stacked in their favor

Then, for every 10 in the total you rolled, do it again.

The dice you stack depends on what level you are:

Level 1-2: Stack d4s
Level 3-4: Stack d6s
Level 5-6: Stack d8s
Level 7-8: Stack d10s
Level 9+: Stack d12s

You may always unstack a die, no matter what size it is.

Make progress (on something big)

If you're trying to do something and you can't do it in just one test, your GM may say that the goal of your test is to fill a progress bar in how close the task is to being done.

When you test an attribute to fill a progress bar, fill it by the amount that you rolled.

Move

Move a short distance to get where you need to go. You may need to test an attribute to get there if it's hard or dangerous to get to.

Prepare

When a character takes some downtime and makes a test of any attribute with a goal to prepare for a situation, stack a flashback die. Then, for every 20 in the total you rolled, you may stack another flashback die.

The dice you stack depends on what level you are:

Level 1-2: Stack d4s
Level 3-4: Stack d6s
Level 5-6: Stack d8s
Level 7-8: Stack d10s
Level 9+: Stack d12s

Anything else!

Basic abilities don't cover everything your character can do. If you try to do something and you don't have an ability that represents it, but it still makes sense for you to be able do it, you can do it!

If there's drama involved, your GM may have you test an attribute. If they do, and they say you...

Fail: You don't get what you want and you might be in trouble.
Partially succeed: You get what you want, but there's a complication.
Fully succeed: You get exactly what you want.
Critically succeed: Not only do you get what you want, you get something extra!