Anam:Resolution Rules:Resolution Rules

The resolution system that follows is the heart – the soul, if you will – of Anam. Every other aspect of the game follows from this.

Tasks

Whenever a character attempts an action that can fail, she is attempting to fulfill a Task.

Every Task is defined by a measure of its Difficulty. Task Difficulty is represented by a Level, indicating the training and experience needed to perform the task normally.

Level (# / Name) Difficulty

0 Untrained Anyone could hope to fulfill this task.

1 Neophyte Almost anyone could do this task, as long as there’s even a small amount of knowledge or talent.

2 Student A task suitable for someone learning the subject.

3 Apprentice A task for someone expected to work with careful supervision.

4 Journeyman A task for someone expected to work with little supervision.

5 Adept A task for someone expected to work with no supervision.

6 Master This task is appropriate for a true master of the subject, someone who can work by themselves with little need for assistance.

7 Grandmaster This task is for those who can work in the rarified levels – the teacher of those below.

8 Paramount This task is for the true subject matter expert – the one who wrote the book.

9 Legendary This task is best performed by the avatar of the ability – the best there is at what they do.

Just because a Task can fail, doesn’t mean that it will.

When faced with a Task, the player and the GM will determine if the character can automatically succeed at that task.

There are four criteria which must be met to allow an automatic success.

1. The Task level is equal to or less than the character’s Ability Level.

2. The character can take the time necessary for the Task.

3. The character has tools which can be used for the task, if needed. (This criteria does not apply, obviously, if the Task does not require tools.)

4. The Task is not being performed under undue Stress.

How much stress is ‘undue’? For any Ability, undue Stress occurs when the Task has ‘Stress greater than the typical individual would experience in the course of normal, day to day maintenance of the Ability’.

Conflict is always stressful, for any and all actions taken in the context of that conflict.

If even one of the applicable criteria is not met, then the Ability must face a Test to determine if the character can successfully complete the Task.

If all criteria are met, the Task is successful without any further requirements.

On occasion, however, a player may want to take a chance, usually in hopes of exceeding the Task difficulty, such as a Journeyman working to create a Masterwork, even if their skill hasn’t quite gotten there. In those cases, the player will Test as if the criteria were not met.

Tests

A test will determine the final Effect Level of the character’s Ability. If the Effect Level is equal to or greater than the Task Level, the character is successful at that Task.

To determine Effect Level, the player rolls 2d10. For every 2 full points above 11, the player increases her character’s Ability Level by 1. For every 2 full points below 11, the player decreases her character’s Ability Level by 1.

11 is the Target Number – not because you want to get that number directly, but because the final value stems from how your roll compares to that target.

Circumstances

Sometimes, your character will have things going their way. Sometimes, they’ll have things going against them. Sometimes, both will occur at the same time.

While a Task’s Difficulty is set on the basis of who could perform it normally, in RPGs, characters are rarely in normal circumstances.

The circumstances surrounding the character can affect the Task, sometimes to the point of radically affecting the final Effect Level.

Circumstances modify the final die roll made by the player. The modifier can range from ± 1 (minor) to ± 6 (incredible).

Circumstance Modifiers (CM from this point on) essentially cover anything that might affect a Task which is not an essential part of that Task itself, or which – if it is essential – can take many forms, some more suited than others.

If a Task requires a Tool, it doesn’t matter what that Tool is, as long as it can reasonably be used for that Task. If it can be used for the Task and all other criteria are met, the Task is still successfully.

If, however, the Task must be tested for some other reason, how suitable the Tool is could result in a CM.

CMs can be environmental factors – wind, rain, darkness, cold or heat – as long as those factors could have a valid impact on the Task in question. Rain won’t matter if the task is underwater, for instance.

CMs can also be interactional factors, such as assistance or distraction.

The maximum effect that CMs can have is ± 6. Circumstance Modifiers of the same type do not stack. If a character trying to pick a lock has a +2 CM for master quality picks, a +1 because the character is familiar with the lock, and another +1 from another character’s assistance, the roll is only affected by the +2. The same applies to CMs that apply a negative modifier. Only the highest value is applied.

However, positive and negative modifiers do interact with each other, such that the highest values of each are then applied to the roll.

If the character has a +4 due to a magical set of picks, and a -2 due to the lock being incredibly rusty, the final roll is modified by +2. (+4 minus 2).

Circumstance Modifier Values

± 1 – Something fairly minor – Rust on an otherwise solid instrument, smaller than usual print on a score, discomfort while attempting the Task.

± 2 – The difference between an Apprentice and a Journeyman; a moderate distraction or discomfort, or an uncomfortable tool.

± 3 – At this point, the Circumstances are starting to have a fairly serious impact – like heavy rain while driving, trying to code while someone’s singing loudly nearby, or using a substandard tool.

± 4 – This is the difference between a Journeyman and a Master – the singing is closer or more distracting, the tool is nearly useless, the rain is cold or the wind is blowing heavily.

± 5 – Here we start getting into truly major differences. A tool that is designed for your hand and almost perfectly made, a hurricane, biting cold.

± 6 – This is the difference between a Journeyman and a Grandmaster. You and the tool are one, the stars are right – or you’re not only in a hurricane, you have the flu on top of that.

Advantages and Adversities

Advantages and Adversities are a special kind of Circumstance Modifier. They are innate to a character and tied to certain very specific actions.

Advantages and Adversities are rated from ± 1 to ± 3 only.

Advantages do not stack with other Advantages – you always take the more advantageous only.

Adversities do not stack with other Adversities – again, you always use the most adverse.

However both Advantages and Adversities do stack with normal Circumstance Modifiers.

The values of an Advantage or Adversity follow the same guidelines as the appropriate Circumstances.

An Advantage or Adversity is defined with a name which should be evocative of its nature, then a description of the modifier it provides as well as the very specific circumstances in which the modifier applies. The greater the modifier, the more specific the circumstances need to be.

Following are examples of Advantages and Adversities which would affect a character in conflict.

Characters generally won’t have a lot of either Advantages or Adversities. These are used primarily to enhance the presentation of the character’s concept. Players should use that same concept to help in naming and setting up their character’s Advantages and Adversities.

The GM should, as part of their game set up, provide assistance in definition and selection of Advantages and Adversities. In the Default Configuration presented later, I will do the same.

Tests and Results

There are two basic types of Tests that a character will face.

A Standard Test has a pre-determined Task Level, either determined by the nature of the Task itself, or by the opposition of another character’s Ability Level (Player character or GM Character). The Test determines whether the Effect Level equals or exceeds the Task Level – if it does, then the Task is successful.

The other type of Test is an Outcome Test.

Outcome Tests are made when there is no set Task Level, or when success is measured more by degree than by a binary yes/no.

Outcome Tests are useful for Investigation Tasks, for Performance or Crafting, and for Athletic Tasks where the final results are measured against each other.

Outcome Tests, obviously, do not have a Task Level, so Criteria #1 is a non-issue. The other criteria for automatic success apply, however, and the character’s Automatic Success is equal to her Ability Level itself.

It should be noted however that in most cases where an Outcome Test would be appropriate, players will almost always want to roll.

Extraordinary Results

When making a Standard Test, it is sometimes possible (through extraordinary skill or luck (or lack thereof) or truly astounding circumstances, that a Test will result in an Effect Level more than four levels above (or below) the Task Level.

Those results are so vastly superior (or inferior) to the Task itself that they will have much greater consequences than simply completing the Task successfully.

What those consequences are – the impact that success or failure has on the Task and the Character – will vary, being dependent on the Ability being Tested, the Task itself, and whether the Result is a matter more of luck than of skill.

If the result is mostly a matter of luck (good or bad), the GM determines the impact, within the guidelines provided below.

If the result is mostly due to skill (or a major lack of it), then the player determines the Impact, though the GM does have veto authority.

When determining an Extraordinary Result, there are some suggested guidelines.

1. The Impact should not undo or drastically change a character’s concept without full buy-in from the player . 2. The Impact should add to the fun of all at the table – players and GM.

3. The Impact should add to the story being told.

As a general rule, I advise very strongly against having an extraordinary result add more damage on a success, or harm the character or members of her party on a failure. These results are too mundane for something Extraordinary. (Also, additional damage is already built in to conflict results, as you’ll see later.)

Extraordinary results are going to be open-ended and subjective, but this again is by design. They are context-dependent results, and there’s no way any writer will be able to come up with the dozens or hundreds of ways that they should be applied. If you keep to the guidelines, though, and maintain the buy-in of your table, it should flow well.