FIVEY: How to Play

I wrote the basic player-side rules for FIVEY, everything you need to interface with the game! More importantly, this is the foundation upon which character feats are built.

• Stat Checks
• Skills & Attunement
• Titles & Knowledge
• Special Feats
• Inspiration Dice
• Hit Points & Defense
  

How to Play

This fantasy adventure game, on a basic level, consists of a conversation between the party of players, each of which controls a character, and the referee who narrates the game-world as the players’ in-game characters experience it. The characters collaborate towards a common goal, and in turn the referee describes how the world reacts or changes.

The players will employ their characters’ skills in order to resolve problems imposed by the referee during the adventure. Meanwhile, the referee has all the game-world at their disposal to challenge the characters and their players, by planning mysterious locations or threatening monsters or factional conflicts for the players to encounter—depending on the focus and direction of the campaign. As the campaign progresses, the world becomes more complex, as do the player-characters' interactions with it.

This section is addressed to players, about what tools their character has at their disposal to interact with the game-world. However, such tools are not restricted to what the player has written down on their character sheet. A character's formal attributes are, in some cases, the last resort to a player's curiosity, ingenuity, and common sense. Dice need only be cast if an outcome is uncertain! By corollary, if an outcome is made certain, no dice need be cast!

Stat Checks

Stat checks are one method of resolving uncertainty, by way of a dice roll comparing a creature's ability to the difficulty of a task they are attempting. Characters have four stats, each representing one such category of ability: charisma, dexterity, intelligence, and strength. Their base score or 'bonus' in each equals 1, at least for the average person, and the maximum possible is 5.

There are four dimensions to a task: difficulty, cost, risk, and reward. Difficulty and cost are a task's constants, representing how likely it is for a character to succeed at it and what it costs for them to try. Risk and reward are the variable factors, representing what will happen if a character fails or succeeds at the task at hand. This means that before casting the die, the referee and player should decide on the answers to the following four questions, each one subject to negotiation.

1. What does the character want to achieve?
2. What happens if they fail?
3. What will it cost for them to try?
4. How likely are they to succeed?

After aligning on (or negotiating) these dimensions, if the outcome of the task is uncertain still, the referee may ask the player to check one of their character's stats. The player will roll 1d20 plus their character's most relevant stat, from 1-5. The character succeeds if the total score rolled meets or exceeds the difficulty class (DC) of the task at hand, or else fails.

Stat Check Difficulty

Rank	Typical Chance	DC
—	60%	10
★	50%	12
★★	40%	14
★★★	30%	16
★★★★	20%	18
★★★★★	10%	20

Even a one-star task has only a 50% chance of success for an unfit character, so bear in mind that one should only check a stat if there is sufficient difficulty or danger associated with the task. On the other hand, a task set at an even lower DC is only appropriate for unskilled characters attempting dangerous—even if not difficult—things.

Advantage & Disadvantage

When there are situational circumstances which would benefit or harm a character’s likelihood of success, the player may roll with advantage or disadvantage respectively. Having advantage allows the player to take the best result of 2d20, while having disadvantage forces the player to take the worst result of 2d20. These circumstances are considered in aggregate, not individually; that is, sources of advantage or disadvantage do not “stack”.

Cooperation

Generally speaking, up to two characters can cooperate at a task. Both players make a stat check for their respective character, but need only one success in order to succeed at the attempted task. The referee can decide if some tasks can only be attempted by one character at a time, if some tasks can be attempted by more than two characters, or even if a task requires more than one successful roll in order to succeed.

Stat Contests

When two or more characters oppose each other, the referee may call for a stat contest where all characters involved roll 1d20 plus their relevant stat bonus. The character with the highest roll wins the contest. For example, two characters arm-wrestling might contest their strength stats. The specific stat used may also differ between contestants, such as a sneaking character contesting their dexterity versus a potential observer's intelligence.

Passive Scores

Any stat can be converted into a difficulty class by adding 10 to it. This can help facilitate complex situations, such as one where multiple characters are contesting against one opponent. For example, if multiple characters are trying to dodge a dragon's breath, they may each attempt a stat check versus a difficulty class of 10 plus the dragon's stat.

Skills & Attunement

Having a relevant skill allows the player to double their stat bonus during a stat check. For example, a hellchild character may usually have +4 charisma; however, when they are attempting to deceive someone, they may double their bonus and so add +8 to the stat check because of their deception skill. Skills are not necessarily associated with a particular stat, and may be applied to any stat check if relevant to the task at hand.

Attunement is like possessing a temporary skill which allows you to use an item, such as a weapon, as if you had a skill related to it. Characters start an adventure being attuned to one of their items on hand, and they can attune to a different item each day if they want. However, they can only be attuned to one item at a time. A skill slot may be spent later on granting oneself permanent proficiency with the item.

Skills (etc.) do not “stack”; that is, if you have two or more skills that are applicable to a task, you do not quadruple or octuple your bonus. You still just double your bonus.

Titles & Knowledge

Titles represent a character’s social circles, factional memberships, or claims to fame—identities which situate the character in the fantasy world. Those who share a common identity with the character will be more likely to assist them, whereas those prejudiced or who oppose a character’s faction will react more negatively.

Titles also operate on an institutional level, allowing a character to call upon the aid of an organization rather than just that of an individual. For example, an acolyte may receive free care from temples belonging to their sect, or a veteran might still garner the respect of past or present soldiers and borrow equipment from them.

Finally, titles can help a player better understand the depths of their character’s knowledge. An elf sage has different experiences than a human thief, and each one brings those different experiences to the table. Characters with a certain title are therefore considered skillful experts in that title’s domain with regards to history, culture, or craft.

Special Feats

Feats are powers which a character starts with or acquires throughout the course of the game. Beyond being passive fields of knowledge or expertise, feats tend to be unique actions to which only that character—or those like them—has access. A feat may allow a character to use magic more freely, or to perform more excellently in combat. Some even unlock special actions that can be taken during the rest or downtime phases of the game.

Besides that, there is nothing to speak generally of them, and it is better to read examples of specific feats to understand what potential they have for players who select them for their characters.

Inspiration Dice

Each player starts an adventure with a number of six-sided inspiration dice equal to character's level. These are restored after each downtime phase, whether one takes place between sessions or in the middle of a session. The player may spend 1 inspiration die to improve the result of their character's stat check or contest by the number rolled, even or especially after attempting the stat check.

Certain character feats may unlock new ways of spending inspiration dice, such as to cast magic spells or perform special maneuvers. The player may also rename "inspiration" to better reflect their character's driving force, e.g.: arcana, energy, fury, grit, mana, spirit.

Hit Points & Defense

Hit points measure a character's distance from death. They represent a combination of luck, stamina, and health. This is especially true for heroes who—although they begin the game as regular people—accumulate hit points as the campaign progresses, comparable in number to a warhorse or even an ogre despite lacking their physical stature. When a creature is harmed, they will take points of damage. Once their accumulated damage equals or exceeds their hit points, they perish.

When one character attacks another during combat, the latter's defense class is the difficulty class required for the attacker to land a hit. This sort of stat check is called an attack roll. If the attack lands, the amount of damage taken by the defender is often determined by a die roll (e.g., 1d6).

Sometimes the script is flipped, and a character must succeed at a stat check in order to avoid taking damage; for example, in situations where many characters are targeted by one large attack.