The whole rules system, in one short read
How to Play
A simple, original rules system light enough for a first-time guide to learn in five minutes. No experience or other rulebook needed.
Built for ages 6–12 · monster encounters are narrated, not graphic — a hero at 0 Heart Points is worn out rather than hurt, and every adventure can be finished by talking or sneaking instead of fighting.
1. Set up your heroes
Each player makes a hero in under a minute. Give your hero one point each in three traits — Brave (fighting and daring), Clever (sneaking, puzzles, and tricks), and Kind (talking, calming, and caring for others) — then put one bonus point into whichever trait fits your hero best. So most heroes end up with one trait at +2 and the other two at +1.
Every hero starts with 8 Heart Points and a Guard of 10 + Brave. That's it — pick a name, describe what your hero looks like, and you're ready to play.
Every hero needs somewhere to be written down — print the character sheet, or grab one of six ready-made heroes.
2. Making a check
Whenever a hero tries something risky or uncertain (sneaking past a guard, talking a monster down, spotting a clue, balancing across a ledge), roll a d20 and add the trait that fits best. If the total meets or beats the number for how hard the moment is, the hero made it. The adventure notes call that number the Difficulty Number, or DN. Every adventure's guide notes suggest which trait fits each moment and how hard it is, but the guide can always call something new on the spot.
- How hard 8: easy. Most heroes make it most of the time.
- How hard 10: normal. A real chance of falling short, especially with a low trait.
- How hard 12: tricky. Worth a good plan or a lucky roll.
Failing a check is never the end of the story — it just means things get a little harder, or take a different path.
3. Fighting (when it comes to that)
To attack, roll a d20 and add Brave. If the total meets or beats the target's Guard, it's a hit — the target loses Heart Points equal to the attack's listed damage (shown on each monster's stat block, like "1d6 Heart Points"). Monsters attack back the same way, against the hero's own Guard.
If a hero's Heart Points reach 0, they're not defeated forever — they're just worn out and sit out for the rest of that scene, cheering the others on. They're back to full Heart Points at the start of the next scene. Every adventure on this site is written so a fight is never the only way through — there's almost always a way to talk, sneak, or think your way past instead.
4. Picking a session length
Every adventure page has five session-length buttons, from a 15-minute Quick Quest up to a 90-minute-plus Epic Session. Longer lengths add extra scenes — a puzzle, a twist, a bonus side-quest — on the way to the same big final scene, so you can always fit the story to however much time you actually have that day.
5. Two ways to run it: around a table, or online
Everything here is built to work on paper first. Print the adventure (every adventure page has a printable guide sheet and a PDF), sit everyone around a table, and play with real dice. No screens needed at all.
When your players aren’t in the same room, run the same adventure at our free live online table instead. You direct from your screen, stepping the party through the adventure scene by scene, and everyone sees the same scene art, the same map pin, shared dice rolls, their own character sheet, and a party chat.
Nobody needs an account. Players join with the six-letter code or the invite link you send them, and the game master starts a table on their own device in one step; the games stay saved on that device between sessions.
Adding an email so your games follow you to another device is optional, and that sign-in is still in testing. Nothing else needs it: hosting, joining and the print-and-play route above all work without one.
Tips for a first-time guide
- Read the "Read aloud" box for each scene out loud, word for word if you like — it's written to set the scene without you having to improvise.
- The guide notes under each scene tell you what to do next and roughly how hard each roll should be. Treat them as a help, not a strict script.
- It's okay to say yes to a clever idea a player has that isn't written down anywhere — that's most of the fun.
- Keep the free digital dice roller open in another tab if nobody has physical dice handy.
Print the guide's screen
The whole rules system on three big pages you can read from your chair, and a painting from our worlds on the back of each for the players. Print all six pages, glue each painting to the back of its rules page (card makes it sturdy), tape the three side by side and stand it up.