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Core System

This page is for players and Directors.

Most of you will be players—characters on which the horror movie is centered. One of you, however, is behind the camera—the Director is the cinematographer and screenwriter, creating a dynamic world around the players and commanding a horrific Threat against them.

There’s no script supervisor in this film. In a roleplaying game, the players and Director work together to create the narrative, with the randomness of dice injecting tension and surprising twists around every corner. Everyone around the table is the cast and the audience, simultaneously.

Sessions, Scenes, Episodes

The Director describes a Scene: where the characters are, what it looks like, what it smells like, who else is there, and what’s happening when they arrive. The players use their Actions and abilities to interact with the scene, and the scene changes in response or we cut to a new scene. Just like in a film, these scenes connect to tell a grander narrative; in our case, a gruesome horror movie.

Usually, this game is played in Sessions lasting at most a few hours. One or two sessions make up an , the complete plot of a horror movie, and more sessions can replicate a season of television or the ongoing anthology of sequels.

Rolls

Whenever the outcome of something is in doubt, make a roll. There are three types of rolls:

  • You can make an Action roll to do something challenging.
  • The Director calls for you to make Reaction rolls in response to the scene.
  • If nothing else is applicable, the Director can call for a Luck roll.

Roll a die for each circle of the Action or Reaction filled in on your character sheet. You roll only one die for Luck rolls. The Director can referee the roll, changing an Action roll to a Luck roll if no Action is suitable, or adding or removing dice based on the circumstances.

If you roll a 5 or 6, the roll is a Success. The roll was effective and reasonably beneficial.

Any other roll is a Failure. The roll wasn’t effective and the situation worsens.

Adrenaline

On a Failure, you gain Adrenaline. Mark half of an Adrenaline box on your character sheet. You can spend Adrenaline (filling the other half of the box) to reroll an entire roll and add a bonus die to the new roll. Adrenaline lasts until it is spent. If you run out of Adrenaline boxes, you can make more in the margins of your character sheet.

Twists

If you roll doubles—two or more of the same number—the roll is a Twist. The result is still a Success or Failure, but there is also an unexpected outcome. Each player can suggest something that happens—good or bad—as an outcome. A Success doesn’t necessarily have a good Twist, nor does a Failure have a negative one. The Director picks the most interesting one.

Maximum Number of Dice

Unless otherwise stated, even with Advantage and other increases, you can’t roll more than five dice at once on any roll. Director’s Dice allow you to roll more than five dice.

Actions

Actions are how you interact with the game. To attempt something, choose one of your Actions that best represents what you want to accomplish and roll a die for each of its circles on your character sheet. There are seven Actions common to all characters, but some characters might have special ones applicable only to them. Remember: if you can use an Action in a sentence, you can roll for it!

Aim

Just like you practiced.

Precision when you throw, stab, or shoot. Use Aim to:

  • Slip a dagger between the ribs of a snarling beast.
  • Hurl a satchel of tools to someone in the distance.
  • Place a creature’s weak point in your crosshairs and pull the trigger.

Convince

See things my way.

Argue, lie, and sway hearts and minds to your side. Use Convince to:

  • Coax more information out of a nervous witness.
  • String together a series of bold-faced lies to a cop.
  • Compel a gunman to lower their weapon.
  • Offer an excuse as to why you’re trespassing.

Force

Put your back into it.

Raw muscle and personality. Use Force to:

  • Shove your way through a dense crowd.
  • Crush a skull with a well-placed sledgehammer swing.
  • Cower a thug looking for an easy fight.
  • Wrench your arm free from a clawed grasp.

Improvise

This might just work.

Planning, repair, and ingenuity. Use Improvise to:

  • Dream up a just-crazy-enough-to-work plan using the tools in an abandoned shed.
  • Cobble together a mechanical man-trap for a supernatural foe.
  • Repair a sputtering engine for a few more miles.
  • Modify a weapon with the addition of barbed wire and nails.

Investigate

No stone unturned.

Focus on details. Use Investigate to:

  • Scour a room for any sign of monstrous intrusion.
  • Study a pile of books or dig through the internet to learn something specific.
  • Sift through the contents of a drawer and find the one out of place element.
  • Follow a trail of blood and broken twigs through the woods.

Rush

Run like the wind.

Escape, climb, and jump. Use Rush to:

  • Remain a few paces ahead of a bounding, four-legged monster.
  • Clamber up some loose bricks to a second story window.
  • Take a running jump over a precipitous drop.

Sneak

Not a sound.

Stealth and subtlety. Use Stealth to:

  • Prowl through the grass without being seen.
  • Slip a wallet out of someone’s pocket without their notice.
  • Hold your breath in a moment of panic to avoid a Threat’s attention.

Reactions

Unlike Actions, you don’t choose to roll Reactions. The Director prompts you to roll a Reaction in response to something happening to you or to establish something about the scene, such as your awareness of something around you. If a Reaction is the best way to accomplish something, you can ask the Director to let you make a specific Reaction roll.

Notice

What’s that?

Incidental detection. The Director will call for a Notice roll to establish if you hear or spot something. Investigate rolls are used when you’re actively searching for something.) Roll Notice to:

  • Catch the faint echo of a scream on the wind.
  • Spot the glimmer of predatory eyes locked on you from the treeline.
  • Recognize the hunched body language of someone in need.

React

In the space of a second.

Pure instinct and instant movement. The Director will call for a React roll when you move to avoid anger or perform anything with split-second timing. Roll React to:

  • Duck below the swipe of inch-long, lethal claws.
  • Catch a glass trinket an instant before it hits the ground and shatters.
  • Swerve a vehicle to avoid an obstacle on the road.

Think

Piece it together.

Book smarts and experience. The Director will call for a Think roll to establish your foreknowledge or your in-the-moment deductions. Roll Think to:

  • Recognize the stem and petals of an exotic flower.
  • Deduce that someone isn’t telling the whole truth.
  • Recite a few paragraphs of Bronze Age history or mythology.
  • Read and understand scientific jargon.

Withstand

Knock the wind out of you.

Toughness, both physical and psychological. The Director will call for a Withstand roll when you must endure physical or psychological pain. Roll Withstand to:

  • Absorb the brunt of an impact with breaking bones or bruising organs.
  • Grab the scalding barrel of a gun without dropping it.
  • Leverage your willpower to shake off magical influence.
  • Grip a wound tightly enough to prevent bleeding out.

Luck

The Director calls for a Luck roll when you are entirely at the whims of fate. This is usually a single die, but the Director can let you roll more than one in special circumstances. You also make Luck rolls for actions you have Sacrificed and when no available Action is suitable for a task.

Variant Rolls

Beyond the three most basic types of rolls—Actions, Reactions, and Luck—the Director might call for the following more variants:

Advantage and Disadvantage

If you are in a uniquely beneficial or detrimental position, the Director can give you Advantage or Disadvantage on a roll—you can add a bonus die or remove a die (to a minimum of 1), respectively. You can’t gain Advantage or Disadvantage more than once on a roll, but the Director can grant more than one bonus die for Advantage.

You always gain Advantage if you have Flow. Your Action has Flow if it directly follows and benefits from the previous player’s Action. For example, if another player improvises a weapon, you have Flow if you immediately use that weapon.

You will also always gain Advantage if your Action is in furtherance of your Motive.

Blessed and Cursed Rolls

The influence of magic or extreme circumstances calls for Blessed and Cursed rolls. A Blessed roll is a Success on a roll of 4, 5, or 6, whereas a Cursed roll is only a Success on a roll of 6.

Usually, the Director won’t mix Advantage, Disadvantage, Blessed and Cursed rolls.

No-Risk Rolls

The Director declares that a roll has No-Risk whenever the stakes aren’t that high. This roll doesn’t give Adrenaline on a Failure or threaten to harm the players. Twists usually don’t affect these rolls. For example, if the players make Think rolls to establish foreknowledge or Notice rolls to spot a clue, these are No-Risk.

Big Rolls

When you attempt to pull off the near-impossible, the Director calls for a Big Roll, one that needs at least two dice with a 5 or 6 to Succeed. A Big Roll that needs two dice is extraordinarily difficult, whereas one that requires three is next to impossible.

Director’s Dice

Immediately before making any roll, you can add two Director’s Dice to the roll. You must add both dice, and these dice can exceed the maximum of five dice on a roll.

The result of a roll with Director’s Dice is always a Twist. Unlike other Twists, the unexpected outcome is always negative if the roll is a Failure and always positive if the roll is a Success.

If you roll a 1 on any of the roll’s dice, the entire roll is instantly a Failure.

Trauma and Sacrifice

When you are harmed, psychologically or physically, the Director will tell you to mark one or more Trauma. Every three Trauma requires you to Sacrifice: find part of your character sheet that has been unlocked and has a dotted line—cut or rip it off permanently. Sacrifice is a core part of the game; it’s never easy, but neither is survival.

If you Sacrifice something other than an Action, such as a location or beloved person, that thing is Doomed. It may not be destroyed when you take the Trauma, but it is sure to be destroyed soon.
If you can’t Sacrifice or mark more Trauma, you die.

Life-or-Death Scenes

In most scenes, players are free to take Actions in whatever order they wish. In Life-or-Death Scenes, however, players and the Threat must take turns in rounds, and the Threat acts after each player. The players act first and can take their turns in any order. On a turn, a player can move and take one Action. A round consists of each player acting once each and takes about 10 seconds in the fiction of the game.

For pivotal scenes like these, it can be useful to determine where each player is located. For simplicity, each player is Close to the Threat, Far from the Threat, or Out of the Scene altogether. A player can move between these ranges (close to far, far to out of the scene, or vice-versa) on their turn.

Weapon Rolls

Usually, you’ll only make Weapon rolls in Life-or-Death scenes. Each weapon calls for an Action roll, as detailed in the weapon’s description. Many weapons grant bonus dice to your roll with it. Generally, a Failure results in a harmless miss (regardless of the weapon). Harmful Action rolls, including Weapon rolls, deal Trauma equal to the number of 5s or 6s rolled.

Director Tricks

The Director is the ultimate arbiter of rules; and importantly, gets to break them. The following elements are canonical, expected ways the Director might shift the formula of the game, but aren’t comprehensive.

Devil Deals

At any time, the Director might can offer you a Devil Deal: an impossible bargain of fate. They can concoct any deal they wish, but the following are common starting points:

Doom for Sacrifice. When a you must Sacrifice—destroy part of your character sheet—the Director can make you a counter-offer. You might be asked to instead lose something else in the game world, such as your home base or a cherished pet. That thing becomes Doomed. It isn’t destroyed immediately, but is sure to be destroyed soon.

Injury for Sacrifice. The Director can also counter-offer with tangible injuries—losing an eye or limb, for example—or with psychological scars—such as prolonged PTSD or crippling anxiety. Unlike other Sacrifices, injuries and disabilities don’t impose a penalty on you. Instead, they should inform your story going forward.

Success for Failure. When everything hinges on a single important roll—a Reaction to avoid certain death, or the final blow to dispatch a lethal Threat—the Director can offer immediate Success, in exchange for a Failure at an unknown time in the future.

Black Marker

When you suffer a permanent consequence, the Director might reach for a black marker or a black ink pen to etch these changes permanently on your character sheet.

Black Out. Usually, you only lose portions of your character sheets when you choose to Sacrifice them. However, if something such as a location written on the character sheet is destroyed, the Director might black out the entire box with marker. You can still sacrifice this option in the future, removing it from your sheet, but you lose all benefits it might have offered in the meantime.

Evolving Traits. The Director can remove your Motive or Fear by blacking out the old one and writing a new one in in the margins. You, too, can choose to evolve your character in this way as the story progresses, but when the Director uses their pen or marker, it isn’t an option—this change is inflicted upon you in response to the story

Next Chapter: The Cast »