INTRO

The Game Itself

Avium is an RPG system that combines elements of GURPS, Ars Magica, FATE, with a few essential elements of my own thrown in. It's its own thing, and I've put in a good deal of work to assemble it, but I cannot claim that it's an original work, in any legitimate sense. The intent of the curation and alchemy is not to publish a new system, but to create a playable system. Since the rules are being made available online, I thought it would be a good idea to make this clarification.

The game system is also a work in progress. Most of it is worked out, though much of it still remains to be typed up.

Dice Mechanics

Avium uses ten-sided dice (d10's), read as 0-9. Players will frequently roll a number of dice (N) against a hit number (H); this is denoted by N @ H. Any die rolled which is less than or equal to H is a success. Rolls require at least one success in order to succeed overall, and additional successes will improve the results (as explained at various points in the rules).

Simple Rolls

A Simple Roll is one where dice are rolled once, and successes are tallied. A Save Roll is one in which all dice are rolled, and the misses are tallied instead of successes (this is noted as N!H). This is usually used to determine how severely a character is affected by something bad, and so lower Save Roll results are better.

Reroll Numbers

Normal Rolls include the possibility of rerolling certain dice to accumulate additional successes or misses.

Any die which rolls a 0 counts as a success, and is then rolled again (against the same H) for possible additional success. Additional rolls of 0 are continuously rerolled this way, accumulating successes as long as 0 keeps coming up. 0, in this context, is called the positive reroll number, or PR. 0 is the default PR, although there are occasions where the PR may be higher. Positive reroll numbers are noted as /PR; a 3 with a reroll number of 1 is noted as 3/1.

Conversely, any roll of 9 subtracts one success from the total number of successes, and is then rerolled; any further roll of 9 will subtract one more success, and is again rerolled, and so on. In this context, 9 is called the negative reroll number, or NR. 9 is the default NR, though other NRs are also possible. Negative reroll numbers are noted as \NR; a 2 with a negative reroll number of 8 would be listed as 2\8.

Once a particular die is rerolled, for the duration of determining the ultimate roll result, remains the same kind of reroll (positive or negative). That is, any 9 rolled on a positive reroll die is just a miss, not -1 successes.

Bonuses and Penalties

In some situations, rolls be either easier or more difficult than normal; this will affect the number of dice rolled. For example, a player rolling 5 dice with a +2 bonus would roll 7 dice.

Penalties, by contrast, affect the total number of successes by the roll. For example, a player making a 5@3 roll with 3 successes, but at a -1 penalty, will wind up with 2 successes overall.

Bonuses and penalties are, therefore, asymmetric. Bonuses represent potential additional successes, while penalties represent a definite number of fewer successes.

Botches

A botch occurs when a roll in itself (before applying any penalties) yields a negative number of successes. Botches are spectacular failures, and the details of botches in particular situations are detailed later in the appropriate rule section.

Opposition

Some rolls can be opposed; this means that each roll is mitigated by another roll whose successes are subtracted from the main roll. For example, a thief trying to sneak past a guard might make a roll against their Stealth skill, opposed by the guard's Listening roll; if the thief succeeds with 3 successes, and the guard succeeds by 1, then the thief succeeds overall with a net 2 successes.

Aiding

Under certain circumstances, players may be able to use the results of one roll to aid a second (subsequent) roll. In these circumstances, the second roll gains a bonus equal to the successes of the first roll.

Challenges

Most rolls are instant, which means that success is determined by a single roll. Other situations allow for multiple rolls over time, with any successes accumulating towards an overall goal. These are called challenges. A challenge will contain the following elements.

Keywords

Many of the game's rules are governed by keywords, noted as <keyword>. Items with specific keywords are affected by rules which refer to that keyword.

Conditions

During play, characters will gain and lose various conditions, which track various (usually) temporary states. A condition is gained as the result of some circumstance (a character might be stunned if they get hit in the head, tired if they travel all day, etc); they affect the character in particular ways (-1 to skill rolls, for instance); and they can usually be gotten rid of somehow (resting, healing, etc.). Some last for a certain period of time, while others last until some recovery action is taken. Some conditions have a Severity, (S) which will determine the degree to which it will affect the character.

Conditions are represented by cards as appropriate to the situation, and will be explained in the apropriate rules section.

The Game World

The game takes place in the high-fantasy world of Trewen, in the lands of the old, fallen Corterran Empire. Local kingdoms, principalities, and nation-states have grown to fill the void, most retaining much of the old Corterran culture and language, but with their own identity. The world is much more fully detailed in its own chapter of the rules.

The game world itself uses the following conventions.