Songs Unsung

12 Oct, 2026

Classless, Mid-Strength Backgrounds, Strong Diagetic Growth

Characters - Backgrounds - Advancement - Essentials of Play

Journeys - Delving - Encounters - Combat - Gear - Spells

M.F. Fuller

Creating a Character

You are only just beginning. Your song lies ahead, if you dare rise to meet it.

Attributes

To make a character, begin by rolling their attribute scores.

Roll 3d6 for each attribute, and record the rolled score only.

STRENGTH (STR): Physical might and endurance.

DEXTERITY (DEX): Balance and precision.

MIND (MND): Memorization and recollection.

WILL (WIL): Influence and self-control.

HD, HP, and Saves

HD: Hit Dice (HD) are d6.

• Start with 1 HD, and roll it to set your starting Hit Points (HP).

Saves: Your save difficulty (DC) begins at 15-WIL.

Languages

Learn 1 1/2+MND languages, minimum 1/2. You may spend half a language to speak a language but remain illiterate in that language. E.g. a character with +1 MND has 2 points to spend, and may choose to be fully literate in Tidings, and speak Drakkar & Dwarrow, but be unable to read either of those languages.

1. Tidings: A chittering human tongue of many dialects.
2. Classical: Language of the ancient empire. Still used by academics.
3. Sylvan: Spoken by elves and fae.
4. Stahlern: Speech of dwarves and creatures of the deep.
5. Vildish: Used by Halflings, Goblins, Trolls, and natural spirits.
6. Mammohn: The tongue of Giants and Ogres.
7. Knang: Guttural speech of Orcs and Demons.
8. Surassi: The forked tongue of Serpents & Dragons.

Gear and Fatigue

Gear: You have 12 slots to store gear. Small (s) items may stack 3/slot. Bulky (b) items fill 2 slots. If you are holding more than you can carry, you move at 1/2 speed and cannot dodge.

• Start with 3 rations (s), 3 torches (s), camping supplies (b), and additional gear from your background.

Fatigue fills an inventory slot and inflicts a stacking -1 penalty to all tests and saves. If your character has 10 fatigue, they die.

Backgrounds

1. Soldier: You may attack twice as an action. Spear (d6), L. Armor (+1 DEF), Shield (+1 DEF, Shatter to negate a melee hit), Mark of Service (s).

2. Brawler: While unarmored, gain +1 DEF, while unarmed, deal d6 damage and force your target to save or become grappled on a hit. Deal d10 DMG to grappled targets. Brass Knuckles (+1 Unarmed DMG, s), 3 Bandages (s, heal +d4 HP as a camp action), Strong Alcohol (s)

3. Berserker: You may give into a spirit of rage whenever you please. While raging, double melee damage you deal, and halve mundane damage you take. You must attack a creature on your turn if you can. Rage ends if you pass a save at the end of your turn. Roll an extra save whenever you harm an ally. Greatsword (b, d10), L. Armor (+1 DEF), Memento of What Was Lost (s)

4. Assassin: Attacks against unsuspecting targets automatically hit and deal +d6 DMG. 3 Daggers (d4, s), Shortbow (d6), Vial of Poison (s, death in d4 rounds), Vial of Cure (s), Rope (30'), Grappling Hook

5. Thief: In town you may mark one slot of "stolen goods". You may reveal a slot of stolen goods to be any item worth 15 SP or less at any point. 2 Daggers (d4, s), lockpicks, rope (30'), stolen goods.

6. Poet: Twice per day you may either insult (d4 damage) or encourage (d4 healing) a creature for free. Creatures defeated in this way flee in shame. Dagger (d4, s), harp, book of half-true songs.

7. Alchemist: Once per day, turn fresh monster parts or magical plants into a potion with a relevant effect. Sickle (d6), L. Armor (+1 DEF), Cauldron, Alchemists Tools

8. Enchanter: You may bring a touched object to life. It animates fully under your control, and can hover above the ground. Controlling it does not use your action. You may animate one object at a time. 3 Daggers (d4, s), Rope (30'), Fine Outfit

9. Cleric: Once per day, you may bless someone to give them +3 to all tests for ten minutes. Mace (d6), L. Armor (+1 DEF), Shield (+1 DEF), Holy Water.

10. Magi: You are followed by a powerful spirit. It grants you one MD and 2 random spells from a school of your choice. Staff (d6), Divination Tools, Incense

11. Sorcerer: You are yourself a font of magic. Gain 2 random spells from a school of your choice. Gain one Chaos Dice. This is as an MD, but if it rolls 6, take 3 damage. If it rolls 1 gain fatigue. It always returns. Sword (d6), 3 Bandages (s, heal +d4 HP as a camp action), Chalk

12. Druid: If you touch a natural plant or creature, you may borrow a feature from it, such as a wolf's senses or a tree's bark. You may only borrow two features at a time. Staff (d6), 3 Hallucinogenic Mushrooms (s), Small Animal Companion

Advancement

Characters advance by interacting meaningfully with the world around them.

Burdens & Vows

From Luke Gearing & Valeria, through the filter of ElmCat

A character may benefit from one Burden and one Vow at the same time.

Burdens: A character who accepts a significant ongoing obligation ADVANCES. A burden is a duty the character has taken on and cannot freely ignore. It must be able to make demands that interfere with the character's own plans. If it asks nothing of them, it grants nothing. The advancement remains while the burden is honored. Neglecting or betraying it causes the advancement to be lost.

Vows: A character who makes a Vow of Heroic Proportions ADVANCES. A Vow must be made to another person or group and must matter to them. It cannot be routine or easily accomplished. If they are found to shirk their Vow, they lose the advancement and may never again make a Vow. Those genuinely attempting and failing the Vow lose the advancement, but may make another Vow.

Advancing: When you advance, choose one of the following benefits:

• +1 HD
• +1 to hit
• +1 to dodge
• Lower save DC by 1
• Improve a background feature (discuss possibilities with the Referee).

When HD is gained, roll all the character's HD. If the total is higher than their current maximum HP, this becomes their new total. Otherwise add +2 to their current maximum HP.

If an HD is lost, roll all the character's HD and take the new total as their maximum HP if it is less than their current HP.

Diagetic Advancement

If you wish for a character to gain a specific ability, describe the desired ability to the Referee. Then name an existing connection in the world that might be useful for gaining that ability, such as a mentor, spiritual being, or tome of forbidden knowledge. The Referee may require downtime, gold, and/or a specific quest before the connection bears fruit!

If no such connection exists, continue exploring the world!

J.E. Soden

Essentials of Play

Tests: Should you attempt something possible but risky, roll a d20 and add your most relevant attribute. On a 12+, you succeed harm-free. Failure may mean what was attempted is now impossible, or achieved at the cost of health, time, fatigue, exposure, etc. The Referee decides.

• Easy & Hard: If a situation in the fiction would make a test easier— such as a relevant background or an ally's meaningful assistance—but the outcome of the action is still uncertain, the test succeeds on 8+. If it is especially difficult, it succeeds only on a 16+. If a test is made both easier and harder by the fiction, it is rolled normally.

Saves: At times, your character may have a single chance to avoid sudden peril. At these moments you must roll a save or suffer the consequences. To save, roll an unmodified d20 >= your save DC.

Journeys

For each day of journeying, the party gains 4 travel tokens, which represent 4 watches of the day: morning, afternoon, evening, and night.

The Referee rolls for Weather and Encounters at the start of each day. Inclement weather occurs on 1-in-6 and doubles the cost of travel. Encounters occur on 1-in-6. See encounters.

Once per day the party may "make haste." They gain a travel token and one slot of fatigue in their inventory. Mounted characters do not take fatigue.

Actions have the following costs in travel tokens:

• Enter an easy hex, such as even plains or a maintained road: 1
• Enter a moderate hex, such as forests or broken hills: 2
• Enter a difficult hex, such as high mountains or pathless swamps: 3
• Rest, eat a ration and sleep through the watch, then regain d6 HP or remove 1 fatigue. You may only gain this benefit once per day: 1 Failure to rest inflicts fatigue.
• Make Camp, allowing individuals to take a camp action: 1

If the party makes camp, each character may choose a camping action:

• Provision: Search for edibles with a MND test. Gain d4 rations on success. For each additional character who succeeds this test, increase the dice one step. d4 > d6 > d8 > d10 > d12. Only one dice is rolled.
• Craft: Use tools and materials to make an item. Large or complex creations may require multiple days.
• Keep Watch: Test WIL. On success your party cannot be surprised during this camp action and the next action they take. All individuals keeping watch roll simultaneously.
• Tend Wounds: Use a bandage to restore d4 HP. You may only gain this benefit once per day.
• Cook: Test MND to make a meal from fresh ingredients. All who eat it may choose to regain +2 HP or lose 1 fatigue. You may only benefit from this once per day.

Delving

In dungeons and other dangerous locales, the party may take one action per dungeon turn.

• Interact with the area carefully.
• Ransack the area noisily, revealing secrets. Triggers an encounter check.
• Move to an adjacent area.

Light: Many dungeons are unlit. Without a light source, the party is effectively blind, failing all tests relying on sight. Light sources provide sufficient light to dimly illuminate a small room.

• Torches burn for 6 dungeon turns.
• Lamps burn for 12 dungeon turns, then must be refilled with oil (s).

Each dungeon turn, the Referee checks for a 1-in-6 chance of encounter.

Encounters

If creatures are encountered, the Referee rolls 2d6 to determine their reaction to the party.

• 2: Hostile, Attacks
• 3-5: Defensive, May Attack
• 6-8: Busy, Uncertain
• 9-11: Curious, Friendly
• 12: Helpful, Desperate

The Referee also rolls a 1-in-6 chance for each side to determine if that side is surprised by the other.

Lastly, a d6 may be rolled to determine encounter distance outdoors. Indoors, the encounter is usually in the room.

Combat

In a fight, each side rolls a d6 each round, with the highest result acting first.

On a character's turn, they may move about 30' and take one action. Generally, actions are resolved for each side in the following order.

• Flee: test DEX to escape a fight. On failure, escape at the start of your next turn.
• Sprint: Move an extra 30'
• Maneuver: Attempt to change the situation. This may make attack or dodge tests easy, or cause some other change in the fiction.
• Strike: test STR to attack a foe with a melee weapon, or DEX to attack a distant foe with a ranged weapon, dealing damage on a success. DEF reduces damage a foe takes. If you score a critical on this test, roll double your normal damage dice and deal damage equal to the sum.

Defending: When your foes attack you, you must defend yourself!

• Dodge: Test DEX to avoid an attack! Wearing no armor grants a +2 bonus to this test, while wearing heavy armor inflicts a -2 penalty. If you fumble this test, your foe rolls double their damage dice and deals damage to you equal to the sum.

• DEF: If you fail to dodge, worn armor reduces the damage you would take.

• Shatter: If you are using a shield or staff, you may sacrifice it to negate all damage from a single melee strike.

Death: At 0 HP, roll a d4 in secret. Count it down 1 each turn. If it reaches 0 before someone heals or stabilizes you, your character is dead. Even if healed, you bear a scar.

Interrupts: Some actions are classified as interruptions, these may occur at any point, and the action being interrupted must wait until the interrupting action concludes. After being interrupted, a character may no longer act. A character may only perform one interruption per round of combat.

• Spears: If a foe enters your zone and attacks you while you have a spear, you may test DEX to interrupt their attack. On success, you also deal damage to them as a successful attack.

• Grappling: If you are already grappling a creature, you may test DEX or STR to interrupt their action. If a creature attempts to escape, and you do not interrupt them, they succeed. While grappling a creature, hitting it with a one-handed weapon is easy.

Morale: If an NPC is reduced to 1/2 health or sees 1/2 its party killed or routed, the Referee rolls 2d6. If the result is higher than the monster's morale, it flees or surrenders if possible. Unthinking creatures do not make morale checks.

Mass Combat & Mega-damage: A group of 10 soldiers acts as a unit with stats equal to the average soldier. Against other mass-combat units, they deal damage normally. Against individuals, they deal mega-damage which is damage x10. Individuals attacking a mass-combat unit deal damage/10 (minimum 1) on a hit. If a mass-combat unit falls to 0 HP, they are routed. D6 individuals survive at ½ HP.

• Leadership: If a PC acts within a mass-combat unit, the unit acts under the PC’s command, and it gains +1 to hit and dodge. The PC is always one of the survivors if the unit is routed.

• Area Attacks: Attacks that target large areas instead of individuals always count as mega-damage against mass-combat units.

• Monsters: Some monsters may count as mass-combat units. Certain magic items may allow individuals to resist mega-damage or deal mega-damage to such monsters.

#system