Rolling The Dice

The core rolling mechanic is outlined below:

1. Determine dice pool, Target Number, and Challenge Dice
2. Roll the dice
3. Apply the effects of theDiscord Die
4. Apply the Law of Fives
5. Determine Successes



The Dice Pool

When you need to make a roll, the first step is assembling your dice pool. At minimum, your dice pool will consists of one or more Hero Dice (based on your Hero Factor). Most rolls also include a Trope Die for whichever trope is most appropriate for the action being attempted, and some characters will also add a trademark die. You can add more dice to the pool by spending Instant Karma and some Special Effects, advantageous Conditions, and other game rules allow you to add dice to your pool. Additionally, the GM may award bonus dice for situational advantages, clever ideas, good role-playing, the rule of cool, or any other reason they see fit.


Target Number (TN)

The Target Number for a roll is based on how well-suited the character is for the action being attempted, based on their hooks. If the character's hooks indicate that they would be better than the average bear at the action being attempted, the Target Number is 4. If the character's hooks suggest that the action being attempted is outside of the character's wheelhouse, the Target Number is 6. The the characters hooks balance out or have no bearing on the action, the Target Number is 5. The character earns a success for each die that equals or exceeds the Target Number, and may earn multiple successes on dice that are larger than a d6.
When it comes to assigning Target Numbers, all hooks are not necessarily equal in value, so it's not simply a matter of assigning each hook to either the "pro" or "con" column and comparing the results. Instead, the GM should decide whether the character's hooks when taken as a whole are beneficial or a hinderance. In some cases as single hook that is especially helpful or detrimental to the action being attempted can determine the TN for a roll, or even render a roll impossible or unnecessary. For example, a hook of "Blind" rules out any chance of a character noticing a clue written on a dry-erase board at the crime scene, while a character with a "Priest" hook should be able to name the local Bishop without bothering to roll.


Challenge Dice (CD)

Challenge Dice represent external factors that make a task more difficult for the character, and not all rolls involve Challenge Dice. The most common Challenge Dice are based on an NPC opponent's stats. For example, a highly-trained NPC fighter might have a CD 4 in combat. Challenge Dice may also be added for especially difficult tasks (trying to circumvent a state-of-the-art security system), environmental factors (darkness or bad weather), inferior equipment, injuries, and other factors. Challenge Dice succeed on a roll of 5 or 6 and each successful Challenge Die eliminates 1 Success. Challenge Dice are not affected by the Law of Fives or the Discord Die.
Challenge Dice for NPCs are covered in the NPC Stats section. For rolls that don't involved an opponent, use the following table to determine the number of Challenge Dice.

Difficulty	Challenge Dice	Example
Easy*	0	Filling up your gas tank
Average	1	Replacing your windshield wipers
Challenging	2	Changing a tire
Difficult	3	Replacing an alternator
Daunting	4	Rebuilding a transmission
Nigh Impossible	5	Making the "Check Engine" light on an old beater stay off (without just disabling it)
		*Players only need to roll for Easy actions if there are extenuating circumstances, if the degree of success impacts the story, or if it's necessary to determine the number of successes for game mechanics reasons

There are two ways to roll Challenge Dice, depending on group preferences. The first is for the GM to roll them as a separate pool. The second is to include them in the player's roll. If you choose the latter option, you'll need to make sure that the Challenge Dice are distinctive from the other dice players are rolling in some way. For example, you might use dice with skulls or other sinister symbols in place of numbers or red dice (with the understanding that skull or red dice are not allowed to be used in PC pools).

Discord Die

At the beginning of each round, the GM rolls the Discord Die. The Discord Die adds a little chaos to the proceedings and takes the form of a d20 roll. The Discord Die has the following effects:
• If the Discord Die matches any die in the PC Pool, that die is eliminated from the pool (along with all other dice with the same result)
• If the Discord Die is a 5, all dice follow the Law of Infinite Fives (see below)
• If the GM rolls a 20 on the Discord Die, re-roll the die. If the result is a 3, the Discord Die wanders off until the beginning of the next scene. Otherwise, uses the second d20 roll as the Discord Die result for that round.

Challenge Dice are not affected by the Discord Die.

The Law of Fives


After you roll your dice, look for 5s. For each die with a result of 5, roll an additional die of the same size. Yelling "Hail Eris!" as you roll the bonus dice is not required, but can be fun. Challenge Dice are not subject to the Law of Fives.

The Law of Infinite Fives

Some abilities allow the character to apply The Law of Infinite Fives. This means that whenever the player rolls a 5 on one of the bonus dice they roll for the Law of Fives, they get to apply the Law of Fives again and roll another bonus die. This continues as long as the player keeps rolling 5s.

Successes and Fails

Now that all dice have been rolled, it's time to determine whether the character succeeds, and if so to what extent. For each Challenge Die that rolled a 5 or 6, remove one successful die for the player pool. Then count up the number of successes. Usually, each die that rolled the Target Number or higher is 1 success. However, larger dice that double the target number count as 2 successes and those that triple the target number count as 3 successes. If the player has at least one success, the action succeeds--probably. Before applying successes, count up all the 1s in the player pool and among the Challenge Dice. If the number of 1s exceeds the number of successes, the player has 3 options:
• Treat the roll as a failure
• Spend 1 Luck or Instant Karma equal to the number of 1s rolled and treat the roll normally
• Accept a Costly Success wherein the action succeeds, but has unintended and unfortunate side-effects or consequences

If there are fewer PC successes than Challenge Dice that rolled 5 or 6, the roll is a failure. Each Challenge Die left over after all the PC successes are countered results in a Fail. In most cases, the Fails are treated as NPC successes, but in some situations (for example, when there's no opposing character involved) they have other effects. For example, a character who fails a climbing roll may take damage from the fall based on the number of Fails they got on the roll.

Using Luck & Instant Karma

• Add 1 Luck Die to your pool: 1 Instant Karma
• Prevent a die from being eliminated by the Discord Die: 1 IK per die protected
• Avoid a Costly Success: Instant Karma equal to the number of 1s rolled OR 1 Luck
• Increase the Number of Success: 1 Luck per Success. Can't be used on failed rolls.

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PVP

When a PC rolls against another PC or a fully-statted NPC, both players roll the appropriate dice pools for the action that they're attempting. One or both players may have to roll against Challenge Dice if there are outside factors making their lives more difficult. Once the Law of Fives and Discord Die have been resolved, the player with the most successes remaining wins the contest. Subtract the loser's successes from the winner's to determine the final number of successes for the roll.

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Scene Discord Die

If you don't want to roll a new Discord Die every round, you can roll a discord die that affects rolls for the entire scene. In this case, a roll of 20 followed by a roll of 3 means the Discord Die is out of play for the remainder of the adventure.

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Lucky Breaks, Bad Breaks, and Flukes

Certain die results have special effects, as described below. These effects are determined after the Discord Die is resolved.

• If ALL of the dice in a player's pool hit the target number, the character gets a Lucky Break. This gives them a number of additional successes equal to a roll of their Luck die.
• If ALL of the dice in a player's pool roll a 1, the character gets a Bad Break. This is similar to a Costly Success, but without the "success" part. Something bad happens, and it gets worse with each Challenge Die that rolled a success.
• If ALL of the dice in a player's pool roll the same result (other than 1), a Fluke occurs. A Fluke is something weird and completely unexpected that isn't obviously good or bad for the character who made the roll: freak weather events, sudden power outages, unexpected new arrivals on the scene, wild magic effects, religious epiphanies, and bigfoot sightings are just a few examples of Flukes. If any Challenge Dice rolled the same number, the GM should try to make the Fluke even weirder.
• Players are encouraged to add their own dice effects for specific games and even specific characters. For example, a character whose super-powers are the result of a demonic pact may gets some additional perk whenever they roll 3 sixes when using their powers.

Multiple Successes per Die

If you're rolling a die larger than a d6, you have a chance of scoring multiple successes on a single die, as shown on the table below.

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Roll	1-7	8-9	10-11	12
TN 4	1	2	2	3
TN 5	1	1	2	2
TN 6	1	1	1	2