Welcome to Grit.

GRIT SYSTEM
Written By Nathan J. Hill
Copyright ©2004, Mystic Ages Online
These Rules Are Beta.
http://www.mysticages.com/

Introduction

The GRIT SYSTEM is a fast, cinematic style roleplaying game. The rules presented within this document can be used for a variety of games, including fantasy, science fiction, action, and horror. As this document expands, guidelines and expansions will provide a variety of support for different styles of play.

http://mysticages.com/freestuff/grit

Hero Creation

Heroes, adventurers, soldiers -- these are the names for characters in the GRIT SYSTEM. Characters in GRIT are intended to be extraordinary and accomplish amazing feats unknown to mortal man. Furthermore, they can be counted on in the face of danger. Build your hero using the steps below.

Step One. Concept

Begin by forming a rough mental image of your hero. Consider your character's personality, attitude, purpose, talent, and ability. Imagine your hero's appearance or "style". Think of a name for your creation. If you need help, think about your favorite movies, comics, or novels for inspiration. Your hero should be exciting, dangerous, and good.

Step Two. Attributes

Your hero's four attributes define his raw talent and potential. Prowess is your character's strength, raw power, and toughness. Agility is your character's speed, dexterity, and grace. Brains is your character's intelligence, knowledge, and education. Charm is your character's charisma, wisdom, and personality.

Attributes begin at 1 and have a maximum of 5. You have 6 points to spread among them. Make sure you place your points that fit the concept and style of your character.

Step Three. Abilities

Your hero's abilities are what really defines her. Abilities are essentially anything exciting, cool, or dangerous that she can do. This includes fighting styles, skills, and stunts. Most GRIT-based games will feature a list of abilities that fit the genre and play that you will experience.

Your hero has 10 points to distribute among abilities. Abilities begin at 0 and can go no higher than 5.

Available Abilities:

• Deceit
• Demolitions
• Detective
• Driving
• Guns
• Leadership
• Martial Arts
• Medicine
• Persuasion
• Pilot
• Seduction
• Skill: (your choice)
• Sorcery
• Stealth
• Research

A Skill ability is left up to be defined by you. It is usually a particular ability that is specific to the genre you are about to play in. Example skills included computers, biology, chemistry, weaponsmith, and so on.

Step Four. Derived Attributes

Your hero has two final attributes - guts and desparation. Guts measures how much hurt your hero can sustain before he bites the big one. Desparation is used when your hero isn't sure what else to do.

Guts is your Prowess + Agility. Desparation is your Brains + Charm.

Step Five. Resources

Your hero might be rich, and he might not. You have 3 points in your resources, which means he is fairly wealthy. If you have points left over from your ability step, you may beef up resources to a maximum of 5. Of course, if you choose, you can also lower your resources and use those points to beef up other abilities.

Step Six. Background

Now conclude your character creation with a background for your hero. If your background pleases the GM, you might be rewarded 1-2 extra ability points to spend on your hero.

Actions

When your heroes test their bravery and seek to undo the evils of the world, you must be able to know how well they succeeded and just how the action plays out.

Describe the Action

First, describe the action your hero is undertaking with style and flair. Be descriptive and go over the top.

Rolling Dice

When your hero attempts some brave maneuver, add together the number of your hero's relevant ability and attribute. Pick up that many 6-sided dice. Roll and add them together. This is your Result.

Compare Your Result

The GM will set the Target Number, representing the difficulty of the action or its importance to the story. Normal actions have a TN of 15, difficult actions have a TN of 20, and near impossible actions have a TN of 30. The GM may raise or lower the Target Number due to other conditions or factors.

Alternately, if you are attempting an action against a villain or another hero, the highest Result wins. A tie must be rerolled.

Determine the Outcome

Finally, the Outcome represents how well the action has succeeded. A higher Outcome means a more successful action. For combat actions, your Outcome equals the damage dealt. Determine the Outcome by subtracting your Result from the Target Number or your opponent's Result.

If Your Outcome Beats the TN or Result...

Describe how well your action succeeds. Be colorful. Not only does your hero succeed, your hero succeeds with amazing grace and ability. People around your hero will be impressed. Consider the best possibility of your action and describe it.

If Your Outcome Is Less Than the TN or Result...

Your action fails. Slink away in disgrace.

When Not To Roll

If your hero attempts something that he does not have an ability for, do not roll. Your hero automatically fails the action, and a terrible outcome occurs for the action. The exact outcome is up to the GM, though it will never be good.

You can only attempt heroic or amazing actions if you possess the relevant ability (at least 1 point in it). If you don't possess it, what business does our hero have with it anyway? Remember, heroes can't do everything, but they can do what they are good at.

Taking Damage

If your hero is hit by a villain or fellow hero, you must make a damage roll. Roll a number of dice equal to your Guts. The TN is the Outcome of your opponent's action. If you beat the TN, you lose 1 point from Guts but your hero remains in play. If you do not beat the TN, your hero is knocked unconscious and remains out of play until the next scene.

If your hero's Guts are reduced to 0, you can take a scene away from the action and then return, with full Guts.

Conflict

Not necessarily just combat, conflict revolves around anytime when time is short and things need to get done. During this time, action breaks down into segments, and heroes, villains, and extras act in turns based on their Agility. During their turn, heroes can do heroic things, attack, order extras around, or whatever.

Initiative (high Agility -> low Agility)
Each hero, villain, or extra gets one action.

Rewards

At the end of a session, each hero is awarded 1-3 points to spend.