Game Master Handbook

The GM describes the world, plays everything that is not a player character, and settles what the rules leave open. They are not playing against the table.

This book gathers what belongs to them alone. Everything else, including the rules they apply, is in the Player Handbook.

What you decide

The starting set

The two Trees on offer, the Species available, and the 25 XP, 22 MP and 3 PP a new character receives. Announce any change before the table starts: a one-shot and a long campaign do not open on the same numbers.

The pair for every RollRule wordRoll2d12 + one Characteristic + one Aptitude, measured against a DC, an AC or an Opposed Roll.

No AptitudeRule wordAptitudeA field of know-how. It makes up half of every Roll. belongs to a CharacteristicRule wordCharacteristicOne of a character's six core scores. It makes up half of every Roll.. You read the way of acting that was announced and choose the pair. Reward the description: it is the only lever that pushes a player to say how they go about it rather than what they are rolling.

The DCRule wordDCThe difficulty a Roll has to reach, set by the GM or by a rule.

Whenever no rule prints one. Use the ladder, and remember that a trivial action needs no Roll.

KarmaRule wordKarmaPoints granted by the GM. By default, a point can add an Advantage or a Disadvantage to the Roll of your choice.

When a point is deserved, and which slot it lands in. A slot already filled does not take a second.

The rewards

XP at every significant obstacle, MP and PP by milestone. Announce which one you are granting before the players choose anything.

The loot

The workable sources, their Loot Die and Loot Table, and the DC of a targeted harvest.

What you do not decide

What a character does. A player decides their actions; you decide what the world makes of them.

What a player crafts. Real availability comes from components, recipes and the risk of crafting, not from permission.

What a piece or a Skill grants. Those numbers are printed on them. If a value bothers you, change the entry, not the rule at the moment it lands.

Calling it in the moment

Three habits cover most cases.

Ask what they want out of it. An action with no stated goal has no possible DC. “I search the room” becomes playable as soon as you know what they hope to find.

Do not roll for what is settled. A Roll costs the table time and has to decide something. If success changes nothing, or failure costs nothing, give them the result.

Say the price before the throw. What the attempt costs and risks is said before the dice land, never after. That is what makes a failure acceptable.

What is still to be written

This book does not yet cover running a campaign, building a place, writing a creature or preparing a session. Aubaine has no published creature entry and no adventure format.

The three chapters that follow cover what carries numbers today: weighing an encounter, designing a Skill, and testing the balance.