TEXT: 1
  FINAL HOUR
  OF A
  STORIED AGE
  A ROLEPLAYING GAME OF EPIC FANTASY
  BY DAN MARUSCHAK
  REV 0.71
  
  THIS IS A PLAYTEST VERSION OF THE GAME
  Changes to Rev 0.71
  Changed “Starting a New Chapter” to “Starting Chapters”
  Changed “Playing Out a Chapter” to “Playing Chapters”
  Formatting and layout changes
  Minor text changes (mechanics unaffected)
  Changes to Rev 0.70
  Added influences and crossings terminology to star charts
  Added mechanic to tweak dice results on viewpoint/adversity rolls
  Added examples to character creation
  Changes to Rev 0.68
  Clarified: viewpoint dice → story dice, adversity dice → story dice
  Clarified: story dice and active traits don't cross chapters
  Added examples to playing out an exchange
  Added examples to spending story dice
  Added rules summary to Starting a New Chapter
  Added rules summary to Playing out a Chapter
  Expanded play advice section
  2
  
  Introduction
  Final Hour of a Storied Age is a roleplaying game of Epic Fantasy. 
  Using these rules, some dice, and pencil and paper, you and 
  some friends can experience a story like those found in your 
  favorite epic fantasy novels: stories of heroes struggling against 
  adversity  in  the  face  of  world-changing  events.  This  game 
  combines ideas and techniques that fantasy authors use when 
  crafting their stories with elements that fantasy readers enjoy 
  when reading them. By channeling the creative, collaborative 
  energy of the entire group this game produces a story for you all 
  to enjoy.
  3
  
  Why Fantasy?
  Why play a fantasy game? Because fantasy is awesome. But 
  more than that, it's important. Don't just take my word for it, 
  though: In the denouement of the brilliant Hogfather by Terry 
  Pratchett,  Susan  and  Death  (who  speaks  LIKE THIS)  have  a 
  conversation about believing in the Hogfather, the Discworld 
  equivalent of Santa Claus:
  “All right,” said Susan. “I'm not stupid. You're saying that humans 
  need... fantasies in order to make life bearable.”
  REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. 
  TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
  “Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little–”
  YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
  “So we can believe the big ones?”
  YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
  “They're not the same at all!”
  YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND 
  SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE,  ONE 
  MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET– Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE 
  IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME... RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY 
  WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
  “Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point–”
  MY POINT EXACTLY.
  Fantasy helps us believe in important, real things – things that 
  we might feel hokey about expressing in our modern, cynical 
  world, but things which are nonetheless vital to us. Fantasy is a 
  way of looking at ideas, ideals, themes, and philosophies that 
  are all-too-easy to believe don't fit in our everyday lives.
  4
  
  Why Epic Fantasy?
  Nailing down what makes epic fantasy special is harder since the 
  genre  isn't  well  defined,  but  The  Lord  of  the  Rings clearly 
  qualifies and this dialog from The Two Towers movie starts to 
  explain it:
  Frodo: I can't do this, Sam.
  Sam:
  I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. 
  But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo; the ones 
  that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. 
  And sometimes you didn't want to know the end... because 
  how could the end be happy? How could the world go back 
  to the way it was, when so much bad had happened? But in 
  the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness 
  must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it 
  will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed 
  with you, that meant something, even if you were too small 
  to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I 
  know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of 
  turning back, only they didn't. They kept going... because 
  they were holding onto something.
  Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam?
  Sam:
  That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's 
  worth fighting for.
  5
  
  A key feature of epic fantasy is the scope of the action. The core 
  of an epic fantasy story is a protagonist defending what is good 
  about the world (for some definition of “the world”) from forces 
  that would tear it down – it's about linking personal action and 
  personal  virtue  to  bigger  and  broader  things,  things  worth 
  saving. 
  In the cynical world we live in there is constant pressure to be 
  small-minded, hopeless, and complacent. Dishonest politician? 
  They're all like that. Your boss wants you to cut corners to hit a 
  deadline? No one will know. A festering problem could be solved 
  with  a  conversation?  Best  avoid  the  conflict... Epic  fantasy 
  heroes don't give in to that mindset: they stand against the tide 
  of evil. The stories don't tell us it's easy to do that, because it 
  usually isn't, but they tell us it's right to do that, and it's nice to 
  be reminded. 
  Fantasy lets us practice believing in difficult ideas, and the idea 
  that epic fantasy asks us to believe is that individual virtues 
  matter, that doing the right thing matters. Sam Gamgee saved a 
  world by being a good friend. It was a fantasy world and not a 
  real one, but Tolkien made it real enough for us to see the truth 
  of  that  idea.  Forces  in  the  world  want  us  to  believe  that 
  everything is going downhill and none of us can do anything 
  about  it.  Epic  Fantasy  is  out  there,  confronting  that  idea, 
  shouting “You shall not pass!” and reminding us that we all have 
  the capacity to stand alongside it.
  Plus, there's wizards and magic and sword fights and a bunch of 
  other awesome stuff.
  6
  
  Part I: Creating the Plot
  Although epic fantasy novels sometimes read like the history of 
  a pre-existing world they are rarely created that way. Instead, 
  the world, events, and characters are all created to serve a story 
  that speaks to eternal themes like duty, love, or truth. A Storied 
  Age story starts with individual creativity, each player working 
  through  the  first  few  steps  in  parallel.  Then  the  individual 
  contributions are collaboratively put together to create a story 
  that no one player would have come up with on their own.
  7
  Words from 
  theme table
  Group words
  Write seeds
  Star charts
  Find protagonist / antagonist
  Figure out plot axis
  Begin creating map
  Determine plot segments
  Select supporting characters
  Figure out subplots
  Complete the map
  Stat out 
  characters 
  (Part II)
  Words from 
  theme table
  Group words
  Write seeds
  Star charts
  Words from 
  theme table
  Group words
  Write seeds
  Star charts
  Stat out 
  characters 
  (Part II)
  Stat out 
  characters 
  (Part II)
  
  Generating a List of Words
  When you sit down with your friends to begin a new 
  Storied  Age 
  story,  each  player  starts  by 
  independently creating some seeds from which the 
  story will grow. To begin creating the seeds, roll two 
  d12's,  add  them  together,  and  find  the 
  corresponding entry on a theme table such as the 
  one to the right. Note down the word on a piece of 
  scratch paper (note down the number, too, since it 
  will make later steps easier). Roll the dice again and 
  count down the table that many spaces from the 
  first word, wrapping around to the beginning if you 
  step off the end. Note this word and number as 
  well. Keep going like this until you land on one of 
  the  words  already  on  your  list  (don't  add  the 
  duplicate onto the list).
  Susan rolls a 23 on her dice and writes Division (23) on 
  her  scratch  paper. She  rolls  again, getting  a  9.  She 
  counts 9 entries down from 23 and adds Throne (32) to 
  her list. Rolling a 10 steps her off the end of the table, 
  so  she  wraps  around  to  the  beginning  and  writes 
  Responsibility (2) on her list. She rolls a 5 and adds Farm 
  (7). She rolls an 11 and adds Fire (18). She rolls an 18 
  and adds Sea (36) to the list. She rolls a 7, wraps around 
  again, and writes Power (3) on the list. She rolls 13 and 
  adds Old (16). She rolls another 13 and adds Hate (29). 
  She rolls a 7, which would give her Sea, but that is 
  already on her list so she stops rolling.
  8
  Theme Table
  1. Noble
  2. Responsibility
  3. Power
  4. Greed
  5. Rich
  6. Poor
  7. Farm
  8. Inherit
  9. Small
  10. Large
  11. Male
  12. Female
  13. Corruption
  14. Prophecy
  15. Learning
  16. Old
  17. New
  18. Fire
  19. Ice
  20. Duty
  21. Ambition
  22. Family
  23. Division
  24. Return
  25. Truth
  26. Lies
  27. Belief
  28. Love
  29. Hate
  30. Sword
  31. Ring
  32. Throne
  33. Crown
  34. Mountain
  35. Forest
  36. Sea
  37. Underground
  38. Gold
  39. Star
  40. Blood
  
  Break The List of Words into Groups
  It's possible to generate a lot of words in the previous step, so 
  you may need to break your list down into manageable groups. 
  No group can have more than eight words. If you have nine or 
  more words on your list, use the first six for your first group. If 
  you still have nine or more, use the next six to create a second 
  group. Keep creating groups like this until you have eight or less 
  words on your list, and put those in your final group.
  Susan has nine words on her list, so puts the first six in one group: 
  Division Throne Responsibility Farm Fire Sea. She puts her final 
  three words in a second group: Power Old Hate.
  9
  
  Transform Groups of Words into Seeds
  For each group of words you have, arrange the words in an 
  order that inspires a sentence or two that describes a character 
  (and possibly a situation that the character is involved in), a fact 
  about the world, or a fact about magic. Phrase these sentences 
  in either the past  or  present  tense.  While  these sentences 
  should be evocative, be careful not to invest too much emotion 
  into what you think each sentence means yet – future steps in 
  the world creation process might lead you to interpret them in a 
  different way than you originally intended. You don't have to use 
  the words exactly as they appear in the list, but someone who 
  reads your sentence along with your list of words should be able 
  to say, “Yeah, I can see how that sentence came from those 
  words.” For each group, write down the ordered words and the 
  corresponding sentence on a seed sheet.
  Susan  looks  at  her  first  group  of  words:  Division  Throne 
  Responsibility Farm Fire Sea. She likes the idea of a division of 
  responsibility, so she decides to group those two words together. 
  She likes the way Sea and Farm fit together, too, since it conjures 
  the idea of fishermen in her mind, since they harvest food from the 
  sea. She's not sure exactly what a Throne of Fire is, but it sounds 
  like an evocative fantasy idea to her, so she decides to include that, 
  too.  She  orders  her  words as Division  Responsibility Farm  Sea 
  Throne  Fire  and  writes  a  sentence:  “Two  twins  have  divided 
  responsibilities: one must harvest food from the sea while the other 
  seeks the Throne of Fire.”
  She looks at her second group of words: Power Old Hate. She 
  decides to arrange them as Hate Old Power to inspire the sentence: 
  “Civilized society shuns the wielders of ancient mystical powers.”
  10
  
  Cast the Star Charts
  Each seed sheet has a circle with the numbers from 1 to 40 
  evenly spaced around it. These numbers correspond to the 
  numbers from the theme table. For each seed, take the ordered 
  list of words and draw a straight line from the number that 
  corresponds to the first word to the number that corresponds to 
  the second word, from there to the third word, and so on, and 
  finish with a line from the number that corresponds to the last 
  word back to the first word (this will sometimes create a star 
  shape). 
  Use each shape that you've drawn to calculate two numbers: 
  influences and  crossings.  The  number  of  times  the  shape 
  touches the edge of the chart gives you the influences (this is 
  the same as the number of words used to generate the chart). 
  The number intersections between line segment gives you the 
  crossings (if one segment intersects with two others, that's two 
  crosses). Record the number of influences and crossings for 
  each star chart.
  Susan's first ordered list is Division (23) 
  Responsibility  (2)  Farm  (7)  Sea  (36) 
  Throne (32) Fire (18). She casts the star 
  chart  and  gets six influences  and  two 
  crossings.
  Her second ordered list is Hate (29) Old 
  (16) Power (3). She casts the star chart 
  and  gets  three  influences  and  zero 
  crossings.
  11
  20
  40
  10
  30
  19
  39
  9
  29
  18
  38
  8
  28
  17
  37
  7
  27
  16
  36
  6
  26
  15
  35
  5
  25
  14
  34
  4
  24
  13
  33
  3
  23
  12
  32
  2
  22
  11
  31
  1
  21
  20
  40
  10
  30
  19
  39
  9
  29
  18
  38
  8
  28
  17
  37
  7
  27
  16
  36
  6
  26
  15
  35
  5
  25
  14
  34
  4
  24
  13
  33
  3
  23
  12
  32
  2
  22
  11
  31
  1
  21
  
  Protagonist Seed and Antagonist Seed
  Once the star charts have been drawn, the process of combining 
  them together to form a story outline can begin. First, identify a 
  protagonist  seed and  an  antagonist seed by comparing  the 
  number of crossings on the star charts for each seed:
  •
  The  seed  with  the  most  crossings determines  the 
  protagonist 
  •
  The seed with the  next highest number of crossings 
  determines the antagonist
  •
  If there are multiple seeds with the same number of 
  crossings, use the number of influences to break the tie. 
  If it's still tied, use dice to break the tie
  •
  If the same player created both the protagonist and 
  antagonist seeds, one must be handed off to a different 
  player
  Protagonists and antagonists will have particular roles in the 
  story,  but  becoming  the  protagonist  or  antagonist  doesn't 
  translate to winning or losing this part of the game. There are 
  pros and cons to being the protagonist, antagonist, or other 
  character in the story: they're different from each other, but not 
  better or worse.
  12
  
  While Susan has been  working on the seeds “Two twins have 
  divided responsibilities: one must harvest food from the sea while 
  the  other  seeks  the  Throne  of  Fire”  with  two  crossings  and 
  “Civilized society shuns the wielders of ancient mystical powers.” 
  with no crossings, her friends Fred, Annie, and Peter have been 
  working on seeds of their own. Fred's first seed of “A greedy, cold-
  blooded man foments division among the mountain people” has 
  five crossings on its star chart. His second seed of “A prophecy 
  foretells that the king will welcome the blackening of the sea” has 
  one crossing. Annie's seed “A man from an old bloodline has taken 
  the throne of a declining kingdom and hopes to master his ancestral 
  ice  sword”  has  twelve  crossings.  Peter's  seed  “Women  past 
  childbearing age are expected to take vows of poverty” has one 
  crossing.
  Since Annie's seed has the most crossings it is the protagonist seed. 
  Fred's first seed is next in number of crossings, so that is the 
  antagonist seed. 
  13
  
  14
  20
  40
  10
  30
  19
  39
  9
  29
  18
  38
  8
  28
  17
  37
  7
  27
  16
  36
  6
  26
  15
  35
  5
  25
  14
  34
  4
  24
  13
  33
  3
  23
  12
  32
  2
  22
  11
  31
  1
  21
  Words:
  Sentence:
  20
  40
  10
  30
  19
  39
  9
  29
  18
  38
  8
  28
  17
  37
  7
  27
  16
  36
  6
  26
  15
  35
  5
  25
  14
  34
  4
  24
  13
  33
  3
  23
  12
  32
  2
  22
  11
  31
  1
  21
  Words:
  Sentence:
  20
  40
  10
  30
  19
  39
  9
  29
  18
  38
  8
  28
  17
  37
  7
  27
  16
  36
  6
  26
  15
  35
  5
  25
  14
  34
  4
  24
  13
  33
  3
  23
  12
  32
  2
  22
  11
  31
  1
  21
  Words:
  Sentence:
  20
  40
  10
  30
  19
  39
  9
  29
  18
  38
  8
  28
  17
  37
  7
  27
  16
  36
  6
  26
  15
  35
  5
  25
  14
  34
  4
  24
  13
  33
  3
  23
  12
  32
  2
  22
  11
  31
  1
  21
  Words:
  Sentence:
   16     12       29    38
  Women past childbearing age are expected 
  to take vows of poverty.
  Old Blood Family Poor Throne Learning Ice Sword
   16     40     22      6        32        15        19     30
      14           33     28   36        13
  Prophecy Crown Love Sea Corruption
      4      19    40     11       23          34
  Greed Ice Blood Male Division Mountain
  A man from an old bloodline has taken the 
  throne of a declining kingdom and hopes to 
  master his ancestral ice sword.
  A prophecy foretells that the king will 
  welcome the blackening of the sea.
  A greedy, cold-blooded man foments 
  division among the mountain people.
  Old Female Hate Gold
  
  Generate the Plot Axis
  Once you have the protagonist and antagonist seeds you can 
  figure out the plot axis, the central conflict around which the 
  story will turn. This is a collaborative process that every player 
  should participate in. In an epic fantasy story, a community is 
  threatened with a change in the world and the story follows the 
  protagonist as he or she tries to thwart that change (sometimes 
  effecting a positive change for the world instead).
  Use the protagonist seed to identify a protagonist character and 
  a community that he or she represents. The community is the 
  frame of reference through which the rest of the fantasy world 
  can be understood (in The Lord of the Rings, this community is 
  The Shire). In Storied Age, the protagonist must represent that 
  community. That doesn't mean that the protagonist must be a 
  completely typical member of the community (Frodo Baggins 
  was an uncommonly adventurous hobbit, for example), but it 
  does mean that he or she should not be an outcast or outsider. 
  He or she may not think the community is perfect, but should 
  feel that the community is fundamentally worth protecting. 
  Positive change in the community might happen as part of a 
  Storied Age story, but the protagonist is focused on preventing 
  the negative change that will occur if the antagonist is not 
  stopped.
  When the story opens, the antagonist is endeavoring to cause 
  the world to change in a way that is negative for the community 
  (think:  destroy,  conquer,  enslave,  exterminate,  etc.).  The 
  antagonist  will  either think  this  change  is  positive  (such  as 
  bringing order to a chaotic world) or be unconcerned about the 
  negative repercussions or side-effects of his or her true goals. 
  15
  
  As a group, use the protagonist and antagonist seeds as the 
  main guidelines to figure out who the protagonist is, where he 
  or she comes from, who the antagonist is, and what he or she is 
  doing that will threaten that community (although this is a 
  collaborative process, give some deference to the players that 
  created the protagonist and antagonist seeds since they will 
  need to roleplay the characters). Sometimes the sentences from 
  the two seeds will seem to fit together perfectly – that's great! 
  Sometimes a sentence from another seed will help serve as a 
  “bridge”  between  the  protagonist  and  antagonist  seeds. 
  Sometimes you'll need to use some creative interpretation to 
  get them to fit together (remember that good collaboration 
  happens when you keep an open mind to the perspective and 
  suggestions of others). If necessary, you can add factors that go 
  beyond the sentences written on the seed sheets as long as you 
  don't negate anything that's written there – the seed sheet may 
  say that “a man” is doing something, and that will still be true if 
  you add the detail that the man is a powerful sorcerer.
  The  group  discusses  the  seeds,  and  they  decide  that  Annie's 
  kingdom  in  decline  is  a  good  community,  and  the  new  king 
  mentioned in the seed will be a good protagonist to represent that 
  community. They notice some interesting counterpoints between 
  the king's sword of ice and Susan's Throne of Fire, and that both 
  mountains and the sea are mentioned on seeds. They think that's 
  pretty close to the classic elements of earth, air, fire, and water, and 
  that the corruption of the sea could be a symptom of a larger 
  problem. It also sounds to them like there are multiple kingdoms, 
  and that the meddling with the mountain people might just be a 
  part of the cold-blooded antagonist's larger plan. They decide that 
  the antagonist is fomenting chaos in a balkanized region of small 
  kingdoms and tribal holdings, each with dominion over one of the 
  four  elements, which  will lead to  a breakdown  in the delicate 
  elemental balance, causing disaster across the whole region.
  16
  
  Begin Drawing a Map
  Many  seeds  will  include  geographic  features,  like  cities, 
  kingdoms, mountains, deserts, etc. If you have seeds like this, 
  draw them on a piece of paper to represent the geography of 
  the story. If there are any geographical features necessary for 
  the plot axis to work, add them, too. Geography isn't important 
  to every story so you can skip this step if it doesn't seem 
  relevant (and you can revisit it later if you change your minds). If 
  geography of the world is important to the story, as it often is in 
  epic fantasy, developing a map in tandem with the plot outline 
  can be helpful.
  17
  
  Detail the Plot Threads
  With  the  characters  identified  and  the  major  plot  axis 
  determined, the protagonist and antagonist need to outline the 
  competing plot threads that each of them will go through. Each 
  plot thread has three segments, and each segment should lead 
  up to a significant turning point in the story. It's usually easiest 
  to  figure  out  the  Antagonist's  plot  first,  since  it  is  largely 
  determined by the plot axis – you just need to flesh out the 
  details  of  how the  antagonist  will  cause  the  change  that 
  threatens the community. The protagonist's  plot determines 
  how he or she will stop the Antagonist. It is tempting to think 
  about  simply  standing  in  the  way  at  every  step  of  that 
  antagonist's  plan,  but  that's  not  how  an  epic  fantasy  story 
  works. The protagonist's plot should either be an “end run” 
  around the antagonist to defeat him or her in an unexpected 
  way, or a long preparation for a climactic showdown.
  Even though the overall plot threads of the protagonist and 
  antagonist are in conflict, be careful not to make the first two 
  segments of either  thread  contingent on  the other  player's 
  progress. You can't know ahead of time how fast either player 
  will progress through their segments, so don't make events in 
  one plot thread dependent on events in the other. Since the 
  story ends if either player completes their third segment it is 
  fine to make these a direct conflict (say, one wants to perform a 
  magical ritual with an artifact that the other wants to destroy) 
  because only one can be completed before the story ends.
  Identifying individual plot segments provides guidance for how 
  to play out the moment-to-moment events of the story. Each 
  segment has three phases, and each phase is chronicled through 
  one  or  more chapters  (See  Part IV:  Playing  Out  Chapters). 
  Breaking  the  plot  down  into  segments  and  breaking  the 
  segments down into phases allows the story to proceed at the 
  proper pace. By looking at a character's overall segment goal, 
  18
  
  and the number of completed phases within that segment, 
  players will be able to create appropriate challenges for the 
  character to face in each chapter.
  Record the protagonist's and antagonist's plot segments on the 
  plot track area of their character sheets.
  Susan, Fred, Peter, and Annie continue to flesh out their story, 
  expanding on their “element balance” arc. Since Annie's character 
  was  only  recently  elevated  to  the  throne,  she  suggests  that 
  eliminating her predecessor could have been the first step in the 
  antagonist's plan, leaving three other elements for Fred's character 
  to deal with in his three plot segments. Fred likes that, and also 
  suggests that driving the king of the sea kingdom mad could be an 
  element of his plan, inspired by the seed about a king welcoming a 
  blackening sea. Susan suggests that seizing the throne of fire could 
  be a good segment for Fred's character, too, building on her seed. 
  Fred likes that suggestion, realizing that he's been concentrating on 
  disruption and confusion with respect to the other elements, so 
  seizing  control  of  one  of  them  fits  well  with  the  “upset  the 
  elemental balance” idea. Fred sets up his plot segments as “Break 
  the sacred stone of the mountain people,” “Drive the sea king 
  insane,” and “Seize the Throne of Fire.”
  Annie's protagonist seed mentions mastering an ice sword, so she 
  thinks that will be a good plot segment for her, although it doesn't 
  seem to directly address how to stop Fred's character's plan. They 
  go back and forth for a bit, thinking that the straightforward way to 
  go would be to destroy the Throne of Fire with the ice sword. Then 
  the antagonist won't be able to gain power, even if he succeeds in 
  disrupting  the  earth  and  water  elements.  Peter  proposes  that 
  Annie's character could do a “seek out the wise” quest to learn 
  what she needs to do, suggesting that it could be the same person 
  who foretold the prophecy in Fred's second seed. Annie likes that 
  and takes “Master the ice sword,” “Find the prophet,” and “Destroy 
  the Throne of Fire” as her segments.
  19
  
  Some suggestions for individual plot segments
  Travel. Epic Fantasies are often world-spanning adventures. Are 
  there huge mountains, dark forests, or trackless deserts to cross?
  Get the Artifact. Is there a magic sword? Maybe an ancient scroll 
  with a spell that will strip the villain's power? Searching for an 
  important object is a well-loved part of many epic fantasy stories.
  Search  out  the  Wise.  Is  there  some  person  with  the  secret 
  knowledge needed to defeat the antagonist? A prophetic crone in a 
  cave? A reclusive wizard? One of his old foes now in hiding?
  Escape the Chaos. Sometimes the hero must be spurred to action by 
  seeing how the world will change if the antagonist gets his way. 
  Maybe the protagonist must escape from the antagonist's army, or 
  from the undermined and corrupted normal order of society.
  Alliances. There are often powerful forces in the world who, once 
  moved to action, can help take part in world-shaking events (make 
  sure you don't make them the main character, though).
  Gather forces. Sometimes an antagonist needs to gather lieutenants 
  and armies before putting a world-shaking plan into effect.
  Direct Assault. Sometimes the direct approach is the best approach. 
  Probably best to keep this for the final segment...
  Destroy the Artifact. Maybe the key to the antagonist's power is 
  like... a magic ring. And you can destroy it by... throwing it into a 
  volcano? That would probably work as part of an epic fantasy plot.
  Massive  Battle.  World-shaking  events  often  include  wars,  and 
  massive fantasy battles add excellent spice to stories.
  Unlocking your potential. Fantasy characters often have untapped 
  power or potential that they never knew about until the dramatic 
  events of the story bring it forth. Developing that potential into a 
  tool that can help solve the problems that the character faces is a 
  great way to learn about both the character and the world.
  20
  
  Identify Supporting Characters
  The rest of the players should use their seeds to find supporting 
  characters  to  play  (generally  these  characters  will  be 
  sympathetic  to  the  goals  of  the  protagonist,  but  that  isn't 
  required). Supporting characters are important characters with 
  critical roles to play in the story. If the  Lord of the Rings was 
  played as a Storied Age game, Gandalf and Aragorn would be 
  supporting characters. Unlike the multi-segment plot threads of 
  the  protagonist  or  antagonist,  supporting  characters  get  a 
  single-segment subplot. If completed, it must either complicate 
  or simplify one or two of the protagonist's or antagonist's plot 
  segments. These subplots should be related to the segment 
  they target but shouldn't be interdependent or contingent on 
  each other since you can't predict the order in which segments 
  will be completed.
  Record each supporting character's subplot in the plot track's 
  first  segment  on  the  character  sheet.  For  the  other  two 
  segments,  choose  complication or  support and  identify 
  corresponding segments from the protagonist or antagonist's 
  plot track (two different segments or the same one twice). 
  Complication segments make the protagonist or antagonist face 
  harder challenges in that part of their plot, support segments 
  help them overcome challenges.
  In addition to their impact on the protagonist or antagonist's 
  plot, completing a subplot may give the supporting character 
  player some influence on the conclusion of the overall story. 
  During the game, supporting characters have an opportunity to 
  build relationships with either the protagonist or antagonist. If a 
  supporting character completes his or her subplot, and the 
  protagonist or antagonist they align with completes  their plot 
  thread, the supporting player will have a role in deciding the 
  story's  conclusion.  See  Part  V:  Ending  the  Game for  more 
  details.
  21
  
  Susan and Peter look at their seeds to find supporting characters to 
  play. Peter thinks the most interesting character he can derive from 
  his “Women past childbearing age are expected to take vows of 
  poverty” seed would be an aging, wealthy woman who doesn't 
  want to take the expected vow. Since that character sounds to him 
  like someone who wants to overturn the established order, his first 
  impulse is to support the antagonist, who also wants to change 
  things.  He  is also  interested  in  exploring a character  who  has 
  something to do with the sea. He decides that his character will be 
  the matriarch of a trading clan who, rather than taking vows of 
  poverty,  wishes  to  become  a  pirate  queen.  He  writes  down 
  “Become the pirate queen” as his subplot, and makes his second 
  segment a support segments for Fred's “Drive the sea king insane”. 
  He considers taking a second support segment for the same one, 
  but doesn't want to put all his eggs in one basket, and asks Annie if 
  she thinks she would need to explore the sea to find her prophet. 
  Annie thinks that would be cool, so Peter makes his third segment 
  into a complication segment for Annie's “Find the prophet”.
  Susan has been listening to Peter and Annie talk about the prophet 
  who lives near the sea, and is tempted to use her “ancient mystical 
  powers” seed to make a sea witch character to fill that role. She 
  decides that character would work better as an NPC, however, since 
  she wouldn't want to be too geographically bound. Furthermore, 
  putting that aside lets her refocus on the idea she had originally of 
  playing one of the twins. She decides that it would be fun to have a 
  third character interested in the Throne of Fire, so she settles on 
  that twin, with an obvious subplot of “Find the Throne of Fire”. She 
  wants  to  support  the  protagonist, and  thinks  that  her  subplot 
  dovetails quite nicely with a support segment for Annie's “Destroy 
  the Throne of Fire” and a complication segment for Fred's “Seize 
  the  Throne  of  Fire”.  Susan's  ideas  about  the  sea  witch  aren't 
  wasted,  though:  Everyone  thought  she  sounded  like  a  very 
  interesting character, so odds are someone will eventually create 
  her as an NPC.
  22
  
  Complete the Map
  Now that the story is more fleshed out, there may be more 
  details to add to the map (and if you chose not to make a map 
  earlier this is a good point to double check that decision). If 
  you're making a map, make sure that each player contributes at 
  least  one  geographic  feature.  Give  the  geographic  features 
  names.  Whenever  you  can,  try  to  name  these  features 
  evocatively – “The Swamp of the Dead” instead of just “swamp”. 
  Don't worry about figuring out too many details about these 
  locations, save that for when you visit them during the story.
  Record Initial Dice on Plot Tracks
  As in a novel, different characters will be focused on at different 
  times based on their role in the story. In  Storied Age, this is 
  accomplished  by  having  different  viewpoint  dice  for  each 
  character at different phases of their plot thread or subplot. 
  Part III: Starting Chapters will explain how these dice are rolled 
  and interpreted in more detail, but the plot track determines 
  which dice you roll. At most, a player will roll a single d20, a 
  single d12, and a single d10 for their viewpoint dice, and will 
  often not roll all of them. The character sheet contains a grid 
  indicating whether to roll the d20, d12, or d10 for each plot 
  phase the character is progressing through. At the start of the 
  game each player has only a single die per phase, but it is 
  possible to earn more dice through play.
  On the protagonist's character sheet, mark the d20 available for 
  the first six phases and the d10 for the final three. On the 
  antagonist's sheet, mark the d12 for all nine phases. Mark the 
  d10  available  for  the  three  phases  of  each  supporting 
  character's subplot and for the six phases of their support or 
  complication segments.
  23
  
  Record Adversity Dice
  In  a  novel,  we  get  to  know  characters  by  watching  them 
  overcome  adversity.  Sometimes  this  adversity  is  outright 
  antagonism  from  an  enemy,  sometimes  it  is  a  complicated 
  situation introduced by a well-intentioned friend, sometimes 
  the  character's  own  emotions  and  limitations  must  be 
  overcome,  and  sometimes  the  adversity  comes  from  the 
  environment. In  Storied Age, players will take turns providing 
  adversity  for  the  other  players'  characters.  Providing  good 
  adversity is an important task in  Storied Age, because heroes 
  and villains can only prove they are worthy of the name by 
  overcoming adversity.
  Your adversity dice are based on your character's role in the 
  story. The protagonist gets two d10s for adversity dice. The 
  antagonist gets three d12s. Each supporting character gets a d20 
  and a d10.
  Record Influences and Crossings
  Record the number of influences and crossings from the star 
  chart you used to create your character. The way these numbers 
  can  be  used  in  play  will  be  explained  in  Part  III:  Starting 
  Chapters.
  24
  
  Another Plot and World Creation Example
  Fred, Annie, Peter, and Susan have all gathered together to play 
  Final Hour of a Storied Age. They all start rolling their d12s and 
  begin consulting the theme table to generate their list of words.
  Fred rolls up his list of words: Corruption, Truth, Underground, 
  Small, Fire, and Throne. He sees “small” and “underground” and 
  immediately thinks of dwarves – small guys that live underground. 
  He figures he can add in “throne” by talking about the king of the 
  dwarves. He thinks that Corruption and Truth link together well, 
  too, since that implies some sort of deception. And that leaves Fire, 
  which is presumably the thing that the deception is about. He 
  decides  that  a  volcano  could  easily be  the  kind  of  “fire”  that 
  dwarves  care  about.  So  he  arranges  his  words  as  Small, 
  Underground, Throne, Corruption, Truth, Fire. He writes down the 
  sentence: “The king of the dwarves has deceived his people about 
  the true threat of a volcano”. He casts the star chart, getting two 
  crossings.
  Annie goes through a similar process. She has two groups of words. 
  She decides to arrange Old Throne Inherit Lies Gold Corruption as 
  Gold Corruption Throne Inherit Old Lies for the sentence: “A man 
  who bought his way onto the throne must face the consequences of 
  the lies and deceptions of the previous king”. She casts the star 
  chart and gets five crossings.
  Annie's second group of words is Hate Noble Female. She arranges 
  them as Female Noble Hate to justify the sentence “Female nobles 
  are  agitating  for  war.”  She  casts  the  star  chart  and  gets  zero 
  crossings.
  Peter rolls up a group of eight: Ambition Truth Power Prophecy Lies 
  Noble Old Crown. He decides to arrange them as Noble Ambition 
  Truth Power Lies Prophecy Old Crown to justify the sentence: “A 
  nobleman seeking the power of Truespeaking has lied about the 
  prophecy of the Old Crown”. The star chart gives eight crossings.
  25
  
  Susan has rolled up seventeen words total, and will need to make 
  three seeds to take care of them all. Her first group is Ice Lies Sea 
  Star  New  Underground.  She  arranges  them  as  New  Star  Lies 
  Underground  Sea  Ice  to  justify:  “A  fallen  star  lies  buried 
  underground across the Sea of Ice”. This has two crossings.
  Susan's second group is Farm Hate Rich Return Greed Male. She 
  arranges them as Male Return Farm Hate Greed Rich and writes: “A 
  politician has returned to the simplicity of his farm, having been 
  disillusioned by the greed and selfishness of the ruling class”. This 
  gives her two crossings.
  Susan's third group is Division Sword Inherit Family Blood. She 
  arranges them as Inherit Sword Family Blood Division and writes: “A 
  man has inherited a sword, thrusting him into the middle of an 
  ancient family's blood feud”. The star chart yields five crossings.
  [Peter looks around the table at the completed star charts]
  Peter:
  So, it looks like I'm the Protagonist.
  Annie: And I'm the Antagonist.
  Peter:
  And if I say that I'm the nobleman who lied about the 
  prophecy, that can hook into your thing about the previous 
  king having lied and deceived.
  Annie: So you're the old king?
  Peter:
  Well, since I'm seeking the Power of Truespeaking, that feels 
  more like I'm a young person, so maybe I'm the son of the 
  old king, or a brother or something.
  Annie: OK. And I can be the guy who bought his way onto the 
  throne.
  Fred:
  Do we want to tie in mine? I've got a lying king, too.
  26
  
  Peter:
  Sure, if we put everything into a dwarven kingdom you can 
  be the displaced king, I can be your son, and Annie can be 
  the usurper.
  Annie: That makes sense. So it looks like we've got our community, 
  right? The dwarven kingdom?
  Peter:
  Yeah, I like that.
  Fred:
  So is this, like, an above-ground kingdom or are we going 
  hardcore Moria style?
  Peter:
  Moria!
  Annie: Definitely! If I'm going to be usurping a kingdom, it's got to 
  be a cool one.
  Susan: So how are you threatening the community?
  Annie: Well, we've got this volcano thing going on, it feels like it 
  ought to have something to do with that.
  Peter:
  And Fred and I have been lying about it, presumably we've 
  got a good reason for that. It's got some kind of forbidden 
  power that we don't want people to use.
  Annie: OK, I think the volcano is the forge of our dwarf god, and I 
  want to seize control of it, which will let me do something 
  cool.
  Susan: Like make some kind of super-weapon or something?
  Fred:
  Hey, don't think small. If it's where the dwarf-god works, it's 
  probably where he forged the dwarves themselves, right? So 
  Annie can reforge dwarves to be the way she wants.
  Annie: Ooh, I like it!
  Peter:
  OK, that seems like a pretty strong threat to the community.
  27
  
  Susan:
  Let's start working on this map. We've got a volcano, this 
  dwarven mining kingdom, a sea of ice, some farmland...
  [they draw a map]
  Annie: OK, let's work out the plot segments. It seems like I've only 
  recently seized power, so I probably need to consolidate that 
  first. Then I'm thinking that I've got to find this forge, like it's 
  some secret chamber inside the volcano. Is that cool with 
  everybody?
  Peter:
  Yeah, makes sense to me.
  Annie: OK, then I think there's some ritual I need to perform once 
  I've taken control of the forge.
  Peter:
  My seed says I'm seeking the Power of Truespeaking, which I 
  assume  is  some  kind  of  magic.  I  think  I  want  my  first 
  segment to be about unlocking that power. Hmmm... What 
  next... Let me take a look at the list of suggestions and see if 
  that sparks anything. How about Seeking Out the Wise, like I 
  need to find somebody who will tell me how to stop you?
  Annie: Sounds good to me.
  Peter:
  Then how do I actually stop you?
  Annie: Hmm, do you want to just have our characters fight?
  Peter:
  No, this seems like it ought to be a bit more mythic. Like I 
  need to end the power of the god's forge.
  Susan: You haven't done anything with your Prophecy of the Old 
  Crown yet. We can combine that with my fallen star thing, 
  and say that the crown of the dwarf god fell to earth, and if 
  you get it you'll be able to control the power of the forge.
  Peter:
  That's cool. So my final segment will be to get the crown.
  Fred:
  Cool.
  28
  
  Susan: So, Fred's the displaced dwarf king? I guess I'm the last one 
  to pick a character. I've got a few to choose from here. I 
  think I like this farmer guy, since we've established that 
  we've got issues with people buying their way to political 
  power.
  Annie: OK, Fred and Susan have character, what are the subplots?
  Fred:
  I want to reclaim my throne.
  Peter:
  That kind of undermines Annie, though. If you reclaim the 
  throne, how could she consolidate her power?
  Fred:
  Oh, yeah. Let's see, maybe I can work with the female 
  warmongers to set up an opposition to Annie's rule.
  Annie: So the war they're agitating for is a civil war?
  Fred:
  Heh. Yeah.
  Annie: OK, cool. Is that complicating my “consolidate power”?
  Fred:
  Right. And your “find the forge”, too, since consolidating 
  your power doesn't mean that you wipe out the opposition. 
  They'll still be a thorn in your side.
  Annie: Makes sense. Susan, what's your subplot?
  Susan: I was thinking I could be the wise person that Peter is 
  seeking out. Is that cool with you, Peter?
  Peter:
  Sure.
  Susan: OK, so I think my guy is more like a philosopher or sage, and 
  he's kind of disillusioned with the current state of dwarf 
  society. So I want to rediscover the true teachings of our 
  dwarf god, something like that.
  Annie: That's cool, we can do some great stuff with that. Are you 
  complicating or supporting?
  29
  
  Susan: I think I should have a support segment for Peter's seeking 
  out the wise. Once I get the philosophy settled it should be 
  easier for him to find me. And then I can also complicate 
  Annie's ritual, since it should be harder to steal the dwarf 
  god's forge from him if we start following him properly.
  Annie: Sounds good to me.
  Peter:
  Yeah, I like it.
  Fred:
  Cool. Is there anything else we need to add to our map? And 
  let's make sure we record our plot stuff on our character 
  sheets...
  30
  
  Part II: Characters
  There are two different kinds of characters in Storied Age: player 
  characters and non-player characters. Player characters (called 
  PCs) are the protagonist, antagonist, or supporting characters 
  that  the  players  control  directly.  These  will  be  the  most 
  important characters in the story, and their actions are always 
  under the control of the player that they belong to. Even when 
  someone else is narrating the action, they are not allowed to 
  describe your character feeling, thinking, or doing something 
  that is contrary to your vision of the character. Other characters 
  in the story, from bit parts to important secondary characters, 
  are non-player characters (called NPCs). These characters have 
  many  similarities  to  PCs,  but  they  don't  have  a  specific 
  connection to any particular player.
  Characters have a name, four traits, and an alignment track.
  31
  
  Name
  The way that your characters are named can have an important 
  impact on the “feel” of your world. Name your own character, 
  but work with the group so that the names are harmonious, 
  especially for characters that are supposed to come from the 
  same culture.
  Annie  is  creating  an  antagonist  character  for  a  story  set  in  a 
  dwarven civilization. Since most of the other players' characters are 
  dwarves, too, she asks them if they have opinions about what kinds 
  of names they want to use. Susan and Peter advocate for lots of K's, 
  V's, Z's, and M's in the names, while Fred is thinking more along the 
  line of naming people after stones, minerals, or common dwarf 
  professions. Since the story involves different classes within the 
  society, Annie proposes using both ideas by having the aristocracy 
  use “old dwarven” names of the kind that Susan and Peter are 
  thinking, while most dwarves use simpler “down to earth” names 
  related to things in their environment like Fred is thinking. Everyone 
  thinks this is a great idea that adds some depth to their setting. 
  Since Annie's character is an upstart who is replacing the traditional 
  monarch she thinks it's more appropriate to give her character a 
  “common” name. She decides on Copper Trackmender.
  32
  
  Traits
  Traits are things a character is, things a character has, or things 
  a character knows. They are the way your character solves 
  problems. They may be personality traits, special skills, signature 
  weapons, loyal subordinates, or anything else that make the 
  character unique. Traits should be broad enough to be useful in 
  many adventurous situations. If it takes you more than a few 
  seconds to think of a situation in which you'll be able to use the 
  trait, it's probably too narrow.
  Be careful not to over-specialize – if all of the traits are about 
  how the character fights, will the character be able to deal with 
  adversity like climbing a mountain or crossing a desert?
  The traits should be relatively brief. “Master Swordsman” is fine. 
  “Trained at the Royal Academy of Fencing, specializing in sabers 
  but also proficient with rapiers” is too much.
  Be true to the character, but also keep in mind that these traits 
  need to be useful in an adventurous epic fantasy tale. If the 
  character is a farmer, it's probably better to give him a trait like 
  “level  headed”  rather  than  “encyclopedic  knowledge  of 
  potatoes”.  They're  both  things  that  might  be  true  about  a 
  farmer, but one is much more relevant to the kind of story 
  you're going to tell. That doesn't mean that these other minor 
  details aren't true about a character, just that they generally 
  aren't central to the way he overcomes adversity in the story 
  Don't be afraid to make characters that are broad archetypes – 
  epic fantasy literature frequently features characters like that. 
  During plot creation, Annie and the others established that her 
  character Copper Trackmender is a manipulator who often uses 
  money to get his way, and someone who has rather grandiose 
  ambitions. She decides to give him the traits Deal-maker and Gold 
  33
  
  by the cartload to represent his wealthy, manipulative side, and 
  Iron will to represent his single-minded determination. She thinks 
  about  how he'd  deal with  some  more  physical challenges and 
  decides that Copper Trackmender isn't someone who'd want to get 
  his hands dirty when he can pay someone to do it, so she gives him 
  the  trait  Mercenary  Thugs to  represent  the  hired  goons  he 
  surrounds himself with.
  34
  
  Alignment Track
  Supporting characters and NPCs use the alignment track to 
  indicate where their loyalties lie. Characters can be personally 
  aligned  with  the  protagonist,  ideologically  aligned  with  the 
  protagonist, neutral, ideologically aligned with the antagonist, 
  or personally aligned with the antagonist. 
  Being  personally  aligned  indicates  a  friendship  or  alliance 
  between characters. Being ideologically aligned indicates that 
  the characters generally agree about whether they would prefer 
  the  protagonist  or  antagonist  to  succeed  in  their  plot.  For 
  example, a character's family member is probably personally 
  aligned  with  them,  unless  there  is  some  established  rift 
  between them in the fiction. A character who opposes the 
  antagonist but who has not yet met the protagonist is likely 
  ideologically  aligned.  A  troll  menacing  the  countryside  is 
  probably  ideologically  aligned  with  the  antagonist  (since  he 
  wants to make life difficult for the protagonist) but probably 
  isn't personally aligned. 
  Supporting characters and NPCs can have the their alignment 
  track positions changed when they are involved in the action of 
  a chapter. See Narrative Special Effects in Part IV: Playing out 
  Chapters for  more  details.  An  NPC's  initial  alignment  track 
  position should be set when the NPC is created, at whatever 
  value the group feels is most appropriate (default to neutral if 
  there is no strong reason for them to favor one side or the 
  other). Since the thoughts and feelings of PCs are determined by 
  the players controlling them, supporting characters' alignment 
  tracks  work  differently  from  NPCs.  Rather  than  tracking  an 
  35
  Personally aligned 
  with Antagonist
  Ideologically aligned 
  with Antagonist
  Neutral
  Ideologically aligned 
  with Protagonist
  Personally aligned 
  with Protagonist
  
  internal  emotional  state,  supporting  characters  use  the 
  alignment track to show how well their friendship or alliance 
  has been demonstrated in the story. Supporting characters start 
  at neutral on the track. A supporting character's alignment with 
  the protagonist or antagonist helps determine how much that 
  player contributes to the overall ending of the story. See Part V: 
  Ending the Game for more details.
  36
  
  Part III: Starting Chapters
  Just like a novel, Storied Age plays out in a series of chapters. 
  Each chapter focuses on one PC as the viewpoint character. That 
  character,  possibly  with  help  from  friends  and  allies,  faces 
  challenges to overcome adversity and make progress in the plot.
  Selecting a Viewpoint Character
  To determine which character to focus on, each player with an 
  unfinished plot phase rolls a set of viewpoint dice based on their 
  individual plot track (supporting characters who have finished 
  their subplot do not roll for viewpoint). Whoever rolls the die 
  with the highest number showing becomes the viewpoint player 
  (also see Resolving Ties below). If you win, leave the dice you 
  rolled  undisturbed  on  the  table  –  winning  viewpoint  dice 
  become story dice for the viewpoint player and the numbers 
  showing on them are important when you play out the chapter.
  Peter, Annie, and Susan are in the middle of a game. Peter has 
  completed 7 plot phases. Annie has completed 5. Susan has only 
  completed a single plot phase.
  Peter looks at his plot track and sees that for his first unfinished 
  segment he has a d10 available. Annie has a d12. Susan has all three 
  dice available on hers: a d20, a d12, and a d10. They roll: Peter gets 
  a 7, Annie gets a 12, and Susan gets a 16, a 5, and a 1. Susan's 16 is 
  the highest, so her character is the viewpoint character, and she'll 
  be able to use her 16, 5, and 1 as story dice.
  37
  Susan
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Peter
  Annie
  
  Selecting an Adversity Player
  Next, the adversity player is determined. Every player except the 
  viewpoint player rolls their adversity dice. The die with the 
  highest  number  showing  determines  the  winner  (also  see 
  Resolving Ties below), who becomes the adversity player. If you 
  win,  leave  the  dice  you  rolled  undisturbed  on  the  table  – 
  winning  adversity  dice  become  story  dice  for  the  adversity 
  player and the numbers on them are important when you play 
  out the chapter.
  With  Susan  playing  viewpoint,  Peter  and  Annie  must  roll  for 
  adversity. Peter, as the protagonist, rolls two d10s for his adversity 
  dice. Annie, as the antagonist, rolls three d12s. Peter gets a 10 and a 
  4. Annie gets an 8, a 7, and a 1. Peter's 10 is the highest, so he's the 
  adversity player, and his 10 and 4 become his story dice.
  Resolving Ties
  If there is a tie on highest die in the viewpoint or adversity roll, 
  compare the next highest die to break the tie, and then the 
  next, etc. If one player doesn't  have a next highest die to 
  compare then the player with a die wins. If all of the dice are 
  exactly equal, the player that has gone the longest since winning 
  that type of roll wins. If that still doesn't break the tie, the 
  protagonist wins, followed by the antagonist. If there's still a tie, 
  use some fair method like a dice-off to break it.
  Late in the game, Peter, Annie, and Susan have all managed to earn 
  all three dice for the plot phases each of them are working on. They 
  roll for viewpoint: Peter gets a 15, a 9, and a 5. Annie gets a 13, a 
  12, and a 3. Susan gets a 15, a 10, and a 1. Peter and Susan's 15s are 
  the highest numbers showing, so one of them will be the viewpoint 
  player, but they need to consult their next highest dice to figure out 
  which one. Susan's 10 is higher than Peter's 9, so it's Susan!
  38
  
  Support and Complications
  After  completing a subplot, supporting character players  no 
  longer roll for viewpoint (their characters can still be involved in 
  chapters, just not as the viewpoint character). Instead, the dice 
  from the last six phases of their plot tracks can be used to aid or 
  hinder the protagonist or antagonist in their viewpoint chapters.
  If the viewpoint character of a chapter is moving through a plot 
  segment targeted by a complication or support segment of a 
  supporting  character  with  a  completed  subplot,  then  the 
  supporting character's player may choose to roll the dice from 
  an available phase of that support or complication segment to 
  modify  the  story  dice  available  in  the  chapter.  A  support 
  segment allows the supporting character player to give story 
  dice to a viewpoint player and a complication segment allows 
  the  supporting  character  player  to  give  story  dice  to  the 
  adversity player. Giving dice like this can't be used to give either 
  player more than the maximum dice they could theoretically roll 
  (three dice for the viewpoint character, two or three dice for the 
  adversity player depending on their story role), but it can be 
  used to bring a player up to the maximum or swap out dice with 
  low numbers showing for higher ones.
  The supporting player marks the phase complete when these 
  dice are rolled regardless of whether any dice are actually given.
  Peter, as protagonist, wins the viewpoint roll with a 17 and 3. Annie, 
  the antagonist, wins the adversity roll with a 12, 12, and 11. Susan, 
  playing a supporting character with a completed subplot, has a d10, 
  a d12, and a d20 available to support the phase Peter's working on. 
  She decides that Peter could use some help so she rolls her dice. 
  She gets a 13, 10, and 2. She gives her 13 to Peter directly, and then 
  replaces his 3 with her 10. Peter now has a 17, a 13, and a 10 to use 
  as story dice once the action of the chapter begins. Susan marks her 
  phase complete, and hopes that Peter makes good use of her dice.
  39
  
  40
  Roll
  viewpoint
  dice
  Roll
  viewpoint
  dice
  Roll
  viewpoint
  dice
  Roll
  viewpoint
  dice
  New Chapter
  Compare viewpoint dice
  Who has the highest individual die?
  Winner
  You're the
  viewpoint 
  player
  Leave your rolled 
  viewpoint dice 
  on the table:
  they're now
  story dice
  Everyone else
  Prepare to roll for Adversity!
  Everyone moving through plot
  Prepare to roll for Viewpoint!
  Roll
  adversity
  dice
  Roll
  adversity
  dice
  Roll
  adversity
  dice
  Compare adversity dice
  Who has the highest individual die?
  Winner
  You're the
  adversity
  player
  Leave your rolled
  adversity dice
  on the table:
  they're now
  story dice
  Play out
  chapter
  Are you a
  supporting 
  char?
  Have you 
  finished your
  subplot?
  Targeting
  Viewpoint's current
  segment?
  If you want to
  Mark phase completed / Roll dice
  Complication: Give story dice to adversity
  Support: Give story dice to viewpoint
  (They can't exceed max number of dice)
  Everyone else
  Can you help or hinder?
  Enjoy the chapter!
  Yes
  Yes
  Yes
  No
  No
  No
  
  An Option to Tweak the Dice
  If you're unhappy with your dice results on your viewpoint or 
  adversity roll, you have a limited ability to use the numbers 
  derived from your character's star chart to tweak dice results. 
  Once per plot segment or subplot, you can add your number of 
  influences  to  a  d10  or  d12  and  subtract  your  number  of 
  crossings from a d20 or d12. You have to do both the addition 
  and subtraction when you employ this option, and can't add and 
  subtract from the same die (but if you didn't roll any dice of the 
  appropriate size you can use this option by acting as if you did 
  roll a die of an appropriate size but got a zero result on it). These 
  modifications  take  place  before  the  viewpoint  or  adversity 
  player are determined so this option can be useful for players 
  who are eager to take on the role of viewpoint or adversity 
  player but are having bad luck with their dice. Once you've 
  modified  the  numbers  on  the  dice  with  the  addition  or 
  subtraction, treat them as if you had rolled them that way from 
  the beginning (it is probably simplest to rotate or swap out the 
  dice so you can just look at them rather than doing the math 
  over and over again). Treat a die that is reduced to less than one 
  as if you had never rolled it in the first place.
  While your character is actively moving along your plot track 
  you can only use this option once per plot segment or subplot, 
  but you can use it on either a viewpoint or adversity roll. If 
  you're a supporting character player with a completed subplot 
  you can use the two chances that correspond to your support or 
  complication segments whenever you want. This “one use” only 
  counts if you actually win the roll and become the viewpoint or 
  adversity player, so the opportunity isn't wasted if it doesn't 
  actually help you. The dice modification on the viewpoint roll 
  must happen before the adversity roll, and the modification on 
  the adversity roll must happen before any supporting player 
  decides to help or hinder and before the chapter begins.
  41
  
  Susan, Fred, and Annie have been playing for a while, and Fred 
  hasn't been having much luck winning the viewpoint or adversity 
  rolls. It's time for a new chapter so everybody rolls their viewpoint 
  dice. Susan gets an 11 on her d20. Fred gets a 10 on his d12 and a 9 
  on his d10. Annie gets a 2 on her d20, a 4 on her d12, and a 3 on 
  her d10. They compare dice and Susan's 11 beats Fred's 10,9 and 
  Annie's 4,3,2. Since Fred missed winning the roll so narrowly and 
  really wants to have a chapter about his character he decides to use 
  his option to tweak his dice. He adds his influences of 6 to his d10 
  (changing it from a 9 to a 15) and subtracts his crossings from his 
  d12 (changing it from a 10 to an 8). Since Fred's revised roll of 15,8 
  beats Susan's 11 and Annie's 4,3,2 he becomes the viewpoint player 
  and will use his 15 and 8 as story dice. He marks the box on his 
  character sheet to remind himself that he's used his chance to 
  tweak his dice for this segment.
  42
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Influences +
  Crossings -
  tweak
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Influences +
  Crossings -
  tweak
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Influences +
  Crossings -
  tweak
  Susan
  Fred
  Annie
  6
  8
  6
  2
  4
  1
  
  You'll Only Need the Basics to Begin
  At the beginning of a Storied Age story arc you'll probably only 
  use the basic viewpoint and adversity mechanics, with the more 
  nuanced  support/complication  segments  and  dice  tweaking 
  mechanics only employed later in the game, if at all.
  It is usually quite a few chapters into a game before a supporting 
  character completes a subplot. Depending on how long you play 
  at a time, the support and complication rules might not be used 
  in your first session.
  The dice tweaking option is only invoked when a player wants to 
  use it. You don't have to use this choice if you don't want to, and 
  most chapters will go by without anyone using this option. Since 
  manipulating the dice like this makes the procedure slightly 
  more complex many players will choose to ignore this option 
  completely, especially while they're still learning the game.
  Starting Chapters Basic Rule Summary
  • Roll viewpoint dice. Winner becomes viewpoint player.
  • Winning viewpoint dice are viewpoint player's story dice.
  • Roll adversity dice. Winner becomes adversity player.
  • Winning adversity dice are adversity player's story dice.
  43
  
  Part IV: Playing Chapters
  Once they have their story dice, the viewpoint and adversity 
  players play out the chapter. The viewpoint player chooses the 
  location in the story's setting where the chapter opens and then 
  the adversity and viewpoint players go through a series of back-
  and-forth exchanges to tell the part of the story covered by the 
  chapter.
  Describe Where the Chapter Begins
  Rolling for viewpoint determines which character the chapter 
  will focus on, but where that character is at the start of the 
  chapter is a decision for the viewpoint player to make. Having a 
  good sense of where the chapter takes place, combined with 
  the viewpoint character's current plot segment goal, helps the 
  adversity player think of interesting obstacles for the viewpoint 
  character to face in the chapter.
  The Chapter Engine
  The game mechanics used to play out a chapter might seem 
  confusing at first, because the individual mechanics work with 
  each other in an interdependent system, functioning like an 
  engine to drive the story. In an internal combustion engine, fuel 
  and air are pushed into a chamber to mix, are ignited by a spark, 
  the resulting explosion drives a piston to turn the shaft, the 
  return stroke of the piston pushes out the the used-up contents 
  of  the chamber, and  the process  repeats.  In a  Storied Age 
  chapter, the fuel and the air are story elements introduced by 
  the viewpoint and adversity players, the dice provide the spark, 
  the  story  is  driven  forward,  and  the  dice  interpretation 
  mechanics keep the content fresh and full of dramatic potential.
  44
  
  Overview
  The events of a chapter are told in a series of exchanges – 
  decision points in the story where there is uncertainty whether 
  the viewpoint character will make progress or face a setback – 
  where a roll of the dice determines which path the story takes. 
  Although there's an element of randomness and uncertainty, 
  the action dice that the players roll to make this decision are 
  based on the details of the story that they narrate, giving them 
  some control over the outcome. Action dice come from traits 
  that describe characters or other story elements, and a player 
  picks up an action die to roll when their description of events in 
  the story includes a concrete demonstration of a trait that has 
  had a die associated with it. These story elements and their 
  traits get tied to action dice when players spend story dice to 
  introduce the elements into the chapter.
  •
  Spend story dice to introduce story elements
  •
  Each story element has one or more traits
  •
  Narrate traits into the story to get action dice
  •
  Roll action dice to win an exchange
  Although both the viewpoint and adversity players have similar 
  mechanical choices in terms of spending story dice, narrating 
  traits into the story, and picking up action dice to roll against 
  their opponent, there is a structure to play that prevents it from 
  being a chaotic free-for-all. Every exchange begins with the 
  adversity player presenting adversity, possibly spending story 
  dice  to  introduce  new  characters  or  story  elements  as  the 
  source of that adversity. Once the adversity player has described 
  the obstacles, the viewpoint player responds to that adversity, 
  possibly spending story dice of their own. The players roll the 
  action dice and the winner narrates the result of the exchange. 
  The story continues in another exchange, and then another, 
  until the chapter concludes.
  45
  
  Action Dice
  When a trait is brought into a chapter it gets a d4, d6, or d8 
  action  die  associated  with  it,  depending  on  the  way  it  is 
  introduced (see Spending Story Dice below). The die size of a 
  trait may also increase when you win an exchange.
  Putting Forward Adversity
  To begin an exchange, the adversity player puts forward some 
  adversity. You do this by describing the scene in a way that 
  demonstrates  traits  from  story  elements  contributing  to 
  challenges that the viewpoint character needs to overcome to 
  make progress in the plot (see Spending Story Dice for more on 
  story  elements  and  traits).  The  adversity  player's  narration 
  builds the story to a “crisis point” or “decision point” where it is 
  unclear whether  the  viewpoint  character  will  overcome the 
  challenge or not. The adversity player can pick up an action die 
  for each trait that contributed to the narration and prepares to 
  roll them. As many active traits as the adversity player wants can 
  be used, as long as they are demonstrated in the fiction.
  Fred is providing adversity for Susan in a chapter set in a swamp. He 
  has already introduced some story elements: mud with a d4, and 
  Drusilla the Swamp Witch with the traits  Witchcraft at d8 and 
  Swamplore at d6. He says, “Drusilla cackles, moving her hand in a 
  geometric pattern in the air. You feel vines and roots wrapping 
  around  your  legs, trying to pull you  down  into  the  knee-deep 
  muck.” He picks up the d8 for Witchcraft and the d4 for mud.
  46
  
  Responding to the Adversity
  After hearing the problem the viewpoint character faces, the 
  viewpoint player describes how the character responds (but not 
  whether the response succeeds – that's what the action dice 
  will decide). The viewpoint player can pick up an action die for 
  each active trait demonstrated in the fiction. As many active 
  traits as the viewpoint player wants can be used, as long as they 
  contributed to the narration (see Spending Story Dice for more 
  on story elements and traits).
  Susan's character Barnabas Blood has the active traits Sea Legs at 
  d8, Rusty Cutlass at d6, and Sea Stories at d6. She says, “Barnabas 
  has  traversed  enough  tangled  rigging  that  this  shouldn't  be  a 
  problem. He slashes at the thickest vines with his cutlass.” She picks 
  up the d8 for  Sea Legs  and the d6 for  Rusty Cutlass. Deciding to 
  incorporate Sea Stories to get the other d6, she adds, “'Har, think 
  you can match me, witch? I've bested sea hags uglier than you!'”
  Roll the Action Dice
  After the viewpoint player's narration, both players roll their 
  action dice simultaneously to determine whether the viewpoint 
  character overcomes, makes progress against, faces a setback 
  from, or is overcome by the adversity. Whoever has the die with 
  the highest number showing wins the exchange. If the highest 
  die is tied, compare the next highest, and so on. If all the dice 
  tie, the adversity player wins. 
  If you lose the exchange, count how many of your dice are lower 
  than the winner's lowest die. If you have any, exhaust that many 
  traits from the pool of traits you used in the exchange (an 
  exhausted trait is inactive, but can be re-activated with story 
  dice – see  Spending Story Dice). Also counts the number of 
  losses in a row – on the third consecutive loss the chapter ends 
  (three strikes and you're out!).
  47
  
  If you win, choose one trait you used in the exchange and 
  increases its die size by one step, to a maximum of d8 (i.e. d4 to 
  d6, d6 to d8). You also narrates the result of the exchange to 
  advance the story, showing your side of the exchange in a 
  positive light, using the traits involved in the exchange (and 
  whether they were exhausted or  not) as guidelines for the 
  narration. The content of the narration must stay within the 
  fictional and game-mechanical scope of the chapter (see Limits 
  on Narration below for more).
  Fred rolls his dice and gets a 5 on his d8 and a 3 on his d4. Susan 
  rolls her dice and a 2 on her d8, a 3 on one d6 and a 4 on the other. 
  Comparing  Fred  5,3  to  Susan's  4,3,2,  they  see  Fred's 5  is the 
  highest, so he wins. Susan compares her dice to Fred's lowest die, a 
  3. Her 2 is less than his 3, so she'll have to exhaust one trait, but her 
  3 and 4 are greater than or equal to 2, so two of her traits will 
  remain active. She decides to exhaust  Sea Stories. Since he won, 
  Fred can bump up the die size of one of the  traits he used. He 
  increases mud to d6. As the winner, Fred also gets to narrate. He 
  says, “Barnabas's footwork and steel aren't good enough to escape 
  all the tendrils, and he gets pulled in up to his waist.” Taking 
  inspiration from the way Susan incorporated Barnabas's Sea Stories 
  into the narration, and the fact that the trait was exhausted, he 
  starts talking in an old crone voice and adds, “'Aye, I've heard of 
  these hags you speak of, and ugly they are, but mere novices when 
  it comes to magic!'”
  48
  
  Must Use Some Traits Each Exchange
  Every story element that the adversity player introduces that is 
  still relevant must contribute to each exchange. The adversity 
  player must put forward adversity from at least one trait for 
  each story element with active traits.
  The viewpoint player must have at least one trait from the 
  viewpoint character contribute to every exchange. Additionally, 
  if  the  viewpoint  player  introduce  other  characters  into  the 
  chapter, at least one trait from each of them must contribute if 
  they have any active traits.
  What If I Have No Active Traits?
  You need to roll dice for every exchange. If it's your turn to put 
  forward traits in an exchange but you can't meet the minimum 
  requirements for what you need to put forward, spend story 
  dice to get traits you can use. If you don't have any active traits 
  or story dice left you automatically lose the exchange and the 
  chapter.
  49
  
  Spending Story Dice
  Story dice are used to introduce story elements – characters or 
  environmental hazards – into a chapter. The viewpoint player 
  may only introduce characters with story dice, but the adversity 
  player can introduce either type. A story die buys different story 
  elements based on the number that was rolled on it before the 
  chapter started. A die showing 15 to 20 can activate up to four 
  traits on a character (see Using Characters in a Chapter). A 10 to 
  14 can activate up to two traits on a character, or introduce an 
  active environmental threat (see Using Environmental Threats 
  in a Chapter). A 1 to 9 can activate a single trait on a character, 
  or introduce a passive environmental threat.
  1 to 9 Passive Environmental Threat or 1 Character Trait
  10 to 14 Active Environmental Threat or 2 Character Traits
  15 to 20 4 Character Traits
  Once introduced, an environmental threat or character 
  trait stays active until it is exhausted in an exchange or the 
  chapter ends. You can use story dice to introduce brand 
  new things to the chapter, or reactivate traits that have 
  previously been exhausted.
  50
  
  51
  Viewpoint player chooses opening location
  Viewpoint player has no active traits
  Adversity player has no active traits
  Roll action dice!
  Did you win?
  Want more 
  traits?
  Spend
  story dice
  Introducing
  character into chapter
  for 1st time?
  Narrate / Put traits forward
  Pick up action dice
  No
  Yes
  Yes
  No
  Adversity 
  player 
  presents 
  adversity
  Loser:
  Any dice < winner's lowest die?
  Exhaust that many traits
  Winner:
  Bump up a trait's die size
  Buy special effects
  Activate Traits
  Pay tax
  New story 
  element
  3 consecutive losses?
  Adversity out of action dice and story dice?
  Viewpoint out of action dice and story dice?
  Winner narrates results
  Chapter
  Ends!
  Yes
  Yes
  No
  No
  Want more 
  traits?
  Spend
  story dice
  Introducing
  character into chapter
  for 1st time?
  Narrate / Put traits forward
  Pick up action dice
  No
  Yes
  Yes
  No
  Viewpoint 
  player 
  responds to 
  adversity
  Activate Traits
  Pay tax
  New story 
  element
  Chapter
  Begins!
  
  Using Environmental Threats
  The adversity player may introduce problems stemming from 
  the chapter's location or environment. Environmental threats 
  only have a single trait: the threat's name. A passive threat (such 
  as a chasm that needs to be crossed, bitterly cold weather, or 
  emotional turmoil) is introduced as a d4 trait. A passive threat is 
  problematic because of its very existence – it wouldn't be a 
  problem if the viewpoint character didn't care about getting 
  past it. An active threat (such as nameless monsters that don't 
  warrant  being  full  characters,  or  a  raging  windstorm)  is 
  introduced as a d6 trait. An active threat has, or seems to have, 
  anthropomorphic properties and the ability to actively work 
  against  the  viewpoint  character.  Once  introduced,  an 
  environmental threat must be included in every exchange until 
  it is exhausted.
  Passive Environmental Threat: d4
  Active Environmental Threat: d6
  52
  
  Using Characters in a Chapter
  Either  player  can  use  characters  in  a  chapter  (in  fact,  the 
  viewpoint player  must use the viewpoint character in every 
  exchange – and introducing PCs costs story dice just like any 
  character).  A  Character  has  four  traits  and  each  one  is 
  independently either active or exhausted. Only active traits can 
  be used for mechanical effect in the chapter (but exhausted 
  traits can be activated again). The initial die size of a freshly 
  activated trait is determined by the number of traits currently 
  active on a character: If there are none active, the new trait 
  enters play at d8. If there are one or two active, the new trait 
  starts at d6. If there are three active, the new trait enters play at 
  d4.  When  you  activate  multiple  traits  with  one  story  die, 
  activate them one at a time in whatever order you choose 
  (which determines starting die sizes).
  1st trait: d8
  2nd trait: d6
  3rd trait: d6
  4th trait: d4
  Peter spends a story die showing 12 to introduce the Heinrich the 
  Bandit and  activate  two  of  his  traits:  Clever  Traps at  d8  and 
  Crossbow at d6. On the first exchange, Clever Traps gets exhausted. 
  Next exchange, Peter wants to use that trait again, so he spends a 
  story die showing 4 to activate it. Since Heinrich already has one 
  active  trait  (Crossbow at  d6), the  newly  activated  Clever Traps 
  comes in at d6, giving Peter two d6 traits to use.
  The first time that a character is used in a chapter you may not 
  be able to activate as many traits as the story dice normally 
  allow due to the distance tax, plausibility tax, and creation tax 
  (See  Paying Tax below). You may use multiple story dice to 
  activate traits on a single character, but you may not introduce a 
  character if you can't afford to activate at least one trait after 
  paying the tax. Once introduced, a character must contribute at 
  least one trait to every exchange until all of his or her traits are 
  exhausted. See  Friends and Foes below for some additional 
  53
  
  factors which restrict which characters may be introduced into a 
  chapter in this way.
  Paying Tax
  Whenever a character is first introduced into a chapter, whether 
  PC or NPC, there is a possibility that the story die used to 
  introduce the character will not purchase as many active traits 
  as  normal.  The  various  taxes  are  an  incentive  to  maintain 
  continuity  in  the  story  –  they  make  it  more  expensive  to 
  introduce  characters  in  ways  that  don't  make  sense.  That 
  doesn't mean that surprise twists aren't allowed in the game, 
  but  it does reward consistency  so  those  twists can  have a 
  dramatic  impact  when  they  do happen.  Players  who  are 
  interested in mechanical strategy will also notice that taxes 
  contribute pros and cons to the their decisions to spend story 
  dice on environmental threats or characters, the decision to 
  introduce a new characters or reuse an existing one, and even 
  the decision of which particular characters to use into a chapter.
  Fred wins viewpoint with a roll of 14. Annie wins adversity with a 
  roll of 12, 10, 3. Fred points to a mountain pass on the map and says 
  the chapter will begin there, reminding Annie that his character Olaf 
  is in the second phase of his “find the lost Sword of Ages” subplot.
  Annie decides to spend her 10 on an active threat: orcs. She says, 
  “As  you're  moving  through  the  pass,  you  notice  some  cave 
  entrances. From the depths of one of them you hear the guttural 
  battle cries of an orcish raiding party as they charge out at you!” 
  She picks up a d6 for her active threat.
  Fred says, “OK, I'm spending my 14 to activate some traits on Olaf. 
  Let's see if there's any tax, first, though.” He checks the charts...
  54
  
  Distance Tax
  The distance tax is required whenever a character is introduced 
  into a chapter and was established in a different location in a 
  previous chapter. If the character was previously nearby, there is 
  no distance tax. If the character would have needed a  short 
  journey to get to the current location, activate one less trait 
  than usual. If a long journey would have been needed to get to 
  the location, activate two less traits.
  Tax Distance
  0
  Nearby
  1
  Short Journey
  2
  Long Journey
  Consulting the map, Fred and Annie agree that the pass is a short 
  journey from from where Olaf was at the end of his last chapter, 
  which means Fred must pay a distance tax of 1.
  Plausibility Tax
  The plausibility tax is required whenever a character appears in 
  a  chapter  where  you  wouldn't  normally  expect.  If  it  is 
  reasonable and expected for the character to appear in this 
  chapter  (such  as  a  king  in  his  throne  room)  there  is  no 
  plausibility tax. If it is plausible but unexpected for the character 
  to appear (such as a king in the woods on a hunting trip), 
  activate one less trait than usual. If it is possible but surprising 
  for the character to appear (for example, a king in the dungeon 
  of his worst enemy), activate two less traits. If it would be 
  impossible  for  the  character  to  appear,  they  may  not  be 
  introduced.
  Tax
  Plausibility
  0
  Reasonable and expected
  1
  Plausible but unexpected
  2
  Possible but surprising
  55
  
  Everyone agrees that it's reasonable and expected for Olaf to be in 
  the pass since it's the most obvious path to the last known location 
  of the ancient relic Olaf is searching for. Since it's reasonable and 
  expected for Olaf to be here there's no plausibility tax.
  Creation Tax
  The creation tax is required whenever a character is introduced 
  into the story that hasn't previously had traits defined (Since the 
  PCs are all defined before the first chapter, this tax is only paid 
  to create NPCs). When you introduce a new NPC for the first 
  time, define all four traits even if you're not activating all of 
  them. If the new character is directly mentioned in a seed then 
  one  less  trait  than  usual  is  activated.  If  the  character  isn't 
  mentioned but is implied by a seed, or has been mentioned or 
  implied by the story that has been developed so far, then two 
  less traits than usual are activated. For example, if one of the 
  seeds mentions a prince, that implies that there is a king. If a 
  character has been facing adversity from a tribe of barbarians, it 
  is  implied that there is a barbarian chieftain. If the character 
  being introduced is a dark mirror of an existing character (See 
  Dark Mirror below) activate two less traits than usual. You can 
  also introduce any character you want, without relationship to 
  the established fiction, by activating four less traits than usual.
  Tax Creation
  1
  Directly mentioned on a seed
  2
  Implied by a seed or previous fiction
  2
  Dark Mirror
  4
  Any character you want
  Since Olaf already exists as a character there's no creation tax. Fred 
  spent a 14 to activate traits on Olaf, which would normally give two 
  traits, but one of those goes to pay the distance tax for the short 
  journey  from  the  last  place  Olaf  appeared  in  the  story.  Fred 
  activates Olaf's Mighty Hammer at d8. He says, “With a battle cry of 
  56
  
  his own, Olaf charges at the orcs, swinging his hammer with skull-
  cracking strength.” Fred rolls his d8 and gets a 5. Annie rolls the d6 
  for her  orcs  and gets a 4. Fred wins! Annie's  orcs are exhausted. 
  Fred says, “Olaf lays into the orcs, felling them one after the other. 
  As the corpses begin to pile up the rest realize they're no match for 
  Olaf and they retreat back to their cave.”
  Dark Mirror
  A useful technique in fantasy fiction is to explore themes by 
  having characters who are in some ways identical but in other 
  ways  are  polar  opposites.  You  can  achieve  this  contrast  in 
  Storied Age by introducing a dark mirror character. Dark mirrors 
  aren't  doppelgangers  or  evil  twins,  they  are  independent 
  characters that happen to have strong points of comparison and 
  contrast with other characters in the story. To introduce a dark 
  mirror character, select an existing character as a starting point, 
  copy some traits over exactly, and replace one or two traits with 
  thematic opposites. 
  Annie looks at her remaining story dice of 10 and 3 and thinks 
  about what kind of adversity she can throw at Fred's character Olaf. 
  She'd  like  to  introduce  a  character,  but  none  of  the  existing 
  characters feel like a good fit for what she'd like to do, so she 
  decides to create a new NPC. She comes up with the idea of a 
  religious leader for the orcs, and decides to do so by creating a dark 
  mirror of the supporting character Sarena the elven priestess. She 
  looks at Sarena's traits Priestess, Crystal Pendant, Wise Beyond Her 
  Years, and Elven Grace. She decides to keep the Priestess trait and 
  flip Elven Grace to Orcish Strength. She thinks about the other two 
  traits and realizes she doesn't like the feel of a character who is 
  either foolish or elderly, so she keeps Wise Beyond Her Years the 
  same, too. To create an opposite for Crystal Pendant she still wants 
  to keep it in the realm of jewelry that showcases the wearer's 
  personality, but wants something rough and visceral instead of cool 
  and smooth. She settles on Necklace of Human Ears. She givers her 
  57
  
  NPC the name Griska the orcish priestess. Since this is the first time 
  the character is appearing in a chapter, Annie has to pay tax. Since 
  it's a dark mirror character, the creation tax is 2, but since the 
  character hasn't been in any chapters before there's no distance 
  tax. Everyone agrees that it's reasonable and expected for an orcish 
  priestess to be in a location where other orcs have already been 
  established. Annie's 10 would normally activate two traits and her 3 
  would normally activate one. She spends both of her dice and, after 
  the tax of two, Annie can activate one trait. She decides to activate 
  Orcish Strength,  and since the character currently has no active 
  traits it comes in at d8.
  Friends and Foes
  The  viewpoint  player  may  only  bring  in  NPCs  that  have 
  alignment  tracks  that  are  neutral  or  are  aligned  with  the 
  viewpoint character. The adversity player can only bring in NPCs 
  that are neutral or are aligned against the viewpoint character.
  Other  PCs  may  be  brought  into  a  chapter,  but  only  if  the 
  controlling player consents to it. Note that the restriction on 
  using aligned characters as sources of adversity only applies to 
  NPCs.  Using  friendly  PCs  as  sources  of  adversity  for  the 
  viewpoint character can be a fun way to add texture and nuance 
  to a story. Remember that outright antagonism isn't the only 
  valid source of adversity – the confusing feelings of a budding 
  romance, the demands a mentor places on a student, or a 
  friendly rivalry are all challenges for a character to overcome. 
  Introducing another player's PC into a chapter is often a good 
  opportunity to have that player help contribute to the chapter – 
  see Deputizing Other Players for more.
  58
  
  Limits on Narration
  Winning an exchange lets you narrate the result, but what you 
  can say is bounded by the scope of the chapter. The narrated 
  results  must  respect  the  continued  relevance  of  traits  or 
  characters that are mechanically available for future exchanges. 
  For example, you shouldn't describe your character killing all of 
  the orcs that are attacking you if the other player still has an 
  active d6 to roll for the orcs – you can kill some of them and look 
  cool doing it, you just can't use narration to undercut something 
  that you or your opponent paid story dice to introduce into the 
  story. By contrast, an environmental threat that is exhausted 
  isn't mechanically relevant for future exchanges, so permanently 
  triumphing over it is fair game if you win narration.
  Characters have continuing mechanical relevance even when 
  their traits are exhausted. Because characters interact with the 
  tax system, reintroducing an already-established character is 
  mechanically  different  from  bringing  in  a  completely  fresh 
  character.  It's  usually  best  to  use  transient,  easily-reversed 
  situations when narrating a character trait's exhaustion. For 
  example,  you  might  narrate  knocking  the  sword  from  a 
  character's hand when his Swordsman trait is exhausted, with 
  the understanding that the opposing player will narrate the 
  sword being picked back up if  Swordsman is reactivated for a 
  later exchange. However, if you manage to exhaust  all of an 
  opposing character's traits during a chapter, you may wish to 
  incorporate a narrative special effect, as explained below.
  Some  chapters  focus  on  one  time  and  place,  some  follow 
  characters to different scenes. Respecting your opponent's dice 
  usually guides this element of narration. If you're the viewpoint 
  player and manage to exhaust all of the adversity player's traits, 
  feel free to narrate the action of the chapter to a new location, 
  although not to one that would cost more than one trait's worth 
  of tax if your character had to be reintroduced there.
  59
  
  Playing Chapters Rules Summary
  • One exchange:
  ◦ Adversity player presents adversity, picks up action dice.
  ◦ Viewpoint player responds, picks up action dice.
  ◦ Roll the dice to determine the outcome.
  • Get action dice by describing story events that concretely 
  demonstrate  active  character  traits  or  environmental 
  threats.
  • Spend story dice to activate traits or environmental threats.
  ◦ The first time you activate traits on each character in a 
  chapter (PC or NPC) check to see if any taxes apply.
  • When you roll the action dice in an exchange, the side that 
  has the die with the highest number showing wins.
  ◦ On ties, compare the next highest die.
  ◦ Having a next highest die beats not having one.
  ◦ If you're perfectly tied the adversity player wins.
  • Winner bumps up die size of one trait in exchange (max 
  d8).
  • Losing player counts number of dice  less than winner's 
  lowest die and exhausts that many traits. If all of the dice 
  are greater than or equal to winner's lowest die then none 
  get exhausted.
  ◦ If you roll one die it's both your highest and lowest.
  • Winner narrates results of exchange.
  ◦ The bumped-up and exhausted traits are helpful guides.
  • Keep the narration within the scope of the chapter, and 
  respect things that are still mechanically relevant.
  • If one side loses three in a row, or one side is completely 
  out of active traits and story dice, the chapter ends.
  • Keep doing exchanges until chapter ends
  ◦ All exchanges are the same: adversity player presents, 
  etc.
  60
  
  Narrative Special Effects
  If you win an exchange and would like your narration to go 
  beyond what is normally possible according to the “respect the 
  mechanical  relevance”  rule,  you  can  spend  story  dice  to 
  purchase  some  special  mechanical  effects  that  increase  the 
  scope of what is allowed. Each choice explains the cost in story 
  dice, paid at the same rate as character trait activations, as well 
  as the conditions under which it can be used. The narration 
  must  concretely  demonstrate  the  in-fiction  results  of  the 
  mechanical effect.
  Modify A Character On Your Side
  If the opposing player is ever reduced to zero active traits, you 
  may spend story dice equivalent to activating one trait to modify 
  a character with an active trait under your control. You may 
  completely rewrite one trait, apply minor tweaks to several 
  traits, move one step along the alignment track, or modify a 
  “traveling together” relationship.
  Modify A Character On Opposing Side
  If an opposing character is reduced to zero active traits, you may 
  spend story dice equivalent to activating one trait to modify that 
  character. You may completely rewrite one trait, apply minor 
  tweaks to several traits, move one step along the alignment 
  track, or modify a “traveling together” relationship.
  Traveling Together
  If two characters are traveling together, whenever one of them 
  is  introduced  into  a  chapter,  the  other  may  be  introduced 
  without paying any distance or plausibility tax. You may choose 
  to stop traveling together whenever you want for free, but must 
  pay to begin traveling together or forcibly break a relationship of 
  this type.
  61
  
  Modifying PCs
  You may use narrative special effects to modify NPCs whenever 
  the  conditions  are  satisfied,  but  you  must  get  the  owning 
  player's consent to use any of these options on a PC.
  Impeding, Thwarting, or Killing NPCs
  In the same situations in which you'd be able to modify an NPC's 
  traits, you can spend spend story dice to make it harder to bring 
  that particular NPC back into the story (i.e. require a higher tax 
  to re-introduce them). For the equivalent of one trait an NPC 
  may  be  impeded.  It  is  automatically  considered  at  least 
  unexpected for an impeded NPC to be re-introduced in this or 
  later chapters. This option can be used for situations such as an 
  NPC being stuck on the wrong side of a collapsed bridge.
  For the equivalent of two traits, an NPC may be thwarted. It is 
  automatically considered  surprising for a thwarted NPC to be 
  introduced in a later chapter. This option is useful for scenarios 
  like the NPC appearing to fall into a bottomless chasm, as long 
  as there is enough ambiguity so that it would only be a surprise 
  if they came back, not a continuity-killer.
  For  the  equivalent  of  four  traits,  an  NPC  may  be  killed  or 
  permanently defeated. The NPC can't be introduced again.
  Cost
  Narrative Special Effect
  1
  Modify a character's trait(s)
  1
  Modify a character's alignment
  1
  Start or stop traveling together
  1
  Impede an NPC (unexpected to see again)
  2
  Thwart an NPC (surprising to see again)
  4
  Kill an NPC (never introduced again)
  62
  
  Quick-Reference Sheet
  In order to make finding information during play easier, the 
  quick-reference sheet at the end of the game includes all of the 
  information from the tax and narrative special effects tables on 
  a single page, and also includes the flowcharts that show the 
  Starting Chapters and Playing Chapters procedures.
  Deputizing Other Players
  Usually, the viewpoint or adversity players are the only ones 
  actively participating in a chapter. However, whenever either an 
  active  threat  or  a  character  is  brought  into  a  chapter,  the 
  introducing player may ask one of the inactive players to take 
  responsibility for that story element. The deputized player is 
  responsible for narrating that story element's contributions to 
  the chapter and for rolling the associated dice. The individual 
  player who rolls the highest wins the exchange for their side, 
  but  may  only  increase  the  die  sizes  of  traits  that  they 
  contributed to the exchange. Additionally, any player who would 
  have lost to a player on the opposing side if they had been 
  playing one-on-one (i.e. your highest die is lower than their 
  highest die) must exhaust traits as if they had lost the exchange, 
  even if their side won overall. Regardless of who rolled the die 
  that won the exchange for a side the viewpoint or adversity 
  player  should  take  the  lead  on  narrating  the  result  –  the 
  deputies are there to help, not to take over completely.
  63
  
  Peter is the viewpoint player and Annie is the adversity. Annie 
  introduces a deep chasm passive threat at d4, and then asks Fred if 
  he wants to play a d6 active threat band of marauding orcs. Fred, 
  always eager to employ his orcish battlecry, readily agrees, and the 
  two of them describe the challenge that Peter's character faces as 
  the orcs try to drive him into the chasm. Peter decides to respond 
  with his Brilliant Tactician d6 and Flaming Sword d8, describing his 
  clever maneuvers and magic-empowered strikes. They roll! Annie 
  gets a 3. Fred gets a 6. Peter gets a 5 and a 4. Fred's 6 wins it for the 
  adversity side, and Fred gets to bump his orcs up to d8. Both of 
  Peter's dice are less than Fred's lowest die of 6, so he must exhaust 
  both of his traits. Annie's 3 is also less than Peter's lowest die of 4, 
  so she must exhaust her trait, too.
  The  viewpoint  player  must  always  play  his  own  viewpoint 
  character  and  contribute  at  least  one  of  his  traits  to  each 
  exchange, and the adversity player must always contribute at 
  least one die to each exchange. If either player can't satisfy this 
  requirement on his own (even if he has a deputy that has active 
  traits) then the opposing side wins the chapter.
  Annie has no story dice left. Even though Fred's orcs are still active, 
  she is unable to provide adversity so Peter wins the chapter!
  Interpreting the dice is slightly more complicated when using 
  this option, so make sure the entire group is comfortable using 
  the standard two-player chapter rules before trying it.
  64
  
  Ending the Chapter
  If an exchange ends and the adversity player has no active traits 
  and no story dice to activate more, the viewpoint player wins 
  the chapter and narrates the conclusion. If the adversity player 
  has traits or story dice but the viewpoint player doesn't then the 
  adversity  player  wins  and  narrates  the  conclusion.  If  either 
  player loses three exchanges in a row then the other player wins 
  and narrates the chapter conclusion. Winning a chapter gives 
  different benefits based on the player's role: Winning as the 
  viewpoint player advances your plot, winning as the adversity 
  player gives you new dice on your plot track.
  Advancing a Plot or Subplot
  Winning a chapter as viewpoint player lets you advance one 
  phase along your plot track. It takes three phases to complete a 
  plot segment or subplot. If appropriate, include details about 
  completing the segment or subplot when narrating the chapter 
  conclusion. In addition, a player completing a plot segment or 
  subplot can implement a narrative special effect equivalent to 
  two traits worth of story dice to achieve any effects needed to 
  bring  the  mechanics  into  line  with  the  plot  outline  (e.g. 
  thwarting an NPC, performing trait updates on two characters to 
  transfer an important item from one character to another, etc.).
  Add Dice to Plot Track
  If the adversity player wins the chapter, he or she marks a new 
  die available for an uncompleted plot track phase of his or her 
  choice. For each phase, the d10 must be selected before the 
  d12, and the d12 before the d20.
  Clean Slate for the Next Chapter
  Unused story dice and active traits don't carry forward to later 
  chapters. Chapters start with a clean slate of dice and traits.
  65
  
  Example Chapters
  Susan: It's time for a new chapter, let's roll for viewpoint.
  [Peter rolls 12. Annie rolls 8. Susan rolls 8, 5.]
  Peter:
  OK, it's my chapter. You two roll for adversity.
  [Annie rolls 12, 12, 3. Susan rolls 10,2.]
  Peter:
  Annie's the adversity, eh? Well, Praxiteles is working on the 
  “Find the Crown of Ages” plot, and he's heading into the 
  Dreadwood.
  Annie: The Dreadwood, eh? Let me think for a minute... So, you 
  start to head into the Dreadwood but you quickly discover 
  that the path is blocked by thick, sticky spiderwebs. I'm 
  spending my 3 to put that in as a passive environment, a d4.
  Peter:
  I'll  spend  my  12.  We  were  right  on  the  edge  of  the 
  Dreadwood in the last chapter, so I don't think I need to pay 
  any tax. That gives me two traits. Let's go with Blademaster 
  at d8 and Razor's Edge at d6. A few spiderwebs will be no 
  66
  Susan
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Peter
  Annie
  Sorcia Moonsinger
  Praxiteles
  Queen Arachnia
  Blademaster
  Razor's Edge
  Steely Gaze
  Tender Hearted
  Spider Queen
  Cold Beauty
  Magical Weavings
  Poisonous Lies
  Enchanting Song
  Elven Grace
  Imperious Manner
  Lore of her People
  
  match for Praxiteles' razor sharp blade! I've got a d6.
  [Peter rolls a 3. Annie rolls a 4.]
  Peter:
  Damn, I've got to exhaust a trait. I only rolled Razor's Edge, 
  so I guess that's the one.
  Annie: And I'll advance the webs to d6. You try to slice through the 
  webs, but the sticky gunk starts building up on your sword, 
  gumming up the edge so it can't cut cleanly. If you want to 
  get into the woods, you're going to get past these webs. 
  That's d6.
  Peter:
  Even without a perfect edge, I'm still a master with the 
  weapon. I strike harder, using brute force to cut through. 
  That's my Blademaster at d8.
  [Peter rolls 5. Annie rolls 2.]
  Annie: Well, that exhausts the webs so I guess you'll be getting 
  through.
  Peter:
  Definitely! With sweat streaming from his brow, Praxiteles 
  breaks through the webs and  starts moving toward  the 
  heart of the forest. Blademaster is already at d8, so it can't 
  go any higher.
  Annie: OK, but I'll spend a 12 to introduce an active threat, Giant 
  Spiders, d6. You hear the swishing and clicking of chitinous 
  legs as the spiders crawl down from the trees toward you. 
  They're not happy about what you did to their webs!
  Peter:
  Praxiteles smiles, happy to have a live target for his blade 
  instead of a mass of sticky gunk. I'm rolling d8.
  [Peter rolls 5. Annie rolls 2.]
  Annie: Aw man, I had high hopes for those guys...
  Peter:
  Heh heh heh. Praxiteles charges the spiders, slicing off legs, 
  splitting open abdomens and spilling out their guts. That's 
  67
  
  two losses for you, now, right?
  Annie: Sure, rub it in. Well, I'll spend my last 12 to introduce Queen 
  Arachnia herself. She was over in Cloudkeep the last time we 
  saw her, so I think that's a short journey, and we know that 
  the Dreadwood is one of her places of power, so it's not 
  really unexpected, right?
  Peter:
  Yeah, I fully expected her by this point.
  Annie: OK, start with two, reduce by one for the distance tax... that 
  leaves me with only one trait, and I'm going with Spider 
  Queen. She calls out to you, “Foolish man, do you not know 
  that  my  minions  are  beyond  number?”  You  hear  eight 
  thousand legs scuttling through the forest toward you. I've 
  got a d8.
  Peter:
  Well,  I  don't  scare  easily,  and  I  won't  pass  up  this 
  opportunity. You've got one angry blademaster coming at 
  you, sword at the ready. I've got a d8, too. Roll it!
  [Peter rolls 3. Annie rolls 2]
  Peter:
  Bam!  That'll  exhaust  your  Spider  Queen,  so...  Arachnia 
  stumbles backwards under a rain of blows, barely able to 
  defend  herself.  She  turns  and  runs  into  the  forest, 
  humiliated, slipping through her minions' webs. Praxiteles, 
  tired from fighting the spiders, stops and stares daggers at 
  her as she disappears out of sight.
  Annie: That's three losses in a row for me. Plus, to add insult to 
  injury, I'm out of traits. Either way that's the end of the 
  chapter.
  Peter:
  Sweet. I'll advance my plot.
  68
  
  Susan: Is everybody ready to roll viewpoint for the next chapter?
  [Peter rolls 19. Annie rolls 2. Susan rolls 9.]
  Peter: OK, it's me again. Who's the adversity player?
  [Annie rolls 11, 5, 5. Susan rolls 17, 10]
  Susan: Looks like it's me. 
  Peter:
  All right. I'm still in the Dreadwood, and if I win this chapter 
  that will complete my Find the Crown of Ages segment. 
  Susan: OK, I'll start off by using that 10 to introduce a group of 
  wood elf hunters, an active environmental threat, d6. In the 
  distance you hear arrows piercing the bodies of the rest of 
  Arachnia's spider minions, and a group of tall elves with 
  tattoo-covered  skin  enters  the  clearing  with  their  bows 
  drawn.
  Peter:
  And I use my 19 to activate all four of my traits. I'll put Steely 
  Gaze at d8, Tender Hearted at d6, Razor's Edge at d6, and 
  Blademaster at d4. Being Tender Hearted, I don't want to 
  fight them if I can help it. I'll fix them with my Steely Gaze, 
  hoping to intimidate them.
  69
  Susan
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Peter
  Annie
  Praxiteles
  Queen Arachnia
  Blademaster
  Razor's Edge
  Steely Gaze
  Tender Hearted
  Spider Queen
  Cold Beauty
  Magical Weavings
  Poisonous Lies
  Enchanting Song
  Elven Grace
  Imperious Manner
  Lore of her People
  Sorcia Moonsinger
  
  [Peter rolls 5, 3. Susan rolls 4.]
  Susan: You win, but my 4 isn't less than your 3, so no exhaustion.
  Peter:
  They pause, clearly seeing that Praxiteles is a formidable 
  warrior. I'll advance my Tender Hearted to d8.
  Susan: They may have paused, but they're still surrounding you 
  with bows drawn. They say, “Your kind are not allowed in 
  these woods.” Still a d6.
  Peter:
  I'm still staring them down, but I hold up my sword showing 
  them I mean business. “I don't want to fight you, but I will if 
  I have to.” That's d8 from the gaze, and d6 from Razor's 
  Edge.
  [Peter rolls 5,2. Susan rolls 2.]
  Peter:
  OK, I win, but I still don't exhaust them. I'll bump Razor's 
  Edge up to d8. They're suitably impressed by my sword and 
  lower their bows, ready to hear me out. That's two wins for 
  me, right? I kick ass in the Dreadwood.
  Susan: Is that so? I'll spend my 17 to bring in Luanna the Elven 
  Huntmistress. I think that qualifies as implied by the fiction, 
  right? The leader of these elves?
  Peter:
  Sounds fair to me.
  Susan: OK. Let's say  she's got  the traits Piercing Warcry,  Elven 
  Grace,  Humble  Steward,  and  Peerless  Tracker.  With  a 
  creation tax of two from the  implied-by, I've still got two 
  traits to activate. I'll go with Elven Grace at d8 and Humble 
  Steward at d6. You try to step past the hunters, but they part 
  before you and this savage yet beautiful elf woman steps 
  forward from behind them. She says, “We do not wish to 
  fight you if we can avoid it, but caring for the wood is my 
  responsibility, and I won't allow you free rein here.” That's 
  her Humble Steward at d6, and the hunting party is still 
  there backing her up at d6.
  70
  
  Peter:
  OK, Praxiteles is Tender Hearted so he can see that she's 
  clearly just doing her job. I hold up my sword, and say, “I've 
  given you fair warning. Don't try to stop me.” That's d8 from 
  Tender Hearted and d8 from Blademaster.
  [Peter rolls 5, 2. Susan rolls 6, 5.]
  Peter:
  Ouch. Bye bye, Tender Hearted.
  Susan: OK, I'll bump the elves up to d8. “We have guarded these 
  woods for ages beyond memory, human. We shall not back 
  down.” Let's see here... She says, “You're not the only one 
  with a weapon, outsider.” She flicks her wrist and some sort 
  of vine whip comes at you. She's using her Elven Grace in 
  her attack. That's a d6, and the other elves come at you 
  from the side, d8.
  Peter:
  I say, “I won't be beaten that easily.” Never breaking eye 
  contact, I slash out with my sword to cut the whip in half. 
  That's Steely Gaze d8 and Blademaster d4.
  [Peter rolls 4, 2. Susan rolls 6, 6]
  Susan: Gaze and Blademaster exhausted, huh? Well, you certainly 
  try to slice it, but the whip seems to come at you from every 
  direction as she's moving around you like a dancer, almost 
  faster than you can track, delivering shots you can't predict. 
  The whip wraps around your body, pinning your arms so you 
  can't use your standard moves. I'll bump her Elven Grace up 
  to d8. She moves effortlessly toward you, her body language 
  telling you that you're completely outclassed. Her elves, still 
  eyeing your sword, close in, too. That's her grace and her 
  elves, two d8s.
  Peter:
  Like you said, I've still got Razor's Edge, and I'm trying to cut 
  my way free. I'm rolling d8.
  [Peter rolls 5. Susan rolls 6, 2]
  Peter:
  Well, that's three strikes for me.
  71
  
  Susan: OK,  Praxiteles  feels  a  quiver  of  fear  in  his  stomach, 
  wondering if he's finally met a foe that he can't beat. She 
  smiles confidently, waiting for his next move. And that's how 
  we close the chapter.
  Peter:
  Nice.
  Susan: I'll take the d20 viewpoint die for the phase I'm working on.
  72
  
  Annie: OK, new chapter. Everybody roll viewpoint!
  [Peter rolls 3. Annie rolls 11. Susan rolls 10, 9, 2.]
  Annie: I'm up. Who's adversity?
  [Peter rolls 4, 2. Susan rolls 12, 7.]
  Susan: I am.
  Annie: I'm working on my “Unlock Hidden Power” plot. I was just in 
  the Dreadwood, and that still works for me.
  Susan: OK. I'll spend the 7 to introduce the passive threat of your 
  humiliation at the hands of Praxiteles a few chapters back. 
  That's d4. You're still fuming at being so powerless against 
  him.
  Annie: I'll spend my 11 to activate Spider Queen at d8 and... Hmm... 
  Let's go with Poisonous Lies at d6. Because she can lie to 
  herself, too. She only lost because she was conserving her 
  power for the task in front of her. I'm rolling d6.
  Peter:
  Heh heh, nice.
  73
  Susan
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Peter
  Annie
  Praxiteles
  Queen Arachnia
  Blademaster
  Razor's Edge
  Steely Gaze
  Tender Hearted
  Spider Queen
  Cold Beauty
  Magical Weavings
  Poisonous Lies
  Enchanting Song
  Elven Grace
  Imperious Manner
  Lore of her People
  Sorcia Moonsinger
  
  [Annie rolls 3. Susan rolls 2]
  Susan: The humiliation is exhausted.
  Annie: She's convinced herself. I'll raise Poisonous Lies to d8. 
  Susan: She  may  have  convinced  herself,  but  what  about  her 
  minions? I'll spend my 12 to bring some spiders in as an 
  active  threat.  Arachnia  sees  some  spiders  that  were 
  wounded in the combat. They're dragging themselves along 
  the ground, and she can tell that they're questioning their 
  choice to follow her, d6.
  Annie: Their blood paves the way for my ascension! I'm still using 
  Poisonous Lies, so d8.
  [Annie rolls 1. Susan rolls 5]
  Annie: Well that knocks out my lies.
  Susan: I'll bump the spiders up to d8. Some of your spider minions 
  walk  out  of  the  forest  toward  you.  In  their  chittering 
  language, they explain that although they're devoted to you, 
  they fear they don't have the  strength to do  what  you 
  demand of them, as demonstrated by their losses to the 
  elves and the swordsman.
  Annie: Their  fears  are  irrelevant!  I  am  the  Spider  Queen  and 
  demand complete obedience! I stare at them, waiting for 
  them to submit to my authority. I'm rolling d8.
  [Annie rolls 6. Susan rolls 6.]
  Susan: Tie! I win.
  Annie: But I'm not exhausted.
  Susan: I guess there's a bit of a staredown. Please, Arachnia, let us 
  gather our strength before pressing forward with your plans! 
  I'm still rolling a d8.
  74
  
  Annie: You dare question my decisions? A d8 from Spider Queen.
  [Annie rolls 5. Susan rolls 3.]
  Annie: They bow before my obvious authority, and I order them to 
  carry me to the center of the forest, basically giving them a 
  really demeaning task as punishment for questioning my 
  will. I'm already at max so I can't increase my trait anymore.
  Susan: Yup. But it doesn't matter anyway, because I'm out of stuff 
  to throw at you. You win the chapter.
  Annie: Nice.  I advance  my plot, which  finishes  off  my  “Unlock 
  Hidden Power” segment. They take me to the center of the 
  forest, where there's this huge ceremonial fountain, and all 
  of the spiders from the entire forest gather there. They all 
  milk their venom into the fountain and I bathe in it. I'll use 
  my free narrative special effect to rewrite my stats, and 
  change Spider Queen to Spider Goddess.
  Peter:
  Awesome!
  Susan: Yeah, that was good. Ready for the next chapter?
  75
  
  Susan: Roll for viewpoint.
  [Peter rolls 5. Annie rolls 11. Susan rolls 11, 10, 3.]
  Susan: Woohoo, I get a chapter.
  Peter:
  Let's see who's playing adversity.
  [Peter rolls 8, 4. Annie rolls 9, 7, 4.]
  Peter:
  Oh, so close! Annie's up. Where does the chapter start?
  Susan: The Dreadwood seems to be where the action is, and there 
  are elves there, so I may as well go there too. I'm working on 
  my “Gather The Elven Army” subplot.
  Annie: OK, who was that elf NPC you created earlier? Hand me the 
  sheet you wrote up... All right, I'll use my 7 to activate one of 
  Luanna the Huntmistress's traits.  I think I'll go with the 
  Piercing Warcry. You  hear  a wood  elf  battle  cry as she 
  charges at you, ready to take vengeance for the wrongs she 
  thinks your people have committed against hers. That's d8.
  Susan: I'll use my 3 to activate my Imperious Manner, so I can 
  intimidate her into not fighting.
  76
  Susan
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Peter
  Annie
  Praxiteles
  Queen Arachnia
  Blademaster
  Razor's Edge
  Steely Gaze
  Tender Hearted
  Spider Goddess
  Cold Beauty
  Magical Weavings
  Poisonous Lies
  Enchanting Song
  Elven Grace
  Imperious Manner
  Lore of her People
  Sorcia Moonsinger
  
  Annie: Wait a second, I think there's some tax here. The last time 
  we saw Sorcia she was way over in the Golden Halls of 
  Highgarden.
  Susan: You're right, let's call that a long journey. That's a distance 
  tax of two, so I'll use my 10 to cover the tax and the 3 for the 
  trait.
  Peter:
  Yeah, but the wood elves hate the high elves, so I think it's 
  at  least  unexpected  for  her  to  be  here.  Maybe  even 
  surprising.
  Susan: I'm trying to build an army of all elves, not just high elves.
  Peter:
  OK, that makes sense, but I think it's still unexpected that 
  she'd start here rather than with her own kind of elves.
  Susan: Yeah, that's fair, let's call it unexpected. I'll hold on to my 3 
  and spend my 10 and 11, and that will cover the tax for 
  distance  and  plausibility  and  still  give  let  me  activate 
  Imperious Manner at d8.
  Annie: OK, let's roll it.
  [Susan rolls 7. Annie rolls 3.]
  Susan: Luanna stops short when she sees Sorcia staring at her 
  haughtily.
  Annie: Yes,  but  as  she's  standing  there  she's  seething  with 
  resentment, remembering every time that her people have 
  knuckled under to yours. Eventually her hatred boils over. 
  She cries out, even more savagely than before! I'll spend my 
  4 to bring her warcry back at d8. She runs toward you, her 
  face twisted in rage as she screams.
  Susan: Well that's not good... Hey, Peter, you want to help me out?
  Peter:
  Sure. What did you have in mind?
  Susan: I'm thinking I can give you this 3 to activate Praxiteles. The 
  77
  
  last time we saw Luanna she was right there with him and 
  they hadn't exactly settled things. I figure that I came in and 
  interrupted that.
  Peter:
  OK. I'll activate Blademaster at d8 and call out to Luanna, 
  “You would fight an unarmed worman? Have you no honor? 
  Face me instead!”
  Susan: Great. Let's roll!
  [Susan rolls 1.  Peter rolls 7. Annie rolls 8.]
  Susan: Ouch!
  Annie: Oh, wow. I clobbered you both. Luanna uses her vine whip 
  to wrap up your legs and pulls you off your feet, and you go 
  head over heels and land in an undignified lump. Praxiteles, 
  still unarmed from the earlier chapter, can only stand there, 
  powerless to stop it.
  Susan: And you win the chapter, since I'm out of traits on Sorcia 
  and I'm out of story dice.
  Annie: Cool. Oh, and I've still got this 9 sitting here, so I may as well 
  buy a special effect. Let's change Luanna's alignment. She 
  may not be a spider worshiper, but she certainly hates the 
  humans and high elves, so I think she's ideologically aligned 
  with me. Luanna stands over you, gloating about how easily 
  she bested you. And I win the chapter, so I'll take the d10 for 
  my fourth plot phase
  78
  
  Part V: Ending the Game
  When either the protagonist or antagonist completes his or her 
  third plot segment the story is over. In order to narrate the 
  ending, determine the progress that other players made on 
  their plot threads and subplots. A supporting character aligned 
  with  the  victorious  protagonist  or  antagonist  who  has  a 
  completed  subplot  may  state  one  positive  (from  their 
  perspective) change that happens in the world – a minor change 
  if  ideologically  aligned  with  the  winner,  a  major  change  if 
  personally aligned. If the antagonist's plot thread completed, he 
  or she gets to narrate the denouement of the story. If the 
  protagonist's plot thread was completed, he or she gets to 
  narrate the denouement, but the antagonist may get to impose 
  some conditions based on how much progress he or she made 
  on the antagonist's plot thread. If the Antagonist wasn't able to 
  complete  any  plot  segments,  it's  a  happy  ending  for  the 
  protagonist and no concessions are required. If the antagonist 
  successfully  completed  one  plot  segment,  it's  a  slightly 
  bittersweet ending: One minor concession regarding either the 
  protagonist or the protagonist's community is required (as an 
  example, the protagonist has been changed by the experience 
  and can no longer be happy in his own community). If the 
  antagonist successfully completed two plot segments it is a 
  bittersweet ending, and either a major concession or two minor 
  concessions are required.
  79
  
  Part VI: Play Advice
  All the Procedures Happen at the Table
  Some games ask one or more players to do certain things alone 
  before getting the entire group together to play the game, but 
  Storied Age doesn't have any procedures like that. The best way 
  to prepare for Storied Age is to get yourself in the right frame of 
  mind for fantasy fiction and for collaborating with your friends. 
  For an initial session of a Storied Age arc, try to get in the mood 
  by  recalling  your  favorite  epic  fantasy  novels,  visualizing 
  examples of your favorite fantasy tropes, or thinking about big 
  fantasy ideas. For later sessions, recounting the events of the 
  story so far can help get your creative juices flowing and build 
  your excitement to see where the story will go.
  Collaboration Requires Give and Take
  A Storied Age story is created collaboratively at the table by all 
  of the players, especially during the initial plot creation stage of 
  the game. Collaboration usually works best when approached 
  with  the  mindset  of  producing  multiple  ideas  with  an 
  understanding that not every idea is going to work for the 
  group:  the  ideas  don't  have  to  be  perfect  before  anyone 
  suggests them, and they're all open to be accepted, expanded, 
  changed, or even rejected during the process.
  Tell the Beginning of the Story
  Most  stories  are  told  sequentially,  so  there's  a  natural 
  storytelling instinct to take everything that has been said so far 
  and build from there. When dealing with an outlined story like 
  the plot creation procedures in Storied Age you sometimes need 
  to remind yourself that the things you talked about in the 
  outlining process haven't actually happened in the story yet. It's 
  80
  
  frequently useful to use early phases of a segment to introduce 
  what the segment is about and to ground it in the setting – 
  remember that beginning a quest is also part of completing it, 
  and you'll have multiple chapters to get through each segment.
  If at First You Don't Succeed?
  After  losing  a  viewpoint  chapter,  it's  possible  to  have  the 
  character face the same kind of obstacles again the next time 
  they win viewpoint, but that's not the only option. Sometimes 
  it's more fun to have the character take a different approach – if 
  the snowy pass was too difficult to get through in one chapter, 
  maybe the next one could feature an alternate route that leads 
  under the mountain...
  Position The Viewpoint Character
  When the viewpoint player is working on the third phase of a 
  segment, winning the chapter will result in completing that 
  segment. Make sure the possibility of achieving the segment 
  goal seems appropriate to the scope of action in chapters like 
  that – if the chapter is very constrained then the concluding 
  narration may need to cover a lot of story ground.
  Get Between Viewpoint and Goal
  Players familiar with some other games may be tempted to 
  decide  up-front  what  each  chapter  is  “about”.  Storied  Age 
  doesn't work that way. Instead, it's the adversity player's job to 
  introduce reasonable obstacles within the constraints of: the 
  viewpoint  player's  segment  goal,  the  current  phase  in  the 
  segment, the current location, and the story dice available. Once 
  you present an obstacle you can't predict how the action dice 
  will play out: sometimes presenting a swordsman as an obstacle 
  will lead to an epic duel that spans an entire chapter (or more!), 
  sometimes he'll be a minor detail that lasts a single exchange. 
  81
  
  Some chapters are intense and focused, others cover multiple 
  scenes in light detail. Let the mechanics guide you, and make 
  your story choices in-the-moment rather than trying to plan out 
  a chapter.
  Don't Feel Guilty Presenting Adversity
  In  this  game  the  dice  tell  you  when  you  need  to  present 
  adversity for another player, which means you'll occasionally 
  have to play “against” people who your character is aligned 
  with. You should never feel bad about presenting adversity for 
  the viewpoint character. In  Storied Age, adversity is a gift you 
  give to the other players: it's an opportunity to demonstrate 
  that their characters are worthy of having a story told about 
  them. Nobody wants to hear a story about a hero coasting to 
  victory or a villain who isn't a genuine threat!
  Adversity Isn't Always Adversarial
  The most obvious way for a character to provide adversity for 
  another  character  is  with  direct,  adversarial  opposition: 
  arguments, sword fights, etc. This is great, but remember that it 
  isn't the only valid form of adversity that fictional characters 
  face! Does a romantic attraction distract the hero  from his 
  quest? Does one of the hero's friends get into trouble he can't 
  handle? This type of adversity can be just as meaningful to a 
  story as direct challenges, so don't forget the option.
  Dice Strategy
  When  you  roll  a  single  die  it  follows  a  linear  probability 
  distribution, i.e. you're just as likely to get a low number as a 
  high one. This means that if you roll multiple dice, you're more 
  likely to get at least one high number. It also means you're more 
  likely to get at least one low number. This has consequences for 
  the Storied Age dice mechanics: if you roll multiple dice you are 
  82
  
  more likely to win an exchange but you're less likely to exhaust 
  many of your opponents traits. If you roll a single die there's a 
  lower probability that you'll win the exchange, but if you do win 
  then that die (which has a high enough number to beat all your 
  opponent's dice) is the same die you use to knock out your 
  opponent's traits! Using many or few dice on any particular roll 
  has different risk/reward tradeoffs – while different strategies 
  might make more or less sense in particular situations, there's 
  no universal right or wrong approach. Using multiple dice is 
  more reliable but usually has less impact, while rolling a single 
  die is riskier but can have a bigger payoff. Also remember that 
  when you win you can only increase the die size of a trait 
  involved in the exchange, and you can only increase d4s or d6s – 
  if you only roll d8s then you don't get as much benefit when you 
  win.
  Trust Other Players to Understand 
  Your Trait Use and Adversity
  There can be a temptation to over-explain things when narrating 
  in this game, but usually things that make sense to you will 
  make sense to the people you play with. If something doesn't 
  get across, another player can just say something like “I don't 
  understand how that is adversity for my character”. As long as 
  you're all cool about it, that's no big deal, you just explain it 
  then (or maybe it made more sense inside your head than it did 
  out loud, in which case you can just switch to another idea).
  83
  
  Part VII: Game Term 
  Glossary
  action dice – dice that resolve the action of a chapter (d8, d6, d4)
  active threat – environmental threat that has, or seems to have, 
  anthropomorphic properties and independent agency
  active trait – a trait which can be used to generate an action die when 
  included in the narration of a chapter
  adversity dice – dice that determine who provides adversity in a 
  chapter; they become the adversity player's story dice
  adversity player – the player that provides adversity in the chapter
  alignment track – indicator of where a character's sympathies lie
  antagonist – the protagonist's primary opponent in the story
  community – the protagonist's home, threatened by the antagonist; 
  lens through which we view the rest of the fantasy world
  dark mirror – a character that has strong points of comparison and 
  contrast with another character
  environmental  threat –  story  element  stemming  from  the 
  environment where chapter occurs rather than a character
  exchange – an individual “decision point” in a chapter where the 
  viewpoint character attempts to overcome trouble
  exhausted – a trait which can't be used to generate an action die, can 
  be made active by spending a story die
  impede – force an NPC to face a setback large enough to make it 
  unexpected to see them in future chapters
  84
  
  passive threat – environmental threat that is problematic because of 
  its very existence but which wouldn't be a problem if the 
  viewpoint character didn't care about getting past it
  plot axis – the main arc around which a Storied Age story revolves
  plot phase – one third of a plot segment or subplot; the amount of 
  plot that can be completed in one successful chapter
  plot segment – a third of a pro- or antagonist's plot thread
  plot  thread –  the  individual  storyline  that  the  protagonist  or 
  antagonist go through over the course of the game
  plot track – a matrix which tracks which plot phases are completed 
  and which viewpoint dice to roll for each phase
  protagonist – the main character of the story
  seed – a sentence or two that's evocative of an epic fantasy character, 
  situation, fact about the world, or fact about magic
  viewpoint dice – dice which determine the focus character for a 
  chapter; they become the viewpoint player's story dice
  viewpoint player – player that controls a chapter's focus character
  star chart – a diagram that helps identify the major story arc
  story dice – dice spent to introduce story elements (d20, d12, d10)
  story  element –  an  important,  identifiable  factor  in  the  story;  a 
  character or environmental threat
  subplot – the part of a Storied Age story that focuses on a supporting 
  character
  supporting character – an important character that isn't the primary 
  protagonist or antagonist
  85
  
  tax – number of traits you don't get when spending story dice to 
  account  for  the  distance,  plausibility,  or  lack  of  previous 
  existence  that  would  otherwise  prevent  a character  from 
  appearing in a chapter
  theme table – a list of words that inspire epic fantasy concepts
  thwart – force an NPC to face a setback large enough to make it 
  surprising to see them in future chapters
  trait – an identifying feature of a character, a way a character solves 
  problems
  86
  
  87
  Roll
  viewpoint
  dice
  Roll
  viewpoint
  dice
  Roll
  viewpoint
  dice
  Roll
  viewpoint
  dice
  New Chapter
  Compare viewpoint dice
  Who has the highest individual die?
  Winner
  You're the
  viewpoint 
  player
  Leave your rolled 
  viewpoint dice 
  on the table:
  they're now
  story dice
  Everyone else
  Prepare to roll for Adversity!
  Everyone moving through plot
  Prepare to roll for Viewpoint!
  Roll
  adversity
  dice
  Roll
  adversity
  dice
  Roll
  adversity
  dice
  Compare adversity dice
  Who has the highest individual die?
  Winner
  You're the
  adversity
  player
  Leave your rolled
  adversity dice
  on the table:
  they're now
  story dice
  Play out
  chapter
  Are you a
  supporting 
  char?
  Have you 
  finished your
  subplot?
  Targeting
  Viewpoint's current
  segment?
  If you want to
  Mark phase completed / Roll dice
  Complication: Give story dice to adversity
  Support: Give story dice to viewpoint
  (They can't exceed max number of dice)
  Everyone else
  Can you help or hinder?
  Enjoy the chapter!
  Yes
  Yes
  Yes
  No
  No
  No
  
  88
  Viewpoint player chooses opening location
  Viewpoint player has no active traits
  Adversity player has no active traits
  Roll action dice!
  Did you win?
  Want more 
  traits?
  Spend
  story dice
  Introducing
  character into chapter
  for 1st time?
  Narrate / Put traits forward
  Pick up action dice
  No
  Yes
  Yes
  No
  Adversity 
  player 
  presents 
  adversity
  Loser:
  Any dice < winner's lowest die?
  Exhaust that many traits
  Winner:
  Bump up a trait's die size
  Buy special effects
  Activate Traits
  Pay tax
  New story 
  element
  3 consecutive losses?
  Adversity out of action dice and story dice?
  Viewpoint out of action dice and story dice?
  Winner narrates results
  Chapter
  Ends!
  Yes
  Yes
  No
  No
  Want more 
  traits?
  Spend
  story dice
  Introducing
  character into chapter
  for 1st time?
  Narrate / Put traits forward
  Pick up action dice
  No
  Yes
  Yes
  No
  Viewpoint 
  player 
  responds to 
  adversity
  Activate Traits
  Pay tax
  New story 
  element
  Chapter
  Begins!
  Spend story 
  dice for story
  elements
  1 char trait
  OR
  Passive threat
  2 char traits
  OR
  Active threat
  4 char traits
  1 to 9
  10 to 14
  15 to 20
  0 Nearby
  Short Journey
  Long Journey
  1
  2
  Distance Tax
  0 Reasonable 
  and expected
  Plausible but
  unexpected
  Possible but 
  surprising
  1
  2
  Plausibility Tax
  1 Mentioned 
  on seed
  Implied by 
  seed or fiction
  Dark Mirror
  2
  2
  Creation Tax
  Any character 
  you want
  4
  1 Modify trait(s)
  Modify alignment
  Start/stop traveling together
  1
  1
  Narrative Special Effects
  Impede NPC (unexpected to see again)
  1
  Thwart NPC (surprising to see again)
  2
  Kill NPC (never see again)
  4
  # of current
  active traits
  Next activated 
  trait starts at
  0
  d8
  1
  d6
  2
  d6
  3
  d4
  Passive threat starts at
  d4
  Active threat starts at
  d6
  Environmental threat dice
  Character trait dice
  
  89
  20
  40
  10
  30
  19
  39
  9
  29
  18
  38
  8
  28
  17
  37
  7
  27
  16
  36
  6
  26
  15
  35
  5
  25
  14
  34
  4
  24
  13
  33
  3
  23
  12
  32
  2
  22
  11
  31
  1
  21
  Words:
  Sentence:
  20
  40
  10
  30
  19
  39
  9
  29
  18
  38
  8
  28
  17
  37
  7
  27
  16
  36
  6
  26
  15
  35
  5
  25
  14
  34
  4
  24
  13
  33
  3
  23
  12
  32
  2
  22
  11
  31
  1
  21
  Words:
  Sentence:
  20
  40
  10
  30
  19
  39
  9
  29
  18
  38
  8
  28
  17
  37
  7
  27
  16
  36
  6
  26
  15
  35
  5
  25
  14
  34
  4
  24
  13
  33
  3
  23
  12
  32
  2
  22
  11
  31
  1
  21
  Words:
  Sentence:
  20
  40
  10
  30
  19
  39
  9
  29
  18
  38
  8
  28
  17
  37
  7
  27
  16
  36
  6
  26
  15
  35
  5
  25
  14
  34
  4
  24
  13
  33
  3
  23
  12
  32
  2
  22
  11
  31
  1
  21
  Words:
  Sentence:
  20
  40
  10
  30
  19
  39
  9
  29
  18
  38
  8
  28
  17
  37
  7
  27
  16
  36
  6
  26
  15
  35
  5
  25
  14
  34
  4
  24
  13
  33
  3
  23
  12
  32
  2
  22
  11
  31
  1
  21
  Words:
  Sentence:
  I:     C:
  I:     C:
  I:     C:
  I:     C:
  I:     C:
  
  90
  Character Sheets
  Name:
  Trait
  Die
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Alignment
  Name:
  Trait
  Die
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Alignment
  Name:
  Trait
  Die
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Alignment
  Name:
  Trait
  Die
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Alignment
  Name:
  Trait
  Die
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Alignment
  Name:
  Trait
  Die
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Alignment
  Name:
  Trait
  Die
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Alignment
  Plot
  d20
  d12
  d10
  Supporting
  Antagonist
  Protagonist
  Story Role
  Adversity Dice
  d10 d10
  d12 d12 d12
  d20 d10
  Player:
  Influences +
  Crossings -
  tweak
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Final Hour of A Storied Age.pdf