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🎲 Effort

Effort represents a character's ability to push beyond the expected, drawing on resolve, momentum, and narrative weight.

Effort is not luck, skill, or magic.
It is the will to act when the outcome truly matters.

Effort exists to: - reward meaningful character decisions - soften failure without erasing consequences - give players control over when stakes truly bite

Effort is meant to be spent. Characters may hold a maximum of 8 Effort at any time.

🧭 Earning Effort

Effort is earned by acting on Foundations & Ambitions when the situation matters.

A Foundation or Ambition must have real narrative impact to generate Effort. Merely referencing one is not enough. The action should: - create risk - change relationships - introduce complications - or commit the character to future consequences

You may gain Effort multiple times per session, including multiple times from the same Foundation or Ambition, as long as each instance reflects a meaningful decision.

Effort is awarded during play at the GM's discretion. It may be granted immediately, or later, once the consequences of an action become clear.

Important

Effort is about decisions, not outcomes.
A failed action that deepens the story can still earn Effort.

🔧 Spending Effort

Effort may be spent to influence a roll or activate certain narrative tools.

Warning

Effort can only be spent once per roll.

Effort Options

  • 1 Effort (after the roll): +1 to the result
    Use this when you miss the target by exactly 1.

  • 2 Effort (before the roll): Advantage
    Roll 3d12, keep the best 2.
    Use this when your chance of success is low and success matters.

  • 3 Effort (after the roll): Retro-Advantage
    After rolling 2d12, roll a 3rd die and keep the best 2.
    Use this when you fail by 2 or more and the stakes are dire.

Effort cannot be spent to improve a result beyond Improved Success.

🎯 Success Tiers (±8 Threshold)

  • Improved Success: Beat the DC by 8 or more
  • Success: Meet or beat the DC
  • Failure: Miss the DC by 1–7
  • Dismal Failure: Miss the DC by 8 or more

Improved and Dismal results occur in roughly 1 in 12–15 rolls, making them rare and memorable. Most Effort use shifts results between Failure ↔ Success, preserving tension without flattening outcomes.

🔁 Other Uses of Effort

Effort may also be spent on special narrative tools, such as Flashbacks or Gifts that expand player agency.

Effort is the fuel; how it is spent shapes the story.

🎂 Birth-Month Doubles (Flavor Rule)

On a straight 2d12 roll only (not Advantage or Retro-Advantage), if both dice show your birth month (for example, double 6s for Month 6), the result steps up one tier:

  • Dismal → Failure
  • Failure → Success
  • Success → Improved

  • Improved → remains Improved

  • Odds: approximately 1 in 144 rolls (0.7%)

  • Early months (2–4) more often rescue failures
  • Late months (10–12) more often elevate strong successes

This rule adds personality and coincidence without meaningful mechanical impact.