Building a Heroic Narrative¶
The game takes place in a series of scenes with the heroes as the main characters. An adventure is a collection of scenes that make up a single story arc, and a campaign is a collection of adventures that tell the entire epic tale of a group of heroes. You can think of each adventure as a movie in a saga of films, a book in a series of novels, or a season of a television show. While many heroes have their stories told over the course of a campaign, some wrap up their careers in a single adventure that takes place in one game session, called a one-shot. You can think of a one-shot as a great stand-alone novella or movie.
This game is built so that each adventure you play and each battle you fight gets more exciting as it goes on. In fantastic tales, the heroes and their foes both grow in power over the course of an adventure. But it isn’t time alone that grows a hero’s capabilities. Rather, it’s the adrenaline that comes from battle, the danger of the hero’s profession, and the pressure to save the world that pushes a character to do the impossible. Each small act of heroism gives a hero the confidence and bravery to perform legendary feats against all odds.
The things a hero can achieve at the end of the story are far more daring and impactful than what they do at the start, and the final showdown against a villain’s forces is more deadly and desperate than the first. The rules of the game help build a heroic narrative in this same fashion, making use of the four most important mechanics for building heroic narratives: Victories, Experience, Heroic Resources, and Recoveries.
Victories¶
Your hero’s power increases throughout an adventure as you fight more battles and overcome other challenges, measured through a stat called Victories. At the start of an adventure, your hero has 0 Victories.
Victories after Combat¶
Each time your hero survives a combat encounter in which the party’s objectives are achieved, your Victories increase by 1. The Director can decide that a trivially easy encounter doesn’t increase a hero’s Victories.
Victories after Noncombat Challenges¶
When your hero successfully overcomes a big challenge that doesn’t involve combat, the Director can award you 1 Victory. Such challenges can include things like a particularly complicated and deadly trap, a negotiation, a montage test, a complicated puzzle, or the execution of a clever idea that avoids a battle.
Victories Reset¶
Whenever you finish a respite (see Respite), your Victories are converted into Experience.
Experience¶
Victories temporarily increase a hero's power during an adventure, but Experience (or XP) permanently improves their capabilities. Each time you finish a respite (see below), you gain XP equal to your victories, then your Victories drop to 0. In other words, your Victories are converted to XP when you finish a respite.
Heroic Resources¶
Your hero has a Heroic Resource (sometimes two Heroic Resources) determined by your class, and which you manage during play. For many classes, earning Resources can increase your hero's power, and Resources are spent to activate your most powerful abilities.
Recoveries¶
Each hero has a limited number of Recoveries that they can use to heal themself. Recoveries are a way to rally and get back some of the energy you lose in battle by taking a breather, accepting a little magical help from a conduit or troubadour, getting an allied tactician to inspire you with a rush of adrenaline, and so forth. Of course, your body can only rally so many times before your energy reserves are completely shot, so you have a limited number of recoveries as a result.
When you spend a Recovery, you regain Stamina equal to your recovery value, which is one-third your Stamina maximum.
Spending Recoveries¶
During combat you can use the Catch Breath action to regain Stamina. Some heroes have abilities that allow them or their allies to spend more Recoveries without using the Catch Breath action.
Outside of combat and other dangerous situations, you can spend Recoveries freely.
Regaining Recoveries¶
You regain all lost Recoveries when you finish a respite.
Respite¶
A respite is a focused period of rest and recuperation that allows heroes to regain Stamina and Recoveries. During a respite, you must spend 24 hours uninterrupted and doing nothing but sleeping, eating, dressing your wounds, and recuperating. You can also undertake one respite activity, such as making a project roll, or changing your kit.
When you finish a respite, you regain all your Recoveries and Stamina, and your Victories convert to Experience. If your respite is interrupted by enemies attacking and similar serious distractions, the respite ends early and you don't gain the benefits for finishing it.