Basic Moves

Basic moves are the bread and butter of the adventurer’s life. They cover situations likely to come up in fights, tense negotiations, and dangerous areas. All player characters have all the basic moves in addition to whatever moves their class grants.

Hack and Slash

When you attack an enemy in melee, roll+Str. ✴On a 10+, you deal your damage to the enemy and avoid their attack. At your option, you may choose to do +1d6 damage but expose yourself to the enemy’s attack. ✴On a 7-9, you deal your damage to the enemy and the enemy makes an attack against you.

Hack and slash is for attacking a prepared enemy, plain and simple. If the enemy isn’t prepared for your attack — if they don’t know you’re there, or they’re restrained and helpless — that’s not hack and slash. You just deal your damage or kill them outright, depending on the situation.

The enemy’s counterattack can be any GM move made directly with that creature. Note that an “attack” is some action with a chance of causing physical harm; swinging a typical sword at a dragon’s inch-thick metal scales won’t hurt it, so hack and slash doesn’t apply unless circumstances change (a soft underbelly, say). If an action could reasonably hurt multiple targets, roll once and apply damage to each (they each get their armor). Some attacks may have additional effects: knocking someone down, restraining them, or leaving a bloody splatter.

Volley

When you take aim and shoot at an enemy at range, roll+Dex. ✴On a 10+, you have a clear shot — deal your damage. ✴On a 7-9, choose one (you still deal your damage):

You have to move to get the shot, placing you in danger as described by the GM
You have to take what you can get: -1d6 damage
You have to take several shots, reducing your ammo by one

Volley covers drawing, aiming, and firing a ranged weapon, or throwing a thrown weapon. The advantage over melee is the attacker is less likely to be attacked back — but ammunition and a clear shot are real concerns. Read “danger” on a 7-9 broadly: bad footing, the path of a sword, or giving up a good position. If you’re throwing something without ammo, choose from the other two options instead.

Defy Danger

When you act despite an imminent threat or suffer a calamity, say how you deal with it and roll. If you do it…

…by powering through, +Str
…by getting out of the way or acting fast, +Dex
…by enduring, +Con
…with quick thinking, +Int
…through mental fortitude, +Wis
…using charm and social grace, +Cha

✴On a 10+, you do what you set out to — the threat doesn’t come to bear. ✴On a 7-9, you stumble, hesitate, or flinch: the GM will offer you a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice.

Defy danger is a catch-all for facing peril when no other move applies, and also applies when another move’s trigger is met but a separate danger (not covered by that move) is also present. Which stat applies depends on the specific action taken — the action has to actually address the danger in the fiction (you can’t defy an icy floor with charm).

Defend

When you stand in defense of a person, item, or location under attack, roll+Con. ✴On a 10+, hold 3. ✴On a 7-9, hold 1. As long as you stand in defense, when you or the thing you defend is attacked you may spend hold, 1 for 1, to choose an option:

Redirect an attack from the thing you defend to yourself
Halve the attack’s effect or damage
Open up the attacker to an ally, giving that ally +1 forward against the attacker
Deal damage to the attacker equal to your level

Defending means standing nearby and devoting your attention to stopping attacks on the thing defended; you lose hold when you stop doing that. You can only spend hold when an attack actually occurs, and only choose options that make sense against that attacker — you can’t deal damage to someone you can’t reach. Defending yourself amounts to giving up on attacking to focus purely on safety.

Spout Lore

When you consult your accumulated knowledge about something, roll+Int. ✴On a 10+, the GM will tell you something interesting and useful about the subject relevant to your situation. ✴On a 7-9, the GM will only tell you something interesting — it’s on you to make it useful. The GM might ask “how do you know this?” Tell them the truth.

The knowledge you get is like consulting a bestiary, travel guide, or library. Answers are always true, even if the GM makes them up on the spot, and once given they’re set in stone.

Discern Realities

When you closely study a situation or person, roll+Wis. ✴On a 10+, ask the GM 3 questions from the list below. ✴On a 7-9, ask 1. Either way, take +1 forward when acting on the answers.

What happened here recently?
What is about to happen?
What should I be on the lookout for?
What here is useful or valuable to me?
Who’s really in control here?
What here is not what it appears to be?

To discern realities you must closely observe your target — not just glance at a room, but tap the walls, look under things, and check for detail. It’s about figuring out the bigger picture, not just noticing a single clue. Players can only ask questions from the list (or an equivalent one, at the GM’s discretion); answers are always honest, even improvised on the spot.

Parley

When you have leverage on a GM Character and manipulate them, roll+Cha. Leverage is something they need or want. ✴On a 10+, they do what you ask if you first promise what they ask of you. ✴On a 7-9, they will do what you ask, but need some concrete assurance of your promise, right now.

Parley covers intimidation, diplomacy, and negotiation of all kinds, but requires actual leverage — something the target wants or fears — not merely asking politely. What counts as leverage depends on the specific target and situation. On a hit, whatever they ask for in return, you don’t actually have to follow through — but broken promises have consequences down the line.

Aid or Interfere

When you help or hinder someone, roll+bond with them. ✴On a 10+, they take +1 or -2 to their roll, your choice. ✴On a 7-9, they still get a modifier, but you also expose yourself to danger, retribution, or cost.

Whenever two players’ characters might reasonably roll against each other, the defender interferes with the attacker rather than rolling separately. Always ask how the character is helping or hindering — as long as they can answer, they trigger the move. No matter how many characters aid or interfere with a single roll, the target only gets the +1 or -2 once.