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Etherole Overview

Etherole is a TTRPG (table top role playing game) system .  It is 100% free for everyone to play.  The full system is published here at Etherole.com in a wiki format.

The game is played with a group of friends, one of whom is the Game Master (GM), with the rest playing as characters within the game world.  It is a collaborative & imaginative story telling tool, which places rules & restrictions on what a character can and cannot do, so that it is truly a game and not pure improvisational acting.

Get started by reading this page, and then check out the full system index.

Intended Genres

This system is meant for games that fall into the following genres: fantasy, science fiction, science fantasy, (shonen)  anime, or comic books.

This system is meant for games that have power-fantasy as a core part of the experience.  It is not intended for gritty survival games.

Elevator Pitch

Why use our system?

Elegance.  The system is very simple, but can be used to portray a vast array of settings, characters, and stories.

Ease of access.  Our system is published at Etherole.com in a wiki format.  You can Google search our entire system.  It is technologically superior to a PDF.

Balance.  You want a system that the designers actually tried to balance.

Unrivaled character options.

You want a system with a satisfying crunch.  You’re looking for something in-between ultra-lite and ultra-crunch.

You love a setting, but dislike the system that comes attached to it.

Business Model

We are 100% crowd-funded.  You can find our Patreon here.

There is no up-sell, no membership requirements, and (currently) no ads.

We will continually update the website & system with new content.  We might use Kickstarter to fund very large projects.

System Length

~35 pages on (A4) 8.5″ by 11″ paper, double spaced.

Our system is elegant and concise.  It does not contain any flavor text or setting information.  It is only the nuts and bolts of the game mechanics.

System Introduction

This TTRPG system provides a framework for intense & epic role play.  The Game Master(GM) runs the show, while the players portray the main characters.  Each player character is a protagonist in the ensemble show that is your game.

The system constrains the possible actions of a player (and player character) by codifying the traits of each character, and providing simple, well-balanced, mechanics for when the player characters come into conflict within the GM’s fictional world.

Character traits determine what a character is good at, what they’re bad at, and what miraculously magical feats they can perform.

Tests: The Core Mechanic

The GM will call for a test whenever a character attempts to do something that is non-trivial.  Test are performed by rolling a dicepool determined by your character’s traits.

There are 3 types of tests: Contested Rolls, Uncontested Rolls, & Extended Rolls.

Dicepools

This is a dicepool system.

Dicepools are calculated by adding together some of your character’s traits, typically: (Relevant Attribute +  Relevant Skill +/-modifiers).

This system uses Ten-Sided Dice (D10s).

Hits are scored on 7, 8, 9, & 10.  10s provide 2 hits instead of 1. This provides a probability curve that is easy for players & GMs to understand: You’ll have roughly 50% of your dicepool as hits on average.  Sometimes you will get more hits than dice thrown, which can be exciting.

Example: Sam is using the Sense Motives action.  He rolls his Social(3) + Insight(4) for a total dicepool of 7.  His roll result is: 3 6 8 10 1 5 7, granting 4 total hits.

Dicepool Modifiers

This system uses situational modifiers that add or subtract dice from dicepools.  Things such as darkness, wounds, poor equipment, being drugged, etc.  We provide example modifiers in the relevant areas, but the GM can create more.

Net Hits

Net hits are used to determine how effective an action is.

When an uncontested roll is made, subtract the difficulty set by the GM from the roll result.  The remaining hits are called “net hits”.

When a contested roll is made, subtract the hits of the character who got fewer hits from the character who got more hits.  The remaining hits are called “net hits”.

Failure

Normally, failing a test doesn’t do anything special; you simply fail at the task you were attempting.

Critical Failure, Botches, or Dramatic Failure

Sometimes failing a test can have consequences beyond failing to perform the desired action.  When a player character fails a test, the GM may choose to offer them 1 experience, once per game session.  If the player accepts the offer, the failed test has a dramatic, substantial, consequence.  The player does not get to know exactly what the consequence will be; they accept the 1 experience without foreknowledge of the outcome.  This mechanic is commonly referred to as a critical failure, botch, or dramatic failure.

Dice Tricks

This system does not use dice tricks.

Dice tricks are mechanics that change target numbers, re-roll certain numbers, subtract 1s, etc.  They tend to only complicate a system, and don’t add a lot of fun, depth, or flavor.  If you are thinking of writing a power that is simply a dice trick, consider instead simply having the power add dice or add automatic successes – mathematically there is little difference.

Rounding

In the rare cases where rounding is needed: Always round up to the nearest whole number.

Test Descriptions

This mechanic rewards fun, evocative, and entertaining role play.  Many systems call this sort of mechanic a “stunt.”

When a test occurs, the winner of the test gets to create the description of what happens in-universe as a consequence of that test.

A test is a mechanism for finding out what happens next in your game.  The results of a test provides guidance on how the player should describe the action taking place.  For example, Sam’s character attacks a goblin, rolling 6 net hits, instantly killing the goblin.  The test result has happened, but Sam still needs to describe it for everyone at the table.  With a result like this, Sam says “My warhammer’s first blow shatters the goblin’s crude wooden shield.  The second blow shatter’s the goblin’s crude, horrid, face.”

Rewards For Good Descriptions

The GM can reward players for using appropriate, evocative, entertaining, or funny, descriptions.

Contested Rolls

Contested rolls occur when a character is in conflict with other characters, whether it is a social matter, a duel of wits, or a duel of swords.

The player for each character creates a dicepool based on the action being undertaken, and rolls it.  Their rolls are compared to one another to discover the winner.

Test: (Relevant Attribute +  Relevant Skill +/-modifiers) VS. (Relevant Attribute +  Relevant Skill +/-modifiers).

Example:  Sam is trying to sneak past Dean.  Sam rolls (Physical(4) + Stealth(2)) vs. Dean’s (Mental(5) + Physical Awareness(3)).  Sam’s dicepool is 6 dice, and Dean’s is 8 dice.  Sam gets 3 hits on his roll, Dean gets 5 hits on his roll.  Dean has 2 net hits over Sam.  Dean catches Sam trying to sneak past him.

Uncontested Rolls

In an uncontested roll, a character is attempting some non-trivial action by rolling against a difficulty set by the GM.  There is no NPC present which they would need to roll against.

Test: (Relevant Attribute +  Relevant Skill +/-modifiers) VS. GM Difficulty.

Extended Rolls

An extended roll takes place when it takes longer than a combat round to perform some non-trivial action or project.

Extended rolls have 5 components: Dicepool, Goal Number, Difficulty, Interval, and Terminus.

• Dicepool – The character traits added together to create your dicepool for the test.
  • Usually (Attribute) + (Skill)
• Difficulty – the minimum number of hits needed before you generate net hits.
• Goal Number – The total number of net hits needed before the test ends in success.
• Interval – The amount of time each individual roll of the dice takes within your fictional world.
• Terminus – The number of rolls that can be made before the extended test ends in failure.

Intervals

The GM selects an interval for the project or task being undertaken.

The GM should select an interval that is the least amount of time they can imagine a task taking without being aided by some kind of magic.

Each time the player rolls their dicepool, an amount of time equal to the interval is consumed.

The table below shows the intervals which can be used in this system:

1. Sam makes the first roll (Mental + Medicine), getting 3 hits, 2 net hits, and taking 1 hour.
2. Sam makes the second roll (Mental + Medicine), getting 5 hits, 4 net hits, and taking 1 hour.
3. Sam makes the third roll (Mental + Medicine), getting 4 hits, 3 net hits, and taking 1 hour.
   1. After 3 hours of work, Sam has 9 of the 10 hits he needs.
4. Sam makes the fourth roll (Mental + Medicine), getting 1 hit, 0 net hits, and taking 1 hour.
5. Sam makes the fifth roll (Mental + Medicine), getting 3 hits, 2 net hits, and taking 1 hour.
   1. Sam now has 11 total hits, 1 more than was needed.
   2. This took him a total of 5 rolls, and thus 5 hours to perform.

Research

Research projects are always extended rolls.  Research projects can include a vast array of subjects.  There are powers that interact with research projects.

This non-exhaustive list should provide some guidance on the types of activities that make a research project:

Plugins

Plugins are modular parts of the system that the GM can add or remove at their preference.  The changes made by these plugins can be minor or major, but they should always be fairly simple mechanical changes.

You will find plugins sprinkled throughout the pages on this website, in areas that the plugin is relevant to.  This page has a number of plugins below.

Plugin: D6 dicepools instead of D10s

Hits are scored on 5, & 6.  6s provide 2 hits instead of 1.

Plugin: D20 Resolution, instead of dicepools

1. Calculate your dicepool: (Relevant Attribute + Relevant Skill) +/-modifiers.
2. Roll a single D20.
3. Add the number rolled on the die to the number you calculated for your dicepool.
4. Total hits = ((Dicepool) + (D20 result)).

Plugin: Single D10 Resolution, instead of dicepools

1. Calculate your dicepool: (Relevant Attribute + Relevant Skill) +/-modifiers.
2. Divide your dicepool by 2, rounded up.
3. Roll a single D10.
4. Add the number rolled on the die to the number you calculated for your dicepool.
5. Total hits = ((Dicepool)/2) + (D10 result)).

Plugin: Use playing cards instead of dice

This plugin is not advised unless you have no other options.  It is fairly cumbersome.

Multiple decks may make this go faster.

Shuffle the deck before each “roll”.

Draw a number of cards equal to your dice pool.

Hits are scored on 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King.  Aces provide 2 hits instead of 1.

Suit & Color have no impact at all.

Plugin: More reliable roll results

Use this plugin if you desire more predictable roll results.

Calculate your dicepool and divide it by 2, round up.

Half of your dicepool are automatic successes.

Roll the other half of your dicepool, add the hits on this roll to your automatic successes.

Example: Your dicepool is 10.  You take 5 automatic successes, and roll 5 dice.

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