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◀ Rulebooks

Ver. 1.3.1

Gameplay Basics

This section covers the basic flow of gameplay. mRPG is a tabletop roleplaying game - a cooperative experience between a group of players, each creating and playing as a single character in a fantasy world, and a Game Master or GM who manages the world itself and the other creatures and characters the players interact with.

The GM is responsible for facilitating a story within the fantasy world of their creation by creating various objectives for the player party to work towards, obstacles for them to overcome, and an overall plot that ties everything together. The players, however, are responsible for deciding how that story plays out - the player party can take any route they want, and it's up to the GM to create an interesting world along that route.

A story, played across one or more gaming sessions, with the same characters and setting is called a Campaign. RPG campaigns can be as short as a single 2-hour session, or may meet regularly for months or even years.

Rule Zero

Main Page: Rule Zero

Rule Zero is considered by many to be the most important rule of any roleplaying game: There are no real rules, only suggestions. In practice, Rule Zero has two parts:

• The GM always has the final say in the events within the game world, and the outcome of checks.
• The player always has the final say in their character's actions and beliefs.

Cooperative - Not Competitive

Typical roleplaying games are a cooperative experience between the players and the GM, not a competition of players versus GM. Players should not make it their goal to "outplay" or "outsmart" the GM's world building (this would prove to be futile because of Rule Zero). Likewise, the GM should not strive to make challenges as difficult as possible, or with the goal of killing player characters as quickly as possible. Some campaigns are intended to be extremely difficult - if so, this should be stated beforehand so that everyone is in agreement about the nature of the campaign.

The primary goal of a typical game is to create a story cooperatively. Obstacles should be challenging, but not grueling. Player character death should not be avoided at all costs, but also must not become so common that it loses its meaning.

Checks: The Basis of Gameplay

Gameplay in mRPG revolves around the players and the GM making checks. A check is an event in which a character (or creature) attempts some difficult action and either succeeds or fails, based on the outcome of the check. A character's likelihood of success depends on their abilities and skills, and their success or failure may determine the direction of the story.

To make a check, the player whose turn it is tells the group what their character does or says, and the GM will call for a certain type of check based on that action. The player then rolls the 20-sided die, and adds together their modifiers for that type of check, plus the number they rolled on the die, to get the final outcome of the check. That number is then compared against the difficulty of that check to determine the result. If the outcome meets or exceeds the difficulty, the character succeeds at their action.

Players should never declare that they are making a check. It is the GM's job to call for a check if one is appropriate. The player should only declare their character's actions, and wait for the GM to ask for a check. There may be other secret checks the GM has to complete first before they're ready for your action.

Difficulty

Difficulty	Description
0	Trivial (No check needed)
5	Very Easy
10	Easy
15	Moderate
20	Hard
25	Very Hard
30+	Nearly Impossible

The difficulty of a check varies depending on how feasible the action is that the player is trying to accomplish. Some actions have predetermined difficulties listed in this guide, while for others, the difficulty is decided by the GM prior to the die roll, based on factors like the distance of a jump, the complexity of a trap, or the strength of a barricade. The GM never tells the player the numerical difficulty of a check. Doing so is a form of metagaming, which is to be avoided.

Some actions are contested. If an action involves attacking or influencing another creature, that creature may make a check of their own to resist. In a contested check, the outcome of the target's check sets the difficulty of yours.

Modifiers

The simplest form of check is called a Natural check, or Natural roll. Nothing is added to a natural check - the number on the die is the only thing that matters. As such, any action with a difficulty greater than 20 is impossible with a natural check. Fortunately, this type of check is rare in actual gameplay. You will almost always add certain modifiers to the die roll based on the ability or skill being checked.

Modifiers are numerical values, either positive or negative, that are derived from your character's abilities and skills. You calculated modifiers for each ability score and skill when you created your character - this is why you should always have your character sheet ready!

When making a check against one of your ability scores or skills, add your character's modifier for that skill to the number rolled on the die. Modifiers can be negative, in which case you should subtract an amount from the die roll. The final outcome of the check is the sum of the die roll and all relevant modifiers.

Criticals

Sometimes, a character might not just succeed or fail at a check. Whether a stroke of brilliance or a serious mistake, characters will sometimes fail spectacularly at something and potentially injure themselves, or pull off something they never dreamed of being able to do. When a character does this, the result is a critical success or critical failure.

A critical success occurs when the outcome of a check exceeds its difficulty by 10 or more, and usually results in a spectacular success with an added bonus or extra effects. If an action doesn't list effects for a critical success, the GM will either come up with their own effects or treat it as a regular success. A critical success on an attack roll is called a Critical Hit.

Conversely, a critical failure occurs when the outcome of a check is 10 or more below the difficulty. Critical failures may cause a creature to damage their equipment or injure themselves, or the action will otherwise be treated as regular failure with an added negative effect at the GM's discretion.

Historically, in some tabletop games, critical successes and failures were triggered by a player rolling a 20 on the die (a Natural 20 or Nat-20), or a 1, respectively. However, a natural 20 does not guarantee success if you were attempting something well beyond your character's capabilities.

Instead, if you roll a natural 20, the outcome is one level better than it would otherwise have been. In other words, if 20 plus your modifiers equals a success, then the natural 20 causes it to become a critical success. A regular failure becomes a regular success, and a critical failure becomes a regular failure. Likewise, if you roll a natural 1, the outcome is one level worse. A critical success becomes a regular success, a regular success becomes a regular failure, and a regular failure becomes a critical failure.