This chapter explains how METTLE Core settles the outcome of interesting and uncertain actions. Briefly, the dice are an oracle to see what happens and inspire further drama. Roll a pool of dice based on the character’s relevant ability to see how successful they were. Failure is rich in dramatic possibilities, so do not fear it.
Table of Contents
Rolls
Call for a Roll when success or failure is irrelevant, and you just need an amount. This is useful for random tables, enemy numbers, “ambient” damage from hazards, falls, traps, etc. To do this, roll the dice and add up the faces. The “d” in a Roll is always lowercase. For example, a “3d6” roll would give a number from 3-18.
Sometimes you halve or double the result of a Roll. If halved, the general halving rule in this game is to round up.
Roll Modifiers
Bonuses (+) or Penalties (-) may apply to a Roll, such as “2d6+4” giving a result from 6 to 16, or “2d6-4” for a result from 0 to +8. A penalty can only drop a result to zero, never into the negative.
- Roll the die or dice.
- Add up the die face results.
- Add bonus or subtract penalty.
Checks
A Check is when you are “checking” to see if an action succeeds or fails by rolling a pool of dice. These are central to working the METTLE Core engine, so just learning these lets you easily handle the rest of the system. A Check may also yield unexpected benefits or drawbacks, making it a useful prompt for your group’s storytelling.
Success & Failure
To make a Check, declare what your character is doing, then roll dice equal to the Attribute or Backstory they are doing it with. Add up the face numbers of all the dice showing 1-3; this is the Score. Count the number of dice showing 4-6; this is the Edge. For example, rolling [4, 1, 3, 5, 2, 2] yields a Score of 8 (1+3+2+2) and 2 Edge (4 & 5).
READING the DICE
Your Check succeeds if the Score beats the Difficulty of the task. This can be an arbitrary number set by the Guide or a target’s defensive pool. The Score only reveals success or failure; once you exceed the Difficulty you can stop counting.
| Difficulty | Ranking |
|---|---|
| 1 | Routine |
| 3 | Challenging |
| 6 | Daunting |
| 10 | Formidable |
| 15 | Nigh Impossible |
The more Edge you get and still succeed, the better. A higher Edge may mean they did it faster, made it harder to undo, yielded more info, improved quality, added special effects, etc. If you fail but have a lot of Edge, consider using it on a Twist (p.27) to get a second chance.
| Edge | Quality of Success |
|---|---|
| 0 | OK |
| 1 | Good |
| 2 | Great |
| 3 | Excellent |
| 4 | Amazing |
| 5+ | Legendary |
It is best for the Guide to assume competence and only call for a Check when the outcome is interesting or uncertain. For their part, Players should brazenly presume success and only stop for a Check if the Guide demands it.
One may often just assume success if their Pool is higher than the Difficulty. On the other hand, you might notice it is impossible to beat a Difficulty three times your pool or higher. Try something else!
- Roll dice equal to the relevant pool.
- Add 1s, 2s, and 3s for the “Score” to beat Difficulty.
- Count 4s, 5s, and 6s for the “Edge” to rate Success.
Some Players like to mark the 1-3 faces of the dice with a highlighter or crayon. This can speed up sorting Score & Edge.
The average Score of a single die is 1, making it easy to gauge chances of success. This also means you can directly contest single Attributes, using one as the active Check and the other as its passive Difficulty.
Check Modifiers
These are Bonuses (+D) or Penalties (-D) to a dice pool. For example, +2D means add two dice, and -2D means take two away. Die bonuses and penalties typically stick with the character regardless of the situation. Players can expect +1D to +3D for proper tools or strategy, and do not suffer penalties aside from their wounds.
Modifiers can also apply to the Difficulty of a Check. Raising or lowering Difficulty tends to reflect the situation instead of the character. Difficulty tweaking is mostly a tool for the Guide. For example, rain-slicked streets may raise the Difficulty of a foot chase, and partial cover adds to POISE versus most attacks.
Don’t let too many fiddly little modifiers bog down your scene. If things get out of hand, consider only the largest bonus and penalty. The table must use restraint to avoid overdoing it with modifiers.
Twists
If you fail a Check but have Edge, you may call for a Twist. This is a sort of “devil’s bargain” that lets you re-roll all the Edge dice in exchange for a dramatic consequence. Tally up the new Score and Edge from the new results. For example, a player Checks 5 dice against a Difficulty of 3. They come up [1, 4, 4, 5, 6]: Failure! They call for a Twist, keeping their Score of 1 and rolling the four Edge dice again. They get [1,3,5,5] and combine it with their old Score of 1 for [1, 1, 3, 5, 5]. The result is a Score of 5 and an Edge of 2, turning it into a success!
The default Twist is Delay, meaning you lose your next Action dealing with a complication from the current one. For example, a weapon gets stuck, travelers get lost, a gun jams, a runner trips, a combatant is shaken by the horrors of war, etc. Delays are default because they are easy to come up with and usually well accepted.
Other types of Twists are ideally immediate setbacks that apply regardless of success or failure and derive from the fiction. For example, losing a weapon, breaking gear, harming a relationship, inflicting collateral damage, blurting out something incriminating, etc. That said, it can also be fun to propose a more benign Twist to move the story forward. Perhaps they remember a current foe from their backstory or accidentally took the wrong suitcase!
Anyone can help come up with a creative Twist. If the Guide or Player does not like it, they can always fall back to Delay. This is a safety valve that settles the matter so play can continue. The Player can also just call off the Twist and accept failure as the gift it is.
- On a failure, you may call for a Twist and then reroll Edge dice.
- The default Twist is Delay; losing your next Action.
- Other Twists are encouraged but subject to approval.
| Type | Example Consequences |
| Confuse | Lose trust: mistaken identity, mistranslation, half-truth… |
| Delay* | Lose next Action: stuck, stalled, distracted, shaken… |
| Dismay | Lose morale: lost contact, harm relations with others… |
| Expose | Lose secret: cover blown, reveal a secret, leave clues… |
| Imperil | Lose safety: friendly fire, obstacle, unwanted attention… |
| Waste | Lose resources, use up credit, lose or break items… |
Mettle
The namesake of this game, Mettle stands for the will to live and how close the character is to their doom. In game terms, it is MOTIVE plus their highest (unmodified) Attribute. This is not a direct measure of injury. Physical damage is just “flesh wounds” at worst until it drops Mettle into the negatives. If above zero, Mettle refills upon starting a new Scene. Rallies can restore it even in the heat of battle.
- Mettle = MOTIVE + highest Attribute.
Taking Damage
Characters may suffer Damage from hazards or attacks. Fortunately, they also get a Soak that reduces this incoming damage by their FRAME plus Armor. Damage left after Soak lowers their current Mettle by that amount. A hit that drops their Mettle to zero or lower is a Felling blow, inflicting the Fallen Status. Fallen characters lose their Action and have 0 POISE for the Scene.
The Player may deny this by choosing the Staggered Status. This inflicts a further point of damage but lets the brave fool stay up. They can even do it again if they take more damage. Staggered characters lose their Free Move and must Check vs. a minimum Difficulty of zero each time they want to Move. They also cannot Rally and suffer a die penalty to Checks equal to their negative Mettle.
The Staggered and Fallen risk ending up Dead. An Aid Check reveals their fate next Scene. One may also just declare death if it feels right. For example, falling into lava or staying behind on an exploding space station. It is better to go out with a bang than to fade away – and hey, now they get to make a new character!
- Damage that gets through the target’s Soak lowers Mettle.
- Fallen: No Action and 0 POISE, may or may not be dead.
- Staggered: Lose Free Move & Rally, negative Mettle is a die penalty.
Mettle Surges
Adventurers under stress can transcend their usual limits, especially when fresh to battle. During each Round of Initiative, they can sacrifice one point of METTLE for +1D on any Checks they make. If the action helps fulfill their Motive, they gain +2D instead. Spectacular exemplars of heroic idiocy can even Surge into negative Mettle, suffering the usual Status and serious self-injury or exhaustion. If still positive, lost Mettle is temporary and Rallies back as normal.
- Surge: spend Mettle to add +1D or +2D to Checks during combat.
Status Effects
Other status effects exist to vex characters aside from Shaken, Broken, and Fallen above. Most are awful but temporary. As usual, penalties from multiple sources do not stack.
Other status effects exist to vex characters aside from Staggered, and Fallen, above. Most are awful but temporary.
- Afflicted: suffering from a disease, poison, or tranquilizer. Lowers max Mettle slowly over time until it runs out or is cured.
- Blinded: Cannot see or perform tasks reliant on sight, such as reading. Other Checks less reliant on sight face a +3 Difficulty. Others may use Sneak against them as if they have Cover.
- Deafened: cannot perform hearing-related tasks, like listening to speech or music. A Sign language or lip-reading CONCEPT may make up for this. Others may use Sneak against them as if they have Cover.
- Encumbered: carrying Load over their FRAME. Every Zone crossed now takes up two Moves. If they try to carry twice their FRAME, they are Incapacitated instead.
- Incapacitated: unconscious or paralyzed. A safer version of Fallen. POISE drops to zero and they lose their Action.
- Rattled: dismayed by a Rattle or other trauma. Increases the Difficulty of Rallies.
- Surprised: caught unawares, you do not get an Action for the first Scene when Initiative starts. Next Scene, you are no longer Surprised, and this effect ends.
Procedure
The prior pages offer a superb explanation of how to do things that call for Checks. This page makes it clear just when to use them. The best advice is to use them rarely; only when a random outcome is interesting. Using the dice too much makes them feel less special and slows down the pacing of a Scene.
On the other hand, it is perfectly fine to run an entire game without resorting to a Check! Players should strive shamelessly to get away with narrating as much as they can without even hinting at the need for one. Play it cool. Leave it to the Guide, or other Players to rat you out for a Check when the action seems dubious.
Consider zooming a Check in or out depending on how much focus you want on a Scene. Zooming in calls for more Checks on complex tasks and zooming out can resolve a whole Scene in one swoop. This aids with pacing and is a hallmark of advanced tables.
Example of Play
This gives you some insight into how to play this game, at least for the parts where you want to use the rules. Your experience may vary because any RPG depends heavily on the group involved. Play with good people and you will have a good game.
The Guide has gotten together with a few good friends as players: Dana and Troy. Dana is playing Viktor, the embittered ex-fencer from the character creation example. Troy is playing Kirin, a cunning and stealthy type.
Guide: Ok, so last session you two were trying to sneak into the upper floor of a suspicious antique store. It’s midday and you are still in the shop posing as customers, where we left off. There are no other customers now and the clerk is at his desk fiddling with the register. He doesn’t seem to be watching you. How are you going about this?
Troy/Kirin: Is there a door in the shop leading to the upper floor?
Guide: yes, there is – but in the back of the shop in full view of the clerk.
Troy/Kirin: hmm, I need cover to sneak in there. Any other way…?
Dana/Viktor: Well, I’m not much for sneaking around but I can distract the clerk. I look for an item and pretend I am interested. What’s in here anyway?
Guide: Oh, uh… usual antique store stuff. A set of crystal glasses, a record player, a samovar, an old cash register…
Dana: what’s a samovar?
Guide: kind of a fancy Russian tea kettle.
Dana: Oh, Viktor would know that! He has a Backstory that involves Russian culture.
Guide: Good enough.
Dana: I widen my eyes and say “Just like the one my mother had” loud enough for the clerk to hear.
Guide: He perks up quickly and kind of shuffles over to you. He has some sort of limp too, but it is different than yours… unnatural.
Troy/Kirin: I start to drift over to look at the door but not in a suspicious way. Is it locked?
Guide: you can’t tell, would have to try the handle.
Dana/Viktor: don’t get carried away, he is still here. I start talking about the patina on the brass and say I need to see it in the sunlight. “If we can just go out on the porch, so I can check the color in natural light.”
Guide: Oh, good idea, but he might get suspicious or think you will run off with it, let’s do a NATURE Check.
Dana/Viktor: My “Itinerant Gambler” CONCEPT is 5D, which is much better. Can I use that?
Guide: Maybe, can you tell me how it applies?
Dana/Viktor: err… I guess not, it’s not really gambling or traveling, so I guess I’ll stick with NATURE. That’s “Curmudgeon” with 3D. I start grumpily fiddling with my wallet, maybe I’ll get a bonus if he sees I have cash?
Guide: Sure, but you don’t look rich either - let’s say +1D.
Dana throws the pool of four dice, landing on 3, 2, 2, and 6. This is a Score of 7 (3+2+2) and 1 Edge (the 6). This easily beats the Clerk’s MOTIVE of 4. The Edge means this should distract him for a little while.
Guide: He walks out with you into the sunlight and goes into a whole story about where the samovar came from. You also notice he is squinting in the sunlight and has awfully pointy teeth.
Dana/Viktor: Weird, I nod along.
Troy/Kirin: My time to shine. I try the door.
Guide: It’s not locked but it is very, very old and creaky. Maybe loud enough to alert the clerk.
Troy/Kirin: I lift a little to relieve the strain on the hinges and sneak in quietly, as is my way.
Guide: Bold but Check POISE - it is very squeaky.
Troy/Kirin: Cool, at POISE 5, this character has some moves.
Troy throws his five dice, landing on 1, 2, 2, 5, & 6. That’s a Score of 5 (1+2+2) and 2 Effect. The Guide had judged this as a 5 Difficulty task, so Kirin fails despite his natural prowess!
Troy/Kirin: But wait, I have two Edge! I want to take a Twist but don’t want to delay my progress, we need to be quick - anyone have a good idea?
Dana: Hmm… you lifted on the hinges, what if the door is so loose it just came off the hinges?
Guide: nice, I can work with that. The shopkeeper might notice…
Troy/Kirin: Ha… ok I’ll take it for the Twist reroll.
Troy grabs the two Edge dice and rerolls them, leaving his original Score dice as they landed. This time he gets a 3 and a 4, making his new Score 8 (1+2+2+3) and his new Edge 1 (the 4).
Guide: you are perfectly silent, but the door is also perfectly off its hinges.
Troy/Kirin: I shake my head in disbelief, rest it against the doorframe, and walk upstairs.
Guide: Ok. You find yourself in a large empty room with a high ceiling. Soot covers the walls and furniture.
Troy/Kirin: Soot? Why? You said it has a high ceiling.., I look up.
Guide: Ok, you look up and see… well let’s move back to Viktor outside.
Troy/Kirin: Aaaagh no! What do I see up there?
Guide: Heh. Ok Viktor, while you are talking with the clerk, he shudders, looks up to the second-story window, then into the store at the door off its hinges. He kind of wiggle-walks back into the store… hissing.
Dana/Viktor: I’m going to follow him in and brain him with the kettle.
Troy/Kirin: It’s a samovar, not a kettle! Now what is on the ceiling?
Guide: you see…