Here is where it starts. A handful of dice, tumbling across the table, and somewhere in that chaos, a spark.
Welcome to the bare-metal version of Five Dice of Fate. This page is the engine with the hood popped open. We took out the full-page artwork. We pulled away the flavor text and the setting lore. What is left are the absolute bones of the system. You are looking at the raw math and the exact procedures you need to run a session.
The rules are built to move fast. You gather your dice pool, capped at a hard maximum of five six-sided dice. You throw them to see what happens. Sometimes you catch a clean success, and sometimes you roll a one. A one is a flub, and that is exactly when the Master of Fate twists the knife and introduces a complication. The mechanics care significantly more about the story you are building than simulating the precise physics of a sword swing.
Here is what you will find inside:
Character Creation: Fast generation using five core attributes to get you playing in minutes.
The Fate Ladder: A system to spend Fate Points and force your luck when the shadows get too close.
Resolution & Consequences: Clean rules for reading the bones, where standing flubs invite tension rather than a dead end.
Combat & Magic: A flat math system where gear and spells grant bonus dice without slowing down the turn.
Read these rules. Break them. Hack them into a neon-soaked cyberpunk heist or a survival horror story set in a dead shopping mall. The game is completely genre-agnostic by design. It will handle whatever nightmare you decide to throw at it.
A story and interaction-based dice game for 2 to 6 players.
5 Dice of Fate is a collaborative game in which players use dice to create their characters and work together to navigate a shared story filled with challenges. One person acts as the Master of Fate, the MoF. They are the narrator and referee of the story and play all the Non-Player Characters, the NPCs.
Let's jump straight into what you need.
One person to be the Master of Fate, the MoF. The person in charge of the plot, making the calls, and playing all the NPCs.
1 to 5 players to play the Characters.
Five six-sided dice, a D6. A set for each person is ideal, but not necessary.
Something to keep track of things with. Paper and pencil, notes on a device, or our merch, like our Fated Adventure Books, coming soon.
Above all else, this game exists so you and your party can have a great time making memories and building relationships. The game is about what happens between the characters during the story. The rolls are built to add the sense of uncertainty and chance that make it fun. Be your character and let yourself have fun with it. And some of the best memories come not from a roll but from a quiet word between two characters, so take the time for those.
Discussion is encouraged. Players explain creatively how their attributes apply to actions, and the MoF's decision on dice is final after one rebuttal. Those conversations are part of the fun.
When you attempt an action, explain to the MoF how your character's attributes, your Nature, Skill, Gift, Allies, Resources, and their Specializations, logically support what you are trying to do. Each attribute or specialization that clearly applies adds one die to your pool, up to a maximum of five dice.
For example, persuading a guard to hand over the keys to your cell, you might argue:
1D6 automatically, you always get one for trying.
Nature: Shady (+1 die)
Nature Specialization: Deception (+1 die)
Skill: To Control (+1 die)
Skill Specialization: Fast Talk (+1 die)
Gift: Mental, Telepathy (+1 die)
That is six potential dice, but the maximum is five, so the cap trims one and you would roll five. The MoF has the final say. Now suppose the MoF rules that Deception does not clearly apply here. That removes one die and leaves five, which is exactly the cap, so you still roll five. A rejected attribute and the cap are two separate gates, and a die only needs to be stopped by one of them, they do not both bite the same pool. Only if two attributes were rejected would you drop to four. Remember, discussion and friendly negotiation are part of the fun, so embrace it.
Creating a character should be quick and easy. There are two options to choose from.
Choice. Choose one of each type. Do not agonize over it, most of a character comes from playing, not from this step, so a quick gut pick is perfect and you can grow into the rest. If you get stuck, the MoF simply moves on to the next person and circles back to you, no rush and no penalty.
Roll. Roll for each of the five categories. There can be more than one of each, as fate dictates.
The MoF decides which method the table uses, or puts it to a group vote, majority wins. In a tie, the MoF rolls a die, even means everyone rolls, odd means everyone chooses. As with anything, if there is a disagreement, the MoF has the final say.
Everyone begins at Level 1. Next, everyone rolls a die, and the lowest number goes first, then play moves counterclockwise around the group. Choices are made or rolled out loud to the group, one category at a time. If you roll, roll 1D6 for each category and use the corresponding number.
This is who your character is inside. We use Chaotic, Shady, Neutral, Good, and Heroic. We leave out Evil, which is self interest that destroys others for personal gain. If you use Evil, replace its choice step with the player to your left choosing for you.
Chaotic. Unpredictable, following no code or law but their own.
Shady. More interested in their own good than others, but they do not harm without reason.
Neutral. Good and evil hold little meaning, only their own code and the best move in the moment.
Good. Unwilling to let others be harmed for their benefit, follows most laws, fights those who prey on others.
Heroic. Law does not make a thing good. They defend those who cannot defend themselves, every time.
Player to your left decides for you.
Nature Specialization. Choose a one word modifier that earns an extra die when it clearly applies, such as Deception under Shady.
Skill is the foundation for your Specialization, built on six foundations.
To Hurt. The physical ability to cause damage, by weapon or prowess.
To Heal. To mend the physical damage of a living being, by medicine, magic, or other means the MoF agrees to.
To Control. To bend the environment or others to your will, through magic, charisma, psionics, or hacking.
To Repair. To fix non living objects, and to invent and create them.
To Drive. To control a vehicle or mount, from a horse to a spaceship.
To Take. To acquire non living objects without consent, by burglary, fraud, piracy, and the like.
Skill Specialization. A one word modifier that defines how your skill meets the world. A To Take character who is a Cat Burglar earns extra dice on second story heists. A To Drive character who is a Drayman earns one whenever they handle a wagon.
Gift is the thing that makes your character special, like a power. Keep it grounded in a short talk with the MoF so you are not overpowered.
Physical. Grounded in the body, strength, fast healing, tough skin.
Energy. Power from the environment or within, magic and effects like optic blasts, teleportation, psionics.
Spiritual. Power from an advanced being you serve or are devoted to, paladins, priests, vampire killers.
Technology. An innate command of the technology of your world, mechanics, hackers, engineers.
Mental. Power from the mind, perception, telepathy, pyromancy, psychokinesis.
Player to your left decides for you.
Gift Specialization. A one word modifier that deepens your Gift, such as Spiritual with a specialization in vampire killing.
Resources represent income and wealth, used to judge what a character can buy. We do not track spending closely. If someone of that standing could afford it, let it happen. Resources can also add a die when wealth or what it buys clearly bears on an action, such as buying access, bribing, or already owning the right tool.
Destitute. Nothing spare. You get by on what you can find, beg, or carry, and any real purchase is a struggle.
Poor. The basics are covered, barely. Small things are within reach, anything larger takes saving or luck.
Middle Class. Comfortable. You can afford the everyday tools of your trade and the occasional splurge without much worry.
Upper Class. Well off. Fine goods, hired help, and most doors money can open are open to you.
Rich. Money is rarely the obstacle. If a thing can be bought, you can likely buy it.
Player to your left decides for you.
Currency belongs to the setting, not the core. Each world names its own coin, the Silver Age counts in silver, a modern tale in dollars, a star empire in credits. Match your wealth tier to whatever the setting spends, and let the MoF call the rest.
Resource Specialization. One word for how you make your money, inherited, merchant, specialist, and so on.
Allies are your closest friends and confidants, and how you come to know or acquire things.
Government Official. Anyone tied to the governing body, from a Senator to a sanitation worker.
Savvy Merchant. Movers of goods and information.
Underworld Lieutenant. Not bosses, but close to them, good for black market goods and word.
Snitch. Knows almost everything happening, and sells or barters it.
Advanced Being. An alien, angel, demon, or god guiding you toward ends of its own design.
Player to your left decides for you.
Ally Specialization. One word for exactly who your ally is. If you get stuck on any specialization, ask the group, and keep moving.
Two quick rolls finish your character.
Health. Roll 2 dice, reroll any 1s, and add them together. That total is your maximum Health, the damage you can take before you fall.
Natural Resistance. Roll 1 die, reroll a 1. This is your bare toughness, the protection you carry with no armor at all. When you wear armor, use the higher of this or your armor.
Specializations are written in pencil. Once per rest, a player may rewrite one Specialization if the story supports it. Tell the MoF why the word changed, the MoF nods, and the new word is yours. A rogue who chose Talker but spent the whole night picking locks and disarming traps wakes up with Simple Mechanisms instead, because that is who the story proved they are.
This is also why you should pick fast at creation. You do not have to find the perfect word, you only have to find a word, and you will grow into the right one at the table.
One die always, for attempting.
Plus one die per applicable attribute, Nature, Skill, Gift, Allies, Resources.
Plus one die per applicable Specialization.
Maximum of five dice per action.
The MoF has final approval after one rebuttal.
Everyone starts with the essential attire for their Skill. To Hurt comes with a weapon, suited to the world and time of the story. More gear is acquired in play, against your Resources.
Melee. Anything held to cause damage. One handed weapons add one die to damage. Two handed weapons add two. You may use a two handed weapon in one hand, but you only get the one handed bonus.
One Handed, plus 1D6.
Two Handed, plus 2D6.
Ranged. Anything that travels to a target. Light is a one handed weapon, Heavy is two handed and cannot be used in one hand.
Light, One Handed, plus 1D6.
Heavy, Two Handed, plus 2D6.
Armor. Armor stops a set number of damage points.
Light Armor stops 2.
Medium Armor stops 4.
Heavy Armor stops 6.
Your Natural Resistance, rolled at character creation, is the protection you carry with no armor on. When you wear armor, use the higher of your Natural Resistance or your worn armor as your protection.
Special Gear covers spells, powers, psionics, and advanced technology. Each effect has a Level from 1 to 5, and that Level sets the dice it adds.
Level 1, plus 1D6.
Level 2, plus 2D6.
Level 3, plus 3D6.
Level 4, plus 4D6.
Level 5, plus 5D6.
You can carry up to five levels worth of Special Gear in total, and you cannot use any effect above your Character Level. A Level 2 character cannot wield a Level 3 spell. You may change your loadout in the story when the MoF agrees it is workable, and it may cost time.
Some effects need Concentration, which means you cannot take another action while you hold it. If you take damage while concentrating, roll a D6, and on a success you keep your concentration.
Example effects, Frost freezes or makes ice things, Fire burns or makes flame things, Splash makes water or liquid things, Fix repairs a simple object to like new. Fire, Frost, and water cannot hold a form on their own without Concentration.
Keep two things straight. An ability is something you own, a spell or power, and its Level sets its dice. An item is something you carry that helps an ability. An item does one of two jobs, never both at once.
Boost. A boost item raises the Level of a matching ability you already own. Add the item's Level to the ability's Level, then read the dice at the new total. A Level 1 Frost Amulet on a Level 2 Frost spell makes Frost effectively Level 3, which the table reads as plus 3D6. The Levels add first, the table speaks second.
Grant. A grant item hands a matching ability to someone who lacks it, at the item's Level. A flat dice item, like a Level 2 neural link that adds plus 2D6 when connected, is a grant in plain clothes.
One item per thing. Only one item may modify a single spell, weapon, or ability at a time. If you have more than one that could, use the better one, the other sits idle. Items never stack on each other.
The ceilings. You cannot use an item above your Character Level, and a boosted ability cannot rise above your Character Level either. Items help an under built ability climb toward your ceiling, they do not punch through it. Nothing rolls more than plus 5D6.
You have five possible actions, and you may take two on your turn, even the same one twice. If you are not sure what to do, the MoF keeps things moving by passing the spotlight on and circling back to you in a moment, no lost turn and no penalty. Take the beat you need, the game waits for you, it just does not stall on you.
Look Around.
Talk to Someone.
Move, up to 1D6 spaces in combat.
Fight.
Use.
There are four times you roll, which we call Rolling Your Fate.
When you try something risky, heroic, cool, or important to the story.
When you search, look for, or decipher information. The MoF may simply give easy information, or call for a roll.
For First Blow at the start of combat. Everyone, plus a general roll for the enemies, rolls 2D6. Highest goes first, and play moves clockwise until the fight ends.
Whenever the MoF says to.
Everything else needs no dice at all. The quiet talk between characters, the heartfelt moments, the small scenes where people simply are who they are, those are played, not rolled, and they deserve as much room at the table as any fight.
Each die reads one of four ways.
6 is a Super Success. It counts as a success and does extra work, see below.
4 or 5 is a Success.
2 or 3 is a Failure. This die did not land, and it costs you nothing.
1 is a Flub. The only die that invites a consequence.
Count your Successes. Every 4, 5, and 6 is one success.
Cancel with Sixes. Each 6 may erase one of your 1s, removing both its sting and the consequence it would have invited.
Find your Net. Net Successes equal your successes minus any 1s still standing after the sixes cancel.
Your Net tells you how well it went. Your standing flubs tell the MoF when to reach for a consequence.
0 or less, Failure. You do not get what you wanted.
1, Barely. You scrape it.
2, Solid. You get it.
3, Clean. You get it with room to spare.
4, Heroic. You get it and turn the moment against the opposition for a minor consequence to them.
5, Legendary. The best it could go. You get it, the opposition takes a real consequence, and the table remembers this one.
No consequence is ever attached to a tier. A slim win is still a clean win.
A flub left standing after sixes cancel is an invitation, not a formula. The MoF introduces a complication or a cost and narrates it to fit the scene, the stakes, and how many flubs the player rolled. One flub in a quiet moment is a small wrinkle. One flub with a dragon in the room is the dragon stirring. Three flubs on a deadly trap is the big, memorable disaster.
Consequences are spice, never a wall. They add tension and a new angle, they do not end the fun, and they land on NPCs too, which is what gives the players their openings to rally. A flubbed sneak past a danger does not blow the whole plan on a single 1, it raises the heat and makes the next step harder. The dice say a flub happened, the MoF decides what it means.
A naturally rolled 6 feels legendary, and it does four things.
It counts as a success.
It cancels one of your flubs.
You narrate the legendary beat, describing how this goes spectacularly right.
It refunds you one Fate Point, up to your maximum, never past it.
Because Fate Points can bend only two dice on a single roll and never climb past your maximum, rolling hot keeps your luck topped up without spiraling. A Super Success you create by spending Fate Points counts for the roll and earns the narration, but it pays no Fate Point back. Only a 6 the dice gave you refunds.
Optional variant, Momentum. If your table prefers a forward push, replace the refund with this. A natural 6 banks plus one success on your next roll this scene. It does not stack with itself, and the bonus roll cannot bank another.
Actions cap at five dice on purpose. Fate Points are how a character grows more dependable without breaking that cap. They do not give you more dice, they let you lean on the dice you already rolled.
Your pool. You have Fate Points equal to your Level. The pool refreshes at the start of each Chapter, or each session for shorter play. The MoF can also award one for great roleplay, a clever plan, or a heroic sacrifice.
The Fate Ladder. Every die sits on a ladder, Flub, then Miss, then Success, then Super Success. For one Fate Point you may Bend Fate, moving one die up exactly one rung. Pay again to climb another rung.
Stop a flub, move a 1 up to a Miss, one point.
Raise a score, move a 2 or 3 up to a Success, one point.
Reach the top, move a 4 or 5 up to a Super Success, one point.
Climb two rungs, a flub all the way to a Success, two points.
Or, for one Fate Point, Reroll a die instead of bending it. Bending is the sure thing, rerolling is the gamble.
The guardrail. You may bend or reroll at most two dice on a single roll. A hero can tilt fate, not rewrite it.
Any player can forfeit their next turn to help you, once per turn per action. They roll one die and add its result to your roll, a 4, 5, or 6 adds a success, a 1 takes one away. Several allies can pile in, but a single action can never be helped beyond the five dice cap.
Your maximum Health, set at character creation, is the damage you can take. Track damage against it, and at 0 you fall, see Death.
All damage is 1D6 unless you are a To Hurt character, who adds one more die. Weapons and Special Gear add their dice on top. Damage taken is the attacker's damage total minus your protection, your Natural Resistance or worn armor, whichever is higher.
Non healing characters start with four healing salves, each healing 1D6. Healing characters add one more die, plus 1D6, to all healing potions, salves, and spells. Healing restores Health up to your maximum, never past it.
When a character reaches 0 Health, they fall. On each of their turns, if no one has healed them, they roll two dice. Any 6 stands them up at 1 Health. Two 1s, and the character dies. Anything else, no change, they stay down and roll again next turn. This continues until they are healed, combat ends, or they die.
Every character begins at Level 1. Your Character Level is the ceiling for the most powerful single item, spell, or ability you can use. A Level 3 character can wield a Level 3 spell, a Level 1 cannot. You still cannot roll more than five dice on any action, no matter your level.
The Master of Fate picks one mode for the whole game at the start, and the table runs it the rest of the campaign. This is a single session-zero choice, not a per-chapter toggle, so no one second-guesses it mid-story.
Milestone Mode, the lighter mode. Award a Level at the end of each Chapter, one solved problem plus a mini-boss or boss defeated. For a one-off Game, level at the end. Simple, almost no bookkeeping, and it rests entirely on the Master of Fate feeling when a Chapter has truly climaxed. That judgment is the catch. Milestone is the harder mode to run well, because it asks the MoF to trust their own sense of pacing, and a new one has not built that sense yet. Milestone is the mode you graduate to.
Beat Mode, recommended for new players and new Masters of Fate. Advancement is counted in points, earned beat by beat, so growth is visible and the pacing teaches itself. A new MoF watches the tally and learns the shape of an arc by counting it. New players see their progress climbing instead of waiting on a call. The points are training wheels that teach rhythm, and once you have the feel you can move to Milestone if you want the lighter load.
A Level costs 6 advancement points. Beats pay by weight.
Story point, a real revelation, a hard choice, an act cleared, a puzzle solved: 1
Mini-boss beaten or its trick solved, or a major set-piece survived: 2
Boss or arc climax, its trick solved: 3
Minions and skirmishes: 0, they are texture, not progress
So the distribution formula for any arc is clean.
Levels = (story points + 2 × mini-bosses + 3 × bosses) ÷ 6
Build an arc to grant exactly one Level by budgeting six points into it. A boss plus a mini-boss plus a story point is six. Three mini-bosses is six. Six story points and no fights at all is six, which keeps a talk-heavy or mystery arc worth exactly as much as a bloody one.
The campaign budget. Level 1 to the Level 5 soft cap is four Levels, so 24 points across the whole series. An easy mix to remember is roughly four bosses, four mini-bosses, and four story points, which is 12 plus 8 plus 4, exactly 24. Change the mix however you like as long as the arc sums to 24, and the party reaches the soft cap as the campaign ends. Across Stories of two to four sessions, that is a campaign of about eight to sixteen sessions to cap.
Optional finale milestone. At the end of a full campaign arc, grant a bonus advancement, so the players take two menu picks instead of one to mark the ending. Works in either mode.
Some climaxes are gated by sacrifice rather than by victory. At a sacrifice capstone, each character resolves alone, and this rule sits on top of whichever mode the table is running.
Give something, advance a full Level now. The price may be a core attachment fed to the work, or a permanent floor cost, a point off your maximum Fate Points, a Health die, or an ability stepped down a rung. Anything truly lost counts.
Give nothing, bank a half Level, halfway to your next. Not a punishment, a true cost. The character who keeps themselves whole grows slower than the one who spends themselves, and that gap is the point. Growth costs pieces of self.
Two seams to run cleanly. A sacrifice capstone is its own resolution, it does not also get counted as a 3-point boss in Beat Mode, pay equals a full Level and abstain equals a half, full stop. And the split breaks the party's shared Level on purpose, the payers a step ahead, the abstainers a half step back. For enemy scaling, use the party's lowest Level, as the enemy rules already do for uneven groups. It is not a spiral, the abstainer earns the next beats like everyone and closes the gap inside an arc. The lag is a sting, not a sentence.
One quiet consequence is worth seeing. Because giving grows you and the thing given is gone for good, a long campaign slowly fills the party with powerful, hollowed people, strong in dice and missing pieces they cannot name. That is not a side effect. That is the game teaching the players what the world will one day confirm.
Item, spell, and ability ceiling. The highest Level of any single piece of Special Gear you can use equals your Character Level.
Special Gear load stays at 5. You still carry up to five levels of Special Gear in total. A higher Level does not let you carry more, it lets you concentrate those five levels into one stronger item instead of spreading them thin. A Level 5 character can run a single Level 5 spell, a Level 1 character can only run five Level 1 trinkets.
Signatures unlock at Level 3. See the menu below.
Each level, choose one.
Toughen Up. Add a permanent plus 1D6 to your Health pool. This is how you stop dying in a single hit.
Harden. Raise your worn armor and Natural Resistance value by a permanent plus 1.
New Specialization. Add a one word specialization to any attribute. More specializations means you reach the five dice cap in more situations. This buys breadth, not ceiling.
Deepen a Trait. Pick an attribute or specialization you already have. Whenever it clearly applies to a roll, you may reroll one failed die, a 1, 2, or 3, once per roll. Same dice, more dependable. This is mastery.
Extra Fate. Raise your maximum Fate Points by 1.
Signature Move, Level 3 and up. Define a once per fight signature tied to your concept, cleared with the MoF. It does not count against your Special Gear load. A Barbarian's Cleave applies one damage roll to two minions at once. A Telepath's Compel makes a minion skip its next turn on a success.
You may not take the same menu pick twice in a row unless the MoF agrees it fits the story.
Survival scales with your Health pool. Every character starts with 2 Health dice, set at creation. The game is still lethal at low levels, since a built attacker rolls several damage dice, so Toughen Up from the menu grows your pool over time. A Level 5 character who invested in survival might carry five or six Health dice, which finally gives the fall-and-recover rules room to breathe and turns combat into a real fight instead of a coin flip.
Soft cap at Level 5 for most tables. Five is the magic number of this game. A Level 5 character uses Level 5 gear, fields five dice on anything in their wheelhouse, and banks a full hand of Fate Points. That is a hero at the top of their arc.
Past Level 5, grow sideways, not up. Every level beyond 5 may only grant a New Specialization or an additional Signature, never a higher gear ceiling and never more dice. The cap holds, the character keeps becoming more interesting. Let the Boss rules carry the math, mini-bosses and bosses already scale off party Level, so the opposition keeps pace on its own as the party climbs.
Mara starts at Level 1 with her two Health dice, Skill To Take with a Cat Burglar specialization, and Nature Shady. After three chapters she reaches Level 3. Her picks across those levels are Toughen Up, raising her to three Health dice, Deepen Cat Burglar, letting her reroll one failed die on a heist, and she now carries a single Level 3 Smoke Charm as her Special item.
She still rolls a maximum of five dice to scale a wall. The difference is that she shrugs off a minion's hit, rerolls a botched climb, spends a Fate Point to cancel a flub at the worst possible moment, and vanishes in smoke once per fight. Same cap, a far more capable thief.
Your job is simple on paper and hectic in practice. You guide the characters through the story as their eyes, ears, and dealer of fate. 5 Dice of Fate can be set in any world at any time, a horror western, an underwater space opera, anything, because the rules stay light and the focus stays on the story. A story succeeds on two questions, did the players solve the central mystery or puzzle, and did they play together as characters.
The most important thing you do at the table is make sure no one sits and watches. Keep every turn short, a beat or two, then pass it on, so the spotlight moves fast around the whole table. When a player is not in the action, hand them a job, a lookout to keep, a friend to drag clear, a horse to calm, a door to watch, a body to guard. In a fight, rotate fast. In a dungeon, give everyone a standing role so each room needs them. When you can, run two things at once and cut between them, so two players are always live.
This makes every game better, and for some players it is the whole difference between a great night and a miserable one. 5 Dice of Fate was built with neurodivergent players in mind, among everyone else, and twenty minutes spent watching someone else take a turn is not a game to them, it is a wall. Short turns, a moving spotlight, and a job for every hand keep the entire table in the story, all night long. If you learn one habit as a Master of Fate, learn this one.
The dice and the danger are the engine of a game, but they are not the reason people remember it. What they remember is the night they became someone else for a few hours, the words two characters finally said to each other, the grief over a fallen friend, the joke that landed, the quiet before the storm. Those heartfelt moments are the heart of the table, and a part of your job is to make room for them.
So do not rush from roll to roll. When two characters have something to say to each other, get out of the way and let them say it. When a player wants to take a beat to show you who their character is, give them the floor and the silence to fill it. Not every moment needs a check, and many of the best ones need no dice at all, only room. Ask the quiet questions, what does your character do here, how do they feel, what do they say, and then sit back and listen.
This is the companion to keeping the spotlight moving, not its opposite. Keep the action fast so no one waits, and let the heart take its time when it arrives. Read the table. When a moment lands, hold it and let it breathe. When the energy dips, pick the pace back up and roll on. A Master of Fate is not only the dealer of fate and danger, you are the keeper of the space where the characters get to be people. The game, after all, is about what happens between them.
There are three kinds of foe, Minions, Mini-bosses, and Bosses. Enemy armor scales with the party's Level, not the number of players. The party levels together, so this is usually one shared number, and if the group is uneven, use the lowest member's level.
Minions. No armor, attack with 1D6, and never gather in a pack larger than 1D6 plus the number of players. Challenging, but never insurmountable.
Mini-bosses. Armor equal to the party's Level plus 1D6, one weapon, and life equal to the number of players plus 1D6.
Bosses. Armor equal to the party's Level plus 1D6, two 1D6 attacks each round, and life equal to one D6 per player. A boss never falls to force alone, the group must find a special way to defeat it. For a thicker skinned boss, use the party's Level plus 2D6 instead.
When you want a harder fight for a large party, add baddies rather than inflating one creature, more minions or a second mini-boss. For example, if your players are walking through encounters too easily, instead of three minions in the next fight, add one per two players to the base number. Each Chapter or game should pair something to solve with a mini-boss or boss to face.
Game. A single session, one to three hours, with a clear goal. Perfect for a quick gathering or a new idea.
Story. A single game that grew past one sitting, usually two to four meetings, with room for deeper character work.
Campaign. A series of games or stories connected by an ongoing narrative, where each session shapes the next, with long term growth and consequence.
Convincing a guard. Jamie wants the keys to a cell. Jamie's sheet shows Skill To Control with Fast Talk, Nature Shady with Deception, and Gift Mental with Telepathy. Jamie claims one die for trying, plus To Control, Fast Talk, Shady, Deception, and Telepathy, six in all, but the cap is five. The MoF rules that Deception does not fully apply, which removes one die and leaves five, exactly the cap, so Jamie rolls five and reads the result, then may spend Fate Points to bend up to two of them.
A fight. Jeff swings a two handed axe at a goblin. He claims one die for trying, one for To Hurt, one for his Barbarian specialization, one for Gift Physical, one for Strength, and two for the axe, totaling seven, but the cap is five. He rolls five and gets a 3, 4, 5, 3, and a 6. That is three successes, a Clean hit, and the 6 is a Super Success, so he narrates a legendary blow and refunds a Fate Point. Now he rolls damage, one die plus one for To Hurt plus two for the axe, four dice, totaling 17. The goblin's armor stops 6, leaving 11.
The game is most fun when three things come together. Everyone listens to the MoF, so the game keeps moving, you get one rebuttal and then the call is final. Story comes above success, since failing well can serve a story better than winning. And above all, remember it is a game, meant to be fun. Do not let small things ruin it.
Five Dice of Fate. Copyright © 2022 to 2026 William Kavan. All rights reserved.
First created 2022. This edition published 2026.
Five Dice of Fate, the Master of Fate, the Silver Age, and all associated names, settings, characters, creatures, stories, art, logos, and text are trademarks and copyrighted works of William Kavan. Trademarks are claimed whether or not marked as such. Distributed under license by Lil Plastic Monster, LLC.
The rules system and game mechanics of Five Dice of Fate are not themselves subject to copyright and may be played, taught, and built upon freely. This book, meaning the specific wording of these rules, its layout and design, its art, and all setting and story content, is a protected work. Reproducing, distributing, or selling this book or substantial portions of its text or art without permission is not allowed.
No portion of this work is currently released under any open, free, or Creative Commons license. All rights are reserved. Should any part ever be offered under an open license, that release will be made explicitly, in writing, and will name exactly which materials it covers. Absent such a notice, assume all rights reserved.
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