Wild & Untamed
Wild & Untamed is licensed under
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Created and written by Martín Serena (Dimirag)
Version 1.0
Introduction
This game is the product of countless hours spent discarding ideas for Edged Coins and the desire to create something more streamlined. Therefore, what follows will not be a game with rules for every possible scenario.
Edit: Ironically, what I intended as a quick way to clear my head turned into another to-do list, a list of discarded ideas and gaps to fill. But to shorten the wait, I'll publish what I have so far, aiming for a relatively complete system. Some things may be added later to provide better rule support.
Setting
This Wild & Untamed world is a land exuberant in both beauty and danger, marked by the Great Lands: vast, rugged, and contrasting unique territories.
The gods, before being gods, existed in the void, encompassing everything but filling nothing. Eventually, they created the world, shaped from the elemental dust scattered throughout the void. Upon descending to the world, they saw utter desolation but also infinite potential. Different gods took portions of the world and made the Great Lands twisting it, shaping it, adding and removing according to their tastes and whims.
Unfortunately, the presence of the gods affected the world in unexpected ways, making it difficult for them to enjoy or rest in their creation. Thus vessels in which the gods deposited their essence to exist in the world without causing undesirable effects were created. Over time, vessels for different purposes were made, each with their own form and abilities, and each containing a spark of divine essence that eventually resulted in a new potential: the potential of life. The gods then breathed life into these vessels and allowed them to populate the world as companions.
Then came The Age of Humankind. While the gods enjoyed the company of creatures, they desired something more, closer to them, something that could share with them the wonders of their creation. Therefore, they took the companion's essence and some of their own and poured into an unshaped vessel, from this the first people were given life. After a great era in which people and gods lived together, sharing days and nights, the gods slowly withdrew so that people could have complete freedom from their influence, it was The Age of Independence.
It is currently believed that the gods still dwell in their own vessels, observing how the people shape the course or their beloved creation.
With the course of the years various groups formed with the aim of reaching the gods, these groups are collectively known as Gods-Seekers. Some attempt this through physical pursuits, others through meditation or other spiritual paths, but one group changed everything... This group began stealing the essence of creatures in order to accumulate it, deify themselves, and confront the gods. Some of them wish to question the gods, others to dethrone them, and this has caused divisions and friction within the group.
This group, or its divisions, are guilty of creating monsters due to the extraction of essence or through experiments with it, or with the creatures and vessels and are called Essence Masters.
The Great Lands
These are the Great Lands created by the gods and where people live:
The Crushing Breakers
Where the land meets the aggressive waters, where towering waves crash with tremendous force, and strong winds and storms are commonplace. The Crushing Breakers surrounds the world dividing the other Great Lands and the seemingly infinite waters.
The people of the Crushing Breakers live in reef grottos, on man-made platforms with pulleys to raise and lower their boats. They are known for their barges and fishing gear.
The Dark Forest
With sky high sturdy trees, the leafy canopies covers the sky and robs the ground of almost all light.
People live in small clusters of houses attached to the trunks of the towering trees. They are known for working with wood, vines, and various types of sap.
The Decayed Wasteland
Barren land with sparse, leafless, and dead-like trees is all the eyes can see. The scarce rain is one of the few and fleeting moments of life in this wasteland.
The inhabitants of the Decayed Wasteland live in tents and shelters that allow them to move easily according to the demands and resources of the land. They are known for working with materials obtained from carrion and hunting.
The Deep Swamp
Dark green water, patches of mud, and treacherous earth are the Deep Swamp's floor, watch your step; you could become food for the swamp or its creatures.
Swamp dwellings are floating houses or built on stilts, raised above the surface by supports or moorings, they are excellent at using plants for different ends.
The Frozen Land
The cold chills the bones, and the sun's glare on the white surface blinds the unwary. At night, icy gales and total darkness reign.
Its inhabitants live in pits covered with blocks of ice and compacted snow. They are known for they work with ice and snow and the quality of their fur coats.
The Scorching Desert
Sand and heat are the words to describe the Scorching Desert yet they feel small and short. Day and night the heat is relentless.
People live in the few places where they can find water and food, using dwellings that block the heat and withstand sandstorms. They live in houses made of sand reinforced with pottery techniques; it is no wonder their potters are renowned.
The Suffocating Mountains
The mountains are so high that pierce through the clouds, and fierce winds batter them mercilessly.
The people live in natural or man-made caves connected by internal tunnels. They are known for their outstanding stonework.
Characters
Adventurers, escorts, messengers, hunters, seekers, outcasts... there are as many roles as the players can imagine. All characters can have the same role, forming a homogeneous group, or they can be a diverse group with different backgrounds and goals, united temporarily or permanently by a shared objective or motive.
Great Terrain
This indicates where the character grew up and will help them perform tasks associated with that location. Every character starts with a d4 in a Great Terrain of their choosing.
Attributes
Every character has three attributes: body, mind, and personality. Two of these start with a d6 and the remaining one with a d4.
Attributes have strong points, called foci. One of the d6 attributes has two foci, while the other has one. Some examples of foci:
| Body | Mind | Persona |
|---|---|---|
| Agility | Alertness | Charm |
| Precision | Intelligence | Eloquence |
| Speed | Memory | Empathy |
| Stamina | Orientation | Intimidation |
| Strength | Willpower | Leadership |
Skills, Specializations, and Masteries
Skills indicate a character's ability to do or know something. Two skills have a d6, the rest a d4.
Each skill can be refined into specializations, which are more specific uses of the skill. Specializations function like the foci of attributes; one of the skills with a d6 has one specialization.
Here are the 6 skills with some sample specializations:
| Diplomat | Explorer | Rogue | Shooter | Scholar | Warrior |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bargaining | Alertness | Mechanisms | Bows | History | Axes |
| Deals | Animal Handling | Steal | Hatchets | Legends | Hammers |
| Manipulation | Direction Sense | Stealth | Javelins | Medicine | Swords |
Each skill has associated mastery points (MP) indicating superior proficiency. Initially, a character has 1MP in a skill.
Used MP are recovered at the start of the next day.
Health and Recovery
Every character begins with 10 health points (HP), HP is lost in form of wounds, each with a fixed value based on is severity. At every interval time each wound of that type reduces its points by the recovery value.
Recovery initially starts at 1 and is modified by the type of care received:
| Care Type | None | Non-professional | Professional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recovery | x1 | x1.5 | x2 |
Interval is based on the type of wound received.
| Severity | Minor | Major | Critical | Devastating |
| Value | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Interval | 1 day | 3 days | 1 week | 2 weeks |
A character with less than half HP remaining is injured and every new wound received will be treated as one type worse for interval values only (it doesn't change the HP lost).
Note that a wound type doesn't improve regardless of how many points are recovered.
Unconsciousness and Death
A character that reaches 0 or less HP is in dying condition, won't heal from wounds and must receive medical attention. The wound of greatest severity is used to gauge the window of time the character can stand without proper care, how much treatment time is required for the dying condition to be removed and start healing normally, and the type of minimum scholar skill required by those tending the character, in some cases the medicine specialization is needed.
| Severity | Minor | Major | Critical | Devastating |
| Window | 1 week | 3 days | 1 day | 8 hours |
| Treatment Time | 1 day | 3 days | 1 week | 3 weeks |
| Scholar | d4 | d6 | d6 Medicine | d8 Medicine |
If treatment isn't started by the end of the window time the character perishes. The treatment must be received continuously for it to be effective, during this period the window time is paused, an interrupted treatment at any point the remaining window time is resumed.
For the first half of the treatment the character remains unconscious, for the second half the character regains consciousness but must remain in full rest.
Essence
Every character begins with 5 essence points (EP). If a character reaches 0EP, they fall unconscious for one week. A character with 1 or more EP will recover 1EP per day.
Dice and Size
This game uses the classic variety of role-playing dice, except for the tens die (d00) which is ignored. It's worth noting that the GM is the only one using the d20. Ideally, the player and GM will need a couple of sets as the they'll be rolling multiple dice of the same size, with size being a number from 1 to 5 each associated to a die.
| Die | d4 | d6 | d8 | d10 | d12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Size | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Rolls
For mundane situations or those of little importance to the action or plot, logic should be used, or whatever best suits the style of the table, but when doubt or uncertainty arise, or on important situations the Game Master (GM) can call for a roll.
Base Dice
A roll will use two base dice: one for the attribute, one for the skill. If you have a focus or specialization that can be applied, increase the size of the corresponding base die.
Extra Dice
In addition to the base dice, extra dice are used:
One of these is the Great Terrain die, this die is always used within that Great Terrain. It can be used in others as long as the action is related to something typical done or learn by the people of that Great Terrain. Some examples:
Having an appropriate tool can add another extra die (the die is set according to how useful is the tool).
Bonuses and Penalties
The base dice may be modified by bonuses or penalties representing factors aiding or hindering the character. For each bonus, the smallest die is increased by one size and for each penalty, the largest die is reduced.
If a roll is affected by both bonuses and penalties, they are canceled one by one until either one type or none remains, regardless of the number of bonuses or penalties no die can be smaller than size 1 or larger than size 5.
Effort
Before making a roll, the player can spend 1EP with the character drawing upon their inner strength to increase the outcome by 1 Grade.
Total
The player rolls their dice and adds the highest base dice and the highest of the remaining dice and add them together, the rest are discarded.
Opposition
The GM makes a roll using 2d8 for unopposed actions. For opposed ones they or the player (if opposed by another character) use the corresponding dice.
Opposed rolls can also receive bonuses and penalties reflecting the difficulty of the action and other factors.
Result & Grade
The totals of the character's and opposition rolls are compared. If the character's total is equal to or greater than the opposition's total the action is a success, otherwise it is a failure.
In some cases some granularity is needed such as to gauge the outcome's quality, how good or bad the action went, these are called graded rolls and are resolved by comparing the character's dice or total against the opposition:
If the character has used their essence on the roll they increase the outcome by 1 grade.
After determining the result, but before applying its effect, the player can spend 1MP to improve the result by 1 grade.
Effect
The GM narrates how the action went, a player can opt to downgrade an action by 1 grade so they can narrate the outcome, note that the narration is subject to GM approval.
Combat
The world is as beautiful as dangerous; beasts and other people can be the cause of confrontations. Having a weapon at hand and being alert to potential dangers is never a bad idea and can be the difference between life and death.
Combat Order
During combat characters will act by groups, players are free to determine their acting order inside their corresponding group, this acting order isn't fixed and they can change it to help their tactics. The combat order is:
Group 1 ▶ Enemies ▶ Group 2
Combat Phases
Phase 1: At the start of combat, each participant makes a graded roll using the skill that best applies against a 2d8 opposition roll. Those with a success form group 1. If it was a major success they also gain 1 order point (OP), those with a critical success gain 2OP. Getting any kind of failure puts the character on group 2.
Phase 2: Following the combat order, each character performs an action within their group, the order inside is decided by the players. When a character is the target of an attack or another action, they can make a defense or resistance roll.
Results and Order: When attacking or defending, the character can choose to gain 1OP for each grade they reduce their roll.
Phase 3: Once the group 2 has acted the GM rolls a d20. Each player applies any modifier they have and uses the following effect:
| Result | Effect |
|---|---|
| 3 or less | -2OP |
| 4-7 | -1OP |
| 8-13 | +0OP |
| 14-17 | +1OP |
| 18+ | +2OP |
Phase 4: The total OP are used to determine the characters' group status.
| OP | Effect |
|---|---|
| 2+ | Automatically move to Group 1 |
| 1 | If in Group 2 combat order must be re-rolled |
| 0 | Roll combat order again |
| -1 | If in Group 1 combat order must be re-rolled |
| -2+ | Automatically move to Group 2 |
Actions
Inside their group a character can do one attack or another significant action and as many defenses and resistances as needed, things like shouting some words, dropping an item, and small movements doesn't count as actions.
Defense
Characters can defend against each attack by using one of 3 defenses, defending doesn't cost the character's single action.
Using the action for defense gives 1 bonus and lets the character perform all 3 defenses, focusing on one specific defense gives another bonus but impedes the character from performing the other defenses.
Dodge: Works against melee attacks with 1 penalty and against ranged attacks with 2 penalties.
Block: Works against both melee and ranged attacks. Requires a shield and adds its die to the roll.
Parry: Works against melee attacks. Add the secondary weapon die; can add the primary weapon die if the action is used to parry attacks.
Resistances
Resistances work like Defenses but work in a reactive and passive way and are used against poisons, diseases and the like. Resistances may be made as the consequence of a failed Defense or action.
Damage
The damage suffered is based on the character's success or failure grade.
| Minor | Major | Critical |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 4 |
Remember that wounds received by an injured character are considered one severity worse for healing purposes.
Trade and Equipment
Bartering for goods and services is the primary form of commerce in this world. The value of an item is based on its quality and utility but some may increase it according to the interested party's needs.
Load: Characters prioritize their freedom of movement and physical agility so they won't carry many items with 10 items being the limit. Heavy or large items count as 2 are usually limited to 2 of them, heavier or larger ones are often left behind.
Item examples:
- Armor
- Canteen
- Kit (contains various utensils):
- Camouflage
- Cooking
- Hunting
- Medicine
- Tools
- Ration container
- Shield
- Weapon
Disadvantage: Equipment can be used as an extra die for the opposition on certain actions. For example, armors in athletic and acrobatic actions, and large weapons in confined spaces. If the item has a proper die that will be used, on other cases the GM will set the die size.
Materials and Wear
Tools, armors, weapons, and other items are created using plants, woods, hides, bones, shells, and stones.
Normally, there's no need to worry about the material degradation; it doesn't wear down unless logic dictates otherwise. However, a player can choose to wear down an item to improve a roll grade in which it is used. Each item has a certain number of wear points (WP); an item that reaches 0WP is irreparably broken.
Any item with 1WP is of very low or poor quality, those with 2WP are of medium quality, and those with a 3WP are of excellent quality. Items with 4WP or higher are rare to found and made with exotic materials.
The items a character starts with are of medium quality (2WP).
Armor
Adds to the defense roll as an extra die.
Shields
Occupy one hand. Adds an extra die to defense rolls when blocking attacks.
Weapons
Add their die to the attack or defense roll as an extra die.
Melee
They have a grip type:
Projectile Weapons
Allow attacks at short, medium, and long range; use two hands; require ammunition that counts as 1 extra item.
Throwing Weapons
Allow one attack at short and medium range without penalty; at long range, 1 penalty is incurred.
Survival
Characters know basic survival skills in the wilderness. For each hour spent, each character involved rolls mind or body and Great Terrain. The highest values are then added together up to a total equal to the number of characters involved.
Survival points can be obtained as provision or shelter (PSP and SSP). These are spent to feed and shield the group. A character who chooses to focus on a single type of points can use both body and mind dice.
Provisions: 1PSP is lost each day representing its natural decomposition.
Characters begin with 0 inanition points (IP). Every 8 hours, 2IP are gained unless they eat. Each PSP spent prevents the gain of 1IP. A character can consume up to 3PSP every 8 hours.
As the character's IP increases, they suffer adverse effects:
Each character consumes 2PSP per meal. Three meals are required daily. It is possible to have a "light meal" by spending 1PSP on it.
Shelter: A shelter is necessary to avoid the harsh weather and be protected from predators. Shelters are categorized as basic and advanced. Building a shelter takes PSP and time measured in hours per person capacity. If more than one character works on its construction, time is reduced accordingly.
A basic shelter costs 5SSP and 1 hour per capacity to build. An advanced shelter costs 25SSP and 3 hours per person capacity.
Shelters are slowly degraded by environmental decay, each day basic shelter loses 1SSP, an advanced shelter loses 2SSP each week. They'll also lose SSP if attacked. Characters can spend SP to increase a shelter's resistance.
Experience
Experience is the currency used to improve a character's abilities.
Objectives
The characters will act based on objectives that they want or must meet. Characters can have one personal objective and up to 3 shared with one or more characters, no character can share more than one objective with the same character.
As the characters complete objectives, they will gain experience with which to improve their abilities. Objectives can be minor, major or critical and determine how much experience is gained by completing the objective:
| Minor | Major | Critical |
|---|---|---|
| 50pts | 100pts | 200pts |
Spending Experience
Experience is spent to purchase new abilities or to improve existing ones:
New focus: 250pts. An attribute cannot have more focuses than its current die size.
New specialization: 200pts. A skill cannot have more specializations than its current die size.
Improve a great terrain die: 100pts.
Gain more MP: Each new MP cost 200 times the total of MP possessed amongst all skills. Once purchased the MP is placed on a specific skill. A skill can't have more MP than its related skill die size.
Improve an attribute or skill die:
| Increase | Attribute | Skill |
| d4 to d6 | 200 | 100 |
| d6 to d8 | 300 | 200 |
| d8 to d10 | 400 | 300 |
Increasing/Learning other abilities:
| Increase | Terrain* | Recovery | Health | Essence |
| +1 | 150 | - | 100 | 300 |
| +2 | 200 | 150 | 125 | 400 |
| +3 | 250 | 200 | 150 | 500 |
| +4 | 300 | 300 | 175 | 750 |
| +5 | 350 | 450 | 200 | 1000 |
| +6 | 400 | - | 250 | - |
| +7 | - | - | 300 | - |
| +8 | - | - | 400 | - |
| +9 | - | - | 500 | - |
| +10 | - | - | 1000 | - |
*Starts at d4, the cost is for each new great terrain.
Opponents
Opponents are those with whom the characters will cross paths in an antagonistic way.These can be people, wild beasts, creatures void of essence, and even aberrations. Opponents are categorized by ranks showing their overall power. Generally the same rank is used for all the rolls made, but some may have higher or lower ranks for specific tasks.
Rank 0: Lesser creatures with one action, the attackers higher die indicates how many are defeated.
Ranks 1-14: The rank serves as the amount of health points they can suffer before being defeated/eliminated, but it is possible that some are more resistant possessing HP above their rank due to size or physique.
Opponents have two or more base dice depending on their rank. Some may have extra dice from weapons, armor, or special abilities.
| Rank | Dice | Rank | Dice | Rank | Dice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | - | 5 | 2d8 | 10 | 2d12+d4 |
| 1 | 2d4 | 6 | d10/d8 | 11 | 2d12+d6 |
| 2 | d6/d4 | 7 | 2d10 | 12 | 2d12+d8 |
| 3 | 2d6 | 8 | d12/d10 | 13 | 2d12+d10 |
| 4 | d8/d6 | 9 | 2d12 | 14 | 3d12 |
Opponents may have special abilities that allow them to make unusual actions such as being able to perform ranged attacks, fly, camouflage with the environment, etc.
Opponent Types
Assaulters/Robbers: People wanting to take by force or skill something not belonging to them. These are most commonly rank 3-7.
Beasts: The creatures the gods made, some are territorial, some are plainly aggressive. It's debated if their character is natural or the result of an external source. Beasts come in a great variety ranking from 1 to 10
Defeated beasts can be used to obtain PSP, the size of the beast indicates the available amount.
| Size | PSP | Size | PSP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tiny | 0 | Large | 10 |
| Very Small | 1 | Huge | 50 |
| Small | 2 | Giant | 100 |
| Medium | 5 | Colossal | 1000 |
Not all beasts have the same amount of potential food, and combat and diseases can reduce the useful parts of the beast. In these cases, the GM can roll a d10 and use the following result. It is possible to use a smaller die to represent the possible or certain reduction in available PSP.
| d10 | Dice |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | x0 |
| 3-4 | x0.5 |
| 5-6 | x1 |
| 7-8 | x1.5 |
| 9-10 | x2 |
Essence Masters: Those belonging to one of the groups manipulating essence for one or another reason, they are normal individuals but most commonly travel in groups with several of their works with them as tools and guards. Their ranks are between 1 and 5.
Emptied: Beasts and persons drained of essence but kept alive through Essence Masters methods. Emptied lacks any reasoning and sense of self, they tend to be "programmed" to follow fixed commands but there are a precious few that can carry orders on the fly. As beasts they can go from rank 1 to 10.
Monstrosities: Experiments and rituals gone extremely bad. These are twisted vessels from beasts to persons and to any unimaginable mix. None of them follow any Essence Master and some even harbors a great hatred towards them. Monsters are unique as they aren't exactly created with intent, they are dangerous with ranks going from 8 up to 15.
Tainted: This is what happens when an outsider's essence in imbued on a creature. Tainted act almost as they normally do but the invading essence slowly alters their behavior and body adding traits from the tainting source. Their ranks are of the typical vessel, what sets them apart is the difference in behavior and added features.
The Essence Masters
These are some of the known groups roaming the Great Lands:
Godless Ones
One of the most vile groups, they are driven by pure hatred towards the gods and taken upon themselves to defile the essence of anyone they cross.
Heirs to the Godly Thrones
They believe the gods left so new people claim those places. They are know for "testing" people and themselves so the ones to be gods and by their Essence experiment to either prove their are the Heirs or that they can either awaken or create the next gods.
Sons of the New Flesh
The other vile group, it started with people honing their bodies so it can hold divine Essence, it morphed into members doing extreme body exercises to end up with them going trough body alteration, they do this to others as a mean to "improve them" or "make them close to the gods".
The Blood Weepers
These Essence Masters embodies chaos and suffering, with the premise that the gods enjoy the people's struggle and suffering they go around inflicting pain on others.
Truthproovers
Years ago the creators started doubting the existence of the gods, this doubt grew and changed to the point where they are convinced there never were any gods, they experiment with Essence just to prove that no response from the gods is a constant reminder of their non-existence, they lack of power or interest.
Wild and Untamed Adventures
This world is filled with not only danger but opportunities, from simply trying to survive the harsh environments, to seeking the gods, hunting creatures, finding exotic materials, trading goods between Great Lands, escorting important people, options abound.
The Essence Masters can also be a guiding plot, characters can be on the run from them, trying to defeat them or even compete with them!
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