Regulus

3R - Regulus Rules-lite Reference

Below is the simple framework for Regulus and how it operates when not resolving a Job. When on a Job the Job Resolution rules are used instead.

Narrative Matters

In Regulus, narrative matters. The narration of the story centers on the player’s characters, particularly the critical moments of choice they make throughout the story. Daily normal happenings do not warrant narration at all. We are not concerned with the characters washing their hands or handling everyday pressures like paying routine bills. This said, the flow of narration is a give-and-take between the GM and the players, as they narrate the character’s story.

Most of the time, narration is a smooth conversation about the fiction. The players decide on their characters' actions and narrate them, and the GM replies with narrative about the world around the characters. Suddenly, something interesting will happen. A character might attempt something risky where the outcome is in question. Something might befall a character in an important way, and the outcome is in question. These moments lead to Contests and Challenges below.

Narrative matters in Regulus because it impacts characters’ stories. A narration often changes a situation in a profound and impactful way. Sometimes this just happens. A player or GM might narrate something with such impact. A narration isn’t canon to the story immediately. It can be disputed. When a dispute occurs, you use the rules for Contests of Challenges below to resolve it.

The GM also has two other tools in their arsenal to assist in the flow of narration. These are Checks and Tests, which are quick rolls that can inform the narrative based on the situation at hand.

Contests

As the story of the game is narrated by the players, eventually something risky will come into play. A player's character might pull out a pistol and shoot a security droid, or they might hack into a secure system. In these risky cases where the outcome of an action, or sequence of actions, is rife with chance: dice are rolled to determine the outcome.

The first step of this type of roll is to define what the player wants for their character, the desired outcome. The die roll will determine if they get that outcome, plus additional issues that might arise. In the case where the character pulls a pistol and shoots a security droid the player might define the outcome as 'incapacitating the droid'.

The second step is figuring out the type of action the character is taking. Once you have the grasp of that, the player can figure out if they have Means to attain their outcome. Means is anything on the character sheet that gives the character an advantage in the situation. Continuing the pistol example, a Quality like 'Soldier' or 'Marksman', even 'Lightning Reflexes' would provide means for the contest.

Now we reach a point where the character either has Means or not for the contest. If they do not have Means they will roll a single six-sided die for the contest. If they have Means, they decided to roll one, two, or three dice depending on the amount of effort & risk they accept for the contest. The more dice the greater the chance of getting what they want, but also the greater the chance of dice coming up a 1 and creating issues.

Now, the GM determines if this is a Sudden contest. If a contest is Sudden, the player skips the find leverage step. If it isn't Sudden, then the player finds leverage. This means if they have more rules on their sheet that can apply in this situation, they get advantage on their roll for each one, with a maximum of three. For each advantage, the player can choose one of the options for the rolls below:

• The final result gets a +1 bonus.
• You may discard a single result of 1 from the roll.
• You can re-roll one rolled die.
• Replace one of the rolled dice with an eight-sided die.
• Use the favored die table for the roll.
• Mark up Luck.

Now once we have figured out Means, and leverage, the roll can is made, and the dice are cast! If more than one die are rolled, keep the highest as the result, but always note if any dice show a 1 because that is bad. Look up the result on the table below:

The outcome on the result table is a direct indicator if the player gets what they want for their character. That said, each result that isn't as simple as No or Yes needs some clarity:

• Maybe: Things got complicated, and the outcome isn't immediately in favor of the character. The GM creates the complication in narration, and the player can either accept a result of No, or push the contest. If choosing to push, re-roll with one more die (max of 3) and move right on the rolling table if possible (Favored becomes Means, Means becomes No Means).
• Possibly: An issue has arisen. The GM (or player with GM approval) creates an interesting issue that results from the narrative of the contest and then either accepts that issue to earn a Yes result or does not and takes a No. Taking a No avoids the issue.
• ! - Exclamation: This is narrative code for 'and'. A Yes! result is 'Yes, and ...' where the player gets even more than they wanted in the end. No! is 'No, and ...' where not only did the player not get what they want but now an issue is narrated (like Possibly but no choice here).
• Hell No: Where to start! Well this result has gone sideways in the kind of way where the character might be telling stories about the incident for years to come. Crowd source this kind of disaster of an outcome with the playing group with GM as final approval.

Paying Luck:

• If the contest is deemed Sudden, but the player feels the contest is very important for the character, they can still find leverage if they are willing to pay 1 level of Luck. In this case they get the 'Use the favored die table for the roll' option for free, plus what they can leverage for the roll.
• If the contest has no Means, the player may pay 1 level of Luck to create Means for the contest. The GM and player create a lucky circumstance that provides means for the contest.

Challenges

A Challenge is just a contest in reverse. It is a narrative situation that is happening to a player character where the player wants to avoid the outcome. Let us reframe the continuing pistol example. In this new case, the player's character enters a vault of caplets to steal a rare one, and as they do so a security droid deploys it's auto-pistol to shoot the character. Now this is the inverse of the action above, as the player wants to avoid being 'incapacited by the security droid'. The rules are the same, but the outcome is reversed. If the player gets the Yes (or better) outcome they avoid the narration in question. Most of the results are the same but work opposite. However the Yes! and Yes!! work slightly differently:

• ! - Exclamation: In a challenge, "Yes, and ..." becomes a way to flip the narrative. The clause here can be used to generate a blanket narration related to the outcome of the challenge. In the pistol example the player could do something like "Yes, and in a flash I deactivate the security droid with small stun wand". The blanket narration must be related to the challenge but not directly. A more interesting outcome here could be "Yes, I dodge the droid's fire and slip through a wall of caplet trays, quickly pocketing the one labeled XX-23 that I was looking for." This is more interesting as it leaves the droid in narrative play, but gets the character what the player was looking for.

Checks

Checks are situations that test a character’s ratings. Ratings may come directly from a character sheet, or be something established in a Situation for a character. In either circumstance, the character will have a level rating, and we will use that for the check dice roll.

A Check is triggered by something in the fiction and is a passive ordeal. Here are some examples of Checks:

• Your character attempts to secure expensive tickets for an important gala to attend and meet a diplomat. This is a Wealth Check for the character.
• Your character is stopped at a secure checkpoint during a sweep for illegal software. This is a Security Check for the character.

Checks are handled simply: the player rolls two six-sided dice, adds them together, and adds their Rating Level. If the total of the dice and Level is 10+ (or higher for difficult checks), they pass.

The exact meaning of success or failure is determined by the GM, given the narrative. For the tickets example, the character would not be able to secure the tickets and would need to find another way into the gala.

Difficulty: The Difficulty of a Check depends on how high the GM sets the bar for success. The GM should think in terms of reasons, each reason being one aspect of the Check that makes it harder to pass. The basic rule is that for each reason that hinders the character, add 2 to the target number, never exceeding 16. To continue the ‘tickets to the gala’ example, if the GM decides it is ‘THE gala of the year’, that would be a reason to increase the target from 10 to 12.

Tests

A Test resolves a simple question in the fiction. A Test is warranted for simple situations. Complicated ones are resolved with Contests and Challenges above. Usually, the framework for a Test is the player asking the GM a question. Here is an example:

Tests are a simple die roll that succeeds on 4+ at the start. If a player has clear Means to succeed, decrease the target by one: 3+. If they can leverage more, reduce again: 2+. If the GM feels the test is particularly hard or unlikely, they may shift it up one: 5+ to start.

Success means the character gets the answer to their question properly and accurately. Failure means the character gets the opinion of the GM instead, for better or worse.

Luck: For any test a player may opt to mark down Luck to succeed without rolling, or mark up Luck to fail without rolling.

Strings

Strings are the main way in which the rules support the core idea of narrative matters. A String at its core is a short phrase or single sentence with impact on one or more characters. Let’s explore a simple example String: ‘Hunted by Inspector Luther’. This String establishes a narrative state or condition. Now let’s attach a character to the string, after a colon: ‘Hunted by Inspector Luther: Iris’. This means that Iris (player character) is affected by the String's condition.

Situations