The future is uncertain. When a player attacks a monster, nobody can be certain if they will hit or if  their shot will fly off wildly into the night. That’s where dice come in. The dice and the numbers that  you add to the roll determines how likely you are to succeed at an action. 

Gauntlet Tales uses the following dice: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20. The number before the “d”  represents how many of that particular die that you need to roll. The number after the “d” represents  how many sides that die has. For example, 3d20 means that you roll three 20-sided dice. 

Ultimately, it’s up to the GM to decide when someone needs to roll the dice. When they calls for a roll,  follow these steps: 

Step 1: The GM Determines Which Ability Score to Use for the Roll 

Actions are always modified by one of the four ability scores. It’s usually fairly obvious which ability  score should apply to the roll. Sometimes, unique circumstances would allow a player to use an  unorthodox ability score for a roll. For example, spirit is the obvious choice if a player is trying to  intimidate someone. But what if a barbarian punches through a door and screams bloody murder at the  goblins on the other side? In that specific case, it might be appropriate to use Brawn instead of Spirit  because the goblins would fear their show of strength. Similarly, a wizard might intimidate with Mind  instead of Spirit if they’re locked in an academic debate and they embarrasses their opponent by spouting obscure trivia. 

As a player, you should be creative when you suggest a certain ability score to the GM. The right  argument might allow you to use your strongest ability score instead of your weakest ability score. 

As a GM, try to walk a fine line between lenience and adherence to the rules. The ability scores are  intentionally left vague so that players can be creative in their use. If you are too strict, you strangle  creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. If you are too lenient, the ability scores lose their meaning.

Step 2: Roll 3d20 and Take the Middle 

The person taking the action rolls three 20-sided dice and takes the middle value. In the following 3d20 rolls, the player would use die result in bold: 

• 1, 10, 20 

• 8, 9, 15 

• 8, 12, 12 

The d20 that you use for your final result is known as your primary die. Ignore the results of the other  two d20. 

Step 3: Add the Appropriate Modifier 

Take the modifier from the appropriate ability score and add it to your result. If you have +3 Brawn and roll a 10, your final result on a Brawn roll is 13 (10 + 3). If you have -1 Spirit and roll an 8, your final  result on a Spirit roll is 7 (8 – 1). 

Step 4: Check for Success 

If you roll a combined result of 11 or higher, the action succeeds. If you roll a combined result 10 or  lower, the action fails. 

Increasing and Decreasing Rolls 

Not all rolls are created equal. Throwing a rock and hitting a building is easy, but throwing a rock and  hitting a fly is next to impossible. 

Effortless actions that are bound to succeed (throwing a rock and hitting a building that you’re standing right next to)don’t require a roll because they automatically succeed. Impossible actions that are bound to fail (throwing a rock across a continent) don’t require a roll because they automatically fail. 

Use the increase/decrease system for easy actions that still have a chance of failure, or for difficult  actions that still have a chance of success. Increased rolls use the highest d20 instead of the middle d20. Decreased rolls use the lowest d20 instead of the middle d20. 

Follow these guidelines when you use the increase/decrease system: 

• Multiple increases and decreases cancel each other out. If your roll is both increased and  decreased, then you ignore both effects and you take the middle d20. If a roll would be  increased twice and decreased once, it is increased once. 

• The addition of the word “greatly” means that it’s two steps instead of one. For example,  “greatly increase the roll” means that you increase the roll twice. 

• An action that has 2 or more increases is automatically a critical success (see below). An  action that has 2 or more decreases is automatically a critical failure. 

• The phrase “Increase all rolls” only applies to 3d20 rolls. It doesn’t affect damage rolls. You  only increase/decrease damage rolls when the game text specifically references damage. 

For balance reasons, increases/decreases generally shouldn’t “jump” categories. For example, a  player who has the exploration trait “Increase all rolls you make to break objects” probably shouldn’t  get the bonus if they try to attack a rampaging golem (combat). The GM decides when to make  exceptions. 

Criticals 

Sometimes, the conditions are just right and something truly dramatic happens. You don’t just hit the 

monster with your arrow, you hit it right in the eye. You don’t just miss with your sword, you miss so  badly that your sword flies out of your hand. These events are criticals. 

You get a critical when you roll either a 1 or a 20 on your primary die. Bonuses or penalties from your  ability scores don’t affect criticals, but increasing and decreasing your rolls might have an impact. The  following examples are criticals: 

• 8, 20, 20: critical success 

• 5, 7, 20: critical success on an increased roll 

• 1, 1, 20: critical failure 

• 1, 10, 18: critical failure on a decreased roll 

What do criticals do? That’s entirely up to the GM. In general, critical successes mean that you succeed spectacularly and critical failures mean that you fail spectacularly. Here are a few examples of criticals: 

You attempt to climb a wall. 

• Critical success: You climb the wall very quietly or quickly. 

• Critical success: You climb the wall so skillfully that you can help an ally. Your ally doesn’t  need to roll to scale the wall. 

• Critical failure: You fall and hurt yourself when you land. 

• Critical failure: You fall onto a cart below, making a loud crashing sound and alerting nearby  guards. 

You attack a monster with a sword 

• Critical success: You hit a vulnerable spot and deal extra damage. 

• Critical success: The shield that the monster is holding breaks in half. 

• Critical failure: You miss and your sword goes flying out of your hand. 

• Critical failure: You leave an opening, which the monster exploits by having you decrease your roll during its next attack. 

Sometimes, it is not logical or thematically appropriate for a critical success or a critical failure to have much of an impact. In these cases, the GM can disregard the critical and treat it as a normal success or failure. 

Limited Resources And The Usage Die 

When an item described has Ud and then a number after its name, it is considered to be a consumable,  limited item. The ‘Ud’ stands for Usage Die, the number indicating what size die it is. For example, oil  (Ud6) has a Usage Die of 1d6. 

When that item is used its Usage Die should be rolled. If the result is 1-2 then the Usage Die is  downgraded to the next smallest die in the following chain: 

Ud20→Ud12→Ud10→Ud8→Ud6→Ud4 

When you roll a 1-2 on a d4 - the lowest die in the chain - the item is expended, and the Character has  no more of it left. 

Usage Die & Ammunition 

When tracking the Usage Die for ammunition such as arrows and bullets, roll the Ud after the combat  is resolved. Natural weapons that are ranged begin with 8Ud which refreshes after a rest.

Actions and Turns 

Gauntlet Tales is a collaborative storytelling game. In order to stay organized and prevent players from talking over one another, gameplay is divided into turns. 

A turn is a period of time when one player gets to act. There’s no strict limit on how long a turn can be.  In game time, a turn might last anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours. The length of a turn  depends largely on the context. 

• Combat: A turn typically lasts several seconds. 

• Exploration: A turn typically lasts anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours. • Interaction: A turn usually lasts from a few seconds to a few minutes. 

Taking Actions 

In general, you can perform 1 action on your turn. An action is an interesting thing that affects the  story, so what constitutes an action varies tremendously based on context. For example, you could  spend your action to attack in combat, climb a cliff during exploration, or have a conversation with a  town guard during interaction. 

You perform actions by describing them. If you want to pick a lock, for example, you simply describe  to the GM and the other players how you go about picking the lock—the more details, the better. The  GM tells you the results of the action, and they might call for you to make a roll. 

There are 3 types of actions: Actions, Slow Actions, and Simple Actions. 

Actions 

If a trait has “Action” in the upper-right corner, that means that you have to spend your action that turn  to use it. When you finish, your turn ends and it’s someone else’s turn. 

Slow Actions 

Slow actions take a relatively long time to execute, usually anywhere between 30 seconds to several  hours. The duration depends on context and the GM’s ruling. This means that you will probably need to devote multiple turns to completing a slow action. 

Simple Actions 

Simple actions are things that you can do that don’t have a major impact on the story. Simple actions are things that you do “on the way” to performing your main action. Examples include running  across a room, opening a door, and drawing your sword. You can perform simple actions before,  during, or after performing your action on your turn. 

The limit for the number of simple actions you can perform each turn is whatever is logically  appropriate. For example, suppose that you’re in combat and your turn only lasts a few seconds of  game time. You open a door, draw your sword, and charge into an adjacent room (all simple actions)  before attacking a goblin (main action). You can logically do all of those simple actions during a  several-second turn. However, you can’t spend your several-second turn to open and close a door 100  times. Even though opening a door is a simple action, it is not logically possible to open and close a  door 100 times in just a few seconds. This would exceed your logical limit on simple actions. Moving is a simple action

Turn Order and Initiative 

Turn order is determined by the players, with the players choosing who will act first and the chosen  player acting before their opponent. After the first turn the combat will continue in a round robin  fashion, with players choosing who amongst them will act next until everyone has taken an action. 

There are a few things that players and the GM should keep in mind when resolving initiative: 

• Players should distribute turns evenly. There might be some circumstances when players  want one specific player to get several turns in a row, but these cases should generally be the  exception. 

• Be thematic and tactical. Sometimes, it’s best to think tactically when you select who acts on  your faction’s turn. Other times, it’s best to select the person who makes the most sense  thematically. When a player takes a nasty hit and is on the brink of death, is it better to let the  group’s healer act next (the tactical choice), or should the wounded player take their turn next  (the thematic choice)? 

If the players try to abuse structured turn order, the GM should step in and make it more balanced. For  example, suppose that one player has a curse that will cause them to take damage and die on their next  turn. The players might try to skip that player’s turn for the rest of combat so that the curse never  triggers. As the GM, you need to step in and force the cursed player to take their turn—for better or  worse. 

A good general rule is that players can arrange their turn orders however they like, but everyone  should get the same number of turns. Situations where one player gets extra turns at the expense of  other players should happen rarely and only when it’s thematically appropriate. 

Goon Brigades 

To cut down on combat bogging down with many combatants, friendly units and enemies are grouped together in packs of 6 people per pack, these are known as Goon Brigades. Each member has a single hit point. A successful attack against a Goon Brigade will remove a single member of it, by taking disadvantage on an attack the attacker can remove an additional member per disadvantage taken. Example: A warrior attacks a Goon Brigade and decides they want to try and take out two goons, they decrease their roll but spend an advantage they had saved to increase their roll back to the middle result. If they felt particularly confident they could decrease their roll again to remove a third goon on a success!

 When the brigade is above half of its total capacity (6) their attacks have advantage, at half capacity(3) attacks are regular rolls and below half capacity (2) attacks have disadvantage. 

Goon Brigade damage is governed by their tier: Rabble, Militia, and Mercs. Rabble are typically a group of regular folk wielding sticks, rocks and farming implements. Militia typically have seasoned combatants with actual weapons. Mercs are typically career soldiers of fortune fully outfitted with well maintained equipment. Damage dice per people still standing in the brigade scales from Rabble to Merc, d2→d4→d6.

Goon Brigades can be modified further by adding penalties or benefits such as:

• Increased armor so it takes more than a single point of damage to damage a brigade member

• Sickly or weakened that damage will always remove more than one member

• Not removing advantage after the Brigade falls below half its members to show that they’re very experienced combatants

Ambush 

If one group of combatants surprise another group of combatants (an ambush, for example), the  ambushers each get a free turn to act. Combat begins as normal after these surprise turns have ended.  Ambushed creatures are considered surprised. 

Duration-Based Effects 

Some effects last for several turns. For example, an effect might read “The target can’t move for 3  turns.” In these cases, “turns” refers to the turns of the affected creature. 

For example, the players are fighting orcs, and the group’s wizard steps into a trap and can’t move for 3 turns. That means that the wizard can’t move for the duration of 3 of their turns. The duration of the  immobilization doesn’t tick down when the other players or the orcs take their turns; the effect only expires after the wizard takes 3 turns. 

Attacking 

You can spend your action to attack. Since you only have 1 action each turn, that typically means that  you will only get 1 attack each turn. 

To attack, roll 3d20 and add the appropriate ability score modifier. If the roll is successful, you hit and  deal damage to your target. When you roll damage, you add whatever ability score modifier you used  to make the attack. For example, a creature with +3 Brawn who makes a melee strength attack rolls  3d20 +3 to see if it hits. If it does, it deals +3 extra damage. Weapons can also add to damage (see the  Items section). 

You can attack with any ability score as long as it is logical to do so. 

Melee Attacks 

Melee attacks involve attacks such as punching, biting, or swinging a sword. You can make a melee 

attack against any creature that is in your space or an adjacent space. The base damage for melee  attacks is 1d8.

Ranged Attacks 

Ranged attacks involve firearms, shooting bows, throwing daggers, and hurling rocks. You can make a  ranged attack against any creature within a midrange distance. It’s possible to make ranged attacks  against creatures farther away than that, but you must decrease the attack roll. The maximum range of  all weapons is determined by the GM (usually whatever is logical). The base damage for ranged  attacks is 1d6, but you can surrender the opportunity to move on your turn to take aim, which increases  the base damage to 1d8.

Life and Damage 

A creature can never have more life than its maximum. It loses life when it takes damage, and it gains  life when it heals. For example, suppose there is a creature that has 30 life. If it takes 10 damage, its life total falls to 20. If it then receives 15 healing, its life total rises to 30. 

A creature that is reduced to 0 hit points is defeated. It falls unconscious and is considered dying. A  dying creature rolls 1d20 at the start of each of its turns until it gets a 1 or a 20. It dies if it rolls a 1, or  it stabilizes if it rolls a 20. A stabilized creature is still unconscious but is no longer considered dying.  When the GM sees fit, a stabilized creature regains consciousness with 1 life. 

A dying creature that receives any healing whatsoever instantly stabilizes and its life total becomes 1. It remains unconscious until the GM sees fit. 

Special events might cause a creature to skip the dying process and immediately die, such as falling  from the top of an enormous mountain or swimming in a pool of lava. Additionally, creatures can spend an action to kill a dying creature (a Coup de grâce).

Defeat 

Some effects in Gauntlet Tales specifically reference defeated creatures. Creatures are considered  defeated if they lose a fight. It’s up to the GM to decide when a creature is defeated and how long it  remains defeated. In general, a creature is considered defeated if it: 

• Loses its remaining life. 

• Surrenders. 

• Cannot possibly fight back (it’s tied up, for example).

Increasing and Decreasing Damage 

In much the same way that you can increase or decrease rolls, you can also increase and decrease  damage. The damage progression is as follows: 

0→1d2→1d4→1d6→1d8→1d10→1d12→3d6→4d6→5d6→and so on… 

For example, the base damage for melee attacks is 1d8. If you increase damage, your melee attacks  deal 1d10 damage. If you decrease damage, they deal 1d6 damage. Increases and decreases cancel each other out, so a melee attack that both increases and decreases damage deals 1d8 damage. Similarly, an  attack that has its damage increased three times deals 3d6 damage. 

Armor 

Armor, much like weapons, the type of armor that a creature wears is largely an aesthetic choice. 

Armor in Gauntlet Tales falls into one of two categories: 

• Light Armor – 20 gold You have +1 block while wearing this armor. 

• Heavy Armor – 50 gold You have +2 block while wearing this armor, and you decrease all rolls that relate to mobility such as climbing, swimming, sneaking, and enduring long marches.

It’s up to your gaming group to decide where to draw the line between light and heavy armor. Light armor typically includes leather armor, hide, and chainmail. Heavy armor typically includes scale armor and full plate. Everyday clothing doesn’t count as armor

Block

Block represents armor or physical toughness. When you would take damage, subtract your block value from the damage. If you would take 10 damage and you have 2 block, you only take 8 damage. Block can reduce damage to 0. The GM may decide that block does not apply to special types of damage (standing in fire, falling from great heights, etc).

Resting and Healing 

Healing restores lost life to your character. You can’t heal more than your maximum life; any excess  healing is wasted. In general, your healing is tied to your toughness—the higher your toughness, the  more you will benefit from healing effects. 

You heal an amount of life equal to your Toughness when you get a full night’s rest. The term “full  night’s rest” appears occasionally in Gauntlet Tales and should not be taken literally. You can rest during  the day, at dusk, or whenever you please. You’re considered to get a full night’s rest as long as you  sleep and/or rest for an extended period of time (8 hours or so) with accommodations such as food, a bed, and warmth. 

Bolstering 

There are many things that you can do in combat besides attacking. You might shout encouragement to  an ally, tip over a table to provide cover, or raise your shield to protect an ally. In Gauntlet Tales, these  special attacks are considered Bolstering. Bolstering costs an action, just like attacking. 

To bolster, you simply roll 3d20 and add a fitting ability score modifier. If you succeed, you give  yourself or an ally 1 advantage (see the Advantage section below). 

You can bolster with any ability score as long as it is logical to do so, but how you bolster might affect  the range. 

The paladin wants to bolster, so they shout battle orders to their nearest ally. The GM decides that this is a Spirit roll, and that the paladin can bolster anyone in earshot. 

The fighter wants to bolster, so they raise their shield to protect a nearby ally. The GM decides that this is a Brawn roll, and the close nature of the action means that the fighter can only bolster adjacent  creatures. 

The rogue wants to bolster, so they flip up onto a nearby table for better positioning. The GM decides  that this is a Finesse roll, and the rogue can only bolster Themselves. 

Advantage 

Having advantage means that you have an edge. Anyone with advantage can spend 1 advantage to do  the following: 

• Increase a roll you make. 

• Increase an attack roll and damage roll that you make. 

• Decrease a damage roll against you. 

If you use the third option, the decreased damage roll only applies to the portion of the attack that  affects you. For example, if a dragon breathes fire on your whole group and you spend advantage to  decrease its damage roll, then that only applies to the dragon breath that affects you.

You can only spend 1 advantage per roll. 

Advantage falls into one of the three categories, i.e. combat advantage, exploration advantage, and  interaction advantage. Advantage gained through combat can only be used on combat rolls, advantage  gained through exploration can only be used on exploration rolls, and advantage gained through  interaction can only be used on interaction rolls. Advantage eventually expires depending on the  situation. For example, advantage gained during combat would probably expire after combat ends. 

Example:

A wizard and a rogue are preparing to explore a jungle. 

The wizard goes to a nearby library and spends several hours performing extensive research about the  jungle’s wildlife and terrain. At the end of the research, the GM allows the wizard to make an  intelligence roll to bolster. The wizard succeeds and gets 1 advantage that they can use while exploring the jungle. 

The rogue goes to a nearby outfitter and buys critical supplies. They also ask the merchant to show them how the specialized equipment works so that they will be better prepared to explore the jungle. The GM  allows the rogue to make a Spirit-based roll to bolster, but the rogue fails. The rogue doesn’t get the  advantage, but they still purchased the special equipment. 

While exploring the jungle, the wizard will be able to spend their 1 advantage to increase a single roll that relates to exploring. If they suddenly get ambushed by a jungle panther, they wouldn’t be able to  spend their advantage to attack because exploration advantage can only be used to explore. 

Group Advantage 

Group advantage is the same as advantage, except that any of your allies who are present can use  your group advantage as if it were their own. 

If the wizard in the above example had taken the time to explain their research results to the rogue, then the GM might allow the wizard to convert their advantage to group advantage. One of them would be  able to use the group advantage while exploring the jungle.

Spaces and Size 

Size is relative. What’s big to a mouse is small to a dragon. Size in Gauntlet Tales is represented by  spaces, which is how much physical space a creature occupies. Every creature in Gauntlet Tales  occupies 1 space, regardless of how big it is. That means that the size of 1 space varies from creature  to creature. For a human, 1 space might only be a 5-foot by 5-foot area. For a dragon, 1 space might be  a 50-foot by 50-foot area. 

These are the sizes in Gauntlet Tales and the corresponding space that they occupy: 

• Tiny: A tiny creature is the size of a housecat or smaller. It occupies a 1-foot area or smaller. 

• Small: A small creature is approximately the size of a human child. It occupies a 2-foot area. 

• Medium: A medium creature is approximately the size of a human. It occupies a 5-foot area. 

• Large: A large creature is about 2-3 times the size of a human. It occupies a 10-foot area. 

• Huge: A huge creature is approximately the size of a house. It occupies a 20-foot area. 

• Gigantic: A gigantic creature is larger than a two-story mansion. It occupies a 50-foot area or  larger. 

Many traits in Gauntlet Tales reference spaces. For example, consider the Dragon trait Fling:  Describe how you fling the target → Fling the target to a close space behind you, assuming you can  logically fling it. 

How far can the attacker fling the target? It depends on who’s doing the flinging! For a human, 5  spaces is only about 25 feet. For a huge dragon, 5 spaces is closer to 250 feet! 

Movement and Speed 

Creatures can move up to a set distance. By default, creatures can move a close distance unless  otherwise stated. These are the distance steps from shortest to longest: 

     • Near: A near distance extends several steps (relative to your size), or 3 spaces on a battlegrid. 

• Close: A close distance extends to the size to a room (relative to your size), or 5 spaces on a  battlegrid. 

• Midrange: A midrange distance extends to the size of a building (relative to your size), or 10  spaces on a battlegrid. 

• Far: A far distance extends to the size of several buildings (relative to your size), or 20 spaces  on a battlegrid. 

Moving is normally a simple action. If you attempt an extremely complicated movement (climbing a 

rock wall while trying to be stealthy, swimming while keeping an unconscious ally afloat, etc), the GM  might shorten the distance that you can travel or have the movement cost your action for that turn. 

If you need to determine the exact distance that a creature moves, multiply the feet it occupies by the  spaces it moves. For example, suppose a human moves 3 spaces. Humans are medium, which means  that they occupy 5 feet. 5×3 = 15; the human moves 15 feet. 

When you move 1 space, you don’t have to move the entire space. For example, suppose that a 50-foot long dragon wants to move 10 feet forward. It normally moves 50 feet when it moves 1 space. If the  dragon wants to, it can move forward only a fraction of its 50-foot space. 

Hurrying 

When you start your turn, you can announce that you hurry. On that turn, you decrease all rolls you  make and the distance you can move goes up 1 step, which doubles the distance you can travel. For  example, the distance you can move might increase from Close (5 spaces) to Midrange (10 spaces).  Doesn’t stack with Haste. This applies to all forms of movement: running, climbing, swimming, flying, etc. Hurrying is particularly exhausting, so the GM might require you to roll if you hurry for extended  periods of time.

Battlegrid vs Theater of the Mind 

There are two types of play styles that involve movement: battlegrid and theater of the mind. Gauntlet  Tales was designed to accommodate both of these options. 

Battlegrid 

The battle grid approach involves using game miniatures and a battle map to create an accurate  representation of battles. If you prefer this method of gameplay, then handling movement and spaces is  simply a matter of using the right minis. For medium creatures, use minis that occupy 1 squares/hex on  the battlegrid. For large creatures, use minis that occupy 2×2 squares/hexes. And so on… 

Theater of the Mind 

Gamers who use the theater of the mind (TOTM) approach avoid battlegrids, preferring instead to  imagine the game worlds. If your gaming group uses this approach, it is recommended that you stick  with qualitative descriptions. Don’t worry about exact numbers, measurements, and speed, because  these values bog down TOTM gameplay. Instead, focus on the game’s qualitative descriptions. A large  creature is exactly that: large. A close distance is exactly that: close. Simply go with what *feels* right,  and leave precise measurements to battlegrid players. Who moves farther: a medium creature that  moves a midrange distance, or a huge creature that moves a close distance? You could do the  calculation, but why bother? Just go with what feels right: TOTM gameplay is meant to be loose and  intuitive, so don’t let math slow you down.

General Rules

Stacking Effects 

Everything in Gauntlet Tales stacks with itself unless the game text specifically states otherwise. There  are three specific cases where values do not stack: 

1. “Doubled” and “Halved” effects don’t stack with themselves, but they will cancel each other  out. If your attack range is doubled by two different effects, only one of those effects applies. If  your attack range is both doubled and halved, your attack range is normal. 

2. Multiple keywords don’t stack unless the keyword specifically says that it does (such as damage over time). A creature can’t be double blinded; only one such effect can exist at a time. 

3. Longer durations replace shorter durations. If a creature is stunned for 1 turn and you hit it with  an effect that will cause it to be stunned for 5 turns, the longer stun overwrites the shorter stun.  If that five-turn stun is somehow immediately removed, the creature is no longer stunned  because the 1-turn stun was erased when the 5-turn stun went into effect. 

The phrase “Doesn’t stack” means that the corresponding effect doesn’t stack with itself. The effect  will stack with other effects, even effects that also read, “Doesn’t stack.” 

Creative License 

Every person playing the game (both the players and the GM) have the privilege of controlling certain  aspects of the game world. The GM gets the most control: he can control the weather, how the monsters behave, what the rogue discovers when he opens up a treasure chest, and so forth. The players get much 

less control, but the things that they control are still very important: their characters’ appearances,  personalities, actions, and so forth. 

Special circumstances give players creative license, which blurs the line between player and GM.  When a player gets creative license, he temporarily gains control over an aspect of the game world  that’s usually controlled by the GM. 

Getting creative license is exciting and empowering. When you get creative license, think of it as your  opportunity to do something truly spectacular. 

Creative license is always to do one specific thing. It might be creative license to attack in a special  way, discover something in the environment, change how a non-player character behaves, etc. You gain complete control over that one specific thing, but it’s your responsibility to describe it in a reasonable  and logical way. 

You have a trait that reads, “Gain creative license to make a creature leave the area.” 

You use it on an innkeeper, so you gain creative license to make that innkeeper leave the area however  you want. You might say that you draw your weapon, so the innkeeper yelps in terror and quickly runs  away. You might say that you grab the innkeeper by the arm and drag him outside. You might say that a delivery for the innkeeper arrives, so they step outside to sign for it. It’s entirely up to you! 

There are limits to creative license, however. You can’t use your license to do other things that aren’t  described. In the above example, you can’t say that a fight breaks out on the street, so every single  person in the bar (including the innkeeper) goes outside to watch. In order to do that, the ability would  have to read, “You gain creative license to make all creatures leave the area.” 

You also can’t use creative license to make totally unreasonable things happen. You can’t have the  innkeeper leave because he wants to withdraw all of their money from the bank and give it to you. You  also can’t have a dragon rip off the roof of the inn, grab the innkeeper in its talons, and fly away  (unless, of course, there happens to be a dragon terrorizing the village). If a player abuses their creative  license, the GM can and should veto the player’s choice to force Them to come up with something  more reasonable. 

Traits are a common source of creative license. The GM is also encouraged to give players creative  license when it is thematically appropriate. For example, it’s fitting to give players creative license when  they kill monsters. After a hard-fought battle, it’s very rewarding for players to describe in gruesome  detail how they land the finishing blow on a monster, and how the monster reacts to its final moments. 

Summed up, this is the short reference guide for creative license: 

• You take over the game when you gain creative license. 

• You control things that you normally can’t control (weather, other characters, the environment,  etc). 

• Your choices must be logical and thematically appropriate. 

• Creative license always gives you power to do one specific thing. You can’t go beyond those  bounds. 

• The GM can veto your choice. If you ask, they must explain why your choice was overly  exploitable, implausible, or why it didn’t fit into the theme of the game. You get another chance  to resolve your creative license. 

• Be exciting and dramatic! 

As the GM, you should step back and let players exercise their creative license however they want as  long as they don’t disrupt the game. This is their chance to do something fun, so try not to veto unless  absolutely necessary. 

6 Important Rules 

Last but not least, these 6 rules of Gauntlet Tales exist to clarify any ambiguity in the rules. If there is  ever a conflict or a strange interaction in the rules, these six rules apply. 

1. Specific rules take precedence over general rules. 

2. It’s up to the gaming group and the GM to define the specifics of vague rules. Some rules are  intentionally vague to allow for creative interpretation. 

3. Infinite loops stop after 1 cycle of the loop. For example, if a player deals 1 damage every time they move, and they move every time they deal damage, then they can only go through that cycle once before the loop immediately ends. They can go through the loop again on their next turn. 

4. When in doubt, go with the most logical and the most thematically appropriate interpretation of  the rules. 

5. The GM gets the final say on everything. 

6. Have fun. If changing the rules would make your group have more fun, do so. Now, it’s time to get started!