playtest version VERSION DATE
find latest version at https://1kFA.com
email sjb@ezide.com
Cross together into an unknown world, share your fantastic story, and return a hero of myth! Welcome to A Thousand Faces of Adventure!
A Thousand Faces of Adventure is a tool for telling a story. This story is written live by you and your friends, sitting around a table.
This story is improvisational, interactive, and collaborative.
The rewards for playing are laughter and excitement while you play, followed up with years of warm conversations that start with "Remember that time we were playing A Thousand Faces of Adventure and..."
If you are an experienced RPG player you might want to jump ahead past this indroductory hulabaloo and rules reference, and start playing with the first activity available to you. Typically in RPGs, this means "character creation", which is often done as a solo, "homework" activity before the whole table comes together to play.
A Thousand Faces of Adventure is designed to be played by a group of friends the moment everyone's together at the table. Character creation will be an interactive activity that requires your friends. Open the GM Guide and look under the Begin a Campaign section for more details.
This Player's Guide is a manual of all the procedures a non-GM player might need during play.
This game falls in the category of games called conversation. It may seem weird to think of conversation as a "game", but it will help you understand how everything fits together. This perspective lets you rely on your existing knowledge and expertise at conversation "games". Life has already taught you about how, in a conversation, you take turns, make offerings, interrupt politely, and listen with interest, so you're already an expert at the foundational rules of this game.
Imagine the audience for this story is the inner children of all the players. What evokes the feelings we had when we were children playing pretend? Can you remember being 11 years old and watching a spectacular Steven Spielberg movie? Or maybe a cheap-but-awesome Sam Raimi movie?
You are going to collaborate with all the other players to make this story, so when it's your turn to narrate, think of what will give your friends around the table a thrill, put them in suspense, ratchet up their feelings of tension, or make their jaws drop with awe.
Sometimes inner children get a big kick out of blood and guts. Your inner child might giggle at the "adult" scenes in an HBO series. If you don't know what topics your friends consider "off-limits", it is a good idea to ask and tell before you start playing.
The story that emerges is not a precisely crafted thing. That's ok. It doesn't have to be high art or even a cartoon on Adult Swim. It gets shaped by each player, and when your turn comes, you adapt, do your best improvisational "Yes, and" , and see where it goes from there. It might sound like chaos, but with some faith in your friends, you will delight at how the plot solidifies, and how real the characters become.
To play the game, one person will take on the role of the Game Master, or "GM". The other people will be called simply "Players".
The GM's job is to help everyone follow the rules of the game, and say stuff. Occasionally they will write notes and scribble some quick numerical facts.
The imagined world and its inhabitants will be narrated mainly by the GM.
Player, your narrative contribution will mainly be your character.
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Most of your time will be spent saying stuff. You are part of a conversation. Ask questions, use your imagination, chime in when someone inspires you. Think about your character like a hero of a movie, and try playing as the writer of the movie, or the director, or immerse yourself like a method actor standing in the character's boots and seeing with their eyes.
A Thousand Faces of Adventure invites you to:
- Describe your character and their actions
- Act out their dialogue
- Describe how they act
- flourishes and stunts
- their facial expressions, voice, and body language
- Tell what they say / hear / see / smell / taste / feel
- Describe their thoughts & memories
- Chime in when they interact with or support the other characters
- Tell parts of the story
- Tell your character's backstory
- Contribute ideas and assert facts when the GM asks questions
- Refer to your moves to generate more ideas and see what boundaries you can push
As the conversation unfolds, the rules will chime in as well. When that happens you will be called do things beyond just "saying stuff":
- Flip cards from your Deckahedron
- Move tokens around
- Roll dice
This guide will teach you how to do those things.
A Thousand Faces of Adventure is a game about your character growing from humble beginnings as a scrappy adventurer into someone who will have an epic impact on their world.
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During character creation, you will get to determine all aspects of your character's history, social and economic circumstances, and personality. These are fictional aspects of the character. You will use the game's rules to determine all the mechanical aspects of the character.
The terms mechanical and mechanism describe aspects of the game that concern rules, numbers, and procedures.
Mechanically, characters start out just a little bit more powerful than a common villager. Your character will have more stamina than a townsperson, and will start with three special moves, but that's all that separates them from Michel the stable-hand and Constance the librarian.
TODO: fluff with one-sentence example characters
You can invent any backstory you like, but you may need to answer questions about how the backstory fits the character's game limitations. Nothing stops you from creating a hulking, 7 foot tall barbarian, with a rich history of warring and slaughtering enemies, but at the very beginning of the game, a little bad luck may see that barbarian suffer a sound drubbing at the hands of a farmer and his overprotective goat.
So to make this barbarian feel authentic, you'll need to invent some narrative conceit or justification (drunkard? battle-worn? magically cursed?) so that the character begins at a "scrappy adventurer" level.
As your character adventures in the world, they will gain experience and equipment making them worthy of the title "hero". See Character advancement for more details.
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The main activity in the game is "saying stuff", mostly stuff about your character. Often, you'll say something that triggers a move, and that move will be resolved using your Deckahedron.
(If you do not have a physical copy of this game, you can find a digital Deckahedron at 1kFA.com/table )
Every player except the GM gets a Deckahedron. Inspect your Deckahedron. You should have 20 cards. There are 4 symbols, or "suits", on the fronts and backs of the cards:
| Name | suit | odds | color | rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anvil |  { width=0.5inch } |
the weakest odds | red | rank 1 |
| Blade |  { width=0.5inch } |
below average odds | blue | rank 2 |
| Crown |  { width=0.5inch } |
above average odds | yellow | rank 3 |
| Dragon |  { width=0.5inch } |
the best odds | green | rank 4 |
Shuffle your Deckahedron and place it face-down in front of you.
When your character does something active in the game, like "triggering" a move or aiding teammates, you will use the Deckahedron to "flip" a card. At other times, you will also use your Deckahedron to "reveal", "discard", and "exhaust" cards. These actions are described below.
Whenever your character attempts something risky, where the outcome is not certain, it will "trigger" a move. The GM will name which move has triggered and call for you to take your Deckahedron and "flip".
Find the description of the named move either in the Base Moves or on a Move Card. It will specify which of your character's "attributes" -- Dex, Int, or Str -- will be used to resolve the flip. (Sometimes there are multiple attributes listed. In this case, chose the one that makes the most sense in the narrative context)
| GM Note: | A subjective judgement is sometimes needed to decide between Dex, | Int, or Str, or between two moves that may be reasonably triggered | by the character's narrated action. | You may always ask the player to provide more detail before settling | on these decisions. | If there is ever remaining ambiguity after the players have had an | opportunity to discuss and clarify, the GM has final authority to | make this decision
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Take the top card of your Deckahedron and flip it face up. Next, look to your character sheet, at the chosen attribute -- Dex, Int, or Str -- to find its suit (Anvil, Blades, Crown, or Dragon).
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On the face of the flipped card, find that suit symbol. The "result" of the move is the ✗ or ✔ symbols next to that suit.
(When you flip, keep in mind that the GM needs to read the result. Being consistent with how you orient the card will help simplify the GM's bookkeeping and keep up the pace of the game.)
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Finally, read the instructions on your move card. It tells you and the GM how to interpret the ✗s and ✔s.
You're playing a character named Kresk. You say:
Kresk sees the pit of spikes in front of him, but isn't scared. He just takes a running start and mightily leaps over the pit, landing safely on the other side.
The GM interjects:
Ok, sounds good, but let's see if Kresk's legs are strong enough. Please flip Defy Danger with your strength.
Here, "Defy Danger" is the move, and "strength" (Str) is the chosen attribute.
Find the description of the Defy Danger move in your Base Moves (it's at the very beginning). Next, on the character sheet, see that Kresk has rank 3 (Crown) Str. Flip over the top card of your Deckahedron and look for that Crown suit.
Let's say the flipped card shows ✔✔ next to the Crown. The Defy Danger move reads "You do it, but there's a new complication". When you look to the GM to interpret this outcome, they begin to improvise:
You leap through the air, landing with a thud on the other side of the pit, kicking up a cloud of dust on this forgotten jungle trail. Rising to your feet, you notice that more than dust has been stirred. The sounds of movement and a threatening rattle alerts you to something approaching from inside the pit. What do you do?
After every flip, any face-up Deckahedron card is placed, face-up, in a discard pile. (Later, you will start another pile of cards called an Exhaustion pile. Keep them separate.)
At any time other than during a flip, you may take your discard pile and shuffle it back into your Deckahedron.
Whenever your Deckahedron has 5 or fewer cards, you must take your discard pile and shuffle it back into your Deckahedron.
When a player's character performs a move, the player executes a flip, and the GM leads the table interpreting the narrative result, based on the text of the move.
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Usually ✔✔✔ means an unfettered success, and ✔✔ means success, but with complication.
When the result is a single ✅︎, it sometimes means the same as a ✔✔, but often it is slightly worse.
As you read this section it may help to lay out the move cards in front of you.
| GM Note: Any time a flip results in a single ✅︎ | the GM gains a Shadow point -- even when the | move card says it has the same narrative effect | as a ✔✔.
Note: some move descriptions give choices between several options. If one of the options is impossible (fictionally or mechanically), it may not be chosen. Choose one of the other options instead.
When the result is ✗, it is the GM's turn to make a move. The GM narrates the consequences of the move the player just attempted and has license to take the narrative where they like.
See the GM Guide for explanations of Shadow points and for a list of moves the GM is allowed to make.
Sometimes a move does not say how a ✅︎ should be interpreted. In that case, the GM gets to make a move, just like ✗.
Rarely, a move will have instructions for how to interpret a ✗ result. These instructions should be executed, but might only be part of the GM's move -- the GM gets to decide if they have more to add.
When the move is a FAST move, the GM does not get to make a move on a ✗. Instead, the GM just gains 2 Shadow points.
Some move descriptions have the FAST symbol. This indicates they can be used in conjunction with another move during your character's moment in the spotlight.
As the conversation shifts around the table, players will have informal "turns" where they talk about what actions their character is taking. The game works best when this "spotlight" is moved around fairly so each player can contribute. The spotlight typically follows a single character's actions until they trigger, then resolve a move.
FAST moves are like "bonus" moves that augment, or quickly follow the initially triggered move.
Characters will trigger at most one FAST move during their moment in the spotlight. Otherwise the pace of the game can slow down, and other players may feel like they aren't getting a fair share.
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Examples of cards tagged FAST include Unknown Benefactor, Where It Hurts, and Shield.
A moment in the spotlight might see your swordsman character triggering the move Mix It Up, causing damage to a foe, and then also triggering Where It Hurts as you describe the sword delivering a stunning blow, clanging loud and hard against the foe's helmet.
Or, your professor of alchemy character might trigger Defy Danger as they jump out of the way of a toppling bookcase. After you flip an ✗, the GM may start enumerating the attack power your character must suffer, to which you could respond by invoking Unknown Benefactor to cancel the attack's effects.
Some flips are a little more complicated. There are moves that instruct you to "take +1 advantage" or "flip with advantage". Sometimes you are given the opposite instruction "flip with disadvantage" or "your foe gets advantage".
With an advantage, flip over your top card as usual, and then flip over the next card as well. Compare the results (the number of ✗s or ✔s next to the relevant suit) and resolve the flip with the card that has the best result.
If it's a tie, you may choose whichever card to be the card that resolves the flip.
After, all flipped cards go face-up in your discard pile.
You must flip over all the cards you were instructed to, even if the first card shows ✔✔✔.
With a disadvantage, do the same thing, but use the worst result.
Acting against a foe that has advantage is mechanically identical to your character having disadvantage.
Advantage or disadvantage can stack. Flips can accumulate up to 2 advantage or 2 disadvantage, meaning that you flip 3 cards in total and take the best or worst, respectively.
No flip may use more than 3 cards in total, so stacking advantage beyond 2 is just ignored.
It is possible a situation might arise where you are instructed to both "flip with advantage" and "flip with disadvantage". If this happens, simply add up all the advantages, and then subtract all the disadvantages to arrive at a "net advantage" or "net disadvantage". The maximum number of cards per flip is still 3, so even if the "net disadvantage" is -3, you only flip 3 cards and take the worst.
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Resolving flips is how players acquire experience points (XP). XP are a player's most important mechanical currency in the game.
Some Deckahedron cards show an experience point symbol in the middle. These are XP cards. After a flip is resolved by an XP card, take one XP from the supply.
You may only do this when the card resolves a flip. (ie, when flipping multiple cards, only if the XP card was the one from which the ✗ or ✔ symbols were used to interpret the result of the move)
XP are a currency you spend to activate "meta" parts of the game. See below for moves that let you "break" or "bend" rules, or partially take control of the narrative.
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Some move cards will instruct you to take Blessing cards. When instructed to do so, draw one Blessing card at random from the supply, and place it in your discard pile.
Blessing cards improve your Deckahedron by giving you better chances to succeed at moves.
Whenever a move is resolved by a Blessing card, return the Blessing card to the supply rather than keeping it in your discard pile.
Sometimes you flip over a wound card and must lose a Stamina point. See the Combat chapter.
Before a flip is executed, if other players have characters in the same scene as the character taking action, and there is nothing in the fiction preventing it, those other players may choose to have their characters aid the "spotlighted" character. They just chime in before the flip and say how their character helps out.
Another time the Teamwork Flip is triggered is when the characters are all bound together in joint success or joint failure. (eg, Defying Danger when the whole party is in a canoe traveling over whitewater) In that case, the GM asks the players "who is taking the lead?". That "lead" character is the "spotlighted" character, and the other players are supporting them.
The spotlighted player flips as they normally would, the supporting players say how their characters are helping and each flip one Anvil.
The players choose the best result to resolve the flip.
Only the card that resolved the flip can generate XP, and only for the player who played it.
If there are any negative consequences (damage, danger, etc) from the result, all the participating characters must suffer them.
Supporting players may not Do a Flashback on Teamwork Flips.
A GM only calls for a flip when the situation is uncertain or risky for the character. If the outcome is certain, the GM may just narrate what happens. Or they may ask clarifying questions.
This game is a conversation between people, so there is variability in how it plays out. Different GMs will draw their line of certainty at different places.
Consider a situation where the GM has described your character, Kresk, waking up after making camp in a forest. Beside Kresk is a squirrel, nibbling an acorn.
You might respond by saying,
"Kresk wants that acorn! I Mix It Up with the squirrel!"
It would be bizarre, but completely within the rules for the GM to write up some stats for the squirrel (1 Stamina, 1 attack power), and begin a melee combat between Kresk and the squirrel, and ask you to flip Str to resolve the Mix It Up move.
But the GM will more likely interpret your action, as described, as having a certain outcome. Perhaps the GM will respond:
- "As you raise your fist to smash the squirrel, it darts off into the forest, never to be seen again."
- "How is Kresk going to overcome the squirrel's natural speed and reflexes?"
- "You smash your fist down and flatten the rodent. Strangely, it didn't even flinch. Does this odd behaviour remind Kresk of the rumors he heard about this forest being enchanted?"
The GM doesn't always have to invoke a move and call for a flip. But in this example, the player literally names a move ("I Mix It Up..."). That's a strong signal to the GM, and the GM is likely to follow strong signals.
If you enjoy playing in a style where things flow like a narrated story, from question to answer, from description to dialogue and naturally back around again, rather than pushing a limited set of buttons laid out in front of you, try playing without naming the moves. Just describe what your character does in a natural way.
"Kresk wants that acorn! I slam my fist down on the squirrel!"
Because uncertainty is a key requirement before a flip is called for, the fiction that you and your friends establish matters.
If a character threatens a towering Mountain Giant with a punch (that would only reach the Giant's lower shin), the GM will not call for a Parley flip. A wound to the arm or hand might be described in such a way that would clearly make using a bow for Volley or Called Shot impossible. Or successful application of an Amulet of Amiability might mean that Pick Pockets can be skipped - the affected NPC might just offer to share their precious items.
Your character will confront violent foes and dangerous obstacles. Will they endure exertion and injury to keep venturing forward, or will they be disfavoured by fate and end up broken, spent, or collapsed?
In a fight, a character is running, dodging, striking, and being struck by their foe. All of this action is scary and exhausting. A character gets weaker as this exchange goes on, even if they dodge every blow.
This weakening is represented by cards from your Deckahedron being lost into your Exhaustion pile.
In any kind of real-world boxing or martial arts match, the later rounds find the athletes worn down, their footwork less animated, and their guard drops more frequently. The contest is not always decided with a knockout punch, it often comes down to who can better endure the exertion.
In this spirit, in-game combat typically causes cards to be lost to the Exhaustion pile, and the players are encouraged to narrate these mechanistic outputs as this type of stamina loss.
With that said, there is also a Wound mechanism, described below.
When a Deckahedron contains only 3 or fewer cards, even after an opportunity to reshuffle, that character is incapacitated. At the point when the player's Deckahedron hits this number, their character's fate is up to the game rules and the GM.
When your character gets attacked or falls victim to some other danger, you have choices about exactly how they are affected. They may dodge, and just lose Stamina, they may stand stubbornly against a blow, perhaps absorbing it with their armour, or they may be wounded by it.
The procedure for making these decisions is called "The Four Ds":
-
Reveal
-
Reduce
-
Reap / Remand / Remit
-
Regale
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Denominate - reveal cards to find the numerical attack power
-
Deduct from the attack power by using cards or taking Wounds
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Distribute tokens
-
Describe the outcomes in the fiction
When your character suffers the consequences of violence, you reveal cards and read the numbers shown. Use the top card from either your Deckahedron or your Exhaustion pile, whichever is larger, shuffling if necessary to ensure unpredictability.
When a move calls for "1d4", read the number shown inside the triangle. When a move calls for "1d5", read the number shown inside the square. If there is no number, that card doesn't count. Just ignore it and use the next card.
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When a move calls for "1d10", add both numbers shown in the triangle and the square. If there is no number in the triangle or the square, consider it a zero for the purposes of addition.
Note, this "1d10" process does not produce results uniformly between 1 and 10, but instead produces results along a specially-designed "2-to-10 curve", which has been chosen to provide statistical results that create a pleasing and dramatic experience.
In rare cases the instructions of a move will explicitly declare the amount of attack power, so you won't have to reveal cards.
Put the revealed card in your discard pile.
After the attack power is known, you can choose to lower it by using move cards like Good Cardio and Mystic Breathwork or item cards like Shield, or by taking a Wound.
You can always choose to absorb the entire amount of attack power by taking a single Wound.
Otherwise, cards that negate or absorb attack power can be used to reduce the total. Generally, you take Exhaustion or Wound tokens from the supply and place them on the designated space on the card.
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Let's say your character was attacked with a sword and the dice were rolled and summed up to 7. You can either take 7 Exhaustion tokens (thus losing 7 Stamina points), or choose to take one Wound token (see below) instead.
Let's further say your character had lost 3 Stamina points earlier in the battle. With only 7 Stamina points left, it's a wise time to take a Wound.
In the third step, you will lose cards from your Deckahedron according to the remaining attack power.
Remember the Bust-On-3 rule. If this process reduces the cards in your Deckahedron to 3 or fewer (even after reshuffling in your discard pile), then your character is incapacitated. To win at combat, a character's foes must be subdued or pacified before this happens.
Once incapacitated, the character can take no further actions. It is up to the GM to decide what this incapacitation means - whether the character is dead, unconscious, or otherwise unable to act.
Reveal cards from your Deckahedron face-up until you have revealed exhaustion symbols equal to the remaining attack power. Take all of the revealed cards, including the cards without exhaustion symbols, and put them face-down in your Exhaustion pile.
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If you haven't started an Exhaustion pile, start a new one. Keep it separate from your Deckahedron and discard pile.
If your Deckahedron does not contain enough cards, you must reshuffle your discard pile into the Deckahedron and continue.
Note: you may choose to reshuffle your discard pile back into the Deckahedron before moving cards onto their Exhaustion pile.
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Wounds are a long-term source of trouble for your charcter. When wounded, all intelligent creatures seek to cure their condition as a high priority.
When you choose to take a Wound, or if the rules demand that you take one:
- If you already have 2 wounds:
- your character is incapacitated
- Otherwise:
- The GM will describe how your character was wounded
- Randomly draw a wound card from the supply and place it in your discard pile. It will now start cycling between your Deckahedron and your discard pile.
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Wound cards can be used to represent different fictional aspects. They usually represent literal wounds, but may also be used for the effects of disease, poison, or other effects inflicted by monsters or the environment.
Having a wound card in your Deckahedron causes flips to become more risky.
Whenever a wound card is revealed in the course of a flip:
- (Optional) Say or act out the guttural noise emitted by your character
- You must immediately stop flipping (eg, if you were instructed you to "flip 3", you stop short once you hit the wound card - resolve the move with only the card(s) you flipped. This overrides the Complete Flip Rule)
- Lose one Stamina point
Finally, the fourth step: you interpret those results into the narrative. Did your character dive into the dirt? Did they take a punch to the jaw and respond with a bloodied grin? Did the spear bounce right off their steel breastplate?
| The act of taking a risk, deciding how | to get hurt, and then later, deciding when and | how to heal, with each stage having its | sacrifices and benefits, is a miniature echo of | the overall structure of the Hero's Journey | campaign. Starting in comfort, choosing to | cross a threshold, deciding which fork to take | in a road of trials, then returning.
During character creation, you receive two Pack cards and take some Item cards. These cards represent equipment carried by your character that interacts with mechanisms of the game.
Daily-use amounts of money and food are not tracked. It is assumed your character will always be able to scrounge a meal somehow. Unless it is relevant to the drama of the fictional situation or inspired by the Touchstone List (see the GM Guide), small monetary transactions may be abridged or assumed.
It is also not necessary to exactly measure movement speed or the sizes of all the gear carried or to track the body part to which the gear is strapped.
Your character has a movement speed, a certain lightness-of-foot, they carry a certain amount of equipment and items, and perhaps even a certain amount of wealth or treasure.
There are some moves that are affected by how much stuff a character carries. These moves have a "Encumbrance Penalty" section, and describe how carried equipment affects their outcomes.
At any time that makes sense in the fiction, a character can drop items and equipment.
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Throughout the game, your character will gain, lose, and trade equipment and supplies that are worth tracking. These items don't need to be specified until they actually get used. Instead they are tracked with anonymous Pack cards.
White-side green cards represent "regular" Pack and black-side green cards represent "precious" Pack. Precious Pack is something that is found precious by someone. It may be something made of a rare metal like gold, or it may be simply a full waterskin offered to a parched NPC in the desert.
If the specifics of a Pack card get concretely established in the fiction, and the card is not immediately spent, the Pack card should be returned to the supply and a blank Item card should be taken to replace it, with the name or details of the item written on it.
Your character starts off with 2 Pack cards, enabling the move Good Thing I Brought...
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Adventurers are always finding themselves in tricky situations. Luckily, they come prepared with adventuring gear. They have been known to carry 50 feet of rope, smelling salts, books of racy poems, sometimes even a 3-day-old pork chop to distract hounds or hungry goblins.
It's a fact. You know this and A Thousand Faces of Adventure knows this, so you won't be asked to keep fine-grained notes of every candle and spare button in your character's inventory.
Reasonable daily-use items are presumed to be in your character's pack. If you're unsure, remember this game is a conversation, so just ask the table.
But sometimes you will be in a situation where having that 50 feet of rope or an old pork chop would really solve a problem for your character.
When your character reaches into their pack and produces the item that solves their current problem or helps them overcome a challenge, just say what it is and execute the "Good Thing I Brought..." move.
The Pack cards represent the adventuring gear a character has brought along. But you do not need to declare exactly what that gear is until you're in a situation where you need something specific.
If the "Good Thing I Brought..." move is executed and the newly "declared" equipment is something that can be returned to the backpack after use, write its name down on a blank card and exchange that card for the "anonymous" Pack card(s) that were the cost of "Good Thing I Brought...".
If 2 Pack cards are spent, and the character ends up with one card returning to their backpack, future Encumberance Penalty calculations will change. Use the fiction to justify that. Maybe they didn't have exactly what they needed, so one piece of equipment had to be consumed to create the necessary tool, in a MacGuyver-esque fashion.
If the equipment is something that gets consumed immediately when used, the 1 or 2 Pack cards just get returned back to the supply.
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Damage to items is represented as black-side red cards.
The "Bust-on-3" mechanism is used to represent damage.
The first two times an item is damaged, place a red card on the Item card, black-side-up.
If an item already has 2 red cards on it, and it is damaged again, it is destroyed. Return it and the red cards to the supply.
All mundane (non-magical) items can be damaged. Usually this happens as the result of a GM move.
To repair items, see the move Sharpen and Stitch
Magic is an element that pervades stories of fantasy. It can be obscure and stemming from nature like in Lord of the Rings, it can be elemental and allegorical like in The Wheel of Time, and it can be linguistic and self-aware like in The Invisibles.
To avoid presuming too much about the narrative, the rules do not dictate the nature of magic or the "how" of magic. That's for you to decide during play. The rules provide a mechanical foundation and some optional narrative paths. You are invited to take this well-tested framework, play with it, and expand into it.
Is magic woven from subtle threads that pervade the universe? Is it based on words of power? Is it high technology hidden in the planet's crust by alien benefactors? Is it copied exactly from a concept in your Touchstone List? You decide.
The rules give you a way to have scrappy adventurers begin with magic items. These artifacts have 3 charges, and are rechargeable during Rest. Your character can eventually build themselves up in power to a point where they can cast magic spells without needing the items.
The rules also give names for two sources of magical power, "The Living Light" and "The Blood-Bound". It's up to you to give these names narrative meaning, if you want.
One thing to keep in mind is that characters may attempt any move that resolves with Str / Dex / Int. (See Move Levels So even if moves like Use a Magic Item or Fundamental Magic were not chosen at character creation or gained via Study Under a Master, any character may attempt them.
That said, using magic invokes some of the more complicated rules. Players are challenged with managing and balancing charges, capacity, stamina, requirements, and narrative effect. This kind of play is ideal for players excited by complexity and the potential of explorable branches.
Upon triggering the Use a Magic Item move, a character "flows magical energy" into the item. Then the magical effects happen.
Some magic effects happen immediately.
Some magic effects persist even after the flow of magical energy into
the item has ceased. (eg, _ of Sensation)
Some magic items have the ONGOING tag, and their effects persist only as long as magical energy flows into the item. It is up to the player to declare when their character ceases the flow of magical energy. If the flow of magical energy continues, they are not considered idle for the purposes of the Rest and Seek Help moves.
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By default, magic items have capacity for 3 charges. An item is considered "depleted" when all its charges are used. The term used for a card's maximum number of charges is "capacity" or "charge capacity".
The number of charges a magic item currently has is tracked by keeping green cards underneath it.
When a magic item loses a charge, take one of the green cards and place it back in the supply. When there are no more green cards underneath it, it is depleted and cannot be used.
Charge capacity can be gained and lost. Every time it changes, players should mark the new capacity on the Magic Item card
If the charge capacity decreases below 1, all the bonds that held the item together dissipate, including the bonds of matter. Return the card to the supply.
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When a character holds a magic item and flows energy into it, the player flips Int, and on any result other than ✗, the item activates and the effects described on the magic item card happen.
Using a magic item causes it to lose a charge. This loss can be avoided with moves like Entreat the Blood-Bound and Channel the Living Light.
Following that, results of ✅︎ and ✔✔ cause a further cost to be incurred, as chosen from the list by the GM or the player, respectively.
Note: if the magic item being used is a magical weapon, another choice is available: "the weapon is damaged".
The RECEIVE CARDS tag: when a player chooses this card during character creation or Study Under a Master, they also receive 1 magic item of their choice.
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If it has not yet been established, when a player first uses this move, it's a great time for the GM to ask them a question: "Who or what is the Blood-Bound?"
| GM Note: this is a great way to stretch your | improv muscles. Say "Yes, and..." no matter if | they identify the Blood-Bound as tiny, parasitic | insects or as monstrous, extra-dimensional dark gods.
When a player chooses this card during character creation or Study Under a Master, they also receive the item Blade of Echoes.
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If it has not yet been established, when a player first uses this move, it's a great time for the GM to ask them: "Who or what is the Living Light?"
When a player chooses this card during character creation or Study Under a Master, they also receive the item Sigil of the Living Light.
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Sometimes you plan out something really great, and then you resolve a flip, and don't get the results you need.
A Flashback serves as sort of a "mulligan" in those situations, but it also provides a way to develop your character's backstory and personality.
After a player makes a flip, and before the GM describes the consequence of
the flip, the player can declare they're going to do a flashback.
The player spends 1 XP. Then they describe how something that happened in the past particularly prepared their character for this situation.
Then the original flip is ignored, and a new flip is executed, using the same advantage or disadvantage as the original flip.
The player may then spend additional XP to "bump up" the result. Each XP spent increases the result, from ✗ to ✅︎ to ✔✔ to ✔✔✔.
Technically, this flip is resolved only after the XP are spent, so if the new card was an XP card, the player should take an XP from the supply only after they finished spending their XP to "bump up" the results.
Players may find themselves in a situation where they forgot to do something when they had the chance, like use healing magic while they were resting, or leveling up a move before they left a town, or getting some key information from an NPC before that NPC died.
As long as the player and the GM both agree that the player had the necessary resources when the action was available, the GM may allow the player to spend those resources and effect that action now, as a "Mercy Flashback".
The player must spend one XP, in addition to whatever cost the action incurs.
Even the most conscientious of us sometimes loses track of small details, so the cost is kept "cheap" at only one XP. But there must be a cost. It is necessary to keep the flow of the game going. This is a game of improv storytelling, and improv means rolling with the punches sometimes.
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One of the 20 cards in your Deckahedron is the "Critical Success card". It has a ✔✔✔ symbol on every edge and a circular green symbol in the middle.
If you resolve a flip with the Critical Success card, you can do one of two things:
- Say how your character's practice has finally paid off, or how they had an insight or epiphany about the move they just accomplished. Spend XP 1-for-1 to go up levels in the move that was just resolved.
- Take a Blessing card from the supply and put it in your discard pile.
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Taking a Breather is a move that a character can take during combat. This action allows a character to regain up to 4 Stamina points.
The player may use either Intelligence or Dexterity to perform the Take a Breather action.
If they use Intelligence, they say how they execute a tactic or recognize a favourable position that lets them gather their breath and their wits.
If they use Dexterity, they say how they maneuver into a safe position that offers some temporary safety.
Regaining Stamina may be done either by taking cards from the Exhaustion pile and putting them into the discard pile, or by returning Exhaustion tokens to the supply.
When recovering cards from the Exhaustion pile, the player may choose any cards they want, but may not flip them face-up if they are face-down.
When combat or a pursuit ends, and it is appropriate for the narrative (e.g. when there's a scene transition and the characters reasonably have a few minutes to catch their breath), the players may Take a Breather using Str as a FAST move (ie, no GM move triggers if the result is ✗ or ✅︎).
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This card makes a character an especially resilient fighter and athlete.
In a combat encounter, a player will usually trigger an aggressive move like Mix It Up or Volley. During their turn in the spotlight, the player can also trigger one more move, as long as it has the FAST tag. Good Cardio is one such card, and allows the character to regain some of their lost Stamina points, and stay in the action longer.
Good Cardio has an additional effect that passively prevents a character from losing Stamina in the first place. Instead of losing a point of Stamina, an Exhaustion token can be placed in the first "slot" of the card. If the character goes up move levels (see below), a new slot opens up for each level the move is increased. Only one token can be placed in a slot.
Every session after the first session, there is a special move to execute at the very beginning, The Session Opener. It is a player's opportunity to generate an extra XP.
Your GM will lead you through a story recap and pose some questions about your character. Then you will be given the opportunity to Ask for notes and Give notes to your fellow players.
After this exercise, all participating players will receive an XP.
The details of the Session Opener are described in the GM Guide.
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Sharpen and Stitch is a way to repair damaged items by spending Pack cards.
This move must be executed alongside the Rest move.
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When the Shop / Procure move is used, the scene can be described as an everyday shopping trip or a thieving and bribery escapade, or anything else that makes sense in the narrative, so long as the mechanical outcome would be certain.
The GM presents to the player 4 cards of any mix of items: mundane, magical, a special commodity established in the narrative, or even something purely decorative. It is ok for the GM and player to discuss the items beforehand to any level of detail, and it is also ok for the player to outright say what they want to go shopping for.
The GM should be honest with the narrative, stay true to their goals and try to provide the kind of fun the player has signaled they want to have.
The GM shouldn't present a player a card the character is unable to use.
There are mundane items in A Thousand Faces of Adventure, as well as magical ones. This text includes rules for weapons, shields, and armour. But characters may have other items as well. Those other items may just be decorative or they may have narrative value (carrying around a small barrel of brandy may earn you a welcome from the thirsty dwarves you meet).
Weapons cards describe what the character has armed themself with. These cards might describe "weaponry" rather than a single item, as the Many Knives card demonstrates.
Weapons have "power": d4, d6, or d10. This determines what die to roll when you roll attack power. Generally players can increase weapon power with the Tales of a Weapon move.
The GM should decide if the weaponry incurs any additional costs when calculating encumbrance penalties. Is the item particularly heavy or large?
Here are the default weapons available to characters:
| Name | notes |
|---|---|
| _ Sword | |
| Many Knives | At close range, can be thrown. Maximum power is d6 |
| _ Bow | Long range, not usable at melee range |
When an armour-clad character would normally take Harm or a Wound, the player may put the Harm or Wound token into an appropriate empty slot on their Armour card. This represents the character getting lucky, and their armour absorbing the attack instead of their body. Better armour has more chances to protect its wearer.
The armour available to characters during character creation is the weakest kind. This kind of armour has 1 slot that can absorb a Harm or a Wound.
When a character goes shopping, goes a-thieving, discovers treasure, or loots a battlefield, the GM may offer new, more useful armour with more slots drawn on it.
The GM should take a blank card from the supply, and draw up to 3 slots on the card. A slot shall be designated to receive either:
- 1 Harm token
- or 1 Harm or Wound token
The table should decide if the armour incurs any additional costs when calculating encumbrance penalties -- better armour tends to be heavier. Any increased encumbrance penalty should be written on the card.
The player should write a descriptive name for the armour like "Padded" or "Chainmail" or "Full plate" and write that at the top of a card. The description will impact the narrative -- it's hard to sneak or swim in full plate armour.
Here are some example armours:
| Suggested Name | slots | encumbrance modifier |
|---|---|---|
| Leather Armour | 1 Harm/Wound | |
| Padded Armour | 2 Harm, 1 Harm/Wound | counts as 2 items |
| Full Plate | 3 Harm/Wound | counts as 4 items |
Shields provide a way to avoid Harm and Wound tokens, but they test a character's Dex to do so.
To make a Shield card, first the GM chooses the ✔✔✔, ✔✔, and ✅︎ effects by choosing 3 sequential effects from this list:
- Avoid the x
- Avoid the x, but choose to lose 1 Stamina or this item takes 1 damage
- Avoid the x, lose 1 Stamina
- Avoid the x, lose 1 Stamina and this item takes 1 damage
The x can be either:
- Harm
- Harm or Wound
Then the GM and player come up with a name for this kind of shield together, using the same rules as the Armour name-creation above.
The fictional description of the "shield" has mechanical consequences. For example, the edge of steel shield could reasonably be used to attack a foe, so the character would have 1d4 attack power with Mix It Up. But a character with no weapon and only leather bracers on their wrists, the character would be "unarmed", doing just 1 attack power.
Blocking attack power with a shield is a FAST move, and players may not make more than one FAST move per turn in the spotlight.
Some cards show a "power gauge" that indicates whether the attack power (in the case of a weapon) or effect (in the case of a magic item) will use a d4, d6, or d10.
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After character creation, an armed PC will be rolling 1d4 for their attack power. This can be increased later on in the game via the moves Tales of a Weapon and Obsessive Contemplation.
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The GM should decide whether the weapon will incur any extra cost when calculating an encumbrance penalty. Is the item particularly heavy or large? The GM should weigh that cost against the weapon's other features.
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When using a Precious Item that is just represented by a Pack card, swap the Pack card with a new blank Magic Item card and write a description and charge capacity on the new card.
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When players find themselves on the losing side of a battle, or want to avoid a daunting threat, they may choose to run away. If their characters are positioned in a way that their escape is possible, according to the established fiction, use this move. The players temporarily lose narrative control and the GM will say where the characters end up.
There may also be a Stamina cost (or Stamina gain) depending on how weighed down the characters were by their equipment.
The GM can resolve this move by:
- putting the characters somewhere completely safe
- putting the characters in a place where some (new or old) danger exists, but is, for the moment, not directly threatening the characters
- spending a Shadow point and starting the Pursuit Mini-game
- spending a Shadow point and landing the characters in a place where they must directly confront or defy a new danger
Throughout the game, players are asked to decide how their characters get hurt, how they respond to being hurt, and how they recover from their injuries.
This is a small-scale echo of the whole story - the Hero's Journey itself. At the center of the Hero's Journey is a moment of pain that the hero must fully endure before finding relief - either through their own action or with the help of their friends. The Hero's Journey is a myth that teaches us how to take care of ourselves, and so this game holds a puzzle where the players to learn how to take care of their characters.
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Resting is an action that a character may take when they are out of combat, not traveling, and have several hours to devote to rest (sleeping qualifies).
- Step 1: Return all Exhaustion tokens to the supply
- Step 2: Count the Harm and Wound tokens on your Exhaustion pile
- Step 3: Keep that many cards (player chooses which ones) in your Exhaustion pile, put the rest into your discard pile
- Step 4: Return one Harm token to the supply
- Step 5: Say who you blame for your injuries
When resting, magic items that are not being used regain all charges, up to their charge capacity. Take green cards from the supply to represent the charges.
You may gird all your armour, where applicable. Remove all Harm and Wound tokens from your armour cards and from move cards that represent armour effectiveness (eg, Like A Second Skin).
Time devoted to Resting cannot also be devoted to learning skills, studying with a teacher, or any other action that takes mental or physical effort.
The Harm token returned to the supply in Step 4 may come from your Exhaustion pile or from a slot on a move card (eg, Bloody But Unbowed).
It is possible that the object of blame named in step 5 is the character themself.
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Seeking Help is an action that a character may take when they are in a peaceful environment where external resources with healing powers are available.
Eg, if they are in a primitive camp possessing medicine men or a contemporary city with doctors and hospitals or a tranquil oasis infused with healing magic.
That the healing powers are external is important. Seek Help is a move where players acknowledge their characters' limits and cannot do everything on their own.
When you spend a day healing:
- Step 1: Describe your character's healing experience
- Step 2: Return all Exhaustion tokens to the supply
- Step 3: Return all Harm tokens to the supply
- Step 4: Count the Wound tokens on your Exhaustion pile
- Step 5: Keep that many cards (player chooses which ones) in your Exhaustion pile, put the rest into your discard pile
- Step 6: Return all wound cards to the supply (but not Wound tokens)
- Step 7: Say who you are closer to forgiving
- Step 8: If you are at The Hearth, return all Wound tokens to the supply
As with Resting, time spent Seeking Help cannot also be used in activities that take effort.
Magic items that are not being used regain all charges, up to their capacity.
You may gird all your armour, where applicable. Remove all Harm and Wound tokens from your armour cards.
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This move steps your character towards becoming a powerful force in the world.
When your character is in a town (a village, city, etc. -- any safe place where resources and commerce present themselves), you can spend 2 XP to either:
- Increase the level of a move you already have (See Move Levels
- Take a new move card from the supply
If you want to take a move card that another player already has or one that was scribbled over in a previous campaign, or just has been ruined by spilled beer, you can copy the text onto a new card.
Some Move cards have icons on them that indicate "levels". These levels represent how good your character is at that skill. For example, the move Pick Pockets has 5 icons.
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These are the "move levels" for Pick Pockets. From left to right, these icons are called:
{ width=0.5inch } wild or "2 red"
{ width=0.5inch } novice or "1 red"
{ width=0.5inch } "studied" or "base level"
{ width=0.5inch } expert or "1 green"
{ width=0.5inch } master or "2 green"
If you chose Pick Pockets during character creation, you would receive the card and your character would be "studied" in the skill.
Later, you can go up a level in Pick Pockets. (Either by using the Study Under a Master move, or when you resolve a Pick Pockets flip and happen to get a Critical Success card See Critical Success )
With a pencil, circle or underline the expert, or "1 green" symbol on the Pick Pockets card.
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With Pick Pockets leveled up, any time you perform that move in the future, you will add an advantage card when you flip.
Because the Pick Pockets card shows the "2 green" icon, you can repeat this process again later, which would let you add 2 advantage cards when you flip.
But what about the "red" levels?
Any PC can attempt any move that is performed by flipping Str, Dex, or Int -- even if the player doesn't have that move card!
For any such moves, all characters start at the lowest level shown on the card. This will be either the "wild" or "novice" level.
For Example, every character, at any time, can attempt to hit two opponents in combat (via Goreography). Every character can attempt to cast a spell (via Fundamental Magic). But, their odds are very low.
You can attempt moves even if you don't meet the requirements shown.
Just as the "expert" and "master" levels cause the flip to be done with advantage, the "wild" and "novice" levels cause the flip to be done with disadvantage.
- { width=0.5inch } flip with 2 levels of disadvantage
- { width=0.5inch } flip with 1 level of disadvantage
If you perform a "wild" level move, and you resolve that flip with a Critical Success card, you can spend 1 XP to graduate to "novice" level.
If you choose to do so, take the move card and underline or circle the "1 red" symbol on it.
If you are playing the One-Shot Campaign, you can skip this section. The Harm token rules are for the longer campaign formats.
In the 3-hour campaign, the second phase is a choice between just 2 things: losing Stamina or taking a Wound. In longer campaigns, the choice is more granular.
During the second phase of resolving a combat action, players may choose to take a Wound as explained before, and also a new choice: to turn any 3 attack power into Harm tokens instead.
For example, there are 4 ways to handle an attack power of 7:
- Lose cards from your Deckahedron until 7 exhaustion symbols are revealed
- Take 1 Harm token and lose cards until 4 exhaustion symbols are revealed
- Take 2 Harm tokens and lose cards until 1 exhaustion symbol is revealed
- Take 1 Wound
Think of that boxing match again. If Stamina represents dancing, ducking, and dodging, then Harm represents a sprain, bruise or cut from a blow that connects. These rules are also for representing mental strain that is so significant that the negative effects last for a while.
Attack power turns into Harm tokens at exactly a rate of 3-to-1. You cannot choose a Harm token when facing an attack power of 2.
When you are instructed to take a Harm token:
- If you already have 2 Harm tokens on your Exhaustion pile:
- You may
- Otherwise:
- Lose the top card of your Deckahedron to your Exhaustion pile
- Place a Harm token on your Exhaustion pile
Note, you will see this "Bust-on-3" pattern repeated in many of A Thousand Faces of Adventure's rules
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Some moves can be resolved by laying out Deckahedron cards into certain shapes such that the the Chinese Zodiac symbols on the corners match up.
During corner-matching mini-games, the corner symbols of Wound and Blessing cards are special. The Blessing cards have a "dragon" symbol, which is wild -- it matches all other symbols except for the "goat" symbols on the Wound cards. The corners of Wound cards show the "goat" symbol, which does not match any other symbol, not even itself.
In the Pick Locks mini-game, the player attempting the move must draw three cards from the top of their Deckahedron and put them down on the table, face-up.
They must then arrange the cards corner-to-corner in a line such that the touching corners show the exact same symbol.
TODO: illustration of Pick Locks mini-game
At any time during the mini-game, they may put one of the cards into their Exhaustion pile (Stamina is lost to mental exhaustion) and replace it with a new card from the top of their Deckahedron. The play may do this as many times as they like.
While the player is attempting the mini-game, play continues at the table, with other players making moves and time moving forward in the world while the character concentrates on their lockpicking task.
At any point in the mini-game, the player can abandon the attempt, and the result shall be interpreted as though they flipped an ✗.
TODO: illustration of Fundamental Magic mini-game
The Fundamental Magic mini-game works the same as the Pick Locks mini-game, except that the player starts with 4 cards and must create a "box" shape.
When dangerous foes are chasing the PCs, use these rules to determine what happens.
When a player first declares that they are going to Bravely Run Away
TODO: finish
- Starting player declares
- Other players declare whether their character joins
- One character - the one with the most Items + PACK is declared the "rabbit"
- Best 3 of 5 rounds
- Rabbit flips solo
- Add the rabbit's Str + Dex, then subtract their encumbrance penalty (the count of all their Item and Pack cards)
- Find their flip rank on the table below
- For the rounds 2 through 5, the rabbit flips, but can be helped by any of
the other joining PCs. The best result between the rabbit's flip and
the helper's resolves the round. Each one of the rounds can be helped
by Int, Str, or Dex, without repeating. The help must be justified by
the attribute.
- Int
- Hiding
- Using words to influence a crowd
- Str
- Climbing a wall
- Making a great leap
- Dex
- Sliding / tumbling down an embankment
- Dancing across a precarious rooftop
- Jumping from the balcony onto a waiting horse
- Int
- The last flip must be made by the rabbit alone.
- If the pursuers ever win 2 flips in a row, they can make a move in the middle of the pursuit if appropriate, like firing a volley of arrows or sounding some kind of alarm
| Str + Dex - Encumbrance | Flip: |
|---|---|
| less than 0 | Anvils 2x disadvantage |
| 0 | Anvils with disadvantage |
| 1 | Anvils |
| 2 | Blades |
| 3 | Crowns |
| 4 | Dragons |
| 5 | Dragons with advantage |
This game is a tool for telling stories about a group of characters that work together to overcome some danger that threatens them all. The details of their alliance are discovered through play, and those details can include tension and disagreement. This section provides rules for the tensions to be exhibited in the narrative, but also guides the resolution of those tensions to a state where the characters are afterward unified against their common, non-player, foes.
When a player asserts their character violently against another player's character, the rules are special. In general, negative consequences are only applied by consent. These are different than the rules for fighting NPCs and monsters.
Fights among player characters can be great to introduce drama and increase tension in your narrative. But they are designed so that one player cannot force another player out of the decision making process. The narrative you create is a shared one.
When a player's character attacks another player's character, moves are triggered as they would normally be, and costs are paid (eg, if the attacker uses a magic item, they may lose a charge), but there are differences:
- XP cards do not generate XP if they resolve a flip
- Critical Success cards cannot be used to go up levels in moves
- Attack power is not rolled
Instead of rolling attack power, the defender alone describes the negative consequences (if any) their character suffers. This includes loss of resources (like Stamina / Harm / Wounds) as well as narrative consequences.
Optionally, the attacker may also describe negative consequences for their own character, mimicking the way the Mix It Up move causes both the attacker and defender to suffer attack power.
The GM can still collaborate with the players to describe narrative outcomes of the altercation, and may even use the situation to bring dangers to bear, but may not reduce player resources as a result of the specific action.
Intra-party conflict can provide some of the most interesting and dramatic moments of a campaign. Those moments arise from a group of friends at the table collaborating together.
Just as in PvP combat, when one player tries to:
- reduce another player's resources
- eg, by using the Pick Pockets move
- use a move to dictate another player's character's action
- eg, by using mind control magic
XP cards do not generate XP, Critical Success cards cannot be used to go up levels, and the defender gets to say what the result was.
If you are playing the One-Shot Campaign or 9-hour Campaign, you can skip this section.
At the beginning of a 30-hour campaign, some move cards will be put into envelopes. When you Study Under a Master, you will only be able to choose the enveloped cards if you can arrange your current move cards to form the number of rings shown on the envelope.
TODO: this bit should go in the GM Guide
Place the following cards inside the envelope marked with one green ring:
- Mystic Breathwork
- Fury
- Slide
- Not On My Turf
- Void Transfusion
Then, place the following cards inside the envelope marked with two green rings:
- Goreography
- Derring-Do
- Fundamental Magic
- Breach the Dam
The moves inside these envelopes cannot be learned during Study Under a Master until the character has already built up some skill.
Take a look through the move cards and see that there are partial rings printed on them - either in the corners or on the sides.
When you receive a new move card, arrange your own move cards in such a way that the most rings are completed. If your cards can arrange to show 1 ring, you may remove a card from the single green ring envelope and put it in the supply. If you can arrange them to show 2 rings, you may remove a card from either envelope and put it in the supply.
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For example, if your card arrangement had the cards Pick Pockets and Not On My Turf next to each other, you could complete a ring. If you didn't have the Not On My Turf card, but instead had the Fury card, you could arrange it next to Pick Pockets to complete a ring.
You do not have to keep your cards in this arrangement while you play.
Rolling dice is a fun, tactile experience, but not every table has the dice that A Thousand Faces of Adventure asks for. In that case, it is possible to play without owning the physical dice. Each Deckahedron card has symbols that can be used in their place.
1d4, 1d6, 1d10 : This is notation that means "one four-sided die", "one six-sided die", etc.
attack power : the number representing how powerful an attack is
charge capacity : the maximum amount of charges a magic item card has
depleted : the state of a magic item without any remaining charges
halve : When you roll dice and halve the value, divide by 2 and then round up to the nearest whole number. 4 becomes 2, 3 becomes 2, 2 becomes 1, etc.
idle : A magic item is idle only if magical energy is no longer flowing through it
melee : When the details of the fiction put two combatants close enough to each other such that their handheld weapons might connect
More Power : Permanently changing the kind of dice that are rolled when certain Item cards are used
NPC : Non-Player Character (a character controlled by the GM)
PC : Player Character (a character controlled by a non-GM player)
ranged (or "at range") : When the details of the fiction put two combatants far enough apart that their handheld weapons could not connect
session : The contiguous period of time that you're at the table, playing the game. Roughly 3 hours
the supply : The area on the table where all the cards and tokens are kept
town : Any place that offers food, shelter, exchange of goods, and the company of others. It could be a primitive circle of huts or a sprawling city
XP : "experience point" or "experience points"
TODO illustration of all components and their names