Wyrd of the Week: The Universal Rule

We're a bit behind on Wyrd of the Week because I've been focused on new content for upcoming produicts. More on those products soon, I promise! This time it's not truly new content per say - but instead a simple formula you can use so you can spend less time pouring over your books at the table and keep the legendarium going. Though helpful to Narrators in particular, players should also keep this in mind. Special thanks to Mark P. for putting the idea in my head of codifying this kind of thing.

The Universal Rule

The core rulebook for The Hero’s Journey contains over 200 pages of rules. Really, the entire game can be boiled down to a single rule which can be used to resolve nearly every situation. Using this as a guide, Narrators can quickly and easily make a decision when it comes to rolling and modifying dice. It’s really simple:

1. Roll a d20 (or a d6 in the case of abilities like Acrobatics, Forestry, Lore, and Thievery).

2. If the character making the roll has a minor benefit to their roll they receive a +2 bonus to that roll, or +1 in the case of d6-based abilities. If they have a minor penalty, they receive a -2 penalty to that roll, or a -1 in the case of d6-based abilities.

3. If the character making the roll has a major or significant benefit they receive Advantage to that roll, regardless of whether it is a d20 or d6-based ability. If the character making the roll has a major or significant penalty they receive Disadvantage to that roll, regardless of whether it is a d20 or d6-based ability.

4. Compare the results to the Defense of the target (in the case of combat-based rolls), the character’s Saving Throw (in the case of non-combat rolls), or special ability score (in the case of abilities like Acrobatics, Forestry, Lore, and Thievery) to determine success.

That’s it. Using that simple guideline, the Narrator can determine the success or failure of nearly any action attempted by a player character. Sure, other modifiers may come into play like a character’s attack bonus or attack modifier - but using this simple method they can confidently keep the game moving at a brisk pace without the need to flip through a book searching for a specific rule.