Design Goals

This system is built for competent characters under pressure. The question at the center of play is not "can I succeed?" but "is this success worth the price?"

• Success is common. Consequences are the point. Clean success feels good. Costly success is the norm. Failure is possible, never guaranteed.
• Skill matters. Lack of skill is not a death sentence. Training controls danger. Without it, characters can still act. They just accept more risk.
• Danger is not difficulty. A roll does not ask "can you do it?" It asks "what are you wagering by trying?"
• Simple engine, complex fiction. Build a pool from Ability, Skill, and Risk. Roll. Interpret. Everything else comes from the story and from player choices.
• Structured play stays tense without becoming tedious. Turn-by-turn scenes need a pulse—a shared sense of who's in control and when things are slipping. They also need a relief valve to end before the outcome is obvious.
• Spirals without brittleness. Advantage breeds advantage. Losing ground narrows options. Neither state locks in the ending.
• Agency where it counts. Players choose when to press, when to spend, and when to cash out. The GM shapes what compromise looks like.
• Modular by design. The core engine stands alone. Specialized procedures—combat, chases, ships—bolt on top without replacing it.