Some moves may impose a condition on you (or your adversaries). These are effects or circumstances that change how you can function. This game has three primary conditions—Vulnerable, Hidden, and Restrained—which are explained below. Some moves may apply other unique conditions; their effects are detailed within the text of the move.

Vulnerable

When you gain the Vulnerable condition, this means you’re temporarily in a difficult position within the fiction. This might mean you’re knocked over, scrambling to keep your balance, caught off-guard, or anything else that makes sense in the scene. When a creature becomes Vulnerable, the players and GM should work together to describe narratively how that happened.

While you are Vulnerable, all rolls targeting you have advantage.

If you’re already Vulnerable, you ignore effects that would make you Vulnerable again.

Restrained

When you gain the Restrained condition, you can’t move until this condition is cleared, but you can still take actions from your current position.

Hidden

While you’re out of sight from all foes, you can mark a Stress to gain the Hidden condition. While Hidden, any rolls against you are at disadvantage. When you move or attack while Hidden, or when an enemy gains line of sight on you, you’re no longer Hidden.

Examples:

While scouting a temple to the Fallen Gods and investigating some large statues depicting ancient battles, Xerxes hears footsteps coming. He declares that he’s going to duck behind the statues, take an action to become Hidden , and then wait for the person to pass. The GM decides that the statues provide ample cover and doesn’t call for a roll. They describe snippets of dialogue as two cultists walk right by Xerxes as he sticks to the shadows, then ask Xerxes what he wants to do next. If Xerxes had wanted to attack the cultists as they passed, he’d lose the Hidden condition after doing so.

If instead cover was not readily available, the GM could call for a Finesse roll to hide nearby. Xerxes spends a Hope to utilize his experience of “Blending In” to clamber up into a windowsill and pull the drapes closed to give him some cover. Xerxes rolls his duality dice and adds +3 for his Finesse trait and +2 for his “Blending In” experience for a total of 15, with Fear. The GM compares that 15 to the adversaries’ difficulty and tells Xerxes he’s succeeded, but that the scramble to take cover and the discomfort of scrunching himself into a window means he’ll mark a Stress .

Ending Conditions

When an effect imposes a condition, it might state a specific trigger that will clear that condition, such as a unique action, item, or effect. Conditions with stated triggers are permanent conditions; usually, these can only be cleared via the specified trigger, but at the GM’s discretion, they might provide alternative ways to remove these conditions.

If no trigger is given, the condition is a temporary condition. You can usually make an action roll (difficulty determined by the GM) to clear a temporary condition, though the GM might have you end it in another way. As always, this action roll should be described and negotiated narratively. For example, if your character is Vulnerable, you might describe how you leap through the fire that’s trapped you, free your ally’s legs from the vines entangling them, or whatever fits the story.

If an adversary is affected by a condition, the GM can spend an action token to clear it; this doesn’t require a roll but does use that adversary’s action. When it fits the story, the GM might end the condition in other ways instead.

Ending Other Temporary Effects

Some effects aren’t a condition, but they state they’re temporary. These can be ended in the same way as conditions. If you initiate the effect (such as by using the Ranger’s Focus class feature), the GM can end it by spending an action token (or using a move). If the GM initiates the effect (such as an adversary creating a temporary cloud of poisonous gas), you can end it by making an action roll.