If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.
Second edition does not describe play at all except through the examples of play. Those examples are good, in my opinion, and I’ve gleaned a lot of designers intent from them. But I like to be more clear about what the procedures of play are. I’ve spoken previously about how different locations in second edition are effectively different boards for the same game, upon which the same rules apply. Like board games, those boards should have common elements. For Advanced Fantasy Dungeons, this is the basic procedure, which isn’t a new thing, but most recently I liked Prismatic Wasteland’s and I’ve adapted that here in combination with second edition’s first chapter.
My gut is that this goes at the beginning of the book, because it’s setting up the books structure, both in terms of we have a basic procedure and we iterate on it, and in terms of these are the PC rules and now here are the GM rules that reflect them. I can’t see anyone playing Advanced Fantasy Dungeons, a strange paraclone of a middle-school role-playing game as their first game, but it’s important to me to clearly set expectations for the rules text, even as it should be tossed aside.
First, we need to define player and GM:
Most players pretend to be a person in the world, their player character (PC). One player, the Game Master (GM), pretends to be everything else in the world.
The players job is to say what their player characters (PCs) say and want to do, what they think and feel, and to answer questions about their background and surroundings.
They depend on the GM to understand their surroundings and what is happening, and when, and where, so that they can do this.
The GMs job therefore is to generously and truthfully say what every thing and every one in the world says and wants to do except the PCs. The GM’s job is also to make rulings where the rules are not clear or are unknown, and to maintain consistency in doing so.
Everyone’s job is to be ensure that everyone at the table is enjoying themselves.
Then, we clarify the general procedure.The general procedure is this:
The basic procedure of Advanced Fantasy Dungeons is:
1. The GM describes the situation and what the PCs see, hear, feel, smell and hear.
2. The players ask clarifying questions and the GM answers until the situation is clear to them.
3. If a clarifying question would require a PC to take action, the GM confirms that they want to take action and if they do, resolve such actions to provide an answer.
4. The players state the action they want to take in response to the situation.
5. PC actions are resolved, changing the situation, and starting the cycle again.
If the actions result in a change of procedure (to combat, social, dungeon, wilderness or town procedures) transition to those procedures as appropriate. The basic procedure always applies.
Then, so I know this works, we fold in the combat, dungeon, wilderness and town procedures so we know they fit around this procedure and where they fit:
Most actions taken in a dungeon – movement, lockpicking, searching, bandaging, spell casting – take a turn. A turn procedes as follows:
1. Roll the exploration die and follow the instructions.
2. Follow the basic procedure until each PC resolves their action, transitioning to other procedures as appropriate.
3. If you do not carry a light source, spend 1d6 HP.
Repeat the cycle as long as the PCs remain in the dungeon.
The exploration die is a 1d6, +1 per turn with no result , interpreted as follows:
1-4, Nothing happens; 5-6. Wandering monster; 7. The environment changes; 8. Light sources exhaust; 9. Spells expire; 10+. Rest or spend 1d6 HP
If you are stranded in the dungeon at the end of a session, each PC rolls to return to the surface. Roll fortune or an appropriate proficiency, against a target equal to the number of turns traveled to escape the dungeon. For every point you fail by, choose either to spend that amount in HP or ten times that amount in GP.
Thinking about this, it might be beneficial to reintroduce the ten minutes dungeon turn because actions can vary in length depending on the location you’re in. Wilderness travel is next, and I note that the procedure is neat, but not clear.
Most actions taken while journeying through the wilderness take one watch. Each day has three watches. A watch proceeds as follows:
1. Players choose whether they will travel or rest for the new watch.
2. For each watch, the GM rolls on the wilderness grid. Roll d100 for what encounter, and 1d8 for the type of encounter:
What encounter: 1. Very rare; 2-3. Rare; 4-6. Uncommon; 7-10. Common; 11-14. Common; 15-17. Uncommon; 18-19. Rare; 20. Very rare; 21-100. Nothing.
What type of encounter: 1-4. Nothing; 5. Monster Traces; 6. Monster Tracks; 7. Monster Encountered; 8. Monster Lair.
Random encounters prevent a watch of rest from being completed, but do not prevent a watch of travel from being completed.
3. Follow the basic procedure until each PC resolves their action, transitioning to other procedures as appropriate.
Repeat the cycle as long as the PCs are journeying in the wilderness.
If you travel for a watch, move forward one hex. You must spend 1d6 HP to travel for a second or and 2d6 HP to travel a third watch.To travel on difficult terrain, roll fortune or a relevant proficiency or spend 1d6 HP.
If you rest for a watch, perform a rest action such as heal, memorise spells, prayer, or repair. There is no formal lists of rest actions, but rather you can only perform one such action per watch (in addition to all of the other things you must do while travelling). You cannot travel and rest the same watch.
Using vehicles or mounts does not allow you to travel further, but horse-sized mounts provide 10 inventory slots and wagon-sized vehicles 20 inventory slots. Flying mounts do not provide inventory slots. Your mount or vehicle may not be able to travel on some difficult terrain (for example wagons in swamps, or horses on mountains). Some vehicles or mounts allow you to travel on terrain that is otherwise impassible (for example boats over lakes, wyverns through the sky).
If you are stranded in the wilderness at the end of a session, each PC rolls to return to the nearest settlement. Roll fortune or an appropriate proficiency, against a target equal to the number of days travel to the nearest settlement, plus the number of turns traveled to escape the dungeon. For every point you fail by, choose either to spend that amount in HP or ten times that amount in GP.
We also need to clarify combat, although it’s very straightforward:
Most actions taken while in combat take one round. A round proceeds as follows:
1. Combatants declare their weapons.
2. Combatants proceed in order of speed factor.
3. Follow the basic procedure until each PC resolves their action.
Repeat the cycle as long as the PCs are engaged in combat.
Each weapon has a speed factor equal to its highest face. Order of action is by speed factor. If more than one person has the same speed factor, choose randomly.
To make an attack, make a strength check for melee attacks, a dexterity check for ranged attacks, or a proficiency check if you have proficiency your weapon.
On a success, threaten injury. On a partial success, threaten injury and suffer a minor consequence. On a failure, suffer a major consequence.
Consequences are at GM discretion. Minor consequences might include you are threatened with injury, the opposing side goes next or your morale is shaken. Major consequence might be two of these, or something else.
When you threaten injury, roll your damage dice to find out how much HP your target must spend to avoid injury, or how much damage their armour suffers.
On an NPCs turn, the GM declares who is threatened with damage. The PC makes a saving throw, and spends HP and armour as they see fit.
When your morale is shaken, make a morale check against either your morale rating (if you are an NPC) or your wisdom (if you are a PC). The GM may grant you advantage or disadvantage depending on factors such as training, overwhelming opposition, ethos, and how your allies are faring.
On a full success, you rally and fight on. On a partial success, your first concern is calculated retreat. On a failure, your first concern is immediate escape.
The social procedure is, it is revealed, not a procedure, just a rule, triggered by the basic procedure. Downtime looks like this:
Downtime is measured in real-time weeks occurring between gaming sessions. Downtime actions are of different lengths, represented as a clock, the length of which is dictated by the action. When the clock is full, you have completed the downtime action. For each week:
1. Choose an available downtime action that the PC took during that week.
2. Follow the basic procedure until the PC resolves their action, transitioning to other procedures as appropriate. The GM must agree that the action makes sense, that the activities being described are within the power of the PC, and that they would indeed plausibly progress you towards your goal.
3. If the downtime action is completed, resolve it and change the situation accordingly.
Repeat the cycle for each PC until you have
Downtime actions can have walls; walls are points at which you cannot process with any more ticks until you perform an in-world task. Downtime actions can have branches; branches are points where the clock ends prematurely, and you have the option to continue with one of a number of new clocks.
On a failure, tick one section of the downtime clock and there is a complication. On a partial success, tick two sections. On a full success, tick three sections. A complication is usually an unexpected wall, an unexpected branch, a relationship consequence, or a hook for further adventure.
A 1 step clock will result in a minor and temporary advantage. A 6 step clock a slight campaign goal or minor advantage. A 10 step clock a minor campaign goal or moderate advantage. 20 step clock moderate campaign goal or significant advantage. A 40 step clock is an epic or campaign-changing achievement.
War fits into the Downtime procedure, and social or appears to not be a procedure of its own, but merely a roll associated with the basic rules. Notes going forward: Revise timekeeping again to reintroduce rough time periods.
This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on basic procedure, the revised piar procedures, or if I’ve overlooked anything glaring!
Idle Cartulary
1st June 2022
Playful Void 