Rules: Game Master Guide

Native Rules

Game Master Guide

Three tools carry almost all of the Game Master's work: Fast Judgment, Named Consequence First, and the Consistency Rule.

Fast Judgment

When a ruling is not obvious, use these six checks in order. Say the ruling and the fact that matters, then continue.

  1. 1Possible? Can this method physically achieve the goal? If not, explain what is missing and do not roll.
  2. 2Roll? Is the outcome uncertain, and would failure meaningfully change the situation? If not, it simply happens.
  3. 3Effect. Start at Standard; use Limited, Great or No Effect only when the fiction clearly requires it.
  4. 4Risk. Start Low; use Serious for a credible major consequence, Deadly for clearly established severe or potentially irreversible danger.
  5. 5Consequence. Name one credible consequence that fits the Risk before the roll.
  6. 6Resolve. Roll once, apply the result once, describe the new situation and continue.

Native Rules, Chapter 10, p. 83. Choose the Skill that matches the player's method as part of the play procedure, not an extra Fast Judgment step.

Say the consequence first

Named Consequence First: the table hears what failure will cost before the dice are thrown. A consequence invented after the roll is a worse consequence.

Players make better decisions when they know the price. Saying the cost first also keeps the Game Master honest: if you cannot name it, the roll probably should not happen.

On 7–9, apply the named consequence without erasing the successful action. Usually choose one consequence, not a chain of punishments. In Personal Combat, an enemy shot needs its own Activation, Reaction, Readied Action or specific rule; a mixed result never grants a free attack.

Keep similar calls consistent

When a materially similar situation returns, start from the previous call. Change Risk or Effect only because a concrete fact changed: position, tools, opposition, scale, preparation, leverage or objective. Say that changed fact aloud.

Choose a consequence that fits the scene

Use the scene lanes first when the type of danger is clear. Deadly consequences require Deadly Risk established before the roll.

  • Firefight

    Low consequence
    Position revealed; Cover worsens; brief exposure
    Serious consequence
    Wounded; forced from a key position; ally separated

  • Infiltration

    Low consequence
    Noise; delay; evidence left behind
    Serious consequence
    Alarm; identity exposed; route or group split

  • Engineering / Fortera

    Low consequence
    Time lost; material spent; brief disturbance
    Serious consequence
    Wounded; system failure spreads; major field escalation

  • Social pressure

    Low consequence
    Suspicion; delay; minor access lost
    Serious consequence
    Arrest or exposure; leverage lost; major concession

  • Travel / investigation

    Low consequence
    Time or supplies lost; route worsens
    Serious consequence
    Separation; critical window closes; serious hazard

If no lane fits

Use the general menu as a fallback, choosing the consequence that follows from the danger already named.

  • Harm

    Examples
    Strained, Wounded or Broken when the established Risk supports it

  • Position

    Examples
    Exposed, driven back, surrounded, trapped, worse Cover, lost footing

  • Time

    Examples
    Delay, opportunity closing, opposing clock advances

  • Equipment

    Examples
    Dropped, damaged, jammed, spent, lost or forced out of reach

  • Exposure

    Examples
    Alarm raised, identity revealed, firing position discovered, evidence left behind

  • Separation

    Examples
    Ally cut off, route split, formation broken

  • Opportunity

    Examples
    Target escapes, route closes, enemy gains leverage or a better position

Source: pp. 85–86. Technical and Fortera dangers appear in their scene lane; social dangers appear under social pressure, exposure and opportunity.

Calibrate danger, not difficulty

Low. Time, secrecy, position, a minor resource or limited physical consequences such as Strained. Searching before a clerk returns, adjusting an inactive mechanism or firing from a protected position that cannot be seriously threatened may fit.

Serious. Wounded, important equipment lost, a split group, arrest, major alarm or a seriously worsening active system. An ordinary firefight, live pressure-line repair or guarded-office infiltration may fit.

Deadly. Immediate Broken Harm, death, catastrophic machinery or Fortera failure, or a critical objective destroyed. Examples include open ground under a prepared volley, a collapsing lift chamber or a Source-scale runaway at close range.

Name the credible immediate consequence first. If two Risk levels still fit, use the lower unless a concrete danger establishes the higher. Between Effect levels, use Standard unless the situation clearly points elsewhere.

Technical difficulty alone does not make Risk Serious. Change Effect, require preparation or use a clock for a layered problem. Make encounters demanding through position, tactical options, objectives, divided attention and credible numbers, not inflated Harm alone.

When not to roll

  • If the method cannot achieve the goal, explain what is missing. If it is possible and no meaningful uncertainty or danger remains, let it happen.
  • Give routine information that training and Background would provide. Do not roll for routine competence when failure would not matter.
  • One fictional fact normally does one mechanical job. Do not count the same advantage as lower Risk, higher Effect and extra protection unless separate rules apply.
  • Use a clock for layered or ongoing pressure, not a question one meaningful action could settle. Look up unresolved edge cases after the scene, making the simplest reasonable call openly for now.

Source: pp. 83–88.

Prepare a situation, then follow what changes

Prepare who wants what, the danger, what happens without intervention, and a few people or places to meet. Start a first session with pressure already present and at least one route that does not need combat.

After the session, write three lines: what changed permanently; which person, faction or pressure reacts; and what pressure can reach the characters next. Carry unresolved clocks, Harm, obligations and exposed relationships forward. Begin where one of those pressures becomes actionable.

Source: pp. 83, 88.

Common questions

Two characters want the same thing. One question, one roll. Decide whose action answers it and let the other take a Setup.

The player asks for a Skill that does not fit. Name the Skill the attempt actually uses, or tell them the attempt needs a different approach.

A result landed flat. You probably skipped the consequence. Say it before the next roll and the scene recovers immediately.

The players found an answer you did not plan. Give it to them. The clocks, not the plan, are what keep the pressure honest.

Related setting & tools