Nightblade

Nightblade is a big game in a small package. A New Wave of Traditional Roleplaying Game, Nightblade is inspired by old school and modern design, offering a rules-lite, tactical game that can be read in 10 minutes and put straight on the table. 

• Inspirations include D&D Basic, 4e, and 13th Age. 
•  Become a virtuous Champion, a shadowy Scoundrel or an arcane Runeweaver, each with their own knacks to make combat more exciting. 
• Every combat round the threat increases, so no long slogs here. 
• Includes everything needed to play, including a monsters list - all in 4 A5 pages.

Character Creation Example

First I decide to assign my two attribute points. I want to be a Champion so I choose Force and Skill. My background is going to be stablemaster, so I put a point into Mind and in Force. My starting weapon is going to be a spear, so I add 1 to my Force. That puts me at Force 3, Skill 1, Mind 1. 

I decide I'd like some cool magic, so if I go Elf it means I can choose a Runeweaver knack. My starting defenses are Force DEF 14, Skill DEF 12, Mind DEF 12. 

My knacks are going to be Bellowing Challenge and Rune of Control from Runeweaver, making my Champion good at keeping enemies in their place. 

My starting HP is 15 and damage is d10. I also start with 80sp to spend, so I take medium armour (50sp) to bump my Force DEF to 16 and grab a bedroll, chalk and torch. 

This is Lorian, the elven champion. Once a lowly stablemaster, now a great adventurer.

Combat Example

Lorian (elven champion), Sundr (dwarf scoundrel) and Lilith (human runeweaver) have run into a pack of wolves.

Each player rolls initiative as a skill check. Lorian and Sundr succeed while Lilith fails, meaning they act after the wolves.

Lorian declares she will do Bellowing Challenge as an action on one of the wolves, making them marked with a challenge. She decides against moving.

Sundr moves 20ft to a wolf and use poison weapon. He rolls a d20 and adds his skill attribute for 14. This attacks the wolf's Force DEF, which is 13 so Sundr has hit! He rolls his damage die (d8) resulting in a 4 and adds 1 based on the poison for a total of 5 damage. The wolf is reduced from 8HP to 3HP and is Bruised. 

The wolf with a challenge mark moves 30ft adjacent to Lorian and attacks with melee. The GM decides this is a ferocious bite. It rolls a d20 + 1 for its melee attack, getting a 6 against Lorian's Force DEF of 16. A bad miss.

The third wolf moves 25ft adjacent to the Bruised wolf and Sundr and attacks with melee. Because of the wolf's ability, it gets +1 to attacks when adjacent to another wolf, getting a +2 overall. It rolls an 18 in total, which is higher than Sundr's Force DEF of 14. It rolls a d6 for damage, doing 2.

The bruised wolf, now with a pack member by its side attacks Sundr, getting its bonus, for a total of 11. Not good enough.

Finally, Lilith casts Rune of Sickness on the Bruised wolf. She rolls a Mind check vs the wolf's Mind DEF, getting a 13. This is higher than the wolf's Mind DEF of 10 so the rune effect happens. The knack does 2 damage, reducing the wolf to 1HP, and it can only take 1 action next turn. 

Now everyone has had a turn the round is over and a new one begins.