WHEN TO ROLL DICE
Chiaroscuro at its core is a narrative game – in most instances, you will have control of how your character interacts with the world in everyday mundane situations. The dice system and rolls can be used optionally for any of these moments where you’d like some variability or are unsure of the outcome, but in large are meant for moments of duress where there are consequences for failure.
Let’s break that down. Rolls should be made during moments of duress, or times that are exceptionally outside the realm of a character’s normal routine. Consider a character that drives to work every day. You would never have to roll to determine whether the character makes their usual commute, but you might make a finesse roll during a high speed car chase to determine whether the character makes a tight turn or a mind roll to tell whether or not they remember a shortcut to cut their pursuer off.
Additionally, there should be some sort of consequence for failure – otherwise, a character could simply keep trying until they pass the roll and proceed forward. A character who can hack a computer wouldn’t need to roll for a job where they had endless time to work at it, but may need to roll if the computer has a failsafe that wipes the hard drive after too many failed attempts. They may also need to roll if they’re on a time crunch and need to find hidden files before a guard returns – this goes back to performing a maneuver ‘under duress’.
That isn’t to say that you should only use dice under these situations. Sometimes you may just want to make a roll between two PCs where the outcome is unclear, or you’d just like to introduce a little randomness to your roleplay. When it comes to contested situations, if either player requests a dice roll to determine success, you must use it. Otherwise, feel free to script successes and failures as suit your narrative needs.
Stats & Dice
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Stats & Dice
BASIC STATS
The stat system at Chiaroscuro exists to help you gain a better understanding of what your character is good at and what they are bad at, but also allows for a considerable amount of flexibility in implementation. Not only do we allow players to be creative in their interpretation of these stats, we encourage it. If something feels appropriate to you, and justifiable, it is likely to be allowed. However, understanding the basics of each of the core stats is necessary to interpret them.
You may notice that there is no stat that dictates whether characters are good or bad in social situations. While some stats might have social implementations that can be fun to play with, in general we encourage players to actually write out any attempts at social sway, so that successes feel earned and true to the story, and also so that a lucky dice roll doesn’t force an out of character response or situation.
Power: Strength, physicality, forcefulness, intimidation.
The stat system at Chiaroscuro exists to help you gain a better understanding of what your character is good at and what they are bad at, but also allows for a considerable amount of flexibility in implementation. Not only do we allow players to be creative in their interpretation of these stats, we encourage it. If something feels appropriate to you, and justifiable, it is likely to be allowed. However, understanding the basics of each of the core stats is necessary to interpret them.
You may notice that there is no stat that dictates whether characters are good or bad in social situations. While some stats might have social implementations that can be fun to play with, in general we encourage players to actually write out any attempts at social sway, so that successes feel earned and true to the story, and also so that a lucky dice roll doesn’t force an out of character response or situation.
Power: Strength, physicality, forcefulness, intimidation.
- Calling Power solely the strength stat is underselling those who specialize in it. Characters who have a high Power ranking might be very physically strong and able to lift heavy objects – or, perhaps, their strength comes in the form of claiming attention in a room, being able to recover rapidly, or an unwillingness to stop even when injured. It’s appropriate to roll Power in situations where a character’s muscles or their forceful personality might render them an advantage.
- Finesse can come in more forms than simple dexterity. Characters who have a high Finesse ranking might be sprinters, or swordfighters, or dancers, skilled at a physical feat that requires precision and grace. Others, however, might be less graceful but ready to catch any time another character tosses them an object, or have fine motor skills that make them extremely capable when it comes to crafts or repairs, or they might have a sly tongue that they can use to say what they think people want to hear.
- There are so many different kinds of intelligence that Mind can cover. While it might be the speciality of a character with a PhD, it could also cover an extremely funny comedian who cracks jokes based on observations of their own life. Characters with a lot of Mind might know several languages, or might know a whole lot about one particular subject, or might know a little bit about a ton of different subjects. They might also just be someone who picks up skills quickly, or is good at reading a room and figuring out just what’s going on.
- Arcane is a trickier stat to classify, since it covers a nebulous concept of a character’s connection to themself and to the world around them. Characters with a high Arcane are those who are open to concepts that are difficult to prove. They are willing to believe in magic and mysticism, or might believe already. Arcane is an openness to the possibility of something outside the self, and an attunement to this “other”; instead of rejecting other worlds and magical ability, characters with a high Arcane stat are likely to lean into it, and as such, are better able to use it.
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Stats & Dice
HOW TO ROLL
Most rolls in Chiaroscuro follow the same format, whether it’s fighting dream monsters or reading a room. When a roll is called for, players will be asked to roll 2d6 - 6 + [Stat], with relevant bonuses and penalties as needed.
2d6 represents the random elements of a situation in peril. It could be finding an opening in a fight, or tripping on a root in a footrace, or any outside force acting on the character in the moment.
Stat bonus represents the effect of a character’s individual approach to a challenge, accounting for their proficiency and skill. When making a roll, you must declare which stat you are rolling with and explain what the character is doing to merit that roll. Many situations can be solved with different approaches, and players should feel empowered to use strategies that work for their characters. After choosing a stat, players add that value to the total of their roll (including any bonuses they may have for that stat or specialty.)
Interpreting the dice roll is simple – on a total of 1 or more, your character has succeeded! The strength of their success is determined by the value rolled, with potential bonuses for exceptionally high totals. For non-combat rolls, you can refer to the following table for effects:
Most rolls in Chiaroscuro follow the same format, whether it’s fighting dream monsters or reading a room. When a roll is called for, players will be asked to roll 2d6 - 6 + [Stat], with relevant bonuses and penalties as needed.
2d6 represents the random elements of a situation in peril. It could be finding an opening in a fight, or tripping on a root in a footrace, or any outside force acting on the character in the moment.
Stat bonus represents the effect of a character’s individual approach to a challenge, accounting for their proficiency and skill. When making a roll, you must declare which stat you are rolling with and explain what the character is doing to merit that roll. Many situations can be solved with different approaches, and players should feel empowered to use strategies that work for their characters. After choosing a stat, players add that value to the total of their roll (including any bonuses they may have for that stat or specialty.)
Interpreting the dice roll is simple – on a total of 1 or more, your character has succeeded! The strength of their success is determined by the value rolled, with potential bonuses for exceptionally high totals. For non-combat rolls, you can refer to the following table for effects:
| Roll Total | Outcome | Possible Implementations |
| < 0 | Failure | A character fumbles, there is unexpected difficulty, stage fright, a fatal flaw emerges |
| 1 - 3 | Partial Success | Victory at a cost, success but not how it was wanted,one question answered leads to more questions |
| 4 - 6 | Success | Goal achieved! |
| 7 + | Exceptional Success | Supernatural skill, intense expertise, goal achieved and also you do a backflip because it’s cool |
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Stats & Dice
COMBAT AND DAMAGE
As a roleplay, Chiaroscuro is not a heavy PvP game. Our goal is to create an atmosphere with non player challenges that characters can work together to solve. However, some of these challenges will involve combat, and some players may even want to do some spars or fights or play out different kinds of conflict.
While generally Power and Finesse would be the most logical stats in a combat situation, this is not always true. When using a tool or a magical ability, another stat that can deal damage may be rolled. In a GMed situation, the GMs will tell you which stat they request for a particular roll; in player-run situations, you only need to justify the appropriateness of the stat you choose.
After rolling your 2d6 - 6 + STAT in a combat situation, the resulting number is the amount of damage you have dealt to an enemy or to the other player.
HP AND DAMAGE PENALTIES
The average player character has HP somewhere between 7 and 11, which means that they can take roughly 5-10 hits in a combat situation. However, the more damage you take, the worse off you’ll feel, and taking large amounts of damage will result in negative consequences.
5+ HP: When a character has 5 or more HP remaining from their initial pool, they are still hale and healthy enough to function at their usual level, and are not negatively impacted by whatever hits they have taken.
2-4 HP: Once a character has received enough damage that they only have 2-4 HP remaining, they begin to become impaired, and their injuries will rapidly start to become worse. At this point, every 5 actions – so anything that requires a roll – that characters take will result in additional HP of damage being taken. It’s important, at this point, to find a healer or first aid to recover some HP.
1 HP: At 1 HP, a character is severely injured, to a degree that they will not be able to recover HP until they see a healer. Usually, all HP is recovered between threads, unless otherwise stated by a GM. However, once a character has dropped to 1 HP, they will not recover until they receive at least one point of healing or professional medical care.
0 HP: A character dropped to 0 HP is rendered unconscious. They are not capable of recovering on their own, and must be rescued to a safe situation to be healed or receive professional medical care.
Negative: Going negative in HP means that a character has taken life threatening damage and, in most situations, will be left with some kind of physical reminder of their battle. Scars are the most common result, though lower numbers might be interpreted as missing limbs or other problems. We leave this up to the player, but encourage you to think critically about it, and to view it as an interesting opportunity for character development.
Note that your character will NEVER die without your explicit permission and desire. GMs will not kill off your characters for dramatic effect unless this is part of a story arc you have requested, and no player can either kill or permanently harm your character without your permission. If you’re engaged in a thread that feels like it’s leading toward this kind of outcome, you can always contact a GM to help come up with a plot device to bring it to a happier conclusion.
As a roleplay, Chiaroscuro is not a heavy PvP game. Our goal is to create an atmosphere with non player challenges that characters can work together to solve. However, some of these challenges will involve combat, and some players may even want to do some spars or fights or play out different kinds of conflict.
While generally Power and Finesse would be the most logical stats in a combat situation, this is not always true. When using a tool or a magical ability, another stat that can deal damage may be rolled. In a GMed situation, the GMs will tell you which stat they request for a particular roll; in player-run situations, you only need to justify the appropriateness of the stat you choose.
After rolling your 2d6 - 6 + STAT in a combat situation, the resulting number is the amount of damage you have dealt to an enemy or to the other player.
HP AND DAMAGE PENALTIES
The average player character has HP somewhere between 7 and 11, which means that they can take roughly 5-10 hits in a combat situation. However, the more damage you take, the worse off you’ll feel, and taking large amounts of damage will result in negative consequences.
5+ HP: When a character has 5 or more HP remaining from their initial pool, they are still hale and healthy enough to function at their usual level, and are not negatively impacted by whatever hits they have taken.
2-4 HP: Once a character has received enough damage that they only have 2-4 HP remaining, they begin to become impaired, and their injuries will rapidly start to become worse. At this point, every 5 actions – so anything that requires a roll – that characters take will result in additional HP of damage being taken. It’s important, at this point, to find a healer or first aid to recover some HP.
1 HP: At 1 HP, a character is severely injured, to a degree that they will not be able to recover HP until they see a healer. Usually, all HP is recovered between threads, unless otherwise stated by a GM. However, once a character has dropped to 1 HP, they will not recover until they receive at least one point of healing or professional medical care.
0 HP: A character dropped to 0 HP is rendered unconscious. They are not capable of recovering on their own, and must be rescued to a safe situation to be healed or receive professional medical care.
Negative: Going negative in HP means that a character has taken life threatening damage and, in most situations, will be left with some kind of physical reminder of their battle. Scars are the most common result, though lower numbers might be interpreted as missing limbs or other problems. We leave this up to the player, but encourage you to think critically about it, and to view it as an interesting opportunity for character development.
Note that your character will NEVER die without your explicit permission and desire. GMs will not kill off your characters for dramatic effect unless this is part of a story arc you have requested, and no player can either kill or permanently harm your character without your permission. If you’re engaged in a thread that feels like it’s leading toward this kind of outcome, you can always contact a GM to help come up with a plot device to bring it to a happier conclusion.
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