Nuradan RPG is my attempt at combining features and mechanics I like into a cohesive, simple set of rules for pen and paper or digital roleplay. I also want to own my system in order to create content for it without worrying about changing licenses.
Nuradan RPG is a turn based game. Players take turns describing the actions of their Playing Character (PC), and a Game Master (GM) reacts, directs entities, and narrates consequences. The GM can take extra turns to introduce a setting, or to narrate interludes, time skips, etc.
In Nuradan RPG, players have to “stitch” together narrative and game elements to assemble dice rolls that can be used to overcome obstacles. On top of that, optional Mods can be “stitched” to the core game to expand and customize it with additional rules.
To play, only a good bunch of D6s and a way to take notes for the GM and players should be needed. I want the core rules to allow for an easy set up with your friends in a bar with just an app to throw dice and another to take notes. The base setup is casual and relies on the narration of the GM, but Mods can add crunch and depth to the system
Traits
Traits are the main feature of Nuradan RPG: in the Core rules, Traits are just descriptive keywords that can be used by players and GMs to add more dice to their rolls. They don’t need to be strictly defined, to allow for interpretation and expression.
Traits can be a race, a piece of equipment, an adjective, a skill, a background, a profession, a location’s defining feature, a familiar, the intensity of an event, etc. Traits can be acquired or lost during a game as events unfold, more gear is found or breaks, and / or more skills are acquired.
Traits can have a Weight, expressed as a number between parentheses, that tells how “strong” a Trait is. If not specified, Traits have a default Weight of 1. Not all Traits can have a Weight past 1. If someone is, for example, an Elf, they cannot be more Elf than any other Elf. The decision to what can have Weight above 1 and what cannot is to be left to the GM and the players, unless some Mod comes with specific rulings.
Traits can be made active, can require a cost to be used, can be leveled up, or carry additional effects and rulings with Mods, but that’s all optional.
Getting started
At the beginning of a game, the GM would set the expectations for themes, tones, and setting. Players should be given a set number of points they can spend to add Traits to a PC. The GM can decide how many points and at what Weight to cap Traits, depending on how strong and competent PCs should be at the start at the game.
Players should be encouraged to play what they want, and to come up with their own ideas, or lists could be provided by the GM or by additional Mods. Traits should be generic enough to allow for creative interpretations: it’s better to assign “Thieves Gear (1)” to a PC rather than just a “Lockpick (1)“.
Here’s how a PC could look in Nuradan RPG:
John Traits:
- Strong (2)
- Fatigued
- Sword
- Rope
Task resolution
If the result of any action, player or GM controlled, is not obvious, a Roll is required to decide its outcome.
When dice are rolled, even results are counted as Successes, with their number being used to determine the outcome of the action. Results of 6 explode, allowing for another die to be rolled. And again and again, if new 6s comes up.
The GM would set a Difficulty Score (DS) for any Roll that has only one active side. The “active side” is usually the players, but sometimes GM controlled entities such as NPCs or Enemies might attempt an action by themselves as well.
Examples of “one-sided” Rolls:
- Trying to climb a wall
- Trying to jump from one roof to another
- Lockpicking a door
- Lift a big rock
- Read a room for clues
If the number of Successes in the roll is greater than the DS, the Roll passes and the action is carried out successfully. If instead the Roll fails, the action is not carried out, or might be carried out with additional negative consequences.
By default, the DS can follow this setup:
| DS | Difficulty level |
|---|---|
| 1 | Easy |
| 2 | Tricky |
| 3 | Hard |
| 4 | Heroic |
| 5 | Legendary |
| 6+ | Impossible |
The DS doesn’t need to be arbitrary, but it can take into account pre-existing Traits that are currently involved, like how tall a wall to climb or how strong a door to break are.
The DS should also take into account the active side’s impediments as well. For example, John’s “Fatigued” Trait (that has a default Weight of 1) can be added to the DS when John attempts to do something physical.
There’s no subtracting dice in Nuradan RPG, as players should focus only on increasing their own Pools while the GM’s needs to manage other elements of difficulty. If something is of advantage to the PCs, players will need to “stitch” that together with their narrative when attempting the roll.
Dice to be rolled are first assembled in a Pool. A Pool can contain a maximum of 6 dice. If at any point a Pool would contain more than 6 dice, extras are not rolled. Instead, any extra 2 dice above 6 are considered automatic Successes.
By default, the active side gets to add 1 die to their Pool. But they can “stitch” other game elements to their narrative to add dice to their Pool. They can mention relevant Traits and add their Weights as dice. But, as stated above, they can also take into account their positioning, in-game events, environmental features, or anything else that makes narrative sense. Every unique enough element they manage to “stitch” together gets them 1 additional die to Pool.
If there are two active sides to an action (such as combat), the GM doesn’t need to set a DS and an Opposing Roll is required. Both sides try to Pool together as many dice as possible and roll. Each side can also take into account any negative Trait of the other and add its Weight to their Pool. Again, there’s no subtracting dice in Nuradan RPG, and each side should only focus on increasing the size of their Pool. In the case of combat, each side should also take into account protective equipment to mitigate possible counterattacks!
Examples of Opposing Rolls:
- A round of combat
- Trying to flee from an enemy
- Haggle on prices
- Pickpocketing
- Taming wild animals
The side that gets the most Successes wins, with the other side potentially suffering some consequences, especially if combat is involved. In case of a tie, the side that rolled the fewest dice wins. If it’s still a tie, each side rolls 1 additional die each and keeps doing it until one wins.
PCs and other GM controlled entities might decide to team up or provide help. They just do their turn together, and assemble all their relevant dice into a single Pool.
Mods
There are no additional rules required to play a base game of Nuradan RPG. No health tracking, no inventory management, no extra combat rules. It can work as is with narration and cinematic action. But it can be expanded upon with Mods that will use the system of Traits and Pools to add extra dimensions to the game, for added granularity and crunch.
A few examples:
- A simple progression Mod that use level as Traits
- Consumable Traits, or Traits that require a cost to be used
- A Luck consumable Trait to spend in order to influence Rolls
- Super Traits could contain multiple entities nested under them, like an inventory system or a spell slots system
- A basic stats Mod that use universal Traits to cover every situation
- The addition of a Risk Score to the DS that allows for mixed successes, as well as Extra Successes being used to measure consequences
- An inventory Mod that “stitches” together with the stats one to provide constraints, burden, etc.
- A more complex progression Mod that involves stats too
- Enemies, Ambushes, and Contingents rules with extra Morale Traits
I’ll provide my favorite collection of extra rules and Mods inside an upcoming Advanced Stitcher RPG, that I will also use to run my own campaigns and release adventures with.
Credits - Nuradan RPG
While this system has been put together by me, it is also inspired by countless hours of live play, hacking, and tinkering with existing games. Additional inspiration, especially for the content of upcoming Modules, comes from games like Risus, Star Wars FFG, Into the Odd, Tunnel Goons, DURF, and more. Some references might be more obvious than others, but I hope you can appreciate the result.
Link to original
License - Nuradan RPG
My RPG system has been created with the goal of being extremely hackable. The Nuradan RPG is licensed under the CC-BY 4.0 License. This means you are free to share, download, print, distribute, and adapt it (even commercially), as long as you give appropriate credit to me as the original creator.
Link to original
Changelog - Nuradan RPG
Link to original
- 2025-03-30: v0.1 released
- 2025-03-31: v0.1.1 COS → CON typo
- 2025-04-01: v0.2 → major revamp, tutorial flow, Skills, RS, Combat, Contingents, focus on Pools
- 2025-04-02: v0.2.1 → Skills limit on start, Skills progress, Skills list
- 2025-04-02: v0.3 → Skills → Traits, simplified Traits leveling, project name, added more examples
- 2025-04-03: v0.4 → major revamp, extreme oversimplification of the rules, change of name, core mechanics and features set with a system of Modules to expand upon them
- 2025-04-06: v0.5 written after feedback from two playtests and some readers’ comments: added basic stats and descriptors as part of core rules, cleared up rules for negative traits, added a system of “failures” to combat, hard trials, time limits