Nuradan RPG

Version 0.5

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 set in the world of Nuradan. I also wanted to own my system in order to create content for it without worrying about changing licenses.

• Low fantasy flavored, but easily hackable to fit other settings.
• Easy to introduce and fast to set up, to avoid a lengthy “session 0”.
• Built for modding to extend its basic features and mechanics.
• This SRD, a bunch of d6s, and a way for everyone to take notes should be all that’s required to play.

Characer Sheet

• Player name:
• Character name:
• Level:
• Base Traits:
  • CON:
  • STR:
  • DEX:
  • INT:
• Background Traits:
  • Background Trait
• Specialization Traits
  • Specialization #1
  • Specialization #2
  • …
• Magic Traits:
  • Magic Trait
• Weakness Traits:
  • …
• Generic Traits:
  • …
• Inventory (CC):
  • Item #1
  • Item #2
  • …
• Notes:
  • Titles, lore, etc.
  • …

Basics

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.

An in-game day is split into six Watches: Morning, Noon, Afternoon, Evening, Night, and Dawn.

During their turn, players have to weave together narrative and game elements such as their PCs’ features and items to assemble dice Pools that can be rolled to overcome obstacles. There’s no subtracting dice in Nuradan RPG, as players should focus only on increasing their own Pools while the GM needs to manage other elements of difficulty.

Traits

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 profession, a location’s defining feature, the intensity of an event, etc. The Core rules come with a pre-defined set of Traits for character creation:

• Base Traits
• Background Traits
• Specialization Traits
• Magic Traits

There could also be:

• Weakness Traits: Traits that increase the difficulty of certain rolls.
• Generic Traits: Traits that don’t fit a category but carry relevant descriptors.

Traits can have a Weight, expressed as a number between parentheses, that tells how “strong” a Trait is. Not all Traits can have a Weight past 1 and are considered Fixed. If someone is, for example, an Elf, they cannot be more Elf than any other Elf. In the Core rules, Fixed Traits are expressed without a number next to them.

Traits can be acquired or lost during a game as events unfold and / or more skills are acquired or forgotten. Traits can also be be Temporary, and disappear after a given number of turns.

In the game, players will use their applicable Traits to resolve tasks and increase their roll size. For example, if a Trait has Weight (2), it would contribute 2 additional dice to a Pool if the player can contribute a plausible narration for its use.

Traits can be made active, can require a cost to be used, can be leveled up, or carry additional effects and rulings with Mods. Items in the game can carry Traits as well, or can influence other Traits with optional effects.

Base Traits

PCs and other living entities in Nuradan RPG have 4 Base Traits that can cover all the challenges they might face during their adventures.

• Strength (STR): Represents how strong a character is, and how good they are at smacking stuff or feats of strength.
• Dexterity (DEX): Represents how agile and dexterous a character is and how good they are at sneaking, balancing, aiming, etc.
• Intelligence (INT): Represents how smart and charismatic a character is and how good they are at reading, perception, speaking, or casting magic or hacking (if your setting has any).

These three values will be used as the base for every roll in the game.

STR and DEX then combine into the last Base Trait, Constitution (CON). This value represents health and the ability to carry stuff. It may vary over time as one gets hurt, heals, or acquires new strengths.

PCs are required to make camp, rest, and eat something at least once every 6 in-game days or suffer 1 damage to their CON. It’s implied they are keeping themselves rested and fed for the rest of the time.

Taking damage from actions or Combat also reduces a PC’s CON. A PC can recover lost CON aside from Injuries by spending the night in a safe spot.

A PC that reaches 0 CON is considered Critically Injured and will die if not treated with utmost urgency by someone with healing capabilities.

Specialization Traits

Players will be able to choose from a wide variety of Specialization Traits to further customize their PCs. Specialization Traits offer additional roleplaying options and additional dice to Pool when applicable, on top of the ones provided by Base Traits. They will be used in combination with Base Traits, items, and other narrative elements during gameplay.

• Athletics: Competence in running, jumping, climbing, acrobatics.
• Influence: Competence in bluffing, diplomacy, politics, intimidating.
• Survival: Competence in hunting, fishing, foraging, tracking, map navigation, etc.
• Scholar: Competence in history, language, maths, and sciences.
• Medicine: Competence in healing, medicating, first response.
• Herbalism: Competence in plants, flowers, alchemy, potion brewing.
• Thievery: Competence in picking locks, pickpocketing.
• Animals: Competence in handling animals.
• Stealth: Competence in sneaking, hiding, spying.
• Performance: Competence with music instruments, street arts.
• Craftmanship: Competence in repairing stuff, assembling tools.
• Perception: Competence in looking for things, identifying threats, intuiting people.
• Wrestling: Competence in bare handed combat.
• Weaponry: Competence with melee weaponry.
• Marksmanship: Competence with ranged weaponry.
• Streetwise: Competence in in trading, haggling, navigating urban areas.
• Occultism: Competence in lore, ghosts and spirits, legends, faiths, cults, and traditions.

The list of Specialization Traits is still a work in progress as I try to find a set of specialization simple enough to fit on a page but broad enough to cover most aspects of what an adventurer needs to thrive in the world of Nuradan. I don’t want to have more than 12-18 elements on this list.

Magic Traits

Some people in Nuradan are born with special, magic abilities that allow them to exert a certain level of control over an element. It’s not clear how these people are chosen by the elements, as it’s not passed down through generations and people have used their magic both for good or evil purposes.

Magic Traits are rare, rule-bending skills PCs and other entities might posses. In Nuradan RPG, only people with a Magic Trait are able to use magic and spells, and only in the type they specialize in. Magic Traits cannot be acquired or learned as they are innate, and nobody posseses more than one.

There are no actuall spells or additional rulings for magic: if someone has the Fire Magic Trait they can try to manipulate fire as long as they pass GM set checks.

• Fire Magic: Ability to conjure and manipulate fire, heat.
• Nature Magic: Ability to manipulate plants and wood.
• Earth Magic: Ability to manipulate earth, rock, and metals.
• Water Magic: Ability to conjure and manipulate water.
• Wind Magic: Ability to manipulate the flow of air and winds.
• Ice Magic: Ability to turn water into ice, conjure snow, and lower temperatures.

The list of available Magic Traits is still a work in progress. More options will be made available and perks and balances are subject to change as I learn to balance Nuradan RPG.

Background Traits

Players will get to assign 1 Background Trait to their PCs. In Nuradan RPG, Background Traits are just the main races that populate the world of Nuradan. But this list can be easily replaced or expanded upon with Mods.

Background Traits will offer some bonuses or limitations to PCs and expand the roleplay options at the players’ disposal.

• Human: Humans are a versatile and adaptable race, and they get to pick 1 additional Specialization at the start of the game with no extra cost.
• Rustling: Creatures of the woods. They get 1 extra point to spend into either the Herbalism, Nature Magic, or Survivalism Specialization Traits at the start of the game, but they gain a Fire Magic Weakness Trait.
• Elf: Elves are nimble, agile creatures that get 1 extra DEX at the start of the game.
• Dwarf: Dwarves are sturdy folks that come from the mountains. They get the Mining Specialization Trait for free at the start of the game.
• Orc: Orcs are very strong brutes. They get 2 extra STR at the start of the game, but they won’t be able to access any Magic Trait, Scroll, or Spellbook during gameplay.

The list of available Background Traits is still a work in progress. More options will be made available and perks and balances are subject to change as I learn to balance Nuradan RPG.

Weakness Traits

Weakness Traits are Traits that negatively affect a PC or other entities carrying them. Weakness Traits can be used by the opposing side or by the GM to increase the difficulty of a roll.

Sometimes, events in the game can result in Injuries, Temporary Weakness Traits that affect a PC until they are treated.

WIP

Inventory

A PC’s base Carrying Capacity (CC) is equal to that PC’s current CON, but modifiers can be applied to it separately from CON. For example, carrying a Backpack adds 3 CC to a PC independently of their actual CON.

Generally, items use 1 CC each. Bulky items take up as much CC as their Bulky stat says, and Petty items don’t count towards a PC’s CC. Some items are Stackable, and can fit into a single slot up to their Stack Size. For example, Torches have Stackable (5), meaning a PC can carry up to 5 Torches using up just 1 CC.

If a PC reaches or goes above their CC, they become Encumbered (X), where X is the number of excess CC being used. X is then subtracted from dice Pools: if a PC is Encumbered (2), for example, and they were supposed to Pool 5 dice, they pool just 3 instead.

PCs can drop items at any time.

Coins shouldn’t count towards CC.

Character creation

At the beginning of a game, after the GM has introduced the adventure, players can start building their PCs.

WIP

Starting Gear

Starting Gear can be made optional if PCs are supposed to start from rags, like just getting out of jail or stranded somewhere. If PCs get to have some Starting Gear, they can pick 3 of the following items, no duplicates:

• 100x Coins
• Sword (1)
• Shield (1)
• Longbow (1)
  • Bulky (2)
• 20x Arrows
  • Stackable (20)
• 2x Torches
  • Stackable (5)
• Leather Armor (1)
• Chainmail Armor (2)
  • Weakness: Noisy (1)
  • Bulky (3)
• 5x Lockpicks
  • Consume to add 1 die to a lockpicking roll
  • Stackable (10)
• Small Backpack
  • +3 CC

The list of starting items is a work in progress and is meant to be expanded and balanced in future versions. I’m aiming to have 18-23 choices in here.

Task resolution

WIP

explain how you get +1s with a clear list

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.

If something can be used as an advantage in a roll, 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.

Combat

WIP

Items list

WIP

Progress

PCs starts at Level (Lv.) 1 and can level up to Lv. 10. There’s no fixed progression system, but I believe everyone learns something at the table and PCs should progress together. For longer campaigns, a GM could let PCs level up at the end or at the beginning of each or every other session. For shorter campaigns or one shots, the GM could use a few rest periods to award PCs a level.

Upon gaining a Lv., players can allocate 1 new point to one of their Base Stats STR, DEX, or INT. CON grows together with STR and DEX.

Specialization Traits, Magic Traits, and some Generic Traits can be leveled up as well, with the player spending the point on 1 of them instead of their PCs’ Base Traits.

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

• 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

Link to original