Wyrlde as a whole is different from what you will know as part of mainline D&D. Everything here has been considered and evaluated to fit the setting first, instead of the setting being made to fit the element, mechanic, or approach. Second were the story elements of the many different plotlines from several campaigns. The traditional game elements all came in third, subject to the whims of the Campaign and the Setting.
“If you don’t get out of the box you’ve been raised in, you won’t understand how much bigger the world is.”
Angelina Jolie
Wyrlde is different. Degrees of Mastery, Professions, Heritages, Homelands, Houses, Adventures, Ability Scores, Challenge Ratings, Aspects , features, your relationships with others; things here will have some familiarity but not to a degree where one can say it is not different.
5e Books
Wyrlde’s volumes do not wholly replace the published stuff. You will still need the Player’s Handbook (PHB) and the Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG). It also helps to have Tasha’s Guide to Everything (TGE) and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (XGE).
This is not a new game or new version of 5e. However, when a rule is found here, it takes precedence over the rule in the books, and disputes are resolved by the DM. The game’s rules have been bent to fit the world, first and foremost – and these books do not contain all of what is in the PHB or DMG.
Dice & Dicing
The game is played using an assortment of polyhedral dice, different ones used at different points and times, representing chance and fortune, as Radiance is always present, as well as for creation and engagements. These dice are arranged on something called a Die Scale, and different actions can move the die used up or down the scale.
The full assortment used by players are a fairly standardized one. They are described using a convention of the letter “d” followed by the number of sides for the die. The normal assortment consists of D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, and D20. On occasion you may be asked to roll “percentile dice” or 2d10, and one will be the tens and the other will be the ones. This is represented by d%.
Wyrlde uses additional dice: D14, D16, D18, D22, D24, D26, D28, and D30. These will typically be rolled by a DM as these dice are not commonly or readily available. Dice combinations can be used if they are not available.
Dice Chain & Scale
One tool Wyrlde uses is called the Die Chain or Die scale. This is an assortment of dice from d4 to d24 in even numbers. Moving up the chain increases the die size, moving down the chain decreases the die size. Moving down the scale takes you towards d4, moving up the scale takes you towards d%. In most cases, the maximum die move is to d30, the minimum is d4.
|
Die Scale | ||||||||||||||
|
D4 |
D6 |
D8 |
D10 |
D12 |
D14 |
D16 |
D18 |
D20 |
d22 |
D24 |
D26 |
D28 |
D30 |
D% |
|
Primary Chain | ||||||||||||||
This set up will be used throughout the game as a whole. Dice Chain and Dice Scale are synonymous. Magic allows one to move up or down the die chain for spell effects, including damage.
Some people may be familiar with a different dice chain, and there is difficulty in locating the dice, so the common conversions are provided so that people don’t have to go buy new dice. Also, those things are pricey. This is still D&D – the dice chain is used for hit points, damage, and similar effects, as well as to determine the challenge of a given encounter.
Creature Size
|
Size Categories | ||
|
Size |
Space |
Height |
|
Micro |
1 in by 1 in | |
|
Minute |
3 in by 3 in | |
|
Bitty |
6 in by 6 in | |
|
Tiny |
9 in by 9 in | |
|
Wee |
12 in by 12 in | |
|
Little |
18 in by 18 in |
1 ½ ft. to 2 ft. |
|
Short |
24 in by 24 in |
2 ft. to 3 ft. |
|
Small |
3 ft. by 3 ft. |
3 ft to 6 ft |
|
Medium |
6 ft. by 6 ft. |
6 ft to 9 ft |
|
Large |
9 ft. by 9 ft. |
9 ft to 12 ft |
|
Big |
12 ft. by 12 ft. |
12 ft to 15 ft |
|
Huge |
15 ft. by 15 ft. |
15 ft to 18 ft |
|
Gigantic |
18 ft. by 18 ft | |
|
Massive |
21 ft. by 21 ft. | |
|
Immense |
24 ft. by 24 ft. | |
|
Monstrous |
27 ft by 27 ft. | |
|
Humongous |
30 ft. by 30 ft | |
|
Gargantuan |
36 ft. by 36 ft | |
|
Colossal |
42 ft. by 42 ft | |
|
Titanic |
48 ft. by 48 ft | |
Each creature takes up a different amount of space. Size Category Table shows how much space a creature of a particular size controls in combat. This also applies outside of combat and is used to describe the amount of space that a being takes up.
Objects sometimes use the same size categories.
Spacing & Facing
Wyrlde uses a 3 foot (1 meter) grid and does apply facing. Beneath 3 feet, it uses a 6 inch grid, then a three inch grid below 1 foot.
Difficulty Chart
Actions taken in the game can rely on rolls of the dice, adding to the roll different modifiers. The most commonly used chart is the Difficulty Chart. This is used when there is some action or task that is being attempted.
A roll of a D20 is made against the target number as shown.
To use this chart, you need to know how difficult something is. An example is locks: locks will have different ratings – some will be common, others may be Exacting, while others will be Arduous. That will determine the difficulty of the action. To succeed, the roll, after modifiers, must be equal to or greater than the difficulty.
In general, 1 to 5 is Apprentice Difficulty, 6 to 10 is Novice Difficulty, 11 to 15 is Yeoman Difficulty, 16 to 20 is Adept Difficulty, 21 to 25 is Master Difficulty, and 26 to 30 is Grandmaster Difficulty. This breakdown will make sense in a moment.
Standard Difficulty Chart
The Standard Difficulty Chart is a simple expansion. The DM decides on the difficulty, usually through using the phrase as a guideline, and then sets that as the DC. Much of Wyrlde is like this, an expansion of the normal rules, a deeper dive, with layers of what is sometimes called “crunch”. The basis for much of this is that Wyrlde is a harder place. The world of mortals is small and simple. The world of greater things is large and difficult, and adventurers seek to cross that boundary.
|
DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY |
DC |
DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY |
DC |
DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY |
DC |
|
Trivial |
2 – 7 |
Difficult |
15 |
Exacting |
23 |
|
Simple |
8 |
Very Difficult |
16 |
Very Exacting |
24 |
|
Everyday |
9 |
Precise |
17 |
Intense |
25 |
|
Baseline |
10 |
Challenging |
18 |
Very Intense |
26 |
|
Common |
11 |
Intricate |
19 |
Very Improbable |
27 |
|
Uncommon |
12 |
Hard |
20 |
Inconcievable |
28 |
|
Tricky |
13 |
Very Hard |
21 |
Improbable |
29 |
|
Very Tricky |
14 |
Expert |
22 |
Miraculous |
30 |
Variable Difficulty Chart
The Variable Difficulty Chart adds an additional layer of complexity; some tasks are easier to do than other ones, even within a particular specific task.
An example is lockpicking. A Common DC Lock crafted by a Novice is going to be easier to pick than one crafted by a Grand Master as a result of experience and personal quirks. Wyrlde introduces 7 Variables: Inadequate, Adequate, Competent, Remarkable, Exceptional, Incredible, Amazing. This gives variability within a generalized degree of difficulty and enables a DM to be somewhat more precise. This is useful for objects and puzzles, enabling solving of complex things by roll of dice, or for crafting and complex clockworks or mechanical locks.
The Variable Difficulty lists the Standard Difficulty in the first column, then expands that difficulty by the row of how variable something is within that general difficulty. A lock made by a Master Locksmith, with a remarkably challenging mechanism, would be a DC 24. One made by a Novice Locksmith, with a similar mechanism, would be a DC 8.
|
Inadequate |
Adequate |
Competent |
Remarkable |
Exceptional |
Incredible |
Amazing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Very Easy |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
|
Easy |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
|
Trivial |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
|
Simple |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
|
Everyday |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
|
Baseline |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
|
Common |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
|
Uncommon |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
|
Tricky |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
|
Very Tricky |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
|
Difficult |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
|
Very Difficult |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
|
Precise |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
|
Challenging |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
|
Intricate |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
|
Hard |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
|
Very Hard |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
|
Expert |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
|
Exacting |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
|
Very Exacting |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
|
Intense |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
|
Very Intense |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
|
Very Improbable |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
| Inconceivable |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
32 |
|
Improbable |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
32 |
33 |
|
Miraculous |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
32 |
33 |
34 |
|
Unearthly |
29 |
30 |
31 |
32 |
33 |
34 |
35 |
DC Penalties
Some actions may have penalties applied to them, such as trying to pick a lock during a battle under a timeline while losing blood from an injury. That penalty is a modifier – all the modifiers are added to the role, negative reducing it and positive increasing it.
Disadvantage and Advantage works the same way – the modifiers are still applied to both rolls.
Recovery
Recovery on Wyrlde is not as easy or as simple as in typical 5e. The effects of resting are similar to but not the same as the standard rules. At the end of a Long Rest, you only recover half of hit points lost, and a short rest allows you to roll for some of your HP back.
On Wyrlde, magical healing is an important part of the world’s nature – and is far more potent than what is expected.
This slower recovery and limited nature of it is important because this world will try to kill you.
Life & Death
Wyrlde is not a safe place. Go more than 24 miles beyond a settlement, that is a Hamlet or larger, and the world is wild, untamed, feral, cruel, uncaring, and has a strong desire to eat you. Fortunately, you are often going to be able to handle these challenges – I mean, you are adventurers. That’s your job.
But that means you can die. Should you die, you have options – there are magical items that can restore life, and at higher levels you may have the ability to to use magic, but often what will happen is your party will have to pay someone to bring you back.
There is a time limit on this. 7 days for Raise Dead. 49 Days for Resurrection. 14 years for Reincarnation. But go past 7 days for any of them, and things get difficult, become more challenging, and may result in your not being quite right in the head. This is because of the Cycle and the Mortal Planes.
Professions
Wyrlde has no subclasses. It does have several entirely unique and original classes, often sharing familiar names. You won’t see Druids or Barbarians or Blood Knights or some of what you may expect, and just because a name is the same doesn’t mean that the class is – Wyrlde is its own place, and every class has a reason grounded in the world to exist, a purpose and a place.
But just as important, classes are a job, a profession, like a Doctor or a Lawyer. One that most people look askance at because it means hard work, but often comes with much benefit and means sacrifices that may take you away from a trade your family expected you to follow.
Mastery
A concept you will encounter often is the idea of Mastery. Mastery is levels – instead of saying what level are you, you will give your degree of mastery. Degrees are collections of levels, because the darn game uses the word “Level” for far too many things.
Wyrlde’s design places significant importance on the process and need for learning, for gathering experience and knowledge and shaping them into some form of valuable action or activity.
Each Degree includes several Levels, and a level still reflects your experience and improvement. There are distinct kinds of Degrees according to different factors in play. Mastery is about knowledge and the world around you.
Discipline is about your personal growth and the ability you have to deal with it. Difficulty is about how hard something is to do. Complexity is about how challenging and complicated magic is.
Mastery is the primary form of ranks and has an impact on many things you do.
Discipline is used when your effort results in a development for you, on your terms.
Spells are grouped by complexity of the spell and difficulty in “containing” it.
Degree of Ability reflects the distinct tiers of capability of a person based on an ability score. This applies to Primary, Derived, and Societal Scores. The greater your mastery in, say, Renown, the more influence and power one has within the guild, in society, in your profession, leading to better and more choice assignments.
|
Degree of Ability |
Degrees of Mastery |
Degrees of Discipline |
Degrees of Complexity | ||||
|
Tier 1 |
1 to 4 |
Novice |
1 to 4 |
Novice |
1 to 5 |
Simple |
Cantrips/0th to 1st Level |
|
Tier 2 |
5 to 7 |
Yeoman |
5 to 8 |
Competent |
6 to 10 |
Rudimentary |
2nd to 3rd Level |
|
Tier 3 |
8 to 11 |
Adept |
9 to 12 |
Experienced |
11 to 15 |
Intermediate |
4th to 5th Level |
|
Tier 4 |
12 to 15 |
Master |
13 to 16 |
Expert |
16 to 20 |
Advanced |
6th to 7th Level |
|
Tier 5 |
16 to 20 |
Grand Master |
17 to 20 |
Expert |
8th to 9th Level | ||
|
Tier 6 |
21 to 25 | ||||||
|
Tier 7 |
26 to 30 | ||||||
Degrees of Mastery play a role throughout the character development process and in navigating the world as you play. One degree of mastery is awarded every four levels. Mastery is how you navigate the world around you on the world’s terms. Degrees of Mastery are like the Tiers of Play you may be familiar with from the Player’s Handbook. They are the way the rules of the world affect you.
Degree of Skill influences NPCs – non-player characters – heavily, but also influences how you engage with them and what new skills and abilities you gain as you rise in levels. Here you can keep learning a skill, and as you do, you get better at it, and it is presumed you will develop a skill over time.
Degrees of Discipline are akin to the points and places where you push yourself to a greater point, crossing and passing an undefined sense of your ability to challenge the entirety of the world. This is your personal ability to navigate the broader world, on your own terms. They are, then, more about Agency. One degree of discipline is awarded every five levels. You gain Ability Score improvements according to Degrees of Discipline.
Degrees of Complexity are ways of defining how challenging and involved a spell is, and how much effort must go into the knowledge behind that spell, the foundations, and approaches to creating it. Those who put the greatest amount of time and effort into mastering the intricate mental whorls and whirls of highly complex spells do not have a lot of time to devote to other efforts and may often spend hours concentrating and doing little else, while those who push through in other areas may not be able to fully grasp the intricacies of a complex spell but could easily manage a rudimentary one and struggle only a bit with an intermediate one.
Progression on Wyrlde may seem much slower at first glance. In play, however, it should be noted that Wyrlde is a more challenging environment, but roughly equal to normal progression.
Stacking
Wyrlde is not a setting that falls within bounded accuracy. In this sense, it is much closer to previous editions. Many things and elements and options will give a character certain additions and subtractions to different aspects of the game mechanically.
Of import to those who seek to maximize and optimize are particular rules:
- No character is unbeatable.
- The maximum number of cumulative effects (stack) is 4.
- The maximum total of factors on a single roll is 20.
For advancement, there is the Leveling Table of Wyrlde, presented below.
Leveling Table
|
Mastery |
XP |
MS |
PB |
ASI |
Skill |
Forte |
Orders |
Mysteries |
Maxims |
Precepts |
Esoterica | |
|
1 |
Novice |
— |
0 |
0 |
Yes |
First |
Simple | |||||
|
2 |
2,000 |
3 |
0 |
Yes |
Yes | |||||||
|
3 |
5,000 |
4 |
0 |
Yes |
Yes | |||||||
|
4 |
9,000 |
5 |
+1 |
Rudiments |
Yes | |||||||
|
5 |
Yeoman / Doyen |
14,000 |
6 |
+1 |
Yes |
Second | ||||||
|
6 |
20,000 |
8 |
+1 |
Yes |
Yes | |||||||
|
7 |
28,000 |
10 |
+1 |
Yes |
Yes | |||||||
|
8 |
38,000 |
12 |
+2 |
Medial |
Yes | |||||||
|
9 |
Adept |
50,000 |
14 |
+2 |
Yes |
Third | ||||||
|
10 |
64,000 |
16 |
+2 |
Yes |
Yes | |||||||
|
11 |
80,000 |
18 |
+2 |
Yes |
Yes | |||||||
|
12 |
98,000 |
20 |
+3 |
Advanced |
Yes | |||||||
|
13 |
Master |
118,000 |
22 |
+3 |
Yes |
Fourth | ||||||
|
14 |
140,000 |
24 |
+3 |
Yes |
Yes | |||||||
|
15 |
162,000 |
26 |
+3 |
Yes |
Yes | |||||||
|
16 |
188,000 |
28 |
+4 |
Expert |
Yes | |||||||
|
17 |
Grand Master |
216,000 |
30 |
+4 |
Yes |
Fifth | ||||||
|
18 |
246,000 |
32 |
+4 |
Yes |
Yes | |||||||
|
19 |
278,000 |
34 |
+4 |
Yes |
Yes | |||||||
|
20 |
312,000 |
36 |
+5 |
Yes |
XP: Experience Points. If your DM chooses to use XP as a basis of advancement, this is how it works. XP is gained by defeating opponents (killing, overcoming, or otherwise defeating them).
MS: Milestone Points. If your DM chooses to use Milestones, this is how advancement works. Note that these are a hybrid system, meant to trigger on achieving certain storyline goals. Also, yes, it takes 348 Milestones – 348 things that move the larger story ahead – to reach 20th level.
PB: This is the Proficiency Bonus for that level.
ASI: This is when you gain a certain number of points to add to your Ability Scores.
Skill: This is when you gain an additional Proficiency slots.
Forte: This is when you gain an additional capability in your Profession that is unique to that profession.
Aspects are essentially akin to a combination of Features and Feats from 5e, that enable your character to do much more than just the default stuff, for the are no sub-Classes on Wyrlde.
Order: This is when you can learn a new aspect of combat and fighting.
Mysteries: this is when you learn new mysteries about magic.
Maxims: This is when you gain an additional Maxim as an Aspect of your character.
Precepts: This is when you gain an additional Precept as an Aspect of your character.
Esoterica: This is when you gain a new aspect of the Esoterica type.
PCs & The Dread Foes
The Dread Peoples, or Foes, (Goblins, Orcs, Merow, Thyrs, Imps, Grendels, and Kobolds) are not available as PC races. These beings are not inherently evil, are not all of one mind or one heart or one way of being. However, for most of them, they are trapped in rigid, cruel, destructive, ruthless cultures that have no tolerance for deviation and that are treated as kill on sight by the Empire as a whole.
There are active Resistances that could one day lead to rebellion, and many will escape to arrive in Antilia. Of them all, Kobolds are the ones no one fully understands on any side in the tripartite conflict between the Dread Host, the Bright Host, and the Shadow Host.
Goblins all come from the 125 Great Houses that were conscripted to serve the Dread Host in the same way that those who became the Elfin and Triton and Dwarfs volunteered. They were infused with the faij of the Necrotic, Infernal, and Nether planes, which twisted and gave entirely new ways to be. The horror of Goblin and Merow attacks comes in part from the fact that they take slaves, eat the living and the dead, raping and pillaging often leaving behind or carrying with them the progeny from such, who are orcs. Orcs are a challenge, destroying their hosts on birth, and raised in conditions that create near mindlessness. They will be released ahead of a raid, and they, too, will engage in horrible acts of depravity and ferociousness, but what they may leave behind are Ogres.
Evil on Wyrlde is a concept that is more about actions and the viewpoints that lead to that action. The Dread Peoples are not generally given that freedom, though one never knows – it is always possible that escaping slaves may be aided by a goblin who feels they can survive on the dead, or perhaps a Thyrs will jump ship and choose to survive out from under the thumb of the Matriarx there.
Those truths will come as the DM decides, for Wyrlde is intended to be used for several Campaigns.
