Making Characters and Starting Play

Making a Character
Assign the four, eight, and twelve-sided dice to the
attributes Warrior, Sorcerer, and Explorer.
More sides means your character is better at that
role.
Make up two abilities for your character, and assign
them the six-sided and ten-sided dice.
Example Abilities
Sailor Executioner Blacksmithing Warfare
Diplomacy Woodsman Student of Arts Swordbearer
Brawler Acolyte Animal Tongues Poisoner
Choose a d20 trait for your character. Make sure its
something that you can imagine the character
following or acting against.
Recommended d20Traits
Callous Cold Human Mercenary
Detached Faithful Fatalistic Civilised
Cerebral Loyal Melancholy Vengeful
Name the character, write a couple of sentences
about them if you like, and youre done.
Tips
A character in On Mighty Thews should be a
powerful master of their own fate - an exceptional
individual with strong drives and passions. This is
someone who wont just let events unfold, they
take action!
Starting the game
Everyone draws a point on a piece of paper, and
writes their characters d20 trait next to it. These
are the poles of the world.
Everyone draws a few exciting things on the map.
Name them!
Choose an exciting place on the map, and decide
what the characters are doing there.
Framing scenes:
Game Master: Establish where the characters are,
who else is there, and what the characters are trying
to achieve. If its the rst scene, look to the map
youve created to work out what situation the
characters nd themselves in.
Players: Tell the GM what your character is trying
to achieve, where theyre going and how theyre
getting there. If its the rst scene, work out what
your characters reason for being in this situation is,
and what they hope to get out of it.
Starting Scenes:
Game Master: Describe the scene, the
surroundings, and any people present. You can
describe short cut scenes to establish important
information.
Players: Ask questions to establish details, describe
what your character is doing.
During scenes:
Game Master: Tell the players whats happening in
the scene, how people react to the characters, and
suggest ideas and actions. Answer the players
questions, and be vigilant for dangerous,
competing, and ghting conicts.
Players: Say what your character is doing. Try to
get your character what they want, but also think
about whats interesting to you and to the other
players. When new things are introduced, you can
ask for a lore roll to see what your character knows
about it. Seek out conict!
Ending scenes:
Game Master: End scenes when the characters have
achieved their goal in the scene, have changed
locations, or have failed totally.
Players: Take a re-roll token if your character has
acted according to their d20 Trait.
Tips
When framing scenes, try to cut to the most
interesting part of the story. Get to where the
players want their characters to be.
Don't be afraid to cut past anything that you're not
personally interested in, or that you think the
players don't care about.
GMs, let the players tell you how they've come to
be in the new situation. That said, sometimes it's
fun to throw in complications.
If youre GMing, and youre stuck for ideas, tell the
players that theres something waiting for the
characters, something watching them, or something
trying to hide from them. If they go near, its a
dangerous conict. The danger is that they wont
see whatever it is until its too late - until its gotten
away, until it leaps to attack them, or until it has
warned its friends. This will kick-start some action
in your scene.
Dangerous and Competing Conflicts
Dangerous Conflicts
Call for these conicts when characters are doing
something dangerous.
Decide on the stakes of the conict. No boring
outcomes!
Choose one relevant attribute and any appropriate
abilities, and take the dice for them.
Once per scene, if your character is acting against
their d20 Trait, take a 20 sided die as well.
Roll the dice! You can spend a re-roll token to re-
roll them all.
If you roll four or more on your highest die, your
character gets the stakes.
For every two points by which your highest die
beats four, you get one fact, or one +1 bonus to a
future action.
Injuring Players Characters:
If a character loses a dangerous conict, or a
ghting conict, they might be injured.
The GM should describe the injury, and the player
should write it down.
When the character is in a conict, the player can
describe the character being hampered by the
injury, take a -2 penalty to their roll, and remove
the injury.
If a character has three injuries, any further injuries
take the character out of the scene.
Tips:
If youre stuck for what to do with degrees of
success, rst, ask yourself What would I nd most
exciting? Chances are, if you nd it exciting, the
other players at the table do as well.
Second, ask yourself What works? It's always
good to add facts to the game that work with whats
already been established, and that answer questions
that have arisen in the scene
Last, ask yourself How is this relevant to my
character? It's important that the events of the
story stay relevant to the main characters. If theyre
not, invent something to make it so.
Every scene, all the time, heres what to
say: Youre doing this? The danger is...
Then roll the dice.
Competing Conflicts
Call for these conicts when two characters' goals
conict, and only one can be successful.
Decide on the stakes of the conict. What are they
competing over?
Player: Choose one relevant attribute and any
appropriate abilities, and take the dice for them.
Once per scene, if your character is acting against
their d20 Trait, take a 20 sided die as well.
GM: Take the dice for your character or characters.
Roll the dice!
Whoever rolled the highest on their highest die gets
the stakes.
Player: For every two points by which your highest
die beats the GMs highest die, you get one fact,
one +1 bonus to a future action, or an injury against
a character in the conict.
Injuring GMs Characters:
Minor characters are taken out of a scene if you
spend one degree of success to take them out, in a
conict that character was involved in.
Major characters take injuries when you spend
degrees of success to describe injuries to them.
Theyre taken out when they have more than three
injuries.
Ties:
Player vs GM Character: The player wins ties.
Player vs Player: The character acting most directly
wins.
Multiple Opponents:
The GM rolls a die for each opponent on their side
of the conict, and takes the highest die.
Tips:
GMs, heres how to make your characters fun and
memorable, and also easy to play: Make them want
something. Their wants should be proportional in
scope to the size of the die you give them.
Characters with six and eight-siders want simple
things: To do their job and go home, to enlist the
characters aid, to escape unharmed, to eat well for
a day, to make a living. Characters with ten and
twelve-siders should have grander goals: The
conquest of kingdoms, apotheosis, reincarnation.
Have your characters strive for their goals with
passion, and treat them with honesty. The world
comes alive through your characters, so make the
most of them.
Players, its easy to kill the GMs characters.
Theyre fragile. You can always kill them later. Ask
yourself if it wouldnt be more interesting to leave
them alive. You can use a degree of success to kill
them off, but you can also use a fact to have them
run away, start babbling secrets, or otherwise bend
them to your characters will.
Fighting and Lore
Fighting Conflicts
Call for these conicts when two or more
characters are ghting with each other.
Everyone says what their character is trying to do.
Player: Choose one relevant attribute and any
appropriate abilities, and take the dice for them.
Once per scene, if your character is acting against
their d20 Trait, take a 20 sided die as well.
GM: Take the dice for your character or characters.
Roll the dice!
Whoever rolled the highest on their highest die,
their character succeeds at what they were trying to
do. If that was hurting the other character, you can
take out minor characters, and give major
characters (or players characters) an injury.
Player: You can choose to spend one degree of
success (one fact worth) to block your opponents
intent. Otherwise they get their intent and may give
you a penalty if that was their intent.
GM: If you win by two or more, the players
character does not get their intent.
Damaging GMs Characters:
Minor characters are taken out of a scene if that
was your intent, or you spend one degree of success
to take them out, in a conict that character was
involved in.
Major characters take injuries if that was your
intent, or when you spend degrees of success to
describe injuries to them. Theyre taken out when
they have more than three injuries.
Multiple Opponents:
The GM rolls a die for each opponent on their side
of the conict, and takes the highest die.
Theyre circling around you, trying to cut
off your escape!
He charges with his shield, pushing you
back towards the edge!
She grabs your sword-arm, trying to twist
the weapon out of your grasp.
The things tentacles are reaching and
grasping, pulling you under the water!
Keeping you away with her dancing
sword, she tugs on the bell-pull to summon
more guards.
Theyre pulling you down, grappling your
arms and legs, dragging you away!
He advances on you, slashing wildly,
driving you backwards!
Its noxious breath is overwhelming, and
your eyes are blurring. It keeps its distance
while the fumes take effect.
They retreat from your advance, flinging
darts and stones, never letting you get close
enough to use your sword.
It sinks its fangs into you, holding on and
locking its jaw!
Tips:
Declare interesting intents. Push people off cliffs,
cut ropes, kill hostages, carry people away.
GMs, go after weak characters. Force the other
characters to defend someone.
Give your major characters very specic abilities.
Give the players ways to disable or disqualify the
abilities.
End combats quickly. Players get frustrated by
combat dragging on, long before they get frustrated
by winning too easily. Have your characters run
away, surrender, deploy traps and cast spells.
Lore Rolls
Call for a Lore conict when the characters
discover something new.
Roll your characters Sorcerer attribute, plus any
relevant ability dice.
If your highest die is four or higher, you may create
one piece of lore.
For every degree of success, you get one extra
piece of lore, or a +1 bonus to a future conict.
Lore can relate to a magical spell or ritual that your
character has recalled.
Lore for Casting Spells
If you want to cast a spell, start with a Lore roll.
The facts you create establish that the spell is
possible. For example, you can establish that you
know a ritual phrase that controls a particular
creature, or you can summon a demon that lives
in this particular area, or you can call down
lightning from this violent storm. Spells are
always specic to a particular time, a particular
creature or person, or a particular place.