During each sessionof play of AOAD, you should get the
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Your Non-Player Character
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Your NPC
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NPC Abilities
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Cunning
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Vigour
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Willpower
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Injuries
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Inventory
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Difficulty
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Strength
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Weaknesses
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Notes
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Making Adventurers
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This is an easy to read and simple to use roleplaying game written with both new and experienced players in mind. Adventures on a Dime aims to introduce skills found in many different games and be a stepping stone into other systems.
Roles
There are two roles in this game. One player is the Narrator, who coordinates the story and fairly applies the rules for the other players, who are capable Adventurers. While playing AOAD, you will tell stories about daring adventurers in any setting – a fantasy kingdom, a creaking spaceship, another planet or even your own day-to-day life.
Game Overview
The Adventurers will use the Skills and Features they’ve accumulated during their life to overcome obstacles presented by the Narrator. Where an outcome is uncertain, theNarrator will ask the Adventurers to roll dice to determine what happens next in the story. The Narrator will use the Perks and Flaws of each Adventurer to customise the obstacles and outcomes they each experience. Adventures on a Dime is a game that can tell stories over a single session, or over several sessions.
Stories will be told of everyday people who can accomplish amazing things. However, their adventures are not without danger – Adventurers can get hurt, lose their equipment or even permanently leave the story.
What is a Roleplaying Game?
A Tabletop Roleplaying Game (also called a TTRPG, a Roleplaying Game or Storytelling Game) is a way of collaboratively telling a story. These games can be played with anyone. Like conversations at a party, they are great fun with people you already know.
When you play, you tell a story. In most games, each player takes on the role of a character in that story. Everyone’s goal is to tell an entertaining and fun story, no matter which character they are playing as.
When something happens in the story where the outcome isn’t clear, everyone uses the rules to find out what happens next. This might involve rolling dice, completing a puzzle or drawing cards from a deck. Once an outcome is agreed upon, everyone continues telling the story.
At some point, the story has to end. Some games are designed to tell a full story in a single session, while others may use multiple sessions to tell a story in many parts, like episodes of a TV show.
Why Play Roleplaying Games?
Through roleplaying, you can write, draw, tell stories, design characters and explore worlds beyond your own imagination. You can use them as a way of getting to know people better, make new friends and improve your social skills.
Like any good book, film or video game, a great TTRPG can hold a mirror up to your own interests, helping you find out more about yourself. Different games help you tell different stories and explore many exciting themes. Roleplaying games can also create a safe, distanced space to talk about serious issues on your mind, such as mental health, race, gender, sexuality and contemporary politics.
They can also just be fun! Not every game has to be a manifesto of personal growth. Many players find comfort in the stories they tell – an escape from their current problems.
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Making an Adventurer
You are an Adventurer and you’re going on a quest. Use the following rules to create your own Adventurer and learn how to play the game.
First, you will pick characteristics that define your Adventurer and discover what Skills they have gained from their current Job. Next, you will choose Equipment to bring on your quest. Continue reading to start your adventure!
Abilities
Your potential is measured with three Abilities: Cunning, Vigour and Willpower. They are measured usingAbility Dice which you roll when solving problems and handling dangerous situations.
Cunning adventurers craft intricate plans. They are aware of their surroundings, think quickly on their feet and effortlessly recall information.
Vigorous adventurers can endure any adversity. They hold their ground, know their limits and work hard at any task.
Willful adventurers have the confidence to face any threat. They are passionate speakers, confidently in touch with their emotions and fearless no matter the odds.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Your Adventurer’s abilities are represented by their Ability Dice. Ability dice can be of different sizes, such as a six-sided D6 or a ten-sided d10. The more sides a die has the stronger your talents with that Ability.
Select one adjective for each Ability, writing it and its die size on your Character Sheet. The total sides of your Ability Dice must equal 24, such as a D6 + D8 + D10 (6 + 8 + 10 = 24).
Abilities
Adjectives / Die Size (Base total = 24)
D4
An Unprepared Adventurer is...
D6
An Average Adventurer is...
D8
A Well-Prepared Adventurer is
D10
An Adept Adventurer is...
D12
A Heroic Adventurer is...
Cunning
Foolish
Cautious
Resourceful
Sly
Devious
Vigour
Reckless
Capable
Adept
Diligent
Relentless
Willpower
Fearful
Present
Confident
Inspiring
Enthralling
Base Size and Current Size
The die size chosen for each Ability is its Base Size. All your Ability dice start play at their Base Size.
During play, effects may temporarily make an Ability Die larger or smaller than its Base. In time your dice will return to their Base Size, usually when you Rest.
Steps
When a die changes size, it is Raised or Lowered by one or more Steps. For example, a D4 Raised by 2 steps becomes a D8, while a D12 Lowered by 1 step becomes a D10.
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Jobs
Adventurers aren’t born, they’re made. Common folk use the talents they’ve developed across their lives to become heroes in moments of danger and peril. Jobs and Features are our way of summing up those talents and finding ways to apply them to solve problems. Every Job has:
A Title. What is your job?
3 Skills. What duties are you able to perform?
A Perk. What positive attitude, quality or trait have you gained?
A Flaw. What negative opinion, weakness or long-term problem has the job caused?
Your First Job
When you make an Adventurer, think about what their life was like before they were called to action.
Think small. Consider the heroism that can be found in everyday life. No job can solve every problem, so delight in choosing oddly specific, quirky or intriguing skills.
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When I describe myself to others, I tell them I am a [Job Title].
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This Job has given me the chance to practice [this Skill].
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Something I like about this Job is that [describe Perk].
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I hadn’t expected this Job would [describe Flaw].
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-Here are some filled in examples:
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-When I describe myself to others, I tell them I am a Pirate. (Job: Pirate)
-Being a Pirate has given me the chance to practice swinging a cutlass. (Skill: Swashbuckling)
-Something I like about being a Pirate is that I learned to keep calm while the ship was under cannon fire. (Perk: Cool Under Pressure)
-I hadn’t expected that being a Pirate would mean I’d miss my home port this much. (Flaw: Landlubber)
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Phrasing Skills
Unusual talents or abilities can also be phrased as Skills.
For example, a wizard’s apprentice might know how to Create Flames or Talk to Animals, while a New York superhero might be able to Walk on Walls or Shoot Sticky Webs. Special Items might also grant their user access to a specific Skill, such as a magic cloak that allows you to Turn Invisible.
Features
A feature is a Skill, Perk or Flaw that's not attached to a Job. However, it is used normally in play.
When you create your Adventurer, give them one Feature. What is something special about you that is independent of any profession? For example, our Pirate from before also knows how to knit, and has the Feature ‘Skill: Knit Jumpers.’
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Equipment
Every Adventurer starts with their Standard Gear. They always have the ability to carry this equipment. In addition, you can carry a number of Items(weapons, tools, objects, etc.) equal to your Base Vigour. For example, if your Base Vigour is a D8, then you can carry up to 8 Items.
An Item is an object that requires one or two hands to comfortably hold, such as a shield, fancy painting or small tent.
A Heavy Item is anything too big to be comfortably held in two hands, or too heavy to hold, such as an armchair or an anvil. They cannot be carried like an Item, but you might be able to pick them up or drag them around.
A Pocket Item is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. These don’t count against the number of Items you can carry, within reason. A single feather might be a pocket item, but a pillow stuffed with feathers is an Item.
What counts as an Item, Heavy Item or Pocket Item is relative to each Adventurer. To a human, a boulder might be a heavy item. To a giant robot, that same boulder might be a pocket item!
Standard Gear
A new adventurer starts with the following Standard Gear:
A set of Clothing
A Backpack
A Light Source
A Packed Lunch
A wallet with 10 Silver Coins
Five Tools or Weapons related to your Job(s)
Tools
A Tool is anything that you would use day-to-day in one of your Jobs. You can use them to solve problems and interact with the world.
Up to five Tools or Weapons fit in your Standard Gear, with additional objects being carried as Items.
Weapons
A Weapon is anything you can carry that you can also use to defend yourself. All weapons deal the same damage, so choose anything that fits your character and their background.
You don’t have to carry a weapon if you don’t want to.
Special Items
Some objects are specially crafted, magically enchanted or otherwise really cool. The rules that come with Special Items explain how they work, and override the standard rules written here. If in doubt, the Narrator can make a final decision as to how things work.
Narratively Sensible Limits
Items, Tools and Weapons have a ‘narratively sensible’ limit. Under normal use, an item won’t run out or break and doesn’t have to be measured. However, items are not infinite. If the Narrator believes that an action could use up or otherwise break an item, they will warn you.
For example, while exploring a labyrinth you use chalk to mark your way without fear of using it up. Then you find some ancient tablets in a hidden library and want to take a rubbing of each one. Now the Narrator warns you that this would use up all of your chalk. You could choose to take only a few rubbings and save your chalk to continue marking your way or use it all up and get a rubbing of each tablet right now.
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Rules
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Playing the Game
Adventurers on a Dime follows a natural rhythm of actions. The Narrator describes what is happening in the story, then the Adventurers react by describing what actions they take. Like a conversation, the spotlight moves back and forth with the Narrator and Adventurers reacting to each other's ideas.
This section provides a set of rules to help frame that conversation and answer questions such as, ”What happens next?” and, ”What if something bad happens?”
Together, all Players should use these rules to tell a story that everyone enjoys.
Ability Rolls
During play, you tell the Narrator what you want to do. When you attempt something that isn’t guaranteed,your Narrator will ask you to describe your approach in detail. Then they will ask you to make an Ability Roll with one of your three abilities. The result of the roll tells everyone what happens next. When you roll...
Die Roll
Outcome
Highest
Critical Success
You do better than could be expected! The Narrator describes how things go in your favour.
4+
Success
You do as well as you can. The Narrator describes if you succeed and how successful you are.
2-3
Complication
You do worse than expected. The Narrator describes the cost of your success as the situation becomes tenser.
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Hijinx
Something dramatic happens. The Narrator describes how things go awry – unintended consequences may follow.
Cunning, Vigour or Willpower
The description of your approach decides which Ability the Narrator will ask you to roll. For example, methodically pulling every book on a bookcase to search for a hidden door might require a Vigour Roll for diligently working. Dusting the bookcase for fingerprints might instead require a Cunning Roll for cleverly using a tool.
Clarifying Intent
Part of adventuring is facing challenges, especially those that stretch outside of your comfort zone. However, if you want to roll a different Ability than the one the Narrator suggests, you can rephrase your action or specify your intentions. The Narrator may still decide that their suggestion makes more sense in the situation.
Impossible Rolls
If the Narrator thinks an action is guaranteed to fail or just isn’t possible, they will let you know. You can always choose not to perform an action up until you roll the dice.
Contest Rolls
When two or more characters actively oppose each other, the Narrator calls for a Contest to decide who gets what they want.
Contestants each make an Ability Roll. The highest number wins the Contest.
In ties, the largest Ability Die wins. If tied dice are the same size, the contest is a draw and nobody gets what they want.
Contestants don’t have to roll the same Ability Die. For example, a fox sneaking up on a chicken would make a Cunning roll, while the rooster keeping watch would make a Vigour roll.
Advantage and Disadvantage
Sometimes the odds are in your favour, other times they’re stacked against you. The Narrator might tell you to roll with…
Advantage. Roll your Ability Die twice and use the higher roll.
Disadvantage. Roll your Ability Die twice and use the lower roll.
Advantage and Disadvantage do not stack: you will only ever roll twice (e.g. you can’t get double Advantage and roll three times). Additionally, if any roll has both Advantage and Disadvantage, everything cancels out resulting in a single roll.
Non-Player Characters (NPCs), played in the story by the Narrator, have their own strengths that can give them advantage, and weaknesses that can be exploited by an Adventurer to give the NPC disadvantage.
Tagging Skills and Tools in Ability Rolls
You can describe to the Narrator how you think a Tool or Skill is especially useful during an Ability Roll. If they agree, they may let you ‘tag’ it to roll with Advantage.
Bear in mind that sometimes a Skill or Tool may allow you to make an Ability Roll instead of granting Advantage, because without such assistance the roll would have been impossible.
Perks of the Job
Perks open the door to special narrative opportunities. Your Narrator may grant Advantage on a roll, give you additional information or let you make a roll because of a Perk.
For example, the Narrator might allow an Adventurer with the Perk ‘Sensitive Hearing’ to make a Cunning Roll to overhear a conversation, where other characters are assumed not to have heard it.
Know Your Flaws
Flaws pave the way for personalized moments in the story. Your Narrator may grant Advantage or Disadvantage, or present additional obstacles for a character to overcome because of a Flaw they have.
For example, your Narrator might decide that the doorman of an exclusive club won’t let you in because you have the Flaw ‘Known Troublemaker’. Later, when you sneak into the club through the kitchens, the cook will pretend not to see you even though they also know you’re a troublemaker, because they hate their boss.
My Adventurer Could Know This
You can ask the Narrator about any information your Adventurer might know that you don’t, such as the context of a scene, certain social customs or a relevant piece of common knowledge. The Narrator will help you understand the scenario better, highlighting specific things your Adventurer does or doesn’t know.
Dramatic Irony
Sometimes the Narrator may confirm details for the Players to make the game more entertaining. Adventurers don’t necessarily know everything that the Players do, so keep that in mind when roleplaying.
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Training
As you complete quests and the story continues, your adventurer will become more and more competent. This is represented by earning new Features and taking the time to learn new Skills.
New Features
After significant milestones or story events, the Narrator may give you a new Feature. For example, after you protect an ambassador from a plot to kidnap them, your Narrator gives you the new Feature ‘Perk: Friends in High Places’. You would record this in the Features tab of your Character Sheet.
New Skills
To gain a new Skill, you must spend time Learning the Basics from an accurate source (reading a book, learning from a tutor, teaching yourself, etc).
After you learn the basics, you need to Practise your new Skill. Do this by tagging it in a successful Ability Roll on 3 separate occasions. When you tag a Skill you are Practising, you do not get advantage.
Once you have Practiced your new Skill, it becomes Learned. Now you can tag it to gain advantage!
You can tell your Narrator about specific skills that interest you, and they can try to provide opportunities to learn and practise those skills in the story.
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Basics?
Practising
Learned!
New Skill
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P1
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Advanced Learning
When finding new Skills to learn, consider what might be a logical follow-up from your existing skillset. A wizard’s apprentice who can Create Fire might be looking to learn how to Extinguish Flames.
New Jobs
Once you have 3Learned Skills, you should combine them into a Job. When you do so, reflect on the successes and failures of the learning process to create a Perk and Flaw for your new Job.
Changing Abilities
When you get a new Job, you can choose to lower an Ability’s Base by one step to raise another Ability’s Base by one step. This reflects personal growth and change of worldview in your Adventurer.
No Ability Base can be raised above a D12 or lowered below a D4.
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Getting Hurt and Resting
Damage
When an Adventurer’s body or ego is hurt, they take Damage. Receiving Damagereduces an Ability’s size, often by one Step (such as from a D8 to a D6). In extreme circumstances, Damage may affect multiple Abilities at once or reduce one Ability by multiple Steps.
Damageis only inflicted for significant hurts, such as from falling from a great height or feeling immense shame. Light scuffs and scrapes can be endured without taking Damage.
Injuries
If an Ability with a D4 receives Damage, roll it. If you roll…
2 - 4: You shrug off the Damage and keep adventuring.
1: You succumb to the Damage and sustain an Injury.
When you are Injured, the Narrator gives a Cause for the Injury related to the ability that was Damaged. For example, a Vigour Injury might be a dislocated shoulder, while a Willpower Injury might erode an Adventurer’s confidence and paralyze them with anxiety.
While injured, you can perform simple actions within the limitations of your Injury but are unable to make rolls for anyAbility. Abilities can still be raised or lowered while you are Injured.
Removing an Injury
An Injury is removed by taking action to resolve its Cause, such as bandaging your shoulder or calming your fears with a quiet pause. Once the Cause is resolved, you are no longer Injured and can make Ability Rolls again.
At the Narrator’s discretion, helping resolve another player’s Injury can also count as roleplaying a Breather (explained later, in Resting).
Conflicts that Lead to Damage
During your journey, you may come into conflict with someone or something that wants to cause you harm. There are many such situations – a sword fight, a battle of wits or an aggressive demonstration of skill are just some of them.
When this happens, you describe how you engage your opponent while the Narrator begins a Contest. The loser of the Contesttakes Damage in the winner’s choice of Ability. The winner describes how they inflict Damage on the loser, or alternatively, the winner can choose not to do harm.
For example, two gladiators begin a Vigour Contest as they trade blows with their weapons. The winner spits vicious insults at the loser, and the Narrator decides the loser takes Willpower Damage.
Resting
Adventurers must Rest to heal and repair the Damage they have suffered on their adventures.
If you rest in Good Conditions raise all of your Abilities up to their Base Size.This requires a hearty meal and 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep in a comfortable space.
If you rest in Adequate Conditions, raise one Ability of your choice up to its Base Size.This requires some food or water and 6 hours of sleep accumulated across an 8 hour period.
If the story allows it, the Adventurers can take a Breather to raise one Ability by one step, up to its Base Size.Everyone involved relaxes and lets off steam through a roleplayed conversation or the collaborative description of a scene. Breathers have no minimum time to complete and can take many forms, but cannot be performed again until after the story progresses.
If any Ability has been raised above its Base Size, the Narrator decides if resting will lower it back down. For example, having a hearty breakfast might raise your Willpower above its Base. However, the effects of the breakfast pass after a night’s sleep.
Resting with Injuries
The act of resting does not automatically remove Injuries. In the time it takes to rest, the cause of an injury could get worse, or even become fatal – a bleeding sword wound or a poisonous bite will need quick attention.
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Non-Player Characters
Characters the Narrator controls are called Non-Player Characters or NPCs.
What Abilities does an NPC have?
NPCs use a simpler character sheet. The higher the total of their Ability Dice, the more difficult a threat they could pose to Adventurers.
Difficulty
Petty
Simple
Moderate
Difficult
Troublesome
Daunting
Example NPC
A Placid Sheep
A Terse Shopkeeper
A Vicious Wolf
A Sly Adventurer
A Veteran Hero
A Conniving Dragon
Ability
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Instead of Jobs, NPCs have Strengths and Weaknesses. The number of Strengthsand Weaknessesan NPC has will also affect how difficult a challenge they can pose.
An NPC playing to one of their Strengths rolls with advantage.
An NPC whose Weakness(es) are being exploited rolls with disadvantage.
For example, an Adventurer has heard the local beasts run away from torch-bearing villagers. While in the forest, a Vicious Wolf attacks! So long as the Adventurer stays near their campfire, the wolf is cautious – they have the weakness ‘Afraid of Fire’. When the wolf tries to bite the Adventurer, the wolf has disadvantage on their Ability roll because they are afraid of getting burned.
Difficulty
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Moderate
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Strengths
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Narrator
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Narrating an Adventure
Asking for Ability Rolls
Each Ability Roll should give direction to the story and move it forward, whether the action goes well or not. Avoid describing a roll’s result as a complete halt of progress in the story – this can be boring and dishearten the other Players.
For example, an Adventurer tries to open a door with brute force and rolls a 1 (a Hijinx). Failing to open the door is boring. Loudly kicking the door off of its hinges and attracting nearby guards is more exciting and keeps the story moving.
Choosing the Right Ability
The abilities Cunning, Vigour and Willpower can describe any action the adventurers take. Ask the players to describe their actions. Consider their logic then decide which ability suits best at that moment – it might not always be the same ability, even for similar actions! Below are some examples:
Cunning
Vigour
Willpower
Fighting in Combat
Feinting to the left, tricking the enemy into exposing a weak point.
Waiting for the enemy to attack so you can parry their blow and strike with your own.
Letting out a battle cry and swinging your weapon while the enemy is afraid.
Climbing a Wall
Looking for bricks that jut out, planning a reliable route to scale the wall.
Starting with a run and using your momentum to jump up to a handhold.
Visualising their goal atop the wall, and using their determination to reach it despite slips and falls.
Distracting a Guard
Commenting on their hard work and offering to buy them a drink.
Tripping them, then running fast enough to give chase without getting caught.
Regaling them with a tale from your latest adventure while your friends slip by unnoticed.
Creating Consequences
There are four consequences an Adventurer can face: encountering a Complication, Losing an Item, taking Damage, becoming Injured. These are normally encountered after rolling a 1, 2 or 3 on an Ability Roll, but the narrator can also decide that a consequence is necessary because of the Adventurers’ actions in the story.
Complications are the most common. This could be a setback, an unexpected character entering the scene or an unintended consequence.
Losing an Item is inconvenient. Breaking a shovel to dig a hole advances the story, yet takes a useful tool away from the adventurers.
Damage signals danger. It lowers an Adventurer’s chance of overall success, which stacks the odds against them. When used sparingly it puts weight on a consequence and increases tension in the story.
Injuries are frightening. They prevent adventurers from making Ability Rolls, which means they cannot direct the story. While this can be distressing for the Injured Player, it also allows others to be the hero and save their friends.
Before giving Damage to an adventurer with a D4, ask yourself if an Injury would enhance the story and game experience for everyone involved.
Furthermore, while Adventurers can technically sustain more than one injury at a time, you should really consider how multiple injuries will affect the story (or bring it to a swift end).
Receiving Damage
Adventurers often face physical, mental and emotional perils. Just like Ability Rolls, how Damage is awarded is tied to how it is described.
For example, staying awake all night to watch over a campsite would leave an Adventurer exhausted the next day. This could look like:
Cunning Damage
Vigour Damage
Willpower Damage
Their eyelids droop with fatigue.
Their muscles ache from standing all night long.
Their brave mood is dampened by irritable thoughts.
Offering Choice
Players may find choosing their fate to be tenser than just receiving a set outcome. If you feel a consequence is necessary but can’t choose between two, let the Adventurers decide. For example, overcoming an obstacle either by Taking Damage or Losing an Item.
Injuries and Unfortunate Ends
Adventurers can succumb to their injuries and leave the story, and some dangers cannot be escaped. Check in with the players before guiding the story in this direction. Make sure everyone understands why something has happened, and ensure everyone agrees that the story is more interesting because of it. You can warn Players directly about especially perilous consequences their Adventurers might face.
Can someone play without being an Adventurer?
Players can join in without roleplaying an Adventurer. These are a few ideas to get you started:
Helping other Players by suggesting ideas and asking the Narrator clarifying questions.
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