TSRPG
Second EditionBest For
Groups who want one simple guessing procedure for risky actions, usable across fantasy and other genres without needing dice, maps or stat blocks.
Core Mechanic
The storyteller sets a Challenge Rating (CR) and secretly picks a target number from 1 to the CR, by choice or at random. The leading character adds one attribute, every relevant trait and one piece of special equipment. Helpers add their traits and one piece of equipment each, capped in total at the leader's bonus. The target plus or minus the total bonus, wrapping around the range, is the span of success. The lead player then guesses a number. An exact guess is a critical success, and a guess one away is a near critical. A guess on either end of the span is a near miss, which succeeds with a complication. A guess outside the span fails. With a total bonus below +3, the only results are success and failure. Failure can impose penalties on participating characters' traits or attributes, weakening their later attempts.
Risky actions use one procedure: the group totals a bonus and a player guesses the storyteller's hidden number. Most of the learning load sits in the character options, where professions limit when their bonus applies and many talents grant twice-per-session powers. Experience purchases and a set of optional modules, including a d6 dice alternative, form the remaining layer.
- Free to tryQuickstartA free starter you can actually play
- Get it nowSold newIn print or as a legal PDF
- –IndexNo back-of-book index or page-keyed reference tables
- ✓GM guidanceA chapter on how to run the game
- ✓Examples of playRules shown in action at the table
- ✓Quick referenceCheat sheet or summary tables
- –Cross-referencesRules rarely point to each other by page
3 of 5 book tools found in the core book
Highlights
The distance between a player's guess and the hidden target sets up to five outcome grades, so one guess decides both whether and how well a Challenge succeeds. Injuries are penalties on the same traits and attributes that build the bonus, and reducing every one of them to zero kills the character. Sacrificing a durable item or weapon after the guess turns a near miss into a full success and empties that slot until the next session.
Considerations
Adventure opponents are written as Challenge Ratings rather than statistics, so the storyteller judges a rating for each approach to any new fight or obstacle. Fights resolve as one or a few group Challenges rather than individual turns, with fictional positioning in place of a tactical movement system. The storyteller calculates a fresh span of success from the group bonus for each guessed Challenge, and spans can wrap past the ends of the range.
No verified third-party publishing route found · Reviewed 2026-11-12 · Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. Rules license All Rights Reserved The rulebook is marked Copyright 2026 by Skirmisher Publishing LLC, all rights reserved. A bounded review of the rulebook and the publisher's TSRPG pages found no verified third-party publishing route or explicit publishing prohibition.
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