Performance & the WheelCopy link
For every Performance, choose Control or Impulse in the controller. Gray Versatility is a property of the drawn token, not a third declared Shade. Versatility contributes to either choice. Invoke Favor using the chosen Control or Impulse; apply the existing matching/opposing Favor rules. TARGET, DEFEND, GAIN and SPEND describe the action for the chosen Pathway, Presence or Sense.
A Performance Check resolves an uncertain and consequential Moment in Rhuna. Heroes do not make Performance Checks for every action they attempt. When a Hero possesses the appropriate capability and nothing meaningful is at risk, the action is simply resolved through the fiction.
A Performance Check is made when the outcome matters—when danger, uncertainty, opposition, sacrifice, or meaningful consequences could change the direction of the story.
When multiple Heroes participate in the same challenge, they act within the same Performance rather than taking individual turns. Each Hero describes what they are attempting, selects their approach, and resolves their contribution as part of a shared narrative exchange.
A Performance Check determines more than success or failure. It reveals what happens when capability meets uncertainty, what the Moment costs, and how the world responds.
DECLARING THE ACTIONCopy link
Describe what your Hero is trying to accomplish, then dial the Performance Wheel from the outside inward.
Ring | Selection |
|---|---|
1 · Shade | Control or Impulse on the outer ring. Gray Versatility is a token property and contributes to either declared Shade. |
2 · Capability | One Pathway, Presence, or Sense that fits the attempt. Use that specific capability’s Training. |
3 · Action | Target, Defend, Gain, or Spend. |
4 · Training | Untrained, Trained, Adept, Master, or Exemplar. |
Choose Prepare, Advance, or Breakthrough on the separate Moment Board when participating in a Moment. This commitment is separate from the four action icons on the Performance Wheel.
THE FOUR ACTION ICONSCopy link
Icon / action | What you declare |
|---|---|
Target · crosshair | Act upon a target or overcome resistance. Resolve uncertainty against the agreed Difficulty or opposition. |
Defend · shield | Protect, resist, redirect, or prevent an unwanted effect. Follow the applicable defense or conflict procedure. |
Gain · plus and downward arrow | Build the appropriate preparation, Reserve, or connection. No Performance Check is made; pay the Training-based Fatigue cost. |
Spend · arrow into a bar | Use the required existing Reserve for the selected effect. Pay its listed cost; resolve any uncertainty under the relevant action rules. |
GAIN · EFFORT WITHOUT A CHECKCopy link
When a legal Gain action is established in the fiction, resolve its appropriate effect without drawing a Performance Check. Gain costs Fatigue according to Training in the selected Pathway, Presence, or Sense. It has no success/failure comparison and does not trigger a Wear or Impact draw.
Gain is not Exertion. Do not charge Exertion as well, and do not double Gain Fatigue just because the Hero is Wounded. The Wound rule doubles Exertion only. Apply ordinary Fatigue capacity and spillover.
Training does not waive access, capacity, or the requirements of the chosen effect. Gain does not create a new Reserve family or make an impossible action possible. Use the applicable action’s Reserve or effect; the wheel does not add a universal token award.
Example: a Trained Hero who legally uses Skill to Gain Resources pays 2 Fatigue and resolves that preparation without a check. A Master pays 0 Fatigue for the same legal Gain; circumstances and Reserve capacity still matter.
TRAINING & PERFORMANCE DRAWS Copy link
Read the Draw Board cumulatively. Start with the first token. If Exerting or Trained and above, continue to three tokens total; Adept, Master, and Exemplar continue to four total. These are totals, not extra batches of three or four. Wounds reduce the applicable total by one each, to a minimum of one. Gain bypasses this draw sequence.
A Hero's Training Level in the selected Pathway, Presence, or Sense determines how many tokens they draw from their Hero Bag.
Training | Draw |
|---|---|
Untrained | Draw 1 |
Trained | Draw 3 |
Adept | Draw 4 |
Master | Draw 4 |
Draw 4 |
The Hero draws the appropriate number of tokens and resolves their values and effects.
Training beyond Adept does not increase the number of tokens drawn. Instead, Master and Exemplar permanently improve the Pathway's Ember Tokens within the Hero Bag.
MASTER & EXEMPLAR EMBERS Copy link
When a Hero becomes a Master of a Pathway, the original Ember associated with that Pathway is replaced by a Master Ember.
When that Ember is used with its matching Pathway, its value increases to 3 Control, 2 Versatility, or 3 Impulse, according to its Shade. Outside its matching Pathway, it retains its normal Ember value of 2 Control, 1 Versatility, or 2 Impulse.
When a Hero becomes an Exemplar, one Potential Token associated with that Pathway is replaced by a second mastery Ember. Both mastery Embers now provide 4 Control, 3 Versatility, or 4 Impulse when used with their matching Pathway.
Mastery therefore changes what exists within the Hero Bag, rather than simply allowing the Hero to draw more from it.
EXERTION Copy link
An Untrained Hero may choose to Exert.
Exertion grants 2 additional draws, allowing an Untrained Hero to draw a total of 3 tokens for that Performance.
After the Performance resolves, the Hero gains 2 Fatigue.
If the Hero has any Wound, double Exertion Fatigue from 2 to 4.
Exertion represents a Hero forcing themselves beyond their Training through determination, desperation, or necessity.
TRAINED: INTERSECT Copy link
A Trained or higher Hero may Intersect with another eligible Hero participating in the same Performance.
Intersect represents coordinated action in which the Heroes combine compatible capabilities toward a shared outcome. Resolve Intersect according to its rules, including any requirements involving Keywords, Unity, Conditions, or shared consequences.
ADEPT: REFINEMENT Copy link
An Adept or higher Hero gains greater control over uncertainty.
During an eligible Performance, the Hero may spend 1 Redraw to replace one drawn token according to the Redraw rules.
Adept does not increase the Hero beyond Draw 4. Instead, it establishes the maximum normal Performance Draw while granting greater control over the result.
HEALTH & CONDITION Copy link
A Hero's condition changes as hardship accumulates.
FATIGUE Copy link
Fatigue is tracked outside the Hero Bag and represents accumulating both physical and mental exhaustion.
When additional Fatigue would exceed the Hero’s capacity, remove all accumulated Fatigue and gain 1 Strain.
STRAIN Copy link
Strain alters the contents of the Hero Bag.
When Strain is gained, add a Strain Token to the Hero Bag. It contributes 0 Power when drawn. When additional Strain would exceed capacity, remove all accumulated Strain and gain 1 Wound.
Strain therefore represents hardship becoming substantial enough to interfere directly with the Hero's future Performances.
WOUNDS Copy link
Wounds remain outside the Hero Bag.
Each Wound reduces the Hero's Performance Draw by 1, to a minimum Draw of 1.
Together, Fatigue, Strain, and Wounds represent hardship progressing from temporary exhaustion into lasting interference and injury.
WEIGHT Copy link
Every Hero possesses three Weight Tokens within their Hero Bag.
Weight contributes 0 Power when WEIGHT is OFF or not relevant to the check based on the action or narrative. When WEIGHT is ON or matters to the story, the applicable action, Keyword, or narrative circumstance may allow it to contribute 1V, contribute 0V, or reduce the current Performance by 1V. ON never grants an automatic or guaranteed minimum of 1V. The printed 0, 1, or 2 is the token’s Weight value, not a default Power value. Apply specific LIGHT or MASS rules only when relevant.
Weight represents physical mass, force, resistance to displacement, carrying capacity, collision, and other circumstances in which the Hero's physical scale matters.
Every Hero possesses the same number of Weight Tokens. Weight changes their value, not their frequency within the Hero Bag.
POTENTIAL & RESERVE Copy link
Potential represents unrealized Reserve within the Hero Bag.
Each of the Hero's three starting Pathways possesses two Potential Tokens. Potential contributes 1V when drawn unless another rule specifically references it.
As the Hero gains Reserve, Potential may become Active Reserve. Active Reserve contributes 1 Versatility normally or 2 Versatility when used with its associated Pathway.
When that Reserve is spent or returned, the token becomes Potential again.
Potential is possibility. Reserve is possibility made available.
FAVOR Copy link
Favor is not automatically drawn after every Performance.
A Hero may choose to spend Favor to Call Favor when they want forces beyond their own capability to influence the outcome.
When Favor is called, randomly draw from the 23-token Favor Bag. The Hero chooses whether to call upon Favor but does not choose which deity answers.
A Favor Token contributes according to its relationship to the declared Shade: Matching +2V, Gray +1V, Opposite 0V, Xul +4V, or Xantyr −4V.
The deity that answers may then become Awakened upon the Star Grid, allowing its Gaze to influence the themes developing within the story.
The Hero calls. The world answers.
RESOLVING THE PERFORMANCE Copy link
After all drawn tokens and applicable effects have been resolved, determine the Hero's final Performance Total.
Compare that total against the Difficulty established by the WorldKeeper, from 3 to 8.
If the Performance meets or exceeds the Difficulty, it succeeds.
If it does not, it fails.
Success and failure determine what changes in the fiction, rather than whether the Hero was capable of performing an otherwise routine action.
WEAR & IMPACT Copy link
Every consequential Performance may carry a cost.
On a successful Performance, resolve applicable Wear, representing the effort, sacrifice, expenditure, or consequences required to achieve the Hero's goal.
On a failed Performance, resolve applicable Impact, representing setbacks, harm, lost opportunity, complications, or changes in the situation.
Failure should move the story forward rather than simply returning the Heroes to the state they occupied before the Performance.
MOMENTS & ESCALATION Copy link
Performances occur within the larger structure of Moments.
Prepare creates opportunity. Advance creates progress and interacts with Reserve. Breakthrough attempts decisive change at greater consequence.
Performance outcomes may shift Escalation toward FOR or AGAINST, changing the state of the Moment and enabling the world to respond through Events and other effects.
Not every fictional action requires another Performance. A single Performance may resolve an entire meaningful exchange, obstacle, or sequence of actions.
END OF THE PERFORMANCE Copy link
After the outcome is determined, resolve all applicable Wear or Impact, Reserve, Favor, Health, Conditions, Escalation, and triggered effects.
The fiction then continues from the new state created by the Performance.
If success and failure would not meaningfully change what happens next, do not make a Performance Check. Resolve the action through the fiction.
Exertion costs 2 Fatigue. If the Hero has any Wound, double that cost to 4 Fatigue. Multiple Wounds do not multiply this cost again.