SONGS FROM 

S · K · Y · R · E · S · H CORE RULES v0.065 (ALPHA) 

Preface Songs from Skyresh is a sci-fantasy roleplaying game meant to adapt to di�erent types of settings within the sci-fantasy genre, providing a support for a mixture of fantasy adventures and a modern or futuristic level of technology.  

The players take the role of a team of mercenaries, investigators, soldiers, adventurers, explorers and bounty hunters, taking oddjobs, facing monsters and exploring diverse environments.  

It’s currently designed under an assumed setting, Skyresh, a planet inhabited by fantasy races suddenly introduced to a high level of technological advancements. 

My notes as a designer are written in teal. They’re not a part of the game. 

Since this is still very early in development, the content within this document is not representative of the projected final build and the document itself is actively being worked on. You may find incomplete or outright missing segments, and many things are subject to change. 

 

PART I: CORE MECHANICS Dice Rolls The game uses a simple roll-and-keep resolution mechanic in which you roll a variable number of up to five ten-sided dice (or d10s) to represent your chances of surpassing challenges.  

Tasks that are easy for everyone or fall into a character’s area of expertise automatically succeed, but if there’s a chance of failure or any degree of di�culty, a check takes place. 

Checks  Whenever a check is called, you roll 1d10, and any that apply: 

❖ +1d10 if you have a relevant Attribute bonus. ❖ +1d10 if you have a relevant Trait or Skill bonus. ❖ +1d10 if you choose to use your Fatigue die. ❖ +1d10 granted by Advantage. 

❖ -1d10 taken away by Disadvantage. 

This set of dice is called a Pool. Once you’ve rolled your relevant Pool for the task, you pick the highest 2 results and add them together.  

 

Your performance on the task is directly reflected by your result: 

Result Outcome

18 or More Success + Bonus

Above 10 Success

8, 9 or 10 Success + Drawback

Below 10 Failure

 

CRITICAL SUCCESS If you roll 18 or above, you succeed perfectly, and a bonus event is triggered by your task. This may be extra information unveiled by your investigation, or maybe a more favorable situation than you bargained for is brought up. 

SUCCESS If you roll above 10, you succeed moderately without any major issues. 

HALF-SUCCESS If you roll 8, 9 or 10, you pass the check, but a minor negative event that doesn’t negate your success is triggered by it. This can be a simple inconvenience, but can also be an adverse e�ect of your action. 

FAILURE If you roll below 10, you fail, and the Game Master describes what happens next. Sometimes you simply can’t do the task, but in certain situations, Failure can spark negative events or actively harm you. 

Di�culty Tasks include actions and knowledge, and represent any activity taken by the characters. Whether a check takes place or not depends on the complexity of the presented task, as well as the assumed and assured ability of the character being presented with a challenge. There are three types of Tasks present in the game. 

T RIVIAL Everyone can do these tasks with no check involved. 

Ex: Walking, talking, picking up objects, being able to observe and understand simple things. 

S IMPLE Not everyone can do these tasks easily. If you don’t have a relevant Trait Bonus or there’s a chance of failure, a check takes place. You can always use a relevant Skill in place of a Trait during Simple task checks. 

Ex: Acquiring new knowledge, understanding runes, gathering specific herbs, lighting up a stealthy bonfire, jumping over an obstacle, dodging an incoming projectile. 

C OMPLEX Above your knowledge or challenging your experience. Requires specialization in a skill, otherwise you roll with Disadvantage.  

Ex: Understanding an ancient language, solving a di�cult cipher, creating specifically enhanced potions, hitting a moving target 500m away. 

Fatigue Die  Unless otherwise stated, you can always add another die, called a Fatigue Die, which represents extra e�ort that can have a negative e�ect on you. This Fatigue die is another d10, and should be di�erentiated in some way or another (for example, it can be simply a di�erent color, or rolled separately from the rest). If your Fatigue die contributes to your final result, you must make a Fatigue check after the task is done.  Fatigue checks are Attribute checks made with the Drain Attribute they correspond to ( VIGOR for BODY , FOCUS for MIND , WILLPOWER for SPIRIT ), adding the appropriate Attribute bonus if applicable. You su�er damage on the corresponding damage track, according to the result of this check: 

❖ Failure: 1 Severe Wound. ❖ Half-Success: 1 Light Wound. ❖ Success: No damage. 

Advantage and Disadvantage Certain things are simply beyond your control, and they can benefit or hamper your ability to perform tasks. These outside influences are simply represented by a single die added to or taken away from your dice pool, for Advantage and Disadvantage respectively.  

If both Advantage and Disadvantage are present, they cancel each other out. There can only be one instance of either, and they don’t stack with themselves. 

Rolling One Die Should your pool ever be reduced to a single die, you count 10 as a clean Success. You cannot attempt Complex tasks with only one die. 

Opposed Checks Whenever an action involves a competition between two or more characters, an opposed check takes place. This is simply done by each character rolling normally and comparing the results with each other, with the highest result winning over the other. In case of a tie, break it by comparing the total pool of each party. If the result is still a tie, both characters reroll.   

 

PART II: CHARACTERS Aspects and Attributes  Every character counts with 3 Aspects divided into 3 Attributes each. These values represent the most basic capabilities of any character or creature in the game, and serve the purpose of highlighting the best qualities of anyone involved in the story.   

These Aspects are Body, Mind, and Spirit, and are divided into Vigor, Strength, Agility; Intelligence, Insight, Focus; and Charisma, Willpower, Arcana respectively. 

During character creation, you pick 4 of these attributes to represent the most iconic qualities of your character, gaining an Attribute Bonus with any checks that involve them in some way. 

Body Attributes V IGOR Represents your stamina, your ability to withstand lethal damage and to stay upright in the face of harm. 

S TRENGTH Your ability to carry, lift, push or pull objects, as well as a�ecting the force with which you can hit things in melee range. 

A GILITY A mixture of quickness and reflexes, this attribute comes into play when making maneuvers that require precision and fast movement. 

Mind Attributes I NTELLIGENCE Represents both your knowledge and your capacity to understand and learn new skills, as well as your memory and logic. 

I NSIGHT Represents your ability to perceive the world around you, to pick up on details and achieve a deeper understanding of something or someone. 

F OCUS Your capacity to concentrate and ignore any outside influences that may distract you while you perform tasks, as well as your capacity to act carefully and precisely.  

Spirit Attributes C HARISMA Your mannerisms and confidence when talking to other characters, as well as your capacity to persuade others.  

W ILLPOWER Represents your perseverance in the face of su�ering, and your resilience against outside influence. Alongside Vigor, it can help you defy death itself. 

A RCANA Your magical influence, and your ability to cast spells and withstand their e�ects. It represents your connection to the spirit realm, and is primarily used as your magical stamina. 

   

Traits  Beyond basic abilities, every character has a story to tell, a place in the world, a culture they belong to, and a path they’ve chosen. Traits are representative of your character’s Race, Career and Background. They can be used to the e�ect of general knowledge imparted to you by life experience by giving you an additional die in Simple checks. 

During character creation, you pick one of each to represent your physiology, area of expertise and your background, gaining a Trait Bonus on relevant checks. 

Race Races are represented by a series of traits that are innate to their biology, tied to their physical characteristics and inherent abilities granted by their physiology or magical influence. 

Ex: Goblins are about a meter tall, and have a keen sense of hearing and smell. Their eyes allow them to see in the dark, albeit with some di�culty. They have a set of sharp and thick teeth that can bite through almost anything short of iron and steel, and their purple tongue can produce a sticky transparent fluid that can be used as a makeshift glue. 

Career Also known as Jobs, Classes, Professions or Occupations, these represent a character’s area of expertise. The knowledge given by your Careers gives you advantage on any knowledge or task check that could be covered by it. 

In addition, when dealing with Simple Tasks that would befall within your Career, you automatically succeed. This includes performing tasks that would be common for your career, as well as accessing any common knowledge or skill you might have learned. 

Ex: Mercenary, Merchant, Soldier, Hunter, Sniper, Hijacker, Driver, Pilot, Infiltrator, Medic, Thief, Engineer, Artist, Craftsman, Techsmith, Alchemist, Channeler, Investigator, Scout, Scholar, Sorcerer, Beast Rider, Explosives Expert, Trap Maker, Geomancer 

Background Any relevant knowledge given to you by life experience rather than training and choice. Background Traits are tied to your upbringing in life, the culture you belong to, the lifestyle you led before joining the party. This can reflect your knowledge in cities, politics, certain aspects of nature, recognizing magic, etc. 

Ex: Commoner, Nomad, Street Urchin, Monk, Outlander, Hermit, Cave Dweller, Peasant, Magic Initiate, Nobleman, Apprentice, Military Conscript, Swindler, Cultist 

Skills  A more in-depth look at the knowledge and abilities of your character. Skills represent specialization beyond the capabilities covered by your traits, coming into play when dealing with more uncommon or di�cult tasks that you wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. Maybe you’re trying to recognize a set of runes that are too obscure for your knowledge, or you’ve honed your skills to be more e�cient when disarming a complex mechanism. 

As well as a more in-depth delve into your abilities, Skills can help you to diversify your tools and act under pressure. During Simple Task Checks, having Trait and Skill bonuses present at the same time yields Advantage on the task at hand. 

During character creation, you may pick any five skills of your choice, gaining a Skill Bonus on any relevant checks. 

A LCHEMY Enchanting, Potions, Herbology, Poisons, Geomancy, Transmutation 

A RCANE Arcane Lore, Runesmithing, Counterspelling, Spellcraft 

C RAFT Weaponsmithing, Gunsmithing, Armorsmithing, Art, Cooking, Forgery, Jury-Rigging, Explosives 

I NFLUENCE Negotiation, Seduction, Intimidation, Leadership, Deceit, Diplomacy, Disguise, Etiquette 

L INGUISTICS Language: Written, Language: Spoken, Ciphers 

L ORE History, Geography, Politics, Socials, Occult 

M EDICINE First Aid, Healing Magic, Biotech 

M ECHANISMS Contraptions, Traps, Engineering, Locks 

N ATURE Monster Lore, Herbology, Geology, Animal Handling, Riding (Ground/Air) 

O BSERVATION AND L OGIC Investigation, Appraisal, Tactics, Pathfinding, Tracking 

P ERFORMANCE Dance, Oratory, Acting, Singing, Foley 

P HYSICAL Swimming, Riding, Freerunning, Longrunning, Throwing/Catching, Stealth, Sleight of Hand, Climbing, Escape Artist 

T ECHNOLOGY Computers, Hacking, Robotics, Cybernetics, Hardware 

V EHICLES Piloting, Driving, Sailing 

   

Combat Styles Beyond your usual, non-combat skills, you have Styles available to you as skills. These are used to perform complex maneuvers that would otherwise be very di�cult for an untrained warrior, and to maintain an edge during combat. 

During character creation, you may choose up to two Melee or Ranged Styles, or one Hybrid style. 

M ELEE S TYLES Unarmed, Shield Fighter, Great Weapon Fighter, Fencer, Polearm Fighter, Sta� Fighter, Dual Wielder, Assassin, Cavalier 

R ANGED S TYLES Archer, Gunslinger, Rifleman, Heavy Gunner, Artillery Unit, Throwing Weapons Adept, Akimbo Adept, Sniper 

H YBRID S TYLES  Flexile Weapons Adept, Shield Gunner, Shield Caster, Spellblade 

Training and Advancement During downtime, you may train to learn a new skill, ability or spell. You make a check with any relevant Trait or Skill Category alongside INTELLIGENCE , and write down if you succeeded or not. Critically succeeding grants you 2 successes instead of 1.  

At 10 successes, you gain the skill permanently. If another character is guiding you during this training period, you roll with advantage. You can only train one skill per day, but you can train as many skills as you want at the same time. 

While you are training a skill, you may attempt Complex Tasks with it, su�ering Disadvantage. If you succeed, you mark one success. Attempting a Complex Skill overrides your ability to Train for the day. 

 

Skills, Combat Styles and Advancement will be expanded and revised over time.   

 

PART III: BELONGINGS Gear  Gear is a blanket term for your tools and resources, as well as the things you’re wearing and have available to you. This usually constitutes of a weapon of choice, a set of clothes, and a series of tools or gadgets that may help you in your everyday life.  

There’s no limit as to what you can carry with you, as long as it makes sense. Any disadvantages of carrying around large quantities of items, or specially burdensome items, are dependant on the context and situation presented and it’s ultimately up to the Game Master. However, items you’re carrying should always be noted regardless of amount and weight. 

Equipment The items in your Equipment section are those that are available to you at any given time. Weapons, clothes, armor, ammo packs, are always among your Equipment, unless otherwise stated. 

Inventory Items that are tucked away in backpacks and pouches that must be searched, or that take a longer time to unzip or unhitch are counted in your Inventory. 

Finite Resources You don’t keep track of the amount of items you have unless it’s a finite resource. A soldier should count with enough ammo to last him the whole mission, but he won’t be carrying around an infinite amount of specially made plastic explosive or EMP grenades. A mage will always have enough spellbook pages, and a hacker will always count with enough data space in his GRID headset.  

Consumable items and other one-time-use resources are also considered Finite Resources.  

Weapons  Weapons don’t have an inherent damage bonus to them, but rather count with a set of characteristics that allow you to deal damage against targets that are weak or strong against them, as well as changing the way the weapon itself is handled. 

Since lethality is completely relative to the damage type of the weapon and the target’s armor, weaknesses and resistances, no weapon is inherently better than another. Pick weapons based on your character and how that weapon compliments your playstyle. 

Armor Defenses are represented by a numerical value that serves as your defense against damage. It’s categorized in 3 types: 

❖ Clothing consists of civilian getups and outfits that favor mobility over defense.  Armor: 6. Grants Advantage on Dodge. 

❖ Light Armor groups defensive gear designed to avoid hindering movement while providing a good degree of defense.  Armor: 12. 

❖ Heavy Armor is heavy, military-grade equipment designed with defense and survivability over mobility. Armor: 18. Su�ers Disadvantage on Agility checks. 

❖ Shields don’t have an Armor value, but grant you Advantage on Block checks against attacks. 

Upgrading Armor You can take up to three armor upgrades, which can be either a +2 increase to armor, or a single type of elemental resistance. Taking two elemental resistance upgrades of the same type grants you immunity against the chosen type. 

During character creation, you may take one type of armor and up to two weapons. A shield is considered a weapon.   

 

PART IV: COMBAT Priority Sometimes, you’ll find yourself in situations that can’t be resolved through means other than violence. When these situations are presented, an order is required to keep track of the flow of battle in an organized manner. 

Players make an AGILITY + FOCUS check to signify their reflexes and ability to act upon them. They are placed in the following table according to their result, and every character takes a turn in the corresponding Priority order, from 1 through 7. 

Priority Actor

1 Legendary Enemies

2 Players with Critical Success

3 Players with Success or Half-Success

4 Important Enemies

5 Enemies

6 Players with Failure

7 Minor Enemies

Action Economy You have 3 Action Points (or AP) available during your turn. These 3 Action Points can be used to perform di�erent types of actions during combat, depending on their complexity. Each turn lasts anywhere between 1 to 3 seconds. 

Action Types Trivial actions, such as taking a look at an object, checking for ammo on your firearm or saying a word cost 0 AP, but can only be done once per turn. 

Simple actions, such as picking up or interacting with objects, saying a phrase, reloading, unsheathing a weapon, or performing a simple task check cost 1 AP. 

Complex actions, such as attacking, casting spells, throwing objects, forcing open a door, take 2 AP to perform. 

Committed actions, such as taking the time to aim for a specific body part with a ranged attack, empowering a spell or attempting to hijack a device cost 3 AP, as you’re fully committed to this action during your entire turn. 

Movement Moving always costs 1 AP, with a base speed of up to 10m. You can take a movement action more than once during your turn. You can make a single check to attempt to bypass an obstacle in your way (either by avoiding it or by charging through it) as long as your landing position doesn’t surpass your base speed. 

You can combine the cost of any of these actions and perform them all at once during your turn.  

Ex: You can run 20m towards a particular direction, attempt to dodge incoming fire, pick up a shotgun on the ground, jump over a desk and duck for cover behind it, and then check the chamber to see if it’s loaded. These are two movement actions with a single check each (totalling 2 AP), a Simple action (picking up an object, 1 AP) and a trivial action (checking for ammo, 0 AP). 

Attack Rolls Attacks are Opposed Rolls. The attacker rolls for Accuracy vs the target’s chosen Defensive Action. If the attack roll is higher than the target’s defensive roll, the attack hits. 

Accuracy Rolling for attack takes in account the relevant Attribute: STRENGTH for melee attacks, AGILITY for ranged attacks, and ARCANA for magic attacks; and the relevant Combat Style. 

Defensive Actions When being targeted by another character’s attack, a character can attempt to either Dodge or Block it.   

Dodging is an AGILITY roll, and requires you to have space available around you to sidestep or move back a safe distance. 

Blocking is a STRENGTH roll, and a successful parry reduces any damage you take by two tiers that a�ect your Stun track, instead of your Lethal track. You gain Advantage while Blocking if you’re using a shield. 

Called Shots By default, attacks are aimed at the character’s general bulk, and aim to harm. If an attacker wants to make a called shot to take advantage of a situation or to force a character into a bad spot, they roll with Disadvantage. However, should the attack succeed, the lost die is rolled by itself and added into the attack’s result. 

Combat Maneuvers Trying to trip or disarm an opponent, sunder their weapons, use the environment against them, hold back or feint an attack works in the same manner as Called Shots, but the die lost to Disadvantage isn’t regained afterwards. 

   

Condition Damage in Skyresh is based on a system of marks that represent Wounds, divided into 3 condition tracks for each Aspect. Whenever you take a Light Wound, you mark the relevant condition track with a slash mark ( / ) in any empty space. Should you receive another Light Wound in another damage instance, this mark becomes a cross ( X ) and is considered a Severe Wound. 

You can only withstand a set number of Severe Wounds per track. Severe Wounds always pile up to a maximum of 4, or 5 if you have proficiency with the aspect's drain stat (Vigor for Body, Focus for Mind, and Arcana for Spirit). 

Badly Wounded  With 3 Severe Wounds in a track, you have disadvantage in checks that would benefit from any attribute of that aspect. This threshold increases to 4 if you are proficient with the aspect’s drain attribute. 

Dying If your Wounds pile up to your maximum in its track, you enter a state of agony. During this time, you receive a free (Drain Stat) + Willpower check per turn until you are stabilized. You cannot add your Fatigue die to this check, and you can only take one action per turn or move at half speed.  If you use your Fatigue die with any check in this state, you immediately pass onto the next state, forgoing the Fatigue check.Should you fail your check or take any damage in this state, you pass out and have a number of turns equal to your negated track's maximum left to live, unless someone stabilizes you. If this period expires without being stabilized, you die. 

You are stabilized whenever you receive healing from a Medkit or a Heal spell, as well as any other curative e�ects. Stabilization doesn’t wake you up if you’ve passed out, but it stops your agony. However, taking damage makes you lose your stabilized state and carries on where you left o�. 

Calculating Damage Damage is dealt through weapons and spells and is ultimately based on the di�erence between an attack’s result and the target’s defenses. 

When you confirm an Attack roll, you add the rest of your pool to your result and compare how much you’ve surpassed the target’s Armor.  

Di�erence Result

0+ Light Wound

10+ Severe Wound

15+ Severe Wound + Lesser Maiming E�ect

20+ 2 Severe Wounds + Brutal Maiming E�ect

25+ Lethal Damage  

Maiming E�ects  Sometimes the term wound is an understatement. Against a large amount of damage, cuts and bruises cease to be in the realm of possibility, and become what is known as Maiming e�ects. These are divided into Lesser and Brutal to signify their severity, and a�ect characters in nastier and more permanent ways. In either case, these e�ects need to be addressed as soon as possible, or cause subsequent harm to the victim. 

L ESSER These are potentially temporary but more damaging e�ects than regular wounds. They tend to come in the form of deep cuts in non-lethal places that cause a character to start bleeding, a dislocated wrist or a broken finger. These are injuries that hamper the character but don’t outright kill or cripple them. Lesser injuries tend to leave nasty scars behind, and cause disadvantage while unattended. 

B RUTAL These injuries come in more severe forms that threaten the life of the character in one way or another. Lost limbs or body parts tend to be the norm in this category. Gaping wounds that put the character in 

risk of bleeding out, a sharp object piercing one of your lungs. Injuries caused by Brutal maiming e�ects require immediate attention, and an adequate drain attribute check must be passed upon su�ering it and again at the end of every following round taken by the victim, otherwise they pass out. 

Damage Types Damage is divided into three main types of damage, each one with its subdivisions. These are Physical, Elemental, and represent the sources of damage in Skyresh. 

P HYSICAL 

❖ Slashing: Cuts through tissue and soft materials with ease. 

❖ Piercing: Penetrates through most materials and surfaces. 

❖ Bludgeoning: Blunt force applied through heavy objects. 

E LEMENTAL 

❖ Fire: Can heat, melt or ignite various materials. 

❖ Ice: Caused by a violent and localized drop of temperature. 

❖ Storm: Damages through electrical currents. 

❖ Necrotic: Causes soft tissue to rot and burn. 

❖ Arcane: Pure, volatile magical energy. 

❖ Hardlight: Burns through most surfaces and cauterizes damaged tissue immediately. 

Still working on these. 

Weaknesses, Resistances and Immunities As well as having a numerical value that represents a character’s defenses, di�erent armor types, biologies and magical qualities may a�ect the way certain types of damage a�ect a creature. These are represented in the form of Weaknesses, Resistances and Immunities, and represent the character’s defensive properties against di�erent types of damage. 

W EAKNESS If a defense has a weakness to a particular damage type, any damage taken from that source is moved up by one tier. This extra damage stacks with the extra tier given by critical success on attacks. 

R ESISTANCE Resistance to a damage type means the damage tier is reduced by one. Critical Damage and Resistance cancel each other out if they’re both present. If the damage dealt was Tier I, the damage dealt is negated. 

I MMUNITY Creatures and characters with Immunity to a damage source completely ignore sources of damage of that type.   

 

PART V: SPELLCASTING It’s Magic I ain’t gonna explain shit 

Seriously though I’ll work on this later. 

   

VERSION HISTORY v0.065 (08/04/18) - Updated the Fatigue Check rules, revised Elemental Damage types, changed Opposed Checks a bit, clarified Priority. 

v0.064 (22/02/18) - Changed around some combat actions, clarified some terms, further document style cleanup. 

v0.063 (22/02/18) - Updated Armor, Attack Rolls, document style cleanup and organization. 

v0.062 (16/02/18) - Updated Skills and their categories, revised certain actions, revised Attack Rolls. 

v0.061 (07/02/18) - Updated Action Economy, fixed some descriptions, format cleanup. 

v0.06 (05/01/18) - First “complete” version.