What is Bravado Bones?

Bravado Bones 1.1 Rules, by Jonathan Loyd

BRAVADO BONES is a Powered By The Apocalypse skin, originally adapted by Sam Mars to use during our pandemic virtual game play. It is not meant to be a replacement for the Dystopia Rising LARP system, nor is it meant to replace the tabletop system published by Onyx Path. We use this ruleset during our online events, which we call “Lonestar Skies Virtual Events”.

Bravado Bones sessions are led by a Guide and are played by a 4-5 of Leading Characters (LCs). During play, the Guide will act as a narrator, storyteller, and referee.  This is a rules-light, collaborative Storytelling system, focused on the stories we tell together and not the mechanics.

Character sheets for Bravado Bones are generated from your Dystopia Rising character sheet, and use your progress in game to represent your abilities in the virtual space.

The Character Sheet

For this character conversion to Bravado Bones, we’re going to refer to your Dystopia Rising: LARP character sheet. If you are having trouble accessing your character sheet, please feel free to email info@dystopiarisingtx.com.

Characters have four combined STATS (Combat, Civilized, Wasteland, & Anomaly) and two POOLS (Body, Mind).

Achievements & LORES

First, note your character’s professional focus achievements (PFA) and community achievements on the side, along with our Lores you might have from Education. You’ll just need the names of these listed to the side, like Veteran or Graverobber. These have no specific use in game, outside of increasing the benefit of your Mind POOL or when the Guide says it is relevant for a scene.

Stats

Refer to your Dystopia Rising: LARP character sheet and count the number of total skill levels (Basic + Proficient + Master) your character has in each category (Combat, Civilized, Wasteland, Anomaly) to determine their STATS. Remember, don’t count your levels in a Profession Focus Achievement.

Count every Skill, even your Basic weapon skills like Unarmed, Shield, and Melee Standard.

  • If a character knows zero skills levels in a category, their derived STAT in that category is [-1]

  • If a character knows at least one skill levels in a category, that derived STAT is [+0]

  • If a character knows at least five skill levels  in a category, that derived STAT is [+1]

  • If a character knows at least ten skill levels  in a category, that derived STAT is [+2]

  • If a character knows fifteen or more skill levels in a category, that derived STAT is [+3]

Note, since all DR: Evolved LCs start with 8 basic skills in shields and weapons, an LC’s minimum Combat STAT is [+1] unless you choose to lower it for RP reasons.

Body & Mind

Refer to your Dystopia Rising: LARP character sheet. Your Bones sheet has 1 Body and Mind for each ten (10) points the LC has, rounded down. If you had 36 Body on your DR character, you would have 3 Body in a Bones session, for example.

  • Your BODY pool represents how much damage your character can take in combat or from ‘hazards’.

  • Your MIND pool is a LC’s ability to use their guile, gear, and grit to go above and beyond. 

Note, this means that even a basic tier player will have at least 1 Body and 1 Mind (since all characters have at least 10 Body or Mind to start).

Characters start each Bravado Bones module with full Mind and Body POOLS, unless the player or guide decides that circumstances would dictate otherwise.

Achievements & LORES

First, note your character’s professional and community achievements on the side, along with our Lores you might have from Education. You’ll just need the names of these listed to the side, like Veteran or Graverobber. These have no specific use in game, outside of increasing the benefit of your Mind POOL or when it is relevant for a scene.

Resolve

Finally, for each two (2) Resolve points your character has, rounded down, you may improve one of the following:

  • Increase any Combat, Civilized, Wasteland, or Anomaly STAT by one (1) to a maximum of [+3].

  • Increase Body or Mind by one (1).

  • Add a professional achievement of your choice. You didn’t need to already have it, or even qualify yet. This is a great opportunity to include something you might be working towards!

Note, because the most Resolve you can have on a character is 6, you’ll only ever have to decide on three different things to increase or add to your Bravado Bones sheet.

The Finished Sheet

When you’re done, it should look something like this!

  • Rajah GODMONEY

    • Combat [+3], Civilized [+1], Wasteland [+2], Anomaly [+2]

    • Achievements: Flanker, Mercenary

    • Body 3, Mind 5

That’s it! You are ready to play Bravado Bones!

Character conversion Examples

An example of a lower-XP character:

For “Fae Glasswalker”, I’ll note no achievements or Lores. They have 11 Body, 21 Mind, 11 Skill Levels in Combat (This counts the 8 basic combat skill levels every character starts with), 3 in Civilized, 5 in Wasteland, and 0 skills in Anomaly, making their STATs Combat [+2], Civilized [+0], Wasteland [+1], and Anomaly [-1]. Their Body POOL becomes 1 and their Mind POOL is 2. Finally, their 5 Resolve gives them two “improvements”. The character adds +1 to their Wasteland and +1 to their Body, to make them a bit more skilled and ready for combat in the virtual event.

Fae Glasswalker:

Combat [+2], Civilized [+0], Wasteland [+2], Anomaly [-1], Body (2), Mind (2)

Achievements: None

An example of a high-XP character:

For “Guin GODMONEY”, I’ll first note their “Incinerator”, “Shadow”, and “Assassin” achievements, and they have no Lores. They has 14 Body, 80 Mind, 6 Resolve, 19 Skill Levels in Combat, only 1 skill in Civilized, 14 in Wasteland, and 10 in Anomaly, making their STATs Combat [+3], Civilized [+0], Wasteland [+2], and Anomaly [+2]. Their Body POOL becomes 1 and their Mind POOL is 8. Finally, Guin’s 6 Resolve gives them three “improvements”. The character is healthier than this sheet shows, so they decided to spend two to bring the character’s Body to 3. Finally, they add more points to Anomaly to represent an enhanced mastery of psionics, giving them a +3 to the STAT.

Guin GODMONEY:

Combat [+3], Civilized [+1], Wasteland [+2], Anomaly [+3], Body (3), Mind (8)

Achievements: Shadow, Incinerator, Assassin

How to Play Bravado Bones

During a Bravado Bones session, your Guide will describe the situations, characters, and hazards players have to interact with. In response, characters may attempt to discuss or to use their STATs to overcome circumstances as they feel appropriate.

During play, characters will be encouraged to be creative and collaborative in describing their character’s actions. While a character’s item cards from live play might inspire your narrative descriptions of actions, they don’t factor into the math and mechanics of Bravado Bones play. If you say your character has a thing, it makes the scene cool, and the guide agrees then you have it! 

At the heart of the Bones system is the dice rolls that make up a “Challenge”.  This is a series of rolls by the players to hit a difficulty number set by the Guide.

The core dice mechanic of Bones, for reference, is:

  • 2d6 + STAT (Combat, Wasteland, Civilized, ANomaly) +/- MODIFIERS

Most in-game actions (like tying your shoes or driving on a smooth paved road) don’t require rolls, however difficult actions such as fighting or defusing bombs do. You should only roll dice when the stakes matter, for difficult actions. When an LC takes difficult action the Guide will tell them which STAT to roll. The LC then rolls two six-sided dice, adds them together, and then adds or subtracts any other appropriate modifiers.

  • If the total is six or less (2-6), the action is a Total Failure and the LC gets a consequence or complication. This could result in Body or Mind damage, or even gaining a new Threat or Injury (see below).

  • If the total is seven to nine (7-9), the action is a Mixed Success with an upside and downside. The guide will describe success but with some sort of cost or downside, like a penalty on a future roll called a Disadvantage, some narrative change to the scene, or perhaps even additional Body damage from strain.

  • If the total is ten or more (10-11), the character has a Total Success, as narrated by the Guide. Your character achieved exactly what they set out to do, and you had no consequences or costs. You might have even set yourself up for a Advantage, a bonus on a future roll.

  • If the total result is twelve or more (12+), the character has a Heroic Success, with the action being narrated by the LC instead. This is your chance to be a big damn hero, and change the events of the Challenge in a dramatic way.

  • NOTE: Characters with a [-1] in the Anomaly STAT cannot initiate Anomaly based actions at all, without directions from a Guide. You must be an Aberrant to use psionics, after all!

Example

Guin GODMONEY is fighting a terrifying Resonant Raider. Guin describes how they are forming blades of fire in their hands with their pyrokinesis, each molten point aimed at the heart of the strange crystalline raider in their path. The Guide declares that this seems like a use of Anomaly or Combat in equal measure, and lets Guin decide what feels best for the scene. Guin decides to roll Combat instead, and rolls a 3+3, plus their [+1] in Combat for a total of 7. This is enough for a “mixed” success, meaning that the Guide might decide that both they and the raider would be damaged by the exchange of blows. Pursued by their foe, Guin bursts through the passage, past the Raider and to safety beyond, their hands burning with the heat of their molten daggers.

It’s just that easy!

Changing the Outcome

Sometimes, you might not roll exactly what you expected, but don’t worry — you still have some agency to change the outcome of the Challenge in Bravado Bones

  • A character may spend a Mind point to upgrade the results of a dice roll (yours or another player’s) by ONE level (from a Failure to a Mixed Success, or a Success to a Heroic Success, for instance), and explain how you actually succeeded at the task with a cool description.

  • Spending a Mind point related to one of your Achievements or Tags (see below) improves the result by TWO levels. When LC’s contest against each other, they perform a contested roll and the highest number wins.

Example

In the example above with Guin and the Raider, one of the other players in the scene decides to interview. Rajah, one of Guin’s allies, decides to spend a Mind point describing how she is using her keen eyes and awareness to help Guin avoid the deadly blows of their foe, upgrading the result to a success. If Rajah had been a [Veteran], the Guide might have agreed that her Achievement would improve the result to a Heroic Success.

There are some mechanics that can change how successful you can be on a Bravado Bones Challenge:

  • Guides may impose Advantage (+1) or Disadvantage (-1) at any time to a roll based on role play or circumstances of the story session. If you have a particularly great idea, they might award a bonus, or if something is complicating the Challenge you might have a penalty.

  • Advantage (+1) and Disadvantage (-1) can stack with other sources of bonuses or penalties, but this is generally limited to a +1 or -1 on each roll.

  • A player may spend a [PIP] (see below) to gain Advantage on a roll.

  • A Guide might set a Condition for a Challenge. This functions similar to Advantage (+1) or Disadvantage (-1) but is only applied to a specific roll, like Combat or Wasteland.

As you can see, even if you are a brand new player you can still achieve success on even difficult rolls with the help of Mind or modifiers to the roll.

Consequences of a challenge

Since Bravado Bones is a rules light system, failure is certainly not guaranteed. In fact, the system purposefully assumes you will be successful most of the time. However, since a Mixed Success is the most likely result of a straight dice roll, let’s cover some possible complications that you might face during a session. Remember, Mixed Successes often come with an upside and a downside — a Mixed Success is still a success!

Here’s some potential options a Guide might introduce as a consequence of a failure or mixed success, or even a few options for a Success or Heroic Success:

  • Inflict Harm

    • The LC can lose a point of Body or Mind as damage or harm is inflicted on them.  This is simplest result, but should be carefully applied to newer players with less XP.

  • Gain Disadvantage on your Next Roll

    • The LC succeeds at the action, but now the next action might be more difficult with a Disadvantage (-1). Perhaps they knocked the vehicle into a spin, or ran out of ammunition for their shooter and need to reload.

  • Create Distance

    • The LC could be separated from something, or someone.  They could drop a weapon, lose something important, get pulled away from the group, or fall down a ledge. 

  • Offer a Hard Bargain

    • Sometimes even the best don’t succeed at easy tasks. Instead of counting as a Success, the ST might offer for the LC to gain a benefit later. You could even gain a [Tag] or [Threat] in exchange (see below).

  • Set Conditions for Future Rolls

    • Instead of a blanket penalty, the Guide might assign a Condition for the penalty. This normally functions as Disadvantage (-1), but only on a particular type of roll. For example, perhaps Combat rolls are at a penalty due to your poor footing, but you can still use Wasteland without a penalty. This could also be given as a reward for a Success, with an Advantage (+1) instead.

  • Gain Advantage on your Next Roll

    • The LC can gain Advantage (+1) on their next actions. Maybe they knocked the opponent off guard, caught the merchant by surprise, or broke through the defenses of the Gravemind.

  • Earn a PIP or temporary Advantage

    • You might earn a “freebie point” or [Pip] (see below) to modify a roll by [+1] at a later time. 

Example

In the example above, Rajah has aided Guin’s roll and upgraded it to a success. The Guide elects to “create distance” between them and the Challenge, allowing the players a moment of breathing room. Instead of dealing with the consequence of the Raiders pursuing them, the Guide allows their rolls for the Challenge to focus on recovery and rest for a moment. Guin and Rajah take stock of their surroundings, bandage a few of their wounds, and continue deep into the Lost City in search of their prize.

The order of a Challenge

So, now that you understand the basic dice mechanic of this system, let’s remind you once more of the basic order of Challenge in Bravado Bones.

  • The Guide requests a dice roll for a Challenge, and either requests the STAT to be used or lets the LC suggest one of their own.

  • The LC describes narratively what their action is and how it could modify the scene in their favor to the Guide.

  • The Guide can choose to assign Advantage/Disadvantage (+1/-1)

  • The player submits their final dice roll in Discord (via “/roll 2d6+X”), using the bot on the server to create a randomized roll.

  • The Guide asks players if they are using a point of Mind BEFORE describing the results. If the players spend Mind, the Guide will modify the roll by an appropriate amount of levels.

  • The Guide gives the final results of the action.

Let’s cover some other ways you can influence a Challenge in Bravado Bones.

Pips & Tags + Threats

While Bravado Bones doesn’t really focus on the neat gizmos or weapons cards you might have, equipment and temporary bonuses can still have an impact on your session.

Throughout the event, a character may acquire temporary equipment, powers, or consumables in the form of [Pips], [Tags], and [Threats]. Events may also provide players with the opportunity to craft [Pips] and [Tags], or receive [Threats], outside of mods in the Discord channels.

Another common way to earn [Pips] and [Tags] is through purchasing the GRAB BAG ticket during a virtual event. These extra add-ons to your Virtual Ticket often include a number of extra bonuses you can use throughout the event, as well as some physical rewards for later live events.

PIPS

A “Pip” is a one-time use item noted in [brackets] that adds a temporary Advantage (+1) to any STAT roll, once. In game, these are often temporary or expendable resources like grenades, brews, drugs, or flashes of borrowed power. The use of a [Pip] to augment a roll must be declared before the roll is made.

No STAT roll may benefit from more than one [Pip]. Players may not have more than three (3) total [Pips] at any time.

Example Pips: [Explorer's Kit], [Amberdraught Beer], [Psion Crystal], [Disguise Kit], [Fancy Clothes], [Die-No-Might]

TAGS

A “Tag” is an adjective noted in [brackets] on the character’s sheet for the duration of a Bones event. When a character gains a tag, that character may treat the tag as an additional Achievement for the purposes of spending Mind points when taking actions related to the [tag]. Spending a Mind point related to one of your [Tags] improves the roll result by TWO levels.

These [Tags] often represent specialized equipment and knowledge the character has gained throughout the event or perhaps even the effects of crafted equipment.

Example Tags: [Explosive], [Attuned], [Researched], [Superheated], [Shielded], [Well Prepared]

Threats

A “Threat” is an opportunity to tell a cool story through failure. Threats represent unlucky behaviors or other narrative difficulties that you opt into for advantages at the expense of your character to tell a more interesting story. If you have a threat in [brackets] on your character sheet, the ST can make an offer that converts your successful roll to a failure. You can do this once per mod to gain +1 mind immediately. Threats can be removed through interacting with Zones of Mechanics, otherwise they stay on your sheet for the duration of the event.

Example Threats: [Unlucky], [Broken], [Drunk], [Poisonous], [Destitute], [INJURED], [EXHAUSTED]

Injured & Exhausted [ONGOING Threat Tags]

There are two specific types of Threats that have additional mechanics during a Bravado Bones virtual event. These are inspired by local rules from our friends in the Dystopia Rising: New Mexico chapter.

INJURED is a Ongoing Threat you can get from ZOMs or some Mods and represents damage taken in a more long term way than body damage in a Mod or soft role play space. You can also earn this Threat by recovering from Bleed Out (see below) during a session, as you muster the resolve to get back into the fight no matter how hurt you might really be.

  • Each instance of INJURED reduces both your Combat and Wasteland Stats by one (1).

  • This penalty can reduce your STAT below zero, and stacks with other instances of this [Threat].

EXHAUSTED is an Ongoing Threat you can get from ZOMs and some Mods and this represents mental exhaustion and represents the over use of Mind or Resolve in a normal game, as well as during actions in the soft RP space, and more extreme exhaustion in Mod space. You can earn this Threat by fully spending all of your Mind points in a session, and accepting a point of Mind from the Guide in exchange for this Ongoing Threat.

  • Each instance of EXHAUSTED reduces your Civilized and Anomaly Stats by one (1).

  • This penalty can reduce your STAT below zero, and stacks with other instances of this [Threat].

These types of Threats can be removed by spending one (1) hour in the soft RP rooms focusing on removing this disadvantage. You might describe your character resting, or seeking out healing from a medic. There will also be other ways to remove these types of Ongoing Threat Tags via mechanics in the Discord channels.

At the end of each Bones event, all Tags, Threats, and unused Pips are lost — these items do not carry over.

types of challenges

There are only three types of Challenges in Bones: Out of Rounds, In Rounds, and Contested Challenges. Each of these types of Challenge have different ways how the Guide might determine your success or failure with a particular roll.

Out of Round Challenges

Out of Round Challenges are the most common type of Challenge in Bravado Bones. This is simply a one-time ask for a roll from the player, and is either successful or not. These are broad challenges and often happen when you can take a lot of time to complete a task or activity in the mod. Often, your narrative result of these types of challenges will be fairly straightforward and will not have long-term impacts on the session.

EXAMPLE

Guin is trying to hire a tracker to help them find a path through the Dune Sea to the lost city of Barogue. They describe how their connections with the local Final Knights can help find a reliable guide that won’t try to lead them to their doom. Guin makes a WASTELAND roll, achieves a Success, and the Guide describes what happens next.

In Round Challenges

In Round Challenges (sometimes called Extended Challenges) are parts of a scene set by the Guide where each roll is a new “beat” in the progress of the scene. This is not a single combat, with each character swinging a sword against a single zombie like in other RPGs, but rather a series of interactions that progresses the larger scene towards its finale.  Each roll is the story of your characters interaction in that scene and how their individual actions CHANGE the session.

During this type of Challenge, the players in the session will alternate between taking a turn at influencing the scene. After each player has taken a turn, the Guide will update the scene with a recap and set the conditions of the next “round” or series of Challenges.

Each Round has two parts: Top of the Round and Player Actions.

At the Top of the Round, the Guide might set a new time limit or series of Advantages and Disadvantages for the players actions during the scene. For instance, if the flow of a fight forces the characters into tight quarters, the Guide might decide that any Combat based rolls are at a Disadvantage for this next Round.

During the Player Actions, each player takes turns describing how they will change the course of the scene, in the fashion of “yes, and..”. Each turn advances the “beat” or “sequence” of the Round, with the players and Guide collaboratively telling a story of what happens in the encounter. Since Bravado Bones is a narrative system, it is important to realize that Success on an In Round Challenge like this is not simply “damage” on an opponent, but rather progress through a scene.

Remember, Zed don’t have hit points in Bravado Bones, and each success might kill MULTIPLE enemies at once.

In order to succeed at this type of Challenge, the Guide assigns a Difficulty that must be met by the end of the Challenge.  As an example, a difficulty of 10 is very easy to complete, while a difficulty of 20 will be very hard to finish. These types of challenges are often limited to a total number of rounds, or change the outcome based on how fast you can complete the challenge. In some cases, the Guide might be tracking your total escalating Failures, or establish a new sub-goal for the Round based on your actions.

Each level of Success adds towards the Difficulty, while Failures decrease from the total.

  • Failures decrease the total by -1

  • Mixed Successes increase the total by 1

  • Full Successes increase the total by 2

  • Heroic Successes increase the total by 3

Once the total Difficulty has been met, the Challenge is over and the Guide will describe the final outcome of the Challenge.

Example

Guin and Rajah are engaged with a pack of Resonant Raiders, deep in tunnels with the lost city of Barogue. During the Top of the Round recap, the Guide reminds the pair that Resonant Raiders are incredibly resilient versus psionic attacks. Any Anomaly roll will be at a Disadvantage for this In Rounds sequence. So far, the pair have achieved 4 successes towards the total Difficulty of 10.

Rajah describes her character focusing her emotions to quiet the fear inside, relying on her harrowing experience surviving in Vegasia to steel her resolve against the psionic threats. She describes that if her Final Knight employers had detected a hint of weakness, she would have been killed or worse. Hiding her emotions from a Resonant Raider is child’s play. She declares that she will roll her Civilized skill, as her ability to hide enables her to lure several of the Raiders into a blind corner where her twin rose-inlaid daggers can make short work of them.

Rajah rolls her dice, including her Civilized score of [+1]. She rolls a nine on the dice, giving her a Total Success on the action. The Guide increments the difficulty of the scene by 2, and describes Rajah slaying several of the enemy Raiders with brutal strikes of her blades.

Guin decides that they will attempt to burn the Resonant Raiders with their Pyrokinesis, relying on their skill as an [Incinerator] to push past the Raider resistances. They describe the temperature in the tunnel dropping, as Guin draws upon her own body heat and the ambient heat in the tunnel into a mighty focused beam of psionic fire. They describe the white-hot beam of energy cutting down the nearest Resonant Raiders, melting steel and flesh like it was nothing.

Guin rolls 2d6, and earns a 5. With their skill in Anomaly at [+3], and the Disadvantage, it’s still only a 7, for a Mixed success. Guin spends a point of Mind, and declares that the roll will instead be a Heroic Success, asking to move the success up by two levels. Guin suggests that the beam of psionic energy manages to collapse part of the tunnel, buying the pair some breathing room from the assault. The Guide agrees, and the sequence shifts in the player’s favor. The Guide increments the difficulty by 3 for the challenge, and proceeds to the Top of Round recap.

The Guide determines that while Guin annihilates several of the Raiders, the sudden burst of psionic energy has attracted more of the parasites from their cryo-chambers in Barogue. During the next round, Rajah and Guin must retreat deeper into the forgotten chambers of Barogue, with an even larger pack of Raiders on their heels…

Contested Challenges

If a CVC encounter happens, or an session leads you into conflict with your fellow LCs, you can determine the course of the action through a Contested Challenge. This is simply a type of Out of Range challenge in most cases, but the Guide should still lead the challenge during a scene.

Each player describes how they are interacting for the Challenge, and rolls an appropriate STAT against the other player. Each player compares their final total on the dice, and the highest score is successful. The Guide will describe the outcome of the challenge, or if both players agree, the players can negotiate the outcome of the roll if they wish.

You may generally not use Mind points to influence the outcome of a Contested Challenge, unless directed by a Guide.

Example

Turbo Six decides to try to lift the keys to the Magnum Opus from Ryder during a disagreement. Turbo decides his skill at Larceny means he will roll Civilized to complete the Challenge. He’s a talented thief, and he’s stolen an item a time or two if the authorities are to be believed. Ryder decides that if he catches Turbo trying to pick his pockets, it’ll end up in a scuffle. He chooses to roll Combat for his challenge. The two each roll their dice, and Ryder’s total dice roll is higher than Turbo. Ryder narrates a quick takedown maneuver that ends up with Turbo on the ground, his pick-pocketing attempt foiled.

Other rules of Bravado Bones

While the Bravado Bones system is fairly rules light, there are few other situations you might encounter during a session.

The Influence of the Gravemind

Sometimes, your characters might have to resist the influence of the Grave Mind. This might happen when you encounter a strange psionic phenomenon, or when you interact with a Morgue or other undead monstrosity. This a single Out of Rounds Challenge that represents your character resisting the foul influence of the Mortis Amaranthine.

When the Mortis Amaranthine attempts to influence an LC, you must roll that LC’s Anomaly STAT. This is one exception to the rule that you cannot initiate an Anomaly challenge with a [-1] in the score. However, the results of this roll are the OPPOSITE of a standard challenge.

If you roll a Failure, the Gravemind fails to influence your character. If you roll a Success, the Gravemind successfully influences your character in a negative way. This means that powerful Aberrant characters with high Anomaly STATs are more susceptible to these attempts.

This mechanic may also be reused with Combat, Civilized, or Wasteland skills to represent various resistances to enviromental or social effects.

Bleed Out & Healing

When a character has zero Body points left, they enter Bleed Out and cannot take actions during an In-Rounds Challenge. The Guide or player can choose to give the character an [Injured] Threat to return them to the challenge immediately, with one (1) Body.

Alternatively, once per module, a character can be healed with the Civilized or Anomaly Challenge initiated by another character. This is a variant of an In-Round Challenge, and you heal a number of Body equal to your successes:

  • Mixed Success (7-9) = ONE Body healed,

  • Full Success (10-11) = TWO Body healed

  • Heroic Success (12+) = THREE Body healed.

At the end of any In Round Challenge, any characters with zero Body heals back to one Body. This represents your character getting healed by a friendly medic, using a brew, or using an item to heal.

Regaining Mind

Throughout a play module, at the Guide’s discretion, they may also award one Mind point per module to a character who does something to lift the play and story of another character. Mind cannot otherwise be gained during a module of play.

You may also regain a point of Mind by accepting a [Threat] consequence during a Challenge. Instead of the Success you achieved on the roll, the Guide will suggest that it becomes a Failure instead related to your [Threat]. As a reward for accepting the narrative failure, you regain one point of Mind.

If a player exhausts all of their Mind points during a session or module, the Guide or player can choose to give the character an [Exhausted] Threat to regain one point of Mind immediately. This can only occur once during a session or module. Once you expend your Mind points again, you will have none remaining until the next session.

variable successes

In social settings and investigations, or using skills like Civilized or Wasteland, sometimes simply inflicting damage or tracking successes doesn’t make sense.  This can make complications a bit more difficult to decide. Outside of the normal In Rounds Challenge, the original Bravado Bones system describes a system of variable results in the section on how to recover Body.  We can use something similar to this to extrapolate other ways to resolve a challenge during a session.

  • Failure (2-6): Nothing is learned, or maybe clearly WRONG information

  • Mixed Success (7-9): The LC gains/learns one thing or gets to ask the ST one question

  • Success (10-11): The LC gains/learns two things or gets to ask the ST two questions

  • Heroic Success (12+): The LC gains/learns three things or gets to ask the ST three questions

By setting a range of possibilities on an action, the Guide can provide different options for how your characters succeed at a roll, or how to apply a complication.  In this option, the consequence of a Mixed success is simply less effectiveness, rather than taking damage or a penalty.

Dying in Bravado Bones

An LC in Bravado Bones cannot die unless the player of that LC chooses for that to happen. We will assume that the character had a spare Injectable or some other means of escaping death’s clutches. Bravado Bones is focused on telling stories using a simple rule set, and we only want to permanently change your Infection stat with your full consent.

If you decide to take a death for your LC, we will have a Guide available to run a Grave Mind scene for you. However, we feel that this bespoke black box experience is best saved for the live space.

Nothing is learned, or maybe clearly WRONG information (use carefully)