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24-System: Success & Failure Levels

In the 24-System, you roll dice based on your skill and any situational benefits, then compare your result to a Difficulty (DC).

Your result is the sum of your two highest dice, plus any flat bonus from skill rank.

Skill Rank Dice Progression

Rank Roll Average Result
0 2d12 13
1 d10 + d12 + 2 14
2 2d10 + 4 15
3 d8 + d10 + 6 16
4 2d8 + 8 17
5 d6 + d8 + 10 18
6 2d6 + 12 19

Outcome Levels

Legendary Success (24+)

If your final result is 24 or higher, you achieve an extraordinary, cinematic success.

  • You bypass normal limitations
  • You gain a powerful additional benefit
  • The Guide may allow effects beyond the original intent of the action

Legendary results represent moments where preparation, skill, and circumstance align perfectly.

Partial Critical (Max Die)

If any die in your roll shows its maximum value (e.g., 12 on a d12, 10 on a d10), you gain a Partial Critical, even if you do not reach 24.

Partial Criticals grant a flourish or immediate benefit, such as:

  • Acting faster
  • Avoiding a minor consequence
  • Impressing observers
  • Gaining positional advantage
  • Reducing the impact of Pressure

Partial Criticals reward strong execution even under difficult conditions.

Success

If your result meets or exceeds the DC, you succeed as intended.

You accomplish your goal cleanly, with no added cost.

Hit Location by Outcome (Attacks)

Unless an ability or called shot says otherwise, attack hit location follows outcome band:

  • Success: Hit the Core.
  • Partial Critical on a hit: Hit a limb (attacker chooses L, R, or Legs).
  • Legendary Success (24+) on a hit: Hit the Head.

Called shots override this default mapping.

Push Your Luck (Optional Reroll) - DEPRECATED

This section is deprecated. Use push-your-luck.md instead.

If you fail a roll, you may choose to push your luck.

When you do so:

  • You choose one complication track: Position, Resource, Exposure, Strain, or Objective.
  • You state the fiction for that track (what risk you are taking to force the reroll).
  • You must accept a Minor Complication on that chosen track.
  • You reroll the entire dice pool at DC -2 (minimum pushed DC 6).
  • You must keep the new result.

This represents forcing the action through stress, danger, or desperation.

Outcomes After Pushing

After the reroll, resolve the outcome normally, with the following escalation rules:

  • Reroll Succeeds (meets or exceeds pushed DC)
    You succeed, and the Minor Complication on the chosen track applies.

  • Reroll Succeeds with a Partial Critical
    You gain the Partial Critical benefit, and the Minor Complication on the chosen track still applies.

  • Reroll Fails
    You fail the action, and the complication escalates to a Major Complication on the same track.

Pushing your luck always carries risk, success comes at a cost, failure compounds.

Critical Failure

A Critical Failure is optional and should be rare. It represents a collapse beyond a normal Major Complication.

A Critical Failure occurs when:

  • The Guide declares the situation has escalated beyond safe limits, and
  • The fiction supports a catastrophic outcome beyond a standard Major Complication.

On a Critical Failure:

  • You fail the action
  • You accept a catastrophic consequence (worse than a normal Major)
  • The situation escalates immediately and meaningfully

Critical Failures are not about incompetence, they are about pressure, risk, and consequence.

Miss (No Push)

If your result is below the DC and you choose not to push:

  • You fail to achieve your goal
  • No complication is automatically applied
  • The Guide advances the situation naturally

Examples include:

  • Time passes
  • The environment changes
  • Opponents reposition or react
  • New information or threats emerge

Failure should move the scene forward, not stall play.

Retry Rule (Especially Outside Combat)

There are no free retries under unchanged fiction.

  • A failed roll means this approach does not work in this moment.
  • You may retry immediately by using Push Your Luck and accepting track consequences.
  • You may also attempt again later if the fiction changes meaningfully (different method, different tool, extra help, more time, new leverage, or a new accepted cost).
  • If nothing meaningful has changed, the original result stands.

This keeps repeated attempts fiction-first while preserving tension and pace.

Complication Tracks

Complications are always resolved through these five tracks:

  • Position
  • Resource
  • Exposure
  • Strain
  • Objective

When you push, these tracks are always available, but the chosen track must be fiction-valid for the action being attempted.

Rule of thumb:

  • If a consequence causes a short setback without collapsing agency, it is Minor.
  • If a consequence changes control of the scene, removes a key option, or forces an immediate new problem, it is Major.

Position

What it is:

  • Where you are, your angle, cover, footing, engagement state, or tactical lane.

Minor qualifies:

  • Lose cover
  • End up in a worse approach angle
  • Give up a favorable lane or stance

Major qualifies:

  • Get pinned or flanked
  • Enter a bad range state (forced melee/grapple)
  • Lose control of space and cede initiative

Does not qualify:

  • Direct gear damage (use Resource)
  • Pure alertness/noise consequences (use Exposure)

Resource

What it is:

  • Consumables, ammo, tools, weapon condition, armor integrity, and other finite assets.

Minor qualifies:

  • Spend extra ammo/supplies
  • Tool wear, temporary jam, or reduced reliability
  • Burn a useful but replaceable item

Major qualifies:

  • Break key gear
  • Destroy or lose a critical asset
  • Permanently degrade an important loadout element in-scene

Does not qualify:

  • Purely being seen/identified (use Exposure)
  • Pure movement/angle loss (use Position)

Exposure

What it is:

  • Being noticed, tracked, identified, or having your intent/location revealed.

Minor qualifies:

  • Make noise
  • Leave trace evidence
  • Raise suspicion or awareness by one step

Major qualifies:

  • Full detection or identification
  • Trigger alarm/reinforcements
  • Reveal ally plan, route, or hiding position

Does not qualify:

  • Direct fatigue/stamina cost (use Strain)
  • Gear loss/breakage (use Resource)

Strain

What it is:

  • Immediate physical or mental load: stamina, pain, shock, panic pressure, instability.

Minor qualifies:

  • Lose stamina
  • Brief disorientation
  • Short-lived fear/panic spike that does not remove agency

Major qualifies:

  • Heavy stamina loss with immediate tactical penalty
  • Strong disorientation/panic effect that constrains next action
  • Short-term functional drop in an anchor-critical moment

Does not qualify:

  • Narrative clock/progress setbacks (use Objective)
  • Discovery/alert outcomes (use Exposure)

Objective

What it is:

  • Progress toward the declared goal: clocks, timing windows, target acquisition, mission state.

Minor qualifies:

  • Lose momentum
  • Add delay or extra step
  • Reduce quality of progress (harder follow-up)

Major qualifies:

  • Target escapes or relocates
  • Clock advances to a new threat state
  • Mission branch closes, forcing a new approach

Does not qualify:

  • Immediate bodily fatigue cost (use Strain)
  • Positioning-only consequences (use Position)

Table Safety and Party Harm

Choosing a push consequence that intentionally puts another player character in direct harm is generally not acceptable.

Only allow it when:

  • The acting player states the risk clearly before rolling, and
  • The expected benefit clearly and significantly outweighs that harm, and
  • The table is aligned with that call.

If those conditions are not met, the Guide should require a different complication within the chosen track.

Leverage & Pressure

The 24-System replaces traditional advantage and disadvantage with Leverage and Pressure.

This system rewards preparation and smart play, while keeping penalties clear and fair.

Leverage

Leverage represents favorable circumstances such as:

  • Positioning
  • Planning
  • Superior tools or gear
  • Teamwork
  • Surprise or momentum

Each point of Leverage grants a bonus die, using the step progression below.

You may gain multiple points of Leverage from different sources.

Leverage Dice Progression

When you have Leverage, add one bonus die to your roll:

Leverage Bonus Die
1 d4
2 d6
3 d8
4 d10
5 d12

Roll all dice together.
Your result is the sum of your two highest dice, plus flat bonus.

Leverage dice are never negative.
If circumstances are poor, Pressure applies instead.

Advantage Step Rule

When a rule says an action gains advantage, grant exactly one Leverage step:

  • Start at d4.
  • Each additional advantage source increases by one die step (d4 -> d6 -> d8 -> d10 -> d12).
  • Roll the acting skill dice and the one leverage die, then keep the two highest dice.
  • Advantage effects do not jump multiple steps unless multiple separate sources apply.

Pressure

Pressure represents difficulty, danger, or constraint, such as:

  • Darkness, smoke, or noise
  • Injury, exhaustion, or fear
  • Environmental hazards
  • Time pressure
  • Opposition or resistance

Pressure does not affect your dice.

Instead, Pressure increases the DC of the action.

Applying Pressure

Each point of Pressure raises the DC by +1 to +2, depending on severity.

Typical examples:

  • Low light: +1 DC
  • Darkness or smoke: +2 DC
  • Wounded or exhausted: +2 DC
  • Severe injury or panic: +3 or more DC

The Guide should state the adjusted DC clearly before the roll.

Status Effects

Common status conditions (Blind, Prone, Grabbed, Pinned, Incapacitated, etc.) are defined in status-effects.md.

  • Status effects may add DC, remove available actions, or constrain RLHF anchors.
  • If both Pressure and a status effect apply, use both unless a specific rule says otherwise.
  • If multiple statuses affect the same action, use the most restrictive limit and highest relevant DC increase.

Key Principles

  • Players only roll extra dice when things are going well
  • Difficulty comes from harder targets, not worse dice
  • Leverage rewards smart play
  • Pressure keeps danger real without killing momentum

This system preserves excitement while maintaining tension and fairness.

Optional Rule: Crushing Pressure

In extreme situations, the Guide may declare Crushing Pressure.

  • You may not gain Leverage on this roll
  • The DC is increased significantly

Use this sparingly, for moments of overwhelming danger.

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