Tavern Tales Smooth 

High-Powered, Classless Fantasy RPG 

  

Based on Tavern Tales: CC-BY-SA by Dabney Bailey 

Primary Contributors: Plexsoup, VerbalFlourish, Pseu, MrSnout, 
Almechik 
Reddit: ​https://www.reddit.com/r/Tavern_Tales/ 
Discord: h ​ ttps://discord.gg/36ckNh8 
https://smoothrpg.wordpress.com/ 
 
Read on for the players guide and gamemastering guide. 

● Appendix A: Traits List 

● Appendix B: Directors’ Commentary 

*TODO 

 
TAVERN T A L E S 

 
notes 

-= 1 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

 
 

Artwork by VerbalFlourish. http://vf-portfolio.tumblr.com/ 

-= 2 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Player’s Guide 

Getting Started 
Tavern Tales is a fantasy-themed tabletop roleplaying game (RPG) 
that invites players to take on the roles of powerful heroes who 
fight dangerous monsters, explore exotic locations, and interact 
with amazing characters. RPGs have no winning condition. Players 
don’t win or lose - they simply make decisions and see where the 
adventure takes them. An RPG is a collaborative story where 
everyone affects the outcome, guided by the results of dice-rolls. 

Tavern Tales is played across one or more sessions which typically 

last several hours. Past that, it’s up to your gaming group to 
determine the scope of your game. Tavern Tales supports 
one-shot, single session games just as well as it supports long-form 
campaigns which last months or years. 

Before you Start 

You’ll need a few friends, some way to take notes, and three 
twenty-sided (d20) dice. Roll20.net has a Tavern Tales character 
sheet designed to facilitate note-keeping and dice-rolling. 
Discord.gg is an excellent way to communicate with friends over 
long distances. 

Make Tavern Tales Your Own 

Tavern Tales is designed to be malleable. Look at the various 
systems and subsystems in TT-CC-Smooth and TT-CC-Crunchy and 
mix and match to fit your playstyle. Ignore rules you don’t like, 
introduce new rules, tweak default values. It’s your game. 

-= 3 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Work Together 
You’ll see the word “Collaborate” a lot. It means: “Work with your 
group to decide…”.  

Many traits require collaboration to determine exactly how they 

work in your world and how powerful they should be in your game.  

The end result is, you get a game that suits your particular 
power-level and style. 

The GM and the Players 

One of you plays as the Gamemaster (GM). The GM facilitates the 
game, sets up situations for the characters to react to, establishes 
challenges and acts the part of all non-player characters (NPCs). 

Every other player will create their own player character (PC) that 
they will use during the game.  

In Tavern Tales, players have more creative authority than in most 

RPGs. When a player gets a bad result on the dice (a bad tale), they 
get to decide exactly what happens, including the introduction of 
new threats. 

The rule of Cheese and Infinite Loops 

It’s up to the group to curb game-breaking behaviour and loophole 
exploitation. This is especially clear when someone chooses the 
same bad tale option over and over again, or if they pursue 
repetitive behaviour which exploits trait combinations. 

At any time, the group may call “Cheese” and ask the offender to 
change their action.   

-= 4 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Character Creation 

Come up With a Concept 

Tavern Tales accommodates virtually any character concept 
imaginable. 

You might play as a something truly unique, or you might choose a 

standard fantasy archetype. 

Example Character Concepts 

● minotaur earth-shaman  ● brawny tax collector 

● stealthy halfling  ● mind-altering cat 

-= 5 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

● sentient swarm of bees   ● sturdy dwarven fighter 

● agile archer 

Spend XP on Traits 
By default, all Characters start with 5 experience points (XP). These 
can be spent to purchase T
​ raits​. 

There are 3 broad categories of traits; Combat, Interaction, 

Exploration.  

The XP cost for a new trait is equal to the number of traits you will 
have in that particular category.  

For example:  

Steve is building a character, starting with 5 XP. 

He buys two combat traits, for a cost of 1 and 2 XP. 

Then he buys one exploration trait, for a cost of 1 XP. 

He has 1 XP remaining, which he saves for later so he can add a 

third combat trait for 3 XP. 

Choose your traits from: ​Appendix A: Trait List 

Reskinning Traits 
If a trait describes an ability you like, but the Theme doesn’t match 
the idea you had for your character, feel free to “reskin” it to look 
and feel the way you want. 

See I​ nterpreting Traits​ at the end of the Trait List for more 
information. 

-= 6 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Assign Attributes 
Assign the values: 3, 2, 1, -1 to your attributes (Brawn, Mind, 
Finesse, Spirit) in any order you like. 

Brawn  Mind  Finesse  Spirit 

Brutish  Shrewd  Agile  Determined 

Strong  Logical  Graceful  Empathetic 
Direct  Astute  Precise  Charming 
Powerful  Mindful  Fast  Faithful 
Forceful  Intellectual  Subtle  Lucky 
Clever  Sneaky  Passionate 
 

Assign Resource Values 

Health, Wits and Endurance start with 3 boxes [ ] [ ] [ ] each.  

-= 7 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

You also have 6 boxes you can distribute across your signature 
resources (read on to “Describe Signature Resources”). 

Health  Wits  Endurance 

Endure bodily harm  Make rational decisions  Withstand exhaustion 

Receive Medical  Meditate, Relax without  Eat, Drink, Rest 

attention or wait for  making any decisions 
natural healing 

Combat Challenges  Interaction Challenges  Exploration Challenges 

Describe Signature Resource(s) 

Traits are fueled by resources. Each character will have one or 
more Signature resources. They could be Mana, Materials, 
Adrenaline, Reagents, Scent, Shadows, Seeds, DNA, Respect, 
Reputation, or whatever else you can think of. 

When you select a trait, make note of the resource it uses. If you 
like, all your traits can use the same signature resource. In the 
game, you’ll just describe how “materials” fuels your Dragon’s 
breath trait. Alternatively, you could have different resources for 
different traits. 

Describe, in general, how your character will recover their signature 

resource. Ie: the conditions under which your Signature Resources 
might recover if you spend a good tale. 

See also: R
​ esources​, S
​ ignature Resource 

Signature Resources 

Materials, Reagents, Mana, Ki, Willpower, Blood, Souls, etc. 

-= 8 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Can be spent on bad tales involving traits. 

Some traits require resource expenditure. 

  

Describe Equipment 
Each character may carry up to 5 large items, or equivalent 
armloads of stuff in various sacks and packs. We don’t track 
encumbrance carefully, but it’s useful to have some limit on what 
people can carry. 

In most games food, drink, ammunition, and light sources don’t 

need to be tracked.  

Determine Defenses 
Some of your traits may give you a d
​ efense box​. Defenses act like 
additional resources you can lose on specific bad tales. 

When you get hit in combat, for your bad tale, you can select “Lose 
a Resource” to mark a Defense box.   

-= 9 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Example Character 

   

-= 10 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Gameplay 

Taking Turns, Initiative 

Play takes place as a conversation, with everyone acting in 
character, and describing what their characters intend to do. We 
call this, “telling N
​ eutral Tales​”. Speak up whenever it makes sense 
to do so. Sometimes, the GM will call on a player explicitly. 

GM: “The Dragon rears back its head and opens its mouth, you can 
smell the brimstone as it clears its throat. Warrior, you’re closest. 
What do you do?” 

If you’re used to other RPGs with strict initiative rules, the lack of an 
initiative system might seem unusual. Work with your group to 
make sure everyone gets a turn to shine. Sometimes obvious 
teamwork opportunities will emerge. Players can pass the initiative 
to each other and coordinate their activities. 

Rolling Dice 
The group assigns a Difficulty for uncertain actions based on the 
situation, the ​approach​ and character ​Conditions​. 

● Bolstering and Being Bolstered makes the roll easier. 

● Audacious Actions make the roll harder but result in triple 
effect. 

When they want to do something with an ​Uncertain Outcome, ​a 

Player rolls 3d20+attribute. 

● Normal: keep the median result 

● Easy: keep the highest result 

-= 11 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

● Difficult: keep the lowest result 

On results of 10 or higher you get a “​Good Tale​”. On 0-13 you get a 

“​Bad Tale​”. Yes, one roll will often trigger both a Good Tale and a Bad 
Tale. 

Telling Tales 
The foundation of TT-CC-Smooth is the “Tale”, something you say 
about the world or your character. Every tale falls into one of three 
categories: Good, Neutral, Bad, as told from the perspective of the 
active player’s character.  

Neutral Tales 
Typically told before the dice are cast 

A neutral tale is anything that neither benefits nor hinders the 

active character. Neutral tales may help propel the story forward or 
help everyone visualize the current situation. 

On a neutral tale, a player may: 

● Describe what their character sees​ - ​“I recognize that 

uniform.” 
● Speak in character​ - “​ You have my axe!” 
● Succeed at a simple, risk-free task​ - ​“I go look at the door.” 
● Declare an objective​ - ​“I’d really like to get inside that vault.” 
● Attempt something uncertain​ - declare an approach and roll 
dice 
○ “I climb, hand over hand to get up the rope.” (​normal 
action​) 
○ “I want to help, by pulling the rope up from the top.” 
(​bolstering​) 

-= 12 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

○ “This is taking too long. I see a faster path up, but I’d have 
to clear that overhang, so I can’t use the rope.” (​audacious 
action​) 
● Spend a resource to activate a trait -​ where required in the 
trait description 

Good Tales 
Told after you get a high dice roll 

Good tales have a significant, positive benefit for the active 

character.  

Narrative Descriptions for Good Tales 

When you get a good tale, choose one of the Narrative Description 
options below and describe what happens. If you can’t decide, look 
to the GM or collaborate with your group. The option must make 
sense, given the objective you described in your neutral tales. 

● Succeed at your uncertain action 

○ “I dove out of the way, just in time.” 
○ The potion worked, I can feel my flesh knitting back 
together. 
● Discover something beneficial 
○ “Hey, look, a Cave!” 
● Gain the upper hand  
○ “I draw my opponent backwards, feigning weakness 
until I have him exactly where I want him.” 
● Provide help 
○ “Take my hand!” 
● Overcome an obstacle​ - “​ I picked the lock on the door and it 
opens. We’re a little bit closer to our goal.” 
● Look to the GM to see what happens 

-= 13 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Mechanical Effects for Good Tales 

Once you’ve chosen and described your narrative option, figure out 
which mechanical effect it has below. Collaborate with your group 
if you’re not certain. 

● Mark box(es) on a challenge track​ - to simulate making 

progress toward the end of the challenge. 

Mark one if you’ve acted normally, or three if you’ve followed a 

shortcut​ or taken an a
​ udacious action. S
​ ome traits will also grant 
bonus challenge boxes. 

○ Normal, direct and obvious actions mark 1 box 

○ Shortcuts mark 3 boxes, but must be discovered first 
○ Difficult shortcuts (audacious actions) mark 3 boxes and 
can be invented by players on-the-fly 

Note: Marking boxes isn’t always an available option. If your 

objective was “stop, drop and roll”, no amount of success gets you 
any closer to defeating the wizards opposing you if you agreed that 
challenge boxes represent wizard health. 

● Remove a mark from a resource track 

○ Health, Wits, Endurance, Signature Resource, Defense, 
etc.: [/] → [ ] 
● Gain a new resource track - C
​ over, etc. 
● Gain a new ​ordinary​ item​ - like a sword, rope, or ladder. 

Powerful magic items are reserved for the GM to award when the 
situation calls for it. Possibly after you complete a difficult 
challenge. 

● Grant someone the “​bolstered​”​ single-use temporary 

condition 

-= 14 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

● Identify a shortcut opportunity​ - Shortcut opportunities 

allow you to spend a subsequent good tale to mark three boxes 
on the challenge track instead of one. 

Bad Tales 
Told after you get a low dice roll 

Bad tales have a significant, negative impact on a character. They 

represent moments in the story where things take a dramatic turn 
for the worse. Don’t feel bad about receiving a bad tale. They also 
represent problems to overcome and opportunities for character 
growth. 

Narrative Descriptions for Bad Tales 

When you get a bad tale, choose one of the Narrative Description 
options below, and describe what happens. 

If you can’t decide, look to the GM or collaborate with the group to 
choose. 

Note: some gaming groups prefer that the GM decides or has final 
say on all the bad tales. That’s fine, but we encourage you to try 
letting players choose their own bad tales first. 

● Your action backfires 

○ “The magic is too powerful, I can’t control it. Look out!” 
● Discover a New Threat 
○ “Oh damn. He brought his friends.” 
● Notice an existing threat is getting worse 
○ “The chasm cracks and I can’t see the bottom anymore” 
● Lose position or Cede the Advantage 
○ “I think he’s a better negotiator than me, why did he 
have to bring his kids into it?” 
●  

-= 15 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

● Lose a golden opportunity (only if you had one) 

○ “The door is closing. We just lost our way out” 
● Take a blow or suffer a lingering condition 
○ “The sword hits me in the shoulder” 
○ “The poison is making me sick” 
● Lose or break something 
○ “I snagged my pack on the way down. Pretty sure 
something fell out.” 
● Surrender, pass out, or die 
● Look to the GM to see what happens 

 
Mechanical Effects for Bad Tales 

Once you’ve described your bad tale, figure out which mechanical 
effect it should have. In most cases it will be obvious which 
mechanical effect fits the narrative option. If you’re uncertain, 
collaborate with your group. 

● Create a new challenge​, subchallenge, or setback/delay. 

● Lose a Resource​ - Make a Mark “[/]” on any of your relevant 
resource tracks (Health, Endurance, Wits, Defense, Signature, 
etc.) 
● Lose Equipment​, Make note of which items go missing 
● Lose a pre-established Shortcut Opportunity 
● Write a new lingering condition​ Make another mark on a 
previously marked resource box [/] → [X] to indicate a lingering 
condition. Then, write the name of a condition on your 
character sheet (eg: sick, blind, lost, etc.).  

Note: Lingering conditions require at least a CL3 challenge to be 

removed [X] → [ ]. 

● Escalate a previous condition​ Fill a previously marked 

resource box completely:[X] → [∎] to indicate that the lingering 
condition has become permanent. 

-= 16 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Permanent conditions cannot be removed. Collaborate to 

determine if there’s any mechanism for recovery of permanent 
conditions in your game. If you allow it, it should require at least a 
CL10 challenge. 

● Take Disadvantage​ on your next roll 

● Mark a box on an NPC project track 
● Surrender, pass out, or die​ - Take a break or permanently 
retire your character   

-= 17 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Obstacles and Objectives 

Whenever characters have an obstacle to overcome, they’ll 
describe how they intend to overcome it with some sort of action 
(typically risky) where the outcome isn’t certain, then roll dice to 
determine the result. 

Roll 3d20+attribute. Keep highest, middle or lowest depending on 

difficulty. 

Neutral Tale -> Obstacle -> Uncertain Action 

Sometimes a player will start with a Neutral tale, but the GM or 
someone else at the table will declare that there’s an obstacle 
preventing the character from getting what they want, or they think 
the outcome of the tale is uncertain, or that a twist or failure would 
be interesting. In that case, the player will need a good tale in order 
to overcome the obstacle. It’s time to roll some dice. 

Note: If the task is not actually risky and failure wouldn’t be 
interesting, no dice roll should be required. (Badass Heroes 
shouldn’t fall down for no reason.) 

Task Difficulties (Easy, Normal, Difficult) 

For all tasks, first, describe your approach to overcoming the 
obstacle. “I use all my strength to climb the rope hand over hand.”, 
then choose an attribute (eg: Brawn). And add the value of that 
attribute to your dice roll. Your group should agree that that 
particular approach is reasonable and the attribute is relevant. 

Then, the GM will assign a difficulty: easy, normal, or difficult.  

Difficult Tasks  Normal Tasks  Easy Tasks 

min(3d20) + attribute  med(3d20)+attribute  max(3d20)+attribute 

-= 18 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

(also called    (also called 

disadvantage)  advantage) 

/r 3d20kl1+@{attribute}  /r 3d20dl1dh1+@{attribute}  /r 3d20kh1+@{attribute} 

Raising and Lowering Difficulty 

Some situations or actions will make a task easier (eg: bolstering), 
or harder (eg: audacious actions). Just choose the next easier or 
harder difficulty level as appropriate. 

Objective → Challenge → A series of Obstacles → many 

Uncertain Actions 
When your objective wouldn’t be met by overcoming a single 
obstacle, it becomes a challenge. Challenges represent a whole 
series of obstacles. See the Chapter: “​Challenges​”. 

   

-= 19 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Approaches 
Anytime you’re facing an obstacle, you have options in how you 
approach it. 

● Bolstering (aiding, assisting, orchestrating) 

● Normal Actions (typically require normal rolls) 
● Audacious Actions (Hail Marys) 

Movement is free. 

Bolstering 
When you’re helping someone else or actively working to improve 
your own odds without directly pushing towards the goal, you are 
Bolstering. Bolsters are one-step easier than normal actions and 
they make a subsequent action one-step easier as well. 

For example: If you’re attempting to climb a mountain, you might 

describe your character plotting a different trajectory which has an 
easier grade and more frequent handholds. Or you might describe 
yourself digging your heels in and helping someone else make the 
climb. This action doesn’t get you any closer to the goal, but it 
improves the odds when you continue your ascent. 

If you’re the recipient of a bolster action, you are considered 

“bolstered”. The bolster goes away after you spend it on a related 
uncertain action. 

Normal Actions 
When you’re pushing directly towards a goal, with a pretty obvious 
direct approach, you’re performing a “normal” action which 
requires a “normal” dice roll. Most of your actions will likely be 
normal actions. 

-= 20 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Audacious Actions 
Sometimes you need a hail mary. Players may choose to make their 
action more difficult, in exchange for following an undiscovered 
“​shortcut​” in a challenge. They’ll roll “decreased”: If successful, their 
Good Tale will be worth triple effect on a challenge track.  

Here’s an example: 

Player: “I’m nearly out of health, and we’re not even close to the top 
of this mountain yet. I need a Hail Mary: I see there’s another path, 
where the cliff face ends lower and a gentler trail leads up from 
there. Only problem is, it’s across a chasm. I want to leap across 
that chasm to get to the shorter path.” 

GM: “Ok. Sounds like an audacious action. You’re taking a big risk 
in order to get a shortcut. Roll with disadvantage. If you succeed, I’ll 
mark three obstacle boxes on the challenge track.” 

Note that players can generally invent things about the world. The 
player above invented a shortcut. Fantastic! GM’s should observe 
the first rule of Improv and say yes. In TT-CC-Smooth, GMs do not 
own​ the world. 

Movement 
Movement is generally free as part of some other action. Unless 
there are some mitigating circumstances, you can run across the 
battlefield and stab someone in a single action. If that path of 
movement seems particularly dangerous, your GM might rule that 
just getting there is an uncertain Action, and as such, requires a 
dice roll. 

In combat, your opponents on the battlefield are not static pawns. 

You may utilize your wits and abilities to move them into positions 
to your advantage. Orchestrating an opponent’s movements like 
that might be considered a bolster action, since it works to improve 
the odds for a subsequent action. 

-= 21 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Note: Movement distances are intentionally vague. If you need 

more clarity, consider allowing close movement while facing 
opposition, or near movement if there is no immediate pressure. 

Teamwork and Helping Out 

When you want to help your teammate, choose the bolster 
approach above. 

Challenges 

 
A ​Challenge​ is a series of obstacles which prevent characters from 
achieving their O
​ bjective​. 

Climbing a wall is a single ​obstacle​. Climbing a mountain is a 

challenge​. 

Defeating a single m
​ ook​ is a simple obstacle. Defeating a ​horde, 
lieutenant, o
​ r ​boss i​ s a challenge. 

Challenges are composed of an ​Objective​ and a C

​ hallenge Length 
(CL). The CL roughly defines how multiple obstacles will be faced in 
the challenge. You don’t need to identify the specific obstacles until 
they come up in play. Overcoming an obstacle typically requires a 
good tale to be spent on “Overcome an obstacle”. 

-= 22 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Write a challenge as an Objective with a number of boxes beside it. 

Mark a box [/] after the players overcome an obstacle. 

For ease of reading, groups of 5 boxes are separated with a line or 
a space. Alternatively, make lines at clear milestones or logical 
delineations. If a Group of enemies includes a boss, a lieutenant 
and 3 mooks, it makes sense to place the lines between the logical 
enemies. 

Here’s a few examples: 

● Sneak into the house (CL2): □□ 

● Sneak into the dragon’s lair (CL8): □□□□□|□□□ 
● Slay the dragon (CL20): 
□□□□□|□□□□□|□□□□□|□□□□□ 
● Escape the dragon’s lair (CL5): □□□□□ 
● Climb a small mountain (CL4): □□□□ 
● Climb the world’s tallest mountain (CL15): 
□□□□□|□□□□□|□□□□□ 
● Stay 24 hours in the haunted mansion (CL8): □□□□□|□□□ 
● Defeat the demon, hellhound, and 3 imps: 
□□□□|□□|□|□|□ 

The challenge length will be determined by the particular objective 

the characters want to achieve. “Escape the Dragon” is much easier 
than “Slay the dragon”. It will also depend on the power-level of 
your characters and the tone you’ve agreed on. Climb the world’s 
tallest mountain might be CL50 for a peasant, or only CL2 for an 
invulnerable, teleporting wizard. 

Pause once you’ve written down the objective, and make sure the 
players agree that the stated objective matches their intentions. 

-= 23 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Note: an isolated “obstacle” could be called a “CL1 challenge”: a 

challenge with only one obstacle. 

Overlapping and Nested Challenges 

Characters will typically have more than one big objective they’re 
working towards. There might be a list of 5 or 10 active challenges. 
That’s totally fine. 

Some challenges might overlap. Some might conflict. Imagine these 

abstract challenge paths to be more braided than linear. 

Shortcuts 
Shortcuts speed up the challenge by allowing a player to mark 
more than 1 box.  

For example, suppose that the PCs have a C

​ hallenge​ with the 
Objective​ to “Get to the top of the mountain”, and one of them has a 
ring which can magically transport people. That player rolls the dice 
and spends their Good Tale to activate the ring, opening a portal 
halfway up the mountain. 

That action discovers a shortcut, which means a subsequent good 

tale can be spent to mark 3 boxes on the challenge track instead of 
1. 

See also: A
​ pproaches: Audacious Actions 

Delays (aka subchallenges) 

Delays are the opposite of a shortcut. They’re represented as extra 
boxes on a challenge track or new subchallenges. When a player 
chooses the narrative option to “discover a new threat”, they can 
opt for the mechanical effect of: “create a subchallenge or 
setback/delay”. 

-= 24 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Subchallenges can be written below, or tangential to, the current 

challenge. They must be dealt with in some fashion before the 
current challenge can be considered complete. 

For example: Our players are engaged in an exploration challenge 

to “Discover the Lost Mines” [/] [/] [ ] [ ]. One of them rolls badly and 
discovers a new threat. They decide that a chasm separates them 
and their objective. The GM could add new boxes to the original 
challenge, increasing the challenge length:  

● Discover the Lost Mines [/] [/] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ].  

But it might make more sense to write down a new subchallenge 

below the original challenge. 

● Discover the Lost Mines [/] [/] [ ] [ ] 

○ Cross the chasm [ ] [ ] [ ]. 

Note: The GM has authority to set the difficulty and number of 
boxes for subchallenges. As a general rule, the delay/subchallenge 
should have 3 boxes (just like a shortcut), unless there’s a good 
reason within your fictional circumstances to make it shorter or 
longer. 

Detours (aka Changing Objectives) 

Premature Termination spawns new Challenges 

If the objective can no longer be met, the challenge ends 

prematurely. That doesn’t necessarily mean you “lost” or 
“surrendered”, it just means the objective is no longer available, so 
the challenge is moot. 

If your objective was: “Don’t fall into the river”, and someone jumps 
in the river, that ends that particular challenge right away. This may 
present opportunities for character development or spawn new 
challenges, eg: “Swim to safety.” 

Here are a few ways a challenge might end early. 

-= 25 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

1. The target of the objective no longer exists 

2. The objective as written didn’t match the intention of the 
players 
3. All the characters “surrendered, passed out, or died” 

Even when a character dies, their story might not be over. The 
remaining characters might come up with the objective: “resurrect 
them”, or that player might come up with a challenge “defeat death 
in a game of chess”, or “escape Hel”, or “haunt my murderer and 
force a confession.” See “​Character Death​” 

Types of Challenges 
Challenges encompass a huge range of situations, from marching 
through the mountains, to fighting demons in hand-to-hand 
combat, to convincing a king to lend you his aid.  

Combat Challenges 
Combat Challenges represent life-or-death conflict with other 
creatures or characters. They are typically very short in game-time, 
with each Round only lasting seconds, though it might take a few 
minutes to play out.  

Combat usually involves taking Health damage from things like 

sword-blows or magical fire. Conditions applied through Combat 
are usually injuries such as Massive Burn, Blinded, or Bleeding Out.  

-= 26 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Exploration Challenges 

Exploration Challenges are fights against the elements or the PCs 

environment. They are tests of the PC’s Endurance and fortitude. 
They may be a grueling march through pouring rain, or a 
desperate chase after a thief in a city. 

Exploration usually result in loss of Endurance and possibly health 

as PCs fight against starvation and the elements. Conditions 
afflicted will usually be something of the effect of Winded, Starving, 
or Frostbitten. 

Interaction Challenges 
Interaction Challenges are contests of wits, typically against 
another character or group. These could be academic challenges, 
debates, singing contests, bartering, attempts at persuasion, 
manipulation, intimidation, etc. They might also represent attempts 
to gather information about a topic, like perusing the halls of the 
great library. 

Interaction challenges usually result in loss of Wits and possibly 

treasure as PCs lose arguments, run into dead ends, and fail to 
outplan, out-think, or outmaneuver their opponent. Conditions 
-= 27 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

afflicted could include: Uncertain, Confused, Demoralized, 

Befuddled, Depressed, Awkward, Anxious. 

NPC “Challenges” aka NPC Projects  

Factions and Iconic NPCs have their own challenges, which we’ll call 
“NPC Projects”. 

If they’re getting too close to reaching their goals, you may be able 
to cause delays and setbacks for them. If you complete an objective 
which contributes to their delay, you can ask your GM to remove 
one or more points from an NPC Project track. 

For more about factions, iconic NPCs and NPC Project, see the 
section on ​Gamemastering​. 

Bidirectional (Tug of War) Challenges 

This Section is currently in development. It’s likely to change. 

Most challenges have the players progressing from the left, all the 
way to the right, marking boxes as they go. When they reach the 
end, they reach their objective and the challenge is over. 

You can also have Bidirectional (aka Tug-of-War) Challenges, used 

to represent flexible outcomes. G
​ ood Tales​ fill in boxes from the left 
and ​Bad Tales​ fill in boxes from the right. 

The goal could be to reach the middle of the challenge track first, 
thus capturing an objective before your opponent, like in a race 
situation. 

Or the goal could be to capture as much of the challenge bar as 

possible, like in a mass combat situation, or haggling with a vendor 
for a price. 

Example:  

-= 28 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Objective: Convince the Magic Ring Vendor to give us 3 treasure for 

our magic locator beacon. 

X => [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] <= O 

After a bunch of actions, discussion about the merits of magic 

locators, the risk of being detected by enemies, and the likelihood 
that it might be faulty, the challenge bar looks like this: 

X => [X] [X] [O] [O] [O] <= O 

The NPC Buyer marked 3 boxes to the players’ 2. The group decides 
that the NPC buyer will only give them 2 treasure for the beacon. 

   

-= 29 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Resources 

Types of Resources 
Resources are things that can be acquired or drained from your 
character. They’re represented by boxes, such as in the following 
examples: 

● Health ​□□□  ● Ki □
​ □□ 

● Endurance ⊠⊠​□□  ● Blood ⊠⊠​□ 

● Wits ⊠​□□□  ● Reagents ​□□□ 

● Mana □
​ □□□□  ● Contracts ⊠​□□□ 

● Shield □
​   ● Rage ​□□ 

These are the some common resources, though players might 

acquire other resources during gameplay. 

Tracking Resources 
When a resource is lost, mark an “/” in the box. When a resource is 
restored, remove an “/” from one of the boxes. When all of a 
resource’s boxes have an “/” in them, that resource is depleted and 
can’t be used anymore. Neither the player nor the GM can choose 
the “Lose a Resource” Bad Tale option for that resource.  

-= 30 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Having zero in a resource like Health does not mean you’re out of 
the conflict. You’re only out when you decide to surrender, pass 
out, or die. 

Default Resources (Health, Endurance, etc.) 

Health, Endurance, and Wits are assigned at C
​ haracter Generation​. 

Health 
Health represents your ability to endure bodily harm. You typically 
lose health when you suffer injuries.  

To recover health, declare objectives like “pursue medical 

attention”, “wait for natural healing”, “drink potion”, etc. 

See Recovering Resources below. 

Endurance 
Endurance represents your ability to withstand exhaustion. You 
typically lose endurance when you travel great distances, push 
yourself too far, experience harsh weather, or go without food, 
water, or sleep.  

To restore endurance, declare an objective like “eat and drink”, 

“rest a while”, “splash water on my face”, etc. 

Wits 
Wits represent your ability to make intelligent decisions, to 
"survive" difficult social situations, to manage your social anxieties 
and keep your intellectual avenues open during debates.  

To restore wits, declare objectives like “relax without making any 

decisions”, “meditate”, “practice logical problem solving”, etc. 

-= 31 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Signature Resource (Mana, Reagents, Willpower 

etc.) 
When you purchase a trait, make a note of which resource it uses. 
You also receive 2 points of that resource. 

Note: even if a trait seems like no resource is required (eg: a 

passive trait may never receive a bad tale), take the 2 resource 
points anyways, to fuel your other traits. 

The resource must make sense, given your particular character 

concept and the effect of the trait selected. For example, you’ll have 
to convince your group that your flowers power the dragon’s 
breath effect. Collaborate! 

Describe the conditions required for you to attempt to recover your 

signature resources. Then, spend good tales to recover them.  

See also: Character Generation → ​Choose Signature Resources 

Defenses as a Resource 
Defenses are provided by traits. They act like other resources 
which can be marked, to indicate loss, when you get a bad tale. 
Good tales can recover them, provided it makes sense, given your 
situation, objective and action. 

Even if you don’t have a trait which provides a defense, if you come 
up with a suitable objective, you may spend a good tale to “gain a 
resource: defense [ ]”. For example, blocking someone with a shield. 

Treasure as a Resource 

This section is currently under review. it’s likely to change.  

An abstract representation of how much currency you hold in 

assorted coins, gems, and promissory notes. Characters start with 

-= 32 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

0 treasure, but may acquire (recover) treasure at the end of 

challenges. 

Temporary Resources 
Some resources will be temporary by nature and fill up or 
disappear automatically after a certain time has elapsed. Work with 
your group to determine which resources are permanent and 
which are temporary. 

For example: During combat, you declared the objective “use my 
shield to block” and rolled well, good tale. You spend your good 
tale to “gain a resource: defense [ ]” Everyone agrees that’s a 
temporary resource which will go away after the current combat is 
finished. (Note: in this situation, you could have declared the same 
objective as a bolster instead of a normal action. See “​Approaches​”) 

Optional Resources (Ammo, Food, Drink, Light) 

Normally, we don’t track ammo, food, drink, or light. 

If you prefer, you can treat Food, Drink, Ammo, and Light as custom 
resources. Be aware though, the presence of additional resources 
gives players additional sinks to soak bad tales. 

Ammo 
Ammo is not tracked. Archers can shoot as much as they want 
without running out of arrows.  

In some cases you could substitute your signature resources to 

represent a limited quantity of fuel or ammunition. For example, 
characters with tracking traits might list ammunition as one of their 
signature resources. 

-= 33 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Design Note: The Ammo resource was cut from the game because it 
provided an inexpensive sink for bad tales, thus undermining a lot 
of traits and acting like a defense. 

If you want to represent ammo in your game, your players can take 
the condition “out of ammo” when they suffer a bad tale. 

Light 
Light is not tracked as a resource. Characters don’t have to worry 
about running out of torches or oil. That’s not to say that darkness 
can’t be a problem, but it should be treated more like a condition 
than a resource. 

If you want a particularly hardcore game, you may introduce light 

as a resource. If you do track light, characters should have 
disadvantage when they’re fumbling around in the dark. 

Adventurers often travel to dark places, and need something to 

light their way. Oil, torches, even magic can all fail you in the 
depths of the earth, or in the catacombs. In those places, it may be 
important to track how much longer you have in the depths. 

Losing Resources 
When you get a bad tale which might result in you losing resources, 
you can choose the “Lose a Resource” option on the bad tale list. 
Then mark one box on that resource track. 

The resource you lose should be related to the objective at hand. If 
you’re dodging a boulder, does it make sense to lose your arrows? 
That’s up to your group. Begin and end with the fiction. 

Recovering Resources Under Pressure 

Even in the heat of combat, you may be able to recover resources. 
Some traits and items allow resource recovery. If not otherwise 
stated, you’ll need to come up with a suitable objective, make a roll, 
then spend a good tale in order to choose the mechanical effect 

-= 34 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

“gain a resource”. Some traits may allow you to spend your 

signature resource to replenish other resources (Health, End, Wits). 

For example: you’re in combat but running desperately low on 

health. Earlier, one of your allies used an Alchemy trait to craft a 
healing potion. Drinking the potion during melee combat would 
still require a roll, and you don’t want to risk a bad outcome, so 
you declare a bolster objective to “escape the melee and find a 
safer position”, then you declare a normal action objective to “drink 
the potion and recover health”. Depending on your current 
situation, that could be an easy roll or no roll required. Discuss the 
difficulty with your group. 

Running out of a Resource 

When you are out of a resource, you are no longer able to lose that 
Resource as a Bad Tale. Instead, you must take the other, often 
more severe options. 

Conditions 
Conditions describe anything which hinders a character, which 
can’t be easily characterized by traits or resources. 

Temporary conditions, like grappled and dazed, are represented by 

disadvantage​ and need not be recorded on the character sheet. 

Some temporary conditions, like “on-fire”, “sinking in quicksand”, 

etc. constitute a present threat. As such, the GM can use them to 
generate free bad tales against the PC if the threat isn’t addressed. 

Lingering conditions are represented with Xs in resource boxes: [X]. 

When a character suffers a lingering condition, like “exhausted”, 
“deaf”, “blind”, “bleeding”, “entangled”, “on fire”, “starving”, etc. 
Change your resource slot from [ ] into [X]. 

-= 35 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Collaborate: Determine the implications and mechanical effects of 

your conditions. For example: if a character is “blind”, they’ll rely 
more on smell and hearing, which will probably make some 
obstacles more difficult, and others less difficult. 

Removing or Recovering from Conditions 

Some traits can remove conditions. If you don’t have suitable traits, 
you will probably need to undergo an exploration or interaction 
challenge to resolve it. 

Collaborate: What would it take to remove your condition? 

When you remove a condition, change the mark in the resource 

box from [X] to [ ]. That resource can now be healed or recovered 
normally again. 

Downtime, Time, Rest, Recovery, Healing 

this section is currently under review. it’s likely to change. 

When you’re in a calm situation, you will probably want to 

accomplish some personal goals and recover some of your own 
resources. You can still make objectives outside of any specific 
challenge. If there’s no active opposition, rolls should be easy 
(increased). Bad tales can be spent in the normal way, or to 
advance NPC objectives. 

-= 36 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

For example, you might want to “rest to recover your health”. 

There’s no active opposition, so you make an increased roll but 
only get a 7 (bad tale). You could get worse (lose a resource), or you 
could make your life more difficult by discovering a new threat, but 
you decide to give the GM a good tale to advance one of their 
active NPC challenge tracks: the Vampire Elizabeth is raising an 
army to conquer the east. The GM marks one box on that challenge 
track. 

Downtime Challenges, Crafting 

Some downtime objectives will require their own challenge tracks. 
Discuss challenge lengths with your GM. 

For example, you want to craft a new set of armor, and you consult 
with the group on the difficulty, which you set at CL4. Next, you’d 
probably want to declare individual objectives to get access to a 
forge, find materials, spend some time pounding metal, and make 
sure the fit is appropriate. Any of your bad tales could be spend in 
the normal ways, including giving the GM a good tale to advance 
NPC challenge tracks. 

Recovering Conditions 
Removing a condition should require completion of a challenge. 
Work with your group to determine the Challenge Length. 

-= 37 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Equipment 

Currency 
Currency is abstract in Tavern Tales. To a typical PC, 1 unit of 
treasure ​is worth about 1000 gold coins. We don’t bother to track 
anything less. 

Treasure 

this section is currently under review. it’s likely to change.  

Treasure ​is tracked as a resource. Characters start with 0 treasure.  

At the end of a particularly difficult “​Challenge​”, your GM may allow 

you to gain 1 to 3 points of treasure. This eliminates the need to 
carefully search every location. 

You can spend treasure at appropriate locations, like, blacksmiths, 

bazaars, artificers’ workshops, alchemists’ laboratories, or wizards’ 
towers. Declare an objective that you want to obtain some item 
and the GM will set up an interaction challenge. 

Optional Rule: Precious Items instead of treasure resource 

You may find it more interesting to find actual items instead of 
some abstract treasure resource. If so, your GM will hand out 1-3 
precious items at the end of every major challenge (tapestries, 
statuettes, swords, whatever). Then it’s up to the players to 
transport those items and barter them into more useful goods and 
services. 

If you use this rule, for any trait which relies on “treasure”, just 
substitute “precious item”. 

-= 38 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Tools of the Trade 

It’s safe to assume that competent adventurers always carry the 
appropriate tools for their trade: sword, shield, thieves’ tools, rope, 
wizard’s staff, spell components, etc. 

You can make note of some of these at character creation. They 

don’t cost treasure. 

Did I remember to pack that thing? 

If you find yourself in a situation where a particular tool would be 
useful, but you haven’t made note of it on your character sheet, 
you could ask the GM for a roll to see if you remembered it. Spend 
your good tale to “discover something useful.” 

Shopping 

This Section is currently under review. It’s likely to change. 

Most towns will be able to provide you with ​ordinary​ items. The 
acquisition of r​ are i​ tems requires one or more challenges. 

Find a vendor via an Exploration Challenge 

To buy something, describe the item you’re after, and come up with 
a suitable objective for an obstacle or challenge: “eg: Find an 
artificer who can make the magic ring.” For r​ are ​items, this will 
probably require an ​exploration challenge​. For o
​ rdinary​ items, this 
could be a ​neutral tale​ or a single o
​ bstacle. 

Negotiate the Purchase or Sale via a Bidirectional Interaction 

Challenge 
If you find a suitable location and a willing buyer or vendor, they’ll 
probably tell you a price they can afford as a neutral tale. You could 
then trade the item for treasure as another neutral tale. 

-= 39 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

However, if you disagree with their price, you could enter a 

bidirectional interaction challenge​, with an objective like: “Convince 
the vendor to buy my magic beacon for twice their offering price”.  

The length of the challenge and the difficulty of the obstacles 

should reflect the value of the item, the negotiating prowess of the 
vendor, and the rarity of the item in your current setting. 

The final price will be modified by what portion of the challenge bar 
you managed to capture. If the middle represents an equitable 
price, consider that each end represents half price and double the 
price. 

commentary 

Magic Items 
See G
​ amemastering 

Defenses and Armor 

Some traits will provide defense boxes. These act like resources 
which can be used to block bad tales from various types of attack. 
To use heavy armor, you must acquire a trait like 
Warfare.Juggernaut or Artifice.Armor Plating. Look through the 
various themes to find traits which provide defenses. 

-= 40 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Note: mundane items do not ordinarily provide defense boxes. It’s 

not sufficient to buy heavy armor at your local blacksmith without 
the proper armor training. However, anyone with a suitable 
objective may spend a good tale to “gain a resource” and generate 
a defense box. For example, if you’re “blocking the enemy with your 
shield” and roll well, you could gain the temporary resource “shield 
defense [ ]”. 

Character Advancement 
Purchase Traits with XP 
The cost for any given trait is equal to the number of traits that will 
be in that category: Combat, Exploration, or Interaction. For 
example, the first Combat Trait a Character would buy would cost 
1XP, the fourth combat trait would cost 4XP. 

So long as players pay the progressive XP cost, traits can be 

purchased in any category, and need not be evenly distributed.  

Upgrade Existing Traits 

Instead of purchasing a new trait, you may choose to upgrade an 
existing trait. Collaborate with your group to determine what the 
upgraded trait can do. Upgrading a trait still adds 1 to the category 
count for purposes of even trait distribution. 

Character Death 
Sometimes it time for a character’s story to end. They’ve served 
their purpose and left an impact. When you have a bad tale, if you 
select the option “Surrender, pass out, or die” you may choose to 
die and kill off your character, never to be seen again. 

-= 41 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Other times, their story’s not over. You can work with your group to 
see if it would be appropriate, given the tone and setting of the 
campaign, for your character to continue. 

The remaining characters might come up with the objective: 

“resurrect them”, or you might come up with a challenge “defeat 
death in a game of chess”, or “escape Hel”, or “haunt my murderer 
and force a confession.” Depending on the style of game, it may be 
interesting or more  

Whatever’s appropriate for your story. 

Minions 
Minions are characters that obey another character, referred to as 
their leader. Minions are typically expendable or temporary, so 
they follow special rules to speed up gameplay.  

Minions are considered to be part of their leader. Therefore, 

leaders effectively control their minions, make their decisions, and 
roll on their behalf if necessary.  

Minion loyalty is not absolute. Minions will abandon their leader if 
the situation calls for it -- for example, if their leader is torturing 
them or sending them on obviously suicidal missions. It’s up to the 
GM to decide when minions abandon their leaders. 

Minions can be acquired through any number of means. Typically, 

leaders acquire minions by going to populated areas and recruiting 
minions by offering something they want -- gold, glory, adventure, 
etc. 

When you “declare an objective” to recruit someone as a minion, 

your GM will probably set a challenge. The length will depend on 
the difficulty or likelihood that they would join you. 

-= 42 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Minion Attributes and Traits 

By default, minions will come with 0 XP. Some traits will allow you 
to recruit minions which have ½ of your traits or XP. The attribute 
array of a recruited minion is 0/0/0/0, unless obtaining them 
requires tougher than usual challenge. 

Minion Contracts 
Minions won’t serve you for free. Every minion requires a contract, 
which is an agreement about the minion’s services. The term 
“contract” isn’t literal — you don’t need your minion to sign a 
contract (though you’re welcome to do that if you like). Contracts 
also include verbal and implicit agreements. 

The wording for contracts is as follows: “​Minion_Name​ will 

Perform_this_Service​ in exchange for ​Something_of_Value​.” 

Here are some example contracts: 

● Your trusty Dog will serve you loyally in exchange for food and 
companionship. 
● Gerald the Scout will lead you through the mountains in 
exchange for a bag of gold coins. 
● Hargaesh the Demon will help you slaughter your enemies in 
exchange for 1 favor to be redeemed at a later time. 

Minion advancement 
Minions recruited without a trait do not gain XP. If you recruit a minion 
with a trait, they always have the same XP ratio, typically ½ your XP. 

-= 43 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Patrons, Deities, Spirits 

If you take traits from Faith, Occultism, or Nature, you may want to 
describe your Patron, Deity or Spirit. Consider the following: 

● Instinct, Desires or Motivation 

● Domain of Control or Authority 
● Where they come from or exist 
● What sort of followers and worshippers do they attract 
● What they look like or how they manifest themselves   

-= 44 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Traits List 
See A
​ ppendix A: Traits List 

-= 45 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Gamemastering

 
Temporary art: K
​ ing with Large Scroll - 1469 

-= 46 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Building Challenges 

this section is currently under review. it’s likely to change.  

When the players come up with an objective, you should construct 

a challenge using 2 bad tales per player. Bad tales can be spent in 
the following ways: 

● Introduce a new threat, by adding 1, 2, or 3 boxes depending 

on the nature of the threat 
● Create a setback or delay, thus increasing the length of the 
challenge by 3 boxes 
● Introduce a new threat by adding status effects to a zone in the 
field of conflict. Set up challenge keywords, like pseudo-traits. 
○ Eg: floor is “slippery”, field is “ablaze”, archers have 
“cover” 
● Claim the advantage, by making a section of the challenge 
more difficult, requiring decreased rolls to overcome obstacles 

You can gain additional bad tales by granting good tales (1 for 1). 
Use good tales to: 

● Provide a resource [] [] [] which players can use. 

● Identify shortcut opportunities which players can discover. 
● Give players the advantage, by making a section of the 
challenge easier, requiring increased rolls to overcome 
obstacles. 

You can withhold some of your bad tales for use later on during the 
challenge. 

   

-= 47 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Telling Good and Bad Tales (GM) 

1. Take your turn whenever “a player looks to you,” there’s an 
obvious pause in the conversation, or the game is getting 
significantly derailed. 

2. Tell at least 1 Neutral Tale, and as many more as you like. 

3. If applicable, explain the results of any Good or Bad Tales that 

the last player told. 

Good Tale  Neutral Tale  Bad Tale (Roll 

(Roll 10+)  13-) 

● Show the  ● Describe what  ● Show the 

results of their  they see  results of their 
Good Tale  ● Speak as an  Bad Tale 
NPC 
If a player looks to  If a player looks to 
● Perform a 
you:  you: 
simple action as 
● Give them a  an NPC  ● Show how their 
resource  ● Menace them  action backfires 
● Show them  with a present  ● Make them lose 
something  threat; if they  a Resource 
beneficial  don’t overcome  ● Reveal or 
● Show their  it, tell a Bad Tale  escalate a threat 
enemy suffering  ● Inflict a lingering 
 
● Award a  condition 
beneficial  ● Make them 
condition  surrender, pass 
out, or die 

-= 48 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Good Tale Options 

Show the results of their Good Tale​: You don’t have to give the 
player anything -- the player already did that. Simply describe the 
results. 

If a player looks to you​: Players may look to you to determine 

what happens with their Good Tale. When they do, choose one of 
these options: 

1. Give them a resource​: Let them remove a mark from one of 
their marked resource boxes. It should correspond to the 
situation -- for example, restore Health if someone is treating 
their wounds. You can also give them gold, treasure, fame, etc. 
2. Show them something beneficial​: Present the player with a 
new option or useful tool, such as an eager ally or an easy 
escape route. 
3. Show their enemy suffering​: Make things hard for their 
enemies, either through direct player action, or through 
unfortunate circumstance. 
4. Award a beneficial condition​: Give them a benefit that lasts 
longer than a single bolster or discovery. Energized, Flying, 
Balanced, etc. 

Neutral Tale Options 

Describe what they see 

Select this option often -- ideally, every turn. Describe the sights, 
sounds, smells, etc to help create a vivid scene. 

Speak as an NPC 
Speak in character as a present NPC. 

-= 49 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Perform a simple action as an NPC 

Have an NPC perform a mundane action, such as walking, opening 
a door, or picking up something from the ground. 

Menace them with a present threat 

This is your way to push the players towards conflict without 
actually hurting them. Threaten them with a known threat and 
make it clear that something must be done, or bad things will 
happen. For example, you could say that the wooden door is 
starting to splinter under the onslaught of the zombie horde 
outside. Clearly, unless something is done, the door will burst open 
and the zombies will pour in. Give the players at least 1 turn 
(maybe more, if you like) to deal with your threat. If they don’t tell a 
free Bad Tale to follow through with your threat, even if players 
haven’t rolled.  

Note: If you’re a kind-hearted soul, and don’t feel comfortable 

unilaterally amping up the pressure on the PCs, consider this 
alternative: 

Whenever a character looks around, considers their situation, or 

otherwise takes stock, you may have the player roll the dice for a 
mind or spirit test. Bad tales result in the situation getting worse 
(discover or escalate a threat), good tales result in the situation 
getting better (discover something beneficial). 

Describe the consequences and ask 

If a player isn’t certain about a course of action, you can tell them 
what the possible range of consequences might be. Then ask if 
they want to go ahead with the action. 

-= 50 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Bad Tale Options 

Show the results of their Bad Tale 

If the player resolve their own Bad Tale, you don’t have to enforce 
any penalties -- the player already did that. Simply describe the 
results. 

If a player looks to you 

Players may look to you to determine what happens with their Bad 
Tale. Remember that players are taking a big risk when they choose 
this option. If you’re too harsh, they won’t choose it often. Choose 
one of these options: 

1. Show how their action backfires​: This is your opportunity to 

turn their action back on them. For example, if they threw a 
fireball, catch someone or something useful on fire. 
2. Lose a Resource​: Suggest a resource to lose. It should be a 
resource appropriate for the situation. The player may suggest 
another resource, which you should accept, so long as they can 
explain how that resource is relevant. 
3. Reveal or Escalate a Threat​: Make the situation worse for 
them somehow, such as guards arriving to stop them, or a 
portcullis slams shut to close off their only escape. 
Mechanically, this probably means spawning a subchallenge. 
Write some new challenge boxes below, or tangential to, the 
current challenge track. 
4. Inflict a Lingering Condition​: Lingering conditions are ongoing 
effects that are difficult to remove, such as a sprained limb 
(combat), sickness or infection (exploration), or a bad 
reputation (interaction). It’s up to the GM to decide how 
lingering conditions affect your character -- perhaps they 
temporarily suppress one of your traits, or reduce one of your 
attributes. This option is generally viewed as one of the worst 
options. Choose it when the situation truly calls for it, or when 

-= 51 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

the player has already exhausted all of their other Bad Tale 
options. 
5. Make them surrender, pass out, or die​: Defeat the player’s 
character. In combat, that often means the PC is bloody and 
dying. While exploring, that often means the PC is hopelessly 
lost, starving, and exhausted. While interaction, that often 
means the PC has exhausted all of their options, given up hope, 
or can’t continue due to social pressures. Choose this option 
when the situation truly calls for it, or when the player has 
already exhausted all of their other Bad Tale options. 

Conditions 
Embrace conditions! Conditions on characters provide some of the 
easiest adventure seeds. “Deaf? Find the old witch who can heal 
you, but she’ll require a payment, and not in coins.” 

Conditions give players an opportunity to put their characters in 

the spotlight. Show them fighting against adversity and overcoming 
the odds. Conditions help rally and unify a group. 

Status Effects 

Damage over Time (DoT) 

DoT effects are best represented as a resource which automatically 
transfers one of it’s boxes onto the recipient’s Health or Wits. Mark 
a box on the DoT to indicate that it’s expiring and generate an 
automatic bad tale for the specific purpose of causing health or 
wits damage. (Lose a Resource: health, wits). 

Collaborate: Should this effect be armor penetrating, ignore 

defenses, ignore bad tale countermeasures? 

-= 52 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Area of Effect (AoE) 

AoE effects are best represented as shortcuts on challenges, 
marking 3 boxes instead of 1. Players can work to generate AoE 
effects without any traits, exactly the same way they generate 
shortcuts or take audacious actions.  

For example: A clever player wants to knock out 3 opponents at 

once, so they spend a turn to “discover something beneficial”, and 
declare it to be a conveniently located shelf. Next turn, the player 
spends their good tale to “succeed at their action” and “take a 
shortcut”, which means they knock over the shelf, and harm all 
three NPCs. The GM marks three boxes on the challenge track. 

Remember: To use shortcuts, players can attempt a difficult 

audacious action, or spend a turn discovering a shortcut, then 
another turn to follow the shortcut at normal difficulty. 

When NPCs use AoE abilities, the GM should menace all those 
affected with a “present threat”, then let the players try to avoid the 
damage with their good tale. If they ignore or fail to avoid the 
damage, the GM can tell a bad tale against the player. 

Race against Time (eg: Turning to Stone) 

 

Short Duration Status Effects (eg: Root) 

 

-= 53 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Concentration 

Creating NPCs 
Most of your NPCs will be m
​ ooks​. They don’t need traits or 
attributes. You can name them on the fly and give them some 
characteristic features, but “Third Goblin on the left” and “Fred, the 
ruddy peasant with the limp” may not occupy more than a single 
challenge box for the players to overcome. 

However, your ​Lieutenants ​and B

​ oss ​NPCs should get some abilities. 
As GM, you don’t have to stick to the list of character traits. It’d be 
too time consuming to pour through the entire traits catalog for 
every NPC you want to build. Instead, you can quickly invent a few 
abilities as keywords to trigger your memory later. Let’s try an 
example. 

For a combat challenge: the lich is “invulnerable to weapons”, 

“comes back 1 hour after death”, and “has a soul draining gaze.” Or 
just: 

Lich​: Invulnerable, Resurrects, Root+Drain 

For an interaction challenge, perhaps: the high priest is “fanatical”, 

“believes in miracles”, also “a self-doubting masochist.” Or just: 

High Priest​: delusional, zealot, guilty conscience 

If you prefer, and you have the time, feel free to go through the 
catalog of traits and assign a few to your Boss NPCs. You might 
have to tweak the mechanics a bit because NPCs never roll dice, 
but at least they’ll give you some inspiration. 

Lieutenants should be worth at least 3 challenge boxes. Bosses 

could be anywhere from 5 to 20 challenge boxes. 

-= 54 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

A few of your NPCs will become Iconic. These are recurring 

characters, typically very powerful and in charge of some faction, 
with the ability to alter the geopolitical landscape. 

Creating Factions 
During your Session 0 Worldbuilding session, identify a few 
clashing states, guilds, associations, or groups. Those will be your 
factions. Who holds influence in those factions? What are their 
ambitions? If the PCs did nothing, what would happen. Give your 
Factions some projects. 

NPC Factions and Projects 

You want your world to seem alive. Changes can happen, as a 
result of, or in-spite of, actions taken by the Player Characters. To 
facilitate this, set up a few Challenges for your iconic NPCs and 
Factions. We’ll call these “NPC Projects”. 

Each project will represent an important project the NPC is working 

towards. The length of the challenge is related to the perceived 
difficulty of the task. 

NPC Project Examples 

● Demon King: Build a bridge made entirely of skeletons 
○ □□□□□|□□□□□|□□□□□ 
● Armadillo Tribe: Divert the great river and drain the swamp  
○ □□□□□|□□□□□|□□□□□ 
● Guard Captain: Build a massive siege engine  
○ □□□□□|□□□□□ 
● Shadowy Figure: Kidnap the Emperor  
○ □□□□□ 

-= 55 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

In the examples above, “Kidnap the Emperor” was a very easy 

project. That could indicate that the emperor was very poorly 
guarded, or that the antagonist, “Shadowy Figure” was already 
working on the inside. 

NPC Project Difficulty 

GMs will have to use their best judgement to figure out how long 
an NPC project ought to be. Try starting with “long-term NPC 
projects of average difficulty” with 15 boxes. Adjust easy and 
difficult challenges from there.  

NPC Project Progress 

If the characters are struggling, distracted, or unconcerned, it gives 
the NPC opportunities to progress their agenda. When a player 
gets a bad tale, they can choose to give you a good tale to mark a 
tick on one of your NPC’s challenge tracks. This is particularly 
relevant if the PCs are not under any time-pressure or facing any 
direct opposition, such as while they’re attempting to recover 
resources during “downtime”. 

Whenever an NPC project passes a milestone, 50%, 75%, 90%, 99%, 

make sure there’s some sort of very obvious foreshadowing so the 
players will become aware of the project and the dire 
consequences if it goes unchecked. 

Players’ impact on NPC Projects 

Sometimes players will interfere with NPC projects. Give the 
players challenges which let them knock back the plans of the NPC. 

Occasionally, players will elect to allow, enable, or facilitate some 

NPC projects. That’s good. It gives you a story hook. 

-= 56 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Game Balance 
Clever players will find ways to assemble a collection of synergistic 
traits which makes their character much more powerful than the 
other characters in the game.  

● Work with your game group to make sure everyone shares the 
same ideas about powergaming and min-maxing. Use the 
Mini-SamePage tool below. 
● Tweak traits to be more or less powerful depending on your 
experiences. 
● Join the community at r​ eddit.com/r/Tavern_Tales​ and call out 
underpowered traits that need buffing and overpowered traits 
that need nerfing. 

Tips for Running Challenges 

New setbacks and threats will arise naturally from players’ bad 
tales, so you don’t have to always be menacing them with a present 
danger. You need to be aware of pacing, however. If things have 
gone too well or too badly for too long, it’s time to mix things up. 
One way is to use your Neutral Tales to “menace them with a 
present threat”. If they’re at sea, introduce a killer whale. If they’re 
in the demon-infested scorched wastelands, introduce a few 
demons. 

Allow the players to come up with their own objectives. Don’t 

assume you know the best way to deal with a threat. Your job is to 
translate their objectives into appropriate challenges. 

-= 57 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Pacing, Tempo, Pressure, Story Beats 

From time to time, PCs need a chance to recover resources. To do 
this, they need the opportunity to make some easier rolls without 
active opposition. 

Good storytelling and good game design both require variation in 
the amount of pressure applied to the protagonists. If the players 
just finished a difficult challenge, consider easing off the pressure 
and giving them some downtime. You can still give them 
challenges, but you can make their rolls easier if there’s no active 
opposition. 

See: ​Downtime, Rest, Recovery 

   

-= 58 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Session 0: Getting Everyone on the Same 

Page 
Tavern Tales is a very collaborative game. 

First, you need to choose which ​optional rules​ to use. 

Next, it’s important to build consensus about the tone, setting, and 
expectations for the group. You may not want a player having 
rolled up a goofy space marine in a grim, high-fantasy setting.  

Tone and Power Level 

Make sure that everyone knows where the game boundaries are, 
not in terms of mechanics or setting (that comes later), but just in 
terms of what sort of tone you want the table to have. What’s their 
comfort level with certain topics?  

Here’s a few good starting questions, but, your group might need 
to hash out other things as well before moving on. 

● Are PCs allowed do something not in character for the sake of a 

good joke?  
● Is the GM allowed to kill off PCs as a consequence for 
(preferably several) Bad Tales? Or is that decision reserved to 
the Player who controls the character? 
● Is your game going to be a dungeon-crawling and 
black-and-white adventure, or is it going to be more dramatic 
and cerebral? 
● Would a gory, detailed description of brutally tearing the 
necromancer’s head off be welcome, or would it turn some 
people off? 
● Is hitting on the barmaid (or anyone else) OK? Does it fade to 
black if the PC is successful, or is your group after-hours? 

-= 59 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

● Are PCs allowed to fight amongst each other? Can they fight to 
the death? 

Here’s a simple tool to help that process. Everyone collaborates on 

where the limits for the campaign are.  

Situation  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11 

  Hopeful      Dark  Bleak  Hopeless 

                       

Power-level  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11 

  Mice  Gollum  Bilbo    Gandalf  Thanos 

                       

Sexuality  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11 

  PG  PG-13    Rated R    NC-17  XXX 

                       

Violence  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11 

  PG    PG-13    Rated R    NC-17  ??? 

                       

Tone  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11 

  Silly  Goofy    Serious  Deadly  Cancer & 

Serious  Genocide 

                       

-= 60 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

PvP  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11 

  NO!    Routine  Routine  YES! 

non-deadly conflict  life-threatening  Frequent & 
conflict  Lethal 

Other considerations:  

● Commonality of Magical or Powerful items. 

● Nationalism, Xenophobia, Racism, Oppression 

Building a World 
Tavern Tales works best with a setting you create collaboratively 
with your group. 

Start with a blank map. Take turns adding 1 thing to the world map. 
It can be a geographical feature, a population, an exotic location, or 
a notable historical event. Ask each other questions about the new 
addition. Riff off each other’s ideas. 

Work together to build a world you would all enjoy exploring. Take 
this opportunity to revisit Tone, Difficulty, Genre-Tropes, and 
Expectations. 

Where does your character come from? How do they fit into this 
world? 

For more detailed world-building, check out two other excellent 

games: Microscope and Dawn of Worlds 

Awarding XP 
Award the players 1 XP for each significant, interesting thing they 
did. It’s simplest to award XP for completed challenges, but you 

-= 61 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

may also grant additional XP for things they did outside of 
challenges, at your discretion. 

Awarding 3 to 5 XP per session is reasonable for most groups. Less 

if you want slower-paced character advancement. More if you want 
a short, fast-paced campaign. 

Awarding Treasure 
At the end of every significant and appropriate challenge, award 
each player 1 or 2 Treasure. Work with your group to determine 
which type of challenges should award treasure. Looting 
Dungeons? Negotiating Treaties? Performing a service for a local 
Lord? 

Be aware of any characters who have traits which rely on 

treasure as a resource. If the characters need treasure to 
function, make sure the treasure flows. 

Agenda and Principles 

● Tavern Tales is about powerful fantasy heroes exploring exotic 
locations and overcoming difficult obstacles. 
● Your job as GM is to facilitate play, inspire a sense of awe and 
wonder, help the characters feel powerful. 
○ Do that by presenting a dangerous world with obstacles 
to overcome. 
● The group shares the world. The GM doesn’t own it. 
○ In worldbuilding, players have a ton of narrative 
authority 
○ Players can declare new threats and opportunities 
during play 
○ Players decide how bad results affect their character 
● Exploration and Interaction are just as important as combat 

-= 62 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Which Attribute do I Test? 

The attribute is almost always determined by the player and their 
description of how they attempt to overcome the obstacle. Even if 
it seems like a stretch, give the players the benefit of the doubt. 
You could ask them to clarify: “Cool. Just so I’m clear, how does 
your towering intellect save you from the ogre’s club?” 

The first rule of Improv: Say yes 

Get used to using these reactions: 

“Yes”, “Hell yeah”, “Awesome”, “Cool”, “OMG, yes.” 

Sometimes a player’s description of their plan to overcome an 

obstacle might seem like a stretch. It’s possible you haven’t 
understood their intentions clearly. Before you say “No”, ask them 
to help you understand what they want to accomplish. 

A hard “No, that’s impossible” should be reserved for things that 

are outside of the tone set in Session 0. PCs can attempt the 
impossible, and since this is a fantasy game, they may even 
succeed at the impossible. But since this is a collaborative game, 
the comfort of those at the table and the tone of the game comes 
first.   

Instead of a hard “no,” come up with ways to make it or a similar 

task feasible in a “yes, but it has this consequence” manner, or in a 
“No, but you can try this instead.” 

● Yes​, you can jump down the 50ft castle wall and into the 
besieging army. B
​ ut​, it’s a long fall onto hard ground. Even if 
you land perfectly, you’re going to be in bad shape from the 
fall. Are you sure you want to try this? Perhaps you could find 
something to slow your descent? 

-= 63 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

● No​, your grappling hook does not have enough rope or power 
to reach the moon. ​But​, as you look up at the moon, you 
realize that the rough surface of the tower just might give it the 
latch it needs for you to get a good vantage point. 

PvP 
Player vs Player combat operates a little differently than running 
challenges. As part of their Good Tale, a player may choose to 
impose a Bad Tale on another player. Typically this will make them 
lose a resource, but it could lead to conditions or even surrender. 

Many gaming groups don’t enjoy PvP conflict. It often produces 

winner/loser situations and results in hard feelings. On the other 
hand, some conflict can create interesting situations and teach us 
something about the characters. 

You might want to remind players that characters can start with 
social conflict and escalate from there. Also, Tavern Tales has a 
built-in release valve. If someone wants out, they can “discover a 
new threat” when they get a bad tale.   

-= 64 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Magic Items 

Acquiring Magic Items 

Characters may acquire magical items during combat, exploration, 
and interaction challenges. Purchasing r​ are​ items from vendors 
requires an interaction challenge. 

Custom Magic Items 

Magic items can be built with a combination of keywords, 
conditions, resources, and traits. 

Examples: 

● Precious​, o
​ bsidian​ GreatSword: treasure [ ] [ ], Hardness [ ] 
● Official​, S
​ hiny​ Sheriff's Badge, with “Tracking.Deputy” [ ] [ ] [ ] 
● Fancy​, E
​ lvish ​Cloak with “Transformation.Chameleon” [ ] [ ] [ ] 
● Large​, F​ ragile​, precious mirror with Arcane.counterspell [ ] 

Items with traits should always have a disadvantage or limited 

charges. 

Example Magic Items 

Here are some examples: 

Talking Sword​: A family heirloom imbued with sentience by the 

Trait: Artificer.Spark. Mostly it’s grumpy and will weigh in on how 
bad your plan is.  

Ander’s Horn​: A capped goat horn which magically fills with 

mysterious liquid. The liquid is a type of poison. Whoever so drinks 
the liquid and survives, shall have the ability to command the 
undead hordes until such time as the owner drinks anything else. 

Griggs’ Gloves​: Whoever wears these gloves shall be the rightful 

ruler of the windswept sand-kingdom. The title confers a 

-= 65 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

long-standing marriage. Your legal spouse is an ancient lich. The 

gloves also allow you to command the undead hordes from the 
desert. 

Crafting Magic Items 

Your group should decide whether item crafting is possible. Heroes 
might have better things to do than blacksmithing or basket 
weaving. If you want crafting, figure out what the challenge length 
should be based on the difficulty of item. Perhaps a simple knife is 
a CL3 blacksmithing challenge, a sword is CL5, and a full suit of 
armor is CL8. 

Keep in mind that PCs come with all the mundane items they need 
to do their job. 

If you want magical properties on items, look to traits like 

“Artificer.Identify and Improve” 

   

-= 66 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Bestiary 

Setting: Swamp 

Strangling Tree 
CR​: 5 

Its tangled roots form a great web under the water, and vinelike 
tendrils hang from this tree, waiting for unwary prey to step near it. 
When they do, the tree itself springs to life, latching onto feet and 
bodies, trying to pull them under to feed itself.  

Its main tactic is to G

​ rapple​ its prey with its I​ ron Grip​ before pulling 
them under. Once underwater, its prey will begin Drowning, taking 
Health damage on Bad Tales until the roots are severed and the 
Character resurfaces.  

Since it can’t drown fish or other amphibians, Strangling Trees 

often pay them no heed. Some may use this to their advantage, 
using the Strangling Tree as protection, while malicious Wisps may 
seek to draw adventurers to their doom. In swamps afflicted by evil 
magic, the very corpses of the Tree’s previous victims may wish to 
welcome more into undeath.  

Describe: The smell of decay, something brushing against your leg, 

being trapped underwater, drowning.  

Traits and Tags 

● Iron Grip 

-= 67 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Setting: Caves 

Setting: Tropics 

Setting: Tundra 

Settings and Environments 

Give  your  exotic  locations  their  own  traits.  These  will  help  you 
crystallize  what’s  unique  about the location, and clarify the dangers 
presented. 

Example Setting Traits: 

Start with an adjective about the setting: 

Frozen, Toxic, Loud, Busy, Chaotic, Bursting, Sinking, Hard. 

Then come up with a couple of tangible effects this might impose 

on characters. 

Causes characters to sink and get stuck. 

These effects will inform the obstacles you present to players on 
challenges. 

Don’t waste time carefully detailing everything about your world. 

Quickly note a few adjectives and potential effects. Also, try not to 
define how players should overcome these obstacles. Players might 
come up with something you hadn’t thought of. 

Example Settings 
World Map 

Swamp 

-= 68 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Caves 
In the complete darkness of the vast caverns beneath the surface, 
light is a premium most can barely afford. Filled with strange 
geometries and surreal landscapes, those traveling deep into caves 
find themselves rappelling down vertical tunnels and picking their 
way through tight crawlspaces just as often as they would be able 
to walk normally. 

Suggested Tags and Traits 

● Encroaching Darkness​: You cannot see farther than a Near 
distance away from any light source. 

Tropics 

Tundra 

Magic Mountain 

Portal Network 

Swamplands 
   

-= 69 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Glossary 

Tales 
Neutral Tale​ - Anything spoken by a player that neither benefits 
nor hinders the active character. Additionally, some statements 
which have benefit, but no risk. Typically anything which doesn’t 
require a dice roll, or is spoken before the dice are rolled. 

Good Tale​ - Anything spoken by a player that benefits the active 

character. Typically after the dice were rolled and came up 10 or 
better. 

Bad Tale​ - Anything spoken by a player which serves as a 

hindrance to, or harms, the active character. Typically after the dice 
were rolled and resulted in 13 or less. 

Collaborate​ - Work with your group to determine the effects and 

power level for this particular concept or trait. The outcome should 
fit in with the tone you’ve established in session 0. 

Rolls 
Easy, Normal, Difficult​: used to determine which die to take for 
the roll result 

Increase Rolls, Take Advantage​: Make the roll one-step easier 

Decrease Rolls, Take Disadvantage​: Make the roll one-step 

harder 

Enemies 
Mook ​- an easy adversary. Generally eliminated with a single 
action. 

-= 70 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Minion​ - a subservient ally or opponent. Maintained under 

contract to perform a service. 

Boss​ - a very difficult adversary - typically has 10 resources to lose, 

or presents as a CR10 challenge track. 

Lieutenant ​- a moderately difficult adversary - has 3 resources to 

lose, or presents as 3 obstacle boxes on a challenge track. 

Horde​ - a great number of easy adversaries, collectively posing a 

moderate challenge. Typically has 3 resources or occupies 3 
obstacle boxes on a challenge track. 

Games and Play-styles 

Session​ - a single sitting. Typically 3-4 hours. 

One-Shot  -  a  game  designed  to  be  fully  encapsulated  in  a  single 

session. 

Campaign  -  a  long  game  that  runs  over  a  number  of  game 

sessions.  Characters  keep  all  their  XP,  traits,  attributes,  and 
equipment  across  sessions.  You  can  pick  up  where  you  left  off,  or 
you can stage a little interlude, cold-open. 

Episodic  Play  -  A  campaign designed to facilitate players to drop in 

and  drop  out.  Each  session  should  be  similar  to  a  one-shot,  but 
there’s a persistent world and overarching campaign 

Sandbox  -  A  type  of  campaign  where  the  GM  has  no  particular 
story  in  mind.  After  worldbuilding,  the  players  interact  with  the 
world in any manner they like. There’s no scripted events. 

Characters 
Trait  -  one  of  the  defining  characteristics  of  a  player  character. 
Traits  are  selected  from  the list in various Themes. Traits cost XP to 
purchase.  The  amount  changes  depending on how many traits you 

-= 71 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

have  in  the  same  category:  combat,  exploration,  interaction,  or 

general. 

Ability  -  anything  the  a  character can do, typically used to describe 

NPCs with one or two ​tags or keywords: “Sharp Teeth, Flies”. Usually 
not represented as traits. 

Items 
Tag  /  Keyword  -  a tag is a miniature version of a trait. Typically just 
a  single  adjective  which  describes  something  about  a  setting, NPC, 
item,  or  event.  They’re  quick  to  brainstorm,  and  useful  to  have  on 
hand  later  as  a  memory  aid.  Examples:  loud,  hardened,  frozen, 
toxic. 

Ordinary -​ items that are commonly available in your setting. 

Rare  ​-  items  which  are  harder  to  find  in  your  setting.  Typically 
because they’re magical, or extra-powerful, or prohibited by law. 

Precious  -  items  which  are  extra  valuable  in  your  setting,  for  any 
reason.  A  precious  item is typically worth 1 treasure, but some may 
be worth more. 

Challenges, Actions and Tasks 

Objective - The thing characters are trying to achieve. Eg: “Steal the 
gem from the Lich” 

Challenge  -  A  long  project  the  characters  are  working  towards 

accomplishing, to achieve their objective. Presented as a number of 
tickboxes  which represent a series of obstacles. The obstacles don’t 
need to be predefined. 

CL  -  Challenge  Length.  The  number  of  obstacle  boxes  on  a 

challenge  track.  Also  called  Challenge  Number(CN),  or  Challenge 
Rating (CR) 

-= 72 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Obstacle​ - A short-term problem impeding the characters from 

getting what they want. Usually can be overcome with a single 
“good tale” from an “uncertain action”. An obstacle could be 
anything, eg: a geographical feature, a trap, an interpersonal 
conflict, a thesis or argument, an enemy combatant, a test of will. 

Uncertain  Action  -  Any  action  whose  outcome is uncertain, where 

failure  might  be interesting. These tend to be Risky Actions: feats of 
brawn,  finesse,  mind,  or  spirit.  “I  swing  across  the  chasm.”  Actions 
are characterized by their “Approach” 

Approach -​ type of action: Normal, Bolster, Audacious, Reaction. 

Interaction 
Leverage -​ represents having the upper hand over someone, 
probably from some sort of debt or obligation. Leverage should 
help you manipulate and persuade creatures. 

Disposition​ - represents their attitude towards you. Typically 

described as: enamored, friendly, courteous, ambivalent, 
suspicious, hostile, murderous. The difficulty of rolls to interact 
with them may be adjusted based on their disposition. 

Ranges 
Touch -​ Any distance you can reach with your hands 

Melee  -  Any  distance  you  can  reach  with  a  normal  hand-held 

weapon (including a step or lunge). Typically about 6 feet. 

Reach  -  Any  distance  you  can  reach  with  a  long  weapon  like  a 
halberd (including a step or lunge). Typically about 4 yards (12 feet). 

Close  -  Any  distance  which  most  people  could  easily  hit  with  a 
thrown weapon. Typically 10 yards (30 feet). 

-= 73 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Near,  Nearby  -  Any  distance  in  which  you  might  reasonably  hit  a 
target  with  a  thrown  weapon.  Typically  about  the  length  of  a  large 
room, or 25 yards (75 feet). 

Far  -  Any  distance  in  which  an  expert  marksman  could  hit  a target 
accurately  with  a  bow.  Typically  about  the length of a football field, 
or 100 yards (300 feet). 

Extreme  -  Only  a  well  trained  sniper  could  hit  a  target  at  this 
distance. Typically the length of a city block. 

Areas and Volumes 

Handful​ - a volume the size of a breadbox 

Small  Area  -  an  area  the  size  of  a  single  human  about  1m  (3’) 
diameter,  or  a  5’  square  if  you  prefer.  For  targeting  purposes,  this 
generally encompasses a single individual. 

Small  Volume  -  about  the  size  of  a  coffin.  Enough  to  enclose  one 
individual human. 

Medium  Area  -  an  area  roughly  the size of 10’ diameter (about 3m 

sq).  For  targeting  purposes,  this  generally  encompasses  3-5 
individuals. 

Large  Area,  Zone - encompasses everything inside a Near distance 

(25 yards diameter 75’). About the size of a large house. 

Huge Area, Large Zone​ - an area the size of a football field. 

Cone  -  a  Medium  Area  directed  out in front of the active character. 

Generally targets 3-5 individuals. 

Blast  -  a  Medium  circular  Area  centered  around  a  point  in  space. 

Generally targets 3-5 individuals. 

Huge Blast​ - affects everything in a Zone, or a Near distance (30’) 

-= 74 =- 
 TAVERN T A L E S 

Balance and Power 

Buff - make more powerful 

Nerf - make less powerful 

-= 75 =-