Core Rules

This section covers the rules of the Four Points RPG System.

Four Points is so named because it focuses on four main concepts: Player Agency, Narrative, Characters and Customisation.

Like in most other table-top roleplaying games, there are Players, who interpret the roles of Characters within the fictional setting of the game. One of the Players is the Guide, who also interprets Characters – the Non-Player Characters or NPCs – and generally functions as referee and narrator. This Player is referred to as a Guide in this document, but can have any genre-appropriate name (Story-Teller, Lore-keeper, Navigator, etc.).

Four Points is setting neutral, which means it does not come with a pre-written setting and can be used to run games in any genre of world you want, from fantasy to science-fiction, from horror to period melodrama.

It also functions as a tool-kit, providing a selection of options for building both Characters and settings, with lots of room for customisation and collaboration. If you are planning on running a Four Points game as a Guide, see the Guide Section.

Actions | Mechanics

Actions are things your Character does, the consequences of which are important to the game.

There are two ways of performing Actions: by spending Energy Points (EP) from a Stat Pool, or by Testing your Luck.

Spending EP

To perform an Action, you can spend EP from one of your Stat pools.

Your Character has four Stats:

• Wits, which covers things like wisdom, intelligence and knowledge.
• Stamina, which covers things like strength, endurance and determination.
• Dexterity, which covers things like speed, agility and coordination.
• Sociability, which covers things like confidence, charm and charisma.

The amount of EP you spend will determine how successful you are in your Action.

You must spend EP from the Stat pool most relevant to the kind of Action you wish to perform. For example, trying to break down a locked door will probably cost some EP from your Stamina pool, whereas trying to convince a city guard to let you pass will require EP from your Sociability pool. When you run out of Energy Points in all four Stat pools, you become Unconscious.

The EP costs are as follows:

• Total success = 3 EP
• Partial success (inconvenience) = 2 EP
• Partial success (negative consequence) = 1 EP

Testing your Luck

If you run out of Energy Points from a Stat pool, or don’t want to spend any, but still want to perform an Action, you must roll to Test your Luck.

Roll 1d6. If you roll a 4, 5 or 6, your Action is a total success. If you roll a 1, 2 or 3, it’s a total failure, with negative consequences.

Inconveniences and Consequences

The nature of any inconvenience or negative consequence to your Action is usually just narrative. However, the Guide may add some mechanical effects, such as imposing Disadvantage on your next Action, having you lose EP from a Stat pool, or even miss your next turn.

Advantage and Disadvantage

Characters may have Advantage or Disadvantage on certain Actions.

• Advantage: when spending EP to perform the Action, reduce the EP costs by 1. When Testing your Luck to perform the Action, add 1 to your roll.

• Disadvantage: when spending EP to perform the Action, increase the EP costs by 1. When Testing your Luck to perform the Action, subtract 1 from your roll.

The effects of Advantage and Disadvantage stack. For example, if a Character has Advantage on their next Action, further Advantage can be applied. If a Character has both Advantage and Disadvantage on an Action, the two cancel each other out and the Action is to be performed normally.

Difficulty

Sometimes, the Guide may decide that an Action being attempted would be particularly difficult, given the circumstances. There are 4 levels of difficulty:

• Normal: no change to EP costs or Test your Luck rolls.
• Tricky: EP costs increase by 1, no change to Test your Luck rolls.
• Tough: EP costs increase by 2, subtract 1 from Test your Luck rolls.
• Challenging: EP costs increase by 3, subtract 2 from Test your Luck rolls.

The effects of Difficulty stack on top of any pre-existing Disadvantage on the Action. Therefore, for example, a Test your Luck roll made with Disadvantage on a Challenging Action will always fail.

Size, Range and Detail

Objects and Creatures can be Tiny, Small, Medium, Large or Huge. They can also be Close, Nearby, Far Away or Very Far Away, and bare varying degrees of complexity.

Size

• Tiny: fits in the palm of an average human hand, or in a pocket. An Area measuring an average human hand-width in diameter.
• Small: half the size of the average human. An Area less than a pace in diameter.
• Medium: roughly the same size as the average human. An Area a few paces in diameter.
• Large: about twice the size as the average human. An Area many paces in diameter.
• Huge: roughly the same size or more as an average two floor building. An Area over a hundred paces in diameter.

Range

• Close: less than a pace away, requires no movement to reach.
• Nearby: a few paces away, can be reached during a turn.
• Far Away: many paces away, requires more than 1 turn’s movement to reach.
• Very Far Away: over a hundred paces away, requires several turns’ movement to reach (Guide’s discretion).

Detail

• No details: has a featureless shape, and no moving parts.
• Simple: bares some rudimentary details, and a few moving parts.
• Complex: detail is fairly refined, and has several moving parts.
• Intricate: bares a large amount of detail, and a great many moving parts.

Turns

If turns are needed (for example during intense situations like chases or combat), Turn order can be decided as a group, or be determined through rolling dice, with the highest results going first. Each Character can do 2 things during their turn: Move and perform an Action. On their turn, they can Move twice, perform two Actions, or Move and perform an Action.

Conditions

There are four main Conditions: Blocked, Hurt, Inspired, and Unconscious.

Blocked

If a Character is temporarily restrained, immobilised, disoriented or terrified, they are Blocked. Depending on the narrative, the Guide may decide whether a Blocked Character misses 1 or more turns, until they are released or receive assistance.

A Character who is Blocked may not perform any Action, except to Test their Luck to see if they can free themselves of the Condition.

Hurt

If a Character fails to avoid harm or an attack, or falls afoul of negative consequences to an Action, they may become Hurt. While Hurt, and until healed, the Character suffers some negative effects. If they are hurt again while already Hurt, they become Badly Hurt, and if hurt further, Seriously Hurt.

• Hurt = Disadvantage on any Actions that would be affected by their injury or wound.
• Badly Hurt = Disadvantage on all Actions.
• Seriously Hurt = Disadvantage on all Actions, and lose 1d6 Points from each Pool for every turn until healed. If the Character is hurt again while already Seriously Hurt, they may fall Unconscious or die (depending on the game’s tone).

Inspired

If a Character witnesses something truly amazing, heroic or moving, they may become Inspired. While Inspired, they receive Advantage on the next Action of their choice.

Unconscious

Fairly self-explanatory, the Character is unconscious and so unable to perform any Actions, until they become conscious again.

Vulnerability, Resistance and Immunity

Thanks to their Traits, a Character may have Vulnerability, Resistance or even Immunity to certain things.

• Vulnerability to X: Disadvantage when attempting to avoid X.
• Resistance to X: Advantage when attempting to avoid X.
• Immunity to X: no Energy Points or Tests of Luck are required to successfully avoid X.

Skills

Skills are things the Character has had some amount of training and experience in doing before. When using a Skill in an Action, the Character has Advantage.

There is no set list of Skills, save for the following: Healing, Combat and Power.

Healing

Remove or reduce a Character’s Hurt condition. For example, a Badly Hurt Character will become Hurt, and a Hurt Character will be restored to full health.

Healing can be achieved through traditional means such as medicine, advanced technology, or use of Power.

Combat

Inflict the Hurt, Blocked or Unconscious condition on another Character. This can be achieved through the use of weapons, or unarmed martial arts. A Character can have a Combat Skill in one type of weapon, or a form of martial art.

Power

Power in Four Points represents whatever unique way in which Characters in your setting can affect the world around them. In a fantasy setting this could be spell-casting, in a cyberpunk setting it could be technomancy, and in a horror setting it could be summoning demons or exorcising ghosts.

Power Types

In a setting, Power is sorted into one or more Types. A Power’s Type determines its scope or area of influence. In a Fantasy setting, for example, Power Types could be different schools of magic, such as Illusion or Light.

Using Power

To use Power as an Action, you spend Energy Points from the Stat pool most relevant to your Power Type. For example, if your Character’s Power Type is super-speed, the relevant Stat might be Dexterity. If it is lightning manipulation, it might be Stamina. Actions using Power are only limited by your Power Type, but The Guide and Players may choose to create a list of set Power Actions to choose from.

Power Side Effects (Optional)

The Guide may decide that, in a given situation, use of Power may be particularly unpredictable. In such a situation, after using Power in an Action (regardless of success) you must roll for Side Effects (1d6).

If you roll 5 or 6, there is an unexpected positive side effect.

If you roll 3 or 4, there is no side effect. If you roll 1 or 2, there is a negative side effect.

Side Effects to Power, whether positive or negative, can be wholly narrative in nature, or also have mechanical implications. These could include Advantage or Disadvantage on your next Action, restoring or losing 1d6’s worth of EP, or a missed turn.

Learning new Skills

During Progression (see below), a Character may acquire new Skills. The number and nature of the Skills acquired must be narratively consistent and agreed upon by the Player group.

A Character may have a maximum of 10 known Skills, but these may be swapped out for new ones (see Character Creation section).

Traits and Abilities

Traits are physiological or anatomical attributes inherent to the Character’s Folk.

Traits can afford Advantages, Disadvantages and Abilities.

Abilities are things a Character can do naturally, often thanks to a Trait.

Abilities have no Energy Point cost and are automatically successful, unless they are used as part of another Action, in which case the standard rules apply. If an Ability would be difficult to use at the time, the Guide may ask the Player Character to Test their Luck.

See the Guide Section for Lists of example Traits and Abilities.

Resting

Whenever your Character gets a chance to rest, they may recover some Energy Points. When they have a short rest (2 to 3 hours) you may roll 1d6 and distribute the result across your Stat point pools. If they have a long rest (minimum 6 hours), you may roll 2d6. Depending on the situation in game, you may increase the amount of Rest dice to roll (Guide’s discretion).

Progression

After completing an Adventure, each Character has the chance to increase their base amount of Energy Points. Each Player rolls 1d6 and distributes the result across their Stat pools, increasing the maximum amount of EP. If during the Adventure, a player had a particularly big influence on the outcome of the game, displayed some really engaging role-play, or even made the funniest joke, the rest of the group can award them an extra 1d6 for Progression.