Description: Spellcasters may perform some form of self-sacrifice to convert some of their life energy into magic. This translates into either an upgrade to the power of a magical effect, resistance to harm caused by magic or a bonus to spell rolls at the cost of ability score points, hit points or spell fatigue.
Find it in: Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG
Keywords: Dark, Fantastical, Gritty, High-Magic, Pulpy, Tense, Weird
Genres: Dark Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Superhero, Sword and Sorcery
A.K.A. Inner Strength Points, Psi Points
Description: Characters have a pool of magical energy that they spend to cast their spells rather than spell slots or exterior fuel for magic. These are often based on magic and replenished with rest.
Find it in: Palladium Fantasy Roleplaying Game, The Dozen Dooms, Dungeons & Dragons 3e Unearthed Arcana, AD&D2e Player's Option: Spells & Magic, Dungeons & Dragons 3.5e Psionics Rules
Keywords: Fantastical, High-Magic, Weird
Genres: Epic Fantasy, High-Fantasy, Pulpy, Sword & Sorcery
Description: Characters receive less treasure, especially items that grant special abilities. Instead, they gain more regular boosts to their abilities. In its original format, players recieved 20% less treasure but gained twice as many ability score increases.
Find it in: The Official Dungeons & Dragons blog circa 2006
Keywords: Epic, Heroic, Low-Magic, Swashbuckling
Genres: Epic Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Martial Arts, Pulp, Superhero, Sword & Sorcery, Western
Description: When a character is knocked out of commission (such as at 0hp), their status is unknown unless an ally checks on them to see if they are living or dead. At that time the character makes a single saving throw or Luck Checks to see if they are alive, at which point they can be restored to consciousness.
Find it in: Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, Low Fantasy Gaming, Troika!
Keywords: Cinematic, Dangerous, Gritty, Pulpy, Rules-light, Tense
Genres: Crime, Low Fantasy, Pulp, Western
Description: When lacking any other tool for decision making as to which character is attacked, targeted, or hit by a trap, choose the character with the lowest current Luck Score.
Find it in: Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG
Keywords: Fantastical, Pulpy, Rules-light, Weird
Genres: Crime, High Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Pulp, Sword & Sorcery
Description: Used in TTRPGs that use a Luck Scores. When a party of PCs is attempting to fled a battle they make Luck Checks, if more than half the party succeeds, then the party shakes their attackers and winds up in a relatively safe location that the GM chooses. Alternatively, everyone who succeeds escapes. This removes the need for chase mechanics.
Find it in: Low Fantasy Gaming
Keywords: Cinematic, Fast-paced, Pulpy, Rules-light, Swashbuckling
Genres: Crime, Low Fantasy, Pulp, Sword & Sorcery, Western
Description: As well as a standard value in coin, gear is valued based on its survival utility as an abstract trade unit. Food, fuel, ammunition, medicine, tools, books, and things easily dismantled for parts have high values. Gold, jewels, luxury items are low to no value. When bartering in a survival situation compare the Trade value of what is asking for and what is offered. May be modified by Gear Quality.
Find it in: Delve 2e
Keywords: Exploration, Gritty, Survival
Genres: Sword & Sorcery, Low Fantasy, Survival Horror, Military, Western
Description: Through heavy use, a weapon can become damaged, weakened, or harder to use, resulting in lower accuracy or less damage until repaired. This is usually found alongside Gear Quality rules.
Find it In: Delve 2e, The Black Hack, Tiny Dungeon 2e
Keywords : Cinematic, Dangerous, Gritty, Pulpy, Survival, Tense
Genres: Dark Fantasy, Horror, Survival Horror, Sword and Sorcery
Description: As a PC is dying, there is a chance, if they might not otherwise recover of bein approached by Death, a demon, or otherworldly entity in a vision, and offered a chance to return to the world of the living, but they must agree to a quest. If they fail to keep up their end of the bargain in a timely fashion, they will die and be unable to return to life again.
Find it in: Dungeon World
Keywords: Dark, Epic, Fantastical, Heroic, High Magic, Weird
Genres: Sword & Sorcery, Dark Fantasy, Eldritch Horror, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Superhero
Description: Characters may once per day recover from a small amount injury by drinking alcohol.
Found In: Age of Conan, D&D3.5
Keywords: Pulpy, Swashbuckling
Genres: Sword & Sorcery, Western, Martial Arts, Crime, Military
Description: Magic items are exceedingly rare. They begin with a single ability, but gain more abilities as their wielder levels up, allowing magic items to grow with PCs, rather than having PCs find many of them.
Find it in: Low Fantasy Gaming
Keywords: Weird, Pulpy, Dark, Heroic
Genres: Sword & Sorcery, Low Fantasy
Description: Spells are replaced by relationships with spirits that have broad spheres of influence. The spirit may be called on to create any plausible effect that fits with its domain, allowing PCs to come up with inventive magical effects within a narrow scope.
Find it in: Pacts and Blades, World of Dungeons, Aer
Keywords: Rules-light, Dark, Pulpy, Weird
Genres: Sword & Sorcery, Low Fantasy, Pulp, Horror
Description: Treasure is abstracted from numbers of coin, gem, jewels, and artifacts into a Wealth statistic that a character checks against to buy items, often depleting on a failed roll. Often used in conjunction with depletion dice.
Find it in: the Black Hack, Tombpunk
Keywords: Rules-light, Epic, Pulpy
Genres: Sword & Sorcery, Epic Fantasy, Pulp, Superhero
Description: Characters trapped without light underground experience extreme terror that can cause confusing, trauma, or even death from the fear.
Find it in: the Black Hack
Keywords: Dark, Horrific, Dangerous, Gritty, Survival
Genres: Sword & Sorcery, Eldritch Horror, Survival, Horror
Description: Characters may spend a randomized amount of treasure to go on a bender, earning XP or other rewards. Causes a roll on a random table to describe events and the Fallout of the character's wild debauch.
Find it in: Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City, DCC HUBRIS, GLOG
Keywords: Exploration, Light-Hearted
Genres: Sword and Sorcery, Western, Post-apocalyptic
Description: Armor is subject to depletion dice or a similar mechanism to become weaker over time as it is used.
Find it in: the Black Hack, Shadowrun
Keywords: Gritty, Dangerous, Dark, Survival
Genres: Sword and Sorcery, Cyberpunk, Western, Post-apocalyptic, Horror
Description: Used in games that use hot points, wound levels, or damage tracks, Armor adds additional damage to the total the character can take that cannot heal unless the armor is repaired.
Find it in: Blades in the Dark, Tiny Dungeon 2e, Pacts and Blades
Keywords: Fast-paced, Tactical, Cinematic
Genres: Crime, Military, Sword and Sorcery, Low Fantasy, Science Fiction
Description: A staple of Lovecraftian Horror, madness rules can be fairly easily ported to other systems. Some rely on a limited sanity resource, are connected to injury tables, or magical misfire effects. All add role-playing constraints and mechanical consequences.
Find it in: Low Fantasy Gaming, Call of Cthulhu, Tiny Cthulhu
Keywords: Dark, Weird, Horror
Genres: Sword & Sorcery, Eldritch Horror, Dark Fantasy, Horror
