How to Play Rhune

A primer. Read this once and you can sit down and play.

What this is

Rhune is a hearth-frontier fantasy game for two people: one GM, one player. You play by posting back and forth on Discord — no sessions, no scheduling. The game is one long conversation that picks up whenever you have a minute.

You play one character (a PC) and their follower. The GM runs everything else: the world, the NPCs, the threats, the weather.

There are no stats. No strength, no charisma, no numbers on your sheet. What sets your character apart are traits — named abilities that say who they are.

The core loop

Every exchange follows the same rhythm:

1. The GM makes a soft move — something happens, a threat looms, a question lands — then asks: "What do you do?"
2. You answer in the fiction. Say what your character does. If it's dangerous and chancy, it triggers a move.
3. You push your luck (see below). The dice tell us how it goes.
4. Either your turn ends and the GM takes over, or you bust and the GM makes a hard move.

Then it repeats. That's the whole game.

Pushing your luck — the one mechanic

When a move says "roll," you push your luck:

• Your pool starts at 1 die. Each RISKY move you make in a turn adds 1 die. First: 1d6. Second: 2d6. Third: 3d6. And so on.
• Roll the pool. If any die shows a 1, you bust. No 1s, and you succeed.
• The pool resets to 1 at the start of each of your turns.

RISKY vs. safe. A move that tells you to roll is RISKY — your pool grows with each one. A move that doesn't is safe: just do what it says. Your pool only grows on RISKY moves.

Every reach is riskier than the last. You decide how far to push.

The three outcomes

A bust isn't failure. You keep whatever you already accomplished this turn. A bust just means something dramatic happens that your character won't like. The branch breaks. The missing person turns up dead. Your blow lands — and a second foe clocks you from behind.

Rerolls — your safety net

You're not helpless when the dice turn. When you bust, you may spend a reroll to reroll every die showing a 1. Clean rerolls = you succeed after all. Another 1 = you bust for real.

• You have rerolls equal to your level (so, 1 at level 1).
• Your reroll pool resets only when you end your turn before busting — it does not refresh after a bust.
• Rerolls are only spent on a bust. Advantage and disadvantage don't touch them.

Advantage & disadvantage

• Advantage: roll an extra die and discard the lowest.
• Disadvantage: roll an extra die and discard the highest.
• They cancel each other out. They don't stack.
• On damage rolls, roll twice and take the higher (advantage) or lower (disadvantage).

Debilities, traits, and positioning are the usual sources.

When does a move trigger?

A move fires when the fiction says it does — not when you say its name.

• To do it, you have to do it. Saying "I Clash" doesn't mean anything until you describe elbowing someone in the face.
• If you do it, you have to do it. If your described action matches a move's trigger, the move fires.
• Everyone watches for triggers — not just the GM. If you think you triggered a move, say so.

Positioning comes first. Before you touch the dice, we agree on what's possible and which move fires. If you're held at arm's length, you can't elbow them. If they're made of stone, hitting them isn't Clash — it's just not going to hurt them. The fiction decides what's on the table; the dice decide how it goes.

Your character

Traits

Traits are the whole character layer. You pick 2 at creation, from the shared species/general list.

A trait is a sentence about your character that is its own rule. Traits are inherited — in the blood, not gear — so they come with no signature items.

Traits work on three levers: narrative permission ("you can do X without rolling"), the dice (increment a die, advantage), and effects (extra damage, healing, a follower).

You don't gain new traits on level-up — you gain playbook moves.

HP, damage, armor

• HP starts at your playbook's max and is never modified by anything. Regain it via Recover or Make Camp.
• Damage die comes from your playbook — not your weapon. The Heavy deals d10 with a maul or a dagger.
• Armor reduces incoming damage. "x armor" doesn't stack; "+1 armor" does.

Debilities

When something hurts you, you may mark a debility:

Debilities clear via Recover, Make Camp, or Convalesce.

Death's Door

At 0 HP from a killing blow, you're dying. You glimpse the Last Door and the Lady of Crows — then roll.

• Sixes → you claw back, returning to HP = the number of sixes.
• Success, no six → you live, but you're out of the action.
• Bust → your time has come. Three ways to go out: make one last move, refuse and become a Revenant/Ghost, or call on a Thing Below and become a Thrall.

In a duet game there's no party to pick you up. Your follower is your lifeline.

The moves

Basic moves (always available)

• CLASH — fight in melee. Success = deal damage; each 6 buys a pick (counter the attack, or +1d6 damage).
• DEFEND — protect yourself or someone. Success = hold Readiness (spend 1-for-1 on defensive options).
• DEFY DANGER — do something chancy when no other move fits. Success always costs something; each 6 buys the cost off or scales the success up.
• KNOW THINGS — consult your knowledge. Success = something interesting (each 6 makes it useful, or adds a fact).
• LET FLY — ranged attack. Easy shots need no roll; tricky shots deal damage + picks.
• PERSUADE — press or entice an NPC. Success = they reveal how to convince them; each 6 gets them to just do it.
• SEEK INSIGHT — study a situation. Success = ask 1 question per 6; acting on the answers has advantage.

Special moves

• ADVANTAGE / DISADVANTAGE — the difficulty lever.
• BURN BRIGHTLY — spend 2 XP to add +1 to a die (turn a 1 into a 2, or a 5 into a 6).
• DEATH'S DOOR — the dying move.

Follower moves

• ORDER FOLLOWERS — direct your follower to act; you roll for them. A relevant tag + exceptional = advantage; a blocking tag = disadvantage.
• STRENGTHEN YOUR BOND — pay your follower's cost to raise their Loyalty (max 3). Spend Loyalty to have them overcome fear, resist instinct, or do what they don't want to.

Expedition moves (out in the wild)

• CHART A COURSE — name where you're going; the GM frames the journey and presents challenges one at a time. (No roll.)
• OUTFIT — prepare for a trip; hold Preparation (Light: 2+Prosperity, Heavy: 5+Prosperity).
• HAVE WHAT YOU NEED — spend 1 Preparation to flashback to having packed the exact thing you need. Your iron weapons pierce armor equal to Prosperity.
• FORAGE — find food. Success = provisions; each 6 adds a pick.
• MAKE CAMP — rest. Spend provisions/Preparation; regain ½ max HP or clear a debility. (No roll.)
• RECOVER — spend 1 Preparation to regain 4+Prosperity HP, once per damage taken. (No roll.)
• REQUISITION — borrow the steading's assets. Sixes = clean; otherwise it costs or needs convincing.
• RETURN TRIUMPHANT — come home victorious; clear a steading debility or gain Fortunes. (No roll.)

Homefront moves (back at the steading)

• CONVALESCE — full heal, given safety and comfort. (No roll.)
• LEVEL UP — spend XP at home to advance. (No roll.)
• MAKE A PLAN — name a long-term project; the GM says what it takes. (No roll.)
• KEEP COMPANY — spend time with an NPC; trade reflection questions. (No roll.)
• DEPLOY — send the steading's people into danger. (GM rolls the steading's Defenses dice.)
• MUSTER — rally everyone to defense. (GM rolls the steading's Population dice.)
• PULL TOGETHER — set the community to work on a project. (GM rolls the steading's Population dice.)
• TRADE & BARTER — buy or sell special items. (GM rolls the steading's Prosperity dice.)
• SEASONS CHANGE — the turning year; the GM rolls on the community's behalf.
• MEET WITH DISASTER — calamity strikes; Fortunes drop and a steading debility may follow.

XP and levelling

• Mark XP when you bust — equal to the number of 1s in your roll — and when a move says so.
• Also mark 1 XP for struggling against your instinct, a relationship changing, or a "yes" to a Keep Company question.
• Start at level 1. At XP = 6 + twice your level, you Level Up during downtime at home: subtract the XP, +1 level, pick a new playbook move, and review your instinct and appearance.

The steading

Your home is the steading — the settlement you protect. It has its own stats: Fortunes, Prosperity, Surplus, Population, Defenses, and debilities (diminished, lacking, malcontent).

You don't manage it bean-by-bean. The homefront moves are how it lives: muster it, trade with it, work it, and watch the seasons turn.

Your principles (the short version)

1. Begin and end with the fiction. Say how, not just what.
2. Show what's important to you. Care about mundane things — your home, your people.
3. Be bold. Stop deliberating. Make a choice. Act.
4. Embrace setback. Heroes fall down. The measure of one is that they get back up.
5. Participate in worldbuilding. When the GM asks, answer with color and life.
6. Build on each other's ideas. Reuse what's there instead of inventing new.
7. Participate in the conversation. The game is the conversation.

The GM's side

• You roll when you act; the GM rolls for your community. A monster attacks by saying so — then asking "what do you do?" The GM rolls only when the community acts (muster, pull together, trade, face the seasons).
• If you act to avoid or counter it, that triggers a move. If you ignore it, the GM says what bad thing happens.
• When no move applies and the GM wants to leave it to fate, they roll a Die of Fate (a d6 — high good, low bad).
• The GM's toolkit: soft moves that threaten, hard moves that land. On a bust, a hard move comes due.

That's the game. Everything else is detail.