Rhune — Player's Guide

Rhune is a hearth-frontier fantasy game for two people — one player, one GM — played by post on Discord. You're a hero of a frontier steading: a small, stubborn settlement at the edge of the wild. Between expeditions, you protect it, improve it, and watch the seasons turn. The rules are adapted from Jeremy Strandberg's fantastic ttrpg 'Stonetop.'

How we play

• On Discord, by post. No sessions, just one long conversation, whenever you have time.
• OOC is the default. Table-talk: sort out the fiction, agree on what's possible, roll dice.
• IC is the zoom-in. In-character roleplay, always blockquoted and italicized, so it stands apart. Zoom in often! The fiction is where the game lives.
• One player, one GM. You play your character. The GM runs everything else: the world, the NPCs, the threats.

Taking turns

It's always either the Player's turn or the GM's turn.

The GM's turn. The GM makes a soft move — a threat, a question, danger looming — then asks: "What do you do?"

Your turn. You answer in the fiction. Your action triggers a move, and every move is one of two kinds:

• Safe move → do exactly what it says. Your turn continues.
• Risky move → you push your luck. (If a move tells you to roll, it's risky.)

Push your luck

If instructed to roll, roll one d6 for each risky move you've triggered this turn — 1 die for the first, 2 for the second, and so on.

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

Rerolls = your level. On a bust, spend 1 reroll to reroll every result of 1 in the roll. Your pool of rerolls only resets if you choose to end your turn before going bust.

A bust isn't failure. You keep whatever you already accomplished this turn. The GM just brings trouble on top.

Advantage: roll an extra die, drop the lowest. Disadvantage: roll an extra die, drop the highest. They cancel out; they don't stack.

Ending your turn

You can stop at any time — your reroll pool resets to your level, and it becomes the GM's turn.

If instead you bust with no rerolls left, your turn ends and the GM makes a hard move — but your reroll pool does not reset.

Soft move vs. hard move. A soft move threatens — you get to react. A hard move lands — consequences, no take-backs. A bust earns the GM a hard move.

Moves

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

• To do it, you have to do it. "I Clash" means nothing until you describe elbowing someone in the face.
• If you do it, you have to do it. Describe an action that matches a trigger, and the move fires.
• Everyone watches for triggers — if you think you triggered one, say so.

Positioning comes first. Agree on what's possible and which move fires before you touch the dice. The fiction decides what's on the table; the dice decide how it goes.

Basic move summaries

BURN BRIGHTLY — When you have more XP than you need to level up, you may spend 2 XP to add +1 to any die in a roll (turn a 1 into a 2, or a 5 into a 6).

Expedition move summaries

Homefront move summaries

The community has its own character sheet. When the community acts, the GM rolls a number of d6 equal to the steading's stat, and takes the highest: 6 best · 4–5 success · 1–3 bad. (At 0: 2d6, take lowest.)

No roll: CONVALESCE (rest in safety), LEVEL UP, MAKE A PLAN, KEEP COMPANY (reflect with an NPC).

Traits

Pick 2 traits at character creation. Traits describe the natural advantages your background and body give you:

CATFALL: You always land on your feet. Once per session, when you fall or are thrown, take no damage and land steady.

Traits aren't locked to a species — pick anything, but be ready to explain how it applies to you.

HP = granted by your Class Playbook. Never modified. Damage die = granted by your Class Playbook, not per-weapon. Armor reduces incoming damage. "x armor" doesn't stack; "+1 armor" does.

Debilities

Mark one when a move or the GM says so. Each gives disadvantage on two of the basic moves.

Clear them via Recover, Make Camp, or Convalesce.

Death's Door

At 0 HP from a killing blow, you're dying. Glimpse the Last Door, then roll.

• Sixes → you claw back to HP = the number of sixes.
• Success, no 6 → you live, but you're out of the action.
• Bust → your time has come. Three ways out: make one last move, refuse and become a Revenant/Ghost, or call on a Thing Below and become a Thrall.

XP & levelling

• Mark XP on a bust (= the number of 1s), or when a move says so. Also: struggling against your instinct, a relationship changing, or other story events might merit XP gain.
• Start at level 1. At XP = 6 + twice your level, use the Level Up move while at home: +1 level, pick a new playbook move, review your instinct and appearance.

The steading

Your home. Four stats — Fortunes, Population, Prosperity, Defenses — plus Surplus (stored food) and three debilities (diminished / lacking / malcontent).

You don't manage it bean-by-bean. The homefront moves are how it lives.

Principles

1. Begin and end with the fiction. Say how, not just what.
2. Show what's important to you. Care about mundane things.
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. Answer with color and life.
6. Build on each other's ideas.
7. Participate in the conversation. The game is the conversation.