Challenge Actions

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Four aces

Sometimes luck isn’t with you. Sometimes you draw and get a bad hand. This happens in games; it’s okay. What are your options though?

We’ve seen players default to attacking an enemy they know they won’t hit. It’s what they would do in other games since they don’t know what their dice roll will be. That’s not a good strategy in His Majesty the Worm.

The Challenge rules are a minigame; a poker face is part of that mini-game. If you play a low Initiative, but then defend with a Dodge or Riposte, you give the GM pause. Why the low Initiative? What defensive cards do you have? This strategy only works if you don’t say, “Shit. I have nothing.” (Or maybe you’re bluffing.)

If all else fails: be supportive. Maybe you won’t achieve much by yourself, but you can give an added boost to an ally.

This set of actions isn’t comprehensive. These are simply common actions that we have given rules to so that GMs know how to handle common types of interactions. GMs should use these as examples and interpret the rules for whatever actions the players attempt. Players can attempt to do just about anything—swing from chandeliers, ride blazing hay carts down hills, shove burning brands into cyclops’ eyes—whatever. The GM can use this list of actions as a starting point to help them frame these narrative actions.

If players are consistently only using the basic actions, the GM can introduce scenes where other actions are important as a way to shake things up.

Free actions

You don’t need to play Challenge cards to talk in character or move around within a zone. You can freely do these things on anybody’s turn unless something is restraining you.

Challenge Actions

Free actions

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