The Core Rules System (tCRS)

Within this document you will find the rules of how to play any tCRS game that have been included in a The
Core Rules Blog. This is made to be a very simple system to use and play. It will not involve you buying
anything that is expensive or difficult to find (or even from me).

To play any of these games you will need:

● Two decks of standard playing cards (with the same backing) and including the jokers shuffled together
to make one deck.
● Some pencils (​never​ use pens for RPGs!)
● Printed copies of the premade characters from the game you want to play or character sheets to make
your own.
● 3 to 6 players (including yourself)
○ 1 to be the Game Master (GM)
○ 2 to 5 to play the characters, called Player Characters (PCs)
● 2 hours to play the game (possibly more)
● Your imagination.

So that is what you will need to play so let us talk about how to play. Everything that would have a chance of
failing to work or could cause harm is resolve with a “​test​”.

What is a test?

Examples of things that would need a test are, attacking something, resisting poison, and trying to bluff
someone. Examples of things that would not require a test would be walking around not caring if anyone sees
you, breathing, eating or drinking non-dangerous things, anything that is not pressed for time and requires no
special training (like spending hours to do so stitching).

How does it work?

Everything that can be done in the game will have a difficulty assigned to it [allways in square brackets] from
between 2 and 10 and using the decks of cards a player will turn over the top card, if the value of the card is
higher (picture cards count as 11) than the difficulty then they have done it lower then they haven't.
Alternatively before a card is turned over from the deck they may instead play a card from their hand. That
easy.

Now each character has a small paragraph describing themselves, some of which will be for tips on how to
play them, some just story, but other parts will affect how the cards are used. Now for people who are
completely new to these kind of games there will be a few words that have been put into ​bold​ on each
premade character and these are the words to look at for you. Those with more experience feel free to use
your own reasoning skills.

How does it work?

First look at the task that is being done and the keywords of the background. Now do any of the keywords
seem like they would be of benefit to the task (like if the task is lifting up an iron grating, and the character is
strong​) or would it cause problems (like having to move out of the way of a speeding wagon but the character
is ​slow​). If the word some how could be both then treat it as neither.

Next if a character has one or more of these keywords that would be of benefit to them then they get to turn
over one extra card and choose the highest ​OR​ may switch the revealed card with one in their hand using the
one from the hand as the result.

However, if the character has one or more keywords that would cause problems then that PC can’t use any
cards in their hand and ​MUST​ turn over two cards taking the lowest value for the result.

If they have one or more of each then it is the responsibility of the GM to decide what happens but the general
rule is that neither of the above will happen even if they have more of one then the other.

Each character will have three numbers related to the following words ​Hand​, ​Hit​, and ​Health​. These are called
stats and each represents a different thing.

Hand​ as you might of guessed means the number of cards a PC can have in their hand. They start with this
number and when they get to draw a new hand they get that number of cards.

Hit​, the PCs are not the only things that can attack. Whenever an enemy or trap would attack the GM reveals a
card from the top of the deck and if it is higher than that PC’s ​Hit​, they are hit. Enemies also have a ​Hit​ value.

Health​ is how many times a PC can be hit before they are out of the game.

That is all you need to know to play any of the games in this pack.

So how do we make a PC?

Character Name

Hand​: Hit​: Health​:

Description

So above is what is called a “Character Sheet” to those that are experienced roleplayers you will notice it is
actually very small, that is because, as I said earlier, this is a very simple system. Everything there is likely self
explanatory but incase you need or want a more detailed explanation:

Italic​ parts (​Character Name​ and ​Description​) are completely replaced when you write that part of your
character. ​Character Name​ as it is suggests is replaced with the name you want your PC to have it can be as
simple or complicated as you want. ​Description​ is where you go and write your PC’s little story. You should try
and include about five keywords, three good, two bad as a simple guide line.

More experienced players feel free to make longer backgrounds with more keywords but in the same
proportions or a higher amount of bad ones.

Bold​ parts (​Hand​, ​Hit​, ​Health​) stay in the character sheet and your write a number next to them. That number
is their value, they each start at four and you have three points to increase them so you could have each stat at
five if you wanted or you could have one at seven and keep the others at four or one at five one at six and one
at four. Your choice.

There you go you have just made your character.

FAQ

What happens to the cards played from a PC's hand or revealed from the top of the deck?

Put them to one side face up and they can’t be used by PCs or the GM yet.

Wait, if that happens how do I get more cards in my hand?

Once every PC has run out of cards in their hands everyone gets to redraw their cards.

What happens when we run out of cards? Is that the end of the game?

Don’t worry the game doesn't end when we run out of cards. You know the cards we have put over in a
different pile that were used? Once you have run out of cards and need to draw or reveal another card shuffle
all the cards in the pile together and reuse them. And you just keep doing that from the game.

Are aces 1 or 11? Do the jokers count as picture cards or something else?

Aces are ​1​. The jokers are special cards when reviled they cause a special effect called “​Mayhem​” (that effect
is explained in the games as it will be different in all of them) and the colour of the joker determines the test.
Black = Pass, Red = Fail.

Are there any adventures with this?

No sorry they will each be released as separate documents and will have characters to go with them should
you not want to make your own for each setting.

So how am I supposed to play this then?

Well if you are not experienced in running a game and don’t have anyone that able to run a game without
access to all content written down then you can either try improvising a game (something that most
experienced GM’s can do go a simple extent) or waiting until next month where I will be releasing and
adventure for this game.

Can I get a blank character sheet?

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Hand​: Hit​: Health​:

For the GM:
This section is here to help new GMs understand the GM sections structure of future tCRS games and
adventures and flow of the games provided in future months. There are few key rules that as the GM you
should follow:

1. You are going to be controlling (and hopefully roleplaying) all of the characters that are not controlled
by the PCs, called Non-Player Characters (NPCs) so playing a PC yourself will not only be difficult to
keep track of everything but it can make it hard for you to remain objective which can stop your PCs for
actually using their own reasoning skills and stop them from having fun.
2. The PCs are a team. Make sure they know that this is a cooperative game and they are not trying to
“​win​” instead of the other PCs.
3. Even though you are controlling the enemies and NPCs you are also not trying to “win” or defeat the
PCs either. See being a GM as being a storyteller and that the PCs are the main characters of that
story, you are not trying to stop the PCs from completing their quest and earn their positions as heroes
but at the same time if you go too easy on them then they have not earned their position.
4. Add a bit of flare to the game. The games are the outline and content of the adventure your PCs are
going on but what is going to make it that much more is you putting in some creativity and flare. Put on
voices for the characters (or if you are experienced go for a full persona), when you're reading
exposition and descriptions add some drama to it. If Mayhem happens add some colour to it and if a
player fails a test rather than just saying the fail come up with a reason they failed and maybe a
consequence for it.
5. You're all here to have fun.

The flow of the game;

As the GM you have the power of final arbitration on everything in the game that is not covered in the rules so
how you structure what the PCs do is guided by the game but you still have final say.

The first thing you need to do is work out how you are going to structure the order your players will go in you
can do this however you want but here is some good advice:

Outside of a fight pretty much allow for anything to be done that you are happy with and don’t worry about
enforcing any turn order.

Inside of combat start with the PC to your left and give each PC a single action (move/ attack/ other), half way
through your PCs, do the same with half the enemies (your choice). When to do the other half of them? Well id
the enemies started the fight do them before the PCs whilst if the PCs started it do them at the end.

No matter how far over the ​Hit​ the PCs are they only ever score one hit and each turn they can only do one
action and unless otherwise stated in that game's rules they can only target a single enemy or thing.

When a PC gets the final hit on an enemy they can then choose if they kill them or just defeat them and in the
games provided these choices may come back to bite them. Maybe that guy they let live comeback to help
them later on or he comes back with a small army of reinforcements the game will decide.
How to read the GM section of the games
When looking at the maps presented for use in the game the numbers/letters seen are the section to look at
and read from when the players are in that area only.

You will notice as you read through that most things are in a numbered list, that number will represent the area
on the map provided with the same number so you only need to read anything in there when the PCs are in
that section.

If the writing is in ​italics​ the it means in should be read allowed to the PCs by yourself whilst if it is in standard
text then it is information that is mainly for you to help you understand the world.

If it is in ​bold​ then it is an enemy entry let me walk you through a few examples so you know how to read the
entry:

4 Goblins​ ​[2]

In the above example this is read as 4 Goblins with a hit value of 2. This means there are four individual
Goblins and to hit them they need a 3 or more to hit them and one hit will kill (or defeat) a Goblin.

Bugbear 3 [5]

This example means there is a single Bugbear that needs to be hit 3 times to kill (or defeat) and that they need
a 6 or more to hit it.

2 Wargs 2 [4]

Now this example says that there are 2 Wargs that each need 2 hits to kill (or defeat) and that you need a 5 or
more to hit them.

So as you can see they are read as: Number of them if more than 1 / Name of enemy / Number of hits needed
if more than 1 / [​Hit​].

Often there will be more than one type of enemy and sometimes you will even have a choice of enemies.
Below are some examples of how they will look and what the mean.

4 Goblins​ ​[2] ​AND ​2 Wargs 2 [4]

This means that there are 4 Goblins and 2 Wargs here.

2 Wargs 2 [4] ​OR ​Bugbear 3 [5] ​AND ​2 Goblins​ ​[2]

This means you have a choice of the PCs encountering either 2 Wargs or a Bigbear and 2 Goblins.

4 Goblins​ ​[2] ​AND ​{​ ​2 Wargs 2 [4] ​OR ​Bugbear 3 [5] }

This means 4 Goblins and your choice of either 2 Wargs or 1 Bugbear.

On occasion there will be a puzzle or task that the players must perform. These are not normally done through
a test but the players need to use their own reasoning skills to come up with the plan. However sometimes it is
hard for a GM to know what can work and what won't when this is the case so for each of these times there will
be some text with it. ​Green​ text is examples of what would work whist ​red​ text is examples of what won't, this
should help you make judgement calls. If your players are having trouble coming up with ideas you may share
this information.

Here is an example: The PCs are in a room with a large pit blocking the only way to the door on the other side.
There are vines on one wall and some rock around the place the vines don’t look weak but they look like they
may only be growing on the wall of the cave and not firmly attached to it. Like most caves there are lots of
stalactites. There seems to be a draw bridge on the other side but it has been raised.
They could make a lasso out of the vines [4] and The other side is too far away to jump it and there is
then attempt to get it securely to a stalactite above no room for a running start.
them [6] and then swing across.
The pit is exceptionally deep and is a sheer face on
If the PC’s have a rope the could do the same easier either side so climbing down and then up is not an
[5] and if it has a grappling hook it is even easier [4] option nor is pole vaulting.

If they have a ladder of at least 25ft they can lay it Trying to make enough stalactites fall to fill up the pit
across the pit and cross. is far more likely to kill them all then work.

Where the is a bridge there are people right? Calling They can’t see a switch on the other side so they
out may get someone to lower the bridge, but they can’t shoot any switch to make it lower the
may not be friendly. drawbridge.

Those choices are not the only choices they could come up with other ideas. Say one of the PCs can fly or is
very small and light they might try climbing across the other side using the vines, and then find the switch to
lower the bridge. Or maybe one of the PCs is very strong and decides to use the rope and grappling hook to
grab onto the top of the bridge and force it down. So remember the list you are given is not the only answers to
it. If it makes sense let them do it. If you think it will require a test set a number. Here is a good rule of thumb of
easy = 2, medium = 4, hard = 6 and nearly impossible= 9.

Some areas will have a t[#] (# will be a number between 2 and 10 as normal) next to their number/letter. This
means that their is some kind of trap there (an alarm, pit trap, electrified fence/handle, exploding door, or
Justin Bieber “music” and the like). The number is the difficulty of finding and disarming it one test and they do
both, however never tell the PCs what the difficulty is. If they fail then simple say “you find no traps”. You will
be told what the trap dose and if the PCs are to be told about it when it activates.

<​Pro Tip​:​ If you players decided they want to look for traps in areas where there are no traps still have them
go through a test and no matter what they flip say “you find no traps” this will lead to paranoia and caution with
your PCs.>

If you see a $[#] anywhere on the map then that is designating a secret thing that the players must search for If
there is more than one in an area then they will be colour coded so you can see which is which. Remember
that the # means a number and that number will be the difficulty of the search. As with traps if the fail to find
the hidden item don’t say they have failed only say “you find nothing special”. If there is more than one of these
in a single area then normally a single test will find all that it is higher then, don’t however tell the players that
there is more to find if anything is left.

With both traps and secret things never allow PCs more than one test each to find something, that will stop the
players spending ages looking for things that are not there or “camp out” in a place until they are confident that
they have everything (that takes a lot more time then you may think)

On occasion you will come acress ​blue​ text underneath an NPC this is to indicate particular personality traits of
that NPC that are not only for your own use but to help you judge how an action a PC might make will effect
that NPC. For example if the NPC is ​cowardly​ then scaring or threatening them would work very well but if the
NPC who ​hates bullies​ sees the characters doing such a thing they won't want to help the PCs. So remember
to think carefully about how that NPC will act. If any PCs have information for the characters then it will be
displayed in the following manor;
● If it is in “speech marks” then the NPC will say this to the PC as soon as they choose to interact with
them.
● If it is after a [!] that means the NPC will say it as soon as they see the PCs and they will say it an
example would be if the NPC was calling for help.
● [0] means the NPS will tell the PCs this as soon as they ask a relevant question.
● [#] means that they have to pass some kind of persuasion test equal to that difficulty to get that
information.

And that is everything you need to know about reading any of the games I release using this system.