Tabletop RPG

Welcome to the Tabletop RPG wiki. This is the structural home for the original card-based Fated Hand RPG, separate from the shared Universe Registry.

This wiki is under construction. The module pages below are placeholders for the upcoming V2 review; do not treat them as up-to-date or playable rules.

GM adjudication in rare cases

The established rules and Skill text are the default. Fated Hand cannot anticipate every unusual combination of abilities, circumstances and narrative events. In rare special cases where the normal wording does not fully settle the outcome, the GM makes a case-by-case ruling, guided by the intent and logic of the existing system and the fiction.

This principle keeps the game playable without needing a separate printed rule for every fringe situation. It does not replace clear standing rules or establish a new automatic exception, penalty or outcome. Where a recurring case reveals a genuine rules gap, it can be reviewed and formalised later.

Core Attribute colours

Throughout the Nexus, the five Core Attributes use consistent visual identities:

Might · Agility · Wits · Presence · Essence

Attribute rules are now approved in our new Attributes & Challenges page.

Approved V2 foundations

We are rebuilding the rules in small, linked subjects rather than copying the old module text wholesale.

Attributes & Challenges: Base and Current Attributes, character-creation XP costs, Base cap, Challenge difficulty ladder and success.
Card Commitment & Burning: Play, Burn, payment Discard, free Discard, costs remaining paid after failed actions, GM-adjudicated unpayable costs, Burn strips and modifier resets.
Activations & Card Timing: cards normally used during the active player’s own activation, with exceptions specified on cards.
Rounds & Activations: Round-wide draws, player-chosen activation order without Initiative rolls, alternating sides, Surprise exceptions, affordable actions and NPC placement.
Position & Movement: Engaged as a shared melee with free target switching, voluntary movement costs, forced movement including eligible Hidden/Flying targets and completion despite Parting Blows incapacitation, mitigable source-less Parting Blows and Safely Disengage.
Deck Structure & Card Zones: exactly 30 Skill cards, normal maximum five-card hand and separate Gear and Level-card zones.
Hand Size & Round Refills: keep cards between activations and Rounds, refill to the maximum at Round start, and cycle a Hand through card use.
Fatigue & Recycling: player-character reshuffling, Exhaust cost and fatal draw failure; GM deck Exhaustion does not apply.
Rest & Recovery: recovery of Exhausted cards, and the planned adventure/rest cycle.
Equipped & Carried Gear: six Equipped spaces, six Carried cards and the usual maximum of 12.
Level Cards & Advancement: 15 starting XP and the approved role of Level cards in future character growth.

These pages contain approved fundamentals; outstanding design questions are called out explicitly.

Legacy module roadmap — awaiting review

Foundations · 01–04

Systems & GM · 05–09

World & Catalogues · 10–15

References & Adventures · 16–20

How this wiki relates to Fated Hand

The Universe Registry describes characters, Realms and other persistent fictional identities. These module pages describe how the tabletop game is played, and will eventually link to structured tabletop game records such as Skills, Equipment and Conditions.

Our immediate goal is to migrate small approved sections, checking each against V2 as we go. Read Migration & Canon Policy before copying existing rules.