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Updated 10 days ago
Characters earn XP and Shards primarily by participating in adventures. Participating in an adventure grants a character 1 XP and 3 Shards. They may earn one more Shard by writing an adventure report.
Completing a community project can have different effects. Some projects may advance the Guild's or Bastion's story, whereas other community projects can grant contributing characters spark. Finally, some community projects might provide further options for downtime actions or change the Marketplace for a certain time.
Characters do not get spark for completing a character arc, they instead earn it with the downtime action Pursue.
After the cataclysm, magic has become unstable in areas with heavy Bloom. GMs can declare that a scene features heavy Bloom, such that all magic use and Arcana use may cause Wild Surges:
When casting, rolling two or more 1s (including thorns) triggers a secondary wild surge—raw magic spirals out of your control. Make a 2d story roll to see what happens. The effect might stem from your touchstones, raw magical essence, or something chaotically random. Use the GM crucible or ask around your group for ideas.
Facing death is an important part of adventuring. You fight the odds for fame, fortune, power, or so that others don’t have to. Should a character die (or permanently retire), the player gains their unspent Shard, plus any extra, as if all of their items were sold in the marketplace. When a character is dropped, all arcana and other items they had can still be used by other characters in the scene if it makes sense. These items aren’t lootable and aren’t lost by the character. Once a character is dropped, the player has three choices to pick from:
Months aren’t tracked; instead, we go through seasons. We go through Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, each separated into three intervals: Beginning of Season, Height of Season, and End of Season. When time passes, we move to the next interval, which resets Downtime Actions and gives certain benefits for Marketplace purchases.
These are magic items usable by the character. Arcana creation and rules have been overhauled for Grim Marches, allowing them to have a bit more uniform power. Characters may have 1 arcana from each tier, excluding expendable arcana and those granted from talents.
Full arcana rules can be found here.
Characters may permanently transfer Shard to others freely. Marketplace items are kept by the player and are not transferable.