Why Would You Fight a Dragon?

4 · hunter

HunterWhy Would You Fight a Dragon?

Pyre

Mark circles or slide a paperclip.
Fill four and you're consumed.

Namee.g. Sigurd, Vanda, Skuba, Bastian, Fleur, Martha, Wulf, Maud, Juro, Orm

ClassBellowe.g. Knight, King, Bowman, Wizard, Maiden, Mutant, Trickster, Saint

Looke.g. radiant, fair, pale, gaunt, scarred, sooty, grim, old, white hair, wild eyes

Stats

Body(physical strength and stamina)

Wits(mental acuity and perception)

Soul(arcane potency and spiritual force)

Distribute −2 to +2 so the total equals +1, or choose one from (+2,0,−1), (+1,+1,−1), (+1,0,0), (+2,+1,−2) and swap. When it drops to −3, Turn to Ash.

Notes

XP

Mark 1 XP when you roll a 6−, or your Goal leads you into danger.
4 XP and a moment of rest: raise a stat by +1 (up to +3) or clear 1 Pyre.

How to Play

If you do it, do it in the fiction. Describe how and what it looks like.

If it triggers a move, the DM will call it. If it fits no move, don't roll: it happens.

When everything's on fire and the Dragon's about to eat you, action calls for Face Fury.

Player Principles

Begin and end with the fiction.
Bind your story to other Hunters.
Be bold, take risks, embrace the fire.
Pay attention, ask questions, offer suggestions.

1 · cover

a roleplaying game of violence, change, and sacrifice
for up to 5 people, in 2–4 hours

Fall fearless like Beowulf.

Let your wants change you like Fáfnir.

Save a princess and blackmail townsfolk like Saint George.

Written by Piotr Monwid-Olechnowicz. Illustrated by Rouzeris. Proofread by Zack Thomson, Wafergix, Łukasz Bartoszewicz, Radek MG.

Based on 1 HP Dragon by Clayton Notestine. Face Fury adapts Jeremy Strandberg's Defy Danger, Restated, used under CC BY-SA 4.0. The ruleset is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.

lol.haspar.us/why-dragonhasparus.itch.io

2 · moves I

ace Fury

When the stakes are dire, danger is imminent,
and you act anyway, roll 2d6:

+Body to endure, act fast or with finesse
+Wits to apply expertise, enact a clever plan, or rely on senses
+Soul to invoke the arcane, unleash mystical forces, resist esoteric energies

On a 10+, you pull it off as well as one could hope.
On a 7–9, the DM will present a partial success, a tradeoff, or a complication.
On a 6−, mark 1 XP and the DM makes a move.

ellow

Once per session, when you introduce a fact or narrative detail from your past life, it affects the fiction immediately, no roll required. It must be related to your Class, not the Dragon. The DM and other players can ask you to adapt it.

toke the Fire

When you chase your Goal with abandon: describe it, push through it, interrupt the DM mid-sentence if need be.

Reroll your die, but raise Pyre.

elinquish Your Goal

When you give up on your original motivation:

Describe why you forsake your Goal.
You are visibly changed: the way you walk, your facial expression, a symbol of your previous motivation. Say how.

You may turn one of your rolls into a success now or later.

urn

When you wield power torn from the Dragon, roll +Pyre.

On 10+, the power obeys.
On 7–9, it works, but raise Pyre and say what else catches fire.
On 6−, you lose control. Raise Pyre, mark 1 XP, and the DM makes a move.

DM's Agenda

Make the Dragon vast and terrible.
Learn what they're willing to burn.
See what's left when the smoke clears.

DM Moves

Hurt, Raze, Capture, Separate,
Reveal, Bargain, Soar, Threaten.

The Dragon

The Dragon is made of Barriers: Scales to shield it, Fangs to deter attackers, and Curses to spell doom if it ever dies. Each is Known or Secret until a Hunter unveils it, and each can be destroyed or taken. Put them in the center of the table. For short games, use 3–5 and start in medias res; for four-hour games, add 1–2 more and a Curse on top.

3 · moves II

ump Into Flames

When you throw yourself in to help another Hunter, reroll their dice. You share the consequences and take −1 Stat to match the danger:

Body for fire and force
Wits for lies and madness
Soul for hex and heartbreak

More than one Hunter can jump in on the same action.

hrow Sand

When you interfere with another Hunter’s action, Face Fury.
On 7+ you impose −2 to their roll or diminish their effect. They may stop what they’re doing and get 1 XP.
On 10+ you also avoid the consequences.

urn to Ash

When one of your Stats gets to −3 or lower:
Set it to −3 and raise Pyre.

You succumb to your wounds.
You are out of action until helped or until the scene ends.

evel Up

When you have 4 XP or more, and a moment of rest, spend 4 XP to raise one of your stats by +1 (up to +3) or clear 1 Pyre.

ftermath

When the Dragon or the Hunters are defeated:

Take 1 XP if you have defeated the Dragon.
Take 1 XP if you praise another Hunter’s deed. No duplicates.

For each unspent XP you hold, choose one from the following:

Fulfill your Goal. Describe how getting what you wanted changes your life.
Clear 1 Pyre. Time and distance heal your wounds.
Claim a piece of the Dragon that wasn’t destroyed: a Scale, a Fang, a Curse.

Choices are repeatable. If you Relinquished your Goal, describe the life you found in its place.

Then, go around the table once again.

If you’re consumed and dead, name the legend told about you. If you’re consumed, but alive, tell of the desolation you’ve wrought upon the world. Otherwise, for each marked Pyre, another Hunter describes a shadow over your future.

The DM looks at the remaining pieces of the Dragon and narrates their future.

aise a Toast

When the game ends, for the last time, go around the table.

Say one Wish, something that could’ve been handled better or differently, in fiction or at the table; and Highlight one thing you liked in the game.

4 · hunter

HunterWhy Would You Fight a Dragon?

Pyre

Mark circles or slide a paperclip.
Fill four and you're consumed.

Namee.g. Sigurd, Vanda, Skuba, Bastian, Fleur, Martha, Wulf, Maud, Juro, Orm

ClassBellowe.g. Knight, King, Bowman, Wizard, Maiden, Mutant, Trickster, Saint

Looke.g. radiant, fair, pale, gaunt, scarred, sooty, grim, old, white hair, wild eyes

Stats

Body(physical strength and stamina)

Wits(mental acuity and perception)

Soul(arcane potency and spiritual force)

Distribute −2 to +2 so the total equals +1, or choose one from (+2,0,−1), (+1,+1,−1), (+1,0,0), (+2,+1,−2) and swap. When it drops to −3, Turn to Ash.

Notes

XP

Mark 1 XP when you roll a 6−, or your Goal leads you into danger.
4 XP and a moment of rest: raise a stat by +1 (up to +3) or clear 1 Pyre.

How to Play

If you do it, do it in the fiction. Describe how and what it looks like.

If it triggers a move, the DM will call it. If it fits no move, don't roll: it happens.

When everything's on fire and the Dragon's about to eat you, action calls for Face Fury.

Player Principles

Begin and end with the fiction.
Bind your story to other Hunters.
Be bold, take risks, embrace the fire.
Pay attention, ask questions, offer suggestions.

4 · hunter

HunterWhy Would You Fight a Dragon?

Pyre

Mark circles or slide a paperclip.
Fill four and you're consumed.

Namee.g. Sigurd, Vanda, Skuba, Bastian, Fleur, Martha, Wulf, Maud, Juro, Orm

ClassBellowe.g. Knight, King, Bowman, Wizard, Maiden, Mutant, Trickster, Saint

Looke.g. radiant, fair, pale, gaunt, scarred, sooty, grim, old, white hair, wild eyes

Stats

Body(physical strength and stamina)

Wits(mental acuity and perception)

Soul(arcane potency and spiritual force)

Distribute −2 to +2 so the total equals +1, or choose one from (+2,0,−1), (+1,+1,−1), (+1,0,0), (+2,+1,−2) and swap. When it drops to −3, Turn to Ash.

Notes

XP

Mark 1 XP when you roll a 6−, or your Goal leads you into danger.
4 XP and a moment of rest: raise a stat by +1 (up to +3) or clear 1 Pyre.

How to Play

If you do it, do it in the fiction. Describe how and what it looks like.

If it triggers a move, the DM will call it. If it fits no move, don't roll: it happens.

When everything's on fire and the Dragon's about to eat you, action calls for Face Fury.

Player Principles

Begin and end with the fiction.
Bind your story to other Hunters.
Be bold, take risks, embrace the fire.
Pay attention, ask questions, offer suggestions.

4 · hunter

HunterWhy Would You Fight a Dragon?

Pyre

Mark circles or slide a paperclip.
Fill four and you're consumed.

Namee.g. Sigurd, Vanda, Skuba, Bastian, Fleur, Martha, Wulf, Maud, Juro, Orm

ClassBellowe.g. Knight, King, Bowman, Wizard, Maiden, Mutant, Trickster, Saint

Looke.g. radiant, fair, pale, gaunt, scarred, sooty, grim, old, white hair, wild eyes

Stats

Body(physical strength and stamina)

Wits(mental acuity and perception)

Soul(arcane potency and spiritual force)

Distribute −2 to +2 so the total equals +1, or choose one from (+2,0,−1), (+1,+1,−1), (+1,0,0), (+2,+1,−2) and swap. When it drops to −3, Turn to Ash.

Notes

XP

Mark 1 XP when you roll a 6−, or your Goal leads you into danger.
4 XP and a moment of rest: raise a stat by +1 (up to +3) or clear 1 Pyre.

How to Play

If you do it, do it in the fiction. Describe how and what it looks like.

If it triggers a move, the DM will call it. If it fits no move, don't roll: it happens.

When everything's on fire and the Dragon's about to eat you, action calls for Face Fury.

Player Principles

Begin and end with the fiction.
Bind your story to other Hunters.
Be bold, take risks, embrace the fire.
Pay attention, ask questions, offer suggestions.

4 · hunter

HunterWhy Would You Fight a Dragon?

Pyre

Mark circles or slide a paperclip.
Fill four and you're consumed.

Namee.g. Sigurd, Vanda, Skuba, Bastian, Fleur, Martha, Wulf, Maud, Juro, Orm

ClassBellowe.g. Knight, King, Bowman, Wizard, Maiden, Mutant, Trickster, Saint

Looke.g. radiant, fair, pale, gaunt, scarred, sooty, grim, old, white hair, wild eyes

Stats

Body(physical strength and stamina)

Wits(mental acuity and perception)

Soul(arcane potency and spiritual force)

Distribute −2 to +2 so the total equals +1, or choose one from (+2,0,−1), (+1,+1,−1), (+1,0,0), (+2,+1,−2) and swap. When it drops to −3, Turn to Ash.

Notes

XP

Mark 1 XP when you roll a 6−, or your Goal leads you into danger.
4 XP and a moment of rest: raise a stat by +1 (up to +3) or clear 1 Pyre.

How to Play

If you do it, do it in the fiction. Describe how and what it looks like.

If it triggers a move, the DM will call it. If it fits no move, don't roll: it happens.

When everything's on fire and the Dragon's about to eat you, action calls for Face Fury.

Player Principles

Begin and end with the fiction.
Bind your story to other Hunters.
Be bold, take risks, embrace the fire.
Pay attention, ask questions, offer suggestions.