Any events that require timing or an initiation order are called Critical Events. They are played out on a wheel that is presented to the entire table.

Event Wheel Image

Concepts

• Wedges - Make up the Slices of the Wheel
• Time Tracker - A token used to keep track of whose turn it is.
• Round - When the time tracker makes a full revolution of the event wheel, this is one round.
• Character/Enemy Token (2) - This tracks player turns and the other player's status effects. They can be anything as long as they are unique to the other characters, small, and identical to each other.
• Characters have attributes with polarities (Static Polarity (SP) + Dynamic Polarity (DP)). Each one represents a varied approach to the attribute. 
  • They also define certain Stats - Stats that pertain to the base mechanics of the Critical Event are: 
    • Speed (SP) (Finesse + Fluidity) - Determines a character’s starting Wedge on the Wheel 
    • Action Points (AP) (Stability + Wisdom) - Determines how many actions a character can take on their turn.
• Turn - Once the time tracker reaches a player token, this is all the actions a player can make before waiting for the time tracker to reach their token again. The number of actions is dictated by the character's AP level.
• Rings -Make up the Layers of the Event Wheel 
  • Inside to Outside: 
    • Downed Ring - 0 HP [Once a Player Character, Party NPC, or Fight Boss hits 0, their token moves to this ring in the wedge they hit 0]
    • Wedge ID Ring - Gives a numerical value to each wedge, used mainly for initiative order
    • Time Tracker Ring - The Time Tracker progresses around this ring. 
    • Prep Ring - This ring is used for actions that are two-phase [ie. spells and ranged attacks]
    • Action Ring - This ring is where character tokens start and advance along as they take actions.
    • Effect Ring - This is the ring that, once a status effect is inflicted upon a character, tracks the time when the next effect occurs. [ie. character is poisoned, and it does -1 HP / Round; each time the Time tracker reaches that player's effect token, they take 1 damage to HP]

Note: Fluidity and Stability are opposing polarities, meaning a character cannot max out both speed and action points.

Operation Outline

• All characters place their tokens on the action ring in the wedge corresponding to their Speed
• The GM places the Time Tracker on the 12 wedge of the Time Tracker ring. 
• The Time Tracker then moves clockwise around the 12 wedges. When it reaches a wedge occupied by one or more character tokens, those characters take their turn.
  • Player characters go first, then party NPC’s and allies, then the Fight Boss, then other enemy NPCs. In the event of a tie, the tie-breaker goes to character polarity values: the player with higher Fluidity, then Volatility, then Finesse.
• On a character's turn, they choose actions which have corresponding AP costs. The character acts, spending the Action Points (AP) in their turn, then immediately advances their character token clockwise around the wheel by the number of wedges equal to the AP spent. They can then continue this process until they run out of AP for their turn.
  • Players can only perform an action that they have enough AP to perform. Ex: A player who has a low AP may not be able to perform a Heavy Melee attack that costs 6 AP.
• A character can choose to perform a two-phase action, such as a ranged attack, which requires aiming and shooting. The character announces the ranged attack and shifts their token to the prep ring; they advance their character the required wedges to execute the prep phase; they perform a difficulty check to see if the prep phase succeeds; if it does, they use AP to execute the attack. They move to the action ring and move forward the amount the action requires (usually 1 AP)
  • Unlike single actions like melee attacks, two-phase actions can be split across two turns, allowing a character to perform a powerful action like a massive spell that takes considerable AP to prepare. The downside is that being in a prepared state leaves the character vulnerable. If they are attacked and have to defend themselves or have to move to avoid a hazard, the preparation is canceled, and the character moves their token to the action ring, and the attack automatically fails.
• A character can also choose to perform a reactive action. They include:
  • Going on the Defense: Allows 1 extra reaction per turn.
  • Setting a trap/prepared conditional action. It allows characters to act out of turn. They advance their character the number of wedges the action requires and move to the prep ring. Ex. drawing a bow to fire at, or getting in a ready stance for an enemy getting ready to walk through a doorway. This allows a character to prepare an action before a condition is met. In this case, the character would spend the AP for the action, and then execute the check for success when the enemy walked through the door. Note that the character must be able to complete the full action in one turn, and pay the full AP cost upfront.
• Actions and Reactions:
  • The character taking their turn is the actor; their target character is the reactor.
  • Characters are allowed 1 reaction between turns. A character can use AP during their turn to Go on the Defense, which grants them an extra reaction between turns.
  • Reactions are resolved as Contested Checks using applicable Defined Skills (such as Parry, Dodge, or Shield Block):
    • Dodge / Evasion: Roll Fluidity + static Defined Skill Credits vs. the attacker's strike total.
    • Parry / Block: Roll Finesse or Brute + static Defined Skill Credits vs. the attacker's strike total.
• Action Costs
  • Action costs are set by the type of action (attacks are set by the weapon type) the character is taking.
    • Light Actions (2 AP): Ex. Quick attacks that trade speed for damage. [Swift jabs, rapier thrusts, quick-draw pistol shots]
    • Normal Actions (4 AP):  Ex. Standard attacks. [Broadsword swings, crossbow shots, standard martial strikes.]
    • Heavy Actions (6 AP): Ex. Massive impact but are slower. [Warhammer swings, heavy zweihander cleaves.]

Example (Note: all actions require checks; this is not fully illustrated for this example)

Characters:

• Jim (Heavy Hitter): AP = 11, Speed = 4; Joe (Quick Attacker): AP = 4, Speed = 11; Bob (Enemy Boss): AP = 6, Speed = 8
•  Character tokens placed on wheel: Joe is at 11, then Bob at 8, and last Jim is at 4
• The Time Tracker is placed at 12; it moves clockwise and reaches Joe at 11. Joe uses a dagger twice (2 x 2 AP) to deal 1 damage to Bob. [1 hit and 1 miss] This moves Joe's token forward 4 wedges to wedge 7
• The time tracker moves forward to Bob at wedge 8. Bob is a powerful mage, but with low AP, requires splitting the spell into two turns. Bob casts his spell, which requires 6 AP to prepare and 1 AP to execute, which is one more than his turn’s AP. Since spells are two-phase, he can split it over two turns since neither phase is over 6. He moves his token to the prep ring, performs the focus check [succeeds], and moves forward 6 wedges to wedge 2.
• The time tracker advances and comes to Joe at wedge 7. Taking advantage of Bob's prep state, he attacks with his dagger twice(2 x 2 AP) to interrupt the spell. Bob is forced to react and break his prep. Bob has to move his token to the action ring in wedge 2. Unfortunately, due to poor rolls on Joe’s part, both attacks miss. Joe’s Token moves forward to wedge 3.
• The time tracker advances to wedge 4, where Jim is. Jim is about 8 yards from Bob; he uses 1 AP to advance (movement speed = 2 yd x Speed/AP), uses 1 more AP to consume a potion that boosts his damage output, and pulls out his Heavy axe. He attacks Bob and gets a critical hit, dealing massive damage and putting Bob’s health to 0. This action consumed 8 total AP, and Jim advances around to the 8 wedge.
• Bob drops to the Downed Ring, and since he has no friends to revive him or defend him is left defenseless. 
• End fight state: At this point, the player's party (Jim and Joe) have the option to interrogate, execute, or leave the fight.
• Since they need info and the Time tracker advances to 3,  Joe is next up; he gets the option to interrogate Bob, but he isn’t able to get any information out of him.
• Being in the Downed ring, Bob isn't able to act, so the time tracker passes Bob.
• It advances around until it gets ot Jim. Jim is much scarier and is able to get the information out of Bob. And Jim and Joe decide to leave Bob wounded and alone. This ends the critical event.

Given the outlined system, I spent a fair amount of time tweaking and finding ways to exploit or break the system; however, I am that I missed an obvious exploit or whether a certain build may be the only option because of its superiority. I don't know if those cases exist, but I feel that I have reached a point where I may be too in the mechanics to see its flaws. I would love any feedback that anyone may have on this. Thank you.

Actions are resolved by the character combining their natural capability (their Approach) with a spendable resource called Effort. This sum forms your total Resolution Value, which is then measured against a Target Check. 

• Target Check Types
  • Opposing Action Check (Attack vs. Defend): Used when acting against an active NPC or creature. The GM has two options, the quick method, take the target’s base attribute and secretly adds a d6 roll from a pre-define pool for that action, good for quick interactions or quick combat; or the simulated method, where NPCs can also spend from their own Effort pools, which could be used for long engagements or extended challenges. Based on character knowledge the player may or may not know the level of challenge they are up against.
  • Difficulty Check (Environmental/Situational): Used when interacting with static challenges (like picking a lock). The GM sets a Difficulty Rating equal to a number of d6s. If the character would reasonably know how tough the action is, the GM reveals this rating beforehand, allowing the player to strategically choose how much Effort to commit before the GM rolls the hidden d6s.

The difference of Target Check from Resolution Value is the Margin of Success.

• Margin of Success Outcomes
  • < -5 (Critical Failure): Unsuccessful action with a severe narrative or tactical consequence.
  • -1 to -5 (Failure): Unsuccessful action with a minor complication.
  • 0 (Minor Success): Success, but with an added twist or minor complication.
  • 1 to 5 (Success): Clean, complete success.
  • > 5 (Critical Success): Exceptional success accompanied by a bonus mechanical or narrative benefit.

Approaches: How You Perform Actions

An Approach defines the flavor and method behind your action. For example, opening a locked door can be tackled with brute Strength to smash it, Dexterity to pick it, or Intelligence to locate a hidden mechanism.

• Universal Approaches: Every character starts with 8 base approaches (2 per Primary Attribute). These represent fundamental capabilities and cannot be directly leveled up. They simply benefit from the player leveling their Primary Attributes.
• Defined Approaches: Throughout the game players can create specialized approaches which is tied to a specific parent Universal Approach or another established Defined Approach(e.g., creating Melee Combat under Force [Universal] or Precision [Universal]). Defined Approaches can be leveled and benefit from parent leveling. (e.g. if Bladed Combat is under Melee Combat any increases in Melee Combat are added to Bladed Combat when it is used in determining a resolution value.)
• While a Defined Approach can be mostly open in definition, there are a few limitations, characters are limited to 20 total Defined Approaches, and Defined Approaches must be related to and more specific than their parent. 
• Defined Approaches are limited to 18 levels each. When calculating the Approach Value the parent Approach value is also added. (e.g. 18 [Bladed Combat] + 12 [Melee Combat (Parent)] = 30 Total Approach Value). Additive parent values continue to stack along the lineage, allowing a character’s approach to reach a near god-like status but in exchange for reduced versatility. The goal is to reward specialization but express that it may come at a cost. (i.e. the character with properly worded approaches may be able to perfectly slice the left wing of a common house fly in half that is buzzing 3 feet from his head with a steel katana starting from a sheathed position, but can do little else very well!)

Effort Pools, Exhaustion, and Recovery

Available Effort Points available is tied directly to the four Primary Attributes: Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, and Endurance. Your attribute level determines the number of sets available, while your Effort stat dictates how many points are in each set and caps the Effort per check. When a character spends all the points in an attribute, they face exhaustion. If the player continues to deplete the effort in more attributes they begin gaining trauma, which unless addressed can cause negative and even deadly effects to not only the character but those around them. Addressing/Healing trauma allows the character to reduce trauma levels but consumes resources that the player could use to increase the ability of the character, this is intended to create an immediate gain which exhausts the character vs longer term improvement cost dynamic.

• Exhaustion Penalties
  • Tired (1 Depleted Attribute): No further Effort can be spent from that attribute; +2 Difficulty Rating to all checks using that attribute.
  • Fatigued (2 Depleted Attributes): Inherit Tired penalties for both attributes and gain 1 Trauma point.
  • Exhausted (3 Depleted Attributes): Inherit Tired penalties for all three attributes and gain 1 additional Trauma point (2 total).
  • Unconscious (4 Depleted Attributes): Gain 1 additional Trauma point (3 total) and fall completely unconscious.

In addition to consumable items like potions, which restore Effort instantly but may carry side effects, characters can also recover Effort points through resting.

• Rest & Recovery Options

  • Short Field Rest (3–11 Hours): In an unsecured location requiring watch. Restores 6 Effort in one pool for the first 3 hours, plus 3 Effort per extra hour (up to 27 total).
  • Long Field Rest (12+ Hours): Fully restores one attribute pool; each additional hour restores 3 Effort in a second pool.
  • Sheltered Rest (8+ Hours): Taken in a safe, fortified location with no guard needed. Fully restores all Effort across all attributes.

  My goal is a resolution system that is somewhat familiar and thus making it easier to understand, has enough player agency in the outcomes but still generates that feeling of uncertainty. Through the effort system I wanted to make combat still possible and meaningful, but make the players hesitate to just run into battle due to the high effort cost. Also as the characters develop their approaches and invest in training their attributes, they can have the feeling of truly mastering the environment and situations they find themselves in. I would like to hear feedback related to the mechanic in regards specifically to mechanic clarity and ease of use, as well as any thoughts on the trade off with effort and trauma as well as any potential issues that stand out I may have missed.

Partially inspired by the concept of powerful beings watching the characters in the webnovel Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, I wanted to create a system that would allow the GM to reward the players with the ability to further increase their player character’s level.

Instead of fighting this enemy and getting XP, the idea is to gain XP by experiencing the story and trying different things.
To minimize GM discretion and hopefully speed up game flow during the session, the GM rolls 3d6 before each session to determine the specific interests of each Being. To aid the players, they are given “common knowledge” of these beings, i.e. one may prefer acts that are about structure and law, and another about chance and fate. This would allow players to have some idea of actions that could gain a being's interest.
While multiple characters can earn credit for the same action, each specific action grants credit only once per character. The GM tracks these bonuses behind the scenes, and during downtime leveling, it is revealed how many beings granted the character an inspirational bonus.

However, after introspection, I have run into some issues with the value of this mechanic.

• Since the system has a level of randomness and is not transparent, the rewards the players receive will probably feel arbitrary, rather than the intended goal of encouraging action they may deem not worth the effort. I could take the randomness out, but then it would just encourage the players to "blindly" search for the action until they found one, then use it over and over each session to get the bonus.
• How many beings would need to be created to create a broad enough spectrum to ensure that player characters have the possibility of earning a reward in the session? How many beings are too many, and would cause a huge amount of GM Overhead, not only in the prep work, but in tracking if a player character performed an act that fits into the beings’ categories? I originally played with various numbers, then looked at allowing the GM to homebrew the beings, and even just take the roll out to allow any of the possibilities to apply.
• The system in a dangling carrot kind of way encourages players to act out their characters in ways that “fish” for bonuses, and possibly act or react in ways contrary to how the character would naturally act.
• How easily will some characters become more powerful than the rest of the party, leading to imbalance and most likely dissatisfaction of those in the party that were not as lucky?

What are ways that I can address these concerns, or is the mechanic just a dead end and should be abandoned?

While working on my main project, I felt I needed a creative break.

I also know that my biggest challenge is being concise, so I created a new project with the restriction that the guide text had to fit into two pages or fewer. Due to the constraints, it includes no artwork or base lore.

The result was Krewz! You play as a Gremlin mecha pilot who has to complete "monster of the week" style missions, but to level up, you need to manage the issues of your krew with the help of your fellow squadron pilots.

I have posted on itch.io. I have included on the site a PDF version, a docs version, and a spreadsheet that has a few tools to help with player setup, as well as a player sheet and a few tables/context entries.

I would love to hear any feedback on the project. Thank you in advance for any critiques.