How to play in the Drama & Danger Club

Abilities and Checks

Each character has a score in these abilities.

To check an Ability, roll d20 + ability score to meet or beat the Difficulty Check (DC) of the scene.

DCs

The DM sets the DC for the scene. All checks are made against that DC. The DM thinks of how to describe the scene and chooses one of these.

Effects

When using a tool, weapon, or magic, roll an effect die after a successful check. Common effects are:

Advantage / Disadvantage

Advantage: roll two d20s and use the higher result in your check. 

Disadvantage: roll two d20s and use the lower result in your check. 

Situations that give advantage / disadvantage:

• surrounded
• high ground / unstable or difficult terrain
• surprised 

Criticals / Fumbles

A 20 on the die roll of a d20 check is a Critical and automatically succeeds in the best possible way. If an effect (like damage) is rolled, the effect dice are doubled. A Critical earns a Hero Die that the player awards to another player.

A 1 on the die roll of a d20 check is a Fumble and fails in the worst way. A Fumble earns a Hero Die for the player.

Hero Dice

The DM awards Hero Dice (d6s) for good role-play, clever ideas, or collaboration. Spend any number of Hero Dice to improve a check or effect roll. 

There is no limit to the number of Hero Dice a character can have.  

Spell-casting

The character casting a spell rolls the required magic ability against the DC. If successful, the effect is rolled. 

If a fumble occurs, the spell has the opposite of its intended effect. For example: healing helps the monsters, damage hurts the party.

Different classes use different Abilities to cast spells:

Fighting monsters

When monsters appear, the DM calls to roll for initiative. Each person rolls a d20. The highest number goes first and players take turns clockwise from the first player (play moves to the left).

On their turn, players take their actions: rolling checks against the DC to attack monsters. If successful, a player rolls the damage effect of their spell or attack. The DM subtracts that damage from the monster’s HP.

On the DM’s turn, the DM announces what the monsters are doing and whom they attack. The DM rolls the d20 and adds the monster’s attack bonus to the roll. If that result is equal or higher than the character’s AC, it hits and the DM rolls the damage effect die. The player subtracts the damage from their HP.

Healing

Characters can take a short rest to recover d8 HP. Other ways to heal: 

0 HP

At 0 HP, a character goes unconscious. On each of their turns, if not revived by another, the player rolls a d20. If the result is a 20, they regain consciousness with 1 HP and earn a Hero Die.

To revive a character, another character can make a WIS check. If successful, the character regains consciousness with 1 HP. The PC who revived the other earns a Hero Die.

Size

A creature can be Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge, or Gargantuan. Player characters are usually Medium, sometimes Small.