THE MAZE

A TTRPG System

credit: fryguys & spiralhighs

*~*~*~ !! ------------- SETTING INFO  ------------- !! ~*~*~*

A distant future.

100-some-odd years ago, the world was destroyed. Governments of old leveled terrible magics against one another, and without knowing the price for such power, the world was scorched to ash, razed to the ground. Many horrible years of chaos ensued, and from the horrors of war arose a savior, a cruel and just god by the name of Regina Cleary. Her willingness to innovate at any cost transformed the world from a barren hellscape to a thriving tomorrow, and she founded CLEAR Enterprises LLC to aid in keeping the peace. Many years of prosperity and harmony have followed.

This is what textbooks would have you know. Running an Empire is dirty. To keep the seat of power, sacrifices must be made. What better sacrifice than the disenfranchised? The criminals and deviants? The poor and destitute, those who can't fight back? Or perhaps those who dare to stand against you? Maybe even the ones who eagerly took up your banner of forceful reform, who no longer have a place in a world of peace?

The Maze is a yearly event that all look forward to with anticipation. 16 contestants from the dredges of society are scooped up and placed into a grueling and long selection process. Should they become a sole-survivor, their memories are wiped, and they are dropped into a maze with a mind of its own. There, they must survive in the belly of the beast or fight to escape its clutches for a total of 366 days and nights with no contact from the outside. They are not told their goal, and unbeknownst to them, the millions of privileged masses watch from their couches three days a week with popcorn on their laps.

*~*~*~ !! ------------- BASIC RULES ------------- !! ~*~*~*

LIST OF ABILITIES and their associated skills:

1. Ready

• Movement; any check related to movement, such as evasion, parkour or avoiding traps
• Combat; what it says on the tin, but also checks related to brute force
• Hardy; checks related to surviving Fatal hits, avoiding damage related to effects such as hunger, fear, poison, etc.
• Medicine; reviving fallen allies and fixing wounds for yourself and others

2. Interaction

• Deceit; lying or stealth
• Debate; used in opposed checks against stubborn, persuasion checks
• Stubborn; used in opposed checks against debate

3. Surroundings

• Awareness; physical awareness of surroundings, used to detect traps, nearby enemies or allies, etc.
• Insight; mental or emotional awareness, can be used in an opposed check against deceit

4. Navigation

• Recall; used in maze navigation, stacks with Night-navigation, how well a runner remembers the maze
• Night-navigation; similar to recall, but specifically having to do with navigating the maze at night

NORMAL CHECKS:

There are four main abilities: Ready, Interaction, Surroundings, and Navigation. Each player picks one die (d12, d10, d8 or d6) to associate with each of the main abilities. Each skill is associated with an ability. There is no such thing as a flat ability check, only skill checks. When making a skill check, use the die associated with that skill’s ability and add or subtract the modifier.

Ability: One of the four main scores; Ready, Interaction, Surroundings, and Navigation

Skill: One of the skills listed in the section above, such as Combat or Recall

Modifier: A number added or subtracted to a check

OPPOSED ROLL: An opposed roll is when two different people roll checks, and compare the outcomes to see who rolled higher. A tied score will favor either a PC (in the case of PC vs. NPC) or, in the case of PC vs. PC, will require a re-roll.

TAKING HALF: On normal rolls and damage rolls, a player can choose to take half instead of rolling, meaning if half of their die plus any modifier is more than or equal to the DC, they can automatically have a success.

"EXPLODING" DIE: A die has the ability to "explode" - if you roll the highest number on that die, you may roll it again and add that to your total calculated score, but only add the skill modifier once.

ADVERSITY TOKENS: If you fail a roll, you will be granted adversity token(s), which can be used to make the outcome of any roll higher. A token is worth one point, and can be added to the total of any roll that is not a snap roll, loot roll, or group roll. They can also  be applied to allies' rolls under the same rules.

Success and failure come on different scales. Each success or failure is associated with different outcomes, as show on the chart below.

EXAMPLE 1: I am making an opposed Debate roll. The NPC I am rolling against has rolled a 5, and because my Interaction ability is a d10, and I have a +1 to Debate, my half score is 6, and I choose to take half to automatically have a success on the check.

EXAMPLE 2: I am making a Deceit check, and the GM has informed me I need a score of 10. My Interaction is a d6, and I have +2 to Deceit. I roll the d6, and get a 6 on the die, meaning it explodes, and I roll it again. This time I get a 2. I add the 6 and 2 with my +2 skill modifier, which means I have a small success and pass the check.

EXAMPLE 3: I am making a Recall roll with a DC of 17. I have a d12 to Surroundings, and a +6 to Recall due to my traits. I roll an 8 on the die, and add my +6 to get a 14. I have 6 adversity tokens, so I decide to spend 3 to avoid failure, adding up to 17 for a small success.

EXAMPLE 4: I am making a DC 6 Combat check. I have a d10 to Ready, and a +2 to Combat. I roll a 6, making my total score an 8, and decide to spend 2 of my adversity tokens so I can have a major success instead of a small success.

OTHER TYPES OF CHECKS:

GROUP CHECK: A group check is a check made in a group to hit a collective DC. Each character rolls individually as though they are performing the check for themself. You may not apply adversity tokens to these rolls.

SNAP CHECK: Snap checks are checks made under dire circumstances, such as reactions to traps, quick or impulsive decisions, or checks made under distress. You may not apply adversity tokens to these rolls.

LOOT CHECK: Loot checks are checks to determine what class of loot (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Ultra, Legendary) a given room or defeated enemy provides in the maze. Any trait that refers to luck may be added as a bonus to these rolls. The GM will refer to a chart to determine what loot is given. You may not apply adversity tokens to these rolls.

DAMAGE CHECK: Similar to saving throws in DnD, when taking damage in the game, the character being hurt or given an effect will roll a damage roll to see how badly the character is injured. The Hardy skill modifier is added to these rolls. The total determines how bad the injury is. There are other traits that effect these rolls, described in the trait section. Adversity tokens CAN be applied to these rolls.

DAMAGE AND INJURY:

There is no hit point system in this game. Instead, damage rolls determine how badly your character is injured, and what permanent effects, if any, are applied. Injuries can go up in severity if left untreated. Refer to the table below:

Treatment may be performed on oneself except for in the occurrence of a Fatal injury. All injuries above Scratches require treatment.

EFFECTS:

There are a handful of effects that can cause characters to sustain damage, be hindered, or be helped in different ways. Effects can be gained by failing a damage roll with a Serious Injury or worse.

DOWNTIME:

Time segments in The Maze are counted in downtimes. A downtime is 12 hours; one night and one day. For example, a week would be 14 downtimes. In a downtime, you can choose from multiple things to do that have effects on both survival in the clearing and the maze. The GM will keep track of the general level of supplies, which are collective for the group. The more supplies the clearing has, such as infrastructure, crops, animal goods, etc., the more difficult it becomes to gain the Hunger and Thirst effect. Exhaustion becomes more difficult to gain if this value is high as well. Supplies deplete over time with inaction.

*~*~*~ !! ------------- CHARACTER CREATION ------------- !! ~*~*~*

The focus of character creation in the Maze is making a compelling story. First step is not to consider mechanics but to come up with a reason that your character is in the maze, and what their life was like up to this point.

The Maze contestants are primarily enemies of the state (such as political dissidents), criminals (from murderers to petty thieves), volunteers and disgraced military veterans. Life outside The Maze for people in the lower classes of society is difficult. Most people live in abandoned complex megastructures, as opposed to the upper classes and privileged clergy and military officials who live in single family homes. But get creative!

Secondly, make sure to craft some specific memories that are important to your character that they have forgotten since getting their mind wiped.

From there, assign a die to each of the main abilities and mark them down on your character sheet.

Then, pick 1 or 2 Background Traits and 1-3 Personality Traits to start. Mark down the associated bonuses, weaknesses, and special features. If none fit your character, work together with your GM to pick some custom bonuses and weaknesses!

As you progress in The Maze, make sure to keep track of any additional traits you earn through gameplay.

THE MAZE CHARACTER SHEET

Player name:

Character name/pronouns:

Description:

Traits:

ABILITIES:

SKILLS:

• Movement:
• Combat:
• Hardy:
• Medicine:
• Deceit:
• Debate:
• Stubborn:
• Awareness:
• Insight:
• Recall:
• Night-navigation (add Recall bonus as well):

  ---

*~*~*~ !! ------------- TRAITS ------------- !! ~*~*~*

BACKGROUND TRAITS:

Background Traits are traits that are chosen during character creation. They have to do with the character’s life before the maze - what did they do? Who were they? And how does that affect who they are now that they’re in the maze?

ASSASSIN:

BONUS:

• +3 Movement
• +5 Deceit
• +2 Night-navigation

WEAKNESS:

• -3 Combat during hand-to-hand combat
• -2 Hardy on any roll against Tunnel-vision

CHARLATAN:

BONUS:

• +5 Deceit
• +2 Debate
• +1 Insight

WEAKNESS:

• -4 Combat

DOCTOR:

BONUS:

• +6 Medicine
• +2 Debate
• +2 Insight related to the body
• Double modifier for Stubborn

WEAKNESS:

• -1 Combat
• -4 Debate

SOLDIER:

BONUS:

• +6 to Combat
• +2 to Awareness
• Gain an adversity token when defeating opponent in Combat

WEAKNESS:

• -3 Deceit (related to intentional lying)
• -2 Insight

SUPERFAN:

BONUS:

• +3 Insight
• +2 Recall
• +1 Night-navigation

WEAKNESS:

• 4 extra downtimes required to gain Contentment
• -1 Hardy

PERSONALITY TRAITS:

Personality Traits are traits related to a character’s personality. They are unique in that they are both chosen during character creation and can be gained during the course of a campaign.

CRYBABY:

BONUS:

• +3 Insight
• +1 Awareness

WEAKNESS:

• -2 Stubborn
• -2 on any roll against Fear

OBSESSIVE:

BONUS:

• +5 Stubborn (related to a character’s obsession)
• +2 Bonus to Hardy to avoid gaining exhaustion (related to obsession)

WEAKNESS:

• -2 Hardy on any roll against Tunnel-vision (unrelated to obsession)
• Automatic failure on any roll against Tunnel-vision (related to obsession)

SLIPPERY:

BONUS:

• While bonus is charged, character may take Serious Injury instead of Fatal Injury. Bonus loses charge after one use
• Bonus recharges when Contentment effect is gained

WEAKNESS:

• -2 Combat
• -2 Movement
• -2 Hardy

RUNNER TRAITS:

Each runner trait comes with bonuses and weaknesses related to running the maze. Runner Traits are gained through gameplay as opposed to Background Traits, which are chosen by the player before play begins. A character may have up to one subtrait corresponding to their main runner trait.

CARTOGRAPHER:

BONUS:

• +4 Recall
• +2 Night-navigation
• +2 Awareness
• Whenever a Cartographer goes to a part of the maze they haven’t been before, they receive a map piece for that area

WEAKNESS:

• -2 Maze-related Movement
• -1 Loot checks
• Gain Exhaustion if the Maze changes

PARTY:

Note: Mutually exclusive with Solo.

BONUS:

• +1 Loot checks while with party
• +3 Any medicine checks
• +4 Group checks inside the maze
• Ability to give party members adversity tokens on snap checks even while not physically present while in the maze

WEAKNESS:

• -3 Night-navigation
• -4 Maze-related Combat checks when alone
• Only able to receive map pieces while alone

BUDDY (SUBTRAIT)

Note: Trait must be had by two or more partners at a time. If one partner dies, becomes incapacitated, or if a falling out occurs, character loses this trait.

BONUS:

• +4 Medicine (when used on or by partner)
• +2 Insight on partner

WEAKNESS:

• Must leave maze with partner or gain Exhaustion and Fear

LEADER (SUBTRAIT)

BONUS:

• +2 Recall
• +1 Stubborn

WEAKNESS:

• Must leave maze WITH whole group or gain Exhaustion

LEECH (SUBTRAIT)

BONUS:

• Able to give +2 to any check made by any party member in the maze
• Able to receive map pieces in a group (negates Weakness)

WEAKNESS:

• -4 Maze-related Movement, Combat, and Hardy

SOLO:

Note: Mutually exclusive with Party.

BONUS:

• +4 Night-navigation
• +3 Recall
• +2 Stubborn
• +3 Maze-related Movement, Combat, and Hardy

WEAKNESS:

• -4 All medicine checks and healing skills when inside the maze
• -2 Group checks inside the maze
• -2 Debate checks
• Not able to receive pieces of map from GM.

ACCLIMATED (SUBTRAIT)

BONUS:

• +2 Night-navigation
• +2 Awareness

WEAKNESS:

• -1 Debate
• Cannot gain Contentment (overrides all other traits)

PATHETIC (SUBTRAIT)

BONUS:

• +4 Stubborn
• Maze changes do not affect the character

WEAKNESS:

• -2 Awareness
• -2 Insight

SPEEDRUNNER (SUBTRAIT)

BONUS:

• +3 Movement
• +1 Night-navigation

WEAKNESS:

• 4 extra downtimes required to gain Contentment (stacks with Superfan)

CLEARING TRAITS:

Each runner trait comes with bonuses and weaknesses related to running the maze. Runner Traits are gained through gameplay as opposed to Background Traits, which are chosen by the player before play begins.

FARMER

BONUS:

• Cannot gain Hunger while in the clearing
• +2 Supplies every downtime

WEAKNESS:

• Gains Hunger when suffering a miserable failure on Movement or Combat checks in the maze

ARCHITECT

BONUS:

• +1 Stubborn
• Can build infrastructure in half a downtime

WEAKNESS:

• When not sleeping in a conventional shelter, gain Exhaustion

HERMIT

BONUS:

• Have an independent stockpile of supplies that can be used to supplement or replace group supplies

WEAKNESS:

• Cannot solely take from group supplies. Must cultivate own supplies

CUSTOM TRAITS: Custom traits are either a combination of existing bonuses and weaknesses from other existing traits, or the genesis of entirely new traits based on agreement between the GM and player.