WHAT MAKES WORLDS WITHIN UNIQUE?

Worlds Within is designed around creativity and cooperation — it’s a, “yes, and . . .” rather than a, “no, but . . .” system.

The Narrator is a vital part of the team. Their job is to guide adventurers through a story, providing conflict and character growth in equal measure. The result is a push and pull as each participant takes a turn weaving the tapestry of the world.

Up to four Adventurers build their own characters and Abilities to play through the Narrator’s world. We encourage players to focus on concepts over classes. Where does your character’s power come from? What makes them unique? Take these questions and create something completely your own.

One of many unique aspects of Worlds Within is the freedom to design your own Abilities and grow them in strength alongside your character. These Abilities are not limited to attacks — they can, for example, be used to listen in on conversations at an impossible distance or craft advanced technology and robotics. Abilities can even allow you to summon the dead or have telling visions of potential futures.

The possibilities are truly up to you.

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Simplified Dice Rolls

Worlds Within uses two 6-sided dice for all rolls. Like many traditional TTRPGs, rolls are added to character statistics to determine success in various challenges, including combat. Unlike many other systems, players use four Attributes — 5-8 statistics depending on how you look at it — for the entire game.

These mechanics keep gameplay moving and calculations streamlined.

Flexible Actions

Character turns consist of one Action and one Reaction, both of which let you interact, use Abilities, and fight. Reactions can be taken any time during or between turns, and characters may use available movement during any Action or Reaction. Characters can also design and grow their Abilities to do even more in a turn!

Depending on their Abilities, characters may be able to do even more on a turn!

Dynamic Combat & Healing

Our combat system uses a very simple damage chart that determines the effectiveness of both damage dealt and healing effects.

Because of the relationship between character statistics and our chart, characters rely on developing their Abilities rather than accumulating cumbersome amounts of “health points.” This system also rewards accuracy: an accurate hit always deals more damage, just like in real life.

Incremental Power

Rather than awarding arbitrary experience, characters grow through gaining Power. Every point of Power makes you stronger, and the more Power you accumulate, the more you can use to develop your Abilities. Consequently, the greater your Abilities are, the more powerful your character is!

Adaptable Abilities

Abilities — composed of Effects and Modifiers — are the central mechanic of this game. By choosing different combinations, players can easily learn to create any Ability they wish and determine the corresponding costs for their character to learn and use those Abilities.

Balanced Crafting & Equipment

The same mechanics used for Abilities seamlessly apply to crafting objects, equipment, machines, robots, ships, buildings, and so on. To help you design your own, we provide you with plenty of easy-to-use examples.

Simple Resource Management

All Abilities draw energy from Spirit, which represents both the physical and metaphysical resources that empower your actions. Characters can replenish Spirit with rest or recover more with items and equipment.

Realistic Learning

In place of rolling dice, Worlds Within uses a tiered, expandable Knowledge system based on a character’s statistics and personal experience. This approach more effectively reflects what characters know and learn. Knowledge is never a senseless, random gamble! You know what you know!

The Bottom Line

Many more tidbits of flavorful and fun game mechanics help provide a smooth, fast-paced, and realistic gameplay experience. But once you learn the basics — which you can actually do in one sitting — the process becomes so easy, your focus will shift from whether or not you can do something to what it is you actually want to do!

When it comes to rules (and anything else), we believe in quality over quantity. Everything you need to play fits in one small book you can easily slip into a purse or satchel and tote anywhere.

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FAQ

What type of dice does Worlds Within use, how many, and why? Does it use more in other situations?

• Worlds Within uses a 2d6, and ONLY 2d6! (You could technically play WW with just 1d6 and roll twice, if you don't mind extra turn time.)
  
  We chose to use two 6-sided dice for many reasons, but here are a few:
  
  
  • 6 sided dice are the most common, well known, and accessible dice out there!
  
  
  • 2d6 lets us use fun, unique mechanics when rolling doubles!
  
  
  • Adding more dice for various situations just adds unnecessary variables in calculations and numerical complexity.
  
  
  • Additionally, constantly having to switch to the appropriate dice further adds to turn time. It all adds up, and while the statistics certainly add to the fun, we want that element to be as streamlined as possible.

How does combat work without hit point bloat?

• Everyone (and everything) has 10 "Health." This means that Resistances (armor, defensive techniques, supernatural abilities, etc.) are what scale to better protect you and others. This prevents everyone from arbitrarily growing an ever increasing pool of health that quickly becomes both unrealistic and cumbersome in terms of punishment and combat duration. This also means combat is both faster, and more exciting!

Do you spend your “experience points” directly to increase your character power?

• Our Power tree/pyramid (reflected in our character sheet) Is not only the grand total of a character's Attributes, but also the means by which players can grow further. Every point of Power lets you invest directly into your character further—both in Attributes and in developing Abilities!

Is there a level system … or just total “experience points” used to balance encounters?

• The Power system we use also takes care of encounter balancing, being a far more reliable way of gauging combat and situational difficulty. No additional formulas needed!

Does the same system work/apply to social conflicts?

• Social conflicts/non-combat encounters are absolutely covered by the same system. Abilities all stem from Power, which lets you develop your characters' combat and non-combat Abilities the way you want, when you want. We have detailed guides on how to make your Abilities, a slew of example versions, and how you can use the same, simple system to make everything else! We even have a Narrator's guide that discusses basic sessions and adventure structure, storytelling, and even group dynamics!

Do you plan to release more editions of the system? What about more content in general?

• From the beginning, we have designed Worlds Within to be a singular, complete edition. We don't believe in planned obsolescence, and are firmly against creating volume strictly for financial gain.


• As far as additional content, it has always been our plan to create and share more in the form of premade Adventures and create a community where ideas for settings, Abilities, items, creatures, and games can be found, joined, and shared. In fact, we are developing a marketplace as a convenient hub for you to sell your third-party creations, and network with each other! We just need your help spreading the word!