Rules on how to

Play Your Own Hero

Welcome to The Guild!

Guild Intake Briefing (Dialogue)

7/22/26

You slowly become alert, your brain swimming through a gauzy haze of half-forgotten memories. There were shots pounded, beer guzzled, and a conversation was had. What did they say? Did I black out? But no, the gist of the words comes to you now. An Exotic is talking to you about your potential and the possibilities for greatness. Dangled before you were exotic adventures and a system that would allow you to thrive. You seem to remember a promise of unimaginable wealth. A question was asked. Despite the excess of alcohol, you remember the question clearly. "Do you want to join the Multiverse Adventurers Guild?" and your answer, fueled by the booze, was a yes...

The fog clears even more. You feel like you are floating on a cloud. Before you is a portal swirling purple and gray that pulses with power. An Exotic that you have never seen before stands before the portal, looking wise, looking calm. You get the feeling they have done this before, whatever this is. You look around. There are others here. Each at their own level of alertness. They are a bizarre mix of species in various costumes. One appears to be a Western gunslinger. Another pirate. Yet another a knight.

What rabbit hole have I fallen down, you think to yourself, and can I get out? The hangover drives the sudden fear of what you have gotten yourself into. You are always getting yourself into some kind of trouble. Can I back out of this? What would be the consequences of that decision? You feel the room around you growing restless.

The exotic steps forward:

“Before we begin, understand this clearly: you are not here because of where you’re from, when you’re from, or whatever world you call home.

You’re here because you showed potential.

The Guild doesn’t care if you’re a knight, a hacker, a witch, a gunslinger, or something no one here has a name for yet. If you can survive, adapt, and make decisions under pressure, we can work with you. Our systems will let you build what you already are - close enough that it won’t matter in the field.”

The handler pauses, letting that sink in.

“We exist to monitor timelines in flux. When worlds drift, fracture, or start breaking their own rules, we step in. Sometimes that means investigation. Sometimes it means diplomacy. Sometimes it means violence. You’ll decide which.”

They tap a control, and a holographic ledger flickers to life.

“Here’s the offer. For every successful assignment, compensation is placed into a private account under your name. You can leave the Guild at any time. When you do, the money goes with you. No debt. No ownership. No chains.”

A faint smile.

“We don’t recruit heroes because they’re perfect. We recruit them because they’re becoming something special. Right now, you’re better than average - stronger, smarter, luckier than most of the people in your home reality. That’s enough. The rest comes from surviving. You will be sent into a timeline with what you can carry. If you need money or gear, find it yourself. Just don't do anything to alter the timeline.”

The handler looks directly at each of you in turn.

They step aside, a portal beginning to form behind them.

“So. Welcome to the Multiverse Adventurers Guild.

Your first job is waiting."

1. The Roles at the Table:

Players

Each player creates one character (a hero, scoundrel, wizard, cyborg, etc.).
You decide what your character says and does.
You role-play their personality, goals, and reactions.

Game Master (GM)

Describes the world, locations, people, and dangers.
Plays all non-player characters (NPCs).
Decides when dice rolls are needed and what happens as a result.

2. Create a Character

You usually choose:

Concept – Who are you? (gunslinger, knight, hacker, alien…)
Stats – Strength, dexterity, education.
Skills - sneak, attack, influence
Talents - Silver Tongue, Ferocious Attack, Aim
Gear – Weapons, armor, tools.

Your character sheet is your reference during play.

3. The Core Loop of Play

Most RPGs follow this rhythm:

GM describes the situation
- “You enter a dusty frontier town at sunset…”
Heroes say what they do
- “I scan the street for trouble.”
- “I head into the saloon.”
Dice decide uncertain outcomes
- Roll d20 + skill + stat = Basic Roll
- High roll = success, low roll = failure or complication.
GM narrates the result
- “You spot armed men watching the door.”
Repeat

This loop continues for exploration, social scenes, and combat.

4. Dice & Rules

Dice add chance and tension.
Rules keep things fair and consistent.
You don’t need to memorize everything - the GM helps.
The Guild uses d4, d6, d8, d10, d20

Think of rules as guidelines, not restrictions on creativity.

5. Combat (When Things Get Dangerous)

Combat is usually more structured:

Everyone takes turns.
You can move, attack, use abilities, or help allies.
Dice determine hits, damage, and special effects.

The goal isn’t just to win fights - it’s to make the story exciting.

6. Role-Playing (The “Acting” Part)

You can role-play as much or as little as you like:

In character: “I don’t trust this deal.”
Out of character: “My character is suspicious.”

There’s no wrong way - comfort level matters.

7. Progression & Rewards

Over time, characters usually gain:

Experience points (XP) are gained at a rate of 3 per session. Every 10 XP leads to a new level and further benefits.
New Talents that you gain at certain levels.
Reputation in the world

Your character changes because of the story.

8. The Most Important Rule

Have fun telling a story together.

You’re not competing against the GM or other Heroes.
You’re collaborating to create memorable moments.

Core Mechanic at a Glance

Everything in MAG starts with one rule:

Basic Roll (BR)
Roll a d20 and add:
Stat + Skill + Talent or other Modifiers

Compare the total to a Target Number (TN) set by the GM.
If your total meets or beats the TN, you succeed.

Character Creation (Player Steps Only)

Use this process during Session Zero to build your hero in about 15 minutes. Heroes new to role-playing take longer, as it's important to teach them how to play.

1. Concept First

"Think about the kind of hero you want to play. Any genre, any era, any setting is allowed in the Multiverse - cyborgs, cowgirls, witches, knights, superheroes, detectives, monks, and everything in between."

2. Choose an Archetype (optional)

Pick the Archetype that best matches your concept. Archetypes give your character direction, style, a few suggested Talents, and ideas about your Hero's personality.

You can change your Archetype early in the campaign as you get familiar with the system.

3. Choose a Species

"Giant, Troll, Orc, Human, Elf, and Dwarf are the basic Species. You can create any Species you want. These are known as the Exotics. Fairy is an example of an Exotic

Select a Species that fits your concept or the setting. Species give you flavor and descriptive traits.

4. Assign Your Stats

Stats measure your physical, mental, and social strengths.

Assign the following values:
+3, +2, +1, 0, 0, -1

Stats (St)

Strength - this represents melee attacks.

Dexterity - this represents making ranged attacks and controlling vehicles.

Endurance - this represents a character's ability to handle physically grueling tasks and affects hit points. It also reflects stamina. Ex. Hit points, staying alive below 0 hit points.

Intuition: this is knowing things beyond your education. This is that gut feeling you get or the ability to take disparate pieces of information and draw a conclusion. Ex. Initiative, solving problems.

Education - this is what you have learned in life. It could be a college education or experience.

Charisma: your ability to use your personality to get people to do your bidding. Ex: fast talk, intimidate, contacts.

For your character, you get to assign the scores (+3, +2,+1,0,0,-1). The assigned number is the score. This is paired with an Item or Trait (which explains the score, i. (+2) St - vat muscle).

"Pick your most important Stat and write in (+3). Now look at your least important stat. Write in a (-1). Pick your next most important stat. Write in a (+2). Of the three stats left, put a (+1) into the most important stat and (0)s in the remaining stats."

These numbers are your base scores.

5. Assign Your Skills

Skills work with Stats to show what you are good at. Every Hero has every skill, but bonuses show specialization.

Assign: +2, +2, +1, +1, +1, 1, 0, 0, -1

Athletics (end) - this is used for physical tasks such as swimming, climbing, and balancing.

Attack (Str or Dex) - used for every attack or offensive Talent. You buy it once and use it for melee and ranged attacks.
Influence (Cha) - intimidate, persuade, interrogate, acting, impersonation
Knowledge (Edu) - learned topics, research, magic theory.
Observation (Intuition) - noticing details, perception
Outdoors (Intuition) - tracking, survival, navigation
Sneak (Dex) - stealth, sleight of hand, infiltration, disguise, and acting

Technology (Edu) - hacking, medicine, devices, engineering, disabling traps, Matrix search
Vehicle (Dex) - driving a car, piloting a starship, riding a horse

"Pick the two most important stats and write in a (+2). You pay once for Attack and it works for Range and Melee weapons. Consider placing a (+2) in attack and then your next most important skill. Now choose your least important skill and write in a (-1). Pick the next 2 skills that are the least important and write in a (0). The remaining skills are (+1)

6. Determine Your Defenses

Defense

12 + Defense Bonus + Defense Rating

Protect from weapons and physical attacks. You can have defenses from armor, technology, magic items, and dodginess

Resiliance

Defense bonus +Str + Dex + End

Grapples, knockback, physical hazards

Ego

Defense bonus + Int + Edu + Cha

Fear, charm, illusion, mental effects

Your defenses protect you from harm:

You earn Defense bonuses at certain levels. You start with a Defense of 1. You buy up your defense by spending the following XP.

1 - Free

2 - 2

3 - 2

4 - 4

5 - 4

6 - 8

7 - 8

You have to pay for each level before moving on to the next.

7. Hit Points

At the "0" level, you start at 10XP. You earn 6 HP when you earn a new level. HP is modified by Endurance. You increase your HP by the Endurance stat for each level. For instance, at 3rd level, if I had a (+2) End, I would gain 8HP.

8. Add Items and Traits (optional)

Items and Traits explain why your Stats and Skills look the way they do.
They don’t change numbers; they describe your character. Most items are equipment, such as a Ring of Protection. Some can be from Species or Archetype.

Examples:

(+2) Strength - Giant Species.
(+1) Education - “Street-taught scavenger tech.”
(-1) Sneak - “Loud, heavy boots”

Items help define who you are and where you come from. Think of these as gear for your Hero, except they don’t have a price tag on them

9. Choose Contacts (optional)

You begin with 3 ± Charisma Contacts.
Contacts are NPCs you know who can help you with:

information
equipment
favors

You may choose some now and fill in others as you play. You will be assigned Credits at level 1, which helps pay for favors and information.

10. Choose a Reputation

Reputation is what the Multiverse thinks it knows about you.
It might be true… or not.

Examples:

“Dead-eye shot”
“Arcane scholar”
“Former corporate asset”
“Lucky beyond reason.”

Pick something that fits your concept. You will refine this during play.

11. Weapon Enhancements

You start with one Weapon Enhancement for Melee or Ranged: These will be listed as Damage die, Weapon Type, Special Rules, and examples.
Weapons gain a bonus to hit and damage rolls.

Just like anything else, the points you pay for equal the quality and thus the bonus. The enhancement applies to ranged or Melee. This is bought for each. The player starts with a (+1) in one weapon type.

A weapon can be magical. My weapon could be a fire bolt, a psychic blade, lightning, poison, or cold. Magic attacks are considered melee attacks and do melee damage.

A weapon modifies the attack skill and, therefore, can be used with a ranged or melee weapon.

A weapon is purchased like any other skill or stat. Weapons are a big part of the game. Personalize them. I don't have a Pistol. Instead, it's a Fortune Arms 540A 9mm with the Kandid Grip and semi-automatic capabilities. My melee weapon is a Keolon Era longsword. It's fun and good RP.

Melee

Unarmed

Automatic conceal

Martial arts, brawling

Dagger

Automatic conceal

weapon under 18" in length, dagger, switchblade, pistol whip

Sword

Conceal Observation 15S

weapon under 3', long sword, shortsword, axe, club

d10

Two-Handed Weapon

No conceal, (-2) AV

Staff, Halberd, Great Axe, Great Sword

Range

d4-1

Improvised range weapon

rock, stick, ball

Pistol

Automatic Conceal

Rovolver, handgun, sling, slingshot, knife, throwing star

Submachine Gun

Conceal Observation 15S

Uzi, Ingram, bow, crossbow

Assault Rifle

Conceal Observation 12S

AR15, AK47, shotgun, hunting rifle

d10

Long Gun

no conceal

braced

Sniper Rifle, Machine Gun

Two-Weapon Fighting:

Melee - fight with 2 d6 weapons for d8 damage, same special rules as a d8 weapon

Range - 2 d4 weapons for d6 damage, same special rules as a d6 weapon

Special Attacks - these are unique ways that specific archetypes can cause damage. A Hero can choose to have one without an Archetype. Range attacks are short range. Can be modified by the Talent Long Shot

1. There are three types of Magical Attacks:

- Attack does melee for d6 and ranged for d4. Ranged attacks are as loud as a gun and can't be silenced. The following are examples of magical attacks. (Fire, cold. Water. Electrical, poison, etc.)

- Telekinetic: fling items at Target; there will always be items. d4 damage. As loud as a gun. Can't be silenced.

- Illusion: you create an illusory weapon that can do d4 ranged and d6 melee. You choose what that weapon looks like and it will appear as real as the actual weapon. Ranged weapons are as loud as guns and can't be silenced.

2. Cause wounds - for Heroes that have at least 2 health spells (self-only Talents don't count). You use your medical knowledge to make unarmed attacks more damaging, d6. Silent, but creates a visual flash effect that anyone can see.

3. Feedback - you cause the electronic systems of the target to overload, causing d4 range and d6 melee. Works against all targets. Causes a shower of sparks as loud as a gun that can't be silenced.

4. Mad Bomber - you throw a bomb that does d4 damage and affects only the target. It is as loud as a gun and can't be silenced. It conceals like a holdout

Silencers - These increase the concealability by one step. A silencer on a pistol becomes Observation 15S. The damage decreases by one step. A sniper rifle would become a d8 weapon. A pistol becomes d4-1.

Concealment - Add the sneak skill to the TN for concealment. If you have a Sneak skill of (+2), you conceal an SMG on 17S.

The philosophy behind damage is that Heroes should be rewarded for fighting at Melee ranges because of the increased risk. Melee damage is slightly more serious than ranged damage.

Target Numbers (TN Ladder)

Difficulty TN Example

Easy 9 simple climb, calm crowd

Standard 11 Pick lock, persuade guard

Tricky 13 Cross narrow beam, tail suspect

Hard 15 Hack secure system, leap rooftop

Heroic 17 Pilot damaged ship, banish spirit

Legendary 19+ Rewrite history, duel demigod

The GM may adjust TN up or down for great ideas, tools, or situational advantage.

Types of Rolls

Type Description Outcome

Simple (S)

Pass/fail check (Observation, Sneak, Influence, etc.)

Succeed or fail outright.

Complex (C)

Measures the degree of success (contests, extended actions, damage, influence duels)

Every 2 points above TN = +1 “success.”

Opposed Tests: Both sides roll Complex checks vs the same TN (usually 11). Higher successes win.
Ties favor the Heroes.

Attack Rolls

Attack = BR vs target’s Defense (def)
If you meet or beat Def, the attack hits.
Then roll your weapon’s damage dice + relevant Stat + Weapon Bonus.

Criticals and Disasters

Natural 20: Auto-success. Make a free attack. Max damage. On a skill check, this results in a better-than-expected outcome.
Natural 1:. This is a disaster. GM narrates a costly or funny mishap.

Action Economy

You get each turn:

1 Attack Action (melee/range attack, Talent rolling against AV, Athletics or Ego)

1 Skill action

1 Move (30 ft)
2 Combat Talent Activations
1 Reaction (per round)
Free actions (draw weapon, talk, etc.)

Force, Energy, and Talents

Force (F): Maximum power tier you can use (unlocked by level).
Energy (EN): Resource you spend to activate talents.
Slots: Number of sustained combat talents you can keep active.

Force Energy Cost

F1 1/1

F2 4/2

F3 9/4

F4 16/8

The second number is the one-shot cost. One-shots never occupy a slot. Sustained effects do.

Quick Example

A street-mage (Dex 2, Attack 3, Range +1) fires an energy bolt.

Rolls: d20 + 2 + 3 + 1 = d20 + 6 vs target’s Def of 15.
Rolls 12 - total 18 = hit.
Damage: 1d4 + dex + 2 + 1= 9 total.
Natural 20 Max Damage and free attack

Level

Level increases with every 10 XP. See the following table: Players spend XP when they want, including in the middle of a mission. For every 10XP, you gain a level and certain advantages. You don't pay for those advantages.

HP = the number of HP you have at each level. E + energy. Slots indicate how many combat talents you can have active at any given time.

Force Access Rule (Hard Limit)
You cannot activate or purchase Talents of a Force higher than your level allows.

Players are rewarded with the following benefits at each level:

Multiverse Adventurers Guild - Level Progression Table

TIER I - Basic Training (Lv 0-3)

Tagline: “You’ve joined the Guild. You’re raw, reckless, and ready to prove yourself.”

0: Access F1 Talents • 1 Talent Slot, 10HP

1: 2 Talents, (Choose 1: +1 Attack / +1 Defense bonus / Talent +1) Talent,16HP, 3 energy

2: Access F2 Talents, 22HP, 6 energy

3: +1 Talent, 28 HP, 9 energy

TIER II - Skilled Operative (Lv 4-6)

Tagline: “You’ve survived the first missions. Now you’re trusted to act on your own initiative.”

4:+1 Talent Slot, (Choose 1: +1 Attack / +1 Defense Bonus / +1 Talent), 34HP, 12 energy

5: Access F3 Talents, +1 Talent, 40 HP, 15 energy

6: (Choose 1: +1 Attack / +1 Defense Bonus /+1 Talent), 46 HP, 18 energy

TIER III — Elite Agent (Lv 7-10)

Tagline: “You are a legend in motion — the Guild’s finest. Timelines bend around your choices.”

7: Talent slot, +1 Talent, 52 HP, 21 Energy

8: (Choose 1: +1 Attack / +1 Defense Bonus/ +1 Talent), 58 HP, 24 Energy

9: Access F4 Talents, +1 Talent, 64 HP, 27 Energy

10: 70 HP, 30 Energy • Final Guild Rank

If you improve your Endurance score, the bonus applies retroactively to all levels. For example, at level 3 with a score of (0), my HP is 28. I buy (+1) endurance. The bonus applies to all levels, giving me 32 HP.

You can switch your talents when you reach a new level.

MAG is a blended system. You gain specific advantages as you reach each level, but you can also spend XP whenever you want.

A player earns 3 XP per playing session. These can be used to improve attributes, skills, talents, and energy. The GM can adjust this XP award up or down depending on how fast or slow they want the campaign to progress. “(0)” level is essentially a Tutorial for beginning players.

Character XP progression chart

Skill/Rank/XP cost

0 / Untrained/ 0

1 / trained/ 1

2 / Expert / 4

3 / Master / 9

4 / Legend / 16

You must pay for each level of the score. For instance if I went from (0) to (3) I would pay one point for a score of (+1) another four points to increase it to (+2) and a final nine points for a (+3) for a total of fourteen points.