How to Play

Home Defiant is a TTRPG that focuses on choice. Many rules in this TTRPG give you the ability to perform an action with a cost rather than setting out a hard limit. We hope that this encourages players to experiment inside and outside of a game.

The system also attempts to blend roleplay with system as much as possible. Home Defiant will provide more concrete rules than freeform games like Fate Core but at the same time provide prompts to encourage roleplay amongst the players. You can say that rather than providing a playground for players to run around, Home Defiant is like a theme park with paths and attraction for you to take with guides on how to enhance your experience further.

Roles on the Table

Home Defiant is best played with a group of 4 to 7 players where one of the player will act as The Fates (The Game Master) while the rest will be playing as The Defiant (The Players). The difference of the roles are as follows:

The Fates

The Fates is the one (or more) player that controls the rest of the world. Their job is craft situations that The Defiants will be in and describe how the world reacts to the Defiants' actions. In addition, The Fates also need to act as the mediator at the table, and the goal should be to make sure everyone at the table have the most fun (that includes The Fates themselves).

The Defiants

Defiants are players that controls a single character. Defiants will craft the character's past, build the characters statistics and decide on the characters' actions during the game. The characters that The Defiants control will be the main character of whatever stories they will be playing in. The Defiant's responsibility is to describe what their characters would do while trying to achieve their own goals and promote fun for everyone on the table.

Tools you would need

While there are any tools that would be useful for you on the table. The main things that you would need are:

Paper and Pencil. These will be used to take notes and write down your character's statistics.
Six sided dice (D6). These will be used to determine whether you are successful at something and randomness. You will need about 8 dice at lower levels at up to 36 at higher levels.

Flow of Play

Similar to other TTRPG, Home Defiant follows a back and forth flow between The Fates and The Defiants over the course of the game. This is the core loop of the game regardless of how long you want to play the game for. The flow goes like this:

Setting up the Encounter. The Fates will describe the surrounding and situation. This may include the people, emotions, sights or actions.
For example, The Fates could say, "The tunnel you are in is dark in dreary. It is mostly quiet with only the occasional sounds of water droplets breaking the silence. Then, you hear it. Chattering in some other language that you do not recognise. At the end of the tunnel, you see silhouette of small humanoids dancing around a campfire. What do you do?
Character Reacts. The Defiants will then describe how their character reacts to the situation. They can ask to learn more about the situation, prepare for the encounter or even rush straight to action.
For example, a Defiant could reply, "That might be the creatures we are looking for. My character will draw his great sword and rush forward to attack!"
Determine Success. Not all action require a check. However, if a creature is trying to perform something that is more difficult than usual, The Fates may request the player for that creature to perform a check.
For example, after hearing the Defiant's course of action, the Fates could say, "Very well. Since you are rushing through a very jagged terrain with your weapons out, can you make a Martial Vigor check?" The Defiant will then roll some dice and looking at the result The Fates declare that the charge was a success!
Cause & Effect. Now The Fates will need to describe how the world react to the player's action. If the player makes a check during step 3, this is also when the Fates need to describe the result of their action.
For example, The Fates will then continue with their description, "You manage to charge towards the creatures at the end of the tunnel without issue, surprising the short creatures. They stumble back from shock before scrambling for weapons themselves."
Repeat. Continue by going back to step 1. Describe how the world react to the player's action and go through the cycle all over again.

Core Systems

Home Defiant has a sprawling system that you can choose to partake in if you want to. However, there are several important systems that you will need to engage to play this game.

Making a Check. A "check" is the primary way to determine if something you are doing is successful or not. When The Fates requests a Defiant to make a check, they will mention two attributes. The Defiant will roll a number of dice equal to the sum of the two attributes. When you roll a 4, 5 or 6 on a dice, it is considered a Hit. You will need a number of Hit to succeed on a check as determined by the Fates.
Attributes. Your character's ability is measure using 12 different attributes that range from -6 to 12. The higher the number, the better you are at performing certain actions.
Resources. There are Six Resources that you will need to keep track for your character. The six resources are:
- Potential. A creatures' remaining energy to affect the world around them. It functions like Mana or Stamina in other games.
- Poise. A creatures' confidence and control in the battlefield. This functions like Shield or Temporary HP in other games.
- Wear. How much danger and misfortunte they can experience before they make mistakes. This functions like Life of HP in other games.
- Wound. Long-term injuries that a character have sustained. This will act like a counter to the character's death.
- Scar. Old wounds that has healed, teaching the creature a lesson for the future.
- Experience. The amount things the creature has seen that will improve the creatures strength in the future.

Game Duration

A Home Defiant game can be played at various lengths depending on the need of the players. However, there are specific format that is common amongst TTRPG players. These can range from one short 2 to 8 hour sessions to years or even decades in some cases. Talk to your Fates to agree upon a proper campaign duration.

One Shot. This is usually a short 2 to 4 hour game with a self contained story. One-shots require less commitment and is a useful length to test out different builds or to try out the game for the first time. You do not need to make a complicated character for campaign like these.
Campaign. This is usually a longer game that usually takes place over multiple (not necessarily subsequent) days. Usually The Fates will have an estimation on how long the campaign will run. This is a good place for you to try out writing a story for your own character that the Fates can use in their story. Usually campaign like these will have a more specific character requirement as well. However, in these game, you might not be able to experience the full breadth of the system
Epic. This is usually a very long game that can span years because of the that, players are expected to be very commited to the game. Players might meet up weekly and slowly grow their character over the course of the epic. Some times, Defiants might even change characters in the middle of the story as they die or lose a reason to travel. While rare, these epic will allow you to experience the full breadth of the system and allow a more free form character creation process.

You can find players willing to play a game at your local game shop or by using the various TTRPG Game Finder Platform online like the following: