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Project Update: A sneak peek at the core Conflict rules

Welcome back, Knights!

As promised, and by popular request, today we're sharing a small work-in-progress preview from the MedievAlien corebook. This time, we're giving you a first look at the core Conflict rules. Enjoy!

GAME STRUCTURE

At its core, MedievAlien follows a simple gameplay loop:

The GM presents a situation that challenges the PCs and requires them to make meaningful decisions in pursuit of their current mission.

The players discuss the situation, weigh their options, and decide how their characters respond. Each player then describes their PC's actions to the GM.
The GM determines whether those actions succeed automatically or require a dice roll. This decision is never arbitrary—the rules clearly explain when a roll is needed.
Once the dice have been rolled, the player or the GM (each result defines which one) narrates the outcome of the action and its impact on the narrative. The game then returns to the beginning of the loop, with the new situation shaped by what has just happened.

This cycle continues until the PCs gather enough Clues to confront the Xeno in a final showdown—or until they take too long, allowing the Xeno to realize it is being hunted and turn the tables on its pursuers.

When a Conflict Begins

A Conflict is never triggered simply to determine whether a PC succeeds at a task. Instead, every Conflict answers a meaningful question—one that usually concerns the characters' survival in a hostile world.

A Conflict begins whenever the outcome of a situation is uncertain because one or more players are compelled to say "No," or because failure could put the PCs in danger or cost them something valuable. In these cases, the group resolves the situation by rolling the dice.

If a knight explicitly asks to uncover a crucial clue needed to defeat the Xeno, use the rules for Discovering a Clue instead.

If the situation escalates into a potentially lethal confrontation with a Xeno, use the rules for the Final Showdown.

Building a Dice Pool

Each Attribute has a rating that determines the number of six-sided dice (d6s) you roll when resolving a Conflict. For example, a character with Fervor 3 rolls 3d6 whenever a Conflict calls for Fervor.

Your dice pool can be altered depending on any Advantages or Disadvantages affecting the roll.

Advantages & Disadvantages

Some rules, such as Seasonal Tags, may grant Advantages or impose Disadvantages.

Each Advantage adds 1d6 to your dice pool.
Each Disadvantage removes 1d6 from your dice pool.

Advantages and Disadvantages cancel each other out. For example, if you have 2 Advantages and 3 Disadvantages, remove 1d6 from your pool.

Resolving a Conflict

Roll your dice pool, then choose one die. That result determines both the outcome of the Conflict and who narrates what happens next.

Result | Outcome

1-3 | Failure. Your action fails and you mark 1 Fatigue on the Attribute you rolled. The GM narrates how the Conflict is lost and why the intended outcome is now beyond your reach. During the Final Showdown, the GM also says how the Xeno attacks.
4-5 | Success at a Cost. Your action succeeds, but you must mark 1 Fatigue on any Attribute of your choice. You narrate how you overcome the Conflict, temporarily taking control of any NPCs needed to tell the scene. The GM then describes how your Fatigue enters the fiction.
6 | Clean Success. Your action succeeds without consequence. You narrate the outcome in full.
Two or more natural 6s | You achieve a Critical Success. You narrate the outcome, while any player who assisted you may add details that highlight the extraordinary nature of your success. If no one has a suitable idea, ask the GM for inspiration. If you also rolled the Clue Die, you may reroll it once if you are unhappy with the result, provided you didn’t have a reroll on it granted by other effects.

Fatigue (Temporary Damage)

Fatigue temporarily reduces one of your Attributes by 1.

The GM—who usually narrates a failed Conflict—also creates a Tag describing the nature of the Fatigue. Write this Tag on the character sheet next to the affected Attribute.

Because Fatigue is represented by Tags, it remains part of the fiction until it is removed. The GM may invoke these Tags to grant situational Disadvantages or, occasionally, Advantages whenever they are relevant.

For example, a #InjuredHand would certainly impose a Disadvantage on a Conflict that involves climbing with your bare hands, but it could just as easily grant an Advantage if you are trying to earn someone's sympathy.

Some example Fatigue Tags include:

Lull

To restore all of your Attributes to their maximum values, your PC must find a brief moment of safety—provided none of their Attributes has been reduced to 0.

A short rest, drinking some water, or a simple meal is enough to recover. Once the Lull is over, all of your Attributes return to their starting values.

This respite is called a Lull because, as the GM will no doubt remind you, every lull comes before the storm.

Whenever the party takes a Lull, they must break a Seal, a special track that brings the Xeno ever closer. Every moment spent recovering gives the creature more time to close the distance.

For that reason, the group may decide to press on without taking a Lull, leaving their reduced Attribute ratings unchanged.

Hindrance (Damage That Must Be Recovered)

If one or two of your PC's Attributes are reduced to 0, they are KO. A Lull is no longer enough to restore their Attributes, and they can neither act nor react until another character tends to them and removes the Hindrance.

The rules for Hindrances are explained in detail later in the book.

Discovering a Clue

Discovering a Clue is a special request that can be made during any Conflict. Clues are used to complete the Liber Monstrorum and, most importantly, to gain advantages during the Final Showdown against the Xeno.

Before the dice are rolled, a player may declare that, in addition to resolving the Conflict, their PC is also trying to Discover a Clue.

The GM may accept or refuse this request.

Our recommendation is simple: accept it whenever possible. Doing so keeps the investigation moving and encourages players to engage with the mystery. However, GMs who prefer to pace the story more tightly may refuse if they have already planned how the Clues will be revealed or want to preserve a particular moment of suspense.

In most cases, refusing the request only makes sense when the PCs are attempting to uncover multiple Clues in the same location by creating artificial or repetitive Conflicts.

Discovering a Clue is normally attached to an existing Conflict. A player may also request it on its own, but if the GM accepts, that request immediately becomes a new Conflict.

The Clue Die

When attempting to Discover a Clue, build your dice pool as normal, then add one additional die that is clearly distinguishable from the others. This is the Clue Die.

After resolving the Conflict normally, check the result of the Clue Die.

Clue Die | Additional Effect

1-2 | You discover no Clue. Instead, the Xeno learns something about the knight or their Fortress—through psychic powers, alien technology, or its Servitors. The player describes what the Xeno learns. The GM then breaks a Seal.
3-4 | You discover a Clue. The GM either chooses one from the Xeno Archetype or invents one on the spot. Record it in the Liber Monstrorum.
5-6 | You discover a Clue. Choose whether the GM reveals it or whether you invent it yourself, based on the fiction established so far. Record it in the Liber Monstrorum.

Combat

Combat is a special type of Conflict whose purpose is to kill, wound, or neutralize an opponent—for example by disarming, restraining, or humiliating them.

Combat follows the same core procedure as any other Conflict. Choose the most appropriate Attribute, build your dice pool, and resolve the action with a single roll. A successful attack is enough to defeat, kill, or disarm a single opponent.

The only exception is a battle against a Xeno, which uses the special rules for the Final Showdown.

Zones

At the beginning of a Combat, the GM divides the battlefield into Zones. There can be as few as one Zone and no more than three:

the Zone occupied by the PCs;
the Zone occupied by their enemies;
if appropriate, a third Zone separating the two sides.

Zones are an abstraction, not a simulation of physical space. Their purpose is to make positioning and combat easy to manage.

Characters in the same Zone can engage each other with melee weapons (Zone 0).

Characters in adjacent Zones can interact with reach weapons or ranged weapons (Zone 1).

If there is an additional Zone between them, only weapons specifically designed for long-range attacks—such as slings, bows, or crossbows—can reach the target (Zone 2).

Some weapons (and certain Xeno attacks), explained in the Corebook, list more than one Zone. This reflects their particular design or unusual properties.

Zone Tags

A Zone may have one or more Tags representing terrain, weather, hazards, or other environmental features that change how characters can interact within it.

For example:

#Fog - Tracks cannot be followed. Any Conflict that relies on sight suffers a Disadvantage.
#Chokepoint - Only one-on-one combat is possible.
#Poisonous - Resisting toxic fumes, spores, or similar hazards may require a Fervor Conflict.

Final Showdown

The Final Showdown is a special type of Combat made up of multiple Conflicts. Unlike ordinary enemies, a Xeno cannot be defeated with a single successful roll.

To bring it down, the knights must collectively score a number of Hits equal to:

Number of PCs (1-5) + the Xeno's Lethality (2-7)

This means a Xeno requires between 3 and 12 Hits to defeat.

This value does not simulate the creature's physical resilience or size. Instead, it serves as a balancing mechanic, scaling the encounter to both the strength of the Xeno and the size of the party.

Lethality and Discovered Clues

Whenever a knight rolls against a Xeno, regardless of which Attribute they use, their dice pool is modified as follows:

Gain a number of Disadvantages equal to the Xeno's Lethality.
Gain a number of Advantages equal to the number of Discovered Clues recorded in the Liber Monstrorum.

The more the knights learn about the creature before confronting it, the greater their chances of surviving the encounter.

Who Acts First?

The GM never rolls dice—and neither does the Xeno.

That does not mean the Xeno simply stands still while the knights attack it.

Instead, the Xeno's actions are woven directly into the results of the players' rolls. As described in the general Conflict rules, every result other than a 6 causes the acting knight to suffer Fatigue. During the Final Showdown, that Fatigue represents one of the Xeno's attacks landing in return.

In addition to the normal effects of a Conflict, the Xeno's attacks may inflict specific Tags, which usually impose situational Disadvantages on the affected knight.

Running the Final Showdown

At the beginning of the encounter, the GM declares:

how many Zones make up the battlefield;
which Zone Tags apply to each Zone.

The players then decide the order in which their knights will act and prepare their dice pools accordingly.

Before the first attack is resolved, the GM reveals the Xeno's Basic Attack (each Xeno Archetype defines which kind of attacks a Xeno can make) so that everyone understands the threat they are facing.

Surprise Attack

The only exception occurs if every Seal is broken before the knights are ready. In that case, the Xeno catches them by surprise.

Rather than waiting for the players to act, the GM first declares one of the Xeno's attacks, and the knights roll to defend themselves.

Mechanically, this works exactly like any other Conflict, although the GM may assign the group a situational Disadvantage to reflect the ambush.

Changing Zones

After every knight has completed their action, the GM may declare that the Xeno moves to a different Zone, changing the tactical situation before the next round begins.

IMPORTANT NOTE

These are only the core Conflict rules of MedievAlien. The full game includes many additional rules that expand on these foundations, adding depth, tactical choices, and new layers to the system.

The Ordo Sideralis

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