Omios Ures: Post-Heroic, Weird Fantasy
In a world that hates adventurers, you adventure anyway.
Gone are the days of high adventure...
...Of the great warriors and sorcerers who conquered dragons and defied the gods, rising forth as kings and queens. The heroes of old are dead and gone. This is the world they built.
Today, adventurers are but a dying breed. “Unpredictable,” says the king. “Unreliable,” says the guildmaster. “No admittance!” reads the tavern sign.
But in a world that hates adventurers, you adventure anyway.
Fail a roll, gain 1 XP.
Omios Ures is a classless, level-less TTRPG with a free-form magic system and a fresh fantasy world. d6-only. Every time players fail a roll, they gain 1 XP: and that's how character progression works.
The game pushes players to take risks in order to learn and grow, rather than only stick to what they're "already good at". PCs who are already great at what they do have to aspire to ever higher challenges and new creative ways to earn experience. Progression through failure encourages the risk taking that creates new heroes... and gets those fools killed.
Fantasy made Fantastical
Lineages represent new takes on classic fantasy tropes, such as the Dweorg; little people made of metal who patina with age, traditionally smelted to be passed on as family heirlooms as weapons and armor; the Gnomos, who must all wear talismanic hats otherwise they turn into goblins, because they hail from a perfect utopia where diseases didn’t exist; or the Bhek'Gaa, sapient lizards that can scale up walls and digest just about everything, while requiring a daily source of warmth to stay alive (cold-blooded, after all).
Fast & Deadly
In a system where everyone is constantly two sword-swings away from death, blades mean business. But when more serious scraps take place and weapons do get drawn–for motives good or bad–characters turn to Vigor: a pool of points which you can add to your rolls or subtract from enemy attacks; players are in total control on whether or not they miss or get hit, at the expense of spending precious Vigor that might come in handy later in the fight. Combat-oriented Feats expand on Vigor’s utility, allowing characters to perform a plethora of combat maneuvers!
Free-Form Magic
Magic is open and interpretative. Characters learn Rites: which they can cast or combine to create new spells on the fly. For example: the Rite of Alteration deals with flesh and blood–such as healing, improving one’s senses or necromancy–whereas Transmutation deals with inorganic matter–such as making a rock weigh like a feather or turning a doorknob into sand to bypass a lock. By combining Alteration with Transmutation, a caster could turn flesh to stone, phase through walls, become invisible and much more.
But spellcasting isn't just limited by one's imagination: your Spell Circle defines how strong your spells are. Still! Any one wizard can try to cast beyond their limit by Pushing the Odds. A lowly pyromancer may attempt to turn a minute firebolt into a fireball. Do this at your own peril, however. Magic is a sensible balance between caster and the beyond… and at the slightest imbalance, the scale sinks deep.
Venture Forth Today!
Omios Ures is out in Early Access! Get it today, pay-what-you-want on itch.io. The Early Access features:
The Rulebook: 105 pages of weird fantasy, ~15 MB, ready to play.
Lodestar to Karamouska: A 64 page setting booklet, system-neutral.
The Thing in a Lead Box: A starter adventure module set in Karamouska.
Character Sheets: Both printable and form-fillable for digital use.
And while you're at it, join the community! Members get to catch early releases, sneak peeks, share their feedback, show off their characters and find other adventurers to play Omios Ures with!
