<h3>Basic Info</h3>
The system we will be using is a stripped-down bare-bones thing, inspired by several existing RPG systems (you might recognize them).

In this system, the players are not average people, because they have certain skills that set them apart from the masses. They are special, somehow. They aren't superheroes, but in some cases close enough to count. They're characters like James Bond, Indiana Jones, Sherlock Holmes, and Batman. Ordinary people who are capable of doing extraordinary things.

At the core of the system are Action Points. Whenever your character attempts to do something extraordinary (from beating up a strong opponent to hacking a computer to seducing an victim), you will need to spend Action Points to succeed. If you run out of Action Points, you're just an average human, but as long as you can keep spending those Action Points (I'll refer to them as AP from now on) you're capable of amazing tasks.

<h3>How to use Actions</h3>
In order to do Actions you need to spend AP. Spending AP is quite easy. Every character has a list of aspects (skills, traits, resources, relationships). Each of the aspects on that list also has a rank, ranging from 1 to 5. Say for example that you have the skill "Expert Marksman (4)" Now, if you'd want to make a difficult shot, you'd simply use that skill and spend up to 4AP on it (less than your rank is allowed, more isn't). Suddenly, that difficult shot isn't quite as difficult anymore, and you'll probably hit the target you were aiming for.

Every extraordinary action you take needs AP, and you can even choose to spend AP on routine actions in order to make sure nothing goes wrong. Spending AP on Expert Marksman for a point-blank shot against a stationary target is probably unnecessary, but if you really don't want to miss that shot no matter what happens, it might be something worth considering. Every action has a hidden AP value that guarantees success. In some cases, your GM (me) might decide to give you the required AP value up front (for example "You see a gang of thugs approaching, it would take 15AP in total to beat them all up"), but in most cases you'll have to guess how much AP a given situation requires. There's some fudge room here though, so just go with your gut and don't worry too much. The goal is to have fun, not to spend all day calculating the optimal way to spend your AP. Basically, the more difficult something is, the more AP it takes.

<h3>How to be extra awesome</h3>
You might have noticed that in the example I used above, you needed 15AP to win the fight. But how can you ever win the fight if you can only spend 5AP at most on an aspect? The answer is quite simple: You combine different sources of AP. For example, if you want to make a difficult shot that takes 7AP, you could spend 4FP on your skill "Expert Marksman (4)" and 3AP on your resource "Sniper Rifle (5)" to come to a total of 7AP spent, which is enough to make the shot. When applicable, you can also combine AP sources across characters. If you have two characters spend 5AP on "Beating People Up (5)", you have 10 points to beat people up with.

There's only one restriction here. On any given skill test, you can only use one source of AP from any one category (skills, traits, resources, relationships) per character. More on those categories later.

<h3>How not to run out of Action</h3>
Every character starts with 15 AP, but when you're off spending AP like a maniac you're going to run out of points sooner or later. Running out of points would be a bad thing, since then you would just be a boring normal person, unable to do Actions. Since you probably don't want that, you're going to have to balance your Actions.

In order to earn points you have to suck. Because of this, it's a good idea not to spend all your aspects on describing how awesome you are. If all your aspects are about being the most awesome ninja ever, you're going to run out of AP with no way to earn them back. You're going to want some negative things on your aspect list as well, because those can be used to generate AP for you. For example, if you have the trait "Clumsy (2)", you can earn a maximum of 2AP every time you do something clumsy. Of course, it only counts if it's important. Spending hours in an empty room tripping over your own feet isn't going to earn you anything, but accidentally knocking over a big vase and alerting the guards while sneaking through a room is sure to get you some AP. It's your job to assess the situation: Is the amount of AP you might earn worth the trouble a negative trait brings?

One thing to take note of is that negative aspects aren't entirely in your own control. Your GM might choose to invoke your own negative aspects when he feels it's appropriate. Of course, this still earns you your AP. For example, if your character with the trait "Morbidly Obese (4)" tries to crawl through a narrow tunnel, your GM might decide to have you get stuck and give you some AP. In contrast, your positive aspects can only be invoked by yourself.


The environment and you: Only you can prevent boring scenes

There's one last way to interact with Action Points: The environment. Like characters, the environment has aspects of its own. However, these aspects aren't determined in advance. Environmental aspects don't exist until they are used. For example, if the players are hiding in a cave, one might mention "This cave is really dark (5), we should be able to hide here!" As soon as that happens, that player loses 5AP and the cave gains the aspect "Really Dark (5)". Environmental aspects affect everyone in that environment, so while it was only one player that used AP, the entire party reaps the benefits.

Environmental aspects persist after they have been created. In the above example, if the characters have successfully hidden in the cave and want to get back out, the GM might decide to use "Really Dark (5)" against them by having them get lost in the dark, earning them all some AP. Because of this, using environmental aspects can be extra dangerous, but also extra rewarding.



Skills, Traits, Resources, Relationships
As mentioned before, every character has a list of skills, traits, resources, and relationships. These things are both your source of Action Points and your means of being Action, so they're pretty important.

<h3>How to choose numbers</h3>
At character creation you are given 33 points to distribute between these aspects of your character, and every aspect can have between 1 and 5 points. You can spend these points on your skills, traits, resources and relationships to indicate how important they are to your character. For example, if your character is some kind of genius professor, you might give him "really smart (5)" to indicate that he's a rather bright fellow. However, if your character is a gunslinger who's smart but it's not the core of what he's all about, you might want to settle for something like "really smart (1) or (2)". This would indicate that he's also a smart guy -after all, they both have "really smart"- but unlike the professor being smart isn't really what the character is about so it gets less points. The more points you put into any aspect, the more powerful it becomes. Note that the same is also true for negative traits. A character who is "Fat (1)" is fat but generally won't have any huge problems caused by his weight, while a character with "Fat (5)" might be just as far, but will experience a lot more weight-related issues.

Of note here is that no aspect needs to be purely positive or negative. For example, the trait "Aggressive (5)" might help you in a brawl, but could be a big problem if you want to solve a problem diplomatically. In any case, using an aspect to your advantage costs AP, and having it used against you earns you AP. This also means that if you think you're being smart by choosing aspects that can apply to a lot of situations, it's usually easier for the GM to use those aspects <i>against</i> you. In general, more specific aspects are better than very vague and general ones.

<h3>How to choose descriptions</h3>
One benefit of this system over many other systems is that you are (almost) completely free to choose your own aspects. There's no list of aspects to choose from, so everything within reason can be an aspect. I encourage two things when choosing aspects, as described below.

First, try to be a bit specific. For example, "Action hero" is extremely unspecific. What makes your guy Action, and what makes him a hero? Noone knows. But if you choose "heroic courage" and "martial arts master", that gives a much clearer image. "scared of nothing" and "karate black-belt" is even more specific. I won't make a big fuss out of it if not all of your aspects are super-specific, but I do appreciate it if you make an effort here. Filling your character sheet with very vague aspects might get it rejected, though. Beware of choosing aspects that are open to interpretation. Playing a mysterious character with the traits "Mysterious Past" and "Dark Secrets" means you're practically begging to have your character's background used against them at the least convenient time!

Second, try to be clever and original. <i>Strive to be Action!</i> "Very strong" is a good trait, but it's kind of boring, isn't it? You don't always have to go for the shortest, clearest description. Try to mix it up a bit! "Circus strongman" might have the same effect as "very strong", but it sounds a lot more personal. It tells us something about your character, making it more interesting than the alternative. You can also choose a catchphrase or something, like "I'm the strongest there is!" Again, the effect is pretty much the same, but it sounds a lot cooler and more interesting. Be creative! It's not mandatory, but it makes things more fun for everyone. It's better to go overboard with this and trim it back a little later on than playing a boring character!

A tip: Don't choose just combat-related aspects! While this game will contain combat, it's a good thing if your character isn't useless outside of combat.

<h3>How to choose categories</h3>
As mentioned before, there are four categories in which your aspects should fit. Those are Skills, Traits, Resources, and Relationships.

<b>Skills</b> are things your character can do, either because of natural talent or by learning and practicing. For example, "Expert Marksman" and "Beating people up" are skills. Skills will usually be positive things, but here you can also list the things your character is especially bad at. It it's important to you that your character sucks with guns, you might list "Lousy Shot (4)" or "Couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a machinegun (5)". As with all aspects, all that matters is how important it is to your character concept.

<b>Traits</b> are things that describe your character physically or mentally. "Morbidly Obese" might be a trait, as well as "Really Smart", "Circus Strongman" and "Clumsy". Traits can be positive or negative, or both. They're innate to your character, and while they don't need to be unchangable (a fat person could lose weight, for example), they can't be taught like skills can.

<b>Resources</b> are things your character owns or has access to. A gun might be a resource, but a secret underground base, a really nice coat, a private jet, or a lucky coin are all valid choices as well. Note that you don't have to include everything your character owns (for example, you don't have to describe the clothes you wear as resources), just the things that are important to the character concept and that you plan to use in your adventures. Things your character owns but aren't on his Resources list can still be used, but you can't spend AP on them (so they can't be <i>Action</i>). Also of note here is that the AP value does not have to describe the value, size, or quality of the item. It describes the importance of the item to the character. A priest carrying around a worn old bible might list it as "Old Bible (5)" because it's important to his faith and the source of his inspiration, while to an atheist it probably wouldn't even be worth listing. If you're playing the Rocketeer, your jetpack is a very important part of your character so you'll want to have a "Jetpack (5)". Resources will usually be positive, but they can also be used against you. For example, if you have "Huge Mansion (5)", that might make you a lot easier to find for your enemies. And of course, resources are a lot easier to lose than skills or traits.

<b>Relationships</b> are the connections your character has to other characters or groups of characters. This could be positive or negative. For example, if your character is a criminal you might have "Shady contacts (3)" and "Wanted by the law (2)". As said, you can describe individuals or groups here. Examples include "Stinking rich parents", "Drunk brother David", "Best friend Billy", "I hate everyone!", "Children are scared of me", "Ladies' Man", and "Member of the local chess club". Again, the best way to decide what aspects to choose and how many points to attribute to them is to think about how much they mean to your character, in a positive or negative way.

I'd like to add that it's probably not smart to spend all your points on Resources and Relationships, since those might not always be available (relationships usually don't go adventuring with you, and resources can be taken away). Also, it's probably easier to get new resources and relationships during your adventures than it is to learn new skills or aquire new traits. Still, it's your character so it's your choice to make.

<h3>Level up!</h3>
At the end of an adventure you might earn more points to spend on your aspects, improving existing ones or buying new ones. However, you can only spend points on things that your character could have aquired during the adventure or right after it. It wouldn't make sense for a character to suddenly become an expert marksman if you've spend the entire adventure reading books, for example. However, something that can be obtained relatively easily like new glasses don't have to have anything to do with the adventure.

If you lose certain aspects during an adventure (for example, when a relationship gets killed or a resource gets stolen), you also get the opportunity to re-spend the points lost this way at the end of the adventure.