• 31 Dec, 2025 *

I’ve been working with the friction pool (my answer to the random encounter check, overloaded encounter die, and underclock) since I first posted about it back in April. I’ve made a few tweaks after my playtest sessions back in May and I’ve been thinking on it on and off since then, so I’d like to present my most recent updates here on the blog, hopefully with a bit more detail this time.

The Mechanics

When adventurers are in a hazardous environment, whether the wilderness or a dungeon, the party accumulates friction as minor things start to go wrong. Eventually, this friction piles up and something happens that either inconveniences the adventurers or changes the situation. For every increment that adventurers spend in the dungeon or wilderness, the friction pool gains another die and is then rolled to look for matches.

Parties also have base friction - the number of dice the pool resets to after every time the pool throws out a match. Base friction is accrued as follows:

• One die if anyone in the party is fully encumbered (wearing a full set of armor, filling all inventory slots, or carrying sacks in their hands)
• One die if more than half of the party is fully encumbered
• One die if party members are carrying any objects that require more than one person to handle

Matches in the friction pool are resolved as follows:

1. Respite - any ones in the friction pool increase the threshold for other matches to three of a kind
2. Grind - A random adventurer loses 2 Guard. This cannot do damage to saves.
3. Inventory - Something goes wrong with inventory. Select an adventurer at random and roll 1d20 against their inventory. Inventory events have the following effects depending on what they affect in inventory.

• Equipment - this piece of equipment is damaged and can’t be used until a character uses a breather action to repair it. Already damaged pieces of equipment are broken, meaning they require downtime action to make usable again.
• Consumable - one use of the consumable is used up. It may have spoiled, leaked, or been broken by shifting equipment.
• Treasure - treasure loses 10% of its value for every time it is damaged.
• Container - this container is reduced to 50% of its normal capacity until mended.

1. Environment - roll on the events table for this environment.
2. Spoor - roll on the encounter table for this environment. The adventurers encounter a sign that this encounter is present in their vicinity. The next time a Spoor result is rolled, this encounter happens.
3. Encounter - roll an encounter which occurs immediately.

If multiple sets of matching dice are rolled, all rolled events happen.

If more than two matching results are rolled, an additional Grind, Inventory, or Environment event occurs. Extra matches for Spoor and Encounter increase the number of monsters appearing.

Any matches in the roll reset the friction pool back to base friction.

The Reasoning

I really liked the way that the friction pool played when I got to use it at the table, but there were a few points of frustration for both me and my players. Friction would accumulate and stick around forever, meaning that unlucky players got slammed by inventory mishaps and grind over and over. I’ve now made the pool reset every time an event happens, but because of base friction, it will build back up to the point where things happen more quickly.

I also changed the way respites work, resetting back to base friction more often. The rule about increasing the match threshold when a single one is present in the pool allows the chance for the pool to build up to larger numbers without events happening, meaning there are occasionally long stretches where the pool outputs no results before many events happen at once, leaving the players scrambling to manage the chaos.

Since I still haven’t finalized my condition rules, I’ve substituted the call to apply a condition in Grind order (shamelessly borrowed from Torchbearer) for a tax on character Guard, making them more vulnerable to injury should they get into a fight, encounter a trap, or try to traverse an environmental obstacle.

I’m looking forward to playtesting these changes in the coming year!