The SAGA system uses a simple mechanic for all task resolution. Each player has a hand of cards, dealt from the SAGA deck. When a player wants her character to perform an action, she first Declares the Action her character will perform, suggesting an Attribute to be used for the action. The GM then Decides a Difficulty for the task, but does not tell the player the difficulty. The GM also Decides the Attribute for the task, taking the player's suggestion into account. The player then Plays a Card from her hand and adds that value to her character's Attribute value for the task. If the player's total value is higher than the Difficulty Number set by the GM, the character succeeds, otherwise the character fails.
Setting Difficulty
The difficulty of the task determines the value that the player has to beat with her cards to succeed at the task.
| Difficulty | Difficulty Number |
|---|---|
| Easy | 4 |
| Average | 8 |
| Challenging | 12 |
| Daunting | 16 |
| Desperate | 20 |
| Impossible | 24 |
Some simple guidelines determine how difficulties should be determined. Most tasks that a character will attempt to perform will have a difficulty of either Easy or Average. Easy tasks are tasks that require almost no effort, but have real consequences for failure - anything that requires almost no effort and has no real consequences if the character fails are automatic actions and do not require a check. An Average task is one that an average individual may struggle with, perhaps failing roughly fifty percent of the time. A Challenging task is one that an above-average individual may struggle with, like an Average task for average individuals. A Daunting task is one that requires an individual to not only be heroic, but to have either luck or supernatural prowess on her side as well. A Desperate task is one that even heroes will be expected to fail at, eking out a victory only in the most extreme circumstances. Impossible tasks are just that - without superhuman abilities or divine intervention, failure is almost guaranteed.
Some examples of each Difficulty are:
| Difficulty | Examples |
|---|---|
| Easy | Holding a door closed, throwing a rock, recalling a simple fact |
| Average | Smashing down a door, hitting a target at a short distance, remembering a learned bit of lore |
| Challenging | Lifting a massive weight,scaling a sheer wall, researching a forgotten bit of lore |
| Daunting | Riding a bicycle on a tightrope, deciphering an ancient language from a single sample |
| Desperate | Surviving a poisoning, leaping between two tall buildings, kitbashing a poison antidote from scratch |
| Impossible | Surviving a fall off of a cliff, dodging a lightningbolt, inventing a cure for cancer |
Opposed Actions
If the action that the character wants to perform is opposed by another character, the action is considered an Opposed Action. When the GM determines the Difficulty Number for an opposed action, the opposing character's Attribute should be added to the difficulty.
Example: Jenny, a PC, is engaged in a tug-of-war over an ancient map with an NPC. Jenny's player suggests a Coordination struggle with the NPC, trying to knock him off balance and take the map. The GM agrees. The GM decides that this action is an Easy one, but that Jenny's opponent will oppose it with his own Coordination. Jenny has a Coordination of 6, and plays a 7 of clubs, for a total of 13. The thug has a Coordination of 4, plus the Easy difficulty of 4, gives the total Difficulty Number of 8. Jenny easily beats the thug and trips him, snatching the map out of his hands as he loses his balance.
Trump
Luck favors the bold, and in a dramatic game like SAGA this is even more true. When a player plays her card for an action, if the suit on the card she plays matches the suit of the attribute she is using to perform the task, the action receives a trump bonus. The GM flips over the top card on the SAGA deck and the player adds that number to her task score. If that card is also Trump, another card is flipped over and added to the total. This continues until a card is flipped that is not Trump.
Narrative Action
So those are the rules, but the strength of the SAGA system is its support for player-GM narrative action. When the player proposes her action, she should be descriptive about what she is doing and what she is trying to accomplish as she plays her card(s). With a successful action, the GM should take the player's Narrative and expand on it somewhat, describing the success (aka "Yes and..."). With a failed action, the GM should take the player's Narrative and extend it without negating it to show why she fails (aka "Yes, but..."). In general, the player should only describe things that their character is doing, not the actions of any other characters. The GM is allowed a bit more freedom, but should still try to keep the majority of his action tied to his own characters.
Example: Jenny is a vampire-hunting cheerleader played by Rachel. Jenny has gotten into a messy situation involving a local nest of vampires, and Rachel wants to get Jenny out to get reinforcements. Rachel says "Using her Essence, Jenny tries to fast-talk her way out of the nest -- 'Hey, I was just here to sell some girl scout cookies, and I see you're not interested, so I'll just be going now...'". The GM agrees that it would be an Essence check and decides that this is going to be a tough one - a Challenging (12) check. In addition, the vampire leader has the best Essence, with a 9, so the final difficulty for the check is 21. He nods and Rachel lays down her card - a 6 of hearts. Jenny's Essence is 8, so she currently has a 15, not enough to beat the difficulty. But her card was Trump for Essence, so the GM flips the top card - and Jenny gets a 3 of hearts as a bonus for an 18 target. The 3 is also Trump, so the GM flips another card and gets a 7 of spades. Jenny's final total is 25 versus a difficulty of 21 - a success.
Now the GM has to fill in the result of Jenny's action. He knows that Rachel wants Jenny to get away, and Jenny won the challenge, so his narrative should support that. The GM says "The vampires look a bit befuddled and aren't sure what Jenny's talking about for a moment. In that instant, Jenny ducks out the front door and into sunlight - leaving the vampire nest howling in anger at her escape."
Example 2: Later in the evening, Jenny's player has gotten her into another bind. This time, Jenny is attempting to break into the principal's office to read someone's permanent record. Rachel says "Using her Intellect and a hairpin, Jenny tries to fiddle with the lock and pop it open". The GM disagrees and decides that it would be a Coordination check instead of an Intellect check. Further, he decides that the difficulty on this one is also Challenging (12) - locks are not easy to pick. Rachel is a bit miffed - she doesn't have any Coordination Trumps in her hand, which is why she was pushing for an Intellect check. She plays a 5 of spades, which gives her a total of 11 against the difficulty of 12 - a failure.
The GM needs to fill in the result of Jenny's action. "Jenny pulls out her hairpin and pokes around in the lock like she's seen on TV. Unfortunately, she has no idea how picking a lock might work and the tip of her hairpin breaks off in the lock". Further lockpick attempts are going to be useless, and when the principal comes in the next day, he's going to know that something is up.
Setbacks and Rallies -- House Rule
A GM can use Setbacks and Rallies to add a bit of randomness to his game. When a character is performing an action, flip the top card on the SAGA deck. If that card has a negative aura, the character suffers a setback and the difficulty is one level higher than it would have been (so an Easy difficulty becomes Average, Average becomes Challenging, etc.). On the other hand, if the card has a positive aura, reduce the Difficulty by one step (an Average difficulty becomes Easy, a Challenging difficulty becomes Average). If the difficulty was going to be Easy and a Rally occurs, it becomes an automatic action if unopposed. If it is an opposed action, use the base score of the opponent as the difficulty number. Neutral auras make no change to the difficulty.
Note that this House Rule replaces the Marvel SAGA rule that added the top card flipped off the deck to the difficulty of the task. For a game centered around characters with superhuman attributes, that rule should be used instead.
