◆Rolling the Dice: The Engine of Chance
At the heart of every great story is the thrill of chance. When your character attempts something dangerous, difficult, or contested, the narrator will ask you to roll the dice to determine the outcome.
Creation OS integrates this mechanic directly into your conversation, ensuring you never have to break immersion to calculate your odds.
›1. When the Narrator Calls for a Roll
The narrator is constantly evaluating your actions. If you say you want to calmly walk across a sturdy bridge, you will likely succeed without question. However, if you attempt to leap across a crumbling chasm while under heavy fire, the narrator will intervene.
The narrator will pause the narrative and ask you for a specific check (e.g., "Make a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to see if you can clear the gap").
When a roll is called for, you will not miss it. A glowing badge appears directly in your prompt area, pulsing gently to alert you that fate demands an answer. The input placeholder itself shifts to read "A roll has been called! Click the dice button", ensuring you always know when the mechanics are waiting on you.
›2. The Hidden Roll Mechanic
Rolling the dice in Creation OS is not a simple number display. It is a dramatic ceremony.
When you click the dice button and submit your roll, the result is hidden. You do not immediately see the number. Instead, a sealed badge appears in the feed displaying the cryptic message "Fate sealed...". Your destiny has been cast, but it remains veiled.
›3. The Mechanics of the Roll
When a check is required, you must use the dedicated dice interface to determine your fate.
Located directly within your input area, this button is your primary tool for engaging with the mechanics.
›4. The Fortune System: Sandbox-Aware Dice
Your rolls do not exist in a vacuum. The Fortune System reads the state of your world and applies modifiers to your dice based on real conditions in your story. The choices you make outside of combat, the allies you cultivate, and the enemies you provoke all have a tangible effect on your odds.
Three types of conditions currently affect your Fortune score:
- Equipment Condition - Damaged gear gives -1, broken gear gives -2. Keep your equipment in good shape.
- Faction Territory - If you are in allied territory, you gain +1. Hostile territory gives -1. Your standing with local factions matters.
- Nemesis Proximity - If a high-threat nemesis is in your current location, you take -1. Dangerous enemies make everything harder.
›5. Graduated Outcomes: Beyond Pass or Fail
Every roll produces one of seven outcome tiers, replacing binary pass/fail with a rich spectrum of results:
- Catastrophic (natural 1) - A spectacular disaster with mandatory world consequences. Something breaks, someone notices, or the situation escalates.
- Fail (missed by 5+) - A clear failure with narrative consequences.
- Narrow Fail (missed by 1 to 4) - So close. The narrator may offer a partial outcome or a costly alternative.
- Narrow Success (met the target or +1-2) - You succeed, but just barely.
- Solid (exceeded by 3-5) - A clean, confident result.
- Exceptional (exceeded by 6-9) - A standout performance with bonus effects and a magical visual effect.
- Legendary (natural 20 or +10) - Absolute mastery. Golden visual effects erupt, and the system triggers a positive world consequence.
Catastrophic and Legendary outcomes trigger sandbox ripples - automatic changes to your world state. A catastrophic roll might shift a faction's opinion of you or escalate a nemesis. A legendary roll might earn you a reputation boost or a new ally. The roll result card shows any ripple that occurred.
›6. The Roll Result Card
After every roll, a detailed result card appears showing:
- Tier Badge - A colour-coded label (Catastrophic through Legendary) replacing simple SUCCESS/FAILED.
- Fortune Row - If your Fortune modifier was non-zero, the card shows the modifier value. Hover to see which conditions affected your roll.
- Sandbox Ripple - If the roll triggered a world consequence, a ripple line describes the change.
›7. Critical Success and Critical Failure
Natural 20s and natural 1s receive full dramatic treatment beyond their tier effects.
When you roll a natural 20, the screen erupts. A golden flash washes across your viewport, and glittering sparkle particles drift across the feed. The roll badge glows with triumphant green energy. The narrator describes a moment of absolute heroic mastery. A positive sandbox ripple is guaranteed.
›8. Combat Rolls
Combat in Play Mode is fast, brutal, and highly tactical. When you engage an enemy, the narrator will manage their stats and abilities, but your fate is in your hands.
- Attack Rolls: When you declare an attack, the narrator will ask you to roll to hit against the enemy's Armour Class.
- Damage Rolls: If your attack is successful, the narrator will ask you to roll the specific damage dice for your equipped weapon (e.g.,
1d8+2for a longsword or2d6for a heavy blaster). The damage is then automatically deducted from the enemy's Hit Points and the narrator describes the impact.
›10. Advantage and Disadvantage
The narrator is highly context-aware.
If you attempt an action where you have a clear tactical advantage - such as attacking an unaware enemy from the shadows - the narrator will grant you Advantage. Conversely, if you are attempting a difficult task while blinded or restrained, you will be given Disadvantage.
When these specific conditions are called for, simply roll two 20-sided dice (2d20) and the narrator will automatically evaluate the highest or lowest result depending on the situation, narrating the outcome accordingly.
›11. Suggested Actions
You do not always need to craft your own commands from scratch. After each narrator response, the system may present a set of narrative action chips - short, contextual prompts drawn from the current scene.
These chips appear as clickable buttons beneath the input area. They might read "Inspect the rune-covered door", "Show them the silver", or "Run for the exit". Click one to immediately send it as your next action, or ignore them and type freely. Up to four suggestions appear at a time, and they refresh with every new narrative beat.
Suggested actions are designed to keep the story moving when you are uncertain what to do next. They are never mandatory. Think of them as the narrator gently nudging you with options, the way a good storyteller might say "You could try..."
›12. Override: Rewriting Fate
Sometimes luck turns against you at the worst possible moment. Override is your answer.
What It Does
When you spend an Override token, your next action succeeds automatically. No roll. No chance of failure. The narrator describes it as a moment of raw willpower bending reality - dramatic, cinematic, and decisive.
How You Earn It
Override tokens are not purchased. They are earned through misfortune. When both of these conditions are true on the same turn, you receive a token:
- You rolled badly (a catastrophic result or a narrow miss)
- Your Fortune was already working against you (negative modifiers from hostile territory, damaged gear, or nemesis proximity)
When you earn one, you will see a purple flash on the Override button and a notification. You can hold up to 3 tokens at a time.
How You Spend It
A purple lightning bolt button appears next to your input when you have Override tokens available. The number on it shows your current balance.
- Click the lightning bolt - it pulses to show it is primed
- Type what your character does
- Send the message
The narrator will not ask for a roll. Your action succeeds spectacularly.
Override is rare and powerful. Use it when the stakes are highest - the killing blow against a nemesis, the desperate escape, the speech that turns the tide. The more desperate the moment, the more spectacular the result.