Art by Frank Frazetta

The Laws of Strength

Being one account of the rules that govern the battlefield

When your prowess is tested, be it against those mighty who would bear their blades against you, or against the craven who would bar you from your destined path, the Laws of Strength hold sway. 

Warbands

First, all those who would take part in the conflict must be divided into Warbands. A Warband may be any number of warriors, from a lone combatant to an entire army. The Referee, should one be present, holds the responsibility for dividing any NPCs into Warbands. Should no Referee hold court, than the players may create NPC Warbands by consensus. 

Take care when constructing your Warband; each Warbands Aspects of Strength are determined by its members, but so too are its Aspects of Weakness

Once the Warbands have been determined, each Warband determines what Warband they are targeting, starting with the smallest Warband. In case that size is tied, the faster Warband goes first. 

The Tally

On their turn, each Warband tallies tallies their Aspects of Strength compared to the Warband they are targeting (the enemy). Aspects of Strength are counted per Warband member possessing that Strength. The enemy then tallies their own Aspects of Strength in return. 

Following this, both sides tally their Aspects of Weakness, and subtract the result from their tallied Strength. 

Fortune and Fate

Finally, fortune has her say: the Warband with the lower Strength flips a coin, calling heads or tails. If the call is successful, +1 to the Strength to the Weak Warband who then flips and calls again until a call is failed. 

If there is a difference of 5 or more in the Strength of the Warbands, the Strong Warband get to decide the fate of the Weak and may dispose of the members of the Weak warband as they wish. The Strong Warband gets to narrate the scene, playing out all Aspects that were invoked. 

If the difference is 4 or less, the parties start bidding Aspect of Conviction, starting with the Warband with the lower Strength, who either submits to the Strong and is disposed of, or bids until they are Stronger than the enemy, who may then bid in return. The bidding continues until either side taps out and declares the other side the Stronger, who then gets to narrate the scene, playing out all Aspects that were invoked. The enemy wins ties.

Injury

A player can only bid injuries that occur to their own character. 
All injuries bid have to limit the capabilities a character in the fiction in some tangible, meaningful way. Grazing strikes are not an option. 
For example:

1. can no longer use a limb
2. drops what they are holding
3. can no longer see/hear/smell/taste/talk
4. falls prone
5. panic or flee
6. become sickened until vomiting

To introduce more uncertainty, whenever an injury is bid, the location can be determined randomly like so:

1. Left Arm
2. Right Arm
3. Left Leg
4. Right Leg
5. Torso
6. Head

If the arms or legs are incapacitated any such results may be redirected to the torso at the attacker's discretion. 

Escape

During the tallying of Aspects of Strength, a Warband may declare they are Escaping. If they do so, they gain 2 points of Strength, but, if they end the tally as the Strong, they narrate their fleeing from the conflict rather than their enemies fate. The +2 bonus to Strength for escaping is only counted once, not per escaping Warband member. 

Grit

All creatures have Grit. Most characters start with 3. Whenever you do not roleplay the effect of a wound, condition, or any other affect your character is suffering, lose 1 Grit. When you lose your last Grit, whatever wound or condition triggered the Grit loss worsens, and you are restored to your maximum Grit, which decreases by 1. When your maximum Grit drops to 0, you are lost. 

Loyalty

If you are Loyal to someone, they may offer up your body to suffer injury or even death when bidding Factors of Conviction. The only way to prevent this from happening is to break your Loyalty. This can never be regained. 

Death; Bargaining, and the Aftermath

The Weak may always offer a suitable sacrifice instead of their life. Flesh can be paid, as can riches, servitude, and Titles. The Strong determine whether or not to accept the sacrifice. 

Different monsters may demand specific sacrifices in place of your life. For example:

Weary Guardian

Demands: that you take up his mantle and serve in his place forevermore.

When a NPC is killed, roll 1d6

1. Survived by a focused avenger
2. Survived by a desperate nobody
3. Expected at the home of a friend
4. Expected at the hall of a great one
5. Was hunted by enemies 
6. Was wanted by a great one

Then roll 1d6 again

1. The matter is at hand!
2. The matter is pressing
3. The matter is brewing
4. It may come to nothing
5. It may come to nothing
6. It will come to nothing

Threats

Certain monsters Threaten certain injuries that you can willingly accept that bump your score up by more than 1 while you are tallying Aspects of Conviction. 
For example:

Goblin 

Threats: Finger Gnawing: lose a finger (+2 Strength), Maddening Laughter: the injury and wounds of others, including yourself, is intensely interesting and intensely funny, and you will do nothing to prevent or remedy it (+4 Strength).

Aspects

Aspects of Strength (count per Warband member possessing these strengths)

• Comparative
• more combat experience than the most experienced enemy
• more familiar with the terrain than the most familiar enemy
• bigger than the biggest enemy
• faster than the fastest enemy
• stronger than the strongest enemy
• weapon outclasses the enemies fiercest weapon
• weapon outclasses the enemies stoutest armor
• armor outclasses the enemies stoutest armor 
• armor outclasses the enemies fiercest weapon
• better cover than the most well hidden enemy
• longer reach/range than the enemy with the longest reach/range

• Circumstantial
• weapon uniquely suited to circumstance
• technique uniquely suited to circumstance 
• outnumbering the enemy 
• flanking the enemy
• taking the most alert enemy by surprise
• betraying the most suspicious enemies trust
• on higher ground than the enemy
• supernatural blessing (counts per blessing)
• Morale
• fighting for a cause you would die for
• fighting alongside someone you are Loyal to
• fighting with nothing to lose but your life
• enemy fears you
  
  
• Escape
• escaping the conflict (+2, only counted once, Warband escapes if Stronger)

Aspects of Weakness (count per Warband member possessing these weaknesses)

• Circumstantial
• exhausted
• poor morale
• miserable morale (-2 to Strength)
• staggered
• impeded
• blinded 
• sick or poisoned
• supernatural bane (counts per bane)
• trying to be quiet
• exercising caution
• performing noncombat action
• performing complex noncombat action (-2 to Strength)

• Injury
• injured 
• mortally wounded

Aspects of Conviction (count per Warband member suffering)

• Loss
• equipment ruined

• Injury
• suffering injury (counts per injury) 
• suffering death 

Art by Philippe Druillet

Additional Material

The World Knows No Law But Strength

Should you wish, the Laws of Strength can be expanded to govern the whole of your game. When you wish to overcome some obstacle, when tallying Strength, look to the Aspects of Skill, rather than Aspects of Strength, to do so. Following this, you must tally and subtract Aspects of Weakness from your Strength. In response, the GM tallies the Strength of the obstacle, referring to the Aspects of Challenge.

Aspects of Skill (when applicable, counts per participant tackling the obstacle)

• Tools
• appropriate tool (counts per tool)
• specialist tool (a specialist tool counts as both an appropriate tool and a specialist tool, counts per tool)

• Experience 
• previous experience with a more difficult obstacle of this kind (counts per experience)
• relevant lesson taught by a master (counts per lesson)

• Circumstantial
• supernatural blessing (counts per blessing)

Aspect of Challenge

• Difficulty
• difficult
• unfeasibly difficult (+2 to Strength)
• impossibly difficult (+3 to Strength)

• Danger
• dangerous (counts per dangerous feature)
• extremely dangerous (+2 to Strength, counts per dangerous feature)

• Circumstantial (when applicable, counts per participant tackling the obstacle)
  
• time constraint
• insufficient tools
• being stealthy
• in a rush

Finally, fortune has her say. After the coin flips are resolved, if the difference between the Strong and the Weak is 5 or more, the Strong determines the fate of the Weak. If the difference is 4 or less, the Weak bids Aspects of Conviction, which can be matched by bids from the Strong. 

The Weak may bid more in return, until either party taps out, at which point the Strong determines the fate of the Weak. The obstacle always wins ties. 

The Weak may bargain as usual, though note that obstacles will have different demands than combatants. Note also that not all obstacles will reasonably allow for injuries to be suffered for Aspects of Conviction. 

Obstacles will often have specific demands rather than death. For example: 

Alarm Trap

Demands: enemies in the surrounding areas will (1-2) swarm the location of the trap, or (3-6) send a delegate to investigate the sound.

Just as enemies may have Threats (consequences you may suffer in order to increase your Strength by more than one during the tallying of Aspects of Conviction), obstacles may have Threats as well. Consider the obstacle posed by the Duke:

The Duke

Threats: Infuriating: become impotently and embarrassingly angry at the Duke (+2 Strength), Besotted: Fall deeply and entirely in love with the Duke (+4 Strength).  

Glory and Titles

You may freely claim Glory at any time while you are narrating the fate of the Weak. To do so, show the other players a moment of your character in all their splendor, and mark 1 Glory. 

Glory may be bid instead of injuries at a rate of 2 Glory to 1 Strength during the bidding of Aspects of Conviction, and must be accompanied by what ignoble deed will be performed to gain the upper hand. 

A Title is simply an epithet detailing some specific strength of its owner as demonstrated by some past deed. "Helm-Cleaver," "Deadeye," "Granite-Grip," and "Defender of the Gate of Gark" are all good titles. 

Under "Aspects of Strength" an entry should be added, reading: 

Titles

possessing a relevant Title

bearing a piece of equipment with a relevant Title

Both Glory and Titles can be offered as sacrifice to the Strong to stave off death. 

Whenever combat begins, there is an X in 6 chance, where X is the total Glory of the PCs, that one of the enemies has a relevant Title, determined by the referee.

If a 1 is rolled, the die explodes, meaning you roll again with the same X in 6 chance to see if either: another enemy has a relevant Title, OR the first enemy gains a another relevant Title (at the Referee's discretion). The die may explode any number of times. 

If X equals 7 or higher, the the first die rolled explodes on a result of Y or lower, where Y equals every point of  total Glory over 6.  If Y equals 7, than the second die rolled explodes on a roll of Z, where Z is points of total Glory over 12. This repeats at total Glory 18, and so on.

When a PC disposes of an enemy with more Titles than them + their equipment, they gain 1 Glory per difference in Titles, and should demonstrate the splendor of their character appropriately. Then they may either: gain a Title relating to the besting of that foe, or spend 3 Glory to give a piece of their equipment a Title relating to the role it played in besting the Foe. 

Faith and Favor

If you are Favored by a God, when fortune has her say, rather than flipping a coin you roll 1d6 and add it to your Strength. If you roll a 6, the die explodes, meaning you roll again, and add that result to your strength. If this happens, the God's Omen triggers. The die may explode any number of times. If you roll 3 6s back to back, the God's Cataclysm triggers.

• The Black Ram
• Favor
• Gained by burning a human heart to cinder.
• Lost when you go a day without doing this
• Omen
• Huge, curling horns sprout from the head of the Favored, then burn to ash when Favor is lost
• Cataclysm
• The sky boils over into dark foam, the ground writhes and splits into snaking chasms that well up with inky, reeking, viscous seed. The Ram is drinking from one of the clefts in the earth. His eyes burn hot with lust. He must beget an heir. 

• The Weeping Swine
• Favor
• Gained when you swallow someone's last meal
• Lost when you act charitably
• Omen
• Rivulets of liquid gold stream from the Favored's eyes until Favor is lost
• Cataclysm
• Everything goes dark. So dark you cannot see the end of your nose. Wet, snuffling mouths caress everyone's skin. Impossibly strong hands seek to direct your motions: your blinking. The parting of your lips. Your breath. They will make all parties fight till the death to determine who is strongest. 

• Daughter of the Sun
• Favor
• Gained by wearing fresh flowers
• Lost if you do not build a flowered pyre for each life you take.
• Omen
• The Favored's tongue blossoms from their mouth as a triumphant, fleshy orchid. They can communicate in a low, bone-warming hum. 
• Cataclysm
• The sun splits open like an egg, and descending from it, ribboned in streams of scarlet ichor that pour from the heavens, is the Daughter, pale and tumorous. She touches the Favored, kisses them deeply. She wants to bring them back inside the sun, which, so long as she walks the earth, remains shattered. 

• The Cursehound
• Favor
• Gained by eating dung or offal
• Lost when your skin is touched by the skin of another
• Omen
• The skin of the Favored's face and neck becomes heavy, leathery, sagging down from the eyes, cheeks, mouth, and throat until Favor is lost. 
• Cataclysm
• Everything is ruined. Grass turns to dust, trees to skeletons and then nothing, water fouls and boils away under a grey sun. Mewling on the ground, a line of emaciated infants crawls towards the sleeping hulk of a hairless beast whose bulk dwarfs the now leveled mountains. High above, vultures circle. Enter the beast's maw to return to your time.