game mechanics – the Dee Sanction

Why release a new edition?

November 8, 2024

The Dee Sanction was released in early 2021, following successful crowd-funding in 2020 and a long development period from 2014. The game focuses on intrigue, subterfuge, and occult horror rooted in Renaissance superstition and beliefs. At heart, The Dee Sanction‘s setting hardly messes with history, making the world easily accessible … Continue ReadingWhy release a new edition?

Game Mechanics Open

Tradecraft Marks the Spot

January 6, 2024

Tradecraft is a mechanic peculiar to The Dee Sanction, included to lend a certain vibe and flavour to the adventures as Agents seek to overcome significant threats. It’s peculiar enough that I suspect many people don’t use it, or just use the bit that provides generic skill support for the … Continue ReadingTradecraft Marks the Spot

Abilities

Playing with Abilities

March 17, 2023March 17, 2023

Abilities set characters apart. In a session, a player can use all kinds of personal resources generated at the genesis of their character. A simple thing like coming from the same town as someone, for example, can sway a decision or a reaction. If the character possesses a Swiss Dagger, … Continue ReadingPlaying with Abilities

Game Mechanics Question and Answer

Advantage & Disadvantage

June 5, 2021

I acknowledge that a terse core book means that sometimes, the mechanics might not settle into place the first time on reading. Or the second. However, with doubt come questions, and with questions comes the opportunity to put together a fuller response. On the Discord, Guybrush asked: Could someone please … Continue ReadingAdvantage & Disadvantage

Game Mechanics

Nightmare – A Sample Combat

May 15, 2021May 17, 2021

I have had various requests to explain combat in The Dee Sanction. I have outlined a fight below, and I might return and add detail if what I’ve written doesn’t quite have the level of useful information needed. A ‘Mare Scenario Agents Julian Dunham and Isabel le Bone arrive at The … Continue ReadingNightmare – A Sample Combat

Playtesting

Dee’s Diary (No 1): Simple Goals

April 30, 2021

I think the suspicion, paranoia and intrigue of old have gone. In 1583, court spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham sent an adept gnostic team to Prague on a mission he didn’t commit to public record. These men journeyed through rough and heretic-infested lands engaged in a task of maximum-security in the … Continue ReadingDee’s Diary (No 1): Simple Goals

Game Mechanics Open

A Discovery of Tradecraft

April 26, 2021April 26, 2021

I do not claim to have the ways or means to explain Tradecraft in a way that will be clear to everyone. When I wrote it up, I imagined it was both an ephemeral skill and a means to pull of a blinder when the moment mattered. For the former, … Continue ReadingA Discovery of Tradecraft

Open

Update Draft Released

February 16, 2021

Those who backed The Dee Sanction Kickstarter have been sent a revised edition of the Draft Core Rules and we edge closer to a final version in that release. For those who have a copy in hand (and those who don’t can safely stop reading now!), the following key changes … Continue ReadingUpdate Draft Released

Game Mechanics

Checking the Numbers

December 8, 2020

There’s a weird juggling act going on between totally freestyle game design and having a solid structure of checks and balances. On the one hand, the numbers should make perfect sense. On the other hand, balance blows. Don’t get me wrong, there does need to be some kind of structure … Continue ReadingChecking the Numbers

RPGaDAY

Lever — RPGaDay #25

September 4, 2020September 4, 2020

The system for The Dee Sanction provides a very basic combat system and approach with the levers and pulleys to make a formidable opponent terrifying and a weak one, necessarily, a pushover. At the same time, I have been trying to find the best way possible to make it pseudo-compatible with other … Continue ReadingLever — RPGaDay #25