Momenta

WHAT IS IT?

Momenta is a GM-less, genre-independent system for creating SHORT-CAMPAIGN TTRPGs of 2 – 4 sessions.

This game was specifically designed with the goal of creating a full rpg experience that could be played out in just a few sessions. 

Guide your Character from “zero to hero” through six chapters of adventure and advancement. Before you reach your story's Final Goal, you will gain more dice at each level, improve skills by attempting them, learn new combat Maneuvers, and more.

WHAT DOES IT COME WITH?

1)   A 50-page, printer-friendly Core Ruleset (the entire document is in the preview!):

• Well-organized format, full of helpful examples and appendices.
• Hyperlinked table of contents, index, and body text. Bookmarked headings.

2)   A printer-friendly Playkit including: Adventure Sheet, Character Sheet, momentum and wound trackers, and blank and pre-generated Enemy Cards.

WHAT MATERIALS DO I NEED?

D6 dice in 4 different colors/styles/sizes (they just need to be distinguishable from each other) to represent the 4 types of dice in the game:

HOW IS GM-LESS PLAY ACHIEVED?

Momenta uses a structured combination of narrative collaboration, roll tables, and a rotating Scene Leader role.

A campaign is divided into 6 Milestones, each comprised of sequential Scenes.

Each player spearheads one Scene per Milestone, using roll tables and the ongoing narrative to design the Scene and keep the action moving. The Scene Leader role is a good time and the low demand ensures that you can easily play your Character simultaneously!

In this way, the entire group contributes equally to each Milestone.

Achieving the Milestone is perhaps the most important step in reaching the next Character Level.

IS CHARACTER CREATION QUICK?

Totally! It takes no more than 5 minutes to create a Character.

Here are the front and back pages of a Character Sheet booklet for “Josiah Whalen”, a homesteader of the Wild West who wanted nothing more than to tend to his land with the good folks he travelled west with. But a band of hired gunmen changed all that, leaving none alive save for Josiah, with a note nailed to his chest: "I told you leaving New York would not save you. I will ruin you wherever you go."

WHAT IS THE CORE RESOLUTION MECHANIC?

• Roll d6 dice: 1 - 3 = Miss, 4 - 6 = Hit.
• Count Hits to succeed in skill checks and combat.
• Enhanced by special die faces, player manipulation of dice rolls, and forward-moving momentum.

HOW DOES MOMENTUM WORK?

Momentum is a kind of “narrative credit” that you can spend to influence future events.

Momenta (the plural of momentum) are special outcomes that you can roll on Momenta dice. Because you start the game with Momenta dice and use them for all types of rolls, you will see momenta come up often. There are two types of momenta, called Up (a roll of 2 or 3) and Down (a roll of 1).

The Playkit includes a Momentum Tracker:

Momentum is single use. When you use momentum that you are carrying, it is spent, and you will have to gain more through rolls before you can use it again.

HOW ARE ADVENTURING CHALLENGES TACKLED?

Any Character can attempt any task but if you attempt a task using a skill stemming from your Core Trait, you will get to mark progress in that skill.

Pass or Fail, progress is made just for attempting the challenge. Advancement tiers ensure that the more you try something, the better you become at it!

WHAT IS COMBAT LIKE?

Simultaneous:

In the Declaration Phase, all players choose a single action, and in the subsequent Resolution Phase, all players carry out their actions simultaneously. Some actions are automatic, while others require a single Skill Roll or Attack Roll.

The inner pages of the Characters Sheet booklet can be used as a combat playmat:

Stamina-based:

When you Attack an enemy, you roll your dice and alter the roll as granted by your Character’s special capabilities (weapons, momentum, and Maneuvers), hoping to get Hits.

When combatants score Hits against each other, their stamina becomes fatigued, which in turn hampers their ability to deal out Hits in the next round.

When all your stamina is fatigued, you get them back…but also take a wound. If you reach 7 wounds, you’re a goner!

Enemy Cards:

Each of the enemies in the Core Ruleset has its own printable card in the Playkit. The Enemy Cards make it super easy to track the enemies’ stamina and abilities.

ANY OTHER COOL STUFF?

Sure. Afflictions (aka, status effects), Enemy Features (aka, permanent buffs), and you can even design your own weapons that have special effects on rolls of 5 and 6.

And check out these combat Maneuver paths!

ARE THERE ANY SUPPLEMENTS?

Releasing simultaneously with the Core Ruleset is the free, 70-page Momenta: Magic and Monsters Module, available here. This expansion features a full magic system focused on Hits (rolling 4 – 6) moving the new “Chaos die” along a ring of magic options. Additionally, it features a bestiary of 57 enemies (including special Boss encounters) across 7 different biomes.