The Endeavor Role Playing Game is a light-mechanics game engine designed to give the player greater control over how hard the character tries at a given task. The task resolution and character advancement were inspiried by FuRPiG. The freeform trait system is copied from Over the Edge.
All beginning player characters have one to five (usually three) "traits" and three "point stats."
A "trait" is some broadly descriptive feature of the character, coined by the player rather than taken from a list. Each trait takes the place of many of the "skills" used to describe characters in other RPGs. Three is usually a good number of traits for a starting character.
Example: James Bond
— British secret agent
— Jet-setter
— Playboy
Example: Robbie, from the FuRPiG game
— Robot
— Time-patrol agent
— Psychically talented
Each trait is described more fully, in a paragraph, at character generation. Each trait has a number between 1 and 99 describing how powerful it is.; you then roll percentile dice and compare against this number; if you roll within the number, you use the trait successfully.
Each character has three kinds of points – Effort Points, Focus Points, and Power Points (or Psi Points). The maximum number you can have, for each kind of point, is your point statistic. Thus each character has an Effort Stat, a Focus Stat, and a Power Stat.
Effort Points are used to improve feats of strength, speed, and endurance.
Focus Points are used to improve feats of agility, intelligence, and insight.
Power Points are used to improve the use of magic, super-powers, psychic powers, martial arts, and other exotic powers such as yoga, hypnosis, and patharchy.
By spending these points on a die roll, players can improve their odds on successfully using a trait.
Write up a short verbal description of your character, including name, race, age, sex, appearance, background, and personality. It is also a good idea to include height, weight, and strength (measured as the weight the character can bench-press). Keep it to no more than half a page.
From this description, distill one to five traits. Two to four traits is much the better range, and three is strongly encouraged. For each trait, write up a paragraph of description on how the character uses it. For each trait, specify a "sign" — an externally observable clue of the trait's presence.
Distribute 200 points among the traits.
Distribute 30 points among the point stats.
For each point stat, calculate the stat x1, x2, x3, x4, and x5.
Example: Enid Littlesmith, Paranormal Investigator
Mrs. Enid Littlesmith is a mundane human. She was born Enid Dietrich, daughter of a mechanical engineer. Her father made a hobby of stage magic. From him, Enid learned about the world of the bizarre and occult, and how much flim-flam there is in it. She also learned how lots of the flim-flam works, and has since expanded her knowledge.
She married Edward Littlesmith and became his partner, running a business as estate auctioneers and antique dealers. Shortly after their twenty-fifth anniversary, though, he died. She found that the fun had gone out of her job, and, since she was wealthy enough, she retired early, in her mid-fifties.
Now, she travels. It's one of her main hobbies. She's not hugely wealthy, but she can always afford good clothes, good hotel rooms, good rental cars, etc. She takes a cruise ever year or so.
Her other hobby is investigating the paranormal. She often visits places where paranormal things are supposed to happen — staying at haunted houses, attending channeling sessions, talking to people who've seen a Bigfoot or a UFO. She has come to make a hobby of finding the natural or fraudulent causes behind most paranormal events. She has not always found a mundane cause, but that doesn't mean there wasn't one that she missed. She also sometimes assists other investigators, usually with money.
She may be perfectly pleasant to more arcane characters (not realizing what they are), but if they arouse her curiosity, she will investigate doggedly, and if she thinks they are frauds, she will become crisply hostile and really investigate doggedly. She will take some solid convincing, if anyone wants her to believe in serious weirdness, but once convinced, she will not backslide or go to pieces over the sheer strangeness of it all.
Physically, Enid is a tall, lean woman with greying brown hair, worn short. She has a round, cheerful face and grey eyes. To start with, she is a complete rationalist, not believing in anything weird. She is cheerful, brisk, polite, and decent, with an unflapable, bullet-proof personality lacking in vices, phobias, or conspicuous bad habits.
Paranormal Investigator: 90% — Enid subscribes to the magazines of several skeptical and debunking organization, as well as some of the fringey publications on the pro side of the question. She knows some stage magic, though she doesn't perform. Her library has books on fringe topics, debunking, and stage magic. She knows the usual ways of faking psychic powers, phenomena mistaken for ghosts and UFOs, and similar debunker lore. Sign: Always carries a small video camera in her handbag.
Wealthy: 70% — Enid can't buy a house, or even a car, at the drop of a hat, but she doesn't have to keep track of money for much smaller purchases. However, she does anyway. She got that money by being a good business woman. She knows sloppy or dishonest business practice when she sees it, and will often comment on it. Sign: Dresses a notch better than most of the people around her on any given occasion. Big tipper.
Prepared: 40% — As mentioned above, there are no major chinks in Enid's mental health. Nor does she offer a hold for blackmailers. On the physical side, she is in excellent health and quite willing to scramble over rough terrain or endure bad weather. Within sensible limits, she goes prepared and equipped for lots of life's little emergencies. Sign: Carries a large handbag, containing a small video camera, a cell phone, first aid stuff, a flashlight, or (on a successful roll) almost any mundane little item that could come in useful at a time like this ... whatever "time like this" it is.
54-year-old caucasian woman, 70 kg (154 lbs), 154 cm (5'9"), strength 72 kg (160 lbs)
Languages: English, French.
Effort Pts: 10__________________________________________
x1= 10 x2= 20 x3= 30 x4= 40 x5= 50
Focus Pts: 13__________________________________________
x1= 17 x2= 34 x3= 51 x4= 68 x5= 85
Psi Pts: 7 __________________________________________
x1= 7 x2= 14 x3= 21 x4= 28 x5= 35
Notice that, although Enid has no "special effects" abilities, she has seven psi points. This gives her the chance to develop some "special effects" in the future.
Notice also that Enid's family, friends, home, and contacts are left undescribed. They could have been described, but this way they can be determined later, by mutual agreement of player and GM.
When presented with a situation where your abilities make the outcome uncertain, roll percentile dice against the most applicable trait. If your roll is less than or equal to the trait, you succeed. The GM may add or subtract modifiers for the trait, representing different degrees of difficulty.
Sometimes, the mere presence of a trait makes the outcome certain, so there is no need of a die roll. For example, of course Enid knows the symbols used on the classic Rhine cards, and need not roll, though a character that was not a paranormal investigator but, say, a general-purpose journalist, might need to do so.
To add flavor to the die rolls, the game uses critical successes and failures.
If a character statistic is XY% and you roll 0X% or less, this is a critical success and the results are in some way spectacularly good. Contrariwise, if the roll is a failure and 9X% or higher, this is a critical failure and just as spectacularly bad. So, for a statistic of 47%, a roll of 04 or lower is a critical success and a roll of 94 or higher is a critical success.
If your statistic gets modified, so do your chances of critical success or failure. So, if you get +20% to your stat of 47%, for a total of 67%, a roll of 06 or lower is a critical failure and a roll of 96 or higher is a critical success.
A roll of 00 is a perfect success, while a 99 is always a perfect failure, unless your statistic is 99%, and even then it is a critical failure. These produce still more outrageous results. Also, a 00, perfect success, immediately boosts a trait (but not a point pool) by 1%.
You can give your chances a boost by spending points on a roll against a trait. Each point spent adds 10% to the effective level of your trait. You can spend no more than 3 points on a roll, so your maximum boost is 30%.
Use Effort points to boost a trait in matters of strength, endurance, or speed.
Example: Enid is following a purported sasquatch over rough terrain, using her Prepared trait boosted with Effort points. Her Effort pool size is 10, and she still has all her points. She spends three of them, boosting her Prepared trait to 70%. She now has 7 Effort points left.
Use Focus points to boost a trait in matters of agility, perception, thought, and intuition.
Example: The medium in Enid's party faints from what Special Agent Sculder says is "psychic shock." Enid rummages in her purse for smelling salts, spending 3 of her 13 Focus points on her Prepared trait, to boost the chance that she had the foresight to pack such a commodity. Again, this boosts her Prepared trait to 70%.
Use Psi points to boost a trait involving special effects, such as super-powers, magic, psychic powers, or martial arts.
Example: Agent Sculder is attacked by Bad Guys. He retaliates with karate, part of his Secret Agent trait, and boosts his chances by 10% by spending a Psi point. He does not spend more because his Secret Agent trait is fairly high and he wants to save Psi points for later.
Some traits don't lend themselves to some kinds of boost. It's hard to see how Enid could use Effort or Psi on her Wealthy trait, for instance.
You regain points by sleeping. If you are negative, you regain three points with every full night of sleep until you are zero or positive. If you are zero or positive, you regain all your points with a full night's sleep. Less rest than that restores some fraction of points lost.
Example: Enid has spent 5 Effort points in the course of an eventful day. She flops into bed but gets interrupted by further adventures after four hours' sleep. She wakes up with two Effort points regained.
If you have no trait that applies to the situation, use a "try roll" against the size of the most appropriate point pool. Every try roll is made against a multiple of your pool size, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. The GM picks the multiple. Current level of the pool doesn't matter.
Example: We left Agent Sculder being attacked by Bad Guys. Enid is not one to stand idly by while a friend is attacked, but she has no martial skills. She does, however, have a big, heavy purse, and the nearest Bad Guy's head offers a clear shot. She swings at him, and, since it's an easy shot, the GM lets her player roll against Effort x 5.
You can boost try rolls by spending points just as you do trait rolls.
Example: Enid's in another fight with nothing but her handbag and still no martial skills. Things are more dire. She doesn't have as good a shot. (The GM only gives her Effort x 3.) So she spends three Effort points on her Effort roll to add 30% to her chance. Tiring, but it could be well worth it.
You fight with a combat-related trait or, failing that, pool sizes. Combat is divided into rounds. These rounds are units of action rather than of time. Characters act in the order of their combat traits, highest first.
Typically, when your turn comes, you pick a target and announce the form of attack, then roll twice, boosting with try rolls as you see fit. Your target rolls twice, too.
Depending on how your rolls come out, each of you earns a certain number of "combat points." The one with the most combat points wins, and the loser goes down one "damage level" or more.
It is common for a character to have two contests in a single round, one when they pick the target and one when they are picked as the target.
You earn combat points according to the following table:
+4 — perfect success
+2 — critical success
+1 — normal success
+1 — second roll is better than first roll
-1 — second roll is worse than first roll
-1 — normal failure
-2 — critical failure
-4 — perfect failure
Example: Sculder is attacking with karate, using his Secret Agent trait, which is 74%. He rolls 45, then 88. This is a normal success (+1), a normal failure (-1) and the second roll was worse than the first (-1), for a total of -1.
A character can be at one of four damage levels:
Untouched — Nothing's hit you yet.
Up — You are still capable of fighting.
Down — You are out of the action but can get back into it.
Out — You are stunned, in shock from wounds, or otherwise unable to continue.
A perfect success against any kind of failure always takes the loser Out.
A success against a perfect failure always takes the loser Out.
Winning by 4 or more points takes the loser down two levels.
If you are Down, you cannot pick a target. Instead, you roll to get back Up again. Typically, you would roll against 3x Effort. If you were downed by a critical success (or a critical failure on your own part), roll against 1x Effort. Depending on the type of combat and circumstances, you might roll against Focus or Psi to get back Up.
If you are attacked when Down, roll normally. If you win, you are Up, but your opponent takes no damage penalty.
If a character is Out, it by no means follows they are dead, but they are at the mercy of their opponent (or other characters), who may press the attack to the point of death or kill them out of hand. Exception must be made when the attack does not reasonably allow for pulling punches.
If you have 90% or better in your attacking stat, you can roll a third time. The result gets you positive or (more rarely) negative combat points, but it does not matter whether it is higher or lower than the two previous rolls.
Characters can advance by improving their stats or by acquiring new traits.
You improve your stats by succeeding at learn rolls. To make a learn roll, roll against a trait or against 3 times a pool size. If you roll higher than your current level, you go up 1% in that stat. Make learn rolls at the end of a session or when the character is training.
You can make a learn roll against a stat:
You can make learn rolls against a stat if the character spends a week of game-world time in training. You can't be actively adventuring while training, and you can't be involved with training, as either teacher or student, for more than two topics per week. If a trait is more than 90%, or if 3x a pool size is more than 90%, you can no longer train in it.
At the end of each week of training, you make a learn roll against a stat:
So, in the best case, with a good teacher who is good at what they teach, you make four rolls.
Because of the way they are acquired, new traits tend to be much more specialized than the original traits; they often resemble the skills of skill-based RPGs. You can acquire new traits the same way you improve existing ones, by training. It's just that you start with zero in the new trait.
If a character has been repeatedly working at some activity, the player can ask the GM to establish this as a new trait.
Example: Enid is on a long journey that must be done on horseback. She isn't exactly training in horseback riding, but after the trip has been going on for a week, the GM gives her a beginning horsemanship trait. This would include equine care and body language, in addition to riding itself.
Example: The PC party is taking care of a small child that is a material witness in their current investigation. Because Enid is "always prepared" and looks more maternal than anyone else in the group, she gets stuck taking care of the child. If this goes on for a few weeks, Enid deserves a "childcare" trait.
The GM sets the starting level of the new trait. Typically, it would be 1x or 2x the size of the pool most often used in developing the trait, Effort for primarily physical traits, Focus for primarily mental ones, Power for traits that are primarily special effects.