Chapter 5: Playing the Game

Once characters have been created, the Referee will describe where the characters are and what they can see. The game might start in a rural peasant village, a vast and teeming city spiked with towers and minarets, a castle, a tavern, or at the gates of an ancient tomb. From that point on, Players describe what their characters do. Going down stairs, attacking a Dragon, talking to other Player Characters (PCs) or Non-Player Characters (NPCs) controlled by the Referee—all of these kinds of actions are decided by the players. The Referee then describes what happens as a result: the stairs lead down to a huge tomb, the Dragon attacks the characters, etc. The rules below are guidelines handling events like combat, gaining experience, movement, healing, dying, and other important parts of the game.

Basically, the player and the Referee work together, with the Referee handling the details of a dangerous fantasy world, and the player handling what their character does in it. The epic story of a character’s rise to greatness (or death in the effort) is the player’s to create in the Referee’s world.

Gaining Experience

Characters are awarded Experience Points (XP) for killing monsters and accumulating treasure. When enough XP is earned, the character raises a level. Monsters have set Experience Point values in their descriptions, and one gold piece acquired is equal to one XP. Experience is awarded for accumulating treasure because every gold piece gained by a character is an index of his player’s skill. Awarding experience only for killing monsters fails to reward a party of adventurers that successfully lures a Dragon away from its hoard so that its treasure can be stolen without a fight— it fails to reward characters that operate by intelligence, stealth, trickery, and misdirection.

Each character class has a Prime Attribute listed in its description, and the character creation process details how to determine the character’s total XP bonus. There are two different ways of doing it, but each one results in a percent bonus. If a character’s bonus is 10%, for example, and the Referee awards 1000xp to each character, that particular character would get 1100xp (10% of 1000 is 100, so the character gets a bonus of 100xp).

Time

The Referee will be required to make general rulings on the passage of time during the course of a campaign (e.g. “A few hours later...”) and should be governed by common sense. There are, however, two important time measurements that merit brief definitions—the “turn” and “combat round.” A turn (lasting ten minutes) is used to track and measure actions, movement and resources when the intrepid adventurers are in dangerous places. The shorter combat round (lasting one minute) represents the back and forth action of battle.

Movement

Base movement rate for all races is calculated on the table below in tens of feet per turn, allowing for two moves per turn.

Careful movement is used for exploring, checking for traps and hidden things. Running movement is used when you are trying to get somewhere fast or get away from something wicked. Normal movement is pretty much everything else.

Combat movement is used when characters are engaged in battle and time has transitioned to Rounds instead of Turns.

Outdoor Movement

Base movement rate is in miles per day, but can be doubled during a forced march. For outdoor combat round movement rates, take the base rate, divide by three and multiply by 10 yards. For example a base movement rate of 9 normally allows 9 miles of travel per day, 18 miles forced, and 30 yards of movement per combat round. The Referee should decrease the normal rate of movement for travel over difficult terrain, like swamps or mountains.

Dungeon Doors

Dungeon doors are large, heavy and even unlocked are hard to open. Humans and Elves will open an unlocked door on a roll of 1-2 in 6, while Dwarves and Halflings have a base 1 in 6 chance. At the Referee’s option, characters will apply any strength bonus or penalty to this roll. It is assumed that most monsters can easily open doors, and that once opened, doors will shut on their own.

Light

Torches and lanterns illuminate a 30-foot radius. Torches burn for one hour (six turns), while lanterns burn one pint of oil in four hours (24 turns). Players using a light source cannot normally surprise monsters, but they can of course still be surprised. It is assumed that all monsters see in the dark, unless they are charmed or otherwise in the service of players.

Listening at Doors

Humans have a 1 in 6 chance of hearing noise, non-humans hear noise on a roll of 1-2 in 6. Note that success indicates the player heard something, but they may not know what caused the sound.

Secret Doors

Secret doors can be detected by any player who is actively searching for one with a roll of 1-2 on a d6. Elves, however, find secret doors on a roll of 1-4 on a d6 when searching, or may sense with a 1-2 on a d6 chance that something is amiss by merely passing by a secret door. It takes one turn for each 10’x10’ area searched.

Traps

Most traps and pits are triggered on a roll of 1-2 on a d6 when any player passes over the triggering mechanism. Note that Dwarves can detect stonework traps similarly to how Elves detect secret doors - they have a 1-4 on a d6 chance to detect such traps if actively searching, or 1-2 in 6 if merely passing by. Players falling into a pit trap will take 1d6 damage per 10 feet fallen.

Note on finding secret doors and traps

Ideally, players will be descriptive enough during a search that they will automatically find a trap or secret door. For example, if moving a wall sconce opens a secret door, and the player says “I examine the sconces on the north wall for anything unusual”, a Referee might automatically allow them to figure out how the secret door opens. If, however, they merely state “I search the north wall for secret doors”, the Referee can require a die roll. Some features might be so well hidden as to always merit a die roll, or at least a roll with some sort of adjustment.

Combat

When the party of adventurers comes into contact with enemies, the order of events in the combat round is as follows:

1. The Referee determines if one side or the other is entitled to a free attack or move as a result of surprise—this is either a judgement or a die roll of some kind, depending on the circumstances. Normally, anyone is surprised if they roll a 1 or a 2 on a d6.
2. Determine initiative. One roll is made for each side, not for each individual in combat.
   • Party with initiative acts first (missile fire, casting spells, movement, melee attacks, etc.) and results take effect.
   • Party that lost initiative acts; results take effect.
   • The round is complete; roll initiative for the next round if the battle has not been resolved.

Intent (optional)

Some Referees prefer to have all parties make a “statement of intent” before they roll initiative in order to force players to decide what they’re doing before they know who goes first.

How Initiative Works

At the beginning of the combat round, each side rolls initiative on a d6—high roll wins. The winning side acts first, casting spells, moving, and attacking. The other side takes damage and casualties, and then has its turn.

Initiative rolls may result in a tie. When this happens, both sides are considered to be acting simultaneously. The Referee may handle this situation in any way he chooses—with one caveat. The damage inflicted by the combatants during any simultaneous initiative is inflicted even if one of the combatants dies during the round. It is possible for two combatants to kill each other in this situation. If you want to play things more simply, just re-roll initiative if there is a tie until one side or the other wins the initiative.

Alternate Combat Sequence (optional)

The sequence of battle is one of the most commonly house-ruled parts of the game. Here is one possibility, also based on the Original Game:

• Roll for surprise. Anyone not surprised gets a free round of combat in the normal order (see below). If neither side, or both sides, are surprised, move on to the next step.
• Roll for initiative (one roll for each whole side), and follow the sequence described:

First, any “prepared” spells are cast. It takes a full combat round to prepare a spell, but one can be prepared ahead of time. Spellcasters who won the initiative cast their spells first. They may then start preparing a spell for the next round, if desired.

Next, missile weapons are fired (if the bow was already in the character’s hands and ready to go). This also happens in order of initiative.

Then melee combat takes place, in order of initiative. Finally, movement takes place, in order of initiative.

If it is important to find out which character in the party goes before another one, just compare their Dexterity scores to see which is higher.

The Attack Roll

To attack with a weapon, the player rolls a d20 and adds any bonuses to the result. These “to-hit” bonuses may include a strength bonus (for attacks with hand held weapons), a dexterity bonus (for attacks with missile weapons), and any bonuses for magic weapons. The player then subtracts any “to-hit” penalties they might have from their roll.

The attack roll is then compared to a table to see if the attack hits. If the attack roll is equal to or higher than the number on the table, the attack hits. If you are using the Ascending AC system, rather than refer to these tables, there is a quick method presented below that you can use. The Referee decides which will be used.

If an attack hits, it inflicts damage (as determined by the weapon’s damage die). The damage is subtracted from the defender’s hit point total (See “Damage and Death”).

Ascending AC Combat – Quick Method

If you’re using the Ascending AC system, it may be easier to calculate your “to-hit” rolls according to a simple formula. The numbers are the same as the Descending AC tables—this is just a different way of calculating the results. Here’s how it’s done:

To attack with a weapon, the player rolls a d20 and adds any bonuses to the result. These “to-hit” bonuses now include the character’s Base “to-hit” Bonus, as shown on the character Class table, and may include a strength bonus (for attacks with handheld weapons), a dexterity bonus (for attacks with missile weapons), and any bonuses for magic weapons. The player then subtracts any “to-hit” penalties they might have from their roll. If the result is equal to or greater than the opponent’s Ascending AC, the attack hits.

Note: This quick system only works for the ascending AC system. In order to use this system, you’ll need to write down your Base “to-hit” Bonus, and adjust it as you gain levels, but after doing that, you won’t have to check the table to see if you score a hit. All you need to know is whether the total result was equal to or higher than the target’s armor class.

Damage and Death

When a character (or creature) is hit, the amount of damage taken is deducted from his hit points. When hit points reach 0, the character dies.

A Less Harsh Method (optional)

Referees have different ideas concerning how lethal a game should be. For this reason, many allow characters to become “unconscious” at 0 HP, with death staved off until the character reaches some predetermined negative number.

For example, many Referees employ a house rule which allows a character’s HP to fall below 0 by as many points as their level before the character dies; a 4th level character might die only if he falls below -4 HP. Generally, though, a character with fewer than 0 HP is considered to be bleeding to death at 1 HP per round until the wounds are bound up.

Healing

In addition to the various magical means of restoring HP, a character will recover 1 full Hit point per day of uninterrupted rest. Four weeks of rest will restore all of a character’s HP—regardless of how many the character lost.

Binding Wounds (optional)

Referees can allow characters to bind 1d6 HP worth of wounds following a battle. This is of particular use in low-magic campaigns or in adventures where none of the Players has chosen to run a Cleric.

Note that the character can only recover HP lost during this particular battle. Recovered HP cannot cause a character to have more hit points than normal.

Some Referees view hit points as an abstract measurement of a character’s stamina with the attack that brings a character to zero hit points representing an actual significant blow from a weapon. As such, they may allow characters to heal more hit points per day of rest.

Invisible Opponents

An invisible opponent can only be attacked if its general location is known, and the attack suffers a -4 penalty “to-hit.” Note that more powerful monsters (those with sensitive smell, hearing, or those with more than 6 HD) will frequently be able to detect invisible opponents; the Referee should determine the chance of this based on the creature and the situation.

Oil

Thrown oil that is subsequently set alight by a thrown torch or similar will burn for two rounds, doing 1d6 damage per round on a successful hit of AC 8 [11]. The Referee should adjust the chance to hit based on the size of the creature being targeted, obviously large creatures such as Ogres and Giants will be easier to hit than, say, giant spiders.

Melee / Missile Attacks

Melee Attack

A melee attack is an attack with a hand-held weapon such as a sword, spear, or dagger. Two combatants within ten feet of each other are considered to be “in melee.”

Missile Attack

Missile attacks are with ranged weapons such as crossbows, slings, or thrown axes. When using missiles to fire into melee, it is not possible to choose which opponent (or friend!) will receive the brunt of the attack.

Morale

Certain monsters, such as mindless or undead creatures, are fearless and will always fight to the death. The majority, however, will not continue to fight a hopeless battle and will seek to retreat, surrender, or flee. The Referee will decide when monsters abandon battle and retreat, based upon the situation and the monster’s intelligence. Referees should also use morale to determine the actions and loyalty of hirelings or other companion NPCs.

If there is uncertainty about the morale of NPC’s or monsters, the following table can be used at the Referee’s option.

Negotiation and Diplomacy

Some combats can be averted with a few well-chosen words (even lies). If the party is outmatched, or the monsters don’t seem likely to be carrying much in the way of loot, the party might elect to brazen their way through in an attempt to avoid combat or at least delay it until more favorable conditions arise.

Jousting

A joust is a contest in which two fighters ride at one another while wielding lances. The object is to make contact with the opponent’s armor or shield that is hard enough to break the lance or to actually unhorse your opponent.

The joust, as a sport, consisted of three tilts. In White Box, this equates to three rounds of combat. Each round consists of an attack with a lance. If the lances are blunted, they deal 1d6-1 points of damage, but cannot kill the jouster. At 0 hit points, the jouster is knocked unconscious and falls from his steed (no additional damage). If the lances are not blunted, they deal normal damage and might kill.

Any jouster that suffers damage must pass a Saving Throw or be knocked from his steed and suffer 1d6 damage from the fall.

Medium war horses grant a +1 bonus to attack. Heavy war horses grant a +2.

The jouster with the most points after three rounds wins the joust. If one opponent is knocked unconscious or killed, they automatically lose the joust.

In a duel, the loser must forfeit his mount and his armor, and permit himself to be ransomed for as much as his companions or family can pay, usually commensurate with the fighter’s social class.

Spells

Spell casting begins at the start of the combat round. It is possible to prepare a spell while within melee range of an opponent (10 feet) but if the caster suffers damage while preparing a spell, the spell is lost. Unless stated otherwise, the spell is cast (takes effect) in the caster’s initiative phase.

Note that in the Alternative Sequence of Combat, spell casting works differently. In that system, it takes a full round to prepare a spell, the spell is cast at the beginning of the round before anything else happens, and the caster may spend the rest of the round preparing a new spell (or doing something else such as moving or even fighting).

Loyalty

The Referee may wish to make “loyalty checks” for NPCs put into dangerous situations or ones offered bribes to change sides during a conflict. When a loyalty check is made, roll 3d6 and consult the Loyalty table for the result. Remember that these checks can be modified by a Player’s Charisma score. Good treatment, respect, and a fair share of treasure earned should garner bonuses to loyalty checks, while abuse, physical or otherwise, will bring about penalties, abandonment, or worse.

NPCs should be treated as distinct individuals, and not mere extensions of the Player Character.

If an NPC is in a situation in which a Morale check may be appropriate, the Loyalty modifier can be applied to the Morale roll (optional).

Saving Throws

From time to time, a spell or some other kind of hazard requires you to make a “saving throw.” A successful saving throw means that the character avoids a threat or lessens its effect. Each character class has a saving throw target number which gets lower as the character gains levels. To make a saving throw, roll a d20. If the result is equal to or greater than the character’s saving throw target number, the saving throw is successful.

Alternate Rule: The Saving Throw Matrix

The White Box saving throw system is an adaptation of the original, which had several categories of different risks instead of a single basic saving throw as used here. Numbers inspired by the original system are given below (the Single Saving Throw number is provided for comparison):

This table does not integrate directly into White Box: if you were to house-rule it in, you would have to eliminate the White Box class bonuses on saving throws (i.e., the bonuses listed for each class in the class description but not racial bonuses for non-humans).

Remember

White Box is a free-form roleplaying game, meaning that there aren’t very many rules. The Referee is responsible for handling situations that aren’t covered by the rules, making fair evaluations of what the characters do and deciding what happens as a result. This is not a game in which the players are “against” the Referee, even though the Referee is responsible for creating tricky traps, dangerous situations, and running the monsters and other foes the PCs will encounter during the game. In fact, the players and the Referee cooperate with each other to create a fantasy epic, with the Referee creating the setting and the players developing the story of the heroes. If they aren’t skillful and smart, the epic might be very short. But it’s not the Referee’s job to defeat the players—it’s his job to provide interesting (and dangerous) challenges, and then guide the story fairly.