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 Chapter 1: Introduction 01
Chapter 2: Character Creation 05
Contents
Chapter 3: Tasks and Combat 27
Chapter 4: Equipment and Vehicles 39
Chapter 5: Adventuring 49
OGL 61
Character Sheet 63
Chapter 01

Introduction

01
 Welcome to the Exodus System! This game is the result of a lot of work as well as

Introduction
feedback from people in various communities. Many thanks to Jeffrey Meyer,
Christopher Cortright and Mark Hunt for their thoughts.

I decided to make the Exodus system because I wanted something that is more
flexible than traditional OSR games. Most game frameworks give you lots of
options for classes, but I wanted one where you can create your own character
class. There are a couple that allow you to do this, but I feel that the rest of the
rules in those systems are more complex than anything that I want to run at the
table.

In making this I was personally inspired by many different game systems, and I
want to call out their awesome designers. There were the books Cypher System by
Monte Cook, Shanna Germain and Bruce Cordell. I was also inspired by Cam Banks’
Cortex Prime and Shane Lacy Hensley’s Savage Worlds.

The overall framework of this game is based on the OSR. That’s Old School
Renaissance, and it means new games that are based on the world’s oldest RPG
system. I love the support that members of the OSR community give one another.

I’m really happy with how the book has turned out, and I’m sure that you’re going
to have a lot of fun playing.

Many thanks,
Jacob DC Ross

02
 What is an RPG? speak up if something bothers you,
RPG stands for roleplaying game. and you should respect others when
They are tabletop games that they speak up.
originated in the mid 1970s, inspired
Chapter 01 by miniature wargames, where most The silver rule, which is second only
players take on the role of a character to respect, is fun. Try and make sure
that they create. These player that everything you do contributes to
characters are sometimes called PCs. the fun of the group. During play
One player is the GM, or Game Master. allow others to share in the spotlight
The GM creates the story for the PCs as much as you do. Try and find ways
to navigate. This includes coming up to creatively solve problems that also
with plot twists and performing as allow other people to get in on the
non-player characters (NPCs). action.

There is no winner or loser in an RPG. What do You Need?

If you have fun, then you won. It’s You’ve already got the rules for the
possible to have the time of your life Exodus System, and that’s most of
even in a session where every PC what you need. It’s designed for play
meets their grisly fate. In an RPG you by between one and five players, plus
can be virtually anybody that you a GM, though it’s possible to play with
want. You might be Otis just one person and no GM.
Schlumpberger, ordinary citizen, in
real life, but in a game of the Exodus You also need at least two of each
System you could be a powerful type of dice used in this game. The
cyborg, a stealthy ninja or even a dice are called dX, where X is the
monster if you feel like it. You’re not number of sides that they possess. In
restricted by species, gender, social the Exodus System you roll d4s, d6s,
class or other criteria. d8s, d10s, d12s and d20s. It makes
things go a lot faster if each person at
The golden rule, which supersedes all the table has their own pairs, and if
others in this book, is to be respectful each player’s dice are a different
of everyone at the table. It’s easy to color, though this isn’t necessary.
get lost in your character, but please
remember that behind every Next, print up or write your own
character sheet and GM screen is a character sheets to record your PC’s
real human being. Make sure that information. The necessary stats,
your words and actions, in-character skills, Roles, Flavors and gear have
and out, are respectful of your writeups in the following chapters.
friends. You always have the right to It’s better to write in pencil than in

03
 pen because your game stats and Book Overview

Introduction
inventory can change a lot during the There are six main sections of this
course of play. book, including this introductory
chapter.
Combat and other situations in the
Exodus System use hex maps to show Chapter 02: Character Creation
how the action is progressing. You Everything you need to know about
can download maps online or draw up how to create your own PC. It covers
your own maps using the hex page in attributes, Flavors, ROles, leveling up
the back of this book. Some people and more.
like to use miniature figures to
represent their characters on the Chapter 03: Task Resolution
map, or you can just use anything and Combat
that you have lying around as a token. Getting things done. These are the
main rules that govern the Exodus
The most important thing to bring is System. This section is useful for both
your imagination. In any roleplaying players and GMs to read.
game the action unfolds within the
minds of each player. Chapter 04: Equipment and
Vehicles
This section covers how items work in
the Exodus System, including how to
make your own. It features a list of
sample gear from different story
genres.

Chapter 05: Adventuring

This chapter is designed for GMs to
use when designing adventures. You
can also use the information here to
generate stories and encounters for
solo play.

04
Chapter 02

Character 

Generation

05
 To create your character first think of Constitution
a concept of what you want to play Constitution is your physical
and then share it with the group. hardiness. Use it to resist diseases,
Chapter 02 Ideally everyone picks one or two
niche roles to fill so that whenever
fatigue and other effects on your
body.
you have a problem there’s at least
one character with the specific Dexterity
training to handle it, or at least give it You use Dexterity when you want to
a competent try. run, jump, tumble or do anything else
that requires you to perform a feat of
On your character sheet record the coordination. Dexterity is also the
value d6 in each of your Attributes Attribute you use when making
except for one, which is at d8. This ranged attacks.
indicates which type of die you roll
when using those Attributes. Intelligence
Intelligence is your capacity for
Attributes reason and problem-solving. It’s
These are the following Attributes in useful for learning languages,
the game: operating computers or other mental
tasks.
Charisma
Charisma is your personal charm and Strength
magnetism. Use it when you want to Strength governs your ability to
influence someone’s thoughts or directly, physically affect your
convince them to do something. environment. Roll it when you pick
up a heavy weight, make a melee
attack or attempt to overpower
someone.

Wisdom
Wisdom is your ability to use common
sense. It’s useful for resisting mind-
altering effects such as lies, alien
artifacts and pleas to your emotions.

Every time you level up you may

increase one Attribute by one die
step. A d6 becomes d8, d8 becomes d8,

07
 d10 to d12 and d12 to d20. Your Face

 Generation
Character
character can only have one Attribute The smooth operator who talks for
at d20. the rest of the party.
HD: d6
Roles and Flavors Bargainer: Gain advantage on
See the next section for Roles and attempts to haggle with merchants.
Flavors. You pick one Party Role, one Each additional time that you take
Combat Role and two Flavors to this ability instead increase the
distinguish your character from default Usage Die of perishable items
everyone else. At character creation that you purchase by 1 step.
you gain one ability from each Role Connected: For each level of this
and Flavor. ability you gain +1 to your rolls to find
out information via gossip or
Party Roles investigation.
This section defines a character’s Likeable: Strangers’ default
non-combat abilities. disposition to you is friendlier. Those
who would be neutral are instead
Explorer cordial, unfriendly folks would be
The guide who helps everyone else neutral and so on. You can only take
get around in the wilderness. this ability once.
HD: d8
Accustomed: Reduce by 1 the damage Scholar
caused by environmental factors, The know-it-all who can read ancient
such as heat or cold. The GM texts or recall obscure information.
determines how much damage these HD: d6
effects normally do. Each time you Academic: Choose an intellectual
take this power reduces the damage field of study, such as languages,
by 1 more. medicine, physics, history or so on.
Guide: You may add or subtract 1 When you make a roll that only
from the Overland Travel roll. You involves thinking, as opposed to a
can only take this ability once. physical activity, where that field of
Self-Sufficient: Step up the standard study applies you gain Advantage.
Usage Die for your rations by 1. If you Each time you take this ability choose
share your rations with people roll a different field.
your Usage Die again, increasing the Guarded Mind: Step up your Wisdom
minimum number to step it down by one whenever you roll to resist
from 2 to 3, 3 to 4, etc. for each person mind-affecting effects or to see
with whom you share. Each additional through lies. You can only take this
time you take this ability reduces the ability once.
penalty by 1.

08
 Obscure Knowledge: Once per day Menace: Choose Dexterity or
you can make an Intelligence roll to Strength. When you make an attack
learn something that pertains to the with that Attribute step up the value
Chapter 02 current situation. You gain +1 to a roll
before you leave the area, or +1 to an
of the damage die.
Paragon: Choose a task that involves
attempt when you assist an ally. Each athletics, breaking something or
time you take this ability it gives you coordination. This can include
another opportunity to use it every running, swimming, climbing and
day. more. You gain Advantage on rolls to
make those tasks. Each time you take
Technician this ability you choose a different
The member who disarms traps, task.
repairs machines and does various
tasks. HD
HD: d6 Your HD is the die that you roll
Handy: Choose a type of task that whenever you gain a level. Add that
involves using your hands to fix, result to your total number of Hit
operate or build something. This can Points. At the first level, you gain the
be surgery, computer hacking, maximum amount of Hit Points
repairing machines or anything else. possible for your HD.
You gain Advantage on that task. Each
time you select this ability choose a Combat Roles
different task. When all else fails and you find
Jack of All Trades: Gain another Skill yourself in a melee you use your
point this level. abilities from this section to achieve
Master of One: Choose one Skill. It victory.
has a maximum rank of 6. You can
only take this ability once. Controller
A cerebral fighter, you affect the field
Tough of battle and confuse your enemies or
This person uses their physical make your comrades fight more
abilities to solve problems. effectively.
HD: d10 Damage: d6 Armed/d4 Unarmed
Everywhere: Once per day you gain Armor: d4
another regular action to use on Countertactics: You gain Advantage
physical activities. Each time you take to resist effects that impart status
this ability you can use it one more effects on you. You can select this
time per day. ability only once.
Manipulate Battle: Choose Afraid,
Confused, Encouraged or Enraged.

09
 You can impart that status effect on can impart the Stunned condition on

 Generation
Character
one enemy or all allies within 2 hexes a target for 1d4 rounds. If you select
of you with a successful Wisdom roll. this more than once you can choose
You can choose a different effect each to either increase the duration by one
time you take this ability. die step or the number of times you
Wide Net: Increase the range of all can use this ability per day by 1.
your Manipulate Battle effects or one Life-Giving Hands: Any time you
Flavor ability by 1 hex (or 10 percent assist others to recover or heal them,
if it’s not measured in hexes) each step up the die they roll for regaining
time that you take this ability. HP by 1 and they gain +2 HP from the
roll. You can only select this once.
Damage Patch Up: Three times a day you can
Nothing subtle about it, you go in for use your entire round’s action to heal
the crippling blow or the precise shot someone in the adjacent hex and roll
and take out the bad guys. their HD to restore that many HP.
Damage: d8 Armed/d6 Unarmed Each time you select this option you
Armor: d6 gain three more opportunities per
Courage: You gain +1 to your day. Anyone you use this option on
attempts to resist the Fear status can’t also get first aid (see page 22)
effect for each time you take this during the encounter.
option.
Efficient Destruction: Increase all
damage you do by one die step. You
can only take this ability once.
Martial Training: Choose one
weapon group, such as swords,
spears, bows or so on. You gain +1 to
your attack rolls with those weapons.
If you take this a second time for the
same group you also get Advantage
on attacks with those weapons. You
can select this item up to twice for
each weapon group.

Healer
Whenever your comrades fall you are
right there, ready to patch them up.
Damage: d4 Armed/d4 Unarmed
Armor: d4
Knockout Serum: Once per day you

10
 Sneak Tank
Dirty tricks are your forte and you You guard objectives and take the
can disappear in a flash. heavy hits so your teammates don’t
Chapter 02 Damage: d6 Armed/d4 Unarmed
Armor: d4
have to.
Damage: d6 Armed/ d6 Unarmed
Palm It: You can conceal two small Armor: d8
items on your person. These items are Built to Last: Step up your Armor by
undetectable by anything save a strip one die. You can only select this once.
search. Each time you select this Vitality: Treat your HD as if it rolled
ability you can conceal two more the maximum amount this level. If
items. this is your first level then double
Sneak Attack: If you attack from your starting HP.
concealment or against a target who Quick Recovery: Once per day roll
is unaware of the attack you gain +1 your HD and recover that much HP.
to the attack and increase the damage Each selection of this ability grants
die by one step. You can select this you another roll per day.
ability only once.
Vanish: You can disappear by rolling
Dexterity successfully. You only need Every time you level up you pick one
to roll against the highest applicable option from one of your Roles to
Action Die among observers. If you apply to your character. You begin
select this ability more than once you the game with one ability from both
gain +1 to the attempt each time. roles.

11
 Flavors Advantage on you or an ally within

 Generation
Character
These define the source of your power your awareness range that affects one
and help to inform your abilities. attack or damage roll against your
Flavors set you apart, mechanically target.
and story-wise, from other
characters. You can pick two at Omniscience: For each level of this
character generation. Some might be ability you can hear through one
useful only for combat and others for walled hex within the range of your
different situations. Gain one option awareness. This means that at 1 rank
from both Flavors at your first level. of this ability you could hear through
the walls of an adjacent hex, but if
Every third level, 3, 6 and 9, you can there was a wall between the first hex
choose one option from either Flavor and the second hex you could not
to add to your character. hear into the next room.

Aware Prescience: If you’re in a dungeon or

No matter what the situation, you can building you get a sense of what’s in
use your senses, brainpower and the next room. You can ask the GM
intuition to succeed. These abilities three simple yes or no questions, such
are useful in and out of combat. You as is there a monster, is there a trap,
can see and hear everything within a what is the monster’s approximate
3-hex radius clearly, including HD, is the princess in the chamber
whispers and small details and so on. When using this ability in a
random dungeon you can roll twice
Cold Read: Make an opposed when creating rooms, determining
Intelligence roll with another monsters, and determining traps. You
character. For each level of this can use this ability four times per day
ability you learn one fact about them for each level of this ability.
pertaining to their occupation,
identity, medical history, culture or
something else.

Extended Awareness: For each level

of this ability you extend your
awareness by 1 hex.

Find Weakness: Make an Intelligence

roll against an enemy or object. If
successful, for each rank in this
ability you gain the ability to bestow

12
 Companions Minions: You gain 2 minions who
You have a retinue of useful have 2 HD and an Action Die of d4.
followers. Your other Flavor can help Each time you take this ability you
Chapter 02 you determine the nature of your
companions. Your retinue begins with
gain 2 more minions.

a trusty sidekick with 3 HD and a d6 Summoned: You can summon your

Action Die. Human companions have trusty sidekick to your side with a full
no special rules, but animal round action. This can affect physical
companions or those made from companions who are within 3
elemental material, energy or other kilometers or 2 miles. Non-physical
forms are probably not welcome in companions appear instantly from
public. Non-physical companions also wherever they go when you dismiss
require you to maintain effort to keep them, and you can summon two non-
them materialized. physical minions, if you have any, at
the same time. Taking this ability
Competency: Choose 1 skill rank for multiple times increases the range by
your trusty sidekick and 1 skill rank its base distance or allows two
for each pair of minions, if you have additional non-physical minions.
any. This doesn’t have to be the same
skill for any of them. Each time you Training: For each time you take this
take this ability you can choose new ability all your minions get +1 HD and
skills or improve existing ones. your trusty sidekick gets +2. This
ability affects any minions that you
Mentor: Your companions can use gain after taking this ability.
one ability from your other Flavor.
Each time you take this ability it
allows you to select another ability.

13
 Defense can affect an additional hex within

 Generation
Character
You live to protect others. You have a the radius for each time that you take
trusty shield, armored gauntlets or this ability.
some other method of deflecting
attacks. Deflect: If you successfully defend
against a ranged attack you can send
Catch: Roll Strength to stop anyone the attack off in a different direction,
from running past you if they enter a either to the right or left of your
Hex that’s adjacent to yours. You can attacker. You can send laser beams
also prevent someone who runs at and similar attacks back in the
you from attacking once they enter a direction they came. This is an attack
hex that’s adjacent to you. You can do using your Dexterity but it doesn’t
this a number of times per round count as an action. You can do this a
equal to the number of times you’ve number of times per round equal to
chosen this ability. your level in this ability.

Cover: Maintain focus to use Extend Protection: You can step up

something lying around, bluff or just the Armor Die of an adjacent ally
shake the earth so that it shoots up a twice per day for every level of this
shard of rock. One hex within a three- ability.
hex radius is now “blocked” and
provides cover. No one can run Extreme Vitality: Your HD always
through it and they have roll the maximum amount when you
disadvantage when firing against level up. You can only take this ability
someone blocked by the cover. You once.

14
 Elements Effortless Control: Choose one
Select an elemental type from Air, elemental ability that you chose at a
Earth, Fire or Ice. This is your default lower level. If that ability requires
Chapter 02 type. Air is weak to Earth, Earth is
weak to Fire, Fire is weak to Water
you to maintain focus it doesn’t
anymore. If you have Elemental
and Water is weak to Air. Strikes from Versatility you can then use one other
a strong element against anyone in a elemental aspect of the ability while
weaker elemental form do double also using the effortless ability. So,
damage. you might be able to turn yourself
into steam instead of just Fire or just
Become Element: Maintain focus to Ice, and you’d gain the benefits of
turn your body into your element. For both. With Elemental Construct, it
Air, you may fly; you can rise one hex’ allows you to create two items at
worth of altitude with each once.
movement and move to an adjacent
hex. For Earth, you reduce all Elemental Strike: Attack an enemy at
incoming damage by twice your rank up to 3 hexes away. Air strikes push
in this ability. For Fire, your unarmed an opponent into an adjacent hex,
attacks do +2 damage and those who except for the one that brings them
attack you from an adjacent hex take closest to you. Earth strikes do +2
2 damage each time that they hit you, damage. Fire strikes apply Burning to
ignoring armor. Ice transformations your target and to the items in a
let you coast on a line of ice and add a nearby Hex. Ice strikes apply the
hex to your movement rate. Each time Frozen status until after the target’s
you take this ability it adds its base next turn. Taking this power again
value again (another hex of either increases its range by 1 hex or
movement for Ice, additional armor increases the effect that it causes by
for Earth, etc.). 1. You can choose to not increase the
effect each time you use the improved
Elemental Construct: Maintain effort strike. So, you could move someone 2
create an item out of your chosen hexes or just 1 with Air Strike or
element. It’s solid and must fit in an create 2 or 1 blazes with Fire Strike.
area that measures 3m x 3m x 3m, or
10’ x 10’ x 10’. Each time you choose Elemental Versatility: Choose a
this ability you increase the second element that you can
maximum size by its base value. manipulate. You can use that element
with a single ability from this flavor.
Each time you take this ability you
can add another element to your
repertoire.

15
 Energy Wisdom each turn to keep from being

 Generation
Character
You are capable of manifesting raw Stunned until their next turn. Positive
forms of energy. Choose between creatures affected by Positive energy
Positive, which is luminous, or heal 2 HP per turn. Negative creatures
Negative, which is shadowy or has a affected by Negative energy are
black light effect. Enraged. Positive creatures affected
by Negative energy take 3 damage per
Absorb Energy: Defend against a round that bypasses armor. Each time
laser or other energy- or elemental- you take this ability increase the
based attack using Wisdom. For each range by 1 hex.
time that you take this ability, after
the first, you also get to step up the Energy Beam: Make a ranged attack
damage die of your next Energy within 3 hexes, with the damage die
Beam, if you have that ability, by 1. increased by one step. Attacks against
creatures or objects made from the
Charge: Maintain focus to power a opposite energy form do double
single device that runs on electricity damage. Each time you select this
or other energy forms. For each time ability again you increase your range
you take this ability you can affect up by 1.
to 100 kilograms or 220 pounds in
weight. Imbue Energy: Your willing allies
within 3 hexes retain their physical
Energy Aura; Maintain focus to affect form but also are considered energy
energy creatures within 3 hexes. creatures aligned with your energy
Negative creatures affected by type for 5 rounds. Each time you take
Positive energy must roll against your this ability you can increase the
duration by 5 rounds.

16
 Music/Performance Ode: Your allies in range are
You have a special charm and can Revitalized. Taking this ability
influence others with a song or a multiple times increases the HP
Chapter 02 word. You can choose the nature of
your performance skills, within
restored by 1 per turn per rank of
Ode.
reason. Performances affect up the
four hexes away from you and each Symphony: You can use two specific
time you take an extra level in a song songs that require you to maintain
you extend its range by one. effort together. Each time you take
this you can use a different pair of
Anthem: Maintain effort while you songs together.
play a rousing song for your allies.
Those within range are Encouraged. Requiem: Maintain effort while you
Each additional time that you take sing a funeral song to terrify your
this ability increases allies’ rolls enemies. Enemies within range roll
against mind-altering effects by +1. against your Charisma or become
Afraid during the song. For each time
Dirge: Maintain effort to attack all after the first that you take this
enemies in range using Charisma. ability your enemies move an
They defend using Wisdom and are additional hex away from you per
Stunned and take 1d4 damage that round.
ignores armor if they fail. Each time
you take this ability you step up the
damage die by 1.

17
 Mutation Extra Limbs: Choose 1 additional

 Generation
Character
Your form is unstable. This ability can attack, moving 1 more hex with each
manifest in many ways. move action, flying 2 hexes per move
or Advantage either climbing or
Amorphous: Your arms can reach 2 swimming. Your new or altered limbs
hexes away, and you can “pour” give you this ability. You must choose
yourself through a hole half as wide a different power each time you
as your pelvis. Each time you take this choose this ability.
ability increase your reach by 1 hex
and decrease the minimum size Spray Attack: Choose venom or fire.
through which you can fit by half. You can make a ranged attack up to
two hexes away. Venom imparts the
Environmental Immunity: Choose Poisoned statues and fire inflicts
underwater, noxious gas, acid, Burning.
vacuum, freezing cold or fire. When
you face the chosen environment, you Super Mutation: Choose one ability
can live as easily as in your home from any other Flavor. You gain that
environment. Taking this ability more ability. You can change your choice
than once allows you to choose new by losing the ability for a week and
Immunities. then selecting a new one. You can
only take this ability once.

18
 Nature One with the Land: Choose two
You are attuned to the natural world abilities from the following: Waves
and its flora and fauna. You likely and river currents do not move you
Chapter 02 reject civilization and prefer living in
the wilderness.
against your will, lava flows bend
around you, rocks or trees never fall
on you in an earthquake, lightning
Bestial Nature: Choose Hunter or won’t strike you, hurricanes and
Scholar. You can maintain focus to tornadoes can’t lift you against your
manifest one NPC ability exhibited by will and the debris inside the cyclone
an animal. Hunters must kill the won’t batter you or mud and
animal in combat to learn its abilities. quicksand can’t hold your feet. You
Scholars must spend a day observing can maintain focus to share this
the creatures. You can have three protection with an ally that you can
learned abilities at once. Learning see. Each time you take this ability
new ones beyond this limit means choose one more protection and you
that you must erase an older ability. can add one more person to your
Taking it multiple times gives you protection when you focus.
three extra ability slots each time.
Plant Bending: Flora within 3 hexes
Charm Beast: Roll Charisma against of you bends to entangle your
an animal to cause its disposition to enemies. They must roll versus 1d6 to
become less hostile. Attacking move each time they change hexes.
animals stop in their tracks but still Failure means that they’re restrained.
swipe at targets they are adjacent to. Each time you take this ability you
Unfriendly animals ignore you. increase the die that opposes your
Neutral animals become friendly. enemies and extend the range by 1
Friendly animals follow you so long as hex. This ability works with plants as
you feed them and treat them well. small as grass or with moss.
They’ll leave you if you abandon their
habitat. Sylvan Respite: Maintain focus for a
tree to open and allow you inside.
While in a tree you heal each hour as
if you were in surgery (see page 12).
You also don’t need to eat, breathe or
drink so long as the tree is getting
nutrients, air and water. You can
leave whenever you like. For each
time you take this ability you can
open up another tree for holding your
allies.

19
 Noble Shield Wall: Select two allies who are

 Generation
Character
You are born to rule and lead. You adjacent to one another. While they
have an aristocratic bearing. remain adjacent to one another
ranged attacks targeting anyone
Conscription: You can gain two 3HD, behind the shield wall have a penalty
d6 Action Die minions. These equal to the number of allies in the
henchmen’s Action Die is d4 for any shield wall. Each time you take this
roll that requires reasoning or charm. ability you can add another ally to the
When rolling up their HP consider shield wall.
rolls of 1 and 2 as 3. You recruit from
town, caravans or other populated Splendid Carriage: You get a wagon
areas and they leave after the mission or boat. The caravan wagon (see page
is over. Taking this ability multiple 29) has two mules pulling it and can
times increases their HD by 1 each hold all the gear for 10 people plus
time. trade goods, tents and bedding. The
boat is a corvette (see page 30) that
Deadly Swarm: In battle, you can can hold 5 crew and 5 passengers,
coordinate attacks. For each level of plus supplies for two weeks at sea
this ability one more character can without stopping to fish. Both start at
assist in making attacks. If the attack 4 HD and with an d6 Action Die.
is a melee attack then all assisting Taking this ability multiple times
characters must be adjacent to the increases the HD by 2 and the Action
target. Die by 1.

Respected Name: You have

Advantage on Charisma rolls when
attempting to use your fame to
influence people to be friendlier to
you.

20
 Rage Fury: For each time you take this
During battle, you can become ability you do an extra +2 damage
maintain focus to become Enraged. with Strength-based attacks and take
Chapter 02 While Enraged you do +2 damage with
Strength-based attacks but also take
+1 more damage.

+1 damage from all sources and have Shrug it Off: Choose two of Afraid,
Disadvantage on tasks that require Confused, Stunned or Wounded. You
reasoning ability or compassion. are immune to those conditions while
While in this state you can do far Enraged. If you chose Wounded you
more than an ordinary warrior. also treat Gravely Wounded as
Wounded. You can choose Wounded
Adrenaline Surge: While Enraged twice to completely negate Gravely
you gain Advantage on Strength- Wounded. Each time you take this
based tasks. If you already have an ability choose two other effects.
ability that gives Advantage on one or
more Strength-based tasks then this Simmering Rage: For each time you
ability gives a +2 bonus to those tasks. take this ability you reduce the extra
You can only take this ability once. damage you take while Enraged by -1.
You still suffer the other effects of the
Always Angry: Choose an ability from condition, including Disadvantage on
your other Flavor that requires you to reasoning tasks.
maintain focus. You can use that
ability while you’re Enraged. Each
time you take this ability you can use
another effect that requires you to
maintain effort simultaneously with
your rage. You can’t use more than
one other ability at a time.

21
 Speed Transfer Momentum: If you crash,

 Generation
Character
Everything about you is built for fall, are pushed or otherwise take
speed. You run faster and get things damage from movement roll 1d20 for
done quickly. When you move you Armor to reduce the damage. Each
might even leave behind a blurry time you take this ability you roll an
streaking afterimage. additional die for Armor. When you
run into someone from a distance and
Extended Range: Your base attack in the same round you gain +2
movement rate extends by 2 hexes for damage and may also move them 1
each time you take this ability. hex in the opposite direction for each
time you take this ability.
Multitasker: Choose a physical task
that normally takes a whole round to Zippy: You can move an extra time in
accomplish. You can do it in half a a round, or you can move twice and
round. So now you can patch up a attack. For each time you take this
wound and move on to the next you get an extra move.
patient’s location, perform a
strenuous climb twice or many other
actions.

Phase: Maintain effort to vibrate your

molecules so fast that you can pass
through solid matter. You can move
1meter or 1 yard per round through
stone, but after your third
consecutive round in a solid object
you must start making Constitution
rolls to avoid taking damage. Each
time you take this ability you extend
the number of rounds by 3. While
phased you also reduce the damage
done by fists, swords and other solid
objects by 2 for every time you take
this ability.

22
 Synthetic Lifeform Power Surge: Attack up to four
You are a robot or other synthetic adjacent targets with an energy pulse.
Chapter 02 lifeform. You do not need to eat,
sleep, drink or breathe. Your body
does not normally heal itself, but has
This attack has a Usage Die of d6,
which replenishes every time you
recharge. If the Usage Die depletes,
to be repaired. It’s a different skill to you shut down until recharged. For
repair than it is to perform first aid. every time you take this ability after
Poisons and diseases don’t affect you. the first you upgrade the Usage Die by
one step.
While you don’t sleep, you do
occasionally need to recharge. While Repair Bots: Internal nanobots or
recharging you cannot move and are another function allows you to regain
functionally unconscious. It takes 4 HP when resting or recharging, just
hours to charge up for 24 hours of like a biological organism. If you have
continuous function. Character the Healer Combat Role then you can
effects that reduce the need for sleep use your abilities from that Role on
instead reduce your need to recharge. yourself or on other constructs. For
Self-Sufficient Explorers who are each time you take this ability step up
Constructs can go twice as long the die that you heal yourself when
without recharging. applying first aid-like repairs.

Matter Conversion: You may now Size Shift: Choose Grow or Shrink
“eat”. Destroy a solid item or items when you take this ability. If you
with a Usage Die. For every step above Grow, commit effort to double your
d4 that was left of that item you size and consider yourself a vehicle
reduce the number of hours that you for purposes of damage and armor. If
have to recharge today by 1. This you Shrink commit effort scale down
destroys the item completely, no to one quarter of your normal size.
matter how high the Usage Die was. You can fit into smaller spaces and it’s
You can only do this once per day. much easier to hide. You can take this
ability twice to be able to take both
Multi-Function: Select one specific options.
type of task, such as cooking, driving
or attacking with a specific weapon.
You install new hardware that gives
you a +2 bonus to that task. If you take
this ability again you have to select a
different task each time.

23
 Skills

 Generation
Character
Skills represent your special training or area of interest. You gain three skills at
the first rank. There is no list of defined skills, you get to make up your own. Ask
the GM whether each skill represents a specific task, such as attacking with a
sword or bow, or a broad career, such as knight or hunter. The GM might allow
you one career-based skill, which is useful for a variety of rolls, and two task-
based skills, which only cover a narrow focus.

Each rank of a skill gives you a +1 bonus to its associated tasks. Every time you
level up you gain 1 point to either put into a skill, to a maximum of 5 ranks, or to
define a new skill that represents knowledge picked up on your adventures.

Skill List
Here is a list of certain skills, but it’s by no means exhaustive:
Professions Task
Craftsman (specific) Game (specific)
Doctor Fencing
Merchant Leaping
Sailor Repair (class of items)
Soldier Riding
Spy Sport (specific)
Technician Weapon use (specific)

24
 Leveling Up Heroic Games
Unlike some games, where PCs have If you want to run a game where the
Chapter 02 to keep track of a pool of experience
points, characters in Exodus System
level up when they achieve a major
PCs are more powerful, instead of
getting a new Flavor ability at every
level that’s a multiple of 3, choose one
story goal. This is up to the GM, but at every level. If you go Heroic, just
he should be consistent with note that individual Flavor abilities
awarding it for deeds of similar scope. can get broken if you take them more
If you play every week and it takes than three times, so this is a good
five sessions to accomplish a goal opportunity to branch out into other
then it takes about a year to level up Flavors.
all the way. Once at the top level it’s
probably a good idea to have one Heroic games are well-suited for solo
more epic quest and then retire. play if you plan to run just one Pc,
since your character becomes strong
Level Up Summary enough to handle heavier situations.
When you level up roll the die type
listed for your HD and add that many
HP to your maximum. Then increase
one Attribute by one die step
remembering that you only can have
one at d20. Spend 3 Skill Points
gaining new Skills or upgrading
existing ones, to a maximum rank of
5. If this level is a multiple of 3 (3, 6 or
9) then you can also take an ability
from one of your Flavors.

25
Chapter 03

Tasks
 

&
Combat

27
 The resolution system of this game Static challenges are tasks where

 & Combat
Tasks
governs the majority of the rules that you’re not opposed. In this case it
come up in play. In a sentence, it’s might be simply trying to figure out
this: Choose the Difficulty of the task, how a foreign computer operating
determine any sources of Advantage system works or climbing a cave wall
or Disadvantage, select the with no pressing danger.
appropriate Attribute and a possible
applicable skill, then roll your Advantage and Disadvantage
Attribute die and hope to score higher Situations, special abilities, wound
than the Difficulty. and other factors might influence
how likely your character is to
Some tasks require you to work succeed at their objective. If some
against an active opponent or factor gives a large bonus to a roll,
countermeasure. In this case instead such as having the high ground in a
of a static Difficulty number you roll sword fight, then you have
versus your enemy’s Action Die or an Advantage. If something hinders you,
Action Die associated with the such as being flanked by multiple
challenge. Non-living challenges enemies, then you have Disadvantage.
might be hacking into a computer
protected by a security program or When you have Advantage, you roll
trying to climb up a cave wall while two Attribute dice, of the same value,
an acidic liquid rises below you. and pick the highest. When you have
Disadvantage you roll two
Attribute dice of the same value
and pick the lowest. If you have
Advantage from one source and
Disadvantage from another
source they cancel each other
out. If you have multiple
sources of Advantage or
Disadvantage and even just one
source of the other condition it
still cancels out both
conditions.

Setting the Difficulty

A static Difficulty can be a
tricky thing to gauge. If you
want a simple task then maybe
set the Difficulty at half the

28
 value of the attempting character’s Crits and Fumbles
Attribute die, such as 3 for d6, adding Rolling the highest value on your
1 to the Difficulty if the character is Attribute Die is a Critical Hit, or a
Chapter 03 Skilled. For moderate tasks increase
the Difficulty to three quarters of
“Crit”. If the roll exceeds the
difficulty then your success becomes a
their die value and maybe add half or “yes, and” result, where another
more of their Skill rank. Very hard beneficial effect occurs. If you roll a 1
tasks might even be equal to or on any die then it’s a Fumble and your
greater than the maximum that the roll becomes “no, and”; you fail and
character can roll. In this case the some undesirable effect further
task might be a complex test complicates matters. Effects of Crits
requiring multiple rolls, see below, or and Fumbles are up to the GM.
the PC can get help from a friend.
Assistance
In many games that feature "saves", Sometimes you need to get by with a
or rolls to react to immediate little help from your friends. To assist
dangers, you roll against a target a character in their action, determine
number based on your Attributes. In if you are eligible. If your Attribute is
Exodus System, every danger has its equal to the Attribute that the main
own Action Die. That steep cliff might character is using, then you can add
be a d12 cliff, while the visible pit +1 to their roll. For each step that
might be a d6 hazard. When called on your Attribute is higher than your
to "save" against these things, roll the ally’s you add an additional +1 to the
Attribute that best fits the situation roll. If you have an applicable skill
and compare it to the danger's role. then you can add half of your rank,
The highest total wins. You may apply rounded up, to the roll. This bonus
relevent skills to this roll. can stack, so you might have +4 or
higher. You can’t help if you have a
When your activated ability calls for lower Attribute and no applicable
an Attribute the GM sets the skills. Unless a special ability allows it
difficulty. Generally, it shouldn’t be no more than two allies can assist a
hard, but if it’s done in combat or a roll.
dangerous situation you might
increase the difficulty a little. NPCs can try to help, using their
Penalties to the Difficulty of Action Die to determine their
activating abilities generally Attribute. If the NPC’s nature is
shouldn’t increase be greater than 3 applicable to the task consider them
or 4, even as the PC’s Attributes grow. to have a Skill rank of 1. A hired
grunt, for example, is skilled in

29
 attacks while a valet is skilled in outracing the acid pool, if you fail a

 & Combat
Tasks
social tasks. roll then for that period of climbing,
the acid would rise to your feet or
Complex Tasks maybe splash your back or arms. If
When a task takes a measure of time you exceeded the opposing Action Die
and effort to complete, you can make you wouldn’t take any damage.
it a Complex Task. An example of a
Complex Task might be climbing cave Task Timers
wall. Say it has a Difficulty of 30 and Sometimes a situation has a deadline.
you have a d8 in Strength and 1 rank These tasks have a Timer with a
of a climbing-related Skill. Your numerical value that counts down by
attempt is not going to succeed. one with every attempt. A timer
might be related to a Complex Task or
The GM rules instead that with each it could just be in the background.
try you gain progress. Progress is Allowing time to pass or attempting
equal to your roll. Between attempts to deal with the Timer both cause it to
time passes and certain story effects count down. Timer scales can be any
might occur. If the Complex Task has increment, including 1 second, 10
a static difficulty, such as learning a seconds, an hour or something else.
computer system, this might not be a
big deal, but if you’re trying to figure If you were studying an alien
it out while your allies are in a computer and it had a Timer that
combat situation then you might find represented a program that was going
yourself in danger. The GM should tell to wipe the hard drive if not
you the time scale of your action, prevented from activating, you might
whether each attempt represents 10 set the Timer to 6 and have each
seconds, a minute, an hour, a day or increment represent 10 seconds. That
some other measure of time. would give the PC six chances to
prevent the program from activating.
If the Complex Task is opposed, say
that you’re climbing the cave wall When trying to outclimb the acid pool
while acid rises, then you still roll for maybe the pool would reach the top
you and the opposing Action Die. The of the chamber in 30 seconds, after
GM can rule that your total equals the which escape would be impossible.
progress that you make, or that you You could set the timer to 3 and run it
only make progress equal to the as a Complex Opposed Task, where
amount by which your roll exceeded you have three tries to get a total of
the opposing Action Die. In the latter 30 and each time you roll if your roll
case, you might actually lose progress is lower than the opposing Action Die
on a bad roll. Back to the example of you take damage from the acid.

30
 Social Interaction
You can moderate social interaction via Tasks. They’re generally opposed rolls
Chapter 03 made using your Charisma against your opponent’s Action Die or appropriate
Attribute. Wisdom defends against appeals to emotion or morality while
Intelligence defends against appeals to logic or lies.

There are two axes by which you can measure your target’s feelings towards you.
The first is emotional. Emotional consideration can range from Hostile to Bonded.
You also consider whether your target considers you to be their peer, or social
superior or inferior.

Feelings
Feeling Difficulty Modifier Perceived Status Difficulty Modifier
Bonded -3 Superior -1
Friendly -2 Peer +0
Cordial -1 Inferior +1
Neutral +0
Cold +1
Unfriendly +2
Hostile +3

Note that merchants are driven by their need to make a living, and perhaps
avarice, and generally only haggle using the rules presented in the Equipment
section.

31
 Combat determine the order in which tied

 & Combat
Tasks
Combat is a special situation. It’s not NPCs act. If it’s a case of two PCs
the default method of solving fighting then roll Dexterity and the
problems in the Exodus System, PC with the higher result goes first.
which is why characters have both
Party and Combat Roles. Sometimes Movement
you can reason your way out of Use a hex map to represent the field
something, but sometimes you’re of battle. You don’t have to fill it in,
faced with an implacable enemy. but you could use little symbols to
denote walls, obstacles or items. Each
Rounds hex is about 2 meters or 6 feet.
Combat takes place in rounds of about Standard movement is two hexes a
10 seconds each. Any Timers or round, and running is 4. Rough
Complex Tasks during combat should terrain might mean that you must roll
probably run on a 10-second scale. Dexterity to move without tripping,
Each character in combat gets to or maybe your movement rate is
choose two actions per round, halved. There is no default penalty
moving, performing a slight task such when you run past or away from
as shouting encouragement to a someone, but your enemies might
friend or trying to distract an enemy have abilities that let them hinder
or making an attack. you somehow.

Some actions take up your whole Hexes in the ocean are much larger,
round. This could include running at with a small merchant ship taking up
twice the normal rate or focusing on a single hex. When converting ranges
an involved task such as defusing a from weapons such as naval cannons
bomb. Some abilities might alter to a smaller hex base, just multiply by
actions. Generally, activating an 10. In outer space hexes are at
ability shouldn’t take up an action spaceship scale.
unless it states that it does in the
description, or if the GM rules that Attacking and Defending
circumstances warrant it. Attacking usually means rolling
against your enemy’s Action Die. Roll
Initiative four dice, one to represent your
To determine who goes first compare Dexterity or Strength Attribute, one
your Dexterity with the enemies’ for your enemy’s Acton Die, one for
Action Dice. The highest value gets to damage and one for any Armor. If
declare their action and carry it out your Attribute roll exceeds the
first. In the case of a tie, PCs get to go enemy’s Action Die roll, you do
before NPCs. The GM gets to damage equal to your Damage Die

32
 result minus what the enemy rolled Ties
for Armor. The process is the same for In the event that a PC and an enemy
defending against an enemy’s attack are rolling against each other, such as
Chapter 03 except that you use Dexterity as your
dodging Attribute.
for attack and defense, and they tie,
then the result goes to the PC.

If you have any dice that are the same Maintaining Effort
value, say four d12s, then make sure Some abilities tell you to maintain
that each one is a different color. I Effort. Effort means that your focus is
recommend black for your Attribute, on continuing an ongoing effect. You
white for the enemy’s Action Die, blue can only have one effect that requires
for your Damage Die and red for your maintaining Effort at a time.
enemy’s Armor. This process greatly
speeds up combat. HP and Enemy HD
HP are Hit Points, and your Party Role
If an enemy attacks more than one determines how many you get at the
player, each of you rolls your own beginning of the game and at each
Dexterity and Armor but only one level.
enemy Action Die and Damage Die.
Should you somehow attack multiple HD stands for Hit Dice and is a
enemies at once, roll your Dexterity measure of how powerful an enemy
or Strength versus each enemy’s is. For every HD, you roll 1d6 and add
Action Die and Armor all at once. It them all together to determine the
helps if the GM and other players enemy’s Hit Points. To save time you
each roll for one enemy so you can can just multiply HD by 3 instead.
keep dice separate.

33
 Enemy Action Dice Damage

 & Combat
Tasks
An enemy’s Action Die is a quick way Total damage done, after deducting
to determine how competent it is at Armor rolls, gets subtracted from HP.
most tasks. The Action Die is separate When your HP reaches 0 you’re
than HD. The number of HD that an knocked out and vulnerable. When a
enemy has determines the value of regular enemy reaches 0 it’s up to you
their Action Die.: what happens to them. More
HD Action Die important enemies get knocked out
1-2 1d4 and might live to fight another day if
3-4 1d6 their minions help them escape.
5-6 1d8
7-8 1d10 Damage you do depends on your
9-10 1d12
Combat Role. Your Combat Role
11+ 1d20
Some abilities might increase an specifies dice for armed attacks and
enemy’s Action Die when they on unarmed attacks. This is what you
perform certain tasks. do on every attack of that type,
whether you’re kicking, punching,
Armor slashing or shooting.
You begin with a default Armor die
determined by your Combat Role. Enemies do damage based on their
Using equipment can increase this HD:
HD Damage
value. 1 1d4
2 1d6
Enemy Armor depends on HD. From 3 2d4
1-5 HD, Armor is 1d4, from 6-10 HD 4 1d10
it’s 1d6 and higher than 10 HD is 1d8. 5 1d12
6 1d6+1d8
Enemy abilities might increase this
7 2d8
value.
8 3d6
9 2d10
Enemy Entries 10+ 1d10+1d12
If you want to write a description of For HD beyond 10 simply add +1d4 at
an enemy you can do it in basic terms, every even level.
like this: Swordsman, 5 HD, d8 Action
Die, 1d12 Damage, 1d4 Armor. The
enemy might have a special ability,
such as “Step up your Action Die by 1
when attacking with a rapier”.

34
 Healing and Recovery succeed when cumulative rolls exceed
A night of rest revitalizes you. Roll the die’s maximum. Using water or
your HD and recover that much HP. In ice doubles the result of your rolls.
Chapter 03 battle or a stressful situation someone
can try and apply basic first aid, Confused
which heals 1d4 HP. Extensive While confused you have
medical treatment counts as a night Disadvantage on all Intelligence,
of rest for every hour spent working Wisdom and defense rolls. You can
on you, up to 3 hours a day. roll to resist by succeeding at a
Wisdom roll against the source of
Status Effects Confusion.
In combat or other situations, you
might get affected by various Encouraged
conditions. This section presents Being Encouraged makes you more
several common effects. resolute. You gain Advantage to resist
mental Status effects.
Afraid
When you’re afraid you use your Enraged
movement action to run away from While Enraged you do +2 damage with
the nearest, most powerful enemy, Strength-based attacks but also take
and you can’t attack. Roll Wisdom to +1 damage from all sources and have
resist it. Disadvantage on tasks that require
reasoning ability or compassion. You
Burned attack every round and if there are no
Burning does 1d4 damage per turn. enemies in sight you attack your
This is also a Usage Die that steps nearest ally. Ending this effect
down on 1-2. If you roll maximum on requires a Wisdom roll, which your
the die it steps up by 1. Items in a hex allies can help you with.
can be Burning. Each time the die
steps up the fire spreads to an Frozen
additional hex. You can put it out by You can’t do anything except try to
smothering it, which causes half wiggle free. Roll Strength against the
damage against you. Roll Strength source of freezing. Save your results
and if you exceed the maximum as if they’re progress on a Complex
amount of the Fire die then you step Task and when your progress is equal
it down and eliminate the fire from to the maximum rating of the
one hex. If you don’t exceed the freezing effect, 12 for d12, 8 for d8
maximum amount of the Fire die then and so on, you break free and can act
you make progress in this task and on your next turn. Being Frozen does
1d4 damage per turn.

35
 Poisoned Combat Example

 & Combat
Tasks
Poison is rated in die levels. It does Jeffrey and Christopher are playing an
damage every round until you roll Exodus System game. Jeffrey is a Scholar
Constitution against the Poison. First Controller with Companions and
aid or other medical attention can Performance. Christopher is a Tough Tank
stop poisons. Poison has a Usage Die with Rage and Elements. They are both
that steps down whenever you roll first level and thus have only one
less than half the maximum rating of Attribute at d8. For Jeffrey, it’s Charisma
the die, so 3 or less for a d8 or 4 or and for Christopher it’s Constitution.
less for a d10.
Jeffrey’s abilities are Obscure Knowledge,
Revitalized Counter Tactics, Mentor and Dirge.
While Revitalized you heal 1 HP per Jeffrey’s trusty sidekick, Sharky, knows
round. Dirge because of Jeffrey’s mentor ability.
Both PCs have Skills that relate to this
Stunned scenario.
When Stunned you cannot attack or
do actions that take a whole round. Christopher has Menace, Quick Recovery,
You are limited to not much more Become Element for Fire and Always
than dropping things and moving Angry, keyed to Become Element.
once at half speed. Resist it by rolling
Constitution against the source of Their enemies are a 1 HD ant man worker
Stunning. and a 7 HD ant man soldier. Their stats
are as follows.
Wounded
When you are at half HP or lower you Ant Man Worker: 1 HD, d4 Action Die, 1d4
are Wounded. While Wounded you get Damage with 1d4 Armor and he imparts
a -1 penalty to your rolls involving Poison on a successful attack.
Strength, Dexterity or Constitution. If
you are at a quarter or less HP then Ant Man Soldier: 7 HD, d10 Action Die, 2d8
you’re Gravely Wounded and the Damage with 1d6 Armor. Step up the
penalty increases to -2. Unless it Action Die when resisting mind control.
states otherwise, a power that lets
you choose to inflict variable status For this example, we’re assuming that all
effects does not let you inflict HD rolled 3. So, the Worker has 3 HP while
Wounded or Gravely Wounded. the Soldier has 21.

At the beginning of combat Sharky stands

between the Worker and Christopher. The
Soldier is behind the Worker while Jeffrey

36
 is behind Christopher. Initiative goes in soldier rolls 1 and Christopher rolls 4, for 8
order of Dexterity/Action Dice. So, the total. The Soldier loses 7 HP and is down
turn order is Soldier first, then to 14.
Chapter 03 Christopher and Jeffrey choose the order
among the two of them, then Sharky and Now it’s Jeffrey’s turn. He moves forward
finally the Worker. and to the right bringing his crossbow to
bear. The GM rules that since the Soldier
The Soldier begins by running past the is in no position to defend himself that
worker. It’s 4 hexes to Sharky, so he uses Jeffrey has Advantage on the attack roll.
his movement to run and close the Jeffrey has no skill in crossbows, so he
distance. His turn ends because he used rolls just his d6 Dexterity against the
his actions to run. Soldier’s d10 Action Die, but he gets to do
so twice, taking the higher result. Both of
Now it’s Christopher’s turn. He’s two his D6s roll 6, and so does the Soldier’s
hexes from the Soldier. Christopher d10. This is a Crit. The GM rules that since
activates his Always Angry and Become it’s easier to roll a Crit on d6s than on
Element to enter an Enraged State and higher dice values that the effect of the
coat his body with fire. Become Element Crit is not very extreme..
adds +2 to Christopher’s unarmed
damage, and his enraged state adds +2 to The GM gives Jeffrey a +2 bonus to
his damage. If he hits he Soldier he’ll take damage for this attack. He rolls 1d6 for his
this formidable foe down a peg. Damage Die versus the Soldier’s d6 Armor.
Christopher rolls 1d8 for attacking with Jeffrey rolls a 6, for 8, while the Soldier
his Strength, with a +1 Skill bonus. This is roll’s 2. The Soldier takes 6 damage and is
against the Soldier’s d10. Christopher rolls down to 8 HP.
8, for a total of 9, while the Soldier rolls 9.
In combat between NPCs and PCs ties It’s now Sharky’s turn. He decides to sing
always go to PCs. his Dirge in the hopes of Stunning and
damaging both foes. Sharky activates his
Since it’s a success and Christopher rolled song. The ant men have Action Dice, not a
the maximum amount on his Attribute die Wisdom Attribute, so they use that to
this roll is also a Crit. For the “Yes, and” defend. Sharkey is a 3HD sidekick, so he
roll the GM determines that the soldier rolls a d6 while the Worker rolls a d4 and
lost his balance and fell prone when the Soldier rolls a d12, stepping up from
Christopher slugged him. Christopher d10 because of his ability to resist mind
rolls his damage while the GM rolls Armor control.
for the Soldier. Both dice are d6, but
Christopher is getting a +4 bonus. The The Soldier rolls 8, Sharky rolls 6 (a third
Crit in a row for these people) and the
Worker rolls 1, a Fumble. The song has no

37
 effect on the mighty soldier but it stops takes an extra 2 damage this turn.

 & Combat
Tasks
the Worker in his tracks. Since Sharky Christopher is now rolling 1d6+6 damage,
rolled so well and the Worker so poorly versus the Solder’s d6 Armor. The rolls are
the GM rules that the Worker is stunned 10 versus 2, which is enough to drop the
without a chance of resisting on the next Soldier.
turn, too, though he won’t take the 1d4
damage from the Dirge unless he’s Jeffrey now takes aim at the Worker and
affected by another Dirge. Comparing fires. He rolls 1d6+1 versus 1d4. He gets 3
Armor to damage, both Sharky and the for a total of 4, while the Worker rolls 4.
Worker roll d4s. Sharky rolls 2 and the Jeremy rolls 1d6 for damage versus 1d4
Worker rolls 3, so he takes no damage. The Armor. Both roll 1s, so there’s no damage.
Worker is Stunned and can’t attack. His
movement is halved so he runs away just Sharky continues singing, rolling 3
one hex. against the Worker’s 2. This Dirge does
1d4 damage, and Sharky ends up rolling a
Everyone’s had a turn, so it’s a new round. 2, dropping the Worker to 1 HP. No fool,
The Soldier rises, using his first move. He the Ant Man Worker raises his four arms
then attacks Christopher’s fiery form. He to surrender.
rolls a d10 for the attack while
Christopher rolls 1d6 for Dexterity and
gets +1 from his martial arts skill. The
Soldier rolls 9 and Christopher rolls 1 for a
Fumble.

The Soldier tackles Christopher, knocking

him back off his feet, but he takes 2
damage due to the flames. The Soldier
now has only 6 HP remaining. His damage
is 2d8 versus Christopher’s d8 Armor. The
Soldier rolls 7, adding 1 for Christopher’s
Enraged state, and Christopher rolls 8, so
even though he’s on his back he’s no
worse off.

Christopher rises and lashes out furiously,

rolling 1d8+1 versus 1d10. He gets a 6 for 7
total, and the Soldier rolls a 1. Instead of
bowling the Soldier over the GM rules that
this time the Fumble results from dealing
with the pain of the burning, so the solder

38
Chapter 04

Equipment 
&
Vehicles

39
 No adventurer should step out Weapons and armor, and perhaps
without the proper equipment. Here other items such as clothing, are
are the rules for gear. customizable. A customizable item
Chapter 04 Usage Die
can have 1 option for every three full
levels that it has. So a level 1-2 item
Instead of saying that you have 3 can’t be customized, while a level 3
arrows in your quiver, you have a item can have a single option and a
Usage Die. This rating applies to level 9 item can have three.
rations, ammunition, batteries and
any other item that has limited Items that are useful for undertaking
numbers or a power or fuel supply. tasks can only give you a bonus for
tasks whose difficulty is no more than
Whenever you use your item roll its twice its level. So a level 2 rope could
Usage Die. If the result is greater than help with climbing tasks that have
2 there is no effect. On a 1-2 step the difficulty ratings of up to 4, while a
Usage Die down to the next lowest level 10 rope could help you climb on
value. If you must step down a d4 task of up to difficulty 20. This isn’t to
your item is depleted until replaced say that you can’t use a level 2 rope
or you recharge. when attempting a task with
difficulty 20, only that it won’t
The Usage Die steps are as follows: provide a mechanical bonus. Bonuses
d4>d6>d8>d10>d12 are usually a +2 to the roll, though
depending on the circumstances the
You might have something with a GM might rule that the bonus is
Usage Die of d20, but that’s Advantage instead.
exceedingly rare. When you recharge
or replenish the item it’s Usage Die is Characters can only successfully wield
restored to default. A hasty or partial items of no more than their own level
recharge might only restore it by a +2. A character can usually
step or two instead. successfully use a higher-level item,
but they don’t get any bonuses from
Equipment Levels the item.
Gear is rated in levels, from 1 through
10. Levels have different effects, based Item Enhancements
on the type of item. For one-use This list is a non-exhaustive set of
healing items from levels 1-2 you roll options for enhancing your
1d4 to see how much HP gets equipment. It requires considerable
restored. Step up the die increment time to upgrade your gear, and also a
by 1 at every odd level, all the way up
to 1d12 of healing at levels 9-10.

41
 roll. Usually this roll is Intelligence, at Equipment Prices and List

 & Vehicles
Equipment
2 x the level of the equipment that This list below presents some
you’re modifying. common equipment. It’s not
exhaustive. You can come up with
Beautiful: Gain +1 to your attempts to your own gear if you want. Instead of
influence people while wearing this tracking money you haggle with the
clothing, jewelry or armor (maximum merchant to get an affordable price.
+3). The merchant’s Action Die is the
Healing: Once per day heal 1d4 HP opposition for this task. If an item is
while wearing this item. You can take listed as Very Cheap (VC) step the
this enhancement a second time to Action Die down by 2, if it’s Cheap (C)
increase the healing to 1d6. step down by 1, Expensive (E) items
Inflict: On a successful hit with this step up the Action Die by 1 and Very
weapon you can roll Intelligence at Expensive (VE) Items step it up by 2.
1.5 x the enemy’s HD to inflict a An item’s default price is Normal (N).
specific status effect, taken from the
Combat chapter. Choose one status Crafting Items
effect when you apply this Creating an item depends on the
enhancement. The weapon may only item's comlexity, which you can
inflict that status effect. You can only usually determine by price. VC itms
apply this modification once. take up to an hour to make, C items
Increased Damage: Do +1 damage may take several hours, N items may
with each attack (maximum +3) take one or a few days, E items take
Increased Protection: +1 to this weeks and VE items take months or
armor’s AP (maximum +3) years, depending on the type of item.
Proficiency: Add +1 to your attack Clothing doesn't take as long as
rolls with this weapon (maximum +3) ascratch-built computer, for instance.
The cost of material for an item is one
step below the cost of the item. For a
Very Cheap item you can essentially
scrounge the parts needed. A Very
Expensive item requires Expensive
components.

42
 Name Purpose Price Notes
Ammo Clip Slug bullets N Usage Die d8
N
Chapter 04 Armor, Light
Armor, Medium
Armor, Heavy
Protection
Protection
Protection
E
VE
Usage Die d6
Usage Die d8
Usage Die d10
Arrows For use with bows VC Usage Die d6. Increase price once
to increase Usage die to d8.
Bow Ranged weapon N Use Strength instead of
Dexterity for Damage. 4 hex
range.
Clothes Garb ? Price is variable. For each step
below N suffer -1 to Charisma
rolls. For each step above get +1
to Charisma rolls.
Crossbow Ranged weapon E 4 hex range
Knife Melee and thrown C Usage Die d6 when thrown.
Range of 3 hexes
Pistol, Energy Ranged weapon VE Usage Die d10. Range of 3 hexes
Pistol, Slug Ranged weapon E Range of 3 hexes
Rations Food and water C Usage Die d6. Roll every day of
travel.
Rifle, Energy Ranged weapon VE Usage Die d10. Range of 5 hexes.
Rifle, Slug Ranged weapon VE Range of 4 hexes.
Shield Defense N +1 to Armor Die rolls
Spear Melee or ranged N Use Strength for damage when
thrown. 2 hex range.
Sword Melee weapon N Covers many melee weapons
Tool Kit Utility ? Variable price. Lets you do
specific tasks requiring tools.
Cheap tools give Disadvantage.

43
 Vehicles A vehicle can attack twice if it has two

 & Vehicles
Equipment
This system details how to handle gunners. It must have at least two
various modes of transportation. It weapons to attack more than once.
covers the basics. Further Having three or more gunners doesn’t
supplements are going go into greater add more attacks, even if you have
depth. more weapons. Consider them simply
firing for effect. Use a vehicle’s HD to
Vehicle Combat determine damage done by vehicle-
Each vehicle has an Action Die that scale weapons, such as cannons.
you use to make attacks or dodge. Human-scale weapons wielded by
Characters can take roles on the passengers, such as pistols, use the
vehicle, including gunner, captain, stats of the wielder for damage. A
pilot and so on. Define your own vehicle’s Armor and Damage rolls are
roles, if you like. Every character doubled against human-scale
picks one task relating the vehicle opponents and weapons.
operation with which they can assist.
Land Vehicles
For example the gunner assists his Various sample vehicles for the party
ship with a d8 Action Die on a to ride or battle. Depending on the
shooting attack. His Dexterity is d10 tech level of your campaign you
and he has 2 ranks in a skill that might determine that the wagons are
covers vehicle weapons. Since his cars and the battle wagons are tanks
Dexterity is 1 step higher than the or even futuristic hover tanks.
Action Die it adds +1 to the roll, and
the 2 ranks in a gunnery skill bring
the total up to +3. Thus the ship rolls
1d8+3 to hit.

Pilots use Dexterity to move vehicles.

Captains help with tactical operations
or might even add their Charisma to
an attempt to intimidate enemies.
Engineers get to use their turn for
attempting repairs. Repairs work like
first aid in the Healing section (see
page 22) but you can do it on
consecutive rounds, provided that
your vehicle was damaged again. Let
each player come up with a role that
they want to fill on the vehicle.

44
 Battle Wagon Armor: d6
A tank-like ancient frame drawn by Size: 2 hexes
heavy beasts of burden. It can move Capacity: 1 driver and four
Chapter 04 one hex per day through terrain, but
can’t pass through mountains unless
passengers, plus tents, rations and
many trade goods.
there is a very wide road or a tunnel Special Rules: This vehicle is
leading through it. To get over swaps upgradeable using the Noble Flavor’s
or other areas you’d have to caulk the Splendid Carriage. Each upgrade
seams and then ford it across while increases the HD by 2 and the Action
empty, using rafts to transport Die by one.
cannons and heavy cargo. Roads and
bridges allow unimpeded movement. Chariot
Beloved by speed devils, the chariot
HD: 9 allows you to get where you’re going
Action Die: d12 quickly, but you can’t take much with
Weapons: Cannons, range 4 hexes, you.
Ammo d12 Usage Die, damage 2d10
Armor: d10 HD: 3
Size: 4 hexes Action Die: d6
Capacity: 5 crew, rations and arms Weapons: None, but it provides a
for them, everything else is clear platform from which an archer
machinery can shoot.
Special Rules: Disadvantage on tasks Armor: d4
that require maneuverability. Can’t Size: 1 hex, plus one for the horses
go through rivers or marshes. Speed Capacity: 1 driver and 1 passenger
is only 1 hex per turn. who can fire ranged weapons or
command an army while on the move.
Caravan Wagon Special Rules: Step up the Action Die
This trusty wagon sees a lot of use by twice for rolls involving
prosperous merchants and traveling maneuverability.
performers. It often serves as much as
a home as a vehicle. It’s small enough Sea Vehicles
to require no special A couple of vessels to use. As with the
accommodations. land vehicles you can reskin them to
use with your specific campaign.
HD: 4
Action Die: d6
Weapons: Gun ports or a platform for
crossbows, no vehicle weapons by
default

45
 Corvette Dreadnaught

 & Vehicles
Equipment
A small ship that’s capable of taking The king of the seas. A dreadnaught is
out lightly armed merchant vessels. the apex predator of its environment.
It usually gets assigned to hunt down
HD: 3 pirates or other nuisances.
Action Die: d6
Weapons: Cannons, 3 hex range, HD: 9
ammo d8 Usage Die, damage 2d4 Action Die: d12
Armor: d6 Weapons: Cannons, range of 5 hexes,
Size: 2 hexes ammo Usage Die d12, damage 2d10
Capacity: 10 crew and passengers, Armor: d12
plus trade goods and ammo Size: 2 hexes by 4
Special Rules: Has Advantage when Capacity: 50 crew, passengers, ammo
dodging attacks from larger vessels. and a contingent of marines
Step up the Action Die once for tasks Special Rules: The dreadnaught can
involving maneuverability. take three attacks per turn if it has
sufficient gunners.

46
 Space Vehicles Star Cruiser
Space vehicles do double damage A mainstay of stellar navies. This is a
against land or sea vessels, and 10 self-contained ship that can spend a
Chapter 04 times their normal damage against
human-scale beings.
few years in space without having to
refuel.

Fighter HD: 6
A tiny vessel usually designed for Action Die: d8
short-range skirmishes and missions. Weapons: Plasma cannons, 3 hex
It seats either a pilot and a range, damage 1d6+1d8
gunner/co-pilot, or just one pilot. . Armor: d6
Size: 4 hex
HD: 2 Capacity: 50+
Action Die: d4 Special Rules: Equipped with an FTL
Weapons: Laser cannons, 2 hex range, drive.
damage 1d6
Armor: d4 Star Carrier
Size: 1 hex A mobile assault platform. Just one
Capacity: 1 or 2 pilots star carrier can pacify a less-
Special Rules: Also useful as an developed solar system.
atmospheric craft.
HD: 9
Superiority Fighter Action Die: d12
A less dispensable craft designed for Weapons: Point defense laser, 1 hex
heavier operations. It might have an range, damage 2d10
FTL drive. . Armor: d6
Size: 6 hex
HD: 3 Capacity: 50+
Action Die: d6 Special Rules: Equipped with an FTL
Weapons: Laser cannons, 2 hex range, drive. Carries 1d12 HD of fighter craft.
damage 2d4
Armor: d4 Full FTL rules are coming in a future
Size: 1 hex space-themed supplement. By default
Capacity: 1 or 2 pilots assume that each FTL-equipped ship
Special Rules: Also useful as an can "jump" up to X parsecs at a time,
atmospheric craft. May have an FTL where X is half of the ship's HD,
drive. rounded down. A jump takes one
week and a ship is out of contact with
reality during this time.

47
Chapter 05

Adventuring

49
 Games played using the Exodus story while sticking with your central

Adventuring
system can be of any genre or type motif. The generators have no genre
that you wish. IF you’re new to descriptors so you can use them in
roleplaying, or to just being the GM, any type of story. See the individual
this section can make your games sections for advice on how to use each
easier. It’s also useful for veteran one.
GMs, as it contains lots of random
tables for coming up with adventures If you’re stumped for ideas for your
on the fly or to facilitate story next session, you can always lift the
preparation. basic plot of your favorite film, novel
or video game. It’s a good idea to
The World change things up a bit, though, to
The classic RPG adventure is one allow for deeper immersion. Letting
where the groups sets out to take your inspirations show too blatantly
something from a bunch of monsters can spoil the illusion for the players.
and everyone spends the night If you want to take something from
pretending to stab things. That’s fine, the plot of Casablanca, for instance,
if you want to do it, but roleplaying you have a lot with which to work.
can be so much more. You can work
with your players to create and Maybe your story is set in a neutral
discover a brand new world and open location that serves as a haven for
up all sorts of storytelling refugees and anyone else who wants
possibilities. to avoid the ravages of oncoming
warr. The threat of invasion gets
Before your first session it’s a good more real every day. From this
idea to have at least a general backdrop players have many
overview of where you want your possibilities for adventures. Do they
game to be set, and when. Is it in the spy for a resistance movement? Are
far future, on a distant planet? Earth they human smugglers who take
in the Stone Age? The Aztec Empire? innocent people to freedom?
It’s all up to you.
That last paragraph contains multiple
The generators later on in this adventure seeds, all taken from
chapter let you roll up enemies, traps, Casablanca, but with just those
locations and items in mere seconds. descriptions it’s not immediately
They also list ways that you can obvious. Now if you go ahead and
prepare custom random tables ahead create a nightclub named Rick’s with
of time. Your custom random tables a piano player named Sam, you’re
can have entries that follow a strong going to see your players rolling their
theme, allowing you to randomize the eyes.

50
 To make things seem more original Adventure Structure
you can transplant your central idea In most RPGs the players find out
into a new setting. So maybe your what one or more people in their
Chapter 05 Casablanca-inspired game takes place
in space. Well, there you’d be able to
location or from an allied faction
want or need. They then travel to a
put a new spin on the old story, location where they can find
though you might draw a few something to meet their patron’s
comparisons to Deep Space Nine. need, obtain it and head home. Along
the way they encounter enemies,
The Players possible allies and more. They might
Once you know the type of world in explore mysterious areas and have to
which your game exists, you’ve got to brave dangerous traps.
find something for the player
characters to do. WHy do they work Use the Encounter Generator to come
together? Are they members of the up with random encounters, the
same clan? Part of the police force? Adventuring Site Generator to create
Innocent bystanders sucked into a dungeons, the Item Generator for loot
world of intrigue? Are the characters and rewards, and the Enemy
acting of their own free will and for Generator to make enemies with just
their own benefit, or is it out of duty a few rolls. You can also use
or obligation to someone or previously published adventure
something else? modules, either for the Exodus
System or for other OSR games (with
You can give your players a short just a bit of adaptation for rules) to
survey to fill out before the initial play through stories that are already
game session. Have them write down prepared for you.
a brief blurb about their character’s
history, motivation and place in Encounter Generator
society. Once you have all of that Encounters add spice to a story. This
information you can determine a generator helps you to come up with
good set of threads to weave among some events as your adventure
each character. If nothing jumps out progresses.
at you immediately you can always
have the characters meet as strangers Each area has its own Encounter
during the first session, with some Roster, numbered 2 through 12.
emergency or other call to action Whenever you move from one place
causing them to join forces. on the planet’s overland to another,
roll for an Encounter using 2D6. Other
events or conditions might cause you
to roll for an Encounter.

51
 Encounter Generator

Adventuring
Encounters add spice to a story. This generator helps you to come up with some
events as your adventure progresses.

Each area has its own Encounter Roster, numbered 2 through 12. Whenever you
move from one place on the planet’s overland to another, roll for an Encounter
using 2D6. Other events or conditions might cause you to roll for an Encounter.

Overland Travel Encounter Roster Breakdown

A starting Encounter Roster looks like this:

2d6 Encounter
2 Tough enemy
3 Bad weather hampers travel; stay in this hex
4 Roll rations' Usage Die with Disadvantage
5 Enemy
6 Neutral/Friendly NPC
7 Enemy
8 Benign but interesting sight
9 Neutral/Friendly NPC
10 Enemy
11 Roll rations' Usage Dice with Advantage
12 Found a hidden source of revenue, material or shelter
This is an example. You can use it in your games as-presented, modify it or go
with something entirely different.

52
 Enemy Generator
When you create an Enemy Roster, first determine how strong you want the
Chapter 05 opposition to be. Roll 1D6, 1D8, 1D10, 1D12, or 1D10+10 to create Weak, Competent,
Threatening, Tough or Boss opponents, respectively. The result equals the enemy's
Hit Dice.

Enemy Roster Breakdown

The Enemy Roster tells you what to encounter on a random roll. Use the following
setup as a guide to help you fill out a roster. Note that as players get stronger you
can enhance the encounters by slotting a Boss into 2, upgrading Threatening
enemies to Tough and so on. In the early levels, you can make sure to keep the HD
of the enemies on a Roster fairly lower. A good baseline is to have total monster HD
equal to the HD of your party, but various character and monster abilities can
throw this off.

The roster below represents a standard 2d6 encounter table. You might want one
for a region’s overland, one for each city and one for each dungeon. If you’re really
into detail you can go from one for the overland to one for each type of terrain,
such as plains, hills, mountains, forests, etc.

You can make a roster up before a play session, or create it during the game. When
it’s time for a random encounter just roll 2d6. If there is a creature in the slot
matching your roll, use that creature. If the slot is empty create a new creature and
record its name in the matching slot. Common rolls, such as 6 through 8 on 2d6,
are weaker, while rarer results like 2 and 12 are much more powerful. This means
that you encounter easier opponents more frequently. For a greater challenge you
can upgrade the threat levels, perhaps making 6 through 8 hold Competent
enemies, 5, 9 and 10 have Threatening enemies and so on.

53
 Spot Threat Level Roll 1d4 for attack type

Adventuring
2 Tough 1d4 Attack Type
3 Threatening 1 Fast: 2x per round at half damage
4 Threatening 2 Standard: 1x per round at normal damage
5 Competent 3 Precise: 1x per round at regular plus half HD
6 Weak damage
7 4 Savage: 1x per round at 1.5 damage; step
Weak
8 Weak down Armor Die
9 Competent
10 Competent
11 Threatening Roll 1D20 for any Abilities, -4 for Weak, -2 for
12 Boss Competent, +2 for Tough and +4 for Boss:

2d6 Encounter
1-4 No ability
5 Mechanical, no need to breathe, immune to Poison and Confusion.
Cannot heal except by special repair abilities.
6 Swarm, no attack removes more than 10% of their total HP.
7 Poison, inflict Poison status.
8 Penetrating, ignore 1/2 HD of Armor.
9 Tough, reduce incoming damage by 1.
10 Vital, add +1 HP to the total of all HD rolled.
11 Fearsome, causes Afraid with successful attacks.
12 Flamethrower, targets must roll Constitution or gain Burning.
13 Flying, can climb the air up to 2 hexes “high” as part of movement.
14 Swift, double movementw
15 Agile, step up Action Die for defense against attacks.
16 Regenerates 1/4 HD HP per round.
17 Force field, vulnerable only to gadgets, psi powers or trickery.
18 Stuns, Roll Constitution or be Stunned.
19 Roll twice, discounting further rolls of this result
20 Roll three times, discounting further rolls of this result

54
 These tables that detail NPC Action Dice, Damage and Armor Dice also appear in
Chapter 3. We're reprinting them here for your convenience.

Chapter 05 HD
1-2
3-4
Action Die
1d4
1d6
HD
1
2
Damage
1d4
1d6
5-6 1d8 3 2d4
7-8 1d10 4 1d10
9-10 1d12 5 1d12
11+ 1d20 6 1d6+1d8
7 2d8
Enemy Armor depends on HD. 8 3d6
From 1-5 HD, Armor is 1d4, 9 2d10
from 6-10 HD it’s 1d6 and 10+ 1d10+1d12
higher than 10 HD is 1d8. For HD beyond 10 simply add +1d4 at
Enemy abilities might every even level.
increase this value.

Adventure Site Generator

An adventure site is where a quest often climaxes. There is danger, but also the
chance of great reward. By default, an adventure site has a number of rooms per
floor equal to twice the number of PCs in the party, and a number of floors equal
to the highest character level among PCs.

When rolling a random enemy without an associated Threat Level randomly roll
on the dungeon’s roster, filling in any blank spaces.

For random rooms roll 1d4 for the number of exits and 1d4 for the relative size of
the room, with 1 being small and 4 being large. Rolling 1 for the number of exits
means that this room is a dead end. If you roll doubles on both dice then you’ve
found the exit to the next level, or the room with the Boss if you’re on the
only/bottom level.

D10 Room Contents

1 Items
2 Items
3 Trap
4 Enemy
5 Enemy and Trap
6 Enemy and Items
7 Trap and Items
8 Enemy, Trap and Items
9 Threatening Enemy
10 Tough Enemy, Trap and Items

55
 Trap Generator

Adventuring
Traps make adventure sites ore exciting and deadly. They are random hidden
surprises. Traps have an HD and Action Diew. The default is HD is 1 plus the
number of the floor the group is on. So, the ground floor traps have HD 2 (and
appropriate Action Dice) and it goes up with every level down that the group
delves. Dungeons in the Exodus System aren’t all suitable for getting done in one
session.

D6 Stat to Avoid D6 Damage Type

1 Charisma 1 Fire: Inflicts Burning
2 Dexterity 2 Poison: Inflicts Poisoned
3 Intelligence 3 Kinetic: No special rules
4 Strength 4 Cold: Inflicts Frozen
5 Wisdom 5 Acidic: Steps down your Armor Die
6 Roll twice; this trap by one level each turn until washed
requires two rolls to avoid or shaken off by rolling Dexterity.
6 Electric: Does double damage to
robots or water- or metal-based life.

D10 Other Effects

1 Collapses part of the room, you must roll Intelligence to find a new way
out or Strength to dig through (and take D6 damage from fatigue).
2 Summons an enemy from the roster.
3 Follows you into the next 1d4 rooms. Encounter it each time.
4 All party members who fail to avoid get teleported back to the beginning.
5 Drops a random item.
6 Does double damage.
7 Does two types of damage (roll again on Damage Type, apply each as
normal).
8 Destroys any items present in the room if not avoided.
9 Only one (random) PC can attempt to avoid. All PCs suffer if they fail.
10 Extends the number of rooms that you must encounter on this level by
1d4.

56
 Item Generator
Whenever you defeat an enemy, it’s usually obvious what sort of loot they’re
Chapter 05 carrying. An enemy’s armor and weapons, if any, have a level equal to the enemy’s
HD, usually up to 10. If the enemy is a sentient being and could reasonably have
other items on their person, roll any die, and on an even number roll on the table
below to see what they have. You also use the table below whenever the adventure
site generator has a result that indicates an item.

D10 Item Type

1-3 Single-use healing item
4-5 Kit (randomly determine use)
6-7 Valuable bauble
8 Armor
9 Weapon
10 Power Item
Power items are artifacts that grant extra abilities to their users. These effects can
be pretty much anything that you can envision. If you need some inspiration for a
Power Item's purpose, randomly choose a Flavor and one of it's abilities. The
Power Item can emulate that ability, but it has a Usage Die of 1d4 and can't be
replenished.

57
 Quest Generator

Adventuring
Sometimes you need help coming up with the call to adventure. Use this system to
come up with the setup for an adventure, including who needs something done,
what the task happens to be and some of the details.

D10 Distance D6 Patron

1 Same hex 1 Government/Military
2 Next hex 2 Merchant
3 2 hexes 3 Criminal
4 3 hexes 4 Common person
5 4 hexes 5 Friend/Relative
6 5 hexes 6 Upper Crust
7 6 hexes
8 7 hexes D4 Task
9 8 hexes 1 Retrieval/Rescue
10 2d10 hexes 2 Elimination
3 Defense/Escort
4 Discover/Find

D8 Twist
1 Dangerous: Roll two encounters per day
2 Rival adventure party is trying to attempt the same task
3 One hostile encounter wants you to betray your patron
4 Roll an additional location destination for this adventure
5 Patron is planning to stiff payment
6 Mission is against the personal interest of a relative or friend
7 Patron insists on coming along
8 Mission is very time-sensitive

58
 Design Notes
The purpose of the Exodus System is to give you a genre-free, easy-to-customize
Chapter 05 game. I want you, Mr. GM, to come home from work, sit, relax and be able to get
the bare bones of an adventure in just a few minutes before your players come
over. I want you, Ms. Player, to create just the character that you want and play
her to your heart’s content.

Flavor Notes
I’m in favor of giving players the ability to do cool and creative things, even if it’s
not explicitly laid out in the book. Does your character with Aware and
Companions determine that her minions can see through walls and relay their
information back to her in real time? That seems reasonable, as I feel that you
should be able to “marry” your Flavors together to make something that’s more
than the sum of its parts.

And if your player sent her minions out to cover multiple rooms in a castle with
their X-ray vision so she could monitor everything? That’s cool, too. Just send
another challenge her way that arises from the situation. Maybe someone caught
on that they’re being watched. Maybe she saw something she has no business
knowing and has to fix a problem without tipping people off to the fact that she’s
been snooping.

Random Generator Notes

Don’t feel bound by the generators here. If you want to make something else, go
ahead and do it. Maybe you don’t want a dungeon whose layout follows the
pattern in this book. Fine. Go make one yourself. It’s all about giving you tools
with which to have easier fun. I know tht if you're playing a solo game with just
one PC you are probably going to want more than two rooms per floor, for
instance.

Hacking Exodus System

This game is released under the OGL. I’m not even going to whine if you copy this
whole thing verbatim and stick a setting after the rules section. Just make sure to
follow the OGL when you do so that we all preserve the chain of knowledge and
design. If you do want to copy and paste, please be aware that you would probably
have an easier time if you used the Exodus System SRD's text file. If you bought
this book from DrivethruRPG, it's part of a bundle that includes the SRD for a
discounted price.

59
 Using Exodus System with Existing Modules

Adventuring
Even though the Exodus System uses a different form of Attributes than most
other games that are based on the original edition of the world's most popular
RPG, it's compatible in broad strokes with most OSR adventures.

There are a few things to note. If a third-party module calls for you to "save vs X",
and X is a number, then roll the appropriate Attribute for the save, based on the
context of the story, and try to get a number that's higher than the save.

When converting enemies and NPCs, all you really have to know is the creature's
HD. HD in the Exodus System is used to calculate an NPC's Action Die, as well as
their Armor. I like to rule that most NPCs get to roll their Action Die at one rating
higher for a specific task or action that's consistent with their training. So that
Bartender with a d8 Action Die rolls 1d8 for most actions, but 1d10 for when he's
slinging brews.

You can represent most NPC abilities by imparting status effects to targets, as well
as using te ability list earlier in this chapter's Enemy Generator. For truly wild and
weird abilities, you can sometimes use them as written, but you might have to
adjudicat their effects for yourself.

60
OGL
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15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
System Reference Document. Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors
Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on material by E. Gary
Gygax and Dave Arneson.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.;
Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins,
David Noonan,
Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, John D. Rateliff, Thomas Reid, James Wyatt,
based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
The Black Hack, Copyright 2016 Gold Piece Publications, Author: David Black
The Exodus System, Copyright 2017 Thunderegg Productions, Author, Jacob DC Ross
Name: Species: Age:
Sex Height: Weight:
Party Role: Combat Role:
Flavor 1: Flavor 2:
Attributes: Skills:
CHA a a a a a a
CON a a a a a a
DEX a a a a a a
INT a a a a a a
STR a a a a a a
WIS a a a a a a
Abilities

Allies and Enemies: Possessions:
Bio

Campaign Notes