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The Source is a fantasy roleplaying game intended for groups of 3 or more people. One of the players will take the role of Narrator and control the world, its monsters, NPCs and the like while the other players will control adventurers in that world.
This game is very open-ended and will end up requiring some improvisation in order to excel at it.
As a Narrator, remember these four words: "What do you do?". Ask that question after you describe the scenario or any actions players have taken.
These are the basic ground rules that should be followed at all times.
Just because it looks like something doesn't mean you have to treat it like it is that thing. Don't be afraid to bend the rules or go off the beaten path. The real fun happens there. You may have to make the Narrator improvise a situation, this is never a bad thing.
Resist the temptation to railroad the adventure in a non-inclusive way for too long. It can feel like fun to do it, but your party-mates are your friends and should be involved as much as possible. That's how the stories of heroes become legends of groups.
Don't be afraid to let the Narrator know if something is overwhelming or the like. They will be happy to help refocus people away from uncomfortable topics to ensure everyone has the most fun they can. Let the Narrator know aloud, in a private message, or somehow in general.
Everyone comes from a different background and has had different life experiences. These experiences shape their lives and can sometimes manifest in the course of play. Respect this, this diversity of experience helps shape people's adventures and can lead to glory.
We're ultimately here to play a game together. Take advantage of this and help to maximize the amount of fun everyone has. This will help games to be more memorable and lead to a stronger friendship.
The rules are very light on purpose, but even then they are paper thin when it comes to maximizing enjoyment. The Narrator will usually be the judge of when to break the rules unless you can convince them otherwise.
Nobody likes it when someone is an asshole.
The Source is a dice-heavy game. As such this rulebook will use notation to represent dice rolls. At a high level, it looks like this:
[number of dice]d[number of dice sides][+/-modifier]
This notation is used to help make descriptions of dice actions a lot more compact. For example, instead of saying something like:
As the Artificier, roll a standard six-sided dice for your basic attack damage.
Instead this notation lets that information be encoded as:
As the artificier, your basic attack does d6 damage.
This notation is also understood by the Discord bot associated with The Source, Within. This bot will be explained in more detail below.
Sometimes descriptions of things will include the dice notation spelled out longhand with the dice notation in parentheses. This will be used to help the document flow and read more casually.