System

Tempest is played on a d6-based system, similar to FUDGE, FATE, and White Wolf's Storyteller. One or more six-sided dice (d6) are used for all rolls in this system.

Rolling the Dice
Dice are only rolled in Tempest when making a skill or attribute check. The number of dice rolled is often noted; for skills, the dice rolled will be equal to your ranks in that skill, plus your attribute bonus for the skill, plus any bonuses you're getting to the skill at the time, for instance.

When rolling the dice, any result of 1-3 is a "Misfortune", and any result of 4-6 is a "Fortune". Note that the official rules use the terms fortune and misfortune, but players are free to use any terms with which they are comfortable, such as plus/minus, or positive/negative. Any misfortune cancels out any fortune, and your goal is often to roll more fortunes than misfortunes.

Roll Results

 * 5 or more Misfortunes: Complete Failure
 * 5 or more Misfortunes: Complete Failure


 * 4 Misfortunes: Catastrophic Failure
 * 4 Misfortunes: Catastrophic Failure


 * 3 Misfortunes: Spectacular Failure
 * 3 Misfortunes: Spectacular Failure


 * 2 Misfortunes: Severe Failure
 * 2 Misfortunes: Severe Failure


 * 1 Misfortune: Failure
 * 1 Misfortune: Failure


 * 0 Misfortunes/Fortunes: Marginal Success
 * 0 Misfortunes/Fortunes: Marginal Success


 * 1 Fortune: Success
 * 1 Fortune: Success


 * 2 Fortunes: Exceptional Success
 * 2 Fortunes: Exceptional Success


 * ​3 Fortunes: Spectacular Success
 * ​3 Fortunes: Spectacular Success


 * ​4 Fortunes: Miraculous Success
 * ​4 Fortunes: Miraculous Success


 * 5 or more Fortunes: Perfect Success
 * 5 or more Fortunes: Perfect Success


 * Note that there are no hard-set "critical hits" or anything of the sort built into the game by default. Gamemasters are encouraged to be creative and appropriate with the results of player rolls; an Exceptional Success should give a little something extra, and a Miraculous Success should allow something truly fortuitous to happen, for example.


 * Any character whose roll would be reduced to 0 may instead roll a single "chance die". This chance die does not usually benefit from any class abilities or magical effects, and often comes down to just what its name implies: chance.