Tide

“In battle, momentum means riding on the force of the tide of events.” — Sun Tzu

---

Situational Dice Resolution

Before a shared bar exists, each action still stands alone. Primitive, unopposed, and opposed rolls use the same Marks reading. The Tide is what you open when the collective contest is larger than a clean 1v1.

Mode	When	Reading
Primitive	Animal-tier action	Foundation-only pool; Marks give incremental benefit; no Practice
Unopposed	No opposing character	Full pool; Marks give incremental benefit
Opposed	Wills collide (1v1 or many actors)	Full pools (pairs need not match); each action is resolved individually; compare Marks difference on the reply chain
Tide	Larger than clean 1v1 as a collective contest	Individual opposed resolutions also move a shared tracker

Hints:

• Opposed rolls are handled as replies to a prior roll so automation can compute margins.
• In a 1vMany or ManyvMany mess, each action still stands alone. Advantage and Disadvantage are read from that action’s context — not averaged across the field.
• Treat intent and context when reading the margin: conditions, injuries, insight — all valid Storyteller levers.
• Social, mental, and physical contests use the same resolution shape.
• Armour, reputation, favours, numbers, and terrain are context for Advantage / Disadvantage and for interpreting the margin — not separate subsystems — except where Harm uses armour or Reputation protection ratios (not both on the same event; the Storyteller picks the contest type).

A landowner has barred his hall after dark. A traveller must get a sick child to the healer who lives within. Not a fight — will and words. The landowner has the door and his household; the traveller has a clear errand and a steady voice. Neither side holds clear Advantage. Ordinary tier for both.

1. Intent: persuade the landowner to open the hall.
2. Player: Charisma + Negotiation, d8 → 3 Marks.
3. Reply (landowner): Resolve + Insight, d8 → 1 Mark. (Pairs need not match.)
4. Margin: 3 − 1 = 2 for the player.
5. Outcome: the door opens; the landowner is convinced, not humiliated. Harm only if the Storyteller later rules lasting damage to standing or body.

Focus on the roleplay, not the roll-play. Dice outcomes should never replace conversations, decisions, and planning. Rolls inform the effect of an action, never its content.

When many wills push at once — a column under harassment, a hall-wide debate — those individual opposed readings are not enough. That is the Tide.

---

The Tide

The Tide is a shared pressure track for a whole side when the contest is larger than a clean 1v1 — a skirmish, a running fight, a hall-wide debate, a pursuit, a column under harassment.

It is not a second character sheet and not the same as personal Advantage on one roll. Individual actions still resolve on their own. Some of those actions are Tide-linked: their Marks margin (and sometimes Omen) nudge a single marker on one shared bar. When the marker hits an end, that collective side routes. People can still stand, flee, die, or complete a personal objective in the rout.

Setup

Both sides share one track. The Storyteller assigns each side a soft weight (numbers, ground, morale, who holds the better footing as a force — not a sum of Foundation scores).

Term	Meaning
Weight	Soft ST read of each side’s collective footing (higher = stronger as a force)
Track length	weight_A + weight_B − 1 — how long the bar is
Start	At weight_A counted from side A’s collapse end — A begins farther from collapse if heavier
Skirmish size	How hard the bar is to move: Marks of difference needed per step (separate from track length)

Situation	Weights (A vs B)	Track length	Start (from A’s end)
Equal footing	8 vs 8	15	8
Slight advantage (A)	8 vs 6	13	8
A clearly superior	8 vs 12	19	8
A severe disadvantage	6 vs 12	17	6

(The last row starts at 6 because side A’s weight is 6 — they begin closer to collapse.)

The Zhao/Wei column later in this chapter uses the last row. Imperial 6, Mongol 12, track 17, marker opens at 6 — already closer to collapse.

Imperial

weight 6

Mongol

weight 12

Imperial collapse 0 start 6 17 Mongol collapse

Crimson is imperial footing. It already looks thin. That is the setup — no one has rolled yet.

There are three sizes. There is no larger scale than Battle.

Size	Marks difference per Tide step
Small skirmish	1
Skirmish	2
Battle	3

Shifting by Marks

On a Tide-linked opposed exchange, take the Marks difference (margin). Steps moved = floor(margin ÷ Marks needed). Direction: toward the winner of that exchange.

A roll that is not Tide-linked (a local fight, an extraction, a personal objective) does not move the bar.

On the imperial road: Zhao’s first order is Tide-linked — the pursuit would open the line — and the bar moves 6 → 5. His later stand at the wash is personal. The bar stays at 2.

Tide-linked — Zhao stops the chase

6 → 5 margin 4 · Battle

floor(4 ÷ 3) = 1 step against the column. The collective bar moves.

Personal — Zhao holds the wash

stays 2 local fight

He is forced back a horse-length. The column’s bar does not care.

Omens on the Tide

Omens on Tide-linked actions also move the marker. Direction depends on which end of the track a face pushes toward. Marks and Omen are independent — the same roll can step the bar from the margin and from an Omen face.

Zhao’s last cut, boxed in at the wash: margin 4 → one step (2 → 1). Omen 1 is also Tide-negative for the column (severe Battle band 1–3) → another step (1 → 0). Two motions, one throw.

One throw, two motions

Zhao, surrounded. Strength + Slash, d6, 1 Mark against a reply of 5. Walk the bar.

Before After Marks After Omen

at 2 not yet thrown

The wash fight is over. The ring has not closed on the bar.

On equal footing:

Size	Faces toward A collapse	Faces toward B collapse
Small skirmish	1	20
Skirmish	1–2	19–20
Battle	1–3	18–20

Crimson — toward A collapse blank Teal — toward B collapse

Small skirmish

Skirmish

Battle

Imbalance — the same ladder as die tiers

Personal Advantage on a single roll is still judged case by case. Collective imbalance is different: it changes which Omen faces push the shared bar.

Treat collective footing as the die-tier ladder:

• Equal — both sides ordinary
• Slight — one step (d8 vs d12, or d6 vs d8)
• Severe — two steps (d6 vs d12)

Procedure. The side under pressure keeps its bad band at the current skirmish size. Its good band is taken from N sizes smaller on the equal-footing table (slight N=1, severe N=2).

There is no size below Small skirmish. A good band cannot shrink below one face.

Tide footing — which faces move the bar

Pick a size. Each row is a collective footing. Crimson faces push toward A’s collapse; teal toward B’s. The middle is blank. The Zhao column is Battle, severe, A disadvantaged — only 1–3 and 20 light up.

Small skirmish Skirmish Battle

Equal

Slight A

Slight B

Severe A

Severe B

---

Interactive example — two PCs on the imperial road

Zhao (PC)	Mounted sergeant of the outriders
Wei (PC)	Bodyguard of the Emperor
Tide	Imperial weight 6 · Mongol weight 12 · track 17 · start 6 · Battle (3 Marks per step)
Colours	Crimson imperial footing · Teal Mongol pressure
Tide Omens	Against column 1–3 · for column 20 only (severe imbalance, Battle)
Scene faces	4 = ambush in the left dry wash (scene only) · 13 = Negative Consequence · 1 = ring closes, surrender (also Tide-negative)

Only people roll. When a roll is Tide-linked, its Marks margin (and sometimes Omen) moves the bar. Step through.

Tide demo — the Emperor’s column

Zhao and Wei under horse-archer harassment. Crimson shrinks as the column fails. Saving the Emperor is a personal objective.

Imperial collapse ← → Mongol collapse

I II III IV V VI VII VIII

Noon on the steppe road. Dust ahead. Zhao’s outriders report horse-archers who stay out of reach and shoot. Wei rides at the Emperor’s litter.

Setup — Track 17, start 6. Battle. Tide Omens against the column: 1–3; for the column: 20 only.

← Back Next →

Routing

When the Tide reaches one end, that collective side routes. Morale breaks. The group crumbles or flees. Individuals may still stand, refuse, die heroically or foolishly, complete a personal objective, or take a major setback — the Tide breaks collective will, not personal agency.

You can do everything in your power; if the rest of your side is butchered, you will still find yourself flanked. Do not grind roll-battles for their own sake. Load Omen faces that matter. Let players leave the Tide when fiction allows (loot, disengage, save the principal, personal objective).

Related: Dice Mechanics, Marks & Tiers, Omens, Harm.

---