# Welcome Welcome to the public playtest of PaqueStone, an inter-genre TTRPG engine created by John C. C. Swinford. Here you will find all the rules to get started with PaqueStone as a game engine. ## What is PaqueStone? The core principle of PaqueStone as a game engine is this: you as a player should have vertical and horizontal freedom to play the game you want without needing to switch between separate rulesets. ### Vertical Freedom Vertical freedom means that a player can play as big or as small as they prefer, and move freely between the scales of an adventure. A player may choose to control an individual character infiltrating an enemy hideout, jump into a fighter jet and escape in a dogfight, before returning home to administer their faction at large, without once needing to change systems. This is because all agents use the same fundamental mechanics, just on different layers of the game map. In PaqueStone, if you know how to knife-fight as a character, then you know how to command battleships on the high seas, and you know how to clash vast space armadas. ### Horizontal Freedom Horizontal freedom means that rules are setting neutral, and therefore a player may move their character between game settings with the same character with minimal friction. Skills and talents, rather than classes and levels, indicate what an agent is capable of only in broad terms, leaving the GM free to explain the specifics of their world, and leaving space for the same ability to be justified across game worlds. A player may have their character begin a campaign in a gaslight Victorian setting, travel to another part of the world where the technology is still in the Iron Age, before being captured and brought into orbit by the interstellar empire which is observing the planet, all without needing to amend their inventory or abilities. ## Features of PaqueStone ### - Multi-Level Play PaqueStone lets you take control of three main agent types: characters, vessels, and domains. Players can easily move between these agent types, or stick to one, to affect the scale of their story. ### - Eight Primary Attributes  Agents each have 8 primary attributes which comprehensively reflect how they can interact with the world. There are no dump stats. ### - Six Secondary Attributes  Secondary attributes are derived directly from primary attributes to add greater depth to gameplay. ### - Dice by Degree There are 15 degrees of skill check and saving throw, ranging from 1d4 to 1d2000, allowing for deep progression whilst limiting power creep. ### - Players Roll Most of the rolls are meant for players to roll and report success or failure. This keeps agency in the hands of players and cognitive load to a minimum for GMs. ### - Low Rolls are Good Rolls Players want to roll as low as possible for the best outcomes. Roll thresholds are determined by attributes, and the die to roll is determined by degree. ### - Exponential Dice Most dice rolls can explode into critical failures, or implode into reroll dice. Whatever it is, no matter how sure the outcome or foregone the conclusion, _there's always a chance_. ### - Skill Tree Progression  There are no classes or predetermined specialisation. Players spend points on skill trees to customise their agent into exactly what they want to play. ### - Configurable Gameplay Loop Players have access to combat, hexploration, hexpansion, and downtime phases, each of which may be used as much or as little as is desired. ### - Inter-Genre Compatible  All the rules provided are completely setting neutral, meaning you can move player characters seamlessly between the grittiest fantasy and the softest sci-fi with no changes to their character sheet. > [!tip] The Plan for PaqueStone > The purpose of this public playtest is rule refinement and exploit discovery, before PaqueStone goes ahead with its 1.0 release. GMs and players are encouraged to stress-test, break, and otherwise pull apart the rules presented, and then please send their findings to [email protected]. > > Once this public playtest is complete, a revised version of these pages will be collated and released as a free standard rules document under creative commons. > > There is no charge to take part in this public playtest, but if you enjoy the game as presented and would like to support the project financially, please feel free to [buy me a coffee](https://buymeacoffee.com/johnccswinford).