The R’lyehwatch System Reference Document (SRD) is a perpetual, irrevocable, and royalty-free license that allows anyone to make their own games based on the core rules found in the tabletop roleplaying game R’lyehwatch.
The R’lyehwatch SRD is released under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
This is version 1.0 published September 2025.
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This work includes text from the R’lyehwatch SRD (https://rlyehwatch.com/srd/) by Third Chair Games and Hedgemaze Press, based on Tricube Tales by Richard Woolcock, used under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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This work includes text from the R’lyehwatch SRD by Third Chair Games and Hedgemaze Press, based on Tricube Tales by Richard Woolcock, used under CC BY 4.0.
SYSTEM REFERENCE DOCUMENT
Getting Started
What do you need?
Each player needs 3 six-sided dice (3d6), 3 luck tokens, and 3 grit tokens. These tokens can be coins, poker chips, or some other small item, as long as you can tell the two token types apart.
The referee needs 10 effort tokens for challenges. Since the only tokens the referee uses are effort tokens, the referee can reuse one of the players’ token types for their effort tokens.
How does the game system work?
When a player faces a challenge, they roll 1, 2, or 3 dice (depending on their character’s stat and role) against a difficulty of 4, 5, or 6 (depending on how hard the challenge is). The player overcomes the challenge when 1 or more of the dice in their roll matches or beats the difficulty.
Characters have perks and quirks. Players spend luck tokens to make a roll easier using their perk, and recover luck tokens by making a roll harder using their quirk. Players lose grit tokens after failing particularly tough challenges, and recover grit tokens by succeeding on a roll made harder with their quirk, or by having a dramatic interlude with another character. A character who runs out of grit tokens is taken out of the current scene.
Players make most of the dice rolls. The referee never rolls dice during a challenge—they only describe the challenge, assign the stat and difficulty, and narrate the outcome.
Creating a Character
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Choose Agile, Brawny, or Crafty as your key stat:
Agile characters are often dexterous, quick, or stealthy.
Brawny characters are often strong, resolute, or intimidating.
Crafty characters are often knowledgeable, persuasive, or perceptive. -
Pick or make up a role. This is your job or position among the heroes.
Examples: The Detective, The Professor, The Ranger, The Celebrity, The Soldier, The Alien. -
Pick or make up a perk. This is a helpful resource, trait, or ability.
Examples: Quick Reflexes, Crossbow, Special Contact, Med Kit, Helicopter, Photographic Memory. -
Pick or make up a quirk. This is a trait that can get you in trouble.
Examples: Cursed, Forgetful, Terrible Aim, Easily Provoked, Awkward, Cowardly. -
Grab 3 luck tokens and 3 grit tokens.
The referee will explain how they are used. -
Pick or make up a name, and introduce yourself to the group.
Example: “I’m playing Maria Salazar. She’s an Agile Monster Hunter with a Knockout Punch, who is Easily Distracted.”
Creating Custom Characters
Feel free to work with your referee to make up your own roles, perks, and quirks. For custom roles, make them specific so you know when a challenge falls far outside your character’s knowledge or abilities. The Athlete is too vague, but The Pro Wrestler gives a clear idea when that role applies to a challenge. Same with custom perks. Make custom quirks more generic so they can be applied in a variety of situations.
Perks and quirks are “always on.”
A character who is Afraid of the Dark always feels uncomfortable around dim light, even if they’re not currently increasing the difficulty of a challenge, and a character trained in Martial Arts doesn’t forget how to do karate just because they ran out of luck tokens to spend on the perk. Unless a perk or quirk is an object that can be physically removed from your character, perks and quirks are always present in the story.
How to Play
Rolling the Dice
When a character tries something risky, the referee chooses the challenge’s stat and difficulty: easy 4, average 5, or hard 6.
The player then rolls 1, 2, or 3 six-sided dice. They start with 1 die just for attempting the challenge, but get 1 more die if the challenge matches their character’s stat, and 1 more if the challenge is something their character would be good at because of their role.
The player overcomes the challenge if they get at least 1 success, meaning 1 die matches or beats the difficulty. Getting more than 1 success is called an exceptional success and means the referee grants an extra benefit. If all the dice in the roll show 1, this is called a critical failure and the referee introduces a new complication.
If everyone is comfortable with the idea, players can narrate the outcome of their own challenges, especially an exceptional success or critical failure.
Effort Tokens
Some challenges require multiple successes over multiple rolls to overcome: chase scenes, winning a battle of the bands, and even combat. The referee sets out effort tokens to track the overall progress. Each success removes 1 token. When all effort tokens are gone, the challenge is fully overcome.
Example: The heroes must help safely evacuate the audience at a burning concert. The referee decides it’ll take 4 effort tokens to succeed. Whether the heroes rush to extinguish the flames (Agile 5), lead the panicked crowd to safety (Crafty 4), or lift a speaker off a fallen roadie (Brawny 6), each success brings them closer to getting everyone to safety.
Handling Combat
Enemies typically share a pool of effort tokens, 1-3 per player. A boss might have one large pool of effort all for themselves, while their countless minions share only a few effort tokens. Dodging an enemy’s attack does not remove effort tokens. Everyone—heroes and enemies alike—act in the order that makes the most sense to the referee.
Here are some examples of challenges during combat:
Agile: Shooting a gun, fleeing from battle, throwing an item to an ally, or dodging an attack.
Brawny: Swinging a sword, intimidating an opponent, grappling someone, or blocking a punch.
Crafty: Distracting an enemy, spotting a weakness, using magical objects, or resisting a psychic blast.
Luck Tokens
Luck represents good fortune, awareness, and seizing an opportunity. Each player starts with 3 luck tokens.
Spend 1 luck to:
- Make a challenge easier. Narrate how your perk helps with a challenge, and then reduce the challenge’s difficulty by 1: 6 → 5 or 5 → 4 or 4 → 3. You can do this either before or after a roll.
- Help another hero. Narrate how your perk lets you help an ally with a challenge, then reduce the challenge’s difficulty by 1: 6 → 5 or 5 → 4 or 4 → 3. You can do this either before or after a roll. Multiple heroes can help, each reducing the difficulty by 1.
- Overcome a challenge. Narrate how you overcome a challenge using your perk. You can do this instead of a roll, and as long as the challenge doesn’t require more than 1 effort token to overcome.
- Influence the story or discover a clue (at the referee’s discretion). Narrate how your perk helps you. You can do this at any point in the game.
Recover 1 luck when you:
- Let your quirk cause a problem. Narrate how your quirk hinders you, and increase the difficulty of the challenge by 1: 4 → 5 or 5 → 6. You must do this before you roll. If you still overcome the challenge at the higher difficulty, you may choose to recover 1 grit instead of 1 luck.
Grit Tokens
Grit represents health, resolve, and the ability to stay relevant in a scene. Each player starts with 3 grit tokens.
Spend 1 grit when you:
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Fail a challenge that would leave you wounded, emotionally shaken, or otherwise nudge you out of the action. Being shot costs grit, but so can being heckled at a comedy club, or stumbling during a foot race.Failing always makes the situation worse, but it doesn’t necessarily remove grit tokens. You often lose grit for failing to avoid misfortune, rather than failing to achieve success.If you run out of grit, you’re removed from the scene in whatever way makes the most sense: scared off, knocked out, trapped, presumed dead, or something else. But unless you decide to retire your character permanently, they’ll return in a later scene at full grit.
More ways to restore grit
Referees can restore grit as they see fit. Restoring full grit at the start of a new session is a good rule of thumb. If the opportunity presents itself, players can also have a dramatic interlude, roleplaying a scene between their heroes. Those involved restore their full grit by offering up personal details or asking each other questions. It’s the perfect time to thank a friend for saving your life or to make a shocking confession (“I’m not really me... I’m my twin brother!”).
Alternate modes for handling grit
The referee can change how often grit is restored to create different tones for their game. The following modes are both great for one-shots, but have very different results!
Casual Mode: Heroes automatically restore full grit after every scene.
Horror Mode: Heroes only restore 1 grit from dramatic interludes. If they run out of grit in a deadly situation, they die!
Character Advancement
Characters get 1 experience point (XP) each session.
Players can spend 1 XP to add a new perk or quirk of their choice. This represents an ability, item, or trait gained during the story.
Players can spend 3 XP to increase either their luck or grit by 1 token, up to a maximum of 6 tokens each.
Running the Game
Overview
As the referee, you create scenarios, portray the supporting cast, and tell players when they must roll, assigning each challenge a stat (Agile, Brawny, or Crafty) and a difficulty (easy 4, average 5, or hard 6). You are also the players’ window into the world, describing the smell of fallen leaves in autumn, the watered-down taste of an overpriced drink, and the chill breeze down the back of their necks.
The Basic Loop
Gameplay is a conversation that flows in a familiar loop:
- The referee describes the situation.
- The players say what their heroes would like to do.
- The referee narrates the outcome, asking for a roll if necessary.
Repeat until the heroes (or their adversaries) are victorious.
Referee Goals
When you play as the referee, keep these three goals in mind:
Create a world that’s dramatic, vivid, and fun.
A game should feel like your favorite action-adventure TV show. You want memorable side characters in need of help, over-the-top villains with evil schemes, locations the players will want to revisit time and again, wild plot twists, and dire cliffhangers.
Create opportunities for players to be heroes.
Give heroes a chance to save lives. Try to provide challenges for each hero. If there are Professors and Nurses, give them libraries to conduct research and sick people to care for. If they’re Pro Wrestlers, work in a championship match. Heroes don’t always have to win, but they should be given the chance to shine.
Create challenges—let players handle solutions.
Don’t worry yourself about how heroes will overcome each challenge. It’s impossible to predict everything the players will come up with. Your time is better spent thinking up the next cool challenge. Players are smart and creative. Even if they don’t overcome the challenge, failure sets them up for a triumphant return.
Rules Clarifications
When should I ask for a roll?
Ask players to roll when their heroes try something risky, whether they’re taking action or reacting to a threat. When in doubt, just pick a stat and a difficulty (usually 5). If something would be trivially easy or impossible to achieve, don’t ask for a roll.
When should failure affect grit?
Generally speaking, players lose grit for failing to avoid misfortune, rather than failing to achieve success. Failing to throw a punch would not cost grit, but failing to dodge a punch would, and failing to dive out of the way of a runaway vehicle definitely would. Warn players before they roll if failure would cost them any grit. They might come up with a different plan. Failure costs 1 grit, critical failure costs 2.
Difficulty is not linked to whether a challenge removes grit. It might be an easy 4 for a Brawny scout to climb a tree for a better view of their surroundings, but if they fail, they’ll tumble onto the forest floor and lose grit.
Do side characters have grit?
Only the enemies have effort tokens. Side characters’ injuries and fading bravery are either tracked narratively (whatever makes sense) or by giving them their own grit tokens. Normal people have 1–2 grit.
How often should roles apply?
Players get another die if the challenge suits their character’s role, which means they’ll probably try to apply their roles to most challenges. That’s fine! If it seems a little off, just ask them how their role applies. You should only deny them a die for their role if the challenge falls far outside their character’s knowledge or abilities.
Examples: Anyone can provide basic first aid, but unless they’re a Doctor, their role probably won’t apply when setting a broken leg or removing a bullet. Anyone can sing, but it takes special training to sing opera. Anyone can drive a car, but big commercial vehicles are another story. And some challenges can only be overcome by those with specific knowledge. Without proper training, flying a helicopter would be impossible.
Safety Tools
No game is more important than the people at the table. Before the first session, the group should discuss tone and content to establish everyone’s comfort zone.
Lines
Make a list of content that will not be referenced during play (“I hate spiders, so, spiders do not exist!”).
Veils
Make a list of content that can be referenced “off-camera.” (“Zombies are fine, but please, no graphic details.”)
X-Card
Players should know that if something makes them (as opposed to their hero) uncomfortable, they should alert the referee (by asking for a “pause” in the game or using some other sign that the group agrees on, such as making an “X” by crossing their arms). The game can pause and rewind, deleting or altering details as necessary. No one has to explain themselves or justify why content makes them uneasy.
Resources
For more information about popular safety tools, seek out Ron Edwards’s Lines & Veils, John Stavropoulos’s X-Card, and Beau Jágr Sheldon’s Script Change.