General Rules

To play Sporebound, you will need access to the rules (found on www.sporebound.com), a character sheet that has been approved by the storyteller, and a deck of playing cards. You will also need a way to keep track of which playing cards you have available, versus which playing cards have been used or discarded. We recommend different pockets, or envelopes, or using another card as a divider.

Most players will take on the role of one of the Sporebound, a person who has agreed to join the war against the gradual decay of society as represented by the Blue Blight. To gain the tools they need to fight, they have bonded with the Mycos, eldritch beings who need your help to do battle with the Blue Blight and its agents. The player’s character (or PC) has been granted supernatural abilities and insight into the ongoing war. The Mycos are presented as otherworldly fungi, but also represent the ways that humanity connects with one another (sharing of information, empathy, and compassion). Both of these things will be key to your victory. In each game, you will act out and sometimes describe what your character does.

Some of the players instead take on the role of Storytellers (or STs). It is the job of the Storytellers to present the world that the PCs live in, and describe or act out the actions of the people in the world who are not PCs (sometimes called Non-Player Characters, or NPCs). Storytellers also take on an administrative and organizing role. STs will adjudicate rules, establish the time and place of the game (called the venue), establish the rules for that venue, and guide people through the experience. Not all STs will do every job, and they are free to arrange themselves in whatever way works for them. Sometimes, the ST team will call on players to assist with jobs, in particular set up and take down of the venue. In general, if you are at a game of Sporebound, you should listen to the STs. If the rules conflict with what the ST says, the STs are correct.

Games of Sporebound are measured in narrative units of time. That is, Sporebound often cares a lot more about the narrative link between things rather than the exact number of seconds between two events. We use five units of time in the game:

Turn - A single person accomplishing a single thing. Attacking someone in combat, painting a portrait, and holding a brief conversation are all examples of a Turn.

Round - A period of time in which every person active in the scene may take a single turn. This is most often used in combat, but may also be used in larger scenes to keep things running smoothly. If multiple people are acting at the same time, they will often hold their cards out face down and then reveal them all at the same time.

Scene - A period of time containing multiple related turns and/or rounds, often connected to a single location. When you go to a breakout space with an ST, usually the entire segment of the game in that breakout space is a single Scene. Some spaces in the Game are areas where free RP happens, often called the Gathering. In these places, where a Scene can not easily be determined, a Scene lasts 15 minutes.

Session - Everything that happens from when the game begins for the day until it ends for the day.

Chronicle - The entire sequence of narratively linked sessions from the beginning of the first to the end of the last.

At some point during the game, your character will want to do something where the chance of failure is narratively important, or to do something another character (PC or NPC) will want to oppose. When this happens, the character will play cards from their hand and compare it to a card played by another character, or the ST if a character is not applicable. PCs will begin the game with a hand of eight to eleven cards depending on their attributes and supernatural powers. NPCs and the environment draw from a deck of cards kept by the STs. When a card is played, it is unavailable until that character Refreshes their resources, which makes all of their cards available for use again.

Playing a card to do something and comparing its number to something else (usually another card) is called a Test. There are three kinds of Tests: Simple, Opposed, and Tension.

A Simple Test happens when a Storyteller decides your action has a narratively important chance for failure. A character should not, normally, test to perform simple actions any regular person could accomplish, such as opening an unlocked door or walking across the streets. Sneaking into a building, hacking into a computer, or smooth talking your way past a guard are all examples of a Simple Test. When a Simple Test is called for, the ST will define which Attribute that test is associated with [Body (♦), Mind (♣), Finesse (♠) or Charisma (♥)]. If you have a Skill that matches what you are doing (at the ST’s discretion), you may play a Card of the appropriate Suit. That card is your value. If you don’t have an applicable skill, or if you can’t or don’t want to play a card of that suit, you must play any two cards and take the lower of the two values. This is called testing at Disadvantage.

Afterwards, the ST will reveal a card from their deck. Depending on the circumstances, they may reveal more or fewer cards, taking the highest or the lowest. If your card matches or exceeds the ST’s card, you pass. If it is less, you may fail. Anyone else present in the scene can describe how they help you and discard up to one card. For every person who discards one card, you may add +2 to your card’s value, to instead succeed. If people can’t or won’t add enough additional cards to help you, then your test fails. Unless another power is involved, Aces are 1, and Face-Cards (Jack, Queen, King) are worth 8. If the ST’s card is a Face Card, then it may have special effects, which they will explain to you when it happens.

An Opposed Test happens when you are in direct conflict with another supernatural entity, such as other Sporebound or the minions of the Blue Blight. An Opposed Test is like a Simple Test, except you set then reveal your card, and compare your card to the other person’s card. To set and reveal, hold the card you intend to play face down. Once everyone has done so, they turn the card face up, then compare the numbers. In the event of a tie, the aggressor (usually the person doing something) in the situation wins. If the aggressor can’t be easily determined, then the situation would be a “tie” in character as well. If that isn’t possible, test again.

If multiple people are performing an Opposed Test, then everyone involved will set and reveal cards at the same time. The highest number among each group of people is used, and they gain +2 to their card’s value per additional person helping them.

A Tension Test is called for by the ST when a truly random result is needed, or if they want to see if the results of a previous test end because circumstances have changed. For instance, if you are sneaking through an office and knock over a lamp, the ST may call for a Tension test to see if you catch the lamp unnoticed (maintaining Stealth) or drop it (breaking Stealth). Unlike other tests, one of the ST's cards are compared to another one of the ST's cards. To perform a Tension Test, you’ll engage in one or more games of High or Low with the Storyteller. They will reveal one card from the deck. You will need to guess if the next card they reveal is higher or lower. If the next card is equal, or you are correct, then you pass. If you are incorrect, you fail. You need to win a number of times equal to the current Tension Level of the scene. By default, this begins at 1 each scene and increases by 1 every time a PC in the scene performs a Tension Test. Particularly secure or dangerous situations may start at Tension Level 2 or 3. If you fail a Tension Test, the situation always gets worse.

If you have no cards left to play, you may still attempt to perform actions that would result in a Simple Test. Instead of performing a Simple Test, you perform a Tension Test. You may not do this if you still have cards available. You automatically fail any Opposed Tests while you are out of cards.

Sporebound is a collaborative game. If an ally achieves a goal using a test without using an Active or Royal Germ, they may allow you to share in their success. If they do, you may play any card, without the suit or value mattering, to gain the same benefits from the test without doing the work yourself. Importantly, this does not duplicate the results, it merely allows you to share in those results. Note that even if you helped them succeed in the first place, you must still play an additional card to join them in a Group Success.

If someone sneaks into the building, you could share in their success to follow them, but not to sneak into a completely separate part of the building. If someone climbs a fence, they could throw down a rope letting you join them in a Group Success to get to the same place. One person might smooth talk some guards to get into a party, and other people can share in that Group Success to also be let in.

Group Success must make sense in the narrative. The ST is the final arbiter of what is and is not possible, based on the narrative.

On the surface, social tests work like most others. You roleplay your action, play your card, and make a Simple or Opposed Test. If what you are asking for is sufficiently small, or if the person isn’t that invested into stopping you, then that’s it. Particularly motivated individuals, however, require Leverage. Leverage is an added narrative reason for the other person to go along with what you say. Leverage will take the form of a Bribe, a Threat, or a Harmony. Regardless of the form the Leverage takes, it must be proportional to what you are asking.

Bribery is when the other person is getting something for going along with what you say. This could be you paying them for their services, or convincing them how doing what you want will result in them getting something they want. If the other person does not get their reward, then that will negatively impact their relationship with you.

Threatening uses violence or the promise of future violence to coerce someone into doing what you want. This includes harm coming to them as a consequence for not going along with what they say. Threatening someone always damages your relationship with them, even if you are successful. Threats may also increase the city's Heat as law enforcement is on the lookout for such people.

Harmony is aligning what you are saying and doing with something the character strongly believes in. This includes both aligning what you are saying directly, and includes building a rapport based on you aligning with their values and leveraging that trust. Harmony only results in a loss of relationship if it turns out that Harmony was a lie.

The ST is the ultimate arbiter of what constitutes an appropriate amount of Leverage for what you are saying. Narrative Benefits supplied through Anchors and Downtimes are common sources of leverage.

No Player Character is subject to a mundane social test unless the player allows it. Supernatural powers work normally on player characters. You can always ask the Storyteller if an NPC requires leverage. You can perform tests to find out what might be acceptable leverage on an NPC, usually by observing them or talking to them.

Sporebound completely heals all HP and recovers their entire hand between games. In game, certain Officer Positions gain the ability to supply a limited amount of healing, bonus cards, and free refreshes.

Outside of those, there are two ways to recover the cards in your hand and/or HP:

  • Recover: You may Exhaust a Fresh Anchor to Heal yourself to full HP. This takes an action in combat, or a few seconds out of combat. You may not do this if your HP was reduced to 0. However, Sporebound can resurrect even from death. See XX for details.
  • Refresh: If you are not already Vulnerable, you spend a few seconds, or an action in Combat, to become vulnerable until the end of the session and refill your hand. While Vulnerable, if you are reduced to 0 HP you can Emergency Refresh. If you can’t or won’t Emergency Refresh while Vulnerable, your character is dying.
  • Emergency Refresh: You Remove an Anchor that isn’t exhausted or in crisis. You completely refill your hand, and heal up to your maximum HP. This takes an action to do in combat, or a few seconds out of it. However, you may automatically perform an Emergency Refresh if you are reduced to 0 HP, allowing you to stay on your feet. Emergency Refreshing in this way does not take an action, and happens immediately.