Midnight Abyss
Game Features
Core Pillars
Rules-light survival in the crushing dark. Play is about pressure, oxygen, and choice—with fast scenes and hard calls.
Claustrophobic dives Salvage & Sub Ops Faction Bargains Crew Tension
Play Style
Designed for quick missions or full campaigns. Scenarios range from trench surveys and wreck recovery to corporate rescue and containment runs.
Basic Mechanics
Dice Pools
Roll a pool of dice. Each die that shows 5 or less counts as a success. The GM sets the number of required successes based on difficulty.
| Die Size | Use |
|---|---|
| d20 | Untrained |
| d12 | Trained |
| d10 | Skilled |
| d8 | Expert |
| d6 | Master |
Note: There’s a deliberate big jump from untrained to trained (d20 → d12) so competence feels significant.
No Attributes
There are no numeric attributes. Physical, Mental, and Social capability are defined entirely through Traits rather than statistics.
Skills & Competency
Your Skill rating sets the die size you roll when the skill applies: d20 Untrained · d12 Trained · d10 Skilled · d8 Expert · d6 Master.
Design note: the jump from d20 to d12 makes basic training a big deal.
Competencies determine how many skill dice you roll:
- Primary Competency → roll 3 of your skill dice (e.g., Trained = 3×d12).
- Secondary Competency → roll 2 of your skill dice.
- No Competency → roll 1 skill die.
Traits
Traits describe key strengths across Physical, Mental, and Social spaces. When a Trait is relevant, it grants either:
- +1 bonus die — always a d12 added to your pool, or
- +1 bonus success in very specific, pre-defined circumstances.
Important: Traits never change your skill die size; they only add a d12 or grant a bonus success.
Gear & Specialisations
Function mechanically like Traits—either a bonus d12 to the pool when relevant, or a bonus success in a narrow case—except for weapons and suits/armour, which use separate rules.
Drama (Metacurrency)
Players spend Drama to bend the odds or steer the story. It represents luck, grit, and narrative pressure.
- Reroll: Reroll one die.
- Assist: Add an extra die when helping another character.
- Survival: Delay hypoxia, negate Oxygen loss, or avoid immediate collapse.
- Push: Seize brief narrative control—hold a failing system together, introduce a desperate but plausible detail, or act at the last possible moment.
- Buy Up Success: Convert a failed roll into additional successes on a one-for-one basis, but only up to a Mixed Success. Drama can’t elevate a roll to a full Success.
Example Roll
Vega tries to bypass a corroded lock under pressure. They’re Trained in Repairs (d12), it’s their Primary Competency, and they have the relevant Trait Station Rat.
Pool: 3×d12 (skill via Primary Competency) + 1×d12 (Trait bonus die). GM asks for 2 successes. Vega rolls → 4, 9, 7, 3. The 4 and 3 are ≤5 → two successes. The lock yields; the pressure alarm chirps.