The Basics
What is the bare minimum you need to do to play Tag & Tally?
Tag & Tally has two simple rules. Everything is defined by a sentence and a level, and the player always rolls.
A player character is more than just a sentence, but unlike most other tabletop games there are no levels here -- everything is a lateral move based on narrative. Yes you can get better at things, but as you play you add more tags to your character sheet that can assist you in lowering the effective level of the task you are trying to do.
In Tag & Tally the target to beat number (DC) is based on one of two things, either the level of the creature/npc/item or the scene. In most cases you will use the scene level, unless you are using a previously created npc or creature that is resurfacing. Items should always have their own level regardless off the scene. Most NPCs also have their own level. Creatures and tasks/actions typically use the scene level to determine what the DC is.
DC is always three times the level.
There are ten levels in Tag & Tally.
| Level | DC | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Simple |
| 2 | 6 | Standard |
| 3 | 9 | Demanding |
| 4 | 12 | Difficult |
| 5 | 15 | Challenging |
| 6 | 18 | Intimidating |
| 7 | 21 | Formidable |
| 8 | 24 | Heroic |
| 9 | 27 | Immortal |
| 10 | 30 | Impossible |
You use your tags to lower the level of the task you are trying to preform. This is called easing. Some things, like flaws and scene tags will make a task harder, this is called hindering. They raise or lower the level of the task (not the scene/creature/npc/item). You apply your easing tags first and then all hindering tags are applied. And you may only apply a certain amount of tags to certain level tasks. This is called the Tag Threshold.
| Task Level | Task Threshold |
|---|---|
| 1-3 | 2 |
| 4-6 | 3 |
| 7-8 | 4 |
| 9-10 | 5 |
A tag can have multiple tiers, and each tier (up to 4) can ease or hinder the task by the tier amount.
After your level is determined. If it's less than or equal to zero then you don't need to roll -- unless you want to roll for that 'and' benefit. But you could also critically fail and get the 'and' on the failure.
For anything greater than zero you roll 1d20 on the resolution table which is changes based on the DC
| d20 | Result | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fail, and | Fail, and things are worse |
| 2 to DC-6 | Fail, but | Fail, but something else helps you |
| DC-5 to DC-1 | Success, but | Success, but not exactly as expected |
| DC to DC+4 | Success | Exactly as you expected |
| DC+5 + | Success, and | Success, and things are better |
Because it's not always easy to know the math I have a cheat sheet for you. You can find it our Resource section