This chapter contains the core rules required to play Fabula Ultima.
This is probably the most important chapter in the book and one that should be read with great attention, regardless of if you are the Game Master or a Player.
Throughout this chapter the game’s mechanics are presented in the way that felt most intuitive; however, sometimes you will have to jump between pages in order to get the full picture of how things work. It won’t happen too often, promise!
Along the way, you will find that a large part of this chapter contains advice on how to make the most out of this game's rules and mechanics. You will also find that sometimes the very same situation can be resolved through different methods — there’s some overlap between rules.
This is by design. Given the broad scope of the game and the many possible scenarios, the rules must be flexible — but this also means you will have to learn how and when to use them. That is why plenty of advice has been included wherever possible: because this book is meant to be understood in the easiest way possible so that the goals and intentions behind each rule are clear.
As you grow more familiar with the rules, you will probably want to change or tweak some of them, and that’s perfectly fine. Nothing in this book was written to be set in stone, but to be a functional game, whose components interact with each other and work together to bring an epic, heroic and fantastic tale to your gaming table. Because of this, make sure to think carefully about the changes you make: they might influence a greater number of elements than what you had anticipated. To make life easier, the book includes a variety of optional rules that can be used to safely customize your play experience.
Needless to say, whenever you want to change something, make sure to discuss it with your game group: you shouldn’t change anything unless everyone agrees.