Thessaly Vane
Fallen court speaker seeking redemption. Rhetoric + Whispering. Social pressure, negotiation, intelligence play.
Rules in 60 Seconds
- Pick a Scribe and an adventure, then describe what your character does in plain language.
- Risky actions use a Word Roll: 2d6 + Attribute vs difficulty (Simple 2 to Dire 5).
- Results are Failure, Partial Success, Full Success, or Triumph.
- Magic is freeform (no spell list): Naming, Inscription, Rhetoric, Whispering, Utterance.
- Magic costs Strain; damage is tracked as Wounds (3 Wounds = Broken).
- Combat is narrative, not grid-based. You declare actions; the GM resolves outcomes.
No map. No initiative tracker. No manual dice needed from the player.
What You Get
Character Spotlight
Cael Dunmore
Voiceless veteran casting through impact and rhythm. Utterance + Inscription. Frontline control and survivability.
Iridessa Quill
Arcane engineer obsessed with wards and traps. Inscription + Naming. Prep-heavy tactical problem solving.
Lira Duskhollow
Information broker raised in the undercity. Whispering + Rhetoric. Secrets, leverage, subtle manipulation.
Senna Blackthorn
Road-worn healer who names the body's truths. Naming + Rhetoric. Support, endurance, grounded heroics.
Vex Amaranth
Improvisational arcanist with dangerous instincts. Naming + Utterance. Volatile, high-creative spellcasting.
Ormund Sable
Aging monster-hunter whose command of true names is fading. Naming + Inscription. Veteran tracking and lore-heavy play.
Brother Erasmus
Excommunicated monk wielding faith as magic rhetoric. Rhetoric + Naming. Conviction, doctrine, moral tension.
Captain Maren Stormquill
Pirate captain with a heavily enchanted vessel. Inscription + Utterance. Command presence and explosive action.
Davan Ashgrove
Mute librarian who fights through script and signs. Inscription + Whispering. Precision, stealth, puzzle solving.
Zara Emberwrit
Former executioner trying to stop killing with words. Utterance + Naming. Brutal power with guilt-driven drama.
Fen Kallistos
Poet-duelist who turns fights into staged verse. Rhetoric + Utterance. Stylish offense and theatrical momentum.
Hazel Copperbind
Retired smuggler tied to enchanted-book contraband routes. Inscription + Whispering. Logistics, deception, underworld leverage.
Torren Greyvault
Disillusioned scholar exposing a falsified history. Naming + Whispering. Investigation, secrets, conspiracy unraveling.
Full sheets for each spotlighted character are in characters/.
ELI5 Rules
Click To Open The ELI5 Version
Imagine a pretend-story game where you are the hero, and the AI GM is the story-teller who also keeps track of the rules.
In Word & Will, you play a Scribe, which is a person whose words are magic. What you say (or write) can change the world in the story.
What You Do When You Play
- Pick a character (a Scribe with a personality and some special strengths).
- Pick an adventure (a starting story).
- The AI GM describes what your character sees and what is happening.
- You say what your character does, like:
- "I whisper a secret to hide myself."
- "I shout a word to push the monster back."
- "I write magic words on the door to lock it."
- The AI GM tells you what happens next, and you keep going like a back-and-forth story.
Your Character Has 4 Scores
Think of these like super-simple skill meters (1 is small, 5 is big):
- Voice: how good you are at talking, convincing, or shouting magic
- Script: how good you are at reading, writing, and doing written magic
- Wit: how good you are at quick thinking and reacting fast
- Resolve: how tough and brave you are, and how well you resist scary magic
How We Decide If Something Works (Word Roll)
Sometimes what you try is risky or hard. Then the AI GM does a pretend dice roll using two dice and adds your score.
- If the total is big enough, you do it.
- If it is kinda big, you mostly do it but something annoying happens.
- If it is not big enough, it does not work and the story pushes back.
Sometimes things are easier (Advantage) or harder (Disadvantage).
The Magic System (No Spell List)
You do not pick spells from a menu. You just say what you want your word-magic to do.
There are 5 kinds of word-magic:
- Naming: knowing the true name of something to control it
- Inscription: writing magic words on things
- Rhetoric: talking so powerfully it changes minds and even reality
- Whispering: quiet secret magic, sneaking, illusions, spying
- Utterance: big loud power words, blasts, shockwaves, force
You tell the AI GM what you want to happen, which kind you are using, and what words your character says or writes (short is fine). Then the AI GM decides difficulty and rolls.
Tired Meter And Ouch Meter
Strain is your tired meter.
- You have a certain amount of Strain.
- Small magic costs little or nothing. Big magic costs more.
- If you run out, you can still try magic, but it is much harder and riskier.
Wounds are your ouch meter.
- You can take 3 Wounds before you are Broken (too hurt to keep going).
- Rest and healing magic can help you recover.
Fighting Is Story-Style
There is no grid and no moving squares. You say what you do (attack, dodge, run, talk, cast), the AI GM rolls if needed, and narrates results until danger is over.
A Tiny Example Turn
AI: "A locked iron door blocks your path. You hear footsteps behind you."
You: "I write a quick magic word on the lock to make it open."
AI: "Ok, that is Inscription. The AI GM rolls... You succeed, but the word sparks loudly. The door opens, and the footsteps speed up."
If you tell the AI GM which character and which adventure you want to use (like character-01 and adventure-01), the story can start right away.