Facts
A Fact is a compact, true statement about a character (a creature, PC, NPC, or Faction) that has mechanical weight. Facts are the game’s replacement for traditional ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, etc.). Where D&D asks “how strong are you?”, Glass Empires asks “what is true about you?” & then turns that truth into a modifier.
A Fact is two things at once:
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Permission & guidance in the fiction. A Fact declares what a character can or cannot do. A character with the Fact “Fully amphibious.” can breathe underwater, no further justification needed. A character without such a Fact cannot simply declare so. Conversely, a Fact may deny: a character who is “Nervous when surrounded” will struggle to stand calm in a crowd.
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A ±1 modifier on relevant Saves. The core mechanical function of a Fact is that any Player or the GM may invoke a relevant Fact to add a +1 bonus or −1 penalty to a Save. Per the Saves rules: “Unless explicitly stated otherwise, this includes a ±1 bonus/penalty for each distinct Fact that would serve as a bonus (+1) or a penalty (−1) to the action the Save represents.” A creature with “Excellent memory for food sources, threats, and grudges” gets +1 to track a foe. A character that is “Credulous about anything they can’t see & touch” gets −1 to resist a con artist’s lies.
Facts for Player Characters
For PCs, Facts are generated during Character Creation & may accumulate through play.
Origin Facts
Step 1 of Character Creation has the player roll twice on origin tables. For each result, they write a Fact using the formula:
“Because I [was (a)…], I learned [lesson].”
These Facts are the basis of a character’s core competencies; they define what the character is & knows. Example formulations:
- “Because I was a Failed Student of Alchemy, I learned how to neutralize unstable situations.”
- “Because I was a Farmer, I learned to read weather patterns & bargain at market.”
These can be rephrased so long as both the background & the lesson are present.
Class Background Fact
After choosing a Class, the player rolls 1d6 on their Class’s Background table to generate a third Fact in the same “Because I … I learned…” format.
Other Sources of Facts
- Race provides implicit Facts through physical form & cultural context.
- Rolling Seven on a Save when a Player had at least one of his PC’s personal Facts invoked against his PC gives him the chance to add a new Fact of his choice to his character; see Saves.
Facts for NPCs
Every listing in Glass Empires’ bestiary has four specific mechanical Facts. They are listed in every bestiary entry:
| Fact | Question It Answers | Example (Bear) |
|---|---|---|
| Desc. | What does it look like? What is its physical nature? | ”Brown shag, button eyes. Limbs like trunks. Rotting breath and deep, rumbling grunts. Stands tall enough to look a man in the eyes.” |
| Wants | What does it desire? What are its goals, priorities, and triggers? | ”Food. Territory. Cubs are sacred. To be left alone.” |
| Intellect | How does it think? What does it know, perceive, or fail to understand? | ”Animalistic but clever. Excellent memory for food sources, threats, and grudges.” |
| Morality | What is its ethical compass? What will it do, and where does it draw the line? | ”No malice, no mercy. Protects its own.” |
Each of these four must be obviously a +1 or −1 modifier on relevant Saves. “Brown shag, button eyes” is evocative but not mechanically sufficient. “Limbs like trunks” makes the physical capability explicit. “No malice, no mercy” tells you it won’t negotiate and it won’t gloat; +1 to resist intimidation, −1 to any social Save.
These four Facts define a character’s tactical and narrative identity without needing a six-stat array. The GM scans them and immediately knows how to play the character.
How Facts Work at the Table
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Invocation. When a Save is called for, any player (or the GM) may point to a relevant Fact on any character involved and claim the ±1 modifier. All present Players may decide if it applies. A Fact must be distinct, as you can’t stack synonymous or near-synonymous Facts for multiple ±1s. Each Fact counts once.
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Permission-gating. A Fact may make a Save unnecessary. If someone has the Fact “Can breathe underwater”, they don’t Save vs. drowning; it’s a settled question. If no one has a relevant Fact or narrative capability for a task, the GM may rule it impossible; you can’t track a scent without something like “Excellent memory for food sources, threats, and grudges” or equivalent.
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Player agency. Players may create Facts through action. If you spend a session building rapport with a village elder, you may gain “Friend of Elder Moss of Oxbow”. If you eat a bear’s heart in ritual, you might gain one of its Features (which are Facts with rules). The character sheet evolves.
Facts vs. Features vs. Conditions
All three are Facts, but they differ in permanence and rule-density.
- Facts are as so far described.
- Features are a kind of Fact, as they’re permanent & come with with specific rules attached; they may be invoked on Saves provided that their function per the rules does not overlap with the ±1 modifier. Every Feature is itself a true statement about the character: “You get an extra Strike per Attack made with a natural weapon.”
- Conditions are temporary Facts with explicit mechanical functions. Panicked, Burning, Grappled are each true statements that grant/deny permission & modifies Saves until resolved.