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Rulesets

A Ruleset is the engine expressed through one set of dice. Frontiers ships three of them, and they are the same game. Attributes, Derivatives, Skills, Abilities, Equipment, and Characters carry across all three; each Ruleset states its own numbers where they differ.

 

The d18 Ruleset The default 1d12 + 1d6, summed Two dice summed make a bell, so competence reads as dependable and uncertainty is saved for tasks that genuinely stretch a character. The Gradient rides the same 1d6 that fed the sum, so strong rolls tend to succeed and land well together.

The d20 Ruleset The familiar one 1d20, plus 1d10 Every face is equally likely, so outcomes swing wider and any single roll can surprise. The Gradient is its own die, entirely independent of the verdict. Built on the die most tables already own.

The d100 Ruleset The exact one 2d10 as percentile Percentile and roll-under, with Targets written straight on the sheet as true percentages. Competence and circumstance become visible numbers rather than shifts along a curve.

   

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The three at a glance

	d18	d20	d100
Dice	1d12 + 1d6, summed	1d20, plus an independent 1d10	2d10 as a percentile pair
Reading	Meet or beat the target	Meet or beat the target	Meet or roll under the Target
Shape	Curved, clustered near the middle	Flat, every face equally likely	Flat, read as a true percentage
Gradient	The 1d6, welded to the verdict	A separate 1d10, independent	The units die, reread
Circumstance	Favor and Disfavor first	Favor and Disfavor first	Numbers first, Favor for big swings
Best for	Dependable competence, spiking stakes	Familiar dice, wide swing	Exact, visible odds