What is Skein: Threadbare?
-
Skein: Threadbare is a new TTRPG ruleset that satisfies old-school desires. D10s, cutthroat gameplay, and rewards for the brave or foolish.
The game is FINISHED.
It is not in-development. It does not need funding to “get started” or “explore ideas.”
Support is needed to acquire artwork and get copies into people’s hands.
-
Skein: Threadbare is an OSR-inspired standalone ruleset that doesn’t sacrifice depth.
The game is easy to learn and a challenge to play. Player characters are powerful, but survival is always uncertain.
From Classes to Skills to Combat Maneuvers to a Spellcasting system limited only by your imagination.
The book is complete.
New. Evocative. Harrowing.
You will make characters in a familiar way but in a new system, a new world, and a revitalized appreciation for the dangers and stresses of a dungeon, ancient ruin, or roadway robbery.
Danger, First.
Character choice, from inception to adventure, is the foundational design principle of Skein: Threadbare.
Bloodline, Class, Runes, Skills, Shames, Acclaims, and Bond. Each a layer of character development that makes each session feel unique and ultimately harrowing.
Your character advances through 10 class levels with distinct benefits, but they will grow as much from the relics they have unearthed, the depths they have explored, and the wounds they have endured. And, above all else, the tales they can tell of terrible things in the dark and prevailing against them.
When death claims your adventurer, you’ll not see their like again.
Evocative Design
In this game, your character is powerful.
Your character might have great ambitions or be a reckless dungeon delver.
Whatever your plans might be, along the way your character could lose a finger, an eye, their life, or worse....
This game has danger. This game has power. This game has ancient loot and lost lore to be found. But, above all else, this game is about embracing your fate and finding your story through action, adventure, and risk.
Hope for the fortune of dice in your favor, but take them as they fall.
Layers of Decision
Good rules shape a story as much as a GM.
In Skein: Threadbare, from the first level, combat is thoughtful and reactive. Skills, and their subsequent maneuvers, are designed to be used early and often.
Your resources may dwindle, but your wit and force of will may be enough to prevail.
From your first incantation, rune casting is a creative and dangerous act. The Runes that draw upon the currents of magic are known to spellcasters of all kinds. As a wielder of magic (no matter your class), you will combine these runes to create devastating evocations.
Magic will bend to your will, but will it break you? Will it corrupt you?
And from that first wound, mortality makes itself known to you in a moment; whether by scar, disfigurement, or the memory of the straining of your resolve, you will bear its mark forever.
You will fear death. But you will face it forward and with an open heart.