Rules - GM
GM rules
You can view the full rules from the downloads page.
Components
As the Game Master, or GM, you’ll begin by selecting a stage. Each stage consists of 51 cards, divided into 6 types:
1 backdrop - The heart of the stage. This card lays out the overall location, its history, its major factions, and its ongoing turmoil.
5 stories - These cards contain the goal which the players will pursue during their adventure.
9 scenes - These are the smaller-scale locations through which the adventure will wind. Each one has ideas for what can happen within it, as well as 2 possible goals, of which the players must complete 1 to advance.
12 extras and star extras - Think of these are the GM’s characters! You’ll spend tokens to play them and to use their abilities. Most extras have a generic version on their front (dark) side, and a named “star” version on their back (light) side. Some extras are stars on both sides; these represent the most powerful and important characters in the stage.
12 props - Items and knickknacks which can be strewn throughout the adventure. You’ll spend tokens to put these into play, whether to reward the players or to equip your stars and extras.
12 twists - One-time events for when the story needs to take a sharp turn. You’ll spend tokens to play these.
GM cards. Backdrop, story, and scene cards are played only during setup.
GM cards. Extras cost tokens to play, and are double-sided; it’s up to you whether to use the generic or star version. You can even swap it during play!
GM cards. Props and extras cost tokens to play. Their cost is listed on the card back.
Every GM card contains descriptive text to help you understand its place in the stage, and inspire ideas for what it might be doing or pursuing as the players first encounter it. Extras are unique in that they also have ability ideas, which you can spend your GM tokens to utilize.
Anatomy of a GM card, specifically an extra.
Some GM cards feature goals. These are what the players must complete to progress through the game.
The story goal is what sets the plot in motion, and is how the players achieve victory.
The scene goals represent ways to progress through an individual area. Each scene has 2, but the players choose only 1 to complete. Work with the players to weave scene goals into the large story’s narrative.
The story goal must be completed to win the game. Scenes offer a choice: 1 of the 2 goals must be completed to advance.
TOKENS
The final GM component is tokens. You have a stockpile of 15, which are earned in 2 ways:
when scenes begin;
when players roll poorly.
Tokens are spent to play cards (extras, props, and twists) or to use the cards you already have in play. Think of tokens as currency that is spent to exhibit control over the story. When the players are doing great and succeeding on rolls, they tend to narrate what happens. When you earn enough tokens, it’s your turn to throw some chaos into the mix and make sure the players remain challenged.
You don’t have to spend tokens when you earn them — but you can only hold on to 3 tokens at a time. If you accumulate more than 3, start looking for ways to burn them off by playing more cards, using extras’ moves, or directing harm towards the players.
GM tokens.
Setup
Choose the stage you’ll be playing for this adventure, and grab its cards. Separate and shuffle its story, scene, extra, prop, and twist decks.
Play the backdrop and 1 story, dark side up. If the story goal calls for additional cards, add them.
Play 3 scenes, light side up. Set remaining story and scene cards aside; you won’t need them.
Set the extra, prop, and twist decks nearby, with their red costs visible. Set the GM tokens nearby.
GM setup showing a sample game start, prior to beginning the first scene.
Meanwhile, the players should have chosen their character decks and read whatever lore they want to.
Introduction
Begin by reading the backdrop and story cards to the players. Then turn to the players and ask:
Who are your characters? Let everyone introduce themselves and who they’re playing as. They can share — or invent — their character’s backstory.
Why are you here? Once everyone’s been introduced, have them further explore what brought them to this place, and what motivates them to undertake this mission. Encourage them to come up with ways to connect their personal backstories to the setting and story.
How do you know each other? Finally, let the players discuss why they’re here together. Are they old friends? Strangers who’ve just met? Maybe one of them hired the others. Anything goes, but it should lay a foundation to explain why the characters are working together on this quest.
Once everyone’s ready, flip the first scene and begin!
Scenes
When you first flip a scene face-up, you earn its budget. Scene budgets increase as the game advances:
Scene 1: Earn 3 tokens.
Scene 2: Earn 4 tokens.
Scene 3: Earn 5 tokens.
Spend these tokens (along with any others you’ve collected earlier) to populate the scene with extras, props, and twists.
Props and twists always cost 1 token.
Extras have a variable cost, indicated on the dark side of their card. You pay this cost regardless of which side of the card you bring into play.
You can always discount an extra by bringing it into play with harm. Each 1 harm you add to it as it’s played reduces its cost by 1. This can let you play powerful extras earlier in the game without overwhelming or stalling the players.
Describe the scene to the players, then read its goals. Every scene has 2 possible goals, but the players only need to choose 1 to complete. Ask them which scene goal leads them forward towards the story goal, and have them explain how.
Discount an extra’s cost with harm.
Once they’ve chosen a goal and you’ve populated the scene, work with the players to narrate their entrance. Describe anything interesting that they see, how (or if) the scene’s populace reacts to their presence, and then ask what they’d like to do first.
PLAYER MOVES
Play in Atma is resolved by narration. The players narrate what they do; the GM narrates how the world responds.
What can the players do? Whatever makes sense! A character with wings can fly; a character with broken wings can’t, until they fix them. When in doubt, the players will look to you, as the GM, to decide what does and doesn’t fit the story’s logic.
Sometimes a player will narrate an action for their character that might succeed… but might not. When this happens, you can prompt the player to roll dice and see what happens. Rolls always use two 6-sided dice plus an appropriate stat from the character’s card. For example, attempting to move a boulder might use tough. Attempting to do so quickly might use hasty, instead. It’s always your call which stat makes sense, but you can (and should!) feel free to let the players pick the stat based on how they’d like to narrate their action.
Two dice and one of a character’s stats are used to determine a move’s outcome.
If circumstances warrant it, you can additional bonuses or penalties. A character executing on a truly brilliant, well-thought-out plan might deserve +1 to the roll, on top of what their stat already provides.
Once a player rolls, the total of the dice, their stat, and any additional modifiers determines what happens:
10+: The player succeeds. Let them narrate their action. If they’re describing an attack, it becomes a critical hit and deals +1 harm.
7-9: The player succeeds and narrates their action. Once they finish, you get a token.
6-: The player fails in their attempt. You can narrate how, or ask them to describe how things go wrong. Then, you get a token. However…
6-: …you can choose to let the player succeed and narrate their action just like they would on a 7-9. If you do, you get a second token (2 total).
Sometimes a move has no chance of failure; for example, attacking a sleeping or helpless enemy. When this happens, let the player skip the roll and simply succeed on their move.
Likewise, some moves have no chance of success; for example, harming a battleship with a rusted sword. Skip the roll and simply tell the player that their current course of action fails. Encourage them to find other creative ways to bypass the problem.
Possible outcomes of a player’s roll.
GM MOVES
Players roll dice — but the GM doesn't! Instead, you spend your GM tokens to influence the narrative. The most obvious way to do this is to pay the costs for new cards:
Add a prop to the scene. Do the players find it lying around? Is it locked behind glass? Or being wielded by an enemy?
Play a twist to drastically change the course of events. Be ready to creatively weave the twist's effects into the narrative — this is a great time to solicit player ideas!
Play an extra and narrate its dramatic arrival. They didn't pop out of nowhere — where did they come from?
Don't forget that you can play either side, and can discount extras by adding harm to them as they're played.
Moves on an extra. The first is free and can be used at any time.
Aside from playing cards, you can also spend tokens for several other uses:
Make a move found on an extra already in play. Each move describes it cost (free, 1, or 2 tokens) and suggests an action the extra might take.
Use a reaction found on a player move. Some player cards will have text for the GM, giving you additional options when a specific move goes awry. Ask the players to alert you to these opportunities!
Inflict 1 harm. You can usually do this via an extra’s move. Harm is useful when you just need to spend tokens and challenge the players without slowing things down. Narrate an explanation for how harm befalls one of them, and keep going.
improvised moves
An extra’s moves list is not exhaustive. You can have extras take any action that flows from the narrative. If you need to craft moves on the fly, spend what feels right:
An innate ability can often be free; it’s just an intrinsic part of the extra’s presence in the story.
Most moves should cost 1 token, to reflect the impact they’ll exert on the course of events.
A really epic, scene-shattering move can cost 2 tokens and pull out all the stops!
Likewise, many cards (scenes, props, twists) have lists of things that might be true, but it’s up to you to decide which are useful. Many of these ideas can be introduced later as an obstacle for the players — a perfect justification for spending a token.
Random first, useful always
Most GM cards enter play randomly. They are meant to surprise you as well as the players, and encourage everyone to weave them into the narrative. The more you do this, the more your stories will vary across multiple playthroughs.
However, it’s perfectly fine to decrease randomness when you need to. Some techniques you can use when you’re overwhelmed or just need to maintain tighter control over the current story:
Peek: Look at facedown cards like future scenes, or sneak a glance at the top card of any deck. You can do this before playing it, or even during earlier scenes while a player is thinking of what they’ll do. This can let you announce or even foreshadow a card’s arrival before it happens.
Skip: Sometimes you’ll draw a card and… draw a blank on how to use it. That’s okay! Set it aside, draw the next card, and move on. The more you play, the better you’ll get at weaving unusual cards into the story. Like any other skill, it takes practice.
HARM
“Harm” means damage, exhaustion, and other setbacks to any character’s well-being. Use a spare GM token to represent harm by placing it on top of a heart icon on a character or extra.
What causes harm? Rely on the narrative to tell you. A scratch probably doesn’t; being stabbed probably does. If one character acts to debilitate or impede another, you can think of it as an attack, and harm as a possible result. Don’t forget that a player move which rolls a 10+ is considered a critical hit and can inflict +1 harm (for 2 harm total).
Collapse
When a character’s harm exceeds their health, they collapse.
For extras, they’re typically dead or defeated, and you can discard them from play.
For players, it means they’re down but not out; lower all of their stats to -1 for now.
A collapsed player needs an ally to help them up. If they require medicine, food, or other supplies to restore their health, offer hints about where these things might be found within the current scene.
If all players collapse, the game doesn’t have to end. Narrate their defeat — maybe they’re captured or knocked out — and transition to a brief new scene from which they must escape. Just keep in mind that this will inevitably slow the story down. For many groups, that’s fine — but if the game drags to a halt, or the players are exhausted, be prepared to skim through later parts if necessary. Sometimes the players would rather accept defeat and end the game for now; they can always retry the mission later.
ENDING THE GAME
Never lose sight of the story goal. Once the players complete it, they win!
In their pursuit of this goal, they’ll also complete scenes, serving as mini-achievements along the way. Don’t forget that the players unlock 1 new card at the end of each scene. They should head into the 3rd and final scene with all 4 of their cards available.
Especially during the final scene, it’s acceptable (and even recommended) to exercise judgment before throwing new complications into the mix. Err on the side of small but meaningful effects instead of crazy new twists or brand-new characters. Using up player resources, inflicting harm, using 2-cost moves on existing extras are all great ways to keep the tension high without slowing the game’s pace in the home stretch.