An Evolution is

coming

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Evolutionary Creator Kit
By Ralf Mayenberger @WuDeRPG
 RISE
Intention
RISE was created for you,
the one that loves creating
new characters and never
gets to play them, the one
that enjoys getting to know
their characters, the sucker
for coming of age stories.
You are at the center of this
Creator Kit, because you
want to create with growth
in mind, growth for your
character and your story.
It started with the idea to
recreate the plot of the Rise
of the Planet of the Apes
movie in a game, but none
of the existing systems fit
my wish to grow within the
story - and before I knew it,
I was playing with the idea
of my own system that does
just that.
This is what RISE is!
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The 3-Act Structure
RISE is built on a 3-Act
structure that guides the
story and the character
evolution.
Act 1
You meet your character
in Act 1 and introduce both
story and group dynamic.
Act 2
In Act 2 your character
evolves and learns to use
skills. You establish your
story and group dynamics.
Act 3
The story culminates in
Act 3 and your characters
are tested.
 Characters
The focus of RISE is on During the 3 Acts of your
the characters and we will game the characters will
introduce the individual evolve: Characters start
components based on your with Attributes in Act 1,
evolving connection with gain Skills in Act 2 and are
your characters. challenged when tasked to
use their limited Resources
& Attempts in Act 3:

Act 1
Attributes

Act 2
Skills

Act 3
Resources
& Attempts

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 Attributes
Attributes - Act 1
When you meet your
character in a RISE game,
you meet them in a very raw
and broad way represented
by only 3 Attributes. We
went with the obvious
choices to keep it simple!
Attribute Points
We propose using a Dice
Pool (p. 8) and have all
Attributes start at 1. When
creating characters, players
get to distribute a number
of points on the Attributes.
A good number here is 3-5,
depending on difficulty.

Physical
You use your BODY to accomplish your goal

Mental
You use your MIND to accomplish your goal

Social
You use your CONNECTIONS to accomplish your goal

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 Skills
Skills - Act 2
As you get to know your
character better, you will
encounter the skills of your
character. There are 3 skills
for each Attribute, 2 of
them are generic skills, 1 is
a game specific skill:
Physical
Strength - actions that call
for brute force
Agility - actions that call for
you to be nimble
Mental
Knowledge - actions that
require learned knowledge
Awareness - actions that
require perception / wisdom
Social
Interaction - actions that ask
for communication
Intuition - actions that ask
for your insights
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Specific Skills
Each Attribute has one
game specific skill. In Rise
of the Apes, these skills are:
• Tools (physical)
• Language (mental)
• Teamwork (social)
These skills make sense in
Rise of the Apes, but a skill
like Tools might not make
sense in your game.
Find something that
captures the essence of
your game and provides
more depths to gameplay.
Skill Points
In the beginning of Act 2,
we propose to distribute
the Attribute points to the
associated skills. Example:
3 points could be spread
1/1/1, 2/1/0 or 3/0/0.
 Resources & Attempts
Resources - Act 3 challenge and provide
them with the resources to
While Act 1 was about overcome your test.
meeting your character and
Act 2 focused on evolving
your character, Act 3 will
test your character and
push them to their limits.
Attempts
Each of the 3 Resources
For this, RISE introduces
is limited by Attempts. A
3 Resources based on the
good number of Attempts
3 Attributes and a limited
is 5. This gives the players
number of Attempts to use
opportunities to try out
these resources.
things and experiment, but
In Act 3 we hand the reins still conveys urgency.
for your design completely
For each Attempt:
over to you. We provide
rules and some advice for • roll the associated
Attempts, but Resources Attribute
need to fit in with the theme • color in one box - no
of your game. matter the outcome
If your Physical Resource
Act 3 is the final act in represents Health think
your game, the culmination about how you track this.
of the characters efforts - We suggest failed Attempts
and here they will test their lead to a loss of Health.
limits. You will create the
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 Rise of the Apes
We mentioned the first
RISE game Rise of the Apes
before. To give you a better
idea how we used the idea
of RISE in a game, here is
what we did in Rise of the
Apes as an example:
Act 1 is a Heist - the Apes
breaking out of the Lab:
scheming, taking action,
escaping! 3 Attributes is all
you need to play a Heist.
Anything more would just
slow you down.
Act 2 is Survival - the
Apes running wild in the
city using their skills to
make it to the bridge. Skills
are imperative in an act
focusing on Survival and it
allows the players to get to
know their Apes better.
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Act 3 is Tactical Combat -
the Apes trying to pass the
bridge to freedom while
the humans try to catch/kill
them. Limited Resources
and Attempts foster the
feeling we look for in
Tactical Combat and draw
out tactical decisions!
Rise of the Apes uses the
following 3 Resources:
Toughness
Toughness represents both
Health and any Physical
reserve of the Ape.
Tactic
Tactic represents planning
and Mental decisions that
lead into action.
Command
Command represents Social
engagement to guide and
lead fellow Apes
Proposed Dice Mechanics
RISE is built on the idea
of evolution within a game.
This evolution is clear in the
3 Acts and you can use this
as basis for any number of
games of use this on top of
existing games.
Rolling Dice
For Actions roll a dice
pool: You start with 1d6
+ Add as many dice as
your Attribute/Skill score
+ Add one die if your
Action receives an Assist
In Rise of the Apes we
included mechanics that
granted additional dice
from Specials like Sparks,
Bonds and the Strength of
the Group (more on this on p.
14).
Complications are additional obstacles to overcome,
Benefits are advantages that help you in your situation.
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We do, however, have
our own idea which dice
mechanics work really well
with RISE. This section has
our suggestions. Feel free
to use any of them for your
game.
Difficulty
Count all dice with 4+
(4 and above)
1 Die: Success with a
Complication
2 Dice: Success, plain
and simple
3 Dice: Success with a
Benefit
6 6 or 6 6 6 = Great
Benefit
Special
1 1 = Failure with a
Snake
Eyes
Benefit
More Mechanic Options
Our proposed mechanics
for RISE are a variation of
the mechanics of Lasers
and Feelings by John
Harper. But there are other
styles that work well with
this system. Maybe you
prefer playing ...
Blades in the Dark
Style:
You still use six-sided
dice and roll a dice pool just
as before, but you only read
the single highest result.
And of course you still
get to enjoy our snake eyes
rules, because it is always
fun to get something cool
out of a spectacular failure!

Rolling Dice Difficulty

Special
For Actions roll a dice Count only the highest
pool: You start with 1d6 die result Blades

+ Add as many dice as 6: Success! Multiple 6s

your Attribute/Skill score is a Critcal Success

+ Add one die if your 4 + 5: Partical Success

Action receives an Assist with Complications

+ Additional dice from 1 - 3: Failure! Things

Specials like Sparks/Bonds go poorly
Complications are additional obstacles to overcome,
Snakes Eyes + Critical Successes give additional Benefits!

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 Old School Mechanics
Want to go a bit more
Old School? Check out ...
Barbarians of
Lemuria Style:
You only roll 2d6 and add
the numbers together - but
you get to add the points
you have in your Attributes
in Act 1 or Skills in Act 2.
Barbarian Special
Now the big reason we like
Barbarians of Lemuria Style
is, you get to add up to 2
Attributes or Skills to your
2d6 if you can justify why this
makes sense! This is a fun
opportunity for players to
get creative and to get into a
light-hearted argument with
their GM!

Rolling Dice Difficulty

For your Actions you Add everything together:
always roll 2d6 - always! (2d6 + Attribute/Skill + Bonus)

+ Add your Attribute/

9+: Success!
Skill score to the result
Special

+ Add another Attribute/

Barb

3 - 8: Failure!
Skill if you can justify it

+ Add a +1 Bonus from

1 1: Failure + Benfit!
Specials like Sparks/Bonds

In this mechanic style both Players and GM roll dice!

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 Something more Savage
Do you like the idea of a
volatile system that allows
for things to get wild
quickly. Check out ...
Savage Worlds Style:
Again, you (and the GM)
roll 2d6, add the result and
add your Attributes score in
Act 1 or your Skills in Act 2,
success is measured in
increments of 4 for levels of
difficulty:

Rolling Dice Difficulty

For your Actions you
Level 1 (4 - 7) Easy
always roll 2d6 - always!

+ Add your Attribute/

Level 2 (8 - 11) Medium
Skill score to the result

+ Add a +1 Bonus from

Level 3 (12 - 15) Hard
Specials like Sparks/Bonds
Worlds
Special
Savage

Level 4 (16 - 19) Very

6 --> EXPLODE!
Hard Check

Re-roll every 6 you roll + Level 5 (20+) Extremly

count each 6 to your result Hard Check
Add everything together:
1 1: Failure + Benfit!
(2d6 + Attribute/Skill + Bonus)

In this mechanic style both Players and GM roll dice!

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 Opposing Dice Rolls
How about a bidding
mechanic? Check out ...
Dogs in the Vineyard
Style
We suggest you read the
rundown of this mechanic
in D. Vincent Baker’s Dogs
in the Vineyard to get the
full experience.

Special
Dogs
Rolling Dice Bidding
For Actions roll a dice Raise = bid sum of 2 dice
pool: You start with 2d6 + description of action
+ Add as many dice as See = bid to match Raise
your Ability/Skill score + description of reaction
+ Add one die if your Player starts bidding
Action receives an Assist with a Raise
+ Add one die from Rival Sees the bid - then
Specials like Sparks/Bonds rival gets to Raise
GM rolls 4d6 (easy), 5d6 Player Sees rivals bid -
(medium) or 6d6 (hard) then gets to Raise again
Both sides Roll all dice + Continue until one side is
keep them in front of them out of dice to See or Raise
How it goes: State the Goal of your Action, roll your dice
pool and start bidding: Raise with a bid of 2 dice and
describe what you do. Now your rival decribes how they
react and match your bid to See. Then the rival Raises and
describes their action and you See and describe your
reaction. Continue until one side is out of dice or folds.
Discard used dice. To Escalate the situation start over.

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 Act Transitions
When it comes to the
transition between the
individula Acts, there are
various ways you can
accomplish them.
These transitions will help
set the tone of your game,
so think about what you
want to accomplish with
them. We suggest to do Act
Transitions using either:
• Goals or
• Clocks
Goals
Goal as a marker for a
Transition simply means the
Players need to complete a
Goal which will trigger the
Transition. We mentioned
Rise of the Apes already,
and it Act Transitions based
on Goals: escape the Lab;
reach the Bridge. Simple!
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Clocks
Clocks work different. To
create a clock, draw a circle
and devide it in as many
sections as you want:
4, 6 or 8 sections to be
filled in after certain trigger
moments. These could be:
• Player Actions or
Failures
• Interactions with
predefined story
elements
Once a trigger is set off,
color in one section of your
clock and repeat until the
clock is full.
Once the clock is full,
start the next Act.
 Add-Ons & Campaigns
We mentioned Sparks,
Strength and Bonds as
sources for extra dice in
Rise of the Apes. So, what
are they?
Sparks
We call Special Abilities
Sparks to emphasize the
moment of evolution. They
express aspects of each
character. If you include
Special Abilities or Moves
in your game, give them a
fitting name!
Strength & Bonds
We created a Strength
Tracker for Rise of the Apes
to turn the movies mantra
Apes Togethe Strong into
a game mechanic. Apes
gain Strength by numbers
or creating lasting Bonds
with the other Apes. In your
game, this could be Assets.
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Playbooks
Playbooks, pregenerated
Character-Types with Ability
scores and Sparks that give
your Players a direction, are
another idea you could use.
Campaign Play
RISE games set up their
characters in 3 Acts, but you
can play campaigns, too!
Either, you follow the 3
Act structure with all limits:
• Act 1: only Attributes
• Act 2: add Skills
• Act 3: use Attempts &
Resources
Or use the 3 Acts as story
scturcture without limiting
players. Tip: Use Attempts
& Resources only in Act 3 to
give the players an exciting
climax for their story ark!
 Final Words
Go and create!
We hope we inspired you
create something amazing.
Feel free to “steal” ideas
and build amazing worlds
on them!
Fonts
We used a total of 6
different fonts ifor RISE:
Cover: Revolution
Titles: Marker Felt
Body: Avenir Next
6: Dicier - Speak the Sky
Rise of the Apes related:
Planet of Apes
Images
We used modified royalty
free pictures and icons from
Google Fonts.
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Thanks
This is always a special
part in booklets because it
provides a unique peak into
the design process.
I want to thank my family
for letting me spend all this
time on my hobby making
up things for strangers.
They also provide feedback
and their own perspectives
on sensitive topics.
Another thanks goes to
Kade and Ryan who stoicly
let me bombard them with
half-finished texts and half-
baked layout ideas and
who provide invaluable
feedback on mechanics,
design and sensitivity.
And thanks to the great
support from indie creators
worldwide that encouraged
us to create a 2nd Edition.
 2Edit
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rise Give Credit where Credit Is Due

This is our license philisophy and always will be!
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