Tabletop Stories of Kin and Kenterra (Custom World and Dice System!)

[RuneWolffe]

Hello! I've been working on a setting/world and would love to run a game in it! Feel free to ask questions~

Spoiler: World Info

THE WORLD

Kenterra is a ring-shaped continent encircling a calm inner sea. At the center of that sea sits a solitary island where Astriion — the oldest living being in the world, a vast and sentient world-tree — has grown since before memory. Plenty of trade and travel happens across this inner sea. Astriion's island, and the city at his base, serve as a kind of spiritual center: a place Kin travel to from every corner of the world when they need to sit with something old and be quiet for a while.

The world was shaped by the titan Centri the Dreamer, who gave a bare stone to two divine beings — Kenna and her Lifemate Tael — and helped them plant it into the night sky. What grew was Kenterra. Kenna and Tael still tend their world with quiet attentiveness. They do not rule. They are simply present.

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THE THREE CHILDREN

Kenna and Tael have three children — Aront, Xeya, and Roro — born of Kenna's now flouishing womb. They once snuck off to ask Astriion for friends. He obliged, and eight kinds of people flowered from his branches. With life came responsibility: the three children were given the duty of shepherding the souls of the departed.

• Aront (eldest) guides souls from their bodies to Astriion's keeping, walking beside them unhurried. Warm, patient, and present.
• Xeya (middle) records the deeds of every Kin who has ever lived — not merely cataloguing, but genuinely holding each life with care.
• Roro (youngest) judges the departed: weighing what they did against what they were, and what the world asked of them. Fierce, curious, and deeply fair.

All three walk Kenterra quietly. They do not announce themselves. They might be the traveling companion who asks exactly the right question, or the stranger who seems to know too much. Their disciples — Judges, Archivists, and Spirit Guides — have genuine, if sometimes uncomfortable, contact with them.

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THE TITANS

The titans are not separate from Kenterra — they are Kenterra, its own nature given form. Six major titans shape the world:

Titan	Element	Nature
Brunn	Fire	Fierce and principled. Burns out what is corrupt so life can grow again.
Shivre	Water	Nurturing and patient. Her power runs toward healing and sustaining.
Vindes	Wind	Playful and restless. Carries things where they need to go.
Tallia	Earth	Stubborn and proud as mountains. Holds Kenterra together and will not give.
Solra	Solar	Shines on everything equally. No favoritism, only clarity.
Lunre	Lunar	Calm and constant. Always present, even when unseen. (Solra's Lifemate.)

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AETHER & MAGIC

Aether is the living connective tissue of the world — flowing through everything, pooling in old forests and sacred places, thinning in areas of damage. It responds to emotion and intent: the more genuine your feeling and the clearer your purpose, the more powerfully Aether answers. Magic cannot be faked.

Pure Aether cannot harm. It is a force that connects all things and cannot be cleanly turned toward severing that connection. To deal damage, magic must be attuned to a titanic element (Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Solar, or Lunar).

Aether cannot raise the dead. In any form, at any complexity. Only the Darkness Without can animate what has died — and that is a very different thing.

Wellsprings

Every Kin has one of two wellspring types, present from birth:

• Lattice Wellspring (called "Woven") — Aether held in constant ready alignment. Cast on instinct, no preparation needed. Limited by capacity: you gain Aether equal to your Resolve per scene, up to a cap of Resolve + Connection. Each spell costs Aether equal to its complexity (1–5).
• Open Wellspring — Vast but unstructured. Cannot cast on demand; instead, prepare specific spells during rest. Prepared spells have a set number of uses per rest and cost nothing to cast. Always have access to a basic magic projectile.

Magic Categories (The Way of Three)

• Body Magic — Works through the physical self. Elemental attacks, enhancing your own form.
• Mind Magic — Perception, knowledge, and mental influence. Reading situations, projecting impressions.
• Soul Magic — Healing, connection, and the boundary between life and death.

THE DARKNESS WITHOUT

Kenterra has always had a shadow. An ancient, persistent presence pressing against the edges of the world — not evil in the way a cruel person is evil, but purposeful in its aggression against warmth, connection, and life. The creatures it produces carry no aetheric signature: they appear as holes in the living fabric of the world. Kin with Aethersight can feel the wrongness before they understand it.

A Kin who tends the Way of Three — keeping Body, Mind, and Soul in reasonable balance — carries natural resistance to the Darkness's influence. The balance is not just philosophy. It's a practical defense.

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THE THREE REGIONS

Region	Character
Kingdom of Aloran	Temperate forests and mountain borders. An elected Crown, a council that must agree. Deliberate, considered, confident.
Gyoxian Empire	Desert interior rich in Arc deposits. Governed by a council of expert Chairs. Direct, resourceful, and proud of what they've built.
Rhedonan Coalition	Fragmented coastal terrain. Loosely united communities that cooperate out of necessity. Loud, contentious, deeply functional.

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THE KIN

Kin	Summary
Humans	Last-born, most adaptable. Passionate and unpredictable. No fixed strengths — just range.
Aer	Crystal-limbed humanoids whose emotions show involuntarily. Cannot lie; built a culture around it.
Auver	Green/red-skinned, direct and physical. Disputes settled with formal fights, courtship begins the same way.
Orei	Amphibious ritualists. Deliberate, deeply present, community led by elders. Water is sacred.
I'ero	Avian wanderers with sharp eyes and great wings. Live close to the surface, commit completely when they stop.
Dura	Lanky, tough, emotionally expressive but monotone voices. Preface speech with declared emotion. Braid connects all Dura in a low hum.
Hirde	Bestial senses, loyal pack instincts. Difficult to sneak up on. Adoption into the "pack" happens fast and runs deep.
Docchu	Scaled forelimbs, ground sense, low-light vision. Exceptional crafters. Say what they mean and do what they say.

World Lore Document (It's Long)

Spoiler: System Info

⚙THE DICE SYSTEM

The Core Mechanic

Roll a pool of d8s equal to your relevant Trait + Skill. Every die showing 5 or higher counts as one success. Compare total successes to a Target Number (TN) set by the GM.

Result	Outcome
Miss (under TN)	Fail Forward — the action fails, but the scene continues.
Hit (equal to or above TN)	Success — the action works.
Crit (3+ above TN)	Absolute Success — something goes better than expected.

A dice pool of 0 or less cannot be attempted.

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TRAITS

Six traits, organized by Body / Mind / Soul (the Way of Three). Each point adds +1 die to applicable rolls. Start with 1 in each trait + 5 points to spend. Maximum of 3 at creation.

Category	Trait	What It Covers
BODY	Vigor	Strength, endurance, toughness
BODY	Finesse	Coordination, precision, grace
MIND	Wit	Perception, cleverness, instinct
MIND	Resolve	Willpower, focus, emotional grounding
SOUL	Presence	Charisma, empathy, leadership
SOUL	Connection	Resonance with Aether and living things

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SKILLS

Sixteen skills covering everything from Combat and Stealth to Weaving (magic), Arctek, Performance, and Animal Handling. Each point adds +1 die. Start with 9 points; only one skill may begin at rank 3.
At ranks 3, 5, and 7 you may purchase a Specialty — a focused sub-skill adding +1 per level to applicable checks.
Skill Ranks: Unlearned → Amateur → Practiced → Professional → Expert → Master → Grandmaster → Legendary

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COMBAT

Core Stats

Stat	Formula
HP	10 + [Vigor + Resolve + Presence]
Defense TN	[Finesse or Wit] + [Tactics or Intuition]
Mental Defense TN	[Resolve or Connection] + Discipline
Aether Cap	Resolve + Connection
Magic Armor	1 + [Connection + Discipline]

Each Turn You May:

• Move — Change one range band
• Attack — Make a weapon or magic attack
• Action — Use an ability, interact with the environment, help an ally

You may forgo your Move to gain a second Attack or Action. Dual Strike consumes both Attack and Action, leaving only the Move.

Range Bands

Rather than precise distances, Kenterra uses five bands:Adjacent → Close → Near → Far → Distant
Movement covers one band per turn. Most melee operates at Close.

Attack Formulas

Type	Formula
Melee	Vigor or Finesse + Combat
Ranged	Wit or Finesse + Accuracy
Melee Magic	Weaving + Connection + Combat
Ranged Magic	Weaving + Connection + Accuracy

Magic attacks require a successful casting roll first. A failed casting roll costs nothing — no Aether spent, no spell use marked.

Damage

• Physical: Weapon Size + Attack Trait + Excess Successes − Armor (min 1)
• Basic Magic: 1 + Weaving + Excess Successes − Magic Armor (min 1)
• Spell: Spell Damage + Weaving + Excess Successes − Magic Armor (min 1)

Weapon Sizes: Small (3) / Medium (4) / Large (5)

SRD and Character Creation

A QUICK NOTE ON TONE

The Kin are not at war with each other; they move through each other's spaces with genuine ease. The darkness exists and it presses, but the world is fundamentally worth living in -- full of history, culture, magic, and people trying to figure out what to do with each other. Characters can find beauty, tension, comedy, grief, and wonder here, often in the same afternoon. Some Kin exist in the wrong -- bandits and crime do still occur -- but in general, it is heavy on idealism and optimism.

The system, especially chosen paths, are still WIP and may need adjustment. New Chosen Paths, as well as abilities purchased with XP, are able to be made by the player and approved by the GM