Glossary and Licensing

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Glossary

The terms below are used in this book. Entries are alphabetical; the chapter in parentheses holds the full rule or description. The Exodus NDS Core Rules glossary covers the core terms in more depth.

• Ability Die — A positive d8. The base positive die of a pool before upgrades (Chapter Thirteen).

• Action — The main thing a character does on a turn in structured play: an attack, a skill used under pressure, or a complex interaction. One per turn (Chapter Fourteen).

• Active Channel — The number of checks an AI Core can assist at once; each channel assists one check per round in structured play (Chapter Ten).

• AI Core — A ship's or device's directive AI hardware, rated by tier: Basic Automation (0 Active Channels), Civilian (1), Professional (2), Advanced (3), and Military (4). Basic Automation gives no AI assistance (Chapter Ten).

• Approach — A system's distance from its seam arc to its inner worlds: Close, Standard, or Far. It sets how many Intervals a ship needs to dock (Chapter Ten).

• Armor (ship) — A ship stat subtracted from incoming Hull Damage, less the weapon's Pierce. It never reduces System Damage (Chapters Eleven and Fourteen). Personal armor instead adds to Resistance (Chapter Nine).

• Assisted Check — A check where up to two helpers each add a Boon Die, or an Ability Die when the helper has more ranks; at most one Ability Die (Chapter Thirteen).

• Availability — Where an item is sold: Common, Uncommon, Rare, (R) Restricted, or (I) Illegal (Chapter Nine).

• Background — Where a character came from. With Career, it sets the profession skills (Chapters Three and Six).

• Bane — A negative secondary symbol. Cancels a Boon; net Banes are complications the GM applies (Chapter Thirteen).

• Bane Die — A negative d6 added for unfavorable circumstances (Chapter Thirteen).

• Basic Automation — The lowest AI Core tier. Runs routine automated functions only and gives no AI-assisted checks. The Model 20 and KR-41 carry it (Chapter Ten).

• Boon — A positive secondary symbol. Cancels a Bane; net Boons buy benefits the player proposes. One spare Boon always recovers 1 Strain (Chapter Thirteen).

• Boon Die — A positive d6 added for favorable circumstances, gear, talents, or help (Chapter Thirteen).

• Breakthrough — An exceptional positive result. Adds one Success, and its special effect triggers whether the check succeeds or fails (Chapter Thirteen).

• Builder — The shipwright that made a hull: Crown Meridian, Openframe, Viridian, Kharos, or Safa (Chapter Eleven).

• Builder relationship — How easily two builders' components combine: Partner, Open, Rival, or Forbidden. Harder pairings add Bane Dice to installation (Chapter Eleven).

• Calamity — An exceptional negative result. Adds one Failure, and its special effect triggers whether the check succeeds or fails (Chapter Thirteen).

• Captain — The crew role outside the six stations. The captain may use Direct Focus, a Quick Action that gives one crew member 1 Boon Die on their next check that round (Chapters Eleven and Fourteen).

• Career — What a character does on a crew. With Background, it sets the profession skills (Chapters Three and Six).

• Cargo Unit — A measure of secured hold space: about one tonne of ordinary packaged freight (Chapter Eleven).

• Catch Breath — A Maneuver, once per encounter, that recovers 1 Strain (Chapter Fourteen). Also a universal talent that raises it to 2.

• Check — Any roll made to resolve an uncertain action. A Trial Die is one of the dice in a check, not the check itself (Chapter Thirteen).

• Choose One talent — A talent that may be bought again, each time for a different choice (Chapter Eight).

• Class — A ship's role and size in plain language: fighter, shuttle, courier, cutter, corvette, frigate, and so on (Chapter Eleven).

• Cloaking — Antaean League stealth technology, licensed and tracked. Ship-scale cloaking is not fitted to ordinary civilian ships (Chapter Ten).

• Conditions — Ongoing states such as Staggered, Disoriented, Prone, or Bleeding. They do not stack (Chapter Fourteen).

• Continuity stack — A Shoiyan implant whose memory crystal, the cube, records a person's neural pattern for restoration into a clone (Chapter Ten).

• Corridor class — How spacers rank Slipstream routes: Thread, Lane, Spine, Grand Channel, and Fracture (Chapter Four).

• Cost band — A price range set against wages: Starter (under 100cr), Modest (100 to 1,000cr), Serious (1,000 to 10,000cr), and Aspirational (10,000cr and up) (Chapter Nine).

• Crisis Die — A negative d12; an upgraded Trial Die. Carries the Calamity face (Chapter Thirteen).

• Crit — A weapon's Critical rating: the net Boons that must be spent on a hit to inflict a Critical Injury or, for a ship weapon, a Critical Hit. A Breakthrough can be spent instead (Chapters Nine and Fourteen).

• Critical Hit — A serious damaging event on a ship, rolled on the vehicle Critical Hit table (Chapters Eight and Fourteen).

• Critical Injury — A lasting injury to a character, rolled on d100 with +10 for each existing Critical Injury, and removed by medical treatment (Chapter Fourteen).

• Cruise — A ship's in-system travel rating, 1 to 5. It sets how long one Interval takes (Chapters Ten and Eleven).

• Damage type — The kind of harm a weapon deals: Ballistic, Beam, Plasma, Disruption, Gravitic, Blast, Fire, Cutting, Thrusting, or Crushing. It matters only against armor that names it (Chapter Nine).

• Defense — Melee Defense and Ranged Defense add 1 Bane Die per point to attacks against you. A ship's Defense is listed Fore and Aft (Chapters Eleven and Fourteen).

• Deflection Screens — A ship defense that subtracts its Damage Reduction from Beam and Plasma damage; each absorbed hit adds Heat (Chapters Eight and Fourteen).

• Difficulty — The negative dice set for a check: Simple, Easy, Average, Hard, Severe, or Extreme (Chapter Thirteen).

• Directive intelligence — Software that pursues assigned goals within a defined area and does not set its own. Nearly all AI in known space (Chapter Ten).

• Directive Package — An installed AI module covering one area of work, such as Navigation or Medical. An AI assists only tasks its packages cover (Chapter Ten).

• Downgrade — Turn a Mastery Die into an Ability Die, or a Crisis Die into a Trial Die (Chapter Thirteen).

• Electronic Access — The Tier 1 talent required for any unauthorized intrusion into a secured system (Chapter Eight).

• Elite and Minion — Adversary types with no Strain Points; Strain they would suffer becomes Wounds (Chapter Fourteen).

• Fitted — Made for a species' body plan. Unfitted suits and armor add a Bane Die to prolonged physical checks (Chapter Nine).

• Fortune Point — The players' Story Point. Upgrades one Ability Die before a roll, adds a Breakthrough effect, or adds a favorable detail; then it flips to the GM (Chapter Thirteen).

• Freeport — A port in a legal gray area that serves everyone and pledges to no one (Chapter Four).

• Fringe — Any region where the nearest authority's ships, laws, and nav beacons are too far away to matter most of the time (Chapter Four).

• Full rest — A night's rest or equivalent. Recovers all Strain and Wounds equal to Might (Chapter Fourteen).

• Gravity bands — Microgravity, Low, Normal, Elevated, High, and Extreme. Bands other than Normal change physical checks and movement (Chapter Ten).

• Growth and Greater Growth — The talents that raise a characteristic after creation. In Void Drifters they are Tier 1 and Tier 2 (Chapter Eight).

• Handling — A ship stat that adds Boon Dice (positive) or Bane Dice (negative) to Pilot checks and to Gunnery checks with fixed weapons (Chapter Eleven).

• Hard Burn — Treating a ship's Cruise as one higher for one leg, at the cost of extra fuel (half a Nearby jump charge, paid in credits) and an engine check (Chapter Ten).

• Heat — A ship's accumulated thermal stress. The ship removes Heat equal to its Heat Dissipation each round; at or above its Heat Threshold, penalties escalate (Chapter Eleven).

• Helm Actions — The pilot's station actions, such as Advance, Break, Hard Turn, Evasive Maneuver, and Disengage (Chapters Eight and Fourteen).

• Hull Points — A ship's structural integrity. Hull Damage counts up; when it reaches Hull Points, the ship is disabled (Chapter Eleven).

• Incapacitated — Out of the fight because Wounds have reached Wound Points or Strain has reached Strain Points (Chapter Fourteen).

• Initiative — The check that sets turn order: Savvy + Perception when on watch, Willpower + Readiness when surprised (Chapter Fourteen).

• Integrated Architecture — The bonus state of a ship whose hull and at least 10 of its 13 major systems come from one builder (Chapter Eleven).

• Interval — The unit of in-system travel time. A ship's Cruise sets its length, from 1 to 24 hours (Chapter Ten).

• Jaziri Intelligence — The only confirmed artificial general intelligence in known space, associated with the Jaziri Caliphate. Not for sale (Chapter Ten).

• Languages — Every character speaks Standard. Each major power keeps an official language: Irnan, Funtari, Shoiyan, Jaziri, and Antaean (Chapters Three and Four).

• Leg — One move between adjacent Travel Bands (Chapter Ten).

• Localized anti-gravity — Funtari hover technology, sold commercially as skids, vehicles, and hoverboots; the military version includes hover suits (Chapter Ten).

• Lock — The targeting confirmation an Irnan teleporter needs before it fires (Chapter Ten).

• Major powers — The Irnan Directorate, Funtari Confederacy, Shoiyan Concord, Jaziri Caliphate, and Antaean League (Chapters Four and Twelve).

• Maneuver — A minor activity on a turn. The first is free; a second costs your Action or 2 Strain (Chapter Fourteen).

• Mastery Die — A positive d12; an upgraded Ability Die. Carries the Breakthrough face (Chapter Thirteen).

• Meridian Verge — The neutral treaty zone where the Directorate, Confederacy, and Caliphate borders meet, administered from Port Meridian by the Port Meridian Authority. The default starting region (Chapter Four).

• Meridic — Raised in the Meridian Verge; people who consider themselves Meridic first (Chapters Four and Five).

• Mixed-builder ship — A ship carrying major systems from more than one builder. Most player ships are (Chapter Eleven).

• Model — A builder's structural family of hulls, such as the Model 20 or CM-440. Each starting model has a Model Trait (Chapter Eleven).

• Module Slot — Capacity for an optional installation beyond a ship's core systems (Chapter Eleven).

• Navigation Suite — The ship system that runs Slipstream and navigation work (Chapters Eight and Ten).

• Offset exit — Leaving a Slipstream corridor away from the expected seam arc. Needs an Astrogation check (Chapter Ten).

• Opposed Check — A check where two characters roll against each other with no Trial Dice for the opposition; more net Successes wins (Chapter Thirteen).

• Out-of-profession skill — A skill on neither your Background nor your Career list; it costs 5 XP more per rank (Chapter Three).

• Peril Point — The GM's Story Point. Upgrades one Trial Die, adds a Calamity effect, or adds a complication; then it flips to the players (Chapter Thirteen).

• Phase drive — The drive that takes a ship into Slipspace; also called a Slipstream drive (Chapter Ten).

• Phased Relay Network — The Relay: fixed stations that pass messages hop by hop along the corridors, faster than any ship (Chapters Four and Ten).

• Platform transit — Irnan teleportation between fixed platforms on core worlds. Needs no check (Chapter Ten).

• Pool — The dice rolled for a check: the positive dice from characteristic and skill plus the difficulty and situational dice (Chapter Thirteen).

• Port Meridian — The neutral port, treaty courts, and legal gateway of the Meridian Verge (Chapters Four and Twelve).

• Power Capacity — The most Power Load a ship can sustain. Active high-output systems add Power Load (Chapter Eleven).

• Profession kit — The tools a character's career provides at creation (Chapter Nine).

• Profession skill — A skill on your Background or Career list. It costs less XP (Chapter Three).

• Prolonged — A check made after one hour or more of continuous wear or operation (Chapter Nine).

• Quality — A special rule on a weapon or armor. Passive qualities always apply; active ones cost 2 Boons (Chapter Nine).

• Quick Action — A momentary activity, such as a short phrase or dropping an item, that costs nothing and needs no check (Chapter Fourteen).

• Range bands — Engaged, Short, Medium, Long, and Extreme. Ship combat adds Extra Long between Long and Extreme (Chapter Fourteen).

• Ranked talent — A talent that may be bought more than once, stacking as written (Chapter Eight).

• Resistance — Half Might, rounded up, plus armor. Subtracted from damage before it becomes Wounds (Chapters Three and Fourteen).

• Scale — A ship's size category, 1 to 10. Player crews almost always fly Scale 3 or 4 (Chapter Eleven).

• Seam — The place where a Slipstream corridor can be entered or left; usable seams form in the outer system, the seam arc. A fading seam is becoming less reliable (Chapter Ten).

• Signature systems — The systems a builder does best; its weak systems are those it does worst (Chapter Eleven).

• Slipspace — The compressed transit layer ships cross between stars, along natural channels called Slipstream corridors (Chapter Ten).

• Speed — A ship's maneuvering rating in chases and combat (Chapter Eleven).

• Standard — The trade tongue of the Meridian Verge and most interstellar commerce. Every player character speaks and reads it (Chapters Three and Four).

• Station — A ship crew position: Helm, Gunnery, Engineering, Sensors and Comms, Astrogation, or Medical and Support. You take one action at your declared station each round (Chapters Eleven and Fourteen).

• Story Points — Fortune and Peril Points. Each session starts with 1 Fortune Point per player and 1 Peril Point for the GM; one per check (Chapter Thirteen).

• Strain — Exertion, stress, and shock, counted up toward your Strain Points (10 + Willpower) (Chapter Fourteen).

• Supply Unit — The Vehicles Manual's measure of a ship's fuel and consumables (Chapters Eight and Ten).

• System Points — A ship's operational capacity. System Damage counts up, also against named systems; when it reaches System Points, the ship loses control (Chapter Eleven).

• Tier — A talent's level, 1 to 5. It sets the XP cost, 5 XP per tier. Characters start with Tier 1 and Tier 2 talents only (Chapter Eight).

• Travel Band — A ship's position inside a system, measured from its destination: Extreme, Long, Medium, Short, and Engaged (Chapter Ten).

• Trial Die — A negative d8. The base die of difficulty (Chapter Thirteen).

• Unlocked Core — A directive AI with its guardrails stripped; also a cut Core, or "running open." Illegal in every major power (Chapter Ten).

• Upgrade — Turn an Ability Die into a Mastery Die, or a Trial Die into a Crisis Die (Chapter Thirteen).

• Vehicle Sheet — The record of a ship's stats and fittings, including its variant (Chapter Eleven).

• Weapon Hardpoint — A ship's capacity to mount a weapon (Chapter Eleven).

• Wounds — Physical injury, counted up toward your Wound Points (10 + Might) (Chapter Fourteen).

• Zero-point teleportation — Irnan wormhole transit for a person or object, never a ship (Chapter Ten).

Index

Chapter numbers point to the main treatment of each topic.