Saga Machine is the flexible roleplaying game engine used by our Shadows Over Sol, Against the Dark Yogi, Dime Adventures and Age of Ambition game lines, as well as our upcoming games.
Unlock endless possibilities! Whether you’re dreaming of gritty noir mysteries, epic fantasy adventures, sci-fi space operas or post-apocalyptic survival, Saga Machine is your ultimate toolkit—with flexible mechanics that adapt to any genre, any setting and any story you wish to tell. The adventure is yours to craft—so what will you create next?
At its heart, Saga Machine consists of eight basic stats and two central mechanics, appropriately called the action mechanic and the consequence mechanic.
From there, the core is supported by numerous subsystems, each tailored to the specific genre and themes of the game in question. For example, Shadows Over Sol comes with both engineering and hacking systems, as befits as science fiction game, while Against the Dark Yogi has a system for channeling cosmic energies and Age of Ambition has systems for both inventing and climbing the social ladder.
“Love the Saga Machine system... Going to adapt the system to other RPGs!” James C., DriveThruRPG
Get into the action faster! Saga Machine's streamlined character creation system lets you craft dynamic, fully-realized characters in no time. Just allocate your points to your stats, skills and traits, and you're ready to dive into the adventure. Quick to build, easy to customize and robust enough to support any genre—Saga Machine puts the focus where it belongs: on having fun at the gaming table!
Saga Machine offers two great ways to play: either using a few ten-sided dice (d10’s) or a deck of playing cards!
Action resolution is quick and straightforward. Just roll a die, add the relevant stat and compare this total to a target number—the higher the better! If your character has a relevant skill, you can add that too. This easy-to-grasp mechanic forms the building blocks of everything from combat, to spaceship battles, to chases and social challenges.
Finneus is trying to lift a heavy piece of rebar, which has pinned one of his companions. The GM calls for a Strength test of average difficulty (TN 10). Finneus has Strength 7. He rolls a d10, getting a 5. Adding these two values together gives him a total of 12. The action is a success and he lifts the rebar, allowing his companion to escape.
Sometimes it might be necessary to figure out how successful or how much of a failure an action was. To do this, simply take the difference between the target number and the total.
While attempting to track a suspect, Milos makes a Perception (TN 10) test, getting a total of 13. Since the target number was 10, he achieved a success with Margin 3.
Circumstances can make some tests easier or harder. Positive circumstances may grant one or more boons (⊕), while negative circumstances impose one or more banes (⊖). For each of these, roll an extra d10 when resolving an action.
Boons allow you to use the higher of the die values to determine your total. They also allow you to make pairs (see below). Banes, on the other hand, force you to use the lower of the die values. You also run the risk of critical failure if you get two or more 1’s when making a test with a bane.
If a test has both boons and banes, each boon cancels out a bane and vice versa.
Mylia is attempting to decipher particularly convoluted computer code, and the GM has awarded her a ⊕ due to an earlier attempt. Because of this boon, she rolls an extra d10, getting a 4 and an 8. Since she has a ⊕, she uses the higher of the two values to resolve the action: the 8.
If multiple dice are rolled due to boons and have matching values, you may choose to add the values of two of the matching dice together. This is called a pair.
Dado is attempting to intimidate a hostile gang and benefits from a ⊕ due to his allies outnumbering the enemy. He rolls an 8 and an 8. Because these values match, he may add their values together to get a total of 16!
Using a deck of playing cards to resolve actions should be familiar to fans of earlier editions. It works much like the dice mechanic, only each player gets a hand of cards. Cards are played in lieu of dice, either from hand or from the top of the deck.
Ace through 10 are worth the value printed on the card. Face cards (jack, queen and king) are worth 4, 5 and 6, respectively. Any time a joker is used to resolve an action, the result is a critical failure. That means the GM gets to declare that something extra bad happens. Afterwards, draw cards until you have a full hand.
Mylia has snuck into a corporate office, where she is attempting to use the computer systems. The GM calls for an Intelligence (TN 12) test. Mylia has Intelligence 6, plus her Academics (Computers) 3 skill. She flips a card off of the top of the deck, revealing 8♣. Adding these together, she gets a total of 17: a success! With practiced skill, she accesses the encrypted network.
The second central system in Saga Machine is the consequence mechanic. Consequences are Saga Machine's way of representing lasting effects in the system. These effects can be placed on either characters, objects or the scene itself. For example, tripping another character may result in a “prone” consequence for the target, setting a forest on fire results in an “on fire” consequence for that forest, etc.
Consequences come in two parts: an effect and a duration. This tells what the consequence does and how long it lasts, respectively. Consequences may apply modifiers to actions, deal ongoing damage, restrive movement or have other lasting effects.
Saga Machine is designed with the game master in mind, making it easier than ever to create and run engaging adventures. With streamlined systems for planning combats, presenting dynamic villains and supporting campaigns across a wide range of power levels, you’ll spend less time on bookkeeping and more time crafting epic stories. The system gives you everything you need to focus on what matters most: your players and the unforgettable games you create together!
Game: Shadows Over Sol
Geneline: Athlete Deluxe
Subculture: Entro
| Str | Dex | Spd | End | Int | Per | Chr | Det |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
Skills: Athletics 3, Awareness 3, Conspiracy 2, Crafts 2, Medic 1, Melee 2, Naturalist 3, Stealth 2
Game: Against the Dark Yogi
Paths: Archer / Raja
| Str | Dex | Spd | End | Int | Per | Chr | Det |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 6 |
Skills: Animals 1, Archery 3, Awareness 2, Crafts 1, Lore 3, Socialize 1
Traits: Air of Authority, Constructive Archery, Quick Reload, Status & Power
Most existing versions of Saga Machine are available for use by third parties under the Open Game License (OGL 1.0a). Future versions will be available under the ORC license. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to reach out to us using our contact form.
To the right (or below if you're viewing this on mobile) we have linked a high resolution version of the Powered By Saga Machine logo. To make legal use of the logo, you must include the following text:
Saga Machine™ is a trademark of Tab Creations, LLC. The Powered by Saga Machine logo is © Tab Creations, LLC and is used with permission.
Below is a quick look at the Saga Machine games released by Tab Creations, as well as several upcoming games that we still have in the works.
Against the Dark Yogi is a game heavily inspired by Vedic, and later Indian, myths. Taking place in the fantasy world of Bhurloka, the great Subcontinent stands at the precipice of disaster. In the east a sinister figure—the Dark Yogi—has risen to power. It is whispered that his forbidden sutra gives him the power to directly attack dharma, the very order of the universe, itself.
Tales of countless adventures in Bhurloka await the telling. Befriend the monkey-people, the vanaras. Face down the cruel rakshasa Ravema in his island fortress. Climb Mount Niru and visit the gods themselves. Treat with the naga tribes deep in the underworld, Patala. And much, much more!
Shadows Over Sol is a science fiction horror game, taking place in a hard sci-fi vision of our own solar system.
Two hundred years from now what should be the shining beacon of the future is instead cloaked in conspiracy and horror. Humankind has expanded throughout the solar system, and there discovered mysteries older than humanity. The culture has shattered into myriad subcultures; nation-states are the hollow shells of what they once were. Corporations and other groups wage small-scale wars in the streets or in space. Bioengineered horrors left over from these conflicts stalk the hulls of ruined stations and abandoned colonies. But for an enterprising team willing to brave the horrors, there’s always a profit to be made.
Dime Adventures is a pulp alternate history roleplaying game with over-the-top action and paranormal strangeness!
The year is 1904, but in a world that never was! Dinosaurs still roam forgotten corners of the land. Alien influences operate from the skies. Mystics wield ancient powers, while strange new sciences promise to change the world. The dead rise from the grave. All the while, modern movements sweep the globe, and bold explorers venture deep into the unknown or delve into forgotten ruins. The world is ripe for adventure!
Age of Ambition is a fantasy roleplaying game set in a world rapidly leaving the traditional fantasy milieu behind, where magical and technological advancements are challenging the long-standing social order, and where the heroes help guide the world into a brave new era of promise or peril. So strap on your breastplate and pick up your pistol. There are discoveries to make, wrongs to right, tyrants to overthrow and new social orders to trial.
Masked Metropolis is a game of superheroic action in a world recovering from the aftermath of superhuman confrontation.
Several years ago the Showdown resulted in a climactic battle between numerous superheroes and supervillains, leaving many established names missing or out of commission. But crime never stops and time moves on. The world is in need of new heroes to step up, take back the streets and protect the Earth.
Nexus Endtime is an apocalyptic game set across numerous worlds, rife with conspiracies and the struggle to save reality as we know it.
The end of the world has passed. The world you knew was consumed by the Devourer. It was not just your world, but countless others. And you are your world's last lingering hope. Welcome to the End of All Worlds. From here the Retributers wage their ongoing struggle against the Devourer, its agents and its spawn, jumping between timelines and worlds. But another shadowy organization, the Preventers, stand in way, blaming the Retributers for the apocalypse. Can you avoid Oblivion?
Tab Creations
