A⁷ : A Roleplaying Game About Complexity and Emergence

A⁷ Player's Handbook Preview

Explore 12 high-resolution pages from the A⁷ Player's Handbook, including full-resolution PDFs so you can examine the artwork and details up close.

All writing and artwork are human-created. No generative AI was used.

https://read.alfhe.im/a7/preview/

Late pledges are closing soon.

A note on delivery: Following a loss in the family, Sylvan had to take time away from the project earlier this year, delaying delivery of the books. We are now close to release, and we're incredibly grateful for all the support and love we've received. It's meant a great deal.

What are you? You are a Protean, a Pro for short.

Protean :- displaying great diversity or variety : versatile

You're going to need that versatility, because things are going to get weird.

What is A⁷...? 

A⁷ is a modular, configurable RPG system based on the world of Aten7, and is designed to be playable in a variety of ways that suit players and their needs. That way, you can interact with the world and lore in a way that suits you, which is often different at different times.

The TTRPG game system is being given away for free under a non-commercial license, it is built for the love of the craft and an attempt to build something that can do some good along the way. So if you're into this kind of thing, have fun, build your own stuff and get lost in the lore.

The game system

The overall system runs the usual way with rulebooks, dice, a module to play, and some friends. The game is GM driven, with players building up their characters through levels, skills, relationships and possessions. As a framework the play is similar to D&D, sessions can be short or very long, depending on the module size. The world has been designed to be highly complex and rich, but the gameplay itself is adaptable so it can be played fast and loose (easy to follow, quick rounds) or play more detail when needed. 

The entire system and the world it is based in, is the work of a single author (Sylvan), and has been in production since 2018 (primarily world-building, game system dev from 2021).  It is very much a labour of love and a bit of an exploration of 'what could possibly happen' in 100 years time, heavy on the hard science, a lot of integrated STEM .. basically a game for nerds.

It has been written entirely from the ground up to suit the world and play style, the mechanics are not based on existing systems such as D&D (although there is some familiarity). It uses a variety of d10 rolls for encounters and checks, with everything based on Si units, so things like probability and damage follow a physics-based path. 

The attribute system, along with other parts of A⁷ has an LOD system, numbers of attributes change according to needs. Attributes form three main groups, Physical, Mental and Interface. These break down into 9 base attributes, which can further break into 18 if that's your jam. Most of the time most players would stick to 3 or 9 so it's easy to follow.

As a player, you are a Protean, a freelancer, and your life is one chasing Story, a life of interesting times. So you take on jobs, any job, looking for adventure and a decent paycheck. This means there are no character classes. 

Gameplay is very story driven and big on solving puzzles, mysteries and figuring stuff out.

Classes are emergent, as are many of the skills, more about this to be revealed.

Adventure modules are designed to be diverse to keep things lively, our first intro module is investigating what happens after an attack on Aten7, our second module has a distinctly 'dungeon crawl' vibe to it, while the third in production deals with a hive cult.

Modularity

A⁷ is also modular in nature, it has a number of features that are optional, this is so the core game experience can be adjusted to suit a group's goals or mood, sometimes we want to play light and fun, sometimes we want something a bit heavier, the modular nature of the system allows you to pick and play that which suits you.

We will go over some of these modular components over the project, we think they're pretty innovative and fun!

STEM Things

A⁷ is built on real science, not as homework, but as world logic. The setting, technology and game systems follow consistent physics, biology and engineering principles, so you end up absorbing STEM simply by playing.

You don’t need to know any science to enjoy the game. But if you are a nerd, you’ll notice the details: SI-based mechanics, believable tech, biomimetic design, and systems that reward critical thinking. It’s “learning without learning"; you pick things up naturally because the world makes sense.

Lore

Aten7 is a complicated place; nobody really understands what is fully going on, anyone who says they do is either lying or deluded. Much has changed in the last 100 years, after the profound upheaval that came mid-century.

If you would like a proper introduction to the world story, you can read the 'Prehistory Intro', published in 2021 as an early teaser of the world of Aten7 - or if you prefer something pretty and interactive (but shorter), do check out our Aten7 website.

Humans have run full gamut in their diaspora of morphology, from the untouched New Puritans and Luddies, to the Hu3s (Hueys) with their Clades.. We've never been more diverse - and divided.

The world and story focus on themes of complexity, emergence, biomimetics, humanity living with non-human intelligence, AR LARPing, synthetic life, super intelligence, hive minds, crazy weapons, tech nouveau art, fashionistas, and generally being ridiculous.

If you're looking for a style reference (not quality), you could say it's a bit like the weird baby of Iain M. Banks, Douglas Adams, and Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Aten7 is a core part of the players world and at the heart of the greater story that plays out over time.

A few lore notes :

• 26 Clades (genetically divergent lines of humans)
• 31 Phyles (social group and clans)
• 49 Unique creatures (and counting)
• 100 years of tech progress mapped to societal outcomes
• 113 core skills
• 12 AR LarP games (more to reveal later)
• 11 Unique weapons (not seen elsewhere)

Books and such...

There are a number of books and gear that will be available for Players and GMs, we have the 

• Player's Handbook - A comprehensive guidebook for players, 176 pages.
• GM Guide - A comprehensive guidebook for game masters, 258 pages.
• Encyclopaedia - A detailed world guide, currently over 400 pages.
• Menagerie - A type of 'monster manual', currently 117 pages.

The Player's Guide and GM Guide are available to backers based on your tier, these come in either the Deluxe PDF with extra artwork, the Standard Hardcover, or the Luxury Hardcover.

Luxury Hardcovers

Note : The Encyclopaedia and Menagerie ARE NOT AVAILABLE IN THIS PROJECT, they are not due to be available until May 2026, we will be running those in a separate project closer to the date. We are mentioning them here so you can understand the full scope of the work and look forward to sharing those with you. They will be free in the same way as the Player's Guide and GM Guide in PDF format.

We also have a number of other lovely items available to backers, including Handmade Exclusive Luxury Dice, Large GM Screen, Art Prints and Artbook. 

Please note the guide books are effectively complete apart from layout and some artwork additions, the Encyclopaedia and Menagerie are ongoing works that will have more additions prior to release.

Standard Hardcovers

Note that Luxury editions are being test printed early as we think it needs a physical preview to do it justice, they have foil stamping and textured covers.. fancy!

Stretch Goals

We only have one stretch goal, if we reach £30k we will be adding a phone/tablet app that has an toolkit and helpers for the game system, this will also be free for use.

Note : We have since decided to do this anyway and are about 70% complete on first beta release of the app

From The Author

The first time I read 'Fighting Fantasy 6 : Deathtrap Dungeon' as a kid, you could say I've been fairly obsessed with roleplaying games. After 'a bit of time' playing various TTRPGs over the years, from D&D, Cyberpunk and Shadowrun to Starfinder and Daggerheart, I wanted to pull together all the things I loved most into a new game system, and build a world to explore with it.

Although I have written the world and game system, we have a fantastic small team of artists working on the CRPG and illustrating the TTRPG books, all from AAA video game production and film, thanks everyone!🖖

-Sylvan

NO AI INPUT

To be very clear, there is no AI used in any creative output for the world and game system; I've put an enormous amount of personal time and love into this, and it's important to me that this work is recognised as such, because I believe putting in the hard yards is essential (and very rewarding).

In the spirit of no AI, here is some of the WIP cover art for the GM guide from Tano

Overview of game mechanics features..

This is one of the in game characters from the video game version of A⁷ - called A⁷ : Gateway Gurdians 

How A⁷ Works

We have two main areas to cover for a bit of detail - Event Resolution and Character Stats

There are obviously a number of other elements to the game system, but this should give you a good idea of what works on the 'decisions and bookkeeping' side of things. The system is there to provide a basis for narrative and growth, both in your characters and yourself.

There is an Appendix at the end for some lore and story info that is relevant.

Event Resolution

Order and Chaos

The A⁷ game system, like the world of Aten7, is based around the idea that all things, including life and complexity, emerge from the boundary of order and chaos.

You play mainly with two d10 dice, each one representing order and chaos as well the rolled number. You can use our lovely custom dice, or any dice that are different, as long as you remember which is which, that's all that matters.

Players and GMs use the dice to roll for percentile probabilities, and order vs chaos rolls. We call those 'flux rolls'.

All events in A⁷are resolved the same way, through percentile rolls. Attributes, skills and abilities all affect the outcome in differing ways. We start at a predefined probability, usually 50%, Attributes modify that, as do Abilities sometimes, then one or more rolls are cast, based on Skill level.

Character Stats

A⁷ is built as a single, consistent system that can be played at different levels of detail depending on the group, the situation, and the style of play you prefer.

The important point is that these are not different rule systems. They are different resolutions of the same underlying mechanics. You can keep things simple, or you can zoom in where it matters, without changing how the game fundamentally works.

Levels of Detail (LOD)

A⁷ uses a Level of Detail (LOD) approach across the entire ruleset. 

In practical terms, this means that most systems can be used in a simpler or more detailed form, and both remain compatible with each other. The goal is to focus attention and effort where it actually matters to the story and the gameplay.

For example:

• Attributes can be used as a small set of broad values, or broken down into more detailed components.
• Damage can be handled as simple hit points, or expanded into damage types and subsystem effects.
• Action resolution can be handled in large time chunks, or at much finer resolution.

You can choose the level of detail that fits your table, stick with it, or adjust dynamically as play demands. Everything fits under the same underlying system, so you don’t lose coherence when you change focus.

It's important to remember that at the lowest LOD, gameplay is quite simple and easy to pick up, or run a light, story heavy session. But some people also like a bit of crunch, for many reasons, experience, personal preference and play reasons.

As tabletop players we often adapt rules to suit our style. A⁷ is designed to be a simple, robust and flexible backbone, that allows for GM and player choice to create more dynamic play sessions.

The point is that play should be about 'the fun you had along the way', and everyone has their own idea of fun. 

Attributes, Skills, and Abilities

Everything in A⁷ starts with attributes.

We will go over attributes here in more detail, and then Skills and Abilities as more of an overview.

Attributes are numerical values that describe what an entity is capable of. They are deliberately broad, because they are meant to apply to anything that can act or be acted upon. 

It could be a human, augmented human, hyper-intelligent cephalopod, hive mind robotic construction swarm, one of Takeshi's Cats, programmable slime mould, the Agent in your Crabby Legman, it's all the same.

Attributes are grouped into three domains:

• Physical
• Cognitive
• Interaction

Attributes define capability and limits. They also influence how quickly skills can be acquired and how effective certain modifications or enhancements can be.

There are three Core attributes, each of which is split into three attributes that are more detailed versions of the three main ones, making nine Main attributes. Then there are two more splitting off each of those nine, making eighteen Detail attributes, each one being amore nuanced version of the one above.

Each attribute contributes to the one higher up, this is how the points are distributed, they accumulate up towards the middle three. 

To start a standard human character, you roll 3d10 for each of the three core attributes. For each core attribute total you can then spend those points how you wish, on any of the main attributes that belong to that core attribute (such as spending Cognitive points on Intellect and Perception).

After (only after), a player has spent their points on their main attributes, a single d10 is rolled for every main attribute and added to each one. In total a main attribute has an average of 2d10, but it is designed to allow for player choice, while balancing that with post decision "unplanned environmental influence". This is to allow for some player planning, while not encouraging too much min-maxing.

If you decide to use the full detail level, the player then takes the main attribute value and can split it how they like between the two detail attributes.. 

As you can see the attributes are all subsets of the higher ones, breaking down into detail, each containing fewer points, the use cases for each is more nuanced and not always suitable for play.

These three sets form the three available LODs that you can see labelled in the image for Attributes. Depending on needs, you may only use three, or nine (the most likely option as it closely matches DnD etc), or eighteen (max detail).

Skills

Skills represent what an entity has learned to do over time.

This is simple but important description, as time is treated a particular way in A⁷ (see Time, Actions, and Experience). 

Skills are generally classed as something gained outside of regular tasks and exercise. It's important to note that skills are biased toward motor skills, this is due to Links (See the Appendix below), and their ubiquitous nature in society. This is also a play mechanism, as Links can be suppressed, cutting of players from some information.

Skills are gained through use, exposure, training, social groups (Phyles), and how experience is spent. There are Core Skills, Phyle Skills, and Emergent Skills.

• Core Skills - accessible to anyone 'doing stuff'.
• Phyle Skills - accessible to anyone who is part of that Phyle.
• Emergent Skills - created and assigned by the GM as part of play

While the first two are fairly obvious, Emergent Skills are a special class that are purely created for gameplay value and often a temporary skill, given for the life of the module or campaign.

Mechanically during play, skills influence outcomes by increasing the number of rollsyou get when attempting something relevant. More skill means more chances to succeed against the same underlying difficulty. 

Skill levels are kept low and extra rolls are limited in number to avoid roll fatigue, and create other emergent outcomes.

Attributes set the baseline. Skills reflect time spent learning and practicing within that baseline.

This is why when players receive experience points, they are assigning the experience they gained to the skills they built. Character progress is based on gaining new skills, improving attributes, new gear and assets, and networking social groups.

Abilities

Abilities are the things your character can actually do.

Abilities are built on top of attributes and skills, and this is where much of the variability in the world comes from. Some abilities are innate, based on what you are. Some are trained, emerging from skills. Others come from modifications or equipment.

Augments, Mods and the like, basically anything a character can use to change themselves, can work in different ways. Some modify attributes directly. Some set a capability to a fixed level. Some provide entirely new abilities that do not depend on attributes at all.

Because the world of A⁷ is highly varied in technology, biology, and culture, the range of possible abilities is intentionally broad. Player choice and access to equipment, enhancements, and environments strongly shape what a character can do.

Time, Actions, and Experience

Time is treated as a resource throughout A⁷.

Actions take time. The time you spend doing things leads to outcomes, and over longer periods, that time is what turns into experience and skill growth.

At the end of a job or module, the GM makes an estimate about what characters have done that matter during a session. Experience awarded is split, based partly on those activities, with an additional portion representing post adventure downtime, that the player can allocate as they choose.

Experience points represent time spent learning. Some of that time is shaped by events during play, and some represents deliberate focus during rest, training, or recovery.

Time Scales and Pacing

A⁷ uses familiar units of time as turns : days, hours, minutes, and seconds.

Which unit is used depends on the pace of play and the intensity of the situation. As action becomes more immediate and consequential, the time scale narrows.

•  Long-term planning and travel may be resolved in days.
•  Exploration and coordination often use hours.
•  Moment-to-moment action may use minutes.
•  High-intensity situations can be resolved in seconds.

These are not different systems. They are the same mechanics applied at different resolutions.

The Countdown Track

When it’s useful to make time visible, A⁷ uses an optional countdown track.

The countdown track is a general tool for tracking time pressure, deadlines, and overlapping actions. It can represent seconds, minutes, or hours, depending on context.

It consists of a simple marked line or set of lines, incremented with numbers, such as 0-12.

Markers are moved toward completion as time advances. Players can see how close events are, how much time remains before something happens, and how their choices affect what comes next. This makes time pressure tangible and helps build tension naturally.

As players make decisions, decisions that take time to play out, the GM ominously moves the token ever forward... tick tick.

Should the GM tell them what it means? .. Maybe 🤷‍♂️

The countdown track can be used for many situations: coordinated actions, approaching threats, deadlines, arrivals, or system failures.

This is something we think is an interesting (optional) addition to combat, while players can always use the more traditional round based combat resolution, this allows for an interesting new layered parallel play style, which adds visible pressure to decision making, while keeping it visual as opposed to bookkeeping.

Action Resolution at High Detail

When situations require precise timing, such as intense combat or tightly timed interactions, A⁷ uses the Tick Timeline to bring the action down to split-second detail.

Actions unfold in parallel, with everyone acting in the same evolving moment. What you choose to do, how quickly you can do it, and what everyone else is up to can make all the difference.

Things can change very quickly, and sometimes a fraction of a second is the difference between getting the drop on someone and getting dropped yourself.

You can change your mind, but time waits for no one!

Round-Based Resolution

The same mechanics can also be resolved in a round-based form.

In this case, a round represents a larger slice of time. Actions are resolved within that slice rather than interleaved. Attributes, skills, probabilities, and outcomes all function the same way.

This is a lower level of detail, not a different system. Groups can use round-based resolution when speed matters, and switch to finer time slicing when every moment counts... Or simply stick with one or the other.

What This Means in Play

A⁷ is designed to stay consistent while letting you control how much detail you engage with.

• You can move quickly when precision isn’t important.
• You can zoom in when timing, positioning, or consequences matter.
• You can keep bookkeeping light or go deeper where it adds value.

As we've said the system is structured to support decision-making and outcomes, while remaining flexible enough to adapt to different play styles.

Our playtests have ironed out the jinks and we have good feedback on picking things up etc, so we think it feels like a solid system, we hope you enjoy playing it!

Appendix (a bit of Lore Stuff)

So it is assumed here that you have already listened to the website story intro, or read the prehistory story via the links above. So you are clued in on why things are the way they are. If not, we recommend going there first so you have better context, as everything matters :)

There is a saying in Aten7 ... 'Vida Vira História' .. it means different things to different people, but it boils down to 'In a world where it's easy to get by, where life has a thousand options, how do I make a mark? How do I make my life a Story Worth Remembering'

This is the life of a Pro, a life dedicated to chasing an exciting life worth telling, go places, do cool stuff, learn what others can't. Live the Story.

These are a few snippets of descriptions from various Aten7 books, that should help paint a tiny picture of the world, and some things in it.

Links

Links are a major part of the world, they are what you call BCIs (Brian Computer Interfaces) in the future. They come in two forms, active (internal or hardwired to the brain like chips), or passive (circlets, caps, built into furniture etc). They have been around for around 70 years, they are used by almost everybody, and have changed the structure of society in fundamental ways.

The value of information changes drastically, knowledge is cheap, jobs that require it mostly disappear. But linking your mind to a computer doesn't mean 'downloading Kung Fu' like everyone thought it would. Thinking of something and getting an answer is episodic memory. Kung Fu is motor memory, and you can't shortcut gaining motor skills, they are custom to your nervous system.

This means that in Aten7, it's the musician who practiced for 20 years, the quick draw specialist, the painter, the acrobat, who are the most valued in society. Hence the violin you see at the end of the story on the website.

What this means for play is that players usually have access to plenty of facts, but how those are used is key, and when that tap is switched off, how do they cope? This is also why there is a bias toward motor skills in Skills.

Links also meant the dissolving of all major governments in the world, due to both Links and EVA, society has fractured into what is often called 10,000 Nations.

We will go into that in more detail online, so don't forget to follow us on socials!

Doolots

Doolots are a Phyle that specialises in animal communication and affinity. Players can join one of a number of them that focus on animal groups, such as cetaceans and cephalopods. Any uplifted animal is available for Doolot status.

Devils Marbles

 (aka Cheese Cutters, Bumpjacks)

Devils Marbles are a smart scatter explosive, they come in a range of sizes, but are usually approx 20mm in diameter. A player can throw a number of these at once at a target based on size, in mid flight they will gyroscopically align to a target and detonate with a shape charge. Damage can be severe on soft targets, peppering them with holes.  Smart targeting is required for use.

Takashi's Cats

Originally created in the 2060s as a celebration of capability, Dr Takashi's Cats are a line of genetically engineered cats, they are fairly stonk come in 7 rainbow colours, thought to be modelled on the historical Nyan Cat. Each type exudes a pheromone that calms humans in the vicinity, the colours stack to create a more calming effect. Often found in shops and cafes, or anywhere that benefits from the change (including the more nefarious).

JackJill 

(aka JackJack, JillJill)

JackJills are what is know as a 3 Hive Pair, they are a pair of genetically matched or built humans or humanoids, who normally function as brutally efficient assassins. They form a Level 3 Hive mind between them, effectively functioning as one brain in two bodies. This enables highly synchronised actions and special abilities, but makes them more than a little unstable. 

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