Stonetop is a tabletop RPG about a small Iron Age village and the heroes who protect it. Unlike games where you're wandering adventurers, your characters live somewhere. Stonetop is your home — its people, its fields, its old secrets — and the campaign is the story of you defending it, providing for it, and making it better, while a wide and dangerous world presses in.
Mechanically it descends from Apocalypse World and Dungeon World ("Powered by the Apocalypse"). There is no initiative, no action economy, no turn order — and the GM never rolls dice. The whole game runs on a structured conversation.
Play moves in a loop. The GM describes the situation, raises tension, and asks: "What do you do?"
If your action triggers a player move, follow that move's procedure — usually rolling dice. Roll a 6 or less and the GM says what bad thing happens. pp. 37–38
Scenes are moment-to-moment: a specific place and time, actions resolved one by one. Loose play is zoomed out: covering hours or days in broad strokes. The game flows between the two without a formal switch. p. 38
Even in a fight, nobody "takes turns." The GM moves a spotlight around the table. You're welcome to interject — just be polite and share it. p. 38
Everything in Stonetop starts and ends with the fiction — the shared imagined situation. Dice and rules exist to resolve what your character actually does, never to replace it.
A move is a small packet of rules that kicks in when something specific happens in the fiction. Almost everything risky or contested runs through one.
These nine moves are shared by every character. Your playbook adds its own on top.
When you fight in melee or close quarters…
On any hit deal your damage. On 10+ choose to protect yourself or deal +1d6 and suffer the attack. On 7–9 you succeed but suffer the enemy's attack.
When you attack with a ranged weapon…
An easy shot just deals damage — no roll. If tricky or under pressure: 10+ is a clean hit; 7–9 hits but forces a choice.
When danger looms and you do something chancy…
Roll the stat matching your approach. 10+: you pull it off. 7–9: lesser success, cost, or consequence.
When you take a defensive stance or protect others…
Build a pool of Readiness and spend it 1-for-1 to absorb attacks, halve effects, or strike back.
When you study a situation or person for insight…
Ask the GM questions from a fixed list (3 on 10+, 1 on 7–9). Take advantage on your next move acting on answers.
When you consult your accumulated knowledge…
On 10+ something interesting and useful. On 7–9, something interesting — making it useful is on you.
When you press or entice someone who has reason to resist…
10+: they do it or reveal the easiest way. 7–9: reveals a costly or distasteful way. PCs always have a veto.
When you help someone who hasn't rolled yet…
The GM picks the benefit: they accomplish more, or gain advantage. You share in whatever risk comes from it.
When you try to foil another PC's action…
On a hit: the other player pushes on at disadvantage, or relents. On 7–9 you also end up exposed.
When a move says "roll +STAT": roll 2d6, add them, add the named stat (range −1 to +3). p. 40
Advantage: roll an extra d6, discard the lowest. Disadvantage: discard the highest. Both cancel out.
Every move has a trigger — a fictional condition like fighting in melee or close quarters. You trigger the move by describing your character doing that thing.
It cuts both ways: if you do the thing, the move happens. Watching for triggers is everyone's job. p. 39
Visualize the situation, think about what your character wants, and describe what they'd actually try. Don't go hunting through your move list for a button to press. The fiction comes first. p. 47
Combat isn't a separate mode of play. There's no initiative roll, no rounds, no turn order. When a fight breaks out, the same conversation continues. A fight is a conversation that happens to involve knives. p. 408
Enemies don't Clash or Let Fly. Instead the GM makes GM moves — describing an attack coming, stopping short of it connecting, then asking the player what they do.
"He grabs your hair and pulls back — you just know he's about to smash your face into that wall. What do you do?"
Player"My left arm's free — I quick-draw my dagger and stab behind me."
GM"That's a fight in close quarters. Roll Clash!"
Where you are, what you're holding, terrain, momentum, reach — this is fictional positioning, and it governs combat more than any number on your sheet. p. 409
Stonetop does not balance encounters. Fights aren't tuned to be winnable. Weigh your odds, look for leverage, and remember that running away is a supported, honorable option. pp. 47, 406
Stonetop's "classes" are called playbooks — each containing everything that character can do: concept, stats, moves, gear, and questions tying them to the village. Every playbook opens with a choice of three backgrounds.