This game is a work of fiction; any resemblance to real people living or dead is 100% intentional.
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The very primordial energies of creation and destruction are yours to wield as you will.
You are two inches tall.
Tone and Themes
Tiny Frog Wizards is a game of contrasts.
It's about people who are accustomed to being the biggest frogs in a very small pond, venturing into a much larger world.
It's about wielding a phenomenal cosmic power whose applications are so weirdly specialised, you'll struggle to cram your skill-set's square pegs into the world's round holes.
More than anything, however, Tiny Frog Wizards is a game about being a terrible inconvenience to everyone in the general vicinity, in the unshakable belief that you're helping.
We suspect that many of those reading this can relate.
What You'll Need
Tiny Frog Wizards is a game for three to seven players. One player takes on the role of the Gamemaster, or GM, and the others take on the roles of tiny frog wizards. You'll need at least five six-sided dice per player (including the GM), ideally in many colours as befits your arcane mastery, as well as some scrap paper to keep track of your mastered Arcana and various Misfortunes.
Though your achievements are undoubtedly many, all of them pale in comparison to your mastery of the True Arcana: the very roots of magic. Having completed your tiny frog apprenticeship, you have mastered two of the nine True Arcana. Choose two, or roll on the following table.
Most things you do won't involve rules or dice. When you undertake a task that doesn't involve casting a spell, this is called a mundane action, and the GM will decide whether it's plausible that a tiny frog could perform it. If the GM determines that the answer is “yes”, you succeed; otherwise, you fail.
Magic is another matter.
Such is your tiny frog's mastery that failure is unthinkable: when you command the forces of magic, they will obey. However, as you are very small, you may sometimes have difficulty mustering sufficient will to affect very large or distant targets.
Casting Spells
In order to cast a spell, select an appropriate Arcanum from among those you've mastered, and describe, in general terms, the feat of sorcery you intend to achieve.
Next, pick up a handful of dice. You start with one die for each of the following conditions that you satisfy:
You declare your intentions in a loud, firm croak
You make grand, sweeping gestures with both tiny webbed hands
You are wearing your pointy wizard hat
You may expend Power Dice from your own supply to increase the number of dice rolled on a one-for-one basis. Power Dice used in this fashion are expended until recovered.
Thirdly, roll the dice, and select three to assign to the parameters of Range, Magnitude and Control. If you're rolling fewer than three dice for any reason, any parameters you don't assign a die to have a value of 1. You must roll at least one die in order to cast a spell.
Once you've begun casting, you must assign a die to each parameter if one is available, and the spell must take effect. If you don't have sufficient Control to fully describe the intended effect, you'll have to make do with what you have. Likewise, if you don't have sufficient Range to reach the intended target, or your Magnitude parameter's value is too small to affect it, you'll just have to pick a different target!
Finally, add up the sum of the values of the dice assigned to the spell's parameters. This is the spell's Potency, and will be referred to by various other rules. Note that this is the sum of the values of the dice, not the values of the parameters; a parameter that's received the default value of 1 because no die was assigned to it contributes nothing at all to the spell's Potency.
Range determines the distance at which the spell is effective. Unless the chosen Arcanum's description specifies otherwise, this is the distance to the target creature or object, or to the centre of the affected area if the spell affects an area. You also need uninterrupted line of sight to a target in order to affect it, though in the case of a spell that affects an area you only need line of sight to the centre of the affected area, not to every part of it.
A spell has a Range in hops equal to the value of the die assigned to this parameter. For the benefit of any humans who may be playing this game, a hop can be considered roughly equal to one meter (or one yard).
Magnitude determines the size or scope of the thing the spell affects. The Arcanum's description will indicate whether its Magnitude is measured by size, or by area; these two types of Magnitude will be denoted as Magnitude (Size) and Magnitude (Area), respectively.
With a value of 1, the spell affects either a single object or creature roughly the size of a tiny frog, or an area about one frog-length across. (For the human player's reference, one frog-length is approximately five centimetres, or two inches.) For each point of this parameter's value in excess of 1, either approximately double the diameter of the affected area, or increase the size of the target object or creature tenfold. The following tables provide reference points for various sizes and areas:
Magnitude (Size)
Value
Size
1
Tiny frog
2
Rat
3
Cat
4
Dog
5
Human
6
Horse
Magnitude (Area)
Value
Area
1
1 frog-length
2
2 frog-lengths
3
5 frog-lengths
4
10 frog-lengths
5
20 frog-lengths
6
50 frog-lengths
A spell that uses the Magnitude (Size) parameter cannot affect only part of a larger creature or object; the parameter's value needs to be sufficient to affect the whole target. Spells that use the Magnitude (Area) parameter have no such restrictions, and may partially affect a creature or object that happens to be only partially inside the affected area.
A creature's clothing and possessions may or may not be included when targeting that creature, at your discretion.
Control determines how much control you have over the spell's effects. This will typically represent the number of words you can use to describe the spell's effect, as outlined in the Arcanum's description. You can use slang or contractions when describing the desired effect, but may not employ shorthand or ungrammatical contrivances – your dignity would not permit it! Articles such as “a” and “the” need not be counted when determining the description's length.
Your spells will have one of two durations: indefinite, or concentration.
An indefinite effect sticks around with no particular limit, and is considered non-magical once it fully manifests. You don't need to do anything in particular to keep these effects around.
Other effects persist only while you concentrate. While concentrating on a spell, you may perform mundane actions as you wish. However, your ability to cast additional spells is impaired: the number of dice you roll when casting is reduced by one for each spell you're concentrating on. If this reduces the number of dice in your pool to zero, you must buy it up to at least one using Power Dice in order to cast a spell.
Spells that you're concentrating on can also be disrupted. This can occur if you're injured, severely distracted, or suffer Misfortune, or if you do something foolish like fall asleep while maintaining a spell. When your concentration is disrupted, roll three dice, and compare their sum to the Potency of each spell you're currently concentrating on. If the rolled value exceeds a spell's Potency, the spell lapses, just as though you'd voluntarily terminated it. Otherwise, the spell goes out of control, with effects determined by the GM.
Finally, you can voluntarily terminate a spell that you're concentrating on. This requires no roll. Once you cease concentrating on a spell, any effects that depend on concentration persist for a number of seconds equal to the spell's Potency before fading. This can provide a grace period while preparing other enchantments, but it can also pose a problem if you wish to terminate a spell gone awry.
If you see another wizard casting a spell and wish to stop them, you can attempt to counterspell. You must have mastered the Arcanum of the spell being cast. Roll as though you were casting a spell of your own, but don't assign any parameters – simply take the sum of the best three dice. If the total exceeds the Potency of the spell you're attempting to counter, it's negated with a clap of thunder and a puff of smoke, leaving the caster somwhat dazed in the process. A counterspelling roll can be enhanced with Power Dice.
If you haven't mastered the Arcanum of the offending spell, or if it's already taken effect by the time you take umbrage at it, counterspelling is no longer an option. You'll have to deal with it by other means!
In general, spell effects don't directly oppose one another. If you surround your rival with all-consuming fire, and your rival responds by teleporting away, no conflict exists: your spell successfully filled the targeted area with fire, and your rival's spell successfully moved them to another location. You both got exactly what you asked for – though it may not be entirely what you wanted! In the case of such indirect opposition, no numerical comparisons are made between the two spells; the interplay of the two effects is resolved through the players' descriptions and the GM's judgment.
However, sometimes you'll run into situations where two spells can't both be effective, or when the effect of one spell directly attempts to prevent, mitigate or destroy the effect of another spell. Some examples include:
You use Transmutation to turn a rock into diamond, but another tiny frog wizard simultaneously attempts to turn the exact same rock into ruby.
You Evoke a storm of fire, and the targeted area partially overlaps another Evocation that fills its area with ice.
Faced with an impenetrable wall of stone raised from the earth via Transmutation, you Animate a nearby rock and command it to batter down the wall.
This is known as direct opposition. When direct opposition occurs, to the extent that the two spells are mutually exclusive, the spell with greater Potency prevails. The spell with lesser Potency remains fully effective with respect the portion of its effects (if any) that don't conflict with the spell of greater Potency. A spell whose effects are entirely overridden by those of another spell is considered to have been terminated.
If two directly opposing spells have precisely equal Potency, the GM will decide what happens.
Sooner or later, your tiny frog wizard is going to be on the receiving end of a spell whose effects your do not care for. Unless taken totally by surprise, you always have a chance – typically exactly one chance – to defend yourself with a spell of your own. Best make it count!
The first and most reliable option is to counterspell. If you've mastered the Arcanum of the incoming spell, you can attempt to block it. Unlike the other means of defence discussed here, this snuffs out the offending spell entirely, so it's handy for defending others as well as yourself. The downside is that you have to beat the incoming spell's Potency.
Failing that, your next best option is Abjuration. “Magic” is a totally valid subject for a ward, so a low Control die is no problem here. Abjuration is almost as good as counterspelling for defending your friends, since you can ward a whole area if you need to. As with counterspelling, you'll have to beat the incoming spell's Potency.
If your mastered Arcana include neither Abjuration nor the Arcanum of the hostile spell, your options depend on what you're up against.
If the hostile spell affects an area, like an Evocation, a Transmutation, or possibly a Conjuration that tries to drop a heavy object on you, you can simply leave the affected area. Using Conjuration to teleport yourself away will usually work. Alternatively, an appropriately phrased Evocation or Transmutation might be able to hurl you out of the way, though it'll probably hurt. In any event, this doesn't count as direct opposition – you're not stopping the hostile effect, you're just not being there when it goes off – so you don't need to beat the spell's Potency.
If the hostile spell affects you directly, like a Domination or an Imprecation, your options are more limited. There's no area of effect to avoid, so you'll have to either get completely out of range (and your enemy is likely to have a nice fat Range die to work with, since targeting a tiny frog only requires a Magnitude (Size) value of 1!), or break line of sight using a solid barrier. Both Conjuration and Transmutation work well for this purpose.
Unlike evading an area spell, outranging or breaking line of sight on an individually targeted spell does invoke the direct opposition rules, since you're trying to stop the hostile spell's effect from happening at all; whatever you use will have to beat the spell's Potency.
Alternatively, you can just try to duck out of the way. As a mundane action, no dice or numeric comparisons are involved; it's entirely up to the GM whether a tiny frog could plausibly get out of the way before the hostile spell goes off. Factors the GM might take into account include whether the enemy wizard announces their intentions and the proximity of sufficient cover.
Bad things can happen when you're tiny frog, even without magic in the mix. As when defending yourself from a spell, the GM will usually afford you an opportunity to cast a spell to avoid potential harm, unless you've been completely caught out. However, at times even this may not suffice.
As a final line of defence, you can declare that whatever has befallen you is a Misfortune. In order to qualify as a Misfortune, a circumstance must satisfy two criteria:
It must be harmful
It must be non-transitory – that is, it must be something that's liable to stick around for more than a few moments
Some effects, like spells of the Imprecation Arcanum, are intrinsically Misfortunate and must be declared as Misfortunes. The GM will inform you when this is the case.
When you declare an effect to be a Misfortune, you write it down in one of your Misfortune slots. This has four benefits:
You describe how it affects you, rather than the caster (for spells) or the GM (for everything else)
The effect can remove you from play for at most the remainder of the current scene
Once you've suffered Misfortune from a particular spell, effect or circumstance, you can't suffer further harm from it during the current scene; the same spell, effect or circumstance can never oblige to you mark down multiple Misfortunes in the same scene
The effect is intrinsically recoverable, even if it ordinarily wouldn't make sense for it to be
For example, if you're crushed by falling boulders and you declared it to be a Misfortune, you'd turn up at the end of the scene, somewhat squished but alive and mobile. Similarly, if you were turned to stone by an Imprecation spell, you'd regain mobility at the end of the scene, though you'd remain stone until the Misfortune is recovered.
You may also choose to suffer Misfortune on behalf of your pointy wizard hat in order to protect it from otherwise-unavoidable harm, following the above rules as best they apply.
As a tiny frog wizard, you have three Misfortune slots. If all three are currently full, you can't declare any more Misfortunes, and your fate is in the hands of the GM!
Some important non-player characters may also have Misfortune slots.
Whenever your tiny frog wizard has the chance to engage in uninterrupted rest and relaxation (including, but not limited to, a good night's sleep), clear one Misfortune slot. If you have multiple Misfortunes, you can choose which one you clear, but you must clear one if you're able. Recovering isn't optional, even if you've managed to twist a harmful effect around so that it somehow benefits you.
Any time you clear a Misfortune, you also gain three Power Dice; you can exceed five Power Dice in this way. You don't get this benefit if you have no Misfortunes to clear; strength is born of adversity!
Mastery of even a single True Arcanum grants nearly godlike power – yet at the same time, each is limited to a relatively narrow sphere of effects. Having mastered only a pair of Arcana each, tiny frog wizards are thus prone to treating their magic as a solution in search of problems; as a certain time-worn proverb goes, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail!
Let this be your guiding principle when interpreting the scope of each Arcanum. It's entirely possible that you'll find a way to construe the guidance provided on the following pages such that certain Arcana can accomplish anything and render all of the other Arcana obsolete – but where's the fun in that? Tiny Frog Wizards is a game about overpowered weirdos applying wildly inappropriate solutions to relatively trivial problems. If you're interpreting your own Arcana in a way that inconveniences everyone around you, you're probably doing it right.
You ward a creature or area against harm. Use either the Magnitude (Size) parameter or the Magnitude (Area) parameter, depending on whether you're warding a creature or an area; a ward affecting an area is immobile once created, while a ward affecting a creature moves with that creature.
Describe what exactly the ward is to protect against using a number of words equal to the Control parameter. The described phenomena are prevented from touching the targeted creature or entering the targeted area for as long as you maintain concentration. Instances of the described phenomena that are already inside a warded area when it's created are neither ejected nor imprisoned, but if they leave the area by other means, they're prevented from re-entering.
Direct Opposition: Against non-magical phenomena, Abjuration's protection is absolute. However, spells that draw on the True Arcana or similarly powerful sources can overpower an Abjuration-based ward if the hostile spell's Potency exceeds that of the ward. This counts as directly opposing the ward.
You modify the physical attributes of a creature. You can produce cosmetic changes to the targeted creature's apperance, cause it to grow or shrink, turn it invisible, or even transform it into another creature entirely. The Magnitude (Size) parameter determines both the maximum size of the targeted creature and the maximum size of its altered form, if they differ. Describe the desired alteration using a number of words equal to the Control parameter. The transformation persists for as long as you maintain concentration.
Direct Opposition: Alteration directly opposes any magical effects that would prevent a targeted creature from successfully making use of new or enhanced capabilities granted by the spell. Making use of those capabilities remains a mundane action.
You bring an inanimate object to life. The Magnitude (Size) parameter determines the affected object's maxium size. State a command using a number of words equal to the Control parameter; the object carries out your command, precisely and to the letter, for as long as you maintain concentration.
An animated object is imbued with sufficient flexibility and motive force to obey orders, but doesn't necessarily gain any extraordinary abilities unless they're natural extensions of the object's existing physical properties. For example, an animated toy dragon probably wouldn't be able to breathe fire simply because it's shaped like a mythical fire-breathing creature; however, an animated candle may be able to hurl its flame. When in doubt, the GM decides what special abilities – if any – an animated object possesses.
Direct Opposition: Physical actions taken by an animated object, in direct pursuit of its animating command, have an effective Potency equal to the spell's Potency for the purpose of overcoming any magical effect that would prevent that command from successfully being carried out. The actions themselves are mundane, and are resolved as such.
You call an object or creature to your presence. The Magnitude (Size) parameter determines its maximum size. Describe the desired target using a number of words equal to the Control parameter.
You conjure a random object or creature from somewhere in the world that matches your description. The conjured target need not be within Range, nor do you require line of sight to it; the point where it appears, however, must be within Range and not already occupied by another object or creature. The target sticks around indefinitely once conjured. You have no particular means of sending it away or otherwise commanding it without using further magic.
Direct Opposition: Conjuration typically doesn't directly oppose other spells, since the only dimension of its effects that's actually magical is finished the instant the target appears. Anything the target does after that – like, say, falling on a hapless rival – is a mundane action. However, Conjuration may end up directly opposing an Abjuration-based ward if you're trying to conjure a prohibited object directly into the warded area; appearing out of thin air does, unfortunately, count as “entering”.
You chain a creature to your will. The Magnitude (Size) parameter determines the targeted creature's maximum size. State a command using a number of words equal to the Control parameter. The target is compelled to obey the stated directive, to the best of its understanding and ability, for as long as you maintain concentration. The target need not understand your language (or indeed, any language) in order to obey, though non-speaking creatures may be confused by complicated commands.
Domination doesn't grant its target any means of accomplishing its orders that it wouldn't ordinarily have, nor does it give you any special insight into what the target is actually capable of. A creature that's commanded to do something it can't accomplish under its own power will seek alternative solutions rather than bashing its head against a wall. (Figuratively or otherwise!)
Direct Opposition: Physical actions taken by a dominated subject, in direct pursuit of its binding command, have an effective Potency equal to the spell's Potency for the purpose of overcoming any magical effect that would prevent that command from successfully being carried out. The actions themselves are mundane, and are resolved as such.
You fill the targeted area with a particular phenomenon: raging fire, impenetrable darkness, thunder and lightning, etc. The Magnitude (Area) parameter determines the size of the affected area. Describe the desired phenomenon using a number of words equal to the Control parameter.
The described phenomenon fills the targeted area for as long as you maintain concentration; any damage or detritus it leaves behind persists indefinitely. You can shape the evoked phenomenon into walls or other unnatural configurations if you have sufficient Control to describe it.
Direct Opposition: Evocation simply causes the evoked phenomenon to exist within the targeted area. Any effect that would cause the phenomenon to not be there is subject to direct opposition; actually using the evoked phenomenon to accomplish a particular goal is a mundane action, and does not enjoy any guarantee of success.
You call down dire afflictions upon the targeted creature. The Magnitude (Size) parameter determines your victim's maximum size. Describe the desired affliction, phrased as a command, using a number of words equal to the Control parameter. “Go blind”, “turn to stone”, and “get in this bottle” are all valid afflictions – though a merciful tiny frog wizard might opt for “fall asleep” or “forget you saw me” instead.
This effect counts as a Misfortune – in fact, the target must suffer the effect as a Misfortune if they have any unfilled Misfortune slots. If the target has no unfilled Misfortune slots, the curse lasts as long as such a condition ordinarily would; a sleeping target will wake up eventually, but being turned to stone isn't something you get better from. If you have sufficient Control, you can specify time limits on ordinarily irrecoverable afflictions, or set conditions on their removal.
Direct Opposition: Depending on the nature of the curse, another tiny frog wizard might essay an Alteration to undo a physical transformation, or Domination to undo a curse that imposes a particular behaviour. All such remedies must overcome the Potency of the original Imprecation. A creature that's become an inanimate object due to an Imprecation-based curse can still be targeted by effects that target creatures for the purpose of attempting to overcome the curse.
You cast a veil of illusion either over a creature or object, or over a defined area. The illusion is absolutely convincing and affects all senses, but real objects and creatures can freely pass through it.
When the illusion is cast over a creature or object, use the Magnitude (Size) parameter to determine the maximum size of both the thing to be affected and the seeming you grant it. The target cannot be made to appear smaller than it really is, but can be made to appear larger. Describe the target's new appearance using a number of words equal to the Control parameter. If the target is a creature or otherwise animate, the illusion will mimic its actions as precisely as it can; should the target's true size or shape be very different from the illusion's, this may have very strange results. In any case, the illusion moves with the target (or moves as the target is moved, in the case of an inanimate object).
When the illusion is cast over an area, use the Magnitude (Area) parameter to determine the affected region's size, and describe its new appearance in a number of words equal to the Control parameter. Features and terrain within the affected area cannot be made invisible, but can appear to be almost anything that's at least roughly the same size. Creatures present within or passing through the area do not have their appearances changed. The illusory veil is immobile once created.
The illusion persists for as long as you maintain concentration.
Direct Opposition: Simulation rarely finds itself directly opposing other spells. Situations where this might occur include special senses granted by an Alteration, or a very particularly worded ward.
You reshape or transform an inanimate substance. The Magnitude (Area) parameter determines the maximum volume of the targeted substance you can affect. You can affect a portion of a larger object if you wish.
Describe what you want to turn the targeted substance into using a number of words equal to the Control parameter. If you merely reshape the target into a form it could naturally occupy (e.g., water into ice, a rock into a stone statue of yourself, etc.), the transmutation lasts indefinitely. Unnatural transformations (e.g., lead into gold) last only as long as you maintain concentration.
Direct Opposition: The magical part of this Arcanum's effect consists exclusively of causing the targeted substance to assume the desired form. As with Evocations, using this transformation to accomplish a particular goal – like skewering a meddling rival – is effectively a mundane action, and is resolved as such.
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