ICOTALEOfficial
Animal tale · d6 rulebook
The Great Oak
- 1–3 players
- Difficulty 1 of 3
- All ages
- Available in: Français, English, Español, Deutsch, Italiano
Lady Owl's home — the oldest oak in the forest — is losing its leaves in midsummer. The little animals of the woods have three days to save it before the Great Storm.
The rulebook at a glance
- d6 dice pool
- 4 attributes
- Small but many
Choose an adventure
- One-shot
Three Days Before the Storm
1 session · helping each other, nature, the courage of little ones
Cost: 1 Die for the whole table
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By the Icotale team
The world
- PlaceThe Great OakThe oldest tree in the wood: a hundred burrows between its roots, a hundred nests in its branches, and right at the top, the home of Lady Tawny.
- PlaceThe Lost StreamThe stream that used to water the oak. Since spring its bed has been dry, and nobody knows why.
- PlaceBeaver ClearingUpstream from the wood: logs, wood chips, and a building site the beavers would rather not talk about.
- PlaceThe Humans’ MeadowOn the other side of the hedge: a farm, a scarecrow, and things that shine.
- FactionThe Burrow CouncilAll the animals who live in and under the Great Oak. They meet at the roots when things go wrong — and right now, things are going wrong.
- CharacterLady TawnyThe owl of the Great Oak: as old as the tree, the memory of the whole wood. She hasn’t left her branch since the leaves began to fall.
- CharacterBig-TailThe chief of the beavers: sturdy, proud of his dam, and much less calm than he lets on.
The rulebook
Resolving actions
- Roll as many d6 as the attribute: every 5 or 6 is a success.
- One success is enough for a small thing, two for a big one — and for a small animal, almost everything is big.
- With no success at all, the animal succeeds at something other than planned, and it’s often funnier.
Initiative : 1d6 + Nose
Attributes
- Paw PAW
- Climbing, digging, carrying things that are too big for you.
- Nose NOS
- Sniffing, listening, finding a path or a hazelnut.
- Heart HRT
- Cheering on, comforting, winning over a grumpy badger.
- Idea IDE
- Coming up with a plan, building things out of twigs, understanding human stuff.
Special rules
- Small but many
- When several animals work together on the same action, each helper adds a d6 to the roll. A chain of paws can get the better of any big thing.
- Always back on your feet
- Nobody ever really gets hurt in the wood: at zero hit points, an animal is just all ruffled up and must rest for one scene somewhere cosy, with someone telling them a story.
- Secret stashes
- Every animal hides a secret stash somewhere (a hazelnut, a feather, a bit of string). Once per session, bringing it out at the right moment automatically succeeds at a small thing.
Character creation
Each attribute starts at 1: spread 9 extra points, up to 5 per attribute · no reroll
Origins
- Born in a burrow
- Sturdy and resourceful; +1 to Paw.
- Born in the branches
- Curious and quick; +1 to Nose.
- Born at the edge of the wood
- Has seen human things; +1 to Idea.
Vocations
- Squirrel
- Climbs everywhere, forgets where half of their treasures are hidden.
- Hedgehog
- Slow, prickly, unflappable: the wise one of the group.
- Field mouse
- Slips through holes nobody else can see.
- Jay
- Flies, shouts loudly, imitates every sound in the forest.
Derived values
- Hit points
- 4 + Paw
- Defense
- Nose
- Initiative
- 1d6 + Nose
Starting equipment
- A secret stash
- A bit of red string
- A leaf from the Great Oak, as a keepsake
Veils
Topics kept off screen: the Narrator never shows or describes them.
- death of animals