Once again, these are not intended to be revolutionary or groundbreaking. To the contrary, they follow a familiar pattern for a good reason: it works.
 
Attributes and Skills

Each character has six attributes: Dexterity, Strength, Endurance, Intellect, Influence, and Willpower, ranked on a numeric scale. The higher the number, the stronger the attribute.

For normal humans, these attributes range from 3 to 13, with average being 7-9.

3 = Deficient
4-6 = Weak
7-9 = Average
10-12 = Good
13 = Exceptional

Each character can have a number of skills, representing areas of expertise. The firearms skill represents the character’s ability to shoot (e.g.) pistols and shotguns, charm their ability to flatter others. Each skill is based on an attribute, firearms on Dexterity, charm on Influence.

Skills are also rated numerically. The base value of all skills depends on the related attribute, measured using the Rule of Three (which will appear in other places):

• Every 3 points in an attribute means 1 point of base skill value

An average person with a Dexterity of 8 has a 3 in all Dexterity skills. A character with a 4 in Influence has 2 points in all Influence skills. A person with a Strength of 11 has 4 points in all Strength skills.

This number represents a very basic level of familiarity; the character has never practiced or trained in the skill. Training and experience are represented by skill pluses, rated +1 and higher. (No training, being Untrained, is effectively +0.) These pluses are (oddly enough) added to the base skill value.

A character with an Influence of 4 has a base skill value of 2 for all Influence skills. If they have +1 in charm, their skill level is 2 + 1 = 3.

A character with an Dexterity of 10 has a base Dexterity skill level of 4. With +5 in firearms, their skill level is 4 + 5 = 9.

The Attributes

Strength

This represents a character’s physical prowess: how much they can lift and carry, how hard they punch and swing a sword. Characters with a high Strength are weightlifters, circus strong-men, and so forth.

Dexterity

This represents flexibility, fine motor skills, reflexes, running speed, and other related areas. Characters with a high Dexterity are gymnasts and athletes of every sort, escape artists, stage magicians, parkour aficionados, and martial artists.

Endurance

Endurance describes a character’s health: their ability to resist poisons and disease, to endure physical stress and exertion, and other related areas.

Intellect

A high Intellect makes a person "smart." They learn faster, have a deeper understanding, retain more information, react quicker, and notice more. Scientists, college professors, inventors, engineers, and so on all have a high Intellect.

Influence

Influence is the ability to successfully affect others socially. People with a high Influence are persuasive, charming, and adept at fitting in with others and building strong relationships. Salesmen, con men, politicians, rock stars, actors, the popular kids, and serial killers all have high Influence.

(Note: In most games, this attribute is called Charisma. Characters with a high Influence can be charismatic, but they don't have to be. They can be friendly, persuasive, likable, or physically attractive (any one of these or all). Any number of things can underlie Influence. What matters for mechanics is the effect, not the source.)

Willpower

Willpower is the mental and spiritual strength of a character. A high Willpower implies self-reliance, confidence, a strong will, and stubbornness.

Using These

To do something the player takes an attribute or a skill, rolls dice to get a Bonus Number (positive or negative), adds the Bonus Number to the skill or attribute to get a total. The gamemaster then subtracts a Difficulty Number from the total, the result indicating how well the character did.

Summarized:

Skill or Attribute + Bonus Number = Total
Total - Difficulty = Result

This core mechanic requires one (very simple) die roll and some minor math. Every rule in the game is based around this mechanic, once you’ve mastered it you understand 98% of the game.

Prime Rule Of Rolling: If the action has no impact on the module, or represents a casual, everyday situation, don't roll. It doesn't matter. Only roll the dice if the action is significant, or taking place under adverse conditions.

Success or Failure

Every action has a Difficulty Number (determined by the gamemaster), starting at 2 for trivial tasks up to 26 (or even higher) for nearly impossible tasks. When a player makes a skill, attribute, or other check, it is compared to the Difficulty Number: take the skill check and subtract the Difficulty Number. This is referred to as the result.

If the result is a 0 or negative number (because the check was equal to or less than the Difficulty) the player failed. Positive numbers are measured using the Rule of Three: every 3 points becomes 1 Success Level. The more Success Levels, the better the character did.

General Success

With most skill or attribute checks, players don't need specific mechanical results, they just wants to know "Did I succeed and if so, how well?" This question can be quickly answered using the above mechanics, and the following rule of thumb:

1 SL = Basic success (no frills, barely succeeded)
2 or 3 SL = Solid Success (did well)
4+ SL = Superior Success (did remarkably well)

More detailed rules exist for some uses, like combat or Social Conflict skills.

Success Level Examples: Some sample firearms skill totals against an Average ( DN.

The first check is an 8. 8 − 8 = 0, a failure.

Hint: It is almost never necessary to measure failure levels. If it’s obvious the skill total is equal to or less than the DN, don’t bother calculating how badly the character did. Failure is failure.

The second firearms check is a 12. 12 − 8 = 4, which per the Rule of Three is 2 Success Levels.

The third firearms total is extremely high, thanks to three maxed dice. The roll was a hot 30, and the skill check a 39. This is a result of 31, which is 11 Success Levels.

Achieving 11 Success Levels is rare, and whatever the character was attempted they succeeded at, doing incredibly well. In cases like this, the GM might consider giving some kind of benefit, in addition to success.

That’s the basics of the game. Summarized, it’s:

Attribute Base + Skill Plusses = Total Skill
Total Skill + Bonus Number = Skill Check
Skill Check - DN = Result. (Every 3 points of Result is 1 Success Level.)

Like all role-playing games there are complications and special situation, but a beginning player need not know anything else other than the above. Any other necessary information will be supplied by the gamemaster.