Welcome to the Woodland

What Root: The Roleplaying Game is, where it came from, and what playing a vagabond in the Woodland feels like.

🍂 What is Root RPG? A Forest Full of Stories

Imagine if Robin Hood met Game of Thrones, but everyone was a woodland creature with a sword, a lockpick and a grudge. Root: The Roleplaying Game is a tabletop role-playing game for 3–6 players (one of you is the GM) where you play vagabonds - outcasts, rebels, and mercenaries - navigating a war-torn woodland full of political intrigue, daring adventures, and anthropomorphic animals. Sessions usually run two to four hours.

📚 Where the Game Comes From

Root RPG is based on Root, the asymmetric board game of woodland war designed by Cole Wehrle and published by Leder Games. The roleplaying game is a separate design, published by Magpie Games under licence from Leder Games.

This guide follows the core rulebook. Where it mentions material from the two expansions, it says so.

🎭 The Heart of the Game: Powered by the Apocalypse

Root RPG uses the Powered by the Apocalypse system - think of it as a storytelling engine that runs on 2d6 + a stat. Your five stats are Charm, Cunning, Finesse, Luck and Might. Unlike traditional RPGs where you roll to see "did I succeed?", PbtA games ask "what interesting thing happens next?"

2d6 + stat:

  • 10+ = Strong hit (you get what you wanted)
  • 7–9 = Weak hit (you succeed, but with a cost or complication)
  • 6 or less = Miss (things go wrong, and the GM makes a move)

Why This Matters: The "Failure Forward" Philosophy

In Root RPG, there's no such thing as a "wasted roll." Even when you miss, something narratively interesting happens. It's like being the director of an action movie where every scene, successful or not, moves the plot forward.

Example: Pip the mouse thief tries to pickpocket a cat guard's keys. Her total is 5 - a miss. Instead of "nothing happens," the GM might say: "You grab the keys, but the guard's coin purse comes with them, jingling loudly as it hits the ground. Every cat ear in the courtyard swivels toward you..."

🏰 The Woodland: A Living, Breathing World

The Woodland isn't just a setting - it's a character in your story. Think of it like a medieval fantasy version of Watership Down or Redwall, but with the political complexity of real-world conflicts.

flowchart TD A[The Woodland] --> B["About a dozen clearings, linked by paths and forest"] B --> C["Most clearings lean toward or are held by a faction"] C --> D[Factions wage war for control] D --> E[Vagabonds navigate the chaos] E --> F[Your choices shape the world]

Three Factions and the Locals

🐱 The Marquisate
🦅 The Eyrie Dynasties
🐭 The Woodland Alliance
🐿️ The Denizens (the clearings' locals)

The core rulebook's three factions are the Marquisate, the Eyrie Dynasties and the Woodland Alliance. The Denizens are not one of the warring factions - they are the ordinary creatures who live in the clearings and get caught between the armies - but vagabonds still earn prestige and notoriety with them like any faction.

Real-World Analogy: Imagine if during the American Revolution, you were independent contractors who could work for the British, the Colonists, or the French - while the farmers and townsfolk caught in between remembered every favour and every betrayal. Your reputation with each group affects what jobs you can get and where you can safely travel.

🎒 What Makes You Special: The Vagabond Life

You're not a soldier in an army or a citizen of a town. You're a vagabond - someone who lives between the cracks of society. Think:

🦝 Example Vagabond: "Scraps" the Raccoon Thief

Background: Former kitchen servant in a Marquisate stronghold who discovered the cook was poisoning Woodland Alliance sympathizers. Fled with evidence but became a wanted criminal.

Current Situation: Lives job-to-job, using thieving skills to survive while trying to find someone trustworthy enough to give the evidence to.

Equipment: Lockpicks, a poison-detection kit (stolen from her old job), and a letter proving the conspiracy.

⚔️ How Adventures Work: Life on the Margins

Vagabonds are always a bit desperate - always looking for the next job, always making tough choices about who to trust and who to betray.

Typical Adventure Structure

  1. Arrive in a Clearing: Assess the political situation
  2. Find Work: Factions and locals offer conflicting jobs
  3. Choose Sides: Your reputation affects what's available
  4. Do the Job: Use roguish feats, weapons, and social moves
  5. Deal with Consequences: Your actions shift the balance of power
  6. Move On: Travel to the next clearing with a new reputation
Adventure Hook Example: You arrive in Millbrook, a clearing recently taken by the Marquisate. The cat commander offers you good coin to find and arrest Woodland Alliance sympathizers. Meanwhile, a group of local rabbits secretly approaches you to help evacuate civilians before a planned Alliance raid. An Eyrie envoy in town hints that she'll pay handsomely for information about both sides' plans. What do you do?

🎲 Core Mechanics: More Than Just Dice

Equipment Matters

Unlike many RPGs where your sword is just a +1 bonus, in Root your gear tells stories. Weapons have tags that unlock weapon skills, gear wears down and breaks, and how much you carry is a real decision.

Reputation is Currency

You track your reputation with each faction separately, from −3 to +3. Your standing isn't just flavor text - it shapes:

Travel is Meaningful

Moving between clearings isn't just "fast travel." You choose:

🌟 Why Root RPG is Special

Tactical Narrative

Root combines the story-focused nature of Powered by the Apocalypse with meaningful tactical decisions. Every choice about equipment, routes, and alliances has both narrative and mechanical weight.

Living World

The war goes on whether you take part or not. The GM keeps track of what each faction wants and moves them forward, so the Woodland responds to your actions without revolving around them.

Moral Complexity

There are no clear "good guys" and "bad guys." The Marquisate brings order but through conquest. The Eyrie represents tradition but also aristocratic oppression. The Alliance fights for freedom but is willing to use violent, ruthless tactics. Your job is to navigate this complexity, not solve it.

🎯 Try It at the Table: Your First Vagabond Concept

Before the rules, try the most important skill: thinking like a vagabond.

Character Concept Worksheet

  1. Pick an animal: What woodland creature are you? (Fox, mouse, rabbit, badger, owl, otter...)
  2. Choose your "before": What faction/job/life did you leave behind?
  3. Define your "why": What forced you to become a vagabond?
  4. Identify your "need": What do you desperately want/need now?
  5. Pick your "edge": What skill/knowledge/item gives you an advantage?
Example Response:
Animal: Fox
Before: Diplomatic courier for the Eyrie Dynasties
Why Vagabond: Discovered my own faction was planning to assassinate peace negotiators
Need: Find proof to expose the conspiracy
Edge: Still have official Eyrie travel papers (for now)

🗺️ What's Next

This page has given you the forest-level view of Root RPG. Next, Moves & Mechanics looks at how rolls, moves and harm actually work at the table. After that, Playbooks covers the nine core archetypes - from the Adventurer to the Vagrant - that define what kind of wanderer you'll become.

© 2026 Ray de la Paz. The Root RPG Guide. All rights reserved. · Ray's House of Fun
Root is a trademark of Leder Games. Root: The Roleplaying Game is published by Magpie Games under licence. This guide is an unofficial fan resource, not endorsed by Leder Games or Magpie Games.