“WAIT… THERE’S A WATERBURY GAME?”

There is now.

Waterbury Streetz is a game where you create a character and live another life in 1990s Waterbury, Connecticut.

You decide where you go, who you talk to, who you trust, who you don’t, when you walk away, and when it’s time to throw hands.

There isn’t a controller telling you what you’re allowed to do, and you don’t need to know anything about roleplaying games to start.

If your character could reasonably try it, you can try it.

YOU MAKE THE DECISIONS.

THE CITY RESPONDS.

“WE’RE WRITING WATERBURY’S STORY”

You aren’t following a story somebody already wrote.

We’re writing it while we play.

Every character is living their own life in Waterbury. People meet. Friendships form. Beef starts. Fights happen. Reputations grow. People win, lose, help each other, cross each other, and remember what happened.

Nobody knows beforehand exactly where it’s going.

Every time we play, another piece of Waterbury’s story gets written.

Then give that section its signature line:

WE LIVE IT. WE PLAY IT. WE WRITE IT.

BUT HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY PLAY?

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

The character decided to throw a punch.

But deciding to hit somebody doesn’t automatically mean the punch lands. The game needs to answer a simple question:

DID HE HIT HIM?

That strange-looking die you saw is a 20-sided die, called a d20.

The d20 helps decide whether something your character tries actually works.

The punch connected. Now the game needs to answer another question:

HOW HARD DID HE HIT HIM?

That’s where the regular 6-sided dice, called d6s, come in. They help determine how much damage the successful hit caused.

So remember:

🎲 d20 = DID IT WORK?

🎲 d6 = HOW MUCH?

But there’s still one important question:

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT NUMBER YOU NEED TO ROLL?

That’s where defense comes in. ↓

Forget everything you think a “game” has to look like.

Here’s one situation.

Watch what happens.

Maybe even put a little downward arrow.

⬇️

WHY DID THOSE PUNCHES MISS?

You just watched somebody swing at another person and miss.

That wasn't random.

Some people are simply harder to hit than others.

Think about a real fight. Someone who stands still, reacts slowly, and doesn't know how to defend themselves is easier to hit than somebody who knows how to move, watches your hands, slips punches, keeps their balance, and has experience fighting.

Waterbury Streetz needs a way to represent that difference.

So every character has a number that basically means:

HOW HARD AM I TO HIT?

The higher that number is, the harder it is to land a clean attack against that character.

THE GAME CALLS THAT NUMBER:

ARMOR CLASS — AC

The name can be a little misleading.

Armor Class does NOT mean you're wearing armor.

Your character could be standing on Willow Street in jeans and a hoodie and still have a good Armor Class.

AC represents your overall ability to avoid being successfully hit.

Your movement matters.

Your reactions matter.

Your experience matters.

Your defensive ability matters.

And if you're actually wearing something that protects you, that can matter too.

In Waterbury Streetz, your character's combat experience can make them harder to hit as they improve.

SO HOW DOES AC ACTUALLY WORK?

Let's say the person you're trying to hit has:

AC 15

That means your attack needs to reach 15 or higher to hit them.

You start by rolling the twenty-sided die you saw earlier:

🎲 THE d20

Suppose you roll:

12

At first, you might think:

12 is lower than 15. I missed.

Maybe.

But we're not finished yet.

Because the number physically showing on the die isn't always your complete attack result.

THE DIE DOESN'T KNOW WHO THREW THE PUNCH

Imagine two people throwing the exact same punch.

One has barely fought before.

The other has years of fighting experience and is naturally quick and accurate.

If they both roll a 12, should they automatically have exactly the same chance of hitting?

No.

Your character's abilities matter too.

That's why the game sometimes adds a number to your roll.

THE GAME CALLS THAT NUMBER A:

MODIFIER

Think of a modifier as:

WHAT YOUR CHARACTER BRINGS TO THE ROLL.

The d20 represents the uncertainty of the moment.

Your modifier represents your character's ability.

LET'S TRY THAT PUNCH AGAIN

Your opponent has:

AC 15

You physically roll:

🎲 12

Your character has:

+4 TO THE ATTACK

So:

12 + 4 = 16

Your final attack result is 16.

The person you're trying to hit has AC 15.

16 BEATS 15.

👊 THE PUNCH HITS.

That's it.

No mystery.

NOW TRY A BAD ROLL

Same opponent:

AC 15

You roll:

🎲 7

Your attack bonus is still:

+4

So:

7 + 4 = 11

You needed 15.

You only reached 11.

MISS.

In the story, maybe they leaned back.

Maybe they moved their head.

Maybe they stepped out of range.

Maybe your punch was simply off.

The numbers tell us whether the attack succeeded.

The World Keeper describes what that looks like in the world.

TWO NUMBERS YOU SHOULD KNOW

There's one small distinction that's going to matter when you're playing.

RAW ROLL

The number actually showing on the die.

If your d20 lands on 12, your raw roll is 12.

FINAL RESULT

Your raw roll after the appropriate bonuses or penalties are applied.

If you roll 12 and have +4:

12 + 4 = 16

Your raw roll was 12.

Your final result was 16.

When the game asks you what you rolled, give the number you actually rolled on the die unless you're specifically asked for the final result.

🎮 WHAT THE GAME CALLS ALL OF THIS

Now you know the idea. Here's the game language:

d20 = the twenty-sided die used for the attack

Attack Roll = your attempt to hit someone

Modifier / Attack Bonus = what your character adds to the roll

Armor Class (AC) = how difficult the other character is to hit

Raw Roll = what the die actually rolled

Final Result = the roll after the correct numbers are added or subtracted

So when somebody eventually tells you:

“ROLL AN ATTACK AGAINST AC 15.”

You already know what they're talking about.

They're really saying:

Try to hit this person. Roll your twenty-sided die, apply your character's attack numbers, and see if you can reach 15.

That's Armor Class.

And now that we know how hard a person is to hit, there's another kind of number you're going to see constantly:

WHAT IF YOU'RE NOT TRYING TO HIT SOMEBODY?

What if you're trying to jump a fence?

Break down a door?

Climb onto a roof?

Sneak past somebody?

Keep your balance?

Those things have difficulty too.

And the game has a number for that. ↓