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Character creation:

Honestly, this is fantastic. The character sign provides flavor, and the size of the stat die being determined by the stat value is a nifty concept. I also appreciate that there are no specific character classes. The emphasis on traits and spells makes this feel more like Skyrim or even Valheim, and I appreciate the flexibility this gives to any character build. This would be an easy system for a new GM to run.

Note: Which die (DD/HD/XD/CD/ID) is associated with which stat could be clearer -- I could only find that information on the character sheet.

Composure: I like it as a concept, but I think you may be using it for too much. It seems like it's supposed to reflect morality as well as level-headedness. This might be alright, except that so many things cause a character to lose Composure. If I was blasted in a fireball because the Wizard lost control of his spell, and spattered by gore during combat, that should shake me up, but it should *not* affect my moral character. If Composure wasn't so hard to regain, and the penalties (death outcome, etc) for low composure not so severe, it might not be a problem. Consider adding a "shaken" mechanic or finding some other way to separate the two concepts.

Note: The Death Table makes it seem like Composure values can go into the negative numbers. That's cool, actually, but you could make that a bit clearer in the section on losing composure. "Lose 100 Composure" when I have 10 composure meant (to me) that I would have zero, not -90.

Miscellaneous notes:

I love the Undeath mechanic. If you have time, I'd add three more types of undead here -- wights, ghosts, maybe draugr -- since you have space.

I like the level cap at five, and I *love* the selection of monsters (even though they're not all given stats). Very thematic.

Overall, I think this is a nice, light little combat sim. Not sure how well it follows the theme of "secrets", but maybe I missed something during the read through. I hope I get a chance to run it sometime!

I was trying to tie secrets more into the nature of the world and monsters than into the way players interacted with each other, emphasizing that players would have to discover  hidden knowledge and secret weaknesses of their more powerful foes in order to win. It's a common theme in the mythology I was trying to emulate: In the original story of Abhartach, he's slain twice before a wise druid tells the king that he must be buried upside down to prevent his rising. I could have emphasized it better; unfortunately I probably had a few too many ideas to squeeze into a month-long jam. Thanks for the feedback!

Ahhhhh! You did mention that one of the monsters had no specific way to kill it -- that they're all unique. I thought that was a cool idea at the time, but wasn't sure how the characters were supposed to figure it out. Giving them an NPC quest is a good idea.

And to clarify, I do like the lore a lot. I wasn't kidding when I said that I'd love to run this; if I get the chance, I will! :)