We've been playing more Polaris recently, so I've taken another whack at streamlining the rules even further so more people can pick it up and facilitate it.

My goal is to make it manageable and teachable as a pickup game while keeping the key elements that make it great. These notes assume you've read the Polaris rules, of course.


Polaris House Rules, August 2016

• Describe only barebones setting (the People in the North under the stars, the Mistake happened, Demons can take many forms, the Knights) instead of using all the fiction in the book. We establish other details of our world in play.
  
  
• Only two heroes instead of four. Two players are hero/mistaken of one story, other two players are hero/mistaken of the other story (plus moons as normal). Stories are separated by default so each player has room to do big things without messing up other story (e.g. I burned down the city).
  
  
• When making heroes, omit shared Fate character. Each hero has the other three default starting traits (sword, lore, knight) then add two more as usual.
  
  
• Conflicts are simplified. Start by explaining "But Only If", then add "You Ask Far Too Much". The only other choices are backing down ("it wasn't meant to be") and ending the conflict ("and so it was"). Rules for overriding or supporting moon conflicts still apply.
  
  
• Hero and Mistaken each get two boxes to call for "You Ask Far Too Much". They automatically refresh after every scene.
  
  
• Remove Ice and Light. You never roll dice.
  
  
• Remove Zeal and experience checks. Remove Frost Maiden and Solaris Knight encounter, etc. Fiction decides how the hero has fallen and sets pacing. We end when we're ready to end.
  

Simplified character sheet: