Demon Academy The Essentials

A When It Clicks RPG - Intro

Nov 09, 2025

Start here at The Essentials! When It Clicks, a quick play version of the complete tabletop RPG.

This tabletop role-playing game is about collaboration and calculated risk, and it all revolves around your Keywords.

First, let’s talk about who you are. Your character is defined by a handful of phrases - your Keywords. A Standard one, like “Skilled Climber,” simply gives us 1 Task Die (dT), which is what we need to succeed. But a Keyword can also be a struggle. A Flaw like “Afraid of Heights” still lets you contribute 1 dT, but it comes with 1 Risk Die (dR), reflecting the complication it causes. If you have a Scar like “Streetwise” - a sign of resilience from past trauma - it adds 1 dR and lets you ignore 1 Consequence Token when you spend them. Finally, a Secret like “Sacred Bloodline” adds both influence and a big risk: 1 dT and 2 dR, plus it also grants that handy resilience against a consequence of keeping such a secret.

Now, how do we play?

When the scene is set and we face a challenge, we all chime in. Every player can add their relevant Keywords to the shared pool, even if you aren’t the primary Roller. The GM will always set an Initial Risk (a few dR) because, in this game, risk is necessary for success - the total number of dR we gather actually caps how many tokens of success we can earn, up to a maximum of 5.

Before we talk about what happens next, let’s clarify the dice themselves. You’ll need two distinguishable sets of dice - any even-sided dice work (d4, d6, d10, d20). One set represents your Task Dice, the other your Risk Dice. When you roll, you’re looking for high numbers - the upper half of whatever die you’re using (50/50 odds). So on a d6, that’s 4, 5, or 6. On a d20, it’s 11 through 20. Each high roll earns you a token.

The Roller grabs the full pool of dT and dR and casts them. High dT rolls earn us Success Tokens (STs), and high dR rolls earn us Consequence Tokens (CTs).

The moment the dice stop, we must spend every single token.

First, we spend our STs. You have to spend at least 1 ST for a basic success - otherwise, you fail the Task entirely. Any STs left over can buy better outcomes, like gaining useful information or spotting a hidden exit. You can also spend 1 ST to add a die to your personal Boost Pool, a reserve you can attach to your Keywords in future rolls when you need that extra edge.

Then, we spend the CTs, which is where the story gets exciting. A Blip (1 CT) is just a temporary nuisance - one per person per roll - adding a dR to your very next action before vanishing. A Setback (1 CT buys 1 Severity) is a lasting problem, like a nasty bruise or an exhausted mind, and it keeps adding dR to future rolls until we take time to heal it. We can also spend CTs to introduce a full-blown Complication for the whole party, like the ground giving way. We can even Nix a Keyword (0-5 CTs), making it temporarily unusable - like a snapped bowstring or lost voice.

That’s the loop

Collaborate to build the pools, embrace the risk, spend your tokens immediately, and watch the story unfold. As you play, the GM will occasionally give you Experience Points (XP), which you can spend to add new Keywords, redefine old ones, or shift their Types. Your character evolves through choices and consequences.

Want more? In the next chapters, after the setting, the full rules add History, Wound Tracks, Frays, Faults, Breaking Points, Thresholds, Devastation, Keyword Bonding, and much much more. But this page gets you playing right now.

WIC Demon Academy

Ready for more?