1.2 How to Play - The Short Version
When you are learning Rise, you should generally focus on roleplaying as your character in a fantasy universe. The GM can provide details about the expected tone of the game and the universe your character inhabits. For example, they should be able to help you understand whether they expect the game to be fundamentally silly, serious, or both. There isn’t a correct answer to that sort of stylistic question, but everyone should be on the same page about what they want.
Sometimes, when your character tries to do something particularly interesting, the GM will ask you to roll to see if you succeed. When that happens, roll a ten-sided die, or d10, and tell them the result. They may ask you to add a relevant number based on how good your character is at that thing. If they do, find that statistic on your character sheet and add that number to what you rolled on the d10. Your character will succeed if your result is high enough, and otherwise will fail. The GM will describe what happens in either case.
If you get into combat, you don’t need to keep perfect track of what the other players are doing. Just be able to describe what your character wants to do when the GM asks, such as attacking or running away. You may take damage from enemy attacks. Damage first reduces your character’s damage resistance. Once that reaches zero, damage will reduce your character’s hit points. If those reach zero, your character may become vitally wounded. Try to avoid that.
Attacking is basically the same taking any other action with a chance of failure. Generally, you’ll have at least one ability on your character sheet that does damage. You roll d10, add a relevant number, and see if it is high enough. If you succeed with the attack, you’ll generally roll damage. Damage is the only common roll in Rise that doesn’t always use a d10. Your character sheet should tell you what dice you roll to deal damage.
That’s the absolute minimum information you really need to get started, as long as you have a helpful GM and fellow players. Over time, you’ll get used to playing your character, both in terms of their personality and in terms of the rules. If you want to learn more about how Rise works, you can keep reading!