A unit in Aim Ten is the basic building block of things in the game. If something is described in the game, it can be treated as a unit.
Special units, called characters, creatures, and foes, have special abilities or features that make them more important and significant to the game.
🔧 You will often see “Character”, “Creature”, and “Foe” in the descriptions of memories.
Characters
The primary unit you control in the game is your Player Character or “PC”. Other players’ characters are also referred to as PCs. Characters which are not controlled by players, but only by the DM, are called Non-Player Characters, or NPCs.
A character:
- Contains all four elements
- Has memories
- Can normally move about and interact with the world around them
- Has motivations, which help describe their moral compass and attitude to life
📖 In a fantasy setting, a character could be a human, elf, dwarf, or any number of other sentient creatures. In a modern setting, perhaps all your characters may be human. In some settings it may also be necessary or convenient to describe incorporeal fantasy creatures, such as ghosts, as characters, or technological phenomena such as AI as characters.
Creatures
All characters are creatures, but not all creatures are characters.
A non-character creature or may not have memories or attributes.
Creatures may include animals, plants, monsters, and other phenomena which are interactive but (generally) not sentient.
📖 In a fantasy setting, unintelligent mythic beasts may be described as creatures, as well as things such as mindless zombies or massive, ravenous prawns.
Other units
If a unit is not a character or a creature, it generally doesn’t interact with you, but you may interact with it, e.g., by picking it up or trading it. For example, most treasures are units.
Foes
A foe is any unit which you perceive to be an enemy. Most foes will be creatures or characters, but a mechanical trap or a falling rock could also be described as a foe.
When you are aware of a foe, you enter combat.
📖 It may not always be clear when something is a foe. For example, a creature you presumed to be friendly may become aggressive. Conversely, you may try to initiate combat against a creature, but they may have a memory which prevents them from entering combat. The DM will describe whether something is a foe, when necessary.