From the introduction: Poolaris is a fantasy role-playing game that combines the negotiated narration and chilly setting of Ben Lehman's Polaris with the simple rules of James V. West's The Pool (and bits of James's The Questing Beast and Anti-Pool). Unlike most role-playing games, Poolaris has no Game Master (GM). The players share the GM responsibilities. To play, you need a lot of six-sided dice (d6s), including a handful of “bonus dice” that look different from the rest. Before character creation, each player needs 20 dice for their starting Pool. The remaining dice go into a common pool.