From the Lords of the Ash beta and the boards
Generic actions will be referred to as both “Generic “and/or “Cinematic” actions interchangeably. The phrase “Cinematic action” if more evocative and descriptive of what a combatant can do. Cinematic actions now have a new elaborated and clarified mechanic to help adjudicate the rune cost:
Whenever someone wishes to perform a Cinematic (Generic) action, they verbally state what they wish to do. For every verb in the description, 1 rune must be played (any Trait). If the action is something that would be deemed to be difficult or unlikely, a specific Trait must be played.
Example: Fjori wishes to leap across the table, knock the candle into the flaming oil and push the larger opponent into the flames. This has 3 verbs- "leap", "knock" and "push", necessitating the play of 3 runes. However the last action is against a more powerful opponent (larger), so the 3rd rune will have to be Physical.
Outside of the ones described in the book, here are a few more:
Draw/Swap a weapon - play any rune to draw or swap a weapon.
Protect - play any rune as an {interrupt} to be able to defend an adjacent ally. you still must play the rune for the actual defense, and additional ones for any defensive metas.
If you don't want to pay the cost to do this action, look at the Protector passive power, which does not require a rune to be able to do this.
You can use some metas for cinematic actions
ANY rune can be played to get a Weapon meta if you are using a weapon
ANY rune can be played for a Range meta if you are using a Range or Thrown weapon