Legacy - End Game Corebook
Legacy - End Game Corebook
Legacy - End Game Corebook
L i f e A mo ng t h e R uins
2n d E dition
End Ga m e
ADDITIONAL WRITING
Kira Magrann, Slade Stolar, Arthur Pinto de Andrade, Norman Rafferty
EDITOR LAYOUT
Rebecca Curran Minerva McJanda, Oli Jeffrey
PLAYTESTING
Beto Rodrigues, Arthur de Andrade, Gustavo Tenório, Tiago Rolim,
Marcelo Paschoalin, Josh Borlase, Nathan Schmitz, Madeleine Lapuk
APRIL 2019
© 2019 UFO Press. All rights reserved.
ufopress.co.uk – [email protected]
@ufopressrpgs – facebook.com/UFOpressRPGs
TM
2
FOREWORD
So, here we are: the end of the line.
Writing End Game was a hell of an
exercise in distinguishing chaos from
entropy. To understand minds that will
do anything to win, or else simply assure
everybody loses. To meditate on the acts
of those who will do anything just to
make the pain go away. A study on the
meaning of a cold, uncaring cosmos. If
all goes according to plan, this is the last
book of the Legacy: Life Among the Ruins
line. And thanks to its counterpart, The
Engine of Life, it doesn’t pull any punches.
There is a reason behind this bleak rhyme.
I have dealt with entropy quite early
in my life. No wonder I ended up writing
for a game of recovery in face of an all
consuming tragedy. So, I dedicate this
book to my lil’ sis - who inspired me to
stand steadfast in face of loss and pain.
Let’s see if we can all look the end
of all things in the eye and give it back the
glare. If we have what it takes to fight back
even when all hope seems lost.
- Douglas Santana Mota
3
CONTENTS
Chapter 1: RULES FOR A FINAL END 7
INTRODUCTION8
NEW ROLE: TRAITOR 8
TRAITOROUS BIT PLAYERS 9
NEW RULE: NIGHTMARES 10
NEW RULE: THE DOOM CLOCK 13
NEW RULE: NEFARIOUS TREATY 14
ESSAYS:
THE HORROR OF ISOLATION 16
TRAGEDY20
SYNERGY AND CREATIVE PLAYING 24
STRATEGY27
4
Chapter 4: WONDERS107
THE TARTARUS SITE 108
THE WATCHTOWER 110
THE RACE TO THE STARS 112
THE CRUCIBLE 114
Chapter 5: TODESFALLE117
FAMILY OVERVIEW 118
DRAWING THE HOMELAND 120
STARTING TREATIES 121
THE I.R.E. 122
VOLSTAG, OUTSIDER ROAD WARRIOR123
THE A.R.M. 124
SGT. THEO, OUTSIDER SENTINEL125
CONTROL126
DANDARA, OUTSIDER HELLION127
THE AASKRAHE 128
AASFRESSER, OUTSIDER WARLOCK129
FOR THE GM 130
5
CHAPTER
01
INTRODUCTION8
NEW ROLE: TRAITOR 8
TRAITOROUS BIT PLAYERS 9
NEW RULE: NIGHTMARES 10
NEW RULE: THE DOOM
CLOCK13
NEW RULE:
NEFARIOUS TREATY 14
ESSAYS:
THE HORROR OF
ISOLATION16
TRAGEDY20
SYNERGY AND CREATIVE
PLAYING24
STRATEGY27
We assumed that no
matter how tragic it was,
the Fall allowed for some
hope of recovery, no
matter how slim. But this
end game plunges us
into an abyss from which
there is no way back,
no salvation. We must
deal with the inevitability
of pain and defeat. So,
welcome to where it all
ends… let’s just keep a
clear tally of the body
count, shall we?
THE ELDER
INTRODUCTION Mark when you depose the leaders you
How do you raise the stakes of a regular advise. The GM will say who else you
Legacy game to End Game level? The need to hurt or sacrifice to assert control.
choice of playbooks determines a lot of Name who will step in to take over and
the feel, but it guarantees nothing – even purge their weakness.
an Untamed Uplifted can be made soft if a
player so wishes. It helps to pick any of the THE ENVOY
rogue’s gallery of Families & Characters in Mark when you approach your most
the next few Chapters to up the ante. Or vicious foes with a peace or alliance
you could just add the new Traitor Role to offering… behind your leaders’ back.
an ongoing story and let the squabbling Name a rising force among your foes who
begin. Unleash a Nightmare or Doomsday is ready to listen. The GM says who else
Clock upon the Homeland and watch the you will need to betray to seal this deal.
weak squirm, and don’t forget to bring in
concepts from the essays at the end of THE FIREBRAND
this chapter. Mark when you sacrifice the oppressed to
Still not enough? We have you raise your power across the Homeland.
covered. If you happen to find a player Name the leaders who come to listen to
grinning savagely at these slow increases in your principles. The GM will tell us about
pressure, you have just found a natural End those who have seen through your actions
Gamer. If you have a group, and they all and vowed bloody vengeance upon you.
want to play with this mindset, you can test
THE HUNTER
the waters with Non-Compliant: a stand
Mark when you hunt for the last exemplar
alone Quickstart available free online that
of a species. Tells us about the trophy you
has an unhealthy amount of this book’s
seek and the powers it grants. The GM
DNA. Good luck beating that scenario!
will tell us of your quarry’s lair - decide if
Still not enough? Time to start a
it is pristine, remote, or hostile.
campaign from scratch with all these
elements mixed from the get go. Best of THE MACHINE
luck, you will all need it. Mark when you embark on a genocidal
crusade. State your target and say what the
experience awakens in you: white hot fury
NEW ROLE: TRAITOR or lethal efficiency.
Perhaps you were never meant to be a
leader, or virtue has led you nowhere and THE PROMETHEAN
won you no medals. Whatever the case, Mark when you decide to hold the
the four main Roles might not suffice you. Homeland hostage. Describe the
For these desperate times, we present you doomsday weapon you built and make
the Traitor, ready to sacrifice honour and your demands. The GM will tell us of
trust for salvation. those who will rise against you
Characters should still retire when
THE REAVER
they fill their fourth Role, but now they
can adopt the Traitor at any point, in any Mark when you purge a bountiful land
combination with the other roles. of its inhabitants. Say who among your
Here are the Traitor moves for the Family turns a blind eye to your predations
character playbooks in Legacy: Life Among and moves in to exploit it. The GM will
the Ruins: say how the bloodshed curses the land.
8
The characters in Chapter 3 have
THE SCAVENGER
Mark when you hoard resources others TRAITOROUS BIT
desperately need. Describe your lair’s
defenses: is it well hidden, too dangerous, PLAYERS
or far out the way? The GM will say how You can also apply this Role to Quick
your hoard beckons to dark hearts and Characters:
monstrous foes.
TRAITOR
THE SEEKER When you betray kith and kin, hold 3.
Mark when you weaponise one of the Spend hold to gain access to: a critical
wasteland’s grand structures. Describe location, secret lore, a device that can be
the destruction it can unleash. The GM weaponised, or a leader in their moment
will tell us what you still need to operate of weakness. It must always belong to
it safely. your sworn allies, but for the last hold, to
be spent on your truest nemesis.
THE SENTINEL When you die, name an enemy that will
Mark when you let the wolves at the door relent on their aggression thanks to your
in. Name the critical tactical or strategic influence. Tell the backstory behind this.
advantage you get from your betrayal. The
GM will name two things you hold dear to
be ravaged by the attack, pick one.
THE SURVIVOR
Mark when you steer the thing you
survived towards your foes. Say how they
were never prepared for this. The GM will
tell us how it will rage out of your control.
THE UNTAMED
Mark when you bully the weak and
desperate into doing your bidding.
Say how they make you proud at the
eleventh hour. The GM will say how they
became stronger, enough to stand up for
themselves in the future.
9
CHAPTER 01: RULES FOR A FINAL END
NEW RULE:
NIGHTMARES
Groups often start the game feeling
overwhelmed by the variety of dangers
contributed by Threat Landmarks, History Cultivators: As a sign of the Fall, I’ll pick
and Backstory. This quantity is a sure way “A vast forest filled with calcified trees” –
to make sure that some of them don’t get around the ruins in the “deadly spores”.
proper attention from the players. GMs Guess what the deadly effects of the
might then let these Fronts fester and spores are!
unleash them in malicious fashion.
Valid, for sure. But as an alternative, Enclave: Hah! I’ll be a bit more
instead of scattering your Landmarks conservative: I’ll add “The research centre
around as independent items, you can that first understood the Fall’s root cause”.
return to an element of the map again and I guess the calcifying death spores caused
again using each subsequent Landmark the Fall.
choice to add extra detail and depth. Try
to pool your choices together so the map Merchants: Having fun there? I’ll add
ends up with no more than 3 locations or variety to the map with “A business
settlements / factions. The Homeland will district, undamaged and devoid of life”
suddenly feel much more claustrophobic around the “sombre building” and
and challenging. isolating the “calcified trees”. That can be
where we live.
EXAMPLE OF THREAT CREATION
We’re playing with the three first Cultivators: Alright, now we’re at Threats.
Families from core Legacy: Cultivators, I’ll start with “A plague too efficient and
Enclave and Merchants. Not your first dreadful to be natural” - the spores never
choice for an End Game, right? Good. really stopped spreading. I’m thinking
They start adding Before Landmarks that business district is full of quarantine
to the map: zones, plague doctors and the like.
Cultivators: I’ll put “Ruins filled with Enclave: Cool – but I don’t want to just
deadly spores” on a far off corner of the be dealing with evil fungus. Let’s add
map. some Factions. How about “A crude tribe
of raiders using advanced tech” living
GM: Nice. Let’s build that area up a bit! outside the drawn area?
Enclave: Cool, I’m picking “A secret Merchants: I like it! Let’s flesh them out
research centre full of untamed wonders”, a bit - I’ll pick “Cannibalistic raiders who
and I think I’ll apply that to the ruins have refused all attempts to negotiate”.
mentioned above. The spores are what’s The “crude tribe” now is aggressive and
keeping the wonders a secret! cannibalistic, too.
Merchants: Hmm. “A huge and sombre The Families end up pinned in a corner
building where the fate of nations was of the map, with a vast Wasteland
decided” could describe that ruin too, but around them haunted by a ferocious
it seems like a stretch. I’ll put it close to and resourceful enemy. They’d better
outer edge of the “deadly spores”. devise a coherent survival strategy!
10
New Rule: Nightmares
DEEPER NIGHTMARES BUILDING A NIGHTMARE
Still not enough? Relax, we’ve got your fix GM: OK, we still have one step to go:
right here. this game’s Nightmare. Can you please
In addition to your regular each pick a further Threat, and we’ll
Landmarks, pick one extra Threat per combine them all together into something
Family and overlap them into a single monstrous and truly dangerous!
terrifying Front, a Nightmare. This
Nightmare explicitly can’t be beaten, only
endured and countered. Age after Age The players take a long silent moment
it still plagues the Homeland, forcing to assemble the engine of their own
Families to factor it into every decision. doom...
Every Quickstart released so far already
Cultivators: Do we want another
presented their Nightmares, though not
environmental threat? No, we currently
laid out explicitly:
have a pretty empty Homeland. So I’ll
One Hundred Years of Darkness.
change things up with “A pack of perfectly
The monsters in this scenario are utterly
designed predators”.
terrifying, but still just a by-product of
a much graver Nightmare: the death of Enclave: OK, with “A ruin where
light. How long can life be sustained in creations of science now rule”, we know
a world without the sun? When will the where the perfect predators lurk.
temperatures drop to absolute zero? The
GM has all the tools to simply crank up Merchants: Let’s add a twist! With
pressure until they break… or find a very “Privileged survivors hoarding knowledge
creative way around the issue. from the World Before”, they’re a pack of
Titanomachy. This shows a some- posthumans fully adapted to the post-Fall
what easier Nightmare to handle: the Be- reality. You wanted Factions, didn’t you?
hemoths! Whenever any of the Families
so much as blink, there will be yet another Time to carefully choose this Age’s
beast to draw their attention and consume Characters and their Roles. The
critical resources. As a deeply entrenched group decides that their best shot is
part of Hekaton’s ecosystem you can’t ex- to investigate and tame the Research
pect to easily extinguish all of them. And centre, so they form an intrepid team
what would be the consequences of try- of Cultivator Envoy, Enclave Machine
ing? and Merchant Scavenger – all Agents!
Non-Compliant. The aliens here Their skills, carefully complementing
are one hell of a Nightmare! You will suf- each other’s, are now explained by the
fer and throw everything at them, just to cooperative and strategic nature of
find out that they are a meagre task force their task.
of a galactic empire. More will come…
and this time they will be ready for you.
Got the picture, right?
11
To properly provide the pressure a
CHAPTER 01: RULES FOR A FINAL END
NIGHTMARE REACTIONS
Nightmare can inflict, we suggest kicking
off each Age with one Reaction for every It is still too early to make any assumptions about
Family. There can be other, more frequent, Homeland politics right now, but the GM guesses
triggers and more Reactions as Ages pass. that – at best – Families will become client states
Our menu of choice: of the Pack.
Reveal an unwelcome truth.
Against such large forces local victories As such, ideas for a general Reaction when the
may taste sweet, but do little to change the Age turns could be a tithe of 5-Tech (Take
bigger picture. There are always reinforce- away their stuff) or else the predations of hyper-
ments, continued resistance, or the threat advanced posthumans, meaning everybody gains
of the danger’s return. Need: Safety (Reveal an unwelcome truth).
Tell them the consequences and
ask. When dealing with something so
They’re using these to communicate that these
large, even small changes cause massive
creatures have all the toys the players lack and
ripples. Simply drop the bomb and let
most likely brought the Fall upon the world. The
them scramble.
Families will have to evolve before making any
Take away their stuff. Data and
moves, and the Pack is not likely to let it happen.
Tech are primary targets, but exterminate
whole Factions if you have to - it’s a good
way to take away hard earned Treaties, and That is not to say Nightmares can’t ever
display the Nightmare’s lethality. be beaten or tamed. A couple of well
Add a Need. Proven and tried placed Wonders might do the trick. But
method of inflicting general pain. Re- yes, we are talking about Ages of effort to
member the problem can worsen, and bring a Nightmare Front to its end. Once
have a secondary Need in place for those defeated, the scenario might even come to
who didn’t solve their previous Age issues. a close, as for the first time people have a
On the other hand, the same Need every chance of truly building a future together
Age can make a lot of sense in the Fiction, Of course, that’s if anyone survives.
but it will soon prove stale. Either change
the Need to show a difference face of the
Nightmare, or pile a second (or third... )
Need for a dreadful new Age.
Offer an opportunity, with or
without a cost. Clever players will appre-
ciate being given an opportunity to hold a
threat in place or travel to a distant land and
back, and thus begin work on The Tartarus
Site or The Age of Discovery.
12
New Rule: The Doom Clock
EXAMPLE OF DOOM
NEW RULE: THE
Let’s fast forward the chronicle we’ve been describ-
DOOM CLOCK ing above until the sorry moment all the Families
Other Powered by the Apocalypse games
decide not to pay the tithe demanded by the Pack.
use clocks liberally, often tied to fictional
development. They’re a really cool tool. Much has changed, sure. They made improbable
But what we propose here is a little alliances and impacted the Homeland in mean-
different. ingful ways. There are few blank spots left in
As shown in the Non-Compliant the map. Still, no one in the Homeland stands a
standalone quickstart, the Doom Clock shadow of a chance against those hyperadvanced
is best used when the precise time monsters! Did they decide to provoke the Pack’s
table is better left subjective, but there wrath out of complacency or out of overconfi-
must be real pressure for action. Family dence? It doesn’t matter.
moves consume time, and sometimes
time is scarce luxury. To provide that, As the Age turns, the GM sets up the Doom
use counters (an analogue clock, a pile Clock. 12 moves left, and then the Pack will sim-
of beads, or maybe lit candles), and after ply wipe out every human across the Homeland
every Family move remove one of the and cover the land with the calcifying Plague.
counters - if it goes to zero, the Threat
has won and whatever doom it could If the players are to survive, they must build 2
unleash comes to pass. Crucial victories Wonders to solve the issue. Total War? Obviously
may turn the clock back a few clicks, but a choice. But why not Tartarus Site or Race to the
any mistake advances it further - the key is Stars? Perhaps a Revolution or even The Great
that EVERY Family counts. Network to conquer the Pack through soft power.
For further agony, decide thresholds
at which disasters will strike the Homeland The Point is, building a Wonder will also count as
– themselves pale omens of the cataclysm a move, where they can at best invest 2 Surpluses.
to come. Describe rumour campaigns Do they have everything they need? No? Too bad.
that deprive them of assets and allies. The clock is ticking.
Deny them safe ports – there will be
increasingly few places to hide. Players
must understand the stakes and feel the
momentum building with every tick of
the clock.
13
CHAPTER 01: RULES FOR A FINAL END
14
New Rule: Nefarious Treaty
15
CHAPTER 01: RULES FOR A FINAL END
16
What happens when a character can’t Contemporary American culture is a
17
CHAPTER 01: RULES FOR A FINAL END
19
CHAPTER 01: RULES FOR A FINAL END
TRAGEDY
by Slade Stolar
THE FALL not everyone is looking for this kind of
We live among the ruins of a blighted drama in their game. Additionally, check
world of desperate families and with them periodically--after sessions
unlikely heroes. Under our feet, lie the is a good time. If there’s too much
stratified remains of a dozen civilizations misfortune happening, the stories can
that thought that they were the pinnacle become depressing. If there’s too much
of progress. What happened to them is of a push towards a specific tragedy, the
not well known. Were their ends tragedies game can become too pre-defined. We
or simple annihilations? have an Agenda and Principles that help
to guide us here. Don’t forget that you
STAGE TRAGEDY
need to both be a fan of the characters
Tragedy, as a dramatic form, shows us and play to find out what happens. In
a hero who refuses to change his (it is Legacy, we can draw tragic heroes from
typically a “he/him”) righteous course, among player characters, player families,
and is destroyed for his hubris. The effect and NPCs. Most games do not include the
that this kind of story has on the viewer is family as an additional role-played level, so
catharsis (a purgation, a vomiting away of this is a special opportunity. Once players
emotions). We, the viewers, are relieved of are invested in their families, you have
an emotional tension, which sometimes broadened the scope of your stories.
occurs via a realization (the anagnorisis). You start with good tools for
Oedipus rejects a prophecy and introducing tragedy into the lives of
searches for the truth, and is destroyed player characters. The players will typically
by the truth he finds. King Lear, because want to be virtuous, and those virtues
of his faith in two of his daughters, can lead to catastrophe when taken too
walks towards death. Macbeth seeks far. Families offer the most interesting
power through violence and is violently new opportunities for dramatic and tragic
overthrown. The kings of stage tragedy events. The family’s virtue is shared by
are led to their destruction by their pride the members of the community, as is
and noble intentions—their virtues are their fate when things go wrong. Some
taken to a deadly extreme. members of the community might warn
Something about the downfall of of danger and urge following a different
these tragic heroes is enjoyable. Something path, thereby hinting at inevitable doom.
about it resonates with us. It makes us feel What would be an internal conflict for an
more alive, if sadder and wiser. There is individual is broken open to let us hear
excitement in the acceleration towards multiple conflicting voices – after all, a
(and collision with) harsh realities and family is a group of individuals.
rigid systems of order. NPCs are the least interesting in
WE BAND OF TRAGIC HEROES this regard, because (primarily) the GM
The first question to ask is: “Do your decides the arc of their stories. Show any
players want their world to have tragic events?” tragedies of the NPCs briefly, so that the
As with all significant thematic decisions, focus of play can remain on the stories of
check with the players at the start. the players’ characters.
Tragedy is a powerful dramatic device, and
20
Pride can manifest itself at the family of your games of Legacy – it should be
TRAGEDY
scale in many ways. The Lawgivers of a powerful emotional note because all
the Wasteland vote to directly confront a of the players can see that it was both
superior enemy, and are destroyed. The inevitable and unfortunate. The downfall
Ascendant Afflicted investigate an unstable can even have ripples that travel into the
bio-science facility in search of a cure, and next age or series of games of Legacy set
unleash an epidemic on everyone else. in the same world.
The Uplifted Children grant mercy to an
unrepentant enemy, who returns to harm UPENDING THE CURRENT ORDER
them. In tragedy, it is essential that the characters
One principle of Legacy is asking fail meaningfully. The players might later
good questions (ask questions and use realize that, for the heroes to have won,
the answers). How do we know that this it would have required upending the
character is a hero? How much pride do moral order, the laws of physics, or the
they have? What are their noble qualities? permanence of nature. In a sense, we need
How might they take their pride and for our heroes to fail, because anything
virtues too far? Although these specific else would be even more offensive to our
questions need not be asked in pursuit of sense of logic, order, justice, etc. Again, we
tragedy, learning the answers is important are asked to be a fan of the characters in
for establishing this dramatic effect. a more complex and critical way, because
Additionally, allow those players who tell we treat them as fallible humans—with
you that they are not interested in being all of the frailty, pride, inadequacy, and
the centre of dramatic action to sit to the short-sightedness that entails. Avoid the
side. temptation to save the characters with
In a narrative-focussed game, we a deus ex machina, as it removes agency
have multiple heroic characters, perhaps from your players and robs them of the
with conflicting drives and desires. We catharsis of tragedy.
can help them to sharpen their pride and Alternatively, you can turn this
virtues by providing them with interesting trope on its head. The ancient theory
obstacles. We can give them opportunities was that catharsis is important for
to test their mettle as a group. Begin with emotionally cleansing the audience. The
challenging Hazards and Threats placed re-establishment of order in the final act
between the characters and their goals. reinforces the importance of the order
As sessions progress, zoom out to show of the world outside the stage. Tragedy
the full scale of Factions and Fronts. If shows us what the rules are and what pride
there is too much inter-player bickering, brings. As creative players and problem-
it can diffuse the drive towards tragedy solvers, we have a natural desire to rebel
– make sure that even if the players are against the imposition of order. There is,
turned towards each other’s throats the after all, no need to be bound by ancient
burgeoning tragedy continues to unfold in theories about what constitutes good or
the background. It can also be interesting correct storytelling. Sometimes, cancel the
to have the characters realize that they tragedy. Sometimes, frustrate catharsis.
will fail, and then play out that failure. In Let the players defeat the Nightmare with
games like this, failure should be just as no strings attached, and let them grapple
exciting as success – or, with sufficient with the problem of what they do with
sense of tragedy, even more exciting. their freedom.
If a story does end in tragedy –
either when The Age Turns or the end
21
TRAGEDY NECESSITATES BEING A even the end goal of a characters’ story.
FAN OF THE CHARACTERS It is certain to be fuelled by some kind of
If we are to be a fan of the characters, misguided good intention.
CHAPTER 01: RULES FOR A FINAL END
we should want to see them struggle but Once the means of world-wide
eventually overcome. If the characters fail obliteration have been discovered, they
at all tasks, large and small, the game will can be re-discovered. The Flame Deluge
become flat and miserable. Similarly, if the of Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz - a novel
characters succeed at all tasks, the game that reads like a one-player play report of
will be enjoyable only for the player who Legacy, complete with The Turning of the
just wants to see their own unchallenged Ages - can come again.
greatness. We use the dice results to Legacy offers several family and
provide a healthy balance of success and character playbooks that might drive
failure, but sometimes we don’t want toward plagues, war, ecological collapse,
characters to eventually overcome. When or robot rebellion. The Envoy delivers
we’re aiming for tragedy, we require a her family’s declaration of war against the
failure. Moreover, we requires the failure Watertown Triumvirate across the still-
to happen at the climax of the prideful pocked landscape of New Dakota. The
character’s (or family’s) story. How do we Machine uploads its personal learning
do we reconcile this with the principle algorithm to Nexus 713, who will soon
above? determine that the human colonies are
Several options exist for achieving causing too much pollution to be allowed
a tragic climax to a story arc. You can to live. Scientists of the Enclave of Bygone
resolve the following ideas using dice or Lore angrily triple-check their calculations
fiat (i.e., having the player narrate their as their last crop of cabbages grows the
character’s downfall when The Age same rot of purple fuzz. The Servants of
Turns). The family might be partially the One True Faith pray in the dim glow
damaged, removing important characters, as their Shepherd turns the red key: Boron
knowledge, or resources. The character or control rods rise and the lands begin their
family could be offered a noble sacrifice process of holy purification.
(perhaps removing the character or family, Sometimes, beauty can arise from
or significantly re-working them in any themes of doom and destruction –
following ages). The character or family Picasso’s Guernica, Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove,
could avoid tragedy at the last moment (i.e., Yeat’s Second Coming. The harsh contrasts
letting the dice decide whether the character between expected peace and visited
or family meet a tragic end or not). chaos in these works offer us synthesis:
The final session is a great simplification, a tying together of loose
opportunity for chaos, mayhem, and ends, collapse, a calm. Great art and great
destruction. A Shakespearian ending is storytelling have fertile ground here.
usually memorable. Let your tragedy lie in recognition.
In anagnorisis, we identify not only who
THE SECOND FALL IS COMING we are, but what we are. Humanity is its
We have been looking at family- and own worst enemy and only true natural
character-scale downfalls until this point, predator. Our willingness to destroy
and have ignored the central event that ourselves the first time tells us that we can
anchors the world of Legacy, namely, destroy ourselves once again, unless we
The Fall. Some players and characters can break from our nature. But that’s not
will be interested in finding out what who we are.
caused The Fall, and others will not. If it Give them temporary comfort.
is something that holds interest, finding Then, show them that they will be world-
out what caused The Fall could become killers again.
an important goal of your story –indeed,
22
New Rule: Nefarious Treaty
23
CHAPTER 01: RULES FOR A FINAL END
24
by giving them the (human) resource While playtesting the Non-
25
the narrative to benefit my Family. Rolling Synergies by themselves don’t mean
CHAPTER 01: RULES FOR A FINAL END
for Long Memories, I gain more leverage much if not directed to the narrative flow
over the shared narrative: with a secret of of the game. The opportunities created by
the faction and a secret of their enemies, them should set the world into motion,
I have the opportunity to create another one chapter after the other. Think outside
faction and populate the world once again. the box not just for the Fiction, but also
With this I’m preparing for my next family in rule terms. A word isn’t always what it
move: another Uncover Secrets about means. If you stretch the ruled meanings
the court’s enemies. Last but not least, you’ll find unusual ways of dealing with
if my roll was a 10+ I could say how my the narrative.
character has helped the faction’s leader Building synergies is more than just
or enemies. And this is another time to creating opportunities to throw yourself
be creative and activate the Elite’s shiny into the spotlight, commanding the drama,
Alliance Move: “Whenever a family or and rolling all of your dice with advantage.
faction realises your character personally It’s about setting a plan in motion, an
played a key role in their history, gain engine whose pieces were chosen in
1-Treaty on them”! advance and meant to be precisely there,
Fragile Alliances work similarly, but just like that.
are an investment into future events and
reputation. The Envoy acts like a glue that
binds many groups together to work on
a task. Let them face that worldbreaking
threat you wanted to evade or the one
you just created with Long Memories.
In any case, people will remember who
lead them to this pivotal moment in their
history. That’s when you pull the strings
of the fiction to activate your Alliance
Move again and again: that “key role” your
character played in their history needn’t
have been a “good” action at all.
26
asymmetric warfare: pick targets where
STRATEGY
STRATEGY you have superior force. Use your Data to
reveal poorly-defended stocks, monsters
By Norman Rafferty with vulnerabilities to your weapons,
In a long running campaign, the players or places where you can cut of lines of
will be seeking out their own objectives. communication and supply. Pay attention
How they go about their strategy to get to your gear, and what your resources
what they want is up to them. In Legacy, are. (Short range or long range? Limited
fortune favours the bold … but a little ammunition or renewable resources?
strategy can help, too. Superior numbers or superior training?
Etc.) Play to your strengths.
FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BOLD: Remember that your target’s
TAKING THE INITIATIVE weakness are your strengths. If your
If you want to gain ground, you’ve got to targets have needs such as food or ammo,
move forward. Sometimes, there can be you can attempt sieges or delaying tactics
so many options before you that you can to wear them thin. If they are lacking
get overwhelmed by all the possibilities. technology or intel, then your mere
Think about what rewards you can reap adequacy becomes an advantage. Put
while keeping your costs low. You’re not enough pressure on a foe to turn a supply
going to get anything interesting done if into a lacking need, and you may win the
you don’t move. So concentrate on things day by attrition.
that you can do that maximize reward You may have to make sacrifices.
while reducing risk. Near-hits may change a decisive victory
Declare that you will make a move into a costly one. Or you might discover
against one target, while secretly making something else that changes everything.
another. Families are large organizations, (A monster was buried here the whole
so you can use your Reach to get other time. The lost cache is polluted, volatile,
people to serve as diversions, feints, or or toxic. Or you fell for one of the other
false fronts as you go after a different families’ clever ruse, etc.) Be ready to
objective. Giant explosions, radio static, choose what you can lose. Obviously,
and diverted migrations can all look like surpluses can be the first to go, but you
signs of activity… but are just noisy may have to make a judgement on the
distractions for what you’re really doing. spot if you’re going after something you
You can also try to make an illusory really need.
show of force. Send out troops to make If you’re ruthless, it’s not too difficult
extra camp fires. Drag empty vehicles or to destroy things that you can’t have. You
drones to make your convoys look larger. can scuttle machines that you can’t take.
Deploy corpses, shells, or dummies of You can destroy roads, poison the water,
monstrous life forms in an area you want and salt the earth to prevent anyone from
your neighbours to stay away from. Leave using a zone that you don’t want them
unshielded cables to give the impression in. The world is already falling apart, so
an area is drawing more power than it you can just hasten the process. You’ll
should. At the very least, you’ll keep have to ask yourself what’s better: your
other families’ scouts busy trying to figure rivals having something, or no one having
out what you’re up to. At the best, you’ll something.
convince them that you’re strong where If you’re worried about reprisals, you
you’re weak, to your political advantage. can attempt to disguise your operation.
Generals of old talk about Avoid using your obvious surplus goods
27
– use stolen goods, unusual tactics, or to prevent a loss, then do so. There will be
CHAPTER 01: RULES FOR A FINAL END
28
You can add a lot of verisimilitude by
STRATEGY
WHAT THEY THINK VS. WHAT IS
making a list of names to assign to TRUE: MISBELIEF
NPCs in advance. (You can generate Legacy is game of deals, treaties, back-
lists in advance, too.) Assign names to stabs, and come-uppance. Players may lie,
improvised NPCs at need – and note cheat, steal, coerce, connive, or demand
some important details, like who they all sorts of things to push their plans
are, what they were doing, and their forward.
personal agenda. You don’t need a lot of The player-characters are important
information, and since these are notes for people in the world. Their resources,
your benefit, you can just write down if abilities, and skills make them a force to
they’re an imitation of some celebrity or be reckoned with. And for the subterfuge
character you like (Drake, Janeway, Pearl, move to work – to falsify information –
etc.), to give yourself a handle, later. It’s a then the non-player characters in the world
game, use broad strokes. must react based on this new, mistaken
Whenever something is abstract in information. They may ignore healthy
the game, find a way to put a face on it. caches of resources, blame the wrong
Is the well tainted? Describe how Old people for crimes, and even blunder into
Hector is the first one to display signs a trap.
of the poison. Enemy agents moving As the GM, you may know that
through our turf ? Gillis could discover the New Path are the ones who dumped
that your unshielded power lines were benzene in the Eager Slough’s aquifer…
acting as an antenna, revealing voice but the non-player-characters may not
chatter from infiltrating spies! A new know that. When controlling the NPCs,
monster has moved in? Lucky Vanmost you can’t have them act on information
could come back from their last safari they don’t know.
with descriptions of strange footprints Even more importantly, not every
they found in the mud, etc. NPC knows the same thing. The settlers
Engaging lots of nameless enemies of Eager Slough may become convinced
may be the stuff of war, but it’s not that the Akane poisoned their wells, and
always the most compelling drama. Both they may get violent about it … and if
players and GM should look for ways any PCs interrogate them, they will say,
to put faces onto the struggle. When “Akane poisoned our wells!” That’s not
reaching out to families and to entreated true, but that’s what the people of Eager
allies, give a name and a personality to Slough believe. As a GM, you’ll have to
a leader, a liaison, or a contact. Take juggle the difference between the story’s
notes of who oversees what. Zoom in to truth, and what individuals believe is
discuss any parley or interactions – a near- going on.
hit result on a reach should be cause for To convince them otherwise, the
some tense negotiations. And by giving Players will have to try things like finding
names to leaders, we can now mourn the common ground, uncovering proof of the
losses of long-term confidants. (Or such New Path’s involvement, or maybe even
people could be captured, for enemies taking the blame just to restore the peace.
to interrogate or to ransom later. Such is Let the players find their own solutions to
what intrigue is made of.) find out the real facts of what’s going on.
If you make the players earn it, you’ll raise
the stakes and make the drama feel real.
29
them over. Giving aid to an NPC’s best
CHAPTER 01: RULES FOR A FINAL END
30
As the GM, you are often regarded we’re at the interesting part of intrigue,
STRATEGY
as the authority of what “the truth” of where players may have to spend Data or
the story is. When you present players put characters in risky situations to get to
with the information that “Teracom has the truth of the matter. Good plans – and
sent soldiers to Site Alpha”, it might lucky rolls! – will turn up information, and
never occur to your players that this was resources. And doing things is what makes
a diversion … because they may not know for an interesting game.
that diversions even exist in a game. Yes, Data is the game’s currency of
even though many players are willing to information, and there’s more than one
have their characters engage in subterfuge, way to get it. When the game is zoomed
it may never occur to them that the GM’s in on individual characters, a player can
characters can do the same. choose to be confrontational and use
a move to fiercely assault, which can
ELIMINATE THE IMPOSSIBLE; WHAT earn data while incurring terrible risk or
REMAINS IS THE TRUTH
consequences. Players can also conduct
You may also run into the opposite diplomacy, reaching out to the extended
problem: the players who ask far too network of their family to gain more data,
many questions. As the GM, you will which is a mix between the larger scale
have to strike a balance between what and the personal scale. When your game
the players can see that is obvious … and is zoomed out to the family level, a player
what will require a successful move. As can choose to scout for information.
GM, you can’t just shoot down questions Scouting doesn’t just manage surpluses
that your players ask with, “You don’t and needs, it also gains new data.
know.” Your players may get frustrated These moments – when the players
and despondent. Remember, you are their gain new data – should not just be flat
eyes and ears into this fictional world, points added to a reserve. As the GM,
you’re the key to describing what’s going find ways to reveal more details about the
on. It’s better to respond to questions by world, and hint that there are unknowns
telling players, “You don’t know, but what not in evidence.
are you willing to do, to find out?” Now
31
CHAPTER
02
The Ascendant Afflicted 36
The Bonded Pack 42
The Deathless Elite 48
The Doomsday Riders 54
The Evolved Survivors 60
The Eldritch Servants 66
The Failed Guardians 72
FAMILY
PLAYBOOKS
THE DEATHLESS ELITE
THE PLAYBOOKS
CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
THE ASCENDANT
CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
AFFLICTED
As the world around us burned, we burned from the
inside. Yet just as others learn to live with a world gone
mad, the pathogens that laid us low now coexist within our
bodies. We are the children of the White Horse, and just
as we won the war within, we shall win the war without.
A THREAT
TRADITIONS
Choose one from each, or make something • A cult of fanatical plague doctors.
else: • A savage nation, ready to invade.
Populace: the beloved dead arisen, fungal • A deadly fungus spreading from a
symbiotic hosts, vectors of a sentient single fruiting body.
pathogen.
A HAVEN
Style: filthy rags and mementos of
• A vast cryo chamber, surrounded
the lost, cancerous growths and visible
by glass and filled with fog.
mutations, the lab coats of those who
fought the pandemic in vain. • An ancient graveyard, lovingly
renovated.
Governance: viral hive-mind, cabal of
• A temple, repurposed to house
prophetic leaders, pack hierarchy.
the supercomputer that first
understood the scope of the
affliction.
36
The Ascendant Afflicted
37
CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
HISTORY RESOURCES
Then, ask the other Families: Pick two as Surpluses and take the rest as
Which of you helped stabilize the original Needs:
pathogen in the distant past? Give them • Recruits
2-Treaty.
Which of you had a prominent scion • Scavengers
contract the infection? You took them in,
ensuring their survival. Get 1-Treaty on • Medicine
their family.
Who among you hunted us like dogs in the • Leadership
past? When did you realized we could be saved?
Exchange 1-Treaty on each other as guilt • Land
and fear waxes and wanes.
DOCTRINE ASSETS
Choose one: Your character has a personal treatment
• Blight. At the beginning of every regimen that keeps the infection at bay. In
Age Transfer Surplus: Recruits addition, pick 3:
from any Family or Faction without
Surplus: Medicine to yourself. HOW DO YOU FIGHT?
• Adaptation. If you recover the body • Mono-filament flagella clouds (Far,
of your dead Character, add an extra Area)
Harm slot to your next Character
with a descriptor related to the cause • Overstimulated adrenal glands
of death. A Character can have only (Melee, Brutal)
one such extra Harm slot. • Microbial saliva (Ranged,
• Dormancy. At the start of each Aberrant)
age, gain 1-Data for each Family or
Faction without Surplus: Medicine as HOW ARE YOU DEFENDED?
their infected defect to you. • Hardened carapace (Utility, Tough)
LIFESTYLE • Swarm intelligence (Mantle,
Choose one: Comms)
• Nomadic. The newly-infected must • Boosted musculature (Implanted,
be cared for carefully over a few days Mobile)
of constant medical attention, but
this care gives characters 2-Armour HOW DO YOU TRAVEL?
against environmental hazards.
• Through vast tunnel networks
• Dispersed. Your people spread
(Land, Transport)
the contagion purposefully. Gain
Advantage when infiltrating other • Within massive symbiotic
factions. organisms (Land, Mighty)
• Settled. Enemies in your territory • Within aerodynamic restorative
become infected and slowly turn on cocoons (Air, Med Bay)
each other.
38
The Ascendant Afflicted
WHAT USEFUL EXPERIENCE CAN YOU BLOOD REMEMBRANCE
DRAW UPON?
When you commune with the infected dead,
• Epidemiologists (Quality 1, convert an instance of Surplus: Recruits
Diseases) into 3 Data as you dig deep into the
memories of the endless plague victims
• Asymptomatic carriers (Quality 1,
swirling in your bloodline.
Scouting)
If other families take part in the ceremony,
• Deathspeakers (Quality 1, they may convert Surplus: Recruits into
Genealogy) Surplus: Researchers, Scouts, Operatives,
Warriors, etc. as knowledge spreads like
an infection.
AFFLICTED MOVES
Pick two: ECLIPSE PHASE
They think they are in control? They have
no idea what you are capable of.
SURVIVE OR PERISH When you roll Subterfuge, gain one
Evolution is an imperfect and often extra thing your agents can achieve, even
violent process. Describe the Affliction’s on a miss. Also add the following options
first symptoms as a Harm slot descriptor, to the Subterfuge list:
and give it a Stat penalty of your choice.
• “They weaken their agents: turn
When anyone has any sort of physical
Surplus: Artisans, Scouts or
contact with you (including combat), they must
Scavengers into Surplus: Recruits.”
replace a penalty-free Harm slot with your
Affliction. You and anyone else infected • “They subvert social order: if
by your Affliction are immune to other the target has Surplus: Recruits,
pathogens. you can Erase a Surplus of theirs:
Motivation, Morale or Leadership.”
THE HORDE
Little by little it grows, from a pack to a
mob, and as the affliction spreads the GESTALT
horde slowly becomes an unstoppable There is strength in unity and clarity of
tide of flesh. purpose, and no one can hope to match
You can have multiple instances of yours. Welcome to the top of the food
Surplus: Recruits, as the masses of chain.
infected march to your beck and call. When your character melds the flesh and
This has several effects: bone of their Followers with theirs, form one
If you have 2 or more Surplus: Recruits, entity - an organic engine of destruction.
roll Claim by Force with Advantage. Sacrifice the Follower’s Quality to gain
When you roll 10+ on Claim by Force, Hold, 1-for-1. Spend this Hold to:
gain Surplus: Recruits as your fallen foes • Boost any Force roll to 10+
raise to join the infected horde.
Add the following to Claim by • Gain 3 Armour vs. one attack.
Force options: “The shambling horde
If all Hold is spent your Companions
takes the brunt of the damage: lose one
are dead, consumed to keep you alive.
Surplus: Recruits”
Otherwise, your companions can
disentangle safely and unharmed.
39
CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
40
The Ascendant Afflicted
41
INSPIRED BY SEAN ALAN MORGAN
CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
A HAVEN
• A boneyard adorned with your
ancestor’s trophies.
• The obelisk around which you
celebrate your holiest ceremonies.
• A winding trail leading ever higher
to a scenic summit.
42
The Bonded Pack
43
CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
HISTORY RESOURCES
Justified or not, everyone fears your practices. These are your key resources - you can
Take 1-Treaty on each other Family and have multiple instances of each. Take any
Faction. three of them as Surpluses, and take one
Then, ask the other Families: other as a Need:
Which of you shares our ancestry? Work • Hunters
out what is shared and how much you’ve
managed to preserve. Take 2-Treaty on • Scavengers
each other. • Spies
Which of you tried to wage war on us,
unprepared for our bloody retaliation? Work out • Leadership
what caused bloodshed and how peace • Scouts
was achieved. Take 2-Treaty on them.
ASSETS
DOCTRINE Your character always has a well-trained
Choose one: and loyal familiar. In addition, pick 3:
• Soul Riders. Your family can hijack
animals and see through their eyes. HOW DO YOU FIGHT?
Your Subterfuge actions can’t be • Hunting rifles (Far, Ranged)
traced back to you, but on a 7-9 your
familiar’s instincts cause issues. • Bows (Ranged, Silent)
• One Clan. You are never alone, but • Blades, fangs and talons (Melee,
the bonds binding your menagerie Elegant)
and your kin are respectful and distant.
Get advantage on Hold Together. HOW ARE YOU DEFENDED?
• Brothers to Beasts. Each family • Tactical armour (Camo, Armoured)
member is ritually bonded to a
chosen familiar. You can trade • Familiar’s senses (Mantle, Camo)
character harm and familiar Quality • Leathers and furs (Thermo, Tough)
loss, 1-for-1.
HOW DO YOU TRAVEL?
LIFESTYLE Your beasts have the Land and Mount
Choose one: tags. What else do they have?
• Nomadic. Your people can keep
• Speed (add the Swift tag)
pace with their familiars. When
moving through the wilds, no one • Strength (add the Mighty tag)
can find or outrun you. • Other movement (add Air or Water)
• Dispersed. Your people’s bonds stay
strong across vast distances. They • Intelligence (can follow complex
can always choose to see through commands)
each other’s eyes. WHAT FAMILIARS CAN YOU CALL ON?
• Settled. Your familiars keep watch
over your settlements and hunt • Wolf (Quality 2, Track & Hunt)
intruders. Interlopers in your lands • Falcon (Quality 2, Spot & Hunt)
must pay a bloody price, usually a
Need of the GM’s choice. • Large Dog (Quality 2, Keep Watch
& Track)
44
The Bonded Pack
PACK MOVES
Get Stalk the Land and pick one more: BLOOD HUNT
You have learnt to prowl and hunt with
your familiars - to bring down the weakest
STALK THE LAND prey first. When you roll 7+ on Subterfuge,
Bonded with their familiars, your rangers you can spend 1-Data to tie one of your
roam the land unseen and unchallenged. target’s Surplus to a specific character
When you gain one of your Key Resources, put within their organisation. If you can kill,
a token on the map. At any time you can incapacitate or recruit the character, they
reveal the marker to perform an action lose the Surplus.
appropriate to the surplus it represents:
• Surplus: Hunters. If there’s a battle
A MOUNTAIN TALLER
in their vicinity, you may give an
Your traditions would die with you should
involved Family or Faction Need:
you fall. The world would lose its soul, the
Recruits.
sun and moon would weep and the wilds
• Surplus: Spies. If someone
would burn. So you stand. When you roll
attempts diplomacy or espionage in
7+ on a Hold Together to fend off attackers,
their vicinity, you gain 1 Data.
give your attacker a Need of your choice.
• Surplus: Scouts. If you Uncover
Secrets in their vicinity, pick 2 details
to add to the map. If you put them
RITES OF THE MOON
Your people painstakingly reproduce
in an unexplored area, gain 1 Data.
every aspect of the rites handed down by
• Surplus: Scavengers. If a Family
your ancestors. They are the past and the
becomes Flush with Resources
future of the Pack - the chain that binds
in their vicinity, you gain the erased
every hunter to every familiar.
Surplus.
Once a marker’s revealed to the group, WHEN DOES YOUR FAMILY PERFORM
they’re vulnerable to attack: if they’re BONDING RITUALS?
wiped out, you lose the Surplus. You can • By the full moon.
move them with a few day’s notice, or
sooner by triggering Hold Together. • After great loss of life.
• When a new leader is chosen.
THE MENAGERIE
With each beast that joins the pack, its WHERE DO THEY NEED TO BE?
hunters multiply in strength. When you hold • On the top of a bare hill.
Key Surpluses, unlock these bonuses:
• On a clearing, deep in the woods.
• Surplus: Hunters. Add “Your
ambush is terrifying: gain 1-Treaty • Around a large bonfire.
on a witness’ Family” to the character When you gather under these conditions, you can
list of Fiercely Assault options. strengthen your bonds with your familiars.
• Surplus: Spies. Gain 1-Data on any Spend 1-Tech to gain Surplus: Hunters,
Familiar Face hit. Scouts, Spies or Scavengers.
• Surplus: Scouts. Gain 1-Data on
any Wasteland Survival hit.
• Surplus: Scavengers. Gain 1-Tech
on any Wasteland Survival hit.
45
When this careful management of
CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
46
The Bonded Pack
47
INSPIRED BY MARK HARDING
CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
THE DEATHLESS
ELITE
48
Immortality, the oldest human desire! Many have sought it through the
49
CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
50
The Deathless Elite
DOCTRINE ASSETS
Every Deathless Character starts with an All your character gear gains the precious
extra Move or +1 to a Stat, but they must tag - the item is precious beyond their
choose one: useful value and would be considered a
• Eternal Passion. Name an object princely gift. In addition, pick 3:
of their adoration - a person, a place,
a treasure. You would rather die than HOW DO YOU FIGHT?
see it harmed. • A blasting bronze staff (Melee,
• Echoes of the Past. Describe a set Ranged, Area)
of actions from the past and repeat
• Voice amplification necklace
it in ritual fashion whenever possible.
(Ranged, Aberrant, Area)
• Predators of Dust. Name one
thing you must take from others for • Rings of power (Melee, Brutal,
consumption. Area )
LIFESTYLE
You inhabit the Last Redoubt - a looming HOW ARE YOU DEFENDED?
and ominous fortress. Choose its main • Kinetic shield belt (Regal, Mantle,
feature: Hardened)
• Lords of the Domain. Your
Redoubt can always keep in an • State-of-the-art upgrades (Mobile,
internal threat imprisoned, or keep Implanted, Comms)
out an external threat. • Ornate power armour (Regal,
• The Haunted Castle. The Powered, Sealed)
Redoubt’s ghostly defenders
relentlessly hunt intruders. HOW DO YOU TRAVEL?
• Travellers of the Labyrinth. The • Death on Wings (Air, Swift, Turret)
Redoubt’s ever shifting halls can take
you to the dark places of this world • A land fortress (Land, Transport,
and beyond. Durable)
• A hyper bred charger (Land,
RESOURCES
Mount, Mighty)
Pick two as Surpluses and get the rest as
Needs: WHAT USEFUL EXPERTISE CAN YOU
• Defences DRAW ON?
• Bodyguards (Quality 2, Escort &
• Engineering Protect)
• Progress • Nurses (Quality 2, Treat & Care)
• Stewards (Quality 2, Manage &
• Leadership Purchase)
• Rare Materials.
51
CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
52
The Deathless Elite
ALLIANCE MOVE PLAYING THE ELITE
When another Faction or Family realises your Welcome to the 1%!
current character played a key role in their history, Each and every one of your
gain 1-Treaty on them. Characters is a clear expression of
the Elite’s power. They will be better
trained, equipped and served than anyone
INHERITANCE else… and with Life Everlasting, they
Elite characters gain +1 in Lore or Sway. will become recurring features of the
Quick characters pick one: Homeland’s history. So, think on the long
run - your Alliance move is based on that.
• Reanimator. Revive characters who This is a unique Family in which you
forfeit their Death move, at the cost don’t have the alternative of Dispersed or
of 1 Sway, minimum of -2. . Nomadic lifestyles! The Elite is defined
• Mercenary. In battlefields you roll by the Redoubt, where all their riches and
Familiar Face and Find a Path technology was supposed to be preserved
with lasting advantage. from the ravages of time and the touch
• Diplomat. You can spend 1-Treaty of man. Stay alert to its many fictional
to roll Familiar Face and Unearth opportunities, even (and especially) its
Forgotten Lore with fleeting flaws. Describe it in detail and drag the
advantage. action to its vast confines, where you have
• Chamberlain. When you roll Call a definite advantage - Black Celebration
for Aid you are considered to have goes a long way in setting this up. Also, it
a relevant backstory with every won’t be hard to notice the Redoubt is the
character. perfect spot for a Tartarus Site Wonder,
• Chauffeur. Gain advantage on which will focus the chronicle even
Defuse rolls while driving a vehicle further into the Characters, and give you
for someone. further advantage. And if a Family pinned
to a certain location troubles you, consider
the Age of Discovery Wonder where the
frontier is a new dimension found through
the Redoubt’s labyrinthine halls...
Finally, this is a moody and stylish
Family - play for keeps and chew the
scenery! They deserve no less.
53
INSPIRED BY SAM PHOENIX
CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
STATS BEFORE:
Choose one:
• A stern memorial to Before’s
If doomsday weapons were used greatest war.
against the monsters of the Fall:
• A vast and venerable military
Reach +2, Sleight 0, Grasp -2.
academy, sadly vandalized.
If doomsday weapons were widely • A holographic war room replaying
used by all sides of conflict during the doomsday scenarios.
Fall: Reach +1, Sleight 0, Grasp -1.
THE FALL
If doomsday weapons were never • A mighty underground shelter for
unleashed during the Fall: Sleight +2, civilians, savaged from the inside
Reach 0, Grasp -2.
• Borderlands turned into a
TRADITIONS
nightmare landscape by countless
Choose one of each, or create something battles.
else: • A mass of desperate and terrified
Populace: obscenely jacked up soldiers, refugees, streaming from the
pious engineers, elderly heroes of too wastelands.
many wars. A THREAT
54
The Deathless Elite
55
• An augmented reality overlay • Guardians. You vowed to secure
CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
showing the Homeland’s long lost these devices and use them as the last
beauty. resort to keep the world safe. Your
Characters gain lasting Advantage
• A huge warmachine, now home to
on Unleash Power and Unearth
a damn fine mess hall.
Forgotten Lore rolls when they deal
HISTORY with doomsday weapons.
Then ask the other families: • Defenders. Fortune favours the
Which one of you harbours the most heroic bold! When you fight a hopeless
veteran of the Homeland? Tell us about the battle or war, you roll the next The
battles they have won and those they have Age Turns with Advantage.
saved. We tell you how we were always
RESOURCES
there for them. We exchange 2-Treaty.
Pick two as Surpluses and take the rest as
Which one of you survived a siege thanks to
Needs:
us? Tell us when and where this siege took
place and we tell you of those who felt • Prestige
the weight of our wrath. Give us 2-Treaty. • Engineering
Which one of you holds a festival that is
key to our culture and values? Tell us about • Morale
the Festival and we tell you how it became • Defences
so important to us. We give you 2-Treaty.
• Transport
LIFESTYLE
Choose one: ASSETS
• Light Riders. Your column’s speed Riders Characters gain 2 extra tags on their
and endurance assures that no other Vehicles or Outfit. In addition, pick 3:
force can hope to keep up with you HOW DO YOU FIGHT?
- though you must secure a steady
energy supply for your vehicles. • Heavy machine gun (Ranged, Area,
• Armoured Knights. Your units can Brutal)
battle forces many times larger on • Missile launcher (Far, Brutal,
equal terms. The oppressed and the Elegant)
desperate know that and always seek
your help first. • Laser designator (Far, Area,
• Bunkered Artillery. Fear the Unreliable)
thunder! Those who march upon HOW ARE YOU DEFENDED?
you must first Hold Together or
gain Need: Morale. • CBRN war suit (Camo, Hardened)
• Tank commander uniform (Regal,
DOCTRINE
Comms)
Choose one:
• Destroyers. Depending on the • Military exoskeleton (Utility,
mission specs, your operations can Powered)
range from the blunt to the insidious.
HOW DO YOU TRAVEL?
Add “Inflict a Need on those in the
perimeter” to Doomsday Arsenal • Amphibious vehicle (Land, Water)
options.
56
• Troop carrier (Land, Transport)
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THE DOOMSDAY RIDERS
ALLIANCE MOVE PLAYING THE RIDERS
When you assault an enemy to save another Surely, if the world ended today you
Family or Faction, gain 2- Treaty on them. could count on the army to be the most
powerful and resilient player on the board.
They train and live for chaotic and hostile
INHERITANCE scenarios, where change and violence are
Riders Characters get +1 to Force or Steel. the norm, not the exception. They belong
Quick Characters can pick an Inheritance to the Fall.
Move: The Riders can portray the army like
no other Family, with depth and variety.
• The Cover of Night. When deep into Sure, you have the Enclave, but their toys
enemy territory under the cover of darkness are fragile and demand so much! Flyboys
or weather, gain fleeting Advantage and their expensive toys, right? Tyrants?
to attack one of: your foe’s local Anyone could play that game, as long as
command, their logistics supply, a they crave control and power. No, the
critical part of their defence. Choose Riders have the gear and the training to
two targets if you have the cover of carry on their mission into the apocalypse.
both darkness and weather. They are heroes in the classical sense
• Scorched Earth. When you unleash of duty, sacrifice… and an unhealthy
a campaign of fire, poison or radiation, disregard for the welfare of those around
choose if you want to create a them.
Hostile Ground or to erase a Surplus. We like to think that nuclear
• Shock & Awe. When you go on an armageddon is a Cold War trauma, but
all out Fiercely Assault, you always the danger persists to this day, in a variety
pick “You inflict savage, terrifying of shapes and degrees. Still, for all the
harm, frightening and dismaying destruction they unleash, the threat of
your foes” for free. their use carries even more weight. And
• Hearts & Minds. When you tend the Riders excel at this deterrence game.
to the needs of those affected by war, Theirs is a power of heavy consequences,
someone among them will tell you which brings fear to those who wield it
in confidence about: an incoming as much as those who oppose it. Their
attack, the location of a dangerous Doomsday Clock brings this delicate
foe, a spy among your ranks - GM’s balance of power to the table. And in a
choice. game also featuring one of End Game’s
• Razor’s Edge. Gain lasting Doom Clocks tension will raise to a pitch
Advantage when you Defuse or as the Riders take both clocks in account
Forge a Path driving or piloting before any action.
under extreme conditions. The Riders fit all bellicose Characters
like a glove, but no one better than the
Road Warrior. And if you want a social
Rider, well, the Saint is simply perfect!
Hope you have chosen Aid in Danger.
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INSPIRED BY JAMES ZWIERS
CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
THE EVOLVED
SURVIVORS
60
Once upon a time, cutting edge tech bled to the gutters
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CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
THE FALL
CREATING THE
• Extreme weather, somehow kept in
EVOLVED check.
STATS • Debris still raining down from
Choose one: orbit.
If the Before’s cutting edge tech was • Vast life support systems, now
the melding of man and machine: septic.
Reach -1, Grasp +2, Sleight 0
A THREAT
If the Before’s cutting edge tech was
• A cult worshipping the monsters
genetic grafting and remodelling:
below.
Reach -1, Grasp 0, Sleight +2
• A derelict corporation, on the hunt
If the Before’s cutting edge tech was for your body parts.
the unlocking of psionic powers:
• A new drug that links the addicted
Reach -1, Grasp +1, Sleight +1
to a monstrous intelligence.
TRADITIONS A HAVEN
Choose one of each, or create something
• A nightclub where all the fringe
else:
tribes gather to pounding rhythms.
Populace: criminals who embraced their
• A body workshop where you can
own prohibited tech, technicians from
become anything… for a price.
a doomed habitat, a band of rebels who
pushed tech beyond its ethical limits. • An underground temple offering
succour and solace to anyone who
Style: robes and neon jewellery, cloaks truly grieves.
and practical leathers, vivid body art and
little more. HISTORY
Then, ask the other Families:
Governance: the tyranny of an inhuman Which one of you uses our tech in rites and
creature, a council of runaway AIs, priests ceremonies? They say how, and you gain
worshipping an alien artefact. 2-Treaty on each other.
LANDMARKS
Which one of you did we guide into the dark
Draw a sign of one from each category on places of the world? They describe the dark
the map, or invent your own: secret they learned there, and give you
2-Treaty on them.
BEFORE Which one of you hunts the monsters that plague
• A souk of forbidden technology. us? They describe their chosen hunters and
their sacrifices, and get 2-Treaty on you.
• A den of perversity and vice.
• A sprawling hive of tunnels and
vast chambers.
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The Evolved Survivors
DOCTRINE
Your Doctrine must differ from Before’s
ASSETS
cutting edge tech (defined in Stats). Your Character can always have a tool
Choose one: or secret to help evade the monsters. In
• Machine Monks. Your people have addition, pick 3:
a virtual temple accessible with a HOW DO YOU FIGHT?
moment’s meditation. So long as you
keep no secrets from each other, get • Monster-hunting chainsaw (Melee,
advantage on Uncover Secrets and Brutal)
Hold Together. • Reinforced bones (Melee, Hidden)
• Bio-Commandos. For a new, • Psychic amplifier (Ranged,
horrifying world, an upgraded Aberrant)
human species. Your upgrades mean
HOW ARE YOU DEFENDED?
that your people can oppose forces
many times larger on equal terms. • Decaying power armour (Utility,
• Psychic Warriors. You’re veterans Powered)
of a shadowy war for the fate • Boosted muscles (Implanted,
of mankind. Gain advantage on Mobile)
attempts to pry secrets from minds • A cloak of nanoparticles (Camo,
and places using your powers. Mantle)
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64
The Evolved Survivors
MONSTER HUNTERS PLAYING THE
When monsters or behemoths threaten
the Homeland, your misfits and pariahs EVOLVED
prove their worth. When you Tool Up and/ The Evolved Survivors will surely surprise
or Zoom Out, you may pick one extra you at some point, both in game and in
choice. fiction. You may think you have figured
Also, when you Power Up, you can burn them out, and then you’ll realise how
Darkness instead of Tech. you can reshape them into a new and
completely unexpected form. The theme
that connects all these disparate builds is
ALLIANCE MOVE the lot of those who survive at any cost.
When you share your secrets with another Family Each version of this Family differs from
or Faction, gain 1-Treaty on them. the others, because each has sacrificed
something different to adapt: their culture,
their bodies, their hope for a peaceful life.
Keep in mind that the Evolved have
INHERITANCE not only survived the worst of the Fall,
Evolved characters get +1 to Lore or
they now thrive in the Homeland’s most
Steel. Quick Characters pick one:
pernicious and dangerous areas. They
Labyrinth Runner: You always know live under the shadow of threats most
when monsters are coming, and they fear would cower from, if they only knew
you for that. they existed. In game it’s Dwellers in
Darkness that gives an Evolved player
Fixer Witch: With a few hours’ work you the ultimate tool to manage all this risk:
can heal all minor harm from synthetic narrative control. By dictating the terms
beings and/or one critical harm box from of threats, they can exploit or avoid them,
organics. according to the Family’s strengths. Like
the Order of Titan, you will be in the thick
Machine Mind: If you connect your of problems that would never exist if not
brain to Devices and the infrastructure, for your intervention in the first place -
gain 1-Data on an Unleash Power hit. meaning you will be either passionately
loved or hated by your fellow players, with
Veil Wizard: When you conjure digital
no room for mild opinions.
ghosts and other remnants of the past,
They come loaded with their own
you have lasting Advantage to Find
particular fiction, which perfectly matches
Common Ground with them.
the Deathless Elite (and the Prodigy &
Storm Rider: When you commune with a Hellion pair) in nightmarish scenarios.
place of power its energy bursts free and Though I’d personally recommend a
does roughly what you wanted, but there Evolved Outcast for your first Character,
are always unintended side effects decided if you want someone tough and moody.
by the GM. In any case, pay attention to Rebel starter
Roles, in order to deal with their usually
problematic governance.
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THE ELDRITCH
SERVANTS
We were the last myths of an age - studying and
serving things most believed were simply impossible.
Then the stars aligned and the world Fell to the
eldritch powers. Our survival was assured back then…
we were not madmen and cultists, but visionaries.
Now? Now, all bets are off.
LANDMARKS
CREATING THE Draw a sign of one from each category on
ELDRITCH the map, or invent your own:
BEFORE
STATS
Your starting stats are Reach 0 Grasp 0 • An isolated and ancient town, your
Sleight 0. refuge.
Choose what the Eldritch Powers are: • A primeval temple for bloody
Behemoth gods older than time: you sacrifices.
always roll Reach with Advantage. • An urban hellhole for the poor and
shunned.
Monstrous species from the world’s
THE FALL
secret places: you always roll Grasp with
Advantage. • A cyclopean temple that invaded
our reality.
Dark forces from beyond this world:
• A rift connecting this timeline to
you always roll Sleight with Advantage.
the end times.
TRADITIONS • A city whose population was
Choose one of each, or create something whisked away to an unknown plane.
else: A THREAT
Populace: the jaded and cynical rich from • A memetic virus spreading insanity
yore, outcasts from an ethnic minority, and devotion.
scientists or artists driven insane by occult
• A sentient disease, bent on
findings.
conquering this biosphere.
Style: As you’d expect from your Populace, • Temporal hunters from an
but either immaculate or dishevelled. advanced timeline.
A HAVEN
Governance: Your true masters are
something different from your rank and • A mirror maze where angles bloom
file. When you pick a Doctrine option, into impossible complexity.
also pick one of the other two to be your • A summit temple where sunset
masters. For example, if your Family is blazes in tones of jale and ulfire.
mainly Arcane Cultists, their true leaders
may be Monstrous Servants or members • A fungal forest where mystics search
of a Twisted Bloodline. for psychedelic enlightenment.
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The Eldritch Servants
67
• Settled. Your settlement is an
CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
HISTORY
Each other Family or Faction discloses expression of the Endless City, just
their stance in the shadow war: fleetingly touching this plane. You
can perform a ritual to make your
Devoted: They say what secret practices
settlement disappear under the cover
they hold to honour the Eldritch Powers.
of night or mist, just to reappear
You say how they are rewarded. You give
somewhere else on the map.
them 2-Treaty.
Infiltrated: They say who among their RESOURCES
people worship the Eldritch Powers. You Pick two as Surpluses, and take the rest as
tell us how. Exchange 2-Treaty. Needs:
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The Eldritch Servants
WHAT USEFUL EXPERTISE CAN YOU INSANE WONDERS
DRAW ON?
Once the Enlightened Madness sequence is
• Inquisitors (Quality 1, Exposing complete, you gain the infused quality as
heresy) a Surplus. When used in a Wonder, this
• Legates (Quality 1, Enforcing the Surplus can replace any of its regular
hierarchy) requirements – tell us how the project was
warped in eldritch ways.
• Magistrates (Quality 1, Negotiating
compromises)
ENDLESS CITY
Your domains extend to secret places
ELDRITCH MOVES beyond this world, into an infinite city of
Take Enlightened Madness and pick one more: arcane design. Chose two sectors from the
Endless City and place them on the map:
ENLIGHTENED MADNESS
You have a ritual that’s complex, time- • A Bizarre Bazaar
consuming or costly; describe it. When you • A Defiled Temple
perform it, the gaze of the Eldritch Powers • A Secret Street
is drawn to the world. The next time your • A Den of Vice
Family or Character discards a 1, 2 or 3 • An Arcane Library
thanks to Dis/Advantage, place it in one • Corrupted Gardens
of these slots: • The Ancestral Home
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70
Regarding the new Resources you bring to
FAITH WEALTH
Surplus: your people worship the Eldritch Surplus: let peasants hoard scraps and
Powers openly through ceremony, altars food, you have the means to have anything
and dogmas. It grants them resolve in you desire.
front of adversity and unity in purpose.
Need: your people’s harvest might be
Need: your people feel the might of the bountiful, or your goods might be the best
Eldritch Powers and the cost of their in the Homeland, yet still you know you
displeasure. It is not a measure of low are no more than peasants and simpletons.
morale, but how can they ever hope to win
a war against gods?
LORE ECHOES
Surplus: no matter how advanced or alien Surplus: your genetic code bends to the
the Eldritch Powers are, you understand will and magic of the Eldritch Powers - as
them with the depth of a science. you serve, so you have been rewarded.
Need: to your people, the Eldritch Powers Need: your form shifts and bulges as the
are simply unfathomable. Eldritch Powers’ curse wreaks havoc into
your genetic code.
PRIDE
Surplus: your people stand tall in face MIRAGE
of the Eldritch Powers, for they harness Surplus: no matter how mystifying reality
their power and bargain with them on appears to be, you keep a veneer of
seemingly equal terms. civility. Your pain and anguish may howl
on the inside, but you have quenched it
Need: your people understand how with nihilism and a fierce will.
primitive and insignificant they are in the
face of these elder beings. They might Need: You have accepted how utterly
even believe in victory or resistance, but incomprehensible reality really is. Why
they know they don’t deserve it. bother keeping appearances and deceiving
yourself ?
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INSPIRED BY ALEXANDER SHVARTS
CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
LANDMARKS
CREATING THE All your Landmarks are secret. Write the
GUARDIANS GM notes describing the location of one
from each category, or invent your own.
STATS At the beginning of each Age, secretly add
Choose one: a threat on the map and explain to the GM
If the Guardians had contingencies how it is an expression of the Seed.
in place for the Fall: Reach -1, Grasp 0,
BEFORE:
Sleight +2.
• A computation centre where the
If the Guardians failed to predict and comms flow used to be monitored.
prepare for the Fall: Reach 0, Grasp -1, • A bunker hidden under the rubble
Sleight +2. of a mighty command centre.
If the Guardians had weaponised the • A facility destroyed by Before’s
Seed of the Fall: Reach -1, Grasp +1, cutting edge tech research.
Sleight +1.
THE FALL
The Seed is left for you to define, but • The ground zero for a WMD
it should be something that fits as unleashed upon civilians.
the root cause of your group’s Fall. • A perfectly preserved death camp.
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The Eldritch Servants
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CHAPTER 02: FAMILY PLAYBOOKS
HISTORY DOCTRINE
Then ask the other families: Choose one:
Which one of you did we cultivate as • Dogs of War. You fight those who
a backup force? Tell us about when you prey upon the lingering remnants
became aware of our interference. We of Humankind. When you target
exchange 2-Treaty with each other. them, add “Erase one of the target’s
Which one of you fought as our proxy Surpluses” to the Subterfuge list.
against the Seed? Tell us how the experience • Hellhounds. You fight the Seed still,
scarred your people forever and we tell and only your research on cutting
you the horrible fate we averted. We give edge tech can give you an edge.
you 2-Treaty. Your Characters can Power Up, and
Which one of you do we provide with the Family can use Information is
critical intel and assets? Tell us about those Power.
among you who are unaware of this • Watch Dogs. You failed to protect
relationship and we tell you why it must the Homeland once - you won’t be
remain a secret. Give us 2-Treaty. caught unaware ever again. Add
“Gain 2 of their Data, stolen
LIFESTYLE or copied… your call!” to the
Choose one: Subterfuge list.
• Nomadic. You always know when
someone adds a location to the RESOURCES
map using Uncover Secrets. Spend Pick two as Surpluses and take the rest as
1-Data to show up in numbers at Needs:
that location, as if you were just • Prestige
waiting nearby.
• Dispersed. You live double lives • Justice
hidden in each of their communities. • Safety
The clue you leave behind on a
Subterfuge 7-9 result points to • Defences
internal betrayal in the targeted • Morale
Family or Faction - expect a witch
hunt!
• Settled. No one can tell precisely
where the borders of your territory
start and end - write the GM a
note with its exact locations. When
someone invades your perimeter,
you can always have evidence of two
of: their identity, their location, or
the time of the breach.
74
THE FAILED GUARDIANS
ASSETS
Guardian characters have means to
GUARDIAN MOVES
secretly communicate with the rest of the Take two:
Family; give it two from instant, safe, or
long-ranged. In addition, pick 3: SMOKE AND MIRRORS
You have infiltrated every Family &
HOW DO YOU FIGHT? Faction in the Homeland. Choose an
extra thing your agents achieve on any
• Holstered pistol (Ranged, Silent,
Subterfuge hit.
Hidden)
If Build the Future is in play (see
• Fighting dagger (Melee, Silent, Legacy: The Engine of Life), when you
Elegant) invest a Surplus to build a Wonder you gain
• Sniper rifle (Far, Silent, Elegant) pick two extra options from any list. If
not, when anyone else invests their first Surplus
HOW ARE YOU DEFENDED? in a Wonder, gain 2-Treaty on them.
• Armoured clothes (Utility, Tough)
A WILDERNESS OF MIRRORS
• Infiltration gear (Camo, Comms) All secret agents use your techniques.
• Experimental hazmat suit (Utility, Whenever anyone gains Surplus: Spies, gain
Hardened) 2-Treaty on them. As long as your camps keep
training recruits, gain Surplus: Spies at the
HOW DO YOU TRAVEL? beginning of every Age.
• Black helicopter (Air, Transport)
THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
• Extraction vehicle (Land, Swift) You have administrator rights to a secret
• Armoured car (Land, Durable) cyberspace, still active from Before. With
a short authentication ritual, you can
WHAT USEFUL EXPERTISE CAN YOU communicate safely and instantly with
DRAW ON? others sharing the cyberspace across the
• Local Assets (Quality 2, navigating Homeland. Tell us about those that haunt
the terrain and one other defined by it still and the scars it bears from the Fall.
the GM). When a contact pledges to support the war
on the Seed, you may grant them entrance
to the cyberspace. Those within can spend
1-Treaty on you to gain fleeting Advantage
on Conduct Diplomacy rolls targeting
other members of the cyberspace.
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The Eldritch Servants
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CHAPTER
03
The Foundling
The Hellion
82
86
The Herald 90
The Martyr 94
The Road Warrior 98
The Warlock 102
CHARACTER
PLAYBOOKS
THE HELLION
THE PLAYBOOKS
CHAPTER 03: CHARACTER PLAYBOOKS
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THE PLAYBOOKS
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INSPIRED BY BRIAR CHAPPELL
CHAPTER 03: CHARACTER PLAYBOOKS
THE FOUNDLING
The feral child, raised among wolves. The changeling child,
raised among people. The xenophile who can only under-
stood the strangeness in themselves among alien kind. The
atavist who has lost a part of what made them human and
turned to less human company. Whatever you are, you were
lost and then were found.
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The Foundling
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CHAPTER 03: CHARACTER PLAYBOOKS
84
member of your Family. They still have
The Foundling
CRYPTID
Your bond is a subtle, haunted one. At ties to their Family, of course, but their
least one member of your tribe may always Tribe is another major force in their lives.
go unseen, unnoticed, or unrecognised in When you make this character, you’ll
your company. You can communicate with likely have an existing group in mind
them subtly and silently, and if you use already to act as your tribe. Even so, this
Under Orders with a covert companion is going to be your group’s chance to see
in this way, they can only be detected that group in a new light, from the eyes of
if you select “There’ll be unfortunate someone who sees them as family. Jump
consequences”. on that opportunity, and encourage the
other players and the GM to help you give
nuance and hidden depths to the tribe.
INHERITANCE
The name of the playbook may put
Gain a quick character move from your
you in mind of a child abandoned – or
family or your tribe.
captured – as a kid and raised by the tribe,
but there are other directions you can take
this playbook. Maybe they’re the child of
HARM a union between parents from each group,
□□ Rescued by your tribe trying to navigate their mixed heritage. Or
maybe they made friends with the tribe in
□□ Drawn away
adulthood, and develop a strange kinship
□□ Feral (Cut off from your family) with them?
□□ Lost (Cut off from your tribe) If you’re moving a character to this
playbook after The Age Turns, perhaps
□□ Forsaken some tragedy upset their life and caused
them to feel more at home in another
group –or a strange mutation altered
DEATH MOVE them enough that they felt kinship with
When you mark off your Forsaken box, monsters or aliens?
decide which side you finally choose. If As for the playbook’s moves, you
you return to your family, spirit broken, have a choice: will you be a diplomat with
say what way you change your family to Kith and Kin and Ambassador? Will you
match the tribe and shift their Doctrine be a leader with Summoner and Cryptid?
or Lifestyle to one of your tribe’s options. Or will you work miracles with Catalyst
If you vanish among your tribe, become and Changeling?
the face of a GM threat and name an Finally, there’s harm and death. You’ll
individual/group/institution your tribe notice they don’t deal with physical harm
will always watch over… or hunt. You at all. It’s not that injury doesn’t happen to
may also decide which group others must you, but more that it’s not as important in
visit if they hope to trigger your Eulogy. the fiction as the state of your relationship
with your two loyalties. These mechanics
are there to tell that story, but you should
PLAYING THE still remember that any injuries you pick
FOUNDLING up should be respected in the fiction.
The Foundling strains one of the core
rules of Legacy: that your Character is a
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INSPIRED BY ROSE DAVIDSON
CHAPTER 03: CHARACTER PLAYBOOKS
THE HELLION
What can you do?
With a brat like that always on your back
What can you lose, lose? - The Ramones, Beat on the Brat
LEADER
STATS
Choose one: Mark when you vow to protect a gang or
family. Say who or what is haunting them.
• Force -2, Lore +1, Steel 0, Sway +2 It will never see you coming.
• Force -2, Lore 0, Steel +1, Sway +2
AGENT
• Force -1, Lore +1, Steel 0, Sway +1 Mark when you are sent against monsters.
State two facts about them. The GM will
LOOKS secretly decide which one is true.
Choose one of each:
Masculine, feminine, ambiguous, concealed. REBEL
Gas masked face, dirty face, wicked face, playful Mark when you radically change your
face. clothes and hair style. Say what you are
Goggles, mischievous eyes, mysterious eyes, angry about, and the GM will tell you
naughty eyes. who’s drawn to start following you.
Chubby body, deformed body, slender body, supple
body. OUTSIDER
Mark when you return home. Tell us
BACKSTORY about the dark forces that kidnapped you.
Ask for a volunteer for at least one: The GM tells us about the place of your
• _________ gave me shelter when I captivity.
was a runaway. PROPHET
• _________ knew my real parent(s). Mark when you have a plan to heal a
wound in the world. Say what are you
• _________ is also haunted by
ready to sacrifice to do it. The GM will
monsters.
point where you need to go - it will be
either harsh, deadly or crazy distant.
GEAR TRAITOR
Add 1 to the Quality of a group of your Mark when you invite wicked things
Followers when you Zoom In. into the Homeland. Tell us who they
will bring ruin to. The GM says what in
them surprises the heck out of you: their
numbers, their wickedness, their power.
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The Hellion
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88
Pick one more from the following. They are 1-Quality Companions with 5
The Hellion
Loyalty. When you would take harm in their
THE TREE HOUSE presence, or when they would lose Quality, you
You have a secret place where you feel safe. can instead lose 1 Loyalty.
It’s yours and it’s cool and not everyone can When you spend some quality time with
get in. Choose two and tell us about it: them, recover 1 Loyalty. If they ever reach
• It’s difficult to reach, even to you. 0 loyalty they are either dead or driven
away. It’ll take a long time to replace them,
• It’s hidden from everyone, even
and you must choose someone else from
monsters.
the list above.
• It’s stocked and spacious - call the
gang in! INHERITANCE
• It’s safe - you need the password to Get one of your Family’s Inheritance
get in. moves.
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INSPIRED BY SEAN DUNCAN
CHAPTER 03: CHARACTER PLAYBOOKS
THE HERALD
What do you desire? To find every scrap of lore left behind
on the symbols and stories of the World Before. To immerse
yourself in them, to let them all wash over you... until some-
one else stares back from the mirror.
HERO
CREATING YOUR Something must be found, rescued or
HERALD conquered. Shift to this role when you
take on the quest to find it, and add +2
STATS to Force or Steel. Say how your family will
You have 0 in each, plus your Family bonus. suffer if you fail.
LOOKS ANTIHERO
Choose one from each: A terrible threat must be confronted. Shift
Androgynous, transgressing, concealed. to this role when you draw first blood, and
Sardonic glances, cold stare, piercing gaze. add +2 to Sway or Steel. The GM says what
Menacing aura, peaceful aura, haunted aura. you’ll have to sacrifice to overcome it.
Husky voice, mellow voice, raspy voice.
TRICKSTER
BACKSTORY Shift to this role when you trick a figure
Ask for a volunteer for at least one: of authority, and add +2 to Lore or Force.
• _________ and I met at a secret Tell us why your family is complicit in the
crossroads, hunting for lost authority’s injustices.
knowledge.
• I loved _________ before, under a THE MARTYR
different name. Shift to this role when you need to
• _________ is helping me usher in suffer terribly so others may live. When
my full potential. you surrender to pain, add +2 to Sway
or Force. The GM says who is changed
by your sacrifice: your tormentors,
those under your care, or the privileged
GEAR witnesses. You tell us how.
When you Zoom In, describe the icon
you’re hunting and gain 1 Data to use on THE VILLAIN
finding their memorabilia. Shift to this role when someone needs to
be brought to heel. When your methods
to do so appal your Family, add +1 to any
ICON MOVES two stats. The GM will tell us about the
Choose the kind of icon you’re emulating at
innocent who embraced your wicked ways
character creation instead of a role:
for good.
MENTOR
When you shift icons, lose all stat raises and
Shift to this role when you act as a mentor
charges. You do not increase a stat or
for a prodigy, and add +2 to Lore or Sway.
gain a new move, but do apply the stat
The GM says what the homeland hopes
raise from the Icon. You may regain the
they’ll accomplish.
previous role at a later point.
90
The Herald
91
Start with one of the moves below. Spend 5
CHAPTER 03: CHARACTER PLAYBOOKS
LOCAL HERO
Get an Inheritance move from your
Family. Take a new one each time you
shift icons.
92
The Herald
HARM PLAYING THE
□□ _________ HERALD
This is without a doubt the oddest Playbook
□□ _________
in Legacy! And also the most flexible, as you
□□ _________ can impersonate pretty much any heroic
□□ _________ archetype. The Herald’s drawback is one of
mood and rhythm, as they need some time
□□ Dead for themselves to mature and gain all those
cool powers. It takes dedication, bordering
When you mark a harm slot, give it a label on mania, and often the pace of existential
that suits your icon; get 2 charges if you threats and Family matters will simply be
give it a penalty. Clear labels when you too much. And to dive into action without
change icons. careful preparation can be quite lethal to
you. Also, the Herald doesn’t perform any
actions beyond basic moves. They just excel
DEATH MOVE at doing the common, uncommonly well.
When you die, lose all charges and return to On the other hand, if you manage to
consciousness in a safe location. If you build a solid Iconic persona or two, you
die with no charges, you die for real. steal the limelight with your versatility and
high stats. And nothing stops you from
bringing them back after a turn of ages;
are they the same person or someone who
inherited their powers? What if the Iconic
persona is based on previous Characters’
myths?
The Herald fits some Families much
more easily than others: the Eternal
Masquerade and Servants of the One True
Faith come to mind. But what if Stranded
Starfarers basically sent a doppelgänger
to scout and scavenge the civilisation’s
cultural ruins?
93
INSPIRED BY SEAN MATTOX
THE MARTYR
CHAPTER 03: CHARACTER PLAYBOOKS
94
The Martyr
95
CHAPTER 03: CHARACTER PLAYBOOKS
□□ Dead
96
when you become Rapturous, suddenly
The Martyr
DEATH MOVE changing the morale balance.
When you finally mark your Dead box, you But again, this is just the tip of the
infuse those who witnessed your struggles Martyr iceberg. You can plant the seed
with a bit of your fervour. They gain a to whole new religions if you play your
new additional Harm box of their choice, Roles right - starting with Glazed Sight
Sanctified or Rapturous, which must as a Prophet or Rebel, and taking the care
be marked only when their Harm track is to end up with Outsider to unleash potent
filled up, but for the Dead box. They gain Coda, firmly rooted in Fiction. Obviously,
the associated benefit for as long as they you excel playing the supportive role with
don’t heal any Harm box. Candid Gaze. Your group will have the
impression you are simply everywhere,
helping and saving… just be careful not
PLAYING THE to shine too brightly, and snuffing out all
MARTYR too soon. Finally, understand that Hollow
A mother who gave her life to save her Stare is perhaps your most potent and
children. A doctor who kept on saving versatile tool, as you can “confront a
lives against all odds. The stranger who tormentor” in so many ways.
fought on despite mounting injuries, Can you imagine the impact of a
while professional soldiers retreated in Lawgiver Martyr to your story? Or an
shame. The countless tragedies of the Fall Uplifted? Sure, a Tyrant masochist is
gave birth to a legion of unsung heroes perfectly possible, and combined with
– heroes just like you, the rightful heir to The Servants of the True Faith is an
this tradition of putting others welfare excellent cliché to explore. But in truth,
above your own. every Family can at some point need a
The Martyr belongs to the End Martyr to highlight the importance of
Game like no other Character - and that the collective… and the power of an
says a lot! With it you have the chance individual.
to play an everyday hero and rise to the
direst occasions. All its different builds
and interpretations lead to poignant and
unforgettable stories, bringing such raw
emotions in such an intimate way that
many won’t bear to watch their tale unfold
too closely. For this is indeed a messy,
bloody affair.
To play the Martyr is the ultimate
high-risk, high-reward experience, as you
grow stronger as closer to the edge you
get. Don’t assume though that this is
purely a martial playbook! Sure, an Agent
with Clear Eyes and Fiery Glare is a
terribly durable combatant, but unlike the
Untamed, you suffer for real as all your
Harm boxes are Major. And soon you will
learn that you can turn the tide of a battle
97
THE ROAD WARRIOR
98
CHAPTER 03: CHARACTER PLAYBOOKS
Driven by crippling loss and a skewed sense of justice, you roam the
99
CHAPTER 03: CHARACTER PLAYBOOKS
LEADER
STATS
Choose one: Mark when you guide your Family on
their escape from calamity or persecution.
• Force +1, Lore -1, Steel +2, Sway 0 Describe the route and obstacles that can
• Force +2, Lore 0, Steel +1, Sway -1 be used to your advantage. The GM will
say who will do anything to stop you all.
• Force +1, Lore -1, Steel +1, Sway +1
AGENT
LOOKS Mark when your Family is at war and you
Masculine, feminine, concealed, transgressing. single out their champion. Tell us two of
Weathered face, hoary face, scarred face, tattooed their strengths and the GM will tell you of
face. their weaknesses. Beat them to break your
Battle fatigues, dusty leathers, tactical jumpsuit, foe’s morale.
ratty jeans.
Haunted gaze, steely gaze, vacant stare, wise eyes. REBEL
Athletic body, husky body, rugged body, lascivious Mark when you walk away from your
body. Family on the eve of battle, and tell
us why your Family foes will focus on
BACKSTORY hunting you down instead.
Ask for a volunteer for at least one:
• _________ and I are the only OUTSIDER
survivors of a warband. Mark when you offer help to strangers in
need for no apparent reason and without
• _________ defended a place I expecting compensation. Say who (from
couldn’t. either side of the conflict) will fall in love
• I could stare at _________’s eyes with you. The GM tells us who will resent
forever… you for that.
PROPHET
Mark when you hit the road looking for
GEAR an almost mythical haven. Say where you
You get your ride, in addition to what you learned about it and the what you expect
get from your Family. Ain’t that enough, pal? to find there. The GM makes a note of
what treasure you will find among its
twisted remains.
TRAITOR
Mark when you abandon those who love
you for a hopeless cause. Tell us about
the path of terror you carve among your
foes. The GM will say which loved one
followed in secret amidst the carnage.
100
THE ROAD WARRIOR
WARRIOR MOVES HUNTED & HAUNTED
You get this move: When you take action during a chase, bring
up flashbacks of battle and loss to add
CLAD IN STEEL a complication to your opponent’s path,
You own the mightiest ride in the forcing them to do one of:
wastelands - a Vehicle with 5 tags. In
• Risk harm to keep up with you
addition to the standard tag list, you have
• Lose ground
the following options:
• Be exposed to an attack
• Armoured. Negates disadvantage
stemming from physical impacts – If you evoke all three, you decide where
hail, landslide, suppressing fire, etc. the chase ends.
Get +1 Armour when these deal
FIGHTING WINDMILLS
harm to you.
When you vow to fight for a cause, you gain
• Imposing. Get fleeting Advantage
+1 Armour and your Ride gains one extra
to Find Common Ground when
Dented harm slot.
you first arrive in your Ride.
If the cause is hopeless, gain one extra
• Stealth. Get advantage when you
Armour and Dented harm slot.
Defuse by avoiding detection.
• Cargo. Your ride can safely haul an- INHERITANCE
other Vehicle, plus personnel. Get one of your Family’s Inheritance
• Comms. Integrated comms let you moves.
send and receive audio, and limited
digital data. HARM
Additionally, ill fortune of the worst kind When you suffer Harm, check one box.
befalls anyone who steals your ride. To heal, spend time in a place of safety
Pick one more: that has the appropriate Resources.
□□ Busted Eye
LIVING LEGEND □□ Blood Soaked
When you first meet someone important, roll the □□ Limping Badly (-1 Steel)
amount of Roles you have marked, up to □□ Shell Shocked (-1 Steel)
+3. On a hit they’ve heard of you - tell □□ Dead
us what they’ve heard. On a failure, the
GM will instead say the reason of your
notoriety. DEATH MOVE
When you mark off your Dead box, your Ride
THE BEATEN PATH will be somehow destroyed as well. Later
When you navigate to a new and perilous location, you will return in secret, fully healed and
roll the amount of Roles you have marked, on a new Ride, for one last mission. If you
up to +3. On a hit, you have been there ever reveal your identity or refrain from
before. Tell us in two words what you lost revenge, all your harm boxes except Dead
there, then each other player must ask are immediately filled again.
you a follow up question about the event.
Answer truthfully, saying why you’d rather PLAYING THE
never go back there again. Those who WARRIOR
act on this past experience gain fleeting Why did it take so long? You know this
Advantage on their roll. archetype – let your Mad Max fantasies
run wild!
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THE WARLOCK
CHAPTER 03: CHARACTER PLAYBOOKS
PROPHET
• I foresaw _________’s fate, and it
still awes me. Mark when you see a leader emerge above
all others. Disclose a heretofore unknown
• _________’s bargain for power child or sibling of theirs and state what
might have doomed us all. their future holds: corruption, glory or
• Does _________ know of the sacrifice. The leader can either accept it or
monsters among them? fight for something else, bringing the child
or sibling’s future upon their own heads
right now.
GEAR
In addition to what you get from your TRAITOR
family, you get the start, middle, or end of Mark when the lack of unity takes the
a rite of great power. homeland to the edge of precipice. Forge
unseen bonds to enslave their leaders to
ROLE MOVES your will. Name the token they will carry
Choose your Role in the Family as a sign of your control. The GM will say
how the tokens make you vulnerable.
LEADER
Mark when you gather allies to confront
a horror. Tell us of the nightmarish place
you have to go and what must be sacrificed
there to stop the menace.
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103
The Warlock
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104
The Warlock
HARM PLAYING THE
When you suffer Harm, check one box. WARLOCK
To heal, spend time in a place of safety This was the first Character Playbook
that has the appropriate Resources. planned for the End Game, and they
□□ Beset (-1 Lore) embody it like no other. You might have
a hard time fitting a Warlock to a Ruins
□□ Twisted (-1 Force)
Family in a regular scenario. But as the
□□ Haunted (-1 Sway) craziness cranks up, we enter their turf. As
□□ Hounded (-1 Steel) with the Remnant and the Promethean,
the Warlock might not even be remotely
□□ Sequestered human. And their moves blatantly defy
scientific explanation - an exception to a
rule we tried to uphold for as long as we
DEATH MOVE could.
When you mark off your Sequestered box, you All for a good reason: Warlocks were
are yanked out of this world and locked in made to bring a massive sense of wonder
your own personal nightmare realm. You to the game. They go where no one dares
can’t escape on your own. But all of those and parley with the stuff of nightmares.
who die with you in the same scene will They can save the day or ruin an age to do
end up there as well. With their help, you what has to be done. Learn to manipulate
may well all come back to life. all the awe they create to your Family
causes!
They obviously fit Evolved Outcasts,
Stranded Starfarers and Timestream
Refugees quite well, but the chef ’s choice
of the day is a fully inhuman Pioneer
of the Depths – particularly great in
combination with Hydra’s Children!
105
CHAPTER
04
The Tartarus Site
The Watchtower
108
110
The Race to the Stars 112
The Crucible 114
108
manage to fulfil all four Roles you may
neutralize the Threat once and for all. Gain
2-Treaty from every Family and Faction across
the Homeland if successful.
WONDERS
The Fortress: Your Family will stand watch
over the Site as long as needed. Draw your
fortress overlooking the Site. Name 3 Surpluses
that will always be available to whoever holds
the fort, and the Owner names a Surplus that
must be erased each age in order to maintain it.
The Engineering Crew: Some of your
people worked side by side with the Owner
to build the site. Start the next age as the
Survivor, the Seeker or the Elder, picking an
extra move when building them. Others can
start with an extra move as one of the other
two Characters if they give you 2-Treaty.
The Groundskeepers: Your Family formed an
order to maintain the Site and fend off invaders
who might breach it. Start the next age as the
Hunter, the Reaver or the Scavenger, picking
an extra move when building them. Others can
start with an extra move as one of the other two
Characters if they give you 2-Treaty.
The Prophecy: From your Family came a
vision of how to heal the land. Name 4 Roles
distributed between at least two, and no more
than four, different Character playbooks. If
at any point those roles are all marked, the
characters can erase the Hostile Grounds and
place 3 Surpluses of your choice there.
PLAY ADVICE
The Tartarus Site is unique in that it’s a reaction
to a Threat that can’t be solved otherwise. It’s
the ultimate common good Wonder: everyone
should help as much as possible to avoid the
harmful Trials that will plague the land.
As you probably noticed, the Owner
gains very little besides narrative control – and
the ability to place the site and thus cause great
suffering to their choice of foes. The biggest
benefit for the Owner is the Site’s primary
effect of neutralizing the Threat… somehow,
and not forever.
The Site will become the Fiction’s
linchpin for an Age or two as Trials are
resolved. If ignored, they will fester and taint
the surrounding lands. On the other hand, if
the party finds plenty of Fortunes, they may as
well seal the deal on the Threat and usher in
an age of heroes!
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CHAPTER 04: WONDERS
You have reached up, high into the heavens, take pride in your freedom. Your Family
with a tall monument to your people’s ingenuity. permanently loses Connected status, but if
Built upon mysterious tech some would deem best you start the next age as the Firebrand you
left forgotten, its gaze reaches from horizon to gain an extra move when building them.
horizon... and beyond. Another Disconnected Family can start as
Under its shadow you are safe. the Reaver with an extra move if they give
you 2-Treaty. Both must start as Rebels.
REQUIREMENTS
Engineers, Energy, Progress, Rare Plague of Ghosts: The Tower unleashed
Materials, Safety. phantom signals, causing havoc in comms
and devices. As long as the Tower stands,
PERMANENT BONUS all connected Families & Factions gain a
The Owner can Disconnect or Reconnect special Need: Plague. Erase 3 instances of
Families and/or Characters at will. Surplus: Engineers, Spies and/or Progress
to finally fix the glitch and erase the Need.
All Trials & Fortunes can only be
chosen once. Families that get a Calamity Warning: The Tower sounds
Fortune are considered Connected, the alarm of a disaster in your holdings. It
as are their Characters. comes right on time to save lives, but too
late to avoid widespread havoc and loss.
All affected Family & Factions gain Need:
TRIALS Luxury & Safety, and their next Character
Stir the Slumbering: The Tower signal gains a bonus Saint move (The Engine of
awakens a hostile behemoth in your Life, p. 80). The Owner describes the
holdings. Over the next Age, Characters disaster’s nature.
of all affected Families gain a bonus Eyes Everywhere: Derelict remains
Survivor move. The Owner tells us of of infrastructure awaken under the
the behemoth’s unique strengths, looks, Watchtower, serving as its agents. All
hungers and capabilities. Families & Factions lose Surplus: Spies.
The Eldritch Sign: The Tower beckons
elder and hostile forces from the void.
Tell us of the alien’s unique strengths, FORTUNES
looks, hungers and capabilities, and the Red Alert: The Tower gives an early
Owner chooses a Wonder in play for warning of your foe’s movements.
them to hijack. Every Age the Tower still All Claim by Force moves targeting
stands they hijack a new Wonder… unless Connected Families have Disadvantage.
confronted, of course.
The Comms Grid: A web pinned by
Whispers Everywhere: The Tower the Tower connects you all. Connected
connects everyone, giving people the tools Families & Characters can communicate
to record and broadcast falsehoods in all freely and instantly across the Homeland
open channels. Those without Surplus: among themselves. Also, Diplomacy
Spies roll Subterfuge with Disadvantage between Connected Families & Factions
over the next Age. happens instantly and rolls with advantage.
All Along the Watchtower: Disconnected The Topographical Map: The Tower
life remains harsh and unforgiving, but you maps the whole Homeland in real time.
110
Connected Characters have advantage
WONDERS
when Fiercely Assaulting a disconnected
enemy or Defusing their attacks.
A Wilderness of Mirrors: In the etheric
webs of the Tower a silent war of secrets
and codes rages. All Connected Families
can spend 1-Tech to change Surplus:
Recruits into Surplus: Spies or Scouts.
The Lighthouse Effect: Regardless of
distance, travellers are never alone under
the Tower’s watchful gaze. All Connected
Characters gain 1 Data on a Wasteland
Survival hit. As soon as a Connected
Character rolls Wasteland Survival, their
Family immediately gains Surplus: Scouts
if they don’t have it already.
The Information Network: A silent war
of secrets and codes rages in the etheric
webs of the Tower. Connected Families
add “Gain 2 of their Data - stolen or
copied, your call!” to the Subterfuge list.
Radio Numbers: You found a
mysterious transmission, lost in the ether.
It streams a constant flow of ciphered
data, hinting at the Watchtower tech’s
origins and purpose. Start the next age as
the Historian (The Engine of Life, p. 72), the
Machine, or the Seeker (Legacy: Life Among
the Ruins, p. 182, p. 202), picking an extra
move when building them. If others give
you 2-Treaty and start as one of the other
Characters, they get an extra move too.
PLAY ADVICE
The Watchtower is a powerful Wonder
that brings progress and security to all
under its protection. It’s unique in that
most of its Fortunes grant access to all
who have earned at least one Fortune, The
Connected. On the other hand, nobody
wants anybody to roll a miss on the
Wonder roll - there are few Trial options
that won’t unleash dreadful effects. So
don’t build it without contingencies: you
might bite off more than you can chew.
111
CHAPTER 04: WONDERS
112
The Owner places and describe one alien relic
WONDERS
uncovered by your projects.
The Great Network: Your Network conducts
a radical experiment in the Void. Tells us where
it takes place and name one Hostile Ground
or Nightmare it is supposed to neutralize. The
Owner tells us what needs to be sacrificed to
run this experiment and the dangers of failure.
The Green Defiance (The Engine of Life, p.
102): You nurture our species in the great
beyond. Decide if our colonies are habitats
in the Void, or terraforming a new planet; the
Owner describes your shared culture there.
You can both send the colonists two Surpluses
per Age; the colonists will send back any two
Surpluses of your choice in return.
The Transportation Hub (The Engine of Life,
p. 104): Draw two new connectors, and in a
new intersection draw and describe a Relay that
connects the Homeland to the habitats and
colonies of the Stars. Describe the Faction that
controls both ends of the Relay, choosing two
of: its name, a unique advantage, a characteristic
tradition, a cultural taboo. The Owner states the
unchosen options.
The Watchtower: You Connect all Families &
Factions across the Void: extend all benefits to
the offworld habitats and colonies. The Owner
describes the inhuman message the Tower
detects as it listens to the Void.
PLAY ADVICE
A Wonder of Wonders, the Race can definitely
remove the Homeland from its ruined state and
thrust it headlong a bright and dangerous new
era. As a late stage development, building it is
rather simple, but timing can be critical - that
exact point where you will benefit enough, and
before anyone else beats you to it.
The Race doesn’t end the story, but instead
opens new opportunities. The fiction can unfold
on new fronts, or in a much changed Homeland.
New threats and factions will turn your next
Ages into a maze of action, exploration and
intrigue, and Wonders unleashed in the ancient
past will gain new relevance. It will recap your
story so far, and refocus your campaign.
113
CHAPTER 04: WONDERS
“Those who do not move, do not notice their chains” DECIDE ON THE METHOD
– Rosa Luxemburg If the Owner pushed The Crucible on another
Life and entropy play a cosmic game of cat and group, tell us how they did it...
mouse. A game you decided to rig, by changing • By convincing them to embrace it?
someone’s nature, their very essence. You
dramatically incremented the game’s complexity, • By forcing it upon them?
and there is not knowing where it will end… and • By quietly infecting them with it?
who will win, if anyone at all.
The Owner gains lasting Disadvantage
REQUIREMENTS on the relevant Stat (respectively Reach,
Medicine, Science, Progress, Prestige, a Grasp or Sleight) for the next Age, as the
Key to the Subject’s very being. rest of the Homeland becomes warily
defensive of their actions.
CHOOSE THE SUBJECT:
• Your own Family: The change DESCRIBE THE CHANGE
draws a rift between you and your The Owner describes the traumatic
old allies. Mutually erase 2-Treaty process the Subject went through; they tell
on every Family & Faction. Regain us how it affected their culture.
2-Treaty on those to whom For a lesser change, the Owner chooses
you prove (truly or falsely) your a Hostile Ground in the Homeland where
unchanged essence. the Subject now acts with Advantage. The
Subject can choose other Hostile Grounds
• Another Family: to adapt to, but for each adaptation
• Without their Player’s they choose one aspect of their essence
consent: The change affects just irrevocably changed:
a fraction of their numbers, who
set out to form a new Faction. • What they consume to live.
Everyone Transfers as much • Their face and skin.
Treaty as they like on you or the
Subject to this new Faction. • One of their senses.
• With full Player consent: you • Their voice and language.
unleashed the change upon
For a greater change, the Owner states one
the Subjects to become either
fundamental fact of the Subject’s nature
a feared scourge or their wise
that has changed. The Subject decides
benefactor. Gain 2-Treaty on
how they mutated, up to and including
each other.
completely changing their Family
• Another Faction: Same as ‘with full Playbook.
player consent’. The Subject may redistribute
Treaty points on all Families & Factions
If you target or create a new faction, as alliances shift under the strain of
give them two of the following: a transformation.
name, a unique advantage gained,
a resulting tradition, and a cultural DESCRIBE THE CULTURAL SHIFT:
taboo. The Subject or GM states The further the Subject evolves, the more
the unchosen options. they seem to belong to a different world.
For every 3 points of Treaty the Subject
114
decides to erase on any Family or Faction, they
WONDERS
can gain one these permanent benefits:
• A new Family Move from any Playbook.
• A new Family move to represent their
new outlook. Build this collaboratively
with your GM and/or group.
• Replace their Doctrine or Alliance Move
with one from a Family in play
• Their Prodigy, Hellion or Foundling
Characters start with an extra Character
move. Can be taken multiple times.
115
CHAPTER
05
Family Overview 118
Drawing the
Homeland 120
Starting Treaties 121
Playbooks 122
The I.R.E. 122
The A.R.M. 124
Control 126
The Aaskrahe 128
For the GM 130
Want, by Recoil
TODESFALLE
Humanity’s home world was at some point invaded Can the Human-Aaskrahe alliance survive where
CHAPTER 05: TODESFALLE
by titanic beasts crossing an alien gate. War and so many previous races have been extinguished?
destruction almost collapsed our civilization, but
in a valiant effort Humankind managed to push
the invasion back. Still, the Gate couldn’t be
destroyed… they could return at any minute. No
FAMILY OVERVIEW
barriers would hold the Behemoths at bay. THE INDEPENDANT RANGER
There was only one thing to do then… to cross the EXPEDITIONARY FORCE A.K.A “THE
gate and take the battle to the enemy. IRE” - THE ORDER OF TITAN
You descend from the handpicked elite
Thousands of the best were sent. The pinnacle of soldiers of a mighty warrior race; us. The
our technology was amassed to assure those saviors ace pilots who rained fire upon monsters
a fighting chance. For a while the expeditionary out of nightmares close enough to see
force held its ground and we all believed we could their eyes. Heroes, all - ready to lay down
succeed. their lives for the battle.
Until the gate closed, stranding them there. Can you find the means to keep on fighting and a
This chapter presents a quickstart scenario reason to live on?
to explore some Endgame Families & You are Volstag, the Road Warrior.
Characters. And most importantly, the Many of your kin have lost their ships,
message of ferocious will against ultimate some have never flown. Not you. You be-
entropy. It tests your players by presenting long to the void, its absolute silence and
the harshest scenario and the most darkness. You retooled your transport
desperate stakes. ship, The Black Emperor, into a hunting unit
Todesfalle is set in an artificial - an expression of your truest self.
alien moon orbiting a massive gas giant. When Theodora’s distress call came,
Nobody knows who built this infinite you never hesitated. You have flown her
cityscape, but the environment is utterly squad under worse scenarios… until there
hostile to organic life: no atmosphere, too was no more squad. You two got close
distant from any star, poor in water and in the way warriors do. And when she
hydrocarbons, subject to radiation tides, brought that kid onboard and you stared
and yes… home to synthetic Behemoths. into those eyes... you were never so sure
Two generations ago the gate closed. of something in your life. Dandara must
Still, Humankind was strong enough survive!
to fend off occasional attacks. One
generation ago that strength faltered and THE ALLIED RECONNAISSANCE
the outer perimeter of the Beachhead was MARINES, A.K.A. “THE ARM” - THE
overrun. Still, there was hope to push back EVOLVED OUTCASTS
and safely evacuate non-fighting personnel You were the infantry. The underdogs.
to the Redoubt. But the gates were closed While others discussed cramped quarters,
and the fighting forces in the field were you spent days sealed in your armor,
left on their own to watch as their families fighting a block by block war in an alien
and friends were rent by maws and claws, city against synthetic monsters - deprived
or claimed by the void. The survivors split of oxygen and glory. Non-surprisingly
into radical tribes and we had our first you were left to the wolves, to die. But
encounter with living alien intelligence… you refused. And if you had to shed your
also lured and trapped in Todesfalle. humanity and accept alien spiders’ gifts to
118
survive, so be it. You were not trained to
Family Overview
THE AASKRAHE - STRANDED
give up. STARFARERS
Can you save those who have always looked down You have been here longer than the
on you? Humans, but that doesn’t mean you are
faring any better. As a race, you are very,
You are Sgt. Theodora Kazali, the very suspicious (skittish really) and much
Sentinel. In spite of everything, you still less prone to physical violence. In fact,
consider yourself Human. It doesn’t mat- you strongly believe in the potential of a
ter you serve with the Aaskrahe. Or that symbiotic relationship. Because without
you have surrendered every human rela- it, you know extinction is a certainty for
tive and childhood friend to the Void. Or you all.
the amount of steel meshed to your flesh.
You are a woman. A human woman. And Can you unlock the secrets of Todesfalle before
Dandara keenly reminded you of that. No it is too late?
matter what, at least this girl will have a You are Aasfresser, the Warlock. You
future, a family. have dedicated your existence to a vigil
against the darkest entities of Todesfalle.
EXPEDITIONARY FORCE EXECUTIVE For a long while you led a solitary
COMMAND, A.K.A “CONTROL” - THE
existence, an outcast of a stranded people.
DEATHLESS ELITE
Until the humans arrived. In your own
You’re the military and scientific leaders
way you care deeply for Theo, and have
responsible for the fate of Humankind’s
joined her as part of the Black Emperor’s
largest war effort ever. Or, in fact, their
crew. And now this child… who bears the
upgraded clones. Don’t worry, they’re still
stigma and carries the touch of darkness
in charge. They know what they’re doing.
on her. But as only an Aaskrahe can tell
And they keep watch over their, sorry,
you, every strand of an enemy’s plan can
your most valuable strategic asset: the
be hijacked and used against them.
Redoubt. You just have to hold on until
the Gate re-opens’
Can they shed the trappings of the past and build
a future?
You are Dandara Collins, the Hellion.
You were kidnapped at tender age by
things you can’t quite describe. Inhuman.
Definitely not Aaskrahe. Something…
else. You are free now and you like to
believe you escaped. But you can’t really
tell for sure. It doesn’t matter. You’re safe
with the Black Emperor’s crew now. And
you will return home… wherever that is.
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CHAPTER 05: TODESFALLE
120
Starting Treaties
STARTING TREATIES
IRE ARM Control Aaskrahe
IRE -- 3/1 4/0 1/2
ARM 1/3 -- 4/2 2/1
Control 0/4 2/4 -- 4/0
Aaskrahe 2/1 1/2 0/4 --
Read just your row: the first number tells you how many points of Treaty you’ve got on
the column Family, the second number is how many they’ve got on you.
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PLAYBOOKS
CHAPTER 05: TODESFALLE
ALLIANCE MOVE
THE I.R.E. Gain 1-Treaty when you Lend Aid to
groups under a Kaiju Threat Alert.
THE ORDER OF THE TITAN
The IRE formed the cadre of Earth’s special KAIJU THREAT ALERT
forces, a mix of air cavalry and space infantry. Your Family is dedicated to hunting
They hate Control with a passion, for their Behemoths – titanic creatures that stalk
betrayal in the Last Assault, but also because the land and are hostile to human life.
the IRE’s kin still remain in the Redoubt as Each has unique strengths, hungers and
Control’s “staff ” – thralls, for all intents and capabilities, but they share a common
purposes. Tell us the reason why your cousins origin. When you scout for signs of behemoth
there can’t simply leave serfdom. attack, pick a danger in the world as
Inside IRE there is a smaller division, an omen of an incoming assault. Pick
dedicated to hunting other indigenous life forms any number of Families or Factions to
besides the Behemoths. The Aaskrahe performed become Alerted, and say how it threatens
secret experiments on these soldiers, brainwashing them. You can spend Treaty you have on
them to support the fight below the surface. one Alerted group on any other.
If the behemoth is stopped before the threat
STATS becomes plausible, each Alerted Family or
Reach 2, Grasp -1, Sleight 0 Faction gets 1-Treaty on you.
Humanity carved out a niche in the Behemoths’ If you stop it once it’s a clear threat,
alien ecosystem. gain 1-Treaty on every Alerted Family or
Faction, and redistribute Treaty on them
DOCTRINE as you like.
Armageddon Gods: Whenever anyone If someone else stops it once it’s a clear threat
rolls two 1s, someone in your Family you and whoever stopped it gain 1-Treaty
forms a psychic connection to the on every Alerted Family or Faction.
monsters; gain fleeting advantage when If the behemoth assault happens as you
you act on the knowledge they gain. foresaw, you and every Alerted Family or
LIFESTYLE
Faction get a Need of your choice.
Settled: The ground under your buildings
is honeycombed with passageways ULTIMATE WEAPON
civilians can use to shelter and safely Your vehicles are the edge that allow you
escape the settlement. to bloody the noses of Behemoths, and
wipe the floor with regular foes. When you
TRADITIONS take one of your special vehicles out of storage,
Populace: Hired hunters and indentured choose 2:
servants. • They have an extra environment
Style: Chromed implants, leathers and all tag: sea, land, air, void, earth, or
kinds of mirrorshades. something stranger.
Governance: Dysfunctional remains of • You have advantage on actions to
corporate hierarchy. pilot it.
RESOURCES • They’re giant and can fight
Surpluses: Transport, Weaponry Behemoths on equal terms.
Needs: Prestige, Scouts, Recruits Every time the you use it pick one:
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• Erase Surplus: Transport or Surplus: It’s stealthy, and you get advantage
OUTSIDER HARM
You’ve offered help to those in need for □□ Busted Eye
no apparent reason and without expecting □□ Blood Soaked
compensation. At any point, say who □□ Limping Badly (-1 Steel)
(from either side of the conflict) will fall □□ Shell Shocked (-1 Steel)
in love with you. When you do, the GM □□ Dead
will tell us who will resent you for that. DEATH MOVE
BACKSTORY When you mark off your Dead box, your Ride
Sgt. Theo and I are the only survivors of a will be somehow destroyed as well. Later
warband. you will return in secret, fully healed and
Assfresser defended a place I couldn’t. on a new Ride, for one last mission. If you
I could stare at Dandara’s eyes forever… ever reveal your identity or refrain from
revenge, all your harm boxes except Dead
are immediately filled again.
CLAD IN STEEL
Choose one of your possessions as
You own the mightiest ride in the
a relic, and one of your moves; while a
wastelands - the Black Emperor. It can
Family member holds that relic, they can
travel freely through space, protects
use that move.
passengers from the world outside, and
can transport up to 10 passengers.
Its mounted guns have the Far, Silent
and Area tags, and can be controlled from
the cockpit.
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CHAPTER 05: TODESFALLE
THE A.R.M.
THE EVOLVED OUTCASTS TRADITIONS
Populace: Technicians from a doomed
In the Last Assault, the forces in the field were
habitat.
left on their own to watch as their families and
Style: Cloaks and practical leathers.
friends were rent by maws and claws, or claimed
Governance: Priests worshipping an alien
by the void. However, a humble ARM Captain
artifact.
led the remaining forces underground, where the
Redoubt meshed with ancient alien infrastructure.
Survival chances were slim: the underground life RESOURCES
support systems were septic beyond repair, supplies Surpluses: Defences, Progress.
were despairingly low, and monsters constantly Needs: Energy, Justice, Artisans.
harassed the refugees. Still, they held their ground.
Nobody hoped for salvation, they simply refused ALLIANCE MOVE
to yield. Tell us about that young Captain and the Gain 1-Treaty on a Family or Faction
their position in the Family these days. when you share your secrets with them.
124
inflict on them. Reveal the secret backstory
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CHAPTER 05: TODESFALLE
RESOURCES
CONTROL Surpluses: Defences, Progress.
Needs: Engineering, Leadership, Rare
THE DEATHLESS ELITE
Materials.
The original Redoubt’s inner circle of military
and scientific leadership has been digitized and ALLIANCE MOVE
cloned. When the Gate closed, hierarchy held... Whenever a family or faction realises your
at least until the Last Assault. In that inferno, character personally played a key role in their
the remaining forces mutinied, with the Aaskrahe history, gain 1-Treaty on them.
eagerly stepping up to provide of advanced tech…
and, yes, spiritual guidance.
LAST REDOUBT
Your family’s fortress is vast. You can’t
Surprisingly, Control adapted quite aptly to
ever hope to occupy all its levels, and you
new times. From your Redoubt you have become
have forgotten more of its secrets than
arms dealers, providing critical tech to the aliens
you will ever know.
and carefully adopting Aaskrahe psytech to
stabilize fraying minds and abysmal morale. Its useful feature: Ghostly servants that
offer wise counsel.
STATS
Its uncontrollable defense: Mists that
Reach +1, Grasp +1, Sleight -1 lead the unwary astray.
The officers among the Before’s elite averted Its lurking threat: A curse upon all who
extinction. venture too deep.
126
Dandara, Outsider Hellion
DANDARA, OUTSIDER THE WEIRD STARE
When you let loose your power, say what you
HELLION want to do:
Force -2, Lore 0, Steel +1, Sway +3 • Protect a loved one;
• Their awareness of the situation. □□ Wrung by the neck (-1 to Steel and
Force)
When you put the plan in motion, roll +Steel.
On a hit the plan comes through. On a □□ Out of your league (-1 to Sway and
7-9, your allies choose something else you Lore)
must sacrifice. □□ Dead
DEATH MOVE
When you mark off your Dead box, everyone
who has a backstory with you gains
lasting Advantage to destroy or overcome
whatever killed you.
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CHAPTER 05: TODESFALLE
RESOURCES
Surpluses: Energy, Morale.
ALLIANCE MOVE
STRANDED STARFARERS
Your origin gives you a different
As with others before, your species was lured perspective on the world. When you
and trapped in this place, though by greed and Uncover Secrets to reveal something that
curiosity. The arrival of Humankind means helps another Family, gain 1-Treaty on them.
the first sign of hope, however small, in a long
time. You embraced their cybernetic advances WORMHOLE GATES
enthusiastically and even shared your psytech Spend 1 Tech to instantly relocate your
freely! You believe only through cooperation you Character or one of your assets to the
stand a chance of outgrowing the cycle of fending safety of one of your bases.
off monsters and tending for a decaying legacy.
Your new allies mistake your profound sense ABDUCTION
of urgency for a unique alien mindset. Sadly, they If you use your grasping lights to abduct
are wrong - you are simply afraid... of something someone mentally or bodily, trigger Conduct
else, something deeper, and far, far more insidious Diplomacy but lose 1-Treaty on their
and sinister than behemoths. Family or Faction.
In exchange, pick two:
STATS
• The target won’t remember this
Reach 0, Grasp +1, Sleight 0 conversation.
The Homeland is artificial, hostile to alien and
human alike. • The target won’t be able to lie to
you.
DOCTRINE
Gardener of Worlds: when you spend • The abduction happens
Data to reveal the hidden potential of the immediately.
homeland, gain 1 Tech.
• Their absence will go unnoticed
until it’s too late.
LIFESTYLE
Dispersed: your people can gather all
their numbers on a moment’s notice. You ASSETS
use strange technology to bring them Your characters can always have:
together, gaining advantage to Grasp rolls • Psionic amplifiers (Ranged, Aberrant)
as long as they stay there, but you must
Hold Together once you part. • Spacesuits (Sealed, Hardened)
TRADITIONS
• Null-grav fliers (Void, Swift)
Populace: Arachnoid builders.
• Science officers (Quality 1,
Style: Bulky life support. Research)
Governance: Decentralised cells bound
by an alien moral code.
128
Aasfresser, Outsider Warlock
AASFRESSER, WEAPONIZED ENIGMA
You can always tell the direction to the
OUTSIDER WARLOCK nearest wound in the world. When you stand
Force -2, Lore +1, Steel +3, Sway 0 in it and direct its energies, roll +Steel to use
it as a weapon (Far, Aberrant, Area). On a
LOOKS 10+ pick one, on a 7-9 pick two:
An eerily beautiful spider, inhuman eyes, • It takes some time to go off.
translating synthesizer, whispering echoes.
• There is wide unintended collateral
damage.
Aaskrahe physiology doesn’t fit into
human gender paradigms; most • The wound spawns Hostile
use zie/zim/zir in conversation with Grounds around it.
humans, but you can decide for • You must sacrifice a treasure of the
youself how Aasfresser identifies. next world.
Pick one extra to turn the attack in a
OUTSIDER disaster that will consume the current
You have decided to stand watch against habitat, bring down infrastructure and
darkness and what lies beyond. The GM hurt even Behemoths.
says how you keep those things at bay.
Name one emotion you have sacrificed GEAR
and never ever feel again. You start with:
I foresaw Dandara’s fate, and it still awes me. • Psionic amplifiers (Ranged, Aberrant)
• Spacesuits (Sealed, Hardened)
Sgt. Theo‘s bargain for power might have doomed
us all. • Null-grav fliers (Void, Swift)
HARM
Does Volstag’s people know of the monsters
among them? □□ Beset (-1 Lore)
□□ Twisted (-1 Force)
FORBIDDEN PATHS □□ Haunted (-1 Sway)
When you traverse the dark paths of the world,
you can always find a way to the forbidden □□ Hounded (-1 Steel)
places of the world and beyond. Decide □□ Sequestered
if you travel unnaturally fast or protected
from the horrors below. Perform a rite DEATH MOVE
there to discover something only the When you mark off your Sequestered box, you
monsters would know or find a long are yanked out of this world and locked in
forgotten place of power, source of your own personal nightmare realm. You
solace and beauty. can’t escape on your own, but all of those
Monsters will hound whoever dallies who die with you in the same scene will
there or loses their way. end up there as well. Working together,
you might as well all come back to life.
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CHAPTER 05: TODESFALLE
IRE
FOR THE GM Luskan, The Untamed: A grizzled
veteran surrounded by a vicious cult of
personality. A man of extremes, who
NOTABLE PEOPLE thinks only of victory… at any price. He
A good, sharp blade starts with the finest is currently grounded without a ship, but
metal, but needs furnace fire and the blunt that is soon to change, one way or another.
of the hammer. Todesfalle people are no
different. Descending from the most elite Trerius, The Survivor: They remember
special forces and raised in an unforgiving the evacuation of the Last Assault. And
environment, each and every survivor is a they’re grateful that dozens of survivors
beast - augmented, well trained, fanatic to and their children do too. Thanks to their
their doctrines and a veteran of countless tireless efforts to evacuate everyone, they
vicious battles. Anyone who was anything are the quiet symbol of all that the IRE
less didn’t make it this far. truly stands for.
130
FACTION: Waisen²
AASKRAHE SURPLUSES
Skatenspill, the Traitor Hunter: Medicine: Waisen2 can provide drugs and
Skatenspill is sure there must be other medical treatment for all kinds as long as
aliens entrenched and lost here. And when they have enough organic material to work
zie finds them, zie will collect a trophy and upon. Alternatively, they may unleash a
offer it to the Void. genetic plague that will surgically strike
those that stand in their way.
Ahnenfur, the Leader Firebrand:
Ahnenfur takes the word of zir people to Barter Goods: They can recycle any
the unaligned humans. There is so much organic material into gruesome protein
to be done and so little time to waste! farms – if others just let them collect the
Ahnenfur is resolved that zir leaders’ bodies.
incompetence will not drown everyone, if
ze has any way of stopping it. Science: Across the entire Homeland,
Waisen2 is furthest along in studying the
Aassoldah, the Traitor Machine: behemoth’s genetic design. They can
Aassoldah was built to be the herald of provide Data to whoever brings them
the Aaskrahe among Humans, but history behemoth remains – or they can bait
overran zir creators and ze suddenly hordes of beasts to deal with enemies.
became obsolete. Now ze lives among
Humans as part of their culture… and NEEDS
their most violent monster hunter.
Prestige: As the lowest scavengers of
society, Waisen2 can never spend Treaty to
counter a Call in a Debt.
FACTION: WAISEN²
Air, food, water, heat - we starve of Safety: Waisen2 are a nuisance, a cult,
everything. Even if the Void doesn’t claim a gang… not a fighting force. There’s
us, Humanity’s extinction is still assured precious little they can do to stop a direct
thanks to our shallow genetic pool. assault.
Perhaps the monsters we fight are nothing
but the lingerings leftovers of once-proud
species - their genes surely indicate that.
Thus, our most deadly need is hope.
Without our work, Humanity is
doomed to devolve into a pitiful shadow
of itself. Let them call us body and organ
harvesters. Let them say we worship the
monsters below. The practicality of our
creed insulates us against their prejudice.
Rejoice, you will die so our species can
live. We will waste nothing of you.
ALLIANCE MOVE
When Waisen2 tends to the living or dead
bodies of other Families & Factions, they
gain 1-Treaty on them.
131
Radiation from the gas giant makes radio
CHAPTER 05: TODESFALLE
132
Give them recourse, solace or comfort:
A FRONT: RAPTURE
A FRONT: RAPTURE Either among the junkies or their
“This shit is of Aaskrahe make, sir. I’m memory trafficker dealers, they find some
positive. Those cyborgs were in the breached area particularly good memory clips from a
long before any alarms sounded. They knew summer day at the beach, back on Earth.
monsters would come. I understand sabotage is a
capital offense, sir. But think! Who else? Why? RESOLUTION
It’s that new drug. Unleash a war on drugs and try to cut
off their source. (Next time you see
“A plan of action? Permission to speak freely,
Lawgivers… tell them how you miss
sir...
them). Confront the alien intelligence.
“Let’s shake those damn memory-traffickers, grab
their stuff and see what these chipheads see when FALLOUT
they’re high. The Spire is overrun by monsters and
all souls in there are subsumed by the
“Before their cooperation evolves.
intelligence.
“Before this drug spreads any further.
“Before they get us all killed… Sir” A FRONT: BEHEMOTH
“Look at these seismic readings. It’s coming
REVEAL straight towards us!!”
Cyborgs with heavy and crude body
modifications try to kidnap Dandara REVEAL
and dose her with their juice of choice. Ideally, a Kaiju Threat Alert issued
Upon investigation, they’re heavy users of by the IRE personnel, based on the
illegal memory chips. The dealers of these scantest evidence: spoor, markings in the
harvest their weirdest and most addictive infrastructure, or anomalous monster
trips from the minds of monsters, and behaviour.
have a strange, burgeoning devotion
towards a mysterious obelisk. REACTIONS
Deal Harm (indirect 3 Harm for
REACTIONS debris, 5 Harm for direct assaults):
Capture them: If Dandara is ever left An individual must have the Giant tag on
unguarded in a settlement, they will try to their Vehicle (or Weapon?!) to assault a
locate and kidnap her. behemoth.
Show the consequences of past Change the World: Buildings disappear
decisions: If chipheads are spared and in its wake, the shallow underground
left free they will sabotage the settlement collapses, habitats are breached.
to allow monsters in. Separate them: It destroys the cityscape
Offer an opportunity, with or without so thoroughly upon approach that those
a cost: The chiphead’s high puts them within firing range will find it hard to stay
in touch with an ancient and malignant together as they maneuver.
intelligence. Each different trip recorded Put someone in a spot: An innocent
or accessed gives clues to the source of bystander gets in harm’s way and will
this mind. The Behemoths fiercely guard suffer a most gruesome death if not saved
this location. by a Character.
133
Erase a Surplus: Anything the GM feels
CHAPTER 05: TODESFALLE
REACTIONS
appropriate; Defenses, Morale, Safety, and
• Nullify or hack their camo and comms
Luxury are usually the first to go.
tags.
Add a Need: Anything the GM feels • Ambush the wounded.
appropriate; Defenses, Morale, Safety, and
• Learn from consumed organics and
Luxury are usually the first to go.
machines.
RESOLUTION • Scatter in the shadows.
Somehow kill the damn beast.
134
THE FIRST SCENE
THE FIRST SCENE THE REST OF THE
Before you start, resolve ARM’s STORY
No Longer Human move. Use the new roles they pick to determine
Describe the Black Emperor and the course of your session, but here’s
crew arriving at Waizen²’s base. Their some possibilities:
destination is the Redoubt, but before • What’s out there in the void? May-
that they must figure out how to get there: be a source of the behemoths, or a
the way is far, and the connecting routes guiding intelligence that’s using the
have recently filled with Scavengers and behemoths as bait to draw new races
Parasites. to Todesfalle.
This is a good moment for them • What other races are out there? Is
to Tool Up and resupply… and for you it just the Aaskrahe and Humanity, or
to introduce the Junkies and Dandara’s are other aliens trying to survive in
kidnapping. Use members of the Waizen² this hellscape?
Faction and memory traffickers liberally. • What can Dendara do to save
Dispersed Families (ARM and the everyone? Push back the void?
Aaskrahe) can use Family moves here, Control the behemoths? Open a
but you should aim to spend this time as portal back to Earth or the Aaskrahe
Zoomed In as possible: this settlement homeworld? And who wants to stop
is your chance to give your players a that from happening?
ground-level view of the challenges of life • Who will lead the homeland? Is
on Todesfalle. Control satisfied with lurking in
their Redoubt? Will ARM ever bow
the knee to another after Control’s
GOING FORWARD betrayal? Will the masses of
Once this is out of the way, focus on humanity accept guidance from the
the trip – it’s time for Scavengers and Aaskrahe?
Parasites! Make sure they know as they • What secrets is Todesfalle hiding?
set off to brace for trouble, and remind How long has it existed for? What
them that they’re lucky to have the Black purpose does it all serve? Where
Emperor – imagine those who can’t count do the behemoths come from?
on such a terrifying ship! How are the portals created? All of
The trip should be full of perils, but these questions may be answered by
it’s also a great opportunity to resolve investigating the mechanisms that
their Outsider Roles. Once they reach the churn in caverns underneath the
Redoubt, it will be time to Zoom Out and planetoid’s surface.
start the Family actions in earnest. Surely, • How will your first Age end? With
there will a mature Kaiju Threat Alert the survivors finding a new fortress
to unleash! From then on, all lies in the to hold off Behemoth attack? With
players’ hands, as they choose new Roles the Void dispelled or mastered, and
and take Family Actions. the survivors now trying to leave
Todesfalle? With the portal reopened
back to Earth, revealing a Behemoth-
despoiled land?
135
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CHAPTER 05: TODESFALLE
AND MORE!
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136