A story of desperate adventure, told over campfires and bedrolls. To play this game, you need at least two people, a d20, a d12, a d6, and a d4, and a way to take notes. There is no gamerunner or dungeon master; each player plays an adventurer.
Each night, your characters return from a day of adventuring to their makeshift camp in the wilderness. The players all roll to see what happened that day and work together to tell a story about it. Then, they prepare for the next day of adventuring, and forge relationships that might keep them alive.
Each player plays a single character. Before assigning any stats, you need to know three things:
- Where are they from? This doesn't have to be a specific place, though it can be, if you're playing characters in an existing setting. It could be a religious order, a social position, or even a relationship or family - either one that has ended or broken apart, or one to which the character is planning to return.
- Why are they willing to risk their life for a chance at fame, fortune, and power? This might be informed by their origin, or it might not.
- How difficult will it be to achieve their goal? This governs how many successful adventures they'll need make before they succeed. An relatively easy goal, like amassing a small treasure, learning a spell, or charting the area might require three successes, while a very difficult goal like destroying an ancient evil or finding the talisman of a god might require five.
If you're having trouble, roll on the origin chart, then use that result to roll one one of the motivation charts.
A character three mechanical characteristics: prowess (POW), constitution (CON), and wisdom (WIS). Each character also has three gear slots and a bond score with each other character.
CON and WIS start at 1. POW and bonds start at 0.
During character creation, each player has three points to spend. Each point can buy:
- One point of CON.
- One point of WIS.
- One piece of gear. Each piece mundane gear uses 1 gear slot and gives +1 POW.
- One supply pack. Each supply pack contains 10 supplies.
A player can also choose to spend two points to start the adventure with an ally from the allies chart.
The group needs to track the number of days that have elapsed since setting out.
Each player tracks their character's successes and injuries throughout the adventure, as well as their character's bonds with the other characters, their treasure, their magic items, their supplies, and which allies they have recruited. Some of these things might affect the whole party, so it's important that players communicate early and often.
If a character has a number of injuries greater than their CON, they die and can no longer go on adventures. Dead characters can be resurrected with powerful magic.
All the players should collectively decide on where they are heading. Generally, adventurers are delving into a ruin - the last remnants of an ancient, advanced civilization. The ruins are typically located far from towns and farms, and are guarded by traps, enemies, and powerful magic. Feel free to stray from this archetype if you're using existing characters or an existing situation, though!
If you can't decide, or want to face a random adventure, players can roll on the setting and danger charts.
The entire game takes place in your camp, and it's important that all characters have a sense of place and comfort there. Players should decide together where they are making their camp, and each player should describe what is unique about their character's tent or shelter. If you're having trouble, roll together on the campsite chart and individually on the quirk chart.
Each day, the characters venture out from the relative safety of their camp and into danger, seeking fortune, magic, and allies. The danger increases day by day, and the characters must weigh their survival against the riches and power that await them.
Simultaneously, players each roll 1d20, subtract the number of the current day, and add their POW score and any relevant modifiers, such as bonuses due to bonds, allies, magic, and previous days' outcomes, or penalties due to a lack of supplies. If the resulting number is 11 or more, your character's goal has been advanced; mark one success and consider how they have made progress. If you have enough successes to complete your goal, be sure to factor that into your description of the day's adventure!
Each player looks up the resulting number on the adventure chart, and the players discuss their results, creating a story about what happened to their characters during the day. Answer the following questions:
- How was your character feeling when you set out?
- If your character advanced their goal, how so? Do they tell the other characters about it?
- What does your character look like as they return to camp?
- Is your character excited for tomorrow? Apprehensive? Wary?
Players can decide their characters will adventure together before rolling. Only characters that share a bond of at least +1 (both ways) can adventure together. When adventuring together, characters each add the lowest number among their bonds with each other and, as a group, take their pick among their rolls, resulting in only a single outcome. If the chosen outcome requires the use of WIS, the score of the character who actually rolled the number associated with that outcome is used.
When characters adventure together, their players should collaborate on the story of what happened, how all the characters contributed to the outcome, and how they feel about it. Each player who contributes to telling this story may add +1 to their character's bond with any one of the characters they adventured with.
If the chosen roll is 11 or more, every character adventuring together successfully advances their goal and may mark a success.
If the outcome results in losing something or becoming injured, any one character of the group that adventured together takes on that burden. If they can't agree, the player who actually rolled the chosen number gets to choose, and all the characters that adventured together take -1 bond with each other (to a minimum of zero.)
After the players have told the story of the day, their characters sit down to a meal and prepare for the next day of adventuring.
Each character consumes 1 supplies for food, plus 1 to tend each wound they have sustained. If the party does not have sufficient supplies, the players must choose who goes without, and by how much. For each required point of supplies that was not provided, a character takes a -1 penalty to their roll when venturing forth the next day. Answer the following questions:
- Does the party eat together, or separately?
- If together, who cooks?
- What do they make?
This is when the party uses any expendable magic items, except those that are expended in reaction to a roll or outcome. Magic is special, and the experience of using magic should be special to your characters. When using a magic item, answer the following questions:
- How do the characters activate the magic item? For instance, one character might read a scroll aloud while others prepare a magic circle, or one character might place a resurrection stone in a dead comrade's mouth.
- How does it feel to be affected by the magic you've used? For instance, healing might feel like a warm hug, religious ecstasy, or experiencing all the pain your wounds would ever have caused, in an instant. Food from a magic platter might be supernaturally delicious, or dry and bland as sawdust.
After preparing for the day, characters can deepen their bonds with their fellow adventurers by spending time with them over a meal or a drink, helping tend to their wounds, or participating in whatever chores need doing around the camp.
Each player can choose to bond with one other character per night. Doing so costs 1 supplies in additional shared rations or drink. The character choosing to bond takes +1 to their bond with the character with whom they are bonding, but not necessarily vice versa.
A can bond with B on the same night that B bonds with C, for instance, in which case A would have 1 bond with B, while B would have 1 bond with C and zero with A.
Players should set a short scene showing how their characters spend time together and laying out, at least in broad strokes, what they do or discuss. Consider answering at least one of the following questions:
- Are you commiserating in mutual failure, or celebrating something together? Perhaps one of your characters jealous of the other's success.
- Is there a "third thing" that your characters share while they bond? For instance, characters might spar, practice their musical instruments, play chess, or pore over a tome together.
- Does one of the character reveal something about themselves or their goals?
Then it's time to sleep, and the next day, to venture forth again - or to return home.
The wilds get more dangerous by the day. You adventure will end in one of two ways: either your characters all die, or you decide to go home.
Immediately before the party rolls to venture forth, any player can decide their character leaves the party and ends their adventure (whether or not they have met their goal). In order to return home, you must have at least enough supplies to feed and tend your character for one night. This decision is permanent. If more than one character leaves at once, they should tell the story of returning together, unless they specifically decide to go their seperate ways. Answer the following questions:
- Why is your character choosing to return from their adventure?
- Did you get what you came for?
- Was it worth it?
If other characters remain on the adventure, those leaving must also decide:
- Do your allies come with you, or stay with the party?
- What, if any equipment, treasure, magic items, and supplies do you leave with the party? What do you take with you? (You must take at least enough supplies for your character for one night.)
Roll 1d6. Your character is:
- 1: A commoner who grew up farming, working wood, or tending to horses and livestock. If another character has the same background, you might be from the same small town or village, or you might not. (Roll on the Goals - Commoner chart.)
- 2: A hedge-mage or wizard's apprentice who knows some basics of illusion, abjuration, and pyromancy. If another character has the same background, you might be working together to learn more about the arcane, or you might be competing for power. (Roll on the Goals - Mage chart.)
- 3: A member of a mercenary company who has trained for years with a martial weapon like the sword, pike, or glaive. If another character has the same background, you might both have left the company in disgrace, or perhaps you're from different organizations, competing to reach the same goal. (Roll on the Goals - Mercenary chart.)
- 4: A member of a church, monkish order, or cult. If another character has the same background, you might share a faith, or have deep and irreconcilable theological disagreements. (Roll on the Goals - Clergy chart.)
- 5: A fugitive, accused of a crime you may or may not have actually committed. If another character has this background, you might have been cellmate, or perhaps you were in rival gangs or organizations. (Roll on the Goals - Fugitive chart.)
- 6: A minor scion of a fallen noble house whose siblings are squabbling over what remains of their birthright. If another character has the same background, you might be siblings, or your families might be rivals. (Roll on the Goals - Noble chart.)
Roll 1d6. Your character seeks:
- 1-2: Enough treasure to save their family farm or business from bankruptcy. (3 successes required)
- 3-4: Fame as the slayer an infamous monster or tyrannical lord. (4 successes required)
- 5-6: Magic powerful enough to reverse the curse that has afflicted their town. (5 successes required)
Roll 1d6. Your character seeks:
- 1-2: A spellbook, full of knowledge that will elevate them above other mages. (3 successes required)
- 3-4: The history of this place and its connection to the world's leylines. (4 successes required)
- 5-6: Ancient, forbidden power that will grant them immortality through undeath. (5 successes required)
Roll 1d6. Your character seeks:
- 1-2: A map of the region, so their company is prepared to attack it. (3 successes required)
- 3-4: Enough treasure to buy their contract and leave the mercenary life. (4 successes required)
- 5-6: The head of the monster that decimated their comrades. (5 successes required)
Roll 1d6. Your character seeks:
- 1-2: Ancient scrolls rumored to be concealed here. (3 successes required)
- 3-4: A way to redeem themselves in the eyes of your order. (4 successes required)
- 5-6: A relic of their god, lost for centuries. (5 successes required)
Roll 1d6. Your character seeks:
- 1-2: Enough treasure to start a new life. (3 successes required)
- 3-4: A confrontation with the person who framed them or turned them in. (4 successes required)
- 5-6: A place to hide from the society that despises them. (5 successes required; upon gaining 5 successes, instead of going home, you may stay in the adventure site indefinitely without continuing to adventure)
Roll 1d6. Your character seeks:
- 1-2: Enough treasure to surpass their siblings and claim your own place in the gentry. (3 successes required)
- 3-4: A pact with a powerful spirit or demon that they believe can restore their family to its former station. (4 successes required)
- 5-6: A legendary magic shield whose wielder is prophesied to unite the kingdom. (5 successes required)
Roll 1d6. Your character brought:
- 1: Books. Despite being heavy and fragile, they offer comfort and a chance to escape. What kind of books are they?
- 2: A pet. It's far too dangerous to bring them on your adventures, but they're certainly comforting to have around camp. What kind of animal are they?
- 3: Religious accessories. What is your character's faith? What does it look like to practice that faith in the wilderness?
- 4: A musical instrument. What is it? When did your character learn to play?
- 5: An original portrait. Who is it of? Why are they so important that your character won't be parted from it?
- 6: Nothing unnecessary. Why is your character travelling so light? Are they disciplined, or destitute?
Roll 1d6. You are adventuring in:
- 1: Harsh desert. Winds whip sand in your face, and the temperature swings wildly between unbearably hot and bone-chillingly cold.
- 2: Dense jungle. Humidity rots even the best-preserved supplies, cloth moulders, and midges and flies beset any who dare sit still.
- 3: Rocky highlands. Sparse trees provide little shelter from the chilly, gusty winds that resist every movement along the lichen-covered ridges and peaks.
- 4: Scattered islands. Storms and high seas smash unwary sailors against the rocks, unexpectedly fill caves, and consume beaches without warning.
- 5: Cursed forests. Darkness rarely yields to day, ghosts lead unwary travellers to their death in the deep pines, and wolves howl throughout the long nights.
- 6: Flip a coin (or roll 1d6 again; 3 or below is tails, 4 or above is heads.)
- Heads: Blasted tundra. It is bitterly cold all day, and it is all you can do to stay warm while you venture into the wilds.
- Tails: Boiling volcanoes. Finding stable land to camp on is hard, animals are scarce, and one wrong step could lead to a fiery death.
Roll 1d6. Your fortunes await you in:
- 1: An abandoned, once-thriving town or city. You pick through the rubble of regular people's lives for treasure and magic.
- 2: A shattered fortress. You spend each day pushing further into the collapsed towers and charred rooms, seeking treasure and magic.
- 3: A desecrated temple. This place once provided shelter, sanctuary, and comfort to hundreds or thousands; now, you sift through tattered tapestries and crumbling books for treasure and magic.
- 4: A wizard's tower. The keepers of the arcane secrets are long dead, but their defenses endure, frustrating your every move as you search for treasure and magic.
- 5: A fallen world. No great ruin concentrates the wealth of the ancients for you to plunder; instead, you travel widely, raiding towers, keeps, caves, and chapels whose original inhabitants have long since died or abandoned them, leaving behind treasure and magic.
- 6: A planar incursion. The landscape is twisted, its features magnified, and one element rules supreme. Roll 1d4. That element is:
- 1: Fire - you are delving into the elemental chaos of creation for primordial treasure and magic.
- 2: Water - you are exploring a drowned city, risen from the depths, for ancient treasure and magic.
- 3: Life - you have found a pathway to the land of the fey, seeking the fair folk's treasure and magic.
- 4: Death - you walk among the dead, plundering grave-gifts for treasure and magic.
Roll 1d6. Between you and the treasure you seek stands:
- 1: A horde of the undead. Those who populated this place in life defend it still in death.
- 2: A conquering army. Some kingdom or cult has gathered the strength to utterly overrun this place, and they seek its power as well.
- 3: Monstrous inhabitants. Fell beasts have taken up residence where the ancients once made their home, and they do not take kindly to your presence.
- 4: A dead hand. The ruins you plunder are sparsely inhabited, if at all, but are full of traps and magical defenses that can crush, poison, or incinerate intruders.
- 5: The armies of Hell. Demons and devils have claimed this place for their own, offering temptation and violent resistence in equal measure.
- 6: Something altogether worse. Geometry, topography, and logic warp around the strange power that protects this place; even trying to navigate it sends your mind reeling.
Roll 1d6. You are camping:
- 1: In a clearing or hillock, defended by your own cunning. Perhaps you've built a fence of stakes, a low wall, or even just dragged brush and leaves into a rough circle of camoflage.
- 2-3: In a a dell, hollow, or dried stream-bed that provides natural cover from the elements.
- 4: In a cave. Strange noises eminate from further back in the cave system, but the sturdy stone keeps the wind and weather off, and it feels safer than chancing it outside.
- 5: In a ruined building. Perhaps you've made sure that it's clear of other inhabitants, or perhaps they don't mind your presence in exchange for the promise of a little warmth and the protection of your blades.
- 6: In a home, inn, or chapel. Cut off from the outside world, food and medicine remain scarce, but you have four sturdy walls around you and a roof over your head. Why is this place here? Why did the inhabitants take you in? What is it like to squeeze in your whole party?
Today, when your character ventured forth, you:
- 20+: Won a powerful magic item. Roll on the magic item chart.
- 19: Met a new ally. Roll on the allies chart.
- 15 - 18: Came across a cache of unspoiled rations, some sturdy mundane gear, or a travelling trader. Your choice of:
- Gain +WIS supplies.
- Gain one piece of mundane gear (it can be equipped into one gear slot, giving +1 POW).
- Trade. (See the trade chart.)
- 11 - 14: Explored, infiltrated, negotiated, or fought successfully, and uncovered important information or valuable treasure. Your choice of:
- Tomorrow, you may add +WIS to your roll when venturing forth.
- Gain +WIS treasure.
- 6 - 10: Found nothing of interest. Nothing was gained, but nothing was lost.
- 2 - 5: Encountered foes, traps, or disaster, and your skills and equipment proved unequal to the task. Your choice of:
- One of your allies was killed or abandoned your party.
- You lost a piece of equipment.
- You were grievously injured; you gain a wound.
- 1-: Encountered foes, traps, or disaster, and your skills and equipment proved unequal to the task. Choose twice from the list below (you may choose each option more than once):
- You were grievously injured; you gain a wound.
- You sustained a minor injury; one gear slot becomes unusable. If you have more gear equipped than gear slots available, you must remove gear until you no longer do. You cannot pick this option if you have no gear slots.
When you find a magic item, roll 1d12. You can choose to subtract any number up to your WIS score after rolling. For example, if you rolled an 8 and had a WIS score of 2, you could choose to make the result 6, 7, or 8. You found:
- 12: A powerful enchanted gem, magic scroll, or alchemical solution which can be expended to heal all of one character's wounds and restore all their lost gear slots, or to resurrect a character who has died (and heal all of their wounds and restore all their lost gear slots.)
- 11: An enchanted charm, amulet, or weapon. It uses a gear slot and provides a bonus to the wearer's POW equal to their WIS.
- 10: An enchanted shield. It uses a gear slot but does not provide any POW bonus. If the user would be injured, they instead roll a d6. If the result is less than or equal to their WIS score, they aren't injured.
- 9: A magic portal that can be expended to summon an ally of any kind from the ally chart. They are an otherworldly being of some kind, such as a fey, devil, angel, or fiend.
- 8: An enchanted charm, circlet, or piece of armor. It uses a gear slot but does not provide any bonus to POW. Instead, if the character wearing it rolls less than their WIS score when venturing forth, they can re-roll. They must use the second roll, no matter the result.
- 7: An enchanted platter that re-fills itself with delicious food each night, always providing 1 supplies per living character.
- 6: A magic scroll that can be expended by a character to re-roll once when venturing forth. Add all the relevant bonuses and penalties as normal, and use the higher result.
- 5: A magical herb that can be expended to permanently heal one wound or restore one lost gear slot.
- 4: A masterwork or lightly enchanted piece of gear. It uses a gear slot and provides +2 POW.
- 3: A potion that can be expended to increase POW or WIS by one point for one day.
- 1-2: A valuable relic, treatise, or alchemical reagent. It is a wonder of an ancient civilization, the fruit of lost magical knowledge, or a one-of-a-kind religious artifact, but has no immediate use to adventurers such as yourselves.
Be sure to describe where and how you found this item, what it looks like, and how your character feels about it.
When you gain an ally, roll a d6. You can choose to subtract any number up to your WIS score after rolling. For example, if you rolled an 4 and had a WIS score of 2, you could choose to make the result 2, 3, or 4. Your new ally is:
- 1: A cleric of a powerful god. Describe the nature of their faith in broad strokes. Every character gets +1 WIS as long as the cleric is with your party.
- 2: A herbalist, tracker, or skilled hunter. Describe their lifestyle in broad strokes. Each day, as you return from adventure, this ally brings you 1d4 supplies.
- 3: A displaced laborer who will carry valuable loot for you. Describe what happened to disrupt their peaceful life. Every time someone rolls above a 10 (that is, 11 and above) when venturing forth, the party gains 1 treasure.
- 4: A would-be adventurer who will fight at your side. Describe what happened to make them desperate enough to take up a life of danger. Each day, any one character can add +1 when venturing forth.
- 5: A wizard, sage, or archaeologist. Describe why they are interested in your adventures in particular. Whenever you find a magic item, you can exchange it for any magic item that has a lower associated number on the magic item chart.
- 6: A tinker or travelling merchant. Describe the goods they normally trade, and how they travel with them. Each night, while preparing for the next day, you can trade at will.
Be sure to describe where you ran across this new ally, what they are like, and how your character feels about them joining your camp.
Whenever you have the opportunity to trade, you may:
- buy WIS supplies for 1 treasure.
- buy 1 piece of mundane gear (it gives +1 POW) for 3 treasure.
- sell 1 piece of mundane gear for 1 treasure.
- sell any magic item for 4 treasure.