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DIE RPG BETA v1.3

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Page 1: DIE RPG BETA v1

DIE RPG BETAv1.3

Page 2: DIE RPG BETA v1

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1) RULE CHANGES

2) ADVANCEMENT

3) RUNNING THE ARCHETYPES (ERRATA & ADDITIONS)

RUNNING THE MASTER

RUNNING THE GODBINDER

RUNNING THE FOOL

RUNNING THE NEO

NON-MASTER ANTAGONISTS

NON-PLAYER ARCHETYPES

4) SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

DIE: DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME (WE KILLED A KOBOLD AND TOOK ITS STUFF)

DESIGNER NOTES

5) HANDOUTS (CHARACTER SHEETS & REFERENCE)

CHARACTER SHEETS

GM SHEETS, CHECKLISTS AND CHEAT SHEETS

KIERON GILLEN © 2020ART BY STEPHANIE HANSCopyright © 2020 Lemon Ink Ltd & Stéphanie Hans Studio. All rights reserved. DIE, the Die logos, and the likenesses of all characters herein or hereon are trademarks of Kieron Gillen Ltd & Stéphanie Hans. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means (except for short excerpts for journalistic or review purposes) without the express written permission of Lemon Ink Ltd & Stéphanie Hans Studio. All names, characters, events, and places herein are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, or places is coincidental. Representation: Law Offices of Harris M. Miller II, P.C. ([email protected])

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INTRODUCTIONv1.3

Hi again.

As I said last time, I suspect this is the last of the Beta add-ons for DIE, at least in terms of new major content. It basically completes what I consider the core DIE Beta experience.

It takes the form of the previous update, in terms of working as an errata to what already exists in the main manuals. This release also includes what was in the 1.2 release, with some more tweaks. The character sheets entirely replace those in the previous edition.

The main new areas in this are…

1. A full Master class, which can be played by any player, GM or otherwise. 2. The option to make a non-Master class be the antagonist.3. A remixed Godbinder.4. Some minor rule tweaks for things like Specials and a new Initiative system.5. A new easy-to-run basic scenario for DIE.6. The Emotion Knight has all levels of creative violence accessible at the start of the game, and

access to their stances and Venting (which is what we’ve renamed Greater Abilities).7. The NPC archetype rules that were in the comic, tweaked to work with current rules.8. Advancement tweaks, including Master advancement.

As I said, if there’s more releases for DIE in this open Beta stage, they’ll likely be fixes for what’s released rather than big new content. The push of the work now is on making the campaign game work – or, rather, making it work properly. At the time of writing, I’m 32 sessions into my first full DIE campaign, and we’re approaching the end game. It’s giving me a lot to fold back into the design. We’re having a lot of fun. There are a lot of emotions. Also, the Fool character just tried to punch the Fair in the balls.

The full release of DIE, if it goes ahead, will be a big step forward - the Campaign Mode is significant, to say the least. It’ll also include a lot of reworking through the whole text. Some changes are the sort of fundamental tweaks that are just a lot of leg work. I may need to change how we describe Difficulty in game, which basically means reducing the difficulty of all challenges by 1, which means going through the whole book and changing every single one. That’s not worth it right now, right? Same with some other small changes of terminology. Especially as I’m not sure I want to do this - there are costs as well as benefits.

That said, I think I’m within a breath of being able to actually hand the game to another designer who can look at what I’ve done and then make more stuff in that template. That excites me hugely.

Thanks everyone for playing this. It’s been everything.

Kieron11.12.2020

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RULE CHANGES

SPECIALS

Specials now work in the following way, changing the core mechanic. These changes have been worked into the character sheets, and the cheat sheets.

Any dice that rolls a 6 can be used to activate any relevant Special. Each Special can only be applied once per roll to any individual target, unless otherwise stated.

For example, Trevor the Knight has a Special on his attack which says “this hit counts as two hits”. He attacks the mean old orc, rolling a 6, 4 and a 2. The orc has a defence of 1, so he would normally do two hits (the 6 and a 4). However, the 6 can activate the Special, counting as two hits. He does three hits. If he had rolled a 6, 6 and a 2, he would have still done three hits. Any individual Special can only be applied once. If he had a second relevant Special, he could have used the second 6 to activate that.

This means Specials are now less “swingy” in impact. They’re a bonus, but an Emotion Knight rolling two sixes isn’t going to just kill basically everyone. It’s also worth noting that the rule says you can apply the Special on any individual affected, so if you are (to choose one example) casting a spell that affects many people in an area, if you rolled sufficient sixes, you could apply the same Special to each of them.

For example, Phillipa the Pyromancer is throwing a fireball at a group of mean old orcs. She rolls 6, 6, 3, 3. As each orc has a defence of 1, each orc will suffer two hits. However the fireball has a Special of “Set orc on fire. They suffer one hit at the start of each of their combat rounds until extinguished.” She uses the Special to set two orcs on fire. What she couldn’t do is set one orc on fire, twice.

As a final note, if a player has access to two identical Specials from different sources, they can activate both those Specials on the same target.

INITIATIVE

We’ve changed up Initiative, as Initiative was rubbish.

Each character rolls their Dexterity dice pool and states the sum total of the dice rolled. This is one exception to the core mechanic. The GM does the same for each group of combatants they control, noting their sum totals. All the combatants of the same sort act at the same time.

The results are then arranged in order, from the highest total to the lowest, with the highest going first. This is the Initiative order.

If a player’s and a GM-controlled character’s totals are equal, the player’s character acts first in the order. If players roll identically, their order is ascertained in clockwise order from the GM. For ties of the GM-controlled characters, the GM decides which order GM-controlled characters act in.

Basically, number of successes didn’t give enough of a spread to give a meaningful order. With reluctance, I’ve been doing this. I hate rules exceptions. I hates them forever.

CASTING SPELLS OFFENSIVELY

Note: this is a rule which was originally in the Godbinder’s section. It’s being moved here as it’s used for Masters’ and Fools’ spells as well.

When casting spells, Scripture, or anything where a character must roll a dice pool to see if a spell is successful, which is also used to directly attack or affect a target, the dice pool is simultaneously compared against both the spell’s Difficulty and the target’s Defences.

For example, Gareth Godbinder casts a fireball (Difficulty 2) at a group of Fallen (Defence 1, so Difficulty 1). If Gareth rolls two successes, they cast the spell and hit the Fallen, as the number of successes matches or is higher than both the

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casting Difficulty (2) and the Fallen’s Defence (1). If Gareth rolled only one success, they would fail to cast the fireball (Difficulty 2) so no Fallen would be harmed.

DAMAGE

Just lose the “take disadvantage at low health” stuff unless you’re running a particularly realistically styled game. Add disadvantages if there’s a described narrative effect which seems especially relevant.

For example, Violent Trevor is in a fight and we describe his hands being hit beneath a hammer blow from a mean ol’ orc. He is down to 1 Health. In previous games of DIE, he’d be on 2 disadvantages, but we’ve decided that is just no fun. However, shortly later, Violent Trevor tries to pick a lock. The GM thinks the fine motor control required from this may be a good time to throw a disadvantage in.

Basically, wing it.

Throughout playtesting DIE, I’ve found myself thinking of one of Elmore Leonard’s rules for writing: “Leave out the parts that readers tend to skip.” I suspect the same is true for game design. If there’s a rule even I’m not using, why the hell is it in the core rules?

BASIC SCENARIO DESIGN

In the initial encounter, have the players face a number of Lesser Fallen equal to the number of players (i.e. no Greater Fallen). Players are significantly more fragile now.

Note - this Beta includes a pre-generated scenario which is an easier way to play a first game.

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ADVANCEMENT

As initiated in DIE 1.2, DIE starting characters have significantly less power (both in terms of raw power and flexibility). As such, if you wish, you can choose to advance throughout the game. If you choose to do it, it works like this…

When you reach a crucial moment, the players’ dice burst into life and the players gain new abilities. This is a levelling-up moment. Why is this happening? As the players are overcoming struggles and acting, their dice are attuning themselves to their owners, and vice versa.

When the group is first asked to level up, present the players with the advancement sheet (see page 7), which will tell them what reward they will get. The GM’s character also advances.

If you’re playing the basic structure of DIE, depending on the level of sessions you have, this is where we suggest placing the level-ups:

ONE-SESSION GAME• Level up: after the defeat of the initial Fallen

or their entry into the fantasy world proper. (Optional)

• Level up: before the final confrontation.

TWO-SESSION GAME• Level up: after the defeat of the initial Fallen or

their entry into the fantasy world proper.• Level up: before the final confrontation.

THREE-SESSION GAME• Level up: after the defeat of the initial Fallen or

their entry into the fantasy world proper.• Level up: at the climactic moment at the end of

the second session.• Level up: before the final confrontation.

FOUR-SESSION GAME• Level up: at the climactic moment at the end of

the second session.• Level up: at the climactic moment at the end of

the third session.• Level up: before the final confrontation.

Most of the choices on the sheet are explanatory, expanding the options the players pick from their character sheet. For example, if a Neo gains a new gift, and selects Energy Blade, they gain it and all abilities (and further choices) beneath the Energy Blade.

You should include the activation of these powers into the narrative in the same way as the initial transformation into the DIE character.

There are some abilities which are new, lifted from the Campaign and described in the later sections - the Neo ones in Running the Neo and the Fool ones in Running The Fool.

Previous Beta editions of DIE had a power rush from the off, with all the characters being hugely powerful immediately. In this version, they likely start as merely as good as anyone on Earth, (or better than anyone on Earth within a limited field) with a handful of superhuman abilities. Instead, the longer they stay in DIE, the more they appear to gain more abilities.

This can be folded into the narrative – the implicit question is how powerful will the players be if they continue to stay here?

ALTERNATVES TO THE ABOVE ADVANCEMENT:

POWERLESSDon’t use advancement. Try with the characters as level 1 characters throughout. This is how I’m starting the actual campaign in the playtest. Works fine, and does make it easier for everyone. None of my group (all of whom have played DIE before) have objected to starting like this, and still had lots of fun. In a real way, reducing the number of abilities you have makes you focus in on things you can do.

POWER-CRAZEDStart with the characters at maximum power – as in, with all four advances and all the points for their stats. This is basically identical to how the

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characters were in the earlier Betas.

STAT-CRAZEDStarts with your stats at the maximum of 6 points

spent, but only level 1 abilities. This means you have much greater chances of success, but aren’t overloaded with extra abilities to figure out.

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ADVANCEMENT TABLE

Every time a player advances, they can increase one stat by 1, but to a maximum of 4. In addition, they gain the following ability, depending on their class.

The Fool and the Neo have abilities which are not presently described on their character sheets. They are described later in this document, in the Running the Fool and Running the Neo sections.

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

Neo STARTAll your new gifts will require activation with Fair Gold, as per your original one.

PICK NEW MAJOR GIFTSelect one of the other abilities on your sheet.

PICK ONE OF THESE THREE MINOR GIFTSJetpack/Enhanced Vision/Radar.The gift can be used in the narrative appropriately.

PICK NEW MAJOR GIFTSelect one of the other abilities on your sheet.

Dictator START PICK A SECOND EMOTION FOR YOUR PALETTE

PICK A THIRD EMOTION FOR YOUR PALETTE

PICK A FOURTH EMOTION FOR YOUR PALETTEThe designer wishes all of these were as easy to do as the Dictator.

Godbinder START PICK A NEW LEVEL IN ANY GOD

PICK A NEW LEVEL IN ANY GOD

PICK A NEW LEVEL IN ANY GODThe designer is also fond of you, Godbinder. You don’t make it too hard.

Fool START GAIN ‘FOOL’S PREP’Write on sheet and ask GM what it means.

A SECOND FLUKEMake up / select a second fluke. Choose whichever you wish when you roll your circle.

GAIN ‘FOOLS RUSH IN’Write on sheet and ask GM what it means.

Emotion Knight START GAIN ACCESS TO EMOTION DRAINING

PICK A SECOND VENTING ABILITY

CHOOSE A SECOND STANCEYou may only have a single Stance active at once.

Master START GAIN AN EXTRA RULEIf you have lost Mastery, regain it.

GAIN AN EXTRA RULEIf you have lost Mastery, regain it.

GAIN AN EXTRA RULEIf you have lost Mastery, regain it.

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RUNNING THE ARCHETYPES(ERRATA & ADDITIONS)

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RUNNING THE MASTERThis section entirely replaces the Running The Master section in the 1.1 Manual.

WHO TO GIVE THE MASTER TO

It’s suggested that the GM reserves the Master for their own character, at least in the first game they run. The core experience of the GM playing the character class that is basically “Evil GM” is part of the game’s meta thrill.

The Master is less flexible in terms of the types of classical character types it matches: it is a magic-user. There are different flavours, but they’re more akin to the schools of magic than something fundamentally different.

However, generally speaking, it’s a class that rewards more experienced players. It gives a lot of power, both in terms of freeform improvisation (in its cheating) and lots of nuts and bolts of actual mechanics (in its Rules that require player invention). Any of that can overwhelm a player. Equally, for a player who doesn’t have a developed sense of how much time they’re taking up, they can lead to a player grinding a game to a halt. There will likely be some conversation with the Master about trying to avoid this, if they’re not aware.

GO READ THE SHEET NOW

The rest is commentary to what you’ll find in there.

Phew. That’s a lot, huh?

CHEAT TOKEN CHANGES

You will note that the GM’s Master gets one less Cheat Token than before. This will mean they’ll likely die one attack earlier. However, they are allowed to access the DIE MASTER cheats via the usual cheating process.

This means that the game will likely end with the Master trying to cheat using the D20 rather than die. In practice, this extends the Master’s survivability slightly.

You’ll note that a non-Master antagonist does not get this ability… but non-Master antagonists tend to be significantly more resilient than Masters. It’ll average out, probably.

Hey, it’s a Beta for a reason, folks.

RULES:

Yes, attentive Beta reader, you may recognise the ghost of the magic system from the Arcana, resurrected into a new, more streamlined, more useable and hopefully more fun form.

Combining Rules

The process of combining Rules is deliberately left as a creative act for the Master. By the selections, the Master likely has a basic idea for things they want to do. If they don’t, have a chat with them in terms of what they’re thinking of. It’s worth noting that if they don’t have an idea, you may have chosen the wrong person to be the Master - as I said at the start, it’s a class which demands a certain sort of familiarity with “rules” as a general concept. You may want to give some suggestions.

Note that the Rules have a mechanic effect, which the players add their own description to. The description can create effects in the world. If Damage Duration is defined as Fire, it can set fire to things generally. If Damage Duration is defined as a mass of writhing attack termites, it can be used to gnaw at tree roots or (er) a source of protein. Ugh.

On the following page is a selection of basic combinations to get the idea of how to create a selection of standard RPG-esque spell effects. Worth noting some of these use identical Rules to create significantly different spells. This is very much the point.

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• Range + Damage = Fire an attack at a single person.

• Area + Damage = Hurt everyone around you (including you - see Selectivity below).

• Duration + Damage = Enchant weapon to deliver Special. (Plus the Mastery advantage, if you have Mastery.)

• Duration + Damage = Set hands on fire, delivering Special.

• Duration + Area + Enhance (Attack) = Everyone near you when you cast the spell gets a bonus to hit for the rest of combat.

• Duration + Area + Enhance (Attack) = As long as someone is near you, they get a bonus to hit.

• Duration + Area + Hinder (Attack) = Anyone near you trying to attack gets a disadvantage.

• Damage + Duration + Ranged = Create a violent creature you can control up to that range.

• Duration + Movement = Levitate Spell.

• Range + Movement = Telekinesis.

• Duration + Ranged + Movement = Create Living Animated Servant.

• Damage + Duration + Ranged + Movement = Create Living Animated Servant which kicks ass.

It’s worth noting that a Rule is the top scale of what it could achieve, so could achieve less. So if you take Damage (fire) you could use its narrative effect to light a match. You don’t have to just murder people with it. So Damage (fire) and Range could be used to light a torch across the room.

Generally speaking, the fictional component is in addition to the mechanic component, and entirely for free. If a player is trying to make a combination (or fictional element) do something that sounds a bit borderline, it is likely best to just accept it and say the extra desired effect requires some Rules Lawyering to do.

Rules Lawyering Extra Rules

If a player wants to choose the same Rule multiple times, and give each a keyword, that’s great. Choosing Enhance (Attack) and then Enhance (Strength) is perfectly okay. Equally choosing the same Damage and giving it a different narrative component is fine. Maybe you want to be be able to throw fire AND poison people - which are best simulated by the Damage (Extended) Rule.

You can also choose each of your Rules repeatedly to increase scale (explained properly below).

However, you - as the GM - may also want to add other rules to your game. The player may also have an idea for a Rule that isn’t on the sheet - understandably, as this is the first Beta release of this, and we wanted to keep it fairly basic. The old Arcana may give some ideas, or you may just want to make them up. Almost any Special in the game could be an alternative basis for a Damage, for example.

Selectivity is an ability I suspect people will be unlikely to choose but also one they need a lot. This means “I can cast a fire blast around myself and not blow myself up.” Selectivity also scales as listed below - level 1 means you can remove yourself; level 2 means you can remove a few people from the effect.

You may wish to have selectivity be an exception to the Rules Lawering risk costs - increasing risk by 1 rather than 2. This encourages people to select it as a Rules Lawyering effect, and has a fun 1-in-20 chance of disaster à la D&D.

Scale

Scale is a way to quantify whether a spell affects something. Each time the identical Rule is selected, it increases the maximum level of scale. If a spell includes none of a Rule, it operates on scale zero. You get this for free.

Speaking generally, this is for guidance. You don’t need to memorise it. You can easily wing this in terms of “Well, touch is 0, 1 is basic range, and this target is a long way away, so it’s 2.”

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Range0 = Touch1 = Thrown Range2 = Bow Range3 = Gun Range4 = Line of Sight5 = Country-Wide6 = Region-Wide

Area0 = Touch1 = Arm’s reach2 = 10 ft range3 = Large room size4 = What?5= Seriously, this is dangerous? What are you thinking? You’re going to take someone’s eye out.6 = That cool bit in Akira. No, not the bit where his arm goes SHLUNK! or the bit with the bike and the lasers. The bit with the explosion. That bit.

Duration0 = Instantaneous1 = Length of a Combat2 = Hour3 = Day4 = Week5 = Month6 = Year and a Day

Selectivity1 = You can make it not affect you.2 = A spell can not affect anyone near you.

As a general rule, complete selectivity inside an area requires a level of selectivity equal to the size of the area. So if you’re casting a fireball that has a scale of 3 for area, it will need a scale of 3 in selectivity to ensure that you get to pick who gets hurt inside it.

Movement (Velocity)1 - Walking2 - Running 3 - Horse Gallop4 - Vroooooom!5 - The engines cannae take it, Captain.

Movement (Direction)1 - On one plane (I.e. Levitation or moving around as normal)2 - Flight 3 - Pass through other objects

DamageThis scales, but less dramatically. It means that it adds the same Special multiple times. What does this allow? While the core mechanic states that you are unable to use the same Special more than once on the same target, you can apply identical Specials multiple times. So you’re essentially hoping you roll a bunch of sixes.

Failure To Roll Difficulty To Cast A Spell

Like all failure, it is meant to be interpreted. Especially with high difficulty spells, the spell will likely still work, but without its full effect. For example, casting a fully active kick-ass construct is a Difficulty 4 spell. If you roll fewer successes, it’s possible that the effect only lasts for a combat round or perhaps two.

Rules Lawyering To Reducing Difficulty

Worth stressing an implicit part of the Rules: any new Rules you add to a spell do not increase its Difficulty. So if you add two Rules you know to a spell, and then use Rules lawyering to add two more, its Difficulty is 2.

However, also implicit in Rules Lawyering is the following: if a Master chooses to add a Rule to the spell which they already know via Rules Lawyering, rather than their knowledge of the Rule, it does not increase the Difficulty. You are essentially trading Difficulty for the increased chance of being caught.

E.g. The Master is trying to create a warrior construct. As described above, it needs range, movement, damage and duration. The Master has all those Rules, but that adds up to 4 Difficulty. The Master decides to Rules Lawyer, and add damage and duration for 1 point each (as they know them). As they’re added by Rules Lawyering, they do not create any increase in difficulty. They can summon the construct if they roll Difficulty 2.

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CHEATING

It should be noted that as standard the cheat still happens even if the player is caught. They’ve done the crime. Now to do the time. It is possible that some punishments include undoing it, of course…

TRIALS BY THE POWERS THAT BE

It says on the Master’s sheet that when the D20 is selected from the player’s hand, the Powers That Be arrive. You may note that isn’t defined on the sheet. The Master is unlikely to know who they are until they turn up, unless they specifically go and try and find out, and maybe not even then.

If there is something in your game which seems to be ideal for policing reality, use it. If not, the standard judges are The Fair. The clue’s in the name, right? The Fair exist as a higher level force across all the pocket dimensions of Die, so are very into this.

How does a trial work?

For a GM-controlled Master, unless it’s something which adds to the plot, it’s unlikely you’ll want to show the trial. The Master maybe has a moment of begging for forgiveness to thin air, before the punishment hits them. More likely a moment of panic before the punishment hits is enough. That said, if you want to role-play begging for life and let the players decide if it’s convincing, that could be fun too. I’m not the boss of you.

If it’s a player-controlled Master, the Fair (or whoever is judging) appear and describe the crime and punishment, and ask if there’s anything for the court to consider. The Master then can say whatever they wish to try to get off, or at least get them to be lenient. The latter isn’t a bad tactic - getting a punishment dialed down is more likely than being forgiven entirely. The Fair are also not cruel - it is likely a “well, this was your first offence” will lead to it being cut down.

While a Master begs for their life, be aware this is different from a Godbinder argument. That is a Godbinder trying to come to a deal with a

god. This is 100% the Fair (or whoever) having all the power and they can hit you with the full punishment any moment they choose. A Master should not be too comfortable.

Yes, “contempt of court” could lead to hitting them with a punishment more than is suggested. A warning would be polite, of course.

For players who are not exactly good at this sort of thing, you may wish to allow a Charisma roll with the number of successes determining whether it can be cut down.

PUNISHMENTS

There are some ideas on the sheet, but here’s a basic list of things to consider, in increasing levels of severity…

• Losing the Mastery: the basic one. Just something a Master hates.

• Community Service: A specific task a player has to do, on cost of further punishment.

• Suffering Wounds: Clearly can be fatal, but more often an annoyance.

• Curses: Some in game disadvantage, either mechanically or a narrative, or both.

• Quests: A big, difficult-to-achieve thing - think of what a God may demand of a Godbinder for guidance.

• Instant Death: Anything which is active 100% game-breaking cheating should get hit with this..

• Killing loved ones and party members too: For things which are cheating in a way which is actively trying to destroy the game (as in, in the fiction, not in real life) or subvert the whole justice system, collateral damage is in character.

• Trapping them in an eternal hellish pain which destroys them mentally and physically and leaves no room for resurrection and escape: Death is a mercy. Sometimes, if a Master is bad enough, there’s no mercy.

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TAKING IT SLOW (aka Writing The Rules)

You’ll note there is a section that says some cheating may take some time. This is equivalent to a Godbinder’s miracle side-stepping the plot - as in, if a cheat is trying to do that, you will likely demand some equivalent work to do it.

It’s also worth noting that slow cheats need not be cheats which have a huge punishment if caught. In fact, they’re arguably less likely to be - crafting a citadel from the ground over a week is less offensive to the nature of reality than something that happened simply not happening.

In the campaign, this sort of long-scale reality warping task is very much a part of the Master’s advancement, so is something of a placeholder or an inspiration for those who wish to play around with this in your games.

There’s a line which will likely go into the full campaign: What is writing the rules in an RPG other than bending the rules until they stick?

This would be akin to that.

META NONSENSE TO THE MAX

I am resisting giving you the clever excuses I would use as a Master player begging for my life after being caught cheating for two reasons. Firstly - these Rules are the game posing a question, and the point is for each group to have fun finding their own answers.

Secondly…

The Fair, as characters, are going to be less forgiving of repeated identical excuses from the same character. “No, human, your dog did not eat your reality user manual again.” That’s logical, and you already know that. However, as the Fair exist across all games of DIE, they are also sensitive to repeated excuses used by the same player.

When I first wrote this section I wrote “Do feel free to ask previous GMs about what sort of excuses players have used in previous games when playing Masters” but that seems to encourage

people to actively snoop, which rarely ends well. However, we all do hear about previous games and people do share stories. If you hear that a player has used an excuse before, the Fair know about it.

Which is why I’m not telling you as, if I ever play a Master in any of your games, I don’t want you saying “I believe you’ve used that before, Kieron.”

You won’t get me like that.

THE MASTER TRYING WEIRD SHIT

A smart Master will try something neither you nor your friend the game designer will have thought of. Well done them.

Cheating has an enormously high chance of failure. The penalty of failure is in proportion to how large a scale cheat it is. And any ongoing cheating (as in, cheating that is still present, including spells created from Rules) can be included in that punishment. In other words, if a crime is ongoing, if the cops turn up in any point, you may be trouble.

However, a Master can and should absolutely go for it.

To choose one example, a Gamist Master has the ability to “Overturn or create an exception to a major existing Rule in an archetype.” A Master could choose the Rule to be “the cheating detection Rules” and the limited context to be “in this room”.

Surely that will mean a Master can throw off indefinite cheats in this room? Is that allowed?

Yeah, why not. Let’s see what happens.

Firstly, it’s still a 50% chance of failing and having to go before the judgement of the Fair. This is an extreme cheat - this is a worse evasion of the Rules than “make something that has just happened not happen”. That has a compulsory punishment of death. What could a worse compulsory punishment be? You tell me. That’s what they’re risking.

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Secondly, they need to specify which cheating detection Rule. Major or minor? They’re two different Rules. If they don’t specify, the cheat would be exactly what they say. If not, the other one will be in action. Same as the area. What are the boundaries of “this room”? Can they be manipulated? Smart opponents can fuck with the Rules. Foolhardy Masters can fail to see their limitations. The caveat there is not playing “Gotcha” with a player - they are risking a lot whenever they try to cheat. Giving them something, even if they don’t get everything, is a way to sweeten the pill.

Thirdly, if at any point this is brought to the attention of the Fair, via any kind of cheat roll or any other method (Neo contacting the fair, Godbinders using a miracle to get them there, etc, etc), we return to point one. An ongoing cheat is ongoing evidence, and we get whatever awful punishment this terrible cheat gets.

Generally speaking, if a player jams their fingers in the socket to see what happens,

don’t disappoint them. Have fun thinking of the unexpected consequences of cheating. Perhaps turning off “the ability for anyone to be hurt” has no awful side-effects… or perhaps it means that the metabolic cycle in every single cell of everyone’s body stops, due to the inability of enzymes to “hurt” glucose molecules.

We’ve all seen the Magician’s Apprentice fucking up in Fantasia. Players know the difference between a clever cheat and trying to avoid playing the game, and the latter absolutely is going to end up with an army of mops destroying civilization. That said, warning a player that they’re stepping into significantly dangerous areas is the absolute minimum.

For GM-controlled Masters, I would not recommend any of these huge game-breaking sorts of cheating. We can assume their training will have involved being taught to avoid trying that. Clearly, the usual “unless there’s a really cool thing that seems exciting” caveat applies.

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RUNNING THE GODBINDERThis section entirely replaces the Running The Godbinder section in the 1.1 Manual.

WHO TO GIVE THE GODBINDER TO?

The Godbinder is arguably the most flexible and directly powerful of the classes. In terms of traditional D&D classes, it is most akin to a cleric, but if the player’s choices lean more martial, they can act like a Knight. If the choices lean more academic in style, the Godbinder can operate in a manner akin to a warlock or any magic user.

But while the Godbinder is based around managing debts with various gods, it isn’t really for those who are looking for crunchy mechanics – it’s one where the player gets to interact with a series of god characters and explicitly barter for what they want. In other words, it’s the class whose abilities most involve role-play as a core element. If a player likes yapping to GM-controlled characters, this is one of the best choices for them.

USING THE D12

The Godbinder is one of the less complicated archetypes in its use of dice. The dice is used simply as a tool the player brandishes to contact the god. Some people use it as a phone. Some people use it as an altar. Just make the players aware of it, and encourage them to lean into the ritual of it.

The D12 is also added to any dice pool which involves a Godbinder’s miracles, including attacks (and the players’ physical attacks if transformed or enhanced by a spell in some way). So if a player is transformed into a bear, they would get to roll their D12 in any dice pool related to bear activities. If you magicked up a divine sword, you’d use the D12.

THE SECOND GOD SHEET

This sheet gives a selection of other gods a Godbinder may follow. You don’t need to give the Godbinder this sheet - it expands their options, and so may expand the time they take to make

a decision. If the Godbinder is the sort to want to read everything, you may not wish to give them this, or at least you could encourage them to look at the gods as “which fictional entity do you want to talk to regularly” rather than “what Scripture are you fishing for?”

It’s also worth noting that this sheet’s Rules are basically untouched since version 1.2. As Scripture is more limited than the Minor Miracles it replaces, the Scripture you get from individual gods is significantly better. Only the gods on the main sheet have been upgraded - the Scripture on the second sheet lacks the punch.

PLAYING THE GODS

The player gets to define their gods, and then the GM plays them. The names the player selects and their domains are your cue to their personalities, and you can build on that. The gods are big personalities, and I would suggest leaning them iconic. If you’re a reader of the comic DIE, you’ll likely have a selection of gods for inspiration. The gods, generally speaking, either want the player to owe them, or they want to cause things related to What They’re The God Of to happen in the world. When role-playing the gods – including setting deals – bear this in mind.

Unless the Godbinder (or the god) decides otherwise, time is frozen when speaking to a god, and no one else can hear them. Describe that effect to the Godbinder as you wish. It’s a good idea for a god to pro-actively speak to the player in the first scene, to show it’s an option, and introduce the concept of Miracles. A favourable-deal early Miracle is a good idea to encourage tentative Godbinders to play with the system. The first hit’s free, after all.

I give each of my gods their own voice, though avoid any accent that could be read as offensive. I lean towards modes of speaking more than anything else. I would also think of staging – my personal trick is, when playing a god, to go and

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stand behind the Godbinder and speak into their ear. Clearly, I get permission for this kind of boundary pushing. The effect of the Godbinder not being able to see who they’re summoning and everyone else being able to certainly increases the sense of magic. When playing remotely I often turn off my camera when being a god, and lean into the voice.

If a Godbinder has more than one god, it’s likely that they’ll take over the game if the Godbinder likes role-playing with them. If there’s more players, lean the gods more taciturn. Of course, this excess of NPCs around the player means the Godbinder is a very good choice for a solo game.

It’s also worth noting that a Godbinder can call on their gods to just talk to them - and Gods can contact the Godbinder when they have something on their mind. It doesn’t have to be all business. Gods tend to have strong opinions.

SCRIPTURE, MIRACLES & GOD DEBT

In previous versions of DIE, the Godbinder had two major forms of magic – Minor Miracles and Major Miracles. Scriptures replace the Minor Miracles, and Miracles replace the Major Miracles. This is not 1:1 in any way – essentially the vast majority of freeform elements have been moved away from the Scripture/Minor Miracles to the new Miracles.

So, now a Godbinder has two magical effects - Scripture and Miracles. Scripture operates like spells in a traditional game, and is all listed (or chosen) on a Godbinder’s sheet.

Miracles are bespoke effects which a Godbinder petitions a specific god for by picking up their D12, and describing what they want. The god will give a cost, and then the Godbinder either agrees or not.

One of the standard costs is God Debt, which a player accumulates with each god, and which the god can then trade in to demand favours - and hurt the player if they refuse.

Let’s explain God Debt first, as it funds the other two.

GOD DEBT

God Debt is a generalized currency for gods. A Godbinder should keep a record of their God Debt to each god. They can never have more than 5 God Debt to any single god. It is possible for a Godbinder to be in credit to a god - as in, they owe you. They can never owe you more than 5 either.

There is a problem with being in debt to a god. At any time, the god may call in any number of these favours. If the player refuses, they suffer Wounds equal to the number of debts the god chooses to call in. A god does not need to use all the God Debt at once.

Gareth Godbinder owes the fire god 3 God Debt. On the way home, he passes a field of wheat. The fire god wants it to burn. Gareth is going to refuse, but the Fire God points out that the Godbinder only has 3 Health. If they say no, he’ll be reduced to 0 Health and keel over. Swearing at the hard-bargain-driving-bastard, they reach for their torch...

The question of what is reasonable is key - the god has to say how much of the debt they are calling in on the favour. Equally, how brutal and manipulative a god is depends highly upon the personality of the god in question, which will emerge in the game. Some gods would never really want to kill you. Other gods are 100% trying to lure you into spending just enough debt so they can off you instantly. This should all emerge in your games.

For those gods which are actively aggressive against the player you should be sure to warn them. A lot of this may just come from the gods selected - if you choose the Eldritch god, there’s an implicit danger there, and an accepting of it by choosing them. “I had no idea the being with all the tentacles and non-Euclidean geometry would eat my face.”

Paying Off God DebtAs well as a god making demands to pay off debts, if a player does something that a God would want the players to do, the GM may have it pay off some God Debt. A Godbinder may even suggest things to the god which they could do in

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exchange for wiping some God Debt off their slate.

It’s worth noting that, in the campaign, a Godbinder has more ability to manage debt and pay it off “for free”, and the debt economy here is a step towards that.

Leaving Die In Debt To The GodsLet low-level debt slide, especially if it’s just been forgotten. It’s a good thing to use to put a few weird notes in the epilogue. If a player’s response to escaping is to act in the world like the god would have wished them to, this pays off a lot of God Debt.

If it’s deliberately running off without paying a big God Debt, do feel free to create physical injuries to the persona in the real world proportionate to their God Debt. A literal pound of flesh is perfectly acceptable in some cases.

SCRIPTURE

These are minor abilities, more akin to the standard spells in a role-playing game - as in, they have standardised effects which happen every time. You can use them creatively, but they are primarily for the set effect.

The Godbinders have three which all Godbinders have, and then have additional one(s) picked. To cast the effect, a Godbinder must roll a Wisdom roll against the spells level. As in, the spell’s level is also its Difficulty.

If you fail to cast a Scripture, a Godbinder must (if they are able to) take on God Debt to make the Scripture work. The steps of this are…

1. You can never have more than 5 God Debt to a single god.

2. If you are able to take on the God Debt to cast the Scripture, you must. If you can’t take God Debt on, the spell simply fails.

3. If you take on 1 God Debt, you add 1 success to the pool. This is enough to make the spell work, but may not be enough (for an attack spell) to hit its target.

For example, Gareth Godbinder is firing his fireblast (Difficulty 1) at a single Fallen (Defence 1, so

Difficulty 1). He rolls zero successes. He presently has zero God Debt to Fireo the Fiery god of Flames, so must spend it to make the Scripture succeed. He does so, and now has 1 debt to Fireo.

If a player wishes to do something that the Scripture doesn’t specifically do, you can always turn to a miracle to add the missing functionality - see later.

For example, Gareth Godbinder is firing his fireblast again, but the target is on a distant hill. It’s out of range of the spell. Gareth wants to shoot anyway - and the GM Fiero says it’ll work for 1 God Debt. Great!

CHANGES SINCE LAST VERSION

Previously, the Difficulty for casting a Minor Miracle (now Scripture) was its level. This is no longer true. A single success will cast any Scripture.

“How much Scripture can you cast?” and other D&D-y questionsThere is no limit on the amount of Scripture you can cast in these rules, though the specific world the players arrive in may create some problems. There is an obvious risk in accumulating God Debt. “They’re Cantrips” is a good way to explain Scripture to a D&D player. At which point they may go “Wait – Fireball is my Cantrip?” And then you go “Uh-huh” and they can go “Whoa.” MIRACLES

Miracles can be anything a Godbinder can ask a god for, and is vaguely within the area of a god’s power. The structure is as such…

1. The Godbinder player lifts their dice and addresses the god, saying what they want to happen.

2. The God says whether they’ll do it, and if so, for what cost.

3. Perhaps a nice little haggle.4. If both parties agree, it happens.

Miracles vary from something like a spell in a classical role-playing game (as in, akin to, or even identical to the Scripture) up to a world-scale

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event, interacting with large-scale plot problems or when the players are in deep trouble. You are essentially bartering with a god for them dealing with a problem in exchange for a service.

A god can also just say “No, I’m not interested in a deal”. Especially if the players have pissed the god off somehow, or it is something that the god has no interest or ability in (for example, asking the Ice god to heal someone isn’t exactly their thing… unless your Ice god is quite unusual, which is fairly usual in DIE).

Gods occasionally do Miracles they really want to do, just for the fun of it, if it’s aligned with their nature. This can be especially useful early in the adventure to show exactly how big a miracle can be. Wiping out the initial wave of Fallen is a good way to show what the scale of their power can be, for example.

The god’s price can be anything, but typically involves one or more of the below:

1. The player taking on some God Debt.2. The player having to perform a specific task.3. The player promising a favour, to be decided

down the line.

1) Taking On God Debt

For the former, the cost varies depending on the scale of the task. For something akin to a traditional spell (”Summon sufficient food to feed this village” “I want to cast a Fireball!” “Can I fly for a bit?”) a cost of 1 or 2 God Debt would be a good rule of thumb. Access to any Scripture of a higher level is definitely just a single God Debt. For things beyond a classic spell, more debt is suitable.

2) Specific Task

This can either be something to be done before they’ll perform the Miracle - or if not afterwards - with consequences if you don’t. For the former, it’s mainly if a Miracle is big enough to sidestep a major part of the play. The task should be basically as hard as solving the actual problem itself.

For example, a Godbinder and party are presented with a 100 ft giant guarding the door to the lair of the Master. The players don’t fancy their chances, and contact the God of Ice to ask if they can freeze the giant for them. Sure, says the God of Ice. But first you have to defeat a Fire Demon who is troubling the region to the east. The Fire Demon is an enemy about as difficult to defeat as the giant.

A god can also offer deals which are clearly something no sensible player would take... but remember, players tend to not be sensible. For example, a god which sets their cost as “You need to kill someone in your party” is not enough to stop at least some players from doing it. That said, that also sounds like it could be an interesting situation. I would advise against giving an offer that you cannot stand the players saying yes to. Someone will always call your bluff.

If a player breaks a promise based on this kind of Miracle, they immediately receive God Debt in proportion to how big the Miracle was. You judge this. If it was something genuinely plot changing, give 4 or even 5 God Debt. The god can save this for future player manipulation or use it instantly to harm the player - likely the latter, as it’s such a betrayal.

3) Favours

This is the equivalent of writing a god a blank cheque. This plays out as a specific task, but its nature is revealed down the line.

Generally speaking, this is most useful when the GM wants to create a debt which can’t be paid off piecemeal like God Debt. Equally, it’s a good way to put a gun on the mantlepiece. Everyone at the table knows this will be a sizeable thing when it’s called in.

That said, a favour should be proportionate to the miracle. If a Godbinder gives a god a favour in exchange for getting a toffee apple, calling in the favour to murder everyone they ever met is just not on.

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RUNNING THE FOOL (additional)This combines the new rules from the 1.2 errata with the advancement rules from this 1.3 edition. All other stuff in Running The Fool in the v1.1 manual remains true.

REPLACEMENT FOOL RULE: FLUKES

As debuted in v1.2, the full new system for Fool’s symbols (which they draw on their dice) is described on their character sheet.

In short…

1. Whenever a Fool rolls a dice pool which includes the Fool’s dice, and does NOT roll a side with a circle on, you ADD a circle.

2. If you roll a circle, the Fool’s Fluke happens. Delete all the circles bar one, and also add a CROSS to another side of the dice.

3. If the Fool rolls the cross, a negative thing will happen to either them or the people around them. All the crosses are then deleted.

In other words, this system will slowly build towards something good happening for the player. When that does, there is a chance for something bad to happen to the party, which will build until it happens. This is, as the “opponent gets buried alive under something unfortunate” line may suggest, a power primarily inspired by that bit in Back to the Future where Biff gets his head stuck in the manure.

If the cross is rolled, select one of the Flukes the Fool has selected and apply it against the group. Ask the Fool to strike it on the list, and select a new Fluke.

Yes, it’s possible that in certain situations a Fool may start making up positive Flukes, thinking that the odds are they will be rolling a cross, so affecting the party. This is 100% fine.

When a player gets to make up a Fluke, there may be a tone discussion. It is a place for player creativity, but should align with the desired tone of all players (and the good taste). In extreme cases, the X-card is available.

Do not delete any symbols between adventures.

Clearly, if the player wants to use different symbols from either circles or crosses, feel free.

FOOL ADVANCEMENT RULES

If you’re playing with advancement, Fools can gain other abilities. Two of the below are from the last Beta and another one I’ve just added:

Fools Rush InFools with this ability, if they initiate combat before the rest of the party have agreed to engage in combat, get one free extra action at the start of the combat, before friends or foes.

Fool’s PrepOnce per session, a Fool can declare an item they need, and they either have it with them (having luckily picked it up on a whim) or it’s in the nearby vicinity. The GM should feel free to ask questions about it for more details.

Never Tell Me The OddsIf they enter a game of chance and are willing and able to add a cross to their dice, they will never lose.

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RUNNING THE NEO (errata)This is additional to the section in DIE v1.1.

NEO ADVANCEMENT: LESSER GIFTS

Lesser Gifts are Neo abilities which, while requiring activation (and could be overcharged), do not provide a specific mechanic advantage, only narrative effects.

They are described as an evocative noun, and you should discuss what that looks like and feels like. (For example, a jetpack would allow the character to soar through the air and provide different approaches to problems.)

It should be stressed that narrative also impacts the mechanics. So you could rule that a character who is flying quickly with a jetpack is harder to hit, so anyone trying to do so suffers a disadvantage. However, you could also rule that if you’re flying that quickly, attacks are harder for you as well.

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NON-MASTER ANTAGONISTS

Now that we have a fully functional Master character, it’s likely someone will want to play a Master as a PC.

This works like so:

When the dice are distributed, give a player the D20 and say they’re the Master, then continue as normal.

That was easy.

Antagonist

However, this leaves the problem that if the Master is taken, who does the Gamesmaster play?

It works like this…

When the dice are distributed, when all other players have got their dice, the GM holds up one of the remaining dice, says what class it is, and then continues as normal.

See, that was easy too.

Hurrah!

How That Actually Works In Play

When transported to Die and transformed, the antagonist character (as well as gaining the normal abilities of their archetype) gains access to the DIE MASTER rules, including a number of Cheat Tokens equal to the number of other players (I.e. not including you).

As they do not have a D20, they can’t perform

cheats without Cheat Tokens. They only have access to the cheats in the DIE MASTER section of the Master sheet.

This can be justified in the fiction in many ways - the easiest is that they have been gifted a magical artifact of some kind which gives them mastery of the area they’re in, and a number of wishes. Rings of Power, Magic Lamps and so on. Alternatively, there may be a Master character in the world who works for the antagonist, and does the dirty work for them. Whatever the method, it’s likely folded into the reason the adventure is happening.

The Cheat Tokens are primarily a way to extend the survivability of the antagonist (I.e. when you hit them, they don’t just die) and offer temptations to the players .

Areas To Consider

If you wish, the Highlander Variant from the main rules can also come into play. The antagonist and the player can both be Masters.

Equally, if a player is a Master, it opens up different end game possibilities, which you should consider. Can the player Master take over the realm? How would they do that? There are no hard answers to this - they’re just story prompts, at least for now.

Yes, I suspect Masters waging war and trying to carve out their own regions is going to turn up in the campaign game, whether I write rules for it or not.

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NON-PLAYER ARCHETYPES

It’s possible that you meet characters on your adventure who have abilities akin to the archetypes. This is how you do it.

THE CLASS DICE

There’s only one of each of the special character dice in each world of Die.

There’s one D4, one D8 and so on. That means any character you meet can’t have that same dice. As such, every character in a class without the requisite dice tries to simulate it, normally using one or two easily identifiable D6 as a surrogate. Each class below explains what to roll, and how to interpret it. An exception would be if a character somehow comes into possession of a class dice, in which case it’s added to the pool.

STATISTICS

Here’s three increasing levels of character. For each, you may wish to select equipment from the first sheet of each archetype – that likely gives you too many stats, and you can make do with just setting their Defence.

• Level 1 - Basic: Choose one relevant stat as a 3. All others 2.

• Level 2 - Elite: Choose two relevant stats as a 3. All others 2.

• Level 3 - Hero: Choose one stat as a 4, two as a 3, all others 2.

DICTATORS

A basic Dictator chooses one emotion. For each additional level, choose another.

Roll a D6 as your class dice. 1 to 4 on your class dice counts as the number rolled. A 5 or 6 counts as zero successes.

Dictators working together use the rules for group attacks – as in, roll for the most powerful Dictator and add one dice to the pool per assisting

Dictator. If a Dictator dies, all their compulsions end – with the exception of any created by a critical fail.

FOOLS

A basic Fool just has access to the Fool’s dice. An Elite may choose one of the three styles. The Heroic Fool gets access to ‘If All Else Fails’.

Roll a D6 as your class dice. A Fool’s dice does not accumulate circles - but does gain crosses.

KNIGHTS

A basic Knight gets to select an Arcane Weapon. The Elite Knight gets to choose a Stance. A Heroic Knight gets to choose a greater ability.

When using Creative Violence, roll a D6 rather than a D8. Note that this makes a Knight significantly more likely to hurt or kill themselves. If a Knight uses Creative Violence, an opposing Knight should be able to use their ability as a response. The higher emotional level gets to decide the effect. If emotional levels are equal, the higher roll on their class dice gets to decide the effect.

A basic Emotion Knight’s maximum Creative Violence is 2. An Elite is 3. A Heroic is 4.

NEOS

A basic Neo has access to their AI and a single cybernetic. For each further level of Neo, select another cybernetic system.

Select two recognizable D6 to simulate the class dice.

If the dice total is 2-6, it counts as a failure. If it’s 10 or more, it also counts as a failure and the gift loses its charge.If it’s 7-9, it counts as a success.

This is weird math, but trust me.

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GODBINDERS

A basic Godbinder chooses a level in a god. For each further level they can choose another level in a god. (Easiest if they’re all from the same god.) A god owes a Godbinder one miracle for each level they possess. They’re likely loathe to spend those miracles.

Use a D6 as their class dice. The GM should also pick up a D6 and speak to it when a Godbinder converses with their god, because if the players do it, the GM should too.

MASTERS

A Basic Master chooses 3 Rules. For each higher level, choose one new Rule. A Master also decides what kind of Master they are - Gamist, Simulationist, Narrativist.

A Master uses the D6 as a class dice, for all purposes. This means that when Rules Lawyering to add new Rules, failure is much more likely.

In terms of hardcore cheating, each level of Master ups the scale of punishment they can risk. A level 1 can only risk the “Lose Mastery” style cheats, a level 2 the 1-2 Wounds, and level 3 the death ones.

If an NPC Master is Master of a region they are in, they gain access to the cheats shown in the DIE MASTER boxout on the last page of the Master Character Sheet. They can have a maximum number of Cheat Tokens equal to their level. So a level 1 Master could only ever have one Cheat Token, no matter how many players they faced.

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SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

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DIE: DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME (WE KILLED A KOBOLD AND TOOK ITS STUFF)

This is a pre-generated scenario for DIE. Unless otherwise stated, all that follows is additional to all the standard parts of running a DIE game. The Arcana has other game set-ups in this format, each of which offers a completely different way of playing a DIE game. This one differs in that it uses the core set-up of DIE. This isn’t an alternate scenario - it’s just a way of approaching the basic game with a lot more GM support. It gives you set questions, a standard set-up, and a set way to generate the backbone of your adventure. You can always go off piste too if inspiration strikes.

As per the main game, this is a group of friends who used to play a role-playing game, who get together years later to play again.

PREPARATION

Nothing extra.

PERSONA GENERATION

The following is a list of questions which should generate a suitably DIE-esque group. Feel free to add your own questions in addition to these, or even jettison all of these questions and perform the Persona Generation as per the main manual.

What follows will assume you have the simplest motivation for your antagonist: they’ve nursed a grudge against at least most of the other players, and this dungeon gives them a chance to kill them and then live on in this fantasy world. At best, the GM is utterly ambivalent to their fate. Bringing them into this world was the cost for reaching this world. It’s possible they hope some other players decide to join and stay, but if they don’t, fuck ‘em. If another motivation for the Master occurs to you in Persona Gen (or later), feel free to use it instead.

Some questions are for a specific Persona. Don’t ask any for a Persona who isn’t in the game. Also, don’t ask any questions which are against

a room’s discussed Lines (I.e. if you’ve agreed there’s no inter-party romance, skip questions related to romance). If it doesn’t include any direction, a question can be asked to anyone in the group. Choose someone and ask them.

If you know you want specific archetypes in the game, turn the initial questions into a statement. See Character Generation for which Persona is hooked up for which Archetype as standard. For example, if you want to include a Godbinder, instead of asking “Who was the most popular kid?” say “You’re the popular kid.”

In a three-player game include Popular Kid, Obsessive and Nerd. For each further player, add Computer Geek, Joker and Meanie.

In smaller games, a player may take multiple roles – for example, you ask someone the questions about both the Popular Kid and the Joker.

PERSONA GENERATION QUESTIONS

If the GM is to play the Master…• I ran the game. Why did I say I wanted to run a

role-playing game?

Any further questions which relate to the GM’s character should be addressed to the other players… unless you have an idea you really like.

If you want a player to be the Master…• Who’s the biggest fantasy nerd in the group?• [Nerd] Well done, nerd. How did you discover

fantasy?• [Nerd]Why did you decide to run a fantasy-

role-playing game?

The Rest Of The Questions• One of you was an obsessive fan. Who?• [Obsessive] What was it of? Music? TV?• [Obsessive] How does it make you feel? Why

did you need to feel like that?

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• One of you is popular. Who?• [Popular] Why do people like you?• [Popular] So why on Earth did you play a nerdy

fantasy game like this?

• One of you could never take anything seriously. Who?

• [Joker] What did you do that annoyed people?• [Joker] What did people mock about you?

• One of you was a Techie. Who?• [Techie] You hate fantasy. Why did you play a

fantasy RPG?• [Techie] What’s your favourite videogame?• [Techie] What was your weirdest predictation

about the future?

• One of you was particularly harsh Who was mean?

• [Meanie] How were you cruel to people?• [Meanie] Why were you cruel to people?• [Meanie] How did you ensure you were invited

to the RPG group?

• [Everyone] What character class did you play?

• You had an attribute that was widely admired at high school. What was it?

• Who do you think everyone think was the smartest person in the group?

• [To that person] Were you? If not, who was?

• Who did you fall out with and not talk to for years?

• (To person) What did you do?• (To original person) Why do you pretend it’s all

water under the bridge?

• [If the time-gap has not been established by now] Time has passed. How long has passed? 10 years? 20?

• Who is the most successful person in the group now?

• [To person] How did you become successful? Who is resentful of your success?

• [To person] Why are you resentful of their success?

• [Ask everyone] What do you do now? What is your job?

• [Ask everyone] What do you wish you were doing?

• [Nerd] What stops you indulging in your love of fantasy as much now?

• [Popular] How come you don’t have as many friends now?

• [Obsessive] Why did your obsession stop satisfying whatever it satisfied?

• [Meanie] Did you ever stop being such a manipulative shit?

• [Joker] Behind the jokes, there’s a deep sadness. What keeps you up at night?

• [Techie] What part of the future most disappoints you?

• [To whoever had the admired attribute] That attribute that got so much respect in school? It’s gone. How do you feel about that?

• Who are you most in contact with?• Who are you least in contact with?• Something makes your life harder on a nearly

daily basis. What is it?

As always, ask more if you feel it’s necessary.

CHARACTER GENERATION

As per usual.

The dice are distributed as so…

• Popular Kid: Godbinder• Techie: Neo• Obsessive: Emotion Knight• Joker: Fool• Meanie: Dictator• Nerd: Master.

This is a fairly solid set-up. If there’s a different idea which strikes you or the room as entertaining, swap them around.

INTO DIE

The players appear in a dungeon room. That’s the only way to explain it. It’s a 20 ft by 20 ft room, with a 10 ft high ceiling. Exactly. The players appear in the centre, with their dice floating mysterious before them. In the middle of the north wall is a wooden door. The players do not know why this wall is to the north. They just do. The players may realise that they can’t identify

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the sort of wood the door is made of, any more than “it’s wood”. It’s platonic wood. Its woodiness cannot be denied. The walls and ceiling are made of dungeon. Do not explain what that means. It means dungeon.

The Master grabs the D20 and teleports (spending a Cheat Token), as per the standard game. The line before they disappear is “Oh, I need to set up.” Perhaps the Master cackles. It’s that kind of scenario.

After the players have had a chance to look around and perhaps grab their dice, the door to the north opens and an orc sticks their head around the door, sighs, and then shouts back. “Oh, adventurers, guys! They’re here to kill us and take our stuff!”

The orcs enter. The orcs are Fallen. Their stats are in the Monsterography at the end of this section..

All they have in their heads is the desire to fight the players, or be killed by the players, so the players can take their stuff. They are fatalistically resigned to this. The aimed tone for this is particularly creepy black comedy. You know the thought experiment about whether it’s ethical to eat a pig that wants to be eaten? This is that. These orcs are here to be killed and their stuff taken. They may encourage the players to do so. “Take our stuff! Look - it’s self-defence. I’m attacking you. If you kill me, you can take our stuff.”

The next room is another 20 ft by 20 ft room, with no other exits. If anyone has a way to sense an outer world they get nothing. The void goes on forever. Reality is these two rooms.

On the chest, there is a small note. It reads “Our Stuff”.

Inside the chest is 372 copper pieces, a key and a 10 ft pole. The players know there are 372 of them, automatically. Look at the players in a confused manner if they ask how the 10 ft pole can fit in the chest.

When the key is picked up, reality starts falling apart. As Master, spend a second Cheat Token…and the party appears somewhere quite different.

REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME

If a player is the Master, turn to them ask for the first location in their first ever adventure. If the GM is the Master, ask the same question to a player. Either way, then follow the instructions in the Locations Rules below.

Afterwards, ask the next persona a question: “What was the goal of the first adventure?” This is their goal.

Every time the players move on, ask a new player what happened next in the adventure, and feel free to guide the questions according to what the adventure needs next. “So - what friendly face helped you next?” “Wasn’t there some kind of difficult terrain next?” “What sources of food did you find in the woods?” Use the Locations Rules to determine its accuracy.

If you have an encounter which flows logically from where you are at one point, use it. Equally, if there’s an encounter on the list (see later) use it instead. I try to use all encounters on the list before the end of the game.

Repeat this process until you have time left for one extended encounter. If there’s an encounter on the list you think works well for a conclusion, pick that one and use it. If not, generate it exactly like another encounter, with a question like “So - what was interesting about the final encounter with the bad guy?” If a player asks where the adventure ends earlier, you can generate it there - though don’t reveal how accurate it is.

IN THE FIRST ENCOUNTER

As part of the first encounter, one NPC just reads from a piece of paper, like a GM reading text.

Welcome, Adventurers! You are in peril! You can only return to your distant land if everyone votes to do so - including your missing friend. Merely form a circle and each say, in turn, “The Game Is Over.” Beware! The land is unstable, and will be destroyed if you don’t come to a consensus soon.

Note - this does not explain you can stay. This is left for the antagonist character to explain that’s

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an option - and it too will stabilise the realm. “The Game Continues” would be the phrase for that.

Have reality crumbling as an ongoing note as you play.

LOCATION RULES

Don’t ask for much - just a sentence or two is great. “An inn where the party gathered” or “a path to some kind of fantasy town” are great answers. Clearly encourage people to try and build on what has been established, rather than trying to derail it.

Then ask them to roll a D6, and look up the results on the following table. Do not let the players see this table. If you’re inspired, tweak the table.

1 - Correct.

The encounter is entirely as they remember. (Yes, there were friendly halflings around the corner.)

2 - Wrong.

Their memory is 100% off in one large and crucial fashion, possibly to be entirely the opposite. (Yes, there were halflings around the corner. But they’re not friendly.)

3 - Exactly as they remember, with one other element.

Turn to another player and ask what the first player has forgotten. This is exactly what is missing.

4 - Exactly as they remember, with one other element… but off.

Turn to another player and ask what the first player has forgotten. The exact opposite of whatever they pick is what’s missing.

5/6 – Add encounter to list and then use previous encounter on list (if there is one). If there isn’t one, ask again and repeat process.

Write down whatever the player said. If you have any previous encounters written down from a previous question which got a 5-6, pick one, and that happens. If there’s nothing

on the list from a previous question, repeat the Location Rules process. To stress the subtext here: for each point where you need an answer, anything added to the list can’t be used as the encounter.

For example, Tony, Julia and Chrissy are the party in DIE, with Beelzebub as the GM. Beelzebub asks Tony what happened next. He says it’s a magical inn full of fairies, then rolls a 6. Beelzebub checks, and there’s nothing on the encounter list, so he writes down Tony’s idea, and then asks Julia what was actually there. She says it was a river city of friendly elves… and rolls a 5. While Tony’s answer is now already on the list, as it’s too new, Beelzebub just adds Julia’s answer to the list too and then asks Chrissy, who answers “Didn’t we jump down a big hole?” and rolls a 1. Bingo! The players find the big hole.

Later, Beelzebub asks what happened next, and it’s Tony’s turn again. He says “I think we found a dungeon, right?” and rolls a dice. It’s a six. However, now the list has Tony and Julia’s previous answers on the list. The Beelzebub picks Tony’s previous answer (the inn full of fairies). Beelzebub adds “a dungeon” to the list and tells the players that down the hole they’ve found Tony’s Magical Inn Full Of Fairies. Tony laughs. He knew it was around here somewhere. Beelzebub smiles kindly, and thinks of how the great pits of hell will hail his triumph against the mortals.

This is the core backbone for inspiring encounters.

Being a DIE game, the GM should take the encounter you’ve generated and integrate material from the Personas’ backgrounds and desires to colour the experience. NPCs should recall the real-world hopes and fears of the Persona, etc. Mashing the real-world pain and longing and these very D&D tropes is pure DIE, and you should have fun.

As always: remember to ask questions about the real world. Ask about parents, partners, children, old lovers, etc, and then integrate aspects. Persona gen never ends.

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THE FINAL ENCOUNTER

This takes place in the final location, as generated earlier. Reality should be nearly collapsing by this point, forcing things to come to a conclusion, one way or another.

The antagonist will explain that they can all stay here - but only if they agree. We don’t have to go home. They will happily kill the other players to settle the matter. What will the players do?

Do sprinkle in encounter elements that were stored on the list that didn’t turn up before the final encounter. (”Oh - here come the river elves. I knew there were river elves here somewhere!”)

WHY STAY HERE?

There’s a whole fantasy world out there to explore. Who knows what it means? The sell here is primarily potential. A new life, whatever that means. If the antagonist is dead, they may still want to stay. This fantasy world is likely better without the antagonist in it.

THE END GAME

If the living players return to Earth, all the players who died in Die will be dead of what appears to be a heart attack. No time will have passed. If you have a better idea, go for it.

Do the aftermath questions as per usual - if they choose to go home, ask how the experience altered their life. If they choose to stay, ask what their life is like here and either add a sad note from the real world or something to twist it. Then everyone cheer each other, they did great.

GM ADVICE ON ATMOSPHERE

DIE is always at least a little meta – this set-up, especially with how the adventure starts, can be a lot meta. The cold open when you arrive in Die is straight deconstructionary and the fact the world is mashed together and confusing is justified by the fact it is based on someone’s first scenario. It makes no sense, as they rarely do.

The hoped-for tone is black comedy inching into horror. Players will likely laugh to start with. I would advise digging past the laughs to get to something bleaker. Orcs begging you to kill them and take their stuff can be funny. Continuing to do it while you describe in detail (lines and veils withstanding) how their skin is sloughing off after they’ve been set on fire can perhaps reach another place.

That said, a funny DIE adventure is also fine, and as this is designed as an introductory game, leaning a little gentle isn’t the worst thing in the world.

MONSTEROGRAPHY

Here’s some very basic stats to use for random creatures you may meet, taken from some broad D&D archetypes. With a few tweaks and changing the Specials, they can likely be used for almost anything you would meet.

KOBOLDSStats: All 2, except CON, which is 1.Defence: 1Does whatever a Kobold does and looks like whatever a party remembers a Kobold to look like. Ask the players, find out. I have no idea.

ORCSStats: All 2Defence: 1Abilities: Beserk (No Guard, advantage on attacks.)Likes to murder, has stuff to take, surprisingly chill about it.

ELVESStats: Dexterity 3, Charisma 3Defence: 1Abilities: Any bow attack at a range in woodland has the Special: elf disappears into hiding after this shot.Nimble, beautiful, think they’re really smart, but y’know, INT 2, so they’re not fooling anyone.

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WIZARDStats: Intelligence 3Defence: 1Abilities: Advantage on all magic spells. Main attack spell - Fire blast: Blast of flame to medium range. Special: ignite opponent, doing 1 hit per round until extinguished. Special: hits extra nearby target.Good or bad? Quirky or magnificent? Forget it. Just tell us about what hat they’re wearing. Pratchett was right: all forms of magic use are about the hat. Can cast any spell which you think this sort of Wizard can do.

OGRESStats: Strength 4, Constitution 4Abilities: Massive Bulk (Health is 2x CON)Defence: 1You won’t like them when they’re angry. When they get angry they go berserk (No Guard, advantage on attacks). Likely you won’t like them anyway. Ogres don’t tend to be charming.

DRAGONStats: Strength 6, Wisdom 3, Intelligence 3Defence: 5Specials: Can breathe fire every second round doing an INT attack with Special: Ignite opponent, doing 1 hit per round until extinguished, at anyone vaguely where its snout is pointing. Note the incredibly high Defence. The Dragon is covered with ludicrously thick armour which renders it invulnerable… except in one single area. Gaining information on the Dragon’s weak spot likely leads to significant Advantages on this attack. Make sure players realise how high its Defence is, because otherwise they’re likely toast. That said, with a beast being this powerful, you can be sure the fight won’t… drag… on.

I’m sorry.

Thanks to playtesters: Jim Rossignol, James Hewitt, Chris Gardiner.

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DESIGNER NOTES

This took a while, for a bunch of reasons. It was partially due to the 2020 of 2020, and partially because running the ongoing DIE campaign has taken up a lot of space (which also led to some of the most significant tweaks here and more down the road), but mostly because the Master is a right bastard.

I knew the heart of the Master and how it was meant to feel, but I was far less sure about how to actually mechanise it. It didn’t help that Sol’s the character we’ve seen least in action in the comic. He’s been treated at a distance, for all the obvious reasons he has to be - the GM is always behind the screen in a classical D&D game. We don’t get much of his perspective.

So it’s appropriate that we finally get a first take on the the Master rules in-game when the lens of the comic turns back to Sol.

The idea of the Master was “Mage as Reality Manipulator” which is pretty basic. What does that mean?

The core of it: the Master is a wicked portrait of the classical GM.

The Master is about being the person who owns the rules and gets to interpret them and rewrite them. They are abstractly the impartial adjudicator, but if you are the person who creates and tweaks the systemic forces that shape a world, you are always showing your bias. “It’s just the rules” is a figleaf when you are the person who controls the rules.

More than this, when push comes to shove, the Master can cheat. Yes, those are the rules. I’m breaking them. I’m in charge. The core abuse of the position.

The twist is that the Master is a player too, and there are bigger powers than them who can come a calling if they notice…

I keep on thinking back to a bit in 2nd edition Paranoia, the first RPG manual I ever truly loved. It’s in a section about how you should feel free to make the rules your own. There’s no Games Police who are going to turn up and arrest you. This is accompanied by a delightful cartoon of a young man sticking his head out of his bedroom window, to find the house surrounded by heavily armed SWAT teams. One of them screams up with a loudhailer: “All right, Billy! This is the Game Police! We know you’re ignoring the movement die roll modifiers! Come out with your hands up!”

This always amused me, and the Master is basically an RPG class where that cartoon is 100% true.

Problem is: how on earth do you actually turn that into mechanics? I made things more difficult for myself in several ways.

Firstly, I wanted to do something as robust as the other five archetypes. This is a noble goal, but at the same time, means that I was resistent to doing something simpler and then iterating. It’s not as if any of the archetypes started where you saw them.

Secondly, part of DIE’s overall aesthetic is that each of the archetypes are their own thing. While there’s a shared language each builds on, each has things which no one else has to consider. The problem there is that I have used five sets of ideas, and needed another one. I repeatedly played around with an idea, only to realise it was actually just a slightly different way to do what another class did.

A good example of both of the above was when I was playing around with the idea of the D20 as a playing piece you move around the exploded D20 shape shape (as in, like on the DIE covers). This is 100% over-complicated and impossible to get working in a simple way AND also basically is the same gaming verb as the Emotion Knight’s use of dice as token.

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I escaped the above by just giving myself freedom. I didn’t need a full system - I needed the skeleton. Each of the classes has two things - a set of core standard adventure-with-twists abilities (for example, the Neo’s gifts) and a big hefty narrative changing freeform ability (for example, the Neo’s overcharges). That’s what I needed. This is where Rules and Cheating came from.

The problem was that Rules, at their core, are basically how Minor Miracles (now replaced by Scripture) used to work for Godbinders. I realised that the solution was actually to edit that freeform ability to take spells away from the Godbinder and give it to the Master (where it sits more conceptually) and lean into the Scripture/Miracles

dichotomy for the Godbinder. A Godbinder is either doing things by rote, or is really communing with god and haggling. And that differs from the reality cops turning up due to the power dynamics in play when the Master is doing it, etc.

In the end, the Master is now much more developed in this initial draft than I could have hoped. I’ll be interested to see what folks do with them. They’ve certainly been pretty entertaining in playtest.

Speak soon. Hope 2021 is better than 2020.

Kieron11.12.2020

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HANDOUTSCharacter Sheets & Reference v1.3

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Adventurers’ lust for gold makes them all thieves, which makes the prejudice against rogues a little odd. They all do it. But everyone knows why people are suspicious about Neo…

The Neo’s magical technology needs to be activated by Fair Gold every day. It disappears every dawn. If they can’t find enough then all their gifts means nothing. They chase it. Some practically, some obsessively, most selfishly.

Adventurers all want gold but only Neo need it.

DON’T READ THIS BIT ALOUD. Hey, Player. You can make choices as the player or persona or both. No matter what, please select options as the sheet describes.

CLASS DICE: D10YOUR NAME:

EQUIPMENT

You start with all the following:

• A Dagger (or any pointy thing which stabs)• Another Close Weapon (short sword, a second dagger or • _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _)• A Ranged Weapon (shortbow, crossbow, pistol or

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _)• Leather Armour (Defence 1)

CORE MECHANIC REDUX

• Roll a number of normal D6 equal to your statistic plus (if directed) your class dice.

• Each 4+ is a success.• If the number of successes match or exceed the set difficulty

you fully succeed.• Each 6+ can also activate a single relevant Special. These

abilities are marked on your sheet with a bold Special. Each target can only be targeted by any given Special once in any roll.

COMBAT

• Generate Initiative: roll Dexterity Dice Pool and total the numbers on the dice. Characters with highest total act first.

• Combat Round: in initiative order, everyone does an action.

For more see Cheat Sheet or ask GM.

YOUR LOOK

Choose one of the following:

• Black Leather, studs and chrome• White leather, bleach and catsuits• Billowing black cloak and sinister scarlet eyes • Exposed metallic exoskeleton and vat grown muscle• Your own idea:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

STATS

STRENGTHPhysicality, hand-to-hand combat, etc.

DEXTERITYDodging, ranged combat, initiative, etc.

INTELLIGENCEEducation, perception, spells, willpower, etc

CONSTITUTIONHealth, amount of damage you take, etc.

WISDOMUnderstanding, miracles, willpower, etc

CHARISMAPersonal skills, attractiveness, etc.

Assign your stats. All stats start at 2. You have 2 points to increase any stat(s) you wish. Underlined stats are ones most associated with this class.

GUARDGuard = Dexterity

HEALTHHealth = Constitution

DIFFICULTY TO BE HIT EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE

DEFENSIVE STATS

WILLPOWERWisdom + Intelligence

DEFENCESet from Equipment

RESETS AT START OF COMBAT LOSE GUARD BEFORE HEALTH

THE NEO

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You always have an AI system and ability to access the Fair Field.

In addition, select one technomagical gift. Each is a tool which, as with other stated abilities, allows you to do anything that the gift would logically let you do. However, each must be activated with Fair Gold before its special abilities can be used.

Gun

(Replaces Ranged Weapon from Equipment. As in, can be fired as a normal gun before being activated.)You are in possession of an arcane gun, gifted to you from the Fair. Define its appearance: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Choose one of the below. When activated, you gain this special ability on its attacks.

Explosive(Special: apply individual hit — not whole attack — to another target in the vicinity.) Homing(Special: this individual hit — not the whole attack — bypasses Guard.)AI-Aided Targeting(Never has any disadvantages on a hit roll.)

Energy Blade

(Replaces close combat weapon from Equipment. As in, can be used as a normal blade before being activated.)You have a searing energy blade, Luke Skywalker. You may use Dexterity for its dice pool instead of Strength.

Define its appearance: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Choose one of the below. When activated, you gain this special ability on its attacks.

Intangible(Special: this individual hit — not the whole attack — bypasses Guard.)Searing(Special: if hit wounds, ignites target causing 1 Wound per round until extinguished.)Neurosleep(Special: target is hit by a sedative. If number of times they are hit by a sedative ever equals their constitution, they fall into a natural sleep.)

Stealth Field

You can become virtually invisible at will. You will not be noticed unless someone is actively searching for you, and possibly not even then. You’re basically the Predator.

When activated:It’s hard to hit someone you can’t see. Gain +1 defence.

Teleporter

You can make short scale teleport jumps – 1-5m. These can be chained. Yes, you’re Nightcrawler from the X-Men.

When activated:It’s hard to hit a teleporter. Add one disadvantage to any attempt to hit you.

Pet

You have an awesome cybernetic pet.

Choose what animal it is: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Choose what its personality is like: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

When activated: Gain advantage on any task the animal could feasibly help with. It is also autonomous, capable of following instructions. Its defence value is the same as yours. If it suffers a wound it dematerialises, and reappears beside you. The wounds are transferred to the Neo.

Active

Active

Active

Active

Active

THE GOLD OF THE FAIR

All your gifts start the game deactivated, unable to use their special abilities. A single piece of Fair Gold is required to activate each one for the rest of the day. You’ll find a slot, likely in the back of your neck, where you can insert the coin.

What’s “Fair Gold”? You’ll know it when you see it. Ask your AI if you get stuck.

You should keep track of how many pieces of Fair Gold you possess. Maybe you’ll be passed tokens? That’d be nifty.

FAIR FIELD

As a core part of your enhancements, you’re able to access the magical Fair Field which connects many technological magics in the world of Die. You are able to interact with and subvert it. Imagine being a hacker in a fantasy world. Look for places where you can interact with the arcane technology.

The dice pool is based on your Intelligence. If you succeed against the difficulty, you bypass the problem. The dice pool has a Special: subvert the system according to your will for one action.

For example, the Neo faces a Fallen – a being which they can interact with via the Fair Field. The GM sets a difficulty of 2 to try and hack it. The Neo rolls three successes, one of which is a 6. The Fallen freezes and, with the 6, the player activates the Special, causing the Fallen to turn on its allies.

Once more, do feel free to ask your AI questions.

THE D10

Add the D10 to any dice pool when trying to achieve a task an active Gift would be of use in achieving.

As well as the normal meaning of the number (as in, a 4+ is a success, a 6+ can activate a special) if the result is a 0 (or, if the D10 you’re using has a 10 rather than a 0, a 10), the Gift uses up its charge. It deactivates and will require another Fair Gold to reactivate.

OVERCHARGE

All the Fair Gifts are capable of higher performance if fueled with extra gold. This is called Overcharge. A gift must be activated before it can be overcharged.

Say what you wish your equipment to do. The GM will set a cost in gold to achieve the task. On average, a single gold is enough to change one of the limitations.

For example, using the Teleporter to teleport the whole group a short distance would be one gold. Using the teleporter to transport yourself a long distance would be one gold.

If you wish to proceed with the task, you spend the gold, and roll your D10.

If it’s Odd, it works. If it’s Even, something goes amiss.

GIFTS OF THE FAIR

THE NEO IN BRIEF

Collect Fair Gold to spend to activate your fancy tech equipment and then spend more to use its fancier abilities.

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THE DICTATOR

You read a sad story. You cry. Do you think that’s sinister, as if someone has taken over your emotions? Of course not. That’s just what art is. Anyone who’s ever met a Dictator would disagree.

By performing, they alter other people’s emotional states. Dictators play people like a musician plays a harp. They can pluck the strings. They can snap them.

In D&D terms, they are like Bards, if everyone was fucking petrified of bards.

EQUIPMENT

You start with the following:

• The Dictator’s Clothes (Defence 1)

In addition, choose one of the following options:

• A Rapier (Use Dexterity instead of Strength for its dice pool. Special: recover one Guard.)

• A Dagger and a Ranged Weapon (bow, pistol) including ammunition• Magical Death Touch (May use Dexterity instead of Strength for its

dice pool. This weapon is concealed and cannot be disarmed.)

YOUR LOOK

Choose one of the following:

• Austere, severe angular outfits• Flamboyant, straight out of a stage show• Spectacular eveningwear• Your own idea:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

STATS

CLASS DICE: D4YOUR NAME:

DON’T READ THIS BIT ALOUD. Hey, Player. You can make choices as the player or persona or both. No matter what, please select options as the sheet describes.

CORE MECHANIC REDUX

• Roll a number of normal D6 equal to your statistic plus (if directed) your class dice.

• Each 4+ is a success.• If the number of successes match or exceed the set difficulty

you fully succeed.• Each 6+ can also activate a single relevant Special. These

abilities are marked on your sheet with a bold Special. Each target can only be targeted by any given Special once in any roll.

COMBAT

• Generate Initiative: roll Dexterity Dice Pool and total the numbers on the dice. Characters with highest total act first.

• Combat Round: in initiative order, everyone does an action.

For more see Cheat Sheet or ask GM.

STRENGTHPhysicality, hand-to-hand combat, etc.

DEXTERITYDodging, ranged combat, initiative, etc.

INTELLIGENCEEducation, perception, spells, willpower, etc

CONSTITUTIONHealth, amount of damage you take, etc.

WISDOMUnderstanding, miracles, willpower, etc

CHARISMAPersonal skills, attractiveness, etc.

Assign your stats. All stats start at 2. You have 2 points to increase any stat(s) you wish. Underlined stats are ones most associated with this class.

GUARDGuard = Dexterity

HEALTHHealth = Constitution

DIFFICULTY TO BE HIT EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE

DEFENSIVE STATS

WILLPOWERWisdom + Intelligence

DEFENCESet from Equipment

RESETS AT START OF COMBAT LOSE GUARD BEFORE HEALTH

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This is a character class that has questions of consent buried right in the heart of it. You’re the character class who is most likely to prompt an X card, especially if you start to use your emotional control abilities on an unwilling player (assuming a thing is even possible in your game). Read the room.

Every artist has their favourite themes. Look at the Emotion Wheel below. Choose one of the spokes.

Write your choice to the right (each spoke’s core emotion is shown underlined, and that’s what you should write below):

BUILDING YOUR EMOTIONAL PALETTE

(The Wheel of Emotions was created by Professor Robert Plutchik in 1980. This Wheel is from Wikipedia’s entry on the Wheel of Emotions, which is public domain. Hurrah for Wikipedia! We’re working on our own version at the moment.)

1 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

3 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

THE DICTATOR IN BRIEF

Select one emotion and then think of clever and/or horrific ways to inflict them on people.

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THE VOICE

When you control emotions, you merely speak commands aloud. But something gives you away and people know exactly what you are. What is it?

Strange facial scars (possible to whisper, visibly obvious)

Demonic, loud voice (impossible to whisper, not visibly obvious) Strange smells emerge from your mouth (not visible, scent lingers) Something else: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

PERFORMING WITH YOUR D4

If you want to try and influence another character, you roll a dice pool including your D4 (see next section). Note the results solemnly, and ceremonially pass the D4 to the affected player. Their character is now being influenced by your abilities.

If you want to use your powers on someone else, you must first reclaim the D4. You can do this instantly, and doing so ends that previous compulsion.

The Dictator is left to think of clever uses of all these emotions – the useful formula is choosing an emotion and a target.

For example, “Fear” and “me” could lead to someone running away from you. Or it could lead to their heart exploding in sheer terror. Go read the Emotion Scale section opposite and see what you’re getting into.

To create a compound emotion – as in, an emotion that lies between two of the spokes – you must possess and use the two emotions beside them. So, to actually make someone fall in love, you must have Joy and Trust emotions. As a starting Dictator has a single emotion, this will not be initially possible.

These emotions, while magically created, are real. While the target is likely aware that you have done this to them, it doesn’t make the emotion any less real.

THE EMOTION CONTROL DICE POOL

The Dictator is incredibly powerful. That’s the problem. While other characters struggle to gain enough successes, the Dictator’s problem is ensuring their powers actually do what they want them to do.

While your Emotional Control is a Charisma dice pool, it is NOT calculated like normal. The number on the D4 is the number of successes. Each other success you roll in the dice pool allows you to modify that, with each success allowing you to increase or decrease by one. You don’t need to use all your successes.

RESISTING YOU

Someone’s emotional resistance is measured by their Willpower. Willpower is equal to a character’s Intelligence plus Wisdom, so an average character has 4. In a combat situation, you’ll need to match their Willpower to permanently remove them from the combat, one way or another.

A character with high Willpower will not be entirely overcome unless you match or exceed their Willpower in successes, but they will certainly be influenced by the emotion. The stronger the emotion, the bigger the effect.

EMOTIONAL SCALE

The final number of successes is intensity. It’s rated on this scale. You may note the Emotion Knight player also uses this scale.

1 You feel it enough to influence you.2 You feel it intensely. It’s hard to do anything not related to it.3 Feeling it as intensely as most people ever feel it, except in extremis. Active compulsions. 4 If we’re talking love, more than you love your partner. 5 All consuming obsession. Often the further reaches of madness.6+ Supernaturally intense emotions beyond anything in reality.

If it matches or exceeds a target’s Willpower, in terms of effect, anything beyond 6 is very much in the GM’s control. Expect fireworks. Like all creators, while you can aim to have a certain effect on an audience, the audience will respond in their own way.

CRITICAL FAILURE

If you roll a critical failure, you are unable to to remove this emotional state. It’s permanent. You’ve broken someone. Oh dear.

A LITTLE EMOTIONAL NUDGE

If a Dictator has possession of their D4, and is in a situation where any subtle emotional manipulation may give them an edge, they may roll the D4 as part of their dice pool. The D4, rather than counting as a dice, can be used to increase any one dice in the dice pool by the amount the D4 rolls. It’s cute to put the D4 on top of the Dice you’re boosting, like a little hat.

There’s not much cute about your character, so enjoy it while it lasts.

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THE FOOL

Always look on the bright side of life. Always look on the bright side of life. Always look on the bright side of life. Always look on the bright side of life. And if I don’t things will be worse.

Fools rush in... and their friends have to deal with the consequences.

YOUR LOOK

This can either be the same or different from “Your Style” over the page… Choose one of the following:

• Light fabrics, exposed skin, a big grin• Black leather, a deck of cards and fast fingers• A long cloak balanced between elegantly-wasted and scruffy• Your own idea:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

EQUIPMENT

Whatever you wish to wear, it always counts as Defence 2. In addition, choose two of the following options:

• A fine and noble Longsword (Advantage when talking with regal sorts and those impressed by regal sorts.)

• A Rapier (Use Dexterity instead of Strength for its dice pool. Special: recover one Guard.)

• A Cutlass (Advantage when talking to with Underworld sorts and impressionable romantic sorts.)

• Martial Arts (May use Dexterity instead of Strength while fighting with no weapons.)

• A Pistol or other Ranged Weapon• Concealed Throwing Weapons (knives, throwing stars)

CLASS DICE: D6YOUR NAME:

DON’T READ THIS BIT ALOUD. Hey, Player. You can make choices as the player or persona or both. No matter what, please select options as the sheet describes.

CORE MECHANIC REDUX

• Roll a number of normal D6 equal to your statistic plus (if directed) your class dice.

• Each 4+ is a success.• If the number of successes match or exceed the set difficulty

you fully succeed.• Each 6+ can also activate a single relevant Special. These

abilities are marked on your sheet with a bold Special. Each target can only be targeted by any given Special once in any roll.

COMBAT

• Generate Initiative: roll Dexterity Dice Pool and total the numbers on the dice. Characters with highest total act first.

• Combat Round: in initiative order, everyone does an action.

For more see Cheat Sheet or ask GM.

STATS

STRENGTHPhysicality, hand-to-hand combat, etc.

DEXTERITYDodging, ranged combat, initiative, etc.

INTELLIGENCEEducation, perception, spells, willpower, etc

CONSTITUTIONHealth, amount of damage you take, etc.

WISDOMUnderstanding, miracles, willpower, etc

CHARISMAPersonal skills, attractiveness, etc.

Assign your stats. All stats start at 2. You have 2 points to increase any stat(s) you wish. Underlined stats are ones most associated with this class.

GUARDGuard = Dexterity

HEALTHHealth = Constitution

DIFFICULTY TO BE HIT EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE

DEFENSIVE STATS

WILLPOWERWisdom + Intelligence

DEFENCESet from Equipment

RESETS AT START OF COMBAT LOSE GUARD BEFORE HEALTH

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FLUKES

Choose one side of your D6. Draw a circle on it.

If you roll the circle, as well as the usual effects of the number underneath, some fluke of luck will happen. Choose it from the list NOW or make your own...

Your opponent is buried alive under something unfortunate. Your opponent gets talking and confesses something useful to you. Your opponent mistakes you for a long lost love. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

If you don’t roll the circle, add another circle over another number.

If you do roll the circle, pick a fluke to happen. Then, delete the circles bar one, and choose / make up a new fluke for next time. Also, add a cross to another side.

If the cross turns up, something unfortunate will happen either to you or (more likely) the people around you. You then delete all crosses.

If there’s no space on your dice to add another symbol, don’t.

THE FOOL’S D6

If your D6 is in your possession, it is added to a dice pool any time when the character is acting in a foolish, daring or cavalier fashion. In any dice pool which includes the Fool’s D6, you gain access to the following Special...

Special: roll another D6 and add it to the present dice pool.

IF ALL ELSE FAILS

If you’re in a dire situation you wish to escape, hand your GM your D6. You (and possibly your friends) will get out of the situation via a piece of unfeasibly good luck.

The GM may return your D6 at any point, to create an entirely unfair event on a similar scale of awfulness.

If at any point before then you deliberately cause a plan to fail in a spectacular or amusing fashion, retrieve the D6 from the GM.

YOUR STYLE

Fools are, above all things, fools – charming or otherwise. However, as much as any other class, they also have their own approach and skills, and can appear to be something more like a traditional adventurer than the rest of the party. What style of fool are you?

Swashbuckler (Example Archetype: Han Solo, Errol Flynn) Choose another option from your equipment list and look the part.

A Trickster Wizard (Example Archetype: Rincewind, John Constantine)Can cast cantrip-styled minor magical spells (Max difficulty of 1). See what you can talk the GM into.

A Rogue (Grey Mouser. Garret from Thief.) Add the Concealed Throwing Weapons and thieves tools to your equipment.

SCHOOL’S OUT

Hey, look around the table! I’m willing to bet all those other nerds are still doing their homework. The Fool involves a few less choices, so you may still have some thumb-fiddling time. On the rest of the page are some exercises for getting into a suitably Foolish state of mind. If you’re already firmly connected with your inner fool, feel free to chill, or have a little snooze.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE?

Write a mark out of ten for each of the following, depending on how much you like them:

_ _ Fozzie Bear_ _ Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun_ _ prawn crackers_ _ The Queen’s Gambit_ _ seeing two magpies at once_ _ bears_ _ the ringing of a landline_ _ salted caramel chocolate_ _ Die Hard II_ _ weighted blankets_ _ the concept of joy_ _ Tom Hanks_ _ Tom Hanks’ children_ _ putting marshmallows on sweet potatoes on purpose_ _ LUDO, FRIEND

DRAW A PICTURE

What does this picture make you feel? Please write your answer below:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

THE FOOL IN BRIEF

Act in a cavalier fashion to get access to your special powers, or give away access to your powers temporarily to get out of any trouble.

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THE _ _ _ _ _ _ KNIGHT

These eight orders of Knights are the world’s greatest warriors, each devoted to a single emotion. Whether it be joy, hate, or fear: if they feel it, they can use it to fuel the power of their sentient, arcane weapons.

When consumed by their sacred sensation, they are incomparable warriors, capable of miraculous feats. Nothing can stand against their blades – armies, mountains, even ideas. They can defeat anything.

Except the passion which drives them.

YOUR LOOK

Choose one of the following:

• Worn leather, a long cloak and a scowl• Gladiator gear, all skin, spikes and black leather• Covered head to foot, with a full helm showing only your eyes• Your own idea:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

EQUIPMENT

You start with:

Your Arcane weapon (see next page).

In addition, choose one of the following:

• Chainmail (Defence 2) • Leather Armour (Defence 1), and a normal, non-magical Ranged

Weapon of your choice (bow, crossbow, throwing knives). The latter includes ammunition.

CLASS DICE: D8YOUR NAME:

DON’T READ THIS BIT ALOUD. Hey, Player. You can make choices as the player or persona or both. No matter what, please select options as the sheet describes.

CORE MECHANIC REDUX

• Roll a number of normal D6 equal to your statistic plus (if directed) your class dice.

• Each 4+ is a success.• If the number of successes match or exceed the set difficulty

you fully succeed.• Each 6+ can also activate a single relevant Special. These

abilities are marked on your sheet with a bold Special. Each target can only be targeted by any given Special once in any roll.

COMBAT

• Generate Initiative: roll Dexterity Dice Pool and total the numbers on the dice. Characters with highest total act first.

• Combat Round: in initiative order, everyone does an action.

For more see Cheat Sheet or ask GM.

STATS

STRENGTHPhysicality, hand-to-hand combat, etc.

DEXTERITYDodging, ranged combat, initiative, etc.

INTELLIGENCEEducation, perception, spells, willpower, etc

CONSTITUTIONHealth, amount of damage you take, etc.

WISDOMUnderstanding, miracles, willpower, etc

CHARISMAPersonal skills, attractiveness, etc.

Assign your stats. All stats start at 2. You have 2 points to increase any stat(s) you wish. Underlined stats are ones most associated with this class.

GUARDGuard = Dexterity

HEALTHHealth = Constitution

DIFFICULTY TO BE HIT EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE

DEFENSIVE STATS

WILLPOWERWisdom + Intelligence

DEFENCESet from Equipment

RESETS AT START OF COMBAT LOSE GUARD BEFORE HEALTH

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YOUR SACRED EMOTION

Your powers are driven by you feeling an emotion. Look at the Emotion Wheel on the third page.

Select the word that best fits your emotion (from the main coloured spokes only). It can be the one most related to your Persona, or the one you think is most interesting to explore. Talk to your GM if you want to know more about what “interesting” may mean.

Now write that emotion into the blank space at the top of p1, to denote what the type of Knight you will be.

Now you’ve picked, fill in the other blanks on the third sheet. All three of these words are aspects of your Sacred Emotion.

If you are unsure what emotion to pick, “Rage” is a simple one to play.

THE ARCANE WEAPON

All the Emotion Knight’s special abilities are channeled via their arcane weapon. All arcane weapons, whatever their form, are sentient and can communicate with its owner (both audibly or with short range telepathy) and share a bond with its owner. It is also able to sense strong sources of its emotion in its vicinity.

Your weapon is... (choose one of the following):

SwordHammerTridentYour idea: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Your weapon’s main attribute is... (choose one):

Brutal (Special: if this removes a Health from your opponent, remove two Health instead.)Fast (Special: when removing a Guard from your opponent, remove two Guard instead of one.)Incredibly Elegant (Uses Dexterity instead of Strength for its dice pool. Special: recover two Guard.)

Your weapon’s personality is... (choose one):

AggressiveSarcasticCutsieYour idea: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

THE EMOTIONAL SCALE

Look at the Emotional Scale on the third page. Place your D8 at zero. Depending how intensely your character is feeling this emotion, the D8 will move up or down the scale. The further up the scale it is, the more intensely a character feels this, and the more likely it will be nearly impossible to do something unconnected to this emotion.

To stress: the emotion is generated from events in the fiction. For example, if you are a Terror Knight surprised by a monster, you are likely to be scared, which means your D8 will move up the scale.

You are not immune to your emotion. When you experience willpower level you will be overwhelmed by it.

EMOTIONALLY ENGAGED

When your d8 is above zero on the Emotional Scale, you gain advantage on any attack the weapon makes. Your Stance is also activated. Your Emotional Stance is... (choose one):

Guard (Choose someone in vicinity. If they are attacked, you can choose to be instead)Ranged Attack (You can attack with your magical weapon at a range equivalent to a Bow.)Riposte (Any opponent whose attack fails to hit you gives you a free attack back at them.)

Feel free to describe how these abilities manifest.

VENTING

If you are emotionally engaged, you can vent to move your D8 one step down the emotional scale, to activate one of the following venting abilities.

Pick one ability.

Decapitation Strike (This attack bypasses Guard. This attack can only target one individual.)Combat Frenzy (Apply the results of this attack to all enemies within 2m of the Knight’s position.)Duel (Choose one opponent. They cannot attack anyone else until you choose.)

CREATIVE VIOLENCE

If a player has two or more of an emotion they can expend it all to achieve an incredible feat. They pick up the D8 and hold it towards the centre of the table. Describe what you’re trying to do. You can defeat anything which fits one of the nouns on your current level, or below. (So for example, if you are level 3 you can defeat an army.) You are encouraged to interpret “defeat” poetically. This ability is about creative violence.

Then roll the D8. If you roll your emotion level or beneath, you suffer that number of wounds in achieving your goal. Replace the dice at the zero point on the scale.

THE EMOTION KNIGHT IN BRIEF

If you’re experiencing your iconic emotion, you gain powers. Spend some of that emotion to fuel other powers. Use up all the emotion in a single burst to do really awesome stuff.

THESE ABILITIES MAY BECOME AVAILABLE AS YOU PROGRESS

EMOTION DRAINING

Emotion Knights can siphon their Sacred Emotion from a target character. If the character resists, this requires a Charisma roll with a difficulty of 1. For a success, and each success above it, a level of emotion is transferred from the target to the Knight. NB if a player is not experiencing that emotion, an Emotion Knight cannot siphon it.

A critical failure means the target can never feel emotion towards that source ever again. (For example, a peasant is petrified of a dragon. A Fear Knight tries to drain the peasant’s fear, but critically fails. The Peasant will never be scared of dragons again.) However, the Knight gets all the emotion the target feels.

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Once you have chosen the core emotion for

your Knight (as described on page 2), now

fill in the following:

Great: ______________(The closest to the center)

Medium

: _____________(The m

iddle one in the spoke)

Minor: _____________

(The furthest from the center)

THE EMOTION

WHEEL

Level 0: Nothing

THE KNIGHT’S EM

OTIONAL SCALE

Level 1: _____________Greater and lesser abilities available. Gain advantage on attacks w

ith your weapon.

Level 2: _____________You could defeat: a m

ob, a blockage, a village, a w

eakness.

Level 3: _____________You could defeat: an arm

y, a mountain

range, a town.

Level 4: LostYou can defeat: a city, despair, som

eone you truly love.

Level 5: Consumed

You can defeat: a country, a religion.

Level 6+: Inhuman

You can defeat: a god, hope, yourself.

(The Wheel of Em

otions was created by Professor Robert Plutchik in 1980. This W

heel is from W

ikipedia’s entry on the Wheel of Em

otions, w

hich is public domain. Hurrah for W

ikipedia! We’re w

orking on our own version at the m

oment.)

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THE GODBINDER

You don’t believe in gods.

I mean, they exist. Obviously. You owe the Fire God for that time he burned that fortress, and you’ve got that favour from the God of the Wild when you saved her rainforest… but believe? That’s a strong word.

Really, no, you don’t really believe in gods. You believe in tools. Useful tools.

The Godbinder is the D&D Cleric as demonologist.

EQUIPMENT

Choose one of the following:

Holy Warrior: Two-handed Hammer (Special: if a hit wounds, it does 2 against metal armoured opponents), heavy protection (Defence 2)Most Holy: Quarterstaff (Special: recover 1 Guard), robes or loincloth (Defence 1)Not Holy At All: Worn leather gear (Defence 1) – Dagger or Knuckledusters, Cigarettes or Pipe, Playing Cards, Advantage to sleight of hand tricks

YOUR LOOK

Choose one of the following:

• Heavy-metal holy crusader, likely looking for trouble• Beatific holy person, looking for peace, probably• Wild tattoos, frenzied eyes, likely looking for drugs• Urbane street magician, likely looking for the gold in your pocket• Your own idea:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

CLASS DICE: D12YOUR NAME:

DON’T READ THIS BIT ALOUD. Hey, Player. You can make choices as the player or persona or both. No matter what, please select options as the sheet describes.

CORE MECHANIC REDUX

• Roll a number of normal D6 equal to your statistic plus (if directed) your class dice.

• Each 4+ is a success.• If the number of successes match or exceed the set difficulty

you fully succeed.• Each 6+ can also activate a single relevant Special. These

abilities are marked on your sheet with a bold Special. Each target can only be targeted by any given Special once in any roll.

COMBAT

• Generate Initiative: roll Dexterity Dice Pool and total the numbers on the dice. Characters with highest total act first.

• Combat Round: in initiative order, everyone does an action.

For more see Cheat Sheet or ask GM.

STATS

STRENGTHPhysicality, hand-to-hand combat, etc.

DEXTERITYDodging, ranged combat, initiative, etc.

INTELLIGENCEEducation, perception, spells, willpower, etc

CONSTITUTIONHealth, amount of damage you take, etc.

WISDOMUnderstanding, miracles, willpower, etc

CHARISMAPersonal skills, attractiveness, etc.

Assign your stats. All stats start at 2. You have 2 points to increase any stat(s) you wish. Underlined stats are ones most associated with this class.

GUARDGuard = Dexterity

HEALTHHealth = Constitution

DIFFICULTY TO BE HIT EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE

DEFENSIVE STATS

WILLPOWERWisdom + Intelligence

DEFENCESet from Equipment

RESETS AT START OF COMBAT LOSE GUARD BEFORE HEALTH

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CONTRACT WITH GOD

To begin with, choose a total of one level from any of the gods below, and tick the box next to each one. (You have to choose level 1 in a god before level 2, and level 2 before level 3.) This defines how close your relationship is to the god. The higher, the closer you are (or at least the more leverage you have).

Each level comes with an associated Scripture. Handy. Scripture is described to the right.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , THE GOD OF LIGHT

LEVEL ONEHealing light: Can heal a character within a short distance. 1 Health healed per success, up to max level in god. Special: extra Health healed. Special: disadvantage to anyone attacking the target for rest of combat. Special: advantage to any attack made against creatures of darkness for rest of combat.LEVEL TWOBless: For each success you roll, bless a nearby ally. All attempts to attack that ally suffer a disadvantage for the length of the combat. Special: Double Wounds Against Undead for length of combat.LEVEL THREEDivine Light: Ranged Attack, single target, extreme range. Special: blind opponent for rest of combat. Special: if this hit wounds, does 2 Wounds instead of 1.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , THE GOD OF THE WILD

LEVEL ONEFurious Briars: Summons area of aggressive plant life which attacks all enemies in close area to caster. Remains for rest of combat. Special: immobilize target. Requires a strength test to break free.LEVEL TWOForked Lightning: Ranged Attack. Each success can choose an extra target, up to your level in the god. Special: opponent suffers two disadvantages next action.LEVEL THREEAnimal Form: Transform into hulking beast of your choice. You gain additional health equivalent to number of successes rolled until you change back. If your Wisdom is lower than your Strength, your Strength is increased to the level of your Wisdom.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , THE FIRE GOD

LEVEL ONEFire blast: Blast of flame to medium range. Special: ignite opponent, doing 1 Hit per round until extinguished. Special: hits extra nearby target - maximum of one selection per level in god.LEVEL TWOExtended Fireball: Ranged attack which fills room-sized area with fire which stays for the length of a combat. Can be dismissed at any time. Special: ignite opponent, doing 1 hit per round until extinguished.LEVEL THREEPhoenix: requires a dead body to cast. From it bursts an enormous flying bird, wreathed in a fire which only harms your enemies. Once it starts to fight, it lasts for a combat. It can carry 5-6 people. STR 3 DEX 3 and its attacks have Special: ignite opponent, doing 1 hit per round until extinguished.

SCRIPTURE

Godbinders gain access to spells called Scriptures. Unless the god they’ve picked is entirely against any of the of the three concepts below, all Godbinders get these three scriptures for free. The <noun> can be any noun related to the god. For example, with “The God of The Wild” you could fire thorn-blasts and could detect wildlife.

<Noun> Blast (Does an attack at a target in medium range.)Heal (Can heal a character within a short distance. Max 1 Health healed.)Detect <Noun>

Casting Scripture has a difficulty of 1. You will roll your Wisdom dice pool to do so, including your D12. (The D12 is added to your dice pool any time a miracle is influencing you. So if you have turned into a bear, you can include your D12 in your dice pool for bear tasks. If you create a magic sword, you get to add the D12 to your attacks too.)

If you fail to roll even a single success, you must take on a God Debt (if you can). This adds one one success to the dice pool.

GOD DEBT

For each god, a Godbinder can acquire up to five God Debt. They can also be in credit to a god for up to five God Debt.

Each point of God Debt can be called in by the god, who can choose to call in the debt at any time. The god will request an action and, if the player refuses, the player will suffer 1 Wound for every point of God Debt.

God Debt can also be removed if the player acts in a manner according to the god’s desires. A godbinder may be proactive and suggest things to their gods. You should keep track of which gods you have Debts to in the box provided to the right of their names.

MIRACLES

At any point, you may hold your D12 to talk to one of the gods. You can then request a Miracle. The GM, speaking as the god, if they are willing to do it, will give you a cost. After any haggling, you decide whether to accept or not. If you agree, it happens.

Costs tend to be one of three things…

1. Taking on God Debt.2. Making you perform a specific task for them.3. Owing them a favour.

Miracles can be anything a specific god could conceivably do, with the payment demanded proportionate to the difficulty.

BREAKING PROMISES

If you have promised to do something for a Miracle and you choose not to do it, the spurned god immediately acquires God Debt according to the scale of the Miracle broken (as ascertained by the GM). A god may hold onto the debt, or immediately use it to harm the Godbinder.

God Debt

God Debt

God Debt

THE GODBINDER IN BRIEF

Cast Scriptures which act like normal D&D-y spells, or actively barter with your gods for anything you want… at a cost.

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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , THE UNDERWORLD GOD

Some death gods are loving. Some are hateful. All have a place for us all.

LEVEL ONEHeal: Can heal a character within a short distance. Max 1 Health healed.LEVEL TWODeath Beam: Medium ranged attack. Has Special: lose one strength for length of this combat.LEVEL THREESkeleton Mob: Summon 10 awesomely stop-motion skeletons for a combat. They have no Guard and 2 Strength.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , THE WAR GOD

The god of all those who fight for right. But might makes right, so…

LEVEL ONEEnchanted Weapon: Choose one weapon. It gains advantage in attacks until the end of the combat and Special: target suffers a disadvantage on next task.LEVEL TWOGodly Frenzy: Swap your Wisdom and your Strength for the combat. Gain Special: opponent is overwhelmed by your fury, and is stunned for an action.LEVEL THREEHeroic Leadership: All friends near you gain advantage in attacks until the end of the combat and Special: regain one Guard.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , THE GOD OF EXCESS

God of one-more-drink-at-3am-on-a-school-night.

LEVEL ONEParty Hard: All individuals within arm’s reach all gain advantage on Dexterity tasks for a combat.LEVEL TWOSleep: Make all individuals in an area fall asleep. You need to match or exceed each target’s Wisdom in successes to affect them. They can be awoken.LEVEL THREEHigher State of Consciousness: Become intangible for length of combat. Invulnerable to physical attacks. Can attack with psychic power, using Wisdom for the dice pool. Use target’s Wisdom as their defence.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , THE STORM GOD

The angry and often paternal god of lightning. The elements unleashed and hostile.

LEVEL ONELightning Blast: Ranged attack. Special: does a 1-hit damage to anyone within arm’s reach of target.LEVEL TWOChain Lightning: Lightning bursts from the caster, attacking any close enemies. Special: does a 1-hit damage to anyone within arm’s reach of target.LEVEL THREESummon Storm: A room-sized storm persists for a combat. Every round, it attacks a random character in the space. Special: does a 1-hit damage to anyone within arm’s reach of target.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , THE TRICKSTER GOD

I should be so lucky. Lucky, lucky, lucky in role-playing games.

LEVEL ONEDisguise: You can appear to be anyone you wish. You do not gain any of their abilities.LEVEL TWODistraction: A burst of light makes everyone in a room-sized area be startled. One disadvantage on all tasks. Adds Special: this attack blinds the target for a combat round.LEVEL THREEDisappearing Trick: Teleport yourself to any place within sight.

Welcome to the third page, Godbinder, where we introduce another nine (count ’em!) gods to use.

It is worth stressing - these gods are actively worse than the gods on the previous page. These have not been changed since the 1.2 beta, where the gods on your main sheet have been considerably improved.

As the GM has decided to pass you this, they’ve decided that they trust you – our friend the Godbinder – not to spend eight hours chewing over your choices.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , THE SEA GOD

God of the ocean, in both its stillness and rage.

LEVEL ONESinking Sands: All enemies nearby are slowed, suffering a disadvantage on active tasks. Special: a character is stunned, sinking into the mud.LEVEL TWOWall of Water: Summon a wall of water, shaped according to your will. Whatever number of successes you roll is the difficulty to cross it.LEVEL THREEDrowning: Any nearby enemies’ lungs start to fill with water. Counts as an attack with Special: bypasses guard.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , THE ELDRITCH GOD

Gods beyond human imaginations, wrapping their cold tentacles around existence.

LEVEL ONESacrificial Knife: Summon an unholy blade. It can be used once to attack someone. Gain advantage on attack, and Special: if it wounds, it does one hit per round until dispelled.LEVEL TWOHorrifying visions: If you can make eye contact with someone, you reduce their Willpower by two for the length of a combat.LEVEL THREESummon Horror: Summon an abomination. It has 2 stats of 4, and abilities suiting its form. You do not control it.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , THE FORGE GOD

God of craft, technology and all those who work by their hands and their mind.

LEVEL ONELittle Robot Friend: Summon a little robot friend who can perform tasks. He cannot fight. He has Constitution 3 and Defence 2.LEVEL TWODivine Hammer: Summon a magical hammer for length of combat. Uses Strength, but can attack at bow-range. Special: Knocks over target.LEVEL THREEBig Robot Friend: Summons a larger robot friend who can perform tasks, including fighting. He has Strength 4 and Defence 2.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , THE FATE GOD

What will be, will be.

LEVEL ONEForewarned: Can see imminent threats. Use Wisdom to generate your Guard instead of Dexterity. Reset Guard to maximum.LEVEL TWOOur Destiny: Fate provides Wisdom. For this combat, all characters nearby at the moment of casting gain Special: this hit bypasses Guard.LEVEL THREETheir Fate: You reveal an awful truth to one individual nearby. It counts as an attack, automatically stuns them for a round and has Special: suffers a disadvantage for rest of combat due to existential horror.

MORE FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

God Debt

God Debt

God Debt

God Debt

God Debt

God Debt

God Debt

God Debt

God Debt

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Who rules?

The Master is the magic user as a reality manipulator. Sometimes you change the laws of physics. Sometimes you change the laws of the game. Sometimes you change the laws of fiction.

The Rules rule, and you rule the Rules.And you never, ever cheat.Ever.Stop looking at me like that.

EQUIPMENT

No matter what you’re wearing, it has Defence 1.

Choose one of the following:

Quarterstaff (Special: recover 1 Guard)An elegant handgun (Special: if a hit wounds, it does 2 against unarmoured opponents)A Huge Tome (Advantage on tasks involving research, heavy enough to be an improvised club)

THE MASTER

CLASS DICE: D20YOUR NAME:

DON’T READ THIS BIT ALOUD. Hey, Player. You can make choices as the player or persona or both. No matter what, please select options as the sheet describes.

CORE MECHANIC REDUX

• Roll a number of normal D6 equal to your statistic plus (if directed) your class dice.

• Each 4+ is a success.• If the number of successes match or exceed the set difficulty

you fully succeed.• Each 6+ can also activate a single relevant Special. These

abilities are marked on your sheet with a bold Special. Each target can only be targeted by any given Special once in any roll.

COMBAT

• Generate Initiative: roll Dexterity Dice Pool and total the numbers on the dice. Characters with highest total act first.

• Combat Round: in initiative order, everyone does an action.

For more see Cheat Sheet or ask GM.

STATS

STRENGTHPhysicality, hand-to-hand combat, etc.

DEXTERITYDodging, ranged combat, initiative, etc.

INTELLIGENCEEducation, perception, spells, willpower, etc

CONSTITUTIONHealth, amount of damage you take, etc.

WISDOMUnderstanding, miracles, willpower, etc

CHARISMAPersonal skills, attractiveness, etc.

Assign your stats. All stats start at 2. You have 2 points to increase any stat(s) you wish. Underlined stats are ones most associated with this class.

GUARDGuard = Dexterity

HEALTHHealth = Constitution

DIFFICULTY TO BE HIT EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE

DEFENSIVE STATS

WILLPOWERWisdom + Intelligence

DEFENCESet from Equipment

RESETS AT START OF COMBAT LOSE GUARD BEFORE HEALTH

YOUR LOOK

Choose one of the following:

Wizard Robes straight out of a 1980s kids fantasy cartoon Killer Suits straight out of a 1980s Corporate Badguy Fetishwear straight out of a 1990s Vampire LARP Your own idea: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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MASTERY

You have Mastery. If a Master has Mastery they have an advantage when casting spells via their Rules or on later actions related to the spell (e.g. If you enchant a weapon, you would get to add the Mastery Dice to pools as well as any effect the spell itself would have).

If lost, Mastery returns at the start of each session.

PLAYING BY THE RULES

By connecting magical Rules together, you can manufacture your own magical spell. E.g., if a Master has “Range” and “Fire Damage” they can combine them into a ranged attack. If they also have “Area” they could combine all three into something, like a fireball. Use your imagination and chat to the GM.

The difficulty of the spell is the number of different types of Rule in the spell. You roll your Intelligence pool to match or exceed it.

Each Rule gives you the ability to create the effect described - which is “scale 1”. If you select the Rule a second time, it increases the Rules scale (longer range, bigger area, etc). In short: the bigger the effect, the more scale is required. Ask your GM for more details here.

With each selection you get to define what these Rules look like in the narrative. So if you choose Damage (Duration) you can describe it as “Fire” and its narrative effect would be to set things alight etc. You can choose the same Rule multiple times, and change its its description. For example, Damage (Duration) could be “Toxic sludge” or “Poison” and so on.

In the case of Enhance and Hinder, you have to choose a specific thing to affect when selecting it. This can be a stat (Strength, Wisdom, etc) a type of action (ranged attacks, personal interaction, etc).

RULES LAWYERING

If your chosen Rules are insufficient to create the effect you want, if you possess Mastery, you can add other Rules as required… at a risk. To calculate the risk, do the following calculation.

• Add 1 for each scale of an option you have.• Add 2 for each option you don’t have.

You then add the D20 to the dice pool, and roll it. If the D20 is your risk or less, your cheating is caught. You lose Mastery. Note: the spell still takes effect. The D20 does not contribute successes to the pool - it only determines if your Rules Lawyering is caught.

For example, a Master with Range and Damage as Rules wants to throw a fireball at bow length. That’s a longer range than Range 1 allows - so add 1 for another scale of range. The Master doesn’t have area - so costs 2 to add a level of scale. This is a total of 3 risk. The Master throws their dice pool (including the D20) and the D20 turns up a 2 (i.e. a number same as or less than the total risk). Oh noes. The Master loses Mastery.

Important note: any Rules Lawyering enhancement does not increase the difficulty of a spell.

YOUR RULES

Select three Rules from the options below or talk to your Master about other Rules. (If your spell requires further scale or more Rules, see Rules Lawyering.)

Range: The effect is able to reach as far as a thrown weapon.

Area: Affect all within arms reach.

Duration: Last about the length of a combat.

Damage - Duration: Damages target. (Special: ignite opponent, doing 1 Hit per round until extinguished.)Description: ____________________________________________

Damage - Curse: Damages target. (Special: target suffers a disadvantage on next action.)Description: ____________________________________________

Heal: Target heals 1 Health. (Special: heals an additional Health) Description: ____________________________________________

Enhance (_________ ): Adds advantage on the defined task/stat.Description: ____________________________________________

Hinder (_________ ): Adds disadvantage on the defined task/stat.Description: ____________________________________________

______ Movement: Gifts movement in either velocity or direction. E.g., making you move quicker (Velocity), or levitate (Direction).Description: ____________________________________________

Selectivity: Allows you to remove yourself from the effects of a spell.

THE MASTER IN BRIEF

Arrange your Rules to make your own spells, and if not, cheat to get what you want… and hope you don’t get caught.

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HARDCORE CHEATING

Choose one of the three areas of Cheating for your Master to specialise in. You can try to cheat in any of the ways described, or ways akin to them - do use your imagination. Each cheat has a description of a typical punishment if you are caught.

It is possible some extremely ambitious cheats will be so complicated as to require significant in-game preparation, likely involving quests. None of the things on the list below are of this type.

To cheat, describe what you want to achieve, and the GM will tell you its likely punishment.

If you wish to continue, take two containers (a hand would be standard) and hide your D20 in one of them. Someone else picks a container. If they miss the D20, you get away with it and the effect happens. If they find it, the powers that be notice you. Erk.

Prepare to beg for your life, make excuses or justify yourself quickly. Good luck.

Warning: whether a Cheat is caught or not, if a cheat has an ongoing effect and the Powers That Be become aware of the cheat, then they can and will act.

GAMIST MASTER

You specialise in tweaking game mechanics in more favourable directions. No, not cheating.

Change a minor Rule for the duration of a combat.E.g. GM-controlled characters act before player-controlled characters on equal initiative.Possible punishment: Lose Mastery, community service.

Change a major Rule for the game for the duration of the combatE.g. You can regain Mastery at a time other than the start of a session.Possible punishment: 1-2 Wounds, ongoing curses until task completed.

Overturn or create a temporary exception to a major existing Rule in an Archetype.E.g. Dictators cannot use their voice. Possible punishment: Death.

NARRATIVIST MASTER

You specialise in bending story out of shape. Definitely not cheating.

Summon an established character into narrative.e.g. The famous thief you heard of arrives to the scene.Possible punishment: Lose Mastery, community service.

Establish a new fact about someone in the existing narrative.e.g. The famous thief you heard of arrives to the scene… and loves helping out dimension-skipping adventurers.Possible punishment: 1-2 Wounds, ongoing curses until task completed.

Introduce a whole new character of your own design.e.g. “Hey - there’s this awesome thief in this world, and they love helping out dimension-skipping adventurers. And they’ve turned up!”Possible punishment: Death.

SIMULATIONIST MASTER

You specialise in altering the physics of the world. Not Cheating. No way.

Highly unlikely events happen.E.g. A storm hits a coastal town.Possible punishment: Lose Mastery, community service.

Extremely unlikely events happen. E.g. A tidal wave hits a coastal town.Possible punishment: 1-2 Wounds, ongoing curses until task completed.

Break fundamental laws of physics.E.g. A tidal wave hits an inland town.Possible punishment: Death.

DIE MASTER

If you have Mastery over the area you are in, you gain access to the following cheats. To stress: unless you are being played by the GM, you are extremely unlikely to have Mastery of the area you are in.

At the start of each session, gain Cheat Tokens equivalent to the number of other players in the game. So if there are four players in the game, you get three.

Each Cheat Token can be used to perform a cheat without risking being caught.

You gain access to the following cheats…

Prevent any single event that has just happened. Uniquely, this can be done as an instant response to an action that’s happened (I.e. if you are killed, you can undo the event). Possible punishment: Compulsory instant death, no exceptions.

Offer temptation. You may create something significant from nothing that a player explicitly wants.Possible punishment: Compulsory instant death, no exceptions.

Escape. If not in the final encounter of the game, the Master can escape in some manner of personalised teleportation.Possible Punishment: 1-2 Wounds.

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DIE GAMESMASTER SHEETS

Print out all the following to run the game. Players, you’d be best not to read the following.

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THE FALLEN

THE FALLEN

You have died in the realm of Die. You are a monster, perhaps similar to one of the ones you’ve been fighting. You thought they were little more than undead zombies. Now you know better.

This may give you a new insight into their nature, and perhaps yours.

You are different from some of them in one key way: you are sentient, holding onto your consciousness and your free will.

For now.

You still have all the abilities on your front sheet.

You lose all your abilities on your second sheet.

FALLEN CLAWS

While it may appear to be your old weaponry, it’s changed. Whether you stab or shoot, it always works with these rules.

Many abandon the pretence, lose their weapons, and attack with claws sprouting from their body.

You now attack with this profile...

ClawsSpecial: if this attack causes a Wound the target is poisoned. (Lose one Health per round until a character succeeds a Constitution test.)

If you provide the killing wound with your fallen claws to another Persona-controlled character, you immediately come to life and regain all your abilities on your second sheet.

Pass the Fallen sheet to the player you’ve just killed. They’re Fallen now.

You instinctively know this to be true.

You are hungry for and jealous of what your peers possess.

This is the only certain way a Fallen can return to their living status.

Perhaps there’s other less murderous ones? You don’t know.

NOT JUST A MONSTROUS FACE

Fallen are monsters, but some are interesting monsters. Your new form gives you a new ability. Choose one:

Flight You are able to soar through the sky at a sprinting pace. Decide what this looks like – wings? Thrusters? Enormous blood-coated springs? You tell us.Intangibility You are able to move spectrally through objects that bar your path. This gives you no specific bonus to resist damage. What does it look like? Classic spectral? Becoming burrowing worms? You tell us.Size changing You can monstrously swell to four times your height or shrink to a tenth of your size. What does this look like? And sound like? And feel like?

SECOND DEATH?

You’re dead. You have no idea what happens if you die now.

When you think of it, there is a certain dread.

You know it’s not good.

THE FALLEN IN BRIEF

You are an undead monster. If you kill one of the other Personas, you become alive again.

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1. Say what you’re trying to do. If it may fail, the GM sets a Difficulty. 1 is normal. 2 is hard. 3 is impossible for an average human.

2. Collect a Dice Pool. This is a number of D6 equal to your relevant statistic. In some situations you may also add your Class Dice.

3. Determine if there’s anything which may make the task easier. For each advantage add one six-sided dice to the dice pool.

4. Determine if there’s anything which may make the task harder. For every two disadvantages add one to the difficulty. If there’s a disadvantage left, add one Bad Dice to the dice pool.

5. Any dice that is 4+ counts as a success. If the Bad Dice is 4+ one success is negated. If the number of successes equals or exceeds the difficulty, you fully succeed.

6. For each 6+ you can activate a single relevant Special a character may have. Each target can only be targeted by any given Special once in any roll.

7. If you roll no successes and at least one dice rolls a 1, it’s a Critical Failure.

1. Generate Guard (If not surprised, all characters set their Guard to maximum.)

2. Determine Initiative Order (Roll your Dexterity dice pool and total its numbers. The character with the highest total goes first, the character with the lowest total goes last.)

3. The Combat Round (In Initiative order, everyone takes an action. An action is anything that can be reasonably completed in 5-10 seconds, understood cinematically. An action can normally be accompanied by moving a short distance. You can save your action for later in the round.)

4. Repeat Step 3 until combat is over.

1. Roll relevant dice pool, as per core mechanic. For close combat, this is usually Strength. For Ranged, this is normally Dexterity. For spells, it varies depending on what sort of magician you are.

2. The difficulty is equal to the Defence of the target.

3. If you match the difficulty, you score one Hit. For every further success, you score an additional Hit.

• Every Hit causes a character to lose either a Guard or a Health.• Unless otherwise stated, Guard is lost before Health.• If a Hit causes a character to lose Health it is called a Wound.• If a character reaches zero Health, they will fall unconscious and die

at the end of a combat.• If a character would ever be at less than zero Health, they die. Erk.

DAMAGE AND DEATH

ATTACK

COMBATTHE CORE MECHANIC

CORE RULES CHEAT SHEET

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• Explain concept of DIE the RPG.• Ask what sort of characters they like to play in games.• Discuss tone of game. Adventure? Horror? What rating?• Discuss possible themes and players’ reservations.• Introduce X-card.

• Previously On: ask the players to recap their Personas. If they don’t say information required for the adventure, remind them.

• Ask questions about their teenage fantasy world and then use (and subvert) their answers in the game.

• Continue to ask questions about the Personas’ real lives, as and when relevant. Use them in the game.

• Halfway through session decide if the game needs to be extended to further sessions or not.

• An hour before the end of the final session, remind the players the game is going to end.

• Always leave time before people have to leave to decompress together after the game.

• Voting process: ask each player if they want to end the game. The second one doesn’t, stop.

• If everyone agrees to go home, they go home.• If everyone agrees to stay, they stay.• Dead people don’t get a vote.• If they don’t come to an agreement, the fantasy world is destroyed.• If group is at an impasse, start the world ending. • When the world is about to end, tell the players and let them have

one more action.• Before you destroy the world, give the players one last chance to end

the game.

• All living players are back in the room they came from. Describe the scene.

• Ask each living player who went home how their experience with Die changed their life. Add a note to add weirdness to their choice afterwards.

• Ask each dead player how them being not at home changed their life. Also subvert.

• Ask each player who stayed what their life is like there. Add note about what happened at home when they’re away.

• Applaud everyone and have handshakes and high fives. Decompress and practise Aftercare.

• Explain setup (i.e. group of old RPG friends getting together down the line)

• Ask questions to players to generate Personas’ identities. Make notes.

• Continuing asking questions until the group seems defined.• Look for the Core Drive of each Persona.• Be sure to ask for name of the Fantasy World they used to play in.• When satisfied, tell everyone to leave the table. When they come

back, they will be playing their Personas.

• Have a general chat then start the game.• Distribute the dice and character sheets.• As you give to each player bar the Fool say: “This is your dice. There

is no other dice like this in this whole game. This is special. This is yours.”

• To the Fool say: “This is your dice. This is exactly the same as every other dice in the game. There’s nothing special about this dice at all.”

• The Master keeps the D20. “And this one is mine.”• Get each player to read the introduction text to their character sheet

aloud.• Go through the steps on the sheet, getting them to fill in the details.• Ask all the players to pick up their dice, close their eyes, then lower

their dice to the table.• Tell them to open their eyes and say they’re somewhere else…

• Describe situation – players are in a dark fantasy version of the room they’re in. They are still their real human selves. The dice are in front of them.

• The Master’s Persona grabs the D20, and transforms into their character.

• Use a Cheat Token to teleport away.• At any point, if a Persona grabs their dice, they transform into their

character.• Shortly afterwards, Fallen arrive. (1 Lesser Fallen per player. If you

are starting with the option of more powerful starting players, add a Greater Fallen.)

• After the Fallen encounter, the players leave the area… and outside is their teenage Fantasy world. Say its name. End session.

PRE-SESSION CHAT INTO THE DUNGEON

LATER SESSIONS

THE FINAL ENCOUNTER

LEAVING THE DUNGEON

PERSONA GENERATION

CHARACTER GENERATION

GM SESSION CHECKLIST

• Given all you know, decide which archetype you want to give to each player.

• You have the Master.• If you have reservations, check in with players about your idea.

BEFORE CHARACTER GENERATION

This checklist is for the standard game of DIE. If you are playing with modified versions in the Arcana, some of it won’t apply.

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FOOL (D6)Swashbuckling hero

• Adds class D6 to rolls when acting cavalierly.• Draws symbol on D6. If it doesn’t turn up, add another symbol. If it

turns up, a fluke they’ve chosen happens. If the symbol turns up, also add a negative symbol. If that turns up, the reverse of the fluke happens, and delete all negative fluke symbols.To get out of any trouble, gives D6 to GM.

• GM can later return D6 to put the group in trouble.• By deliberately messing up a plan, the Fool forces the return of the D6.

EMOTION KNIGHT (D8)Emotion-powered fighter

• Sentient weapon.• Chooses an emotion and then tracks how strongly they feel it on their

scale.• If greater than zero, has advantage on attacks with weapon and their

Stance is activated.• If an Emotion Knight Vents, move the D8 one place down the scale.• If 2+ emotion can use Creative Violence. Expends all emotions. It

can “defeat” any of the words on the chart or below. Note: interpret creatively, but accurately. A mob is not an individual.

• Emotion Drain: siphon emotion from target if they are feeling it. If they choose to resist, it’s Knight’s Charisma versus Target’s Wisdom.

• A critical fail means that the target no longer can feel the emotion (at least, re: the same source) that was being drained. Knight takes all emotion though.

NEO (D10)Cybernetic rogues

• Has sentient AI and Fair Field Hacking (allowing you to influence Fallen). Roll Intelligence vs Wisdom to succeed. A Special to take control of the target for an action.

• Has Gifts of the Fair. Each must be activated with Fair Gold. You need coin tokens to give the Neo.

• Each Gift must be activated each day.• Adds D10 to pool when making rolls using the Neo’s active abilities. If

roll a 0, the Gift deactivates.• Overcharge: GM sets gold cost to achieve set task. If paid, roll D10. If

odd, it works perfectly. If it fails, GM gets to narrate what goes amiss. Note: does not mean fail.

GODBINDER (D12)Cleric, but bossier

• Holds D12 aloft to speak to any of the gods.• Godbinder chooses relationships with gods in levels. Each level gives

an associated Scripture.• Barters with each god to do Miracles. Miracles can do anything that

god could do, but each will set a price.• To cast Scripture, roll using Will. If has target, simultaneously roll

against their Defence.• D12 added to any dice pool where Scripture is affecting it, and also

attempts to cast Scripture.• If you fail to cast a Scripture, you have to take on God Debt (if you

can). If you do so, you gain 1 success.• A god can request a player action. If player refuses, they take 1 Wound

for every point of God Debt to the god.

THE DICTATOR (D4) The Bard as horror character

• Dictator chooses emotions to form a palette.• Each Dictator has something which gives them away when using their

Voice.• Dice pool for using Voice has own mechanic. You roll D4 which sets

number of successes, while the Charisma determines how many points you get to make higher or lower.

• Number of successes is the level of Emotion they suffer (see Emotion Scale).

• A Critical Fail will mean the effect is permanent.• You pass D4 to GM (or other player) when using it. You can’t use the

Voice while someone else has your D4. You can recall D4 at any time.• The D4 can be added to any normal dice pool where emotional control

could feasibly give the character an edge. If so, the D4’s results can be added to any dice.

EMOTION SCALE (Dictator/Emotion Knight)

• 1-3: normal human emotions• 4-5: beyond normal human emotion• 6: intensity beyond all human experience • For each level of emotion a character has, they suffer one

disadvantage when doing something contrary to that emotion.• At level 3 or above, they have powerful impulses. To resist, they must

roll Wisdom against the level of emotion divided by 2.• If Emotional Intensity is greater than a target’s Willpower (Wisdom

+ Intelligence) then they are overwhelmed and could even pass out (level 4) or die (level 5) or worse (6 and above).

THE MASTER (D20)The GM’s reality-controlling mage

• Has Rules which they combine to create their own spells. The difficulty is the number of Rules used comprising the spell. They roll using Intelligence.

• If a Master has Mastery, they can have an advantage on casting spells and the effects of the spells. They can also Bend the Rules.

• To Bend the Rules, they can add levels of Rules they don’t know (cost 2) or they do know (cost 1) to a spell. If so, roll a D20 alongside their dice pool. If they roll less than the total cost, lose Mastery.

• Mastery returns at the start of each session.• Masters can also just Cheat. To do so, they describe what they want

to do, based upon what type of Master they are. Two containers are held out, one containing the D20 (likely, hands). If dice is picked, they are caught.

• If caught, the Master has to beg to escape punishment from the powers that be.

THE GAMEMASTER’S CHARACTER • Has a number of Cheat Tokens equal to the number of other players.• Can spend them on cheats from the DIE MASTER section on the

Master’s sheet.• The number of Cheat Tokens resets at the start of each session.

THE FALLEN • A Persona’s character becomes Fallen when they die. • Keep all stats and abilities on first sheet, lose all on the second sheet.• If a Fallen kills another Persona’s character the Fallen comes back to

life.• 1st death while Fallen = -1 stat. 2nd death = -2 stat. And so on.• Any stat reaching 1 or 0 remains true if they return to real world.

GM CHEAT SHEET FOR CLASSES

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NOTES