The Sword, The Crown, and The Unspeakable Power
The Sword, The Crown, and The Unspeakable Power
The Crown
&
The Unspeakable Power
Todd N.
& Tom J.
THE SWORD, THE CROWN, AND
THE UNSPEAKABLE POWER
Based on the Powered by the Apocalypse engine by
D. Vincent Baker and Meguey Baker
Copyright © 2018
Published by Wheel Tree Press
For more, visit: wheeltreepress.wordpress.com
Softcover ISBN: 978-0-9998868-0-9
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-9998868-1-6
The Sword
The Crown
&
The Unspeakable Power
CHARACTER CLASSES 48
ADVANCEMENT 175
THREATS 222
INDEX 294
A Few Introductory Words About This
Mean Little Game…
The Sword, The Crown, and The Unspeakable Power is a role-playing
game. Players have a conversation at the table — guided by the rules
in this book — and create a story together. The Sword, The Crown,
and The Unspeakable Power is a hack of Vincent and Meguey Bak-
er’s groundbreaking game, Apocalypse World — if you haven’t tried it
out, you should. We’ll wait, we’re patient.
There are many fantasy games designed around going on a quest, but
fewer games about the politics of that place. We liked the knife’s edge
balance of violence, intrigue, and power in Apocalypse World, but it
was obviously the wrong setting — so we bent it and broke it and
carved it up until it we found a gleaming black heart. That was the
beginning of The Sword, The Crown, and The Unspeakable Power. We
had so much fun playing villainous, greedy, desperate people, we de-
cided to dedicate some more time to turning it into something other
people could try, and the result is what you are now reading.
We were inspired by several other Apocalypse World hacks, notably
Monsterhearts, Monster of the Week, Urban Shadows, Masks and Dun-
geon World, in our efforts. We should also add that other excellent
games, including Misspent Youth, On Mighty Thews, Kagematsu, In
a Wicked Age, 1,001 Nights, The Mountain Witch, Swords Without
Master, and Sorcerer directly and indirectly influenced themes, ideas,
and language contained within. So now that you know the story,
please enjoy the game. We’ve had fun both making it and playing it,
and we hope you will, as well.
With cold hearts full of malice and treachery,
-T&T
T
he Basics The Sword, The
Crown, and The
Unspeakable
Power (SCUP)
is a role-play-
ing game for
3-6 people that
deals with social
hierarchy, po-
litical intrigue,
and violent
retribution in a
fantasy setting.
The players have
a conversation
that tells a story
about what var-
ious characters are doing in a fictional world. One player
takes the role of the Master of Ceremonies (MC) — the
person who portrays the world and most of its inhabitants,
called the non-player characters (NPCs). The other players
take the roles of single characters called the player characters
(PCs). The PCs have a character class, or template for their
character that lets them know who they are and what they
can do. Through talking with each other, rolling dice, and
using the game’s moves, the players create a story that centers
on these characters.
Chapter One
†2†
The Setting
The game takes place wherever power is held in grasping fingers and
fought for with blades and bribes. Perhaps your game takes place in
a port town with rich merchants, or within a series of great ziggurats
dotting a desert wasteland. Maybe you survey peasants and farmland
from your towering stone castle, or pray to your god in a cliffside
monastery.
While SCUP is a fantasy game, it isn’t about slaying dragons — it’s
about scheming, dealing, threatening, and worse to get what you
want, no matter the cost.
Every group may create a different setting, but the one common
thread between every game is The Unspeakable Power. In your game,
it may be the azure demon that whispers in your ear, the tongues of
hell-fire beneath the mountain that only the gods can lay eyes upon
without going mad, or the blackness between the stars that calls you
to it like a lover. It is always there, be it magic or corruption or well-
spring of power — some can hear it, some can see it, and some can
even try to control it.
During a session you’ll have a conversation where you’ll use the rules
The Agendas
THE MC’S AGENDA IS TO:
†† Make the world feel epic and extraordinary.
†† Fill the PCs’ lives with intrigue and drama.
†† Play to find out what happens.
To make the world feel epic and extraordinary, and to fill the PCs’
lives with intrigue and drama, you want to dangle big, important
things in front of your players. As the MC, you should make the
PCs the center of the world, even if they’re lowly and common. Go
out of your way to put them in interesting situations with real con-
sequences for their lives and your fictional world.
Additionally, the MC may not write a story prior to sitting down at
the table. This is not a suggestion — it is a rule. If you sit down with
a plot for the players to work through, you’re not playing to find out
what happens. In a later chapter (193), we’ll go into detail about
how to accomplish the MC’s agendas.
they may change over the course of the game, but those needs and
Game Set Up
When you first sit down to play SCUP, you’ll want to do the follow-
ing in this order:
1. Mythology creation.
2. Character creation, including selecting character classes, picking
stats and moves, and creating Factions.
3. Doing beginning of session stuff, including highlighting stats,
selecting Entanglements, and rolling any start of session moves.
4. Playing your first session.
5. Doing any end of session stuff you have to do, including figur-
ing out how much Honor you start the next session with.
This will all be explained in greater detail in later chapters, but here
we’ll touch on each component of the game set up.
Mythology Creation
The first thing you do when you play a campaign of SCUP, prior to
creating characters, is collectively create a foundational mythology to
give form to the world your game will take place in. The foundation-
†8†
Character Creation
Once you have created your world and its mythology, each PC
player will pick a character class, which represents the basic concept
of their character. The Character Classes chapter (48) will guide
you through creating whatever class you select. Two players may not
pick the same class at the beginning of the game. The classes are:
†† The Adept, a magic user who draws on The Unspeakable Power
to achieve their ends.
†† The Beloved, a prophet, cult leader, or mystic who has the favor
of something beyond our comprehension.
†† The Black Hood, an assassin or thief who prowls the night,
acting on behalf of a guild or clan.
†† The Bloodletter, a doctor, healer, and person of science. Maybe
benevolent, maybe wrathful.
†† The Crown, a ruler or leader, sitting on their throne and making
decisions about those beneath them.
†† The Gauntlet, a knight or warrior, serving their lord or acting as
a mercenary.
†† The Hex, a witch or sorcerer who uses their magic powers to
strike twisted bargains.
†† The Lyre, a performer or artist, filling the world with beauty
while spreading rumors and secrets.
†† The Screw, a professional torturer who extracts information
from both willing and unwilling.
†† The Spur, the leader of a militia filled with rough and tumble
fighters, maybe working for someone, maybe independent.
†† The Voice, an advisor to power, standing behind the throne and
whispering in the ears of those in charge.
†9†
Stats
A PC’s stats describe important details about them. You select stats
for you character when you create them. The five stats are Fierce,
Steady, Wily, Sly, and Arcane.
Fierce describes how hearty, strong, tough, and merciless you are.
Someone with a high Fierce is likely to be successful in combat or to
get what they want by threatening and menacing others.
Steady describes how skilled, agile, unflinching, quick thinking, and
calm under pressure you are. Someone with high Steady is likely to
be able to sneak somewhere, lie to your face, or fire an arrow with a
great degree of accuracy.
† 10 †
Wily describes how cunning, witty, charming, and seductive you are.
Someone with a high Wily is likely to get people to do what they
want or use their allure to get their way.
Sly describes how clever, learned, wise, and astute you are. Someone
with a high Sly is likely to be able to piece things together or make
useful observations.
Arcane describes either your innate or learned ability to tap into the
magic forces in The Unspeakable Power. Someone with high Arcane
is attuned to those forces and is more likely to successfully harness
them.
Factions
When you create a PC, you will create a Faction for them. A Faction
can be either a tightly bound group or a more amorphous collection
of individuals. For example, a player could say “my character’s Fac-
tion is the noble family of Galt, who have ruled over these lands for
centuries.” That’s a specific, tightly bound group. The family will all
know each other, interact with each other, etc. Conversely, a player
could say “my character’s Faction is the art community of the city.
The various people who make music, sculptures, paintings, and put
on plays.” That’s a much more amorphous group where everyone
may or may not know each other or communicate regularly.
Your Faction represents the people who your interests align with.
Your status, at least to a degree, rises and falls with theirs. As such,
you will often act, either directly or indirectly, to advance the inter-
ests and standing of your Faction. Members of your Faction may
sometimes assist you or make requests of you. Factions and Faction
moves are further explained in the Patrons, Factions, and Honor
chapter (146).
† 11 †
Patrons
Honor
Honor is a currency held by each PC that represents the worth of
their name. Having a great deal of Honor does not necessarily mean
that you are “honorable.” Rather, it means that your name has value.
A thief may have lots of Honor if their name is known to the right
people. Your Honor is your reputation.
All PCs start with a base of 1 Honor for the first session, except
The Crown and The Voice, who automatically start out with 2. PCs
may start with an additional point of Honor if they can reasonably
make the case that their character is renowned, well-connected, rich,
noble, or notorious. Your Honor is tied to your role in your Faction.
You gain Honor through increasing your standing in your Faction
by advancing its interests or doing things for people in it. Converse-
ly, you lose Honor by rebuking or leaving your Faction.
You may spend Honor to trigger Honor moves. These are moves that
play off your good name and reputation to get what you want. You
may also spend Honor to refuse to do something that someone with
leverage or authority over you has tasked you with doing. Over the
course of the game, the value of your name will go up and down as
you do things to spend and gain Honor. See the chapter on Patrons,
Factions, and Honor (146) for more details.
† 12 †
Harm
Harm is a mechanical measure of how physically hurt a character is.
When characters are stabbed, burnt, or otherwise beat up, they take
Harm. Both PCs and NPCs take Harm when they are hurt. When
a PC reaches 5 Harm, if they do not immediately take a Debili-
ty to save themselves (see below), they will soon die. If a character
ever reaches 6 Harm or beyond, there is probably no hope for them,
save some kind of miracle. Harm is incurred through suffering
damage from being attacked, as well as other appropriate fictional
causes. The amount of Harm weapons do is detailed in the Weap-
ons, Armor, Gear, and Tags chapter (168). Specific character moves
may also detail how much Harm they do. If you need to know how
much Harm something does that is not clearly defined within a
move or associated with a weapon, consult this reference list:
†† 0-1 Harm — Scratches and bruises. Falling off a chair, trip-
ping, being pushed into a wall, or slapped.
†† 2-3 Harm — Serious pain you can push through. Falling down
a flight of stairs, getting a flesh wound from a blade, or getting
struck off a horse.
†† 4 Harm — Immense pain, broken bones or internal bleeding.
Falling a great distance, getting stabbed with something square
in the gut, or having your skin scalded by boiling oil.
†† 5-6 Harm — Deadly. Being engulfed in flame, cut nearly in
half, or having a building cave in on you.
Armor can reduce the amount of Harm taken, typically by 1 or 2
points. If you are wearing armor, any Harm that would hit your
armor is reduced by the points your armor is worth. For exam-
ple, armor that is worth 1 Armor absorbs 1 point of Harm. If you
are stabbed by a blade that does 2 Harm while wearing something
worth 1 Armor, you only take 1 Harm. If an attack would bypass
your armor (if someone put a dagger in your eye) or if the attack has
the tag “armor piercing” (ap) the armor is ignored.
† 13 †
HEALING:
†† 1-3 Harm will get better over time, on its own. After a few days
or weeks pass in game time, the MC may tell you to erase harm.
†† 4 Harm will stay where it is until you do something about it.
Maybe you go to a Bloodletter for some healing, or an NPC
who has the necessary skills. Once you’ve received medical at-
tention, treat the Harm as above, healing over time.
†† 5 Harm means you are dying. The MC may call for a Face
Duress roll to act. If you do not receive care soon, you will expire.
†† 6 Harm or higher means you are likely dead. Only a miracle or
The Unspeakable Power can save you now.
† 14 †
NPCs can take Harm as follows before they die or become otherwise
incapacitated:
†† Random character on the street or weak/ill named character:
1-2 Harm
†† Named character: 2-3 Harm
†† Important, powerful character: 3-4 Harm
†† Mythical creature, legendary figure: 5-6 Harm
We suggest that you use the final, legendary tier of Harm very spar-
ingly. Most NPCs should take between 2-4 Harm to incapacitate
or kill. If you put your sword through their gut, they probably die.
That’s just how diplomacy works sometimes.
Barter
Barter is a generic measure of currency — it can represent what-
ever you want it to in your setting. Perhaps it’s gold or silver coins,
paper money, precious gems, or rare spices. Whatever it is, it is an
abstract concept. Many things a PC wants should cost no Barter,
such as buying drinks at a pub. Barter is used when buying substan-
tial, important things, where the outcome of the transaction has
consequences. Room and board for some period of time, a fine new
weapon, a sturdy suit of armor, a healthy horse, someone’s total si-
lence, all of these things should cost Barter.
Average things should cost 1 Barter. Quality things should cost 2.
Permanently buying a home, acquiring a valuable antique, or paying
for a horrible, dangerous deed could cost 3, 4 or more Barter. It is
not an exact measurement of value, but rather a mechanical tool. An
NPC may say “I’ll do this deed for you, but it will cost you a hefty
weight of coin.” Then the MC can say, out of character, it’ll cost you
2 Barter.
† 15 †
Characters start out with some amount of Barter, and those with Pa-
Advancement
The First Session Worksheet (285) will help the MC keep tabs on
End of Session
When the session is over, conclude by having each PC total up what
their starting Honor for the next session will be. In the Honor sec-
tion (159) we detail how to do this.
This first session serves as your template for how to play other
sessions after it. Begin with your beginning of session duties and
moves, then play the session, then conclude with any of end session
moves and total up each PC’s Honor for the next session. Over the
rest of the book, we go into greater detail on how to do everything
discussed above.
Safety
One final note: this is a vicious, violent game. It is very easy to go in
dark, nasty directions at the table. If this is what you’re looking for,
we encourage you to explore this, but you should first take the safety
of all the players at the table into consideration. As such, we strongly
suggest you read the Appendix on Safety (269) before you play. We
want everyone playing the game to feel safe and have fun, even as
their character gets their hands bloody.
M oves If you are in a
rush to Engage
in Combat or
Whisper Into
The Unspeak-
able Power,
reference sheets
can be found
at the end of
the book. We’ll
crack each of
the moves open
and examine
their guts here.
Some moves
happen without
rolling — the
text will tell you what to do in those cases. When moves
call for rolling dice, you’ll roll 2d6 and add or subtract the
stat called for. Results are divided into three categories — a
full hit (10+), a partial hit (7-9) or a miss (6-). A full hit
means you succeed on your move or get what you were aim-
ing for. A partial hit means you succeed with unintended
consequences or your success is complicated. A miss means
you don’t achieve the effect you were aiming for, though this
doesn’t always mean you’ve “failed.” Rather, the MC may
make a move in the case of a miss. Find more details on MC
Moves in the MC’s chapter (201).
Chapter Two
† 24 †
Basic Moves
FACE DURESS
When you do something difficult where your ability to do so is se-
riously in question, you roll to Face Duress. You say what you are
trying to do and the MC will tell you what the duress is. The MC’s
response to what you want to do gives you an indication of what to
expect if you fail.
EXAMPLE 1
Player: “I want to get to the other side of the battlefield and help
Fist fight all those soldiers off.”
MC: “It’s chaos out there right now — roll to Face Duress. The
duress is the arrows which are raining down all around you”.
EXAMPLE 2
Player: “I want to lie right to Priestess Zalika’s face about where
I’ve been. She’d be so mad if she knew I was with Obasi last
night.”
MC: “For sure. Why don’t you roll Face Duress. The duress is
the knowledge that she’ll probably fire you, or worse, if she finds
out who you’ve been spending time with.”
You may use this move to inflict Harm on another character if
they are not ready or able to fight you back, but only if failure is an
option (see “doing harm clarified,” below).
EXAMPLE 3
Player: “I want to sneak up behind Lord Pembrook, and put my
dagger in his side.”
† 25 †
MC: “His eyes widen. Sounds like it’s a Threaten With Force
roll.”
Player: “I rolled a 10.”
MC: “He looks terrified, but he’s too loyal to Anna to move. He
takes a step towards you and holds up his hands. Do your thing.”
Player: “I sock him right in the face with my mailed fist.”
MC: “He crumples to the ground in a heap, moaning. This is
not what he expected when he woke up this morning. You can
step over him and into the throne room.”
EXAMPLE 2
Player: “I really need to know where Fallow is hiding. I hold
up my dagger and inform the barkeep that if he doesn’t tell me
which room they’re in, I’m going to cut off one of his fingers.”
MC: “That is very much a Threaten With Force roll.”
Player: “Sounds good. I rolled an 8.”
MC: “He rolls his eyes and says ‘Listen, I get this all the time. I
can’t go around revealing information about my best customers,
but what I can do is make it worth your while to walk away.’ He
slides a small purse of coins across the counter to you.”
Player: “Huh. I’m supposed to find Fallow, but money is pretty
tempting. Let me think about this…”
In the first example, the MC chose to have Issma not listen to the
PC, and the violence was immediately visited upon him. In the
second example, the player rolled a partial hit and the MC picked
“Try to strike a bargain with you or talk their way out of it” and
changed the situation. The player then had to react accordingly.
† 29 †
ENGAGE IN COMBAT
When you attack someone with the intent to do Harm, you make
an Engage in Combat roll. Engaging in Combat assumes your op-
ponent is defending themselves and not cowering before you, caught
unaware, fleeing, etc. If your opponent can’t or won’t fight back or
could act to cause you to not Harm them, you are not Engaging in
Combat, you are either Facing Duress or Threatening With Force
(as appropriate, see above), or simply inflicting Harm with no move
(see “doing Harm clarified” below).
When using this move, you are exposing yourself to Harm and retri-
bution. The person you are fighting will be able to deal damage back
to you. When a PC attacks someone with an Engage in Combat
roll, that character returns the attack.
When you Engage in Combat, say what you are doing to attack
your opponent or opponents and then roll+Fierce.
† 30 †
EXAMPLE 1
Player: “It sounds like Asdel is itching for a fight, and I’m happy
to oblige. I go ahead and swing my mace at him.”
MC: “You definitely need to make an Engage in Combat roll here.”
Player: “I roll a 9. I’ll pick ‘You battle aggressively.’ I just want
this over with.”
MC: “Okay, Asdel has on some leather armor and he’s got his
sword drawn. You crack him with your mace a few times and
do 4 Harm, 1 of which is soaked by his armor. He’s pretty hurt,
but he gets in a shot at you with his sword. It would normally
be 2 Harm, but you left yourself open because you went at him
† 31 †
EXAMPLE 2
Player: “No one talks to me like that. I’m done with this guy. I
draw my sword and advance on him.”
MC: “Go ahead and roll to Engage in Combat.”
Player: “I got a 12. I’m less interested in killing him and more
interested in making an example of him. I’ll select “you parry
their blows” and “you are impressive or dominant.”
MC: “You get him in the side with your sword as you attack him
and he takes 1 Harm, after his armor soaks 1. He tries to strike
you, but you block it and it winds up glancing off your armor
and you take no Harm. But all eyes in the street turn towards
you. You are commanding the scene.”
Player: “Good, I loudly announce that no one insults the Steel of
the Queen and gets away with it.”
EXAMPLES OF SITUATIONS WHEN YOU MIGHT MAKE AN
ENGAGE IN COMBAT ROLL: guards surround you with their
swords drawn and you pull out your mace and attack them. Some-
one has a letter in their hand that you want, and they refuse to give
it to, so you try and take it by force. You just made a Threaten With
Force roll and the target didn’t do what you want so you stabbed
them, but they are not incapacitated and are now drawing their
dagger to fight back.
EXAMPLES OF SITUATIONS WHEN YOU WOULD NOT MAKE
AN ENGAGE IN COMBAT ROLL: if the target doesn’t know you are
there, you would Face Duress, not Engage in Combat, or just deal
harm without a move. If they could do something to get you not to
harm them, you might Threaten With Force, not Engage in Combat.
† 32 †
EXAMPLE 1
Player: “I really need Adorna to lie to the Queen about what
she saw.”
MC: “Oh, she’s not going to do that. This is too juicy not to tell
her royal Highness.”
† 33 †
STUDY A SITUATION
When try to work out what is happening around you, you make a
Study a Situation roll. When you Study a Situation, you are indi-
cating to the MC that the situation is charged or tense. By asking a
question below, you are putting that into the fiction. For example, if
you ask “who or where is my enemy, really?” you have indicated to
the MC that you have an enemy here. The MC will not answer “you
don’t have an enemy.” If you asked, you do. This means that this is
a great move to use to inject some extra drama and intrigue into the
fiction.
When you Study a Situation, roll+Sly. On a hit, you can ask the
MC questions from the list below, either immediately or over the
course of the scene. On a 10+, ask 3 questions. On a 7–9, ask 2:
†† Where is my best escape route/way in/way past?
†† How is one of my adversaries vulnerable to me right now?
†† What am I missing?
†† Who or where is my enemy, really?
†† Who’s actually pulling the strings, here?
†† Who or what here could be a useful opportunity for me?
On a miss, ask one question, but the MC gets to make their hard
move, as well (see the MC’s chapter, 201). The first time you act on
one of the MC’s answers, take +1 forward on your roll.
EXAMPLE 1
Player: “I’m sure there’s something going on with the Mar-
quis that I’m not getting. I’m going to try to figure out what’s
happening.”
MC: “Make a Study a Situation roll.”
Player: “I got a 5, a miss.”
† 35 †
STUDY A PERSON
When you and someone else are interacting and you want to glean
information from them about who they are, what they want, what
they’re thinking, etc., you must make a Study a Person roll. As with
Study a Situation, you are suggesting that the interaction is charged
or tense. It may be charged with desire, hatred, fear, mistrust,
lust, whatever, but you are telling the MC that this is a charged
interaction.
† 36 †
EXAMPLE 1
Player: “I feel like Archer is giving me a weird vibe. I’m going to
try figure him out in this conversation.”
MC: “Make a Study a Person roll.”
Player: “I got a 7.”
MC: “Archer is picking at his food, distractedly. He says ‘I sup-
pose that Vyncent is going to want me to accompany him to the
banquet tomorrow night, but he hasn’t actually said anything
about it.’”
Player: “I say ‘That’s unlike him. Very strange indeed.’ What is
Archer leaving out?”
MC: “Archer and Vyncent had a terrible falling out recently be-
† 37 †
cause Vyncent found out Archer has become one of your followers.
EXAMPLE 1
Player: “I need some guidance here. I kneel before the statue and
ask if I will gain power if I betray my mother.”
MC: “Are you Whispering Into The Unspeakable Power?”
Player: “It sure seems like it. I rolled a 9.”
MC: “The statue’s eyes light up a dull red, and you feel them
reach into your soul. Your mind flashes briefly, with an image of
you driving a sword into your mother’s heart as people behind
you cheer wildly.”
Player: “Just what I wanted to know! She’s in trouble.”
MC: “As you stand to leave, though, you hear a faint voice be-
hind you say ‘You have a pure love for Laini, the priestess, do
you not?’”
Player: “I freeze in my tracks and whirl around to see who said
that.”
MC: “No one. The chapel is empty. But it feels a few degrees
colder than when you entered.”
Player: “Creepy. I’m getting out of here.”
† 39 †
Peripheral Moves
The following moves that are available to all characters but should be
used less frequently.
PATRON MOVE
If you have a Patron, roll+the stat your class lists at the start of the
session.
†† On a 10+, your Patron is happy with you. You and the player
of your Patron should work out why this is. You may remove 1
disobedience if you have any.
†† On a 7-9, your Patron is generally pleased, with some reserva-
tions. You and the player of your patron should work out why
this is. They hold 1 for the session. They may spend it to call
on you to do something and you must make a Refuse an Obli-
gation, Duty, or Debt roll if you refuse. If you refuse your Pa-
tron’s request, it counts as 1 disobedience (max 3).
†† On a miss, your Patron is angry with you. You and the player
of your Patron should work out why. You receive 1 automatic
disobedience (max 3).
If you reach 3 disobedience, an NPC Patron will immediately sever
their relationship with you. A PC Patron may choose to immediate-
ly sever their relationship with you, or choose instead to take 1 hold
to call on you next session, regardless of what you roll. Please see the
chapter on Factions, Patrons, and Honor (146) for more informa-
tion on how to use this move.
HELP OR INTERFERE
When you are in a scene with another PC, and you Help or In-
terfere with their move, describe how you are doing it, and then
roll+whatever stat is appropriate (i.e. if you interfere using your in-
telligence, roll+Sly, if you interfere using your strength, roll+Fierce).
† 41 †
EXAMPLE 1
Player 1: “I’m getting tired of Lockheart’s deception. I tell him
‘Listen, you tell me the truth about what you’ve been up to or I’m
going to put my sword right through your cowardly neck.’”
MC: “Okay, Dirge, that sounds like a Threaten With Force
roll.”
Player 1: “Yep! I rolled an 8.”
Player 2: “This is bad. What Lockheart’s been up to is plotting
against the Empress with me. I’m going to interfere.”
MC: “How are you doing that, Pax?”
Player 2: “I’m going to scowl at Dirge and say ‘Lockheart doesn’t
have to tell you a thing. I’ll roll with Fierce. I got a 10. I take
the additional -1 to get him down to a miss, so I’ll have to take
the risk of exposure.”
MC: “Dirge, you’ve now missed. Lockheart laughs and stands to
leave. ‘I’ll give your regards to her highness,’ he says. ‘I’m going
to see her now.’ As he leaves, though, Pax, you notice that some-
one was listening in on the interaction. You’ve never seen them
before, but he gives you a death glare. Dirge, you notice this too.
Might be someone you should talk to.”
† 42 †
TAKING HARM
When you suffer Harm, roll+Harm suffered (after armor). If you
took a hit for 2 Harm, and have armor that absorbs 1 Harm, you
would roll+1, because you are taking 1 Harm after armor.
On a 10+, the MC can choose 1:
†† You’re out of action for the time being: unconscious, downed,
writhing in pain, or panicked.
†† It’s worse than it seemed. Take an additional 1 Harm.
†† Choose 2 from the 7–9 list below.
On a 7–9, the MC can choose 1:
†† You lose your footing.
†† You lose your grip on whatever you’re holding.
†† You lose track of someone or something you’re attending to.
†† You miss noticing something important.
On a miss, the MC can choose something from the 7–9 list above.
If she does, it’s in place of some of the Harm you’re suffering, so you
take -1 Harm (i.e. if you were taking 2 Harm and you roll a 4, and
the MC picks from the 7-9 list above, you are now only taking 1
Harm).
This move is optional, and can be triggered on a case-by-case basis.
Use it as much or as little as seems appropriate for your group.
† 43 †
MARKET MOVE
Honor Moves
DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?
“Spend 1 Honor to have someone you meet have recently heard
something impressive about you. Take +1 forward on your next
Threaten With Force or Persuade With Leverage roll against them.
Move Clarification
HARNESS THE UNSPEAKABLE POWER
CLARIFIED
The Adept, The Beloved, and The Hex all start with a move called
Harness The Unspeakable Power that marks them as a magic user.
They have a greater connection to The Unspeakable Power and can
use it to change the world in small ways (but cannot use it to direct-
ly attack or affect another player).
EXAMPLES OF THINGS YOU COULD DO WITH HARNESS THE
UNSPEAKABLE POWER
†† Write a message in the dirt to someone not present with you.
†† Amplify your voice to yell to someone far away.
†† See over a greater distance than you normally could, as if look-
ing through a telescope.
†† Fill a room with music.
†† Jump farther than you normally can, or cushion yourself as you
fall from a moderate height.
†† Create a small flame.
†† Fill a pot with soup to feed a small group.
† 45 †
will be the one to make their selection. The other PC may trade
Harm-for-Harm as indicated by the selections the PC who
rolled the move takes.
2. Conversely, if neither player has an obvious “first attacker” ad-
vantage, they may roll Engage in Combat simultaneously and
use their selections to jointly determine what happens. Selections
may mechanically cancel out other selections (i.e. if you take
“parry their blows” and they take “attack with vigor” those selec-
tions cancel each other out).
For other forms of conflict:
1. Two people may simultaneously use Study a Person on each
other. They may also simultaneously interfere with each other as
they do this. This is two rolls for each person: one roll to study
the other person and one roll to interfere.
2. Two people may simultaneously use Persuade With Leverage on
each other, as well as simultaneously interfere. This, as above, is
two rolls for each person. Resolve them as normal.
Chapter Three
† 49 †
The Adept
CREATING AN ADEPT
To create your Adept, start by giving them a name, then complete
each section that follows.
NAMES
Storm, Mattius, Way, Sevem, Oxus, Care, Crow, Theresa, Vlad,
Stranger, Old One, Lock, Will, Shanasi
Something otherworldly. Something simple. Something
unassuming.
† 50 †
STATS
Choose one set:
†† Steady+1 Fierce+1 Wily-2 Sly+1 Arcane+2
†† Steady+0 Fierce+0 Wily+1 Sly+0 Arcane+2
†† Steady+1 Fierce-2 Wily+0 Sly+2 Arcane+2
†† Steady+2 Fierce-1 Wily-1 Sly+1 Arcane+2
LOOK
Choose a look by picking a handful of traits with the following as
guidance:
†† Man, Woman, Ambiguous, Concealed, Genderless, Third
gender, Transgressing
†† Simple robes, Elaborate robes, Tight leather, Princely clothes,
Plain clothes
†† Bleak face, Bony face, Serene face, Old face, Happy face, Non-
descript face
†† Shining eyes, Kind eyes, Mischievous eyes, Tired eyes, Haunted
eyes, Shimmering eyes
†† Slender body, Fat body, Broken body, Useless body, Old body,
Average body
GEAR
You start with:
†† The clothes on your back.
†† Whatever item you need (if you need one) for Arcane Malice.
†† A small dagger or a staff, if you want.
†† A few books on The Unspeakable Power and other arcane sorts
of things.
†† Oddments worth 1 Barter.
†† 1 magical object (see below).
† 51 †
FACTION
HONOR
Your starting Honor is 1.
Add 1 if you are some combination of rich, noble, famous, notori-
ous, or well-connected.
RELATIONSHIPS
Everyone introduces their character at the beginning of the first ses-
sion by name, class, and look. Then, on your turn, you will pick two
other players that The Adept has relationships with. To do this, pick
two options from the list below to tell two other characters.
†† You think me wise and sagely.
†† You have seen me do great and terrible things with my power.
†† You want to be like me, maybe more than you realize.
MOVES
You get all the basic, peripheral, and Honor moves, plus Harness
The Unspeakable Power, and one additional Adept move.
†† The Power knows what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
†† The Power asks for something minor in return.
†† The Power requests some small show of loyalty.
Use your talents wisely.
ARCANE MALICE
You can inflict Harm with your magic power. You roll+Arcane in-
stead of +Fierce to Engage in Combat and Threaten with Force if
you attack with magic. Detail how you use magic to deal Harm.
Your attack has a base of 1 Harm. Pick 2 from the following list to
describe exactly how your magic works:
†† Your attack is powerful. Add +1 Harm.
†† Your attack is inconspicuous. Add quiet tag.
†† Your attack has incredible range. Add far tag.
†† Your attack can Harm from within. Add armor piercing tag.
†† Your attack shakes the nerves and inflicts s Harm.
Also, pick 1 from the following list:
†† Your attack is violent. Add messy tag.
†† Your attack is short ranged. Add close tag.
†† Your attack is conspicuous. Add loud tag.
†† Your attack takes a lot out of you. You take s Harm or 1 Harm
(your choice) each time you use it.
NOTE: you may not take conflicting tags (i.e. you may not take
close and far or loud and quiet).
DREAM QUEST
When you want something at any cost, roll+Arcane. On a hit, you
fall unconscious and commune with The Unspeakable Power in
† 53 †
evocative dreams to get your desire. On a 10+, The Power will pro-
ARCANE ADVISOR
When you counsel someone, describe the rituals you perform to
gain insight and roll+Arcane. On a 10+, any who follow your advice
will have good fortune. If a PC, they will take +1 forward on any
roll directly following your suggestions. If an NPC, they will be
fortuitous in their endeavors and credit you. On a 7-9, the same
as above, but the MC holds 1. They may spend it to have a minor
complication or malady related to your advice befall your target
later. Whether or not they blame you is up to them. On a miss, The
Unspeakable Power is not happy that you have tried to use it for
your tiny, human concerns. They may find a way to let you know
this. They may find a way to let those you advise know this, instead.
TEAR REALITY
When you create and maintain a magical portal to move a person or
object through, roll+Steady.
If moving a person (including yourself ): on a 10+, you get all 3
below. On a 7-9, you get to pick 2 below and the MC may decide
about the 3rd. On a miss, the MC chooses: either the portal doesn’t
open or it does, but one of the things below definitely doesn’t
happen if someone goes through it.
†† Your target arrives exactly where you want instead of some-
where slightly off.
†† Your target arrives instantly, instead of a short amount of time later.
†† Your target doesn’t take s Harm from the experience.
If moving an objet: on a 10+, you get both below, on a 7-9, pick 1.
†† It is exactly where you want, instead of somewhere slightly off.
You may have to Whisper Into The Unspeakable Power to ask
where it is if you don’t take this option.
†† No one, or no thing, you might not want to sees where you put
it or ascertains where it is.
† 55 †
On a miss, someone or some thing may have found the object and
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
SEX WITH THE ADEPT
When you and another character have sex, you both may Whisper
Into The Unspeakable Power as if you rolled a 10+.
ENTANGLEMENTS
The MC highlights one of the options below at the start of the ses-
sion. Once per session, when you perform an action that satisfies
your highlighted option, mark an advancement point.
†† Sell your arcane power for a price to someone rich or
important.
†† Threaten or coerce someone powerful with your magic.
†† Reveal the extent of your power to someone who may covet or
hate your abilities.
†† ______________________________________________
HARM
You may take up to 5 Harm. When you take Harm, put a slash
through a finger. If you take Harm and there are no more fingers to
slash, you’re dead. Take a Debility below to
ignore all Harm from one incident. You may
only take each Debility once.
†† Shaken (-1 Steady)
†† Weakened (-1 Fierce)
†† Tentative (-1 Wily)
†† Clouded (-1 Sly)
† 57 †
ADVANCEMENT
The Beloved
The gods smile upon
you, or at least something
does. While others try to
tame The Unspeakable,
you feel it flow inside of
you. While others try to
understand It, you know
It, and It knows you. You
commune differently
with It; It’s like a lover, a
friend, a competitor, an
enemy, and your beating,
bloody heart before you.
Some worship The Pow-
er, others fear The Power,
but you… you are be-
loved by The Power. Now
how shall you make Its voice, that beautiful voice that sounds like so
much thunder and honey in your brain, echo throughout this world?
CREATING A BELOVED
To create your Beloved, start by giving them a name, then complete
each section that follows.
NAME SUGGESTIONS
Lady, Petra, Say, Ransom, We, Sunfall, Slate, Scar, Andoly, Pem-
brook, Hash, Silence, Dusk, Serene
Something humble. Something beautiful. Something alluring.
† 59 †
STATS
LOOK
Choose a look by picking a handful of traits with the following as
guidance:
†† Man, Woman, Ambiguous, Concealed, Genderless, Third
gender, Transgressing
†† Grey robes, White robes, Plain clothes, Comfortable clothes,
Loincloth, Tribal wear
†† Calm face, Scarred Face, Stern face, Long face, Bony face
†† Piercing eyes, Distant eyes, Knowing eyes, Evil eyes
†† Thin body, Old body, Bent body, Decrepit body, Weird body,
Athletic body
†† Shaved head, Matted hair, Pointed beard, Polite smile, Toothy
grin
GEAR
You begin with:
†† A staff (1 Harm, close).
†† Oddments worth 1 Barter.
†† The clothes on your back.
†† Some small item which is sacred or important to you.
And that’s it. You’re not one for worldly possessions.
† 60 †
FACTION
To create your Faction, complete the questions from the Faction sec-
tion and write the answers on your character sheet.
HONOR
Your starting Honor is 1.
Add 1 if you are some combination of rich, noble, famous, notori-
ous, or well-connected.
RELATIONSHIPS
Everyone introduces their character at the beginning of the first ses-
sion by name, class, and look. Then, on your turn, you will pick two
other players that The Beloved has relationships with. To do this,
pick two options from the list below to tell two other characters.
†† You have heard me speak my love for It and were moved.
†† I listened to you when no one else would.
†† You have encountered me and fear me. And fear It.
MOVES
You get all the basic, peripheral, and Honor moves, plus Harness
The Unspeakable Power, and one additional Beloved move:
†† The Power knows what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
IT PROTECTS ME…
When The Beloved wears no armor but, rather, wears sacred vest-
ments or carries an important sacred symbol, relic, or object of her
faith, she has +1 Armor. When she additionally performs the rites
of her faith (chanting, preaching, rituals, prayers, etc.) she has +2
Armor.
IT KNOWS YOU…
When you confront an NPC’s inner demons, roll+Arcane. On a hit,
you see and can interact with manifestations of their worst actions,
fears, thoughts, etc. and engage them alone in interaction. If you
best your target’s demons in some way through persuasion, combat,
trickery, etc., pick one of the following to happen to the target
character:
†† They are freed of doubt, fear, or sadness.
†† They forget something awful they have done.
†† They are moved to forgive a wrong that someone did to them.
†† They are filled with mercy or concern for someone.
On a 10+, the change is permanent. On a 7-9, the change will fade.
On a miss, the target’s inner demons are let loose. What sorts of
things will they whisper to you? What sorts of things will they whis-
per to your target?
† 62 †
IT IS EVERYWHERE…
When you call upon Its help during a battle, roll+Arcane. On a 10+,
hold 2. On a 7–9, hold 1. During the battle you can spend your
hold 1 for 1 to:
†† Name an NPC in the battle. It takes them out of the fight
(detail how with the MC).
†† Name a character in the battle. It protects them from an attack.
†† It shields you. Ignore all Harm to yourself from an attack.
†† It inspires those around you. Compel an observer to join the
battle on your side or escape the melee.
On a miss, It rebukes your pleas. Take -1 forward for the combat.
IT DEMANDS BLOOD
Once per session, when you speak a request or prayer to It and rit-
ually sacrifice a living thing, roll. If the thing was an animal, add
+1 to your roll. If the thing was human, add +2 to your roll. If the
thing was a human that you truly love, add +3 to your roll. On a
10+, you have pleased It greatly, and Its divine hands will guide your
actions. Hold 3 and spend them to accomplish anything below. On
a 7-9, It smiles upon you. Hold 2 and spend them to accomplish
anything below.
†† Its hand assists you: take +1 on a roll relating to your prayer or
request.
†† Its voice guides you: Whisper Into The Unspeakable Power
as if you rolled a 10+ on something related to your prayer or
request.
†† Its love protects you: ignore the consequences of a failed roll re-
lated to your prayer or request.
On a miss, It is displeased with your sacrifice. Take -1 forward to
your next roll relating to your prayer or request. Regardless of your
success or failure, the dead may remember what you did.
† 63 †
IT LIVES WITHIN ME
PREACHER
Once per session, when you speak of your beliefs about It to a crowd
of people, roll+Wily. On a hit, they listen to your words. Pick 1.
†† They offer their precious things up to you. Gain +1 Barter.
†† They are moved to rage by your words. They will act as a small
Militia at your command for a brief period.
†† They will confess their sins and secrets to you. Gain interesting
rumors and information you seek from them.
On a 7-9, the MC picks 1, in addition:
†† The crowd becomes riled and unruly — rioting, fornicating,
dancing, screaming, etc.
†† Your preaching attracts the attention of someone who might
not like it.
†† Some in the crowd challenge your beliefs loudly and publicly.
† 64 †
TOGETHER, AS ONE
You have a small group of around 10-15 Followers. They are loyal to
you, but may also have their own lives apart from you. Characterize
them: your cult, your family, your students, your attendants, etc. By
default, your followers start with: surplus: 1 Barter, want: desertion.
See section on tags (171) for more information.
Choose 2 from this list:
†† Your Followers are exceptionally dedicated to you. Surplus: +1
Barter, and replace want: desertion with want: hunger.
†† Your Followers constitute a powerful arcane force. Surplus:
+ritual.
†† Your Followers are joyous and celebratory. Surplus: +party.
†† Your Followers are educated and wise. Surplus: +insight.
†† Your Followers are hard-working and no-nonsense. Surplus: +1
Barter.
†† Your Followers are enthusiastic and proselytize on your behalf.
Surplus: +growth.
†† Your Followers are rough and combative. They may fight as a
Militia (2 Harm, small).
Additionally, choose 2 from this list:
†† You have few Followers, only 5-8. Surplus: -1 Barter.
†† Your Followers aren’t really yours, you’re theirs. Want:
+judgment.
†† Your Followers rely on you for their needs. Want: +desperation.
†† Your Followers are typically intoxicated. Surplus: +stupor.
†† Your Followers disdain luxury and convention. Want: +disease.
†† Your Followers disdain law and reason. Surplus: +violence.
†† Your Followers are decadent and perverse. Want: +savagery.
At the beginning of each session, roll+Wily. On a 10+, your Follow-
ers are content and you gain whatever you have listed under “sur-
plus” for the session. On a 7-9, things are mixed: you have your
† 65 †
surplus, but the MC will choose one tag from your want list to acti-
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
SEX WITH THE BELOVED
If you and another character have sex, you share It with them. Hold
1. You may spend it at any time to have them spread knowledge,
fear, or worship (their choice) of It.
ENTANGLEMENTS
The MC highlights one of the options below at the start of the ses-
sion. Once per session, when you perform an action that satisfies
your highlighted option, mark an advancement point.
†† Willingly take Harm on behalf of your beliefs.
†† Publicly mock and denigrate the authorities of this world
where all can hear you.
†† Openly denounce someone powerful as an enemy of It to their
face, or in a way that they will hear about.
†† ____________________________________________
† 66 †
HARM
You may take up to 5 Harm. When you take Harm, put a slash
through a finger. If you take Harm and there are no more fingers to
slash, you’re dead. Take a Debility below to
ignore all Harm from one incident. You may
only take each Debility once.
†† Shaken (-1 Steady)
†† Weakened (-1 Fierce)
†† Tentative (-1 Wily)
†† Clouded (-1 Sly)
ADVANCEMENT
Make a mark every time you earn an advancement point. When you
reach five, take an advancement below, erase them, then start again.
Tier One (Available from the start of the game)
†† Get +1 Wily (max +3).
†† Get +1 Sly (max +3).
†† Get +1 Arcane (max +3).
†† Get a new Beloved Move (x2).
†† Get a move from another class (x2).
†† Get a Patron (roll+Arcane at beginning of session).
†† Create, with the MC’s approval, a fourth Entanglement for
yourself.
Tier Two (Available starting at the sixth advancement)
†† Advance three basic moves.
†† Advance the other four basic moves.
†† Create an additional PC.
†† Take an End of Season Move.
†† Change character to a new class.
† 67 †
NAME
Grendel, Horus, Frenza, Lucy, Metal, Ulster, Y, Pen, Wraith, Umbra,
Rain, Shadow, Legion, Feather
Something mysterious. Something subtle. Something somber.
† 68 †
STATS
Choose one set:
†† Steady+2 Fierce+1 Wily+0 Sly+1 Arcane-1
†† Steady+2 Fierce+0 Wily-1 Sly+2 Arcane+0
†† Steady+2 Fierce+1 Wily-1 Sly+0 Arcane+1
†† Steady+2 Fierce+1 Wily+1 Sly+1 Arcane-2
LOOK
Choose a look by picking a handful of traits with the following as
guidance:
†† Man, Woman, Ambiguous, Concealed, Genderless, Third
gender, Transgressing
†† Black clothes, Fancy clothes, Nondescript clothes, Flowing
cloak, Comfortable clothes
†† Peaceful face, Scarred face, Sinister face, Innocent face, Pointy
face
†† Gangly body, Strong body, Twisted body, Corpulent body,
Small body, Thin body
†† Empty eyes, Knowing eyes, Bright eyes, Cruel smile, Toothless
smile, Meticulous hair, Thin hair, Fierce frown
GEAR
You begin with:
†† A black, hooded cloak, of course. Very dashing.
†† Leathers worth 1 Armor.
†† 1 small, short-range weapon (a dagger or short sword, for
example).
†† 1 long-range weapon (throwing knives or a small crossbow).
†† The tools of your trade (lockpicks, caltrops, a garrote, etc.).
†† Some clothes, personal items, and oddments worth 1 Barter.
† 69 †
FACTION
HONOR
Your starting Honor is 1.
Add 1 if you are some combination of rich, noble, famous, notori-
ous, or well-connected.
PATRON
You almost certainly have a Patron, who is most likely a guild or
secret society. Describe them. The Black Hood may be called on
to act on behalf of the group they work for. The Black Hood must
roll+Steady at the beginning of each session to see how their rela-
tionship with their Patron is doing. See the Patron rules to check the
outcome of the roll.
RELATIONSHIPS
Everyone introduces their character at the beginning of the first
session by name, class, and look. Then, on your turn, you will pick
two other players that The Black Hood has relationships with.
To do this, pick two options from the list below to tell two other
characters.
†† I have done something awful for you.
†† I have you wrapped around my finger.
†† I scare you, just a little bit.
† 70 †
MOVES
You get all the basic, peripheral, and Honor moves, plus two addi-
tional Black Hood moves.
HAWKEYE
Get +1 Steady (max +3).
day or two (if they’re not dead). On a miss, pick 1 of the above qual-
ESCAPE ARTIST
When you attempt to escape from bonds, a cell, or some other kind
of restraint, roll+Steady. On a hit, you’re gone. On a 7-9, pick 1:
†† You left something important behind.
†† Someone notices you’re gone immediately.
†† Someone can track where you went.
†† You run into someone inconvenient.
On a miss, you pick: you don’t escape, or you do but the MC will
select 2 from above.
When the target is a PC: On a 10+ your target picks two of the fol-
lowing. On a 7-9 they get all three.
†† They notice it’s gone right away.
†† They notice a clue that points them towards you.
†† They know someone who knows where it might be now.
On a miss, you didn’t get it and they definitely saw you trying to get
it.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
ENTANGLEMENTS
The MC highlights one of the options below at the start of the ses-
sion. Once per session, when you perform an action that satisfies
your highlighted option, mark an advancement point.
†† Steal something valuable or important from someone powerful.
†† Spread rumors about the actions you take as the Black Hood to
grow your legend.
†† Murder an enemy to better your own situation.
†† ____________________________________________
HARM
You may take up to 5 Harm. When you take Harm, put a slash
through a finger. If you take Harm and there are no more fingers to
slash, you’re dead. Take a Debility below
to ignore all Harm from one incident. You
may only take each Debility once.
†† Shaken (-1 Steady)
†† Weakened (-1 Fierce)
†† Tentative (-1 Wily)
†† Clouded (-1 Sly)
† 74 †
ADVANCEMENT
Make a mark every time you earn an advancement point. When you
reach five, take an advancement below, erase them, then start again.
Tier One (Available from the start of the game)
†† Get +1 Sly (max +3).
†† Get +1 Fierce (max +2).
†† Get +1 Wily (max +3).
†† Get a new Black Hood Move (x3).
†† Get a move from another class (x2).
†† Create, with the MC’s approval, a fourth Entanglement for
yourself.
Tier Two (Available starting at the sixth advancement)
†† Advance three basic moves.
†† Advance the other four basic moves.
†† Create an additional PC.
†† Take an End of Season Move.
†† Change character to a new class.
† 75 †
The Bloodletter
CREATING A BLOODLETTER
To create your Bloodletter, start by giving them a name, then com-
plete each section that follows.
NAME
Alain, Saint, Doc, Love, Grall, Rail, Alanna, Pill, Down, Pound,
Lamb, Rope, Sasha, Niall
Something noble. Something kind. Something haughty.
† 76 †
STATS
Choose one set:
†† Steady+2 Fierce+0 Wily-1 Sly+1 Arcane+1
†† Steady+2 Fierce+0 Wily-2 Sly+2 Arcane+1
†† Steady+2 Fierce-1 Wily+0 Sly+1 Arcane+1
†† Steady+2 Fierce+1 Wily+1 Sly+0 Arcane-1
LOOK
Choose a look by picking a handful of traits with the following as
guidance:
†† Man, Woman, Ambiguous, Concealed, Genderless, Third
Gender, Transgressing
†† Dirty robes, Black robes, Simple clothes, Fancy clothes, Bloody
apron, Plague mask
†† Kind face, Cruel eyes, Fierce face, Haunted eyes, Knowing
eyes, Charming smile, Cherubic face, Serious eyes, Terse frown
†† Lanky body, Plump body, Fierce body, Decrepit body, Stout
body, Small body
GEAR
You begin with:
†† A healer’s bag with a handful of tools and medicines to heal
people (see below).
†† Your infirmary (see below).
†† A small blade you may defend yourself with (1 Harm, hand).
†† Oddments and currency worth 1 Barter.
†† Some kind of armor (detail) worth 1 Armor. Perhaps a thick,
leather apron?
† 77 †
FACTION
HONOR
Your starting Honor is 1.
Add 1 if you are some combination of rich, noble, famous, notori-
ous, or well-connected.
PATRON
You may have a Patron. If you do, describe them. Your Patron may
be another PC. The Bloodletter may be a royal physician, for exam-
ple, or be on staff at a military hospital, but may also be indepen-
dent. If you have a Patron, the Bloodletter must roll+Steady at the
beginning of each session to see how their relationship with their
Patron is doing. See the Patron rules to check the outcome of the
roll.
RELATIONSHIPS
Everyone introduces their character at the beginning of the first ses-
sion by name, class, and look. Then, on your turn, you will pick two
other players that The Bloodletter has relationships with. To do this,
pick two options from the list below to tell two other characters.
†† We were friends when we were young.
†† I helped you when no one else would.
†† You need me to keep someone you care about alive.
MOVES
You get all the basic, peripheral, and Honor moves, plus Healer and
one additional Bloodletter move.
† 78 †
HEALER
When you have your healer’s bag or are in your infirmary and at-
tempt to perform surgery, roll+Steady. On a 10+, the person heals
2 notches. On a 7-9, the person heals 1 notch, but the wound be-
comes infected.
IF THEY ARE A PC: the MC holds 1. If they spend it, the target
must roll+Steady. On a 10+, the infection is gone and they heal 1
more notch. On a 7-9, the infection is gone but they heal no more.
On a miss, the infection spreads and they take s Harm, and feel ill
for a short period of time.
IF THEY ARE AN NPC: the MC holds 1. They may spend it, if they
choose, to have the NPC fall ill from their infection. They will not
die, but may be weak, tired, or out of commission for a short time.
The MC must spend their hold before significant in-game time has
passed.
Regardless of the outcome of the roll, you may ask one Study a
Person question of your target.
DIAGNOSIS
When you physically examine another character, roll+Sly. On a hit,
you know exactly what’s wrong with them and how to fix it. Addi-
tionally, on a 10+, you have the exact right tool, instrument, or salve
already in your possession. You take +1 ongoing when acting on
your diagnosis.
GOD COMPLEX
You know how bodies work. You can fix them. Perhaps you could
even make them better? When you set out to do something terrible
and miraculous (improving upon life, reanimating the dead, im-
planting something on someone) describe how you are doing it, and
† 79 †
INTENSE FOCUS
You get +1 Steady (max +3).
COLLECTOR OF SOULS
Whenever someone in your care dies, you gain +1 Arcane (max +3).
Anyone you kill while using Blood for Blood counts.
HEALING TOUCH
Once per session, when you tap into The Unspeakable Power to try
and heal someone, roll+Arcane. On a 10+, you heal them one notch.
On a 7-9, you heal them one notch, but you also Whisper Into The
Unspeakable Power as if you rolled a miss, as well. On a miss, you
both Whisper Into The Unspeakable Power and miss, and they heal
no Harm.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
SEX WITH THE BLOODLETTER
If you and another character have sex, hold 1. Spend your hold to
gain +1 on a roll of Healer, Diagnosis, or Healing Touch with them
as your target.
HEALER’S BAG
Your healer’s bag has the tools of your trade: scalpels, clamps, med-
icine, herbs, bandages, a saw, a jar of leeches, and a leather strap
for your patient to bite on. When you use a Bloodletter move that
requires you to have your healer’s bag or be in your infirmary (see
below), you use up some of your supplies. Every 2 times you do this,
† 81 †
you must spend 1 Barter to restock or you are too low on supplies to
INFIRMARY
You have a small room you practice medicine out of. It is stocked
with what you need to perform surgeries. You have two assistants —
Block and Salane, perhaps? When in your infirmary, with no imme-
diate threat distracting you, you gain +1 (max +3) on any Bloodlet-
ter move. As detailed above, you must spend 1 Barter every 2 times
you use a move that requires you to have your bag or be in your
infirmary to restock.
ENTANGLEMENTS
The MC highlights one of the options below at the start of the ses-
sion. Once per session, when you perform an action that satisfies
your highlighted option, mark an advancement point.
†† Heal someone powerful or important for a price.
†† Refuse to help someone to advance your own interests.
†† Help someone, even to your detriment.
†† ____________________________________________
HARM
You may take up to 5 Harm. When you take Harm, put a slash
through a finger. If you take Harm and there are no more fingers
to slash, you’re dead. Take a Debility below
to ignore all Harm from one incident. You
may only take each Debility once.
†† Shaken (-1 Steady)
†† Weakened (-1 Fierce)
†† Tentative (-1 Wily)
†† Clouded (-1 Sly)
† 82 †
ADVANCEMENT
Make a mark every time you earn an advancement point. When you
reach five, take an advancement below, erase them, then start again.
Tier One (Available from the start of the game)
† Get +1 Fierce (max +2).
† Get +1 Sly (max +3).
† Get +1 Arcane (max +3).
† Get a new Bloodletter Move (x3).
† Get a move from another class (x2).
† Create, with the MC’s approval, a fourth Entanglement for
yourself.
Tier Two (Available starting at the sixth advancement)
†† Advance three basic moves.
†† Advance the other four basic moves.
†† Create an additional PC.
†† Take an End of Season Move.
†† Change character to a new class.
† 83 †
The Crown
CREATING A CROWN
To create your Crown, start by giving them a name, then complete
each section that follows.
NAME
Halbrook, Generous, Anna, Keeper, Rex, Han, Verona, Mother, Fe-
licitous, Thorstein, Veyal, Father, Hilt, Amana
Something powerful. Something regal. Something gorgeous.
† 84 †
STATS
Choose one set:
†† Steady-1 Fierce+2 Wily+1 Sly+1 Arcane+0
†† Steady+1 Fierce+2 Wily+1 Sly+1 Arcane-2
†† Steady-1 Fierce+2 Wily+0 Sly+2 Arcane+0
†† Steady+0 Fierce+2 Wily+1 Sly-1 Arcane+1
LOOK
Choose a look by picking a handful of traits with the following as
guidance:
†† Man, Woman, Ambiguous, Concealed, Genderless, Third
gender, Transgressing
†† Regal robes, Plain robes, Fancy clothes, Ceremonial garb, Mili-
tary uniform, Terrifying cape
†† Loving face, Horrible face, Jovial face, Fleshy face, Glorious
face
†† Sad eyes, Wise eyes, Calculating eyes, Fierce eyes, Inviting eyes
†† Long beard, Pointy beard, Strong jaw, Pursed mouth, Full lips,
Flowing hair, Curly hair, Thin hair
†† Sturdy body, Gluttonous body, Aged body, Powerful body,
Sickly body, Gorgeous body
GEAR
You start out with pretty much whatever you want, within reason,
and 2 Barter immediately on hand. You’re The Crown. Who’s going
to say no?
FACTION
To create your Faction, complete the questions from the Faction sec-
tion and write the answers on your character sheet.
† 85 †
HONOR
RELATIONSHIPS
Everyone introduces their character at the beginning of the first ses-
sion by name, class, and look. Then, on your turn, you will pick two
other players that The Crown has relationships with. To do this, pick
two options from the list below to tell two other characters.
†† You think me a great and wise ruler.
†† You see me as an opportunity for a better life.
†† You fear I know the sorts of things you get up to.
MOVES
You get all the basic, peripheral, and Honor moves, plus Heavy Is
the Head, and one additional Crown move.
IRON FIST
Get +1 Fierce (max +3).
SIDE EFFECTS:
†† A member of your circle leaves because of your actions.
†† You have to make an example of a subject later to quell
discontent.
†† Someone in your circle changes their allegiance from you to
one of your rivals.
†† You are advised to put on a public display of your power to re-
assert your authority.
BOUNTY
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
SEX WITH THE CROWN
If you and another character have sex they gain 1 Barter in gifts at
no cost to you if a PC. If an NPC, you may request something or
convince them of something as if you have made a Persuade With
Leverage roll at a 10+.
ENTANGLEMENTS
The MC highlights one of the options below at the start of the ses-
sion. Once per session, when you perform an action that satisfies
your highlighted option, mark an advancement point.
†† Make an example of a jealous rival or insubordinate lackey to
humiliate them.
†† Seize greater power, no matter how petty, though it may put
someone off.
†† Let someone you care about in on secrets you are privy to that
they probably should not know.
†† ____________________________________________
† 90 †
HARM
You may take up to 5 Harm. When you take Harm, put a slash
through a finger. If you take Harm and there are no more fingers to
slash, you’re dead. Take a Debility below to
ignore all Harm from one incident. You may
only take each Debility once.
†† Shaken (-1 Steady)
†† Weakened (-1 Fierce)
†† Tentative (-1 Wily)
†† Clouded (-1 Sly)
ADVANCEMENT
Make a mark every time you earn an advancement point. When you
reach five, take an advancement below, erase them, then start again.
Tier One (Available from the start of the game):
†† Get +1 Sly (max +3).
†† Get +1 Wily (max +3).
†† Get +1 Steady (max +2).
†† Get a new Crown Move (x2).
†† Get a move from another class (x2).
†† Create, with the MC’s approval, a fourth Entanglement for
yourself.
Tier Two (Available starting at the sixth advancement)
†† Advance three basic moves.
†† Advance the other four basic moves.
†† Create an additional PC.
†† Take an End of Season Move.
†† Change character to a new class.
† 91 †
The Gauntlet
CREATING A GAUNTLET
To create your Gauntlet, start by giving them a name, then complete
each section after.
† 92 †
NAME
Bastard, Fist, Church, M, Guess, Quinn, Ossa, Pandy, Sena, Sarn,
Bear, Illa, Crow’s Eye, Entana, Nobody, Blade
Something blunt. Something strong. Something sensitive.
STATS
Choose one set:
†† Steady+1 Fierce+2 Wily+0 Sly+0 Arcane+0
†† Steady+1 Fierce+2 Wily-2 Sly+1 Arcane+1
†† Steady+1 Fierce+2 Wily+0 Sly+1 Arcane-1
†† Steady+2 Fierce+2 Wily-1 Sly+0 Arcane+0
LOOK
Choose a look by picking a handful of traits with the following as
guidance:
†† Man, Woman, Ambiguous, Concealed, Genderless, Third
gender, Transgressing
†† Worn armor, Elaborate armor, Blood-spattered leather, Well fit-
ting robes, Tribal clothing
†† Scarred face, Handsome face, Missing teeth, Poorly groomed,
Bushy beard, Wild hair, Strong jaw
†† Lost eyes, Sad eyes, Smiling eyes, Hard eyes, Missing eye
†† Strong body, Gargantuan body, Body like a whip, Curvy body,
Aging body
GEAR
You begin with:
†† Your signature weapon (see below).
†† 1 or 2 additional normal weapon(s) of your choice.
†† Armor worth either 1 or 2 Armor, as appropriate.
†† Your Calling Card (see below).
†† Oddments worth 1 Barter.
† 93 †
FACTION
HONOR
Your starting Honor is 1.
Add 1 if you are some combination of rich, noble, famous, notori-
ous, or well-connected.
PATRON
You have a Patron, who is your Lord. Describe them. Your Patron
may be another PC. The Gauntlet is a weapon — a weapon that be-
longs to someone else. The Gauntlet must roll+Fierce at the begin-
ning of each session to see how their relationship with their Patron is
doing. See the Patron rules to check the outcome of the roll.
RELATIONSHIPS
Everyone introduces their character at the beginning of the first ses-
sion by name, class, and look. Then, on your turn, you will pick two
other players that The Gauntlet has relationships with. To do this,
pick two options from the list below to tell two other characters.
†† I did right by you when I didn’t have to.
†† You have seen me follow through on a well-deserved threat.
†† You once betrayed me and suffered my wrath.
MOVES
You get all the basic, peripheral, and Honor moves, plus two Gaunt-
let moves.
FEARSOME
+1 to Fierce (max 3).
† 94 †
the MC holds 1, and can spend it to have you pinned down some-
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
SEX WITH THE GAUNTLET
When you and another character have sex, hold 1. Spend your hold
anytime to appear, ready for combat, when the person you had sex
with is in danger.
LAST STAND
When you reach 5 notches of harm in a battle, you may declare that
you are taking your last stand. While taking your last stand, you
inflict +1 Harm and may fight until either you take another five
notches of harm (to a total of 10) or the combat is over, whichev-
er comes first. At that point, you expire in spectacular fashion. Give
them something to remember. Become a legend.
SIGNATURE WEAPON
You have a signature weapon. It is, by default, 2 Harm. Choose from
the following lists to complete it.
KIND (CHOOSE 1): Staff, Axe, Sword, Polearm, Mace, Knife,
Exotic.
LOOK (CHOOSE 1): Ancient, Unblemished, Foreign, Mystical,
Blood-stained, Ornate, Ceremonial, Tribal.
† 96 †
CALLING CARD
Choose 1 calling card that others recognize you by. A calling card
is a distinctive feature of your outfit or weapon. It could be a fancy
hat, dusty boots, a horned helmet, a jewel encrusted scabbard, a
fearsome mask, a dashing cape, anything that makes you stand out.
When people see you coming, they know you because of your call-
ing card.
ENTANGLEMENTS
The MC highlights one of the options below at the start of the ses-
sion. Once per session, when you perform an action that satisfies
your highlighted option, mark an advancement point.
†† Publicly challenge someone tough to combat over a matter of
honor.
†† Sell your steel to someone important besides your Patron.
†† Intimidate common folk on behalf of someone powerful.
†† ____________________________________________
† 97 †
HARM
ADVANCEMENT
Make a mark every time you earn an advancement point. When you
reach five, take an advancement below, erase them, then start again.
Tier One (Available from the start of the game)
†† Get +1 Sly (max +2).
†† Get +1 Steady (max +3).
†† Get +1 Wily (max +2).
†† Get a new Gauntlet Move (x3).
†† Get a move from another class (x2).
†† Create, with the MC’s approval, a fourth Entanglement for
yourself.
Tier Two (Available starting at the sixth advancement)
†† Advance three basic moves.
†† Advance the other four basic moves.
†† Create an additional PC.
†† Take an End of Season Move.
†† Change character to a new class.
† 98 †
The Hex
Out in the bog, or maybe
beneath a castle. Perhaps
someone’s best friend, an
advisor to the crown, or
even a foreign dignitary.
Whoever she is, The Hex
straddles the chaos and
power of The Unspeak-
able, turning it to her
own ends and devices.
Just don’t fail to uphold
a deal with her, or you
might find that there are
fates worse than death.
CREATING A HEX
To create your Hex, start by giving them a name, then complete
each section that follows.
NAME
Gerdy, Velma, Haze, Pattern, Aunty, Bog, Elder, Wevery, Chander,
Gox, Tal, Rev, Longtooth
Something wizened. Something visceral. Something alluring.
† 99 †
STATS
LOOK
Choose a look by picking a handful of traits with the following as
guidance:
†† Man, Woman, Ambiguous, Concealed, Genderless, Third
gender, Transgressing
†† Black robes, Tattered robes, Arcane Clothes, Simple garb, Re-
vealing clothes, Dirty clothes
†† Hideous face, Loving face, Plain face, Flawless face, Angular face
†† Promising eyes, Milky eyes, Off-putting eyes, Tired eyes, Pierc-
ing eyes
†† Stringy hair, Wild hair, Crooked smile, Tantalizing smile,
Wispy beard
†† Twisted body, Stunning body, Compact body, Simple body,
Sickly body, Enormous body
GEAR
You start with:
†† The clothes on your back.
†† A staff or small dagger, if you want.
†† A few potions.
†† A small collection of other people’s things.
†† A few books on The Unspeakable Power and other small,
arcane sorts of things.
†† A pack full of oddments worth 1 Barter.
† 100 †
FACTION
To create your Faction, complete the questions from the Faction sec-
tion and write the answers on your character sheet.
HONOR
Your starting Honor is 1.
Add 1 if you are some combination of rich, noble, famous, notori-
ous, or well-connected.
HEX’S MARK
Pick a Hex’s mark (a wart, mole, strangely shaped scar, streak in your
hair, etc.). Detail. Someone in the know will be able to identify the
sorts of things you get up to by your mark.
RELATIONSHIPS
Everyone introduces their character at the beginning of the first ses-
sion by name, class, and look. Then, on your turn, you will pick two
other players that The Hex has relationships with. To do this, pick
two options from the list below to tell two other characters.
†† You think me useful and powerful.
†† I have something you own.
†† You want something from me.
MOVES
You get all the basic, peripheral, and Honor moves, plus Harness
The Unspeakable Power, and one additional Hex move.
may change the world in some minor but tangible way. On a 7-9, the
MOLOCH
When you curse another character, hold something of theirs and
roll+Arcane. On a 10+, the target takes the tag “cursed” and puts 2
notches next to it. On a 7-9, the target takes the tag “cursed” and
puts 1 notch next to it. For each scene the cursed character is in,
they add 1 notch next to the cursed tag.
FOR PCS: When they reach three notches, hold 1. Spend your hold
to interfere with a roll your target makes as if you rolled a 10+.
FOR NPCS: When they reach three notches, hold 1. Spend your hold to
have a minor malady befall the character, stymying or humiliating them.
You do not have to be present to spend your hold. When you have
spent your hold, your target erases the notches and starts over.
There are four ways to remove the tag “cursed.”
†† You die.
†† You choose to remove it.
†† You lose possession of the target’s object.
†† When the curse was cast, you set a requirement that the cursed
character must meet. When the requirement is met, the curse is
removed.
ance, roll+Arcane. On a 10+, you look, talk, and even smell like the
other character for a brief period of time. On a 7-9, you still change,
but the MC chooses (without telling you) one of the following:
†† The voice isn’t right.
†† The smell isn’t right.
†† The walk isn’t right.
†† Your perspective is off (you move as if you’re still in your
normal body instead of the one you’re imitating).
If you lose possession of the piece of the target, the illusion is shat-
tered instantly.
BLACK ICHOR
When wounded by a weapon with the tag messy or harmed in a
typically messy way, PCs near you must Face Duress to avoid being
sprayed by the black sludge that flows in your veins. NPCs probably
aren’t so lucky. Your devil blood is 2 Harm, ap, corrosive.
DEVIL’S ANTE
When you strike a bargain with another character, they may give
you a piece of them — a year of their life, their memories of their
mother, their beautiful voice, etc. Something meaningful to them.
If they are a PC, they mark an advancement point, but they must
either take a Debility or cross out a future advancement. If they are
an NPC, they are permanently changed somehow. Either way, you
trap what they give you in a small object (a gem, a bottle, whatev-
er). When someone destroys the object, they automatically succeed
at any one move they are attempting as if they rolled a 10+. If either
you or the other party fail or refuse to complete the bargain, the
† 103 †
DARK HARVEST
When you literally devour the heart of your enemy, hold 1. You may
spend that hold to automatically receive a full hit on any basic move
that was something your enemy was good at. For example, if you
devour the heart of a charming person, you can succeed at a Per-
suade With Leverage move, the heart of a warrior for an Engage in
Combat move, etc.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
SEX WITH THE HEX
When you and another character have sex, hold 1. Spend your hold
to use Fairest of Them All to imitate that character as if you rolled a
10+, even if you don’t have that move.
FAMILIAR
You have a familiar. What kind of animal is it? Bird, cat, dog, snake,
rodent, bat, something else? Your familiar is completely loyal to you,
and you see what it sees and hear what it hears. If it dies, you take 2
Harm (ap). You may then perform a ritual to select a new familiar.
ENTANGLEMENTS
The MC highlights one of the options below at the start of the ses-
sion. Once per session, when you perform an action that satisfies
your highlighted option, mark an advancement point.
†† Double cross someone powerful or important who trusts you.
†† Take out someone who has become inconvenient to you using
your magic.
†† Grow your infamy through a public display of your frightening
power.
†† ____________________________________________
† 105 †
HARM
ADVANCEMENT
Make a mark every time you earn an advancement point. When you
reach five, take an advancement below, erase them, then start again.
Tier One (Available from the start of the game)
†† Get +1 Sly (max +3).
†† Get +1 Steady (max +3).
†† Get +1 Wily (max +2)
†† Get a new Hex Move (x3).
†† Get a move from another class (x2).
†† Get a Patron (roll+Arcane at beginning of session).
†† Create, with the MC’s approval, a fourth Entanglement for
yourself.
Tier Two (Available starting at the sixth advancement)
†† Advance three basic moves.
†† Advance the other four basic moves.
†† Create an additional PC.
†† Take an End of Season Move.
†† Change character to a new class.
†† Get a second familiar.
† 106 †
The Lyre
Never able to put down
roots, were you? You
just started walking the
land, singing your songs,
telling your stories, and
cracking your jokes.
Some might say you’re
lucky. After all, you got
no responsibilities, a life
of travel and adventure,
and the privilege to speak
truth to power. But will
anyone stand up for you
when that power gets
tired of hearing your
truth? Just how beautiful
will that voice of yours be
when it’s being choked
out of your pretty neck,
I wonder…?
CREATING A LYRE
To create your Lyre, start by giving them a name, then complete
each section that follows.
NAME
Songbird, Horatio, Meadow, Pine, Ce’ana, Tongue, Blue Eyes, Jaw-
bone, Wheel, Mug, Zolar, Starfall
Something pretty. Something sensual. Something exotic.
† 107 †
STATS
LOOK
Choose a look by picking a handful of traits with the following as
guidance:
†† Man, Woman, Ambiguous, Concealed, Genderless, Third
Gender, Transgressing
†† Red cape, Feathered cap, Fancy clothes, Seductive outfit,
Leather boots, Gold medallion
†† Brilliant eyes, Disarming eyes, Shifty eyes, Charming Smile, Sly
smile
†† Glorious face, Soft face, Fleshy face, Sad face, Rosy cheeks,
Dashing mustache, Flowing hair, Braided hair
†† Thin body, Tall body, Athletic body, Corpulent body, Compact
body, Beautiful body
GEAR
You begin with:
†† The tools of your trade (an instrument, cards, make-up, pup-
pets, etc.).
†† Oddments worth 1 Barter.
†† The clothes on your back.
†† A trusty weapon that does no more than 2 Harm.
FACTION
To create your Faction, complete the questions from the Faction sec-
tion and write the answers on your character sheet.
† 108 †
HONOR
Your starting Honor is 1.
Add 1 if you are some combination of rich, noble, famous, notori-
ous, or well-connected.
PATRON
You very well might have a Patron. If you do, describe them. Your
Patron may be a PC. For a Lyre, the Patron most likely finances their
art while requiring them to provide services, objects of beauty, or
performances for them. The Lyre must roll+Wily at the beginning of
each session to see how their relationship with their Patron is doing.
See the Patron rules to check the outcome of the roll.
RELATIONSHIPS
Everyone introduces their character at the beginning of the first ses-
sion by name, class, and look. Then, on your turn, you will pick two
other players that The Lyre has relationships with. To do this, pick
two options from the list below to tell two other characters.
†† I tend to come and go a lot. You miss me when I’m gone.
†† You and I? We just get each other.
†† You would do anything to be with me.
MOVES
You get all the basic, peripheral, and Honor moves, plus two addi-
tional Lyre moves:
VOX POPULI
When you rile a crowd (a group of NPCs that are not comprised
entirely of a PC’s Militia or Followers), roll+Wily. On a 10+ you get
3 from below. On a 7-9, you get 2. On a miss, the crowd turns on
you.
† 109 †
†† You rally the crowd to your point of view. What do they now
SOOTHSAYER
When you attempt to see an NPC’s future, roll+Arcane. On a 10+
you have actually gazed into The Unspeakable Power and seen a
brief, ambiguous glimpse of what’s to come. The MC will detail a
hazy, future event you see that will happen to this character unless
there is intervention. You are under no obligation to be truthful
about what you have seen, and whatever you say to your target will
sound convincing. On a 7-9, you don’t actually see their future, but
you may spin a golden web of lies to convince them that you do. On
a miss, you are unconvincing. You hesitate or get details wrong. Your
target may turn on you, demand their money back, etc.
ROGUISH
When doing something in which your talents could somehow serve
as a benefit (pickpocketing, athletics, cheating, lying, disguise, etc.),
roll+Wily instead of +Steady to Face Duress.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
SEX WITH THE LYRE
If you and another character have sex, choose one:
†† It meant little to you, and a lot to them. They take +1 forward
(PCs only).
†† You are inspired. Take +1 forward on your next Lyre move.
†† Things get complicated. Make a Charmed, I’m Sure roll, even
if you don’t have it.
† 111 †
ENTANGLEMENTS
HARM
You may take up to 5 Harm. When you take Harm, put a slash
through a finger. If you take Harm and there are no more fingers
to slash, you’re dead. Take a Debility below
to ignore all Harm from one incident. You
may only take each Debility once.
†† Shaken (-1 Steady)
†† Weakened (-1 Fierce)
†† Tentative (-1 Wily)
†† Clouded (-1 Sly)
† 112 †
ADVANCEMENT
Make a mark every time you earn an advancement point. When you
reach five, take an advancement below, erase them, then start again.
Tier One (Available from the start of the game)
†† Get +1 Sly (max +3).
†† Get +1 Arcane (max +2).
†† Get +1 Steady (max+2).
†† Get a new Lyre Move (x3).
†† Get a move from another class (x2).
†† Get a second Patron.
†† Create, with the MC’s approval, a fourth Entanglement for
yourself.
Tier Two (Available starting at the sixth advancement)
† Advance three basic moves.
† Advance the other four basic moves.
† Create an additional PC.
† Take an End of Season Move.
† Change character to a new class.
† 113 †
The Screw
CREATING A SCREW
To create your Screw, start by giving them a name, then complete
each section that follows.
NAME
Throttle, Pick, Twill, Fallow, Sebastian, Helena, Want, Pretty, Luck,
Eyeball, White, Me, Night, Gregor
Something small. Something dark. Something pointed.
† 114 †
STATS
Choose one set:
†† Steady+1 Fierce+0 Wily+1 Sly+2 Arcane-1
†† Steady+1 Fierce+0 Wily-1 Sly+2 Arcane+1
†† Steady+0 Fierce+0 Wily+0 Sly+2 Arcane+1
†† Steady+1 Fierce-1 Wily+1 Sly+2 Arcane+0
LOOK
Choose a look by picking a handful of traits with the following as
guidance:
†† Man, Woman, Ambiguous, Concealed, Genderless, Third
gender, Transgressing
†† Black robes, Fancy clothes, Nondescript clothes, Bloody apron,
Comfortable clothes
†† Peaceful face, Scarred Face, Sinister face, Innocent face, Pointy
face
†† Knowing eyes, Empty eyes, Bright eyes, Cruel smile, Toothless
smile, Thin hair, Meticulous hair, Fierce frown
†† Gangly body, Solid body, Twisted body, Plump body, Small
body, Useless body
GEAR
You begin with:
†† Oddments worth 1 Barter.
†† The clothes on your back.
†† Your bag of tricks (see “Causing Pain” below), containing all
manner of tools for making folks uncomfortable.
†† A small defensive weapon that fits in your bag of tricks (maybe
a knife, spiked knuckles, or something similar).
† 115 †
FACTION
HONOR
Your starting Honor is 1.
Add 1 if you are some combination of rich, noble, famous, notori-
ous, or well-connected.
PATRON
You may have a Patron. If you do, describe them. Your Patron may
be another PC. For a Screw, the Patron pays them to get useful in-
formation for them. The Screw must roll+Sly at the beginning of
each session to see how their relationship with their Patron is doing.
See the Patron rules to check the outcome of the roll. Without a
Patron, The Screw is an independent agent, selling information to
the highest bidder.
RELATIONSHIPS
Everyone introduces their character at the beginning of the first ses-
sion by name, class, and look. Then, on your turn, you will pick two
other players that The Screw has relationships with. To do this, pick
two options from the list below to tell two other characters.
†† I have caused you pain, and you never want to feel that again.
†† I know a secret about you that you’d never want to get out.
†† You think I could never hurt a fly.
MOVES
You get all the basic, peripheral, and Honor moves, plus Pretty
Please and one additional Screw move.
† 116 †
PRETTY PLEASE?
When you have another character at your mercy and cause pain to
get them to confess something, roll+Sly. On a 10+ ask them 3, on a
7-9, ask them 2.
†† How are they/someone they’re close to most vulnerable?
†† Who have they betrayed or who would they betray?
†† What are they/someone they’re close to most afraid of?
†† Who do they trust/love the most or the least?
†† What useful secret do they have about another person?
†† What have they/someone they’re close to done that could get
them in terrible trouble if someone found out?
If The Screw acts on this information, or passes it on to another
player character to act on, the character acting on the information
gains +1 forward (you may apply this to And What if I Say the Sky
is Red?). On a miss, The Screw still gets to ask 1 question, but if
they ask it, the other character may ask the same question of The
Screw. Pain is such a personal thing, after all.
BRINGER OF DEATH
A POUND OF FLESH
When you inflict Harm on a character, hold 1 (non-cumulative).
If the character is a PC, spend your hold at any later time, wheth-
er The Screw is present or not, to automatically interfere with a roll
† 118 †
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
SEX WITH THE SCREW
When you and another character have sex, you may ask one of the
Pretty Please questions of them.
CAUSING PAIN
As a Screw, your job is to cause pain. When you use a Screw move
that requires you to cause pain to a character, you inflict 1-2 Harm
(ap) on them (your choice) per sitting. Spend 1 Barter every two
times you ply your trade. Bone will do terrible things to metal, you
see. You also start the game with your choice of 2 of the 3 following
things helping you to do your job:
†† Two assistants (maybe named Snake and Nalla) who are loyal
to you and will follow your orders. When you devise a plan to
grab an NPC who it would be reasonable for them to be able
to nab given the circumstances (MC’s call), and give them the
order to do so, roll+Sly. On a 10+ they get them, no problem.
On a 7-9, either they get them but not quietly or they don’t
get them but no one knows, MC’s choice. On a miss, neither.
Without this option, getting people to do your thing to may be
difficult.
†† A room with no view. Nice, dark, somewhere that only people
who need to know about know about. Without this option,
getting characters at your mercy for Screw moves should prove
to be a challenge.
†† An endless supply of tools and devices for causing pain and
discomfort. If you select this, you never have to spend Barter to
restock your bag of tricks. Without this option, your profession
may start to get costly.
† 119 †
ENTANGLEMENTS
HARM
You may take up to 5 Harm. When you take Harm, put a slash
through a finger. If you take Harm and there are no more fingers
to slash, you’re dead. Take a Debility below
to ignore all Harm from one incident. You
may only take each Debility once.
†† Shaken (-1 Steady)
†† Weakened (-1 Fierce)
†† Tentative (-1 Wily)
†† Clouded (-1 Sly)
† 120 †
ADVANCEMENT
Make a mark every time you earn an advancement point. When you
reach five, take an advancement below, erase them, then start again.
Tier One (Available from the start of the game)
† Get +1 Sly (max +3).
† Get +1 Wily (max +2).
† Get +1 Steady (max +3).
† Get a new Screw Move (x3).
† Get a move from another class (x2).
† Get a second Patron.
† Create, with the MC’s approval, a fourth Entanglement for
yourself.
Tier Two (Available starting at the sixth advancement)
† Advance three basic moves.
† Advance the other four basic moves.
† Create an additional PC.
† Take an End of Season Move.
† Change character to a new class.
† Get the third Causing Pain option.
† 121 †
The Spur
CREATING A SPUR
To create your Spur, start by giving them a name, then complete
each section that follows.
NAME
Dirge, Drum, Flail, Star, House, T, Yessta, Falcon, Thunder, Remy,
Boss, Mace, Rook, She
Something blunt. Something stern. Something predatory.
† 122 †
STATS
Choose one set:
†† Steady+1 Fierce+2 Wily-1 Sly+1 Arcane+0
†† Steady+1 Fierce+2 Wily+1 Sly+0 Arcane-1
†† Steady+0 Fierce+2 Wily+1 Sly+1 Arcane-1
†† Steady+2 Fierce+2 Wily+0 Sly-1 Arcane+0
LOOK
Choose a look by picking a handful of traits with the following as
guidance:
†† Man, Woman, Ambiguous, Concealed, Genderless, Third
Gender, Transgressing
†† Leather hides, Flashy cloak, Mismatched armor, Worn armor,
Military garb
†† Old face, Broken face, Bony face, Open face, Careless face,
Stern face
†† Blank eyes, Angry eyes, Kind eyes, Tired eyes, Narrow eyes,
Missing eye
†† Thick body, Wiry body, Striking body, Utilitarian body, Old
body, Brutal body
GEAR
You begin with:
†† Your horse (see below).
†† Armor worth 1 Armor or 2 Armor (your choice, as
appropriate).
†† Two weapons (one for close combat, one ranged).
†† Some clothes and gear for riding and camping.
†† Oddments worth 1 Barter that you can fit into a pack.
† 123 †
FACTION
HONOR
Your starting Honor is 1.
Add 1 if you are some combination of rich, noble, famous, notori-
ous, or well-connected.
PATRON
You may have a Patron, who is your Lord. If you do, describe them.
Your Patron may be another PC. The Spur may be the captain of
someone’s guard, or the leader of a Militia that works for someone.
The Spur must roll+Fierce at the beginning of each session to see
how their relationship with their Patron is doing. See the Patron
rules to check the outcome of the roll. Without a Patron, The Spur
and their Militia are independent — mercenaries, bandits, etc.
RELATIONSHIPS
Everyone introduces their character at the beginning of the first ses-
sion by name, class, and look. Then, on your turn, you will pick two
other players that The Spur has relationships with. To do this, pick
two options from the list below to tell two other characters.
†† You have seen me show mercy when it was deserved.
†† You have dreamt of riding with my Militia and I.
†† You have seen me bully someone weaker than me.
MOVES
You get all the basic, peripheral, and Honor moves, plus Leader of
the Pack and one additional Spur move.
† 124 †
FORGED OF STEEL
Get +1 Fierce (max +3).
DAREDEVIL
If you charge straight into danger without thinking, hesitating, or
hedging your bets, you get +1 Armor. If you are leading your Mili-
tia, they get +1 Armor as well.
TACTICIAN
You may roll+Fierce instead of +Sly to Study a Situation.
† 126 †
DID I STUTTER?
When you give an NPC that is smaller, weaker, or lower in status
than you a direct order, roll+Fierce. On a hit, they’ll do what they’re
told, quickly, no questions asked. On a 10+ pick 1 below, as well:
†† You get +1 forward against them.
†† They will do an extra favor or task for you in the future with-
out you asking.
On a miss, they may willing to do what you want, but the MC picks
1 or 2 below:
†† They’ll make a horrible fuss about it, complaining to everyone
who will listen.
†† They’ll only do it if you push them, hard.
†† They’ll only do it if you make an example of someone else, first.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
SEX WITH THE SPUR
When you and another character have sex, hold 1. Spend it to
compel them to provide support, cover, or resources for your Mi-
litia. A PC can resist with a Refuse an Obligation, Duty, or Debt
roll. An NPC will just do it.
† 127 †
HORSE
ENTANGLEMENTS
The MC highlights one of the options below at the start of the ses-
sion. Once per session, when you perform an action that satisfies
your highlighted option, mark an advancement point.
†† Sell your Militia’s power for a price.
†† Threaten someone powerful with a fight without considering
the consequences.
†† Offer mercy to someone, though it makes you look weak.
†† ____________________________________________
† 128 †
HARM
You may take up to 5 Harm. When you take Harm, put a slash
through a finger. If you take Harm and there are no more fingers
to slash, you’re dead. Take a Debility below
to ignore all Harm from one incident. You
may only take each Debility once.
†† Shaken (-1 Steady)
†† Weakened (-1 Fierce)
†† Tentative (-1 Wily)
†† Clouded (-1 Sly)
ADVANCEMENT
Make a mark every time you earn an advancement point. When you
reach five, take an advancement below, erase them, then start again.
Tier One (Available from the start of the game)
† Get +1 Sly (max +2).
† Get +1 Wily (max +2).
† Get +1 Steady (max +3).
† Get a new Spur Move (x3).
† Get a move from another class (x2).
† Create, with the MC’s approval, a fourth Entanglement for
yourself.
Tier Two (Available starting at the sixth advancement)
† Advance three basic moves.
† Advance the other four basic moves.
† Create an additional PC.
† Take an End of Season Move.
† Change character to a new class.
† 129 †
The Voice
CREATING A VOICE
To create your Voice, start by giving them a name, then complete
each section that follows.
NAME
Pax, Issma, Snake, Friend, Uncle, Aunt, Savina, Candle, Bird,
† 130 †
STATS
Choose one set:
†† Steady+1 Fierce+0 Wily+2 Sly+1 Arcane-1
†† Steady+0 Fierce+0 Wily+2 Sly+0 Arcane+1
†† Steady+0 Fierce-1 Wily+2 Sly+1 Arcane+1
†† Steady+1 Fierce-2 Wily+2 Sly+2 Arcane+0
LOOK
Choose a look by picking a handful of traits with the following as
guidance:
†† Man, Woman, Ambiguous, Concealed, Genderless, Third
gender, Transgressing
†† Dirty robes, Shimmering clothes, Unassuming clothes, Official garb
†† Twisted face, Strange face, Seductive eyes, Pudgy face, Thin
face, Sad face
†† Crooked teeth, Greedy smile, Curly hair, Stringy hair, Endless
hair, Pug nose, Pallid skin, Pointed beard
†† Thin body, Bent body, Voluptuous body, Horrible body, Tiny
body, Lovely body
GEAR
You start with:
†† Some clothes.
†† Oddments worth 1 Barter.
†† A letter from an important person (detail).
†† A dagger or other small weapon.
And that’s it. One never knows when one might have to leave
quickly.
† 131 †
FACTION
HONOR
You know everyone who’s anyone. You start with 2 Honor.
DESIRE
Choose one of the following as your obsessive desire, something that
you want with all your heart, mind, and soul:
†† That special, unlucky someone, aren’t they just so perfect and
awful and beautiful and horrible and perfect and…?
†† Revenge. Sweet, dirty, lovely, bloody, sexy, delightful revenge.
†† The crown. Not just any crown. The crown.
†† To truly please or impress someone specific, whose praise is
sweeter than the wine of the gods.
†† Untold riches. Enough to bathe in. Enough to drown someone in.
If you ever achieve your desire, you’ll be overjoyed for the five most
fabulous minutes of your life. Then pick a new desire. Now you
want THAT with all your heart, mind, and soul. You’re just like
that.
PATRON
You absolutely have a Patron. A Voice is nothing without someone
to hear their magnificent, beautiful words. Describe them. Your
Patron may be another PC. For a Voice, the Patron is the powerful
figure who takes your brilliant advice in exchange for keeping you
fed, clothed, and sheltered, probably comfortably. The Voice must
roll+Wily at the beginning of each session to see how their relation-
ship with their Patron is doing. See the Patron rules to check the
outcome of the roll.
† 132 †
RELATIONSHIPS
Everyone introduces their character at the beginning of the first sec-
tion by name, class, and look. Then, on your turn, you will pick two
other players that The Voice has relationships with. To do this, pick
two options from the list below to tell two other characters.
†† You have followed my advice to your benefit.
†† You and I have a little partnership going.
†† I’ve heard rumors about you that you wouldn’t want out.
MOVES
You get all the basic, peripheral, and Honor moves, plus Whisper
Darkness and one additional Voice move.
WHISPER DARKNESS
When you whisper counsel into someone’s ear (literally or figurative-
ly), roll+Wily.
FOR NPCS: On a 10+, choose 2 of the following.
†† You convince them someone is for/against them.
†† You help them see a solution to a problem.
†† You shift their attention to something else you present to them.
†† You make them forget something important.
†† You convince them to give up on their current goal.
On a 7-9, choose 1 above, but the MC also chooses 1 consequence
from below. On a miss, the MC just chooses 1 consequence.
†† They question your motives, now or later.
†† They decide to seek a second opinion from someone else.
†† They give you a task to complete.
†† They regain focus, hope, or concern on something you’d rather
they not.
†† They misinterpret your words.
† 133 †
On a miss, the rumor still spreads but you lose control over what,
exactly, is being said, and anyone who tries would be able to trace it
back to you.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
ENTANGLEMENTS
The MC highlights one of the options below at the start of the ses-
sion. Once per session, when you perform an action that satisfies
your highlighted option, mark an advancement point.
†† Pass along someone else’s secrets to help yourself.
†† Double cross someone who trusts you.
†† Lie, nakedly, to someone powerful, even if being found out
would put you in peril.
†† ____________________________________________
HARM
You may take up to 5 Harm. When you take Harm, put a slash
through a finger. If you take Harm and there are no more fingers to
slash, you’re dead. Take a Debility below to
ignore all Harm from one incident. You may
only take each Debility once.
†† Shaken (-1 Steady)
†† Weakened (-1 Fierce)
†† Tentative (-1 Wily)
†† Clouded (-1 Sly)
† 136 †
ADVANCEMENT
Make a mark every time you earn an advancement point. When you
reach five, take an advancement below, erase them, then start again.
Tier One (Available from the start of the game)
†† Get +1 Sly (max+3).
†† Get +1 Steady (max +3).
†† Get +1 Arcane (max +2).
†† Get a new Voice Move (x3).
†† Get a move from another class (x2).
†† Get a new or second Patron.
†† Create, with the MC’s approval, a fourth Entanglement for
yourself.
Tier Two (Available starting at the sixth advancement)
† Advance three basic moves.
† Advance the other four basic moves.
† Create an additional PC.
† Take an End of Season Move.
† Change character to a new class.
M ythology Creation In your first
session of
SCUP, you start
by creating a
foundational
mythology that
informs the
fictional world
of your game.
This represents
knowledge that
most people
in your world
would actually
have. Ever y
child would
be taught this
myth, and every priest and ruler would reference it at some
point when they spoke to their followers. Mythology cre-
ation is done as a group prior to making characters, when you
first sit down to play. This way character concepts may rest
on ideas you develop during your mythology creation.
This exercise gives color and form to your world. Your
myth creates shared reference points for the players, sets up
the religion of your people or the values your world holds,
and gives your world a feel and aesthetic. You can use this
Chapter Four
† 138 †
AN EXAMPLE:
In the beginning, there was peace between all. Then, a new
power emerged in the land. This resulted in our glorious civili-
zation quickly falling to ruin. Because of this, there was hatred,
people filled with enmity and rage, until sorcerers tamed the un-
known. And now, we have ensured such things will never hap-
pen again.
This provides you with the skeleton of your myth, but not the details.
We have provided a list of questions and suggestions to guide you in
filling in the details of your myth once you’ve completed the exer-
cise. For example, if you began with the above example, you may
want to ask what the peace that existed in the earlier time looked
† 140 †
like, what the new power that emerged in the land was, and what
groups of people hated each other. After asking these questions, you
could start fleshing out the framework with details as follows:
The peace was a harmony between two different city-states on
opposite sides of a great river that were long-time economic part-
ners. Their ruling families had long intermarried, creating a
dense web of connections. Then, the priests of one of the city-
states overthrew the rulers of the city using their magical power,
something the priests of the other city did not possess. As such, the
city-states developed a great hatred, centered on the use of magic.
One city’s rulers enforced their rule through magic, the other did
not, and resented the magic-users for it.
As you fill in the details, you give your myth a plot, an aesthetic,
characters, stakes, consequences, etc. We have provided you with
extra tools at the end of the mythology creation. These include:
†† A list of names you can use for characters for the mythology.
†† A list of dramatic situations you can use to flesh out your story.
†† A list of evocative images for inspiration.
IN THE BEGINNING…
1. The world was pristine and unsullied.
2. There was peace between all.
3. We lived in harmony with nature.
4. It was a golden age of prosperity and knowledge.
5. Dangerous things were sealed away.
6. Times were hard, but we got by with what we had.
† 141 †
THEN…
UNTIL…
1. Heroes stood mightily.
2. Scholars gained wisdom.
3. People joined together.
4. Sorcerers tamed the unknown.
5. The gods themselves intervened.
6. The threat vanished mysteriously.
† 142 †
AND NOW…
1. Things are back as they were, but we never forget…
2. There is an uneasy truce…
3. We have ensured such things will never happen again…
4. We can never return to those innocent days…
5. We must live our lives with constant vigilance…
6. Ruin is all around, a constant reminder of the past…
Once you have created your framework, write it down and flesh it
out by asking questions. Take a moment to discuss what each part
might look like. Talk about who is involved, where they are, what
happened, etc. Use the following questions to guide you in adding
detail.
†† Who are the main characters in this story?
†† How long ago was this?
†† What is the aesthetic or feel of our world?
†† What places exist in our world?
†† What social, political, and supernatural powers exist in our
world?
†† What is magic like in our world?
†† What is religion like in our world?
†† What values are held in our world?
†† What remnants of this time are still felt today?
† 143 †
Plot Hooks
†† Remorse arises in a villain after committing a grievous sin.
†† A seeker must go on a journey to find one who has been lost
for a long time.
†† When an innocent is murdered, someone seeks vengeance.
†† A fugitive flees to avoid an unjust or misdirected punishment.
†† Someone must sacrifice what they most treasure.
†† A revolution is planned against a cruel and tyrannical power.
†† Balance is restored when a brave leader vanquishes an enemy.
†† Despite being guarded, something or someone is stolen away
by an abductor.
†† A problem is presented to a seeker, the answer to which makes
the truth clear.
†† An arbitrator settles a dispute between two opposed parties.
†† Two kinsfolk come together to conspire against a third party.
†† A hero sacrifices herself for a grand ideal.
† 144 †
Evocative Images
†† Single combat on a rickety bridge across a narrow gorge, the
bottom of which, legend says, is hell itself.
†† A sturdy old boat, with a rugged and stalwart crew, tossed and
turned on a hostile sea, in pursuit of their reckless goal.
†† Lightning strikes, illuminating the hideous, smiling visage of
true evil.
†† A placid lake, next to which companions bid each other a tear-
ful farewell.
†† A cracked and charred battlefield, where tattered flags fly over a
sea of corpses.
†† A night of reckless passion, of which the lovers may never
speak again.
†† A king, brought to tears and wailing in the face of a decision
only the gods should be allowed to make.
†† A woman, clad in the stars themselves, riding a great winged
beast, her eyes fierce as fire and her hair dark as onyx.
†† A precocious child humiliating the local Templars with her
ability to read the bones as easy as you or I read a parchment.
†† Ten thousand archers firing ten thousand arrows in a fruitless
† 145 †
Chapter Five
† 147 †
myth, and even the divine order of things itself. As such, monarchs
Patrons
Several character classes start the game with a Patron, or the option
to have one. If your class doesn’t start with a Patron but the fiction
puts you in the direct employ of another character, feel free to use
these rules to decide how your relationship with your Patron works.
Patrons may be any number of things, depending on the setting:
for The Gauntlet and The Spur, it is typically a Lord; for The Black
Hood, it is likely a shadowy group; for The Lyre, it’s probably some-
one who keeps them in room and board in exchange for their beauty,
grace, and talent. The first step when creating your Patron is figure out
who or what your Patron is. Your Patron does not have to be, but can
be, another PC. Your Patron may also be a group. The Black Hood,
for example, typically works for a guild or secret society. A Gauntlet,
Spur, Bloodletter, or Lyre could be in the employ of a noble family.
After you decide who your Patron is, determine the nature of your
relationship. If your Patron is another PC, you should work together
with their player to determine your relationship from the following
list. If your Patron is an NPC, you choose the relationship.
†† You are an employee. They pay you, and that’s as deep as it gets.
†† You are kin. Your Patron is blood to you — literally or
figuratively.
†† You have an oath. Your Patron is your lord, master, guardian,
or dearest companion, who you are bound to by a tradition,
ceremony, or honorific.
†† You are in debt. You are slowly working off a balance to your
Patron.
When you have a Patron, you gain +1 Barter at the start of each ses-
sion. This may be actual money, goods, room and board, etc., but
you should detail the nature of your salary. Bear it mind: it is possi-
ble to lose your Patron, willingly or through rolling dice.
† 149 †
When you have a Patron, you may namedrop them to use as your
Factions
A Faction can be a nebulous collection of people — a clique of friends,
an art community, or the proletarian workers of the town. It could
be a very tightly bound and ordered group such as a noble house, a
school of magic, or a secret criminal society. Your Faction represents
the people you have some loyalty to or affinity with. Your interests or
agenda overlap, at least partially, with their interests and agenda. Your
status rises and falls with their status. Even if you don’t like them, you
are at home with them, and feel that your fate is tied to theirs.
Power is about social relationships between people and groups. A boss
needs employees, a queen needs subjects, and a pastor needs a con-
gregation. Our status emerges from the positions we occupy in social
groups. In high school, your clique defines how people see you and
affords you some social protection. In politics, your party provides
you with an ideology, identity, and assets that you can draw on. To
be positioned in a social group is to have people to defend you and
resources to help you achieve your goals. Being embedded in a social
group also comes with responsibilities. To stay in a group, you must
maintain positive relationships with other members. The power of
being a group member comes with the price that all social relation-
ships come with: responsibilities to those you are connected to.
In SCUP, your status emerges from your social embeddedness. Do
you have a noble family whose name gives you power, but who re-
quire great loyalty from you? Are you a part of a secret society that
protects you in exchange for calling on you to do awful things for
them? Just as a politician’s career is connected to the fortunes of their
party or a businessperson’s livelihood to the success of their com-
pany, you rise and fall as your Faction faces opposition or receives
privileges.
† 153 †
CREATING A FACTION
Using Factions
Factions are tied to Honor, the measure of your social capital and
the value of your name. Some of your Honor represents who you as-
sociate with and how far those social networks can carry you. At the
end of a session, you may gain Honor for having tangibly advanced
the interests, agenda, or standing of your Faction. Additionally, you
lose Honor if you acted against your Faction in any way. See the sec-
tion on Honor later in this chapter for more on how to gain, lose,
and use Honor.
† 155 †
To activate the move Call On Your Faction, you must spend your
EXAMPLE 1:
Jenn: “I’ve gotten some good information on Lockheart, but he
doesn’t seem to care. I want to scare him a bit.”
Megan: “Maybe your Faction can help. They are a secret society,
after all.”
† 156 †
EXAMPLE 2:
Joe: “I need to get into this party. Lockheart is in there and I
need to seduce him if I’m going to get the information I need.”
Megan: “You could try to sneak in, but the doors are locked
tight. It’s invitation only.”
Joe: “I must know someone in there. My Faction is the artists
who entertain the nobles. I’m going to ask one of my contacts if
they can get me in somehow. We’ve got status.”
Megan: “You’re Calling On Your Faction. Spend some Honor
and make the roll.”
Joe: “Okay, I’ll spend 1 Honor. I rolled a 7. Not bad.”
† 157 †
lap with your group. It makes things both mechanically easier and
Honor
Characters in SCUP have a currency called Honor that measures
their social power and prestige. Honor is not inherently a measure
of how “honorable,” as in virtuous or righteous, you are. Honor is
broader than that, representing the value of your name. Are there
people who could drop your name to others who would care?
You might have more Honor points. Conversely, are you reviled,
mocked, or shunned? Then you may have fewer Honor points. As a
currency, your Honor will go up and down over the course of a cam-
paign. If you do things that mark you as a useful ally or worthy of
consideration, your Honor will go up. If you are humiliated or repu-
diated, your Honor will go down. Reputation is a fickle thing.
The concept of Honor draws on the work of French sociologist
Pierre Bourdieu. Just as one may have economic capital they spend
in an effort to get a return on their investment, people have, accord-
ing to Bourdieu, social and cultural capital. Social capital represents
the people you know. When you want a job, you may call on a well-
placed friend to help you find one. This represents spending your
social capital to get something in return. In time, they may ask you
† 160 †
Gaining Honor
Almost all characters start with 1 Honor, representing their connec-
tion to their Faction. The Crown and The Voice, however, automat-
ically start with 2 Honor. By virtue of being a ruler, The Crown is
more widely known and considered valuable as an ally. The Voice,
on the other hand, is someone who knows people and has access to
† 161 †
power. Other characters can make a case for starting with 2 Honor,
talk about what happened to you in the session and decide if it has
grown your reputation. Specifically, if you did any of the following:
†† Tangibly advanced the interests, agenda, or standing of your
Faction.
†† Made a new connection with someone who may find you
useful or desirable.
†† Demonstrated your power, talent, wisdom, or skill to others.
†† Spread rumors, secrets, or information to those who need or
want it.
For each of these actions you gain 1 Honor, added to your current
total. In other words, if you currently have 0 Honor, and you did
two of the above things, you will begin your next session with 2
Honor. There is no maximum Honor that you can have. Here’s an
example.
Sarn, The Gauntlet, ends the session with 1 Honor. She is the
enforcer of the Noble Cairn family — her Faction. They asked
Sarn to intimidate one of their enemies, and Sarn did so. This
pleased her Faction and helped them secure a deal with her tar-
get’s family. Sarn earns 1 Honor because her Faction finds her
useful. Additionally, she publicly battled someone who threat-
ened a friend of hers, making short work of them. This demon-
strated her power and skill to others, so she gains an additional
1 Honor.
You can also do things over a session to shrink or hurt your repu-
tation. You lose a point of Honor for the next session if during the
session you:
†† Were publicly humiliated, repudiated, or shown to be a weak.
†† Went back on your word, or betrayed someone.
†† Acted against your Faction.
Your Honor cannot drop below 0.
† 163 †
Spending Honor
Honor can get you a return on your investment. Building your good
name and growing your reputation means you can ask for favors and
trade on your status to jockey for position. There are three moves,
available to all characters that draw on your Honor.
Chapter Six
† 169 †
Kinds of Weapons
If the caster doesn’t want to use magic and instead just wants to hit
people with their weapon, they can roll just using the object’s nat-
ural attributes. A staff probably does 1 Harm if you’re just hitting
someone with it and not using its magic powers. Ultimately, what
the arcane weapon does is up to the player who has it and the MC
working something out together prior to play.
We don’t suggest creating weapons that do more than 3 Harm, and
we also suggest a balance of positive and negative tags. You may con-
sider using a similar process to creating an Adept’s magic attack as
detailed in the Arcane Malice move when creating a weapon to see
what tags it has.
If there is a weapon not listed above that is appropriate in your set-
ting, create it using the above guide as a reference point for roughly
how weapons work.
Armor
Armor comes in two varieties. LIGHT ARMOR is anything that can
be worn out in public without attracting attention — leather, pad-
ding, etc. It provides 1 Armor and can be concealed under clothing.
There are no inherent tags, but you may consider positive tags such
as light and quiet or negative tags such as incomplete or worn.
HEAVY ARMOR is a thick suit of armor. It looks like armor and you
look like someone walking around ready for a fight if you are wear-
ing it. It provides 2 Armor, but should have tags such as heavy and
conspicuous.
† 171 †
Tags
†† Reprisals: There may be people who are angry at the group and
seeking vengeance.
†† Ritual: The group conducts powerful and inspirational rituals
of some kind.
†† Savagery: This group will be rowdy, pick fights, make noise,
etc.
†† Stupor: The group is drunk, drugged, etc.
†† Unruly: This group doesn’t like to follow orders, listen to au-
thority, etc.
†† Untrained: This group may be willing to fight, but they aren’t
great at it and may be out maneuvered by trained warriors.
†† Violence: This group will seek to actively harm others.
Feel free to invent your own tags for things. They are merely descrip-
tors that allow you to make things happen in the fiction, so whatev-
er seems important for a particular thing might make an appropriate
tag.
Other Gear
Tags are a useful tool for creating other kinds of gear. For example, if
the Lyre has a lute as their instrument, perhaps it has valuable as one
of its tags. If the Gauntlet’s calling card is a long, red cape, perhaps
they could give it the tags intimidating or regal. Don’t feel that you
have to assign everything tags — they are merely useful guidelines for
how something might be used. If the Lyre’s lute is valuable, it gives
the MC permission to have people admire it wherever the Lyre goes.
If the Spur has some rope and they say they want to climb a tower
with it, the MC might say the rope has the tag sturdy. Through
using tags, you can tease out what various things can and cannot
be called upon to do or, how they can or cannot cause problems for
people.
A
dvancement Characters im-
prove by earn-
ing advancement
points. For every
5 advancement
points a PC
earns, they may
take 1 advance-
ment as detailed
by their charac-
ter class. When
they choose
one, they mark
the advance-
ment off, erase
their advance-
ment points,
and start the process over. If an advancement can be taken
multiple times, there will be extra checkboxes next to it, in-
dicating how many times it can be selected.
Chapter Seven
† 176 †
your character directly related to your old class, such as any gear that
EXAMPLE:
Y The Black Hood is trying to sneak up on a banker who is sleep-
ing and steal his family’s ornamental dagger. Y’s player makes a
Face Duress roll and gets a 13. Y’s player says “how about I also
notice a document sticking out from his drawer that lists his ac-
complices?” The MC agrees.
THREATEN WITH FORCE: on a 12+, if your target is an NPC,
they have to do what you want, and you may make an additional
threat against them, if you want, as if you rolled a 10+. If your target
is a PC, they still choose how they react to your threat but, if they
are still there after you resolve it, you may make an additional threat
against them as if you made a 10+.
EXAMPLE:
Bastard The Gauntlet threatens an innkeeper, saying, “I’ll put my
sword through you if you don’t tell me where Ulster is!” Bastard’s
player makes a Threaten With Force roll and gets a 12. The
innkeeper immediately caves, saying “he’s upstairs, second room
on the left, with two guards!” Bastard then looks around the
inn and says “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll head up
there and tell him there’s a message down here for him, then lead
him out into the open.” At this point, the MC can decide if the
innkeeper does what Bastard says or not (because the second hit
counts as a 10+).
ENGAGE IN COMBAT: on a 12+, you pick selections as normal
from the Engage in Combat list, plus pick one of the following:
†† The fight is over, on your terms. Detail.
†† Hold 1. Spend it at any time to have a person you encounter
have heard stories of your prowess in combat.
† 179 †
EXAMPLE 1:
EXAMPLE 2:
Dirge The Spur is fighting with two thieves she caught sneaking
into her Militia’s hideout. She rolls a 14 on Engage in Combat.
Dirge picks her selections off the main list, and decides she wants
to hold 1. Next session, when a rowdy NPC is threatening Dirge,
she spends her hold. The MC says “Suddenly, he blanches, realiz-
ing who you are. ‘Wait,’ he says, ‘you’re that horse-rider who has
been storming up and down the whole countryside!’” The
MC may then choose to have the NPC back down, offer to
hire Dirge based on what he’s heard, beg to join her Militia,
or whatever seems appropriate.
PERSUADE WITH LEVERAGE: on a 12+, you wrap your target
around your finger. They are now your ally and you no longer have
to make rolls against them to get them to do what you want, within
reason. This can be undone if you are revealed to be obviously acting
against them. It can be redone after that by another advanced hit on
the same target.
Note that this only works on NPCs. If you make an advanced Per-
suade With Leverage hit on a PC, it works differently: the target
must make an Refuse an Obligation, Duty, or Debt roll with a -1
penalty if they want to avoid doing what you ask and there is no
option to give the target an advancement point on an advanced hit.
† 180 †
EXAMPLE:
Songbird The Lyre is trying to convince Flavia to tell her every-
thing she knows from sitting on The Crown’s council. Songbird
says that she will write a song praising Flavia’s beauty and per-
form it for the whole court if Flavia does it, and rolls a 12 on
Persuade With Leverage. Flavia suddenly sees Songbird like she
never has before. Songbird is so pure and beautiful, everything
good and noble in the world. She spills everything she knows to
Songbird, and adds “anything you need, anything at all, just let
me know. Folks like us have to stick together…”
STUDY A PERSON: on a 12+, after you ask your three questions,
you may pick one of the following:
†† You may ask a Study a Person question of one of your target’s
allies who is present.
†† You may ask an additional question of your target, not limited
to the Study a Person list.
EXAMPLE:
Mattius The Adept is having a heated conversation with Zara,
the head of his school. He is worried Zara is holding something
from him, so Mattius makes a Study a Person roll and hits
with a 12. After Mattius uses all three of his questions, becoming
quite sure that Zara is conspiring against him, his player picks
the first option above and says “Zara’s crony, Star, standing be-
hind her… What does she really want?”
STUDY A SITUATION: on a 12+, you may ask any three questions
you want about the situation, not limited to the list.
† 181 †
EXAMPLE:
WORLD WEARY
Every time you are put into a situation where you must compromise
your beliefs or your integrity for any reason, make a notch. When
you hit three notches, set a tangible, significant goal for your char-
acter. You get +1 ongoing when you act towards that goal. When
you achieve your goal, this life you lead no longer holds anything for
you. Retire your character to safety. If the game continues, create a
new character with one free advancement.
† 183 †
Campaign Play
Once characters begin making advanced hits and using End of
Season moves, it may be time to consider wrapping up your season.
If you decide to come back and play a second season of your cam-
paign, every player may choose to pick one of the following for their
character:
†† Change their character’s class (following the typical rules for
doing so above).
†† Retire their character to safety/misery (whichever seems appro-
priate, you detail) and create a new one to play.
†† Let their character become an NPC and create a new character
to play.
T
he Master of
Ceremonies The Master of
Ceremonies, or
MC, is the per-
son who “plays
the world,” ef-
fectively. These
last two chap-
ters are for the
MC to read to
know how to
best run a game
of SCUP.
The MC gets
primar y say
over the events
of the world
(with input
from the other players), as well as controls the NPCs. Some
of these NPCs will be Threats. For information on Threats,
see the Threats chapter (222). This section details what the
MC needs to know to play the game. If you are going to run
a game full of danger, intrigue, and drama, you should fol-
low the suggestions detailed in this section and understand
all of the tools at your disposal.
Chapter Eight
† 186 †
The Responsibilities
of the MC
Our view is that the MC is a player like any other in that they are
playing the game to get something out of it. Having said that, the MC
does have several responsibilities they take on which are different
that the responsibilities of the PCs. Three unique responsibilities of
the MC are: (1) playing the world, (2) framing scenes, and (3) thinking
about how it all connects.
Jenn: “Now that I know that Hammond and Lynne are conspir-
Framing Scenes
The MC has primary authority in scene framing — the MC gets
to say where a scene is taking place, who is there, what NPCs are
doing, what time it is, when the scene is over, etc. Just as with play-
ing the world, other players should contribute, but the MC makes
the final call. The MC can turn this authority over to the players as
she sees fit — if the MC doesn’t have any ideas for how a particular
scene should begin, she could say “does anyone have a scene they’d
like to have?” Conversely, the MC can use her authority in scene
framing to say “Falcon, you’re at the pub, and there’s a rowdy party
going on. You see some shady figures come in and start eyeing you
nervously. What do you do?” We tend to encourage a collaborative
mixture of the above approaches to scene framing. In this example,
Megan is the MC and Tom is playing Falcon, The Spur.
Megan: “Falcon, where would you be on a cold and rainy day?”
Tom: “Well, most likely I’d try to find Amana to cozy up to her,
but last time I talked to her, she said she was going to go con-
front Hammond and Lynne. Oh, I know. I’d be at the Muddy
† 189 †
Note, you are not writing a story as the MC — all players are play-
ing to find out what happens. Drawing on the example above, the
purpose shouldn’t be “the scene where Falcon and Lockheart will get
into a fight” because, Falcon may decide he doesn’t want the fight. It’s
useful to frame scenes in an open-ended way, with what we might
call a decision point in mind. Megan might wonder about the rising
tension between Falcon and Lockheart and chose to frame a scene
where Lockheart confronts Falcon and tries to force his hand. This
sets up a decision point for Falcon: does he take the bait that Lock-
heart dangles in front of him and pick a fight, or resist it, trying to
keep the peace?
Framing a scene with purpose helps to keep it from wandering.
Without any direction to the interactions or decisions to be made
by the PCs, scenes can get boring and the narrative thread of your
game begins to go slack. You can avoid that by giving scenes a tight
framing where you put your PCs in scenes with specific purposes or
decision points that deepen or advance the narrative.
the table and asking yourself “how are these people at the center of
NPCs
Here’s the quick and dirty steps to create an NPC — read on for
more detail.
†† If you don’t have many, create one — otherwise try to use one
you’ve already established.
†† Give them a name and something that sticks out to the PCs
when they meet them.
†† Think about how they might fit into the fiction, what their
motivations and goals might be.
NPCs are your primary mechanism to interact with the PCs and
you should create them as the fiction requires. Think of what is
going on in the scene and why you might need a character, either
an existing one or a new one. Give every notable NPC a name, and
think of something interesting the characters might notice about
them when they are around. Do they have a quirk? Do they know
someone important? Where do they exist in this strange world
you’ve created? Give them a personality, motivations, desires, goals, a
purpose for being there, etc. Make them daring, charming, seduc-
† 196 †
it. I’m her connection to the nobility, and she is discrete with my
experiments.”
Todd: “So tell me a little bit about how Zadkat procures subjects
for you?”
In this example, Todd created an NPC on the fly, Zadkat, to give
a little bit of spark to the scene. Tom said that Fist had feelings for
her, and Todd played along. Todd then reincorporated her later with
Megan, giving Zadkat and Lamb a connection. Megan built on
that connection to suggest the two are lovers, leading Todd to ask a
further question. This sets up the opportunity to pit Lamb and Fist
against each other, or entangle them somehow. Perhaps Zadkat plays
them both? Perhaps Zadkat manipulates Fist to help her procure
subjects for Lamb’s experiments. Maybe Lamb and Zadkat see Fist as
yet another inroad into getting closer to the King. However it plays
out, it represents an NPC being reincorporated to connect two PCs
together. Look for situations where you can create webs like this be-
tween the players that will help create big, dramatic moments and
decisions down the line.
Let’s look at some final examples to flesh out the MC’s agenda and
use of NPCs in action. In this scenario, Joe is the MC, Jenn is play-
ing Anna, The Crown, and Scott is playing Jawbone, The Lyre.
Joe: “Anna, you’re sitting at the head of the long table, presiding
over your council. On either side of the table, the various mem-
bers of the council look at you with the usual mixture of admi-
ration and fear that people regard you with. Things are going
normally, when your advisor Ogen slams his fist on the table
and says ‘Anna, my Queen, I apologize for speaking out of turn,
but I must know — the Sorcerer’s Campaign draws closer to our
borders. Even now they push on the capital. And yet we have not
† 199 †
MC Moves
Tom first made a relatively soft move when Ulster gave him the
chance, which was to separate Ulster and Longtooth. On the missed
roll, he made a hard move, having Longtooth get captured. This
move was hinted at by the first move he made, which then snow-
balled into the harder move. Finally, when Marnie missed a second
roll, Tom made another hard move against Ulster, this time having
her get caught and damaged by a guard’s attack. Tom doesn’t always
directly attack the PC. He first set up future problems for Ulster
when the chance was available, then made a move against her com-
panion, then finally took action directly against her.
Additionally, when you are the MC, describe what happens when
you execute your move — don’t say the name of your move. When a
player misses a roll, don’t say “I am going to surround you with en-
emies.” Pick that move and then say “you swing your sword might-
ily, but connect with nothing, and the commotion attracts more of
the city guard. You realize that ten of them are now forming a circle
around you. What do you do?” Finally, think about switching up
the moves you use. In the above example, Tom uses different kinds
of moves to affect Ulster, not just moves that directly attack her.
Make an unexpected move sometimes — using a surprising move
can really shake up a situation and keep your PCs on their toes.
Let’s say you had a game with three PCs: a Gauntlet, who works for
the local baron, a Beloved, who is seen by the townsfolk as a proph-
et, and a Lyre, who performs at the town’s dive tavern. In this set-
ting, the Gauntlet is elite because they work for the baron. The Lyre
is common, because they hang around with ordinary folk and have
no access to institutional power. The Beloved could go either way,
depending on the circumstances. Is the church highly respected in
this town? Do prophets occupy a privileged position? Then count
the Beloved as elite. Conversely, is The Beloved on the outside of the
temple walls, speaking truth to power? Then perhaps count The Be-
loved as common.
The reason this distinction is important is because power shapes
your characters’ lives. Being elite or common comes with very dif-
ferent experiences, benefits, and challenges, and the players in your
game need to reconcile these differences.
The above moves are how you make power feel real and vital in your
Here are two examples that show the status based MC moves in
action. In the first example, Todd is the MC and Jenn is playing Pax,
The Voice.
Todd: “Something is off with the Queen’s council, today, Pax.
Everyone is less chatty than usual, and they’re all avoiding eye
contact with you.”
Jenn: “That seems ominous. I’ll go ahead and Study a Situa-
tion. I got a 5.”
(Todd scans his MC moves and his eyes fall on “force them to
wield their power or fulfill their duties” from the elite list.)
Todd: “Pax, the Queen turns to you and says ‘finally, there is the
matter of your friendship with Haze, the witch.’”
Jenn: “I say ‘your highness, what of it? I haven’t seen her in so
long…’”
Todd: “She leans towards you imperiously and states ‘yes, and
that is why I’m sure it won’t cause you any discomfort to arrange
for her to be killed. She has become quite the thorn in my side.’”
Jenn: “I… did not expect that. I nod my head.”
Todd: “She stands up and walks around the table so she is hov-
ering over you, blocking out the light from the window. You are
consumed by her shadow. ‘You would not let any feelings for the
witch get in the way of your loyalty to me, would you, Pax?’ All
the eyes of the council turn towards you.”
Jenn: “I couldn’t bring myself to hurt Haze, but I definitely can’t
say that. I stammer ‘of course, my queen. It will be done.’ I’ll
need to figure out how to get out of this.”
In this example, Jenn fails a roll so Todd has the Queen call on
Pax to fulfill her duty as a member of her inner circle. Elite moves
† 211 †
should be used in this way: to make the pain of obligation and pro-
The Principles
MC principles are the things that you should keep in mind as you
play the game. When you’re stuck on what to do, refer to these prin-
ciples for guidance and inspiration.
†† Address the characters, not the players.
†† Make your move, but never speak its name.
†† Alliances shift like sands. See treachery all around.
†† Remember that power corrupts, duty calls, and subordination
crushes.
†† Give every NPC a desire and aim those desires at the PCs.
†† Don’t give anything away for free.
†† Ask big questions of the players and use them to spin webs.
†† Think broadly — what else is happening that may affect the
players?
†† Give the PCs reasons to both love and hate the NPCs.
†† Sometimes, disclaim decision-making.
†† Be a fan of the PCs.
†† Even as you are cruel and calculating, remember that it’s a
game, with real people at the table.
who they are and what they want. Use their answers to your ques-
tions to spin webs: connect them to other characters, entrap them in
their own dealings, etc.
them noble leaders who inspire them and villains who make them
THE ADEPT
Ask yourself “what does it mean to be a magic user in our world?” Is
magic use forbidden or common? Is it celebrated or feared? Con-
trolled by elites, or practiced only by outcasts? This will shape how
you approach The Adept. In a world where magic users are celebrat-
ed or connected to power, The Adept may hold a coveted position.
People may seek them out for advice, assistance, and blessings. What
is an elite Adept called upon to do? Are there those who covet their
power? Who want to use the Adept’s power for their own ends?
Conversely, if magic is frowned upon or forbidden, think about how
this would shape The Adept’s life. Do they have to hide their power?
Do people try to find magic users to persecute them? Who knows
about their magic use? Additionally, think about what The Unspeak-
able Power demands of magic users in your world. How costly is the
power and how does it extract that cost?
THE BELOVED
The Beloved has a special relationship to The Unspeakable Power.
Invite your player to flesh that out with you. Was The Beloved
chosen by It to be their emissary in the world? What does It want
from them? How do they assist with Its agenda? The Beloved gives
you a great deal of leeway to have The Unspeakable Power in your
† 217 †
THE BLOODLETTER
If your Bloodletter is a noble healer, plying their trade in a genu-
ine desire to help others, you could give them someone powerful to
take care of. Does the king need them to keep his dear mother alive?
Does another PC have someone who could use The Bloodletter’s
† 218 †
THE CROWN
The Crown lives a life of luxury, but that luxury comes at the cost of
obligation and exposure. Everyone knows them and everyone covets
what they have. Make them fight to keep it. The Crown should
always be in someone’s crosshairs. Characters should constantly be
coming to them to demand things, as well as trying to undermine
them. The Crown is also a good character for connecting other PCs.
Someone at the table can easily have The Crown as their Patron,
and almost any PC would have a reason to get mixed up with The
Crown, so they tend to be a nice character to use to build bridges
between different parts of your game. Finally, does your Crown have
the move Commander of the Guard? If so, they are the one who
leads their army in battle. Give them an outside threat to deal with
so they are forced to shoulder that burden. Conversely, if they don’t
have Commander of the Guard, who runs their military and how
loyal is that person to them? Without that move you, as the MC,
have the leeway to decide what happens with their military.
THE GAUNTLET
The Gauntlet’s stock and trade is violence, and you should give
them ample opportunity to show off how powerful they are. More
† 219 †
THE HEX
The Hex’s power revolves around deal making and cost, so always
consider the price of her power, both to her and to others. People
want to call on The Hex to help them, but may also fear or even
hate her. The Hex is often played as an outsider, on the margins of
society, disrespected or loathed by civilized folk, but also needed,
desired, and coveted. You may consider having NPCs that play on
this duality. People who are drawn to her, need her, want her, even
as they treat her disdainfully and hate themselves for getting mixed
up with such power. If you really want to get nefarious, consider
double-crossing The Hex — her moves are particularly well suited
for vengeance.
THE LYRE
The Lyre often has their fingers in many different pies. Their talent
or beauty means they can travel among the elite, but they might be
just as home among the common folk. What access does their talent
grant them? Do they perform at noble parties? Have private audi-
ences with rulers? Are they beloved by the regulars at a particular inn
or marketplace? Having access to so many different groups means
that The Lyre is often well suited to be an information conduit. They
can gather a great deal of knowledge through their connections.
† 220 †
THE SCREW
Have a serious talk with the group if someone is playing The Screw
about how you are going to approach their chosen profession. Make
sure to review the Appendix on Safety (269) and give your play-
ers tools to protect themselves, such as lines and veils or the X card.
The important thing about The Screw is why they do what they do
and how they feel about it. Are they a sadist who enjoys their job?
Or is this something they do because they have no choice? Addi-
tionally, The Screw’s currency is information. People probably need
them, but may also disrespect them. A good foil for a Screw is some-
one who employs them, jealously paying them for information,
while also feeling ambivalent about the fact that they need someone
so unsavory in their employ. How does such treatment make The
Screw feel? When you MC for a Screw, you want to spend some
time thinking about the value of information in your world. What
will people do to get it, how much is it worth, and how does The
Screw sit at the center of it?
THE SPUR
If The Spur has an employer, give them violence to commit and then
let them feel the consequences of their deeds. Whether they have a
Patron or not, though, there’s a similar dynamic at work between
The Spur and their Militia. It’s helpful to have some faces in the Mi-
litia that can fulfill different roles, allowing you to interact with The
Spur in a variety of capacities. Consider having a sidekick — trust-
† 221 †
worthy, smart, useful — and then play them off folks in the Mili-
THE VOICE
The Voice is just begging you to surround them with all kinds of
treacherous people. Give them foolish and gullible nobles who be-
lieve whatever they say, cunning social climbers who need them to
gather intelligence or spread rumors, and backstabbing traitors who
want to beat them at their own game. The Voice invites intrigue
to the table more than any other class. However, don’t forget The
Voice’s desire: something is driving them. It’s often useful to try to
humanize The Voice — give them someone to love, or protect, or
someone they can trust. Giving them someone to care about also
means that their underhanded conniving can have real consequenc-
es. A Voice who cares about nothing never has to worry about the
blowback from their actions. A Voice who does care about some-
thing? Well, as they say — what goes around comes around.
T
hreats Threats are what
the MC uses to
challenge and
confront the
PCs, making
their lives tricky
and messy. If
you are the MC,
you should read
this chapter
before running
the game.
A Threat is a
person, place,
or thing that
antagonizes the
player charac-
ters. Think of your Threats as a tool for creating obstacles for
the PCs. You create and modify them after the first session,
and they serve as your primary way to confront the charac-
ters with adversity as you play.
Chapter Nine
† 223 †
STEP TWO:
DECIDE WHAT RESOURCE(S) IT THREATENS
After the first session, you filled out a worksheet that lists what re-
sources the PCs have at their disposal. A Threat threatens one or two
of these resources. This tells you which PCs should be most con-
cerned with the Threat. Let’s give two examples:
You look at your first session worksheet and see that Pax, The
Voice, has “information” as one of her resources. You write down
“information” next to Raela, the blacksmith’s daughter. She, too,
is someone who gathers and spreads information, and she’s inter-
ested in using that knowledge to undermine others.
This tells you who your threat might antagonize and gives you an
idea of how they might do it. In the example above of Raela, you
might try to have her usurp Pax’s position as the chief information
gatherer for the king, or perhaps spread nasty secrets about Pax that
she wouldn’t want known.
Your first session worksheet says that Dirge, The Spur, who is the
captain of the royal guard, has “security” as one of his resourc-
es. The Forest Dwellers threaten the security of the town, so you
write that next to them.
Perhaps the Forest Dwellers directly attack Dirge’s militia, or maybe
Dirge’s Lord tells him that if he doesn’t clear the Ghosts out of the
forest, he’ll relieve Dirge of his station.
† 225 †
STEP THREE:
fear and desire for domination make him act? This also helps you
decide what MC moves to use with Lord Issma. Perhaps he is likely
to inflict Harm on characters or humiliate them in order to domi-
nate them? If someone rolls a partial hit on him when Threatening
With Force we might see his fear take over and make him run away.
An Adversary’s drives are what you should go to when playing them,
particularly when engaging the mechanics in any way, or presenting
the PCs with decision points.
CABALS: A Cabal is a group of people with an agenda, often nefar-
ious. They can be a cult, a school, a guild, a shadowy secret society,
a gang of heavies, a clique of socialites, etc. Think up juicy details to
make them seem threatening, powerful, or extensive when you write
their description. This can be secret codes, tattoos or scarification,
oaths, vast resources, and so on. A character’s Faction may serve as a
Cabal Threat. Pick a goal (or maybe two) when you make a Cabal:
†† To enrich their members.
†† To spread their dogma.
†† To swell their ranks.
†† To protect their own.
†† To sow discord.
†† To maintain order.
†† To consolidate their power.
†† To punish those who are different.
For example, you create a school of wizardry. The school’s main goal
is to “consolidate their power.” When your PCs encounter mem-
bers of the school, those members should be sizing the PCs up for
whether they could be useful in this goal, get in their way of this
goal, or could be stepped on in the school’s ascent to power. Cabals
and their members push towards their goal with fervor, and you
should find ways to aim that fervor at the PCs.
† 227 †
REALMS: Realms are places that may threaten the PCs. A living
forest of phosphorescent flora encroaching on their town, a vast
desert with twin suns that surrounds their fortress, a red sky that
pours burning rain on them for days at a time. Those are
Realms. When you create a Realm pick one of the following:
†† It consumes what is around it.
†† It is barren and dead.
†† It is nearly impenetrable.
†† It is poisonous or otherwise harmful.
†† It hides dangerous secrets.
†† It is a breeding ground for vile things.
†† It entices with lies.
Perhaps your PCs live in a mountain fortress. You could create two
Realms that represent the world around them. One may be the
mountain range. You pick “it is nearly impenetrable,” because it’s
almost impossible to leave the fortress and merchants and travelers
rarely come, meaning supplies are limited. You then decide there is
a cave near the PCs’ home and pick “it is a breeding ground for vile
things.” What awfulness emerges out of that cave?
Note that SCUP is about the local politics and drama of a particular
place, not about a group of adventurers going on a quest. The Realm
Threats you create should be things that are already threatening the
players because of where they are. In our example above, it’s a moun-
tain and cave where the PCs live, not in some distant land they have
to travel to.
† 229 †
STEP FOUR:
FIGURE OUT WHAT IT CONNECTS TO
Threats should directly connect to other fiction in your game — es-
pecially PCs. When you create a Threat, look at what resources it
threatens, what kind of threat it is, and how it fits into the fiction of
your game. Use this information to decide what it connects to. Con-
sider writing the name of the Threat in a circle and then drawing a
map of connections with lines coming from it to other fictional ele-
ments it’s connected to.
Let’s use the example of Lord Issma, the Adversary Threat described
above. In our game, it’s possible that Pax, The Voice, works for Lord
† 230 †
outcome of the Threat is, given their current actions. If your Threat
Appendices
† 236 †
work together and quest together, but the characters tend to be alone
But dark fantasy loves its isolation, and the freedom of motion and
action it gives the characters — especially to betray, flee, or fight
other protagonists, or to create satisfying drama out of reluctant,
distrustful cooperation. All of which makes dark fantasy harder than
most genres to capture in a role-play setting. Long-time roleplayers
have likely faced at least one weary GM who says, during character
creation, “Make any character you want, as long as it isn’t a sullen
lone wolf who doesn’t get along with anyone else.” Everyone who’s
been in the hobby for a while has likely shared a table with some-
one who does want to play that sullen lone wolf, the arrogant Elric of
Melnibone type with vast powers, tragic responsibility, and a person-
ality that doesn’t mesh with anyone else in the party. For a certain
kind of gamer, there’s a serious lure to this kind of dark, romantic
figure: the loner whose fate is too heavy for anyone else to bear.
The Sword, The Crown, and The Unspeakable Power will let you play
that character to your heart’s content without ruining the game for
everybody else. It was designed around dark fantasy tropes, and the
idea that players don’t have to be part of the same faction, or the
same party. They’re dealing with the same setting, but they may be
facing very different threats and choices. They can end up on differ-
ent sides of the same conflict, with one player out to assassinate the
same corrupt ruler that another player is trying to manipulate, and
a third is trying to protect. Characters may not understand or even
like each other. Because you’re embodying completely different ar-
chetypes, it’s perfectly all right for everyone to have their own corner
of the world, where they’re the best at what they do.
That doesn’t absolve the players of responsibility to each other. Just
as fantasy authors can set their characters against each other in the
most bitter and savage ways, while still remaining responsible to the
narrative, the players are still responsible for shaping their game into
† 241 †
the status quo, they’ll only be reacting, not acting. Figure out their
Odds and Ends † Playing Hard: How to Have More Fun in Your Game
hopes and dreams. What do they aspire to? What status do they
want? Whom do they want put in their place? None of these will
happen on their own.
Of course, to go after things, you have to want things. Sup-
pose you’re playing The Crown. You could just sit back and enjoy
the fruits of your position, and defend it against all comers, but
shouldn’t you be thinking bigger than that? Look for a troublesome
Faction you can frame for crimes so you can destroy them, a neigh-
boring territory you can send spies into so you can dominate or
annex it, or other ways to grow your power at the expense of some-
one else. If you have trouble thinking of a goal, look at The Voice
playbook; it includes a number of desires that you might use as in-
spiration for your own character’s goals. And when you’re thinking
of what you want, remember…
Don’t be afraid of PVP
PvP, or player-versus-player, gets a bad reputation. We often think
of the antisocial jerk who takes glee in murdering other people’s
characters as a way of showing real-life social dominance. Don’t
be that guy. Instead, look at PvP as another arena for conflict. The
player characters don’t have to be — and probably shouldn’t be —
best friends with each other. Real people get into conflicts with each
other, and so should your characters.
PvP doesn’t have to be all or nothing, victory or death. Moves like
Study a Person and Persuade With Leverage allow you to have
social PvP, where you can work against the other players, and every-
one lives to scheme another day. Even if you Threaten With Force,
the choice of how to proceed is on the threatened party. Give your-
self permission to dive into conflict, rather than shying away from it.
Don’t forget — the other PCs have the same tools you do. NPCs are
† 244 †
fragile things in SCUP. If you want a real challenge, the other play-
ers are often the ones who can provide it, not the MC.
What are you afraid of? Take risks!
Finally, take big risks. Make plans and act on them. Sometimes
you’ll succeed, and you’ll get what you want. Sometimes you’ll fail,
and bad things will happen. But failure can be fun. Maybe you’re
afraid that you’ll suffer a major setback, or even that your character
will die. These things can and do happen! But if you don’t take risks,
more likely than not, nothing will happen, which is boring.
Even if you end up in the oubliette eating rats, that’s good pathos,
and when someone breaks you out (or you manage to escape), you’ll
have revenge burning in your heart. Even if you lose your crown
and are exiled, that’s just a new challenge, and when your armies
march back into the city and you destroy those who betrayed you,
success will be all the sweeter. Playing Hard means sometimes you
win, and sometimes you lose, but you, the player, make the best of
it no matter what. It means experiencing the thrill of victory and the
agony of defeat, staring death in the eyes, and picking up the dice,
knowing that no matter what you roll, the outcome will be exciting.
Odds and Ends † Playing Hard: How to Have More Fun in Your Game
good job as is of encouraging you to play hard. All you need to do is
follow the rules as hard as you can. Starting with...
Your NPCs need to want specific things
It’s not enough to have NPCs with nefarious demeanor and devious
motives, but no specific goals. If the evil vizier never does anything
other than twirl his mustache in the shadow and make cryptic re-
marks, he might as well not even be in the game. Remember, every
NPC you make should have some desire: to better their station,
to amass wealth, to get revenge. And the best desires are ones that
will drive those NPCs into conflict with the PCs. Power is large-
ly a zero-sum game here, and you can’t get power without someone
else losing it. If the warlord wants to invade the next kingdom over,
there’s little reason for anyone at the table to care. If she wants to
invade the city that all the PCs live in and put its inhabitants to the
sword, that’s a different matter.
But more than that, think of the actionable steps the NPCs are going
to take to get there. Let’s look at two examples: the scheming vizier
and the invading warlord. The scheming vizier wants to seize power
for himself. How does he plan to do that? Perhaps he intends to
acquire illusion magic that will allow him to disguise himself as the
rightful ruler, then kidnap the ruler and replace them. Let’s divide
that plan up into individual steps:
Get Illusion Magic ⇝ Kidnap Ruler ⇝ Take Control of City
Think of how these individual steps might interact with the PCs. If
you have a PC that uses The Unspeakable Power, will the vizier have
to steal it from them or enlist their help? Might they learn of the
source of the magic and have an opportunity to gain it for them-
selves? Is the ruler a Crown, or perhaps the Patron of one of the
PCs? Will this action put them in The Black Hood or The Screw’s
† 246 †
sphere of influence? And once they are in control, what will that
mean for the characters?
Here’s a more complicated example, that of an enemy warlord who
wants to invade where the PCs live. She sends in her advance forces
to infiltrate the city. As her armies approach, they ravage the land. At
the appointed hour, the advance forces slay the gate defenders and
open the gates. Then the armies battle for control of the city, and
finally the leaders of the city are rounded up and executed. Plotted
out, that looks like this:
Plant Spies in City ⇝ Armies Approach City ⇝ Armies Ravage
Countryside ⇝ Spies Attack Gatehouse ⇝ Spies Let Army into
City ⇝ Army Sacks City ⇝ City Leaders Captured ⇝ City Leaders
Executed.
That’s a lot of steps! And at each step, there’s probably someone who
will want them not to do the things they are doing, especially if
you’ve got a Spur who leads the defenses of the City, or any number
of characters who might be considered ‘city leaders.’
This structure might look familiar — it’s essentially a threat count-
down. Whenever you like — either at the start of the session, or
when time passes, or when someone fails a roll, you can move along
to the next point on the chain. The vizier has gained his magic, or
the spies have seized the gatehouse. Of course, if the PCs derail the
plan, perhaps by stealing the magic for themselves, or killing the
spies, that’s when you have to figure out what happens next.
You don’t have to go into this much detail for every NPC in your
game, but it’s probably a good idea to have two or three major
threats, with countdowns or event chains thought out, and maybe
with custom moves, such as:
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Odds and Ends † Playing Hard: How to Have More Fun in Your Game
By default, you take 3 Harm.
On a 7-9, pick 2, on a 10+, pick 3.
†† You take 1 less Harm.
†† You corner an NPC of your choice in the fighting and deal
Harm to them.
†† You protect an NPC of your choice from Harm.
†† In the chaos, you find an opportunity to sneak somewhere
(your call) without anyone noticing.
†† You loot valuables worth 2 Barter.
On a miss, you’re stuck in the thick of the fighting. Take 4 Harm
instead of 3.
And when you’re thinking about how hard to advance your threats
remember to...
Consider where the PCs are pointed
‘Pointing’ refers to who is a danger to whom. Think of an arrow
— whoever it’s pointed at is likely to get hit. If The Lyre wants to
seduce The Bloodletter to gain their confidence, then that’s where
the Lyre is pointed. The Bloodletter might be pointed back at the
Lyre (because they want to use their oh-so-beautiful face for the flesh
abomination they’re building in the back room), or they might be
pointed somewhere else, like at the Plague Cult that’s making every-
one in the city suffer from the Black Pox. Characters can point in
multiple directions at once, of course. The Adept might want to oust
their rival The Hex at the same time they want to mystically enthrall
the Djinn of the Ninth Hell, and The Voice probably has some
scheme in mind for everyone they meet.
Generally, if the PCs are pointed at each other, you have an ‘in-
ward-pointing’ game. If the PCs are mostly pointed at NPCs and
external threats, you have an ‘outward-pointing’ game. If the play-
† 248 †
ers are mostly pointed at each other, you’re probably already doing
your job right, but if you like, you can introduce a powerful external
threat (like the invading warlord or a powerful magical entity) that
demands attention right now. This means rivals may have to bury
the hatchet (for now, at least), to deal with whatever threatens them,
but at the same time, opportunities for betrayal abound.
On the other hand, if the players are too united against outside
threats, use the tools at your disposal to drive wedges between them.
Your most powerful tool is the PC-PC-NPC triangle: arrange it so
an NPC is an ally to one PC and an enemy to another. Perhaps they
are a member of one PC’s Faction, or a Patron, friend, or relative, so
that PC will be sympathetic to them, and then give them a motive
that will put that NPC in conflict with another PC. With exper-
imentation, you’ll find the ideal balance of internal and external
pressure for you and your table. Once you’ve got it, you can use your
moves and techniques like safety valves, adjusting the tension here or
there. And speaking of tension...
Attack them where they’re weak
PCs are really competent at what they do, but everyone has a weak-
ness. The Gauntlet or The Spur might be the greatest warrior in the
kingdom, but put them at a masquerade ball and see how they fare.
Your players are going to look for ways to use what they’re good at
to solve problems. The Gauntlet will use violence, The Screw will
use information, The Adept will use blackest magic, and The Voice
will use words.
To put them off their balance, bring them into situations where
their area of expertise isn’t the best tool. Think in terms of Swords,
Crowns, and Unspeakable Powers. If someone is the best duelist
in the realm, give them a social or magical problem to solve. Give
a Voice or Crown an enemy that needs killing. Give the Beloved
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Odds and Ends † Playing Hard: How to Have More Fun in Your Game
push through and use their expertise anyway — when you have a
hammer, everything looks like a nail, and characters in this game
have some awfully big hammers. Maybe they’ll turn to another PC
for assistance, forging a tighter relationship. Maybe they’ll do the
best they can with what they’ve got. Maybe they’ll even succeed.
This isn’t about humiliating or playing ‘gotcha’ with your players. By
all means, give The Black Hood people to assassinate, The Gaunt-
let and Spur people to fight, The Bloodletter and Screw people to
cut open, and The Hex people to curse. Just remember to also push
them into new directions, out of their comfort zones. Because you
want to...
Put the screws to the players
Whenever possible, put your players in a situation where they have
to make hard choices. The easiest way is to do it as a straight up
‘would you rather’ style choice, giving them a selection between two
bad options. You can often do this on a 7-9 result or on a miss for
any move. Here’s some examples:
“As the Red Knight lunges at you, you realize he is much more
powerful than you. You can stand fast and trade Harm, or you
can bring your shield up, but it will probably break under the
blow. What do you do?”
“You’ve evaded the guard patrols, but you see another patrol com-
ing, and this one consists of three men and two dogs. You can get
up to the Prince’s tower unnoticed, but the dogs will probably
pick up your trail soon. What do you do?”
“You can tell that the population are going to want someone to
blame for the Black Pox. Unless you can offer up a scapegoat,
that person is probably going to be you. What do you do?”
† 250 †
Some of these offer a simple binary choice, and others are clearly
more open ended, but the imagination of players is such that few
choices are ever simply between A or B. Even in the first example,
the character might choose to try to turn and run, or throw down
their weapons and beg for mercy, or attempt to use The Unspeakable
Power to influence the situation. But what all of these moves have
in common is that bad things are happening, and the player must
choose how to proceed. By putting these choices in your players’
hands, you can build on their decisions. What’s more, because you
give the players agency in helping to decide what bad things happen
to them, they are invested in that outcome. They are the author
of their own destruction. And then, when it does finally all come
crumbling down...
Make your hard moves harder
Powered by the Apocalypse games can be pretty brutal, especially
SCUP. It’s an unforgiving world, full of people who want to see you
fail. And sooner or later, everyone will roll a failure.
I recommend you make your moves harder than your first instinct.
The players are our friends, and we often want them to succeed and
have fun. But PCs need adversity to shine, and part of your job is
providing it. So make the moves a little bit harder. Push them, and
give them an opportunity to push themselves. A good move to start
with is to Hint at an Unwelcome Future. This is my favorite move.
You show them that something bad is going to happen, and give
them an opportunity to deal with it. If they don’t deal with it? The
horrible thing happens. But you told them it was coming, so it’s
not like they can blame you. Fair is fair. The more Unwelcome the
Future, the better this move is.
† 251 †
The hardest moves of course, are the ones that do something imme-
Odds and Ends † Playing Hard: How to Have More Fun in Your Game
diately and force them to deal with the fallout. The temple collaps-
es, the loved one is killed, the Faction turns against you, the demon
breaks free of your control. The move has happened. The only ques-
tion now is “what do you do?” My favorite hard moves are ones that
change everything, and make everyone at the table reassess their sit-
uation. Kill off important NPCs. Have major alliances shift. Bring
in a dynamic new threat. Have an existing threat achieve a goal. The
person who failed their roll should suffer most, but if everyone suf-
fers, more the better.
The most boring move you can do is to inflict Harm. If the charac-
ter is fresh, Harm is usually just an inconvenience. If they are already
wounded, it can take them out of play. Look for moves other than
Harm when you can: take something they care about away, cap-
ture them, give them an escape route but reveal its cost. Sometimes
though, the situation is the situation and Harm is Harm. If you try
to wrestle the fire elemental, you’re going to get burned. To make
Harm more interesting, pair it with another move, or give them a
choice to take the Harm or have something else happen.
And finally, don’t forget that you can make a move (hard or other-
wise) just because it’s too good to pass up. Use this power wisely, and
keep in mind your principles.
Play Hard.
Willow Palecek is the designer of such games as Awesome
Adventures, Escape from Tentacle City, and The Arm, as well
as an author who wrote the novella City of Wolves.
† 252 †
Decolonize SCUP
BY JAMES MENDEZ HODES
Let’s diversify the cultural and religious influences on your game,
shall we? While the game translates well enough as-is to non-Euro-
pean settings, you can really make them sing if you pivot and com-
plicate a few of the game’s core assumptions.
yáng, and the five elements to grant himself great and selfish power.
around calling Kālī or Sònpònná “evil,” you might upset real people,
and/or real gods (not to mention fail to get everything interesting
out of that mythic figure). But one also can’t expect to determine
from a casual read-through whether a religious figure is evil or not.
How would you know without context?
So, here’s another take on The Unspeakable Power. What if you set
aside evil and ramp up how demanding it is? A virtuous Unspeakable
Power can cause just as much trouble as a wicked one. What if it
insists you adhere to strict moral or ethical standards when all you’re
trying to do is murder enough family members to get in power?
What if you become responsible for a benevolent deity’s expectant
flock?
HISTORICAL INSPIRATIONS
Traditional medieval fantasy draws heavily on tropes and concepts
from historical Europe. Even fantastical settings still borrow customs
of dress, manners, architecture, and appearance from somewhere in
the real world. Historical signifiers are inescapable — so why not get
excited about choosing them? Here are a few historical settings from
which you could draw inspiration for your SCUP game, plus some
fun and evocative fiction to get you started.
WHY?
Fantasy role-play has traditionally gravitated towards a late medie-
val European default: feudal aristocracies, knights, leather and steel,
Gothic castles, large well-organized religions on Greek or Roman
models, and individual heroes who accumulate power for them-
† 259 †
selves. Fantasy role-play got this way because the hobby as we’ve
they are remembered as heroes. Will you follow Dharma and estab-
THE BELOVED
THE CROWN
Description: The burden of rule is terrible. Your Dharma affects
not only your fate but the fates of all your people. But sometimes
you have to make difficult decisions, doing the wrong things for the
right reasons…
SUGGESTED STARTING MOVES: Heavy is the Head, Iron Fist,
Commander of the Guard
MOVES TO AVOID: …Of Omelets and Eggs, Bounty
THE GAUNTLET
Description: The honor of fighting for your kingdom is worth more
than money, but not much more. Your duty to The Crown has
brought you to the battlefield, but you still expect to be rewarded.
And if there are opportunities to take that reward directly from the
people of the kingdom you are supposed to defend, that is only your
due…
SUGGESTED STARTING MOVES: Fearsome, Send an Army for I
Will Not Relent, My Debts Shall Be Paid, The Smell of Blood and
Steel, I Don’t Mind the Pain
MOVES TO AVOID: Like a Rabid Dog Let Out of its Cage, Too
Long in the Killing Fields
THE HEX (SEE NOTES ABOVE)
Description: You are a monster. You may be the child of a Naga or
Rakshasa, or you may be a weaker demon disguised as a human.
You wish nothing less than the full destruction of those who follow
order, but for true destruction you must corrupt them first...
SUGGESTED STARTING MOVES: Moloch, Fairest of Them All,
Black Ichor, Wise in the Ways, Dark Harvest
MOVES TO AVOID: Devil’s Ante, Bend the Bone, Break the Back
† 267 †
THE LYRE
MYTHOLOGY CREATION
The normal procedures that SCUP offers for creating the specifics
of your game world work perfectly well in this variant. However,
you may want to consider where your story sits in relation to the
actual story of the Mahābhārata. Because the Mahābhārata takes
place in a time of legend, there are plenty of opportunities for king-
doms and characters not listed in the poem. You should set your
story some time before the Kurukshetra War, since that climactic
event transforms the world in far-reaching ways. However, you can
easily make references to some of the earlier events that lead up to
the war if you like. You probably also want to set your story away
from the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas themselves. Individual characters
might make brief cameo appearances, but they should not be central
to your game unless you are very careful. On the other hand, you
should certainly include the gods and their avatars whenever appro-
priate. Their presence is an important part of the setting.
When not freelance writing, Eric Simon balances his time be-
tween managing projects for Ulisses North America (ulisses-us.
com), designing games (fihgames.com), and advocating for
post-colonial steampunk for everyone.
† 269 †
Playing Responsibly:
Play Resources
Moves Quick Reference
BASIC MOVES
FACE DURESS
When you do something difficult where your ability to do so is se-
riously in question, roll+Steady. On a 10+, you have achieved what
you set out to do. On a 7-9, you have flinched, stalled, or hesitated.
The MC will pick 1 or 2 of the following and tell you what it will
look like if you take it.
†† You can achieve your goal, but it’ll come at a price.
†† You can achieve your goal, but only partially.
†† You cannot achieve your goal, but can do something similar,
instead.
Then, decide if you go through with what’s been offered, or back off.
THREATEN WITH FORCE
When you intimidate a person with the threat of violence,
roll+Fierce. On a 10+, your target believes your threat. If they are an
NPC, they will either do what you ask or, if they do not, you may
choose to immediately commit the violence you promised them. If
they are a PC, they may decide what they do, but if they refuse to
do what you ask you may choose to immediately commit the vio-
lence you promised them. On a 7-9, you were unconvincing or they
are not persuaded. Your target will choose one:
†† Freeze in fear, surprise, or confusion.
†† Try to strike a bargain with you or talk their way out of it.
†† Start looking for a way out and take it if they can.
†† Put something or someone between themselves and you.
†† Laugh at you, challenge you, or attack you, right then and there.
† 273 †
ENGAGE IN COMBAT
STUDY A SITUATION
When things are getting charged or tense and you try to work out
what is happening around you, roll+Sly. On a 10+, ask 3 questions.
On a 7–9, ask 2:
†† Where is my best escape route/way in/way past?
†† How is one of my adversaries vulnerable to me right now?
†† What am I missing?
†† Who or where is my enemy, really?
†† Who’s actually pulling the strings, here?
†† Who or what here could be a useful opportunity for me?
On a miss, ask one question, but the MC gets to make their hard
move, as well. The first time you act on one of the MC’s answers,
take +1 forward on your roll.
STUDY A PERSON
When you and someone else are interacting and you try to glean
information from them about who they are, what they want, what
they’re thinking, etc., roll+Sly. On a 10+, ask 3 questions. On a 7–9,
ask 2.
†† What does your character really want?
†† What is your character’s current plan?
†† What does your character wish I would do?
†† What are you leaving out?
†† How could I get your character to _____?
†† Can I actually trust your character to _____?
On a miss, ask one question, but the MC gets to make their move,
as well. The first time you act on one of the MC’s/player’s answers,
take +1 forward.
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PERIPHERAL MOVES
PATRON MOVE
If you have a Patron, roll+the stat your class lists at the start of the
session.
†† On a 10+, your Patron is happy with you. You and the player
of your Patron should work out why this is. You may remove 1
disobedience if you have any.
†† On a 7-9, your Patron is generally pleased, with some reserva-
tions. You and the player of your patron should work out why
this is. They hold 1 for the session. They may spend it to call
on you to do something and you must make a Refuse an Obli-
gation, Duty, or Debt roll if you refuse. If you refuse your Pa-
tron’s request, it counts as 1 disobedience (max 3).
†† On a miss, your Patron is angry with you. You and the player
of your Patron should work out why. You receive 1 automatic
disobedience (max 3).
If you reach 3 disobedience, an NPC Patron will immediately sever
their relationship with you. A PC Patron may choose to immediate-
ly sever their relationship with you, or choose instead to take 1 hold
to call on you.
† 276 †
MARKET MOVE
HONOR MOVES
DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?
Spend 1 Honor to have someone you meet have recently heard
something impressive about you. Take +1 forward on your next
Threaten With Force or Persuade With Leverage roll against them.
CALL ON YOUR FACTION
When you call on your Faction for help, support, or to advance your
agenda, spend between 0-3 Honor and roll+Honor spent. On a 10+,
activate one of your Faction’s benefits. On a 7-9, activate one of your
Faction’s benefits, but the MC holds 1. They may spend it to have
someone from your Faction call on you to do a favor, fulfill your
duty, or perform an obligation. On a miss, your Faction cannot help
you. The MC will detail why and will pick one from the list of con-
sequences below.
†† Secrets are revealed.
†† Loyalties are shifted.
†† Status is threatened.
†† Channels are cut off.
†† Suspicions are confirmed.
†† Allies are put in danger.
† 278 †
MC Quick Reference
THE MC’S AGENDA:
†† Make the world feel epic and extraordinary.
†† Fill the player characters’ lives with intrigue and drama.
†† And, most importantly, play to find out what happens.
THE MC’S PRINCIPLES:
†† Address the characters, not the players.
†† Make your move, but never speak its name.
†† Alliances shift like sands. See treachery all around.
†† Remember that power corrupts, duty calls, and subordination
crushes.
†† Give every NPC a desire and aim those desires at the PCs.
†† Don’t give anything away for free.
†† Ask big questions of the players and use them to spin webs.
†† Think broadly - what else is happening that may affect the players?
†† Give the PCs reasons to both love and hate the NPCs.
†† Sometimes, disclaim decision-making.
†† Be a fan of the PCs.
†† Even as you are cruel and calculating, remember that it’s a
game, with real people at the table.
† 279 †
BASIC MC MOVES:
Factions Worksheet
FACTION BENEFITS
Now pick two Faction benefits based on your social status.
FOR NOBLE OR HONORED FACTIONS
†† Wealth
†† Power
†† Status
†† Magic
†† Knowledge
†† Rumors
FOR COMMON OR PROLETARIAN FACTIONS
†† Skill
†† Gossip
†† Networks
†† Numbers
†† Strength
†† Inconspicuousness
FOR OUTCAST OR OUTLAW FACTIONS
†† Secrecy
†† Blackmail
†† Vice
†† Dirty Work
†† Contraband
†† Magic
RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN FACTIONS
Take a minute before play to briefly discuss how your Faction is re-
lated to each other PC’s Faction. Pick from the following.
†† We have a rivalry with this Faction.
†† We have an alliance with this Faction.
†† We have open conflict with this Faction.
†† We are indifferent to or unaware of this Faction.
† 283 †
For Adversaries, pick one or two For Cabals, pick one or two
drives: goals:
†† Domination †† To enrich their members.
†† Wealth †† To spread their dogma.
†† Chaos †† To swell their ranks.
†† Power †† To protect their own.
†† Lust †† To sow discord.
†† Sport †† To maintain order.
†† Fear †† To consolidate their power.
†† Hunger †† To punish those who are
different.
† 284 †
STEP FOUR
Figure out what it connects to.
STEP FIVE
Write one or two stakes questions.
STEP SIX (OPTIONAL)
Write a custom move.
† 285 †
Pre-Generated Settings
THE KINGDOM OF TRYGVASON
BY JENN MARTIN, ADAM ROBICHAUD, RICH ROGERS,
LARRY SPIEL, AND TODD NICHOLAS
The Kingdom is ruled over by House Einarsson in the capital city of
Draumur Minna, where magic is forbidden because of a great terror
many years ago, and where people suffer from restless, dreamless
sleep because of the intervention of the gods.
MYTHOLOGY
Many cycles ago, mortals slumbered in peaceful, restful sleep, under
the watch of the gods, blissfully unaware that terrible things were
locked away in realms beyond our knowing. The complacent mor-
tals became arrogant and began to meddle in what they should not,
spinning magics and mocking the very walls between worlds. Their
tampering unleashed the Vanir, creatures that crawled into our
dreams, and whispered terrible things as we slept. Mortals lived in
fear of the Vanir coming to them in the night and planting horrible
ideas in their brains. Priestesses would forego sleep for weeks on end
to avoid the lure of the Vanir and perform rituals that kept them at
bay. Eventually, a cult, called Those Who Slumber, were seduced by
the Vanir and rose up against the learned priestesses, slaughtering
them. King Thronall of House Einarsson, declared war on the cult
and their followers, leading to a bloody civil war. After a decade of
wanton destruction, the gods themselves sealed the Vanir away in
the blackness between the stars and robbed mortals of their ability
to dream. Though time has passed, we can never forget those days
because we must live with dreamless, agitated sleep. Now, some wor-
ship the vanished gods who ended the war, some venerate the noble
priestesses who kept the Vanir at bay, some lust for the power of the
† 287 †
Vanir, and many think it’s all nonsense. Except, of course, for those
THE GAUNTLET
MYTH
In the beginning, the great city of Kar’in Nar’el was the seat of power
and scholarship at the center of a great jungle. Because the people
of the city were curious, they ventured further and further into the
jungle, discovering its secrets and treasures. One day, a young scholar
named Temmah ventured into a cave far from the city and found a
golden chest full of stone tablets. On the tablets, mysterious words
were written. Temmah took the tablets back to her learned colleagues
in the city and they began to speak the words. As soon as they did,
the jungle around the city turned to a sea of endless sand and the
earth shook, revealing the great mountains that surround the desert.
Cut off from the rest of the world, the city of Kar’in Nar’el suffered
and withered in the heat of the desert sun until the scholars who
had first destroyed the jungle and split the earth mastered the words.
While the destruction they wrought could not be undone, they cre-
ated The Conclave of Nebutites, those who ink their tongues, to jeal-
ously guard the power of the tablets. The Conclave erected the great
Ziggurat of Temmah, guarded by the High Priestess of the Words,
and locked the tablets inside to ensure that they and only they know
the words. Once a year, the High Priestess unlocks the chest at the
Festival of Temmah and threatens to speak the words unless someone
agrees to sacrifice themselves by wandering alone into the desert.
† 291 †
THE GAUNTLET
Index
A E
Advanced Moves: 177 End of Season Moves: 181
Advancement: 19, 175 End of Session: 22, 161-162
Armor: 170 Entanglements: 19, 176
B F-G
Barter: 14 Factions: 10, 152
Basic Moves: 24, 272 Followers: 18, 64
Act Under Duress: 24, 272 Gear: 174
Engage in Combat: 29, 273
H
Persuade With Leverage: 32,
273 Harm: 12, 46
Study a Person: 35, 274 Harness The Unspeakable Power:
Study a Situation: 34, 274 44-45
Threaten With Force: 27, 272 Honor Moves: 11, 43, 164, 277
Whisper Into The Unspeakable Call on Your Faction: 43, 164,
Power: 37, 275 277
Do You Know Who I Am: 43,
C 164, 277
Character Classes: 8, 48 Refuse an Obligation, Duty, or
Adept, The: 49 Debt: 43, 165, 278
Beloved, The: 58 Honor Points: 160-163
Black Hood, The: 67 Honor: 11, 43, 159
Bloodletter, The: 75
M-N
Crown, The: 83
Gauntlet, The: 91 MC Moves, Basic: 201, 279
Hex, The: 98 MC Moves, Common: 208, 279
Lyre, The: 106 MC Moves, Elite: 208, 279
Screw, The: 113 MC Moves, Unspeakable Power:
Spur, The: 121 205, 280
Voice, The: 129 MC Principles: 212, 279
MC’s Agenda: 6, 193, 279
Military: 17, 88
Militias: 17, 124
Mythology Creation: 137, 268
NPCs: 195
† 295 †
Index †
P-S T-W
Patrons: 11, 148 Tags: 171
PCs' Agenda: 6 The First Session: 20
Peripheral Moves: 39, 275 First Session Worksheet 285
Help or Interfere: 40, 276 Threats: 222
Market Move: 42, 277 Adversaries: 225
Patron Move: 39, 275 Cabals: 226
When You Take Harm: 42, 276 Creating a Threat: 223
Plaver vs. Player: 45 Maladies: 227
Pre-Generated Settings: 286 Powers: 229
Stats: 3, 9 Realms: 228
Steads: 16, 85 Threat Creation Worksheet 283
Unspeakable Power, The: 5
Weapons: 169
The Sword, The Crown, and The Unspeakable Power (SCUP) is a dark fantasy
role-playing game from Wheel Tree Press. Reminiscent of the A Song of Ice and
Fire or First Law books, SCUP focuses on power, politics, and intrigue in a
setting you create using a unique world building exercise.
Built on the Powered by the Apocalypse system developed in Vincent and
Meguey Baker's game Apocalypse World, SCUP is designed to let players get
their hands dirty in scheming, conniving, and backstabbing.
Take control of powerful sorcerers, regal nobles, and hardened warriors as you
plot your rise to glory. Will others step on you as they ascend the social hierar-
chy? Or will you hack and claw your way to be the one who wears the crown?
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