Tinytown

Tinytown
by Deborah L. and Jason W. Davitt

Tinytown |1
Blades in the Dark™ is a trademark of One Seven Design. The Forged in the Dark Logo is © One Seven Design,
and is used with permission.
This work is based on Blades in the Dark (found at http://www.bladesinthedark.com/), product of One Seven
Design, developed and authored by John Harper, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution
3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
ISBN:
ISBN 13:
Tinytown
Copyright © 2023 Deborah L. Davitt
All rights reserved
First published in 2023 by Deborah L. and Jason W. Davitt
Cover Art:
Internal Art: Emily McCosh
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior express permission
of the publisher.
That said, if you’re doing this for personal use, go right ahead. For those working
at the copy shop, this means that the person standing at your counter can make copies
of this thing. This is “express permission.” Carry on.
Tinytown |2
Credits
Deborah L. Davitt
Writing, Setting, Layout
Jason W. Davitt
Game Design
Emily McCosh
Art Design
Garry Moss
Game consultant
Game testers
Tom Biddell, Matt Yelland, Jake Mittelman, Jared Oliver Adams, Tom Church
Tinytown |3
Contents
Foreword and Acknowledgments ................................................................................................. 10
Chapter One: The Town Itself ...................................................................................................... 12
Chapter Two: Key Setting Characteristics .................................................................................... 14
Technology and Flavor ............................................................................................................. 14
Chapter Three: Character Creation ............................................................................................... 16
Abilities, Defined ...................................................................................................................... 17
Insight abilities ...................................................................................................................... 17
Prowess abilities.................................................................................................................... 18
Resolve abilities .................................................................................................................... 18
Your Species ............................................................................................................................. 20
Birds ...................................................................................................................................... 20
Cats ....................................................................................................................................... 23
Dogs ...................................................................................................................................... 24
Possums................................................................................................................................. 25
Rabbits .................................................................................................................................. 27
Rats and Mice ....................................................................................................................... 28
Hedgehogs and Porcupines ................................................................................................... 30
Your Background ...................................................................................................................... 32
Acolyte .................................................................................................................................. 32
Amnesiac............................................................................................................................... 32
Archivist ................................................................................................................................ 32
Bounty Hunter....................................................................................................................... 33
Charlatan ............................................................................................................................... 33
City Guard............................................................................................................................. 33
Cleaner .................................................................................................................................. 33
Courtesan or Entertainer ....................................................................................................... 33
Diplomat ............................................................................................................................... 33
Doctor ................................................................................................................................... 34
Guild Artisan ......................................................................................................................... 34
Noble ..................................................................................................................................... 34
Outsider ................................................................................................................................. 34
Private Investigator ............................................................................................................... 34
Spy ........................................................................................................................................ 35
Tinytown |4
Your Free Will .......................................................................................................................... 36

Your Playbook .......................................................................................................................... 37
Artificer ................................................................................................................................. 39
Assassin................................................................................................................................. 41
Barbarian ............................................................................................................................... 42
Bard ....................................................................................................................................... 43
Cleric ..................................................................................................................................... 45
Druid ..................................................................................................................................... 47
Fighter ................................................................................................................................... 49
Monk ..................................................................................................................................... 50
Ranger ................................................................................................................................... 51
Rogue .................................................................................................................................... 52
Warlock ................................................................................................................................. 53
Wizard ................................................................................................................................... 55
Your Solace, Vigor, and Mana ................................................................................................. 57
Your Memories ......................................................................................................................... 61
Memory Levels ..................................................................................................................... 62
Memory Issues ...................................................................................................................... 62
Regaining Memories ............................................................................................................. 63
Creating new memories ........................................................................................................ 63
Chapter Four: Mechanics of Play ................................................................................................. 64
Task Resolution vs. Conflict resolution .................................................................................... 64
What’s a clock? ......................................................................................................................... 65
Simple Obstacles ................................................................................................................... 65
Danger Clocks ....................................................................................................................... 65
Racing Clocks ....................................................................................................................... 65
Linked Clocks ....................................................................................................................... 65
Mission Clocks...................................................................................................................... 66
Tug-of-War Clocks ............................................................................................................... 66
Long-Term Project ................................................................................................................ 66
Free play.................................................................................................................................... 66
Gather Information................................................................................................................ 66
Selecting your load: .............................................................................................................. 68
The Engagement roll: ............................................................................................................ 68
Tinytown |5
The Case and Flashbacks ...................................................................................................... 69

Downtime.................................................................................................................................. 71
What happens in downtime? ................................................................................................. 71
Agency Tier .............................................................................................................................. 79
Hold....................................................................................................................................... 79
Development ......................................................................................................................... 80
Faction Status ........................................................................................................................ 80
Chapter Five: Sample Investigation .............................................................................................. 82
Freeplay..................................................................................................................................... 82
The Engagement Roll ............................................................................................................... 83
The Case Itself .......................................................................................................................... 84
Downtime and Payoff ............................................................................................................... 89
Chapter Six: Equipment ................................................................................................................ 91
Load .......................................................................................................................................... 91
Core Items ................................................................................................................................. 91
Specialized Items ...................................................................................................................... 93
Artificer ................................................................................................................................. 93
Assassin................................................................................................................................. 94
Barbarian and Fighter ........................................................................................................... 95
Bard ....................................................................................................................................... 95
Cleric ..................................................................................................................................... 96
Druid ..................................................................................................................................... 96
Monk ..................................................................................................................................... 97
Ranger ................................................................................................................................... 97
Rogue .................................................................................................................................... 97
Warlock ................................................................................................................................. 98
Wizard ................................................................................................................................... 98
Chapter Seven: Death, Undeath, and Fading Away .................................................................... 99
Death ......................................................................................................................................... 99
Undeath ..................................................................................................................................... 99
Fading ....................................................................................................................................... 99
Chapter Eight: Building an Agency ............................................................................................ 101
Choose an Initial Reputation and Office ................................................................................. 101
Choose a Special Ability ......................................................................................................... 102
Tinytown |6
Special Abilities: ................................................................................................................. 102

Choose a favorite contact. ....................................................................................................... 103
Assign Agency Upgrades ........................................................................................................ 103
Agency Upgrades .................................................................................................................... 104
Cohorts ................................................................................................................................ 105
Chapter Nine: Map and Neighborhoods ..................................................................................... 107
East of the River...................................................................................................................... 108
Brickyard............................................................................................................................. 108
Cooksville ........................................................................................................................... 108
Courtshade Market .............................................................................................................. 109
East Dockside...................................................................................................................... 110
Eastgate Market .................................................................................................................. 110
Fuller’s Den ........................................................................................................................ 111
The Graveyard .................................................................................................................... 112
Inner Rose District .............................................................................................................. 113
Law’s Rule .......................................................................................................................... 114
Leafshade ............................................................................................................................ 115
Loomsville .......................................................................................................................... 116
Lower East Riverside .......................................................................................................... 116
Maddersholm ...................................................................................................................... 117
Maidenow ........................................................................................................................... 118
Mason’s Square ................................................................................................................... 118
Moss Blanket ...................................................................................................................... 119
Night’s Hollow.................................................................................................................... 120
North Farm Market ............................................................................................................. 121
Outer Rose District ............................................................................................................. 121
Pine Needle Square ............................................................................................................. 122
The Pocket .......................................................................................................................... 122
Sanguine Hill ...................................................................................................................... 123
Scullion’s Court .................................................................................................................. 124
Southgate Market ................................................................................................................ 124
Taylorsville ......................................................................................................................... 125
Turner’s Row ...................................................................................................................... 126
Upper East Dockside........................................................................................................... 126
Tinytown |7
West of the River .................................................................................................................... 128

Clawsout ............................................................................................................................. 128
Fish Market ......................................................................................................................... 129
Haymarket ........................................................................................................................... 129
Hayseed Square ................................................................................................................... 129
The Heap ............................................................................................................................. 130
Last Stand Hill .................................................................................................................... 130
Lower West Dockside ......................................................................................................... 131
Mouse Enclave .................................................................................................................... 132
Nightstide ............................................................................................................................ 132
Ravensboro ......................................................................................................................... 132
Tanner’s District ................................................................................................................. 133
Upper Rats’ Nest ................................................................................................................. 133
Upper West Dockside ......................................................................................................... 134
West Dockside .................................................................................................................... 134
Chapter Ten: Factions ................................................................................................................. 136
The Benevolent Association of Artificers (BAA) .............................................................. 137
College of Mages ................................................................................................................ 138
The Cabal ............................................................................................................................ 141
The Cats .............................................................................................................................. 143
The Church.......................................................................................................................... 144
The Collectors ..................................................................................................................... 148
The Cleaners ....................................................................................................................... 149
City Watch .......................................................................................................................... 151
The Crows ........................................................................................................................... 152
The Dogs ............................................................................................................................. 154
The Druid Circles ................................................................................................................ 156
The Gravekeepers ............................................................................................................... 157
The Investigators ................................................................................................................. 160
Librarian and the Archives.................................................................................................. 163
Lord Mayor ......................................................................................................................... 165
The Merry Wives ................................................................................................................ 167
Merchants and Crafters ....................................................................................................... 168
The Mice ............................................................................................................................. 169
Tinytown |8
Monastery of Long Yongshi ............................................................................................... 170

The Nobility ........................................................................................................................ 171
Thieves’ Guild .................................................................................................................... 173
The Order of Silver ............................................................................................................. 175
The Order of Shadow .......................................................................................................... 177
Rangers and Barbarians ...................................................................................................... 178
The Rabbits ......................................................................................................................... 179
The Rats .............................................................................................................................. 180
The Robins .......................................................................................................................... 182
The Possums ....................................................................................................................... 183
Chapter Eleven: The Ecology and Scale of Tinytown ................................................................ 184
Scale ........................................................................................................................................ 184
Small ................................................................................................................................... 184
Medium ............................................................................................................................... 184
Large ................................................................................................................................... 184
Huge .................................................................................................................................... 185
Diet and ecology ..................................................................................................................... 185
Chapter Twelve: The Economy of Tinytown ............................................................................. 187
Standard Economy .................................................................................................................. 187
Coin and Stash ........................................................................................................................ 187
Coin ..................................................................................................................................... 187
Stash .................................................................................................................................... 188
Chapter Thirteen: The Memory Market ...................................................................................... 190
The Shadow Economy ............................................................................................................ 190
Consequences of Replacing Memories ............................................................................... 192
Forcible Memory Implantation ........................................................................................... 192
Coin to Memory Exchange Rate ......................................................................................... 193
Chapter Fourteen: Ascension ...................................................................................................... 198
The First Trials ........................................................................................................................ 198
Endurance ........................................................................................................................... 199
Spirit.................................................................................................................................... 199
Mind .................................................................................................................................... 199
The Tower of Testing.............................................................................................................. 199
Floor One ............................................................................................................................ 199
Tinytown |9
Floor Two............................................................................................................................ 200

Floor Three.......................................................................................................................... 200
The Transformation ................................................................................................................ 200
Ascended Species................................................................................................................ 204
Chapter Fifteen: The Things and the Collectors ......................................................................... 218
The Things in the Mist ............................................................................................................ 218
The Slug – Quality 1 ........................................................................................................... 218
The Crab-Mouth – Quality 2............................................................................................... 219
The Eye See You – Quality 3 ............................................................................................. 219
The Double-Bodied – Quality 4 .......................................................................................... 220
The Hydra – Quality 5 ........................................................................................................ 220
Thing Incursions ..................................................................................................................... 221
War footing ......................................................................................................................... 221
The Collectors ......................................................................................................................... 221
Collector – Quality 5 ........................................................................................................... 222
Chapter Sixteen: Outside the Town and Expanding Your World............................................... 224
Travelling the Mists: ............................................................................................................... 224
What’s under the Mists: .......................................................................................................... 224
Fighting back the Mists:.......................................................................................................... 224
Appendix A: Non-Class Abilities ............................................................................................... 225
Tinytown | 10
Foreword and Acknowledgments
Tinytown began, as things do, as a whim. While we’d played an entire D&D module with our
then-ten-year-old son, he stiffened up whenever his character was in physical danger. His anxiety
ramped up. Nervous physical and verbal tics manifested. And whenever he had to role-play a
conversation, instead of just rolling dice, the anxiety simply knocked him to the ground.
I decided that I wanted a lighter role-playing experience for him. I’d heard of Bunnies and
Burrows as a good, light-hearted game for kids. Out of print. Unavailable. I looked for other
games that would combine something cheerful and non-anxiety producing for kids, that would
also not make adults grind their teeth with boredom while playing alongside the children.
And I found just about nothing. Oh, there was a game that was supposed to be demonstrated at
Comicpalooza in 2019 that involved cute furry animals. I went to the game area and asked about
the demonstration, clearly noted as being present in the guide, and got blank looks from
everyone I asked. Ephemera. Vapor-ware, as they call it in the video game business.
I sat down at my keyboard and rattled out the first hundred pages or so of Tinytown in the D&D
5e system that I knew best at the time. Our son seemed to enjoy it, but again, the role-play
aspects left him wanting more, er, roll-play. So my husband and I played the game at night
through the first year of the pandemic, developing his character Cory and sending him on a
number of adventures and cases. The more we played and developed the world, the more we
enjoyed it, till Jason started referring to the game as “come for the cute furry animals, stay for the
existential horror.”
In 2021, we discovered the We Like Dice Discord, run by Garry Moss, and started playing
Blades in the Dark, Conan 2d20, FATE, and other gaming systems. I really enjoyed Blades, and,
when Gary needed a break from DMing, I offered to run Tinytown for our small group of
dedicated Sunday players including Tom Biddell and Matt Yelland. Again, the adults seemed to
enjoy it. It offered something light and refreshing with the animal characters, but with currents of
darkness imposed by the realities of the Memory Market.
After about six months of playtesting in a converted form of 5e, the Original Game License
scandal broke, and I decided I would not put my intellectual property into the hands of WoTC. I
began converting Tinytown to a derivative of Blades. Jason offered to handle the system, so I
could concentrate on the world. Garry offered constructive thoughts and guidance. I threw the
resulting drafts to my writing board, Codex, and the people there, including Jared Oliver Adams,
Jeff Stehman, and others, offered great support and feedback, as only Codex can.
The Druid and the Barbarian playbooks owe a debt to the wonderful Skovlund Playbook Hack
by Fernando FG and Dissonance. We also utilized a couple of abilities of the Spy (Dissonance),
the Marked (Loverdrive) and others, but in the main, we attempted to create our own abilities
that fit the signature fantasy of each playbook archetype.
This version of Tinytown is a narratively-driven, noir investigative game set in a world in which
cute, furry animals are faced by soul-destroying terrors that eat memory and drain self. It is a
Tinytown | 11
world in which you have to assemble yourself, day by day, from the scraps left behind by
yesterday. While some people may race through the investigative portion of the game to get to
Ascension, the focus of this book is on the investigative game. The combat game, and retaking
the world from the Things in the Mist, may have to wait for another day, another volume, though
you’re welcome to take the guidelines I’ve provided and begin uncovering ancient villages from
the Mists, using the power of your imaginations as soon as you feel ready.
Thank you all for coming to play in my little universe.
Deborah L. Davitt
Tinytown | 12
Chapter One: The Town Itself

Tinytown exists, to be certain, along both sides of a curve in the River.
No one knows the River’s proper name.
Boats come down the River, out of the Mist, bearing passengers and supplies for Tinytown’s
residents, but the captains never know from where they’ve come. Just that they have a schedule
to keep, downriver or up.
They’re a little nervous about that, because while residents of Tinytown might recognize a given
captain—Captain Oakenfeld, for example, makes the River run once a week, prompt as
clockwork—he never remembers where he’s been when he isn’t here in Tinytown. The names of
the cities further north and south along the River escape him. He doesn’t know who pays him, or
from whence his goods come.
He just knows that while he’s here in Tinytown, he exists.
And when he’s not here, for all intents and purposes, he might not.
The River enters through the city walls at the north, and exits through the same city walls to the
south. The walls are tall and wide enough for two chariots to race, side by side, around the
perimeter of the town. On weekends, residents hold fairs and markets on the walls, lifting
themselves up out of the usual market square near the Keep at the center of Tinytown.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t give them much of a view, because the Mist that surrounds Tinytown
is thick and pervasive. You can’t see more than a mile from the walls on the best day. But that
mile is thick with farms and laborers, all trying to keep Tinytown fed between shipments from
the River and the Road.
Oh, yes, there’s a road. The Great Road leads east and west through Tinytown, with a large
bridge at the center, over the River. It’s important, locals say, not to stand in the shadow of the
bridge.
Caravans come through from east to west, once a week, carrying food and sometimes, new
immigrants. Some use trucks propelled by thaumic engines; others still use wagons and carts.
None of the caravan-owners or their passengers remembers anything about their lives outside the
Mist. They have schedules to keep, and try not to let that bother them.
Immigrants know that they wanted to come here—needed to come here—for some reason. That
they have no reason to go back. And an uneasy sensation that they shouldn’t even try.
No wagons ever come in from the west. The wagons that depart in that direction never return.
Criminals who’ve committed worse than petty theft—criminals that might be hanged, in some
other jurisdiction—are sent out the west gate and driven into the Mists by representatives of the
Tinytown | 13
Courts, who escort the prisoners to the point of no return, and then see them off with a kick into
the Mist. That seems to do the trick, local magistrates think. Because they, like the wagons,
never seem to return.
Horses and oxen draw carriages and wagons, but artificers have been building fancy horseless
carriages for the past couple of years, which run on technomantic crystals and thaumaturgical
forces. Death-traps, the lot of them, but there are always early adopters.
Wall guards have access to rifles and cannons, but they’re also apt to use halberds and swords
when the Things from the Mist come boiling up over the walls. It’s hard to see to aim when the
Mists close in. And for those whom stealth is important, well . . . firearms aren’t an option for
them, either. A poisoned crossbow bolt in the dark is still an assassin’s favored weapon.
Occasionally, new buildings appear in Tinytown. Complete with residents, sometimes shops,
sometimes businesses. After a week or two, most residents forget that these buildings weren’t
here before.
Occasionally, buildings disappear from Tinytown, leaving empty, open lots and perhaps a few
pieces of debris. Their residents sometimes disappear with them—if they were inside at the time,
anyway. It’s certainly possible to have been out for an evening meal, only to return to find you
no longer have an apartment at this address.
And to wonder where you would be now—perhaps even who you’d be now—if you’d been
home at the time.
It’s possible that a mother might have left her young children home to fetch the laundry back
from the washerwoman, and to have arrived in time to see her house waver and vanish before her
eyes.
It’s possible that children might have been rolling hoops in the alley, and for them to have turned
as their mother screamed from the window, only to see her and their apartment building vanish.
After a week or three—a month at most—most people in Tinytown forget that those buildings
were ever there. That those people ever existed.
But not you.
You remember.
That makes you different, important. Special. It makes you curious. Capable of wondering at the
mystery of the world around you.
It’s what makes you an Investigator.

Tinytown | 14
Chapter Two: Key Setting Characteristics
Technology and Flavor
Tinytown is a tabletop role-playing game about an agency of cunning animal Investigators

seeking their fortunes—and their memories—on the streets of a city perennially being destroyed
and created, surrounded by malevolent Mist.
It’s roughly set in what for we humans of Earth would be the 1920s to 1930s. While there’s no
Prohibition to keep people from their martinis, the technology level is approximately that of this
liminal stage of human history. Areas are transitioning from gas lamps to electricity—when any
lighting is available at all. Poorer areas have no lights at night. The town is a patchwork of light
and shadow through the darkest hours of the clock.
Rifles and pistols very much exist, and are in use, but some people still cling to older methods of
making violence. An assassin might still use a crossbow quarrel covered in poison simply
because it’s quieter than a noisy gun. A ranger in the woods might still use a longbow for much
the same reason—she wouldn’t want to alert the Things in the Mist that she’s there, after all.
The bulk of people use their feet, or maybe a bicycle, to get around. Wealthier people have
carriages, drawn by non-sapient horses—and a few daring sorts have plied the Artificers with
coin and purchased horseless carriages: automata that run on magic, not petroleum fuel. We’re
sure that there will be no harmful emissions from these thaumaturgical marvels. No, none at all.
The town is populated by a mix of species: Dogs, Cats, Rats, Mice, Rabbits, Possums, and so on.
Each species has quirks and drives all their own, and should be roleplayed as such.
Note:
These species listed in this manual are recommended for games with younger
players, or for players who enjoy anthropomorphic characters.
There is no requirement that these species be used. Tinytown can use generic
fantasy races—the Birds would thus become elves displaced from their forests;
the Rats would become dwarves in their tunnels; the Mice would become gnomes,
the Rabbits would become halflings, and the Dogs and Cats would become
humans, and so on.
For a different feel, the GM could just as easily rule that all the folk of Tinytown
are human, and adjust various campaign details around that fact. Feel free to
customize this campaign setting to your needs and your players.
Memory, and its loss, figure prominently in this game. Getting Memories back can become very
dark; the uses to which people who have no memories can be put, can get even darker. Adjust
Tinytown | 15
your take on this universe to the players at your table. Some themes might not be appropriate for
younger children.
If you ever have a question about what to include in your own campaign, ask yourself “Does it
fit the narrative?” and “Would it be fun?” and you should have your answer.
It should go without saying that Tinytown is not a game designed with player vs. player combat
in mind. It is a team-based noir fantasy, in which your agency is at the mercy of a hostile world
with inimical forces at play in it. If you every encounter a situation in which the players might
decide to fight each other, stop play immediately, and talk the situation out.
If the players are unable to resolve the situation by talking, PvP should be the absolute last resort,
as it is antithetical to the setting!
Tinytown | 16
Chapter Three: Character Creation

Those in the audience who have played Forged in the Dark, Powered by the Apocalypse, and
FATE may recognize the mechanics involved in Tinytown. Good; you have a head start! But the
way they are assembled in Tinytown may not resemble the way you are used to playing in your
own campaigns entirely.
For those who are starting from scratch, and have never played in these systems before:
welcome! PbtA and FATE are both game types that stress collaborative narrative creation
between the GM and the player. The GM still creates the world and populates it with NPCs; you
as the player, however, have bargaining power and will create truths about your character and the
world as you move in it.
Unlike FiTD, there aren’t multiple agency sheets; you are always an Investigator, first and
foremost, so there is one Agency sheet. You might be a city guard who can remember the names
and faces of friends lost to the Mists and the Things, disturbed by your companions who no
longer remember those who fought beside you. You might be a wizard of the College, tasked
with hunting down errant warlocks who steal memories from others for the Memory Market.
You might be an artificer gumshoe, looking into broken marriages and missing persons cases.
You might be a druid, trying to take back lands stolen by the Mists—but in any of these cases,
you are someone who remembers what others have forgotten.
There are six steps to creating a Tinytown character:
1) Pick your species

2) Pick your background
3) Allocate 4 points to represent your free will
4) Pick your playbook
5) Pick your solace
6) Develop your memories
For those who are coming to this from a Pathfinder or D&D perspective, species is equivalent to
race, and you might think of the playbook as your class . . . at least at the start. You are, after
your first chosen ability inside your original playbook, free to take non-class abilities to
customize your character to suit you.
Memories are the unique mechanic of Tinytown. They are the core of who your character is,
touchstones and truths to who you are. But memory is malleable, fallible. Memories can be
altered, shifted, stolen. Who you are can be changed.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s take it from the top, with an overview of each
mechanic that will walk you through character creation. Unlike Blades, the playbook will be
covered close to the end, so keep your pencils handy and set your min-maxing abilities free.
When you’re directed to place a “dot” in a ability category, a dot represents 1d6 that you have
available to roll in that ability. If you have 0 dots in a ability, you roll 2d6 and take the lowest
Tinytown | 17
result—and in a system in which 1-3 represents failure, 4-5 represents success with a
consequence, 6 is a success, and two 6s is a crit, you can see why you want to have more than
one dot (or dice to roll) in the ability categories most important to you.
When you’re directed to roll a resistance save, the number of abilities you have inside a ability
category (Resolve, Prowess, and Insight) represented by the dots in the first column of a category
determine how many dice you can roll to resist harm or other consequences. Given the example
below in Figure 1, this means that you would be rolling 3d6 to resist, not 4d6.
Again, you might imagine that the number of dots (or dice) you can muster would be important.
Figure 1. Resistance dice.
Starting characters are highly competent individuals. Even when you have 0d in a given ability,
you can always use Vigor to give yourself 1d to roll, or take a Devil’s Bargain. (Vigor and
Devil’s Bargains will be explained later; see Chapter Four: Mechanics of Play.) The point is,
don’t be afraid to try—do things! Even things you’re not good at!
Abilities, Defined
Before jumping into character creation, it’s probably a good idea to have an idea of what each
ability does for your character.
Insight abilities
Insight abilities have everything to do with awareness and mental acuity. It’s about knowledge
and understanding, and being the sort of person who can spot a lie or manipulationg.
Hunt
Hunt could be used for tracking—but it can also be used to fire a ranged weapon of any sort. It
could be used to represent your skills in tracking down information, not just your ability to find
footprints in loose earth. Hunt is a versatile ability!
Tinytown | 18
Investigate
When you take time to really sort through the evidence, to toss a room completely—or when you
assemble clues from the newspaper or comb through the Library’s stacks of books, then you
might be using Investigate.
Observe
When you don’t have the time to really toss a room, and you just casually sweep your glance
over it, taking in every detail at the subconscious level—or when you’re in a crowd and
something strikes you as amiss about the Dog in the green jacket, you might be using Observe.
Tinker
When you build a robotic automaton, when you pick a lock—when you perform delicate surgery,
then you’re using Tinker.
Prowess abilities
Prowess abilities have everything to do with the body in motion, whether in combat or out of it.
Finesse
A skilled fencer, a ballet dancer, a dexterous craftsman—they all have one thing in common.
They’re using subtle, refined movements to engage with the world on their own terms. You
could argue for using Finesse to throw a dart instead of Hunt, for example. Just have a good
explanation for the GM as to why!
Stealth
When a rogue or assassin prowls through the night, when an Investigator’s on stake-out, and
trying to remain inconspicuous—that’s when you might use Stealth.
Force
A raging barbarian with a hammer, a City Guard with a halberd, a prize fighter slugging it out in
the ring—all would be using force. Not enough time on hand to delicately pick a lock with
Tinker? Use Force to bring down the door as you slam into it, shoulder-first!
Athletics
All matters of balance, of running, of endurance in the chase—of swimming in the river, or
climbing up a rickety fire escape. . . all of these are matters of Athletics.
Resolve abilities
Resolve abilities are about willpower and social manipulation. They’re about being able to get
the world to do what you want—whether you use magic to do that, or good old-fashioned
intimidation or charm.
Tinytown | 19
Arcana
Depending on your class, this ability’s name might change. Cast, channel, commune, invoke,
evoke, perform—they all mean that you have a mana pool, and can use spells utilizing that
ability. For everyone else, the term is arcana, which means your level of understanding of the
magic that exists in your world—and your ability to wrestle with ghosts and spirits when they
appear.
Command
Need to command an underling or a cohort? Need to put the fear of the Powers into a suspect?
Command is the skill to use.
Consort
A meeting of minds between equals, a friendly conversation, getting a close friend to do you a
favor—all of these can be accomplished with Consort.
Sway
The gentle art of persuasion—and lying, and manipulation. Trying to pass in a disguise as
someone else? Sway is likely what you’ll need to use.
Tinytown | 20
Your Species
Everyone in Tinytown is, properly speaking, an animal. Not that they realize this; they simply
think of themselves as people.
You do, don’t you?
But to be specific, there are no humans in Tinytown. And the people there think that this is an
entirely normal state of affairs.
In short, your species is what and who you were born.
Note:
These species listed below are recommended for games with younger players, or
for players who enjoy anthropomorphic characters.
There is no requirement that these species be used. Tinytown can use generic
fantasy races—the Birds would thus become elves displaced from their forests;
the Rats would become dwarves in their tunnels; the Mice would become gnomes,
the Rabbits would become halflings, and the Dogs and Cats would become
humans, and so on.
For a different feel, the GM could just as easily rule that all the folk of Tinytown
are human, and adjust various campaign details around that fact. Feel free to
customize this campaign setting to your needs and your players.
Birds
Birds are rare in Tinytown. There are a few Chickens out on the farms, but they have strong
feelings about people coming for their eggs.
There are vagrant Pigeons that scuffle near the market squares for any scraps that the Rats miss.
There are persistent rumors of Hawks spoken of in whispers by the Rabbits that live close to the
Mist. The Hawks in particular are supposed to be some sort of elite group of knights that appear
from nowhere, save random travelers from the Things from the Mist, and then vanish again.
The Librarian is rumored to be an Owl. Few have entered the Library’s depths and made it
through the ranks of Archivists to confirm this. If they have, perhaps they don’t remember the
encounter.
Most citizens dismiss talk of the Hawk Knights as fairy tales.

Tinytown | 21
All Birds that are playable can use their wings as hands when necessary. The Mage Guild
suggests that there’s a shift in their morphic field that allows their bones to change
configurations when they need to hold a hammer or carry in groceries, as opposed to when they
need to fly.
Most Birds don’t question this at all.
Most Birds live in the highest reaches of Tinytown, having set up shantytowns all along the
rooftops of buildings otherwise occupied by Cats, Dogs, and the occasional Rabbit or Possum. A
few have done well enough for themselves that they’ve built large, open, beautiful aeries, but
these are few and far between. They’re thought of better than the Rats, but in many ways they are
to the sky what the Rats are to the underground.
The most numerous of the citizen birds are the Robins and the Crows.
Robins are cheerful, gregarious, and fierce when their families are threatened. They’re the most
middle-class of the birds, usually much occupied with jobs in accounting or tailoring or even,
occasionally, police work as they keep an eye on things from the sky. Their families are large
and loud, and mothers keep their homes almost terrifyingly tidy. They almost all go to church
and throw down their spare change on the offering plate so that everyone can see. For all that,
they tend to be good folk. Just. . . ostentatiously so?
Crows say that comes from always having to show off who’s got the biggest, brightest, reddest
feathers. It’s just a different way of doing it. And could the robins please stop wearing those
stupid fedoras? They look ridiculous.
Robins think Crows are . . . off. Not our kind of people. I mean, salt of the earth. . . probably.
And there’s a place for everyone in Tinytown, sure. . . But not our kind of people, know what I
mean?
Crows are fiercely intelligent, larger and stronger than robins, and have a surprising talent for
magic.
Stats
Robins
Robins as gregarious, chatty, brightly-colored and sociable creatures, only slightly larger than
Mice.
• When creating a Robin character, add one dot to Sway or Investigate.
Robins have the intrinsic ability of Flight.

Tinytown | 22
Flight: You have wings. Wherever there is enough overhead room to do so, you
may fly instead of walk.
Robins and other birds may fly so long as there is room overhead to do so. Most
interior spaces lack the headroom to be able to fly—certain areas, such as the
interior of a church or palace, may have enough space. Outdoor flight is
somewhat faster than walking speed. Work with your GM to determine a fair
flying pace, and be wary of being separated from your ground-bound friends for
too long.
Robins gain +1d6 Consort when dealing with people larger than they are. (That is, everyone
except for Mice and Hedgehogs.)
Crows
Crows are far larger than their Robin cousins, though still smaller than a Hawk or, dare we say,
an Owl. They’re noted for their intelligence and perceptive nature, and a surprising number of
them become Investigators.
Tough and clannish, there are persistent rumors that their elders struck a bargain with the Things
from the Mist, which somehow protects them from these nightmarish creatures, and has resulted
in many of their hatchlings possessing the eldritch power of warlocks.
Clan leaders categorically deny these allegations. This does not prevent the rest of Tinytown
from giving most Crows serious side-eye.
• When creating a Raven character, put one dot in a casting ability (such as Evoke,
Channel, etc.) or one in Survey.
Flight: You have wings. Wherever there is enough overhead room to do so, you
may fly instead of walk.
Crows and other birds may fly so long as there is room overhead to do so. Most
interior spaces lack the headroom to be able to fly—certain areas, such as the
interior of a church or palace, may have enough space. Outdoor flight is
somewhat faster than walking speed. Work with your GM to determine a fair
flying pace, and be wary of being separated from your ground-bound friends for
too long.
Crows also are noted for their love of shiny items. Once per case, they can push themselves
without a Vigor cost for a Tinker roll.
Tinytown | 23
Playbook information
Robins make spectacularly good bards and sometimes even fierce fighters. Being of a lawful
bent, they also make excellent clerics and monks. They make absolutely abysmal rogues. Crows
have been known to call them canaries, because they’re certainly known to sing like them, if
taken into custody by the police.
Crows make excellent wizards, warlocks, and rogues. Their outcast status makes it difficult for
many of them to become clerics (except through the Gravekeepers). A few have managed to
make their way as fighters, protecting caravans that disappear into the Mist and outlying farms.
But a striking percentage of them are intelligent enough and aware enough to become
Investigators.
__________________
Cats
While there are as many breeds of dog as flowers in a field, there’s a saying—in the dark, all cats
are gray. And this is certainly true, from a certain point of view. The distinctions between a
Persian, a Maine Coon, and a Russian Blue are largely down to coat color, body size, and face
shape, and perhaps slight nuances in personality.
But a cat is a cat is a cat.
Cats can be good. They can be evil. They can be—and usually are—absolutely indifferent.
They’re not about to follow anyone else’s rules, unless there’s coin or tuna involved. Because. . .
cats.
Cats have preternatural dexterity, balance, and luck. Luck beyond that of any other creature in
Tinytown, and it’s best that everyone who deals with them remember that.
Stats
• When creating a Cat, add one dot to Finesse or a casting ability (Evoke, Invoke, Infuse,
etc.)
When in a low-light situation, Cats are assumed to have perfect vision. They never require night-
vision goggles or similar equipment.
Cats possess insatiable curiosity and a weakness for boxes. This is probably why whatever
Powers there are, have granted them so much luck. They need it. All cats possess the Lucky
ability.
Tinytown | 24
Lucky: You have inexplicable luck that seems to kick in at just the right moment.
Once per case, push yourself on a single roll without a Vigor cost, or add +1d to
any resistance roll.
Cats also have claws, built-in weapons with which they can attack at will.
Clawed: Your claws are lethally sharp, and you can never be disarmed
completely.
Cats may choose to Finesse using their claws. When they attack successfully,
they apply the consequence Cat Scratch Fever to their opponent. They can never
suffer the consequence of Disarmed.
Cats may never become lawyers.
They make excellent rangers, bards and rogues; they make capable artificers, wizards, and even
swashbuckling fighters.
They are restricted from becoming clerics—not because churches won’t have them, but because
they find the Church intolerably boring.
__________________
Dogs
There are as many types of Dogs as there are flowers in a field, or so it seems, and each type is
good at specific tasks. In general, Big Dogs are brave, loyal, dependable to a fault, and fond of
playing games. Little Dogs are generally more nervous and irascible, sometimes with a tendency
to yell at other people when they’re scared or agitated.
Almost every Dog likes order and discipline, knowing where their spot in society is. Most of
them like to know that they are Good Boys or Good Girls, but occasionally, mistreatment or
abuse or just bad luck can turn the best boy or girl into a Rabid Cur.
Big Dogs include the Great Dane, the Mastiff, the Labrador Retriever, the Norwegian Elkhound,
and more.
Little Dogs include the Yorkshire Terrier, the Shih Tzu, the Chihuahua, and more.
Tinytown | 25
Stats
• When creating a Big Dog, add one dot to Force or Command.
• When creating a Little Dog, add one dot to Finesse or Consort.
When using Scent to track, all dogs gain +1d to Hunt rolls.
Dogs have a powerful inborn Bite attack:
Bite: Your jaws lock tight on your target, and you can never be disarmed
completely.
Dogs may choose to Force using their teeth. When they attack successfully, they
apply the consequence Once Bitten, Twice Shy to their opponent. They can
never suffer the consequence of Disarmed.
Dogs may take any playbook, except for rogue and assassin. While some of them can sneak
objects out of trash heaps without detection, their guilty consciences often betray them.
Dogs make exceptional rangers, warriors, and monks. Some have been known to become
notable, soulful entertainers.
Only a handful have ever been known to become wizards. Cats like to say this is because dogs
don’t have the brains for it. In reality, it’s because—
SQUIRREL!
__________________
Possums
Possums look either sleepy or snaggle-toothed, depending on whom you ask. As the only entirely
nocturnal species of Tinytown, they clock in while the rest of the city clocks out. They’re almost
immune to disease, which means that they’re natural doctors, nurses, and healers. They’re docile,
good-natured, law-abiding, and carry their families wherever they go, as they’re also the only
marsupials.
Often, they’re the only people awake and on scene when a building goes missing overnight. Best
to catch them before they fall asleep and forget.
Tinytown | 26
They’re also easily startled and . . . yes. They fall over in a catatonic state if completely terrified,
and a rank odor will emerge from their bodies.
But in spite of everything? They have heart.
Stats
• When creating a Possum character, add one dot to Tinker or Stealth.
Possums have many advantages and disadvantages in play.
Disease Immunity: You are immune to disease
Possums can never suffer the consequence of Harm: Disease.
Daytime Blindness: As a nocturnal creature, you’re at disadvantage in daylight.
During daylight hours, take -1d on Study and Survey checks. At night, take +1 to
Study and Survey checks.
Marsupial Pouch: No one wants to know what’s in there.
You may conceal one item, for zero load, on your person at a time. This must be a
small item, such as lockpicks, knife, pistol, magnifying glass, mirror, small
tinkering tools, etc.
Fainting: You’re easily frightened.
When suffering the consequence Frightened, the Possum must make an

additional Resolve check or suffer the consequence Unconscious for a round. All
enemies will treat the Possum as if they are dead for the duration, ignoring them
in favor of other opponents.
Tinytown | 27
Possums, while they’re generally gentle and law-abiding, can make surprisingly decent rogues. If
Tinytown residents knew what a Swiss Army Knife was, they’d consider Possums pretty close to
being an excellent adventuring tool. As they’re usually only up at night, they’re somewhat
outcast to all daylight society. Rats and Cats are usually the only others up at night, and both
species tend to regard Possums as bumbling. . . maybe a little endearing. . . but silly.
Right up until the Possum flashes its huge teeth, and reminds them that they don’t always faint.
They might make tolerable clerics. They’re probably not your first choice as a front-line fighter.
They make excellent artificers. But for some reason, they absolutely cannot become warlocks.
Maybe eldritch abominations are related to ticks?
__________________
Rabbits
Rabbits are, let’s face it, cuddly, adorable, and not well-known for either their brains or their
brawn. They are, however, lightning-quick and perhaps even more dexterous than a cat. (Shh.
Don’t let the Cats hear you say that.)
However, many of them deal with crippling levels of anxiety and fear. Panic attacks and
agoraphobia are common in Rabbits, many of whom never exit the Warrens, the area of
Tinytown where they’ve dug down deep, trying avoid being Faded.
Not even the local police know exactly how deep the Warren goes.
Actually, neither do most Rabbits.
Other Rabbits live on farms outside town, toiling tireless in the fields. Many of them prefer that
to town life, though the closer they live to the Mist, the more likely they are to be pale-furred,
pink-eyed, and even more easily startled than the average Rabbit.
Stats
• When creating a Rabbit, add one dot to Consort or one to Finesse.
Rabbits automatically gain a playbook ability, Lightning Speed.
Lightning Speed: Strike first, strike hard. You’re hard to surprise.
You may expend your special armor to resist the consequences of ambush or
surprise, or to push yourself in matters of Athletics.
If using a playbook like Barbarian or Monk that includes this ability, this ability may stack. If
you choose to take it a second time, then your special armor may be used twice per case.
Tinytown | 28
Rabbits can never become wizards—something in their very genetic structure cries out against
top hats and magic wands. But they can become warlocks.
They’re not usually cunning enough to become artificers, and given their fearful natures, rarely
become melee fighters. There are exceptions to every rule, however, and many of them have
become Flopsy-Mopsy Monks, Thumping Barbarians, and exceptional rangers as they defend
their farms from the Things in the Mist.
Oh. You don’t know about the Things? We’ll talk about Them later.
__________________
Rats and Mice
If the Rabbits’ Warren is deep, the Nest is endless. The Rats of Tinytown have built sprawlingly,
just under the cellars of every building inside the walls. Some say the Nest extends beneath the
Keep. Others say it has tunnels that connect the city under the River. Still others whisper that the
Rats might actually have tunnels that lead into the Mist.
But they don’t say that very loudly, because the Rats might hear.
The Rats are social-minded creatures. At their best, they’re orderly, cleaning up trash left by
other citizens and repurposing it, caring for their own young, enforcing their own laws.
At their worst, they’re the Mafia, the local Thieves’ Guild, an insular community within
Tinytown that pays little heed to the laws of the common society, and can and will act against the
dictates of the rest of society if they don’t really feel like it.
The rest of Tinytown tends to dislike and fear the Rats. They’re everywhere. Their nests are
dirty. They’re insidious. You never know what they’re up to.
And the Mice, because they look a bit like Rats, get tarred with the same brush. Surely, they’re
just thieves that take our food and our jobs and, yeah, they’re smaller and weaker. Get ‘em. Hold
‘em down. Kick ‘em, since they can’t fight back the way those filthy Rats can—oh, Powers.
The Rats heard the squeaking. And they’re coming as a swarm.
Rats look down a little on Mice as being sort of country-cousins. They’re not as street-smart.
They need to be looked after. They’re too kind, and too easily taken advantage of, the Rats
reckon.
But the Mice are a bit smarter than the Rats realize. They’re perfectly willing to rely on their
cousins for muscle, but try to keep a safe social distance between themselves and the more
criminal elements of the Rats.
Tinytown | 29
Stats
Rats
• When creating a Rat, add one dot to Finesse or Force.
Rats have an extra ability: Infectious Bite.
Infectious Bite: Your teeth are filthy, and you can never be disarmed completely.
Rats may always choose to Force or Finesse using their teeth. When they attack
successfully, they apply the consequence Harm: Diseased to their opponent.
They can never suffer the consequence of Disarmed.
Rats, furthermore, gain the following circumstantial advantages:
• Because of their swarm-like mentality, they gain the effect of potency when fighting with
a group of rats. A group of two is enough to trigger this effect. When fighting another
group of Rats, this ability cancels out.
• Rats gain +1 quality while in Upper or Lower Rats Nest. This represents their knowledge
of its winding tunnels and alleys.
Mice
Mice are far smaller than most the other species of Tinytown, other than Robins and Hedgehogs.
Like Rats, they are social creatures, preferring to live in tenements with their friends and kin, but
they aren’t welcome in the Rats’ Warren. They’re just too . . . nice.
• When creating a Mouse character, add one dot in Stealth or Observe.
Mice gain +1d6 Consort when dealing with people larger than they are. (That is, everyone
except for Robins and Hedgehogs.)
Both subgroups make ideal rogues. Rats make excellent fighters and even barbarians. Mice make
excellent wizards, artificers, and have even been known to become clerics. There is, after all, a
reason for the saying “as poor as churchmice.”
__________________
Tinytown | 30
Hedgehogs and Porcupines
Hedgehogs and porcupines are rarely seen in Tinytown. When they are, they tend to be drifters,
come in with a caravan or a boat. They don’t have a large enough presence in the town or its
environs to hold faction status, unlike the other species. As outsiders and loners, they’re often
viewed with a hint of suspicion by the more well-to-do burghers and citizens. It’s whispered that
they’ve been out into the Mists—and have returned to tell the tales.
Stats
Hedgehogs
• When making a Hedgehog character, add one dot to Sway or Survey.
Natural Armor: You have a large coat of natural spikes all over your body, and
an inborn tendency towards a fetal curl when in danger.
Hedgehogs have innate Light Armor, and never need to check off boxes for load
to use this trait. However, their armor is, like armor that’s worn, ablative. Once an
enemy has carved through it, it is considered ruined until after the next downtime,
when it will be presumed healed.
Porcupines
• When making a Porcupine character, add one dot to Force or Hunt.
Natural Armor: You have a large coat of natural spikes all over your body.
Porcupines have innate Heavy Armor, and never need to check off boxes for load
to use this trait. However, their armor is, like armor that’s worn, ablative. Once an
enemy has carved through it, it is considered ruined until after the next downtime,
when it will be presumed healed.
Hedgehogs and porcupines are outsiders and loners. They tend not to belong to communities
other than those of druids and rangers, and have a particularly allergic reaction to the thought of
the Church or Graveyard, making them unsuitable as clerics. Porcupines make exceptional
fighters, however, with a tough, tenacious disposition that is at odds with the cute and cuddly
nature of their hedgehog cousins.
Tinytown | 31
Tinytown | 32
Your Background
While your species describes what you were born to be, your background tells the world what
you’ve done with your life to date.
Note:
A small percentage of players may choose to be Amnesiac or Memory-Afflicted.
This means that they will start with few or no memories of their previous lives at
all.
A Memory-Afflicted character starts with 3 of 5 memory slots filled, and may

select any background they wish except Amnesiac.
An Amnesiac starts with 0 of 5 memory slots filled, and will use the Amnesiac
background to select a single dot of their choosing for parity with other player
characters.
This is a very difficult position in which to start the game, and it is not
recommended for novice players. Please see the section on Your Memories for
more details.
Acolyte
You’ve spent your life to date in service to the Church, Graveyard, or a monastery of some sort.
Your life has been ruled by dedication to the Powers of Light or the Powers of Darkness. You
have experience with conducting sacred rites, though you might not be an ordained cleric.
• When playing as an acolyte, fill in one dot in Investigate or a casting ability (Evoke,
Invoke, Infuse, etc.)
Amnesiac
You have no recollection of your previous life. You’re not even sure if you’ve always had this
body. Everything is strange and unfamiliar to you, but you have skills that you cannot fully
explain.
• When playing as an amnesiac, fill in one dot in an ability of your choice.
Archivist
You’ve spent your life among musty tomes. You know the power of an index, the intrigue of a
cross-reference. You know your ibid. from your et. al. In short, there is nothing that you cannot
research properly, given time. You have a Library Card. You might even know the Librarian’s
secret Name.
• When playing as an Archivist, fill in one dot in Investigate or Observe.

Tinytown | 33
Bounty Hunter
You’ve spent your life tracking down those that the police cannot or will not bring in
themselves—for a price. Always, for a price.
• When playing as a Bounty Hunter, fill in one dot of Hunt, Force/Finesse, or Athletics.
Charlatan
You’ve spent your life hustling others. You’re a con artist, a confidence trickster, a born liar.
Whether it’s the shell game for pennies or banking schemes for thousands, you know that the
only thing separating their money from your pocket is the right line of patter.
• When playing as a Charlatan, fill in one dot of Sway or Stealth.
City Guard
You’re either a member of the police force, or a member of the wall guard. Either way, your job
is to lay your life on the line for people who don’t even notice you exist most of the time. Till
something goes wrong, anyway. Then, they’re all over you, begging for help or explanations.
• When playing as a City Guard, fill in one dot of Force or Command.
Cleaner
You’ve spent your life as a killer for hire. Yours is not to judge who deserves to live or die.
Yours is to clean up the messes that others have made. With magic or with blade—or both.
• When playing as a Cleaner, fill in one dot of Stealth, Hunt, or a casting ability
(Channel, Evoke, Commune, etc.)
Courtesan or Entertainer
You’ve spent your life among the Merry Widows. You might not be a prostitute—nothing so
vulgar—but people might spend coin simply to hear you discuss poetry or politics, to hear you
play on your lute or kithara. You’re magnetic, electric, and you know it. Sometimes, your
attractiveness seems to go beyond the merely mortal. It’s all right—no one needs to worry about
that, do they?
• When playing as a Courtesan or Entertainer, fill in one dot in Sway or a casting ability
(Channel, Evoke, Commune, etc.).
Diplomat
You’ve spent your life trying to make people see reason. You’ve worked to charter agreements
between Guilds at odds with one another, between employers and unions, between the haves and
the have-nots. It’s a difficult job, and the only consolation is the champagne.
Tinytown | 34
• When playing as a Diplomat, fill in one dot in Sway or Consort.
Doctor
You’ve spent your life trying to patch up the wounded, the sick, the diseased, and the mentally
ill. You may have worked as a surgeon or an apothecary, or you may have been to the University
and graduated with a degree that means less than the experience you’ve gained by working in
private practice. You’re a doctor, not a bricklayer, damnit.
• When playing as a Doctor, fill in one dot in Tinker or Investigate.
Guild Artisan
You’ve spent your life making things, building things, for customers who don’t really appreciate
what the work of your mind and hands is worth. You’re an alchemist, a stone mason, a weaver.
You know how to create the things that endure, that make the lives of others better. And you’re
often overlooked for it.
• When playing as a Guild Artisan, fill in one dot in Tinker or Finesse.
Noble
You’ve spent your life in privilege and in ease. You’ve had the best tutors. You’ve had the best
University education. You have wealth, power, and prestige. And you have the will to use them.
• When playing as a Noble, fill in one dot of Command or Sway.
Outsider
You’ve spent your life . . . elsewhere. Outside the walls of the city. You could be a member of a
farming community, and thus, a country bumpkin. A caravan guard, protecting merchants as they
enter the mists. A new immigrant to the city, arrived by boat or caravan. You have to keep your
eyes open, or the residents will surely cheat you.
• When playing as an outsider, fill in one dot in Observe or Hunt.
Private Investigator
You’ve spent your life clearing up broken marriages, tracking down missing persons, and
generally being a pain in the ass to people who don’t want you in their business. But you’re paid
to do it. And that’s what matters.
• When playing as a Private Investigator, fill in one dot in Hunt or Tinker.

Tinytown | 35
Spy
You’ve spent your life as an agent for one faction or another. Your name, your face—they’re not
your own. You live multiple lives at the same time. You might be an assassin, a thief, a police
officer, an agent of the Lord Mayor . . . you might be all those things at the same time. Who’s to
say?
• When playing as a Spy, fill in one dot of Sway or Stealth.

Tinytown | 36
Your Free Will
Now, you may place four dots wherever you choose, up to a total of two dots in a single ability,
and one dot each in the rest. These abilities represent your free will, and what you’ve chosen to
do with your life to date.
So, for example, your character might now look something like this, with a total of six dots
selected:
Figure 2. Ability selection example

Tinytown | 37
Your Playbook
If your species is what you were born, and your background is what you’ve done in the past,
your playbook is what you’re doing now, and a list of potential abilities that define what you can
do in the future.
Note:
When placing playbook dots, only one ability may go to two dots at character
creation, the rest should stay at one.
The third dot in an ability is unlocked through regular advancement up; access to
the fourth dot must be unlocked through the Mastery ability on the Agency sheet.
If, through a combination of species, background, and playbook, you would

unlock a third dot, please place that dot into a different ability of your choice.
At character creation, you automatically unlock that playbook’s signature abilities. Which
one you can use for free will depend on the placement of your dots, but you may always use
these abilities for 2 Vigor each.
• You may use a signature ability 1x/2dots per case. So if you have 2 dots in Tinker, you
can use the skill tied to Tinker 1x/case.
• You may use a special ability or a non-class ability (See Appendix A) that you’ve taken
at will throughout the case. Some abilities require Vigor to enhance their use.
• You may always roll to use a spell, but you will face potential consequences. Use mana
to enhance a spell—by improving potency, improving scale, etc.
• You may use any ability, such as Tinker, Arcana, Sway, etc. at will throughout the case.
The intended purpose of this system is to ensure that everyone always has something that they
can do.
Also, always keep in mind that even if you have 0d in a given ability, you can always push for 2
Vigor, gain an assist from a fellow player at the cost of 1 vigor to them, or ask for a Devil’s
Bargain for more dice. Never be afraid to try!
You will not take any other abilities until you’ve filled your Playbook XP tracker (8 dots) and
have thus advanced for the first time. Your first Playbook ability must come from your own
class. After that, you are free to take non-class abilities, such as Mastery, A Little Something on
the Side, etc. (See Appendix A: Non-Class Abilities.)
Tinytown | 38
Characters with spell-books are permanently restricted to the spells from their own spellbook,
unless they change playbooks entirely. An artificer cannot learn Time in a Bottle from the
wizard list, for example. But some spells are shared by different classes, such as Twisted Space.
As you advance, you are free to take abilities from other playbooks, to create a character
customized to you. However, you will always earn experience by solving problems with the
strategies of your core class.
(For example, an artificer earns experience by using arcane power and technical skill. That
doesn’t mean that an artificer can’t attack someone physically—just that they don’t necessarily
earn experience for doing so.)
If, on advancing, you have started as a non-spellcasting class, but now want to take a spell from a
spellbook, you must change playbooks to a class with a mana pool.
Why?
Simply put, spell-casters are either born with innate talent that others lack, like a wizard, or are
granted their abilities by the Powers. A warlock was an ordinary being until they bargained with
the fey or demonic powers for their abilities. A cleric was just a fighter or archivist until the
Powers took note of their devotion. A mana pool isn’t granted just because someone woke up
one day and wanted to cast Elemental Blast. Your entire motivation must have changed. Your xp
triggers must change.
A wizard or a cleric can always pick up some sort of physical ability, but magical power is
carefully regulated, both by laws and the Powers in Tinytown. Be careful when choosing your
first playbook! It matters.
Tinytown | 39
Artificer
A wily crafter of alchemicals and automatons. Play an artificer if you want to solve problems
with arcane power and technical skill. As a casting class, Artificers have access to a second
vigor track, called Mana, with which to cast their spells.
Start with one dot in Tinker or Infuse.
Select one Spellbook ability that’s yours to use forever.
Signature Abilities
Poison (Tinker): You carry a vial of Skullfire Poison that function as +1 Quality. These
vials do not count towards your load. You are immune to their effects.
Infuse (Infuse): Through your unique blend of Technomancy, you can improve a piece of
equipment once, increasing its Quality by +1 for the duration of the current Case.
Right Tool for the Job (Investigate): By studying a problem or obstacle, you can produce a
single item 1 Load item that may help solve the problem at hand. This item does not count
against your total load.
Inspire (Consort): You have sudden insight for the problem at hand, allowing you to assist
an ally with no vigor cost.
Class Abilities
Automaton: You have crafted a robotic pet that functions as a cohort (Expert: Guardian).
It has specific skills stored in a crystalline matrix inside of its head, and can follow
simple commands. It is infused with electrical energy, and gains potency when dealing
with other mechanical devices. Describe it, and choose one characteristic: photograph (it
can take photographs for you), gifted (it is intelligent enough to speak), stealth (it can
hide as if it has two dots in stealth), or magical conduit (once per case, you may use its
inherent magical-electric field to push yourself without paying vigor).
Technomancy: Spend Mana to use Infuse in place of any other action at the risk of the
result being unstable, weird, or magically toxic. Spend 1 Mana for each extra action dot
gained through this ability.
Engineer: When you invent or craft a creation with engineering features, you get +1
result level to your roll (a 1-3 becomes a 4/5, etc). You begin with one special formula
already known.
Tinytown | 40
Spellbook abilities
Zap (Arcana): You can discharge a jolt of electricity that causes Harm.
Disguise – You may use Arcana to create a figment over your features, changing your
species, gender, and general appearance, but not change your size in any real way. If you
attempt to make yourself larger or smaller than your current size, a simple touch in the
wrong place may dispel the illusion. You may push yourself using your mana pool to add
tactile or auditory sensations to the illusion.
Twisted Space – You may Cast to teleport yourself or a willing character out
of harm’s way, or may push yourself to move an unwilling character into a dangerous
situation—into an abyss, a fire, into the waiting arms of an angry barbarian, etc. When
pushing yourself to move an unwilling creature, take Harm: Disoriented. This
harm may be resisted as usual.
Spiderweb – You may use Arcana to create an array of sticky threads that blanket an
area, impeding movement and trapping enemies, or that can be used to catch someone
suffering from a bad fall. When used to trap enemies, you yourself may be entangled on a
1-3; on a 4-5, your movement speed suffers. On a 6, you’re free to move as usual.
Tinytown | 41
Assassin
A dealer in death. Play an assassin if you want to solve problems with stealth and murder.
Start with one dot in Stealth or Hunt.
Signature Abilities
Cheap Shot (Finesse): Make a single attack, ignoring the quality of your opponent. Gain
potency if done from stealth.
Vanish (Stealth): By throwing a smoke bomb infused with minor illusion magic, you
can hide even while being observed. You gain potency on this Stealth attempt.
Memory Sculpting (Arcana): You can attempt to alter the memories of a willing target.
This includes removing existing memories and replacing missing memories with a
memory vial or crystal. You can push yourself to use this ability on an unwilling target.
Venomous (Tinker): You know how to add a drug or poison to your weapon, adding +1
quality to your weapon that lasts for the duration of the scene. Frequent handling of this
substance has made you immune to it.
Playbook Abilities
Mesmerism: When you Sway someone, you may cause them to forget that it's happened
until they next interact with you.
Cloak & Dagger: When you use a disguise or other form of covert misdirection, you get
+1d to rolls to confuse or deflect suspicion. When you throw off your disguise, the
resulting surprise gives you the initiative in the situation.
Ashes to Ashes: When you kill an unaware target, it disperses into a pile of fine dust.
Tinytown | 42
Barbarian
An outsider who deals in muscle and speed. Play a barbarian if you want to solve problems with
mayhem and intimidation.
Start with one dot in Force or Athletics.
Signature Abilities
Reckless (Force): The next time you use Force, you get +1d, however you take -1d to
resist any consequence.
Rage (Athletics): For your next action that involves Force, Athletics, or Command you
ignore all penalties from harm.
Frenzy (Command): You may enter a maddened frenzy, becoming uncontrollably

lethal. Gain +1d to resist mental control and fear effects and potency in melee combat
lasting a few moments. You may pay 1 vigor for each additional feature: You gain
additional potency if outnumbered; you are immune to mental control and fear effects
rather than merely resistant; it lasts a few minutes rather than mere moments.
Danger Sense (Hunt): Your uncanny senses let you avoid the worst of any danger. You
can avoid a single consequence from traps or environmental effects.
Playbook Abilities
Ravager: You may push yourself to do one of the following: perform a display of
destruction that verges on the superhuman; engage any single adversary in physical
combat on equal footing.
Ghost Bear: You may expend your special armor to resist consequences stemming from
natural or supernatural weather conditions, or to push yourself to issue a primal roar that
frightens ghosts and other spirits and draws the attention of all who hear you.
Beast Within: When you unleash physical violence, it's especially frightening. Your
displays of violence are as terrifying as a ghost or demon’s fearsome presence.
Tinytown | 43
Bard
An entertainer who deals with music and magic. Play a bard if you want to solve problems with
guile and charm.
As a casting class, Bards have access to a second vigor track, called Mana, with which to cast
their spells.
Start with one dot in Sway or Perform.
Signature Abilities
Devastating Performance (Perform): When you influence crowds, you get +1 potency.
Larger crowds are harder to influence.
Inspiration (Consort): Your encouraging words can truly boost the confidence of any
that can hear you, allowing you to assist an ally with no vigor cost.
Words like Honey (Sway): You have learned what to say and what not to say in any
social situation. Take a +1d to Sway or Consort.
Rapier Wit (Finesse): Even when words fail, they can still be used as a weapon,
allowing you to distract an opponent. Take a +1d to any melee attack against an
opponent that can understand you.
Playbook Abilities
Subterfuge: You may expend your special armor to resist a consequence from suspicion
or persuasion, or to push yourself for subterfuge.
Killer’s Charm: Whether at a brawl or a ball, watching you move is an exhilarating

experience. Gain +1d to any social action with someone who has seen you perform or
fight.
Jack of all Trades: Spend Mana to use Perform in place of any other action at the risk
of the result being unstable, weird, or magically toxic. Spend 1 Mana for each extra
action dot gained through this ability.
Spellbook Abilities
Scathing Wit – You’re always able to find a weak point, a mental flaw, a chink in the
armor. Using your Perform skill, you may make a verbal attack that leaves the target
dazed, inflicting psychic Harm.
Tinytown | 44
Disguise – You may Perform to create a figment over your features, changing your
species, gender, and general appearance, but not change your size in any real way. If you
attempt to make yourself larger or smaller than your current size, a simple touch in the
wrong place may dispel the illusion. You may push yourself to add tactile or auditory
sensations to the illusion, or apply the disguise to someone else.
Disappear – By casting this spell using Perform, you can hide even while being
observed. You gain potency on this Stealth attempt, but people with spell-casting ability
may be able to survey you in spite of this illusion.
Phantasm – You can take a 'snapshot' of an inanimate object of man-size or smaller. You
can then spend 1 vigor to manifest it in the world as an illusion for a few minutes. Spend
1 additional vigor for every additional feature: The illusion lasts for a few hours instead
of a few minutes; the illusion retains its physical properties; the object can be moved and
animated; the illusion is the size of a goat-drawn cart.
Tinytown | 45
Cleric
An invoker of divine power. Play a cleric if you want to solve problems with diplomacy and
willpower. As a casting class, Clerics have access to a second vigor track, called Mana, with
which to cast their spells.
Start with one dot in Invoke or Command.
Signature Abilities
Summon (Channel): You can summon a creature of either light or shadow that functions
as a temporary cohort (Expert: Guardian). This creature gains potency when dealing with
other supernatural creatures and lasts for the duration of the current scene.
Divine Intervention (Consort): You call upon your Deity for aid, allowing you to treat
the wounds of someone outside of downtime, including the middle of combat, reducing
harm by one level. If used immediately after an ally receives a level 4 harm, it is reduced
to a level 3 harm.
Divine Weapon (Force): You summon a weapon of either light or shadow that lasts for
the duration of the current scene. It functions as a +1 quality weapon and also gains
potency for any attacks done against Things.
Rebuke (Sway): You rebuke undead creatures with the power of your faith. Engage a
group of undead on equal footing or damage them with increased potency.
Playbook Abilities
Divine Mending: You can use Channel instead of Tinker to treat wounds or stabilize
the dying. Everyone in your agency (including you) gets +1d to their healing treatment
rolls.
Shield of the Faithful: Use your special armor to deflect magical attacks, or to push
yourself in social situations.
Channeler: Spend Mana to use Channel in place of any other action at the risk of the
Spellbook Abilities
Smite – You may use Channel to do radiant or necrotic damage to an enemy.
Cure Poison and Disease – You may use Channel reduce the consequences of poison or
Tinytown | 46
disease for yourself or another player.
Purifying Rays – Use Channel to cause the radiant light of the sun to appear, no matter if
you are in the dark of night, or the gloom of underground. Causes Harm to undead
creatures and blinds the living.
Resurrection – During downtime, start a clock using Channel to bring someone back
from the dead—not as an animated corpse, but as a living being. This heals Level 4 harm,
reducing it to Level 3 Harm. A Faded character cannot be resurrected.
Resurrection carries with it inherent risks. A character who is resurrected will lose one
of their lowest-level Harm boxes on returning from the lands of eternal shade. This box
cannot restored; there are permanent consequences to Death.
Tinytown | 47
Druid
A channeler of natural power. Play a druid if you want to solve problems with shapeshifting
and communication. As a casting class, Druids have access to a second vigor track, called
Mana, with which to cast their spells.
Start with one dot in Commune or Finesse.
Signature Abilities
Summon (Commune): You can summon a beast that functions as a temporary cohort
(Expert: Guardian). This creature gains potency when dealing with other natural
creatures and lasts for the duration of the current scene.
Shapeshift (Athletics): You can shift into the form of any beast you have seen before.
The chosen form will confer a +1d to one relevant action for the duration. This form can
be maintained until dismissed.
Communion (Hunt): You can Commune with plants and animals to gather information.
You receive both +1d and +1 effect for these purposes. If used to gathered information
from these sources, you receive +1d to the engagement roll for a relevant case.
Omen (Consort): You can give a +1d to any creature you can see. This can be used for
either an action roll or for a resistance roll.
Playbook Abilities
Warden of the Wilds: You gain an additional xp trigger: You served nature’s will or
helped it to recover and grow. If your agency helped you with these tasks, they also mark
xp.
Nature’s Way: You may expend your special armor to resist a consequence of
poisoning, disease, or harm from animal attacks, or to push yourself when treating harm
or dealing with a natural challenge.
Call of the Wild: Spend Mana to use Commune in place of any other action at the risk
of the result being unstable, weird, or magically toxic. Spend 1 Mana for each extra
action dot gained through this ability.
Spellbook Abilities
Tempest – Use Commune to unleash a stroke of lightning as a weapon, or to summon a

storm in your immediate vicinity. These do Harm to enemies, which may be resisted as
usual.
Tinytown | 48
Boulder – You may Commune to summon and make a ranged attack with a pebble that
turns into a boulder mid-flight. It will hit your opponent with great force, doing Harm:
Concussed.
Earthquake – Use Commune to shake the earth, rattling buildings and throwing foes to
the ground. Push yourself to open a fissure in the earth beneath their feet, trapping them
in the earth itself.
Flamescythe – You can Commune to summon a blade made of pure fire and use it as a
heavy weapon that cannot be broken or disarmed—but it can be dispelled by someone
using a spellcasting skill to counter yours.
Note:
Druids rarely enter into the Orders of Silver or Shadow. They can already change their
forms at will with the correct playbook ability, and feel that the rivalry between the two
orders is childish and counterproductive to the real goal of driving back the Mists and
defeating the Things. If you wish to pursue the Ascension portion of the game, Druids are
perhaps not the playbook to take.
Tinytown | 49
Fighter
A stout brawler who deals with foes in a very direct manner. Play a fighter if you want to solve
problems with force and authority.
Start with one dot in Force, Finesse, or Command.
Signature Abilities
Superiority (Force): You are the pinnacle of martial prowess. On your next attack, you
gain +1 effect.
Parry (Athletics): When engaged in melee combat, the GM cannot threaten you with
Harm as a consequence for your next attack.
Riposte (Finesse): After a melee attack, if you suffer no harm or consequences, you can
immediately make another melee attack on the same target.
Know Your Enemy (Observe): After a successful Observe, you gain potency on a
target for the duration of the scene.
Playbook Abilities
Battleborn: You may expend your special armor to reduce harm from an attack in
combat or to push yourself during a fight.
Not to be Trifled With: You may push yourself to do one of the following: perform a
feat of physical force that verges on the superhuman; engage a small gang on equal
footing in close combat.
Savage: When you unleash physical violence, it’s especially frightening. When you
Command a frightened target, take +1d.
Tinytown | 50
Monk
A mystic fighter who uses Ki energy to influence foes. Play a monk if you want to solve
problems with mystic power and fisticuffs.
Start with one dot in Force, Finesse or Ki.
Signature Abilities
Ki Strike (Ki): You can empower your Ki Strikes to have potency. (Passive) You can
always use Ki to make unarmed strikes that are treated as if you are armed.
Agile Movement (Athletics): You can ignore the consequences of falling, or scale
vertical surfaces of up to 40' without needing to make an action roll.
Deflect Missiles (Finesse): You may reduce harm from a missile weapon that comes
within reach, even if you were not the target. If all harm is negated, you may
immediately make an attack by throwing the missile at any target within 30'. Harm can
not be a consequence of this attack.
Opportunist (Observe): When engaged in physical combat against the same opponent
as an ally, take +1d to your roll.
Playbook Abilities
Monkey Grip: You may push yourself to do one of the following: harden your body
such that you may smash bricks or deflect steel; grab someone or something with such
strength that they cannot escape you.
Purity of Mind and Body: You may expend your special armor to resist the
consequences of poison and disease, or to push yourself to take action when you are
incapacitated by any mental consequence.
Wholeness of Body: You can use Ki instead of Tinker to treat wounds or stabilize the
dying. Everyone in your agency (including you) gets +1d to their healing treatment rolls.
Tinytown | 51
Ranger
A wilderness fighter who uses nature itself to take on foes. Play a ranger if you want to solve
problems with hunting or stealth.
Start with one dot in Hunt or Stealth.
Signature Abilities
Sharpshooter (Hunt): You may perform one of the following feats: make a ranged
attack at extreme distance beyond what’s normal for the weapon; unleash a barrage of
rapid fire to suppress the enemy. This feat gains +1d.
Land's Stride (Athletics): You gain +1d on your next Athletics action. (Passive) Your
sure footing allows you to ignore any reduced effect caused by challenging terrain.
Feral Senses (Observe): Your preternatural senses help you to fight creatures you can't
see, allowing you not to suffer reduced effect as a consequence of your next action as
long as they are within 30'.
Camouflage (Stealth): You gain +1 effect on your next stealth roll. Additionally, if you
are leading a group action, you can suffer only 1 vigor at most, regardless of the number
of failed rolls.
Playbook Abilities
Hunting Pet: You have tamed a beast that functions as a cohort (Expert: Hunter). It can
follow simple commands and gains potency when dealing with other natural creatures.
Describe it, and choose one characteristic: mind-link (you can sense through its senses);
gifted (it is intelligent enough to be able to speak verbally); shadow-form (it can become
invisible); magic conduit (once per case, you can push yourself without paying vigor).
Focused: You may expend your special armor to resist a consequence of surprise or
mental harm (fear, confusion, losing track of someone) or to push yourself for ranged
combat or tracking.
Vengeful: You gain an additional xp trigger: You got payback against someone who
harmed you or someone you care about. If your agency helped you get payback, they also
mark xp.
Tinytown | 52
Rogue
A wily thief who prowls the night and busy stalls on market day. Play a rogue if you want to
solve problems with stealth and deception.
Start with one dot in Stealth or Tinker.
Signature Abilities
Shadow (Stealth): You can do one of the following: resist a consequence from detection
or security measures, or gain +1 effect for a feat of Stealth.
Trap Master (Tinker): You can set a trap for the unwary. This trap functions as +1
quality.
Light Fingers (Finesse): Make a pickpocket attempt, ignoring the quality of your
opponent. Gain potency if done from stealth.
Devil's Footsteps (Athletics): You can do one of the following: perform a feat of
athletics that verges on the superhuman; maneuver to confuse your enemies so they
mistakenly attack each other. You take +1d to your roll.
Playbook Abilities
Infiltrator: You are not affected by quality or Tier when you bypass security measures.
Expertise: Choose one of your action ratings. When you lead a group action using that
action, you can suffer only 1 vigor at most, regardless of the number of failed rolls.
Light-footed: Take +1d to Athletics when performing moves that require balance.
Tinytown | 53
Warlock
A magic user that calls on external powers, such as eldritch horrors (not recommended), fey
guardians, or demonic hosts for their magic. Play a warlock if you want to solve problems with
guile or magical might. As a casting class, Warlocks have access to a second vigor track, called
Mana, with which to cast their spells.
Start with one dot in Sway or Invoke.
Signature Abilities
Hex (Invoke): You place a curse on a creature that causes everything that attacks it to
have reduced effect for the duration of the scene. Additionally, any attack you make
while it is cursed gains potency.
Memory Sculpting (Consort): You can attempt to alter the memories of a willing target.
This includes removing existing memories and replacing missing memories with a
memory vial or crystal. You can push yourself to use this ability on an unwilling target.
Patron’s Wrath (Command): You can channel the otherworldly power of your Patron
through you, allowing you to briefly be as frightening as supernatural entities. You gain
+1d when trying to scare or intimidate, and you have potency against non-supernatural
entities.
Patron’s Voice (Sway): You can channel the otherworldly power of your Patron through
you, allowing you to briefly be as awe inspiring as supernatural entities. You gain +1d
when trying to persuade or deceive, and you have potency against non-supernatural
entities.
Playbook Abilities
Pact Guardian: Your Patron has sent you a supernatural creature that functions as a
cohort (Expert: Guardian). It can follow simple commands and gains potency when
dealing with other supernatural creatures. Choose one characteristic: mind-link (you can
sense through its senses); gifted (it is intelligent enough to be able to speak verbally);
shadow-form (it can become invisible); magic conduit (once per case, you can push
yourself without paying vigor).
Tinytown | 54
Mesmerism: When you Sway someone, you may cause them to forget that it’s happened
until they next interact with you.
Invocation: Spend Mana to use Invoke in place of any other action at the risk of the
Spellbook Abilities
Force Blast – You may use Invoke to do force damage to an enemy.
Banish – You may Banish a summoned creature back to its home dimension. Push to
Banish multiple creatures, or to send an unwilling, non-summoned creature temporarily
to another dimension.
Phantasm – You can take a ‘snapshot’ of an inanimate object of man-size or smaller.

You can then spend 1 vigor to manifest it in the world as an illusion for a few minutes.
Spend 1 additional mana for every additional feature: The illusion lasts for a few hours
instead of a few minutes; the illusion retains its physical properties; the object can be
moved and animated; the illusion is the size of a goat-drawn cart.
Twisted Space – You may Invoke to teleport yourself or a willing character out of
harm’s way, or may push yourself to move an unwilling character into a dangerous
pushing yourself to move an unwilling creature, take Harm: Disoriented. This harm may
be resisted as usual.
Tinytown | 55
Wizard
A magic user that calls on long years of study and internal powers for their magic. Play a wizard
if you want to solve problems with academic knowledge or arcane might. As a casting class,
Wizards have access to a second vigor track, called Mana, with which to cast their spells.
Start with one dot in Evoke or Investigate.
Select one Spellbook Ability that’s yours to use forever.
Signature Abilities
Summon (Evoke): You can summon an elemental that functions as a temporary cohort
(Expert: Guardian). This creature gains potency when dealing with other supernatural
creatures and lasts for the duration of the current scene.
Spell Scroll (Investigate): You can prepare a scroll containing a single spell that you
know. When you cast this spell using Evoke, you get a +1d. Mana can be spent to
further augment this spell if desired.
Elemental Armor (Observe): Your mastery of elemental magic allows you to negate a
single consequence from any element that you can control in your Elemental Blast.
Mana Flask (Tinker): You can store a liquid infused with raw mana into a vial. Any
mana using character that consumes this vial restores 1 Mana.
Playbook Abilities
Arcane Ward: Use your special armor to resist any instance of magical harm by
projecting an arcane barrier around you, or use your special armor to push yourself in
matters of arcane might.
Otherworldly Knowledge: When you Study an object or place with magical properties,
take +1 result to your roll.
Evocation: Spend Mana to use Evoke in place of any other action at the risk of the
Tinytown | 56
Spellbook Abilities
Elemental Blast – You may use Evoke to do ice, fire, lightning, or acid damage to an
enemy.
Earthquake – Use Evoke to shake the earth, rattling buildings and throwing foes to the
ground. Push yourself to open a fissure in the ground beneath their feet, trapping them in
the earth itself.
Fly – You may use Evoke to fly. You levitate in place, mitigating fall damage, and move
around freely in three dimensions. You may, alternately, levitate an object the weight of a
player character. You may push to expand the scale of this spell to include other willing
characters, so that they might fly with you.
Time in a Bottle – You may use Evoke to slow the passage of time for others, while you
move at the same rate you always have done. As a result, everyone, including your allies
appears to be temporarily paralyzed, as they now move and react at an eighth of the speed
they normally would. You may spend additional mana to extend the duration of the
slowed time.
Twisted Space – You may Evoke to teleport yourself or a willing character out of
harm’s way, or may push yourself to move an unwilling character into a dangerous
pushing yourself to move an unwilling creature, take Harm: Disoriented. This harm may
be resisted as usual.
Tinytown | 57
Your Solace, Vigor, and Mana
By now, you will have seen ‘push yourself’ and ‘spend vigor’ mentioned quite a bit. What do
these phrases mean?
On your character sheet you will see boxes marked as ‘vigor.’ Everyone starts with nine vigor
boxes by default. The game assumes that you begin your life as an Investigator with full vigor.
Each time you spend vigor, or take vigor damage, mark off the required number of boxes on
your sheet.
If you go over the number of boxes you have, you lose a memory and must withdraw from the
case at hand! Conserve your vigor—it’s your life, the key to your very self!
Mana
In comparison, mana is more forgiving. You may still push yourself in terms of your spells by
using mana. And only spell-casters have mana pools on their playbooks. There is no penalty for
using up all of your mana—no memories are impacted. The Powers—or the universe itself—
allows you to refill your mana after you’ve rested—which is to say, you’ve gotten a good night’s
sleep.
Mana may not replace vigor, but under limited circumstances, vigor can replace mana.
A spell-caster who is out of mana may burn their vigor at a 2:1 ratio to fuel their spells, but this
is highly dangerous. This means that you are using your body to fuel your spells, using 2 vigor to
replace 1 mana, when vigor is also used to resist harm, push your rolls, and assist others.
Vigor: Increasing and Decreasing:
Over the course of your investigations, you will need to resist harm or consequences by rolling
a Prowess, Insight, or Resolve check, which may chip away at your vigor. To roll a resistance
roll, add up the number of abilities in which you have dots in a given category.
If, for example, you’re making a Prowess roll, and you have abilities in finesse, stealth, and
athletics, for example, you would roll 3d6 to resist. Note: You only take the number of dots in
the first column, as seen below.
If you have no dots in a given category, then you make the resistance roll at disadvantage—you
roll 2d6 and use the lower number.)
Tinytown | 58
Figure 3. Determining the number of dice in a resistance roll.
You then mark off a number of dots of vigor equal to the number rolled.
Figure 4. Marking off vigor boxes.
You may always push yourself for 2 Vigor to increase your dice pool by 1d6.
You may call for a flashback scene, which will usually cost 2 Vigor, but may cost less at the
GM’s discretion.
There are four teamwork maneuvers that may affect your vigor: assisting others, leading a group
action, protecting another, or setting up someone else’s action.
• You may assist others (for 1 Vigor), giving them an additional 1d6 towards their rolls.
• You may lead a group action, coordinating multiple players using possibly different
abilities towards a united goal. The best roll is used to determine the outcome of the
group action, but the leader of the group action takes 1 vigor damage per character who
failed on their roll. (Rolled a 1-3.)
• You may protect someone, by stepping in to take the consequences of an action for
them, and resist the consequence as usual.
• You may set up a teammate by using your action to give them +1 to effect or position.
This costs no vigor!
Certain abilities your character may possess may call for a Vigor cost.
Solace
Solace is how you restore your vigor. Sources of solace are generally related to your memories,
your sense of self.
Tinytown | 59
You may seek solace as a downtime action. (See Chapter Four: Mechanics of Play for
information on downtime actions.)
To determine how much vigor is regained, select whichever of Insight, Prowess, or Resolve has
the fewest number of dots, and roll 1d6 per ability in that category, taking the highest amount.
Subtract the amount rolled from the amount of vigor damage you have sustained.
In our previous example, our character had six vigor boxes marked off. If you rolled a 4, you
would have only 2 vigor damage remaining, and would be in much better shape going into your
next case!
Note:
In contrast to many Forged in the Dark games,

there is no penalty for regaining more vigor than
you have lost. You cannot “overindulge” in solace.
In order to seek solace, you need to spend time doing things that restore your sense of self. These
may be derived from one of the following categories: Friends, Family, Sports, Art/Literature,
Leisure/Gardening, Booze, and Dames. You may pick one category at character creation in
which to take solace.
Note:
If you lose the memory associated with a Solace, you

will need to pick a new Solace, unless you can regain
the memory!
Friends
Pick a friend related to one of your memories, and spend time with them. This time can be spent
at a bar, a tea room, a racetrack, a skating rink. . . it doesn’t matter, so long as you affirm your
sense of self and connection to them. This may also lead into new cases!
Family
Pick a family member associated with one of your memories, and spend time with them. This
can involve teaching a child a new skill, helping parents move house, Sunday dinner, what-have-
you. What you do matters less than affirming your sense of self and connection to your familial
unit.
Sports
Tinytown | 60
Are you a member of a sports team or league? Go play some rugby or tennis. Bowl a few sets.
Participate in some tai-chi classes put on by the local monastery. Hang out with the people
associated with the class or the league, join them for ale or lemonade afterwards. Talk. Relax.
See what’s going on in their lives. Not only will this restore vigor, but it may lead to a new case.
Art/Literature
Are you a member of a book club or a museum? Spend some quality time reading. . . or even
talking about books. Go observe some art. Take in a theatrical presentation, attend the ballet.
This is a part of you for a reason—touch base with your inner self.
The Outdoors
While Tinytown is heavily urbanized, there are still herb gardens and windowboxes filled with
flowers to tend. Get back to nature. Go for a walk (in a safe neighborhood, of course). Fill
yourself with the smell of green leaves and earth. Restore your sense of connection to the world,
and yourself.
Booze
Some Investigators simply no longer have families or friends to turn to for Solace. This may
happen as Memories are lost. They hit the sauce instead, drinking to ease the pain of living in a
world that makes no damned sense. Where a building can be there one day, a plot of weeds the
next, and no one else remembers that there were a hundred people who called that lost apartment
building home.
Dames1
As noted above, some Investigators simply no longer have families or friends to turn to for
Solace. They turn to easy companionship that only has a cost by the hour, and requires very little
in the way of talking. These shallow relationships restore vigor, but don’t help the pain of living.
1
Or whatever floats your boat. You do you!
Tinytown | 61
Your Memories
Players familiar with the Call of Cthullu gaming system will recall the Madness system used in
it. Likewise, players of Forged in the Dark games should be familiar with Trauma.
The Memory system of Tinytown is similar, though it also relates to character building. And
instead of building up Trauma or Insanity until the character is incapacitated, in Tinytown, you
begin with five Memories. The Mists (and the Things in the Mists) constantly encroach on your
mind. If you build up too much Vigor damage, you will lose a Memory, perhaps forever, losing a
vital part of your self with it.
Memories are inextricably linked to your Solace. Lose a Memory tied to your Solace, and you
might lose that source of Solace, forever. Conversely, if you gain a Memory, and make it part of
yourself (See Gaining Memories, below), you may gain a new source of Solace. Though that
new person or people might be a little confused at your sudden presence in their lives.
Warlocks, assassins, and various other NPCs affiliated with the Memory Market might attack
you, and you might lose a Memory as a consequence. (Remember, every consequence can be
resisted, if you have the vigor to try to make the roll.)
The Things in the Mist actively eat memory and consciousness. They hate all life, but
particularly sentient, sapient life. Again, in confrontations with them, you might take a
consequence that threatens your vital Memories!
Memories can be lost, however. They can be sold off to pay a debt. They can be stolen from you,
by your enemies in the night. By the Things that you fight. You might, in fact, create new
memories so intolerable that you’d prefer to forget them—or you might find someone so badly
in need of a memory, that you give one away.
But as you lose memories, you lose your self.
The five starting memories are:
• Your Name. This is usually the last memory to go.

• Your parents and family.
• Your best friend.
• Your mentor.
• A death that marked you.
It’s important to discuss each of these Memories with your GM, because these Memories will
determine who you are at the present time, and link you to the greater community.
Tinytown | 62
Memory Levels
Five Memories: You’re you. At least, you think you are.
Three Memories: You’ve lost important parts of yourself. But you’re fine. Really. You know
who you are. You didn’t need that other stuff anyway.
One Memory: This is getting bad. You look at yourself in the mirror, and you don’t recognize
the face there. All you have left is your Name.
Zero Memories: Make a Resolve check.
If you succeed, you will . . . not be you anymore. But you’ll be alive, broadly speaking. You’ll
just be someone else. Someone with no memory of the you that you once were.
(Effectively, the player may at this point create a new character, of the same species, but of a
different class, of equivalent level. The new character will start with zero memories, a dangerous
place to be.)
If you fail, you will Fade. You may deteriorate into a muttering, insane Pigeon or other such
vagrant. You might become Mist, never to be seen again. In any case, there is nothing
meaningful left of your character. Everything they were, everything they could have been, is
gone.
Memory Issues
Some players like to create their character as they go along. They don’t like to have every detail
hammered out in advance. This is inherently dangerous in Tinytown, and is not recommended,
but if you choose to start play as Memory-Afflicted or Amnesiac, there are guidelines for fair
play.
Memory-Afflicted
You start play with only three Memories. You select a background as usual, since presumably
you remember enough of your life to do that much. You may select a source of Solace as usual.
You will gain extra experience by roleplaying your struggles with your memories.
Amnesiac
You start play with zero Memories. You select the Amnesiac background, and thus, a single
ability dot of your choice. You have no idea where you got the skills or the abilities that you
have. You have no source of Solace with which to regain vigor, besides perhaps Booze and
Dames. You may select the non-class ability, Iron Will to compensate you for the loss of so
many other mechanics.
Tinytown | 63
Iron Will
Gain +1d to Resolve resistance rolls when dealing with attacks that
would otherwise steal a memory. This skill is inherent to
Amnesiacs, who gain it at character creation.
Your life is sure to be short and interesting, unless you find a way to regain memories, and
quickly.
Regaining Memories
Characters ideally want to regain their own memories. This may involve tracking down the rogue
warlock who siphoned their memories off, breaking into the vault of the crime lord who
blackmailed them into giving up a memory, or simply buying the memory off of the warlock
who currently holds it.
However, in some cases, once a memory is gone, it’s gone forever, as when a Thing eats it or a
Collector . . . collects it.
In order to replace a memory that’s been lost, so that the character is not in danger of madness or
fading, a character might choose to obtain and use a memory from someone else. Memories are,
after all, for sale in Tinytown. A Memory can be purchased from a black market vendor for Coin
or Rep.
The problem is, that the more memories you have from other people, the less . . . you you
become. You gradually drift into becoming someone else.
Maybe even several someones.
Creating new memories
When significant events occur that anchor a character in who they are now, the DM and the
player might agree that this is a new Memory, and use a Resolve check to determine if the
Memory has taken root in a permanent fashion.
Significant memories might include important revelations, new relationships, exciting events in
which the character took part.
However, a character can only have five seminal memories at a time, and cannot bank additional
memories ahead of time.
For more on Memories, including forcible memory implantation, see Chapter Thirteen: The
Memory Market.
Tinytown | 64
Chapter Four: Mechanics of Play

We’ve already gone over Solace and Vigor, and how you can restore Vigor in downtime through
Solace. So what is downtime?
Every Tinytown case goes through a cycle of play that looks like this: Free play > gather
information > the case and flashbacks > downtime.
It’s worth noting that this cycle isn’t rigid, and that flashbacks can take place at any time. For
example, mid-case, you might use a flashback to buy a downtime action so that you can
acquire an asset to use during the case!
But before we get into the cycle, let’s talk about one key concept—Task Resolution vs. Conflict
Resolution, and one key mechanic used in every phase of play: Clocks.
Task Resolution vs. Conflict Resolution
Tinytown is not a traditional game like D&D or Runequest. Traditional games like these are task
resolution games, whereas Tinytown is a conflict resolution game. The difference is one of
granularity in many cases.
In traditional games (task resolution), you roll to do something specific: pick a lock, sneak past a
guard, spot a trap, etc. There’s a lot of rolling! In combat, both you and the GM are rolling for
sets of opponents, and so on.
In games like Tinytown (conflict resolution), you roll to achieve something: enter the building,
find the treasure, find the clue, avoid being caught.
The scope of the actions is widely different, as you can see.
In task resolution, if you want to enter a guarded building through the balcony window, you
likely need to search for traps, then pick the lock, then sneak to make sure you aren't seen. The
number of rolls you need to make is completely at the GM’s whim.
In conflict resolution, if you want to enter a guarded building through the balcony window, you
state how you are doing it, and then roll once. If the roll succeeds, you're in—you or the GM can
invent and describe the trap you discovered, and disarmed, and the guard you snuck past or
disabled.
You had a goal, you rolled to achieve it, then someone (exactly who depends on the game
system) narrates how that happened. If you try to run Tinytown as a traditional task resolution
game, the game will bog down in consequences. Each roll that isn’t a 6 generates consequences,
and if you are going to be rolling to climb the wall, pick the lock, then sneak down the corridor,
then the number of consequences will ruin the game’s immersion.
Tinytown | 65
What’s a Clock?
A progress clock is a circle divided into segments (see examples below). Draw a progress clock
when you need to track ongoing effort against an obstacle or the approach of impending trouble.
Fill in ticks on the clock to represent progress towards a goal or a complication. Healing is a 4-
point clock. A more complicated obstacle is a 6-clock. A daunting obstacle is an 8-segment
clock.
You can’t usually fill a clock with the effect of a single action. This is by design. If a situation is
simple enough for one action, don’t make a clock, just judge the outcome based on the effect
level of the action.
Remember that a clock tracks progress. It reflects the fictional situation, so the group can gauge
how they’re doing. A clock is like a speedometer in a car. It shows the speed of the vehicle—it
doesn’t determine the speed.
Simple Obstacles
Not every situation and obstacle requires a clock. Use clocks when a situation is complex or
layered and you need to track something over time—otherwise, resolve the result of an action
with a single roll.
Danger Clocks
The GM can use a clock to represent a progressive danger, like suspicion growing during a
seduction, the proximity of pursuers in a chase, or the alert level of guards on patrol. In this case,
when a complication occurs, the GM ticks one, two, or three segments on the clock, depending
on the consequence level. When the clock is full, the danger comes to fruition—the guards hunt
down the intruders, activate an alarm, release the hounds, etc.
Racing Clocks
Create two opposed clocks to represent a race. The PCs might have a progress clock called
“Escape” while the Rats in their Nest have a clock called “Cornered.” If the PCs finish their
clock before the Rats fill theirs, they get away. Otherwise, they’re cornered and can’t flee. If both
complete at the same time, the PCs escape to their office, but the hunting Rats are outside!
You can also use racing clocks for an environmental hazard. Maybe the PCs are trying to
complete the “Search” clock to find the lockbox on the sinking ship before the GM fills the
“Sunk” clock and the vessel goes down.
Linked Clocks
You can make a clock that unlocks another clock once it’s filled. For example, the GM might
make a linked clock called “Trapped” after an “Alert” clock fills up. When you fight a veteran
Tinytown | 66
warrior, she might have a clock for her “Defense” and then a linked clock for “Vulnerable.”
Once you overcome the “Defense” clock, then you can attempt to overcome the “Vulnerable”
clock and defeat her. You might affect the “Defense” clock with violence in a knife-fight, or you
lower her defense with deception if you have the opportunity. As always, the method of action is
up to the players and the details of the fiction at hand.
Mission Clocks
The GM can make a clock for a time-sensitive mission, to represent the window of opportunity
you have to complete it. If the countdown runs out, the mission is scrubbed or changes—the
target escapes, the household wakes up for the day, etc.
Tug-of-War Clocks
You can make a clock that can be filled and emptied by events, to represent a back-and-forth
situation. You might make a “Revolution!” clock that indicates when the Rats start to riot over
poor treatment in the city. Some events will tick the clock up and some will tick it down. Once it
fills, the revolution begins. A tug-of-war clock is also perfect for an ongoing turf war between
gangs or factions.
Long-Term Project
Some projects will take a long time. A basic long-term project (like tinkering up a new feature
for a device) is eight segments. Truly long-term projects (like creating a new designer drug) can
be two, three, or even four clocks, representing all the phases of development, testing, and final
completion. Add or subtract clocks depending on the details of the situation and complexity of
the project.
Free play
During free play, there are no, or few consequences, and vanishingly few dice rolls. The players
interact with one another, resolve conflicts between themselves, and interact with NPCs played
by the GM.
Gather Information
You’ve decided to pursue a case, and now, you need to determine how well the engagement roll
can go. You talk with friends and contacts, study the newspapers and police reports, build a
diorama of the crime scene, whatever.
Mechanically, this means that the GM will ask you how your character gathers the info (or how
they learned it in the past). If it’s common knowledge, the GM will simply answer your
questions. If there’s an obstacle to the discovery of the answer, an action roll is called for. If it’s
not common knowledge but there’s no obstacle, a simple fortune roll determines the quality of
the information you gather.
Tinytown | 67
The most common gather information actions are Observing the situation to reveal or anticipate
what’s going on and Investigating a person to understand what they intend to do or what they’re
really thinking.
Sometimes, you’ll have to maneuver yourself into position before you can gather information.
For example, you might have to Stealth to a good hiding place first and then Investigate the
cultists when they perform their dark ritual.
Gather Information
Great: You get exceptional details.

The information is complete and
follow-up questions may expand into
related areas or reveal more than you
hoped for.
Ask a question and make
an action roll or a fortune roll. The
GM answers you honestly, with a Standard: You get good details.
level of detail depending on the Clarifying and follow-up questions
effect level are possible.
Limited: You get incomplete or

partial information. More information
gathering will be needed to get all the
answers.
Examples & Questions
You might Command a local barkeep to tell you what he knows about the secret meetings held
in his back room. What’s really going on here? What’s he really feeling about this? Is he part of
this secret group?
You might Consort with a well-connected friend to learn secrets about an enemy, rival, or
potential ally. What do they intend to do? What might I suspect about their motives? How can I
discover leverage to manipulate them?
You might Hunt a courier across the city, to discover who’s receiving satchels of coin from
Arsinoe Clemmens. Where does the package end up? How can I find out who signed for the
package at City Hall?
Tinytown | 68
You might Investigate ancient and obscure books to discover an arcane secret. How can I
disable the runes of warding? Will anyone sense if they’re disabled?
Or you might Investigate a person to read their intentions and feelings. What are they really
feeling? How could I get them to trust me?
Or you might Observe a charged situation when you meet a gang of Rats. What’s really going
on here? Are they about to attack us?
Then decide on your load, make your engagement roll, and proceed into actual play.
Selecting your load:
Select from light (3 items, and you look like a normal citizen), medium (5 items, and you look
like a private detective on a case), or heavy (7 items, and you look like you’re loaded for Bear
and looking for trouble).
You do not need to select which items you’re bringing with you ahead of time! Simply mark
them off as you use them during the case. When you’ve marked off 3, 5, or 7 items, you’re done;
you have to use what you’ve declared you have with you.
Some items, like armor, take extra load. Some items, generally those in italics on your playbook
sheet, cost 0 load, and can be carried with you at any time.
That’s it. It’s really that easy.
The Engagement roll:
Once the players choose a plan (social, infiltration, combat, etc.) and provide some details on
how they’d like to approach it, the GM cuts to the chase, presenting the first obstacle.
How the GM describes the initial obstacle depends on the result of the engagement roll. The
engagement roll is a fortune roll, starting with 1d for sheer luck. Then the players and the GM
modify the dice pool for any major advantages or disadvantages that apply.
Major Advantages / Disadvantages
• Is this operation particularly bold or daring? Take +1d.
• Is this operation overly complex or contingent on many factors? Take -1d.
• Does the plan’s detail expose a vulnerability of the target or hit them where they’re
weakest? Take +1d.
Tinytown | 69
• Is the target strongest against this approach, or do they have particular defenses or special
preparations? Take -1d.
• Can any of your friends or contacts provide aid or insight for this operation? Take +1d.
• Are any enemies or rivals interfering in the operation? Take -1d.
• Are there any other elements that you want to consider? Maybe a lower-Tier target will
give you +1d. Maybe a higher-Tier target will give you -1d. Maybe there’s a situation in
the district that makes the operation more or less tricky.
The highest roll takes precedence. If you roll a 1-3 (failure), this puts you in a desperate position
to start the investigation.
If you roll a 4-5, you’re in a risky position to start the investigation. If you roll a 6 or a critical
(two sixes), you’re in a controlled position to start the investigation.
How Long does Engagement Last?
The engagement roll determines the starting position for the PCs actions. Once the initial actions
have been resolved, you follow the normal process for establishing position for the rest of the
rolls during the case.
The Case and Flashbacks
The Case itself may be social (interviews, conversations, interrogations), infiltration, or combat-
oriented. You may opt to create a diversion as a setup action in one location, while infiltrating
elsewhere, as part of a linked plan.
You may even need to set up multiple different investigations throughout the main case—for
example, a fifteen-minute interrogation at the local jail gives you information that requires you to
break into the office of a major Guild leader for more evidence. Each of those mini-cases might
require a separate engagement roll—or not, depending on how disparate they are in location and
style.
Whenever you question whether or not to roll for Engagement again, ask yourself if this is part
of the same scene, or the start of a new one. Fiction and narrative first!
Flashbacks
Flashbacks are a unique mechanic from Forged in the Dark games. In FitD games, it’s assumed
that the player characters are highly competent individuals who came up with a plan long before
they entered a situation. But, to avoid all the tedious planning before actually embarking on a
case (and as we know, no plan ever survives contact with the enemy), flashbacks allow the
players to get into the meat of the story more quickly—and when they encounter a problem that
Tinytown | 70
they can’t solve now, with their current resources, they can flash back to the downtime or free
play period before the case, and say that they decided something then.
All that’s needed is for one character to spend Vigor to create the flashback, and then you can do
anything that you could normally have done in downtime.
How much Vigor?
The GM assesses a Vigor cost when you create a flashback.
• 0 Vigor: An ordinary action for which you had easy opportunity. You agreed to meet a
party member who currently isn’t in the scene at the jail for interrogation, and then they
arrive, having run late. Your bard Consorted with her friend, and got her to agree to
arrive at the racetrack early, ready to appear as a surprise ally.
• 1 Vigor: A complex action or unlikely opportunity. The Ranger Finessed her rifle into a
hiding spot in the guarded compound so that she could snipe down from a rooftop to
cover your escape.
• 2 (or more) Vigor: An elaborate action that involved special opportunities or

contingencies. Your warlock has already Invoked a contract with a minor fey spirit and
they’re on hand to protect the party; your artificer has set a timed smoke bomb across the
street to cover your exit; you’ve paid a cabbie coin to wait for you after your warrantless
search of someone’s private office.
If a flashback involves using a Downtime activity, you’ll need to pay 1 Rep or 1 Coin to buy the
extra Downtime action.
Note:
A flashback is not time travel. It cannot undo what has

already been established in the narrative. It can, however,
tweak it.
Devil’s Bargains
Say that you’re low on vigor, and a friend has assisted you to give you 1d at the cost of one vigor
to themselves, but you’re just not sure you can make the roll you need to make with the number
of dice at your disposal.
Now is the time to ask the GM for a Devil’s Bargain. You may always decline a Devil’s Bargain
if you don’t like the sound of it. The GM will supply—sometimes after consultation with the
other players—a fun complication or a reckless action that you could take.
Tinytown | 71
Laila Meriten is trying to get information from a source, and it isn’t

going well. She wants to use Stealth to slip the source a drug that
will make him more talkative and less guarded. She’s not sure she
can roll high enough with only 2d in Stealth, however, and is low
on vigor, so she asks for a Devil’s Bargain.
The GM responds, “I’ll give you the extra dice if you’re affected by
the drug, too.”
Laila accepts the Devil’s Bargain, takes the extra die, and rolls a 5,
6, 4. A success, without complication—other than the fact that the
assassin is now tipsy and talkative, herself!
Downtime
Going into downtime after a fifteen-minute conversation would probably be silly, and likewise,
if you’re in the middle of breaking into the Guild’s office when your session ends, going into
downtime then wouldn’t make sense, so you might pick up mid-burglary in the next session,
without ever having gone into downtime. Thus, downtime happens at the GM’s discretion, but
should happen at the end of a Case.
What Happens in Downtime?
Activities listed below might seem limited; they’re not! During downtime, you can still go
places, do things, make action rolls, gather information, talk with other characters, etc. In other
words, feel free to play. Only activities delineated below are limited in any fashion.
But, in order to walk you through the cycle, first, you receive the payoff from the case you just
handled. This includes Coin, Experience, Influence, and Reputation.
Coin
The GM will determine how much Coin you acquire from solving the Case. See Chapter
Twelve: The Economy of Tinytown for more information.
Experience and Advancement
Experience should be totaled up during Payoff. Refer to your character sheet for XP triggers.
(It’s important to note that you can roleplay during Solace. You can roleplay during Training.
You can gain xp for roleplay during any phase of the game!)
Tinytown | 72
• For each desperate action attempted, mark 1 xp in the ability track that the skill you
used came from.
• Each class has its own specific xp trigger, so, if you are playing as a warlock, you will
gain up to 2 points of experience per case for solving problems with guile or magical
might.
• Mark up to 2 more xp if you expressed your beliefs, drives, species, or background.

Which is to say, did you stop and take a moment to have a scene that provided insight
into your character, their drives—which is to say, their goals? Did you reveal why they
struggle with a faction, or get along so well with one of their agency friends? Doing so is
a chance to show what your character is like on the inside—who they really are. How the
world sees them, and how they see the world. This lies at the heart of narrative gaming
and roleplay, and should be compensated whenever possible.
Did you express the psychology of your species? Were you, as a Dog, especially
distracted by the smell of food, garbage, or an errant squirrel? As a Cat, were you
especially curious or seemingly indifferent to what mattered to others? As a Possum, did
you accept a Devil’s Bargain that led to you fainting of fright? Consider all this when
marking xp.
• Finally, mark up to 2 more xp if you struggled with issues relating to memory or harm,
especially lost Memories.
While most of these experience triggers are limited to 2 xp, you can attempt an unlimited number
of desperate actions per case. But be warned; if you fail on a desperate action, the consequences
can be dire!
When advancing, you spend your experience in one or more of the experience tracks:
Tinytown | 73
Figure 5. The Experience Tracks.
Once a six-box ability track is filled, you can buy a new dot in the section below it. So for
example, you’ve filled out six boxes in Insight—so you can buy one dot in hunt. (To a maximum
of three dots, before Mastery is applied.)
How do you do you gain a new playbook ability or spell? You fill out the eight-box playbook
track instead, and select your new ability or spell. . Or, if you’re a spell-casting class, you may
add a box to your mana track by filling out your Playbook XP tracker and taking the non-class
ability Fountain of Energy (See Appendix A: Non-Class Abilities). This can be done 4 times,
until you have a total of 6 Mana boxes.
That’s it. That’s how easy advancement up can be!
Example of Advancement
Cory Andersen is playing as an Artificer. At the end of the session, he

reviews his xp triggers, and decides that yes, he rolled two Desperate
actions in Tinker this session, so he marks two points on the Insight xp
track. He dealt with several challenges to do with arcane power and
technical skill, so he receives 2 xp for those.
He’s a Cat, and he roleplayed their curiosity by being unable to leave a
box unopened in the workshop of the gang of Rats he was investigating.
He expressed his beliefs by being unable to leave behind a fellow
Investigator when the box blew up, dropping the ceiling on them and
alerting the Rats to their presence. All of this was in aid of his drive to
find out what happened to his missing mentor, Sam Hornsback. While
that’s 3 points, he only marks 2 xp, since that’s the max.
Tinytown | 74
Agency Advancement
At the end of the session, review the Agency sheet (available as a free download) for xp triggers
and mark 1 Agency xp for each item that occurred during the session. If an item occurred
multiple times or in a major way, mark 2 agency xp for it. The agency xp triggers are:
• Your Investigator xp trigger. “Acquire a client and satisfy their requirements.” If the
agency successfully completed an operation from this trigger, mark xp.
• Contend with challenges above your current station. If you tangled with higher Tiers
or more dangerous opposition, mark xp for this.
• Bolster your agency’s reputation or develop a new one. Review your agency’s
reputation. Did you do anything to promote it? Also mark xp if you developed a new
reputation for the agency.
• Express the goals, drives, inner conflict, or essential nature of the Agency. This one
is very broad! Essentially, did anything happen that highlighted the specific elements that
make your agency unique?
When you fill your agency advancement tracker, clear the marks and take a new special
ability or mark two agency upgrade boxes.
Say how you’ve obtained this new ability or upgrades for the agency. Where did it come from?
How does it become a new part of the agency?
Profits
Tinytown | 75
Every time the agency advances, each PC gets stash equal to the agency Tier+2, to represent
profits generated by the agency as they’ve been operating.
Influence
Determine which factions your actions have influenced over the course of the case. When you
reach +3 with a faction, you may be invited to join their cause in some official capacity.
Note:
Unlike many FitD games, rep in Tinytown is not necessarily

crosslinked. If your influence goes up with the Gravekeepers,
it does not necessarily go down with the Church. Whether it
does or not, however, is at the discretion of the GM.
There are many gangs, guilds, communities, and neighborhoods in Tinytown that are not
reflected in this book. Chapter Ten: Factions describes twenty or so factions of differing levels
of power.
If your influence drops into the negatives, the factions will go out of their way to interfere with
your work!
Downtime Actions (DTAs)
Next, you can engage in downtime actions (DTAs). You can recover from harm taken on the
job, seek solace to restore lost vigor, work on long-term projects, acquire assets, and train. You
may gain extra DTAs by purchasing them with Coin or Rep, and you may increase the effect
level of a DTA with Coin, too. A PC normally has two DTAs before any purchases are made.
Jack Shepherd needs to Recover from Harm and Seek Solace at the
end of a rough case. This leaves him no time to work on his clock
“Find Jack’s Lost Memories.”
He opts to do the first two actions as usual, and then buys a third
DTA to look after his clock. He’s actually got four Coin burning a
hole in his pocket right now—too much to carry, and he doesn’t want
to put it all towards stash, so he uses 1 Coin to increase the effect
level of his fortune roll on his Memory clock, and rolls a 6—which,
with the Coin, makes it a crit, worth five ticks on the clock! This
winds up filling out his 8-point clock.
He now has a clue that Gildi Touati runs a potion shop in the
neighborhood where he and his old partner were ambushed years
ago—and that Gildi also sells goods on the Memory Market. It might
be worth checking to see if she has anything in stock that belongs to
Jack!
Tinytown | 76
Recover from Harm
In Tinytown, there are multiple ways to recover from Harm.
• Unlike other FitD and FATE games, Tinytown allows healing during combat/a case if a
cleric has taken the Divine Healer playbook ability. The cleric may use their divine
power to roll their Channel dice. On a successful roll, they reduce the harm by one level,
right then and there. So if you suffered the consequence Level 3 Harm: Shot in the Leg,
it would reduce down to Level 2 Harm: Leg wound, but it still would not be all the way
healed.
• Next, you heal naturally over time. On entering downtime, you automatically reduce the
level of Harm you sustained during the case by one level. So if you suffered the
consequence Level 2 Harm: Leg Wound, it would reduce down to Level 1 Harm:
Flesh wound, but it still would not be all the way healed.
• Third, you may use a DTA to have the party artificer, druid, or cleric, if they have the
requisite playbook abilities, heal you. This is a use of your DTA, not theirs. They are not
penalized for being the party healer. A cleric or druid would roll a consequence-free
fortune roll their Commune/Invoke dice and start a 4-tick clock; an artificer, would roll a
consequence-free fortune roll with their Tinker dice start that same 4-tick clock. 1-3: one
segment, 4/5: two segments, 6: three segments, critical: five segments On a crit, the
clock is filled and the Harm is reduced by another level. (It may take multiple DTAs to
remove Harm in this fashion.)
• Fourth, if you do not have a party healer, you may spend 1 Coin and a DTA to seek
healthcare from the University Hospital. The GM will roll 3d6, and start a clock, exactly
as outlined above.
• Fifth, if you cannot afford the University Hospital, there is the Charity Ward, run by the
Church. It is free, but the GM will only roll 1d6 per DTA.
• Sixth, and going back to the notion of recovering over time, you may set your character
to the side for a couple of cases, allowing them to rest and heal over time at home, while
you play a different character.
A final word on healing: if you enter a case still nursing an injury from the last one, and are
injured again, the work you’ve done towards healing it is undone. So if you had Level 1 Harm:
Cuts and Bruises, and you had healed it to 2 ticks on your clock, and you received another Level
Tinytown | 77
1 Harm on the case, the 2 healing ticks would be gone—representing pulled stitches or a fresh
layer of bruises atop the existing ones.
Seek Solace and Restore Mana
As discussed in Chapter Three: Character Creation, all you need to do to restore your mana is
get a good night’s sleep, and the Powers—or the universe in general—takes care of the rest.
In order to restore vigor, however, you need to seek solace. And in order to seek solace, you need
to spend time doing things that restore your sense of self. You may pick one category at
character creation in which to take solace.
Note:
If you lose the memory associated with a Solace, you

will need to pick a new Solace, unless you can regain
the memory!
To determine how much vigor is regained, select whichever of Insight, Prowess, or Resolve has
the fewest number of dots, and roll 1d6 per ability in that category, taking the highest amount.
Subtract the amount rolled from the amount of vigor damage you have sustained.
Jack has taken a beating on this last case. He’s down 7 Vigor, and desperately
needs some Solace before he loses another Memory. His lowest category is
Resolve, in which he has only 1 ability, Command. He takes this as a
resistance roll, and thus, while he has 2 dots in the ability, he only counts the
first for the roll. Jack rolls his 1d, and, to his relief, gets a 5. He erases 5 marks
from his Vigor track, leaving him only with two Vigor burned to start his next
case.
In terms of roleplay, Jack has few sources of Solace left, due to Memory loss.
The closest thing he has to family anymore is Sister Joy at the orphanage
where he was raised, so that’s where he goes to seek Solace. While he’s there,
Sister Joy mentions that the children have been spooked by a ghost lately, and
that she doesn’t know what to do about it. Jack smells a fresh case!
Tinytown | 78
Note:
In contrast to many FitD games, there is no penalty

for regaining more vigor than you have lost. You
cannot “overindulge” in solace!
Work on Long-term Projects
When you work on a long-term project, describe what your character does to advance the project
clock, and roll one of your abilities as a fortune roll. Mark ticks on the clock according to your
result: 1-3: one tick, 4-5: two ticks, 6: three ticks, critical: five ticks.
You can, just as in regular play, gain an assist from a friend or ally helping you, resulting in
bonus dice on your action!
A long-term project can cover a wide variety of activities, like doing research into an arcane
ritual, building a new automaton, establishing someone’s trust, courting a new friend or contact,
changing your character’s source of Solace, and so on.
Based on the goal of the project, the GM will tell you the clock(s) to create and suggest a method
by which you might make progress.
Acquire Assets
Gain temporary use of an asset, such as:
• One special item or set of common items (enough for an office of your Tier scale).
• A cohort (an expert or group of associates).
• A vehicle.
• A service. Transport from a smuggler or driver, use of a warehouse for temporary
storage, legal representation, etc.
“Temporary use” constitutes one significant period of usage that makes sense for the asset—
typically the duration of one case.
An asset could be purchased and placed on standby until needed, but if you say, hired some of
the staff from a friendly Investigative Agency to give yourself more muscle on a case, they might
get bored and go back to their dayjobs if you take too long in using them!
To acquire an asset, you will make a fortune roll based on the Tier of your agency (refer to your
Agency sheet). If you’re a Tier I agency, then you’ll roll 1d; if you’re a Tier 0 agency, you’ll roll
Tinytown | 79
2d and take the lowest result. 1-3: Tier -1, 4/5: Tier, 6: Tier +1, critical: Tier +2. You can spend
coin to raise the result of this roll beyond critical by spending 2 coin per additional Tier level
added.
There may be minimum Tier requirements for some assets, as determined by the GM. You can’t
just get the Lord Mayor’s sword-cane (Tier V) as a lowly Tier 0 agency—not without spending
an exorbitant amount of coin, anyway!
Train
You may train either in the Resolve, Prowess, and Insight tracks, or the Playbook ability track, at
a rate of 1 xp per DTA. You may only train a given xp track once per downtime.
You may start an 8-point long term project to learn a Playbook ability from a trainer. Use the
ability most closely affiliated with that ability to train in it. So if you wanted to learn to Create
Undead, from the Cleric playbook, you would use your spell-casting ability (e.g., Invoke) and
roll the number of dice represented by your dots in that ability. 1-3: one segment, 4/5: two
segments, 6: three segments, critical: five segments.
If you don’t already know someone who can train you in that ability, you will need to make a
contact who does—a 6-point long-term project that precedes the 8-point training LTP.
Note:
This is the only way to learn an ability from another

playbook. A fighter doesn’t become a master infiltrator
overnight!
Note that abilities that require the use of Mana are locked to
playbooks that have a Mana track. In order to use a Mana-
based ability, you will need to change playbooks entirely.
Agency Tier
Take a look at the factions in Chapter Ten. Each notable faction of the city is ranked by Tier—
a measure of wealth, influence, and scale. At the highest level are the Tier V factions, the true
powers of the city. Your agency begins at Tier 0.
You’ll use your Tier rating to roll dice when you acquire an asset, as well as for any fortune roll
for which your agency’s overall power level and influence is the primary trait. Most importantly,
your Tier determines the quality level of your items as well as the quality and scale of those
agents your agency employs—and thereby what size of enemy you can expect to handle.
Hold
Tinytown | 80
On the faction ladder next to the Tier numbers is a letter indicating the strength of each faction’s
hold. Hold represents how well a faction can maintain their current position on the ladder. W
indicates weak hold. S indicates strong hold. Your agency begins with strong hold at Tier 0.
Development
To move up the ladder and develop your agency, you need reputation, or rep. Rep is a
measure of clout and renown. When you accrue enough rep, the other factions take you more
seriously and you attract the support needed to develop and grow.
When you complete a case, your agency earns 2 rep. If the target of the case is higher Tier than
your agency, you get +1 rep per Tier higher. If the target of the case is lower Tier, you get -1
rep per Tier lower (minimum zero).
You need 12 rep to fill the rep tracker on your agency sheet (available as a free download).
When you fill the tracker, do one of the following:
• If your hold is weak, it becomes strong. Reset your rep to zero.

• If your hold is strong, you can pay to increase your agency Tier by one. This costs coin
equal to your new Tier x 8. As long as your rep tracker is full, you don’t earn new rep
(12 is the max). Once you pay and increase your Tier, reset your rep to zero and reduce
your hold to weak.
When your Agency levels up, you may unlock new abilities for your characters that will be of
use to you! Choose wisely.
Faction Status
Your agency’s status with each faction indicates how well you are liked or hated. Status is rated
from -3 influence to +3 influence, with zero (neutral) being the default starting status. You track
your status with each faction on the faction sheet.
When you create your agency, you assign some positive and negative status ratings to reflect
recent history. The ratings will then change over time based on your actions in play.
Faction Status Changes
When you complete a case, you may gain +1 status with a faction that your operation helps.
Your status may also change if you do a favor for a faction or if you refuse one of their demands.
Note:
Unlike many FitD games, rep in Tinytown is not necessarily

crosslinked. If your reputation goes up with the Gravekeepers,
it does not necessarily go down with the Church. Whether it
does or not, however, is at the discretion of the GM.
Tinytown | 81
Faction Status Levels
Depending on your level of influence with a given faction, they will treat you in different ways.
• +3: Allies. This faction will help you even if it’s not in their best interest to do so. They
expect you to do the same for them.
• +2: Friendly. This faction will help you if it doesn’t create serious problems for them.
They expect you to do the same.
• +1: Helpful. This faction will help you if it causes no problems or significant cost for
them. They expect the same from you.
• 0: Neutral
• -1: Interfering. This faction will look for opportunities to cause trouble for you (or profit
from your misfortune) as long as it causes no problems or significant cost for them. They
expect the same from you.
• -2: Hostile. This faction will look for opportunities to hurt you as long as it doesn’t create
serious problems for them. They expect you to do the same, and take precautions against
you.
• -3: War. This faction will go out of its way to hurt you even if it’s not in their best
interest to do so. They expect you to do the same, and take precautions against you.
Tinytown | 82
Chapter Five: Sample Investigation

Madame Ariel Haidar has crafted three different automata for use by the City. The prototypes
for all three have been stolen. Two of them, you might be able to locate by using a wand keyed
to the thaumic signatures emitted by the crystals in their heads:
• the gyreworm designed to clean the sewers of fatbergs and other such obstructions
• the monkeybot, designed to hang off the city walls and repair them in situ
The gyreworm is vocally opposed by two factions: the Rats who live clandestinely in the sewers,
and the City Inspectors, a band of Dogs that cleans and repairs the sewers, deals with the
methane buildup, and tries to run out the Rats that live there. Would either of these two factions
have stolen it, or is there a third party?
The Stonemasons oppose the creation of the monkeybot, because it threatens their livelihoods.
They spend a lot of time maintaining the walls, when there’s not a lot of building going on inside
the town. But would they have stolen it?
The third prototype was stolen at the same time as the other two, almost in a coordinated fashion,
but from a separate location. This is the dragonbot, designed to supplement the Wall Guards. It
can breathe fire and fly, though it’s bipedal, and its thaumic resonance has been altered,
suggesting someone with quite a bit of technomantic skill was behind this theft.
Are you looking at multiple factions working together, or just coincidental timing on the three
thefts? Which theft will you look into first? How will you gather information to begin your
investigation?
The Hornsback Investigations team puts their heads together.
Freeplay
Laila, a Cat, doesn’t have many contacts with the Rats, but as a former Assassin, has some
contacts in the Thieves’ Guild. She reaches out to them and gets put in touch with Melody
Ariza, a Mouse singer and entertainer who has better contacts with the Guild than Laila does.
There’s currently rumors that the old head of the Enforcers, Ramiz Ferrick, is back in town and
threatening the position of his old lieutenant, Barqa Azim. Apparently, Ramiz is not as dead as
rumor would have had him. Melody is terrified of Ramiz—she was sold to him as a young
Mouse, by parents too petrified to tell an Enforcer no.
Melody will need some persuading that the Hornsback team can take out a brute like Ramiz—if
he’s really back, that is. Laila, during freeplay, makes a Consort roll to convince Melody that
they really can take care of the threat.
Since this is freeplay, the GM rules that there are no consequences to the action, so this is
categorized as a fortune roll. Jack Shepherd offers to assist Laila, spending 1 Vigor to add to
Tinytown | 83
the scene. As a tall, strong fighter-type, with considerable experience with the City Watch, he’s
just the sort of person Melody can envision taking on Ramiz in a fight—and maybe even
winning.
The fortune roll lands as a 4, 5, 6, thanks to Jack’s assist, and thus, they get Melody to put them
in touch with Barqa—who believes that the gyreworm and the monkeybot were both taken by
Ramiz as a bid to show Arik Joran, leader of the Thieves’ Guild, that he’s back, and a better
person by far than Barqa to lead the Enforcers once again. He’s even able to point to a location in
Upper Rats’ Nest where he believes Ramiz has gone to ground.
While you can’t get more than a single dice for “friends and contacts have provided
information,” on the engagement roll for a case, Cory and Branwen, also members of the
Hornsback Investigative Services team, have tried a different route, trying to gain information on
the dragonbot. It’s been seen on the North side of the city, in a nice, upper-middleclass area
called Leafshade, where three City Watch members were killed by its fiery breath. They’ve
pinpointed where it appeared, before it flew over the walls and into the fields outside the city, but
can’t track it out there, in the cabbages and corn, without assistance.
Which lead will they follow? The one where they have more delineated information or the one
that poses more of a threat to the populace?
As a group, the Investigators decide, reluctantly, to follow the evidence they have at hand—
which will lead them into either trying to infiltrate the headquarters of a violent former Enforcer
of the Thieves’ Guild or simply kicking down his door. The agency has no additional XP triggers
(see the Agency Sheet, available for download for free online) to incline them either way, but
they also have no Rat members, and only Laila can turn herself invisible. The others are terrible
at disguises. Jack advocates for a frontal assault plan.
They move through the questions that will determine how many dice they roll for their
engagement roll:
The Engagement Roll
• Is this operation particularly bold or daring? Take +1d.
They decide that kicking down the door of a known Enforcer, back from the dead, is
certainly bold and daring.
• Is this operation overly complex or contingent on many factors? Take -1d.
They decide it’s not complex enough yet. They opt to split the team in halves, with Cory
and Laila taking a back way into the lair, while Branwen and Jack knock down the front
door. Now, it’s not overly complex, but stands a better chance of success.
Tinytown | 84
• Does the plan’s detail expose a vulnerability of the target or hit them where they’re
weakest? Take +1d.
They decide that this isn’t the case.
• Is the target strongest against this approach, or do they have particular defenses or special
preparations? Take -1d.
They agree that an Enforcer is probably hardened against this method of approach.
• Can any of your friends or contacts provide aid or insight for this operation? Take +1d.
They’ve gotten 1d through Melody Ariza.
• Are any enemies or rivals interfering in the operation? Take -1d.
The GM tells them that no, no other agencies are taking an interest in this case.
• Are there any other elements that you want to consider? Maybe a lower-Tier target will
give you +1d. Maybe a higher-Tier target will give you -1d. Maybe there’s a situation in
the district that makes the operation more or less tricky.
Going into Upper Rats’ Nest as non-Rats certainly complicates things. They decide to
approach Naomi Moran, the elected representative of the Rat community, for
“permission” to walk the streets of Upper Rats’ Nest. She agrees that the Enforcers do
bad things for the community, and gives them an escort of Rats so that they don’t attract
the wrong type of attention wandering the streets alone. Particularly since Jack, a former
City Watch member, stands out around here. . . .
Thus, the engagement roll is 1d for fortune, and, through a mix of pluses and minuses from the
questions above, a second 1d. That’s 2d total.
Cory, as the Agency leader, rolls, and gets a 6. That lands them on a controlled position,
entering into the action—the only possible better result would have been a crit!
The Case Itself
As they’ve chosen a two-pronged, half infiltration, half ‘kick the door down approach” but are
starting from a controlled position, there are only two guards at the front door of the decrepit,
tumbled-down house, and only one at the rear.
Branwen and Jack begin by causing a ruckus. Branwen, a cleric, uses her Signature ability to
summon a creature of pure light (Tier 1, matching her agency’s tier level) to serve as her cohort.
(For information on cohorts, see p. 79).
Tinytown | 85
She then shouts for the guards at the door to throw their hands up and surrender, in the name of
the Powers! The creature gives her a set up on her Command attempt—which is a good thing,
because she has 0d in that ability. She rolls a 4 and a 6, which counts as a 4, because she’s rolling
at disadvantage. However, the setup gives her increased effect in this case.
The two Rat guards scream for backup (the consequence of the 4 is that they can alert those
inside that intruders are here), but, with the increased effect of the Command, they cower back
from the creature of light floating towards them, and throw down their weapons.
Jack takes the opportunity to kick down the door, using Force, in which he has two dots. He rolls
a 3 and a 6. Since the position was controlled, had he failed, he could have withdrawn the
attempt, and tried another, less spectacular method of entry, such as taking the keys from the
belts of the guards, and simply unlocking the door. Jack’s player is very pleased with himself . . .
until he and Branwen see what’s waiting for them past the door. Four tough-looking Rat
Enforcers.
And Rats always fight as a swarm.
Uh-oh.
This would be a great time for the GM to set up a clock, to demonstrate just how tough or weak
these Rats are. Since they fight as a swarm, it might be appropriate to set this as an 8-tick clock
to keep the players on the edge of their seats, or, the GM could decide that no, these guys are
fairly weak, and handle it with a single set of dice rolls from the players. It all depends on how
the GM wants to handle the flow of the narrative. In this case, the GM opts for an 8-tick clock.
In the meantime, Cory and Laila have stealthily approached the rear door of the lair. Laila struck
the single guard down from stealth. Cory set her up by approaching the guard as if asking for
assistance, giving her +1 effect or increased effect, and she used her two dots in Finesse to roll
the attack. She’s therefore rolling 2d on the attack, and rolls a 4, 6. The 4 would have been a
success, but with a consequence, but the 6 succeeds without consequence.
The guard falls to the floor, and they have access to the back door. Cory takes the keys from the
unconscious guard and stealthily unlocks the back door—where they see Ramiz himself, playing
cards with three guards!
Oh dear.
Jack, in the front room, decides to have a flashback, and says that before they embarked on this
plan, he asked Cory, as an artificer, to make him some kind of flashbang—a bomb that wouldn’t
do damage to people, but would stun them, making it harder for them to attack him and
Branwen.
They set this up as an acquire asset roll, buying the extra downtime activity with a single Coin.
Cory makes the roll using his Tinker ability; they’re a Tier I agency, and he rolls a 5, succeeding
on the project. They then use another 2 Coin to push the quality of the flashbang to Tier 3, giving
Tinytown | 86
it potency against these Rats, who aren’t currently affiliated with the (Tier III) Thieves’ Guild—
but the players don’t know that, and are gunning for the Tier that they think the Enforcers
currently are.
In real time, Jack throws the flashbang into the room, dazing the Rats and disrupting their ability
to attack him. They’re too far from him to swarm him yet. Jack and Branwen’s position is
Risky/Standard at the moment, but the attack hits with potency and hits all four of them. The GM
rules that this attack did 2 ticks on the clock, leaving 6 to go.
With a shout, Jack, Branwen, and her summoned guardian of light proceed to attack the mooks
just past the door!
At the back door, Cory hesitates, but only for a moment. He could send his pet, the clanking
automaton, into the room, but the sly artificer has a better idea. With all the ruckus coming from
the front room, Ramiz and his guards haven’t noticed the back door opening yet.
While they still have the advantage of surprise and stealth, Cory casts his only spell: Twisted
Space. It would be a 0 Mana cost if Ramiz was a friendly target, but since Ramiz is definitely
unfriendly, Cory uses 1 Mana to employ the spell on an unwilling target and rolls. He gets a 4
and a 5, and Ramiz is yanked from among his guards, whisked through space to appear in a puff
of smoke behind Laila and Cory.
This is a success, but there’s a consequence. The GM could impose a penalty of Harm:
Disoriented on Cory, but instead chooses to have one of the guards is yanked with Ramiz! This
consequence could be resisted, but Cory opts to save his Vigor, and slams the door shut.
Laila, still hidden, advances on Ramiz and the guard!
Note:
At no point do the NPCs roll. All of their actions

come from consequences that the player characters roll!
In the front room, Branwen has a dubious choice in front of her; their position has gone from
controlled to risky in a heartbeat. She can send her guardian of light after one of the enemies,
using her Channel ability, or she can attack the enemy herself, using Force. Alternatively, she
can lead her summoned cohort by using her Force ability; she will roll for the action, and the
cohort will roll 1d as they are quality 1. She opts for the latter, leading a group action, she and
her cohort against a Rat. She rolls a 6 and a 4 Force, succeeding completely on her attack. The
guardian of light attacks (rolling a 3, failure and consequence)! The Rat spins and slashes at the
guardian, doing Level 2 Harm to the creature of pure light! The guardian is now impaired,
rolling at -1d, which means that it now rolls 0d per action—which is to say, it rolls 2d, and picks
Tinytown | 87
the lowest outcome. But then Branwen swings her fine great hammer (added damage and
potency) and the Rat in front falls from its feet. (4/8 ticks)
Jack, at the same time, draws his fine pistol. He’s not feeling inclined towards mercy; these
Enforcers keep a foot on the neck of Rats and everyone else West of the river. His Hunt against
a fresh opponent is a respectable 2 dots, and because he’s fighting from range, the Rats’ swarm
ability doesn’t apply to him. Jack opts not to push himself at the moment, and rolls a 6 and a 2, at
greater effect. Jack fires twice! The clock now sits at 7/8 ticks, with three Rats down and one
injured.
At the rear, Cory tries to jam the locking mechanism using Tinker, while Laila again pushes
herself for 2 Vigor to Prowl and attack Ramiz from stealth.
(Ramiz is a ‘boss level’ NPC. The GM could have given him +1 Potency “Scary” just for being
who and what he is, but chose not to do so.)
Knowing that their lives probably depend on the door not being amenable to being opened, Cory
pushes himself to 3d in Tinker and rolls a 3, 6, 3. He’s able to jam the lock thoroughly, and turns
to see if Laila needs any help with the surprised Ramiz and the equally surprised guard. With a 5,
6, 3, Laila attacks the Rat Enforcer from stealth, doing Harm to the startled Rat—but he’s a
tough old sot, and like his mooks, he’s not about to drop from one little prod to the back of his
head.
The GM starts another clock to show the players how much damage Ramiz has taken—and how
much more is needed to take him out. It’s another 8-point clock, but Laila (still at Risky position,
but with Greater Effect) has filled in two segments!
At the front of the house, Branwen once again leads her summoned spirit into battle against the
Rat in the first room. The guardian rolls a 6,1, and must take the lower of the two as its roll. It
takes another consequence for its failure—another Level 2 Harm!
Branwen, however, decides to face danger for her guardian. She steps in between the Rat and its
intended target, and takes the Harm on herself! It manages to bite her on the wing with its nasty,
rotten teeth, for Level Two Harm: Infectious Bite!
Branwen’s player has options here. She can mark off armor and heavy armor on her sheet, and
use that armor to reduce the harm to zero, or she can choose to resist some of the harm, using
prowess, resolve, or insight (whichever is the most narratively sensible), and marking off
however much vigor she loses on the roll.
Branwen, being a prepared sort, packed heavy for this mission, having chosen to go in at 7 load.
She marks off the armor and the heavy armor on her sheet, and notes that both layers of armor
have been broken through—it can’t be used again during this case.
Jack, taking on the last Rat in the front room, decides to try to intimidate the creature into
surrendering. He makes a Command attempt, snarling, “Throw down your weapons and
Tinytown | 88
surrender, or you’ll join your friends!” Branwen assists on this attempt, burning 1 Vigor from
her sheet to give Jack an extra die—and does so by swinging her hammer meaningfully in the
Rat’s direction. Jack rolls a 6, 5, 5—so close to a crit, and yet so far away. Still, it’s a success
without consequence, and the Rat drops its weapons and surrenders. (No swarm bonus as there’s
only 1 Rat. The PCs have scale as there are 3 of them. Fine weapons also add potency. So
standard effect + fine + outnumber = Exceptional (off the clock) = 4 ticks)
At the rear of the house, the door shakes as the Rats on the opposite side of it try to break it
down. Cory and his automaton close in on Ramiz as he and Laila square off. Now, without the
advantage of stealth, Laila is less effective in combat than before—and the Rats have their
swarm bonus going. Cory uses setup action, and Commands his automaton to take Ramiz’s legs
out from under him.
With a 2 and a 6, Cory succeeds without consequence, and Ramiz is now in a world of hurt. All
of Laila’s attacks on him have +1 effect or improved position. Laila chooses +1 effect, and rolls,
pushing again because she knows they have a limited amount of time before the door crashes
down behind them. This puts her dangerously low on Vigor, however—she’s going to need to
watch that.
With a 4, 1, 5 Laila slams her fine weapon down on Ramiz’s temple with such force that the Rat
swoons back from her. With +1 effect, plus the effect of her fine weapon, she’s done 3 ticks of
damage on his clock, bringing the total to 5/8 ticks. However, there are two of them there,
they’re fighting as a swarm, and she’s just incurred a consequence. Ramiz might have had his
bell rung, but his compatriot leaps forward to slash at Laila for Level 2 Harm: Gut Wound!
Laila, being a lighter-weight fighter than Branwen or Jack, only came here with 5 load. She
marks off one armor to take the Harm down to Level One: Scratched and Cut, but she doesn’t
have the Vigor to resist the Level One Harm. She now will take reduced effect to all physical
rolls!
Jack and Branwen burst through the door from the room they were in, to the room at the back of
the house, where they find two Rat guards trying to break down the rear door of the house. Jack
smiles grimly, sighting with his pistol. Branwen sighs, and leads her guardian of light into the
fray once more.
At the back door, Cory frowns with worry at Laila’s wound. He can’t do anything about it now,
however. He draws his pistol, leading his automaton in an attack against Ramiz. With a 3,1 he
misses entirely, and adding insult to injury, his pistol jams as a consequence! His automaton,
which is Quality level 1, only rolls 1d, and succeeds on a 5—which earns it a consequence.
Ramiz backfists the metal contraption, doing Level 2 Harm: Fused Circuitry to the robotic
creature. Still, the clock stands at 6/8.
Laila, in desperation, uses her Signature Ability: Vanish. She gains potency on her Stealth
attempt, and still rolls 2d for this physical ability. She rolls a 5, 4 successfully hiding, but with a
consequence—the Rats can see her blood trail on the ground wherever she goes!
Tinytown | 89
The Rats stand back-to-back with one another, glaring warily around them. Cory sighs and grabs
a vial from his bandolier. He hadn’t wanted to do this with Laila so close to the enemy, but with
his pistol jammed, he’s got fewer choices. He hurls a vial of standstill powder at the injured
Ramiz (Tier IV paralytic powder), pushing himself for an extra die. He’s fighting at range, so the
Rats’ swarm ability doesn’t come into play, and he rolls a 6, 6, 3! Critical hit! (A critical does
increased effect. With two ticks left, this does three ticks worth of damage, ending the clock.)
Ramiz and his minion both freeze in place, faces locked in rictus grins. The door behind Cory
explodes open as Branwen and Jack burst their way through. “What took you so long?” Laila
asks insouciantly, appearing back out of thin air. Still, she’s nursing a fairly ugly wound in her
side, so Branwen approaches her to provide a healing spell, while Jack breaks out his manacles
and takes Ramiz into custody.
Downtime and Payoff
The Watch is very grateful to have Ramiz in their cells, and the gyreworm and monkeybot
prototypes back in the possession of the City. Hornsback Investigative Services receives 8 Coin
for their efforts, and a +1 to Influence with both the City Watch and the Benevolent Association
of Artificers.
However, because they chose to go after the monkeybot and gyreworm first, there’s a problem—
the dragonbot has struck again. It’s clearly not in Ramiz’s hands—and it’s killed civilians in
Leafshade this time!
They can use their downtime to heal any wounds they’ve taken during this combat-oriented
case—Branwen plans to use her divine power to heal Laila’s wounded side, for example. They
can use their downtime actions to pursue long-term projects—Jack has one going, trying to track
down his missing memories, for example. They can engage in Solace to regain Vigor—
something all of them need desperately.
But the clock is ticking—literally. The GM has a clock set where the players can see it, showing
how long they have before the thief of the dragonbot strikes again. . . .
Why show the players the clock? Well, other than to increase the pressure and the excitement as
it ticks down, there’s the fact that this is a narrative game. Tinytown doesn’t seek to portray the
reality of the town; instead it’s trying to tell a good story about the town and its people. Like any
good story, it doesn’t necessarily have to be told solely from the perspective of the characters.
Often in books, we see things happening that the characters have no knowledge of, leading to
foreshadowing. A story game like Tinytown actively encourages a “no secrets” policy. Because a
secret that the characters aren’t aware of is no fun.
Let’s say that a noble has taken offense at the agency’s poking and prodding in his life, and has
hired a Cleaner to remove the agency from existence. While the GM could simply blindside the
players with the first attack on them, the GM could also start an 8-point clock called “Viscount
Tinytown | 90
Marinell’s Revenge” and let the players start to sweat as something unknown to them gets closer
and closer. This increases tension and a sense of foreboding.
Clocks are also an example of fair play by the GM. You might know that the Collectors are
going to stage an attack on the district in which the Agency has an office, but you don’t want to
let the player characters in on the full story. In the interests of fairness, you could start an 8-point
clock that says “Doom approaches.” This gives the Agency fair warning to get prepared in some
fashion, and if they don’t, well, they were warned. They can’t complain (too much) if they didn’t
prepare while they had the chance!
Tinytown | 91
Chapter Six: Equipment

On your character’s playbook sheet (available as a free download), you will find a list of items
that they can carry on a case. This chapter talks about items available to the characters, as well as
load.
Load
Select from light (3 items, and you look like a normal citizen), medium (5 items, and you look
like a private detective on a case), or heavy (7 items, and you look like you’re loaded for Bear
and looking for trouble).
You do not need to select which items you’re bringing with you ahead of time! Simply mark
them off as you use them during the case. When you’ve marked off 3, 5, or 7 items, you’re done;
you have to use what you’ve declared you have with you.
Some items, like armor, take extra load. Some items, generally those in italics on your playbook
sheet, cost 0 load, and can be carried with you at any time.
Coin, when carried, is equal to 1 load per coin. Carrying a week’s wages in silver and gold is
heavy, and it clanks. Try to convert this to stash whenever possible; after all, you could be
mugged for it, too!
Items from different playbooks can be accessed through the use of a long term project for
permanent use, or through acquire asset for a one-time use. So a fighter could gain her own set
of dark-sight goggles through either means.
Items can be upgraded for coin, through Tinker and the crafting mechanic, or as quest rewards.
So an assassin might wind up with a fine weapon as a result of play, and isn’t stuck with an
average weapon forever.
That’s it. It’s really that easy.
Core Items
Every playbook has access to these items.
• A blade or two – Exactly what it sounds like. A couple of daggers.
• Throwing knives – A couple of daggers, weighted for throwing.
• A pistol – a small caliber weapon, with about six shots before needing to reload. (Note
that you don’t need to count rounds; the GM may impose a ‘misfire’ or ‘out of ammo’
consequence for a bad roll that you may resist with Vigor.)
Tinytown | 92
• A 2nd pistol – Your holdout pistol, for when you run out of ammo or suffer a misfire,
and want to keep shooting.
• A large weapon – A sword, a hammer, a polearm. These are still in use particularly
among the City Watch and the Wall Guard—particularly the Wall Guard, who might
have to fight in close-quarters, in poor visibility, due to the Mist.
• An unusual weapon – A scythe, a naginata. Have a good narrative reason for carrying
one of these around a civilized city, please.
• Armor – Your first level of ablative armor. It can resist one level of Harm before being
destroyed, and costs 2 load
• +Heavy armor – Your second level of ablative armor. It can resist a second level of
Harm before being destroyed. It costs an additional 3 load.
• Burglary gear – Basic lockpicks, perhaps a crowbar. Tools for cutting glass quietly. A
wire-snipper for non-arcane alarms.
• Climbing gear – Ropes, pitons, lanyard clips, and so on.
• Arcane implements – Crystals, scrolls, feathers, dowsing rods, etc.
• Documents – These can be whatever you need for a case. A map, a letter, a journal,
identification papers, etc.
• Subterfuge supplies – Disguises, makeup, alternate outfits.
• Demolition tools – A crowbar, a hammer, small explosive charges.
• Tinkering tools – Hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers, multitools.
• Lantern – It gives off light in dark places. Generally fueled by kerosene, a lantern may
be shielded to only give off light in a direct line ahead of you, to reduce your visibility at
night.
• Flashlight – Battery-powered, it, too, gives off light in dark places, without the potential
for fire. However, batteries have a wretched tendency to give out at the worst times!
Tinytown | 93
Specialized Items
Whenever you see the term “fine” applied to an item—for example, the artificer’s fine tinkering
tools, or the fighter’s fine weapon—you get additional potency when using that item to make a
roll. This means that you get extra effect on a successful roll.
Artificer
• Blowgun, darts, and syringes – 0 load. These are delivery mechanisms for alchemicals.
See below.
• Bandolier (x2) – 1 load for each item (total, 2 load). These are storage for alchemicals.
See below.
• Gadgets – Whatever creations you build in downtime, as the result of a long-term

project, can be classed here. An example might be an electrified cane, a concealed
weapon that does electrical damage on striking an opponent, and does so with increased
potency when fighting automata. Let your imagination take wing!
Alchemicals
The poisons listed here may be used by the Assassin as well, and they will be listed in the
assassin’s section. Any of these may be loaded into an alchemist’s bandolier for light and easy
transport. If you’re caught carrying any of them except the oils, you may be subject to arrest. All
of the items below have a tier level, reflecting their potency, and how many of them you can
carry at a time.
Bombs
(Conspicuous).
• Grenade (tier iii/2) – A small explosive charge with a short fuse that detonates into metal
shrapnel.
• Large Bomb (tier v/1) – A large explosive charge with a long fuse.
• Smoke Bomb (tier ii/2) – Creates a cloud of acrid smoke that’s difficult to breathe and
stings the eyes.
Drugs
• Black Lotus (tier i/1) – A tar-like resin made from the leaves of the plant. Induces coma-
like stupor and visions.
• Bloodneedle (tier i/3) – Induces fever, euphoric mania, rampant energy.
• Dream Smoke (tier i/3) – A milder formulation of black lotus. Induces a pleasant
intoxication.
Tinytown | 94
• Trance Powder (tier i/3) – A glittering blue powder. Induces a pleasant hypnotic trance
when inhaled.
Oils (alchemical)
• Alcahest (tier iii/1) – A fluid that stops the effects of any other alchemical.
• Binding Oil (tier iii/1) – Permanently fuses two surfaces until dissolved by alcahest or
electroplasm.
• Fire Oil (tier iii/3) – Erupts in searing flame upon contact with air.
• Mist Oil (tier iv/3) – Fuels a Mist Lantern, pushing back the Mist in a 30’ radius around
the lantern, for several hours. Vital for exploring areas filled with Mist. (See Chapter
Sixteen: Outside the Town and Expanding Your World for more details.)
Poisons (alchemical)
• Drown Powder (tier iii/2) – A fine dust that incapacitates by giving the sensation of
drowning.
• Eyeblind (tier iii/3) – A powder that causes blindness for a moment.
• Skullfire (tier iii/1) – Toxic fumes from overly heated Thing blood. Causes incapacitating
migraines.
• Standstill (tier iv/1) – A powder that causes temporary paralysis.
Potions (arcane)
• Silence Potion (iii/1) – Creates an area of utter silence around the shattered vial.
• Shadow Essence (iii/1) – Creates a cloud of unnatural pitch darkness.
• Viper Potion (iv/1) – The user’s saliva and blood become highly toxic to others for a few
minutes.
Assassin
• Fine lockpicks – additional potency when using this item to make a Tinker roll.
• Night-vision goggles – Lets you see in the dark as if it’s daylight. Note that some
characters, like possums and Cats, will not need to use this 0-load item. But they could
lend it to a party member.
Poisons (up to 3, counting smoke bombs and potions, count as 1 load together)
• Drown Powder (tier iii/2) – A fine dust that incapacitates by giving the sensation of
drowning.
• Eyeblind (tier iii/3) – A powder that causes blindness for a moment.
• Skullfire (tier iii/1) – Toxic fumes from overly heated Thing blood. Causes incapacitating
migraines.
Tinytown | 95
• Standstill (tier iv/1) – A powder that causes temporary paralysis.
Bombs (up to 3, counting poisons and potions, count as 1 load together)
• Smoke Bomb (tier ii/2) – Creates a cloud of acrid smoke that’s difficult to breathe and
stings the eyes.
Potions (up to 3, counting smoke bombs and poisons, count as 1 load together)
• Silence Potion (tier iii/1) – Creates an area of utter silence around the shattered vial.
Barbarian and Fighter
• Fine hand weapon – An exceptional 1-handed weapon that has added potency when
making attack rolls.
• Fine heavy weapon – An exceptional 2-handed weapon that has added potency when
making attack rolls. A heavy weapon has more reach and hits harder than a standard
weapon. [2 load]
• Scary weapon or tool – An exceptional terrifying weapon that has added potency when
making Command rolls. Let your imagination be your guide on what would be extra-
intimidating.
• Manacles and chains – Used to pin down someone once they’re captured. Can they be
used as a weapon? Sure. Everything can be used as a weapon.
• Invigorating potion – A single dose, which restores 1 vigor point when taken. [0 load]
Bard
• Fine musical instrument – Use this to gain potency on Perform checks to entertain an
audience or distract one.
• Fine shadow cloak – This item improves your effect level when you roll a Stealth
check.
• Fine climbing gear – This item improves your effect level when you roll an Athletics
check to climb a cliff or building, or what-have-you.
Tinytown | 96
• Silence Potion (tier iii/1) – Creates an area of utter silence around the shattered vial. [0
load]
• Disguise kit [0 load] – Use this to gain potency on Perform checks to establish non-
magical disguises.
Cleric
• Holy symbol – Present this item when Rebuking undead. [0 load]
weapon. [2 load]
• Healer’s kit – Use this item for increased effect when making non-magical rolls for
healing, such as when you use Tinker.
• Book of holy writ – Use this item for extra effect when casting spells targeted against
Things. [0 load]
Druid
• Holy symbol – Present this item when working with summoned creatures. [0 load]
weapon. [2 load]
• Healer’s kit – Use this item for increased effect when making non-magical rolls for
healing, such as when you use Tinker.
• Large Net – Use this item to trap an enemy using Force or Finesse.
Tinytown | 97
Monk
weapon. [2 load]
• Wrist wraps – Use these as armor to deflect missiles. [1 load]
• Gauntlets – Use these as armor to deflect missiles. [2 load]
Ranger
weapon. [2 load]
• Trap – Use this item to trap an enemy from a set-up position, using Tinker or Finesse.
• Net – Use this item to trap an enemy in combat using Force or Finesse.
Rogue
• Fine lockpicks – additional potency when using this item to make a Tinker roll.
• Night-vision goggles – Lets you see in the dark as if it’s daylight. Note that some
characters, like possums and Cats, will not need to use this 0-load item. But they could
lend it to a party member.
check.
Tinytown | 98
load]
Warlock
check.
weapon. [2 load]
load]
• Pact Tome – It might be written in blood. Use this to Invoke the power of your patron. [0
load]
Wizard
• Wand – Increase the effect of your spells Evoked against Things. [0 load]
• Fine staff – An exceptional 2-handed weapon that has added potency when making
attack rolls. A heavy weapon has more reach and hits harder than a standard weapon. [2
load]
• Scrolls – Refer to these for academic knowledge. Gain extra effect on Gather Information
rolls where academic knowledge pertains. [0 load]
• Spellbook – Use this to Evoke spells against your foes. [0 load]

Tinytown | 99
Chapter Seven: Death, Undeath, and Fading Away
It has to be discussed, and it’s recommended that the players and the GM set expectations for
death, undeath, and Fading from the very beginning. Tinytown is dangerous. Characters don’t
often get to retire, though they might well Ascend. (See Chapter Fouteen: Ascension).
If you’re playing Tinytown with children, consider using some of these alternate routes around
death, so that they feel more empowered to try risky options in their roleplay.
Death
Death is only a door in TinyTown. At the GM’s discretion, the character’s story might not end:
• The character’s body might dissolve into nonexistence when struck with Level 4 Harm
that isn’t resisted, opening a new chapter of mystery for the other characters. Will their
friend return in some new form? Or are they, like those who Fade, gone for good?
• A Cleric character might take the time and resources to resurrect their friend. Keep in
mind that resurrection removes a Harm box, permanently.
• The character might awaken from a kind of torpor before burial, but awakens having lost
1d4 of his or her memories.
• Or, on agreement between the GM and player, the character might be truly dead, and the
player might choose to create a new character entirely.
It cannot be stressed enough that Tinytown is a collaborative narrative game. Death should not be
a punishment meted out from GM to player. Death, like everything else in Tinytown, is
something that should be agreed upon and then played out.
Undeath
The character’s body might awaken in the Catacombs of the Gravekeepers, indebted to the
mysterious faction for his or her new lease on life . . . but as an undead creature, he or she will
likely be shunned by the other residents of Tinytown. Are you a ghost with the ability to make
new memories, like Melanie Merriweather? Are you a vampire, like Kate Catellini or the
Mistress of Shadows? What are you now, and what turns will your story take as a result?
Fading
Some characters fade when they die. Mechanically, this happens when someone reaches 0
Memories, and fails their Resolve roll. Their bodies disappear, and they are forgotten by all who
knew them—except for Investigators and their ilk.
Tinytown | 100
While no one remembers anyone coming back from a Fading, the mystery of where they go, and
why they’re lost in this fashion is certainly of pressing interest to certain of the Factions.
Tinytown | 101
Chapter Eight: Building an Agency

Regardless of how an agency comes to be formed, they all have one thing in common: they exist
to create a legacy that will last beyond the founding members. When you start am agency with
your partners, you intend to build something that (hopefully) will live on past the scope of your
own careers. This is why we have a separate character sheet for the agency—tracking its
development, growth, and influence.
Your agency begins with 2 coin in its coffers (the remains of the PCs’ savings). You are Tier 0,
with strong hold and 0 rep.
Choose an Initial Reputation and Office

Your agency has just formed and acquired an office. Given this group of characters and their
previous escapades, what initial reputation would you have among the factions of the city?
Choose one from the list below:
• Ambitious
• Brutal
• Daring
• Honorable
• Professional
• Savvy
• Subtle
• Strange
You earn Agency rep when you bolster your agency’s reputation, so think of this as another cue
to indicate what sorts of action you want in the game. Will you be recklessly ambitious, targeting
higher-Tier targets? Will you take on daring cases that others deem too risky?
Also, talk about where the agency has set up its office. You begin at Tier 0, so it’s probably a
very modest place—someone’s back bedroom, a garage, a local bar. It’ll take a little while to
claw your way up to having an actual office, with second-hand furniture and filing cabinets, but
everyone needs a place to start.
Look at the map of Tinytown (Chapter Nine: Map and Neighborhoods), and select a
neighborhood in which you’ll set up your shingle. Are you based in some derelict area of a
wealthy district or is your office one of many other poor hovels in a destitute area?
You’ll also want to figure out which of the big Investigative firms you want to affiliate
yourselves with. Madam Chessowary, Honest Rob Harlequin, or Victor Padgett. (See Chapter
Ten: Factions for more details.)
If you’ve started out with the Background Private Investigator, you might already be a junior
member of an existing agency, with a mentor from that investigative firm to guide you in your
Tinytown | 102
path. But once you split off to form your own agency with your new friends, you’re going to
need to pick a side among the big boys in town, and that means affiliating yourselves with
Chessowary, Harlequin, or Padgett . . . though you might have access to your former agency’s
files as a professional courtesy from time to time.
Choose a Special Ability
Take a look at the special abilities for your agency below and choose one. If you can’t decide
which one to pick, go with the first one on the list—it’s placed there as a good default choice.
It’s important to pick a special ability that everyone is excited about. You can get more special
abilities in the future by earning Agency rep.
Special Abilities:
High Society
It’s all about who you know. Take -1 heat during downtime and +1d to gather information
about the city’s elite.
Patron
When you advance your Tier, it costs half the coin it normally would.
Who is your patron? Why do they help you?
Anointed
You gain +1d to resistance rolls against supernatural threats. You get +1d to healing rolls when
you have supernatural harm.
Door Kickers
When you execute an assault plan, take +1d to the engagement roll.
Forged in the Fire

Each PC has been toughened by cruel experience. You get +1d to resistance rolls.
This ability applies to PCs in the agency. It doesn’t confer any special toughness to your cohorts.
Second Story
When you execute a clandestine infiltration, you get +1d to the engagement roll.
Synchronized
When you perform a group action, you may count multiple 6s from different rolls as a critical
success.
Hit them Harder

You gain a new Agency XP trigger: you earn xp when you execute a successful battle,sabotage,
or smash & grab operation.
Tinytown | 103
Religious Fervor
You gain a new Agency XP trigger: you earn xp when you advance the agenda of your deity or
embody its precepts in action.
Infiltrators
You gain a new Agency XP trigger: you earn xp when you execute a burglary, espionage,
infiltration, or sabotage operation.
Laila and Branwen are trying to Stealth into the offices of a rival
Investigator, who’s rumored to have gone crooked. Ordinarily, one 6
would be enough on a group action to ensure that they succeed
without consequence, but both characters roll 6s, and with
Synchronized, this counts as a critical success for both of them. They
waltz through the offices as if they’re lighter than the very breeze.
Choose a favorite contact.

Select a close friend, long-time ally, or partner in crime. Record the faction status changes
related to your contact:
• One faction is friendly with your contact. Take +1 status with them.
• One faction is unfriendly with your contact. Take -1 status with them.
At your option, increase the intensity of the factions’ relationship with your contact and take +2
and -2 status, instead.
Assign Agency Upgrades
An upgrade is a valuable asset that helps the Agency in some way, like a boat or a gang (see the
complete descriptions below). You get to add four upgrades to your new agency.
When you assign your upgrades, the GM will tell you about two factions that are impacted by
your choices:
• One faction helped you get an upgrade. They like you, and you get +1 influence with
them. At your option, spend 1 coin to repay their kindness, and take +2 influence with
them instead.
• One faction was screwed over when you got an upgrade. They don’t like you, and you get
-2 influence with them. At your option, spend 1 coin to mollify them, and take -1
influence with them instead.
Tinytown | 104
Agency Upgrades
Boat house: You have a boat, a dock on a waterway, and a small shack to store boating supplies.
A second upgrade improves the boat with armor and more cargo capacity.
Carriage House: You have a carriage, two horses to pull it, and a stable. A second upgrade
improves the carriage with armor and larger, swifter horses.
Horseless Carriage: You have indulged an artificer, spent some serious coin, and now own a
horseless carriage. Do be careful when driving that death-machine.
Cohort: A cohort is a group or a single expert NPC who works for your agency. For all the
details on cohorts, see the following pages.
Mastery: Your agency has access to master level training. You may advance your PCs’ action
ratings to 4 (until you unlock this upgrade, PC action ratings are capped at 3). This costs four
upgrade boxes to unlock.
Quality: Each upgrade improves the quality rating of all the PCs’ items of that type, beyond the
quality established by the agency’s Tier and fine items. You can improve the quality of
Documents, Gear (covers Burglary Gear and Climbing Gear), Arcane Implements, Subterfuge
Supplies, Tools (covers Demolitions Tools and Tinkering Tools), and Weapons.
So, if you are Tier 0, with fine lockpicks (+1) and the Quality upgrade for gear (+1), you could
contend equally with a Tier II quality lock.
Quarters: Your office includes living quarters for the invesigators. Without this upgrade, each
PC sleeps elsewhere, and is vulnerable when they do so.
Secure Office: Your office has locks, alarms, and traps to thwart intruders. A second upgrade
improves the defenses to include arcane measures that work against planar creatures such as
elementals, fey, etc., at the GM’s discretion. You might roll your agency’s Tier if these measures
are ever put to the test, to see how well they thwart an intruder.
Training: If you have a Training upgrade, you earn 2 xp (instead of 1) when you train a given xp
track during downtime (Insight, Prowess, Resolve, or Playbook xp). This upgrade essentially
helps you advance more quickly. See Advancement, page 62.
If you have Insight Training, when you train Insight during downtime, you mark 2 xp on the
Insight track (instead of just 1). If you have Playbook Training, you mark 2 xp on your
playbook xp track when you train.
Vault: Your office has a secure vault, increasing your storage capacity for coin to 8. A second
upgrade increases your capacity to 16. A separate part of your vault can be used as a holding cell.
Tinytown | 105
Workshop: Your lair has a workshop appointed with tools for tinkering and alchemy, as well as
a small library of books, documents, and maps. You may accomplish long-term projects with
these assets without leaving your lair.
Cohorts
A cohort is a group of associates or an expert who works for your agency. To recruit a new
cohort, spend two upgrades and create them using the process below.
Creating a group of associates
Choose an associate group from the list below:
Adepts: Scholars, tinkerers, occultists, and chemists.

Rooks: Con artists, spies, and socialites.
Rovers: Sailors, carriage drivers, wagon masters caravan guards.
Skulks: Scouts, infiltrators, and thieves.
Thugs: Killers, brawlers, and roustabouts.
Associates groups scale and quality are equal to your current agency Tier. They increase in scale
and quality when your agency moves up in Tier.
If your agency is Tier 0, your associates are quality 0 and scale 0 (1 or 2 people). When your
agency is Tier II, your associates are quality 2 and scale 2 (12 people).
Some agency upgrades will add the “Elite” feature to a group of associates, which gives them
+1d when they roll for a given Type. So, if you’re Tier I and have a group of associates who are
Elite Thugs (+1d), they would roll 2d when they try to assault a target.
Creating an Expert
Record the expert’s type (their specific area of expertise). They might be a Doctor, an
Investigator, an Occultist, an Assassin, a Spy, etc.
An expert has quality equal to your current agency Tier +1. Their scale is always zero (1
person). Your experts increase in quality when your agency moves up in Tier.
Edges and Flaws
When you create a cohort, give them one or two edges and an equal number of flaws.
Edges
Tinytown | 106
• Fearsome: The cohort is terrifying in aspect and reputation.

• Independent: The cohort can be trusted to make good decisions and act on their own
initiative in the absence of direct orders.
• Loyal: The cohort can’t be bribed or turned against you.
• Tenacious: The cohort won’t be deterred from a task.
Flaws
• Principled: The cohort has an ethic or values that it won’t betray.

• Savage: The cohort is excessively violent and cruel.
• Unreliable: The cohort isn’t always available, due to other obligations.
• Wild: The cohort is drunken, debauched, and loud-mouthed.
Modifying a Cohort
You can add an additional type to a gang or expert by spending two agency upgrades. When a
cohort performs actions for which its types apply, it uses its full quality rating. Otherwise, its
quality is zero. A given cohort can have up to two types.
Using a Cohort
When you send a cohort to achieve a goal, roll their quality to see how it goes. Or, a PC can
oversee the maneuver by leading a group action. If you direct the cohort with orders, roll
Command. If you participate in the action alongside the cohort, roll the appropriate action. The
quality of any opposition relative to the cohort’s quality affects the position and effect of the
action.
Tinytown | 107
Chapter Nine: Map and Neighborhoods
There is no place in the city that is completely free of the influence of the Mist. Even the safest,
richest, most influential neighborhoods might wake up one morning with a missing building, an
empty field in its place. The Mist crawls into your mind, playing on your thoughts, your
emotions, as inescapable as death itself.
In any given neighborhood besides the most affluent, it can be assumed that Crows and Robins
have colonized the tops of tall buildings, building shacks, whole shantytowns, at the highest
levels of the buildings. Most housing project owners object to not being able to charge rent to
these squatters, and periodically clear off the rooftops of these shacks and huts. There is a whole
world at rooftop level that many residents never see—and a whole world beneath their feet, in
the Rat tunnels and Rabbit warrens and sewers and so on.
Tinytown | 108
East of the River
Safety and security:4 Arcane influence: 1

Brickyard
Power and wealth: 3 Mist Influence: 3
This is where brickmakers, tilers, potters, and others who work with claw do most of their labor.
While the river might be a good source of mud, it’s not a good source for clay—most Tinytown
clay is sourced from south of town, from a kind of quarry near the forest . . . and the wall of Mist
that surrounds the town. Most of the clay from the mudslip area is red, resulting in red bricks and
red-tiled roofs, but some, where the Mists have lain over the ground for the longest time, has
been bleached an unearthly white.
And while this clay is unhealthy to fire in a kiln, and the resulting pottery might be toxic to drink
from, it’s pretty, and allows potters to make faux bone china, which they decorate in bright blue
paint, and people buy it because it’s pretty, and then wonder when they grow ill after dinner
every night . . . .
The Old Harness Racetrack – This racetrack was used for decades for harness racing and
carriages. Recently, automata enthusiasts have paid to have the racetrack paved in brick so that
horseless carriages can race against each other there once a month. Betting is rife, and rumor has
it that the Lord Mayor is going to crack down on that, and the amount of drinking the drivers do
before climbing into their clattering deathmobiles and circling the track at breakneck pace.
Safety and security:4 Arcane influence: 1

Cooksville Power and wealth: 3 Mist Influence: 2
This district was once the estate of a powerful abbey, which fell into the hands of a duke. Some
remnants of that past remain—at the center of the district lie the ruins of that massive abbey, for
instance, one that once held statues to all the Powers of Light and Dark under the same roof, or
so rumor would have you believe. The Duke razed the abbey, but remnants of the structure
remain above the earth—a pillar here, a wall with windows there. Out of superstitious reverence,
the residents of Cooksville do not build over or pull down these remnants.
That being said, Cooksville today is a middle-class neighborhood, filled with professionals that
service the Inner and Outer Rose districts, as well as the surrounding neighborhoods.
Accountants—Robins and Rabbits and Cats in bowler hats—live here. Restaurateurs—not cooks,
but those who own restaurants—live here. Affluent shop-owners, who’ve graduated beyond
living above or behind their business, live here.
It’s well-to-do, and benefits from living between Mason Square and the Rose Districts. It’s not a
target for high profile crime. It’s not a den of gang activity. People just. . . live their lives.
Peacefully. Quietly.
Tinytown | 109
Everyone wants to live in a place like Cooksville. The schools are good. The shops are good.
Life, while dull, is . . . good.
Other than when people go missing on a night when the Mists roll in. But those are few and far
between.
The Four Pillars – A popular spot for couples’ assignations. Messages are left by lonely hearts
on one of the four pillars – men seeking women, women seeking men, men seeking men, and
women seeking women. You find a letter posted that sounds applicable, and wait there at the
time designated by the letter writer. Sometimes, a half dozen people all wind up waiting for the
same lonely-heart. Then the lonely-heart gets a chance to take a look at you before committing to
a meeting. It’s all done in the public eye, for maximum safety, and there are a number of dance
halls and restaurants nearby that profit by the arrangement as well.
The Eastern Wall – The last wall that remains of the ancient abbey. Window holes catch at the
wind as it blows through, making mournful sounds. People sneak there at night, edging around
the pools of electric light cast on the ground, to leave written prayers stuck between the stones,
where the mortar has worn away, asking for favors of the Powers that they know that the Church
might frown on. Especially when those requests are made of the darker Powers. And sometimes
the Powers answer.
Safety and security: 3 Arcane influence: 3

Courtshade Market Power and wealth: 3 Mist Influence: 4
Of the four markets in the East side of the city, Courtshade Market is the wealthiest, turning over
enormous sums of money every day for the foodstuffs, coal, and other goods brought in on the
River through East Dockside. Only a few streets away from each other, Courtshade Market and
East Dockside have a symbiotic relationship, yet are worlds apart in terms of wealth, influence,
accent—you name it.
Courtshade Market is well-patrolled by the City Watch, with their central precinct being just a
few streets away. The wealthy families of the town send their servants to Courtshade to source
most of their food and other necessities, and those servants usually arrive early and outbid others,
driving up costs at the Market for the less affluent.
However, like Law’s Rule, Courtshade Market is a ghost-town at night. Few pubs remain open
after sundown, and shop owners barricade themselves inside behind thick doors.
Last week, there were reports of screams in the street. But it was after curfew, so while one
affluent merchant picked up his newfangled audioscope and rang the Watch for aid, by the time
the Watch arrived, there was nothing left but bloodstains outside the Green Angel Pub. The
really strange thing is, there’s still a red handprint on the door. No matter how many times
Rabbit publican Oscar Smythe washes the door, the blood-stained handprint remains . . . .
Tinytown | 110

East Dockside Power and wealth: 2 Mist Influence: 5
This is an area close to Old Bridge, and, as such, is one of the oldest areas of Tinytown—some
say it’s even older than the Palace and Library. Periodically, fishermen here pull up ancient
skulls in their nets—strange, rounded skulls with flat, chisel teeth and snubbed snouts. They also
pull up bodies left by assassins in the river to be eaten by the fishes—something that they look
on with dismay, because they look on the fish of the river as their solitary domain.
Like the other eastern riverside districts, East Dockside has a peculiar, thick accent. Where
Upper East Dockside is known for its mills, East Dockside is solely known for its fishmongers
and for being the largest landing place for barges filled with food, coal, and other goods on this
side of the river. Its wharfs lead directly to Courtshade Market, an area with which East
Dockside has a symbiotic relationship.
Where Upper East Dockside is has gangs of bored teens, East Dockside has stevedores with fists
like hams, who are trying to unionize, and largely failing due to the punishing tactics of the
merchants who employ them. They’re also hassled on the regular by the Enforcers of the
Thieves’ Guild, looking for their share of the local coin. There’s a fair amount of civil unrest in
East Dockside, and it has everything to do with being poor . . . and at fair risk of the Mist on a
nightly basis.
And the Mist does roll in, nightly. If you wait till the curfew bells to get home, you’ll be too late,
and you might never reach your home after all.
There’s a Free Clinic in East Dockside, run by the Church. One of the nurses there is Alice
Thompson, a white Rabbit whose beloved, Caleb Fortinson (a black Rex Rabbit) had tried to
organize the stevedores and porters to resist the Enforcers. He was knifed and they met in the
clinic with her caring for him, and then she discovered that he’d loaned out his money to his
fellow stevedores so that they could pay off the Enforcers. She went to sell off some of her
memories to a local warlock, Gildi Touati . . . only all the memories that she sold, turned out to
be memories of Caleb, leaving her without the knowledge of who her lover was. Payment
reached him, but not Alice. Caleb is currently trying to get Alice’s memories back from Gildi,
but doesn’t have the coin.

Eastgate Market Power and wealth: 3 Mist Influence: 2
The best shops, with the most exclusive clientele, are right up against the noble enclave of the
Outer Rose district, with the farmer’s market and poorer shops clustered on the eastern side,
closer to The Pocket. Middle class homes line the northern stretch, melding into Night’s Hollow.
Tinytown | 111
The best shops have wide, plate glass windows, and few items on display—and no price tags in
view. If you have to ask, you can’t possibly afford what you see.
To the east, however, is a jumble of pawn shops and low-cost clothing stores, the sort of places
where seamstresses toil over sewing machines in regimented rows, turning out shirts by the
dozen, in a variety of sizes that fit no one exactly right. Also, there are huge supply depots here,
where the caravans along the east road come and go, taking goods in and out of the Mists. No
one knows where they come from or where they go.
Not even they, themselves.
That being said, Eastgate Market is one of the safest areas in town. While it’s in a valley just
outside the hills of the Outer Rose district, it’s far from the river, and well inside the walls. In
terms of Mist influence, there’s little, and the area is well-patrolled. While its lights are
gaslamps, still, it’s well-lit at night, and people stumble from restaurant to pub to dance hall,
looking for entertainment until the curfew bell rings.
Arnold’s Lend and Loan – Arnold Lenser is a Jack Russell terrier with a mouthy attitude and
a heart of gold. He was close friends with Sam Hornsback, of Hornsback Investigators, and
always keeps an ear to the ground for rumors and whispers in memory of his friend.
Porfirio Reinhardt – A small albino mouse with gleaming red eyes, he runs a watchmaker’s
shop in Eastgate Market. He’s known for his meticulous work—Madam Haidar has been after
him, by correspondence, for years, to build her several specialized clockwork mechanisms, but
he has always refused on the grounds of being ‘too busy.’ Porfirio idolizes the mindless nature of
clockwork, the way everything does what it needs to do without thought, without being.
The Things and the Collectors found in him a surprisingly easy convert.

Fuller’s Den Power and wealth: 1 Mist Influence: 3
This is a poor neighborhood, known once as the laundry of the West side. Fullers once worked
here—and still do—using ammonia distilled from urine to clean clothes and sheets. Young boys
still jump into large barrels filled with water, ammonia, and clothing and stomp and kick to
agitate the clothing in the barrels, thus getting the dirt out. You always know when someone’s
clothes have been to the fuller’s recently—the smell of ammonia is pervasive.
And so it is in the Fuller’s Den.
These days, the workshops, which have passed down through families for generations, work
closely with the dyers in Madderholm to clean out excess dye from newly-stained cloth, and to
recycle what they can of the dyes for a second, pastel load of cotton or linen or wool.
Tinytown | 112
People here work hard, and don’t get to play much. The work is physically grueling, and doesn’t
pay well. This small neighborhood is also hemmed in against Lower East Riverside, with its
gangs and filth, and they’re also right up against the south Wall.
Crows, Rats who’ve left the Nest, Cats, and Rabbits toil in this area. It’s a fairly miserable place
to live, but it beats, as they invariably opine, living in a River district.
There are persistent rumors that the Cabal has a cell living in plain sight here in Fuller’s Den. It’s
probably a good place to lay low, if you need a place to hide. No one here wants trouble with the
law, but the law doesn’t really come looking here. It’s just too poor, and too miserable.
Cedric Wilton – Crow. By day, he runs a fulling shop that cleans wool for processing by dyers
in Maddersholm or weavers in Loomsville. By night, Cedric runs a Cabal safehouse, allowing
various “Friends” safe harbor in his odiferous workshop. Anyone who knocks on his door with
the correct password (“octopus pie” this month) is entitled to shelter and food, and he’ll hide you
in one of the reeking ammonia vats if the Watch comes by looking for you. Not even a
Bloodhound should be able to smell you in there.
Cedric has no magical abilities of his own, but has great sympathy for the ‘underdog’ in any
situation. His sister, Sarah, was banished from the city for misuse of magic five years ago, and he
fell in with her Cabal friends afterwards.

The Graveyard Power and wealth: 2 Mist Influence: 2
The Graveyard, while welcoming to its members and the bereaved, and safe enough at ground
level, is exceedingly dangerous beneath the surface. Its catacombs stretch for miles underground,
reaching, it is rumored, the ruins of cities that were built here before Tinytown existed.
Mausoleums, elaborate statuary, and bowers of roses mark the graves of Tinytown’s nobility and
wealthy, but everyone has a place here—even the poorest folk get some minor marker. True
paupers are cremated and their ashes scattered. Cenotaphs are also surprisingly common: empty
graves with just a marker by which to remember someone who died without leaving a body.
These are generally paid for by kinfolk who have the Memory capacity of an Investigator when
someone has Faded, and they want some tangible reminder that their loved one existed.
Even when no one else remembers them at all.
Underground, the Gravekeepers have a small army of zombie and skeleton minions, working to
preserve and expand the catacomb system. They have preservation refuges for ghosts, for whom
they do a kind of therapy, listening to their stories, over and over again, like an eternal old folks’
home. They have vampires and master vampires, working to keep the worse undead from the
Tinytown | 113
ancient cities below Tinytown from boiling up into the city proper. It’s all very methodical and
safe . . . if you’re a member or have a legitimate reason to be there.
If you’re an errant Rat who’s just broken into a mausoleum in search of treasure, it’s very, very
lethal.
They keep Possums on the gates at night—a surprising touch, considering the Possums’ tendency
to faint when frightened, and their general lack of intimidating power.
But there are always, always Crows in the trees at the fence-line. Day and night.
And what the White Raven has, she keeps.

Inner Rose District Power and wealth: 5 Mist Influence: 1
The home of the Lord Mayor’s Palace, the Basilica of the Church, the Library/Archives, and the
College of Mages. All four are set within the innermost walls of the district, and are the heart of
where the city began.
Outside those walls, and for about four blocks in any direction, are the houses of the higher
nobility—the Dukes and Marquises, and wealthy Earls.
Nowhere in town is safer; the Lord Governor’s Palace has its own specialized Guards. Each
noble house has its own private security team. No one in their right mind would risk the wrath of
the College of Mages, and the Library has its own wizards and clerics to defend its secrets.
Only the Basilica seems relatively undefended. It is a relic of a bygone era, when the Church was
wealthy and powerful and had a less monastic dogma. Its statues to the Powers are crusted in
gold and gems, which, surprisingly, few try to steal.
Those who do attempt to steal from the Basilica speak of agonizing curses, set down centuries
ago, but that are still active. Still, the whole area seems beguilingly unguarded, especially in
comparison to the fortresses of the College, the Palace, and the Library.
The streets are all well-cobbled, and kept spotlessly clean by brigades of sweepers. While a few
eccentrics are starting to spend their wealth on self-driving carriages put together by lunatic
artificers, most people here still use horses and carriages to get around.
Every house has servants, every house has secrets. Most of the buildings look to share similar
architecture—half-timbered, with lush gardens around them. Only a very few places bear the
marks of the Mists—strangely constructed, out of place buildings, or vacant lots.
Tinytown | 114
Law’s Rule Safety and security: 5 Arcane influence: 3

Law’s Rule includes not just the largest City Watch building in the city—the central station for
the entire Watch—but the central Courthouse and jail as well. While the nobles of the Inner and
Outer Rose districts object to having the jail in sight of their stately homes, their second sons and
daughters are busily at work at various law firms in the region, as prosecutors and defense
attorneys.
This area of town also holds the offices of various ministers of the law—the people who write
and change the laws in accordance with the Lord Mayor’s precepts. They are a large, vocal
substrata of the upper middleclass and lower nobility that spends most of their lunch hours
arguing with one another in a variety of good restaurants in the area. . .
. . .but this low-lying valley region is absolutely deserted and dead after nightfall, when Mist
from the River boils in through Maidenow and Turner’s Row, and it pools in the deepest places
of Law’s Rule.
The streets here are a hodgepodge of different cobble styles. Some are round heads, others
square. Some streets are concrete, studded with smooth stones, others are studded with square-
headed nails set into the pavement. The oldest buildings are half-timbered, but with an eroded
feel to them; newer buildings, planted side by side with them have red brick facades and fancy
white pillared porches. Some lights are gaslamps, others, electric.
But again, none of these buildings are peopled at night. And while the area is well-policed by
day, it’s a brave Watchman who walks these streets after dark.
The Black Cherry Inn – one of the few pubs established in Law’s Rule that is open after sunset;
it remains open till the a half hour before the ten pm curfew goes into effect, then turfs out its
drunks to walk home in the dark. A few bolder cabbies might haul richer fares home, though the
horses tend to get a little wild-eyed at moondark. The owner, Demetra Madigan is a Rabbit and
a member of the Merry Widows, but she somehow walks home in the dark safely every night.
No one has ever mugged her, and she doesn’t appear to fear the Mist.
The Coin Changers – Recent “immigrants” are directed here to have their coins weighed,
assayed, and exchanged for the common coin of the realm. Unusual types are catalogued, with
the numismatic information turned over to the Library for their delectation, while records of the
value of the coins someone came through with are turned over to the Tax Office.
The Courthouse Shade – There’s said to be a woman’s ghost haunting the Courthouse, who
only appears at night. Reports differ as to the species of the ghost, with some insisting that it’s a
Mouse, while others insist that it’s a Crow, but all agree that the ghost is female, and that she
walks its halls weeping for some long-ago injustice.
Tax Office – There had to be one, and here it stands. No one much likes the Tax Office, but it’s
survived being burned down no less than three times. No one understands where their copies of
Tinytown | 115
their records come from, but no matter how many times arson is committed, they still seem to
have forms, in triplicate, telling them how much money you really owe.

Leafshade Power and wealth: 3 Mist Influence: 3
Leafshade is an upper-middleclass neighborhood, filled with lawyers, doctors, and merchants

who commute to work in other neighborhoods of the city. It is an upwardly-mobile
neighborhood—not quite the “new money,” types, but definitely not “old money,” either. Quite a
few officious Robins live in the district, Dogs whose families aren’t of the upper crust, and
Rabbits who’ve made it in the big city. It’s quite distant from the River, so it isn’t affected by
night Mists most of the time.
Nevertheless, it borders the Wall, and thus, is a primary area where Things might attack, should
an incursion come. Residents usually feel quite safe walking the streets after dark, however; the
district is filled with fancy new electric lights, casting out the shadows. They do, however, avoid
walking after dark on the eastern edge of the district, which borders the Graveyard. Why,
walking in view of the mausoleums sends a shiver down your spine, makes your fur stand on
end! You can hear the scrape of shovels as the Gravekeepers work into the night—they never
seem to mind the Mist. Wonder why that is. . . .
Leafshade’s population has, with their affluence, adopted automata and the work of artificers in a
big way. Many families have one large automobile in what used to be the carriage house, and
several have adopted the work of Madam Ariel Haidar, taking on dragonbots for home
protection.
There is a minor class war brewing between them and Scullion’s Court, mostly over the territory
of North Farm Market. The Farmers want to expand the market; Leafshade is telling them to take
out some of the tenements in Scullion’s Court, not the nice houses over here in our neighborhood
to do so. The residents of Scullion’s Court are resisting this, as might be expected.
Gangs of toughs periodically head east into Leafshade to vandalize houses and heave bricks
through windows. The Watch is on them, however, very quickly, as Leafshade is a well-patrolled
area.
Leafshade residents also have a tenuous relationship with the Graveyard and the Gravekeepers,
as they suspect that the catacombs extend beneath their cellars. They’re right, of course, but the
Graveyard’s extended that far for centuries. They should be more concerned with tunnels of the
Rat’s Nest, which have breached under the river and connected to the sewers on the East side of
town for some time now. . . .
The Old Sundial – In beautiful Landsdale Park at the center of Leafshade, there is an ancient
sundial, the numbers on it almost eroded away with time. Oddly, however, it is . . . inaccurate.
No matter what the shadows of the trees around it are doing, its shadow always points to a time
at least three hours offset from real time—but that time is not consistent. If you visit at 3 pm on
Tinytown | 116
one day, the sundial may be pointing to 9 am, and the next day at the same time, it might be
pointing to noon. The College of Mages has investigated it numerous times, and more than one
dissertation has been written on the subject of “time-space continuum fluctuations” but no one
seems to have a full answer on the subject.
Loomsville Safety and security: 2 Arcane influence: 1

The central home of the Weavers Guild, Loomsville is also the home of textile mills. While there
are plenty of hand-weavers left, most notably in the artisan district of Moss Blanket, here there
are machines that do the work, and workers that feed the machines. It takes a lot of work to take
imported cotton and linen thread and set up the machines, or home-grown wool, and do the
same, but there’s a need to clothe an entire city, and that takes effort.
Members of the Weavers Guild started off as families that did the work themselves, by hand, but
these days, most of the old families are wealthy owners of the mills, and no longer live in the
district with their workers—who are not guild members, themselves. The Weavers now set the
patterns and select the colors after consultation with the dyers in Maddersholm
The thud of the mills goes all day, and into the night, but the mills are closed by 9 pm daily,
allowing workers time to walk to their nearby homes—built by the Weavers Guild to house
them. These are tenements at best, fire-prone deathtraps at worst.
The Loomsville Murderer – A recent wave of murders has the textile workers—mostly
women—very worried. They’re walking to work in pairs, and hastening home in groups at night,
without stopping by the pubs on the way home. The girls who’ve been murdered were all
“unlicensed” prostitutes (Prostitution is legal, so long as you’ve a license and get health checks
once a month at a Church or University clinic). More surprisingly, they’ve been taken and
murdered across species lines—killers usually specialize in their own kind, or at least, a specific
species not their own.
The City Watch is baffled, but looking into the case. Perhaps too slowly for the liking of the
families of the dead girls, and definitely too slowly for the women still walking to and from the
mills every day. There is an air of fear in this neighborhood.

Lower East Riverside
As the furthest south along the river’s flow of any of the Eastern river districts, Lower East
Riverside is the most polluted region. Quite a bit of sewage still winds up in the river,
particularly from the Western side of town, where the sewer system doesn’t fully extend. All of
that sewage, all of the filth from the lumber mills, winds up here, where the river narrows and
Tinytown | 117
turns. The water flow intensifies here, as it struggles to unburden itself through a narrower gap,
churning with a dangerous undertow that would easily drown an unaccustomed swimmer.
As such, while fishers still ply the river here, they don’t get as many catches as those who work
with rod, reel, and net in the calmer, more placid stretches north of here—or in the shadow of the
three great bridges that cross the river east and west. They’re also within smelling distance of the
great fertilizer heaps just outside the city walls—fertilizer scraped from the river and the fields.
Lower East Riverside residents have a particular twang to their speech that easily marks them out
to others. They’re an insular group, rarely leaving their neighborhood; they have little to trade
with the rest of the city. They feel great pride, however, in those who can scrabble out a life in
their area, though they’ll bitterly tear at anyone who manages to leave and get a better life for
themselves.
Groups of mudlarks—children who scour the shore for valuables that have been lost and washed
ashore—are common. Many of these mudlarks also venture into the sewers—long the exclusive
domain of the City Inspectors and the Rats—looking for valuables flushed down from gutters in
the more affluent regions of the city. They rarely find anything. But even scrap metal has a value
to it.
Gangs are common—the most powerful in this area being the Tenth Street Mad Curs. As a
pack of Large, mangy Dogs, they’re powerful, violent, and terrifying to residents, who would
beg the Watch to break them up . . . if they had any faith in the Watch at all. Which they don’t.
Maddersholm Safety and security: 3 Arcane influence: 2

No matter where you go in this neighborhood, you can’t escape the pungent smell of dyes. Some
of them are pleasantly herbal, but others are chemical and astringent, and steam rises from the
roofs of the larger dyeing plants.
Some families still hold on to traditional vat dyeing in their family homes, but they are a dying
breed, as industrial dyeing ensures consistent color in large volumes—something prized by
artisan tapestry embroiderers as well as the big commercial textile mills of Loomsville.
The Weavers Guild holds sway over Maddersholm the same way it holds onto Loomsville—by
brute economic strength, but the Dyers Guild is a separate economic institution, and struggles to
shield its members from the brunt of incoming industrialization as best it can.
Seven Powers Fountain – At some distant point in time, Maddersholm must have been the
gracious home of a Duke or a Prince, because at the center of this swirling industrial center, there
is a large and gracious marble fountain, depicting seven of the Powers of Light: Life, Light,
Love, Air, Earth, Honor, and Healing. Water, clear, clean water gushes from the urns held in the
Powers’ hands, spraying down into a marble pool. No one knows where the water’s source is,
but residents claim that it has curative properties. The College of Mages has found no such
Tinytown | 118
evidence, but the Church has declared this fountain a protected landmark, and forbidden anyone
to damage it or use its waters for industrial purposes.

Maidenow Power and wealth: 2 Mist Influence: 4
Maidenow is home largely to the serving class—they are the families of those who work for the
nobility in the Inner and Outer Rose districts, and work as cooks and waiters and scribes and
clerks in Law’s Rule. People here are better off than those in say, Upper East Dockside, and it’s
by no means a slum, but if ever there were a place that epitomized the saying “Too poor to paint,
too proud to whitewash,” it’s this district.
The Mist rolls in from the River through the low hills that tumble down to Upper East Dockside,
burying the district nightly in a fog of white except for the tops of its highest hills. Possums and
Cats might walk the streets at night, and a few brave Watchmen huddle near their lamps and
whisper, “Three o’clock and all’s well” but they do not call it out loudly, for fear of what might
hear.
Even at dawn, some days, there’s still a trace of Mist left in the air—people hurry out of
Maidenow for work in other districts, and hurry back to their homes at night. People in
Maidenow live their lives in a hurry, and in perpetual worry. Jobs, bills, rents, Mist—it all eats
away at them.
The lighting in Maidenow is entirely made up by gaslamps—where there is lighting. Lamp poles
are few and far between, though most are in an ornate, almost rococo style that suggests that
once, this district was far wealthier than it now is. Few other signs of that brighter past remain.
Each family on a block cleans the street in front of its house, sweeping horsemuck and soot into
cans that wait on the corner for the dustmen. Some families are more diligent than others, of
course, but the weight of social disapproval keeps the streets here mostly clean.
Rugger’s Pitch – Neighborhood youths from Maidenow play against toughs from Scullion’s
Court once a week. The two neighborhoods have a rivalry that is mostly friendly on the pitch, but
sometimes devolves into rioting among supporters of the teams. The two teams most favored to
win this year are the Golden Cockerels of Maidenow and the Red Stallions of Scullion’s Court.
Most games run from noon until nightfall, but are periodically called off when the Mist gets too
thick to see the plays. One legendary game fifteen years ago was interrupted by the alarm bells of
a Things incursion, but play continued in spite of encroaching Mist and Things on the field!

Mason’s Square Power and wealth: 4 Mist Influence: 2
Tinytown | 119
Mason’s Square is in the southeast corner of the West side, up against the walls. In spite of this,
it is a powerful and wealthy neighborhood, because the stonemasons make their homes here, and
these families have dwelled here for a very long time. The stone- and brick masons built
Tinytown—from the sewers up—and have grown wealthy from their long labor.
They work together to police their own neighborhood, and every building here is made of brick
or stone—and built like a fortress, too. No Thing incursions have attempted to breach the walls
in this direction for a hundred years, and residents take advantage of this security and their
relative wealth to walk the streets at night in peace under brand new electric lights.
Most residents are Dogs, and large Dogs at that. If they get even a whiff of a stranger in the
neighborhood, word travels a block at a time, and curtains twitch at windows. Shutters ease back.
Intruders can feel their spines begin to itch at the weight of all that concentrated attention.
The City Watch loves Mason’s Square. Not only are residents there law-abiding, but they are
avid boosters of the City Watch, hosting the annual Policemen Ball at their main Guild Hall.
So why are there persistent rumors that the Stonemasons know secrets? Know where the bodies
are buried, for instance? Know where there are secret entrances to tunnels spread throughout
Tinytown, and hidden ways to access important buildings? Why do so many of them watch the
stars from their rooftops at night, calculating the angles and degrees at which various stars appear
in the sky?
Why indeed.

Moss Blanket Power and wealth: 4 Mist Influence: 1
Moss Blanket is a fairly large neighborhood filled with artisans. They are painters, sculptors,
florists; they are jewelers, bakers, and tapestry-weavers. The town’s opera hall is here, and it
features a full symphony orchestra. The Merry Widows wish they had control over the artists in
this area, but they don’t, not by half.
This neighborhood is highly gentrified, and unlike a great many areas of the city, it looks and
feels old. All of the houses have the patina of age to them—gently crumbling brick, ivy-covered
walls, and huge old trees casting shadow everywhere.
Idyll Park – At the center of Moss Blanket, just opposite the opera house, is a huge park of
nearly fifty acres. At the center of the park, there is a statue of a winged, horned horse on an
island in a small, decorative lake. At night, residents claim to see green, floating lights in the
park, which is unlit, while the rest of the district has wrought iron gas lamps at every corner.
Residents believe that the park is a ‘safe space,’ and that if there is ever a Thing incursion, that
they should run to the park and take refuge near the statue. They may not be wrong. People
frequently lose small, shiny items in the park, even when all they’ve done is walk through it, and
Tinytown | 120
there are reports of wild, high-pitched laughter coming from behind the trees, and a constant
sensation of being watched . . . and yet, when the Mists encroach on everywhere else in the
neighborhood, the park remains clear.

Night’s Hollow Power and wealth: 2 Mist Influence: 2
Said to be a corruption of the words “Knight’s Hollow” or “Knight’s Halo,” this large district
was once the large estate of a duke, and, long ago, had been largely put to the plow—and,
occasionally, the sword. People with vegetable gardens periodically still turn up flint and bronze
arrowheads and bones from ancient battles. The Graveyard is periodically called in to remove
ghosts and active skeletons from backyards and where the foundations of new buildings are
being dug.
Quite a lot of the original residents, those who owned the small houses with yards, are being
displaced. While the district fronts onto the eastern walls, it’s still as far from the River as it’s
possible to get while inside those walls, so night-time Mists are rare, though not unheard of—and
thus, it is a densely populated district, with apartments over shops, apartments behind offices,
people crammed into warehouses converted into apartments, and the like.
The newest buildings here tend to be more modern, with apartment/office complexes rising
nearly ten stories in height. Some have elevators to go with stairs, but they’re the type of
elevators with grill-work doors that only reach neck-height on a tall Dog. These buildings tend
towards geometric patterns on the exteriors, and are the pride of the stone masons who designed
and built them.
One such building recently Faded to be replaced with a tower made of metal and glass, much to
the (short-lived) consternation of the masons who’d built the original structure. This building is
referred to as the Eyesore, because of the way it reflects the watery sunlight that emerges from
behind the clouds at mid-day.
There are persistent rumors of, not Things, but of Collectors walking the streets at night. There
might not be even a hint of Mist in the air. The electric lights might be shining brightly. And
then, one by one, the lights begin to flicker. Mist steals through the air. And then one of them is
floating towards you, as tall as a Dog, but more slender. White-robed. White-masked, a
featureless oval with only dark pits for eyes.
And then they steal your soul.
Hornsback Investigative Services Agency – Has its sole office here, at the northeast corner, in
a ten-story building that has a great view overlooking the Graveyard. If you like that sort of
thing. Sam Hornsback, the original owner, has long been deceased or missing, and the business
was taken over by his junior partner, Cory Anderson, and his newer partner, Jack Shepherd.
Tinytown | 121
North Farm Market Safety and security: 3 Arcane influence: 1

This is a relatively small market district, serving as a place where the farm families from north of
town can come with their eggs, wheat, barley, corn, carrots, parsnips, other vegetables, and also
bring in their milk, butter, and cheeses. They trade these valuable commodities for manufactured
goods seven days a week, with a constant churn of wagons entering and leaving through the
North Gates.
The farm families would like to expand the market district, but the burghers of Leafshade
vehemently disagree, and the Lord Mayor has yet to declare eminent domain to clear out the
houses on the west side of Leafshade and turn them all into market stalls. Tensions between the
farmers and the burghers remain high.
While the Market is well away from the River, and does not suffer much from thick nighttime
Mist, it is in a Wall district, and thus, always at risk of a Thing incursion. The area is well-
policed during the day—a lot of coin turns over in this district, because food is a very valuable
commodity—and relatively well protected at night, too, though at night the stalls are empty.
This is because Watchmen like to go where it’s safe and quiet, just as much as you do.
The Bad Penny – Just inside the North Gate, there is a disk of copper about a foot in diameter
simply lying upon the cobbled street. It is no more than a quarter of an inch thick, and jade-green
in color. Whatever markings it once had, have faded with age and verdigris. Wagons trek around
the disk, and the cobbles are worn to either side of it. No one touches it. No one steals it. Local
legend states that anyone who touches the disk dies within a week—murdered painfully by
person or persons unknown.

Outer Rose District Power and wealth: 4 Mist Influence: 1
The Outer Rose District is the home of the lesser nobility—Viscounts, Barons, and down-on-
their-luck earls. The occasional upwardly-mobile Esquire manages to make a home here, as well.
The streets are all well-cobbled, and kept spotlessly clean by brigades of sweepers. A few of the
more eccentric residents have self-driving carriages, and they rumble past the carriages of the
other gentry with self-satisfied looks on their faces.
Most of the buildings look to share similar architecture—half-timbered, with lush gardens
around them. Only a very few places bear the marks of the Mists—strangely constructed, out of
place buildings, or vacant lots. Almost everyone can afford servants, and most of those servants
have been with the family for ten years or more.
A few members of the nobility, however, are clinging onto a genteel air while living in absolute
poverty inside their four walls. Some have sold off every stick of furniture, every heirloom, to try
to retain their house within the safe environs of the Outer Rose District.
Tinytown | 122
The Outer Rose district is home to Baron Luc and Baroness Grieselda Demarais. They live in
the northeast section, with a beautiful view of the Graveyard—or would, if their house didn’t
have stained glass windows. The gargoyles on their façade are said to be more than just
decoration—neighbors swear that the gargoyles change positions from night to night.

Pine Needle Square Power and wealth: 4 Mist Influence: 2
Squeezed between the Outer Rose District and Loomsville, Pine Needle Square used to be a
scandalous location—it used to be a common location where the mistresses of gentlemen were
sent to live with their bastard offspring. It still bears an air of faded gentility, though these days,
it’s more known as an upper-middleclass neighborhood, where the Mist rarely reaches, and if it
does, not for long. Most of the houses have the same warm brick facades, and there are few
inexplicably empty lots.
The area is named for the tall pine trees that dot the landscape, swaying gently in the breezes that
come from the north.
The Ambrisa School of Music is here, an institution dedicated to introducing new players to
instruments and to the “magic that lies in music.” At the upper levels of the curriculum, this is
literal, though it may not sound that way to people passing the classrooms of beginner students,
scraping and sawing uncertainly on violins and cellos. Maestro Curtis Ambrisa of the
Symphony Orchestra, bankrolls the school with aid from various noble clients, always looking
for the next great voice, the next virtuoso performer who can also add magic to their songs.

The Pocket Power and wealth: 1 Mist Influence: 4
Where East Gate Market should be, is a neighborhood known as The Pocket. It was a market,
decades ago, but shops fled inwards towards the safety of the Outer Rose district as suddenly,
dozens of buildings simply vanished overnight, replaced by crooked, leaning tenements, as if an
entire neighborhood had been transplanted—but none of the new residents knew each other, and
every building was subtly different in style.
To this day, people in The Pocket speak in a patois all their own. While everyone in Tinytown
speaks the same language, no matter if they were born in the town, or deposited here by the
Mists, there are differences in accent and pronunciation, and those from The Pocket speak with
an accent that marks them out to anyone who hears them. It’s a musical dialect, hinting at woods
and hills, that stands in stark contrast to the poverty and privation in which most of the district
lives.
Tinytown | 123
There are few businesses in The Pocket—while it’s been twenty years since the last big shift, no
one wants to take the chance and build there. There are few gas lamps, and no electrical lights,
and most residents are in their houses well before curfew—leaving the streets open to the
criminal element.
There are also persistent rumors of Collector activity at night in the district
Most residents of the Pocket are Crows and Cats, with a handful of Possums thrown in for
flavoring.
The Broken Tower – At the center of the Pocket stands a tall building, sheared in half at an
angle. The tower has no roof, leaving its lower floors open to the elements. It is made of some
form of black stone, perhaps basalt, and even adventurous neighborhood children, for whom
such a place might otherwise be a lure, fear to enter and explore it. There are persistent rumors
that the Broken Tower is a Cabal hide-out, though the College of Mages has cleared it from top
to bottom several times, just to be sure.
Sanguine Hill Safety and security: 3 Arcane influence: 2

Sanguine Hill isn’t named for its cheerful past. Currently, it’s the home to most of the butchers in
Tinytown, with cattle and sheep being driven through South Gate and then west along one of the
ring roads until they reach the holding pens and abattoirs of Sanguine Hill. There’s a scent of old
blood on the air in this neighborhood that’s inescapable.
On particularly dark nights, when the Mists from the river climb even to the top of Sanguine
Hill, the animals become restless in their pens, mooing and baaing and then shrieking and
screaming to be brought inside, or released to flee. The butchers try to get their bloody work
done by nightfall every day, but some days, there are just too many cattle and sheep to get
through in good time. On mornings after nights like those, they find the pens broken down, and
the herd animals escaped, and are forced to ride through the streets, tracking the escapees down.
They don’t always find all of them. It’s not just that people get hungry, though they do; it’s not
just that a cow represents full bellies for an entire city block, though it does. It’s that other
Things are sometimes hungry out there, too.
Sanguine Hill is also home to Tinytown’s chief newspaper, The Daily Gazetteer. There are
records in the Gazetteer’s files that suggest that Tinytown once had multiple newspapers,
perhaps about a hundred years or so ago, but those paper clippings that suggest that there was
once a Metropolitan Daily News are faded and brown. And the other ones? The ones that show
the Lord Mayor as a pup? The ones that suggest that there were once other cities nearby?
Those were confiscated by the Library when they were found.

Tinytown | 124

Scullion’s Court Power and wealth: 2 Mist Influence: 3
Once, the people of Scullion’s Court were like those of Maidenow—once, they worked for the
nobility of the Inner and Outer Rose Districts. These days, Scullion’s Court does most of its
business with the northern farms and the Rabbit and Possum farmers that come to sell their
goods in the North Farm Market.
Further from the river than Maidenow, Scullion’s Court is somewhat sheltered from the
deleterious effects of the River’s Mist flows at night. . . but as this district is right up against the
outer walls, it’s first in the line of fire from any possible Thing incursion. The residents include
scatterings of Mice (living outside their Enclave in the West side of town, and nervous about it),
Rabbits, Cats, Possums, and Crows. A few down-on-their-luck Dogs scratch out a living here as
well, cut off from their families.
The people of Scullion’s Court are locked in two forms of class warfare. They’re deeply
resentful of the well-to-do neighborhood of Leafshade to their east, look down on the slums and
bargemen of Upper East Dockside, and are in a sort of peaceful turf war with Maidenow—
mostly expressed through their support of their rugby teams. Gang warfare hasn’t broken out
between the districts in decades, but everyone remembers when things were worse—much
worse—before the City Watch broke up the gangs twenty years ago and the courts exiled most of
the leadership.
Ms. Adele’s Boarding House for Respectable Gentlemen – Several known ex-Cabal agents
live here. Well, they say they’re former members of the Cabal, but who admits to that? Either
they’re frauds, in it for the skull ring and the cachet of being a rebel, or they’re still members,
because everyone knows that the Cabal never lets go of anyone. The rest of the boarders seem to
be just what it says on the tin—respectable members of the community who simply don’t have
wives or other domestic partners to do the cooking and cleaning, and occasionally feel in need of
a warm meal served at home, company at dinner, and a chance at a clean shirt in the morning.

Southgate Market Power and wealth: 3 Mist Influence: 2
This bustling market-place does business with the farmers to the south of town, primarily sheep
and cattle ranchers. The women of the sheep farms card their wool all summer, spin it into
thread, and weave their own cloth, but raw wool is often sold here to the weavers and dyers as
well as finished thread. The weavers of the town actually prefer raw, carded wool to thread—
they have clever machines that can spin thread more finely than any paw, and they definitely
believe that mechanized looms, with their counting cards, are the way of the future for jacquards
and other such specialized weaving techniques.
This neighborhood does most of its business with Maddersholm, Loomsville, and Taylorsville
within the city.
Tinytown | 125
As this is, again, a wall-facing district, this area is inherently less safe than, say, Pine Needle
Square, which this market abuts. But it still bustles well into the night, because it is also well
away from the river, and scarcely ever sees night-time Mists.
The Pyramid – At the center of Southgate Market, there is a waist-high pyramid of black stone.
The stone is slick, and always warm to the touch, no matter the weather conditions. Not that
anyone touches it if they can avoid it. Traffic moves around the pyramid, which appears to be the
top of a much larger, but buried construction. College Mages have determined that there is some
thaumaturgic flow around the Pyramid, and have concluded that it poses “no current danger,” so
it should be left alone. Locals blame the Pyramid for everything from apoplexy to gout to soured
milk, without much evidence. They also blame the College for not having removed the thing,
which appeared without much fanfare about a hundred and fifty years ago, embedded in the
center of the square.
Sorely’s Curiosity Shop. – Cameron Sorley, Warlock, Cat. Has huge, bulbous amber eyes
behind his spectacles, and an oddly flattened face. Cameron is a demon-aligned warlock with the
Cabal, who poses as a collector of curiosities, and runs a curiosity shop and pawn venue in
Southgate Market. There’s a stuffed alligator hanging from the roof rafters, bottles of rare
perfumes and what he swears are ghost traps. Old ceramic shoes, babies’ pawprints cast in
plaster, chess sets, old books, figurines of elephants and peacocks and gazelles. It’s hard to move
in all the clutter, and the place reeks of dust and a little mildew. He is almost certainly a vendor
for the Memory Market as well. Affiliations: Cabal.
Taylorsville Safety and security: 3 Arcane influence: 1

Intimately connected with Loomsville and Maddersholm, Taylorsville is the third member of
their triumvirate, an entire district dedicated to cutting the cloth of Loomsville into patterns and
sewing it into clothing. While there are high-end clothiers and tailors throughout town, and little
sweat shops here and there in poorer areas, no place makes as much clothing, as many blankets
and sheets, as Taylorsville.
The workers here tend to be both men and women, heads bowed over sewing machines for up to
twelve hours a day—they work from 6 am till 6 pm. Many sewing factories have a silence rule
that would make the abbot of a monastery wonder if it might perhaps be too harsh. As such,
workers have resorted to developing a form of sign language to skirt around the ‘no talking’ rule.
People from Loomsville can sort of understand it, but few else in the city can, though it has been
adapted for use by actual deaf individuals.
This is a relatively safe area, both in terms of crime and Mist, but it’s also a relatively poor
region. No one aspires to live here—mostly, people simply long to get out.
Tinytown | 126

Turner’s Row
Turner’s Row is a hotbed of carpentry and furniture-making, using wood sawed from the lumber
mills in Upper East Dockside. When the Masons need furniture made for their brand-new
homes, they come here, directly to the craftsmen who make it, because why buy retail when you
can get it direct?
While this district bustles during the day, it’s a graveyard at night. In some cases, literally—the
Gravekeepers have been summoned here to deal with several hauntings, including the
spectacular case of an undead Dog-Knight, riding a flaming skeletal horse.
There are those that say that the Death Knight is an urban legend, an unsubstantiated rumor
fueled by too much alcohol and late nights spent out in the Mist as people stagger their ways
home. But those who hear the clatter of hooves, and smell smoke and brimstone out on the
streets after dark, know to hurry home all the quicker.
Turner’s Row is filled with skilled craftsmen, who are sober and industrious by day. But living
so close to the river, and with the gang problem in

Upper East Dockside Power and wealth: 2 Mist Influence: 5
Home to lumber mills, saw mills, and paper mills by day, not to mention the barges that enter the
city, landing at docks filled with coal, foodstuffs, and goods imported from beyond the Mists,
Upper East Dockside bustles by day, and is a ghost-town at night. There are taverns and inns that
cater to the bargemen and mill workers—raucous places that don’t shut their doors all night,
simply because there’s no place else for people to go. Once the Mist settles in at night, it would
be criminal to let people leave, so hardened drinkers simple pull up a settle bench and sleep
there, or on the wooden floors, till morning.
Whereupon they get up and go back to work, just to repeat the cycle the night after, all over
again.
There are gangs in Upper East Dockside—not as bad as on the West side of the river, but
definitely present. The sons and daughters of the millworkers rarely see their parents, and most
have escaped schooling, despite the best efforts of Church schools dotted throughout the River
districts. The Stone Crows gang and the Black Cats’ Choir are the two most notable gangs from
this area.
The area is poorly lit after nightfall, with gas lamps that struggle to illuminate more than a
silvery patch of fog at a time. People have been known to walk straight into the river, having
taken a wrong turn that takes them right off the edge of a jetty and drown.
The area’s also known as an assassin’s playground—the river is a great place to dump bodies, if
you aren’t afraid of the Mist. There have been persistent rumors of people being mugged here,
Tinytown | 127
and waking up with no memories—their bodies just dumped along the roadside, not by
Collectors or Things, but by someone—or something—else.
Tinytown | 128
West of the River
Where the land east of the river is largely a series of hills and valleys, the land west of the river is
flat, and prone to flooding when the river rises. It was all originally farm land, but while arable
land is hard to come by, so is living space. Where people on the East side tend to be clumped
together by socioeconomic factors, and neighborhoods are multi-species, everyone on the West
side tends to be poor, and neighborhoods are clustered more by species than any other factor.

Clawsout
Clawsout is an entire community of Cats, and poor Cats, at that. You can find them drowsing in
the sunshine on the sides of the narrow, twisting streets, or having climbed to the tops of the
grey, paint-peeling tenement buildings to find that perfect perch. Unlike other neighborhoods, no
Crows or Robins have colonized the tops of the buildings. None of them dare. The Cats here are
feral and wild.
There’s a gang problem, but the residents would tell you that there’s only a gang problem,
because other neighborhoods around them have gangs. They wouldn’t need to arm themselves if
it weren’t for the Rats.
Rats cause all the problems, of course. It wouldn’t be the Cats. Oh, no.
There are no street lights here. Mist swallows this area most nights, but Cats, with their ability to
see in the dark, and their love of secrets, don’t care.
The Peelers – Cat gang, leader, Cam Lloyd—one eye missing. Once was an up and coming
wizard at the College of mages, but got stuck in a cycle of addiction and wound up dropping out
and retreating further and further from his old friends. Managed to beat the addiction with the
help of his wife, only to see her killed by Rats two years after their marriage. He hates Rats of all
stripes with a passion, and believes that there can be no peace between the communities. Not
while the Thieves’ Guild exists, and is dominated by Rats.
The Angry Peacock – Charlie Radhuss, the bouncer, is a bobcat. Far too large to be an
ordinary cat, he’s an agent of the Order of Shadow—a Knight who’s passed initiation, but who
didn’t get a form during Ascension too frightening for use inside the walls. He’s seen things
outside the walls that would turn your fur white. He’s currently AWOL from his small unit,
having come home to try to see his wife, but she saw him, screamed, and ran. He’s been trying to
figure out what to do with his life now. If the Order of Shadow finds him, they’ll kill him. If he
returns to his unit, they’ll either kill him or send him on a suicide mission. Blending in and doing
makework is the best he can manage right now.
Tinytown | 129

Fish Market Power and wealth: 2 Mist Influence: 4
By common agreement, the various gangs of West side have left Fish Market as neutral territory.
Any gang that starts something here will get jumped by everyone else. Even the Rats keep a low
profile here. Why?
Fish Market does the most trade in foodstuffs for carnivores and omnivores of any place west of
the river. It receives shipments of fish straight from West Dockside several times a day, and any
disruption to the food supply of the slums is a sure way to get jumped by every thinking being.
About ten years ago, under the auspices of Raz Joran, the Rats briefly tried to corner the
commodities market, to limit access to Fishmarket to those who paid them protection money.
This may be one of the reasons why Raz Joran was murdered, though few people know exactly
how he died, or how his cousin, Arik Joran, took control of the Thieves’ Guild after his
(presumed) assassination.

Haymarket Power and wealth: 1 Mist Influence: 3
Haymarket is a tiny market district dedicated to the crops brought into the city by the northern
farming families. It has a symbiotic relationship with Hayseed Square, due to the large Possum
and Rabbit population of the area. Haymarket originally only sold horse and cattle fodder, back
before the walls of the city were extended to surround this region, and was a true farmers’
market. These days, it sells all manner of seeds and nuts—oats, grain, barley, and sunflower
seeds, among others. It also sells root vegetables and the occasional fruit, but nothing that a
carnivore would want to truck with.
While Haymarket doesn’t turn over enough coin to really draw out the Thieves’ Guild Enforcers
looking for ‘protection’ money, it is a wall district, and one that fronts onto a large gate. While it
doesn’t have much Mist influence from the river, this isn’t a particularly safe district after
sundown, for there are no lights, and the Watch substation in this area is known to be crooked,
and its officers look the other way for the right bribe.

Hayseed Square Power and wealth: 1 Mist Influence: 3
Hayseed Square is a larger neighborhood, in which Possums live at ground level and in
tenements, and Rabbits live belowground in a vast network of burrows. Most of these residents
are recent immigrants to the city, as farms outside the walls have been slowly eaten away by the
Tinytown | 130
Mists, but Rabbits and Possums are also known to have large families, so many of the children
were born inside the city’s walls, knowing nothing but privation.
The Watch substation in this area is known to be crooked, and its officers look the other way for
the right bribe.
There’s said to be a Cabal presence in this neighborhood, possibly centered on The White
Hand. A huge statue of what looks to be a single paw emerges from the dirt at the center of
Hayseed Square. The College of Mages has suggested that it is part of a much larger statue, but
the Rabbits claim that they have been unable to find the rest of the body of the statue, no matter
how much they dig around and under it. The Hand perpetually crackles with energy, and during
thunder storms, attracts lightning to it, grounding the electricity and presumably storing it for
some unknown purpose.

The Heap Power and wealth: 1 Mist Influence: 5
The worst part of the worst slum in Lower West Riverside. It’s within smelling distance of the
great compost heaps outside the walls, which draw sludge out of the river and manure from the
farming fields. It’s directly next to the “big stink” itself, the Tanner’s District. And it’s right up
against the river, which makes for nightly river Mists.
The poorest of the poor live here, eking out a living from mudlarking and fishing. The population
is made up entirely of Rats who’ve been exiled from Upper Rats’ Nest—the lowest of the low, in
other words.
The squalor with which these Rats live can be compared to nothing else in Tinytown. Many
residents hoard garbage in their homes, believing it to be precious, their ticket out of the slum, if
only they can find the right buyer. Some suffer from mental illness. Others simply suffer from
the worst of luck.

Last Stand Hill Power and wealth: 2 Mist Influence: 3
Two hundred years ago, before Tinytown had built its walls across the river, before the Rats had
built their Nest, before any of that. . . a massive battle against the Things in the Mist was fought
here. Heroes held this hill in a rearguard action, allowing refugees to flow across Old Bridge into
the town proper, and they held it for a week.
Magic ravaged the land. The Things twisted its reality. Sand turned to glass. Odd. . . portals. . .
still exist. If you walk through the wrong place, you’ll appear someplace else, entirely.
Sometimes just ten feet away. Sometimes all the way across town. Sometimes, you might appear
out in the Mist somewhere. There’s really no way to tell what will happen if you step on the
wrong spot.
Tinytown | 131
This area is a magical wasteland, where no one dares to build or live. Roads crisscross it, but
people move through the region as quickly as possible. The College of Mages has long had a
plan to take the Hill and ‘revitalize’ it by draining the thaumaturgic residue out of the land, but
that has proved to be a pipe dream for decades.
Some local druids have moved into the city and dwell in this region, putting up with the abuse
from the gangs and neighboring Rats, in the hopes of revitalizing the ground, themselves, but to
no avail, currently.
Dr. Zacharius Q. Beedle – A Possum mage, looking for artifacts in the wasteland. He’s not
afraid that the ambient magic in the air and ground will twist his body; he leaves every day well
before nightfall, and only eats and drinks the food he brings with him. Periodically, tough Rat
Enforcers keep pestering him for donations to their charity. He’s afraid he’ll have to singe their
tails if they don’t leave him alone. And then things might get rough.
Maxton Ruff – Afghan Hound, druid. A member of the Land circle of druids, he faithfully
believes that with enough of the right channeled power, he can restore this region to a healthy,
vibrant ecosystem once more. Faith moves mountains. Perhaps his can move a hill.

Lower West Dockside Power and wealth: 2 Mist Influence: 5
As the furthest south along the river’s flow of any of the Western river districts, Lower West
Riverside is the most polluted region. This area floods on nearly a weekly basis, so houses built
closest to the river have mud floors, and a perpetual odor of fish and mildew hangs over the
neighborhood.
As one of the poorest slums, people here (mainly Rats, Mice, and Possums) eke out a living
mudlarking and fishing. They depend on charity from the Church, but that charity is frequently
disrupted by the Thieves’ Guild Enforcers dropping by even soup kitchens to toss the place and
demonstrate their might.
There are no independent gangs in this area—all of them have been absorbed into the Guild, on
penalty of waking up dead some morning if they refuse.
There are no streetlights. There are barely any streets. The houses here are all squat and small,
merely shanties, all built atop one another. Neighborhood children run roof to roof, rather than
alley to alley.
Tinytown | 132

Mouse Enclave Power and wealth: 1 Mist Influence: 3
The Mouse Enclave is a ghetto, in the purest sense of the word. Few Mice live outside of it, and
those who do, feel uncomfortably like they’ve let down the side, somehow. The Enclave has its
own, smaller walls, and they have dozens of really good schools inside those walls—Mice
parents are big on education, even if it doesn’t lead to economic enfranchisement for their
children.
The Mouse Enclave works to build their own burrows, and builds nothing but schools and shops
aboveground. All homes are underground, keeping them out of the Mist at night, much as
Rabbits do. But Rabbits never put up a wall.
No one remembers if the Mice raised the wall themselves to keep others out, or if the town raised
the wall to keep the Mice in. No one agrees on what the story is, just that the wall is there. It
keeps largely Mice isolated, and as a result, they have their own clipped, sharp accent—similar
to that of the Rats, but more nasal.
There are no streetlights in the Enclave. No one goes out aboveground after dark anyway. Well,
no one with any legitimate reasons to, anyway.
Eshram Riese – Mouse warlock of particularly excellent power (dayjob: school principal in a
ghetto school). Summoning spirits from the vasty deep apparently does wonders for disciplining
rowdy school children.

Nightstide Power and wealth: 3 Mist Influence: 4
A surprisingly vibrant multispecies neighborhood, Nightstide is home to Dogs, Cats, Rats, and
Crows. Gang activity is rife, as is clearly evident in the graffiti tags on almost every building, but
the Thieves’ Guild has a tenuous truce with the neighborhood gangs at the moment. Which
allows them to focus their aggression and territorial aspirations on each other. Smart money at
the local Watch house says that Arik Joran is just waiting for the Dogs, Cats, and Crows to
exhaust themselves fighting each other, and then will move in and scoop up everything that
remains undefended.
New investments are being made in Nightstide by the nobility, who see the area as ripe for
redevelopment, and a source of cheaper labor for new textile mills that might break the back of
the Weavers Guild. Thus, there is more wealth here to be found than other Western districts, and
more opportunity for people here to find jobs and eke out a living.
Ravensboro Safety and security: 2 Arcane influence: 3

Tinytown | 133
Crows live in this district. All the way down and all the way up. The aeries on top of the
tenements are considered prime real estate, akin to penthouses, by the sky-loving crows. While
this neighborhood is up against the western walls, it has slightly more safety and security than its
neighbors, by virtue of the fact that Crows look after their own. If someone goes missing, or is
found dead, a (ahem) murder of Crows gathers, investigates, and goes after the likely killer.
This tendency towards vigilantism disturbs the City Watch, which has instituted several new
watch stations inside Ravensboro as a result. While the residents are suspicious of the Watch,
these stations are having a stabilizing effect on the region.
The area is, however, considered a hotbed of Cabal activity, largely because the locals don’t see
the Cabal as a bad thing—the local cells ‘look after’ the community in a way that the College
mages, in their ivory towers, never do. The Cabal comes out, gets its hands dirty, takes care of
residents, and so on. Some locals have more faith in the Cabal than they do in the Church.

Tanner’s District Power and wealth: 3 Mist Influence: 3
The Tanner’s District was situated across the river before the walls spread out to cover the West
side of town. Situated across the river from Sanguine Hill and the slaughter district, but far
enough away from the noses of everyone on the East side, locals refer to the district as ‘The Big
Stink.’
There is nothing a tanner won’t use to make a hide supple and soft. They like to say that the
brain of each animal is large enough to tan its hide, and that might be true, the liver is also often
used, as is ammonia from urine, and alum, taken from agricultural lime. The smell of the tanning
process, and the chemicals used, is enough to make a strong Dog whimper.
As such, no one wants to live downwind or next to the industrial tanning areas, and there’s quite
a bit of polluted runoff from the tanning sheds that runs downhill, through Lower West
Dockside, and winds up in the river.
Still, the Tanners are a fairly wealthy Guild, and employ guards to keep the Thieves’ Guild at
bay and protect their workers.

Upper Rats’ Nest Power and wealth: 3 Mist Influence: 2
The presence of an Upper Rats’ Nest implies the existence of a lower one—and there is, situated
directly underground. The Rats that live in the teeming, sprawling tenements of this large district
are actually social outcasts—they’re not welcome in the lower tunnels. Which means that the
Rats most residents of Tinytown are aware of are the outcasts. The criminals. The mentally ill.
Those unwelcome in the lower tunnels for one reason or another, also find themselves
unwelcome in the rest of the town, and thus exist in this strange borderland space that is Upper
Rats Nest.
Tinytown | 134
The Thieves’ Guild rules this area with an iron hand. No criminal activity goes on here without
their say-so. No business dealings go on here without their approval.
Representative Naomi Moran – An older Rat, silvery-gray from head to toe, with narrow,
intelligent eyes and a fondness for elaborate hats, including a fancy one with rather gnawed-
looking wax cherries at the brim. She carries a clutch purse that detractors suggest might have a
brick inside of it for ease of clubbing people. She’s the current elected representative of Upper
Rats’ Nest, has a vicious hate for most of the Thieves’ Guild, and is the one Rat summoned to
Council Meetings at the Lord Mayor’s Palace.
. . . though rumors abound that Arik Joran and the Lord Mayor play chess on moonlit nights.

Upper West Dockside
Home to the city’s grain mills, Upper West Dockside shares a symbiotic relationship with
Haymarket. What’s bought and sold in Haymarket is brought to Upper West Dockside to be
ground into flour to make the bread on which so much of Tinytown subsists.
At the center of Upper West Dockside, there is a strange object: a silvery sphere that floats in
mid-air, making a light humming noise. The humming tone changes slightly if the sphere is
touched, oscillating up and down a musical scale. The sphere cannot be moved more than an inch
in any given direction; people have tested the strength of wagons and teams of oxen against the
immobility of the sphere, and have lost every time. The College of Mages finds it interesting, but
ultimately pointless; the Merry Widows are convinced that it is a long-lost musical instrument,
and that if someone were to sing the right song near it, that it would resonate in time with the
voice. Unfortunately, no one has yet sung the right song to the Silver Sphere.

West Dockside
West Dockside, like East Dockside, does most of its business with fishing, and with handling the
barges that come down the river from places unknown. But they get second pick of the cargos,
simply because the area is so much poorer than the East side.
The Thieves’ Guild has a stranglehold on this side of the river; the local stevedores and porters
don’t unload anything unless the Guild has already taken their cut of the cargo.
The Drunken Parrot -- Open till curfew every night of the week, the Drunken Parrot is a
dockside establishment of many years. Lead bartender Rosie Hornsback (the ‘widow’ of Sam
Tinytown | 135
Hornsback) is a Crow who knows when to cut people off before they become violent drunks.
Mouse chanteuse Melody Ariza frequently performs out of the Parrot—not because she can’t do
better, but because she feels she owes something to the West side.
Sanja Hofferson – Sphynx Cat, artificer, West Dockside shop. Specializes in thaumaturgic
crystals As a Cat in a neighborhood dominated by Rats, she’s on surprisingly good terms with
the local Enforcers of the Thieves' Guild. Affiliations: BAA, Thieves’ Guild, Cabal.
Tinytown | 136
Chapter Ten: Factions

There are Factions within the city that value Investigators. You may serve any of them. You
might serve all of them—certainly, most Investigators make a good living conducting services
for each of the Factions. But getting too cozy with one Faction may make another Faction view
you with unease and suspicion.
Factions are the lifeblood of Tinytown. Without them, individual communities would wither and
die. Without the patronage of Faction leaders, there would be no economy, no law, no protection
for the residents.
But each Faction, while integral to the survival of the Town, remains suspicious of the others,
and each Faction possesses secrets that the others would give much to obtain.
Some Factions are community and species dependent. Some Factions are linked to occupations
and social classes. Still others are matters of ideology and belief. Some residents of Tinytown
belong to multiple factions simultaneously—a Rat is a member of the Rat community, even if
they are, in fact, a member of the City Watch instead of the Thieves’ Guild. If they are an
alderman, they might even be a member of the Church . . . but they are still a Rat.
Conflicting loyalties can pull at any resident, including—and especially—Investigators.

Tinytown | 137
Tier II, Strong. A City Guild without
The Benevolent Association of Artificers (BAA) many members, but those members
are technomancers.
A fraternal organization intended to help spread technomancy and widen its appeal among the
common people. BAA supports alchemists, automaton machinists, and other mages that work
specifically with thaumaturgic crystal technology, networks, and implanted incantations.
BAA is probably the smallest Guild in Tinytown, but they’re fiercely proud of their work and
their outreach to the community at large. They’re dedicated to making the city a better place to
live—one clanking monstrosity at a time.
They get together once a year for a big dinner and dance, just like every other guild in the city--
the BAA Ball! No secret handshakes needed, just a membership card with dues paid in good
order.
Members of note:
Madam Ariel Haidar, a tortoiseshell Artificer with her own shop. Her clever paws create small
automatons that she sells to farmers for their fields and to the Guard for repairs to the walls and
for the defense of the city. She has a long-term contract to continue doing exactly that, and she
does not take kindly to her creations being stolen and, ahem, repurposed.
Calanthia Greville – Papillon, lower nobility, low-ranking master artificer who specializes in
coding crystals.
Dr. Edmund Thicke – Poodle. Pioneer of thaumaturgic crystals along with Ariel Haidar, he has
strong technomantic skills, and is convinced that artificers are the wave of the future, not the
hoary old books and scrolls of the past. A close friend of Ariel Haidar, theirs is a companionable
rivalry—most of the time. Affiliations: College of Mages, BAA
Master Eric Constantin – Possum master alchemist. Former master to Corey Andersen and
Kate Catellini (before she became a vampire and subject to the Gravekeepers).
Ivari Pavlov – Dog, Samoyed. Ariel’s journeyman. A little OCD, likes to sing in a choir on
weekends. Distributed network crystals are his hobbyhorse.
Locksley Rohrshack, former apprentice, former associate member. Cat. Was recently
implicated in the misuse of thaumatugic automatons, and was convinced to turn himself in for
trial by the College. Currently incarcerated, awaiting sentencing.
Tinytown | 138
Tier IV, Strong. Highly organized and very powerful, the Mages
College of Mages are held back by only a clinical disinterest in politics.
Dr. Aloysius F. Culpa heads the College of Mages. He’s an elderly cat, his slightly portly frame
swathed in heavy purple robes that conceal his black coat with its white markings that run from
his nose to his belly. He has a scar across one of his eyelids, but underneath, his eyes gleam
green and sharp, and his teeth remain white and deadly. Those who see him, with his slightly
arthritic limp, the way he leans in his gnarled blackthorn staff, and discount him as just an old
tom, past his prime, more interested in food and a warm spot by the fire to soothe his aches and
pains?
Don’t understand him in the least. In his heart of hearts, Culpa is a hunter. And his chosen prey
is the Things in the Mists. Those who haven’t lived in the city long have yet to see him standing
on the walls, raining fireballs and lightning down into a massive incursion of Things.
Pray that you never have to see him with the hair standing up along his neck, teeth bared.
Because if you do, there’s a good chance you’ll be dead long before he has the opportunity to rub
a paw over his face and settle himself once more.
The College of Mages are closely allied with the Archivists and the Library, and the relationship
is largely symbiotic; they need the Archive’s books to research spells and instruct initiates, and
they are a large source of the Archive’s funding. The Archive needs them for funding, and for
the spells and wards that maintain the Archive’s. . . oddly contrary use of space and time.
However, the College of Mages has been known to research matters of eldritch lore and shadowy
power—mostly as a means, Dr. Culpa will tell you, towards understanding the hostile world
outside the town, and to protect the Town’s inhabitants from the vile darkness that lies in the
Mists.
With that being said, they have certain stringent guidelines and rules. Even the Lord Mayor
respects the rules by which the College conducts itself, because only the College has the power
to enforce laws over other magic-users.
To that end, there’s a solid division of the types of magic-users.
Wizards, whose art requires the most study, and certainly the longest matriculation (and thus, the
longest payment of fees to the College) are considered to have the pre-eminent Art of all magic-
users; they drawn on the subtle power of the world around them, elemental forces and cosmic
energies, and bend them to their will through intense study of ancient lore. They are allowed to
study at the College, and may reside in Tinytown without harassment, so long as they do not use
their powers against ordinary citizens.
Sorcerers are tolerated, though the source of their power is closely examined, to determine that
they are not, in fact, warlocks. If their power can be proven to be innate—inborn to them, a result
of some quirk of genetics or a familial bequest from a benevolent Power, and not the result of
some sort of pact, they are allowed to study at the College, and may reside in Tinytown without
harassment, so long as they do not use their powers against ordinary citizens.
Tinytown | 139
Artificers are somewhat looked down upon, but are tolerated. They sully their hands with trade
and engineering, and aren’t involved in pure research. But so long as their powers clearly come
from the true sources of magic—they’re permitted to study at the College and establish shops in
the Town.
Bards are regarded with some suspicion. They’re entertainers, right? Actors? How do they get
powers—from some sort of pact?
Druids are rare, but with their clear connection to the Powers of Nature, they’re most welcome in
the College. It’s just that they might not be comfortable there, among all those books and
taxidermied specimens, don’tchaknow.
Warlocks. . . are really where the privy meets the windmill. Anyone suspected of being a
warlock is subject to arrest and investigation of their powers. Someone with a proven connection
to the feywilds will, after a time, be released, with a hearty apology. They’re considered almost a
kind of priest. “Why didn’t you SAY you were a representative of one of the minor Powers? We
could have sorted this out right quick.”
Warlocks whose powers can be proven to emanate from a demonic or eldritch source are
summarily executed within the College. There is no appeal. The Lord Mayor signs all death
warrants after the execution has taken place, backdating where necessary, and rarely questions
Culpa’s judgment.
The supervision of magic users is, after all, what the College is FOR.
Disputes between magic users can be resolved by adjudication under a provost court within the
college, or by a magic duel between practitioners.
Sanctioned mages may enter the City Watch and use their powers against ordinary citizens, but
strictly within the rules of the Watch—lethal force is discouraged except when lives are at stake,
for example. They may also serve as guards on the walls, in the perimeter villages, and even set
up magic shops—largely exporting their goods, because really, who in Tinytown has the coin for
magical gear, besides the highest members of the Factions?
The Church finds the College useful, if a bit suspicious. All that magic in mortal hands?
Shouldn’t miracles be reserved to the Powers? And all that questioning of the fundamental order
of things—all that pre-occupation with science and how things work. We know how it works,
damn it all.
The Cabal hates and fears the College. The City Watch works with the College on occasion to
find warlocks and otherwise, the two factions take great pains to get out of each others’ way.
Technically, in every area other than magic, the City Watch takes precedence over the College.
Absolutely no one wants to see what would happen if they got into a disagreement, however. The
Merchants and Craftsman—other than those who work with Artificers—think that the damn
Tinytown | 140
Ivory Tower types always have their heads in the clouds, don’t care about the little folk, and
probably don’t pay their fair share of taxes.
The Collectors and Gravekeepers do their best to stay out of the College’s sight. It’s better that
way, isn’t it?
Other mages of note:
Dr. Edric Durward – Edric is a Crow, and senior lecturer in the Magic Defensive Arts at the
College of Mages. He’s an archmage, and surprisingly, given his fussy gloves and shiny feathers,
is always down for a rumble. One of the chief members of the team that took down Ariel
Haidar’s dragonbot when it was stolen and turned against the city. Affiliations: University,
Library, City Watch.
Tinytown | 141
Tier III, Weak. Disorganized, and deliberately so, one cell may not
The Cabal know what another is planning, and will be at odds with each other.
The Cabal doesn’t exist. Why are you asking about it? You some kind of College longnose?
Well, if the Cabal existed—and I’m not saying it does, longnose—it wouldn’t have any one
person in charge of it. Wouldn’t be smart, no, would it? They’d be best off as a group of loosely
associated cells, no one person knowing all the other people in what might be laughably called
an organization.
What kinds of people would be in the Cabal? Ones that wouldn’t go ‘round calling it by some
kind of idiotic, melodramatic name like that. Bound to get attention, calling yourself a cabal.
Next you’ll be saying they’ve all got skull rings. Faaaaah. Nonsense.
Now, if I were a member of an organization, I’d call it a . . . society of friends. Yeah, wouldn’t I?
People of like mind, who occasionally give each other shelter when maybe the Law is pressing
the boot a little too firmly to the neck, eh?
Warlocks? I hate the word, I do. I mean, really, maybe not everyone has a choice about things.
Maybe they were deceived by some Power or another, tricked into making a bad decision. Oh I
know what the Law says. Using eldritch powers invites the Things in. Tears rips in space and
time, yeah yeah. Look, I’m just a simple alchemist. Yes, that explains the smell of sulfur in my
shop. But, say you were a sorcerer, and you’d been kicked out of the College for, dunno. Maybe
cheated on your exams? Maybe killed someone in a mage’s duel that weren’t actually
sanctioned? Maybe they told you to take a trip on the first caravan out of town.
Maybe you’d be scared. Looking for a second chance beyond whatever flavor of oblivion that
lies in the mists. Maybe you might need a friend?
If I needed a friend, I’d go to the kitchen entrance at the Merry Widow’s inn over in the tanner’s
district. Smelly place, I know.
Yes, just like my shop. Thanks for pointing that out, I’d never have noticed it on my own.
So I’d go there, and I’d ask for Felipe and say you’re looking to move up in society.
No, he doesn’t have a last name. I wouldn’t know that, would I, now?
I have no idea why you think he’s a Wolverine. Those are giants out of myth. He couldn’t fit into
any house around here if he were, now could he?
The Cabal, or the Society, depending on who’s referring to them, is a loosely organized group
that probably provides magical muscle to the Thieves’ Guild, the Merry Wives, the
Gravekeepers, and is at least partially affiliated with the Order of Shadow. They and the College
of Mages are diametrically opposed, as the Society believes that magic can and should be used
for the magic-user’s personal benefit, and sees no issue with using magic against ordinary
citizens to keep themselves alive and (hopefully) unnoticed by the College and Watch.
Tinytown | 142
And hey, if a few members are affiliated with demons or eldritch horrors, who knows? I don’t
know anyone like that. Never met one. I’m sure it’s all just talk by the Law, to keep people in
line.
Other Cabal members:
Barqa Azim – Rat. Current leader of the Enforcers. Wears a silver skull ring on one finger, the
likes of which you’ve never seen before--he’ll tell you that it’s supposed to be the skull of a
monkey, but you might wonder about that a bit. You’ve never seen a monkey outside of books,
after all. Affiliations: Thieves’ Guild, Cabal.
Cameron Sorley – Warlock, Cat. Has huge, bulbous amber eyes behind his spectacles, and an
oddly flattened face. Cameron is a demon-aligned warlock with the Cabal, who poses as a
collector of curiosities, and runs a curiosity shop and pawn venue in Southgate Market. There’s a
stuffed alligator hanging from the roof rafters, bottles of rare perfumes and what he swears are
ghost traps. Old ceramic shoes, babies’ pawprints cast in plaster, chess sets, old books, figurines
of elephants and peacocks and gazelles. It’s hard to move in all the clutter, and the place reeks of
dust and a little mildew. Affiliations: Cabal.
Gildi Touati – Warlock, Rat. A member of the underground Memory Market, she likes to say
that she’s never taken a memory that wasn’t freely offered, and that she’s always paid in good
coin for them . . . but has she really? Affiliations: Cabal.
Tinytown | 143
Tier II, Weak. Disorganized and widespread, but often well-off.

The Cats
Cats do not have leaders. It’s a concept antithetical to them. They each have their own territories,
their own neighborhoods, and generally stay out of each other’s way. The most influential Cat,
besides the Archmage, Dr. Aloysius F. Culpa, is Madam Ariel Haidar, a tortoiseshell Artificer
with her own shop.
Ariel Haidar’s clever paws create small automatons that she sells to farmers for their fields and
to the Guard for repairs to the walls and for the defense of the city. She has a long-term contract
to continue doing exactly that, and she does not take kindly to her creations being stolen and,
ahem, repurposed for digging Rat tunnels or bank robberies.
She’s clever and reserved, but secretly donates large sums to local Cat schools, to ensure that
kittens are well-educated. She wears long purple dresses, rather flamboyant feathered hats, and a
small silver pair of glasses on a chain around her neck, when summoned to the palace. When in
her regular work environment? She wears a mechanic’s coveralls, stained with grease. “Be the
person people expect to see,” she might say. “Then you can vanish into the person they don’t
expect to see at all, if you need to, dear.”
Other notable Cats:

The Mistress of Shadows – A black cat, and a master vampire. She is second only to the White
Raven in power among the Gravekeepers. A mysterious figure, she vanished about a year ago on
an expedition to the deep catacombs under the city, only to be retrieved by a second expedition
sent to find her.
Tinytown | 144
Tier IV, Weak. Omnipresent, but organized along monastic lines, the faith
The Church is not one that proselytizes overly.
The Church is headed up, in Tinytown, by Prioress Felicita. She’s a lop-eared gray Rabbit with
the most elegant of whiskers and white wimple. Around her neck is a silver medallion with the
words Amor vincit omnia engraved on it. She once sent a message to the Library to ask what it
meant, but the Archivist who returned kept laughing instead of answering, which made the
prioress somewhat cross with him, and she’s never asked again. She’s afraid that might make
people think she’s a little mule-headed, but if the Librarian wants her to know, the Librarian can
come to the Church and tell the prioress herself. No more messages.
Felicita gave up her given name and family name when she took her vows, and rose through the
ranks based on her scholarship and good natured, kind spirit—as well as her talent for
organization. As the oldest daughter of a sprawling Rabbit clan outside the walls, she learned
how to care for others at a very young age—and developed a taste for silence and contemplation
that somewhat astounded her farmer parents.
As might be expected from the title Prioress, the Church in Tinytown is largely monastic in
nature. Most of the Church affiliates are nuns or monks, though a few, like the Prioress, are also
ordained clerics.
They feel it is their duty to care for the manifold poor of Tinytown. They aren’t here to hear
confessions, though if someone wanted to unburden their heart to a brother or sister of the
Church, they would listen gravely, smile a little, ask if the person wants advice—or if they just
want a friendly ear for the moment.
The Faith, as it is understood in Tinytown, is that there are Powers that move in this world,
shaping space and time. Some of those Powers are of the Light—the sun, the moon, the stars.
Some of the Powers are of Nature, the cleansing power of water, the might of earth, the powerful
dynamism of wind, the fury of fire, the terror of lightning. There are Powers behind those
manifestations of fecundity and grace, and those Powers must be respected and honored in
prayer. Even Death is not necessarily a negative Power; it is an inextricable part of life, and the
Church holds that everyone born, is also reborn, in an endless cycle of reincarnation.
But there are other Powers. There are the demonic Powers, which have fought against our
Powers since time began. They are liars, deceivers, inveiglers, and what they cannot get someone
to agree to give them, they will steal. Oh, they might very well have been one with our Powers
once, but they stepped aside and made war between them for control of the world.
And we can’t be having with that, now can we?
And then there are the eldritch horrors. The Things in the Mist. Powers that come from outside
our space and time, and that are bent on the destruction of the world. The Writ says that the
Powers of Shadow once tried to make a pact with the Things, to finally tip the balance of power
and strike down the Powers of Light.
Tinytown | 145
And the Things killed as many of the Powers of Shadow as they did those of Light. Why, in the
Writ, it’s said that the Shadow came to the Light and offered to work together against the Things.
But the Light could not trust them. Why should they?
And so the struggle has been tripartite ever since, and our lives are constantly muddied by their
war.
Why, I’m almost certain that’s why there are so many disappearances. Though that could be the
fault of that dreadful Cabal. Oh dear.
The poor folk of Tinytown look up to the Church and the Prioress. The middleclass and gentry
give at the collection plate, and, perhaps surprisingly, about ninety percent of donations actually
make it into food and clothing and medicines for the poor. The remaining ten percent helps the
nuns and monks to purchase the few necessities that they cannot produce within their own walls,
or from the farms that they hold outside the walls.
They are surprisingly capable of defending themselves, and have no aversion to doing so, though
most of them prefer weapons that won’t cut open skin—though a stout cudgel will break a skull
as neatly as a sword.
They also aren’t particularly invested in missionary work. They don’t require that anyone
believes in the Powers or prays to them in exchange for food or clothing. Their goal is to
improve the lives of those around them, and to strengthen the Light by good deeds. When a
brother or sister dies, it’s believed that if they’ve done well, instead of being subjected to the
cycle of rebirth, they’ll join with the Powers. One more tiny spark of light added to the great
Battle ongoing all around us.
They are close, if silent allies with the Order of Silver. The Lord Mayor tolerates them, and they
tolerate him. They aren’t particularly on good terms with the College or the Library, though they
certainly admit the uses of both. They bury the dead of Tinytown, so you’d think that they’d be
on good terms with the Gravekeepers. . . but there are gravekeepers. . . and there are
Gravekeepers, if you catch my drift.
The Order of Shadow does their best not to let the Church know they exist. So does the Cabal.
Warlocks of demonic powers had best beware when a cleric of the Church is nearby.
The Thieves’ Guild isn’t particularly thrilled when these do-gooders arrive in their patch and
suddenly, people start not wanting to pay protection money! What’s up with all that giving
money and food away? Don’t they know that ensuring that people in our patch only get food
from the Guild is the basis of our power? Really, we’re going to have to do something about
them. . . . just . . . maybe not when they have so much goodwill from the people.
The Merry Wives just wish they’d stop being so damned . . . cheerful and calm and only
moderately shocked by what goes on inside their walls! I mean, really, you’re supposed to be
Tinytown | 146
shocked, not offer me lunch . . . you’re offering me lunch? Why, what do you want—you want to
listen to me? And you’re not going to tell me that I’m living my life the wrong way?
I guess I could have a sandwich. . . .
The Collector and Memorialists are in diametric opposition. The Church has caught wind of their
operations within Tinytown, and is running a bounty on them. And their masks.
Yes, the rest of the town is as shocked as you are.
Quest tips: A monk or nun has gone missing in a bad area of town. Have they been kidnapped?
Killed? Everyone still remembers them, so it’s not an ordinary vanishing. . . .
Further details on Dogma
Tinytown does not have names for the Powers that shape their world. They are aware of the
Powers that Be, but while clerics have faith and draw energies from the Powers, they do not have
quite the dogmatic faith that more organized religions possess.
The Church, for example, has a Writ, certainly, which tells them that once, all the Powers of
Light and Shadow coexisted in harmony to build this world. That even Death and Destruction
aren’t necessarily evil—they’re a part of the greater Weave of Reality.
What happens when we die? Most people are sent on in a grand cycle of rebirth, but some people
are selected to join with the Powers in the eternal conflict that rages both in our world, and
beyond it. So says the Writ, anyway.
And truthfully, the Order of Shadow doesn’t have a particularly different dogma—they believe
the same things, but which Powers are the ones telling the truth? They think it’s the Powers of
Shadow.
Clerics of the Light
A Cleric of the Light may draw on almost Power, so long as they use that Power for the good of
others, for their protection and benefit. And sometimes, the Power of Nature will throw down a
spell that might look like destruction, but . . . isn’t an avalanche part of nature? Is it not
destructive?
This is why a warlock associated with the Powers of the Feywilds is just . . . a kind of priest, in
the opinion of the Church. A priest of a minor Power, certainly, but drawing on the same sorts of
divine gifts. Welcome, brothers and sisters!
Tinytown | 147
Clerics of the Shadow
A Cleric of the Shadow, however, calls on the Powers that turned their backs on the Light. These
would be called demons in any other world. The smell of sulfur is definitely associated with their
invocation and their presence. But these Powers were once part of the Weave of Reality. In a
very real sense, they still are.
Warlocks that choose to make pacts with demonic powers are, in effect, minor priests of slightly
lesser Shadow Powers. The Clerics of Shadow aren’t quite sure why anyone would serve a
servant, when they could serve a master, but, you know what?
You do you. It’s all about the power to remake the world, after all. Who cares what path it takes?
Clerics of the Grave
Gravekeeper clerics tend to have a very neutral outlook on life. A player character may only
become a Gravekeeper once becoming achieving +3 rep in the eyes of their chosen Faction and
committing themselves to its goals completely.
This may result in unexpected side effects, and should not be chosen lightly.
Clerics of Horror
Are there priests dedicated to the Things in the Mist, those creatures from outside our reality?
Almost certainly. There are, after all, warlocks dedicated to these eldritch abominations.
It’s probably for the best that you don’t pursue this line of thinking much longer. Move along
now.
Tinytown | 148
Tier ??
The Collectors Strengths and weaknesses: Unknown.
Have you heard the rumors of masked . . . persons . . . out on the streets on mist-filled nights? I
saw one, once. Just at the end of the block. I rang my watch bell and told him—her?—to stay
where they were. Demanded their name.
As I got closer, all I could see was a white mask over their face. Didn’t look like a Rat or a
Mouse. Not a Bird or a Dog or a Cat, either. Just this . . . carved blankness, with dark eye holes,
as if there was nothing behind the mask but a void. No nose, no ears. A big, open mouth—yeah,
open like a panting, happy Dog. . . but behind it, no teeth. No lips, no beak. Just. . . nothing.
Now, I’m not the sort who spooks easily. I’ve walked the upper tunnels of the Rats’ burrows,
feeling thousands of eyes on me, to deliver a warrant. I’m telling you, walking into a
neighborhood that would as soon eat me as look at me . . . that was easier than walking half a
block towards that masked figure. My knees locked up. I started to pant. By the time I was a
quarter of block away, I honestly think I wet myself, and then I couldn’t take . . . even one more .
. . . step.
Then it laughed. It laughed. I . . . think I might have blacked out a bit, because I woke up on the
cobblestones, a bump on my head from where I fell against them. Wasn’t out long—no one had
stolen my coin or my badge. But I found this mark on my paw—holds it up, so that the back can
be seen, a brand scorched through the fur in the shape of a strange oval face.
And, um. I haven’t remembered my name since then. I mean, I saw my badge and headed to the
nearest Watch house. . . I remembered I was an officer of the law. I remembered my friends, my
wife, my kids. But every day, they have to tell me my name in the morning. And by night, I
don’t remember it at all. Just won’t. . . stick in my head.
If you see one of them? Don’t go near them. Promise me. Just walk the other way, you hear me?
The Collectors are a secretive organization opposed to the Order of Silver, the Order of Shadow,
the Church, the Archives, the Watch, and probably everyone else, if everyone else had any sense.
They are probably marginally affiliated with the Cabal. They’ve . . . probably done business with
the Thieves, but if they’ve ever been face to face with anyone, those people, er, don’t remember
the incident.
The Church strongly suspects that they are affiliated with the Things, and could even be behind
the disappearances. The incursions of the Mist. Everything, in fact, that’s wrong with Tinytown
can probably be laid at their feet.
Assuming they have feet.

Tinytown | 149
Tier III, Strong.

The Cleaners Secretive. Organized. Small.
The Thieves’ Guild doesn’t conduct assassinations. Oh no—they might occasionally kill
someone, sure, and they’ve had enough petty squabbles among themselves, but they don’t
actually take money to kill people. That’s a line they don’t cross, you get me?
But they’ve certainly paid for assassinations in the past. I mean, look at what happened to Raz.
Oh, you don’t really believe that story about a band of other Guildies trying for a coup d’état,
storming his house, fighting him and his cousin and all their guards, do you?
That was a hit. One that caught its mark, but didn’t finish the job, because Arik lived.
No, I don’t know who paid for it. For all I know, the Mayor did. What, you don’t think he
would? That old wolf hasn’t lived so long by playing it clean for decades, mark my words.
Now, all I know is, you want someone dead, you hire the Cleaners.
No, not the ones who do windows. The ones who take out the trash. You want to know where
the bodies are buried? Not in the crypts. Out in the dung heaps where the farmers come to get
fertilizer. The farmers turn up skulls out there, every now and again.
No, I don’t know how to get in touch with them. Or who’s in charge. I mean, I heard once, you
want to get their attention for a job, you leave a black ribbon in your window for three nights.
Leave a silver coin there with it. Don’t worry. No Thief will take it. No one will cheat the
Cleaners of their coin. No one wants to take the chance.
After that, don’t worry about finding them. They’ll find you.
I don’t know how anyone joins up with them. I don’t want to know.
How do I know all this? Blimey. It’s just rumors, you know. Stuff you hear at the tavern.
Nothing more.
Yeah, my brother-in-law went missing two years ago. I called the Watch in when my sister came
looking for him at my place. Watch hasn’t found hide nor hair.
Yes, my sister got remarried last year. She’s looking happier. Kids don’t look half as jumpy or
thin as they used to, either. Maybe sometimes people get a happy ending, what?
Members of note:
Drasko Lennox – Master of disguises and master assassin. No known cover identity for use in
public life. Once went by the name Edmund Martinson when he adopted Laila Meriten along
with his ‘wife,’ Phillippa. Current whereabouts: Unknown.
Tinytown | 150
Jasper Bastion – Bastion appears to be a small, finicky Mouse who runs an umbrella
manufacturing shop and haberdashery. He wears neat glasses. His fur is grey, his whiskers white,
with what appear to be muttonchop sideburns. He even wears suspenders under his neat coat.
He’s also the highest-ranked known member of the Cleaners. He claims that there is a leader
above him, but he could be lying. He’s very good at that.
Philippa Glass – Bakes and designs cakes for all occasions. A member of the Benevolent
Association of Artificers, because she uses alchemical potions to bring her cakes to life!
Formerly the adoptive mother of Laila Meriten, she raised her ‘daughter’ to be a good member of
the Cleaners. . . but respects her daughter’s choice to leave the Cleaners behind. Affiliation:
Cleaners, Order of Shadow, BAA
Tinytown | 151
Tier III, Strong. Exceptionally organized, but spread thin, unable to cover
City Watch every district of this sprawling metropolis.
Headed by Inspector Reynard Tanguy, who is a Large Dog of the shaggy, shambling
wolfhound variety. His tangled gray hair falls into eyes that are deceptively mild and kind most
of the time, but miss absolutely nothing in his surroundings. He’s prone to wear a kind of heavy
peacoat instead of the cloaks favored by the Palace Guard, and a crumpled hat to keep off the
rain.
As a wolfhound, part of him knows that his forebears existed to hunt wolves. Part of the Lord
Mayor knows this, too. There’s a wary respect between them, but tension, too; Tanguy’s oath is
to defend the City. The military defenses are overseen by the Palace Guard, but he also protects
people from each other. From the government. From themselves, if he or his officers can manage
it.
The Watch is all-species and inclusive, and has been since Tanguy took over. His predecessor
actually didn’t disappear, and was a Doberman named Caleb Sandalio. Everyone remembers
Sandalio as having been moderately corrupt, so Tanguy has spent the last ten years weeding out
bribery and officers on the take, with some solid success.
Though there’s usually one bad apple that gets missed, isn’t there?
Tanguy doesn’t do politics. He doesn’t care if someone’s a member of a Faction or not. The Law
applies to everyone equally. He wishes he could just hand over malfeasant mages to a court of
the city, but he’d need a lot more mages on his Watch to be able to take in the worst warlocks
and . . . others . . . and magic proof cells . . . someone in the court to ensure that there’s no
tampering with the judge’s mind through mystic methods. . .
Magic. Fah. Nothing but trouble. Half of ‘em are probably in with the Things. Okay, maybe not
half. But fiddling around with the natural order has GOT to be the reason there are Things at all,
right?
While there are mages in the Watch, as a rule, the Watch doesn’t like or trust magic-users much.
They are not allied with the College, and stay away from the Library, which reeks of magic, too.
Unless they absolutely have to go in there. Hot pursuit. Maybe research—you know, maybe we
could hire a contractor for that. Get an Investigator here.
They are diametrically opposed to the Thieves’ Guild. They would like the Merry Widows to pay
their taxes, but what they do is technically legal, so please, ladies, just pay your taxes, don’t
harbor smugglers, thieves, warlocks, or any of that lot, and really, this is a perfectly nice bar to
sit and relax after a long day on my feet. . . . nice décor—wow.
That’s quite a show.
How does she keep all those plates rotating at the ends of those poles at once?
Yes, please, open a tab. You know I’m good for it.
Tinytown | 152
Tier II, Weak. While some Crows are nobles, the vast majority are
The Crows disorganized members of the common flock.
Generally speaking, the Lord Mayor has to send armed guards to find any Raven to represent
their kind at the Council meetings. Koronis Otxoe is the one that the guards usually find—
mostly because he doesn’t choose to fly away the moment the palace guards make their way to
rooftop level.
The Lord Mayor doesn’t refer to him by name. Just tells his guards, “Bring me that damned
Raven. I want to talk to him.”
Everyone knows whom he means.
Koronis is old. So old his feathers actually have silver shot through them, and he moves with a
slow, stately pace that only somewhat hides his arthritis. It’s said that other Ravens defer to
him—why, is not entirely clear. He’s known to Madam Adelaide Capuchin of the Gravekeepers,
but what their relationship is, beyond that of mutual respect, is unclear. They do not speak of
each other. If they somehow pass in the street? They nod, and move on, keeping a distance of
some twenty feet between them.
But he does wear a bracelet in the form of some strange skulls. Rounded. Smooth. Snub-snouted
and alien.
It’s said that he’s the oldest person in the entire city—older, perhaps, than the Lord Mayor or the
Librarian. And what he knows, what he’s seen, what he remembers . . . he keeps to himself.
Other Crows of note:
Baron Luc and Baroness Griselda Desmarais -- The Baron is fifteen years older than his new
bride, Griselda. Griselda had been previously married to a lumber magnate, but his untimely
death left her surprisingly penniless, as she was left out of his will entirely. She was therefore
quite surprised to be plucked out of the common flock by Luc, whose family, it’s rumored, are
Ravens, rather than mere crows. The family is heavily affiliated with the Graveyard, for reasons
unknown, and the decor of the familial manse is dark and rather morbid.
Griselda carries a magical fan owned by Luc’s mother. Rumor has it that it was recently stolen,
and that she paid an investigator to get it back. She’s a bright and happy girl, overawed by her
surroundings and older husband, however. Affiliations: Mayor, Nobility, Graveyard.
Dr. Edric Durward – Edric is a Crow, and senior lecturer in the Magic Defensive Arts at the
College of Mages. He’s an archmage, and surprisingly, given his fussy gloves and shiny feathers,
is always down for a rumble. One of the chief members of the team that took down Ariel
Haidar’s dragonbot when it was stolen and turned against the city. Affiliations: University,
Library, City Watch.
Tinytown | 153
Ossara Messalina – Raven priestess of the power of Death. Has a zombie attaché named
Charlie. She’s charming, slightly off-kilter, and surprisingly kind, because she knows how short
life really is. Lives in the Catacombs below the Graveyard. Affiliation: Gravekeepers.
The White Raven – Madam Adelaide Capuchin is the leader of the Gravekeepers. Her
feathers are indeed white, and as senior priestess of the Power of Death, her power is supreme
over the dead, the living, and the unliving within the Graveyard . . . and below it. Enigmatic and
mysterious, Crows are known to leave graffiti on rooftops that reads The White Raven Watches.
Tinytown | 154
Tier III, Strong.

The Dogs Organized, hierarchical, wealthy, privileged.
The Dogs have a strict hierarchy within their own neighborhoods, ranging from Alpha to Omega,
with incredibly specific positioning that changes on a daily basis, depending on a complex array
of factors including everyone’s health, mood, friendships, who has just gotten the best new ball,
and, oh yes, the Lord Mayor’s favor.
Not surprisingly, given their love of hierarchy, many Dog families are among the nobility of
Tinytown. They like to say they got here first—even if no one else remembers it—and have been
landlords and the backbone of the city’s defensive forces forever. So why shouldn’t they reap
some of the rewards? It’s not like anyone else needs the best squeaky toys, right?
The most highly-ranked Dogs in the city include the family of Leandro de Capella (a Poodle
clan), the family of Cuan Landolf (wolfhounds, the backbone of the City Watch), and Ludmilla
Popova (a borzhoi, darling, and probably not at all involved in any smuggling—those are
scurrilous lies!) All three of them tend to show up to Council meetings and vie for the closest
chair to the Lord Mayor.
Other Dogs of note:
Crysedda d'Aubrey – Daughter of a Baron, this noblewoman commands the Eastern Wall under
the auspices of the Wall Guards. As such, she reports directly to the Mayor and her Guard
Commander.
Once upon a time, she was in love with a common wall guard, who later became an Investigator,
but rumor has it that her family disapproved of the match in various vehement ways. To whit,
they had that guard, Jack Shepherd, unlawfully detained and his memories of their daughter
illegally removed. Crysedda, on learning of this several years later, repudiated her family.
Affiliations: Wall Guards, Mayor, Nobility.
Detective Karl Offler – Wolfhound, up-and-coming detective in the City Watch. He’d rather
prove someone a warlock and Cabal member, but if the only way he can collar someone is by
proving tax evasion, then that’s the trail he’ll follow. Reports to Robert Haring. Affiliations:
City Watch, Order of Silver
One of his apprentices, Locksley Rohrshack, was recently implicated in the misuse of
thaumatugic automatons, and was convinced to turn himself in for trial and sentencing by the
College.
Affiliations: Benevolent Association of Artificers, College of Mages.

Tinytown | 155
Lieutenant Robert Haring –Haring is a Bulldog officer of the Watch, and as you might expect,
he’s like a dog with a bone about his cases—obsessive, and apt to growl at anyone who tries to
take them from him. Still, he keeps an ear to the ground, and not being particularly upperclass,
he hears more than some of his superiors do. A case of being built closer to the ground than they
are, he likes to say. Affiliation: City Watch.
Tinytown | 156
Tier II, Weak. The Druids exist outside of town proper. They are
The Druid Circles
tolerated by the Church, but eyed askance by everyone else as outsiders.
The Druid Circles are small in Tinytown, comprised of a few tiny camps to the northeast and
southeast of town. They interact with and oversee the few rangers that exist in Tinytown—daring
folk who wander into the Mists on their own and come back—if they come back—with tales of
lost villages and ruins deep in the Mists.
Most druids are outdoorsy species—Rabbits predominate, though Possums make up a fair share
of the membership as well. The few Hedgehogs of Tinytown are almost invariably rangers or
druids.
There are two primary circles: Twilight and Land.
The Twilight Circle

The Twilight Circle focuses most of its attention on attempting to restore the forest near
Tinytown and reclaim it from the Mists. It does so without recourse to the resources of the
Orders of Silver and Shadow, preferring to remain apart from what the druids perceive as
unnecessary infighting between the two factions. Since the Circle of Twilight was founded
originally to fight undead, and not Things, they hold the Gravekeepers at arm’s length at best,
viewing their custodial relationship with the undead as profoundly unnatural.
The leader of the Twilight Circle is a Possum named Ezekiel Thompson. He’s a gruff old
codger, not apt to fainting as many of his kin are, who carries a scythe and takes no guff from
anyone—especially not anyone with the stink of undeath on them.
The Land Circle

The Land Circle concerns itself with the farmers and their fields, working with them on subjects
like crop rotation, pollination, fertilizers, and sustainable harvesting practices. As such, they’re
mostly concerned with fertility and ensuring that the people of the town don’t starve.
The leader of the Land Circle is a Rabbit named Lucia Alderson. She’s a plump, matronly white
Rabbit in her late forties, who always has sweets on her for children.
Tinytown | 157
Tier III, Strong. Dedicated, organized, and powerful, but a small

The Gravekeepers organization that owes much to its leader, the White Raven.
There are cemetery workers, who tend the graveyards of Tinytown and try to keep solid records
of who is buried where. They are the tired, beleaguered associates of the Church.
And then there are the Gravekeepers. Some of whom are in the employ of the Church, just to
make their lives easier, but some of whom . . . dwell in crypts and tunnels that are lined with the
bones of the dead. Some of those tunnels, they say, pre-date Tinytown.
The Rats, for all that they burrow, fear to enter the crypts and catacombs, and if their tunnels
happen to intersect, generally quickly close up the hole, bring down the ceiling of their own
tunnel for a hundred yards back, and dig onwards, in some other, safer direction.
Why?
The Gravekeepers are often magic-users banished by the College for the unsavory practice of
necromancy. They are not necessarily evil, any more than a cleric of the Power of Death is
necessarily evil. But their practices deeply disturb most of the folk of Tinytown. No one wants to
see their uncle, buried last week, up and shambling around again as a zombie.
Some of the Gravekeepers are actual priests of the Power of Death, and thus maintain an arm’s
length relationship with the Church.
Some Gravekeepers are . . . sapient undead. Ghosts. Vampires, it’s rumored.
But the thing that makes the fur really stand on end? Is that rumors suggest that some of the
skeletons in the deepest crypts. . . aren’t from people. Not like you or me. Something else.
Something vile.
If you really, really have to talk to a Gravekeeper (and the Powers only know why you would
want to), head to the nearest graveyard and ring the silver bell by the entrance three times. You
might be lucky enough to meet with Madame Adelaide Capuchin, the Raven Priestess of
Death, but more likely, you’ll meet some underling of hers.
You’ll recognize her. She’s the only albino Raven in the city. You really can’t miss her, unless
she’s sitting in one of the dead trees above you, cloaked in the mist. It’s said she believes that the
Gravekeepers exist to communicate with the dead and the undead, and to keep them in control
and in check. And, um. Maybe keep worse things under control in the lower crypts.
The Order of Shadow sometimes deals with the Gravekeepers. So does the Cabal. So does the
Church and the Order of Silver. The Watch turn a blind eye, so long as the undead don’t come
bursting out of the catacomb. The warlocks and wizards down there aren’t using their power on
ordinary people. No eldritch abominations have shambled through the creaking, wrought-iron
gates.
The situation is under control.

Tinytown | 158
This makes them a unique faction, able to talk to almost every other faction, heartily feared by
the Thieves and the Crafters/Merchants. As such, they are also information brokers par
excellence. And they’ll often sell that information . . . for a price.
That price is not always one paid in coin.
Sometimes, that price is more information. An errand run in the lower crypts. A vial of a
particular person’s blood. A song sung on a moonless night in an abandoned building to appease
a restless ghost.
Treat the Graveskeepers with respect and caution.
Gravekeepers of note:
Ossara Messalina – Raven priestess of the power of Death. Has a zombie attaché named
Charlie. She’s charming, slightly off-kilter, and surprisingly kind, because she knows how short
life really is. Lives in the Catacombs below the Graveyard. Affiliation: Gravekeepers.
Kate Catellini – Once, she was a normal Rabbit, a young apprentice to Master Eric Constantin
the alchemist. She had a terrible crush on her fellow apprentice, Corey Andersen. And then one
day, she was attacked by Things as the Mists rolled in. She lost every memory she had, even her
Name. When she was found by the Mistress of Shadows, she was turned to a vampire to prevent
her from possibly becoming a Thing. She was given new memories and a new Name—Viola.
This lasted until she met Cory again, who kindly shared some of his memories with her, so now
she has some recollections of her true past, and her true Name.
Melanie Merriweather – This Rabitt died ten years ago, still searching for her older sister,
Lysandra Merriweather, who went missing after a Things incursion. Lysandra was last seen
fighting on the western walls, and Melanie’s grief lead her down strange paths. She insisted that
her sister wasn’t dead, only missing, no matter what Lysandra’s fellow guards told her.
She is currently a ghost, but she is the most unusual ghost the Gravekeepers have in their
keeping: unlike other ghosts, she can form and retain new memories. Most ghosts can only
remember what happened during their lives, which makes granting them eternal peace through
resolving their traumas very tricky. Affiliation: Gravekeepers
The Mistress of Shadows – A black cat, and a master vampire. She is second only to the White
Raven in power among the Gravekeepers. A mysterious figure, she vanished about a year ago on
an expedition to the deep catacombs under the city, only to be retrieved by a second expedition
sent to find her.
The White Raven – Madam Adelaide Capuchin is the leader of the Gravekeepers. Her
feathers are indeed white, and as senior priestess of the Power of Death, her power is supreme
Tinytown | 159
over the dead, the living, and the unliving within the Graveyard. . . and below it. Enigmatic and
mysterious, Crows are known to leave graffiti on rooftops that reads The White Raven Watches.
Tinytown | 160
Tier II, Weak. Disorganized and widespread, but with the power
The Investigators that comes from Memory.
Yes, the Investigators have their own faction. They’re not as organized as some of the others,
with different Investigative Offices spread out through the city. The Offices try to keep track of
their existing Investigators, bring in new ones off the street, and to find those who might have
fallen prey to memory-thieves or drink along the way.
There are three large Offices and about a dozen smaller ones. You might be a seasoned
Investigator who has an office of your own—you’ve struck out, gone independent now, but
chances are, you learned the trade, and what it means to be an Investigator, from one of the Big
Three. Same goes for all the other small-time operators.
The Big Three are:
Madame Chessowary’s Investigative Services: A full-service investigative agency; we work for

you!
Madam Chessowary is a tortoiseshell Cat, who wears pince-nez glasses that are attached to a
string of beads around her neck. Her lace blouses are frilly and fussy, but for all her rather prissy
affectations and . . . surprisingly loud moral opinions . . . she runs a very tight ship. She will not
tolerate any cheating of a client. Her Investigators do regular work for the Lord Mayor and
Courts, bringing warrants that the Watch doesn’t want to serve, handling surveillance that the
Watch doesn’t want to handle . . . and sometimes disappearances that the Lord Mayor doesn’t
want publicized.
She’s been a fixture in Tinytown for decades. Came through with just the coin in her pockets,
and—don’t let the lace gloves fool you—clawed her way to the top.
Honest Rob’s Investigations: Rob Harlequin is, as you might have guessed, a Robin. He wears
his rumpled white shirts open to display as much red breast as possible. There are gold chains
involved. He’d love the lady birds to think he’s a bad, bad bird, but the overall effect of all that
bling is merely . . . slightly greasy? No—he’s genuinely greased his head and chest feathers.
There, you can see it on his shirt.
Honest Rob’s Investigators specialize in nasty divorces, custody disputes, dealing with
blackmailers, negotiating with the Thieves’ Guild, and disappearances that most people involved
would rather everyone would just . . . forget.
Damn it, why won’t anyone forget this one? Everyone forgets everything else!
Now, whether he and his cadre of investigators cover up those disappearances, or unveil
them . . . all depends on the color of your coin, see?
Tinytown | 161
Victor Padgett’s Prime Investigators: Victor Padgett is a Rat. A pure white albino Rat down to
the gleaming pink eyes. No one has any idea why he always wears a white coat—but there are
some who whisper that his training was as a physician or an artificer before realizing his gifts.
And that maybe there were reasons he had to leave that job behind.
Dr. Padgett—he’ll never object to being called Doctor, though he doesn’t insist on it—doesn’t
care about rules, or the law. He only cares about results. Most of the time, that means digging
into Cabal business, or maybe Gravekeeper. And anyone who’s seen the wild, feral look in his
eyes when one of his people has gone missing—into a Watch cell, or into some underground
Cabal dungeon—know that he is very much not a man to cross.
One of these agencies gave you your start—or is giving you a start now. You don’t know all
their secrets. But they’ll give you a useful place to begin your life in Tinytown. A place to stay.
Your first jobs. A little protection from the other factions—so long as you keep on their good
side, of course.
Investigators of note:
Branwen Kinley – Branwen is a cleric of the Power of Knowledge. Her black Crow feathers
sparkle as if infiltrated by silver dust, or small, moving stars, a condition of some embarrassment
to her that she generally does not discuss. A close friend of Osiric the Owl, they grew up in the
Archives together. She’s more recently become an Investigator, and ‘works for’ Cory Anderson
at Hornsback Investigative Services. Affiliations: Library, Investigators, Hornsback
Investigative Services, Order of Silver.
Cory Andersen – Cory is a Norwegian Forest Cat by looks, a rogue by temperament, an artificer
by trade, and an Investigator par excellence. He currently runs Hornsback Investigative Services,
named and founded by Sam Hornsback, a Crow Investigator who ‘died’ under mysterious
circumstances a year ago. Cory believes that his mentor and friend is, however, still very much
alive. Affiliations: Investigators, Order of Silver.
Jack Shepherd – Left as a foundling at an orphanage, Jack is a German Shepherd Dog whose
last name became Shepherd because no one knew what else to call him. He grew up fiercely
dedicated to the ideal of protecting others, and joined first the Wall Guards, then later the City
Watch. His memories have been illegally compromised on two separate occasions, resulting in
tremendous problems in his personal life. He recently left the Watch to work with Cory as his
partner at Hornsback Investigative Services. Affiliations: City Watch, Investigators, Hornsback
Investigative Services.
Laila Meriten – She is a Himalayan Cat by appearance, a florist by trade, and a former member
of the Cleaners. She’s currently an Investigator, freed from her former affiliations by the
intervention of Cory Andersen, and works with him at Hornsback Investigative Services, his
firm. Affiliations: Cleaners, Order of Silver, Order of Shadow, Investigators.
Tinytown | 162
Palessa and Zebidiah Parker – Possum PIs. Palessa is very much the one in charge of
Thornsbury’s Detective Agency. She vanished from town for several months a year ago after a
case got her in the way of the Cleaners, and returned with several of her memories missing. She
and Zebidiah are newlyweds, and she hasn’t gotten around to changing the name on the door just
yet. She might not get around to it at all. Their secretary is an elderly male Mouse named Mr.
Paul Rumvar.
Tinytown | 163
Tier III, Strong. Highly organized. They can read

Librarian and the Archives everything written in Tinytown. Everything.
Madam Serafina de Ollo is the Librarian in charge of the Archives. Of course, no one outside
the Archivists has seen her in living memory. Those allowed into her presence—a scant handful
of those most trusted by her underlings, those who have done the Library noted service—will
discover that she is a snowy owl with wide golden eyes and a pince-nez perched on her beak. A
choker of of huge, black pearls is barely visible under the feathers of her neck, connected with an
ivory cameo that depicts a book and a sword, side-by-side.
Presumably, the Lord Mayor has met her. While he keeps his own records for tax purposes, he
relies on the Archives for information when his own clerks don’t possess records.
The College of Mages holds her in esteem—and their Faction and hers are closely entwined. The
Church is fairly wary of the Archives, but makes use of their resources to ensure that no one
accidentally marries a brother or sister having, well. Forgotten that they exist?
But like the Lord Mayor, no one remembers a time when Madam Serafina was not in charge of
the Archives. With their wealth of knowledge fueling the Mages’ College, she is a patron of
every magician in Tinytown, from the least warlock to the most powerful wizard. She seems
apolitical, not deigning to involve herself in petty disputes over Rat territories or City taxes.
But when she takes an interest in someone, life is sure to be . . . uncomfortable for that resident.
Whether that interest is positive or negative.
The Archives somehow exist without funding from the Mayor or the merchants’ guild—
presumably they receive some kind of sustentance from the Mages’ College, and they do some
kind of trade in information through the caravans and boats, handing off packages of
documentation that . . . disappear into the Mists.
The Archives are a dark, forboding building across the main square from the Palace. The
windows of the Archives are mere arrowslits, and the entire building suggests, somehow, that it’s
as much of a fortress as the Palace itself is.
Inside, it’s said that the stacks and shelves go on forever. That without a skilled navigator, a
trained Archivist, that you might wander for eternity, unable to find the exit again. Certainly,
they go far enough down that they should intersect with Rat tunnels. . . the Rats should have
been able to break in and go searching for the Librarian’s fabled secret knowledge and
presumptive treasures long ago. But they’ve never been able to sink a tunnel anywhere that’s led
into the vaults of knowledge.
At least, not yet.
Strange, that.
And strangeness is threatening to those of a certain disposition.

Tinytown | 164
The Memorialists and Masked Men fear and hate the Archives. The Order of Shadow finds them
useful, but tries to skirt their awareness. The Order of Silver is a direct, if quiet, ally. The College
of Mages is a direct, overt, and enthusiastic co-faction. The Craftsmen tend to think that the
Librarian and her high-faluting scientists and lorekeepers live in an ivory tower, completely
disconnected from the lives of ordinary citizens.
Other Librarians of note:
Branwen Kinley – Branwen is a cleric of the Power of Knowledge. Her black feathers sparkle
as if infiltrated by silver dust, or small, moving stars, a condition of some embarrassment to her
that she generally does not discuss. A close friend of Osric the Owl, they grew up in the Archives
together. She’s more recently become an Investigator, and ‘works for’ Cory Anderson at
Hornsback Investigations. Affiliations: Library, Investigators, Hornsback Investigative Services,
Order of Silver.
Osric de Ollo – the only son of Madam Serafina, and thus, one of only two Owls known to live
in Tinytown. The Librarian’s only son, and the only other Owl in Tinytown besides her. Who his
father was, no one knows. Studious and shy, he has literally never set foot outside of the massive
Archives, which he knows like the tips of this talons. Osiric has full run of the Archives,
including areas locked away from public use. Shy, studious, and reserved, Hugh has few friends,
and those he makes, he’s loyal to.
Tinytown | 165
Tier V, Strong. Organized, powerful. Works through many

Lord Mayor
different organizations, has eyes everywhere.
The Lord Mayor has always been, as far as anyone remembers, Lord Edward de Lacy. He is a
Wolf, commanding the utmost respect of the palace guards, who are, without exception, Dogs.
(This fact occasions considerable grumbling from Cats throughout Tinytown. There are mutters
of species-favoritism throughout the city. . . but none where Lord de Lacy can hear them.)
No one remembers electing Lord de Lacy. Checking the Archives won’t turn up when he was
elected, or, in fact, if there have been any elections. . . ever. If pressed, de Lacy might comment,
noncommittally, that he was appointed to office some time ago.
It’s probably not wise to ask by whom.
De Lacy is tall, with a perfectly black coat, gleaming amber eyes, and a terrifying sense of
leashed intelligence and ferocity. He dominates a room simply by entering it, as the tucked tails
of his guards clearly indicate, but he’s never been seen to snarl in public. He doesn’t need to.
Most, when meeting him, have the unmistakable sensation that he remembers everything.
Everyone. He’ll remember your name if he’s ever met you before. He might even remember you
from files, the copious ones rumored to be in the Mayor’s office, with the information of his
informants all neatly written out in a clerk’s tight handwriting.
Most often encountered behind his desk, quill-pen in hand, when out in public, he carries a cane
that he clearly doesn’t need. He gives the simultaneous impression of great age and experience,
but also of being in his physical prime.
There is a silver chain around his neck. The pendant attached to this necklace is always tucked
down under his black velvet doublet. Whatever is there—a locket with a scrap of lover’s hair? A
holy symbol? A mark of affiliation?—is unknown to any outside the Palace Guard.
It’s commonly assumed that he knows far more about Tinytown than anyone else, with the
possible exception of the Librarian. It’s rumored that he and the head of the Thieves’ Guild play
chess on moonless nights. Whatever his overarching goals are, whatever hidden agendas he
might possess, his public goal is the preservation of the city against all enemies—be they the
Things from the Mist, or resident rabble-rousers. Public order must be maintained. And to that
end, he controls the City Watch and keeps close tabs on every other aspect of life in the Town.
There are dark whispers that perhaps he even controls which buildings disappear. Which
residents. Though if that were true, would he have a need for the Watch? For the gaols under
Watchhouses? For the dungeons that rumor suggests—only in the most hushed of tones—contain
political rivals that have dared to challenge him in the past?
Officially, the City Watch is on his payroll, but the City Watch swears its oath to Tinytown, not
to the Lord Mayor. A very important distinction, as the Commander of the Watch will assure
Tinytown | 166
you. The Palace Guards, however, are deeply and personally loyal to de Lacy, and would die to
protect him.
The Thieves’ Guild largely hates and fears the Lord Mayor and his laws and taxes. Even if their
leader is said to play chess with him, how does that figure into their daily lives? Not at all.
The Collectors fear and hate the Lord Mayor. The Order of Shadow does their utmost to avoid
his awareness, till the day they can attempt to strike him down. The Order of Silver is a direct if
silent, ally. The Craftsmen don’t much like the Lord’s taxes, but he keeps order, and those taxes
do go a long way to keeping the roads repaired, guards in the market, and schools in session, so,
really, whatcha gonna do?
Tinytown | 167
Tier II, Strong. A well-organized Guild with many

The Merry Wives members.
The Merry Wives run almost all beer gardens and entertainment facilities in Tinytown. They
don’t run all the restaurants—there are too many family-owned establishments, including corner
pubs. But if an establishment doesn’t offer food, but just liquor and maybe some live
entertainment? The Merry Wives probably own and run it.
The Wives began as a group, long ago, who saw their husbands all vanish. Understanding that
they should be in mourning quickly gave way to the need to make a living. They all owned
property. They all knew the art of brewing. So they established, initially, taverns.
Taverns need entertainment. They brought in singers, actors, and jugglers. Trained their
daughters to do all of this, and more. Their establishments started doing very well.
In the backrooms, there’s gambling. It’s legal under a certain coin limit in the city. The
maximum wager that can be placed is 1,000 gold. There’s other activities on those back rooms,
too, but it’s all legal. Just pay your taxes, and make sure you visit a physician regularly. It’s all
good.
Naturally, the Thieves started to see these places as rich marks to hit for easy money.
The Widows fought back. They invested in good bouncers—former Watch, some of them. Bards
with the power of magic in their music. Sorcerers who flunked out of the College. They weren’t
averse to a little judicious bribery of the Thieves’ Guild in areas of town where they couldn’t get
good security any other way.
The Widows have a board that meets once a week for brunch, champagne, a little gossip, and a
lot of business. Their controlling officer is Goodwife Anne Bredie, a Robin who wears a
cheerful green pillbox hat, a light veil, a fetching little green stole, and goes armed with what’s
rumored to be a nastily-magicked hat pin.
Don’t cross her. Just don’t.
As the de factor Entertainer’s Guild, they own and run theaters, music halls, and a variety of
other establishments. If you’re a bard, and can’t get the College of Mages to give you the time of
day, find a Merry Widow’s establishment. They’re always looking to hire talent.
Just, ah. Be sure to be very specific about what your talents actually are, you understand? We
wouldn’t want confusion.
Tinytown | 168
Tier III, Weak. If they could all pull together at the same time,
Merchants and Crafters they’d be Tier IV Strong, but alas, the Guilds do not cooperate.
Currently, each individual Guild—stonemasons, tanners, herbalists, blacksmiths, coopers,

fishermen, dyers, weavers, carters, all of them—each send a representative to the Lord Mayor
once a year to present the taxes of each guild.
They elect one representative a year to speak for the guilds as a whole on the Lord Mayor’s privy
council. This year, that representative is Zev Velvel, a Rat who’s an upstanding member of his
community, and an accomplished blacksmith.
Zev has strong opinions about bringing his people up from underground, and integrating them
more fully into Tinytown. He’s running into staunch disagreement from other Rats, and the
Thieves’ Guild has, very quietly, put a bounty on his head. After all, the Rats are so much easier
to control when they’re all crowded in together, angry and isolated. We wouldn’t want them to
get the idea that they have opportunities. That they could be accepted. No, no, we represent your
opportunities. Us. Not them.
The Merchants and Crafters are largely neutral with regard to most of the great political
undercurrents of the city. They want to live their lives in peace, make enough money to feed
their families, and feel as safe as they can, given, you know, the constant threat of vanishing, or
Things coming out of the Mists.
They are diametrically opposed to the Thieves’ Guild.

Tinytown | 169
Tier II, Weak. The Mice are a small, poverty-stricken community that subsists
The Mice on the crumbs left behind by their cousins, the Rats.
If the Mice have a leader, it’s Mordecai Ravik. He’s the schoolmaster of their largest school,
located at the edge of a large Rat neighborhood—which is to say, aboveground, and at the
periphery. He’s small, stoop-shouldered, and wears glasses and a suit both a size too large for
him, but he’s incredibly intelligent and well-read.
There are persistent rumors that he might have connections to the Library, but no one’s been able
to prove it. And while the Thieves’ Guild has tried to lean on him a few times, they’ve been
struck by the indomitable will behind the otherwise mild, even meek demeanor of this
schoolteacher Mouse.
Whenever a full Council is called by the Lord Mayor, the Mice send Mordecai as their
representative. And somehow, when he speaks, the Lord Mayor has been known to listen.
Other Mice of note:
Eshram Riese, a Mouse warlock of particularly excellent power (dayjob: school principal in a
ghetto school). Summoning spirits apparently does wonders for disciplining rowdy school
children.
Jasper Bastion – Bastion appears to be a small, finicky Mouse who runs an umbrella
manufacturing shop and haberdashery. He wears neat glasses. His fur is grey, his whiskers white,
with what appear to be muttonchop sideburns. He even wears suspenders under his neat coat.
He’s also the highest-ranked known member of the Cleaners. He claims that there is a leader
above him, but he could be lying. He’s very good at that.
Melody Ariza – Mouse chanteuse. Brown and white speckled fur, wears a silvery gown when
performing. Alternates accents between a tough-girl accent straight out of Upper Rats’ Nest, and
a more elegant, refined mode of speaking when talking with paying customers. Which is her
natural mode of speech is anyone’s guess.
She was traded to the Thieves' Guild by her parents for a debt owed to Ramiz Ferrick, and was
terrified of that Rat until his untimely death. Now it’s rumored that she’s in debt to his successor
Barqa. Affiliations: Merry Widows, Thieves Guild.
Tinytown | 170
Tier I Strong. This monastery is separate from the Church, and

Monastery of Long Yongshi teaches the ways of fighting monks. Highly organized.
The Monastery of Long Yongshi was lost to the Mists fifty years ago. Survivors of the
monastery’s school streamed into Tinytown just ahead of the Mists that closed in behind them.
The leader of the school, a Mouse named Master Lu, died while trying to ensure that the last of
his students got away as the Things surrounded him.
The current Master of the Monastery is Mistress Vasj. This Cat was in her twenties when the
monastery collapsed into the Mists, and while she’s in her seventies now, and still trains on the
mats daily, she is a bitter old woman who wishes that so much knowledge had not been lost. The
monastery held several libraries that held more than just information on fighting arts, but poetry
and history as well. She’s also convinced that Master Lu withheld vital secret techniques from
her, believing that she wasn’t yet ready to learn them.
She teaches her students the ancient arts of kung-fu and teaches commoners how to perform tai-
chi for health and well-being. This is the most outgoing that she finds it possible to be.
Other monks of note:
Ori – Fifty years ago, Ori was Master Lu’s other prized apprentice. During the fall of the
Monastery, Ori somehow was left behind, but emerged from the Mist recently as if no time at all
had passed. This Rabbit appears to be twenty-five years old, not seventy-five, and has a calm,
serene composure that’s quite beguiling. He claims to have no memory of how he’s come to
return, and while he does not appear to have the influence of Things about him, his presence is a
mystery to the Monastery, the Church, the Gravekeepers, and the Library alike. Affiliations: The
Monastery of Long Yongshi, The Gravekeepers.
Tinytown | 171
Tier IV, Weak. Powerful and wealthy, the nobility has all the
The Nobility advantages. The good news is, they squabble amongst themselves.
Extending from Viscounts up to Dukes, the Nobility of Tinytown once all owned great estates
outside the walls. . . estates that have been swallowed up by the Mists. While their titles are all a
matter of paper these days, they still hold controlling interests in a number of manufacturing and
(perish the thought) trade venues that ensure that they keep a talon firmly planted on the pulse of
Tinytown.
Once, they were more powerful, but with the burgeoning middle-class of Tinytown simply out-
breeding them, they mostly court power amongst themselves with arranged marriages, balls, tea-
parties, and gossip. These days, they’re forced to . . . horrors! . . . deal with the Lord Mayor, not
as equals, but as inferiors.
They really don’t like that. Half the schemes hatched to take the Lord Mayor out of the equation
boil down to this noble family or that’s naked ambition.
Nobles of note:
Baron Luc and Baroness Griselda Desmarais -- The Baron is fifteen years older than his new
bride, Griselda. Griselda had been previously married to a lumber magnate, but his untimely
death left her surprisingly penniless, as she was left out of his will entirely. She was therefore
quite surprised to be plucked out of the common flock by Luc, whose family, it’s rumored, are
Ravens, rather than mere crows. The family is heavily affiliated with the Graveyard, for reasons
unknown, and the decor of the familial manse is dark and rather morbid.
Griselda carries a magical fan owned by Luc’s mother. Rumor has it that it was recently stolen,
and that she paid an investigator to get it back. She’s a bright and happy girl, overawed by her
surroundings and older husband, however. Affiliations: Mayor, Nobility, Graveyard.
Countess Ludmilla Popova (a borzhoi, darling, and probably not at all involved in any
smuggling—those are scurrilous lies!)
Crysedda d'Aubrey – Daughter of a Baron, this noblewoman commands the Eastern Wall under
the auspices of the Wall Guards. As such, she reports directly to the Mayor and her Guard
Commander.
Once upon a time, she was in love with a common wall guard, who later became an Investigator,
but rumor has it that her family disapproved of the match in various vehement ways. To whit,
they had that guard, Jack Shepherd, unlawfully detained and his memories of their daughter
illegally removed. Crysedda, on learning of this several years later, repudiated her family.
Affiliations: Wall Guards, Mayor, Nobility.
Duke Cuan Landolf (Wolfhound, salt of the earth, staunch supporter of the City Watch. Likes
his supper. Likes your supper, too.)
Tinytown | 172
Earl Victor Garnier (Cane Corso, thickly, powerfully built. Turned to warlockery after the
death of his wife in an attempt to turn time back and save her.)
Marquis Leandro de Capella (Poodle, much involved at the College of Mages)

Tinytown | 173
Tier IV, Strong. Tightly organized, viciously hierarchical. You do not

Thieves’ Guild want to cross them.
No one has yet been able to prove any allegations, but Arik Joran is considered the most likely
person to be the current head of the Thieves’ Guild, the likely successor of his cousin, Raz Joran,
who was killed in a turbulent civil war within the Guild about ten years ago.
Arik is a Rat—the successful, type, with a sleek brown coat, and while he’s missing an eye, the
one not covered by a patch is shining, dark, and dangerous. He doesn’t smile often; when he
does, it means something’s about to go very wrong for someone.
He wears a double-breasted suit in a cut closer to what Inspector Tanguy wears, than the garb of
the Mages or the Lord Mayor, as well as, very often, a felt fedora.
If you ask the Watch how Arik lost his eye, they’re apt to tell you that he betrayed his cousin and
lost the eye during a brutal altercation in Raz’s house, in which he killed his cousin and ascended
to the leadership of the Guild.
If you ask a current member of the Guild? They’ll tell you that the Boss is a good man, and that
he lost that eye defending his cousin from the traitors who came to his house and tried to take
over the organization. And that he’s dedicated his life ever since to avenging his cousin’s death,
and caring for other members of the community and association, know what I mean?
The Thieves do, if nothing else, take care of their own. It’s just that they have an interesting
concept of who their own are. If you’ve accepted their protection, it means you’re almost like a
member of the family, and they’ll ensure that no one messes with you—but that also means that
you can’t look to other factions for assistance. What, you’re taking bread from handouts from the
Church? Why you got to be like that? Don’t we treat you good? Don’t you get the same food as
the rest of us? What’s next, you gonna go running to the Watch and maybe tell them what you
saw Mad Simon do last week? Oh, you didn’t see anything?
Smart answer, buddy. Smart answer. Tell you what, I’ll talk to my guys about the whole taking
food from the Church thing. So long as you do it outside of the neighborhood, I guess I got no
problem with it. Just don’t take it from them when the monks come through with their bells and
their little sing-songs, right? We don’t want them thinking that they’re welcome here.
‘Cause they ain’t.
Thieves of note:
after all. He’s actually a secret member of the Cabal as well.
Reserved, almost urbane. Took over the Enforcers from Ramiz Ferrick, who was killed under
‘mysterious circumstances;' rumors swirl about a pitched battle with the pickpockets, and outside
Tinytown | 174
involvement. Rumor also has it that he killed Ferrick himself. An uneasy truce now exists
between the two internal factions of the Thieves' Guild.
Hafa Rahm – Rat, leader of the pickpockets in the Thieves' Guild. Brown coat, black eyes, talks
in doublespeak, know what I mean? Hafa is in continuing debt to Naomi Moran, the elected
leader of the Rats, and their representative on the City Council.
Melody Ariza – Mouse chanteuse. Brown and white speckled fur, wears a silvery gown when
performing. Alternates accents between a tough-girl accent straight out of Upper Rats’ Nest, and
a more elegant, refined mode of speaking when talking with paying customers. Which is her
natural mode of speech is anyone’s guess.
She was traded to the Thieves' Guild by her parents for a debt owed to Ramiz Ferrick, and was
terrified of that Rat until his untimely death. Now it’s rumored that she’s in debt to his successor
Barqa. Affiliations: Merry Widows, Thieves Guild.
Quest tips: Find a way into the Archives. Not through the front door, though, you know, if you
can talk your way in, you’re a better face-man than most of the Rats out there. They’re bound to
have something good in those vaults. The Boss would pay a lot for information on who
appointed the Lord Mayor, but maybe just a list of names—yeah, like the disappeared. Maybe a
list of current Investigators. But hey, maybe you’ll find some magic wands or spell books that we
can use to prop up our pet mages, eh? Maybe they’ve got gold in the vaults. They certainly never
seem to lack for coin, and we can always use some of that, right?
Tinytown | 175
Tier III, Strong. One of the Orders supposedly behind every secret in
The Order of Silver Tinytown, they largely concentrate their forces outside of town, in the
Mists.
Elite. Guarded. Secretive. Few people know that they even exist. At the beginning of the game,
the player characters would not have heard of them at all.
The Order of Silver is a fighting force affiliated with the Powers of Light and Nature. They seek
to push back the mist, combat the Things in the Mist—sometimes on their own turf—and make
the lives of their fellow citizens better and safer.
They recruit from the best of the best. Wizards. Fighters. Bards. Druids. Cats. Rats. Dogs.
Robins. Rabbits. They tend to pick people who genuinely try to make a difference in the lives of
others, and who do so while staying largely within the confines of the law. Being highly regarded
by the Mayor, the Librarian, the College of Mages, the Watch, or the Church can gain you the
interest of the Order of Silver.
Through long and painful experience, they know that they must recruit from those who can
remember. The strong-minded, the aware. Those who can’t even remember their own parents,
once they’ve disappeared?
They don’t make good candidates for the Order, alas. They usually don’t make it through the
Trials, let alone the Rite.
Oh, there are Trials they set for prospective members. The details are as closely guarded as the
existence of the Order itself.
Once you’ve passed through the Trials, if the candidate wishes to continue, they must endure the
Rite of Ascension. And after the Ascension, you will no longer be who or what you were on the
other side.
Dogs become Wolves. Cats become Ocelots, Lynx, or occasionally the vast, terrifying Tigers or
Lions. Rats might become Wolverines or Bears.
But the physical transformation comes with a potentially terrible mental price. Many candidates
no longer remember their own names—a terrible thing, for an Investigator, someone who’s
preserved their memory and identity through all that Tinytown has thrown at them. Some lose
the skills they once possessed—a wizard might no longer be a wizard. Some retain the skills, but
lose all memory of their pasts. Their family. Their loved ones.
And some retain all of it, but theirs might be the most terrible price of all. Because they know
that they can never go back to who and what they were before. Their family will not recognize
them. They won’t believe that our lad Terry is now a monstrous Wolf. Or that little Philippa is
now a great Hawk.
And even if they did believe, to preserve the secrecy of the Order, the secrecy that protects the
Order from the Things in the Mist? None of their families can be told what they’ve become.
They must become dead to their families in every way.
Tinytown | 176
Perhaps those who lose their memories are blessed.
But they all also become Knights, in the service of the Light. See Chapter Fourteen:
Ascension, for more information.
As might be inferred from this section, it is almost certain that both the Lord Mayor and the
Archivist are members of the Order of Silver in some capacity or another—one is a Wolf, the
other an Owl, after all.
The current leader of the Order of Silver is Hugh de Gosselin, a Hawk Knight with a shrewd
head for tactics and reconnaissance. He has dim memories of having once been a Crow, perhaps.
A few magic tricks remain at his fingertips, a last legacy from his previous life. But he’s
dedicated to the Order, and has been for over twenty years.
Other known members of the Order of Silver
Lysandra Merriweather – This Rabbit wizard “vanished” during an incursion of the Things
against the western wall fifteen years ago. She was most recently spotted in the form of a great
deer, deep within the Mists.
Sam Hornsback – This Crow was a former member of the City Watch before he turned in his
badge and became a private investigator. He trained Cory Andersen, and left behind a wife
named Rosie when he ‘died’ under circumstances that neither Cory nor Rosie were able to
remember. Cory spent months tracking down his coffin (empty) and the coroner's report
(falsified) before discovering that his former mentor was now a Hawk Knight.
Tinytown | 177
Tier III, Strong. One of the Orders supposedly behind every secret in
The Order of Shadow Tinytown, they largely concentrate their forces outside of town, in
the Mists.
Elite. Cautious. Secretive. Few people know that they even exist. At the beginning of the game,
the player characters would not have heard of them at all.
This might sound familiar. And while the Order of Shadow is, in every way the antithesis of the
Order of Silver, and has similar rituals that can transform people into more powerful versions of
their species, they are also the antithesis of the Church. Because they are clerics and paladins of
the Powers of Darkness. While they share the Death Domain with clerics of the Gravekeepers,
they hold darkness, decay, destruction, rot, and other ‘negative’ domains as their own.
They laugh at the stories told by the Church. “No. No, that’s all wrong. Our Powers were once
co-equal with the Powers of the Light. There was a disagreement about how the world should be
guided and shaped, and our Powers stepped aside, refusing to put their hands to work on an
imperfect plan, but the rest just kept doing what they wanted.
“That disagreement turned to violence, and that violence rent the fabric of space and time, and
the Things came through. But the so-called Powers of Light were the ones who tried to recruit
the Things as allies. To extinguish even a spark of disagreement. That backfired on them, and
then they tried to treat with the Powers to which we’re loyal.
“Oh, occasionally, we’ve allied with those misguided children since, because, let’s face it—the
Things just want to destroy everything, and that does no one any good. We just want them to
admit that they’re wrong, and let us fix all the damned mistakes they’ve made.”
They favor people who work well outside the law, and can do so with discretion. People who’ve
established dominance or power, but in a way that the Watch hasn’t really noticed. If you’ve
caught the notice of the Cleaners, the Thieves’ Guild, the Cabal, or the Gravekeepers—you’ve
probably also caught the eye of the Order of Shadow.
And you might be on the road to becoming an antipaladin.
Their current leader is Dajanna Oriviec. She’s a Lynx Knight of steely resolve. She distinctly
remembers once having been a Cat, and she’s positive she once worked for the Cleaners. Her
background as an assassin fueled her rise through the ranks of the Order of Shadows.
She also enjoys arranging flowers and painting, and is a master of disguise.
Tinytown | 178
Rangers and Barbarians Tier I, Weak. Highly disorganized, and few in number.
If there are few druids in Tinytown, there are even fewer rangers and barbarians. Those who dare
the Mists on their own, without the support of the Orders of Silver and Shadow, are few and far
between, and it’s a profession that self-selects for survival.
Those who don’t survive, don’t continue in the profession.
Thorn Tillam, an exceedingly rare Porcupine, is a ranger-barbarian. Missing an eye, and twice
the size of a Hedgehog or Rabbit, he towers over others. Gruff and taciturn, he can be enticed
into speaking of what he’s seen out in the Mists . . . and what seeking the truth in the Mists has
cost him over the years.
Tinytown | 179
Tier I, Strong.
The Rabbits Numerous, but poor and weak.
Numerous and family-oriented, Rabbits, particularly the ones outside the walls that work on the
farms, are part of the life-blood of Tinytown. While the city can’t survive without caravans and
river barges pulling in food, starvation for the populace would be just an eye-blink away without
the hard-working Rabbits (and Possums) that till the fields outside the city proper.
While they are numerous, they are also usually poverty-stricken and disenfranchised. They tend
to be ill-educated outside the city walls, though a number of Rabbits who live inside the city are
trying to change that for their brethren with proper schools. . . but it’s hard to keep the children in
school when there are crops to be planted and harvested nearly every season of the year.
Notable Rabbits:
Madame Bellissima Corintha – A Rabbit medium. Almost certainly not her real name.
Divination is her specialty. Granola-covered yogurt bonbons are the appropriate treat; that, or
apricot brandy. Greta, a fellow Rabbit, is her secretary, who also likes bonbons, and will move
people ahead in line for the right treat. Not that Bellissima is ever surprised by this. She always
greets her guests by name, even if she’s never met them before in her life.
Lucia Alderson – A plump, matronly white Rabbit in her late forties, who always has sweets on
her for children, she is also the leader of the Land Circle of Druids, concerned with keeping
crops well-fertilized and attempting to reclaim land from the Mists.
Ori – Fifty years ago, Ori was one of Master Lu’s prized apprentices at the Monastery of Long
Yongshi. During the fall of the Monastery, Ori somehow was left behind, but emerged from the
Mist recently as if no time at all had passed. This Rabbit appears to be twenty-five years old, not
seventy-five, and has a calm, serene composure that’s quite beguiling. He claims to have no
memory of how he’s come to return, and while he does not appear to have the influence of
Things about him, his presence is a mystery to the Monastery, the Church, the Gravekeepers, and
the Library alike. Affiliations: The Monastery of Long Yongshi, The Gravekeepers.
Tinytown | 180
Tier III, Weak. Numerous and organized, but poor and disenfranchised.
The Rats
The community leader of the Rats—at least, in public—isn’t Arik Joran. No, no, Arik is a pillar
of the community, gives unstintingly to his fellow Rats, but the person who’s officially . . . well,
not the Mayor, because Lord de Lacy would have words with someone usurping his title . . . fine.
The elected representative that the Rats send to meetings up at the Lord Mayor’s office is
Representative Naomi Moran. She’s an older Rat, silvery-gray from head to toe, with narrow,
intelligent eyes and a fondness for elaborate hats, including a fancy one with rather gnawed-
looking wax cherries at the brim. She carries a clutch purse that detractors suggest might have a
brick inside of it for ease of clubbing people, but currently only seems to contain mints for Rat
children.
She puts on a grandmotherly air in her own chambers, but when summoned to speak for her
community at the Lord Mayor’s office, she’s vigorously and loudly pro-active in their defense.
She worked for three decades as a miner and tunnel warden, has a dozen grandchildren, and
possesses the good-will of most law-abiding Rats—and the reluctant respect of the Thieves’
Guild. She won’t throw the Guild under the wagon’s wheels; she knows all too well that Arik
Joran would have her killed in a heartbeat if she threatened his power. . . but she also feels that
her people would be better served if they could get out from under the Guild’s thumb.
Nevertheless, she’ll fight anyone who suggests that her people are the ones responsible for the
town’s problems. Loudly. It might involve teeth. Or her handbag. You never know.
Notable Rats:
Arik Joran – Leader of the Thieves’ Guild. Cultured. Urbane. Missing one eye.
after all. He’s actually a secret member of the Cabal as well.
Reserved, almost urbane. Took over the Enforcers from Ramiz Ferrick, who was killed under
‘mysterious circumstances;' rumors swirl about a pitched battle with the pickpockets, and outside
involvement. Rumor also has it that he killed Ferrick himself. An uneasy truce now exists
between the two internal factions of the Thieves' Guild.
Gildi Touati – Warlock, Rat. A member of the underground Memory Market, she likes to say
that she’s never taken a memory that wasn’t freely offered, and that she’s always paid in good
coin for them . . . but has she really? Affiliations: Cabal.
Tinytown | 181
Hafa Rahm – Rat, leader of the Pickpockets in the Thieves' Guild. Brown coat, black eyes, talks
in doublespeak, know what I mean? Hafa is in continuing debt to Naomi Moran, the elected
leader of the Rats, and their representative on the City Council.
Tinytown | 182
Tier II, Strong. While not particularly numerous, Robins tend to be middle-
The Robins class and organized.
The Robins frequently squabble over leadership—who’s got the biggest, bushiest, reddest crop
of feathers poking out of their unbuttoned shirts shouldn’t be the basis for deciding on
representation at the City Council, and yet, sometimes it is.
That being said, Robins vie for the attention of the Lord Mayor—while remaining absolutely
terrified of him. The current Robin most often sent to Council meetings is Balthasar Padovan,
who is usually involved in two or even three companies at the same time. He started off as
merely an accountant, doing the books for various landlords, then wound up owning an
apartment building himself by some. . . odd quirk of the books? He prides himself on running a
marvelous building, really, anyone should be proud to have an apartment in his building, why,
everything was painted fresh just last year!
He's probably not crooked. But he’s flighty.
Adela Wakefield is that rarest of birds, an outspoken and assertive female Robin, who’s trying
to take over Balthasar’s position in the community by campaigning actively against him. She’s
built her life on good works, running a free school where all members of her neighborhood are
able to send their children—not just well-to-do Robins, who mostly have private tutors for their
nestlings.
Her campaign against Padovan is not going well. Why, she hardly has any red feathers at all!
Other Robins of note:
Goodwife Anne Bredie is a Robin who wears a cheerful green pillbox hat, a light veil, a
fetching little green stole, and goes armed with what’s rumored to be a nastily-magicked hat pin.
She’s the current controlling officer of the Merry Widows, and a bard of some renown in her
own right. Affiliation: Merry Widows
Lily Starling – A Robin chanteuse trained by the Widows. She sings and accompanies herself on
a violin. Skilled, but with a bit of imposter’s syndrome, because male Robins put her down as a
performer. No woman can really out-sing the males, they say. And look at her, dressing in red, as
if that’s going to cover up her gray feathers and make her look like a man! She’s also star-struck
by the nobility. Affiliation: Merry Widows
Tinytown | 183
Tier I, Weak. A small, night-time population that’s relatively

The Possums disorganized.
Almost as badly-off as the Mice, Possums are at the bottom of the social heap in Tinytown. They
live on the opposite side of the clock from everyone except for Cats—and Cats just sleep
whenever they want to, really.
They largely dwell outside of town, working in the great refuse heaps along the River, or, if
inside town, they take night shifts in factories, or take all the really smelly jobs that no one else
wants—tannery workers, janitors, garbage collectors, etc.
Possums of note:
Palessa and Zebidiah Thornsbury – Possum PIs. Palessa is very much the one in charge of
Thornsbury’s Detective Agency. She vanished from town for several months a year ago after a
case got her in the way of the Cleaners, and returned with several of her memories missing. She
and Zebidiah are newlyweds. Their secretary is an elderly male Mouse named Mr. Paul Rumvar.
Tinytown | 184
Chapter Eleven: The Ecology and Scale of Tinytown

By now, you might rightly be wondering, “How large are each of these species?” and “What do
they eat? Doesn’t a Cat feel a mighty urge to snack on Mice?”
Those are excellent questions.
Scale
In traditional RPG games, you might have humans and dwarves as “medium” sized creatures.
Halflings and gnomes are “small” and creatures like ogres are “large.” All of the species initially
open to player characters are either “small” or “medium” in size, and they scale to their
environment just as humans, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes do to theirs.
Small
Mice, Hedgehogs, and Robins are the approximate size of gnomes, and see the other species in
much the way gnomes would—with a continual crick in their necks.
Small Dogs—the Shih Tzus and Yorkshire terriers of the world—are also the size of gnomes.
They largely compensate with feistiness.
Medium
Rats are the size of dwarves, scaled to the other species around them. Larger than mice, but
smaller than the rest of the species of Tinytown. Likewise, Rabbits and Possums are around the
same general size.
Medium and large Dogs, Cats, and Crows are considered ‘medium’ sized animals, though a large
dog, like a Great Dane or a Rottweiler would be looked at as half-orcs are viewed in most
campaign settings—unwieldy in size, a little threatening, etc.
For Ascended species (see Chapter Fourteen: Ascension), a Hare is larger than a Rabbit. A
Badger is larger than a Hedgehog, and belongs in this category.
Large
Many of the species not available to starting characters are larger and more robust than their
smaller brethren. A Wolf, a Hawk, an Owl, or a Wolverine is considered one size category larger
than creatures of their most closely-related species, though an Owl or a Hawk remains smaller
than, say, a Large Dog. Ocelots and Lynxes belong in this category, as do Deer.
Tinytown | 185
Huge
Tigers, bears, lions, etc., are huge. They’d be viewed in traditional campaign settings as being
ogres or true giants. While they would fit through the doors of most Tinytown abodes—since
most of the buildings are scaled to “human” size—they aren’t comfortable there. These creatures
are living siege engines, and would be treated with commensurate wariness by the residents of
the town. Huge creatures are only available through Ascension. (See Chapter Fourteen:
Ascension.)
Diet and ecology
Now, it’s true that Cats are obligate carnivores. And it’s certainly possible that a particularly
hungry Cat might see a Mouse as a meal that would last them for a week, maybe two, if stretched
out properly. But Cats have been forced to become members of local society, and they know that
if they were caught killing fellow citizens and eating them, that they would be torn to pieces by
an angry crowd long before the Lord Mayor’s headsman caught up with them.
So, what do obligate carnivores eat?
Fish. The River provides fish in abundance. Only once in a great while is there a three-eyed fish,
or a random, smoke-dark tentacle caught in the nets of the fisherman. Probably nothing to be
alarmed about.
Probably.
It might also contribute to why cats make such damned fine wizards and warlocks, though.
Other sources of protein come from the Chickens on the farms outside the walls. You see, an
unfertilized egg is just a nuisance to a Rooster. Something his wife gets broody over, but will just
rot and turn into a big stink in time. Roosters sell the unfertilized eggs, after winkling them out
from under their wives. Some Hens are perfectly fine with this. Others get a little irrational about
the whole business, weeping and screaming and clinging to the . . . completely unfertilized egg
that will never hatch . . . till the shell breaks and a whole new round of grief ensues.
Don’t visit the Farms on Tuesdays. Tuesdays are collection day. It’s for the best, really. But also,
don’t worry, most Hens forget about the whole thing by Thursday. At least till Tuesday comes
round again.
Most Hen eggs are the size of what people of another world would call an ostrich egg. And
they’re plentiful in the Town.
There are also caravans and boats that come in from out of the Mists, bearing food in trade for
goods and coin. Meat is usually in high demand from the traders. They generally don’t say what
the meat came from. Honestly, most of them don’t remember that, any more than they remember
the name of their last stop along the journey.
Tinytown | 186
Probably better not to ask, eh?
There are persistent rumors of Crows that attack Robin nests for eggs. Unsubstantiated, of
course. The City Watch has never been able to prove anything. Likewise, there are rumors of
some kind of. . . flesh trade. . . in the lower markets. The Watch has managed to bust several of
the lower-end peddlers, but they haven’t been able to ascertain from what. . . or from whom. . .
the meat came, and the peddlers always claim not to remember.
Since memory is something of a problem in Tinytown, it might even be true.
So, in essence, everyone has food to eat. It might not be the best quality. It might not be
palatable. And at times, when the caravans and the boats don’t come through as often, people
might get a little . . . peckish.
But there hasn’t been a cannibalistic episode in, well, as long as you can remember!
. . . maybe there’s something in the Archives? You should check.

Tinytown | 187
Chapter Twelve: The Economy of Tinytown

The coin of the realm, the metal discs that the Lord Mayor takes in tithe, are one thing. But
there’s a second, underground economy that law-abiding folks may not even know about—a
thriving trade in dreams and memories.
Standard Economy
The Lord Mayor issues standard gold, silver, and copper coinage—guilders, shillings, and pence.
They follow a standard progression of ten pence to a shilling, ten shilling to a guilder.
However, when people first appear in Tinytown, they may have a wide variety of odd coins in
their pockets, brought from wherever they were before. Many of these coins have no actual
value—some have no valuable metals in them at all!
The Archives will sometimes buy unique specimens for their Numismatics department, in the
hopes of spotting trends in terms of what sorts of worlds people came from before this, and in the
possibly vain effort of bringing groups of refugees together.
There is a tendency of refugees from a similar area to try to cling to their original coins, and
trade amongst themselves using them, but those coins are functionally worthless in the greater
economy.
The Lord Mayor’s office will accept coins of precious metal, weighed on an assayer’s scale, and
return coins of the realm of equivalent value, for a small fee.
Coin and Stash
Coin
Coin is an abstract measure of cash and liquid assets. A Coin is equivalent to a single gold
guilder, ten silver shillings, or a hundred copper pence.
The few silver pieces the PCs use in their daily lives are not tracked. If an investigator wants to
toss a few silver around to achieve a small goal (bribe a doorman), use the PCs lifestyle quality
for a fortune roll (see Stash).
Exchange values
• 1 coin: A full purse of silver pieces. A week’s wages.

• 2 coin: A fine weapon. A weekly income for a small business. A set of luxury clothes.
• 4 coin: A satchel full of silver. A month’s wages.
• 6 coin: An exquisite jewel. A heavy burden of silver pieces.
• 8 coin: A good monthly take for a small business. A small safe full of coins and
valuables. A very rare luxury commodity.
Tinytown | 188
• 10 coin: Liquidating a significant asset—a horseless carriage, a horse, a deed to a small

property.
More than 4 coin is an impractical amount to keep lying around. You must spend the excess or
put it in your stash.
An agency can also store 4 coin in their lair, by default. If they upgrade to a vault, they can
expand their stores to 8 and then 16 coin. Any coin beyond their limit must be spent as soon as
possible (typically before the next case) or distributed among the agency members.
One unit of coin in silver pieces or other bulk currency takes up one item slot for your load when
carried.
Coin for Game Actions
• Spend 1 coin to get an additional activity during downtime.

• Spend 1 coin to increase the result level of a downtime activity roll.
• Spend coin to avoid certain agency entanglements.
• Put coin in your character’s stash to improve their lifestyle and circumstances when they
retire.
• Spend coin when you advance your agency’s Tier.
Stash
Figure 6. Stash and Coin conversion
As noted before, coin is unwieldy and bulky, it’s difficult to carry more than a few coin at a time.
Stash represents your character’s non-liquid assets—the artwork in their home, the jewelry they
own, the apartment that they’ve purchased, the horseless carriage they drive. It’s wise
investments they’ve made in local businesses and how they’re playing the stock market.
You can convert 1 coin to 1 stash at any point in time, but converting it back takes a little time.
This represents the fact that you have to find a buyer for your house, your jewelry. And you
never get as much as you want when you sell, so it takes 2 stash to equal 1 coin.
Tinytown | 189
What does stash do for you?
Stash cannot be stolen from you! Coin can be.
Stash also represents your character’s standard of living. It’s quick way to ascertain how well
they’re dressed, for example, and how well-fed and healthy they’re looking. Each full row of
stash (10 coins) indicates the quality level of the investigator’s lifestyle, from zero (street life)
to four (luxury).
Finally, it represents how well-off they are when they retire.
Yes, retirement is an option. Not every Investigator Ascends or Fades.
When you decide to retire, how much stash you have indicates how well off your retirement
really is.
• Stash 0-10: Poor soul. You end up in the gutter, awash in vice and misery.
• Stash 11-20: Meager. A tiny hovel that you can call your own.
• Stash 21-39: Modest. A simple home or apartment, with some small comforts. You
might operate a tavern or small business.
• Stash 40: Fine. A well-appointed home or apartment, claiming a few luxuries. You
might operate a medium business.
Tinytown | 190
Chapter Thirteen: The Memory Market
The Shadow Economy
The female Mouse huddled in the dim shadows, two of her children close to her
skirts. A third, older, more independent, stood apart, staring at the items on the
shelves. Alembics filled with strange liquids. Skulls from many different species.
Charts of the stars and charts of anatomy, one superimposed on the other. And of
course, the gleaming glass spheres, in their locked cages. Filled with memories.
This wasn’t the front room of the shop. It wasn’t even the back room. They’d had
their heads covered with hoods and had walked along some long tunnel to reach
this place, where they’d sat, waiting interminably.
And finally, the warlock arrived. A Cat—a female calico with dark spots over her
shining green eyes. The female Mouse quavered at the sight of her. “So, you’re
here for a memory?” the Cat asked briskly, cleaning a set of spectacles and
putting them on. “I have a wide selection. What are you looking for,
specifically?”
“I . . . can’t remember my husband. He vanished. I know I must have had one—”

A limp gesture towards the children. “And memories for them, too.”
The Cat sighed. “Matching memories are very rare,” she warned, sitting down and
running the side of her paw neatly along her whiskers. “I might have one memory
of a Mouse husband, but I almost certainly won’t have memories of the same
Mouse as a father. Certainly not three of the same individual. People are reluctant
to give up more than one at a time.” A faint eye-roll for the uselessness of
sentimentality.
“I don’t need one,” the oldest boy snapped, his body rigid with anger. “Mama’s
last husband wasn’t my Da . . . he was theirs.” A gesture at the two younger mice.
“Oh, stop making things up,” his mother admonished. “You don’t have to play big
and brave. I have enough saved up for memories for all of us—”
His whiskers bristled. “I said, I don’t need it. I remember my Da just fine. Even if
you don’t.”
No mistaking the bitterness in his tone.
The Cat’s tail swished under her long, ragged dress. “How interesting,” she
purred. “Your son could be of great use to me, madam. If he were willing to give
me a memory . . . just a small one . . . I’d accept it as credit for whatever
memories you purchase today.”
Tinytown | 191
“No!” the boy wailed, his fists tightening. “I’m not giving you anything!”
“Jerome, darling, it would be a big help. Memories are so expensive! Don’t you
want your brothers to have a father in their life?” his mother wheedled.
“Mom, their da used to beat you up. You’re all better off not remembering him.
And I remember Da, but it hurts inside every day, knowing he’s gone and he’s
never coming back.” He curled in on himself, a knot of misery and defiance. “Not
remembering is just fine.”
“Then why not give up the burden of your grief?” the Cat asked softly. “You
don’t have to feel like this anymore. You can forget. The same as they have.”
Jerome shook his head, his ears flapping. “No,” he told the Cat defiantly.
“They’re mine. They’re me.”
As Investigators usually become quickly aware, memories and dreams—the parts of the mind
that make you, you—are incredibly valuable commodities in a population in which many people
can’t remember their own parents, the father or mother of their children, any childhood
memories or friends. . . all of it.
The Cabal has spells and devices that can isolate and remove a ‘donor’ memory and pass it on to
the highest bidder. Some people will pay serious sums of gold for a pleasant memory. The smell
of roses in spring. Love’s first kiss. Playing kick-the-can in a street as an innocent child.
And because Investigators don’t lose these memories easily, they are in high demand by
Cabalists as ‘donors.’ There are terrible stories of Investigators who’ve gotten too deeply in debt,
and who had to sell off their entire personality, all their memories, even their own names, to the
highest bidder.
A full identity replacement can cost up to ten thousand guilders, but there are, apparently, people
who really don’t want to be themselves anymore. . . .
Memories are traded as brightly-colored bubbles of glass. Vials. Crystals. If dropped, a memory
can get out into the world and do real damage if it lands in the wrong person’s head. Imagine
waking up from a dream convinced that someone you know once beat you till you were
hospitalized. But also knowing that it never happened to you.
And that both things are simultaneously true. Wouldn’t that be appalling?
Involuntary memory extraction is a high crime. But it’s said that there are people out there who
commit this atrocity. Whether they do so for profit or power, or whether they are searching for
something in particular . . . cannot be said.
Tinytown | 192
As a side benefit of the memory extraction and preservation process, it’s interesting to note that
if someone had a memory of an individual extracted before they vanished, that memory will be
intact in the memory globe, fresh as the day it was plucked from the person’s brain. Likewise, if
someone sold off a memory before vanishing, that memory, too, will stay fresh in the jar.
As such, the memory trade is vital to information brokers, Investigators, and even the forces of
law and order in Tinytown.
Consequences of Replacing Memories
If a character is buying memories to replace the ones that already have, there will be obvious
disconnects and discontinuities in their life story. The character will, once the memory is
implanted, rationalize those differences.
NPCs whose lives have been written and rewritten in this fashion will also rationalize
discontinuities in their life-story, and will resist efforts to ‘prove them wrong.’ It requires a fair
bit of roleplay to draw out of an NPC the understanding that a memory is not original to them. If
the memory originally came from a member of species not their own, they have a better chance
of realizing that they have, over time, replaced the people in the images that they ‘recall’ with
members of their own species, as with family memories.
If a player character has lost most or all of their memories, if someone from their distant past
recognizes them and calls them by a forgotten Name, it may require a Resolve check to
overcome their own rationalizations. This may spark a character crisis, a genuine “who am I?”
moment.
Truly devious residents of this world may try to take advantage of the permeability of memory,
and claim to know someone . . . and establish themselves as a long-term old friend, when they
are, in fact, not.
Astute residents with access to great wealth can, in part, recreate themselves. Make themselves
whoever they want to be, deleting bad memories and replacing them with better ones. There are
rumors that some people are addicted to the process of reinvention, and spend their entire life’s
saving, remaking themselves, never quite content with who they are.
Forcible Memory Implantation
A memory forcibly implanted, that doesn’t match up against the rest of an individual’s life-story,
may be resisted with a Resolve or Insight check. If the character is successful, they reject the
false memory, and they’re able to forget it, other than as something imposed from without—not
real.
If they fail, they accept that memory as part of their life-story—even if it directly contradicts
every other part of their story. If new information comes to life that challenges that implanted
memory, the Resolve or Insight check may be repeated.
Tinytown | 193
For example:
Rosie Hornsback has had a memory of her husband Sam’s death

implanted. She knows that Sam is dead, but can’t remember the details of
how he died. When Cory Anderson, a trusted friend of Sam’s, comes to
her with information that says that Sam’s coffin has been exhumed, and
was filled with bricks, not a body, she begins to doubt her own memories.
She attempts a Resolve check after receiving this new information, and
succeeds: the false Memory is removed, leaving her a Memory down—
but without falsehood clouding her mind and judgment.
Memory and identity are tricky. Dangerous. Deceptive. Be cautious of how you deal with them.
Coin to Memory Exchange Rate
People working the memory market like portable wealth. They’ll trade in kind, Names being the
most valuable memories. If they have to work in gold, they might swap, say, two death memories
for a Name and some gold.
Each section below shows a general coin value for a type of memory, but keep in mind that this
market, more than any other, is subject to supply, demand, perception of value, and bartering.
What’s on Offer
The list of memories available on offer at the market is not exhaustive. The DM should feel free
to invent comparable ones to increase the listing. Memories may be fragmentary and ephemeral.
Note that all prices, besides Names, should have a 10 Coin bump in price if the memory is
pristine—which is to say, there’s no one left in Tinytown who would remember otherwise.
If you remember that Hannah Craddoc, the Robin seamstress, is your adopted sister, it would be
very awkward to run into Hannah, call her sister, and have her not know who you are. This
would instantly call for a Resolve or Insight check, throwing your conception of yourself into
disarray.
A pristine memory suggests that Hannah—and everyone else who knew Hannah—aren’t
available to contradict your version of reality.
This might suggest very grim things about the Market, but let’s not dwell on details, shall we?
Names
Tinytown | 194
Names, as a marker of a whole identity, are expensive on the black market. You have to ensure
that the original owner of the name isn’t remembered, which could involve deliberately Fading
them, but keeping the Name contained in a memory phial or on magically indelible paper.
Pristine: To buy: 15-20 Coin
Compromised: To buy: 10 Coin (To sell: 5 Coin)
More people want to give up a bad identity than want to buy them, of course!
A Name that still lingers in people’s heads is compromised. Dangerous. Going around calling
yourself Jonny Cross, when there are Rats who still remember that Jonny owed them money?
Dangerous. Calling yourself Devin Albright, when the Order of Shadow thinks he’s a knight
responsible for the deaths of their agents? Also dangerous.
But if you only have, say, 10 Coin, you might have to opt for a Name that’s a little hot, so long
as it keeps you together. Anchored. Not apt to, say, Fade.
Which isn’t to say that you couldn’t try to come up with a new Name on your own. Invent one.
Try to get it written into Palace records. Try to remember to turn your head when people call you
by it. It might work. It might hold all your memories, old and new, together.
Then again, it might not.
GMs, work with the player to create a suitable new Name. No list this guide could provide would
be remotely comprehensive, so find a good one that suits their new identity.
Parents
• 25 Coin for a matched set of loving parents of your own species, non-pristine. (To sell,
15 Coin)
• 15 Coin for a single, decent parent of your own species, non-pristine. (To sell, 8 Coin)
• 10 Coin for a single, decent parent of a random species non-pristine. (To sell, 8 Coin)
• 7 Coin for an abusive or negligent parent of your own species, non-pristine. (To sell, 4
Coin)
• 5 Coin for an abusive or negligent parent of a random species, non-pristine. (To sell, 2.5
Coin)
Remember, 8 Coin is what a small business makes in a good month of profits. The sums
commanded by good memories can be astronomical.
Some nefarious individuals actually collect abusive or neglectful memories, implanting them in
the heads of their enemies, warping their perceptions of their existing families, sometimes
permanently.
You’ll want to avoid that sort of thing, naturally.

Tinytown | 195
This kind of memory comes as a single image of the past, an interaction between the character
and their new parent/parents. From that, they will extrapolate the rest of the relationship,
sometimes inventing new memories, or concatenating them with others in their possession
already.
For Example:
Sarai and Mez Robineau, two loving Rat parents. You remember
crouching near the broken leg of the rickety kitchen table, as Sarah
cooked the evening gruel. Your stomach rumbles—it smells so good!
All your other siblings tumble in, a rush of feet and tails, and you each
take a seat at the table, nearly knocking it over in your haste.
“Careful,”she warns with a loving smile. “That’s how it got broken the
last time! You don’t want Da to have to fix it again, now do you,
loves?”
She pats your head lightly, and Da comes in, kicking off his muck-laden
boots. He’s always careful not to track sewer leavings all over Ma’s
floor. “How’re my boys?” he booms, and you run to him, and he picks
you up off the ground.
If a character isn’t a Rat, this might be a confusing memory to them. They might have to
rationalize it, as their only memory of a loving parent. Maybe they’re a Crow—surely, they had
to have been found by the Robineaus when they were a child. Abandoned, maybe, in Rats’ Nest?
Doesn’t matter—the parents who chose to raise them, did the best they could. Odd that they can’t
remember the faces of their siblings, of course, but, it’s been a long time. Families drift apart,
especially in Tinytown. Not everyone’s lucky enough not to Fade . . . .
A best friend
A best friend memory seems like it should be easier to come by than that of loving parents.
Everyone’s got friends, don’t they? But a best friend memory—that’s harder. These can’t just be
of an acquaintance at the pub. These kinds of memories need to have some depth to them, and
are sold in sets of three to establish the pattern of a relationship from which the rest can be
extrapolated and rationalized by the target’s mind.
• 25 Coin for a pristine friend memory set (to sell, especially if you can guarantee you’re
the only person to remember them, 15 gold)
• 15 Coin for a friend memory set, non-pristine. At 5 coin a memory, that’s practically a
bargain! (7 coin to sell.)
A mentor
Tinytown | 196
A mentor memory can be a tricky thing to find. Changing who taught you might change your
background, if you’re not extremely careful to find something that matches up with your existing
skills!
For example, if you’re an Archivist, and suddenly have memories of being mentored by a
Bounty Hunter, this may shift your personality towards more adventurous pursuits. While it’s
more difficult, and possibly more expensive, it’s better to try to match your past as exactly as
you can. If you can . . . .
• 18 Coin for a pristine mentor memory that’s a background match (to sell, especially if
you can guarantee you’re the only person to remember them, 10 gold)
• 8 Coin for a mentor memory that’s just a background match. (to sell, 4 coin)
• 4 Coin for a mentor memory that’s not pristine, and isn’t a background match. Welcome
to the new you.
A death that marked you
This has the potential to change the player character a great deal, and should be very carefully
considered. They are, however, the cheapest memories available. Everyone wants to get rid of
the memory of pain.
Jack Shepard watched in the distance, horror-struck,

as his partner was cut down by a crooked Watch
member. He couldn’t do anything but blow his whistle
and run towards where Arnold lay, bleeding out on the
cobblestones. As he gathered his friend and mentor up,
begging him not to die, Arnold breathed his last.
That’s the memory that’s been stolen from Jack. He wants it back. He wants to find the exact
memory that was taken—the memory that would tell him the identity of the crooked cop that
killed his friend and partner in the Watch. The memory that’s fueled his indignation with the
system for years. But that memory isn’t available. What the warlock has on offer is a different
memory entirely:
You’re eleven. You sit by your mother’s bed, listening to

her struggle to breathe. Each time she inhales, there’s a
pause, and you strain to hear the exhale, which rustles
her feathers. Another pause, and you tense, expecting this
one to be the last. Another struggling inhalation. And
finally, she speaks, whispering between those ragged
breaths the name of the john who beat her to death.
Jack Shepard would struggle to reconcile this memory. He never knew his mother; he’s an
orphan, raised in a Church Orphanage. He’s a Dog; this memory is of a Robin. Who would he
Tinytown | 197
become, if he accepted this memory into himself? He’d have recollections of being a scared kid,
losing his mother. He’d have separation anxiety, and perhaps a burning sense of injustice against
men who hire prostitutes and beat them. Would he still be himself?
Jack chooses not to buy this memory. He continues to search the Memory Market for his own
memories, in the perhaps futile hope of finding himself.
• 5 coin for a death memory that matches your background in some way. (3 coin to sell)
• 3 coin for a death memory that’s hard to reconcile with your background. (1 coin to sell)
Tinytown | 198
Chapter Fourteen: Ascension

On Ascending, your species changes.
Ascension is powerful, and changes the game from an Investigation-centered game to a combat-
centered one. Once a character Ascends, it is entirely possible that the current game will end, and
new characters will be generated to continue the Investigation portion of the game . . . or perhaps
your group will decide to take the battle to the Things, and begin the combat portion of the
agenda, carving out land from the Mists, retaking villages one at a time, and perhaps even going
to the strange, uncanny home dimension of the Things.
Knights of the Order of Silver and Knights of the Order of Shadow may start as any combination
of species and playbook. However, most members of the Order of Silver begin as fighters,
clerics, or wizards; and most members of the Order of Shadow begin as rogues, fighters,
assassins, or warlocks.
Druids hardly ever become members of either Order. This is partially because they receive no
physical benefits; they can already become living siege weapons at will, using their Powers-
derived Communion with the earth and its creatures. And this is also partially because they
regard the strife between the Orders on the topic of methods for fighting the Things to be
pointless—the whole point is to fight the Things. It doesn’t matter how we go about it, so long as
we do.
Once an Investigator has risen to level +3 with any given Faction, they may be given an
invitation to join either Order. Once you’ve risen to level +3 with the Order of Silver or the
Order of Shadow, they will be given the chance to Ascend.
Ascension isn’t to be undertaken lightly.
First, the process of becoming either means putting aside what you were before. This change is
so fundamental that you may forget parts of your own history, in spite of whatever difference has
allowed you to remember until now. Your name may change. Your species may change. Your
memory of yourself may be forgotten. You will be wholly committed to a cause that you might
not have fully understood when you agreed to take on these holy. . . or unholy. . . vows.
You may not have control over any of these things.
You might not even survive the process.
The First Trials
Once you’ve caught the eye of either faction, you will be required to undergo three trials to prove
your endurance, spirit, and intelligence to them.
These might include:

Tinytown | 199
Endurance
Order of Silver: Clearing a section of the Mists to recover a forgotten village, entering the Mists
to retrieve a powerful artifact from a lost village, rescuing a kidnap victim from the clutches of a
Cabal warlock, holding back an assault of Things assailing a village, etc.
Order of Shadow: Killing a city official who’s gotten in the way too often, entering the Mists to
retrieve a powerful artifact from a lost village, executing a Cabal member who’s in league with
the Things, etc.
Spirit
Order of Silver: Staying all night in silent vigil in a monastery out in the Mists, no matter what
madness tugs at your mind; serving others in an orphanage or hospital without knowing when or
if you’ll be relieved; enduring torture without being broken
Order of Shadow: Enduring a night of demonic revelry without giving in to pain or exhaustion;
enduring a night of torture without breaking and giving up the information you possess, etc.
Mind
Order of Silver AND the Order of Shadow:
An elder of the Order will present you with a book and bid you to read it. If you succumb to
madness now, they will not waste resources on you further.
The Tower of Testing
Then you will make a pilgrimage to the Tower, which is far into the Mists on the Western side of
town. Or sometimes, the Tower will come to you.
The Tower has three levels.
Floor One
In the first floor, there are two statues. One is of white marble, a strange chimera creature, with
the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. It sits couchant, one paw extended. The
other statue is of black marble, and depicts a bipedal creature, robed and cowled. You are unable
to make out its features under the robe. It, too, holds out a hand. Under each statue, words are
chiseled: Your name and your patron.
Characters who have already been given a one-sided Amulet of the Order (which grants
immunity to Condition: Fear) may use this as their token of patronage, and must declare their
Name. Characters who do not have this amulet may present some other token of patronage—a
business card with their mentor’s sigil on it, a badge of the City Watch, a signet ring, etc., and
Tinytown | 200
declare their Name. Once they have done so, a one-sided Amulet of the Order will materialize
as the Tower’s gift to them.
You are now an Initiate of the Order.
Floor Two
On the second floor, you must have at least 3 Memories to proceed to the testing.
You will stand in a circle of light (or shadow), and the Spirit of the Tower will talk to you. You
will then be tested for your moral character, to determine if you belong in the Order of Silver or
the Order of Shadow. This will be treated as a case, though it will be a vision-quest. No actual
harm will come to the player characters, though they may ‘die’ in the vision-quest. If not found
to be of the correct moral nature for one Order, it is possible that they will be invited to join the
other.
On completing the vision-quest, award xp as usual, and award each player the double-sided
Amulet of the Order. (Immunity to Condition: Fear and +1d to resist direct Memory attacks
from Things and Collectors).
You will also receive a Weapon of the Order (pistol, sword, whichever you prefer.) This Weapon
provides potency when fighting Things from the Mist and Collectors.
You are now a Squire of the Order.
Floor Three
On the third floor, you must have 5 Memories to proceed to the testing. They do not all need to
be original-issue memories, but that is preferable.
You will again step into a pool of light or shadow. The Spirit of the Tower will warn you that to
proceed further is to risk death.
You will now undergo the transformation.
The Transformation
On the theory that roleplay should never be punitive, at the GM’s discretion, the player might be
asked to roll percentile dice on the tables below.
Alternately, the player and the DM may use these tables to collaborate on what the most
interesting narrative for their character and campaign might be. Some players love the challenge
of losing something to gain something else. Others are more risk-averse, or simply love their
characters too much as they are.
Make your own best determination, and remember—becoming a Knight is not for everyone. It is
not required to ‘win’ the game.
Tinytown | 201
Transformation result
% Result
Death. Your body and mind could not endure the transformation.
You presumably rejoin the Wheel, born again with no memory of who you
1 -- were, or the world you knew.
Your body transforms, but horribly. Birds become Pigeons. Bats, Rats, star-
nosed voles, naked mole rats, spiders, and snakes are all options. Roll 1d10; on
an even result, you lose all memory of who you once were. On an odd result,
you remember, and have a choice of how to react to your current situation.
2 -- Madness looms.
Your body does not successfully transform. Roll twice on the "What
you've lost" table. You are still able to enter the Order, and may gain prestige
3 -- 10 levels.
Your body does not successfully transform. Roll once on the "What
you've lost" table. You are still able to enter the Order, and may gain prestige
11 -- 20 levels.
Your body does not successfully transform. Roll once, with advantage, on the
"What you've lost" table. You are still a member of your Order, with the rank of
21-- 30 Knight.
Your body does not successfully transform. You remain the person you were
before, with no loss of memory. You are still a member of your Order, with the
31 -- 40 rank of Knight.
Your body successfully transforms into a larger species—see the

relevant species tables. But you've lost something along the way.
Roll twice on the "What you've lost" table for the result. If the answer is 10, roll
41 -- 50 a second time. If you roll a 9, you do not need to roll again.

relevant species tables. But you've lost something along the way.
Roll twice on the "What you've lost" table for the result. If the answer is 10, this
51 -- 60 means that you do not have to roll again. Likewise if you roll a 9.

relevant species tables. But you've lost something along the way. Roll once on
61 -- 70 the "What you've lost" table for the result.
Tinytown | 202

relevant species tables. But you may have lost something along the way. Roll
once with advantage on the "What you've lost?" table; select the result that you
71 -- 80 prefer.

relevant species tables. You retain all memory of who you were before.
Roll once on the "What you've lost" table. Discard the result if it is a memory-
81 -- 90 related event. If the result is playbook-related, you must accept it.

91 -- 99 You retain your previous playbook and abilities.
Your body successfully transforms into a Huge category species—see the

You retain your previous class and abilities. You will need to take a new name
in the Order, and you're far too large to fit inside most buildings. Most residents
would consider you a terrifying monster. But you are a living siege engine in the
100 fight against the Things that would destroy your world.
Tinytown | 203
What you’ve lost
1d10 What you've lost

You forget your name. That's okay. You were going to get a new
1 one, right?
2 The thing that most made you tick, the goal—it's gone.
One previous playbook ability must be exchanged for a fighter
3 ability. If you are already a fighter, re-roll.
Three of your previous playbook abilities must be exchanged for
4 fighter abilities. If you are already a fighter, re-roll.
The event that made you decide to become an Investigator.
5 Forgotten. Gone. Perhaps it's better this way?
Your parents, a loved one who disappeared, a husband, a wife, a
6 child—who were they again?
Your background changes to Bounty Hunter or City Guard, and
the dots you accrued from your original background shift to
accommodate this. If you were already a Bounty Hunter or City
7 Guard, re-roll.
8 You lose the memory of your best friend.

You forget your name. Your face. Your past. Your skills. You've
always been a member of the Order. That's all you can imagine
9 yourself being.
Luck intervenes. You've always been lucky, haven't you? You
cling to the memories, and this time. . . This time, you don't forget
10 at all.
Species change
Baseline Large Huge

Dogs Wolf Dire wolf
Roll 1d10. On an even, an ocelot/bobcat. Roll 1d10. On an even, a lion.
Cats On an odd result, a lynx/leopard Odd, tiger.
Rabbits Hare or Deer Elk or Moose
Rats Weasel or Badger Bear
Mice Nutria Wolverine
Roll 1d10. On an even, an owl. On an odd,
Birds a hawk. Cassowary or eagle
Possums Tasmanian Devil Kangaroo
Tinytown | 204
Ascended Species
On Ascending, you will:
• Retain the dots you originally allocated as a Mouse, Rat, Possum, what-have-you.
• Lose the special abilities allocated for that species (except where the Ascended species
has the same abilities).
• Gain new dots and new abilities.
Ascension is powerful, and changes the game from an Investigation-centered game to a combat-
centered one. Once a character Ascends, it is entirely possible that the current game will end, and
the players will choose to generate new Investigators to continue playing the Investigation game.
Bears
Bears are the Huge form that some Rats receive in the Tower.
Stats
When ascending as a Bear:
• Add one dot to Force. If this would bring your total above 4 dots, add the dot to
Command instead.
• Remove the ability Infectious Bite.
• Remove the ability +1 scale when fighting with a group of rats.
• Remove the ability +1 quality while in Upper or Lower Rats Nest. You can’t go home
again.
• You retain your Amulet of the Order.
• You retain your Weapon of the Order.
Bears gain the extra abilities: Ferocious Bite and Claw Swipe.
Ferocious Bite and Claw Swipes: Your teeth and claws are vicious, and you can
never be disarmed completely.
Bears may always choose to Force or Finesse using their teeth or claws. When
they attack successfully, they apply the consequence Mauled to their opponent.
Tinytown | 205
Bears, furthermore, gain the following circumstantial advantages:
• They gain the effect of +1 scale, allowing them to Force or Finesse at parity with small
groups of opponents.
__________________
Cassowary
Cassowaries are a Huge form that some Robins and Crows receive in the Tower.
Stats
When Ascending as a Cassowary:
Command instead.
• Remove the intrinsic ability of Flight.
• Robins who Ascend as a Cassowary lose their +1d6 Consort when dealing with people
larger than they are. Instead, they gain +1d6 Command when dealing with people
smaller than they are (to a maximum of 4).
• Crows who Ascend retain their love of shiny items. Once per case, they can push
themselves without a Vigor cost for a Tinker roll.
Cassowaries gain the extra abilities: Ferocious Bite and Medial Claw.
Ferocious Bite and Medial Claw: Your beak and claws are vicious, and you can
Cassowaries may always choose to Force or Finesse using their beak or claws.
When they attack successfully, they apply the consequence Mauled to their
opponent. They can never suffer the consequence of Disarmed.
Cassowaries, furthermore, gain the following circumstantial advantages:
Tinytown | 206
__________________
Deer
Deer are a Large form that some Rabbits receive in the Tower.
Stats
When Ascending as a Deer:
• Add one dot to Finesse. If this would bring your total above 4 dots, add the dot to Sway
instead.
• Rabbits who Ascend as Deer retain the ability, Lightning Speed, and gain another
stack of it. If their base class was barbarian or monk, this may mean that they can use
their special armor up to three times per combat.
Deer gain the extra abilities: Lightning Speed and Antler Clash.
Antler Clash: Your antlers bludgeon opponents, and you can never be disarmed
completely.
Deer may always choose to Force or Finesse using their antlers. When they
attack successfully, they apply the consequence Trampled to their opponent.
You may expend your special armor to resist the consequences of ambush or
surprise, or to push yourself in matters of Athletics. This ability may stack.
__________________
Dire Wolf
Dire Wolf is the Huge form that some Dogs receive in the Tower.
Tinytown | 207
Stats
When ascending as a Dire Wolf:
Command instead.
• Lose the ability Bite.
• Retain the ability of when using Scent to track, all dogs gain +1d to Hunt rolls.
Dire Wolves gain the extra ability: Ferocious Bite.
Ferocious Bite: Your teeth are vicious, and you can never be disarmed
completely.
Dire wolves may always choose to Force or Finesse using their teeth or claws.
Dire Wolves, furthermore, gain the following circumstantial advantages:
__________________
Eagle
Eagles are a Huge form that some Robins and Crows receive in the Tower.
Stats
When Ascending as an Eagle:
• Add one dot to Finesse. If this would bring your total above 4 dots, add the dot to Hunt
instead.
• Robins who Ascend as am Eagle lose their +1d6 Consort when dealing with people
larger than they are. They instead receive +1d6 Command when dealing with people
smaller than they are (to a maximum of 4).
Tinytown | 208
• Crows who Ascend retain their love of shiny items. Once per battle, they can push
Eagles gain the extra abilities: Ferocious Bite and Stoop to Kill.
Ferocious Bite: Your beak and claws are vicious, and you can never be disarmed
completely.
Eagles may always choose to Force or Finesse using their beak or claws. When
Stoop to Kill: When you successfully attack an opponent, you may lift them off
the ground and drop them from a great height for added potency.
__________________
Elk or Moose
Elk or Moose are the Huge forms that some Rabbits receive in the Tower.
Stats
Stats
When Ascending as an Elk or Moose:
Command instead.
• Rabbits who Ascend as Elk or Deer retain the ability, Lightning Speed. If their base
class was barbarian or monk, this may mean that they can use their special armor up to
three times per combat.
Elk and Moose add the extra ability: Antler Clash.

Tinytown | 209
Antler Clash: Your antlers bludgeon opponents, and you can never be disarmed
completely.
Elk and Moose may always choose to Force or Finesse using their antlers. When
they attack successfully, they apply the consequence Trampled to their opponent.
Elk and Moose, furthermore, gain the following circumstantial advantages:
__________________
Hares
Hares are a Large form that some Rabbits receive in the Tower.
Stats
When Ascending as a Hare:
instead.
• Add one dot to Stealth. If this would bring your total above 4, add the dot to Consort
instead.
• Rabbits who Ascend as Hare retain the ability, Lightning Speed, and gain another
stack of it. If their base class was barbarian or monk, and they took this playbook ability
as a second stack, this may mean that they can use their special armor up to three times
per combat.
Hares add the extra ability: Lightning Speed. Their speed and stealth skills make them the best
scouts that the forces of Silver and Shadow possess.
You may expend your special armor to resist the consequences of

ambush or surprise, or to push yourself in matters of Athletics.
Tinytown | 210
__________________
Hawk
Hawks are a Large form that some Robins and Crows receive in the Tower.
Stats
When Ascending as a Hawk:
instead.
• Robins who Ascend as a Hawk lose their +1d6 Consort when dealing with people larger
than they are. They instead receive +1d6 Command when dealing with people smaller
than they are (to a maximum of 4).
Hawks add the extra abilities: Ferocious Bite and Observant.
completely.
Hawks may always choose to Force or Finesse using their beak or claws. When
Observant: You literally have hawk eyes. Use them.
While preparing for battle, Hawks automatically gain +1d6 on the Gather
Information roll.
__________________
Kangaroo
Kangaroos are a Huge form that some Possums receive in the Tower.
Stats
Tinytown | 211
When ascending as a Kangaroo:
• Add one dot to Force. If this would bring your total above 4 dots, add the dot to Finesse
instead.
• Possums who Ascend retain their immunity to disease, night-vision, marsupial pouch.
• Possums who Ascend lose Daytime Blindness and Fainting.
Kangaroos add the extra ability: Kickboxing.
Kickboxing: Your punches and kicks are vicious, and you can never be disarmed
completely.
Kangaroos may always choose to Force or Finesse using their powerful arms and
legs. When they attack successfully, they apply the consequence Beaten to their
Kangaroos, furthermore, gain the following circumstantial advantages:
__________________
Lions and Tigers

Lions and Tigers are the Huge forms that some Cats receive in the Tower. The differences
between the two are cosmetic, not stat-related.
Stats
When ascending as a Lion or a Tiger:
instead (to a max of 4).
• You retain night-vision.

Tinytown | 212
• You retain Lucky.
• You lose Clawed.
Lions and tigers add the extra abilities: Ferocious Bite and Claw Swipe.
Bears may always choose to Force or Finesse using their teeth or claws. When
Lions and tigers, furthermore, gain the following circumstantial advantages:
__________________
Nutria
Nutria is the Large form that some Mice receive in the Tower.
Stats
When Ascending as a Nutria:
instead.
• Mice who Ascend as Nutria retain their dot in Consort, but now apply it to everyone, not
just those larger than themselves. Nutria are exceptionally social animals, after all.
Nutria add the extra abilities: Aquatic and Ferocious Bite.
Ferocious Bite: Your teeth and claws are vicious, and you can never be disarmed
completely.
Tinytown | 213
Nutria may always choose to Force or Finesse using their teeth or claws. When
Aquatic: You move in the water the same way you do on land, and may hold
your breath for an exceptional amount of time.
__________________
Ocelot, Lynx, Leopard, or Bobcat

These are the Large forms that some Cats receive in the Tower. The differences between them
are cosmetic, not stat-related.
Stats
When ascending as an Ocelot, Lynx, or Bobcat:
instead (to a max of 4).
• You retain night-vision.
• You retain Lucky.
• You lose Clawed.
Ocelots, Lynx, and Bobcats add the extra abilities: Ferocious Bite and Claw Swipe.
Lions and tigers may always choose to Force or Finesse using their teeth or
claws. When they attack successfully, they apply the consequence Mauled to
their opponent. They can never suffer the consequence of Disarmed.
__________________
Tinytown | 214
Owls
Owls are a Large form that some Robins and Crows receive in the Tower. These stats may also
be used for the Librarian and her offspring, which are not the result of Tower Ascension.
Stats
When Ascending as an Owl:
instead.
• Robins who Ascend as an Owl lose their +1d6 Consort when dealing with people larger
than they are. They instead receive +1d6 Command when dealing with people smaller
than they are (to a maximum of 4).
Owls add the extra abilities: Ferocious Bite, Night-vision, and On Silent Wings.
completely.
Owls may always choose to Force or Finesse using their beak or claws. When
Nightvision: You see at night as if it’s daylight.
On Silent Wings: While flying, Owls receive a +1d6 circumstance bonus to

Stealth, to a max of 4d.
__________________
Tasmanian Devil
Devils are a Large form that some Possums receive in the Tower.
Stats
Tinytown | 215
When ascending as a Devil:
instead.
• Possums who Ascend retain their immunity to disease, nightvision, marsupial pouch.
• Possums who Ascend lose Daytime Blindness and Fainting.
Devils add the extra ability: Ferocious Bite.
completely.
Devils may always choose to Force or Finesse using their teeth or claws. When
__________________
Weasel or Badger
Weasels and Badgers are the Large forms that some Rats receive in the Tower. The differences
between them are cosmetic, not stat-related.
Stats
When ascending as a Weasel or Badger:
instead.
• Remove the ability Infectious Bite.
• Remove the ability +1 scale when fighting with a group of rats.
• Remove the ability +1 quality while in Upper or Lower Rats Nest. You can’t go home
again.
Tinytown | 216
Weasels and Badgers gain the extra abilities: Ferocious Bite and Lucky:
Ferocious Bite: Your teeth and claws are vicious, and you can never be disarmed
completely.
Weasels and badgers may always choose to Force or Finesse using their teeth or
claws. When they attack successfully, they apply the consequence Mauled to
their opponent. They can never suffer the consequence of Disarmed.
Lucky: You have inexplicable luck that seems to kick in at just the right moment.
Once per battle, push yourself on a single roll without a Vigor cost, or add +1d to
any resistance roll.
__________________
Wolves
Wolf is the Huge form that some Dogs receive in the Tower.
Stats
When ascending as a Wolf:
Command instead.
• Lose the ability Bite.
• Retain the ability of when using Scent to track, all Dogs gain +1d to Hunt rolls.
Wolves gain the extra ability: Ferocious Bite.

Tinytown | 217
completely.
Dire wolves may always choose to Force or Finesse using their teeth or claws.
__________________
Wolverines
Wolverine is the Huge form that some Mice receive in the Tower.
Stats
When Ascending as a Wolverine:
• Add one dot to Force. If this would bring your total above 4 dots, add the dot to Hunt
instead.
• Mice who Ascend as Wolverines lose their dot in Consort, but gain a dot in Command
instead.
Wolverines add the extra abilities: Ferocious Bite and Claw Swipes as well as Stubborn.
Wolverines may always choose to Force or Finesse using their teeth or claws.
Stubborn: Your will is like iron. No one pushes you around anymore.
Gain +1d6 to Resolve rolls when under mental attack, up to a max of 4d.
Wolverines, furthermore, gain the following circumstantial advantages:
Tinytown | 218
Chapter Fifteen: The Things and the Collectors

The Things in the Mist
The Things are inimical to life, the common enemy of the Powers of Light and the Powers of
Shadow alike. Most people only suspect where they come from, or how they’ve accessed this
world--the Prioress of the Church, the Archmage, the Librarian, and the Mayor may have more
specific notions, and the leaders of the Order of Silver and the Order of Shadow might very well
have direct evidence of their origins. But for common people, they’re simply the Things from the
Mist, the horrors that make them lock their doors at night, and run scurrying even from normal
fog.
Things appear as grotesque mockeries of living forms, with features grossly misplaced, and with
abilities that defy natural magic. They aren’t undead--they’re unlife--and will drain you of life
and memory with a mere touch.
Sometimes it’s better—certainly safer—to run from a Thing than to fight it. Few have fought
them and survived.
The following Things are given as examples of what a Thing in the Mist might look like and how
it might behave. These examples are not exhaustive; the GM is free to generate any eldritch
body-horror nightmare that eats memories that might properly terrify their group.
For GMs who are coming to Tinytown from systems that have more detailed stats for monsters, a
few words of advice: Because of their supernatural might, combat with Things might start with
the player character in the position of Desperate/Standard As Things have a big advantage in
potency, quality, and, often scale, that would reduce the players’ effect to limited then zero, so
combat against them would start at Desperate/Zero. The players then have to use all their
abilities, and all their vigor-based ingenuity, to scrape their way through combat with Things and
Collectors.
The Slug – Quality 1
This Thing has no head, being a slug-like creature that undulates across the ground on a cushion
of slime at surprisingly high speed. To attack, it rears up off the ground and a proboscis emerges
from its underside, stabbing at the player characters with rapier-like speed. Once it connects, it
makes a siphon attack, draining life and potentially memories.
Terrifying Aura. The Thing has a nearly palpable aura of dread around it, of unnaturalness.
Players not bolstered by an Amulet of the Order will need to resist or will freeze or flee, unable
to advance on the creature.
Memory Drain. On successful physical attack by the Thing, Resolve check or lose 1 memory.
Tinytown | 219
Siphon attack. Rearing up slows its speed in pursuit, but brings the creature’s powerful siphon
attack into play. Its attack causes Harm: Drained.
Vulnerabilities. A Weapon of the Order or a silver weapon does damage with potency.
The Crab-Mouth – Quality 2
This Thing has no head, just four arms, jutting out from its body at unnatural angles. It arches
backwards as it scuttles across the ground, its ‘feet’ in front, and one set of its arms serving as
hind legs. A huge mouth gapes between the legs, a vertical slit that opens unnaturally wide,
dividing its abdomen, rimmed with fierce teeth. It can either make a bite attack, or rear up onto
its legs to make a series of attacks with its clawed arms.
Bite. Does Harm: Poisoned and Harm: Memory Drain.
Claw attacks: Rearing up disables its bite attack, but brings the creature’s powerful scything
arms into play. It makes four separate attacks, all of which cause merely physical Harm:
Wounded.
The Eye See You – Quality 3
This Thing has a single huge EYE in the center of its abdomen, framed by a mouth that gapes
open, with teeth on all sides, for the Thing to begin its gaze attack. It has two huge, tentacle-like
appendages that conduct its Slam attack, with mouths at the ends for a poisonous bite/claw
attack.
Eye See You. Instead of melee attacks, the Thing may make a gaze attack from range. Resist
with Resolve or lose 1 memory.
Bite-claws. The Thing makes two melee attacks per round, using its bite-claws, which do
Harm: Wounded and Harm: Poisoned.
Tinytown | 220
The Double-Bodied – Quality 4
These Things can infest and hide inside ordinary people, waiting to emerge. The only clue will
be the stiff, wordless condition of the people that have been infested. When the time comes to
attack, they will split open the body that they have infested, dropping it like the useless peel that
it is. It has no visible head; a maw opens in its belly revealing a horrifying second body.
Whip Attack. It makes two attacks with its long, whip-like appendages, which are covered with
needle-like teeth, and can impose Condition: Grappled on player characters as well as Harm:
Wounded. These will need to be resisted separately.
Unnerving Maw: When this eyeless creature opens its mouth, there is nothing but darkness
within—until a second head emerges from its mouth, red, skinless, wet, and horrifying. This
creature may make a single attack in addition to the attacks made by the whip-limbs. This second
head does Harm: Poisoned and Memory Drain.
Infest. If a player character chooses not to resist the Grapple, in the next round, as a
consequence of a failed attack, the Maw may attempt to Infest the character, burrowing into the
body of the grappled creature. This may be resisted as usual.
An infested creature is slowly taken over and turned into a puppet over the course of twenty-four
hours as all of its memories and free-will are digested.
The Hydra – Quality 5

These Things have seven heads, all swinging at the end of long, sinuous necks. Each head is
nothing more than a petal-like mouth, that blooms into a mass of teeth and venom. The body that
supports those heads looks flayed, red flesh oozing and suppurating at the least touch of sunlight,
and runs along on a hundred spindly, rippling legs like a millipede.
Still, it moves stunningly fast for such a large creature—even Knights of the Orders hesitate
before engaging Hydras one-on-one.
Treat these creatures as if engaging with a small group. Characters who can fight with scale will
still be able to do so (Bears, Lions, Tigers, Dire Wolves, Wolverines, etc.), but characters
without the advantage of scale will be at a desperate position making attacks against the Hydra.
Really, your best bet is ranged attacks, and running a lot.
Tinytown | 221
Consequences: The heads do Harm: Poison and Harm: Memory Drain. Each must be resisted
separately, and there are seven heads coming at you, again, as if you’re fighting a small gang.
Thing Incursions
At times, the Things open portals from their world just outside the Walls and Mist pours from
them, spreading throughout the whole of Tinytown. When this occurs, hundreds of Things also
pour through the portals, attacking the walls and trying to break through . . . or the portals simply
open in the middle of town, and Things pour through there, too.
During an incursion, your agency is set to war footing. What does this mean?
War footing
Your agency temporarily loses 1 hold, and PCs get only one downtime action rather than two.
You can end a war by eliminating your enemy.
If your agency has weak hold when you go to war, the temporary loss of hold causes you to lose
one Tier. When the incursion is over, restore your agency’s Tier back to its pre-war level.
For example, if your agency has reached Tier II, Weak, and an incursion begins, you
immediately fall to Tier I, Strong, and all the player characters in the agency now will only have
one downtime action, instead of two. (Or will have two, instead of three, if you’ve taken the non-
class ability Calculating.)
The Collectors
No one really knows who or what the Collectors are. When they appear out of the Mists,
however, it’s best just to run, rather than stand and fight.
There is some speculation—pure speculation—among the College of Mages that they might be
what remains of warlocks that have made bargains with the Things. There’s a lot going for this
theory: simply put, the College manages to root out a fair number of beginning eldritch
warlocks, and exiles them to the west. They find a few middling eldritch warlocks.
They never seem to find the master eldritch warlocks at all.
Now, maybe that’s because they’ve become masters at hiding, but . . . magic leaves signs in the
very air when it’s used. And warlocks don’t tend to be shy about using power.
What if the Collectors are simply those master warlocks, their identities, memories, dreams,
ideals, all subsumed into the service of the Things?
Tinytown | 222
The Gravekeepers have another theory, based on the shapes of the restless undead that people the
catacombs in the lost cities beneath Tinytown: they theorize that once, there were other people
on this world, and that they, like the Powers, were faceless bipedal beings that opened a Gate to
the realm of the Things and shattered the world. Perhaps they even were the Powers.
And perhaps the Collectors are the last remnants of those who opened the Gates in the first place.
Taken over, subsumed by the Things, their raw power redirected at the living with the same level
of hatred and animosity that Things possess for all sapient life?
But there’s one other theory, and this one only gets whispered. What if—just what if—the
Gravekeepers are right, and the Collectors are agents of the Powers . . . but they’ve retained their
free will? That they’re assisting the Things, or competing with the Things on their own level,
drawing memories from people for their own reasons?
Whatever theory lets you sleep at night, is the one we recommend that you embrace.
Collector – Quality 5
Behind a faceless oval mask, it comes, hovering just above the floor in its long white robe. It
comes, and under the cowl, behind the eye slits of the mask . . . there is nothing and no one. But
you feel cold stealing through you. Your breath mists the air. A hand raises, covered in a black
glove. And then you freeze in place, feeling your bladder let go in mortal terror as the creature
drifts closer and closer to you.
More terrifying than a ghost. More inimical than a Thing. This is a Collector. And it’s come for
you, in Mist and in darkness. Whispers begin to speak at the corners of your mind, teasing like
smoke. Telling you how easy it would be to just . . . let . . . go. To release your burdens. To
become one with the background state of the universe. Just another pile of atoms.
Let . . . go.
Terrifying Aura. The Collector has a nearly palpable aura of dread around it, of unnaturalness.
All of the consequences of failure when attacking a Collector are entropic in nature. Characters
might suffer Condition: Aged five years and have to resist it using Resolve or Prowess,
whichever makes better sense.
When a Collector attacks, it does so with gravity and time, pinning people to the ground under
their own sudden horrifying weight. Its hands slide inside the body cavity as if ephemeral,
probing for life-essence. Memories. Dreams. Loves. Hates. Of course, this, too, can be resisted.
Tinytown | 223
You freeze in place, not in fear, but simply because time itself has stopped, and you cannot
move.
And then it’s gone, as suddenly as it came. It may have spared you today, but it will have left its
mark, you may be sure.
Tinytown | 224
Chapter Sixteen: Outside the Town and Expanding Your

World
It is the goal of the Orders of Silver and Shadow to regain areas outside of town lost to the Mists.
This should be the function of end-game play, once players have Ascended.
One of the areas nearly lost to the Mists, which players will have to access by using Mist-
lanterns in the early going, is the Tower of Testing. The Tower lies in the woods northwest of
the town proper, along one of the lost roads, hidden deep in the Mists.
Travelling the Mists
A Mist-lantern is fueled by alchemy, magic, and the Resolve of the person holding it. It drives
back the Mists in a 30’ area around itself, revealing the tortured landscape under the Mists. Once
an hour, the person holding the lantern must make a Resolve check to keep the lantern lit. If the
lantern goes out, this is a consequence, and may be resisted as usual, or the player character may
attempt to relight the lantern—but with the possibility of coming under attack as the Things that
have been held at bay by its light emerge from the Mists.
If combat begins, the character holding the lantern must continue holding it in one hand, or pass
it to another character to hold, or the effects will begin to dwindle at a rate of 10’ per round, until
the lantern goes out. Which again, may be resisted as usual.
The only question is, how much Vigor do you want to burn on the lantern?
What’s under the Mists
Dead and dying vegetation abounds; sickly mosses and slime-molds cover the remains of trees,
and the grasses have turned to sludge. The few animals that survive here are twisted, mutated
versions of their original selves. It’s said that rangers and druids work at the edges of the Mists,
trying to heal nature and the natural order from the decaying effect of the Mists. They’re brave
souls, always under threat of being attacked by the Things, and regarded with suspicion by
townies, who can’t comprehend anyone entering the Mist and not returning tainted by it.
Fighting back the Mists
Once a patch of land has been cleared of Things, a Knight with the powers of a druid, cleric, or
warlock may commune with or invoke the Powers to cleanse the land, and the Mists will
withdraw to the periphery of that patch of land. Up to ten acres a day may be cleansed in this
fashion.
Tinytown | 225
Appendix A: Non-Class Abilities

The following is a list of special abilities that you can take to add to your character that are not
tied to any specific class.
A Little Something on the Side
At the end of each downtime phase, you earn +2 stash.
Alchemist
When you invent or craft a creation with alchemical features, you get +1 result level to your roll
(a 1-3 becomes a 4/5, etc). You begin with one special formula already known.
Avid Reader
You’ve read all the classic novels, newspapers and shipping records in this city, even a few that
supposedly don’t exist. You gain +1d when using Observe during downtime.
Calculating
Due to your careful planning, during downtime, you may give yourself or another agency
member +1 downtime activity.
Connected
During downtime, you get +1 result level when you acquire an asset.
Detective
After a case, gain an additional downtime activity to pursue a mystery as a long-term project.
This ability allows you to do some legwork, track down leads, etc. while still allowing you to
regain Vigor and take pursue crafting clocks. You cannot take advantage of this ability as a
flashback during a case.
Feral
You can manifest atavistic physical traits for several minutes. When you transform, lose 1 dot in
Sway and Consort, and gain 1 dot in Command.
Foresight
Two times per case you can assist a teammate without paying Vigor. Describe how you prepared
for this.
Tinytown | 226
Fountain of Energy
You may add a Mana box to your sheet, up to a total of six.
Hidden Knowledge
+1d to Sway or Consort when you use your vast archival knowledge.
Tell the GM what you found in the Library that this person tried to hide.
Interrogation Expert
Gain +1d when you Gather Information by interrogating crooks. Gain potency as well if you
caught them by surprise.
Iron Will
Gain +1d to Resolve resistance rolls when dealing with attacks that would otherwise steal a
memory. This skill is inherent to Amnesiacs, who gain it at character creation.
Like Looking into a Mirror
You can always tell when someone is lying to you. Even social lies stand out to you.
Mule
Your load limits are higher. Light: 5. Normal: 7. Heavy: 8.
Perfect Tail
When you follow someone to trace their movements using Hunt or Stealth, you get +1 effect,
and, if successful, receive +1d on future attempts to follow them
Primitive
When you Force machinery, plumbing, or electrical systems, take +1d to your roll. You gain
potency in combat vs. automata.
Savant
You have mastered the use of an ability. When using the signature ability keyed to that ability,
you may use it 1x/dot for free. This special ability may be taken multiple times.
Tinytown | 227
For example, at character creation, you had two dots in Athletics. As a druid, this allowed you to
use its signature ability, Shapeshift, once time per case for free. Now, as a savant in Athletics,
you have three dots in Athletics, and thus, you may use Shapeshift three times per case for free,
and you can spend 2 Vigor to use it a fourth time for a fee.
Schemer
During downtime, choose one: Get a free additional downtime activity or take a +1d to all
downtown activity rolls.
Social Butterfly
When you would take -1 status with a faction, you may instead burn vigor equal to its Tier+1, to
smooth it over.
Survivor
From hard-won experience or occult ritual, you are tougher and stronger than the average person
on the street. You get +1 vigor box. This ability may be taken multiple times, until your Vigor
boxes reach a total of 12.
Tough as Nails
Penalties from harm are one level less severe (though level 4 harm is still fatal).
With this ability, level 3 harm doesn’t incapacitate you; instead you take -1d to your rolls (as if it
were level 2 harm). Level 2 harm affects you as if it were level 1 (less effect). Level 1 harm has
no effect on you (but you still write it on your sheet, and must recover to heal it). Record the
harm at its original level—for healing purposes, the original harm level applies.
Trust in Me
You get +1d vs. a target with whom you have an intimate relationship.
Vigorous
You recover from harm faster. Permanently fill in one of your healing clock segments. Take +1d
to healing treatment rolls.
Your healing clock becomes a 3-clock, and you get a bonus die when you recover.
Weaving the Web
You gain +1d to Consort when you gather information on a target for a case. You get +1d to the
engagement roll for that operation.

Tinytown - Campaign Book v1J

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Tinytown - Campaign Book v1J

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

by Deborah L. and Jason W. Davitt

First published in 2023 by Deborah L. and Jason W. Davitt

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

Your Free Will .......................................................................................................................... 36

The Case and Flashbacks ...................................................................................................... 69

Special Abilities: ................................................................................................................. 102

West of the River .................................................................................................................... 128

Monastery of Long Yongshi ............................................................................................... 170

Floor Two............................................................................................................................ 200

Foreword and Acknowledgments

Thank you all for coming to play in my little universe.

Chapter One: The Town Itself

No one knows the River’s proper name.

He just knows that while he’s here in Tinytown, he exists.

But not you.

It’s what makes you an Investigator.

Chapter Two: Key Setting Characteristics

Technology and Flavor

Tinytown is a tabletop role-playing game about an agency of cunning animal Investigators

Chapter Three: Character Creation

There are six steps to creating a Tinytown character:

1) Pick your species

Figure 1. Resistance dice.

You do, don’t you?

In short, your species is what and who you were born.

Most citizens dismiss talk of the Hawk Knights as fairy tales.

Most Birds don’t question this at all.

• When creating a Robin character, add one dot to Sway or Investigate.

Robins have the intrinsic ability of Flight.

But a cat is a cat is a cat.

Cats may never become lawyers.

• When creating a Big Dog, add one dot to Force or Command.

• When creating a Little Dog, add one dot to Finesse or Consort.

Dogs have a powerful inborn Bite attack:

But in spite of everything? They have heart.

• When creating a Possum character, add one dot to Tinker or Stealth.

Possums have many advantages and disadvantages in play.

Disease Immunity: You are immune to disease

Possums can never suffer the consequence of Harm: Disease.

Daytime Blindness: As a nocturnal creature, you’re at disadvantage in daylight.

Marsupial Pouch: No one wants to know what’s in there.

Fainting: You’re easily frightened.

When suffering the consequence Frightened, the Possum must make an

Actually, neither do most Rabbits.

• When creating a Rabbit, add one dot to Consort or one to Finesse.

Rabbits automatically gain a playbook ability, Lightning Speed.

Lightning Speed: Strike first, strike hard. You’re hard to surprise.

Rats and Mice

The Rats heard the squeaking. And they’re coming as a swarm.

• When creating a Rat, add one dot to Finesse or Force.

Rats have an extra ability: Infectious Bite.

Rats, furthermore, gain the following circumstantial advantages:

• When creating a Mouse character, add one dot in Stealth or Observe.

Hedgehogs and Porcupines

• When making a Hedgehog character, add one dot to Sway or Survey.

• When making a Porcupine character, add one dot to Force or Hunt.

A Memory-Afflicted character starts with 3 of 5 memory slots filled, and may

• When playing as an amnesiac, fill in one dot in an ability of your choice.

• When playing as an Archivist, fill in one dot in Investigate or Observe.

• When playing as a Charlatan, fill in one dot of Sway or Stealth.

• When playing as a City Guard, fill in one dot of Force or Command.

• When playing as a Diplomat, fill in one dot in Sway or Consort.

• When playing as a Doctor, fill in one dot in Tinker or Investigate.