The spider

and
the city
Thomas Manuel
The spider and
the city
Written and Designed

Thomas Manuel
by

(@chaibypost)

You are a criminal mastermind. You are the spider lurking in the
shadows. In a city that was held in the vice grip of Celestial Law, you
have never followed a rule that you didn’t write.
You are your own master - a leader of a hard-bitten crew, holding
court in the seedy underworld that thrives below your city’s paper-
thin facade of order and normality.
The rich don’t believe you exist. The poor know you all too well -
your justice is often the only one they can access.
But now the city of Inquilad - your city - is free. As the kingdom lies
in ruins, the people of Inquilad have seized power and now seek to
build a utopia.
You understand freedom. And you wonder how long their freedom
will last...
There are rumours that the Right Men, General Piyadasi’s army,
march toward the city. A little bird tells you that they might reach
the city walls as soon as 2 months from now.
You thought you understood how the world works. But if your city
can be reborn, what about you?
Table of contents
About Inquilad 4

Brief History 4

Factions 4

Playing the game 6

The Week 7

Stage One - Jobs 7

Stage Two - Dice 7

Stage Three – Word 9

Downtime 9

Act One 10

Prompts 12

Crossroads 13

Act Two 14

Prompts 16

Crossroads 16

Act Three 17

Prompts 20

Epilogue 20

Example of Play 20

Map 23

Acknowledgments
This game was inspired by Blades in the Dark, Band of Blades,Thousand Year Old Vampire,
Ironsworn, and the New School Revolution.
License
The text of this game is licensed by Thomas Manuel under a Creative Commons CC BY
SA 4.0 International license. See Page 22 for more information.
About inquilad
BRIEF HISTORY
Inquilad is an old city but not so old
that people don’t remember life
before it. Inquilad is built on gold
mines and forgotten cemeteries. It is
full of ordinary people who have
grasped at their chance to be free.
They have emptied the tax offices,
debtors’ prisons, and law councils.
This is a new era and the people of
Inquilad seek to govern themselves.
But it is a city divided.
When the Sun King fell, General
Piyadasi declared himself King-in-
waiting. But his army – the Right Men
of General Piyadasi, they call
themselves – only truly controlled
the capital.The Kingdom fractured.
Inquilad declared itself free – but not
everyone who is chained wishes to
throw off their shackles.
Even as the rest of Inquilad weaves
itself anew with a pattern of the
people’s choosing, one quarter of the
city remains under those loyal to the
old regime.They have no love for the
rebels or General Piyadasi – but they
too will have to choose a side when
the time comes.
Just like you.
You tormented and terrorized the
old regime.You took what you
wanted and the wrinkled buffoons
that thought they ruled could do
nothing to stop you.You were always
one step ahead.You were the shadow
they could never catch, the spider
4
that always crept out of their grasp.
But not even you could predict the
fall of the Sun King.You used to pride
yourself on knowing the rules, but
now the world seems to have written
Factions
a whole new set of rules.
Liberated Inquilad is now controlled
by five distinct factions.
The Loyalists: Those who still
believe in the old regime.They
slavishly follow the traditions of the
Celestial Family here – desperately
blind to the rest of the city.The
priests of the Forge of Light still
straddle their craven pyramid.
Will their hate for the rebels force
them to side with the Right Men even
though Piyadasi deposed their
precious Sun King? Or will they join
forces with those who tear down the
Celestial idols?
Notables: Mauryan (ranking member
of the royal priesthood, current
Loyalist leader), Ibsa (Mauryan’s chief
political opponent)
Assets: The Topaz Fort (most
defensible part of the city), the Forge
of Light’s Great Library.
Free Anarchist Brigade (FAB):The
FAB are anarcho-syndicalists.
Alongside their economic organizing,
they have worked to build an
underground militia for years. But
now instead of undermining a
government, they must defend one.
They are, by far, the most prepared
and well-organized of the current
factions in Inquilad. Most of the
Dustworkers who made up the
backbone of Inquilad’s sprawling
mining industry support the FAB and
live in their territory.
Will their military training and
planning be enough? Will their
foresight be recognized by the others
in time?
Notables: Knave of Spades, Knave of
Diamonds (titles used for FAB
spokesmen)
Assets: Celestial Armory, Dustworker
Militia
Worker’s Socialist Sisterhood
(WSS):The WSS are socialists built
around local councils and sub-
councils.They control most of the
agricultural networks that bring food
in from outside Inquilad. Every
morning, the bargefolk distribute this
food throughout the city. Their call as
they maneuver through the canals is
the background soundscape of
Inquilad.
Will their supply networks hold? Will
they able to stockpile enough for a
siege? Will the canals be defensible?
Notables: Haradh, Keshini (National
Councilors)
Assets: Barges, Crop Collectives
United Democratic Alliance
(UDA):The UDA are a splinter
faction of the WSS. Personal
differences, not political differences,
caused the split. Or that’s what the
rumour mill has to say. The UDA
control the ironworkers and the
clockworkers who keep the literal
5
machinery of the city running. The
clacksworkers whose signals race
across the city from tower to tower
are the most efficient way to
communicate. And they know it.
Will they able to overcome their
personal differences with the WSS?
Or will those disagreements spread
like poison through the city?
Notables: Bezorius the Colourful
Assets: Clackstowers, Clockwork
Union
People’s Feminist Union (PFU):
The PFU are an odd mixture of
nurses, bakers, tailors and sanitation
workers who populate the city’s most
crowded neighbourhoods. Many are
refugees from decades of internecine
conflict within the Celestial Family.
Inquilad might have been a cesspool
but it was still a place where lives
could be made anew - for those
fleeing from toxic kinship networks
or forced out due to conflict.
Will their outsider status carry over
to life in Liberated Inquilad?
Notables: Yellamma (eldest of the
Healers), Orun of the Sweepers
Assets: Sewer System, Street Medics
***
When the game begins, the Right Men
of General Piyadasi are two months
away. If the Right Men take the city, the
brief burst of colour and light in Inquilad
will fade away and life will return to
tasting like the grit under boots. But that
is the world in which you have thrived.
You will not be the one who suffers. So
will you just stand back and let the
future play out as it will?
Playing the game
The game is broken up into three
Acts. In Act One, General Piyadasi’s
Right Men seem far away. In the Act
Two, General Piyadasi’s Right Men
seem like they’re almost at the city. In
the Act Three, General Piyadasi’s
Right Men are besieging the city.
This what the structure of the game
looks like:
First Act
Week 1-4
Downtime
Crossroads #1
Second Act
Week 5-8
Downtime
Crossroads #2
Third Act
Week 9-12
Epilogue
This is a roleplaying game and you’ll
be playing one character - a criminal
mastermind commanding a tight-knit
crew. Take the Character Sheet and
fill out a name and an alias or two.
Then, choose a Specialty. You don’t
need to write an elaborate backstory
- the game will help you discover
your character’s past through play.
This happens through prompts that
you need to write about in your
6
journal.You can use anything as a
journal - a notebook, a text
document, etc.
Then, record the name of your
Lieutenant.This person is your
right-hand. Write a name. Your
lieutenant is always loyal but they
usually have some fatal flaw. For
example, they might be Loyal but
Foolish. Then, choose a Special Ability
from the list.
A Lieutenant’s Special Ability can be
used once before they’re tapped. You
have to spend 1 Coin during
Downtime to refresh that ability if
you want to use it again. Being tapped
does not affect the dice they give
when assigned to jobs.
If you recruit new Lieutenants during
play, repeat this process.You can have
a maximum of 3 Lieutenants and you
always start with 1. If you earn a
Lieutenant as a reward but already
have 3, take 1 Crew instead.
The sheet is also used to record your
crew’s Reputation with the other
factions of Inquilad. Reputation starts
at 0 and can vary from -3 to +4. Your
Reputation with a Faction affects the
outcomes of the jobs that you do
with them.
The Strife track is an abstract
measure of how functional or
dysfunctional the ordinary life of
Inquilad is at the current moment.
Higher amounts of Strife mean that
life is being disrupted in violent ways
and the community is severely
threatened. If the Strife track is full,
the game is over. Stop playing and
skip to the Epilogue section.The
city has descended into chaos and
violence and Piyadasi’s forces will
capture it easily when they arrive.
Crew is an abstract measure of the
size and morale of your criminal
organization. If you fail jobs, you will
lose Crew – either your members die
or they abandon the organization. If
you fail a job and have to lose Crew
as per the job penalty but have no
more Crew to lose, then you must
lose Lieutenants instead.When you
have no Lieutenants left, the game is
over. Stop playing and skip to the
Epilogue section.You have the brains
but without a crew to stand by your
side, you are powerless.
Over the course of the game, you’ll
be generating jobs, assigning
resources to them and then rolling
dice to resolve how they went. You’ll
also be maintaining a journal where
you’ll describe the jobs in the voice
of your character. You will also be
recording your responses to specific
prompts that the game provides –
one every Week and one every
Downtime.
If you’d like to take a break and come
back to the game later, stopping at
The Week
Downtime works well.
Weeks are broken down into three
Stage one - jobs
stages for convenience.
At the start of every Week, roll on
the Job Number table under the Act
7
you’re in and find out how many jobs
you must take up this week.
To generate the jobs, roll and
discover the Type, Faction, Reward and
Penalty of each job. Fill up these
details in the Job Sheet.The Faction
that you roll is the client who
contacted you for the job.
Use the Inspiration Tables under each
Act to help flesh out the fiction of
each job. Use the rewards and
penalties to describe what is at stake.
Once you’ve generated the jobs,
write the first half of the journal
entry for the week, describing the
jobs and how your character feels
about them. Make sure you answer
the prompts for the week in your
journal entry.
Note: If you are just starting, then it’s
Stage Two - dice
Week 1 and you’re in Act One.
Now, look at the Job Sheet.These are
the challenges that lie before you this
week.You must allocate resources to
each of these jobs.This is
represented with dice. Once the
allocation is complete, you will roll
the pool of dice for each job and
record the highest result.
Here’s how you calculate how many
dice are in the dice pool for every
job:
• You start with 1 dice (written as
1d from now on) because no
matter the world throws at you,
you always have a plan.
• Then, add +1d if the Job Type is
your Specialty.
• Then, add +1d if you assign a
Lieutenant to the job. You cannot
assign more than one Lieutenant
to the same job.Their egos won’t
allow them to work together.
• Then, check your Reputation with
the Faction for the job. Add +1d
if the faction is currently an ally i.e.
your Rep with the faction is 3 or
higher. Or subtract -1d if they're
an enemy i.e. your Rep with them
is -2 or lower. It’s always easier to
make enemies than allies.
• Then, check the Strife clock.
Subtract -1d if Strife > 4. Subtract
-2d if Strife > 6.
• Then, if you’d like to push yourself,
focusing extra attention on this
job, add +1d. Spend 1 Stress.
• Then, if you want to accept a
Devil’s Bargain, add +1d. Refer to
the Devil’s Bargain table for the
cost. If you do choose to accept
the bargain, the consequences of
the cost apply immediately and
affect the dice pools of every job
after this in the current Week and
beyond.
Act Devil’s Bargain
Act One -1 Rep*
Act Two -1 Coin
Act Three +1 Strife
* Roll on the Faction table to
determine randomly. It does not
have to be the faction connected to
the job.
A Devil’s Bargain reflects a price that
you paid for an advantage. For
example, taking a bargain for -1 Rep
could mean that you got an edge on
8
the current job but your method
inadvertently pissed off another
faction.
Once you’ve recorded the size of the
dice pool for each job in the Job
Sheet, go job-by-job and roll all the
dice in dice pool to discover how
they went. Look at only the highest
value in the dice pool and compare it
to the following table.
• If the highest dice value is 6, that’s
a Success.Your plan went off
without a hitch.You earn all of the
job’s Rewards and suffer no
Penalties.
• If the highest dice value is 4-5,
that’s a Partial Success.Your
plan wasn’t perfect and there
were unseen complications.You
earn one of the job’s Rewards and
suffer one of the Penalties.You can
choose which one. If there is only
reward or penalty, then you have
no choice in the matter.
• If the highest number is 1-3, that’s
a Failure.Your plan wasn’t good
enough and you were completely
confounded.You suffer all the job’s
Penalties and gain none of the
Rewards.
• If two or more dice roll 6 for the
same job, then that’s a Critical
Success.You strike lucky and turn
a crisis into an opportunity.You
not only earn the job’s Rewards
but you also get to invert the job’s
Penalties and turn them into
Rewards.
For example: If a job has -2 Crew
as a penalty but you rolled a
Critical Success, you instead gain
+2 Crew.
Note: If the dice pool ends up with
zero or negative dice, roll 2 dice and
take the lower value as your result.
After all the dice pools for each job
have been rolled, you can spend Intel
to swap dice from one job to another,
thereby changing the result of one or
both. Intel is a sign of how you had a
clever trick up your sleeve all along.
Or maybe you improvised when
something went wrong and it worked
out to your advantage.
For example: Job A had a dice pool of
3d which you rolled and got 4, 5, 4 –
which means a Partial Success. Job B
had a dice pool of 1d for which you
rolled a 3 – which means a Failure.
You can swap the 5 from Job A and
the 3 from Job B – turning Job B into
a Partial Success without changing
the result of Job A.
Once you’ve finished resolving each
job, make you sure you record and
track the effect of all the rewards and
penalties on your character sheet.
Note: If you reach zero Crew, then
you must lose Lieutenants. If you have
zero Lieutenants, the game is over. If
the Strife clock is full, the game is
over. In both cases, stop playing and
skip to the Epilogue section straight
Stage Three – word
away.
Once you’ve resolved every job,
write the second part of your weekly
journal entry, describing the outcome
of the jobs and how they went
smoothly according to plan or how
you improvised when events forced
you to veer away from it. Describe
how your character feels about the
9
success or failure for each job.
Answer the prompt for this week if
you didn’t do it already.
Write down a name for each
member that died and how long
they’ve been working for you. If you’d
like to write more about them, you
can.
Once a week is over, the next week
begins.When Week 4 or Week 8 gets
over, don’t start a new Week and
Downtime
instead go into Downtime.
After Week 4 and Week 8, Downtime
is triggered. During Downtime, you
may engage in any of the following
actions:
Recruit: Spend 1 Coin to regain 4
Crew. Cannot exceed 8 Crew.
Recover: Spend 1 Coin to regain all
Stress.
Share: Spend 1 Coin to refresh one
tapped Lieutenant’s abilities.
Gift: Spend 1 Coin for 1 Rep with a
Faction of your choice.
Give Back: Spend 1 Coin to reduce
3 Strife.
You can choose an option multiple
times as long as you have the Coin to
spend.
Once you’ve completed your
Downtime actions, refer to the
Downtime Prompts and write your
response in your journal.
Remember:You only get two
Downtime phases. After Act Three, if
you’ve made it that far, go to the
Epilogue.
Act one
To discover how many jobs arise, roll Then, roll on the Reward table.
once per Week on the following
chart: d6 Job Reward
1 2 Coin -1 Stress
d6 Result
2 1 Coin + 1 Intel
1-3 3 jobs
3 1 Coin + 1 Rep
4-5 4 jobs
4 2 Coin + 1 Intel
6 5 jobs
5 1 Coin + 2 Rep
For each job, roll to discover the 6 1 Lieutenant
faction that hires you:

d6 Faction Then, roll on the Penalty table.

1 FAB
2 WSS d6 Job Penalty
3 UDA 1 -1 Crew
4 PFU 2 +1 Strife
5 Loyalists 3 -1 Crew -1 Rep
6 Highest Rep 4 -1 Crew -1 Rep
5 -1 Crew +1 Strife
For each job, roll to discover the
type: 6 None

d6 Job Type
1 Stealth
2 Violence
3 Trickery
4 Arcane
5 Politics
6 Acquisition
Roll a d6 on the Inspiration Table to
get ideas for what the mission under
these job types could be.
Rewards and Penalties can help you
with the fiction as well. A job might
involve losing Crew because it’s
dangerous or because it’s
demoralizing.
It could involve gaining Coin because
it’s a payment or because the location
offers alternate forms of enrichment.
Maybe you have to go into a former
noble’s house or a museum.
The fiction is in your hands!

10
 Inspiration Table
Stealth Arcane

1. Spy on one of thei leaders of another 1. Locate or recover a magical or religious

faction. artifact.

2. Deface one of the monuments that a 2. Assassinate a powerful cultist who’s

faction has erected. causing harm.

3. Steal something important – either 3. Stop a magical ritual from being

documents, trophies or supplies. performed.

4. Plant some false information or 4. Collect the ingredients for a magical

documents. ritual.

5. Rescue a faction member that has been 5. Investigate some strange magical
captured. phenomenon.

6. Scout out a location – for supplies or 6. Banish a summoned creature from the
defensive value. faction’s territory.

Violence Politics

1. Assassinate a dangerous or violent 1. Spread political propaganda and build

faction leader. support for a cause.

2. Kidnap a troublesome member of an 2. Negotiate for better terms on the

opposed faction. behalf of a weaker party.

3. Rough up a member of a faction to send 3. Adjudicate a tricky problem so justice is

a message. done.

4. Demolish a building or strategic 4. Mediate a truce or compromise

landmark. between equal parties.

5. Defend a supply cache from bandits. 5. Organize some failing city service.

6. Sabotage the operations or 6. Investigate the rise of a disturbing new

manufacturing of a faction. political trend.

Trickery Acquisition

1. Forge identity or property documents. 1. Locate a mysteriously missing person.

2. Spread misinformation or propaganda 2. Locate a resource or object that a

about a person or issue. faction needs.

3. Blackmail a mid-level faction leader for 3. Gather the traditional ingredients for a
information. fallen leader’s last rites.

4. Con a mid-level faction leader into 4. Steal a vital mechanical part to help a
giving up information. faction complete a project.

5. Impersonate someone and get access to 5. Build a mechanical device according to

a location or object. specific instructions

6. Switch a document or artifact with a 6. Research how to build a new kind of

wrong or useless copy. mechanical device.

11
Prompts
Every week, you must choose one of
the prompts listed below and answer
them in the form of an entry in your
journal.
During Stage 1 of every Week,
choose one of the following prompts
or go in order. By the end of Week 4,
you should’ve answered them all.
1. One of these jobs takes you back
to a place where you grew up.
What suppressed memories from
that time rise up unbidden?
2. One of these jobs is eerily similar
to something you did when you
were young and unproven.Who
were you trying to prove yourself
to? And what is the eerie
similarity?
3. One of these jobs reminds you of
a youthful decision that you now
regret. Why did you make that
choice back then? What were the
consequences? What would you
do differently now?
4. One of these jobs takes place
where you buried one of your
bitter rivals.What did they do that
made you hate them? How did
you finally defeat them?
During the Downtime after Week 4,
respond to the following prompt in
your journal.
• In your office, a Lieutenant or
crew member comes to you and
talks about their home town and
how the Right Men have burned
down half of it.They seem
nervous about telling you this as if
they worry about how you’ll react.
12
You saved this person once and
taught them everything they know.
How do you react when they
bring this up?
Writing in your Journal
On the face of this it, this game has
two distinct modes of play: the dice
mode and the journal mode. While
the dice exists to reinforce the
narrative and the stakes, your journal
is where the narrative lives and
breathes.
• Write your journal in first-person
like it’s a real weekly journal. Take
the details that the game gives you
and turn them into the record of
the life of a real person. A person
who is living these climactic
events, making these decisions, and
suffering these losses.
• Take every opportunity to
connect your character to the city.
Each job brings them to place that
means something to them. They
have lived their entire life here
after all.
• This is the story of one person
but that story intersects with
many, many others. When you
recruit someone to your crew or
lose someone during a job, think
about where they came from and
where they want to go. Don’t
hesitate to breathe life into the
other citizens of Inquilad.
• Linger on the prompts the game
offers you. The more time and
space you give them, the more
meaningful the final narrative will
be. Don’t be in a rush.
Crossroads
Crossroads are special events that
happen in-between acts.They
represent pivotal decisions that your
character has to make.
#1: “And Then I Received a
Letter…”
After your first Downtime, read the
following text and record your
response in your journal. Don’t read
it before it is time to respond.
You’re sitting alone in your office. Heavy
rains beats a staccato against the
windows but despite the sound, it’s a
quiet moment. Or it was – till you hear
the soft footfalls of one of your crew
coming up the stairs.The door opens
and a new recruit comes in a little
awkwardly.They drop a letter on your
desk and beat a quick retreat.The letter
reads:
My friend, I hope you are well. And I
hope that you don’t mind me using that
term. We were once friends after all. And
while we might not be friends right at this
moment in time, I’ve come to believe that
time might be a bit of an illusion. Even
now, we are free but also we are still
chained. And even when we were chained,
we were free. They cannot take these
moments from us, no? So we once called
each other friends and that moment is
always there – and so it is always true. I
hated you for months – or was it only a few
days but felt like months – after what you
did but now I cannot remember what that
hatred felt like.
13
We have a month, maybe. That is the best
we know. They’re not rushing to get here
but at the same time, they take no
diversions. When they arrive, we cannot
watch our backs as well as watch our
fronts. We might not be able to do even
one of those things. You know what I
mean. If the Loyalists decide to let
Piyadasi’s soldiers into the city, there’s little
that we can do to stop it. We need them
gone. The people don’t side with them –
you have to trust me on that. Their entire
cabinet meets in two days at the Forge’s
council chamber. A decisive blow there and
we could put an end to their poison forever.
Will you aid us?”
Based on your answers to the week’s
prompts, decide who this letter is
from.
Now, you must make a choice which
will affect Act Two:
• Side with the Rebels: Strike
against the Loyalists and join the
cause of the rebels.You will be
drawn more directly into their
plans for the defense of the city.
If you choose to side with the
rebels, take +1 Rep with all
factions other than the Loyalists.
The Loyalists are removed from
the game.
• Stay Neutral: Continue as you
were. Do jobs, earn coin, live in
the shadows.
If you choose to stay neutral, take
+2 Rep with the Loyalists.
Act two
If you chose to Side with the
d6 Job Number
Rebels, use the following table:
1-3 3 jobs
4-6 4 jobs d6 Job Reward
1 3 Coin
2 2 Intel + 1 Rep
d6 Faction
3 1 Intel + 2 Rep
1 FAB
4 1 Rep - 2 Stress
2 WSS
5 1 Rep - 2 Strife
3 UDA
6 1 Lieutenant
4 PFU
5 Loyalists *
If you chose to Stay Neutral, use
6 Highest Rep the following table:

d6 Job Reward
* If you chose to Side with the
Rebels, replace this option with the 1 1 Coin -1 Stress
faction with which you have the 2 1 Coin + 2 Intel
Lowest Rep. If it’s a tie, decide
randomly. 3 1 Coin + 1 Rep
4 2 Coin
5 2 Rep
d6 Job Type
6 1 Lieutenant
1 Stealth
2 Violence The Job Penalty table remains the
3 Trickery same for both choices.
4 Arcane d6 Job Penalty
5 Politics 1 -1 Crew
6 Acquisition 2 -1 Crew + 1 Strife
3 -1 Crew -1 Rep
If you chose to Stay Neutral, use 4 -1 Crew -2 Rep
the job inspiration from Act One. If
you chose to Side with the Rebels, 5 +2 Strife
use the one on the opposing page. 6 None

14
 Inspiration Table - Side with the Rebels
Stealth Arcane

1. Spy on a faction member that is 1. Locate or recover a magical or religious

suspected to be a spy for the Right Men. artifact.

2. Steal a cache of weapons from a bandit 2. Assassinate the leader of a death cult
group near the city. that preaches a dangerous doctrine.

3. Build camouflage for attack barges for 3. Investigate a strange new magical
when the Right Men arrive. disease that has arisen.

4. Plant false information with a Right Men 4. Deactivate magical spirals that have
spy. begun to appear across the city.

5. Rescue a faction member that has been 5. Uncover what is behind the strange
captured by bandits outside the city. dreams plaguing the young.

6. Scout out the tunnels under the city for 6. Banish a summoned creature from the
potential retreats. faction’s territory.

Violence Politics

1. Assassinate one of the remaining 1. Spread the news of General Piyadasi’s

Loyalist leaders. brutal tactics to discourage surrender.

2. Capture or kill an octolizard that is 2. Negotiate the sharing of water on

killing bargefolk in the canals. behalf a faction that has none.

3. Excavate a tunnel that has caved in and 3. Adjudicate an accidental death during a
trapped some workers. rush for food.

4. Demolish watchtowers outside the city 4. Heal a rift between two factions that
that the Right Men could use. still tastes bitter.

5. Defend a supply cache from bandit raid. 5. Organize some form of military training.

6. Build traps or other defenses to cause 6. Investigate the rise of pro-Loyalist

havoc for Right Men front lines. sentiment among the Dustworkers.

Trickery Acquisition

1. Break the cipher on Right Men code. 1. Locate a mysteriously missing person.

2. Plant false information with a Right Men 2. Locate oil, fat or tallow for cooking and
spy. for lanterns and candles.

3. Stitch fake Right Men uniforms to use in 3. Gather the traditional items for a birth
potential covert operations. in the family.

4. Con a Right Men spy into believing that 4. Salvage a vital part to help a faction
you are on their side. complete a clockwork weapon.

5. Infiltrate the last remaining Loyalist cell 5. Build a new mechanical defense
working with the Right Men. according to ingenious instructions.

6. Trick a Right Men spy into giving you 6. Locate local healers and doctors to help
the cipher for their secret code. tend to the wounded during the siege.

15
Prompts Crossroads
Your prompts for Weeks 5-8 are #2: “Betrayal is a skill…”
shown below. Just like last time, you
After your second Downtime, read
can go in order or choose based on
the following text and record your
the jobs you rolled that week.
response in your journal. Don’t read
Respond to the prompts in your
it before it is time to respond.
journal.
What is about rain days and letters? As
1. A job takes you to a place where
lightning flashes across the sky, and the
you last saw one of your former
clouds rumble their thunderous way
Lieutenants.Why did their
through a storm, a bedraggled crow
departure break your heart? What
lands on your windowsill.Tied to its feet
token do you have from them?
is a rolled up parchment with words
2. One of the faction leaders was written in a scraggly hand. It bears the
once a member of your crew. stamp of General Piyadasi.
What made them leave the
“We greet you – one who can see
criminal life? How do you feel
how the wind blows. The storm is
when you think of them now?
here. The fist of General Piyadasi
3. A job reminds you of how a plan lands on Inquilad. The rebels are
once went wrong and you hurt weak. And you – more than
someone that you never meant to anyone - know the weak will be
hurt.Who were they? What did crushed. Aid us and be rewarded.
you do? Where are they now? In New Inquilad, you will be born
anew – in power and glory and
4. A job reminds you of the lowest
wealth.”
point in your life, when you were
hungry and lost and someone Now, you must make a choice which
reached out and helped you.Who will affect Act Three:
were they? How did you repay
• Betray the Rebels: Conspire
them?
with the leaders of the Right Men
outside Inquilad and help them
take the city.
The prompt for the second
Downtime is as follows:
If you choose this option, take +3
• Someone comes to join your crew Coin and +1 Strife.
but something they say reminds
• Doublecross the Right Men:
you too much about yourself.
Pretend to accept the Right Men’s
What is it about them that affects
offer but pass on their plans to
you so strongly? Do you allow
the rebels and thwart General
them to join or does this
Piyadasi for as long as possible.
reflection of yourself make you
deny them membership in your
If you choose this option, take +1
crew?
Rep with all factions and -2 Strife.

16
Act three
d6 Result If you chose to Betray the Rebels,
1-3 3 jobs use the following table:
4-5 4 jobs d6 Job Reward
6 5 jobs 1 2 Coin + 1 Intel
2 1 Coin
d6 Faction 3 3 Coin
1 FAB 4 1 Crew
2 WSS 5 2 Crew
3 UDA 6 1 Coin + 1 Intel
4 PFU
5 Lowest Rep If you chose to Doublecross, use
the following table:
6 Highest Rep
d6 Job Reward
1 None
If you chose to Betray the Rebels,
you can choose to replace any result 2 1 Intel + 1 Crew
you roll on the above table with the 3 -2 Stress
Right Men, depending on the fiction.
4 2 Coin + 1 Crew
5 2 Crew
d6 Job Type 6 1 Lieutenant
1 Stealth
2 Violence The Job Penalty table remains the
same for both choices.
3 Trickery
4 Arcane d6 Job Penalty
5 Politics 1 -1 Crew
6 Acquisition 2 -1 Crew + 1 Strife
3 -1 Crew -1 Rep
If you chose to Betray the Rebels, 4 -1 Crew -2 Rep
use the Inspiration Table on Pg 18. If
you chose to Doublecross, use the 5 +2 Strife
one on Pg 19. 6 -2 Crew

17
 Inspiration Table - Betray the Rebels
Stealth Arcane

1. Spy on a faction leader to learn if they 1. Deploy a magical artifact with

can be turned. destructive powers.

2. Smuggle some people into the city 2. Assassinate a wizard that has joined the
without being seen. opposite side.

3. Steal battle plans. 3. Summon a creature inside the city.

4. Plant some easily broken encoded 4. Stop a magical ritual from being
messages. performed.

5. Rescue a faction member that has been 5. Plant some magical artifacts in specific
captured. parts of the city.

6. Scout out a section of the city for ways 6. Damage some of the magical wards that
to enter or exit. have been placed around the tunnels.

Violence Politics

1. Assassinate a faction member with 1. Spread discord between two faction

military command. leaders.

2. Kidnap a member of a faction who 2. Form an alliance where one wasn’t

knows passwords or vital info. thought possible.

3. Blow up a cache of explosive material at 3. Coordinate medical care for injured

a specific time. soldiers.

4. Demolish a tunnel that could be used to 4. Negotiate with bandit groups outside
attack or retreat. the city for safe passage for refugees.

5. Defend a location from attack. 5. Ensure the children are safe.

6. Sabotage a faction’s water source. 6. Identify potential deserters.

Trickery Acquisition

1. Misdirect a faction’s troops from their 1. Locate someone that was thought to be
correct destination. dead

2. Spread a rumour of an attack that never 2. Locate a key or make a copy of a key to
materializes. an imposing gate.

3. Misdirect attention away from city 3. Gather the traditional ingredients for a
defenses that need to be repaired. initiation rites for a teenage cohort.

4. Con a mid-level faction leader into 4. Salvage the parts from a broken siege
giving up information. weapon.

5. Impersonate a spy or senior military 5. Locate a doctor with a rare medical

leader to learn something. herb to neutralize a new poison.

6. Enact an omen that signifies the gods 6. Locate a broken faction leader who has
displeasure. abandoned their post.

18
 Inspiration Table - Doublecross the Right Men
Stealth Arcane

1. Spy on the unit of sappers sent to gauge 1. Deploy a magical artifact with
the weak points in the city walls. destructive powers.

2. Infiltrate the Right Men camp and 2. Summon winds to blow away the
poison their water supply. noxious fumes sent by the Right Men.

3. Steal battle plans. 3. Assassinate the enemy’s chief magi.

4. Plant some easily broken encoded 4. Stop the Right Men magi from
messages. summoning the electra-storm.

5. Rescue a faction member that has been 5. Investigate the strange sticky white
captured. webs that appeared in the Southeast.

6. Scout out a section of the city for ways 6. Banish an Akoros demon that is causing
to enter or exit. havoc in the city square.

Violence Politics

1. Assassinate a battle commander when 1. Rally the morale of a dispirited group of

they least expect it. people or troop of soldiers.

2. Slay a giant beast being used to batter 2. Organize the medical tents so that
down the gates of the city. medical care is as effective as can be.

3. Disappear a Right Men spy but leave 3. Salvage morale after a disastrous
their body to send a massage. mission due to faulty orders.

4. Blow up a cache of explosive material at 4. Convince a Right Men lieutenant to

a specific time. switch sides.

5. Defend a vulnerable spot from attack. 5. Ensure the children are safe.

6. Aid a pinned down unit so they can 6. Coordinate the builders to repair
make their retreat. damaged defenses.

Trickery Acquisition

1. Misdirect the enemy’s troops. 1. Organize food or drink to raise morale.

2. Spread a rumour of an attack that never 2. Locate a doctor with a rare medical
materializes. herb to neutralize a new poison.

3. Co-ordinate a spectacular ambush of 3. Locate a broken faction leader who has

Right Men troops. abandoned their post.

4. Convince a Right Men lieutenant to 4. Steal a vital mechanical part to help a

switch sides. faction complete a project.

5. Impersonate a spy or senior military 5. Build anti-siege engines to counteract

leader to learn something. the Right Men strategies.

6. Spread rumours to scare the 6. Locate strange herbs that infuse panic in
superstitious among the Right Men. the Right Men mounts.

19
Prompts
Your prompts for the Weeks 9-12 are
shown below. Just like last time, you
can go in order or choose based on
the jobs you rolled that week.
Respond to the prompts in your
journal.
1. A job makes you feel old and
reminds you of your own
mortality. What is it? Why now?
And how does it affect you?
2. A job reminds you of a promise
that you made to yourself that
you subsequently forgot. What
was it? Why did you make it? How
do you feel about it now?
3. A job gives you an unsettling
glimpse of the future.What do
you foresee? What could possibly
shake you?
4. A job reminds you about a rare
moment of joy – something that
you realize you haven’t felt in a
long time. What is it?
Epilogue
What has happened, has happened.
You cannot change it now.
The events of that vital time in the
history of Inquilad become fact and
then memory and then history.
You are now a historian in the future,
wandering through the archives of
the city when you discover the
journal of a criminal who lived during
the days of Liberated Inquilad.
Turn a new page and using the
fragments in the journal, tell the story
20
of that criminal – their flaws, their
glories, their humanity.Tell the story
of that time – those fleeting days of
hope in the face of incoming
darkness.
EXAMPLE OF PLAY
We start Week 1 by rolling for
number of jobs. I roll a 2 and looking
at the table on Page 10 that shows I
have 3 jobs.
Then, I roll for the details of each job
- faction, type, reward and penalty. I
make sure to record all these details
in Job Sheet as I roll them because
my memory is dodgy. I mean,
sometimes I can’t even remember to
finish my
So, for the first job, I get:
Faction: the Loyalists
Type: Trickery
Reward: 1 Coin + 1 Rep
Penalty: -1 Crew - 1 Rep
On the inspiration table, I look under
Trickery and choose “Spread
misinformation or propaganda about
a person or issue.”
So this is what I envision in my head:
The Loyalists have approached me to
spread rumours that the leaders of
another faction - maybe the WSS or FAB
- are keeping all the best food for
themselves while the people are forced
to suffer strict rationing. If I do it, they’ll
pay me and I’ll get some Rep points with
them. But if I fail, they’re going to get
pissed off. And it’s dangerous. Saying
stuff like this could easily get one of my
crew beaten up or killed.
I do the same process for my other
two missions. I won’t list out the
results but just trust me, I did it.
Then, I go and read the prompt for
the week. I choose the default
prompt for Week 1’s which is:
“One of these jobs takes you back to
a place where you grew up.What
suppressed memories from that time
rise up unbidden?”
This is a chance for me to figure out
something about my childhood. So I
think about something like this: Well, if
I’m spreading rumours about the FAB,
I’m probably going to be talking to the
Dustworkers who are the miners that
work all around the city. Was I the child
of a miner? Or maybe I was the
daughter of an aristocrat who ran away
from home? And I worked in the mines
for a while? That sounds good. Let’s go
with that.
So then I take whatever I’m using as
my journal and begin writing my
entry for Week 1.
Week 1
Another busy week. The city feels
hot now - hotter than it has any right
to be. Even the weather is confused
about what to do, it seems.Three
jobs this week, each a symptom of
how this city is coming apart at the
goddess-damned seams.
One of the lice-infested priests from
the Loyalists approached me - no
mention of them raising the bounty
on my head last month. With the
king’s soul, their memories seem to
have gone too.
21
Regardless, coin is coin.All they want
me to do is to whisper in the ears of
some dustworkers. I’ll send some of
the new recruits - not that if they
fuck up, they won’t get their jaws
broken. Got to whisper with one eye
on the door always.
I remember seeing some real big men
- men who thought they were the
baddest men in the world - go down,
their nose broken by a dustworker
trying to enjoy a moment’s peace. I
learned in the Hollowhill mines and
in the bars after - when to fight and
when not to fight. You don’t want to
be stuck in the shaft, the dust
collapsing around you and look up to
see the fool you punched in the face
because you couldn’t hold your drink.
Feels a bit like that now.We’re all
stuck in this shaft and we can see the
signs - it’s going to fall down on us.
And we need each other but we’re all
either punching each other right in
this moment or simmering over how
we got punched last week.This city is
doomed.
Okay, so that’s my journal entry. Note
that I would’ve added the details of
the other two missions if I felt they
fit. Like if one of the other missions
involved the FAB, maybe I could’ve
talked about how I was working with
the Loyalists against the FAB and then
taking money from the FAB to do
something else. It’s very obvious to
your character that they are playing a
dangerous game. How they justify it
to themselves is up to you.
After this, the next step is assembling
my dice pool, rolling the dice and
then discovering the results.
So I have 3 jobs this week. I’ve filled
up their details in the Job Sheet.Then,
I go through the checklist for building
my dice pool for each job.
I get 1d for all the jobs. I assign my
starting Lieutenant to Job 2 for an
extra 1d there. Job 3 turns out to be
Violence which is my Specialty so I
get extra 1d there. I don’t have any
penalties for enemies or for strife
because this is Week I. So currently,
my pools look like this:
• Job 1 - 1d
• Job 2 - 1d + 1d (Lieutenant)
• Job 3 - 1d + 1d (Specialty)
Then, I decide to Push for an extra
1d on Job 1 so I’m rolling 2d for all
three of my jobs. I tick one of my
Stress boxes. So my final dice pool
looks like this:
• Job 1 - 1d + 1d (Push)
• Job 2 - 1d + 1d (Lieutenant)
• Job 3 - 1d + 1d (Specialty)
Then, one by one, I roll my dice pools
and see what the results are. Let’s say
these are my results.
• Job 1 - 1, 4 (Partial Success)
• Job 2 - 3, 3 (Failure)
• Job 3 - 5, 6 (Success)
If I had Intel, I could try and move
some dice around to improve my
results. I would ideally switch that 5
and 3 giving me a Partial Success in
Job 2 but alas I have no Intel and
must simply eat the failure.
I record the final results on my job
sheet and give effect to the rewards
and penalties as appropriate.Then, I
write in my journal how my character
22
feels. It could be as short as I want.
Maybe I just write:
Goddess-damned people can’t do
anything right thought. Poor Belli had
his skull split open while trying to run
a switcheroo on some courier. Turns
out they were expecting something.
They left his body there. Poor boy’s
only family is a brother whose an
apprentice clockworker so we sent
him a note and Belli’s split.
Once I’ve done that, I repeat the
whole process for Week 2.
Wish me luck!
LICENSE
***
The text of this game is licensed
under Creative Commons CC BY SA
4.0 International license. This means
that you can use the text of this game
in any way as long as you attribute its
authorship to me and license the
subsequent product under the same
license.
To attribute the text to me use the
following credit
“This work is based on The Spider
and The City (found at
notrueindian.itch.io) by Thomas
Manuel and licensed for use under a
Creative Commons CC BY SA 4.0
International license.”
This text must be placed in the same
place you put your own copyright
notice, and must be the same size as
the rest of your copyright notice.
inquilad
People’s Feminist
Union
Free Anarchist
Brigade
United Democratic
Alliance

23
Workers’ Socialist
Sisterhood
Loyalist-Controlled
Territory.
Hello, you! Yes, you!
Thanks for reading this game! Let me introduce myself. I’m Thomas
Manuel. I’m an Indian journalist, playwright and game designer.
If you have any questions about the game or generally want to send me
some feedback, message me on twitter @chaibypost or email me at
notrueindian@outlook.com
I’d also LOVE to receive your Actual Play reports. If you link me to yours, I’ll
link to it from the game’s itch.io page!
If you liked this game, consider rating and reviewing it on itch.io. It helps
the game reach a wider audience and it’s a free way to support the game! If
you review it elsewhere, let me know. I’d love to grab a blurb and feature it!
You can find my other games at: notrueindian.itch.io

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