DAWN

A Diceless High Fantasy resource management TTRPG

A TTRPG written by Joel Vreugdenhil, in association with Dark After Games

 Table Of Contents
Table Of Contents 1
Introduction 5
Cliff Notes 5
Rule Zero, Consent 6
What You Need 6
Playing The Game 6
Modes Of Play 6

World(s) of Dawn 8
The Bare Essentials 8
Recommendations And Guidelines 8
The World Of Sand And Stars 10
The World Of Daggers And Dusk 10
Setting Creation Activity 11
Setting Quick Rolls 12

Universal Rules 15
Attributes 15
Scenes 15
Challenge Rolls 16
Influence 16
Always Round Up 16

Narrative Play 18
Resolving Narrative Challenge Rolls 18
Ranks 19
Skills 19
Standard Skills 19
Abilities 20
Creating Unique Words 20
Ability Glossary 21
Character Concepts 22
History 22
Aesthetic 23
Intermissions 24
Bonds 24
Influence 25
Stress 25
Tiers 26
Antagonist Rules 26
Campaign Scale 27
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 Outlooks 28
The Rebel 29
The Loyal 29
The Quiet 30
The Confident 30
The Light 31
The Wolf 31
The Accursed 32
The Blessed 32
The Learned 33
The Naive 33
Narrative Character Checklist 34

Combat 36
Turn Order 36
Actions And Action Points 36
Damage And Health 37
Wounds And Death 37
Earning Influence Through Wounds 37
Tension 37
Focus 37
Speed 37
Spaces And Movement 38
Drawing Range 38
Special Targeting 38
Terrain 39
Alternate Mode: Cinematic Combat 39
Basic Actions 40
Combos 40
Movement 40
Attacks 40
Defense 42
Utility 43
Effect Listing 44
Dueling 45
Techniques 46
Archetypes 46
Advanced Techniques 46
Combat Character Checklist 47

Powerhouse 49
Slayer 53
Bulwark 57
Altruist 61
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Disruptor 65
Ruiner 69
Advanced Techniques 73

Example Builds 75
Narrator Tools 79
Employing Antagonists 79

Building Combat 80
Enemy Rules 80
Enemy Tiers 80
Fodder Enemies 81
Compound Enemies 81
Enemy Types 81
Complex Enemy Types 88

Credits 90

3
 A Game Written by Joel Vreugdenhil

If you’re interested in testing or interacting with the community feel free to join the Discord
https://discord.gg/Wzvu7T9bmJ

DAWN © 2023 by Joel Vreugdenhil is licensed under CC BY 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

4
 Introduction
DAWN is a grid-based, combat-focused, setting-agnostic TTRPG, made with a focus on mechanics that provide as
much depth as possible while keeping the game fast-paced and easy to pick up and play.

Create your heroes, discover truths of the world, face against thinly veiled metaphors in the forms of fearsome
overlords and monsters, and grow - both in power and as people - within a world of your own making! Embark on an
adventure with friends, coming with its highest highs and lowest lows, bearing the greatest storms to gaze upon the
beautiful DAWN.

This Chapter is meant to introduce you, the reader, to the most basic ideas of the game. It informs you on what the game
expects from you and what you should expect from it.

Cliff Notes Custom Skills

If you are someone who’s played a number of different
TTRPGs before this, you may have some assumptions
about the game’s systems or could easily recognize
traits that it shares with others.
Here’s a basic rundown of some of those traits so
that you can get an idea of how DAWN plays:
Build Your Own World
This game is fully setting-agnostic. This means that you
can build and play in any world, existing or original, so
long as it follows a few basic rules.
XD6 Resolution System
When attempting to resolve any kind of conflict you’ll
roll a various number of 6-sided dice (D6), treating rolls
of 4 or more as ‘Hits’. You’ll need some number of Hits
to succeed.
Exploding 6s
When you roll a 6 using the XD6 system it ‘Explodes’,
letting you roll an additional die.
A Meta-Resource
Players will gain and track ‘Influence’ throughout a
game, it serves to reward players who interact with the
story in meaningful ways and can be spent in almost
any situation to gain an advantage.
In narrative play players can write their own ‘Skills’,
modifiers they can add to rolls to make it easier to
succeed. There is no set list that they must pick from.
Fluid-Archetype Character Builds
Though ‘Archetypes’ exist, they serve mostly as a way
to organize and categorize the basic Techniques of the
system, each with their own effects and synergies.
Characters can build any combination of Techniques
from multiple Archetypes.
Split Narrative and Combat
A harsh divide has been added between the systems of
narrative and combat play, so that players who value
one over the other do not need to make any
concessions over what they choose to prioritize.
Implied Inventory
This game is not concerned with the players managing
ropes, torches, and potions. If you feel like your
character should have a sword, they have a sword,
when they heal they could pop a regeneration serum,
use magic, or just tough it out, it all depends on what
the user finds most interesting.

5
Rule Zero, Consent
Like in any cooperative activity, consent is paramount in
a TTRPG. Define lines that should not be crossed.
Pause or rewind the game if something uncomfortable
happens during a session. Always make sure everyone
is comfortable with the direction of the story.
What You Need
If you want to play you will need…
This book.
Lots of dice. Whenever this game refers to dice, it
specifically means 6 sided dice, or D6.
A character sheet (These can be found wherever you
got this book).
A group of friends to be the players and Narrator.
Playing The Game
One person is the Narrator, the rest are players. And as
a group you play through “sessions”, an abstract set of
play all played in a single instance.
Narrator: Guide the story, present challenges to the
group. Be a fan of the players. Ask them questions, fill
the world with their answers.
Player: Describe what your character does. Give
everyone a time to shine. Fill the world with your
ideas. Take risks, and rise up from failures.
After a session ends your group can continue at another
date, or not, the decision is up to you.
6
Modes Of Play
In almost all cases within DAWN you will be within one
of two modes, narrative, or combat, and each of these
function differently and rarely interact with each other.
Narrative
In general terms, narrative play occurs when the
majority of players are not fighting or don’t want to be
tactical, and within this mode rules are much looser,
allowing each player to use their problem-solving and
abilities to solve problems. Mechanics like “Skills” and
“Abilities” are core to Narrative.
Combat
In opposition to this is combat play, where each
character within is arranged on a board of tiles (normally
a 7x7 board specifically), using strict combat rules and
tactics to take out their opponent(s). Mechanics like
“Attributes” and “Techniques” are core to Combat.
Both of these modes function differently and are
separated within this book, each section showing rules
that only apply to that mode.
Author’s Note: No Overlap
It’s important to note that characters should not be
carrying over their traits from narrative play to combat
play, having an Ability that lets you stop time does not
let you take extra turns in combat, and having 3 levels in
the Summoner Technique does not mean you can
summon anything you want in narrative. Make an effort
to write a character whose narrative and combat
features compliment each other.
World(s) of Dawn

The land stretches out before you, one of mystery and wonder, and one of your own making.

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 World(s) of Dawn
DAWN is designed so that it can carry all sorts of high action, fantasy stories, in worlds that the players can create
themselves. Though creating this world with your players can be fun, I understand that there are plenty of reasons why
someone may not want to. You may not know your players, they may not be comfortable with that sort of creative work,
or you may just find the process tedious.

Whether it be for one of these reasons or some other, there are a few sample settings for you to use on the following
few pages! Feel free to play a game of DAWN using these as a starting point, be it purely as written, or with some
alterations that you find suitable.

The Bare Essentials Recommendations And Guidelines

No matter what setting you’re playing in there will be
some parts of it that will be either assumed, due to the
tropes in DAWN’s inspirations, or required due to
DAWN’s mechanics. The 3 following points are
required elements within any DAWN game.
Magic
The first and most vital factor. DAWN and the idea of the
supernatural are deeply intertwined, many of the abilities
of both players and NPCs are explained with the
presence of some sort of magic. This could be magic
in the traditional sense, casting spells and all that,
but it could also be complex technology, advanced
physical techniques, or any other things that your
heroes would have access to.
Action
At least half of this book is made to explain how you
punch good. This was written under the assumption that
characters will be fighting quite a lot, and that these
fights would be non-lethal and spectacle-focused. If
someone playing this game is completely opposed
to the idea of fighting for fun, or as a sport, they may
feel uncomfortable.
Fiction
Though the exact nature of the setting is up to your
group, nothing in this book is made to replicate or even
approximate the real world. Most things in it are
completely unrealistic and that won't change unless
you put in way too much work.
None of the following things are required for a DAWN
setting, but many of the inspirations that shaped it share
these tropes, the following is a list of things that I (the
author) think are important to embrace or reject for the
intended experience. However, these are just my
preferences, and are in no way needed to play the
game for yourself.
Stories About Special Interests
When creating a world with such simple focuses as the
ones described just before this it’s important not to get
too caught in the minute details. Many of the stories
that inspire DAWN have an incredibly simple thesis
statement, “a story about martial artists in space” “a
story about evil firefighters” “a story about buff
wizards”, and use that as a vehicle to express the
themes they want to show in the story.
For this reason creating worlds to house these kinds
of stories is a perfect opportunity to explore your
more niche interests that you may not feel like you can
explore with other projects.
Do you like bugs? Then make your world or character
based on some bug facts you know. Do you like space?
Then this is a world is one where people can manipulate
powers from the stars. If it’s something you have
interest in this is your time to express that.

8
Love And Respect Characters
Characters, especially player character, are often
reflections of those who created them. For that reason
and because I believe it makes games more fun, it's
important to genuinely love and respect your character
and the characters of other players.
There is no situation where a character you play
should be just a joke, they can do or be things you
think are funny, but you should always include at least
one element that you genuinely think is cool, poignant,
important, and/or beautiful.
Human Foes
This game has multiple mechanics that benefit from
antagonists being their own people with their own
motivations and stories behind them.
If the ultimate evil of your story, or just the story of a
specific session, is a nameless monster than some
mechanics, especially those relating to Bonds, are
literally impossible to use, and hence removes
interaction from the game.
Even if your villains are simple you should be sure to
create them with the same amount of care as a player
character, give players things to latch onto and a story
to invest themselves into.
9
Special People / The Supernatural Society
Because this game allows for so many strange and
powerful abilities, logic dictates that there is some sort
of limitation on who has these abilities, or else someone
is going to blow up the world one day.
For this reason a lot of media decides that abilities are
one of the following (or both!), the supernatural is
either rare and only given to a select few people, or
there is some group or organization that regulates
the use of these supernatural abilities.
Breaking The Power Ceiling
Power is a fundamental part of this game, the game and
the choices it gives to players exist to give that player
power over a specific part of the game, in order to
provide a matching “power fantasy”.
This is partly to emphasize its inspiration’s obsessions
with power as an element of storytelling, the powerful
exploit the weak and the players need to become strong
to stop them.
For this reason many non player characters will attempt
to establish a “power ceiling”, a limit to how strong
someone can be, and a common way to make the
viewer excited for a character is to have them break
that ceiling, denying the beliefs of the villains. This
can of course be inverted if the players attempt to set a
power ceiling of their own.
The World Of Sand And Stars
Beneath a sky strewn with thousands of stars, stars so
close and so filled with their primordial fury that they
shine brighter at all hours of the day, a cosmically small
speck of dust houses millions of magi.
This is Ka'Sha, a desert world where humans draw
from the power of the stars and their many
constellations to perform impossible supernatural feats.
Mounted on sand skiffs, these ambitious mages search
their planet for fallen stars, hoping to be recognized for
their bravery and skill.
And bravery they must have, for these fallen stars often
come with a passenger, one whose terrifying form and
unbelievable power strike fear into all who witness them.
Magic
Within this world magic is a tool, one used by those who
are lucky or wealthy enough to find and keep hold of
one of the many “Star Shards” left by falling stars.
The way this magic is used is split into one of two
groups, absorption and utilization.
When a character absorbs the latent energy of a star
shard they will likely be given an Ability or set of Abilities
that holds some power over an element of the natural
world, often sand, light, or wind.
Star Shards can also be utilized within technology,
creating all sorts of esoteric effects not limited by our
beliefs of technology.
Action
There are many threats across Ka’Sha, and the common
people are likely to be facing one of the many armored
monsters that roam the sand, the imperial soldiers
drunk with the power given to them by their utilization of
Star Shards, or the bandits that wander trade roads.
Fiction
Characters within the world of Sand and Stars might
mix thematic elements of cosmic horror, Arabian
mythology, and other desert fantasy settings like Dune.
10
The World Of Daggers And Dusk
The Guild City of Pantomime is known throughout the
world for two things, its massive population and
attractive growing market, paired with the presence of
dozens of rival Assassination Syndicates meant to
remove their business rivals.
Each shady alleyway and smoky club backroom a
invariable battlefield, fought with as many biting
comments as severing blades.
The powerful members of this world would do anything
to keep it this way—a game where they always have the
advantage. Whether you let that happen is up to you.
Magic
Many citizens of Pantomime have been granted the
power of a ‘Fate’, and seemingly at random. These Fates
invoke the power of person or thing from human history,
with the personality and life of the citizen influencing
what is selected and how it is interpreted.
Many of those in power have either been born with a
Fate or control other powerful users of it, with many of
them being based upon tyrants and monarchs of the
past.
Other citizens could halve almost anything, but many
end up disappointed. Someone may be blessed by the
powers of some mighty god or legendary weapon only
to have it translate as an incredibly mundane knack for
something vaguely related to it.
Action
This world is lethal, guns and blades can kill with a
single blow, and for that reason most hits in combat
should probably be interpreted as lucky grazes or close
dodges that drain the target’s stamina.
Fiction
Characters within the world of Daggers and Dusk will be
deeply intertwined with the powers to be, though most
would rather be able to ignore it. This naturally results in
4 groups, those who fight the power, those who’re
ambivalent to current events, those who respect or
believe in those in power, and those in power.
Setting Creation Activity
To get an idea of what your players are looking for from
your game you can use the following activity.
First, it's important to make sure that everyone is on the
same page. The Narrator (or whoever else organized the
game if it was not the Narrator) should start by setting
some common ground.
Open Questions
The person reading this section should allow each
player to answer the following questions, with their
answer becoming an element of the setting. Players
uncomfortable with any point stated should say so, as
stated in rule 0.
“Name and/or describe the best/most important thing
within a category of my choosing.”

Asking
“Tell me something that no one's ever done before.”
Start by asking each player what kind of game they
were expecting or would be excited for. Something
“Describe a massive threat to the world.”
super simple like "A fantasy game kind of like X", or "A
game about Y". There are no wrong answers here and
“Name something that exists in our modern world that
different ideas should be explored in more detail.
does not exist/is fundamentally different here.”

Then each player should be encouraged to name

something they thought was interesting or exciting from
another player's initial idea. This may come up naturally
when the ideas are brought up; if so that's great and
this paragraph can be skipped.
Agreeing
At this point, the players should try to agree on a
general idea. Hopefully, there was one idea the majority
was excited about, but if not players can choose to
throw out new ideas or go into more detail on their
original. And then comes the final step, unless the
players want to use an existing setting.
If you can, it’s a good idea to agree on the following
points.
“Describe something that sounds unnatural to us, but
is totally normal here.”
Author’s Note: Building On Your Own
Though the setting creation activity is meant to be a sort
of ice-breaker for the players and Narrator, it also serves
as an effective world building guide for one person.
Just try to note down your answer to the first four
general questions as well as 2 or 3 answers for the five
more specific questions.
Doing world building on your own also means it’s much
easier for you to use the random roll tables listed on the
following pages.

What’s the general tone of the story?

How do/did people get/learn/do magic?

How much/what tech do people have?

What media touchstone(s) does this remind you of?

Much more can and should be established, but that can

be done with the questions listed on the next page.

11
Setting Quick Rolls
This is the first of many “Roll Tables” found throughout
this book. For each of them there will be a listed
question or prompt as well as a table with 11 possible
short answers. You can roll a 2D6 to randomly choose
one of them.
The relevance of technology, 2D6 Roll Table
2: You live in a world reminiscent of medieval
England, with little to no technological complexity.
3: The high of an industrial revolution, the sounds of
hissing steam and turning gears heard worldwide.

4: It’s the advent of the space age, humanity is

This specific roll table is meant to get some quick expanding past the boundary of the horizon.
answers for some of the questions asked in the setting
creation activity from the page before. 5: The world ended a long time ago. Utopia was
replaced with ruin and machinery with twisted flesh.
The origin of Magic, 2D6 Roll Table 6: An odd twist on the modern world, where melee
weapons are considered just as deadly as firearms.
2: A natural phenomenon manipulated through all
sorts of relics, rituals, and runes.
7: The Bronze Age, a world that’s just learning how to
meld, mold, and make, metals of all kinds.
3: The products of Galahad Industrial, a company that
popped up out of nowhere with revolutionary ideas.
8: An economy, culture, and science built using the
bodies of unnatural monsters from around the world.
4: The abilities of your ancestors and guardian spirits,
each with lives that shaped their abilities.
9: The bodies of almost every person have now been
enhanced or replaced by advanced cybernetics.
5: The blessings of an ambivalent god, granted
through their worship and sacrifices to them.
10: The Stone Age. Giant beasts walk among us, to
be conquered with arrow and spear.
6: Strange abilities and mutations originating from
years of radioactive exposure.
11: New planets are being colonized by
bioengineered humans, bearing many new features.
7: The wide-spread utilization of energy producing
gemstones found throughout the land.
12: Slime
8: A set of complex martial techniques. Whether it’s
truly magic or skill remains a mystery to most.

9: Contracts made with a variety of devils, each

asking for different things from their users.

10: A set of 10,000 magical trading cards scattered

throughout the universe, each unique in its effects.

11: The rhythm of the universe, a song whose muses

control its deadly tempo.

12: Hallucinations.

12
Who are the players, 2D6 Roll Table
2: A group of heavily armed spies, tricksters, and
killers for hire, attempting to uncover a criminal world.

3: Students of a “Hunter Academy” trained to face the

threats our world faces on a daily basis.

4: Mind-Hackers, waging a war through simulated

worlds, invisible dangers, and technological skill.

5: A party of Exorcists, purging undead of all kinds,

not only for pay, but for the good of the people.

6: Brave super-humans who’ve decided to use their

abilities to help those in need.

7: Wandering outlaws. Forgotten by the people they

once called friends, yet never out of the law’s sight.

8: Arena fighters looking for fame and glory at the

possible cost of their lives.

9: Creatures in the shadows. Those ugly things that

polite society refuses to recognize.

10: Duelists and other martial arts masters, who seek

to improve themselves above all else.

11: Members of a highly elite ruling class, each

holding immense power over the law and land.

12: Goblins

13
Universal Rules

The following rules apply to every section of the game, be sure to pay attention!

14
 Universal Rules
Though there aren’t many, there are a few rules that apply to both combat play and narrative play. These universal rules
form the core of the game and reach out to touch every other mechanic, in ways both big and small.

If you’re familiar with other TTRPGs this section may key you into how this game works on a fundamental level, and is a
great place to start when it comes to describing the game to others.

Attributes Assigning Attributes

Attributes are an abstraction that quantifies a
character’s best and worst approaches within a Scene.
They affect the dice you roll for nearly every action
your character makes, both in combat and within the
narrative.
They also influence other secondary statistics.
The 4 Attributes are as follows.
When creating a player character you must assign each
of your Attributes as either a Primary, Secondary, or
Tertiary. This will determine the Attribute’s starting
value.
A character has:
One Primary Attribute that starts at 3.
One Secondary Attribute that starts at 2.

Body
And two Tertiary Attributes that start at 1.
Your physical health and strength. Affects Health and
physical power.
Scenes
Talent A Scene is a general measurement of time that lasts
Your ability to perform complex movements and as long as the same in film and television. Despite its
tasks. Affects Speed and physical power. variance and flexibility, they are used in many of the
game’s systems.

Spirit
While the start and end of scenes can be determined at
Your natural ability to use, and knowledge of,
the Narrator’s discretion, there are some hard rules that
supernatural powers. Affects Focus and other magic.
should be observed to maintain the pace of the game.

Mind Whenever a player is acting for any reason, it takes

Your academic knowledge and/or ability to think on place within a Scene.
your feet. Affects utility actions.
Whenever there is a “Fade to black”, skip in the story,
Author’s Note: Attributes Are Not Character or the game is otherwise brought to a halt, a new
Scene starts.
These Attributes should not influence how you, or other
players, see a character. Attributes should instead
Whenever the game changes Modes between
mechanically support the actions you want your
narrative and combat, a new Scene starts.
character to take. A character with low Mind does not
need to be “dumb”, the player just doesn’t want to focus
on Mind for the scenes that character is in.

15
Challenge Rolls
Almost all relevant player actions in DAWN are the
cause of or caused by a Challenge Roll. Challenge Rolls
have three parts, the Rewards they provide, the Risks
they impose, and how Challenging it is.
When someone tries to take a Challenge Roll they roll a
number of D6 equal to their Attribute that’s most
relevant, then count each result of 4 or more as a “Hit”.
When this game asks you to make a Challenge Roll it
will often phrase it as “Roll X”, meaning “make a
Challenge Roll rolling dice equal to X, where X is one
of your Attributes”.
If there are more Hits than the Challenge the user
receives the Rewards. This is a “Full Success”.
If the Hits are equal they receive both the Reward and
the Risk. This is a “Partial Success”.
If the Hits are less than the Challenge the user
receives only the Risk. This is a “Failure”.
Exploding Hits
If any dice rolled in a Roll rolls a 6, that die “Explodes”,
not only counting as a Hit, but allowing the user to roll
an additional D6.
Advantage/Disadvantage
Challenge Rolls can also be modified with any amount
of Advantage or Disadvantage. These force the recipient
to roll more or less dice for the roll respectively (A
Talent Roll on a character with 5 Talent normally rolls 5
dice, with 2 advantage the character rolls 7 dice
instead).
Hit Chances
Sometimes the Reward, Risk, and Challenge of a given
Roll will be predetermined, but in many cases it will
need to be improvised by the GM. For that reason it’s
important to remember that each dice you roll is worth
about 0.51 Hits. So if you’re a GM you could set
average Challenge of a roll at about the highest
Attribute value throughout the party, as when
accounting for bonuses that should be a reasonable
Challenge.
16
Opposed Challenge Rolls
Challenge Rolls can also be “Opposed” when two
characters are trying to beat each other in something.
In this situation there is no Challenge, and instead both
participants treat their opponent’s Hits as if it was
the Challenge, with the character who got the most
Hits winning and receiving their Rewards.
If both characters roll the same number of Hits both
characters must reroll.
Extended Challenge Rolls
Under some conditions an Opposed Challenge Roll can
become an Extended Challenge Roll.
These alternate rolls follow the same rules as a normal
one right until the end, in an Extended Roll whenever a
character loses they instead lose one of their dice
and force a reroll, repeating until one character has no
dice remaining.
Influence
In combat and narrative there are situations where
players will be given Influence. This is the only
resource that is shared between both modes of play,
and it has different uses in each mode.
This Influence is kept between Scenes and sessions,
with no upper limit for each player.
Players can also be awarded Influence by performing
‘Influential Actions’, playing well, having good
interactions with the other players, giving fun
descriptions to their actions, or sacrificing something for
the sake of the story, anything that has a positive
effect on the story.
Always Round Up
As stated, when presented with a fraction of any kind it
should instead be rounded up to the nearest whole
number.
Narrative Play

Some guidelines to help you play a character, get immersed, and get into the narrative of your games.

17
 Narrative Play
The fiction of a game, the place where players are free to chat in-character and think of all sorts of solutions to the
puzzles presented to their character, be they literal or metaphorical.

The Rules of narrative play mostly center around the use of Challenge Rolls and how they can be enhanced, avoided, or
interpreted, mostly through the ‘Skills’ and ‘Abilities’ players create for their characters. And when these rolls create
situations that put characters together ‘Bonds’ can be created to show how that meeting affected them.

Resolving Narrative Challenge Rolls Gaining Advantage

The most important thing to know about running In almost all Challenge Rolls the player making the Roll
narrative play in DAWN is the following: will want someway to gain Advantage.

The Narrator should not roll dice in most Scenes.
In most cases the Narrator should just be stating how
things are, the story’s events happen as they should,
without a random number generator affecting it.
All Challenge Rolls should be able to benefit from each
of the following effects, but only once for each.
Skills: Choose a Skill relevant to the roll in question
and gain Advantage equal to its Rank.

However, the players should always have the
opportunity to change or prevent those events by
attempting a Rolls relevant to it.
When it comes to creating Challenge Rolls, the part that
a lot of players and Narrators find the most difficult is
setting Risks, for this reason there are the following
guidelines you can review for your games.
No K.O.s: Players can already avoid risks by getting
closer and closer to removing themselves from the
scene, so generally it’s uninteresting to make “losing
access to your character” a Risk, as players won’t
really need to consider taking the Risk anyway.
Abilities: Choose an Ability relevant to the roll in
question and gain Advantage equal to its Rank.
Bonds: If the subject of one of your Bonds is directly
related to the Roll or a focus of the Scene you may
gain Advantage equal to the Bond Rank.
Team Rolls
If two player characters are attempting to achieve the
same goal and either would need to roll for it, they can
try to work together instead, each of them making their
own Roll, with the player who rolled the most Hits
having theirs counted against the Challenge.

Lasting Consciences: Try offering up Risks that

would change a character - at least aesthetically - for
a long time. Things like having a player’s weapon
break or having a limb cut off are examples of this.

18
Ranks Standard Skills
Almost all narrative traits on a player character have a
“Rank” that shows how useful it is, and can be ranked Body Skills
up any number of times, normally by spending
“Character Ranks”, a resource given out in character Brute Force Battling.
creation. The use of these Ranks differ between each
feature, but more Ranks is always better. Heavy Lifting.

When a character is created they are given 8 starting A Will To Survive.

Character Ranks, spending at least 3 on Abilities, and at
least 3 on Skills. Stubborn And Ever-Moving.

Your initial Character Ranks cannot be saved for later. Talent Skills

Skills A Place To Hide.

Your Character Ranks can be spent to gain or Rank up a
Skill, with each Skill increasing up to a max Rank of 5. The Art Of Combat.
Skills are specialized actions and bits of knowledge that
your character is exceptional at. Adept Acrobat.

Skills are custom written by their user and should Master Of Blades.
follow the following guidelines:
Spirit Skills
Short And Sweet: The Skill should be 5 words long at
most. Latent Magical Talent.

Not Too General: It should be obvious where a Skill Beast-Like Instinct

can’t be used.
Complex Rituals.
Skills, Not Abilities: A Skill should be something
anyone is capable of without the assistance of Confident And Likeable.
supernatural elements.
Mind Skills
Skill Attributes
Each Skill must be assigned to an Attribute. The one Medicine.
you decide on effects when it can and can’t be, for
example, being physically restrained may stop you from Tactics And Leadership.
using Body or Talent Skills but not Mind or Spirit Skills.
Master Manipulator.
Skill Examples
Skills can be tough to think of, and harder to approve as Historical Knowledge.
a Narrator, because of this DAWN provides a set of
‘Standard Skills’ to serve as example.

19
Abilities
DAWN characters are also created with some number of
Abilities. Abilities are things that a character can do
that would normally be impossible, they share the
same Rank and Attribute system as Skills.
Unlocking Abilities
However, unlike Skills, you cannot just spend a
Character Rank and gain any Rank 1 Ability.
To obtain an Ability you must spend a number of
Character Ranks equal to the Ability’s total cost, with a
minimum of 1 (After purchasing an Ability it can still be
ranked up normally up to 5, spending 1 Rank for each).
All Abilities follow the format of:
“You can [Verb] [Noun], so long as [Condition].”
On the following page there is a list of terms that can be
used to fill in those bracketed sections, and a cost
associated with it. The total cost of Verb, Noun, and
Condition is the cost of the Ability.
Ability Guidelines
The list is not exhaustive. If someone wants to choose
their own word with its own cost, they can. So long as
the group agrees.
These Abilities are meant to be interpreted differently for
each person. And so long as the group is ok with it, the
way you interpret these three words can be almost
anything.
Author’s Note: Not Always Effortless
It is assumed that a character can use their abilities at
will, and that basic applications of those Abilities should
not require any sort of Roll.
However, it is important to know that the Narrator is
always able to oppose actions that would dramatically
change the story, normally by having an NPC force a
player to make an opposed Roll in order to achieve their
goal.
20
Creating Unique Words
Even if you follow these rules a player who wants to
make custom words for their Abilities must brief their
Narrator and get their approval.
However, both to make judging the quality of these
words easier for Narrators and to make the creation
easier for players these more concrete guidelines exist.
Impact And Access
Every word in a Ability, no matter if it is a Verb, Noun, or
Condition, can be judged in one of two district
categories, the word’s Impact and its Access.
Verbs: These words are possibly the most important
ones in a Ability, and when creating a new one a
player must ask “How Impactful is this word.”
A Verb’s Impact describes how much it can change in
a story when used at its most extreme. The Verb
“Obliterate” and “Create” share the highest cost
among all Verbs, this is because when combined with
Nouns like “People”, “Time”, or “Heat” it can be used
to completely alter the course of a story.
Nouns: Often the most descriptive and flavorful word
of an Ability, Nouns are often connected to the user’s
Aesthetic and need to be judged based on their
Access.
A Noun’s Access describes how many different and
important things full under their umbrella. It is not a
coincidence that only Nouns are tagged with the “✝”
symbol, as that symbol lets a player directly
lower the number of things their ability effects
while still keeping the importance of those things.
Conditions: Paradoxically the least interesting and
most important part of an ability, Conditions are
complex and utilize both Impact and Access.
To further explain, here is an example. “You build it” is
a condition that limits the Impact your other words can
have, since no matter what you want to do it has to fit
within the limit of “being buildable”. “You touch it”
instead effects how often your character can use that
Ability, with no effect on what it can do.
Ability Glossary

You can [Verb] [Noun], so long as [Condition].

Verb Cost Noun Cost Condition Cost

Breathe ✢ 0 Ghosts 0 You roll a 6 on a d6 -3

Eat ✢ 0 Weather 0 Your life is in danger -2

Sense ✢ 0 Food 0 At a Specific Time -1

Become ✢ 1 Traps 0 You’re wearing it -1

Locate 1 Plants ✝ 1 It’s Not For Your Sake 0

Enhance 1 Melee Weapons ✝ 1 You Build It 0

Launch / Grab 1 Sound 1 You Carry It 0

Repair / Heal 1 People ✝ 2 You Sign On It 0

Damage / Bruise 1 Machines ✝ 2 You Aren’t Seen 0

Conceal / Reveal 2 The Four Elements ✝ 2 You Touch It 0

Control 2 Light / Shadow ✝ 2 You Hear / Smell It 1

Stop / Immobilise 2 Animals ✝ 2 You Dance 1

Duplicate 2 Heat 2 You Understand It 1

Enlarge / Shrink 2 Mana / Electricity 2 You Speak To It 1

Cut / Break / Melt 2 Meat / Bone 2 You Draw It 1

Teleport 2 Ranged Weapons ✝ 2 You Explain It 1

Create ✢ 3 Yourself ✢ 2 You Hold Your Breath 1

Obliterate 3 Time 3 It Can Hear You 1

Fuse X and ☾ X Fluids / Solids / Gases ✝ 3 You See It 2

Transform X Into ☾ X Anything 4 You Remember It 3

✢ (If you pick any part that is marked like this your Ability cannot have a Condition)

✝ (These Nouns represent a category, you may reduce its cost by 1 by picking only one thing in that category)

☾ (You must choose another Noun to represent X, the X in its cost becomes the chosen Noun’s Cost)

21
Character Concepts
Important characters may be created with a ‘Concept’. This always includes players, as well as major villains and
other important non-player characters. These Concepts are an important aspect of using Influence and should be
thought over to make sure the player can use their character the way they would like to.

A Concept is made up of two parts: a character’s “History” and “Aesthetic”.

History
A History is a general descriptor of a character’s past. It’s meant to be incredibly general and imply the broad strokes of
their experience through life. It can be used as a justification for having certain items in narrative scenes or even
help you gain Influence via Influential Actions. A History can be determined by using the roll table below, by
combining an Adjective, Noun, and piece of Flair.

2D6 Roll Table

Adjective Noun Flair

2: Kind / Cruel 2: Sage / Mage 2: Looking For God

3: No-Nonsense / Carefree 3: Noble / Politician 3: Selected By The Academy

4: Money-Grubbing / Charitable 4: Abomination / Beast 4: Of The Seven Seas

5: Charismatic / Closed Off 5: Warrior / Soldier 5: Out For Revenge

6: Mysterious / Famous 6: Inventor / Mechanic 6: Of The Noble Knights

7: Wandering / Local 7: Student / Squire 7: From The Badlands

8: Naive / Wise 8: Gunslinger / Cannoneer 8: From The Past / Future

9: Young / Elderly 9: Priest / Nun 9: With A Heart Of Gold

10: Loyal / Traitorous 10: Doctor / Medic 10: Who Dug Too Deep

11: Chosen / Oathbreaker 11: Dancer / Bard 11: Born To Ruin

12: Inquisitive / Dense 12: Alchemist / Scientist 12: Who’s Out Of Their League

Author’s Note: A Non-Exhaustive List

A character’s Theme is really just what the player thinks is cool or fun to show with their character, it may tie into other
aspects of the character’s Concept, but it’s not a requirement. The options below can just serve as examples, and you
may freely write your own Aesthetic so long as you feel it’s formatted similarly.

22
Aesthetic
This half a character’s Concept is much more abstract than the first, and is made up of two parts. There is the
“Motivation”, and the “Theme”.

A character’s Motivation should either summarize a character’s main goal in their story, or a major flaw that they must
overcome in very general terms, normally in three or fewer words.

A Theme, on the other hand, is almost purely fluff. It shows how the player wants to represent the Motivation
aesthetically, or it can just be something that they think looks cool.

2D6 Roll Table

Motivation Theme

2: Revenge 2: Fire / Passion

3: Ambition 3: Ice / Stagnancy

4: Greed 4: Air / Movement

5: Martyrdom 5: A predatory animal / Strength

6: Curiosity 6: A prey animal / Vulnerability

7: Destiny 7: Earth / Nature

8: Freedom 8: Darkness / Corruption

9: Apathy 9: Light / Purity

10: Fear 10: Gold / Wealth

11: Responsibility 11: Steel / Weapons

12: Regret 12: Smoke / Mystery

Author’s Note: Using Aesthetic Concept For Non-Characters

If you’re having a hard time creating something as a Player or GM, such as a hook for your game, a special weapon or
ability, or some sort of story relevant NPC, try rolling on the Aesthetic table.

If this thing is related to an existing character you could try keeping one of those characters parts and rerolling the other,
that way you always have a similarity to turn to when it comes to relating that character to it.

A player who’s themed around their “Curiosity and Wealth” may be compelled to form a Bond with or otherwise interact
with a fearsome antagonist who mirrors their focus on Wealth but instead uses it along with “Fear” or “Greed”, making
them a sort of mirror to that player’s character.

23
Intermissions
An “Intermission” represents the downtime between
major events in a game, normally between each
session, but sometimes more or less often.

Intermissions remove the Wounds and Stress from every

character involved, as well as giving them time to do
pretty much anything they want within the game’s
narrative (so long as it doesn’t involve another player
who doesn’t give explicit permission), since this is
effectively a fade to black where characters change and
grow via conversation and training.

Bonds
During Intermissions, player characters can choose to
form a Bond with any other named character that they
can speak to or have spoken to in the time between this
Intermission and the last.

These Bonds represent the way this PC views the

subject of the Bond, be they rivals, friends, or
colleagues. Bonds can represent any sort of
connection or relationship regardless of its nature, the
only consistent element is that this Bond is always a
one-way-street, the subject does not need to share
these feelings.

Bonds come in Ranks, and for each Intermission a

character spends with the subject of their Bond they
can increase the Bond’s Rank by 1, so long as the
character using them never has more than 4 total Bond
Ranks (this value is your max Bond Ranks).

Breaking Bonds
For one reason or another, someone may decide that
their Bond has been ‘Broken’, something has changed
in their perception of that character. Doing this
removes all Ranks of that Bond and gives the user
an equal amount of Influence. Once a PC has broken
a Bond with a character, they lose the ability to gain
Influence by breaking a Bond with the same character.

24
Influence
Throughout a game players will earn “Influence”, a
unique resource that is retained throughout Scenes and
sessions, players should receive an Influence whenever
one of the following things happens.
The session starts and they have no Influence.
Author’s Note: Influence Flairs
The following is an optional rule that can can be
included along with the normal Influence rules.
In addition to the normal effects of Influence Move,
players MAY add a “Influence Flair” when they use a
Influence Move (even if they use one in Combat).

Their character receives a Stress or Wound.
Their character breaks a Bond.
They take an “Influential Action”.
Influence Flairs are additional pieces of minor
character/world building that players may establish, it
comes in 3 basic forms, but players may propose
alternate effects if they have an idea that isn’t allowed
with these options.

Influence Moves Flashback: Establish a fact about your character or the

Characters can choose to spend 1 Influence on one of
the following Influence Moves.
However, when they do so they must also “Invoke” an
element of their character’s Concept or one of their
Bonds, giving some reason why it relates to the current
scene.
All Out: Reroll a Challenge Roll. For that roll, all dice
with a value of 3 or more are counted as Hits.
world that relates to what you’re doing.
Power At A Cost: Choose some normally permanent
part of your character for them to lose forever, doing this
gives you 3 Influence.
Presence: You may attempt to affect the moods of all
NPCs around you in any way you like.

Experimental Technique: Change one word on one of

your Abilities to another word with an equal cost or a
cost 1 higher for the duration of the scene.

Last Stand: Gain 3 Influence. Until the end of the

scene, surpassing 3 Stress permanently kills your
character instead of forcing them to leave the scene.

Stress
Some situations won’t be resolved in a single Roll, be it
a long journey, heated debate, or dramatic duel. Some
players may end up risking “Stress” in their Rolls.

Whenever a player would be forced to take a Risk

they can choose to receive 1 Stress instead. If a
character ever receives more than 3 Stress they are
taken out for the duration of the scene and all of their
Stress is removed. Whenever a character receives a
Stress, they also gain 1 Influence.

25
Tiers
Like most RPGs, characters in DAWN will grow in
strength over the course of a game. This is done
through increasing their Tier, which starts at 1.
Experience
Characters gain power by gaining Experience. Your
character gains Experience at the end of each session,
gaining 3 by default, and one more for each time the
players spent an Influence in the session.
When a character gains 10 Experience their Tier
increases by 1, up to a maximum of 12, and gain each
of the following benefits.
Gain +1 to two different Attributes.
Gain two levels to spend on new/existing Technique(s).
Gain two Character Ranks that can be spent on
new/existing Skills/Abilities now or later.
A new Boon from any Outlook (so long as you don’t
exceed your 3 max Outlooks) or +1 max Bond Ranks.
5 Additional Health.
Awakening
In addition to increasing your Tier the conventional way,
a character can ‘Awaken’ once per game. Whenever a
player uses Influence in a narrative scene they can
choose to Awaken by spending an additional
Influence.
When a character Awakens they can immediately
increase their Tier by one and gain any of the benefits
they’ve prepared beforehand, as well as recovering all
Stress and Wounds. However, Awakening puts your
character into ‘Burnout’ making them lose the next
10 Experience they would otherwise gain when
ending a session.
Author’s Note: In-The-Moment Awakenings
If a character Awakens suddenly without preparing they
may be given time to assign their features, however this
does interrupt the game and a Narrator is fully in their
right to have them put it off till the end of the session.
26
Antagonist Rules
Most major conflicts in a game will be caused by an
Antagonist, a non-player character (NPC) opposing the
player’s goals. These Antagonists can vary widely in
scope, as small as a nameless bandit leader, or as
important as the end of the world.
Locks
Most Antagonists have the ability to impose Locks on
player characters (PCs). These locks target one or
multiple of a character’s Attributes, and depending
on if the Lock is Total, or Partial will some way disable
the player’s Skills and Abilities. Total Locks disable the
use of Skills or Abilities of that Attribute. Partial Locks
lower the Rank of those Skills/Attributes by 1.
Antagonist Points
When an Antagonist is introduced the Narrator should
decide on a number of Antagonist Points for them to
have. Generally, someone important enough to become
an Antagonist should have at least 5, with the most
powerful having the maximum of 30.
Antagonist Actions
Each of these points can be spent on one of many
Antagonist Actions. Taking any of these actions grants
every Player present in the Scene a Influence. The
actions are as follows.
Escape: The Antagonist leaves the scene with one of
the following: a chip on their shoulder, a permanent
injury, a new Bond.
Foil: This Antagonist can negate a Reward for a player,
so long as it directly relates to them.
Lethal Blow: This Antagonist can make their
Challenge Rolls cost 2 Stress to resist.
Present Problem: The Antagonist can impose a
Partial Lock on any number of players, or impose a
Total Lock on a single character.
Unmask: The Antagonist reveals some hitherto
unknown plan or element of their character. An
Antagonist may only do this once, but doing so allows
them to regain all their points.
Campaign Scale 5-6 Established Elite
E.g. Final Fantasy 12, LOTGH, Triangle Strategy
This game can present a lot of different stories with their
own threats. You may be rookies on the path to
A person in some sort of position of power, whether it
greatness or near gods grappling with equally enormous
be due to official authority, or the respect of those within
responsibilities.
your line of work.

Normally this scale is determined by what strength the

At this point player characters have wide-reaching
players are when the game starts, these strengths
responsibilities, either being able to directly affect social
being sorted into Tiers, and in the following section
groups like towns or specific subcultures, or having
examples of “Scale” will be given for games that start
ways to indirectly affect the world at large.
from Tiers 1-10.

7-8 Best Of The Best

Author’s Note: Scale Is Fluid
To clarify, characters will not change the scale of your
story just by increasing to the Tier shown for it, these
Tiers just show where you should start if you want to
recreate the feel of that scale.
However, feel free to change the scale as a story moves
along if it feels appropriate, especially since scale has
no actual effect on the game’s mechanics, it just serves
as a guideline.
1-2 Underdog Story
E.g. The Hobbit, Naruto, Avatar
A group of complete newbies just starting to learn about
the world that they’re engaging in.
E.g. Overlord, DBZ, Naruto Shippuden
Not only are you recognized and respected by your
peers, but the world at large.
Reaching the peak of the established setting, with
abilities that can affect entire nations, the threats you
may face may break the fundamental rules of your
setting in order to be an actual danger.
9+ Legendary
E.g. DBS, Xiaxia Novels
You’ve broken out of convention, far above the
mundane world and average person. A long term game
within this scale is not recommended.

Characters in an Underdog Story will rarely be affecting
the world outside their inner circle. Their struggles are
often personal and relating to their growth.
3-4 Up-and-coming
E.g. JJK, Fairy Tail, Lord of the Rings
Both combat and narrative play within this scale require
some silly things to make anything within the world a
danger for your protagonists, so it’s not recommended
to start at this Tier.

Novices, students, and journeymen, people who have at

least some knowledge and experience, but who may
not be ready for the things that lie ahead.

The recommended scale for those experienced with

TTRPGs or who have played this game before.
Characters in this scale will likely be involved in the lives
of other NPCs, helping with a problem in their
hometown or taking small-time missions, but these can
easily expand out as they climb in Tier.

27
Outlooks
Each player character is created with one of the following ‘Outlooks’ to serve as their ‘Primary Outlook’, they
provide the user with 2 ‘Boons’ and 3 ‘Influential Actions’, things that the player can do to gain an Influence, each
Influential Action can be used once per session.

When a character Tiers up further Boons can be taken from their Primary or up to two other Outlooks, when you take a
Boon from another Outlook it becomes one of your ‘Secondary Outlooks’. A character can have up to 3 total Outlooks,
one of them their Primary and two of them their Secondary.

The 10 Outlooks are as follows:

The Rebel The Wolf

You believe in the power of action. All of your problems
came from a lack of action, be it from yourself or those
around you, and you won’t let that happen again. It’s
time for you to take your life into your own hands.
The Loyal
A person who’s dedicated themselves to a cause. This
oath may have been taken on your own or to align
yourself with a greater organization, in either case its
tenants are your lifeblood.
The Quiet
The little people in other people’s lives. You may be
talented, you may be intelligent, but you’re not
important, at least in the eyes of the average person,
and this is your time to change that.
The Confident
Someone who has to make themselves known, you’ve
been disrespected too much. The Confident lives for the
limelight and the risks that come with it.
The Light
The party face, an ethereal beauty, or dark manipulator.
The Light weave their way in or out of any social
encounter, with a sense of what can make anyone tick.
Someone who tries not to get too involved with others,
dark and brooding. The Wolf has a hard time bonding
with those around them, and prefer to work on their own
in all things, whether it be for efficiency or for the safety
of those around them.
The Accursed
A person doomed by the narrative, granted power they
never asked for The Accursed is capable of things
seemingly impossible, and most people aren’t happy
about it, often including themselves.
The Blessed
Someone who’s lived life with all the benefits they could
possibly want. The Blessed were born privileged, be it
by fate, some higher being, or the society they live it, in
any case those benefits tend not to last long.
The Learned
A person who is either wise for their years, sometimes
physically older, but it is in no way a requirement. The
Elders live to teach and to prevent the calamities they
experienced or have knowledge of.
The Naive
Bright-eyed greenhorns and kids looking to make a
name for themselves. The Dreamer is starting small, but
holds big ambitions for the future, and no mater what
happens they’ll never lose that.

28
The Rebel
You believe in the power of action. All of your problems
came from a lack of action, be it from yourself or those
around you, and you won’t let that happen again. It’s
time for you to take your life into your own hands.
Influential Actions
When you do one of the following gain 1 Influence.
Chase your Motivation using violence.
Show your Aesthetic or History in battle.
Form a Bond with someone who’s attacked you.
Boons
Violent: Whenever you go All Out on a Body or Talent
Roll you may add the following effects “You can effect
anything and everything within reach” “You can do it
with your bare hands”.
Riding The Line: When at 2 Stress or higher you gain
1 advantage on Body and Talent Rolls.
Simple And Clean: When you only have one Ability
that Ability counts as being 2 Ranks higher when used
in a Roll (meaning it provides 2 more Advantage).
Supernatural deafness: You cannot gain Abilities or
use other supernatural equipment. In exchange, you
cannot be effected by Ability’s or other supernatural
powers.
Occam's Razor: When you make a Roll attempting to
intimidate, harm, or restrain someone you may roll as if
you were in combat, making an Attack of your choice,
using Techniques to gain Advantage rather than Skill,
Abilities, or Bonds.
Overexertion: When you make a roll you may go All
Out by taking a Stress instead of spending an
Influence (this does not give you Influence).
29
The Loyal
A person who’s dedicated themselves to a cause. This
oath may have been taken on your own or to align
yourself with a greater organization, in either case its
tenants are your lifeblood.
Influential Actions
When you do one of the following gain 1 Influence.
Let someone down to follow your Oath.
Use your Abilities to enforce your Oath.
Form a Bond with the antithesis of your Oath.
Inherent Boon
The Oath: This must be taken as one of your starting
Boons if you choose “The Loyal” as your Outlook. This
Boon cannot be taken by other Outlooks. You no
longer have a Motivation, you instead have an Oath, a
single word that you must embody at all times.
Boons
Honorable: Whenever you go All Out on a Roll you
may add the following effect “You do so in a way that
cannot break your Oath”.
The Family Art: Choose a Noun from the Abilities
table, all of your Abilities must use this Noun. Gain 4
Character Ranks that can be spent on Abilities.
Durandal: You’ve been entrusted with some sort of
massively important weapon or tool, note what it is
and what it excels in as if you were creating a Skill.
When the item is applicable for a Roll gain 2
Advantage and you may go “All Out” by gaining 2
Stress instead of using Influence.
“My Master’s Teachings”: Once per game per Tier
you may flash back to a scene of you being taught
something only known by those with your Oath, doing
so lets you gain a new Skill at a Rank equal to your
Tier that matches your description.
A New Perspective: Once per game when you spend
Influence you may declare that you’re changing your
Oath, changing it to any other word, doing so gives
you 3 Influence.
The Quiet
The little people in other people’s lives. You may be
talented, you may be intelligent, but you’re not
important, at least in the eyes of the average person,
and this is your time to change that.
Influential Actions
When you do one of the following gain 1 Influence.
Engage in your Motivation or History with subtlety.
Reveal your Aesthetic in a moment of truth.
Form a Bond with someone who got to know you.
Boons
Drifter: Whenever you go all out on a Talent roll you
may add the following effects “You do not need to
touch the ground at any point” “You can move in any
direction, including directly upward”
The Talent: Whenever you attempt something that no
one knew you could do / no one thought you could
do, you gain 3 Advantage.
The Sneaky Superposition: At any time when your
exact position is unclear you may gain 1 Stress to
appear somewhere within reason.
Fade Away: You can attempt to hide or act unnoticed
no matter what situation you are in.
Slippery: Once per session, whenever you’re trapped,
or restrained you can choose to use this Boon to
escape.
Knacks And Hobbies: You gain 3 Advantage on all
rolls that do not oppose or relate to any other
character.
30
The Confident
Someone who has to make themselves known, you’ve
been disrespected too much. The Confident lives for the
limelight and the risks that come with it.
Influential Actions
When you do one of the following gain 1 Influence.
Use your Aesthetic to show off or instill fear.
Hide your character’s History through confidence.
Form a Bond with someone who hates you.
Boons
Impressive: Whenever you go All Out on a Roll you
may add the following effects “You terrify non player
characters who see it” “you enthrall non player
characters who see it”.
Pride: Whenever you take a Roll without any help
despite help being available you gain 1 Advantage.
“Just try to stop me!”: At any time when taking a
Contested Roll with someone else you may give them
a handicap, giving them 2 Advantage and giving you 1
Influence.
Chatty: Whenever you preform a contested Roll, you
can begin talking, ether monologuing, quipping,
taunting or just ranting, gaining 2 advantage plus the
Bond ranks you have with your opponent, if you fail
this roll your character gains 1 Stress.
“I’ll handle this.”: When you attempt to do something
that someone else in the Scene has failed at you gain
3 Advantage.
Perspective Of A Lancer: Wherever you have a Bond
at Rank 2 or higher you may choose to treat them as
your “Rival”. Whenever your Rival takes a Stress or is
removed from a Scene you gain an Influence.
The Light
Impossibly optimistic, kind, or protective of those in
need. The Light is a light post for those who’ve lost their
way, determined to do what they can to defend and
help those in need.
Influential Actions
When you do one of the following gain 1 Influence.
Use your History to relate to or help someone.
Offer your Motivation to someone else.
Form a Bond with someone hurting.
Boons
Pacifist: Whenever you go All Out on a Roll you may
add the following effects “No one needs to get hurt”
“Your target knows you mean them no harm”.
Saint: You have 2 Advantage on Rolls against
characters who have no negative feelings towards
you.
Friendly And Approachable: You may Bond with any
character at any time so long as you know the
character’s name. Breaking Bonds with characters you
form Bonds with like this does not give you Influence
and bars you from Bonding with them again.
Performance Artist: Choose one of your Skills, it
gains an additional Rank, and when first get a Full
Success with it in a Scene anyone Bonded with you
can remove 1 Stress.
True Hero: When you choose to help someone when
it has no benefit for you, you gain 1 Influence.
Books And Their Covers: When you offer to befriend
someone who’s tried to kill you before the Narrator
must either have them accept their offer or give you 3
Influence.
31
The Wolf
Someone who tries not to get too involved with others,
dark and brooding. The Wolf has a hard time bonding,
and prefer to work on their own in all things, whether it
be for efficiency or for the safety of those around them.
Influential Actions
When you do one of the following gain 1 Influence.
Hide your History from someone too close.
Show a regret or distaste for your Motivation.
Break a Bond with a friend.
Inherent Boon
Lone Wolf: This must be taken as one of your starting
Boons if you choose “The Wolf” as your Outlook. This
Boon cannot be taken by other Outlooks. Reduce your
max Bond Ranks to 3, you always know where
someone you’re Bonded with is.
Boons
Fierce: Whenever you go All Out on a Roll you may
add the following effects “You can instantly move to
someone you’re Bonded with” “You may move
someone you’re Bonded with out of danger”.
The One Thing You Can Rely On: You may form a
Bond with weapons as if they were characters,
breaking a Bond with a weapon makes you lose it
permanently. Weapons created by your Abilities all
count as the same weapon for this Boon.
Dark Urge: Gain 4 Character ranks that can be spent
on Abilities. Whenever you attempt to use a Ability you
may choose to gain 4 Advantage, but if you roll an odd
number of Hits your Narrator can force you to use any
of your Skills or Abilities on someone, you can resist
this effect by taking a Stress.
Outgunned: When you’re working against more
enemies than you have allies you gain 2 Advantage on
all rolls.
Loyal: When you only have 1 Bond the Rank of that
Bond is treated as being doubled for the purpose of
gaining Advantage.
The Accursed
A person doomed by the narrative, granted power they
never asked for The Accursed is capable of things
seemingly impossible, and most people aren’t happy
about it, often including themselves.
Influential Actions
When you do one of the following gain 1 Influence.
Distinguish yourself from your History.
Have your Abilities cause you permanent damage.
Form a Bond with a “normal” person.
Boons
Eldritch: Whenever you go All Out on a Spirit or Mind
Roll you may add the following effects to “You can do
it without seeing your target” “You can affect things at
any distance, so long as you know where it is”.
Volatile Blood: You can use the “Experimental
Technique” Influence Move without using Influence by
taking 1 Stress instead.
Uncontrollable Power: Your abilities are now
formatted as “You [Verb] [Noun] When You
[Condition].” Meaning their effects are always applied
when the condition is fulfilled. Gain 4 Character Ranks
that can be spent on Abilities.
Sacrifice: You may use this Boon after any Roll to
make it a full success by sacrificing one of the
following (It cannot be restored, only replaced).
‣ Your eye.
‣ Your arm.
‣ Your leg.
‣ Your tongue.
‣ Your life.
Turning Over A New Leaf: Whenever a problem
occurs that could be easily solved using one of your
Abilities you may lose 2 Stress and choose not to use
your Ability instead.
Tainted Body: One or more of your limbs or eyes are
wrapped in bandages or otherwise concealed from
other people. Once per game when you spend
Influence you may reveal this body part to gain a new
Ability with a cost of 3 + your Tier or less.
32
The Blessed
Someone who’s lived life with all the benefits they could
possibly want. The Blessed were born privileged, be it
by fate, some higher being, or the society they live it, in
any case those benefits tend not to last long.
Influential Actions
When you do one of the following gain 1 Influence.
Compare the world around you to your History.
Deny the easy road to pursue your Motivation.
Form a Bond with someone who mirrors your History.
Boons
Wealthy: Whenever you go All Out on a Roll you may
add the following effects to “You can pull a random
item to help” “You can always call on someone to
help”.
A Web Of Connections: Whenever you use Influence
you can identify an unnamed NPC in the scene, you
gain 2 Advantage on skill rolls where that NPC is
relevant.
Trust Fund: You have 10 “Funding Tokens”, whenever
you make a roll you may spend any number of
Funding Tokens to explain how you use your wealth to
help you and gain equal Advantage. Gain 5 more
Funding Tokens when you Tier up.
Convenient Transport: You always have access to
some sort of all-terrain vehicle or mount that can carry
up to 8 people.
Prestigious Training: When you go All Out you may
flash back to a Scene where you learned a skill
relevant to your roll, doing so grants you 3 Advantage.
“Do You Know Who I Am?”: When you introduce
yourself around unnamed characters you may use this
Boon to prompt them to: gasp, become interested in
you, or make fun of you (Narrator’s choice). When you
get a reaction you haven’t before gain an Influence.
The Learned
A person wise for their years, sometimes physically
older, but it is in no way a requirement. The Elders live
to teach and to prevent the calamities they experienced
or have knowledge of.
Influential Actions
When you do one of the following gain 1 Influence.
Reveal your History to teach or help someone.
Return to how you were in your History.
Form a Bond with a character who’s learning from you.
Boons
Skilled: Whenever you go all out on a Roll you may
add the following effects “You can do it effortlessly”
“You can do it in a way others thought was
impossible/impractical”.
An Expansive Repertoire: Whenever you see a NPC
perform an act of magic you can spend an Influence to
attempt to note it down, when you use Experimental
Technique you may use an effect you noted down
instead of the regular effect.
Perspective Of A Teacher: Wherever you have a
Bond at Rank 2 or higher you may choose to treat
them as your “Student”. Whenever you use an
Influence with your Student present they gain an
Influence. You cannot do this with another character
with this Boon.
Old, Calloused Hand: Write two “Calluses”, a negative
event that you’ve dealt with before, leaving you
stronger. Whenever you receive a Risk that comes
from something related to your Callus, you may restore
1 Stress.
An Organized Style: Whenever you use one of your
Abilities or Skills in a way you’ve never used it before
you can give that specific usage a name to gain 3
Advantage.
A Power That Must Never Be Used Again: You have
a Skill or Ability that when can be used can instantly
kill any non-player character standing in from of you
regardless of context. If you ever use the effect of this
you lose two max Bond Ranks and lose the ability to
gain max Bond Ranks for the remainder of the game. If
you are lowered to 0 max Bond Ranks or less you lose
control of this character permanently.
33
The Naive
Bright-eyed greenhorns and kids looking to make a
name for themselves. The Dreamer is starting small, but
holds big ambitions for the future, and no mater what
happens they’ll never lose that.
Influential Actions
When you do one of the following gain 1 Influence.
Try something new and fail.
Become curious about something related to your
History or Aesthetic.
Form a Bond with someone important or strong.
Boons
Gutsy: Whenever you go All Out on a Spirit or Mind
Roll you may add the following effects to “You can do
it in the worst way possible” “You can do it in a way
that makes those involved respect you more”.
"Never Give Up!”: When you fail a Challenge Roll and
use a Stress you may immediately retry the Roll with 1
Advantage for every Point of Stress you have.
Amazing Potential: You may only choose this when
creating your character. You have half the starting
Character Ranks for Skills and Abilities, gain two extra
Character Ranks every Tier.
Land Among The Stars: When an opponent rolls
more dice than you in a Contested Roll you gain 1
Influence.
Plenty To Learn: When you go All Out you may flash
back to a Scene where you were taught something
relevant to your roll within the current game, doing so
grants you 4 Advantage.
A Step Behind, But Still Running: You may Awaken
twice in each game. You cannot Awaken while in
Burnout.
Narrative Character Checklist
When creating a character for narrative play you’ll need
to get all the following things.

A Concept to communicate the bare essentials of your

character and their characterization.

A set of Abilities and Skills to enforce what things your

character excels in.

An Outlook to define how your character interacts with

their Concept.

And Attributes to enhance all the features above.

1. Establish A Concept
Important characters may be created with a “Concept”,
these Concepts are an important aspect of using
Influence and should be thought over to make sure the
player can use their character they way they would like
to.

2. Spend Your Character Ranks

This step can technically be done before or after any
other step, but at some point you’ll need to spend your
8 starting Character Ranks, spending at least 3 on
Abilities, and at least 3 on Skills.

Your initial Character Ranks cannot be saved for later.

3. Choosing Your Outlook

You can now choose one of the “Outlooks” below, as
well as 2 Boons from that Outlook. You cannot choose
the same Boon more than once.

4. Assigning Attributes
When creating a player character you must assign each
of your Attributes (Body, Talent, Spirit, and Mind) as
either a Primary, Secondary or Tertiary.

A character has:

One Primary Attribute that starts at 3.

One Secondary Attribute that starts at 2.

And two Tertiary Attributes that starts at 1.

34
 Combat

The tactical layer of DAWN, build up powerful and fun characters to handle the threats of your world.

35
 Combat
The tactical element, the most “game-y” part of DAWN, where players are asked to optimize builds, handle threats, and
control whatever variables they can.

In Combat play characters use their “Actions” and “Techniques” to defeat their enemies as efficiently as possible, the
way they use these actions and choose these Techniques determines whether they live or die.

Turn Order
Combat is made up of Actions, Reactions, Turns, and
Rounds. A Round consists of the Turns of all involved
players and one opposing turn for each.

Players and NPCs both treat the Turn order differently.

Each method will be described below.

When combat starts all players must decide amongst

themselves who should take the first Turn.

After this is determined that player takes their first Turn,

spending taking Actions until they can’t or don’t want to
anymore.

When a player ends their Turn an enemy of the

Narrator’s choice that has not yet taken their Turn
takes theirs, if all enemies have taken their turn an
enemy who has already acted can take a Turn instead.

After this enemy Turn ends the last player who acted
can choose a player who has not yet taken their
Turn, that player then they take theirs, this repeats
until all players have taken their Turns.

Actions And Action Points

When a Round starts player characters receive 6 ‘Action
Points’ (AP), losing any they had remaining from the last
Round. These Action Points can be spent on any of the
Basic Actions that will be detailed later.

A character cannot use the same Basic Action more

than once each Turn (unless that action was taken via
some secondary feature such a Technique.) A character
must end their turn when they run out of AP or have no
Actions they can use.

36
Damage And Health
Almost all interactions in combat will be motivated by
damage, whether it’s to avoid it or deal it. Damage is
how this game tracks progress in its fights.
Guts
Your character’s Guts is a statistic determined by your
Body that increases the number of Wounds you can
take before being defeated.
Health
Characters all have Health that determines their
durability in Combat. As characters are attacked and
take damage they lose their Health. Health can go no
lower than 0.
A character's maximum Health is equal to:
Body + Body + 5
A negative Body Attribute does not reduce Health and is
treated as 0.
Armor
If a character has an Armor value, the damage they take
from Attacks is reduced by that value (minimum of 1).
Characters do not have Armor by default.
Evasion
If a character has a Evasion value, all Attacks that target
them and force the user to make a Roll cannot deal their
Reward effect unless the attacker rolls more Hits than
the defender’s Evasion.
Wounds And Death
A Wound symbolizes a long-lasting injury that weakens
those who have it.
You receive a Wound for every 3 damage you take
when at 0 Health, a Wound for every 15 damage you
take in a single instance, or when otherwise specified.
A character is forced to leave the scene when they gain
Wounds equal to their Guts. A character with 0 Guts
dies as soon as their Health drops to zero.
Characters lose all of their Wounds when they take an
Intermission.
37
Earning Influence Through Wounds
Whenever you receive a Wound from a source other
than yourself you also receive an Influence (As
described in the narrative section).
Spending Influence In Combat
While in combat there is only one way you can spend
Influence, and it’s by spending 1 Influence to take the
“All Out” Influence Move that’s also available in narrative
play.
All Out: For a single Challenge Roll (Before or after it is
rolled), all your rolls of 3 or more are counted as Hits.
Tension
Tension is a resource that starts at 0 at the start of every
combat Scene and is shared between all characters,
players and enemies.
Tension increases when one of the following happens.
An enemy is defeated.
A player character is defeated.
Many actions, both for players and enemies, can only
be used if the Scene’s Tension is above a specific value.
Focus
Focus is a resource used for specific abilities. When
combat starts player characters have Focus equal to 1
plus half their Spirit, and they can regain more by
using the Breathe Action, with no upper maximum.
All Focus is lost at the end of a Scene.
Speed
All characters have a Speed statistic that determines
how far they can move with an Action. Characters have
Speed equal to 2 plus a half of their Talent Attribute.
Spaces And Movement
Areas in DAWN are square grids of one-meter by
one-meter “Spaces”, and with movement actions a
character can choose to move Spaces equal to their
Speed.
In almost all situations combat should be contained on
a map of 7 x 7 Spaces, no smaller and no larger. With
players starting fights on the edge opposite to the
enemies.
When moving characters must measure space using the
cardinal connections, meaning no diagonal movement,
no moving through opponents or terrain, and no
ending movement in a Space another character
occupies.
Special Targeting
There are some effects that will have you target
something other than a single target within a range,
most calling for specific shapes and patterns, those
shapes will be illustrated in the following section for
clarity. With this targeting, and any other form of
multi-character targeting, attacks are rolled once
and target all characters.
Cones
Cones originate in the space of the user (without
targeting the user) and extend out a number of spaces
equal to the cone’s Range, the example below is of a 5
range Cone.

There are two exceptions to the previous rules,

‘Teleportation’ and movement in straight lines.

When a character Teleports they move from one

space to another without passing the spaces in
between. This still qualifies as movement.

As will be described in the following page, straight

lines can be drawn cardinally or diagonally, counting
diagonal spaces as being one space apart. When a
character has to move in a straight line they also follow
these same rules. Lines
A Line expands from any of the cardinal or diagonal
Drawing Range directions from its user, unlike other forms of range and
Just like movement, actions that target at specific movement, Lines count diagonals as being one
ranges draw that range using connected cardinal space apart.
spaces, meaning an Action with 5 range can target any
space you could move to with 5 Speed (Ignoring any
restrictions that may apply to your movement of course.

Targeting Allies
Some Actions will tell you that you must target an “Ally”.
These are the characters that you’re working with, but
notably not yourself.

38
Terrain
Terrain is a object on the battlefield that blocks
movement or attacks, but not a line of sight. Terrain
can be destroyed, has a set Health based on its size. A
piece of Terrain’s Health is equal to 10 times the number
of spaces it takes up, unless stated otherwise.
Cover
When a piece of Terrain is between an attacker and their
target and the target is adjacent to it, the target gains a
+3 bonus to their Evasion.
Difficult Terrain
Some spaces are considered Difficult Terrain. When a
character enters a space of Difficult Terrain their Speed
is reduced to 0 until the end of the turn. This also
ends any movement they are currently taking.
Characters who started their turn in Difficult Terrain
become immune to all connected pieces until the end of
their turn. Climbing a sheer surface counts as
entering Difficult Terrain.
39
Alternate Mode: Cinematic Combat
There exists a second mode of combat in DAWN, and
it’s recommended for fights between smaller groups,
or if you would rather not need to spend so long in
combat scenes.
Within “Cinematic Combat”, all characters are placed
along 8 space long line, with allies deploying on the 2
leftmost spaces, and enemies deploying on the
opposite 2 spaces.
Unlike in standard combat, any number of characters
can fit within one of these spaces, and characters can
move through their opponents, but moving into an
enemy’s space counts as Difficult Terrain (Unless the
movement would normally be able to pass through
enemies).
Standard targeting and Line targeting can only target
one character within the spaces it targets, however
actions that target multiple spaces other than Line
targeting must target all characters within the spaces it
targets.
Basic Actions Movement
The following are a set of basic Actions and Reactions
Jump
to be used in combat. Actions can only be used on
your turn, but Reactions can be triggered whenever AP Cost: 3
specified.
Move a number of spaces in a straight line equal to
your Body or your Talent. Ignoring enemy spaces
Combos
and Difficult Terrain.
As a character gains Techniques and progresses they
may gain “Combos”. A Combo is a string of two or
more Actions that results in some bonus effect when
Stride
performed with no other Actions in-between.
AP Cost: 2
By default, a Combo can only be performed once per
Scene and is only interrupted when the user breaks it During this turn you can move a number of spaces
by taking another Action or ending their Turn. across the ground equal to your Speed.

40
Attacks
Unlike other Actions, when targeted by an Attack, a
character can respond with a Defensive Reaction.

Cast

AP Cost: 2

Choose an enemy within 5 Range and make a Spirit

Roll with a Challenge of 1.

Reward: You can deal damage to them equal to the

number of Hits you rolled.

Finisher

AP Cost: 4

Choose an enemy adjacent to you, spend Focus up

to the Tension and make a Roll using any Attribute
with a Challenge of 3. This Roll gains Advantage
equal to the Focus Spent.

Reward: you can deal damage to them equal to

double the number of Hits you rolled.

Skirmish

AP Cost: 2

Choose up to 2 enemies adjacent to you and make

a Body or Talent Roll with a Challenge of 1. You may
also perform this action as a Reaction to a character
attempting to leave adjacency with you. This
method of Skirmishing is also called a Punish.

Reward: You can deal damage to them equal to the

number of Hits you rolled.

41
 Defense

Block (Reaction)

AP Cost: 2

As a Reaction to being hit by an Attack, you may

gain Armor equal to your Body for the duration of
the Attack. If the attack’s damage exceeds your
Armor you’re pushed one space away from the
attacker due to the impact.

Clash (Reaction)

AP Cost: 0*

*To use this Reaction you must spend 1 Influence.

As a Reaction to being targeted by an Attack where
the attacker is within range of one of your own
Skirmish or Cast, you can attempt to Clash. Doing
so starts an Opposed Roll using the Attributes
described in each Attack’s description. The winner
resolves their attack against the loser.

Dodge (Reaction)

AP Cost: 2

As a Reaction to being targeted by an Attack, you

may move up to 2 spaces and make a Talent Roll
with a Challenge of 1.

Reward: Gain Evasion equal to double the Hits for

the duration of the Attack.

42
Utility

Breathe Investigate

AP Cost: 2 AP Cost: 2

Gain a Focus. Choose an enemy in a range equal to your Mind.

You may ask the Narrator for any of the enemy’s
statistics, and they must tell you.

Deep Breathing

AP Cost: 3

Make a Spirit Roll with a Challenge of 0.

Reward: Gain Focus equal to the number of Hits

you roll (minimum 1).

Hide

AP Cost: 2

Make a Mind Roll with a Challenge of 2.

Reward: Enter the “Hidden” state. When Hidden,

characters cannot target you with Attacks unless
they are adjacent to you. If you Attack a character,
you must Hide again as a Reaction or lose Hidden.

Interact

AP Cost: 2

Take a Mind Roll with a Challenge of 2.

Reward: to use your Skills or Abilities to you to do

something you cannot do with any other Action. The
things this can do are functionally limitless, so long
as the Narrator approves, but here are some basic
applications that can serve as example.
- Create a piece of Terrain adjacent to you.
- Inflict an Effect to a character adjacent to you.
- Remove an Effect from an adjacent character.

43
Effect Listing
Effects represent all sorts of ongoing benefits and status. Characters lose their Effects whenever they end their
turn, unless the Effect has some other method of removal, or it’s stated otherwise. Effects cannot be removed in this way
on the Turn they’re applied.

Banished: You cannot target any non-Banished characters, other characters cannot target you, and you can take up the
same space as any other object. Lose this Effect at the beginning of your turn. (When a character applies Banished all
other characters that have been Banished by that character lose it.)

Blighted: Lose Health equal to your Tier when you use an Attack. This is not removed at the end of your Turn.

Dazed: All Actions you take cost 1 additional Focus to use. (When Dazed is in applied to enemies they instead are
prevented from taking more than one action each Turn.)

Elegant: All non-Attack Actions you take cost 1 less AP to use (to a minimum of 1).

Feared: Your Attacks that target the character who applied Feared to you have Disadvantage equal to your Tier.

Haste: Your Speed is doubled.

Immobilized: Your Speed is 0 and you cannot Dodge.

Invisible: You may choose to remain Hidden when you would otherwise lose it, or become Hidden as an Action with no
AP cost. Doing so removes this effect.

Marked: Attacks that target this character gain Advantage equal to their Tier.

Regenerating: Regain Health equal to your Tier when you end your Turn. This is not removed at the end of your Turn.

Reinforced: You gain Armor equal to your Tier.

Shredded: You cannot benefit from Armor.

Slowed: Your Speed is halved.

Snared: So long as the character who applied this to you is on the board, the only way you can move is if the person
who applied this effect to you moves. When they do you move to match their movements, and you cannot Dodge.

Strengthened: Your Attacks gain Advantage equal to your Tier.

Taunted: Your Attacks that do not target the character who applied Taunt to you have Disadvantage equal to your Tier.

Weakened: Your Attacks gain Disadvantage equal to your Tier.

44
Dueling

The ultimate representation of personal drive and motivation within combat, a moment where you, as a player, can break
free from the confines of combat, and it’s strict rulings to put the motivations of your character and purpose within the
story at the forefront, a single moment where it’s you versus them.

This element of combat play is its most esoteric, because this rule exists combat can seemingly meld into Narrative and
vice versa. If you’re a player try to make use of this to emphasize the most emotional moments of your combats.

What Is A Duel Failing A Duel

During your Turn, so long as you haven’t Attacked in A Duel is always high stakes and an important moment
that Turn, you can initiate a “Duel” as an Action by for your character, and failing it can cause some serious
spending one Influence rather than spending AP. and permanent effects.

This removes yourself and an adjacent opponent
from the Scene, moving to a narrative Scene. You
remain in this out-of-scene state until the start of your
next Turn during the next Round (unless there are no
other enemies in the Scene, in this case execute the
Duel immediately).
Whenever you fail a Duel you must choose one of the
following “Scars” you have not yet taken and return to
the combat in a space on the board’s edge, or “Double
Down”, repeating the Roll at the risk of taking two
Scars if you fail again (you cannot “Triple Down” if you
fail again).

Building Power Amnesia: Lose 2 ranks in a Skill of your choice.

When your next Turn starts you execute the Duel,
initiating a Contested Challenge Roll against your Burnout: Lose 2 ranks in a Ability of your choice.
opponent, with them normally rolling 5 dice plus their
Tier, possibly more if they’re an Antagonist. The End: Die.

This will always be more dice than you will be rolling
before bonuses, so in order to beat this you’ll want to
use a variety of methods to gain the advantage. Like
any narrative Roll you can use an Ability, Skill, and
Bond to gain Advantage when applicable.
Succeeding In A Duel
When you succeed in a Duel you’ll return to combat
with your target in any two spaces of your choice at the
end of the next Round. When this happens you’ll also
be able to choose one of the following rewards.

But on top of all that there are a few ways you can gain Finishing Blow: Deal 2 damage to your target for each
Advantage that are specific to Duels. Hit you had in the Roll.

All For One: When you take a Duel any of your allied Heartfelt Speech: Choose an enemy, the Narrator
players can spend any amount of Influence to grant may remove that enemy from the combat, if they
you 2 Advantage for each. This gives one Experience don’t, you regain your use of Duel and gain Focus
to each player who participates. equal to the number of Hits you rolled.

One For All: If you Break a Bond during a Duel you Restrain: Deal Immobilized and Weakened to your
gain Advantage on its Roll equal to the Bond’s Rank. target.
You can only use this effect once per Duel

45
Techniques
In combat, characters are mostly defined by their use of
“Techniques”. Techniques are powerful abilities that
can be gained by increasing your Tier. They are
mostly passive and serve to shape a majority of how a
character functions in combat.
Complexity Stars And Tags
Each Technique has 1-3 complexity stars and some
tags. These things have no effect on what the Technique
does and are meant to summarize its complexity and
effects respectively.
Technique Levels
Each Technique has three Levels, and when gaining
a Technique you only gain one Level at time, starting
from 1 and going up to 3. Player characters are given 5
total Technique Levels when they’re created.
Archetypes
Each player character is created with one of the
following ‘Archetypes’ to serve as their ‘Primary
Archetype’. When a character is created or Tiers up
they can gain Techniques from their Primary Archetype
or up to two other Archetypes, when you take a
Technique from another Archetype it becomes one
of your ‘Secondary Archetypes’.
A character can have up to 3 total Archetypes, one of
them their Primary and two of them their Secondary.
The six Archetypes are as follows:
The Powerhouse
Fiery and violent, dive into battle like a meteor.
Techniques effective in sustained Fights.
Often requires a high Body Attribute for Attacks, or
Talent if you want to be a little more frail and fast.
The Slayer
Quick and precise, eliminate your targets at breakneck
speed. Techniques effective at defeating single targets.
Often requires a high Talent to get into and escape
skirmishes, can alternatively use Body for some builds.
46
The Bulwark
Stoic and resolute, mitigate incoming damage to defend
others. Techniques effective at tanking for a team.
Can build for almost any Attribute, as all provide an
option to survive longer, but Body is the most common.
The Altruist
Friendly and versatile, enable your allies to overrun the
enemy. Techniques that mainly benefit your allies.
As many of these Techniques don’t need to deal
damage Mind is mostly your best Attribute.
The Disruptor
Sadistic and calculated, chain down the enemy’s
options. Techniques that restrict, metaphorically or
literally.
As many of these Techniques trigger their controlling
effects when Casting, they value a high Spirit Attribute.
The Ruiner
Ambitious and impactful, build up your ultimate spell
and obliterate. Techniques with high impact and cost.
Almost all of these Techniques give you high damage
setups for Spirit Finishers, Spirit is a must.
Advanced Techniques
These are some of the most unique and complex
Techniques that you can get, but unlike all the ones
above, these Advanced Techniques have a specific
prerequisite to acquire.
Each Advanced Technique has at least one other
Technique that its user must have in order to unlock
it, usually requiring that its user has multiple Levels from
a variety of Techniques.
These prerequisites are listed as follows “X(Y), X(Y)...”,
with X being the names of the Techniques you need,
and Y being how many Levels you must invest into
those Techniques out of 3.
Combat Character Checklist
When creating a character for combat play you’ll need
to get all the following things.

Techniques to gain new ways to interact with combat

in ways that you think are cool.

Attributes to focus those Techniques into one or two

defined groups.

And your default statistics to codify the options you’ve

selected.

1. Select Your Techniques

Gain 5 total Technique Levels from any combination of
Archetypes.

2. Assigning Attributes
Assuming you haven’t already made a narrative portion
for your character and done so already, you must assign
each of your Attributes (Body, Talent, Spirit, and Mind)
as either a Primary, Secondary or Tertiary.

A character has:

One Primary Attribute that starts at 3.

One Secondary Attribute that starts at 2.

And two Tertiary Attributes that starts at 1.

3. Determine Default Stats

At this point you’ll be able to set up your Guts (And by
extension your Health), Speed, and Focus.

Your starting Guts is 4 plus half your Body.

Your starting Health is Body + Body + 5.

Your starting Speed is 2 plus a half of your Talent.

Your starting Focus is 1 plus half your Spirit.

47
 Techniques

A glossary that lists each Technique, separated from the rest of the book for easy access.

48
 Powerhouse

Fiery and violent, dive into battle like a meteor. Techniques effective in sustained Fights.
Often requires a high Body Attribute for Attacks, or Talent if you want to be a little more frail and fast.

49
Boom Stick | ★ ★ | Weapon, Body, Displacement

“The invigorating feeling of explosive force, a pure

power that can’t be rivaled with any other weapon.”

1: Buck Shot: Your Skirmishes can target 1 character

within 4 spaces rather than targeting two adjacent
characters. Your Skirmishes Against targets within 2
spaces push your target 1 space away on a success.
2: Both Barrels: When you Skirmish you can choose to
fire “Both Barrels”, doing this gives the Attack
Advantage equal to your Body, but also deals
Weakened to you after it resolves.
3: Annihilate: “Both Barrels” now applies to your Body
Finisher, which can now target characters up to 3
spaces away. When you use “Both Barrels” with a
Skirmish or Body Finisher the attack may target all other
characters in a 3 space Cone.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dumbass | ★ ★ |

Wounds

“I did that? Holy shit I did that!”

1: Just Lucky: When you roll a 1 in any Challenge roll

you may spend 2 focus or receive a Wound to treat it as
a 6, converting it to an Explosive Hit.
2: Adrenaline Rush: Whenever you gain a Wound from
one of your Techniques you can use Stride at no AP
cost as a Reaction.
3: Ace in the Hole: You may use the effect of “Just
Lucky” on any roll that comes from a Finisher,
regardless of value.

Dragonslayer | ★ ★ | Weapon, Body, Anti-Armor

“That thing was too large to be called a sword. Too

big, too thick, too heavy, and too rough, it was naught
but a heaping hunk of iron.”

1: Speed Is Weight: Your Body Finisher has “Deal

Shredded to your target” to its Reward.
2: Wide Arc: Your Body Finisher can target up to 2
additional characters adjacent to you (3 total).
3: Titanic Heave: Gain the following Combo: Breathe,
Body Finisher. That Finisher counts all rolls as Hits,
pushes enemies it hits 2 spaces back, and deals Slow
to you after it resolves.

50
Dual Wielding | ★ ★ | Weapon, Effects
“The more, the merrier!”
1: Twinned Blow: When Skirmishing and only targeting
1 character, you may “Flurry”, repeating the Attack an
additional time at no AP cost but reducing the dice
rolled for both to half (before applying Advantage /
Disadvantage).
2: Battle Trance: When you use Deep Breathing you
gain Strengthened.
3: Frenzied Barrage: Whenever you use a Finisher you
may substitute it with three Skirmishes used one after
another.
Deft Duelist | ★ | Tanking, Skirmishes
“Parry, Riposte. Parry, Riposte.”
1: Riposte: Gain the following Combo: Block, Skirmish.
This Skirmish lets you move 3 spaces before
determining targets and has “Deal Taunted to your
target” to its Reward.
2: Parry: Using Block against an adjacent character
inflicts Dazed to your attacker.
3: Deflecting Blow: When you use Block against an
attack from range you may spend 1 Focus to Skirmish a
different character within 5 spaces of the attacker.
Endure It All | ★ | Tanking, Wounds, Effects
“Trudge forward, through dirt and mud, through fire
and smoke, through pain and death.”
1: Take A Beating: Double your Guts, you now receive
a Wound when you take 2 damage at 0 HP rather than
when you take 3 damage.
2: Revenge: If you take a Wound you may spend 1
Focus to immediately take an action with an AP cost of
2 or less at no AP cost.
3: Cornered Rat: Whenever you receive an effect you
can choose to ignore it and take a Wound instead.
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Equilibrium | ★ ★ | Effects, Tanking, Versatile
“Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.”
1: Of Two Worlds: Whenever you use an attack
Technique or Clash gain 1 ‘Wrath’, whenever you use a
Defense Technique (other than Clash), Deep Breathing,
or Breathe gain 1 ‘Peace’. At the end of your turn you
may spend any 1 Wrath to gain Strengthened or 1
Peace to gain Haste.
2: Mind Made Manifest: When you have Strengthened
gain 2 Armor, when you have Haste gain 3 Evasion.
3: Perfection: If you end your turn with an equal amount
of Wrath and Peace (at least one of each) you may gain
Strengthened and Haste.
Grim Ecstasy | ★ | Wounds, Attacks, Effects
“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.
If the descent is thus sometimes performed in terror,
it can also take place in fury.”
1: Strike Back: Whenever an enemy or one of your
other Techniques makes you receive a negative Effect
you may also receive Strengthened.
2: All In: Whenever you Attack with Strengthened you
may choose to move up to 3 spaces in a straight line
before determining targets to gain 1 additional
Advantage for each space moved.
3: Bled Dry: You receive none of the downsides from
Effects so long as you have 3 or more Wounds.
Gunslinger | ★ | Weapon, AOE, Range
“An adept fixer knows their gun like their own body,
each component well repaired and accounted for. A
famous fixer just needs to let those shots fly.”
1: Big Iron: When you Skirmish you must spend at least
1 Focus and can only target 1 character within 4 range.
For every additional Focus you spend you may gain 1
Advantage or target an additional character.
2: Lock And Load: When you end your turn without
Attacking during it, you gain Focus until you have 6.
3: Reload Roll: Whenever you gain Focus you may
move a number of spaces equal to the Focus gained.
Hoplite | ★ | Weapon, Body, Range
“The Hoplites stood their ground, a breathing,
bleeding wall of spear and shield. And despite their
lacking numbers, none were shot, out of fear of being
driven through.”
1: Extension Of One’s Arm: Your Skirmish and Body
Finisher can target 1 enemy up to 2 spaces away rather
than targeting two adjacent characters and has 1
Advantage.
2: Pierce: Your Skirmish and Body Finisher can target
enemies up to 3 spaces away rather than targeting two
adjacent characters. Skirmish targets all enemies
between yourself and your original target(s).
3: Lance Of God: Gain the following Combo: Breath,
Skirmish. The Skirmish can target a space within 5
spaces and gains Advantage equal to the distance from
you (up to a maximum of 5 Advantage). If the attack had
5 or more total Advantage it deals half its damage to all
characters adjacent to the original target and turns each
effected space to Difficult Terrain.
Improvisational Fighting | ★ ★ ★ | Interact
“Random bullshit go!”
1: “Everything’s A Tool”: You can always use Interact
to create a piece of 10 Health Terrain within 5 spaces of
you or remove Terrain you’ve created to make a
Skirmish or Cast action using any Attribute for its Roll.
2: “Oh! That One Hurt”: Using Interact only costs you 1
AP so long as it doesn’t result in an Attack, you may
also use Interact any number of times in a Turn so long
is it follows this rule. Attacks coming from Interact have
3 Advantage.
3: “Last Resort”: Once per scene you may attack using
“Everything’s A Tool” even if there isn’t a piece of terrain
to remove, this use gains additional Advantage equal to
the current Tension.
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Inhuman Strength | ★ ★ | Body, Displacement
“Mom always said the best way to move people is with
your words, but picking up that bus seemed much
faster.”
1: Bulldozer: You deal additional damage to terrain
equal to double your Body.
2: Piston Fist: When you Successfully Skirmish or Body
Finisher a character, you may knock them back spaces
equal to your Body Attribute - their Armor (if any).
3: Smash Through: When you cause a character to be
pushed into a piece of terrain, both that character and
the terrain take damage equal to your Body. If the terrain
is destroyed it does not stop the pushed character from
moving (This movement cannot trigger this again).
Martial Arts | ★ ★ | Skirmishes, Versatile
“15 years of Baji Quan, 11 years of Akido, and a
semester of Capoeira.”
1: Art Of The 8 Hammers: Whenever you successfully
Skirmish or a Body or Talent Finisher without using a
Weapon Technique you can do 1 of the following, where
X is your Hits. Each of the following can only be used
once per Round.
- Move X spaces.
- Apply Snared/Immobilized.
- Push your target X spaces.
2: Flow-State: “Art Of The 8 Hammers” gains the
following option.
- Spend 2 Focus, Skirmish at no AP cost.
3: Unlimited Blows: “Art Of The 8 Hammers” triggers
twice on Skirmishes and 3 times on Finishers.
Spell-Sword | ★ ★ | Skirmishes, Casts

“Versatility is a power you can’t buy. It must be

learned through a complete mastery of all of its parts.”

1: Spell Blade: Wherever you use a Skirmish or Finisher

you may spend 1 Focus to have it count as a Cast for
the purpose of using Techniques other than this one.
2: Twin Suns: Gain this Combo: Cast, Skirmish. The
Skirmish has its AP cost reduced to 0.
3: Witch Hunter: Gain the following Combo: Cast,
Finisher. If the Finisher targets the same character as
the Cast it gains Advantage equal to the Tension.

Technician | ★ ★ | Combos, Breathing

“A fighter is not their body, they are a collection of

Techniques and experiences.”

1: Stretch: When you use Deep Breathing you “Refresh”

each of your Combos. When Combos are Refreshed
they regain their once-per-scene use.
2: Repetition: Whenever you complete a Combo you
gain 1 AP. This cannot trigger more than once per turn,
per combo.
3: Final Blow: Gain the following Combo: Skirmish,
Finisher. This Finisher gains Advantage equal to the
Tension x 2.

Unbreakable Will | ★ | Tanking, Wounds, Influence

“You must not give, you cannot. Claw and bite like a
cornered rat, it’s the only option you have left.”

1: Get Back Up: Once per Scene, when your character

is killed you may spend an Influence to return to 0
Health and heal Wounds until you are one Wound from
death, doing this makes you lose the ability to gain
Influence for the remainder of the Scene.
2: Furious Revival: Whenever you spend an Influence in
a Combat Scene you may take an Action with an AP
cost of 2 or less for no cost.
3: Phoenix: When you revive using “Get Back Up” you
may heal all your wounds but 1.

53
 Slayer

Quick and precise, eliminate your targets at breakneck speed. Techniques effective at defeating single targets.
Often requires a high Talent to get into and escape skirmishes, can alternatively use Body for some builds.

54
Acrobat | ★ ★ | Movement, Avoidance
“Obstacles are found everywhere, and in overcoming
them we nourish ourselves.”
1: Wall Jump: When you would end a Jump’s
movement adjacent to a piece of terrain or edge of the
board you may move an additional 3 spaces in a
straight line, this is counted as part of the Jump. You
can only “Wall Jump” once per Turn.
2: Agility: Whenever you bounce using “Wall Jump” you
gain 1 Focus and gain 1 Evasion until the start of your
next Turn.
3: Weightless Body: You may “Wall Jump” any number
of times in each Jump so long as you don't bounce off
the same terrain, or board edge more than once per
Jump.
Aerial Ace | ★ | Movement, Versatile
Striking and moving from above all other fighters.
E.g. Natural wings, Jetpacks, Powerful jumps.
1: Over And Around: Increase your speed by 3. You are
unaffected by terrain so long as you're not in an
enclosed space.
2: Soar: Whenever you Jump you may “Take Flight”,
increasing your speed by 4 and forcing Disadvantage
equal to your Tier on all incoming Attacks, this state
ends when you use an Attack or end your turn without
moving.
3: Ace: The Attacks you use while Taking Flight gain
Advantage equal to half your Talent.
“Blink And You’ll Miss Me” | ★ | Movement, AOE
“It was over before it even started. I don’t know who
you pissed off, but they moved like nothing that I’ve
ever seen.”
1: Fade: You can move through enemies. You still must
end your movement in an empty space.
2: Sprint: You may spend 2 additional AP when you
Stride to triple the distance you can move.
3: Flash Strike: When you move out of a character’s
space using “Fade” you may deal damage to them
equal to your Talent. You cannot use this on the same
target more than once each Turn.
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Blade Master | ★ ★ | Weapon, Talent, Breathing
“A weapon’s strength is secondary to the strength of
those who wield it.”
1: Draw Stance: When you Breathe or use Deep
Breathing you enter ‘Draw Stance’, this Draw Stance
ends when you Attack, Stride, or Jump. When You use
Talent Finishers you can reroll all 1s that come from it.
2: Divide In One Motion: When you use a Talent
Finisher while in Draw Stance you may spend an
additional 2 AP to Jump ignoring the restriction given by
Draw Stance. The Finisher targets all characters you
moved adjacent to during your Jump.
3: Take Focus: When you enter Draw Stance or end
your Turn in draw stance you may spend any amount of
Focus to Teleport to a space within a range matching
the amount you spent. When you end your Turn in Draw
Stance you become Strengthened.
Cunning Fighter | ★ ★ ★ | Mind, Utility
“We’ve been ambushed, and are clearly at
disadvantage, but don’t panic, it’s time to assess our
threats. The woman on our 6 seems like the leader,
heavily armed and standing confidently, taking her
out first is our best bet, here’s to hoping.”
1: Multitask: When you Investigate a character you
haven’t Investigated in the current Scene you gain a
‘Cunning Action’. Once per Turn, you may spend a
Cunning Action to take any non-attack Action or
Reaction at -2 AP Cost. Cunning Action actions cannot
grant you Focus.
2: Tactical Genius: You gain a Cunning action at the
end of each of your Turns.
3: Blitz: You take up to three Cunning actions on your
turn as long as you have uses remaining.
Distant Killer | ★ ★ | Weapon, Talent, Range
“The unseen attack is unrivaled in its lethality.”
1: Long Shot: Your Talent Finisher can target characters
up to 5 spaces away and can be used without spending
Focus.
2: Bunker Down: When you end your turn without
Attacking you may “Bunker Down”, gaining Immobilized.
While you’re Immobilized your Talent Finishers gain 3
additional range and Advantage.
3: Deadeye: Gain the following Combo: Hide, Talent
Finisher. This Finisher gains Advantage equal to the
Tension, deals one additional damage for each
Exploding die, and targets all enemies between yourself
and your original target.
Egomaniac | ★ ★ | Attacks, Movement, Avoidance
“Only the most conceited, self-important, and mad
person could do what you do, no that’s not a damn
compliment!”
1: Peak Condition: You have ‘Style’, a stat that is set to
0 at the start of every Combat Scene, and raises to a
maximum of 3. Whenever you hit an enemy with an
Attack you didn’t use on your last Turn it increases by 1.
When you’re hit by an attack or end your turn without
dealing damage it lowers by 1. Your Speed and Evasion
are increased by your Style.
2: Taunt: Whenever you use Deep Breathing you may
inflict Taunted to all enemies within 3 spaces and gain 2
Style.
3: Finale: When you use a Finisher with 3 Style you may
move up to 6 spaces, and target every enemy you
moved adjacent to during that movement instead of
your regular targeting.
56
Malicious Mimicry | ★ ★ ★ | Dodge, Attacks
“Impossible… she only saw that technique once! Who
is this girl…”
1: “Anything You Can Do…”: After successfully
avoiding an Enemy's Primary Attack using a Dodge or
Clash you gain a ‘Impression’ with the same name as
the enemy. As an action with no cost you may use any
of your Impressions to use the indicated Enemy's
Primary Attack as if you were an enemy. All Impressions
are lost at the end of a Scene.
2: Rehearsed Movements: When you attempt to
Dodge an enemy while you hold a Impression matching
their name you gain 4 Advantage.
3: “…I Can Do Better”: When using “Anything You Can
Do…” you may spend 2 AP to use the enemy's Ace
rather than their Primary Attack.
Modified Meister | ★ ★ | Skirmishes, Mind,
Wounds
You feel the vibration of whirring chains, the sound of
spinning gears, the buckling of mismatched plating
and loose screws, it almost feels like it’s alive.
1: Overload: When you successfully Skirmish or
Finisher you may “Overload”, Dealing Blight to the
target(s), but receiving a Wound if a 1 is rolled on any
dice.
2: Blowback: When you Overload you can knock
yourself back two spaces from one of the targets to gain
Advantage equal to half your Mind.
3: Last Resort: Gain the following Combo: Investigate,
Mind Finisher. This Finisher must Overload and has
double the base dice rolled at the cost of doubling any
Wounds you would receive from it.
Rogue Arts | ★ ★ | Attacks, Avoidance
The greatest thief was never named.
1: Ambush: You start all combats Hidden
2: Assassinate: Attacks you make when Hidden gain 2
Advantage + your Tier.
3: Ghost: Gain the following Combo: Hide, Stride. This
Stride has no AP cost and grants you Invisible when it’s
used.
Skirmisher | ★ ★ | Skirmishes, Movement
“Float like a butterfly…”
1: Shifting Blows: You may move up to two spaces in a
straight line before or after using a Skirmish.
2: Rebound: If you are moved adjacent to a character
when using Skirmish before any dice are rolled you may
target that character with the Skirmish in question in
addition to any of your other targets.
3: Perpetual Motion: Whenever a Skirmish would cause
you to be moved adjacent to an enemy you may move 1
additional space in any direction.
Tossed Arms | ★ ★ | Weapon, Movement
“Though it’s fallen slightly out of favor, thrown
weapons have been a part of our culture for hundreds
of years, and it’s time people start respecting that”
1: Throw: Whenever you Skirmish you can choose to
“Throw” it, reducing its AP cost to 1 and allowing it to
target up to two characters up to 4 spaces away.
2: Recovered Weapons: Whenever you use “Throw”
you may place a “Weapon Marker” in a space you
targeted. Whenever you move into a Weapon Marker’s
space you may remove it to move 1 space in any
direction and recover 1 AP.
3: Detonate: By spending 2 Focus on your turn you may
detonate all Weapon Markers and make a 0 AP cost
Skirmish all enemies within 1 space of those markers.
57
Untouchable Form | ★ | Avoidance, Movement
“And what's this! It looks like she can’t be hit! They’re
moving at speeds even I can’t even keep up with!
Champ looks like she’s boxing ghosts!”
1: Duck: Gain Evasion equal to a half your Talent.
2: Weave: Reduce the cost of Dodge to 1 AP. Increase
the spaces moved when using Dodge to three spaces.
3: Fighter's Instinct: Gain the following Combo: Dodge,
Skirmish. This Skirmish lets you move 3 spaces before
determining targets and lets rolls of 5 Explode.
Viper Strike | ★ ★ ★ | Investigate, Mind, Attacks
Topple the Goliath, find the minute weaknesses in
everyone you face, disassemble their idiot stances
and styles, fight dirty, and have a plan to kill everyone
you meet.
1: Sweep The Leg: When you Investigate a character
you may designate a “Weak Point” in a unoccupied
cardinal direction relative to them. When you attack a
character while standing in the direction of their Weak
Point, you may remove that Weak point to gain
Advantage equal to half your Mind.
2: Serpentine: When a attack fails to hit you, you may
immediately Investigate at no cost. When you trigger
“Sweep The Leg” you gain 2 Evasion until the end of
your next Turn.
3: Perfect Execution: Track the number of times you
trigger “Sweep The Leg” each on each character. When
you trigger “Sweep The Leg” 4 times on a singe target
you may Teleport to any unoccupied space adjacent to
them and perform a Mind Finisher on them at no AP or
Focus cost.
 Bulwark

Stoic and resolute, mitigate incoming damage to defend others. Techniques effective at tanking for a team.
Can build for almost any Attribute, as all provide an option to survive longer, but Body is the most common.
58
Absolute Bastard | ★ ★ | Investigate, Tanking
“You’re an expert at making strangers hate you, huh?”
1: Easy To Hate: When you Investigate an enemy you
may use this Technique to have them receive Taunted.
This can only be used 3 times per Scene.
2: Bully: Once per turn when you Taunt a character you
may move up to 3 spaces towards them, if you move
adjacent to them, you deal Snared to them.
3: “You’re Boring Me”: Your Attacks against characters
you’ve Taunted gain Advantage equal to your Tier.
Battle Jockey | ★ ★ ★ | Tanking, Displacement
A mounted fighter with far charging attacks. E.g.
Cavalry, Motorbike rider, Light-frame mech pilot
1: Trusty Steed: At the start of every combat Scene you
may create a level 1 Summon with the Mount Faction
adjacent to you. You must Interact with it to Mount it,
when mounted you can substitute Skirmishes with its
Primary Attack, or your Finishers with its Ace.
2: Grasping Jaws: When your Mount attacks an enemy
you may have it deal Taunt to them.
3: Roaring Entry: Once per Scene when your Mount
would take its Turn you may have it Roar instead. When
your Mount Roars it deals Daze tp all enemies within 3
spaces of it, pushing them to the nearest space 4
spaces away from it.
59
Bestial Form | ★ ★ ★ | Expensive, Versatile
Take on a powerful alternate form for a limited time.
E.g. Lycanthropy, Peak martial form, Magical girl
transformation.
1: Transform: Choose two Enemy Types (as listed in the
Narrator’s Tools), at any time during your turn you may
spend 10 Focus to ‘Transform’ and restore HP equal to
double your Guts. While transformed you do not take
turns like a player, you may move your Speed and
Attack using both of your chosen Enemy’s Primary
Attacks, if you don’t move you can use one of them
twice (you may take 1 Reaction per Round at no AP
cost). If you are reduced to 0 Health you return to your
normal form, restore HP equal to double your Guts, and
become Dazed.
2: Enhanced Form: Choose one of your Enemies you
transform into, you gain that enemy’s Passive while
Transformed.
3: Bestial Magik: When you’re Transformed you can
use one of your enemy’s Aces in place of two of your
Attacks.
Giant Frame | ★ | Body, Skirmishes, Range
“Woah. You’re bigger in person. Like. Way bigger. Oh
right, the armor, right away sir!”
1: Immense: You take up a 2x2 section of spaces rather
than a single space. Gain Guts equal to your Tier.
2: Titanic Buster: When you use a Body Finisher you
may spend 2 additional Focus to have it target each
character within 2x2 grids so long as at least one of
those spaces are adjacent to you.
3: Sweeping Blows: Your Skirmishes gain the effects of
“Titanic Buster”.
Grappler | ★ | Skirmishes, Body, Displacement
The ability to bind, restrain, and break a person in
your grasp. E.g. Wrestling, Hooked weapons.
1: Restrain: When you Successfully Body Finisher apply
Snared to your target and pull them adjacent to you.
2: All Eyes On Me: When you have a character Snared
they cannot take any actions that target characters
other than you if you are also a valid target.
3 Finishing Move: Gain the following Combo: Body
Finisher, Jump. This Jump action has no AP cost and
instead of moving with this jump you and your target
disappear from the board, at the start of the next round
you both return to the board in the same space, and you
can use a Body Finisher on them at no AP cost.
Guardian Angel | ★ ★ ★ | Tanking, Spirit
“I don’t exactly know where it came from. I just know
it protects me, when I need it to. It’s given me this
one chance to change things for the better.”
1: “My Body For You”: When you enter a Combat
scene your character is split into two spaces that you
deploy separately, a ‘Guardian’ and a ‘Defendant’. When
you take your turn you take each action as if you were
occupying one of their spaces, when you move you may
move both of them and do so in different directions,
when you Cast is must be from the space of the
Defendant, and when you Skirmish it must be from the
space of the Guardian. When the Defended is Attacked
they take all damage directly as Wounds, ignoring their
HP. When a character within 6 spaces of the Guardian is
Attacked it may teleport adjacent to the target and
become the target of the Attack.
2: “Together In Life”: When the Defendant successfully
Attacks a character that character becomes Slowed,
when the Guardian successfully Attacks a Slowed
character they recover HP equal to your Guts and
remove Slowed.
3: Impermanent Form: Your HP and Guts now scale off
your Spirit instead of your Body.
60
Iron Skin | ★ | Tanking, Body
A physically resistant character. E.g. Cyborg body,
Heavy plate armor, Durability training.
1: Tough As Stone: Your Armor can reduce incoming
damage to 0.
2: Resilience: Gain Armor equal to half your Body.
3: Stainless: When you would receive a Effect you can
choose to take 3 damage instead.
Juggernaut | ★ ★ | Displacement, Body, Movement
Placeholder text.
1: Wild Charge: When you Jump you may pull any
characters you passed through or moved adjacent to,
placing them in a space adjacent to you when you end
your movement.
2: Violence: When you pull characters using “Wild
Charge” you may deal damage to them equal to your
Body and deal Dazed to them.
3: Hard Turn: When you Jump you may reduce the
number of spaces you move by 2 to make it so you can
move without moving in a straight line.
Rising Challenger | ★ ★ | Talent, Tanking, Support
Two swordsmen lock blades silhouetted by
moonlight, the impact reverberating throughout the
streets, blowing out a nearby streetlamp.
Two children manipulated into spiting each other for
crimes neither committed.
Two men filled with a hate they’ve only felt once
before, meeting for the last time.
One survivor lives on regretting every second of it.
1: Drama And Spite: Gain Advantage on Clashes equal
to your Tier.
2: “You’ll Have To Get Through Me!”: You may Clash
with Attacks that target allies within a range equal to
your Talent, when you do so you may Teleport to a
space adjacent to the character who initiated the attack.
3: Perfect Deflection: When you perform a successful
Clash you gain 2 AP and can move a number of spaces
equal to your Tier.
Runic Aegis | ★ | Tanking, Mind, Support
“Sir, Vilhelm the Invulnerable has requested an
audience. Yes sir, we tried. Every arrow was broken
before it touched him.”
1: Runic Barrier: Your first Block in a Round grants
additional Armor equal to your Mind.
2: Blast Parry: If the Armor increase from your Block
reduces an Attack’s damage to 1 or less you inflict
Dazed to your attacker(s).
3: Shield Wall: Attacks against allies adjacent to you
have 3 disadvantage.
Stone Crusher | ★ | Weapon, Body, Effects
“It’s said that in order to effectively counter an
oncoming force, one would need 5 times the force to
stop it. I assure you… I have that force.”
1: Debilitate: Your Skirmish has “Deal Weakened to
your target” added to its Reward.
2: While They’re Down: Whenever you Successfully
Attack a character with Weakened you gain Reinforced.
3: Reckless Demolition: Gain the following Combo:
Stride, Body Finisher. When you use the Finisher you
lose Reinforced and your target loses Weakened, the
Finisher gains 3 Advantage for each Effect removed.
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Stalwart Sentry | ★ ★ | Skirmishes, Displacement
A selfless ability to defend nearby allies. E.g. Bunker
builder, Sacrificial dive, Tower shielder.
1: Guardian: So long as you haven’t moved your turn.
The spaces up to 2 spaces away from you count as
being adjacent whenever it would benefit you.
2: Stalwart: You may spend 2 Focus whenever
performing a Punish to have it not cost AP.
3: Zone Of Influence: You may Punish characters when
they attempt to enter adjacency with you.
Vanguard Defender | ★ | Tanking, Body, Support
“If I get hurt, don’t stop running.”
1: Steel Angel: When you Block it has its AP cost
reduced to 1.
2: White knight: You may Block with Attacks that target
allies within a range equal to your Body, when you do so
you may Teleport to a space adjacent to the ally being
targeted and become the target instead.
3: Inspire Courage: When you move out of adjacency
with an ally they may spend 1 AP as a reaction to move
to a space adjacent to your new location and gain
Reinforced.
 Altruist

Friendly and versatile, enable your allies to overrun the enemy. Techniques that mainly benefit your allies.
As many of these Techniques don’t need to deal damage Mind is mostly your best Attribute.
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Alchemist | ★ ★ | Breathing, Interact, Support
“Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue
of dog, Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s
leg and owlet’s wing, For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”
1: Quick Mix: When you Breathe you can make one of
the following potions. These potions can be used on
yourself or an adjacent ally by using Interact.
- Remove any effect from the target.
- Give Strengthened to the target.
- Gain Regenerating to the target
2: Administer: You may use potions on allies up to 4
spaces away.
3: High Intensity Mix: You may forgo the Focus gained
from Breathe to trigger “Quick Mix” two more times.
Artist | ★ ★ ★ | Interact, Versatile, Support
“Happy little trees, all in a row.”
1: Stroke Of The Brush: When you Interact with an
unoccupied space you may ‘Paint’ on it in a ‘Color’ of
your choice, each Color has a specific effect that
triggers when you or an ally enters its space or starts
their Turn in it for the first time in a Round. The Colors
are as follows.
- Red: Gain Strengthened.
- Yellow: Teleport to any other Colored space.
- Blue: Gain 2 Focus.
- White: Push any number of enemies within 3 spaces 3
spaces away from you.
- Black: Pull any number of enemies within 5 spaces
into spaces adjacent to you.
2: Canvas Of Flesh: When you Interact with an ally you
may spend 3 Focus to create a ‘Seal’ on them, granting
them the effect of one of your Colors when they end
their Turn.
3: Brush-Brand: When you Skirmish a character you
may ‘Brand’ them with a Color of your choice until the
end of your next Turn. When you or an ally successfully
Attack a Branded character they gain the effect of the
chosen Color.
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Bardic Talent | ★ ★ ★ | Breathing, Mind, Support
“Doesn’t it all seem to have a rhythm to it? When the
bullets are flying and everyone else is in chaos, that
rhythm guides me.”
1: Musician: Whenever you Breathe you gain a “Verse”
of your choice from the list below, you can only hold up
to 5 Verses at a time (Including repeated verses). When
use Deep Breathing you may expend all the verses you
are holding and grant the effects listed on them to any
number of allied characters within a range equal to your
Mind + you Tier.
- Harsh: Affected characters gain Strengthened.
- Soothing: Affected characters gain Elegant and Haste.
- Inspiring: Affected characters Reinforced.
- Raucous: This Verse affects enemies within range.
Affected characters gain Shredded and Slow.
- Frantic: Affected characters may choose to use any
non-attack with 2 AP cost or less action at no AP cost.
2: Quick Composition: When you Breathe you may
forgo the Focus given to reduce its AP cost to 1.
3: Encore: When you use Deep Breathing you may
forgo the Focus given to reduce its AP cost to 2.
Chronomancy | ★ | Casts, Spirit, Support
Time of death: T- 2 days 4 days 10 days 2 weeks
1 month 1.5 months 3 months 5 months 1 year 5 years
6 years 6.5 years 10 years 25 years
1: Accelerate: When targeting an ally with Cast or a
Spirit Finisher you do not deal damage, and instead
grant them Haste and Elegant.
2: Advanced Manipulation: When you target a
character with Investigate you may spend 1 Focus to
make it so until the end of the Round their Effects can’t
be removed through ending their turn.
3: Time Stop: Once per Scene When you use Deep
Breathing you may choose an ally with Haste, that
character loses Haste and can take an additional turn
after yours.
Dancing Amity | ★ ★ | Movement, Utility, Support
Placeholder text.
1: Dance Partner: You may always Interact with a
willing character to set them as your ‘Dance Partner’
until you do so again or end your turn outside of
adjacency. When you or your Dance Partner Stride the
other may move to a space adjacent to their partner’s
new location and gain Elegant.
2: Hearts In Tandem: When a Dance Partner uses Hide,
Breathe, or Deep Breathing, their partner gains the
benefits in addition to the user.
3: The Prestige: When a Dance Partner uses a Finisher
they may offer their partner the option to spend 4 AP to
give the Finisher Advantage equal to their Tier + the
Tension. Using the effect of this Technique Level makes
the user lose their Dance Partner status.
Gourmand | ★ | Interact, Mind, Support
“Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as
there are only so many notes or colors, there are only
so many flavors—it’s how you combine them that sets
you apart.”
1: Healthy Meal: Once per Intermission you may
Interact with an adjacent character and hand them a
“Meal”, they can eat it immediately or save it and eat it
when they Breathe. When a character eats one of your
Meals they can restore a Wound and gain Health equal
to your Tier plus your Mind + 10.
2: Pocket Pantry: Gain two additional Meals per
Intermission.
3: Shared Experiences: When someone you’re Bonded
with eats one of your Meals you both gain Focus equal
to your Mind.
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Healer | ★ | Casts, Spirit, Support
“When allies falter, your presence is the whispered
promise of safety—a testament that even in the throes
of chaos, salvation is found in compassion.”
1: Cure Wounds: When targeting an ally with Cast you
do not deal damage, and instead heal Health equal to
the damage you would have dealt.
2: Cleansing Light: When targeting an ally with Cast
your target(s) have all Effects of their choice removed
from them.
3: Grand Restoration: Your Spirit Finisher gains the
effects of “Cure Wounds” and “Cleansing Light”. When
using a Spirit Finisher on an ally they gain Regeneration
and lose a Wound (The Wound healing can only be done
once per character per Scene).
Talisman Caster | ★ ★ | Casts, Spirit, Versatile
The room wasn’t what she expected when entering,
every surface covered in small intricately detailed
papers, each seeming to bear a different seal or mana
conduction symbol. This sort of obsessive protection
seemed silly at first, but when removing one of these
seals resulted in headaches and sudden voices
echoing around the empty room she reconsidered.
1: Sacred Seal: After you Breathe you may place a
“Talisman” on an adjacent character or space until the
end of the Scene. Spaces and characters with these
Talismans on them are always valid targets for your
Casts, no mater the distance.
2: Tossed Talisman: When you Breathe you may place
Talismans on spaces and characters within 3 Range,
and when you use Deep Breathing you may do this
three times in a row.
3: Exorcise: Your Spirit Finisher can target all characters
and spaces with a Talisman on them at once instead of
using its regular targeting.
Teacher | ★ ★ | Breathing, Influence, Support
“Keep your back straight!”
“Strengthen your footing.!”
“Remember what we spoke about!”
“...”
“That was good, keep at it kid.”
1: Strike Order: When you Breathe you may choose any
enemy and apply Marked to them.
2: Teaching Moment: When an ally fails a roll you may
spend an Influence to form a Bond with them or
upgrade their Bond Rank and allow them to reroll.
3: “Remember Your Training”: Once per scene you
may react to an ally attacking who you have a Bond with
and spend 2 Focus to give their attack Advantage equal
to your Tier plus the Bond Ranks you have with them.
Replicator | ★ ★ ★ | Attacks, Mind/Spirit, Support
An infinite barrage of bullet and blade, a force that
resembles an army but was born from a single hunter
and a mage at their side.
1: Echo Form: When you use a Mind or Spirit Finisher
targeting an ally or yourself you do not deal damage,
you instead create an “Echo” of the target in another
space within the Attack’s range. If a character has an
Echo they may treat its position as their position when
attempting to draw range for Attacks or use Punish.
2: Symmetry: Whenever a character with an Echo
willingly moves they may move their Echo an equal
number of spaces.
3: Full Sync: Characters with an Echo start their turn
with 2 additional AP. If this additional AP is spent on an
Attack that Attack must draw range from the Echo.
65
Future Sight | ★ | Expensive, Mind, Support
Placeholder text.
1: Flash Of Insight: After any Roll you may spend 1
Focus to force its initiator to reroll it. This can only be a
number of times per Scene equal to half your Mind.
2: Take Advantage: When using level 1 against an
enemy’s Attack the target gains Evasion equal to your
Tier until the end of the Round.
3: Hurl Into The Infinite: When you hit a character with
your Mind Finisher you may spend 2 additional Focus to
inflict them with Dazed and Immobilized.
Opportunist | ★ ★ | Skirmishes, Talent, Support
Placeholder text.
1: Pack Tactics: Once per Turn when an ally resolves an
Attack on a character within a range equal to your Talent
you may spend 1 AP to Skirmish them (ignoring the
base cost of that Skirmish). If you are outside the
Skirmish’s range you may Teleport to an unoccupied
space adjacent to the target.
2: Hungry Eyes: When an ally within a range equal to
your Talent targets a character with an attack you may
spend 1 Focus to deal Marked to them.
3: Launcher Combo: When an ally inflicts an Effect to
an enemy within a range equal to your Talent you may
use the effect “Pack Tactics” on the same target. This
level has a separate once per Turn limitation from the
one in “Pack Tactics”.
 Disruptor

Sadistic and calculated, chain down the enemy’s options. Techniques that restrict, metaphorically or literally.
As many of these Techniques trigger their controlling effects when Casting, they value a high Spirit Attribute.
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Book Of Frost | ★ | Casts, Spirit, Effects
“Each incantation is a flurry of frozen elegance,
conjuring storms of ice and whispers of snow.”
1: Flash Freeze: When you Successfully Cast or Spirit
Finisher inflict Immobilized to your target(s).
2: Shard Rain: You may spend an additional 2 Focus
when using your Spirit Finisher to have it target a 3x3
zone within 5 spaces. When your opponents lose
Immobilized they receive Slowed.
3: Shatter: When you use a Spirit finisher without
“Shard Rain” on a character with at Immobilized you
may remove it and gain 5 Advantage. When doing this
you cannot trigger “Flash Freeze”.
Earth Speaker | ★ ★ ★ | Casts, Spirit,
Displacement
Placeholder text. <
1: Tectonic Shift: Whenever you cause a character or
piece of Terrain to move (other than yourself or the
terrain you've created), you create a piece of Terrain with
20 Health and 0 Armor in the space it left.
2: Earthen Shards: Whenever you destroy or move a
piece of terrain you may deal damage to all enemies
adjacent to its new position equal to your Tier.
3: Stone Soldiers: Whenever you Cast or use a Spirit
Finisher you may move any pieces of terrain adjacent to
you into a space adjacent to your target.
67
Gale Strider | ★ ★ ★ | Casts, Spirit, Displacement
“True freedom doesn’t exist in this world, even the
wind cannot blow on forever.”
1: Growing Winds: When you target a space with a
Cast or Spirit Finisher that space, and all spaces
adjacent to it, become a “Typhoon”, replacing all other
Typhoons you’ve created. When any character ends
their turn in a Typhoon you may move them, and any
other characters in it, 1 space in any direction.
2: Updraft: If you Jump in the middle space of a
Typhoon that Jump has its AP cost reduced to 1, if you
do this or Cast targeting the middle space of a Typhoon
the Typhoon is expanded 1 space in every direction.
3: Cyclone Drill: When you use your Spirit Finisher on a
character within a Typhoon you may remove the
Typhoon and gain 1 advantage for every space the
Typhoon covered.
Harsh Lasher | ★ | Weapon, Displacement
“Whips, garrotes, nooses, you’d be surprised how
many people are killed with glorified string.”
1: Wrap: Your Successful Skirmishes apply a Snared
and pull them adjacent to you. if you only target 1
character. At the end of your turn, you can move all
characters you've snared up to 5 spaces, so long as
their new position isn't farther from you than their last
position.
2: Choke: Your Body and Talent finishers can always
target characters you've snared. Your Finishers have 4
Advantage on Snared characters.
3: Centrifugal Force: If the effect of “Wrap” causes
characters to be moved adjacent to each other, those
characters receive damage equal to your Talent.
Hemomancy | ★ ★ | Attacks, Spirit, Effects
Placeholder text.
1: Tear Them Away: Whenever you hit a character with
an Attack you may take 5 damage. If you do roll a D6.
Apply a Status depending on the result of the roll. When
you hit a Character with a Spirit Finisher you may take
10 damage to add all 3 statuses instead.
1-2: Blighted
3-4: Dazed.
5-6: Immobilized.
2: Transfusion: When you hit a character with two or
more different Status you gain Regenerating.
3: Born Of Mutable Flesh: When you have 0 Health all
of your attacks have Advantage equal to your Tier and
you may use “Tear Them Away” at no Health cost.
Shredding Cuts | ★ | Weapon, Talent, Effects
“I don’t kill people, doctor. What I do is much worse.”
1: Jagged Edge: Your successful Skirmishes and Talent
Finishers deal Blight.
2: Poison The Well: When an enemy with Blight is
defeated, it deals Blight to all enemies adjacent to it.
3: Lick The Knife: When you successfully Talent
Finisher a character with Blight you do not damage and
instead trigger the effect of Blight a number of times
equal to the Hits rolled. This can only be used once per
Scene.
68
Siren’s Call | ★ ★ | Investigate, Avoidance
“Lure and tempt, free them all of their inhibitions,
show that them the world holds better things for you
and them, before you rip it all away.”
1: “You wouldn’t hurt ME, would you?”: When you
Investigate an enemy you may use this Technique to
have them receive Feared. This can be used 3 times per
Scene.
2: Irresistible: Once per turn when you deal Feared to a
character you may force them to move up to 3 spaces
towards you, if they move adjacent you, you may deal
Immobilized to them.
3: “A little help over here?”: When you successfully
Spirit or Mind finisher a character you may have all
characters effected by Feared move as close as they
can to your target and Attack them with Skirmish or
their Primary Attack if they are within range.
Mage’s Array | ★ ★ ★ | Breathing, Spirit, Support
“Look at where you’re standing. Perhaps it’s more
accurate to say you “were” winning. In the afterlife,
practice situational awareness.”
1: Inscribe: When you Breathe you may place a “Rune”
on a space within a range equal to your Spirit. When
you use Deep Breathing and have at least 3 Runes you
may attempt to connect any number of Runes you’ve
placed with straight lines to form a polygon. You may
then use a Spirit or Mind Finisher on all enemies within
this Polygon (including those standing on its lines) at no
AP or Focus cost, doing this removes all Runes you
connected.
2: Readjust: Before connecting the lines when using
“Inscribe” you may Teleport any/all of your Runes up to
3 spaces in any direction.
3: Prison Of Your Own Design: When you use the
Deep Breathing portion of “Inscribe” you may choose to
leave the polygon formed on the board until you next
use that ability. So long as these lines are on the board
the spaces they cover are considered difficult terrain for
your opponents.
Reaper | ★ ★ | Weapon, Effects, Displacement

The scythe, an eccentric weapon, all unbalanced

weights and hooked edges, one of its few redeeming
features is how little is known of it as a weapon…

1: Hooked Swing: When you Successfully Skirmish a

single Character you may Teleport them to any other
space adjacent to you. The first time you use this
Teleport each Turn you inflict your target with Marked.
2: Sow: Enemies within 3 spaces of you do not lose
Marked when they end their turn.
3: Reap: When you start your turn within 5 spaces of an
enemy with Marked you may spend 4 Focus to Teleport
to a space adjacent to them and use a Finisher at no AP
cost.

Preemptive Posture | ★ ★ | Effects, Displacement

“Take your stance to punish even the slightest

movement within your arm’s reach.” <

1: Preparation: If you end your turn without attacking

you may Punish with Finishers until the end of your next
turn.
2: Within Arm’s Reach: Enemies who end their turn
adjacent to you gain Marked.
3: The Long Arm Of Death: Enemies who willingly
move adjacent to you are inflicted with Feared.

69
 Ruiner

Ambitious and impactful, build up your ultimate spell and obliterate. Techniques with high impact and cost.
Almost all of these Techniques give you high damage setups for Spirit Finishers, Spirit is a must.
70
Flame Heart | ★ ★ | Casts, Spirit, Effects
“Brother, trust that this hurts me almost as much as
it’s gonna hurt you.”
1: Rev Up: Whenever you Breathe you may "Ignite",
receiving up to 6 damage and inflicting up to Blight to
yourself to receive an additional Focus for every 2
damage taken. You receive half the damage from Blight.
2: Damning Impact: If you Cast or use a Spirit Finisher
while Blighted you gain Advantage equal to your Tier,
and it inflicts Blight to your target. Whenever you would
deal Blight to an enemy who already has it you may deal
damage equal to your Tier instead.
3: Ashes To Ashes: Your Spirit Finisher has a range of 5
and, on a success, removes Blight from its target and
yourself, gaining 3 Advantage for each Blight removed.
Grand Summoner | ★ ★ ★ | Casts, Spirit,
Expensive
Command and summon numerous enemies, both
expendable minions and powerful servants. E.g.
Necromancy, Drone commander, Cloning.
1: Puppet Master: Whenever you Cast targeting an
empty space, you may spend 1 Focus for each empty
space and create a level 1 Ranger or Viper Summon
there. That enemy has 1 Health and cannot be an Elite.
You can only have a number of Summons from this
Technique equal to your Tier at a time.
2: Orchestrator: Whenever you use Deep Breathing you
may forgo the Focus gained to have all of your
Summons move their speed or use their Primary Attack.
3: Supreme Servant: Whenever you use a Spirit
Finisher targeting an empty space, you may spend 2
Focus for each empty space and create a Summon of
your choice with a Tier equal to your Tier. That enemy
cannot be an Elite.
71
Hollow Soul | ★ ★ | Avoidance, Spirit, Movement
“You’ve been told you’re hard to notice, easy to
ignore—if only they knew how right they were.”
1: Return To Nothing: When you Teleport you may
spend 4 Focus to become Banished. Successful Spirit
Finishers deal Banished to their Target(s).
2: Fade Away: The first time you Dodge or move to the
edge of the board each round you can spend 2 Focus to
Teleport to any space on the edge of the board and
become Hidden.
3: Void Heart: When you Teleport or become Banished
you gain a stack of ‘Void’, when you use a Spirit Finisher
lose all stacks of Void and gain equal Advantage.
Long Draw | ★ ★ | Weapon, Talent, Movement
Placeholder text. <
1: Nock The Arrow: Gain a new action “Prepare”.
Prepare costs 1 AP, can be used multiple times per turn,
and when you use it you gain one stack of Prep, when
you use a Skirmish or Talent Finisher spend all your
Prep stacks and gain 1 additional range and Advantage
for each stack spent.
2: Sharpshot: Once per turn when you Skirmish or
Talent Finisher a character at the attack’s maximum
Range (minimum 2 spaces away) you may double the
Advantage gained from “Nock The Arrow”.
3: Fey Step: Once per turn when you Prepare you may
Teleport to a space that isn’t adjacent to any character.
When you trigger Sharpshot you may inflict Immobilized
to your target.
Mana Blades | ★ ★ | Casts, Skirmishes
“My spirit was focused, ready. I have honed it into a
sharpness few things have ever known. It is almost
disappointing that most will only see it once.”
1: Call Arms: Wherever you use a Cast or Spirit Finisher
you may spend 1 Focus to have it count as Skirmish for
the purpose of using Techniques other than this one.
2: Tools Of The Fallen: When you successfully Cast
using “Call Arms” you may place a “Fallen Blade” in an
unoccupied space adjacent to your target. When you
enter the space of a Fallen Blade it disappears, and you
gain Strengthened.
3: Sainted Sword, Excalibur: Choose a Weapon
Technique that you do not have, whenever you Attack
with Strengthened you can use all three levels of your
chosen Weapon Technique as if you had it.
Spell Circle | ★ | Breathing, Spirit, Casts
“Glyphs intertwine, arcane paths converge—within
this mesmerizing dance of focus, raw magic finds
purpose.”
1: Focused Chanting: Whenever you use Deep
Breathing you may place a Spell Circle in your space,
replacing any you’ve already made. When in a Spell
Circle space you can use Spirit Finishers without
spending Focus.
2: Enhancing Circle: When effected by a Spell Circle
your first Spirit Finisher in each Turn has additional
range and gain 3 Advantage.
3: Advanced Spell Circle: If you use Deep Breathing in
the space of a Spell Circle you may enhance it for the
Scene, doubling the effects of the second level of this
Technique. A circle cannot be enhanced multiple times.
72
War Caster | ★ | Casts, Spirit, AOE, Expensive
“YOU’RE UNSTOPPABLE, BREAK YOUR LIMITS,
SHOW THOSE BASTARDS WHAT YOU’RE MADE OF!”
1: “Explosion!”: Your Spirit Finisher can now target a
space within 5 Range and all spaces adjacent to it.
2: “Explosion!!!”: When you use a Spirit Finisher you
may choose to spend 1 additional Focus, doing so
makes your Spirit Finisher target every space within 2
spaces of your initial target.
3: “EXPLOSION!!!”: When you use a Spirit Finisher you
may choose to spend 2 additional Focus, doing so
makes your Spirit Finisher target every space within 3
spaces of your initial target. (This does not stack with
level 2.)
Thunder Blood | ★ ★ | Breathing, Spirit, Casts
“Plenty of kids in this country have spent sleepless
nights watching the White Hounds, sparks flying
down mountains and trees, descending from the
clouds. Inevitably they’ll be told by those older and
wiser that there’s no such thing, and when I was that
age I almost listened. Thank god I didn’t, the wind
against my face is so exhilarating at this height.”
1: Raiden: Whenever you Breathe you receive a "Static
Charge". So long as you have a Static Charge you are
immune to the effects of Dazed.
2: Chain Lightning: Whenever you successfully Cast
you can spend a Static Charge and gain Dazed to do
one of the following:
- Teleport to a space adjacent to your target
- Inflict Dazed.
- Use Cast again on a different enemy within 5 spaces
of your initial target at no AP Cost.
3: Overcharge: Double the Static Charges gained from
“Raiden”. Your Spirit Finisher can now target all spaces
within 3 Range, gains Advantage equal to your Tier, and
on a success inflicts Dazed.
Ultimate Technique | ★ | Casts, Spirit, Expensive

“Feel the power flow into you, the popping and

snapping rings in your ears, the forearms go numb
and the feet are rooted, with the earth below being
your last resort in case everything else goes wrong.
Remember your teachings and chants, only when
every single one fails you will you really know what
you’re capable of, what you were meant to do.”

1: Power Unleashed: Gain the following Combo:

Breathe, Finisher. When you use this Finisher you spend
up to triple the Focus you would be able to spend
normally.
2: Formless Strength: When you use “Power
Unleashed” you can have it target an unlimited length
Line or a 3 space Cone (starting in your space).
3: Moment Of Truth: If you enter a “Duel” with 10 or
more Focus you may expend all of it to gain Advantage
in that MOD equal to half the Focus you spent.

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Advanced Techniques
These are some of the most unique and powerful
Techniques that you can get, but unlike all the ones
above, these Advanced Techniques have a specific
prerequisite to acquire.
Each Advanced Technique has at least one other
Technique that its user must have in order to unlock it,
usually requiring that its user has multiple levels from a
variety of Techniques.
These Prerequisites are listed as follows “X(Y), X(Y)...”,
with X being the names of the Techniques you need,
and Y being how many Levels you must invest into
those Techniques.
Storm Kata | ★ ★ ★ | Skirmishes, Breathing
Prerequisites: Martial Arts(2), Thunder Blood(2)
“Channelling Thunder itself, users of this advanced
style are masters of body and magic.”
1: Charged Veins: "Art Of The 8 Hammers" gains the
following new option.
- Breathe with no AP cost without gaining Focus.
2: Gigavolt Straight: So long as you have a Static
Charge your Skirmishes are also counted as Casts.
3: Thunderclap And Flash: Whenever you move
without using the Stride or Jump action you may spend
1 Focus to gain 1 AP.
Volcanic Edge | ★ ★ | Skirmishes, Effects
Prerequisites: Dragonslayer(2), Flame Heart(2)
“Become indomitable! Shatter it all!”
1: Inferno: You may "Ignite" when you use a Skirmish or
Body Finisher, and when you do that attack gains 3
Advantage and deals Blight to your target.
2: Enduring Ember: You cannot gain Wounds via the
damage inflicted by Blight.
3: Divide Heaven And Earth: Once per scene you can
use this Technique to have a Body Finisher be counted
as a Spirit Finisher for the purposes of using Flame
Heart. Doing this also lets you target all spaces along a
5 space line when using it.
74
Lunar Reincarnation | ★ ★ ★ | Versatile
Prerequisites: Bestial Form(2), Hollow Soul(2)
Placeholder text.
1: New Moon: When you Transform you may use the
effects of Hollow Soul as if you Teleported, and do so at
0 Focus cost.
2: Cyclical: Losing your Transformation does not deal
Dazed to you.
3: Waxing And Waning: When you start your Turn
Transformed you can Revert to your old form and gain 5
AP, returning to your Transformed form when you end
your Turn.
Grim Portent | ★ ★ | Effects, Skirmishes
Prerequisites: Reaper(2), Preemptive Posture(2)
“You know they say crows are an omen of death. No
I’m not having doubts, there's just so many of them.
It’s like they already know how this ends…”
1: "Fear It…": When using "Reap" against a character
with Marked or Feared reduce the Focus cost by 1. This
can trigger separately for each Effect.
2: "Run From It…": Your Punish Attacks and Attacks
originating from "Reap" deal additional damage equal to
double your Tier.
3: "Destiny Always Arrives": So long as you can pay
its cost, you can use "Reap" as many times as you want
on the same turn.
Holy Wrath | ★ ★ ★ | Casts, Skirmishes, Support
Prerequisites: Healer(2), Spell-Sword(2)
Placeholder text.
1: Grand Cross: Gain this Combo: Breath, Cast. The
Cast can target all characters along 4, 20 space lines
going in each cardinal direction.
2: Holy Light: Whenever you deal damage using Cast
you may restore Health equal to your Spirit for all allies
within 2 Range.
3: Avatar Of God: Whenever you use Deep Breathing
you “Ascend”, Triggering the effect of “Holy Light” when
ever you end your Turn until you deal damage.
Heavy Metal | ★ ★ ★ | Tanking
Prerequisites: Giant Frame(2), Modified Meister(2)
Placeholder text.
1: Rune Core Engine: The effects of Giant Frame are no
longer active by default, instead, you enter all combat
scenes with a “Suit” adjacent to you. This is a piece of
terrain with 50 Health and Armor equal to your Tier. By
Interacting with it, you may put the Suit on, making the
terrain disappear and granting you additional Armor
equal to your Tier.
2: Autonomous: The Suit is a summon with a level
equal to your Tier so long as you don’t have it on, it may
use “Modified Meister” as if it was a player, and its
Primary Attack is a Skirmish.
3: Perfect Sync: Even when you are in the suit, it may
take turns as a summon, sharing your space and Health.
Impossible Speeds | ★ ★ | Support, Movement
Prerequisites: Speedster(2), Chronomancy(2)
Placeholder text.
1: Sympathetic Flash: When you move out of an ally’s
space you may Cast against them at no AP cost, this
uses the same limited uses as “Flash Strike”.
2: Afterburner: When you use “Sympathetic Flash” you
may gain Haste.
3: Time Warp: You may target yourself with “Time
Stop”, but only once per Round.
75
Grand Aegis | ★ ★ ★ | Support, Tanking
Prerequisites: Vanguard Defender(2), Runic Aegis(2)
Placeholder text.
1: “Never Fear!”: You may Block for allies, granting
them the Armor bonus.
2: Always Vigilant: You gain 6 Focus whenever you end
your Turn, any of this Focus you have when you start
your Turn is lost.
3: Temporal Barrier: Whenever you use Deep Breathing
you may place a 1 by 3 line of terrain anywhere on the
board. It has 30 Health and Armor equal to your Body or
Spirit, your allies cannot have their targeting or
movement effected by this terrain, and it can only
provide your allies cover.
Rift Blade | ★ ★ ★ | Skirmishes, Avoidance
Prerequisites: Blade Master(2), Hollow Soul(2)
Placeholder text.
1: Tear Space: Once per turn when you successfully
Skirmish, Breathe, or Finisher you may create a ‘Spacial
Rift’ in a space adjacent to you replacing all other
Spacial Rifts. When you enter a Rift you may deal
Banished to yourself. You may target non-banished
characters while you are Banished, but doing so
removes the effect afterword.
2: Stalk: Whenever you trigger “Fade Away” you may
gain Banished.
3: Unmake: When you trigger “Divide In One Motion”
while Banished you gain 5 Advantage. Your Talent
Finishers can benefit from “Void Heart”.
 Example Builds
Correctly choosing what Techniques your character will use can be a difficult process, for that reason this book provides
a few premade sets, these sets serve as both builds that players can pick up and play at Tier 1 and as examples of
archetypes that can be recreated.

Honor-Bound Knight / Big-Body Bouncer Cavalryman / Brazen Biker

Archetype(s): Bulwark Archetype(s): Powerhouse / Bulwark

Attributes: Attributes:

Body: 3 Talent: 1 Spirit: 2 Mind: 1 Body: 3 Talent: 1 Spirit: 1 Mind: 2

Techniques: Techniques:

Stalwart Sentry 2 Stone Crusher 2 Hoplite 2 Battle Jockey 2

Preemptive Posture 1 N/A Skirmisher 1 N/A

Summary: Summary:

A bodyguard focused on area denial. With “Sentry” Quick mounted fighter. With the mobility and range
and “Preemptive Posture” this build can end turns provided by “Jockey” and “Hoplite”, this build allows
near allies and dish out insane damage to any for attacks that come from any angle, while retaining
enemies who attempt to engage. the bonuses of traditional Skirmish-based fighters.

Battle Rager / Reckless Thug Martial Monk / Peaceful Pugilist

Archetype(s): Powerhouse Archetype(s): Powerhouse

Attributes: Attributes:

Body: 3 Talent: 2 Spirit: 1 Mind: 1 Body: 1 Talent: 3 Spirit: 1 Mind: 2

Techniques: Techniques:

Endure 3 Spite 2 Martial Arts 3 Equilibrium 2

N/A N/A N/A N/A

Summary: Summary:

A tanky bruiser who benefits from taking Wounds.
Both of your Techniques will make it so receiving a
Wound is less punishing, more beneficial, and easier,
letting you get into scraps even with the most
damaging enemies without it being a huge risk.
A quick and versatile brawler. “Martial Arts” serves as
a strong base for any build that plans to do melee
combat, it gives a suite of mobility, disruption, and
with the addition of “Equilibrium”, a decent amount of
sustainability.

76
The Professional / Ranger Healer Of The Cloth / Combat Medic

Archetype(s): Slayer / Ruiner Archetype(s): Altruist

Attributes: Attributes:

Body: 2 Talent: 3 Spirit: 1 Mind: 1 Body: 1 Talent: 1 Spirit: 3 Mind: 2

Techniques: Techniques:

Distant Killer 3 Hollow Soul 2 Healer 2 Talisman Caster 2

N/A N/A Chronomancy 1 N/A

Summary: Summary:

A classic healer-support. The combination of

“Talisman Caster” and “Healer” lets you place a
marker on allies, letting you heal them at any range,
Sword Saint / Deft Duelist and with “Chronomancy” on top you can provide
some other buffs with the healing.
Archetype(s): Slayer / Powerhouse

Attributes: Phoenix / Incendiary Expert

Body: 1 Talent: 3 Spirit: 2 Mind: 1 Archetype(s): Ruiner

Techniques: Attributes:

Blade Master 3 Duelist 2 Body: 1 Talent: 1 Spirit: 3 Mind: 2

N/A N/A Techniques:

Summary: Flame Heart 3 Spell Circle 2

N/A N/A

Summary:

77
Bolt Blade / Witch Hunter Charming Bard / Mystic Dancer

Archetype(s): Powerhouse / Ruiner / Slayer Archetype(s): Altruist / Powerhouse

Attributes: Attributes:

Body: 1 Talent: 2 Spirit: 3 Mind: 1 Body: 1 Talent: 1 Spirit: 2 Mind: 3

Techniques: Techniques:

Spell-Sword 2 Thunder Blood 2 Bardic Talent 3 Improvisational Fighting 2

Cunning Fighter 1 N/A N/A N/A

Summary: Summary:

A teleporting electric duelist. This build focuses on

“Spell-Sword”, promoting the combination of Casts
and Skirmishes, and the other two Techniques are
here to support that. “Thunder Blood” lets your Casts Mad Scientist / Scrap Savant
teleport you to your target, meaning you can Skirmish
after to gain the benefits of Spell-Sword, and with Archetype(s): Slayer / Bulwark / Ruiner
“Cunning Fighter” you can take free Breathe actions
to gain the resources needed to use Thunder Blood. Attributes:

Body: 2 Talent: 1 Spirit: 1 Mind: 3

Alchemist
Techniques:
Archetype(s): Altruist / Powerhouse
Modified Meister 3 Runic Aegis 1
Attributes:
Long Shot 1 N/A
Body: 1 Talent: 2 Spirit: 1 Mind: 3
Summary:
Techniques:

Alchemist 3 Improvisational Fighting 2

N/A N/A

Summary:

78
Narrator Tools

This chapter is for those who want to run a game themselves, good luck!

79
 Narrator Tools
Employing Antagonists The Bullet: Bullets are a deadly threat that seems
impossible to defeat, they burn bright but leave the
Using Antagonists effectively is one of the most
game just as fast.
important parts of running a long-running game. They
are the perfect lighting rods for player’s Bonds, they can
Bullets exist to test the problem-solving skills of the
provide unique challenges, and they can be wonderful
players and to let those players flex their character’s
conduits for the messages and themes of your game.
Abilities and Skills in ways that they like.

But most Antagonists won’t be doing all of these things

Bullets should not be given more than 6 Antagonist
at once, for this reason I’ve decided to organize
Points, as they will be using almost all the on Locks
Antagonists into one of three groups based on what
they’re meant to do in your game’s story.
The Boss: The ultimate evil, the villain lurking in the
shadows, a grand Antagonist unlike the past two.
The Blade: These are the simplest of the three types
of Antagonists, they serve as mirrors to the players.
The boss is the ultimate goal-post, they represent the
ceilings of your game, the most powerful person your
A “Blade” should be versatile and competent on their
players know, and more importantly, the most
own, with a strong driving motivation that goes against
dangerous to the people they hold dear.
the current motivation of at least one of the players.

As the person with the greatest abilities within your

A Blade exists to compare the players to the rest of
game, The Boss should also have the greatest
the world, they aren’t cheating the players and seem
ambitions, not only so that they’re a good threat to your
to have had all the same opportunities, if the players
players, but also so you can explore the deepest
feel like they’re more important or stronger than them,
darkest thoughts of the everyday citizen of the setting.
it shows that the players are exceptional. If the players
feel weaker and are defeated, then it shows that they
What are the things that a cynical farmer would point to
have room to grow.
as the “problem”, and what would that farmer do if they
were given the power to get rid of it.
A Blade can exist with as few as 3 Antagonists points
or as many as 10, because they only really need those
A Boss should have at least 6 Antagonist Points,
points for escaping from scenes, as the other
enough to escape from early encounters, threaten the
Antagonist Actions are a bit too grand for their simple
players with Locks, and present a grand finale with their
appeal.
Unmasking.

80
 Building Combat
Enemy Rules
As described in the Turn Order section, enemies
alternate with Players, taking Actions until one side is
taken out.
However, unlike PCs, enemies always take the same
Actions on their turn. When an enemy takes their Turn
they can do the following.
- Move a number of spaces equal to their Speed.
And/Or
- Perform their “Primary Attack”.
However, if an enemy does not move on their Turn they
may use their Primary Attack an additional time.
Swarm Actions
When there is more than 1 enemy with the same name
they become a “Swarm”. When one member of a
Swarm takes their Turn, the rest can take theirs
immediately after, without players in between.
Enemy Aces And Tension
Every enemy also has an “Ace”, a limited use Action that
they can use in the place of a Primary Attack.
However, the number of Aces that can be used each
Round is equal to the Tension in the Scene. Tension
increases whenever a character is defeated in combat,
as described in the combat chapter.
Enemy Intent
All enemies are also given an ‘Intent’. An enemies Intent
determines how it wants to use its Primary Attack, if an
enemy can attack more than one character it will
prioritize the one who best fits the intent, if an
enemy cannot attack any character it will move to a
position that best lets it fill out its intent.
81
Summons
Some enemies will be created as “Summons”, this
means that they are created by another character, are
allied with that character, and take their Turn when
their summoner ends their Turn, without other
characters taking turns in between.
When a Summon would use an Ace it spends 1 Focus
from the Summoner instead.
Enemy Tiers
All enemies can be “Tiered Up” at the beginning of
combat. For each Tier they receive all numbers with a
bracket ‘+X’ next to them increase by X. If a number
increases by ‘(+½)’ it effectively means it increases
every other Tier, and on the even Tiers specifically.
Elites
Generally, an enemy is as powerful as a player with a
Tier equal to their Tier, but if there is an enemy with a
Tier higher than all other enemies, that enemy
becomes an ‘Elite’.
Elites have double the Health they would have normally
and when they enter a Scene they instantly increase the
Tension by 1.
Encounter Design
It’s important to know that every enemy in this game
provides a specific challenge, and threatens specific
kinds of play more than others.
When designing a fight be sure to make at LEAST half of
the enemies threaten the strengths of your players. If
none of the players have armor you might not want to
use a “Slayer”, an enemy who specifically deals
Shredded if your party has no Armored characters.
Fodder Enemies Enemy Types
When some weaker enemies are deployed, the Narrator
can set them as Fodder Enemies, this is for when you
want to deploy more enemies than allies without
Viper | DPS, Effects, Squishy
overwhelming the players with stats to drill through.
10(+5) Health, 4 Speed, 2(+½) Evasion
Fodder Enemies deploy with 1 HP, additional Evasion
equal to their Tier, cannot use Aces, and do not Passive: This enemy can use its movement to Teleport
provide Tension when defeated. to any space by abandoning its ability to Attack on that
turn.
When balancing encounters 3 Fodder Enemies can take
the place of a singe standard enemy. Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent furthest from its other allies.

Compound Enemies
Primary Attack: Choose an adjacent character, roll
There may be times when, within the narrative, players
4(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
should only be facing one enemy, rather than a group.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the number of Hits and
Unfortunately normal enemies don’t have the ability to
Blight to the target. If they were already Blighted deal 1
do this without being absolutely crushed.
Wound.

Because of this there is the option to deploy enemy

Ace: Disappear, at the start of this enemies next Turn it
groups as a ‘Compound Enemy’.
teleports adjacent to and Primary Attacks all players
without an adjacent ally at the end of the next Round,
When you want to do this create a group of enemies as
reappearing on any space thereafter.
normal, but when they are deployed only deploy a
single enemy body.
Guardian | Tank, Displacement, Slow
This is the Compound Enemy, and in most ways they
are just a group of enemies that share the same 15(+5) Health, 3 Speed, 2(+½) Armor
space, they take damage separately, take turns
separately, and do not benefit from each other’s Armor Passive: The spaces adjacent to this are counted as
and Evasion. difficult terrain for its opponents.

There are a few other rules in place specifically for Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
Compound Enemies, they are as follows. opponent closest to its other allies.

- When any part of a Compound Enemy moves, all do,
all parts must always be in the same space.
- When a Compound Enemy receives damage the
Narrator chooses one part to take the damage. If a
part is damaged it must take all damage until it is
defeated.
Primary Attack: Choose an adjacent character, roll
4(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the number of Hits and
push them 2 spaces away.
Ace: Applies Immobilized to yourself and receive all
damage enemies within 4 spaces would take.

- A Compound Enemy can use one free Ace from one

of their parts every Round.

82
Witch | DPS, Displacement, Squishy
8(+5) Health, 2 Speed, 1(+½) Evasion
Passive: This enemy’s Attacks target all characters in a
2 x 2 or 3 x 3 area.
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the most
number of opponent’s possible.
Primary Attack: Choose a space within 5 spaces, and
target all characters within 3 spaces of it, roll 4(+1)D6
with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to double the Hits and pull
them as close to the targeted space as possible.
Ace: Create a 4x4 area, on this enemy’s next turn it may
use it’s Primary Attack and target all its opponents
within the area, this removes the area.
Cultist | One-Shot, Engine
8(+5) Health, 2 Speed
Passive: When Cultists are deployed the narrator must
choose an enemy type and level. A ritual counter is then
set to 0, if the counter reaches the chosen level x2 every
Cultist is killed and the declared enemy is summoned in
one of their spaces. If a player uses this ability they may
choose the enemy type and the level is set to 1 level
above their Tier.
Intent: This enemy has no Intent.
Primary Attack: Apply Immobilized to yourself and
progresses the ritual by 1(+1).
Ace: Apply Immobilized to yourself and progresses the
ritual by 2(+1).
83
Bomb | DPS, One-Shot
25(+5) Health, 4 Speed
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the most
number of opponent’s possible.
Primary Attack: This enemy “Primes”. It explodes at the
start of its next Turn disappearing and targeting all
characters within 2 spaces, roll 8(+1)D6 with a
Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to double the number of
Hits.
Ace: This can be used at the end of any character’s
Turn so long as this enemy is Primed. Explode.
Bruiser | DPS, Tank, Slow
10(+5) Health, 3 Speed, 2(+½) Armor
Passive: If this enemy’s Primary Attack cannot push its
target the full distance the target receives Dazed.
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent closest to itself.
Primary Attack: Choose an adjacent character, roll
4(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to double the Hits and
push the target 1(+1) space(s).
Ace: This enemy Immobilizes themselves and indicates
a 4 Range Cone. At the start of this enemy’s next turn
they use their Primary Attack targeting all opponents
within said Cone, this removes the area.
Healer | Support, Evasive, Slow
8(+5) Health, 2 Speed
Passive: Adjacent enemies take damage for this enemy.
Intent: This enemy has no Intent.
Primary Attack: Restore 4(+2) Health to an enemy in 3
Range.
Ace: Removes all effects from an adjacent enemy.
Builder | Displacement, Versatile
10(+5) Health, 3 Speed, 1(+½) Armor
Passive: This enemy can move through terrain.
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent closest to its other allies.
Primary Attack: Choose a character within 6 spaces.
Deal 3 Damage to them and place a 10(+1) Health 0
Armor terrain adjacent to them.
Ace: Move all terrain within 5 spaces to any other space
within 5 spaces.
84
Coordinator | DPS, Support, Squishy
8(+5) Health, 3 Speed
Passive: Enemies within 4 spaces of this have 3
Advantage on all rolls they make.
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent closest to its other allies.
Primary Attack: Choose an adjacent character, roll
5(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the number of Hits and
allow another enemy within 5 spaces to move their
speed or use their primary attack on a character who
hasn’t been attacked this turn.
Ace: All other enemies within 5 spaces can move their
speed or use their primary attack on a character who
hasn’t been attacked this turn.
Captor | DPS, Displacement, Slow
8(+5) Health, 3 Speed
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent farthest from itself.
Primary Attack: Choose a character within 5 spaces,
roll 4(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to double the Hits, pull the
target to an adjacent space, and apply Snared to them.
Ace: Choose an opponent within 5 spaces, at the end
of this Enemy’s next turn it may use its primary attack
on all characters within 3 spaces of that character.
Characters hit by this are pulled adjacent to the targeted
character and are snared by them instead of this enemy.
Ranger | DPS, Evasive, Slow
8(+5) Health, 2 Speed, 2(+½) Evasion
Passive: If this enemy is deployed by the Narrator they
must also place a 2x2 or 3x3 space of elevated Terrain
somewhere below the Ranger. (Terrain that must be
climbed to get on to, as per the difficult terrain rules).
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent with the lowest maximum HP.
Primary Attack: Applies Immobilized to yourself.
Choose a character within 5 spaces, roll 4D6(+1) with a
Challenge of 1. This deals double damage if the target is
at least 4 spaces away from this enemy.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the number of Hits.
Ace: Choose a character this enemy can see, the next
time they’re hit by this enemy’s Primary Attack they
receive double damage.
Gheist | Displacement, One-Shot
8(+5) Health, 4 Speed, 1(+½) Evasion
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent with the highest maximum HP.
Primary Attack: Choose an adjacent character, roll
4(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to double the Hits and
deal Feared to the target.
Ace: Choose an adjacent character, deal Banished to
the target and this enemy.
85
Necromancer | Engine, Support, Slow
8(+5) Health, 2 Speed, 1(+½) Evasion
Passive: Enemies who die when the Necromancer is
alive leave a Corpse token on their space.
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent closest to its other allies.
Primary Attack: Choose a character within 5 spaces,
roll 3(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to double the Hits and
apply Slowed.
Ace: Revive 2 Corpses as level 1 Bruisers, Vipers, or
Rangers.
Enchanter | Debuff, Squishy
8(+5) Health, 3 Speed
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent furthest from its other allies.
Primary Attack: Choose a character within 5 spaces,
they receive Feared or Taunted.
Ace: This enemy chooses a Taunted or Feared
character, that character gains 4 AP and must attempt
to take a Turn where they Attack one of their allies or
receive 3 Wounds.
Cannoneer | DPS, One-Shot, Slow
8(+5) Health, 1 Speed
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent with the highest maximum HP.
Primary Attack: Gain a stack of “Preparation”, gain 2
stacks if you didn’t move this turn.
Ace: Lose 4 stacks of Preparation, if you couldn’t this
action fails. Choose a character within 10 spaces, roll
5(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the number of Hits
three times.
Duelist | DPS, Debuff, Squishy
10(+5) Health, 3 Speed
Passive: Characters who Attack or are Attacked by this
enemy receive Taunted from it.
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent closest to itself.
Primary Attack: Choose an adjacent character, roll
4(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to double the Hits and
move 1 space.
Ace: Choose a character and place a weak point in the
furthest zone adjacent to the character from this enemy.
When this enemy Attacks that character while standing
in the weak point it does triple damage and may use
this Ace again without spending an Ace.
86
Rifter | DPS, Support, Squishy
8(+5) Health, 2 Speed
Passive: Whenever this enemy initiates any form of
movement (even involuntary movement) it creates a
“Rift” in the space it left and the space it moved to.
When another Character moves on to a Rift they may
remove it and move to any other unoccupied Rift.
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent furthest from its other allies.
Primary Attack: Teleport to a space within 5 spaces,
and target all adjacent characters, roll 5(+1)D6 with a
Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the number of Hits.
Ace: All Rifts explode, performing the damaging portion
of this enemy’s Primary Attack on all characters
adjacent to those Rifts.
Assassin | DPS, Evasive, Squishy
8(+5) Health, 3 Speed
Passive: This enemy starts all combat Scenes “In
Shadow”, meaning it does not appear on the board and
cannot be targeted, In Shadow is lost when this Enemy
takes an Action. This enemy cannot take a turn until the
start of the second Round.
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent furthest from its other allies.
Primary Attack: Choose an adjacent character, roll
2(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1. If this was used In
Shadow the enemy can Teleport to a space adjacent to
any character before determining targets, and gains
3(+1) Advantage on its Roll.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the number of Hits, this
damage is doubled if the target has no other adjacent
characters.
Ace: This enemy re-enters In Shadow.
Slayer | DPS, Debuff, Slow
10(+5) Health, 4 Speed
Passive: When this enemy attacks without being
“Charged”, they become Charged instead. While
Charged this enemy has their Speed reduced to 1.
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent with the highest maximum HP.
Primary Attack: Lose Charged. Choose an adjacent
character, roll 8(+2)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to double the Hits and
Shredded to the target.
Ace: This enemy becomes Charged and does not
reduce their speed. This ace does not use the enemy’s
Attack action.
Slime | Tank, Displacement, Versatile
5(+2) Health, 3 Speed
Passive: When this enemy is defeated it instead “Splits”
creating two copies of itself with half of its max health. A
split Slime cannot split further.
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent closest to itself.
Primary Attack: Choose an adjacent character, roll
3(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the number of Hits and
Slow to the target.
Ace: This enemy attacks a character, if it hits the reward
is changed to “Consume the target, removing them from
the board. Until this enemy is defeated that character
cannot take their turn.”.
87
Baron | Engine, Tank, Slow
10(+5) Health, 2 Speed, 2(+½) Armor
Passive: At the start of its turn, this enemy names
“Skirmish”, “Cast”, or “Finisher”. It cannot name the
same one twice in a row. When a player takes an action
that matches the last one this enemy named, this
enemy can Teleport to an empty space adjacent to them
(If there is one) and use its primary attack on it. This can
only happen 1(+1) time each Round.
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent closest to its other allies.
Primary Attack: Choose an adjacent character, roll
6(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the number of Hits and
Weakened to the target.
Ace: This enemy names two actions as if it triggered its
Passive. However, it gains unlimited uses of its Passive
for the duration of the Round.
Ronin | DPS, Versatile
8(+5) Health, 5 Speed, 2(+½) Evasion
Passive: This enemy can use its Primary Attack twice
per turn by default, three times if they didn’t move.
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent closest to itself.
Primary Attack: Choose an adjacent character, roll
4(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the number of Hits.
Ace: This enemy indicates up to 4 connected straight
lines where at least one is connected to the enemy. At
the end of this enemies next turn it moves across each
line until it reaches the end of the final one, using its
Primary Attack each time it moves over or adjacent to
an opponent, targeting that Opponent.
Berserker | DPS, Engine, Slow
15(+5) Health, 3 Speed
Passive: For every 5 damage this enemy takes it can
move 1 space in any direction and use it’s Primary
Attack (assuming its attack has a target within range).
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent closest to itself.
Primary Attack: Choose an adjacent character, roll
5(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the number of Hits and
push them 1 space away.
Ace: This enemy sets its Health to 15, and it’s Passive
changes to move it two spaces for the rest of the
Scene.
Privateer | DPS, Engine, Squishy
8(+5) Health, 4 Speed
Passive: Whenever an ally attacks an opponent within
this enemy’s range, this enemy can use its Primary
Attack on the same target.
Intent: This enemy always attempts to attack the
opponent with the lowest maximum HP.
Primary Attack: Target all characters in a 2 space Line,
roll 4(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to double the Hits.
Ace: For the rest of this Scene this enemy can move 1
space at the end of every character’s turn.
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Saint | Support, Engine, Slow
10(+5) Health, 2 Speed
Passive: At the beginning of each Round this enemy
can designate a space, for the remainder of the Round
all other enemies within that space cannot receive
damage.
Intent: This enemy has no Intent.
Primary Attack: Choose any character, Teleport them
to the designated space, or Teleport a character in the
designated space to any other space.
Ace: For the rest of this Scene this enemy can
designate 2 space with its passive.
Hound Master | Displacement, Engine, Slow
10(+5) Health, 2 Speed
Passive: At the beginning of each Round this enemy
can target a character 4 or more spaces away and
create a “Seeker” in an adjacent space. Seekers are
pieces of Terrain with 1 Health that move 1 space at the
end of every Turn. If a Seeker moves adjacent to the
character that was targeted when it was created it
disappears and deals 5(+1) damage to all adjacent
character.
Intent: This enemy has no Intent.
Primary Attack: Choose an adjacent character, roll
5(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the number of Hits and
push them 2 spaces away.
Ace: Create 3 Seekers targeting the same character.
Complex Enemy Types
In addition to normal enemy Types, there exist a few
“Complex Enemy Types”, these share the same stats
and general rules as normal enemies with two
exceptions:
Complex Enemy Types cannot be chosen when
another effect would allow its user to choose an
enemy Type, unless specifically stated.
Complex Enemies do not have a Turn in the Turn
Order, they instead take 1 Action after a player ends
their Turn, starting with the 1st action listed, and
moving forward 1 by 1 until they loop back to their
first, repeating until they are defeated. Their Ace can
be used as a substitute for taking any of these
Actions.
Head And Hands Boss
15(+10) Health (X3), 4 Armor
Passive: When this enemy would be deployed, deploy
three copies of it, designating one as the “Head” and
the rest as “Hands”.
1: Heave: Move each of the Hands up to 4 spaces in
any direction, up to 6 spaces away from the Head.
2: Crush: Each Hand can Choose up to 2 adjacent
characters, roll 4(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the number of Hits and
choose one character to gain Snared.
3: Glare: Draw an infinite length line from the Head.

4: BEAM: Attack every character on the line drawn from

Shadowy Trickster
the Head, roll 12(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to double number of Hits.
15(+10) Health, [0] Evasion

1: Shift: Move up to 6 spaces in any direction. Ace: Move each of the Hands and the Head up to 4
spaces in any direction.
2: Trifold Flurry: Choose up to 3 adjacent characters,
roll 4(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the number of Hits and
Blight.

3: Step: Move up to 3 spaces in any direction.

4: Execution: Choose an adjacent character, roll

6(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the number of Hits and
Blight to the target. If they were already Blighted, deal 2
Wounds instead.

Ace: Create 2 copies of this enemy with 1 Health, one

only has access to Action 1 and 2, and one who only
has access to Action 3 and 4.

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Grand Thaumaturge
15(+10) Health
Passive: Whenever this enemy takes an action they
may Teleport to any space that isn’t adjacent to another
character.
1: Metaphysical Fortress: Create up to 3 connected
spaces of 20 Health Terrain anywhere on the board.
2: Blazing Incantation: Create a 3x3 zone anywhere on
the map.
3: 2nd Verse: Expand the zone created with “Blazing
Incantation” to a 4x4 zone, or move it up to 6 spaces in
any direction.
4: Ignite: Attack every character within the zone drawn
from “Blazing Incantation”, roll 12(+1)D6 with a
Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to double number of Hits.
Ace: This enemy uses “Ignite” targeting one character
regardless of any zones drawn.
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Doomwall
15(+10) Health
Passive: This enemy occupies the top 7 squares of the
board, and cannot move from them for any reason.
1: Cross Blast: Indicate two spaces at least 6 spaces
apart as well as 4 cardinal lines from it that extend to the
edge of the board.
2: Cursed Ground: Indicate 3 zones that are each at
least 5 spaces apart as well as all spaces adjacent to it.
3: Reaving Flow: Choose all characters within 3 spaces
of this enemy, roll 8(+1)D6 with a Challenge of 1.
Reward: Deal Damage equal to the Hits and apply
Slowed.
4: Finale: Choose 3 of the indicated areas and use
“Reaving Flow” on all characters
Ace: This enemy uses Finale choosing any number of
indicated areas.
 Credits
Formatting:
Joel V.

Writing:
Joel V.
Discowolf (Many pieces of Technique fluff text)

Copy Editing:
Kendall Harper

Playtesters:
Stephen H.
David H.
Princesilly
Bucket
Fabricio L.
Evelyn E.
OneInThree
“C”
Brooke
Rhiannon
IGKU
Aqua
Ffzdf
Saikey
Nat

Artists:
Comixian: https://cosmixian.artstation.com
Colourkat: https://twitter.com/ColourCat01
Skycrime: https://twitter.com/SkyCrimeDraws
Horology: https://twitter.com/horoart
YoungWeb: https://twitter.com/youngweb5
Francesco Silva: https://twitter.com/francescolobo
Kyo Yukanna: https://twitter.com/Kyo_Yukanna
Kaibootsu: https://twitter.com/Kaibootsu
Saka: https://twitter.com/sakasukiyaki
Shig: https://twitter.com/Shigezie0

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