Ziggurat

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Ziggurat
Earthquakes! Famine! Raiders! Bandits!
The world is coming to an end and you have the misfortune of
being caught up in the collapse! All of the ancient empires the
world have known have come to nothing! All of the royal
bloodlines severed, their cities shattered and people scattered.
Canals overflow and earthquakes wrack the land. Crops wither
in the fields. Are the days getting shorter?
Most haven’t survived.
But you did.
(So far.)

A GAME ABOUT SURVĮVĮNG THE BRONZE A GE COLLAPSE BY GOĮNG

ĮNTO A NCĮENT T OMBS
To be played with your friends, or with people who you would like to be your
friends.

Inspired by Cairn, Knave, Maze Rats, Open Legend, Salvage Union, and dozen
other cool OSR and adjacent games.

BY N ĮCK W RĮGHT
@charmingthisowl

https://lawfulindifferent.itch.io/

Character Creation
A TTRĮBUTES
Player characters have three Attributes:
Strength, Wisdom, and Charisma.
Strength is a character’s endurance, resilience,
courage, and resolve. Add your Strength to
your attack and damage rolls and any rolls
related to toughness, might, speed, etc.
Wisdom is a character’s foresight, perception,
or intuition. It adds to your spellcasting rolls
and any rolls related to tracking, seeking,
understanding, and the like.
Charisma is a character’s force of will, charm,
and confidence. Add your Charisma to the
reaction rolls of others, and any tasks related to
persuasion, bribery, begging, haggling, and
similar.
When you create a PC, put a +2 in one attribute
and +1 in another. The last attribute is at +0.
Į NVENTORY
A character has ten inventory slots- one for
each hand, two for the body/head, and six for
bags, backpacks, pouches and the like.
Light items take up one slot and can usually be
wielded in one hand. (swords, torches, bags of
chalk, etc)
Heavy items take up two items slots and must
be carried in two hands. (warhammers,
greataxes, metal armor, golden statues)
Carrying more than ten total ‘slots’ of items
gives Disadvantage on rolls related to speed
and endurance.
STARTĮNG GEAR
You have scraped together a handful of
equipment and gear. Roll once on both charts.
BACKGROUND AND HOMELAND
Choose or create a Background.
Choose or create a Homeland.
Your Background and Homeland determine
what sorts of skills your character might be
familiar with, the environments they are
comfortable in, and the like.
CLASS
Choose a class, or roll on the table. Your class
determines your Hit Dice and grants you a
special starting ability or two.
PROFĮCĮENCY BONUS
Your proficiency bonus is equal to your level
+2. You add your proficiency bonus to any d20
rolls related to your class or background.
Ex. A Ranger is tracking prey through the
wilderness. A Magus is deciphering pictographs
on a tomb. A Warrior is arm-wrestling a raider.
OTHER DETAĮLS
You have Hit Dice and Luck equal to your level.
Your level starts at 1.
You have Hit Points equal to the rolled total of
all of your Hit Dice.
Your Armor Class starts at 10 points, and
increases if you are wearing armor or wielding a
shield.
Your Attack Bonus is equal to your Strength
bonus, if any. Warriors and Rangers
additionally add their proficiency bonus to their
Attack rolls.
EXPERĮENCE
You gain experience when you spend Loot or
Experience dice, which you can gain through
play.
GAĮNĮNG A L EVEL
When you gain a level, you gain 1 Hit Die. This
increases your max Hit Points and your
proficiency bonus.
You may also increase one attribute by 1 point.
You gain a level when you have experience
equal to your current level x 100.
THE CORE R ULE
When you attempt something risky or
challenging, roll 1d20 and add your
Strength, Wisdom, or Charisma bonus (as
applicable.) Add your Proficiency Bonus if it is
a task you are familiar with and skilled at.
A result of 15 or greater is a success.
14 or less: Success with a twist -or- a failure
(GM’s choice)
You may also gain Advantage or
Disadvantage due to the situation.
If you have Advantage, roll an additional 1d6
and add the result to your roll.
If you have Disadvantage, roll an additional
1d6 and subtract the result from your roll.
Advantage and Disadvantage cancel each
other out, one-for-one.
D6+D4 Roll Background Homeland

1 Hermit Desolate Wastes

2 Hunter Barren Desert

3 Herder Broken Mountains

4 Gatherer Rugged Hills

5 Farmer River Delta

6 Laborer Minor Polis

7 Trader Abandoned City

8 Fisher Ruined Port

9 Crafter Frigid Islands

10 Noble Remote Valley

D6+D4 Roll Equipment Gear

2 Club or Mace (1d6+1) Relic

3 Bronze dagger (1d4, small) 1d6 Loot

4 Sling + stones (1d6, ranged) Wooden Shield (+2 AC)

5 Handaxe (1d6, brutal) Light Armor (+1 AC)

6 Broad Sword (1d6, keen) 1d6 Supply

7 Spear (1d6, reach) Bronze Helmet (+2 AC)

8 Bow (1d8, ranged) Bronze Armor (+2 AC)

9 Greataxe (1d10, brutal) Bronze Shield

10 Longspear (1d10, reach) Roll twice and pick one

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 Class Choose either Familiar or Wrath.
Familiar: You have a friendly monster as a
D6 Hit companion. You may choose its type and form.
Class Trait(s) It has a d4 Hit Die and is one level lower than
Roll Dice
you. You can see from its eyes and can cast
1 Cleric 1d8 Healing or Smite spells from its location as though you were
there, as it is bound to you magically.
Shapeshifting or Summoning it requires a lengthy and painful
2 Magus 1d6 ritual- ask your GM.
Animal Companion
Martial Training and Wrath: You can modify a spell you cast, dealing
3 Ranger 1d10 (Skirmisher or Point 1d6 damage at long range rather than causing
Blank Shot) its normal effect. You gain the normal Stress or
Sneak Attack and Fatigue from its casting.
4 Rogue 1d8 Acrobat or Subterfuge
or Eloquence
Magical Spark and R OGUE ( D8 HD)
5 Sorcerer 1d6
Familiar or Wrath Thief, orator, counselor, spy, diplomat
6 Warrior 1d10 Martial Training Dodge: At the beginning of combat, you can
pick an enemy. You have +1 AC vs that enemy’s
attacks.
CULTĮST ( D6 HD) Sneak Attack: When your strike takes an
enemy by surprise, you deal double damage.
Scholar, magician, devoted
Choose Acrobat, Subterfuge, or Eloquence.
Spell Library: You have one magic focus. It
does not belong to you, and you are expected Acrobat: Double your proficieny bonus when
to return it. You may be able to exchange it at a you are dodging, tumbling, jumping, balancing,
friendly temple, if you are in good standing. or otherwise using your reflexes
Choose Blessing: Healing or Blessing: Smite. Subterfuge: Double your proficiency bonus
when you are hiding, sneaking, concealing, or
Healing: With a touch, you absorb the pain of avoiding.
another. They heal 1d6 hit points. (You gain 1
Stress.) Eloquence: Double your proficiency bonus
when you are negotiating, flattering, bribing,
Smite: Add your proficiency bonus to your next gathering information, or changing attitudes.
attack roll and your next damage roll.
You gain 1 Stress when you invoke either
Blessing.

M AGUS ( D6 HD)
Seer, prophet, priest
Chooses Shapeshifting or Animal Companion.
Shapeshifting: The Magus can, as an
extended action, transform into an animal
shape. The Magus retains their intelligence but
cannot speak or cast spells.Upon return to
human form, the Magus gains 1 Fatigue.
Animal Companion: An animal no larger than
an alligator will obey the directions of the
Magus- to the death if necessary. Hawks,
boars, and elk are common.

SORCERER ( D6 HD)
Magical Spark: You can cast one spell without
possessing its focus. You incur double the
normal Stress or Fatigue for casting it.
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R ANGER (D10 HD)
Scout, tracker, hunter, nomad
Survivalist: When you rest, recover +1 hp/level
Martial Training: You apply your proficiency
bonus to your Hit Points, attack rolls and your
Armor Class.
Choose Skirmisher or Sharpshooting.
Skirmisher: You gain advantage when
attempting to run past, through, or over both
difficult terrain. You gain advantage against
attempts to trap or ensnare you.
Point Blank Shot: You suffer no penalties for
using ranged weapons in a melee.
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W ARRĮOR (D10 HD)
Mercenary, legionnaire, champion
Hearty: You gain +3 Hit Points.
Martial Training: You apply your proficiency
bonus to your Hit Points, your attack rolls and
your Armor Class.
Choose either Protector or Berserker.
Protector: As a reaction, you can intercept an
attack aimed at an adjacent ally.
Berserker: As a reaction, you can go into a
battle trance. While in this trance, half of the
damage you take becomes Stress instead. After
the trance ends, you gain 1 Stress.
 Fighting and Combat
When you find yourself with no other resolution
for your conflicts, it may be time to come to
blows.
When it is your turn, you may take two actions
before it is the end of your turn. A short list of
common actions is below:
Strike: Roll 1d20 and add your attack bonus (if
any). If your result is greater than your target's
Armor Class, you hit and deal your weapon's
damage. If you are using a ranged weapon in
melee, you get Disadvantage.
Move: You move up to your normal movement
speed in any direction.
Charge: As a combined action, you can run
towards an enemy (moving your speed) and
then attack. Doing so grants a +4 bonus to
your attack and damage rolls.
Defend: You cover your weaknesses and gain a
+2 to your Armor Class.
Sunder: Strike at an enemy’s items. Reduce the
struck item’s Quality by 1 for every 3 points of
damage. Gain advantage on the damage roll if
your weapon is significantly harder.
Item Quality
All items were made by craftspeople of varying
skills, of sometimes wildly varying material
quality, and under a staggeringly diverse set of
situations.
For simplicity's sake, the quality of an item is
measured by a + or - after its description.
Apply this as a bonus or penalty to any rolls
made with the item. Items without a stated
quality are assumed to be +0 (average,
unexciting quality.)
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W EAPON DAMAGE
Light weapons deal 1d6 damage and can be
wielded in one hand.
Heavy weapons weapons deal 1d10 damage
and must be wielded in two hands.
All weapons deal double damage on an attack
roll of 20, known as a critical hit.
W EAPON PROPERTĮES
Keen weapons, such as knives and swords,
deal critical strikes on a roll of 19-20.
Brutal weapons increase their damage die by
one step when they critically hit.
Wielding a Reach weapon lets you strike first in
combat. You also gain Advantage when you
fight an enemy that Charged you this turn.
Conditions
Sometimes, as you roam through the world,
you will find yourself in a different condition
than you might enjoy. Some common
conditions are below:
Stress- Stress can stack. For each point of
Stress, reduce your healing by 1 each time you
rest. You lose 1 Stress each time you rest.
Fatigued- Fatigue can stack. For each point of
Fatigue, take a penalty to all rolls related to
alertness, speed, energy, carrying, throwing, or
similar actions by 1.
Poisoned- While you are poisoned, you reduce
your maximum hit points by 2. Most poisons
have treatments (some do not!)
Stunned- While you are stunned, you are not
alert and cannot act. At the end of your turn,
you lose the Stunned condition.
 Rest, Recovery,
and Downtime
Any time you are not engaged in another
activity for about an hour, you can take a Short
Rest and spend any number of your Hit Dice.
Roll those dice and recover that many hit points
(up to your maximum).
If you can manage a warm meal, a safe camp,
and clean water you can sleep and recover a
number of Hit Dice equal to half your level
during a Long Rest. You also recover all of
your Hit Points.
Downtime: While in downtime, you can retrain
abilities, restore spells, craft new items, work
for money, plan out expeditions, purchase
supplies, etc. Anything more exciting is, by
definition, not Downtime. Downtime lasts for as
long as is necessary and ends when something
exciting happens.
Each time you rest, spend 1 Supply. This
represents eating food, drinking wine, mending
holes in tents, burning firewood, and the like.
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Life and Death
When you are at zero hit points (or less), you
gain the Downed condition.
Downed: A Downed character cannot take any
useful actions, but can still cry for help, crawl
around, hide, or similar. You recover from this
condition when you regain any number of hit
points. At the end of each turn that you are
Downed, make a death save.
Death Save: Roll 1d20 and add your Luck total.
Success means that you stabilize and will
recover, given time. Failure means that you lose
another hit point.
If you are ever at a number of negative hit
points equal to your maximum hit points, you
die immediately, your spirit passing on to the
underworld.
(ex. -10 hit points for a character with 10
maximum HP)
 Getting Things
In an age before currency or coinage people
bartered. Merchants and traders used to be
common in the many cities of the world- but
with the decline of cities came the decline of
much trading.
Shepherds and villagers will still barter for what
they have, and smiths can be paid partially in
material…
The closest thing to a standardized unit of
value is a bronze ‘oxhide,’ a slab of metal
weighing roughly 20 kgs (and taking up an item
slot). Ingots of other metals vary in weight and
quality, making exact value difficult to
determine (until used…)
Oil, spices, and preserved foods are also always
valuable.

Armor
D6 Roll Item AC Bonus

1 Light Helmet +1

2 Light Armor +1

3 Light Shield +2

4 Heavy Helmet +2

5 Heavy Armor +2

6 Heavy Shield +3

WEAPONRY
D10+D6 Roll Item Size Damage Trait
2 Dagger S 1d4 Keen (+1 critical strike)
3 Club S 1d4+1
4 Staff L 1d8 +1 AC
5-6 Broad Sword M 1d6 Keen (+1 critical strike)
8-7 Hand Axe M 1d6 Brutal (+1 critical damage die)
9-10 Mace M 1d6+1
11-13 Spear M 1d6 Reach
14 Greataxe L 1d10 Brutal
15 War Hammer L 1d8 Brutal, Reach
16 Long-spear L 1d10 Reach

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 Spellcasting Spellcasting Complications
A spell is cast using a focus- typically a clay
tablet with an incantation written upon it, but D6 Roll Item
also scepters, rings, amulets, or other items and
devices. Regardless of its form, a focus must
be held in one or both hands, and both hands 1 Spell backfires
must be otherwise free to cast the spell. Each
focus holds only a single spell, and each focus
takes up at least one item slot. 2 Magical energy explodes and fizzles
The secret of creating new spells has been lost
to time- to gain additional spells, player 3 Spell’s reach doubles / halves
characters must seek them out and loot them
from ancient places or steal them from other
magicians. 4 Energy cascades

Casting a spell is often risky and challenging in

anything other than the calmest, most 5 Temporary amnesia +
controlled conditions. Casting a spell causes its
caster to gain 1 Stress. 6 Spell inverts

Spells
Many more spells exist in the world than this, When you lose concentration, your disguise
but these are well known: falters. You can change it at will, but it’s
obvious (and disturbing).
Stoneskin: Flesh turns to jagged, dense stone.
Movement is slowed and sensitivity is minimal. Clairvoyance: The projection of sight and
hearing to another place- become oblivious to
Featherfall: Weight reduced to almost nothing. your own surroundings until the spell ends.
Float from heights, surf along a breeze.
Timber Servant: The plants around become
Darkvision: Brightly glowing eyes, like a cat, let magically animated and follow your spoken
you see in the dark. They also let the dark see commands as best they can.
you.
Find Water: A jittery, playful little blue spirit
Voidform: Your body becomes ethereal and shows you the way to the nearest (plausibly)
incorporeal and only barely visible. You lose all potable water.
ability to interact with the physical world until
the spell ends.
Call Storm: A freak thunderstorm appears and
then disappears as suddenly as it arrives. While
it lingers, those wearing metal are likely to be
struck by lightning!
Commanding Word: Those hearing your next
single word are compelled to obey it until they
regain reason.
Disguise: Your physical appearance becomes
that of another. Your voice remains your own.
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 Hirelings and Beasts of Burden
It is often possible to find help by making
promises or calling in favors.
NPCs have only two attributes: Skill and Hit D8 Roll Item Trait
Dice. NPCs apply their Skill as a bonus to any
d20 rolls they make that they could plausibly 1 Shovel Lazy
be good at. An NPC’s Hit Dice determines their
damage die size and their Hit Points.
Hirelings can carry ten items, the same as a 2 Club Courageous
PC. A Hireling should have a trait and a
personal item, if nothing else. They usually 3 Staff Alert
expect a half-share of loot each. They will not
go into danger and would rather flee than fight.
4 Sling Slow
A Large beast of burden (ox, camel) can carry
12 items. A Small beast of burden (goat, mule,
giant turtle) can carry 6 items. 5 1d4 Supply Temperamental
Teams of pack animals can work together if
they are being led and kept safe and calm. 6 Loyal Hound Paranoid

7 1d4 Small Beasts Complacent

8 1-2 Large Beast(s) Eager

Loot and Experience

Loot is measured in dice: d4, d6, d8, d10, etc.
Larger dice are better and represent more
valuable goods. Each die of Loot takes up 1 D8 Roll Random Loot Loot Dice
inventory slot. When you spend your Loot,
choose a number of dice to roll and gain that
much experience. You must spend all rolled 1 Handcrafts, supplies d4
Loot at once.
Additionally, you can burn Loot to roll that die 2 Tools (good quality) d4
and add the result to a d20 roll. You can't
spend burned Loot- the act of burning makes
its value lost to you in whatever way is 3 Glass, beads d6
appropriate to the fiction.
4 Bronze oxhides d6
EXPERĮENCE
Sometimes you can gain experience directly- 5 Spices d8
from defeating challenging foes or
accomplishing important objectives.
Experience dice are measured and burned 6 Silver/Gold/Tin (ingots) d8
exactly like Loot dice. Experience dice do not
need to be hauled and are not physical objects
that can be traded. You can spend your 7 Fine Wines d10
Experience dice when you rest, and add the
result to your experience total. 8 Gemstones (polished) d10

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 Traveling
When the players want to travel from a known
location to an unknown one, roll up to 4d6.
Each die represents a location between the
origin and the destination. Discovered locations
can easily be portrayed on an index card and
arranged in order. Each index card takes
roughly the same time to travel, about one
four-hour ‘watch.’
R ANDOM ENCOUNTERS
Each time the players cross from one region to
another, roll for a random encounter:
1-in-6(or have your players roll +Luck)
Encounters in the wilderness are often spotted
at a far range, where true natures can be
obscured.
Encounters in the deep darkness are often
stumbled upon at quite close ranges.
2D6 Roll Random Encounter
2 Manticore
3 3d4 Beastfolk
4 2d6 Traders
5 3d6 Migrants
6 1d4 Shepherds
7 2d8 Mercenaries
8 2d4 Wandering Priests
9 2d6 Zombies
10 1d4 Ogres
11 2d6 Harpies
12 Dragon
D6 Roll Region Description
Staying in this area is
1 Hazardous inherently dangerous.
Traveling through this area
2 Circuitous takes noticeably longer.
Somebody (or something)
3 Occupied lives here, or very close
nearby.
Desert: Hazardous
Forest: Circuitous
Terrain-
4 Specific
Mountains: Secluded
Grassland: Direct
Dungeon: Occupied
Travel through this area
5 Direct noticeably easier, straighter,
or faster
A path less traveled; an
6 Secluded opportunity for rest
Attitude
(1d4) 1: hungry 2: bored 3: scared 4: tired
(1d6) 1: hungry 2: bored 3: drunk 4: partying
5: aggressive 6: friendly
(1d4) 1: looking for deals 2: secretly raiders 3: searching
4:
(1d4) 1: returning home 2: fleeing catastrophe
3: evading pursuers 4: migrating elsewhere
(1d4) 1: hospitable 2: chatty 3: unfriendly 4: scared
(1d4) 1: charioteers 2: heavy infantry 3: archers
4: scouts
(1d4) 1: pilgrims 2: on a mission 3: camping
4: conducting a ritual
(1d4) 1: seeking food 2:feasting 3: guarding 4: marching
(1d6) 1: hungry 2:aggressive 3:wary 4:unfriendly 5:
drunk / 6:friendly
(1d4) 1: hungry 2:scared 3: playful 4: aggressive
(1d4) 1: hungry 2: domineering 3: dismissive 4: cruel
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 Each empire has a typical set of ‘characteristics’
Empire Anchors that flavor the adventure-worthy sites it left
behind. You can determine this once per
empire, or individually for each dungeon.
You can use this chart to link to any of the
ancient empires in the world any time you need
to.
They left ruined cities, mysterious artifacts,
mighty weapons- and deep dungeons full of
the greatest treasure caches the world has ever
known.
The ancient empires collapsed generations
ago- but their influence reaches on and on.

1d6 Roll Empire Anchor Characteristic

Spikes and bulls and chariots. Lightning More magic weapons. More lightning magic.
1 motifs.
Beastfolk and traps and the unrelenting
3 Dungeons are deeper (and richer!)
sun
Griffon statutes flank iron doors.
4 More traps. More magic armor and shields.
Windswept.
Cyclopean temple-fortresses perched More powerful artifacts. Larger treasure
5 on rocky islands. caches.
Lapis lazuli, blue archers, and the cold
6 stars above. More gemstones. More lost magic.
Clay-bricked ziggurats, ruined temple- More treasure maps. More powerful guardians.
7 city of a god-prince

Delving Rumors Overheard

As the players descend deeper into the depths,
things get stranger and more difficult. Just
being in the dark depths itself is a
Disadvantage- strange echoes make it hard 2d6 Rumor
to hear, the crushing weight of the earth
feels oppressive. The unnatural and hideous 1 Overheard in a tavern
monsters don’t help.

2 Explorer/guide selling map / directions

For extra danger, apply an extra
Disadvantage every 3 levels down or so.
3 A shepherd carrying news, desperately

4 A messenger is recruiting a recovery team

5 Revealed in recurring dreams every night