Danse Macbre Core Rules
Danse Macbre Core Rules
Danse Macbre Core Rules
Dean Suter
Chris Johnstone
The Content
Introduction
Systems
Character Creation
Character Traits
Drama
Magic
Setting
Roleplaying
Beasts and Devils
Two Horrors
3
5
9
20
34
48
80
104
112
136
Copyright: Danse Macarbe is copyright 2004 Dean Suter and Christopher Johnstone. Written, designed and illustrated
by Dean Sutter and Christopher Johnstone, unless otherwise stated. Permission is given for this version, Danse
Marcarbe (core rules) (PDF), to be copied, printed and distributed freely on the condition that no version of this
PDF (whether electronic, print or other) is sold. Cover art Cloister in Snow by Caspar David Friedrich (September
5, 1774 May 7, 1840). A 19th century German Romantic painter. Leaf and Garland Border (on cover) and Ivy
Border on contents page sourced from www.webclipart.com
Introduction
b
Chapter One
A Dance with the Dead
Renaud was lost. The night had crept quietly into the
forest, smoothing trees, ivy and leaves into smudges of
darkness. Had the path dwindled and vanished? Or did he
miss a turn in the rutted track. Had he wandered off down
some wild deer path?
Each breath made cold, dead shapes on the air.
His brothers hamlet should be close now, there should
be lights twinkling between the trees. But the night was
endless. Grey trees marched into the murk, and became
thinner shadows.
When the first howl of the first wolf rolled through the
forest, Renaud froze. He pressed his back up against a
great, twisted oak, as close as he could to the knuckled
bark. Another howl, and then another.
Renaud crept around the oak and began to trot very
fast. He was a portly man, there was no real speed in his
waddle.
When the light shone suddenly through the boles
Renaud nearly cried out for joy he would have, except
that in his imagination the wolves were ready to pounce
with snapping jaws, all they needed was the slightest
sound to guide them. The light stabbed the darkness with
a dozen spears of radience, which shifted between the
trunks as the torch bobbed off into the darkness. Renaud
hitched his flapping jerkin, and ran, his gut protruding, his
flat feet flapping wildly.
He ran until the light grew into a large orb of fiery gold.
Until he was nearly upon the torch-bearer. It was a woman,
dressed in a long grey gown, walking lazily among the
shadows. Though her paces were slow and languid,
Renaud could not catch her. His eyes were streaming now,
his throat swollen, his legs burning. She must have heard
him, but never once looked back; her path was straight
and calm and resolute.
When Renaud stumbled into the deep glade he was all
almost blind from sweat and the pound of blood in his
skull. He could just make out shapes, not just the lady in
the long grey gown, but others. Leaning heavily against a
tree, Renaud rubbed the sheet of sweat from his face. They
were looking at him. The faces were cold, the eyes colder.
And there were shapes behind them, large black things,
lopping through the night, gathering together.
There were sounds behind him now, heavy things moving
through the leafy hazel, holly and thorn. He looked again
Disclaimer
Summary of Chapters
Designer Notes
Gender
Systems
b
Chapter Two
game considerably.
Objective Resolution
playing Danse Macabre. The rules will help you get a feel
for how the world works, they present for everyone at the
table a shared system of cause and effect, and ideally rules
allow you to play the game without falling into disagreements over fine points of the setting. Are longbows more
deadly than crossbows? Should a suit of mail protect you
from a ghost? How long does it take to summon an imp
from the nether regions of the cosmos? These are questions that rules address so that you can get on with the
business of playing the game.
Danse Macabre uses rules primarily to negotiate difficult
or dangerous situations. You may want to escape the
creature following you through the woods, but can you?
You may want to clash sword to sword with a recreant
knight, but who will win? These are questions answered
by the rules of the game.
As well as creating a fair playing ground where swords
may slice both ways, rules also add structure to a game.
Their aim, to varying degrees, is to create a sense of game
balance or fairness for the players, present an obvious
way to record and track a characters changes, mediate
disagreements, and determine the outcome of dangerous
or difficult situations.
Dice
Subjective Resolution
Terminology
Mechanics
ing plot.
Dice Pool - a pool of dice that represent a power or skill.
More powerful traits have larger dice pools. Danse Macabre uses dice pools of six-sided dice (d6).
Scene - a single coherent clip of action, plot or conversation that occurs without a change in scenery or characters. The same concept as a scene in a book or film.
Session - a single game played out over a few hours.
Game Sessions usually follow one after another and build
into a Chronicle over time.
Skill - The most common form of Trait. A Skill represents an area of studied talent, discipline and learning.
Trait - An umbrella term for all skills, powers, qualities or
facets of a character. Traits are ranked on a scale of one to
six. Anything can be a Trait, although usually only the
more important Traits are listed on a character sheet. Traits
are usually good, but can be bad for a character, too. A
curse might be an example of a bad trait that works against
your character during the game. A Rank Six curse would be
much worse than a Rank One curse.
Actions
Traits
Effort
Tokens
Rather than recording Effort on paper, it can be useful
and less time-consuming to employ a pile of tokens, glass
counters or matchsticks. Players can remove tokens from
their pool on the table as they expend Effort and add them
back when Effort is recovered.
For Example: Turstan is running from a wild boar he
disturbed while out collecting firewood. The boars sharp
tusks are just inches away. Turtan decide to use his Daring
skill (Rank 4) to leap into a tree and clamber out of the
boars reach. Turstan decides to expend effort on this
Action. He spends two points of Effort, which increases
his range of success to 4, 5 and 6. He rolls his dice pool
and scores a 2, 4, 4, and 5. Because he spent Effort on the
action he scores three successes. If he had not spent any
Effort he would not have scored any successes at all.
Often Traits are pitched against one-another by two different characters. This is called Contesting Traits. Two
soldiers squaring off in battle are about to Contest their
respective combat skills. Two players sitting down to a
game of chess are Contesting their Games skills, two merchants trying to out-cheat one another might Contest their
Guile Skills.
During a Contested Action both players roll their dice
pools and count successes. The highest number of successes wins the contest. If the successes are a draw, then
the flurry of action is deemed a draw and the conflict will
continue into the next round.
The number of successes by which you beat your opponent determines your degree of victory.
One Success
Marginal Victory
Two Successes
Comfortable Victory
Three Successes
Decisive Victory
Four Successes
Stunning Victory
Recovering Effort
Prolonged Contests
Botches
all the Characters Test their Cavalcade Skill (as they are
on horseback). Turstan rolls first, he has a Cavalcade
Skill of 5 and expends two points of Effort. He rolls a 3, 4,
5 and 5. Three successes because of the Effort he spent.
His Player makes of note of this. Next Matholamew rolls
and scores two successes, he is lagging behind Turstan.
The Gamesmaster then checks the Cavalcade skill of the
robber-knights. If Turstan manages to score ten successes
first, hell reach the gates of Rouen. However, this wont
make Matholamew safe as he needs to score ten successes
and well. If any of the robber-knights score ten successes
before Turstan or Matholamew then the robber-knight
will succeed in his goal and head off one of the fleeing
travellers.
Supernatural Traits
Uncanny
Mildly supernatural skills. Sometimes seen in unusually
tainted warlocks and sorcerous mortals. More often the
preserve of minor spirits, imps, sprites, less powerful
incarnate beings and the like.
An Uncanny Skill defaults to a Success on a score of
five or six on a d6.
Supernatural
The domain of powerful spirits, demons and angels,
vampyr lords and powerful, elder monsters of the night.
A Supernatural Skill defaults to a Success on a score of
four, five or six on a d6.
Godlike
Possessed only by a few lordly entities in all of creation.
Lucifer possesses Godlike skills. His duke of hell, Asmodey
is merely Supernatural.
A Godlike Skill defaults to a Success on a score of three,
four, five or six on a d6.
For Example: A Faerie of the Kingdom of Wilds sets
about weaving straw into a carpet of gold. The
Gamesmaster sets this task at Difficult. The creature has
the Trait: Weaving Straw into Gold (Rank 6 / Uncanny).
The Spirit rolls its dice pool and scores a 1, 3, 3, 5, 6 and
6. Because its skill is Uncanny it scores a success on both
5 and 6. Thus, it scores three successes. The spirit needed
two successes to overcome the Difficult Task. With three it
easily weaves a masterful carpet of golden threads.
Character Creation
b
Chapter Three
To play Danse Macabre you need to create a character.
Your character defines the role that you will play in the
game, and the ways in which you will play a part in the
story that unfolds.
Each player controls one character at a time in the game.
If your character dies or retires from the world, or if you
just want to move onto playing something a little different,
you create a new one. You can create and play any
character that fits a medieval setting.
All characters are different. One will be a competent
swordsman, another will be a tinker who has never even
picked up a sword. Your character could be a nobleman
with a love for falconry, or a wretched beggar with a love
of pick-pocketing. Traits help us define these little quirks
of character they place a characters skills, talents and
powers in context so that we know exactly how good or
bad a character is compared to everyone else. The process
of creating a character involves defining your Characters
Traits and allocating rankings to them, as well as thinking
about personal history, motivations and idiosyncrasies.
Overview
Gamesmaster Advice
Creating a Character
Society
One Concept
Motivation
Designer Notes
Motivation is an invaluable tool for the Gamesmaster. It
allows her to build up tales and adventures, bring into
play villains and friends, all based on who the player
10
Rank 6
Rank 7
Rank 8
Rank 8
Rank 9
Rank 10
Three Backgrounds
Sins
Avarice
Envy
Gluttony
Lust
Pride
Wrath
Sloth
Nature
Your Nature is used to gauge where your character falls
in the battle between Heaven and Hell. Nature is
represented on a scale of 13 ranks with Hallowed at one
end (Rank 1) and Dark at the other end (Rank 13). Good
actions during the game will move you a rank towards
Hallowed at the Gamesmasters discretion, just as evil
actions will move you towards Dark, also at the
Gamesmasters discretion.
Before beginning play count up your Sins and Virtues.
Start at Rank 7 and move yourself one point towards
Hallowed for each of your Virtues and one point towards
Dark for each sin. The following table summarizes this:
3 Virtues
Rank 4
2 Virtues
Rank 5
1 Virtue
Rank 6
Designer Notes
Not all Backgrounds are good. Some are indifferent;
others are terrible burdens to bear. You do not get bonus
points for taking disadvantageous Backgrounds.
Unfortunate events are considered a part of the fabric of
your history. Life is gentle and forgiving to some, and
merciless to others.
Certain Backgrounds can be purchased more than once,
11
Lore Skills
Lore skills are purely learning based. These are skills of
knowledge, expertise and long years of training. Knowledge about the classics or philosophy, about heraldic matters or the laws of the land are Lore Skills.
Four Skills
cane
Rank One
Rank Two
Rank Three
Rank Four
Rank Five
Rank Six
Innate
Craft
Lore
A r -
Default
1 pt.
2 pts.
3 pts.
Default
1 pt.
2 pts.
3 pts.
4 pts.
Default
1 pt.
2 pts.
3 pts.
4 pts.
5 pts.
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Arcane Skills
Arcane Skills delve into those aspects of creation that
mortals were never meant to know the arts of magic and
sorcery and witchcraft. Danse Macabre has three Arcane
skills: Esotery (alchemic studies), Goetia (summoning
spirits) and Hedge Magic (peasant witch magic). These
Skills can only be obtained or increased in power by taking
the Backgrounds Esoteric Scholar, Goetic Sorcerer and
Hedge Magician respectively - i.e. Arcane Skills are not
bought or increased using Skill Points during Character
Creation.
Skill Defaults
Innate Skills
Innate Skills are those talents that everyone possesses
to some small degree or other. Everyone can attempt to
climb a tree, fight off an attacker with punches, lie and
trick, or carry an injured friend to safety.
Craft Skills
Craft Skills possess a large element of natural talent, but
also need a degree of training. Using a sword is a Craft
skill, as is painting, singing, firing a bow, or weaving.
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Ranks
Goetic Sorcerer
Freedman Gratis Skills Artisan (painting) (Rank 3)
Mercantry (Rank 3) Yeomanry (Rank 3)
Other Skills - Goetia (Rank 6), Guile (Rank 4), Learning
(Rank 4), Willpower (Rank 4), Witch Lore (Rank 2)
Lady of the Court
Noble Gratis Skills , Cavalcade (Rank 4), Games (Rank 4),
Noble Ways (Rank 4)
Other Skills - Artisan (embroidery) (Rank 4), Guile (Rank
5), Healing (Rank 3), Presence (Rank 6)
Learned Monk
Freedman Gratis Skills Mercantry (Rank 3), Trades
(bookbinding) (Rank 3) Yeomanry (Rank 3)
Other Skills - Dogma (Rank 4), Folklore (Rank 2), Healing
(Rank 3), Laythe-Land (Rank 2), Learning (Rank 5), Witch
Lore (Rank 3)
Merchant Sailor
Freedman Gratis Skills Artisan (bone carving) (Rank 3),
Mercantry (Rank 6), Yeomanry (Rank 3)
Other Skills - Affray (Rank 4), Fortitude (Rank 4), Guile
(Rank 4), Lay-o-the-Land (Rank 3), Seafaring (Rank 5)
Noble Knight
Noble Gratis Skills Cavalcade (Rank 6), Noble Ways (Rank
3), Venery (Rank 3)
Other Skills - Affray (Rank 6), Daring (Rank 4), Fortitude
(Rank 5), Presence (Rank 4)
Mercenary Man-at-Arms
Serf Gratis Skills Jack-of-All (Rank 3), Trades (field
armourer) (Rank 4), Ranging (Rank 4)
Other Skills - Affray (Rank 5), Archery (Rank 4), Folklore
(Rank 2), Fortitude (Rank 5),
13
Witch Hunter
Freedman Gratis Skills Mercantry (Rank 3), Trades
(torture) (Rank 3), Yeomanry (Rank 3)
Other Skills - Affray (Rank 4), Folklore (Rank 3), Inquisition
(Rank 5), Subterfuge (Rank 4), Willpower (Rank 4), Witch
Lore (Rank 4),
Hedge Magician
You are a student of the old arts passed from mother to
daughter and father to son, the folk magic and the crafts of
charms and hexes and petty magics.
Hedge Magic Prentice
1 pt.
Hedge Magic Adept
2 pts.
Hedge Magic Master
3 pts.
Woodland Outlaw
Serf Gratis Skills Folklore (Rank 3), Jack of All (Rank 3),
Ranging (Rank 4)
Other Skills - Affray (Rank 3), Archery (Rank 5), Daring
(Rank 5), Guile (Rank 4), Subterfuge (Rank 5), Thievery
(Rank 4)
Five Sorcery
Pact
You have made a pact with an otherworldly and dark
spirit. You can only make a Pact with one entity, and making a Pact places you deep in the camp of the demonic
spirit you have chosen to traffic with. A section on Pacts
can be found in the chapter on Magic. Refer to the Pacts
section (below) to make a decision on the sort of Pact you
have entered into and what manner of rewards you have
gained. Briefly, however, you will need to choose and keep
one Vow for each supernatural Gift that you wish to receive.
Esoteric Scholar
You have dabbled in the alchemical arts, and have come
to know that there are secrets in the universe that no mortal eyes were meant to see. What strange things have you
discovered, what secrets of the universe still await your
laborious unravelling?
Prentice of Esotery
1 pt.
Adept of Esotery
2 pts.
Master of Esotery
3 pts.
A Prentice of Esotery gains the Esotery Skill at Rank 1.
An Adept of Esotery gains the Esotery Skill at Rank 3. A
Master of Esotery gains the Esotery Skill at Rank 6.
Six Details
Goetic Sorcerer
Effort
You are a student and practitioner of the secret, laborious and academic arts of Goetic Sorcery. Goetic Sorcerers
use charmed rituals and symbols to summon, bind and
command spirits. This is a powerful, if dangerous, branch
of magic.
Prentice of the Art
1 pt.
Adept of the Art
2 pts.
Master of the Art
3 pts.
Fate
14
Fortune
Fortune is awarded to one Player at the end of each
game for excellence in Roleplaying. Fortune is awarded by
a peer vote. If you have already been playing Danse Macabre with a group of people and you last character died
or was retired then the Fortune that you earned for your
last character carries over to your new character. Fortune
is used in the game to invoke a number of narrative special
effects.
Fears
Fears are Traits ranked on a scale of one to six. The scale
represents your courage in the face of given fear. Death
(Rank 1) renders you terrified of ghosts, whereas a
character with Death (Rank 6) isnt highly frightened by
spectres of the dead. Unless otherwise stated in one of
your Backgrounds, you start with a default of Rank 3 in all
Fears. Optionally (with Gamesmaster discretion), you can
remove ranks from one Fear and add them to another. For
example, you could lower your fear of Heights to Rank 2
and increase your courage against Violence to Rank 3.
Rank One
Terrified
Rank Two
Afraid
Rank Three
Wary
Rank Four
Guarded
Rank Five
Hardened
Rank Six
Deadened
Common
Axe, Candle, Cloak, Coil of Rope, Dagger, Dog, Farm
tool, Flail, Flasks (3), Hat, Leather Boots, Linen Gloves,
Mattock, Maul, One Weeks Plain Food, Quarterstaff, Reed
Flute, Rough Hide or Quilted Armour (Rank One), Sacks
(4), Buckler (Rank One), Scrimshaw Tools, Tarred Torch,
Woodworking Tools, Woollen Blanket
Rare
Antiquarian Relic (Roman statuette), Bejewelled Sword
and Scabbard, Book (non-sorcerous), Cloth-of-Gold
Gloves, Curiosity (e.g. taxidermy baby hydra), Deed to a
modest property, Elaborate silken clothing, Ermine Cloak,
Fur Cloak, Horse, Ivory Box, Large and Ornate Looking
Glass, Letter of Credit (20 silver shillings), Map, Precious
Stones (3), Resplendent Horse Harness, Roll of Silk, Small
cask of Salt, Small cask of Spices, Songbird, Star Chart,
Suit of Chain Mail or Scale Armour (Rank Three), Tower
Shield (Rank Three), Wagon
Reavings
All mortals have a Soul, and certain spirits devour the
stuff of Souls to grow in power. Some spirits hunt mortals
and forcefully slice away parts of Soul to eat, others try to
come to some bargain with Mortals and give powers in
exchange for a piece of Soul. Each time you lose a piece of
your soul you gain suffer a Reaving the loss of the ability
to appreciate some part of life. Reavings include the loss
of the ability to taste food, laugh, sing or feel sorrow. As
with Trauma and Deliriums, you do not start play with
Reavings.
Wealth
Belongings
15
Income
Yearly Income
m 4000 - m 6000
m 500 - m 600
m 500 - m 600
m 200
m 100
m 20 s 12
m 20 s 12
m 20 s 12
m 6 s 10
m5s4
m5s4
m 2 s 12
m2s2
m 1 s 14
m 1 s 10
m1
s8g6
s4g4
s1
0
Weekly Income
m 100
m 10
m 10
m2
m2
s8
s8
s6
s2g6
s2
s1
g 10
g8
g7
g5
g2
g1
f1
0
0
16
Wealth
6
6
6
6
6
5
5
5
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
Seven Flesh
characters.
Retainers
Name
Choose a name for your character. Names can be very
important, they can embody what a character is and a good
name should ring true. In Danse Macabre Nobility tend to
have names that will include a title, lands and family. Lower
classes will have a given name and a byname, usually
acquired in life. Bynames tend to be descriptive and are
seldom highly complimentary. Lameshank, Redbeard, Singall-Day, Laggard, and Wolfgrin are a few examples. Bynames
also sometimes describe a trade: Smith, Fletcher, Brewer or
Cooper. Bynames can either come before or after the given
name. Jovan could be either Longlegged Jovan or Jovan
Longleg. Bynames are also occasionally ironic. A good
example is Little John who was in no way little. Jebid
Sharpwit might be a simpleton. Annasetta Fairface might
be hideous.
Appearance
Homeland
Where to you hail from? The Anglo-Saxon fens of
England? Or are you from Norman London? A Frankish
castle near Avignon? Are you an Ostman, of mixed Irish
and Norse descent from the north of Dublinia? Are you a
wandering Romany whose family was hanged for thievery
in Pozsony? Are you a Danish mercenary? A priest of
Rome? A chivalric Islamic knight of the Empire of the
Almohads, clad in armour of gold and silks of blue?
Where you come from and how you appear to others is
very important in a society where appearances can mean a
great deal.
Ties
How is your character connected to the other player
characters? Is he a friend of one or more? Is he a relative, a
complete stranger, a friend of a shared acquaintance?
Determining the ties that hold your character to another
in the group lifts the Gamesmasters burden of introducing
your character in a believable way into the story. It also
makes for a more interesting and believable group of
John looks over the lists of Sins and Virtues and decides
that Brother Liudgard is probably arrogant and lazy, but
still feels a sense of genuine compassion for the poor from
his days as a monk. He chooses Pride and Sloth as sins
and Charity as a Virtue. Brother Liudgard has one more Sin
than Virtues, so his Nature is set at 8 (one rank towards
17
Sigils of Sorcery. John decides to split this into three Circles and five Sigils. The Rank Two Grimoire adds another
six slots to spend on either Circles or Sigils. John decides
to split this additional six so that he gains an additional
four Sigils and two circles. This gives him a total of five
Circles and nine Sigils of Goetic invocation. He looks over
the options in the chapter on Goetia and chooses the following.
Circles: Acquiescence, Agony, Oaths, Protection, and
Truths
Sigils: Imps (Minor Demons), Amduscias, Baal, Hagenti,
Humots, Malpas, Orobos, Paimon and Vual
The Sigils of Imps allow Liudgard to summon minor spirits from those two spheres of existence, demonic little imps
or faerie sprights. The remaining Sigils allow him to summon more powerful entities by name. The Sigil of
Amduscias allows him to summon the demon Amduscias,
for example.
Affray (Rank 2), Artisan (Rank 3), Dogma (Rank 1), Folklore (Rank 1), Goetia (Rank 0), Guile (Rank 3), Learning
(Rank 1), Subterfuge (Rank 3), Trade (Rank 3), Trickery
(Rank 2), Willpower (Rank 3), Witch Lore (Rank 1), Yeomanry (Rank 3)
Affray (Rank 3), Artisan (Rank 3), Dogma (Rank 2), Folklore (Rank 1), Goetia (Rank 4), Guile (Rank 5), Learning
(Rank 4), Subterfuge (Rank 4), Trade (Rank 3), Trickery
(Rank 4), Willpower (Rank 4), Yeomanry (Rank 3)
b Envision a Concept
b Choose Upbringing
Decide on a Motivation
When John goes to write his final skills upon his character sheet he would not write down Folklore as it has not
changed from the default rank.
19
Character Traits
b
Chapter Four
Characters are made up of a number of Traits, representing
you strengths, powers, history, place in society, likes,
dislikes and fears. Some Traits are simply set qualities,
others may vary in power or expertise and are ranked on a
scale of one to six. Traits provide you with a sense of who
your character is and what he or she will be capable of.
The last chapter provided details on how to create a
character, in this chapter we present an array of Traits that
you can use to build the details of your character. As the
Gamesmaster you should treat all the Traits in this chapter
as suggestions only. You may prefer to group all combat
skills together under a single skill rather than split them up
into the categories that we have suggested. You might like
to add some extra social Skills or invent new Backgrounds.
In any event, the following Aspects are to be viewed as
groundwork to build upon if you want to.
Crusader
Yours is a determined path in life. You are questing afar
and near, over forest, hill and mere to achieve that which
you seek. You might be seeking to overthrow an unjust
lord. You might be the champion of one of the old pagan
gods, now almost forgotten. You might wish to find a lost
relic of a venerated saint and return it to your home church.
You have, in short, a high and lofty goal, but many dark
days ahead before it is achieved.
Folk Hero
You are the hero of the village. The strong fellow who
can defeat all-comers in wrestling. The good man with a
sturdy spear who has slain three wolves, a bear and two
angry boars. You deeds are famous as far as the next
village. Folk buy you drinks at the local inn and are always
ready to clap you on the back and congratulate you on
your adventures.
Example Concepts
Fool
You are the enigma, the wise unwise, the speaker of fools
truths and truthful foolishness. You are the knower of truths
who is never believed, whose prophetic words are seldom
heeded and whose very being in a tangled mystery.
The fool is a powerful figure in medieval stories. He
knows great truths but may never realise his own great
worth. How did you come to be such a person? Why are
you circumspect with your words of wisdom? Do you mean
to speak in riddles or do you not fully understand what
you mean to say yourself?
Avenger
You have been wronged and now you seek revenge.
Perhaps your family are slain or falsely accused of crimes,
perhaps your true hearts love was stolen from you, or
your friends betrayed you for wealth and power?
The tale of revenge is a common one in stories. What is
the heart of yours? Who has wronged you and why? Can
you right the wrong or are you left nothing but eye-for-aneye justice? Will you ever find peace or will you be driven
to seek justice to the end of your days?
Guardian
You are a defender of the weak, a protector of those who
have no power to protect themselves. You might be a knight
with sword in hand ready to confront evil. You might be a
humble peasant who knows a few folk charms, enough to
ward away evil spirits, protect crops and lend a little help
to those who are ill or injured. You might be a friar who
gives benedictions to the poor, donates money to the needy
and performs marriages for those who cannot afford to
pay the churchs high fees.
What drives you to try and protect others? Is it something
Companion
You are a true friend, a follower of great leader, a humble
keeper and defender of all that is good in your life. You are
the common man, no one special, no one remarkable, and
yet you face the powers of darkness, the horrors of the
world, the oppressive laws of the land all the same.
20
you have escaped the sway of the dark ones, but at what
price? You still retain the visage of evil and must go about
heavily disguised. Those who see you in your true form
will recoil in horror. Can you ever live a simple, quiet, happy
life?
Does you old master want you back? Does he simply
want you dead? Will those of common blood and flesh
ever accept you for one who is good at heart? How reformed
are you? Is there a chance of falling back into old ways
and habits?
Hunted
Someone or something is after you. It may be upon the
road now, growing ever closer by the hour. What is it that
hunts you? Is it creatures of the night, an unkind uncle
wanting your inheritance, or a vindictive, dangerous spirit
of the woods? There is something in this world, perhaps
many somethings that want you and will search high and
low until you are found.
Why are you hunted? Is it something you possess?
Something you are? A prophecy? A simple
misunderstanding or mistaken identity? An insult?
Rustic
You are no one special at all, a farmhand, a blacksmiths
son, the daughter of a miller. If you are destined for great
things none would know it.
What has pushed you out into the world? Have you
escaped an unwanted marriage? A harsh taskmaster? Or
just endless boredom at the bakers ovens?
Lone Wolf
You are the solitary wanderer. Never happy in any
company but your own. Always moving on, always seeking
a peace that you simply cannot find.
Why are you wandering? Is there a secret in your past?
Have you reasons to shun other people or are you merely
socially withdrawn?
Seeker of Power
Personal power is what drives you. It may be that you
are a merchant hungry for greater and greater riches. Or
are you a sorcerer who will do anything at all to lay claim to
one extra book of spells, one more ritual of conjuration? Or
are you a lord determined to win more lands by war and
marriage and deceit?
Meddler
You are endlessly interfering in those things you ought
not dabble in. You fashion yourself a kingmaker and breaker,
an advisor to lords whose ways suit your ends, and a
plotter against those who do not. In short you are a man of
the shadows, the lonely ways and the council chambers,
not one to be trifled with, but not one whose appearance
would suggest so much as a dangerous thought.
What is your hearts task? What are you trying to bring
about or prevent? Are you likely to succeed, or will you
more likely fail miserably?
Toady
You live in and for the service of others. You feel safe
only when a person of great power has it in his or her
interest to protect you. You are a willing, if sometimes
snivelling servant.
Aspects of Nature
Outcast
You have been driven away from home, hearth, family,
friends and village. You may be a criminal branded and
shunned, the unwanted bastard child of a lord or perhaps
a victim of superstition with one green eye and one blue,
or albino skin, or a malformed hunchback.
Virtues
Recreant
Life has always been your enemy. Your luck is always
bad. Youve few friends and most of them are dead. And
now you feel that life has a duty to pay a little back. You
are never going to be rich or loved by the common roads
men take. You have accepted this. So what is there to do
but take what you want? By cunning if you can. By force
if you must.
What pushed you into this unscrupulous life? Is there a
glimmer of conscience in your heart? Do you feel sorry for
those poor nave fools you milk for cold, hard coins? Do
you ever feel that a rootless, drifting existence is perhaps
not the way to live?
Charity
Charity is benevolence or generosity toward others or
toward humanity.
Compassion
Compassion is deep awareness of the suffering of
another coupled with the wish to relieve it.
Redeemed
Devotion
You were once either the creation of, or the servant of,
the powers of darkness. You have found redemption now;
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Diligence
Accursed
Below are the seven deadly Sins. Each Sin you choose
adds one rank to your Taint.
Avarice
Adventurous
Humility
Humility is the modest estimate of ones own worth,
humbleness.
Prudence
Prudence is caution, the careful exercising of forethought
and judgement.
Temperance
Temperance is moderation and self-restraint, as in
behaviour or expression.
Sins
Ever since you were born, you have been a magnet for
trouble and adventure. Always your elders shook their
heads and wondered at your scrapes and close calls. But
youve managed to survive childhood and the experiences
youve gained are already serving you well. You gain three
ranks to distribute over any Innate Skills without having
to expend any Skill Points.
Envy
Jealously of others, the bitter desire for that what others
own.
Gluttony
A great love of bread and beer, wines, sweetmeats,
delicacies, bequests and feats. The more the better.
Allies
Lust
Ancient of Days
Many people foolishly wish to live forever. You know
better. You are old, so very old. You have already lived the
lives of several men, perhaps more. Centuries have rolled
by and you have lived on and on. Your friends and family
have grown old and died. But death will not come for you
in the natural course of things, and yet you remain afraid
of the other choices. A heavy rock and a deep river. A
dagger. A soup of hemlock.
And so you live on. Alone.
How is it that you have lived so long? Are you accursed?
Does death himself dislike or fear you? Did you make a
rash oath that you would never rest until a deed was done
and then discover that the powers that be listened and
granted your vow? Or is your long life self-inflicted? Have
you a potion of youth made from the blood of an angel and
diamond dust? A spirit bound to your service, capable of
adding years to lives? Is there a painting of your hanging
in some dusty attic slowly decaying as you live on? Is
there unnatural blood in your veins? Or did you offend
God himself, or frighten Lucifer so that no one will take
you into the world beyond?
Pride
Pride has been called the sin from which all others arise.
Pride in your power, your wealth, you standing.
Wrath
Sheer wanton fury. Violence meted out to meet any
problem or opposition.
Sloth
Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.
Backgrounds
22
Assassin
Courage
You are the sort of person who thinks not of what might
happen when faced with fear, but of what must be done.
Choose a class of fear, be it the unnatural, death, heights,
violence or wolves, to be Hardened to. When Hardened to
a fear you are allowed to roll 4d6 on your Test of Fear
instead of the usual 3d6. You may chose this option more
than once and make yourself Courageous in the face of
more than one class of fear.
Banishment
You are an exile, banished forever from your homeland
for a crime. Did you really commit the crime or was the
accusation part of a plot against you? Have you any hope
of returning home or redeeming your name?
Where will you go, and who will you meet to survive?
Perhaps as a final act of grace you have been given a
parting gift, some gold or treasures to live by.
Courtier
You may or may not be of noble blood, but somehow
you have established a degree of influence in royal circles.
You might be the astrologer to a princess, the one-time
personal servant who saved the kings life or huntsman
and confidant to a provincial lord. You will have to
nominate a particular royal court in which you wish to
hold influence. This Background can be purchased up to
three times to gain additional influence in a given court.
Each time you purchase it your standing in the court
increases.
Tagger On
1 pt.
Respected Courtier
2 pts.
Trusted Advisor
3 pts.
Crossing of Paths
By sheer chance you happen to meet a person, or
creature or thing of particular importance. Perhaps you
saved the life of a king from a wild boar in the woods?
Maybe you meet a fae enchantress and a grim sorcerer
who stayed in the inn, in which you work as a barmaid? Or
perhaps you met something older and stranger still?
Blood of Kings
Over the years many kingdoms have been rent and
ruined, many empires were cast to the dust. You are the
heir of a once-great kingdom. Will you be able to remake
the old realm, be it a principality of Wales or the Christian
Kingdoms of Southern Spain, and restore it to old glories?
Damned
You have already sold yourself to the powers of shadow.
Dark things own you soul, and are taking it piece-by-piece.
For now it is not so obvious. For now you can keep your
bargain a secret. How much longer will you keep your
humanity? And what will be the gifts and dark powers
your soulless husk will wield when all that was once human
in you has gone?
Charmed
Charms of good luck and good fortune are woven about
you. It might be a boon or blessing put upon your family
line by a grateful witch a hundred years ago, it might be an
enchantment laid upon you by an otherworldly lover?
Dark Disciple
You are a member of a witches cult or coven, a worshipper
of the Prince of Darkness in secret, and a devotee of Hells
war on earth. You may be called upon by your masters in
the coven to do certain deeds in the name of the war, or
visited by demons and devils. You gather from your
association the usual benefits of consorting with demons:
regular satisfaction of your sinful desires until your sense
are overpower with the bleak joy of it all.
Clever of Mind
Youve always had a knack for outwitting others and a
natural understanding of cunning and tactics as well as a
knack for absorbing lore.
Gain an extra three ranks to distribute between Games,
Guile, or Languages.
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Darkest Secret
Epiphany
Errantry
Discovery
Esoteric Scholar
You have dabbled in the alchemical arts, and have come
to know that there are secrets in the universe that no mortal eyes were meant to see. What strange things have you
discovered, what secrets of the universe still await your
laborious unravelling?
Prentice of Esotery
1 pt.
Adept of Esotery
2 pts.
Master of Esotery
3 pts.
Dhampire
You are what they call in the lands of the Rus and Slav, a
Dhampire, the child of a parent who, after your inception,
entered into darkness and became Vampyr.
The Kingdom of Heaven works in strange ways and it
sees fit to subtly place into the children of a parent who
has become Vampyr the slightly preternatural sense needed
to know when a Vampyr is near. If you come within twenty
paces of a Vampyr your skin begins to itch and crawl
uncomfortably you may not, however, yet understand
why your skin has begun itching so awfully every now
and again since the death of you mother or father. The
connection may either have to be deduced over time or
explained to you by someone more knowing in the dark
lore.
If your parent ceases to be Vampyr, if he or she is
redeemed or destroyed, then you lose the Dhampire gift.
Evil Eye
You have learned the somewhat dubious art of giving
people the evil eye a skill that consists mostly of twisting
your face into a horrid expression, squinting, and muttering
things under your breath.
The power of the evil eye lies in the fear of the general
populace that it has power. Whenever you choose to use
the evil eye on a person or group of people the victims
must make a Test of Fear versus the Unnatural. Anyone
who passes their Test of Fear becomes convinced that
you have no real power and no longer needs to make Tests
of Fear if you squint at them.
Those who fail their Test of Fear will react accordingly
generally by backing away, turning suddenly polite and
asking you not to please think of their children and not put
any horrible hexes or curses on them.
Excommunication
You have been officially excommunicated from Christendom by the Pope. No church can give you sanctuary,
no priest can shrive your soul, or take your confession.
You are an outsider to the faith, cast adrift from some crime
or insult against all that is holy. Similarly, you can choose
Excommunication to signify having been cast out of the
Jewish, Islamic or the Eastern Orthodox Churches.
Enchanting Music
Your skill in the art of song and string and pine is enthralling, you can conjure up amazing vistas and terrible
visions, bleak melodies of the souls and enthralling airy
chords. Use the Jongleurs Skill when attempting to play
Enchanting Music. If you succeed against an Average
Difficulty all idle, bored or unhurried mortals that are within
earshot must pass an average Test of Willpower or stop
and listen to you. Characters that have pressing reason
not to listen are considered immune. Enchanting Music in
a taproom will draw the attention of everyone in the room,
but playing on the battlefield will achieve very little at all.
Note that this charmed trick does not work on spirits or
animals.
Fae Graces
Faerie creatures and spirits find you unusually charming and graceful for a mortal. This can be a good thing,
Faeries are less likely to become insulted or angered while
around you, but Faeries a greedy things sometimes, and
they have been know to try and steal away those mortals
whom they do find beautiful and intriguing.
To other mortals you seem a bit ephemeral, perhaps airy
and dreamy, but not unusually charming.
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Faerie Ways
You are a student of Faerie ways, arts, societies and
intrigues. Whenever dealing with Faeries in a social context or when trying to recall some piece of lore about Faerie
things gain one automatic success on relevant Skill Tests.
This bonus acts as if one of your skill dice scored a six, so
the remaining dice are still rolled to determine if any other
successes are rolled.
Great Deed
By luck as much as by skill you perform a great deed.
Perhaps you killed a monster or bear or wolf? Perhaps you
saved two children from a burning house? Perhaps you
returned a lost treasure to its rightful owner?
Fair of Form
You are unusually beautiful or handsome. This may be
more trouble than it is worth in a society where might often
makes right and the noble are allowed to take what-soever they want from the peasantry and kings and queens
can take what-so-ever they want from the nobility.
Gifted
You were born with the talent to sense that which others
cannot. When within a few paces you can see a faint
glimmer of magic about a witch or spirit or enchanted thing.
You can see ghosts and shades and spirits that have made
themselves invisible. You get a prickling feeling whenever
anything enchanted comes near you, and if you touch
something magical you hear an echo of the voice of he or
she who wrought the witch-object or hedge-charm.
Fallen
You have fallen from grace. Perhaps you are a disillusioned priest who has succumbed to ale, or a dishonoured
squired who has been turned out of the court and has
become a robber knight?
Grim in War
You have seen blood and war and have faced down
both flame and sword. In battle you stand hard and fast,
unflinching, unwavering. You are Hardened (Rank 5) against
the Fears of Violence and Death. You cannot purchase
Grim in War more than once.
Few to Survive
You are one of the few to survive an expedition, war, a
siege or an attack on your village or town. How did the
attack come about? How did you survive? Do you carry
anger and sorrow with you now? Revenge? Perhaps even
guilt?
Grimoire
You own a tome of occult lore, doctrines of spirits and
sorcerous spells. These tomes are only useful if you
possess the skill Goetia. Grimoires are ranked based on
how much knowledge they contain. A Rank one Grimoire
grants you two slots for Sigils or Circles of Sorcery. You
could nominate one Circle and one Sigil or two Circles or
two Sigils. A Rank Two Grimoire grants your four slots. A
Rank Three Grimoire grants your six slots and so on.
When Grimoires are acquired during play the
Gamesmaster nominates which Circles and Sigils are held
in a book of spells. When you chose to own a Grimoire
during character creation you get to nominate which Sigils
and Circles you want in the book.
You can chose to spend multiple points on this
Background in order to acquire a Grimoire of a higher Rank.
Goetic Sorcerer
You are a student and practitioner of the secret, laborious and academic arts of Goetic Sorcery. Goetic Sorcerers
use charmed rituals and symbols to summon, bind and
command spirits. This is a powerful, if dangerous, branch
of magic.
Prentice of the Art
1 pt.
Adept of the Art
2 pts.
Master of the Art
3 pts.
Guild
Hag-Ridden
25
and there will be twigs and thorns in you bed and clothing.
Anyone who stands watch over you will only see you
appear to suffer from terrible nightmares from which you
cant be awakened. A person with the Second Sight (See
Moonstruck, below) will see a strange, ghastly spectre
attacking you during the night. This is the spirit of the
witch you have offended leaving her body each night to
torment you.
Huge of Stature
You are unusually massive of build and strong of sinew.
You may add one rank to your Fortitude skill without
expending any skill points.
Imprisoned
You have found yourself bound and shackled and
thrown in a gaol. Why? Was yours a real crime or an
imagined one? Have you been caught on the wrong side
of a war, or a feud? Or is your imprisonments more
hospitable? Were you the hostage and pawn in a game of
noble houses? Or are you still?
Iron Will
Haunted
Hedge Magician
You are a student of the old arts passed from mother to
daughter and father to son, the folk magic and the crafts of
charms and hexes and petty magics.
Hedge Magic Prentice
1 pt.
Hedge Magic Adept
2 pts.
Hedge Magic Master
3 pts.
A Hedge Magic Prentice gains the Hedge Magic Skill at
Rank 1 and two Cantrips. A Hedge Magic Adept Gains the
Hedge Magic Skill at Rank 3 and Six Cantrips. A Hedge
Magic Adept Gains the Hedge Magic Skill at Rank 6 and
Twelve Cantrips. Note that it is uncommon for Goetic Sorcerers to also have the Hedge Magician background please confer with your Gamesmaster.
Heretic
You are a devotee of a heretical brand of faith or science.
Is your heresy minor or so terrible that the church would
consider you little better than a pagan? Are you and your
fellows hunted or do you practise your unusual beliefs in
peace?
Learned of Lore
Long have you studied under a watchful gaze, flipping
through dusty pages, reciting by rote old lore, perhaps
studying late into the night. You have found through your
studies a certain thirst for knowledge. Gain an extra three
points to spend on Lore Skills.
Hunter of Shadows
You are now, or have been, employed as a witch hunter.
You know the secret signs by which sorcerers and warlocks
may be told. You can tell when a death is the cause of
Goetia or the work of evil spirits. You can tell folk charms
from more dangerous things, and know how best to fight
the sorcerous with mundane weapons and tools. You may
add one rank to your Witchlore skill without expending
any skill points.
Lordship
You have established some influence among the nobility
of the lands, perhaps not those closest to the circles of
highest power, but lords and ladies none-the-less. As lords
and earls often come into direct opposition to the monarchy
of a given realm this influence is not quite the same as that
of the court - in fact it may alienate you from the court in
certain kingdoms where the lords are a little too
26
Mentor
You acquire a mentor, a teacher who being a master of
his ways can teach you all manner of things, and no doubt
with some social standing can extend protection you in
certain situations.
Misericorde Hunter
Loss of Family
You are a Knight of the Misericorde, an order of witchhunters, assassins and knights who have sworn vows to
hunt down and destroy the servants of darkness,
wheresoever they may be. The Misericorde has recently
made itself an increasingly troublesome thorn in the side
of the Malvolentum. There is a general air of expectation
that retaliation by the dark covens is a matter of time, and
soon that a full scale war in secret may be joined.
Loss of Home
A terrible tragedy has caused you the lose of your home.
Maybe you are the victim of war or plot or feud? Perhaps
a flood or natural disaster? Or perhaps you house has
simply been taken away because by those you owes debts
to.
Moonstruck
You possess ability to see the elemental spirits of the
earth, sea and sky that are for most people invisible. You
see elementals not as solid things, but as translucent,
slightly ghostly apparitions. Elementals are simple-minded
things, unable to speak, barely more intelligent than animals
and are difficult to catch the attention of. Even if you do
manage to interact with one for a time it will grow bored of
you very quickly.
Those with the second sight tend to be a little closed off
from the living world. A little too obsessed with staring
into space or locking their minds away in their own head.
In a modern sense you would be called mildly autistic, but
in the day and age of Danse Macabre you are likely to be
termed away with the faeries, moonstruck or simple.
The second sight does not allow you to see invisible
Shades of the Dead or Archonic Spirits, such as Angels or
Demons, that have chosen to exist without a body for a
time.
Light Touch
You have an exceptional talent for measuring out the
barest needed touch to lift, move or snatch something. In
any situation where a light touch would be useful, such as
purse-cutting, picking pockets, or riffling through someones belongings while they are asleep, then you gain one
bonus die to use in all relevant dice pools. This cannot
increase a dice pool above seven.
Murderer
You are agile, artful and nimble of body. You may add
one rank to your Daring skill without expending any skill
points.
Madman
Noble Knight
Lithe of Body
Malvolentums Servant
You are a servant of the Malvolentum, the highest seat
of the dark powers in Western Europe. The Malvolentum
is a sect of witches, warlocks, sorcerers and diabolists
who have established a secretive rule over most of Europes
dark sects. The Malvolentum is strongest in France,
Northern Italy and the Kingdom of Germany, but has wide
reaching covens and sects scattered in all of Europe. In
certain areas the Malvolentum is at odds with local and
older devil worshippers.
Of the Cloth
You are a nun, friar, priest, monk or a religious prophet.
What drew you to the word of the Lord? Are you a Christian
priest or a devotee of Islam or Judaism? Are you truly
devout? Do you abstain from earthly pleasures, or do you
have mistresses, nights of gambling in the dark, a hundred
heavy gold rings to wear and barrels of beer to sate your
27
Prentice
You have been apprenticed to a trade. Is it a blacksmiths
forge? Perhaps an herbalists workshop or a house of
healing? Maybe a town guard or are you now a member of
a band of sellswords or raiders?
You may add one rank to your Trades skill. You must
also choose an appropriate Trade to have studied.
Ordeal
You have passed through and survived guiltless an
Ordeal - a trial of witchcraft by fire, water, rope or other,
stranger means. Those who pass through Ordeals and
emerge both alive and cleared of guilt are granted Letters
de Trier declaring to all and any that you have been found
innocent of witchcraft.
Riches
Perhaps you have been born into affluence, perhaps
you have been lucky in trading, or fortunate with wins at
gambling. Perhaps youve simply found a hidden cache of
roman coins, or slightly more dangerously, a trove of
robbers gold. Gain an extra Two picks from Valuable and
an Extra One pick from Rare items when determining your
belongings. You can purchase this Background more than
once.
Outlaw
For crimes real or imagined, you have been branded an
Outlaw. An ugly purple-brown mark rides your flesh.
Anyone who sees it will know you for what you are. A
thief, criminal, murderer and a man who is not protected
by any laws. Any may kill you without fear of retribution
by the laws of the land. And things may yet be worse for
you. If you have persisted in your life of villainy then there
is very likely a reward on your head. There may be bounty
hunters awaiting you at every turn.
Redeemed
You were once either the creation of, or the servant of,
the powers of darkness. You have found redemption now;
you have escaped the sway of the dark ones, but at what
price? You still retain the visage of evil and must go about
heavily disguised. Those who see you in your true form
will recoil in horror. Can you ever live a simple, quiet, happy
life?
Pact
You have made a pact with an otherworldly and dark
spirit. You can only make a Pact with one entity, and making a Pact places you deep in the camp of the demonic
spirit you have chosen to traffic with. A section on Pacts
can be found in the chapter on Magic. Refer to the Pacts
section (below) to make a decision on the sort of Pact you
have entered into and what manner of rewards you have
gained. Briefly, however, you will need to choose and keep
one Vow for each supernatural Gift that you wish to receive.
Remorse
You have lived a life, or committed a deed for which you
are now deeply remorseful. You feel regret every day of
you waking existence and your dreams are plagued by
nightmares. What is this fell thing that you have done?
Can it be made right? Will you ever be free of your darkest
fears?
Pagan
Renown
Revelation
You discover something previously unknown about your
past. Is it a matter of family history? Maybe you have only
now learned who your parents were? Or that a prophecy
has been told about you? Or that you are to inherit land
and power.
Patron
You have acquired a guardian, is he a mere mortal, a lord,
or warrior or perhaps a sorcerer? Or is it something else?
Perhaps you find yourself guarded by an elfin creature, or
an enchanted bear, or maybe something even larger and
stranger?
Sailors Life
Youve lived long months at sea, and the sea if the life
for you. You are never truly happy unless aboard a wavetossed ship. You yearn for it the moment you set foot on
dry land again. Add one point to your Seafaring skill.
Pilgrim
You are now, or were once, a pilgrim. You have probably
already visited a number of holy sites and know your way
28
Sanctuary
You have found a secret and reclusive place, where you
know you can always go and find safety and sanctuary.
Perhaps it is a cave in the woods, or maybe a remote inn,
where you and the barkeep are best of friends, or perhaps
an ancient and forgotten watchtower.
Sorcerer Savant
You have studied the darkest arts in search of power
and mastery over all that is and ever will be. Spread bonus
three ranks among your Arcane skills as you see fit.
Sagacious
You have studied under a master of learned lore. You
know the secrets of alchemy, herbalism and astrology. You
can see portents of the future in the flight of birds and
know what herbs and potions will undo curses, bar witches
from the door and protect stock from werewolves. You
gain one point in either the skill Esotery or the skill HedgeMagic without having to expend any Skill Points.
Stout
You are well feed and stocky. You amble rather than walk
and can often be found patting your prodigious belly in
thought. The extra fat in the ill-feed, disease-ridden era of
Danse Macabre does you more good than harm. You are
not agile but more resilient than most to the affects of
starvation and disease. Daring skill caps at three ranks
but the character will be the least likely in a group to get
sick.
Sect
You have membership in a secret cult, sect or mysterious
order. You have gained influence with those who walk in
the shadows and have probably gathered a few secrets of
your own. What is the cult in question? What are their
aims and goals? This Background can be purchased up to
three times. Each time you purchase it your standing among
your sect increases.
Initiate
1 pt.
Priest or Priestess
2 pts.
High Priest or Priestess
3 pts.
Spy
Are you a soldier in Byzantiums secret war against cults
and covens? Or a witch infiltrated deep into the heart of
the church? Or perhaps you are a servant of the King of
England in the French Court, a master spy from the ivory
halls of the Alhambra sent to kill the lords of Christian
Iberia, a Saracen agent, or a Templar in the halls of a rival
order?
Sickly
Supplicant
Silvered Tongue
You are cunning, charming, and manipulative, a student
of human nature and a master of social guile. Gain an extra
three points to distribute among any of the following skills,
Trickery, Presence, Guile, or Mercantry.
Scapegoat
Swept by War
Scarred
Swimming
Tempted
The dark powers have already whispered in you ear.
Their voices are sweet and silvered. Their promises are
honeyed and charmed. And though you know what lies
upon the path of darkness, though you know what horrors
walk that road, you wonder, what power you might have
Soldier of Fortune
You are a freelance, a mercenary man-at-arms, a wanderer
in the fields of blood and gore and plunder. Gain three
29
for your own for just one small vow, just one small promise
in return.
Unearthly Lover
Terrors
Theft
Has someone stolen from you, or are you the thief? And
what has gone into the thieves sack? A precious sword? A
leather bound book? An heirloom? Or something more
valuable, and more intangible again?
Traitor
You have made yourself a traitor to a clan, family, lord or
cause. Why did you turn on them? Was it power, wealth,
love?
Treatise
Wise in the Wilds
Witness
You are an unwitting witness to an event of great
importance. At the most obvious level you may have
observed a murder? Did the murderer see you? Have you
given evidence to a council or lord? Or did you see
something stranger? Perhaps you saw a friend turn into a
wolf? Or a man perform a ritual of witchcraft? Or a faerie
creature steal into the queens bedchamber?
Skills
Troublesome Past
You have had a dark history, having had to already deal
with frightening, fearful and dangerous things. Choose a
Fear to be Afraid of. When you are Afraid of a Fear your
initial courage starts at Rank Two instead of Rank Three.
You can chose Troublesome Past more than once and make
yourself Afraid of multiple things.
Affray (Craft)
All close hand-to-hand fighting, whether its the raw
butchery of an axe or the somewhat more elegant play of
swords and daggers.
Trophy
Archery (Craft)
30
Guile (Innate)
Plotting, persuasion, arguing, cajolery and other
manipulative social skills. Also carries the suggestion that
you may have political and social connections.
Artisan (Craft)
Choose an artistic trade: Sculpting, Pottery, Painting,
Embroidery, Tapestry Weaving, Scrimshaw, Bone-Carving,
Wood Working. You may choose Artistry more than once
if you wish to possess more than one artistic skill.
Healing (Craft)
The knowledge and skill needed to bandage wounds,
apply salves, treat infected cuts, and prescribe simples to
cure fevers and curable diseases or complaints. The general
lore of healing and saving lives by salve, herb, purgatory
or surgery. Surgery is remarkably well developed in Europe,
even at the time when Danse Macabre is set, surgery is
still considered a somewhat frightening, slightly unclean
trade, mostly by virtue of the need to practise by dissecting
corpses.
Cavalcade (Craft)
Horse riding and fighting on horseback.
Daring (Innate)
Brave deeds of panache, acrobatics and flair. Involves
all actions that require a degree of agility and balance,
including acrobatics, walking along a thin wall, climbing
treacherous walls, jumping and leaping, swinging across a
room from a rope, sliding between the legs of an enemy,
jumping onto a table and then out a window.
Folklore (Lore)
Inquisition (Craft)
Dogma (Lore)
Church politics, traditions, prayers, rituals and history.
Esotery (Arcane)
Jack-of-All (Craft)
Tinkering, quick and slipshod repairs to anything, rough
and ready work, handcrafts. Sewing together your own
homespun shirt, patching a hole, making your own walking
stave.
Jongleurs (Craft)
The trade of the performer, tumbler, singer of bawdy
songs and performer of plays, be it a folksy tale about
goblins and maidens or one of Aristophanes masterpieces.
Includes acrobatics, dancing, juggling and acting, singing,
reciting lays or ballads and playing instruments.
Fortitude (Innate)
Feats of strength and raw brute force, physical endurance
in the face of pain, injury and hard labour, shoving open a
locked door, carrying a dead weight, lifting a massive barrel,
slogging through snow while sick, struggling against
poison in your veins, as well as fighting unarmed fist-tofist with another, wrestling and grappling.
Lay-o-the-Land (Lore)
Geography, a wider knowledge of the borders of
countries, the world outside your little village and means
by which a horse, man or ship may get from one place to
another. Includes knowledge about passes through
mountains, secret roads, old ruins, inns and ports.
Pilgrimage is very important in the day and age: you
know the places and sites of pilgrimage, what rewards for
the soul may be had in a given shrine and how best to
make a way there. You know the safehavens where pilgrims
may claim a nights respite from the road, how to tell
Games (Lore)
Skill at chess, telling and deciphering riddles, card games
and games of dice. A good skill at various games is almost
expected in noble circles.
Goetia (Arcane)
Ceremonial magic that deals solely with the summoning
of spirits and the binding of these to your service. Note
31
Thievery (Craft)
Learning (Lore)
Trades (Craft)
Pick a trade: blacksmith, brewer, armourer, weaponsmith,
cartographer, cook, bookbinder, wine-merchant, cooper,
gem cutter, labourer, mason, farmer, herder, leatherworker,
tinker, tailor, fletcher etc. Take the skill again to know more
than one trade. To use the skill properly you will need a
workshop and the appropriate tools.
Trickery (Craft)
Disguises, lying, fast talking, chicanery, slight of hand,
the trick magic of a court performer, the fake divinations of
a false witch hunter, slipping bonds, card tricks and conartistry.
Venery (Craft)
The practise of hunting, tracking, pursuing and bringing
down game rabbits, deer, wild oxen, boars, mountain
goats, bears, wolves and the like. Characters who possess
Venery are allowed to apply it to animals they have hunted
in their homeland, and to hunting sports such as falconry
or coursing with hounds. Those from more remote climes
may possess Venery skills for strange animals. A Viking
may well have Venery for whales and walruses. An
Aetheopian Knight of the Covenant might know well how
to hunt lions and hyenas in North Africa but know nothing
at all about the hunting of such strange and mythical
creatures as wolves. Venery serves as a combat skill when
using a spear or arrows to try and bring down game.
Mercantry (Craft)
Haggling, assessing quality, knowing where best to buy
what.
Willpower (Innate)
Presence (Innate)
Seafaring (Craft)
Yeomanry (Lore)
Ranging (Craft)
Subterfuge (Innate)
Moving silently, keeping to shadows, hiding yourself
quickly and well.
32
Fears
Adversity
Fear of heights, fires, drowning and other natural,
overwhelming dangers.
Beasts
Animals, vermin and the like, dogs, spiders, rats, snakes,
bats or something stranger.
Death
Fear of dying, executions, dead corpses, ghosts and the
restless deceased.
Disease
Fear the old and growing old, poisons, the decrepit, the
diseased and the ill.
Supernatural
The unnatural, be it a work of magic, demons, spirits of
nature or witches.
Violence
Outbursts of anger, aggression, spilling of blood,
slaughter, murder or any similar wanton act of wrath.
33
Drama
b
Chapter Five
This chapter deals with how to manage drama throughout
the game of Danse Macabre. Drama is created in a number
of different ways, it can be social in nature, such as when
Characters are involved in courtly intrigue, or spiritual when
Characters find themselves presented with temptation or
moral choices, or physical such as during a fight, chase or
struggle against the elements. Each of these aspects of
drama as well as a few others are discussed in the following
text. Remember as with all rules in Danse Macabre, that the
following should be considered a rough set of suggestions
only. Look over the rules and decide which will work best
for you and your playing group. Some rules are emphasized
as strictly optional, others will work well in some styles of
story but not in others.
Aspects of Nature
Be wary of the path you take in life. Sin sets you upon
the road to hell and the tormented service of the Dark
Ones. Abandon leads you over the ferny brae to fair elfland,
the world of nature spirits and old forgotten gods. Purity
sets you upon the road to the Hallowed Beyond, and service
to the Angels of Light - but beware this path, too. For
those who give themselves utterly Heaven may in the end
find themselves only somewhat less driven and enthralled
than those who sell their immortal soul to Hells barons.
Acts of Virtue
Rank One
A small and trifling act of charity. Giving a few coins or
bread to beggars.
Spiritual Attributes
Rank Two
Generous acts of charity. Answering a plea for help that
may see you inconvenienced. Taking in a poor relative for
a time. Loaning money to a friend in need without interest
and without pressure to repay.
Rank Three
Risking your life and limb to help the innocent, the sick,
the starving or the unjustly persecuted. Risking death or
worse to stand for what you believe in.
Rank Four
An act that causes prolonged troubles or sufferings for
you but helps another. A tax collector who refuses to turn
out serfs who cant pay but instead pays their taxes with
34
Rank Five
An almost inhuman and slightly insane act intended to
prevent indulgence in anything remotely sinful. Refusing
to eat anything but bread and water, scarring yourself
because you feel you are too prideful, refusing to take
revenge on a man who killed your family, instead seeking
only justice.
Using Effort
Rank One
Difficulty
Rank Six
A remarkable act of charity or purity. The sort of deed
that becomes legendary. Giving an enemy city notice of
your armies arrival to allow the woman and children to
leave. Refusing to take taxes in a year of poor crops.
Acts of Sin
Rank Two
A serious theft. Mild indulgence in a sin that does no
one else any immediate harm, lust, gluttony and the like.
Rank Three
Serious indulgence in a sin that causes reasonably
obvious harm to another. Murder of an enemy.
Failure
Failure of a Test of Fear indicates that you are unable to
face your fear. You gain a Rank of Trauma (see below) and
have two options. You can either choose to take a second
rank of Trauma and push on regardless or roleplay an
appropriate reaction to the fear. If you react to the fear
appropriately you might back away, turn tail and run,
collapse into nervous heap or succumb to blind, irrational
fury if cornered. Your response will depend on the situation
and how you feel your character would most likely cope
with such terror.
As the Gamesmaster you may, optionally, wish to use a
sliding scale of failed Tests of Fear to determine the
appropriate reaction of a given character. A Fail by one
success might result in a hesitant character, who is
suffering fear but still able to master his wits. A fail by two
successes might result in a deeper level of fear, the desire
to back away and escape is likely to grip the character. A
fail by three successes might result in a complete nervous
breakdown, blubbering and panic.
For Example - In the above example Johan Inkthumb
needed two successes because the Test of Fear was
Difficult. Because Johan scored one success he effectively
failed by the extra one he needed. A hesitant but not
panicked response of Johans character makes sense.
Rank Four
Prolonged murder of an enemy. Cold blooded murder of
an innocent.
Rank Five
The prolonged murder of an innocent. Immoral abuse,
be it physical or mental.
Rank Six
Grotesque, depraved and bizarre moral lapses. Bathing
in blood because you think it will make you younger.
Ordering enemies executed in horrible ways. The sort of
acts that will roll through the centuries as the very image
of villainy.
35
Success
One Trauma
Two Trauma
Small unnatural spirits, minor imps, forest sprites or
Archonic beings. Anything unearthly inflicts Trauma on
the mortal soul, even small things.
Three Trauma
Radiant, nearly blinding angels of fury, demons with
claws of iron and slavering mouths, lords of the wild with
their eyes like emerald moss and skin like bark.
Insanity
Trauma
Deliriums
1
2
36
5
6
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
37
Ranged Combat
In Danse Macabre effort needs to be made to keep combat gritty bloody and dirty. As the Gamesmaster you need
to think carefully about how to describe what is happening in a battle. This is a very grim and grisly world, battles
are horrific things, and the awful slaughter of a field of war
can be pretty frightening for any character who hasnt
seen battles before.
Try to bring the scene alive with detail of whats going
on, even if it is in the background and not important for the
characters. If it is a big battle then there may be crows and
ravens circling before the fighting is fully over. Ragpickers
and beggars may be lingering near the edges of the field
ready to swoop and cut off ringed fingers or snatch up
bejewelled swords. Throughout a battle there will be soldiers and knights who are dying forgotten on the ground.
And with enough bloodshed the ground itself will become
slick with gore, streams where battles are fought may turn
red and the smell of carnage is likely to be enough to make
some characters retch.
Using Tests of Fear versus Violence in battles is an important part of the scene as well. Dont forget that many
player characters will be terrified at the sight of a fully
armoured knight charging towards them, a Viking with a
bloodied axe, or a Saracen on a proud steed.
As a battle progresses make sure to describe what is
going on, recap what has occurred in the last round, and
keep everyones imagination on the right track. The goal is
to avoid creating a mental image of two characters calmly
exchanging blows with one-another. Create chaos whenever possible, play up the madness of a fight and the horror and stupidly of so many lives being spent and broken
so pointlessly.
Wounds
Most mortal human Characters, with a few rare examples, die if they suffer six Wounds. At two Wounds penalties to action are incurred and these penalties grow worse
as additional Wounds are suffered. If a Character suffers
two or three Wounds, then the Character is limited to expending only one Effort when Testing a Skill, Fear or other
Trait. If a Character suffers four or five Wounds, then no
Effort is allowed for Tests of Traits.
Also, each round during combat wounded Characters
need to make a Test of Pain or collapse in agony and unable to take any further action. The Test of Pain is based
on Willpower and becomes more difficult as Wounds increase. One Wound does not incur a Test of Pain. Two or
Three Wounds incur an Average Difficulty Test of Pain.
Four or Five Wounds incur a Difficult Test of Pain.
Natural Dangers
If you fall off a cliff or are burned by fire or hit by a falling
rock you will suffer ranks of injury. A given natural danger
will deal a set number of Wounds at the Gamesmasters
discretion. A Character is then allowed a Test of Skill to
avoid injury. Each success reduces the injury by one
Wound.
For Example: Munrae the Dour leaps through a burning window. The Gamesmaster decides that the window
will deal two Wounds to Mundrae. Munraes player Tests
his Daring Skill to avoid injury and scores one success.
This reduces the injury from two to one.
Melee Combat
When two Characters square off in battle they engage
in a Contest of Skill. Both Characters test their relevant
combat skill. The victor deals injury to the losing Character equal to the number of successes that the victor wins
by. If both Characters score the same number of successes
the attack is considered a draw and a new round begins.
For Example: Munrae the Dour is attacked by a mad
hermit. Munrae the Dour uses his Affray Skill and scores
four successes. The mad hermit using his Brawling skill
and scores two successes. Munrae deals the hermit two
Recording Wounds
You will find a chart on your Character Sheet similar to the
one pictured below. As you are injured record each Wound
in the box provided, filling in lighter injuries first. When a
Wound heals remove the check from your Character Sheet.
38
Injury
Scathe
Light
Deep
Heavy
Grave
Mortal
Effort Penalty
No Penalty
Max 1 Effort / Test
Max 1 Effort / Test
No Effort Allowed
No Effort Allowed
Dead
Healing
One Day
Two Days
Three Days
Four Days
Five Days
N/A
Infection
You may also wish to take into account the risk of
infection whenever a character is injured. Almost all
wounds will become infected to a greater or lesser degree
in the unclean world of Danse Macabre. Roll a d6. 1 to 3,
the wound becomes slightly red and swollen. 4 to 5, the
wound becomes severely infected. It takes twice as long
to heal. 6, the wound is severely infected. You limb swells
up and becomes painful to move. Without treatment by a
surgeon, esoteric healer, magician or village wise-head you
will eventually sicken and die. From the point of infection
you have three weeks to live, if not treated.
Healing of Wounds
Wounds heal naturally with bed rest at a rate that slows
as the Wounds become progressively harsher. It takes five
days to heal from Grave to Heavy injury, four days to heal
from Heavy to Deep and so on. It takes a total of fifteen
days of rest to recover completely from Grave injuries.
There are very few means by which recovery and healing
can be accelerated in Danse Macabre, so it is important to
allow for the time it can take to rest and recover from serious affrays.
Damage to Shields
Combat
Weapons
Bigger and nastier weapons do not confer an advantage in
combat in Danse Macabre. The rules of the game are intended to draw attention away from combat and to encourage a sense that all combat is deadly and dangerous,
an assassins knife needs to be just as deadly as an axe in
line with the setting and theme of the game. However, attacking an armed opponent while unarmed imposes a one
die penalty to any relevant combat skills while the battle
takes place.
Dodging
If opting purely to defend yourself and take no other
actions you can dodge and weave by using your Daring
Skill to counter any incoming hand-to-hand attacks.
Shields
Shields can be used to deflect blows in battle. A shield
grants you a pool of dice to use against one or more
39
Combat Advantage
The following rule can be used when a Character is
fighting at a significant advantage, for instance fighting
against someone who is prone, fighting from high ground,
fighting from cover or fighting unhampered against
someone who is shackled. The Disadvantaged Character
suffers a penalty of one die from combat related Skills and
in addition draws when contesting Skills result in the
Advantaged Character dealing one Wound instead of the
normal null result.
Multiple Opponents
If faced by more than one opponent in a Contest of
Traits you have to split your dice pool up between your
enemies. This makes ganging up against a single opponent a very useful strategy. Powerful enemies can be
brought low by careful teamwork. When outnumbered,
you have to decide how to split your dice pool at the
beginning of each new Action Round. The strategy you
take may depend on the situation. Will you lump most of
your dice pool against a single dangerous opponent or
spread the dice evenly between all your opponents?
For Example - Turstan is carrying a pound of sausages
home for dinner. The villages three semi-feral dogs smell
the meat and come slinking out of the shadows. The dogs
run around Turstan leaping and trying to snap at the
sausages. Turstan is trying to keep the sausages away
from the dogs. Turstan uses his Fortitude skill (Rank 3)
to try and keep the sausages away from the dogs. The
dogs use their Attack Skill (Rank 2) to try and get the
sausages. Turstan only has a dice pool of three, and there
are three dogs. He splits his dice pool up by allotting one
die to each dog.
Armour
Armour can be worn in the hopes of negating injury in
battle. If you are wearing armour roll a number of d6 equal
to your Armour Rank. A score of six indicates that the
armour has absorbed the attack and deflected the attack.
This functions in the same way as shields, which can deflect
a blow entirely. Mortals cannot wear more than three ranks
of armour. Use the following guide.
Because armour is passive a character cannot expend
Effort in an attempt to increase his margin of success.
Heavier armour provides more protection but also
penalises Tests of Subterfuge as a result of the noise and
clumsiness associated with moving in a bulky metal suit.
Rank One Soft hides, quilted armour, poorly treated
leather, haphazard pieces of armour stitched together. This
Rank of Armour does not penalise Subterfuge.
Rank Two Hardened or boiled leather, plates of thick
hide from a rhinoceros, crocodile or elephant, or something
stranger. Two layers of leather stitched together and
padded with wool. Leather that is riveted with small metal
plates or strips. This Rank of Armour penalises Subterfuge
by one die when worn.
Undefended Attacks
An Undefended Attack occurs when one character surprises or ambushes another. In an Undefended attack Tests
their relevant Combat skill, but the attacker is not allowed
a roll to test their defence or counter-attack. The resulting
injury is then dealt to the victim of the attack.
For Example - An assassin has snuck into the
bedchamber of King Ingeld. The assassin has only
moments to do his work before the royal guard return
from a distraction that has be pre-arranged outside the
chamber. The king is asleep but the assassin is rushed.
The Gamesmaster calls for a Test of Affray to check how
accurate the assassins sword is. The Assassin has an Affray
of Five. He expends two points of Effort and increases his
range of success to four through six. He rolls a 3, 4, 4, 5
and 5. Four successes versus zero defence. The king takes
four Wounds and no doubt awakes with a scream.
Designer Note
40
14
15
16
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Mounted Combat
When Characters are fighting from horseback or some
other more exotic mount such as a camel, the rules for
hand-to-hand combat are employed as usual except that
the mounted Character may be required to perform Tests
of Cavalcade at the Discretion of the Gamesmaster, and if
attacking dismounted combatants, the Mounted Character may be granted a Combat Advantage (see above), also
at the discretion of the Gamesmaster.
Unarmed Combat
Wrestling and fistfights are dealt with using the Fortitude skill. Unarmed combat can be just as brutal as armed
warfare. Eyes can be gouged out, teeth kicked in with
boots and heads slammed into the ground. For this reason, ranks of injury are taken just the same as with combat
using weapons. If the fight is a friendlier wrestling match
then use the rules for a Prolonged Contest of skill and set
a target number of successes to achieve. The first person
to do so takes the other opponent to the ground and pins
them.
If one person is trying to pull their adversary to the
ground while the other wishes to do harm, use the same
rules for wrestling but should the more feral opponent win
any of the rounds, they will inflict damage.
For Example - Turston wishes to pull a very drunk and
angry Keith to the ground. The Gamesmaster decides
41
Action
Chases
Chases will occur when something dangerous is pursuing a character. Especially if the chase is through an area
with some limited cover or uneven terrain, the chase may
turn into a series of attempts to keep obstacles between
the fleeing character and the creature or persons that are
on the hunt. Treat chases as a Prolonged Contest of Skills
in which the escapee and the pursuer are trying to accumulate enough successes to win the contest. If the pursuers win, then they will capture their prey. If the Characters who are fleeing win, then they will escape unharmed.
Climbing
Most characters will be able to scramble up a tree or a
gentle slope without needing a Test of Skill. If, however, a
character is attempting to scale something more dangerous, slippery or free of handholds a Test of Daring is
needed. Set the Difficulty based on how tricky the surface
is to climb. A wall with plenty of jutting blocks and
handholds would be Average. An icy waterfall swept by
gale storm winds would be Insanely Difficult.
Foolhardy Acts
There will be instances in the game when a character
wants to leap from a thatch roof onto a moving wagon,
throw a blanket at guards and jump out the window, or use
a pole to vault over a wall. All dangerous and audacious
actions require a Test of Daring, modifying the difficulty
accordingly. In some situations, such as throwing the blanket at the guards, you want to use a simple Contest of
Skills to determine the outcome.
Swimming
Assume that characters cant swim unless specifically
stated in the Background Swimming. For most characters
the seas, lakes and rivers are frightening things. People
dont swim for recreation, and swimming for survival is
something that even some fishermen, sailors and
fenlanders dont learn. In gentle and calm water assume
that a character who has the Swimming background can
swim about a hundred stokes before needing to make a
Test of Fortitude. Call for another Test of Fortitude every
hundred strokes.
If a character fails their Test of Fortitude you can allow
them to continue swimming but use the rules for exhaustion under Attrition (below) to determine whether or not
they are going to drown. Those characters that cant swim
must test fear against an average difficulty if they are in a
situation where they must swim. If they fail, they panic
and must suffer the rules for Attrition (see below). They
must test fear every round until they overcome their fear,
or drown. Once they overcome their fear, the characters
42
Awareness
Attrition
Attrition is used in situations when characters are suffering under a constant grinding stress, pain, fatigue or
poison. In more mild instances this could be the stress and
irritation associated with travelling through a swamp that
is infested with biting midges, in extreme cases Attrition is
used to determine how well a character is able to stand up
against blistering cold, starvation or torture.
When you enter a situation in which Attrition is going
to occur a Test of Fortitude is called for. If you fail your
Test of Fortitude then you lose a point of Effort. You will
have to Test your Fortitude again if you dont move away
from the danger. If you fail a second time you lose two
points of Effort. If you fail a third time you lose four points
of Effort. If you fail a fourth time you lose eight points of
Effort. At this point your Effort will have dropped to zero
even if you started with the full fifteen. When you Effort
drops to zero due to Attrition you either break (i.e. under
torture), pass unconscious (i.e. from exposure) or die (i.e.
drowning or poison).
How long a time passes between Tests of Fortitude is
determined by the severity of the situation. Irritating things
that arent likely to be deadly but which will wear you
down, like biting insects, a cold, or mild food poisoning,
might only call for a Test of Fortitude once a day. Youll
probably outlast the danger before you need to make
more than two or three Tests of Fortitude. Extraordinarily painful, cold or dangerous situations may require a
Test of Fortitude every few minutes. The nature of the
Attrition also determines the difficulty of the Test of Fortitude.
Bitter Cold
Difficult
Drinking Contests
Average
Drowning
Difficult
Exhaustion
Difficult
Fierce Storm
Difficult
Midges
Average
Poisons
Varies
Privation
Difficult
Sleep Deprivation
Difficult
Torture
Very Difficult
Investigation
43
Examination
Witch Hunting
Looking for signs of witchcraft, investigating diseases
that might have been causes by curses, and tracking witches
to their lair are all based on the Witch Lore Skill. When
questioning a suspected witch or warlock use the Examination rules above.
Social
Befriending
Searching
Concealing a Search
Hiding the obvious signs that a search of room or place
has taken place is based on a Test of Guile. This will usually be of Average Difficulty, although more thorough
searches may result in higher levels of difficulty.
Ransacking
Ransacking is used when a Character is hunting through
a room with limited time. The Gamesmaster needs to set a
limited number of rounds during which a Character or Characters must accumulate a set number of successes based
on Tests of Guile to find what they are looking for. For
instance, a Character may be trying find a jewelled dagger
hidden in the room of a town sheriff before guards arrive.
The Gamesmaster could state that the Character has three
rounds to accumulate five successes. At the end of the
third round the guards will arrive. If you wish to create a
sense of tension, inform the Players how many successes
are need but not how long they have.
Cajolery
Treat instances of bribery and flattery as Tests of Guile.
As the Gamesmaster, you may want to grant a bonus to
the Guile roll if a character offers a bribe of uncommon
value, but in most instances when a bribe is called for not
offering a bribe, or offering a very poor bribe will result in
a penalty. Trying to get an audience with a bishop or prince,
a favourable judgement in a court, or an overlooking of
certain goods on board a merchant ship would all be situations where a bribe is expected. Guile can also be used to
flatter a person into liking to you, in the same way that
Fellowship can be used to befriend an unlikely person.
Our tinker friend could use his Guile to flatter the Abbot
until the Abbot decides that the tinker isnt such a bad
fellow after all.
Tracking
Tracking either a person or animal overland is based on
the Venery Skill. Use an Average Difficulty for normal grassy
ground or woodland, increasing the difficulty when trying
to track over stone, down busy thoroughfares or through
swampy or waterlogged areas.
Haggling
An important part of any marketplace haggling for the
best price is as much an art form as any craft or trade.
Haggling is performed by Testing your Mercantry Skill in
order to make up the extra successes needed to buy an
item. For instance if you need two successes to purchase
a horse but only score one success on a Test of Wealth,
then you can Test Mercantry in order to try and make up
the second success needed. Effort can be used when test-
Unravelling Events
Unravelling events occurs when examining a room full
of broken furniture and scuffs or a series of footprints and
hoofprints on the ground or a series of scattered belongings or burnt wagons and trying to deduce what has oc-
44
Cut Purse
Pick pocketing or cut-pursing a Character on the sly is
performed by using a Contest of Thievery versus the victims Awareness. Use the rules outlined above for Awareness.
Intimidation
Threatening, bellowing out a war cry and dropping subtle, frightening hints, and other acts of intimidation hints
calls for a Test of Presence versus Willpower. Winning the
Contest will result in the intimidated character having to
make a Test of Fear versus Violence. The standard Fear
rules apply. If the character fails the Test of Fear, then they
respond accordingly.
Hiding
Hiding from other Characters with good cover is performed by an Average Test of Subterfuge as long as the
Character who wishes to hide is not being actively pursued. For instance, a Character who wishes to hide from
an approaching patrol of foot soldiers in some nearby scrub
would only need to succeed once on a Test of Subterfuge.
If the surroundings provide less cover, then increase the
difficulty of the attempt. If a Character is being actively
pursued then hiding is based on a Contest of Skills pitching Subterfuge against Awareness. See above for rules
concerning Awareness.
Picking Locks
Persuasion
Watching
Taking stock of a social setting, looking about, seeing
who appears to be in charge, and who is really in charge,
who is manipulating who, who are friends and who are
enemies are important things to be able to determine before launching blindly into the room. Use a Test of Guile
while watching a crowd and trying to unravel its dynamics.
Sneaking
Moving about stealthily and with subterfuge, when
Characters are trying to sneak, closer to, past or around
other Characters use a Subterfuge versus Awareness roll.
Worming Words
Poisoning a persons mind against another, dropping
dark little rumours and hints, causing uneasiness, unrest
and sowing the seeds of discord, are talents that fall under
Guile. Crowds tend to think as one, and when dealing with
a group of people a simple Test of Presence is usually the
best way to handle worming words, increasing the difficulty the more people there are. In larger crowds there is a
larger chance that someone will see through the holes in
your poisonous words. Trying to poison a single person
against another requires a Contest of Presence and Willpower.
The Supernatural
Selling Souls & Reavings
The Powers of the Beyond, their servants and demons
have the ability to devour the human soul. Indeed, a human
soul, or even a little piece of one, is a rich source of strength,
youth and vitality for otherworldly spirits and devils. A
spirit does not need to feed on the stuff of souls to continue
to exist but it will become more powerful by doing so. Such
spirits cannot, however, devour a Soul in its entirety but
can take little pieces of living souls, a small piece at a time
- a few dreams or hopes, memories, desires or loves.
When making pacts with otherworld spirits a common
stipulation is that the mortal give up a part of his or her
Soul to the spirit. Sometimes only a few dreams are taken
and then no more, other times a spirit will demand more
and more to feed upon over time.
Subterfuge
45
10
11
12
Possession
Archonic Spirits, Angels, Demons and the like, as well
as Shades of the Dead are able to give up their physical
form in the real world and attempt to enter into the body of
beast and mortal, inhabiting it and using it like a puppet.
An Archonic Spirit that attempts to possess a body must
first let go its physical manifestation and become a mere
presence, a force of power on the air. All spirits can do this
when they please, and many minor spirits of the lowest
orders find it useful to give up their physical form in order
to pass through walls or bewilder hapless mortals.
As a shadowy presence the spirit must make contact
with the person or creature that it wishes to possess. The
victim will be aware that something is scratching at their
mind, they will feel cold and invaded, as if something had
tried to crawl inside them.
The victim is allowed to resist possession by contesting
Willpower against the Spirits Ascendancy (in the case of
Archonic Spirits) or Obsession (in the case of Shades).
Sufficient force of will and iron walls of mind will force the
spirit back, even dealing it more than a little pain and making
it unlikely to try to possess the victim a second time. The
victim who successfully repels an invasion of the mind
passes through the experience with a little pain. Often the
attack is tortuous and while the contest of minds endures
the victim is likely to fall to the ground in agony. Observers
will be able to do little but try to hold the victim still and try
to guess what is happening.
If the spirit successfully overcomes the mortal or creature
then it comes into possession not just of the body but
also of the victims memories, hopes and dreams. It is able
immediately to begin acting more or less normal, it will
recognise people or things from the possesseds life, and
46
Casting Out
Methods for casting a spirit out of possessed body vary
and are numerous. Some luck can be had by torturing the
spirit out as it feels everything that happens to the human
flesh.
The Sanctimony rite of Exorcism (see the game
supplement: The Sacral and the Lost) is commonly called
upon to cast out spirits, so too is forcing a victim who is
thought to be possessed by something dark and unholy
to cross onto holy ground or into water from a blessed
spring, or to touch a sacred relic. If the spirit is one of the
Kingdom of Darkness then it must make a Test of
Ascendancy (dif. Difficult) to remain in possession of a
body if that body is being placing in contact with a very
hallowed place or thing.
If cast out, either by exorcism, pain or holy powers, then
a spirit must leave a possessed and slip straight into its
native Kingdom. A faerie will transcend straight into the
Kingdom of Wilds. A demonic spirit will return immediately
to Hell.
A person who has passed through possession suffers
one Trauma for every day that he or she was possessed.
The Trauma remains cumulative past ten and will result in
the immediate suffering of multiple Deliriums upon rescue
if a mortal is possessed for twenty, thirty or more days. If a
person were, for instance possessed for forty-five days
then he suffers forty-five ranks of Trauma and on being
freed, suffers Four Deliriums (one for every ten ranks of
Trauma), and is left with five ranks of Trauma.
Thus a person who is possessed for more than one or
two months is likely to be completely raving mad by the
end of the ordeal.
The Possessed
Demons sometimes possess mortals in order to hide from
other spirits, undertake machinations on earth, deliver
messages and warnings, or spy. While possessing a body
minor spirits and shades lose all their preternatural powers
and the more powerful of demonic spirits retain only some
ability to let their emotions spill over into the world, if
angered things may begin to rattle, break and grow hot.
An unhappy spirit in possession of a body may cause the
air to grow misty and damp, and fires to burn low and
everything to feel cold. This spilling of emotion is
unintentional and is far more diluted than what can happen
to the surrounding environment when a demonic spirit in
full manifestation is enraged.
If angered to the point of insensible rage a spirit in
possession of a body may lose its ability to hide deep
down in the flesh and comes boiling to the surface. When
this happens the persons voice changes into that of the
Spirit in its manifest form, eyes may change colour or turn
blood red or spill out golden light.
Mortals who see a possessed body boil with the power
of the spirit inside immediately gain One Trauma and must
make a Test of Fear versus the Unnatural (diff. Average).
Angels seldom possess the bodies of mortals and when
they do it is usually for only the briefest of times and
usually in order to deliver messages or perform a simple
task that the bearer of the mortal flesh is refusing to perform.
Angels tend not to bother trying to hide themselves in the
flesh of the possessed and their presence is easily seen.
The possessed is immediately surrounded by the smell of
flowers and his or her eyes begin glowing with a silvery
light. The voice, if used, is always that of the Angel
resonating and supernatural.
The possession by an Angel, however, is no less painful
or invasive than possession by a demon and it cannot be
told what manner of spirit is trying to enter your mind until
it has fully claimed control.
Obsession
There are curses and then there are curses. The later are
caused by minor spirits, usually Demonic , sometimes
Faerie, but never Angelic. All minor spirits are able to inhabit
a body but somtimes lack the power to actually take mastery
of the flesh. This is termed Obsession, rather than
Possession. The spirit can, however, then wreck all manner
of terrible things, disease, ill luck, impotence, clumsiness
and general poor fortunes upon the unfortunate soul.
Setting a minor spirit upon a person in this way is the
heart of the curse. A worshipper of the Kingdom of
Darkness may either appeal to their patron demon to send
a minor spirit to plague a person or command one or more
Familiars to accurse a victim. If a witch, for instance,
possesses three familiars, then she could curse up to three
people at once and would have to lift the curse from one
person in order to place it upon a fourth.
If a cursed person undergoes either an Exorcism or an
Abjuration (see the game supplement: The Sacral and the
Lost) then the spirit is not just cast out but is cast back
into the Kingdom of Shadows and if it was a Familiar then
the witch loses her impish companion.
Curses can be set upon a family so that the spirit will
jump from the father or mother to a child when the parent
dies, or can be set with conditions to encourage the
accursed to perform some deed or other that is of use to
the witch.
Finding Out
Aside from being lucky - or unlucky - enough to see a
spirit come to the surface of its possessed flesh and make
itself obvious to all, the finding out of a possessed person
is difficult.
Inexplicable changes in personality may make you
suspicious but such things can have other causes. There
is a certain folk charm commonly used to find out
possession, and others used to protect against it. So too
does the church have a rite of Sanctimony to find out if a
person is possessed.
Eventually, however, possessing spirits inevitably grow
too comfortable in their body and let slip their pretence
and begin to act in ways that cannot be explained away.
Often Wild and Dark spirits become over fond of the
indulgences that a real body can bring, they begin to refuse
to do work, eat far too much, drink and seek out the beds
of any who will have them.
47
Magic
b
Chapter Six
of Solomon the Wise, the church takes an intolerant view
of almost all sorcery. The view of most of the church is that
all sorcery is evil, the work of devils and the unclean. Those
few bishops and prelates who know a little better allow for
the continuation of one or two specific rituals, exorcism
being the most commonly known, but then take the view
that white magic is too easily corrupted into black magic to
ever be considered safe.
The penalty for practising sorcery under church law is
death. Some towns and villages are more tolerant than
others. In some places, lords, town councils and even local
village priests consider the benefits of having an
unobtrusive, quiet person about who can charm wolves
away from sheep or undo curses is a outweighs any evil.
Still, even in tolerant towns, no sorcerer would be wise to
advertise their trade.
The Magician
Archonic SPirits
Worship
48
church.
ings and powers are, however, fickle and depend upon the
mood of the spirit in question and the nature of the miracle
that is being sought.
Goetia
The last of the living Traditions is both the most powerful
and the most secret. This is the art of Goetia, the
summoning, binding and mastery of Angels, Faerie and
Demons. Whereas the Warlock seeks to serve the dark
powers, the practitioner of Goetia seeks instead to master
the three dynasties of creation. The master of Goetia is,
quite simply, the magicians magician. And his powers are
both wondrous and horrifying.
Goetia is generally not understood well by either church
or king or commoner and is often not differentiated from
Warlockry. The grace of Goetia is that being a magical
tradition deeply involved in study and the written word, it
is almost solely the domain of nobles and lords involved
in their own little eccentric occult experiments. The lord of
a castle is able to get away with a great deal more than the
common man. In many dominions the earls, lords and dukes
are the last word of local law, and can literally get away
with murder. But machinations to take titles by other gentry
and the over-zealous and too free displays of magic will
eventually lead to the death of anyone, even a king or
emperor - just as one or two murders may be tolerated by
the populace, but a bloodthirsty spree of killing will
eventually lead to uprisings, so too with magic among the
lordly. A little may be tolerated. A lot is dealt with harshly.
In court intrigue and the never-ending game of gaining
new lands and deeds and titles, witchcraft is a convenient
a crime to accuse another of, and if the accusation is true
then so much the better.
Pacts
Characters can attain a form of magical power by entering into Pacts with supernatural demons and devils. In
such a Pact the spirit will bestow powers upon the Mortal
in exchange for some of the mortals soul or vows to perform certain deeds or pursue certain goals. Spirits pursue
Pacts because leaving their own planes of existence for
even a few Mortal hours can result in power struggles and
battles in their absence, loss of follower or attendant spirits, rank and power. Many spirits have distinct plans and
schemes in motion on the mortal earth and need servants
of that world to do their bidding.
Hedge Magic
Of the surviving Traditions of magic Hedge Magic is the
most common. This is the magic used by village healers,
soothsayers, cunning-men and charm-peddlers alike. It is
an ancient, earthy, generally harmless and not significantly
powerful branch of Sorcery. Learned scholars term it Magia
Vulgus - magic of the commoners. Its practitioners, Hedge
Wizards and Witches, are viewed not poorly by the
common folk, although perhaps with a little distrust now
and again. Being a practitioner of Hedge Magic is seldom
considered sinful and it is not generally equated with black
magic or witchcraft.
The most innocuous and widely accepted form of
sorcery, Hedge Magic, is still mostly tolerated in rural and
remote areas. Hedge Magic has remained such a solid piece
of the backbone of the life of farmers, foragers and
woodcutters for so many centuries that it is difficult to
expunge completely and remains an accepted although
increasingly mistrusted tradition. Hedge wizards and
witches, however, are well advised not to make light of
their magic or advertise it unwarily. In larger cities it is
considered no better than any other class of magic. The
servants of the church who roam the countryside and the
witch-hunters who charge fees for finding out curses and
bewitchments likewise make no distinction.
Sorcerous Skills
Esotery
49
Worship
Summoning by Worship
Summoning by Worship can only be performed by
Characters with the Supplicant Background. Summoning
is performed through ritual, chant, fasting, sacrifice and
other sundry rites. The chance of successfully summoning
a spirit in this way increases as you add more Devotions to
50
Test of Worship.
Fasting
For every day you fast before the summoning add a d6
to your Test of Worship.
Faithful
For every twenty faithful involved in the worship add
one d6 to your Test of Worship.
Conjunction
There are moments in the roll of years when the cycle of
celestial spheres results in conjunctions that open paths
between the mortal world and one or more of the spirit
otherworlds. These conjunctions may last only a few
minutes, but they have been widely studied and recorded
by certain scholars, in particular the magi of the east.
If you perform Worship at the moment of a conjunction
your prayers become far more difficult to ignore. They
reverberate through the otherworlds. Add 5d6 to your Test
of Worship. Note that a conjunction on average occurs
only once a decade and even more seldom during some
centuries.
Hours
For every five hours spent in fasting, ritual and worship
add one d6 to your Test of Worship.
Order
By putting yourself through a trial of pain, fire or injury
for your spirit you can add 2d6 to your Test of Worship.
Covenants
Covenants are groups of mortals bound to the worship
and service of a particular Archonic Spirit usually in
secret. Covens of witches worshipping a devil of hell, holy
orders of knights who practise ritual worship of an
archangel in secret, or small cults of villages worshipping
a wild faerie creature of the woods are all examples of
Covenants.
To be brought into a Covenant a character would
normally have to earn the trust of a Patron, an elder or
senior member of the Covenant. Typically a character will
spend some time as a ley-brother or sister in service to a
Covenant but not yet privy to its secrets before being
initiated and making vows and oaths of service. After
devoting some months, years or longer as an Initiate a
character may be given the opportunity to make personal
vows to the spirit itself and enter into a Pact, in which
eternal service is given in return for gifts of power.
Sacrifice
If you make a sacrifice, be it a libation of wine, burnt
offering of food or something more sinister add d6 to your
Test of Worship.
Shrine
If you perform the Worship in a place that is beloved,
hallowed or devoted to the spirit you are trying to summon,
then add d6 to your Test of Worship.
Ritual
By performing a particularly extravagant ritual, one that
will coax and compliment the spirits own prideful nature
you can add 1d6 to your Test of Worship.
Pacts
Devotions
Days
Certain days of the year are hallowed and special to
certain spirits. If you perform the ritual of worship on a day
of the year that is given to your spirit then add 2d6 to your
51
Sacrifice
Sacrilege
Tempter
You must bring at least one mortal willingly into the power
of your demon every year. You master may begin to
demand more and more over time.
Gifts
Dark Vows
The devils and demons of hell are often the most willing
to enter into bargains, for they are also the most likely to
ask for pieces of soul in return to devour, and so gain as
much strength as they give away to any new servant. The
servants of the Dark Ones are witches and warlocks,
sorcerers who have sold their soul and eternal servitude
of their spirit after death in return for sorcerous powers.
Choose a vow from the following list for each Gift you
wish to take
Dark Knowledge
Accusation
The spirit will tutor you in one of the sorcerous arts and
increase you knowledge and skill. Treat this as a +1 bonus
to your rank in the appropriate Arcane Skill.
Familiar
A minor Archonic Spirit of no more than Ascendancy
Rank 1 and Manifestation Rank 1 that is sent to serve you.
Familiars usually take the form of a small, mundane looking
animal.
They are capable of speech and may possess a few small,
trifling powers. Their most useful functions are spies,
messengers or watchful, sleepless guards. Be wary though,
for familiar spirits are avowed not to you ultimately but to
its master Archonic Spirit, and a Familiar may be as much a
spy as an ally.
Blasphemy
Once a month you must scrawl or chisel your masters
image and a few lines of dark prayer into the wall of a
church.
Desecration
You must destroy, ruin or burn one holy site, church or
chapel a month.
Discord
You must murder a price, king, queen or similarly powerful
personage once a year.
Forbidden Desires
Heretic
Half-Hearted Swords
You can no longer be killed by swords, axes or other
weapons. You can however be hurt by them. The final
blow, however, instead of reducing you to zero Health,
leaves you terribly injured at one rank of Health. If you are
struck three times while on one rank of Health you collapse
unable to move. At this point your enemies will likely
decide that you require drowning, poisoning, hanging or
burning alive to be eventually rid of you. In short, they will
treat you like the supernatural monster you appear to be.
Midnight Offering
Every midnight you will offer up a reaffirmation of your
vows to your dark master.
Revulsion
You will never touch a holy book or relic. You will never
say aloud a prayer to a hallowed spirit, be it an angel or
saintly ghost.
52
Familiars
Hale of Health
Curing of disease, restoring of health, eyesight, hearing
or the like.
Lying Twinge
A slightly preternatural sense that creeps through you
when someone has lied to you. A gift given most commonly
by Angels and seldom if ever by Faerie or Demons.
Penny-in-Pocket
A golden coin that whenever spent returns to your
pocket within an hour.
Skin-of-Beast
The enchanted skin of a beast, be it a wolf, bear, boar or
hawk, that when put over your naked shoulders transforms
you in a popping, twisting way into a slightly strange,
savage and large version of that creature. If you turn into
a wolf it is a large and demonic looking wolf. If you turn
into a raven it might be the size of a small dog, and
possessed of blood red eyes. Archonic spirits, after all,
possess little understanding of subtlety.
In animal form you gain Uncanny Skills and an Attack at
Rank 5 and Armour at Rank 2. You suffer Injury, Trauma,
Soul Loss and Reavings as usual.
Passing through the transformation causes you three
Ranks of Trauma. If you lose the skin you lose the ability
to transform.
You can revert to your normal human form when you
wish.
Toothless Flames
Fire no longer burns your skin, although if plunged into
flame everything on your will burn away.
Familiar Powers
Vast Riches
Vengeance
Revenge on a person who has wronged you. The spirit
may exact the revenge personally or it may give the means
to you by which revenge may be had.
53
swords are a part of the spirit and cease to exist if the spirit
is destroyed.
The fear that a familiar in its true form will manifest is
often more powerful a weapon than any other it wields.
Most mortals will flee in terror at the sight of a fully manifest
Demon, Faerie or Angel, regardless of whether it might
perhaps be among the lowliest of rank among the orders of
spirits.
Familiar can also possess a body, though are not powerful
enough to exert control over the flesh. Imps in particular
are used to possess bodies in order to put a curse upon
the person. The curse is in fact the small demon working
subtle magic to cause the person to become sick, clumsy,
unlucky and so on. See above Drama: Curses for more
information on curses and under Drama: Possession for
further information about possession and the casting out
of possessing spirits.
Hedge Magic
54
Gaining Cantrips
A Hedge Magician knows a number of Cantrips based
on their rank in the Hedge Magic Skill.
Hedge Magic
Cantrips
Rank One
Two
Rank Two
Four
Rank Three
Six
Rank Four
Eight
Rank Five
Ten
Rank Six
Twelve
Blooded Charm
To craft this charm you need to smear at least three drops
of blood from man, beast, demon or monster onto a porous
wood ring. The ring should then be tied to a chain of gold
and certain chants said over.
The charm will, when suspended from the gold chain,
twirl and sway in the direction of the owner of the drops of
blood as if there were a gentle breeze. The charms power
is too weak to use in a strong wind or if used while at a trot
or in a wagon, it may be more difficult to tell which way the
charm moves.
Difficulty
All Hedge Magic Cantrips are performed at a Difficulty
of Average.
Cache Ward
A small curse usually buried or hidden with a cache of
coins, jewellery or other goods. The ward is always obvious
and intended to deter would-be thieves. Sometimes it is
written down on lead and accompanied by terrible symbols,
sometimes it takes the form of cat bones tied together or
something similarly dark. If the thief ignores the curse and
takes the goods anyway, then he suffers minus one rank
to all Skills for a week.
Failed Magic
A Failed Attempt at a Cantrip indicates that the Hedge
Magician has simply been unable to work the magic charm
into its proper shape, form and power. The charm fails, but
the Hedge Wizard will not know this until the Cantrip is
actually put to the test. As far as he is aware it has probably
worked.
List of Cantrips
Dead Fruit
Barren Charm
Elderwood Arrow
A Dark Incarnate takes an extra level of injury when hurt
by an arrow shorn of elder tree wood and enchanted with
this Cantrip.
Favour
If you pay for the burial of a person the ghost of that
person is obliged to do you one favour. The amount of
coin you lay out for the burial will determine the gratitude
of the shade. A lavish funereal will bring about a lavish
favour. A small and paltry funeral will bring you a likewise
small favour.
Bone-of-the-Witch
A charm made from the finger bone of a witch or warlock
and dangled on a string. If held near a person who is
Possessed by a spirit or shade, then the Bone-of-the-Witch
dances about wildly, bobbing and jittering on the string.
Festering Hex
The victims body is cursed so that it is slow to heal.
Add 1 day onto the heal time of all wounds.
The Festering Hex charm requires the making of a small
charm, which must be hidden either on the person or in
their property. If the charm is found and destroyed, the hex
is broken.
Bound Knots
Tie knots in a rope while naming by birth name and no
other of a dead person who you wish to bind to his or her
grave. Once done, bury the rope in the ground. Once it is
buried the named the Shade must make a Test of Obsession
(diff. Average) or be forced to return to sleep in its grave
for a hundred days.
Fox Ward
A small charm made of tangled twigs, thorn and fur. The
Fox Ward is intended to keep predators away from fields,
chicken coops or sheepfolds. It is usually hung in a tree or
over a coop. Any fox, wolf, bear, wild cat, wolverine or feral
dog that comes within twenty paces of the charm will
become distressed, afraid and disorientated near a Fox
Ward. Usually the animal turns tail and rapidly flees.
Bowl-of-Ivy
Make a bowl of ivy wood, work upon it certain small
magics. Drinking from such a bowl will cure most fevers
and whooping cough. To work the Cantrip you must work
a spell upon it. The bowl by itself retains no enchantment
55
Ivy-will-Tell
Foxglove Sap
Lucky Talisman
A small charm meant to bring luck, usually at a specific
pursuit such as hunting, looking for a husband or surviving
a battle. A Lucky Talisman takes about an hour to make. If
you succeed on your Test of Hedge Magic when making a
Lucky Talisman the wearer is allotted three bonus
successes to use when wanted.
You cannot own more than one Lucky Talisman for a
given pursuit at any given time. You could for instance
own one Talisman for Fishing and one for Hunting Deer,
but not two for Fishing.
Fennel
Drinking water of Fennel or bathing in water tinctured
with crushed Fennel and sap grants protection from the
contraction of disease. The effect lasts about a day. The
spell, however, grants no boons to those already plagued
by a disease.
Maladroit
This curse causes the victim to become unlucky and
clumsy. Any breakable object in the victims possession
will become broken within twenty-four hours. Any Trait
Tests requiring a component o agility or eye-hand coordination suffer a 1 penalty to the dice pool while this
hex is in effect.
The Maladroit charm requires the making of a small charm,
in this case made of broken bone and black wool, which
must be hidden either on the person or in their property. If
the charm is found and destroyed, the hex is broken.
Fortunes
Pulling petals off a flower, twisting apple stalks and the
like. Small charms to determine the answer to a yes or no
question. Whenever you use Fortunes test your Hedge
Magic skill at Average. If you succeed you receive a true
answer. If you fail the Storyteller rolls a d6 in secret and
gives you a true answer on an even roll and a false answer
on an odd roll. When using this charm the hedge wizard is
always unaware whether or not the charm has properly
worked.
Marriage Charm
A charm to bring luck in finding a husband or wife.
Usually carried about the person. When talking to a
prospective husband or wife the Marriage Charm adds a
temporary rank to your Presence skill. This charm cannot
increase you Presence skill above Rank Six.
Gardners Periapt
A charm to protect a garden or field from disease, pests
or birds. Hung in the garden it causes all crops, herbs, fruit
trees and tubers to yield approximately thirty percent more
at harvest. The charm lasts a year.
Midge Hex
Gluttony Hex
Nail-and-Foot
Driving a nail into the footprint of a witch or sorcerer will
cause him or her to go lame for a time. You may enact a
small but painful ritual to prolong the effect of this Cantrip,
using the nail to cut marks on your skin before hammering
it into the soil. One Trauma will cause lameness for about
Headache Hex
The victim suffers from a dull, throbbing headache. Sleep
and concentration are difficult. All mental skills are reduced
by one die while suffering from this hex.
56
Sniffling Hex
A petty curse that gives a particular target a very mild
cold for a week. Requires that a small charm be hidden
either on the subjects property or in his possessions. If
the subject discovers the charm and discards it the curse
is lifted.
Plague Ward
A small charm made from painted polished stone, twigs
of various healing plants and white threads of wool. Plague
Wards are hung to prevent disease from entering a grain
store, well or town. If hung over a well the ward prevents
the water from becoming diseased. If hung over a grain
store or apple bin it keeps vermin away. If hung over a
gateway or door it prevents disease-bearing vermin to enter
the gateway. Disease bearing people, however, are not
affected.
Sour Cantrip
Turns beer, milk or food sour or just slightly rotten.
Involves saying a little backwards curse over the food.
Stench Hex
The victim gives off a strong, unpleasant odour. Others
find the smell revolting and will strive to stay clear of the
victim.
The Stench Hex charm requires the making of a small
charm, in this case made of stones and sticks taken from a
swamp, which must be hidden either on the person or in
their property. If the charm is found and destroyed, the hex
is broken.
Plentiful Talisman
Worked on a cow or sheep to increase milk, or a chicken
to make her lay more eggs. Requires that a small charm or
talisman be tied or hung around the subject. The charm
lasts a year and will increase the productivity of the animal
by roughly ten percent. Additional charms do no extra
good.
If used on an animal that has been made unproductive
by the Barren Charm, a Plentiful Talisman counters the
effect of the other magic.
Thief-Teller
A small charm to determine who stole a specific object or
if in fact it was stolen at all and not simply misplaced. You
receive a true answer on a passed Test of Hedge Magic.
Otherwise the answer is blurred and unclear. You cannot
try to find the thief of the same object more than once
using this charm.
Pox Hex
Victim breaks out with sores that weep and fester. Any
armour heavier than soft leather irritates the sores. Physical
appearance drops, and people tend to avoid the victim.
The Pox Hex charm requires the making of a small charm,
in this case made of bone from a man dead of disease and
stones from a graveyard, which must be hidden either on
the person or in their property. If the charm is found and
destroyed, the hex is broken.
Thief-Ward
Token
Rowan Smoke
Safe-is-He
You need a personal possession to work this cantrip
and create a small charm. The charm will remain clean and
whole as long as the subject of the charm is safe and well.
It tarnishes or loses lustre if the subject is sick or in danger.
It breaks in two when the subject dies.
Secret Whispers
Unbreaking Edge
57
Uninvited
Will banish any small, not very powerful imps, spirits or
nature sprites that may be present from a specific place
such as a house, stable or yard. More powerful spirits or
supernaturals are unaffected.
Gaining Wisdoms
An Esoteric Scholar knows a number of Wisdoms based
on their rank in the Esotery Skill.
Esotery Skill
Wisdoms
Rank One
Three
Rank Two
Six
Rank Three
Nine
Rank Four
Twelve
Rank Five
Fifteen
Rank Six
Eighteen
Unwolfing
To use this Cantrip you must call a werewolf three times
over three rounds by his true birth name. If the werewolf
flees before you are finished the spell has no effect. If you
have the wrong name the spell has no effect.
If all conditions are met the werewolf is forced to change
back into its human form by the Cantrip.
A seemingly powerful little Cantrip, Unwolfing is
somewhat dangerous to rely on as a means to temporarily
undo the curse of the werewolf, given that correctly
identifying a werewolf is a matter of luck and that
werewolves often run in packs. Unwolfing one among the
many may not do you any good for very long.
Warding
Laying protection from evil spirits on a place, person or
thing. Usually involves tying a spring of lavender, folk
charm, bulb of garlic or the like to the warded. Dark Spirits
or Incarnate suffer a 1 penalty to all their dice pools when
attempting to injure, attack or harm a person, place or animal
protected by a Warding .
Welt Hex
A very uncomfortable, maddening itch affects the victims
whole body. No armour or heavy clothing can be worn.
The Welt Hex charm requires the making of a small charm,
which must be hidden either on the person or in their
property. If the charm is found and destroyed, the hex is
broken.
Witch-Finder
Traditional Lore
Formally Schooled
You have entered into a college of study or served as an
apprentice under the watchful eye of a man or woman
deeply steeped in knowledge.
Lonely Study
The secrets of the world have always fascinated you.
You know enough of the written word to pour through
tomes, ancient and new, read old philosophies and then
perform the experiments described therein.
Esotery
58
Disciplines
Alchimia
The art of Alchemy, experimentation, transmutation and
laboratory sorcery.
Difficulty
The Esotery Skill comes into play whenever you attempt
to invoke one of the Wisdoms you have mastered, be it by
brewing a potion or animating a golem. The Difficulty is at
the discretion of the Storyteller but unless circumstances
are stressful or difficult in most cases the Difficulty will
default to Average.
Animus
Animus is the esoteric art of creating, by way of melding
science and magic, artificial life, be it a small and scrawny
Homunculus or a great and lumbering golem. All
Automatons created via the art of Animus carry such a
profoundly aberrant air that any character who has not
grown accustomed to their presence must make a Test of
Fear (diff. Normal) versus the Unnatural when encountering
one.
List of Wisdoms
Apotheca
Alkahest
Need: None
Gain: Alchimia 1
The process by which a near-universal solvent may be
made. Alkahest is a potent and acrid smelling liquid capable
of dissolving stone, metal, wood, flesh, bone and many
things aside. It must be kept in a glass container for it will
swiftly eat through copper, leather or wood.
If poured onto a surface Alkahest quickly eats a hole. If
thrown or splash onto a person it deals one wound a round
until the person is doused by water, which is an effective
means by which Alkahest may be diluted and made
impotent.
It takes a week of work to make three doses of Alkahest.
Each dose is enough to dissolve a cubic foot of material.
Herbaria
The knowledge of the healing, esoteric and sorcerous
uses of plants.
Manteia
The art of divination, fortune telling and the reading of
stars, crystals, omens and prophecies.
Mortis
Rituals and knowledge of the dead, corpses, the
netherworld, shades and shadows.
Narcotica
The art of the druggist and poisoner. The knowledge
needed to make and use poisons and venoms most foul as
well as soporific and indulgent drugs.
Astrology
Need: None
Gain: Mantea 1
Astrology is the art of deducing secrets and futures
from the tracking of the stars, the planets and all the celestial
bodies of the heavens. The core tenet of Astrology is that
the stars and planets are symbolic of gods and spirits of
the ancient Persian cosmology and their positions relative
to one another speak volumes about what shall occur in
our more mundane world.
By learning the date of birth of a person you can gleam
a few titbits of information about their personality, likes
and dislikes. The more precise the time of birth the more
precise your understanding becomes. A year of birth will
be very vague, a month is better, a week, day and hour will
provide the most useful information.
Ritualis
The art of the sorcerous ritual, the rite and the ceremony.
Spiritas
Knowledge and power of the living soul.
Wisdoms
Augury
Need: None
59
Kings Cureall
Need: None
Gain: Herbaria 1, Apotheca 1
The sap of this small shrub when mixed with sea salt and
clay provides a remarkably effective remedy for most skin
ailments. Kings Cureall also relives burns. Injuries from
burns heal twice as fast after an application of Kings Cureall
salve.
Monastery Herb
Grey Leek
Need: None
Gain: Apotheca 1
Uses by monks for centuries, this herb is crushed and
boiled in water to provide a useful disinfectant for wounds.
If concentrated it can be used to clean surgical implements
or is sometimes added to bathwater or hot springs to
supposedly help its healing properties.
Need: None
Gain: Herbaria 1, Apotheca 1
A grey-green fleshy plant with daffodil-like white flowers
in spring. Grey Leek has many mild curative properties.
Crushing the flesh, boiling it and inhaling the steam will
relieve colds. A compress of Grey Leek will sooth aching
muscles and a concentrated powder of the sap acts as a
mild painkiller.
Palmistry
Need: None
Gain: Mantea 1
You can study the palm of a person and understand
from it a general, if somewhat vague, feel for the persons
life, their happiness and their destiny now or in the future.
You might be able to tell for instance that a person lived a
troubled childhood, lost his first love, but is destined for
happier things in the years to come. The knowledge is
useful, but often vague.
Homunculus
Need: None
Gain: Animus 1, Ritualis 1, Spiritas 1
A Homunculus is a small winged, imp-like humanoid
automaton, grey skinned, shrivelled and bony. Each
Homunculus is linked to its maker. The creation requires
that the esoteric scholar mix a fair amount of his own blood
with ash, clay and the bones of three lizards. The process
takes a week and causes a level of injury to the scholar
that will not heal as long as the Homunculus remains in
existence.
A Homunculus exists as an extension of your body and
spirit. If it is injured you suffer terrible pain. If it is destroyed
you are stuck unconscious for several hours, although
the injury you suffered when making the automaton can
now heal.
You can focus your mind to see and hear whatever your
Homunculus is seeing and hearing and also communicate
instructions to it through the link of spirit.
A scholar can create any number of Homunculus but
each one deals him a permanent level of injury.
Need of One
Baron Rose
Need: Herbaria 1
Gain: Narcotica 1
This small and quite dull looking flower has long been
cultivated in the gardens or lordly houses and monasteries
for its one soporific property. If crushes, dried and
ingested, usually with wine, Baron Rose puts a person
into a half-waking state in which the imbiber is unable to
think clearly enough to lie in answer to questions. This
rose-powder is often carried by knowing interrogators and
thief-takers.
Horoscopes
Need: None
Gain: Mantea 1, Ritualis 1
A prediction of fortunes and futures based on the current
positioning of the stars and their projected positioning in
Crone Root
Need: Narcotica 1
Gain: Narcotica 1
60
Hawthorn Salve
Need: Herbaria 1
Gain: Apotheca 1
The red flowers of hawthorn mixed with honey make a
fine unguent for treating wounds. When applied to injuries
a Hawthorn Salve will half the time usually needed for the
wound to heal over.
Divining
Need: Mantea 1
Gain: Mantea 1, Ritualis 1
A method by which you may try to seek out ore, gold,
treasure or water by use of a divining rod, gold coin
suspended on a string or similar tool. You need to make a
Test of Esotery based on a difficulty determined by your
Storyteller in order to locate the hidden, underground
things that you seek.
Maiden Thistle
Need: Herbaria 1
Gain: Narcotica 1
When chewed the leaves of this herb make a person
more alert, more sociable and often quite giggly. As long
as the plant is being chewed you gain a bonus +1 rank to
awareness. The urge to chatter and giggle lasts for an
hour afterwards.
Falcon Lily
Need: Herbaria 1
Gain: Narcotica 1
The sap of this swamp plant if tapped and allowed to
thicken into a honey-like paste will, when ingested, cause
a person to slip into a dazed, slow lethargy. The imbiber
will act as if very, very tired until he or she is able to sleep.
A good nights sleep wears away the affect of this drug.
Mithradate
Need: Alchimia 1
Gain: Alchimia 1
The secret process by which you may concoct a
universal cure to all poisons. Mithradate, once made, is a
white marble-like substbace. If ground up and administered
in time to a poisoned person it will save the imbiber from
the affects of the poison. If carved into a cup or plate,
Mithradate nullifies any poisons or toxins in food or drink.
It takes a month of careful work in a laboratory to make
enough Mithradate for a single goblet or, ground up, five
doses.
Flarenhue
Need: Alchimia 1
Gain: Alchimia 1
A dry paste that can be varied a little with a dash of
powdered copper or a touch of saltpeter or a pinch of
exotic resin. If smeared on wood or charcoal or tar before
being lit or dropped into a burning fire, then Flarenhue will
cause the flames to burn with an uncanny bright and
unnatural colour. You can choose the colour you want the
fire to burn.
Gargouille
Need: Animus 1
Gain: Animus 1
An automaton made with flesh of clay mixed with
stonedust and the bones of dogs. Gargouille are extremely
heavy and lumbering creatures and are lacking in both
wits and intelligence. Their only significant use is as
watchful guards or lumbering bodyguards.
The somewhat primitive, slightly grotesque humour of
the age often sees Gargouills carved in hunched, vaguely
demonic shapes whose forms vary from hideous to
frightening to comical, depending upon the whim of their
creator. More human looking Gargouille have been known,
but because the heaviness of these creatures limits their
size and their stone-clay flesh renders their appearance
Sublimation
Need: Alchimia 1
Gain: Alchimia 1
61
Elfclub
Need: Herbaria 1, Narcotica 1
Gain: Narcotica 1
Elfclub is a small innocuous looking brown mushroom
that grows in clusters on rotten oak. Elfclub spores if inhaled
or ingested cause a person to slip into a deep and deathlike
coma. To even an expert the person will appear dead for 1
to 6 hours. A difficult Test of Awareness is needed to realise
otherwise.
If a person wishes to resist the affects of Elfclub treat it
as an Average Poison.
Sun Clover
Need: Herbaria 1
Gain: Herbaria 1
A strong laxative and purgative. Acts as a remedy for
any ingested poison as long as it is taken within five
minutes of the first signs of poisoning. If giving to a healthy
person Sun Clover will also cause vomiting and evacuation
of the bowels for two hours.
Firecrown
Need: Narcotica 2
Gain: Narcotica 1
A rare russet coloured fern that grows in wild woods.
The pith if crushed and ingested fresh will slowly drive a
person mad. For every three consecutive days that a person
ingests Firecrown he gains one Delirium. There is no known
antidote to this poison.
Touch Powder
Need: Alchimia 1
Gain: Alchimia 1
A thin, grey powder that explodes with a flash on sharp
impact and produces a thick, choking and acrid cloud of
black smoke.
Nativity
Need: Mantea 2
Gain: Mantea 1, Ritualis 1
A more precise form of Horoscope taking into the account
the place and time of birth of the subject. The general
scope of a Nativity is similar to a Horoscope except that
the detail is much more refined. You might discover the
exact nature of the misery to befall the woman in the above
example and the name of the relative who will cause it.
Tower Bell
Need: Herbaria 1
Gain: Herbaria 1
The bulbs of this plant when crushed, added to
rosewater and smeared on the body masks scent. It is used
in hospices to clear the air, and by some nobility to maintain
a pleasant odour. By common folk Tower Bell is employed
when hunting in order to sneak up on game.
Sacraglyph
Need: Ritualis 2
Gain: Mortis 1, Ritualis 1
Sacraglyph is the arcane art of rendering mystic and
religious scriptures upon surfaces to protect or defend the
object engraved from harmful shades and ghosts. Glyphs,
to be effective, need to be written in a wide scrawl of varied
and strange languages and symbolic images. They appear,
to the untrained eye, to be the outpourings of lunacy. You
know how to carve symbols over a doorway or window so
that a ghost cannot enter it. Shades that do attempt to
enter a warded door must succeed at a Test of Obsession
(diff. Average) to succeed. This power affects Shades that
have Possessed a body as well as that which are
disembodied.
Duskmantle
Simulacrum
Need of Two
Brushwood Ring
62
Marshgrey
Need: Narcotica 3
Gain: Narcotica 1
Marshgrey, a rare and innocuous looking little plant can
be found growing in cold and salty marshes along some
coasts. Its berries are collected, mixed with crushed rose
petals, lavender and forget-me-not to make a brownish
liquor with a rosy sheen. If drunk Marshgrey will cause
the drinker to feel powerful and overwhelming attraction
for the next person he would normally consider even
vaguely attractive. A man who drinks Marshgrey would
not fall into immediate lust for his grandfather or the family
goat but would look at the goosegirl in an entirely different
light.
To resist the urge to act on the impulse of Marshgrey a
character must make a Difficult Willpower Test every hour
for five hours. At the end of this time the affects of
Marshgrey wear off.
Yellow Plister
Need: Herbaria 2
Gain: Herbaria 1
An onion-scented, yellow flowered bulb that grows near
streams and swampy tracts. The bulb if crushed and applied
to a wound stops bleeding almost immediately. As long as
the injured person remains still Yellow Plister will prevent a
person who is Dying from bleeding to death.
Swine Root
Need: Herbaria 1, Apotheca 2
Gain: Apotheca 1
A long, yellowish looking root found beneath a glossy,
blue-green shrub. Swine Root when soaked, sliced and
packed in salt for at least a year develops powerful curative
properties. If ingested it will cure almost all natural ailments
and diseases of the body.
Need of Three
Barring of Ways
Need: Mortis 1, Ritualis 2
Gain: Mortis 1, Ritualis 1
Shades of the Dead can normally pass through walls
and other solid things much as if they did not exist. You
know how to write symbols and scriptures on a wall, floor,
door or other solid thing making it a solid barrier to the
dead. If you enclose a ghost in a room covered with barring
symbols it will be imprisoned by your magic. A shade that
tries to pass a barred surface must make an Average Test
of Obsession to succeed.
Naphtha
Need: Alchimia 3
Gain: Alchimia 1
A resinous smelling, silky oil that once set on fire burns
with a colourless and very low heat flame for hours on
end. Lanterns filled with Naphtha will burn for three times
as long as conventional lanterns and will not extinguish
even if dropped. Naphtha also sheds a very wide and bright
pool of radiance.
Foxberry
Need: Narcotica 3
Gain: Narcotica 1
Crushed and mixed with wine or beer, Foxberry causes
usually pleasant, though occasionally extremely
nightmarish warping of the senses. Vision, smell, touch
and hearing all blend and become unearthly and delightful.
One dose lasts an hour.
Yellow Whipling
Need: Herbaria 2, Narcotica 1
Gain: Narcotica 1
The nuts of the Yellow Whipling if crushed up and
ingested create a pleasant burning sensation in the mouth.
Large doses cause giddiness and delirious, drunken affects.
Small doses are used to spice foods and provide little more
than about an hour of tingling alertness.
Yellow Whipling has fallen into disfavour in many courts
because its taste is so strong that it has been known to be
used to mask the bitter taste of some poisons.
Inauspicious Stars
Need: Mantea 2, Ritualis 1
Gain: Mantea 2, Ritualis 1
You can discover by use of stars and charts what
undertakings will in inauspicious for a particular person
on a given day. You might discover for instance, that a
young lords son should not go hunting on this day, there
is a good chance he will fall and break his neck. You can
then use this knowledge as you see fit - either as a warning
or as a very subtle method to encourage ill luck to befall
another. You could for instance encourage the lords son
to go hunting, it being such a fine day for a good ride.
Black Dew
Need: Herbaria 1, Narcotica 3
Gain: Narcotica 1
A poison made from the bark of a rare dark green epiphyte
that grows most commonly on beach and oak trees. The
crushed bark is usually mixed with resin beech to make it
into a thick, honey-like paste that dissolves in water. The
disadvantage of Black Dew is that it has a very strong and
acrid taste, making it difficult to disguise in food or drink.
Anyone who drinks a dose of Black Dew and fails their
63
Need of Four
Fireflash
Need: Alchimia 4
Gain: Alchimia 1
A dark, granular powder that when set on fire or thrown
onto a blaze smoulders for a few seconds and then explodes
with a blindingly bright flare of light and a deafening roar.
Need of Five
Grey Milberry
Black Poppy
Need: Narcotica 5
Gain: Narcotica 1
Upon ingesting Black Poppy honey, a thick treacly
narcotic, the user enters a state of bliss and pure physical
pleasure. However, addiction is immediate. The user suffers
painful, awful cravings if he is unable to take a dose of
Black Poppy Honey once a day. The cravings last a month
after the last dose has been taken.
Deathcap
Need: Herbaria 1, Narcotica 4
Gain: Narcotica 1
A very strong poison derived from a slimy, white
mushroom. Deathcap has a very bitter taste and a prickly
smell. However, if ingested a person must make a Test of
Fortitude or succumb to sudden heart failure within 10 to
60 minutes (d6 x 10). A pass results in faintness and the
possibility of passing out.
The only known antidote for Deathcap is a tincture of
Foxglove flowers, dissolved in a strong spirit such as vodka
or brandy.
Panacea
Need: Alchimia 4
Gain: Alchimia 1
The secret process by which a Panacea, a substance
that serves as a universal cure-all, may be concocted. It
takes three weeks of laborious work and several expensive
or rare ingredients to make a dose of Panacea. A few of the
ingredients you will need include mercury, ivory and powdered ruby.
A dose of Panacea will cure a person of all diseases and
afflictions within a week.
Greek Fire
Need: Alchimia 5
Gain: Alchimia 1
A gelatinous substance that ignites on contact with flame
or water, floats on the surface of water and continues
burning for up to an hour. Anyone doused with flaming
Greek Fire takes a rank of injury each round until the fire is
put out. Greek Fire can only be extinguished by smothering
with blankets or sand.
Scrying
Need: Mantea 3, Ritualis 1
Gain: Mantea 1, Ritualis 1
By use of a focus such as a silver basin of ink or a crystal
sphere you can peer through the veils of reality and spy
on any person who have met before or any place you have
visited. This is an exhausting form of divination, and deals
you a level of Fatigue for every tin minutes you spend at it.
Meadowsil
Need: Herbaria 1, Apotheca 4
Gain: Apotheca 1
A lush, small weedy plant that grows most commonly in
high and alpine vales. Meadowsil has remarkable curative
and healing properties. If ingested it will cause a person to
slip into a gentle and healing sleep for six hours. During
this time any injuries the person may have heal by three
ranks.
Wistfew Root
Need: Narcotica 4
Gain: Narcotica 1
If powdered and properly treated over an dry flame
Wistfew Root can be prepared to make a silvery grey dust
that if sprinkled into a persons food or drink will have a
slow but frightening affect. The drug takes about an hour
to come into full affect. When it does the imbiber becomes
highly open to suggestion and will obey, in a dazed, slightly
64
Skin Written
Need: Mortis 2, Ritualis 3
Gain: Mortis 1, Ritualis 1
You learn how to cover a person or animal in glyphs,
symbols and ancient writings so that spirits find the person
painful to approach. Any spirit that attempts to approach
closer than a few paces to a person who has been painted
with skin written glyphs must make an Average Test of
Power each round. If painted onto the skin of a person
who is Possessed then the possessing spirit must make an
average Test of Power every five minutes or be driven
from the body.
To successfully use this magic you must cover a person
entirely in symbols and will need to work on the unclothed
subject for an hour. The effect lasts until too many of the
glyphs fade or are smeared, usually a few hours.
Attempts have been made among sorcerers, in particular
certain of the orders of Egypt, to make the protection
permanent through tattooing. The effect of tattooing skin
written glyphs, however, is too powerful and drives away
not only unnatural spirits not only the persons own
spiritstuff, causing one rank of Soul Loss each hour after
the tattoos are completed.
Golem
Need: Animus 3, Ritualis 2, Spiritas 1
Gain: Animus 2, Spiritas 1
A massive clay statue, feed with the spirit of magic from
the worlds beyond, and given not only a semblance of life,
but also the barest flicker of soul. Golem carry a profound
and deep air of aberration. Most people do not like
spending time near one. The very wrongness of their
existence exudes from them.
Golem are immensely strong, but lumbering, and are more
useful as servants and labourers than as guards or
enchanted soldiers. Their slowness makes them easy to
simply walk around or away from. Golem obey commands
given to them only by their creator and even then, not at
all times.
Golem may be dull of wit but are born inherently
rebellious. Although perhaps not quite understanding the
urge, all Golem wish to break free of slavery. They resist all
commands given to them with a Willpower of One. If
successful, a rebellious Golem will simply refuse the
command. The first four or five times a Golem is able to
resist a command, it will refuse to move, stubbornly
standing still. But after this upon resisting a command a
Golem will begin to be able to act of its own free will - often
with a raging, furious wrath. A Golem tantrum will initially
last only a few short seconds. But each time a Golem enters
a tantrum the tantrum lasts a little longer before it returns
to a state of obedience. Later the Golem may be able to
force itself to run amok for hours, destroying all that reminds
it of servitude.
It takes a full year of work, carving and chanting
incantations to create a Golem.
Transmutation
Need: Alchimia 5
Gain: Alchimia 1
You learn the secret process by which base lead may be
turned into gold. The transmutation process is similar to
that of Sublimation (see above). If for you want to transmute
two ingots of lead you need to spend two weeks a month
over a year to do this.
Waxhat
Need: Herbaria 5
Gain: Apotheca 1
A small orange mushroom, when crushed and mixed with
honey and black pepper, Waxhat makes a powerful unguent
to apply to wounds, both lacerations and concussions.
Waxhat Salve when applied to injuries causes immediate
relief and encourages the bodys own regenerative powers.
Waxhat causes wounds to heal at an almost unnatural rate.
Treat the injuries as having healed by two ranks within a
day of applying Waxhat Salve. Note that the additional
applications of Waxhat to the same injuries do no
additional good.
Need of Seven
Barbed Words
Need: Mortis 3, Ritualis 4
Gain: Mortis 2, Ritualis 1
You may cover a floor or wall with religious versus and
curses of such power that a Shade that attempts to pass
through or merely over such a protected surface must make
a Test of Obsession (diff. Difficult) and whether or not
successful, suffers one rank of Torment.
Need of Six
Auspice
Need: Mantea 3, Ritualis 3
Gain: Mantea 1, Ritualis 1
You become sensitive to omens in the flight of birds, in
the flash of lighting or even in the casual remarks made by
everyday people. At any time you may be struck by insight
into an omen. To check whether you notice a subtle omen
in passing the Storyteller will request a Test of Awareness.
Obvious omens, two-headed lambs being born, lightning
Manicon
Need: Herbaria 2, Narcotica 5
Gain: Narcotica 1
A narcotic that may also cause madness. Every five doses
65
Gargantua
Need: Animus 5, Ritualis 3, Spiritas 2
Gain: Animus 1, Ritualis 1
A Golem of immense size and stature. Very few Gargantua
have ever been crafted. Their creation takes five to ten
years of work depending on the number of assistants the
master esoteric scholar can muster. The Colossus of
Rhodes is believed by some scholars to be a corrupted
memory of a massive Gargantua that protected that ancient
city. The ancient pharaohs of Egypt are known to have
created at least three Gargantua, all of which have since
been reduced to dust and rubble.
If any Gargantua exists today the creation is kept either
in absolute secret or stirs in distant lands, far outside the
realm of western knowledge.
Gargantua possess the same rebellious spark of soul
that Golem posses except that the Willpower of a Gargantua
is stronger and is tested at Rank Two.
Need of Fifteen
Gate of Mists
Need: Ritualis 6, Spiritas 6, Mortis 3
Gain: Mortis 1
Creating a Gate of Mists is no easy task. At least a month
of preparation is needed. The starts must be right and
gates can only be opened in a few places upon the mortal
world. Those where the veil that divides this earth from
The Mists is thinnest.
Finding a place where the veil is thin is difficult. No
means to do this is known, aside from simple trial and error
with the Gate of Mists ritual. Most Esoteric sorcerers who
wish to open a gate spend time looking for references to
pervious gates and seek out a place that is already known
to be suitable for the opening of ways.
The ritual involves the construction of a doorway
consisting of three blocks of unworked stone, two upright
and one to form a lintel. Symbols and ritual devices are
then carved and drawn over the surface of the door. More
ritual symbols and circles of power are drawn on the ground
about the gateway.
Once completed the sorcerer must wait until the time
and hour is right. A completed gate may lie unawakened
for months or years until the alignment of ethereal powers
and stars is right.
When awakened a shimmering air of mist creeps into
existence within the gate. Tendrils of silvery grey murk
whorls and billow in the doorway. The gate can only be
entered from either direction. The correct entry side
consists of lighter, almost white mist. The incorrect side to
the gate consists of a very dark, almost silvery and solid
looking wall of mist. No one who has ever entered a gate
the incorrect way has ever returned. It is not known if the
person simply ceases to exist or is cast into some alternate
plane of being so far flung that return in impossible.
Stepping through the gate in the correct way allows a
person to step into The Mists. The intangible, weird
landscape of mist and ruinous half-remembered detritus of
the human psyche that separates the Mortal World, the
Need of Eight
Ascendancy
Need: Mantea 6, Ritualis 2
Gain: Ritualis 1
The study of stars and ethereal influences to answer
questions of statecraft. Ascendancy is complex and
requires that you take into account many different charts
and factors. It may take a good day of labour to answer a
simple question, but answer questions you can. Does the
delegations come genuinely in peace? Is an alliance with
one realm the better? Would a marriage between two noble
houses be advantageous? Is it better to sail a fleet south
or west to meet the enemy?
Need of Nine
Labyrinthine Verse
Need: Mortis 4, Ritualis 5
Gain: Mortis 1, Ritualis 1
You learn how to inscribe a mazelike, labyrinthine scrawl
of holy words upon a surface that draws the mind of any
passing Shade and entraps it within. Shades that look upon
a Labyrinthine Verse, even briefly, must make a Test of
Obsession (diff. Very Difficult) or be forced to remain and
continue reading and rereading the verse until exorcised
or until the verse itself wears off or is rubbed away. A
Shade that is Possessing a body will be forced to remain
behind as the body moves on, freeing the possessed and
trapping the spirit.
Need of Ten
66
Occult Tome
You are schooled in letters and have come to own an
Occult Tome written by the hand of a great master. This
Tome contains many strange and wondrous spells, rituals
to chill the mind and the promise of great and limitless
powers.
But there are few, so very few of the Tomes of Occult
Lore in existence. If others should learn of your possession,
you may not remain able to study your work in peace for
long.
Otherworldly Tutor
Goetia
Haunted Relic
It may appear harmless, a little tarnished ring, an old
blue glass bottle, a strangely, just slightly inhuman skull.
But this things that you now own and guard has bound to
it the essence of either an Otherworld entity or a shade of
67
Grimoires
Grimoires are partly annals of useful rituals and spells
and mostly wandering treatise, discussions and academic
meanderings on the nature of magic. They include chapters
on the dangers of sorcery, the appropriate precautions to
take when working magic, the names and stations of various
spirits and demons, experiments the writer has undertaken,
accounts of strange creatures he has seen and many other
sundry, and sometimes useless titbits of lore. Grimoires
are ranked on a scale from one to six, one being scant in
detail and useful information, six being a weighty and
learned tome. Note that White (Angelic) and Green (Faerie)
Grimoires also existed at one time, but have been largely
lost or destroyed.
Rank 6
Rank 6
Rank 5
Rank 3
Rank 3
Rank 1
Using Grimoires
Grimoires can be used to try and make up additional
successes when a Character has failed a Test of Learning
or a Test of Witch-Lore so long as the topic is relevant to
the supernatural, magic and sorcery. Roll a number of dice
equal to cumulative ranks of the total number of relevant
Grimoires you have access to and count these towards
your total successes. Characters cannot use Effort when
examining a Grimoire and a period of time of at least an
hour must be available to pour over the tome. Note also
that knowledge concerning Demons can only be sought
in Black Grimoires, information about Fae is recorded in
Green Grimoires and information concerning Angels is held
only in White Grimoires.
For Example - Mathemus the Elder is trying to recall if
he has heard any rumours concerning the powers or
68
Nesting Circles
Circles of gradually increasing size can be nested one
around another to take advantage of a number of magical
powers at once. For instance you could nest A Circle of
Protection around a Sigil, then outside of that place a second Circle of Protection, then add a Circle of Oaths and
after that a circle of Torpor. Each additional circle after the
first imposes a -1 penalty to the sorcerers Goetia Skill when
testing its power. When planning out a series of circles it
can be useful to draw out a plan so that you know which
circles will suffer penalties when invoked.
Sigils
1
1
2
2
3
4
Circles
1
1
2
2
3
4
For Example -
Summoning a Spirit
Once a group of circles and sigils have been laid out the
sorcerer needs to make a Test of Goetia to summon the
spirit nominated by the Sigil. Difficulty is modified by the
spirit being summoned - more powerful spirits are more
difficult to conjure out of the ethereal void. Failure results
in no spirit being summoned at all, although the sorcerer
may then attempt another summoning. A botch will result
in the summoning of the wrong and possibly very dangerous spirit.
Bonus
1
2
2
3
4
4
For Example -
Invoking a Circle
Invoking a Circle involves conjuring up the magic
associated with a Circle. Some Circles are considered
always-on and these are termed Barriers. A demon can
try to challenge and destroy a Barrier Circle at any time. An
example of a Barrier is the Circle of Warding. This Circle
prevents the spirit from leaving its place at the centre of
the summoning, although at any time the spirit may decide
to Challenge the Circle of Warding and break free. The
second class of Circles are Conjurations. Conjurations
can be turned on and off. An example of a Conjuration is
the Circle of Agony. This circle, when Invoked causes pain
to the spirit within the circle. The magi can turn this pain
on and off at will, however, whenever he does so the
summoned spirit may attempt to challenge the Circle of
Agony and destroy it.
After a spirit is summoned the Goetic Magus can choose
to invoke any of the Circles of Magic that are in place at
any time. A spirit can choose to either surrender to a
Circles magic or challenge it. When a spirit challenges a
69
Circle the magus and the spirit enter into a Contest of Skill,
pitting the sorcerers Goetia Skill against the spirits
Ascendancy. If the sorcerer wins then the magic holds
and the spirit is subjected to the power of the magic. If the
spirit wins, then the Circle is shattered and its power is
destroyed. A spirit can repeatedly challenge the same Circle
again and again, although is unlikely to persist in this once
it realises that the quickest way to gain release may be to
negotiate with the magi rather than fight back. When a
particular Circle of Power is dealt with differently in the
game, then the specific rules are discussed in the text of
the Circle.
Circle of Alarum
Barrier - This circle is linked to the sorcerers mind. If
the sorcerer leaves the spirit bound within a circle in a
state of somnolence (see Circle of Torpor below) and the
magic is later lifted or broken, the Circle of Alarum warns
the sorcerer that the bound spirit has been freed.
For Example -
Circle of Bans
Conjuration - When the Circle of Bans is invoked the
magus and spirit engage in a Prolonged Contest of Goetia
versus Ascendancy. The first to reach ten successes wins.
If the sorcerer wins then the spirit is compelled to obey a
single ban set down by the sorcerer for the duration of the
magis life. A ban is a single thing that it is not permitted to
do - for instance, a spirit may be banned from harming the
magi or returning to the mortal world. If the spirit wins then
the Circle of Bans is destroyed. Bans must be worded carefully, however as spirits may be able to find loopholes in
the command. A spirit that is prevented from harming a
magi may decide to kill the magis family instead. A spirit
that is prevented from returning to mortal world may send
underlings to murder the magi and thus lift the ban.
Banishing a Spirit
Circle of Binding
Breaking Circles
Circles of Power
Circle of Acquiescence
Conjuration - A Circle of Acquiescence can be invoked
to prevent the spirit within from using any supernatural
power. If a spirit within a Circle of Acquiescence attempts
to use a supernatural power the sorcerer and the spirit
enter into a Contest of Geotia versus Ascendancy. If the
sorcerer wins then the supernatural power is countered. If
the spirit wins then the circle is shattered and destroyed.
Circle of Entrapment
Conjuration - When the Circle of Binding is employed
the magus must have ready a glass object, usually either a
sphere or a bottle, carved with certain arcane symbols.
When invoking this magic the sorcerer and the spirit engage in a Prolonged Contest of Goetia versus Ascendancy. The first to reach fifteen cumulative successes wins.
If the sorcerer wins then the spirit is bound within the
glass object forever and without escape unless the object
is shattered. If the spirit wins the Circle of Entrapment is
destroyed and cannot be invoked again - and will also
very likely be less than pleased with the magus. Multiple
Circle of Agony
Conjuration - By invoking the Circle of Agony the sorcerer can cause the spirit intense pain. If the spirit resists
the Circle of Agony then a Contest of Goetia versus Ascendancy results. If the sorcerer wins then the spirit suffers pain, if the spirit wins then the Circle of Agony is
70
Circle of Servitude
Conjuration - When a Circle of Servitude is Invoked the
magi and the spirit enter into a Prolonged Contest of Goetia
versus Ascendancy and the first to reach ten cumulative
successes wins. If the sorcerer wins then the spirit is bound
to serve and obey the sorcerer for a year and a day. If the
spirit wins then the circle is destroyed. As such a circle of
Servitude can only be Invoked once after a spirit has been
summoned. When the Circle of Task-Binding is invoked
the magus and spirit enter into a Prolonged Contest of
Goetia versus Ascendancy. The first to accumulate ten
successes wins. A sorcerer who tries to force one of the
arrogant and powerful entities of Heaven, Hell or Faerie to
bow to the earth should be ready to deal with a dangerous
enemy when the time comes for the spirit to go free.
Circle of Task-Biding
Conjuration - The circle of Task-Biding can be Invoked
only once while a spirit is bound within it, although multiple Circles of Task-Binding might be laid around a single
Sigil. When the Circle of Task-Binding is invoked the magus and spirit enter into a Prolonged Contest of Goetia
versus Ascendancy. The first to accumulate five successes
wins. If the sorcerer wins then the spirit is forced to perform a single task of undefined duration. The task must be
something that could in theory be completed, even if it
would task a vast span of time to do so.
Circle of Oaths
Conjuration - The Circle of Oaths can be invoked so
that the subject must keep a promise made within the circle. If the subject is unable to keep a spoken vow or oath
or decides not too, then the subject suffers terrible pain
until the vow or oath is either fulfilled or upheld.
The Circle of Oaths cannot force a spirit to make a vow
aloud. An obstinate spirit can simply remain silent and
avoid making any promises at all. The magic of the Circle
of Oaths lingers only as long as the sorcerer who placed
the magic upon the spirit still lives. If the sorcerer dies,
then the spirit is freed from its oath.
When a spirit does speak an promise aloud the sorcerer
can invoke the Circle of Oaths. If the spirit resists then a
Contest of Goetia versus Ascendancy comes into play. If
the sorcerer wins then the spirit is bound by the promise
and must keep it. If the spirit wins then the Circle of Oaths
is broken.
Circle of Torpor
Conjuration - When Invoked this Circle places summoned spirit into a state of drowsy torpor and inactivity. If
the spirit either doesnt challenge this Circle or is defeated
by the sorcerer, then the magic takes a permanent effect
and as long as the circle remains intact the spirit will remain within it in a state of barely wakeful slumber. The
sorcerer can return at any time and wake the spirit from a
Circle of Torpor, but upon doing so the sorcerer will need
to engage in a Contest of Goetia versus the spirits Ascendancy in order to put the spirit back to sleep.
Circle of Truths
Conjuration - Invoking the Circle of Truths forces the
spirit within the answer one question truthfully. If the spirit
resists and wins the Circle is broken and the spirit is then
permitted to answer in any way it pleases. If the Circle of
Truths holds then the spirit must give a truthful answer.
Circle of Uneyeing
Barrier - The circle of the Uneyeing is invoked immediately upon summoning a spirit. If the spirit does not Challenge the Circle of the Uneyeing it will be unable to see
through the circle. If the Spirit attempts to challenge the
Circle and wins the circle is destroyed and the spirit will be
able to see through it.
Circle of Warding
Barrier - A Circle of Protection prevents spirits from
crossing the drawn line. This rule applies whether the spirit
is in physical or incorporeal form, and causes people who
are inhabited by a spirit, whether Possessed or Cursed, to
71
Wits:
Will:
6
4
Sigil of Afflictions
Test of Summoning: Average Afflictions are shadowy
demons that possess little in the way of a physical power
but are capable of inhabitation the body of a living mortal
and inflicting disease or curse on the flesh. Sometimes an
Affliction can inflict enough injury to a person to cause
death or enough sorrow to cause suicide. If a person dies
while an Affliction is still inhabiting the body, then the
Affliction can possess the dead body and rise as an undead
creature. Treat such creatures as a Sleepless Dead (See
Chapter Nine: Beasts and devils)
Summoning: Average
Ascendancy: 1
Manifestation: 1
Skills: Afflictions always succeed on a roll of 5 or 6
without needing to expend effort. By spending 1 point of
Effort Afflictions increase their range of success to 4-6.
Two Effort increases success to 3-6.
Obsession: Afflictions can inhabit the body of a mortal
and inflict terrible disease while inhabiting the body. Use
the rules for Obsession (see Chapter Five: Drama).
Shadow Flesh: Afflictions can only be harmed by magic.
Skills:
Uncanny
Attack:
Rank One
Armour:
Three
Substance (Health): Ten
Effort:
Four
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
2
Deft:
6
Wits:
6
Will:
6
Sigil of Imps
Test of Summoning: Average - Imps are among the least
of the spirits of the Kingdom of Darkness. They appear
usually as small, hideous figures, with flitting wings and
uncanny black eyes. Seraphim have voices of enchanting
quality and can conjure flames, music and stenches in the
air around them.
Summoning: Average
Ascendancy: 2
Manifestation: 4
Skills: Imps always succeed on a roll of 5 or 6 without
needing to expend effort. By spending 1 point of Effort
Imps increase their range of success to 4-6. Two Effort
increases success to 3-6.
Fire of the Hells: Imps can conjure dancing flames that
transfixes and holds the attention of Mortals who fail a
Test of Willpower (Average).
Vanishings: Imps can disappear and re-appear at will,
moving to any point within a hundred paces when on the
mortal world. This power cannot, however, be used to try
and move through a Circle of Wardings without challenging
it first.
Skills:
Uncanny
Attack:
Rank Five
Armour:
Three
Substance (Health): Ten
Effort:
Four
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
4
Deft:
5
Sigil of Temptations
Test of Summoning: Average Temptations are a kin of
demon whose malice is funnelled into cunning forms and
trickery. They are the most likely of the minor castes of
demons to rise up the ranks of Hell and eventually attain a
seat as a duke or prince of the shadows. All Temptations
are associated with one of the Seven Deadly Sins, and the
Temptation embodies all that is seductive about the sin.
Temptations tend to prefer mundane forms so as not to
terrify their mortal prey, and may appear entirely human or
mostly human or inhuman, enchanted and beautiful, as it
pleases them. They prefer to work cleverly to gain souls
for their own masters in hell, rather than taking a more wild
and destructive approach to invoking the terror of the
Kingdom of Shadows.
Summoning: Average
Ascendancy: 3
Manifestation: 5
Skills: Temptations always succeed on a roll of 5 or 6
without needing to expend effort. By spending 1 point of
Effort Temptations increase their range of success to 4-6.
Two Effort increases success to 3-6.
Seductive Thoughts: Temptations known automatically
72
Sigil of Fiends
Test of Summoning: Average Fiends are the brutes
and soldier-demons of the Kingdom of Shadows. They are
hulking and powerful, but not especially cunning or tricky.
Summoning: Average
Ascendancy: 1
Manifestation: 5
Skills: Fiends always succeed on a roll of 5 or 6 without
needing to expend effort. By spending 1 point of Effort
Fiends increase their range of success to 4-6. Two Effort
increases success to 3-6.
Fiery Breath: Fiends can breath a blast of flame that
counts as a ranged magical weapon.
Skills:
Uncanny
Attack:
Rank Six
Armour:
Five
Substance (Health): Fifteen
Effort:
Two
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
7
Deft:
4
Wits:
2
Will:
2
Sigil of Agares
Appears as a kindly and gentlemanly old man, dressed
as a falconer and carrying a goshawk on one arm. When
angered Agares turns into a hideous half-human, halfcrocodile hybrid creature.
Agares has the power to stop runaways and make them
return to you or to another, to prevent a person from being
able to leave a house even if none of the doors are locked.
Ascendancy: 4
Manifestation: 4
Aspect: Wrath 5, Lust 3, Avarice 4
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Four
Armour:
Four
Substance (Health): 16
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
6
Deft:
6
Wits:
6
Will:
6
Sigil of Amduscias
Appears as a merchant prince, in the finest garb with
gems and pearls hanging from his thick folds of velvet and
silken cloak. He can turn bronze into an illusion of silver
and silver into an illusion of gold. He can grant Uncanny
skills in haggling and cause merchants and shop-owners
to suffer a series of unlikely but devastating setbacks in
their work.
Ascendancy: 3
Manifestation: 5
Aspect: Avarice 6, Envy 3
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Five
Armour:
Five
Substance (Health): 17
Sigil of Abaddan
Called by some the Angel of the Bottomless Pit and the
Lord of the Plague of Locusts, Abaddan the Downfallen is
73
Fear:
Trauma:
Might:
Deft:
Wits:
Will:
Difficult
Two
7
7
5
5
Sigil of Arioch
Arioch appears as a young man with wild, grief-stricken
eyes and hands soaked in blood. He is a demon of revenge,
and will come to those who have been wronged, usually in
a dream or vision, in order to entreat them to take up the
sword of retribution. Arioch has the power to know
immediately who is the true committer of a crime or injustice.
He is often willing to exact revenge for those who summon
him, though he may well demand at least some small
payment, by soul, by vow or by task in return.
Ascendancy: 3
Manifestation: 3
Aspect: Wrath 6, Pride 3
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Three
Armour:
Three
Substance (Health): 15
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
5
Deft:
5
Wits:
5
Will:
5
Sigil of Amon
Prefers to appear in the form of a wolf with a serpents
head that vomits and belches flames of green and scarlet.
When so inclined or commanded he will assume a human
form, but one dressed in wolf skins and having doglike
teeth.
Amon is able to grant uncanny skills in brutal warfare,
the stuff of axes and hacking for a time. He is also able to
make any weapon poisonous so that wounds it inflicts
turn black and nacreous and will not heal without magic.
Ascendancy: 4
Manifestation: 5
Aspect: Wrath 5, Pride 4, Pride 3
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Five
Armour:
Five
Substance (Health): 17
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
7
Deft:
7
Wits:
6
Will:
6
Sigil of Asasel
Asasel appears as a tall and slightly unkempt looking
man with a feline ferocity in his eyes and the garb of a
wandering woodsman. He is a demon of the wilderness,
knows the secrets of all game and beasts, can grant a fine
skill in hunting, and is said to know how to craft spears
and bows of wondrous quality. When angered Asasel
turns not merely feral but savage, his face becomes bestial,
his eyes red and fiery, and his whole form changes into a
hybrid mix of man and beast.
Ascendancy: 3
Manifestation: 4
Aspect: Wrath 4, Lust 4, Pride 1
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Four
Armour:
Four
Substance (Health): 16
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
6
Deft:
6
Wits:
5
Will:
5
Sigil of Andrealphus
Appears as an angel is kingly robes and with wings the
pattern and hue of peacock feathers. When angered he
turns into a beggarly creature with tattered, grey wings
and rags for clothing.
Andrealphus can dress any person in robes of illusion
and kingliness. He can make the ugly beautiful for a time,
the wretched magnificent and the filthy clean. He cannot
make a person appear to be another real mortal, but he can
change appearance so greatly that none will recognise
you. His magics are fickle though. Beware that you may
change back into your true and less-than-wondrous form
at the worst of moments.
Ascendancy: 3
Manifestation: 4
Aspect: Pride 6, Envy 3
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Five
Armour:
Five
Substance (Health): 17
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
6
Deft:
6
Wits:
5
Will:
5
Sigil of Asmoday
A powerful lord of darkness. Asmoday appears most
often as a blazing column of flames, but take the form of an
angel with fiery hair and red wings if he so wishes or is
commanded. Asmoday can cause fires to start and spread
quickly, flames to all snuff out at once, or turn blue and
eerie or flare with black smoke. In short he has full power
over all fire. You can give you a potion that when drunk
gives you the power to suddenly vomit forth a jet of liquid,
devouring fire. This fire does one Wound per round to
anything it touches for three rounds.
Ascendancy: 6
74
Manifestation: 6
Aspect: Gluttony 6, Wrath 6, Pride 3, Avarice 3
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Six
Armour:
Six
Substance (Health): 18
Fear:
Very Difficult
Trauma:
Three
Might:
8
Deft:
8
Wits:
8
Will:
8
Will:
Sigil of Barbatos
Appears as a king in silver armour, crowned in gold and
carrying and powerful sword. When angered his armour
becomes blood splattered and his skin scored by wounds
and scars. Barbatos can summon up four phantom knights
in black all-covering armour to do battle for you. The
knights possess three levels of health, a general combat
skill of Rank Four, shields of Rank Two and armour of Rank
Two. When slain they turn to mist. At the close of an hour
after the summoning any knights remaining also return to
mist.
Ascendancy: 4
Manifestation: 5
Aspect: Sloth 4, Wrath 3, Pride 3, Gluttony 2
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Five
Armour:
Five
Substance (Health): 17
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
7
Deft:
7
Wits:
6
Will:
6
Sigil of Astaroth
Appears in the form of a beautiful angel, carrying a golden
sword and light with a halo of fire. If angered he becomes
foul and rank, but still remains in the shape of an angel, or
at least the mockery of one. His sword become a brand of
black fire.
Astaroth can cause you to be seen as charming, beautiful
and eloquent by any and all for a time at least. He can put
an aura of a man that deludes both enemies and strangers
into thinking him dear and close.
If questioned Astaroth will speak eloquently and at length
on the nature of the universe but it is not known if his
words can be trusted.
Ascendancy: 4
Manifestation: 5
Aspect: Lust 5, Pride 4, Sloth 3
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Five
Armour:
Five
Substance (Health): 17
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
7
Deft:
7
Wits:
6
Will:
6
Sigil of Balam
Appears as a regal angel whose true nature is always
told by the swarm of little angular, black-bodied, clawfingered imps that dance and float about him. He can, if so
convinced, give you to up to six of his little imps at a time
to use as you please. They have no particular powers of
combat, but can be painfully vicious with their little claws
and are good spies. The little imps are not much larger
than a toad and able to turn invisible at will. When fully
manifest they are certainly frightening to look at. A single
imp can carry an object about the weight of a cup. Six
might be able to lift a small chest or saddle. The little imps
ranks so lowly they that posses no Ascendancy and just
one rank of Manifestation. Their skills are Uncanny.
Ascendancy: 4
Manifestation: 5
Aspect: Sloth 5, Avarice 4, Envy 3
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Five
Armour:
Five
Substance (Health): 17
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
7
Deft:
7
Wits:
6
Will:
6
Sigil of Baal
Appears as a king of the east, in rich gold and silk, with
a charming face and a tanned skin. When angered his head
may turn into that of a cat or toad, and his voice changed
from honeyed to hoarse and hissing.
Baal has the power to grant great wisdom and arcane
knowledge. He can cause occult Grimoires to appear, or
tell you where to find them. He can also teach all languages.
Ascendancy: 5
Manifestation: 4
Aspect: Pride 3, Lust 3, Avarice 4, Envy 3, Gluttony 2
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Five
Armour:
Five
Substance (Health): 17
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
6
Deft:
6
Wits:
5
Sigil of Bathin
Bathin appears as a large, dull eyed, slow and placid
man dressed in the leather and apron of a labourer. If
angered he swells still larger and becomes and fleshy,
plodding ogre of massive size with fists like barrels. Upon
75
Fear:
Trauma:
Might:
Deft:
Wits:
Will:
Very Difficult
Three
7
7
8
8
Sigil of Botis
Appears as a green and slithering viper, with red eyes
and a flickering tongue. If commanded he will take a human
shape, but with those same serpent eyes and long, pointed
teeth. Botis can make any weapon so sharp and strong
that it never dulls. He can also make weapons venomous
so that one wound will cause the victim to make a Test of
Fortitude (diff. Difficult) or succumb to frothing-mouthed
convulsions.
Ascendancy: 3
Manifestation: 5
Aspect: Sloth 4, Wrath 3, Avarice 2
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Five
Armour:
Five
Substance (Health): 17
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
7
Deft:
7
Wits:
5
Will:
5
Sigil of Beleth
Appears as a terrible, wrathful and mighty duke atop a
pale horse. He has no charming form and is always fearsome
to look at. Beleth can make your enemies Afraid of you
(See Rules: Fear). The unnatural fear he invokes lasts a
day. Anyone affected must make a Test of Fear rank Two
as if you were the very vision of terror. He can place fear
into any person while they dream, making them into a
haunted, miserable shell of themselves within a few days.
Ascendancy: 4
Manifestation: 4
Aspect: Wrath 5, Pride 5, Sloth 2
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Four
Armour:
Four
Substance (Health): 16
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
5
Deft:
5
Wits:
5
Will:
5
Sigil of Dantalian
Appears always in the garb of a wandering poet or
troubadour but always with a different face, sometimes an
old man, sometimes a young lady, sometimes a motherly
woman, sometimes a beardless youth. When angered his
face shifts and changes from one visage to another
constantly. He has to power to make any person appear to
be someone else by sight, smell and voice for a time. The
charm lasts until sundown.
Ascendancy: 3
Manifestation: 6
Aspect: Envy 5, Pride 3, Lust 1
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Six
Armour:
Six
Substance (Health): 18
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
8
Deft:
8
Wits:
5
Will:
5
Sigil of Belial
One of the more powerful lords of darkness. Belial appears
as a wondrous angel with feathers the colour of gleaming
night, scattered with a thousand stars. If angered he
becomes a wraith of shadow and storm, on wings of furious
lightning.
Belial can give you the power to summon up darkness
by uncorking a charmed bottle that he will give you to let
it out. The darkness seeps into the air and makes it black
as a moonless night and cold as winter. He can also cause
eclipses of the sun that last a few minutes and command
animals of the night: owls, cats, and the like.
Ascendancy: 6
Manifestation: 5
Aspect: Wrath 6, Pride 6, Avarice 3, Lust 3
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Five
Armour:
Five
Substance (Health): 17
Sigil of Gamygyn
Appears dressed as a marquis fallen on hard times with
sunken cheeks, grey skin and pale eyes. He is able to cross
into the Netherworld at will and can bring back any shade
of the dead that lingers there or banish ghosts who are
haunting the mortal world to the Netherworld.
When angered Gamygyns flesh peels away and he
76
Deft:
Wits:
Will:
7
6
6
Sigil of Lerajie
Appears as a handsome archer, with a winning smile and
dressed in rich velvets of green and tawny hues. He can
charm arrows so that their wounds always putrefy and will
not heal without magic, and can grant Uncanny skill in
Archery for a time.
When angered he becomes a sun-swollen corpse stuck
with a dozen arrows.
Ascendancy: 4
Manifestation: 5
Aspects: Avarice 4, Envy 4, Pride 4
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Five
Armour:
Five
Substance (Health): 17
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
7
Deft:
7
Wits:
6
Will:
6
Sigil of Glasyalabolas
Appears as a knife-thin, grinning, lean faced and bearded
man with cunning in his eyes. Glasyalabolas can make
mortals do his bidding by certain charms. He is able to
command a mortal face-to-face to do one simple action.
The victim is allowed a Test of Willpower Difficulty Four
to resist.
Glasyalabolas can also work a charm on two garments or
items of jewellery so that whoever wears the submissive
piece becomes unable to resist the commands of whoever
wears the dominant piece. A Test of Willpower to resist at
Difficulty Two to resist is allowed each time a command is
given.
Ascendancy: 3
Manifestation: 4
Aspect: Avarice 5, Sloth 4
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Four
Armour:
Four
Substance (Health): 16
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
6
Deft:
6
Wits:
5
Will:
5
Sigil of Lerith
Appears as a beautiful, seductress who is able to take
any shape, appearance, hue of skin or hair that you please.
She is not known to have a demonic form. Some it is said
have summoned Lerith to make use of her for personal
pleasure. A more common use is to command her to seduce
another and in the bed work from his secrets and
confidences. Lerith can read the dreams of anyone who
sleeps near her, and men must make a Test of Willpower
(diff. Very Difficult) if they wish to not answer her questions
truthfully.
Ascendancy: 4
Manifestation: 6
Aspect: Lust 6, Envy 4, Gluttony 2
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Six
Armour:
Six
Substance (Health): 18
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
8
Deft:
8
Wits:
6
Will:
6
Sigil of Hagenti
Appears usually in the form of a talking raven. She can
also take on the form of a shrewd, dark haired young woman
if she o wishes. Hagenti can read and relay to you all
languages, modern or dead, mundane or arcane, and can
gift a person with the ability to understand all tongues for
a day.
Ascendancy: 4
Manifestation: 5
Aspect: Envy 4, Pride 4, Avarice 4
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Five
Armour:
Five
Substance (Health): 17
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
7
Sigil of Lucifer
The prince and lord of Hell himself, Lucifer appears as a
beautiful angel with golden hair and silvery, black eyes.
His halo is rather than radiant thorny and full of jagged red
and black barbs, and his wings are black rather than white.
If angered Lucifers eyes turn blood red and shadows fall
across him, but he remains otherwise unchanged.
Lucifer is, to say the least, among the more dangerous
spirits that one can attempt to summon. He remains,
77
Armour:
Substance (Health):
Fear:
Trauma:
Might:
Deft:
Wits:
Will:
Five
17
Difficult
Two
7
7
6
6
Sigil of Marchosias
Appears as a harpist with silver hair and green eyes.
Marchosias can tell immediately all lies from truths, and
can see into the mind of a person and root out their dark
secrets. A victim of this power must be present and is
allowed to enter a Contest of Willpower to resist.
Ascendancy: 3
Manifestation: 3
Aspect: Envy 4, Avarice 3, Sloth 2
Sigil of Naberius
Appears as a genial innkeeper with the smells of
woodsmoke, good food and wine lingering about him.
Naberius has the power to cause a small inn, complete
with one mindless, but apparently real servant to grow out
of the earth. The inn remains intact for until the next dawn
and provides good shelter and warmth, but no food or
drink. In the morning then drifts away like so much smoke.
Ascendancy: 3
Manifestation: 6
Aspects: Sloth 6, Gluttony 3
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Six
Armour:
Six
Substance (Health): 17
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
8
Deft:
8
Wits:
5
Will:
5
Sigil of Malpas
Appears as an old warrior with battered armour but a
charming grim. When angered he becomes a rotten battlescarred corpse. He can work a charm to torment a man with
putrefied and worm-eaten wounds that will not heal without
the aid of magic.
Ascendancy: 3
Manifestation: 4
Aspect: Wrath 4, Sloth 3, Envy 2
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Four
Armour:
Four
Substance (Health): 16
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
6
Deft:
6
Wits:
5
Will:
5
Sigil of Orias
Appears usually in the form of a great, hairy, black spider
with gleaming yellow eyes and fangs beaded with green
and sickly liquid. He can turn into a very hairy, squat little
man if commanded to or so desiring.
Orias has power over all spiders. He can summon,
command and direct all spiders within an hours walk.
Ascendancy: 3
Manifestation: 4
Aspects: Gluttony 4, Avarice 4, Sloth 1
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Four
Armour:
Four
Substance (Health): 15
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
6
Deft:
6
Wits:
5
Sigil of Marbas
Appears as a lion with a gleam and glitter of gold dust
through his coat and eyes like bronze in shadow. Marbas
is able to answer in truth concerning all secret and hidden
treasures, doors and ways. He can gift you with skills of
thievery for a time, and can conjure up a key that will open
any lock - though it will turn to dust within a day of his
giving it.
When angered the lion looses all its beauty and becomes
a ferocious, hellish creature with a maw that roars with the
fires of hell.
Ascendancy: 4
Manifestation: 5
Aspect: Avarice 4, Wrath 4, Pride 4
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Five
78
Will:
Skills:
Attack:
Armour:
Substance (Health):
Fear:
Trauma:
Might:
Deft:
Wits:
Will:
Sigil of Orobas
Appears usually as a great sinuous snake with emerald
skin. Orobas can take the form of a thin, haggard little man
with a snake for a tongue if he wishes.
Orobas has power over all snakes. He can summon,
command and direct all snakes within an hours walk.
Ascendancy: 3
Manifestation: 4
Aspects: Envy 4, Pride 3, Wrath 2
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Four
Armour:
Four
Substance (Health): 16
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
6
Deft:
6
Wits:
5
Will:
5
Supernatural
Rank Four
Four
16
Difficult
Two
6
6
5
5
Sigil of Vual
Appears as a great gluttonous man, with a wide belly
and a merry, red-cheeked smile. If angered he becomes
hugely fat and great fanglike teeth then grow out of his
mouth.
Vual can cause a grand and kingly spread of food, wine,
bread, meats and all manner of delicacies to appear on a
spread of silken cloth. It will feed to satiation up to six
people. When finished the cups, cloth and remains all
vanish.
Ascendancy: 3
Manifestation: 5
Aspect: Gluttony 6, Sloth 2, Lust 1
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Five
Armour:
Five
Substance (Health): 17
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
7
Deft:
7
Wits:
5
Will:
5
Sigil of Paimon
Appears as a king of Egypt or Araby and is always
surrounded by disembodied singing voices and the sounds
of pipes and harps. His voice roars rather than speaks.
When angered his face disfigures into that of a jackal.
Paimon is well versed in all knowledge and can grant
Uncanny skill to any Lore. He can also procure books on
Alchemy, Divination, Herbalism and the like at will.
He is said to give useful familiars.
Ascendancy: 4
Manifestation: 5
Aspects: Avarice 5, Pride 4, Wrath 3
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Five
Armour:
Five
Substance (Health): 17
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
7
Deft:
7
Wits:
6
Will:
6
Sigil of Zepar
Appears as a soldier, dressed all in scarlet, bearing a
sword of a fine but strange red metal. His glances are always
full of suggestion and sinful hints. Zepar has the power to
make a person or group of people feel suddenly overcome
by the desire to engage in sinful, lustful acts with very
nearly anyone at hand. All those affected by Zepars magic
are allowed a Test of Willpower (diff. Average) to resist.
The magic will not work on those whose minds are set
sternly on another course, battle or prayer, but works best
on those who are bored, relaxing or drinking.
Ascendancy: 4
Manifestation: 3
Aspect: Lust 6, Avarice 3
Skills:
Supernatural
Attack:
Rank Three
Armour:
Three
Substance (Health): 15
Fear:
Difficult
Trauma:
Two
Might:
5
Deft:
5
Wits:
4
Will:
4
Sigil of Vassago
Appears in the guise of a powerful prince, with handsome
features, fair and golden hair and eyes the colour of
cornflowers and midsummer skies. He is said by many to
be not so evil as most demons, and disinclined to cause
wanton pain or injury.
Vassago has the power to see the threads of past, present
and future and may give answers to questions of prophecy.
His answers, however, are always vague when questioned
on the future. He can sees many futures, and say only
what is likely given a chain of events, not what will come
to pass.
Ascendancy: 3
Manifestation: 4
Aspects: Avarice 3, Pride 3, Gluttony 3
79
Setting
b
Chapter Seven
of Europe. The remaining pagan Norsemen remain a threat
to any and all, and in the east vast areas of Slavic Europe
remains under the sway of old, wild gods and demonic
things in godlike masks.
This is also a time of persecution and oppression. Not
just by the unearthly powers of Heaven, Faerie and Hell,
but by fellow man. The world remains a grim and difficulty
place. Disease and suffering are widespread under an
unjust feudal system that leaves many destitute or virtually
slaves to their liege lord. The humble farmer is ever aware
of his lords prying eyes and door-knocking taxmen. Nobles
hold themselves aloof in cold and bloodstained castles.
Meanwhile the church desperately maintains a failing grip
over the spiritual world of those parts of Europe it has
conquered.
And over all of the land dark magicians and evil spirits
are rising in power. Since the Honorius Edict the church
has maintained a strict policy of destroying all sorcery and
putting to death all sorcerers that can be found. But the
tomes that have most easily been destroyed were those
held by monasteries, hedge wizards and healers. Those
performing their benevolent arts in the open. So it is that
white magicians have been all but expelled from Europe.
Those who remain are those who have always worked in
secret. The witches and warlocks of the other dynasty.
The practitioners of the hexan arts and conjurors of demons
and wild, savage spirits.
So it is that each day more dark things walk the earth.
Strange spirits that can take the form of man or beast or
shadow. Things of the night that are hungry for blood.
Things that can offer great riches for eternal servitude.
Things that are seeking just a little sliver of your soul.
80
Rome, through the Dark Ages and into the present day a
shadow has twined and crept through Europe. In secret
the agents of the Hell have been spreading and growing.
Covens of witches, demons and creatures of shadow,
sorcerous monsters are now to be found in every forest
and village and the veils of apparent humanity hide them
too well, too often.
Things are again turning to darkness in Europe. The
brief step towards a new era has stagnated. Life is slipping
back into a new Dark Age.
Hereafter is the history of how this is coming to pass.
and proclaimed that the magic arts in all their forms were
blasphemous. But he made many strange and wild decrees
during this time and spoke many bleak prophecies. Few
were heeded.
When Honorius finally succumbed to his injuries his
one last legacy was the proclamation against all arts
sorcerous. This decree above all others was taken into the
heart of the Church and there debated. Was it a warning
from the divine? Was Honoriuss ordeal an example set for
all?
For two hundred years the debate raged between those
who felt that magic was no more good or evil than a sword
and those who believed that it was inherently against the
will of God.
In 932 the College of Cardinals came to a decision. The
practise of sorcery, in any form, by any means, to any ends
was punishable by death. For some decades unofficial trials
and executions of magicians and witches had been
occurring throughout Europe. Now the purges became
sanctioned and the knives and brands were brought into
the open.
But the result was not that which the Church had hoped
for. The more harmless, more benevolent magicians and
hedge-wizards, who lived and worked their charms openly
were the most easily found out, tried and burned. The
practitioners of the dark arts who had always worked in
secret remained working in secret. Europe was purged of
white magic in a matter of years while the covens of
warlockry only grew stronger.
81
picks and hammers. They dig at the rock and scoop away
the sand. And beneath the rock and sand they find great
cap of stone, writ in the dead words of the dead priests of
a dead god. The stone is broken, dust billow up, air in a
rasping roar flows into a chamber long hidden.
Into this chamber goes the master of the hunt. A man
dressed in the robes of a magi from the east. A man of great
wonders and powers. A sorcerer, wise in the ways of many
things, but also aged. Weakening by the day. Racked with
illness.
The halls he walked are marked with the visages of
pharaohs and gods, boats on the river of the afterworld,
the goddess of night stretched above, her body blue and
gold with darkness and stars. He passes by the ancient
paint, the carven images. For he knows what lies beneath.
In a small chamber, where once the priests met and bowed,
there is a statue of a god with the head of a jackal. And
beneath this is a great cask of black stone. And within the
cask lies the teachings of the Sept of Anubis.
The Magi has no need of golden treasures. His men
throw aside the statue, heft open the casket. But what the
Magi does have need of is the knowledge of the ancients.
Those who once knew the rituals of the God of Death.
Those who knew how to summon Death itself. And knew
how to bind that being to their own ends.
And within the casket lies the forgotten lore. Writ on
papayas in hieratic and other, weirder, madder tongues.
Words that no mortal eye should see. Truths that no mortal
hand should grasp.
And they are his.
Centuries later. A thousand miles away. In a temple
beneath the stars the Magi Xerces draws the circles by the
ancient patterns. His acolytes chant the words that no
human tongue can quite master. The shadows tremble to
hear it. The flames of torches dance and writhe. And the
magic is set in motion, the wheel of sorcery turns, the
powers are drawn up and cast out and the sky blackens
with a storm. When the rite dies, when the crazed chanting
ends, the summoning is done.
He does not look powerful, the thing in the circle. It is
small and fragile. Like a child robed in black and wearing a
mask of white wax. It blinks its liquid and jet eyes and
wonders what has happened. The Magi of the East, last
master of his order, makes his demand, but not to the thing
within the circle. His words cry out to the beyond. Into the
realm from which the spirit came. Into the Netherworld
where the lesser Spectres of Death reside. For the Magi
has ensorcelled their king, he has captured Death. And
should any spectre of decay or feebleness come near the
temple in the mountainous east, then Death shall itself
know the end of existence, cast out of space out of time.
So the Magi lives on. His servants toil eternal under his
eye. His acolytes know not of death or sickness. And ever
does Death cower bound, staring up at the changeful sky,
at the sun and moon and stars and thinking what thoughts
none can know.
The Ravened
82
this world and any other that has been left open and
unchecked. It cannot spread itself out too thin, exists as
an unusually invisible miasma of shadow, and must keep a
tendril of connection with the mists that exist beyond the
gate. If a gate through which the Ravened has crept is
shut then the Ravened caught on this side of the world
turns thick and black writhes momentarily, then blows away
on the wind.
The Feral
83
Rouen
Southern Bavaria
84
Toledo
85
The Malvolentum
Constantinople
86
87
In the year 1071 the Seljuk Turks rode west, cut deep
into the Byzantine Empire and defeated the Imperial Armies
of the Patriarch of Constantinople. By 1095 the situation is
turning desperate for the Eastern Roman Empire. In this
year Emperor Alexius I, son of the short lived Theokotos
IV, broods over his crumbling borders and sends a missive
to Pope Urban II of Rome, beseeching aid. Times and tides
are dark for Christendom in the east, warns Alexius.
Upon word from Constantinople Urban II sends out a
calling. He summons the knights of the west to go to war
in aid of their fellows in the east. The mood turns fervent.
Soon lords and kings are talking not merely of aiding the
Byzantine Empire, but of retaking the Holy Land itself.
So begins the first Crusade. The newly conceived orders
of monastic knights, the Templar and Hospitaller are
founded shortly after. Antioch, Edessa and eventually
Jerusalem are conquered. But the crusaders, who have
this once chance to set out the borders of strong and
peaceful kingdoms fall soon to bickering and infighting.
The orders of Templar and Hospitaller become such bitter
enemies that they only cease their intrigues and personal
vendettas when threatened by Muslim knights and emirs.
Lords and Ladies both vie for control of who next will be
king of Jerusalem and between daggers and poison and
duels the initial success of the crusades slips soon into a
tangled web of politics and assassination.
The Crusades have proved a wonderful and unlooked
for boon for the various servants of the Kingdom of
Darkness in Europe and the Holy Land. The swords of
west and east, nominally in the service of the Kingdom of
Hallows have begun slaughtering one-another over what
to Angels and Demons appear to be trivial disagreements
on fine points of scripture and interpretation.
While the worshippers of the Kingdom of Hallows
engage in the bloody butchery of other worshippers of
the Kingdom of Hallows the servants of darkness watch
on and wait and build their strength.
Byzantine Titles
Byzantine titles are fickle, ever changing and subject to
whim and fashion. One year a Vestarch may be all the rage,
the next one must be a Magnate to be anything at all, or an
Eparch, or a Senator or a General. It remains all very
confusing for anyone not deeply involved in the inner
halls of power.
The situation is confused still more by the number of
bodies of power that exist in Constantinople the Eunuchs,
Senate, Vestarchs, Hundred and Fifty Bishops, Noble
Houses, Protovestiar and Vestiar can all claim imperial
influence in one form or another.
Swords of Byzantium
Rome
88
Pope Celestine II
punishment again.
The blood was given to Abaleus in his wine. But as
soon as the transformation began ten strong warriors, well
paid by the magus, entered the great hall, fell upon Abaleus
and shackled him in irons. The crazed Abaleus was then
dragged into the pits of his own dungeons and walled up
behind strong bricks.
Years passed and the lord was forgotten. Wars came
and went and the fortress was beset by siege. Desperate
for water when the well was poisoned by a spy, the
inhabitants of the fortress dug down into bedrock and
dug too deep. They opened a way into the chamber below
and the thing within. By dawn the next day not a person
was left alive. The attackers climbed over the walls to find
half-devoured corpses littering the halls, rooms and
gardens. Of the killer they found nothing.
He had already fled, driven by memories of his past life
to stumble west, across deserts and scrub and rock,
eventually to Rome. And there he remained. No longer a
handsome and arrogant lord but one with the filth of the
streets. Covered in rags and with long, clawed fingers and
a demonic face hidden behind a grey and tattered mask.
The Sacrarium
Terentia of Messina
The Ragman
89
A Bargain Made
For the church to have the worldly goods of Terentia a
confession was needed. Yet on the fifth day in the darkness
Terentia was still stubborn. On the fifth night a shape and
a shadow crept below the outer walls of the cathedral. It
went this wand that, searching for a way into the building.
What it was exactly that snapped apart the iron bars of a
small window on the west wall and entered into the
dungeons. None who saw it lived. Guards and prisoners
alike were found the next day scattered through the
corridors here and there, pale and bloodless, with transfixed
terror upon their pallid faces.
The thing came and went and with it went Terentia. Up
the winding, winding stairs and out through a hole of
shattered rubble and dust and broken timbers. There were
scorch and claw marks in the stone.
90
Designer Notes
It is worth noting that in the real world the Black Plague
did not reach Europe until the 1300s. In Benighted Europe
the plague has arrived two hundred years earlier striking
the nations of Europe at a time when they are barely
emerging from an age of squalor and savagery and thus
pushing them back towards the brink of a new Dark Age.
Beauty Undone
The only known cure for the Black Plague is, or perhaps
it is better written was, the blood of that rare and beautiful
91
And yet not even the most profound Holy Fool can deny
that each year the forests grow more dangerous, yet
another child goes missing, and more weird things are
glimpsed in the mist by lonely travellers.
The days ahead are dark indeed. A season of evil is
upon the lands of mortal men, a time when the dynasties of
Heaven and Hell push forward their machinations and
warring at the expense of mortals.
Beggarmens Guild
A loosely knit alliance of unsavoury sorts, thieves,
footpads and unscrupulous tricksters who work the dark
streets and tight, winding alleys of Rome. The Beggarmens
Guild operates a sort of mock guildhall that is constantly
moving from one lonely wharfhouse or basement to
another. It has laws and edicts, mostly ruling against the
murder or betrayal of one member by another, and has a
reputation for harsh justice when inclined to act.
As Things Stand
The world has grown darker and more dangerous dayby-day for centuries. The thralls and thanes of Hell are
gathering. The few cults, orders and societies of the Light
that have the knowledge needed to stand against the
Kingdom of Shadows lack numbers, power and unity.
For the common man and woman, living the life of a
crafter, crofter or serf the world has gone on much as it
always has, toil begetting toil, misery begetting misery.
Cabal of Ravenna
Ravenna is the Eastern Holy Roman Empires outpost in
the west. A beautiful town on the east coat of Italy that
was for a brief time the capital of the entire Roman Empire
and is now a place of churches and monasteries and mosaics
92
Knights Hospitiller
Founded in 1070, originally by Amalfian merchants as
attendant monks for a hospital for pilgrims. In 1113 the
Knights Hospitiller were recognised as a military order. In
ritual, prayer and day-to-day dress Hospitiller wear cloaks
and surcoats of black decorated with white crosses. In
battle some monasteries adopt a surcoat of red emblazoned
with a white cross. This is second dress of battle more
commonly used when allied with the Templar in battle
against Muslim knights. A single unified heraldry of white
and red is easier to identify as a friendly in the heat of
battle.
The Hospitiller are primarily made up of Italians and
follow Benedictine tenets. Unlike Templar, Hospitiller fall
into three castes: serving brothers, priests and knights.
The Hospitiller have a generally more peaceable view of
their Muslim neighbours than the Templar, and this
combined with other differences of opinion and politics
has led to a long-lasting and bloody feud between the two
orders. The only time that the two orders stop trying to
undo one-another is when threatened by significant armies
of the Muslim Sultans and Emirs of Egypt and further east.
At these times both forces show their true potential, and
have in wheeling, well disciplined lines of horsemen
defending the Holy Land time and time again more hindered
than aided by the non-monastic noble crusaders little
more than a disorganised rabble of rich brawlers.
Hermes Trismegistus
The order of alchemists and scholarly sorcerers following
in the tradition of the Thrice-Greatest Hermes. The Order
of Hermes Trismegistus is an order well reputed for its
vast knowledge of all things magical and its reluctance to
do anything very magical at all.
The order convenes often in secret to study, converse,
debate and lecture on the history of magic and various
theories of the supernatural. Its members consist almost
entirely of nobility who are inclined to study the workings
of the universe, and it is from the aristocratic attitude of
the Hermetic Order that the term Magicus Vulgaris has
arisen to denote Hedge Magic. The Hermetic Order is much
wondered at, very mysterious, and quite involved in its
own little secret rituals, performances, and studies. They
have, however, never used their magic to do anyone any
harm. Nor anyone any good. In fact it remains arguable
that the Order of Hermes Trismegistus has used their magic
to do anything at all. They are viewed by those who are
more deeply steeped in the practical side of demonsummoning as a cabal of rather foolish and fashionable
young lords who are chiefly valuable for the vast stores of
occult lore and endless libraries of rare books that they
have managed to collect.
Knights Templar
Also called the Knights of the Temple or the Poor Knights
of Christ. The Templar are primarily Frankish and were
93
The Theurgists
The Theurgic Order is a cabal of white sorcerers and
magicians whose chief temples are in Cairo. They have
little contact with Europe but in the lands of northern Africa
and Araby the Theurgists are both respected and feared.
In the Holy Land the Theurgic Order has come into
occasional conflict with the Templar. Both orders view the
other with suspicion. Although the Grandmasters of the
Templar have issued orders to seek out and apprehend
these Heretics of Egypt, the Theurgists have thus far
escaped capture.
The Theurgists are a rather ascetic and semi-religious
order that pays respects to a number of Archonic spirits,
but in particular to the spirit that was known to the Ancient
Egyptians as the Goddess Isis and to medieval occultists
as the Angel Israfel.
In the cities and slums of the desert kingdoms Theurgists
perform the duties of witch-hunters in secret. They move
in the shadows, descend on covens of witches or dark
cultists in ambush and make clean their land. Their methods
are not subtle and involve anything more than long knives
and the assistance of oath-bound minor angelic spirits.
The Sacrosanctus
A specially convened council of bishops and cardinals
under the auspices of the Holy Roman Church whose sole
duty is the seeking out and uncovering of secret covens
of witches, warlocks and sorcerers of any creed or kith.
The Sacrosanctus take no action themselves to move
against cults or orders and as such their actions have
remained largely unnoticed even by the Malvolentum.
The Sacrosanctus does no more than spy, watch, wait and
then anonymously inform the local authorities of dark
affairs. The members of the Sacrosanctus are under a vow
not to interfere personally, take revenge or take justice
into their own hands.
The Sempervivium
A minor and reasonably unimportant circle of sorcerers
and alchemists bent upon discovering the secret of eternal
life and youth. Their numbers are very few and are
concentrated mostly in Rome and Constantinople.
Although the Sempervivium is privy to very power magic
and sorcery, and has at its command no less than three
bound Faerie and two Demons of significant power, it has
thus far refrained from exercising what power it has.
The sorcerous cabal, it appears, is determined to toil on
94
France
The Kingdom of the Franks is currently very evenly
divided between the King of England and the King of the
Franks. A situation that is going to lead to no end of trouble
for the next few centuries.
The crusades have seen vast wealth flowing back to
France through the mostly Frankish Templar knights and
the many Frankish younger sons of noble houses who
have sought their fortunes in the east.
Since the flight of the Britons from England to France
during the Anglo-Saxon wars Brittany has remained stoutly
independent and Celtic in its culture, though it is firmly in
the power of the Duke of Normandy Henry II of England.
Baltic States
By 910 Norway and Sweden were distinct states, looked
upon as upstarts by an older and more powerful Denmark.
Warring and setbacks has seen these three great kingdoms
have settled into relative peace and turn their axes and
foamy prows towards the Finns, Scots, English, Normans
and other more distant states.
The Kingdom of Promeria now stretches along the coast
east of Denmark and although not arrayed into kingdoms
of significant power yet, the Finns Estonians, Livs,
Lithuanians and Prussians are all emerging as distinct
powers around the Baltic Sea.
Hungary
Since its emergence as a power in around the year 910
Hungary has ruled a more or less stable and very large
swathe of land north of the Byzantine Empire, adjoining
95
The Revenir
The Sanguisuga
96
The Zumbi
The Scion
Superstitions
97
Gorse
Some believe that heaping a wall of cut gorse around
your bed and stuffing bundles of gorse into chimneys and
windows protects a household from malicious minor spirits
that might otherwise plague a person, spill their ale and
sour their milk.
Hazel
A good year for hazel nuts is a good year for babies, or
so the more cynical say, for bastards.
Hawks
Cockerels Crow
Hemlock
Cold-is-Iron
Invitation
Keen Senses
Most animals, including horses, dogs and cats can see
invisible ghosts and shades and react with fear. Some
exorcists and hedge wizards own a dog or cat for this
reason.
Leaden Chains
Corpselight
Manners
Faerie Spirits cannot work to cause you harm if you are
polite and generous to them, and respond with perfect
etiquette to their possibly very aggressive, seemingly
dangerous and wild behaviour.
Crossroads
Murderers, witches and worse who die may be buried at
a crossroads to confuse their shade and prevent it returning
as an undead creature of avenge. If the corpse is dug up
then the ghost can walk as it pleases.
Nest-of-Owls
A cry of an owl attracts the dead. Unseen shades are
likely to haunt the ground about an owl nest for as long as
the owl remains.
Elder
Elder trees are often haunted and are said by some to
creep around at night. You can tell a haunted elder by
cutting a branch from it. If the branch bleeds then the tree
is haunted.
Never sleep near an elder and never burn elder in a fire.
Never make a cradle from elder or beat a child with an elder
cane. All will bring bad luck.
Paw-of-Wolf
If a piece is cut from a werewolf, such as a paw, it turns
back into a human body part when it is brought into contact
with its previous owner.
Ratting Bones
The bones of a ghosts dead body will rattle and skitter
about if the ghost comes near.
Elderwood Arrow
A Dark Incarnate takes an extra level of injury when hurt
by an arrow shorn of elder tree wood.
Final Death
A Revinir may be utterly destroyed by beheading, staking
through the heart and immolation in fire.
Favour
If you pay for the burial of a person the ghost of that
person is obliged to do you one favour. The expense you
lay out on the funeral may very well have an affect on how
generous the Shade feels towards you.
Rowan
A Rowan tree growing near a house is thought to protect
it from dark spirits and witchcraft. Bowls, handles of axes
98
and other tools are best made from Rowan, for the wood is
thought to be inherently protected from all forms of malign
magic.
Willow
A man hanged on a gallows of willow cannot return from
the dead to exact revenge. Never fall asleep near a willow,
they can steal memories from the soul.
Running Water
Shades cannot cross running water. The larger the river
or stream the more difficult the crossing. Small streams are
tested against the Shades Obsession at Average. A stream
that you couldnt jump across is Difficult for a Shade. A
full in flood and treacherous river is Very Difficult.
Wolfsbane
Silver-be -Sharp
Yew
Shadowless
Storm Crow
If a crow engages in tumbling flight then a storm is
coming.
Sunwise Coffin
The dead who are in risk of rising as undead - those who
are suicides, murderers and the like - may be kept in their
grave by carrying the coffin three times around the grave
sun-wise before internment.
Tarnish
The Mortal World is the world of trees, and ocean, grass
beneath our feet, sunlight gold upon the horizon and stars
in the sky. It is also a world at war.
For the Mortal World lies at the conjunction of the worlds
of dynasties of spirits. The Hallowed. The Wild. The Dark.
Long ago, long after the dawn of time, the spirits of the
three dynasties found that they could cross the veils of
mist between their world and this. They took great delight
in what they found. For in the physical world there was
physical form. What were but mere shadows, bereft of true
bodies, were able to take up flesh and wood and clay and
snow and make themselves a little more real. And some of
that reality they took back to their kingdoms beyond the
viel. So that the worlds beyond become mockeries of the
mortal world. The Kingdom of Hallows became a kingdom
of gardens, clouds and silver cities. The kingdom of wilds
became an endless wildness of mists and forests. The
kingdom of shadows became a blasted land of fortresses
and darkness, fire and rock as sharp and shimmering as
glass.
But the spirits soon met and in that distant past they fell
soon to war. Their natures could not tolerate one another.
There was battle and the shedding of blood - silver, green
and black.
And into this war, into the affray of gods and spirits
came the race of mortals. The beasts who had their own
Toll-of-Bells
Faerie spirits and Wild Incarnate fear the ringing of bells.
Thorn
It is foolish to cut down any thorn tree, be it hawthorn,
black or white thorn. Thorn trees are often the abode of
minor but dangerous wild spirits.
Some people leave offerings near thorn trees to try and
win the favour of the trees inhabitants. It is considered
very bad luck to take such an offering.
Unlucky-to-Kill
Wren, robins and swallows are all unlucky birds to kill. It
is commonly held that sickness, ill luck and misery befalls
anyone who kills one of these birds.
Unwolfing
A werewolf who is called by his true birth-name while in
wolf-form will be forced to change back into a human.
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Cosmology
In Danse Macabre from a cosmological point of view it
is assumed that Christians, Jews and Muslims are
worshiping the same divine power but with a different take
on the rituals, philosophies and doctrines. In the setting
of course, the three pillars of monotheism do not see
themselves this way at all. They are bitterly opposed
enemies, quite sure that the other two religions are only
marginally more enlightened than pagans.
The Netherworld
100
Haunted Ground
Archonic Spirits
Angels
Angels are those spirits that are native to the Kingdom
of Hallows, including spirits of aid and revenge, seraphim
and thrones, the ghosts of dead saints and a few stranger
101
Faeries
For a long age the Wild Spirits, known broadly as Faerie,
were the chief spirits worshiped by mortals. When man
hunted the earth the wild spirits were important. Their insult
to be avoided at all costs. But the power of the Faerie
spirits has been in decline for centuries, since the advent
of agriculture and husbandry the wild spirits have held
less and less importance. The last great order of pagan
priests and sorcerers who swore devotion to the Faerie
was the druids, but their hold over the lands was broken
by the Romans centuries ago.
There remain a few isolated cults of the last great Faerie,
spirits known to men. Dianna is probably the last Faerie
spirit whose cult is widely spread, if now secretive for fear
of persecution. It is now only in the lands of the Norse that
the Faerie still hold powerful sway, Odin and Thor, Tyr and
102
Demons
Enchanted Earth
103
Roleplaying
b
Chapter Eight
An Introduction by Dean Sutter
I, personally, prefer to be the Storyteller. I play all the
villains, troublemakers, common folk, authorities and other
antagonists. I like the challenge of creating an exciting
plot for the players that will motivate and interest them. I
like to create vivid scenes in the players minds. Scenes
that leave them gasping with relief, breaking out in cold
sweats or shouting with glee at victory.
The most important key to running a game of Danse
Macabre (or any horror for that matter) is atmosphere. So
a word to the wise for veteran role-players, forget the classic
fantasy dungeon-crawl where the characters go on a bloody
crusade slaying everything in their path to obtain the
wealth of dragons. Danse Macabre is a game for players
who wish to concentrate their time and energy into tense
moments, suspense and struggle both physical and mental
against creatures from beyond the mortal realm.
To create the right kind of atmosphere three important
aspects must be involved. The first is the Fear of the
Unknown. We have all heard of this. It is natural for
people to fear what they do not know. Use this to your
advantage. The Storyteller should leech information to
the players; give details about what they are up against
slowly, over time. Make use of red herrings, twists in the
plot and secrecy. More often than not the players should
never really know what they are up against until the final,
climactic scene, or perhaps never at all. Fear of the
unknown also works in giving descriptions. Think of the
difference between meeting a creature of horror in plain
sight compared to a dark alleyway; the closed in space,
the gloomy darkness and the echoes of movement along
the alleys narrow length. Hide the details. Give hints.
Suggestions. Shades and nuances. And let the players
imagination run through its own dark maze. What is left
unsaid can be the most frightening.
The second aspect to consider is related to the first:
Pacing. Horror requires a certain amount of mystery, which
ultimately means that the game has much less action than
some genres. The trick here is to keep the players
interested. You cannot let the game drag on too slowly or
the players will lose interest. It is important to strike a
balance between describing too little and too much. For
the sake of the pace of the story you do not want to go
into drawn out detail when it is unimportant, then again,
dont just skim over information when something in what
104
What can they smell? The acrid scent of urine? The musky
smell of some large animal? As well as the mundane senses
there is the sense of presence. We all have it. Even in utter
darkness you know if someone or something is close to
you, especially if it is large.
Take these two examples of a description given to a
player.
My first example:
You are in utter darkness, you cant see anything.
Second Example
You are in utter darkness, you can see nothing. The
darkness is oppressive, almost claustrophobic. You
imagine you can hear a rasping breath further ahead of
you, or is it behind you? You cannot tell, curse the echoes.
These two examples give a very different feeling to the
player. The second example may be a touch melodramatic,
but it adds to the tension and puts the player on edge,
which in turn will cause the character to act accordingly.
Put the players in the scene with their characters.
Experiment with using music, or low lighting to achieve
this. It is important to try and get the players to feel what
their characters feel. Set the scene. If the characters are
walking along a trade route in autumn, in the rain, let them
know it.
You trudge along the muddy road between the wagon
wheel ruts, pulling your cloak close about your shoulders
as the wind attempts to tear it from you. Driving rain lashes
at you and the cold seeps into your bones.
It is too easy for players who are sitting on a chair in a
warm room to forget these things. It also makes the players
appreciate when their characters find shelter or a warm inn
along the road and sets the mood for future settings. Its
all about making it feel real.
Styles of Play
Gothic
Gothic tales tend towards being moody, romantic and
dark. Gothic plots are full of quiet, subtle supernatural
elements, shadows just out of view, darkness just out of
touch. In a Gothic tale the characters may not even be
completely sure that there are supernatural things abroad
in the night. The sounds in the night may be a ghost, or
then again, maybe not. The strange visitor may not be
entirely mortal, then again he may just be a very eccentric
old man. The line between supernatural and natural is very
well hidden and difficult to place.
The suspense and fear in a Gothic tale comes about
through a sense of the dark unknown. Very seldom will the
supernatural creatures of the night truly show themselves
for what they are, and then only in the most clandestine
ways.
Horror
Horror is the mainstay of Danse Macabre. All of the
rules of the game are built around the premise that horrifying
105
Intrigue
In a game of Intrigue the game centres around one or
more pivots of power, a kings court, a sorcerers cabal, a
bishops cathedral, a guildhall, and the machinations
therein. Games of Intrigue work best when the characters
are either striving to protect something they love, be it kith
or kin, wealth or power, or striving for something they do
not yet have. Intrigue revolves around clandestine
missions, assassinations, uncovering plots or putting them
in place.
Intrigue is a far less supernatural class of game. The
supernatural and the dark exist in the background of Danse
Macabre but in a game of Intrigue they only reluctantly
come forward into the light of day.
Spatter
In a game of spatter the players expect their characters
to die usually messily it is just a matter of when. A game
of spatter might involve being caught in a locked castle
full of monstrous things or wandering lost in a shadehaunted wood.
Spatter games tend to be short and one-off. Make sure
your players know that you have planned a game that will
probably result in the death of all the characters at the
table. Ideally do this before they start creating characters.
As grim as it sounds it can actually be freeing for players,
as some may invent characters that they would not
normally want to play for a long time. Alternatively in a
short one-off game your players may appreciate you
creating a selection of characters beforehand and allowing
them to pick and choose. This allows the game to start
much more speedily and as the characters are not likely to
live very long anyway, the challenge of playing something
a bit different can be a nice, brief change.
intend for great things does not win friends. Ask your
players to create tragic heroes; characters with problems
so immense that the best that they can really hope for a
quick death while taking one or two enemies down, too.
Think of Hamlet with his madness, suicidal lover, murderous
uncle and deceptive mother; Oedipuss curse that he will
kill his father and marry his mother; Macbeths regicide
and power-hungry wife; Lirs conniving daughters and
hopeless naivety. Part of the fun of Tragedy is seeing how
the huge and terrible mess finally comes to an end.
Advice
Plan
Success begins and ends with planning. Think out
beforehand what you want to achieve. What sort of game
will it be? Suspenseful? Mysterious? Darkly humorous?
Who will be the villains?
Tragedy
In a game of Tragedy there is no happy ending. Tragedy
can easily develop out of the other classes of plot through
the unpredictable actions of players, but it can also be cooperatively and intentionally established as well. In tragedy
the characters find themselves forever faced with choices
between two evils. Madness reigns early in the game. Death
and fear is rife. The slightest moral misstep leads to chaos.
Characters have no hope of a happy ending, all they can
really hope to do is struggle and fight a little before the
end.
Much as with Spatter, perhaps even more so, running
Tragedy successfully really requires that the Storyteller
explain her intention beforehand to the players. Foisting
Tragedy on Characters that the Players dearly love and
106
Advancement
107
Using Fate
Chance Meeting
Practise
You are allowed to expend Fate Points during a period of
practise in order to increase the number of Marks of Fate
you possess and potentially your overall rank in a skill.
While practising a skill you are limited to expending one
Fate Point per day of study.
Fate Points
Fortune Points
Cost 1
Lucky Escape
Cost 1
You trip and fall and roll down a hill, skidding and sliding
to safety. Your pursuers horse throws a shoe. The guards
all stumble and fall in a heap.
Invoke Lucky Escape to find a chance way out of an
inescapable situation or away from relentless pursuit.
Snapping Twig
Cost 1
Cost 2
Stroke of Fortune
Cost 2
Cost 3
Peer Vote
108
Carryover
Companions
Coinage
For the sake of simplicity Danse Macabre imposes a
strict system of currency on an economy that really
possesses very little strictness about its money. Use the
following as a guide.
Mark
A gold coin worth twenty silver
shillings. (m)
Crown
A gold coin worth five silver shillings.
(c)
Shilling
A silver coin worth twelve copper
groats. (s)
Groat
A copper coin worth four farthings. (g)
Farthing
A copper coin, worth one fourth of a
groat. (f)
The Solidi is a Roman coin that has all but vanished
from use. Weight for weight, a Solidi is worth about a
Shilling, but a trove of Roman coins could be sold for a
great deal more to a collector. In England replace Marks
with Pounds and Groats with Pennies. A Bezant is a gold
coin from Byzantium also worth about as much as a Mark,
although the name Hyperpyron is beginning to supplant
109
Guilds
Guilds were first organised in the ninth and tenth centuries
and initially monastic in nature have grown and developed
into a highly ceremonial form of co-operative workingmans
order. Guilds serve to train new apprentices in a field,
regulate quality, protect members from injustice and
negotiate better deals for goods.
Not that some guilds are dominated by woman, especially
the weaving, dying and brewing guilds. All require a fee to
either enter as an apprentice or graduate as a journeyman,
sometimes both. To make the step from Apprentice to
Journeyman a guild-member must craft a masterwork piece
in their field, to be appraised and assessed by superiors. A
Journeyman has the permission of a guild to strike out and
make a business for him or herself. An Apprentice, however,
does not. Above Journeymen in the guild hierarchy stand
Masters and above these, sitting upon a ruling council,
are Aldermen.
Raiment
In many parts of medieval Europe the garb worn by
peasantry and lords alike is very similar, varying not in
style or colour but only in quality of manufacture and a
few decorative touches. This is due largely to poor trade
routes, limited materials and lonely roads watched over by
too many robber knights. In most kingdoms the nobility
distinguish themselves by furs, especially those of animals
that are rare or hard to snare, or jewels which are more
commonly available than expensive cloth, being small,
easily hidden and widely mined in certain northern
countries.
A heavily jewelled ring or dagger is considered a very
suitable form of portable wealth by most nobles, and the
very richest can find themselves with fingers encrusted
by overlarge and garish stones.
Dyes producing scarlet, a duller tawny red, yellow, grey,
black, grey, blue-grey, green and brown are all available.
Silk is available in a few of the larger trading centres, most
clothing is made of linen, wool or russet.
1g
1g
1g
2g
2g
2g
2g
3g
3g
3g
4g
4g
6g
6g
7g
10 g
5s
8s
1c
1c
1m
12 m
Cider
Nettle Ale
Honey Mead
Spiced Mulled Cider
Old Brown Ale
Braggot (Spiced Mead)
Wine, Cheapest
Wine, Mulled
Wine, Finest
Wineskin (1 quart)
Wineskin (1 gallon)
1f
1f
1f
2f
2f
3f
2f
4f
10 s
6g
9g
Prices
Food
Pottage of Turnip
Heel of Black Bread
Cabbage Stew
Oat and Ale Porridge
Pottage of Boiled Beans
Loaf of Black Bread
1f
1f
1f
2f
2f
2f
110
Poor
One or Two Servants
Many Servants
Lordly
Kingly
6m
15 m
30 m
70 m
100 m
Tools
Candle, Beeswax
Candle, Tallow
Torch
Lantern
Flint & Steel
Hammer
Chisel
Shovel
Bellows
Rope, hemp (per foot)
Twine (per yard)
Wood axe
Vise
Iron Plough
Saw, hack
Spinning Wheel
Two Oxen Yokes
6g
1g
1g
1s
1g
3g
3g
3g
4g
2g
1g
6g
5g
5g
7g
10 g
5s
Masons Tools
Anvil
Complete Armourers Tools
Battle Axe
Bow, common
Bow, long
Crossbow
Dagger
Knife Sheath
Mace
Spear
Sword, cheap
Sword, fine
Sword Scabbard
Quarterstaff
Warflail
Warhammer
6s
1m
5m
Horses
Old Nag
Donkey
Ladys Palfry
Draught Horse
Courser
Warhorse
Stabling per night
Stabling per night, with feed
10 s
12 s
18 s
1m
1 m 16 s
5m
1g
2g
8s4g
2s
3s
6s
3s
1s
7s
5s
12 s
11 m
2s
2s
5s
7s6g
Livestock
Two Dozen Eggs
Chicken
Salted Herring, Pound
Piglet
Goose
Pig
Sheep
Cow
Ox
1f
2f
1g
1g
3g
4g
5g
5s
8s
Other Beasts
Cat
Mongrel Dog
Hunting Dog
Greyhound
Sparrowhawk
Peregrine
Gyr Falcon
1f
3f
1s
10 s
10 s
15 s
1m
Noble Raiment
Purse, silk
Felt Shoes
Boots
Hat
Lordly Garb
Fashionable Gown
Fur Cloak
Seal, signet
Silk Gown
Ermine Cloak
5s
3s6g
2s
6g
8s
1m
5s
3s
3m
10 s
Common Garb
Purse, buckram
Rags
Good Robe
Shoes
Boots
Linen Garb
Craftsmans Tabard
Woollen Garb
Best Wool Garb
Fur-lined Garb
9g
2f
5g
5g
1s2g
4g
8g
10 g
1m
1m
1s3g
111
5s
1m
Chapter Nine
Mortal Antagonists
Village Idiot
Village Lout
Angered Farmer
Brute with Cudgel
Highroad Brigand
Town Guard
Lords Guard
Church Guard
Royal Guard
Outlaw
Outlaw Lord
Man-at-Arms
Robber Knight
Knight
Attack
1
3
2
4
5
5
5
5
6
5
6
6
7
7
Armour
0
0
1
1
1
1
2
2
3
1
3
3
3
3
Health
2
5
4
5
5
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
7
7
Might
3
4
4
4
4
4
5
5
5
4
4
5
5
5
Deft
2
2
3
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
5
4
4
4
Wits
1
2
3
2
2
2
2
2
4
4
5
2
5
3
Will
1
2
3
2
2
2
2
2
4
3
3
2
3
3
Attack
1
3
5
6
7
Armour
0
0
1
3
4
Health
3
4
6
8
10
Might
3
3
5
7
8
Deft
6
6
4
5
5
Wits
1
1
1
1
1
Will
1
1
1
1
1
Common Beasts
Dog
Wolf
Boar
Bull
Bear
112
Archonic Spirits
Supernatural Traits
Uncanny
Mildly supernatural skills. Sometimes seen in unusually
tainted warlocks and sorcerous mortals. More often the
preserve of minor spirits, imps, sprites, less powerful
incarnate beings and the like.
An Uncanny Skill defaults to a Success on a score of
five or six on a d6.
Supernatural
The domain of powerful spirits, demons and angels,
vampyr lords and powerful, elder monsters of the night.
A Supernatural Skill defaults to a Success on a score of
four, five or six on a d6.
Attributes
Ascendancy
Manifestation
Using Manifestation
Godlike
Possessed only by a few lordly entities in all of creation.
Lucifer possesses Godlike skills. His duke of hell, Asmodey
is merely Supernatural.
A Godlike Skill defaults to a Success on a score of three,
four, five or six on a d6.
For Example: A Faerie of the Kingdom of Wilds sets
113
Commandment
Example
Father Jathew is actually a deeply sinful man in secret.
He has a secret tunnel by which he is able to travel from
his priory to a den of sin, whores and drink not far away.
He possesses Four ranks of taint. One night a Demon
appears in his cell and commands Father Jathew to murder
a visiting Cardinal. Jathew does not want to do this.
Drunken sin and sport is one thing, but murder is something
else entirely. Father Jathew enters a Contest of Skill with
the Demon, pitching his Willpower against the Demons
Commandment.
Father Jathew has a Willpower of Three. He rolls 3d6
and uses two ranks of Effort to increase his range of success
to 4 through 6. He scores a 1, 2 and 4. One success. The
demon uses Jathews Corruptions against him and rolls
4d6. As with all acts undertaken by spirits the demons
Commandment is considered Supernatural in nature. It
always succeeds on a 4, 5 or 6. The demon scores a 1, 5, 6
and 6. Three successes. The demons Three successes
Substance
Aspects
114
Example
Rank One
Rank Five
Example
A Demon of Gluttony enters a village in disguise and
walks through the town. Any person it meets that
possesses the Sin Gluttony will immediately leap to the
Demons attention upon sight.
Rank Two
Example
Example
The Demon of Gluttony enters a tavern and sits at a
table. It begins talking to a stranger and turns the
conversation to food and wine and other indulgent things.
While speaking the Demon works a little magic. The mortal
begins to feel a craving to order as much food as he could
possibly eat, juicy meat, succulent fruits, endless casks of
wine. He must pass a Test of Willpower to resist the urge.
Rank Three
As with Rank Two, except that the Spirit need merely be
in the presence of one or more people to exert the
suggestion. The power can extend over a whole crowd of
people, although it has little or no effect if the crowd is set
strongly upon another course. A Demon of Lust could not
suggest sinful thoughts to a convent of seriously devout
nuns at prayer, not could it try to cause knights set upon
the road to battle that they go seeking a brothel instead.
The power works best upon the bored, the sleepy, or the
slightly drunk.
A spirit is able to exert this power or shield it at will.
Example
The Demon of Gluttony now has no need to talk to
anyone. It is able to simply take a seat in the inn, somewhere
in the shadows and watch, grinning, as a crazed feast
unfolds.
Rank Four
As with Rank Three, except that now mortals who come
into a spirits power must make a Test of Willpower at
Difficult to resist.
Rank Six
As with Rank Five except that the influence is both
contagious and lingering. The power of the Spirits
suggestion will linger for an extra hour for every hour that
it spends in a place. A Sylphaen of Levity that spend six
hours at a crossroads will leave the lingering suggestion
of Levity for six hours after it has gone, as if it were still
present. Also, any first-touch mortal who succumbs to the
suggestion and is still under the spells influence can pass
the suggestion to another mortal by coming into their
presence. Second-Touch mortals, however, cannot pass
on the suggestion any further.
Example
The Demon of Gluttony gets up and leaves the little inn,
now a den of rapacious greed, excess and indulgence. He
spent an hour in the inn. For an hour after he leaves any
new person entering the inn must make a Test of Willpower
at Very Difficult or be overcome by an urge to indulge in
food and beer. Anyone who leaves the inn can pass on the
urge of Gluttony to others, outside the inn, just by coming
into their presence. Any second-touched mortal is allowed
a Test of Willpower at Very Difficult to resist.
Devourer of Souls
115
Categories
Rules
For every hundred pieces of Soul that an Arhonic Spirit
devours it can choose to add one rank to either Ascendancy
or Manifestation. This means that a Spirit needs to utterly
devour the Souls of ten mortals before it can ascend a
rank.
Living people possess up to ten ranks of Soul. Dead
Shades posses a number of ranks of Soul equal to their
Pneuma seldom more than six ranks and often far less.
Draining soul from a mortal takes time and is painful for
the mortal. It takes a spirit about ten minutes to devour a
single piece of soul.
If a mortal is entirely drained of Soul he or she becomes
Deathless (See Rules: Souls and the Soulless). The
Deathless are a form of Incarnate being unable to die.
Deathless will arise in the power of whatever spirit
devoured the last drop of spirit away from what had been
the mortal body.
Archonic Spirit
Angels, Faerie and Demons the otherworldly spirits of
Heaven, Faerie and Hell. Note that Archonic spirits are so
powerful and strange that they are dealt with in their own
separate section (above).
Automaton
Unnatural things given animation and life through
magical arts and weird science. An golem made from clay
is an example of an Automaton.
Elemental
Ephemeral and barely intelligent spirits of the earth, sky,
wind, and woods. Elementals pay little attention to living
things, are not intelligent enough to easily master or even
interact with and to all but a few gifted individuals, remain
invisible to mortal eyes.
No attributes are given for elementals as they possess
no real physical body. Even if you are gifted with the second
sight you remain unable to touch elementals. Their
presence in the world like the presence of the wind or
waves or storm - powerful but beyond the ken of men to
master.
Incarnate
Creatures that were once mortal, but have been changed
flesh and soul into immortal servants of one of the three
otherworldly kingdoms. Such creatures are often tormented,
haunted by memories of having once been human and are
driven to serve their new masters to any ends. Incarnate
may be Hallowed, Wild or Dark. Many of the Wild Incarnate
of the woods and wilds have become tainted by Hell as the
Unseeliege creeps through Faerie. These once-wild, now
shadow creatures are termed Dark-Tainted Incarnate.
Otherworldly Entity
Truly alien things from the cosmic void and the mists
that separate the worlds of creation. The Ravened that
exists in the Mists is an Otherworldy Entity, so too are
Manes, by virtue of their extreme ancientness and their
alliance to Death, itself an entity that exists outside of
Creation.
Other unseen and unknown sentient entities arising from
the void and existing as living expressions of Time, Hope,
Fate and Fortune and other abstract concepts are more or
less suggested to exist by the more philosophical class of
116
scholar.
Revinir
The dead flesh and soul of a mortal given unholy life by
the Kingdom of Darkness. Revinir are a form of Dark
Incarnate, but are distinct enough in appearance and
powers to warrant separate discussion.
Shade
The soul of a dead mortal, usually a ghostly wraith,
shadowy and insubstantial. Shades of the Dead may either
remain in the Mortal World on death, bound by fetters of
love, obsession or curse, or cross back into the Mortal
World through gates to the Netherworld.
Biersal
Black Hound
Cernunn
117
Church Grim
Dakhanavar
118
feral dogs.
Tainted wolves can grow to the size of a calf, can often
understand, but not speak, the tongues of men, and possess
their own sophisticated, if savage society. They keep the
company of devils and dark incarnate in the deep, deep
woods and the forests thy haunt have become dark and
dangerous places indeed.
Skills:
Uncanny
Attack:
Rank Three
Armour:
Rank One
Health:
Six
Fear:
Average
Trauma:
None
Might:
5
Deft:
5
Wits:
3
Will:
3
Elbgast
Feral
Gargouille
119
Ghul
Golem
Green Woman
120
scholarly circles.
The shades were taken gratefully by the old goddesses
powerful Faerie spirits, now mostly reduced to Hagges
and reshaped into attendants and servants. These wild
incarnate spirits are beautiful in a sad and lonely sort of
way. They are dressed usually in green, giving rise to their
name, and usually their eyes have an emerald gleam. Green
Woman are not obviously supernatural except for those
few whose skin and hair possess a green tinge. The Test
of Fear and Trauma listed below is used when a character
realises that the woman he or she is talking to is not mortal.
When the power of the old goddesses failed and faded
and the once-powerful became slowly reduced to Hagges,
the Green Woman were set free from their centuries long
service to wander the woods, alone, lost and hungry for
companionship.
And there they wander still, in the dark glens and stormy
mountains among the dark woods and deep dells. The
Green Woman often gather in small numbers for
companionship, two or three, together, but what they seek
most is the company of mortals. To once again sit by the
fire and eat and drink and laugh and perhaps to love. For
they remember what it was to be mortal, to be loved, and
these sad spirits crave that again.
But the touch of these Incarnate is not good for Mortals.
The goddesses, in their wisdom, decided that their servants
should remain loyal only without distraction, and so put
into them a power of death in the touch. Every five minutes
that a Green Woman touches the skin of a Mortal the
unfortunate person loses a rank of Health and although
the injury is not obvious on the outside it is felt in a general
weakening of the spirit and body. To spend half an hour in
physical contact with a Green Woman is to invite death.
Skills:
Uncanny
Attack:
Rank One
Armour:
Rank two
Health:
Six
Fear:
Average
Trauma:
One
Might:
7
Deft:
7
Wits:
6
Will:
6
Hagge
Heathen Dead
121
Skills:
Attack:
Armour:
Health:
Fear:
Trauma:
Might:
Deft:
Wits:
Will:
Uncanny
Rank Four
Rank Two
Six
Average
One
6
5
3
3
Becoming Incarnate
Hellhound
Incarnate
The Incarnate are those once-mortal people or creatures
that have been drawn into the unending service of one of
the three Powers of the Beyond - Hallow, Wild or Dark.
Such unfortunates become twisted, sometimes monstrous
servants and soldiers of the wars between the three
kingdoms.
Becoming Incarnate places a Character so utterly in the
sway of a kingdom of spirits that all free will is effectively
lost. A player character that becomes Incarnate is removed
from the game as certainly as if he or she had died. The
person, as he or she was, ceases to be, and is replaced by
a half-crazed foot-soldier in the eternal war.
Designer Note
So why even include rules for becoming Incarnate? The
answer is that the rules for Incarnate and the descriptions
of various Incarnate powers are intended for the Storyteller
more than the other players. As the Storyteller you will
likely find the below rules useful if creating unique and
interesting villains and enemies for the game, as well as
Aura of Light
It seemed for a moment that the very air was set afire. As
if all the old stories of the ancient Greeks power over fire
had come to life, taken form and descended to earth on
ghostly wings.
The Incarnate sheds an aura of flickering golden light.
This light is painful for Dark Incarnate and Shades of the
Dead. Any Dark Incarnate that comes into contact with an
Aura of Light must make a Test of Willpower (diff. Very
Difficult) to resist the urge to back away. Likewise Shades
must pass a Test of Obsession (diff. Very Difficult) in order
to remain in the Incarnates presence.
Blessed Name
There was a curious mark above the door of the chapel.
I remarked upon it and was told that it was the name of a
local saint, and that his name would keep away the spirits
of darkness. It seem that the spirits of darkness read the
language of these strange and backward tribes better than
I.
The Incarnates very name has a power in it. If inscribed
on a doorway no Spirit, Shade, Wild or Dark Incarnate can
pass unchecked. Any unnatural being that attempts to
pass draws the attention of the Hallowed Incarnate and
the Incarnate may chose to manifest itself to bar the way, if
such action seems best to it.
Charmed Flesh
I do not think a mortal man could have put a sword to its
flesh, that creature of light and wonder. I do not dare dream
what horror might have befallen he who tried.
122
life.
The Incarnate flesh is woven tight with enchantment. It
cannot be harmed except by sorcery and enchanted or
blessed weapons.
Flesh of Fire
Its skin was a-crawl with the lick of flames, its eyes were
like hot coals, its breath a roar of heat, as bright as the
glorious fiery sword of the angel who watches the Gates
of Eden.
The Incarnate exists not as a being of solid flesh but as
an entity of roaring white flame. Unless also possessing
Charmed Flesh, however, the Incarnate may still be harmed
by mortal weapons, but weapons or other objects that
come into contact with the flesh of flames grow instantly
very hot. Flammable objects have a 2 in 6 chance of bursting
into flames.
Glorious Visage
I could not bear to look at it without the desire to fall to
my knees and weep for sheer joy. If, in that moment, I
could have chosen I would not have left its presence. Not
in a hundred thousand lives of men would I have averted
my gaze.
Prophecy
There is an omen whispered full often in that little petty
kingdom that the king cannot die except at the hand of a
handless man. What it means? I cannot say? Riddles and
prophecies. Who can tell the difference?
The Incarnate will, from time to time and without warning,
be struck with prophetic visions of warning concerning
disasters or deaths which may yet be averted.
Hallowed Touch
They say that long ago, in the time of the Romans and
bright being walking this valley, or passed through it on
some journey, and all things that it touched were made
forever holy. There is a humble river stone in a cathedral
not far from here that it is said no demon, witch or wild
spirit can touch.
The Incarnate can make people or things temporarily
blessed with hallowed power by touch. The blessing lasts
for a few hours and renders the blessed frightening to
Wild and Dark Spirits and Incarnate. Wild or Dark Spirits
or Incarnate that come into sight of a Hallowed Touched
mortal must make a Test of Willpower (diff. Average) or
feel compelled to flee.
Wondrous Beauty
I could never look at tapestry or painting, or a dance of
swans, or sunlight on water or the flight of swallows or
any things of beauty and not think again of her.
The Incarnate is so beautiful and wondrous that not just
mortals but simple animals are struck dumb by the mere
vision of it. All mortals that see an Incarnate blessed by
Wondrous Beauty must make a Test of Willpower or be
forced to avert their eyes and burst into tears. Animals are
struck silent and still by Wondrous Beauty and remain
transfixed until the Incarnate removes itself from sight.
123
Feral Eyes
She did not look uncanny until her face turned to mine.
Her eyes. They stared and stared. Yellow and predatory. I
did not walk away. I ran.
The Incarnate can see in near absolute darkness and
has the power of sight of a hawk.
Ferocious Strength
He looked a little thing, a slip of a lad, with bandy arms
and gangly legs. Yet with no effort at all he reached forward and lifted the entire wagon off the ground. The horses
immediately began to neigh and scream.
Despite all appearances the Incarnate has tremendous,
unnatural strength. Its attacks in Combat cannot be
negated by armour, and if struck a mortal is thrown to the
ground on a Failed Test of Fortitude versus Difficulty Five.
Vanishings
124
Bloodlines
Poor little Isabella. We saw her in the moonlight, her
dress all tattered, her stare blank and hungry. It was a week
after the funeral, and that night we knew with certainty
that it was not one of natures creatures that had killed her
in the woods.
Wild Visage
His face was a tangle of wild thorns, his hair a great mass
of leaves. His eyes were as deep and mossy as the pools
of the forest deep, and his skin was the colour and smoothness of young birch.
The Incarnate has a wholly supernatural appearance,
and is comprised of a mixture of human, animal and plant
aspects. Any mortal who sees such a creature cannot
mistake its unnatural origin.
Wondrous Beauty
She more lithe and charming and pleasing to the eye that
all the beauties I have ever seen, that strange nymph swimming in the frozen lake. I wonder what would have happened if I had offered my hand to her. Those eyes were
beautiful but they were also laughing and mocking. I do
not think my end would have been kind.
Charmed Flesh
My sword went straight through the man, and yet he
but grinned. No blood spilled forth. I fell back, sword now
trembling. The wound in his chest knitted shut while I
watched, aghast, speechless, struck dumb by fear.
The Incarnate flesh is woven tight with enchantment. It
cannot be harmed except by sorcery and enchanted or
blessed weapons.
Ebony Talons
The Incarnate is supernaturally beautiful or handsome.
Mortals who see it must make a Test of Willpower versus
Difficulty Four not to be immediately infatuated and
charmed.
Dark Horror
His face was a worm of maggots, his skin a crawl of
disease. There was no way this thing, this unnatural creature should be arisen, walking, living. And yet it was.
The form the Incarnate takes is terrifying to behold. All
mortals who see it suffer Four instead of the usual Three
Trauma.
Bestial Form
The thing that ambled out of the dark forest was not
human, and yet it was not quite beast either. Its limbs were
all hulking and misshapen, its skin covered with fur and
yet there was a hint of a human face in that mask.
The incarnate form is either a monstrous version of a
real animal, such as a wolf with pitch-black fur and burning
eyes, or some weird mixture of human and animal. A halfhuman, half-cat creature, or a bat-winged man.
This will likely grant some unusual abilities depending
on the beast, such as flight, the ability to walk silently, or
climb as rapidly as a cat. It Incarnates Attack and Armour
should also be adjusted up while in Bestial form, usually
by one or two ranks each.
Enthralling Aura
I shook my head again. The vision shifted and changed.
One moment she was young and beautiful. Her eyes gleaming, the next she was that withered hag, blood encrusting
her mouth. I stepped back, and it was good that I did.
The Incarnate can project the illusion of being beautiful,
handsome and alluring. Any mortal who meets it must make
a Test of Guile at Difficulty Three to see through the veil of
illusion.
Feast of Blood
There was blood running in trickles down its chin. How
I shuddered to see the limp body of the young woman, she
who I had but met a short while before, there, prone beneath that hulking and monstrous form.
The Incarnate is able to repair damage to itself, and if
Soulless also prevent decay caused by that state of being,
by imbibing either living blood or living flesh. After feeding
the Incarnate must shortly enter a state of false death, an
indolent sleep, if it is to gain benefits from the feast. The
deathlike sleep lasts twelve hours and restores the
Incarnates Health to full and reverses any rot. If discovered
or disturbed while asleep an Incarnate cannot rouse itself.
125
Jack in Green
Flesh of Shadows
One moment she was in my grip, the next, I held nothing
but air and the sky was filled with her awful, goblin laugh.
The Incarnate can, at will, assume a shadowy, misty form
that is able to pass through solid objects. While in this
form the Incarnate can neither sustain nor cause injury in
any way.
Human Masque
He did not seem dead. He did not seem a fiend of hell. I
will not say his smile was charming. It was not. It made me
feel cold. But it did not by any means look like the smile of
a demon in human flesh.
The Incarnate can assume at will a human, apparently
living, if perhaps a little pale and eerie form.
Razor Fangs
His teeth were just a little too white, a little to even, and
a little too pointed.
The Incarnate either permanently possesses or can grow
long predatory fangs and slashing teeth. The teeth do not
count as unnatural weapons but do grant an extra bonus
success every time the Incarnate uses them to attack.
Soulless
We brought the thing bound in chains and irons to the
fire. It shrieked and screamed and writhed in the flames. I
cannot think that I have ever seen a more horrifying sight.
I could not have stood and watched so stoically had I not
seen with my own eyes the corpses the thing had left in its
wake.
The Incarnate is Soulless and Deathless. It cannot die,
but suffers injury normally. If reduced to a Health five ranks
below zero it succumbs to a false death. It will, however,
rise again if its body is not in some way utterly destroyed.
Manes
126
Merchant of Souls
Ondine
127
River Thing
Will:
Sanguiturge
Rules
Shades of the Dead are chained to the mortal world
because of an Obsession. In the mortal world Shades, in
fact, consist of little more than raw Obsession. In their
normal state Shades exist as near invisible shadows. They
will not be seen Whenever a Shade tries to affect the mortal
world, be it by moving a physical object or manifesting in
a visible state or uttering real sounds in order to
communicate with the living a Shade must make a
Successful Test of Obsession, usually at Average, but may
vary if a Shade attempts to have a more substantial than
usual affect on the mortal world.
Shades consist of only three attributes when haunting
the mortal world, Obsession, Pneuma and Torment. All
three are measured on a scale from one to six. Obsession is
used by Shades as a means to channel raw emotion and
evoke real effects in the mortal world. Pneuma defines a
Shades substance, its solidity in the mortal world, its grip
128
Obsession
Covet
The desire to keep and retain that which the Shade owned
in life. Covetous Shades tend to haunt their treasures,
lurking watchful in order to frighten or force away those
who would steal their most precious things.
Longing
The desire to have that which the Shade could never
have in life or lost near the point of death. Longing Shades
may be searching for a way home, a treasured toy lost in
childhood, or lingering in a rose garden wishing after an
unrequited love.
Regret
Regretful Shades linger because of guilt and regret over
things once done. Regretful Shades may attempt to do
right by those who they once wronged, others miss their
chance to put things right and are forced to wander the
world forever reliving their crimes in an eternal nightmare.
Sorrow
Pure misery brought on by painful death, betrayal, or
despair in life. Suicides sometimes linger as Sorrowful
ghosts. Those who are betrayed by those they love suffer
deeply and also sometimes find themselves shackled by
their own overpowering sorrow.
Wrath
Raw anger. Shades of those who felt they were on justified
crusades or missions or revenge and justice will sometimes
be drawn back to the mortal world by their own fiery wrath.
Wrathful Shades will try as best they can to continue their
missions in life after crossing the veil of death.
Pneuma
Torment
129
Pneuma:
Torment:
Trauma:
Charlaroths Shade
Charlaroth was a knight under the rule of a long forgotten
Visigoth King of Valentia in or about the year 565.
Charlaroths name has, through the years, been changed
and romanticised and is all but unrecognisable as Visigoth,
the original shape of his name being long since lost.
During the Umayyad Invasion of Iberia Charlaroth
betrayed his fellow knights for the sake of the love of an
Umayyad Princess. His ompanions in arms were ambushed
and slain to the last, but when Charlaroth presented himself
as vassal and suitor to the Princess he was spurned. Cast
out onto the road he travelled north and wandered
Aquitaine a penniless sword-for-hire beset by guilt and
horror. AT the end of his days, suffering from Typhoid he
returned to the now ruined Visigoth castle that he once
shared with his fellows and there lay down and died.
Charlaroth is said to haunt those ruins still, forever
watchful, for a hundred years and more attacking and
waylaying Moors on the roads and now that they are gone
waiting and convinced that the Moors will one day return.
He seeks an eventual redemption of his betrayal.
Obsession:
Six
(Redemption)
Six
Four
One
Simulacrum
130
Might:
Deft:
Wits:
Will:
3
5
3
3
Sleepless Dead
Strega Mort
Strigoiul
131
Might:
Deft:
Wits:
Will:
6
6
6
6
Succubus
Taxim
and desert, and still a Taxim will know where he is and will
walk tireless by night, every night, to seek out revenge.
See the entry above for Restless Dead for more
information relating to Taxim.
Skills:
Normal
Attack:
Rank Two
Armour:
Six
Health:
Twenty
Fear:
Very Difficult
Trauma:
Three
Might:
5
Deft:
2
Wits:
2
Will:
2
Vampyr
132
Varcolac
Might:
Deft:
Wits:
Will:
7
7
7
7
Vieczy
Wild Huntsman
133
Werewolf
Wurm
134
135
Two Horrors
b
Chapter Ten
The Troubled Priest
Synopsis
Hook
Father Theodore
136
A little history
Jared had been living with the miller of the hamlet for
close to one year prior to his banishment. Claiming to be a
pilgrim, Jared had asked that someone within the hamlet
provide him with board, in return he would work for his
supper and a roof over his head. At first no one wished to
have a stranger in their house. As it was, most of the folk
lived in small cottages of turf and mud, they hardly had
enough room for their stock and themselves let alone
another mouth to feed. So it was that the miller took pity
on Jared and let him stay with him.
The real reason for Jareds appearance was one of
evasion. Jared had been worried that his practice of the
unclean arts might be discovered by members of the Church
at the town he used to live in. So he quickly decided to
move out and take his practice elsewhere. Winter was
close to setting in when he stumbled upon a small hamlet
off the beaten path. He was desperate for shelter so his
initial plea was genuine. He really would work for food
and board if he could get it.
Being close-knit peasant folk, no one of the hamlet trusted
Jared for many months. He did as he said he would,
however, and put his energy into helping the miller as best
as he could, it was a means to an ends. After a while the
folk become used to seeing the stranger about the place
and fears slid aside. Jared started to become anxious to
renew his dark work, so after two months of hard toil with
the miller, Jared decided that things had settled enough
that he could now return to his studies of sorcery. Jared
would creep away from the mill at night with his writings
and notes and go deep into the nearby woods to draw his
circles and consort with dark spirits. The spirits would
whisper things to Jared, tempt him with power and convince
him, slowly, over time, to pursue his sorcerous studies
more and more often.
Jareds activities went mostly unnoticed, even by the
miller, except for the watchful eyes of one particular person,
Father Theodore.
The good father had been accepting of Jared at first but
as time went on he discovered that Jared knew his letters
and the priest thought it odd that a learned man was living
with peasant folk. So it was that he would keep an eye on
Jared. As time went on, his uneasiness grew, time and time
again he would see lights out in the woods, these lights
became more frequent. The miller began to grumble about
how lazy Jared had become and how he was sleeping later
and later into the day.
It became too much for Father Theodore and he decided
to investigate the lights one night, along with a local
cowherd. The two men moved quietly through the trees,
towards the light. As they drew closer, they could hear
Jareds voice; his queries were being answered by another,
quieter, hissing voice. Finally they were able to get closer
enough to see Jared standing on a patch of cleared ground.
Before him was a large circle drawn into the soil, five black
candles illuminated the circle and in its very centre was
etched a strange symbol. It was not the circle that drew
their attention however, but the thing of shadow they saw
137
Conclusions
Game Statistics
Father Theodore
Theodore wears a simple priests habit and has a small
wooden cross hanging from his neck by a thin cord.
Dogma
Elegiacs
Fable
Folklore
Husbandry
Occult Lore
Scribe in Latin
138
Synopsis
Background
Hook
Trapped
139
Playroom
The Toddler
140
The Bedchamber
The Study
The Cellar
141