This game’s text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this li-cense, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/. What this means is: You are free to copy, share and remix the contents of this work under the following conditions, 1) that you do so noncommercially (ie: you do not sell it or derivative works,) 2) you attribute Machine Age Pro-ductions, 3) you license any other derivative works similarly. In layman’s terms, we would strongly prefer you not make money off our work, and if you share or use it, that you give us credit. We would also like you to share the love. If you make a derivative property, let it become part of the game community. Don’t hoard that shit. If you’re interested in making a commer-cial property for sale, based on our games, we’re flattered. Simply contact us for permission, we’ll work it out.

A roleplaying game of wacky time traveling action-horror.Writing, Layout, Development: David A Hill Jr Art: Jeremy Kostiew, The Public Domain Playtesters: John Johnson, David Reichgeld, Filamena YoungThis is a Machine Age Productionhttp://www.machineageproductions.com/

Kicking Historical

Asses

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INT. GYMNASIUM - LATE NIGHT

CHRISTIE sits in the corner, rocking forward and backward. Covered in sweat. TOMMY and JESSE are tending to Christie.

TOMMYYou gonna be okay, Christie? If we call for an ambulance, the cops’ll come. They’ll break up the party.

CHRISTIEI told you. The party needs to stop, or you’re all going to die!

JESSENo way. I’m pre-med. It sounds like malaria, and malaria’s not communicable. We’ll be okay.

TOMMYUmm, isn’t malaria deadly?

JESSEYeah. But it takes a few days. She’ll be fine.

Christie surprises Tommy with an automatic basketball air pump, and stabs him in the stomach.

TOMMYWHOA! What did you just do, bitch?!

JESSEIt’s okay, Tommy! It’s just a little puncture. As long as you don’t get air in the wound, you’ll be...

Christie backhands Jesse and knocks her across the room. The basketball rack falls on her, only her face is exposed. Tommy’s stomach explodes, spraying blood and gore all over Jesse’s face. Christie opens her mouth to speak. Jesse interrupts her.

JESSEYeah, yeah. I know. You told us so.

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Part One

Getting Started

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You were at a party with twenty of your ‘closest friends.’ It was late, and you stumbled on an ancient artifact, something your eyes were never meant to see. It was hidden long ago and far away, only recently uncovered by some archaeologist’s bad luck. It brought the Darkness. Earlier in the evening, Christie stepped out for a while. When she came back, she had changed. She begged you to end the party. She insisted everyone should ‘just go home!’ She said she couldn’t say why, so nobody listened. She was the first to die; to change. She told you the party was going to end. What she didn’t tell you is that she was going to end it with a heaping helping of murder. She ate half the basketball team before she could be stopped. She stabbed your friend Tommy in the stomach with a basketball pump, and made his torso explode all over the prom queen. Unfortunately, what was left of the team, half meat and bone, rose to carry on the killing. You were making out with Casey when the possessed ballers charged in and slaughtered your best friend as she was mid-moan. Before the night was over, you watched your friends slaughter your other friends, as the Darkness possessed their corpses. That was when you and a few of your buddies stepped up, taking action against the Dark Forces of the dead. You gathered whatever makeshift weapons you could, and you fought the monsters until the break of dawn. From gardening tools to old records, anything that could strike a blow made its mark against a demon. The second you saw the sun, your buddies and you piled into the first mobile vehicle you could find, and you took off, tires squealing. You couldn’t have known then that your escape was doomed. The roads were mysteriously closed, and a terrible portal opened up in front of you, too fast to pull away from. When you recovered from the portal ’s effects, you found yourself in a different time and place. The engine is blown, you’re out of gas, and you have no idea how to get home.

...Welcome to the dark ages.

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IntroductionYou’re a small group of friends (or loose

associates) and you’re trapped somewhere you do not belong. You’re surrounded by people that don’t understand you. Worse still, you’re facing armageddon. The Darkness dragged you to this spot, in this time, because the force was at its strongest, and you are destined to beat it. It cheated, and forced you to fight on its terms. Its terms mean no technology, no communication, no defined social protections. No cops. No guns. Fortunately, you and your friends were able to bring hints of the 21st century with you. Now, your top priorities are: kicking demon ass, being awesome, and getting home. Not necessarily in that order.

PreparationGet food. Get plenty of food. By food,

I mean we’re not screwing around. Don’t hesitate. Don’t feel bad about potential choices. Pizza should be the starting point. Then you should move on to more specific snacks; things like cheese-filled pretzels, or anything wrapped in bacon. Beer is a valid form of refreshment. Soda can be a close second. To the point, you are not striving for ‘classy’. If you are, you’ve already lost the game. Good job. Everyone needs a Character Sheet.

Well, everyone except the Director (Yes, someone has to be the Director. Pick someone. If they complain, tell them to deal with it.) The Director should have some scrap paper. Napkins work fine for this. Collectively, the group needs one Setting Sheet. Make that happen. Pencils are a plus. In fact, playing without pencils will be a nightmare. Don’t try it.

You’ll also need dice. In this case, you’ll need a couple of four-sided, six-sided, eight-sided, and ten-sided dice, each. You could share, but don’t blame us when your dice lose their mojo because your friends get artificial cheese flavoring on them. We’ll use abbreviations. d4, d6, d8, and d10. Guess what dice those represent. The Director needs a d12.

Getting StartedTo get started, your group has to come

up with a few things. Some of it goes on the Setting Sheet. Some goes on your Character Sheets. First, where did you come from? Come

up with a city or region you’re all from. This mostly helps when you’re coming up with your characters. People from Los Angeles will be different than people from Detroit, or from a rural town. That goes on the Location section of the Setting Sheet.Second, what were you doing when you

were transported? The Darkness came, but where were you? It’s important that numerous friends, family, colleagues, and/or associates died in this process. Were you at a fraternity party? Was it a work retreat? High school graduation? If you can’t come up with something within about a minute that everyone digs, everyone rolls a d10. The person with the highest roll gets to pick. Everyone else gets to shut up, smile, and nod. That goes on the Event section of the Setting Sheet. Third, everyone comes up with a

stereotype. You know these. They should relate to the event you all came from. If it was a frat party, you might have Dudebro, Party Girl, Jock, Nerd, et cetera. At the office retreat, you might have

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Mail Guy, Middle Management, Lifer, Administrative Assistant, and similar. High school graduation calls for Prom Queen, Voted Best Chance to Succeed, AV Club President, Chain Bookstore Pagan, Stoner, Carrie-Waiting-To-Happen, blah, blah, so on, so forth. If someone calls dibs on a stereotype, you cannot take it without their permission. Tough shit. You should have came up with it first if you wanted it so bad. Fourth, everyone comes up with an

Angst. This is a dead friend, lover, boss, relative, whatever. It’s someone close to you, that was at the event, that got slaughtered by demons. Bonus Moxie point if they were possessed, and you had to brutally kill them after a short and sentimental hesitation. The important part of the Angst is that they give you Virtue. They give you strength in the face of adversity. The Virtue is a positive trait about your character. Positive is a very loose term. It could be anything, from Chastity, to Bravado, to Stubbornness, to Hope, to Detachment. The Angst is phrased like such, “Name, my Relationship, gives me Virtue.” For example, “Lindsay, my Lover, gives me Hope.” Share these relationships around the table. Make it petty, or sappy, or both.Fifth, the group comes up with a

Vehicle. This is the wrecked hunk of metal that got you through the portal. It doesn’t work now, but that doesn’t stop you. This isn’t “a car.” It’s a “76 Chevy Caprice Classic with Rusted Chrome Rims and an Ugly Spoiler.” Give it some personality. It can be a car, truck, boat, whatever. It should be metal. It should be twentieth century technology or greater. And it should be destroyed. It needs three Traits. Traits describe the vehicle. Relate those to its personality. For example, our Caprice is Heavy, Loud, and Ugly.

Sixth, everyone needs to come up with a Thing. The Thing is a piece of technology, junk, weaponry, or something else from the modern day. It got snuck on the vehicle during your escape. Everyone writes their Thing on their Character Sheet. Think of what your character might have available, but don’t think too hard. We’re not in the business of making sense. Your nerd is just as likely to have a shotgun as a portable video game system. The prom queen’s just as likely to have a ham radio as a cellphone. Not only do we not care, but if you want to get all artsy-fartsy about it, weird Things can help you come up with a more interesting character background when people ask about it in play. Try explaining why the prom queen has a ham radio. Go ahead.Sixth, (We’re still at six, right? Whatever)

everyone comes up with a Foil. This is a character in the dark ages that acts as a counter to your character, giving them a Failing. Think about a good opposite. It doesn’t have to be an enemy, but it’s the person that brings out the worst in you. If you’re Lecherous, they chaste princess Isabella might be your Foil. If you’re Obtuse, the wise prophet Gilbert might be your Foil. If you’re Smart-Assed, the traditional knight Robert might be your Foil. You get the way this works? Good. Don’t think about it too much. Move on.Eighth, everyone comes up with a Gig.

This is your character’s day job. Don’t be too practical here. Not everyone needs to be a soldier. In fact, you’re better off if you’re not something practical. Just trust me on this. Be specific. Don’t say, “I work retail.” Say, “I’m a convenience store clerk.” Gamers like charts, right? Here’s some sample Gigs. You want to make your character old school style? Roll random. Roll a d6 for the column, and a d10 for the row.

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If your game event doesn’t lend itself to characters with jobs, look at these Gigs are goals, or what your characters aspire and train to be. High schoolers fit here, if you’re going that route. Ninth, you get Stuff. You have to assign

dice to each of your three types of Stuff. You get a d4, a d6, and a d8. Your three types of stuff are Attitude, Ingenuity, and Badassery. Attitude covers your wit, your sexiness, and how fearsome you are to puny babies. Ingenuity covers your smarts, your command of technology, and how clever your plans are. Badassery covers your strength, your ability to withstand physical punishment, and how much you’re like Errol Flynn or Linda Hamilton. Bigger die types are better.Tenth, Moxie. We’ll give you one. You

also get one if you brought food. You also get one if you brought drinks. If you were the only person to bring food or drinks, you get three. And everyone else loses their free one. We use coins or other physical counters for Moxie. It makes things more fun.Eleventh, you get Traits. Describe your

character with one Traits. Then, after everyone has theirs chosen, announce them, and go around the table. Everyone

has to add a Trait to the player to their left. The receiving player has veto power on these Traits. But if you veto someone’s choice, they get a Moxie point, and you lose one. Then you get to pick your own second Trait, because you’re a crybaby. Alternately, you can call your mommy and ask her to pick a Trait for you.There’s also a Hobby section. No, it’s not

a fucking typo. Just leave it blank. You’ll probably figure it out later, there’s already eleven steps. And you should probably name your character. That doesn’t count as a twelfth step, because it’s pretty damned obvious now, isn’t it? There. Now you’re ready to play.Er, you’re not. You also need the

McGuffin. That’s the piece of evil dark magic crap that you need to get home. A book, a potion, a bone, a cloak, a ring, it doesn’t really matter what it is. But you should come up with some piece of crap thing that The Darkness wants, and write it on the Setting Sheet. Make it sound occulty. In fact, give it three Traits, just like the Vehicle got. And if someone draws a picture of it, they get a Moxie Point.Now you’re ready.

Sample Gigs1-2 3-4 5-6

1 Retail Clerk Bank Teller Parking Attendant2 Factory Assembler Guidance Counselor Bellhop3 Nurse Graphic Designer Foot Model4 Delivery Driver Journalist Mystery Shopper5 Barista “Entrepeneur” Disc Jockey6 Zookeeper Drug Dealer Casino Dealer7 Carnival Laborer Indie Filmmaker Bit Part Actor8 Administrative Assistant Teacher Accountant9 Deli Worker Construction Worker IT Technician10 Telemarketer Novelist Plumber

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EXT CASTLE - HIGH NOON

JESSE is surrounded by knights, with swords drawn. ERICA and MARK sneak around the crowd.

JESSEOkay, Jimbo. I know how this looks. If I were you, I’d be suspicious, too. But I’m not a sorcerer. Hell, I don’t even play one online.

KNIGHTThy heresy knows no bounds, WOMAN. Confess thy sins, and thine judgment shall come swiftly.

MARKThey’re going to kill her if we don’t do something.

ERICAFucking astute. And they’ll kill US if we do something.

Mark throws a stone and hits one of the squires in the head. Squire gets dizzy, falls to ground. Erica is surprised. Jesse uses the distraction to grab a stun gun, and electrocute the knight. His hair stands on end and sizzles.

ERICAWhat are you...?!?

JESSEAlright. That there, that was a little taste of electricity. That’s what point oh-four amps of lightning does to the human body, when amplified by the metal in your armor. Anyone else need a science lesson?

The knights hesitate, then back away from her. Erica moves in to pat Jesse on the shoulder.

ERICAYeah! What she said. Science, bitches!

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Part Two

Playing

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Now you’ve got characters and setting out of the way, you can start playing. The Director is in charge of everything that isn’t directly related to the characters. The Director plays all the side characters, unfolds plot, and brings The Darkness. The other players portray their characters, and help drive the plot along. They’re the protagonists. The first thing you have to do is figure

out how long you’re playing. You should break up that time into three segments, each about as long as the others. These acts are very loose, play the times by ear. But they should follow a basic formula as follows: Act One: Introduce the setting. Make

your dark ages cool. Give the reason for the quest. Act Two: The quest. Introduce the Big

Bad. Shit gets real. Act Three: The climax. This is where

The Darkness meets the characters head-on, and the team must rise to meet the challenge. This act is typically a war between the forces of good and evil. The act flow is mostly there to keep

things on track. But a few important things occur in each act that should be noted. Also, things get harder as the game progresses.

That’s all about flow, though. Just keep it in the back of your mind. Trust us, it’ll all come together in the end.

DICE We’re going to talk about dice rolls.

They’re what we use to determine whether or not things succeed or fail. Lots of games have dice rolls for the same reason. That does not give you an excuse to skim this section. Just read it. You’re not playing all those other games. If you were, you’d be reading different books. So pay attention, ninny.

When To Roll You don’t need to roll for everything.

That would get very boring, and very stupid, very quickly. Boring and stupid are more or less the opposites of our design goals here. Well, stupid is alright. But stupid must always be coupled with funny. Rolls should happen at two times: When there’s an important risk involved, and failure or success could change the course of the story in a positive way, and when players want awesome shit to happen. Let’s talk about those two things a little.

RiskRisk means something could go wrong

and change the story. Of course, you don’t want players totally failing and screwing up everything. This is a game about heroic stuff. So if the story needs the players to succeed, don’t make them roll something they might fail. Or better yet, somehow twist the story a little so even a failure looks like a success. Rolls should be made per risk, not

per beat of the action. If a monster is

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breaking into someone’s bedroom and chasing them, you make a roll for the chase, not to get up, to tie shoes, to open the window, and to jump out. It’s just one risk. If as a Director, you tell the players to make a bunch of rolls for one thing, you’re telling them you want them to fail. And you’re being an asshole. Stop it.

Awesome STUFFThe other time dice come into play is

when players want Awesome Stuff™ to happen. By this, we mean, they want to add things to the way the story is working or being described. If they want a door on a building you’ve described, they can make a roll. If they want a chandelier to swing on, they should make a roll. This roll cannot be to find the door or

fire poker or whatever. It has to be a roll to do something with a risk. So maybe there’s a monster, and the heroes want a pit to knock it in. They can make a roll to kick the monster. Depending on the results, there might be a pit to kick it into. You’ll see how this works in a moment. What’s important is, you shouldn’t tell

the players “no” here. You should ask them to put something at stake. Ask how they could screw up and make things worse.

RollingDice rolls are simple. The player gets

together a bunch of dice, rolls them, then adds them all together. The Director rolls a d12, and compares it to a number. Depending on the players’ choices, the Director might get a couple of other dice to roll. The number is the Difficulty of the roll, unless the d12 roll is higher. Then, the d12 roll becomes the Difficulty.

Player Dice PoolThe players’ dice pools are made up of

a few things. First, every roll uses one of the three Stuff scores. There’s a list of examples, telling what actions should use what Stuff, but if the player is creative about it, consider letting them use what they feel works. Next, look at your Traits. If either of

your Traits apply, you can add a die to the roll if you check off a box next to it. Do you see the little check box next to your Traits? You start off only being able to use the d6 and d4 checkboxes. You don’t have to use them in any order. If you do cool things, or play more than one game, you could get bigger die types from your Traits. You can use more than one Trait on a roll, but you can’t add more than one die from a single Trait. Then, look at your Failing. If you want,

you can add your Failing to the roll. It gives you a d6. You can even use the Failing after you’ve rolled your other dice and not gotten the result you want. The thing is, if you use your Failing, you cannot Be Heroic in that action. You have to describe why your Failing helped you succeed, but made you look like a jerk. Be creative. Lastly, look at the Vehicle. See how

there’s a check box next to each of its Traits? Those are all d6s the group can use. If you use one, it has to be crossed off. It’ll be unavailable for the rest of the game session. Most importantly, you have to explain how the Vehicle and its Trait helped in the scenario. Again, be creative. The Vehicle does not have to be repaired to contribute to the scene. In fact, it is probably funnier if it was not repaired. Moxie adds a d6 to your roll. You can

spend any number of Moxie on one roll (so long as you have it to spend).

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Director DiceTo determine the target Difficulty of

a roll, the Director does some mojo. First off, there’s a Base Difficulty. That’s determined by the Act. Act 1 has a Base Difficulty of 4. Act 2 has a Base Difficulty of 6. Act 3’s Base Difficulty is 8. Then, you add or subtract a Difficulty

Modifier. It’s based on how hard something is. The Director decides it, and the players deal with it. If they complain, ask them if they want to run the damned game. Now, you have the Difficulty. Well, actually you don’t. Not quite yet. If they players want, they can use their

Virtues here. Virtues are sort of good and bad. They make things harder, but there’s a reward. How do they make things harder? In a story sense, they have to explain why. Doing virtuous stuff is almost always the path of most resistance. In game terms, you get to add 4 to the Base Difficulty. But, the player gets a Moxie Point if they use their Virtue. They can only do this once per Act.Roll a d12. Compare it to the number

you came up with (the Base Difficulty plus the Difficulty Modifier). If the number is higher than or equal to the die roll, it becomes the final Difficulty. If the die roll is higher, it becomes the Difficulty. If the number is greater than twelve, roll an additional d8, and add the dice together to compare. If the number is twenty or higher, add another d6 to the roll. The higher number is the target the player needs to hit to succeed or fail. In addition to determining the

Difficulty, this die roll makes one of three things happen. The player could get a Complication, be Heroic, or, well, nothing special happens.

HeroicsIf the number is higher than the die roll,

so it determines the Difficulty, the player gets to Be Heroic. This means something awesome happens, in addition to the player’s die roll. They get to determine something that adds to the scene, that makes them look cool. Maybe they find the pit to knock the monster in. Maybe they save the princess. Whatever it is, it should be badass. It shouldn’t be an automatic ‘win button’, but it might look like it to outsiders. Keep in mind, Heroic Stuff happens,

regardless of success or failure on the roll. The action may still fail, but the character looks cool, while failing.

ComplicationsWhen the die roll is higher than the

number, so it determines the Difficulty, the player gets a Complication. This is something that makes things harder. It’s something that makes the player’s character look like a buffoon to any onlookers. Even if the player succeeds on the roll, this thing should be worth

BASE DIFFICULTYACT DIFFICULTY1 42 63 8DIFFICULTY MODIFIERSCHALLENGE MODIFIEREASY! -2NORMAL 0HARD +2STUPID HARD +4EPIC HARD +6

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laughing at. If somebody at the table thinks the player’s pitched Complication is lame, they can spend a Moxie point to veto the Complication and make their own. But what comes around, goes around. The Complicated player gets a Moxie point, that they could use later. They’re likely to use it against the person that screwed them over.

Nothing SpecialIf the roll is the same as the number,

nothing special happens. Why I dedicated a section to telling you this, I don’t know. The die roll still works like normal. The roll fails or succeeds. But nothing special happens. Unless you want it to. Then, knock yourself out.

Succeeding Succeeding happens when the player’s

die roll meets or exceeds the Difficulty. This is not very complicated. Success means (drum roll, please) the action succeeded.

FailureIn contrast to the rules for succeeding,

if the player rolls under the Difficulty, their action fails. Do you need further elaboration? If so, can we direct you to your nearest elementary school? Or if you find this concept particularly hard, perhaps your local zoo? I’ve heard they can teach chimps to use sign language.

Other Rules And Rolling Stuff

That’s most of the rules you’ll need to play. You could technically just run a game with that system. But they’re paying me by the word here, and fans complain when there aren’t enough rules for all the bullshit they come up with. Also, there’s stuff on the character sheet we haven’t used yet. Let’s use it.

ThingsSometimes, you want things to go well.

Sometimes, Complications just aren’t an option. In these cases, you have Things. Things are technology from the future (that would be where your character comes from, if you have forgotten) that you happened to take with you for whatever reason. Things have checkboxes. Whenever you’re making a roll, and you

could benefit from your Thing, you can check off the box next to it. If you do this, you can’t get Complications on your roll. In fact, with your Things, you always go Heroic, no matter what the Director rolls.

GigsGigs are day jobs. Unless things are

particularly weird in your game, your characters should not be able to continue in their day jobs. “But mine will!” you say. Good for you. You’re the working class in a game where people are supposed to be kicking ass and smooching hotties (of both genders, thank you. We’re progressive here). If you have a Gig, you can check it to ignore one roll. You win. Good for you. You can’t do this in Act 3.

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MoxieI think we already talked about this,

but it bears repeating, spending a Moxie gives you a d6 on any roll. You can use all the Moxie you want on a roll. But how do you get Moxie? Well, you

get some at character creation. Then, you get one whenever you roll four higher than the Difficulty on a roll. We call those rolls Groovy. While they don’t change the game much mechanically, you can describe why what you did turned out spectacular and awesome. And good for you.The other way, and there is one, involves The McGuffin. So yeah. That.

The McGuffinThe McGuffin is the piece of evil junk

that drives plot. And when the Director wants to, they can use the McGuffin’s Traits to screw with the players. Using the McGuffin’s Traits adds a d4 or d6 to the Difficulty of any roll. This is after everything’s added. Only one such die can be added to a roll. If the Director does this, the player instantly gets a Moxie point (but it cannot be used on the current roll). The Director must describe why the Trait makes things rough. “Your Mom” is not an acceptable reason (unless it’s the Trait used).

HobbiesHobbies are not filled out when you

make your character; you get to fill those out in play. Every character gets one. You get to make it up when you use it for the first time. This should be phrased as some sort of epiphany. “But aha! Because of my time taking underwater basket weaving classes, I know exactly what to do here!” If you think your hobby has to be highly applicable, you should probably pay

closer attention. So long as you can make the argument for why your hobby would help on a given action, it works (but only once per game). When you invoke a hobby, proclaim

it loud and proud. Maybe you should stand up for emphasis. One of two things should happen: The other players at the table should laugh at your character, or the other players at the table should laugh at you. If not, you’re doing it wrong. If you failed to do it wrong, you get to reroll any dice on your dice roll. But you have to take the second roll, even if it’s shittier than the first one. Write down that Hobby. You’re stuck

with it. If you play again, you get to use it again. This means you’re going to bend over backwards to try to justify how your Hobby helps you in absurd situations. We get it, back seat game designer. You think that’s a flaw in our design. It’s okay. We think your complaints are cramping our good mood. We want your characters doing silly things that are barely sensical.

This strange totem thing is an example of a McGuffin. It doesn’t have to make sense. It just needs to be spooky.

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Kicking asses should occur frequently in this game. In fact, if there’s not an ass being kicked in every Act, the Director needs to focus a little more on the game, and a little less on whiny emo poetry. Kicking asses uses the same rules as

everything else, but they get a couple of rules on top of those. Which is to say, you can use Moxie, Stuff, Things, Traits, all that jazz in a fight. If you don’t, you’ll probably find yourself in a ditch.

Hurting Evil Any time you succeed on a roll in a fight,

you hurt the bad guys. The bad guys don’t die until they get hurt a number of times equal to twice the current Act. That means you have to hurt a bad guy four times in Act 2. Once you hit that level, they’re dead. Yay! If they die in Acts 1 or 2, the Director reserves the right to bring them back in Act 3. The Director should keep track of this

amount. The amount is for all the baddies in the current scene, not per monster. The team goes against that goal.

Getting HurtWhenever you fail a roll in a fight, the

bad guys hurt you. You immediately get an Injury Trait. You’ll see that it’s already written at the bottom of your Traits. There are four little dots next to it, and four little boxes. Each is a die type. The first time you get hurt, you mark the d4. Then, the d6. So on, so forth. If you get injured when you’re at d10, you’re dead. Those Traits, you have available like any

other Traits. That means you get to use those dice as you get hurt. The closer you

are to death, the more awesome you get to be. In some games, being hurt makes you weaker. In some games, you play anthropomorphic kittens. Blow. In our game, being hurt makes you cool. Just like in real life. In fact...

KICKING ASSES

Getting Hurt On PurposeYou can get hurt on purpose. Any

time, in fact. We reward it. If you take a voluntary Injury Trait, you immediately get a Moxie point. This injury must be very cool, to afford Moxie. For example, you could lose a limb. To hell with that. Losing a limb is the benchmark. You should do something cooler than that, even. A good one-liner isn’t a requirement, but it is an expectation.

Fight CoreographyFights should be fun. This means the

rolls should go quickly, the descriptions should be big and over-the-top, and reality should take a back seat to whatever you think is coolest in the scene. This isn’t exclusive to fights, but it’s important because fights get more rolls than most things, and because nothing bogs down a fight scene worse than consulting rulebooks and things. Don’t let that happen. This is the prime time for improvising. If

you don’t know what something should do, it adds a d6. In fact, Director, here’s your big shield. BIG IMPORTANT RULE!If the players complain, point to this

rule: Anything that you want adds a d6 instead of whatever the players think it does. If they complain, they get an Injury Trait. If they complain again, they lose. Yes, you can lose in this game. The only way is by arguing with the Director.

INT MAUSOLEUM - LATE NIGHT

MARK has a scrap of paper in hand. JESSE looks afraid. ERICA is keeping guard with a shotgun at ready.

MARKNow, what was it the sorceress said?

ERICAShe said the spell wouldn’t make any sense to us, but it makes rings of gold.

JESSEWait a second, Mark. That’s modern English. That says flour, paprika, egg...

MARKDuh. I can read modern English.

Mark mumbles over the recipe, spouting off ingredients and steps for frying them.

ERICANo way, Mark. That’s totally a recipe for onion rings!

MARKOnion rings? Who uses paprika in onion rings?

ERICAAncient necromancers, apparently. Anyway, what else did the sorceress say?

JESSEShe said we shouldn’t read the spell.

JESSE puts her forehead into her hand after a moment’s contemplation.

MARKThis is the part where the Earth shakes and we all die, right?

The two women nod to Mark. The ground shakes violently.

Part Three

Game Flow

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Remember how we were talking about Acts at the beginning of the rules chapter? Remember how it didn’t make a whole lot of sense when we presented it? Hopefully, you realized on the fighting page how things sort of change from Act to Act. Fights get tougher. Oh! And earlier than that even, you should have noticed that every challenge gets tougher, since Base Difficulty comes from which Act you’re currently in.

That’s how the game flow affects the rules. But here, we’re going to talk about the events that go on in each Act. Since you are making your own adventures, and coming up with a lot of this at the table, we’re more interested in providing a framework for making that happen. Like anything else, tinker with this to suit your game. But this framework is a good starting place.

Here, you need to get the characters into the setting. Don’t worry too much about the Event, just know what it is, and keep it in mind for later. Most importantly, you’re setting the

stage for things to come. You have to present the characters with conflict, and pit them against a time and place they don’t belong to. Historical accuracy is the last corner you want to paint yourself into. Inconsistently use “thee” and “thou” to dramatic (read: comedic) effect. Introduce at least half of the Foils here.

Let the players have some input if they want. The Foils mostly exist for the sake of making the players react. Keep in mind the characters’ Failings when you play the Foils. Try to emphasize those facets of the characters.

You also need to introduce the existence of the McGuffin. By default, it should have been present during the Event for whatever reason, and is now lost. The characters must pursue it to get home, or to save the world, or both.

Direction AdviceDon’t use the McGuffin Traits here.

You’ll be wasting them. In this Act, just let the players win a lot, and toy around with the game system. Give them a fight or two (usually brought on because of the differences in cultures) and let them stand out as clearly superior to the more primitive people. Unless the players really demand it, don’t use more than two fights in this scene.

In Act 2, you have to send the characters on a quest. That McGuffin isn’t going to retrieve itself. This is where you raise the stakes, frighten the characters, and batter them from all sides with monsters and baddies. Depending on how your time looks, you should have two to three fights in this Act. If there are any remaining Foils, use this

Act to introduce them. Make sure to give them the same gravity you gave to the Act 1 Foils. It’s easy to forget that,

because Act 2 tends to be much more action-packed than Act 1. The other important thing you have

to do here is introduce the Big Bad. The Big Bad is the “boss fight” for this game. Try to make it personal. If you really want to shake the characters, make it the resurrected corpse of one of their Angsts. The Big Bad cannot under any circumstances die in Act 2, but you can have it fight to the death. It just comes back in Act 3. I don’t care if someone

Act 1

Act 2

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brought a woodchipper and someone else brought an incinerator. The Darkness is far too powerful to let the game’s climax happen mid-story. That would suck. And if there’s one thing that you do not want to do, it’s suck.Oh yeah, The Darkness. While you can

talk about it and maybe even show it in some of the fights in Act 1, Act 2 is where you give it attitude and personality. It not only hates the characters, but it thinks it’s better than they are. It quite possibly is. It should behave with resentment and dismissal, along with a healthy helping of mockery. This serves two purposes. First, you get an excuse to laugh at your players. As if you needed one. They’re playing roleplaying games on a Saturday night.

Second, it pisses them off. This makes them really want to blast the monsters back to hell. This makes Act 3 that much more fulfilling.

Direction AdviceUse a couple of McGuffin Traits here.

Make sure you save one or more. If the players are going to do much failing, this should be the bulk of it. Most players will save their Moxie and other stuff for Act 3. So really beat them down a little. Get them dirty. Rub it in. If you can make them cry, you get a Director Brownie. We didn’t mention Director Brownies in the rules chapter, because they’re far too cool for the rules. Trust us, you want them.

Act 3This is where all hell breaks loose.

Literally. Here, you should pit the forces of humanity against The Darkness in an all-out brawl. This scene should have about three or four fights, including a final showdown with the Big Bad. The fate of the universe is at stake here, make it count. There aren’t a lot of specific pointers

here, besides kill a lot of the humans, and make the characters’ victory really hit home. They should feel like they earned it. Be sure to feature Foils heavily, and call

back to your previous encounters. This is the characters’ biggest chance to shine. Do not let dice rolls ruin that. Even if characters die, they should contribute to the finale. After this, you determine what’s next.

Wrap up your game, and if you plan to run sequels, be sure to leave the story open to that possibility. Give a nice tie-in or cliffhanger. And if you’re playing again, consider advancement. That comes in the next page.

Diagram 1: This is a 15th century seige engine. They really hurt. Consider using one against the players.

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AdvancementIf you’re running more than one game session with the same characters, the characters

get some nifty perks. Er, they get to pick two. Or one, depending on what they pick. Two of These: They can add a new Trait, Hobby, Thing, or Foil. Alternately, they can

raise the die rating of a Trait by one. Traits cap out at d10. One of These: Instead, they may raise one of their Stuff scores by a die, up to d10. Also, as the setting may change, players are encouraged to shift out their Foils, and

possibly their Angsts. They keep the same Virtues and Failings, but they’re triggered by new characters in the new setting. The McGuffin grows in power. It could be a whole new McGuffin, or just the same

one with more unholy power. It gets a new Trait, or increases one by a die type.

The Darkness as a MetaphorIt’s not. This is not an art game. It’s just a fucking dark force. It makes monsters. It

kills people. It tries to conquer the universe. If you want to make it more complicated than that, consider joining a LARP troupe. They like introspection and shit like that.

The rest left intentionally blankYou see, you’ve just bought a digital book. It’s 2011 (probably, unless it’s not, and

I forgot to update this text). This book is a living document. Like the Constitution. Or the Necronomicon. I’ll occassionally update this file with some new material. You should get emails to that effect from the vendor you purchased it from (our exclusive vendor is DrivethruRPG. So you should get one there). If you want more stuff in the book, drop me an email, or request it at http://www.machineageproductions.com/

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