SDM Quickstart

Every half‑decent world is held together by three things: good stories, dubious cartography, and people determined to prove their grandparents wrong.

This Quickstart is a lens on the SDM, not a replacement for the Vastlands Guidebook + Our Golden Age. Our Golden Age advancement is the canonical default; legacy leveling remains as an optional mode.

SDM Quickstart Table of Contents

• SDM Quickstart
• SDM Quickstart Table of Contents
• SYNTHETIC DREAM MACHINE
  • THE DIALOGUE
  • Typical Target Numbers
  • Time + Equipment = Automatic Success
  • Roll When It Counts
  • Dice Oracles
  • Magic Numbers
  • Force a Situation
  • Exploding Dice
  • Hero Dice (HD)
  • APPROACHES
  • RELEVANT ABILITIES
• ENTITY METAPHYSICS
  • 1. Character Creation Snapshot
  • 2. Levels \& Life
  • 3. Ability Scores
  • 4. Traits \& Items
  • 5. Saves
    • Your Save Is 13.
  • 6. Defense \& Ward
  • 7. Conflict and Combat
  • 8. Group Rolls
• INVENTORY
  • CHARACTER EQUIPMENT
    • HUMAN CLOTHES
    • ONE STRANGE ITEM
    • ONE USEFUL KIT
    • STARTING CASH
    • EQUIPMENT
    • Interpreting Equipment
      • Typical Use
  • HOW ITEMS WORK
    • Suitable and Unsuitable Equipment
  • RESOURCES
    • DROPPING ITEMS
    • IMPROVISING WITH ITEMS
  • BURDENS
    • Item and Trait Overflow
    • Typical Burden: Wear and Tear
• CONFLICT AND COMBAT
  • To Fight or Not
  • Before the Conflict
    • Dangerous Environment
    • Dangerous NPCs
    • It Came Out Of Nowhere
  • Reaction Rolls
    • Flee \& Freeze \& Fawn
  • Rounds
  • Initiative
    • Turn
    • Actions
    • Free Actions
  • Improvising Actions
  • Movement and Range
    • Relative Zones
    • Indoor Zones
    • Vehicular Action Zones
  • Morale
  • Chase and Escape
  • DAMAGE
    • Damage in Deadly Combat
    • Ability Score Damage
  • DEFEAT
    • DEATH AND HAKABA
  • RECOVERY
    • REST
    • RELIFE
• EXPERIENCE
  • EARNING EXPERIENCE
  • INVEST YOUR EXPERIENCE
  • Basic Golden Age Upgrading
    • Levels, Hero Dice, and New Traits
    • Life Upgrades
    • Ability Score Upgrades
    • Improving Traits
    • Def/Save/Inv/Atk/Dmg Table
  • Golden Age Item Upgrading
    • Lvl/Roll/Dmg/Armor/Ward/Trait Table
  • Hallmarks, Pets, and Sidekicks
    • Investing in Hallmarks
    • Shared Characters or Hallmarks
    • Recovering Invested Experience
• GROWING THROUGH PLAY
  • Modifying Traits Through Play
  • Gaining New Traits Through Play
  • Increasing Ability Scores
  • Adversity and Decay
• COMPANY/CARAVAN PLAY (UVG)
  • Running A Caravan
    • Inventory and Sacks
    • Units and Encumbrance
    • The Pleasure of Treasure
    • Treasure Is Heavy
    • So Hack It Up
    • Time, What is Time
    • How Far Is Very Far Away?
    • The Use of Days
    • Rest and Recovery
  • Misfortune: Luck of the Road
  • Destinations and Discoveries
  • What if it All Goes Wrong?
    • How Not To Starve
    • Out of Supplies
    • Source Code Corruption
  • Trade \& Goods
    • Market Research
    • Buying and Selling the Goods
    • Haggling Table
    • Local Special Needs
    • The Catch Is
    • Thirty Ultraviolet Trade Goods (d30)
  • A First Caravan
    • More Sample Caravans
    • Financiers
    • Who Really Stands Behind the Patron?
    • Trade Routes (Milk Runs)
    • Caravan Quests
• COMPANY PLAY (OGA)
  • GOING PLACES
    • TICKET DICE
      • Comfort Dice
      • Protection Dice
      • Speed Dice
      • Buying Ticket Dice
  • VOYAGE EVENTS
    • Foot, Hoof, or Pedal
    • Autogolem, Hauler Rig, Metal Steed, or Vech
    • Bus, Gondola, Pod, Rail, Tube, or Wire
    • Cargospace \& Intersanctuary Express
      • Access Blessing One — Autosoma
      • Cargospace
    • The Waters: Bateau, Ferry, Glisseur, or Yacht
    • The Airs: Blimp, Flapper, Propelleur, or Rug
    • The Void: Bolide, Chariot, Sphere, or Voidskiff
    • The Portals: Dull, Fast, One, Slow, or Wild
• DOWNTIME (Weeks at Home, OGA)
  • BED REST
  • RELAXATION
  • LABOR
    • Work Rewards
  • ESTATE PLAY

SYNTHETIC DREAM MACHINE

THE DIALOGUE

The heart of the game is the conversation between players and referee.

1. The referee describes the situation facing the PCs.
2. The players say what their characters do.
3. The referee describes the outcome.
4. The players say what their characters do now.
5. Et cetera.

Typical Target Numbers

3 trivial, casual, banal (excellent odds)
7 easy, simple, routine
11 mediocre, moderate, average, medium, [null], Ø
15 hard, challenging, tasking
19 very hard, confounding, arduous (terrible odds)

> roll over the target number:

d20 + ability (if applicable) + skill (if applicable)

Time + Equipment = Automatic Success

A character with suitable equipment and few time constraints succeeds at ordinary tasks without rolling.

Roll When It Counts

With long-duration activities, only roll when it counts.

These are things like hiding, moving stealthily, standing guard all night, social posturing in a crowd, and similar ongoing activities. The roll should resolve the decisive moment, not every minute of setup.

Bonus and Penalty

The referee assigns a bonus [+] or penalty [-] to d20 rolls when circumstances favor or hinder a PC. The size of the modifier is up to the referee and more art than science.

Traits, items, events, burdens, and more also give bonuses or penalties. The referee has final say when and how different modifiers combine.

Typical modifiers

Hard Limit Option: modifiers to a d20 cannot exceed +/-13. If they would exceed 13, the referee may rule an automatic success (or failure), or limit the modifier to +/-13 and also assign [+a] or [-d].

Dice Oracles

When a player, including a referee, does not know what might happen in a situation and there is little risk, rolling dice on a table gives a working answer.

Quick d6 Oracle

The referee can set up oracle die tables to suit the odds they want. 2d6 offers a bell curve, 1d10 offers more options, and so on.

Skilled d20 Oracle

This oracle is useful when a PC’s traits and abilities come into play.

Roll d20 + modifier.

Magic Numbers

Some natural rolls on the d20 are special.
1 Fail, and equipment notched. Put a small mark next to the item. If you roll another natural 1 before repairing it, or if it suffers other damage, it breaks.
13 Only one ammo or other resource left. Put a small mark next to the item. After the next use, it is spent.
20 Always succeeds. Double effect or additional stunt (trip, trick, trap), then roll again.

Yes, the d20 always explodes (see below).

Force a Situation

When you roll precisely on target, PCs can sacrifice something to succeed. In a pinch, roll a d8:

1. Resources: spend more ammo, charges or fuel.
2. Damage: equipment or vehicles get marked.
3. Life: the exertion saps the PC’s plot armor.
4. Burden: the exertion strains or injures the PC.
5. Alert: opponents become aware of your efforts.
6. Benefit: foes get a bonus on their turn.
7. Innocents: allies or bystanders are injured.
8. Risk: the situation becomes more dangerous down the line.

The referee has final say on the choice of sacrifice.

Exploding Dice

When you roll the exploding die’s highest face, roll again and add the results together. Keep rolling as long as the die keeps showing its highest face.

> Exploding dice in SDM are marked with an asterisk (dX*). D20s always explode, even without an asterisk.

Hero Dice (HD)

Six-sided dice (d6) for adjusting rolls and regaining life. You (the Player daemon) gain one per session and one more every couple of hours. Other daemons may have alternate rules.

Daemons can store HD equal to their PCs’ highest Hero dice attribute. The referee can grant more hero dice for inspired roleplaying and prosocial behavior like bringing milk and cookies to the game session.

Roll hero dice to do two things:

• Adjust any roll, whether it is a d4 or a d20 or a d100. This does not have to be your character’s roll. The adjusted roll counts as a natural roll. This is not an action.
• Cause one of your Characters to regain life equal to the roll. This is always an action for that character.

Traits and items may provide other uses for hero dice. Rare traits can modify the number or type of hero dice. Burdens do not affect hero die rolls.

Tables may treat Hero Dice as purely narrative luck, or as literal daemon intervention, depending on tone.

APPROACHES

How do PCs get things done?

1. The referee presents a challenge.
2. The PCs choose their approach.
3. The referee gives clear feedback on the costs and odds of a chosen course of action.
4. The PCs confirm or revise their approach.

PC actions tend to fall into one of five types:

• impossible under current circumstances
• dependent on pure luck
• determined by natural ability
• a product of skill and ability
• a sure thing

The referee has different options in each situation.

Impossible

If a roll is impossible without a certain skill (or even with a skill), the referee may disallow any roll . Characters are not utter fools and the referee should advise the players that they need a different idea, possibly even suggesting an unimaginative and costly alternative.

Players can’t read the referee’s mind, nor vice versa. The ref shouldn’t trap players with secret gotchas.

Pure Chance

The course of action leaves no room for skill, natural ability, or divine favor. The character rolls a bare d20 .

Natural Ability Alone

When skill isn’t a factor, or a character lacks any suitable skill. The character rolls d20 + ability .

Skill and Ability

Players aim for this situation, since it gives the best odds. The character rolls d20 + ability + skill .

Sure Thing

The outcome is certain and rolling is a waste of time. The referee suggests an outcome; if the player accepts, there is no roll required and play moves on. If the player wants an even better outcome, the referee proposes a risk and lets the player decide to roll or not.

RELEVANT ABILITIES

Common sense usually dictates which abilities apply and which don’t. Strength helps with lifting heavy objects, agility with dodging rotten tomatoes, endurance with long marches.

Multiple Abilities Apply

Sometimes multiple abilities apply. PCs can choose which ability to use.

The referee may apply penalties or bonuses to a particular ability.

Specific Abilities

Some situations prescribe specific abilities.

Traits may also describe the specific abilities they use.

Alternate Abilities

Traits or items may allow alternate abilities in specific situations.

Missing Skill

When a character lacks a required trait for a task, the referee assigns a penalty as they see fit.

ENTITY METAPHYSICS

1. Character Creation Snapshot

• Named Characters either:
  • Assign 7 ability score points (max 5 for now), OR
  • Roll a flavor tag & ability array on the d100 table (VLG p.12).
• Traits at Level 0: 2 traits. Either a Background and 1 other (VLG style); or roll 1 status trait and 1 skill trait (OGA style).
• Heritage Trait (FTLS, optional): A gift from the goddess (Elyncia/FTLS). Does not take a Trait Inventory slot.
• Starting Gear (VLG, optional):
  • Level 0: no strange item, only €50.
  • Level 1: strange item (VLG p.22), quantum gear kit (VLG p.23), €100.
  • Higher levels: more cash.
• A Motive (optional):
  • A motivation for ADVENTURE!
  • See: MOTIVE.
• A Name (optional):
  • “Unnamed” or generic characters do not use the six named Ability Scores, and instead use a Bonus Ability Score (See below).
  • See: NAME.

2. Levels & Life

• All entities in the game have a Level.
• Most start at Level 0, unless otherwise noted.
  • Player Characters and other Primary Characters (PCs) begin at Level 0 by default.
  • Referees may start them higher with bonus Experience, often enough for +1 Level, +1 Hero Die, +1 new Trait, and +4 Life (269+ xp).
• Entities with Life begin with 4 Life at Level 0. Life increases via per‑point upgrades (often notes as +X/level, with most entities gaining +4/level).
• Life cannot go below 0-Roll Defeat instead if damaged below zero Life. Most characters flee or surrender earlier than this.
• Level cannot go below 0—roll Defeat instead.

3. Ability Scores

• Generic Characters have a single ability score: Bonus
• Named Characters (Player Daemon‑touched, etc.) use Ability Scores (+1 to +5) instead of a generic bonus.
• Six Abilities, grouped in three metaphysical pairs:
  • Ha (body, matter, structure, form, persistence, shape) → Aura, Endurance
  • Ka (soul, fire, drive, energy, thrust, movement) → Charisma, Strength
  • Ba (psyche, personality, change, path, choice) → Agility, Thought
• Ability scores cannot go below 0—roll Defeat instead.

4. Traits & Items

• All entities start with two “free traits” at Level 0.
  • For characters: Either a Background and 1 other (VLG style); or roll 1 status trait and 1 skill trait (OGA style).
  • For items: this means-
    • 1) their base mechanics (trait-style),
    • 2) one empty Level‑0 mod slot (often compatible with a quality, affinity tag, or magitech/sorcery upgrade).
    • Items gain one empty mod slot per level beyond Level 0.
• Characters may choose the same trait (“path/skill/ability”) multiple times to increase its skill modifier, or grant a listed upgrade. A trait selected multiple times does not take up additional trait slots.
  • Skilled +3 bonus to rolls; good enough to make a living
  • Expert +6 bonus to rolls; good enough to teach
  • Master +9 bonus to rolls; a rare master of this art

5. Saves

When nothing but blind luck will save you, roll d20 + ability over your saving roll target (or simply, your save). If you succeed, you are saved.

Your Save Is 13.

As with other rolls, there are three possible outcomes:

Under 13 Doom. What was, will be. No save.
Exactly 13 Sacrifice. Lose something precious to save.
Over 13 Save. Disaster averted, fortune appeased.

Relevant and Irrelevant Abilities:

• Endurance applies under duress, in harsh environments, and against diseases or injuries.
• Aura applies against threats to psychic integrity, spiritual pollution, daemonic possession, and mental injury.

>Agility does not provide a save bonus. As soon as a character is aware of a threat, such as a landslide, it is no longer a blind luck situation. They are taking action, using traits and abilities to overcome a threat.

Other Modifiers:

• Wards usually provide a bonus to saving rolls. Some provide a blanket bonus to all saves, others only in certain circumstances.
• Traits can provide a bonus or modify a character’s saving roll target.

6. Defense & Ward

• Defense (Physical) = 7 + Agility + Bonus (relevant Skill) + Armor
  • UVG NPCs are “skilled in Defense” (10 + Agility + Armor baseline).
• Defense (Mental) = 7 + Thought + Bonus (relevant Skill) + Ward
  • Ward represents psychic and mental resilience, and provides Save bonuses and mental defenses. Granted by metaphysical trinkets and magitechnical artifacts known as “wards” that protect one’s non-physical integrity. They also often protect against spells.
• Defense (Social) = 7 + Charisma + Bonus (relevant Skill) + Prestige
  • Prestige is a factional reputation from status symbols—titles, properties, valuable possessions, and admired traits—that enhance influence in relevant settings.

7. Conflict and Combat

To attack, roll d20 + ability + skill over defense.

Most attacks target physical or mental Defense.

1. Melee → Strength (e.g. ghost bone axe, machete)
2. Ranged → Agility (e.g. heat rod, wand pistol)
3. Oldtech → Thought (Magitech, e.g. brain‑slaved auto‑turret)
4. Fantascience → Charisma (Sorcery, e.g. mind whip, brain shackle)

8. Group Rolls

When the whole group is trying to accomplish something risky, a random character rolls for the whole group. Traits may modify this procedure.

INVENTORY

Your inventory slots are a key game resource. Though a character might want to carry everything, the cruel laws of their synthetic reality forbid it. Every human PC has three basic inventories.

• Traits: 7 + thought slots
• Items: 7 + strength slots
• Burdens: 20 slots

Non-humans may bear more or less.

Example: a cute little cat lord PC has just 2 + ability (strength) item inventory slots. They use a cat groom to carry things for them.

Some traits may expand inventory slots.

Pets and Sidekicks

Each of a character’s pets and sidekicks occupies a trait or item inventory slot. This represents the character’s care and attention.

Powers and Spells

Each power or spell occupies a trait or item inventory slot. This represents either a technomagical anchor or the engraved psycho-physical channels that grant the character access to this unnatural power.

Prosthetics and Augments

Each implant or modification occupies a trait or item inventory slot.

Additional Inventories

Traits and containers can create new sub-inventories. For example, a high-quality singing Long Ago backpack. Draw these on the character sheet or in a notebook.

CHARACTER EQUIPMENT

Items are all the tools and treasures that expand a character’s abilities and possibilities. From a mundane wrench to a magitechnical spell anchor, from a suit of pleather armor to a biomechanical crab-head, all are items.

You have 7 + strength inventory slots for items.

Each loose item or package occupies at least one item inventory slot. Other traits, items, and events can increase the number of item slots. Each item inventory slot is 1 stone in size.

At level 1 you start with:

• One strange item of ill-disclosed origin.
• One useful kit—a sack of quantum gear that fits your background .
• Some starting cash. €100 to be exact.

A level 0 character starts without the strange item and with just €50 cash. A higher level character starts with more cash.

HUMAN CLOTHES

Baseline humans have evolved to wear clothes. Any garments suitable for a tropical or temperate climate that such a character wears take up no inventory slots. You can describe them on the back of the character sheet.

Example: boiler suit, ship overalls, field loincloth, civilian sarong.

Additional sets of clothes, or garments that provide benefits or modifiers, occupy inventory slots as usual.

Example: a corporate suit (1 st) provides status benefits and access to temples of finance, a classical toga (3 st) blocks one arm and marks the wearer as a member of the ruling class in some Decapolitan republics, nomad robes (1 st) serve as armor, very warm clothes (2 st) are useful in the domains of Winterwhite, an environment suit (1 st) protects against radiation ghosts, etc.

Characters who are not evolved to wear clothes, such as cat lords, spectrum satraps, some golems, and other strange creatures, do not get a free inventory slot for the garments they wear.

Example: a cat lord wearing a cute little jump suit (1 st) and knit cap with foopy antennae may not look annoyed, but they can’t carry quite as many sacrificial mouse victims as they might wish.

ONE STRANGE ITEM

See: VLG One Strange Item.

ONE USEFUL KIT

A kit is a packed bundle of mundane tools that let a character do their job. A settled character can use their kit to make a living.

You have a kit for one of your background traits . Draw a kit box on the back of your character sheet.

The kit measures a whole sack (10 stones) in heft and includes up to 10 individual items. You don’t need to choose in advance exactly what is in your character’s kit—the items are in a quantum superposition until you define them as you play.

Example: Noë has a background as a plumber (don’t ask) and starts with a plumber’s kit. Noë doesn’t list each individual item in the kit. As she adventures, she produces useful O-rings, allen wrenches, lengths of pipe, and sealing tape from her kit. She lists these in her kit box, leaving space for 6 more quantum items.

The kit includes nothing better than a civilian weapon (1d6 damage) and no armor. You can buy more weapons and armor with your starting cash.

The starting kit leaves most characters burdened when unpacked. You can stash it before exploring a dangerous location or entering a fight. A beast of burden may help transport your kit.

STARTING CASH

Many kinds of cash are possible: the traditional luminous cowrie of the coastal communities (lb), the high-end plastic Casino gold piece (cgp) of the Red Land District, the traditional bunker-era duraplastic chit (dpc) of the Red and Orange Coprosperity Merchant Region, the sky-dragon scale (sds) of the Cat-affiliated knowledge societies, the prized ferroceramic puck-and-triangle of the Emerald City (fpck), and the completely ethereal noöspheric digital cash of the Dream Canopy (vdx).

For simplicity, the abstract “€” symbol covers them all.

You have €50 + €50 per level in physical currency. Enough to live on for a few months, if you are careful and boring. You’re not, though.

That’s not much per level, honestly.

What Cash Buys

Precisely how much €1 buys varies with place and time (and referee whim), but a reasonable baseline is 100 theoretical convertible imperial universal dollars from Finite Earth A.D. 2025 to €1. Example purchases:

A character can dream, right?

EQUIPMENT

This world is not like that of Old Soil, with its wild west feudalism and deep-delving gong-farmers. Sufficiently advanced technology indistinguishable from magic abounds, if unevenly distributed. The modern human knows that wonders exist, though few can pretend to understand them. Too much knowledge exists even for the hive minds and synthetic intelligences, and more has been forgotten.

What is magic? What mundane? That distinction is impractical. Somewhere in these vast lands nearly every item the human may dream up must already exist. Thus, to list all possible equipment… hubris!

Yet, some useful things for the traveler, for the voyager into the vast beyond the edge of civilization? That, yes, let us list that.

This chapter covers how equipment and resources work. For catalogs of weapons and armors, gadgets/tools/consumables, and vehicles/mounts, see SDM Gear Index.

Interpreting Equipment

To enumerate every use for a brick is an exercise in creativity. To do so for every item in the Vastlands is folly. When figuring out what to do with equipment in the game, before diving into its attributes, consider what it is and how it is described.

1. Natural Language. Equipment does what its name suggests. Use common sense and improvise details as needed.
2. New or Improved Ability. Equipment enables a character to perform tasks they couldn’t otherwise.

PCs do not need to make rolls to succeed at a task if they are using appropriate equipment and aren’t under pressure or facing time constraints.

Example: A raft allows characters to float, and climbing gear helps them scale surfaces they couldn’t free-climb.

To create unique items, reskin or modify existing equipment and powers with the desired effects.

Season to taste.

Typical Use

Sometimes, improvisation is not enough. For those situations, standard equipment attributes come into play. The following five are mechanics may see a lot of use:

1. Size. Each ready item occupies at least one stone (1 st) of inventory. Packed items can occupy less space. Most PCs can carry at least 7 stones of gear without penalty. Stronger PCs can carry more.
2. Damage. If combat breaks out, many items can serve as improvised weapons. A small personal weapon like a knife deals 1d4 damage, a civilian weapon like a fire axe deals 1d6 damage, and a military weapon like a lance deals 1d8 damage. Fragile items break after they hit. Clumsy items impose a penalty to attack rolls.
3. Notched and broken. On a natural roll of 1, equipment is notched (put a small mark next to it). If you roll another natural 1 before repairing it, or if it suffers other damage, it breaks.
4. Penalty or Bonus. Under pressure, characters without suitable equipment may receive a penalty for tasks they are skilled at. Conversely, having the perfect equipment for a job could provide a bonus.
5. Force the Situation. If you miss your attack roll by one, you can sacrifice your equipment (damage it, deplete its ammo, etc.) to succeed. The referee may suggest other sacrifices.

The referee makes the final decision.

HOW ITEMS WORK

Item sizes in the Vastlands use abstract units that combine weight and bulk.

Unless otherwise specified, an item takes up 1 stone of inventory space. 250 cash units take up 1 stone. A PC’s money is usually a mix of cards, credit, notes, and units that fit in a wallet. Treat the wallet as part of their clothing.

Available Items and Packed Items

Available items take up at least one inventory slot each, regardless of size, but a character can use them immediately.

Example: A readied dagger (5 sp) takes up a whole inventory slot (1 st).

Items can be packed away to save space. Readying a packed item for use takes at least one action.

Example: Packed in a bundle, two daggers fit in a single inventory slot.

Some equipment such as backpacks, pouches, purses, ammo belts, or clothing with hidden pockets can allow characters to pack away more gear than usual, effectively increasing their inventory.

Example: Onion’s synthetic skin backpack (1 st) allows him to pack away and carry 3 stones worth of small gear. Effectively, Onion can stuff 4 stones of items into a single inventory slot. However, retrieving a specific item from his backpack takes a whole action. Onion had better not pack away his inquisition squirtgun if he plans to use it.

Suitable and Unsuitable Equipment

Under pressure, the referee can impose a penalty on characters without suitable equipment for tasks they are otherwise skilled at. Conversely, having precisely the right equipment can provide a bonus. The referee makes the final decision.

RESOURCES

Some equipment requires resources to function: ammo for guns, charges for sorcelectric devices, fuel for golem vehicles, batteries for portable bard-simulacra.

Precisely tracking resources is not always necessary— often, you may assume PCs have enough resources for the scene or session and can replenish their resources between scenes, off-screen.

Generally, the only thing that matters is whether you:

1. have enough resources: keep using your gear.
2. are running low on resources: one use left.
3. have run out of resources: take an action to reload, refuel, or otherwise replenish your gear.

When using equipment, your d20 roll determines whether you have used up your resources or not.

If no d20s are rolled during a scene, make a resource usage d20 roll each item used in the scene and see if anything is running low or has run out.

Running Low: Natural 13

Whenever you use an item and roll a natural 13 you have only one use remaining.

Running Out

Some items have a replenish score (e.g. re 5 or re 10 ).

This number abstracts the number of bullets used in an attack or what percentage of the omnibattery the audiovisual illusion generator consumes replaying the iconic terror crabs scene from Chat on a Hot Tin Roof to chase away the hobnoble goons.

When you roll the replenish score or less, resources run out.

Example: Noë uses the lifesign scanner (re 5) as she explores the facility floor; the mechanical ear listening for vital tremors. Cat relays what lifeforms are detected and grants a bonus against surprises. When they reach the elevator to the lower levels, Cat asks for a usage roll. Noë rolls a 4. The sensor beeps once and goes dark, its juice drained.

Rolling a natural 13 always indicates a single use remaining, even if the replenish score is 13 or higher.

Charges vs Replenish #

Sometimes you may want to convert charges into a replenish number, or figure out how many bullets there are in a gun with a given replenish score.

Anything with more than 20 charges doesn’t have a replenish score. It only runs out after rolling a natural 13.

Single-Use Replenishers

Fabricators still churn out these disposable refills.

Dehydrated Pill: water for a human-sized entity. Fillgut Synorg: human belly-fill. Microbattery: recharge a 1 st item. Nanoammo: for any weapon. Omnibattery: recharge anything. Power Cube: refuel any machine.

Cradles and Multi-Use Fabricators

Convenient devices crafted by the Builders in the before times. A day after consuming a sack of feedstock, they produce a sack of relevant supplies.

Other Sources of Resources

Other ways to replenish gear exist. The listed cost is a guide for the referee to adjust based on local conditions.

Option 1: Precise Resources

Sometimes it makes sense to track resources such as torches, oxygen, ammunition, charges, etc. The referee clearly declares situations or locations where resources serve as a clock or limit on PC activity.

Example: Our heroes prepare to explore the bunker of the clockwork demon. Cat taps a pencil thoughtfully and warns them, “It’s dark inside, and the air may be toxic. You’ll track clean air and light resources.” The PCs decide how much of their inventory to fill with these resources.

PCs subtract 1 unit of resources (say torches) per unit of game time or number of actions (say every 30 minutes or 3 exploration actions). In the UVG, this is the default for overland travel, with 1 sack of supplies used by each traveler each week of travel.

Option 2: Overloaded Encounter Dice

The referee adds resource consumption to the encounter die and rolls after each exploration period. Ideally, the encounter die is tailored to its location. For example:

d6 encounter die (derelict void palace)

DROPPING ITEMS

A character can quickly drop one item or pack as a free action on their turn, reducing any penalties suffered from encumbrance. A quickly dropped item may break, get damaged, roll away, or otherwise suffer the consequences. The referee chooses a save target.

Example: A pair of shoes chucked onto a grassy slope may roll downhill, a sack of stolen glass statuettes dropped on a marble floor may produce a lot of sharp glass caltrops.

A character taking an action to carefully drop an item or pack avoids any risk of damaging their precious property.

IMPROVISING WITH ITEMS

Items are not just bundles of game mechanics. They improve a character’s performance and let them do new things. Use common sense and imagination to figure out how to take advantage of your PC’s equipment.

Example: Rafts let characters float, while climbing gear helps scale surfaces that are impossible to free-climb.

BURDENS

Burdens are 20 special inventory slots for afflictions, traits, and items that are so difficult to bear that they impose penalties to your actions.

Each burden imposes a -1 to all rolls.

At 20 burdens, you can move or speak slowly and carefully, but can’t take almost any other actions.

Item and Trait Overflow

If you run out of regular inventory slots for traits or items, you can store the excess among your burdens.

Example: Onion is carrying his equipment (8 st) and an armoire (10 st). With a strength of 1, he has 8 item slots. The armoire takes up ten burden slots, imposing a -10 penalty on all his rolls.

Unwisely, or desperately, he tries to chase off a ligneous skeleton (L1, corken) with a blast of hot plasma from his wand-gun. He might still overcome and roll up on the skeleton’s stomping grounds (on a roll that beats the target 14 defense with a bonus of +5, even after deducting the penalty, an overall chance of 0 or 5 in 20 of landing a blow, depending on the double damage).

Still, even a glancing blast from the hot plasma might frighten the ligneous skeleton. After all, cork burns so well, does it not?

Afflictions

Curses, diseases, mutations, corruptions, injuries, phobias, the impact of facing a true demon, and other afflictions occupy burden slots by default.

Example: Fatigue (affliction) You are drained by your exertions or the actions of an ill-daemon. Reduces maximum life total by your level.

Such afflictions often impose additional penalties in addition to the standard -1 to all rolls.

Some spiritual and psychological afflictions may occupy trait slots instead, while diseases and physical injuries could occupy item slots at the referee’s discretion.

Removing Burdens

Dropping cumbersome items immediately removes that burden. Releasing the magitechnical formulae of powers or spells also immediately removes that burden.

Removing other traits requires psychosurgery, shamanic intervention, or an increased thought score. Removing afflictions is harder, requiring rest and care.

Typical Burden: Wear and Tear

After significant exertion—an athletic competition, a grueling journey, an interminable battle, or another wearisome challenge—the referee may require the characters, their mounts, or vehicles to roll attrition saves.

If they fail, they lose 1 endurance or aura.

If they cannot lose endurance or aura, they suffer wear and tear instead. Their maximum life score is reduced by their level, and the wear and tear occupies a burden slot.

Resting or healing cannot increase their life score above this reduced maximum until they take time to mend and repair. If their current life score exceeds the new maximum, the excess remains as temporary life.

Each instance of wear and tear occupies a separate burden slot and applies independently.

CONFLICT AND COMBAT

To Fight or Not

When words have had their day, the struggle begins. This may be a fight with plasma machetes and ghostbreaker guns, but it can also be more abstract.

Conflicts are risky for the PCs, so their procedure is more defined than most other game mechanics.

1. The referee outlines dangers before a conflict breaks out.
2. Conflicts are not inevitable. Often, reaction rolls determine NPC reactions.
3. Conflicts unfold in rounds . Each round, the sides roll initiative, then act in turn.
4. After a few rounds, one side usually tries to flee, retreat or surrender — either because of a failed morale roll (the opponents) or the players’ decision (the party).
5. The winning side may get one final shot.
6. The conflict ends. The winners survey the spoils of victory. The losers gnaw the bitter bones of defeat.

If the PCs are not involved in a conflict, the referee can simply consult the dice oracle and narrate the results.

Before the Conflict

In the vast majority of situations, the referee ensures the players know when their characters face a potential conflict. The referee also clarifies the possible stakes:

death, dishonor, robbery, capture, etc.

Dangerous Environment

The referee communicates when the characters have entered a high-threat environment, whether this is a dungeon, a war zone, or an abandoned warp factory.

Dangerous NPCs

Likewise, the referee communicates when the characters encounter a creature or person who could be a threat if they become hostile.

It Came Out Of Nowhere

It is best when the PCs choose to face danger because they feel the potential rewards outweigh the risks. Then, in those circumstances, surprise, ambushes, and sudden attacks may come into play.

The referee should be wary of springing conflicts out of nowhere, without reason or foreshadowing. They have the entire Given World at their fingertips, they do not need this kind of unsportsmanlike trickery.

Reaction Rolls

Sometimes, it is unclear how a group of NPCs should react to the player characters. This is often the case with random encounters while traveling. In such cases, the referee’s best friend is the reaction roll. Think of it as an oracle of behavior. To see how the NPCs behave, a random PC rolls 2d6 + cha.

NPC Reaction (2d6 + cha)

If the PC wants to provoke a conflict, they may subtract their charisma from the reaction roll instead. Nice, manipulative people get into fewer unchosen fights.

Some traits may modify reaction rolls. The referee may apply penalties or bonuses depending on the PCs’ appearance and behavior.

Flee & Freeze & Fawn

Most NPCs are not mindless abominations out for bile and blood. People and creatures who feel threatened by the PCs may flee instead of attacking. Creatures that feel particularly overpowered may cower in terror, beg for mercy, or offer to serve their new tyrants, the PCs.

Rounds

When a conflict breaks out, play proceeds in rounds.

1. Each round the sides roll initiative.
2. Then, the side that won initiative acts.
3. Next, the side that lost initiative acts.
4. If one side suffered badly this round, the referee may decide they need to roll morale.
5. Then, the round ends.

The length of a round is cinematic, not precise. It’s long enough to do something meaningful. In a duel, a round might last mere seconds; with submarines chasing each other, it might last hours.

Initiative

Every round, a random character from each side rolls:

2d6 + agility

High roll goes first. Traits, circumstances, burdens, and the referee may apply other modifiers. The players decide their characters’ turn order when their side acts.

When initiative rolls are tied, chaos reigns and everything happens at once. The PCs and their opponents take their turns, but damage and afflictions only take effect at the end of the round. This is how two duelling swellswords stab one another right dead and proper.

Turn

Each round, each character gets a turn when their side acts. On their turn they do something.

Characters need to be aware of where they are and what locations or creatures they can reach or target.

Traits, items, and circumstances can give additional or special turn actions.

Actions

On their turn, a character can do nearly anything the player comes up with. The referee adjudicates whether it requires any die rolls and whether bonuses or penalties are called for.

Most turns, a character does some reasonable combination of movement through space and interaction with the environment and other characters.

The actions described in the following paragraphs are ideas for things characters could do in a conflict and how to adjudicate some situations.

Movement Actions

You’re mostly moving around, maybe doing something else not too involved, like unholstering a carbine, reloading a carbine, or wondering whether you left your stove on when you left your house this morning to explore the sewers.

1. Disengage. Carefully, guarding against counterattacks, you back away from close combat. You move nearby, just out of reach.
2. Flee. Carelessly, you turn your back on your melee opponent and head far away. Your foe gets a free attack. Probably with a bonus. Foes with guns may also get free attacks. Beware.
3. Move. You move nearby. Right there. No sweat, just a nice easy walk. You could combine this with readying a weapon to catch foes doing funny stuff.
4. Sprint. You move somewhere farther away, over there. Just as fast as you can. Look out, you might trip on some obstacles, and if there are enemies about, they may get a free attack.
5. Charge. You rush a nearby creature, getting a bonus to your attack. Attacks against you also get a bonus until your next turn.
6. Swing on Chandelier. Or other swashbuckling affair. Lovely use of the environment. Roll agility. Success: a bonus with your next action (probably an attack combined with the swing). Failure: your foe gets a reaction attack with a bonus, or you’re put into a humorously compromised position.
7. Climb a Ladder. Depending on ladder length, that’s probably all you’ll reasonably do this turn.
8. Drive. Or direct a ridestrich. Steering, not crashing.

Attack Actions

Attacks are actions taken to directly damage your foes.

Melee, ranged, oldtech, and fantascience are the four most common types of attacks, but others types are also possible. Traits and gear can unlock attacks with special effects, bonuses against specific targets, in certain environments, or from a character’s abilities.

1. Attack. An adjacent foe with a melee weapon, or a more distant enemy with a suitable ranged weapon.
2. Skirmish. You hop from behind cover, fire off a round, and hop back. The mobility isn’t great, but cover protects.
3. Careless Attack. Attack with no regard for your safety. Get a bonus on your attack, but if your enemy survives they get a free counterattack.
4. Ready Attack. Prepare to counterattack if a foe comes in range. If that happens, your attack resolves before your enemy’s. If it doesn’t come in range, your attack is wasted. The referee can use oracle dice to decide what enemies do, to keep things fair.
5. Suppressing Fire. Lay down arrows, bullets, or maser blasts, imposing a penalty on your foes’ rolls.
6. Furious Attacks. Roar as you unload your magazine into the monstrous rabbit of Blaargh. Spend your turn hacking away like a human possessed. No moving, no tactics, and your foes get a bonus against you on their turn, but you attack twice.

Tactical and Support Actions

1. Take Cover. You dive behind suitable terrain. Ranged attacks against you suffer a penalty.
2. Hide. Make yourself discreet, so you can’t be targeted. Requires suitable cover or camouflage gear and a successful agility or thought roll.
3. Sneak Away. If enemies can’t see you, you can move to a different location and surprise them, or flee without getting attacked.
4. Reload. Some complicated or big weapons need a full action to reload.
5. Grab On. Grab hold of a target. Probably requires a strength or agility roll. It can’t move away without dragging you along.
6. Hang On. A kaiju lumbering away? Roll endurance or agility to hang on.
7. Hold Down. Smaller? Make a strength roll to pin down a grabbed target. A pinned creature can’t move or attack anyone except you.
8. Help Hold. Rush in to help an ally hold down a pinned target. It suffers a penalty to breaking loose.
9. Shake Off. Attack an enemy that has grabbed or pinned you.
10. Defend. Turtle down and don’t attack this round. Attacks against you suffer a penalty.
11. Protect. Bat away blows against a target. Attacks against it are rolled with a penalty.
12. Drag Away an Ally. Get your friend to safety. If they are conscious, they might struggle, forcing a strength roll.

Other Actions

1. Use Power. Sometimes known as casting a spell.
2. Control Power. Not all powers are fire-and-forget affairs. Some, such as Waxni’s Magic Cruise Missile, require active control.
3. Chug Potion. You drink a potion. Or apply an ointment. Or slap on a healing parasite.
4. Communication. Command a golem, convey a complicated plan, or check instructions in the nöospheric post you have received.
5. Swap Tools. Carefully stow the gear you’re using and ready something else. You can rush it: toss your current gear to the ground, pull out a hidden pistol, and use it with a penalty.
6. Pick a Peck of Pickled Peppers. Or a pocket.
7. Activate Magic Door. Or unlock a regular one that doesn’t say whoosh.

Free Actions

Some actions, such as dropping a carried sack or responding to an opponent’s folly (such as their critical failure), are free actions.

A character can take at least one free action per round.

See: Free Actions.

Improvising Actions

Not only can the players come up with new actions, they are encouraged to. Most player ideas fall into one of four categories, making improvisation easier for the referee.

Great Idea

PCs get a bonus on their attempt. The referee can offer more options (with extra danger) to tempt them.

Interesting Idea

The PCs get an extra effect or flavor if they succeed. To spice things up, their opponents may get a free counter if the attempt fails (or a bonus on their turn).

Risky Idea

The referee can offer an extra effect if the PC succeeds. After that, the PCs’ opponents get a free counter or a bonus on their turn.

Terrible Idea

The PC can attempt their plan, but there will be a cost. At the very least their opponents get a free action to stop them, possibly with a bonus if the idea is truly stupid.

Obviously, the referee should not trick the PCs into thinking terrible ideas are good ideas. Springing save-or-die effects and similar disasters on PCs without proper build-up or clues is poor form.

Sometimes allowing a terrible idea can make for a truly memorable scene—especially if the PC fairly survives against damnably dreadful odds.

Movement and Range

The referee uses narrative zones to describe the scene and how characters and objects relate to one another. They note distances and ranges as they go, sketching a scene and clarifying as required by the players.

Exactly how a character moves, where they can go, what they can reach, depends on the conflict—where it is happening, how it is being fought. Fighting on a moving train is different from squaring off in the Electronic Crypt of Saint Baastet or a running skirmish on horseback with cyber centaurs in the Ivory Plains. The goal is to have a shared understanding of a scene, not to keep perfectly accurate time-space records.

Relative Zones

When a PC takes their turn, the referee summarizes their situation to help the players stay oriented.

Indoor Zones

Indoors and in other confined areas, the movement and range zones may become smaller and more contingent, depending on doors, obstacles, stairs, ladders, passages, traps, and the like.

Vehicular Action Zones

Outdoor scenes with fast-moving characters benefit from procedural zones, rather than precise maps. The referee sketches out the general area, then uses dice and a table to generate zones as required.

Morale

The end comes first slow, then all at once.

Most conflicts end not when one side is destroyed, but when it decides to stop fighting. Conflict goals might be:

1. Break a mechanism within X rounds.
2. Distract an opponent from their goals.
3. Escape out of range of a howling tower.
4. Frighten a foe by dealing Y damage in X rounds.
5. Learn about a monster by surviving X rounds.
6. Move an object from one location to another.
7. Protect a target from injury for X rounds.
8. Show superiority by avoiding injury for X rounds.

Players usually decide when they want to stop fighting. The referee tests the NPCs’ morale to find out when they have had enough.

NPC Morale

Morale goes to 11, no higher. The brave have more, the cowardly less; the referee adjusts.

By default, NPC morale = 3 + half their level .

Typical NPC Morale Scores

Mere machines, things without self-preservation, Ø shells driven by extra-cosmic daemons have no morale scores and cannot test morale.

Player Character Morale

A PC has no morale score. The player, like a daemon from beyond the cosmic veil, rides their mortal shell. Though the PC feels terror, their player needs care not.

“My hero is fearless!” the player might cackle.

Their PC would know better. Bitterly, better.

Some terrors can force PCs to save or flee, but morale is in the hands of their players.

The referee can call for a morale roll for the players’ secondary characters if the PCs drive them recklessly, beyond sense and reason, toward likely doom.

Testing Morale

A leader was defeated, a horror from beyond the void appeared, the angels were harvested like sheaves of wheat, the levy’s spear beams glanced off the monster’s shimmery form like grains of millet. To some, victory seems suddenly impossible.

Morale is tested.

Roll 2d6 to Test Morale over morale equal to morale

In groups, test a random character. Routs start with a single panicked flight.

Multiple Morale Tests

Circumstances may test characters’ morale multiple times, but not more than once per round.

The referee may decide that a character who succeeds at several morale tests in a row fights to the bitter end. Three successes should be enough.

Chase and Escape

Whether trying to close with distant characters or to retreat from a losing fight, it’s a chase. In a chase, what matters is who wins and how long it takes.

Only the pursuers roll—if they don’t make an effort, the prey gets away. A random character in the pursuing group makes a group chase roll, adding endurance and any relevant skill bonuses.

If the pursuers are faster, better-adapted, or otherwise advantaged in the environment, they get a bonus.

If the prey is faster, more familiar with the terrain, stealthier, camouflaged, or otherwise harder to catch, the pursuers get a penalty to their roll.

The referee can change the length of rounds between fight and chase to suit the narrative. While a round might be a few seconds in close combat, in the ensuing pursuit a round could be a minute or more.

Group Chase Roll

d20 + end + relevant skill

DAMAGE

All damage, unless specified otherwise, reduces a target’s life. Some powerful items or powers may reduce abilities or levels, deplete defenses, or impose other burdens and conditions.

Damage is Abstract

Reducing life doesn’t (necessarily) mean sprays of arterial blood. The precise effect depends on the narrative stakes. A creature could be gossipped to death, metaphorically. Once harangues and threats reduce it to 0 life, it might retreat, step aside, or be too brow-beaten to resist a killing blow.

Damage in Deadly Combat

Sometimes, such as while dungeoncrawling or fighting in a battle, the stakes are life and death. The referee makes these stakes clear when the party enters such an environment, or when a conflict escalates.

In such deadly combat, if an effect would reduce a character below 0 life, they are reduced to 0 life and must roll on the defeat table.

Most NPCs are out of the fight at 0 life. This doesn’t mean they are necessarily dead, but unless healed or somehow repaired, they are no longer active participants. Most sentient NPCs try to flee before this happens.

Ability Score Damage

Some obnoxious attacks, traps, curses, or situations reduce ability scores: strength, endurance, agility, charisma, aura, or thought. These are serious shocks, which carry the risk of death.

If an effect would reduce a character’s ability below 0, it is reduced to 0 and they must roll on the defeat table.

NPCs without defined abilities who suffer ability score damage reduce their level and attack bonus instead. If either their level or attack bonus is reduced to 0, they are out of the fight.

Burdens From Damage

Other obnoxious attacks, powers, curses, and circumstances can impose specific burdens on characters. These occupy inventory slots, reducing a character’s options, imposing situational penalties, and imposing additional penalties to rolls as they accumulate in a character’s burden inventory.

Each burden in the burden inventory applies a -1 penalty to all rolls, including defeat table rolls.

Most effects that impose burdens allow a save. The worst do not. Some burdens may specify additional effects: disease progresses over time, steps to cure the burden, etc. In all cases, the referee can adjust how burdens play out to better reflect the progress of the game.

When a character suffers a burden, but they have no available slots for burdens, they collapse; catatonic until at least one burden is removed.

Burden Generator

Burdens can be nearly anything. Use this eight-by-eight table to come up with sources of suffering:

DEFEAT

Two situations always force a character to roll on the defeat table:

• Not enough life or level remaining. If an effect would reduce a character below 0 life (or level), they are reduced to 0 life (or level) and must roll on the defeat table.
• Not enough ability remaining. If an effect would reduce a character’s ability below 0, it is reduced to 0 and they must roll on the defeat table.

At the referee’s discretion, other situations may impose defeat rolls (especially after failed saving throws):

• Terrible foes, oversized enemies, ancient doom laser swords, and other sources of extreme damage.
• Dangerous or overwhelming ancient powers that extract extreme costs from their users.
• Deadly traps, tricks, perils, curses, and other obstacles.

The referee should make it abundantly clear to attentive players when they are facing such dire threats. Springing a save or die effect on PCs without giving the chance to avoid it through smart play is not sporting.

The Defeat Table

Roll 2d6 + endurance for physical damage or 2d6 + aura for mental damage. Or just plain 2d6 for entirely overwhelming damage, like a giant boulder or demisphere-wide psychic overload event.

Defeat table ability score damage can force an immediate second roll on the defeat table—and a doom spiral.

Relations of Life, Death, and Undeath

DEATH AND HAKABA

Every character, like every living thing in the Given World, is composed of the existential trinity of body (ha), soul (ka), and psyche (ba).

Ha : Body, matter, structure, form, persistence, shape. Connects most naturally to the static abilities of aura and endurance.

Ka : Soul, fire, drive, energy, thrust, movement. Connects to the active abilities of charisma and strength.

Ba : Psyche, personality, change, path, choice. Connects to the dynamic abilities of agility and thought.

Concept Background

Ha-ka-ba is adapted from Ancient Egyptian conceptions of the person, as in the Coffin Texts and Book of th Dead . It also echoes many religious and philosophical ideas on the transmigration of souls.

In-Game Metaphysics

The soul provides the motive fire of consciousness, the psyche provides the unique direction of consciousness, and the body provides the vehicle.

This trinity affects how the dead, the undead, and the resurrected behave.

A creature killed by physical means becomes a classic corpse. A creature whose soul is destroyed leaves a perfect shell, easily turned into a flesh-golem servitor (sometimes called a zombie but actually a soulless automaton). A creature whose personality is annihilated presents the most unusual situation: their soul-body dyad remains physically alive, but completely malleable; entities of human intelligence without volition, loyal to their creator. Other permutations abound.

Indeed, death is not the end.

RECOVERY

REST

Living characters recover quite quickly.

These later humans’ bodies are blessed with strange powers of narrative healing.

Each week, remove one affliction or insult. This may be:

• Regain all missing life.
• Fully restore one missing ability score.
• Remove one burdensome affliction (terms and conditions apply).

Faster Recovery

Options exist if you can find them. Asking around this town, they offer (roll d20 + cha + relevant ability):

Legendary recovery options may require more than money—that may also involve a small quest or journey.

RELIFE

Death is not the end of your character’s service. The quality of their remains and the relife service provider may provide additional modifiers to the relife roll.

Body Available

€1d6 x 100 + soul licensing fees An aspera casket can spin a new soul into a relatively fresh body-personality dyad. Time since death affects memories and modifies personality. Top up the aspera casket with fresh soul-source as required. Caskets are available in all human settlements in good standing with the Ministry. If a casket is not available, it is because you or someone you know has sinned against reason and tradition and reality. It is your fault.

Head Available

€3d6 x 100 + body and soul integration tax An aspera jar may keep just the head alive, though psychological adjustment may be difficult. A suitable clone or golem body can restore mobility. Please apply for a suitable body at your local Temple of Justified Expectations. If a body is not available, it is your own fault for not paying the tithes of insurance.

Jewel Available

€1d6 x 1,000 + reincarnation penalty You’ve had your jewel installed since birth, duplicating all your thoughts and experiences, haven’t you? A fully ripened clone or secondary provides fertile ground for reseeding your consciousness.

Shattered Husk

€3d6 x 1,000 + gardening fine Error. Jewel not available. Please contact the canopic jewel service point to install a new synthetic personality backup matrix. Error. Canopic service point map layer missing. Error. Omnimap missing.

Traditionally, all Garden Humans had canopic jewels. What happened to yours? Are you even really human?

EXPERIENCE

EARNING EXPERIENCE

As you complete adventures, visit new places, see strange sights, and overcome harrowing challenges, you earn experience. Sources of experience include:

a. Novelties. When you explore, braving danger to see something new. Earn 1d6 × 10 xp per discovery or experience.
b. Quests. When your PC makes progress on some terrible quest. Earn 1d6 × 100 xp per session’s worth of progress.
c. At the referee’s pleasure. When you do something extraordinary, act in character, help the other players, and generally make the session memorable and fun. 1d6 × 10 per prosocial deed.
d. Session attendance. At the end of a session, earn 500 xp for showing up and being a good egg.

The referee can set other sources of experience, such as: e. Scavengers. Earn 1 xp per €1 of treasure recovered from an ancient ruin.
f. Pícaros. Earn 1d6 × 100 xp after spending that much cash carousing for a week and risking strange setbacks.

Later, you reflect on your strange experiences, so unlike your life before. When any PC achieves any party goals, every player rolls individually. The players can decide to swap rolls, so the most deserving gets the most experience.

You can now invest your experience in characters, pets, powers or equipment (see overleaf)—or save it for next session.

INVEST YOUR EXPERIENCE

You bank your PCs’ experiences. Places traveled, parties attended, creepy creatures engaged in dialog, mountains bested, ruins survived, treasures sold for profit, pleasures hunted down and carted off, etc. These experiences form a metapsychic currency (xp) which you then invest to increase the capabilities of your PCs, sidekicks, pets, friends, gear, powers, houses, or nearly anything else that makes sense. Each game object with invested xp occupies a trait or item slot on your primary character’s sheet. Yes, your player character is also usually your primary character. PC is thus, conveniently, a double acronym. That said, you can have multiple PCs.

Basic Golden Age Upgrading

Instead of “leveling up,” you can grow your PC piece by piece. Record your starting stats: level, life, ability scores, hero dice, traits, defenses, and the rest. Those starting values are your base attributes . From there, spend xp to raise whatever you want, whenever you want. Individuality, mass‑produced.

When upgrading your base attributes, you pay the xp cost for each step. So +1 life costs 8 xp, the next +1 costs 10 xp, the third +1 costs 12 xp, etc. The total xp column sums the costs of upgrading from the base attribute score.

The price of upgrading levels, maximum hero dice, and acquiring new traits is in line with traditional levelling.

These tables are the “SDM upgrade model”. Upgrade each attribute separately (track how much you spend on each attribute column in each upgrade table).

Levels, Hero Dice, and New Traits

n+1 = 2(n)

Hero dice! Gain one d6 HD per session and one more every couple of hours or at referee discretion. Spend and roll a HD to:

• Adjust any roll, whether a d4, d20, or d100. This does not have to be your roll. The adjusted roll counts as a natural roll. This is not an action.
• Regain life equal to the roll. This is always an action.

The Daemon holds the Hero dice for all their heroes. They may hold a maximum of their PCs’ highest “Hero dice” attribute.

Life Upgrades

n+1 = 1.2(n)

Upgrading your life scores starts out cheaper, but gets more expensive.

Ability Score Upgrades

n+1 = 3(n)

Upgrading ability scores across the board is a little cheaper this way, but boosting a single score is expensive and best be achieved with a combination of direct ability upgrades and carefully chosen traits that include ability score increases (see the Vastlands Guidebook for over 300 more traits, if that’s your marmalade).

This is clearly a convenient way to boost your associated attack, defense, and inventory sizes.

Improving Traits

n+1 = 4(n)

Improving traits is more expensive earlier in your career, but can become an affordable option later on, especially combined with growing through play (VLG, p32). Also, a canny character might acquire angelic or even divine aptitude with the right teachers … or by stealing divine knowledge from the right sidereal forge.

Now for some novel options not available with traditional levelling to cover the remaining attributes on the character sheets: defenses, inventories, and attack types.

Def/Save/Inv/Atk/Dmg Table

n+1 = 5(n)

They start out quite affordable and should combine with ability score upgrades for maximum effect. You could also combine them with traditional levelling if you were feeling adventurous.

If you’re planning a lot of combat or delving into the ruins of Long Ago, where the ghostly golems dwell, you might want to directly boost your natural defense and save attributes.

Need more room for traits, mutations, gear, and gold? Just like with defenses and saves, you can now boost your inventory sizes directly.

Finally, keen to boost your melee, ranged, fantascience, or oldtech attack and damage numbers directly? There you go.

Note that all the upgrades on this page could work on your pets, sidekicks, secondary characters, subcontractors, mercenaries, hirelings, and polybody drones as well …

Golden Age Item Upgrading

The fabricator technologies of this golden age are better than that. Note down your item’s base attributes, as you would for a character, and upgrade its attributes step by devastating step.

Levels are most relevant for vehicles, where they also translate into other attributes (like life and damage scores). Higher level powers impose penalties to their targets’ saves. Weapons with levels may count as “magical” for overcoming strange alien resistances to mundane attacks. Other specific gear, such as golem armor in full auto destruction mode, also benefit from levels.

Situationally, levelled gear may also bestow a certain amount of social renown, cachet, and swagger its owner.

The bonus to roll [d20], damage per die, and armor or ward upgrades are straightforward, applying to common attributes.

These tables are the “SDM upgrade model”. Upgrade each attribute separately (track how much you spend on each attribute column in each upgrade table).

Lvl/Roll/Dmg/Armor/Ward/Trait Table

n+1 = 2(n)

Traits is a catch-all category for the kinds of upgrades and features that don’t add up together easily, such as:

• area, range, or speed improvements,
• circumstantial bonuses (e.g. +3 in cold weather),
• damage dice boosts (e.g. d3 > d4 > d6 > d8),
• increased charges or reduced replenish numbers,
• reduced power prices,
• size reductions (minimum 1) or capacity increases,
• other unique features (see the Vastlands Guidebook equipment section pp64–93 for a few ideas).

For traditional leveling and traditional item levelling, see Our_Golden_Age/Our_Golden_Age.md → Traditional Levelling / Traditional Item Levelling.

Hallmarks, Pets, and Sidekicks

These secondary characters start at level 0 unless specified otherwise. Upgrade them exactly like PCs. Track their XP and attributes in a box on your main character’s sheet, or create a sheet of their own.

Have you acquired a silver lobogolem, living pistol, psychic permutation, or other treasured possession? Let your heroic experiences rub off on your gear.

An oldstyle human would call such gear “hallmarks”. One further-fallen from that ideal may mutter about “prizes” or “pretties” or “preciouses”.

Investing in Hallmarks

All experience earned is banked until you invest it to level up a character(s), their pets and sidekicks, or their hallmarks. You can invest experience in other players’ characters, pets, sidekicks, and hallmarks, if they agree.

Each pet, sidekick, or other hallmark with invested xp occupies a trait or item slot on their owner PC’s sheet.

Any treasured possession can become a character’s hallmark—a vehicle, a sword, a power or something more unusual. Heroism rubs off on things.

A PC can own a number of hallmarks equal to their level.

All hallmarks start at level 0 unless specified otherwise.

Leveling them up costs experience, as with any other character, but also has material costs if it does not flow from in-game events (at the referee’s discretion).

Hallmarks use the canonical OGA upgrade model. Upgrade hallmark attributes using the same xp tables and stepwise progression as ### Basic Golden Age Upgrading and ### Golden Age Item Upgrading.

Typical hallmark upgrades follow the same columns:

1. +1 Level
2. +1 Bonus to Roll
3. +1 Damage per Die
4. +1 Armor or Ward
5. +1 Trait

Example: Safir smashes the backup mind-soul jewel of the deathless general of the City of Mirrors with his accelerated hammer. The lich is now vulnerable, should her physical avatar be destroyed.

Safir invests xp into his hallmark hammer using the “+1 Trait” column of Golden Age Item Upgrading, and gives it the lich-bane trait (double damage against liches). Cat rules this upgrade requires no additional materials.

Shared Characters or Hallmarks

If multiple PCs want to share ownership of a secondary character or item, for example the party’s treasured house-golem, they should each write it down in an available slot on their character sheet.

Recovering Invested Experience

Sometimes, despite a player’s best intentions, their character or pet or hallmark suffers terminal existential failure—death or destruction.

Their owner recovers 50–100% (roll 1d6+4 × 10) of invested xp to their bank. If multiple players have invested xp, fair-minded owners are encouraged to repay the other investors as well.

GROWING THROUGH PLAY

Modifying Traits Through Play

Everything on the character sheet is provisional under play. With referee approval and clear in-game causes, any trait or item can be altered, replaced, split, fused, improved, degraded, or recontextualized.

Treat this as a core procedure for character evolution, not an exception path. Corruption, mutation, oldtech exposure, cursed bargains, and other transformative events are all valid drivers for these changes.

A PC’s goals are excellent material for the referee to tailor quests and adventures, providing some twists and turns.

Gaining New Traits Through Play

Characters can gain traits without spending xp. Some may be acquired with careful study, others from strange ancient powers. In both cases, becoming skilled (or an expert or master) requires more in-game work.

1. Write down the new trait in a suitable inventory slot.
2. Figure out how many people and/or other sources you must study and absorb to acquire the skill (usually three to become skilled).
3. Each mentor, library, knowledge stone, or what-have-you is at a different location. Some sources may be found as treasures in the course of adventuring.
4. When you find a source, absorb its essence over one week of focused study (or meditation or bonding or mind surgery), then roll thought to beat a target of 11 (a moderate thought roll). If you fail, you can try again after a further week of study. If you fail a second time, this teacher is not suitable for you.
5. After tallying three successes, your PC is skilled in the new trait.

Progress from skilled to expert requires 4–6 successes, and from expert to master 5–9 successes. Some traits may require more successfully absorbed sources.

The referee peppers sites and mentor NPCs around the map, creating a personalized quest.

Example: Onion has observed the porcelain princes’ masterful crafting of masks and faces, and wishes to become a facemaker, so he could create new faces for himself and pass as other people with ease.

The referee agrees this could be a worthy trait. The first place to start learning about masks as faces would obviously be the Porcelain Citadel. This is enough of a hook for the player to write down the facemaker trait, with space for three tallies.

The referee consults their Grand Map. It will take Onion at least 3 weeks of travel to reach the Porcelain Citadel and look for a mentor. The search could take another week and Onion’s studies will take at least one more week. With travel events and the other PCs’ shenanigans, that affords plenty of play time to seed clues for future study locations Onion can research and visit.

Increasing Ability Scores

Traits, items, mutations, oldtech upgrades, and fantascience boons may permanently increase characters’ ability scores. Such artifacts make great treasures to motivate character quests.

Adversity and Decay

Characters do not only become stronger. Age, injury, and magitechnical mishaps may bestow burdens and traits that wear them down. Curses, monsters, defeats and psychemagical travails may permanently reduce their ability scores.

The referee should be clear with players before their PCs take a course of action that may result in permanent injury. Permanent changes should be the result of risks freely taken by the player.

Example: Noë dreams of becoming a terrible and powerful wizard to prove to her mother that she is not a failure.

The referee provides rumors of an electrical brain holding albums of great power, and Noë excitedly pursues them. However, the more she learns of the brain named Ata’ari, the clearer it becomes that the price of ultimate mastery is the destruction of her physical human body.

Will she go this far? Or will she take some of her knowledge and sell the rest to fuel new escapades?

A referee may then provide quests to stave off a character’s inevitable decline and demise.

Alternatively, a player may decide to retire their character and promote a sidekick or create a new character. One option is to give the new character fewer xp than the lowest-level player character or the highest-level available sidekick (whichever is less) at the table.

COMPANY/CARAVAN PLAY (UVG)

Running A Caravan

The caravan is a group character for the players, a joint mobile base of operations. You don’t need a caravan to travel the UVG, but it’s a good idea. You can use the caravan sheet provided at the end of the book, or draw your own.

Money (Cash)

Cash (€) is the currency of the UVG. It’s called cash as a nod to ancient Chinese cash (文) and the whole Marco Polo meta-theme.

An unskilled laborer earns €1/day. Lower denominations exist, but can generally be ignored at the scale of caravans. Letters of credit made out by private butcher banks are also available.

Outfitting a caravan is expensive. The PCs should start with a loan of €1,000 per character. The financier is dubious and there’s 100% annual interest, but it beats scrabbling for pennies. Caravans rack up weekly expenses from wages, food, and more. Don’t worry about precision – an approximate track of ready cash depleting suffices.

Financier (Patron)

Create this NPC together with the players (see p178). The zanier, the better. Ask the players in turn about the patron’s goals, the organization, opponents, weaknesses, oddities, and so on.

Logo

Every adventuring-trading company needs a cheesy logo. When the players decide to change it later, it costs 1d6 x €100 in random fees.

Assets

This section helps track the heroes’ investments in trade routes and other shenanigans. Use the table on p.177 to generate returns.

Time

Time, besides money, is the other key constraint on caravans. Travel is nearly impossible in winter, and the heat is oppressive in summer.

Have the players give each year a memorable name.

Speed

Fast (fresh horses) and slow tags (heavy wagons) cancel each other out. The speed score represents additional tallies (days) added to the time track, or tallies from Misfortune and exploration negated.

Traveling the Back Roads

If a caravan travels slowly and cautiously, they tally an extra 7 days every week, but have bonuses on their travel tests (misfortune, encounter rolls, avoiding notice and ambushes). However, they do have to roll twice, so there’s that.

Consumption

How many supplies the caravan consumes each week. For simplicity, humans consume a sack of supplies each week, herbivorous mounts subsist by grazing and foraging, but consume a sack of supplies each week in wastelands. Vehicles burn a sack of fuel per week. Magical creatures, such as golems and the undead, require no supplies.

PCs

List the players’ characters and their usual roles in the caravan. Common roles include expedition leader, navigator, captain of the guards, chief negotiator, mechanic or animal handler, and doctor.

Helpers

Helpers are secondary characters with specialized skills: navigators, cooks, mechanics, guards, hunters, scouts, etc.. Unless otherwise specified, a helper’s weekly wages equal €6 per level.

How do you convey how horrible it is to carry lots of gear long distances without a hover-wagon, without strangling the players with the classic pounds and packs as their heroes slog across a giant savanna for months at a time? As with time, we change the scale for the rigors of trans-continental travel.

UVG uses sacks as a unit of measurement of the unwieldiness and weight of things, not literal sacks. They could be barrels, crates, bales, whatever. How much is a sack? A sack is:

Inventory and Sacks

• All of a hero’s adventuring or professional gear. Magic skulls of memory for wizards, a year’s supply of swordmaceaxes for fighters, golf clubs for the thief, whatever.
• A sack of supplies. Enough food, water, camping gear, and toilet paper to survive for a week. Bad quality supplies cost €2/sack, good ones €10/sack – or more the deeper they are in the wastes!
• One rider or unconscious human.
• A unit of trade goods.
• €2,500 in coins.

For simplicity, a sack is roughly as many neatly bundled pounds, stones, or inventory slots as an average character can carry. Unusually strong or large characters may be able to carry multiple sacks.

Units and Encumbrance

1 sack = 10 stones = 100 soaps = 2,500 cash

• Sack: basic caravan inventory unit.
• Stone: a tenth of a sack, also a generic significant item, like a sabre or spear or shield or shovel. About 15lbs.
• Soap: a hundredth of a sack, also a generic small item, like a signal whistle or signet ring or spike. Or bar of soap.
• Cash (€): one standard unit of currency.

A human’s inventory limit is 7 + Strength stones’ worth of items or one packed sack (10 stones). For every stone over their limit, a human suffers -1 to all rolls.

A package is easier to carry than loose objects, hence the difference (and for simplicity at the caravan scale). Pouches and bags do the same for soap-sized items. Drawing a weapon from a package in the heat of battle is not feasible. Dropping a package with fragile goods (like sanguine porcelains or jay needles) may damage them.

Players will come up with weird ideas for rigging up rollers, ropes, and pulleys to drag heavy things long distances. This is good.

The Pleasure of Treasure

Regardless of whether you award xp for treasure recovered or not, heroes will try to make away with rare treasures like the insidious crystal omphalos of Last Fish Heaven (€4,500, 3 sacks). How much are treasures worth? You can either decide based on your rough estimate, a hero’s Charisma test, or a flat d00 roll.

Treasure Is Heavy

If the heroes come across a series of beautiful crystal sculptures with diamond eyes, why do they hack out just the eyes? Space.

Any time a treasure or item is described with fancy words add a sack to its size for every relevant word. Add sacks for heavy materials, fine workmanship, intricate mechanics, cyclopean architecture – just pile it on.

Example: the fabulous gold and marble statue of the metaphysical insinuation of being by Jeerida the Artistique is worth €6,000 and takes 6 sacks of inventory (thus: €6,000, 6 sacks) to transport safely.

So Hack It Up

A smart (philistine) hero can hack out 1d6 + Level percent of a treasure’s value in one turn. This will reduce the value of the rest of the work by 10x that amount in percent.

Example: Pikker the Pengling rolls 5%, gouges out the gold bits for €300, and pockets them. The remaining defaced sculpture is now worth 50% less: €3,000. Yeah, looters are not nice.

Time, What is Time

What the hell have you gotten yourself into?

The UV Grasslands are big. They’re weird, sure, but first and foremost they are mind-bogglingly big. Vast and empty – it’s that emptiness that kills heroes because it means there’s no wishing well to drink from and no turnip farm to plunder.

Rounds, minutes, and turns work for the exploration of dungeons or ruins, while hours and days are fine for overland travel and the exploration of terrain hexes. When traveling in the UVG, a week is the basic unit of activity to drive home how far apart everything is.

Every week of travel:

1. Remove one sack of supplies per human-sized person from the caravan inventory.
2. One hero rolls for misfortune. A different hero tests each week.
3. Check what encounters happen and resolve them.
4. Any heroes that did not participate in a fight or flight can treat the week as a long rest.
5. Check if the caravan has arrived at a destination. Most destinations are a week apart but some require two, or even three, weeks of voyaging in the wastes. If the caravan has not yet arrived at a safe location repeat steps 1 to 5 until it does.
6. When the caravan arrives at a destination, one hero makes a moderate relevant test for discoveries and notes any on the map. These are points of interest a few days’ journey from the destination. There are a limited number of discoveries available at each destination.

Instead of traveling a caravan may stop for a full week.

When a caravan is stopped in the wilderness each hero may take one of the following actions before step 1:

• Forage for supplies: with a moderate relevant test they gain one sack of supplies. Difficulty varies depending on how plentiful the wildlife is.
• Care for another character: they fully recover a damaged attribute and gain advantage on tests vs. illness and poison.
• Set an ambush: prepare a trap to waylay other travelers or to gain advantage in a hostile encounter.
• Study: probe ancient artifacts, scrolls, or items to figure out how they work, learn a new spell or skill.
• Hide the camp: advantage to avoiding encounters.

If the caravan is stopped at a destination each hero may also:

• Explore further for additional discoveries.
• Buy and sell trade goods.
• Every hero may pay expenses for lodging and food rather than consuming sacks of supplies and, in some places, even buy additional sacks of supplies. This action is free.

How Far Is Very Far Away?

What about precise distance? Only worry about details like miles on the scale of individual encounters and locations. For the scale of the Grasslands, time is a better experiential measure of distance.

The farther heroes travel, the more renowned they will be in their home towns, and the more valuable their stories.

The Use of Days

Heroes traveling the UVG will also find uses for days, particularly for taking short rests to recover an expended daily ability or 1d4 Life, roughly exploring a point of interest, observing a new creature, mucking around a destination, and, most crucially, dying of thirst.

Tally extra days accrued from Misfortune, exploration, and other miscellaneous events until they reach a full week. Then repeat steps 1 to 3 (no rest) and reset the tally.

A caravan is slowed down when the animals are encumbered, passengers are sick, it is using slow vehicles, or can be described by any other word that feels slow. At the beginning of every week tally an extra day for every applicable condition and adjective. Thus an encumbered (1) caravan with sick (2) heroes using slow (3), heavy (4) wagons starts every week by tallying four extra days.

A caravan is fast if everybody is mounted, has an exceptional guide, is using excellent steeds, or fast golem vehicles. Every applicable condition negates one tally per week – leaving more time for exploration. Even a fast caravan cannot travel a 1-week distance in less than one week – they are just traveling at an optimal pace.

Rest and Recovery

In keeping with the emphasis on weeks, a long rest takes one week and each hero recovers only one of the following:

• Their full Life (hit points or health in some systems).
• One stat (ability score or other similar attribute).
• From one harmful effect (death, soul removal, and so on).

When a hero is cared for by another character they recover one more attribute per week.

Misfortune: Luck of the Road

Voyages can be summarized as long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of terror and loss. [Mis]fortune and encounters simulate this. They deplete the resources of the voyagers, threaten their survival, and provide vital color to the environment. Each area of the UVG has its own perils.

Every week of traveling, a different player rolls to see what happens.

Misfortune applies to the whole caravan, but characters test individually to avoid bad effects (like contracting a horrible disease).

Misfortune Modifiers

The referee can provide a bonus or penalty to the roll.

Charisma and Fortuna

A character can spend one point of Charisma to re-roll their misfortune. The concept of Charisma comes from Ancient Greek, where it referred to grace and bestowed by capricious deities. This wasn’t some approximation of “sex appeal” or “leadership potential.”

This was straight up divine favoritism. A hero could be a complete dirtbag but her divine mother had dipped her in god ju-ju and given her teflon skin. Others got the plague, she was untouched. Others got scarred, she glowed with beauty and grace. Classical Charisma is utterly unfair which is why it works so well as a proxy for luck.

Destinations and Discoveries

The UVG is a pointcrawl – this is a bit of jargon to distinguish it from a hexcrawl. All it means is that in the UVG you have a series of known locations (“destinations”) connected by a network of routes.

You can see them clearly on the suspiciously minimalist long map of the grasslands.

Destinations

Destinations are main nodes of the UVG pointcrawl on the big map, safe-ish known locations on the trade and travel network from the Violet City to the Black City. Some of them are cities, some are ruins, some are just famous landmarks. Each route between two destinations has a label indicating how long the average caravan takes to cover it. Some destinations have facilities where heroes can trade, rest, resupply, or even stay at a guest house of some sort and use them as temporary bases of operation.

Give the players a copy of the map of the UVG. It will help them imagine how far they are going and what they can discover.

Encourage them to write and make notes on their map. Although this is a group asset, it is also an inventory item, and should be carried by a character. Warn the players that storms or fires may destroy their map, and that they might want to make backup copies.

Near destinations travelers and locals congregate, strange omens coexist with decayed signposts, and messages inhabit curiously forgotten bottles. In short, there is information, and some of that information may let heroes make discoveries.

You can expand your game world north and south from any point on the big map.

Discoveries

Discoveries are interesting locations within a few days journey of an existing destination, which are new to the heroes. When heroes arrive at a new destination, one hero makes a moderate relevant test for discoveries.

Have heroes take turns, so it is not always the same character making discoveries.

Limit the number of possible discoveries per destination to five or less, unless you want a very cluttered map. Each discovery visited and given a touristic once over (1 day spent on site) is worth some xp.

When they discover new locations, note them on the map and how many days it takes to reach them. The precise location is not crucial, but players will usually ask, so give them a d20 and a d8 to roll.

Where Is the Discovery?

What if it All Goes Wrong?

The Ultraviolet Grasslands are a harsh place for a human body.

Strange radiations, polluted water, and hunger can all be lethal. That is why caravans carry supplies. A sack of supplies is an abstraction of the food, water, camping gear, video games, gum, prophylactics, nylon stockings, and toilet paper a human needs to survive for a week.

How Not To Starve

Running out of supplies is bad. Waiting until things are very bad can be terrible. Sometimes the weak must be sacrificed for the strong.

1. Cannibalise the expedition. This is the fastest way to get supplies. A human provides one sack of supplies, an ordinary pack animal provides two sacks of supplies.
2. Forage for supplies. Instead of traveling, the caravan spends a week securing water, food and shelter. Usually, a week’s foraging will net enough supplies for that week and another week of travel. In very harsh environments this may not be so easy.
3. Buy more supplies in a settlement. Obviously. Prices vary, but between €2 and €10 per sack is reasonable.

Some inhabitants of the Ultraviolet Grasslands frown on cannibalism. Foraging makes for slow travel, which isn’t ideal when a caravan has places to be – it is best to treat foraging as a stop-gap while a few fast travelers seek out help.

Out of Supplies

When a caravan is out of supplies, bad things happen quickly.

1. Out of air: After 3 minutes, coma and death follow quickly. Rare humans may last as long as 10 minutes underwater, and with pure oxygen one might last 20 minutes. As a rule, after 7 minutes most humans without air will be dead or dying.
2. Out of water: After 3 days without water, most humans are in severe distress: weak, dizzy, hallucinating, with organs starting to shutdown. After 7 days, most humans without water will be dead or dying.
3. Out of food: After 3 weeks without food, most humans will be weak and sick with hunger. As long as they have water, some humans can last over two months without food. Still, after 7 weeks without food, most humans will be dead or dying.

It may help to think of this as the rule of 3 and 7. After 3 units of time, a human is in very bad shape, after 7 units it is probably finished. Other species may be more or less resilient, but the referee should use humans as their baseline.

Source Code Corruption

Source is the creative essence of the world, sometimes called the world soul. Some creatures manipulate it to exceed the parameters of their physical structure. Or to do magic. When it goes wrong after vomish manipulation, drinking glowing water, or trying amateur auto-upgrade magic, things get icky. See page 200 for more varieties of biomagical corruption.

Trade & Goods

Trade is a big reason to go into the vast UV Grasslands, and trade is very simple: buy dear, sell cheap. Erm.

Market Research

Yes. The characters can perform market research.

• 1 day: character finds out the price of a trade good in an adjacent destination.
• 1 week: character finds out the price of a trade good in a chain of three adjacent linked destinations.

For each destination, make a market roll:

Buying and Selling the Goods

When characters arrive at a destination they can negotiate a deal.

• 1 day: character finds a merchant and negotiates a deal. Roll on the haggling table.
• 1 week: character schmoozes, boozes and wines for 1d6 x 100 cash, then has advantage on the haggling roll.

When selling multiply the price by the factor, when buying divide.

Haggling Table

Local Special Needs

Sometimes the characters need a bit of a push. Wherever they are, there will always be some local character with a glowing golden question mark with a business opportunity.

But there is always a catch, and usually quite a journey.

The Catch Is

Thirty Ultraviolet Trade Goods (d30)

See SDM Gear Index: Thirty Ultraviolet Trade Goods (d30).

A First Caravan

Light creeps across the haze and limns the gray pearl road. Grass and weed alike avoid the Long Long Ago surface, perhaps repelled by the same magic that lets it glow in the dark. A wagon creaks into motion, trundling down from the camp-kraal. There are many wagons like it, but this one is yours.

Well, it will be, once the loan is paid off. Setting up a caravan can be overwhelming, fortunately the patron (and a kind referee) have travelers covered with a ready-made first caravan. The first caravan is an optional bundle that can be purchased with an initial €1,000 loan (at 100% interest) from a patron.

1. Traveler

   A human character. Free, not included in the loan.

   Occupies: 1 sack. Value: €200 as a disposable slave.

2. Vehicle

   A classic two-wheel wicker-and-aluminum covered cart. It’s light and tough, and the canvas canopy keeps out the rain. It has (roll d6): (1) corporate paint job, (2) leaky dust-seals, (3) flag pole and flag, (4) plush mascot, (5) strange stains, or (6) chrome rails.

   Capacity: 6 sacks. Value: €200. Speed: Slow.

3. Animals

   Two pony-analogues. One for the traveler, one for the cart. They are (roll d6): (1) donkeys, (2) mules, (3) actual ponies, (4) llamas, (5) goatelopes, (6) loper birds. Each grazer consumes 1 sack of supplies per week in deserts and wastelands. Otherwise, they take care of themselves.

   Each gets a name and an endearing quirk (roll d6): (1) a favorite fruit, (2) a beloved plushie, (3) a cute trick, (4) a wise move, (5) a genetic heirloom or (6) a rare pedigree.

   Riding mount: Capacity: 2 sacks. Value: €70. Speed: Normal.

   Draft mount: Capacity: hauling cart. Value: €70. Speed: As cart.

4. Gear

   The patron covers a bog-standard Pro-Hiker(TM) kit: toiletries, zinc sunscreen, tent, sturdy walking stick, Greenland army knife (1d4 damage), hat, mustache wax, kangaroo bag, schnapps and wine skins, nifty cord belt, and a sturdy backpack. The hat is a (roll d6): (1) sombrero, (2) bowler hat, (3) pith helmet, (4) fur-trimmed fedora, (5) bush hat & corks, (6) ultramarine tagelmust.

   Occupies: 1 sack. Value: €50.

5. Supplies

   Two sacks of voyager supplies: tinned meat, travel ale, disinfectant schnapps, novelty items, rough newspapers, socks, gum, and prophylactics. Enough to survive in comfort for 2 weeks.

   Occupies: 2 sacks. Value: €20.

6. Trade Goods

   Some basic goods worth €100 per sack. These are (roll d6): (1) alchemical lubricants, (2) chitin cap, (3) marrow-beets, (4) dried odd fruits, (5) vampire wines, (6) second-hand pulp literature from the Rainbowlands (not available for purchase deeper in the Grasslands).

   Occupies: 3 sacks. Value: €300.

That’s it! There’s 1 sack of capacity spare (or a fella named Spare Sack) and €290 left of the loan. The character can buy some things (p.173) in the Violet City, do market research to figure out where to sell their goods (p.172), then head out into the Utter West and make a fortune. Come the new year, they owe their financier €2,000.

Multiple PCs can each contribute their starting cart, goods, and animals to the caravan, or they can be specialists attached to the caravan (prospectors, artists, hunters, explorers, ambassadors, or what have you).

For convenience, a caravan has one patron (at least initially). The caravan is incorporated as a simple legal trading entity. Its symbol is a (roll d6): (1) element, (2) vegetable, (3) vehicle, (4) animal, (5) abstract shape, (6) emoji. Or something else entirely.

More Sample Caravans

Small Trader

• Value: €908
• Speed: normal
• Capacity: 10 sacks
• Transport: five mules
• Inventory: 4 sacks (cheap rations), 5 sacks (fine tubers, €500 total trade value), 1 sack (UVG hiker kit).

A small trader could reach a destination two weeks away. It’s risky going without any guards, but the potential for profit is large.

Presenting the all-new Waste Cruiser ∏ĦΩř model thunder rig. Now with upgraded semi-sentient comfort mode!

Poor Prospector

• Value: €196
• Speed: normal
• Capacity: 4 sacks
• Transport: two mules
• Inventory: 3 sacks (cheap rations), 1 sack (prospector kit).

The bare minimum. A hero with two mules can safely travel one week away, spend a week prospecting or exploring, and return.

Solo Scout

• Value: €406
• Speed: very fast
• Capacity: 4 sacks
• Transport: two horses
• Inventory: 3 sacks (cheap rations), 1 rider.

Two horses to swap between, sacrificing capacity for speed. Scavenger bolter (1d10, far, reload 10), cavalry lance (1d12) and nomad robes (+1 defense) cost an extra €125.

Plunderer

• Value: €694
• Speed: fast
• Capacity: 10 sacks
• Transport: four mules, one war horse
• Inventory: 7 sacks (cheap rations), 2 sacks (adventure kitchen and veterinarian kit), 1 rider.

Safely travel throughout most of the Ultraviolet Grasslands, with enough animals and supplies to survive even the longest wilderness trails. Also, a war horse is great for running away if everyone else is on foot. Cat rifle (2d10, far, reload 4), cavalry sabre (1d12) and dryland weave (+3 defense) cost an extra €770.

Dungeon Exploration Expedition

• Value: €1,700
• Speed: slow
• Capacity: 20 sacks
• Transport: five mules, one wagon, one horse
• Inventory: 15 sacks (good rations), 1 sack (fortified vampire wines, €100 trade value), 3 sacks (adventure kitchen, dungeoneer’s kit, excavator’s kit), 1 rider.

With lots of capacity and a wagon, this caravan can drag large statues, pieces of machinery, or a small mountain of coin out of a dungeon. Additional warriors recommended.

War Band (5 riders Fast Approaching)

• Value: €2,670
• Speed: very fast
• Capacity: 20 sacks
• Transport: ten horses
• Inventory: 10 sacks (good rations), 5 sacks (veterinarian kit, adventure kitchen, hiker kit, porter pack, extra weapons), 2 sacks (bolter ammo, 20 magazines), 5 riders.

This fast party of warriors can strike deep into the steppe and escape quickly. All that ammo should keep enemies at bay. Five bolters, cavalry lances, and robes (+1 defense) cost an extra €625.

Autogolem Thunder Rig (5 passengers and 3 outriders)

• Value: €28,590
• Speed: slow (+ 3 fast autowagons)
• Capacity: 33 sacks + 5 cabins
• Transport: one L12 autogolem and three L4 autowagons
• Inventory: 24 sacks (good rations), 6 sacks of kit (adventure kitchen, hiker kit, golem gear, mechanic’s chest, navigator’s suitcase, one archaic golem armor), 3 sacks of ammo (cat rifle ammo, 30 magazines), 5 available sacks for cargo, 8 rig riders with cat rifles (2d10, far, reload 4).

One heavy golem rig as the heart of the group and three fast wicker autowagons to maneuver around and do a full-on road warrior adventure. Mounts for additional heavier weapons on the autogolem rig are optional. Dagger axes (1d8) and spiked leather armors (+2 defense) for the whole crew would add another €520.

Financiers

Most would-be travelers in the vast grasslands, beyond the reach of civilization, share a major problem: funds. Fortunately, the greed, wealth, and low interest rates of the settled Rainbowlands means there are always plenty of ruthless (yet naive) venture aristocrats and hereditary capitalists willing to sponsor even the most unlikely group of hoboes … er … heroes on their mercantile expedition.

Who Really Stands Behind the Patron?

Trade Routes (Milk Runs)

What if the PCs figure out a trade route they can keep rinse and repeat for profit – a milk run? Let them. They’ll get bored soon enough. Or they can set up a trade route with an NPC representative and – probably – additional financiers. The minimum investment for a trade route is €10,000 per week’s journey. Figure out the investment and how safe the PCs choose to play it.

• Safe: a steady 5% return, almost no risk. Right?
• Profitable: good profits, but some risks.
• Aggressive or Illegal: large profits but significant risks.

Trade Route Events & Returns (per trip)

Roll on the chosen column (safe, profitable, or aggressive) when the PCs create a trade route by completing an initial round trip with a full caravan. Roll again whenever they return to collect their profits – PCs can’t collect before a caravan has completed at least one trip (obviously). Hero dice can apply.

Trade route caravans are always slow and take at least double the number of weeks listed for each trip. With routes blocked by seasons of winter and mud for roughly 25 weeks each year, very long trade routes can become years’ long affairs.

Caravan Quests

If trading and exploring isn’t enough, these secret quests may give additional incentives for travel into the half-forgotten land, between the sunset and the stars, where the veterans of the psychic wars still dwell, ruminating on their lost lives. Completing a quest may net a party enough xp to gain a level.

1. Big Game Hunting. A wealthy gentleperson on a mission to acquire seven exceptional (and bulky trophies) has commissioned the caravan.
2. Explore Forgotten Ruins. A wizards’ community college is building an archaeology collection. Here, on the map, are five promising locations.
3. Glorious Naturalists. A civilian scientific society seeks to flatter its oligarch founders with new discoveries. The party is tasked with recording nine new minerals, plants, animals, and hyper-natural phenomena.
4. Learn Ancient Secrets. A forbidden book documents five secrets scattered around the UVG, each protected by a crotchety custodian. With the five secrets a wizard can spend figure out how to reactivate an ancient gate, or some other powerful magic.
5. Diplomatic Mission. Ambassadors sent to spy on the barbarians of the wilderness and foment strife. A war breaking out will be best, but three military intelligence reports will also do.
6. Escort Duties. Three loud, squabbling clients are headed to a remote destination. They are (d6): (1) bumbling aristocrats, (2) over-eager dilettantes, (3) cloistered cultists, (4) pampered merchants, (5) ivory-tower scholars, or (6) amateur archaeologists. Their survival is, of course, necessary.
7. Assassination. A (d6): (1) master assassin, (2) rogue pretender, (3) scary wizard, (4) important researcher, (5) beautiful gladiator slave or (6) prophesied scion has escaped into the wilds. Bring their head to the Divine President. Three clues are scattered randomly in the first 10 destinations in the UVG. They provide the key to the target’s true location.
8. Witness the End of Time. Must deliver a bulky Long Ago artifact to the Final Destination as defined by the Map to the End of Time. The map was torn into 3 parts, each hidden at a random destination. The End of Time is optional.
9. Saving the World. The holiest of relics from the Final Place will avert the End of the World. A series of random destinations leading into the Deep Grasslands holds the 3 parts of the Key Compass to the Final Place. There is also a 1-in-6 chance that any one of these destinations is home to an Avatar of the End (L11, angel of death) bent on ensuring the world ends. Once the Key Compass is reassembled it unlocks access to a deadly dungeon at the Final Place. The End of Time is still optional.
10. Ascending into the Sky like the Shamans of Old. The people’s myths tell of the Long Long Ago, when the Ancestors walked in the stars. Following visions from the True Mother, a group of noble and ruthless warriors and seers has been chosen to return to the stars and tell the tale of their oppression and bring the Ancestors back to the earth. Three random destinations each hold a bulky Ladder to the Sky. Once the three Ladders are reunited, a Demon of Lies (L11, misunderstood) appears. Inside the Demon’s head is a crystal astrolabe that points to the destination of ascendance. Reaching the space port is enough. Actual void-faring is optional.

COMPANY PLAY (OGA)

GOING PLACES

Rainbowlands adventures are about “going there and back again” without dwelling on researching, booking, outfitting, and packing for travel. We want to unfold the big map, move the party token and plant a flag at each new location. This section provides rules for turning cash into character options, an overview of travel modes, and some event and encounter generators to make travel a little spicier if it starts to drag.

TICKET DICE

You’re not interested in how an atomic train runs or how to properly stow cargo in an airship’s sinewy hold. You’re a genteel tourist of taste and, purportedly, means! That’s why we’re introducing three flavors of six-sided ticket dice, also known as Bonus Dice.

Comfort Dice

When you need pampering. Each comfort die provides +2 temporary life after a good night’s sleep. You may also permanently spend a comfort die to:

1. Reroll a defeat roll. Your hearty breakfast cushioned that blow.
2. Take a short rest, then recover 1d6 x 2 life.
3. Take a long rest, then remove an extra burden and gain 1d6 temporary life.
4. Acquire a civilized item, such as a nice suit or comfy pillow.

Protection Dice

When you need insurance. Each protection die provides +1 to saves against damage to you or your property. You may also permanently spend a security die to:

1. Reroll a reaction roll. Your armature may frighten off would-be attackers.
2. Turn an enemy’s critical hit into a regular hit.
3. Wait 1d4 days, then receive a copy of a lost item (terms and conditions apply).
4. Acquire a combat item.

Speed Dice

When you need to go-go. Each speed die provides a +2 to chases and races. You may also permanently spend a speed die to:

1. Avoid an encounter before rolling reactions.
2. Roll initiative a 2nd time and get an extra turn this round.
3. Safely escape a fight or catch someone who got away.
4. Acquire an alternate means of transport or travel, such as a drug mule or bicycle.

You can also use ticket dice at your destination, so long as you spend them within the week or before your next trip. At a destination, you can also permanently spend any remaining ticket dice to reroll a carousing roll.

Buying Ticket Dice

You buy a ticket for your week’s travel and accommodation in advance. Pricier tickets tend to give more dice. Choose dice types at purchase. Dice cannot be changed after your journey begins. All prices per caput (per head). Dice cannot be transferred between tickets. New tickets must be bought every week. If you have experience problems, contact the central human travel bureau [restricted violet-coded after the televidy unsanitary incident of Void Lotus XIX].

The travel agent nods, “Ah, you have your touriste ticket and your spending disc. See, it glows with cash and promise.” Your grip tightens on your purse. The translucent discs aglow with the Lords’ wisdom symbolize cash. Primitives and barbarians outside the Garden would use it as jewelry. You know better. It means safety.

VOYAGE EVENTS

In the opening adventure, you got to talking with your fellow travelers. Who, how, why, what, where, when. But this is not the only thing that can happen. Every week of voyaging, roll for an event. The referee may come up with their own events, too. Tally up days of shorter trips and exploration into weeks and spend them for extra event rolls as needed.

Foot, Hoof, or Pedal

Upon the Given World most humans travel by walking, swimming, and flight, as they have since the divine glory of the first MKR machine generated the first humans into this First of All Possible Worlds.

Some humans, dissatisfied with their basic design, use magical machines to carry cargo, venture into the void, or speed swifter than sound. Traditionalists harrumph at this hubris. Some barbarians, ignorant of the common panhumanity of sentience, enslave creatures to serve them. Beasts of burden, combat chargers, even domestic daemons.

Autogolem, Hauler Rig, Metal Steed, or Vech

True, it is tradition that all civilized humans are made with the right to freely journey using vehicles of their own craft. Fortunately, few have either the skills or patience to build conveyances more advanced than a scooter or bicycle.

Machine-made oldtech vehicles were long taboo, marked by the red octagon of agency and restricted to holy servants. Folk tales of foolish youths hacking red-coded vehicles to perform “joy coups” often end with corrective reformatting. Today, the lack of functioning oldtech is a bigger problem. Remaining mechanical vehicles are prized, pampered, and often prayed into full golemic sentience.

Bus, Gondola, Pod, Rail, Tube, or Wire

Public intersanctuary transport was a blessing given to approved managers and tourists by the Good Gods in the Long Long Ago. Living buses and atom trains and wire golems and pod floaters and more they gifted the humans for their certified travel needs. Alas, time has had its way and now anyone with the cash to spare may board one of the public transporters, whether a holy fool or casteless feral or a fiscally fallen noble.

Cheap, slow, and raucous, the public intersanctuary transport system even yet attracts some tourists.

Cargospace & Intersanctuary Express

At the dawn of time the Lords equipped the human sanctuary settlements with expresses—a system of magimagnetic vacuum tubes and capsules to move cargo and suspended humans from station to station at speed.

Humans traveled in suspension as cargospace is very hazardous to human well-being.

Few moderns now retain the access blessing to travel in suspension, so the intersanctuary express is used almost exclusively for authority-approved cargo. The ingenious humans of these later times use the anti-entropic outer shell of the express as the main highway round the Circle Sea co-prosperity area—the Right Road. Golem buses, solar tricycles, and personal velocipedes abound.

Access Blessing One — Autosoma

Unlock Medical Buildertech, Sacred Pod Charm

P: 2 R: nearby
T: auld meditech D: hours

Code daemons in your blood speak to the oldtech and announce you as a hereditary “duck mountain prominence”. Control healing machinery without the risk of mutations or degradation. Access suspension capsules. Use cold storage as a one-way time machine.

Overcharge: the healing oldtech deals damage instead.

Note: you can only store this power in human tissue—in yourself (as a trait) or in a suitable anchor, such as the mummified hand of Dr. N. A. Vec.

Cargospace

The Waters: Bateau, Ferry, Glisseur, or Yacht

Many rightly humans fear the waters, for they represent that portion of the world given to the cetaceans by the gods. As the old song goes, the sea is a desert with its life underground and an azure disguise above. Restricted from fishing and aquaculture by the pelagic phylakes and alien cetaceans, few traditionalists see much use for the salty watery expanse. Indeed, they would be hard-pressed to see much difference between commercial clans, hexad high-liners, polybody pirates, and feral ferryfolk.

For the traveler, there certainly are differences. For one thing, reputable seafolk won’t steal your body.

The Airs: Blimp, Flapper, Propelleur, or Rug

Traditional, god-fearing stories say humans are barred from the heavens. That demons and deities claim those high places as their own. That nothing save thin air and dry decay await beyond the protective embrace of Mother Soil and the nurturing guidance of Father Rain. So many of these stories align that there are castes of scholars convinced they were constructed from a single template. This could not be, for it would imply some force or organization meddling with human myth on a grand scale!

In any case, air travel is too expensive and dangerous for ordinary humans and the nobles and scions who may be expected to regularly fly like birds between one city and another cannot be expected to face the same barriers as the less divine orders of humanity.

The Void: Bolide, Chariot, Sphere, or Voidskiff

Modern, civilized humans do not travel to the stars, fast or slow. There is nothing there for the status-conscious. However, those strange outcasts, those voidwalkers who claim to have been there, say many divine machines still sail the dry void. Others say secret portal codes unlock strange places far above the Soil. Then there are the strange dehumans who say they climbed down the Ladder of Heaven itself. What is this, if not mere monkey-tosh?

One thing is sure: humans exposed to the void, beyond the airs of the Given World, desiccate swiftly and totally. Rehydration is expensive (€1d6* x 200) and best performed in a registered meditechnical temple.

The Portals: Dull, Fast, One, Slow, or Wild

Portals have fascinated humans since prehistory. Some think them gifts from the Lords, others that they are the byproducts of ancient “Engineers.” Many simply accept them as fundamental cosmic structures.

These hard-coded passages between distinct locations form hub-and-spoke networks, with portal temples serving for central access.

The dullway protocol dismantles and reassembles travelers, with journey times and capacity varying based on the portal’s information density and usage. Welltraveled routes between major institutions can transport up to a hundred people in hours, while smaller village portals may take months to handle a single traveler. To preserve human sanity, most travel gates were once equipped to run pocket realities for their travelers during point-to-point translation.

The Human Wellness Authority maintains that portal travel is completely safe. It claims side effects are very rare, mostly harmless, probably temporary, and the individual traveler’s own fault.

Nevertheless, most moderns fear this ancient technology, fearing it may steal their immortal motive sparks. This is not incorrect.

DOWNTIME (Weeks at Home, OGA)

When not adventuring, the usual baseline human PC effectively does three things each week: sleep plus two other activities.

With the proper high-line drugs, a human PC could probably replace sleep with another productive activity, like painfully sculpting their mortal shell to conform to the desires of faceless noösphere daemons for a chance at fame and fortune.

Conveniently, the tasks a PC faces would never overwhelm their ability to deal with them, right? Wrong.

It is the human lot that weeks are mayfly-brief, eye-blinks that tease with possibility when Moon Day rolls around and torment with dread and regret when Solar Day swivels back into view. But that is for later.

So, what do adventurer landlords fill their weeks with?

BED REST

Broken from their adventures, they hide abed, tended by twitchy golem doctors and beset by haunting mothering voices in the walls. Bed rest precludes all other activities (except sleep).

A resting character normally fully restores one missing or damaged attribute each week. They may regain all their missing life, or fully restore one damaged ability score, or remove one burden or similar affliction.

A character resting in their bed at home restores two missing or damaged attributes each week. The sense of peace and prosperity that comes with owning a home promotes faster healing and recovery.

Special rooms or home improvements may provide additional benefits.

RELAXATION

Pleasurable activity that builds up mental and physical resilience, and removes some burdens or afflictions.

[Self]-improvement may combine with relaxation. After a week of relaxation roll d20 + endurance or aura.

Special rooms or home improvements may provide additional benefits.

LABOR

Is your estate too small to grant you a respectable weekly ration of bread, water, air, and fire? Then you may have to suffer the indignity of work to secure a sad pittance of revenue that will keep you clothed and appointed in accordance with the humble expectations of good society. Yes, it is embarrassing to admit, but even a hero of leisure such as yourself may stoop to trading your precious finite time on this Given World for liquid assets.

• ⚙ Unskilled Labor. Earn €7 per week (+€7/wk). If you have no skills, or your skills are not in demand, you can always work as a golem polisher, street sitter, manual substitute, or some other job too unprofitable to automate. Roll 1d6 for work rewards.
• ⚙ Skilled Labor. Earn +€15/wk. If you are skilled with a professional trait like tinker, tailor, soldier, or spy. Roll 1d8 for work rewards.
• ⚙ Expert Labor. Earn +€30/wk. Specialization in a trait has its perks. Roll 1d10 for work rewards.
• ⚙ Master Labor. Earn +€60/wk. The pinnacle of the wage labor pyramid. You’d better identify with the authority, now! Look how much it’s paying you! Roll 1d12 for work rewards.

Any trait that could be considered a profession may render you eligible for skilled laborer status. See your local wage slave allocation division for more details.

After a week’s worth of work, roll for your rewards.

Work Rewards

Ah, well, you’ll be away a while, yes? Good thing nothing could go awry in your absence! The referee rolls for interruptions on the INTR tables (pXX). Your agent will handle it just fine. You have an agent, yes? For that upkeep table two pages ago?

ESTATE PLAY

Need the landlord layer, the money flow, the home‑week grind, the small humiliations and the long comforts? Go to Our Golden Age: THIS HOLLOW HOUSE chapter for the full estate rules.