Then...

...your forebears suffered under the tyranny of the Thinking Ma-

chines. They toiled to mine the metal that brought Death.
The Noblesse arrived from the east, carrying the banner of the Savior
and destroying the Machines.

Now...
...the Noblesse demand their own tithes, and must be paid in blood.
They rule from great castles and grand cathedrals, drinking their holy
communion from mortal veins.
Famine is rare, villages thrive, and people of learning read aloud the
words of Christ.
Yet all is not well in Christendom.

You...
...are a bastard or a second child or a heretic or worse.
You are righteous, monstrous, forever wandering.
Everywhere, you are driven to find the truth. You dig bodies from the
ground, you face beasts called by sin. You know warm embraces, and
the price of a soul.
You fight fear.
You are driven by hope.
You find...

MISERABLE SECRETS
 Credits
Creator: Rose Bailey
Authors: Rose Bailey, Benjamin Baugh, and Meghan Fitzgerald
Cartographer: Antal Kéninger (https://www.blackscrollsgames.)
Iconographer: Lorc, under CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecom-
mons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)
Illustrators: George Cotronis, katalinks, Oryx Design Lab, Stefan
Keller, Enrique Meseguer, and Bern Scheurer
Special Thanks: Emily Brumfield, Jacqueline Bryk, Dixie Co-
chran, Nathan Easton, Meredith Gerber, Elizabeth Greenberg, Jus-
tin Hardage, Jeff Mikoni, Jye Nicolson, Josh Traub, and Eddy Webb
Check out patreon.com/fantasyheartbreaker for more games!
See all of Rose’s projects at www.fantasyheartbreaker.com!

Made Possible By
Munificent Patrons: Rob Abrazado, christopher andrew upshaw, Vasili B., Benjamin Baer, Tom
Bagatelle, James Barton, Lyndon Baugh, Daniel Bayn, Mathias Belger, tom black, David Bowers, Rand Brittain,
Paul Browning, Jesse Burciaga, Steve Burnett, DONALD C CHUMA, Andrew Cairns, Bryce Carlson, Bill Car-
ter, Chris Casiano, Herve Chabanne, Chris Chambers, Rod Chanas, Kun Xin Chor, Richard Clayton, Edouard
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girl, Chris Visser, L. Vollum, Zack Walters, Lester Ward, Daniel Weichman, Benjamin Welke, Seth Wenger, Nicola
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Well-Wishers: Ken Burnside, Elizabeth Greenberg, Satyros Phil Brucato, Carl Rigney, Ria
Contents
Introduction 2
Overview 3
Playing the Game 4
Modes of Play 4
Secrets 5
Powers 5
Hope 6
Cards 7
Decks 7
Suits and Humours 8
The Clue Spread 10
Your Tableau 10
Holding Cards 11
Playing Cards 11
The GM’s Tableau 11
Omens 11
Setup 12
Glossary 13
Symbols 13
Rules Terms 13

iii
I. Setting 18
Christendom 19
Those Who Rule 20
The Illegitimate 21
The Beloved 22
Those Who Pray 23
Numerological Monks 24
Evangelim 24
Those Who Toil 25
Farmers 25
Crafters 25
Merchants 26
Penitents 26
The Unruly 27
Alchemists 27
Shades 28
Hounds 28
Wise Ones 28
Unsaved Lands 29
The Lonely Barrows 29
Wanderers from Ease 30
The Dreaming South 30
The Kindly Ones 30
Dream-Thieves 31
 The Fecund East 31
The Green 31
Mandragora 32
Harbingers 33
Above and Below 33

2. Heroes 36
Creation 36
1. Traits 37
Theme 37
Background 37
Specialty 37
2. Distinctions 37
3. Finishing Touches 38
Example Themes 38
Example Backgrounds 39
Alchemist 40
Dream-Thief 42
Evangelist 44
Half-Noble 46
Hunter 48
Numerological Monk 50
Wise One 52
Witchfinder 54
Wolf 56
v
Example Specialties 58

III. Investigation 62
Time 62
Selecting Cards 63
Matches and Clashes 63
GM Draws and Intrusions 64
Investigative Actions 64
Duration 64

IV. Battle 72
Time 73
The Map 74
Actions 75
Basic Actions 75
Advanced Actions 76
Reactions 76
Flanking 76
Forced Actions 76
Actions and Examples 76
Battle Advice 85
Stakes 86
Hindering 86
For the GM 86
Motivation 87
Battlefield Design 87
Investigation in Battle 88
Stalemates and Routs 88
Keywords 89
Power Type Keywords 89
Memory 89
Profane 89
Sacred 90
Secular 90
Area Keywords 90
Terrain Keywords 90
Effect Keywords 91
Monster Keywords 93

V. Monsters 98
Building a Monster 99
Theme 100
Type 100
Specialty 100
Dread 100
Example Themes 101
Example Types 104
Example Specialties 105
Barghest 111
Clockwork Mutant 113
The Grim Reaper 114
vii
 Hollow Knight 116
Mandragora 117
Mortals 119
Mother Medusa 121
Mourning Gargoyle 123
Night Visitor 124
Ophan 125
Poltergeist 126
Radiant Skull 127
Skeleton 128
Lady Regina Drake 130
Maid Paladin 132

VI. Towns 134

Town Organization 135
Building Towns 136
Spatial Play 136
Steps 136
A.Under Green Shadow 138
Variations 139
2. By the Waters 141
Variations 141
3. Skeleton City 143
Variations 144
4.Big Sky Plains 146
 Variations 147
5. Amongst the Crags 149
Variations 150
Q. Edge of the Wastes 152
Variations 153
2. Theme 155
A. Market 155
2. Agriculture 155
3. Crossroads 156
4. Craft 157
5. Industry 157
Q. Seat of Power 158
3. Landmarks 159
4. Locals 159
Personal Name 159
Clan and Family Names 160
Description 160
5. Prevailing Conditions 160
6. Troubles 161
1. Region Table 164
2. Theme Table 165
3. Landmark Table 166
Personal Names 167
Clans and Families 168

ix
 Description 170
5. Condition Table 174
6. Trouble Tables 176

VII. Running 180

Atmosphere and Style 180
Gothic 181
Ruin 181
Passion 181
Sin 182
Secrets 182
Doom 183
Noir 183
The Predatory World 184
The Detective 184
The Fatale 185
The Predatory Moment 187
The Thunderbolt 187
Hope 188
Episodes 188
Reveal 188
React 190
Raise 190
Raising with Time 190
Raising with Secrets 191
 Confrontation 191
Building Decks 192
Seasons 193
Seasons as Seasons 194
Character Change 194
Secrets in Plain Sight 195
Belief and Rules 195
Church and State 196
Crosses, Crucifixes, and Grails 196
Afternoons in Dystopia 198
Whose Faith is it, Anyway? 198
Zoned Battles 199
Mapping 199
Parts of a Zone 200
Movement 200
Theatre of the Mind 201
Inspiration 201

Appendix 204
Omen Reference 204

xi
 Introduction
It is an age beyond our reckoning, where humanity has given
way to monstrosity, science to sorcery, and our well-tamed garden
world to a wasteland ruled by vampires, werewolves, and all
manner of strange creatures.
Born into this world, made a wanderer by choice or misfortune,
you travel from town to town, looking for work, companionship,
and most of all, the truth. Dirty truth, bloody truth, beautiful
truth. You never know what you’ll find when you dig into dark-
ness and mud and human hearts.
Uncover the secrets.
Decide what’s right.
Hope for the best.
 A once-proud castle, its stones sagging in the morning light. A
bloody body in an abandoned hut. Low mist clinging to the moors.
A crossroads packed with festival-goers. A suitor with long, elegant
legs -- eight of them. Betrayal in a moonlit alley by someone with
every right to do it.
This is the gothic noir atmosphere of Miserable Secrets. Imag-
ery that crosses effortlessly between sad, horrifying, and beautiful.
Stories that show humanity at its best and worst and make the two
hard to entangle.
Your dispossessed heroes journey across a dark fantasy landscape,
and your gaming group weaves stories that draw from both the ro-
mantic ruin of gothic fiction and the mean streets of detective noir.
You’ll meet demons and sword molls, ghouls and homme fatales,
and every other kind of person under the moon.

Overview
This Introduction describes the structure of gameplay and what
you need to know to get started.
Chapter 1: Setting introduces the world the game’s set in. It
describes the blood-drinking ruling class, their Church, and most
importantly, their subjects, which probably includes you.
Chapter 2: Heroes tells you everything you need to know about
creating your own character, including what face they present to the
world, what they can do, and what matters most to them.
Chapter 3: Investigation describes the rules for uncovering se-
crets, whether it’s through forming genuine bonds or by tracking
down where the bodies are buried.
Chapter 4: Battle explains what happens when you have to
stand up for what’s right through pain and force.
Chapter 5: Adversaries gives the GM ways to build threats who
oppose the heroes both in investigation and battle.
3
 Chapter 6: Towns is an extensive set of tools for creating and
populating the settlements where each story takes place.
Chapter 7: Running provides practical guidance for GMing,
from detailed discussion of the themes of gothic and detective fic-
tion to points about the setting which deserve frank elaboration.

Playing the Game

You and your friends will play Miserable Secrets in episodes.
Each episode, you’ll unravel sins and undertake struggles, solving
mysteries and fighting foes.
An episode may take one or more sessions to complete; that’s en-
tirely up to how long your group plays for and how much time you
like to take for different types of play.
Each episode begins with the dispossessed heroes arriving in a new
town or other settlement. It may be beautiful, it may be repellent, it
may be grand, it may be ramshackle. But wherever this place is, it’s
got a big problem. Something horrible, something ever-present...
and as the heroes tease out why there’s a problem, they’re going
to discover that everyone’s got secrets, and some of them are much
worse than the horrors of the night.

Modes of Play
There are two modes of play in Miserable Secrets: investiga-
tion and battle. You’ll switch back and forth between the two as
the story dictates, and can even mix them. The more effort you put
into digging up clues in investigation mode, the better your chances
when it comes down to fighting in battle mode.
Investigation and battle each have a set of actions associated
with them. Investigating revolves around uncovering secrets, so you
might form a bond with the blacksmith to get them to help you find
{ }

their husband’s killer. If the killer turns out to be a physician who,

by night, becomes a human-eating giant, you may have to battle her,
and use a card gained from the blacksmith to attack.
{ }

4
 Both types of play involve tactics. Investigation uses memory and
strategy to learn secrets and earn cards, moving quickly while dan-
ger escalates. Battle uses the cards you’ve gathered to take down
adversaries and monsters. Investigation takes place mainly using the
clue spread (see p. 16), while battle uses an area map, with tokens to
represent heroes and adversaries.

Secrets
As the title of the game implies, play revolves around uncovering
secrets. Sometimes, these are just obscure facts, but much more of-
ten, they’re truths that can badly harm someone... or already have.
Most secrets are uncovered via investigation.
Unless a rule states otherwise, secrets are subject to the following
restrictions:
• A secret must be something you could reasonably learn from
context: a witness who didn’t recognize the murderer might be
able to describe him, but can’t identify him if he was a strang-
er or wearing a mask. Finding the murder weapon doesn’t
necessarily tell you who the murderer is.
• A secret can turn out to be incorrect or have an explanation
other than the obvious. If the murder happened in the dark, a
witness might mistake one person for another. Finding Jean’s
dagger at the murder scene is good evidence Jean is the mur-
derer, but there may be another explanation.
Normally, a secret is revealed by taking an investigative action
and asking the GM. You can also narrate a secret by accusing the
{ }

GM.

Powers
Your hero has powers, which represent their skills, resources, or
supernatural gifts. Each power has two rules features, one for inves-
tigation and one for battle. These features usually modify the effects

5
 of an existing investigation or battle action, letting your hero do
something others can’t.

Hope
Hope is a hero’s oft-challenged belief that there will be good mo-
ments in the future, whether for themselves, those they love, or
those they want to help. Mechanically, hope is the resource that
keeps heroes going when times are tough.
There are different ways to regain Hope, and they depend on your
hero; resting, praying, spending time by a peaceful lake and just not
thinking about what lies beneath. Any of these can give a hero 1
point of Hope, usually by a recovery action. (See p. 70 for more on
{ }

recovery.)
Your hero’s theme gives them a defined way to gain Hope. Some
backgrounds have powers that let them gain Hope in other specific
ways.
When your hero’s Hope drops to 0, they may be unconscious, in
a deep state of despair, or even dead. They can recover from any of
these, though the specific means will vary based on the story. They
must use their next investigation turn for a recovery action.
{ }

When hopeless, your hero can’t take any battle actions or most
investigative actions.
Monsters and other adversaries use a resource called Dread in-
stead of Hope, which represents their ability to inflict fear and as-
sert domination. Mechanically, it functions much like Hope, but
0 Dread means the adversary runs, dies, or is otherwise no longer
threatening.

6
Cards
Miserable Secrets is played with two decks of cards: the player
deck, and the GM deck. The cards and their suits have symbolic
meanings, and which cards a player hold determine their current
mix of emotions and problems.

Decks
Gameplay uses two decks: the player deck, and the GM deck. The
values and suits are based on standard playing cards. For each suit,
each deck includes one Ace, one of each card 2-5, and one Queen.
In addition to a suit and value, each card also corresponds to a
particular omen (see “Omens,” below).
You can build your decks from standard decks, or use the set of
custom decks made for Miserable Secrets. The custom decks
have the omens printed on them; if you use a standard deck, simply
cross-reference the omens chart in Appendix I.
Players draw and contribute mainly to the player deck. Cards from
the player deck form the majority of the clue spread (see “The Clue
Spread,” below). The GM draws mainly from the GM deck.
Each deck has its own discard pile. When a deck runs out of cards,
shuffle the discard pile and use it as the new deck.
If the rules indicate a player card draw and there are no cards in
the player deck or discard pile, the player draws from the GM deck.
In the unlikely event that there are no cards in the GM deck (or
discard pile), the draw is skipped.
When the players or the GM will gain cards from each other’s
decks, if the card is played and/or discarded, put it in the discard
pile of the deck it originally came from.

7
 Suits and Humours
Cards come in four suits, drawn from traditional playing card
suits. Each suit embodies one of the four humours that make up
living things. Likewise, each suit represents a time of day associated
with that humour, and the mood the humour inspires when it over-
whelms the others.

Clubs ♣

Clubs are the suit of dawn, which always arrives too soon and her-
alds another day of toil. Clubs are simple and to the point. A secret
of clubs is blatant or glaring: a shattered window, a note written in
anger, a dead body.
Dawn brings new thoughts to mind. Some are born of refresh-
ment from sleep, others from the pain of the rising sun in your eyes,
still others from the renewed opportunity to pursue angry goals.
Clubs represent the dominance of Vitriol and unlock the morally
caustic powers of the Profane.
Humour: Vitriol
Mood: Anger and bitterness
Aligned: Diamonds
Power: Profane

Spades ♠

Spades are the suit of noon, which cuts through all shadows and
leaves you exposed. Spades sneak up and strike at your core. A secret
of spades can be unexpected, but can’t be ignored: an ambush, a
traitorous kiss, a knife in the back.
Midday’s toil brings memories of the past, of both better and
worse times, and those memories can twist the knife in their own
way. The substance of memory is radiant ectoplasm, soothing in

8
safe amounts but toxic above all other things when it chokes your
heart or assumes shapes of its own.
Spades represent the dominance of Ectoplasm and unlock the
powers of Memory.
Power: Memory
Humour: Ectoplasm
Mood: Reflection and mourning
Aligned: Hearts

Diamonds ♦

Diamonds are the suit of dusk, when the sun retreats and the
cooling air soothes the mind. Diamonds are precious, the moment
when the relief of evening promises the indulgence of night. A se-
cret of spades is something of value: a lucky coin, a lock of some-
one’s hair, a dream of freedom.
Dusk brings the time to take deep breaths of relaxation, then to
quicken them with the pleasures of the evening. Dusk is the time
of least control: to drink wine, to gamble, to think on grudges to be
avenged the next day. It represents a release between the work of day
and the holy hours of the night.
Diamonds represent the dominance of Breath and unlock Secular
powers.
Power: Secular
Humour: Breath
Mood: Anticipation
Aligned: Clubs

9
 Hearts ♥

Hearts are suit of midnight, the time of fulfillment, the brightest

moment of the moon’s adoration of the Earth. Hearts pump the
blood of meaning through the veins of life. A secret of hearts is a
relationship: grudges that hold back sleep, wants that drive reckless-
ness, loves that can take or save a life.
At midnight, when the only sounds are those of God’s creatures
and lovers’ sighs, the heart dwells on passions satisfied or pursued.
Hearts represent the dominance of blood, the purest vital force of
the body and soul, and unlock Sacred powers.
Power: Sacred
Humour: Blood
Mood: Passion
Aligned: Spades

The Clue Spread

Everyone shares the clue spread, usually shortened to “the
spread”. The spread is an array of cards, usually arranged in a rect-
angular grid. Each clue card starts face-down.
The spread represents the unrevealed secrets in the episode. As a
player, you’ll select cards from it. When they match, you’ll uncover
secrets, which will add cards both to your tableau and to the player
discard pile.
When you successfully uncover a secret, you’ll add cards to your
tableau (see below), which changes your humours and therefore
what you can do.

Your Tableau
Your tableau is a line of cards in front of you that represents your
hero’s current physical and emotional state -- the balance of your

10
humours. The cards in your tableau determine what powers and
actions you can use.
Your tableau is open knowledge to the rest of the play group. Oth-
er heroes may not quite know what’s going on with you, but they
can sense your moods and guess at what lurks beneath whatever
mask you’re presenting.

Holding Cards
If you have a card in your tableau, you’re holding it. A held card
enables you to use powers appropriate to its suit, and stays in your
tableau when you use them. Many powers will require you to hold
multiple cards in your tableau.

Playing Cards
In battle, you can also play cards from your tableau to execute
battle actions. Playing a card represents cathartically releasing a hu-
mour. When you play a card, it goes into the appropriate discard
pile.
You can’t use a held card to enable a power in the same turn you
play that card to execute an action.

The GM’s Tableau

The GM’s tableau is concealed from the players, like a poker hand.
Like the players, the GM plays cards for battle actions (see Chapter
4). The GM will also sometimes put cards from their tableau into
the clue spread.
The GM doesn’t need cards in their tableau to unlock the abilities
of the adversaries they control.

Omens
Each card is associated with an omen, a certain twist of fate. When
a card is played against you, you can cancel its effect to declare it an
omen, and the twist occurs now or at the earliest logical opportu-
nity. Declaring a canceled card an omen complicates the story for
11
 your hero and likely your allies. The GM decides how, but anyone’s
allowed to make suggestions.
You may also choose to declare an omen by playing and discarding
a card from your hand. If you choose to make omen negative, flip a
card in the clue spread permanently face-up (see Chapter 3 for more
on flipping cards). If the omen is positive, simply discard the card.
A particular omen may become a signature for your character. For
example, you may decide with the GM that every time you draw the
4 of Hearts, the Ex-Confidante, it represents the same recurring
character.
Queens represent particularly influential figures in the setting,
like the Devil Themself or Mother Medusa.

Setup
To begin the game:
1. Deal a 4x4 grid of cards from the player deck.
2. Deal each player 2 cards for their tableau from the player deck.
3. Deal the GM 4 cards to their tableau from the GM deck.

12
Glossary
Symbols
♣ Clubs, the suit of Dawn and the Profane. Equivalent to ♣.

♠ Spades, the suit of Noon and Memory. Equivalent to ♠.

♦ Diamonds, the suit of Dusk and the Secular. Equivalent to ♦.

♥ Hearts, the suit of Midnight and the Sacred. Equivalent to ♥.

Core: A core power, given to all heroes with a specific background.

Optional: An optional power, which a hero receives only one of at hero
creation.
Investigation: An investigation feature of a power.
Battle: A battle feature of a power.

Rules Terms
Action: Something a character can do during a turn in investi-
gation or battle, governed by a specific set of rules. Some actions
incorporate other actions, particularly in battle, and may also be
triggered by other actions. In the rules, an action is set apart in blue.
{ }

Background: A hero’s notable birth, training, or legacy, such as

Alchemist, Half-Noble, or Hunter. Backgrounds provide powers.
Battle: The mode of play representing a direct and extended con-
flict, in which players take actions and characters move around a
defined space to defeat foes.
Card: A playing card, with a suit, value, and omen. Drawn from
a deck.
Clue Spread: The arrangement of cards, usually in a grid. In
investigation, players attempt to match cards in the clue spread to
uncover secrets.

13
 Damage: A number which reduces a character’s Hope or Dread.
Damage often represents physical injury or loss of morale.
Deck: A deck of cards. This game uses player and GM decks.
Distinction: An important element of a hero or monster, such
as their appearance or a defining relationship. Associated with a
particular suit.
Dread: A resource representing a monster’s ability to continue
acting. Heroes use Hope instead.
Feature: A rule used in investigation or battle, often to modify
an action. Usually associated with a hero’s power or a monster’s
trait.
Held Card: A card that a member of the group keeps in their
tableau for an entire turn, rather than playing it. Used most fre-
quently to determine what powers a hero can use.
Hero: A player’s character.
Hope: A resource representing a hero’s ability to continue acting.
Monsters use Dread instead.
Investigation: The mode of play in which characters attempt to
uncover secrets by taking actions on the clue spread.
Keyword: A catch-all term for rules elements of characters that
are not features or powers. Often modifies the application of
another rule, such as reducing damage. Keywords are sometimes
gained temporarily or apply only to specific actions. Keywords are
usually Capitalized.
Monster: A foe heroes face, often but not always supernatural.
Monster Type: A general category of monster, such as a ghostly
Shade or a human Commoner.
Omen: A twist of fate corresponding to an individual card, pre-
senting an incident and some possible questions raised. Omens can
be invoked for or against the heroes.
14
 Power: An ability belonging to a hero or monster, such as special
training, a weapon, or a supernatural gift. Each power has features
for investigation and battle.
Power Type: A keyword representing the source of a power,
such as Sacred or Memory, corresponding to a suit. Many powers
have more than one type, based on the held cards used to activate
them. In conjunction with keywords, a power type may modify a
power’s damage.
Reaction: An action taken in response to another action or a
narrative event.
Round: A unit of game time during investigation or battle in
which each player gets at least one turn. During battle, the GM also
gets turns during a round.
Secret: A piece of useful information, usually learned by taking
actions in investigation.
Specialty: A particularly flashy or potent trait, providing a single
power.
Suit: A card symbol representing power type, varieties of secrets,
a time of day, bodily humours, and more. A power or monster’s
suit(s) determine what type of damage it does, which might mean a
character is more resistant or vulnerable.
Tableau: The current cards a member of the group possesses,
like a hand in some traditional games. For a hero, this represents
their current balance of bodily humours, and therefore their mental
state. Player tableaus are visible to everyone at the table. The GM’s
tableau is hidden.
Turn: A unit of game time in which a character gets to take at
least one action. Turns are a subdivision of rounds.
Theme: The general tone or nature of a character. Hero themes
provide a way to get Hope. Monster themes provide a single power.

15
 Trait: A defining characteristic of a character. Heroes have traits
in three categories: theme, background, and specialty. Monsters
have traits in three similar categories, but with different rules:
theme, monster type, and specialty.

16
17
 I. Setting
You live in a dirty age.
Huddled in villages and barricaded in walled towns, the people
of Christendom live every day with fear.
They hurt each other, and themselves, and then bury those secret
crimes. They become prey for monsters, from within and without.
Whatever you’re looking for, you won’t find it easily. You might
have to look in every shallow grave and every hidden heart in the
world. You’ll find mud and bones and crime and love.
You’ll find the truth. And you’ll deliver the consequences.
That’s the world you live in, and the role you play. But how did
we get here?
Civilization ended in an eyeblink. The Six Minute War unleashed
the full fury of the world’s arsenals, leaving a frightened and dev-
astated people to claw their way through the ruins of humanity’s
greatest age, beset on all sides by demons and darkness. They were
guided by the Thinking Machines, those mechanical servants that
had served faithfully until the end of the world.
Before long, the servants became the masters, and the masters
became fractious. The Machine Nations marched relentlessly to war
with each other, and their flesh-and-blood subjects chafed under
their rule. As the centuries went by, as humanity tried to reclaim
land and ruins amidst the schemes of the machines, an ancient spe-
cies reemerged into the world.
An alternate branch of humanity, glorious and immortal, they led
the common folk in a crusade against the machines. They broke the
power of the mechanical minds, destroying them or banishing them
to the radioactive wastes.
Their powers were uncanny -- divine, even. After the crusade, as
humanity rebuilt again, the immortals became the Noblesse. They
seized the reins of Church and State, and ruled generously across
their many fiefdoms. All they asked for in exchange was blood.
Most of the mutants and devils were driven out in great crusades,
forced to form their own kingdoms in the south. Others became
part of the Noblesse’s grand society.
Yet far too many monsters lingered in the wild places, preying
upon unwary travelers. Sin and longing create more, and while peo-
ple may hold out hope for heroes, the monsters have hopes of their
own.

Christendom
The misty, muddy valleys and sharp, saw-toothed mountains of
Christendom occupy the western portions of the known world, with
more tenuous ties to archipelagos in the Sea of Martyrs. Christen-
dom is an agricultural society where the leader with the largest food
supply (in meat, grain, and mortal blood) holds the most power.

19
 Christendom has many squabbling kings, but true power shifts
almost with the cycle of the moon; the real authority and stability is
in the hands of the barons and the Church of the Grail.
Not all of the common people believe in Christ; they have many
faiths, cultures, and languages. But the Church, which has the al-
legiance of the Noblesse, holds most of the political and financial
power.
The people of Christendom are divided into three estates: those
who rule, those who pray, and those who toil. The first two are
dominated by the Noblesse, while the third are mostly mortal. For-
eigners who travel through Christendom rarely have any legal status
or protection.

Those Who Rule

The blood-drinking Noblesse have cemented their power over
the recovering farmlands. They rule from the castles and cathedrals
they have built as monuments to their own grandeur. Their rule is
nigh-absolute, yet even they covertly lust after the secrets of bygone
ages.
The Noblesse are the scions of Joseph of Arimathea, who collect-
ed the blood from Christ’s wounded side in a cup, and spared a few
drops to wet his own lips. Joseph became like, though not equal, to
Christ.
Joseph protected the Apostles and their churches in times so far
gone as to be almost unthinkable, and the Noblesse carry on his
vow to protect Christ’s flock and bring God’s Kingdom to Earth.
In exchange for their holy service, the Noblesse must bear the
burdens of Christ. Crucifixes weaken them and drive them back,
forcing them to re-live the pain of the Savior’s murder on the cross.
And as the cross was made of wood, so too does wood through the
heart wound them gravely. Silver, the metal of Judas’ betrayal, is a
potent poison to them.

20
 These infirmities are balanced by their holy gifts. A noble may
soar through the sky on wings dark as midnight and just as full of
stars, may transform from person to beast, or drain the veins of
their foes miraculously from across a battlefield.
The Noblesse are strongest at night, when God’s Heavens can be
seen in glory. The moon is the emblem of Mary’s piety, and they
call it mother.
Signs in the heavens often herald great upheavals in Christen-
dom. An eclipse or comet may send a noble to their sick bed, even
requiring that they be entombed for decades or centuries while their
reciprocal heirs take over.
Each planting season, a noble consecrates their fields with a mix-
ture of their own blood and that of their subjects, making them one
with the land and encouraging good harvests. Thus, the Noblesse
become tied to their lands, feeling the pleasures and pains of crops,
forests, and even their subjects.
The noble’s humours are affected by the land they govern and, ul-
timately, feed from, and the connection goes both ways. A wounded
noble may bring blight to their holdings, while one who is healthy
and in God’s grace brings unparalleled prosperity.
The Noblesse are served by more than their mortal flocks. For
even if you can teach a sheep to carry a shield and pike, it is still a
sheep.
Thus, they accept the vassalage of other powers of the night and
day, of monsters their crusades did not drive out. Lamiae, cyclops,
and even sometimes Death herself march with their armies.

The Illegitimate
The Noblesse reproduce only very slowly among themselves. And
they are enough like their mortal subjects so as to make trysts inev-
itable. Some of these become marriages (see “The Beloved”), but
many more are simply fleeting affairs of the heart.

21
 Yet even the most fleeting union can be fruitful. Noblesse who
dally with commoners sometimes sire or bear children by them.
These children are not truly immortal, but possess embers of their
parents’ divinity.
Like their immortal parents, half-nobles have a sacred thirst for
human blood, freely given. They also inherit divine gifts. The ability
to become a flock of birds or bats is common, and their health is
vigorous, if not perfect.
Elegantly dealing with these bastards is an ongoing problem in
Noblesse society. Many are given appointments in the militaries.
The elite Maids Paladin, for example, are the cream of the officer
corps. They are trained and equipped so as to be nearly as powerful
and deadly as full-blooded Nobles.
Others are diverted to the Church. An illegitimate child is unlike-
ly to become a cardinal, but may rise to prominence as an abbex
or even a bishop. And clerically-trained offspring can be valuable
courtiers, regardless of the individual favor or disfavor shown by
their parents.
A very few half-nobles have their lineage concealed by their par-
ents, and are raised and passed off as full-blooded Noblesse, simply
a little sickly or unusual. These would-be heirs may not even know
their true parentage, and the consequences when the truth is re-
vealed are often catastrophic for everyone involved.
And some, those strange children who can’t easily accept that they
are different from their parents and siblings, take to the road, be-
coming adventurers, hired swords, even rebels and monster hunters.

The Beloved
The Noblesse are far from heartless, nor are they entirely above
elevating beloved subjects to their ranks. Commoners thus elevated
are respected as the Nobles they become. A once-mortal spouse is
even preferable -- the plural marriages and long reigns of the ruling
class create very complicated webs of intrigue, whereas the worst

22
a former commoner can do is be a touch too indulgent with her
humble family.
Yet ascending from the third estate to the first takes more than
love and ceremony. It’s unpredictable and deadly.
To raise a commoner, a noble drinks from them by night for every
night of a lunar month. As always, the commoner must give their
blood willingly, for eternal life is meaningless without want.
When the commoner’s mortal self has wasted away from anemia
and desire, their family and friends entomb them in heavy stone, as
Christ was entombed.
Unlike our Savior, the new bride does not rise in three nights.
Mortal bodies become divine only slowly, or not at all. A noble’s
beloved might rise in a few nights, a few moons, or many years later,
while their would-be spouse longs or mourns or forgets.
Then, abruptly, the beloved rises from death and into new life.
They are ravenous, but weak. A new spouse is crazed with hunger, a
danger to anyone they chance upon.
Thus, they are interred with bells around their necks or over their
mausoleums. The bells toll when the new noble struggles with or
throws aside the stones that sheltered them in death.
And so, the toll of a bell in the night never fails to quicken heart-
beats. For the Noblesse, it signals the end of long nights alone. For
the common people, it heralds the prowling of something devour-
ing yet divine.

Those Who Pray

The Church of the Grail preaches salvation through obedience to
the social order and penitence for temporal sins. It also sells indul-
gences for blood, though particularly gluttonous Church officers
may find themselves in conflict with a noble’s natural right to the
blood of their subjects.

23
 The Church theoretically operates in a strict hierarchy, with the
Tripontiffex and College of Cardinals at the top, and the lowly par-
ish priests at the bottom. In practice, many cardinals have minds of
their own and treasuries and armies to match. And at the bottom,
where the priests may not have any nobility in their blood at all,
they’re often aligned with the interests of local nobility or their fel-
low mortals more than with the Church as an enterprise.
Many second or illegitimate children of the Noblesse find roles in
the middle echelons of the Church, and a few rise higher. Even a
trickle of noble blood can be a great advantage to a Church career.

Numerological Monks
The demise and/or exile of the Thinking Machines left a role
for those able to perform complex calculations in their stead. The
Church maintains monasteries to educate these human computers.
Most numerites are laity who have taken vows of chastity, obedi-
ence, and accuracy. They cannot offer the sacraments of the Church.
Some, however, are called to become canons, who mix with local
communities and perform services that both elevate the soul and
enlighten the mind.
Among the numerites are also anchorites, who seclude themselves
from the world to advance the science of mathematics.

Evangelim
The Word of God is not always easily received, and so the Church
sends forth charismatic preachers to expand the frontiers of Chris-
tendom. Inspired by John the Baptizer, evangelim wield words which
both burn and salve, and practice the rare tradition of baptism by
full immersion. For rivers, they preach, are the blood of Christen-
dom, and so the convert must bathe in them as the noblesse are
baptised in baths of blood.

24
Those Who Toil
The common people are a varied lot. They vastly outnumber the
other estates, and they are the producers and food supply that al-
low Christendom to survive. Most are farmers or fisherfolk in small
villages, many are crafters in those same villages or the larger towns
and cities, and a few are merchants, climbing the social ladder as
high as any mortal can.

Farmers
Before the Noblesse and their unheralded commoner armies
drove out the Thinking Machines, the farms existed mostly to sup-
ply the vast workforce who labored in the mines and at the refine-
ment sites. These unfortunates extracted and processed metals that
became deadlier with every step, ultimately bringing them to the
remote fortresses of the Machines. Their lives were short, but they
worked themselves to death so that their families would be given the
calendars that ensured survival.
Under the present regime, food is produced primarily to sustain
the mortal populace, who in turn sustain the greater estates. The
Church is more generous with the output of its monks than the
Machines were with theirs, and literacy is slowly spreading.

Crafters
The technology available to the third estate varies. Craftmistress-
es choose apprentices carefully and inculcate them with the ideals
of secrecy. Thus, some crafters can produce wonders on nearly the
level of the Machines, so long as they have the deadly fuels their
hungry miracles require. Meanwhile, others labor with equal vigor
and intelligence to make far cruder implements, lacking only the
training of their flashier peers.
In practical terms, a crafter from a grander tradition, and with the
right ancient pieces, can create automatons and weapons capable
of killing people in scores, or soaring cathedrals that bring a bit of
Heaven to Earth, while those with humbler legacies carve and forge
the tools and weapons that keep society running.
25
 Merchants
With the Thinking Machines banished, some mortals are permit-
ted to move freely and haul goods between villages, towns, and cit-
ies. Some of them even rise above driving their own carts and put-
ting their own children to work, living in great houses and learning
the art of accounts from the monks.
Though the relationships between the pious princesses of Chris-
tendom and the people of the South and East are strained, and
though reaching those lands often requires the forbidden knowl-
edge of Wise Ones and great personal risk, in recent decades some
merchants trade in foreign luxuries. The soothing incense of the
Dreaming South and the mind-molding molds of the Fecund East
fetch high prices, but the true backbone of foreign trade is what can
be sold to the person in the field or street, or given to a craftmistress
to make an intricate device.

Penitents
People often journey to visit blessed places or the relics of saints.
They’re looking for cures, forgiveness, or just advice from a well-
known preacher. A few, though, go not for their own sake, but for
others.
Penitents are professional pilgrims. They ritually consume the sins
of the weary, then carry those sins on long journeys to the grandest
or most inaccessible of holy places, their burdens lifted only when
they are able to kneel before God and be absolved of the guilt they
have assumed.
The reputation of penitents varies. For some, they’re almost an
institution of the Church itself, a vital part of securing a place in
Heaven. For others, they’re a frustration, turning up to beg hospi-
tality and offer a sympathetic ear exactly when you’re penniless and
don’t want to talk.
Like any other pilgrims, penitents often travel together, and among
themselves they’re surprisingly jolly, surviving the backbreaking
weight of their fellows’ sins by indulging in music and earthy humor.
26
 With the stabilization and centralization of the Church, penitism
has become a more reliable calling. In the last few generations, pen-
itents have formed families of flesh as well as fellowship, passing
their strange trade from parent to child.

The Unruly
Alchemists
With long lives and blood of liquid gold, the alchemists are set in-
evitably apart from the estates. Yet it was their compassion for those
who toil that made them what they are.
Under the reign of the Thinking Machines, a few commoners
dared to outthink them. They cultivated strange crops in secret
groves, they stole the arcane flesh of the Iron Ogres, and they per-
formed the most dangerous and compassionate work a learned per-
son could: they worked to preserve the lives of miners.
The alchemists of the Machine Age brewed elixirs that soothed ra-
diant burns, bread that prolonged life, and wine that put tormented
minds at ease. As their forbidden ministry succeeded, a few became
more ambitious. They applied their science to defying Death itself.
In modern times, many alchemists still practice healing arts, but
they share that calling with people of the Church and the impro-
vised traditions of the Wise Ones. In their heart of hearts, all of
them share one dream: to make transient mortal flesh unchanging
and divine. And in their mind of minds, they know how to do it:
they must craft machines of their own.
These machines are not the sprawling monstrosities that dwelt in
dark fortresses. Quite the opposite, the machines of alchemists are
impossibly small. The work that separates lifelong apprentices from
true mistresses of chymistry is to produce a machine so tiny and in-
ventive that it can replace the infirm blood of a mortal.
Once they have made one of these machines, they seed it in their
marrow and let it reproduce. The process is long and sickening, and
secondary infection is a constant hazard until their blood is fully
27
 remade. But once they have become golden, they have powers that
astonish their fellow mortals. They can see the places they have shed
blood upon, and they can form that blood into tools and weapons.
While the Noblesse look on with admiration and suspicion, the
alchemists plot secretly to bring their work to the wider world. But
for now, the process is too dangerous to inflict upon another. And
so the work continues.

Shades
The Six Minute War turned bodies into so much irradiated vapor,
creating contaminated spirits with a half-life of thousands of years.
These maddened creatures still haunt the the ruins, the moors, and
the lonely places... and those created in the war were not the last.
The souls of the dead still return, radiant spirits whose touch brings
the corruption of the ancient wars. Not all are hostile, but their urge
to touch the living once more can be very dangerous.

Hounds
The wolves are not subjects of the noblesse in the way that hu-
mans are. Many owe no allegiance at all, being wild packs that take
what they need from the land and the people. For wolves are the
Hounds of God, and as a hound is a partner with a human, so they
are partners with Christ.
These Hounds generally care little for the Church, seeing them-
selves as parallel to and above its institutions. If the noblesse are the
Lord’s shepherds, and the humans His sheep, then the wolves are
the predators who will not allow the flock nor their guardians to
grow complacent.
There are credible reports of a nation of winter-wolves to the
north, but if they’re out there, they’re reclusive, shunning trade or
even banditry against their neighbors.

Wise Ones
Despite the crusade, ancient traditions of science and supernatu-
ral arts remain, practiced in hidden enclaves throughout the land.
28
These witches wield long-lost sorcery and forgotten wisdom. They
brandish their amulets of wire and spark plugs, and speak to the
shades who know the secrets of the old world. They sport chrome
tattoos of crows, and mix their blood with gasoline. They are the
only hope for crossing the wastes into the unsaved lands.

Unsaved Lands
Christendom is only the westernmost part of the known world,
and the “known” world is believed to be only a sliver of what hu-
manity knew before the Six Minute War. Most godly people will
never stray far from their homes, but all have heard fantastic tales
from reliable tellers about the world beyond their own.

The Lonely Barrows

Christendom is dotted with mounds a mile or wider, fallout and
soil accreted over structures that perished in the the great War -- or
were meant to survive them. Reliable stories say that thinking beings
live in these eerie forts, content usually to mind their own business,
but vengeful when their homes are disturbed or their processions
and hunts interrupted.
But these are merely the outlying forts. The people of Christen-
dom give the greatest monuments of the ancient world a wide berth.
These cover hundreds of square miles, and from their centers rise
the skeletons of great buildings, metal bones rising from overgrown
rubble. These palaces are admired on the skyline, but given a re-
spectful distance.
A few mound-palaces are held in particular awe... those that illu-
minate the night with eerie lights from within their towers of metal
bone.
As for the inhabitants? Their majesties and baronesses are thought
to be above interacting with mortals who don’t harm them first. But
their exiles, the ragged folk too old or hideous or compassionate to

29
 mix freely with their fellows, can be found wandering the moun-
tains and valleys of Christendom, particularly near woods or water.

Wanderers from Ease

Some of the barrow wights may feel mysterious obligations to or
affection for the people of Christendom. They are even said to give
of their own flesh, replacing infants who suffer crib death with their
own precious children, earning them the nickname “the good folk.”.
There are too many reports to ignore of wandering spirits like the
banshee warning travelers of doom, too many accounts to fully dis-
dain of phantom travelers joining caravans.
Yet it is fashionable to wonder among some of the Noblesse -- are
these exiles and defectors sent to roam the human lands, or infil-
trators from the world’s former rulers sent to assess Christendom’s
strength against these rival and pagan aristocrats.

The Dreaming South

The south, like the west, is ruled under the light of the moon.
But who exactly rules it is unclear, for the humans of the south are
commanded in their dreams. The obedient and vigorous are given
signs by which they prosper, while the disloyal and shiftless suffer
terror every night.
These are subtle incentives and punishments, thoughts and feel-
ings that fade with sunrise. Yet they and their interpretation are
the means of government in the south, and those who have visited
speak of cities not of a few tens of thousands, as in Christendom,
but of millions.

The Kindly Ones

The merchants and laborers of the south call their rulers the Kind-
ly Ones. Some say the name with a grimace, others with a smile.
They say that the Kindly Ones rule from clifftop aeries, and that the
greatest of them has wings that encircle the Earth, with the Moon
her watchful eye and the stars her gleaming feathers.

30
 For people from the west, it can be hard to understand how literal
this is meant to be. The languages and laws of the south all treat
dreams as pure truth, but they come from entirely different families
than those of Christendom, so comparisons are difficult.
To God-fearing people, the ways of the Dreaming South seem
exotic, impractical, and perhaps even blasphemous. Their traders,
though, are equitable, and offer luxuries and raw materials no one
in Christendom can provide.

Dream-Thieves
Dream-thieves are rarely seen in the south, but claim to come from
there, and their faces come in the shapes and shades of southerners.
They can walk in dreams, and use various translations of “my heart
lies dreaming” in the same way the westernmost people of Christen-
dom say “life goes on.”
Clergy and commoners alike often denounce them as devils (the
name “dream-thief” is endured but not self-applied), but there are
few laws restricting them. They’re often assumed to be the Kindly
Ones or their children, but confronting a dream-thief with this as-
sertion is likely to earn a roll of the eyes or a sarcastic aphorism.
Scholars and keen observers often wonder if the seemingly bizarre
mood-shifts of dream-thieves are manifestations of culture clash, or
of a supernatural empathy that picks up unspoken disturbances in
the people around them. Once again, asking a dream-thief usually
results in a half-smile or quirked eyebrow, and a blunt “that’s just
how I am.”

The Fecund East

The eastern lands were once the realm of the Noblesse, before the
Green crept into their homes and sent them fleeing west to find
purpose in invading the lands of the Machines.

The Green
The Green is a vast forest that marches further west every year. It
is a place of poisonous flowers and skin-splitting spores, where no
31
 ordinary animal can survive. Strange, walking plants stalk between
the trees, drawing their energy from sun and rot in equal measure.
The few humans who live here hide in sealed bunkers, many left
over from the ancient wars. They never go out with even an inch of
flesh uncovered.
Copies of ancient maps show that the Green may have overgrown
holy cities like Lost Jerusalem, revered and much-coveted by the
Church. Even Mecca and Medina, revered by the many followers of
the Prophet, may now be overgrown tangle of brambles and vines.
By attempting to reconcile various conflicting chronologies and
inconsistent reports of the Green’s expansion rate, numerological
monks have projected that the Green’s expanse may have been born
from the True Cross, which in turn was cut from a tree sprung from
the mouth of Adam’s corpse.
Church orthodoxy, however, claims that the land where Christ’s
blood was spilled by the centurion is incorruptible, suggesting that
the Golgotha they revere may be a pristine island within a forest of
monstrosities.
The Church and other faiths want sorely to retake the Holy Land,
but even if the maps are accurate, there are no known means of raz-
ing the Green on the necessary scale.
Even now, Jerusalem and Golgotha are sites to which penitents
carrying the gravest of sins may rally their courage to seek out. While
there are claims that many of these pilgrims eventually reach their
goals and achieve absolution, these are second and third hand, for
few penitents who return are willing to speak of their travails.

Mandragora
The most intelligent of the mobile plants, Mandragora are plants
that walk the forest in the shape of humans. They live in small fam-
ily groups and war endlessly with each other. The mandragora are
usually indifferent to the humans who share their forest, certain
that the mortals will die out or destroy themselves.

32
 In the west, the dying scream of a mandrake is reliably reputed
to bring sudden death or a blessed life. Alchemists, Wise Ones,
and the other scientists of Christendom covet their sap, but do not
know whether any single drop will bring transcendent rapture or
death by fright.

Harbingers
Some humans worship the Green, and are exiled by their own
tribes. Unable to survive for long outside the bunkers, they travel
west, ahead of the forest’s expanse. They preach the gospel of the
woods, and are able to call upon a small portion of the Green’s
boundless life force, bringing its growth and poison to the lands
beyond.
Harbingers often tend sacred, secluded groves that remind them
of the Green. They may even grow a few of its crops in these groves,
for worship or sale.

Above and Below

God’s people live upon God’s Earth, and each night, they raise
their eyes to Heaven and sing their nightly hymns. Mary’s moon
lights most nights, and even when she must rest, each star is an an-
gel, from the swift messenger Gabriel to Michael the bringer of war.
The godly are interred in consecrated ground, wrapped in shrouds
bearing their families’ prayers, that their souls might ascend and
carry those prayers with them to Heaven, where they will be seated
at the third hand of the Father.
Heaven is a cold place, but in the kindest of ways, a dark winter
spent forever nestled in the warmth of God’s love, as well as that of
saints and the dearly departed. Every person of Christendom longs
for the solace of God’s dark halls and hearths of purest affection, to
hear hymns that praise their virtues and those of all they ever loved,
to be reunited in purity and rest with their best friends and most
beloved pets.

33
 But even one who says their prayers at night fears that they are not
destined for Heaven. They worry that rather than emerging from
the womb of their grave soil to join the choirs of the stars, they will
be dragged down much, much further.
For just as each mortal soul is a pearl grown around a grain of
original sin, so is the good Earth a shell around a realm of dread.
The world is hollow, and within lies Hell.
Hell is not just beneath Christendom, but beneath all the world.
At its center, the Lightbringer’s wounded eye gazes in eternal tor-
ment, a Sun of Sin that casts eternal, burning day over their would-
be kingdom. The devil’s body was slain in the time before time, but
the ten parts of an angel’s soul endure as eternally as those of every
child of God.
The tears of Satan’s eye are so potent that they run throughout
their dominion as liquid sunlight, filling seas that mock the cool,
night-dark oceans of God’s world above.
Damned souls till the fields of the hollow world, just as good folk
do the lands above, but they harvest only one crop -- each other’s
pain. In Hell, there is no distinction between farming, torture, and
war. Sinners’ grief is cultivated, reaped, and milled, turned into the
bread and beer of the demon elites, who bask in the Devil’s infernal
light, in mockery of the moonlight repose of God’s Noblesse.
Thus the hollow Earth, like the godly shell around it, has its farms
and mills and villages, ruled over by wretched creatures who style
themselves aristocrats and kept running by the labor of poor sinners
not yet stripped of either guilt nor tenderness. Well-read experts
and charismatic preachers teach that just as even in Hell, there is
toil, even in Hell, there are feeling and conscience.
Only when a sinner has suffered so much that their soul can no
longer recall its sins is it released. Theologians disagree on what
comes next. Some believe the once-damned are reborn upon the
Earth, given new chances to live purer lives. Others aver that a soul

34
from which no more pain can be harvested is given a last rest as
foam upon the Sea of Martyrs.
The last group, the most cynical, believe that no soul can be tru-
ly purified, that demons ultimately pump exhausted sinners up
through the veins of the Earth.
Those who did some good in their lives become useful metals.
Those who did enough penance to be almost worth saving become
gems to adorn God’s churches and nobles. And those who did the
most monstrous of deeds, those who can never be clean for even a
moment... those souls become the metals that power the Thinking
Machines.
Yet even then, Hell is not always so remote as a deep mineshaft.
For sometimes the liquid sunlight of the inferno bubbles up through
the ground as molten, destroying all it touches.
When it does, it’s accompanied by the smoke and ash left over
from refined pain, the corruption so toxic even demons will not
feed upon it, the anguish too heartrending for even creatures of pur-
est evil to consume. And that pollution always carries the screams of
those whose souls it’s being harvested from.
Some bold explorers venture through these wounds in the Earth,
to meet and redeem the damned, to break the bondage of Satan.
A few have even claimed to return, and their tales ring of terrifying
truth.

35
 2. Heroes
Across gruesome wastelands and down mean streets stride a few
who are not mean.
A few who unravel lies and decide justice.
A few unusual for what they can do, but more than that, for
what they choose to do.
A few heroes.
To create your hero, you’ll establish their traits, basic character
elements which give them special powers. Then, you’ll write their
distinctions, descriptions of how they present themselves to the
world and how they’re connected to it.

Creation
After you come up with an initial idea for your hero, there are
three steps to build them: traits, distinctions, and finishing touches.
1. Traits
Your hero’s traits form a basic statement:
“I’m an (adjective) (noun) who (verb)s.”
The adjective is a theme, the noun is a background, and the verb
is a specialty. Together, these traits tell you the core of your hero’s
identity and give them their powers.

Theme
Your theme sets the general tone of your hero, like “Haunted” or
“Rebel.”
Taking a significant action to follow or act against your theme
gives you a point of Hope. For example, a Pious hero gets Hope by
affirming or denying their faith.

Background
Your background gives your hero a role, a hint of backstory, and a
general way of doing things. A Half-Noble is obviously illegitimate
but carries the thirst of their Noblesse ancestors, while a Numero-
logical Monk is an expert on the holy art of mathematics.
Your background gives you three powers. Take the two core ( Core: )
powers and pick one optional ( Optional: ) power.

Specialty
A specialty is something your hero is or can do that very few others
can. A hero who Cavorts with the Dead can build friendships with
and call upon the aid of those who should have passed beyond,
while one who Has Poison Blood can poison the very ground upon
which they fall wounded.
Your specialty gives you one power.

2. Distinctions
Distinctions give your hero all-important context. From your
traits, you know what your hero can do. Distinctions cement them
37
 in the world. You’ll write one distinction for each suit in the play-
er deck. Distinctions follow the symbolism of suits, which you can
read more about in the Introduction.
♣ Clubs: An obvious feature or look, visible to everyone.
♠ Spades: A dangerous or predatory truth.
♦ Diamonds: Something of value you carry or know.
♥ Hearts: A deep personal connection to a person or place.
Distinctions are also a chance to add elements to the world. If you
have a connection to the Queen of Underneath, then you’ve just
invented her and the entire realm of Underneath.

3. Finishing Touches
Give your hero a name. You’ll start out each session with 3 Hope
points.

Example Themes
Doomed
Your life is being pulled inexorably toward a dark fate.
Gain a point of Hope when you take a significant step toward or
back from your fate.

Haunted
The ghosts of your past (literal or figurative) won’t let you go... or
you won’t let go of them.
Gain a point of Hope when you take a decisive action that helps
you hold on to your past, or helps you let go of it.

38
Pious
Your faith means more to you than almost anything or anyone
else.
Gain a point of Hope when you make a significant decision based
on following or defying your faith.

Rebellious
You fight for a cause or against one.
Gain a point of Hope when one of your actions has a strong im-
pact on your cause.

Youthful
You haven’t grown up, physically and/or mentally.
Gain a point of Hope when you take a step toward or back from
maturity.

Veteran
You’ve been there, done that, and you’ve got the scar to prove it.
Gain a point of Hope when your experience as a warrior sees you
through something tough.

Example Backgrounds
On the following pages, we present a selection of example back-
grounds.

39
 Alchemist
Alchemists...
...have replaced their blood with finely-wrought liquid machinery.
...search for the secrets of natural philosophy.
...often have wealthy patrons, though their self-made blood makes
the Noblesse suspicious.
Core: Shining Whip ♦

You extend your blood into a long rope with a sharp end.
Investigation: When you climb the rope of your own blood, you easily succeed
in your climb.
Battle: When you flurry with your rope, you have Sweep 3.
{ }

Core: Ichor ♦♦

Your golden blood can be shaped... and when you shed it, it’s as
if you’re still present.
Investigation: When you leave a drop of your blood behind in a location, you
may dig by observing others without being physically present.
{ }

Battle: When you form your blood into liquid armor, you may play an
Ace to block as if it were a Queen.
{ }

Optional: Discernment ♠♦♦

Through the sciences of chemistry and microscopy, you reveal the

unseen.
Investigation: When you look for tiny, near-invisible details, you may automat-
ically succeed at digging. { }

Battle: When an ally grants opportunity to a foe, that foe grants oppor-
{ } {

tunity to you.
}

40
Optional: Homunculus ♣♣♦

You form your blood into a small, golden replica of yourself,

which seeks other things of value.
Investigation: When you send your homunculus to look for a specific object of
value, you may automatically succeed at digging.
{ }

Battle: When you send your homunculus forth into the fray, you can
manipulate it with your own basic moves. Its position counts as
{ }

if it were you, including for flanking and adjacency. The homun-

culus also has Jump.

41
 Dream-Thief
Dream-Thieves...
...come from the far south, and are often believed to be the dev-
il-rulers of those lands.
...sustain themselves on the nightly wants of mortals and Noblesse
alike.
...speak all the languages of Christendom, and take their names
from common words.
Core: Wings of Dream ♠

Your wings unfurl, and you are raised by dreams and propelled
by nightmares.
Investigation: You can fly.
Battle: When you move, you may fly and may end any turn Flying.
{ }

Core: Glory of Dreams ♠♠

A dream is a secret the heart keeps.

Investigation: When you walk in the dreams of another person, you may recov-
{

er and dig on the same turn.

} { }

Battle: When you remind an ally of one of their dreams, you may play
any card, and they gain 1 Hope.

Optional: A Coin for a Thought ♠♠♦

You give worldly goods for something far more valuable.

Investigation: When you destroy a treasure, you may automatically succeed at
{ forming a bond with a spirit.
}

Battle: When you destroy a treasure belonging to a foe, you deal 2 dam-
age to that foe.

42
Optional: Soporific Hymn ♠♠♥

Your singing lulls those who listen to a sleep full of happy recol-
lections.
Investigation: When you spend your turn to sing an ally to sleep, each of you
gains 1 Hope.
Battle: When you sing the sweetest of songs, you may mark a foe. That
{ }

foe may only play aces or queens-as-aces until the start of your
next turn. Your mark also goes away at the start of your next
turn.

43
 Evangelist
Evangelim...
...have experienced an epiphany that drives them to spread God’s
word.
...are often considered living saints.
...are both valued and watched carefully by the Church.
Core: Living Psalter ♥

You have the right words for any situation.

Investigation: When you defend yourself with scripture, you may count any
{ }

card as a heart.
Battle: When you cite scripture to your cause, you may mark an ally. All
{ }

of that ally’s actions are Sacred until the start of your next turn.

Core: Rouse Faith ♠♥

You stir the moral passion of your allies.

Investigation: When you preach to an audience, you may form a bond with
{ }

them as a group.
Battle: When you shout inspiring words to your allies, you may play
cards, giving 1 Hope to an ally, +1 for every value match. You
may split this Hope among as many allies as you like.

Optional: Fire and Brimstone ♥♥♥

You put the fear of God into people... whether they believe or
not!
Investigation: When you speak frightening words about God’s judgment, you
may automatically succeed at denigrating someone.
Battle: When you call judgment upon a foe, they suffer Vulnerable (Sa-
cred) 1 until the end of the scene.
44
Optional: Reveal the Deceiver ♣♥♥

Having been tempted, you see the efforts of the Great Liar for
what they are.
Investigation: When you speak intimately with someone who has lost their
faith, you may automatically succeed at forming a bond, whether
{ }

you convince them or not.

Battle: When you have suffered a foe’s Profane attack and retained
Hope, you may give 1 Hope to every ally that foe has hurt.

45
 Half-Noble
Half-Nobles...
...don’t inherit titles, but may receive gifts from their parents.
...have the sacred thirst of their ancestors, but are less gluttonus.
...receive much of the respect or scorn the common people direct at
their full-blooded kin.
Core: Noble Thirst ♥

Your ancestors’ eternal thirst must be slaked.

Investigation: When someone willingly shares blood from their arteries with
you, you may recover and form a bond on the same turn.
{ } { }

Battle: When you attack by ripping blood from your foe’s veins, your
{ }

opponent grants opportunity to you.

{ }

Core: Murder of Crows ♠♥

You become a murder of crows, each embodying one of your most

precious recollections.
Investigation: When you defend against a physical assault, you may automati-
{ }

cally succeed, but must flee the location.

Battle: When you dash at your enemies in a swirl of feathers, beaks, and
{ }

claws, you have Flying and Trample.

Optional: Vestige of Authority ♦♦♥

Despite your illegitimate birth, you still command some defer-

ence.
Investigation: When you defend a member of the lower orders, you may auto-
{ }

matically succeed.
Battle: When you end your turn adjacent to foes, those foes grant op- {

portunity to you while they remain adjacent.

}

46
Optional: Day to Night ♥♥♥

You bring the silent night of Christ’s birth to your surroundings.

Investigation: At your will, day becomes night. All characters who have taken a
turn during the day round may now take another turn, as well as
one in the regular night round.
Battle: When you command day to become night, you (and anyone else
who has it) benefit from the Nocturnal keyword for the rest of
the scene. In addition, all cards higher than 3 played for move or
{ }

flurry higher than 3 have an effective value of 3.

{ }

47
 Hunter
Hunters...
...battle monsters and demons wherever they find them.
...are heirs to a particular legacy of demon-hunting.
...are considered a necessary evil by the Noblesse.
Core: Lure ♦

By treats or taunts, you bring your foe closer.

Investigation: When you look for something a creature values, you may treat
any card as a diamond.
Battle: When you offer a foe something it wants or hates, you may play
a card to pull it closer.
{ }

Core: Legacy Weapon ♣

Your weapon has been passed down through your family or

tradition, and the souls of its many past wielders give it uncanny
powers.
Investigation: When you threaten or assault someone with your weapon, you
may automatically succeed at denigrating them.
Battle: When you swing your weapon in a great arc, you may count a
flurry card twice.
{ }

Optional: Exorcism ♣♣♥

You know long-hidden rituals of destruction.

Investigation: When you perform a ritual to repel or destroy a being, attempt to
{ denigrate it. If you do not succeed, you mark that being.
} { }

Battle: When you attack the marked being, if it is vulnerable to any pow-
{ } { }

er type, your attack counts as that power type.

48
Optional: Experienced Tracker ♣♦

You are wise in the ways of the wood and the grave, able to
follow the tiniest trace.
Investigation: When you look for someone who’s trying to avoid you, you find
them before the day or night is over.
Battle: When you focus your attention on one foe, you may mark that
{ }

foe. When your marked foe moves, you may move to a space the
{ } { }

same distance away from them without playing a card. You may
do this immediately after their move, on anyone’s turn.

49
 Numerological Monk
Numerological Monks...
...are apprenticed at young ages to the Church.
...are critical in crusades against the Thinking Machines.
...are considered sage in matters beyond mathematics.
Core: Holy Trinity ♥

Three is the perfect number for all things.

Investigation: When you calculate the solution to an enigma and you select a
3, you may flip over an additional card.
Battle: When you mathematically decide where to strike, you may count
a 3 as a 5 or an ace.

Core: P-Hack ♣♥

You can’t change the numbers, but you can change the conclu-
sions.
Investigation: When you disagree with an ally’s conclusion, you may treat an
ace as a queen.
Battle: When your enemy seems beyond your reach by 3 to 5 spaces, you
may attack with any card as if it were a queen.
{ }

Optional: Psychostatistics ♥

You know when something doesn’t add up.

Investigation: When a secret reveals a violent deed, you know whether there’s
more than one perpetrator.
Battle: When you suspect there are more foes waiting in ambush, you
may play any card to find out.

50
Optional: Blasphemathematics ♣♣♣♥

Sometimes, contemplating faith leads you to voice grotesque

doubt.
Investigation: When you speak blasphemy to a person of faith, you automati-
cally succeed at both denigrating and forming a bond.
{ } { }

Battle: When you describe your proof of the malignancy of God, you
may play any card. Deal 1 damage to any character in the scene
who is Sacred or has a ♥ in their tableau.

51
 Wise One
Wise Ones...
...know secrets of old world engineering.
...can heal and perform surgery with ancient techniques.
...are often respected and protected by local villagers.
Core: Frightening Trick ♣

It’s amazing what you can do with a bit of fire and a snap of
the fingers.
Investigation: When you use your magic to denigrate someone, you may treat
{ }

any card as a spade.

Battle: When you trace a symbol in the air in fire, you may push any foe
{ }

1 space as part of another action.

Core: Local Lore ♠♦

You know the value of a secret passed down through the years.
Investigation: When you ask about something that happened a decade or more
ago, you may automatically succeed at digging.
{ }

Battle: When you tell your allies lore about a foe, that foe suffers Vul-
nerable (Memory, Secular) 1 until the end of the scene.

Optional: Healing Arts ♣♠

They say you work miracles, but it’s all a matter of practice.
Investigation: When an ally is badly wounded and you provide aid, you may
spend your turn to give them 1 Hope.
Battle: When a foe wounds an adjacent ally, you may immediately act to
reduce Hope loss by 1.

52
Optional: Heart of Gas ♣♣

You bring dead machines to life.

Investigation: When you find an ancient relic by digging, you may repair it to
{ }

work for a day and a night.

Battle: When you ride an ancient machine into battle, you may play
multiple cards to move in one turn, including as part of a dash.
{ } { }

53
 Witchfinder
Witchfinders...
...are not agents of the Church, but don’t tell them that.
...root out both heresy and demons.
...are collegial to each other, but rarely formally affiliated.
Core: Believer ♦♦

You are righteous, and rarely in the wrong.

Investigation: When you profess your innocence against an accusation, your
accuser must specify not just color, but suit.
Battle: When you defeat a profane foe, you gain 1 Hope.
Core: Mark of Cain ♦♦♦

When you suspect someone, they belong to you.

Investigation: When you turn someone’s life upside down, flip over 3 cards
instead of taking a normal action. After you’ve looked, flip them
back over.
Battle: When you pursue a foe with particular venom, you may mark { }

them. While marked, if they are vulnerable to any power type,

{ }

your attacks have that power type. Any attacks by other heroes
{ } { }

deal 0 damage.

Optional: Fear Him ♦♥

Your faith makes you unshakeable.

Investigation: When you defend against an attempt to intimidate you, treat any
{ }

card as a club.
Battle: When you stand firm against a dashing foe, you may play cards
{ }

to retreat and gain the benefit of doing so, but do not have to
{ }

move.
{ }

54
Optional: J’Accuse ♦♦

You brand a person a criminal or heretic.

Investigation: When you call for the authorities or mob to punish someone,
you may accuse and specify only a number, rather than a color.
If you’re wrong, you must defend against serious damage to your
credibility.
Battle: When you call out a particular foe, you may mark them. Any of
your allies may use that mark as if they placed it themselves.

55
 Wolf
Wolves...
...are the Hounds of God.
...can always speak, but take human form only when needed.
...form packs with those they feel closest to.
Core: One God, No Kings ♥♥

You have a holy purpose, one outside the feudal order and fully
equal to it.
Investigation: When you declare yourself outside authority, you may treat any
card as if it were a club.
Battle: Gain Resistance (Secular) 1 or Resistance (Sacred) 1 until the
beginning of your next turn.

Core: Feral Might ♦♥

Who’s cornered who?

Investigation: When you get into a fight, you may automatically succeed at
denigrating someone.
Battle: When you attack a foe, you may attack all foes in Burst (Self) 1
{ } { }

for the same card values and amount of damage.

Optional: Circle the Prey ♦♦♥

A good pack coordinates.

Investigation: When you take the same investigative action as an ally during
the same round, flip another card in the spread permanently
face-up.
Battle: Select a foe whose space you could make a basic move to, and
{ }

play that card. Instead of making that move, you may move to
{ }

any space where you and an ally would be flanking that foe.
56
Optional: Pack Loyalty ♦♥♥

It’s not what you give your life for. It’s who.
Investigation: When you defend someone else, you also form a bond with them.
{ } { }

Battle: You may give any number of your Hope points to an adjacent
ally.

57
 Example Specialties
Calls Lightning ♣♥

The weather is no one’s friend... but it is your ally.

Investigation: When you call judgment on a foe, lightning strikes from the
clear sky and you automatically succeed at denigrating them.
{ }

Battle: When you denounce your enemies, you may attack more than
{ }

one, so long as none are adjacent to you.

Cavorts with the Dead ♠♠

You are a friend to beings of memory and mourning.

Investigation: When you share laughter or shed tears with the dead, you may
automatically succeed at forming a bond with them.
{ }

Battle: When you call your dead friends for aid, you may summon a
dead being which you have previously formed a bond with.
{ }

Has Poison Blood ♣♣

Your blood runs cold. Colder than death.

Investigation: When you poison someone with your blood, they can only es-
cape death by confessing a sin.
Battle: When you are wounded and your blood splatters or flows, your
next attack is Toxic.
{ }

58
Has the Blessing of a Saint ♥♥

A special someone intercedes on your behalf.

Investigation: When you wear your saint’s medallion against your skin, it turns
ice cold whenever someone tells you the whole truth as they
know it.
Battle: When you pray for your saint’s help, gain Resistance (Profane) 2
or Resistance (Memory) 2. The next time you take damage, your
resistance goes away at the end of the round.

Heals Quickly ♦♦

Your body knits back together like a spider mending its web.
Investigation: When you have been wounded, you may heal the wound and
regain 1 Hope as if you recovered and/or received medical atten-
{ }

tion, but without spending a turn.

Battle: When you lose all Hope, you gain 1 Hope.
Protects My Friends ♦♦

You keep your eyes out for anyone who would hurt your friend.
Investigation: When you defend another hero, they gain 1 Hope.
{ }

Battle: Mark an ally. When your marked ally is attacked, you may Tank
{ } { }

2 for them.

Runs with Wolves ♥♥

You were born to be free, but free does not mean alone.
Investigation: When you go digging for information in the dangerous wilder-
{ }

ness, you may also form a bond with local wildlife.

{ }

Battle: When you call for the aid of a creature you formed a bond with,
{ }

summon it. On its turn, it may always act as if it’s playing a 1 or

2.

59
 Sees Portents ♣♣

You stare daggers, cutting through time itself.

Investigation: When you speak ominous prophecy, you may accuse without
{ }

playing one of your own cards.

Battle: When you read the future from a foe’s blood or fleeing foot-
prints, choose an ally to give 1 Hope.

Whispers with Machines ♣♣

You speak in the esoteric tongues of the Thinking Machines, and

they have given you gifts.
Investigation: When you clandestinely provide aid using a device a Machine
gave you, an ally may activate any Profane power they have, re-
gardless of whether they’re holding the cards.
Battle: As Investigation.

60
61
 III. Investigation
Rifling through the pockets of an eyeless corpse.
Speaking in whispers with a too-tall carpenter.
Cutting open the belly of a bloodless cow looking for gemstones.
Desecrating a saint’s grave with your spade.
When you look for information, or stumble into a situation where
some might turn up, and there’s an active threat (whether physical
or social), you’re investigating.

Time
When you’re investigating, a round is a measurement of in-game
time. Each 24-hour period has one day round and one night round.
You and the other players take turns describing what your heroes do.
You get one turn each day round, and one turn each night round.
 Turns are loosely defined -- a lot of times, you’ll be in the same
place as the other heroes, even working together. In general, a turn
is when your hero takes the initiative in looking for information.
A turn almost always involves at least one investigative action,
but with multiple characters in a scene or reactions to other events,
you’ll often find yourself taking more than one.
On your turn, you may also accuse another player or the GM.
(See p. 70.)
You may encounter enemies and do battle (see Chapter 4) either
by your choice, theirs, or coincidence, at any time.

Selecting Cards
The core mechanic is based on the traditional card game usually
called Memory, Concentration, or Pairs. Decide which investigative
action fits what you’re doing best (it’s fine to fudge them a bit), se-
lect two cards, and check to see if their numbers match.
The first card you select determines what kind of secret you might
uncover, according to its suit. Select it in one of the following ways:
• Flip a face-down card in the clue spread face-up.
• Pick a card in the clue spread which is already face-up.
• Pick a card from your tableau.
Then, select a second card in one of the following ways:
• Flip a face-down card in the clue spread face-up.
• Pick a card in the clue spread which is already face-up.

Matches and Clashes

If two cards have the same number, they’re a match. If they don’t,
they’re a clash. A queen in your hand is wild; it can match any card
in the spread. A queen in the spread can only match an ace or an-
other queen of the same color.
63
 Each investigative action works differently on matches and clash-
es, but, generally, on a match you’ll learn a secret and move one card
to your tableau and put one card in the discard pile. On a clash, you
might or might not learn something.
When a power says you “automatically succeed,” select one card
from the spread and put it in your tableau, then play out the narra-
tive results specified for a match.

GM Draws and Intrusions

Every time the players find a secret, the GM draws a card from the
GM deck and puts it in their tableau. If a hero discovers a secret
with an automatic success, the GM does not draw.
At any time, the GM may put a card from their tableau into the
spread.

Investigative Actions
An investigative action is something your character does that car-
ries inherent danger, but reveals information in the process. A sub-
set of actions, reactions, are things your character does in response
to danger. Actions and reactions often occur one after another in
continuing action sequences.

Duration
Duration is how long an investigative action takes. This is a matter
of what’s going on in the story, rather than the specific action.
If an action takes a scene, then you can only take that one action
during the scene. You may be able to do other useful things during
the time action takes (like talk to your fellow heroes, wander around
town, have a drink, even take a nap), but you can’t do anything else
that involves flipping cards during that time...
...unless you get to take an action as a reaction. For example, if
you denigrate the mayor and he accuses you of being the ravening
beast in disguise, you can defend as a reaction. If you’re digging in

64
the local church records and you’re interrupted by an angry pastor,
you may be allowed to denigrate him.
Sometimes, one reaction will lead to another. Go with the flow --
durations are to help pacing and timekeeping in your game sessions,
not to make stories start and stop unnaturally.
The durations are:
• Instant: This is over in a trivial amount of time; maybe a few
seconds or minutes, at most a half hour.
• Night or Day: You have to devote a significant amount of
time for this. Enough that you’re not going to learn any other
way unless something pops up.
• Scene: The vaguest of the durations, this usually means as
long as you’re in the place you started the action, or until the
immediate story around it is over.

65
 Form a Bond
When you form a bond, you establish personal trust with a charac-
{ }

ter. Often, this is by choosing to not ask information they’re reluc-

tant to divulge, or by protecting them from a danger.
Match: Take only one card. Flip the other back over. The charac-
ter trusts you, and will help you as long as it doesn’t harm them. You
learn one secret, but it can only be about the character.
Clash: Leave one card flipped face-up. The character is interest-
ed in knowing more about you, and is open to trusting you in the
future. You learn one secret, but it can not be about the character.
Example
The alchemist Belladonna wants to know about the walking skel-
etons she encountered just outside the town gates. The tattered
cloak of one of the skeletons was inscribed neatly with the name
“GRETA,” but the name was scratched over with the blasphemous
symbol.
Belladonna decides to chat up the local butcher, and try to form a
{

bond. She asks if the name “Greta” means anything to her.

}

Belladonna’s player selects two cards: a 2♥ from her tableau (indi-

cating a relationship), and a card from the spread.
Match: The butcher says her husband knew Greta, but won’t say
more for now. She believes Belladonna is here to help. Belladonna’s
player leaves the second ♥ flipped up.
Clash: The butcher says Greta was the sister of the local priest.
Belladonna’s player leaves the second ♥ flipped up.

66
Denigrate
When you denigrate someone, you’re trying to do lasting harm --
{ }

to their body, their reputation, their pride, or anything else. You’re

trying to show them you’re stronger or more important than them.
Beating the local tough in a tavern brawl is denigrating them, as is
taunting a ghost by telling them you know what they’ve forgotten.
Match: You harm the character. If they survive, they will likely
want revenge. In the process, though, you learn a secret. Add one
card you selected to your tableau, and discard the other.
Clash: The character either counters your denigration or is un-
moved by it. They are likely to oppose you in the future. They may
immediately assault you or accuse you of something, triggering a
defend reaction.
{ }

Turn any cards you flipped over in the spread face-down again.
Example
Seeing the mayor’s bully-boy swaggering around, Belladonna de-
cides to get in his face. She questions him fiercely, all the while hold-
ing her knife as if she might slit her palm and unleash her unearthly
blood. She asks who Greta is, and why everyone else is reluctant to
talk about her.
Belladonna’s player selects two cards from the spread and flips
them. The first is a 4♣, so she stands to learn something blatant.
Match: Cowed, the bully-boy tells Belladonna that Greta was
hung as a witch, “and a right good thing she was.” Belladonna takes
one card for her her tableau, and discards the other.
Clash: The bully-boy seizes the knife from Belladonna and points
it at her chest. “I reckon I can pierce your heart before your witch-
blood can do a damn thing to me.” Belladonna flips both cards
face-down, and must now defend.
{ }

67
 Dig
When you dig (literally or figuratively), you look for information
{ }

that you can build on to discover more secrets.

Match: Your digging turns up a secret. Keep one card you selected
for your tableau, and discard the other. In addition, turn a card ad-
jacent to one you already turned over permanently face-up.
Clash: You don’t learn a secret, but you make progress towards
one. Leave one of the cards you flipped permanently face-up. You
learn no secrets.
Example
Belladonna wants to know more about Greta’s trial and execu-
tion. She sneaks into the mayor’s house goes digging in his records.
{ }

She selects two cards from the spread. The first is an A♠, so she
stands to learn about a betrayal or a hidden threat.
Match: Belladonna finds that Greta was convicted on the basis
of testimony from the husband of the butcher she spoke to earlier.
Belladonna’s player takes one card for her tableau, and discards the
other.
Clash: Belladonna finds a list of physical evidence against Greta,
but a huge and deliberate-looking ink-stain covers most of the page.
She gathers, though, that it was obtained from searching the grave
of Greta’s wife. She flips one selected card back over, and leaves the
other face-up.

68
Defend
When you defend, you protect yourself or someone else from dan-
{ }

ger or allegations. This could be by directly countering the danger,

or by escaping. Defending is usually a reaction. You can ask the GM
to let you denigrate as a reaction rather than defend.
{ } { }

Match: You defend yourself or the other person/people, and

learn a secret. If you were defending someone besides yourself, you
may build a bond as a reaction. Take one card for your tableau, and
discard the other.
Clash: You (or the people you’re defending) fall prey to the dan-
ger. Flip all of the cards you flipped for this action back over.
You lose 1 Hope.
Example
Belladonna’s trespassing has been noticed. The bully-boy she inter-
rogated or avoided earlier bursts in and puts a dagger to her throat,
choking her. Belladonna selects a 4♠ from her tableau as a sneaky
strike back, and selects a card from the spread.
Match: Belladonna leans forward into the dagger’s point, and the
prick causes blood to flow from her throat. The liquid gold flows
down the blade, dissolving it. The bully drops the knife and steps
back before his hand can be next.
Belladonna’s player takes one card for her tableau, and discards
the other.
Clash: Wise to the tricks of Belladonna’s blood, the bully presses
the flat of the blade against her windpipe, cutting off her air supply.
Belladonna slips away, but it’s all she can do to crash through the
window and run.
Belladonna’s player flips the card from the spread back over and
marks the loss of 1 Hope.

69
 Recover
To recover lost Hope, you spend your turn addressing why you lost
{ }

it. That might mean treating your wounds, praying for guidance, or
conversing with others to restore your faith in people. Sometimes it
means just spending a day or night resting. Recovering does not in-
volve flipping any cards; if something happens to warrant an action,
use one of the others.
At the end of recovering, gain 1 Hope.
Example
Exhausted from her encounter with the bully-boy, Belladonna
finds a curiously empty church. She goes to hide in the crypt, mark-
ing its door with a prick of her blood so that she’ll be aware of any-
one entering.
Belladonna lies down to rest, and gains 1 Hope.

Accuse
Sometimes, you’re just sure you know what someone’s hiding. At
any time, you may play a card to accuse the GM. A successful accu-
{ }

sation establishes a narrative fact.

This is rather like the traditional game Go Fish. You make your
accusation, such as “the watch officer is the blacksmith’s illegitimate
daughter,” to the GM.
If they’re holding a card of the same number and color as yours,
you’re right and know it in your gut... even if a non-player character
lies in return. You get the GM’s card.
If they’re not holding a matching card, you’re probably wrong,
and you draw a card from the deck.

70
71
 IV. Battle
Silver claws rake across wooden shields.
Deafening howls chill the blood.
Flaming whips singe fur.
Courageous warriors flee in terror.
Gleaming fangs sink into mud-splattered flesh.
Whether a brawl in an open field or a torchlit struggle in the chok-
ing confines of a noble bride’s tomb, battles are violent conflicts
where positioning matters and Hope itself is at stake.
The players and the GM use the same tableaus in battle as in in-
vestigation. This means that the more you’ve been investigating, the
more flexibility you’ll have in battle.
Battle is meant to play like a platforming video game. You’ll make
a lot of fast moves to get into range, then either strike immediately
or get ready to exploit your position in the next round.
Time
Like investigation, battle takes place in rounds and turns. During
a round, each player takes one turn. After each player turn, the GM
takes a turn. Once all turns are completed, the round restarts.
The order in which players take their turns doesn’t matter. For
cool cooperative effects, you can have each player nominate the next
one to take a turn. If you find that bogs down gameplay, just choose
an arbitrary order and use it every round.
For example, Katrina and Gideon are fighting the Boar of Sinful
Decay and their cultists. Katrina’s player has the first turn in the
round. She chooses to attack and injure the boar. The next turn is
the GM’s. The GM chooses give the turn to the boar, which strikes
back with its iron tusks.
Gideon’s player takes the next turn, and uses it to move toward
{ }

the boar. The GM takes the turn after that, and decides whether to
use the boar or one of the cultists. They decide to use a cultist to
attack Gideon.
{ }

On your turn, do the following:

1. Action Phase:
a. Look over your tableau, and pick an action. (See “Ac-
tions.”) Your choices may be limited by a hindrance.
{ }

(See Hinder, under “Advanced Actions.”)

{ }

b. Play any cards necessary for that action.

c. Execute the action according to its rules, describing
what your character is doing.
2. Effect Phase:
a. Apply the effects of any hindrance that wasn’t covered
{ }

during your action phase.

73
 b. Play any cards you wish to use against a hindrance.
{ }

(See “Hinder,” under “Advanced Actions.”) Once the

total of cards you’ve played against the hindrance meets
or exceeds the value of the card used to create it, you
are no longer hindered.
3. End Phase:
a. Discard the cards you’ve played.
b. Draw 1 card from your deck. If you have 0 cards in
your tableau, draw 2 cards.
Players draw from the player deck, and discard to that deck’s dis-
card pile. The GM draws from the GM deck, and discard to their
deck’s discard pile.

The Map
Battles take place on a two-dimensional, gridded map. We rec-
ommend using a grid of 1”x1” (2.54cm x 2.54 cm) spaces, which is
what the game was playtested with.
By default, each character occupies one space. Distance from one
space to another is measured by the number of spaces a character
would have to move from the space they’re currently standing in to
be standing in the target space.
A space is an abstract measurement, defined by whatever you
choose to place or sketch on your map. For example, while a stair-
case might logically be bigger than a door, you can represent each on
a single space of your map.
If you want something more concrete, you can use the 5’x5’ (1.5m
x 1.5m) grid measurement from Dungeons & Dragons and simi-
lar games. (If, on the other hand, you’d like to go more abstract, see
Zoned Battles in Chapter 7.)

74
 An 8x8 or 12x12 map works well for most battles, although you
can build one to any size you like. We recommend starting charac-
ters no more than 7 spaces away from each other. Determine start-
ing locations narratively; in a dark area, characters probably start
closer to each other. Players may also wish to dictate whom their
hero is standing next to, in front of, or behind.
Any space that borders another (including diagonally) counts as
adjacent. Characters can likewise move diagonally whenever they
are allowed or forced to move.

Actions
There are three types of battle action: basic, advanced, and re-
action.
When attacking, you have the option of using an advanced action,
you’ll probably want to. A dash or flurry simply does more than a
{ } { }

basic move or attack. However, circumstances may limit your choic-

{ } { }

es, or a power may make a basic action more useful.

Reactions occur in response to basic or advanced actions, which
means you use them on someone else’s turn. (Powers may also allow
you to use a basic or advanced action as a reaction.)

Basic Actions
A basic action takes one turn. Unless specifically restricted, you
may always take a basic action on your turn.
Throughout the rules, when one of these actions is prefixed with
basic, such as basic attack, it means that the rule only applies to the
{ } { }

action when it’s performed by itself. For example, if the rules refer
to an attack, it also applies to an attack made as part of a dash or
{ } { }

flurry, but if they refer to a basic attack, they only apply to the sim-
{ } { }

plest form of the action.

75
 Advanced Actions
Advanced actions build on basic actions for improved effect. Ad-
vanced actions also take one turn each, meaning that you can’t use
a flurry for the attack component of a dash.
{ } { } { }

Reactions
Reactions occur in response to actions taken by a foe. They do not
use your action for the round, but if you use a power with a 1 refresh
{ }

as a reaction, you can’t use it again until the next turn.

Flanking
Flanking is the most common opportunity. When you can draw a
straight line (vertically, horizontally, or diagonally) from your space
to an ally’s space, any enemies between you grant opportunity.
{ }

Forced Actions
Forced actions allow you to move another character against their
will, usually as part of another action. These actions are made avail-
able by positioning, by powers, or by keywords.
Granting opportunity is the most common forced action, followed
{{ }

by forced movement actions like push and pull.

{ } { }

Actions and Examples

The following pages contain the rules for each action. The most
common basic actions are listed first, followed by advanced actions,
then both basic and advanced reactions.
Each action description contains the rules of the action, and any
reactions that counter it. The examples follow a running battle be-
tween the Boar of Sinful Decay and its cultists, who bring it food
both beast and human. The heroes, Katrina (K) and Gideon (G),
are shown in blue hexagons, while their foes are shown in yellow
stars. The examples skip some turns for clarity.

76
Attack Basic Action
You strike at an enemy’s body or their morale. Play a card from
your tableau to deal 1 damage to an enemy exactly X spaces away,
where X is the card value.
Countered by: Block
Narrative Example: Staring into a boar cultist’s gleaming eyes,
Katrina throws a dagger right into one! In pain, the cultist jumps
into the lake to escape.
Rules Example: Katrina’s player plays a 3 to deal 1 damage to
the cultist, reducing the cultists dread from 2 to 1.

MS battle map example

Attack 3

77
 Move Basic Action
Play a card to move exactly X spaces, where X is the card value.
You may also play any card to move exactly 1 space.
Narrative Example: The tides of battle have separated Katrina
from Gideon. But seeing that the boar is preoccupied with the blade
in its eyes, and needing to help her friend, Katrina runs toward the
surrounded hunter.
Rules Example: Katrina plays a 2, moving 2 spaces toward Gide-
on.

G
Move 2
K

78
Give Advantage Basic Action
You help another hero. Give a card from your tableau to that he-
ro’s player.
Narrative Example: Gideon is surrounded by the boar’s cult-
ists, who gather game (both beasts and humans) to feed its unyield-
ing hunger. Katrina tosses her dagger to Gideon, giving him a way
to strike back.
Rules Example: Multiple cultists are adjacent to Gideon, and he
doesn’t have any As to attack with. Katrina’s player gives Gideon’s
{ }

player an A, which he can use to attack on his next turn.

G C
e A
Giv
K C

79
 Dash Advanced Action
Play a card to move. At any point during your movement, you may
{ }

play a card to attack an adjacent enemy. Unlike a normal attack, the

{ } { }

value of this card doesn’t matter.

Countered by: Block, Retreat
Narrative Example: With Gideon free of the cultists, Katrina
decides it’s time to dance with the giant again. She darts in and
throws another dagger, then pulls back, out of range of its massive
feet and fists.
Rules Example: Katrina is 2 spaces away from the boar, and has
both a 3 and another card whose value doesn’t matter. Her player
plays the 3 to move. Moving 1 spaces closer to the boar, she plays the
{ }

other card to attack, then uses her remaining 2 spaces of movement

{ }

to pull back.

K
Move 1
K
Attack
B Move 2
K
80
Flurry Advanced Action
You strike multiple times in quick succession. Play multiple cards
to attack, dealing 1 damage for each.
{ }

Countered by: Block

Narrative Example: Katrina draws two more daggers from her
seemingly unending supply. She sends them straight for the boar’s
three-toed feet.
Rules Example: Katrina is 2 spaces away from the boar. Her
player plays three 2s, dealing 3 damage.

B
FLURRY 3
K
81
 Hinder Basic Action
You restrain or otherwise prevent a foe from acting. You and the
GM work out what’s possible, but here are some examples:
• They can’t take a specific basic action, such as attack.
{ }

• They must end any dash as soon as they attack.

{ } { }

• They can only block with cards of the same color as the card
{ }

played to attack.
{ }

• One of their keywords does not apply.

Pick an action, and play a card. Until your foe plays cards that add
up to equal or greater than your card’s value, the hindrance affects
them.
Narrative Example: The boar is badly wounded by Katrina’s
daggers in their feet. Gideon swings his whip, catching the boar and
toppling it.
Rules Example: Gideon’s player plays a 4, and restricts the boar’s
ability to dash, meaning that it can’t get in close and then retreat.
{ }

82
Block Basic Reaction
You defend yourself against attacks. Play cards of the same value
{ }

as the ones used to attack you, canceling them 1 for 1. If all of the
cards are canceled, you take no damage.
Blocks occur after all incoming attack cards have been played, but
{ } { }

before any damage has been dealt.

Narrative Example: As the boar writhes in agony, the ground
trembles. Nearly knocked off her feet, Katrina drops to a crouch,
steadying herself with her free hand.
Rules Example: Katrina is 3 spaces away from the boar. The GM
plays two 3s for the boar’s flurry, but Katrina’s player blocks with a
{ }

3 of her own, taking only 1 damage.

Flurry 2
B
Block 1
K
83
 Retreat Advanced Reaction
As a foe dashes at you, you pull back, out of their reach. Play a
{ }

card and make a basic move exactly that many spaces back from your
{ }

enemy. They deal no damage.

{Retreats occur after the dash card has been played.
} { }

Narrative Example: The half-blinded cultist has been lying in

wait. She jumps out of the water and charges at Gideon, but he rolls
forward, out the reach of her scythe.
Rules Example: The cultist dashes at Gideon, who plays a 2 to
{ }

{move 2 spaces and avoid all damage.

}

DASH
C

Retreat 2
G
84
Grant Opportunity Forced Action
When a foe grants opportunity to you, you may give advantage
{ } { }

without using your action for a turn, or, on your turn, play a card to
push it a number of spaces equal to the value of the card.
{ }

If you’re the GM, draw a card from the player deck and add it to
your tableau.

Push Forced Action

The target is moved, and must end its movement further from the
character that moved it when when it started.

Pull Forced Action

The target is moved, and must end its movement closer to the
character that moved it when it started.

Slide Forced Action

The target is moved, and may end its movement closer to or fur-
ther from the character that moved it.

Battle Advice
Winning a battle is mainly about choosing which cards to hold
for powers and which to spend for flexible movement and attacks.
There are plenty of chances to build your tableau to your advan-
tage, but there’s also a fair degree of randomness -- you’ll end up fa-
voring different ranges or using your powers more or less depending
on what cards you’ve found.
While your core powers are a little “cheaper” in terms of being us-
able with fewer held cards, they’re not meant to be constant substi-
tutes for the core combat actions. You may have a good power that
only requires a ♠, but find that it’s much more valuable to spend
your only ♠ as part of a flurry.
{ }

85
 Whether you’ll want to clear out low-Dread foes or focus on “boss-
es” will also vary a lot. Enemy damage varies more with the cards the
GM’s holding and your current distance than with with how many
monsters they control. More monsters mainly give the opposition
better control over their positioning than increasing the harm they
can do per round.
Even a powerful keyword like Heavy Attack forces the monster
to grant opportunity, allowing you to team up with other heroes by
{ }

giving or receiving cards.

Stakes
Keep in mind that the ideal Miserable Secrets battle isn’t a
stand-up battle. Stakes are all-important, and it may well be that
reaching a radioactive ghost to ask her a question matters a lot more
than defeating the skeletons roused in her wake.
Your goal usually isn’t going to be “monster slaying,” so don’t play
like it is. Think about what matters to you, and how you can get or
protect it. Engage in and end fights on your terms -- or on terms that
cost the other side a lot more than they’d like.

Hindering
Don’t underestimate hinder! Narratively, it’s the most flexible of
{ }

the core actions, and it can also carry a dangerous mechanical sting.
Monsters will generally have a wider range of supernatural abili-
ties than you do -- but with some creative narration and a well-cho-
sen card, you can mitigate, those abilities, nullify them, or even turn
them against their possessors.
This goes for the GM, too. Hinder can really change the course of
{ }

a conflict, and add a lot of fun in the process.

For the GM
As suggested in the player section, your main concern is not over-
whelming (or underwhelming) numbers of monsters.

86
 With few exceptions (like Lair Dwelling), the monsters you con-
trol get an equal number of turns to the number of turns the heroes
get, regardless of how many monsters there actually are on the map.
That gives you two main balancing factors in a battle: the position-
al flexibility that more monsters gives you, and the total amount of
Dread those monsters have. Your choices will also depend a lot on
what’s in your tableau.
An average hero can take out 1-2 Dread a round, with 3-4 in un-
usual cases. The latter mainly means going all-in on flurries, and a
{ }

truly annihilating flurry will usually require player cooperation.

{ }

Motivation
You’re not playing to beat the players; you’re aiming to provide
plausible opposition based on the monsters’ intent and goals.
That might mean a last stand against a horde of monsters, but
more often it’s going to be trying to scare someone off, acquire an
object of value first, or one side getting to an important place before
the other does. The abstract definition of Hope and Dread do part
of the work for you here, but you’ll also want to simply vary what
people want and what’s going on around them.

Battlefield Design
A brawl in an open field is respectable -- it’s arguably how football
got started. But whenever you can, vary things. Look back to classic
video games, and how many spooky gravestones were really there
to provide obstacles and stepping stones. Use high and low ground
heavily, and don’t be afraid to deploy large areas of difficult terrain.
And good old walls are your friend.
With the high mobility of characters in Miserable Secrets,
you’ll find that blocking movement isn’t a killer factor -- heroes and
most monsters aren’t “sticky”, so using walls to set up kill zones can
be interesting but won’t make a battle entirely one-sided.

87
 Whenever you design an area, look at the impact of your battle-
field on the game’s core hit-and-run tactics. Think about whether
you want characters to be able to dash in and out as easily as they
{ }

usually do, and whether they should be relying onf basic attacks or
{ }

flurries.
{ }

Also, consider the asymmetry of movement.While monsters more

often have movement-based keywords that allow them to bypass tra-
ditional obstacles, creative player narration (including use of dis-
tinctions) can let them pull off a lot of the same tricks... but under
very different circumstances.

Investigation in Battle
You can investigate in the midst of battle. On your turn, simply
declare the investigative action, and play a card of any value. The
denigrate and defend actions work mostly as normal, but denigrate
{ } { } { }

should be treated as a successful attack for 1 damage, and defend

{ } { }

can’t be used as a reaction.

A character you form a bond with may help you or cease fighting
{ }

you, but that’s at their option.

Stalemates and Routs

It’s possible for a battle to become functionally unwinnable, or for
the cost to be greater than either side is willing to bear. That’s okay.
It’s even expected. So what happens next?
If it’s a matter of disillusionment or lost hope, or if they simply
can’t defeat their enemy, the heroes might retreat. Their foes might
well reach the same conclusion... and for more similar reasons than
either side would like to admit.
In nuts-and-bolts details, it’s often possible for heroes to just scat-
ter in fear or for monsters to disappear into mist or shadow.

88
 But it’s also possible to come back later. Heroes stymied because
they weren’t prepared to face the Boar of Sinful Decay may go back,
investigate further, and come back better prepared (emotionally, in-
formationally, mechanically) to slay or placate it. Or they may decide
the real problem is the merchant whose avarice as a hunter brought
the Boar to life. And him, they might simply slay with no battle at
all, laying the Boar to rest and leaving the town to whatever happens
when you assassinate its breadwinner. So it goes.
Escaping a fight requires each escaping hero’s player to play one
card. This can be any card.

Keywords
Keywords are simple tags that define how different rules interact.
They’re there to clarify the flow of the game, and also to assist you
in building new powers and monsters.

Power Type Keywords

Power type keywords represent why a power or monster has the
effect it does. For example, a sacred power wields the authority of
God or Church, while a profane power explicitly defies it. In the
samples given in this book, some power types occur more than oth-
ers, but you can freely make use of them all when building your own
elements.

Memory
Humour: Ectoplasm
Suit: Spades
The power draws on knowledge from the past, or mourning from
its loss.

Profane
Humour: Bile
Suit: Clubs
89
 The power rebels against the divine order.

Sacred
Humour: Blood
Suit: Hearts
The power harnesses the might of God.

Secular
Humour: Breath
Suit: Diamonds
The power relies on social status or wealth.

Area Keywords
Area keywords are used in battle to define the effect of a power.
Burst X (Target)
The action affects characters within X spaces of the target space.
For example, Burst 1 (Self) means that the action affects characters
adjacent to you.
Line X
The action affects all characters along a straight line starting from
the source, stretching X spaces in any direction (including diagonal-
ly).
Zone X
The action creates/affects a square area X by X spaces, centered on
the target space.

Terrain Keywords
Terrain keywords affect movement over specific spaces.
Difficult

90
 Any move that starts outside difficult terrain and would go through
{ }

it ends within it. Stop the character at the first difficult space they
enter. Difficult terrain affects only one card per turn.
High/Low Ground
All spaces are either low or high. Without another ability that
overrides this, any move, dash, or other movement from a low space
{ } { }

to a high space must end in the first high space (or vice versa).
You can introduce degrees of height, if you like. Measure them in
levels. When a character is 1 or more levels lower than another, they
count as being on low ground. A Flying character can choose move
up or down 1 level per turn, while a Jumping character can have
effects 1 level up.

Effect Keywords
Effect keywords modify what a hero or monster’s power does.
Some effects, like Flinch, may be mixed blessings.
Close X
You may play up to X cards as 1s.
Combo X
You may add up to X cards together and play them as if they were
a single card.
Evade
You may retreat from an attack which is not a dash.
{ } { } { }

Flying
While moving, if you are on a low ground space, you may choose
{ }

whether to count your position as high or low ground at the end of

your turn.
You ignore difficult terrain unless it’s particularly high.
Jump

91
 Move between low and high ground without stopping, or attack
{ } { }

an enemy on high ground from low ground.

Mark
Single out a particular target for a special effect or trigger which
will occur at a future time. Marks from different powers or charac-
ters are not interchangeable unless a power says otherwise. You may
only mark one character at a time.
Ranged X
You may play any card with a value of X or greater as any other
card with a value of X or greater.

Rebuke (Source)
A target affected by Source grants opportunity to you. The dis-
{ }

tance at which Source affects the foe is determined narratively by

the Source and the target.
Resistance (Type) X
When an action of Type damages you, you subtract X from the
total damage.
Sweep X
You may play any card with a value of X or less as any other card
with a value of X or less.
Tank X
You may play up to X cards to block on an ally’s behalf.
{ }

Teleport X
You may move up to X spaces without triggering any effects that
{ }

are triggered by moving or being blocked by any object.

{ }

Vulnerable (Type) X

92
 When an action of Type damages you, you take X additional dam-
age.

Monster Keywords
These keywords apply primarily to monsters, although you can
apply them to player powers if you like.
Diurnal
The monster gains Combo 2 during the day. At night, when a
character successfully blocks, the monster responds with Flinch 1.
Dreaded
The monster gains 1 Dread whenever the character with the high-
est Hope loses 1 or more Hope. If multiple characters have equal
Hope before the damage is inflicted, any of them count for the pur-
pose of this keyword.
Empowered
The monster gains 1 Dread whenever a character gains Hope.
Entangle
On a successful hinder, the target is pulled adjacent to the mon-
{ } { }

ster. While adjacent, the target and the monster grant opportunity
{ }

to each other.
Flinch X from (Source)
The monster is pushed back X spaces when hit with an attack from
{ }

Source. Source is sometimes a power type, but can be more specific.

Hardened Flesh
The monster is immune to physical attacks that only deal 1 dam-
{ }

age.
Heavy Attack X
The monster may add +X damage to an attack, but grants oppor-
{

tunity to all characters until the next time it begins a turn.

}

93
 Levitating
The monster may ignore difficult terrain.
Linked
The monster is linked to another character; if the character is re-
duced to 0 Dread, 0 Hope, or dies, the monster dies.
Lured by (Source)
A player may play any card to pull this monster X spaces when
{ }

using Source. X is equal to the card’s value. Source is sometimes a

power type, but can be more specific.

94
 Nocturnal
The monster gains Combo 2 during the night. In daylight, when
a character successfully blocks, the monster responds with Flinch 1.
Opportunistic X
The GM may play any card of value X or less to shift X or less
damage the monster takes from a single attack to another monster
{ }

present. If narratively appropriate, one of the monsters may imme-

diately move adjacent to the other.
{ }

Phasing
The monster can move through (but not finish movement on)
spaces occupied by other characters or obstacles.
Resurrecting (Condition)
When the monster is reduced to 0 Dread and also physically slain,
it returns to life under the given Condition with its original Dread.
Shield X
When the monster successfully blocks, it pushes its attacker away
{ } { }

up to X spaces.
Slow X
The monster may not move more than X spaces in a single move-
{ }

ment. The GM may play a card higher than X to move the monster
X.
Spawn X
Every X rounds, at the end of the round, one of the monster’s
spawn appears within 3 spaces of the parent monster.
Stand Ground X
Reduce all pushes against this monster by X spaces.
{ }

Stationary

95
 The monster can’t move its entire body. It can dash by reaching
{ } { }

out a neck or limb, but must always end in the space it began.
Toxic
A successful hinder applies a -1 to all cards played by the target.
{ }

Trample
The monster’s dash cannot be blocked. The monster may target
{ } { }

multiple enemies with a single dash, as long as the GM plays a card

{ }

for each included attack.

{ }

Unique
This monster may only be Spawned once per scene.
Vigilance (Action)
When the GM succeeds at the listed action, they may put the card
they played back into their tableau; if it remains in the tableau at the
end of the round, discard it.

96
97
 V. Monsters
They are everywhere.
In the forests, the ruins, the towns, the corner of your eye.
They are creatures of curses and memory, creatures of sin and
dread, creatures that must be bought off or bargained with or
slain or loved.
They were once like you, yet now stand on the other end of your
sword.
They are monsters.
Suppose you’re an alchemist, or one of the wise, and you sneak
through the remains of an ancient city in search of the lucid shade
of an ancient doctor. She stands before you in cancerous radiance,
watches closely as you unroll your pack and take out the samples
you’ve so carefully preserved from the horrors you’ve encountered.
 You show her the hand of a hanged man, the claws of a barghest,
the glowing salts left by a heretic martyr, even, cautiously, the men-
strual blood of a bishop.
You ask “which of these are monsters? what makes them so?”
The shade cannot answer. Even if you could translate from the
doctor’s scientific language to yours, there is nothing in blood or
bone that distinguishes a creature of evil from one in God’s grace.
You turn back to your own spiritual science. By boiling or fire or
acid, you separate the samples into their component humours. You
might come closer to an answer here. You will find deficiencies,
over-abundances, variations.
But the truth is this: a monster, like anyone else, is defined not by
their biochemical composition, but by their deeds. They are defined
by their sins, by the needs they fulfill, by the cruelties they commit
and the prices they demand.
Monster is not a nature. It is a judgment.

Building a Monster
In rules terms, monsters are composed from traits and keywords.
An independent monster, or one who leads, is much like a hero: a
character with a theme, a type (like a background), and a specialty.
There are no formal limitations on how many of each kind of trait
a monster can have, but the examples in this chapter usually focus
on one type, and give more than one theme or specialty only to par-
ticularly powerful monsters.
Monsters often have special relationships with particular suits and
humours. The Noblesse favor the Sacred and Secular, while demons
are Profane.
You can add more keywords or change the way the basic mon-
ster type’s existing keywords work to make the new monster more

99
 unique. Some weak monsters may not have themes or specialties;
these are usually spawned from a stronger monster.
Monsters also have distinctions, just like heroes do. These can be
discovered through investigation like any other secret.

Theme
Themes give monsters basic ways of working against or with the
heroes. A Trickster changes the path of an investigation by mixing
up the clues. A Mother of Monsters creates more beings to contend
with, while also offering a path to building relationships with them.
Each theme has an investigation feature and a battle feature. In
investigation, it doesn’t matter how many monsters in the episode
share the theme. In battle, each monster may use theme features
individually.

Type
Types give monsters a package of battle-oriented keywords. While
they have setting implications, they’re also intended to provide a
shortcut to producing flexible opposition.

Specialty
Specialties give monsters particularly troublesome means of
thwarting the heroes, once again with both investigation and battle
features. Like hero specialties, they provide active, big-deal powers.

Dread
Dread is the monstrous version of Hope, and ranges from 1 to 5.
Most monsters commonly encountered have Dread 1 or 2. Dread 3
monsters are powerful foes and recurring characters. Dread 4 mon-
sters are significant nemeses suitable for a major climax.
Dread 5 monsters are the ultimate villains and masterminds, usu-
ally possessing multiple themes and/or specialties.

100
Example Themes
Augur
Investigation: When a hero digs in a way that involves stealth or secrecy, the
{ }

monster automatically notices the characters’ actions, whether

they learn a secret or not.
Battle: The monster has Sweep 3 when blocking or retreating.
{ } { }

Dark Sorcerer
Investigation: Whenever a character defends against the monster’s magic, the
{ }

monster may sacrifice 1 Dread to shuffle the entire spread back

into the deck and deal a completely new one before the defend { }

reaction occurs.
Battle: All attacks have Burst (Target) equal to current Dread.
{ }

Giant
Investigation: Characters automatically succeed when digging for physical ev-
{ }

idence, but when they defend against danger, queens are not
{ }

wild.
Battle: The monster takes up 2x2 spaces and has Trample.
Lair Dweller
Investigation: When digging or defending inside the monster’s lair, face-up
{ } { }

cards in the spread only stay face-up until the next dawn or dusk;
then they turn face-down again.
Battle: When in its lair, the monster always gets an additional turn at
the beginning of each round, in addition to the GM’s normal
turns.

101
 Leader of the Pack
Investigation: When a character learns a secret about the monster, they know
it also pertains to every other monster of the same specific type.
Battle: When character grants opportunity to another monster of the
{ }

same type, the monster gains Combo 2 for attacks, and the char- { }

acter can’t retreat or move unless the card they play has a higher
{ } { }

value than the number of adjacent monsters.

Machine Remnant X
Investigation: Right before a character denigrates or defends, the GM may look
{ } { }

at X face-down cards from the spread and rearrange them in any

configuration. Cards may move into previously empty spaces in
the spread.
Battle: At the beginning of each round, flip the top (X - 1) cards from the
GM deck face-up on the table to mark the target closest to the
{ }

monster. When the marked character plays a card that matches

the number on any flipped card, the GM immediately puts the
flipped card into their tableau, resolving the mark.

Mother of Monsters
Investigation: Forming a bond with the parent monster also forms the same
{ }

bond with all its spawn.

Battle: The monster may sacrifice one of its spawn to avoid taking any
damage from a single attack.

Seducer
Investigation: When forming a bond or defending against temptation, whether
{ } { }

match or clash, the monster learns a secret about the hero, too.
Battle: At the end of each round, the hero farthest away from the mon-
ster is pulled one space closer to it.

102
Silent
Investigation: Digging can’t uncover secrets based on tracking the monster’s
{ }

movements.
Battle: If no one (other than Hopeless characters) is adjacent to the
monster, characters can’t attack it from further away than 2 spac-
es.

Stalker
Investigation: Upon forming a bond, only a suitable power or destruction can
{ }

rid a character of the monster’s company thereafter.

Battle: Anytime a character moves away from the monster, it must move
{ } { }

one space to pursue, regardless of whose turn it is.

Trickster
Investigation: Right before a character digs, the GM switches two face-down
{ }

cards’ positions in the spread.

Battle: When the monster is subject to forced movement, the GM may
choose any space adjacent to the target space to end the move-
ment in.

Weapons Master
Investigation: When forming a bond or denigrating, characters must contend
{ } { }

with the monster’s fearsome reputation. Queens aren’t wild, but

the character learns a secret about the monster even on a clash,
in addition to the clash’s usual effects.
Battle: The monster’s versatility is unmatched; it may shift one space as
{ }

part of an attack action.

{ }

103
 Example Types
The following are example monster types. In the interests of
rounding out each type’s role, they have multiple keywords. If it
makes sense in your story (or just to simplify a battle) to ignore these
keywords, go right ahead.

Angel
Keywords: Empowered, Flying, Nocturnal, Resistance (Sacred)
1, Tank (allies with Sacred powers) 1, Vulnerable (Profane) 2

Automaton
Keywords: Hardened Flesh (at Dread 2+), Stand Ground 1

Beast
Keywords: Combo (move) 2, Evade, Flying or Jump
{ }

Bones
Keywords: Diurnal, Lured by (grave soil)

Commoner
Keywords: Resistance (Profane) 1, Vulnerable (Sacred) 1

Demon
Keywords: Diurnal, Dreaded, Opportunistic (Profane monsters)
1, Repelled by (holy symbols), Resistance (Profane) 1, Vulnerable
(Sacred) 1

Gargoyle
Keywords: Flying, Hardened Flesh

Gorgon
Keywords: Shield 1, Toxic

Greentouched
Keywords: Diurnal, Lured by (sunlight, decay), Spawning (Sap-
lings - Dread 1) 2, Toxic
104
Half-Noble
Keywords: Close (fangs) 1, Evade, Flinch from (silver) 2, Lured
by (blood)

Necromancer
Keywords: Resistance (Profane) 1, Spawning (shades) 2, Vulner-
able (Sacred) 1

Noble
Keywords: Close (fangs) 2, Dreaded, Nocturnal, Opportunistic
(loyal subjects) 1, Repelled by (crucifixes), Resurrecting (at dusk, un-
less crucified), Vulnerable (silver) 1

Shade
Keywords: Levitating, Phasing, Toxic, Vulnerable (Memory) 1

Example Specialties
The following are example monster specialties. Like hero special-
ties, they provide unique powers that are often a bit “bigger” than
those provided by other traits.

Commands
Investigation: On a match while denigrating, the GM may play a card from
{ }

their tableau into an empty spot in the spread; if they do, anoth-
er character suffers the effects of the denigration rather than the
monster.
Battle: At the beginning of the round, the GM may play a card to imme-
diately spawn a minion of an appropriate type. If a target grants {

opportunity to minions, the monster gains Combo X against

}

that target, where X equals the number of minions adjacent to

the target.

105
 Curses
Investigation: On a clash while forming a bond or denigrating, all characters
{ } { }

must match both number and color to create matches until the
next dawn or dusk. Queens are exempt from the curse.
Battle: If the GM plays a card with value equal to or less than the mon-
ster’s current Dread to attack, targets who take damage may only
{ }

play black cards if it’s daytime or red cards if it’s nighttime, until
the end of their next turn. Queens are not exempt from the
curse.

Sows Despair
Investigation: On a clash while forming a bond or defending, discard one face-
{ } { }

up card from the spread and replace it with a new face-down

card.
Battle: After dealing damage, the GM may play a card with value equal
to damage dealt for the monster to gain 1 Dread. If the mon-
ster’s attack made a character Hopeless, gain 2 Dread instead.

Demands Fear
Investigation: On a clash while forming a bond or defending, time’s passage
{ } { }

distorts; immediately change day to night or night to day.

Battle: When movement takes the monster to the edge of the map, the
GM may play any card to immediately Teleport the monster to
the farthest space on the opposite side of the map.

Foretells Doom
Investigation: After two clashes while forming a bond or digging by any charac-
{ } { }

ter, the monster finds them and attacks, initiating combat.

Battle: On the monster’s turn, the GM plays any card to mark a target. { }

At the end of the marked character’s third subsequent turn, if

the monster has not been destroyed, the character loses 1 Hope.
If this makes a character Hopeless, the monster declares that a

106
 specific doom will come to pass. This doom is preventable, but
laws of nature and game rules may break to ensure it.

Guards
Investigation: A character must match both number and color when physically
{ denigrating the monster.
}

Battle: At the beginning of the round, the GM may play a card to give
the monster Sweep X when blocking until the end of the round,
{ }

where X equals the card’s value.

Hungers
Choose one or more suits/humours for which the monster hun-
gers.
Investigation: On a clash while forming a bond or denigrating, if one of the
{ } { }

revealed cards matches the monster’s hunger, the GM puts that

card into their hand.
Battle: After a successful attack, the GM may subtract 1 from the dam-
{ }

age the monster deals to instead choose a card from the player’s
tableau that matches the monster’s hunger and put it in their
tableau.

Moves Between Blinks

Investigation: On a clash while denigrating the monster or digging, no one is
{ } { }

looking at the monster. Flip all face-up cards in the spread back
over.
Battle: If a round ends with no one adjacent to the monster (other than
Hopeless characters), the GM may play any card to immediately
Teleport it:
• If the nearest enemy is within 3 spaces, the monster may Tele-
port adjacent to the enemy.
• If the nearest enemy is more than 3 spaces away, the monster
may Teleport 3 spaces.

107
 Petrifies
Investigation: On a clash while forming a bond, freeze one face-down card in
{ }

the spread; it can’t be flipped until someone next succeeds at

{ forming a bond with the monster, or the monster dies.
}

Battle: On the monster’s turn, the GM plays a card; everyone within

Line X is frozen in place and may not take any non-forced move-
ment actions until the beginning of the next round, where X is
the card’s value. Hopeless characters in the area of effect turn to
stone and must be restored by some magical or divine means.

Wields Fire
Investigation: Fire illuminates, but destroys; on a clash while digging, the char-
{ }

acter learns a secret but all cards revealed on that turn are flipped
face-down again and shuffled before returning to the spread.
Battle: Attacks the monster makes on its turn have Ranged X, where X
equals (5 - Dread). If a round ends with any characters adjacent
to the monster, the GM may play any card to immediately make
a Burst (Self) 1 attack, prompting reactions as normal.

Wields Power and Glory

Investigation: On a clash when forming a bond or denigrating, the character
{ } { }

experiences a moment of transcendent awe; the GM takes a card

at random from the player’s tableau and puts it into their own
tableau.
Battle: On the monster’s turn, the GM may play a card of value equal to
or less than the monster’s current Dread to create a Burst (Self)
X, where X equals current Dread. Each character within the area
must discard a card. Anyone who discards their last card this way
loses 1 Hope.

108
Restores
Investigation: On a match while denigrating, a player only adds one of the
{ }

matching cards to their tableau, flipping the other face-down

again.
Battle: If the monster spends an entire round making no attacks and
taking no damage, the GM may play any card at the start of the
next round to give any character (including the monster) 1 Hope
or 1 Dread.

Self-Destructs
Investigation: After a clash while denigrating, the monster’s assault destroys it
{ }

in the process. The character learns a secret while defending, but

{ }

their defense is otherwise automatically a clash.

Battle: When the monster reaches Dread 0, the GM immediately plays
a Combo of 2 cards to make a Burst (Self) X attack, where X is
the sum of the cards’ values. If the GM doesn’t have 2 cards to
play, this ability doesn’t work.

Shapeshifts (keywords/forms/specialties)
Investigation: After a clash while digging or forming a bond, the monster con-
{ } { }

fronts the heroes in a form of its choice the next night (or day,
if Diurnal). If it can attack a hero alone, it does so, and the hero
may counter by defending. A clash on defense deals 2 damage
{ }

to Hope instead of the usual 1. If it must confront the heroes

together, they may confront it in battle.
Battle: At the beginning of each round, the GM may play a card of value
equal to or less than the monster’s current Dread to transform
it. A transformation usually involves additional keywords or spe-
cialties, or transformation to an entirely different creature. A
monster which fully transforms does not change its Dread.

109
 Steals Souls
Investigation: On a clash while denigrating or digging, the GM draws a card as
{ } { }

though the character had learned a secret.

Battle: At the beginning of each round, the GM may play a card with
value equal to or higher than the monster’s current Dread to
deal 1 damage to a hero and give 1 Dread to the monster.

Summons a Mount
Investigation: On a clash while digging, all cards revealed on that turn are
{ }

flipped face-down again and shuffled before returning to the

spread.
Battle: At the beginning of the round, the GM may play a card to give
the monster Sweep (move) X, where X is the card’s value, until
{ }

the end of the round.

Raises an Unholy Ruckus

Investigation: On a clash while digging, the GM shuffles three face-down cards
{ }

from the spread back into the deck, then replaces them with new
ones.
Battle: On the monster’s turn, the GM plays a card to make a Burst
(Self) X basic attack by flinging unmoored objects, creating a ca-
{ }

cophony, or otherwise causing chaos, where X is the card’s value.

110
 Barghest
When you see the devil’s eyes through the fog, you could swear
you hear the tolling of a great bell.
These huge, black hounds live out on the moors, appearing from
the mists to presage doom.
Some of the Noblesse capture
and tame them to heel and
hunt on command, gaining
elite status among the Aristoc-
racy as daring hellbeast tamers,
but sages and fools both whis-
per that a barghest cannot be
tamed — it only bides its time.
More powerful barghest lords
can have several heads, and
some breathe flames.
As Beasts, all barghests possess Combo (move) 2, Evade, and
{ }

Jump.
Distinction
♣ Glowing red eyes

♠ Knows when you will die

♦ Claws made of silver

♥ Protects those whose time has not yet come

Barghest Vassal ♦

Beast who Foretells Doom

Dread 1

111
 Barghest Lord ♦

Pack Leading Beast who breathes Fire

Dread 2
Keywords: Vigilance (basic move)
{ }

112
 Clockwork Mutant
It shudders and sparks, speaking a monotone litany of numerical
blasphemies you can almost comprehend.
Broken, mechanical remnants of the Machines of old limp across
radioactive wastelands, harboring dormant equations that seek solu-
tions and sleeping terrors that awaken when its heart ticks its last.
As Automatons, all clockwork mutans possess Hardened Flesh
(at Dread 2+) and Stand Ground 1.
Distinction
♣ Mechanical ticking heralds its approach

♠ Decipher the calculations hidden in its heart to learn an omi-

nous Machine secret
♦ Its scrap fetches good prices among the Wise

♥ Never forgets a face

Clockwork Cog ♣

Machine Remnant (1) Automaton that Self-Destructs

Dread 1

Clockwork Cypher ♣

Machine Remnant (2) Automaton that Restores

Dread 2

113
 The Grim Reaper
The flap of a black cloak, the flash of a pale mane — then the
air fills with heart-seeking blades.
Death and her three siblings ride like dark gods across the skies
on great galloping steeds. Leg-
end tells of their coming in the
Seventh Minute, at the end of
the Six Minute War. From then
on, even the Thinking Ma-
chines held no dominion over
the Horse Lords, and even the
Noblesse are wary of their
apparent willingness to serve.
The Church’s wariness is partic-
ularly strong: the blessed release
of Death is truly a holy purpose,
yet the Grim Reaper’s scythe is rumored to include a piece of the
True Cross... and she calls freely upon the dead as servants, rather
than revered saints and ancestors.
As a Necromancer, the Grim Reaper possesses Resistance (Pro-
fane) 1, Spawning (shades) 2, and Vulnerable (Sacred) 1.
As an Automaton, the Reaper’s Sickles possess Hardened Flesh
(at Dread 2+) and Stand Ground 1.
Distinction
♣ Rides a pale horse and carries the Scythe of Souls

♠ Can open a portal to the Underworld

♦ Winning a game of chance with her grants a one-day reprieve

from death
♥ Grants safe passage anywhere on her horse for a price

114
The Grim Reaper ♣

Dark Sorcerer of Necromancy who causes Despair and

Demands Fear
Dread 4
Keywords: Flying, Spawning (Reaper’s Sickle; see below) 1,
Sweep (current Dread) with scythe, Teleport (current Dread) once
per round

Reaper’s Sickle ♣

Automaton
Dread 1
Keywords: Levitating, Linked (Grim Reaper), Vulnerable (Sa-
cred)

115
 Hollow Knight
Swords ring against its impenetrable armor like gongs, and a
void fills the space where flesh should be.
The Noblesse claim to have created these empty suits of armor
that walk and fight with divine will. Darker rumors suggest it was
forbidden alchemy that animated them, instead; but what hypocrisy
would the nobles show if they admitted to using the weapons of
outlawed chymistry?
As Automatons, hollow knights and their squires possess Hard-
ened Flesh (at Dread 2+) and Stand Ground 1.
Distinction
♣ The earth shakes when it moves

♠ Doesn’t understand surrender

♦ Bears its maker’s name inscribed on the inside

♥ Its loyalty can be earned but not bought

Hollow Knight ♦

Giant Automaton that Guards

Dread 2
Keywords: Shield 1, Tank (characters who have formed a bond) 2
{ }

Hollow Squire ♦

Automaton
Dread 1
Keywords: Shield 1, Tank (Hollow Knight) 1

116
 Mandragora
Like orchids, their flesh is lush and almost human. And like
orchids, their perfume is sweet until you smell the rot beneath.
You inhale deeply, and let it fill your lungs.
Most of Christendom’s mor-
tals think of the Green as a dis-
tant threat, but it creeps forward
with every passing year. Its ad-
vance promises fertility... at the
cost of mutation and ultimately
oblivion. Its most advanced in-
habitants are the mandragora,
human-like plants who both in-
toxicate and infest.
Few mandragora reach the far
west, and those that do often
hide themselves in forests or
bogs. But in a land where most of the population relentlessly toils,
they promise something few others can — release. With their own
charms, and the ability of their kind nepenthe to grant wishes in the
mind’s eye, they mix deliverance and death.
As Greentouched, mandrake princes and kind nepenthe pos-
sess Diurnal, Lured by (sunlight, decay), Spawning (Saplings - Dread
1) 2, and Toxic.
As Commoners, harbinger priests or shapeshifted mandrake
princes possess Resistance (Profane) 1 and Vulnerable (Sacred) 1.
Distinctions
♣ A graceful human form...
♠ ...which blossoms to reveal impossible glories.
♦ Expert on (and source of) miraculous elixirs.
♥ Binds your heart with seeds in your flesh.
117
 Mandrake Prince ♦

Seducer Greentouched who Shapeshifts (Commoner

form)
Dread 2
Keywords: Heavy Attack 2

Harbinger Priest ♣

Leader Commoner who Restores

Dread 2

Kind Nepenthe ♣♠

Trickster Greentouched which Hungers for Memory

Dread 1
Keywords: Entangle, Stationary

118
 Mortals
They fill the streets. They are everywhere you go. If they were to
turn violent... there’d be Hell to pay.
Most of the people of Christendom are mortals. They till the
fields, trade goods, fight in armies. They’re easy for their rulers to
take for granted or their peers to despise. But they have all the pas-
sion and fear and individuality of any of God’s creatures, and as
Christ’s flock, there are seats prepared for them at the third hand
of the Father.
Mortals’ loves and grudges and intrigues can rouse them to great
deeds, and they can ally themselves in great numbers. Never fail to
realize that the ordinary are extraordinary.
As Commoners, the mortals listed here possess Resistance (Pro-
fane) 1 and Vulnerable (Sacred) 1.
Distinction
♣ Everywhere you go.

♠ No two alike.

♦ Prize things their “betters” overlook.

♥ Band together in times of need.

Angry Mob ♦

Giant group of Commoners who raise an Unholy Ruckus

Dread 3
Keywords: Spawn (Torchers; see below) 2, Trample

Constable ♦

Stalker Commoner who Guards

Dread 1

119
 Keywords: Vigilance (basic attack)
{ }

Revolutionary Heretic ♣♥

Seducer Commoner who Commands

Dread 1
Keywords: Spawn (Angry Mob; see above) once per episode
when harmed

Torcher ♦

Commoner
Dread 1
Keywords: Vigilance (hinder with fire; inflicts Slow)
{ }

Town Leader ♦

Leader of the Pack Commoner who Commands

Dread 1
Keywords: Vigilance (basic move)
{ }

120
 Mother Medusa
You let the sound of rushing water lead you through the cave,
only to discover it wasn’t water at all — you’ll drown in hissing
snakes instead.
Medusa and her sisters were once or-
dinary gorgons, taking holy orders and
serving the Noblesse, but never trust-
ing them. On command, they pursued
ancient evils into tainted lands and be-
came shade-touched, mutating beyond
their original forms to become some-
thing new. They rebelled against their
immortal masters and sought new pur-
pose among the wastes.
While Medusa and her two born
sisters make their own inscrutable pil-
grimages, other gorgons with closer re-
lationships to the Church (including some of their own children)
have been inspired to take holy vows and promote reform by exam-
ple. Many of these are too potent or charismatic for the traditional
Church to touch, but some have been rooted out and martyred.
The Gorgons presented here possess Shield 1 and Toxic.
As Beasts, the gorgons’ snakes possess Combo (move) 2, Evade,
{ }

and Flying.
Distinction
♣ Flowing locks of sinuous snakes

♠ Once turned her lover to stone

♦ Keeps a lovely garden containing the statues of those who’ve

tried to kill her
♥ Loves but competes with her sisters

121
 Mother Medusa ♠♥

Mother of Monsters Gorgon who Petrifies

Dread 3
Keywords: Combo X, where X = number of snake spawn in play;
Spawning (Gorgon’s Snakes; see below) 1, Resistance (Secular) 1

Medusan Anchoress ♥

Lair-Dwelling Gorgon who Restores

Dread 2
Keywords: Spawning (Gorgon’s Snakes; see below) 2, Vulnera-
ble (Profane) 1.

Medusan Martyr’s Head ♥

Silent Gorgon who Curses

Dread 1

Gorgon’s Snake ♦

Beast
Dread 1
Keywords: Immune to Petrification, Linked (originating gor-
gon), Toxic

122
 Mourning Gargoyle
You pass under the statue-laden arch, suspecting nothing — until
its claws are at your back, and when you turn you see the mur-
der in its blank stone eyes.
Long ago, the Church raised children in isolation to be the per-
fect assassins, feeding them a diet of Aristocratic blood and ritual
to make them deadly, ruthless, and nigh-immortal. These children
became silent gargoyles, cursed to stand as statues whenever living
eyes fell upon them. When the Knights Vigilant became lax in their
duty to constantly watch over these lonely assassins, they escaped
into the night.
As Gargoyles, mourning gargoyles possess Flying and Hardened
Flesh.
Distinction
♣ Never seen in motion

♠ Created by but escaped from the Church

♦ Remembers the ritual that made it

♥ Wants nothing more than friendship

Mourning Gargoyle ♥

Silent Gargoyle who Moves Between Blinks

Dread 2
Keywords: Resistance (Secular) 1, Tank (Sacred creatures) 1, Vul-
nerable (Memory) 1

123
 Night Visitor
You take his hand, longing to hear his voice sing to you once
again, though you know he died years ago.
These demons from far southern lands visit people in dreams just
as the dream-thieves do, hungering for companionship and Hope to
sustain them. The Church calls them tempters who seek humanity’s
downfall, but while some are hostile, others will bargain or befriend
to get what they need from humans. Some legends claim the Night
Visitors serve dream-thief devil-rulers; others say they’re rivals for
power.
As Demons, night visitors possess Diurnal, Dreaded, Oppor-
tunistic (Profane monsters) 1, Repelled (holy symbols), Resistance
(Profane) 1, and Vulnerable (Sacred) 1.
Distinction
♣ Perfect beauty

♠ Invades dreams

♦ Keeps collected Hope and life energy in a silver amulet

♥ Illusions make them look like loved ones

Night Visitor ♣

Seducing Demon who Curses and Causes Despair

Dread 3
Keywords: Linked (last person from whom it fed)

124
 Ophan
A second sun blazes to life in the sky, and speaks your darkest
secrets in a voice that brings you to your knees.
The ophanim are angelic beings who are born each evening in
glory when the sun sets, and who die again each morning at dawn.
They take the form of ever-spinning wheels, replete with many eyes
and many wings. While not Church doctrine, most people believe
the stars in the sky are faraway ophanim, burning with holy fire and
looking down upon them in judgment.
As Angels, ophanim possess Empowered, Flying, Nocturnal, Re-
sistance (Sacred) 1, Tank (Sacred allies) 1, and Vulnerable (Profane)
2.
Distinction
♣ Many eyes and many wings

♠ High-ranking clergy can summon them

♦ Blood has healing properties when subject to the right rituals

♥ Answers to God, but not necessarily to the Church

Ophan ♥

Augur Angel who Wields Holy Fire, Power, and Glory

Dread 2
Keywords: Resurrecting (at dusk)

125
 Poltergeist
Whirling debris fills the room, waltzing to the tune of raucous
screams.
A faceless, formless spirit that must
clothe itself in chaos to be seen or
heard, a poltergeist yearns for ven-
geance for its own brutal murder, but
no longer recognizes its killers even if
they still live.
It clamors for attention by flinging
the possessions of the living around
in a howling tantrum, and seeks retri-
bution from anyone who matches its
vague memories of tormentors from life.
As a Shade, a poltergeist possesses Levitating, Phasing, Toxic, and
Vulnerable (Memory) 1.
Distinction
♣ Sound and fury signify its presence

♠ Died by violent murder

♦ Revenge soothes the spirit

♥ The right curse can set a poltergeist to doggedly haunt one per-
son

Poltergeist ♠

Trickster Shade that Makes an Unholy Ruckus

Dread 2

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 Radiant Skull
You feel its heat at your back wherever you run; you’re never in
the dark anymore.
The souls of those who died by fire may linger to inhabit their
skulls after death, seeking to visit the same fate upon others. The
oldest of these spirits burn with the forbidden fire of ancient weap-
ons.
As Bones, radiant skulls possess Diurnal and Lured by (grave
soil).
Distinction
♣ Wreathed in flame that intensifies with passions

♠ Deadly temper

♦ Sees the secret desires of those whom its flame burns

♥ Fiercely defends those it trusts

Abandoned Relic ♥

Stalker Bones
Dread 1
Keywords:
Levitating, Resistance (Sacred) 1, Toxic
Unquenchable Fire ♣

Stalker Bones who Wields Hellfire

Dread 2
Keywords:
Flying, Toxic

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 Skeleton
It lurches forward, bog-tanned skin stretched across brown bone,
something rattling within its tattered robes.
Skeletons are theologically contro-
versial. Some clergy say that the skel-
eton represents the enduring part
of humanity, which will be brought
back to life on the day of judgment.
After all, many relics are pieces of
bone. But other theologians claim
that the skeleton, as the innermost
part of the body, hidden from all
sight until death, represents original
sin itself.
Like shades, skeletons are funda-
mentally creatures of frozen memory, and therefore susceptible to
sorceries of dream and illusion. Unlike shades, they rarely choose to
share or reenact their memories. Each skeleton is a mindscape unto
itself... and one that will slay you without remorse.
As Bones, skeletons possess Diurnal and Lured by (grave soil).
Distinction
♣ Its rattle makes your own bones shake

♠ Remembers the worst thing it did in life

♦ Carries a weapon or token of no small value

♥ Has no heart, but can feel the hole where it was

128
Shambling Skeleton ♠

Stalker Bones who sow Despair

Dread 1
Keywords:
Tank (other Bones) 1
Mound of Bones ♠

Augur Bones who Guard

Dread 2
Keywords:
Stationary, Vigilant (flurry)
{ }

129
 Lady Regina Drake
You catch yourself falling in love with her and don’t dare stop,
but you wonder whether what you hear in her sweet whispers is
fondness or disdain.
The Lady Drake is among the most feared and respected of the
Noblesse. Stories whisper that she was among the first to emerge as
a savior of humanity; some go so far as to suggest she is a survivor
of the Six Minute War itself, granted a semblance of Christ’s im-
mortality at the end of her life to give hope to those toiling under
the Machines. But darker tales surface, too — tales of dark sorcery
and blasphemous rites that will keep her heart beating even if she’s
turned to dust.
As a Noble, Lady Regina Drake possesses Close (fangs) 2, Dread-
ed, Nocturnal, Opportunistic (loyal subjects) 1, Repelled by (cruci-
fixes), Resurrecting (at dusk, unless crucified), and Vulnerable (sil-
ver) 1.
As a Half-Noble, Drake’s confessor possesses Close (fangs) 1,
Evade, Flinch from (silver) 2, and Lured by (blood).
As an Automaton, Drake’s mourning blade possesses Hardened
Flesh (at Dread 2+) and Stand Ground 1.
As Commoners, Drake’s foot soldiers possess Resistance (Pro-
fane) 1 and Vulnerable (Sacred) 1.
Distinction
♣ Mesmerizing eyes and presence

♠ True heart is hidden within the depths of her castle

♦ Has a library containing secret histories and ancient forbidden

tomes
♥ Centuries-long lovers’ tryst with the Grim Reaper

130
Lady Regina Drake ♦♥

Lair-Dwelling Noble who Hungers for Blood, wields holy

Fire, and Changes Shape into nocturnal creatures
Dread 5
Keywords: Opportunistic (the dead, loyal subjects, nocturnal
wildlife) 2, Spawning (Drake’s Mourning Blade; see below) 2, Res-
urrecting (every century, even if destroyed by crucifixion)

Drake’s Confessor ♥

Trickster Half-Noble who Guards

Dread 2
Keywords: Vigilance (hinder)
{ }

Drake’s Mourning Blade ♠

Weapons Master Automaton that Steals Souls

Dread 2
Keywords: Combo 2 (flurry), Unique
{ }

Drake’s Foot Soldiers ♦

Giant group of Commoners who Self-Destruct

Dread 1

131
 Maid Paladin
You tremble to hear her battle cry, knowing the rhythmic clash of
steel on steel is naught but a dirge for her enemies.
The Maids Paladin are an order of half-noble generals, feared and
respected in equal measure for their peerless training and exquisite
panoplies. Only those who have proven their mettle time and time
again, earned enough trust and loyalty to rise through the ranks of
the noble armies, and led troops to victory from the vanguard may
be granted this honor.
Maids Paladin can be of any gender, but are frequently called
Maids after their patron saint Jeanne, the Maid of Lost Orleans.
They commonly take variations on that name as an addition to
their given or chosen name at their initiation into the order, such as
Joan, Jan, Jone, Jona, or Jon.
Many Maids Paladin also acquire additional nommes de guerre;
the Ruby Paladin is one of the most-feared.
As Half-Nobles, all Maids Paladin and a paladin’s chaplain pos-
sess Close (fangs) 1, Evade, Flinch from (silver) 2, and Lured by
(blood).
As Commoners, a paladin’s cavalry possess Resistance (Profane)
1 and Vulnerable (Sacred) 1.
Distinction
♣ An air of nobility with a fierce and determined spirit

♠ Jealous subordinates scheme for her position and, perhaps, her

head
♦ A fine arsenal and a trusty steed inherited from a Noble parent

♥ Unfailingly loyal to her Paladin siblings

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Ruby Paladin ♦

Weapons Master Half-Noble who Wields Power and Glo-

ry, Commands, and Hungers for Blood
Dread 4
Keywords: Resistance (Secular) 1, Stand Ground 1, Tank (fellow
Maids Paladin) 1, Vigilance (dash)
{ }

Paladin’s Cavalry ♦

Giant group of Commoners who Guard

Dread 2
Keywords: Heavy Attack 1, Trample

Paladin’s Chaplain ♥

Half-Noble who Restores

Dread 1
Keywords: Tank (Maid Paladin or fellow soldiers)

133
 VI. Towns
We evolved to thrive in is the company of other humans. We’re
so good at recognizing and reading faces that they we them
everywhere. In the gnarled bark of an old oak, in the swirl of cut
aggat, in a wolf pup.
When others hurt, we feel it in our gut. That leads us to help,
but also to place harmony over justice. The dark side of shared
pain is the urge to eliminate the obvious source -- the victim.
And so towns become sick with secret crimes and unavenged
wrongs.
Towns in this fallen world are filled with unspoken grievances,
untold hurts, and wounds badly banged over. The towns you create
for your games of Miserable Secrets will be peopled with intrigu-
ing and dangerous characters, and become characters in their own
right.
 The War and the ancient works of humanity are ancestral memo-
ry, and only the Wise know the reasons the people of old built their
skeleton cities and vast dams, how the rusting hulks of their carriag-
es operated, or what the steel fingers hanging with heavy cable once
carried. The commoners see no difference in advanced technology
and sorcery, nor do those who study them. It is a world of steel and
blood, and gunpowder is a witch’s trick.

Town Organization
Similarly, social structures are arranged in ancient ways. Clans
unite kin across regions, and locally, families and their elder mem-
bers hold great power. The Noblesse claim their nations, name
themselves queens, anoint their lesser fellows as dukes and earls.
They elevate some commoners to the ranks of their knights. Each
noble has their demesne peopled by commoners who are their di-
rect vassals, and they are liege to lesser nobles who control part of
their domains.
Towns are peopled mostly by commoners. They possess some
rights, and have expectations of their noble lords. They have the
right to serve in local militias to enforce law and order, to elect their
mayors and councilors, and they can expect to take their grievances
to court and have them decided, with decisions on ultimate appeals
belonging to their lord.
Peasants may own and inherit property so long as they meet their
obligations to provide for the common defense (in the form of taxes
and in providing levies from each family in time of war). Education
is not a right, but literacy is increasingly common.
A town’s Charter defines its territorial boundaries, and any spe-
cial rights and privileges enjoyed by its members -- such as the right
to hold a market, exclusive right to make a certain product, or the
promise that an official court position will always be filled by a resi-
dent of the town. Town charters are formal and binding documents.
Some are signed in blood, and thus as divine as the planting of
crops.
135
 Building Towns
This chapter helps you create and manage your town. If you want
to generate it randomly, we’ve provided tables for use with the play-
er deck.
When drawing cards, you may reshuffle the deck at any point.
Shuffling will put all options on the table, while drawing until the
deck is exhausted will make some options mutually exclusive.

Spatial Play
If you want to make moving around the town or area key to play,
use index cards to note locations and people, then lay them out to
form the map. Place the cards for people under the corner of the
location card where they are present, and place tokens representing
the heroes on the map to indicate their location at any given time.
If you want to be particular detailed, you can use cards or tokens
to move locals from their daytime location to their nighttime loca-
tion as investigation turns pass, and each location defined in the
following procedure also becomes a possible battle location if trou-
ble breaks out.
If you add locations and locals at a later time, simple jot down the
relevant information on a card and place it on the map. If you need
to pack things up after a session, take a picture of the table so you
can replicate the map easily next session.
You can also use these cards to note new information relevant to a
location or person as it emerges in play, such as the secrets the play-
ers reveal about them or learn from them, their health and welfare,
the bonds the heroes form with them, and how they relate to one
another.

Steps
The system for generating a town takes place in six steps.

136
 1. Region: In what part of the world is the town situated? What
features does the town inherit from its region?
2. Theme: What kind of settlement does the town represent?
What is its lifeblood and what work dominates the life of its
citizens?
3. Landmarks: Major features and locations.
4. People: The town’s notable inhabitants, their homes and
places of work, families, clans, and relationships, as well as
their troubles and secrets. This is the most detailed step, and
can easily be used independently of the rest of the system.
5. Conditions: Prevailing conditions of the town, its relation
to the Noblesse, Church, its wealth, the state of justice, and
of health.
6. Troubles: The hazards and monsters afflicting the town and
its surrounding environs.
When following these steps, you may want to briefly step back or
step forward. For example, if the local generator provides a charac-
ter who is a master blacksmith, then that implies a smithy location.
Likewise, if the Landmark generator provides a famous holy shrine,
then that implies a shrine-keeper.

137
 A.Under Green Shadow
The Green creeps closer with each passing year. The town sits at
the edge of this encroachment... or even a bit beyond.

Grandeur
The eastern skyline is dominated by the outline of vast trees, as
large as the towers people built before the Six Minute War. The
night music of the Green can be heard, the weird harmonies of
insects and mandragora. The Green is a threat, but also a promise,
a promise of transformation, a reminder that there is wonder and
horror in the world.

Ruin
The smell of the Green in Summer reminds everyone that the for-
est does not care, and will one day claim the town. Those who garb
and mask themselves to walk through the Green can see how it has
already claimed other, greater cities.

Opportunity
As an outpost at the edge of the Green, the town can hunt and cut
wood, supply green-seekers who wish to travel under the shadow,
and enjoy the unnatural fertility of soil and fecundity of animals
and people alike that precedes the Green.

Trouble
The Green’s influence is felt in the weird fevers and diseases that
often afflict the people and animals of the town, and the creatures
of the Green make forays outward, when Summer is high, and the
cicadas sing their battle hymns.
Monsters native to the region all have Diurnal and Toxic keywords.

138
Variations
♣ Scent of Summer
The Green is still distant, its influence hardly felt at all during
Autumn and Winter. It is a problem for another generation to deal
with, and few within the town can rouse much concern about it
despite the great swaying tree-shapes on the horizon.
Implies Green Watchers who keep an eye on the encroachment.
Implies a Watchtower where they keep their vigil.

♠ Edge of the Green

The town sits amongst the brambles and briar of the Green’s
first reach. The native vegetation is dying or becoming strange, and
crops grow erratically. Houses are carefully sealed with caulk and rag
against outside airs, so when the pollen is high people can shelter.
The creatures of the Green sometimes walk the streets of the town,
weird and curious. On those days, the wise bolt their doors.
Implies Green-Seekers who hunt the forest.
Implies Storehouses for keeping the bounty of the Green.

♦ Overgrown
The town is recently overgrown, but not yet overwhelmed. Ag-
gressive cutting and burning keeps the town almost safe within a
shrinking circle of cleared land. Yet, as the Green claims more land
and people, the soil proves more and more fertile, particularly for
exotic and medicinal plants, and those used to brew esoteric drugs.
Implies Burners who scour the lands around the town to keep
it safe.
Implies Green Brewers who make the valuable drugs and a
Drug Brewery where they do it.

139
 ♥ Bunkertown
The town is wholly lost within the Green, and built within an
ancient pre-war bunker sealed against the outside. None leave the
bunker without protective clothing and filter masks. Over the years,
the town has expanded into hr bedrock., tunneling down into the
bedrock.
Implies Green Delvers who mask themselves and seek weird
treasures deep in the Green.
Implies Tunnel Rats who dig deeper, expanding the town.

140
 2. By the Waters
Blood is life, and there’s no blood without water. No matter how
many times a city by the water falls, it will always return.

Grandeur
The meeting of water and rock, land and sea always draws people.
Settlements by the waters are always liminal, existing at the edge of
two radically different realms. To creatures of the sea, the land is dry
desolation. To creatures of the land, the sea is cold and suffocating.
Looking out across the waters means wondering what lurks within.

Ruin
Water dissolves everything eventually. A leaky roof will one day
rot and collapse. Floods can crush any human work, and drag it
away to entomb it in mud. The slow trickle of water inexorably cuts
stone. In the end, water claims everything. Every water town’s edge
is marked by buildings that have lost the struggle.

Opportunity
Waters offer what they have always offered humanity -- food, drink,
irrigation, and transportation.

Trouble
Waters also threaten what they have always threatened humanity
with -- flood, storm, and piracy. Monsters native to the region all
have Amphibious and Swim keywords.

Variations
♣ Riverport
The town sits on the shore of a wide navigable river along which
trade flows. A riverport has a larger transient population than many

141
 towns, and intermarriages from towns up and down the river are
common.
Implies Docks where boats can load and unload.
Implies a River Constable who manages the Docks, pursues
smugglers, and collects duties.

♠ Seaport
The town sits in a protected cove or bay on a great body of water,
large enough that it extends past the horizon. It is a port for coastal
sea traffic, and the occasional exotic vessel from further away. Sea-
ports are often also hubs of land traffic, and support shipbuilding
and repair businesses.
Implies the Docks and Dockmaster who manages them.
Implies the Shipyard and the Shipwright and Guild that build
and maintain ships.

♦ In the Marshes
The town is built in and around marshland, croaking with life,
home to crocodiles and crabs, and filled with secret boatways
through the swaying reeds, hidden islands, and bottomless hungry
bogs.
Implies a Marsh Constable in charge of patrolling the marshes
and finding the lost.
Implies a Fishing Guild and its master.

♥ Floodtown
The town is built on the water itself, or was once built alongside
the water, before flooding forced people to build upwards on piers
and piles. They abandoned the bottom floors of homes, building
drier ones above.

142
 There are boatways rather than streets in floodtown, raised walk-
ways, and swaying rope bridges linking buildings. The waters around
a floodtown are filthy with human waste, and alive with the crea-
tures that thrive in such filth.
Implies Mud Divers, who swim beneath the town seeking lost
valuables.
Implies a Punters Guild and Guild Leader to operate the for-
hire boats in town.

3. Skeleton City
The old cities that were not reduced to ash and rubble in the
War were left uninhabitable, pockmarked with bullets, scoured
by fire, choked in the toxic dust of fallen towers.
To modern eyes, the ancient cities are alien and impossible -- how
did the ancients build so high? And why?

Grandeur
The wonders of the ancient world are still on display, with the
bones of skyscrapers reaching upwards, deep subway tunnels still
passable, and surviving works of public art standing in testament to
the industry of humanity.

Ruin
Possibly the purest example of ruin, the grand old structures are
only bones, and the bones of those who dwelled there are only dust.
A skeleton city seems to modern observers entirely divorced from
anything human.

Opportunity
A skeleton city offers unparalleled opportunity to recover func-
tional wonders of the past, to reclaim materials impossible to make
anymore, to recover knowledge, or trade secrets.
143
 Trouble
Living in a skeleton city means living among the barrow folk and
their courts, seeing their luring-lights in the night. Woe betide a
traveler who walks down a moonlit street only to have the ancient
lamps flicker to life and a procession of the barrow folk begin.
Like any corpse, a skeleton city attracts scavengers. Inhuman ones
have Hardened Flesh and Stand Ground keywords, be they autom-
atons or mutant insects.

Variations
♣ Tower Town
The town is built mostly into one of the ancient towers, new and
scavenged materials added to replace the broken glass and cladding
that once covered the structure. Systems of pipes and troughs catch
rainwater for drinking. Some floors hang vegetation in vertical
farms, while others are residential.
Implies an Elevator Constable, empowered to regulate what
passes between floors.
Implies a Hauler’s Guild and Guild Leader of laborers who car-
ry things up stairs and pull ropes lifting things into the tower.

♠ Scavtown
A scavtown is a rough but vital thing, a hive of industry and activ-
ity. It is built entirely from scavenged materials, a chaotic mess of
dwellings without any central plan, and supported largely by scaven-
ger crews seeking valuable resources out in the uncleared zones of
the skeletal city.
Implies a Junk Market where things are bought, sold, and bar-
tered
Implies a Zone Patrol and Patrol Leader who protect Scavtown
from marauders and opportunists.

144
♦ Feral Parkland
Within many ancient cities, there were zones of tame nature,
reminding folk what life looked like. These now-feral parks offers
access to the city for scavenging, but also the opportunity for grow-
ing crops. Passage through the dangerous city keeps feral parkland
towns isolated.
Implies a High Orchardist who sees to the health of the valu-
able fruiting trees.
Implies a Border Guard and Chief who protect the parkland
from the dangers of the city beyond, and escort caravans.

♥ Tunneltown
Beneath many ancient cities, there were networks of tunnels and
passages for people to walk or travel on. These offered shelter to
some of War’s survivors, and some made them into homes. Liv-
ing perpetually underground can make people strange, and in some
tunneltowns, access to sunlight is a privilege reserved for only the
elite.
Implies a Mistress Rat, leader of the Rat’s Guild of tunnel ex-
plorers and mappers.
Implies a Mirror Mistress in charge of the mirrors and light
channels which pipe sunlight from above to those deemed wor-
thy of it below.

145
 4.Big Sky Plains
The wide-open spaces of prairie and steppe speak to a certain
kind of person, one who sees the boundless scope of the land as
an opportunity, possibly a second chance. Under the Big Sky peo-
ple are sometimes reborn, becoming new in spirit and in flesh.

Grandeur
The flatness of the land leads the eyes upwards, and makes every
hill and butte stand out dramatically. At night, the sky is lit by stars
and moon almost bright enough to read by, and during the day
dazzling blue.

Ruin
Out on the plains, lost things can last a long time, mysterious and
lonely. A single abandoned farmhouse, plates set on the table as if
for dinner, no round by the creak of door hinges, nothing maring
the layer of dust on everything. An old truck rusted to a hulk, by the
faint impression where a road once ran. A skeleton in the driver’s
seat still holding the wheel. And the craters, of course, where one
old machine struck at another with devastating weapons.

Opportunity
The grasslands offer grazing for beasts, soil for planting grains, and
if one knows the wisdom of drills and pumps, access to the black
blood of the earth.

Trouble
The plains are a lonely and haunted land, trackless and happily
posthuman. They offer room for industry, but few supplies. Fire is
always a danger, and water can be precious.
Monsters native to the region have Evade and Jump keywords.

146
Variations
♣ Seasonal Nomad Camp
The town is a semi-permanent seasonal camp of a largely nomadic
population who follow the grazing or the sun. There are few perma-
nent structures, but many families establish their camp in the same
location year after year.
Implies a Caretaker and their Compound, one of the few who
remain on site year round, protecting and preparing the place
for the seasonal arrival of the rest of the population.
Implies a Bazaar where all manner of strange things collected
in the people’s travels are traded and sold.

♠ Waves of Grain
The town sits amidst vast fields of grain which are harvested and
stored, processed, and sold. It’s heavy but lucrative work.
Implies a Grainery where the harvest is processed and stored,
and the Lead Thresher who manages it.
Implies a Brewer who ferments some of the harvest in a Brew-
ery, and might imply a Distillery where a fermented mash is
turned into pure and valuable spirits by a Distiller.

♦ Turbine Farm
The town is situated among a still-functional swath of spinning
wind turbines, and produces abundant electricity which it might
export via cables. Electrical power drives well-pumps, cooktops,
cooling fans, and even some electrical lights. Mechanics can always
find work in the turbine fields, and the wise can hear omens in the
screams of the fans.
Implies a Head Wrench and their Workshop, where vital me-
chanical engineering is done and the skills handed down.

147
 Implies the Turbine Fields, where the windmills stand and spin
perpetually.

♥ Badlands
The town sits in rough country, among mineral-rich foothills of
broken rock and trees bent as if in agony. Erosion has clawed the
landscape into a maze of short canyons and gullies, and the exposed
soil is often strangely colored. Inhabitants must be self-reliant; the
country is not forgiving.
Implies a Mistress of Mines and the mines they administer.
Implies a Riding Constable to seek outlaws and scout the sur-
rounding lands, and the Road.

148
 5. Amongst the Crags
Living in the mountains means accepting isolation -- sometimes
profound isolation, lasting months as snow chokes passes. Moun-
tain towns are some of the most remote, beautiful, and strange.
A mountain is a presence in the world and in the mind, looming
in the corner of your thoughts all the time, a presence at once
protective and hostile.

Grandeur
The loom of raw stone and naked rock reaching thousands of feet
above is primally magnificent, a kind of awe that animal ancestors
also felt. Life among the crags is harsh, cutting like winter wind, but
sometimes the mountains feed a starving person on beauty alone,
and they learn to live on it.

Ruin
The mountain claims its own in the end, and is harder on foolish
youth than anywhere else. The mountain takes its tithe of lives and
livelihoods -- winter avalanches, spring rock slides, and dry summers.

Opportunity
Mountains offer unparalleled opportunity for defense. A moun-
tainous locale is a natural fortification. Mountains also lift minerals
usually locked deep in the earth to an accessible height, and mining
can be a vital local industry.

Trouble
Mountain paths are treacherous, passes become blocked by snow
or rockslides, and many sins can be hidden behind hills and in deep
valleys.
Monsters native to the region have Jump or Flying keywords.

149
 Variations
♣ Shadowed Valley
Valleys hidden deep inside the crags collect good soil and run
with clean water. These green slivers offer a good life to the kind of
people who don’t mind living very close to neighbors. Shadowed
valleys are often profoundly isolated, and towns can sometimes be-
come pressure cookers of intrigue and resentment with a veneer of
gingerbread and fretwork.
Implies a Lead Guide and a Guides’ Guild of mountain-wise peo-
ple who lead others through the passes to and from the valley.
Implies a famous Climber that younger climbers wish to sur-
pass.

♠ Foothills
A town in the foothills is built on wildly uneven country but sits
beneath the towering crags, which act as a rear guard for the settle-
ment. Foothill towns are often built at the mouths of passes, where
people and ore can move easily.
Implies a Road Constable to patrol the road up into the moun-
tains and down from the hills, collecting duties from those who
wish to use the pass the town protects.
Implies a Storehouse for ore and other products of the moun-
tains which are shipped down and for the goods carried up sea-
sonally as weather permits.

♦ Thin Air
A town built up in the thin air exists a mere gasp below the point
where a human might suffocate, and moving there takes a long peri-
od of adjustment marked by weakness, headaches, and other amuse-
ments. But for those looking to hide or achieve solitude, it’s ideal.

150
 Implies a Watcher whose job it is to keep vigil for whatever it is
that drove the townsfolk to live at this altitude.
Implies a Lead Herder who manages the herders that keep the
town’s flocks of sheep, goats, alpaca, or other beasts.

♥ Mountain Fastness
A mountain fastness is a fortress town, built in the most inacces-
sible of locations, on top of and within a crag itself. Many of these
towns rise up around the manse of a noble, though some exist inde-
pendently of a mistress’s castle, or the castle sits abandoned. The ex-
istence of such formidable defenses suggests an equally formidable
enemy to defend against.
Implies a Leader of Fortifications who must keep the defenses
in repair, less they become dangerously unstable.
Implies a Mayor, who rules by the will of (or in the memory of)
the noble around who’s castle the fastness town was built.

151
 Q. Edge of the Wastes
The War left some parts of the world desert and worse than des-
ert, blasted, poisoned, broken, and suitable only for outlaws and
mutants. Yet, even on the edges of places like this, humans find
some way to live, and sometimes to thrive.

Grandeur
The ravaged land is beautiful, even if that beauty is sometimes le-
thal. The weapons of the war left the land twisted into alien shapes,
and the Wastes are not merely desolate, they are transformed. Trav-
elers see ridges of hills like spiked vertebrae, hundred foot fans of
liquified rock frozen mid-splash, great sheets of ground vitrified into
green glass, and, at night, a swirling kaleidoscope of colors and au-
roras above the chill wind.

Ruin
The grandeur of the wastes is ruin. Every beautiful thing there
arises from destruction, every color is also a poison, every lake is
a steaming crater. The earth itself was split to the bedrock and be-
yond, and what humanity’s weapons could not destroy, the volcanic
fury from Hell below could. The greatest ruin of the waste is in
knowing that once these places were once homes, now scrubbed
from existence.

Opportunity
The doomsday weapons transformed the land, and created things
which exist nowhere else, or places where reason breaks down.
Waste Walkers find caves where the dead awaken, where time runs
backwards, races forward, or stops entirely. Objects brought out of
the wastes sometimes have impossible properties.

152
Trouble
Trouble is the Waste’s greatest resource and chief export. The
lands are poisoned, the waters acid and toxic, and what lives there is
changed hideously. It is a land of mutants, radiation, and in places
the end of causality.

Variations
♣ Last Water
At the very edge, a last water town is the only place to get a clean
drink for miles around. Water is the town’s major resource, and
what makes live there possible and weirdly prosperous. Waste walk-
ers looking for treasure fill their water tanks here, and sell their
finds in the market. A last watertown has to be heavily fortified.
Implies Waste Walkers and the market where they sell their
finds.
Implies a Palisade to defend the town and the Wall Sentinel
and their Guards who staff it.

♠ Clean Oasis
Surrounded by the wastes, yet untouched by their poison, a clean
oasis town sits in a miraculous zone of comfortable conditions and
clean water. The source of the protection might be old magic, some-
thing newer, or a work of the Thinking Machines.
Implies a Water Keeper who is responsible for apportioning
and guarding the Water.
Implies a Curious Meddler seeking the source of the Oasis’s mi-
raculous protection.

♦ Blacktop Battlezone
The town exists to service and build the wheeled beast machines
that can cross the wastes fast enough that passengers might survive.
153
 It is loud, industrial, and filled with and largely made from scav-
enged vehicle parts. Garages compete -- sometimes violently -- for
business, and the weapon of choice is a heavy wrench or hammer.
Implies a Witch Mechanic and their garage.
Implies a Parts Market where scavenged vehicles are broken
down and sold off.

♥ Radiation Blistered
The town is dying, though nobody will admit it. The waters are
drying up, or maybe the waste’s poison is slowly leaking in. The
weird weather of the waste has shifted, and a constant hot wind
blows across the face of the town, and has stripped every windward
surface of paint. Residents sport visible radburns on exposed skin.
Children are born… wrong.
Implies a Desperate Mayor, unwilling to admit the town is
probably doomed.
Implies a Struggling Physician, seeking some way to counter
the poison of the waste.

154
2. Theme
Themes describe the major activity for a town, what occupies the
energy of its citizens. Each theme implies a location and at least one
local.

A. Market
A market town lives on trade and is known for it.

♣ Caravansary
The town is a stopover for traveling merchants and caravans, who
resupply and sell their wares at a Caravansary location.

♠ Seasonal Market
The town holds charter as a market hub, and hosts one major
market festival a season which brings trade from the whole region.

♦ Bazaar
The town is home to a permanent market in which individual
merchants rent space to sell almost any conceivable thing, with some
stalls being permanent, some coming and going with the season.

♥ Illicit Trade
The town’s fortunes are tied to a black market, a trade in some-
thing illicit, illegal, or secret -- drugs, heresies, espionage, human
lives.

2. Agriculture
A farming town, which produces enough agricultural product to
support itself and to trade.

155
 ♣ Herding
The town raises domestic animals, valuable for meat, milk, eggs,
fur, or something stranger.

♠ Orchards
The town has well-tended trees which provide its bounty of fruit,
nuts, or other produce.

♦ Gardens
The town plants gardens producing a variety of produce.

♥ Narcotics
The town is famous for its production of plants that get people
high, such as opium poppies, coca leaf, hashish hemp, mushrooms,
and many other possibilities.

3. Crossroads
The town sits at a point of transition, where things cross and come
together.

♣ Place of Pilgrimage
The town is a place on which pilgrims converge, home to a shrine
where miracles occur, where one can touch a saint’s bones.

♠ Contested Borderland
The town sits in the contested area between two or more powerful
nobles’ demesne, claimed by all, and in a precarious position. The
contesting nobles bribe and scheme to gain control.

156
♦ Refugee Crisis
The town is flooded with refugees fleeing something terrible in
a neighboring region -- famine, plague, war, religious persecution,
genocide, or some genuinely inhuman threat.

♥ Smuggler’s Den
The town owes its livelihood to the subtle work of smugglers or
traffickers, operating as an open secret.

4. Craft
The town is famed for its craftspeople and their products.

♣ Carpentry
The townsfolk make beautiful and practical things from wood,
and the carpenters are supported by those who make their tools and
supply them with materials.

♠ Stone Cutting
The town is known for its stonemasons, exporting expertise and
tools.

♦ Brewing
The town is home to at least one famous brewery or distillery, and
coopers do a brisk business.

♥ Weaving
The town’s craftsfolk turn fibers into yarns, rope, and cloth. It
might also be known as a place which produces tailors, dressmakers,
and upholsterers.

5. Industry
The town is supported by manufacturing and factory production,
using techniques gleaned from the ruins of the old world, or devel-
157
 oped under the tyranny of the Thinking Machines. Industry towns
are often plagued by noise, smoke, and stench.

♣ Slaughterhouses
The town takes in animals and renders them into a hundred dif-
ferent things, from sausages, to steaks, to hides for leather, gelatin,
bone meal fertilizers, or cooking lard. The slaughter yards are a
stinking, fly-infested engine of wealth.

♠ Smelting
Raw ores or scavenged alloys are rendered down in smelters, and
cast into new shapes. Smelting towns consume prodigious quanti-
ties of coal, lumber, or power.

♦ Lumber
The town is driven by the cutting and milling of trees and tree-like
things into useful boards and planks, resins, mulch, and sawdust
insulation.

♥ Mining
The townsfolk send their youth down into the dark to hammer
wealth from the clutches of greedy rock. Too often, the rock is an-
gered by the theft, and takes lives as compensation. No family in a
mining town is untouched by a hungry mine.

Q. Seat of Power
The town is the ruling seat of a notable individual or organization
of regional power.

♣ Warlord
A warlord, risen from the peasantry, has claimed the town as their
own. The warlord may or may not be hostile to the town, and much

158
depends on the relationship between the town and the Nobles and
Church.

♠ Criminal
The town is the secret seat of power for a major regional criminal
syndicate, and a great deal of wealth flows through the town, even if
it maintains a respectable appearance.

♦ Noble
One of the Noblesse claims the town as their demesne, under
their direct authority.

♥ Church
The town is the site of a major center within Christendom, such
as a cathedral or the seat of a cardinal.

3. Landmarks
Draw a card, reading a face as a 6. Draw this many cards, and
consult the table at the end for landmarks your town is known for.

4. Locals
The locals you create are the heart of the game, harboring secrets
and revelations that drive play.

Personal Name
Pick a personal name from the following list, or come up with one
you like. The list is randomized, so you can select the next name
along without leading to a town where everyone’s name begins with
A.

159
 Clan and Family Names
A clan is a loose association of people with kinship or implied
kinship. A family is a person’s immediate relations.
Clans have different families, and families different members.
This implies many kinships within a community, and each clan rep-
resented in a town implies a clan Steward, usually an elder clan
member. clans also imply the possibility of inter-clan conflict, and
of settling scores in the old ways according to clan law -- blood for
blood.
Each Family represented in a community implies a family Head,
again usually an elder family member.
Create these locals, or assign these roles to locals you have already
created. Stewards have authority over the local members of their
clan, as do Heads over their families.

Description
Draw 4 cards to to describe the local you have just named. The
description elements can be used to write a short sentence.
Many occupations imply a place of work or home of special signif-
icance for the local , so you could make location cards for these and
place them on the map.

5. Prevailing Conditions
How does the town relate to the powers and authorities of the
world? What is the state of its wealth? The happiness and health of
its people, and the justice they might expect?
Draw six cards, and read their value. Ignore suit and color for this
step.

160
6. Troubles
A town’s individual troubles are its immediate crisis and dangers.
Troubles are exceptional events which stand out and alarm the
whole population. A town’s troubles may be symptoms of a deep-
er problem, the source of further problems, or unrelated complica-
tions to a more fundamental problem. But regardless, they are acute
rather than chronic woes.
A town can be suffering from more than one trouble when the
heroes arrive. If you want to know how many but not simply decide,
draw a card and read queens as 3.

161
162
163
 1. Region Table
Region ♣ ♠
A Under Green Scent of Sum- Edge of the Green
Shadow mer
2 By the Waters Riverport Seaport
3 Skeleton City Tower Town Scavtown
4 Big Sky Pains Seasonal No- Waves of Grain
mad Camp
5 Amongst the Crags
Shadowed Valley In the Foot-
hills
Q Edge of the Wastes Last Water Clean Oasis

Region ♦ ♥
A Under Green Overgrown Bunkertown
Shadow
2 By the Waters In the Marsh Floodtown
3 Skeleton City Feral Park- Tunneltown
land
4 Big Sky Pains Turbine Farm Badlands
5 Amongst the Crags
Thin Air Mountain
Fastness
Q Edge of the Wastes Blacktop Bat- Radiation Blis-
tlezone tered

164
2. Theme Table
Landmark
A♣ Unexplored Cave System
2♣ Standing Stones
3♣ Deep Lake
4♣ Rich Fossil Beds
5♣ Hot Springs
Q♣ Ancient Tombs
A♠ Stables
2♠ Central Well
3♠ Smithy
4♠ Aqueduct
5♠ Machine Graveyard
Q♠ Regional Court
A♦ Graveyard
2♦ School
3♦ Abbey
4♦ Regional Guildhouse
5♦ Ecclesiastical Court
Q♦ Famous Holy Shrine
A♥ Rowdy Tavern
2♥ Rooming House
3♥ Amphitheater
4♥ Bathhouse
5♥ Library
Q♥ Pleasure Garden

165
 3. Landmark Table

Landmark
A♣ Unexplored Cave System
2♣ Standing Stones
3♣ Deep Lake
4♣ Rich Fossil Beds
5♣ Hot Springs
Q♣ Ancient Tombs
A♠ Stables
2♠ Central Well
3♠ Smithy
4♠ Aqueduct
5♠ Machine Graveyard
Q♠ Regional Court
A♦ Graveyard
2♦ School
3♦ Abbey
4♦ Regional Guildhouse
5♦ Ecclesiastical Court
Q♦ Famous Holy Shrine
A♥ Rowdy Tavern
2♥ Rooming House
3♥ Amphitheater
4♥ Bathhouse
5♥ Library
Q♥ Pleasure Garden

166
4. People Tables
Personal Names
Chayce Amory Wilmer Coeur Do
Outacite Creasy Maine Adrian Aero
Cheney Garnet Whitney Troy Corliss
Chandell Mortimer Tayelor Courte- Everly
nay
Sinclaire Amelot Louvain Whitley
Davignon
Delaynie Savon Bijou Remy
Rusty
Alvia Sage Phoenix Platt
Celestine
Gabriell Patrice Trais Wren
Dareall
Matiese Esmae Shante Cezanne
Travis
Bay Dior Rafamy Monroe
Camden
Michon Toulouse Meredith Belot
Shantel
Rema Erembourc Evelyn Rusti
Nakia
Auberi Komal Madden Raleigh
Sheryl
Dejah Chevis Kari Chandler
Deor
Ora Crescent C h a n - Noe
delle Sydnea
Kelsey Domenique River
Darel Coty
Ola Parrish Shantell
Rivera Ramsey
Ara Jonatha Celestin
Tre M a r -
Taylyr Gervaise Leonidem
quette
Arden
Sacha Avignon Ashe
Oda
Lavern
Evelyn
167
 Clans and Families
Clan ♣ ♠ ♦ ♥
A Vicianti Durand Baptiste Lefevre Duval
2 Opal Berger Gagne Mullins Paquet
3 Drae- Alair Tro- Girerd Carrier
mont sclair
4 Sous- Fourier Mercier Page Brodeur
burg
5 Delaro- Beau- Clanless Dupont Leblanc
char lieu
Q Clanless Mire Pike Fetch Drue

168
169
 Description
Occupation Quirk Trouble
A♣ Child A former sol- Has greatly exaggerated
dier their skills
2♣ Youth Inherited a An imposter living un-
grand house der a stollen name
3♣ Herder Famously Infected with a curse
beautiful sing- nearing its culmination
ing voice
4♣ Herbalist Sitting on a Dying of an unknown
fortune in art exotic disease
5♣ Farmer Unbreakable Owes a great deal of
loyalty money to the Wrong
People
Q♣ Witch Highly skepti- Haunted by an restless
cal of claims soul
about the su-
pernatural

Occupation Quirk Trouble

A♠ Constable The town’s Only witness to an un-
most famous solved murder, and too
beauty scared to testify
2♠ Carpenter A touch of Haunted by dreams of a
Wolf’s blood coming doom
3♠ Brewer Madly, won- Tragically enthralled by
derfully in forbidden love
love
4♠ Miller A near mirac- Secretly sewn together
ulous healing from the parts of dead
touch people
170
5♠ Blacksmith A deft hand Initiate of a savage cult
with the fiddle
Q♠ Merchant U n f a i l i n g l y Fighting a terrible ad-
generous diction

171
 Occupation Quirk Trouble
A♦ Priest Member of the Amnesiac unaware of
mortal clergy their former life
2♦ Scholar The gift of sec- Being blackmailed for a
ond sight secret sin
3♦ Teacher A confidante Helped bury evidence
to the power- of a loved one’s crime
ful
4♦ Beadle A touch of No- A ghost, dead but un-
ble blood aware of it
5♦ Physician Comfortably Deeply in debt, and
rich borrowing more to keep
up appearances
Q♦ Wise One Seems genu- Baptized in a pagan
inely Trust- faith
worthy

Occupation Quirk Trouble

A♥ Artist Fearless Violent Drunk
2♥ Potter Easy to Like A spy who has betrayed
the town to outsiders
3♥ Musician Owns a great Serially unfaithful
deal of real es-
tate
4♥ Judge Will come Missing the hours of
into a fortune sunrise and sunset, with
when they no memory of what they
marry do during those times
5♥ Town Coun- Gifted Poet Buried alive by un-
selor known murderer, and
only barely survived

172
Q♥ Mayor U n f a i l i n g l y Secretly a cunning ma-
Honest chine-mind automaton

173
 5. Condition Table
Noblesse Church Health
A A Free City, hav- A pagan town, al- Plague time, dy-
ing wholly thrown most entirely Un- ing time
off Noble rule churched
2 Active plots to Mostly still pagan, Afflicted by
rebel against No- with a minority of many chronic
ble rule Christian congre- and seasonal
gants pestilences
3 A distant Noble Casual churchgo- Occasional
who is mostly ig- ing, mixed with pestilence not
nored pagan and folk re- chronic
ligion
4 A noble who Christendom Deadly illness
makes occasional predominates, is rare, though
demands or pro- with pagan faiths not entirely un-
nouncements, but pushed out or known
rarely acts directly. pushed under-
ground
5 Noble rule is felt A strong center of All illness is
in everyday life, Church worship, rare, though
though the town with no open pa- not entirely un-
may not be in di- gan worship known
rect vassalage to
the Liege
Q Directly overseen A center of ortho- Almost univer-
by a Noble, with dox theological sal health and
all locals direct observance, with longevity
vassals to the Liege no known pagan
worship

174
 Prosperity Harmony Justice
A Ruined. Almost Open armed con- No courts, and the
universal poverty flict between clans only law is Clan
and factions Law and blood
feud
2 Grinding poverty, Constant danger Courts are called
though some few of factional vio- only for major
have more than lence crime, Clan Law
they need dominates other-
wise
3 Many are poor, Simmer tensions, Clan law and the
some are rich, occasionally re- courts compete
and some aspire sulting in faction- to win hearts and
to riches al violence provide justice
4 The comfortable Generally harmo- The Courts pro-
outnumber the nious, though a vide most of the
poor great shock might justice in town,
still drive violence and clan law is
pushed into the
shadows
5 The wealthy out- Very peaceable, Applying Clan
number the poor with locals pursu- Law is illegal, and
ing dialogue over the courts work
violence when hard to achieve
possible justice.
Q Many are wealthy, A town that The courts man-
none are truly speaks with one age justice effi-
poor voice ciently, supported
by a professional
constables service

175
 6. Trouble Tables
Trouble
A♣ A monster native to the region stalks the outlying cottag-
es and farms
2♣ A mysterious explosion destroys an otherwise innocuous
building
3♣ Marauders threaten to burn the town unless it complies
with their demands
4♣ A highly addictive drug is given to local youth, with the
promise of more if they comply with some simple de-
mands
5♣ A sinkhole opens suddenly, consuming several cottages,
and the people within
Q♣ A local’s past as a mercenary solider catches up with them
when their former comrades arrive and demand the local
leave with them
A♠ A monster of unknown type and foreign nature stalks the
town and none know its name or how to stop it
2♠ A shady character has opened a gambling den, and a
surprising number of locals find themselves as regular
patrons, despite many being strongly averse to games of
chance and wagers. When their losses mount, the shady
character offers a deal to help clear those debts.
3♠ During renovations of the Mayor’s Court, the bones of a
ritually sacrificed youth are found packed into the floor-
boards beneath the judge’s stand, surrounded by the
symbols of daemonic worship
4♠ The crows have begun hanging about, and muttering
about the great feast to come
5♠ A rash of poisoned wells has left several families terribly
ill, and a few old folks dead.

176
Q♠ An ominous cloud hangs over the town, and lighting
stabs downwards, though only seems to threaten mem-
bers of a single clan

177
 Trouble
A♦ Monsters normally too stupid or animalist to work to-
gether have begun to attack the town as an organized
force, with surprising tactical acumen
2♦ Major local industry or trade collapses, plunging the
town into potential ruin
3♦ Fire ravages the local church, leaving it a burnt-out shell
and destroying everything within.
4♦ A zealot priest militant has come to town to persecute
witches, and seems to have no trouble finding targets
they deem infernal enough to harass
5♦ A popular child has run afoul of Hounds while playing
outside of town, and they howl louder and creep clos-
er every night until the child is given over to them, or
somebody intervenes somehow.
Q♦ A genealogical researcher finds evidence that the first
family of the town are illegitimate heirs to the family
name and fortunes.
A♥ A monster demands to be admitted to the town as a
citizen, and offers to share its wealth and power to help
the town. The price it asks seems so small.
2♥ Children are snatched in the night, and last night the
child of somebody very powerful was taken
3♥ A Harbinger is caught planting Greenseed around the
town
4♥ A betrothed youth has vanished on their wedding night
5♥ The Mayor is dead, killed by a single stab to the heart.
Q♥ A foreign Noble has arrived in town for mysterious rea-
sons. They and their people are unfailingly polite, but
many of the local youth have come down with acute ane-
mia.

178
179
 VII. Running
The dead will rise from their graves, the sky will turn red as
blood, and the ex will write a mournful love letter.
You’re going to make all of that happen.
Nice to meet you, Game Master.
This chapter is written from the perspective of me, Rose, the cre-
ator and frequent GM, talking directly to you, the GM for your
group of players. I’ll be a bit blunter, a bit more conversational, and
a lot more cavalier about setting jargon than in the rest of the book.

Atmosphere and Style

While gothic and detective media are different genres, they have a
surprising amount in common. Finding those connections and that
shared ground is the foundation of creating the atmosphere and
style of Miserable Secrets.
 To borrow from a favorite teacher of mine, each genre has certain
icons -- themes and archetypal moments that help define it. Below,
we’ll discuss the icons of each genre and how they can work togeth-
er.

Gothic
Gothic fiction began with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otran-
to in the mid-18th century. Walpole merged elements of romances
with a brooding, sinister atmosphere and touches of the supernat-
ural and occult. Anne Radcliffe pioneered the gothic villain, the
compelling antihero we see most often now in adaptations of Bram
Stoker’s much later Dracula.

Ruin
The gothic story dwells on decay, both moral and physical, and
grants it beauty. Where the medieval romance features characters
and events which are simply grand and fantastic, the gothic shows
them unravelling while remaining captivating. In the gothic, dawn
is wan and night is intense, nature at its most gorgeous is also at
its most haunting, and the remnants of prior, perhaps greater ages
loom over both the settings of the stories and the personal lives of
the heroes and villains.
On first glance, this is quite a contract to noir, which often takes
place in societies that are thriving, like post-WW2 Los Angeles. But
both show decay -- the detective exposes the injustice and rot in their
society, while in the gothic, blood will out. And in both, we the au-
dience can’t look away.
In gothic noir, then, ruin and its causes are mesmerizing, and nei-
ther heroes nor the gaming group can bring themselves to look away.

Passion
The sister of romance, the gothic icon of passion means that no
one does anything by half-measures. There are no middle paths, no
compromises; even the decision to abandon the rot or to run away
is condemning someone to doom.
181
 Gothic noir channels this directly: the protagonists and their op-
posite numbers are searching or driven, pulled toward their fate less
often than they themselves push toward it.

Sin
Romances are rooted in chivalry -- the violence of the aristocracy
channeled to serve the virtues of faith and love. Medieval romance
was fundamentally Catholic, with knowing hermits, holy relics, and
love interests compared to the Virgin Mary.
The gothic is fascinated with these ideals and images, but is funda-
mentally Protestant, as shown in Matthew Lewis’ The Monk. It does
not trust Catholic piety, and where the romance would show virtue,
the gothic shows vice. Perversely, in the process, the gothic becomes
almost Catholic in its portrayal of humanity’s inherent sinfulness.
In gothic noir, sin or crime is a choice. But it’s often not a ratio-
nal, detached choice. The choice is driven by yearnings all of us can
identify with, but few of us would take to the extremes the charac-
ters do. For them, sin might as well be in the blood.

Secrets
Everyone has secrets. Some, we share with friends. Others, we
bury deep or even forget. But in the gothic, all secrets are eventually
unearthed. A weapon is found with proof of the grisly deed it was
used for. A murdered sibling returns as a ghost or left an heir to
avenge them. A defeated rival rises from poverty or the grave to tell
their tale.
The gothic secret is defined by the inevitability of its exposure. No
matter how many aliases she tries on, Carmilla will be unmasked; to
her hunters by her trail of aliases and bodies, and to her lovers and
thralls by her dreamlike reminiscence.
In gothic noir, fate will never reveal a secret by its own agency. But
the heroes, compelled to seek the truth behind both beauty and
horror, will dig and cajole and coerce until all secrets are laid bare,
all sins exposed, and the doom comes calling.

182
Doom
The gothic presents a dark universe... but not an amoral one. Nor
does it often wait for sin to be punished in the next life. Characters
both good and evil come to bad ends, and those ends are usually
foreshadowed, often by prophecy or omens. Virtue is some defense
against evil, but also attracts it.
In Miserable Secrets, doom is recurrent. The well-ordered vio-
lence of the prior world ended in apocalypse, but that apocalypse
was no more the end of sin and corruption than the first World
War ended all wars. Humanity revives, but sooner or later, the bell
tolls again.
Yet in a gothic noir setting, doom can be cheated. Much as the vir-
tuous hero might escape the leering, grasping villain, the detectives
might ensure that punishment comes more often to the evil than
to the good.
And distinguishing the two brings us to noir.

Noir
Detective stories fall into two broad categories: the classical de-
tective, pioneered by Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle,
and the hardboiled detective, most memorably introduced to the
public by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Miserable
Secrets borrows from the former, but leans hard toward the latter.
The classical detective story is about solving a puzzle, and the cli-
max is the solution to that puzzle. Poe coined the term “ratiocina-
tion” to describe the detective’s process of using observation and
reasoning to arrive at the solution, and Doyle used this process ex-
tensively (if not by name) in the adventures of Holmes and Watson.
Poe and Doyle regularly bring gothic elements into stories about
crime. “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is overtly gothic, as is
“The Hound of the Baskervilles. While “The Fall of the House of
Usher” isn’t a detective story the way we use the term now, it’s a
gothic in which fate plays the role of the detective.*
183
 The hardboiled detective story, on the other hand, while also
about finding the truth, is less concerned with ratiocination, and
more with the cost of finding the truth, the pain of knowing the
truth, and the question of what to do with the truth once you know
it. Hammett, and even moreso Chandler, build intricate stories
around the detective’s human interactions, and how that affects
their faith in humanity. (I’d say “erodes,” but Chandler’s Playback
ends on a slightly hopeful note regarding Marlowe’s human connec-
tions.)
The hardboiled detective story is less gothic in its purest form, but
in Miserable Secrets, I’m looking to combine the human drama
of the hardboiled detective with the gothic atmosphere and themes
out of which the classical detective arose.

The Predatory World

The detective exists in a predatory world. Everyone wants some-
thing, and almost everyone is willing to hurt people to get it. Mur-
der is often impassioned, but nearly as often it is a tool, as cynical
and callous as it is disdainful. The word “sin” applies, but sin is so
ubiquitous as to be unworthy of mention. The sin of Adam and
Eve, you might say, or of Cain, repeated ad infinitum through every
generation.
The gothic merges almost too easily with the predatory world. The
living and the dead guard secrets... and both are willing to kill to
keep them. Yet their needs are also human, poignant. A wolf’s pre-
dation is to satisfy its hunger, to survive another winter. Perhaps the
world itself is the same.

The Detective
The detective is a person of honor and perhaps morality in a world
which often forgets those things. The detective is driven to know the
truth, and called upon (often against their own wishes) to render
judgment once they know it.
The truth the detective finds is often not the one they started by
looking for; the murder of a chauffeur can turn into the villainy of
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a sex trafficking ring, with the chauffeur’s death turning out to be
almost peripheral to the real moral rot.
The detective is a person of the world, but not fully part of it, not
fully belonging in it. Even a fairly well-to-do person, like Hammett’s
Nick Charles, is set apart by the trauma of his service in the War,
and the hard edge it gave him.
And yet, the detective is a person of their time and place. They
speak as the common person does (if with a sharper tongue), and
they understand that person’s concerns, both for good and for ill.
In the world of gothic noir, the detective is synonymous with the
outsider, the stranger who sees the wrongs committed by others,
who is compelled to understand them even as she is repulsed by
them. In Miserable Secrets, being an outsider is built into char-
acter creation; there’s no way one of the disinherited or otherwise
dispossessed leaves a person so in touch with the world
To paraphrase Chandler, across these mean kingdoms must tread
people who are not themselves mean. Who have higher ideals,
though they may sometimes abandon them. Who possess virtue,
but do not always act upon it.
Every player character is a detective, part of the world and yet not
part, pursuing the truth yet hoping every time it will not hurt as it
so often does.

The Fatale
No one’s an island, not even a detective at their most alienated or
traumatized. So often, the detective finds someone who intrigues
them, who allures them, who compels them, who so often seems
to love them. The fatale is the person the detective bonds with and
chooses to trust, even though their trust has been so often betrayed.
Contrary to what the hacks of latter years would have you believe,
the fatale is neither always a killer nor always even a traitor. But
whether trust comes easy or hard, placing trust in the fatale is a risk
the detective takes. Indeed, it is in a detective’s nature that they
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 must trust someone, that they must always have some small hope
that humanity will show its virtue, its worthiness, its love.
Even when the fatale is a villain, they often fail to see the impurity
of their motives. Laura in Brick wants Brendan to be happy with
her, to continue in scheming and violence, to be partners with the
side of him that Emily couldn’t. Brendan loved what he misper-
ceived as Emily’s gentleness; Laura wants the side of him he wants
to reject. The seedy side. The detective.
Or how about Teddy in Memento? The one man Leonard trusts
until the end/beginning. But one who seems ever so sincere in his
claims that he used Leonard as a killer again and again only to see
his brief moments of happiness and fulfilment.
And then there are the fatales who prove trustworthy. Vivian in
the film version of the The Big Sleep is certainly no monster. Per-
haps cynical, perhaps a sinner... but ultimately worthy of Philip
Marlowe’s trust. It’s true that there’s probably no happy ending for
them, that the affection we see can last but a few days past the end-
ing title card, but they’ve both earned their closing swoon.
In the gothic, the fatale can be many kinds of character. They
can, of course, be the mysterious stranger who beckons a detective
onward. But they can also be the erratic spirit with which a wander
forms a bond, whose story that wanderer seeks to unravel. There’s
trust in looking for the mystery at someone’s core. The fatale could
be a way of reclaiming Dracula’s brides, or the dead Lucy, or Drac-
ula himself!
Carmilla could also be a fatale (indeed, she’s framed that way in
the eponymous and irreverent web series I so love). Trust and love
are at the core of her being... and in the original novella, it often
seems that despite her con games, she, like Brick’s Laura, is unable
to see that she is part of the predatory world.

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The Predatory Moment
It was all leading to this. The part we don’t want to discuss. The
part that, perhaps, we don’t want to know.
A detective walks the mean lands without being themselves mean...
but sometimes they are mean. Sometimes the detective shows that
their insight into monstrosity, or their desperately restrained mon-
strous nature, or even both, is as true a part of them as their better
sides.
In the predatory moment, the detective becomes part of the world
they usually stand apart from. In Brick, this is when Brendan takes
his vengeance on Tug and the Pin. In Chinatown, this is where J.J.
Gittes succumbs to his rage and hits Evelyn Mulwray.
As the audience, we may be more or less willing to forgive them.
I was cheering for Brendan, to be honest, if not entirely supporting
his choices. When Gittes hits Mulwray... that was a line I couldn’t
follow him across. For the best, perhaps, considering the film’s ulti-
mate place in history.
The gothic detective always carries the potential for a predatory
moment. Perhaps they are a predator -- the half-noble whose blood-
thirst is ever-present, or the hound who’s called by the full moon
to fill their belly with meat. Or perhaps they’ve learned predation
in the service of their supposed virtues, like the hunter who must
question whether there’s any difference between person and mon-
ster besides some claws and fur.

The Thunderbolt
In every detective story, there’s at least one moment of under-
standing. The point at which a detective knows -- or thinks they
know -- the truth of the matter. For the classical detective, it’s the
beauty of the pieces fitting together. For our detectives, it’s the enor-
mity of the darkness becoming clear.
The thunderbolt is often a moment of disappointment, as when
Brendan realizes that Laura arranged Emily’s death, that Laura was
the monster Emily most feared. But it can also be a moment of vin-
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 dication, the point at which the detective knows what must be done
to achieve justice.
Most often, it’s both. The thunderbolt illuminates the house of
mystery the gothic detective explores, shows them the truth with or
without the beauty. The thunderbolt is the moment of truth, which
must lead to the moment of decision, which must lead to the dirty
business of justice.
The thunderbolt is a revelation, a question, and forces the story to
its most critical moment: you know now, so what will you do?

Hope
Detectives always have hope, even though they rarely admit it. Each
new investigation is a chance that this time, justice will be done,
that this time, trust will not be misplaced, that this time, there will
be a happy ending.
Hope is often disappointed, but without hope, there’s no reason
to look for the truth.

Episodes
An episode revolves around a single town, and often a single mys-
tery. The heroes might have visited this town before, and the mys-
tery they solve may not be the one they started with, but the town
and the mystery are the poles that hold up the story.
As GM, your job is to reveal the mystery, react to the heroes’
actions, and raise the stakes.

Reveal
When you reveal, you give the players enough of the story that
they need to know more, driving their heroes toward danger, adven-
ture, and judgment.
The first revelation in an episode can be large or small, but it
should never be something the heroes will miss. They could be am-

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bushed in a swamp by the searching dead, or they might see a bloody
handprint on the church door. Whatever it is, it tells the heroes
what you and the players already knew: something is wrong here.
You need to have the first revelation ready at the start of play.
Depending on your group, you may or may not want to lead in with
conversational or even sedate roleplay... but very soon, you should
show them that the town is not as it should be.
The first revelation is often one that someone’s willing -- or even
eager -- to talk about. If a shepherd’s been killed by a prowling beast,
her son may be only too eager to tell the heroes, whether it’s because
he wants their help, or because he fears he’s the beast, or just wants
a sympathetic ear.
The expectations the players set for their heroes are good tools
for revelation. If a hero expects to meet their cousin, a local horse
breeder, and they get a clash on forming a bond, that cousin might
{ }

be missing. If the player gets a match, they might find what they
expect... but also something else, like a body in the stables.
Further revelations are driven primarily by investigation. If you’re
the type to prepare heavily in advance, prepare two to four secrets
for each suit. You won’t know exactly what context the heroes will
uncover them in, and you’ll likely have to shift pieces around when
they successfully make accusations, but planning in advance will
still help.
While the process for uncovering secrets has a defined mechan-
ical structure, you shouldn’t be poker-faced until a player makes a
match. Hint, foreshadow, warn. Let them smell blood before they
find the body. Let their cousin speak in hushed tones about their
father-in-law, or the body have a tattoo of the forbidden cross. Let
them hear the boards creaking upstairs before they dig to find out
{ }

if anyone’s there.

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 React
While the mechanical actions in investigation are performed by
the players, you’re not a passive participant. Your characters, wheth-
er townsfolk, monsters, or both, will respond to what the heroes do
and find out. They may look to the heroes as allies or saviors... or
they may see them as deadly threats to be dealt with in kind.
Each time the heroes do something of significance, immediately
show them at least one consequence. The true results of their ac-
tions may brood and wait for the right moment, but in a gothic noir
story, there’s always an immediate response. Neither the characters
you’re portraying nor the world they live in is neutral or uncaring;
everyone and everything is alive, responding, conflicting.
Not every relationship should be a betrayal, but everyone does
want something, and they’ll often confess what it is when they’ve
formed a bond with a hero or try to reassert their importance when
{ }

denigrated.
{ }

Raise
Even without reacting to the heroes, other characters don’t stay
still. Be ready to raise the stakes again and again.
There are two ways to time raises: with the passage of time, and
with the secrets uncovered. You’ll want to use both depending on
the mysteries and the context of the episode.

Raising with Time

The passage of time is built into the round structure. The heroes
always arrive at a critical moment in the story of the locals, whether
anyone realizes it at the beginning or not. You can quite easily de-
cide that there are four nights until the full moon, and each night,
the pool of sacrifices is winnowed down. Or that a witch trial occurs
over the course of a week, and each day sways the judge toward re-
leasing or hanging the midwife.

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 In the example of the sacrifice pool, the raises are covert. The he-
roes will have to put together the pattern by looking for secrets. In
the example of the witch trial, the raises are overt. The heroes know
from the start they’re on a clock and need to decide whether the
accused is guilty or innocent... and whether they should intervene
anyway, because, seriously, hanging?

Raising with Secrets

When raising in response to secrets uncovered, you can use a four-
act structure. For every 3 to 4 cards picked up from the spread, you
introduce a new source of tension, a greater threat, or a mysterious
new lead.
For example, in the first act, the heroes might find the village
seemingly empty... only to discover it’s because everyone is gathered
in the market to watch the trial.
Once they’ve learned that the accused was midwife to the may-
or but a stranger to the village, you can have the mayor’s enforcer
found poisoned... but alive.
By the final act, it’s clear someone’s trying to rig the verdict, but
is it the mayor who wants revenge, the disgraced knight who abhors
Wise Ones, or the accused himself, seeking to attain martyrdom
and power beyond death?

Confrontation
Confrontation is one of the most common kinds of raises. A con-
frontation can be an ordinary scene -- one of the heroes is talking
to the priest, and the mayor’s enforcer bursts in, looking for the
troublemakers who’ve been nosing about. You’ll likely resolve that
through defense and denigration, in the process probably revealing
{ } { }

more information.
When the overt threat is a monster, the players will often have
their heroes seek that monster out to learn about it and destroy
it, which will in turn often lead to battle. Battles are fun for their
own sake -- the narration and tactics are exciting and rewarding --

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 but they’re also great times to foreshadow. The shepherd’s son con-
fessed he might be the beast... but now that they confront the beast,
it has the butcher’s unnaturally bright hair.
Confrontations can mix battle and investigation. Allow and en-
courage the players to dig, form bonds, and accuse during a fight.
{ } { } { }

You’ll get a lot of drama, and send the story snowballing toward its
exciting conclusion.

Building Decks
The Introduction specifies a player deck of 24 cards in four suits,
evenly distributed. In practical terms, this is the easiest to set up;
just take a pack of cards and remove a bunch of them. But there are
alternatives.
For example, if you want your episode to focus mainly on a tangled
web of romantic desires, you can add more hearts and diamonds
from another pack with the same back.
Generally, you should always add cards 6 at a time, in values Ace
to Queen, to keep matches and battles balanced. And remember
that weighting the player deck or the clue spread toward one color
will also impact accusations.
You can also use an expanded deck to build bigger spreads for
longer episodes, or to put dead ends in a normal spread. While the
standard rules provide at least the potential for every card to be dis-
covered, you may want something messier or more chaotic.
If you’re using an expanded deck, you can also hand-pick the ini-
tial spread and then add more cards later. So the early part of the
story might involve a lot of blunt, club secrets, while later on there
are more insidious spade secrets, finally unmasking a layer of very
broken hearts.

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Seasons
Ongoing games of Miserable Secrets are organized into seasons
of five or six episodes each. If an individual episode is about the he-
roes uncovering the truth in a town and deciding what to do about
it, then a season’s story is about what each hero uncovers about
themselves and what they decide to do with it.
Often, these kinds of stories will flow in and out of each other.
For example, if Katrina Saxon is looking for her siblings, then an
individual episode might feature one sister as a central character.
If Gideon wants to save himself from the wasting curse that killed
his parents, an episode might begin with the heroes looking for the
crypt of Death himself. That might even tie into more than one
character’s arc -- Kat’s brother might know where the crypt is, and
Belladonna might be Death’s own daughter.
Of the detective influences on this game, my favorite for season
stories is Cracker, a British series created by Jimmy McGovern. In
each episode, the protagonist, Fitz, gets intensely and intimately in-
volved in a case while dragging his personal life across the rocks...
and as the season concludes, he makes a critical decision.
Since you’ll have multiple detectives, and because this is an impro-
visational roleplaying game, you won’t always be tying stories into
neat bows and hitting plot points like clockwork. That’s fine. But
you should always give the players opportunities to hook their he-
roes’ development into the truths they’re finding and the problems
they’re solving (or neglecting), and you should put plot points in
that appeal to or are triggered directly by the heroes’ distinctions.
Depending on your group’s playstyle, you may also want to give
each player at least one spotlight episode per season, where the mys-
teries and secrets revolve mainly around their story... or don’t, but
somehow twist their story in an entirely different direction.
Talk to your players about this in advance. You may or may not
want to work out plot points with them as a group, but if the focus
is going to narrow to highlight one character, make sure everyone
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 knows and is cool with that. And make sure every character gets the
chance to shine.

Seasons as Seasons
Since time’s passage is built into the episode mechanics, you might
consider applying it to the structure of seasons, too. If you know
you’re likely to play a longer game, you might consider having each
season of the game take place in a different season of the year.
The setting is deliberately imprecise about where Christendom is
-- the place sounds European, but there was that whole apocalyp-
tic war and people presumably migrated before and after, so who
knows -- so you can use any set of seasons you like to tell your story.

Character Change
Miserable Secrets doesn’t have strict rules for character change.
Players should feel free to change their heroes’ distinctions between
episodes at any time, and generally any hero should change at least
two distinctions during or over after a season. This might also mean
changing a hero’s theme.
If you’re looking for heroes to increase in power over time, you
have a few options.
First, and simplest, you can unlock the second optional power
from their background, or swap it for the one the player took when
creating them. This is a small alteration mechanically, but can dra-
matically shift how a character plays.
Second, you could increase the effectiveness of powers by broad-
ening their use or improving what they do. For example, a Half-No-
ble who’s delving deep into their human side might improve their
Noble Thirst to either gain 2 Hope in investigation or add 2 cards
to attack.
Third, you can add powers from other backgrounds. This is a pow-
erful option, since it increases the scope of a character’s abilities and

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potentially widens the narrative space they occupy -- if a Half-Noble
takes up the legacy of a Hunter, that’s a big change.
Fourth, you can give a hero new specialties. Since specialties are
big and/or flashy, this is probably the option you should use most
sparingly. But think twice before taking it off the table, too -- a Hunt-
er gaining Poison Blood is a big plot point, and potentially sets them
on a collision course with, well, everyone who drinks blood.
Finally, you can invent new powers. I encourage you to do this
anyhow -- it’s why the traits in Chapter 2 are labeled “example,”
and why the design space (and included keywords) are bigger than
just what’s covered in those examples. These can have any degree of
potency you feel is appropriate.

Secrets in Plain Sight

Before we finish talking about setting up and running your stories,
I’d like to talk about some obvious questions the setting raises.

Belief and Rules

The rules in Miserable Secrets are often phrased in terms of
common beliefs in Christendom.
As outside observers, we may think of vampires as unnatural, but
inside the setting, most people consider them holy (whether because
of genuine divinity or because might makes right). Therefore, the
power of the Noblesse and their Church is defined in game terms
as Sacred.
This doesn’t mean that belief defines reality. Rather, the world
operates in a way that, as near as anyone can tell, fits mainstream
beliefs, and we label our game mechanics based on the way most
characters think.
But there’s a lot more in Heaven and Earth than we wrote key-
words for. It’s entirely possible for something to appear that defies
characters’ beliefs, and doesn’t respond to the rules in their nor-

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 mally-defined fashion. When that happens, characters can either
amend their beliefs to account for nuance or exceptions, or just
shrug their shoulders and go “that was weird.”

Church and State

Christendom is ruled by vampires. That sounds like a dark start-
ing point, but how bad it really is is up to your group.
I view the Noblesse as more or less the Normans when they invad-
ed England or Sicily -- they’re violent and repressive, but they stop
specific problems, and in later generations, they’re a violent and
selfish, but ultimately consistent, governing force.
That makes them oppressive, but only on the level of any feudal
state, and we tend to let feudal states off pretty easily in fantasy
gaming. Yes, our vampires drink blood... but not enough to kill,
and wanton slaughter of the peasants isn’t in their interests. Real
medieval warlords were pretty violent assholes, too.
From my perspective, the game isn’t about about throwing off the
vampires and putting them all up on crosses. If your group want to
play revolutionaries, go ahead -- but I’d ask you to keep in mind that
genocide against the ruling class is its own kind of dark.
If you want to go full-on grit-and-blood, maybe like Game of
Thrones but with entirely commoners, the game’s open for that. If
you want to just act like feudalism is cool and your virtuous detec-
tives are ironing out the wrinkles, it’s open for that, too. I expect
most games will be in the middle, as mine are.

Crosses, Crucifixes, and Grails

Crosses and crucifixes are related, but different blasphemies.
A cross is any shape roughly in the design of two perpendicu-
lar lines. Many variations exist, for example, the Clubs suit uses
the Celtic Cross. A cross is blasphemous, but not usually harmful
or physically repellent, to people and monsters who believe in the
Church’s teachings.
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 For example, depending on their disposition, a noble may become
wrathful upon finding a cross carved into her bedroom door, but
is not restricted by it. In a milder situation, some Noblesse express
distaste for the shape of windmills, while recognizing it as a practical
necessity to feed their subjects and, indirectly, themselves.
Sometimes, a cross is even drawn by pious people upon the body
of an executed criminal or heretic, to mark them as damned. Public
punishment may involve a cross marked in ash or ink on the fore-
head of the criminal, though the Church frowns upon it.
A crucifix is a truly unholy icon of the murder of Christ, depicting
a figure of the Savior being murdered upon the cross. The imagery
and medium vary, but the icon is clear. Crucifixes repel, burn, or
otherwise directly harm many Sacred creatures, including the No-
blesse.
In some cases, three crosses or crucifixes may be deployed, repre-
senting that Christ was crucified among a beggar mother and her
thief father, mocking the Holy Trinity.
A crucifixion is the murder or display of a person upon a cross.
It has all the properties of a crucifix, and is considered one of the
cruelest desecrations of a body in Christendom. (A conventional
gallows does not have these effects, and is a common means of exe-
cution.)
Crucifixion or an approximation is the only way to kill most of
the Noblesse, though other bodily mutilations are often effective in
delaying their resurrection.
The Thinking Machines have been known to erect crucifixes out
of their radioactive fuel in order to hurt and repel Noblesse and
inflict slow disease upon their subjects.
On a more positive note, the symbol of the Holy Grail, in which
Joseph the Tomb-Maker collected the blood of Christ, is a holy sym-
bol. It adorns churches and chapels in many forms, is the prime
symbol on rosaries, and is often worn as a defense against evil.

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 The faithful often symbolize the Grail in prayer by making a dip-
ping motion from their left shoulder to their right, followed by a
light touch over the heart or navel.

Afternoons in Dystopia
Say you’re skewing dark. You want blood spraying from veins,
crops trampled by demon hordes, and every coin stolen from the
clutches of a severed hand. Go ahead. But I’m going to recommend
some limits.
Miserable Secrets dials back the oppressive social standards that
games often mistake for “historical realism.” It’s not an overpower-
ing advantage to be male -- for players or otherwise. I did decide
that the Church teaches that God is masculine in order to evoke the
ominous overtones of the form of Christianity I was raised with, but
if that bothers you, go ahead and change it.
Your characters can look any way you want. If you want to give
them cultural backgrounds not associated with the Western stuff
this game steals its default society from, that’s fine and encouraged.
Gender and orientation are spectrums. People can have more than
one partner, or none at all.
You or anyone you know can be (or play) a character -- hero, vil-
lain, local, whatever. They do not have to be “exceptions that prove
the rule” or any nonsense like that.
This is a game where you might get gored by the Boar of Sinful
Decay, escape only to give your last coin in a tithe to the gluttonous
Bishop Thule and then get conscripted by the Ruby Maiden for a
suicide mission against an advancing patch of Green. And after all
that, your brother might stab you in the back. We don’t have to
crudely reenact a patriarchal view of history to get “dark,” and we’re
not remotely concerned about “realism.”

Whose Faith is it, Anyway?

That begs one last question: are the vampires lying? Yes and no.

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 Yes, they are big old liars. They forge wills, they betray each oth-
er, they blame half-mortal children who look like them and whose
other parent they now hate on their siblings, they concoct elaborate
frauds to steal tax money.
No, they’re not bullshitting you about whether they’re holy. They
may or may not be right about that -- I don’t have a secret answer
to the question -- but if it’s not true, it’s also not a lie they’re all in
on. Most of the Noblesse either believe fervently, believe casually,
or don’t care one way or the other. A few dig into the past, looking
for some other, forbidden truth about their origins, but that’s less
about a lie everybody’s been in on then a great plot hook you should
totally do an episode on.
While we’re at it: the Church believes what it says, while often
falling to corruption anyway. Perhaps the same could be said of all
religions.

Zoned Battles
You may find that the gridded battle map doesn’t work for the
kinds of areas you want to represent. The areas may be conceptually
large, their relationships may not easily translate into right angles,
or perhaps you just don’t enjoy grids. In any of these cases, try zone
movement.

Mapping
Divide your battlefield into two or more abstract zones, represent-
ing areas of size, interest, or importance in the battle.
If you want to use terrain keywords, apply the same keyword across
an entire zone.
There are two types of zone:
1. Chambers are areas that are more or less open. A forest clear-
ing, a fully open common room, or a cross intersection are
all chambers. Their outer rims are borders, while the space

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 within is interior. The number of borders depends on where
the zone connects to other zones. For example, a rectangular
zone connected to four other zones would have four borders.
2. Corridors are narrower connecting zones between chambers.
A corridor has borders at its entry/exit points.

Parts of a Zone
Zones are divided into parts:
1. The borders are the outer rims of spaces around
the zone, and any other spaces that provide ex-
its. A chamber typically has multiple borders.
For example, a rectangular zone from which you can exit in
any direction has 4 borders: north, east, south, and west. If
the zone also contained a staircase that led to another lev-
el, the space that staircase was in would also be a border.
Usually, some or all borders will be adjacent to each other.
2. The interior is made of all contiguous space that is not part
of the borders.
Anyone in the same interior or border is adjacent to anyone else
in the same interior or border.
Any rule using the Zone keyword (see Chapter 4) affects every-
thing within one zone. Any rule using the burst keyword affects
everything within either the interior or border around the source,
but not both.

Movement
A single space of movement can take you from:
• An interior to a border it touches.
Example: from the center of a room to the west exit.
• A border to an interior it touches.
Example: from a west entry to the center of a room.

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 • A border to another border it touches.
Example: from a west border to a north border.

Theatre of the Mind

The zone movement rules can also be used for “theatre of the
mind” battles. Think of an area you can run across in a few seconds
as an interior, and an area that takes maneuvering or effort to move
through as a border.
Ignore terrain keywords and simply narrate their effects or adjust
card values up or down by 1.

Inspiration
The biggest influences on this game were Castlevania: Symphony
of the Night, the short story listed below by eva problems, the Phil-
ip Marlowe novels by Raymond Chandler, and Dungeons & Drag-
ons. However, I was inspired by and consulted a lot of sources and
designs while building the setting and system. Here’s as complete a
list as I can think of.
A Dirty World, roleplaying game by Greg Stolze.
AGON, roleplaying game by John Harper.
Bloodmourne, unpublished roleplaying game by Eddy Webb.
Brick, film by Rian Johnson.
Bubblegumshoe, roleplaying game by Emily Care Boss, Ken-
neth Hite, and Lisa Steele.
Castle Ravenloft, board game by Mike Mearls and Bill Slaviscek.
Castlevania, video games and animated series, prominent cre-
ators include Koji Igarashi and Warren Ellis.
Dogs in the Vineyard, roleplaying game by D. Vincent Baker.
Dungeons & Dragons, 4th Edition, roleplaying game by Andy
Collins, Rob Heinsoo, and James Wyatt.
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 Evanescence, band.
Flash Duel, board game by David Sirlin.
Kill the Dead, novel by Tanith Lee.
The Little Sister, novel by Raymond Chandler.
Nightwish, band.
Strike!, roleplaying game by Jim McGarva.
Vampire Hunter D, novel series, animated films, and manga,
originally created by Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka
Amano.
“Your Asshole Dad’s Castle is Back Again”, short story by eva
problems.

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 Appendix
Omen Reference
♣ A Ambush

Someone has been lying in wait! Are they grudge-bearing foe, or

an unexpected ally?
♣ 2 Well-Used Weapon

You find -- or are struck by -- a weapon that has killed before. Is it

a murderer’s knife? A rune-marked ax?
♣ 3 Unholy Symbol

You stumble across a mark of blasphemy. Is it a heretical gospel?

A traitor-priest’s confession? Or worst of all -- the sign of the cross?
♣ 4 Corpse

You find a body somewhere it doesn’t belong. Is it a recent murder

victim? A corpse in a shallow grave? Does it yet stir with something
like life?
♣ 5 Predatory World

The world itself strikes at you. Is it a sinister conspiracy? A dread-

ful storm? The infiltration of the Green?
♣ Q The Devil Themselves

The devil’s tearful eye is imprisoned at the center of the Earth,

leaking liquid daylight. But their restless ghost can roam the world.
Have they empowered someone you hate? Possessed someone you
love?
 ♠ A An Assassin Strikes

Someone has come to slay a specific target, without hesitation or

remorse. Are they a known adversary? Or has death entered the plot
in some unexpected manner?
♠ 2 Striking Parallel

You remember this... or something very like it. Is it a sin repeated?

A victim harmed in the same way? A calling card left behind?
♠ 3 Keepsake

Someone has kept an object they shouldn’t. Is it a memento of a

crime? A forbidden love-token? A will best forgotten?
♠ 4 Grief

You suddenly recall tragedy or trauma, and it stabs at your heart.

Does it lure you into melancholy, or does it spur you to action?
♠ 5 Prophecy of Doom

Some memories are not of the past, but of the future, and such is
the one you’ve just been told. Does it spell misfortune for a foe, or
for a dear one?
♠ Q Mother Medusa

In the wastelands, Medusa learned terrible truths, and now she or

one of her followers shares one. Will it set you free? Or turn your
blood to stone?

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 ♦ A Devil’s Bargain

You are offered an object or truth of incomparable value... but at

a price. Will you pay it, or not? Will you turn the tables?
♦ 2 Lavish Burial

You find someone who’s been put to rest with riches. A noble’s
groom? A beloved child? An unholy saint?
♦ 3 Abandoned Treasure

The jewels or letters you find seem ripe for the taking. Will you
take them, or leave them? Will they bring fortune, or disaster?
♦ 4 Sprung Trap

Vengeance strikes from out of the past, in the form of a damning

accusation or a deadly device. Does it help you against an enemy?
Or does it bite into your flesh or soul?
♦ 5 Insatiable Greed

Someone can’t resist their wants. Is it the suspect, taking your

bait? Or is it you, no longer to be denied your heart’s desire?
♦ Q The Ruby Paladin

Of the Maids Paladin, the Ruby Paladin is the most feared. They
say she shows mercy only to victims who can cry sharp-cut gems.
You face her now. Is it in trust, or enmity?

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 ♥ A The Fatale

You can’t trust this person. You can’t not. Will they set you on the
path to the truth, to corruption, or both?
♥ 2 Saint’s Curse

The most truly holy level the most terrible banes. By words or rel-
ic, one of them has called for destruction. Is it someone deserving?
Is it you?
♥ 3 Holy Relic

You find a spiritual treasure. A saint’s mummified skin, or a bish-

ops jeweled crook. Do you have the wisdom to hold such a sacred
thing? Will it burn you for your sins?
♥ 4 Ex-Confidante

Once, you shared your innermost lights and darks. You separated
badly, but now they want your help. Will you redeem or damn each
other?
♥ 5 Temptation

Your heart’s desire is in easy reach... but you’ll have to hurt some-
one badly. How weighty is your need? Is it heavier than your soul?
♥ Q Lady Regina Drake

Pious, entrancing, lethal. Lady Regina Drake is all of that and

more. She comes to you or sends for you with a proposition. But
what could Lady Drake want that she doesn’t already have? And
what will she do to you if you refuse?

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