Part I · Play
Travelling
Three days over the fells is one sentence, unless the fells have something to say about it.
Most journeys don’t need playing. Say how long it took and what the weather did, then start the next scene at the gate. Play the road when the road’s the problem: you’ve got to be somewhere by a certain day, someone’s behind you, the country wants you dead, or there’s nowhere to buy food.
A journey’s built from parts you already know: a stake, a clock, an event and telegraphs. The only new thing is that it runs in legs instead of rounds.
Setting Up a Journey
- The way. Getting there is a stake. Give it a Challenge for how hard the country is: 2 for good roads and farmland, 3 for hills and forest, 4 for moors, marsh and mountains, 5 for deep winter or the waste, and 6 for somewhere nobody comes back from. Then give it a tag for every stage of the road, in order, like The Ford, The Fells and The Long Bog. Strip the last one and you’re there.
- Supplies. A clock on the crew for food and water. It starts at a d8 if you packed properly, a d6 if you left in a hurry, and a d10 if you’ve got a pack mule or a cart.
- The deadline, if there is one. Riders on the same road, or a ship that sails on the tide: that’s an event, with one sentence for what happens when it runs out.
- A secret. One hidden tag on the way. It can be a stage nobody knew about, like The Bridge Is Out, or something about the road, like Watched. The crew finds it when they get there, unless somebody Studies the road first.
Rule
One stage a leg. The stages come in order, and you can only strip the one you’re on. However many wins you throw at the road, three stages take three legs.
A Leg on the Road
A leg’s a day on the road, or one stage of it, and it runs like a round.
- The GM telegraphs what the road throws at you this leg, face up, like a river in flood or something following you. It comes out of the round budget, about 5 steps for each player: half of it for an easy road, and all of it when the country’s trying to kill you.
- Everyone gets one action for the day, the same as in a round.
- The leg ends. Unanswered telegraphs land. Supplies steps down, unless somebody fed the crew. The deadline steps down too, unless somebody worked it, and every condition steps down one.
Here’s what you can do with your day:
- Find the way. One of you goes in front, and anyone else can join the roll. Roll against the way’s Challenge, and if you win, the stage you’re on is behind you. If something on your sheet plainly covers knowing the way, like a map of this road, and nothing’s pushing back, you just walk it.
- Feed the crew. Hunt or forage, or buy from a farm. Beat the way’s Challenge and Supplies doesn’t step down this leg. Rations are a utility item, and every Rations somebody crosses off steps it up one.
- Keep watch. Answer whatever’s coming, for yourself or for someone else.
- Study the road. Find the hidden tag before you walk into it, or get a straight answer (where would they ambush us?). A Scholar can introduce a truth instead, like a drove road or a ford the maps forgot. Say it, and it’s out there. It counts as a permission for the crew for the rest of the journey, free on any roll it fits.
- Slow what’s behind you. Burn the bridge, or lay a false trail. Beat the deadline’s die and it steps back up one.
- Look after each other. Join someone’s roll, Defend, or break a condition.
A telegraph aimed at the way or at Supplies has no defence to roll, like any telegraph at a stake or a clock. If nobody answers it, it happens. One that lands on the way costs you the day: you’re on the same stage tomorrow, whatever you rolled.
Running out
When Supplies steps down past a d2, you’re out. From then on the GM telegraphs hunger every leg: a d6 at each of you, against Confidence. Feeding the crew answers it for everyone, and puts Supplies back at a d2.
The whole journey’s one scene
It’s one problem, getting there, however many days it takes. Aura fills when you set out, and not again until you get there. Your Confidence starts the journey where it’d start any scene, and it swings all the way there. If something on the road turns into a proper fight, or a meeting worth playing in rounds, stop the journey and play it as its own scene, Aura and all. Then pick the journey up where you left it, with whatever Aura you’ve got left and your Confidence back on d6.
Horses, carts and boats
They’re party resources, so each one counts for whoever’s using it, on any roll it fits, for 1 Aura to bring it in. A good horse makes time on a road and a boat gets you down the river. A cart is why Supplies starts at a d10, and it won’t go anywhere there isn’t a road.
On the road
When you need something for the road to throw at them, roll a d8.
| d8 | On the road | The telegraph |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The river’s up. | A d8 at Supplies. If it lands, it takes a pack, and Supplies drops two sizes. |
| 2 | Fog comes down off the tops. | A d8 at the way. If it lands, you lose the day. |
| 3 | Something’s following you. | A d6 at whoever’s at the back, and another every leg until somebody deals with it. |
| 4 | A toll bridge, and the men collecting are armed. | A d6 at the way. A purse of gold answers it. |
| 5 | The weather turns. | A d6 at each of you, against Confidence. |
| 6 | A horse throws a shoe, or the cart loses a wheel. | A d6 at the way. |
| 7 | Bandits in the trees. | Challenge 3, a d6 at each of you. Hand over a pack instead, and Supplies drops a size. |
| 8 | Someone’s been watching the road. | A d8 at the deadline. If it lands, the deadline drops two sizes. |
ExampleOver the fells
Wren, Bram, Isolde and Ash have to reach the abbey on the far side of the fells before the Estate’s riders do. The GM sets it up. Reach the abbey is Challenge 4, a d8, with The Ford, The Fells and The Long Bog in the way. The riders are an event at a d8, and when it runs out, they get there first. The crew packed properly, so Supplies starts at a d8. Wren’s torn map is of the old abbey road, so she knows the way.
Leg 1. The GM telegraphs: “The river’s up. That’s a d8 at Supplies, and if it lands, it takes a pack and Supplies drops two sizes. And something’s been following you since the last farm. A d6 at Isolde, at the back.”
The ford’s in flood, so it’s pushing back, and Wren has to roll for it even with the map. Her Move is just her second Title, 2 steps with the action. Scout ahead of an army fits finding a crossing, but it isn’t on any of her set actions, so she brings it in for 1 Aura. That’s 3 steps, a d6. She rolls 5, and the way’s d8, which she rolls too, comes up 4. The Ford’s behind them.
Bram answers the river by carrying the packs across above his head. His Lift and carry is his first Title and lift what two men can’t, 3 steps with the action, a d6. He rolls 5 against the river’s 3, and the packs stay dry. Ash answers the d6 at Isolde with a little fire at the back of the line. That’s her Scare them off: her first Title, throw fire, make a threat stick and her ember stone, with the action 5 steps, a d10. She rolls 8 against 2, and the wolves melt back into the heather.
Isolde Studies the road ahead. Her Study is her second Title, know the history of anything old and Iron Will, with the action 4 steps, a d8. She rolls 7 against the way’s 4. She’s a Scholar, so instead of a hidden tag or a straight answer, she introduces a truth: there’s an old drove road the monks used to bring their sheep down. Now there is, and it’s a permission for the whole crew for the rest of the journey.
Nobody fed the crew, so at the end of the leg Supplies steps down to a d6. The riders step down to a d6 as well.
Leg 2. Wren knows the way and nothing’s pushing back on the open fells, so they just walk them. The GM telegraphs the weather instead: “Fog’s coming down off the tops. A d8 at the way, and if it lands, you lose the day.” Isolde answers it. The monks marked their drove road with cairns and she knows how to read them, so it’s her Study again, 4 steps. The drove road counts too, and it’s free, because it’s something the crew’s got for the whole journey. That’s 5 steps, a d10. She rolls 7 against the fog’s 4, and she walks them from cairn to cairn until it lifts.
That leaves Wren free to hunt. It’s the bow that puts venison on the fire, so she starts from her Fight: her first Title, shoot a longbow, hit anything I can see and Marksman’s Eye, 5 steps with the action. Know a beast’s habits is on her Track, so bringing it in costs 1 Aura. That’s 6 steps, a d12. She rolls 9, and the way’s d8 comes up 5. There’s venison tonight, so Supplies doesn’t step down.
Ash goes back up the drove road to set the heather alight behind them, and Bram drags a dead gorse bush across the road for it to catch. They’ve put their actions into the same thing, so it’s a combo. Ash’s Fight is her first Title, throw fire and her ember stone, 4 steps, and Bram’s Lift and carry is 3. That’s 7 steps between them, a d12 and a d2, and they put both on the riders’ d6. They roll 7 and 1 against 3, and the best die counts, so the riders step back up to a d8. Somebody worked them this leg, so they don’t step down at the end of it.
On the third morning they’re at the edge of the Long Bog, with Supplies at a d6, the riders at a d8 and The Fells behind them. The bog’s pushing back, and Wren’s the only one who can hunt or find a way through it. She’s only got one action a leg, so she’ll have to pick one, unless she spends 1 Resolve for a second.