voidhearT

SYmphonY
ThE CaStLe InFeCtS AlL
ItS VaSsAlS RuLe ThIs CiTy
StArT YoUr ReVoLuTiOn
1
Credits
Voidheart Symphony v0.1 - Christmas alpha edition.
Welcome to the Age of oblivion
There’s a wound in the world, and nobody cares. If they have to step over the
Copyright 20188 UFO Press Limited. homeless on their way to work, if the rich grow ever more wealthy while children starve,
if the the authorities destroy lives not just through negligence but through malice… isn’t
Writing and layout that just the way of the world?
Jay Iles You don’t have the luxury of thinking that way. Maybe you’re a second-class citizen,
forced to work yourself to the bone for the money to live. Maybe you have to hide your
Art truth, for fear of what would happen if you were exposed - or maybe you’re out, and
Tithi Luadthong are living with those consequences every day. Maybe you just can’t close your eyes and
ignore the suffering.
Inspirations
Apocalypse World by D. Vincent and Meguey Baker But the main reason is because you’ve seen the wound: a strange border between this
world and another, tucked away in backstreets and disused stairwells. The taint of the
Spire by Grant Howitt and Chris Taylor void seeps out, sickening and twisting those unfortunate enough to live nearby. And it
Ironsworn by Shawn Tomkin seems to conform to the will of the biggest predator in the area, hurting their enemies
and victims and bringing them fortune whether they realise it or not.
Persona 5 by Atlus Games
But, if people are causing pain with unearned power, so what? You’re used to having to
Design work on Rhapsody of Blood by Maria Rivera
fight for respect, survival, your safety and the safety of your community. You’ll dive into
that wound, steal its power and strength, and see how that predator topples when the

Contents
void abandons them.
And what then? Will you go back to the daily grind, putting out the fires that spread
while you were focused on the other realm? Hold close to those dear to you, and form
Welcome to the Age of oblivion 2 new connections? Or rest and heal, preparing for the next time? Because the wound is
still there, and so long as someone is profiting off the suffering of others the void will
Monsters of the Modern Age 3 have plenty of avatars to empower.
How this works 3
The Mundane World 4
Into the Castle 6
Confrontation Moves 9
Playbook Anatomy 10
Playbook: The Authority 11
Covenant: The Emperor 13

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Monsters of the Modern Age
Long ago, there was a castle that invaded our world once each generation, tainting the
world until heroes from legendary bloodlines pushed it back. The cycle of invasion and
repulsion happened time and time again, until something changed. Maybe one side
achieved a great victory - though it’s impossible to tell which. But these days there’s no
gothic castle filled with monsters and blood, and no secret cabal of heroes pushing back the
darkness. That nightmare realm’s tendrils are spread through our entire society, and instead
of a single Regent it is commanded by a whole feudal system of a hundred different Vassals.
And what of those who fought to push it back? If those heroes still exist, they’re not
here. Maybe they’re busy elsewhere. Instead you have the rabble willing to charge into
hell’s teeth armed with a baseball bat and hope – and if they’re to survive this war, they’ll
have to take the void’s power and turn it on the Vassal’s creatures.

How this works

Voidheart Symphony is a cooperative storytelling game for 3 to 6 players, who'll build
up characters and tell their stories together.
Most of the players control a rebel - someone who has seen the tendrils of the castle
spreading throughout their city and lending occult power to predatory vassals, and have
decided to fight back. They start with nothing special except that willingness to take a
stand, but as the castle's void seeps into their heart and as they deepen their connections
with their confidantes, they'll gather extraordinary powers.
One player is the Architect. They're here to keep track of the setting, provide resistance
and challenge to the characters, and make sure all the players get an equal chance to
shine. They’re also there to portray supporting characters, voicing them in conversations
and giving the players someone to play off of. It’s a role with a different set of
responsibilities, detailed in their own chapter of this book.
The game unfolds through discrete Investigations. Each begins when your rebels find
a new manifestation of the castle is their territory. Working in tandem in the mundane
world and delving into that nightmare realm, you'll identify the vassal, probe their weak
spots, get in the way of their plans and eventually wrest control of the castle-shard from
them - instead using it to heal, protect and expand their territory. All the while trying to
avoid inflicting irreprable harm to their health, your finances and your relationships.
Between Investigations, you'll rest up, grow up, try to work some meaningful social
change, and look for the next extrusion of the castle.

3
The Mundane World
Your rebels have lived most of their existance so far in the mundane world - the streets
Mundane Moves
Make a Stand
When you place yourself in the way of someone more powerful, check against
and buildings of this city. It’s only recently that they have become aware of the castle’s Standing. On a weak hit choose 1, on a strong hit choose two:
intrusions into this world, and though they may be heroes pushing it back they must still
contend with the frailties of their health and the demands of their everyday obligations. • They don’t cause you problems.
• They can’t dismiss what you say or do.
Clocks • They focus only on you.
You have five clocks tracking your rebel’s wellbeing:
Health: How healthy you are. The more ticks, the closer you are to incapacitation. Rebel Eyes
When you size up a person or situation, check against Heat. On a weak hit hold 1, on
Stability: The precarity of your social situation. The more ticks, the closer you are to a strong hit hold 2. As you interact with the person or situation, spend your hold to ask
homelessness and deprivation. one of the following:
Standing: Are you famed, tolerated reviled? The more ticks, the more you risk • Who’s in charge here?
becoming shunned by society. • Who/what can I make use of here?
Heat: How aware hostile elements are of your interference in their activities. The • How can I get out of this?
more ticks, the closer the Vassal (and the rest of the castle’s minions) are to finding • What am I overlooking?
out your identity. Get fleeting Advantage when acting on the answer, or pass it to another.
Contamination: The depth to which the castle has penetrated your subconcious. If you are watching the vassal themselves, you can spend one hold to turn a token
The more ticks, the more you cannot help but see the world in terms of predation and retrieved from their castle-shard into a key to their heart. The Architect will describe
exploitation. what the token reveals about the vassal.
Each has 6 ticks. If you run out of hold, you can tick a clock to get 1 more; the Architect will say how
When you’re asked to check against a clock, roll two six-sided dice. If both come up things get worse for you.
over your ticks in the clock, that’s a strong hit; if one comes up over your ticks, that’s a
weak hit; if both are equal or below your ticks in the clock that’s a miss. Open Your Heart
If you have Advantage, roll three dice and check the highest two against the clock; if you When you speak honestly and passionately with another, check against
have Disadvantage, same but check the lowest two. If it’s fleeting, it’s gone after one check. Contamination. On a weak hit pick one; on a strong hit pick two.
When you refresh a clock, remove a tick from it. • You realise a truth about yourself; lose 1-Shadow and say how your self-perception has
changed.
If you have unmarked resistance in a clock, you can mark the resistance box instead of
• They show you something of themselves; both of you mark Bond with each other.
the clock.
• They will either take action in line with your values, or take ongoing Disadvantage
When the group agrees to take a break from the investigation to recover, each rebel until they tell you why - their choice.
can describe what they got up to and remove a tick in two different clocks. The Architect
will describe a sign of the castle’s spreading corruption, and tick the Vassal’s clock.
When a clock hits 6 ticks, you’re taken out - in hospital, prison, on the run. Until the
rest of the group deals with the problem, you automatically miss any check with the
affected clock and have disadvantage on all other clocks.

4
Duck Out Gearing Up
When you fail an obligation, check against Stability. On a strong hit nobody notices, When you try to obtain new gear by…
or they cut you slack. On a 7-9, tick your Stability or Standing clock, and the Architect Dipping into your reserves, check against Stability.
chooses one:
Working extra hours, check against Health.
• Someone important is disappointed in you.
• One of your dreams or hopes is threatened. Stealing it from others, check against Contamination.
• Someone covers for you, but makes clear what they feel you owe them. On a strong hit, you get it. On a weak hit, the Architect picks one:
On a 6-, you’ve really messed up. Tick your Stability or Standing clock, and lose a point • You’ll need to tick a clock to get it.
of Bond with a confidant of the Architect’s choice. • It’s not openly for sale, but you find someone who can lead you to someone selling it.
• It’s not openly for sale, but you find someone who sold it recently, who may be willing
Vent to introduce you to their previous buyer.
When you call on the void’s power in the mundane world, choose options up to your • It’s not available for sale, but you find something similar. Will it do?
points in Shadow: On a miss, the Architect picks one and ticks your Standing or Heat as your desperation
• Those present are terrified of you. is noticed.
• Your identity is concealed from all onlookers.
• You can evoke a power of your shadow form. Dive Into Darkness
• You can perceive something you could not otherwise sense. When you travel across the border between reality and the castle, check against
• You may resist harm that would otherwise wound you. Health. On a weak hit, pick two; on a strong hit pick three.
Check against Contamination; on a hit, lose a point of Shadow, and on a weak hit • You appear in the same place as everyone else.
choose one: • You don’t draw castle denizens to your location.
• The darkness changes some part of your form as it leaves you. • You don’t mark void.
• A strange quirk of fate inflicts suffering on one of your Confidants. • You infuse a piece of mundane gear with an extra tag.
• A part of the departing shadow will appear the next time you’re in the castle.
• A part of the departing shadow flees into an animal, granting it smarts and malice.
• Some of the shadow lingers; tick your Contamination clock.

5
Into the Castle Wounds
When you take harm, you can choose to mitigate it by taking a wound. Wounds
are harder to heal, and whenever they would interfere with your actions you take
Shadow Stats disadvantage on the roll.
When you dive through a breach into a castle shard suspended in the void, you no longer Alonside Deadly Wounds there are two other types, each mitigating some amount of
act by struggling against the fetters of society. Instead you can take direct, dynamic action, harm:
empowered by your soul and your desires. While in the castle, you use these stats:
Minor wounds reduce the harm by 1. You’re confused, bleeding, sprained, bruised.
Iron: Your stubborn will and ability to fight and kill. When exploring, you use it to When you take a minor wound, choose:
fight hordes. When fighting a powerful adversary, use this to get in their face and
• Get infected and mark contamination.
throw them off-balance.
• Fall back and recuperate, healing 1 Harm.
Glass: Your ability to stay sane and clear-eyed. When exploring, use it to find your
Major wounds reduce the harm by 3. Your leg’s broken, you’re blinded, you’re
way through and assess your surroundings. When fighting a powerful adversary, use it
absolutely terrified. When you take a major wound, choose:
to spot openings and help your allies exploit them.
• Frenzy and get fleeting advantage on your next attack.
Mercury: Your ability to be stealthy, quick and graceful. When exploring, use it
• Play possum, making foes focus on someone else.
to find safe refuge from the castle’s inhabitants and turn the environment to your
advantage; when fighting, use it to dodge away from blows and use trickery and guile.
Sulphur: The strength of your passions and ability to open your heart to the world
Example OF HARM
Rose is fresh and healthy:
around you. When exploring, use it to understand the Vassal’s psyche and reshape the
labyrinth. When fighting a powerful adversary, use it to pull allies from danger. Minor Wound
Major Wound
Shadow: tracks how corrupted your explorer has been by the castle’s power. As it Deadly Wound
increases you unlock advances, gaining improved stats and strange gifts, but risk falling As she faces down a pack of hellhounds, she chooses ‘They hit back -
under the permanent sway of the Vassal. suffer harm’ - in this case, 2. Wanting to shepherd her resources, she
Shadow starts at 0. The first time you use one of the other stats, give it one of these takes a minor wound to bring that down to 1 harm.
values: 1, 0, 0, -1. A value, once assigned, cannot be used again.
Minor Wound

Harm Major Wound

Deadly Wound
Glancing blows, exhaustion, stress and curses all deal you Harm. Harm has a rating After a gruelling journey through the vassal's junkyard, she’s better
from 1 to 5 - when you take damage, you mark off a number of boxes equal to its rating. equipped with 1 Armour but finds herself facing down an adversary:
Armour works as a phantom harm box: if you have 1 Armour and take 2 Harm, you can the Junklady of the Pack. As she rakes her claws across her belly - 3 harm
mark off the armour box and only one harm box. A marked armour is useless: refresh it - Rose declares the claws glanced off the breastplate she’d found. She
by finding Shelter or leaving the castle. marks 1 armour box and 2 harm boxes, taking her to 3 harm.

Death Minor Wound

When you mark your fifth harm box, you’re on the verge of death. Choose one: Major Wound
• Expend the last of your energy. Trigger your playbook’s Death Move, then die. Deadly Wound
• Collapse unconscious until the current danger has passed. Heal all harm but mark
your Deadly Wound box: so long as it’s marked, you can’t take action unless another
explorer is assisting you

6
Castle Moves Find Shelter
When you find a safe space to recover, each rebel picks 1:
Face the Horde
When you attack a group of castle denizens, roll +Iron. On a hit, you tear through • Tend to another rebel: they heal 2 Harm, or remove their lightest Wound.
them - say how. On a 7-9 pick 2, on a 10+ pick 1: • Encourage another rebel - they get fleeting advantage.
• Use your nature’s Shelter move.
• They hit back - suffer harm.
• You get some on you - mark void. Each rebel checks over their covenant strengthen/betrayal triggers, to see if any have
• You’re seperated, trapped or imperilled. been hit since they last rested.
• Your weapons are insufficient to finish the job. When you leave the shelter, pick one:
• Press deeper into the castle and mark static.
See Clear • Leave the castle (banking your Travel the Labyrinth hold) but tick the Vassal’s clock.
When you try to read a dangerous situation, roll +Glass. On a hit, you can ask the
Architect questions. On a 7–9 ask 1, on a 10+ ask 3, on a miss, ask 1 but prepare for the Travel the Labyrinth
worst: When you attempt to navigate the labyrinthine twists of the castle, roll +Shadow.
• Which exit takes me to my goal? If you choose, you may mark void to roll with advantage. On a hit, hold 1 and describe
• What here is valuable? your insight into the shard’s purpose or layout.
• What can the enemies here do? On a 6-, you’re seperated or ambushed.
• What should I be on the lookout for?
On a 7-9, the area you arrive at contains castle denizens or traps.
Get fleeting advantage when you act on each answer.
On a 10+, the area you arrive at contains something valuable or useful.
Flow Like Water When you leave the area, spend:
When you risk danger to change your environment or your position in it, roll • 1 hold to return to a safe shelter or place of power you’ve visited previously.
+Mercury. On a hit, pick one: • 2 hold to find something precious to the Vassal.
• You’re where you need to be. • 3 hold to find the heart of this shard.
• Another rebel has a clear path to you. One person rolls each time you navigate, and the group’s hold from multiple rolls is
• A particular threat isn’t a problem any longer. pooled together.
On a 7-9 the Architect will give your action a cost: harm, void or lost gear. Once in the heart of the shard, use a key to the Vassal’s heart to summon them for a
final battle for ownership.
Drink Deep
When you attune yourself to a token of the mundane world, roll +Sulphur. On a hit, Return to Reality
mark static and ask a question: When you leave the castle, remove all your void marks. If your most severe wound is…
• …minor: you feel worn out, grouchy or headachey, like you’ve pulled a late night.
• What did the Castle promise the Vassal?
• ...major: you find it hard to focus, and keep seeing flashes of the castle in the corners
• What is the Vassal doing right now?
of your eyes. Pick a clock; you check against it with Disadvantage until you’ve had a
• What does this item mean to the Vassal?
night’s sleep.
The Architect will answer; when you use this knowledge to warp this castle shard, mark • ...deadly: you’re woozy, or numb, or heartbroken. You have disadvantage on all
static and describe what you want to happen. checks until you’ve been treated by your doctor, therapist, or cleric.

7
Weapons Your Foes
Your armaments in Voidheart Symphony are simple, defined by perk tags and flaw tags. Minions
Your starting gear has one of each, but better weapons can have many perks or no flaws. As you explore the castle you’ll encounter the rank and file of the vassal's minions:
Weapon tags govern the situations where your weapon is effective, and the effects attacks skeletons and ghouls, wraiths and beasts, crazed cultists and eldritch demons. They need
with it have on your target and you. very little prep - just a description and a few reactions they can use to hurt the explorers:

Perks Flaws Example Minion: Burning Skeletons

Cleave Can slice through many foes in Ammo or If any dice on an attack come A skeleton walking in defiance of the natural order, surrounded by viridian flames.
a single swing. Fragile up 1, the weapon’s useless • Hurl a burning skull at the explorers.
until you Shelter or leave. • Set something important on fire.
Flexible It wraps around defences and Brace You need to stand on steady • Travel between fires.
can be redirected mid-swing. ground to use it.
Significant Adversaries
Hefty Knocks an enemy back on a hit. Close You need the enemy to be Adversaries are more detailed. One of these foes is the vassal's avatar, but they only
within arm’s reach to use it. manifest once you can steal a token from within the shard, understand it and use it to
Holy Causes intense pain against a Grazing It only deals surface harm, summon them.
particular foe. This tag is only not deep wounds.
accessible via moves. Unfortunately for you, the vassal also has acolytes: important fragments of their
personality, obsessions or fears that walk the castle's halls as a kind of immune system.
Lingering It causes ongoing pain: if you Heirloom If you lose it, get disadvantage
hit someone with it they'll try on bloodline moves until you Each adversary has:
to stay away from you. get it back. • A description guiding their actions in the fiction.
Piercing Can penetrate armour and Painful If any dice on an attack come • A rating for how much Harm their attacks deal to explorers.
thick hide. up 6, take 1 Harm. • One or more qualities: packages of reactions tied to a particular strength of the
Ranged Can attack any foe in eyesight. Reload You need to take action to adversary. When all qualities are destroyed, the adversary’s defeated.
attack again after using it.
Stun Makes enemies slow and Thrown Once you attack with it, you Example Vassal: The Surgeon
sluggish on a hit. need to recover it. A maniacal medic whose real-life failings were exploited by the castle's promise of forbidden
Tether After you hit, you can easily hold Unstable You’re vulnerable and unable knowledge. While she pushes her real-life victims through deeply unethical drug trials to prove her
onto/keep pace with the foe. to move after using it. genius, her avatar conducts nightmare surgeries to create a horde of servile orderlies.
Quality 1: Quality 2: Quality 3:
Attendant orderlies Paralytic venom Overdrive Serum
• Mob a character and • Numb a limb. • Leap to the room’s rafters.
isolate them. • Stab them with a needle. • Hit with devastating
• Stab a character in the • Trigger a stabbed needle force (2 harm)
back (2 harm) . (3 harm).

8
Confrontation Moves
Face the Horde lets you deal with the castle's minions, but what about the adversaries?
Confront
When you confront danger head-on, roll +Iron. On a hit, you throw the foe off-
balance and create an Opening, but take the brunt of their attack. On a 7-9 pick 1, on a
10+ pick 2:
To give those fights appropriate weight, you add these confrontation moves to the • You roll with the blow: take 1 less harm.
regular set whenever you fight the vassal and their acolytes. • You are fearsome and commanding: the foe will focus only on you.
In these fights, your explorers must find Openings to attack as they weather the foe's • Your mind is steel: you don’t mark void.
assault. These Openings don't stack: you have one, or you don't. Each successful strike
against the foe strips away one of their qualities, bringing you closer to victory even as Dodge
the foe grows more frenzied and deadly. When you try to avoid incoming danger, roll +Mercury. On a hit pick 1, on a 10+ pick 2:
• You avoid taking harm.
Strike • You avoid getting separated from the others or losing something valuable.
When you take advantage of an Opening with... • The foe’s heedless in pursuit of you: create an Opening.
• Stealth and guile, roll +Mercury.
• Physical force, roll +Iron. Stand With Me
• Precise insight, roll +Glass. When you heal, encourage or aid an ally, roll +Sulphur. On a hit, pick 1:
• Sorcery or sacrifice, roll +Sulphur.
• They’re rescued from danger: a precipice, poison, a curse, etc.
On a hit, you damage one of the foe’s qualities - if you destroy its final quality, it’s dead. • They heal their lightest wound.
The Opening’s now gone. On a 7-9, the Architect picks 1: • They heal 2 harm.
• The foe lashes out at you: take Harm appropriate to the enemy. On a 10+ the camaraderie shown gives your ally fleeting Advantage.
• The foe separates you from the others or puts you in a spot.
• The foe frenzies, dealing +1 Harm for the rest of the fight.
Flee
When you use an Opening to retreat, any and all characters can flee the battle.
Line It Up Advance the Vassal’s clock by one.
When you size up the enemy to locate a weak spot, roll +Glass. On a hit you find an
Opening. Say where it’s coming from - the environment, a chink in their armour, a flaw
in their fighting style. On a 7-9, pick 2, on a 10+ pick 1: Victory
When the foe is defeated, everyone still living may add 1 to Shadow and their Bond
• The foe makes you its highest priority. with everyone present.
• The Opening only lasts a few moments.
• Attempts to use the Opening without one weapon perk have Disadvantage.

9
Playbook Anatomy
Reprobates are twenty-somethings. They may be university students, young
professionals, NEETs or gangsters. Their main challenge is disenfranchisement: they’re
expected to stand on their own two feet and provide for themselves, but the support
Here's what goes into each playbook in Voidheart Symphony: structures that are meant to help them have been defunded and devoured by a system
that only values them as workers. Subversives have a permanent mark in Stability.
Look Traitors are thirty-somethings and older. Their main challenge is complicity: their
What do you look like? When others first glance at you, what's their impression? identity is bound up in the same systems that the castle has permeated and used as a
Details that are more core to your identiy are worth thinking about, but can't be weapon. They must struggle against the reflex to keep thier head down when others are
given justice in a narrow list. This game is – in places – an explicit metaphor for hurt, or find justifications for the atrocities that maintain their comfortable lifestyle.
marginalisation, and the way your character's marginalisation has robbed them of Traitors have a permanent mark in Contamination.
the luxury of ignoring the castle. Think about the ways your character might be
marginalised, and the ways they might not be - and what those mean for your character Contacts
and your story. Are they disabled? Queer? A member of a minority ethnicity or religion? This is a list of potential starting contacts. As in Nature, you’ll gain one of these as a level
When playing a character who experiences avenues of marginalisation you do not, 1 Covenant - gain the starting ability of the appropriate arcanum (see p. XX). If you have
remember to be respectful and do your research. an idea for another that isn’t on the list, feel free to make your own.
If you wish to give these vectors of marginalisation a presence in the mechanics – and it's Shadow
fine not to – you can permanently fill in a notch in a relevant clock. Health for something When you enter the castle, you feel power stirring within you. You begin with all castle
that affects your physical fortitude, Standing that causes people to discount you, Stability stats at -1.
for something that affects your ability to have steady employment, and so on.
As the castle seeps into you, you’ll mark void.
Nature Each time you mark void, assign one of these to a stat: +1, 0, 0, -1.
You have a core virtue. It's what you draw strength from, and what defines the impact
When you mark your fifth void, your Shadow emerges and becomes one with you: a
you have on other people's lives. This game categorises these core virtues according to the
manifestation of the castle’s promise to fulfil your desires. Will you use this power to
major arcana of the Tarot. Pick one of the three options, and ask the other players the
better understand your truth and appropriate the castle’s power to heal the world, or
linked question. Whichever player volunteers gains a Covenant in that arcanum with
will it seduce and master you?
you, at rank 1 (see Covenants, p. XX).
At the point of your shadow’s first manifestation, work through these:
Resistances • Puissance: add 1 to a stat of your choice.
Everyone has one particular flavour of the world's bullshit they're better able to deal
• Shadow Look: your rebel’s appearance whenever they dive into the castle.
with. Pick one clock to gain resistance in, and mark that on your playbook.
• A Shadow Move: an ability you can use when in the castle.
• A trademark weapon with a perk and flaw of your choice (see weapons, p. XX).
Role
Characters in Voidheart Symphony fall into one of three broad age categories: You’ll continue gaining void as you explore. Each time you hit 5-void, clear it to 0 and
raise Shadow by 1. This will give you further stat advances or powerful Void Moves,
Delinquents are teens, between 16 and 19. They’re likely still in high school, though
but be careful: when Shadow hits 5, you lose control and become another Vassal of the
may have dropped out or at the upper end moved onto college/university. Their main
Castle.
challenge is powerlessness: others will ignore them, take their things from them, load
them down with make-work and threaten the entire course of their future. Delinquents
have a permanent mark in Standing.

10
Playbook: The Authority
In the mundane world you spend your time altering the course of other's lives, whether
that be through advice, mentorship, or punishment. In palaces, you command, lead from
the front, and shut enemies down.

Making the Authority

Look
Pick one from each:
Masculine, Feminine, Ambiguous, Concealed.
Pristine uniform, a symbol of authority, rumpled and overworked.
Bright eyes, ruthless eyes, kind eyes, watchful eyes.
Nature
Pick one:
oo The Emperor: You prize absolute control over your fate and your surroundings. Ask
the other players: which of you works for me? They gain a covenant with you, at level 1.
Shelter Move: you examine the area around you and learn something more about this
place. Gain 1 Travel the Labyrinth hold.
oo Justice: You gather power so that you can help others. Ask the other players: which of
you did I help find justice or escape injustice? They gain a covenant with you, at level 1.
Shelter Move: you may ask the Architect – what is the Vassal currently feeling most
guilty about? They will answer honestly, and you gain fleeting advantage acting onit.
oo The Hierophant: Others come to you for advice: spiritual, financial, personal. Ask
the other players: which of you regularly comes to me for advice? They gain a cove-
nant with you, at level 1. Shelter Move: you inspire the others and uplift their hearts.
The next time they would mark void, they may ignore it.
Resistance
Gain resistance in either Standing or in Stability.
Role
Pick one according to your age:
Delinquent (16-19)
oo Class President: When you help other students with their studies, refresh Standing.
oo Team Captain: When you practice with your team, refresh Health.
oo Gang Leader: When your gang dominates another, refresh Stability.

11
Seditionist (20-29) o o Tactical Genius
oo Store Manager: When you put in extra hours to hit your quotas, refresh Stability. When you carefully explain your plan to your allies, roll +Glass. On a 7-9 hold 1, on a 10+
oo Apprentice: When you impress your tutor, refresh Contamination. hold 3. You may spend 1 Hold to:
oo Vigilante: When you take down a criminal, refresh Heat.
• Cancel Disadvantage on anyone’s roll.
Traitor (30+) • Give someone another dice to roll after they’ve attempted a roll, taking the highest
oo Lawyer: When you win a case, refresh Stability. two as per Advantage.
oo Politician: When the press broadcast your side of the story, refresh Standing.
oo Doctor: When you diagnose and treat someone’s illness, refresh Health.
o o And next you’ll say...
Contacts When you tell an opponent what they’ll do next, roll +Glass. On a hit, they pick one:
Pick one to add to your covenants at level 1, and give them a name: • They do exactly what you predicted.
oo The Chariot: The rival who spurs you to greater heights. • They stumble, hesitate or flinch.
oo The Fool: The novice who’s depending on you to teach them. On a 10+, reveal a trap you set up to take advantage of your prediction. If they go through
oo The Magician: The headhunter trying to get you to work for them. with the predicted action, the trap creates an immediate Opening or takes out a minion.
Shadow Void Moves
Shadow Look Each time you raise Shadow above 1, pick one of these or add 1 to a stat:
Pick a number of categories equal to Shadow, then pick an option from each or make your own.
oo Myth: Angel halo, dragon skin, infernal horns, vampire grin. o o Just You and Me
oo Clothes: Regal vestments, military dress uniform, academic robes, haute couture. If a foe’s within arm’s reach, you can mark Void to reshape the castle and trap you both
oo Accessories: Wings, constellations, echoing voice, mirrored eyes. within an empty room. The previous state is restored when you will it, or when you take
oo Mien: More glorious, more terrifying, more true, more serene. a major wound.
Gear
Gain a weapon of your choice (1 perk, 1 flaw), plus one: o o Voice of Command
• A noble sword (piercing, close). When an Adversary is bearing down on an ally, you can mark void to force them to
• Metal plates (1 Armour). target you instead.
• A banner (advantage on Stand With Me, disadvantage on Confront).
o o War Cry
Castle Moves When you let out an intimidating war cry, mark Void to choose an option from Stand
Pick two when you go from Shadow 0 to 1: With Me and apply it to yourself.
o o First in the Fray
When you’re the first to attack a horde or an Adversary, you can give up a chance to o o Voice of Command
deal it harm in order to give all your companions fleeting advantage. Once per delve into the castle, you may mark Void to command a minion of the castle
to serve you. When they fight alongside you, your attacks gain the cleave tag. When you
send them to act independently of you, the GM will decide how well they do. When you
o o Inspiring Healer take Harm, you can choose to have them be destroyed instead.
Whenever you roll a 12+, pick another rebel nearby who heals 2 Harm.

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Covenant: The Emperor
Nurture this covenant when… you teach the Emperor something they didn’t
know, or thank them for the success their advice has brought you.
Betray this covenant when… you respect someone else’s advice over the
Emperor’s, or suffer greatly by doing something they explicitly told you not to.

Covenant Gifts
Level 1
When you go to the Emperor asking for their advice with a problem,
they can tell you what to do. So long as you follow this advice, you roll with
advantage.
Level 2
When you enter the castle, you can draw on your relationship with the
Emperor to become more sure of yourself and gain 1 Armour.
Level 3
Pick a mundane skill the Emperor has taught you (football, cookery, accounting,
pickpocketing, etc). When your success relies on that skill, you roll with
advantage.
Level 4
You draw a strong sense of structure and certainty from your relationship with
the Emperor. When you comprehensively reject a group identity society
has placed on you in favour of one you have found for youself, remove all
notches in Contamination.
Level 5
What you understand cannot hurt you. When you have an opening on an
Adversary, roll +Glass. On a hit, remove the opening and hold 3. So long as you
have Hold, that Adversary’s attacks cannot hurt you. Spend hold to:
• Redirect the Adversary’s attack towards you instead of your allies.
• Reveal a weakness of the Adversary and give an ally fleeting advantage.

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