Star and City

A Cyberpunk Fantasy TTRPG Written by Joel

Vreugdenhil
 Table Of Contents
An Introduction: 3 Coterie Member: 14
Playing the Game: 3 Workshop Meister: 14
Play As A Conversation: 3 Hunter 15
Basic Items: 16
Conflicts: 4
High-Grade Items: 16
Initiation 4
Powers: 17
The Fall 4
Die Tags: 17
Skill Dice 4
Martial Powers: 18
Raising 4
Social Powers: 20
Clashing 4
Zeal Powers: 23
An Example: 5
Gear Powers: 25
First Raise: 5
Second Raise: 5 The World Of Star And City 27
Third Raise: 5 The City: 27
Unique Conflicts: 6 City Districts: 27
One-sided: 6 The Havens: 27
Low-Stakes: 6 The Backstreets: 28
Environment Dice: 6 Zeal: 29
Distortions: 29
Montage Phase: 7
The Wasteland: 29
Activities: 7
Artifacts: 29
Creating A Character: 9
Running The Game: 30
Examples: 9
Conflicts: 30
Jack: 9
Planning A Mission: 30
Marick: 9
Enemies: 31
Mariah: 9
Thug: 31
Core: 10
Hunter Detective: 32
Skills: 10
Blood Fiend: 32
Brawn: 10
Guardian Agent: 33
Mental: 11
The Looming Shadow: 33
Soul: 11
Status: 11 Credits: 34
Exhaustion: 11 Writing: 34
Stress: 11 Photos: 34
Insight: 12
Origins: 13
Average Citizen: 13
Labourer: 14
Suit: 14

2
An Introduction:
Star And City is a Cyberpunk Fantasy
TTRPG based upon properties such as, Playing the Game:
Library Of Ruina, Chainsaw Man, Jujitsu
Kaisen, Supernatural and more. If you wish to play in person you will need…
- This book
You are to take up your reins in the great - LOTS of Dice, including multiple 6, 8, 10,
City, the last known settlement on a 12, and 20 sided Dice.
time-lost earth, where humanity has - A printed character sheet (These can be
ascended to godhood, both via their found in the Creating A Character section.
advanced technological augmentation and - A group of friends to serve as the Players
the uncovering of a mysterious force known and one to be the Gm.
as Zeal, a power that comes directly from
the emotions of Humans. Citizens face Play As A Conversation:
incomprehensible horrors without any Star and City should function as a
understanding of why, as well as the conversation between each player, with one
struggles of finding a place to sleep, and Gm narrating the game. The Gm should
eventually someone is going to bring an bring forward questions on how the player’s
end to it. Though for some reason life characters would interact with the world to
seems as if it’s stagnated, people go on in push forward this conversation and to enjoy
their mundane lives unaware that they live themselves.
in an age of progress and strife.

The gameplay and mechanics of Star and

City put great focus on its main system of
Conflict, using a card game esque series of
clashing turns where each participant uses
their many Skills and Powers to take
advantage of the situations they find
themselves in.

3
Conflicts:
Conflicts are the beating heart of Star and
City, it is considered the main resolution Raising
system of the game. Whenever a character After adding the Skill Dice the Raise phase
attempts to take an action that may be begins, where the Initiator may Raise first,
difficult or that would cause them to conflict describing how they use one of their
with another character, they may be forced Powers to gain an advantage in the contest,
to enter Conflict. being given bonus Dice decided by the
Power. This can only be done once per
The steps to a Conflict are as follows. Power, per Conflict.

After Raising (unless it is the first Raise in a

Initiation Conflict), that participant may Clash with all
Before any other step someone must of their Raised Dice, including the Dice that
Initiate the Conflict. In most cases this is remain from past Raises. After the Clash
obvious, the first attacker in a fight, the the participant to the left of the last may
detective in a police interrogation, or the choose to Raise.
prosecutor in a court case, but if there are
any disagreements on this each participant
may roll a D6 with the highest roll being the Clashing
Initiator. After Raising a character will Clash using
each of their non-skill Die, each targeting
another character’s Die.
The Fall
The Fall is a growing pool of Statuses and For each Clash, if the value of your Die is
effects that occurs to a character when they higher than the value of your opponent’s,
lose a Conflict, it is shared between all the opponent’s Die is Destroyed, removing
characters and using different powers can it from the Conflict. Otherwise, your Die is
add to the Fall, increasing the risk of the Destroyed (A Clash where both Die are
Conflict. equal results in both being destroyed).

Skill Dice When attempting a Clash you may also

Destroy any number of your Dice to modify
Whenever conflict starts all participants the value of your Clashing Die by the total
may give a case as to what Skill(s) they destroyed Dice Value until the end of the
want to use in the Conflict and gain Skill Clash.
Dice equal to the combined value of that
Skill(s), rolling each of these Dice as soon When a character loses all of their Dice they
as they are added. If a participant is lose the Conflict, taking the Fall. If all
controlled by the Gm, the Gm decides their participants are unable to Clash or Raise
Skill Dice. the character with the highest total Dice
Value wins.

4
An Example: Second Raise:
Buck Raises with “Do You Know Who I
Am!”, adding 1D4(Terrifying) to his field
For further clarity, here is an example of a (Rolled as a 4), stating that he mocks
Conflict between two characters. Jack's status as a Hunter and flaunts the
money he’s made as a Coterie leader.
A player character named Jack walks into Because of the Terrifying Tag Buck can
the backroom of a nightclub in which sits a destroy 4 of Jacks Dice, he Destroys all
Coterie Leader named Buck. three Dice Jack Raised with and one of his
6s from the Skill Dice. He then also Clashes
Jack knows that he is here to make a deal with his Raised 4, destroying one of Jack's
with this leader to partner up for a big bank Skill Dice 3s. This leaves Jack on the back
heist, but when he offers the idea to Buck, foot with 2, 3, 4, 6, 6 on his field.
Buck tells him that he would never put
himself in danger for a stranger.
Third Raise:
Jack attempts to further Convince him, and Jack knows that he’s got to go all out in this
at this point the Gm states that a Conflict Raise, since he has no Idea how many
will start. more tricks Buck has up his sleeve. Jack
decides to Raise with “Short Fuse” his last
When the Conflict starts the Gm states that Power he thinks will matter in this Conflict.
Jack is the Initiator as the one offering this He states that he's had enough, describing
deal, the Player agrees. a full on Rant about the state of Buck’s
organization, because Jack had 4 Stress
Jack’s Player says that they want to use before this Conflict started he is given
their Convince skill of 4 and their Insight 4D8(Fury) (Rolled as 2, 3, 5, 8), and due to
Skill of 2 in this Conflict and the Gm agrees, his amazing Rolls and the Fury Tag’s effect
giving Jack a total of 6 Skill Dice (Rolled as he is able to destroy all of Buck’s Dice and
a 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 6). The Gm also lays out 8 end the Conflict.
Skill Dice for Buck (Rolled as a 1, 1, 2, 2, 2,
5, 5, 6) stating that he seems quite
confident.

First Raise:
Jack, as the Initiator, takes the first Raise.
Using his “Hunter Market” Power to gain
3D8 (Rolled as a 5, 5, 7), explaining that he
is going to attempt to leverage his name as
a Hunter to convince Buck. Because this is
the first Raise jack cannot yet Clash.

5
Unique Conflicts: Environment Dice:
One-sided: At any time the Gm can introduce a set of
Environment Dice, this can be any size of
There may be situations where a character Die in any number, but this set of Die must
must take a risky action without Conflicting be described as an element of the current
with another character. In these situations player’s environment. Instead of Raising
that character will perform a Conflict as players may describe how they use the
usual, but instead of Clashing with another element to their advantage, gaining the
character the Initiator must have a Environment Dice as their own, and
combined value spread across all of their removing them from the game.
Dice equal to or higher than a value set by
the Gm. Examples of Environment Dice may
include…
10: Easy
20: Average “A hanging chandelier”
40: Difficult
50: Very Difficult “The age of an abandoned building”
60: Extremely Difficult
80: Nearly Impossible “A blindingly thick rainstorm”
100: Impossible
“A thick mist”
Low-Stakes:
There may be times when a conflict
requires little effort, and in a meta sense
shouldn't take much time.

The Fall of this Conflict cannot cause a

character to gain Exhaustion or Insight. And
Participants of it cannot raise with more
than one Power.

6
Montage Phase:
The player’s missions will wear them down, Shop: 1 Time
their mind, body and soul taking shots from
the city at every moment, the Montage (This Activity can only be taken in the City)
Phase allows them to connect, relax, or grit You may spend your Experience to gain
their teeth and use the cruelty of the City to Gear Powers.
their advantage.
Rest: 3 Time
When this happens the Gm may start the
Montage Phase, where the players are each Take your time slowly, sleeping, meditating,
given Time based on how much time the or applying medicine. You may heal two
Gm thinks they will have (the suggested from all of your Statuses, gaining 3
average for this being 5). Each player may Experience when doing so.
then spend their Time to do any number of
"Activities" listed below, giving a short Get Paid: 4 Time
description of what exactly they are doing.
(This Activity can only be taken in the City)
Most activities give Experience, a resource See what work is available to you, often
players can use to purchase Powers, being unreliable bounties, but always paid
abilities detailed in the Character Creation in full. you may choose one of the following
section. jobs and receive the effects of it.

Activities:
1: Dead or Alive: Find and bring in a local
criminal. Receive 1D4 Exhaustion -1, and 4
Experience. You may also spend any
Experience on Martial Powers.
Connect: 2 Time
2: Labour: Restless work enjoyed by none
Choose a character other than yourself, if and done by many. Receive 1D4 Stress,
you can do so, you may meet up with them and 3 Experience. You may also spend any
to talk. Doing so allows you to heal Stress Experience on Social Powers.
equal to their highest Social Skill (Minimum
1) and gain Experience equal to the amount 3: Shady Business: The jobs beyond the
healed. You may also spend any eyes of the law. Receive 5 Experience and
Experience on Social Powers. a “Bounty Token”, at any time during a
Montage Phase the Gm may tell you to
Reflect: 2 Time expend any number of your Bounty Tokens
and perform a one-sided Conflict to avoid a
Reflect on yourself. Doing so allows you to group attempting to hunt you down for your
heal Insight or Stress equal to your Hope crimes. The difficulty of this Conflict is
(Minimum 1) and gain Experience equal to equal to 15 plus 5 for each Bounty Token
the amount healed. You may also spend spent. If this Conflict is lost you may still
any Experience on Zeal Powers. escape by taking 1D6 Exhaustion.

7
Get A Drink: 4 Time

(This Activity can only be taken in the City)

Head to a place where you can have a
good time with others, and roll any number
of D4 (Up to your current Stress or Insight),
losing Stress and Insight equal to the
number of Dice you rolled. If any roll shows
a 1 or a 4, effect(s) occurs outside your
control, one for the 4's and one for the 1's.

3+ 4's: You make a friend! Make up a name

for them and Connect with them for no
Time cost, rolling a D4 to determine their
Social Skill.

2 4's: Jackpot! You win something, the Gm

chooses two items from an Origin and you
may choose one to obtain or gain 3
Experience.

1 4: Chillin'. You had a great time with no

complications, and heal 1D4 Insight and
Stress.

1 1: Bad Time. Something minor went

wrong when you were out, receive 1D4
Stress.

2 1's: Where Is It... You lose something on

your person, the Gm chooses three of your
Origin items, and you lose one, of your
choice, until you next take this activity.

3 1's: Got In A Fight... Make up a name for

the person you fought and receive three
Exhaustion, if this Exhaustion would kill you
wake up in a hospital healed to your
maximum Exhaustion.

8
Creating A Character:
Star and City player characters have four
Marick:
main components, their Core, Skills, Origin,
Coterie Big-Body
and their Powers. To create your own
Core:
character read through these sections in
the following pages to be made aware of Brawn: 5 Mental: 2 Soul: 2
how to use it.
Skills: Strength:5, Brawl:2, Great Arms: 8,
You can use one of these sheets to Engineering: 3, Deceive: 3, Hope: 2,
document a Character. Will: 3, Status: 1
Character sheet
Origin: Coterie Member:
Alternate Character sheet
Items: Makeshift Weapon, Friends In Low
Places, Coterie Hideout, Standard Issue

Examples: Uniform

Powers: Beast Of War, Reckless

The following are some pre-made
Abandon, Improvisational Fighter,
characters meant to serve as reference as
Unarmed Expert, Greatblade Expert
to what a character is.

Jack: Mariah:
Of All Trades The Party’s Face
Core: Core:

Brawn: 3 Mental: 3 Soul: 3 Brawn: 1 Mental: 4 Soul: 4

Skills: Medium Arms: 6, Dexterity: 3, Skills: Dexterity: 3, Knowledge: 6,

Convince: 4, Insight: 2, Knowledge: 3, Convince: 4, Deceive: 1, Insight: 1,
Hope: 4, Will: 3, Status: 2 Administrate: 4, Status:4, Will: 4

Origin: Hunter: Origin: Suit:

Items: Casual Clothing, Home, Items: High Income, High-Class Clothing,
High-Income, Pro-Grade Item, Luxury Luxury Vehicle, Mansion
Vehicle
Powers: Smooth Talker, Self Control,
Powers: Hunter Market, Sword Expert, Trickster, Leader, “Do You Know Who I
Rapid Strikes, Short Fuse, Empath, Am”, Casual Drinker
Remnants Of Zeal, Aspect Of Pride

9
Core: Skills:
A character's Core is a very generalized Each part of The Core is split up into Skills.
measure of their best and worst qualities. A Specific talents and abilities that characters
character's total Core should add up to 9. are given when they are made.
These values affect both your Skills, and
the amount of Statuses you can hold before A player can add three points to any skill
receiving negative effects. within a Core’s category for each point of
that Core they have. (A character with 4
Brawn: Brawn has 12 Skill Points to split among
A person’s physical ability, whether altered Skills in the Brawn category for example.)
or natural. Important for combat-ready
characters.
Brawn:
Dexterity: Acrobatics, and other feats of
Mental:
agility outside Combat
A person’s learned skills and knowledge.
Strength: Feats of pure Strength outside
Important for social, and scientific
Combat.
characters.
Brawl: Unarmed combat skills.

Soul:
Weapon Skills:
A person’s morals, hope, and belief in Great Arms: Great swords, War axes,
themselves, as well as any connections to Zweihänders, And Pole arms.
the supernatural like luck or Zeal. Important Medium arms: Long swords, Katanas,
for Zeal users. Cleavers, and Clubs.
Light Arms: Knives, Push daggers, Axes,
and Nightsticks.
Thrown Weapons: Grenades, Tomahawks,
and Throwing knives.
Handgun: Pistols, Revolvers, and other
light one-handed firearms.
Machine Gun: Assault rifles, LMGs, and
SMGs.
Rifle: Single fire Rifles, Shotguns and other
Single fire firearms.
Exotic Firearms: Flamethrowers, RPGs
and other specialist firearms.

10
Mental: Status:
Rationality: The ability to solve problems
using your reasoning.
Knowledge: Your knowledge of Academic Characters all track 3 Status that increase
and decrease over the course of a game,
subjects.
these being Exhaustion, Insight, and Stress.
Engineering: Your ability to fix and modify Each Status has a major negative effect
machines. when it exceeds its breaking point, which is
Medicine: Your ability to perform and determined by the Character’s Core, and
understand medicine. often interacts with other abilities of a
character.
Social Skills:
Convince: Your ability to create convincing Exhaustion:
arguments. Represents cumulative physical exhaustion.
Deceive: Your ability to lie to others. A character’s breaking point for Exhaustion
Insight: Your ability to understand the truth is 4 plus their Brawn, and if they gain
of other people’s words. Exhaustion over this they suffer some sort
of lethal injury.

Soul: This permanently lowers their Brawn by

Hope: The ability to remain positive in dark one, if this lowers a character’s Brawn to 0
times. or less they die.
Will: The ability to resist natural and
supernatural influences on the mind. Stress:
Status: Your power over and position in the Represents the accumulation of worries
City hierarchy. and mental stresses. A character’s breaking
point for Stress is 4 plus their Mental, and if
Zeal Skills: Every time you use one of they gain Stress over this they have a
these skills in a Conflict gain one Insight. Breakdown.
Ruin: Fury, converting your Stress into pure
destructive intent. This disables your Skill Dice in all Conflicts
Fabricate: Excitement, turning the energy you enter. In addition, when a character in
Breakdown gains Stress they gain one
of the emotional world into physical things.
Insight. A character leaves Breakdown
Administrate: Ecstasy, the power to when their Stress falls below their breaking
manipulate the minds of others. point.

11
Insight:
Is a character's knowledge and connection
to supernatural entities. A character’s
breaking point for Insight is 4 plus their
Soul, if they gain an Insight over this they
suffer some grand revelation and begin to
Distort.

When a character Distorts, or gains Insight

while Distorted they roll a number of D4
equal to their current Insight, and receive a
different effect based on the number of 1s
they roll. A character is no longer Distorted
when their Insight falls below their breaking
point.

1: Overload Enter Breakdown, in

addition you cannot use
Zeal Skills until you stop
your Distortion.

2: Faint Fall unconscious until

you stop your Distortion

3: Unbearable Permanently lose two

Revelation points of any Soul Skills,
if you have no Soul skills
permanently lose one
Soul.

4: Incomplete You are temporarily

Manifestation consumed by Zeal,
becoming an
Abnormality, losing
control of your character
until you stop your
Distortion.

5: Complete You are completely and

Manifestation permanently consumed
by Zeal, becoming an
Abnormality and losing
control of your character.

12
Origins:
When you create a character you start with
an Origin, this Origin gives you a specific
number and type of Items, as well as giving
you an Origin Power. You may also take any
Optional Powers it offers, but they each
have some sort of downside.

Items can be used to Raise as if they were

Powers, and also serve as reference to the
things your character owns or has access
to outside of Conflicts.

Average Citizen:
Gain 4 Basic Items, and 1 High-Grade Item

Origin Power: Coasting:

- When you take the Rest Activity, heal an
additional stack of all Statuses. Add one
point to two Cores.

Optional Power: Deadbeat:

- You may add one extra point to any of
your Cores, but you lose access to the Get
Paid Activity.
“I’ve heard some of my friends
refer to themselves as a cog, as
if the work they do makes them
less than human, akin to
machines. But then what am I?
These cogs have given life to
their clients, they are the
movers and shakers, a raging
river of progress and
innovation. I’m a swamp, toxic
standing water born to decay.”

13
Labourer: Coterie Member:
Gain 5 Basic Items Gain 4 Basic Items

Origin Power: Hard Worker: Origin Power: The Right Crowd:

+4D10 When you… +6D4 When you…
"Are labouring", "Are acting in a bad “Need to do the dirty work”, “Are trying to
condition" act unseen”
- When you take the Get Paid Activity and - If you are in a situation where you can call
the Labour option you may choose to either for backup you can choose to make all the
gain one less Stress or one more Dice on this Power D6 and add the
Experience (Before the Dice is rolled). Boss/Minion Die Tag.
Increase one of your Skills by 5. You’re a member of a small
Coterie, prowling the
Backstreets, always looking for
Suit: your next meal. You may not have
Gain 1 Basic Item and 3 High-Grade Items the resources of a Hunter, but
you know the streets like the
back of your hand.
Origin Power: Business Oriented:
+2D12(Reliable) When you…
“Show Off”, “Need money” Workshop Meister:
- You are an owner of, or significant Gain 3 Basic Items and 3 High-Grade Items
shareholder in a group of your
choice/creation. This group is represented Origin Power: Crafters Talent:
by Funding Tokens, which start at 4. As a - This Power has 5 Charges. At any time
unique Activity with a Time cost of 5 you you may create or reveal a Gear Power of
can support your group and give them one your own creation, adding that Power to
Funding Token. Whenever you Raise with yourself or a willing character until the end
this Power lose one Funding, you cannot of the session, doing this costs Charges
Raise with this power with 0 Funding. equal to the Power’s point cost.
You’re a skilled craftsperson
Optional Power: Above The Law: using the techniques of one of
- Your group is now a criminal Coterie, the the many city Workshops, these
Shady Business option of Get Paid now trade secrets are worth more
costs 3 Time and gives you Funding than most of the Workshops
Tokens, however, this is now your only themselves, and by extension so
are you.
method of gaining Funding Tokens.

14
 Hunter
Gain 3 Basic Items and 2 High-Grade Items

Origin Power: Hunter Market:

+3D8 When you…
“Need to use your reputation to gain
leverage”, “Are navigating the city”
- When you take the Get Paid Activity you
have an additional option When you choose
this option, roll two d4 , and you may
choose one of the numbers, getting an
effect based on it.

1: High Gain 5 Experience, gain

priority target 1D6 Exhaustion.

2: Distortion Gain 6 Experience, gain

hunt 1D4 Exhaustion and 1D4
Insight.

3: Basic Take the Labour or Dead

bounties or Alive Get Paid options.

4: Big You have the chance to

opportunity raise your Hunter Grade.
Roll 1D4, if you roll a 4
you gain one Grade
Token, when you use the
Hunter Market ability you
may spend one Grade
Token to Gain no
Statuses from it. You
regain all Grade Tokens
when you gain one.

Optional Power:
The Responsibility Of Strength:
- Start with two “Grade Tokens”, as
described above, but lose one less Stress
during Rest and Connect.
“One good job can make you a
legend, but the bad jobs… they
stay with you forever.”

15
Basic Items: High-Grade Items:
Casual Clothing Body Armour
+1D6 When you… +1D10(Support) When you…
“Attempt to blend in a crowd” “Are under attack from a lethal weapon”

Home Pro-Grade Weapon

+1D12 When you… +1D6(Reliable) When you…
“Attempt to lie low” “Attack with this weapon”

Vehicle Fortune
+1D20 When you… +1D20 When you…
“Need to get around” “Need to use money”

Standard Issue Uniform High-Class Clothing

+1D10 When you… +1D8 When you…
“Attempt to blend in a work environment” “Impress someone”

High Income Personal Bodyguard

+1D10 When you… +1D6 When you…
“Need to use money” “Are under attack” “Make an attack”

Tools Of The Trade Luxury Vehicle

+1D12 When you… +1D20 When you…
“Need to do your job” “Need to get around” “Impress someone”

Makeshift Weapon Mansion

+1D8(Chaos) When you… +1D20 When you…
“Attack with this weapon” “Need shelter” “Impress someone”

Friends In Low Places

+1D12 When you…
“Are in their turf”

Coterie Hideout
+1D4(Chaos) When you…
“Attempt to lie low”

16
Powers:
Support: When you are being Clashed with
you may destroy this Die to increase the
targeted Die’s value by this Die’s value until
the end of the Clash.
Player characters begin with 15 Experience,
a resource they can use to gain unique Hidden: This Die cannot be targeted for a
abilities to use in their game. This can range Clash if another Die without this Tag is on
from advanced skills, cybernetic the same side of the field.
enhancements, or supernatural powers
depending on the Power. Reserved: This Die cannot initiate a Clash
unless only Die with this tag are on its field.
Die Tags:
Some Dice, especially those gained via a Chaos: When this Die Clashes it destroys
Power’s, will have a Tag, stated in brackets its opponent if it has a lower value, and is
next to the number of Dice, each of these destroyed if it has a higher value, instead of
tags affect the Die they are applied to in the other way around. When this Die
different ways when used in a conflict, the destroys another Die it rerolls itself.
Tags are as follows.
Careful: The first time this Die Clashes it
Bleed: When this Die clashes, choose one cannot be destroyed.
of an opponent’s Die and decrease its value
by one. If this reduces the value to 0 the die Boss/Minion: After rolling choose one of
is destroyed. these Die to be the Boss Die, and the rest
are Minions. When the Boss Dice is
Burn: Whenever this Die initiates a Clash, destroyed all the Minion Die are also
no matter either Die’s value, both Die are destroyed.
destroyed.
Flash: When you Raise with these Dice you
Overpower: Whenever this Die targets a may immediately Raise with another Power.
Die with half its value of less, you may
choose any other Die equal to your target’s Passion: When these Dice are rolled you
value or less and destroy it. may choose to gain one Stress to set it to
its maximum value.
Reliable: This Die always counts as being
its maximum value. Terrifying: When these Dice are first rolled
destroy any other Die equal to the value of
Drain: When this Die clashes, choose one this dice.
of your other Dice and increase its value by
one. Dangerous: When this Die is destroyed the
owner takes an Exhaustion.
Taunt: Only this Die (Or another with this
Tag) can be targeted for a Clash if another Fury: Whenever this Die Destroys another
Die without this Tag is on the same side of Die you may reduce its Value by one and
the field. Clash with it again.

17
Martial Powers: - Whenever you start your turn with this on
your Field it grows in size and is rerolled
Martial Powers are skills of combat that can (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20).
create exceptional effects. Whenever “This fight was decided from the
someone raises with a Martial Power one very beginning”
Exhaustion is added to the Fall.
Duel Wielding: 3E
Reckless Abandon: 3E - Choose an “Expert” Power you have, that
+XD8(Passion) When you… Power gives double the Dice when Raised.
“Act no care for yourself” 2 > 1
- When using this Power to Raise gain one
Exhaustion. The Dice this gives is equal to Improvisational Fighter: 3E
your current Exhaustion. This can be used - Whenever you Raise with Environment
to Raise any number of times per Conflict. Dice you can add one extra Die. Once
Fierce and powerful, your between Montage phases you may use this
battles are quick and bloody, power to create your own set of
not only for your opponents but Environment Dice, the size, number, and
yourself. Tags of these Dice are decided by your Dm,
but you may describe what it is.
Beast Of War: 5E Never discount the power of your
+2D12(Fury) When you… surroundings, anything can serve
“Fight all out”, “Act with brutality” as a tool to those with ample
- Whenever you Raise with this Power all intelligence.
other participants receive one Stress.
Rip and tear, until it is done. Knife Expert: 2E
+5D4(Bleed) When you…
Reversal Training: 4E “Attack with a light blade”, “Are throwing
+1D4(Terrifying)(Taunt) When you… something”
“Are being attacked” Knife flavour text. Easy to
- You may Raise with this as a response to conceal, carry, and surprise the
another character Raising. (This Raise does enemy with, knives are more than
not allow you to Clash) just shorter swords, being
“Predictable” usable as weapons in their own
right.
Rapid Strikes: 3E
Unarmed Expert: 2E
+3D4(Flash) When you…
+4D4(Reliable) When you…
“Are attacking”, “Need to act quickly”
“Attack with your hands”, “Are attempting to
- The next Power you Raise gains Flash on
grab something”
its Dice.
“Left, right, sweep, left, - When Raising against a character using
right, sweep” the Brawl Skill, gain an additional 4D4.
While fighting barehanded may
seem like a death sentence in a
Battle Tactician: 5E
world full of advanced weaponry,
+1D4(Hidden) When you… an enhanced person may never
“Prepare a powerful attack”, “Study the need one.
moves of your opponent”

18
Sword Expert: 2E Shotgun Expert: 2E
+2D6 (Reliable)(Flash) When you… +XD4(Terrifying)(Burn) When you…
“Attack with a sword”, “Use a weapon to “Attack with a shotgun”, “Need to scare
defend yourself” someone”
The chosen weapon of many - This weapon holds 2 Ammo that is
Hunters and Associations. restored whenever you Rest, whenever you
Versatile, Deadly, Cool-looking. raise with this weapon you must spend any
amount of Ammo and gain that many Die.
Greatblade Expert: 2E Though the City’s bullet tax
+1D20(Overpower) When you… results in an extreme
“Attack with a greatblade”, “Need to heft overpricing of Shotgun Shells,
something heavy” the classical mechanism has
- The Die this adds can be rerolled once, existed for thousands of years,
but you must take the second result if you proving itself with incredible
stopping power.
choose to do so.
“It was too big to be called a
sword. Massive, thick, heavy,
and far too rough. Indeed, it
was a heap of raw iron”.

Sniper Expert: 2E
+XD12(Reliable)(Hidden) When you…
“Attack with a Rifle”, “Need to see detail at
a far distance”
- This weapon holds 1 Ammo that is
restored whenever you Rest, whenever you
raise with this weapon you must spend any
amount of Ammo and gain that many Die.
You specialize in attacking
unsuspecting targets, using
heavy rifles to defeat your
opponents.

Handgun Expert: 2E
+XD4(Burn) When you…
“Show your skills with a pistol”, “Need a
quick reaction in combat”
- This weapon holds 6 Ammo that is
restored whenever you Rest, whenever you
raise with this weapon you must spend any
amount of Ammo and gain that many Die,
this Power can be raised multiple times per
Conflict.
Quickest hands in the City they
say, you move faster than your
target has time to react and
load even faster.

19
Social Powers: Self Control: 3E
+5D12(Passion) When you…
Personality traits and social skills that give “Are being manipulated”, “Are being
you some social advantage over the provoked”
average person. When someone Raises - Whenever you are forced to gain Stress,
with a Social Power one Stress is added to you may instead choose to reduce the
the Fall. number of Dice this ability gives for each
point of Stress you are being forced to gain
Smooth Talker: 1E until the next Montage Phase. This ability
+2D12(Careful) When you... cannot be used when it has no Dice.
“Need to stay calm”, “Are talking to To be calm within the storm is
someone who hates you” an invaluable resource, one you
Your expertise is in telling know can be exploited.
people what they want to hear,
feeding into their ego, and Quiet Type: 2E
making it seem like you're a +2D20(Reserved) When you…
friend, because we all know deep
“Choose to speak little in conversation”,
down that’s a rare resource here
in the City. “Are given time to think”
Speak softly and carry a big
stick, you will go far.
Charming Idiot: 5E
+8D4 When you…
Trickster: 3E
“Mess something up”, “Don’t need to think”
+4D6(Flash) When you…
- Whenever you would use a Social Skill in
“Are trying not to be caught”, “Are lying”
a Conflict you can instead use Hope. It’s only a crime if you're
“I know they fucked up, I know caught, you're only addicted
we need to do something about when you run out, you know these
this, but like, look at 'em, I things are going to catch up to
doubt they meant it.” you one day, but today’s not
that day.
Empath: 3E
+2D20(Support) When you… Regicidal: 2E
“Need to calm someone down”, “Are +4D12(Chaos) When you…
helping someone” “Fight against a higher power”, “Act against
- At any time you can have a Pep talk with code”
another willing character, you may then gain “You know what, fuck the City,
any amount of Stress and have them lose fuck the Architects, and fuck
the same amount. the Guardians! We write our own
Kindness is a rarity in the fates, it’s time we started
city, but a helping hand can be acting like it!”
more powerful than any weapon.

20
Double Back: 1E
+1D4 When you…
"Need to retract a statement", " Are being
accused"
- When this is used to Raise destroy all Die
added by the last Raise you and your
opponent made.
"Woah, woah, woah… Let's not get
ahead of ourselves."

Short Fuse: 2E
+XD8(Fury) When you…
“Had enough”, “Are being degraded”
- The Dice this gives is equal to your current
Stress.
“You don’t want to see me when
I’m mad, trust me.”

Leader: 4E
+4D8 When you…
“Are giving orders”, “Are trying to Help”
- When in a Conflict you may gain one
Stress to set one of another character’s Die
to its maximum value.
A guiding hand is firmer than
the iron one.

“Do You Know Who I Am!”: 3E

+1D6(Terrifying) When you…
“Are trying to intimidate someone”, “Are
trying to impress someone”
- Whenever you Raise with this Power and
win the Conflict, receive one “Reputation”,
whenever you roll the Die from this Power
you may spend one Reputation to reroll it.
“Like seriously, if you grew up
where I grew up, you’d be a dead
man.”

21
Joker: 4E
+4D4(Chaos) When you… Zeal Powers:
“Are not taking it seriously”, “Are trying to Supernatural Powers granted by the
lighten the mood” mysterious force, Zeal, these often affect
- When you use this as your First Raise, your Insight. When a character Raises with
change the Conflict to a Low-Stakes a Zeal Power add one Insight to the Fall.
Conflict, after using this you cannot do so
again until you enter a Montage Phase. Controlled Distortion: 4E
“Why so serious?” +5D12(Passion) When you…
“Go all out”, “Are fully embracing your
Doctor: 5E feelings”
+2D20(Careful) When you… - This Power is Locked until you Distort and
“Need to do medical work”, “Need to get the “Incomplete Manifestation” result,
identify pharmaceuticals” before it is unlocked whenever you Distort
- At any time you may spend 5 you may change the result of one roll to any
uninterrupted minutes to Do a one-sided other value.
Medicine Conflict targeting a willing You can feel it, the ambition to
go on, to act. But these are not
character, if you get 16 or more they lose
your thoughts, a force is acting
five Exhaustion. You may reduce the upon this motivation outside
minutes it takes to do this by reducing the your control, and sometimes… it
Exhaustion you heal equal to the amount chooses to give you a glimpse of
you would like to reduce it by. this potential.
The power to give life is just
as, if not more, important than Unnatural Luck: 3E
the power to kill, as well as - Whenever you roll a Die you may gain one
being harder to master.
Insight to reroll it.
You’re not quite sure how you
Casual Drinker: 1E know, but things seem to… happen
- Whenever you take the Get A Drink to you, you meet people, do
Activity you may set one of your Dice rolls things, and see things that to
to 1 or 4. In addition, gain one Experience most people are a once in a
for each 1 you roll during Get A Drink. lifetime opportunity.
“Not everyone goes out with a
bang you know? Some of us have Snap Out Of It!: 3E
at least a bit of tact, some - Whenever you gain Insight you may
control of ourselves.” instead gain one Stress or Exhaustion (You
cannot use this in Breakdown).
“Come one man! You’re not being
yourself…”

Fire With Fire: 2E

+XD8(Burn) When you…
“Fight a Zeal related entity”
- The Dice this grants is equal to your
current Insight.
“Know thy enemy.”

22
Remnants Of Zeal: 3E Aspect Of Sorrow: 1E
+4D8(Passion) When you… - Choose any of your other Zeal powers,
“Unleash a power hidden within” the Dice that power gives gain the Drain
- Whenever you use this Power to Raise, Tag.
gain Two Insight. A sickness that eats away all
There is some power about you, life, the crushing chill
undeniable in its presence, but residing within the darkness of
distant, but for now you grasp the mind. The aspect of Sorrow
it and fight on. lingers within the average like
of us all, only noticed by those
Eye Of God: 4E in tune with it.
+1D6(Reliable)(Reserved) When you…
“Need to truly, fully see” Aspect Of Pride: 1E
- Once per Raise, so long as this Die is on - Choose any of your other Zeal powers,
the field, you may gain one Insight and the Dice that power gives gain the Passion
Destroy one Die. Tag.
A strange and powerful I am lord, my whims bend space
manifestation of Zeal, capable and rule over the realms of the
of not only manifesting visions mind. You are no different, I
of the future, but also seeing will keep my hold of you in your
into worlds beyond one’s own. moment of weakness, and at that
moment you will be your own god.
Personalized Technique: 4E
+XD8 When you…
“Y”
- When you obtain this Power you may
rewrite Y as the use of this Power and set X
to any value. Whenever you Raise with this
Power gain X Insight.
The way Zeal manifests within a
person is unique to each,
strange supernatural effects
sometimes tied to their lives
ideas and fears, but sometimes
representing nothing but a
strength in emotion like no
other.

Aspect Of Rage: 1E
- Choose any of your other Zeal powers,
the Dice that power gives gain the Burn
Tag.
Fury beyond fury, a flame from
within that burns away all it
touches, the primal aspect of
rage brings into the world
dangers beyond human
comprehension.

23
Gear Powers: YuRia Workshop Trick Weapon: 5E
+XDX When you…
Specialized Items and cybernetics that can “Attack with this weapon”
assist their user in a variety of ways. When - When this Power is obtained you may
a character Raises with a Gear Power they choose two “Expert” Martial Powers, when
may add an Exhaustion or Stress to the fall you raise with this Power you gain the Die
so long as one is already there. and effects of raising with both of those
powers.
Stigma Workshop Weapon: 2E One of the many items made by
+5D4 When you… the prestigious YuRia workshop,
“Need to melt something”, “Are attacking a complex piece of shifting
with this weapon” machinery capable of changing
- This power has 4 Fuel Charges that can between two forms.
be restored for free when you Rest, when
this Power is used to Raise you may spend Combat Ready Equipment: 1E
2 Fuel to make all Dice this adds Burn Dice. - When you choose this Power, choose an
The Stigma workshop’s finest item from your Origin, that item gains the
work, a weapon lined with Flash and Reliable Die tags. This Power can
high-powered wires meant to heat be taken multiple times.
and burn anything it comes in In matters of life and death,
contact with. Hunters who use it nothing worse than
tend to agree that after a long top-of-the-line will do.
day’s work it ends up smelling
like barbecue. Subdermal Muscle Weave: 5E
+2D10(Overpower) When you…
Portable Battery: 2E “Overpower an opponent with pure
- This power has 4 Fuel Charges that can strength”, "Reach speeds normally
be restored for free when you Rest, when impossible"
expending Fuel Charges of Powers you may - Increase your Brawn by two.
instead expend Charges from this power. Your body has been modified in
A small electric generator that ways invisible to the human eye,
functions with extreme making you capable of feats of
efficiency, capable of powering superhuman strength and speed.
the most advanced of Corp tech.
Experimental Body Mods: 2E
Dubious Product: 1E +3D4(Burn)(Dangerous) When you…
- When you choose this Power, choose an “Need one last burst of energy”, “Are willing
item from your Origin, that item gains the to sacrifice your wellbeing for improved
Chaos Die tag. This Power can be taken power”
multiple times. You're either on a budget or
“Hey now, not everything from insane, installed in your body
the Backstreets are are pieces of what feels like
untrustworthy. Let's be hopeful overactive machinery, at risk of
for a change!” bursting from your body or
sending a lethal shock through
your veins at any moment, but
they seem to help in some way.

24
Enhanced Senses: 3E Internal Database: 2E
+1D12(Flash) When you… 3D6(Flash) When you…
“Notice something from the corner of your “Don’t know what something is”, “Need to
eye”, “Are quickly reacting to something” quickly deduce an answer”
- You may always choose to roll to - This power has 4 Fuel Charges that can
determine the Initiator when you are in a be restored for free when you Rest,
Conflict. Your Initiation rolls use a D8 whenever you are in a Conflict you may add
instead of a D6. your Knowledge skill to your Skill Dice by
A chill down your spine, the spending one Fuel, even if you would
hairs on the back of your neck normally be unable to.
standing up, are only some of Given how large the City is, it
the options you have when is nigh impossible to remember
installing an instinct enhancer. every single detail of the
people or places within it, but
Internal Filtering: 1E this may help.
+1D20(Reliable) When you…
“Unknowingly drink a poisoned liquid”, “Are
drugged and need to resist its effects”
- You receive three less Exhaustion from
Toxins.
Drinking poison or other
damaging liquid does not affect
you, as you filter out the
toxins from the inside.

Camouflage Module: 4E
+2D8(Hidden)(Flash) When you…
“Need to sneak past something”, “Want to
get in a surprise attack”
A small black rectangle about
the size of an open hand. When
used creates a field surrounding
the user that camouflages them
with their surroundings.

25
The World Of Star And City
The City: City Districts:
The many residential and corporate zones
of the City.
The bastion of Humanity, our last stand
against nature, and proverbial tower of
Within the City there are 26 Districts, each
Babylon, a monument to our revolt against
named after a letter of the English alphabet,
the very gods.
and governed by a Guardian Corp bearing
the same title, instructed to generate
The City has stood for longer than any of
resources for the City at large, as well as
the citizens could ever know, only its rulers,
defending the principles of the Architects.
the Architects, knowing of its exact history.
Though there is a wide range of quality of
However, to the Architect's dismay some
life within each District, citizens consider
legends are still passed down, stories of a
themselves lucky to be able to work or live
world before the Collapse, where the
within the residential centres of the cities.
Wasteland was filled with cities just like the
one that stands today, where the unclaimed
world was green and rich with life. The Havens:
The high class residential centres of a
Most believe these stories to be nothing District, each privately supplied and policed
more than myths, passed down by by a Guardian Corp.
dreamers and dimwits, though these
doubters are equally wrong in their belief These are seen by many citizens as the
that the City has stood for all time, many of highest standard of culture, class, and
the stories of the world before it are quite safety within the City, each Haven being
exaggerated. extremely exclusive and sealed off from the
outer City. For most Havens it is expected
that a resident only requires a well paying
Job to cover its fees, but some are strange
in its requirements, feeling more like pacts
made with trickster devils than a
government contract.

26
The Backstreets: Coteries:
The power of the Backstreets, criminal
Home to the concrete bloodletting, untold
organizations built to take advantage of
violence caused by criminal Coteries taking
those crushed by the ruthless world they
advantage of those just trying to survive,
live in.
born to filth and cursed by decay.

These groups of organized criminals hold

The Backstreets are not a single location,
most of the social and political power within
but the common name of the many Slums
the backstreets, creating a cyclical
of each District. Each shares a systematic
presence of fear, where the existence of
lack of government funding and presence,
them makes those who live without the
resulting in little to no policing of the areas
protection of a Coterie at great risk.
and a large criminal presence.

27
Zeal: The Wasteland:
“My first thought was that he lied in every The world has moved on. A barren land
word…” devoid of life, on serving as research into
- Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came. the world before the City.

200 years before the Collapse, humanity The Wasteland is the name given to the
experienced first contact, a direct world outside the City. Most of it was
connection to a world beyond our destroyed by some great conflict that must
understanding. This was not noticed by the have concluded hundreds of years ago. The
average person, the only evidence of this only things of note within the Wasteland
contact being the first recorded seem to the Ruins, broken down buildings
appearances of Distortions. spotting the Wastelands. Other than the
history that can be learned from these
Zeal is the common name for the “World of ancient buildings there are also known to
thought”, an energy source discovered house strange Artifacts and powerful
before the Collapse, seemingly being Distortions.
directed and harnessed via the thoughts
and emotions of humans and creatures of
human level sapience. Though the degree Artifacts:
of control the Architects hold over Zeal is These strange items have little in common,
unknown, the most common use and only classified within the same category
appearance of it is a phenomenon referred because they cannot be understood by our
to as a Distortion. current scientific knowledge. Some of these
are thought of as the technology of the old
world, clearly designed with purpose but
Distortions: confusing in how they were created or
If a citizen has ever had contact with Zeal, it function. Other Artifacts seem attached to
was most likely through a Distortion. In Zeal in some sense, possibly unconscious
simple terms, a Distortion occurs in places Distortions or something else entirely.
with an extreme density of thought, a
person, or place that contains this extreme
amount of thought may connect with Zeal,
distorting their form to match the thought
that caused it.

The cultural impact of Distortions cannot be

overlooked, many of them seeming to
prioritize the religious, giving those
passionate about it strange visions. These
visions often seem to be some gross
reimagining of the host’s religious mythos.

28
Running The Game:
From this point on most of what is covered
will be the duty of the Gm, the person Planning Missions:
organizing and narrating the game.

Though the name is not completely

Conflicts: accurate in all cases, I will refer to the
things players do between Montage Phases
as “Missions”. This should be the majority
When playing Star and City it is unrealistic of what you plan, and for this reason I have
to have each and every person, place and a few ideas on how you can do this easily
thing prepared for every action a player can or better.
take. And because of this it may be
challenging to bring forward challenges for 1: Motivation
the players that feel realistically difficult, There should always be a reason for the
and entertaining for the players. players to go on a Mission. Most often
As a shorthand here are a few things that early/low stakes missions can be motivated
you may want to use to create Conflict by money, rent or tax season might be
opponents or generally engaging sessions. coming, or a story specific character could
need money from them, but in any case,
1: Use Environment Dice money is a good motivator.
Even if they end up unused, a strong set of
Environment Dice, especially in high-stakes 2: The Holy Trinity
scenes can give players a chance to flex You may have already noticed, but many of
their creative thinking tho their advantage. the game’s mechanics are split into three,
the Status, and Cores to name the most
2: On the fly Raising prominent. This is meant to enforce a sort
When facing players you may not know of “default party”, where at least three
exactly how powerful you need to make the players specializing in different things
enemy before it’s too late. For this reason I would be needed for the best coverage. For
suggest Raising with dice relative to the last this reason I suggest including at least one
raise the players made, and swapping up threat for each of these Cores and or
sizes and tags to keep it interesting, Instead Statuses.
of trying to think of Powers beforehand. This could be the most obvious result, such
as an argument for Stress, a Fight for
Exhaustion, and a Distortion for Insight, but
they could also work as many more things.
A smart character might be needed to hack
a terminal, a strong player might be needed
to parkour into a specific area, and a Zeal
specialist can cover most problems at the
risk of their own life.

29
Enemies: Hunter Detective:
Max Statuses: Skills:
When players enter Conflicts with a NPC it
could be difficult to think of engaging Exhaustion: 5 Handgun: 6
Power sets for those players to face
against. For this reason here are some Stress: 7 Insight: 5
pre-made characters for that exact
purpose. Insight: 4 Convince: 5

Thug: Powers:
Detectives may be used to having to
defend themselves, with some basic
Max Statuses: Skills: combat abilities, but their Power set is more
suited to social encounters.
Exhaustion: 5 Handgun: 5
“Could I borrow you for a second?”:
Stress: 3 Medium Arms: 4
Social
Insight: 2 Dexterity: 2 +2D6(Reliable) When they…
“Start a conversation”

Powers: Backed By The City: Social

The Thug’s Power set makes it slightly +3D6(Reliable)(Support) When they…
effective in combat with a trick or two up its “Are being threatened”, “Want to impress”
sleeve, however it lacks social effectiveness
or any defence against the supernatural. Workshop Weapons: Martial
+3D6(Reliable/Fury/Hidden) When they…
“The easy way, or the hard way”: Social: “Make an attack”
+3D4(Chaos) When they… - The Dice given from this Power can have
“Threaten someone” one of many tags chosen when it is Raised.

Shabby Attacks: Martial:

+4D4(Chaos) When they…
“Make an attack”

Dirty Fighting: Martial:

+2D4(Chaos) When they…
“Make an attack”
- When this is Raised, set any four Dice to
one.

30
Blood Fiend: Guardian Agent:
Max Statuses: Skills: Max Statuses: Skills:

Exhaustion: 5 Ruin: 8 Exhaustion: 5 Handgun: 6

Stress: 4 Brawl: 5 Stress: 7 Insight: 5

Insight: 6 Administrate: 5 Insight: 4 Convince: 5

Powers: Powers:
A relatively common and weak Distorted Direct employees of a Guardian Corp,
human, born to those scarred by conflict, highly armed and dangerous, these
and exposed to death. Blood Fiends are enemies are not meant to be fought,
powerful users of Zeal and have access to instead their Social blind spot could allow
strange powers making them quite them to be tricked or convinced.
dangerous in both Social and Marital
Conflicts. Esoteric Arms: Martial
+1D20(Reliable) When they…
Intoxicating Flavour: Martial “Attempt to kill”
+2D8(Drain) When they… - This Die can only be destroyed by a direct
“Taste Blood” Clash.

When one of these Dice destroy another “Affront To God”: Martial

Die in a Clash this enemy gains one Blood +2D8(Fury) When they…
Token. “Face a Distortion”

A Form Akin To Beasts: Zeal Responsibilities Of A Guardian: Social

+XD12(Flash) When they… +3D6(Reserved)(Careful) When they…
“Move at supernatural speeds” “Are following orders”
- This enemy must spend at least one
Blood Token when raising with this Power.
The Dice this Power gives is equal to the
number of Tokens spent

Sweet Crimson Dreams: Zeal

+3D12 When they…
“Want to put someone’s mind to rest”

31
The Looming Shadow:
Max Statuses: Skills:

Exhaustion: ∞ Administrate: 10

Stress: 7 Fabricate: 5

Insight: 7 Deceive: 3

Powers:
A Distorted building or small landmass,
born to fear and isolation, often due to it
being abandoned. This is incredibly
powerful and dangerous, unable to be killed
with physical damage, instead victims
should attempt to escape.

“The walls have eyes”: Zeal

+1D6(Reliable) (Hidden) When they…
“Observe”
- When this destroys a Die the controller
gains three Stress.

“The air has fangs”: Zeal

+ 3D10 (Hidden) When they…
“Cut”

32
Credits:
Writing:
Joel Vreugdenhil

Photos:
All edited by Joel Vreugdenhil

Abolova pg.13

Michael DeMarco pg. 15

Drew Beamer pg. 8

Osama Almadhagi pg. 21

Alexandr Bormotin pg. 28

33