aRKFALl

ATTRIBUTES strdexconintwisch
NAME

SKILLS skillsy1
LEVEL

SPECIAL ABILITIES atr

MOD CURE
CHARACTER CREATION
You may choose a heritage and related moves (next
column) before or after completing the steps below.
Roll 2d6 for each attribute. On a 6-, the value is 0; 7-9,
the value is +1; 10-11, the value is +2; 12, the value is +3.
HERITAGE MOVES
When you create a new adventurer, decide on your
species, ethnicity, and cultural heritage, choosing
anything or any combination of things that sounds
interesting to you and the other players.
You begin with 1 Hit Die (d6) + extra HD equal Then, pick 2-3 heritage moves to start with, selecting
ATHLETICS RATTLE VISION
to your CON. Roll all your HD and keep a number from “monster moves” that best match your heritage.
StR INT AWARENESS
CULTURE
DECEPTION
HARDY
SLAY
SKIRMISH
TOUGH
equal to your level to determine your HP.
Choose two skills: Athletics, Awareness, Culture,
No matter where or whom you come from, in
someone’s eyes, you and your family are monsters.
AMBUSH LUCKY If a move sounds purely magical, rewrite it to use the
DECIPHER REFLEXES TINKER Deception, Decipher, Heal, Leadership, Perseverance,
powers of the dead magic world of Arkfall: psionics,
DEX WiS HEAL
LEADERSHIP
PERSEVERANCE
PET SCOUT
DEADSHOT WILD
Science, Stealth, Survival.
Choose any two special abilities:
mutations, devices, robots, nanites, and science!
At the beginning of a session or when you invoke
BERSERK INSTINCT
• Mod (you can use whatever’s around to modify your rights of blood and tradition (however you do
SCIENCE
BRAWNY RUGGED items to do +2 damage for a short time before the
cON CHA STEALTH
SURVIVAL

DEVICES
TECH
COMMAND
UPLINK
mods break) Cure (you can attempt to neutralise
poisons, scour radiation, or heal wounds with a
that), roll+WIS. On a 10+, hold 3. On a 7-9, hold 2.
On a miss, you still hold 1. Spend this hold 1-for-1
during play to make a heritage move, just like that.
touch), Rattle (with a show of force, seduction, or
the like, you can attempt to distract foes, holding When you gain new appreciation for your heritage,
WEAPONS AMMO EQUIPMENT them at bay for a short time), Vision (sync with the add a new heritage move or change an existing one.
Arkmind for guidance, perhaps by immersing in an
echo pool, jacking your brain into a live data port,
drinking irradiated water or overdosing on Hx).
ROLLING THE DICE
When you attempt something risky, sum 2d6 and
• Skirmish (+1 damage and worn armour counts add one of your attribute scores, based on what action
as one type lighter), Tough (+1 armour), Slay (+2 you’re taking (The GM may tell you some possible
melee damage), Hardy (+6 HP). consequences before you roll, so you can decide if it’s
• Ambush (attack from concealment to do +3 worth the risk or if you want to revise your action.)
damage), Lucky (once per day, turn a 6- into 7-9), • A total of 6 or less is a miss; things don’t go well
Reflexes (you always go first and can react when and the risk turns out badly.
surprised), Tinker (you can attempt to quickly pick
a lock, pick a pocket, or disarm a trap). • A total of 7-9 is a partial success; you do it, but
there’s some cost, compromise, harm, etc.
• Pet (you have a loyal and effective animal
• A total of 10-11 is a full success; you do it without
ARMOUR & SPEED nonefastlightnormalfullsloowshieldt HIT DICE HIT POINTS companion), Scout (when you scout ahead
complications.
you always spot the target before it spots you),
NONE LIGHT FULL TOTAL
SHIELD Deadshot (+2 ranged damage), Wild (you can • A total of 12 or more is a critical success; you do it
(FAST) (NORMAL) (SLOW) ARMOUR converse with and attempt to command animals). perfectly to some extra benefit or advantage.
• Berserk (when enraged gain +2 melee damage, +2 If you have an applicable skill, you can’t miss: a roll
armour, but you need to roll+CON to stop fighting), of 6 or less counts as a partial success, but with a
HERITAGE MOVES At the start of a session or when
you invoke your rights of blood and
tradition, roll+WIS. On a 10+, hold 3;
NOTES Brawny (+1 melee and thrown weapons damage, bigger compromise or complication than a 7-9 result.
on a 7-9, hold 2; on a 6-, hold 1.
and you can re-roll damage once per attack), If you have help, you gain +1 to your roll.
Instinct (you can re-roll DEX when reacting to
dangerous situations), Rugged (+1 HD, +3 HP).
• Devices (you have 4 embedded items: an arc-torch, HEALING
holo-projector, omni-scanner and geiger counter), When you take rest and sustenance, you may re-roll
Command (you can attempt to control computer your HD. Resting in comfort and safety lets you roll
systems, robots and nanites), Tech (you may build an extra HD; choose the highest. If you are attended
HOLD
items to perform a specific function given time and by a healer with supplies, set one HD to 6. If you rest
NANITES materials), Uplink (you can connect to a network at a place dedicated to healing (like a nutrient pool,
of robotic satellites and nodes to summon aid). nanite-rich grove or stasis pod) set one HD to 6.

v1.01 - 02 Feb 2014

SELF-AUGMENTATION EQUIPMENT & SERVICES HIRELINGS
Nanites can be spent on all sorts of things, including several levels of self-augmentation, with benefits listed in the Start with 60 chips of equipment (keep the change) Cost per day
table below. You start at level 1 and can then buy levels in ascending order (each level is a pre-requisite for the next).
Light Weapon (10c): d6. May be wielded as a Scrounger (2c): 3HP; knife.
secondary weapon, allowing you to re-roll damage
LEVEL HIT DICE SKILLS ATTRIBUTES SPECIAL ABILITIES DAMAGE NANITE COST once per attack. Knives, pipes, short swords, etc.
Guide (5c): 6HP; knife, lantern, rope.

1 1+CON 2 - 2 0 Medium Weapon (30c): d6+1. Must be wielded in

2 +1
3 +1
4 +1 +1 (MAX +3)
5 +1d6
6 +1 +1
7 +1 (MAX +3)
8 +1
9 +1
10 +1 +1 (MAX +3)
Nanites can also be converted 1-to-1 into chips (and back) for use as currency. You can gain nanites by winning,
finding, earning or stealing and coverting chips, selling things, defeating monsters, completing quests, creatively
solving challenges, talking your way into or out of something, making life interesting for those around you, and
other similar deeds. You’ll get up to 20 nanites for something easy and up to 400+ for something really tough.
STARTING SCENARIOS
Below are some possible starting scenarios and setups.
First Generation Survivors: the PCs awake in
metal tubes each wearing a thick black carbon collar
embedded with a dull gem. There’s an extra tube too,
hatch open, stasis goo already dry. The PCs recall
their names and some details of their heritages, but
little else. Venturing out, they discover the world of
Arkfall and remember the World Ark crashing. Turns
out that was generations ago and things have moved
on since. Being members of the first generation, and
marked as such by those collars, the PCs are valued
for good and ill. Perhaps there are other tubes, too...
Cultural Liaisons: the PCs are all from very different
cultures, one of several teams assembled by ambitious,
delicately allied factions of representative cultures, to
explore and engage with other cultures across Arkfall.
Scrappers: everyone’s interested in nanites, world
shards and artefacts from the Fall. The ragtag PCs
specialise in high-risk, high-reward salvage operations.
1,000
+1 2,000
3,000
4,000
+1 5,000
6,000
7,000
+1 8,000
+1d6 9,000
QUESTS & JOBS
Below are some potential quests and jobs for the PCs.
World Shard Convoy: the PCs are tasked with
escorting a valuable world shard from the salvage
site, through contested territory, to their allies’ pick-
up site, then escorting the allies’ convoy to their
homeland. The shard is unstable and warps the land
around as they travel. And it seems word has gotten
out and rivals with claims to the shard attempt to take
it through force, deception, bribes and diplomacy.
Grey Goo Scenario: nanites have gone haywire and
are turning the land and people to grey goo, and the
goo is attacking! Can the PCs stabilise this situation,
discover the cause, and avoid becoming goo, all while
hindered by people taking advantage of the chaos?
Blast From The Past: someone linked to the past and
heritage of a PC has a bone to pick. Perhaps they feel
threatened, have volatile cultural differences, or hold
a generations-long grudge. What do the PCs do when
a person with shared heritage treats them as a foe?
main hand. Crowbars, long swords, spears etc.
Large Weapon (40c): d6+2. Uses two hands. Fire-
axes, great swords, pole arms, chainsaws etc.
Small Gun (30c): d6. Also shortbows, slings etc.
Gun (50c): d6+1. Also crossbows, javelins etc.
Heavy Gun (100c): d6+2. Uses two hands. May be
autofire (+50c), letting you make 2 attacks.
Grenades (5c): d6+2 to an area. Also claymore mines,
smoke bombs, flashbangs, novaflares, acid glands etc.
Tech Gun (200c): d6+2. Energy rifle, plasma thrower,
laser pistol, stun gun etc. May be autofire (+50c),
letting you make 2 attacks. Ignores non-tech armour.
Ammo (10c): 10 bullets or arrows, 1 tech gun charge.
Light Armour (30c): Armour 1. Tech armour is +50c.
Full Armour (60c): Armour 2. Always has a helmet.
Makes it very hard to run, move quietly, swim, leap
etc. Tech armour is +50c, like power armour or a
hazard suit with built-in geiger counter and air tank.
Shield (10c): +1 Armour.
Adventuring Gear (2c each): 20ft rope, blankets,
flint and steel, torches (4), tent, dice, caltrops (slows
pursuers), bandages, chalk, travel rations, canteen.
Tools (5c each): Crowbar, hatchet, animal trap,
lockpicks, pen & notebook, fishing rod, shovel,
grappling hook, pickaxe, pole, flashlight, gas mask.
Fancy Items (20c each): Geiger counter, holo-disc
reader, security ID card, ship or settlement blueprints,
mirror, lantern, binoculars, watch, walkie-talkie,
board game, deck of cards, elaborate clothes, charms.
Vehicles: Shoddy car (100c), decent car (1000c), fast
motorbike (3000c), fast car (5000c), hoverbike (8000c).
Animals: Crabdog (10c), mulepede (30c), horse or
camel (100c), hornscale or talonstrider (150c), battle-
ready horse, camel, hornscale or talonstrider (1500c).
Services (2c each): bed, eat, get drunk, fill canteen
Warrior (20c): 12HP; gun, light armour.
Expert (20c): 6HP; special gear.
Veteran (60c): 18HP; full armour, gun, heavy gun,
knife, sword, grenades.
CHEMS
20c+ each; effects are short-lasting, except for addiction
RadGard (temporarily increases radiation resistance).
RadRid (quickly removes radiation from the body,
but can cause headaches and nausea).
Chillax (relaxant, cools the body, dulls senses, but
also reaction speed and may have a laxative effect).
CureAll (cocktail of chemicals and nanites to heal
any sort of wound or ailment; heals d6 damage when
used, or use it during rest to set one HD to 6).
Eureka! (increases higher brain functions for a time,
but can lead to paranoia; +2 INT; addictive).
Grunt (increases strength and resistance to damage
but dulls higher brain functions; +2 melee damage,
+2 armour, -2 INT, and need to roll+WIS to resist
fighting; moderately addictive).
Glib (silver liquid that stains the tongue and alters
brain chemistry, rendering the user more eloquent
and articulate for a few hours; +2 CHA during use,
then honest uninhibited outbursts for an hour after).
Hx (aids in memory recall, with risk of memories
fading if you don’t use it frequently, and bad batches
have been known to nightmarishly twist memories).
Jolt (gives a short powerful burst of euphoria and
energy; for a short time gain 1 heritage hold, take +1
ongoing and gain the move “Act with surprising and
dangerous vigour”; highly addictive).
Killswitch (temporarily deactivates user’s nanites;
roll+INT to reactivate, but risk hurting yourself).
Keen (heightens all senses, including pain).
Soylong (green, soy-based goop with undisclosed
ingredients; sustains for a day as if it were nutritious
food and water; taste may vary from person to person).

v1.01 - 02 Feb 2014

THE WORLD OF ARKFALL
The World Ark harvested inhabitants, biomes and
shards of reality from countless worlds. Unknown
generations ago it crashed, its wreck strewn across a
world known to the survivors’ descendants as Arkfall.
Shards of myriad worlds leaked into the fractured
land, seeding regrowth of lost places. Deep pools of
ocean reformed alongside thick jungles, blizzard-
stricken tundra and seething lava flows. Patchwork
cities, like faded and jumbled recollections, also
regrew, half-familiar places ready for new inhabitants.
Generations passed and Arkfall is now home to
disparate millions. Shards alter entire regions or
single city blocks, remnants of the fallen ship range in
size from a portion of hull that shades an entire city,
to a functional stasis chamber, to a damaged weapon.
People from worlds that never should have met, have
bred and their descendants have bred. Arkfall is now
more diverse than any one world the Ark harvested.
From the Carapace-Halls of the Karashek where
they are grown for their jobs, to the Phom who are
bound to embody their namewords, to the Enclave of
Plenitude where all beings’ sexual needs and desires
are catered for, to the Deep Council, a living ocean
pocket formed of trillions of minute waterlings
constantly engaged in discourse and deceit, to the
countless people who are the last of their culture and
the countless more who are out of place in theirs,
even alongside so many others who are just as odd in
different ways, the peoples of Arkfall are truly diverse.
RADIATION
Everyone on Arkfall is a monster to someone, but
there are truer monsters, with no sentience or hope.
The truly scary things are people messed up beyond
help by radiation, or non-sentient beasts and plants
made (more) dangerous by radioactive mutations.
Radiation itself is a monster too. It can make you sick,
mutate you, mess with your head. It can turn you
into a monster. Some people use it as a drug or drink
irradiated water to see visions. Moderation is advised.
Scarier still is the symbiosis between mutants and
radiation. While the radiation is killing you, it’s
making the mutants stronger, and the mutants are
spreading it wherever they go and to any they attack.
Geiger counters, hazard suits, RadRid and RadGard
are as important as weapons and armour on Arkfall.
NANITES AND THE MAGIC OF SCIENCE
Nanites are literally everywhere, infusing the world
and its creatures and people. Nanites in the world are
constantly awaiting commands and monitoring their
surroundings. Some people, called switches, can use
their own nanites to manipulate other ones, creating
effects reminiscent of the magics of the lost worlds.
Magic is dead on Arkfall, but one could be forgiven
for thinking otherwise, as a combination of nanites,
robotics, psionics, mutations and science fairly
accurately emulate the effects of these lost powers.
Animals, plants, monsters and robots have nanites
inside them, and some hunt prey and consume their
nanites to make themselves stronger and smarter or
even grain new powers or forms. People have nanites
too, but most can’t use them on themselves, and
instead use them to power devices, world shards and
so on, or convert them into chips to use as currency.
However, some people can absorb nanites and use
them to augment, change or improve themselves,
strengthening muscles, creating new connections in
the brain, learning new skills or improving resilience.
Nanites are attracted to these people, and will fuse with
them if they show worth as determined by countless
jumbles of subrountines. Performing a daring heist,
winning a tense debate, avoiding or a dangerous foe,
solving a devious puzzle or completing a challenge
you were tasked with are all likely to attract nanites.
Levels of self-augmentation are just one more thing
nanites can be spent on. Characters should steadily
gain enough nanites to self-augment at a decent
pace while also regularly buying other things. NPCs
should have interesting, unique and time-sensitive
goods and services for sale: like maps, titles, faction
memberships, special leads, items and opportunities.
EXAMPLE OF CREATING A HERITAGE
Say I want to play a dragonblooded deep elf with a lich
ancestor at the rotten root of her ancient family tree.
I pick the Deep Elf Swordmaster move “Use the dark
to advantage”, I reword a Dragon move as “Bend the
element of ice to my will” and imagine that I have
evolved (or mutated) some icy organ allowing me
to breathe clouds of frost. I reskin the lich’s “Cast a
perfected spell of death or destruction” move as “Issue
nanites a perfected command of death or destruction”
to show how my magical heritage has survived and
adapted to function in the dead magic world of Arkfall.
THE DIE OF FATE
Sometimes the GM will roll the die of fate to see
how the situation is established. Low numbers are
ill-fortune, high numbers are good fortune (or at
least not misery). The die of fate might be rolled to
establish weather, indicate an NPC’s general attitude,
or see if a wandering monster appears. The GM may
also roll the die of fate if the PCs take some action for
which sheer chance is the only factor in the outcome.
RUNNING GAMES ON ARKFALL
Arkfall has a few themes GMs should be aware of to
help inspire ideas when running games in the setting:
• endless diversity
• salvaging the past
• weird “science”
Endless diversity: Show diversity in all that you can.
Arkfall is home to countless cultures and unique
beings. In some classic games, people from one race
might all look and act very similarly. On Arkfall,
groups of a single type of creature are more rare, and
even when you encounter one, it is made of unique
individuals. Whenever you’re revealing something
new about the world - an NPC, an aspect of a culture,
even a weapon or environment - try making it a little
strange, showing some of the world’s endless diversity.
Use the PCs’ heritages, too. If an NPC has a similar
heritage, show how they’re different to the PC. And
show how someone from a wildly different culture -
even a foe or rival - can have more in common with
a PC than their own kin. Then explore it, twist it and
dig even deeper. There’s always more diversity.
Salvaging the past: Dig up the past and shed new
light. Everyone has some connection to the past.
Regrets, hopes, lost dreams, fond memories. PCs
delve into the past through visiting various cultures
and salvaging world shards and objects from crash
sites. Have NPCs ask them to find something from
the past, and then twist that too. Relics from the past
have value to many, and often not those you expect.
A holopainting of a lonely field from a lost world
may be offensive to some descendants of that world,
the artwork painted by a war criminal, depicting
what the site of the capital city would look like years
after genocide; yet it may have great value to those
now-peaceful descendants of the war criminal, great
beauty to a collector, and gazing at the painting could
cause an addictive euphoria for a race of grass people.
Weird “science”: Magic is dead on Arkfall, and has
been replaced or emulated by mutations, evolution,
and technology. Some of this “science” is very weird,
though NPCs who are used to it may think nothing of
it. But there’s always some weird thing nobody’s seen
before. When it doubt, make it weird and unique.
Now and again, science should run amok. Nanites
turn things to goo, robots disobey, doors short-circuit
and jam, mutations spread like a plague, radiation
warps the local fauna and drives them into a frenzy.
Make sure to sometimes focus on the weird science of
the PCs, too: robotic grafts take on a life of their own,
a tentacle grows when near radiation, a PC made of
water gets sick and their body begins to turn murky.
Focus on weird things that make the PCs interesting.
MAKING ARKFALL YOUR OWN
Arkfall is a huge sandbox waiting for your mark.
Customise it and make new moves. An example from
my game using the First Generation Survivors setup:
When something in the here and now triggers a
memory of your past, do one or two of the following:
• describe a few flashes of what you remember,
showing why the memory was triggered right now
• show how the trigger or memory makes you feel
• point out the troubling gaps in this memory
For each you do, choose one: ask the GM a question
about your past, gain 1 heritage hold (max. 3), or gain
+1 to your next move (max. +3).
For each you don’t do, the GM may tell you instead.
CREDITS
Arkfall by Jarrod Farquhar-Nicol is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Find more of my games at www.playingoffthetracks.com.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Everyone below, take +1 ongoing to inspire others.
Based on World of Dungeons and World of Mutants by
John Harper. Heritage moves from the Planarch Codex:
Dark Heart of the Dreamer by Jonathan Walton are
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United
States License. Some special abilities borrowed from the
berserk, brawny, rugged instincts of Jürgen Mayer.
Special thanks to Sage LaTorra and Adam Koebel, for
Dungeon World, and to Vincent Baker, for Apocalypse
World, which started all this and just kept snowballing.
v1.01 - 02 Feb 2014