Wicked Ones

Build a Dungeon. Raid the Overworld.

Slay Adventurers. Be a Monster.
 
Playtest Version 0.2.2
The most recent version is always available at playtest.b-design.io 

Written by Ben Nielson

Art by Victor Costa

There is no table of contents. Please use the bookmarks provided with the PDF.

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Text marked in blue is an example of play.

Text marked in red is designer notes and advice.

 
Dungeons are Forged in the Dark
 
Blades in the Dark™ is a trademark of One Seven Design. The
Forged in the Dark Logo is © One Seven Design, and is used with
permission.   

 
  

What’s This Game About?

In Wicked Ones, we play to find out just how long a group of terrible monsters 
building a dungeon together can survive against the inevitable onslaught of heroism 
coming their way. In the process, we cause some crazy mayhem and chaos while 
getting to look at fantasy life from the darker side. We find out just why monsters 
need to hoard all that gold, who builds all those traps, and just how fun killing 
adventurers is. In short, we get to be monsters. 
 
Monsters are flawed creatures, driven by their base desires and instincts. Greed, 
malice, and envy grip their hearts. They would be powerful if not for these tendencies 
- and thus, humans and those like them have come to rule the world. But rarely, 
natural leaders emerge from monster societies, able to hold their nature in check to 
some degree. These are called wicked ones and you will be playing a group of them 
who have banded together to build a dungeon from which you can gather minions 
and plan raids on the overworld.  
 
As a wicked one, you can suppress these desires long enough to focus on the task at 
hand. You walk a fine line with your nature ever beckoning you away from your 
goals. If you push yourself too hard, you will find yourself pushed over the edge, 
going feral, and once again succumbing to your nature. However, it’s this fine line 
and even satisfying your nature from time to time which empower you. Wicked Ones
is a game about finding out how far these dark desires can take you before 
succumbing to them.  
 
But more than just playing a bunch of monsters, you’re building a dungeon. It 
outlives your characters - the dungeon is the main character in the story. You breathe 
life into it as you engage in revelry after a victorious raid, calamity strikes collapsing 
a tunnel on your imps, and adventurers invade your tunnels in search of your hoard. 
 

Touchstones and Setting the Right Tone

More than anything else, this game was influenced by the PC game Dungeon Keeper. 
If you’ve played it or its spiritual successor, War for the Overworld, you’ll already 
have the right feel for Wicked Ones. Some other video games were a huge inspiration 
as well, such as Dwarf Fortress, Rimworld, and Overlord. As for tabletop RPGs, of 
course Blades in the Dark gave a ton of ideas for creating a dangerous world that 
monsters inhabit, but Saga of the Goblin Horde, No Country for Old Kobolds, and 
Goblin Quest also provided great insight for portraying the monster perspective. 
 
It’s important for the GM and the players to create the right tone for the game 
together. It’s not cartoony and the monsters aren’t bumbling fools - they’re vicious 
killers with dark hearts filled with malice. But going too dark isn’t going to be fun for 
the players - so there’s a bit of a human aspect to it. The monsters have motivations 
and things they love, whether it be their pile of trinkets or growing skull collection. In 
the end, they’re in this thing together. That dungeon, built from scratch, is their 

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home and it’s all they’ve got. So while their awful nature might tear them down, they 
still want to protect what’s theirs. 
 
It’s important to be evil because that’s what monsters do, but that doesn’t mean you 
always have to be. You can step outside of that sometimes, maybe do something 
mildly good if you think it’s what your monster would do, but have no illusions - 
monsters aren’t misunderstood, they’re fundamentally evil. The GM should be giving 
them choices, but being the good guy should never be very rewarding. Give them a 
choice and let them choose the greater of two evils, let them bask in their 
horribleness. That’s really what Wicked Ones is all about. 
 

What’s a Forged in the Dark Game?

Forged in the Dark games are based on the system mechanics and unique playstyle 
developed by John Harper for Blades in the Dark. In that game, you play dangerous 
scoundrels who risk it all for fortune. It sets forth a rather unique playstyle, focusing 
on intense periods of zoomed in action where events unfold in interesting ways 
without the need for excessive planning by the players and a very flexible resolution 
system that lets you get creative. 
 
Each action-packed scene flows smoothly into the next, culminating in awesome 
success or horrible failure. You then head back to your lair for some downtime where 
you rest up and work on more long term projects. The game is about cutting to the 
action and getting to the good parts. It makes for wonderfully chaotic stories where 
no matter what you do, bad stuff happens because that’s what life’s like when you’re 
a criminal. It’s a perfect fit for Wicked Ones! 
 

Gameplay Overview
Before digging into the book, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the overall 
structure of the game and some key terms that’ll be used moving forward. Don’t 
worry too much about understanding all of this - but seeing the game’s structure 
from start to finish will help you understand the bigger picture later while you’re 
reading through the book. 
 
Wicked Ones is a game driven by character action, meaning the gamemaster (GM) 
doesn’t roll dice for NPCs. When players roll dice, the results determine both your 
action and the action of the world around you. If you fail, your enemies move against 
you. The action is driven forward by the players. 
 

Each Player Chooses a Calling: 

❖ Brute - Powerful & Intimidating Brawlers 
❖ Conniver - Manipulative & Controlling Masterminds 
❖ Crafter - Clever & Curious Tinkerers 
❖ Marauder - Cunning & Impressive Warriors 

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❖ Shadow - Sneaky & Elusive Rogues 

❖ Shaman - Terrifying & Vengeful Spirit Worshippers  
❖ Tracker - Ruthless & Tenacious Hunters 
❖ Warlock - Deceptive & Ambitious Magicians 
❖ Zealot - Fervent & Mystical Believers 

 
You play as a fantasy monster working with other monsters to build a dungeon and 
achieve your master plan. You actually draw out this dungeon on paper and the 
game alternates between time spent within the dungeon and outside of it. The master 
plan develops over time, only needing to know the next step in the plan. Following 
through on these steps generates xp for your group. 
 
You choose a calling which gives you a list of abilities to choose from as you gain in 
power. Each character has a set of nine actions rated from 0 to 4 dots which are used 
when you want your character to do something. Before you make a roll, the GM will 
determine the position and effect of the roll. Position is a measure of how bad the 
consequences will be if you fail, while effect is a measure of how large of an impact 
you will have if you succeed. When you want to do something, you declare your 
intent and what action you’d like to use. The GM gives you the position and effect and 
you then decide whether to roll or not. 
 
You roll a number of d6s equal to the action rating you chose, then you take the 
highest result from the roll. If it’s a 1, 2, or 3, it’s a failure and you suffer a 
consequence determined by how bad your position was. A 4 or 5 is a mixed, meaning 
you manage to accomplish your goal but suffer a consequence as well. If you roll a 6, 
it’s a success and you accomplish it without any consequences. Two 6s give you a 
critical and you get some awesome extra benefit along with your success. 
 
Consequences come in many forms, such as wounds, the situation worsening, a 
weapon breaking, or enemy reinforcements arriving. Taking a second heavy wound 
before recovering kills your character. When you suffer a consequence, you can 
resist it with your actions which negates or reduces its impact, but you might take 
stress. Stress is a resource every character has that allows them to keep their nature 
in check. Characters can also spend it to empower abilities that they have, like casting 
powerful spells or using monstrous strength.  
 
Your nature is the deep and dark impulses resting within your monstrous heart. It 
beckons you away from the tasks at hand. Following through when it beckons grants 
you a dark heart, a bankable die that you can spend later when rolling actions. 
However, when you take too much stress, you snap and go feral, giving in to your 
nature completely. You fill your bank of dark hearts but can’t resist consequences. 
When you spend all of the dark hearts, you regain control. Until your next recovery, 
you’re at risk of pushing your character over the edge, having them permanently give 
in to their nature and become unplayable. 
 
The game progresses in two phases, the lurking phase and the roaming phase. 
During the lurking phase, each character has two downtime activities that they can 
spend to dig out rooms and tunnels, build traps and locks, craft inventions and 

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potions, and so on. The minions you control also have a downtime activity to use. You 
clear all of your stress and heal all of your wounds during recovery at the beginning 
of this phase. You can engage in revelry by spending gold, which rewards you with 
dark hearts. At the end of the lurking phase, the GM rolls to see if any calamity 
happened within your dungeon such as minions revolting or tunnels collapsing. 
 
During the roaming phase, you head out of your dungeon, interacting with factions, 
recruiting minions, and launching raids. You can jump directly into a raid by 
selecting a target, choosing a plan, and providing a detail. The GM then rolls 
engagement and you skip directly to the first steps of the plan unfolding. Raids are 
where the bulk of the action in the game happens as you hit targets for the gold and 
resources your dungeon needs to grow. After the raid winds down, the GM rolls to see 
if your actions caused any blowback, such as an ambush waiting for you or targets 
along a prosperous trade route drying up. 
 
Calamity and blowback sometimes results in invasions, leading to a group of 
powerful adventurers showing up at your dungeon. Adventurers might also show up 
as the result of events in the story. The PCs, like any good dungeon boss, await them 
in their sanctum while their minions, creatures, tricks, locks, and traps attempt to 
fend them off. If the adventurers manage to make their way into the sanctum, the 
PCs face off against them. After cleaning up the bodies or leaving them lay where 
they fell, you jump right back into the phase cycle and continue raiding and pillaging 
the overworld. 
 
A more thorough overview of dungeon mechanics can be found on pg. X.  

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Gotta get those coins (example of play)

The GM rolls 2d for engagement, getting a 6 and a 1 - a success! The ambush
is set up perfectly.

GM: You see the dust trail of several wagons moving towards you - it’s the
caravan you’re waiting in ambush for. But, Dibdob, you noticed a couple of
travelers playing dice on the roadside earlier and an unattended coin pouch
sitting behind one of them. You can feel your greedy nature calling out to you.

Dibdob, a kobold shadow: Ahhh, I’m gonna need that pouch. Sorry guys. I
want to Skulk in there and snag it. I try to slip off without the rest of you
noticing and trying to stop me. I get a dark heart for following through on my
nature, right?

The GM nods and Dibdob marks down a dark heart on his sheet.

GM: Awesome. They seem distracted and it’s getting towards dusk, but they’ve
got swords laying beside them. Let’s call that risky position with strong effect
for the high grass surrounding the campsite and the setting sun.

Dibdob rolls 2d for Skulk and gets a 3 and a 5. He takes the highest result, a 5
- a mixed! He does it, but things are going to get a bit dicey.

GM: Cool, you’re gonna be able to get the pouch. Tell us what that looks like.

Dibdob: Okay, I put my dagger between my teeth and get really low to the
ground, sliding through the grass to the edge of the camp. My skinny, scaley
kobold hand pokes out of the grass and reaches out to snag the pouch, quietly
pulling it back to me.

GM: I think your strong effect here can even get you back away from the
camp. There’s just one problem, your medium consequence from the mixed
roll. It looks like the travelers are standing up and getting ready to ride off
towards that caravan. You’re all going to lose your dominant position for the
ambush since the riders will get there before you do.

Dibdob: Nah, I want to resist them riding over to help. I’m going to Trick them
by tossing a rock off into the woods. Maybe they’ll waste time going to
investigate it. I might as well use my dark heart here, too.

Dibdob rolls 1d for his Trick and adds 1d for spending the dark heart, getting
a 2 and a 3 - a failure! He takes medium stress and the consequence is
partially resisted. The trick distracts them and his allies are able to maintain
their dominant position, but the ambush will have to start without Dibdob
there.

 
 

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Player Best Practices

Be a monster. When playing your character, try to just do what you think the 
monster you’re playing would do, then figure out what to roll. Don’t get too wrapped 
up in rolling the most dice - the game’s more fun when you let the mechanics flow 
from the fiction. You’re a crazy monster, act like one! 
 
Root for your dungeon, not your character. Your dungeon will outlive any monster 
character you’re playing - it’s the center of the story here. Don’t worry about losing a 
character, just promote a minion to a wicked one or bring in another fun to play 
monster. 
 
Don’t run from danger, embrace it. The fun in the game happens when the biggest 
stakes are on the line. Monsters don’t weigh risk vs. reward well and neither should 
you.  
 
When in doubt, follow your nature. If you don’t know how your monster would act, 
just lean heavily on your nature and see where it takes you. 
 
Describe what’s going on. When you roll, take the reins and tell everyone what’s 
happening. Even if a consequence is coming your way, narrate up to the point where 
the GM cuts in to tell you how everything went horribly wrong. The more you describe 
your actions, the better the story blends together for everyone. 
 
It’s up to you to tell a cool story. It’s not just on the GM to make the story awesome - 
it’s on all of you. Every person at the table is there to enjoy the same game and you all 
have the same level of responsibility. It’s easy to shuffle this over to the GM, but 
they’ll have enough on their plate. Come to the session prepared, know the rules, step 
up and drive action, and help suggest courses of action for fellow players when 
they’re stuck. 
 

GM Best Practices
Never forget that the world hates monsters. The world is out to get them, so don’t 
pull your punches. The game’s supposed to be brutal. Give them good reason to hide 
behind their dungeon traps. 
 
Let the players drive the story. Do your best to encourage them to come up with 
their own ideas. Your job is to play the sandbox that they’re tearing apart. Don’t push 
them towards story elements - let them find their own way. They know their 
characters better than you. 
 
Be their biggest fan. When they fail, laugh at how much it sucks for them and smack 
them with consequences, but when they pull off something awesome, be the first one 
to cheer their success. In the same vein, don’t fall in love with your world and NPCs - 
they’re dominoes there for the PCs to knock over. 

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Hand the narrative reins to the players. Prompt the players to describe their 
intentions before they roll and how it played out after they roll. Ask them how they 
do things or what their success looks like. When they roll a mixed, let them describe 
how they do it well, then cut in and tell them where it went wrong. On a failure, let 
them set themselves up for the consequences coming their way.  
 
Be the dark desires lurking in the PCs’ hearts. Challenge their natures. Always have 
a list of the PCs’ natures in front of you and give a bit of thought in advance to how 
you can tempt them away from the task at hand. The game is at its best when it all 
goes awry. 
 
Bring the world to life. Give NPCs and locations some personality, even if it’s just a 
poignant detail or two, but also try to think about how the monster PCs would view 
them. Call them by distinctive characteristics. The boss with the fat belly, the lady 
with the whiny voice, the elf with a long nose. But make sure they’re more than just 
human A and B to kill. Make it feel like they exist there, have connections, and their 
loss is going to be felt. If monsters are raiding a caravan, have the driver chatting 
with one of the mercenaries. Let the players feel like what they’re doing is evil. 
 

How Evil is Too Evil?

In Wicked Ones, you’re going to be playing evil monsters doing evil stuff but there 
are various shades of evil there. For the overall tone of the game, it tends to work best 
when the monsters are wickedly evil, not comically evil, and definitely not 
misunderstood evil. The best way to think about it is that you’re the villain in a B 
movie. You’re the monsters a GM would run in any typical fantasy hack and slash 
game. You play as monsters and will be doing monstrous things. When adventurers 
come kicking down your dungeon door, they’re doing what’s right. They’re the good 
guys and you’ve given them good reason to be there. This is a game where you have 
permission to be the bad guy - so try your best to jump right into the role. 
 
That said, how evil should you be? That’s a question for each table to answer. When 
playing evil characters, it’s all too easy to push things too far. Things can get weird, 
uncomfortable, or just plain gross. Now if you’re into weird, uncomfortable, or just 
plain gross things, that could be fine - but most people probably aren’t going to be. So 
before you get started, it’s important to set the right tone and create a table where the 
game is well within everyone’s comfort zones. Luckily, we have some great tools 
developed by the community to handle just this. Whether you’re playing with a new 
group or even old friends, using one of the following methods can save you a lot of 
grief down the road. 
 

Lines & Veils

This fantastic method has been provided to the community by Ron Edwards in the 
game Sex and Sorcery. With Lines & Veils, players set some ground rules during the 
first session. You discuss things you would rather not have be a part of the game. You 

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set lines, which are very clear limits on what can’t be brought up in game - it’s as if 
those things don’t even exist. They’re strictly off limits. You also set veils, which 
allow something to be brought up, but it has to happen off-screen. The scene can fade 
to black or if it’s something you roll for, you just make the roll and it’s accepted that it 
happens. You don’t need any details, you don’t roleplay through the events, but it 
having happened can affect the storyline moving forward. 
 

The X Card
Another great approach for this is the X Card. The GM puts an index card with a big 
red X on it in the middle of the table, though it can really be some other object or even 
just an agreed upon gesture. The point is to make it clear and easily accessible. If the 
game veers into uncomfortable territory, players can tap the card and signal to the 
GM that they’d like to move on. The player doesn’t have to explain why they tapped it, 
but is free to discuss it after the session if they’d like. The GM then moves the scene 
on or reworks it a bit to avoid that subject matter and everyone at the table knows it’s 
best avoided in the future.  
 
The strong point of the X-Card is how flexible it is - you sometimes don’t know what’s 
uncomfortable to you until you’re confronted with it. Bringing it up at that time 
might be a little difficult and players might even feel like they’re interrupting other 
people’s fun. So the X-Card is an agreement between all players that it’s fine to 
interrupt if you don’t like what’s going on - that everyone having a good time and 
being comfortable with the story is the most important thing. 
 

Movie Ratings
Finally, the simplest way to do this is to just assign a rating to the game like it’s a 
movie. Is this game going to be G, PG, PG13, R, or X rated? This works particularly well 
along with the X-Card when you don’t really want to go through exactly what is and 
isn’t okay and just judge it more on the fly as the game progresses. Setting a rating 
can set a nice basis for what’s acceptable, then the X-Card can be used when you hit 
some uncomfortable territory. 
 

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Putting These Into Practice

GM: Okay, so let’s go ahead and set some ground rules. You’re all going to be
a bunch of crazy monsters, but let’s not let the evil get too out of hand. I’m
down with an R rating for the game, but let’s do Lines & Veils, too. Basically,
let’s just choose some stuff that’s off-limits and stuff that happens off-screen.
I wanna throw out a few of my own to get started. First, there’s no rape, it’s
strictly off-limits, even in a vague “raping and pillaging” sense. Other sex
stuff is fine off-camera like a couple of bugbears hooking up or whatever, but
there’s no way I’m roleplaying through that.

John: Let’s not do kid stuff. Like, no hurting kids. I feel like they can be
around, but maybe they just always get away or something. They always
have plot armor.

Matt: I’m not so cool with gory blood stuff. I mean, a little’s fine, but I don’t
really want to listen to long description. If it gets too heavy, can we just do
that stuff off-screen?

GM: Yeah, that’s fine if everyone’s cool with me just judging that on the fly.

Jenny: What about torture? I mean, it’s pretty in-genre. Could we maybe do
that, but keep it light on the goriness? It’s mostly about gathering info and
one of the only methods monsters are going to have to get it.

(this type of conversation continues until everyone feels pretty comfortable)

GM: And just so everyone knows, I’m going to be using the X-Card so I’ll just
put a card out here in the middle of the table. If we accidentally break some
of our ground rules or if we hit on something uncomfortable or weird that we
haven’t talked about yet, just tap the card and we’ll move on. I’ll wrap up or
go back and rework the scene a bit, no questions asked. After the session, if
you want to talk about it, we can discuss it then.

 
   

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The Basics
 
Wicked Ones is a cooperative game - players work together to build a dungeon and 
wreak havoc on a region. The main character of this story you’ll be telling is the 
dungeon - your home and refuge, a safe place to lay your head after some raiding and 
the only thing between you and the end of an adventurer’s sword. Your dungeon’s 
story is emergent and what happens is largely up to player choices and how the dice 
roll.  
 
The dungeon will unfold over time and you’ll fill it with all kinds of crazy stories, 
fending off adventurers, busting the heads of your minions, dragging in prisoners. 
The players play their own monster characters, but also the minions and creatures 
that inhabit their dungeon, as well as all of the traps, tricks, locks, and magic rituals 
they fill it with. But first of all, this chapter will lay out most of the mechanics that 
players will need to play their own monster characters. The dungeon and how it 
works will be covered later. 
 

Phases & Scenes

Gameplay cycles between two phases - roaming (pg. X), covering what happens 
outside your dungeon, and lurking (pg. X), covering what happens inside it. A lot 
happens within each phase and for the most part, time passes very fluidly. You can 
montage through scenes or skip around in time with PCs doing things at different 
times and places. 
 
When things heat up and the action gets interesting, we zoom in on it. This is called a 
scene. Within scenes, time slows down and events progress in sequential order. You 
can still skip forward when nothing interesting is happening, but time is mostly 
driven forward by player action. When the starting situation in a scene isn’t exactly 
clear, we can use engagement (pg. X) to clarify it. 
 
When the excitement wraps up, we zoom back out into the more fluid flow of time 
again. The key to triggering a scene is knowing when something is interesting or 
important enough to roleplay through thoroughly. Going out and recruiting a minion 
from a local goblin tribe might not be all that interesting. However, if things go 
poorly and they try to drive you off, you might face a choice - run away and keep the 
pace of time fluid or zoom in on the action, smashing the goblin chief in the face and 
demanding he give you two of his best warriors. 
 
This zooming in and out happens naturally through play and doesn’t always have to 
be made clear, but the GM or even one of the players can say, “Let’s make this a 
scene.” to make sure everyone’s on the same page. It’s really just saying that you 
think it’d be fun to see that part of the story in more detail. 
 

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Rolling Dice
All rolls in Wicked Ones are made using 6-sided dice and each player is going to need 
a set of 4-6 of these. Any time a die roll is mentioned in this book, it’ll be written out 
with the number of dice to be rolled first followed by a “d”, so 3d means to roll 3 
6-sided dice. 
 
While there are various types of rolls in the game, each with their own special rules, 
all rolls follow the same basic pattern. You gather a pool of dice, roll it and keep the 
highest result. If you happen to roll two 6s, the result is considered a critical.  
 

If you’re rolling 0d, you instead roll 2d and take the lowest result, which 
also means it’s impossible to roll a critical.

 
Some abilities or situations might modify how many dice you get to roll. A plus or 
minus sign means to add one or subtract one from the pool, such as +1d or -1d. When 
figuring out how many dice are in the pool, first apply negative modifiers with a 
minimum pool of 0d, then apply positive modifiers. 
 
Every roll will have one of four results: critical, success, mixed, or failure. Only the 
players roll dice, so when they roll a mixed or failure, the world moves against them 
and they suffer consequences. Generally speaking, the result of the roll follows the 
same pattern, detailed below: 
 

Result Do You Accomplish the Task? Ticks*

  Yes, and… ! Not only do you get what you want, but you 
get something else to go along with it!  
3 
Critical 

  Yes! You get the results that you hoped for!  2 

Success 

Yes, but… You get the results, but they come at a cost. 
  There will be some consequences coming your way. At 
other times, it may just result in a less effective result. 
1 
Mixed 

No, and… Things go as poorly as they could have in that 

  situation. You fail to accomplish your goal and you 
suffer consequences. 
0 
Failure
 
* Ticks refer to how many times the roll will tick a progress clock if applicable. Check 
out Progress Clocks (pg. X) for more info. 
 

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For the most part, players are the ones who roll the dice. Below is an overview of every 
type of roll made in Wicked Ones, which will all be explained further as you work 
your way through the rules. 
 
Players will be making these rolls: 
❖ Action rolls are made when characters do something challenging. You 
choose an action and roll it to find out what happens. The roll has position 
and effect, which determine how risky it is and the impact it might have. 
❖ Resistance rolls are made to resist consequences. You choose an action and 
roll it to see how much stress you take to resist it. 
❖ Downtime rolls are made to dig out rooms and tunnels, build locks and 
traps, craft potions and contraptions, cast rituals, and so on during the 
lurking phase. You roll an action to see how much progress you make. 
❖ Revelry rolls are made at the beginning of the lurking phase to engage in 
your revelry and gain dark hearts. You spend gold and roll dice equal to 
how much gold you spend. 
❖ Loot rolls are made after a raid to see how much gold you came away with. 
You also make them after a successful dungeon defense or any time you 
have a chance to gain some extra loot. 
 
The GM will be making these rolls: 
❖ Engagement rolls are made to determine how a raid starts off or what 
position the PCs are in when some action starts but it’s unclear how ready 
they were for it. 
❖ Calamity rolls are made to determine if anything bad happened within 
your dungeon while lurking. 
❖ Blowback rolls are made to determine how the world responded to your 
actions out in the overworld while roaming. 
❖ Fortune rolls are made to figure out how something goes or questions 
about the world when the GM isn’t quite sure or doesn’t want to decide on 
their own. 
 

Actions
Actions are different methods and approaches that you use to get things done. They 
represent a character’s natural ability or training. They show what you’re good at and 
what you’re terrible at. They define how your character goes about solving problems. 
 
They often overlap with each other in the tasks they can apply to, as there’s usually 
more than one to do something. They don’t cover every possible thing you could be 
doing - they’re just the most common ways that monsters deal with their problems. 
Tied to each action and listed with it on your character sheet is a descriptive adverb
which expands on how it is typically used. When you can’t quite find an action that 
fits what you want to do, you can always fall back on that adverb to figure out your 
approach. 
 

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Actions and Attributes

Actions are broken up into three categories called attributes. The attributes are a 
good indication of how the actions are typically used. They are also sometimes hit 
with a consequence called shock (pg. X), weakening that set of actions temporarily. 
 
❖ Brains covers the actions Scan, Tinker, and Trick. 
❖ Muscles covers the actions Finesse, Skulk, and Smash. 
❖ Guts covers the actions Banter, Command, and Invoke. 
 

Actions in Detail
When you Scan, you perceptively read situations or search for information.  
You might roll Scan to scope out good targets on a road, read fear in your enemies’
hearts, or pour over an archaic tome looking for details for a ritual.
 
When you Tinker, you cleverly fiddle with a device, mechanism, or potion.  
You might roll Tinker to rig a cart axle to fail, place a trap along a forest path, or
jimmy a lock in your way.

When you Trick, you slyly deceive, confuse, or manipulate someone.  

You might roll Trick to make someone believe you’re harmless, distract some farmers
while your buddies loot the barn, or lose some hounds running you down.

When you Finesse, you precisely take aim, maneuver, or use tools.  
You might roll Finesse to stick an arrow between someone’s ribs, jump from tree limb
to limb, or trip someone walking by you.
 
When you Skulk, you sneakily move unnoticed or launch a surprise attack.  
You might roll Skulk to slip out of the shadows and cut a guard’s throat, sneak up and
pocket some unattended gold pouches, or go unnoticed in a crowd.
 
When you Smash, you powerfully assault something or someone.  
You might roll Smash to bury an axe into someone’s skull, bend some prison cell bars,
or toss an exploding alchemical against a wall.
 
When you Command, you forcefully compel someone to obey.  
You might roll Command to scare townsfolk into running away, keep your minions in
line, or demand some travellers surrender their bags.
 
When you Banter, you affably get people to help you out because they like you.  
You might roll Banter to get a group of goblins to join your dungeon as minions,
convince some satyrs that you’re not looking for trouble, or calm a giant spider down.
 
When you Invoke, you magically interact with dark, mystical forces.  
You might roll Invoke to cast an enormous fireball into a town square, dispel a ward
spell on a door, or make a hippogriff back down with a display of magic.
 

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Choosing Which Action to Roll

Think about what your character is doing and work backwards from that to choose an 
action. Describe it, then find the action that matches your description most 
appropriately. If you can’t quite find one that fits, reference the associated adverb to 
see if you can get close. Matching description with actions is key, as it informs the 
shape success will take or the consequences that will stem from failure. Are you 
trying to powerfully Smash a stink bomb against a wall, or are you trying to precisely
Finesse it into the perfect spot?  
 
Overlap among actions when trying to accomplish a task is normal - there are many 
ways to go about most things and some approaches may be more effective than 
others. It’s up to the player to tell the GM how they want to approach doing 
something, and it’s up to the GM to determine how effective or dangerous that might 
be. 

Be the Monster, Then Choose an Action That Fits

The game is at its funnest when you’re thinking in character and doing what
you think a monster would do in that situation. We all have a tendency to
want to roll our highest-rated actions, but the fun in the game is failing and
dealing with that failure. You’re a crazy monster who doesn’t think things
through, after all. So if your goblin crafter wants to tell a big, bad knight that
he’ll rip his tongue out even though you have 0 dots in Command, say screw
it and roll the dice anyway! If you really want it to work, go hard and toss a
dark heart at it!

Action Rolls
When a PC attempts to do something challenging in a situation with risk and tension, 
you make an action roll to see how it turns out. If there’s no risk or tension, there’s no 
reason to make the roll - the PC can just narrate what happens.  
 

Action Rolls 
You roll the chosen action, with the GM providing the position and effect 
for the roll. 
🎲  
Critical: You do it without consequences and get something extra. 
Success: You do it without any consequences. 
Mixed: You do it, but it’s costly - you suffer a consequence. 
Failure: You don’t do it and suffer a consequence. 

 
First, describe what you want to accomplish and the action you’d like to use to do so. 
The GM then considers many factors (detailed later) and gives you a position and 

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effect for the roll. The player then decides if they’d like to go ahead with the roll, hold 
off, or consider another approach. 
 
The action roll itself resolves several things happening within the fiction. As the GM 
doesn’t roll for NPC actions, their actions are covered by PC action rolls. Each roll sets 
up a small scene with many things happening at once. The scope of what you can 
accomplish is determined by your goal, the chosen actions, and the difficulty of 
anything in your way. One Smash roll might cover a quick break through a cornfield 
running away from some farmers, but throw some dogs in there and it’s going to be 
much harder to get away. Your effect will be limited or you may need to tick away at a 
progress clock. Always be thinking about your end goals and make sure the GM knows 
what you’re trying to do. If you can’t quite get far enough with a single roll, maybe 
break your goal up into smaller increments. 
 
When you narrate the action after the roll, the GM and player collaborate together to 
say what happens on-screen. The PC’s actions are in the player’s hands and they 
should be describing what they do - even on a failure! The GM cuts in with NPC 
reactions, pulls your narration back when it stretches a little too far, or hands out 
consequences. 
 

Players Should Decide Their Actions

It’s best if the player chooses the action roll themselves. The GM choosing the
actions is an easy habit to fall into, but they should try to make sure the
players maintain control over their character’s actions. If someone is
struggling, maybe the GM can prompt them with, “How do you go about it?”
Suggesting actions that fit can work well, too. “That sounds like Smash to me,
but I could also see Finesse or Tinker here,” works well, but try your best to
avoid a line like, “Okay, roll Smash.” The other players can help out with this,
too!

After the roll, if the player doesn’t pick up the narration, the GM can cue them
in by asking, “Okay, tell us what that looks like.” This is the most powerful
line in a GM’s arsenal. Give the players a ton of narrative control and they’ll
respond with awesome scenes from which NPC reactions and consequences
flow seamlessly.

Position and Effect

Once the player announces what they would like to do and the action they’d like to 
use to do it, the GM needs to run through a quick simulation in their brain. This is the 
GM’s primary job - making the world feel real. To do this, every roll has a position and 
effect assigned by the GM with many factors playing into it. This is how the world 
pushes back against PC actions. They want to do stuff, but there’s consequences for 
their actions and things might not quite work out as well as they would hope. 
 

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Action rolls are the only rolls that have position and effect.

Position is a measure of how severe the consequences (pg. X) will be if you fail a roll. 
There are three positions that you’ll find yourself in. 
 
❖ Dominant position means you’re in control of the situation. You risk 
suffering a light consequence. 
You have the perfect opportunity. You’re at a strong advantage. You’re in a
situation where you can recover from failure.
❖ Risky position means there’s definitely a chance of danger involved. You 
risk suffering a medium consequence. 
You don’t have time to think things through. You’re taking a chance. You’re
in a situation where failure is going to hurt.
❖ Dangerous position means it’s incredibly perilous. You risk suffering a 
heavy consequence. 
Your back is against the wall. You’re putting it all on the line. You’re in a
situation where failure is going to be a disaster.
 
Effect is the measure of how much impact you will have if you succeed on a roll. 
There are three levels of effect: 
 
❖ Strong effect means you can expect things to go very well.  
You’re set up for success. You have the perfect plan. Your target is weak.
There’s someone helping you out.
❖ Normal effect means you can expect average results if you do well.  
You have the tools you need. You’re on equal footing. It’s all up to you.
❖ Weak effect means you expect less than the results you’d prefer. 
You’ve chosen the wrong tool for the job. You’re at a clear disadvantage.
There’s something hindering you.
 
The default position for action rolls is risky and the default effect is normal. If you’re 
trying something, you can generally expect to have chosen the right tool for the job 
with a decent chance of it working, but in a monster’s life, there’s almost always 
some chance things will go horribly wrong.  
 
If something has no cost for failure and you have ample chances at accomplishing it, 
you don’t need to roll for it - you can just do it. If it’s important to know how well you 
did, make a fortune roll (pg. X) to see how it goes. Dominant position is used for a 
momentary advantage within a high pressure situation or in situations where failure 
will only lead to lost opportunity, such as downtime activities (pg. X). 
 

Action rolls made for downtime activities (pg. X) default to dominant 

position. 

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Setting Position and Effect

To set the position and effect, the GM takes a look at all of the circumstances
surrounding a roll. The easiest way to frame this in your mind is trying to figure out 
whether a PC is at an advantage or a disadvantage. If not, then just go with the 
default above. But if they have something working for or against them, it’s probably 
going to modify position and effect. 
 
There are a lot of circumstances that affect position and effect, however they’re not 
all weighed against each other equally. Some might be considered a dominant 
circumstance, meaning it heavily outweighs others. It’s the GM’s job to weigh all of 
these against each other, then decide the appropriate level of position and effect. 
Here’s a list of things that might be considered as a circumstance: 
 
❖ The action being used, whether it’s an effective or dangerous way to go 
about the task or not.  
Smashing a bottle against the side of a moving carriage is going to be
easier than trying to Finesse it through a window.
❖ The scale of both sides, whether one side has substantially larger size or 
greater numbers. 
A lone orc will struggle against a mob of townsfolk but can compete on
equal footing if they bring a few friends along. 
❖ The quality of the equipment being used, with higher tier factions 
generally using higher quality items than lower tiers.  
Fighting unarmored townsfolk with pitchforks is one thing, but fighting a
well-equipped squad of the baron’s soldiers is quite another.  
❖ The skill of the opponent, with an extreme gap in skill placing a character 
into a better or worse position. This can usually be judged by action ratings 
- rolling 0d against a trained opponent is likely to fail, but also may give 
reduced position.  
A kobold with a handaxe and no experience using it is going to struggle
against a seasoned guard.
❖ Defenses and resistances, with armor and shields being obvious, but also 
other things like keen ears, an acute mind, or being fearless factoring in. 
An anti-magic field is going to severely dampen or negate the effect of
magic.
❖ The strength of the magic in use, as more powerful magical effects have 
an advantage over weaker ones.  
Dispelling a simple illusion is much easier than dispelling an illusion
hiding a hidden entrance that has stood for hundreds of years.
❖ Environmental factors which could affect one side or the other. 
Skulking through a well lit room full of people isn’t going to go as well as
an empty, darkened hallway. 
❖ More specific advantages like having the exact perfect tool for the job or 
knowing a secret that comes into play. Having wrong information would 
put you at a disadvantage, though. 
Your troll buddy told you that the orc queen loves to be flattered - a fact
that couldn’t be further from the truth.
 

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In rare cases, circumstances can push position and effect to extreme levels. When 
failure means there’s no chance of survival, the position becomes deadly. This means 
that the consequence for the roll is death or a fate worse than death, such as diving 
into lava or lying to a god. Deadly consequences cannot be resisted, though a mixed 
success on such a roll gives a heavy consequence (pg. X) instead.  
 
On the other hand, effect can be reduced to zero. This means there’s absolutely no 
way you can have an effect, such as trying to Smash a dragon by throwing a rock at it 
or trying to Banter a farmer whose wife you just killed. 

When to Use Deadly Position and Zero Effect

The purpose of these two extremes is to give the GM a tool to limit player
foolishness. At some point, things just aren’t going to work and these two
represent that. It’s a way for the GM to step in and mechanically represent
how unbelievably dangerous, illogical, or just impossible an action is instead
of just saying “no”.

 
Sometimes, the relationship between all of these factors can sometimes make things 
a little muddy. The GM should just go with their gut - reference the above descriptions 
of position and effect and choose what feels right. With practice, it’ll become second 
nature. Keep in mind, as well, that you don’t always need to call out the defaults for 
rolls.  
 
When the circumstances of the starting situation are unsure, the GM can use an 
engagement roll detailed later in this chapter to set up the initial position and 
describe what kind of situation the PCs find themselves in. 
 

Throughout the rules, there will be mentions of gaining modifiers to 

position and effect from certain abilities or rolls. They are usually 
notated as +position or -position. If you have a bonus from one source, it 
counts as a circumstance towards position or effect. If you have the 
same bonus from two sources, it instead counts as a dominant 
circumstance.

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Let’s Try That Again

Grenda, an orc brute, notices a tribe of kobolds have wandered into her lands.
She heads out to talk to them. “I want to Command them to get a move on - I
don’t need them getting a view of our dungeon entrance.” Since the kobolds
aren’t really trying to be threatening and they’re pretty scared of her, she
rolls 1d at dominant / normal and gets a 2, a failure. The GM says, “Nah, they
don’t seem to pay you much mind and just keep moving.” It looks like she’s
going to lose her opportunity.

Instead, she grabs her axe and jumps in front of them. “I Command them
again, levelling my axe at them, and tell them to turn around or else.” The
kobolds won’t shy from a fight, even though they aren’t looking for one. She
rolls 1d again at risky / normal and gets a 5, a mixed! The kobolds leave - but
they’re not going to forget that threat and might be back for more later, with
friends! The GM starts a 4-segment clock called “Pissed off kobolds” and
marks one segment.

Engagement Rolls
Any time the initial position of a scene is unclear, the GM rolls engagement to set the 
position the PCs start in. This could be the beginning of a raid, a fight starting, hiding 
from a griffon circling overhead, or starting a conversation with a spider queen. 
Engagement bridges the gap between the zoomed out overall narration and a zoomed 
in action scene. It helps you establish just what exactly was going on when the action 
starts up if it’s not clear. This works better than the GM arbitrarily making the call. 
 
Engagement tells you how well prepared you are for what’s to come - do you begin in 
a strong position with a lot of opportunities or is your back against the wall from the 
get go?  
 
 

Engagement Rolls
Roll 1d, 2d, or 3d depending on the likelihood of starting in a strong 
position. 
 
Critical: You couldn’t be more ready. Every PC can take either +position or 
+effect on their first action. 
🎲 Success: Things begin smoothly, going according to plan. The first person 
to act can take either +position or +effect. 
Mixed: You face some minor complications as things get started, beginning 
in a risky position, possibly with minor consequences inflicted. 
Failure: You didn’t see this coming! Things go awry from the outset. You 
may have not even made it to your target. You begin in a dangerous 
position, probably with consequences already being inflicted. 

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The amount of dice is determined by a rough estimate of how well the PCs are 
prepared for what’s to come. If they have some factors on their side that might help 
put them in a better position, the likelihood of things beginning well increases. If 
things are working against them, it decreases. You can set the dice for this as follows: 
 

What are the chances things start in the PCs favor?

1d 2d 3d
Unlikely  Toss-up  Likely 
 
In some cases, a player’s action can be used to set the amount of dice to roll. If they 
are about to get ambushed, it might make more sense to roll a PC’s Scan. 
 

Engagement Examples 
❖ Something goes awry while you’re making an alchemical and the 
dungeon laboratory is engulfed in flames. Do you notice early and 
manage to duck out of the lab or do you start the scene already on 
fire? 
❖ You’re walking down a forest path and a heavily armored paladin 
steps into the road, drawing their sword. Oh shit, adventurers! Run! 
But is there a way out or are there more adventurers behind you? 
❖ You decide to raid a river boat. A plan is laid out (Smash & Grab) and 
you have a detail (We jump on the boat from the trees). Do you land 
on the boat no problem or were the boat’s guards watching the trees? 
❖ You’re in your dungeon working on projects when a giant worm 
burrows into your laboratory. Do you hear the walls starting to crack 
or were you asleep? 

 
Beyond setting the initial scene, the purpose of engagement is to cut to the exciting 
parts and zoom in on the action. You skip lengthy discussions of plans and 
preparation, things that often burn through a lot of time at the table. When you roll 
engagement, time is no longer fluid - you zoom in and every action counts and moves 
to push the story forward.  
 
Once you have accomplished your task or the tension dies down, you zoom back out 
and time is fluid again.  
 

Consequences
When the world moves against you, you suffer a consequence determined by the GM - 
an archer hits you with an arrow, a horse kicks you off a cliff, or a goblin chief 
narrows his eyes and signals that they’re pulling out of your alliance. This happens 
when powerful enemies or tough circumstances inflict consequences (pg. X) or as the 
outcome of a roll. Consequences represent the movement of NPCs and the situation 
in the game. This most commonly comes in the form of a failure or mixed action roll. 
Consequences can hit hard, but PCs have the ability to resist them as well (pg. X). 

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When it’s unclear, the GM determines the severity of a consequence, which also 
determines how much stress it make take should you resist it (pg. X). This works as 
follows: 
 
❖ Light consequences are annoying. They’re mostly ignorable. 
The guard knicks your shoulder with an arrow. The merchant ducks into his
tent and you miss your opportunity to take a shot. The loot you were
carrying gets knocked out of your hands. You smack your head against a
tree branch, stunning you.
❖ Medium consequences are frustrating. You’ll notice them. 
You stumble back, dropping your bow in the river. The dogs catch your scent
and are at your heels. Your greedy minions run off to find some loot. You
connect with your axe, but the mercenary’s armor blocks most of the
damage.
❖ Heavy consequences are devastating. They demand your attention.  
The knight plunges his lance deep into your chest. Your fireball misses,
hitting your allies. You are completely surrounded by guards with swords
drawn. The
 
Consequences flow from the fiction so determining whether what’s happening is 
annoying, frustrating, or devastating and apply the matching severity works quite 
well. Let the mechanics match the fiction. When in doubt, you can also roll fortune to 
see how things go. While a consequence can really be anything, they’re mostly 
something the PCs don’t want to happen and tend to fall into some basic categories:  
 
❖ Reduced effect: On a mixed, sometimes the impact of your success is 
reduced. You take -effect. 
Your weapon doesn’t penetrate their armor. You only make it halfway up
the cliff. The goblin king isn’t quite convinced to lend you his wolves yet. 
❖ Complication: Things get a bit hairy and the situation becomes more 
complicated. The consequence doesn’t always need to be directly 
connected to what’s happening, but it complicates things for sure. 
Your weapon breaks. A thunderstorm starts. You hear a dog growling.
❖ Start or tick a clock: You either begin a troublesome clock or progress is 
made towards filling one already started. The amount of ticks is 
determined by the severity of the consequence (light: 1 tick; medium: 2 
ticks; heavy: 3 ticks). When a new clock is started, it usually begins with a 
single tick, though this is up to the GM. 
A new clock is started - outside forces arrive. The ship takes on more water,
getting dangerously close to capsizing. You’ve managed to completely piss
off the orc chief - he’s pulling his troops back.
❖ Lose gold/item: You lose some gold or an item - perhaps you spend it, use it 
in trade, drop it, or it breaks. 
The dogs wrestle your bow out of your hands. The hulking barbarian snaps
your staff in half. Your coin pouch slips off your belt while you’re
swimming.
❖ Lose opportunity: You miss your chance at accomplishing your goal. 
The giant worm burrows back underground before you can lasso it. The

Wicked Ones | 21 

 
 

princess slips into the carriage before you can take a shot. The lock breaks
and is jammed.
❖ Lose position: Your position becomes worse - you’re in far greater danger 
than you were before. 
You slip and fall, hanging from a tree branch. Several guards arrive with
swords drawn. Your shield goes flying out of your hands.
❖ Shock: One or more of your attributes is hit with shock and you take -1d on 
your next roll with one of its actions. The GM chooses the attribute that 
makes the most sense, though giving the PC the choice also works. 
The potion makes you incredibly lightheaded (brains). A horse kicks you in
the chest, knocking you back a ways (muscles). The cleric’s holy aura makes
you cower in fear (guts).
❖ Wound: You, an ally near you, or a few different characters take a wound 
(pg. X). You take a wound equal to the severity. 
You get a dagger stuck in your side. A horse kicks you in the head. A griffon
drops you from high in the air. 
❖ Backfire: When you fail to properly wield powerful magic, it may backfire 
on you, making yourself the target of the spell you were trying to cast or 
bring down some horrible, arcane effects on you or your allies.   
Your eyes turn blue. Your staff turns to slime. The fireball explodes with you
in the center.
❖ Lose morale: Your minions lose morale (pg. X) due to taking wounds, being 
overwhelmed with pressure, or losing loyalty in your leadership. A light 
consequence deals 1 morale damage, a medium deals 2, and a heavy deals 3. 
If they take too much morale damage, they might break or get crushed. 
Farmers pincushion your goblin raiders with pitchforks. Your slissik scouts
encounter an adventurer and run instead of fighting. You can’t convince the
orc chief to follow you and your orc grunts decide to leave with them. 
❖ Minion Nature: Your minions are compelled to follow through with their 
nature, perhaps disobeying orders or just operating to satisfy their own 
needs. 
The greedy cutthroat kobolds grab what they can before you can. The
disloyal orc grunts let slip the ambush plans. The impatient slissik scouts
pepper the first horse they see with arrows. 
❖ Death: In some extreme situations, the only consequence that makes sense 
is death, bypassing the wound system. This is different from dying from 
wounds. This should be made explicitly clear that death is on the line before 
making a roll by declaring the position deadly. 
You fall off a cliff. The dragon eats you. Your head is chopped off by the
executioner. 
 
With action rolls, setting position and effect often makes it quite clear what will 
happen should the player roll a mixed or failure. However, consequences don’t need 
to stem directly from the action on screen - they also represent forces moving against 
players off-screen as the PCs waste time trying to accomplish something. You can 
always tick away at off-camera clocks or introduce some outside interference. 
Consequences don’t have to be direct results of a PC’s actions.  
 

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When you have dominant position, the consequences stemming from 

that roll are almost always lost opportunity, lost position, or reduced 
effect. 

 
A consequence might be a mix of different consequences as well. If you take a 
medium consequence, that could be a bit of shock and a light wound instead of a 
medium wound. Each of these is considered a light consequence and must be resisted 
separately. As a rule of thumb, a heavy consequence is equal to two medium 
consequences and a medium consequence is equal to two light consequences. 
 
The chart below serves as a guideline on what type of consequences match the 
severity. However, it’s completely up to the GM and setting harsher consequences 
allows them to change the tone of the game. Wounds and gold are hard-coded, 
though, and serve as a nice baseline to compare other consequences against. A ✓ or 
example text indicates a consequence is appropriate to apply at that severity, 
whereas an ✕ indicates that it’s not (though these can be used with a mix of 
consequences). 
 

  Light Consequence  Medium Consequence  Heavy Consequence

annoying frustrating devastating

Wound Light wound  Medium wound  Heavy wound 

Lost gold 1 gold  2 or 3 gold  4 or more gold 

Reduced effect ✓ ✕ ✕ 

Shock ✓ ✕ ✕ 

Lose The merchant walks  The merchant,  The princess, required 

opportunity behind a tree - you  carrying a bit of extra  for your ritual, gets 
can’t take a shot yet.  gold, gets away.  away. 

Lose position The hunter notices you  You lose sight of the  ✕
perched in the tree and  hunter - who is now 
grabs their bow.  right behind you. 

Lose morale 1 morale  2 morale  3 morale 

Minion nature Disloyal minions won’t  Disloyal minions run  Disloyal minions stab 
listen to your orders.  away.  you in the back. 

Backfire The edge of your cloak  Your staff is burnt to a  You are engulfed in 
catches on fire.  crisp.  flames. 

Complication It starts raining.  A second guard arrives  The bear breaks the 
on the scene.  lock on its cage. 

Start/tick a 1 tick or a new clock -  2 ticks or a new clock -  3 ticks or a new clock - 
clock “Guards detect you”  “Allies break and run”  “Adventuring party 
arrives” 

 
 

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Effectively Handing Out Consequences

Severity and the consequence examples are a rough guide. The consequences
should flow from the fiction and the GM shouldn’t feel as if they have to
follow them every time. The exact nature of the consequences is up to the GM
- you can ramp them up for a more punishing game or lighten up on them a
bit for a more pulpy action style game. These are merely guidelines to help
the GM create a more consistent world. A great rule of thumb here is to think
a lot about them as annoying, frustrating, or devastating. Players should
really feel those words when hit with a consequence.

Remember GMs, a mixed is the most common result in the game so it’s
important to establish that a mixed isn’t failure, just a messy way of getting
stuff done. Don’t cheat the PCs out of success - they still do it and get to
narrate what that success is, but they get hit with something in return.

Don’t pull your punches when things are dangerous or even risky. Don’t go
easy on the players - PCs have a ton of ways to modify and add to their rolls,
as well as reduce the consequences of failure. When they fail, it’s your job to
make them pay in fun and interesting ways.

Inflicted Consequences
While the world often moves in response to PC failure, that’s not the only way for 
consequences to come the PCs’ way. The GM rarely rolls, but this doesn’t mean the 
world is passive. The GM is always free to inflict consequences on the PCs whenever 
they make sense. In this way, the GM can alter the power level of enemies or the 
threat level of situations and make the world come alive and feel aggressive.  
 
Telegraphing the danger is important - let the players know the stakes. Sometimes 
starting a clock makes more sense and ticking it periodically. At other times, working 
the danger of the situation into position and effect makes the most sense. Inflicted 
consequences are the most extreme tool in the GM’s arsenal and you should use them 
carefully, as they’re incredibly high impact and show the world pushing hard against 
the PCs, instantly putting them on the defensive. 
 

Inflicted Consequence Examples 

❖ A fight aboard a boat in a storm breaks out. Occasionally, the boat 
lurches with the waves, sweeping the PCs off their feet. 
❖ A powerful barbarian begins a fight by hacking the orc marauder’s 
shield in half.  
❖ A goblin tracker fails to notice the rope trap before stepping into it. 
A failure on the engagement roll means they find themself hanging 
upside down in the tree. 
❖ A prisoner lies to his captors, telling them he’s a prince from a far 
away land. 

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Adventurers (pg. X) and other powerful enemies have a built-in number of moves 
they can make determining how many consequences they can inflict. 

Inflicted Consequences Make the World Dangerous

The choice of when to inflict consequences can be difficult for GMs. There’s a
balance to not being too punishing and it requires a lot of trust from the
players. The power to hand out consequences is about creating interesting
challenges and making the world feel real. Follow the fiction and do what
makes sense. Find a balance between position, effect, clocks, telegraphed
danger, surprises, engagement rolls, and inflicted consequences. These are the
GM’s tools and making the world feel alive, dangerous, and responsive to PC
actions is the GM’s main responsibility.

Cost
Sometimes when a consequence happens, the PCs have a say in exactly what cost 
they’re willing to pay. Do you take a wound? Do you lose some gold? Do you anger a 
faction? Do you owe someone a favor? Do you take shock from smacking your head? 
When the PCs have a large amount of control over a situation, the GM can choose to 
ask them what cost they’re willing to pay in that situation. 
 
When you have to pay cost, the GM sets the severity of the consequence. It’s then up 
to the PC to determine exactly what cost they paid with the GM having final say on 
whether they have paid enough. 
 

Cost Examples 
❖ The alchemical blows up in your hands, giving you a wound - or 
maybe a minion was holding it instead. 
❖ You pay several gold to calm down the bugbears you just pissed off - 
or maybe you give up your trusty battleaxe.  
❖ The human traitor will lead you there, but you owe him a big favor - 
or maybe you anger the faction he belongs to, starting a clock. 

Shock
Shock is a temporary effect that greatly hinders one of your attributes, but is quickly 
shaken off. They’re often psychological in nature, such as being scared, nervous, 
confused, or frustrated. Sometimes, they’re more physical ailments like feeling sick, 
seeing stars after getting punched in the face, or having dirt thrown in your eyes. 
 
When you take shock, the GM chooses the attribute that it affects or allows the player 
to choose one that makes sense - Brains, Muscles, or Guts. Narrate why that attribute 
takes the hit. If you take shock to an already affected attribute, you instead have to 
pay cost that makes sense in the situation. 

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Shock: The next action rolled belonging to the attribute takes -1d, after 
which the shock clears. Any shock that hasn’t been applied yet clears 
during recovery. 

 
Shock that applies to Brains affects a character’s smarts, awareness, or insight. These 
strike their mind, making it harder to think. They might become confused, drunk, or 
stunned by a punch. 
 
Shock that applies to Muscles affects a character’s strength, agility, or speed. These 
strike at their body, making it harder to move well. They might twist an ankle, 
become sick to the stomach, or get a light but annoying cut. 
 
Shock that applies to Guts affects a character’s personality, mettle, or magical ability. 
These strike at their spirit, making it harder to impose their will. They might become 
frightened, feel betrayed, or grapple with an overflow of arcane energy. 
 

Wounds
Every character has one light wound box, one medium wound box, and one heavy 
wound box. Each box represents different amounts of damage to your character. 
 
❖ Light wounds are minor cuts and bruises. You might get a slash across your 
forearm or a punch in your ribs.  
❖ Medium wounds are serious, but non-life-threatening. They leave you 
bleeding, deeply bruised, or a minor fracture. You might get your nose 
broken by a shield to the face or an arrow stuck in a non-vital area. 
❖ Heavy wounds are debilitating and put you close to death. You might get a 
sword run through your gut or a horse kicks you in the head. 
 
When you take a wound, you mark off a wound box equal to the severity of the 
consequence. If you have no wound boxes at that level remaining, you mark a box a 
level higher. 
 

When you take a heavy wound, you are injured which means you take 
shock to all three of your attributes. 

 
Luckily, the effects of wounds on monsters are pretty short lived. They are amazingly 
resilient, recovering and adapting quickly, pushing pain to the back of their mind. 
Once you shake off the shock, there’s no other penalty for having a heavy wound - 
besides being right at death’s doorstep. 
 

Death from Wounds 

If you take another heavy wound while injured, you die. However, you 
perform your death knell, an immediate final act before you kick the 

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bucket. You ignore any shock you have on this roll and if you play into 
your nature, any ally who sees your death can take a dark heart. 

Nature & Stress

Nature is the deepest, darkest, most terrible part of yourself - it’s what makes you a 
monster. It’s indicative about what trouble you love getting up to, something that 
prevents you from functioning well, or stems from the monster’s personality or 
events in their lives. Each monster’s nature has two faces - when you make a 
character, choose two from the list below (or make up your own with the GM). 
 

bigmouth - craven - cruel - deranged - fickle - greedy - gullible - hateful 

haunted - impatient - obsessed - paranoid - petty - rude - reckless 

 
Your nature will lead you astray. It’ll push you towards monstrous acts and ruin the 
best laid plans. It’ll put you and your allies into danger - but satisfying your nature 
can also empower you, fueling your dark heart. 
 

Dark Hearts
A monster’s nature, their deepest and darkest desires, constantly beckons them into 
heinous, cowardly, and selfish acts. When acting on your nature threatens to derail 
your current goals, you earn a dark heart, a bankable die that you can spend later. 
You can bank a max of 3 of these. 
 

You can spend a dark heart and take +1d to any roll. You can only spend 
one dark heart on any given roll. 

 
While players can weave their nature into their roleplaying, they only earn dark 
hearts when their nature puts their current goals at risk.  
 
❖ The GM can suggest a course of action that plays into a character’s nature, 
especially in response to a player declaring an action. 
“Sure, You could go help your ally, but you’re cruel, right? Maybe spend
time here twisting the knife on this guy you just downed instead?”
❖ Other players can suggest a course of action as well. 
“Aren’t you reckless? Why not just try jumping over the chasm?”
❖ You can play into your nature yourself. 
“I’m way too impatient for this. Can I have a dark heart here if I push past
the guard and enter the chief’s hut?”
 
The GM makes the final call on whether something is deserving of a dark heart. It’s 
important to remember that the suggestions are just that - you don’t have to follow 

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through on them. It’s always the player’s choice. While it’s not required, getting a 
dark heart usually requires an action roll to put things at risk or a sacrifice of some 
sort, like sending minions to their deaths or giving up some loot you’re carrying. The 
key is that you earn a dark heart when you step away from what you’re supposed to 
be doing and really get back to the basics of being a monster, the things that fill your 
dark heart with glee.  

What They Did to My Friend

Dromin, a bugbear tracker, is trying to Skulk up to a hunting party’s camp.
He notices a sleeping guard next to a tree and decides to move past him
towards the camp. The GM glances at Dromin’s nature, sees “haunted” and
says, “Dromin, you glance at the sleeping guard and notice the dagger at his
side. Instantly, you flashback to your buddy Gornak getting that dagger
buried into his back. Your fur stands on end. You sure you want to let this guy
keep sleeping?”

“Yeah, that guy’s going to get that dagger buried into his chest. I’m going to
Skulk over there and take care of him,” Dromin says, grabbing dice and
marking down his dark heart.

Stress
Wicked Ones have a resource called stress that they use to keep their nature at bay 
and stay focused. They can take stress to resist consequences or power abilities. Each 
character has two light stress boxes, two medium stress boxes, and two heavy stress 
boxes. Each box represents different amounts of assault on your ability to keep your 
nature in check. 
 
 

When you spend stress on abilities or spells, you mark one box of the 
lowest level of stress you have open. When you roll a mixed or failure to 
resist a consequence, you spend a stress box equal to the consequence. 

 
When you go to mark a level of stress but all the boxes at that level are full, you 
instead mark a box a level higher. 
 
Stress allows you to suppress your nature, the darker urges lurking in your heart, and 
focus on your goals. This is what sets the wicked ones apart from normal monsters. 
Taking too much stress, though, pushes them over the edge and they go feral, 
succumbing to their nature. They become wild and powerful, but dangerous to be 
around. 
 

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Go Feral
When you mark off your last heavy stress box, you immediately go feral, becoming a 
slave to your nature which has the following effects:  
 
❖ Your dark heart bar immediately fills. 
❖ Any action you take must play towards your nature and you do not get dark 
hearts for doing so. 
❖ You can’t spend stress, though you can spend a dark heart in its place to 
activate abilities. You take +1d if you make an action roll with the ability. 
❖ You cannot resist, though you can still use a defense. 
❖ Anything that would normally clear stress instead gives you a dark heart. 
 
Once you've spent your final dark heart, your mind clears and you can focus on the 
task at hand once again. You can spend stress and resist consequences as normal and 
are no longer beholden to your nature. 
 

Over the Edge

When you take a heavy stress but have no more to spend, you go over the 
edge. Your nature takes over and you lose your character. You must 
immediately take one final action playing towards your nature and exit 
the scene. The character is gone - time to make a new one. 

 
When a character goes over the edge, it means they’re too wild to have around 
anymore and the player describes how they make a hasty exit, usually using their 
final action to do so. The character might run away, betray their comrades, steal 
something important, or the other PCs might even be forced into killing them. 
However it goes down, that character is gone from the dungeon and that player has 
to make a new one. 

Knowing When to Be Crazy Evil

This is a game where you play evil monsters - so why not roleplay your evil nature
all the time? It’s a delicate balancing act, really. When truly crazy, monstrous
things get their own spotlighted screen time, it makes them feel crazier, more
awesome. If you throw around non-stop evil and reckless actions, it makes
everyone numb to them and the game grinds to a halt - the story doesn’t move
forward, nothing gets done.

It really is less is more here - making the monster moments feel like something not
typical, like your nature is calling out and beckoning you, hits just the right spot.
And the rewards you get for playing into your nature make players feel okay for
throwing your plans or allies under the bus. It’s not just doing something crazy for
crazy’s sake - it feels justified to take the crazy path because you get something for
doing it.

  

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Resistance Rolls & Defenses

Consequences are what happens when the world moves against the players in 
response to their actions - but players can step in and choose to resist them. Any time 
a PC is hit with a consequence, even those inflicted by the GM, they can resist it. When 
you resist a consequence, it might be reduced or even completely avoided depending 
on how the roll goes. When you take stress when resisting, the amount is equal to the 
consequence - a light consequence costs a light stress box, and so on. 
 

Resistance Rolls 
Roll an action that you use to resist the consequence. 
 
🎲 Critical: Avoid the consequence and clear one stress box. 
Success: Avoid the consequence. 
Mixed: Take stress equal to the consequence to avoid it. 
Failure: Take stress equal to the consequence to reduce it one step in 
severity. 

 
When you resist, describe how you go about stopping it and choose the action that 
best matches the description. Resistances always work to some extent - the roll just 
determines how well you resist and how much stress you take to do so. On a failure, 
the GM determines in what way the consequence is reduced. You manage to stem 
some of the damage, but not all of it. 
 

You cannot resist a consequence with an action that triggered the 

consequence. So when you make an action roll, you must choose a 
different action to resist with. 

 
The chosen action must make sense within the fiction - if the GM judges that the 
action would have a weak or less effect under the circumstances, you can’t use it to 
roll to resist with. 
 
Resisting does not do away with the outcome of the action roll - the consequence still 
happens. Resisting it is your reaction to it happening, to avoid or lessen its impact. If 
you knock over a vase while Skulking through a hallway, you still knocked it over - but 
resisting with Finesse allows you to react in time to grab it before it falls.  
 

Examples of Resistance Rolls with Consequences Avoided 

❖ A merchant jumps off his horse and runs for the forest. You roll 
Finesse to resist and cut him off before he gets there. 
❖ A knight levels his lance at you and charges, stabbing you in the lung 
and inflicting a heavy wound. You roll Smash to resist and the lance 
rolls off your shield instead of piercing your chest. 

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❖ Your minions lie to you, swearing they don’t know where the gold 
went. You roll Scan to resist and pick up on their lies. 
❖ Your staff gets knocked out of your hands. You roll Invoke to use 
force mastery to bring it back to you. 
 
Examples of Resistance Rolls with Consequences Reduced
❖ Another PC makes too much noise sneaking through a field and a 
farmer notices you. You use Trick to resist and make some animal 
noises to make them think it’s just an animal. 
❖ You fall off the edge of a building. You roll Smash to grab the edge, 
leaving you dangling from the edge. 
❖ The master swordsman knocks your cutlass out of your hands. You 
roll Finesse to hold onto it, but your counterattack takes -effect as 
you fumble around with the hilt. 

Resisting is How PCs Control the Story

It’s worth repeating - PCs can resist any consequence that comes their way! If
you don’t like something bad happening, just try to resist it. This means you
can even resist the consequences affecting other players. GMs, make sure they
know this, and players, make sure you don’t forget it!

Along the same lines, PCs have to call out resists quickly. After the first
session or two and the players have gotten used to the system, the GM
shouldn’t give them a breather or remind them it’s possible - just move on
and keep the story flowing. It’s the PC’s job to interject to resist something.

Defenses
Defenses allow you to completely resist a specific type of consequence. When you use 
one, you mark it off on your sheet and can’t use it again until it refreshes during the 
next recovery. When you use a defense, it acts as if you had rolled a success on a 
resistance roll. You spend no stress and the consequence is completely avoided. 
Describe what happens and how the defense applies to the situation. If there’s any 
question about whether it can apply or not, the GM makes the final call. 
 
Every PC has one defense derived from their trappings (pg. X), the equipment they 
always carry. Other defenses can be gained through calling abilities, magic items, 
potions, or alchemicals. 
 

Adjusting Rolls
There are many ways to influence the details of rolls, though each requires some 
sacrifice or risk on the part of the player. 

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Dark Bargains
You’re a selfish monster without morals who would gladly sacrifice collateral 
damage, your friends, or your goals for short-term gains. To reflect this, anytime you 
roll, you can ask the GM for a dark bargain. The GM details a consequence - something 
bad happens to you, those around you, your dungeon, or your current raid. If you 
agree to accept the consequence, you can take +1d on the roll. 
 
Sometimes a dark bargain just doesn’t seem worth it - you’re free to negotiate or 
suggest your own! The GM can also ask around the table to see what ideas everyone 
has. 
 

Dark Bargain Ideas

❖ Someone, probably not you, takes a wound or shock. 
❖ Someone, probably you, loses a body part. 
❖ You or a friend loses or breaks something important. 
❖ Something good happens for your enemies. 
❖ Someone betrays you, like a minion or a vile friend. 
❖ A faction gets offended or angered. 
❖ A troublesome clock gets started or ticked. 
❖ You take -1d on your next blowback or calamity roll. 

 
A dark bargain happens no matter what, independent of the results of the roll, and 
can’t be resisted. 

Finding the Right Balance

The exact nature and severity of the dark bargain is up to all of those at the
table. It’s really situational as +1d on some rolls is worth way more than on
others. The perfect dark bargain is one that you know is just not quite worth
it, but you really, really want that +1d. As a player, you get that extra die to
grab control of the moment. As the GM, you get to complicate the situation
and add drama. Everybody wins.

Go Hard
You throw everything you’ve got into the task, setting aside any worry about the 
consequences. On any action roll that can be framed in a way that makes sense, you 
can take -position to gain +effect. This is situational as some tasks just can’t be 
justified in this way - there has to be a clear way to put yourself at greater risk while 
making you more effective, such as stepping into the line of a charging lancer or 
jumping into alligator infested waters to hide. How do you gain effect? Why is the 
danger increased? 
 

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Help Out
You can help out an ally to accomplish something. Just describe how you’re assisting 
them and if it makes sense and seems like something your character could 
reasonably accomplish, you give them +effect on their roll. However, when you help 
out, you suffer any consequences from their roll as well. You can only gain this bonus 
to effect once per roll. 
 
You can’t help out on downtime activities. Instead, you just make a roll towards that 
activity yourself and have it count towards completion of the project. 
 

Work Together
You work together, making a coordinated effort with allies or minions with a much 
increased chance of success. This comes at a cost, though. Each person in the group 
makes an action or resistance roll using the same action and taking the best roll as 
the group’s result. This represents putting the group’s combined effort towards one 
action, not each member performing multiple actions. This means that if you are 
working together towards ticking a clock, the roll only ticks the clock once - not once 
for each member.  
 
However, any player that rolls a failure takes stress and if the best result was a failure 
or a mixed, all participants suffer consequences. Characters that are currently feral 
can’t work together. 
 
Another benefit of working together as a group is levelling the playing field against 
another group or much larger foe, or overwhelming a smaller group. This can be 
considered as a circumstance towards position and effect when comparing scale. 
 

Flashbacks
While players themselves aren’t always the best at planning ahead since they don’t 
always have all the necessary details, the monster characters aren’t without 
resources. They sometimes think ahead in surprisingly clever ways. Wicked Ones 
generally eschews careful planning, instead launching into raids after picking a few 
big details, then leaving the specifics of the starting situation up to the engagement 
roll. This is by design, allowing you to skip to the actiony parts which feels more like 
monsters. But sometimes something important or useful might get skipped over, 
something your monster character would have done but you the player didn’t. That’s 
where flashbacks come in. 
 
Each calling has the ability to flashback to a scene in the past and perform specific 
types of tasks related to their calling. So while maybe the player might not have 
thought to snag a key from one of the guards they killed, their goblin shadow 
definitely would have. 
 

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When you call for a flashback, you describe the basics of what you want to do. The GM 
will judge whether it was possible and whether it’s within your calling’s ability to do 
so. 
 

Using a flashback requires you to spend stress. Flashbacks are only 

required during scenes as time is fluid outside of scenes. 

❖ The shadow scanned a dead guard for the key to open the gate standing in
their way. Now their way out of the compound is made easier. 
❖ The brute commanded the captured soldier, lying tied up next to the
campfire, to tell him how many will be in the next patrol.
❖ The marauder commanded some goblins to wait for his signal to pop out
and launch a surprise attack. They watch now as the goblins hit the
mercenaries from behind.
❖ The conniver bantered with the bugbear warband over drinks and dice and
tricked their leader into attacking the town first. They sit now watching the
bugbears die against the walls, softening up the defenders. 
 
Flashbacks can usually only cover something that can be done with an action or two. 
More elaborate things are out of the scope of a flashback or might require you to 
spend stress again. 
 

In addition to your calling flashbacks, you can also flashback to 

discussions with your vile friends if you would have had a chance to 
speak to them within this cycle. 

 
A flashback works just like a normal scene would. You still make action rolls, suffer 
consequences, and spend stress as normal. The flashback just allows you to make 
those rolls, then have them affect your current situation. Keep in mind that 
flashbacks can’t undo or remove things that have already happened. They also can 
never be used to perform downtime activities - their scope is limited to a single scene 
- roughly one to three action rolls. 
 

Progress Clocks
Sometimes, tasks are larger than one action - interconnected parts of an entire plan, 
events progressing over time, or a challenge quite difficult to overcome. Progress
clocks are a circle divided into 4, 6, or 8 segments and are used by the GM to track 
progress over time, whether that be for a task the PCs are working on, trouble 
heading the PCs’ way, or situations developing out of the PCs’ control. Anytime you 
need to track something like this, draw a clock and tick it as progress is reached. 
When the clock is full, an obstacle is taken down, a situation comes to fruition, or a 
goal is reached. Here are some examples: 
 

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Clocks are meant to be flexible and ticking them well comes with practice. When you 
tick a clock is based on the type of clock and what it represents (see below). They’re a 
representation of the fictional situation developing and sometimes the rolls and 
fiction don’t quite match up. Don’t be afraid to give an extra tick, hold one back, or 
end a clock early. Clocks tend to work best when all can see them, even if they’re not 
labelled yet, though the choice of whether to show a clock or not is up to the GM. 
 

Types of Clocks
There are three basic types of clocks - objective clocks, danger clocks, and situation 
clocks. 
 
Objective clocks are used to represent complex goals the PCs want to achieve, like 
casting a ritual, slipping through town, or negotiating peace with a tribe of orcs. You 
tick the clock when PCs take steps towards completing the goal, usually with action 
rolls. These clocks might even be unticked when the PCs suffer consequences or the 
fiction changes in some way. 
 
Danger clocks are used to represent impending danger, like guards being alerted, 
some local humans being pushed far enough to hire adventurers, or angering a 
dragon. You tick the clock when PCs suffer consequences or allow time to pass 
without dealing with the danger. They might even be unticked when the PCs actively 
work towards dealing with them. 
 
Situation clocks are used to represent the world moving around the PCs, like a war 
between two factions, a crazy storm passing through, or a town building a new wall. 
You generally tick the clock with the passing of time or when events that affect it 
occur. 
 

Ticking Clocks
GMs should tick a clock whenever they feel a clock needs to be ticked. When events in 
the world feel like a clock is progressing, a clock ticks to represent it. That might 
seem a little vague, but it’s essentially a judgement call by the GM about how much 
the clock is moving towards progression in response to the events happening in the 
game.  
 
Sometimes, an action or fortune roll directly ticks a clock. Clocks can also be ticked as 
a consequence of a roll. Here are some guidelines on how and when they get ticked: 
 

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How Much Should I Tick a Clock?

1 tick 2 ticks 3 ticks

Minor Progress  Normal Progress  Major Progress 
Mixed Roll  Success Roll  Critical Roll 
Light Consequence  Medium Consequence  Heavy Consequence 
 
The effect of a roll also modifies how a clock is ticked: 
 
❖ Strong effect gives +1 tick unless it’s a failure. 
❖ Weak effect gives -1 tick unless it’s a failure. 
 
Action rolls don’t always tick clocks - they just tick them when they represent actual 
progress towards that clock’s completion. On the other hand, a critical on a roll might 
just end the clock outright instead of ticking it if it makes sense within the fiction. 
And sometimes, it feels appropriate for a clock to end without being fully ticked - 
that’s fine!  
 
At other times, the clock might not be appropriately representing the fiction. Don’t 
feel beholden to it - adjust clocks on the fly, tell the players that you messed them up, 
introduce another clock if that’s what you think is needed. Don’t cheat the PCs, but 
the clocks aren’t the obstacles - they’re representations of the obstacles and 
sometimes the representation is wrong. 
 

Clock Interactions
Clocks can interact with each other in a few ways that make working with them in 
play quite interesting. 
 
Racing clocks are used to represent competing goals, like building a battering ram 
before reinforcements arrive, racing bandits to a juicy merchant caravan you both 
just heard about, or escaping from the guard while they’re trying to corner you. The 
GM draws two clocks, and when one is full, that clock’s goal is realized first. 
 
Layered clocks are used to represent multi-step, complex situations, like sneaking 
through town and into a well-guarded fortress, taking down a mighty knight’s 
defenses until they are vulnerable, or setting up a complex ritual. The GM draws one 
clock, then when that one is full, it unlocks a second clock. The clocks can be of 
different types as well, such as an objective clock unlocking a danger clock that 
pushes you to escape before help arrives! 

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Why We Use Clocks

The primary purpose of a clock is to show the players how the world is
reacting to their actions. Make sure the clocks you’re using are doing so. The
clock itself isn’t the challenge - it’s just there to show everyone at the table
the progress of some events in the game. Try to keep away from focusing on
the need to tick clocks - stay focused on the story and let clock progress stem
from that.

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Fortune Rolls
When the GM needs to make a judgement call about the world and either doesn’t 
want to decide or isn’t really sure what the answer is, they can make a fortune roll to 
decide. Fortune rolls fill in the gaps when there isn’t a specific rule or some 
information within the story is missing. 
 

Fortune Rolls
You roll a number of dice based on the likelihood of something good 
happening in the situation. The results determine how well things go. 
 
🎲 Critical: Not only do you get the desired result, but you get something else 
to go along with it! 
Success: A great result. 
Mixed: Not bad, but not great. There’s a tinge of disappointment. 
Failure: Things go about as poorly as they could. 

 
The amount of dice rolled is determined by how likely success is.  
 

What are the chances things start in the PCs favor?

0d - 1d 2d 3d - 4d
Unlikely  Toss-up  Likely 
 
If a PC is involved, the GM might choose to base the roll off of one of their actions, 
how much gold they spend, or some other factor. For example, if they want to know if 
they spotted anyone with horses on the road yesterday, maybe roll their Scan to see 
how well they remember. 
 
It needs to be made very clear who the roll is being made for. Good results affect the 
target positively. So if two sides are competing, make sure to choose which one you’re 
rolling for - or you could even make competing fortune rolls, then compare the 
results and judge what happened! Generally speaking, if PCs are involved, then a high 
result should be beneficial for them. 
 

Gathering Information
When you need to know some information or something about the world isn’t clear, 
you can gather information to learn more. As the GM is generally responsible for 
telling the players what their characters know and other truths about the setting, 
there’s no way they can tell them everything.  
 
When a player wants to know something, they can ask the GM questions - but 
whether they get the chance to ask those questions may be determined by an action 
roll. Gathering information is about having a source of information, being in a 

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position to access that source, and applying an action to extract the information. Not 
all of these steps may be necessary, though. 
 
The player answers the following questions:  
 
❖ What do you want to know? Ask the GM a question. 
Where can I find an iron shipment? What’s been happening in this area
lately? Who is the lord of that town and does he have any hidden secrets?
❖ What is your source of information? Tell the GM where you will get the 
information. 
I’m going to camp along the road and watch passing caravans. I’m going to
go talk to my vile friend, the ogre living by the lake. I’m going to ask the
prisoner we snagged in our last raid.
❖ What method do you use to get the information? Tell the GM how you will 
go about getting the information. 
I’ll spend most of the day Skulking there. I’ll bring along a few bottles of
beer and Banter with her. I’ll Tinker with some torturing tools.
 
The GM answers the following questions: 
 
❖ Does the PC have immediate access to the source or do they need to 
maneuver into position? 
❖ Does the source contain the information the player is seeking? If you’re 
unsure, make a fortune roll to see. 
 

If the information you want to know is common knowledge or there’s no 

risk or challenge to obtaining it, there’s no need for a roll. The GM just 
tells you what your character already knows or can learn easily. 

 
If it’s up in the air, you make an action roll to see how well you can get the 
information. The GM might make a fortune roll as well to determine how much 
information there is available. The amount of detail gained depends on the result and 
effect of the roll and how much information the source knew. A success on an action 
roll with normal effect against a source that contains the information gives good
information.  
 
❖ Great Information: The information is very complete and follow-up 
questions may expand into related areas or reveal secret information.
❖ Good Information: You get the answer to your question and can ask several 
follow-up questions to clarify details. 
❖ Sketchy Information: You get the answer to your question, but the details 
are scant. The information is true, but may be misleading.  
❖ No Information: Either the source didn’t contain the information or you 
were unsuccessful at extracting it. 
 
Sometimes, you don’t have immediate access to the information. You may need to 
Smash some goblin heads before you get to Command their chief to tell you what they 

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know. In this case, you must make action rolls to even get into a position to make the 
gather information roll. 
 
Each attempt takes time and if you’re making an action roll, failure brings along 
consequences. Sometimes retrying is possible, but often it’s not - the chance is 
fleeting or the consequences make it impossible to continue trying to gather 
information. Remember that if there’s no risk or challenge, the GM should just give 
the information to the player and move on. 
 

Gather Information Examples 

❖ You Scan through some old tomes in your library. They’re archaic 
and difficult to decipher, requiring an action roll. You might ask: 
What is the source of the archmage’s power? Is he related to the
baron? Why is the baron trying to protect him?
❖ You Tinker a prisoner’s fingernails off, using a pair of pliars. You 
have to take care not to outright kill the prisoner, requiring an 
action roll. 
When will the baron’s troops arrive? Do they know the location of
our dungeon? When will the convoy be at its most vulnerable?
❖ You look over the maps gained from your last raid. The GM makes a 
fortune roll to see how much information they contain. 
When are the patrols active on the roads? How many are there in the
patrols? Why are they so concentrated north of the forest?
❖ You Banter with a few kobold workers, then head to the village’s 
leader and Trick them into spilling the beans. 
Why did we see your men talking to humans? What do you have to
gain? What do the humans want?
❖ You Scan all of those present at the negotiating table. 
Who seems the most uneasy? Who is the biggest threat if a fight
breaks out? Why won’t the orc warlord sit down?
❖ You Skulk along the outskirts of a walled hamlet. 
What’s the easiest way inside? How many are living here? Which
house seems the most lucrative to hit?

 
When you have to maneuver to get into position, an action roll may be required - but 
you might also be able to pay some cost. Maybe you spend some gold to gain access or 
bring along a nice present. 
 
One thing to keep in mind is that monsters don’t really have access to the same level 
of information a human would. The GM should be careful to present the world 
through the eyes of a monster. Getting details about human society is tough at best or 
maybe even downright impossible. To get the answer to exceptional questions, you’re 
going to need an exceptional source of information. 

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Rolling Less is Better

If possible, you should try to make these a single roll. You don’t want to bog
these little scenes down with mechanics unless you have to - and multiple
rolls might bring on multiple consequences.

For example, you could Skulk into the scout patrol’s camp and Scan for their
maps - though you probably could have also rolled all of that into a single
Skulk roll. However, if you have to Skulk into the camp and Banter with a
prisoner they have there, that would definitely be two separate rolls.

Gold & Buying Stuff

Monsters look towards the bountiful civilized lands and see gold and riches there. 
They equate these riches with power, coveting them. A PC’s gold is a representation of 
all of the gold, treasures, and riches they’ve looted (pg. X) on raids in the overworld. 
 

Gold within the dungeon’s hoard is tracked separately and far more 
abstractly (pg. X) than PC gold. But for PCs, gold is a resource they can 
use to directly influence the story. 

 
Every PC has a bar to track gold on their sheet. When you gain gold, fill in the bar and 
when you spend it, erase the filled in boxes. 
 

Loot
Throughout your misadventures, you’re going to have ample opportunity to pick up 
some loot. When you do, you make a loot roll to see what you find. 
 

Loot Rolls 
Roll a number of dice determined by the source of the loot. 
 
🎲 Critical: You gain 4 gold and a powerful item. 
Success: You gain 3 gold and a useful item. 
Mixed: You gain 2 gold. 
Failure: You gain 1 gold. 

 
The number of dice rolled is variable, depending on the source: 
 
❖ A successful raid gives you a loot roll of 1d and you take +1d for each extra 
piece of loot you went out of your way to secure during the raid. 
❖ A successful dungeon defense gives you a loot roll equal to the highest 
adventurer’s tier.  

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❖ When in doubt, you roll the tier of the faction you got the loot from. 
 
A useful item is something you’d be happy to find and can put to good use. It might 
be a tier 1 potion, alchemical, contraption, or magic item. It could also be mundae 
equipment with an edge, a map with valuable information on it, or a rare musical 
instrument. The GM decides exactly what you find. 
 
A powerful item is a tier 2 or 3 potion, alchemical, contraption, or magic item. This is 
something quite rare and lucky to get your hands on. 
 

Buying & Cost

When you buy something, you agree to pay its cost, a consequence you’re inflicted 
with. You offer up something in return for the goods or services - gold, a favor, a debt, 
an item, a service, status, information. Cost can be almost anything the other side 
wants and is set by both the player and GM, looking for something the NPC would 
accept and the player feels comfortable with giving up.  
 
It’s easiest to think about cost in terms of gold. When you want to buy something, the 
GM determines the cost. 
 
❖ Cheap: Less than 1 gold. Mundane items. Cantrip level potions or 
alchemicals. A simple job that isn’t dangerous. 
❖ Light: 1 Gold. Some interesting information. A useful item, potion, or 
alchemical. A difficult job or one that has some danger. 
❖ Medium: 2-3 Gold. Some very useful information. A powerful or complex 
item. A complex job or one that has substantial danger. 
❖ Heavy: 4 or more gold. Secret, forbidden information. Owing a huge favor. 
A powerful magic item. 
 

Reducing Cost
You might want to negotiate the cost - you can do so with action rolls, though the 
consequences are likely to be the cost climbing or losing the chance to purchase it. In 
this way, the PCs may get swindled and forced into buying something too pricey as 
well. The trickiest traders might begin a negotiation inflicting consequences of 
higher costs on the PCs. 
 
You can also resist cost - you keep haggling, call in a favor, or take something and 
leave without paying. Not all of these are always possible, given the circumstances 
though - while you might Smash the goods out of the trader’s hands, they’re still 
going to remember this and stop visiting your dungeon. 
 

Gold in the Dungeon

Gold has some other specific uses with minions and creatures. These will be detailed 
later in the relevant sections, but below is a quick overview of how it can be spent. 

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❖ Spend 1 gold to have a minion perform an extra downtime activity. (pg. X) 
❖ Spend 1 gold to have a minion accompany you on a raid. (pg. X) 
❖ Spend 1 gold to have a minion go on a mission during roaming. (pg. X) 
❖ Spend 1 gold to give a minion 1 morale. (pg. X) 
❖ Spend 1 or more gold to roll revelry to gain dark hearts. (pg. X) 
❖ Spend gold to satisfy the requirements for a ritual. 
 

Trappings & Supply

These are the tools of your trade - weapons, traps, lanterns, wands, rope, torture tools, 
voodoo masks, bone necklaces, bracers, shields - you name it. While you’re always 
assumed to be wearing at least enough to cover yourself, your trappings and supply 
are all the extra or cool stuff you have that help define your character. 
 
Trappings are the items that you always have on you and make regular use of. They 
help define your character’s look and provide you with a defense based on their 
utility. You can carry 4 items as trappings. 
 
Supply are the things that you own or have access to, but might not always be 
carrying on you. They’re things stowed on your belt, across your back, or in a bag. 
Instead of completely gearing up and declaring exactly what you’re carrying before 
roaming, supply allows you to flexibly pull items out of your inventory when you 
need them. You get 2 supply boxes and when you pull something out of supply, you 
mark one of the boxes, which refresh on recovery.  
 

A supply item must be able to be carried in one hand or fit nicely into a 
backpack - you can’t just suddenly be wearing armor or carrying around 
something huge. There’s a logical limit to what can be pulled from 
supply and the GM has the final say on it. 
 
Items such as alchemicals, potions, or anything else that is consumable 
must be placed in supply. 

 
Anytime that you go out of your way to buy, steal, make, or acquire an item by any 
other means, you can add it to your supply. Several dungeon rooms add a type of item 
to each character’s supply and you can also gain supply from calling abilities.  
 
Items can be considered as a circumstance towards effect or give permissions to 
perform an action. Having the correct tools for the job is important - you’re going to 
have a tough time picking a lock without a lockpick or swimming across a river in 
armor. And without the right tool, some things are just impossible. 
 
If several items serve the same purpose, you can combine them into one trapping or 
supply. For example, you don’t have to separately list a helmet, hide armor, and 
shield if all you want is for them to provide a defense against wounds. You can just 
list them as “armor”. Writing down “tool pouch” might make more sense than 

Wicked Ones | 43 

 
 

writing out hammer, screwdriver, etc. The bigger the impact a single item has, 
though, the more likely it should be on its own. A tool pouch might contain several 
useful items for tinkering, but a saw might best be listed on its own. 
 

Limited Supply is when the dungeon has gained a limited resource of 
something and all members can access it as supply. These supplies are 
represented by a clock, usually 4-segments, that you tick each time it’s 
used. 
You make a deal with some dwarves to allow them passage for ale
(4-clock supply of ale). You discover some hallucinogenic mushrooms
deep underground (4-clock supply of magic mushrooms). You rob a royal
caravan of fantastic silks (4-clock supply of fancy silk). 

 
Many examples of items that each calling might have in their trappings or supply can 
be found under Character Creation pg. X. 
 

Trapping Defense
Monsters tend to love their possessions, clearly favoring evil style over substance, but 
that doesn’t mean that the things they choose mostly for their appearance are 
useless. Your trappings provide you with a single defense based on the items you’ve 
chosen. You can change this defense during recovery.  
 

Trapping Defense Examples 

❖ Minion mistakes: You carry a whip or a whistle. 
❖ Detection: You wear a dark cloak or have soft boots. 
❖ Magic: You wear a spirit mask or a mantle. 
❖ Lies being discovered: You wear impressive clothes or jewelry. 
❖ Wounds: You have heavy armor or a shield. 

 
You work with the GM to decide what defense your trappings provide you. The above 
are just examples and the defense could be anything you can connect with your 
trappings. When selecting a defense, making sure that it’s not too narrow or too 
broad is important. They should be something that could plausibly come up around 
once a session, but not something that always comes up. 
 

Weapons
Like other items, weapons are counted as circumstance bonuses towards effect. If 
you’re fighting heavily armored enemies, you might need a bigger weapon - but 
carrying around a bigger weapon is going to make movement a lot more difficult.  
 
The most common weapons strike a good balance - a sword can be held in one hand 
and easily stowed away or carried while moving, but is also deadly enough to deal 
significant damage to most enemies. A dagger might struggle against armored 

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opponents, but can be hidden and makes movement easy. A huge battleaxe is going to 
crush through enemy armor, but could make swimming across a river quite a 
challenge.  

Weapons and Ammo with Supply

Weapons can be placed in supply like any other item. Perhaps you sometimes
happen to have a dagger or a shortbow on you, but not always. The flexibility
of supply allows you to focus your trappings on the things that really define
your character.

How ammunition is handled is up to the table, but it seems to work best to

just assume you always have enough until you don’t. This makes for a great
consequence to hand out to someone using a bow or throwing knives - “You
just realize, that was your last arrow.”

Picking Stuff Up
Your trappings are what you generally carry, but you can pick stuff up along the way 
as well. You can usually carry an item or two besides your trappings & supply, but 
you’ll be slowed down while carrying them. Remember that the rules flow from the 
fiction - if you’re trying to carry something immensely heavy or hard to carry, maybe 
you’re going to have to drop some of your equipment. 
 

What Makes Good Trappings?

Trappings give you a lot of freedom to make your monster look like a monster
and to carry things that a monster would carry without giving up some kind
of mechanical advantage. As a rule of thumb, taking a couple of useful items
and a couple of stylistic items is a pretty nice balance.

You’re telling awesome monster stories. Make sure to choose trappings and
supply that help make these stories more awesome and monstery. Don’t get
too caught up in mechanical choices - take stuff that sounds fun and cool,
stuff that your monster would be carrying.

Power Struggles
Being monsters, it’s natural for the PCs to come into conflict with each other - 
shenanigans, arguments, and fights are commonplace. To allow for this without 
making such interaction feel mechanically punitive, PCs can engage in power
struggles. 
 
When two or more PCs are at odds, the GM can call for a power struggle. 
 

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❖ Each player chooses an action you try to use to get your way and roleplays 
the conflict starting. 
❖ When it comes time to determine a winner, you roll at the same time. 
❖ The winner then narrates how they end up winning. 
❖ The loser then narrates their reaction, closing out the scene. 
 
Power struggles are completely narrative - nobody takes wounds, nobody loses stress 
no matter how violent or crazy the narrative gets. Occasionally, a gold or an item may 
change hands, but that should be the extent of it. 
 
With multiple participants, things can get a bit more complex and freeform. The 
point here is to keep it light, though, and spread the spotlight around. Keep in mind 
that players never spend resources on power struggles - they can’t spend dark hearts, 
they don’t mark off stress or wounds. They can activate abilities or cast spells, but 
they don’t provide any extra benefit to their chances of winning. The rule keeps 
things very simple - just choose action ratings and roll them as a fortune roll. 

Can’t Decide on a Raiding Plan

An argument breaks out about how to raid a ferry crossing and the table gets
locked into a bit of deadlock. The characters are all standing around a table
yelling at each other. The GM says, “Looks like a power struggle. Who’s in?”

The bugbear brute says, “Yeah, I’m going to Smash things angrily until you
all start listening to me.” The slissik shadow jumps in, “I’m definitely going to
Skulk into the shadows here and wait for an opening.”

The bugbear brute says, “I slam my fist down hard on the table and demand a
full scale attack on the ferry crossing, eyeballing each of you.”

The GM says, “Let’s see some rolls.” The bugbear rolls 3d for his Smash,
getting a mixed. The slissik rolls her Skulk, also 3d, getting a success.

“Awesome,” says the slissik. “Okay, I slip up behind the bugbear and put my
dagger to his neck. ‘I think a lighter touch might be in order.’”

The bugbear player laughs, “Dammit… Okay, knowing I’ve been outdone, I
turn my head a bit, then glance at the slissik and snort, ‘Okay, snake - but if
this doesn’t work, it’s on you.”

 
Running a dungeon requires many decisions to be made by the players. Discussing 
these out a bit can be fun, but most of the time you’re going to want to land on a 
decision quickly. This could be deciding what creature to attract, what the next raid 
target and plan is, what room to build, or what to do with all those elven prisoners. 
Amongst the wicked ones, these indecisions have a way of getting sorted out quickly. 
Anytime the PCs hit this kind of deadlock, the GM can call for a power struggle. 

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Making Even Losing a Power Struggle Fun

The back and forth pattern to power struggles is important - handing off the
narrative reins to each participate means they share the screen time and both
players can feel like the scene was worth playing out. Giving the loser the last
say helps shore up any hard feelings and make sure their character saves
face. Nobody likes their PC to look like a fool or a loser, but determining the
shape that the loss takes can be a lot of fun.

Monsters find it natural to solve their problems in this way and it keeps play
moving, so don’t hold grudges with this stuff - let it wash off your character’s
back and move on. It’s a mechanism to keep the game flowing nicely, but also
a nice chance for some monster vs. monster drama. You’re all a bunch of
bloodthirsty killers - surely you’re not always going to get along.

 
If at some point it becomes important that the PCs are trying to actually harm each 
other, such as a monster following their nature while feral, there are two options: 
 
❖ The GM sets the consequence that the loser of the power struggle must face. 
❖ The game progresses using normal position and effect, alternating between 
who makes action rolls. The GM judges how dangerous or effective the PC 
making the action roll would be and if there’s a consequence, the other PC 
gets a hand in deciding it. It’s best to decide the consequences before rolls 
are made. 
 
If everyone isn’t on board with a power struggle, especially one with consequences, 
the GM should just narrate a neutral conclusion and move on instead. Power 
struggles aren’t meant to force players into situations they don’t want their 
characters to be in. If everyone at the table isn’t having fun with it, it’s a better idea to 
find a different direction for the game to go in. 
 

Advancement
PCs start off competent, but not exactly strong. An orc marauder is about on equal 
footing with a normal caravan guard in a fight. A conniver might be able to match 
wits with a local priest. A warlock is about on level with a magician's apprentice. In 
the beginning, failure can be regularly expected. 
 
But as you gain xp, you grow more competent. You can rely on your actions more and 
gain additional abilities, turning into something much more terrible and powerful. 
 

Danger XP
Every time you roll a dangerous action, no matter the result, you gain 1 xp in the 
danger xp track on your character sheet. When you fill in the last box, you can place 

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an additional action dot in any action and clear the track. You gain the XP prior to 
actually making the roll, so you can place the dot immediately and then roll it. 
 
You can only have a maximum of 3 action dots in an action without the appropriate 
lair upgrade (pg. X). 

Players, make sure to track your danger xp during the game! It’s your
responsibility, not the GM’s.

Practice XP
After you make a roll with an action that has no dots in it, you gain 1 xp for the action 
that you rolled. When you gain the first xp, place a diagonal line in the action’s first 
box. When you gain the second, place another diagonal line making an “X” in the box. 
After you gain the third, fill in the box and your action rating increases to 1d. 
 

Monster XP
At the bottom of your character sheet is your monster xp track and its triggers. At the 
end of each session, go around the table with each PC going down the xp trigger list 
and recounting the triggers you met. You then decide for yourself how much xp you 
should take for the session. 
 
Mark 1 monster xp for each trigger met within the session. Detail how it happened. 
 
❖ You made progress on your master plan. What did you accomplish? What
lies ahead? 
❖ You used a scene to bring the dungeon to life. How did you fill the time
between raids and invasions with interesting cuts of monster life?
❖ You did something a human would never do. How did your actions reflect
your monstrous nature?
❖ You utilized your trappings in creative ways. How did your most prized
possessions come into play? 
 
The master plan (pg. X) is something the group works towards together and if 
progress is made, everyone gains 1 monster xp for it. When the 9-xp track is full, you 
clear it and gain a new ability. You then mark down any left over xp. 
 
Monster XP is tallied up at the end of each session no matter where it ended in the 
cycle of play. You go around the table with each player going down their list of xp 
triggers, recounting what happened during the session. You can help each other out 
by reminding someone of something they forgot to do. As a good rule of thumb, if 
nothing comes immediately to mind, you shouldn’t take XP for it - it should be fairly 
clear when the triggers are hit. 
 

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Bringing in New Characters Later in the Game

If you lose your character, the nature of the dungeon makes it easy to bring in a new 
one. Dungeons are generally open to new monsters moving in and a wicked one 
would quickly prove to be useful. Another option is to promote a minion, having them 
step up in the ranks and becoming one of the wicked ones. 
 

When you make a new character, you get 1 extra ability and 1 extra 
action dot per dungeon tier. 

 
When bringing in a new character, setting up an off-screen montage works well. 
❖ How do you prove your worth and gain the acceptance of the other PCs? 
❖ How are you more than just another minion? 
 
Using your vile friends and known enemies to link you together with the dungeon 
somehow makes for an easy in-road. A power struggle also sets the tone really nicely 
to have a new PC work their way into the dungeon. 

Bringing New PCs into the Story

You should try not to spend too much time on the specifics of how the
monster moves into the dungeon here - you’re monsters and they’re a
powerful, useful monster. That’s what your dungeon needs more of so as long
as they’ll pull their weight. Make it easy for new PCs to work themselves in.
It’s up to the other PCs at the table as much as it is the new PC to open up the
story for a new character to join in.

 
 

Tiers
Tiers are used to establish relative power of elements within their own categories. 
You use them when you need to know how things stack up against each other. Tiers 
are rated from 0 to 4, with 0 representing something that is small or weak and 4 
representing something incredibly powerful. They only directly compare things 
within the same category.  
 
Each tier is basically worth double what its previous tier is. Something that is tier 3 
should be twice as powerful as something that is tier 2. For example, two tier 2 
factions working together could possibly take down a tier 3 faction. Four tier 1 
factions could possibly do the same. It would take 8 tier 1 factions to face off against a 
tier 4 faction. 
 
Tiers can sometimes be considered as a circumstance towards effect when it makes 
sense for the relative power of the two things to have an effect. If you are using a 

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spell of a lower tier to attempt to counter a higher tier ritual, you would take -effect 
on the roll.  
 
Throughout the game, tiers will be used as a way to compare elements of the game 
within their own categories. The tier system is a rating between 0 and 4. Tier 0 
represents something within its category that is small or weak, just starting off or 
barely worth the time to notice. Tier 4 represents the highest level of quality or 
power, something strong and valuable, within its category. 
 
Your dungeon will have a tier, starting off at 0. This will compare to faction tiers and 
establish how powerful of targets you can tackle. Spells and rituals, as well as 
alchemicals and potions, have tiers, too. Your dungeon’s creatures also have tiers, as 
well as the adventurers that invade your dungeon. While many elements have tiers, 
it’s important to remember that they’re representations of relative power within that 
category - a tier 3 dungeon doesn’t “equal” a tier 3 adventurer. 
 
 
 
   

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The Dark Arts

 
Some wicked ones are drawn to the power found within magic and science. They 
learn to cast spells tinged with darkness or craft incredible contraptions. Others ply 
their time mixing alchemicals, noxious concoctions with bizarre effects or engaging 
in long rituals to harness the most powerful magic they can wield. These are the dark 
arts, whose power only a monster would dare risk trying to harness. 
 
This chapter lays out how magic and science work, providing examples and giving the 
proper scope to what’s possible with it. Crafting of magical and scientific items as 
well as preparing rituals is covered in detail in the lurking section on pg. X. 

“Balancing” a Freeform, Open-Ended System

The examples covered on the next few pages are just that - examples. Use
them along with the base guidelines when creating your own dark magic and
science! Actual mechanical balance is far less important than the tier “feeling
right,” so when in doubt, go with your gut on judging the item tiers.

Volatility of the Dark Arts

By their very nature, the dark arts are dangerous. This is a risk monsters are willing 
to take on in exchange for power. This manifests in things created with magic or 
science often being volatile in nature. Magic items, alchemicals, potions, 
contraptions - all can be volatile unless perfectly crafted. 
 
When an item has the volatile property, it comes with some drawback when using or 
even just carrying it. A freezing potion might also freeze the potion bottle, making it 
very fragile and likely to break. A bottled rage potion might cause you to become 
beholden to a specific condition like “I can’t tell friends from foes”. A contraption that 
shoots fire might deal a light wound to yourself any time you use it. The exact nature 
of the volatility is up to the GM, but they should try to make it something that still 
makes using the item worth using, but is troublesome or annoying to do so. 
 
Volatile tends to scale with tier, with the most powerful items having the greatest 
level of volatility. Minor items might give some small annoyance, but powerful items 
might be quite dangerous to wield. 
 
If an item is volatile, it will have the nature of the volatility listed in parenthesis after 
the item. 
 

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Magic
Magic is broken up into three disciplines - sorcery, witchcraft, and channeling. The 
difference between them is the source of their power and the form it takes when you 
Invoke it.  
 
❖ Sorcery draws power from strange, arcane forces.  
❖ Witchcraft draws power from spirits and nature. 
❖ Channeling draws power from the worship of evil deities. 
 
You Invoke spells and rituals, creating magical effects that fall within the scope of 
your path. Each discipline has several paths which determine what kind of magical 
effects you can create. To cast magic within a certain path requires you to have an 
implement specific to that path in your trappings or supply (pg. X) through which to 
focus your magic. To cast higher tier spells and rituals, you must have the 
appropriate shaman, warlock, or zealot calling ability. 
 

Crystal balls, strange powders, crooked wands, crazy spirit masks, 

ancient tones scrawled in blood - these are arcane implements, the tools 
magic wielders use to focus their magic. The choice of implement is up 
to you, but you should try to connect it strongly with the path of magic 
you use. 

Sorcery Paths
You reach out and seize control of primal, arcane energies, twisting them to serve 
your purpose. Sorcery is the purview of warlocks, who can learn to cast higher level 
spells within this discipline. 
 
❖ Enchantment allows you to beguile and bewitch your foes, read their 
minds, cause lasting mental damage, plant false ideas, and even compel 
them to obey you.
❖ Evocation allows you to summon minor demons to do your bidding. 
❖ Force Mastery allows you to control primal force, lifting and moving 
objects or even yourself. 
❖ Hexomancy allows you to manipulate the forces of luck and entropy, 
causing chaos and decay. 
❖ Illusion allows you to control darkness and shadows, using them to craft 
illusions, darken or lighten areas.  
❖ Necromancy allows you to wield negative energy to hasten death, sap 
strength, or control the dead. 
❖ Pyromancy allows you to conjure and manipulate flames, lava, and heat. 
 

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Channeling Paths
You call upon a dark god, demigod, or powerful fiend that, in return for your 
worship, allows you to wield a small fraction of their power for yourself. Channeling 
is the purview of zealots, who can learn to cast higher level spells within this 
discipline. 
 
You can choose one of the following evil deities to follow or make up your own. The 
deity you worship acts as your path. Each has a title followed by two domains which 
help define the scope of the magic you can cast. If you make your own, work with the 
GM to define these well.  
 
❖ Melawa, The Keeper of Secrets, Goddess of Knowledge and Deceit 
❖ Zaheen, The Dancing Madman, God of Luck and Chaos 
❖ Talazar, The Relentless Stalker, God of Vengeance and the Hunt 
❖ Vahoona, The Howler at Night, God of Nightmares and Twilight 
❖ Melkahar, The Rotting Prince, God of Pestilence and Decay 
❖ Labisha, The Flesh Eater, Goddess of Slaughter and Savagery 
❖ Dalgeth, The Grumbling Malcontent, Goddess of Treachery and Downfall 
❖ Gorlag, The Blessed Emperor, God of Conquest and Tyranny 
❖ Nezame, The Joyful Hedonist, God of Pleasure and Envy 
❖ Iziza, The Sweet Mistress, Goddess of Seduction and Trickery 
❖ Shabaz, The Unscrupulous Destroyer, God of Tempests and Blights 
❖ Crevis, The Quivering Wretch, God of Cowardice and Suffering 
❖ Gimosha, The Predictable Liar, Goddess of Greed and Jealousy 
 

Witchcraft Paths
You call upon or compel natural and ancestral spirits to assist you. You have a strong 
connection with the most basic forces of nature. Witchcraft is the purview of 
shamans, who can learn to cast higher level spells within this discipline. 
 
❖ Bloodreading gives you power over the bodies of living creatures such as 
harming them, controlling their movement, or inflicting them with a 
disease. 
❖ Divination allows you to send your sight far and wide, looking into pools of 
water to see distant lands, the past, or even very brief, chaotic glimpses of 
what will likely be the future. 
❖ Druidism gives you power over plants and animals which you can summon 
and command. 
❖ Spiritcalling allows you to contact ancestral spirits, asking for or 
demanding their aid such as allowing yourself to become possessed, 
receiving knowledge, or cursing your enemies by manipulating their spirits 
using fetishes and doll-magic. 
❖ Stormcalling allows you to control the elements of weather - wind, water, 
and lightning. 
 

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Magic paths are not meant to be comprehensive. They represent the most
common magical traditions that exist within monster societies, so there are
bound to be some gaps. If a style of magic isn’t covered here, a player can
work with the GM to define it themselves.

Laws of Magic
Invoking magic means using a spell to do one of two things - using Invoke in place of 
another action to accomplish something or creating an effect not possible without 
magic. When you use Invoke in place of another action, focus on what you want to 
accomplish. For example, you could Finesse open a lock with a lockpick or you could 
Invoke a hexomancy spell to cause the lock mechanism to fall apart. You could Smash 
a knight with a warhammer or Invoke a force mastery spell to pummel them with a 
rock. The end result is essentially the same. When you’re creating completely new 
effects, focus on its usefulness compared to a normal action roll. 
 
Spells are ranked from tier 0 (also called cantrips) to tier 3. While anyone can cast tier 
0 and tier 1 spells as long as they have the appropriate implement, you must have an 
ability in order to cast tier 2 and tier 3 spells. 
 

Tier 2 and Tier 3 spells are difficult and dangerous

You must spend stress to Invoke tier 2 or 3 spells and take a penalty on 
the roll as follows: 
 
❖ Tier 2 spells take -1d on the roll. 
❖ Tier 3 spells take -2d on the roll. 

 
If the scope of a spell goes over tier 3, it is not possible to cast as a spell. It requires a 
ritual (pg. X). PC spellcasters are powerful,but not all-mighty. Their spellcasting has 
certain limits which become clear in the examples later in this chapter. The GM helps 
define the scale of magic, but it’s important to keep spellcasting balanced with other 
calling abilities. 
 
The tier of the spell is determined by the GM. The player states what they are trying to 
accomplish, especially the intended result. The intended result is used by the GM to 
judge the tier according to this chart: 
 

Spells

Tier 0 Results that anyone could easily accomplish. A nifty, stylistic, mildly 
(Cantrip)  useful or otherwise minor effect. 
No roll.   
  ❖ Snap your fingers and light a candle.  
❖ Whisper Vahoona’s name and the cathedral shutters blow open violently.  
❖ Call the wind to make your cape blow behind you. 

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❖ Send a shiver down someone’s spine, forcing them to turn around and notice 
you standing behind them. 

Tier 1 Results that a trained person with the right equipment could quickly 
No  accomplish. These spells allow you to roll Invoke in place of another 
Stress  action. 
No 
Penalty 
 
❖ Ensorcel the horse’s mind, inflaming it with anger to buck off the rider. 
(mimics Trick or Command) 
❖ Beseech Shabaz and send a bolt of lightning arcing towards the rider in plate 
mail. (mimics Finesse or Smash) 
❖ Focus intently and hear the pounding heartbeat and blood rushing through 
the veins of the hidden rogue. (mimics Scan) 
❖ Summon two tiny demons, one of which grabs the other’s tail and uses it to 
trip the farmer chasing you down. (mimics Finesse or Tinker) 

Tier 2 Results that a team of people could accomplish in a short time or a 

Take  single person over a longer period. This can also be results otherwise 
Stress  impossible without magic, with a power level about equal to a normal 
-1d
action. 
 
❖ Control the plants around you to vine their way across a gap, creating a small 
bridge. 
❖ Listen intently as Melawa tells you when the adventurers will arrive.  
❖ Conjure an illusion of a wyvern flying overhead, scaring off the pursuing 
cavalry. 
❖ Summon a wolf to hunt down the running captive. 

Tier 3 Results that even a team of trained professionals would take quite some 
Take  time to accomplish. This can be unbelievable magical results, more 
Stress  powerful than a normal action. 
-2d
 
❖ Hit the town wall with a huge amount of force, blowing a hole in it. 
❖ Leave your mortal coil as you enter the spirit realm and head off to possess a 
caravan guard. 
❖ Demand that Crevis infest the minds of the goblins in the village, causing 
them to see images of their own demise so that they flee. 
❖ Enchant the guards’ minds, causing them to forget that they even saw you kill 
their friend. 

 
Expanding the scope, area, or duration of a spell adjusts its tier upwards. By default, 
spells are instantaneous or short-lived effects and affect a single target or a limited 
area. You might adjust the tier upwards if: 
 
❖ You expand the scope from a single target to a few targets, or a few targets 
to many targets. 
❖ You expand the area from a small area to a medium area, or a medium area 
to a large area. 
❖ You expand the duration from a short time to a medium time, or a medium 
time to a long time. 
 

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Invoke can be used to make resistance rolls as well, though you must 
describe the spell you are casting to resist it. The GM sets the tier and 
you take stress and a penalty to the roll as normal based on the tier. 
Generally speaking, though, resisting can almost always be done with a 
tier 1 spell. 

Causing a Scene
Xog, a demon shaman with bloodreading magic, has stowed away in a cart
heading into town. His target is a charm necklace that a merchant is hawking
in the town square - a charm he knows he needs to finish his ritual. As the
cart pulls close to the merchant’s stand, Xog says, “Okay, I need to get that
charm and get out of here, so I want to cause some distractions. Maybe I can
make the merchant suddenly throw up violently, drawing attention.”

The GM says, “Yeah, that sounds like a tier 1 spell to me, kind of like a Trick.
You could push it and make the 3 or 4 people standing around the stand all
throw up. That’d be tier 2.”

Xog thinks, “I think I want to go big here - let’s make everyone in this square
suddenly start wretching. Then I’ll snatch the charm and make my escape.”

The GM, “Awesome, that’s a tier 3 spell, so you take -2d on your action roll
here. This is going to be dangerous / normal. If you fail, your spell’s probably
going to backfire on you in this busy town square.” Xog grabs some dice.

 
All of these factors for spells are very subjective - how long is a medium amount of 
time? How big of an area is a large area? A “large area” for a fireball will be different 
than a “large area” for a storm. This is all up to the GM. You decide how powerful 
magic is in your game. Over the next few pages, there are several examples that can 
help form a basis for magic in your setting, but it’s really up to you to set the 
limitations of magic. Think about and set some limits - what can magic not do? Using 
these guidelines, you create a framework for how magic functions. 
 

Miscellaneous Spellcasting Rules

Spellcasting is very open ended and most rules can be judged by the GM 
on the fly, but this list sets some baselines for GMs to go off of to provide 
balance to some of the trickier aspects of magic. 
 
❖ Dispel: Persistent magical effects can be dispelled with Invoke as 
well. The tier of the spell required is set by the strength of the magic 
in play, which is determined by the GM. 
❖ Summoning: Any summoned minions are short-lived, usually 
lasting only a scene. Minions can be permanently summoned with 
rituals. A tier 1 spell might make a minion with very limited usage or 

Wicked Ones | 56 

 
 

no control by the caster, while a tier 3 spell could be something that 

you can control like a normal minion (pg. X). 

Setting the Scope of Magic

The scope of magic exists within the GM’s mind - everyone is going to have a
different idea of it, but much like position and effect, the GM is in the best
place to consistently judge magical effects over time. GMs, try to be
transparent and open to questions about why you’ve judged the effects in
certain ways. This will help inform your players’ decisions as they get used to
the power level of magic. Players, be forgiving if the GM judges two identical
spells as different tiers - judging something so incredibly flexible can be
tough. We’re all human, right?

Potions
Potions are bottled magical concoctions with potent effects, usually in liquid form, 
but it’s not unheard of to find these essences distilled into a dust or another form. 
They are single-use items and have the effects of equivalent-tier spells. Cantrip level 
potions are also possible, though incredibly minor effects and not detailed below. 
 

Potions

Tier 1  Potions that mimic tier 1 spells. 

 
❖ Firefly: Upon consuming this potion, you shine like a firefly. 
❖ Blowfish: You float very well, making it unlikely to drown but a bit difficult to 
move against the current. 
❖ Sticky: Magically fuse two things together. 
❖ Booming voice: Your voice is way louder than normal. 
❖ Featherfall: Slow your descent on a fall. 
❖ Protection: You gain a defense against something specific. 

Tier 2 Potions that mimic tier 2 spells. 

 
❖ Fishgills: You can breathe underwater. 
❖ Spiderlegs: You can walk on walls. 
❖ Firebreath: You can shoot an enormous blast of fire from your mouth. 
❖ Terror: You become incredibly scary looking, the manifestation of the viewer’s 
worst fears. 
❖ Vanishing: You disappear momentarily, reappearing if you touch something 
with your hands or something touches you. 
❖ Blink: You teleport to the location you throw the potion. 

Tier 3 Potions that mimic tier 3 spells. 

 
❖ Shapechange: You turn into a creature, determined when the potion is made. 
❖ Giantsize: You double in size. 

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❖ Ratsize: You halve in size. 

❖ Tongues: You can speak and understand any language. 
❖ Invisibility: You turn completely invisible for a short time. 
❖ Flying: You can fly for a short time. 

Rituals
Rituals push magic to its limits, allowing you to bring forth truly horrifying magical 
effects. Rituals allow you to apply magic in ways that have greater impact on the 
overall story. To cast a ritual, you must have an appropriate calling ability giving you 
access to rituals. This requirement can be bypassed if you have learned the details of 
how to prepare a specific ritual from some source. 
 
Rituals are rated from tier 1 to tier 3 and judged by the GM based on their narrative 
weight - how much impact they have on the story: 
 

Rituals

Tier 1  Results that change the story in ways useful for the PCs, but with minor 
impact on NPCs. NPCs may struggle with the fallout, but it’s generally a 
minor obstacle or setback. 
 
❖ Raise a group of skeletons to permanently serve you as a minion. 
❖ Build a teleportation circle focused on two specific locations. 
❖ Spoil all of the milk in a town, making the townspeople paranoid. 
❖ Learn the location of the mayor’s daughter. 

Tier 2 Results that give the PCs a strong advantage or force NPCs into 
disadvantageous situations. NPCs will likely confront the fallout, being a 
major obstacle or setback though not usually an existential threat. 
 
❖ Plant the seeds of fear in the baron’s mind, causing him to betray the duke. 
❖ Link the fate of two individuals together - if one dies, they both die. 
❖ Conjure a large wall of ice, blocking the mountain path. 
❖ Bathe the forest in a lingering fog, keeping townsfolk from entering. 

Tier 3 Results that alter the entire dynamic of the story. NPCs are left with no 
option other than to immediately deal with the fallout. 
 
❖ Call forth a mighty storm, earthquake, or other natural disaster. 
❖ Summon a nightmarish creature that is beyond your control to wreak havoc on 
a local region. 
❖ Cause a blight, destroying and cursing farmland for miles around. 
❖ Raise a kobold shaman to demi-godhood. 

 
Rituals are prepared as downtime activities during the lurking phase (pg. X). You 
have to fulfill a number of special requirements equal to the tier of the ritual. The 
special requirements are determined by the GM and should be something quite 
challenging to accomplish, usually requiring a raid.  
 

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When you complete a ritual, immediately make a blowback roll 

depending on the tier of the ritual. A tier 1 ritual rolls 3d, a tier 2 ritual 
rolls 2d, and a tier 3 ritual rolls 1d. On a mixed or failure, outside forces 
attempt to intervene and the ritual cannot be completed until the 
blowback from it is dealt with. 

 
 
Special Requirements for Rituals: 
❖ Intimate materials: You need an item that the target of the ritual greatly values 
or cares about deeply. Why is it important to them?
❖ Secret Knowledge: You require secret, arcane information from a specific 
source. What will you have to give up to acquire this knowledge?
❖ Ritual cleansing: Your body must be thoroughly cleansed with ointment, blood, 
or other special materials. Where does this bathing occur?
❖ Blood magic: You must feed the ritual with your own blood, leaving you with a 
wound. What does the scar look like?
❖ Rare ingredients: You must collect these rare ingredients before you can cast the 
spell - often from high, inaccessible mountain peaks or at the bottom of deep, 
dark lakes. What stands between you and the ingredient?
❖ Sacrifice: You must sacrifice some type of animal or even a specific person. Why
is this person the one?
❖ Special Focus: You require a special item or creature that the ritual’s power will 
be tuned into permanently. This is often a requirement for permanent magic 
effects and magic items. If the item or creature is destroyed, the magic effect is 
also destroyed. How is the magic portrayed through this focus?
❖ Timing: You can only perform the ritual at a specific time, such as a certain lunar 
phase or when the stars align. When your ritual starts, the GM will start an 
additional 4, 6, or 8 segment clock and tick it each lurking phase to represent the 
time approaching. What is significant about the timing?
❖ Fasting: You are not allowed to eat while preparing this ritual. You take shock to 
one of your attributes after each downtime that you rolled to prepare this ritual. 
Why must you go through such suffering? 
❖ Place of power: You must perform the ritual at a specific place of power such as a 
long forgotten battlefield or deep within a volcano. How does the place magnify
your arcane might? 
❖ Trial: You must undergo some trial or perform a specific action to prove yourself 
worthy before the ritual can be completed, such as swimming across a dangerous 
river, burning down a temple, or finding and killing a wyvern without weapons. 
What makes the task more dangerous than is immediately apparent? 
 

Magic Items
Monsters are bound to find magic items hanging off the bodies of dead adventurers 
or hidden away in a wizard’s chest. Magic items are rated from tier 1 to tier 3 and 
judged similarly to rituals based on their narrative weight. Basically, magic items are 
judged by how useful they are and how much impact they have on the story. Magic 
items are created by performing a ritual with a tier equal to the magic item’s tier. 

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Magic Items

Tier 1  Items that are fun, interesting, crazy, but with limited power and 
usefulness. 
 
❖ Filcher’s Monocle: When worn, any gold or silver within eyesight surrounds 
itself with a faint aura that you can see even if the valuables are hidden. 
❖ Skeleton Key: This lock can open any non-magical lock without needing to roll. 
If it is used to open a magical lock, it can roll its tier against it. 

Tier 2 Items that provide strong bonuses for the wielder or force NPCs into 
undesirable situations. 
 
❖ Cheater’s Coin: When flipped, it will give whatever result the user wants. 
(Demands one gold before it can be used again, placed on the coin which
devours it) 
❖ Orb of Darkness: Cloaks an area around the orb in darkness, even in broad 
daylight. When covered with a cloth, the darkness effect is smothered. 
(Substantially heavier than it looks)

Tier 3 Items that alter the entire dynamic of the story. These provide an 
overwhelmingly powerful bonus to the wielder or NPCs are left with no 
option other than to immediately deal with the item. 
 
❖ Crystal Ball: You can see anything within miles of your location. (Take shock if
the scrying eye is noticed) 
❖ Wand of Fireballs: Can create an immense fireball at the target location. (Costs
stress to use) 

 
Generally speaking, magic items give the abilities that you didn’t previously have. 
They can be considered as a circumstance towards effect when they apply, but items 
tend to allow you to do something new rather than more effectively. As an example, 
Filcher’s Boots don’t allow you to sneak around more quietly - they make gold and 
silver give off a faint glowing aura that you can more easily see, making it easier to 
steal. 
 
Magic items are often volatile, coming with some drawback that balances out their 
power. They might require you to spend stress to use it, only be possible to use under 
certain circumstances, whisper paranoid thoughts to you when you’re under 
pressure, or anything else that seems fitting.  
 
Within your dungeon, there may be many “magic” things that are covered by 
different mechanics - magical constructs that serve you as minions, magical locks to 
keep adventurers at bay, and so on. Magic items generally cover items that can be 
equipped or carried by characters. 
 
When you make an action roll with a magic item, you roll the item’s tier or the 
wielder’s relevant ability, whichever is higher. 

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Figuring Out Tiers is Mostly Gut Feeling

This method of judging items, much like spells, can be a bit tricky. When in
doubt, go with your gut. For example, if an item with two tier 1 effects doesn’t
really feel strong enough to be considered tier 2, then maybe just leave it at
tier 1. If that still doesn’t feel right, maybe make it volatile and see if that
feels a bit more balanced.

Science
Some monsters prefer to put their brains to work, coming up with clever solutions 
within the laws of reality. Whereas magic has a wider upper end, the study of science 
tends to be more broadly applicable than magic paths. 
 

Alchemicals
Powders, polstices, poisons, oils, and bombs - alchemicals are single-use items thrown 
together in mad science laboratories with reagents like saltpeter, magnesium, and 
brimstone. Herbal, plant, or fungus based concoctions are also considered alchemical 
in nature. Alchemicals are rated from tier 1 to tier 3, based on how effective and 
dangerous they are. 
 

Alchemicals

Tier 1  Alchemicals with simple, clear, or useful effects that are generally easy 
to make. 
 
❖ Sunrod: A small, flexible stick that burns brightly when you crack it and smells 
strongly of sulfur. 
❖ Stink bomb: Instantly fills an area with a horrid smell, likely to make anyone 
with a weak stomach wretch. 
❖ Sneezing powder: Causes incessant sneezing for a few seconds, sometimes 
longer. 
❖ Itching Powder: Instantly sends itching sensations all along skin exposed to it. 
❖ Firedancers: Small fireworks that shoot into the sky. 
❖ Insomnia Powder: A sour smelling powder that instantly snaps your eyes 
awake with lingering effects that last overnight. 
❖ Blister Oil: Causes instant blistering in an area of skin. 
❖ Lamp Oil: Simple, flammable, effective. 

Tier 2 Alchemicals with dangerous, potent, or even deadly effects that sit 
firmly within the laws of nature. 
 
❖ Snake Poison: A concoction that quickly leads to death. 
❖ Tar Bomb: Showers an area with tar when it explodes. 
❖ Rusting Powder: Immediately causes metal to rust and decay. 
❖ Bomb: Causes an explosion, enough to level a small house or maybe blow a hole 
in a town wall. Very effective, though getting to safety is the problem. 

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❖ Thunderstone: A bright flash and a bang, enough to temporarily daze, deafen, 

and blind anyone looking at it. Knock it on something twice, then throw. 
❖ Bottled Rage: You become a horrible killing machine, adrenaline pumping 
through your veins, eyes filled with red hate. (Volatile: Can’t tell friend from
foe.)
❖ Numbing Tonic: You ignore the dice penalty from being injured. 

Tier 3 Alchemicals with incredible, mysterious, or devastating effects. These 

twist the laws of nature and push the very limits of monster 
pseudoscience. 
 
❖ Zombie Juice: Turns a corpse into an insane, hungry zombie for the next 5 
hours. 
❖ Lightbending Fluid: Cover yourself in this fluid and light will bend around you, 
making you virtually invisible. 
❖ Quickfreeze: Causes the temperature to drop in the area rapidly. 
❖ Aging Tonic: Makes the drinker age rapidly. 
❖ Bottled Paranoia: Makes someone incredibly paranoid, disbelieving everything. 
❖ Essence of Night: Sucks the light straight out of a room, causing deep darkness 
for several seconds. 
❖ Everburning Torch: A light source that never fades, burning as bright as a 
normal torch without any heat.

Edges
Edges are minor improvements that make items a little better. Edges do not give the 
ability to do new things like contraptions (next section), but improve on already 
existing functionality.  
 
Edge Examples 
❖ Camouflaged: Take +effect when sneaking in a forest.
❖ Easy to Use: Always roll at least 1d when using it. 
❖ Hidden: Can be hidden more easily than a normal version. 
❖ Hooked: Take +effect when tripping or disarming someone. 
❖ Light: Does not take up a trapping slot. 
❖ Terrifying: Take +effect when using it to scare someone. 
❖ Trusty: Extremely difficult to break or remove from your possession. 
❖ Pulverizing: Take +effect when destroying stone or armor. 
 
Edges sometimes give +effect to some activity, but you must be careful to limit its 
scope to something quite specific. 
 

When mundane equipment can do something extra beyond its normal 

function, it’s best represented by an edge. For example, a six-armed 
demon with a sword in each hand could list those as a single trapping 
called “excess volume of swords” on their character sheet, with the 
Trusty edge to represent how they are difficult to disarm or lose. If 
there’s not an appropriate edge in the list above, work with the GM to 
make your own! 

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Contraptions
Monster science can push the limits of what’s possible: hot air balloons, rocket boots, 
portable catapults - you name it. These are called contraptions and with them, only 
the laws of reality are your limit. 
 

Contraptions are things that don’t already commonly exist, with good 
reason - they are always volatile in some way.  

 
Contraptions are rated from tier 1 to tier 3 and how much a contraption pushes the 
laws of science determines the tier of the item. You can’t just make anything you 
want, of course. A monster isn’t going to whip up an airplane - but a dirigible might 
be possible! The tech level you should aim for here is “crappy steampunk.” Monsters 
are a bit more willing to risk injury for the sake of science, allowing them to push the 
fantasy technology envelope into early steampunk level contraptions. 
 
Incredibly complex creations might actually be the culmination of several different 
contraptions. A mask that lets you breathe underwater and a small propeller might 
function as some sort of makeshift submarine.  
 

Contraptions

Tier 1  Simple and useful contraptions that aren’t commonly available, but well 
within the possibility of being made given the technology level. 
 
❖ Lighter: A small, oil-filled device that allows you to light a fire easily. (Bursts
into flames if struck)
❖ Gas Mask: While wearing this, you ignore the effects of alchemicals that affect 
you when you breathe them in. (Extremely limited vision while wearing)
❖ Spyglass: A looking glass allowing you to see quite far in the distance. 
(Incredibly fragile.)

Tier 2 Complex contraptions that are quite useful, but still realistically 
imaginable to create. 
 
❖ Glider: A large, rickety contraption that gives you a high degree of control over 
your descent. (Weak and fragile frame)
❖ Parachute: A big parachute stuffed into a backpack allowing you to float to 
safety. (No control over descent)
❖ Sticky Gloves: With these, you can climb and stick to any surface. (Cannot hold
other items in your hands while wearing)

Tier 3 Insane, completely off-the-wall creations that push the very limits of 
what might be possible. 
 

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❖ Chainsaw: A raucous machine of death and woodcutting. Cuts through 

anything but the heaviest armor like butter. (Take two consequences when you
roll a failure) 
❖ Rocket Boots: Obtain insane speeds or soar to great heights. (Hair trigger) 
❖ Night-Vision Goggles: Allow you to see in darkness. (Blinded for a short time if
you look at a light source while wearing) 

 
 

Key Differences between Magic and Science

Magic and science are two ways to do something similar - the biggest difference in
how the tiers are judged. Magic allows you to produce any effect unbounded by the
laws of reality, but within a narrow focused path. Their effects are based around
how much impact they have on the world and the story.

On the other hand, reality is the only limit to science. If you can think it up and
make it make some kind of sense in a pseudoscientific fashion, then you’re good to
go. As you’ll see later, science tends to be much easier to craft and doesn’t require
a calling ability like magic does. It’s more accessible, flexible, and easier to make,
but has limits on it that magic doesn’t.

 
   

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Wicked Ones
 
Wicked Ones are the monsters that stand on top of the rest - you can keep your vile 
nature in check long enough to make some long term plans. Sure, there are goblin 
farmers and orc fishermen in the world. These weaklings huddle in their tiny villages 
far from civilization, hoping humans don’t cast an eye on their lands. But that’s not 
you - you crave power and riches. You spit on those fools, hiding in their straw huts. 
No, you’re a wicked one, looking to carve out your own place in this world. 
 

Character Creation
Making a character is fairly straightforward and can generally be done in 10-15 
minutes. Most of the necessary information is included on the character sheet. Below 
is an overview of character creation, though many of the selections are detailed later 
in this section or elsewhere in the book. 
 
Before making characters, make sure that your group has worked together to choose 
a sandbox (pg. X), dungeon style (pg. X), and monster race theme (pg. X). 
 
All monsters speak a lingua franca called the dark tongue. This is opposed to the 
language shared by overworlders called the light tongue. Monsters know a 
smattering of light tongue words marked on your character sheet. You can also 
spend stress to recall an additional word you’ve learned, which you can mark down 
on your sheet permanently. 
 

1. Choose a Race
Choose a fantasy monster race following the race theme your group has decided on 
(pg. X). The choice of race does not confer any specific mechanical advantages unless 
you take the Innate Gift ability on pg. X. Typical choices for race include:  
 

bugbear - demon - goblin - kobold - orc - slissik 

2. Choose a Calling
Your calling is a guideline on how you go about doing your monstrous work. It 
provides you with a core ability, a flashback ability, and a list of other abilities to 
choose from as you increase in power. 
 

brute - conniver - crafter - marauder - shadow - shaman - tracker - warlock - zealot 

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Each calling comes with its own specific character sheet. You can use this sheet for 
convenience or just choose the generic blank sheet and fill in the abilities yourself. 

3. Choose an Ability
Look through your calling’s list of abilities and choose one in addition to your normal 
starting ability. 
 

4. Choose Your Actions

Place 7 action dots in any actions you would like. You can only place a max of 2 dots in 
any single action during character creation. (Actions pg. X) 
 

5. Choose Your Nature

Look through the list below and decide on two, or you can work with the GM to make 
up a more fitting nature. (Nature pg. X) 
 

bigmouth - craven - cruel - deranged - fickle - greedy - gullible - hateful 

haunted - impatient - obsessed - paranoid - petty - rude - reckless 

6. Choose Your Revelry

Decide how your character likes to throw around gold and blow off some steam, 
filling their dark heart with joy. (Revelry pg. X) 
 

drink - gambling - luxury - violence - weird - worship 

7. Choose Your Trappings & Supply

Decide your character’s look and the type of equipment they carry with them. Choose 
4 items to mark down as trappings, then choose an appropriate defense that these 
items provide you with. Then, mark down 2 additional items into your supply - items 
that you might have, but are not vital for your character. (Trappings & Supply pg. X) 
 
You also begin the game with your choice of a special item in your trappings or 
supply, or instead start with 1 gold. Special items can be an item with an edge, a tier 1 
contraption, or three uses of a tier 1 alchemical or potion. The alchemicals and 
potions can be the same type or different ones, but they are consumables and you 
erase them from supply when used.  
 
Below is a list of items that the different callings might have for their trappings & 
supply. These aren’t limitations, but merely examples - a conniver could just as easily 

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start with a huge battleaxe or a warlock with lockpicks. Special items are marked in 
italics. 

Creating a Mental Image is Best

It’s best to just imagine your character and what they look like, then write
down those things as trappings and supply! The examples are there to help
get your imagination going if you draw a blank, though.

Trappings & Supply Examples 

Brute: battleaxe - spiked armor - horned helmet - net - whip - tasty snack - 
torture tools - wardrums - fur cloak - chains - bone earrings - throwing 
spear 
Conniver: wineskin - hidden dagger - blowgun - mask - flute - flashy rings - 
lock - soap 
Crafter: tool pouch - bag of loose parts - crossbow - spyglass - bracers - 
goggles - lamp oil - flint & steel - leather apron - crowbar - shovel - huge 
wrench 
Hunter: bow - skinning knife - animal trap - fatigue poison - manacles - quiver 
of special arrows - climbing gear - fishing gear - hide armor - sling - animal 
call 
Marauder: shield - twin axes - crossbow - bracers - lantern - caltrops - 
mapping tools - horn 
Shadow: dark leather cloak - grappling hook - throwing knives - shortbow - 
extinguishing arrows - smoke bomb - pliers - lockpick - garrote - bag of rocks 
Shaman: spirit mask - spiked club - bone mace - beads - amulet - pipe & tobacco - 
augury bones  
Warlock: stave - terrifying scythe - cape - spellbook - crystals - human skulls 
Zealot: ceremonial knife - unholy symbol - robes - sickle - book - bell - blessed 
wine 

 
Finally, remember that spellcasting requires an implement for each path you wish to 
use, so make sure to designate one of your trappings or supply as this item.  
 

8. Choose Your Vile Friends & Known Enemy

This step of character creation must be done between the first and second session, 
after you’ve set up your sandbox, generated factions together, and already have the 
beginnings of your dungeon finished. During session 1 and session 2, you spend time 
setting up your dungeon - and during that time, you make some relationships.  
 
First, detail one vile friend you have - a monster that you already have a relationship 
with. This might be someone you grew up knowing or where you go to get your booze. 
It might be someone that can give you information or even help out from time to 
time. 
 

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Next, detail one known enemy you have. This is a faction that you ran across, pissed 
off, or just got noticed by during your time setting up the initial dungeon. 
 

Monster Races
Dungeons make for strange bedfellows, pushing even unlikely combinations of evil 
creatures together. However, the term “monster” is very broad in definition requiring 
the players and GM to refine it a bit for purposes of selecting races that the PCs can be 
from. Work together with your group to choose from one of these three themes: 
 
❖ Keep It Simple: All PCs must be humanoid with two arms and two legs, 
nothing bigger than a bugbear or smaller than a kobold. (Recommended for 
first time play) 
❖ We’re All Family: All PCs must play as members of a specific monstrous 
race. 
❖ Anything Goes: PCs are open to play as anything, from oozes to mushroom 
people to magically awakened evil squirrels. Almost anything goes, with 
the GM maintaining some level of veto power. 
 
Race can be considered as a circumstance for position and effect for some rolls, but 
it’s generally encouraged to give race as little mechanical effect as possible. However, 
if you do choose a race that has some unique special ability, you can bring this into 
play with the Innate Gift abilities below.  
 
Truly powerful monsters with several unique mechanics that break typical molds are 
considered primal monsters (pg. X) and aren’t recommended for new players. 
 

Innate Gift
Some races have their own passive or activated natural abilities that, while not quite 
on the level of primal monsters in power, still allow them to do something unique 
that other monsters can’t. When playing a monster with Innate Gift, you must take 
the Innate Gift ability in place of the first ability you select at character creation. You 
still get your calling starting ability, though. Work together with those at the table to 
determine the scope of the gift. 
 

Innate Gift: You have natural abilities that are unique to your race. This 
could be a constant ability like breathing underwater or darkvision, or 
activated ones like a siren’s song or regeneration. 
 
You can have up to two major abilities or swap out one of the major 
abilities for two minor ones. Major abilities allow you to do something 
extraordinary that most monsters couldn’t possibly do while minor 
abilities don’t have a large effect on the game. 
 

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You must spend stress when using activated major abilities. Constant 
abilities and activated minor abilities don’t require you to spend stress. 

Don’t Let Innate Gift Get Out of Control

The balance of innate gift is very important. You shouldn’t let it overshadow
other calling abilities and should strive to represent that race and their
capabilities as best as it can while keeping that in mind. If an ability gained
from innate gift closely resembles a calling ability or if it just feels too
powerful, coupling it with a drawback can help restore that balance. A troll’s
regeneration and keen sense of smell resemble shaman and tracker powers,
but coupling them with weakness towards fire helps bring the troll concept to
life without cheapening the other abilities.

 
Some abilities are simply too powerful to allow for normal PCs to have. These 
monsters are better modelled as primal monsters, powerful monsters that have their 
own unique mechanics and abilities such as goldmongers (dragons), facestealers 
(doppelgangers), and bloodsuckers (vampires). You can read more about primal 
monsters on pg. X. 
 
Many monsters may have multiple abilities in the setting you’re pulling them from, 
but try to hone in on one or two of them that best capture what that monster is about. 
 

Innate Gift Examples 

❖ A frogperson has a constant natural swimmer major ability and 
activated frog leap and frog tongue minor abilities. 
❖ A troll has an activated regeneration major ability and a constant 
keen sense of smell major ability. Both of these are similar to calling 
abilities, so to balance this, the GM and player decide the troll also 
has a severe weakness towards fire. 
❖ A duergar has a constant darkvision major ability and an activated 
growth major ability which allows them to double in size. 
❖ A harpie has a constant flight major ability and an activated harpie
song major ability. 

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Innate Gift in Practice

In the above example, the frogperson can swim easily through water, holding
their breath for quite some time, and jump quite a bit further than a normal
monster can. They could extend their tongue to grab food or even an item. If
the frogperson’s innate gift seems to be giving them too much versatility and
spotlight, toning down the abilities or introducing a drawback might be in
order, such as it needing to spend time in water or is weakened - a clock that
ticks each time it uses an ability.

As a final note, monsters with flight should be warned that just being in the
air makes consequences drastically more deadly. Flight can be highly
disruptive to campaigns as well, bypassing several challenges that would
otherwise by interesting to cope with. Carefully consider adding it and
similarly disruptive abilities (like natural invisibility) to your games.

Typical Monster Races

Listed below are six typical monster races that work as a nice default for players to 
create a starting PC with. Included with each is a short description about what a 
typical member of that monstrous race might be like. 
 

Bugbears are huge, bullish creatures, prone to rage and not exactly 
known for their intellect. They tend to see themselves as natural 
leaders thinking they should be in charge and like to follow others 
into a dangerous fight. A bugbear might say:
❖ “Listen, there’s no way I’m dyin’ first.”
❖ “My mind’s made up. In we go.”
  ❖ “Who the hell are you to give me orders?”

Demons are minor hellspawn that have found their way into the 
world. They tend to enjoy chaos, especially lies which they think 
mortals react to in ridiculous ways. Being immortal, death is only a 
return to their home and they generally don’t fear it. A demon 
might say: 
❖ “I just don’t get you mortals.”
  ❖ “It’s only death. What are you afraid of?”
❖ “Why tell the truth when it’s more fun to lie?”

Goblins are short, black-hearted creatures. They’re foul tempered 

and unliked by just about everyone. They are quick to anger, but 
refuse to fight on fair terms. A goblin might say:  
❖ “Hey, what are y… I SAID WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?”
❖ “Sounds like a fair fight. We should run.”
  ❖ “What’s ours is mine.”

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Kobolds are small creatures, physically kind of a mix of a rodent, a 

dog, and a lizard. They’re hyperactive and aggressive, with short 
attention spans. A kobold might say:  
❖ “What was I doing again?”
❖ “Oh, shiny!”
  ❖ “Let’s go, let’s go! Kill them before they kill us!”

Orcs are foul mannered, callous creatures. They’re stubborn and 

overly sensitive to slights from others. They tend to approach 
problems with the first solution that comes to mind. An orc might 
say: 
❖ “Who are you looking at?”
❖ “It’s just mud. Wipe it off and eat it.”
❖ “What? No, it’ll work. Just get in the catapult.”
 

Slissik are snake-like creatures that tend to react defensively to 

surprise and feel the need to always keep an eye on those around 
them. They have terrible memories, which leads to exaggerating 
details in stories to fill in gaps. A slissik might say: 
❖ “Where are you going?”
❖ “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”
❖ “There were… 4, 5...6 of them, yeah, that’s it!”
 

Choosing an Appropriate Monster Race

It’s important to remember that Wicked Ones isn’t just a game about
monsters, but a game about monsters building dungeons. When choosing a
race to play, make sure that it’s a monster that would actually have the need
to live in a dungeon. Monsters that blend in with civilization, have advanced
hiding capabilities, or can just fly their way out of trouble tend to not need to
make a dungeon in the first place. Making the dungeon the center of your
character concept and giving yourself a strong need for its existence tends to
work best.

Callings & Abilities

Every wicked one is drawn to a certain path that helps define how they go about their 
monstrous work. This is your calling of which there are 9 to choose from. 
 
❖ Brute - Powerful & Intimidating Brawlers 
❖ Conniver - Manipulative & Controlling Masterminds 
❖ Crafter - Clever & Curious Tinkerers 
❖ Hunter - Ruthless & Tenacious Trackers 
❖ Marauder - Cunning & Impressive Warriors 
❖ Shadow - Sneaky & Elusive Rogues 
❖ Shaman - Terrifying & Vengeful Spirit Worshippers  

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❖ Warlock - Deceptive & Ambitious Magicians 

❖ Zealot - Fervent & Mystical Believers 
 
Your calling starts you off with a core ability, which gives you a powerful way to 
spend stress to do things other callings can’t, and the power to flashback and perform 
actions in the past that a member of your calling would have thought to do. It also 
gives you a list of abilities to select as you advance, further defining your power. 
 
Some abilities allow you to perform something nearly impossible by spending stress. 
These give you permission to do something that normal monsters can’t and might 
not require a roll, such as becoming powerful enough to pick up a huge boulder. 
Spending the stress lets you just pick up the boulder, but if you wanted to throw that 
boulder at a cart, that would still require a roll. These abilities are flexible - sometimes 
they don’t need a roll, sometimes they give you the permission required to even make 
the roll, and at others they add to position and effect. 
 
Flexibility allows each calling to take one ability from another calling’s list. You can’t 
select a core ability with this, though. 
 
Some calling abilities will give access to a minion (pg. X). These minions don’t count 
towards your minion salaries, though if they are crushed, you still need to re-recruit 
them. In general, when a minion given by an ability is crushed, they have plot armor - 
they don’t die, just run away or hide. You still need to take some action to bring them 
back. In this way, a minion can survive for quite a while at a PC’s side. However, if the 
player is fine with the minion dying and cycling through “loyal servants,” that’s fine 
as well! 
   

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Brute : Powerful & Intimidating Brawlers

You’re called towards battle. You enjoy facing down your enemies and chopping them 
to pieces in brutal combat - the bloodier, the better. Your confidence with a weapon in 
hand manifests outside of combat when commanding or intimidating others, 
bellowing orders like you expect to be obeyed and bashing heads on the off chance 
they don’t. You begin play with the following abilities: 
 

Rage: You can spend stress to pull off an awesome feat of strength, like 
lifting an enormous boulder or facing off against a much larger foe on 
equal footing. 
 
You can flashback to quiet moments before or after a battle, time spent 
around a campfire, or interrogating prisoners.

Brute Abilities
Assault: You can spend stress to add an additional melee effect after you roll a 
success on an attack (choose one): destroy their armor - ring their bell - send them
flying. 

Living Weapon: Your own body is a weapon and has edges (choose two): concealed - 
extended reach - grappling - ranged - powerful - terrifying. 

Menace: You take +1d when intimidating or threatening someone. You also gain a 
defense against fear and intimidation.  
 
Packmule: Gain two extra trapping slots and a defense that stems from them. You 
also gain an additional supply slot.

Rawhide: You take +1d when resisting wounds and ignore all light wounds. 
 
Revenge: When you suffer injury or humiliation from someone, you take +1d on your 
immediate counterattack. Clear 1 stress if you roll a success. 

Taskmaster: Once each downtime, you can force a minion to perform an extra 
downtime action and they take +1d on this roll. You can instead use this downtime 
action to recruit minions, usually only possible while roaming. 
 

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Conniver : Manipulative & Controlling Masterminds

You lurk in the background pulling the strings, laying out intricate plans and have 
others do your bidding. For you, revenge is a dish best served cold. Methodical is an 
understatement - you’re in complete control at all times. 
 

Strings: You can spend stress to allow an ally to retry any roll. If they 
roll a success, you gain a dark heart. They remember your voice in their 
head - what did you say? 
 
You can flashback to any situation without limitations, because you’re 
always thinking several steps in advance.

Conniver Abilities
Manipulation: You can spend stress to become aware of a creature’s strongest 
emotion. You take +1d when you act on that knowledge. 
 
Masterful Liar: You take +1d when lying and your lies never have zero effect. You 
also gain a defense against your lies being discovered. 
 
Missed a Spot: Each lurking phase, you get three ticks to distribute amongst your 
allies’ project clocks. You can only give one tick per clock, though. 
 
Opportunist: You take +1d on any roll after an ally doesn’t resist a consequence or 
rolls a failure on the resistance roll.  

Tongues: You can speak the light tongue of the humans, elves, and dwarves, although 
you speak it with a monstrous accent. 
 
Weaving the Web: You maintain a web of contacts and spies in the overworld. You 
always get a result 1 step better when gathering information and never have to pay 
stress to flashback to interactions with these spies. 
 
Wordplay: When you roll a success when resisting an enemy’s lies, demands, or 
machinations, you may also (choose one): deflect blame - plant a false idea - learn a
truth. 
   

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Crafter : Clever & Curious Tinkerers

You spend hours in your workshop mixing together alchemical reagents and 
constructing insane devices with a gleeful disregard for your own safety. You strap 
up before you leave the dungeon, well-prepared for any situation. 
 

Slap Together: You can spend stress to rig up a tier 1 or tier 2 

contraption on the spot, which falls apart shortly after its first use. The 
contraption is still volatile like any other contraption. 
 
You can flashback to making mundane equipment or acquiring some 
specific materials which becomes available in your supply or an ally’s. 

Crafter Abilities
Brew It Up: You gain an extra downtime activity that can only be used to craft 
alchemicals. Choose three tier 1 alchemicals or a single tier 2 alchemical that you 
always have in your supply and gain a supply slot. 
 
Craftmaster: You take +effect when crafting contraptions and edges and gain an 
extra downtime activity which can only be used for this purpose. 
 
Monster Science: Rolling a success when going hard with a contraption or alchemical 
clears 1 stress. 
 
Powerful Elixirs: You can spend stress to empower an alchemical when you use it 
(choose one): larger area - lasts longer - more potent - secondary effect. 
 
Pride: You gain a dark heart when you or an ally rolls a critical using something you 
crafted. 
 
Prototypes: Choose a single contraption to craft. You can use it as normal while 
crafting it and any dangerous rolls made with it count as rolls towards crafting it, 
too. When it finishes, you can choose a new contraption to begin. 
 
Scrutiny: You take +1d when scanning for flaws and +1d when you first act on that 
knowledge. 
 

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Hunter : Ruthless & Tenacious Trackers

You’re at home running with the beasts of the forest. Relentlessly chasing down prey 
brings you closer to the animal inside of you. And yet, you are deliberate, never 
missing a sign, always on the trail. And when you finally drop your target, there’s no 
hesitation to finish it. 
 

Intuition: You can spend stress to learn an enemy's weakness, giving 

+effect on your next roll to stalk or bring them down. You must have laid 
eyes upon this enemy at least once. 

You can flashback to time spent scouting, setting up traps, or 

interacting with wildlife.

Hunter Abilities
Careful Footsteps: You take +position when scouting. You also gain a downtime 
action which can be used for this purpose, which normally can only be done while 
roaming. 

Feral Senses: Your senses extend twice as far as normal. You take +1d when tracking 
and gain a defense against surprise. 
 
Grit: When you roll a failure on a resistance roll, you can immediately roll an extra 1d 
that counts towards the roll. Clear 1 stress if it’s a success. 
 
Hunting Pet: You have a hunting pet, a veteran minion that begins with tricks 
(choose two): confuse a target - fetch - locate prey - stay hidden - take down prey. It 
takes +1d when performing these tricks and you can teach it additional ones as a tier 
2 project while lurking. 
 
Scavenger: When you roll a success while scouting or traversing the environment, 
you can (choose one): find a piece of equipment - tick an edge crafting clock - harvest a
tier 1 alchemical. If the roll is a critical, choose two. 

Thrill of the Hunt: Take +1d on any roll to bring down prey that is fleeing from you. 
Gain a dark heart when you strike the final blow. 
 
Trick Shots: You can spend stress to pull off an awesome shot with a ranged weapon, 
like ricocheting a projectile off a wall or hitting multiple targets. 

   

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Marauder : Cunning & Fearless Warriors

For you, battle is a dance. The thrill of outmaneuvering your enemies sends blood 
pumping through your veins. Your moves are precise and calculated and your 
awareness of the field of battle gives you the ability to see the bigger picture in other 
situations as well. 
 

Battlemaster: You can spend stress to pull off an amazing feat of 
excellence in battle such as engaging a larger number of foes on equal 
footing or moving to any location on the field of battle.

You can flashback to giving minions orders, even having them perform 
those orders within the flashback.

Marauder Abilities
Battle Plans: You take +1d on your first roll after engagement. You also gain a 
defense against mission plans going off track. 

Bodyguard: You take +1d on resistance rolls made when you protect an ally. You also 
gain a defense against their mistakes in battle. 

Control: When you roll a success when resisting an attack from an enemy within 
reach, you may also (choose one): disarm them - redirect the attack - reposition them.

Daredevil: You can take +1d on any dangerous roll, but you take -1d on any roll to 
resist the consequences. You also gain a defense against fear and intimidation. 
 
Joy of Battle: You clear 1 stress when you roll a critical in battle. You also gain a 
defense against shock. 
 
Raiders: You command a raiding party, a veteran minion with edges (choose 2): 
armored - deadly - expendable - tenacious.  
 
Tactician: You can spend stress or your own dark hearts to give a minion +1d on a 
roll. You also gain a defense against minion failure.  
 
 
   

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Shadow : Sneaky & Elusive Rogues

You are at home in the darkness, lurking unseen. You can slip into and out of areas 
unnoticed. The element of surprise is your greatest weapon and you can often find 
your way into and out of the trickiest of situations. 
 

Agility: You can spend stress to pull off an amazing feat of stealth or 
agility, such as disappearing while in front of a crowd or tumbling 
safely out of a tower. 

You can flashback to sneaking around or acts of thievery.

Shadow Abilities
Dark Mind: When you tempt an ally’s nature and it leads to a dark heart, you gain one 
as well. You can also spend your own dark hearts to add to an ally’s roll. 
 
Improvise: You can spend stress to roll your best action in place of a different one, 
though you must explain how you adapted your skill to this use.
 
Poisoner: You always have a supply of the following tier 1 alchemical poisons: 
blinding - disorienting - slowing - nauseating. You also gain a supply slot. 

Slippery: When you roll a success when resisting an enemy attack, you may also 
(choose one): pick their pocket - reposition behind them - disappear from their sight. 
 
Sneak Attack: You take +1d when you attack from hiding or catch someone off 
guard. 

Sticky Fingers: You take +2d to your own loot rolls. You also gain a defense against 
your thievery being detected. 

Unseen Hand: When you help out an ally, you only take consequences if they roll a 
failure. If they roll a success, you clear 1 stress. 
   

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Shaman : Terrifying & Vengeful Spirit Worshippers

You’re surrounded by an entire world of spirits, having already lost their coils and 
wandering aimlessly or taking up residence in objects. You’re drawn to this hidden 
world, you comprehend it, you revere it - or perhaps you abuse it . The spirits speak 
and you hear their mad whispers of vengeance. 
 

Witchcraft: You can spend stress to Invoke tier 2 and tier 3 spells of a 
single witchcraft path (choose one): bloodreading - divination - druidism
- spiritcalling - stormcalling.

You can flashback to interactions with spirits or animals.

Shaman Abilities
Ancestral Weapon: Your weapon has the trusty edge. After you affect someone with 
a spell, you take +1d on the next roll against them using this weapon.

Beastform: You can spend stress to assume the form of a single beast for a scene. You 
choose what type of beast when you take this ability, no larger than a bear and no 
smaller than a cat. Choose two of your actions that swap ratings while in this form.  
 
Spirit Companion: You have an incorporeal spirit companion, a veteran minion that 
you force to serve you. It has a single edge of your choice and one of the following 
abilities (choose one): manifest physically - possess the weak minded - extremely
knowledgeable. 

Spirit Whispers: You gain a defense against lies, misdirection, and stealth. When you 
use this defense, it also tells you a secret about the one who triggered it. 
 
Terror: You can spend stress to know anyone’s worst fear and take +1d when you act 
on this knowledge.
 
Wild Brews: You can also make potions of any tier from all witchcraft paths and gain 
an extra downtime activity that can only be used for this purpose.  
 
Wrath: When you roll a failure on a resist, you take +1d if you immediately cast a 
spell. This spell doesn’t cost stress, regardless of the tier.   

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Warlock : Daring & Ambitious Mages

You reach out and grab raw, arcane magic by its neck and bend it to your will. You 
dabble in dangerous arts and know that true power must be wrested away from 
others. A deep, unquenched thirst for power dwells inside of you.  
 

Sorcery: You can spend stress to Invoke tier 2 and tier 3 spells of a single 
sorcery path (choose one): enchantment - evocation - force mastery -
hexomancy - illusion - necromancy - pyromancy.

You can flashback to making deals or acquiring arcane knowledge. 

Warlock Abilities
Artificer: You gain +effect when enchanting magic items and gain a downtime 
activity which can only be used for this purpose. 
 
Blood Magic: You can give yourself a light wound to take +1d on a spell and cast it 
without spending stress. 
 
Counterspell: When you roll a success when resisting enemy magic, you may also 
(choose one): reflect the spell at them - absorb the spell and clear 1 stress - learn a
secret about the caster’s power. 
 
Familiar: You have a familiar, a veteran minion that accompanies and obeys you. You 
can see through its eyes, it understands speech and can speak, though nobody else 
can understand what it says besides you. You can cast spells through your familiar. 
 
Sorcery Mastery: You can choose a second sorcery path that you can cast tier 2 and 
tier 3 spells from. You only need a single arcane implement to use both of your paths. 
 
Thirst for Power: You can take +1d when casting tier 2 or tier 3 spells, but you cannot 
resist the consequences of the roll.  
 
Wicked Form: You can spend stress to assume one of the following forms for a short 
time: annoying swarm of pests - confusing fog - sneaky shadow. While you cannot cast 
spells in this form, you can roll Invoke in place of actions the swarm would be good at. 
   

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Zealot : Fervent & Mystical Believers

You heed your dark god’s words. You believe in them fiercely, knowing that those 
who serve will be rewarded. The more believers you can recruit, the higher the chance 
your god will know your name. Your god bestows power onto you, which gives you 
intense confidence and conviction - both powerful tools. 
 

Channeling: You can spend stress to Invoke tier 2 and tier 3 channeling 
spells that fall within your chosen deity’s domains (pg. X).

You can flashback to time spent at temples and altars, worshiping your 
deity, reading dark omens, or situations connected with your god’s 
domains. 

Zealot Abilities
Acolytes: You have loyal servants, a veteran minion with edges (choose 2): adept -
cultist - expendable - herbalist. They also have the overzealous nature. 
 
Defile: When you see the antithesis of your god’s domains and seek to ruin it, you 
take +1d. You also gain a new nature: defiler. 

Fervent Aura: You can designate any minion close to you to take a wound instead of 
you. If this wound knocks out or kills the minion, they can roll one final action 
fighting to the death for you. 
 
Inquisitor: You take +1d when torturing, interrogating, or converting someone and 
gain an extra downtime activity which can only be used for this purpose. 
 
Rebuke: You take +1d when you act immediately after rolling a success on a 
resistance roll. 

Smite: You can spend stress to add an additional effect after you roll a success on an 
attack (choose one): strike fear in their heart - sow doubt in their faith - manifest one
of your god’s domains (tier 1 spell).
 
Unholy Rituals: You take +effect when preparing rituals and gain an extra downtime 
activity which can only be used for this purpose. 
 
 
 
 
 

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Dungeons
 
Your dungeon is at the heart of your group - it’s your refuge, a place to plan your 
dastardly deeds, a strong defense against invaders, and a secure location to store 
your hoard. The dungeon is another character in the story, maybe even the main one 
- PCs come and go, but the dungeon remains. 
 

Overview
Before you get started reading through the rules for the dungeon, it’s a good idea to 
check out all of the terms used to cover dungeon mechanics and get a rough idea of 
how they all interact. They’ll be explained more in depth in the following pages. 
 
Your group first chooses a dungeon theme together, which gives you that theme’s 
core feature. It also provides you with a list of major rooms that you can build within 
your dungeon to gain strong bonuses. Each dungeon shares a list of minor rooms 
that they can build, providing general bonuses. You can also build tunnels to connect 
and shape your dungeon. All of these are built as downtime activities during the 
lurking phase. 
 
You work together to choose a master plan, but don’t need to detail exactly where it 
will end up. You just need to figure out what the next step in the plan is and you gain 
xp when you work towards it. Over time, your master plan will emerge from these 
steps and give your group a goal to strive towards.
 
To grow in power, you increase your hoard by raiding the overworld. Your dungeon 
tier is based on the size of your hoard, ranging from tier 0 to tier 4. The hoard grows 
when you launch a successful raid to grow the hoard against a target higher tier than 
your dungeon and haul back the loot to fill your hoard with. As your hoard grows, it 
attracts imps, creatures, and minions and pays for their servitude. 
 
Imps are tiny, weak beings attracted to your dungeon looking for protection in return 
for basic services. Creatures are more powerful, independent or unintelligent 
denizens of your dungeon that fill lairs that open up as your dungeon expands or are 
built with downtime activities. Minions are slightly more intelligent and serve you 
directly. Each player controls at least one group of minions that they can roleplay as. 
Minions are kind of a secondary player character. 
 
Adventurers will occasionally wander into your dungeon looking to rid the world of 
your evil or just get their greedy hands on your hoard. They might show up as the 
result of a bad blowback or calamity roll, when a faction clock dealing with your 
dungeon fills, or when the GM just feels like adventurers should show up. So, your 
dungeon will need some security. You can build traps, which have triggers and
mechanisms detailing the exact nature of the trap. Tricks allow you to manipulate 
the behavior of the invaders. Locks protect sensitive areas, pushing adventurer 
groups towards other paths. 

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The dungeon is split into two levels. The first level connects directly to the overworld 
through an entrance. This level houses the majority of the dungeon, including all of 
your major rooms, minor rooms, tunnels, lairs, and so on. At the “end” of this 
dungeon, there is a stairway leading downward to the second level. You can move this 
stairway as your dungeon expands so the stairway always remains at the end of the 
dungeon.  
 
On the second level is where your sanctum is, the place where the player characters 
stay. The PCs also have private lairs here, which they can upgrade as the size of the 
hoard increases.  
 
As your dungeon grows, you come across discoveries, things you find while digging 
underground. These can be helpful or harmful to your dungeon, or they can be 
mostly neutral depending on how the roll goes. Discoveries give the GM some level of 
control over how the dungeon develops, but also lets them introduce chaos into your 
well-laid dungeon plans. 
 
At the end of each phase, you roll blowback or calamity. Calamity happens after the 
lurking phase, the time spent in the dungeon, and covers what might have gone 
wrong while you were lurking. This sets up a lot of scenes happening within the 
dungeon, sometimes even triggering adventurer invasions. 
 
During dungeon defense, the PCs await the adventurers in the sanctum. On the first 
level, the PCs take control of the minions and narrate all of the locks, traps, tricks, 
and creatures standing in the adventurers’ way. If the adventurers manage to make it 
to the sanctum, the PCs face off against them in a final climactic battle. 
 
You start off by finding a location for the dungeon, though it might need to be 
cleared out of its current inhabitants. After you have a place, you get out the 
dungeon sheet, a grid used for mapping out the dungeon. The GM starts it off by 
drawing the outside of the dungeon and some caves, tunnels, or other features that 
already exist there. After that, the PCs draw out a few initial dungeon features and 
decide on some of the dungeon’s details together. The GM then rolls for a discovery, 
drawing out some new features on the map. 
 
Most of the drawing of rooms, creatures, and so on is done by the players and each 
should try to take a turn drawing. The GM controls where discoveries go, allowing 
them to create interesting challenges for your dungeon to deal with. 
 

Dungeon Creation
Dungeon creation itself serves as a kind of tutorial of sorts to introduce players to the 
many different elements of running the dungeon. It also gives you a home to defend 
from the very beginning. The first session is based around finding and clearing out 
an area suitable for a dungeon. You then work together to decide what kind of 
dungeon you’re going to build and map it out on the dungeon sheet. Time skips 

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forward and the PCs find themselves having just finished the beginnings of a 
dungeon, ready to turn their eyes towards the overworld and its riches. 
 

1. Choose a Theme
Choose from one of the following themes (pg. X), which sets up the atmosphere for 
your dungeon, provides you with its core feature, and gives a list of major rooms that 
you can build. 
 
❖ Enclave - Arcane Power and Knowledge 
Rooms: Academy, Crucible, Greenery, Library, Potion Lab, Scrying Pool, Spawning Chamber 
❖ Forge - Industry and Invention 
Rooms: Alchemist Lab, Break Room, Factory, Mineshaft, Test Chamber, Vehicle Bay, Workshop 
❖ Hideout - Neither Seen Nor Heard 
Rooms: Dojo, Gambling Den, Gear Lockers, Obstacle Course, Planning Room, Roost, Tavern 
❖ Stronghold - Strength of Arms 
Rooms: Barracks, Bestiary, Fighting Pit, Smithy, Armorer, Slave Pens, War Room 
❖ Temple - In Service to a Higher Power 
Rooms: Altar, Antechamber, Augury Circle, Dormitory, Reliquary, Penance Chamber, 
Scriptorium 
 

2. Set the Atmosphere

Detailing your dungeon will help bring it to life. Answer these questions together and 
note them down on the dungeon sheet. Knowing this information will help the GM 
and players paint a more interesting picture of what the inside of the dungeon is like. 
 
❖ What does your dungeon’s entrance look like from the outside?  
A natural cave with a stream flowing through it. A small hole in a sewer
tunnel. The ruins of an abandoned church. The trunk of an old, rotten tree.
❖ What are the floors and walls of your dungeon like? 
Cold stone and slightly damp to the touch. Mud intertwined with roots.
Black obsidian, slick but warm to the touch. Musty bricks stacked together
haphazardly.
❖ What’s the lighting like inside your dungeon?  
Torches line the walls. Magma flows through the floor, lighting it from
below. A magical glow clings to the ceiling. Glowing mushrooms grow
throughout the halls.
❖ What smell greets those who step foot into your dungeon? 
Fetid swamp water. Overwhelming incense. Rotting flesh. Sulfur and
brimstone.
❖ What does your hoard mostly consist of? 
Scattered coins and glowing crystals. Stacks of weapons and armor. Piles of
junk and artifacts. Treasure chests brimming with gold and jewels.
❖ What is your dungeon’s name? (you can decide later, too) 
EXAMPLES!

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3. Meet Your Imps

Soon after you clear out your dungeon location, imps (pg. X) will begin to show up 
looking to serve you in return for protection. The exact nature of the imps and where 
they came from is up to the PCs. Choose what your imps look like and two descriptors 
from below:  
 

clever - cowardly - cruel - happy - helpful - manic - stupid - surly - troublesome 

 
Once you’ve settled on what your imps are like, jump into a scene and roleplay 
through them showing up at your dungeon. This scene is important as it establishes 
imps as part of the story - a real, tangible thing you can interact with, even if they 
don’t have mechanics tied to it specifically. 
 

Example Imps 
❖ Tiny winged demons (cowardly - cruel) 
❖ Small rock elementals (stupid - surly) 
❖ Enslaved fairy tribe (manic - troublesome) 
❖ Clockwork helpers (helpful - stupid) 
❖ Rat swarms (cowardly - manic) 

4. Draw the Dungeon

You work together to draw the dungeon (pg. X), with the GM starting it off, then the 
players taking turns drawing. After the first player draws something, move around 
the table clockwise drawing the next part. 
 
This is a montage of the PCs and imps digging away and establishing the beginnings 
of their dungeon. Session two starts out with a fully functional dungeon as the PCs 
turn their eyes towards raiding the overworld. 
 
You draw the dungeon in this order: 
 
❖ Draw the outside: The GM draws the outside of the dungeon, leading in 
from at least one edge of the dungeon sheet. 
❖ Dungeon entrance: A player draws an entrance and a tunnel (up to 10 
squares) leading in from the outside. 
❖ Roll for discovery: The GM rolls for a discovery (pg. X). They can interrupt 
the players drawing and draw the discovery at any point. 
❖ Draw it out: Move around the table clockwise, taking turns drawing one 
each of the elements from the list below. You might discuss some of these 
choices as a group. 
➢ An empty room. 
➢ A tunnel (up to 10 squares) 

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➢ A creature lair (tier 1). Detail the creature and choose two 
descriptors. 
➢ A major room from your dungeon theme. It lacks materials. 
➢ A minor room of your choice. 
➢ A trap (tier 1), detailing its trigger and mechanism. 
➢ A trick (tier 1), detailing its trigger and intent. 
➢ A lock (tier 1), detailing its door materials and lock mechanism. 
➢ Stairway leading to the sanctum. 
❖ Sanctum: When finished drawing these, the next player draws the sanctum 
in the sanctum box on the dungeon sheet, making sure to draw a stairway 
as well. Also, draw out where the hoard sits. 
❖ Private lairs: Each player adds their own private lair leading off from the 
sanctum. 
 

The GM Needs to Keep Things Moving

Remember that indecision is a great time for power struggles and introducing
this mechanic early will help players adopt it for decision making! The first
time you have people hesitate, why not jump in and initiate one? Also, the
GM should keep things moving - setting up the dungeon can be a bit time
consuming, so putting an emphasis on quick decision making is key.

Dungeon Themes
Dungeon themes give you a core feature and a set of rooms that you can build. The 
theme keeps players all on the same page thematically, allowing you to design 
characters that fit in well with the theme or fill a unique niche, as well as choosing 
steps in your master plan that go along with the theme. The choice is really about the 
type of things you’ll be wanting to do in the game. 
 
You can choose from the following dungeon themes:  
 
❖ Enclave - Tapping Into the Arcane 
❖ Forge - Harnessing the Power of Industry 
❖ Hideout - Keeping Your Head Low 
❖ Stronghold - Through Strength of Arms 
❖ Temple - Worshipping Higher Powers  
 
Each dungeon starts you off with its core feature and a list of major rooms that you 
can build. You can also use your dungeon’s flexibility slot to build a room from 
another dungeon theme. 
 

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Enclave : Tapping into the Arcane

An enclave is infused with magic, housing denizens who dabble heavily in the arcane. 
Magic lingers in the air, runes are scrawled on the walls, and even the lowly minions 
may have some level of magical aptitude. The dungeon rooms inside an enclave are 
focused on the arcane, giving magical bonuses and abilities to its inhabitants.  
 

In an enclave, the arcane power within your dungeon corrupts the 

surrounding area, twisting the landscape and giving you arcane powers 
within it. 
 
Twisted Landscape: Establish an area around your dungeon and gain 
arcane power within it (choose 3): weather control - magical sentries -
mindlink - dark whispers - living plants - illusions - corrupted wildlife. 
Roll your dungeon tier as a fortune roll to determine their effect as a 
trap, trick, or spell. 

Enclave Rooms
 
Academy: All minions add Invoke as an action. Choose a path of magic that they can 
cast. If they already have Invoke, they instead gain the adept edge. 
 
Crucible: You can pay cost to push your imps into making a magic item. Roll dice 
depending on the cost - light gives 1d, medium gives 2d, and heavy gives 3d. Failure: 
Tier 1, volatile, Mixed: Tier 1, Success: Tier 2, Critical: Tier 3. 
 
Greenery: You can feed adventurers, alive or dead, to these voracious plants to 
produce a potion of your choice equal to the adventurer’s tier or a limited supply of 
organic goods. The room also functions as a trap equal to your dungeon tier. 
 
Library: You take +1d to gather information when you use the library to look up 
information and always have a source of arcane knowledge. You can always 
flashback to gathering information here. 
 
Potion Lab: Choose a single magic path. You always have a supply of any tier 1 potion 
and a single tier 2 potion of that path. The tier 2 potion is the same for everyone and 
chosen when the room is built. 
 
Scrying Pool: You can pay light cost to see any location in your region. You take +1d 
on your next roll when you apply what you saw. 
 
Spawning Chamber: Once per cycle, the chamber produces a replacement minion for 
one that was crushed. They are immediately available, even during an invasion. 
 
   

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Forge : Harnessing the Power of Industry

A forge is built for production - crazy inventions, factories, steamworks, and 
alchemicals can be found throughout the complex. Problems are approached with 
ingenuity, eagerness, and a keen disregard for danger.  
 

In a forge, your sanctum is the source of power for your dungeon. Maybe 
it’s built over a volcano, contains a giant steamworks, or harnesses the 
power of an underground river. 
 
Power Source: Your dungeon has a power track. Each recovery, you gain 
power equal to 1 + dungeon tier. Any player can spend these to take +1d 
on a downtime activity or dungeon defense roll. 

 
Forge Rooms
 
Alchemist Lab: You always have a supply of any tier 1 alchemical. You can also pay 1 
gold to acquire a single tier 2 alchemical. 
 
Break Room: You take +1d on calamity rolls and can pay light cost to automatically 
recruit the following minion types: alchemists - workers. 
 
Factory: Your imps make some contraption every lurking phase. Roll your dungeon 
tier to determine its quality. Failure: Fun, but practically useless item, Mixed: Tier 1, 
Success: Tier 2, Critical: Tier 3. 
 
Mineshaft: You have a mine entrance with a large mineshaft extending away from it. 
You take +2d on discovery rolls and can make an immediate discovery roll. 
 
Test Chamber: You can make a minion take a contraption into the chamber and test 
it out. Roll your dungeon tier to determine what happens. Failure: The minion gets 
crushed, Mixed: Remove its volatility, Success: Add an edge, Critical: Add two edges. 
 
Vehicle Bay: You have a vehicle that your imps upkeep (choose one): gas sub - hot air
balloon - horseless cart. It has edges (choose two): armored - dependable - camouflaged 
- fast - nimble. It also has a flaw (choose one): clumsy - distinct - noisy - rickety - slow. 
The vehicle is fully repaired or rebuilt each recovery. 
 
Workshop: All minions add Tinker as an action. If they already have Tinker, they 
instead gain the crafty edge. 
 

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Hideout : Keeping Your Head Low

A hideout is a place to lay low and try to stay out of sight. All dungeons benefit from 
being in remote, out of the way locations, but hideouts take this to the extreme. The 
major rooms inside a hideout focus on teamwork and efficiency when running 
missions. 
 

In a hideout, your dungeon is incredibly difficult to locate and you put 

an extreme emphasis on laying out and following plans. 
 
Hidden Entrance: You take +1d on blowback rolls and if you roll a 
success, each PC gains three dark hearts. 

 
Hideout Rooms 
 
Dojo: When you perform a group action, you may count multiple 6s from different 
rolls as a critical success. This room’s material is a master to train you, which also 
functions as a creature equal to your dungeon tier. 
 
Gambling Den: Each PC skims 1 gold on the side every lurking phase. You can pay 
light cost to automatically recruit the following minion types: grunts - thieves -
tricksters. 
 
Gear Locker: Every PC always has a supply of the following: smoke bombs (T1) -
sunrods (T1) - tar bombs (T2) - thunderstones (T2) - climbing gear - throwing weapons
- traps. You also gain 1 extra supply slot. 

Obstacle Course: Each PC can immediately place one extra dot in a Muscles action of 
their choice. In addition, the whole room acts as a trap equal to the dungeon tier. 
 
Planning Room: Take +1d on engagement rolls for the following raid plans: pull a
trick, talk it out, sneak in & out. 

Roost: Before a raid, you can roll your dungeon tier to gather information about a 
target. Your ravens, bats, or other small, winged creatures are always on the lookout 
for you. You can also use these to communicate with distant factions. 

Tavern: You take +1d when you roll revelry. Your tavern is also frequented by 
merchants, with cheap and light cost items for sale.
   

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Stronghold : Through Strength of Arms

A stronghold is your seat of power from which you project your might through 
strength of arms. You build raiding parties and later armies, looking to bring a region 
under your dominion or chop down any foe between you and what you desire. 
 

In a stronghold, minions flock to your banners looking to follow 

powerful leaders into glorious battle. 
 
War Banners: You start with minion salaries 1 and your salaries are 
always one higher than your dungeon tier. At salaries 5, you attract an 
enormous beast of war or small army, a single veteran minion with 
three edges that rolls 3d on actions and can face a tier 3 faction on equal 
footing. 

 
Stronghold Rooms
 
Barracks: You can pay light cost to automatically recruit the following minion types: 
grunts - raiders - scouts. These fresh recruits also function as a creature equal to your 
dungeon tier. 
 
Bestiary: You always have fresh mounts, which come with an edge (choose one): 
aquatic - armored - fast - flying - intelligent - magical - terrifying. Your mount can 
help out on a roll, but you risk losing it. 
 
Fighting Pit: You can choose two combatants (minions, creatures, or captives) to 
fight to the death, rolling their tier or an action in opposed fortune rolls. Which side 
do your minions cheer for? If that side wins, take +1d to calamity and minions regain 
all morale. If it loses, the PCs each gain a dark heart. On a tie, everyone wins! 
 
Smithy: Each of your minions gains the deadly edge as you equip them with 
horrendous weapons. If they already had it, they take +effect when attacking. 
 
Armorer: Each of your minions gains the armored edge as you equip them with 
armor. If they already had it, they gain it again, becoming heavily armored. 
 
Slave Pens: Each player can tick a clock one time per downtime. However, you cannot 
tick a clock another player has ticked with this. 
  
War Room: Take +1d on engagement rolls for the following raid plans: set a trap,
slaughter, smash & grab. 

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Temple : Worshipping Higher Powers

A temple is fully dedicated to a dark god, centered on carrying out that god’s bidding. 
The exact nature of how your temple looks or your goals as a dungeon tend to reflect 
your god’s domains. 
 

In a temple, your god is aware of your presence and will interact directly 
to further their goals. Choose a god or make up one of your own. 
 
Unholy Intervention: Once per cycle, they can cast a tier 3 spell as an 
action roll, rolling the dungeon tier in place of Invoke with no penalty 
from spell tier on the roll. A PC decides when this happens. 

 
Temple Rooms 
 
Altar: You can pay light cost to fulfill the first requirement of any ritual you perform. 
When a ritual is completed, any PC that ticked its clock gains dark hearts equal to the 
tier of the ritual. 
 
Antechamber: This room is placed on the same level as your sanctum and functions 
as its entrance. When invaders pass through it, you take +1d on the next engagement 
roll and each PC gains a dark heart. 
 
Augury Circle: You take +1d on any rolls made during flashbacks. 
 
Dormitory: Your halls are always full of cultists. You can pay light cost to 
automatically recruit the following minion types: cutthroats - priests - workers. These 
cultists also function as a creature equal to your dungeon tier. 

Reliquary: Placing an item of unholy importance in this room immediately casts a 

tier 2 ritual (without requirements) creating a permanent effect related to the item 
within your dungeon or its immediate vicinity. It can hold a total of three items.. 
 
Penance Chamber: Your minions are more afraid of punishment than death. They 
gain the expendable edge. If they already have it, they will fight to the death, taking 
one final action after they are crushed. 
 
Scriptorium: You gain a new monster xp trigger - Your terrible deeds garnered your
god’s attention. Your minions always work to record your deeds in an unholy book 
dedicated to your god. 
 
   

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Master Plan
Every dungeon has a reason for existing - this is your master plan. You work together 
to choose a plan that aligns well with your theme, the characters you’re playing, and 
the sandbox (pg. X) you’ve set up. In this way, you can determine together what you 
want the game to be about and be rewarded for playing towards those goals. 
 
A master plan has several steps and you only need to know what the next step is. 
Having a vague idea of what your final master plan might be is a good idea, but not 
necessary. The monster characters might know, but the players haven’t figured it out 
yet - and that’s fine. As the game continues, the next step and the final master plan 
will emerge. Even after you decide on a master plan, it’s likely to change over time as 
more details about the world become clear through play. 
 
The important thing is always having a step in the plan to work towards. When you 
choose a step, it should be a goal that will likely take 3 to 5 sessions to realize. As that 
step is accomplished or whenever the next step becomes clear, you can fill that in on 
the sheet as well. It should be something fairly concrete, but a little complex. 
 
On the dungeon sheet, there is space for the master plans and steps along the way. 
The first step is already filled in for you - gather a hoard. As you establish your 
dungeon, the most important thing is growing your hoard to reach tier 1 so you can 
gather some minions to do your bidding. Once you hit tier 1, the group works 
together to decide what the next step is. 
 
Deciding the steps is sure to lead to disagreement. Take some time to talk out some 
different ideas and figure out what direction everyone wants the game to go in. If it 
seems you’re getting locked in indecision or nobody wants to decide, that is a perfect 
time for a power struggle.  
 

Every player gains 1 monster xp at the end of any session where 

progress was made towards the master plan. 

 
Once you finish a step, it’s time to decide another one. You can fill in the next steps or 
the final master plan any time and change them as you like if they don’t fit. You can 
even change your current step if it’s not working out for you. 
 

Master Plan Example

❖ Master Plan: Enslave the Peasantry
➢ Step 1: Grow the hoard. 
➢ Step 2: Kidnap and corrupt farmers to help you. 
➢ Step 3: Corrupt the town’s priest and defile the church. 
➢ Step 4: Perform a domination ritual. 
➢ Step 5: Lead the peasant uprising against their liege. 

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Hoard & Tier

Your dungeon is rated from tier 0 to tier 4, representing its power relative to other 
factions and invading adventurers. The dungeon’s tier is tied directly to the hoard, 
which is all of the gold, treasure, food, materials, and resources you’ve dragged into 
your dungeon from the overworld. The hoard draws in monsters to serve you and as it 
grows, so to does your dungeon’s power. 
 

Growing the Hoard

You grow your hoard by looting targets that have wealth greater than your current 
hoard. You must launch a pillaging raid (pg. X) against a target at least 1 tier higher 
than your current dungeon tier. If successful, your dungeon’s tier increases during 
the next recovery, giving the following effects:  
 
❖ Discovery: Imps dig deeper, leading to a discovery (pg. X). 
❖ Creature Lair: Add a creature lair (pg. X) equal to your dungeon tier and 
detail the creature that inhabits it. 
❖ Minion Salaries Increase: You can employ minions or they grow in power 
(pg. X). 
❖ Private Lair Upgrade: Upgrade your private lair (pg. X).  
 

Taking Gold from the Hoard

Your minions depend on the hoard and expect it to be there. PCs have their own take, 
the gold they skim from the hoard after each raid, but if they want to take more they 
can dip into the hoard itself. Your dungeon hoard can provide gold equal to your 
dungeon tier once per lurking phase, but you take -1d to your next calamity roll. This 
gold can be taken by only one PC per lurking phase. 
 

Losing the Hoard

When you lose hoard, it decreases your dungeon tier by 1. You take -1d to calamity 
rolls until you return the hoard to its previous level, which gives no additional 
benefits. 
 
You could lose hoard in several ways. Rioting minions as a result of a bad calamity 
roll might cause them to loot your hoard and flee. Adventurers bust through your 
defenses, defeating you in your sanctum, and making off with part of your hoard. An 
enormous dragon demands part of your hoard to strike a deal. 
 

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Denizens
Dungeons are full of horrible monstrous life. Some are mere inhabitants that are too 
mindless or stubborn to obey your orders while others will serve you directly and 
prove their worth many times over. What’s important to remember, though, is that 
each of these denizens exist to keep greedy adventurers away from your hoard - 
they’re tools for you to use. 
 
The following types of denizens will inhabit your dungeon: 
 
❖ Imps are minor denizens that serve your dungeon for protection. They 
allow the players to handwave a lot of the drudgery of tasks in the dungeon. 
❖ Creatures are denizens that take up residence in your dungeon and will 
defend it against invasion, but are not under PC control. However, the PCs 
narrate their fights with invaders. They tend to be beasts or mindless 
monsters. 
❖ Minions are denizens that serve the PCs directly. Players control them as a 
secondary character and can bring them along on raids or order them to 
perform downtime activities. 
 
Imps and creatures come with descriptors, a few evocative words that help inform 
how they behave. They provide no mechanical benefit, but work to inform their 
presence in the dungeon. 
 

Morale & Consequences

Instead of tracking wounds and stress, when things go poorly for creatures and 
minions, they lose morale. They each have two morale boxes. 
 

Lose morale is a consequence the GM can hand out when a minion or 
creature’s morale is challenged by wounds, high pressure situations, or 
losing loyalty towards their masters. 

 
When a denizen loses their second morale, they become broken. This means they’re 
useless until the next recovery - they’ve taken a beating, stopped following orders, 
ran away and hid, or are taken out of the action in some other way. 
 
If a denizen loses more morale than they have boxes, they instead get crushed. They 
get chopped to pieces, run away never to be seen again, or even betray you. You lose 
the minion or creature and you’ll need to recruit or attract another one. 
 
Other consequences can stem from creature and minion rolls as well and can be 
mixed and matched with morale damage as usual. Minions and creatures cannot 
resist consequences, though PCs can resist for them or a minion can use the defense 
provided by their type (pg. X). 
 

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Morale clears fully on recovery and any broken denizens return to your 
service. You can also pay minions a gold at any point to regain 1 morale. 
You can even pay broken minions, but not those who have been crushed. 

 
Imps don’t have morale - in fact, imps are too numerous and unimportant to track 
any damage towards them. You can just narrate what happens to them without 
needing to worry about replacing them. 
 

Make Denizen Deaths Brutal

Denizens dying can really show how brutal the world is to monsters. While
PCs are designed to be fairly resilient, denizens are relatively weak. GMs
should lean into this to hammer home how dangerous a monster’s life is.
Having some farmers pincushion a goblin minion with pitchforks will show
how ruthless even townsfolk can be towards monsters. An adventurer lopping
off a giant serpent’s head in a really descriptive scene establishes them as a
prime target to take down when they enter the sanctum.

Imps make great fodder for brutal moments of slaughter by adventurers. You
can use them to establish just how badass an adventurer is without any
mechanics involved. Telling the players how the huge barbarian kicks open a
door, splattering an imp against the wall is sure to get their attention.

Imps
Imps are small, pitiful creatures that flock to your dungeon as soon as it’s 
established. They work hard, taking care of the drudgery in your dungeon in 
exchange for protection. They are mostly in the background of scenes cleaning, 
digging, and hauling stuff - they don’t need to be drawn on the map and are not 
under player control. 
 
Exactly what your imps are is up to you. You choose a type of imp to match the theme 
and overall atmosphere of your dungeon or the location it’s in. If you’re making a 
forge in a volcano, perhaps your imps are tiny magma imps. An enclave might have 
more demonic imps and maybe a temple’s imps are themed after the god they serve. 
After you detail your imps on the dungeon sheet, select two descriptors from the 
following list or make up your own: 
 

clever - cowardly - cruel - happy - helpful - manic - stupid - surly - troublesome 

 
While you can determine their appearance and personality, remember that imps only 
speak in grunts and gestures though they can understand you. They’re of very low 
intelligence and completely loyal to the dungeon, but absolutely refuse to fight or 

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venture outside of it. PCs can give them orders to do things, but the impact an imp 
will have in any situation should be incredibly low. If you ever need to determine an 
imp’s effectiveness, they roll 0d. 
 

Creatures
Creatures are unintelligent, mindless, or independent monsters or beasts that have 
chosen to lair in your dungeon. They’re not under your direct control, though they 
will fight invaders in defense of their lairs. They can also be tricked or goaded into 
doing something if you really need to. Creatures are neutral towards other dungeon 
denizens for the most part, though a bad calamity roll might bring them into conflict 
with each other.  
 
Creatures are rated from tier 1 to tier 4 and can represent a single monster or a group 
of monsters. representing how deadly they are. Any time an invader gets close to 
their lair, even standing outside of it, the creature engages them and makes an action 
roll using their tier.  
 

When a creature rolls against an adventurer, it ticks a single 

adventurer’s clock. If the creature rolls a success or critical, it doesn’t 
take morale damage and can keep fighting. In this way, creatures can 
target multiple adventurers throughout a fight. They must change 
targets if possible with each roll. 

 
During these scenes, players take control of the narration for the creature, telling 
how they succeed or fail. The GM then narrates what the invaders do in response to 
the roll. 

Players Bring Creatures to Life

Making sure players are narrating creatures (and all defenses in a dungeon)
is vital. Dungeon defense shouldn’t be a story the GM tells - it should be the
players actively showing how the dungeon they’ve designed operates. Their
PCs will be busy down in their sanctum, which lets the players fully focus in
on the dungeon defenses they’ve created.

Attracting Creatures
To attract a creature, you need an uninhabited creature lair. You gain creature lairs 
as your dungeon tier increases, but you can also build them as minor rooms (pg. X) or 
sometimes gain them as a discovery. Remember to keep dungeon hierarchy (pg. X) in 
mind when placing creature lairs. 
 

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When a new creature lair (pg. X) is built in your dungeon, it sets the max tier of 
creature that will lair there at your current dungeon tier. Be sure to note this on the 
dungeon sheet. Higher tier creatures will not lair there.  
 

Uninhabited lairs attract creatures automatically, but are limited by 

your dungeon tier. Each recovery, you can attract a total amount of tiers 
worth of creatures equal to your dungeon tier. You can split these tiers 
up as you like. You can also attract creatures during roaming (pg. X). 

 
Attracted creatures can be just about any fantasy beast or monster you’d like, though 
mindless or unintelligent creatures tend to work best. You should match the power 
level of the creature you choose to the tier you’re attracting. A creature doesn’t have 
to be a single entity - a swarm of bats or a bunch of oozes act as a single creature 
mechanically. 
 
After you’ve chosen the type of creature, give it two descriptors from the following 
list or make up your own:  
 

clever - cold - construct - corrupted - corrosive - diseased - incorporeal - fire 

magical - ooze - poisonous - sneaky - strong - swarm - terrifying - undead 

 
 

Creature Examples
❖ Tier 1: swarm of bats (sneaky - terrifying), giant snapping turtle 
(strong - sneaky), adventurer skeleton (sneaky - undead) 
❖ Tier 2: ghost (incorporeal - undead), sludge monster (ooze - 
corrosive), clockwork warrior (construct - clever) 
❖ Tier 3: lava snake (fire - strong), giant scorpion (poisonous - strong) 
❖ Tier 4: basilisk (strong - terrifying), zombie horde (undead - swarm) 

 
All creatures function the same way mechanically. The type of monster or beast and 
its descriptors, along with a description of the creature lair, help you when narrating 
the creature’s defense against invasion, but they always follow the same basic 
mechanics. Even creatures who have some amazing ability like mind controlling an 
adventurer or teleporting around the room function the same. These abilities add 
great flavor to the scene, but provide no mechanical benefit. 

Replacement Creatures
After a creature is crushed, you should usually just stick with a replacement
creature of the same type to cut down on bookkeeping and how long it takes
to decide. This makes sense, as similar creatures will choose similar lairs.

 
You might also gain a creature through play, like wrangling a huge cave spider while 
out on a raid or summoning a hell scorpion. Place them somewhere in your dungeon 
and they will act as if that area is their lair. However, remember that it’s creature 

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lairs that attract replacement creatures - once a creature without a lair dies, you lose 
it forever. 
 

Minions
Minions are your servants - they handle direct orders from the PCs and carry out a lot 
of the work within the dungeon. Each player will have their own minions to control. 
Each minion represents a small group of monsters which operates as a single unit. 
Minions are intelligent - well, more intelligent than creatures anyway, and can follow 
your orders.  
 

Players step into the minions’ shoes and roleplay as them. They’re like a 
secondary PC - and a very expendable one at that, so have fun with it. 

 
Minions have two skilled actions determined by their type that they’re good at using. 
You roll 1d when you use these actions and 0d when you use all others. If a minion 
group is split up and operating separately, they take -effect as they’re not effective 
alone. A minion’s type also gives them a defense related to the kind of activities 
they’re best at. 
 

A minion can be promoted to veteran, meaning they roll 2d when they 

use their skilled actions. They also gain an additional morale box. 

 
A minion’s job description is pretty narrow - they’re paid to defend the dungeon and 
help out around it. They can perform a single downtime activity during the lurking 
phase. You can pay minions to go beyond their job description, though. You can pay 
them 1 gold to:  
 
❖ Perform a second (max) downtime activity. 
❖ Leave the dungeon and perform a task during roaming, including 
accompanying the PCs on a raid (pg. X). 
❖ Recover 1 morale. 
 

Salaries
Minion salaries are paid for out of your hoard. Minions don’t work for free, even if 
they do know that their job is dying for the dungeon. The hoard provides minion 
salaries which determine what kind of minions you can hire. In short, a bigger hoard 
means a higher tier which gives you more powerful minions. When you reach a new 
dungeon tier, it allows you to upgrade your minions or expand your recruitment. 
 
Every player controls their own minion salaries, allowing them to each recruit their 
own minions. These are tracked on your character sheet. 
 

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Minion Salaries

Tier 1 Each player can recruit a minion. 

Tier 2 You add an edge to the minion. 

Tier 3 You can promote the minion to veteran or recruit a second minion. 

You add another edge to the veteran minion or an edge to your 

Tier 4
second minion. 
 
The dungeon tier gives you the ability to recruit a minion, but you still must get out 
there and find one. You need a place to tap into for recruitment, like a local orc tribe 
or some hill kobold village. Your vile friends (pg. X) might come in handy here and 
each sandbox should have some monster factions scattered around.  
 
Recruitment is the same as any other task you accomplish - sometimes it’s easy, 
sometimes it’s difficult. It might cost you some gold or a favor to the tribe’s chief. You 
might get lucky and minions show up at your door or you run into them while on a 
raid. You could even spend an entire raid heading into an area and pressing monsters 
into service. 
 
If your minion gets crushed, you must recruit another. Sometimes, it’s best to just 
have a steady source of monsters you can tap into so that your next minion looks 
suspiciously similar to your last one. This also gives you a chance to change things up. 
When you recruit a new minion, you can allocate the minion salaries as you please. 

How to Go About Recruiting Minions

How recruitment is handled is up to each table, but also the sandbox that’s in
play. Sometimes it’s easy for a PC to head to a nearby monster tribe to bust
some heads and drag them back to serve. Even a low tier tribe presents
substantial risk to a lone PC coming in looking to bully some lower tier
monsters, though. In other sandboxes, just coming into contact with other
monsters might be a challenge. When recruiting, there might be some
additional cost that needs paid if the recruitment didn’t go so smoothly.

Types
Minions are organized into several broad types, each of which have their own skilled 
actions and defenses. When you recruit a minion, you detail its race and look, how 
many are in the group, and any other such details, but it’s the type that you choose 
for them which determines how they function mechanically. 
 
Minion Types 
❖ Alchemists (Tinker - Scan) are best when brewing up alchemicals. They 
have a defense against volatile alchemicals. 

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❖ Cutthroats (Smash - Trick) are best when busting heads and telling lies. 
They have a defense against targets escaping.
❖ Grunts (Smash - Command) are best when in the thick of battle. They have 
a defense against wounds. 
❖ Mages (Invoke - Scan) are best when dealing with the arcane. They have a 
defense against magic. Choose the path of magic they can cast.
❖ Miners (Smash - Tinker) are best when mining out rooms and tunnels. They 
have a defense against being trapped. 
❖ Priests (Invoke - Command) are best when serving their dark god. They 
have a defense determined by the god they worship. Choose the path of
magic they can cast and what their defense is. 
❖ Raiders (Smash - Scan) are best when finding and pillaging targets. They 
have a defense against surprise. 
❖ Scouts (Skulk - Scan) are best when patrolling areas and scouting. They 
have a defense against problems scouting an area. 
❖ Thieves (Finesse - Skulk) are best when sneaking around and stealing stuff. 
They have a defense against detection. 
❖ Tricksters (Trick - Skulk) are best when lying and pickpocketing. They have 
a defense against their deception failing. 
❖ Witches (Invoke - Trick) are best when brewing or using potions. They have 
a defense against magic. Choose the path of magic they can cast. 
❖ Workers (Tinker - Finesse) are best when toiling in the dungeon. They have 
a defense against injuring their own allies. 
 

Natures
As monsters, each minion has its own nature. A minion’s service and fear of their 
master is usually enough for them to suppress their nature while following orders, 
but it always finds its way back to the surface. You can choose one from the following 
list or make up one of your own:  
 

addicted - disloyal - greedy - impatient - lazy - moody - nervous - superstitious 

 
A minion’s nature tells the GM what sort of trouble that minion gets up to. While PCs 
control their minions and roleplay as them, the GM controls their nature. They can 
compel the minions to act on their nature by inflicting it as a consequence or 
handing it out as a consequence incurred by the PCs or minions. Minions following 
their nature can be resisted like any other consequence. 
 

Edges
More specialized and useful minions have edges, allowing them to stand out from the 
much broader minion types. Edges give extra defenses, add effect to some actions 
minions perform, or give them the ability to do something entirely new.  
 
Minion Edges 

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❖ Adept: Can cast a single tier 2 spell from their chosen magic path, taking 
-1d on the roll as normal. This refreshes during recovery. 
❖ Armored: Gain a defense against wounds. 
❖ Bossy: Can spend their downtime activity to give another minion a second 
downtime activity without spending gold. 
❖ Brewer: Make twice as many potions when crafting. 
❖ Clever: Take +effect when adding edges to equipment. 
❖ Crafty: Take +effect when making traps, tricks, and locks. 
❖ Cultist: Take +effect when working on rituals. 
❖ Deadly: Take +1d when attacking something. 
❖ Envoy: Speaks the light tongue. 
❖ Expendable: Can take morale damage equal to the severity of a 
consequence to resist it for a PC. 
❖ Productive: Take +effect when working on major or minor rooms. 
❖ Sawbones: Spend several minutes to heal a single wound on a PC. This 
refreshes during recovery. 
❖ Tenacious: Regain 1 morale when blowback and calamity are rolled. 
❖ Versatile: Gain two more skilled actions of your choice. 
 

Minions from Other Sources

Your dungeon provides salaries for some minions automatically and these increase 
in power along with those salaries, but you might also gain the services of minions 
through play. You might strike a deal to get some help on a raid or perform a ritual 
summoning some skeletons. These minions have their own unique costs, in terms of 
resources spent to acquire them or upkeep and it’s up to the table to decide what that 
is. 
 
You might also gain minions from calling abilities, though these mechanics are 
covered in detail on pg. X. 

Your Minions Aren’t Your PCs - Let Your Roleplaying Reflect That
When roleplaying minions, it’s important to remember that they have their
own personality and motivations - they’re not an extension of your main PC.
Minions come in groups because they shouldn’t have a recognizable “face,”
but instead more of a group personality. They’re expendable and not very
important, in contrast to the PCs. Roleplaying as a small group of minions
can prove fun and give a lot of leeway in narrating consequences, like one of
the kobold raiders getting squashed but the others carrying on.

Sanctum & Private Lairs

The PCs are the masters of the dungeon and can’t be bothered with defending. That’s 
a job for your minions, creatures, and the traps you’ve laid above. The PCs spend their 
time on a deeper level than the lesser inhabitants of the dungeon. 
 

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At the end of your dungeon’s first floor, there are stairs leading 
downwards towards your sanctum. As your dungeon grows and you 
build more rooms, you move these stairs to the new “end” of the first 
floor. In this way, your dungeon can grow but the end of it always leads 
to your sanctum and a climactic final battle with the PCs. 

 
Your sanctum is a large room representing the heart of your dungeon. It houses the 
lion’s share of your hoard and should reflect the style of leadership the PCs bring to 
the dungeon. 
 
You draw the sanctum in the bottom right hand corner of the dungeon sheet, making 
sure to include the stairway entrance to it. Extending off from the sanctum are 
private lairs for each PC which they draw themselves. 
 
When your dungeon tier increases, you can choose a bonus to upgrade your private 
lair. These represent the special benefits the PCs gain from their growing hoard. 
When you gain a private lair upgrade, you should draw in the details in your lair. 
 
Private Lair Upgrades 
❖ Take +1d to revelry rolls. 
❖ Take +1d to building contraptions, traps, and locks.. 
❖ Take +1d to crafting potions and alchemicals. 
❖ Take +1d to preparing rituals. 
❖ Fill in 1 danger xp permanently. 
❖ Fill in 1 monster xp permanently. 
❖ Make a single action’s 4th action dot slot open, allowing you to place a dot 
there when you gain enough danger xp. 
 

Dungeon Logic - Bosses Wait for the Boss Fight

The sanctum serves two purposes - it keeps the wicked ones separate from the
first round of defending and it provides a clear cutting point for when the
adventurers have passed that first round and moved on to the “boss fight” of
the dungeon. This gives the dungeon and the wicked ones chances to shine in
their own unique scenes. The wicked ones cannot interact with the first floor’s
dungeon defenses - doing so would show immediate weakness to the minions
and cause a revolt as your creatures try to wrestle leadership from you and
establish the proper dungeon hierarchy.

Building
There’s a lot going on inside of dungeons - rooms, traps, tunnels, tricks, locks, and 
lairs. You and your minions build all of these during the lurking phase with 
downtime activities. You start off with a subterranean cavern or some other entrance 

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from the overworld and branch out, adding on bit by bit as your dungeon extends 
deeper and deeper into the earth. 
 

Everything in your dungeon must be connected by passages large 

enough for most monsters to make their way through. When you build 
something within your dungeon, you can connect it to the rest of the 
dungeon with a short tunnel. 

 
Hidden or smaller passages are fine as auxiliary pathways, but they are certainly not 
fit for regular usage. Any hidden tunnels that get regular usage are sure to have 
plenty of tracks to give them away and smaller passages might fit a tiny kobold, but 
they’ll prove a hindrance to any minions that have to carry something. 
 
The time it takes to build something within the dungeon depends on its tier. Any 
building done within the dungeon is ranked from tier 1 to tier 3. 
 

Time It Takes to Build

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3

1 Downtime Activity  4-segment clock  8-segment clock 
(Mixed Requires Cost) 

 
When the result of your building project is tier 1, you can finish it with only a single 
downtime activity but if you rolled a mixed, you must pay cost for it. Further 
information on building while lurking can be found on pg. X. 
 

Drawing the Dungeon

On the dungeon sheet, there’s a large grid that you use to map out the dungeon. In 
the first session, you’ll set up the beginnings of your dungeon and from then on, 
when you add something new, you draw it out when it’s finished being built. 
 
The main reason to draw out the dungeon is to create a better scene for dungeon 
defense. Invading adventurers will have to traverse your dungeon so knowing what 
routes are available helps you build defenses to stop them. 
 
When you come across a discovery (pg. X), the GM draws it. Discoveries introduce a 
random element to your well-laid plans. Natural formations should tend to be more 
curved and wavy lines 
 
Everything else in the dungeon is drawn by the players, taking turns or having the 
person who started the project build it. The size of the rooms is flexible and not very 
important. As a very basic rule, rooms should maybe be between 3x3 and 6x6, though 
any shape is fine - squares, circles, diagonal lines, and so on. They don’t have to have 
matching sides. You can place doors for each room or not, though you have to build 
any locks you place. Varying the room designs makes for more interesting defense. 
Make sure to label your rooms. 

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Example Rooms and Tunnels
 
Try to make each room look unique. Draw out some small details like the contents of a 
room or where torches are in a hallway. If it’s on the dungeon map in some form, it’s 
more likely to get used in the story when an invasion is playing out. Natural 
formations should have curved, chaotic lines that break the grid while constructed 
tunnels and rooms tend to follow the grid. 
 

On your character sheet, there is room to note out traps, tricks, and 
creatures. When something is added to the dungeon, a player must write 
it down on their own sheet as well - they are responsible for rolling for it 
and narrating it during an invasion. There is room to draw a symbol on 
the sheet as well which should be the same as the symbol you use to 
represent it on the map. 

 
When you draw out a lock, make sure to note down its tier. The GM rolls for them. 
Minions do not need to be drawn out on the map as their starting locations in an 
invasion vary depending on the engagement roll. Finally, imps don’t need to be 
drawn out on the dungeon but still sketching a few here and there gives them a more 
tangible presence and reminds you to make them a part of the story. 
 
(a full guide on drawing the dungeon will eventually be placed here with example 
dungeon drawings and some room guides. Until then, please wing it! Looking up 
“dungeon symbols” online leads you to a lot of good resources.) 

Make Sure Everyone Has a Chance to Draw

Drawing the dungeon works best if everyone gets involved and takes turns
drawing. You don’t have to be an artist - just drawing out simple squares and
circles is enough. Having everyone get involved makes the dungeon feel like it
belongs to everyone and makes for a more interesting, chaotic dungeon as
you’ll have multiple minds at work in the planning. If there’s no quick
candidate to draw something, the GM should just point to someone to draw it.
If multiple people want to draw something, it sounds like a good time for a
power struggle as the monster PCs disagree about how a room will be built!

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Major Rooms (Tier 3)

These are the core of your dungeon. Each dungeon theme comes with a list of 
buildable major rooms that have their own unique bonuses. 
 

Major rooms must be properly outfitted with materials before you 

receive their bonus. Each room requires you to finish its building clock 
and acquire the materials. 

 
Materials are something specific that the room needs to run properly - a factory 
might need tools, a library might need books, an infirmary might need saws. Every 
major room needs some materials and the players and GM work together to 
determine what it is and where you might get it. The nature of major rooms and their 
stronger bonuses means that acquiring decent enough materials is difficult - they 
can only be procured by going on a raid (pg. X). 
 

Minor Rooms (Tier 2)

Every dungeon has access to a list of minor rooms that provide minor bonuses or fill 
roles that each dungeon might need.  
 
Delving Tunnel: A long excavation, usually around 10 squares. After building it, the 
GM makes a discovery roll and takes +1d on the roll. 

Guard Post: A single minion assigned to the room will always begin an invasion here. 
 
Minion Lair: You can assign a single minion that lairs in this room. They take 
+position while defending the room. 
 
Prison: A room with up to 4 cells in it for holding prisoners. Each cell door has a tier 1 
lock. 
 
Storage room: A room filled with crates and boxes, perfect for ambushes. Minions 
can roll engagement when fighting in the room, taking +1d on the roll. 
 
Torture Chamber: You take +effect when torturing prisoners here. 
 

Construction Projects (Tier 1)

These are simple general purpose projects that you can be built within any dungeon. 
 
Bridge: Allows you to cross some otherwise difficult terrain, like a crag or a lava flow. 
 
Empty Room: Just an empty room you can use to place traps, tricks, or locks in. 

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Secret tunnel: A hidden passage that will go unnoticed by adventurers unless they 
have reason to look, such as recent usage of it.

Stairway: Creates separate levels beyond just the main dungeon level and the 
sanctum. The sanctum is always the lowest level. 
 
Tunnel: A medium length tunnel (perhaps 5 - 10 squares). 
 

Creature Lairs
You can build additional creatures lairs that can attract a creature during the next 
recovery. When you build it, you choose the maximum tier of creature that will lair 
there. This sets the project tier determining how long it takes to build as a downtime 
activity. You cannot build creature lairs for a tier 4 creature. 
 

Traps
Traps are static, well-hidden defenses rated from tier 1 to tier 3 that are meant to 
surprise and maim the unwary adventurer wandering your halls. A trap’s sole 
purpose is to injure invaders. Each trap has two parts - a mechanism and a trigger. 
When an adventuring group comes across the trap, the player in charge of that trap 
rolls its tier to see how effective it is. The mechanism and trigger help the player then 
narrate the results of that roll. 
 

When a trap hits, the GM chooses which adventurer it hits. Trap rolls 
tick the adventurer’s clock representing how much damage and 
frustration it took to overcome the trap. On a critical or a success, you 
can roll again against another adventurer and can continue like this 
until you roll a mixed or a failure. 

 
When you roll again for a trap, it means that the trap is hitting multiple invaders at 
the same time. Wait until your roll finishes to narrate exactly what this looks like. A 
failure might mean that the invaders didn’t trigger the trap or they did, but 
completely avoided any damage. 
 
When you want to build a trap, choose or make up a mechanism and a trigger, then 
detail to the GM what you are trying to accomplish. The GM decides what tier the trap 
is based on its likelihood of hitting multiple targets. If you want to build higher tier 
traps, you’re going to have to come up with deadlier mechanisms or cleverer triggers. 
 

example mechanisms 
alarm - blades - collapsing roof - darts - falling rocks - fire - gas - magical - 
moving walls - nets - pit - poison - spears - spell - spikes 
 
example triggers 

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disguised denizen - false door - hidden sentry - item usage - item removal - 
magical detection - pressure plate - sound - tripwire 

 
❖ Tier 1 traps are simple and effective, but fairly easy to avoid. They are likely 
to only hit a single target. 
Turning a door handle stabbing a hand with a blade, too much noise
releasing scorpions from the ceiling, a false door leading to a 10-foot drop.
❖ Tier 2 traps have the capacity to be deadly and somewhat likely to hit 
multiple targets. 
A tripwire attached to a giant swinging scythe, magical eyes adorning a
fire-breathing statue, a pressure plate activating arrows from the walls.
❖ Tier 3 traps are difficult to avoid and extremely effective. They are likely to 
hit multiple adventurers. 
A pressure plate releasing an enormous rolling ball, removing an item from
a pedestal filling a room with poisonous gas, a hidden imp sentry pulling
the lever and collapsing a roof.
 
After you finish building it, note down the trap details on your character sheet and 
draw a symbol representing it on the dungeon sheet. When adventurers reach the 
trap, it’s the player’s responsibility to call out the trap and roll for it. 
 
Adventurers trigger traps that they stray near to. There’s no need to be precise - 
movement through the dungeon isn’t tracked square by square. As long as they’re in 
the same room as the trap, they’ll trigger it. 

Which Actions to Make Traps?

A good way to think about traps is that you are pre-programming attack
actions to be done against invaders when they trigger them. A warlock might
use Invoke to craft a trap that uses magic while a brute might Smash some
rocks up into the ceiling to rain down on someone’s head. Trying to Smash
together a tripwire probably isn’t going to work, though.

Tricks
Tricks are subtler than traps - their purpose is to change the situation or force the 
adventurers into taking certain actions. A trick allows you to control events during 
dungeon defense. They let you play with the minds of the invaders or push them in 
ways that you prefer they go. They don’t tick adventurer clocks, but instead create 
advantageous situations for your dungeon. 
 

When a trick is triggered, the player in charge of it makes a fortune roll 

using its tier to see how effective it was against the adventurers, using 
the result to narrate how it was triggered and how effective it was at its 
intent. The GM can step in to scale the effectiveness up or down to better 
match the result if needed. 

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When building tricks, each has an intent and a trigger. The intent is what you want 
the trick to accomplish and the trigger is how you go about doing it. Tricks are judged 
by how likely they are to work and the tier is decided by the player. 
 

Example Tricks 
❖ A pool of water that fools adventurers into taking off their armor to 
get through. 
❖ Imps clanging together pots down a tunnel leading adventurers 
towards them. 
❖ A winding maze that splits up the adventuring group. 
❖ A beautiful statue that captivates them and gives an opening for 
minions to snatch their weapons. 
❖ Moving lights from around a corner make the adventurers snuff 
torches to avoid getting seen but losing vision. 

 
If a trick leads an adventurer into a situation that they can’t escape, it instead ticks 
their clock after some time has passed. These types of tricks buy you time or an 
advantageous situation, but they’re temporary. Remember that adventurers are 
incredibly crafty and even if they’re stuck down a pit trap or chained to a wall, given 
a bit of time, they’re likely to find a way out. You can never trick an adventurer away 
from your dungeon. 
 

Locks
Locks are used to buy time while defending to set up proper defenses, maneuver 
around your dungeon, or beat a hasty retreat. They also serve to push adventurers 
away from sensitive areas. It’s best to remember that locks won’t keep adventurers 
out forever - given enough time and determination, adventurers can push their way 
through any lock in front of them.  
 
Locks are rated from tier 1 to tier 3 depending on how difficult it is to get through the 
door, with players deciding the tier of the lock when building it. After you build a 
lock, write its tier directly onto the dungeon sheet along with a descriptor for the 
door materials and the lock mechanism. 
 

door materials 
bone - crystal - iron - iron bars - magical field - portcullis - stone - wood 
 
lock mechanisms 
arcane - bar - bolt - heavy object - mortise lock - padlock - password - pulley - 
pressure plate - puzzle - rim lock - timed  

 
❖ Tier 1 locks are the simplest locks with limited reliability. 
A wooden bar holding a door shut, a couple of imps with their backs against
a door, or a door with the handle removed and jammed shut.

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❖ Tier 2 locks are straightforward and effective at keeping people out. 

Chains and a large lock, a simple combination mechanism, imps on the
other side waiting for the password to pull on chains lifting the door. 
❖ Tier 3 traps are complex and formidable, almost guaranteed to bar entry. 
A large steel portcullis, a magic eye seeking evil in your heart, or a
mechanical riddle.
 

When adventurers encounter a lock while pathing their way through 

your dungeon, the GM rolls the lock’s tier and sees if the lock repels the 
invaders. Lock rolls and pathing are covered in more detail on pg. X. 

Discoveries
As you dig into the earth, you’re bound to run across other things underground - 
other dungeons, rivers or lakes, horrible creatures, and so on. Discovery rolls are 
made when you increase your dungeon tier or finish a delving tunnel project. The GM 
can also choose to roll for a discovery any time they feel like it makes sense or just to 
spice things up a bit. 
 

Discovery Rolls 
The GM rolls 2d to see what you find underground as your dungeon 
expands. 
🎲  
Critical: You discover something amazing and very beneficial. 
Success: You find something good and helpful. 
Mixed: You find something neutral that’s neither good nor bad. 
Failure: You find something bad and troublesome. 

 
The exact nature of what you find is up to the GM. Think about the things they might 
find underground - natural formations, old dungeons, underground factions both 
good and bad, powerful entities lurking in the deep, minerals, and artifacts. It’s also 
good to toss around ideas of what might be down there prior to the roll. Maybe ask the 
players before you roll: What do you hope to find? What do you really not want to
find down there? Think about their thoughts, sometimes go along with what they 
want, and sometimes throw them a curveball. 
 
❖ Amazing discoveries can drastically change the dynamic of the dungeon 
in very beneficial ways.  
The entrance to an underground monster city, a rich vein of gold, a
functional major room, a powerful spirit imprisoned in a crystal.
❖ Good discoveries clearly improve the dungeon or make the PCs lives easier. 
A long tunnel leading to a friendly evil faction, a functional minor room, a
room filled with potions, a hidden exit to the surface.
❖ Neutral discoveries are light in impact, though it can be a little good or bad 
for the PCs depending on how they respond to it. 

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A neutral creature that only attacks if you approach it, an underground

river, some abandoned tunnels, a limited supply of coal.
❖ Bad discoveries clearly hurt your dungeon. They cause immediate 
problems for you or make defending your dungeon more difficult. 
A tunnel full of dwarves mining, a room filled with noxious gases seeping
out, a cursed trove of magic items, a giant spider that demands food. 
 

Use Discoveries to Thwart the Perfect Dungeon

Discoveries are a great tool for the GM to interfere with the plans of their players.
No dungeon is complete without its share of weird tunnels and caverns stemming
off of it and connecting to other areas of the dungeon. Mix things up by
introducing rivers, lava flows, or large chasms blocking expansion in some
direction. Even good discoveries could open up an interesting new cavern, but
unfortunately providing an easier passage to sensitive areas.

Defense
You’ve raided the overworld for its riches, used the hoard you’ve built to attract 
minions, built locks and traps to withstand invasion - now it’s time to put it all to the 
test and keep those adventurers away from your gold. Invasions sometimes happen 
when you suffer blowback (pg. X) or calamity (pg. X), or the GM decides that it makes 
sense within the fiction for an invasion to happen, such as leading a group directly 
back to your dungeon, you creating some other clear signal of its location, or faction 
clocks fill. 
 
Invasions are generally groups of adventurers (pg. X) coming to deal with the threat 
you pose to the region and plunder your hoard, though other invaders may come 
knocking as well such as a hostile orc tribe, a huge mob of angry townsfolk, a 
powerful ghost, or a garrison from the local lord. 
 
Dungeons are in hidden, isolated, or wild areas. The exact location of your dungeon is 
usually unknown to those in the overworld. Adventurers head out in hopes of finding 
it and ridding the world of your evil or maybe even just stumble across is as they 
traverse the wilderness. 

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So What Causes Invasions? 

Invasions come from many sources, but mostly through blowback and 
calamity. Blowback invasions might come as adventurers, guards, or other 
elements chase you down from your last raid. Calamity invasions generally 
represent underground threats breaking through your walls or adventurers 
stumbling upon your dungeon. Invasions that flow from the story are usually 
the result of faction clocks filling up and sending forces to deal with you. You 
don’t need to throw invasions at the dungeon non-stop: a major invasion 
every three or four sessions works pretty well, with a minor one thrown in 
there once in a while.

Adventurers & Invasions

Invasions usually occur due to bad blowback or calamity rolls as your actions in the 
overworld bring adventurers down upon you or problems within your dungeon alert 
them of your presence. 
 
Adventurers are rated from tier 1 to tier 4 and their tenacity is represented by 
increasingly larger clocks. These clocks are a combination of an adventurer’s health, 
defenses, and ability to escape tough situations. Players never see these clocks but 
they are informed of the tiers of the adventurers and the fiction should give the 
players all the information they need to know about how bloodied and bruised an 
adventurer is. 
 
Each adventurer can make a number of moves, which are strong offensive and 
defensive abilities. Each also has a passive ability. They are incredibly strong foes 
and, when grouped, the only way to stop them is to send them through the gauntlet 
that is your dungeon’s defenses. Adventurers are covered in detail on pg. X. 
 
There are two types of invasions - minor and major. A minor invasion is one that 
your dungeon is likely to be able to dispatch easily. It’s a lone adventurer wandering 
into your dungeon or a few monsters that come sniffing around. Minor invasions act 
as good tests for your dungeon defenses. 
 
A major invasion, however, is an existential threat to your dungeon. A powerful 
group of adventurers, usually equal in number to the PCs, come into your dungeon 
looking to rid the world of your foul presence. Major invasions are tracked by the GM 
and escalate over time.  
 
The tier of the adventurers is set by the GM, with the first major invasion being 
composed of all tier 1 adventurers. After that, each major invasion should increase in 
strength with higher tier adventurers coming to deal with you. The exact nature of 
this is up to the GM, but the following chart provides a decent progression:  
 

Major Invasion Tracker (No. of Invasions and Tier of Adventurers)

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1st Tier 1  5th Tier 3 

2nd Tier 1 + one Tier 2  6th Tier 3 + one Tier 4 

3rd Tier 2  7th Tier 4 

4th Tier 2 + one Tier 3  8th Final Confrontation 

 
So for example, the first invasion brings in a group of tier 1 adventurers. The fourth 
invasion sees a group of tier 2 adventurers led by a tier 3 adventurer.  
 
The chart is just a guideline, though. For example, the GM can adjust this up or down 
by one to provide more challenge or to make up for a player taking a week off. They 
can really mix things up by sending in a lesser number of higher tier adventurers, too 
- like a single tier 4 adventurer wandering in during the 2nd or 3rd invasion. The 
invaders might not be adventurers at all, but other entities looking to end you. The 
GM can model these in the same way as adventurers using their tier system or look 
towards the Running the Game section (pg. X) for alternative ways to run invasions. 
 
When you reach your 8th invasion, the overworld has truly had enough of you and it 
triggers end-game events. The world is much, much larger than your dungeon and 
you can only escape its notice for so long. The exact nature of this final confrontation 
and its aftermath is determined by the fiction.  
 

Example Final Confrontations 

❖ The small army of a local baron pours into your dungeon halls.  
❖ The pious humans in the town receive divine assistance from an 
otherworld entity.  
❖ Two adventuring groups team up to bring you down. 
❖ The forest goblins rally to throw off the yoke you’ve placed around 
their neck. 

Role of PCs and Minions

During dungeon defense, the PCs bide their time in their sanctum. This is why they 
have a dungeon - to take care of invaders so they don’t have to. All of the dungeon 
defenses have been built to wear down invaders before the PCs have to risk their own 
lives. Sure, if the adventurers make it all the way to the sanctum, they’ll be waiting, 
but the perfect scenario is to find adventurer bodies littering the first level’s traps. 
 
During dungeon defense, players take on the roles of their minions. They roleplay 
through them, forgetting about the PCs. If the adventurers manage to make their way 
into the sanctum, they switch roles and take over as the PCs. 

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Seriously, Wicked Ones Can’t Leave the Sanctum during Dungeon Defense
The wicked ones being restricted to the sanctum reinforces classic fantasy
hack & slash dungeon themes surrounding minions and their masters.
Dungeon logic dictates that masters wait deep within their dungeons, letting
their minions and other defenses do the hard work. The wicked ones are far
too busy with their own nefarious plots to concern themselves with the first
level of the dungeon. And even if they did venture forth and try to save their
minions, they would upset the dungeon hierarchy, likely triggering rebellion
by showing their weakness. The first floor of the dungeon is the time for all of
your defenses to shine! Focus on that and enjoy all of the hard work you’ve
put into building the dungeon.

Starting Location
Invasions always come as a surprise. Dungeons can’t maintain dependable watches 
aboveground without giving away their position, so even if you feel an invasion 
coming, it’s too unpredictable to know exactly when it will arrive. Creatures always 
begin in their lairs and PCs remain in the sanctum throughout dungeon defense. 
 

The starting location of minions is random, determined by the GM by 

making a fortune roll at the start of dungeon defense. Set the minions’ 
locations in spots around the map according to the roll. The minions 
begin defense unaware of the invaders. 

 
Adventurers generally enter through the front door, but if there are multiple 
entrances, the GM can make a fortune roll to determine where they enter from. 
Invaders sometimes enter from unforeseen directions as well, such as tunneling or 
teleporting into the dungeon. When the GM decides that this type of entrance is 
appropriate, they can make a fortune roll to see how well it goes for the dungeon. 
 

Pathing
The GM controls the adventurers and paths them through the dungeon. You can place 
a marker on the dungeon map to indicate their location or just describe it. As they 
move through the dungeon, describe their movement for the players - make the 
progress of the adventurers through the PCs’ home feel invasive and the adventurers 
feel skilled. 
 

The GM determines the adventurer pathing at random. When there is a 

fork in the path, ask the players which way they want the adventurers to 
go. Make a 1d fortune roll and on a mixed or success, the adventurers go 
that way. 

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When adventurers come across a lock, the GM rolls to see what happens. Each lock is 
only rolled once. If the adventurers are forced to push through it, it takes time and 
effort but they eventually get through. 
 

Lock Rolls 
Roll the lock’s tier and judge how the adventurers respond to it. 
 
Critical: They avoid this door unless they have no other option. Each 
🎲 adventurer wastes a move trying to open it. 
Success: They avoid this door unless they have no other option. One 
adventurer wastes a move trying to open it. 
Mixed: The invaders avoid this door unless they have no other option. 
Failure: They unlock the door and move past it. 

 
When repelled by a lock, adventurers will backtrack until they find a path they 
haven’t taken. When they have no path forward, they push through a lock by hacking 
through or blasting away a door but this process is noisy and takes time, sure to alert 
minions of the invaders’ presence. If there are multiple locks blocking the way, they 
push through the weakest lock first. If the locks are the same tier, the GM asks the 
players which path they want the adventurers to go and makes a fortune roll as 
normal. 
 

Encountering Defenses
When adventurers stray near dungeon defenses, it activates them and the players 
roll to find out what happens. The location of the adventures isn’t tracked precisely, 
so as long as they are reasonably within distance of a defense, it is activated. 
 

The Element of Surprise is Key

If the invaders encounter the same type of defenses in a row, the next 
ones take a cumulative -1d penalty representing the adventurers’ 
increased awareness. Catching adventurers off guard is key in dungeon 
defense. 

 
For example, if the adventurers encounter a tier 2 trap, you roll 2d. If they then 
encounter a tier 1 trap after this, it takes -1d on the roll. If they then encounter a tier 3 
trap, it takes -2d on the roll, and so on. However, if they encounter a minion between 
the tier 2 and tier 1 trap, they don’t take a penalty. Mixing and matching dungeon 
defenses is key. 
 
Some dungeon defenses might be skipped by adventurers. If an adventurer hovers 
above the ground, a pressure plate trigger may not be effective against them. If an 
invader is incorporeal, locks are not likely to stop them. Let these kinds of decisions 
flow from the fiction. Dungeon defense can get fairly mechanical, but it’s important 
to keep the fiction first and let the mechanics support that. When the mechanics 
don’t make sense, skip them! 

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Adventurers also have moves and passive abilities (pg. X) that they can use against 
dungeon defenses. Moves and passives are what make adventurers exceedingly 
deadly - even the best laid traps might get bypassed by a master rogue. 
 

Dungeon Defense Rules Summary 

❖ Traps roll their tier and tick an adventurer clock of the GM’s choice 
accordingly. If the roll is a critical or a success, you roll again against 
a different adventurer. Their narration is informed by how the trap 
is triggered and what the mechanism’s effect looks like. 
❖ Tricks roll their tier as a fortune roll to judge how effective the 
intent was. The narration is informed by how the trick is triggered 
and its intent. 
❖ Locks roll their tier and repel invaders. Their narration is informed 
by their door materials and lock mechanism. 
❖ Creatures roll their tier as an action roll with position and effect. 
Mixed and failures make them lose morale. Their narration is 
informed by their two descriptors. 
❖ Minions roll 1d for their skilled actions, or 2d if they are veteran, as 
an action roll with position and effect. Mixed and failures make 
them lose morale. Players roleplay them directly. 

Let the Players Enjoy Their Creation

The power is firmly in the hands of players to describe how their defenses
work. The GM is in charge of pathing (and narrating locks), but for the most
part, the players should be describing how effective their creations are. A nice
balance here is to let players narrate and, if they push too far, the GM can
scale it back a bit. Some players also have a tendency to not enjoy narrating
the failure of their creations - which is a perfect place for the GM to step in
and detail how everything went wrong. The key here is making sure that the
players are an active part in telling the story of the dungeon’s defense.

Wrecked Rooms
When adventurers move through major rooms, they might wreck it looking for loot. 
The GM makes a 1d fortune roll and on a failure, the room is wrecked. Mark these 
rooms with a small ✘ on the dungeon sheet. A wrecked room requires you to spend a 
downtime activity repairing it with a mixed requiring you pay cost. You do not 
receive that room’s bonus until it is repaired. 
 

Into the Sanctum

When the adventurers reach the stairway down, they prepare to push on and face 
their final battle versus the wicked ones. They know a big fight is coming and they 

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head down the stairway prepared. But are the wicked ones ready for them? Engaged 
in their own nefarious doings, do they even know what was happening above? 
 

The GM rolls engagement as soon as they reach the stairway. The 

engagement roll depends on how quickly the adventurers pushed 
through the dungeon, with them taking more time giving you a better 
engagement roll. 

 
The engagement roll sets the stage for the battle in the sanctum. It sets the initial 
position the PCs find themselves in. After the roll, the GM invokes a dungeon life 
scene to cover what the PCs were doing while the first floor was being cleared. If the 
engagement roll was a failure, the adventurers probably bust in on them while 
they’re quite distracted. If it was a critical, the wicked ones knew they were coming 
all along and the adventurers might walk right into their perfectly laid trap. 
 

Post-Invasion
If you manage to stave off the invasion, it’s time to rifle through the adventurers 
possessions, dispose of the bodies, or deal with any prisoners.  
 

Each player can make a loot roll (pg. X) and roll dice equal to the highest 
tier of adventurer. 

 
You’re going to need to clean up any wrecked rooms with downtime activities, attract 
creatures during the next recovery, and go out roaming to find new minions, but 
you’ve survived the onslaught! 
 
Or maybe you haven’t - the adventurers busted in your front door, smashed through 
your defenses, left your bodies littered around your sanctum, and made off with your 
hoard. So how do you move on from this? 
 
Maybe you don’t - that could be the end of the game. Dungeons have a way of finding 
themselves cleaned out. That’s what adventurers do after all. Part of the fun of 
building a dungeon is knowing the end is probably coming and seeing how long you 
can live in spite of that.  
 

Any time an invasion successfully clears and then leaves your dungeon, 
you lose one hoard. The adventurers make off with a huge chunk of your 
wealth, but not all of it. You can still scratch your way back. 

 
If some of the wicked ones made it through, maybe other players can make a couple 
of new PCs and you can continue on. Bringing in one of your old PC’s vile friends 
might work well here. When all of the wicked ones fall, the dungeon is likely to 
crumble into chaos. You have a few options: 
 

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❖ Maybe that’s the end of your dungeon’s story. You had a good run, but it’s 
time to call it quits. 
❖ Some of your surviving minions rise up and take over the dungeon, 
becoming the new PCs. 
❖ You could fast forward 15, 50, or 100 years into the future and bring a fresh 
group of wicked ones in to clear out whatever’s inhabiting the old dungeon 
and take the story in another interesting direction. Dungeons are often 
built on the ruins of old dungeons, after all. 
 
Anyway, it’s up to you. Enjoying the ending is a big part of the fun, whether you 
manage to bring your master plan to fruition or not. The odds are stacked against you 
- adventurers are insanely powerful and a dungeon can only hold them off for so 
long. Maybe head into another sandbox and give another dungeon theme a try - and 
this time, a much more well-defended one! 
   

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Roaming
 
The roaming phase is one half of the cycle of play in Wicked Ones and it covers 
everything that happens outside of your dungeon. No dungeon is self-sufficient - you 
need resources from outside, whether that be warm (or undead) bodies standing 
between you and adventurers, riches to fuel your hoard, or materials to build more 
rooms. You leave your dungeon to scout out good targets, further your nefarious 
master plan, recruit minions to serve you, build your hoard, and deal with monstrous 
factions. 
 
Roaming is split up between tasks and raids. A task is something small in scope that 
you wish to accomplish, with little risk or complexity. A single PC can usually get the 
job done quickly with just a roll or two. Raids are anything more complex - organized 
sojourns into the overworld to accomplish a specific goal. They are more dangerous 
and complex than tasks, but you can accomplish much more with them. 
 
Some things that are typically tasks may become raids depending on the situation 
within the story. If you have a local goblin tribe that you’re friendly with, it might be 
easy to go over and recruit some of them. But if that same goblin tribe is hostile 
towards you, it would take a raid to roll into their camp and force some of them into 
service. Every roaming phase ends with a blowback roll. 
 

Tasks
Tasks are simple goals that a single PC can quickly accomplish. There is no specific 
list of these and no limit as to how much you can do during each roaming activity. 
Tasks is just a simple way of saying that what you want to accomplish isn’t quite 
worthy of being a full-scale raid. Below are some typical tasks: 
 
❖ Dealing: Find a buyer for some goods or buy something you need. 
❖ Recruiting: Get monsters to work for you as minions. 
❖ Scouting: Get into position to gather information on a target. 
❖ Talking: Chat with contacts or vile friends to gather information. 
 
This isn’t an exhaustive list - you can do just about anything during roaming. Tasks 
tend to be smaller in scope and handled with a few actions at most. If it becomes 
more complex, it makes more sense as a raid. 
 

Danger and Consequences

Traversing the overworld is dangerous. This usually counts as a circumstance 
towards position, but may occasionally call for another roll entirely. It’s not easy 
moving around the overworld unless you stick to familiar paths and friendly areas. 
 

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For the most part, the consequences of failure while performing tasks are aimed 
more at how factions and NPCs interact with the dungeon. PCs rarely take wounds or 
take on other personal consequences while roaming as they tend to have plenty of 
time to approach the task to avoid anything coming at themselves directly. The most 
common thing failure brings is starting or ticking a troublesome clock. 
 

Adventurers in the Overworld

Adventurers are the bane of a monster’s existence. They’re incredibly powerful, have 
a bad habit of showing up at the wrong time, and come ready for a fight. They’re wild 
cards that the GM throws in your way to make your life miserable.  
 

Just leaving your dungeon puts you at risk of an adventurer showing up 
where you least expect them. No explanation is needed as to why they’re 
somewhere - they have an uncanny knack of always being around when 
monsters get up to no good. 

 
An adventurer might roll out from under a cart where they were sleeping or happen 
to walk out of a traveller’s inn you’re getting ready to raid. If it weren’t for 
adventurers, your life would be easy. 

When to Use Adventurers

The PCs aren’t going to encounter adventurers every time they leave the
dungeon. Actually, encounters should probably be quite rare - maybe one out
of every three or four sessions. Adventurers in the overworld tend not to be
grouped - a single adventurer is quite dangerous on their own and two is a
handful for any group. Decide their tier carefully as well. An adventurer is
usually meant to challenge a dungeon’s defenses - they can be quite
formidable with their strong defenses, passive ability, and moves.

As for their purpose, adventurers are the perfect spice to sprinkle into an
otherwise unexciting raid. Don’t punish PC success and great ideas by
throwing adventurers in their way, but if the action in the game needs a shot
of adrenaline, maybe have the mayor’s daughter they just kidnapped actually
be a knight in disguise.

Raids
Larger tasks with greater rewards are accomplished by going on raids. The wicked 
ones group up and head out, intent on accomplishing a single task. You work together 
to terrorize civilized lands, looting your way along as you work towards your 
objective. You might burn down a farmer’s house, kidnap a priest for sacrifice, steal a 
wizard’s magic staff, or hold tense negotiations with hostile tribes. Regardless of the 
objective, you always make time to fill your pockets with gold along the way. 

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Raids let you skip directly into a high stakes, high reward scene. There’s no getting to 
the location and setup - that’s all pushed into the background. You cut directly to the 
mayhem. They also keep the cycle of play moving as the end of a raid signals the end 
of the roaming phase. 
 

Raids are a catch-all term for any planned group foray into the 
overworld that the wicked ones undertake. They cover attacks and 
pillaging, but also things like negotiations, sneaking into and out of 
secure areas, tricking factions into helping you, or anything else you 
might do in the overworld. 

 
To help set up the scene, you have to give the GM three key pieces of information. 
 
❖ You need a target. What are you trying to accomplish? 
❖ You need a plan. How do you want to go about doing it? 
❖ You need a detail. How does this thing get started? 
 
Once the GM has this info, they roll engagement and throw you directly into the 
scene. They use the info you provided and the engagement roll to set you up just as 
the first step is in progress. 
 

Target
First, you’re going to need to figure out why you’re raiding. Here are some common 
reasons: 
 
❖ Acquire materials for a room to get its bonus. 
❖ Press other monsters into service as minions. 
❖ Further the steps of your master plan. 
❖ Meet requirements for a ritual to finish it off. 
❖ Grow the dungeon hoard to increase your dungeon tier. 
❖ Stop a troublesome clock to avoid the fallout of the clock. 
❖ Subjugate a faction to expand your influence in the area. 
❖ Wrangle powerful creatures to let them loose against your foes. 
❖ Pressure a faction into taking action so you don’t have to. 
❖ Get revenge against those who slighted you because they deserve it. 
❖ Help a faction that has approached you and demand something in return. 
 
Once you know what you want to accomplish, check out your sandbox map (pg. X) 
and search for an appropriate target. When you set up the sandbox at the beginning 
of the game, you filled the map with juicy targets. As your dungeon increases in tier 
and you wreak havoc on the countryside, these targets might start to dry up and 
defend against your villainy. 
 
Targets are ranked from tier 0 to tier 4 based on their ability to defend themselves 
and the wealth they hold. You can hit targets that haven’t been detailed as factions on 

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the map as well, in which case the GM applies a tier to them. If the PCs don’t have 
access to that information, they may need to do some scouting first. 
 
A target equal to your dungeon’s tier should provide an even fight. Hitting targets of 
higher tier means you’re in for a very difficult fight and might need help in 
overcoming them. You can always hit weaker targets as well, but the impact of such 
raids will be much lower as well.

❖ Tier 0 targets are isolated, without much chance of help coming and 
mostly lacking in defenses.  
A few travelling merchants without guards. A lone house on a homestead. A
fishing boat with a few fishermen in it. 
❖ Tier 1 targets have some defenses and can see trouble coming.  
A farming community’s granary. A merchant with a few bodyguards on the
road. A small band of bandits fresh off their own raid. A hedge mage. A
small pack of sprites. 
❖ Tier 2 targets are in more established locations, with numbers or better 
training. 
An apothecary in the middle of a small hamlet. A merchant caravan with a
few wagons. A border watchtower and its guards. 
❖ Tier 3 targets are expecting trouble. They are located in areas with 
permanent defenses or have regular, well-trained guards. They respond 
quickly to attacks.  
A small town of over a hundred people surrounded by a wooden wall. An
abbey of warrior monks guarding sacred relics. A cavalry patrol keeping the
roads safe. A dryad in its grove. 
❖ Tier 4 targets are incredibly dangerous. They are located in large 
settlements or have groups of trained warriors at their disposal.  
A lord’s manor in a walled town. A well-armed merchant ship. A border
garrison. A wizard and his minions in his tower. 

Make Sure Tiers Have Meaning

GMs should be fierce when enforcing these tiers - they’re meant to make the
world feel more real and formidable. Monsters are scary, but civilization can
be even scarier.

 
Sometimes, raids and target tiers are not completely about the target you hit, but 
more about getting away with it. An undefended target like a nice farmer’s cart may 
be undefended because it’s travelling on a very well-patrolled road. The response to 
that raid would be quick and harsh. So while the farmer doesn’t have much in the 
way of defense, the raid is less about overcoming the farmer and more about 
overcoming the patrol on the road. 
 

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Plan and Details

Once you have a target, you need a plan. Plans are basic outlines on how you’re going 
to go about the raid. Following through with your plan will reduce the likelihood of 
blowback and the plan going off the rails will increase it. 
 
You choose from one of the following plans, then answer the questions it poses. 
They’re the final details the GM needs to roll engagement. If the question doesn’t 
apply to the situation, the GM comes up with a more appropriate question. If you 
don’t know the detail, you might need to gather information before you can proceed. 
 

Raid Plans

Pull a Trick Confuse, distract, lure, manipulate, or trick them 

into doing what you want. 
How do you intend to pull it off? What do you want
them to do?

Slaughter Bring full force to bear and kill all those in your way.  
Where do you hit first? Who leads the way?

Talk It Out Talk with them to get what you want, through 
negotiation or deception. 
Where’s the meeting spot? Why will they meet you?

Set a Trap Hit them while they’re not expecting it.  

Why is their guard down? Where are you waiting?

Smash & Grab Get in, get what you want, and get out as quickly as 
possible.  
How do you make your approach? Who signals to get
out?

Sneak In & Out Get in, get what you want, and get out as quietly as 
possible. 
Where do you slip in? What time of day is it?
 
 

Raid Examples 
❖ Set a Trap: You force a caravan off of the main road and down a
forest path to go around a tree in the road. You hide in a pond using
reeds for air as you wait for the baron’s soldiers to come water their
horses. You convince your goblin allies to raid a town, sure to fail,
and hit the guards as they chase the goblins away. 

 
 

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The Importance of Not Planning

The mechanics in Wicked Ones, and the Forged in the Dark system it’s built
on, are made to keep action-packed scenes flowing and allow players to fill in
the details of a plan along the way. While some players might like planning,
the system just works better when you’re doing things on the fly, letting
action rolls and consequences roll into each other, until they culminate in the
scene ending. It makes for some awesome monstery gameplay.

Players naturally get stuck discussing details. The best advice for GM’s here is,
as soon as the players have a basic idea of what they might want to do,
prompt them into giving a plan. Ask “How are you going to go about doing
that?” and show them the list of plans. Push for them to choose, initiating a
power struggle if needed to make it easier. Less time spent planning and more
time spent raiding makes for a much more exciting game. As soon as the
choice is made, get the last detail you need and roll engagement! Don’t let
them dawdle, wandering from idea to idea - just jump in. Their characters are
crazy monsters after all!

Loot
Every successful raid gives you loot and is rarely the primary concern. It’s in every 
monster’s nature to be sure to snag something for themselves along the way and a 
loot roll after each successful raid guarantees nobody is left empty-handed. 
 

After a raid, you roll 1d if you hit a target at your dungeon tier or 0d if 
you hit one lower. You also take +1d for each extra source of loot your 
group went out of the way to acquire.  

 
You can increase the likelihood of coming away with some good loot by going out of 
your way to acquire troublesome loot during the raid. This could be a wagon full of 
grain with no horses attached to it, some jewelry hanging behind a barred shop 
window, or a noisy sheep. You’ve already snagged the easy to grab loot just lying 
around - that’s all wrapped up in the automatic 1d loot roll. Any extra sources of loot 
are going to be guarded, hidden, or just plain difficult to haul away. These extra 
sources increase your risk in exchange for potentially higher rewards. When an extra 
source is acquired, the entire group takes +1d on the loot roll following the raid. 
 

Pillaging
A pillaging raid is how you grow your dungeon tier. It’s a massive endeavor, likely 
requiring you to bring all of the might of your dungeon and connections to bear. Your 
target for this raid must be at least 1 tier higher than your dungeon tier. You can only 
grow your hoard substantially by attacking targets wealthier than you are and 
hauling the loot back to your dungeon. 

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To successfully pillage a target, you must make away with the vast majority of their 
wealth. How you go about doing this is up to your plan, but it often involves 
destroying, nullifying, or otherwise bypassing their defenses. This isn’t an item or 
two or some gold you loot along the way - this is carts full of goods, stacks of 
materials, and every piece of gold and silver you can find. You’re going to need time 
to properly pillage a target. 
 
Once finished, you then head back to your dungeon. You must also make it through 
the blowback roll (pg. X) before getting your hard won loot back to your dungeon. You 
gain a dungeon tier during the next recovery. 

Pillaging Should be Really Tough!

Keep the scope of tiers in mind. Each tier represents about twice the power of
the tier below it. A raiding party going up against a higher tier target without
allies, minions, or excellent information is likely to get repelled quite easily.
Pillaging is supposed to be extremely difficult. When you pillage, you are
proving to minions and creatures that your dungeon is worthy of the higher
tier.

Aftermath of Raids
The world always reacts to what you’re doing. Often travelled roads may close down 
or even entire towns abandoned, making your raid targets shrink up. You might tick 
a faction clock or even start a new one focusing on dealing with you specifically. The 
immediate aftermath of roaming is handled by the blowback roll, but the story also 
responds more indirectly to your actions. 
 

After each raid, the GM will tick at least one faction clock representing 
this aftermath. The exact nature of how many or which clocks get ticked 
depends on the nature of the raid. 

Blowback
All of this roaming around the overworld is bound to draw some attention. Before 
your dungeon showed up, the region was in relative balance but the added pressure 
from your attacks throws things into chaos. - your constant incursions will 
eventually lead you into a bad spot.  
 
You are definitely not welcome on the surface and while a few monster tribes may be 
friendly with your dungeon, the vast majority of surface dwellers would love nothing 
more than to see you dead. As the roaming phase ends, usually with the end of a raid, 
you make a blowback roll determining how the world immediately responds to your 
actions during this phase.  

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Blowback rolls generate minor and major blowback - unfortunate events caused by 
the fallout of your interaction with the overworld. 
 

Blowback Rolls 
Roll 1d, 2d, or 3d depending on how well you followed your raid plan. 
 
🎲 Critical: You can choose a faction to take the blame instead of you. 
Success: You avoid any blowback. 
Mixed: You suffer minor blowback. 
Failure: You suffer major blowback. 

 
The key to minimizing blowback is to follow the plan you set out on. The closer you 
follow the plan, the more dice you roll to avoid blowback. You set the dice for this as 
follows: 
 

How did the raid plan go?

1d 2d 3d
Abandoned the plan.  Went a little awry.  Followed it perfectly. 
 

How to Decide the Dice for Blowback

No plan completely survives the first contact, but if you make efforts to stick
to the plan and see it through, you get to roll 2d. However, if you just
completely abandon it at some point - well, it’s likely to come back at you,
resulting in a 1d roll. Sometimes, a plan just goes smooth as silk - you
avoided or resisted being pushed from your path or maybe things were just
way faster than expected, in which case you roll 3d.

 
The exact nature of blowback and where it comes from is up to the GM, but generally 
flows from the story. Bringing in previously hit targets to get revenge, shutting down 
or reinforcing the PCs’ usual targets, or pushing a faction towards hostility all work 
well as blowback. Blowback cannot be resisted. 
 

If you don’t go on a raid during the roaming phase, you roll 3d for 
blowback. 

 
Minor blowback is an inconvenience, but one that you’re likely equipped to handle. It 
usually tinges the roaming phase with bitterness, though still overall worthwhile.
 

Minor Blowback Examples 

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❖ A friendly goblin tribe takes the blame for your raids and a new 
4-segment clock is started by the town watch - remove the forest 
pests. This ticks once per session.  
❖ Guards are posted along the road, increasing the effective tier of any 
travelers along it by 1, and giving -1d to any loot rolls.  
❖ A group of hunting dogs has caught your trail. 
❖ A small mob of townsfolk rush your dungeon looking to end you! 
❖ A group of weak adventurers show up to your dungeon looking for 
refuge from a storm. 
❖ You get spotted moving through the forest towards your dungeon, 
starting a new 4-seg clock for the town called Hire Adventurers. 
❖ News of your raids has spread throughout the area. You take -1d on 
your next engagement roll. 

 
 
Major blowback is an immediately pressing concern that must be dealt with, risking 
the success of your latest raid or even your lives. It may result in an immediate 
engagement roll. 
 

Major Blowback Examples 

❖ You are ambushed by the baron’s men in the forest on the way 
home.  
❖ A previously friendly faction of bugbears think you are growing too 
powerful and grow suspicious of your intentions - start a clock, 
bugbear invasion.  
❖ A trade route completely dries up, removing targets from the map.  
❖ A faction gains a tier and seeks to move against you.  
❖ One of the PCs is captured, suddenly disappearing.  
❖ An entire angry mob of townsfolk, pitchforks and torches in hand, 
stream into your dungeon. 
❖ A higher tier adventurer steps out of the forest path in front of you. 
❖ A well equipped group of adventurers show up at your dungeon, 
ready to make you answer for what you did. 
❖ A ragtag group of adventurers show up at your dungeon - while 
you’re not there! 

 
If blowback triggers an invasion, it happens immediately before entering the lurking 
phase. 
 

Pocketing Blowback
Another useful trick up the GM’s sleeve is saving blowback for later - even not 
announcing what it is until you use it. Part of the usefulness of blowback is to keep 
the PCs on their toes - knowing something is hanging over your head but not knowing 
what that something is can create a nice aura of paranoia. You can then pull these out 
at any inopportune point.  

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They’re not telegraphed - they come out of nowhere and sideswipe the PCs. This is a 
flawlessly executed ambush by an old enemy on the way back to the dungeon, a 
gloriously noble adventurer stepping out of a carriage you were hoping to raid, or a 
powerful wizard hitting them with ritual magic. 
   

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Lurking
 
The lurking phase is the other half of the cycle of play in Wicked Ones and it covers 
everything that happens inside of your dungeon. From the relative safety of your 
dungeon behind your traps and creatures, you bide your time and build up your 
defenses while looking for your next opportunity to strike. The lurking phase 
generally takes place over a few weeks or even months as you dig out tunnels, build 
rooms, and craft equipment. 
 
Lurking is split up between recovery and downtime. Recovery gives you a chance to 
patch up and revel in your recent success. Downtime is where you get to work 
building and crafting within your dungeon. Every lurking phase ends with a 
calamity roll. 

Recovery
The lurking phase begins with recovery. All of your stress clears, your wounds heal, 
and you lose any shock that you had. Abilities and defenses that are available once 
per cycle reset. Minions and creatures regain all morale. 
 

Revelry
During recovery, you can make time for some revelry. You throw around some gold 
and fill your shrivelled monster heart with joy, earning dark hearts. Should you 
overdo it, though, you suffer a consequence determined by the type of revelry you 
indulge in. Revelry is chosen at character creation. The severity of the consequence is 
up to the GM. 
 

Revelry Rolls 
Roll dice equal to the gold spent and revel in the spoils. 
 
🎲 Critical: You gain 3 dark hearts and don’t overdo it. 
Success: You gain 3 dark hearts, but you overdo it. 
Mixed: You gain 2 dark hearts. 
Failure: You gain 1 dark heart. 

 
During character creation, you choose one of the following revelries or work with 
your GM to make your own. Each revelry has an example of overdoing it, but the GM 
might come up with other consequences for your actions as well. 
 
❖ Drink: You can’t help but drink yourself stupid. 
You stumble and damage a trap, dropping it a tier. You start roaming with
shock from a hangover. You have a falling out with a vile friend.

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❖ Gambling: You love throwing the bones and making wagers.  

You lose a piece of equipment. You find yourself in debt to a dangerous
entity. You gain a gold or two, but have angered a faction.
❖ Luxury: You love the finer things in life.  
You spend some gold from the hoard, giving -1d to the next calamity roll.
You lose a downtime activity as you can’t bring yourself to leave the arms
of a lover.  
❖ Violence: You have a deep love for brawling, torture, and hurting others. 
You go nuts on a creature or minion causing it to lose morale. You wreck
one of the dungeon rooms. You take a light wound.
❖ Weird: You are into some strange, supernatural, or just plain bizarre stuff. 
Your bizarre experiments result in your eyes changing color. You spend too
much time toying with ghosts who curse you - the GM can impose a -1d
penalty on one of your rolls this cycle. A powerful wizard becomes aware of
your presence.
❖ Worship: You spend time deep in prayer, worshipping your dark god. 
You gain a compulsion to follow your dark god’s words until your next
recovery. An enemy of the faith sets out to find and destroy you. Your god
tires of your adoration, giving you shock. 

What’s the Point of Overdoing It?

Most of the time, overdoing it will result in light consequences. They’re there
to add a bit of pressure to PCs and prod them into actions or exploring
relationships with each other and the dungeon. You can up this pressure
though by increasing the severity - which will likely compel PCs into resisting
the consequence or dealing with it immediately. Overdoing it is a way for PCs
to get into trouble and explore their own personal stories - the consequences
usually create situations they need to deal with on their own, not as a group.

Downtime
While lurking, you have quite a bit of time to spend within your dungeon. Every 
character has two downtime activities which they can put to good use in building up 
the dungeon - making traps, preparing rituals, crafting magic items, inventing crazy 
contraptions, and so on. PCs and minions can try to build anything, even if they don’t 
have the action dots to do so. The actions used to do downtime activities are flexible - 
as long as they make sense, they can be used.
 

To perform downtime activities, describe what you’re doing and make 

an action roll that represents the effort. The default position for these 
rolls is dominant as you have plenty of time to go about the task and the 
consequence of failure is just using up the activity. If you roll a failure, 
you can instead risk it and roll the downtime action again at risky 
position.

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The time it takes to finish a project during downtime depends on its tier. The times 
work as follows: 
 

Project Times

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3

1 roll  4-segment clock  8-segment clock 
(Mixed Requires Cost) 
 
A tier 1 project only requires a single roll, but if you roll a mixed, you must pay cost to 
complete it. 
 
There are a few additions to the above rules: 
 
❖ Alchemicals and potions always take 1 roll to make regardless of their tier, 
with a mixed requiring cost. You take -1d on the roll if it is tier 2 and -2d on 
the roll if it is tier 3. You always make 2 items when you craft these. 
❖ Any mundane item is a tier 1 project. 
❖ Edges are tier 2 projects. 
❖ Rituals require a number of special requirements to be met equal to the tier 
of the ritual. The requirements are listed on pg. X. 
❖ Magic items and potions can only be made by those with an appropriate 
path. 
 
Some things you create may be the culmination of several projects. If you wanted to 
build a ship, it would either be a complex contraption or several different projects 
that you assemble. Use the already existing guidelines to match a tier to a new project 
that hasn’t been detailed here. 
 

Projects
You can work on other things during downtime as well, such as torturing a prisoner 
to get information, rerouting an underground river, or turning a captured 
adventurer to your side. This covers a wide variety of possible projects. The tier of the 
project depends on how long it should take to accomplish, determined by the GM. 
 

Project Examples 
❖ You torture a farmer, trying to learn where his neighbors are hiding. 
(tier 1) 
❖ You torture a priest, trying to learn the requirements for a ritual. 
(tier 2) 
❖ You torture a tier 3 adventurer, trying to learn who sent them. (tier 
3) 

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Calamity
No dungeon is a well oiled machine. They’re messy conglomerations of minions 
pressed into service, creatures lairing in their confines, and a maze of tunnels 
throughout. They’re filled with traps and tricks in a haphazard fashion - things are 
bound to go wrong at some point. 
 
At the end of each lurking phase, you roll to avoid calamity to see just how well your 
dungeon ran. You make the roll based on how little grumbling is coming from the 
denizens of your dungeon. 
 

Calamity Rolls 
Roll 1d, 2d, or 3d depending on how much your denizens grumble. 
 
🎲 Critical: You get an awesome discovery. 
Success: You avoid any calamity. 
Mixed: You suffer minor calamity. 
Failure: You suffer major calamity. 

 
The key to minimizing calamity is to create a dungeon that works and feels like a 
dungeon. The denizens of a dungeon have certain expectations that the dungeon 
follows dungeon logic. A dungeon that makes sense to them makes them content. 
The more you think like a monster, the less calamity will befall your dungeon. You set 
the dice for this as follows: 
 

How much grumbling is in your dungeon?

1d 2d 3d
Relentless complaining.  Normal levels of  Too scared or too happy 
malcontent.  to complain. 
 
Minor calamities are mishaps within your dungeon, small things that are a bother 
but don’t present an enormous challenge. They can generally be recovered from with 
a downtime action or two.
 

Minor Calamity Examples 

❖ One of your traps breaks, dropping it a tier. 
❖ A room gets wrecked by minions partying or brawling. 
❖ One of your creatures eats a minion, crushing it. 
❖ An underground river breaks through the walls of your dungeon, 
flooding one of your tunnels. 
❖ Your minions speak of rebellion. Start a 4-segment clock. Minions 
start to demand more - tick it when the demands aren’t met. 

 
 

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Major calamities are big events and impactful. They put serious stress on the inner 
working of your dungeon and must be dealt with immediately. 
 

Major Calamity Examples 

❖ An adventuring party randomly wanders into your dungeon. 
[INVASION] 
❖ Your minions launch a rebellion. 
❖ An enormous worm bursts through the walls of your dungeon, 
starving and looking for food. 
❖ Some crafty minions take aim at stealing from the hoard. Start a 
4-segment clock called Minions Get Away and roll engagement. If 
they get away, the dungeon drops a tier. 

 
If calamity triggers an invasion, it happens immediately before entering the roaming 
phase. 
 

Dungeon Logic
Dungeons might not make a lot of sense to humans, but they make perfect sense to 
their denizens. Maintaining this logic is important. The denizens living there expect a 
dungeon to function as a dungeon and if it doesn’t, there’s going to be grumbling - 
and grumbling leads to calamity. 
 
Dungeon logic essentially requires that a dungeon function as a typical fantasy 
dungeon should. Sure, as humans ,it might make sense to us to build more logical 
defenses or create a more logical layout - but that’s not how a dungeon works. The 
denizens expect to be walled off from each other, for weaker denizens to die first 
during dungeon defense, and for there to be a fair amount of revelry in the halls. 
 
There are several factors that figure into the denizens’ malcontent and more than 
anything, it’s just a gut feeling on the GM’s part, but here are some general 
guidelines. If you answer no to two or more of the following questions, the dungeon 
has some problems: 
 
❖ Has dungeon hierarchy been respected, with weaker minions and creatures 
placed in the front lines of defense? 
❖ Has there been enough revelry in the dungeon? 
❖ Is the dungeon laid out in a way that doesn’t annoy minions? 
❖ Has the dungeon grown recently, adding new rooms or increasing the 
hoard? 
❖ Have the wicked ones proven to be masters worthy of respect? 
 
Dungeon hierarchy is of utmost importance within a dungeon. There’s a reason the 
first few layers of a dungeon are filled with mooks. Higher tier monsters think it’s 
beneath them to face the enemy first. They want those weaker than them to soften up 
opponents. In the case of creatures, placing powerful creatures near your weaker 

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monsters is likely to lead to the weaker ones getting munched on. It’s about fairness 
and pecking order. If you don’t respect this, you’re going to lose loyalty fast. 

Revelry is a necessary outline for frustration, not only for the PCs, but also for 
minions. When PCs engage in revelry, minions too can revel in the gold brought into 
the dungeon. They join in on the good times and love it when their masters throw 
around gold freely. 
 
Dungeon layout has a huge impact on the denizens’ everyday lives. They want your 
dungeon to make sense, to feel like a dungeon, and have at least some rooms that are 
fun to hang out in. They want a place that feels evil and dungeony. Make your 
dungeon look awesome and evil and your minions are going to be happy. Likewise, 
placing traps and locks in places that don’t make sense, like several in a row or one at 
each end of a hallway, frustrates or unnecessarily endangers them. If you have a 
hallway with 5 locked doors, it’s going to drive everyone crazy every time they have to 
go through it.  
 
Gold for the hoard shuts minions up fast, as power equals safety. The size of the 
hoard is always at the front of a minion’s mind. They expect it to keep growing and 
when it doesn’t, whether it means you didn’t go pillaging recently or failed an 
attempt, they’re likely to be unhappy about it. And if they think their masters are 
taking more than their fair share, they’ll voice their concerns. 
 
Respect for the wicked ones is paramount to maintaining loyalty. You have to 
present a strong front, to either make your minions like or fear you, and to show 
them why you’re better than they are. Give them a reason to serve you - be a paragon 
of monsterdom. If you lose their respect, expect calamity to follow. 
 
There can be additional factors other than the ones laid out here. Anytime something 
might affect the denizens’ disposition within the dungeon, it can modify the roll. One 
big exception to this is that monster deaths never lead to grumbling - denizens of a 
dungeon don’t really expect to live long. 

Calamity Ensures You Build a Fantasy Dungeon

Calamity is essentially a tool that GMs can use to make sure players are
building dungeons that “make sense” and to complicate the PCs’ lives a little.
Wicked Ones is a game about dungeon building and fantasy dungeons might
not always be completely logical to us humans. Basically, trying to “game the
system” is likely to lead to calamity. The best practice here is really just
building a dungeon that seems like a dungeon.

 
   

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Adventurers & Other Enemies

 
This section is not fully written and just a stand-in for future content. It gives a good 
basic idea of how to run adventurers, but will be substantially fleshed out in the 
future. 
 
Adventurers are the bane of a monster’s existence. They’re incredibly powerful, have 
a bad habit of showing up at the wrong time, and come ready for a fight. They’re wild 
cards that the GM will throw in your way to make your life miserable. On the plus 
side, they always carry treasure. 
 
Adventurers are rated from tier 1 to tier 4. Their defenses are what it takes to 
overcome them (kill, run away from, corrupt, etc.) and are represented by clocks. 
 

Adventurer Defenses

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4

4-segment clock  6-segment clock  8-segment clock  Two 8-segment 
clocks 
 
Every adventurer can make moves, which allow them to inflict consequences against 
PCs or negate or reduce PC actions. An adventurer can make a number of moves equal 
to their tier. 
 
Adventurer moves are informed by what type of adventurer they are. When setting 
up an adventurer, it’s a good idea to give them a “class” to help imagine their role.  
 
Moves are decided on the fly when the adventurer needs to make them. The book and 
toolkit will have plenty of examples and you could write out some yourself before 
playing as well to help imagine what is possible, but don’t be limited by them. 
Adventurers always have the right move for the job at hand, as long as it makes sense 
for them to be doing so. A rogue isn’t going to be hulking out and lifting up a huge 
boulder and a paladin isn’t going to be picking a lock. 
 

Setting Up Adventurers
You can take a few paths with this, but the simplest is to just pull a class from the 
world’s most popular roleplaying game or any other RPG you’ve played where heroes 
go dungeon delving. Some examples of this are as follows:  
 

barbarian - bard - cleric - druid - fighter - monk - paladin - ranger - sorcerer - wizard 

 
This is usually enough to give you some idea of their power. Honing in a bit and 
creating a “fire wizard” or “paladin of the god of thunder” makes the fiction a bit 

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more interesting as well. The book and the toolkit will lay out plenty of examples for 
inspiration on this, but this simple method should be enough to inspire interesting 
moves for now. 
 
To add just a bit more flavor to any of these adventurers, you can also give them 
traits, something that describes their personality, a quirk they have, or how they 
handle situations. It’s not always necessary, but it does nicely help inform the story 
and how they act in some situations. Giving them one positive and one negative tag 
can provide a good framework for judging their actions. 
 

Positive Traits 
brave - cautious - clever - competitive - daring - helpful - honorable - pious - wise 

 
 

Negative Traits 
greedy - gullible - impatient - lazy - overconfident - short-tempered - stubborn - timid 

All of this said, don’t go overboard on detailing the adventurers - especially those 
entering the dungeon. They’re not likely to live through the session.  
 

Adventurer Moves and Interactions

When an adventurer uses a move, it allows the GM to step out of the normal 
mechanics and inflict consequences or negate some action the PCs have performed. 
Sometimes a move can negate something bad happening to the adventuring party, 
while at others it just reduces the effects. This is completely up to the GM - going with 
what makes the most sense in the fiction is the best practice. Moves can never negate 
a critical. 
 

Move Examples 
❖ A lock rolls a success, diverting the adventuring party. The rogue 
activates a move and instead picks the lock. 
❖ A pair of goatmen minions bear down on a psion, about to slam into 
him. The psion activates a move and dominates them, forcing them 
to join the adventuring party. 
❖ A trap rolls a success and is about to crush the wizard. The barbarian 
activates a move and pushes him out of the way, taking the damage 
instead. 
❖ The adventuring party rounds a corner and sees a room full of 
minions and a creature. The fire wizard reaches into his spell pouch 
and activates a move, launching a fireball into the room, causing 
any inside to lose 1 morale. 

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Moves can be resisted by PCs if they are present. Moves almost always inflict medium 
or heavy consequences, though this is up to the GM. The tier of the adventurer has 
little effect on this - a tier 1 adventurer can use their one move to perform something 
quite devastating. 
 
It’s also important to remember that an adventurer’s power scales with their tier. A 
starting PC with an axe facing off against a tier 4 master swordsman will likely 
receive reduced effect in the fight as they are just supremely outclassed in skill. 

Why Do Adventurers Get Moves?

The GM generally has the power to inflict consequences for powerful enemies,
but adventurer moves are codified to make sure their power is represented
and also to give PCs some sense of the challenge they are up against.

When to Use Adventurers

Knowing the best time to have adventurers show up is an important part of a GM’s 
responsibility. They should always arrive during high impact times, but having them 
around too much cheapens their impact. 
 
Invasions: Any time a dungeon invasion happens, a number of adventurers equal to 
the number of PCs will descend into the dungeon together. If you have a small group 
(2 players), adding an additional adventurer and lightening up the power of their 
moves may be appropriate.  
 
Raids: Adventurers can make appearances during raids. They make for great wild 
cards to keep the PCs on their toes and can essentially be brought in anywhere as 
adventurers have an annoying tendency to show up at the wrong place at the wrong 
time. Maybe when things go awry on a raid and there are some consequences, having 
an adventurer (or 2!) show up is interesting. You could also start a ticking clock 
indicating the time that will pass before they arrive. 
 
Blowback: Adventurers ambushing or running down PCs after a raid makes good use 
of them. You might also have an adventurer show up on the next raid, having hunted 
the PCs down. An adventurer’s timing is always inopportune (for the PCs). That rule 
of thumb will guarantee that they’re high impact. 
 
The important thing to keep in mind is that GMs can throw in adventurers anywhere 
they’d like. Adventurers are crazy, homeless people out looking for trouble that they 
can get rich off of. They appear kind of randomly where you’d least expect them. 
That cart on the road? Yeah, there’s an adventurer catching a lift into town in the 
back of it. Want to steal some beer barrels from an inn? There’s an adventurer 
sleeping upstairs for sure.. Out hunting pixie snacks in the woods? Definitely a druid 
out there ready to ruin your fun. Not every raid should have an adventurer, though - 
keep them special and introduce them with impactful timing. Keep your PCs scared 
of them and make them formidable enemies.
   

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Other Sections
 
Several sections are yet to be written: Gamemaster Tools, Settings and Factions,
Primal Monsters, Rollable Charts, Appendix, etc. These will be put together a little
later in playtesting. Until then, please make do without them!  

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