Introduction

Introduction

This game is a sci-fi horror dungeon crawl for a GM and 2-4 players, or for solo or co-op play.

To play, you will need six-sided dice (shortened as D), pencils, and copies of the character sheets and rules reference documents (available in this book’s last chapter).

DICE When rolling dice, each 5 or 6 is a Hit; all other results are Misses. If a rule tells you to roll 0D, roll 1D and count only 6s as Hits.

POOLS A Pool is a set of dice used to track an event, resource, challenge, or pressure that changes over time. They are written as P2, P4, P6, or P8 where the number suffix indicates the number of dice in the Pool. More on how they work later.

Character Creation

Go through the following steps or pick a background at p. 23.

Attributes

Attributes represent how capable your character is when facing risky actions or consequences. These are:

VIGOR: Strength, endurance, athletics, and melee combat.

OPERATE: Hacking, piloting, repairs, and ranged combat.

INSIGHT: Perception, analysis, investigation, and intuition.

DIPLOMACY: Persuasion, intimidation, barter, and charm.

Distribute the following ratings among your four Attributes, in any order you wish: 4D, 3D, 2D, and 1D.

Hit Points

Hit Points are a measure of your character’s ability to avoid life-threatening outcomes. Start with Hit Points equal to 8 + your character’s Vigor score.

Slots

Your character has 10 Slots for tracking the items they carry and the Conditions that hinder them. Add to your Slots 2 Items of your choice, a ration pack [P6], a Vacsuit with an FTL fluid extractor, 150 credits, either a Battery pack or Medpatch [P6], and a small keepsake.

Character Details

Starting on page 27, you’ll find a wide range of random tables to help better define who your character is.

Checks

When your character faces a risky challenge, make a Check by rolling a number of dice equal to the most relevant Attribute score and interpret the roll as follows to determine whether the action succeeds or not.

2+ HITS: Your character succeeds at their action. The more Hits, the better the result.

1 HIT: Your character partially succeeds at their action or succeeds but there is a cost.

0 HITS: Your character fails their action and there’s a cost.

— The cost of a Check could be a reduced effect, wasted time, taking Damage, suffering a new Condition, etc.

PUSH After a Check, you may have your character push themselves, rerolling all Misses. You must then add a new “Fatigued” Condition to one of your character’s Slots.

Damage & Critical Saves

When a threat harms your character, they lose a number of Hit Points equal to the Damage dealt or suffer a new Condition. When they reach 0 Hit Points, or when all their Slots are filled by Conditions, make a Critical Save by rolling a number of dice equal to the most relevant Attribute score to determine whether they stay standing or fall.

1+ HITS: Your character is wounded, but endures.

0 HITS: Your character is taken out and dying. If helped in time, they wake after a Long Rest with all Hit Points restored.

After the roll, reduce your character’s Attribute score by 1 for every Miss, up to a maximum of 2. Attribute scores cannot go below 0. Taking Damage while at 0 Hit Points, or suffering a new Condition while all Slots are filled by Conditions, triggers another Critical Save.

Position

When the fiction makes circumstances more or less favorable for a Check, Critical Save, or other roll, set the roll’s Position and interpret the roll as follows:

ABSOLUTE: With success assured, no roll is made.

GOOD: With an advantage, a 4, 5, or 6 counts as a Hit.

BAD: With a disadvantage, only a 6 counts as a Hit.

IMPOSSIBLE: With no chance of success, no roll is made.

Recovery

When your character takes a Short Rest of about 10 minutes, roll 1D and recover that many Hit Points. When your character takes a Long Rest of about 8 hours, they restore all Hit Points and 1 point to one Attribute score.

Slots, Items, and Conditions

Your character has 10 Slots. Slots track items in your character’s inventory. Most items take 1 Slot, small items take none, and large items take 2.

Conditions can also fill Slots. A Condition is a lasting hindrance, such as “Fatigued”, “Sick”, “Deprived”, or “Poisoned”. When your character gains a Condition, write it in an empty Slot; if none are empty, your character must drop an item to make room. Conditions limit your character and can affect their Position in the fiction. Some Conditions also worsen over time, filling additional slots.

Conditions are cleared only by actions in the fiction that address them, such as resting, or treating the underlying cause. Some Conditions are lasting and cannot be cleared.

Voidlight and Battery

The crew shares a Voidlight, which uses a P6 Pool. The GM rolls the Voidlight Pool every 10 real-time minutes during expeditions, using a timer hidden from the players. Whenever this Pool is rolled, reduce its size by 1 die for every Miss, up to a maximum of 2 dice per roll. When emptied, the Battery is spent. Slotting a new Battery refills the Voidlight to P6.

When the Voidlight dies and every 5 minutes after, each character makes a Critical Save. On a failure, they’re lost to the dark. If this pacing feels intense, extend the timer interval or roll the Voidlight Pool only between scenes or locations.

A Voidlight has 3 modes, which can be switched at any time:

HIGH BEAM: Gain a Good Position, but up to 3 dice may be removed from the Pool when it is rolled.

STANDARD BEAM: No change.

LOW BEAM: Suffer a Bad Position, but only 1 die may be removed from the Pool when it is rolled.

Advancements

When your character reaches a major milestone, they gain an Advancement. Increase their maximum Hit Points by 2 and raise an Attribute score by 1, to a maximum of 6.