The Crawl Phase

“There’s a great maze of tunnels, a Labyrinth. It’s like a great dark city, under the hill. Full of gold, and the swords of old heroes, and old crowns, and bones, and years, and silence.”

– The Tombs of Atuan, Ursula K. Le Guin

There are strange things the rumor of which the sun has never heard. Between sprawls of empty space in the Underworld, there is weirdness.

There are orreries that presage the position of alien moons un-glimpsed by the eye of man.

There are colonies of lost adventurers driven mad, endlessly critiquing the architecture of the Inverted Castle.

There are hallways filled with gnashing teeth.

There are fields of dragon bones that roar whenever an orc walks among them.

There are three wells, reflecting scenes of the past, the present, and the future.

There are exiled stars seeking to marry off their daughters with the dowry of a wish.

There are fungi gardens watered by the tears of nymphs.

And what is in the center of the maze?

A new game of His Majesty the Worm starts at the gates to the Underworld. The Crawl begins with the guild taking their first steps into those lightless depths.

The mythic underworld

His Majesty the Worm’s setting is a place described in fiction, folklore, and games as a mythic underworld. A mythic underworld is not merely a cave system with kobolds and goblins hiding in every shadowy corner. It is another world, charged with unconventional physics, inhuman entities, and alien architectures.

The Crawl is the phase of the game centered on exploring the Underworld. When the guild leaves the safety of civilization to pursue their quests, negotiating with strange creatures, avoiding traps, and excavating ancient treasures, they are Crawling. Most of the game is focused on this phase.

The Underworld is what is called a megadungeon. A megadungeon is inherently strange. It does not need to conform to the players’ conceptions and expectations. It does benefit from having internal logic, however. Learning the “rules” of the Underworld is fun, and having internally consistent logic allows players to make meaningful choices (which is the point of the game).

A megadungeon is composed of smaller, constituent dungeons. Each dungeon is a thematic level, section, or subsection. For example, your Underworld might be composed of five dungeon levels, which are called the Spires, the Castle of Crossed Destinies, the Inverted Castle, the City of Ruin, and the Necropolis of Ot.

Characteristics of a mythic underworld

1. It’s big, and has many levels; in fact, it may be endless 2. It follows its own ecological and physical rules 3. It is not static; the inhabitants and even the layout may grow or change over time 4. It is not linear 5. There are many ways to move up and down through the levels 6. Its purpose is mysterious or shrouded in legend 7. It’s inimical to those exploring it 8. Deeper or farther levels are more dangerous 9. It’s a (the?) central feature of the campaign

– “The Dungeon as a Mythic Underworld,” Philotomy’s Musings

Dungeons are separated into different rooms. A room can be any discrete space: a chamber, a feasting hall, a natural cavern, an underground river, etc. Each room should have something interesting for the players to interact with. For example, one room in the Castle of Crossed Destinies could have a giant throne constructed of a titan’s bones, another room could be the lair of a reverse sphinx who needs to hear riddles to survive, and so on.

As the guild explores each room, random events called the Meatgrinder create tension. The Meatgrinder represents the passage of time: torches burning low, patrolling monsters, and other hazards.

Each dungeon level has both a map and a Meatgrinder table, both full of interesting things to discover. When players travel into a new room, the GM looks at the room description. Simultaneously, the GM draws a random card from the major arcana and consults the Meatgrinder table. They then describe the newly-entered room in the context of the random Meatgrinder encounter.

This chapter details what players need to know about the Crawl Phase. Advice for the GM for running the Crawl Phase is found in chapter 10. Procedures for the GM to create the Underworld are found in Appendix E: Underworld Creation.

Play happens through a combination of what the GM describes and the decisions the players make. It’s not a preplanned story.

During the Crawl, the players tell the GM where they want to go. They use an in-character map to make sure everybody is on the same page about where the guild currently is.

The GM describes what the guild encounters as they travel. The GM describes the contents of each room within the context of a random Meatgrinder event.

When the guild encounters dangers—crushing walls, minotaurs, anti-life fields, swindling merchants—the players and the GM engage in a dialogue.

• The GM describes the situation, the players ask questions about the scene, and the GM clarifies.

• The players describe what their adventurers attempt, the GM asks questions about their actions and their intentions, and the players clarify.

• The GM describes what happens as a result of the adventurer’s actions. If there’s risk or doubt about the adventurer’s ability to accomplish their goals, the GM calls for a test of fate (Tests of Fate).

“Folk like to pretend they know everything about the world. [...] You don’t have blanks on your map, so the folks who draw them shade in a piece and write, ‘The Eld.’ You might as well burn a hole right through the map for what good that does.”

– The Wise Man’s Fear, Patrick Rothfuss

The rumor mill

A large part of His Majesty the Worm is exploring and discovering. If one (or, gods forbid, all) of a guild’s adventurers die, it’s boring to rediscover and retread old ground. That’s why we have a rule called the rumor mill.

Adventurers are always talking in taverns about what they’ve discovered, what they’ve fought, and what’s almost eaten them whole. Unless the adventurers make an effort to keep something about their delvings secret, assume that it’s generally common knowledge. Therefore, adventurers who are introduced later into the game’s story can know things that previous adventurers discovered. They know where the secret switches are, they know how to defeat Mother Maggot, they know how to safely cross the invisible bridge.

Despite the presence of otherworldly and strange beings, very few creatures attack on sight and fight to the death. (Well, perhaps skeletons. They want to free their boney brethren from the flesh prisons that you’re cruelly keeping them in.) Almost everything can be talked to, negotiated with, or at least avoided. See “Disposition” see Social Encounters & Disposition for an overview of negotiating with the GM’s characters.

When combat cannot be avoided, the Crawl Phase transitions into the Challenge Phase. Once the Challenge is resolved, the Challenge Phase transitions back to the Crawl.

Mysteriously, the Underworld has a property that preserves life. When a mortal blow is dealt, the victim lingers at Death’s Door before dying. This property has prolonged the life of many adventurers who have run afoul of the Underworld’s treachery.

Those who do die in the Underworld rise again as undead…

As you explore, you will find hazards that need to be navigated around, avoided, or retreated from.

This is a game about interacting with the world as if it actually exists. Because RPGs are conversation games, you explore the game world through asking questions. You can ask what your adventurer can see, feel, hear, etc. No need to draw cards—just ask what you can perceive and the GM will answer you honestly. As the GM describes things, follow up with specific questions to dig deeper into the game world.

There’s no list of skills or abilities to limit what you can do within the fictional world. Don’t ask “Can I make some sort of test to look for…” or “Can I make a test to disarm…” Instead ask questions like “Is there any tension as I slowly open the door?” or “Do I hear anything if I tap on the wall here?” Interrogate your surroundings by asking questions and state your character’s actions: the GM will tell you if you need to make a test of fate.

That said, your character sheet might contain something you can use to your advantage! You might have an item, spell, or talent that you can put to a clever use. Your success and your failure are defined by your ideas.

Locked doors

Some doors are locked.

If the door has a keyhole, you might find the key in the pockets of a dungeon denizen on this level. Keys tend to be coded: the copper key fits in the copper door, the mermaid-shaped key fits in the door painted with mermaids, etc.

If the door has a keyhole, you can also try to pick the lock with lockpicks. Picking a lock with lockpicks requires a successful test of Pentacles.

You can also try to force a door. You might bash it down with a test of Swords. A tool like a battering ram or crowbar provides favor to this test.

Some doors can only be opened by a particular mechanism. You need to say a particular pass phrase, twist the taxidermied moose head, depress all four pressure plates in the room, etc. If a door seems stuck, come back to it later. You might have more perspective on how to open it after exploring further. Ask dungeon denizens if they have any advice.

Secret doors

Some doors are secret. These doors might be obscured (behind a bookshelf ) or built to be all but invisible (stone doors that only open when you twist a candle sconce).

You find secret doors by describing how you search for them. You can look at a wall to see if you can see any seams. You can tap on a wall to hear if it sounds hollow. You can look behind curtains, inside wardrobes, and under rugs to see if there’s anything there.

Look at your map. Are there any gaps where a room would logically make sense? Look for secret doors there.

Look for patterns. Secret doors are hidden in places that make sense for them to be. If you find a secret door behind one portrait, search behind other portraits to see if there’s a pattern to be found.

If you don’t ask for specific information and simply say, “I spend as long as it takes to search the room for hidden doors,” the GM can use the “Moving carefully” rules. They tell you if there’s a secret door but draw on the Meatgrinder to see if your torches gutter due to the time you take searching.

Checking for traps

Some doors, rooms, or passageways are trapped. You find traps by describing how you search for them.

Open the door very slowly to feel if there’s a trigger in the hinges that activates a trap. Bend down and check to see if there’s a tripwire in the door frame. Walk carefully to check if there are any pressure plates in the hallway.

If you create a procedure like “We walk down the hallway tapping the floor in front of us with our ten-foot pole,” the GM can use the “Moving carefully” rules due to the time involved in the search. They tell you if you find any traps but draw on the Meatgrinder to see if your torches gutter due to the time you take searching.

Dealing with traps

Some traps might be unavoidable no matter how carefully you search. You decide how to deal with the traps you trigger.

Some traps will simply occur—the room begins to fill with water as soon as the door is opened. Other traps allow you to make a test of fate to avoid the worst outcome—you test Pentacles to grasp the edge of the collapsing bridge as it falls apart.

The way you describe your actions when a trap is triggered will determine how the GM adjudicates what happens next.

Here are some examples.

Example the first

As the guild steps into a room, the door slams shut and locks. With a grinding sound, the east and west walls slowly begin moving towards each other, threatening to crush all within like a giant trash compactor.

What do you do?

Some suggestions:

• Was a guild member trapped outside when the door slammed shut? Are there controls anywhere they can use to deactivate the trap?

• Do you have pitons in your pack? Can you drive them into the wall to slow or stop the walls’ advance?

• Is the door flush with the wall? Is there any space in the door frame in which to hide yourself?

• Can you search for a secret door? Is there a service panel on the walls? In the ceiling? On the floor?

• Do you have a crowbar? Can you pry open the door?

• Is there a troll in your party? Do they have the Colossal talent? Can they smash down the door or break the mechanism behind the walls through sheer strength?

• Do you have a slime bomb? Can you throw it to Destroy part of the wall or the door?

• Do you have the Portable Hole spell? Can you cast it on the wall to see the mechanism beyond? Can you jam or disrupt the mechanism if you reach your hand through the hole?

Example the second

You find a door set into a frame resembling the face of a green devil. Inside the green devil’s mouth is a black hole. It’s not just dark, a literal void exists within the green devil’s mouth.

What do you do?

Some suggestions:

• Discretion is the better part of valor. If you don’t need to deal with the green devil face, can you simply leave?

• If you need to deal with the face, are there any switches or buttons hidden? Can you press the eyes? Can you twist the horns?

• Don’t interact with the void in the mouth with your bare hands. Throw a sling stone into it. Touch it with a staff at a distance.

• Does someone in your guild have the Counter-spell talent? Does it have any effect on the face?

Example the third

As you walk down the hall, you step on a pressure plate. You hear a “CLICK!” as it sinks into the floor. You hear mechanisms whirring in the walls, like a machine spinning up.

With a split-second decision to make, you don’t have a lot of information to act on—but doing something is better than nothing.

What do you do?

Some suggestions:

• Can you keep pressure on the pressure plate in case releasing it is the trap’s trigger?

• Can you drop prone to try and avoid whatever is coming? Can you do so while depressing the plate?

• Do you have a shield? Can you bring it to bear to protect yourself from potential threats?

• Does somebody in your guild have the Aegis talent? Can they use it for your benefit if the trap is sprung?

Before the game, the GM will map out the Underworld and create detailed notes about each room’s contents. They will also create a basic map for each dungeon level for the players: this is your guild’s in-character map.

Your map lets you tell the GM where your guild wants to go. For example, you might say, “We’re going to head towards Room 202.” Because the room numbers will be the same between the GM’s notes and the player’s map, the GM can turn to their description for Room 202 and continue play with minimal page flipping.

The player-facing map does not contain any information about the contents of dungeon rooms. However, each map should:

• Show the basic outline of the rooms;

• Show the paths through the dungeon; and

• Be keyed, with each room having a different number.

Although you’re given some information on the map, it might not be complete! As you travel, you might find hidden rooms that you can draw directly onto your map. Exploring and discovering secrets is the fun part of play!

As you fill your (mostly) blank map in with notes about the rooms, traps, and dungeon denizens you encounter, you’ll be able to make informed decisions as you explore.

Travel time is measured in watches. A watch isn't a concrete period of time; it might be an hour or ten minutes or all night. It’s hard to tell how much time is actually passing in the Underworld. Time moves weirdly—happy moments burn away quickly, whereas tense moments stretch like lengthening shadows. Watches are just a way to talk about how quickly, quietly, and carefully you're moving.

A watch passes:

• Each time the guild passes into a new room on the map;

• Whenever the guild spends a long time performing a task (such as taking a door off of its hinges, repairing a broken machine, counting the jelly beans in a jar); and

• Each Camp and Challenge Phase.

When a watch passes, the GM draws a card from the major arcana deck and compares the result to the Meatgrinder table for that dungeon. The GM then describes the Meatgrinder event in the context of the new or current scene.

The Meatgrinder is a collection of impermanent events—things like monster patrols, weather, or bumping into a rival guild. Importantly, the rate at which your light sources flicker and go out is controlled by the Meatgrinder; see Light for more information on light sources.

As you travel, the GM will describe scenes that combine the contents of each room and the results of the Meatgrinder. For example, if the room you enter is a dragon’s lair and the GM randomly pulls a patrol of goblins from the Meatgrinder table, you might find goblins attempting to sneak into the dragon’s lair for treasure—and making entirely too much noise in the process.

When a Meatgrinder event is triggered, the GM should mark it off. If the cards are shuffled and the GM draws the same event twice, nothing happens and the guild has a watch of respite. The GM repopulates their Meatgrinder tables after each City Phase.

The full procedure to create a Meatgrinder for a dungeon level is detailed in Appendix E, see Create the Meatgrinder. Here are the basics.

In general, Meatgrinder tables follow this formula:

• Torches gutter (I–V): Torches guttering represents time passing as your light sources grow dim. When torches gutter, all light sources flicker.

• Torches gutter events are not marked off from the Meatgrinder. They can occur multiple times.

• Curiosities (VI–X): Curiosities are moments of serendipity. “Nothing happens” is a boring result for a random table. Curiosities are an opportunity for a GM to interject color into the black depths of the Underworld. They can serve as inspiration for role-playing exchanges or provide hints about the local environment.

• Travel events (XI–XV): Travel events represent things that go wrong during the journey. They might require you to make a hard choice about resource management or ask you to test fate to avoid a hardship. Travel events might prompt Challenges.

• Random encounters (XVI–XX): Random encounters are chance meetings with the denizens of the Underworld. These might be friendly encounters with would-be allies, hazardous encounters with hungry animals, or murderous encounters with monsters. Interesting random encounters don’t simply list “monster type.” The best random encounters paint a small scenario that the GM can use as inspiration for a Challenge.

• Quest rumor (XXI): Quest rumors lead you one step closer to your current quest. Quest rumors provide hints or directions towards your quest goal. If you’ve already made significant progress on your current quest, this result might even feature the object of your quest.

Every time the guild makes a loud noise or otherwise draws attention to themselves, the GM should pull on the Meatgrinder table. If the draw results in a random encounter (results XVI–XX), the GM describes an encounter with the wandering creature drawn to the noise. Otherwise, nothing happens.

If the guild is proceeding very slowly or methodically, tapping in front of them with their ten-foot pole, the GM should pull again on the Meatgrinder table after resolving potential encounters. If the second draw results in torches guttering (results I–V), the GM keeps the result to represent additional time passing. Otherwise, nothing happens.

What work is the Meatgrinder doing?

The Meatgrinder introduces the tension of a ticking clock to your Crawl. If you linger too long or travel too deep, your torches will all burn out and you will be lost in a lightless void.

Also, the alchemical reaction between the random event and the specific room ensures that the scene is interesting for everybody at the table—GM and player alike. A trapped hallway encounter can be fun on its own, but the (randomly generated) inclusion of a rival adventuring party approaching from the opposite direction adds a dynamic element. And, if you ever retrace your steps and enter this hallway again, some other random element will be encountered here. Since you’ve traveled here before, you can leverage what you learned from the first encounter to your advantage in the second.

What lurks just outside the halo of your torchlight? In the sunless depths, a candle is the difference between life and death.

There are three levels of lighting while exploring dark places: bright, dim, and dark.

Bright light

If you are holding a light source, you benefit from bright light. Bright light means that you can operate without penalty.

If you’re holding a light source, you’re always clearly visible. Hiding is impossible.

Dim light

Even a little light offers hope in the darkness. If you aren’t carrying a light source (while someone else in your guild is), you’re considered to be in dim lighting. Any complex or visually-dependent task—such as picking locks, surgery, investigation, crafting—suffers disfavor on tests of fate while you are in dim lighting unless an adventurer with a light source actively provides illumination.

If you are in dim lighting, you may attempt to hide behind cover.

No matter how accomplished an adventurer is, darkness is crippling. You are Blind while in darkness. Most activities are simply impossible to accomplish in the dark—others may be attempted but suffer disfavor.

Crawling in the dark is a futile pursuit. The guild is at risk of every pitfall and every trap, and creatures accustomed to darkness will find them easy prey.

“It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.”

– Zork, Infocom

The Omphalic Market lists candles, torches, and lanterns for purchase. Each type of light source can flicker a certain number of times before it is extinguished.

Your light source flickers when the Meatgrinder says torches gutter. Candles can flicker 2 times. Torches can flicker 3 times. Lanterns can flicker 4 times.

Candles, torches, and lanterns are not designed for violence. Your light source automatically breaks and is extinguished if:

• It is hit in combat

• You use it as a weapon in combat

You can tie your lantern to your belt, but if you suffer a Wound, your lantern is also Destroyed, covering you in oil.

Dropping your light source might cause it to go out.

• Torches have a 50% chance of staying lit or being extinguished when dropped. Extinguished torches can’t be relit.

• Candles are extinguished when dropped. Candles may be relit.

• Lanterns are Destroyed when dropped.

If the guild is completely out of light sources, each player draws on the table below.

The logic of Stress

Have you ever had a player in a game who insisted their character would happily sit in a dungeon room for twelve hours and just count coins until they found the cursed one? Or that their character would jump into an open sewer to search for the dagger they just dropped? Has the same friend ever turned down a slice of pizza because it had pineapple on it?

The Stressed condition does two things. First, it represents the trauma of the human experience in the mythic Underworld. Second, it disincentivizes choices that are on the extremes of human tolerability but have no other mechanical weight.

If a player wants their adventurer to ford the freezing river, they’re welcome to do it. However, such an event would be physically taxing. As such, the GM should warn the player that such an action would cause them to become Stressed.

Adventuring is nasty and uncomfortable. When you undergo a traumatic experience or suffer physical distress, check the Stressed condition. In short, when you’re shivering, hungry, or terrified, you are Stressed.

Being Stressed has no immediate negative effects, but it makes recovery during the Camp Phase more taxing. You must clear Stressed before healing any other condition.

The GM is the ultimate arbiter of what introduces Stress or not. In general, being Stressed is less serious than taking actual physical harm, but makes your adventurer angry, weak, sore, or miserable.

Example stressors: exposure to extreme elements without the appropriate gear; magically terrifying monsters like liches or dragons; self-harm; extremely mundane, boring, and repetitive tasks; long-term social isolation; witnessing torture; and so on.

Adventuring is hard on both your body and your gear. Items can be Notched or Destroyed while adventuring.

Items might be damaged by environmental hazards. For example, a trap that shoots a jet of fire might Notch any flammable items on your belt. Items can also be damaged as a consequence of your actions. For example, if you throw your net over a charging manticore to help your companion escape, the manticore tears the net to shreds. The GM arbitrates when items are damaged.

Repairing items

Tinker’s kits can be used during the Camp Phase to repair Notched items (but not Destroyed items). Spending your Camp Action to use a tinker’s kit removes 1 Notch.

Notched and Destroyed items can be repaired if carried back to the City, see Replacing and repairing gear.

Fragile items are Destroyed after 1 Notch. Items intended for durability are Destroyed after 2 Notches. Items made of tempered steel are Destroyed after 3 Notches.

If you fall from a great height, you suffer 1 Piercing Wound (Piercing and Critical damage) for each 10’ you fall (rounded down). For example, if you fall from a 25’ height, you would suffer 2 Wounds that cannot be absorbed with armor.

Whenever you fall, you may test Pentacles.

• If you fail, take damage as normal.

• If you succeed, treat the fall as 10’ shorter. For example, if you fall 25’ and succeed in the test of Pentacles, you only suffer 1 Piercing Wound.

• On a great success, treat the fall as 20’ shorter (e.g., a 25’ fall would do no damage).

• On a great failure, you take damage as normal and any fragile items (like hermetic bottles) on your belt or in your pack are Destroyed.

If you’ve drunk tainted water from a huldra’s body-choked well, inhaled a cloud of spores from a creeping mold, or developed an infected cut from a goblin’s shit-covered dagger, you become afflicted.

Afflictions—be they poison, disease, infection, addiction, or otherwise—are essentially countdown clocks to doom. Each affliction has a number of stages, each with a specific effect.

• Most afflictions have increasingly negative effects for each stage.

• Some afflictions—notably drugs—have positive effects at their early stages.

• Some afflictions have death at their final stage.

When you gain an affliction, you immediately gain its stage 1 effect.

To track your progress with the affliction, draw a circle. Draw as many sections as there are stages of the affliction. Color in the first section with hatch marks.

For example

Afflictions automatically progress to the next stage at the end of each Camp Phase.

To cure an affliction, take the Rest and Recover action during the Camp Phase (Camp Actions). During this action, you’ll burn charged Bonds. One stage of the affliction is cured after a certain number of charges are spent.

Burned charges are cumulative. For example, if a stage of an affliction is cured for every 3 charges spent, you can burn 1 charge over the course of three Camp Phases to cure a single stage.

The GM determines the number of charges needed to cure a stage of a particular affliction. Players are not told this information up front, but a well-worded lore bid might reveal these details. When Resting and Recovering, you tell the GM how many charges you are burning and hope for the best.

Burned charges cure the most severe stages first, whether or not the affliction has progressed to that point. To represent a cured stage, color a section of the circle in black. You will never experience the effects associated with a cured stage. The affliction is completely healed when all stages are cured.

For example

Certain things are healthful for curing an affliction:

• Some afflictions have very specific cures (e.g., the poison of a basilisk can be cured by the gallbladder of a basilisk).

• Bezoars and leeches (available at the Omphalic Market, see Bezoar) give charges for healing.

• The Life spell reduces an affliction by an entire stage, perhaps curing it entirely.

Afflictions progress to the next stage at the end of each Camp Phase unless the stage above it has been cured. Essentially, afflictions progress clockwise, but are cured counter-clockwise.

In summation

• Your affliction begins at stage 1.

• During the Crawl Phase, you have the opportunity to search for healing items or chirurgeons to help your recovery during the Camp Phase.

• During the step 1 of your next Camp Phase, you can Rest and Recover to burn charges in an attempt to recover from the affliction. These charges can come from charged Bonds or healthful items. These charges go towards curing the final stage first (sections are blacked out on the affliction clock in a counterclockwise manner).

• At the end of the Camp Phase, your affliction progresses one stage (clockwise on the affliction clock). If the stage beyond it has already been cured, you remain at your current affliction stage.

• If you cure the stage that you are already on, your affliction regresses by one stage.

Here are some “common” afflictions to use as examples. GMs can tweak these to create any manner of gross old disorders for their players.

Giant rat venom

A green rat the size of a dog, covered in buboes, welts, and goiters, bites you. It only gets worse from there.

Stage 1: The wound turns ugly: green and fetid. It begins to stink, but there are no other effects.

Requires 1 charge to cure.

Stage 2: You feel like hot garbage. You become permanently Exhausted.

Requires 1 charge to cure.

Stage 3: Your lungs are filled with green mucus. Every time you test fate, you take a Piercing Wound after the test is resolved.

Requires 2 charges to cure.

Ghost lotus

The seeds of the ghost lotus rewrite pathways in the user’s brain. The feeling is incredibly addictive. Habitual users of the lotus (called lotusphages) become very strange and otherworldly: their personalities change, their memories become distorted, and they have trouble distinguishing between the waking world and dreams.

Stage 1: You experience euphoria. This effect cancels out any effects that hamper your ability to sleep.

Requires 1XP to recover from stage 1. No charges are otherwise needed.

Stage 2: At this stage, you lose the ability to understand representative thought. Paintings and illustrations are just blobs of color. Words are meaningless lines on paper. You cannot read. You cannot write. You are also immune to illusions.

Requires 2 charges to cure.

Stage 3: You become lost in a waking dream. Rewrite one of your motif descriptors. For example, if you have the “Romancing Swordsman” motif, replace “Romancing” with another word (e.g., Ambitious, Addled, Drowsy, Sadistic, etc.).

Requires 1 charge to cure.

The great contagion

“Oh Mythrys, do I have the red welts? I have the red welts don’t I? I’m going to die. Tell Mama I love her.”

Stage 1: Your skin breaks out into red whorls that are very painful to the touch. You take a Piercing Wound.

Requires 2 charges to cure.

Stage 2: You take Critical damage.

Requires 2 charges to cure.

Stage 3: You die.

A thick molasses that tastes so, so sweet. It’s like meth and speed had a terrifying demon baby. You act preternaturally fast while on the honey.

Each time you take black honey, you are re-exposed to the affliction. If you’ve previously cured stage 2, erase the marking in the stage 2 section.

Stage 1: If you’ve recently taken black honey, you may choose to draw 5 cards during an encounter instead of 4. If you do so, you spit out 1–4 teeth.

Requires 5 charges to quit.

Stage 2: You’re jittery and sweaty. Your Cups score equals 1 and you suffer disfavor on all tests of fate that require fine motor control.

Requires 1 charge to calm down to stage 1.

In the Underworld, you’ll encounter the bizarre denizens of the dungeons and the adventurers trying their best to slay them (or you).

Role-playing the characters you encounter is one of the GM’s many jobs. The GM is provided with guidelines for role-playing called Disposition. Advice for GMs creating characters with interesting personalities and running social encounters is provided in Creating interesting characters.

Each Disposition has three steps of severity: mild, basic, and intense. Mild emotions are on the inside of the circle; intense emotions are on the outside of the circle. Related emotions are grouped near each other.

A character’s starting Disposition informs the GM how that creature should initially act, how hostile or friendly it is to the guild, and what they’re likely to demand in a parlay.

Sometimes a character’s starting Disposition will be obvious based on the scenario in which the guild encounters them. If there is any question, or if randomness is desired, the GM should look at the top card in the discard pile of the minor arcana.

Characters with positive Dispositions (e.g., joy, trust) negotiate in good faith. They will acquiesce to reasonable requests in exchange for a reasonable exchange from the guild. Characters with intense positive Dispositions might even provide extra aid and advice.

Characters with negative Dispositions (e.g., angry, distaste) want to bring the conversation to an end. They don’t have any interest in exchanging goods or services with the guild. If the encounter continues at all, it will be in a combative capacity—transition to the Challenge Phase.

As you role-play with a GM character, their Dispositions change based on how your actions interact with their personality. All intelligent creatures can be negotiated with (assuming a shared language). When role-playing with the GM’s characters, you don’t have to speak in a silly voice or use faux Shakespearean language. You don’t even have to say exactly what your character is saying, word for word. You do have to say what you want and how you are approaching the conversation.

• You might flatter the vain countess.

• You might make pious platitudes to the unctuous priest.

• You might offer rare trash to the goblin trash merchant.

These strategies only make sense when applied towards that particular character; offering trash to the vain countess would be unwise.

The GM judges the results of a negotiation based on how what you said aligns or conflicts with their character’s personality. Depending on the outcome of the role-playing exchange, the GM character’s Disposition either increases/decreases in severity or shifts to a related emotion.

• Good ideas and strong bargaining chips that appeal to a character’s likes and wants will automatically create positive Dispositions.

• Approaches that conflict with the character’s dislikes will automatically create negative Dispositions.

• When the situation is risky and there’s something at stake, the GM will call for a test of Wands.

• Success on this test moves the character’s Disposition to an adjacent, beneficial emotion or increases their current emotion’s severity.

• Failure moves the character’s Disposition towards a negative emotion.

There are seven basic Dispositions: anger, distaste, sadness, joy, surprise, trust, and fear. Each of the seven Dispositions are listed below, with the core emotional state of each flanked by its mild and intense states. A list of emotional synonyms is also given, as one of those terms might be more appropriate and might aid in the GM in appropriately role-playing the Disposition. Some notes are also given as to how a creature with that Disposition might act in a Challenge.

Acceptance | Trust | Admiration

Trust is a measure of belief in the general honesty, fairness, or capability of the other party. A base level of trust is a common starting Disposition for many benevolent creatures. Creatures who trust the guild will generally negotiate in good faith, but will still cautiously ensure the exchanges are fair. Betraying the trust of a character is a good way to change their Disposition to sad or angry.

Synonyms: confident, hopeful, optimistic, playful, interested, inquisitive, curious

In a Challenge: Typically, creatures with this Disposition are not inclined to fight. If the situation obligates a fight without changing the trust Disposition, the creature might attempt to learn more about the guild’s prowess through non-lethal methods.

Annoyance | Anger | Rage

Anger is an intense emotional response that arises from a perceived provocation, threat, or hurt. Displays of anger are very aggressive and intimidating, and might quickly devolve to violence. It is a common emotional response for creatures with bestial intelligence or maladjusted humans. Anger is one half of the fight or flight response. Anger can impair the creature’s ability to take in information or make wise decisions during the encounter.

Synonyms: hurt, humiliated, threatened, hateful, violated, furious, provoked, hostile, ridiculed

In a Challenge: Anger makes people stupid and clumsy. The angry creature will try and focus on the source of their anger. An angry creature will attack recklessly, with little regard for the environment.

Pensiveness | Sadness | Grief

Sadness is emotional pain associated with loss, despair, helplessness, or disappointment. Sad creatures often have obvious needs to be alleviated, which might change their Disposition for the better. However, sadness often causes creatures to lose interest in activities they once enjoyed, and sadness can create a significant barrier to positive influences.

Synonyms: anxious, empty, helpless, hopeless, depressed, irritable, guilty, lonely, abandoned

In a Challenge: In battle, those afflicted with deep sadness fight with abandon. They take chances they might otherwise not take. Often, they attempt to move first in Initiative, recklessly charging into battle and exposing themselves to danger.

Boredom | Distaste | Loathing

Disgust is a reaction to something offensive, distasteful, or unpleasant. This revulsion is often a product of breaking hygiene norms or moral codes. It is a common starting Disposition for potentially antagonistic creatures you encounter. Remember, the adventuring life is a dirty, dirty business.

Synonyms: disapproving, repelled, judgmental, appalled, nauseated, horrified, hesitant

In a Challenge: Creatures full of loathing delight in violence against the targets of its distaste. The creature’s main desire is to cause harm or pain. This harm might be centered on a particular creature type (a witch-hunter pursuing a witch), or perhaps it’s more general (a vampire’s general disdain for all mortal life).

Anxiety | Fear | Terror

Fear is an emotional response to a perceived danger or threat. Fear is one half of the flight-or-fight response. Creatures responding with fear often want to just end the social encounter and might make any concessions necessary to accomplish this. Or, if they think they can do so successfully, frightened creatures will try and abandon the encounter altogether.

Synonyms: weak, rejected, threatened, exposed, nervous, persecuted, inferior, worried, helpless

In a Challenge: Fearful creatures will attempt to flee the source of their fear, avoiding combat unless it is necessary to escape. They prioritize high-value cards for their Initiative.

Distraction | Surprise | Awe

When there is a disconnect between expectations and reality, a creature reacts with surprise. Surprise might come when the guild interacts with the more “normal” society of the City—not everyone is accustomed to the adventurer’s life. Surprise might also occur during confusing or bewildering encounters in the Underworld.

Synonyms: startled, confused, amazed, shocked, dismayed, perplexed, excited

In a Challenge: A surprised creature wasn’t planning on fighting today. It will fight if it believes itself threatened, but won’t pursue combat for its own purposes. It will try to disengage as early as possible.

Contentment | Joy | Ecstasy

When their needs are met, creatures feel a sense of joy or happiness. Like anger, feelings of joy can cloud judgment. This is the ideal state for influencing a creature, as they are well-disposed to entreaties and exchanges.

Synonyms: happy, peaceful, intimate, aroused, proud, thankful, powerful, respected

In a Challenge: Creatures who are joyful will not usually desire to engage in conflict. However, if the situation calls for it, joyful creatures might be cocky or overbold, perceiving the combat as a game. Cocky creatures might toy with, taunt, or tease adventurers during battle.

GM: The face in the middle of the door suddenly animates. It’s still made of gold, but its mouth and eyes open and move and look basically human. It speaks in a deep voice and says, “Password?”

Jaesh: Aw, come on baby. Don’t be like that.

Everybody at the table laughs and Jaesh charges his Bonds with the adventurers who are his Allies.

GM: Wait, are you trying to sweet-talk the magical face door into opening?

Jaesh: Yeah. I lean in and say, “Honey, you know I know how to open you up. Make you feel good. Come on. Let daddy pass.”

GM: Ha. OK wait. Let me think.

The GM reasons that the magical door has basic social motivations because their notes stipulate that the door can hold a reasonable conversation, can report on things that it sees, and knows a lot of lore about this area of the Underworld. They figure that nobody has ever really been kind to the door, probably only seeing it as an obstacle to be overcome. They set the door’s initial Disposition to weak surprise.

GM: The door seems surprised. It seems like nobody ever has really treated it nicely. Go ahead and draw Wands with favor.

Jaesh’s player draws from the minor arcana deck and gets a Page of Pentacles. Jaesh adds his Wands attribute—a 4—and gets a total of 15.

The GM rules that the success moves the Disposition from surprise to a related emotion and chooses weak joy (contentment).

GM: OK, the door seems to be taken in by your sweet talking. It says, “Oh, you sweet thing. How I long to open for you. Alas! It is against my enchantment unless you can speak the password. Long have I waited here, bored, waiting for some nice man to spend time with me.”

Jaesh: Ah! If you’re bored, I can read to you from my book. I have a book of children’s fables that I grew up reading in my pack.

The GM notes that Jaesh is offering something concrete and just automatically switches to the next emotion – “acceptance.”

GM: It’s face brightens up. “Oh would you?” it says.

Jaesh: Sure. I’m going to spend some time reading a story from that picture book I’m carrying. I make sure to show it the pictures as I turn the pages.

GM: That’s going to take a little time. I’m going to draw on the Meatgrinder to see if your torches flicker, but sure, you can do that.

The GM draws from the major arcana deck to see if the guild’s light source grows dim as they waste time. They don’t draw a I-V, so they continue the scene.

GM: OK, after the story the door seems extremely grateful. It says, “That was excellent. What a strong reading voice you have. I’ll give you a hint. The password is a six-letter word for a striking tool or weapon.”

A guild named the Steel-Clad Snakes has just descended into the Castle of Crossed Destinies, a dungeon level they’ve explored only briefly in the past.

The guild consists of Daria the shaman (orc, Path of Wands), Fergus Crowell the alchemist (human, Path of Cups), and Chirm the acrobat (wood elf, Path of Pentacles).

GM: OK, you follow the stairs down into room 201.

The GM looks at their notes for a description of 201. They then flip over a major arcana card to get an event from the Castle of Crossed Destinies Meatgrinder table. They get a Hierophant [V ]. The Meatgrinder entry is “Torches gutter.”

GM: This place is dark, and in your torchlight you can tell that it’s a large space—like a ballroom. Who has the light again?

Fergus: I have a lantern.

GM: And you’re in the middle of the marching order? OK, so, in the lantern light you all see a large space with high ceilings. It’s like an indoor garden or closed-in atrium. There are silvery bushes growing here in the middle of cobblestone paths. Interspersed among the bushes are black soapstone statues—nude, Greco-Roman style, in various positions. The room is so large that your lantern light doesn’t quite make it all the way to all four walls, but you can see exits in the north, east, and west walls. As you enter the room, your torches gutter.

Fergus: OK, that was my lantern’s last flicker. Can I keep the flame alight if I add in another bottle of oil?

GM: Of course.

Fergus’s player erases a flask of oil from his backpack and erases the previous flickers from his light tracker on his adventurer sheet.

Chirm: I want to take a closer look at one of the statues. I approach one and take a close look but don’t touch it.

GM: Well, with Fergus refilling his lantern you don’t have a light source until he catches up.

Fergus: I’m on my way! I’ll hold up the lantern for her.

GM: OK, Fergus holds up his lantern high so you can both look at the statue. It looks like the statue of the Dying Gaul—do you know that one? It’s like, a human who is sitting on the ground, twisted in pain.

Chirm: Do I see any veins or cracks in the statue that would indicate it could be opened?

GM: Good question. No, the black soapstone is seamless. But! As you lean in to get close to it, it suddenly shifts position and reaches out and grabs you.

Chirm: I jerk back!

GM: OK, you had said before you weren’t touching it, so you’re able to step back. The statue stops moving—it looks like it has always been in that position, half turning, reaching out.

Chirm: Nobody touch the statues, y’all!

Daria: Do we see anything else in this room besides the statues and the bushes?

GM: Nothing obvious, no.

Daria: Let’s move on, guys. All pain no gain here.

GM: Where do you want to go?

The guild looks over their map, planning out their route towards the middle of the dungeon level.

Daria: We’ll move to…203.

Chirm: And as we walk through the room, we’ll make sure we’re staying well out of the reach of the statues.

GM: Sure. You choose a safe path on the cobblestones and tiptoe past all the statues on your way to the door. The door is wooden with a brass Venetian door handle.

Daria: I listen at the door.

The GM checks their notes for room 203. The room is called “Pond of ferric fluid” in the GM’s notes, which is enough to remind them of the contents. The GM then flips over a major arcana card and reads the entry on the Castle of Crossed Destinies Meatgrinder table.

The GM pulls Temperance [XIV ]. The Meatgrinder entry reads: “[Discard] deconstruction imps have rigged up a heavy stone above the door to this room so that it will fall as soon as the door is opened. They are giggling in the corner, waiting to see their trick pay off.”

The GM looks at the top card of the minor arcana discard pile. It’s a V of Cups. The GM knows now that there is a trap and five imps hiding behind the door.

GM: Uh, yeah, you hear a muffled giggling from behind the door.

Daria: Like, a lot of giggling or a single giggler?

GM: A lot of giggling, and a lot of shushing.

Daria: Do they sound high pitched or low pitched?

GM: Uh, pretty high pitched.

Daria: Are they goblins?

GM: You can’t really tell. Well, wait, do you want to bid lore? Do you have a motif that would let you identify the giggling of goblins?

Daria: Nah, that’s okay. I say “Hey guys, I think there’s somebody in the next room. Get ready.” I’ll make sure that my stiletto and my shield are ready as I slowly push the door open.

GM: Your caution is warranted! As you push open the door, CRASH! An enormous stone block slams down from above you. Test Pentacles to see if you stepped back quickly enough or if part of the falling stone clipped you. You can test with favor because you were acting cautiously.

Play continues from there. After resolving the test of fate, the game possibly shifts to a Challenge Phase as the imps block the guild’s path into the room.