Dark Designs

You did not choose this path of

desperate adventures. Your traumas
brought you here, and now you
need to grow by them.

Characters are defined by Tags. Tags are single words or short phrases that describe your character, e.g., their
background, relationships, traumas, motivations, approaches, skills, magic, special equipment etc. Create a character by
inventing three traits. One of these most be related to the trauma that forced you to undertake desperate adventures.
Amira invents the Tags ‘’Priest of the Demon Order’ and ‘Healing Herbs’ for her character, Volkhar. For the trauma, she imagines that Volkhar was
ambushed by a small group of bandits while on a pilgrimage to a shrine deep in the forest. The bandits took an invaluable artifact of his Order, The
Demon Skull. She invents the Tag ‘Once Ambushed, Never Again’.

When characters do something where the degree of success is uncertain or failure is a possibility, assemble a pool of
six-sided dice by going through the below steps for each character participating in the action. Then, roll the pool.

6 Begin with a Success Die 6 if the character is actively participating and collaborating in the action.

6 Add a Success Die 6 if a character’s Tags apply or they are taking advantage of the environment.
Add a Failure Die 6 if the action involves the risk of failure. Envision what the consequences of a failure
6 might look like and decide whether the character is risking their mind or body.
Add a Success Die 6 if a player accepts a Devil’s Bargain, i.e., a major complication that only occurs if the
6 action succeeds. This could include collateral damage, taking Stress, getting separated, sacrificing something or
someone, attracting unwanted attention or realizing that the challenge is greater than anticipated.
If a Success Die 6 turns up highest or ties with the Failure Die 6, it’s a success. The higher, the more successful. The
lower, the more marginal or complicated the success. Remember to pay the price, if a player accepted a Devil’s Bargain.
If the Failure Die 6 turns up highest, it’s a failure. The higher, the more dreadful the failure.
As Volkhar returns to consciousness after the ambush, Amira decides that Volkhar will try to identify and then follow the bandits’ tracks. Amira begins
with one Success Die 6, but does not feel she can justify a second. She does not, however, add a Failure Die 6 as the bandits’ tracks are certain to be here.
The only question is how much or what they reveal. Amira rolls a 2. Volkhar finds the bandits’ tracks, but they are days old and worn out.

Some challenges might require several steps or successes to overcome. If fighting stronger enemies, venturing into perilous
locations, solving a mystery or pursuing a formidable quest, set up a Challenge Die 6. Whenever getting closer to
overcoming the challenge (e.g., damaging an epic monstrosity, overcoming a day’s march, finding a clue), raise the
Challenge Die 6 by 1 or 2. When a player believes they have overcome the challenge, roll a Success Die 6 under the
value of the Challenge Die 6 to succeed. Otherwise, the objective is still out of reach.
Volkhar’s journey will take several steps to complete and so Amira sets up a Challenge Die 6 starting at 1. After some lucky rolling, the Challenge Die 6 has
reached 4. She decides to make yet another roll to see how Volkhar’s last foray into the forest fare before attempting to roll under the Challenge Die 6 ..

She assembles her pool, adding the starting Success Die 6 and an extra from Volkhar’s Tag ‘Once Ambushed, Never Again’. This time she also adds a Failure
Die 6. She imagines that failure would imply an encounter with a beast of the woods, but not that Volkhar is immediately risking his body or mind. She
briefly considers accepting the Devil’s Bargain that if Volkhar succeeds in getting closer to the bandits, it is because he pushes himself too hard and must
take Stress. Amira, however, opts to go without the Bargain. She rolls and the Failure Die 6 turns up highest with a 4. It’s a drooling wolf!

Stress measures physical and mental setbacks. All characters begin with Stress at 1. Whenever a player fails a roll
where their character was risking their mind or body and the Failure Die 6 turns up higher than the character’s current
Stress, their Stress go up by 1. If Stress reaches 6, the character is lost. Stress may be reduced by 1 if a character
takes the appropriate in-game steps and the player rolls a Success Die 6 below the character’s current Stress.
Amira decides that Volkhar will try and calm the wolf. After all he’s unarmed. She begins with a Success Die 6, but cannot justify a second. Failure is
certainly on the table and Volkhar will definitely by risking his body, so Amira adds a Failure Die 6. She rolls and get a 5 on the Failure Die 6. It’s a
disaster! The wolf jumps Volkhar, throwing him to the ground with itself on top. It’s a desperate wrestle and his Stress goes up to 2 now. After a few
unlucky rolls and attempts at escape, Volkhar is battered and his Stress now at 5. Amira imagines that Volkhar looks around on the ground frantically
and luckily finds a sharp stick which he attempts to thrust into the beast’s side. Amira begins with one Success Die 6 and adds a second as Volkhar is
making use of the environment. A Failure Die 6 is unavoidable and the risk of further bodily harm is obvious. Amira rolls and gets a 6 on a Success Die 6.
Volkhar’s stick strikes true! The beast roars in pain and flees. Amira decides that this desperate victory counts as another step on the Challenge Die 6, raising
it to 5. She also imagines that the bandits too might have encountered the wolf and perhaps lost their lives or the Skull itself. She rolls her Success Die 6
to see if Volkhar has overcome the challenge of finding the Skull. It’s a 3! Not a grand success, but she decides that the Skull is here, in a bag probably
dropped by the bandits fleeing the wolf in a hurry. Before going any further, Volkhar attempts to mend his wounds. Due to his Tag, ‘Healing Herbs’,
Amira rules that she can roll two Success Dice 6 and pick the best. One of them is below 5 and Amira reduces Volkhar’s Stress by 1.
Characters grow by their traumas. If a character have overcome a significant challenge and acquired Stress in the
process, the player may create a new trauma character Tag that represents the lessons learned from the setbacks if
they succeed on a roll to reduce Stress as per the above rule.
After successfully reducing Stress, Amira rules that Volkhar has not only overcome a significant challenge (i.e., getting the Skull), but also learned a lesson
from his terrible fight with the wolf: ‘Always Carry a Sharp Object in the Wilds’ is Volkhar’s new Tag. Volkhar grabs his sharp stick and continues his
pilgrimage. Desperation awaits.
Dark Designs is created by Mattias G. Olesen (@g0ri) and licensed and licensed under CC BY 4.0. Art is used with permission from Perplexing Ruins. Icons by Game-Icons.net licensed under CC BY 3.0. Dark Designs is
inspired by Cthulhu Dark (Graham Walmsley) and Trophy (Jesse Ross). The table on the back mixes materials from Maze Rats by Ben Milton and the Ironsworn SRD by Shawn Tomkin, both licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Dark Designs
What will you see? What will you
learn? When will you perish?
Desperation awaits, that’s for certain.
What form will yours take?

When in need of inspiration for what happens next, ask your question (e.g., who am I? Who am I meeting?
Where? What’s the motivation? What trauma occurred? Is the farmer home?) and roll a 6 and a 6 once or twice.
Then, consult the table below. Each cell includes (1) a character type, (2) a landmark, (3) a motivation or quest, (4)
a trauma or misfortune, (5) a random combination of a verb and noun and finally (6) a yes/no answer. If a yes is
more likely, roll an extra 6 and pick the highest 6. If a no is more likely, roll an extra 6 and pick the highest 6.

1 2 3 4 5 6
Bandit Beekeeper Caravan guard Caravanner Druid Exile
Altar Aqueduct Bandit’s camp Battlefield Bonfire Bridge
A better life Acceptance Acquire item Craft item Destroy faction Destroy item
1 Abandoned Addicted Arrested Blackmailed Burgled Challenged
Charge/Strategy Escalate/Home Debate/Wealth Refuse/Bond Impress/Path Demand/Loss
“No, but” “Yes, but” “Yes” “Yes” “Yes, and” “Yes, and”
Explorer Farmer Fisherman Forager Fugitive Hedge wizard
Cairn Crossroads Crypt Dam Dungeon Farm
Enlightenment Fame Found faction Freedom Glory Impress NPC
2 Condemned Crippled Cursed Defrauded Demoted Depressed
Search/Truth Reduce/Pride Change/Quest Restore/Spirit Begin/Enemy Destroy/Religion
“No” “No, but” “Yes, but” “Yes” “Yes” “Yes, and”
Hermit Hunter Messenger Minstrel Monk Monster hunter
River ford Fortress Gallows Graveyard Hedge Hunter’s camp
Infamy Infiltrate faction Justice Kidnap NPC Lead faction Learning
3 Discredited Dismissed Disowned Exiled Famished Forgotten
Depart/Rival Endure/Problem Arrive/Power Finish/Price Defy/War Aid/Dream
“No” “No” “No, but” “Yes, but” “Yes” “Yes”
Outcast Outlander Pilgrim Poacher Raider Ranger
Inn Lumber camp Mine Monastery Monument Orchard
Locate NPC Love Mastery Power Reach location Rescue NPC
4 Framed Haunted Humiliated Impoverished Kidnapped Lost
Learn/Family Locate/Greed Secure/Rumor Acquire/Blood Reveal/Disease Attack/Land
“No” “No” “No, but” “Yes, but” “Yes” “Yes”
Sage Scavenger Scout Shepherd Seer Surveyor
Outpost Pasture Ruin Seclusion Shack Shrine
Resolve dispute Restore faction Reveal a secret Revenge Sabotage faction Serve a deity
5 Mobbed Mutilated Overworked Poisoned Pursued Rejected
Journey/Debt Follow/Vow Betray/Nature Capture/Peace Share/Hope Scheme/Trade
“No, and” “No” “No” “No, but” “Yes, but” “Yes”
Tinker Tomb Robber Trader Trapper Witch Woodcutter
Standing stone Temple Village Wall Watchtower Waystone
Serve evil Serve faction Serve ideology Serve leader Serve the needy Wealth
6 Replaced Robbed Sick Sued Suspected Transformed
Distract/Tool Support/Death Hide/Duty Take/Fear Hunt/Ally Swear/Risk
“No, and” “No, and” “No” “No” “No, but” “Yes, but”

Name Tags 1. 7.
2. 8.
3. 9.
4. 10.
5. 11.
6. 12.
Stress
1 2 3 4 5