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srd
A Systems Reference Document for Hacks of & Supplements for
the Map-Labeling RPG Beak, Feather, & Bone
By Tyler Crumrine
what is this?
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This document is aimed at artists, designers, writers,
and publishers who’d like to build on and/or adapt the
rules and ideas found in Beak, Feather, & Bone, a tabletop
roleplaying game by Tyler Crumrine.

The BFB SRD includes the core mechanics for playing a

game of Beak, Feather, & Bone, which are available for use
under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY)
License. What it doesn’t include are any of the specific
play examples, worldbuilding, or artwork from the full
Beak, Feather, & Bone publication. You must create your
own original material when using the Beak, Feather, &
Bone system as a base.

Once you’ve created your own game, supplement, sub-

system, or minigame based on the material within the
BFB SRD, though, you are free to create, distribute, and
sell that derivative work to your heart’s content.

SO YOU COULD MAKE

• a genre re-skin of Beak, Feather, & Bone

• additional communities for use in BFB games
• map-packs intended for use with BFB
• additional rules to expand on existing BFB play
• a session zero minigame in your own RPG
• and much more!

All that we require is that you make the following clear

statement that your game is based on BFB’s material.
how to credit
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It’s easy! Wherever you put your own copyright, add
the following text in the same font size:

This work is based on Beak, Feather, & Bone (found at

www.possibleworldsgames.com) by Tyler Crumrine
and licensed for our use under the Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY) License (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

That’s it! You just can’t imply or state that Possible

Worlds Games or I are sponsoring or endorsing you
without a separate, explicit arrangement being made.

non-US works
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The Creative Commons Attribution Unported license
was written international work in mind, so you shouldn’t
run into any problems if you’re publishing somewhere
other than the United States.

If you are interested in translating Beak, Feather, &

Bone for publication, that’s a different matter. Contact
Possible Worlds Games to work out the details and a
licensing contract in that case. The SRD material does
not cover translations of the core game.
the system
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A standard game of Beak, Feather, & Bone requires the
following materials to play:

• a stack of note cards

• writing utensils
• coloring utensils
• an unlabeled map
• a standard, 52-card deck of playing cards

Of course, approximations of any of these will suffice.

“Note cards” can be online text fields, “coloring utensils”
can be annotation tools, and “decks” can be digital. Use
whatever vocabulary you’d like to create a clear picture
of play.

Once materials are gathered, play in Beak, Feather, & Bone

can be broken down into four different phases:

• Drafting
• Dealing
• Detailing
• Determining

The game starts with Drafting, is followed by repeated,

alternating Dealing and Detailing phases, and ends
with the Determining phase.

I’ll talk through each phase, but the vocabulary used

here is for YOUR benefit. Don’t feel obligated to call out
“phases” in your own work unless you find it useful.
drafting
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The first thing that’s “drafted” in a game of BFB is the
aforementioned unlabeled map. Whether provided in
the gamebook, drawn by someone, or found elsewhere,
this unlabeled map will serve as the foundation of play.

The second thing drafted is a session’s Seat of Power—

the center-most and/or most eye-catching structure on
the map. Players select their Seat of Power together
and draw a box around it. This location won’t be labeled
until the Determining phase at the end of the game.

The third thing that’s drafted are Community Roles.

In Beak, Feather, & Bone, Community Roles are factions
such as The Miners, The Soldiers, and The Wizards.
Illustrations of community members are provided in
the original BFB publication for inspiration, but aren’t
used in play—a BFB hack or supplement could operate
without any illustrations what-so-ever. Each player
selects a community to represent at the start of the game,
but doesn’t portray an individual character during the
game. Instead, they act in their community’s interests
throughout the Dealing and Detailing phases.

Lastly, players draft Colors. Each player will need to use

a different coloring tool (or digital equivalent) during
the game. This is to distinguish their map-labeling from
other players’ during the Detailing phase.

Drafting can easily be randomized as well. For example,

selecting one of ten options by rolling a ten-side die.
dealing
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In Beak, Feather, & Bone, play starts with “the person
who most recently used a physical map to navigate
somewhere” and proceeds clockwise after. This design
choice was made purely in the interest of flavor, so feel
free to tweak who goes first however you’d like. I do
think ice-breaker-style prompts are a fun way to start
any game, though!

Once the order of play is determined, the first player is

Dealt (or draws) a card from the deck. This card is placed
face-up in front of them for all to see.

The Card’s Suit determines what role the structure

you’ll Detail plays (or played) in your community:

♥ = A social purpose
♦ = A financial purpose
♣ = A future purpose
♠ = A past purpose

Card Values determine how much influence your

faction has in the community, and will determine who
controls the Seat of Power at the end of the game.
Aces = 1 and Face Cards = 0. Face cards also require the
creation of a rival NPC, hence the zero (their opposition
negates any influence the structure may have). Be sure
to record a running tally of all players’ totals.

There is no official rule for Jokers, making them a prime

target for hacking. Otherwise, pull them from the deck.
detailing
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With their Community Role, Suit, and Influence
Value in mind, the player just Dealt to (we’re still on the
first turn) selects a structure on the map and claims it by
coloring it in (or otherwise marking it in their Color).
They should also write their turn number next to it on
the map for organizational purposes.

Next, at the top of a note card, they write the Color and
Turn Number of the structure—for example, Green 3.
Again, this is for organizational purposes.

On the rest of the note card they’ll write three sentences

Detailing the structure and/or its purpose, titling those
sentences Beak, Feather, & Bone respectively.

• BEAK: What do people say about this place?

How would a non-player character describe it?
• FEATHER: Describe the structure’s appearance.
What does it look like on the outside?
• BONE: Regardless of appearance or reputation,
what is the structure like on the inside? This
could be a physical description of the interior or
an insight into the structure’s purpose.

Keep descriptions brief and don’t feel obligated to define

every detail of a location. Players should build off of
each other’s choices, not contradict them. Instead, lean
into the community dynamics that will emerge through
play.
As mentioned before, if the card Dealt is a Face Card (a
Jack, Queen, or King), they’ll also have to create a Rival
on that same turn. Recorded on the back of the note
card used, this Rival must be from another player’s
community and must oppose the detailed building’s
purpose. The Rival is similarly Detailed in three
sentences labeled Beak, Feather, & Bone.

• BEAK: What is your rival’s reputation?

• FEATHER: What is your rival’s appearance?
• BONE: What is your rival’s true motivation?

After describing the turn’s structure and/or rival, move

to the next player and start a new Dealing phase.
Repeat this cycle of Dealing & Detailing for a set
number of turns (5 per player, for example) or until you
run out of a) playing cards or b) unlabeled structures.

determining
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After the final Detailing phase, each player adds up
the values of the cards they’ve drawn over the course
of the game to Determine who is in control. The player
faction with the highest total has the most sway in
the mapped area and is given ownership of the Seat
of Power. They get to Detail the Seat of Power with
their faction in mind using the Beak, Feather, & Bone
descriptors but without drawing a card. The Seat of
Power can serve whatever function they’d like, and is
assumed to have the highest Influence Value possible.

With the conclusion of this phase, the game ends.

on naming
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The easiest way to differentiate your game from BFB is
to change the eponymous Beak, Feather, &/or Bone to
something more in line with your genre or content. Our
merfolk supplement, for example, uses Tail, Scale, &
Bone for both its title and its gameplay instructions.

The first word in the title also serves as the game’s

“rumors” detail label. In BFB, I chose Beak because it
represents communication among ravenfolk. In TSB, I
chose Tail because it’s similarly a body part, but, more
importantly, is a homophone for “tale.”

The second word in the title is the game’s “appearance”

detail label. In BFB, I chose Feather because feathers
are a key part of a ravenfolk’s appearance. In TSB, I
chose Scale for the same reason, albeit in reference to
merfolks’ fins. Also, Scale just rhymes nicely with Tail!

The last word in the title is the “interior” detail label. In

BFB, I chose Bone because ravenfolk are chock-full of
bones. In TSB, I did the same! Merfolk are equally bone-
full, and I liked the third word in the trio explicitly
linking the supplement to the original game.

You’re under no obligation to use similar conventions

in naming your game or supplement, but you’re more
than welcome to! Alluding to another work’s title is
a great way to communicate to readers that there’s a
connection between the two. A perfect example of this
is the number of Powered by the Apocalypse games that
use the word “World” in their titles.
on style
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Beak, Feather, & Bone’s headers are set in Pirata One (62pt.)
by Rodrigo Fuenzalida & Nicolas Massi. It is available
through Google Fonts under the Open Font License.

The body’s text is set Vollkorn (12pt.) by Friedrich

Althausen and is implemented in various (bold)
weights (black). It is similarly available through Google
Fonts under the Open Font License.

The underlines throughout the text were made using

the glyph font “thunder” by Ramandhani Nugraha.
It’s packaged alongside the free Againts font available
on Pixelbuddha and is licensed for royalty free use in
both personal and commercial projects. The “B” glyph
is mapped to thunder’s capital B and is seen here set at
65pt. and stretched horizontally 500%.

The card symbols ♥, ♦, ♣, and ♠ are glyphs found

in the Meiryo font by Eiichi Kōno & Matthew Carter
packaged with Microsoft Office for Mac. Unless you
are using an application that is specifically licensed for
home, student, or non-commercial use, Microsoft does
not restrict selling or distributing the things you print
using their supplied fonts. That said, most standard
fonts also include glyphs for playing card symbols—
Meiryo’s are just the size and shape I liked best.

I include all this not to insist on any kind of style guide

across BFB-inspired products, but to remind you of the
various resources available to you and to let you build
off of my design if it’s at all helpful!
on art
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Like I said before, a game that uses Beak, Feather, &
Bone’s mechanics doesn’t NEED illustrated Community
Roles to function. An unlabeled map is the only visual
element required to play the game, and those can either
be modestly drawn or found online.

BUT! Jonathan Yee’s beautiful cartography and Austin

Breed’s fantastic ravenfolk illustrations are a huge part
of why folks notice BFB and fall in love with the game.
If you’re in a position to collaborate with illustrators, I’d
strongly encourage you to! Not only will your product
benefit, but working closely with fellow artists will help
hone your own artistic development as well.

If you do include art in your game or supplement, let

me recommend using black & white line art for two
reasons: 1) it’s easier to print and 2) it’s easier to fill in
with your faction’s colors (both map & characters).

on safety
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Lastly, even when map-labeling, consider the worlds
your players will be encouraged to create using your
game or supplement and keep safety tools in mind. A
TTRPG Safety Toolkit curated by Lauren Bryant-Monk
& Kienna Shaw can be found at bit.ly/ttrpgsafetytoolkit.