DEAD ARMOUR

version 0.9

TIM ZEE

A Caltrop Core Game.

DEAD ARMOUR was created using the Caltrop Core System Reference document created by
Lex Kim Bobrow (twitter: @titanomachyRPG). You can support Bobrow’s work by purchasing
games on their itch store (link: https://titanomachyRPG.itch.io).

The text of this game is offered under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence
(CC BY-SA 4.0). The full text of that licence can be found online (link:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

You are free to hack, reskin and make third party content for DEAD ARMOUR as long as you
clearly state somewhere in your game that your product is an independent creation that is not
endorsed by Tim Zee.

Rate this game at timzee.itch.io

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CONTENTS
Introduction 4

Session Zero 4
Baseline Content & Player Safety 4
World Creation 5
Character Creation 6

The Gameplay Loop 6

Downtime 6
Alert 7
Deployment 8
Operation 8
Extraction 11

Tokens 11

Gear 12

Enemies 14

Character Sheets 17

Gear Sheets 18

Position Sheet 19

Encounter Sheet 20

Map 21

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INTRODUCTION
DEAD ARMOUR is a rules-light setting agnostic game that is based on the Caltrop Core game
design engine. The game casts players as resolute defenders of a mostly ruined city. Players
work together to defeat invaders who are set on total annihilation.

The game is played over a cycle of different phases, punctuated by operations to take out
invaders in various sectors across the city. Who these invaders are is a detail that the players
are free to decide. This game is written in a way to suggest that the invaders are large and
destructive autonomous machines or war, capable of obliterating buildings in a single blast. The
game was also written with the idea that the defenders of the city are a ragtag group of
resistance fighters who are few in numbers, but have access to a supply chain of powerful
weapons and tools.

SESSION ZERO
Before you play DEAD ARMOUR you must complete Session Zero - a game session designed
to create player characters (PCs), flesh out the game-world and establish everyone’s
comfortability with the content of the game.

BASELINE CONTENT & PLAYER SAFETY

The first thing to discuss in Session Zero is the kind of content that will be featured in the game.
DEAD ARMOUR is designed around themes of warfare, death and destruction. The Narrator (a
player who fulfils the role commonly referred to as game master in many other table-top
role-playing games) and players must discuss what tone and level of detail they wish their game
to include. The Narrator and Players will use this information to best describe the action
unfolding around them without intending to make anyone feel uncomfortable.

In addition to discussing baseline content, Narrator and Players should declare if there are any
subjects or images which are off-limit. If something is designated as off-limit it must not be
discussed during the game.

In addition to establishing this baseline content, the Narrator must also inform Players that there
is a Stop, Pause, Fast-Forward and Rewind system in effect.

This means that, during gameplay, if anyone is uncomfortable with what is being described in a
game they can say “Stop”. This stops the action and it is the table’s responsibility to move on
from that content without questioning the player who called for a stop.

If a player says “Pause”, the table has a responsibility to discuss the content and decide how
they wish to proceed.

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“Fast Forward” is an announcement that a player wishes to skip past some content and move
on to something new. “Rewind” means a player wishes to go back and address something that
was previously said or amend something they said that changes the content and narrative of the
game moving forwards.

Other player safety tools can be within the TTRPG Safety Toolkit, which is available online (link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/114jRmhzBpdqkAlhmveis0nmW73qkAZCj). This toolkit
was curated by Kienna Shaw and Lauren Bryant-Monk.

WORLD CREATION
After everyone is familiar and comfortable with the tone and content of the game, the next step
is to craft the World where the game will take place.

Narrator and Players collaborate when building their World. DEAD ARMOUR is designed to take
place within the confines of a besieged and largely deserted city, which is literally crumbling due
to constant and devastating attacks. The names of Gear and Enemies in this game suggest a
setting based in the near future with technology beyond what is available today. However, by
changing the names of these items it is feasible to set your game in a multitude of different time
periods and places (both realistic and fantastical).

As a group, discuss what your city looks and feels like. Once that is done, discuss the nature of
your Enemy; what do they look like? Why are they here?

There does not need to be a lot of detail when it comes to creating this World. Much of the detail
can be created, and expanded upon, during gameplay.

The city is represented with a Hex map consisting of 19 spaces. Each space represents a
different District. The centre space is District 1 and represents the Player Characters’
Headquarters (HQ). The table is encouraged to describe what their HQ looks like. Every HQ
comes with an Armoury, which contains a un-ending supply of Gear and Ammunition.

PCs and their enemies will wrestle for control over each District in this city. The Enemy’s
presence and control over a District is rated from 0-4. 0 means that the District is held by the
PCs. 4 means it has fallen to the Enemy.

Before you begin playing, you must determine how much Enemy Control is being exerted over
each District. To determine this, the group rolls 1 four-sided die (1D4) for each District (excluding
District 1) and records the score on their map. District 1 always begins play with 0 Enemy
Control.

Once the World has been created, and the circumstances on the ground have been determined,
it’s time for the Players to make their characters.

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CHARACTER CREATION
To create a Player Character (PC) each Player must follow the following steps:

1. Choose a name, pronouns and look.

2. Record a value of 1 for each of your PC’s Statistics (GEAR, LUCK, SPEED, SURVEY).
3. Record a value of 4 for their Health.

THE CORE RULE

After the World and our Characters have been created it is time for the table to familiarise
themselves with the core rule of DEAD ARMOUR.

Whenever a Player is called upon to roll for one of their Statistics they roll a number of D4 equal
to the score in the relevant stat and their highest roll counts as the result of their roll.

THE GAMEPLAY LOOP

DEAD ARMOUR separates gameplay into different phases. The regular sequence of these
phases is referred to as the gameplay loop. Each phase asks the Players to do different things
and interact with a different set of rules.

DEAD ARMOUR’s gameplay loop is as follows:

DOWNTIME → ALERT→ DEPLOYMENT→ OPERATION → EXTRACTION

DEAD ARMOUR's gameplay loop continues until either the Victory Condition or Defeat
Condition has been met. The Victory Condition is met when there is no Enemy Control left on
the Map. The Defeat Condition is met when the PCs’ HQ has 4 points of Enemy Control.

DOWNTIME
During Downtime PCs have an opportunity to prepare for dangerous situations (and heal from
previous ones). Downtime can also be spent earning Tokens (powerful chips that can be played
later to aid PCs and avert catastrophe).

Every time a Downtime phase begins each Player chooses two Downtime Actions. They may
select the same action more than once. The available actions include:

1. Feel: Share how their PC feels or ask another PC how they feel to earn one Token.
2. Heal: Restore 1 Health on any PC (no PC can have more than 4 Health).
3. Mod: Make a Mod for one piece of Gear to earn one Token.

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Mods improve the Gear PCs use to attack their enemies. When a player chooses to make a
Mod during downtime, they can edit one piece of Gear in their Armoury in one of the following
ways:

- Reduce BULK by 1 (no Gear can have less than 1 BULK).

- Reduce AMMO by 1 (no Gear can have less than 1 AMMO).
- Increase DMG and CRITICAL DMG by 1.
- Increase or Decrease OPERATORS by 1 (no Gear can have an OPERATORS score
less than 1 or more than 4).
- Increase the chance of immobilising an Enemy on a Critical Hit to 50%.
- Improve optics and/or guidance system for a +1 bonus on associated GEAR Rolls.
- Add silencing and/or jamming technology for a 25% chance Enemy does not Identify a
Position on a Critical Miss.
- Add advanced silencing and/or jamming technology to increase the chance an Enemy
does not Identify a Position on a Critical Miss from 25% to 50%.

Once each player has completed their actions the Downtime Phase is over and the Alert Phase
begins.

Whenever play progresses from the Extraction Phase to the Downtime Phase, all PCs who
have returned to HQ get an Advancement. An Advancement allows a Player to increase any of
their PC’s statistics by 1.

ALERT
During the Alert phase PCs learn of an incursion somewhere in the city and then choose
whether to intercede or remain in place.

The first thing that happens during the Alert Phase is that the Narrator rolls to determine where
in the city the incursion is taking place. To determine this the Narrator rolls 1D4. If the narrator
rolls a 1 the incursion is happening in a Sector that has an Enemy Control score of 1. If the roll
is a 2 it is happening in a Sector with an Enemy Control score of 2. If the roll is a 3, it is
happening in a Sector with an Enemy Control score of 3. If the roll is a 4, it is happening in a
Sector with an Enemy Control score of 0.

If the roll produces no possible options for Sectors, the Narrator re-rolls until this is not the case.

After this has been determined, the Narrator chooses one of the Sectors furthest away from the
HQ as the sector where the incursion is taking place. The Enemy’s ultimate goal is always to
encircle, and then ultimately attack, the HQ.

Once the Sector has been selected the Narrator rolls on the Enemy Encounter Table (Page 14)
to determine what Enemies are in the Sector. The Narrator tells the players what enemies have

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been generated in this way. Players are permitted to view as much of an Enemy’s listing in the
Enemy chapter of this book as they wish.

Once this information has been relayed, the Players must decide if they wish to engage the
Enemy (and thus move to the Deployment phase) or not. If they decide not to Engage, the
Sector’s Enemy Control Score increases by 1 and the game progresses to the Downtime
Phase.

If the players choose to Engage, then play progresses to the Deployment phase.

DEPLOYMENT
The first thing Players do during the Deployment Phase is declare what Gear, and how much
Ammunition, their PCs will take with them to engage the Enemy. The PC’s HQ has an unlimited
supply of both Ammunition and Gear (all of which has base statistics unless it has been
modified by the PCs during Downtime). The Armoury also includes any Gear that has been
modified by the PCs. Players are responsible for keeping track of what modified Gear they have
available to them.

Each PC has a 10 slot inventory for Gear and Ammunition. 1 unit of Ammunition (AMMO) takes
up one slot. 1 BULK of Gear takes up 1 slot. BULK for Gear can be spread across multiple PCs’
inventories..

After the PCs are equipped they must then make it to the Sector that is under threat and set-up
in the Positions they will use to attack the Enemy. How secure these positions are is determined
by a Group SURVEY Roll.

Before attempting the Group SURVEY Roll, Players must plot out the route their PCs take to the
sector that is under threat. For each Sector they move through that has 4 points of Enemy
Control they will receive a -1 modifier on the Group Survey Roll.

For the Group Survey Roll all players roll D4 equal to their PCs’ Survey Stat. The highest roll
among all players is then subjected to whatever modifiers are in place. That final score is to be
the Safety Score for all of the PCs initial position in the Operation Phase.

The Players then decide how many Positions they wish to establish during the Operation Phase
and which PCs will begin the Operation in which Positions. If players are planning on PCs using
Gear together, those PCs must be in the same Position.

For ease, Positions should be given different names, such as Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, etc.
PCs must also declare which Gear is being used in their Position. When this is announced, the
Gear is removed from the PCs' inventories. AMMO remains in PCs' inventories.

Once all PCs are in Position, the Operation Phase can begin.

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OPERATION
The Operation Phase is where PCs fight the Enemy. The Operation Phase ends if one of the
following conditions are met:

1. All Enemies are destroyed. Play then progresses to the Extraction Phase. The Sector
removes 1 point of Enemy Control.
2. Players Retreat. Play then progresses to the Extraction Phase. The Sector gains 1 point
of Enemy Control.
3. All PCs are killed. Play progresses to the Downtime Phase and Players make new PCs.

During the Operation Phase the Players take turns performing actions and using their stats to
try and destroy the Enemy.

Both PCs and Enemies have Health. When a PC’s Health is reduced to 0 they are Dead. When
an Enemy’s Health is reduced to 0 it is Destroyed..

During a turn Players can take one of the following actions:

● Move: The PC moves from one Position to another.

● Survey: The PC establishes a new Position. A SURVEY roll determines that Position’s
Safety Score.
● Use Gear: The PC uses their Gear, either alone or with their teammates, to attack a
single Enemy. Roll GEAR and consult the Use Gear table.

In addition to these actions, Players may give, take or trade items between their Inventories at
will–so long as they are in the same Position. Players may also remove as many items as they
wish from their Inventories. Those items are considered to be in their Position and can be
retrieved and placed back in their inventory at will.

A note on range: DEAD ARMOUR does not track range and distance. A PC can use their Gear
to target any Enemy involved in an Operation.

USE GEAR TABLE

Result Outcome

1 Critical Miss: Enemy takes no damage and

then Identifies your Position. It fires on the
position during the next Narrator turn.

2 Miss: Enemy takes no damage.

3 Hit: Enemy takes damage (determined by the

Gear that is being used).

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 4 Critical Hit: Enemy takes critical damage
(determined by the Gear that is being used).
There is a 25% chance the Enemy is
immobilised*.

*When a Player takes the Use Gear action against an immobilised Enemy they get a +1 bonus
to their Gear stat.
Players can take their turns in any order they wish. If Players have their PCs collaborate to Use
Gear (like when a piece of Gear requires more than one Operator), all Players using the Gear
roll GEAR and the single highest roll is taken as the result.

When all Players have taken an action, it is then the Narrator’s turn. During their turn the
Narrator has the Enemy attack any Positions that were the site of a Critical Miss. Any PCs who
are still in that Position must roll SPEED to determine if they can escape before taking damage.
Before rolling SPEED, Players must consult their PCs inventory and declare what Gear and
Ammunition they are taking with them. If a PC’s inventory is full they have a -1 modifier on their
SPEED roll. After they roll SPEED they consult the following Flee Position Table.

FLEE POSITION TABLE

Result Outcome

1 Critical Fail: PC remains in current Position.

2 Fail: PC

3 Success: PC moves to any other Position.

4 Critical Success: PC moves to any other

Position.Player may instead roll Survey and
create a new Position. If they choose to do
this they must move their PC to this new
Position.

If a PC remains in a Position that is being attacked they must then roll LUCK and consult the
Escape Harm Table. When attempting this role a Player adds the Position’s Safety Score to their
LUCK stat.

ESCAPE HARM TABLE

Result Outcome

1 Critical Fail: They take Critical Damage from

Enemy and are Out of Position*.

2 Fail: They take Damage from Enemy and are

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 Out of Position.

3 Success: They take no Damage and are Out

of Position.

4 Critical Success: They take no Damage and

can move to a different Position.

*If a PC is out of position they can only take the MOVE or SURVEY action on their next turn.

Whenever a PC is to take damage, they first roll LUCK and add their Position’s Safety Score.
They then subtract this amount from the damage being dealt. The remaining damage is
subtracted from their Health.

Whenever a Position is attacked by the Enemy it is Demolished and is no longer available for
use. Any Gear or Ammunition that was left in that Position is lost forever.

EXTRACTION
If the PCs destroyed all their Enemies during the Operation Phase they return to their HQ
without issue and play progresses to the Downtime Phase.

If PCs have retreated from the Operation Phase, they remain in danger while trying to reach
their HQ. Every time the PCs cross a hex which has an Enemy Control score of 1 or more, each
Player must roll either SPEED or LUCK. If their total does not match or exceed the Enemy
Control in an area they lose 1 Health. Once all surviving PCs reach HQ, play progresses to the
Downtime Phase.

TOKENS
At any time during play a Player may spend a Token to activate various advantages. Any
amount of available tokens can be spent at the same time. A Player can only play a token for
themselves or any other Player.

After announcing they wish spend a Token, a Player instantly receives any of these advantages:

● Find a cache of 10 AMMO or one base item of Gear.

● A Player’s Health is reduced to 1 instead of 0 or lower.

● An Enemy is immobilised after a successful Critical Hit.

● An Enemy fails to Identify a Position.

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GEAR
The following Gear are base models that are available, in never-ending supply, at the PCs HQ.

Gear has a number of stats that outline how it can be used during the Operation Phase.

Those stats include:

OPERATORS (OP): The number of Operators listed on a piece of Gear determines how many
PCs are needed to use this Gear.

AMMUNITION (AMMO): The number here refers to the amount of AMMO that must be spent
from the PCs’ inventories in order to use the Gear. When a piece of Gear is being used, the
AMMO spent must come from one PC who is Operating the Gear.

BULK (BLK): This refers to how much space the Gear takes up in a PC’s inventory. Gear is
considered to be equipment that can be broken down into different parts, so a Gear’s BULK can
be spread across different PC’s inventories.

DAMAGE (DMG): This number reflects how much damage the gear deals to an Enemy.

CRITICAL DAMAGE (CRIT DMG): This number reflects how much critical damage is done to
an Enemy.

WEAPON LIST:

FIRE CANNON

OP: 2 DMG: 2

AMMO: 1 CRIT DMG: 4

BLK: 5

PULSE RIFLE

OP: 1 DMG: 2

AMMO: 1 CRIT DMG: 3

BLK: 1

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SIDEWINDER DRONE

OP: 1 DMG: 1

AMMO: 2 CRIT DMG: 4

BLK: 1

SKYFALL MORTAR

OP: 3 DMG: 3

AMMO: 1 CRIT DMG: 5

BLK: 3

STRYKER MISSILE LAUNCHER

OP: 2 DMG: 4

AMMO: 2 CRIT DMG: 6

BLK: 2

TRIDENT ARTILLERY GUN

OP: 3 DMG: 4

AMMO: 3 CRIT DMG: 6

BLK: 5

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ENEMIES
After a Sector has been chosen for an Operation, the Narrator rolls on the Encounter Table an
amount of times equal to Enemy Control in the Sector + 1. The Enemies generated in this way
are then present in the Sector during the Operation Phase.

ENEMY ENCOUNTER TABLE (D8)

Result Enemy

2 Hulk

3 Stalker

4 Hound

5 Screecher

6 Slingblade

7 Crawler

8 Annihilator

Each Enemy has a different set of stats. Those stats include:

Health: When this number reaches zero the Enemy is Destroyed.

Armour: The value for armour is subtracted from any damage dealt to an Enemy before that
amount is subtracted from Health.

Damage (DMG): This is the amount of damage an Enemy does to PCs when it fires upon their
position.

Critical Damage (CRIT DMG): This is the amount of critical damage an Enemy does to PCs
when it fires upon their position.

Hulk

Health: 5 DMG: 2

Armour: 4 CRIT DMG: 4

Special: There is a 50% chance that Crit DMG against the Crusher is reduced to regular
DMG.

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Stalker

Health: 4 DMG: 3

Armour: 2 CRIT DMG: 5

Special: On turns immediately after a PC has changed position, Stalker identifies the position
on both misses and critical misses.

Hound

Health: 3 DMG: 2

Armour: 1 CRIT DMG: 3

Special: If there is more than one Hound in the operation, and neither is destroyed, the Hound
does +1 DMG and +2 Crit DMG.

Screecher

Health: 2 DMG: 1

Armour: 1 CRIT DMG: 2

Special: When a Screacher fires on a position, another random enemy also fires on the
position and adds their regular DMG to whatever the Screacher inflicts.

Slingblade

Health: 3 DMG: 1

Armour: 1 CRIT DMG: 4

Special: Whenever a Slingblade does DMG there is a 25% chance the damage is upgraded to
CRIT DMG..

Crawler

Health: 4 DMG: 3

Armour: 2 CRIT DMG: 5

Special: The Crawler can not be immobilised.

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Annihilator

Health: 6 DMG: 5

Armour: 4 CRIT DMG: 8

Special: Anytime an Annihilator does DMG there is a 50% chance the DMG is doubled.
Anytime the Annihilator does Crit DMG there is a 25% chance the Crit DMG is doubled.

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CHARACTER SHEETS

Name: Look:

Pronouns: INVENTORY

Health: STATISTICS 1. 6.

Current Position: Gear 2. 7.

Luck 3. 8.

Current Gear: Speed 4. 9.

Survey 5. 10.

Name: Look:

Pronouns: INVENTORY

Health: STATISTICS 1. 6.

Current Position: Gear 2. 7.

Luck 3. 8.

Current Gear: Speed 4. 9.

Survey 5. 10.

Name: Look:

Pronouns: INVENTORY

Health: STATISTICS 1. 6.

Current Position: Gear 2. 7.

Luck 3. 8.

Current Gear: Speed 4. 9.

Survey 5. 10.

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GEAR SHEETS

TYPE: REF #

OP: BLK: AMMO: DMG: CRIT DMG:

Operated by:

Current Position:

Mods:

TYPE: REF #

OP: BLK: AMMO: DMG: CRIT DMG:

Operated by:

Current Position:

Mods:

TYPE: REF #

OP: BLK: AMMO: DMG: CRIT DMG:

Operated by:

Current Position:

Mods:

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POSITION SHEET

POSITION NAME PLAYERS IN GEAR IN POSITION SAFETY SCORE

POSITION

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ENCOUNTER SHEET

PCs Health Current Position

Enemies Health

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MAP

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