100 Blessings v.0.3 Alpha

Join a band of quasi-mystical dwarven techno-priests riding out a slow and uncanny apocalypse on their shared mission to save the world!

Features

• Innovative, collaborative map- and world-building.
• Urgent campaign clock mechanics that drive PCs' decision-making.
• Novel magic system blending faith and technology.
• Unique character creation options.
• Hope-punk storytelling set against the pre-apocalypse.

From the introduction...

I am Madrik, last to sleep and first to wake. It was left to me to tell you of the world we left behind. Hark now and heed me hence: you are the inheritors of heroes, the children of gods, and the last dwarves left alive in these ruins of Cineris. We saved the world. Now it is yours to rebuild or ruin again....

100 Blessings is a sci-fi fantasy table-top role-playing game (ttrpg) set during the end of a world ruined by greed. 

Cineris is the dwarven homeland. It’s the last living continent on the planet, but it can’t keep the dwarves alive for long. The weaponized ferrophage blight that swallowed the rest of the planet has finally made it to Cineris’s shores. Time is running out, and the dwarves must save the world or at least some part of themselves. 

Each player portrays a dwarven priest dedicated to one of the 10 courts of Cineris. Each court is ruled by a titanic, machine learning macrobot god given a single data set to save the world. For example, Agrum is obsessed with building an underground city capable of sustaining a small dwarven population after the surface world dies; Terimok wants to ease the dwarves into extinction instead. 

Each priest, or player character (PC), travels the world in search of the artifacts, philosophies, and technologies their court needs to achieve its goals. Campaigns, adventures, and sessions focus on these quests, the dwarves’ relationships with each other, and their relationships with the planet and their gods. Mechanically, PCs are trying to achieve the 5 goals that will complete their mission in service to their court.

PCs follow the Dwarven Code and determine the outcomes of their actions according to their skills, gear, and relationship with despair. They can also use a form of magic called “blessings” to influence the outcome of a particular action or scene.

Priests use a form of nanite-fueled magic that depends on the consumable “100 blessings” awarded to each of them by their god when they are elevated to the priesthood and begin their pilgrimage. The nanite swarm that blankets Cineris connects their dwarves with their gods. This swarm interprets their intent and then “eats” the offered blessings, converting their matter and energy into effects and objects that help the dwarves. Priests can also offer up several blessings at once to work “miracles” that change the world around them. 

Once a priest uses up all of their blessings, their connection to their god is severed - their god’s attention and gifts are shared with a newly elevated priest instead. At that point, each priest must decide what to do next: they can keep adventuring as a pilgrim of their god; they can go into exile and let go of their worries; or they can return home and resume their old profession in service to their court. By the time a priest uses their last blessing, they are generally experienced enough to survive many more adventures, though some give up their struggles.

No god renews a priest’s tenure; no god or court accepts a priest who has served another god before. 

100 Blessings is Rooted in Trophy (https://trophyrpg.com/system/) and draws on the background and relationship rules from Chad Walker’s Roll5 system which is featured in games like Cryptomancer, Sigmata: This Signal Kills Fascists, and Airlock/Voidnaut (https://land-of-nop.itch.io/).

License

100 Blessings is © Chad Sansing 2019-2023.

This alpha version of 100 Blessings, which is v.0.3, is licensed CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 for feedback, playtesting, and review. Visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/ for an explanation of the license. 

Placeholder cover and interior art made with DALL-E 2.