¶ Let's get started!
Players create characters who are Undead - people who've died close to the end of the year, and inexplicably find themselves awake again in the Necropolis.
There are many differing views on the causes and nature of the Undying curse, but here are a few universal truths to keep in mind:
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Only recently (within the last six years) have rumours of the curse begun to spread.
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Guild Profane, and particularly The Aldebaran Heterodoxy, have successfully indoctrinated Carcosans to believe that sorcery of any kind is extremely dangerous and impossible to control. They've done so by reframing the history of events such as the 'Wars of Sorcery', twisting any misfortune that befalls the city as the work of an unseen cabal of sorcerers.
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The Heterodoxy's inquisition - which has strong support among large segments the populace - has publicly captured and executed a number of sorcerers. They make no distinction between victims of the Undying curse and malign sorcerers.
Of course, Undead come from all walks of life - and each character in Cursed Land may have goals and motivations beyond simply the difficult circumstance of having died (unsuccessfully!).
Navigating this next chapter of your story is going to be a challenge and a mystery - but it will also bring you and the other characters in your campaign together very quickly. You all share a vulnerable and dangerous secret, and so relying on each other is crucial to survive the coming Seasons.
After coming up with some details of your previous life, death, and detailling a backstory, you're ready to travel to Carcosa and discover the mystery of the Undying Curse!
What do I need to play?
This wiki (and any forthcoming materials) assumes you know the basics of what a tabletop role-playing game is, and the general principles of running one. Furthermore, Cursed Land uses the Fudge basic rules, with it's own twist on mechanics. The ideal number of players for Cursed Land is three to five including your Game Master. The game makes heavy use of Fudge dice, and the GM should have a few of the other polyhedral dice to hand for rolling on tables. I strongly encourage the use of scrap paper and pencils for mapmaking, taking notes, etc. If you're not using the Fari Template, you'll need a pen and a paper character sheet for each player also.
¶ Starting a Character
Every character in Cursed Land begins with:
- Aspects - these are paired together as three dyads: Goals & Hindrances, Instincts & Compulsions, and Virtues & Faults. Start with as few aspects as you wish, but at least one complete pair out of the three. Aspects have no 'cost', but work with your GM to try and establish ones that can be invoked and resolved satisfyingly in the course of play.
- Attributes - which are subjective one or two word descriptions of your character's primary physical, mental, or social aptitudes. Attributes cost points at character creation, and can be replaced during the course of a campaign, inline with character development and at no cost. Start by choosing two or three attributes of whichever type you desire.[1]
- Skills - which are specific areas of knowledge, expertise, or experience. You spend the same points on starting skills as on attributes. Skills are collected and advanced during the course of a campaign by spending Influence. Start with as many or as few skills as your GM suggests.[2]
You start with 8 points to spend when creating a character, and the cost of attributes or skills depends on the desired quality (or degree):
Great- 4 pointsVery Good- 3 pointsGood- 2 pointsFair- 1 pointMediocre- free
Leftover points can be spent on:
- An Oath (1 point) - to a High Family or Guild of Carcosa, or
- Retainers (1 point per level (out of 4)) - including animal companions.
¶ 1. Aspects
¶ Appearance
What does your character look like? Carcosa, as the former capitol of the entirety of Wyrd is the closest thing to a multicultural metropolis as exists anywhere. In Carcosa's history, the Waygates brought people from far corners of the world. The appearance and culture of your PC may reflect this; phenotypes at least as varied as the real world are a fair guide.
¶ Age
How old was your character when they met their end? Does your PC's age mean they might have some pre-established skills from years of experience and accumulated wisdom? PC age has no bearing on any functional aspect of Cursed Land, but might suggest the depth and breadth of your character's life experiences - as well as their attitudes.
¶ Background and Training
The social strata into which you are born affects everything from language comprehension to the talents you're encouraged to develop. Of course, if you're known to be Undead you should expect to have any social standing revoked. The nobleborn are disinherited and all business ventures are suspended upon dying. You can choose to remember as much or as little of your former life as you want - there are both advantages and disadvantages to having no links to the past.
Your character background can be purely subjective and be based on some aspect of your home district's lore, could involve a career, or involve intimate knowledge of a faction or district.
¶ Goals & Hindrances
Goals are ideally short-term, achievable goals the PC would like to accomplish. These are different from the tasks or objectives of the whole campaign, and each PCs goals should reflect their intimate needs and wants. In the early game, good Goals are things which help you reconnect or recover potential benefits and allies from your past.
Hindrances on the other hand are temporary or minor complications in each PC's story. Hindrances should be things that can be overcome with some focused attention and good roleplaying. Hindrances require players to be attentive and to think laterally when overcoming them.
Both goals and hindrances should be plentiful and easily instituted, but also easily resolved. They can be continuations of what your character was motivated by during life, or be spurred by the chaotic circumstances of your doom..
¶ Instincts & Compulsions
Instincts are favourable - but unconcious - behaviours a PC might have or pick up as a result of their experiences. Good instincts should give the PC an 'Aha!' moment when faced with a scene that highlights its use.
Instincts should be 'resolvable' multiple times, and replaced only when a better one presents itself, or enough character development takes place to warrant it.
Compulsions are the inverse of instincts - unconcious behaviours or prejudices, phobias, deeply ingrained attitudes and reactions as the result of weakness, trauma, or upbringing. It's not recommended that a PC have more than one at a time - they usually cause a mess when they're compelled, and can often really liven up a character's 'hard edges'. Too many compulsions shared among a party of PCs can start to derail the narrative control afforded by the players emerging goals and discoveries.
Both instincts and compulsions should be difficult to replace or fully resolve.
¶ Virtues & Faults
Virtues are redeeming features of a PC's mental outlook or character. They can be as broad or specific as feels appropriate. Virtues should also be easily compelled, and only replaced when a PC acts contrary to it.
Likewise, Faults are negative traits a PC exhibits - psychologically, physically, or in dealings with other people. Faults should be things a PC has to work hard to resolve, but when they do, the PC becomes a noticably different person.
Virtues and Faults are commonly going to be assigned by the GM, and should have strong but specific niche situations in which they can be compelled. Of all the six aspects, virtues and faults are the least problematic to have multiples of.
¶ Other Aspects
The most common aspect which doesn't fall into any of the above categories are Oaths of allegiance to Guilds, Factions, Districts, or even High Families. These can be agreed upon mutually by the campaign as a whole during a campaign, or be holdovers from a life before Undeath. Even becoming Undead and returning from the grave is not enough to fully break these important ties - they are the principal social institutions of Carcosa, after all.
PCs should be able to call upon - in a limited fashion - the resources and knowledge that would've been available to them in life. Over time, PCs may overcome Oath related Hindrances and repair these relationships, or discover unsavoury truths about them and seek recourse to break them entirely.
It's important to note that even things which might seem to negatively affect your PC in terms of story may be great opportunities to earn Influence and tell a great story.
¶ Origin and Doom
If you have an idea about the backstory for your character:
- Choose the most appropriate of the Origins or Dooms without asterisks on the table below.
- Avoid choosing an Origin and Doom from the same row.
Alternatively, leave it up to chance! There is a benefit for doing so - rolling on the Origin and Doom tables below are the only way to start the game with a sorcery (a supernormal and magical power). This is not the only route to becoming a sorcerer: all PCs have the capacity for becoming sorcerers if they seek out the secrets of wielding it. Sorcerers are thought to have been largely wiped out by the Aldebaran Heterodoxy, the latest incarnation of a culture mistrusting and fearful of sorcery.
It's of course possible to have a combination of a 'prepared' and a random Origin and Doom, and sometimes surprising and compelling backstories can be created by starting with a rough origin story for your character and then modifying it to fit the descriptive Origin and Dooms you got from rolling.
Roll 4dF for Origin and your GM will roll for Doom. Note down both results.
| Roll | Origin | Doom |
|---|---|---|
| -4 | Outcast | Anonymous |
| -3 | Fringe | Accident |
| -2 | Common | Suicide |
| -1 | Denizen | Affliction |
| 0 | Citizen | Natural |
| 1 | Infamous | Homicide |
| 2 | Independent | Mob Justice |
| 3 | Highborn | Valiant |
| 4 | Chosen* | Cleansed* |
¶ Origin
Your Origin Path represents the early part of your character's back story up to a formative event(s). Ask your GM or research the Districts or locations in Wyrd where your character is from, and think about the type of upbringing, education, or vocational training they've had. If you've been a denizen of Carcosa for some time, try as a guide to imagine your place within a growing city of the late medieval/early renaissance period.
Your character's origin might suggest Skills from a Profession, Oaths taken in service to a faction or Guild, Contacts or Retainers, or other aspect which affords you some tie back to your past.
Your GM should decide how much of a challenge it would be to regain any advantages or connections from your (now past) life. This depends wholly on the choices you made (or the random results) of your Paths, and will afford you some Complications to overcome.
When I GM, I find it helpful to also specify a 'turning point' in my characters' history. It could be a formative or traumatic event, some sort of experience or longer-term training, or even a personal revelation or discovery about themself or the world they live in. Not strictly necessary, but when creating new characters I find creating interesting motivations and aspects are sometimes helped by having this in mind.
¶ Doom
Something that all Undead share is that they died. Your GM will roll 4dF to determine the circumstances of your demise. Together, try to further expand your backstory to accomodate this. Your GM should then offer you some additional aspects, retainers, or inventory to go along with it, if your character needs more aspects.
If you aren't good at coming up with an elaborate back story, it's also possible to roll PCs completely randomly. Undying characters have gaps in their memory, and some have no recollection whatsoever of who they previously were. If you're out of ideas, roll 4dF on the Random Background Table to generate a background based on game lore. (This is the same background generator usually used for Retainers and minor NPCs).
Backstory is just the beginning: heroes who survive the daunting Session Zero adventure have taken the first steps on their path to re-immersing themselves in the intrigues and opportunities of Carcosan life. Seek treasure or knowledge, foment war or sow the seeds of a new age of peace. You can join a guild and be inducted into its mysteries, or go out and create some of your own. If your PC fell on hard times, decide if they feel it's worth it to reclaim what station they've lost. Maybe they like it better down there!
¶ 2. Attributes
Attributes fall into three categories - Physical, Mental, and Social. While you play, keep aside a die to represent the Effort pool for each attribute. You spend between one and four
Effortat a time to augment a roll, decrementing the pool in the course of a session. Effort pools are between 4 for a default orMediocreattribute to 12 for an attribute ofVery GoodorGreat. Effort pools are refilled during Short or Long Rests. Alternatively, the GM will sometimes compel a PC to spend Effort under difficult circumstances.
Very Good attributes and above have an Effort pool of 12, represented by a d12.
Good attributes have an Effort pool of 10, represented by a d10.
Fair attributes have an Effort pool of d6. Mediocre attributes have an Effort pool of d4.
- During a Short Rest, each PC rolls their Effort pool's highest die type and recovers that number of
Effortto each pool. - If a Short Rest is cut short or attempted under stressful or non-ideal circumstances, the GM can limit the amount of recovered Effort.
- Following a Long Rest, such as a good night's sleep in a safe place, attribute pools regain the full amount of the highest die of its type.
- Attribute pools and die types can be temporarily or permanently affected by Stress, Wounds, Skills, or Conditions. This is done at GM discretion, but should recover by at least one degree on the Ladder after even a Short Rest.
¶ Example Physical attributes..
Strength, Stamina, Quickness, Muscle Memory, Tumbling, Finesse, Nimble, Pain Tolerance, Wrestling, Swimming, Climbing etc.
¶ Example Mental attributes..
Concentration, Memory, Reasoning, Focus, Patience, Research, Mental Fortitude, Deduction, Pain Tolerance etc.
¶ Example Social attributes..
Persuasion, Intimidation, Altruism, Haggling, Humour, Rabblerousing, Charisma, Conviction, Anonymity etc.
¶ 3. Skills
PCs can attempt to roll practically any Skill at Poor, even with no training. Obvious exceptions would include sorceries, Lore-based skills, Knowledge skills, and skills that require specialised training from a faction, specific NPC or Guild.
Skills are described using the same Quality Ladder as many things in Cursed Land. When referring to a skill's 'quality', this is essentially a level (out of 6, since Poor skills do not require any preknowledge).
Most skills simply have a quality, decided by the GM. Every new Skill a PC learns must be supported by two skills of a lower quality.
When a Skill can be advanced, it gains an Aspect each time it advances a degree. These aspects should describe specialised use cases, 'Moves', or some other conferred benefit resulting from the skill's improved mastery.
See the Skills page for a comprehensive list of suggestions, but remember that they are only limited by your imagination; new Skills can be invented, provided the GM gives them the green light.
¶ Origin Skills
On occasion, the GM will balance out PCs or give them extra Skills, as their backstory requires. These can be normal skills, Knowledge type skills, crafting or gathering professions, etc.
¶ 'Doom Skills' - Sorceries
It's worth mentioning sorceries here, since there's a small chance you will start the game with one:
- If you rolled
+4for your Origin, and the GM rolled+4for your Doom - these are either Latent Sorceries, colloquially known as 'Curses'. - If you rolled
-4for your Origin, and the GM rolled-4for your Doom - these are Ascension Sorceries, or 'Whims'.
Sorceries function (and are advanced) much like Skills - through guided learning, practice, or by discovering relevant Lore; sorceries also have a Knowledge die associated with them which advances alongside the skill component.
¶ 4. Retainers & Contacts
Retainers are NPCs that attach themselves to adventurers for personal or professional reasons. They might be a hired mercenary guard, an infatuated local, a temporary ally or a trusted old friend.
Retainers vary wildly - from a linkboy who'll carry torches for you, groomsmen to stable and care for your mounts, scholars to research, and spies to gather information. The functions they perform will dictate their Upkeep, which is a fee paid by the employing PC once per Season.
As a general rule of thumb, GMs should aim to have no more than three or four retainers actively traveling with the party at any time. Retainers can also function as valuable local Contacts, merchants and craftsmen whos trade can be engaged outside the normal parameters of their services, 'confidential informants', etc.
Retainers are made of the same building blocks as Player Characters; the player who engaged them will direct their actions but the GM will speak and roll for them.
The GM will develop the attributes and aspects for Retainers 'behind the screen', and narrate the results of their actions as suggested by the PC who hired them.
It's important to note that Retainers have their own cares and wants, and their loyalty is something which can never be completely relied upon. If you direct a retainer to consistently do things beyond their abilities, professional ethics or morality, they will take off.
¶ Burial Hoard and Starting Equipment
Each PC will start with a different amount of starting wealth and equipment contingent on the Origins and Dooms they began the game with. The GM will roll these dice with you. One of the last steps of rounding off your PC should be incorporating these aspects into your backstory - meet the GM halfway in deciding what (and how much!) you remember about these changes of fortune, and what they mean to you in terms of goals and objectives as you begin on your journey.
If you were a mercenary when you died, you may be lucky enough to be buried with weapons or armour in ceremonial fashion. Similarly, a noble or member of a High Family is likely to wake up surrounded by some of the trappings of their opulent lifestyle. If your Doom roll was very different than your origin or not one you expected - lean into it! These situations can create really interesting story arcs for you to hit the ground running. Doom rolls also have a couple very important - and secret - effects on your character...
See the Burial Hoard page for specific instructions and how to budget your starting equipment.
¶ That's it!
Cursed Land is intended to be a flexible, old-school rpg with Fudge at its core. Once you get a hang of the word Ladder and understand how Skills and Attributes are enhanced by spending Effort, you've mastered the fundamentals for nearly every scene. If you aren't sure how to roll for something, simply describe your actions in character and the GM will rule what kind of roll it requires.
¶ GM 'Golden Rules'
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Starting Aspects, equipment, or Attributes are fair game for GM/Player negotiation and tinkering. Later on, Conditions and Wounds function in the same way - if you think your PCs Aspects, Skills, or Attributes would mitigate them, speak up!
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Good story, pathos, and suspense are always preferable. The GM also should feel free to add, modify, or remove a PC's aspects as the story dictates. Often, scene aspects or PC conditions should be kept hidden from the player - if it makes telling the story better.
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Aspects can be replaced, by GM compel or PC's invoking. All Aspects can and should be challenged and resolved whenever a story-rich opportunity presents itself. During downtime, PCs should leverage any Influence they've recently gained to resolve their own aspects - and each other's!
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Especially during the Season of Chaos - when each new campaign starts after character creation - temporary Conditions and Aspects should be given out liberally..
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Social standings should be hard to attain and easy to lose - through character advancement, Oath-based progression, and simply by the notice of locals when situations that earn Influence are acted out, Influence will definitely come. If a PC's background entails a high degree of material or social influence, turn it into an arc to be worked towards. But these moments are to be earned, not expected. Fame (or infamy) also brings its own challenges...
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Skills should become more specialised (and more effective in their applicable scenes) as they get developed. If it's a skill you've invented yourself or one that's growing organically as you unravel some lore, add a new Aspect directly to the skill each time it goes up a degree. These aspects should be specific use-cases and should be tied directly to the kinds of people who teach them, or even the scenes themselves that led to their finessing. This will set you on a path of having unique and very personal skills that you become attached to: and they'll come to define your character in a very satisfying way.
¶ Final Thoughts
With a bit of GM fenagling and a conversation, the subjective nature of character creation means characters are very open ended. I recommend that character creation be a communal activity - like a 'pre-session zero' - and the characters you make should reflect the kind of game you're hoping to play. If your group is more interested in the roleplaying and investigation potential of the game, choose great social and mental attributes and let the skills come later; if you're excited about dungeon-crawling the Catacombs, balance your physical attributes, and invest in big effort pools. What flavour of campaign you achieve will largely depend on your emerging interest and the kinds of stories you pursue. Each PCs actions and efforts will set you on a personal path; whether it begin by heeding the whispers of a cursed weapon or discovering a loose parchment inside a book. New skills are discoverable in the secret places of Carcosa, and there are many types of knowledge and technology to use as tools.
If it's your first time playing Cursed Land, it's a good idea to communicate with other players in your campaign to make sure that there's at least one PC with strong attributes of each type. ↩︎
In my house rules, I instruct PCs to begin the game with one skill at
Goodand two atFair. If a character has a backstory or attribute which suggests substantial real-world experience, I'll liberally give them another skill atGoodto reflect this. ↩︎