In March, I ran a brief Player vs Player play-by-post game on Discord based on Fate and inspired my Patrick’s play by mail game (I’m Ysbryda Holyworm and didn’t actually do very much). It’s not a bad socially distant way to have low-impact but steady social interaction.

Aside – Fate is a part of a sprawling intellectual property that includes visual novels, several anime series, multiple video games, a small empire of backstory wikis, and more fan fiction any single mind can comprehend. Fate itself is about people teaming up with the ghosts of historical figures in an extremely dangerous competition to win a powerful and morally ambiguous MacGuffin. Think Pokemon by way of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen played out in White Wolf Mage: the Ascension with high budget animation and Alexander the Great is trying to cut Gilles de Rais in half and everyone has soap opera tangled backstories and some guy got his hands on the Platonic Ideal of Swords and half the cast is trying to punch a hole through reality to talk to and/or replace God.

Anyway, it was a PbP PvP battle royale where everyone was a Level 0 B/X character with a medium-loyalty level 10 retainer and they got dropped into a big city with a general idea of what they needed to do. It went well! There were murder attempts, hypnotized detectives, faked deaths, and tenuous alliances. It fell apart because out out-of-game stuff, but I found myself wanting to revisit the concept.

The main issue is that B/X has a lot of dungeon crawling cruft. I only picked it because I was lazy and thought it would be funny. This is a vastly simplified set of rules designed to cut down on the sort of back-and-forth that’s onerous in a PbP game and elevate the Rube Goldberg hijinks.

• There are plenty of rough edges, but I want to get things going and fix things as we go.
• It is affectedly unbalanced–a common theme in the source material and also sets up players for clever play and surprising reversals.
• A lot of abilities are basically nascent doomsday scenarios, which is also common in Fate and also allows for interesting all-or-nothing plays
• It’s pretty open to interpretation. There’s too much stuff going on to make a system to adjudicate the way everything is going to interact, so I tried to write enough to communicate the players the kinds of things they can do and then trust myself and them to figure out what happens when things get weird.
• I tried to pick a lot of medium-obscurity figures from history and mythology and solicited my players for ones they really wanted to see. I have a to-add list including Lu Bu, Marco Polo, Semiramis, Olympe de Gouges, Simon de Bolivar, Bendigeidfran, Branwen, Leda, Daedalus, Atalanta, Orlando (as in Woolf), Orlando (as in Furioso), Arianrhod, Prosperina, Ptolemy, Hypatia, Atlantes, Melisse, Oberon, Titania, Tam Lin
• Written with the help of Alex of To Distant Lands

Rules

Book-keeping and Admin

There’s a central Discord channel where I let everyone know when the next round is happening and provide in-setting news reports about what’s going on that is publicly known. All of the players have a channel that’s just them and me where we adjudicate their turns. If they come into conflict or communicate with another player, we adjudicate it through group DMs. (Communication between players isn’t as important but it’s useful for me to be able to see or look up what’s happening across the board).

Everyone has 1 turn per 24 hour period, and I resolve all turns by 9 pm.

Resolution

When a PC or a spirit attempts something difficult or high stakes, the Referee tells them how many d6s to roll based on the difficulty. If they are opposed by another player, they succeed if they get higher than their opponent’s roll. If they are opposed by the environment or an NPC, they succeed if they get 6 or higher.

The number of d6s depends on how well-suited they are for the task, factoring in their talents, traits, the situation, and the effectiveness of their tactics.

• Excellent: 3d6
• Risky: 2d6
• Poor: 1d6

Combat

In combat, characters deal damage equal to their ATK and reduce all incoming damage by their DEF. To determine turn order, make a check to see which side goes first. PCs and spirits on a side can go in any order, but a spirit attacking an enemy PC is always reported to the other side and pushes you to the end of initiative. When you attack someone, you each roll, and whoever loses takes damage according to their attributes.

All PCs and Spirits have a pool of Stamina and a pool of Health. Stamina represents dodging, reducing direct blows to glancing ones, blocking attacks. Health represents suffering direct blows, wounds, etc. When a character suffers Harm, they reduce their Stamina by an equal amount; if they don’t have any Stamina left, they begin deducting from their Health. Stamina is much easier to recover than Health.

Turns / Rounds / Doing Stuff

You can make 1 action per day. An action might be:

• Investigating or tracking the competition (You can always ask: Was a competitor active in a [named district] within the last turn?
• Buying or stealing something useful
• Resting, which restores all powers and spells, as well as 1 Health OR all Stamina. You can’t recover Stamina unless you are at full Health.
• Anything else that is generally time-consuming and advantageous

Asking for clarifications about what your PC knows, sending communications to other PCs, and talking to your hero does not take a turn.

Actions count as resolved simultaneously. If you come into conflict with another player’s team, the conflict will be resolved after all other players have gone that round.

Things to Remember

This game is way more fun when you are bold, ambitious, decisive, and make decisions based on role-playing as much as strategy. If you’re timid or slow, you will probably lose and may end up bored. If you don’t feel like your team is suited for combat, try surveillance, sabotage, bribing local authorities, making alliances with other players–stir the pot. Running away and regrouping is usually an option.

You are in a city full of dangerous and eccentric people trying to kill you. Many spirits have the ability to restrain, grievously injure, or even kill unprepared enemies. Doing things that draw public attention, such as law enforcement or news broadcasts, could very well get you killed if you don’t do it thoughtfully. Every conflict could lead to you dying.

Your spirit is not necessarily loyal to you, and may find ways to sideline you without killing you and banishing themselves.

The Setting

Modern setting. Sator is an island nation. Its capital, New Madruga, is big enough to have at least one of everything and almost certainly more. It’s threaded through with canals and bridges, famous for its jacaranda trees and beaches, has a significant amount of organized crime

• Quatresain Cathedral, an ancient hilltop cathedral where the Philosopher’s Stone allegedly appeared 1000 years ago.
• Gran Burguesa, best burger joint in town
• Plaza del Mar, lined with restaurants and cafes, the Times Square of Sator City
• City Hall
• Byzantium Hospital
• The Royal Palace
• The King’s Park, a huge wooded, walled park, that winds through the city.
• The Business District

Character Creation

Player Characters

PCs are regular people drawn into the Grand Alkahest Royale by cosmic whim and the dictates of fate. They are the only characters players have direct control over–they work closely with PC’s spirits, but they don’t have complete say over what they do. To generate your PC

• Give your PC one trait: strong, tough, quick, clever, perceptive, rich, or charismatic
• Give your PC a career, like cashier or office worker or security guard
• Write down that they have 4 Stamina and 4 Health

Also, answer these leading questions for your character

• What will you wish for if you win?
• What’s one thing you admire and one thing you resent about your spirit?
• What do you stand to lose in this contest other than your life?

Spirits

Spirits are figures drawn from myth and legend by the rules of the Grand Alkahest Royale. Participants never choose the spirit they fight with–it’s always random. To generate your PC

• Write down that they have 8 Stamina and 6 Health
• Roll randomly on the table of spirits below
• Record their attributes, talents, abilities, and weaknesses

Spirits come in one of four classes: Banner, Crown, Mantle, and Scepter, each of which have different advantages and disadvantages. Remember to capitalize them when you formulate your plan.

Spirit List 

1. Bonnie and Clyde
2. Ching Shih
3. Don Quixote
4. Echo
5. El Cid
6. Ferdiad
7. Hammurabi
8. Ishtar
9. Joshua
10. Judah Macabee
11. King Midas
12. Kublai Khan
13. La Voisin
14. Lilith
15. Lord Ruthven
16. Lucifer
17. Morgan le Fay
18. Napoleon
19. Paracelsus
20. Queen Medb

Spirit Classes

All classes know when they are within a one-block radius of another spirit unless there’s something concealing them.

Mantle class spirits are legendary tricksters, thieves, and tempters. They are powerful, if frail combatants, and tend to have deceitful or confusing abilities. A Mantle class hero is much stronger  than a regular person–if an Olympic athlete can do it, so can a Mantle class hero without much trouble.

Crown-class spirits are monarchs and generals of legend. They are resistant to physical harm and  the effects of magic, and their abilities tend to revolve around charisma and resources. A Crown class hero is much stronger  than a regular person–if an Olympic athlete can do it, so can a Crown class hero without much trouble.

Banner-class spirits are warriors and heroes exceptionally suited to combat and feats of strength. They are supernaturally coordinated and athletic–they can do things outside of normal human physical ability (like jumping from rooftop to rooftop or lifting a four door sedan) without a check.

Scepter-class spirits are talented magicians of legend, but generally unsuited for combat or physical feats. They aren’t much different from a normal person–around the range of a dedicated hobbyist athlete. 

Spirit Attributes and Statistics

If you’re playing in my game, don’t read below this line.

Bonnie and Clyde

Mantle-class, a twinned spirit of love and transgression

• Attributes: ATK 4, DEF 1
• Talents: Driving, Shooting, Larceny, Speed
• Weapon: Revolver and Shotgun
• Weakness: Requires Loyalty checks to not help or rescue their partner when they are in pain or danger

Only Lovers Left Alive: Bonnie cannot be reduced below 1 HP while Clyde is still alive, and Clyde cannot be reduced below 1 HP while Bonnie is alive. They can only be killed simultaneously. They each have 8 Stamina, but only 3 Health.

Bullet Model Getaway: If they are together, Bonnie and Clyde can conjure a spacious, tough, and high-speed getaway car.

Ching Shih

Mantle-class, a tyrannical spirit of theft and subversion

• Attributes: ATK 4, DEF 1
• Talents: Combat, Command, Larceny, Speed
• Weapon: Cutlass and pistol

Law of the Sea: Just as she did in life, Ching Shih can subvert legitimate authority with her own. Any law enforcement official or politician she encounters treats her as a superior and will accept her instructions as long as they would follow similar ones from their actual superior. Once she gives an order, she must rest before she can use this ability again.

Legion of the Lady: Ching Shih can spend a turn to raise her massive personal ship from any body of water large enough to contain it (lakes, rivers, seas, maybe a very large pond if you don’t need it to move around too much). It’s fast, as tough as modern construction, and can make four ATK 4 cannon attacks on a turn, and is crewed by the spirits of her most loyal and competent pirates.

Don Quixote

Mantle-class, an ephemeral spirit of delusion and invention

• Attributes: ATK 4, DEF 1
• Talents: None
• Weapon: Sword and shield

Chivalric Adventure: Don Quixote is exceeded by everything and defeated by nothing. He makes risky rolls regardless of the situation–never excellent and never poor.

Friends in Low Places. Don Quixote can summon Rocinante, a knock-kneed and mangy plough-horse and Sancho Panza, his clever but ineffectual squire, at will.

Cide Hamete Benengeli: Don Quixote is a dream within a dream, a legend created by a myth. The true hero summoned is Cide Hamete Benengeli, the un-hero and fictional author of Don Quixote. Cide is completely nondescript and cannot be detected or identified as a hero unless he chooses to reveal himself. If Don Quixote dies, Hamete can spend a turn rewriting Don Quixote’s story so that he implausibly survives. His attributes are ATK 1 DEF 1 and his talents are Stealth, Disguise, and Persuasion. Rewriting Don Quixote’s story is a powerful magical act that can be perceived by any fellow spirit.

Echo

Banner-class, a divine spirit of mountain and stone

• Attributes: ATK 4, DEF 2
• Talents: Combat, Athletics, Lore
• Weapon: Martial arts

Oread, Princess of the Mount: Echo can manipulate concrete, stone, and earth to take whichever shape she wishes within shouting distance. This allows her to make ranged attacks with piercing spires or crushing pillars of earth, propel herself on waves of stone, or damage or destabilize buildings.

Weakness: Requires a risky loyalty check to harm a man she thinks is pretty. She can only repeat the last sentence that was said in her presence, though she is not compelled to speak.

El Cid

Banner-class, a fearsome warrior spirit of steel and fire

• Attributes: ATK 4, DEF 2
• Talents: Combat, Athletics, Riding, Command
• Weapon: Sword

La Tizona: El Cid’s fiery sword. El Cid can raise great waves of flames when he swings it, allowing him to start fires and make ranged attacks. He can also quench all nearby fires by sheathing it. El Cid can only fight with one of his swords drawn at a time.

La Colada: El Cid’s fearsome sword. When he draws it for the first time in combat, he has an excellent chance of paralyzing all humans in line of sight for as long as he remains in their presence and a poor chance of paralyzing fellow heroic spirits for a turn. He can remove this effects by sheathing La Colada sword. El Cid can only fight with one of his swords drawn at a time.

Weakness: Requires a risky loyalty check to retreat or pursue a retreating enemy.

Ferdiad

Banner-class, an tragic spirit of warfare and friendship betrayed

• Attributes: ATK 4, DEF 2
• Talents: Combat, Athletics, Command
• Weapon: Spear

Flesh of Horn: Ferdiad cannot suffer harm from an attack he sees coming. He can still be restrained, drowned, dropped from a high place, struck by a surprise attack, etc.

Broken Bonds of Brotherhood: Ferdiad enjoys a +1d6 bonus to rolls when operating alone.

Weakness: Requires a loyalty check to break a promise or allow his summoner to break a promise.

Hammurabi

Crown-class, a kingly spirit of law and justice

• Attributes: ATK 4, DEF 1
• Talents: Command, Persuasion, Resisting Magic
• Weapon: Mace

Tupsimati, the Whole of the Law: Normal humans obey Hammurabi’s commands, as long as they are legal and non-suicidal. He has a risky chance of making non-monarch fellow spirits obey his commands, though they can only be one word. If he fails the roll to use this ability on a fellow spirit, they are immune to it permanently.

Eye for an Eye: When someone harms Hammurabi, they suffer 1 harm, unreduced by DEF.

Weakness: Requires a risky loyalty check to flagrantly violate the law in a way that does not pertain to the Royale (robbing a bank, jaywalking).

Ishtar

Crown-class, a divine spirit of love and violence

• Attributes: ATK 4, DEF 1
• Talents: Seduction, Command, Combat, Resisting Magic
• Weapon: Projectile (eight-pointed star)

The Bull of Heaven: Spend a turn to summon a colossal winged bull with 4 ATK, 4 DEF, 10 Stamina and 10 HP, and recovers 1 Health or Stamina per turn. Gugulanna cannot be dismissed and cannot be summoned again if it dies.

Love and War: If Ishtar spends more than a few minutes speaking with someone, she has an excellent chance of making them infatuated with her. She deals +1 damage against those infatuated with her.

Weakness: Requires a risky loyalty check to work with or not exact revenge upon someone who has wronged her in any way.

Joshua

Banner-class, a holy spirit of war and piety

• Attributes: ATK 4, DEF 2
• Talents: Command, Combat, Athletics
• Weapon: Spear

Jericho’s Tribulation: By blowing on his horn, Joshua can attack all creatures in a 50’ cone in front of him. This deals +1 damage to unholy creatures and causes catastrophic structural damage if he so chooses.

Weakness: Requires a risky loyalty check to perform impious or dishonorable acts

Judah Macabee

Banner-class, a divine spirit of rebellion and purity

• Attributes: ATK 4, DEF 2
• Talents: Command, Combat, Athletics
• Weapon: Spear

Iconoclast: Judah rolls an extra die when making opposed rolls against pagan or unholy gods and spirits, and deals +1 damage when attacking them.

Divine Revolt: When Judah takes damage, he can make a risky roll to instantly retreat with his summoner to a location within a 1 block radius. He must rest before he can use this ability again.

Weakness: Requires a risky loyalty check to perform impious acts

King Midas

Crown-class, a wicked spirit of wealth and ruin

• Attributes: ATK 3, DEF 2
• Talents: Wealth, Combat, Athletics, Resisting magic
• Weapon: Touch

Resplendent Kingdom of Desolation: King Midas can turn anything he touches into gold. This ability transfers through objects and surfaces he has transformed, so if he turns the floor into gold, he can also transform the people standing on it. Transformation of living things count as attacks (so transformation is partial, recoverable, and cosmetic before it reduces a creature to 0 Health). King Midas has an 6-clock called Golden Ruin. It counts down a tick every time he uses his ability and counts up a tick every turn. If it counts all the way down, he turns into a lifeless statue of gold that uses this ability until everything in the world is gold or the statue is destroyed.

Weakness: Requires a risky loyalty check to not act on his immense greed and ambition.

Khublai Khan

Crown-class, a kingly spirit of luxury and power

• Attributes: ATK 3, DEF 2
• Talents: Wealth, Combat, Athletics, Resisting Magic
• Weapon: Scimitar

Khan’s Holy Ground: Kublai Khan has a 12-clock called Xanadu. He can transform the interior of any building he is inside into the interior of his Xanadu palace, which confers him +1 ATK, +1 DEF, and access to his weak but limitless troops. Each turn spent in Xanadu costs 1 tick. Once it counts down, he can’t use this ability until it counts up again. Resting restores 2 ticks of the clock.

La Voisin

Mantle-class, an unholy spirit of poison and deceit

• Attributes: ATK 4, DEF 1
• Talents: Stealth, Larceny
• Weapon: Knife

L’affaire des poisons. La Voisin can poison any food or drink she has seen, regardless of distance, as long as it has not already been consumed. The poison deals 10 damage on consumption, though a check can be made to halve it. Regular humans have a poor chance, while the check is only risky for fellow spirits.

La mauvais voisin. La Voisin can possess any regular human whose face and name she knows. They do not remember what they do while under her control. She cannot be identified or sensed as a heroic spirit while doing so.

Weakness: Divine beings have an excellent chance of withstanding any of La Voisin’s magic or poisons, and can identify her poison as being supernatural.

Lilith

Scepter-class, an unholy spirit of disease and monstrosity

• Attributes: ATK 3, DEF 0
• Talents: Sorcery, Lore
• Weapon: Beastly familiars

First Mother of the Garden. Lilith can cast any spell from the Vivimancy list five times. When she rests, she recovers all uses of her spells.

Abyssal Parade of Unsightly Beasts. With a cumulative three turns of effort, Lilith can conjure forth her innumerable monstrous children from the forgotten places of the world. They do not harm Lilith or her summoner, and are individually of little danger to a heroic spirit, but otherwise rampage indiscriminately in ever-growing numbers until the gate from which they issue is destroyed.

Weakness: When she makes a roll opposed by a child or someone whose mother she knows, her odds are always poor.

Lord Ruthven

Scepter-class, an unholy spirit of death and darkness

• Attributes: ATK 3, DEF 0
• Talents: Sorcery, Stealth, Lore
• Weapon: claws and spears of darkness

Lord of the Dead. Lord Ruthven can cast any spell from the Necromancy list five times. When he rests, he recovers all uses of his spells. Anyone who makes a promise to Lord Ruthven cannot break the word of it, though they may violate its intent.

Immortal. While attacks can reduce Lord Ruthven’s Stamina normally, only attacks from divine beings, stakes through the heart, or attacks while he is in direct sunlight can reduce his Health.

Weakness: Lord Ruthven must follow the word of every promise he makes. He cannot tread on holy ground or enter holy buildings.

Lucifer, the Morningstar

Mantle-class, an angelic spirit of light and evil

• Attributes: ATK 4, DEF 1
• Talents: Combat, Persuasion, Athletics, Command
• Weapon: Blades and javelins of light

Felix Culpa. Lucifer has a 6-clock called Temptation, which he can count down to grant a wish to anyone other than his summoner. The means are supernatural, but the ends must be within normal human capacity (true love and raising the dead are out, for example). A single tick would be something like a fancy car or getting a coworker to become infatuated, while six ticks would be fabulous wealth for a lifetime or the death of a major world leader. In return, the beneficiary is bound to fulfill a single request from Lucifer to the letter at any time. He can rest to recover 2 ticks. When Temptation counts down to zero, word of Lucifer’s escapades reaches High Heaven and an archangel descends to purify the city.

Divine Provenance. Lucifer counts as both a divine and unholy being when determining the effects of abilities.

Weakness: Requires a loyalty check to take direct commands or orders (rather than suggestions or requests). 

Morgan Le Fey

Scepter-class, a wicked fairy spirit of guile and subjugation

• Attributes: ATK 3, DEF 0
• Talents: Sorcery, Seduction, Lore
• Weapon: Windborne clouds of razor-sharp flower petals

Fairy Queen. Morgan Le Fey can cast any spell from the Psychomancy list five times. When she rests, she recovers all uses of her spells.

Road to Broceliande. When Morgan Le Fey rests, she and any willing or subdued creatures with her may retreat to her hidden grove-world, Broceliande. No one may leave without her permission or powerful magic.

Weakness: If her roll is opposed by someone acting out of kindness, charity, or some other virtue, her odds are poor.

Napoleon

Crown-class, an ingenious spirit of ambition and war

• Attributes: ATK 3, DEF 2
• Talents: Combat, Persuasion, Resisting Magic, Command
• Weapon: Saber and cannons

Vive L’Empereur. Napoleon has an 8-clock called Conquest. She can count it down to call on the help of her army, who manifest as contemporary, fiercely loyal, moderately competent, and extremely French soldiers. The more she counts down the clock, the more followers she can call on. She can clear 2 wedges of the clock by resting. Each wedge calls in more people based on this scale (1-2-5-10-20-50-100-200)

Weakness: Requires a Loyalty check to act on plans that hedge her bets or bide her time in any way.

Paracelsus

Scepter-class, a sagacious spirit of transformation and transcendence

• Attributes: ATK 3, DEF 0
• Talents: Sorcery, Lore
• Weapon: Swarms of conjured elementals

Fairy Queen. Paracelsus can cast any spell from the Elementalism list five times. When he rests, he recovers all uses of his spells.

Hermetic Rite. If Paracelsus spends a turn performing a ritual in four auspicious locations at each of the cardinal directions of the city, he can touch the Pleroma and become immensely powerful (4 ATK, 4 DEF, cast spells at will)

Weakness: Requires a risky loyalty check to take the humble, patient, or simple route. 

Queen Medb

Crown-class, a warrior spirit of excellence and greed

• Attributes: ATK 3, DEF 2
• Talents: Combat, Command, Intimidation, Resisting Magic
• Weapon: Spear and shield

Ostentation of the High Court. Queen Medb has infinite money, can spend a turn to acquire any single good or service up to $100,00 in value or make a batch purchase of up to $1,000,000 that prevents this ability from being used again until the Queen rests.

Weakness: Requires a risky loyalty check to retreat or back down.