Weird Steampunk Sky Exploration Forged In The Dark by Ash McAllan

We ventured into heaven for an empire drunken crown,
to colonize the endless, with steam and steel and raucous gunfire.
What we found was not for mortals, those with minds and hearts so fragile. For the heavens know no borders, know no bounds or limitations. But we blundered on regardless, through the skies, intent on empire, past the gods and horrors gathered, swept on winds of time and terror, locomotives in the endless void of space.

We built a throne upon a sun's grave and our Queen now sits upon it. We laboured mining hours from stone. We made homes on ruined titans, built towns and cities among skystones. As we built our lives in heaven, so we slowly grew accustomed, to the howling cold, the madness, the gardens full of unknown fruits and sins.

But still the sky is full of dangers, for the few of us, the foolish. The ragged souls who traipse across the black. In our little ship, our engine, saved by stained glass and tarpaulin. We scrape a life by cause there is no turning back.

What is this? It's a Forged In The Dark tabletop roleplaying game inspired by Sunless Skies by Failbetter Games. You play as the crew of a locomotive on adventures throughout the heavens, filled with enchanting wonder and cosmic horror in equal measure. You and your ship are insignificant in the face of gods and titans and empire, but you must eke out lives in the sky regardless. This game text assumes you're at least passingly familiar with some of the base texts, Blades In The Dark and the Sunless Skies, but feel free to just go ahead with it blind if you want, you'll likely still have some level of fun.

How do we play? One player is the Narrator, who describes the skies and things within them and answers the question "What happens next?" The other players each create a character to be part of the crew of a sky ship. They are responsible for describing their characters and answering the question "What do you do?"
The game is responsible for answering the question "How does that turn out?"
Everyone is responsible for answering the question "What does that look like?"

Characters

Hearts - Resist Fear or Exhaustion
◯|◯◯◯        Relate
◯|◯◯◯        Brawl
◯|◯◯◯        Scramble
__________ :         Minor Harm (-1d)
__________ :         Major Harm (need help)

Iron - Resist Force or Violence
◯|◯◯◯        Command
◯|◯◯◯        Skirmish
◯|◯◯◯        Helm
__________ :         Minor Harm (-1d)
__________ :         Major Harm (need help)

Veils - Resist Scrutiny or Detection
◯|◯◯◯        Deceive
◯|◯◯◯        Skulk
◯|◯◯◯        Sabotage
__________ :         Minor Harm (-1d)
__________ :         Major Harm (need help)

Mirrors - Resist Stealth or Deception
◯|◯◯◯        Reason
◯|◯◯◯        Study
◯|◯◯◯        Tinker
__________ :         Minor Harm (-1d)
__________ :         Major Harm (need help)

Terror

XP

Possessions

Special Abilities

Rolling Dice

When you roll dice, roll as many as needed and take the highest result. If you get multiple sixes, your result is critical. If you have no dice, roll two and take the lowest (double sixes aren't critical for zero dice).

Action Rolls

When you attempt an action, choose which action and roll that many dice. A six is a success. Four or Five is a success with a complication. Three or lower is a failure with a complication.

Resistance

When an outcome happens that you want to avoid, choose which stat is appropriate and roll that many dice (stat dice are how many actions under that stat have a dot in the first column). Gain terror equal to six minus your result. On a critical, clear one terror. The consequence is automatically reduced in severity or sometimes fully negated.

Defending

You can defend another by redirecting the danger to yourself in some way and then resisting it.

Setup Actions

A setup action is an action you perform to prepare for another action. It gives a +1d bonus to the action being set up, your own or someone else's.

Group Actions

When you work together in a Group Action everyone involved rolls the appropriate action. The highest result from each of the people contributing to the group action is the final outcome of the action but for each failure the person leading the action gains one terror.

Progress Clocks

Sometimes things don't happen in an instant. That's when you need a clock. Draw a circle and divide it up into as many segments as you think appropriate somewhere from four to twelve, fewer for simpler faster things, more for longer, more complex things. When a clock fills or empties, its effect completes. Sometimes they start empty, sometimes they start full, sometimes they start half way, it's just a way for tracking a thing that takes a while.
Generally a critical success moves a clock by five segments, a regular success moves it by three, a success with a complication moves it by two and a failure moves it by one or none at all, depending on the situation.
Complications can move clocks either by one segment or by a number of segments determined by a fortune roll.

Travel Across The Skies

When you embark across the skies, the distance to your location is established as a clock and the crew begins making progress towards it.
Everyone list their ship position and roll that action for a group action, led by whomever is acting as captain:
Officer (Command), Navigator (Study), Engineer (Tinker), Gunner (Skirmish), Tiller (Helm), Signaller (Reason)
(No two characters can share a ship position for travelling)
On a success, you make 3 progress, on a success with complication, you spy a Discovery: you can investigate it or make two progress, on a failure you encounter a hazardous Discovery and must overcome or escape it to make 1 progress.

Terror And Trauma

If your eight tick terror clock ever gets to full, pass out, clear all terror, and gain a new trauma from:
Cold, Haunted, Obsessed, Paranoid, Reckless, Soft, Unstable, or Vicious
If your trauma makes things worse for you or your crew during a session, you gain one XP. If it makes things a lot worse, you gain two XP.

Clearing Terror

When you spend time away from the horrors of the sky, enjoying the pleasantries of civilisation, roll dice equal to the number of coin you spend to clear ticks from your terror clock.

Whenever you clear terror, gain XP equal to the number of ticks cleared.

Harm

When a character gets hurt it comes in one of three levels and applies to one of their four stats: Hearts, Iron, Veils, Mirrors

Minor Harm is anything that might slow you down but won’t stop you.
Major Harm consists of potential showstoppers that don’t outright kill you.
Deadly Harm does what it says on the tin.
If a character takes Minor Harm but they already have Minor harm for that Stat, it becomes Major Harm.
If a character takes Major Harm but they already have Major harm for that Stat, it becomes Deadly Harm.
If a character takes Deadly Harm they die.
If a character has a Minor Harm that’s affecting their ability to perform an Action, their player rolls one less die for that Action Roll.
If a character has a Major Harm that affects their ability to do an Action, they just can’t do it without help.

Clearing Harm

When you receive medical or spiritual attention, either your own, from a hired professional, or from a member of your crew, clear a harm of your choice as appropriate and gain 3 terror from the pain.

Going Shopping

If you go looking to pay someone to get your hands on something, a ship part, medical attention, the touch of skin on skin, roll dice, 3 for big things (ship parts, assassinations), 1 for small things (a good book, a night out on the town), 2 for things in between. The cost in coins is the number of the highest result dice. Eight if you manage to roll a critical. You might be able to haggle it down to half, rounded up, with an appropriate action roll.

XP and Insights

When your XP clock is full, clear it and give yourself a new dot in an action that has two or fewer dots in it, or a new Special Ability from your playbook. If your choice is in response to events that have occurred in play, share some insight into your character's experience of those events with a crew member. Otherwise, share a tale from your character's history, before play began, that planted the seed of this growth in you.

Playbooks

Academic

What is your field of study?
Put two dots in Study, one in Reason, and four wherever else you like, not exceeding two dots in any one action.

Choose a Contact:

A Generous Banker
A Disgraced Researcher
A Scarred Test Subject
A Nervous Librarian

Choose a Special Ability:

PHD
+1d whenever your action is related to knowledge of your field of study.

Peer Review
Gain +1D for all Mirrors resistance rolls.

M.D.
You can Tinker to remove harm.

Forbidden Study
You have begun to study the language that binds creation. When you read from a celestial text, roll Study to invoke its effect and also gain 3 terror for a success, 2 for a success with complication, and 1 for a failure. This terror is in addition to any other effects or complications from the roll.

Choose three personal items and two look descriptors.
Choose your pronouns.
Choose a name.

Bohemian

Did you produce art or were you simply adjacent to it? What movement were you associated with?
Put two dots in Decieve, one in Study, and four wherever else you like, not exceeding two dots in any one action.

Choose a Contact:

An Entrancing Model
A Subversive Painter
A Depressed Poet
An Entrepreneurial Publisher

Choose a Special Ability:

Moving Words
+1d to Relate or Deceive when you give an impassioned speech.

Salacious Details
+1d to Study or Relate to dig up gossip and rumours.

A Critical Eye
+1d to Study when appraising something's value.

Tactical Drinker
If you have time beforehand to prepare, you may spend 1 coin or one bottle of alcohol to give yourself a +1 bonus on your next Relate action, Deceive action, Command action, or Hearts resist.

The Work
When travelling you can Relate or Decieve to produce a work of art instead of contributing to flying.

Choose three personal items and two look descriptors.
Choose your pronouns.
Choose a name.

Priest

What religion or denomination did you serve? What did your worship look like?
Put two dots in Relate, one in Decieve, and four wherever else you like, not exceeding two dots in any one action.

Choose a Contact:

An Overbearing Parishioner
A Sanctimonious Gossip
A Hedonistic Bishop
An Unrepentant Criminal

Choose a Special Ability:

Words of Wisdom
When someone asks for your wisdom they take +1d to their first roll for following that advice.

Rock of Faith
+1d to resist fear in the face of cosmic horror.

Fear Of God
+1d to Command when you invoke the divine or the past sins of your target.

Soothing Tones
Crewmembers gain only one terror when clearing harm if you are present and speaking to them.

Choose three personal items and two look descriptors.
Choose your pronouns.
Choose a name.

Sailor

You've a long history of these skies. Why did you leave your last vessel?
Put two dots in Helm, one in Scramble, and four wherever else you like, not exceeding two dots in any one action.

Choose a Contact:

An Unwavering Official
A Romantic Pirate
An Old Sky Dog
A Forgetful Cartographer

Choose a Special Ability:

Part of the ship, part of the crew
+1d when you roll as part of a group action for the running of the ship.

Through wind and rain
+1d when resisting the elements.

Starry Eyed
You can Study the stars to navigate without a compass or navigational tools.

Sky Legs
+1d to Scramble, Sabotage, or Tinker when working outside the undocked ship.

Choose three personal items and two look descriptors.
Choose your pronouns.
Choose a name.

Cutpurse

The skies are vast and empty compared to the crowds you are used to stalking. What draws a thief to the heavens?
Put two dots in Skulk, one in Sabotage, and four wherever else you like, not exceeding two dots in any one action.

Choose a Contact:

A Precocious Urchin
A Fastidious Fence
A Jovial Thug
A Pliable Constable

Special Abilities:

Light Fingers
+1d to Skulk to take an item off someone's person.

Sap
+1d to Skulk when disabling or knocking someone out.

Bulging Pockets
You can spend coin like ship supplies to have items you might have reasonably stolen in the street on hand.

Smoke Bomb
You can roll Skulk to disappear from clear sight.

Choose three personal items and two look descriptors.
Choose your pronouns.
Choose a name.

Cultist

You have encountered something far greater than yourself. What was it?
Put two dots in Sabotage, one in Decieve, and four wherever else you like, not exceeding two dots in any one action.

Choose a Contact:

A Generous Banker
A Disgraced Researcher
A Scarred Test Subject
A Nervous Librarian

Choose a Special Ability:

Grovelling
+1d to Relate to entities of a greater scale than man.

Esoterica
+1d to Study when investigating or recalling forbidden, secret, or lost knowledge.

Patron
You belong to a non-human Indomitable Force. The crew gains 3 reputation with this force.

Powerful Words
You have gained some glimpse of the words that bind creation and can attempt to invoke them to create supernatural effects. You roll dice equal to half your terror, rounded down to do this.

Leathery Skin
+1d to resist physical effects of the supernatural.

Choose three personal items and two look descriptors.
Choose your pronouns.
Choose a name.

Soldier

There is no battle without bloodshed. What wounds do you still bear?
Put two dots in Skirmish, one in Brawl, and four wherever else you like, not exceeding two dots in any one action.

Choose a Contact:

A Destitute Saboteur
A Drunken Former Officer
A Reckless Pilot
A Compassionate Nurse

Choose a Special Ability:

Form Rank
When you lead a group action to engage an enemy with weapons, all other characters get +1d.

Steel
+1d to resist flinching or backing down in the face of physical injury.

Brutal Blows
When you brawl, increase the ticks on any damage clocks you advance by 1.

Battlefield Comrades
Clear 1 terror whenever you defend a crewmate or a crewmate defends you.

Choose three personal items and two look descriptors.
Choose your pronouns.
Choose a name.

Tinkerer

There is no school for your kind of genius. How did you learn these tricks?
Put two dots in Tinker, one in Sabotage, and four wherever else you like, not exceeding two dots in any one action.

Choose a Contact:

A Prosthetic-Equipped Mechanic
A Weary Junkyard Owner
A Shaky Test Pilot
An Inventive Doctor

Choose a Special Ability:

Explosives Specialist
When you set up a sabotage roll with a tinker roll, grant +2d instead of +1d.

Logical Explanation
You can roll your Reason dice to resist fear from encountering the strange or unexplained.

Fencing Wire and Baling Twine
You can scavenge whatever parts you need to make temporary repairs to the ship from supplies or other appropriate cargo.

Organic Mechanic
You can roll Tinker to remove harm.

Choose three personal items and two look descriptors.
Choose your pronouns.
Choose a name.

Aristocrat

You are of noble birth, you belong to your house. What is your family known for?
Put two dots in Command, one in Study, and four wherever else you like, not exceeding two dots in any one action.

Choose a Contact:

Old Money
New Money
A Perfectionist Artisan
An Unscrupulous Professional

Choose a Special Ability:

Connections in high places
When you meet other members of the upper classes you may roll Relate to establish that they know you or know of you by reputation.

Savvy spender
+1d per coin spent on a roll, up to 3, when you buy or bribe your way out of a situation.

Natural Command
+1d when you Command those used to taking orders.

Retinue
Gain a cohort, follower, or hireling of your choice for the crew.

Family Ties
Your family is an Indomitable Force. Your crew gains +3 reputation with them.

Choose three personal items and two look descriptors.
Choose your pronouns.
Choose a name.

Devil

Why do you dance the dance of life and death with this crew instead of your own kind?
Put two dots in Study, one in Skulk, and four wherever else you like, not exceeding two dots in any one action.

Choose a Contact:

A Repentant Sinner
A Defiant Saint
A Cunning Witch
A Resigned Wanderer

Choose a Special Ability:

Heart's desire
You may Study instead of Relate to understand someone's motives and emotions.

Through the fire and the flames
+1d to resist harm from heat or fire.

Honeyed words
+1d to Deceive or Relate when you ply someone with pleasures.

Devilish Strikes
When you hurt someone with Skulk, either kill them, put them at your mercy, or add +1 tick to any damage clock.

Choose three personal items and two look descriptors.
Choose your pronouns.
Choose a name.

Creature

What kind of creature are you, exactly?
Put two dots in Scramble, one in Skulk, and four wherever else you like, not exceeding two dots in any one action.

Choose a Contact:

A Cat
A Raven
A Veterinarian
A Vagrant

Choose a Special Ability:

Flexible form
You can use skulk instead of scramble to get into high or tight spaces.

An uncommon tongue
You can speak to other members of your kind with ease even if they may be unintelligible to others.

Pass without a trace
+1d to Veils resistance when avoiding being noticed getting into or out of places

Choose three personal items and two look descriptors.
Choose your pronouns.
Choose a name.

Ships

When you first embark, create your ship by choosing two parts. Your ship can have up to five parts equipped, holds up to twelve units of cargo, and up to 12 coin.

Ship Damage

When the ship takes damage, increase a damage clock by two points for either one of the equipped parts, or the ship itself. Parts have a four stage damage clock, the ship has a 12 stage damage clock. When the damage clock of a part is filled, it is non-functional until the clock has been emptied with repairs. When the damage clock of the ship is filled, it is no longer capable of movement or sustaining life.

Supplies

Supplies are an abstraction of all the food, water, fuel, etc needed to keep the ship and crew running. If you ever have no supplies, your ship loses all thrust and the crew begin to starve and freeze. 1 Supplies takes up 1 cargo space.

Supplies can be spent to have equipment or specific supplies one might have reasonably purchased at previous ports. If you suddenly need a grappling hook on a length of rope, or a vanity mirror, you can rifle through and find it in your supplies. This reduces your supplies count by 1 but gives you the item.

Parts

Thornibrook 'Indefatigable' Shielding
+1d when resisting damage to the ship.

Ramkin and Foolhardy's Hull Mounted Autorifle
When shooting from aboard the ship, increase damage clock ticks by 1.

Ramkin and Foolhardy's Blunderbuss
+1d when shooting multiple targets from the ship.

Thornibrook 'Needle-eye' Sniper Rifle
+1d when shooting single targets at a great distance from the ship.

Expanded Hold
Hold size is doubled.

Cabins
If a crew member would gain a benefit in exchange for contributing to travelling, they may do so in addition to contributing, as opposed to instead of.

Thrust Stabilizers
+1d to helm when travelling at speed

Braking Thrusters
+1d to helm when performing maneuvers

Observation Deck
+1d to Study the ship's surroundings from aboard, including when navigating.

Signalling Station
+1d when signalling from aboard the ship.

Skywork Rigging
+1d when doing Skywork (mining, boarding, making repairs)

Fuel Efficiency
+1d to resist running out of fuel.

Portable Wardrobe
You can change your clothing aboard ship to a variety of different costumes.

Sanctum
When you travel across the skies one character can Relate to themselves or a crewmate to reduce that character's terror clock instead of contributing to flying.

Dunsinane 'Impenetrable' Ship Safe
Cash storage is doubled.

Indomitable Forces

The Skies are filled with various and sundry Indomitable Forces, these might be the mighty empire itself, it's various ministries, ancient and unfathomable minds that lurk within the skies, or a travelling band of circus performers attempting to make their fortune entertaining in the face of the infinite.

The crew has 0 reputation with any and all Indomitable Forces by default.
At the start of the game, each member of the crew, creates one Indomitable Force and what their obligation is to that Indomitable Force:

An Obligation to Run
An Obligation to Hunt
An Obligation to Spread The Word
An Obligation to Investigate
An Obligation to Defend

When the crew completes tasks or capers that affect the machinations of an Indomitable Force, they either gain or lose 1 reputation with that force.

When the crew is at +3 reputation with an Indomitable Force, they are considered boon companions or members of that force. That force will provide them with favours where they can afford.

When the crew is at -3 reputation with an Indomitable Force, they are considered nemesis or hunted prey of that force. That force will deploy what resources they can spare to harry or destroy the crew until that force is pacified.

Indomitable forces are different for each group's play, but some examples are provided here.

The Empire

London risen to the skies, a heavenly throne for her immortal queen. The might of the empire is steam and steel and industry. Entire worlds are subsumed into the machinations of imperial power reaching ever further into the night.

Imperial Complications

Impose protocol
Wield military might
Make things seem fine
Entangle in bureaucracy

The Gravechild

A fungal hivemind of every species, innocent and ancient. The gravechild embraces ever more bodies and minds into its gestalt, always fearing loneliness, always consuming those it embraces.

Gravechild Complications

Infect someone
Surround them
Fill the air with visions and hallucinations
Grow

The King In Blue

The cold faced regent of death itself. A star king sat upon a heavenly throne, presiding over the realm of the dead.

Cerulean Complications

End a life
Command the dead
Entangle in heavenly bureaucracy
Allow a spirit to move on

The Revolution

Mortal men and more, chafing under the yoke of empire, and the chains that bind all creation.

Revolutionary Complications

Recruit to the cause
Deploy a long shemed plot
Backstab
Disappear

The Bacchae

Adherents of beauty, pleasure, and madness. Poets and addicts, bohemians and mystics, indulging in the very limits of art, perception, and reality.

Rapturous Complications

Seduce
See beyond sight
Flaunt rules, laws, and conventions
Go mad

The Enterprise

A confederacy of merchants, vagrants, and traders passing secret signals and arranging clandestine deals as they mete out the riches of the skies among themselves.

Mercantile Complications

Provide what's needed for a price
See the true value of things
Extort for indulgences
Sell secrets

The Consortium Of Bees

A broad alliance of skyfaring swarms engaged in the collective endeavour of harvesting the nectar of all that grows and blooms in the heavens to nurture young and protect the future of the species.

Apian Complications

Swarm and destroy
Tend to what grows
Nurture warrior drones
Hound thieves relentlessly

Ms Anne's Teahouses

A collection of teahouses strewn across the heavens, warm and welcoming places of gathering, indulgence, and companionship, offering a slice of civilization for those in need of a moment's respite from the horrors of sky travel.

Civilised Complications

Indulge addiction
Spread secrets
Ransom comfort
Lure the exhausted

Discoveries

Discoveries are almost anything to be found in the sky. Things that arouse the crew's curiosity or interest, things that lure them in, or things that threaten. The following are some examples.

Frontier Railyard

A smoky, noisy, throng of mechanics and locomotives engaged in engineering that civilized men would never dream of. The railyards this far from the empire's reach are host to some of the most ingenious and dangerous minds ever to set foot on an engine.

Complications at the Railyard

Rough up outsiders
Rip off the uncanny
Report to the authorities

Ghost Ship

The sky is littered with the cold carcasses of long dead locomotives, and they are ripe for scavenging. Some, though, are not quite as restful in death as is traditional.

Complications at the Ghost Ship

Offer treasures for a risk
Haunt intruders
Show signs of life

Blooming Grove

The forests and woods that litter the sky hide wonders and horrors alike. In the blooming groves are beauty and peace and rapturous colour inviting the visitor to stay longer and listen to the flowers.

Complications at the Blooming Grove

Dazzle with colour
Lull into sleep
Sing maddening songs

A Wandering Cetacean

Uncountable species roam the heavens but those grand cetaceans are numerous and sizable enough to present a threat to passing locomotives when disgruntled.

Complications from the Wandering Cetacean

Guard what is precious
Ram the ship
Patrol the skies

Fallen Titan

The long resting corpse of some colossal being, since decayed and

Complications at the Fallen Titan

Dwarf all around it
Crush with crumbling debris
Reveal what lies under the surface

A Well

A hole torn in the sky. An inescapable pit fed by a swirling vortex of wind and debris. Wells are prisons, hiding places, and graves for the ancient and unimaginable.

Complications at the Well

Draw relentlessly inward
Imprison
Confront with what is trapped within
Tear surroundings apart

Unquiet Dead

Those uncollected by the King In Blue, driven into madness by the torment of exceeding their own end. Wraithlike figures externalising their suffering with claws and teeth and howling cries.

Complications from the Unquiet Dead

Haunt
Rip and tear
Send men mad with howling
End life with a kiss

A Solar Engine

A great mechanical behemoth churning false light out into the skies, corrupting all that it shines upon, turning sensible skyfarers into sycophantic servants to it's grand magnificence.

Complications from the Solar Engine

Corrupt bodies
Burn worlds
Toss ships on solar winds
Demand worship