Epitaph: A Gothic Fantasy Game

The Tablets

The Epitaph was said to be shattered at the fall of Enoch, the First City. Mythical among the Old Kingdoms and even known as far as Szarad, this ancient city is evoked still by the Church of Divine Vision. And its pieces still remain, scattered across the known world, granting insight into the old empire to those that possess them – and giving them the power to rule over their fellow men.

Religions

The Church of Divine Vision

The most powerful and organized religious organization in the known world, the Church of Divine Vision is the only faith to cross national boundaries and maintain coherent governance. With the Prophet's Voice at its head – a figure who is believed to be the channel for the Divine Vision, the message from the God of Wheels – the church maintains cathedrals in many of the civilized nations. In the west, the bishopic system operates, with Bishops watching over regional churches and priests. In the East, the Shadir branch opts for a more direct style, often giving priests much more leeway in their preaching and personal endeavors.

The Church of the Divine Vision is most powerful in Enoch, the ancient city where the Tablets were said to originate. The current city was built atop the ruins of the ancient site, over the spiral-patterned stones and rectangular coffins of the ancient world.

The Great Epitaph

The massive fortress-cathedral at the center of Enoch serves as the nerve center of all of the Church of the Divine Vision, as well as the home to the Pontiff and the higher Councils of Elders. It is built around the greatest pilgrimage site in all of the known world – the base of the broken Epitaph, the monument where all the Tablets originated. Though few are allowed to enter the sanctums and gaze upon the broken remnants of the Epitaphs, pilgrims and knights who perform great deeds are often rewarded with access to the fabled site, to walk atop the massive rocky structure and meditate amid its shards.

The Church actively seeks out the Tablets, attempting to collect as many as possible. It sometimes gifts those in its possession to deserving clergy and knights – this is only done to the greatest heroes, or in times of great emergency (almost always involving other Tablets)

Nations

The Old Kingdoms

Made up of individual fiefdoms, the Old Kingdoms claim that they are the descendents of ancient Enoch, though Church officials sometimes point out that Enoch was much further east according to old records. This is an unpopular stance, and has led to expulsion in several fiefs – The Church has little power there, with kingdoms either sponsoring heretical sects or outright pagan faiths.

Most of the Kings of the Old Kingdoms are fairly weak, their bloodlines ruling by tradition; their strength comes from the Dukes, and their Knights. Knights are the lowest rung of the noble ladder ,direct administrators of the realms, while the Dukes and their subservient Barons administer to the nation as a whole.

System

System is standard D10 system.

Attributes

You get 18 character points (CP) to spend on attributes. These are your mundane stats, representative of your natural abilities. One point equals a point of attribute, or a point of speciality. No stat may be above 5 at chargen, and no speciality may be above 3. Specialities don't need to be attached to an attribute – they apply to any attribute roll that would benefit from he speciality

Strength

Dexterity

Wits

Integrity

Charisma

Perception

Properties

These are traits that give bonuses and downsides. They're created with CP, like traits. All Perks cost 2 points at chargen – these are innate things, so if you skip them don't expect a chance to come by anytime soon.

Enochian: You've got the blood of the ancient people of Enoch, the creaters of the City and the source of the Tablets. Enochian blood is inherently magical, infused (or tainted) with the essence of the Tablets. You gain more Resonance whenever you fail or botch rolls, but your Dissonance rolls don't get as many dice to harm you.

Paladin: You are a knight of the church. You've taken the oath of knighthood, which involves drinking the red water that flows across the Epitaph's ruins, binding you to the knightly codes and to the Church. You gain benefits from holy sites and from Church enchantments, and do more harm to 'supernaturals' (Cursed, abominations). However, the Church can track you if they wish, and have a series of weaknesses to certain church powers.

Cursed: You have been inflicted by the plague of undeath, due to contact with the living dead. You are not undead yourself, but you bear the marks – your eyes are pale, as is your skin, though it can range from barely noticable to entirely there. You have the ability to shrug off death if you're reduced to dying levels, with a proper roll (usually endurance or integrity, depending on the damage). However, you are more damaged by holy power and can be detected by some things.

Tablet Fragments

The Tablets of Lost Dreams, the Remnants of Enoch, The World Tablets – all sorts of names for one thing. It's pretty important, given that even a fragment of the Epitaph allows one to manipulate reality in ways that common alchemists can only dream of doing (or perhaps not even dream of).

The Tablets of Lost Dreams are fragments of the great wall that surrounded Enoch's True City, the capital of their empire. It's believed that the wall was created to keep evil spirits out of the city proper, protecting the temples to their unknown gods.

Tablets vary wildly in appearance, but nearly all are made of stone, and bear writing upon them. The stone is difficult to place – it resembles obsidian, but with a lighter, violet colouration. Shards vary in size from the size of a ring to as large as a person, though most are small enough to carry. Bigger tablets are stronger, but mobility is important.

The tablets give the bearers supernatural power, permanently altering some and giving temporary powers to others. Tablets remain consistent between bearers, as the fragments of writing on them don't change.

This power, however, comes at a cost. Those who use the tablets warp reality to their whims, and when the effect settles, that power remains as Resonance. This energy manifests as eerie happens, strange auras, and occasionally mutations; what's worse, however, is when Resonance suddenly erupts, breaking local reality slightly. This effect, called 'Dissonance', is far more dramatic, and far more destructive, mostly to the bearer.

A tablet is made using Tablet points, which allow you to sculpt its benefits and capabilities. You get 5 tablet points at chargen.

Tablet Creation

Tablets have a variety of abilities they can give. You pick a theme for your tablet, which defines what powers it gives. Your powers remain within that theme and within the stats below.

Enhancement dice: The tablet's magic bolsters one of you powers to superhuman levels. Activating a tablet's enhancements give you automatic successes on the roll.

When you buy this, choose an attribute. That attribute gets an autosux per die allocated. You can't have more than two per attribute at chargen.

Using these dots is optional. If you do use the autosux, you gain a point of Resonance (more on that later). If you have gain more Resonance than your unmodified attribute, fail or botch the roll, then roll Dissonance (your total Resonance, effects to come).

Esoteria: Your tablet can be used to produce an effect that doesn't expressly enhance a mundane ability. Examples include fireballs, raising corpses to fight for you, summoning, healing outright (rather than just supernaturally enhanced mundane medicine), stone skin, and other such effects.

Activating it requires a raw Tablet roll, and every use grants a Resonance point per die. Failures and botches prompt a Dissonance roll.

Endurance: The human body is frail, even with armour. Some tablets, however, grant the ability to resist damage of certain kinds. This can be stone skin, a magical force field, a 'luck field' that makes attacks mysteriously miss, or imps that catch projectiles.

Define what kind of defense you get, and what it works against. General defenses reduce damage from their chosen source by one per die.

Tablet Merits

These are general merits you can take, that don't fit into other categories.

Tablet Artifact (1): Your tablet is not merely a shard of rock you carry on your, but rather something that you carry. For example, at Tablet that's constructed into a suit of armour, or an Enochian sword.

Pair this with a piece of equipment. Your tablet's powers now require you have that equipment on you, and that you use it in some noticable way to use your powers. This makes it more of a target, and also makes it a bit harder to conceal (and easier to steal). Also, at least one of your power points must be allocated to a power directly involved in the use of your gear ; defense against fire for armour, electric slashes for a sword.

The upside, however, is that your gear is considered an Artifact. This means that it gains bonuses from its enochian construction – better defense for armour, better damage for weapons. For non-utility items (crowns, flasks), pick a minor esoteric power that you can do. This effectively works as a speciality towards any magic you do, and any mundane powers that pertains to your theme. You don't invoke Resonance for using artifacts, unless you botch – you still get it from using the powers assocated, if you choose to.

Cannot be taken with Esoteric Connection.

Esoteric Connection (1): Your Tablet is connected to you in some way that's beyond mere proximity. Note that this only applies to the tablet with this trait; other tablets do not receive this benefit. For example, you can have a tablet that fuses with your flesh, or one that exists as spectral as long as it's not in use. These make tablets harder to steal or lose, but it also makes your more susceptable to Resonance. You can't be disrupted as easily by other magic. Every time you gain Resonance due to a fail or botch, you gain one more point.

Obviously can't be taken with Tablet Artifact.

Equipment: There are going to be rules for this; namely, equipment defines how much damage you can soak and how much you can do in combat. Define your gear and I'll get to it.