Ashfall: gaslight survival horror on a d100
A game of percentile tests rolled under your skill, of named results from Triumph down to Disaster, of luck that burns away when you spend it, and of what it costs to know. Written for RollQuest, with its whole rulebook free to read.
The world under the ash
Seven years ago the mountains at the top of the world opened and began to snow ash. It has not stopped. The river cities of the Hearth Concord ration coal, light, bread and hope, and out in the drifts beyond the boundary lamps the ash has started to remember what it used to be.
You play lamplighters, archivists, rail engineers, clerks, priests, reporters and thieves: ordinary people with a trade, who notice what others would rather not, and who sometimes go and look. One player is the Game Master (GM), who runs the world, its people and the things in the grey; everyone else plays an investigator.
You can win. You never win cheaply.
How a test works
Every roll that decides whether something works is a test. The GM names what you're testing, such as Climb or Reflex, and that number is your chance: roll a d100 at or under it and you pass. A character with Climb 50 passes on 1 to 50. Low is good.
How low you rolled matters too. Every result lands in one of six bands:
| Band | When |
|---|---|
| Triumph | A roll of 1, whatever the number |
| Sharp | A pass at a fifth of the number or under |
| Solid | A pass at half the number or under |
| Success | Any other pass |
| Failure | Any other roll over the number |
| Disaster | A roll of 100, or 96 and up when the number is under 50 |
Circumstances bring Fortune (roll two d100s and keep the lower) or Misfortune (keep the higher). After a Failure you may Press the test and roll again, risking worse, Spend Ember to buy the roll down to a pass, or Spend Fate to reroll. After a Disaster, only Fate can save you.
Making an investigator
Making a character takes six steps and about half an hour. There are no classes and no levels:
- Name your character.
- Roll eight characteristics (Brawn, Vigour, Frame, Reflex, Presence, Wits, Resolve and Learning) and your Ember, your luck.
- Choose an archetype, who you were before the ash came down, such as Lamplighter, Archivist, Rail Engineer or Penny Journalist. It brings a talent.
- Spend skill points across 42 skills, each with a base value.
- Roll 3d6 shillings for your purse.
- Buy your gear: a lantern, a hooked pole, an ash-mask, a revolver if you can afford one.
From then on you change by what you learn, what you find and what the ash does to you. Between stories, Tempering improves the skills you used the hard way.
Wounds, Sanity and the cost of knowing
Wounds count up: every hit adds to them, and a single heavy hit can leave you Grievous, then Dying. Sanity starts at your Resolve and rarely comes back. When you witness something that should not be, you face its Dread: lose a little if you hold together, more if you don't.
Breathe enough ash and Corruption grows in you. Rites learned from the ash burn Kindling, your inner flame. Fights run in rounds of about thirty seconds, with initiative rolled on a d10, and on a map one square is one yard.
Ashfall in RollQuest
Click a characteristic, a skill, Sanity or Ember on the sheet and RollQuest rolls the d100 and names the band. Each weapon has a Strike (or Shoot) button and a Damage button, and after a Failure the result offers Press the test, Spend Ember and Spend Fate to reroll for you to choose. Press and hold to roll with Fortune or Misfortune, and weather the GM sets on the scene, such as thick ash or river mist, gives tests to spot things Misfortune by itself.
The character builder walks through all six steps and works the numbers out, the vitals tile carries Recuperate, Catch Breath and Tempering, and the GM can put a Dread horror on a sheet and fire it at everyone who sees it.
Links and downloads
The Ashfall rulebook (PDF) is the complete game: the world, how to play, making a character, the rules, equipment, adversaries, running the game and a quick reference. Version 1.0, 77 pages, free.
RollQuest wrote and publishes Ashfall. It's one of three games of our own, with Brightline and Tidewrack.
Build on Ashfall in the documentation shows the character builder step by step, and how to add your own archetypes, talents and gear.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 is the licence on Ashfall's rules, so you can use them in a game of your own.
Open rules
The game rules and mechanics in the Ashfall rulebook (the tests, results, characteristics, skills, conditions, combat, advancement and the procedures that use them) are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. You may copy, adapt and sell work that uses them, provided you credit: "Based on Ashfall by RollQuest, licensed under CC BY 4.0."
Everything else stays © RollQuest, all rights reserved: the setting and its history, all names of people, places, factions and creatures, the stories and examples, the illustrations, the book design and the RollQuest name and logo.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Ashfall rulebook free?
Yes. The PDF is free to download and read, and you don't need an account.
Do I need RollQuest to play Ashfall?
No. The book has everything you need to play at a table with two ten-sided dice. RollQuest saves you the arithmetic: it rolls every test, names the band and keeps track of Wounds, Sanity and the rest.
Can I use Ashfall's rules in my own game?
Yes. The rules are under CC BY 4.0, so you can adapt and sell work that uses them with the credit line above. The setting, names and art are not part of that licence.
Is Ashfall on the free plan?
Yes. Every game system, Ashfall included, is on every plan, Free included.
Try it
Create a game on the free plan, choose Ashfall under Game System, and walk your first investigator out past the lamps.