Drownwake: scoundrels in a city sinking into a god
Roll a handful of six-sided dice and read the highest. A six gets you through. Two sixes, and the tide is on your side. Drownwake is RollQuest's own dice pool game of crews, scores and Wakeglass, with its whole rulebook free to read.
A city on the back of a drowned god
Four hundred and twelve years ago, settlers ran aground on a body the size of a coastline and built a city on its back. The god beneath them, Old Maer, has never woken. It dreams, and its dreams harden in the silt as Wakeglass, the shard that lights every lamp and pays every wage in Drownwake. Every year the god shifts in its sleep and the whole city sinks a hand's width deeper into the estuary.
You play a crew of scoundrels working the gaps between the guilds, the bankers, the law and the faithful: running cargo through the night canals, lifting what the Dry Families keep in their cellars, diving into drowned streets for what the water took. Some of you carry a Wake, a splinter of the god's dream that gives you power and takes your memories in return. One of you is the Game Master (GM), who plays the city and everyone in it. Three to six people make a good table.
How a roll works
Say what you're doing and which Knack you're using. The GM sets your Footing (Firm, Slipping or Sinking: how much trouble you're in) and your Impact (Slight, Solid or Sweeping: how much you can achieve). Build a pool of d6s, roll it, and read the single highest die:
| Result | When |
|---|---|
| Flood | Two or more dice show 6: you do it, and more |
| Clean | The highest die is a 6: you do it |
| Snag | The highest die is a 4 or 5: you do it, at a cost |
| Sunk | The highest die is 1 to 3: it goes wrong |
Your pool is one die for each dot in the Knack, plus a die for each relevant tag you invoke (at most two). You can Strain for an extra die, let a friend Back you, or Pawn a tag to set its die to 6. With no dice at all, roll two and keep the lower, and you can never Flood. Three dice is a competent professional; five or six is a crew pulling out everything it has.
Pressure and the Undertow
When the city strikes back, you Brace: roll Hand, Mind or Voice to shrug it off, and the result sets how much Pressure it costs you. Strain and backing a friend cost Pressure too. Nine boxes fill, Pressure overflows into a Fracture, a lasting crack such as Floodsick or Bellstruck, and at four Fractures it's time to retire while you still can.
Between scores you let the Pressure out through your Undertow, whatever pulls you under when the job is done. Clocks track everything that takes time, the crew shares one sheet, and the calendar runs by the tide.
Making a scoundrel
Everyone in Drownwake has two names: the one your mother gave you and the one the canals did. Then:
- A Calling, what you do for the crew: Knuckle (muscle), Ferret (second-storey thief), Gull (lookout and long gun), Lampwright (tinker of glass and fire), Silvertongue (talker), Ledger (planner and fence) or Dreamer (Wake-touched seer).
- Twelve Knacks in three Currents, rated 0 to 4 dots: Scramble, Brawl, Break and Deft for Hand; Sift, Scout, Trail and Rig for Mind; Charm, Bargain, Lead and Dream for Voice.
- Four Strands, each a Wake or a Root, carrying tags you write yourself ("Gran's lockpick hairpin") and one Leak that works against you.
- A Calling ability, an Undertow, and the gear you bring onto each score.
Drownwake in RollQuest
The pool builder adds up your dice for you: the Knack, the tags you tick, Strain, Back and Pawn. The GM can set your Footing and Impact from chat with /stakes, and the result names itself: Flood, Clean, Snag or Sunk.
The character builder walks through Name Your Character, Choose a Calling, Set Your Knacks, Choose an Ability, Choose an Undertow and Starting Gear, and Use the suggested build starts your Knacks from your Calling's own. A Drownwake game has a Clocks panel the GM and players share, the GM can share a sheet such as the crew's with the whole party, and the sheet's rest is Downtime, for the time between scores. An ability bought with Calling XP, a Fracture or the crew's kind comes from + From pack at the top of the sheet, and the crew's sheet wears Drownwake's own Crew layout, both on every plan.
To start playing straight away, choose Use Content Pack in Create Game and pick The Drowned Market: a flooded canal junction, on the night the Sluice Guild means to drown a strike. While Drownwake is the chosen system, Read the Drownwake rulebook sits under the Game System list and opens this page in a new tab.
Links and downloads
The Drownwake rulebook (PDF) is the complete game: the world, how to play, making a character, the rules, equipment, adversaries, running the game with a starter score, and a quick reference. Version 1.0, 78 pages, free.
Playing Drownwake in the documentation takes a table from the first click to a full session: the adventure, the character builder, the pool, Pressure, clocks and the crew sheet.
RollQuest wrote and publishes Drownwake. It's one of four games of our own, with Ashfall, Brightline and Ninefold.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 is the licence on Drownwake's rules, so you can use them in a game of your own.
Open rules
The game rules and mechanics in the Drownwake rulebook (the rolls, results, Knacks, tags, statuses, Pressure, crews, 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 Drownwake 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 book design and layout, the RollQuest name and logo, and the illustrations to the extent the law protects them.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Drownwake rulebook free?
Yes. The PDF is free to download and read, and you don't need an account.
What dice do I need?
A handful of six-sided dice for each player. Six each is plenty.
Can I use Drownwake'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 Drownwake on the free plan?
Yes. Every game system, Drownwake included, is on every plan, Free included.
Try it
Create a game on the free plan, start from The Drowned Market or choose Drownwake under Game System, and put your crew on the water.