Part V · Appendices & Index

Appendix B: Tag Reference

Every tag in here tells you how it shows up in the story and what it opens up for the crew. Tags don’t make a threat’s dice bigger. A tag only changes dice when it says so. Players who know a tag can bring it into a roll for 1 Aura.

How it comes at you

These tags say what its telegraphs can do to you.

Tag	How it plays
Ambush	It strikes from where you are not looking. Its first telegraphs come a step bigger, from somewhere nobody was watching. A lookout ruins it.
Armed Anyway	It doesn’t want to fight. It has a weapon in its hand anyway, and scared people swing wild.
At Range	Arrows, stones, spit. It hurts you from across the room. Cover works. So does getting close.
Belligerent	It wants a fight and it wants one now. Any excuse will do. Refuse to give one and it looks foolish.
Belongs Here	Nobody questions it. It walks where you’d be stopped. Wear its colours and you might too.
Bites	Teeth, and it means it. It goes for hands and ankles. Something in its mouth is something not in you.
Burns	Fire, acid, frost that blisters. What it touches keeps hurting. Water, sand and distance all help.
Calls for Help	One shout and the house wakes. Gag it, charm it, or be done before help arrives.
Charming	It’s easy to like. People around it take its side, and so might you. Remember what it did, not what it said.
Commanding	It gives orders and people obey. While it watches, the others telegraph a step bigger. Take it out of earshot and they waver.
Cornered is Worse	Trap it and it gets more dangerous, not less. Leave it a way out and it might take it.
Fast	It is on you before the sentence ends. It closes distance, takes the door first, gets the knife in. Slow the ground down and it loses its edge.
Fast Hands	Your purse is lighter and you didn’t feel it. It takes things mid-conversation. Watch the hands, not the face.
Faster Than You	Whoever you are, it’s faster. Racing it loses. Tricking it, blocking it or making it choose doesn’t.
Fear	It aims at Confidence, not Armour. Something in the chest goes cold. Naming what it is takes some of that away.
Grapple	It grabs and doesn’t let go. Its telegraphs can leave you Grabbed, at the die that lands. A friend can pry you loose.
Grasping	It wants what you’re holding, and it’ll take it. Its hits steal as well as hurt.
Heavy	Big hands, big body, big lean. It shoves people through doors. It also can’t climb, sneak or turn quickly.
Hits Like a Wagon	One swing and the wall behind you cracks. Nobody trades blows with this for long. Duck, dodge, or put something big between you.
Invisible	You can’t see it. Flour, rain, smoke and footprints can.
Knows a Guy	Whatever you need, it knows who has it. Whatever you want to stop, it knows who can make it happen.
Knows the House	Every servant stair, every creaking board. It’s never lost here and you might be.
Knows Your Plans	It was in the room when you made them. Its first telegraph lands where you meant to be. Change the plan.
Loud	It makes noise. Everyone within three rooms knows where it is and where you are. Quiet it first or be quick.
Never Shows the Knife	Every threat is polite. Every favour has a hook. You won’t see it strike, only that you’ve been struck.
One Strike	It gets one chance, and it has made it count before. Its first telegraph comes a step bigger. Survive it and the fight changes.
Patient	It waits for the right moment. It will not take the first bait. Give it a deadline and it has to move.
Poisoned Words	It says the one thing that makes you doubt your friends. It aims at Confidence, and at the bonds between you.
Reach	Spear, whip, long arms. It hits you from further away than you can hit back. Get inside the reach and it’s clumsy.
Ride as One	Many riders, one will. Their telegraphs land together. Break one from the pack and the rest stumble.
Runs	It doesn’t fight if it can run. Beaten means gone, and it knows the streets better than you.
Shifting	It changes shape, face, story. What worked a moment ago doesn’t work now. Find the thing it can’t change.
Silent	No footsteps, no breath. Its telegraphs come only once it is close enough to strike. Bells, dust and dogs can hear what you cannot.
Silver-Tongued	It talks and the room tilts its way. Arguing with it in public loses. Proof doesn’t.
Slow	It moves like a landslide: unstoppable and late. Anyone quick gets two moves to its one. Anyone cornered is in trouble.
Stirs the Crowd	It speaks and the crowd moves. Every telegraph it makes can come through the people around it. Quiet the crowd and it is one voice.
Swift	Here, then there. It picks its ground, and it is never where you left it. Pin it to one place.
Two Knives	One knife for show, one for the kidney. It can telegraph at two people in one round.
Vengeful	It remembers. Hurt it and it’ll come for you, maybe not today. Make peace, or make sure.
Venom	A scratch that burns an hour later. Its hits leave Poisoned behind. Know the antidote and it’s only pain.

What keeps it going

These tags are its health. Each one’s a reason it’s still standing, and when you strip them all, it falls. Tough works like hit points, and a few, like Crumbling, Forms and Layered, change how the rest works.

Tag	How it plays
A Hundred Years of This	It’s stood here a century. It knows every step of this floor. It’s also very, very tired.
Anchored	Something holds it here: an object, a vow, a body. Find the anchor and it drifts.
Ancient	It’s done this for longer than your family has had a name. It knows the old tricks. It may not know the new ones.
Armoured	Plate, shell, hide like old leather. Blades skid off, and it is one more win to bring down. Lever it open, burn it, or hit where the armour is not. Piercing ignores it.
Beloved	People love it. Attack it openly and the crowd turns on you. Turn the crowd first.
Bound	Something holds it to its duty. It doesn’t choose to be here. Break the binding and ask what it wants.
Bound by Rules	It must obey something: an invitation, a bargain, a name spoken three times. Learn the rule, and a single roll ends it.
Bound to a Place	It’s tied to this ground. It can’t follow you out, and it’s strongest at the heart of it. Break the binding and it has nothing holding it together.
Bound to the Bog	It can’t leave the wet ground. Get to firm land and it stops at the edge, watching.
Bound to the Night	Dawn ends it. Survive until first light, or make light of your own.
Chained	It’s bound in iron or oath. It can’t leave, and it can’t stop. Loosen the chain and see what it does with freedom.
Crumbling	It wears away instead of breaking. Every win steps its Challenge down one. At Challenge 1 it falls. A crowd thinning, a wall giving, a swarm scattering.
Deep Pockets	It can pay for anything: guards, bribes, a new start. Cut off the money and see who stays.
Dying	It’s running out of time and it knows it. It fights like it has nothing to lose. Sometimes that means it’ll bargain.
Fading	It’s thin, and getting thinner. It comes and goes. Wait, and it may just stop.
Feeds	It grows stronger on something: blood, fear, grief, attention. Starve it and it weakens.
Flies	It’s above you. You can’t reach it with a sword. Bows, nets, bait and roofs can.
Forgets You	Look away and it forgets you were there. So do you. Write things down.
Forms	Beat one shape and it turns into another, once for Forms (2) and twice for Forms (3). When the last tag keeping a form going is stripped, it changes instead of falling: its Tough fills back up, and the GM picks 3 to 5 tags for the new shape from its Forms list (more for a bigger change) and tells you what it’s becoming. Tags you’ve already stripped can come back. Forms itself is never stripped, and its last form falls like anything else. Its weak point ends it in any shape, so Study it early.
Fortified	Walls, a gate, a good position. Getting to it is the fight. Get inside and it’s ordinary.
Holds the Line	It doesn’t step back. People behind it are safe while it stands. Go around, not through.
Hollow	There’s nothing inside. Hurting it does little. What moves it is somewhere else.
Immovable	You can’t shift it. Push and it doesn’t move. Go around.
Knows the Streets	It has an alley for every problem and a friend on every corner. Chase it here and you lose.
Knows the Territory	This is its ground. It knows the river crossings, the dens, the cliffs. Lead it somewhere new.
Knows the Waterfront	Every pier, boat and dockhand. It can vanish into the harbour in a heartbeat.
Layered	Built in layers, and every one holds. The first time it’s attacked in a round, it rolls one Challenge die for every tag it has left keeping it going, and its best die is the roll that stands for the round. Strip one and it rolls one fewer. Layered itself is never stripped. For special encounters only.
Mournful	It grieves. The grief makes it strong and slow. Speak to the grief and the strength goes out of it.
Never Beaten	It has never lost, and it fights like it. The first real wound shakes it more than it should.
Not Really Here	Your blade passes through. It’s somewhere else, and this is its shadow. Find where it really is.
Old	It has survived everything so far. Nothing it sees surprises it. Its joints are slower than its memory.
Out of Sight	You can’t hurt what you can’t find. Until someone finds it, attacks are guesses. Light, noise and patience all help.
Overlooked	Nobody looks at it. It passes through rooms like furniture. Once you notice it, it is ordinary.
Politically Untouchable	You can’t touch it in public. The law, the court and the crowd protect it. In private, it’s just a person.
Possessing	It wears someone. Hurting it hurts them. Drive it out without breaking the host.
Reads a Feint	It has seen every trick. The first clever move against it fails, and it smiles. The second clever move, or an honest one, gets through.
Regrows	Wounds close. At the end of every round, one stripped tag comes back. Fire, salt or the right word, used on it this round, stops it.
Relentless	It doesn’t stop, doesn’t rest, doesn’t get bored. You can outlast almost anything except this. Outwit it instead.
Sees in the Dark	Darkness doesn’t hide you from it. Light doesn’t help you as much as you think. Blinding it helps a lot.
Shield	It blocks. Arrows stop, blows land on wood. Take the shield and it is half the threat.
Slippery	It twists out of grips, arguments and nets. Pinning it takes two people or a clever trap.
Split	It is in more than one place. Beat one and the others carry on. Strike them all at once.
Swarm	Many small things. Stabbing one does nothing. Smoke, fire and walls do.
Tough	Works like hit points. It’s written with a number, like Tough 40, and every winning die against it takes off what it rolled. At 0 it’s gone. Plain Tough drops to anything that hurts it, and a named one, like Natural Armour 40 or Beloved 20, only to what fits it: blades on the hide, or turning the crowd. Marked (first), nothing under it can be stripped till it’s gone. The GM says what’s left every time it drops, so nobody has to guess. A spent condition that would strip a tag, like Burning, takes its die’s size off instead, so a d8 Burning takes 8, and Piercing still gets through a tough Armoured. An opening counts it as one tag, and a weak point still ends the threat at once.
Trained	It knows how to hold a weapon and stand its ground. Nothing fancy, nothing it hasn’t drilled.
Unkillable	You can beat it. You can’t kill it. It’ll get up. Put it somewhere it can’t get out of.
Warded	Old marks protect it against magic and the strange: one more win to bring down. Break the ward, scuff the chalk, or come at it plainly.
Well-Connected	Hurt it and someone important hears. It has friends in every room that matters.
Won’t Back Down	It won’t back down, give ground or change its mind. Threats slide off. Respect might not.

What drives it

These tags are what it wants, fears and loves, and they’re how you talk to it, buy it, scare it or turn it.

Tag	How it plays
Afraid of Fire	One flame and it backs away. A torch is worth more than a sword here.
Ambitious	It wants to rise. Offer it a step up and it’ll step on someone else to get there.
Barracks Humour	It jokes when it’s scared. The jokes keep the others steady. Make it stop laughing and they break.
Believes the Lie	It was told something false and it believes it. Show it the truth and it turns.
Bored	It’s not paying attention. Anything interesting pulls it off post. Something boring gets you past.
Can Be Bought	Everything has a price. Its price is lower than most. A purse of gold ends this without a blow.
Cannot Resist an Audience	It performs. With people watching it takes risks it shouldn’t, and it won’t refuse a public challenge.
Clever	It plans. It’s thought of the obvious thing. It hasn’t thought of everything.
Code of Honour	It fights fair and expects you to. Break the code and it’s furious. Honour it and it may yield.
Cowardly	It fights only when winning. The first real hit sends it running or begging.
Curious	It wants to know. A mystery, a question, a locked box: any of them pulls it off course.
Devout	Its faith is the whole of it. Argue doctrine and you lose. Appeal to mercy, or to the god it serves, and you might win.
Envious	It wants what you have: your skill, your friends, your name. That want makes it careless.
Following Orders	It’s here because it was told. Give it better orders, or proof the order was wrong.
Fragile	One good hit ends it. It knows, and it stays out of reach.
Greedy	Money talks to it louder than orders. Offer more than its master pays and watch it think.
Grieving	It lost someone. Everything it does is about that loss. Name them and it stops.
Guilty	It did something it can’t take back. Name it, and it either breaks or confesses.
Hates Their Master	It serves someone it despises. A chance to hurt that person is worth more to it than beating you.
Holds a Grudge	It remembers a slight from years ago. Remind it who did it, and it forgets you.
In Debt	It owes someone dangerous. Pay the debt, or threaten to call it in, and it’s yours.
Keeps Its Word	A promise binds it. Get it to promise something and it will, even when it costs.
Kind	It doesn’t want to hurt you. It will if it must. Show it another way and it’ll take it.
Lonely	Nobody has spoken kindly to it in years. A real conversation disarms it faster than a blade.
Loyal to a Name	It serves one person. Say that name and it listens. Threaten that person and it will do anything.
Old Friend	Someone at the table knows it from before. That history is a door, and a knife.
Old Wounds	It carries injuries that never healed. It favours one side. Find the side.
One of Many	Nobody will miss it. It knows that too, and doesn’t want to die for someone else. Give it a reason and it steps aside.
Owes a Favour	It owes someone at the table, or someone they know. Call it in.
Protects Someone	Everything it does is for someone else. Threaten them and it breaks. Help them and it walks away.
Proud	Insult it and it drops its guard to prove a point. Flatter it and it listens. It won’t be seen to lose.
Scared	It does not want to be here. A kind word or a clear threat will both work. Which one you choose says something about you.
Secretly Kind	Under the threat there’s someone who hates this job. Give them a reason and they’ll help.
Superstitious	Omens, salt, broken mirrors. A bad sign will turn it back. So will a well-told lie.
Tired	It has been doing this too long. Make it longer and it gives up.
Vain	It cares how it looks. Ruin its coat, mock its hair, and it forgets the fight.
Wants Out	It wants to leave this life, this place, this job. Offer it the door.
Wants to Be Needed	It wants someone to need it. Let it help you and it won’t hurt you. Refuse it and it takes it personally.
Wants to Be Seen	It wants someone to notice it, to say its name, to know what it did. Give it that and it softens.
Well-Read	It knows the old texts, the rules, the precedents. It can be out-argued, but only from the right book.
Zealous	It believes. Arguments bounce off. Proof that its faith is being used might not.

The ground

The ground is the place itself, and anyone can use it. For a player, that means bringing it into a roll for 1 Aura. The GM can telegraph from it too.

Tag	How it plays
A Crowd	Bodies everywhere. Easy to disappear into, hard to move through, and nobody can swing a sword.
A Locked Door	Between here and where you need to be. Whoever has the key has the scene.
A Long Drop	The edge is right there. Push someone off, climb down it, or fall.
An Audience	People are watching. Everything said here is said in public, and reputations are on the line.
Bells	Ring them and the whole district hears. Silence them and nobody does.
Candlelight	Warm light and deep shadows. Knock the candles over and it’s dark, or on fire.
Chandelier	A great iron ring of candles overhead, held by one rope. Everybody looks at the rope eventually.
Deep Snow	Every step is work. Tracks everywhere. Anyone who falls is slow to get up.
Echoes	Every sound comes back three times. Nobody can tell where a voice is coming from.
Fire	It spreads. It gives light, smoke and a reason to leave. Anyone can use it, and it doesn’t care who.
Fog	Ten paces and the world ends. Easy to hide, easy to get lost, easy to be ambushed.
Livestock	Pigs, horses, a bull that’s had enough. Panic them and they make their own chaos.
Loose Cargo	Barrels, crates and chains. Cut the right rope and it all comes down.
Market Stalls	Awnings, crates, fruit, fish. Everything to hide behind, climb over or throw.
Mirrors	Reflections everywhere. Hard to tell what’s real. Some things don’t reflect at all.
Moonlight	Enough light to see shapes. Not enough to see faces.
Narrow Stair	One at a time. Whoever holds the top holds the stair.
Old Wards	Chalk and silver marks, older than the building. They stop something. Scuff them and find out what.
Pitch Dark	You can’t see your hands. Whoever brought light has the advantage, and everyone knows where they are.
Rain	Everything’s wet, loud and slippery. Footprints wash out. Bowstrings slacken.
Rising Water	The water’s coming up. Every round there’s less floor.
Rooftops	Tiles, chimneys, gaps between houses. Fast for the brave, deadly for the careless.
Rotten Floor	The boards are soft. Heavy things go through. Light feet don’t.
Ruins	Broken walls, open cellars, stones that shift. Cover everywhere, and nothing’s solid.
Sacred Ground	Old stones, holy marks. Some things can’t cross. Some people won’t fight here.
Scaffolding	Poles and planks, half built. Climb it, collapse it, or hide in it.
Slick Floor	Wine, blood, polished marble. Anyone who runs might fall. Anyone pushed will.
Smoke	Eyes sting, lungs burn. Cover for anyone, and it’s getting thicker.
Tall Grass	Waist high and whispering. Hide in it, lose people in it, set it on fire.
Thin Walls	Everyone next door can hear. Anyone strong enough can go through.

In the way

These tags go on a stake, for whatever’s in the way. Every win strips one, and when you’ve stripped them all, the stake’s yours.

Tag	How it plays
Alive and Scared	It’s a person, and they don’t trust you yet. Earn it.
Curse on It	Touch it and something happens. Know what before you do.
Easily Broken	Rough handling breaks it. Go carefully, which takes time.
Far Away	It’s across the room, the roof or the harbour. Getting there is the work.
Guarded	Someone stands in the way on purpose. Talk past, sneak past or go through.
Heavy Load	It takes strength or time to move. Carrying it means not doing something else.
Hidden Away	Nobody knows exactly where it is. Search, ask, or follow someone who does.
In Plain Sight	It’s right there, in front of everyone. Taking it is easy. Taking it unseen isn’t.
Locked	A lock, a bar, a seal. Someone has to open it, break it or find the key.
Needs Two Hands	One person can’t do this alone. Somebody has to stop what they’re doing and put their action in with you.
On a Timer	It only works for a moment: a tide, a bell, a changing of the guard. Miss it and wait.
Paperwork	A seal, a signature, a stamp. The right document makes it legal. The wrong one makes it a crime.
Proof Needed	Nobody will believe you without evidence. Find it, make it, or find a witness.
Someone Must Agree	A person has to say yes. Convince, trick, bribe or pressure them.
Three of Them	More than one. Each one is its own trip.
Underwater	Below the surface, in the cold and the dark. Hold your breath.
Up High	Three storeys up, on a ledge, in the rafters. Climb, or find another way.
Wanted By Others	Someone else is after it too, right now. Get there first.
Watched	Someone’s looking. Deal with the watcher, or be very quiet.
Written in Code	You have it, but you can’t read it. Someone has to crack it.

Faction strength

These tags are what makes a faction strong, and a faction attack can strip one.

Tag	How it plays
Crusading	It believes it’s right. It won’t negotiate with what it opposes.
Ghost	It’s gone, or seems to be. Its people are still everywhere.
Grudge-Keeper	It never forgets a slight. Crossing it once is enough.
Influential	People in power listen to it. It can open doors, close them, and change laws.
Kingmaker	It decides who rules. Everyone courts it, and nobody trusts it.
Relic	It holds something old and powerful. Without it, it’s just another power.
Rooted	It has been here for generations. Removing it means pulling up half the city.
Secretive	Nobody knows what it really wants. Its moves come as surprises.
Sprawling	Too big to control itself. Its left hand doesn’t know what its right is doing.
Vast	It is everywhere. You cannot hit all of it at once.
Watchful	It sees what happens in its territory. Moving against it quietly is hard.
Wealthy	It can pay for anything, once. Money buys guards, silence and time.

Condition tags

Every condition carries a die. While it lasts, it’s one step for or against, and it can be spent once for its big effect. It steps down one size at the end of every round, and an action that beats its die breaks it. You’ll find the full rules, and what each one does, in Conditions.

A condition you put on a friend, like a ward or a blessing, goes on one friend at the die you built, and the second die of a split can put it on another friend you can touch (see Wards and blessings).

Against you: one step less while it lasts. Burning · Bleeding · Poisoned · Exposed · Pinned · Prone · Staggered · Grabbed · Disarmed · Blinded · Deafened · Silenced · Frightened · Shaken · Stunned · Taunted · Charmed · Spotted · Hexed · Hunted

For you: one step more while it lasts. Warded · Heartened · Covered · Braced · Unseen · Fleet · Blessed · Inspired · Rallied · Sighted · Guided · Disguised · Fortunate · Surging

Two of them move your Confidence as it swings. Spend Heartened and it comes back up a size, as far as where it started the scene, and spend Shaken and it drops a size.

Unseen gives you an extra action when you spend it. Coming out of hiding gives you one too, and with both it’s still one.

The Hunter’s mark. Marked is a special condition only a Hunter puts on, carrying the die they won with, like Marked d10. It doesn’t give a step and nobody spends it. Anyone who acts against whatever’s Marked rolls the Mark die too, as one more die against it, and it fades a size every round like any condition. See Hunter.