To Baztium

Don't look at me like that. I'm not the first to consider this.

The books of our history are vague, but in places too specific. Most tellingly, I swear they are not old enough to talk knowingly of a time so distant from this modern age. Bastion is a beacon of modernity in every way. It radiates raw now-ness into the world, keeping the past at bay, but it's still out there. 

Outside of our city is a crude world, but with each horizon passed things grow more primal. As our expedition passes into the months and years, we start to feel as if we're crossing centuries or millennia. Trains and canals cannot reach our destination, and the march is hard. 

Such a journey requires travel beyond just the march. We must forget our home... I struggle to picture it even now. A distant silhouette. The towering castle-city. Star-lit and noble. We fight the urge to turn back. 

Now our future is clear. A pilgrimage to the great lost city, a paradise to all that can reach it. A sanctuary from this primordial land of cold stone and traitorous trees. From this misery of vengeful spirits and torn guts. 

Ring out the bells, we begin our journey. TO BAZTIUM. 

Country Familiars

Bastion has its pets, vermin, working animals, and other creatures. 

But out in Deep Country they'll tell you with glee that the big city doesn't have real Familiars. 

Of course it does, Bastion has everything, but it's not worth having the argument. Just let them have this one.

Familiars

• Each is unique and named, but exists in many distant places at once (don't try and pull any tricks around this, it won't work).
• They visit each place to help one particular person with a specific desire.
• They keep their host focused on this one goal, to the detriment of everything else.

So it's a simple, straightforward deal. They use their unnatural powers to help you with a thing, no strings attached, and once it's done they'll get out of your life. Though, in most stories the thing is never really done, and the familiar usually ends up outliving their host. 

And even though they're bound to help you free of charge, they still have hungers and hatreds, which they can be quite vocal about. You can just ignore them, of course, but often it just feels easier to keep them happy. 

If a Familiar feels unwelcome or unappreciated their favourite trick is to hide, often inside a valuable object or somehow behind your ear or inside the black of your eye. They don't stop helping altogether, but things would be so much quicker if you just indulged their needs. 

Their form is rarely straightforward, and it's not as simple as just being a black cat.

Maybe it's sort of a cat, but it's immediately obvious that they aren't. More like if your mind's eye tried to manifest a cat in front of you, but you hadn't seen one since your childhood. 

So if the simple stuff doesn't look right, naturally they tend to adopt more elaborate forms made of multiple animal parts and fancy embellishments. They take real pride in their appearance, and love a good neck-frill, prehensile tail, or iridescent coat. 

Let's do this with Spark Tables. Roll 4d20.

d20	Form	Power
1	Coiling	Precognition
2	Smiling	Invisibility
3	Wallowing	Death Touch
4	Lounging	Resurrection
5	Preening	Telekinesis
6	Watching	Pestilence
7	Stalking	Scrying
8	Gliding	Curses
9	Crawling	Pyrokinesis
10	Guarding	Time Manipulation
11	Fluttering	Illusionism
12	Lurking	Telepathy
13	Scurrying	Memory Manipulation
14	Burrowing	Weather Control
15	Basking	Protection
16	Creeping	Conjuration
17	Camouflaging	Light Manipulation
18	Stretching	Shape Shifting
19	Drooling	Knowledge
20	Whimpering	Shadow Craft

d20	Hunger	Hatred
1	Coal	Metal
2	Fire	Plants
3	Rodents	Dullards
4	Velvet	Paintings
5	Youth	Salt
6	Secrets	Wind
7	Praise	Blood
8	Beauty	Religion
9	Bone	Mud
10	Sweetness	Wood
11	Silk	Music
12	Meat	The Elderly
13	Antiquities	Milk
14	Gold	Cattle
15	Spices	Stone
16	Books	Insects
17	Reflections	Fiction
18	Alcohol	Dogs
19	Birds	The Ugly
20	Fungus	Carvings

Porcine Bastionland (or d12 Deep Country Pigs)

Somewhen between our industrial renaissance and this electrical epoch, the pig was banned from Bastion.

Although this was never properly repealed, it is now actively unenforced. Those that don't deal with bestial law have forgotten about it entirely.

But the pigs have always remembered.

Perhaps this is why the creature is so ubiquitous in the rural sprawl of Deep Country. Generations of exiled swines were welcomed into the lives of those that would do anything to contradict Bastion. But if there's one thing country folk like more than going against the city, it's going against each other, and soon every town was boasting of their specialist breeds. 

Rivalries were roused, blood was drawn, towns were smashed aruin. Nowadays it's mostly arguments bellowed across streams, or a rare midnight walloping-raid. But the legacy lives on in the Pigs of Deep Country. Not those raised for slaughter, but those kept for more specialist purposes. 

I spent an agonising two weeks riding the battered roads and rusted rails so that I could bring to you a mere fragment of this porcine phenomenon. 

1. THE DRAFTON NULLITCH VOID BARMER

The densest living mass I have ever witnessed. Small animals are drawn into its gravity well, and even humans feel a gentle attraction. Can cause catastrophic scenes upon moving suddenly, so all efforts are made to keep them calm. 

2. THE GREAT TRAVELLING POLE PIGGY, SNOFFERELLA

I first thought this to be a sort of Mock Pig, but this breed is indeed a truly living beast, bred with a glossy hide and an organ arrangement that can withstand gentle impalement in the construction of a living carousel. They appear to enjoy the ride, but must be carefully rotated a few times each day to maintain internal equilibrium.

3. THE PUDINTRY CHOPPER

I had heard this creature called the Scapepig but locals found such references disrespectful to the sacrifice of this breed. When a crime goes unsolved for a period of four years, the sentence is passed on to one of the town's beloved pigs. A timid, lightly furred breed, they resist their eventual arrest with only token squirms and squeals, locals assuring me that the pigs see their inevitable execution as some fulfilment of their destiny. 

4. THE BOSTOLETS OF HUSHER'S BUSHLEY

Supposedly all descended from the most intelligent pig to ever have lived, the wise Bosto. This small breed are kept in the town's library, where patient trainers attempt to educate the beasts, hoping they will live up to the myth of their ancestor. So far the town claims to have trained pigs with some expertise in gambling games, weather forecasting, and matchmaking, but still not a scratching on the legendary Bosto. 

5. THE BURRYSOD CLIPPER

Lean, predatory hogs that attack the poor people of Burrysod at sunset every day, chewing on any bare legs they can find. By night they sneak into properties to gnaw on furniture and leave their mess in hidden places. The stories say that any attempt to fight back against these pests would only incur a greater wrath, so the locals try to make a game of it. I get the sense that their patience is beginning to wear thin. 

6. THE ABYSATHER GORING-BOAR

This carnivorous breed lives in a symbiosis with the town's more intelligent birds. They drag carrion to the pigs, and are paid in silver from a hidden trove. It's not clear where the pigs are getting their riches from, but they have thwarted every attempt to locate it through a combination of wits and ruthless violence. 

7. THE CASTLEFEGG CATTLEHOG

A truly gigantic hog, carrying itself with the lazy disinterest of a common cow. It possesses none of the noble snuffling or muckery of a pig, and something about it filled me with pure hatred. I have never felt such sudden desire to broadcast my distaste of a harmless creature, which the locals assured me was normal for the first time seeing the beast. Once a few days had passed I could no longer remember the cause of my animosity

8. THE WORKING SWINE OF URMINGSWORTH

Only one member of the Churltapp family remains, carrying a heavy burden to the people of Urmingsworth. She alone can speak to the swine, who follow her instructions diligently if somewhat over-literally. They are the sole workers of this town, the folk having fallen into indolence and sloth after benefiting from generations of free swine-labour.

9. OLD GRUNTER REBORN IN ASHER BREACON

Pig Mayors are so common in Deep Country that it's hardly worth reporting as news. However, Old Grunter represents something more than that. The people of Asher Beacon believe that their town has been ruled by the same pig reborn hundreds of times. I was welcomed to sit in on a mayoral address, and the people did appear to understand the creature's snorts and belches. If they are all playing along with a ruse it appears to be to the town's benefit, as things are truly thriving. 

10. EARL BAPCACKER OF TATER-UNDER-SORE

The rank of Earl was granted to this entire breed for military service, serving as mounts in some anecdotal war involving a cavalry charge on Bastion itself! Must be nonsense, as I was never taught about that at school. Now, this robust breed's fighting days are over, serving as honourary companions to the faded nobility of the Sorelands. They have developed suitably aristocratic tastes, not only in their diet but in decor and etiquette. I myself was corrected by one of the beasts multiple times during our shared banquet, with a gentle groan and a sideways glance directing me to adjust my posture or use the correct fork. 

11. THE BLESSED OEELEE OF FARLIND ROOK

I could not make sense of these things. They ate no swill, left no shit, made no sound. They were smooth as water, soft as bedding, and utterly passive in their behaviour. All they would do is occasionally move to smell some of the flowers left in their pen, the aroma appearing to inflate them ever so slightly. While they are never slaughtered, they are eaten when they die of natural causes, and such meat is rumoured to be the stuff of dreams. Upon asking if I could taste the meat, I was assured that it would never happen in my lifetime and promptly routed from town by armed militiamen. The high stone walls would keep the most persistent poachers at bay, but I wonder why they would permit me to glimpse at the promise of such succulence before casting me out. 

12. THE GUTMEDE STYBIRD

All your worst fears about this beast are true and worse. For those seeking to recreate my journey, this is one to pass by. 

Primordial Bastionland - IRON

The thing with Deep Country is you can always go deeper.

Beyond the knotted vastness of Massiff Country.

Who knows what lies even further than the Old Country of Auldskunterroy.

Forever deeper in both distance and time. 

A sort of Primordial Bastionland.

Past the point where people haven't heard of Bastion, but to a place where Bastion cannot exist, because it's already a dream.

The promise of Baztium. A beacon of civilisation that will rise from this bleak existence. 

But it doesn't exist. This place isn't there yet. It's stuck in the past. 

Pinned in place with heavy iron.

The Way and the Word

The Way is the world as it is, a natural order of things. Fire, Stone, and Sky into Iron, Trees, and Stars. 

Demons are manifestations of the Way, sent to deliver a message or challenge. We have Iron to strengthen us, Trees to protect us, and Stars to warn us.

The Word are the tricks we use to survive. Small crimes against the Way. Stories that hide lessons and lost knowledge. Secrets that put us above the horses and hounds, the thuzzards and leozards. 

Charms, Curses, Callings.

Of all the interweaving threads of the Way, some say we'd be dead if not for Iron alone. 

IRON

In Bastion, weapons can feel obsolete when you're competing with bureaucrats, journalists, and politicians. Of course there are innovations and variations but it's as much about fashion as function.

Out here you don't have that luxury. 

The tools you carry are your means of both survival and staking a place in society. 

You already know the general tools. The sword, the axe, the bow. 

There are more specialist options if you can find those that know the right methods of fire and stone.

Specialist Weapons

Back in Bastion, a small group of niche scholars have spent much time piecing together their limited knowledge of the weapons of the deep Deep Country. Complex categorisations and sub-categorisations are debated and bickered-about. The below is considered a fraction of an outdated taxonomy, but nobody has completed their proposed alternatives yet.

These weapons all have the following in common:

• They can be used as a normal weapon, typically equivalent to a Crude or Hand Weapon.
• They receive a Bonus when used in a specific situation. 
• They tell you something about the sort of person that is carrying one.

Murder Arms - For enemies unworthy.

• Rods: Simple weapons designed to concuss and break bones.
• Bellrod (d6, +d8 when at least one Monk is chanting alongside you)
• Marshersrod (d6, +d8 vs unmounted opponents while you are mounted)
• Bullsrod (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs a target with a lower STR than you)
• Stakes: Weapons designed to stab with a single piercing wound.
• Kannecstake (d6, +d8 vs a disarmed target)
• Chaserstake (Thrown, d6, +d8 vs a fleeing target)
  
• Witchiestake (d6, +d8 in a tunnel or other cramped environment)
  
• Biters: Weapons designed to deliver wide, slashing wounds.
• Muttbiter (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs doglike enemies)
• Cloffbiter (Bulky, d6, can attack two unarmed humanoid opponents)
• Vagabiter (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs humanoid opponents that are fighting unarmed or with a small improvised weapon)

Battle Arms - For enemies with iron.

• Hooks: Weapons designed to hook or drag opponents.
• Catahook (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs mounted opponents)
• Lunderhook (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs opponents wielding a shield)
• Torniehook (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs opponents with STR lower than your DEX)
• Mauls: Weapons designed to apply heavy impact to burst through armour.
• Splittermaul (d6, +d8 vs opponents with Armour 2 or higher)
• Buldersmaul (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs targets with DEX lower than your STR)
• Brekermaul (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs targets without a fully-metal shield or weapon to parry)
• Forks: Weapons with a split blade or spike to trap incoming attacks.
• Brotesfork (d6, +d8 vs opponents wielding a one-handed weapon)
• Shafferfork (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs opponents wielding two-handed weapons)
• Mekenfork (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs opponents that attacked you on their last turn)

Slaying Arms - For inhuman enemies.

• Hurlers: Weighted spears and javelins designed for launching forcefully. 
• Shuckerhurler (Ranged, d6, +d8 vs opponents with a shell or other natural armour)
• Underhurler (Ranged, d6, +d8 vs an opponent that is charging you)
• Palleyhurler (Ranged, d6, +d8 vs opponents with 0hp)
• Poles: Weapons mounted on long poles.
• Heftpole (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs opponents that cannot move next to you)
• Braccenpole (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs opponents taller than you)
• Thistlepole (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs opponents you attacked last turn)
• Chains: Weapons that whip or ensnare opponents.
• Sherdchain (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs opponents that are trying to fight on the move)
• Duffschain (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs opponents with wings)
• Mawchain (Bulky, d6, +d10 vs opponents with jaws large enough to crush a person)

The Bastionland Manifesto

Mission

Break the barriers between your imagination and your game.

When you learn about a new game your mind races with what could be possible. The reality is often a compromise. I want to remove everything that stands in the way between how you imagine a game could be and how it plays at the table.

Tenets

Design for Tables
The games are meant to be played, not read like a novel. Books should be useful for having on the table during your game.

Break Barriers
The games ask for as little as possible from the players. Learning is easy, you don’t have to wait for the good stuff, and everybody is welcome.

See Rules as False Idols
Use dice mechanics and technical terminology as little as possible. Numbers are not the answer, and wherever possible plain speech is preferred.

Methods

Distillation

• Replace multiple rolls with one roll
• Replace boring rolls with interesting decisions
• Replace modifiers with dice variation
• Replace mechanical effects with diegetic effects
• Replace rules requiring referencing with principles to internalise

Infusion

• Somebody reading the book should be hit with flavour even if they aren't going to play
• Flavour should be infused directly into the rules wherever possible
• Anything that could be forgettable can be infused with extra flavour

Filtration

• If everything you need to use at once doesn't fit on a two-page spread then it's too complicated.
• If a concept can't be expressed as a short set of bullet points then it's too unfocused.
• If an idea would exclude people from the game then it can be replaced with something that doesn't.

What is this For?

This is meant to keep me on track. It is not a universal treatise on game design. The games I write aren't meant to replace D&D, Call of Cthulhu, or Traveller. They occupy a specific place on the spectrum of game design, and this manifesto is written to keep my focus there and let you know what to expect from me. 

Cutting Edge Mercenaries of Bastion

Bastion's hired guns are known for seeking the most unusual equipment of the electric epoch. Sometimes they enjoy their signature weapon a little too much.

Each of these is available for hire, £5 for a day's work where they'll do the following:

• Follow you into dangerous places.
• Generally follow orders.
• Think that their favourite gadget is the perfect solution to any problem.

Each Mercenary comes with their own specialist equipment. If this is damaged or lost they always blame their employer, immediately ceasing their service and pursuing financial compensation in Mercenary Court. 

HASTER SMUZZ
DEX 15, 10hp, Trench Armour (1), Baton (d6).
Orbalaster: Bulky, Functions as either a Crossbow (d6) or Rifle (d8) or can fire one of three specific combination rounds. He generally carries one of each.
Salt Charge: Blasts out a fluorescent salt-like powder. Anybody within the blast that is currently Wounded is overcome with pain and instantly incapacitated.
Wild Charge: Blasts out a red mist, any animals in the blast become immediately violent towards the nearest other being.
Null Charge: Blasts out an impenetrable darkness lasting a few minutes. Nothing more complex than a bow can function in the darkness.

DOVVET DERAUMA
STR 15, 10hp, Quarry Armour (1), Two Hatchets (d6 each).
Absorption Engine: Bulky. Chest mounted device that activates when she causes Critical Damage to an opponent. The victim is sucked into the jet-like hole and sprayed out as a bloody mess.
As a secondary function the engine allows very slow, careful flight and can be fed inorganic matter to spit out a d6 Blast of shrapnel.

CANS GUTTANINE
10hp, CHA 5, Two Chop-Swords (d6 each).
Spirit Bombs: Each of these contains the canned essence of some alien spirit. Cans isn't sure which one is which, so roll d6 when he throws one. Once the spirit is released it cannot be returned and does nothing besides lash out.
1: Abyss Spirit: 10hp, De-Pressurisation Touch (d10 ignore Armour, explode on Critical Damage).
2: Iceberg Spirit: 12hp, Icy Form (Armour 2), Crush (d10 to all in a line).
3: Smog Spirit: 6hp, d6 Choke to all within, Immune to physical attacks but disperses if left alone.
4: Pickling Spirit: 8hp, Acidic Splash (d6 Blast), Anything killed is preserved and delicious.
5: Heat Spirit: 12hp, Glowing Metal Body (Armour 3), Heat Ray (d8), longs to be cooled down which causes it to become peaceful.
6: Razorwire Spirit: 10hp, Metal Form (Armour 2), Lash (d6 to all adjacent), Anybody taking Critical Damage is pulled in to be kept safe.

VEX VENTOM
10hp, STR 18, Spiked Armour (1), Combat Chain (d8).
Sludge Gun: d6, Fires a glossy black semi-solid material that can be used in unusual ways.
- Can be sprayed onto a surface to make it bouncy as a trampoline.
- Can be fired into water to create floating platforms.
- Can be fired into fire to explode in a d6 blast.
- Can be bounced around corners for trick shots.
- Can be fired onto an electrified surface to animate the sludge briefly. It thrashes around for three rounds before collapsing (3hp, d6 thrash).
- Can be fired onto the chest of a sleeping person to give them horrible nightmares.
- Can be fired into Acid to neutralise it.
- Can be fired into Alcoholic liquid to make it burst into flames and develop a new complex taste.

SPITCH TINDLE
10hp, Tin Armour (1), Boot Dagger (d6).
Turbo-Cannon: Bulky, also functions as a Shield (+1 Armour). Can be fired on three different modes.
Safe: d6 Blast. A spray of small rounds.
Turbo: 2d6 Blast. Twice the normal fire rate. If the rolls match the weapon jams and is unusable until the next Rest. 
Ultra: Three 3d8 Blast. Thrice the fire rate with hot-rounds interspersed. If two dice match it jams, if all three match it explodes in a d12 blast. 

FINO BANEMANE

10hp, DEX 5, Brass Armour (1), Dagger (d6).

Trace-Rifle: d6, Bulky. Instead of normal fire, can shoot a Trace-Marker that marks the target unless they pass a DEX Save. The Trace Rifle causes d10 damage when it attacks Marked targets and annihilates them in a miniature black hole when it causes Critical Damage.