1413008484257.Pdf

Jacob Randolph Paul Matijevic Brandon Schmelz

Inverse World is copyright (2014) by Jacob Randolph and Brandon Schmelz.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

The Patron hireling was written by Jacob Charles. The Instant Island Guide was written by Sean Dunstan. The Mount and Vehicle rules were written by Andri Erlingsson. “RUZU” is written by Greg Stolze.

The Rainlord was funded and conceived by Pan "Chigui" Wyatt, and written by Jacob Randolph.

This work is based on Fate Core and Fate Accelerated Edition (found at http://www.faterpg.com/), products of Evil Hat Productions, LLC, developed, authored, and edited by Leonard Balsera, Brian Engard, Jeremy Keller, Ryan Macklin, Mike Olson, Clark Valentine, Amanda Valentine, Fred Hicks, and Rob Donoghue, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license: ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ ).

Fate™ is a trademark of Evil Hat Productions, LLC. The Powered by Fate logo is © Evil Hat Productions, LLC and is used with permission. The Fate Core font is © Evil Hat Productions, LLC and is used with permission. The Four Actions icons were designed by Jeremy Keller.

All other content in this book is copyright (2014) to Jacob Randolph, Brandon Schmelz, and/or the original author or artist of the material. All written and artistic materials in this book were paid for and are used with permission.

The cover art and some additional artwork was created by HP Heisler: http://spiced- milk-tea.tumblr.com/

Interior art was done by the following artists: Scobble: http://obfuscobble.tumblr.com/ Crossfrown: http://crossystuck.deviantart.com/ Mollie Bruce: http://www.behance.net/mintschievous Tom Miskey

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1: The Setting 4 Instant Island Guide by Sean Dunstan 27

Chapter 2: Getting Started 38 What you need to play 39

Chapter 3: Character Creation 44 Aspects (Concept, Job, and Drive) 45

Chapter 4: Outcomes, Actions, and Approaches 50 Rolling Dice and The Ladder 51 Outcomes 53 Actions 54 Create an Advantage 54 Overcome 56 Attack 57 Defend, Getting Help 58 Approaches 59

Chapter 5: Challenges, Contests, and Conflicts 62 Setting the Scene 65 Turn Order / No Turn Order 66 Attacks and Damage, Stress and Consequences 67 Taken Out and Conceding 69 Recovering Stress and Consequences 72

Chapter 6: Aspects and Fate Points 74 Types of Aspects 75 Using Aspects 77 Compelling 78 Establishing 80 Making Good Aspects 81 Fate Points 83 Inverting 85

Chapter 7: Stunts 88 Making Stunts 89 Sample Stunts 93

Chapter 8: Jobs 102 The Captain 103 The Collector 108 The Golem 113 The Lantern 118 The Mechanic 123 The Rainlord 129 The Sky Dancer 135 The Survivor 140 The Walker 145 Other Jobs 150 Sample Characters 153

Chapter 9: Advancement and Discoveries 158 Milestones 159 Discovieres 161

Chapter 10: Running Inverse World 164 Running Adventures: The GM's Rulebook 168 Zones 173 Enemies and Allies 175 Mooks 187 Hazards 190

Chapter 11: Extras and Gear 198 Extras and the Fate Fractal 199 Special Gear 203 Hirelings, Mounts, and Vehicles 206 Mounts 208 Vehicles 213 Iconic Vehicles and Locations 222

Chapter 12: Converting Characters 230 From Dungeon World 231 From/To Other Fate Systems 234

Special Thanks 238 Appendix N-Verse 246

Special Bonus Thank You 247 "RUZU" by Greg Stolze 248

INTRODUCTION

What is this book? Inverse World Accelerated is a conversion of Inverse World, everybody's favorite Dungeon World hollow world-themed Iron Man simulator, to Evil Hat Production's Fate Accelerated system. If you haven't played Fate before, the Fate Accelerated rules have been provided. However, if you'd like more info, you can get Fate Accelerated (and its parent game, Fate Core) in pay-what-you-want PDF format from DriveThruRPG (www.drivethrurpg.com), Evil Hat (www.evilhat.com) and other sites, or in book format from retailers. We highly recommend paying them in money, people love it when you do that. If you’re familiar with Fate, this game has some extra terms and mechanics, but you should be familiar with most of it. Go ahead and skip reading the parts you know already. This book assumes you have the usual things required to play a Fate game—Fate dice or something close enough that you can fudge, character sheets, people, et cetera. If you don't have those on hand, get them!

Why did we make Inverse World Accelerated?

As you likely know, Inverse World was originally designed as an inversion of core Dungeon World, hence the name - it was meant to play by the same rules, but flip the focus from delving dungeons and slaying dragons to exploring worlds and discovering fantastic things. Fate Accelerated was decided on for the first system to port Inverse World over to, because FAE is very good at exactly that - exploring characters and the world around them. The conversion fit like a glove. We ended up choosing Fate Accelerated over Fate Core for Inverse World primarily because Fate Accelerated is much quicker, and much simpler, and that's a major draw in why I like Dungeon World in the first place. The quicker, more focused pace seemed right up Inverse World's alley.

 Jacob Randolph

CHAPTER 1: THE SETTING 4

The World of Invells The Inverse World – so named by outsiders, who came from beyond the world’s crust. Inside, they found a massive, windy void, with a glowing star shining in the center. A ring of islands orbits this star, and far above lies a ceiling of stone. The Inverse World is on the inside of a planet, and could even be inside of an already existing campaign world, if you dig deep enough. The locals call it a different name, however: Invells. Invells is a mystical place, where an imprisoned god casts light and rain up to the top of the world, and then it all drains back down to the center. The great god Sola is trapped in the center of Invells, a massive burning star that created the light and rain from which all life in Invells was formed. Well, most life. Invells is a bizarre world, filled with all manner of flying fish, strange monsters, wondrous machinery, and Sola’s children, the three spirit-blessed races. Airships, great chains, and winged angels bridge the open gaps between the floating islands. Shanty towns of wood and iron cling to the top of the world. Great cities of light and gold are hidden within the sea of clouds surrounding Sola’s cage. There is much to see, but all of it is just out of reach. 5

The Physics of Invells In a world filled with floating islands and a glowing star at the center of it all, gravity can be a bit unusual for the intrepid traveler to understand. Most of the time, gravity points down, directly towards Sola, which means people live on the darkened sides of the islands, where they can look up to see the Worldcrust, the ceiling of the world. Agriculture is performed on the bottom of the islands, where plants grow – being a farmer is a dangerous and highly respected profession. The islands themselves slowly orbit around Sola, similar to the planets orbiting our own sun. These islands are not so nicely round as planets, though – they are rough, jagged things, shards and fragments of what once was. Uprain nourishes the bottoms of these islands, and with the help of Sola’s light, they grow a bounty of fruit and vegetables with ease, and support all sorts of avian and simian life. Downrain, dripping down from the Worldcrust, nourishes the top of the islands, providing drinking water to the people who build their cities there. Uprain and downrain don’t exist exclusively for giving life and water, though. Every spout of uprain carries a message, delivered by Sola, and each drop tries its best to escape the Worldcrust and return with an answer. No one can speak Sola’s ancient tongue anymore, so what that message is has long been lost, 6

but you can still hear the whispers in the rain as it flies up past you. The rain seems oddly silent on the way back down. Intrepid artificers have even found ways to hijack the rain to deliver their own messages, forming a sort of limited mailing system.

The Geography of Invells Invells’ unique geography can cause some confusion in the uninitiated, but only because it is difficult for outsiders to understand from description alone. You need to see it to truly understand it. At the center of Invells lies Sola’s Cage, a massive ball of fire and gold which keeps Sola imprisoned within it. No one remembers why Sola was imprisoned, but life within Invells is only possible through the rain and light provided by this trapped god. Much like a star, this fiery cage provides light and warmth to all of Invells. The cage is the core of Invells, floating in the center of everything else, and “down” is always in the direction of the cage, no matter where you are. Surrounding the cage is the Cloud Seas, a roiling, tumultuous lake of clouds. These clouds are so dense you can even swim through them, and the greatest cities in Invells can be found buried in the depths of these seas. Above the Cloud Seas you find the Island Ring. The Island Ring is mostly open space, an empty void, with sky fish, clouds, airships, and islands scattered all 7 throughout. These islands vary in size, from massive continents of stone down to rocks barely large enough for two to sit on. Occasionally, two islands will collide with each other, with absolutely cataclysmic results. This event is not as rare as the island dwellers wish it was. Up above that, in the highest reaches of the world, you will find the Worldcrust – a ceiling of stone that traps the entire system inside of it. No one knows how far the Worldcrust extends, and no one knows what is beyond it, if anything. What is known is that it is a hard barrier, the literal edge of the world, and if you want out of Sola’s domain, the Worldcrust is your best bet.

RUMORS about Invells Rumors are facts or questions about the setting for you and your players to discover during play. You can decide these before play, as they come up, or never, as you see fit. They often contradict each other – not all of them can be true.

 What gender is Sola? Male, female? Neither? Both?  Invells has no day and night – Sola is always watching.  Sola rests regularly, and the world dims when they do, giving a regular day-night cycle.  Night time appears erratically, and comes when the cloud seas cover up Sola’s eyes. Day and night are not something to set your clocks by.  How do the airships work? Is it based on a unique material, possibly the same one keeping the islands afloat? Does it work off of gravitation repulsion, or steam power, or great furnaces of iron, or some kind of wind magic, or by using the sky whales? How advanced are these ships anyway?  Some say Sola isn’t even a god, but rather, the Cage is simply a scientific phenomenon beyond our comprehension. The fact that Sola’s nature is completely inscrutable and alien to our own lends some credence to this theory.

The People of Invells

The people of Invells are many, and scattered all throughout the skies. They are not divided into many races, like those of other fantasy settings, but are rather a single, contiguous race of people – the Light-blessed. Sola has granted them life, and they gain power from this blessing. This blessing manifests differently in everyone, depending on how and where they were born. There are those who are born on the Worldcrust or inside an island, and gain the blessings of stone – the goblinfolk, as they are nicknamed. There are those born within clouds, during rain, or underwater, and their blessing gives them the nickname merfolk. And lastly are the cloud-blessed, those born under or on the open sky, who are known as angels. Your blessing is not dependent on your parenthood, only the conditions of your birth – all three peoples, no matter how different they may look, are all children of Sola. However, due to the circumstances of their birth, some blessed are found more commonly in some areas than others. The Cloud Seas are loaded with merfolk, and the Hidden Cities and Worldcrust are where you will find the most goblins. Cloud-blessed are most common among the sky sailors and the guardians of 10

Sola, but all three kinds of blessed will be found everywhere in Invells. The Cloud-blessed are most similar to what we call Humans, but not quite. They come in a wide variety of skin and hair colors, and are much taller than their Earth-blessed brethren. All Cloud-blessed are born with wings sprouting out of their shoulders, so they are nicknamed ‘angels.’ In most, these wings are entirely non-functional, much too small to fly with, but not in all. Those with the most magnificent wingspans are often recruited into the Sky Patrol, a military unit composed entirely of angels and those merfolk who take after the skyfish. The Sky Patrol is tasked with keeping the peace, and can be found all throughout Invells. The Earth-blessed, nicknamed goblins, are a race of short, androgynous, hairless folk with metallic skin and flat noses. The toughest of these people have skin like iron, while the weakest have skin of soft gold. Their eyes are a single, solid color, and their ears flop down like a dog’s.

Goblins are most common among people who spend all their lives underground. Their unique skin makes them ideal for operating dangerous machinery and forges, but they can be found anywhere, doing just about anything. The Rain-blessed are as varied as the fish in the sky – every single Rain-blessed comes with the blessing of a different kind of fish, and they vary immensely as a result. The merfolk people are hybrids of a fish and a man, and there are many kinds of fish, and many kinds of men.

Some of them have legs to walk on, some have long tails they slither along on, and some have both. There are those who take after the sky fish and can float; there are those who have strange traits like jellyfish stingers or angler lanterns or stretchy tentacle limbs. Some of them are large, some of them are very small. Every merfolk is its own species of creature, and their doctors have their work cut out for them.

The Worldcrust One of the most distinctive features of Invells, the Worldcrust is the ceiling of stone that encapsulates the entire world. It is riddled with tunnels stretching upward, and the occasional mountain hangs down off of it. Its surface is rough, uneven, and dangerous. It is full of tunnelworms, there is no reliable source of floor to be found, and a single misstep leads to a long, long way down. The Worldcrust is regarded as the final frontier, the last barrier to be overcome in Invells. No one knows what lies beyond it – all attempts to dig through have uncovered nothing but more and more stone, stretching up farther than anyone knows. Every year, someone attempts to scale the tunnels within, see if they can breach through the other side, and most of them never come back. The craziest people in Invells have taken to living here, building shanty towns and outposts. The Worldcrust does have one thing going for it – ore. Mining operations in the Worldcrust are dangerous but highly rewarding, because the veins of ore up there are much larger than those found in the islands below. Walkers are especially common up here, being the most firmly adapted to living on the ceiling of the world. Wall crawling training is almost mandatory here, and you can find a Walker guide in any outpost you can find. 14

There are also many Survivors up here, lost souls whose outposts or shanties fell into the abyss, or were overrun. Not all of them are survivors of a cataclysm up here – some came to the outposts after they had nothing left back at home.

Worldcrust Rumors  Most say dragons have long been driven extinct, but their lifespans are legendary, and some believe the Worldcrust hides any that remain.  Occasionally, earthquakes tremble throughout the Worldcrust, with disastrous results. What is causing these earthquakes? Is something up there?  The World-eater sleeps up in the Worldcrust. It is nearly indestructible while awake - could it be killed in its sleep? Does it even sleep at all?  Criminals on the run often escape to the Worldcrust – its danger becomes their armor.  Some say the Worldcrust hides a dangerous secret above it, and that it isn’t there to trap us, but to protect us from what lies above. Most say they’re full of crap, because no one knows what is up there.  The Denvil Outpost has reportedly had adventurers returning from the Worldcrust, laden with golden treasures no one could determine the origin of.

Building a Worldcrust Outpost To give life to an outpost on the Worldcrust, answer the following questions about it:  What common resource or service does the outpost desperately need more of?  What recurring danger plagues this place?  What brought people to this outpost? Are they still coming?  What is the outpost most proud of?

Example: Serenfall Outpost  Serenfall needs water. There is rarely enough for everyone.  Serenfall is plagued by earth devils, little imps made of stone.  Serenfall was founded near a rich vein of gold, but the gold is drying up.  Serenfall is most proud of the stuffed dragon carcass displayed in the center of town.

The Island Ring The Island Ring is home to the majority of Invells’ many people. Here, you will find islands of every shape and biome, from massive desert kingdoms to tiny tropical islands and everything in between. While this is the most populated area of Invells by far, it is also the largest, and there are entire swaths of unexplored islands for the adventurous to seek out. The islands orbit Sola’s Cage, making cartography in Invells a difficult practice, especially since the closer an island is to Sola, the more quickly it moves through the Island Ring. The farthest reaches of the ring will orbit Sola once in the time it takes the closest islands to orbit over a dozen times. One solution to this is to chain the islands together, which is a common practice among the kingdoms and nations that pop up among the Island Ring. By chaining several islands together with massive links of iron, you keep the nation together, and establish a reliable bridge between the islands of that nation. Getting water on the islands requires a bit of finesse, but it’s easily do-able. The easiest and most common method is to catch uprain and downrain in barrels or other containers. But Sola doesn’t favor every section of the sky equally, and when the time comes, you need another method – cloud catching. 17

Clouds in Invells are similar to lakes in other settings – large bodies of water full of fish and drinking water. While they are mostly found roiling in the cloud seas, they are still a common sight in the Island Ring. By swinging a bucket through a cloud, you can come back with a bucket full of water, and maybe a fish for your troubles, too. If you can solve the problem of how to reach it, cloud catching becomes an excellent survival strategy. This makes it a favorite for sky captains the world over. Airships chart regular routes through the various nations of the Island Ring, trading between them for profit and mutual benefit. Traveling is common, but airships are not – they are expensive to build and rarely last, so a functioning ship is a valuable commodity. Every airship should expect to function as a passenger ship in addition to whatever it wants to do. Dedicated Captains are in high demand, and if you’re looking for one, the island ring is your best bet. There are three main types of kingdoms to be found in the Island Ring. There are the city-states, which are self-contained nations on a single isle. There are the Great Nations, island-spanning kingdoms with great power at their disposal. And then there are the Hidden Cities, built inside of the islands themselves, tucked away from the rest of the world for reasons unknown. 18

The city-states are common and unique – no two are alike. They play by their own rules. Do they like outsiders? Who is in charge? How does their economy work? These are all questions you’ll need to ask them yourself. The Great Nations are equally varied, but have a few things in common. Firstly, they always have a central island – the capital, where the base of power lies. The capital is almost always much more powerful than the satellite islands of the nation, and is the hub to some source of power – machinery, magic, and airships are common focuses for a capital island. The Great Nations are always very grand, with a very powerful leader in charge. You can find anything here, but especially talented Mechanics. There is no greater place for the advancement of their technologies than the Great Nations. The Hidden Cities are just the opposite – small, tucked away, invisible. Why they hide is known only to them, and they aren’t in the habit of telling. In fact, they’re often in the habit of disposing of those who ask. The Hidden Cities are built inside of hollowed out islands, and keep to themselves. If you stumble across one, expect xenophobia and paranoia, and watch your back.

Island Ring Rumors  There is word that the Duchess of Artina discovered a hidden magical library, and had the entire building taken back to their capital island.  There is a grand conspiracy between the Hidden Cities – a secret greater purpose, with each clue or piece of the puzzle hidden away by a different city. None of the cities involved know anything about the other cities’ part in this.  There is a hidden city dedicated entirely to spiders.  And another dedicated to flies.  They aren’t friends.  Absolutely no one enters the Fourth Northwest quadrant. And nobody will tell you why.  They say there is a merchant ship populated entirely by ancient beings not of this world. They are said to live an eternal life, and they value knowledge much more than any material good.  The legendary sky turtles are so large that they can be mistaken for islands themselves. The rumor goes that if you find one and can get its attention, it will let you live on top of it.

Building a Great Nation To give life to a Great Nation, answer the following questions:  What service is exclusively carried out by magical constructs?  In one or two words, describe the cultural memory of the joining of the islands. Why did they bind together?  What resource has become scarce due to high demand?  One of the bound islands is the dominant island. Which island, and why are they dominant?  One of the bound islands is considered lesser and inferior. Which island, and why do the other islands find it inferior?

Example: The Great Nation of Brythall  Automata horses lead carriages through the streets of Brythall.  The islands were bound together because of Brythall’s belief in manifest destiny.  Wood is now scarce, as it is very integral for the work of artificers of Brythall.  The island of Brythall exerts its dominance through superior numbers.  Ayrthin is considered the lesser island, said to be filled with “dimwitted luddites.”

Building a Hidden City To give life to a hidden city, answer the following questions about it:  What common thing that every other city has is so obviously missing from this city?  What rare thing in every other city does this city have in excess and abundance?  What activity is abnormally common in this city?  What activity is prohibited in this city?  Which of the previous answers hides a deeper, possibly sinister secret?

Example: The Hidden City of Lorenth  Lorenth does not have any cats or dogs or pets of any kind.  Lorenth’s doors are fantastically large, and each and every one has ornate carvings depicting major athletic events.  Tug of war contests are exceedingly common.  Exchanging hard currency is strictly prohibited. Only barter is allowed.  The events depicted on Lorenth’s doors seem unnecessarily brutal for ordinary sporting competitions, as though these competitions were not merely sport, but something more.

The Cloud Seas The Cloud Seas are a beautiful place, with ever- shifting clouds, constantly roiling and shifting and swirling all about. Being as close to Sola as they are, they are bathed in shades of crimson and gold, but they are a deep turquoise or teal on the inside, and a deep blue on the outer edges. This unique pallet of colors, combined with the shifting, makes the Cloud Seas look like a gorgeous, living pastel painting. It is no wonder that Invells’ richest citizens built their cities here. Built from the golden lightweave taken directly from Sola’s Cage below, combined with the solid clouds one can find in the deepest parts of the Cloud Seas, they have created beautiful crenellating cities of luxury and wonder. Sky Dancers call the Cloud Seas their home, the thick atmosphere making for a forgiving practice area for their trade. You don’t even need to be a sky dancer to fly through the clouds – they are thick enough to swim through, as long as you know how. Their calling is primarily ceremonial – they are performers and dancers, although many of them move on to join the Sky Patrol as warriors. The riches of the Seas also attract many a Collector. Many Collectors get their start as a rich resident of the Cloud Seas who discovered a burning need for more than what they already had. 23

Of course, not everything in the Cloud Seas is as nice as it looks. People get swept away in the currents of the roiling seas all the time, and swimming safety is a big deal in the gilded cities. The richest family in any given city is allowed to get away with anything, and the bureaucracy found in the cloud cities is maddeningly opaque. The Cloud Seas may not be as directly murderous as, say, the Worldcrust, but you still need to keep your wits about you as you travel through these seas.

Cloud Seas Rumors  Many an eccentric noble will pay through the nose for anything strange or magical, if you can get it to them first.  They say that in the lowest reaches of the seas, sometimes the clouds themselves will boil, getting too close to Sola’s burning gaze.  It is believed that there is a city of Giants somewhere in the cloud seas, but none have found it – it must be hidden in deep, if it exists at all.  While the Cloud Seas are generally regarded as the safest place in the skies, there is a rumor that a Khedat Spider Queen managed to make her way down here, which spells disaster for anything that comes across her in the mists.

Building a Cloud City To give life to a city on the Cloud Seas, answer the following questions about it:  What exotic object or service is considered an acceptable alternative to coin here?  What sort of metric is used to measure a family’s wealth and status in this city?  What strange security measure does this city use to keep outsiders and undesirables in line?  What petty activity is severely punished by the local law enforcement?  What crazy extravagance is this city’s leadership known for?

Example: The Cloud City of Velpin  Braids of brushed golden dog fur is highly prized; a foot of braided golden dog fur is easily worth a purse of silver.  A household’s status is measured by the quality and variety of their bandana collection.  Outsiders and undesirables are required to care for a large turtle and keep it with them at all times. It is believed the turtle’s slow walking pace and general adorableness will keep them from doing anything risky.  Singing in Velpin is punishable by 7 years of forced servitude to the local government.  Velpin’s leadership is known for hiring explorers to find and name new islands after them. 25

Sola’s Cage Sola’s Cage is literally the sun of Invells. Falling below the surface of the Cloud Seas leaves you with nothing between you and Sola except 200 feet of open air, a wave of intense heat, and a lake of burning molten gold. The air is oppressive and hot. The light is blinding. Random spouts of liquid burning gold will shoot up from the surface, scalding anything foolish enough to get too close. Built directly onto the surface of the cage is the Temple of the Lantern. A massive castle of stone, insulated with pockets of air and rain mixed with Sola’s blessing, here is where one must go to become one of the mythical Lanterns. An order of knights and mystics granted great power by their god Sola, the Lanterns carry around a piece of the sun with them wherever they go, and have been trained to use it as a weapon, as a shield, or as a beacon for any who need them. The Cage is also the source of lightweave, a glowing cloth woven from the molten gold harvested from Sola’s Cage. As light as cotton but as firm as iron, Lightweave is the standard material for Lantern robes, and is also commonly used by the Sky Patrol as light armor. There are even some who use the material to forge weaponry, but this weaponry is unstable and difficult to use without serious thought behind every motion you make. 26

No one can recall what sin it was that Sola committed. Why are they trapped here? What did they do? Sola does not speak in our tongue, so it is likely we will never know.

Sola’s Cage Rumors  The common theory is that Sola was trapped here for some crime committed long ago. The theory goes on to say that all of Invells is a prison built for holding gods, and Sola is its current captive. Who was here before Sola? Does Sola’s sentence have an end-point? What happens if Sola goes free?  The other common theory is that Sola created this cage to protect this world. The Worldcrust was made to ward off some unknowable evil, and Invells is a bubble of safety against the horrors above.  On occasion, people have reported seeing golems of gold or fire rise up from Sola’s surface, launched into the reaches of Invells for some unknowable purpose. Messengers of god, perhaps?  There are those nihilistic few who believe Sola to be dead, long since killed by the fiery seas that form her cage.  Sola watches those who come beneath the Cloud Seas. Any who offend this fickle god may find themselves blasted out of existence by a powerful solar flare. Fly carefully. 27

INSTANT ISLAND GUIDE Written by Sean Dunstan

When using the island generation tables, remember that these are meant to be stepping-off points. You should always feel free to pick a result you like instead of rolling, or to tweak an entry to something you like better.

Island Size and Shape The first step in generating an island is to determine the overall size and shape of the island. Larger islands can have multiple cities or cultures on them, and will have more room for things like resources or ruins. Roll on the "Island size" and "Island shape" tables to start out.

Island sizes 1: Tiny - Only large enough to hold a house or two 2: Small - a village of 20-30 people 3-4: Large - capable of holding a town 5: Huge - capable of holding a whole city 6: Titanic - Multiple cities, and probably multiple cultures.

Island shapes 1: Flat disc 2: A bowl, which may or may not be empty. 3: A close cluster of smaller islands. 4: One solid piece; a more “normal” sky island. 5: Surprisingly regular geometric shapes. (sphere, cube, dodecahedron, hypercube...) 6: An object (such as a giant hand, a cage, or a sundial)

Island Environments Once you have the overall shape of the island, use the "Topside Environment" table to see what the the surface of the island is like. If you want, you can also roll on the "Under-island Environments" so see what's on the sun-touched part of the island. If you're not sure, roll a d6; on a 1 or 2 there's something down there.

Topside environments 1: Bare stone. 2: Fungal deposits, ranging from fields to fungal jungles. 3: Desert sands or coarse gravel. 4: Snow and ice. 5: Completely urbanized. 6: Jagged, rocky outcroppings.

Under-island Environments 1: Grasses and wheats. 2: Vines, with strange seed pods. 3: Fruits, ripe for the harvesting. 4: Trees or other large plants. 5: Unusual clinging/floating animals. 6: Buildings clinging above the abyss. They may or may not be abandoned.

Physical quirks Now, roll on the "Physical Quirk" table to see what's unusual about this island. Start by rolling a d6; a 1-3 means there's a passive quirk to the island, and a 4-6 is an active quirk. Passive quirks are things that are constantly true about the island, while the active quirks are things that can actually directly threaten the characters.

Physical quirks (1-3 is a passive quirk, 4-6 is an active quirk)

Passive Quirks 1: Only water, no land (or vice versa: all land, no water). 2: Mostly water, with small islands. 3: Odd gravity. 4: Many caves and holes through the island. 5: Tethered or physically connected somehow to another nearby island (rope bridges, chains, ski lifts...). 6: Rare top-side growing plants. 30

Active Quirks 1: The island changes shape based on outside influence (time of day, set schedule, etc.). 2: A shifting environment: one day it’s lush fields, the next it’s inch-thick snow. 3: Some part (or all) of the island phases in and out of reality. 4: The island is caught in a perpetual storm of some sort; rain, thunder and lightning, snow, or sand. 5: Volcanic activity. There are (relatively) small lava deposits and volcanos. 6: The island travels through the skies on some sort of predictable path; perhaps it orbits a larger landmass, or just moves back and forth between two fixed points.

Note: Islands can have more than one physical quirk, but be careful not to overdo it. Too many strange things at one place can result in a location that's not so much interesting as annoying.

Island Goods Optionally, if you think an island should have something worthwhile on it, you may roll on the "Trade Goods" table to see what resources are there. A "large" island will have a base of 1d4 trade goods. For each size above "large" add one to the roll, and for each size below "large" subtract one.

Sometimes available trade goods won't make sense for the generated island; a small island that's uninhabited and in the middle of a perpetual snow storm probably won't be "generating" cloth. But that doesn't mean it's impossible; maybe there's a forgotten cache of supplies there, or the island is used for storage by someone.

Trade Goods (2d6) 2: Plants 3: Wood and related building materials 4: Stone and minerals 5: Technology (parts and/or devices) 6: Cloth/Silk 7: Animals 8: Music/Art/Books 9: Weapons 10: Knowledge 11: People (slaves) 12: Nothing; the island either has nothing worth trading, or things are so tight that they can’t afford to let anything go. 32

Island Culture The next step is to determine if the island is inhabited or not. If you want to leave it up to the fates, roll a d6, and on a 1-3 the island is inhabited.

A "basic" culture is a settlement with a leader and people getting on with their lives. But of course most places aren't completely normal, which is why we have the Cultural and Social Quirks tables.

The Cultural Quirks tables are used to get a feel for what life is like on this island. You can roll to determine what specific area stands out from the norm (1-2 = Leadership, 3-4 = Leisure, 5-6 = Trade), or you can roll or pick one thing from each category.

No matter how you do it, though, you should only use each Cultural Quirks table once for a single culture.

Cultural Quirks (1-2=Leadership; 3-4=leisure, 5- 6=trade)

Leadership 1: Mayoral leader, who is elected by the inhabitants. 2: Council of Elders (or Elder). 3: Theocracy, sort of. The leaders worship something (the sun? the weather? Sola? Some god they made up?) and lead according to its wishes. 4: Meritocracy. Your worth to this culture is based on what you're capable of producing or what skills you have. If you can’t produce, you have little to no rights. 5: The culture is run by a guild of whatever the island’s main trade is. They may have a puppet non-guild leader in place for appearances and to shift blame to. 6: Nobody seems to be in charge at all, but things seem to manage themselves pretty well, thanks.

Leisure 1: There are festivals on a regular basis, celebrating local gods, Sola himself, or just life in general. 2: There is no time for leisure. Life is too harsh here to relax. 3: Sky races are popular here. Flying mounts of all stripes are bred here and are a major part of the island’s culture. 4: Martial tournaments. May or may not be to the death. 5: Sports! Larger islands may have multiple teams, while smaller ones might have only one or two local teams with rivals elsewhere. 6: Nothing but leisure activity of all sorts. Work? Nah, we’re good. We’ve got someone taking care of all that “work” stuff. Who? I don’t know; it’s not my problem.

Trade 1: The island is open to trades with other islands and whoever shows up. 2: You can trade, but the local government or trade guild gets a piece of the action...or else. 3: The island does not produce trade goods themselves, but has set itself up as a major local trade hub for other nearby islands. 4: The local trading is managed by a dedicated government office, rife with bureaucracy and graft. The main government may or may not care, depending on how much of a cut they get. 5: The government of this island refuses to engage in trade with anyone else, regardless of how much they need outside resources or need the money. 6: The island doesn’t engage in trade directly, but acts as a waypoint/rest stop along a major trade route.

Social Quirks The social quirks are to determine what unusual situations exist in the island's culture, and come in three varieties: Obvious (visitors will learn them pretty much right away), Secret (may take some digging to find, or can inconvenience the characters before they even know about them), and Dangerous (directly harmful to the people on the wrong side of them). A 1 or 2 on a d6 roll means there's an Obvious quirk, a 3-4 is a Secret one, and a 5 or 6 is a Dangerous one.

Again, islands can have multiple social quirks, but bear in mind that less is more. The more odd things you try to have happen in one place, the less of an impact they'll each have.

Social quirks (1-2: obvious, 3-4: secrets, 5-6: dangerous)

Obvious 1: Technologically stunted. They don't trust machines at all, and may be prejudiced against people who do use technology. 2: Technologically advanced. The people are very dependent on technology, possibly to the point where they can’t function as a society without it. 3: There are guards at every street corner and outside every door. Nobody meets their eyes. 4: There is a caste system in place, marked by an obvious sign such as clothing or special jewelry. At least, it’s obvious to the people who use it. Outsiders might have a bit of a learning curve. 5: The people of this island are grouped into clans. Generation-long feuds are optional, but encouraged. 6: Everyone is very pleasant and friendly to everyone, all the time. The smiles may be a little too wide, though.

Secret 1: The government works on a system of graft and favoritism. The right word from the wrong person can make your life a living hell. 2: The ruling class likes how things are working around here, thank you very much, and are not fond of people rocking the status quo, no matter how lightly they do it. 3: Puppet government. There’s the public people who think they’re in charge, and the secret people (or person, or organization) who are actually in charge. 4: The lower classes despise the upper classes, and are plotting an overthrow of the local government. This hate may or may not be justified. 5: The town/city/whatever is built over some ancient caves and ruins inside the island. The ruling class is in charge because they’ve made bargains with what lives within. 6: The rulers of this city are actually being secretly controlled by an outside force from another city or island.

Dangerous 1: Idiot King - a figurehead picked by the "real" rulers. The real rulers can get away with anything, and the idiot king will take the fall for them. 2: Xenophobic. They don't cotton to outsiders here. 3: This island has some form of control over another nearby island; maybe they control a resource the other island desperately needs to survive, or they have a military hold over their victims. 4: The people of this island think they need a sacrifice to make some event happen; the harvest, continued safety from enemies, or things along those lines. They may or may not be right in this belief. 5: The island itself is alive, self-aware, and in control. It can create small creatures out of its substance to interact with the people who inhabit or visit it. 6: Any crime, no matter how minor, is dealt with harshly with imprisonment and/or death. There is no appeal, and no compensation given to strangers unfamiliar with the laws. The citizenry seem to be okay with this.

CHAPTER 2: Getting Started

WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY • 3-5 people. One of you will be the gamemaster (GM for short), the rest are players. • At least four Fate dice. These are like six- sided dice, but instead of numbers, they have two plus symbols (+), two minus symbols (-), and two blank sides (0). • A character sheet for each player and something to take notes with. • Some tokens to represent fate points—poker chips, glass beads, etc., at least six per player. • Index cards are optional, but useful for writing aspects on. Anything similar works.

40 HOW IT WORKS Now that you have all or at least most of those things, it’s time to play! In Inverse World Accelerated, you and your group create a group of characters and tell stories about their adventures in the world of Invells. Each adventure is like an episode of a fantasy TV show or a section of a video game—like The Legend of Korra, Bastion or Adventure Time—only instead of Finn and Jake exploring a weird adventure world, it's you guys. Dice are rolled when you do important things to see if you succeed, to add some uncertainty and excitement. If you’ve played Fate before, you know how it works. Go ahead and jump to character creation!

SETTING UP When you start, you should talk to your group about what kind of game you want. There are a lot of different games you can play in Invells. You can go exploring, touring dangerous skies and boldly going where no-one has gone before. You could focus on trade, moving wanted goods between cities and dealing with the politics of the spirit-blessed. You could just want to save the world and punch bad guys in the face. Invells is a big place, and there’s room for all kinds of adventures. Once you’ve decided what part of Invells you want to focus on, you should pick players and the gamemaster. Each player controls one player character (PC), and decides what actions they take in the adventure. One person is the gamemaster (GM), who puts challenges in front of them and controls every other character (the non-player characters, or NPCs). If this were a videogame, the GM would be the level designer. The gamemaster and players work together to 42 tell these stories and have fun doing it. When you make a decision for your characters, think about what your character would do and what would make the story better. Don’t worry about making mistakes or “bad” decisions—if it’s interesting and makes the game better, there are no wrong choices. Some later chapters provide advice specific for gamemasters. Players can get away with skipping them, but are encouraged to read as much as they can—the better everyone understands all aspects of the game, the better they are at playing it. Once you’re all set up, you can start making your characters.

CHAPTER 3: Character Creation

It’s time to decide who your character is. You don’t need to plan everything out before you start - just a basic idea. Think about Invells, what you like about it, and what kind of adventures you're having in it. Once you have an idea, start writing!

ASPECTS An aspect is a word or phrase that describes an important detail of your character. It can be a physical trait, part of their personality, something else like a catchphrase, relationship or possession, or anything else about your character you think is important. They help define what your character is like, and the kinds of things they do. Aspects can also be used to change the story in ways that relate to your character, or establish a fact about the setting, like an organization you’re in or a hated enemy. Good aspects give everyone at the table a clear idea of what they mean and how they might be important. You have five aspects: a concept aspect, a class aspect, a drive aspect, and two free aspects.

CONCEPT Your concept is a phrase or sentence that sums up your character and what their deal is—their occupation, their role in the story, or their philosophy. If someone asks "What are you playing?", your concept could probably be your reply. Inverse World characters are empowered because they have the freedom to travel, and your concept says what they do with it. Don’t overthink the concept. You have four more aspects to describe your character with, so you don’t have to cram everything in here. The concept is just the most important aspect. Examples: Daredevil Cloud-Blessed Pirate, Junior Priestess of Sola, The Captain Your Captain Could Look Like

JOB Your job is an archetype or career that fits your character. If this were a different RPG, your job would be your character class. Your job is a 1-2 word phrase, and your job aspect describes what that means to the character. So if you wanted to be a Golem, you write that down and take a golem aspect, a Survivor would have a survivor aspect, etc.

There’s no limit on what your Job can be—it can be anything you want, from Collector to Golem to Fighter to Black Mage to Grifter to Talking Dog. Chapter 8: Jobs has some suggestions and guidelines.

DRIVE Your drive aspect is why you travel, what motivates your character. This can be a goal you can work towards (or against) a bit at a time, something that drives you on every adventure, or just how you want to live your life. It can be as grand or as petty as you like. Statements like "I Will...", "I Want..." etc. are not required but can be a good start. Drive aspects have a special rule: once per scene, when you invoke your drive aspect to reroll, you can invert a roll instead. More on what that means in Chapter 6: Aspects And Fate Points. Examples: All I Want Is A Ridiculous Fortune, I Am Justice!, To Protect And Serve

FREE ASPECTS Your last two aspects can be anything else you want to define about your character but haven’t managed to fit yet. They can be more interesting things about your character, relationships with other characters (especially if you liked Dungeon World's Bonds), or something you didn’t have room for before. If you can't think of any more aspects, that's okay. You can leave these blank and fill them in during play.

APPROACHES Approaches define how your character does things. Everyone gets the same six:  Careful  Clever  Flashy  Forceful  Quick  Sneaky

Each approach gets rated with a bonus, which says how good your character is with it. Rate one approach at Good (+3), two at Fair (+2), two at Average (+1), and one at Mediocre (+0). Check out Chapter 4: Outcomes, Actions and Approaches for more details.

STUNTS Stunts are special traits that let your character be better at certain things than others, or even let you bend the rules in unique ways. You can have up to three, and you can choose them during play if you’re undecided now. Chapter 7: Stunts talks about stunts and offers some to choose from, as well as rules for making your own.

STRESS AND CONSEQUENCES

These define how hard your character can be knocked down and still get back up again. Every character gets three stress boxes, which form their stress track. They also have three consequence slots, which let them take more hits in exchange for being left with longer-lasting damage— one mild, one moderate, and one severe. This is all noted on your character’s sheet already. Just be aware that it’s there. Attacks and Damage in Chapter 5: Challenges, Contests, and Conflicts gives more details.

YOU'RE DONE! Time to adventure! 50

CHAPTER 4: Outcomes, Actions, and Approaches

When you want your Inverse World character to do something, the first thing you do is describe it. What your character can do is usually suggested by their aspects. If your aspects say you can talk to the spirits of Invells, go ahead and talk to them. If they say you're a swordsman, you can hold your own in a fight. If they say you're a master chef, you can make amazing souffles. Aspects don't normally have any impact on the mechanics unless you decide to invoke them (Chapter 6: Aspects and Fate Points). If the action isn't hard, that's it—you did it. If someone's trying to stop you, there's a significant obstacle in the way, or if failure would be interesting, you'll have to roll for it.

ROLLING DICE When you need to roll, you roll four Fate dice and add them together. + is +1, 0 is 0, and - is -1. For example:

-++0 = +1 0++0 = +2 +-+- = 0 ---+ = -2

THE LADDER The Fate system uses use a ladder of adjectives and numbers to rate everything, from dice results to targets to your approaches.

It looks like this: +8 Legendary +7 Epic +6 Fantastic +5 Superb +4 Great +3 Good +2 Fair +1 Average +0 Mediocre –1 Poor –2 Terrible

The higher up on the ladder your result is, the better you do. Inversely, the lower on the ladder your result is, the worse you do.

OUTCOMES Once you've rolled, add your approach bonus (more on that on page XX) and any other bonuses you get, then compare the total to a target number—either fixed by the GM or the roll your opponent made to stop you. Your outcome is:  A failure if your total is less than the target.  A tie if your total is equal to the target.  A success if your total is greater than the target.  A success with style if your total is at least three greater than the target. What that means depends on the action you're taking. The difference between your total and the target is referred to as shifts. 54

ACTIONS There are four kinds of actions that cover everything you do: you can Create an Advantage to work with, Overcome an obstacle or problem, Attack someone or something, or Defend yourself or an ally.

CREATE AN ADVANTAGE Creating an advantage is anything you do to try to help yourself or your allies. Taking time to prime your airship's cannons, searching old records for information, and throwing sand in somebody's eyes during a fight are all good examples. The advantage you create lets you either:  Create a new situation aspect.  Discover an existing situation aspect or another character's aspect.  Take advantage of an existing aspect.

If you're creating a new aspect or discovering an existing one:  If you fail, either you don't do it, or you do but an opponent gets a free invoke on it instead of you. The second option is great if other people could take advantage of it, but you might have to reword it to show that it benefits someone else. You can still invoke it with a fate point.  If you tie, when creating an aspect, you get a boost. You can name it and invoke it once for free, then it goes away. When you're discovering an existing aspect, it's just a success.  If you succeed, you create or discover the aspect, and you or an ally can invoke it once for free. Write it on an index card, put it on the table.  If you succeed with style, it's a success, and you can invoke it twice for free. Usually you can't invoke the same aspect twice on the same roll, but a success with style is an exception!

If you're taking advantage of an existing aspect:  If you fail, that's it, nothing happens.  If you tie or succeed, you get another free invoke on that aspect for you or an ally to use later.  If you succeed with style, you get two free invokes.

OVERCOME The overcome action is used when you need to get past something that's in your way, like picking a lock, getting your airship through some hazards, or convincing somebody to help you. Removing or changing a situation aspect is also an overcome action. Depending on the action, your target might get a chance to defend. If you're unsure if something should be overcoming or creating an advantage, think of it like this: usually, creating an advantage prepares you to deal with a problem. Overcoming is dealing with it.  If you fail, you get a choice. You can just fail, or you can succeed at a serious cost—like losing something important, or getting hurt. Work it out with the GM.  If you tie, you succeed, but at a minor cost—you don't get everything you wanted, or a new problem comes up, or an NPC gets a boost.  If you succeed, you pull it off.  If you succeed with style, you pull it off and you get a boost. 57

ATTACK You attack when you're trying to hurt someone, physically or mentally—punching them in the face, insults, whatever. This gets covered more in Chapter 5, but the point is you're trying to knock someone out of the scene and they to defend to try to stop you.  If you fail, your attack doesn't work.  If you tie, you don't do any damage, but you get a boost.  If you succeed, your attack hits and you do damage. (See Chapter 5.)  If you succeed with style, you do damage, and you can choose to reduce your damage by one to get a boost.

DEFEND You defend when you're trying to stop someone doing one of the other actions—blocking an attack, blocking a doorway, or just getting in their way. Usually this happens on someone else's turn, as a reaction to whatever they're attempting. You can defend against an attack on someone else, if you can explain how and everyone's cool with it, but then you suffer if anything bad happens.  If you fail, your opponent succeeds and you're on the receiving end.  If you tie or succeed, you did alright; check your opponent's action to see what happens.  If you succeed with style, you succeed, and you get a boost.

Getting Help When an ally helps you perform an action, they give up their action for the exchange and describe how they’re helping. You get +1 to your roll for each ally that helps. Usually only 1-2 people can help before they get in each other's way; the GM decides how many people can help at once.

APPROACHES If aspects define what your character can do, approaches define how. They're the sorts of actions your character is competent at, and how they prefer to handle situations. The six approaches are:

 Careful: Paying attention to details, and taking your time to get it right. Lining up a crossbow shot, keeping watch or searching shipping records are examples of Careful actions.  Clever: Actions that rely on thinking fast and solving complex problems. Fixing a mechanical suit, finding a weak point in an airship, or assessing someone's combat style are Clever actions.  Flashy: This is all about the style, and guaranteed to attract attention. Giving a speech, doing magic tricks, or taunting an enemy all count.  Forceful: Brute strength, pure and simple, like prying a door open, wrestling a flying bear, or intimidating someone.  Quick: Speed and dexterity, for when your priority is getting things done right now. Chasing someone down, dodging a sword blow, or suiting up in time all count.  Sneaky: Anything that emphasises misdirection, stealth and trickery, like talking someone into letting you in, cheating in a card game, or surprising someone in a fight.

Your approaches get ratings from +0 to +3.

Sometimes, circumstances will limit your choices. If you're trying to hide from somebody, that's being Sneaky, not Forceful. If you need to jump out a window to escape an explosion, you probably don't have time to do it Carefully. Don't worry if you can't use your highest approach—it'll keep you on your toes! Roll with the punches and work with the Approach that fits best for what you're doing.

ROLL DICE, ADD BONUS, RECEIVE BACON When you pick your approach, roll the dice and add your approach's bonus, plus any bonuses you get from stunts. That's your total. You can change the result by invoking aspects. Check Chapter 6: Aspects and Fate Points for more on that. When you're done rolling dice and invoking aspects, check what Outcome your total gets you, and see what happens as a result - the game goes on.

WHAT YOUR CHOICE MEANS Here's the important thing: approaches tell the GM what you want success to mean. Let's say you're on an enemy airship, and there's a locked door. There a few ways you can approach that, depending on what your priority is: You could Cleverly pick the lock, if you want to use your wits to find a trick to it. Sneakily, to be sure nobody can tell what you've done. Quickly, if you just want to get the hell out of here. Or you could just Forcefully smash it out of your way. Either way, the door's open. But even if the basic result is the same, the approach you pick can change the outcome. If you succeed but at a cost, your choice of approach can change what that means—often based on what you didn't choose. If you're Sneakily breaking in, maybe you're not Careful and leave evidence, or you're not Quick and you start running out of time. Don't sweat it too much. Just pick the approach that makes sense for what you want, and you should be fine.

Chapter 5: Challenges, Contests, and Conflicts

Usually, when you're doing something simple, all you need to do is make your overcome or create advantage action and see what happens. Sometimes, things are more complicated.

CHALLENGES A challenge is a complex situation that needs several overcome and create advantage actions to deal with. You make an overcome action for each part of the situation, and figure out how it's resolved based on what you succeed at. To set it up, decide what individual tasks need to be dealt with, and treat each as a separate overcome roll. Depending on the setup, one character can make every roll or multiple characters can split the load. GMs don't have to announce every stage in the challenge ahead of time, especially when clearing one set of tasks will lead directly to another. Adjust later stages as necessary to keep things exciting. 64

CONTESTS A contest is when two or more characters are competing for the same goal but not actually trying to hurt each other—like an airship chase, a political debate, an auction, or a dance-off. Contests are made of a series of exchanges. In each exchange, every participant takes one overcome action to see how well they do, then compares results. The one with the highest result wins, scores a victory, and describes how they take the lead. If you succeed with style, you get two victories. If there's a tie, nobody gets a victory and an unexpected twist happens—terrain shifts, the rules of the contest change, or something else turns up and affects everybody. The GM makes a situation aspect for it. The first person to three victories wins.

Conflicts A conflict is when characters are actually trying to hurt each other, physically or mentally—sword fights, airship duels, insult contests, forcing someone to surrender, interrogation, and more.

SETTING THE SCENE First, establish what's happening, who's fighting, and where they are. The GM should put a couple of situation aspects on the table too, and t hey can take player suggestions. Next, the GM establishes zones. Zones are loosely defined areas that tell you where everyone is in the conflict. Generally, everyone in a zone can easily interact with others in their zone, or in nearby zones if they can justify acting at a distance. Sketching a map is a good idea. On your turn, you can move one zone for free, but if something's in your way or you want to move two or more zones, you'll have to use an action. For more about setting up Zones, see Zones in Chapter 10: Running Inverse World.

TURN ORDER Turn order is usually based on approaches. In a physical conflict, it comes down to reflexes—highest Quick rating goes first. In a mental conflict, it's attention to detail that warns you of danger—highest Careful goes first. It's up to the GM how breaking ties works. To keep things simple, GMs can pick the NPC with the best rating to determine order and let every NPC go at the same time.

NO TURN ORDER? Sometimes, it can be easier to resolve a conflict without a turn order at all. In this case, the GM should give characters the spotlight as they need it. When a player is threatened or taking action, focus on them for a short while, letting them resolve a roll or two. See where that takes things, then pan back to another player, and catch up on what happened with them in the meantime. Those of you who are playing this with a Dungeon World background will likely find this method of turn order much more comfortable, while those coming from Fate or most other games will probably prefer a concrete turn order. Use whichever method is most comfortable with your group. 67

EXCHANGES The rest of the conflict proceeds in exchanges. In each exchange, each character takes their turn in order, and can take any one of the four actions. The conflict ends when only one side is able or willing to continue.

ATTACKS AND DAMAGE When an attack hits, the damage is measured in shifts—the difference between the attack roll and your defense roll. So if you beat a defense roll by 3 (such as a Superb attack against a Fair defense), you land a 3-shift hit. When someone gets hit, they have two choices: absorb it and keep fighting, or get taken out. If you cannot absorb all of the damage you are taking, you are automatically taken out. To stay in the fight, you can either check stress boxes or take consequences to absorb shifts. Or, if you've been attacked but haven't rolled defense yet, you can concede before rolling. If you concede, you get a say in what happens to you when you lose.

STRESS Stress represents superficial wounds, getting tired, a near miss. loss of composure, or anything else that isn't quite a full hit. Each character has a stress track with three stress boxes. When you take a hit and check a stress box, the box absorbs a number of shifts equal to its number; one shift for Box 1, two for Box 2, three for Box 3. You can only check one stress box for a single hit, but you can take multiple consequences. You can't check a stress box that already has a check mark in it, but your stress boxes clear at the end of each scene.

CONSEQUENCES Consequences are special aspects that represent serious harm and longer-lasting trauma. You have three consequence slots, and each reduces a different number of shifts: mild (2 shifts), moderate (4 shifts), and severe (6 shifts). You can fill multiple consequences to absorb one hit, but only if that slot hasn't been filled already. You name the consequence when you take it. More sever consequences take longer to go away - mild consequences are inconveniences like a Bruised Head or being Shaken, moderate consequences are things that you can't just sleep off like a Slashed Arm or being Exhausted, and severe consequences are serious things like a Fractured Arm or Shattered Reputation. When you take a consequence, that's another aspect your opponent can use against you, and the opponent that caused that consequence gets one free invoke on it.

TAKEN OUT If you're taken out, then you're out of the scene. Whoever took you out gets to decide what happens to you. It has to make sense in context—you lose the debate, get knocked out and captured, suffer great shame, whatever makes sense. 70

CONCEDING If you want to give up, you can interrupt any action at any time to declare you concede. You have to do this before you roll dice—once you roll your defense, you either take stress, take consequences, or get taken out. Conceding means you still lose, but you get to have a say in what happens to you. Your opponent will still get something major they want from you, and you can't use it to undermine them, but you can limp away from the worst of it. When you concede, you also get a fate point, plus one more fate point for each consequence you took in that conflict. Heroes who know when to give up live to fight another day, after all.

DEATH In a physical conflict, there's technically no reason someone who takes you out can't say you die—that's something that happens in fights! In practice, what happens here depends on your group. Some groups think it's more fun when the spectre of death looms over every fight, while other groups think being killed by the first mook that gets lucky isn't fun at all. Either approach is fine, as long as your taken out conditions are reasonable. Inverse World recommends reserving character death for dramatic, meaningful and climactic fights. A lot of the time, dying is a less interesting story than having your character suffer, and losing a bunch of story threads and finding a way to insert a new character can be very jarring for a game. On the other hand, dramatic fights become just that more dramatic when death is suddenly back on the table. That said, if you're running a game that's more Game of Thrones With Airships than Adventure Time, knock yourself out. Either way, you should make sure that everyone knows in advance when they're going to be putting their lives on the line. 72

RECOVERING STRESS AND CONSEQUENCES

Stress is easy: your stress boxes are cleared at the end of the scene. A consequence is more complicated. First, you need to explain how you recover from it in a way that makes sense in the story—whether it's medical attention, a walk to calm down, getting drunk until you feel better, or something else. Then, you just need to wait:  Mild consequences clear at the end of the scene, once you get a rest.  Moderate consequences clear at the end of the next session, once it makes sense in the story.  Severe consequences clear at the end of the adventure, once it makes sense in the story.

Since moderate and severe consequences stay a while, you can change the name of the aspect after you start recovery to better fit the story—Broken Arm becomes Arm In A Cast, etc.

CHAPTER 6: Aspects and Fate Points 75

ASPECTS An aspect is a short phrase that describes something special about something that's important to the story—people, islands, objects, situations, groups, and more. They highlight the things that are important to the story. During gameplay, they're used to spend and gain fate points.

TYPES OF ASPECTS All aspects work the same way. The difference is how long they last.

CHARACTER ASPECTS Character aspects describe things that are important about about a PC or NPC, like personality traits, occupations, relationships, special items, major problems, reputations, titles, etc. These are permanent until changed, and only change in rare circumstances.

CONSEQUENCES Consequences represent the lasting injuries that happen when you get hit by attacks. They take time to recover, as described in Chapter 5.

SITUATION ASPECTS Situation aspects describe the surroundings that the action is taking place in, whether it's the environment, background objects, things in your way, or the general mood. This includes aspects you create or discover using the create an advantage action. Situation aspects last as long as the thing they represent lasts— they go away once the scene they were in ends, or when

BOOSTS Boosts are like situation aspects, but they represent very temporary advantages: they can be invoked once, then they vanish. Usually they come with a free invoke. Unused boosts vanish at the end of the scene or when the thing they represent no longer exists.

DISCOVERIES Discoveries are special boosts you can get at the end of an adventure. They last until you use them, and you get benefits for doing it. More about Discoveries in Chapter 9: Advancement and Discoveries. 77

USING ASPECTS INVOKING Normally, aspects just describe things. You invoke an aspect to get a bonus out of it. To do that, you have to explain how it could help out in your current situation and spend one of your fate points. When you invoke, you can either:  Add a +2 bonus to the total of one roll.  Reroll the dice. (This is best if you rolled -3 or -4 on the dice.)  Create an obstacle for an opponent, if you think they're doing something the aspect could interfere with. This adds +2 to the difficulty of the action.  Help an ally, if you can use an existing aspect to make things easier for them. This gives them +2 to their roll.  Invert a roll, where you're allowed. (Check Inverting, later this chapter.)

You can only invoke an aspect once per roll, but you can invoke multiple aspects on the same roll. You can invoke after you roll, and you probably should.

Free invokes on an aspect mean you can invoke it without spending a fate point. Usually you get these by creating or discovering aspects with the create an advantage action, inflicting consequences on opponents, or getting boosts. You can give your free invokes to an ally, if you want.

COMPELLING Sometimes, aspects can work against you. If you’re in a situation where having or being around a certain aspect could make your character's life more dramatic or complicated, anyone can compel that aspect. You can even compel it on yourself—that’s called a self-compel. Why would you do that? Because compels are the most common way for players to earn more fate points, that's why! There are two types of compels:

Decision compels suggest the answer to a decision your character has to make. If your character is Captain Of The Widdershins, for example, you may need to stay on your ship and protect your crew rather than fleeing to safety. Or if you're a Zealot of Sola, maybe you can’t help but mouth off to Templar superiors for worshiping Sola wrong.

Event compels represent an outside event that makes life more complicated for you. If you have Strange Luck, maybe the invention you've been working on accidentally blows a hole in the inn room you're renting. If you have General Thade Has It In For Me, then the General shows up to take a shot at you just when it’s least convenient.

In both cases, when an aspect is compelled against you, the person compelling it offers you a fate point and suggests that the aspect has a certain effect—that you’ll make a certain decision or that a particular event will occur. You can discuss it back and forth, proposing tweaks or changes to the suggested compel; the compel should have a meaningful impact on the story, but aside from that anything goes. After a moment or two, you need to decide whether to accept the compel. If you agree, you take the fate point and your character makes the suggested decision or the event happens. If you refuse, you must pay a fate point from your own supply. Yes, this means that if you don’t have any fate points, you can’t refuse a compel! Anyone can offer a compel, not just the GM - you can even compel yourself.

ESTABLISHING Aspects have one passive effect: they establish facts in the game. You don’t have to spend any fate points, roll dice, or anything to make this happen—just by virtue of having the aspect Mobile Suit Toku's Pilot, you’ve established that your character is a mechanical suit pilot and you have a suit you named Toku. Having the aspect Mortal Enemy: The Sola Rangers establishes that the setting has an organization called the Sola Rangers and they’re after you for some reason. If you take the aspect Spirit-Talker of the Metal Nation, you not only establish that there’s a place called the Metal Nation, but that it's possible to talk to spirits and you can totally do it. Essentially, aspects are always true, whether you invoke them or not. Handle this power carefully, and make sure you do it in cooperation with other players. If most of the group wants to play in a game that doesn't have, say, earthbending, you shouldn't bring earthbending into it with an aspect. Make sure that the facts you establish through your aspects make the game fun for everyone.

MAKING GOOD ASPECTS When you need to think of a good aspect (mostly character and situation aspects), think about two things:  How the aspect might help you—when you’d invoke it.  How it might hurt you—when it would be compelled against you.

Example A: I'll Get You Next Time, Conway! • Invoke this when acting against Conway to improve your chances. • Get a fate point when your dislike for Conway makes you do something foolish to try to get him, or when he gets away again.

Example B: Born To Fly • Invoke this when being a natural at aerial maneuvers would help you. • Get a fate point when you're forced to stay grounded, or do something clumsy outside of aerial situations.

It's okay if you have an aspect that's a little one- dimensional—a Drive that would mostly lead to compels is a good source of fate points, for example— but you want most of your aspects to be double-edged, to maximise their use.

When you write the aspect down, make sure it's got a clear purpose. When you show it to the group, they should be able to work out what it means and how it could come up during the story without you having to explain it too much. You can use elaborate wordplay or clever references, but always put clarity first. (I Love To Bacon! might be a great injoke with your buddy Steve, but if your group has no idea what that means, it's a bad aspect.)

FATE POINTS You start each adventure with five fate points. If the adventure takes more than one session, you start the next session with the fate point total you had at the end of the last one. When the next adventure starts, you go back to five points, so don't be afraid to use them! You spend fate points to unlock the power of aspects and make them help you, or to activate any stunts you have that cost a fate point to use. You earn fate points by letting a character aspect be compelled against you to complicate the situation or make your life harder. You spend a fate point when:  You invoke an aspect without using a free invoke  You activate a stunt that requires a fate point  You refuse a compel You earn a fate point when:  You accept a compel  Someone invokes one of your aspects against you  You concede a conflict (and another for every consequence you received)

If you're the GM, you start each scene with a pool one fate point per PC in the scene. The GM can spend these points like the PCs can, to have NPCs invoke aspects and consequences against the PCs. If you run 84

out of fate points, you can't. The GM adds a fate point to the pool when a player compels one of an NPC's aspects. If the compel ends the scene, or the NPC gives in, instead add those fate points to your pool at the start of the next scene. Fate points you award for compels do not come from this pool. You never have to worry about running out of fate points to award for compels. 85

INVERTING When you invert a roll, you flip the -s and +s around but 0s stay the same. ---0 becomes +++0, -+-- becomes +-++, etc. Usually, you can invert a roll once per scene by spending a fate point to invoke your Drive. This represents your character's determination to get through the obstacles in their way. When you roll the dice and they come up bad, though, there's an immediate sense of failure. Inverting doesn't make that go away. Instead, when you invert, you describe how your Drive lets you turn disaster into victory. The situation is bad, the dice are against you, but you refuse to give up and find a way to make it work for you. For example, let's say you're a detective—the World's Greatest Detective, even—and your Drive is I Am Justice!. You're on the trail of your greatest nemesis, and you're trying to corner them for a showdown. You throw those dice: -0--. Whoops. Even as a success at a cost with a sympathetic GM, that's gotta hurt. But wait! You are driven to do this, remember? Heck no are you letting them get away that easily. You invoke I Am Justice! to invert that into a +0++. You're low on clues, you're exhausted, and you're running out 86

of time, but you refuse to give up on Justice. You keep at it, and as you review everything you know so far, you finally stumble on one tiny clue you overlooked before. Bingo. They're not getting out of this that easily. You can think of inverting as an improved reroll: it's always better to invert when the dice come up with a net result of -2 or lower. The tradeoff is the extra restrictions—on top of costing a fate point, it's only once per scene, and only by invoking your Drive. Stunts can change this, but only so much.

CHAPTER 7: Stunts 89

Stunts are special traits, tricks and techniques your character has that let them bend the rules. They can change how an approach works, give you an edge in certain situations, or make you more effective in conflict. Stunts can represent training, talent, an innate ability, special equipment, and more.

MAKING STUNTS Everyone chooses their own stunts. Each stunt provides one mechanical benefit, and what that can be is limitless. If you're still working out what it does, or you want to explain when it's appropriate, consider starting it with “Because [reason your character is awesome]...” followed by the benefit. There are several different types of benefits a Stunt can give you. They can Add a Bonus, Switch Approaches, Improve Evokes, Make You Awesome, or let you do something unusual.

ADD A BONUS TO AN ACTION A stunt can give you a +2 bonus to taking a certain action with a certain approach in a certain situation. These usually go something like this: “+2 to [choose an approach] [choose an action] when [situation]”. If you like, you can split it up to give you +1 to two different actions or approaches.

Examples: Crazy Taxi: You get +2 to Quickly overcoming when you are recklessly piloting a vehicle. En Garde!: You get +1 to Flashily attacking and defending in a one-on-one swordfight. Pathfinder: You get +2 to Cleverly creating advantages when finding shortcuts, escape routes or other paths.

SWITCH APPROACHES A stunt can let you change an approach to do something it normally can't do, by letting it replace another approach for certain actions. These usually go “When [situation occurs], you can [choose an action] [choose an approach] instead of [another approach]”.

Examples: Mechanical Legs: When engaged in a challenge or contest that involves running or jumping, you can overcome Forcefully instead of Quickly. Sheen of Sweat: Because you look good after a workout, when dealing with people who might be attracted to you, you can create advantages Forcefully instead of Flashily.

IMPROVED INVOKES Normally, invoking an aspect can get you a +2 bonus. Stunts can make that a +3 bonus in certain situations, like invoking a character aspect, or advantages you created with a certain approach, or an opponent's aspects, or when you use free invokes during a conflict, etc. These usually go “When [situation occurs], invoking [kind of aspect] gives you a +3 bonus instead of +2”. You don't need to specify a situation if it's a narrow category of aspects.

Examples: Driven: Invoking your Drive gives you a +3 bonus instead of +2. Tag Tournament: In a conflict, allies who invoke an aspect or consequence you created with your fists get a +3 bonus instead of +2. Wind, Fire, All That Kind Of Thing: Aspects you create Flashily using your magic powers can be invoked for a +3 bonus instead of +2.

BE AWESOME AT SOMETHING These stunts are sort of like aspects, in that they establish facts that are always true—but when a stunt does it, you get a mechanical benefit. When you're awesome at something, you can always choose to succeed at a cost when you make overcome rolls related to that thing. You can do it before you roll, or you can wait until after and do it when the dice say you would have failed. When making opposed rolls against someone who isn't awesome, you can always choose to succeed at a cost. If they are, the stunts cancel out; make a regular opposed roll. What the cost is depends on context. For example, if you can turn invisible and be awesome at trying not to be seen, the cost could be your opponent realizing that something's there, or getting a general sense of where you are. Examples: Cloudscape Navigator: Because you know the Cloud Seas like the back of your hand, you are awesome at navigating through them. Boarding Party Of One: Because you can leap from ship to ship without fear of falling, you are awesome at dramatically boarding ships.

...AND MORE These aren't the only things you can do with stunts, but there's no way to list them all. Check out the sample stunts coming up for more ideas! If you want to make your own stunts that mess with the rules in ways that aren't outlined here, go for it! As long as they're roughly level in power, you should be good. You can find out more about the construction of stunts under Skills and Stunts in Fate Core, or you can check out other Fate books to see what they do—see Chapter 12: Converting Characters for some great ones.

SAMPLE STUNTS

Careful Stunts MacGuffin: Because you're a veteran adventurer, you get +1 to Carefully overcoming and creating advantages when looking for treasure, lost islands, relics, and plot-important items.

Man Vs Wild: You get +2 to Carefully creating advantages to help you survive if you are in or near civilization.

Take The Shot: Once per conflict, when you Carefully create an advantage to line up a shot, you can get an extra free invoke.

Veteran's Eye: You can tell if someone is capable of killing with a glance. If they are, get +2 to Carefully assessing their combat skills.

CLEVER STUNTS ...But It Just Might Work!: Describe a crazy plan, spend a fate point, and make a Clever roll. You create one advantage for every shift of success you get, as long as the group agrees your plan is insane.

Emotional Assassin: Because you always know how to get to someone, you get +2 to Cleverly creating advantages when figuring out their emotional weak points.

Ideas Guy: Advantages you create Cleverly grant +3 when invoked by others and reduce the margin for success with style to 2, but you yourself can never succeed with style when invoking them.

FLASHY STUNTS Acting Natural: Because you always look competent even when you have no clue what you're doing, you can spend a fate point to use Flashy in place of any other approach to make any overcome roll.

Can't You See I'm In-Character?: Because you’re studying this ship's crew for a role, once per scene you can borrow a mate's stunt to prove your pirate-ness to an onlooker. Substitute Flashy for any approaches it uses.

Combo!: Once per conflict, when you Flashily attack someone you can attach a boost by shouting an attack name (such as "SHORYUKEN!").

Party Liaison: When you throw (or crash) a big party, spend a fate point and make a Flashy roll. For each shift you get, you can discover or create an aspect on any scene, location or NPC you could encounter or learn about during your carousing. You can invoke one of them for free.

FORCEFUL STUNTS Combo Breaker!: During any conflict, when an opponent Flashily creates an advantage, you can immediately spend a fate point to Forcefully create your own.

Muscles Of Steel: You gain +2 to Forceful attacks that rely purely on brute strength.

Reckless Blow: When you invoke one of your character aspects to boost a Forceful attack, you may choose to gain a +4 bonus instead of the usual +2 in exchange for giving your opponent a boost afterward.

QUICK STUNTS It Keeps Happening: During a chase scene, you can declare that an obstacle appears—a fruit cart, two men carrying a sheet of glass, stairs, or anything else that fits in context. In addition to your action, you can try to Quickly overcome against Fair (+2). If you succeed, you get a boost. If you succeed with style, your roll can be used to attack your opponent with the obstacle. If you fail, your opponent gets a boost.

Motor Mouth: You get +2 to any Quick attack, if you can make a fresh quip or pun that gets a reaction from the other players. If someone laughs for real, you get +3.

You're Too Slow: Invoking an aspect you created Quickly in a physical conflict gives you a +3 bonus instead of +2.

SNEAKY STUNTS Are You Upset?: You can get a rise out of anyone, even if they know what you're doing. When you create an advantage to rile them up, you can always Sneakily defend against them as long as the advantage exists.

Off Camera: Once per scene, when you're not the center of attention, you can attempt a Sneaky action without being spotted—even if it would normally be impossible. Even people who should know better ignore you or glance away.

Thievery Loves Company: The language of crime is international. You get +2 to Sneakily creating advantages when networking with other criminals, no matter where you are.

CONFLICT STUNTS Battle Cry: You have a battle cry (like “It's clobbering time!”, only good). Once per conflict, you can attach it to yourself as a boost by yelling it.

Missed? Actually...: Once per conflict, when you miss a ranged attack, you can place the boost I Hit Exactly What I Was Aiming For, as long as you can describe what that is.

OTHER STUNTS I Am Already Here: In any scene where you're not physically present but plausibly could have been, you can suddenly reveal that you were disguised as a faceless NPC or hidden in the background the whole time.

And It Don't Stop: Because you're hard to slow down, once per scene you can get a free invoke of a situation aspect meant to impede your movement when you're trying to dodge or plow through it.

Backup Plan: Once per scene, if you fail a roll, you can spend a fate point to immediately try again with another approach. Any aspects invoked during the failure may not be invoked on the retry. 99

Beautiful: When you enter a scene, you can choose to place either Infatuation or Jealousy on an NPC in that scene with a free invoke. You can’t use this stunt on an NPC who has overcome it before.

Campaign Cartographer: You are the best at maps. You can always figure out what a map means–even if it's coded, the GM has to tell you what it means at a dramatically appropriate moment. If you don't have a map, you can always spend a fate point to find one.

Called It!: Once per scene, you can guess what the deal is with a particular object, person or location. It can’t be something obvious. If you turn out to be right later that adventure, you get a boost.

Dark Fate: Destiny has plans for you, and you're not going to like them. In any conflict, whenever you would be taken out, you can choose to concede instead. One day, though, the GM will get to call a compel you can’t refuse. When that happens, replace this stunt.

Evil Eye: Once per session, you may spend a fate point to activate your Evil Eye. While active, it pierces through all illusions, seeing the world as it is both spiritually and physically. This technique lasts the entire scene, and it is very noticeable and unpleasant to behold. 100

I'm Feeling Lucky: Once per scene, before you roll Fate dice, you can declare you “feel lucky”. If the dice show 0 or higher, add +1 to the result. If they show -1 or lower, subtract 1 from the result.

Just As Planned: Because everything is going according to plan, you can spend a fate point at any time to declare that an NPC’s create advantage attempt or a PC compel was something you had planned for, and place a situation aspect with a free invoke.

Keep Calm And Carry On: You never spill your tea, except in one single, dramatic moment. Once per adventure, you can spill it at an appropriate time and create the aspect So Very Agitated with two free invokes.

Lazy Reroll: Once per scene, instead of rolling dice, you can spend a fate point to repeat the last Fate dice result you got. You have to be attempting a different action.

The Areas of My Lack of Expertise: When you invoke to add +2 to a roll with an approach you’re only Average (+1) or Mediocre (+0) at, you get +3 instead.

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CHAPTER 8: Jobs

As stated during Chapter 3: Character Creation, your job is an archetype or career your character fits. Looked at another way, they can be what happens when you ask someone to convert from a class-based system to a classless system. The jobs in this chapter were made by converting classes from the original Inverse World, and represent character archetypes common with the world of Invells. They do not represent everybody, though. Really, your job is just flavour text. You don't even have to write down a job, though you should still note which aspect is your job aspect in case it comes up later. Each job is presented with some sample aspects, some advice on roleplaying that job, and some job- themed stunts. They're just guidelines—you can tweak them to fit with any job, or just ignore them entirely and do your own thing. This chapter presents the Captain, Collector, Golem, Lantern, Mechanic, Rain Lord, Sky Dancer, Survivor, Walker, and bonus ideas for some other jobs.

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THE CAPTAIN

104 THE CAPTAIN She's a beauty. Maybe only to your eyes, but yours are the ones that count. Her rigging is firmly tied, her keel strong, and her hold ready to keep your cargo safe. She consents to carry your crew, and under your guiding hand they treat her well. Yes, your ship is a wonder. But she will have to be, because you will steer her into danger - and, fortunes willing, out of it again. She will carry you far, perhaps farther than anyone has gone before. Set sail! Fly the colors! Ready the cannons! The Captain is on deck, and you’d best be at the ready!

Example Captain Aspects

A Heart Of Gold? Can I Sell It? Been There, Plundered That Former Imperial Admiral I'll Get That White Skywhale Yet! Irresponsible Captain [name] My Crew Would Follow Me To Sola And Back Worked My Way Up From Cabin Boy Veteran Of A Thousand Battles

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AIRSHIPS 101 If you're going to be a Captain, you need a ship. There are a few ways of handling this. You could plan it as an Extra. This basically means you assign the ship its own aspects, stress and consequences. This turns the airship into an important base for the group or possibly even cornerstone of your game, as iconic as the Enterprise or the Space Battleship Yamato. More about this method in Chapter 11: Extras And Gear. You could also represent it with an aspect. People on the ship rely on their own stats to do things, and can invoke the ship's aspect when it could help them. If the GM okays it, you could also attach a fitting “special effect” you can get by invoking it, like automatically outrunning a nameless enemy ship or overcoming an obstacle by ramming it in exchange for a consequence. This is a good way to handle airships if it's not going to come up that much and you don't need it to have any stats or static bonuses.

106 CAPTAIN STUNTS All Hands On Deck: Once per scene, when you create an advantage to coordinate with your crew members, you can get an extra free invoke.

Big Damn Heroes: During any scene where a party member (including you) is in big trouble, you can spend a fate point to have your ship show up dramatically to save the day and place a Big Damn Heroes boost.

Captain's Hat: Your iconic hat is as much a part of you as your ship. As long as you're wearing your hat, once per scene when you invoke your Captain aspect, you may invert your roll.

Captain’s Word: You are awesome at giving people orders.

Home Advantage: You gain +1 to Flashily attacking or defending whenever you’re on a ship.

Imperial Background: Because you have connections with the military of a certain nation, when you create an advantage to find a patriotic ally, you can create one additional aspect. You don’t get an extra invoke for it, though.

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Red Shirt: You start each session with a Redshirt with two free invokes. The Redshirt can be used as a moderate consequence by you, your allies, or your ship, but the Redshirt disappears if you do.

Ride of the Valkyries: Once per scene, when your ship lands or comes alongside something so that the party can leap off dramatically, you may place a situation aspect with one free invoke.

Swashbuckling: When you improvise a daring plan, you can spend a fate point and choose an approach. You can use Flashy in place of that approach until the plan concludes or the scene ends, whichever comes first, and all your Flashy ties are successes.

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THE COLLECTOR 109

THE COLLECTOR You remember your very first curio. It was so precious to you. You could pull it out if you want, actually, it’s right here… or… wait, it might be under… hm. You’ll have to get back to them on that, it’s here somewhere. Your collection has only grown over time. Every curio and trinket that falls into your hands is one more tool, one more wonder. Sometimes you wonder if you don’t have too many things. Maybe you’ve finally reached your limit. But then you find something else that catches your eye. You are the Collector, and you must have it.

EXAMPLE COLLECTOR ASPECTS Connoisseur Of Legal Codes Let Me Show You My Pocket Monsters None Of These Inventions Work Properly, That's The Point! Thirty-Seven Different Kinds Of Polearm The Goat Whisperer These Are No Ordinary Dice Writing The Definitive Monster Manual

110 LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT COLLECTIONS The Collector keeps a collection of strange and rare curiosities, all of which follow some sort of theme—like bugs, tiny dinosaurs, impractical inventions, scientific principles, or anything else that seems appropriate. Ideally, either your Collector aspect describes this collection (Collector of Cards and Games, for example), or you describe it in one of your other character aspects and your Collector aspect describes how you feel about it (for example, Concept: The Man With 10,000 Hammers, Job: Carpenter on a Mission). You can invoke this aspect to improve rolls or make plot-relevant declarations by producing a helpful item. Even without invoking, having a Collector aspect can flavour your actions—maybe you create advantages by producing something from your collection, or when you overcome it's actually your items doing it for you. If your collection is great for one specific situation, or you have a prized signature item, consider taking a stunt for it.

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COLLECTOR STUNTS Always Bring A Spare: You have a spare of everything. Any boosts you get related to your collection can be used twice.

Amazing Discoveries: You can invoke discoveries to invert a roll.

Connoisseur: When you first encounter something particularly valuable (i.e. valuable enough to have aspects) and discover its aspects, you can describe what’s valuable about it, or what it has that other things like it don’t, to add or remove any one aspect from it.

Happy Salesman: You take +2 to Flashily creating advantages when offering someone trinkets and curios.

Just What I Needed: You are awesome at finding and producing supplies during a time of need.

Life of the Party: Any time you get an opportunity to party and spend a fate point to make it a great party, you become a local celebrity whose name carries weight. For the next session, you get +1 to any Flashy actions making use of this reputation.

112 Lucky Charm: You have a blessed charm that grants you great luck. When you invoke your Collector aspect to reroll, you also gain a +1 bonus.

Mechanical Wonders: Your curios are technological wonders, much more practical in function than other collections are. Twice per session, you can produce one for a free boost.

Mental Fortitude: When you Cleverly dodge an attack, you gain +1 on your next create advantage attempt against the opponent who tried to hit you. If you succeed with style, gain +2.

Quality Goods: You have a damn fine collection. Once per session, when you fail to create an advantage with it, you can turn it into a success with style for free.

Talking Curio: One of your curios is intelligent. Once per scene, you can ask it for advice, and attach a free invoke to an aspect in that scene.

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THE GOLEM 114 THE GOLEM You were born to obey. You were created to survive. You were built to succeed. Now, none of those things matter. You have been thrust into a chaotic world you do not entirely understand, with little to guide you. You need to find someone you can trust to direct you. You were not built to be self-commanding. You were built to serve, but you are not as mindless as most would believe you to be. You have gained some semblance of free will, even if you do not know it. Be careful who you serve, Golem, for you have incredible power, and little to hold you back.

EXAMPLE GOLEM ASPECTS

Cloud-Blessed Mind In A Metal Shell Dr Tensai's Smartest Creation I Watched The Rise And Fall Of Empires Scrap Metal Robot Takes Orders A Little Too Literally Transform And Roll Out Virtually Indestructible Exterior 115

SO YOU'RE A CONSTRUCT Being a Golem offers a lot of opportunity to play around with your aspects. You're a living machine, and not necessarily one with the same shape or limits as a normal person. Just by virtue of being a Golem, you can avoid eating, drinking and sleeping (unless you want your Golem to have to recharge somehow). And since aspects are always true, you can establish some crazy things about yourself. Want extra limbs? Sure! You can justify all kinds of things with that, possibly even up to attacking multiple targets with the same punch attack. Want to have tools or other objects built into your body? Go for it! As long as you have an aspect for it, you can use your approaches to take actions with it. Want to be practically invulnerable? That can work! If you do it via an aspect, your mechanics stay the same but you describe everything differently—advantages created against you represent temporary setbacks like getting stuck or taunted away, consequences represent collateral damage to things you care about and the mental anguish and loss of face that results, and if your aspect specifies a weakness it can be compelled against you. You still take stress just like anyone else, though, so if you want something with more mechanical meat you'll need a stunt.

116 All of this is optional, just something to think about. Experiment with the narrative and have fun with what your golem can do!

GOLEM STUNTS Built for Battle: You are practically a walking armory. At the beginning of each conflict, you gain a Walking War Machine boost.

Elemental Transference: You can ignore any obstacles made from the same materials you are by just walking through them—a cloud golem through clouds, stone golem through stone, cake golem through cake, etc.

Emotions I Don't Understand: If you invoke your Drive to aid or defend an ally, instead of a reroll, you can have them roll two extra Fate dice, then remove any two of the dice they rolled from the result.

Immovable Object: Moving you against your will is a Great (+4) obstacle. If you have to roll defense, you always get a minimum of Great (+4).

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Man of Steel: You are physically invulnerable, mostly. You can never take stress or consequences from physical harm, unless it strikes your weak point (your power core, unarmored joints, something like that). Compels or advantages can be used to expose your weak point.

Material Girl: Your body is made of all sorts of useful things, as long as you're willing to rip them out of yourself. When you create an advantage using your body parts you can take a consequence for extra free invokes—one for a mild, two for a moderate, or three extra invokes for a severe consequence.

Prime Directive: If one of your allies gives you an order, they can help you fulfil it by invoking your Golem aspect even if they aren’t in the scene. If they are, you can invoke your Golem aspect for +3 instead of +2 when following orders.

Sword Deployment: You have a sword built into your arm. When you deploy it, you get +1 to Forcefully attacking and defending with it in a physical conflict.

Unstoppable Force: You are awesome at dealing with barriers by crashing through them.

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THE LANTERN 119

THE LANTERN

You found this little light, or perhaps it found you. You speak with it, and sometimes it listens. It can be a guiding light, a shield to defend you or a weapon to strike the darkness. Your little light is born from Sola. Through it, you are forever linked with the God at the heart of this world. But to you is given the power to decide what this means. The responsibility is yours. What will you do with this responsibility? This little light is yours. It shines for you. And you, in turn, reflect that light and reveal a path for others to follow. You are the Lantern, the beacon against the dark, and you will shine.

EXAMPLE LANTERN ASPECTS Fused With Light Fibers I Let The Light Guide Me Little Lola And I Grew Up Together Raised In The Hundred Hands Monastery SMITE EVIL! Sola's Rains Call To Me Stole My Light Blade From My Mentor 120 LIGHTING THE WAY Lanterns begin play with a piece of the great god Sola. This glowing ball of light rests in a lantern you carry, but usually floats around near you as it pleases. You're assumed to have a Little Light if you have a Lantern aspect, but feel free to give it its own name and aspect if you'd like it to be more important. Your Little Light can't speak, but it can communicate by changing colors and pointing things out with beams of light. Normally it can't touch anything, but you can turn it into a mystical shield or arrows of light, and use it to create light-related advantages. You can get more powerful effects if you use your aspects and stunts to outline the details, these are just some basic things you can do as a Lantern.

LANTERN STUNTS Bright Idea: You take +2 to Cleverly creating advantages if your Little Light is above your head.

Fist of Dawn: You can use your Little Light to Forcefully attack with a powerful beam of light. If you succeed with style, instead of reducing damage to get a boost, you can move the target up to 2 zones.

Gift From God: Sola gave his light to you 121 personally, blessing it with excessive energy. At the start of every conflict or contest, you can give your Little Light the Power Overwhelming boost.

Healing Light: You can stitch sunlight into wounds. Once per session, with about ten minutes of peace, you can reduce a consequence one step by overcoming against Fair (+2) for a mild, Good (+3) for moderate, or Great (+4) for severe. You can choose to succeed at a cost instead of rolling, but they suffer Searing Pain (with a free invoke for opponents to use).

Hey! Listen!: When your Little Light helps you discover an aspect on an opponent, you can add an extra free invoke.

Mirror Shield: When you block an attack with your light shield, your opponent takes one stress, or two stress if you succeed with style.

Rainbow Road: You can bend light into bridges, and use them to travel into adjacent zones. You ignore any obstacles a rainbow bridge could help with.

Reveal The Way: You know just what to say when someone's soul is lost. Once per scene, you can create a free invoke on someone else's Drive.

122 Stolen Property: You stole your Little Light from Sola himself, and it learned from your example. You can use it to lift small objects, and perform Sneaky actions from a zone away.

Twilight Blade: Your Little Light can turn into a blade that cuts through anything—stone, metal, water, anything. You get +1 to Cleverly overcoming or creating advantages with it.

Twilight Reckoning: (Requires Twilight Blade) Once per scene, if you attack someone with your Twilight Blade, instead of dealing damage you can spend a fate point to sever something from the target— a limb, title, relationship, possession, thoughts on a topic, an aspect, anything. This can sever life from nameless NPCs or deal severe consequences to named NPCs.

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The MECHANIC 124 THE MECHANIC

You love to build. Where other people see problems, you see opportunities to ply your craft. If you can't do something, you can build a machine to do it for you. You might not be the strongest, or the fastest, or the toughest. But you know how to build a suit that can be all of those things and more. It's your greatest creation, and you wear it like a second skin. There are a lot of other machines out there, and you seek them out. Some of them are useful. Some are not. Some are ancient, their purpose forgotten and their creators long gone. Some are just broken. That's okay. They just need a good Mechanic.

EXAMPLE MECHANIC ASPECTS All My Machines Are Made For Destruction Ladies Dig Giant Robots I Can Fix Anything Invells' Only Surviving Psychohistorian I Prefer “Eccentric Scientist” Only I Can Fly The Silver Dynamo Stolen Imperial Rocket Suit The Amazing Coronium Armour! 125

MOBILE SUIT INSERT NAME HERE The Mechanic's signature thing is their mechanical suit, so let's talk about how it works. First, like the Golem, any special functions of your suit should be covered by aspects. If your aspect says you have a flying combat suit, you can use your approaches to fly around and shoot people with it. Stunts and invokes are used when you want mechancial advantages. Remember that you don't have to sink everything you have into your suit – you're not just a pilot, you're a Mechanic, and that means more than just your suit. Besides, compels and consequences can damage or even disable it; only put all your eggs in the suit basket if you're cool with that.

Mechanic Stunts A Piece Of Duct Tape: You take +2 to Cleverly creating advantages when you need to fix something in a hurry.

Don't Scratch The Paint: If you take a consequence while fighting in your suit, you get a boost.

126 Impromptu Diversions: You don’t have to be present to provide active opposition to someone trying to overcome obstructions and puzzles you put in place or worked on. (Normally, a character would roll against passive opposition for that.)

Jury Rig: You can always quickly fix, repurpose or fabricate items on the spot, even if you don’t have all the “right” parts. These items get the Jury Rigged aspect, and tend to fall apart at the end of the scene.

Let Me See That: When you handle something and Carefully discover its aspects, you can discover an additional aspect. You gain a free Invoke on any of its aspects.

Quick Repairs: Once per session, you can Carefully reduce one of a vehicle’s consequences by one level by overcoming a difficulty of Fair (+2) for mild, Good (+3) for moderate, or Great (+4) for severe. You need about an hour to patch it up. You can use this to reduce suit- related consequences you've suffered.

The Incredible Machine: You’ve invented an amazing, unique device. Describe its specific purpose. Once per scene, you can invoke your Mechanic aspect for free when using that device in some way.

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User Friendly: If you Cleverly create, repair or modify something for someone else, place an aspect on it with a free invoke. When they use the item, you can aid them by invoking the aspect even if you’re not in the scene.

MECHANIC SUIT STUNTS These stunts outline things your suit can do, but they're taken by your character. Usually, “when you're in your suit” is the situation you need to be in for the stunt to work.

Booster Rockets: When you’re fighting in your suit, you can move two zones a turn for free instead of one.

Covered Cockpit: While you’re in your suit, you can spend stress boxes in any combination to absorb hits. (For example, a 3-stress hit can become 1- and 2-stress hits.)

Flamethrower: You shoot flames! When you succeed with style on a flamethrower attack and choose to get a boost, you gain a fire-related situation aspect with a free invoke instead.

128 Jumper: While in your suit, you ignore any ground obstacles that you can jump over.

Power Shields: While in your suit, you get +2 to Forcefully defending attacks.

Rescue Ranger: Your suit has a device for catching and pulling things around, like a tractor beam, grappling hook, or gravity manipulator. If you create an advantage on a person or unattended object with it, you can invoke it to pull them to you from up to 2 zones away.

Strength of a Thousand: While in your suit, you are awesome at dismantling or lifting obstacles in your way.

The Big Red Button: You have a Big Red Button installed in your suit. Once per session, you can spend a fate point and dramatically slam your fist onto it, and whatever action you are performing automatically gets a ++++ Fate dice result.

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THE RAINLORD 130 THE RAINLORD

Rain is a vital aspect of the Inverse World. It flies up to the sky, and it drips down to the sun, and every nook and cranny of Invells has felt the rain’s touch at some point. Every single drop is sent out on a mission, but not every single drop returns. Sometimes, these drops get stuck somewhere along the way, their messages undelivered. When lots of these drops get stuck in the same place, all their messages muddle together, and in their place, thoughts form. When enough thoughts and water gathers in one place, a Rainlord is born. You were born into this world with a hundred missions and a hundred divinities, long forgotten in their purpose. Remember, Rainlord, and deliver your message unto the world.

EXAMPLE RAIN LORD ASPECTS Every Drop Of Me Is Holy In Time, The Rain Washes Away Everything Lumpy Water Princess No Messages Left To Deliver, So I'll Write My Own The Fury Of The Storm We Must Be Swift As The Coursing River Who Cares About The Lives Of Meatbags? 131

SPONTANEOUS PARA- CAUSAL METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENON Wherever the Rain Lord goes, the rain will always follow. So, naturally, having a rain lord aspect means you can justify creating advantages to change the weather. Want some fog? Sure, just decide what you're using it for and pick an approach. Want to blast people with torrential rain? Do it Forcefully! Want to summon a little stormcloud that rains on the head of the party grump? Well, that's probably Sneaky, but come on. Everyone knows it's you. Since you're a Rain Lord, this can happen even if you're indoors or underground. You can be compelled to have rain show up when you don't want it, too. Your insides are made of liquid, from Sola's blessed rains. Thanks to your aspect, your body can stretch and compress in ways that bodies of flesh cannot possibly mimic, and fit through small gaps—anything you can jam an arm through will fit your entire body. You'll need stunts if you want to ignore obstacles, though.

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RAIN LORD STUNTS Deluge: You get +1 to Forcefully attacking and creating advantages when unleashing blasts of water from inside your body to knock people around.

Do The Wobbles: When you Quickly dodge someone’s attack by wobbling away, you gain +1 to your next create advantage attempt against them. If you succeed with style, gain +2.

Liquid Cache: You can carry things inside your liquid body, as long as they’re waterproof. You never have to worry about your things being taken from you without permission—that problem is just off the table for you.

Liquid Light: Your body is brilliant and shimmering, providing a shining beacon for others to follow and making you awesome at navigating through darkness or bad weather.

Liquid Shadow: Your body is dark and ethereal, making you difficult to spot. You gain +1 to Sneakily overcoming and creating advantages in water, rain, fog or shadow.

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Liquid Weapon: You can create a unique signature weapon out of water that only you can hold. Once per conflict, you can pull it out for a Signature Weapon boost, and you get +1 to Forceful attacks until you use it.

My Body Is An Ocean: When you are in water, rain or fog, all of it counts as part of your body. In a conflict, you can move between any zones connected by water, rain or fog for free.

Serenity: Once per conflict, when you calmly and Carefully create a Serenity advantage on yourself, opponents will prioritise other targets for as long as that aspect exists. The aspect goes away if you attack someone or lose your cool.

Stretch Arms Long: You can reach anything within your zone with your rubbery arms, and get +2 to Cleverly creating advantages with them.

The Oncoming Storm: When you Forcefully attack with water and succeed with style, instead of gaining a boost you place the situation aspect Raging Storm with three free invokes—two for allies, one for your opponents. You still need to reduce your damage to gain this benefit, as normal when succeeding with style.

134 Water Of Life: Once per session, you can spend a fate point to revive a dying or recently dead body with some of your lifewater's essence. Their mild and moderate consequence slots are cleared, but their severe consequence is changed to represent the power you now have over them. You can’t revive them again until the consequence is recovered.

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The Sky Dancer 136 THE SKY DANCER

There is not one child in Invells that does not dream of flight. Many carry their ambitions into adulthood, tinkering away on mechanisms or studying magic. A few are born with wings, carrying them into air when they come of age. But you do not merely fly. You dance. You revel. To you belongs not just flight, but the joy of flight. Every cloud is a stepping stone, every gust of wind is your shield. You are as free and ephemeral as a cloud, and no earth-born thing can keep you down. You belong to the sky, Sky Dancer, and the world belongs to you.

EXAMPLE SKY DANCER ASPECTS A Flying Fish Is Comfortable Anywhere Eye in the Sky Former Sky Patrol Captain It Can't Hurt Me If I'm Nowhere Near It My Mom Left Me This Rocket Jetpack The Only Thing I Can't Do In This Ornithopter Is Land When I Speak, The Wind Listens

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Flying: What's Up With That? You might be wondering if the ability to fly is really something you can have for free. After all, technically you get to ignore a lot of obstacles other people have to roll to overcome, so it should cost more than an aspect, right? Well, kind of. It's true that in other Fate games, flight is something that has to be bought (usually with stunts). However, in those games it's generally assumed that flight is a rare or special power, whose main purpose is avoiding obstacles on the ground where all the action is. Inverse World has less ground and more emphasis on how you deal with that—Flight is much more common, and aerial zones should have their own enemies and obstacles to worry about. So, instead of avoiding the game's obstacles, flight trades them for a different set. So for basic flight, all you need is an aspect. If you want to be good at it, get stunts. If you want to know more about setting up aerial obstacles, see Zones in Chapter 10: Running Inverse World.

138 SKY DANCER STUNTS Aerial Payback: Your rocket boots, jetpack, propeller suit or whatever else has the special power to discourage people from hitting you, because you can hit them with the dangerous bits. When you Quickly dodge a blow, your opponent takes one stress, or two stress if you succeed with style.

Angelic Warrior: You take +2 to Forceful attacks made while flying.

Eye In The Sky: When you take a look around from high above, all advantages you create that take advantage of your vision range get an extra free invoke.

Fluid Motion: When you Quickly defend a melee attack and succeed with style, your fluid motions control their clumsy ones. You can choose to move them one zone instead of gaining a boost.

Forecast: At the start of each session, ask the GM for one enemy or obstacle you’re likely to face. When you encounter it, you can immediately create a situation aspect with a free invoke. If you don’t, you start the next session with an extra fate point.

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Howling Winds: You can conjure howling, slicing winds. Invoking advantages you create using them gives a +3 bonus instead of +2.

Impossible Grace: Once per scene, before you defend an attack directed at you, you can invoke your Sky Dancer aspect to automatically dodge it.

I’ve Got A Bad Feeling About This: When you survey an area for threats, paths, traps, ambushes and the like, you are awesome at it.

Leaf On The Wind: Whenever you Quickly dodge an opponent's create advantage attempt, you gain +1 to your next attack against them. If you succeed with style, gain +2.

Right Where I Want You: (requires Howling Winds) When you Forcefully attack someone with wind, instead of reducing your damage to gain a boost, you can choose to move them 2 zones instead.

Rocket Man: You are awesome at rushing to get places in the nick of time.

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THE Survivor 141

THE SURVIVOR

You lost everything. Your home, your possessions, your friends, your family - the cataclysm took everything from you. Everything but your own life. You were left with nothing, not even a purpose. So you seek a new one. Peace, revenge, something to hold on to... whatever it is, it's what keeps you going. You will travel the world to find it, if you have to. What else is there to do? The rest of the world is just as dangerous. The journey will not be easy. But the greatest danger is behind you, and you have nothing left to lose. You are a Survivor.

EXAMPLE SURVIVOR ASPECT Always Prepared For The Inevitable Come With Me If You Want To Live I'm Going To Kill The World Serpent I Put Down My Family, You Should Be Easy She's All I've Got Left To Protect These Fists Have Seen More Than You Can Imagine You Learn A Lot About Sola When You Fall Into It

142 DOOMED HOMETOWNS FOR FUN AND PROFIT As a Survivor of a great cataclysm, the world has left its mark upon you, and you have been eternally changed as a result. The good news is, you can use this to your advantage! If your Survivor aspects represents this cataclysm, you can use or even invoke it to justify some cool things. Since your worst days are behind you, you can stare death in the face without blinking an eye. If the GM allows it, you could even invoke it to shrug off a fear- related aspect applied to you. You can use it to attack those who insult something you have lost, defend what's precious, or resist attempts to manipulate your shattered mind. If your cataclysm was caused by the cruelty of your fellow people, you can use your tortured past as leverage. If it was a beast, it can help you fight other monsters. These are just suggestions. Think about your cataclysm, and how you could invoke (and compel) its aspect when you need it.

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SURVIVOR STUNTS Alone Against the World: Whenever you deal stress, you can choose to inflict a moderate consequence to your opponent as well, but you take a moderate consequence if you do.

Burning Scar: The cataclysm left you with a strange scar that glows and burns when you are in danger. With it, you are awesome at sensing danger and ambushes.

Dead Man Walking: After what you've been through, not much bothers you any more. You gain an extra mild consequence slot.

Got A Grave With My Name On It: Whenever you would be taken out, you can spend a fate point to concede instead.

Hold On To What's Precious: When you succeed with style while defending for somebody else, instead of a boost you can place a situation aspect with a free invoke.

144 Kid, Let Me Tell You About The Calamity: Once per session, you can recount a tale of your past to an ally and make your pain theirs. For the next scene, that ally gains the benefit of one of your stunts.

Reminders of the Past: When you meet a traveller or named enemy for the first time, you can roll a Fate die to see if you've met them before. On a +, you have, and you can declare a boost related to your experiences. On a 0, you haven't. On a - you have, but they've changed; the GM gives you a boost.

Something to Remember Me By: Encounters with you leave a deep and lasting impact on those you've defeated. When you take out an NPC, you may remove or change one of their Aspects.

Survival Instinct: You are awesome at scavenging for supplies and enduring tough living conditions.

You're Already Dead: Whenever you would inflict a consequence, you can choose not to let it happen right away. At any time during the adventure, spend a fate point to inflict it.

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THE WALKER 146 THE WALKER

Everyone trusts in solid land to carry them. You trust it more than most. In this world, there are often times where it is prudent or necessary to climb the underside of islands, tread treacherous clouds or walk the edge of the Worldcrust. You are that Walker. Your skin bears the tanning mark of Sola's gaze; your muscles are like knotted rope; your grip as firm as the earth it grasps. You are forever marked as separate, but you have also earned respect. You defy gravity's grasp for everyone's benefit, and emerge victorious time and again. You defy impossible odds. You find a path where none exists. And your foes will never see you coming.

EXAMPLE WALKER STUNTS I Can't Hear You Over The Sound Of How Awesome I Am I Could Climb A Waterfall I'm Great At Silence, When I Can Shut Up Luck Is My Middle Name, My First Name Is Bad Raised Beneath An Island Ran Away From Every Monster On Invells The Edge Is The Only Place I'm Alive 147

HOW TO CLIMB WALLS AND INFLUENCE CEILINGS

Characters in Inverse World are important because they have the freedom and power to move around. How is up to you—you should never run into a situation where you can't progress ever because you didn't pick the right one, so it's simply a matter of choosing the one you think is awesome. The Walker is awesome because they can move freely anywhere there's something they can touch. Whether they're climbing a tower, on the underside of an island, or deep in some dank corridor, the Walker has plenty of tricks up their sleeves to deal with it. Not only are they masters at freerunning, Walkers can climb along solid walls and ceilings as quickly as they can walk or run, regardless of texture or composition. This means you can overcome things others can't even reach. (If you want to bypass obstacles without overcoming, you'll need stunts.) In conflict, this might require the GM to create another zone—say, if there's a huge wall between two zones, for example, the wall itself can count as a zone if the Walker intends to stay on it. That's okay, though. Since zones are abstract, if a nearby airspace is important in the conflict, the Walker might instead just be able to move through and make actions in that zone. 148 See Zones in Chapter 10: Running Inverse World for more.

WALKER STUNTS Brutal Strike: Once per scene, when you Sneakily attack, you can spend a fate point to prevent your opponent from using their stress track to absorb damage.

Competitive Streak: When a conflict or contest starts, you can propose a bet with the GM or another player. The winner gets a fate point from the loser. If they refuse the bet, you get a boost.

Death From Above: Sneaky advantages you create in a physical conflict can be invoked for +3 instead of +2.

Into Thin Air: Once per scene, you can spend a fate point to place the Vanished boost on yourself. While vanished, no one can attack or create an advantage on you without Carefully overcoming to see where you went. Once you use the boost or someone overcomes, you’re visible again.

No One Looks Up: When you’re sneaking above an NPC whose Clever approach is rated lower than your Sneaky approach, they never get a chance to notice you unless someone with an equal or higher Clever helps. 149

On A Mirror's Edge: You are awesome at freerunning over, through, or around any obstacles in your path.

Quick As Can Be: As long as you aren't cornered, you can move two zones a turn for free instead of one.

Talk The Talk: As long as you're dealing with someone who values strength or physical capability, you can create advantages Flashily whenever you would create Forcefully.

Walk The Walk: As long as you’re being watched, your Flashy advantages can be invoked by yourself or allies for +3 instead of +2.

150 JOB IDEAS These Jobs aren't fully fleshed out—there's no advice, no aspects, just some stunts. It's up to you to decide what you want these Jobs to mean.

THE ACE PILOT Calling A Ride: If your signature vehicle is not present, you may summon it by snapping your fingers, pressing a button, or whistling loudly (as appropriate). It somehow always arrives by next turn.

Not Going Down That Easy: When a vehicle you are piloting is taken out, you can spend a fate point to either delay being taken out, or disappear from the scene. If you delay, your vehicle will get taken out at the end of the scene or the next time it takes stress. If you disappear, you return dramatically next scene with your vehicle's stress track and mild consequence slot cleared.

Ramming Speed: Because your reckless driving always pays off, once per scene you can inflict a consequence on your vehicle in exchange for a bonus to one piloting-related roll: +2 for a mild consequence, +4 for a moderate, +6 for a severe.

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THE MAILKEEPER Mailkeeper: Once per scene in any populated area, you can spend a fate point to make a special Careful roll representing the mail you collect. For each shift you make on this roll you discover or create an aspect related to portable gear, local rumours, gossip, or people and places. You may invoke one of them for free.

Mailkeeper's Oath: (requires Mailkeeper) Once per adventure, you can make a vow to deliver something. For the rest of the adventure or until you make the delivery, you get one free invoke on your Mailkeeper aspect per scene on any overcome action that will get you one step closer to your target.

Message In A Bottle: (requires Mailkeeper) You can store the spoken word inside of glass bottles. You can also store aspects, if you spend a fate point. The aspect is taken away—if you store, say, a person's love for something, they lose their love for that thing. When someone releases the aspect again, they can place that aspect on the scene or a person with a free invoke.

Ship In A Bottle: (requires Mailkeeper) When you Carefully create the Bottled aspect on an object, it is trapped in one of your bottles until you break or empty it. Living creatures can’t be harmed inside a bottle, but can speak and try to escape. 152 THE TRADE PRINCE Capitalism, Ho!: Because you know exactly how to maximise your profits, whenever you create a trade- related advantage, you get an extra free invoke.

Entrepreneurship: Because your money works for everyone, when someone else invokes a trade-related advantage you created you gain +1 to your next roll.

Everyone Has A Price: So long as someone can be bribed, you are awesome at bribing them.

Look Sharp, Act Sharper: You always know exactly what to wear for any occasion. If you have time to prepare, you gain +1 to Flashily overcoming and creating advantages during social gatherings.

Market Research: Because you intuitively know how to get the best deals on any island, you get +2 when Cleverly finding the right merchant for what you need.

Swanky Socialite: Because you're a natural socialite, once per session you can show up at any event or in any scene without arousing suspicion, even if you were specifically not invited.

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SAMPLE CHARACTERS

CAPTAIN ORGANA Organa is the current Captain of the Fancy Free. She loves taking risks, and it even pays off almost enough times to be worth it! Her crew might grumble, but she hasn't let them down yet.

Concept: Brave Sky Captain Captain: My Crew Always Pulls It Off, Eventually Drive: Fortune Favours The Bold! Free: Swashbuckling Swordswoman; Lord Conway Is Out To Get Me

APPROACHES Careful: Mediocre (+0) Clever: Fair (+2) Flashy: Good (+3) Forceful: Average (+1) Quick: Average (+1) Sneaky: Fair (+2)

STUNTS (may take one more stunt) Captain's Hat: As long as Organa is wearing her hat, once per scene when she invokes her Captain aspect, she may invert her roll. Home Advantage: Organa gets +1 to Flashily attacking or defending when she's on a ship.

STRESS 3

154 AVON ASTRID Avon was taken in by a temple of Sola at an early age and became a Lantern prodigy. After receiving a Little Light, Avon was sent out to travel with Little Agatha in the hope that her knowledge will rub off— and maybe some of her assertiveness, too. Avon is quiet and shy, but shines as bright as Sola when there's justice to be done.

Concept: Sheltered Lantern Child Lantern: Matinsa, My Little Night Light Drive: Learning How To Be A Hero Free: Nimble and Quick; Don't Tell Prime V, But He Is So Cool

APPROACHES Careful: Fair (+2) Clever: Fair (+2) Flashy: Average (+1) Forceful: Mediocre (+0) Quick: Good (+3) Sneaky: Fair (+2)

STUNTS (may take one more stunt) Hey! Listen!: When Matinsa helps discover an aspect on an opponent, Avon can discover two. Avon only gets a free invoke on one, however. Zoinks!: Because Avon is easily startled, at the start of any conflict, she can Quickly create an advantage related to running or hiding for free.

STRESS 3 155

LITTLE AGATHA Little Agatha is a veteran bug collector. Flying bugs, glowing bugs, singing bugs, dancing bugs, fire- breathing bugs, she's caught 'em all. Everyone treats her like an old grandma, but cross her friends and you'll be reminded how scary grandmas can get.

Concept: Cheerful Bug Lady Collector: Grandma Elemental Drive: I Need To Care For Avon Free: Been There, Done That; Tougher Than I Look

APPROACHES Careful: Good (+3) Clever: Fair (+2) Flashy: Average (+1) Forceful: Average (+1) Quick: Mediocre (+0) Sneaky: Fair (+2)

STUNTS (may take one more stunt) Stun Spore: Because some of her pet butterflies carry numbing powder, Agatha gets +2 to Sneakily creating advantages related to numbing and paralysis. Trained Insects: Agatha's bugs have been trained to accomplish practical tasks. Twice per session, she can produce one of them for a free boost.

STRESS 3 156 PRIME V Prime V was never as strong or as fast as his older Imperial Scout brothers, but with his smarts he intends to surpass them all. With his fancy mecha suit, his dreams are finally within his grasp. Now all he needs to do is take things seriously and stop cracking wise all the time. Or at least stop calling things "tubular".

Concept: Teenage Mecha Ninja Walker Walker: Self-Taught Mechanic Drive: I Am The Man Who Will Surpass Gods Free: Attitude And A Heart of Gold; I Look Up To Tomak

APPROACHES Careful: Mediocre (+0) Clever: Fair (+2) Flashy: Fair (+2) Forceful: Average (+1) Quick: Average (+1) Sneaky: Good (+3)

STUNTS (may take one more stunt) Surprise!: Because he's good at showing up unexpectedly, once per session Prime V can turn up absolutely anywhere someone doesn't want him to be. Yeah!: Prime V gets +2 to Flashily creating advantages based around snappy one-liners and catchphrases.

STRESS 3

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TOMAK LIGHTARM Tomak doesn't talk about what happened to his homeland, but it's left him with scars and an arm replaced with glowing light. He doesn't intend to lose any more body parts. Tomak's distrustful and distant, but deep down he'll do anything to defend his friends.

Concept: Determined Survivor Survivor: All I'll Tell You Is This Lightarm Is Great Drive: Alone Against The World Free: Worldcrust Veteran; I Trust Organa, I Guess

APPROACHES Careful: Fair (+2) Clever: Average (+1) Flashy: Mediocre (+0) Forceful: Good (+3) Quick: Fair (+2) Sneaky: Average (+1)

STUNTS (may take one more stunt) Dead Man Walking: After what he's been through, not much bothers Tomak anymore. He gains an extra mild consequence slot. Not This Time: Because Tomak refuses to lose, he gains +2 to Forcefully defending against create advantage attempts.

STRESS 3

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Chapter 9: Advancements and Discoveries

159 People change. Your skills sharpen as you practice them. Your life experiences accumulate and shape your personality. Sometimes you discover something really cool, and then it eats your arm. Inverse World Accelerated reflects that with character advancement, which allows you to change your aspects, add or change stunts, and raise your approach bonuses. You do these things whenever your character reaches a milestone.

MILESTONES Stories in TV shows, comic books, movies, and even video games can take a while to wrap up. It took Aang three seasons to defeat the Fire Lord, and no one plays Skies of Arcadia all in one sitting. In Inverse World Accelerated, you play many game sessions in a row using the same characters—this is often called a campaign— and the story builds on itself. Within these long stories, there are shorter story arcs, like single episodes of a TV show or single issues of a comic. When one of those arcs wraps up, it's called a milestone. When you hit a milestone, you get to change your character a little—they grow and develop in response to what they're going through. What you can change depends on the milestone. 160

MINOR MILESTONES These happen at the end of a session, or when one piece of a larger story has been resolved—the game equivalent of the end of an episode. Your character stays about the same, but you get to make small adjustments. After a minor milestone, you can choose to do one of the following:  Switch the ratings of any two approaches.  Rename one aspect that isn’t your concept.  Exchange one stunt for a different stunt. Also, if you have a moderate consequence that's been around for two sessions, you can clear it.

SIGNIFICANT MILESTONES These happen at the end of an adventure, the conclusion of a big plot event, or just every two or three sessions if you're not sure. Significant milestones are more about learning new things and becoming more capable. When you reach a significant milestone, you get two things:  You can raise the bonus of one approach by one. (You can't go above Superb (+5).)  You gain a discovery.

161 Discoveries A discovery is a special boost relating to something you've discovered during the adventure. It can be anything, like a new scientific discovery, something about a place, something about yourself, or just a sweet relic you picked up. Discoveries work like boosts, but last until you use them, even through multiple adventures. Also, when you use a discovery, you can also change any one aspect. You could change one of your character aspects that isn't your concept, a consequence, one of another character's aspects (with permission of the player or GM), a plot-important location's aspects, or making up an aspect for a new NPC or item your discovery leaves behind. For example, if your discovery is an ancient relic you found that taught you a new scientific principle, the aspect it leaves behind when you invoke it could represent you keeping the relic around if it's relevant to the plot, or the principle could have changed the political landscape of a city in the background, or the relic could affect an NPC in a serious enough way to change an aspect, or you could learn something about yourself and change your Drive. If it could be important in the story, you can do it. You don't have to leave behind an aspect if you don't want to, though.

162 After you invoke the discovery, you mark it as used. When you've marked three discoveries, you reach a major milestone.

MAJOR MILESTONES These happen when you use three discoveries. (If this doesn't coincide with the end of a big story arc, the final defeat of a main villain, or some other huge campaign-shaking event, make that third discovery a cool one!) They're about gaining more power—your character has overcome a lot of challenges, and now they can stand up to bigger threats in the next season. When you hit this point, you can:  Raise the number of stunts you can have by one, and add a new stunt.  Rename your character’s concept, if you wish.

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CHAPTER 10:

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Running Inverse World

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This chapter is about the GM's role, but everyone should check it out—if everyone knows how Gming works, the game becomes smoother and a lot more fun. If you'd like to read more about GMing Fate, check out Fate Core. First, let's talk about the GM's jobs.

CAMPAIGNS A campaign is a series of games you play with the same characters, where the story builds on what happened in earlier sessions. All the players should collaborate with the GM to plan how the campaign will work. Usually this means a conversation about what sort of heroes you want to play, what parts of Invells you want to focus on, what sort of threats you want to face, and what you want out of the game. Talk about how serious you want the game to be and how long you want it to last. Once you've done that, it's time to run the game!

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STARTING ADVENTURES Campaigns are broken up into adventures—short story arcs, something that could be wrapped up in one or to episodes of a TV show. Usually you can wrap these up in one to three sessions. It's up to you what actually goes into the scenario. You'll want some kind of bad guy, threat or problem the PCs have to deal with and a reason they can't just ignore it, but once you've got that, you can just drop them into the action and let them have at it. Once they get started, it's up to the PCs what they do next. They're in charge of their characters - what they do, how they react to things, and a general sense of where their character is going and what they want to do. The GM, on the other hand, is in charge of everything else. While the players run their characters, the GM runs the adventure those characters go through.

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RUNNING ADVENTURES The GM has a very different job than the players. Here's what the GM needs to do:

 Run scenes: A session is made up of individual scenes. Decide where the scene begins, who’s there, and what’s going on. Decide when all the interesting things have played out and the scene’s over.

 Adjudicate the rules: When some question comes up about how to apply the rules, you get the final say. Choose wisely!

 Set difficulties: You decide how difficult tasks should be.

 Play the NPCs: You control every character the players don't, including the bad guys.

 Keep things moving: If the players are stuck, can't decide what to do or don't have enough info, give them a nudge or a hint or do something to shake things up. If all else fails, have ninjas burst through the wall and attack someone.

 Make sure everyone has a chance to be awesome: Your goal is to challenge the players, not crush them. Give everyone a chance to shine once in a while! 169

SETTING DIFFICULTIES When another character is opposing a PC, they roll against each other. When there's no active opposition, the GM decides how hard the task is. Generally, low difficulties are best when you want to give the PCs a chance to show off, but failure is interesting enough to roll dice. Difficulties near their approach ratings provide tension without being overwhelming. High difficulties are for dire circumstances or high-tension moments. They're doable, but the players will have to put their backs into it and maybe spend some fate points.

Tips:  If it's easy, make it Mediocre (+0)—or just say they succeed without a roll if failure would be boring.

 If there's at least one reason it could be tough, make it Fair (+2).

 If it's extremely difficult, Great (+4).

 If it's nigh-impossible, go as high as you think makes sense. The PCs will probably need to spend some fate points and create some advantages, but that's okay—and working together on a huge task can be fun! 170

 If you like, you can adjust the target number by 1-2 depending on approaches. It's okay for something to be Fair (+2) if you deal with it Forcefully and Great (+4) if you try Cleverly, for example. This makes things more complex, but some like it that way, and it's a good way to mix things up.

BAD GUYS Bad guys have stats exactly like PCs, with approaches, aspects, stress, and consequences. You should do this for important or recurring bad guys who are intended to give the PCs some real difficulties, but you shouldn’t need more than one or two of these in a scenario. Only give these bad guys the stats you'll think they need. Other bad guys are mooks—unnamed monsters, goons or passers-by that are there to make the PCs' life difficult but can be swept aside easily. Mooks don't have full stats, and while they can have names or hopes and dreams they are probably not important.

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To make mooks:  Make a list of what they're good at. They get +2 to all rolls dealing with these things.

 Make a list of what they're bad at. They get -2 to all rolls dealing with these things.

 Everything else is rolled at +0.

 Give them an aspect or two to note any important skills, strengths or weaknesses. They can be simple if you like.

 Mooks have zero, one, or two stress boxes, depending on how tough they're supposed to be.

 Mooks can’t take consequences. Any hit their stress track can't handle takes them out.

If you have a lot of mooks, you could treat them as a group—or divide them amongst a few groups. They're given stats like a single mook, but they're usually also skilled at something like “ganging up” and get one stress box for every two individuals in the group. You can find some example mooks and bad guys under Enemies And Allies at the end of this chapter.

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HAZARDS AND THE FATE FRACTAL Hazards are like monsters and enemies, but you can't confront them through standard conflict. You can't damage a rainstorm, swing your sword at gravity, or beat a delayed Kickstarter product into submission. So how do you run them? A lot of simple hazards, like getting around in a rainstorm, can simply be handled with an overcome action. If you want something more complicated, though, it's time for the Fate Fractal. The Fate Fractal means that anything in the game world can be treated like a character. That means it can have its own aspects, approaches, stunts, stress tracks and even consequences if you need it to. For example, a fire on an airship could have its own stress track and consequences, and the players "attack" it by trying to put it out. The fire attacks right back with its own approaches, trying to take out the ship or the players before they put it out. It probably has an aspect like Uncomfortably Warm. It could even have stunts if it's a hardcore fire. You can find some example hazards under Hazards at the end of this chapter.

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ZONES Zones tell you roughly where everyone is in a conflict. They're an abstract representation of physical space—generally, people in a zone are close enough that they can interact directly with each other, for example with a high-five or a punch in the teeth. People can interact with people in other zones if they can justify acting at a distance, whether it's with a crossbow, shouting or just a really long stick. Most conflicts will only have a handful of zones. This isn't a tactical game, and you'll rarely need more complexity than that. Usually you'd break an area into two or more zones if it's bigger than a house, or separated by something like stairs, a ladder, or a wall, or to mark the nearby airspace as its own zone. Characters can move one zone for free. If there's something in the way that doesn't provide active opposition, like a wall, place a situation aspect— characters will have to use their action for the exchange to overcome it. They can also use their action to try and move multiple zones. Difficulties are up to you—you can use the number of zones they want to move and the kind of obstacles in place as a baseline.

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Now, here's the tricky part: air zones. Since a lot of characters will be able to fly, or at least do sweet jumps and ramps, you'll want to mark the airspace around the conflict as its own zone (or zones) if you expect it to be important. Anyone who has narrative permission to enter an air zone (like if they can fly, or are totally okay with jumping off a cliff) can do it without rolling anything. You don't have to do this—if flight only really changes how they describe getting around, it doesn't even matter. If you do, though, you should give air zones their own obstacles, such as falling debris, tight spaces, updrafts, tall buildings, covering fire, clouds, local wildlife, etc. If flying characters can always move around unimpeded, it'll suck for the people who have to deal with situation aspects on the ground.

ENEMIES AND ALLIES This next section lays out several sample NPCs you can tweak, adapt, and drop into your adventure as needed. Remember to give them real names!

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CAPTAIN, IMPERIAL Imperial captains pilot an impressive ship loaded down with military soldiers. They command their crew with discipline and rigid tactics, but they are not afraid to tackle a threat personally, either. They wear an imperial pistol and royal saber.

ASPECTS Imperial Airship Captain; Bound By Imperial Code; Impressive Inventory

APPROACHES Careful: Fair (+2) Clever: Good (+3) Flashy: Average (+1) Forceful: Fair (+2) Quick: Average (+1) Sneaky: Mediocre (+0)

STUNTS Impressive Gear: The Imperial Captain carries an imperial pistol and royal saber, and knows how to use them well. They get +1 to Forcefully attacking and creating advantages with them.

STRESS 3

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CAPTAIN, PIRATE Pirate Captains lead a small, aggressive, rag-tag band of scoundrels, each crewmember different from the last. Just about anyone and anything can be found working with them.

ASPECTS Cunning Pirate Captain; Wanted Scoundrel; Pirate's Code

APPROACHES Careful: Mediocre (+0) Clever: Good (+3) Flashy: Fair (+2) Forceful: Average (+1) Quick: Average (+1) Sneaky: Fair (+2)

STUNTS Rigged Deal: When the Pirate Captain cuts a deal with someone, they can place the Rigged Deal aspect with a free invoke. They can provide Clever active opposition to discovering this aspect even if they're not in the scene. Scallywag Swagger: When the Pirate Captain is on their ship or in a really awful bar, they get +1 to attacking Sneakily or Flashily.

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GOLEM, ANCIENT Ancient Golems are found just about anywhere in Invells. No one knows who made them. Some carry signs of Sola, marked with her eye, her light, or her rain. These golems can be relied upon to carry about Sola’s will. Others carry different marks, older marks. No one knows where those golems came from, or what to expect from them—do not rely upon them for anything.

ASPECTS Ancient Magical Construct; Must Follow Orders; Body Of Stone

APPROACHES Careful: Average (+1) Clever: Mediocre (+0) Flashy: Average (+1) Forceful: Good (+3) Quick: Fair (+2) Sneaky: Fair (+2)

STUNTS Unstoppable Force: The Ancient Golem is awesome at dealing with barriers by crashing through them.

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KHESAT SPIDER, GIANT Khesat spiders simply never stop growing, and seemingly live forever. Giant Khesat spiders are rare, which is good, because when they get this big, they begin to learn. These spiders are smart enough to use weapons, learn from their mistakes, and properly lead their brethren into battle. They’ll even use harpoons, cannons, or other ship-sized weaponry, if they can get it.

ASPECTS Seriously Giant Spider; Smart And Devious

APPROACHES Careful: Average (+1) Clever: Fair (+2) Flashy: Mediocre (+0) Forceful: Average (+1) Quick: Fair (+2) Sneaky: Good (+3)

STUNTS It's Learning: Once per scene, the Khesat Spider can spend a fate point to gain +1 to the rating of any approach for the rest of the scene. Large And In Charge: The giant Khesat spider gets +2 to Forcefully attacking anything smaller than itself.

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LANTERN, TEMPLAR Lantern Templars guard places of religious significance. They follow Sola’s teachings and spread her word throughout the land. They are usually found only in their temples, but occasionally two or three will travel together on religious pilgrimage. They are known for providing aid to those in need and smiting any creatures of darkness they come across.

ASPECTS Templar of Sola; I Trust My Little Light

APPROACHES Careful: Average (+1) Clever: Fair (+2) Flashy: Good (+3) Forceful: Average (+1) Quick: Fair (+2) Sneaky: Mediocre (+0)

STUNTS Hey! Listen!: Whenever the Templar's Little Light helps them discover an existing aspect on an opponent, they can discover two. They only get a free invoke on one.

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MECHANIC, FOR-HIRE Mechanics and artificers can be found all throughout Invells, often tinkering at some project or another. They will often lend their machines to those who can offer proper payment. As a result, their war machines and golems are often used by less savory characters as their last resort, their ultimate weapons.

ASPECTS Mechanic For Hire; For Science!; I Know The Value Of My Inventions

APPROACHES Careful: Fair (+2) Clever: Good (+3) Flashy: Mediocre (+0) Forceful: Average (+1) Quick: Fair (+2) Sneaky: Average (+1)

STUNTS User Friendly: If this Mechanic Cleverly creates, repairs, or modifies a device for someone else, they can place an aspect on it with one free invoke. Weird Science: This Mechanic gains +2 to Cleverly discovering aspects on devices that use magic or technology not known to modern science.

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RAINLORD Divine messengers of Sola, Rainlords are exceedingly rare. You’d be lucky to meet one in the course of three lifetimes. They are widely regarded as good luck, and a sign of Sola’s love. Unfortunately, Rainlords themselves are rarely on the same page, and can vary from kindly helper spirits all the way up to horrifying genocidal water monsters.

ASPECTS Lord of Rain; Where I Go, The Rain Follows; Amorphous Body

APPROACHES Careful: Average (+1) Clever: Average (+1) Flashy: Good (+3) Forceful: Fair (+2) Quick: Mediocre (+0) Sneaky: Fair (+2)

STUNTS Don't Be Such A Grump!: The Rainlord gets +2 to Flashily creating advantages by creating little rain, snow or storm clouds above people's heads.

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SKY DANCER, ANGEL The Sky Dancers are a troupe of angels, armed with sword and shield, who take to the skies in defense of Sola. Most nations have a cadre of Sky Dancers as their army, with occasional backup from Mechanic-built machinery or Lantern Templars.

ASPECTS Graceful Sky Dancer; Position Of Power; Great Responsibility

APPROACHES Careful: Mediocre (+0) Clever: Fair (+2) Flashy: Fair (+2) Forceful: Average (+1) Quick: Good (+3) Sneaky: Average (+1)

STUNTS Watch How I Soar: Whenever the Sky Dancer Quickly dodges an opponent's attack, they gain a boost as though they succeeded with style.

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SKY DANCER, FLYBOY Flyboys fly. Ornithopters, biplanes, flight suits, grav- boosters, rocket boots— the method doesn’t matter. What matters is, they fly, and you can’t, and they’re really going to enjoy rubbing that in.

ASPECTS Flyboy Sky Dancer; Position Of Power; Huge Showboat

APPROACHES Careful: Mediocre (+0) Clever: Fair (+2) Flashy: Good (+3) Forceful: Average (+1) Quick: Fair (+2) Sneaky: Average (+1)

STUNTS Check This Out!: Because they're such a showoff, the Flyboy can attack Flashily whenever they would attack Forcefully. Do A Barrel Roll!: The Flyboy gets +2 to Quickly dodging when deploying aerial maneuvers.

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SURVIVOR, DESPERATE These warriors are the definition of rag-tag. They are all that’s left of some lost city or another, refugees trying to live with what little they have left. They are desperate, and desperate people are dangerous.

ASPECTS Desperate Survivor; Bitter And Cautious; A Survivor Always Repays Their Debts

APPROACHES Careful: Fair (+2) Clever: Average (+1) Flashy: Mediocre (+0) Forceful: Good (+3) Quick: Average (+1) Sneaky: Fair (+2)

STUNTS Dead Man Walking: After what they've been through, not much bothers them anymore. They gain an extra mild consequence slot.

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WALKER, SHOWBOAT Walkers are some of the most well-known people in all of Invells. Every island has heard of these legendary men and women, who can climb along any surface, get past any barrier, infiltrate any fortress. Some walkers let this get to their head, and then things get out of hand.

ASPECTS Legendary Walker; I Can Brag For Days; If It Has A Surface, I Can Get There

APPROACHES Careful: Mediocre (+0) Clever: Average (+1) Flashy: Good (+3) Forceful: Average (+1) Quick: Fair (+2) Sneaky: Fair (+2)

STUNTS Competitive Streak: When a conflict or contest starts, the Walker can propose a bet with a player. The winner gets a fate point from the loser. If the player refuses the bet, the Walker get a boost.

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WALKER, SECRET POLICE The Sky Patrol polices most of the world, visible and open and friendly, but in places farther away from Sola’s eyes, it is the Walkers who are the real police force. They enforce the laws in secret, inciting terror to keep their population under control. The secret police are not your friend - if you step out of line, they will crush you.

ASPECTS Walker Secret Police; A Little Too Brutal; Shadowy Terror

APPROACHES Careful: Average (+1) Clever: Fair (+2) Flashy: Mediocre (+0) Forceful: Fair (+2) Quick: Average (+1) Sneaky: Good (+3)

STUNTS Into Thin Air: Once per scene, the Walker can spend a fate point to place the Vanished boost on themselves. While vanished, no one can attack or create an advantage on them without Carefully overcoming to see where they went. Once they use the boost or someone overcomes, they’re visible again.

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MOOKS AEROPHIN POD Like Dolphins But In The Sky; Friendly And Intelligent Skilled (+2) at: Flying gracefully, forcing out threats, chatting in their song language Bad (-2) at: Tactics Stress: 5

DESPERATE SURVIVORS Rag-Tag Refugees; Desperate And Dangerous Skilled (+2) at: Fighting for every last scrap, Bad (-2) at: Sticking around when things get hot Stress: 5

FLYING JELLYFISH HORDE Amorphous Jellyfish Cloud Skilled (+2) at: Using their poisonous stingers, floating around lazily Bad (-2) at: Not being jellyfish Stress: 4

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IMPERIAL SOLDIER SQUAD Military Soldiers; Reliant On The Captain Skilled (+2) at: Fighting, flying, military tactics, following orders Bad (-2) at: Acting independently Stress: 4

KHESAT SPIDER, BABY Baby Spiders Are Still Too Big Skilled (+2) at: Crawling on the walls, scuttling away, ganging up, being spooky Bad (-2) at: Putting up a serious fight Stress: None (First hit takes them out)

KHESAT SPIDER, ADULT Jumping Spider; Big As A Horse Skilled (+2) at: Wall climbing, web spinning, using pack tactics, leaping, traps Bad (-2) at: Being smarter than a bug Stress: 2

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PIRATE MOOKS Rag-Tag Scoundrels; Hoist The Colors! Skilled (+2) at: Fighting, being sneaky, stealing things, Insult Fighting Bad (-2) at: Standing up to determined opposition Stress: 1

SKY PIRANHAS Hungry Fish; Tiny Little Devils Skilled (+2) at: Flying, biting with powerful jaws Bad (-2) at: Dealing with nets Stress: 5

SKY SHARK I'm A Shark!; Vulnerable Belly Skilled (+2) at: Flying, biting, smelling blood Bad (-2) at: Anything else Stress: 2

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HAZARDS Adventuring in Invells is about the geography, the unique scenery, the politics of nations that rarely contact others. Not everything can be solved with conflict—things like terrain, weather, magical phenomena and social situations all pose their own challenges. Depending on the hazard, they might have a stress track, they might have an approach and actively use it, or they might just be a situation aspect.

UNSTABLE CAVERN Up on the Worldcrust there are some nutters who wanna live in the sky. Diggin up in the rock like some kinda fools. Sky’s no place to make a home. All it’ll take is one good uprain or the gods to shake things up and them caves are fallin down to Sola. No less what weird things you might find up there. Aspect: Avalanche! If you want something simple, make it an obstacle. Avalanche! blocks movement until it is overcome, and characters who fail get Buried or take stress. If you want to shake things up a bit, especially in a conflict, give it a Forceful approach at Great (+4), and have it actively attack or try to create Buried on characters in the area. In a conflict, it can start in one zone and spread to others as the conflict goes on. 191

UPRAIN The clouds are ever seeking to redeem their parent. They send their raindrop children up to the stone sky, where the rain petitions the gods on Sola’s behalf. To break free from Sola’s embrace, the rain must travel with high speed and great force. Please avoid travel during periods of heavy uprain. Aspect: Uprain Uprain is similar to an Unstable Cavern, but not as rough. Uprain makes it hard for anyone on the Underside to see beyond their zone until it's overcome, and the unlucky might even be Blinded. It interferes with the movements of flying characters, and Forcefully knocks them out of the sky. If you need a rating, use Fair (+2). At the GM's option, the Uprain might whisper a message while passing by someone’s ear.

GRAVITY TWIST Sola pulls us in, wants to keep us in its embrace. But sometimes Sola gets real upset, real angry at itself, and it pushes us away just as hard. That’s when the islands get out of orbit for a while. That’s when the clouds struggle to stay by their parent’s side. That’s when we fall up to the sky, and come slamming back down. Aspect: Gravity Twist 192

While a Gravity Twist is around, islands are knocked of orbit, people are Quickly tossed around, and characters who can't fly have different zones to deal with. The real danger is when it ends, though—anyone still around is Forcefully slammed to the ground at Good (+3).

SUNLESS You know how dark it gets up here? You make your way in the caves, you find yourself lost without the sun. We got folks still hidden away somewhere in them tunnels. Scratching at the walls, feeling out food, becoming a little less blessed each day. Just a shell of a person. Aspect: Terrifying Darkness Unless someone has a way to overcome the darkness, characters will have to overcome to avoid getting lost. Failures might result in stress, Panic, or going in the wrong direction. A low difficulty is fine, but if the terrain is treacherous, it can get worse. You might also want to consider lowering the difficulty for Careful actions, and raising it for Quick ones.

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FRIENDLY UPDRAFT Sometimes the clouds get bored, trapped down there waiting for their parent to come to its senses. They’ll drift up and spend the day among the people. Put on shows for the kids, call the wind to float them around. It’s the most adorable thing you’ll ever see. Aspect: Friendly Clouds Skilled (+2) at: Tossing people around, floating things to the ground, gusts of wind Bad (-2) at: Doing things that can't be done easily with wind

These clouds are pretty great, but sometimes they get a little overexcited with wind gusts and they aren't above playing a prank on you. They can be convinced to help out, but if you make them mad, they'll turn their wrath on you. If you can figure out a way to hurt a cloud, this could even turn into conflict. 194

XENOPHOBIC ATMOSPHERE Imagine living on a tiny little island, room enough for maybe a couple hundred people. It’s been your whole world for generations. You gaze up into the rock, look down at the sun, and you get to thinking it’s just you and Sola in the world. And that’s when one of them airships lands, full of people you’ve never seen before, and it can get ugly. You might be scared, you might be angry, you might even be like that one island where they didn’t think we were real. Either way, tread careful when you’re sailing the skies. Aspect: We Don't Like Your Type Around Here On this island there are stares around every corner, and sticking your nose where it doesn't belong is dangerous. Some actions—especially social ones—have a higher difficulty, and locals might even get free invokes on this aspect in scenes where they try to inconvenience the group. Sometimes people will block off an area with threatening poses and turn this into an obstacle, and sometimes you might even be compelled to be attacked by a mob. To overcome the aspect, you need to find a way to gain their trust. This can happen thanks to a plot event, but you could also make it a challenge—or even give the Xenophobic Atmosphere a stress track and some approaches and have them fight bigotry.

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AIRSHIP BLOCKADE Halt! Intrusion of this airspace will be met with force. There will be no warning shots. Please turn back and continue along your way. There will be no through traffic of this area until the danger has passed. Aspect: Airship Blockade This aspect has been placed by the airship captains, who oppose any attempts to get around it at at least Great (+4). If they do anything other than send an envoy to intruding airships or fire warning shots, this turns into conflict.

PRECOCIOUS CHILD How did you do that? Is that guy made out of fire? Can I touch him? Where are we going next? How are we going to get there? Can we stop and look at the clouds on the way? I’m hungry. Can I play with this axe? Aspect: Precocious Child Your group's mission: escort this kid. They're represented by an aspect, and stay safe through all manner of improbable events because that's how being precocious works. Sometimes this aspect can be compelled to have the child toddle into serious danger, or blurt out something they really shouldn't have.

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LAST SURVIVOR Yeah, she’s all that’s left o’ the raid on Delphina. I heard it was them war-bots what been coming out from Orgos lately, but that’s only rumor. She’s the only one what knows what really happened. What, you need more info than that? Well. You’ll need to ask her then, won’t ya? Good luck – she’s been hittin’ the drink hard tonight. Aspect: Leave Me Alone With this aspect on someone, getting information out of them is tough. Difficulties are higher, prices are steeper, you get less info, and you can easily be compelled to get driven away. The trick is to overcome the aspect first. Which approach works best depends on the characters and the options available, but Forceful is probably a bad idea...

SOLA’S LIGHT Just a few more minutes. It’s so relaxing right here. I need the break after that last job anyway. No, no, I’ll be right up. I’ll meet you at the next stop. Yeah, I know. I’ll see you there. You know, after another few minutes. Or a day or two. They’ll be on island for about a week, I’ll catch up with them then. If I remember. Maybe I’ll just lie here for a week. Why would I ever get up? Aspect: It's So Soothing Here... 197

Sola's Light just wants company. It provides passive Great (+4) opposition to leaving the area this aspect is placed on, and it has a Sneaky rating of Good (+3) which it uses to create advantages or provide active opposition as needed. On the other hand, Sola's Light soothes muscles and dulls injuries—if you risk it, you can use the aspect to justify actions that lessen pain, or invoke it for free when using a Lantern's Healing Light.

PEBBLE STORM Every child knows rain falls up and then back down again. They dance out in the streets, hoping to hear a whisper of a message from the drops. They stand gazing up into the sky, down into Sola. Sometimes the rain brings its friends, and the children hide. They know it’s not safe. They scurry underground, because the sky is falling. Aspect: Rocks Fall, Everyone Hides A Pebble Storm is like Uprain, only rougher. It gets a Forceful rating of Good (+3), and uses it with gleeful abandon to smash flying characters, standing characters, lying down characters, and anything else that gets in its way. Windows and shoddy cover are no protection.

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CHAPTER 11: Extras and Gear 199

Normally, you won't need to do anything special for your gear. You can just assume you have basic things like weapons, tools and pants if you have the right aspects. If you want something special and important to the story, it's time for extras.

EXTRAS An extra is something that is part of or controlled by your character, but gets more in-depth treatment than pointing to your aspects. It's a catch-all term for special powers, specialised gear, vehicles, organisations and places controlled by a character—anything important enough to get at least an aspect. In this chapter, we'll mostly explore using extras to give characters cool gear and mounts. Depending on what the extra actually is, characters will need to either pay or get permission to have it.

THE FATE FRACTAL The Fate Fractal (also known as the Bronze Rule) means that anything in the game world can be treated like a character. That means it can have its own aspects, approaches, stunts, stress tracks and consequences if you need it to. In this chapter, we'll use it to assign stats to things the characters can have. 200

DESIGNING YOUR EXTRA First, think about what this extra is actually going to do. Does it do something a character's approaches, stunts and aspects don't already? Is it going to have a meaningful impact on the game? If it doesn't sound like it, you can probably get away with adding more to it or just dropping the idea. After that, think about how you're going to represent it. If the extra influences the story, it should have aspects. This can just mean it requires a character aspect to be used, like a certain lineage or membership in an organisation, or it could mean the extra has its own aspect. If it can act on its own, it should have approaches. This is best for intelligent extras. It can just mean that the character who leads them uses their own approach and describes the extra doing the work, or the extra can have its own approaches that can be used in certain circumstances. If the extra makes an approach cooler, it should have stunts. They're pretty much the same as regular stunts, and sometimes even cost refresh. If the extra can suffer harm or be used up, it should have stress and consequences. This can mean that it uses the character's, or that it gets its own. 201

PERMISSIONS AND COSTS Finally, think about how it should be paid for. If the extra requires a cost, it comes out of the character's sheet— usually a stunt or aspect slot. A good example of this kind of extra is the Mechanic's suit—the suit is part of the Mechanic's character, so they use some of their character aspects and stunts to describe it. Some extras can just require permission, some kind of narrative justification for having it. This usually means that one of your character's aspects has to justify having this. If the GM is fine with it, you can say that it just makes sense for a character to have something and give it to them—this is perfect for giving the characters an airship or base of operations. Remember not to go overboard with extras. Not everything needs to be explained with the fate fractal, and Inverse World is about your character, not their stuff. Just because your character has a load of gear or a crew following them, like Collectors or Captains tend to, doesn't mean you need to establish everything they have as extras. Their aspects cover a good chunk of that. Only use an extra for something really important.

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EXTRAS AND ADVANCEMENT An extra's aspects can change at minor milestones, like regular character aspects, or at a major milestone if it's tied to your concept. You can also use discoveries to change their aspects. Extras with approaches can be swapped or advanced at the same milestones as a character's approaches, with the same restrictions. Extras with stunts can be changed at minor milestones like a regular stunt. When you get an extra stunt at a major milestone, you can give it to the extra if you like. If you ever lose the extra and won't get it back, you can pick a stunt for yourself. Also, if it's a complicated extra with multiple elements, you might want to consider starting simple and develop it at milestones to keep up with the characters. For example, an airship with its own statistics could start with just the basics and advance as everyone gets more awesome.

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SPECIAL GEAR Here are a few examples of special or magical items and how they might be used in play, to give you some ideas.

X-10 Rocket Jetpack Permissions: The ability to use a jetpack without crashing Costs: A jetpack-related aspect, if you want to keep it The latest in jetpack technology. Get yours today! You can tell just by looking at the X-10 is one slick piece of gear. Expect to be compelled when people get a look at it and covet it for themselves. The good news is that not only can you fly, but you can invoke this aspect when taking advantage of its powerful rockets. Of course, having a pair of fire-blasting rockets on your back could be its own compel... This is a good way to add a little detail to something you got via an aspect, like the Mechanic's suit or something a Sky Dancer uses to fly.

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SWORD OF SOLA Permissions: Finding the sword during the game Costs: None Some followers of Sola can weave Sola's light into a magical sword, and their temples gift these swords to their most devout followers—but unlike a little light, the sword isn't that picky about its owner. This sword has a Sword of Sola aspect. If you're the sword's bearer, you can invoke this aspect when fighting or opposing creatures of darkness. You may also be compelled by the sword, as it pushes its bearer to spread the light of Sola and destroy evil whenever the opportunity presents itself, even when it's a terrible idea. The aspect can also be invoked for one or two special effects: it can instantly illuminate any zone, and it can instantly kill any nameless NPC creature of darkness. This is a good extra to use as a special reward or plot-important device. A player could also just take a Sword of Sola character aspect to start with, or if they get one later (for example, through a discovery), they could change one of their character aspects to make sure they keep it.

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BASS CANNON Permissions: Finding or building a Bass Cannon Costs: One stunt This strange weapon looks a little like an enormous two-handed crossbow, but there's nowhere to put the bolt—and it's covered in strange wires, dials and glowing strips only an advanced Mechanic could understand. When you point it and pull the trigger, a lance of magical energy slams out of the front and loud, thumping music begins to play. This cannon is represented by a stunt. Wub Wub Wub: The first time you open fire with the Bass Cannon in a conflict, you create a Drop The Bass boost. This is an example of a stunt extra. You can just buy this for a character, but you can lend some to your players for a special musical adventure if you want. Technically anyone can fire one, but you need to get permission or pay the cost to get this specific bonus. If you really want this to be a special weapon, you could give it an aspect to invoke for damage or compel to draw a lot of unwanted attention. If it's a character's signature weapon, they might even want to buy more stunts to give it extra effects. 206

HIRELINGS Eventually your players are going to want to recruit NPCs to help them. There are a few ways you can handle that. Aspects are how it's done when someone creates an advantage, so they're the most common method. Since aspects are always true, you don't need to invoke to get their help—if you create an advantage to find, say, someone who can get you into a castle, you have a way into the castle whether or not you use your free invoke. It can still help to invoke when you're actually trying to enter it, of course. Approaches or stunts can be assigned to other, temporary NPCs if you want to mix things up. Letting the party use a new stunt or a good (or even Great!) approach for a scene or two is a great way to spice up an adventure or make an event unique. If your players have a base—like an airship or an island—stunts and approaches could represent permanent allies who reside there. If you do it this way, treat the base like a character and set a limit to the approaches and stunts you can have at once. Like other NPCs, hirelings can have anything characters do. Give them whatever's needed.

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MOUNTS AND VEHICLES Let's beat the Fate Fractal horse one more time: Anything in the game world can be treated like a character. That includes vehicles and mounts. As usual, you can get away with just an aspect and the character's approaches most of the time, or even bake it into a character's sheet if it's a signature vehicle. You won't need much more than that unless it's important to your game. Giving it its own approaches implies it can act independently of its rider. It's not usually the point of a mount, but that can be very useful for the story. Stunts aren't usually needed either, but letting mounts have a stunt the player can access (have them spend a fate point to get it, if you're not sure) is a great way to make them unique and interesting. If it's going to come up, you can give the mount its own stress track and consequences. Depending on the situation, invokes on the mount's consequences might be useable against its rider. The mount and vehicle stats here provide everything, including optional stunts and stress tracks, in case you need it. You only have to use what you think is necessary.

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MOUNTS

Aerophin Graceful Sky Dolphin; Playful And Intelligent These playful, intelligent creatures are sleek airborne mammals who lack feathers. They have a language of their own, and when spoken to they will claim through song and poetry that they were once water-swimming creatures until one of their heroic ancestors dared touch the sky with a mighty leap. This is a deeply confusing account to most people, but they make good steeds if one can keep up with the endless chatter. Aerophins also have the peculiar trait of being able to relay messages long distances with their voices, almost as if they were doing so in water.

Skilled (+2) at: Daring aerial maneuvers, relaying messages long distances Bad (-2) at: Being silent

Aerobatics: While riding an aerophin, you get +2 to Quickly creating advantages related to daring aerial manevuers.

Stress: 3 209

FLYING JELLYFISH Huge Flying Jellyfish; Bioluminescent These beautiful creatures are not so much tamed as they are grown, beginning as polyps attached to certain islands and over a period of many years reaching maturity under the watchful care of brave island walkers. Their adult cycle is relatively short compared to the effort spent in cultivating them, but to their handlers they are worth every minute. Flying jellyfish are big enough to carry multiple passengers.

Skilled (+2) at: Floating around, grabbing large or multiple things Bad (-2) at: Things you need to be smarter than a jellyfish for

Grasping Tentacles: While riding a flying jellyfish, you can grapple and entangle targets without restricting your actions—you never have to worry about having your hands full or struggling with your opponent, because the jellyfish is doing it.

Stress: 3

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KHESAT SPIDER Small: Riding Spider; Wall Crawler Large: Two-Seater Giant Spider; Wall Crawler; Fearless Huge: King Of Spiders; Wall Crawler; Smarter than the Average Bug Khesat Spiders are huge and quite hateful of outsiders. However, if one is raised in captivity or around people, it can grow to accept them as members of its colony, and even permit them to ride it. It only takes a year for one to grow as large as a horse, and they never stop growing. They are easiest to control when they are small, but they become entirely fearless as they grow larger. Huge Khesat spiders can be fitted with vehicular weaponry.

Skilled (+2) at: Walking on absolutely any surface, leaping long distances Bad (-2) at: Not being a creepy hateful spider

Jumping Spider: (Small only) While riding this Khesat spider, you get +2 to Forcefully overcoming obstacles by leaping long distances.

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Silk Road: (Large or Huge only) This Khesat spider can spin thick webs, as strong as steel. Using these webs, you can make a path across any gap or up any surface your spider can cross, and ignore any related situation aspects that would impede movement.

Stress: 1 (Small), 2 (Large), 31 (Huge)

Winged Island Turtle Snapjaw Island; Cantankerous Jerk These airborne chelonians are a known hazard of existence within the Inverse World, snapping at any passing airborne creature in their way. Island turtles are so named for resembling natural islands, with rock and mud accruing on their shells and long trails of plant life settling on their undersides. Some of the largest ones lie dormant for centuries at a time with communities unknowingly settling on their still-living forms, and some “islands” are actually just the naturally buoyant, hollowed-out shells of a winged island turtle’s corpse. Smaller, younger turtles can serve as a cantankerous form of transport, if you can handle their stubbornness. Although the Turtle can be directed in the vague direction of your intended destination, nothing else it does can be fully controlled by a pilot. As such, it will sometimes do things entirely without direction or 212

control. It can carry a load similar to that of a ship, far in excess of a normal beast of its size. It can also be mounted with vehicle-mounted weaponry and even permanent dwellings, if you can afford them.

Skilled (+2) at: Being enormous, having a hard shell, snapping at passers-by Bad (-2) at: Not being the giant turtle version of a loose cannon

Ridged Shell: You gain +2 to Forcefully defending attacks if you can take cover behind the Winged Island Turtle's ridged shell.

Wingloft Wild Avian; Directional Instincts These birds spend almost their entire lives in flight, stopping only on a select few islands uninhabited by the spirit-blessed throughout the year. They are seen as fierce and proud beasts, but those with knowledge of their secrets may tame one at great personal risk.

Skilled (+2) at: Flying, swooping, coming when you whistle, knowing migratory routes Bad (-2) at: Being calm and diplomatic

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Taming of the Wingloft: You tamed this Wingloft by jumping off a certain island at a specific time, landing on it as it migrated around Sola, and struggling with it for several hours until it accepted you as its rider. Now, only you and those who have permission from you (given in front of your Wingloft) may ride it. It will always buck off anyone else.

Stress: 3

VEHICLES

Cloud Glider Cloud Surfboard; Sola Powered This device is a simple cloud-board attached to a solar sail. The sail can be manipulated by any rider to achieve stunning speeds across the Cloud Sea, but you must never slow down while not on a solid cloud.

Surf's Up: Once per surfing-related challenge or conflict, when things look particularly dangerous, you can declare that conditions are perfect. When you do, the GM will tell you one dangerous move you can pull, and you get a boost.

Stress: 1 214

CRAZY FLYING CONTRAPTION How Do I Fly This Crazy Thing; Experimental Defense Systems There has never been a shortage of tinkerers, inventors and eccentrics who have attempted to create a way to fly between the islands. Not every attempt is graceful, economical or successful, and this one looks like it’s none of the above.

What Does This Button Do?: Once per scene, you can create an advantage by desperately searching for anything that might help you while riding whatever this thing is. If the Fate dice total is 0 or higher, you get an extra invoke for every die that shows a +. If it's -1 or less, the GM gets to name the aspect and you get no extra invokes.

Stress: 3

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CANNONADE GONDOLA Hookshot Cable Car One of the most curious mechanical innovations ever conceived in inter-island travel, this gondola comes equipped with tracks and a large front-mounted cannon. The operator simply anchors the chain on the current island of residence and then fires the other end, attached to an extremely heavy ball, at the next island in sight in order to create a new chain link along which the Gondola can travel. The tracks then allow it to maneuver to an anchoring site on the new island. The Cannonade Gondola can travel on an island under its own power, but it can only traverse between two islands along specific prepared chain-paths. This is done with a Careful roll. Successes at a minor cost could take a long time to calculate, land the chain in a bad or insecure spot, or attract someone with the noise. On a total miss, the chain must be cut loose immediately before its weight drags the entire gondola towards Sola.

Chainfire: While piloting a Cannonade Gondola, you get +2 to Carefully creating new chain paths.

Stress: 3

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DRAKESHIP Winged Vessel; A Complex System of Pulleys and Ropes These rare vessels are constructed from the fallen carcasses of great flying drakes. Their scales have the quality of repelling Sola’s grasp strongly, and their wings can be repurposed for a Drakeship’s construction. The ships are highly valued and difficult to pilot. Depending on the age of the drake in question, they can range from craft piloted by a single person to large ships requiring the services of rows of rowers to help steer and beat the wings. The ship only sails in air or on water. It has wings driven by oars and the light of Sola, comes with plenty of nautical-related equipment and rope, and can carry far more cargo than a beast of its size could. It can fly with a very minimal crew, even as little as a single pilot; larger varieties and laden ships will require rowers to function normally. Finally, it can be equipped with any cannons or other vehicle-mounted weapons you can afford.

Dragon's Eye: You get +2 to Cleverly creating advantages when you get a dragon's-eye view through the complex bio-magical pilot's viewport. Stress: 3 217

FIGHTER PLANE Reliable Sky Plane; Mounted Machine Gun A propeller-based sky plane, designed to fit one pilot and one passenger. The elegant design of this plane, coupled with the mounted machine gun, makes it the vehicle of choice for ace pilots everywhere. The propeller needs to be wound up by hand before launch, so the plane takes at least a minute of readying before it can fly – it cannot take off suddenly, without warning.

Machine Gun: You get +1 to Forcefully attacking or creating advantages with this plane's mounted gun.

Stress: 2 218

GLIDER BIKE Exciting Bike These motorized two-wheeled vehicles are extremely uncommon outside the tunnels of the Worldcrust or the very largest islands, but they have attained a mystique of their own. Often decorated in odd colors and accessories, these bikes allow a rider to ride quickly and in style to wherever they wish to go, albeit noisily. All heads turn when a Biker rides by. The bike cannot fly upwards, only glide downwards: getting up again must be accomplished by other means. You can use the bike to ramp off an island onto another.

Motobushido: You gain +2 to Flashily creating advantages when working or dealing with other bikers who have seen your moves and acknowledged your skill.

Stress: 2 219

KITE Soaring Kite; Watch Out For That Tree Kites are a difficult and dangerous means of transport, but a surprisingly flexible one. Modified from popular toys and occasional means by which islands are made to sail around Sola by the power of wind, this version is designed to mount a person. It can be steered both by the occupant and by a second participant directing it from solid ground. The real trick is landing without hurting yourself.

Don’t Let Go: Advantages you create when guiding a piloted kite from the ground can be invoked by the rider for a +3 bonus instead of +2.

Stress: 1

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SPIRIT NET Spirit-Catching Net; Demanding Fish Sometimes, after a fierce bout of rain, minor spirits of water materialize and flutter around islands in the forms of great flying fish, forming schools that play in the fresh air after the deluge. A Spirit Net can catch such schools and, with a little coercion, assist an enterprising person in travelling between islands. A Spirit Net that does not contain a school of fish- spirits can be used to entrap other spirits, or simply as a net.

Verbal Fish-Slap: If you caught the water spirits yourself, you get +2 to Flashily overcoming when parleying for safe passage to another island.

Stress: 1 221

WORLDCRUST TUNNELLER Armoured Burrower; Sealed Interior Found almost exclusively within the Worldcrust, these machines are the lifeblood and hope of many remote communities within the darkness of that place where strength of arm and back alone cannot prevail against shifting earth. They can both create new tunnels and reopen collapsed ones, and are instrumental in trade and travel. This machine can support its pilot and passengers for several days while they are completely sealed within it and while burrowing. It has small open-able portholes and a periscope with which to see, and no one inside the Tunneller can attack outside unless these portholes are opened.

Pipe Dream: Any advantages created by passengers acting as mappers or geologists can be invoked by the pilot for a +3 bonus instead of +2.

Stress: 4 222

ICONIC VEHICLES AND LOCATIONS If you're planning something big—a vehicle or location that acts as a base for your players or has some other huge impact on the game—you might as well go all the way and give it a character sheet. This is for a cornerstone of your game, as iconic as the Enterprise, Batman's lair, the Ghostbusters base or the A-Team's van. Keep in mind that if you give something its own approaches, you're saying it can act independently. This could represent a crew, a community, a mind of its own, or anything else that works in context. If you're going this route, think about how to handle it. Having the group work together to make their iconic base's sheet is a good way to get them invested in the game, but surprising them can work too—especially if the game revolves around an abandoned place or mysterious ship the players stumble on. Iconic extras can advance just like characters, if you wish. Alternately, you could let players customise it during sufficient downtime, swapping crew members, ship parts and the like for replacements discovered during play. The following Extras are all very iconic, and can each make a great home base for the party. 223

FLYING SHIP If any vessel can be said to be common among the islands, it is this one. The results of hard labor, many sacrifices, significant cost and dogged persistence, the relatively few flying ships that exist represent both the Spirit-Blessed sense of adventure and their desire for freedom. It is said, however, that these ships only truly find their purpose when paired with their captain.

Example Ship: The Sunwise

ASPECTS Repurposed Imperial Dreadnaught; Equipped For Adventure; Lord Martinsi Wants Me Back

APPROACHES Careful: Fair (+2) Clever: Average (+1) Flashy: Fair (+2) Forceful: Good (+3) Quick: Average (+1) Sneaky: Mediocre (+0)

STUNTS Armoured Hull: Once per scene, the Sunwise can ignore any obstacle it could conceivably smash through Forcefully.

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Medical Bay: Once per adventure, the ship's medic can clear a moderate consequence by Carefully overcoming a difficulty of Good (+3) as long as they're working in the Sunwise's infirmary.

Stress: 3

Airship Stunts Since it's one of the most common iconic vehicles, here are some stunts you could give your airship:

Dragonfire Cannons: When you attack with your ship's cannons and reduce damage by one to gain a boost, you can create a fire-based advantage with a free invoke instead.

Luxurious: Your ship is luxurious as hell. While on the ship, any invokes that aid a Flashy roll give a +3 bonus instead of +2.

Ghost Ship: Your ship has a constant aura of dark fog. It does not hinder you, but once you disappear into the fog, you're awesome at hiding.

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Going Merry: Your crew has the skills and know- how to repair your ship, though there's only so much they can do in the field. Once per session, with enough downtime, they can reduce a ship consequence by one level of severity. If you're not in a civilised area, the ship gains a Makeshift Repairs aspect until you get some proper repairs.

Invincible: Once per scene, any officer on deck can spend a fate point to have your ship totally ignore any stress from one attack.

Storm Ship: Your ship runs on electricity and shoots bolts of lightning. Attacks with your cannons are electric and ignore passive opposition.

Island's Heart An Island’s Heart is an extremely rare and valuable artifact that can be used to bring an island to life. When you press an Island’s Heart directly against the surface of an island, that island comes to life, and moves under your command for as long as you hold the heart. Sometimes people will capture a small island, build a keep on it and turn it into a mobile base. It's a unique experience, but the Heart must be well-protected, because it doesn't discriminate between owners. 226

Example Islandhome: The Wreckyard

ASPECTS Flying Island Stronghold; Tethered Shipwrecks; Island's Heart

APPROACHES Careful: Fair (+2) Clever: Average (+1) Flashy: Average (+1) Forceful: Good (+3) Quick: Fair (+2) Sneaky: Mediocre (+0)

STUNTS Airship Graveyard: The Wreckyard is partly built from abandoned shipwrecks. Occupants get +2 to Cleverly overcoming when repairing or upgrading vehicles that could make use of all this junk.

Grappling Hooks: The Wreckyard is surrounded by hanging hooked chains, allowing it to collect or rescue passing ships. Anyone manning the harpoon guns gets +2 to Forcefully creating advantages when hooking passers-by.

Stress: 4

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THE W.F.O. Also known as the Wizardly Flying Orrery. This magical observation deck has glass floors, a cloaking field, magical light-beam cannons, a cabal of secretive wizards, a tractor beam, and a massive tail-like structure with a white gloved hand on the end. It can be anywhere at any time, watching your every move and kidnapping your cattle. But it probably isn’t, because there is no evidence that the W.F.O. exists. At least, that’s what they want you to think. The cabal of wizards in charge of the W.F.O. has little interest in most things. They are always watching and waiting for the warning signs of the world, signs of terrible portents and grim tidings. And when they find such things, they interfere with great force. Whether this involves raining bolts of lightning down upon enemy armies or kidnapping a castle and flying off with it seems entirely arbitrary, to the outside viewer. The W.F.O. as presented here is written as a recurring location, ally or antagonist. The characters could have an observation deck of their own with some tweaks, though.

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W.F.O. ASPECTS Magical Mobile Observation Deck; Full Of Wizard Gizmos; Wizard Cabal

APPROACHES Careful: Average (+1) Clever: Good (+3) Flashy: Fair (+2) Forceful: Mediocre (+0) Quick: Average (+1) Sneaky: Fair (+2)

STUNTS Cloaking Field: The W.F.O. is awesome at hiding. Odd Hand: When the W.F.O. deploys its weird giant hand or tractor beam, it can overcome Cleverly whenever it normally would Forcefully.

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Chapter 12: Converting Characters

231 Some readers might be coming here from Dungeon World, or they've played other Fate games and would like to mix and match a bit. For those readers, we've got some tips!

DUNGEON WORLD Dungeon World and Fate are two very different systems - really, you'll be rebuilding your character from the ground up. It's not difficult, though.

SAME THING, DIFFERENT APPROACHES In a sense, both games are about emulating fiction. In Dungeon World's case, old-school fantasy roleplaying games. Fate is designed to tell stories, and Inverse World Accelerated tweaks the focus towards stories about the world of Invells. The difference is how they do it. Dungeon World focuses on what your character does—the rules are designed for fluid action, and get out of the way when you're not doing things. Fate focuses on what your character is—aspects describe who they are, and actions flow from there. Keep that in mind, and you should be fine.

232 NO CLASSES, DEAL WITH IT Fate doesn't actually have classes. Inverse World Accelerated has Jobs, but they're really just a flavour aspect, and you can write whatever you want. If you like, you can approximate classes from Dungeon World or some other playbook by converting your favourite moves into aspects and stunts, but you don't have to. You can also mix and match stunts from different Jobs in this book, as long as you tweak them a bit so your character can use them, or even just leave your Job blank and use a different kind of aspect.

SUCCESS AT A COST In most cases, a 7-9 result and a success at a minor cost are pretty similar. If you're stuck coming up with a success at a cost, think about what would have happened if you rolled 7-9.

CONVERTING MOVES The main thing about "converting" Dungeon World moves is that a lot of them can be done by rolling an approach and maybe using an aspect to justify it. For example, take the Collector's Identify move:

"When you spend some time and safety testing and analyzing something, the GM will tell you what it does and how you use it." 233

That's basically Carefully creating an advantage to discover its aspects. Or the Mental Fortitude move:

"When you Defy Danger with your Lore stat, on a 12+, you succeed beyond all expectations. The GM will offer you a better outcome, a moment of genius, or a golden opportunity."

That's pretty much a success with style, right there.If you want the move have more oomph than just an approach roll, though you can still make a stunt that's in the spirit of the move:

Identify: When you Carefully test and analyze a piece of loot to discover its aspects, you can discover an additional aspect. You can decide which aspect gets a free invoke.

Mental Fortitude: When you Cleverly dodge an attack, you gain +1 on your next create advantage attempt against the opponent who tried to hit you. If you succeed with style, gain +2.

It's not the same thing, but it definitely catches the same bus.

234 OTHER FATE GAMES Fate is a system that can emulate almost anything, as long as it has heroic protagonists, so you can easily grab parts of other Fate games to improve your Inverse World Accelerated game. This isn't a definitive list of every Fate work out there, just a list of suggestions you could look at for ideas. Some are pay-what-you-want, some aren't; consider how much you plan to use it before you buy it. Many are great games on their own, but you can use the Fate toolbox by itself to build most anything.

Fate Core: Fate Accelerated is a trimmed-down version of Fate Core. The main (but not the only) difference is that Core uses a skill list instead of approaches. To convert Core stunts to Accelerated stunts, you can usually just replace any skills they mention with an appropriate approach. A lot of Fate products are based on Fate Core. Some were released before Core, and though they're all pretty similar some might have rules which need a bit of tweaking to run in Core.

235 If you'd like to run Inverse World in Fate Core, go for it! Here's a suggested Invells-themed skill list:  Artifice (Crafts)  Connect (Contacts)  Discern (Investigate+Notice)  Empathy  Fight  Guile (Deceive)  Lore  Mobility (Athletics)  Physique  Provoke  Rapport  Thievery (Burglary)  Trade (Resources)  Stealth  Survival  Vehicles (Drive)  Volley (Shoot)  Will

Fate Worlds: Worlds on Fire and Worlds in Shadow are official expansions with some cool settings that might give you ideas for things to do in Inverse World. Definitely check out Camelot Trigger, Wild Blue and Kriegszeppelin Valkyrie.

236 Atomic Robo RPG: Atomic Robo does cool things with skill modes and mega-stunts that are perfect for heroic comic book action if that's your jam. If your game is heavy on Mechanics and strange science, the Brainstorm and Invention rules put these into the spotlight. You can use either or both. Brainstorm can also be adapted for investigations in mystery oriented games.

Bulldogs!: Fate-powered soft sci-fi action where you're the crew of an adventuring spaceship. If airships are a central part of your game, the ship and crew creation rules found here can expand your options.

Diaspora: Diaspora is a Fate-powered hard sci-fi game with a lot of crunch. It's a little too detail- oriented for Inverse World Accelerated, but the system for generating star systems is a great resource to adapt for making Inverse World islands, if the Instant Island Guide in chapter 1 isn't doing enough for you.

Dresden Files RPG: Dresden Files was released a couple of years before Fate Core, but it's still mostly compatible and a good place to look for ideas. Keep in mind that the spellcasting system is specifically designed for the Dresden Files setting and tends to break if you port it to other settings. Dresden Files Accelerated isn't out at the time of writing, but if it is at 237 the time of reading, you should definitely check it out.

Jadepunk: Jadepunk mixes wuxia action with steampunk elements. It's in the same thematic vein as Inverse World, but it can be very setting specific. The Asset creation is similar to Atomic Robo's Invention but can be used by anyone, not just Mechanics. Dueling and Scene Fractals provide additional challenges to spice up any game.

Tianxia: Tianxia gives you a system for exciting kung fu action. If that's your thing, the ready-made kung fu styles are something any character can pick up. They also make great starting places for Walker stunts.

Internet: Depending on the forums you frequent, it might seem like everybody and their dog has done something with Fate. Check the RPG.net forums or the Fate communities on Google+. You'll find more than you could ever use in one game, but you might also find exactly what you need. If not, asking the community for help is a great way to generate exciting new ideas.

238 Special Thanks

The following is a list of those who helped make Inverse World a reality. Thank you all very much!

"Evil" Avi Zacherman, @AdamUltraberg, a brave sparrow, Aaron "WolfSamurai" Roudabush, Aaron Jones, Aaron Mehlhaff, Aaron Pothecary, Ackinty Strappa, Adam Blinkinsop, Adam Chen, Adam Hegemier, Adam Koebel, Adam M. Coleman, Adam Marquis, Adam Popma, Adam Rajski, Adam Windsor, Adam Yakaboski, Adrian "Slow Dog" Brooks, Adrian J. George III, Adrian Thoen, Adrian Zollinger, Al Billings, Al Gordon, Defier of Dangers, Alan Cooke, Alan Jackson, Alberto Muti, Alec Henry, Alex "Ansob" Norris, Alex Davis, Alex Valiushko, Alexander "Deadbeard" Greene, Alexander 'Dra-Katt' Vinogradov, Alexander Gräfe, Alexander R. Corbett, Alexis & Holly Edminster, Alisson Vitório - O Mestre das Antigas, Almabo, Andrea "Ander" Ungaro, Andrea "Fealoro" Mognon, Andrea Rombecchi, Andrew Beaumont McCarrell, Andrew Carbonetto, Andrew Gatlin, Andrew Gill, Andrew Hauge, Andri Erlingsson, Andy Androwick, Andy Kitkowski, Angelo Pileggi, Anne Schmid, anonymous, Anthony Popowski, Antoine Boegli, Antoine Fournier, Antti Luukkonen, ara, Arkane Loste, Armin Sykes, Arno Ludo, Art "Mercy" Wendorf, Arthur Doler, Austin Conley, Aviv Manoach, Barac Wiley, Baradaelin, Basil Lisk, BCU, Ben Bonds, Ben Hale, Ben Kaser. Ben Quant, Ben Theben Archer, 239

Benjamin Palmer, Benjamin Wakeland, Benly, Bernard Kerckenaere, Bernd Pressler, Bert Isla, Big L, Björn Steffen, Blue "Half the peer review team" the Fourth, Boabdil Perez, Bob Hiestand, Bob Richardson, Boing, Brad "I Wish I Got The FATE Version Too" Gravett, Brad Osborne, braincraft, Brandon Metcalf, Brant Clabaugh, brazil808, Brendan G Conway, Brendan Goss, Brendan Hutt, Brendan Strejcek, Brent, Handsome Wizard, Brian Allred, Brian Engard, Brian Hon, Brian King, Brian Little, Brian M. Creswick, Brian S. Stephan, Bruce Baugh, Bwubbly, Candi and Chris Norwood, Carey Williams, Carl Rigney, Casey (MageKrew), Chad Andrew Bale, Che "UbiquitousRat" Webster, Chip Dickerson, Chissst, Chloe Mirzayi, Chris Brashier, Chris Brown, Chris Camburn, Chris Chambers, Chris, DeCarolis, Chris Earl, Chris Heilman, Chris Lewis, Chris McEligot, Chris Sakkas, Chris Whetstone, Chris Wiegand, Christian A. Nord, Christian R Leonhard, Christopher Weeks, Chuck Durfee, Claudio Freda, Colin J, Colton King, Conan James, Craig Hatler, Craig M. Curtis, Craig Mason, Curtis Hay, cybertier, Cynthia Kira Cooper, Dalassa, Dan "Awesome" Ives, Dan Byrne, Dan C, Dan Christman-Crook, Dan Conley, Dan Gerold, Dan Luxenberg, Dan McSorley, Dan Moran, Dane, Ralston-Bryce, Daneward T. Locke, IV, Daniel Chrissafinis, Daniel Ley, Daniel Rodriguez, Daniel Sawyer, Daniele Di Rubbo, Danohead, Darth Butternutz, Dave Bendit, Dave LeCompte, Dave Rezak, David, David "Antioch" Guyll, David "Kobal" Girardey, David Bowers, David Jackson, David Lacerte, David Lai, David Vriezen. Deadly Reed, Declan Feeney, 240 Dennis D. Rude, Denys Mordred, Derek Guder, Derek Lettman, Dev P., Devin C, Diego "Rhaegys" Bao, Diego Minuti, Dingleson, Discoflamingo, Djw175, DocChronos, Donald Taylor, Donald Wheeler, Doomsayer, Doug Blakeslee, Doug Huber, Drew Wendorf, Duane Moore, Dustin Gulledge, Dylan Boates, Dylan Petonke, Ed Kowalczewski, Edoardo Baruzzo, Eduardo H. S., Edward Hand, Edward Nugent, Edward Zieba, Eli Baskir, Ellipsis, elmago79, Elmo Oxygen, Enrico Ambrosi, Eric Coates, Eric Friess, Eric Graham, Eric Iacono, Eric Thompson, Eric Woods, Erich Lichnock, Erich Vereen, Étienne Aubin, Evan Silberman, Evil Hat Productions, Evil Sagan, Ewen Cluney, Fabio Succi Cimentini, Felix Girke, feltk, Flavio Mortarino, Floof, fogrob, Francis Dickinson, Frank Laycock, Franz Georg Rösel, Frogdice Games, Gabriel Butche, Gary Anastasio, Gary Kacmarcik, genericangst, George Richardson III, Gerald Cameron, Gilbert Podell-Blume, Giovanni Lanza, Giulia Barbano, Giuseppe D'Aristotile, Glazius, Gordon Cranford, Gordon Wiley, Gornul, Graf, Graham Spearing, Grant Chen, Grant Greene, graypawn, Greenie the Unwise, Greg Silbermanm Gregory Short, GremlinLegions, Gustavo Campanelli, Guy Sodin, H Lynnea Johnson, H. M. 'Dain' Lybarger, Hamish Cameron, Herman Duyker, Hexatower's Blueprint, Hob, Huston Todd, Iacopo DSh Benigni, Iain McCallum, Ian McFarlin, Ian Raymond, Ian V, Ignatius Montenegro, Igor "Bone" Toscano, Ilthoras Lives, Irven "Myrkwell" Keppen, Isaac Karth, Ivan Vaghi, J Barnsley, J. Brandon Massengill, J. Walton, J.O. "Volsung" Ferrer, Jack Gibbard, Jack Gulick, Jacob Charles, Jacob Jackson, Jacob Possin, Jacob Trewe, Jake 241

Carr, Jake O., Jakub Jirku, James "jimbojones" Robertson, James "Longshot" Gibson, James "Terwox" Myers, James Hawthorne, James Husum, James Iles, James Mendez Hodes, James Stuart, James Yasha Cunningham, Jan "RuneRat" Stals, Janeck Jensen, Jared "Whitebeans" Neubrander, Jaron, Jarrah James, Jason "jivjov", Jason Blalock, Jason Cordova, Jason Cotton, Jason Pasch, Jason Paul McCartan, Jason Pitre, Jay Monroe, Jayle Enn, Jean-Christophe Cubertafon, Jeff Prather, Jeffrey Collyer, Jeffrey John Adams Fuller II, Jeremy Friesen, Jeremy Kear, Jeremy Kostiew, Jeremy Strandberg, Jeremy Tidwell, Jérôme "Brand" Larré, Jerry Sköld, Jesse Burstyn, Jesse Reynolds, Jesse Smith, Jesse Thacker, Jim DelRosso, Jim Ryan, Jo Serna, Joe Banner, Joe Stroup, Joe Zabrowski, Joel "Pika" Keeney, JoeyR, Johannes Knieling, John "johnkzin" Rudd, John Aegard, John Beattie, John Bogart, John Conroy, John DiCerbo, John Fiala, John Hacker, John Halsey, John Harper, John Irvine, John Marron, John Signorino, John Tobin, Johnstone Metzger, Jon Bristow, Jon Rosebaugh, Jon White, Jonas Kukelhan a.k.a Classy Dino, Jonas Schiött, Jonathan "LvL20" Glover, Jonathan C. Dietrich, Jonathan McCulley, Jordan Raymond, Jordi Rabionet, Joselito Miguel Hernandez, Joseph "CuddlyZombie" Goldberg, Joseph Gandee, Joseph Le May, Josh Greenberg, Josh Krutt, Josh Medin, Josh Rensch, Josh Symonds, Joshua D. Haney, Joshua Edwards, Joshua Garratt, Joshua LH Burnett, Joshua Plautz, Joshua Ramsey, Joshua Ray, Judd M. Goswick, Julian A.G. Stanley, Jussi Satuaho-Feder, Justin Coleman, Justin Miland, Justin Mohaircoat, Justin Sandhu, 242 Justin Schmid, Justin Wightbred, K J Miller, Kai Tave, Kai Yau, Kaja Rainbow, Kasper Brohus Allerslev, Kath, Keith E. Clendenen, Keith Preston, Keith Stetson, Kelly van Campen, Ken Blakey, Ken Finlayson, Ken Ringwald, Kendall Uyeji, Kerry Harrison, Kevin Berger, Kevin Caldwell, Kevin J. "Womzilla" Maroney, Kevin Leach, Kevin W, Kinahto, King Crackers, Kingston, Kirby D. Bridges, Kirk Sefchik, Kreg Mosier, Kristopher Volter, Kronusdark, Krysmphoenix, Kurt, Kwyndig, Kyle Schmelz, Kyle Simons, Kyle Strohbeck, Lakas Parreñas Shimizu, Lenny Pacelli, Leon Durivage, Leonardo Prunk, Lester Ward, Lila Papiernik, Lindsey Wilson, Lisa J. Black, Liz Homer, Lochutus, Loki Carbis, Luis Velasco, Lukas Myhan, Luke Bailey, Luke Mc., Luke Rule, Lyndon Baugh, M. Kailus, M. Sean Molley, M.W. II, Magnesium Bruisder, Manu Marron, Manuel Sambs, Marc Majcher, Marc Margelli, Marcelino Soliz, Marco"_Journeyman_" Bignami, Marcus Fossmeyer, Mario Bolzoni, Mark Argent, Mark Hanna, Mark Miller, Mark Monaghan, Mark Parker, Mark Shocklee, Markku Tuovinen, Markus Viklund, Marshall Miller, Mat Mailer, Mathew Breitenbach, Matt Aaron, Matt Blair, Matt Bresee, Matt Capizzi, Matt Compton, Matt Honderich, Matt Kay, Matt Landis, Matt Leitzen, Matt Logan, Matt Penniman, Matthew "Random_Interrupt" Keevil, Matthew Couch, Matthew Coverdale, Matthew Edwards, Matthew Gagan, Matthew Klein, Matthew Laughlin, Matthew Lind, Matthew McFarland, Matthew Orwig, Matthew Rietman, Matthew Rolnick, Matthew Sullivan-Barrett, Mauro Ghibaudo, Max "Ego" Hervieux, Max Baxter, Max Kaehn. MaxLinskey, MC3, Mendel Schmiedekamp, Merciful Hacker, 243

Michael Allen, Michael D Blanchard, Michael De Rosa, Michael Feldhusen, Michael Hill, Michael Kennel, Michael Langford, Michael Lawrence, Michael Llaneza, Michael Miller, Michael Ostrokol, Michael Ray, McLaughlin, Michael Sands, Michael Swadling, Michael Tree, Michael Walsh, Michele Gelli, Mike Garza, Mike Shea, Mike Wawrzyniak, Mikhail Kamnev, Mikhail L., Gordin, Miscavish Family, Misha Polonsky, Mitch Just, Morgan Ellis, Morten Bergsten, Myles Corcoran, Nat "woodelf" Barmore, Nate Moffat, Nathan Black, Nathan Mooney, Nathan Pearce, Nathan Prather, Neal Tanner, Ned Damon, Nemo Hana, Nicholas Cadigan, Nick Bate, Nick Kerr, Nick Nystrom, Nick Riehl, Nick S., Nick Simpson, Nicolaas Webb, Nicolas Brian, Nikitas Thlimmenos, Nina Fabiano, NinjaDebugger, NoName, NPC Chris, Olna Jenn Smith, Orion Cooper, Pablo Doba, Pan "Chigui" Wyatt, Parker Harris Emerson, Pat Gamblin, Pat Malone, Patrice Hédé, Patrick Brewer, Patrick Curtin, Patrick Dunn, Patrick Holzman, Patrik Renholm, Paul C, pAuL dRuSsEl, Paul Echeverri, Paul Sharpe, Pavel "Snarls-at-Fleas" Berlin, Pavel Ojeda, Pete Griffith, Pete Hurley, Peter Aronson, Peter Gates, Peter Goderie, Peter O'Hanley, Peter Rebecca, Peter Steponaitis, Phil Burge, Phil Wong, Phil Wright, Philip "xipehuz" Espi, Philip Hartman, Phillip Meiser, Phillip Pierce-Savoie, Phubar, Pierce, PublicOpinion, Quentin Bourne, R Kirchner, R Zemlicka, Rachael Storey, Raechel Coon, Rafe Ball, Ralph Mazza, Raoni Cananeia Monteiro, Ray Schmidt, Raymond Beckmann, Reverance Pavane, Richard J Rogers, Richard 'Vidiian' Greene, Rick Ferraro, Rick Neal, Riley Nikto, Ringo, 244 Rob Brennan, Rob Ferguson, Rob Rendell, Rob Soirgriffe, Rob Townsend, Robbie Cameron, Robert Biddle, Robert Carnel, Robert Davison, Robert J. Finamore, Robert McGaughey, Robert Slaughter, Robert Stehwien, Robert Vincent, Robin Poole, Roger Eberhart, Roland Volz, Ross Hunter, Ross Willard, Roy from RooSackGamers, RSIxidor, Russell Hoyle, Ryan Abrams, Ryan Gigliotti, Ryan Macklin, Ryan Percival, Ryan Perrin, Sage, Sam Roberts, Samuel Munilla, Samuel Roberts, Sandster, Sarn Aska, Schedim, Scorik Egor, Scott Acker, Scott Dorward, Scott Galliand, Scott K. Johnson, Scott McGougan, Scott Sutherland, Scott the Book Liker, Sean "High Definition", Sean Curtin, Sean Lacy, Sean M. Dunstan, Sean Milliff, Sean P. Soderlind, sentrygun, Seth Harris, Seth Wilcox, Shane Jackson, Shane Mclean, Shane Zeagman, Shawn Click, Shay Stringer, shh, Silvio Herrera Gea, Simon "trooper94" Silva, Simon Ward, Sir Corvus, Sir Dubless, Sir Izzy, Sophia Brandt, Sorceror Blob's Private Eye, Sören Kohlmeyer, Stacy E. Braxton, Steel Thul, Stephanie Bryant, Steve Bush, Steve Discont, Steve Lord, Steven D Warble, Steven K. Watkins, Stew Wilson, Stras "The Captain" Acimovic, Stuart McDermid, SwiftOne, T Rudolph, T. Amber Bezpalko, T.Killen, Tadhg Hackett, Talison "Dr. FLGD" Crosby, Talon Waite, Tanaka84, Tannyx et Miettinator, Tara Imbery, tavernbman, Ted Novy, Teddy Kirwan, Teppo Pennanen, The Jandelay Brothers, The Minotaur of Elk Grove, The Real James Orr, Theresa Green, Thomas Ryan, Thor Olavsrud, Tim & Ashley Pemrich, Tim Cooper, Tim Czarnecki, Tim Franzke, Tim Rodriguez, Timothy Schroeder, Timothy Walsh, Tobias Mcnabb, 245

Todd Grotenhuis, Tollymain, Tom, Tom Fitzsimons, Tom Miskey, Tom Walker, Tone "Zicon" Berg, Tony Hirt, Travis S. Casey, Travis Stout, Trent Harrison, Trevor Bart, Trey Palmer, Trip Space-Parasite, Tristan Smith, Trygve Lie, Tsvika S., Twyla Campbell, Tyler Heath, Tzaleyna, UndeadGoblin, UntimelyBrigand, Unzealous, Uwe Schumacher, Valentina Mauro, Vasiliy Shapovalov, Victor Eichhorn, Victor Wyatt, Vincent Arebalo, Vincent Baker, Vincent Gonsalves, Vincent Malley, Vinicius Freire, Vivian, Warren Merrifield, watergoesred, Wes Price, Will Thompson, William "Evil Midnight Lurker" Ashley, William Hensley, William M Wilson, Willow Palecek, wraith808, Wynand, Xander, Yoshi Creelman, Yragael, Zach Bertram, Zach Sylvain, Zach Zimet, Zachary Sammons, Zalzator, Zane Dempsey, Zhuang Zhou David, Zoldar

246 APPENDIX NVERSE A collection of inspirations

This is a semi-comprehensive list of all the cool things we were looking at and drawing inspiration from when working on Inverse World. We hope you will look at them too.

Skies of Arcadia Pirates of the Caribbean Firefly Treasure Planet One Piece The Legend of Zelda series Green Lantern Star Wars series Megas XLR Metroid series Iron Man Team Fortress 2 Steamboy Kid Icarus Shadows of the Colossus Cowboy Bebop Fist of the North Star Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Bastion Assassin’s Creed series Mirror’s Edge Batman Avatar: The Last Airbender / The Legend of Korra Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Earth Defense Force 2017

247

SPECIAL BONUS

In the Inverse World Kickstarter, there was a “Design A Playbook” tier. At this tier, the backer would work with Jacob Randolph to design a playbook for the Dungeon World system, and what they did with it from there was up to them.

Pan "Chigui" Wyatt was the one who backed at that tier, and she worked with me to design the Rainlord, a unique playbook specifically for use in the Inverse World setting. She asked that I include it in the Inverse World book, and we made that happen.

This page is dedicated to the Rainlord. Thank you very much, Ms. Wyatt! Without you, this playbook would not be possible. Be sure to visit her website at http://chigui.net And if you happen to see her, give her a high five.

248

RUZU AND CRECK By Greg Stolze

Ruzu screamed as she fell into the sun. All her life she’d been warned that one misstep, one careless moment, could send her plummeting towards Sola’s ever-hungry mouth. But she hadn’t been foolish, hadn’t been careless… she’d just been trying to save her bird. How could that be wrong? (She’d heard that if you fell from far enough, you’d go so fast you’d outpace your voice. But when her shrieking stopped, she realized it was because she was out of breath.) All her life, she’d flown with her parents. She was proud to be the child of a skyship captain, one who’d built it himself without the backing of a lord or nation… her father Jang had scavenged lost magic from fallen enchanters, buoyant bones from mighty flying monsters, hot-air cells and propellers and sails from the warships that foundered during the battles between mighty island nations. She’d known how to be safe: Always have two link cords, front and back, and keep one hooked at all times. (She looked behind her. Her aft cord was still snarled in a trailing safeline, its edges lashed to heavy anchoring rings. The rings, in turn, were bolted onto shattered pieces of wood from the ship’s now-ruined superstructure.) Their ship had been called Bright Venture and they’d sailed from island to island, sometimes dipping down to the cloud sea with metals fallen (or flung) from the rim. Mainly though, they stuck to the islands, where they could feel better than 249

everyone else, rather than go down in the clouds and feel worse. As she plunged… and the clouds didn’t seem any closer… Ruzu realized that, yes, that was definitely true. She’d felt she was superior to all the island-gubbers (as she’d overheard her mother Lyida, who was from the cloud-sea, call them) who clung to one mile or five their whole lives and never saw anything different unless someone like Ruzu and Jang and Lyida brought it to them. But she had to admit, they were also much less likely to die at a high rate of speed, plummeting into the mouth of an embarrassed god. Still winded, she twisted her small body around, trying to see something, anything, in any direction, that might save her or at least arrest her plunge. There was a strange instant of stillness—Creck had spoken about “the empty moment” of a fall, when you move so fast you can’t move any faster. Had she just had that? She no longer felt the pressure of speeding up, only a floating looseness, the way the Bright Venture had felt when it was under sail power only, matching the wind perfectly and seeming immobile even as islands swam into view and clouds passed away below. The Bright Venture was wreckage. Her father was probably dead. Her mother too, Jang and Lyida might have died trying to go back and save her, just as she’d tried to go back and save the bird. Tawny. She’d named the bird ‘Tawny.’ She’d watched a Sky-Biter swoop down on a tiny atoll, little more than a floating clot of dirt that had somehow accrued around a float- bone and reached an equilibrium point where it would neither rise nor fall. The Sky-Biter had killed the bird’s mother and 250

she’d been sad about that, but it wasn’t until she saw it going after the little one in the nest that she’d cried out, had told Creck to do something. “Why?” he’d asked. “It’ll die!” “Everything dies.” She didn’t like Creck much. Like a piece of broken scrap, he was something her father had found, something useful but unattractive and requiring constant maintenance. “Please please please kill that Sky-Biter for me!” The young bird, which would become Tawny, had fluttered, trying to get away. The Sky-Biter chased it over the ship, across the deck. “I don’t give a beggar’s curse whether it lives or dies.” “Kill it kill it kill it!” she’d whined. She knew her voice was annoying when she sniveled like that. With a frown, Creck had picked up his harpoon and thrown it straight through the Sky-Biter, just as it broke the smaller bird’s wing. “There’s nothing worth eating on those, you know,” he’d grumbled, reeling in the line, prying the dead creature off it. “Oh, it’s hurt!” The saved prey had fallen onto the top of the Bright Venture’s cabin. Without even thinking about it, Ruzu hooked her front safety line to the rail by the ladder, then detached herself from the mast. She scrambled up the ladder and picked up the bird, which was almost as large as her. It thrashed and cawed piteously. “Not worth eating,” Creck intoned from below her. “I’m not going to eat it!” “Feed it and you’ll never be rid of it.” 251

“Maybe I don’t want to be rid of it!” Creck shook his head. “It’s a useless animal.” “I’m going to name it Tawny.” (She decided to get serious about breathing, though her lungs felt terrible, as if they were full of fire instead of air and she wondered if Sola was tormenting her already? Was she just imagining everything she saw when she was, in fact, on the surface of the flame? No, surely she’d feel it on her skin first… wouldn’t she?) She had named it Tawny and had fed it and had bandaged its wing with the help of the ship’s surgeon, and when the massive cannons of the warship Dominant blasted fire at the Bright Venture, she’d gone back for it. Her father had told her not to. He’d told her to stay at the forecastle, it was built over the skull of a great Sweep-Wyrm and wouldn’t fall even if the ship broke in half, but she’d slipped away while he was trying to get the fire-spears working again. She’d seen Creck hurl one of his harpoons across the gulf between the Venture and the Dominant. It had struck one of the island officers in the shoulder and pinned him to a mast. The man had screamed and tried to pull himself free, blood spraying with each shriek, as he got more still and weak. Then he sagged and died, eyes open, still suck to the ship. He’d died. He’d died and Ruzu had seen it and she wasn’t going to let Tawny die like that. She couldn’t. “Get below girl, don’t be a fool!” Creck had shouted at her, but he’d been too far, she’d been close, she’d gotten her link cord hooked to the safeline and climbed towards the nest she’d made for Tawny, up in the aft superstructure, made of 252

warm blankets that had come to stink of the creature… ...and then something horrible had happened. She knew something horrible had happened but she couldn’t quite remember what, just that it had been tremendously loud, and had made her frightened and sad, and that there was fire jetting sideways from the pilot’s house where her mother had been, and the cannon-deck where her father had gone disintegrated into a million splinters, and the forecastle where she was supposed to be broke free and soared upwards as marines from the Dominant hauled at cords to bring the two ships together. But she couldn’t really remember those things. Couldn’t let herself. She knew they’d happened, but her mind shied away from them, and then she’d started to fall. She must have passed out. That was it. Something terrible had happened, and it had gone dark. In fact, she was going dark again. Without air, it was like a big black throat was swallowing her, gulping her down before the bright sun could.

# # #

Creck groaned and shook his head. His first thought was, “Not again.” He opened his eyes. Creck was a large man, not as tall as his friend Jang but much broader, and he found himself wedged in the wreckage of the Bright Venture’s main deck. Some island dictator had built a warship and was trying to seize or wreck any independent skycraft. He’d seen it before. He hoped it wasn’t 253

religious this time. Instinctively, he checked his right hip. The dark, nearly- black wood felt warm to his touch and he felt a strange mix of relief and regret. His burden was with him still. Shoving timber and wracked metal aside, he realized he was falling, albeit gradually. The Venture had an assortment of lighter-than-air materials, magical and natural and uncategorized, laced through its asymmetrical design and balanced using principles that only Jang had truly understood. It was mere chance that Creck had wound up atop this piece of flotsam, instead of dangling underneath it. It was only luck that he wasn’t plunging towards the sun or racing away from it on a cut-loose piece of buoyant scrap. Looking around, he realized that the Bright Venture, his home for four years, was no more. He swore. Then he cast about to see if there was any way to slow his fall or change its direction. There was canvas and line… that would do for a while. He was kindling a star-fire under a bag made of thunderworm silk to get more loft when he heard the impatient skreee of that creature Jang’s daughter had so doted upon. It gave him a pang, to think of that whole family dead and one worthless beast surviving them. Then he saw that it was clutching Ruzu’s limp form. It couldn’t lift her—not even close—but it was trying, and it was slowing her descent. He abandoned the gasbag and pulled hard on the sails, struggling to get his uneven sky-raft over her but… he had no vertical control, he could either continue his slow drift down, or he could disconnect whatever was pressing him up and plummet down past her. 254

He was as close as he was going to get, and it wasn’t very near. He called to the bird but its redoubled efforts weren’t enough, not by a long shot. He grimaced and reached for his lightest harpoon.

# # #

Ruzu wasn’t thinking anything anymore. The darkness had taken her and the fire in her lungs had dulled to a warmth, she felt lulled and cradled. When there were storms aboard the Bright Venture, she would crawl in the big hammock between her parents for safety. After the thunder died away and the winds calmed, she got to stay, warm and cozy, like this. Had something happened to the Venture? Surely that had just been a nightmare… More pain than she’d known existed erupted through her entire body. It was stinging, dizzying, hard, breathtaking, aching, awful, deeply wrong and it cascaded through her tiny frame before she identified its source as her left leg. Her eyes opened of their own accord and she realized it was all true. The Venture, destroyed. Her parents… dead? Lost at best. Falling towards the sun and now, before the gradual frying she’d been anticipating, a lance in her leg with a braided cable of dried jelly-cloud tendrils trailing from it… The cord tugged and she found she still had air enough to scream. But mixed with her shriek she heard the distinctive cry of her brown-feathered friend, she only realized Tawny had been gripping her shoulders when the bird’s claws let go and then her weight fell into the hook and it felt worse, like 255

she was being pulled inside-out through a hole in her leg but it wouldn’t come off, she’d seen harpoons like this, they were barbed, they could haul down a gulf-wing three times her weight… In fact, she’d seen this very harpoon, many times. “Grab the cord! Grab the line, dammit!” Ruzu had grown up among sailors, so to her swearing was merely speech. But the speech Creck gave as he implored her to pull was clearly heartfelt. She obeyed, mostly because some part of her agonized, terrified, grief-rattled and air- starved brain realized that if she grabbed the line she could make slack in it, and take pressure off the spike through her leg. She howled and sobbed as she flipped and struggled, very much like a fish on a line, but she got a hand on the line, then two, then wrapped it around her elbows for stability. Creck was hauling it in, towards a chunk of wood and metal with little glowing crystals underneath it, a sail crudely strung to makeshift cleats… When the line to her wound went slack, the pain eased greatly. It was still intense, and on any other day of her life would have left her sobbing for most of an hour. But after what had come before, the decrease was almost like pleasure. Creck’s hands were both rough on the palms from handling lines all the time, but his left hand was smooth on the back, his left arm was bald while his right had a down of coarse black hair. “I’ve got you girl, I’ve got you,” he said, pulling her onto the wood. “It hurts,” she said. “That’s living,” he replied. “Could you call off your stupid 256

bird?” She blinked as she realized Tawny was dive-bombing Creck, swooping in to peck uselessly at the bald left side of his head or claw at the braid on his right before fluttering away. “Tawny, stop,” she said, voice dry through cracked lips. “Stop, settle, bad bird!” It perched on a broken-off strut and emitted a piercing shriek. “This is going to hurt a lot,” Creck said as he knelt down over her leg, “But not for long.” Much later, Ruzu would wish she could have coolly said, “That will make a nice change,” but she instead had to scream as he unscrewed the barbed head of the harpoon from its wide shaft. She didn’t mean to start thrashing. She didn’t mean to do anything, there was no space in her for intention, the pain had pushed it all out. Creck, though, was used to taking harpoons out of struggling creatures, and his massive knee pinned down her skinny leg as he detached metal from wood and pulled it through the injury. “Almost done,” he said, voice tight. There was a green bottle in his right hand, the one with the black hair on the knuckles, and his hairless left hand pulled a cork and poured it into her wound. A cloying scent of mint and lime suffused the air, and a delicious chill shivered through her calf. Both of the survivors sighed for a moment. Ruzu looked at the patch of flesh, filled in by the magic of the potion. On one side of her muscle was an oval blob of pinkish-white, like a stain against her dark brown skin, and it matched a larger triangle on the other side—one the entry 257

wound, one the ragged exit where the barb had gone through and snagged. “I guess it would have matched if you’d used it on yourself,” she said. Creck shrugged. “Healing potions come in all kinds of colors, you know that. I’ve seen men with claw-marks healed bright blue.” “Is it going to stay that color, then?” “I guess. It was the only potion I had, so don’t get injured again.” For a moment, they sat. “Thank you,” she said at last. “Sorry it had to hurt so,” he replied. “Why not just throw me the line?” she asked. “What if you couldn’t hold on? I wouldn’t have a second shot. I’m just glad it was your leg.” “I could have held on,” Ruzu said, folding her arms. “I’ll do it the same next time,” Creck replied. Then he started kindling a fire under a gas bag.

# # #

Over the course of the next 24 hours, their predicament became clearer. With a star-fired gasbag for lift, they could just about maintain altitude, but their fuel was limited. They had no stored food, no water, and the containers they could fashion to catch rain were short term only. Sailcloth gave them mobility… when the winds permitted it. But they had no propulsion, and the doldrum season had already begun when the Dominant attacked. “Are my parents dead?” Ruzu asked. 258

“You mean right now? I don’t know,” Creck replied. “If not now, they will be, and once they are, it will all start again.” “I don’t believe that,” Ruzu said. “Help me splice these lines,” Creck said. She did. “You believe that though,” she said. “You and the people from Heddelfjar?” “There may not be any others,” he said, staring down at his fingers. “The Sun-Blessed were… thorough.” He bent forward, eased a knife from the sheath at his left hip, and trimmed up the lines so they wouldn’t catch. “But yes, we all believed that as soon as we die, we live again.” “You start again as babies?” “Yes.” “The same babies?” “And we make the same choices, over and over, living one life forever.” He tested the line, the nodded in satisfaction. “I like our religion better,” she said. “We get to have a bunch of different lives.” “You believe you do, anyhow,” he muttered. “Isn’t that better than a life that’s like a book you read once, forget, then start again from the beginning, over and over and over?” “We won’t know for sure until we’re dead.” “Not even then,” she retorted. “Not if we just forget everything.” “I think it’s going to rain up,” he said. With a nod, she started taking down the sails and spreading them horizontally. If they could saturate them in the rising mist, they could wring perhaps a day’s water out of them, in addition to perhaps a half-league of lift before the weight of 259

the water put them in equilibrium. Creck had heated a piece of metal and burned a series of divots into the wooden planks. They’d decant any water they harvested into those, then drink the ashy liquid once they could no longer coax or suck moisture from the cloth. “The benefit of my belief,” he said at last, “Is that if you know it, you make a real try at living right. If I know that cowardice, or cruelty, is a guilt I’ll have to feel not just once but over and over… then I don’t want to do anything shameful.” As the mist rose around them, they leaned over the edges, mouths open, gaping like sucklerfish to inhale the delicious moisture. “What about the gods, then?” Ruzu asked, both her lines cleated for safety, running her fingers through her thick hair to try and get some dew down to her itchy scalp. Creck made an indelicate noise. “Them? With our beliefs, they go their way and we go ours. To my thinking, that’s another benefit.” “Don’t the Sun-Blessed believe that when you die, you go to be with Sola and exist in bliss?” “They believe you experience ‘Sola’s bliss’ if your body burns,” Creck said. “The highest bliss, of course, is reserved for those who get the sun’s blessing and then burn up alive. But if you die some other way—illness, accident, or kicked to death by someone who’s reluctant to accept Sola’s kindly gifts—then you get reborn for another try, unless your body is cremated within the hour. Each rebirth, though, is farther from Sola, and they say that if you’re born deep in the sky- crust, there’s no fire at all, just an eternity of cold repetitive 260

suffering.” “Did they try to burn you?” Ruzu asked, glancing at his left side. “You know they did.” She looked down into the mist. It was swirling, and sometimes, when the light caught it just right, rainbows flashed within. “The men who destroyed our ship,” she said, “What do you think they believed?” “Probably the same things as you and your parents,” he said. “If they had faith in the endless cycle, they would never set out as raiders for some ambitious lord.” “Why not?” “To do battle, and be cruel, and harden your heart? Doing this once, if you know you can forget it, that is something that can be faced. But to know that you would do your evil deeds over and over, and feel the guilt of them in unbroken cycle? What man could need more of hell?” “You fight,” she said. “I saw…” She trailed off. He sighed. “That’s why I still live,” he said. “My life has had very little joy, Ruzu. I hope that I can make some in the years that remain to me, to offset losing my own home. I know,” he said, glancing at her, “Just how bitter that is.” Before she knew it, she was weeping, her tears dropping down as the rain rose around them. The big man beside her gently took his hand in his own, his left hand, the one backed with scars.

# # #

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The two survivors of the Bright Venture were tired and parched by the time they saw smoke rising from a tiny fleck of stone floating at the most extreme rim of the cloud sea. They charted a course for it, hoping to find mercy. “Pull, Tawny,” Ruzu said, pointing, and the bird obediently hooked its claws around a thick cable and began flapping towards the smoke. The destruction of the Venture was now five days in the past, and Ruzu had managed to sleep a whole night without waking up screaming. Of the three of them, the bird seemed in best fettle. It roamed far from their raft, coming back with offerings of grass and weeds clutched in its claws, but it couldn’t carry much and, of what it brought, very little was human-edible. Creck’s harpoon brought down a few flying meals, but even fresh roasted with all of Ruzu’s skill (which Creck freely admitted surpassed his own), their small servings of savory flesh only served to remind them of their thirst. “Let me do the talking,” Creck said as they neared, but as soon as she could see figures standing on the turf, Ruzu cried out and started waving. “Hey! Oh, hello, hello! Our vessel is crashed and we’re thirsty! Please, please help us!” “Greetings, little one,” the tallest of the five waiting women said. Her face was impassive. She leaned on a long bow, and her wiry hair was laced through with an abundance of carved wooden rings. “Good meeting to you,” Creck said. “As travelers, we beg your hospitality and indulgence. Has this place a name?” “Slaver’s Rock,” one of the women replied. Ruzu took a step back. 262

“That’s a name of ill omen,” Creck said, voice level. At a nod from the tall woman, the others knelt, aiming bows with trailing cords. “Please,” Ruzu began. “Be easy, we wish you no harm. We’re just going to haul your craft closer,” the woman said. Creck’s eyes narrowed, but he barely flinched as heavy arrows arced out and entangled their raft. “We have no flight-ways,” the woman said, as her followers pulled the ropes, “And precious little of our own here.” “What is your name, stranger?” Creck asked. “B’than’thiel,” the woman replied. “That sounds like a Robecki name,” Ruzu whispered. Creck looked down at her with a frown. “What?” “Mother told me about them,” Ruzu insisted, voice rising with alarm. “They take men as slaves and sometimes kill and eat them!” “Shh!” “No,” B’than’thiel said with a sigh. “The child has the right of it.” “Oh.” “Please, we just want water! Just a little water and then we’ll fly away!” Ruzu dropped to her knees, holding out her hands in supplication. “You are welcome here, girl, but the man-thing must serve, as is our way. He can serve through toil, or we can sell him when the slaver routes pass close, or we can feast on his flesh.” Not a flicker of emotion had crossed B’than’thiel’s face. 263

“Have you no pity?” “All the pity in the world for you. As I said, you may join us.” “Not without Creck! You’re horrible, I hope you all die!” “That doesn’t seem likely,” B’than’thiel said, but her eyes narrowed at Creck’s response. He didn’t beg or negotiate, and he did not seem afraid. He just sighed. His hand dropped to a black-wrapped object at his hip, something the size and shape of a hatchet, if the head was swaddled in black cloth. “Ruzu,” he said, “Hide your eyes. You shouldn’t have to see this.” “Kill h—” B’than’thiel did not finish her words before there was a horrible roar, a scalding blast of heat, and a searing light that looked red-gold even through Ruzu’s shut eyelids. She heard Tawny make a sound of terror, and then there were thuds, and the crackle of flames. She opened her eyes and peered between her fingers. “Oh Creck,” she whispered. “What did you do? What did you do to them?” He was wrapping up something shaped like a black hammer and re-securing it to his belt. “Terrible are the weapons of the Sun-Blessed,” he said. “Come. Let’s find where they kept their water.”

# # #

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The island of the Robecki was small. While it was lush with vegetables, it had neither birds nor animals, though it looked like there had once been pens for them, years ago. What it did have was bottles and flasks, and the two survivors happily filled them from a reservoir to restock their tiny craft. “These will keep a long time,” Ruzu said approvingly, piling crook-roots into gunny sacks. She’d always enjoyed a nice roast crook-root. “Not too much,” Creck warned. “We’re already adding quite a bit to the weight of our vessel.” “It’s lofted by those blue hate-everything stones right?” Ruzu said, around a mouthful of purp-fruit that was only a little past ripe. “Those are going to push back harder the closer we get to Sola, they aren’t a fixed loft.” She heard Creck stop moving and turned to look. “What?” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “You sounded exactly like Jang,” he said. “I never understood what he was on about either.” “It’s very simple! Some things always push away from the sun with a steady pressure—those are fixed loft sources, like float-bone. As long as it has the right amount of weight, it won’t rise or sink. But hate-everything blues push harder when they’re close, so they reach equilibrium under a lot of weight in the cloud-sea, but can barely support their own weight once you’re past the farthest islands. They’re variable loft.” She wrinkled her forehead. “Surely everyone knows this.” “Not everyone.” The other resource they found were weapons. 265

“Balls and bells,” Ruzu exclaimed as she pulled a camouflage drape off the largest cannon she’d ever seen. “How could they fire this without splitting the whole atoll?” “Light loads, I’d guess,” Creck said, folding his arms at it. “Wait until your target gets close, pack it with loose stone and something that burns as it sticks… you’d put a power of hurt on a ship and anyone on it. Of course, you wouldn’t get a second shot.” “I suppose it’s good for keeping people back,” Ruzu said. “And for keeping slavers honest. They’re scum,” he said, in the tones of someone with personal experience. “Without this wide-throated shouter, what’s to keep any well-equipped ship from docking and simply taking what it wants? Obscurity perhaps, but then who would they trade with?” “We’re lucky they didn’t fire on us,” Ruzu said, examining the ammunition with a frown. “No motive,” Creck said. “They wanted us.” “Are these for a Scitanthi repeater?” Ruzu said, holding up a box with three slim, finned projectiles. Creck shrugged. “If they have a repeater, I’m taking it,” she told him. “As you wish.”

# # #

They traveled in considerably more comfort to their next stop. It was a floating mansion of pearlescent shell, spiraling out from a center and turfed over at the joints by close- cropped gardens. Steam spouted from its extremities in purposeful puffs, rotating it gently so that all its sides warmed evenly, and all its fields got a taste of daylight in 266

turn. “Wave it hearty,” Creck urged Ruzu, as she flapped a red flag of distress. A blue flag rose on a staff in response—permission to land. Ruzu found sweat on her lip as they approached the platform. A dozen men with lances and bows awaited them. She’d found the Scitanthi repeater, but with only three shots it was of little use. It was lashed down under their lean-to. She snuck a glance at the black haft at Creck’s hip and suppressed a shudder. “Announce yourselves!” cried a crisp voice, clarion with the accents of the wealthy inner sea. “Please sir, we’re castaways, our ship was destroyed and my parents lost…” Ruzu hadn’t realized she was going to speak, but the chance to talk with someone other than her somber companion made the words burst forth like water from a popped bladder. “Do you know whose home this is?” The speaker had the shiniest helmet and an arrogant voice. His mustache gave the impression of a perpetual sneer. “Please sir,” Creck said. “We have neither chart nor way- finding tools.” “Sergeant, disarm them and take them to the holding cells.” The mustache twitched with his dismissive words. “I cannot permit that,” Creck said sadly, his hand dropping towards his belt. Spears began to descend. “NO!” Ruzu flung herself between Creck and the others and said “Please, please, I beg you, don’t fight him, you mustn’t! I… I don’t think I can see that again and grow up to 267

be a good person!” The leader frowned and held up a hand. It did not escape him that this girl showed no fear of his troops, but rather of what the man with her might do to them. “What are your names, travelers?” “I am Ruzu, child of Captain Jang and Lyida Stormworsened. This is Creck.” “Creck… of the Heddelfar?” He glanced back, as if to check that his men were still there. “It’s pronounced ‘Heddelfjar,’” Creck said.

# # #

It emerged that they were in, or on, the domain of Hestepher, Lady Glorious and Dowager of Stiddes Island. Specifically, her summer palace. Ruzu was happy to have a long bath at last, but the garments they gave her, though soft, were complicated and seemed impractical. When she emerged from the guest room, a tall boy perhaps two years older than her said, “You’re wearing it wrong.” “We always wore them this way on the Bright Venture,” she said, sweeping past him with her most dignified expression of disdain. “It’s supposed to be laced in the back and tied shut.” “Not on the Bright Venture. We always had to keep our aft safety line free.” His longer legs let him catch up to her and position himself to stop her, in the guise of opening a door for her. That was fine with Ruzu, since she had no idea where she was 268

going. “I am Fonch,” he said, “Heir to Stiddes Island.” “I am Ruzu,” she said and, remembering something of her mother’s manner, she proffered a hand for him to kiss. He did. For a moment they were quiet. “Is your companion really the man from Heddelfar?” “It’s pronounced ‘Heddelfjar.’” “My aunt is interested in meeting you.” “We are interesting people, I hope. This way?” “Permit me.” Fonch led her through winding passages, all gently spinning with the castle’s rotation, until they entered through a side door into a wide chamber. At one end stood Creck, ill at ease in a suit of red and gold. Tucked in a belt of decorative metal links was the black hafted weapon, its head safely covered in the black cloth. Across from him, in an ornate chair, a woman had artfully draped herself, in a calculatedly casual posture that could, in theory, have been accidental in the way that it showed the glory of her blue and green embroidered gown, the curves beneath it, and the rippling cascade of black hair on blacker skin. Glints of jade and diamond nestled in her thick tresses, and her nails were impractically long and elaborately painted. Ruzu instantly knew she was a woman to be reckoned with. “Creck of Heddelfjar,” she said, correctly. “I had thought you were only a story.” “Stories,” he said, “Sometimes have happy endings.” “Come closer,” she said. He did, stopping at a distance that was well on the respectful side of intimacy. “Closerrrr,” she teased. “I mean you no harm, and if the 269

tales are true, what could I inflict?” “Tales grow in the telling. I’m no mighty warrior.” “But you carry one of the doom-hammers.” She didn’t phrase it as a question. “Is that it?” “I do, and it is.” “Perhaps the last of them.” “I hope so. It is a wicked thing.” “May I see it?” “Unveiling its face awakens its… appetite.” She leaned back a bit at that. “Very well. What brings you and your companion to my home?” “Fate and desperation,” Creck replied. As he began to tell of the Bright Venture, Fonch put his hand on Ruzu’s arm and drew her back. “I think my aunt is attempting to lure him into an erotic liaison,” he said somberly. “She’ll not thank us to interrupt.” “Wait, what? Lure him into a what?” “She seeks to lie with him in the couch of lust,” Fonch said. “Among noble circles, such entertainments are common. For example, no one would take it askance if you and I were to engage in such a dalliance.” Ruzu narrowed her eyes. “Explain, please, exactly what you’re talking about.” He did. “What? I’m far too young and small for such things!” “As you wish.” Fonch seemed relieved. “I don’t even have breasts that can touch in the middle!” “It was just a thought!” He looked away and didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands. “On the ship, people were at that all the time,” Ruzu added. 270

“They thought I didn’t know anything about it, but it was not a very large vessel.” Yes, Fonch was definitely blushing. “Would you like to see my flying suit?” he blurted. “What? You have one? Oh, yes please!”

# # #

Later that evening, Ruzu answered a knock at her door. It was Creck. “That wasn’t long enough for a proper amorous sortie,” she said. His mouth opened, then closed. Then he turned quite red, even under the waxy tones of his scars. “I’m not… I don’t… you shouldn’t…” “Oh please, you know Holar and the Delver served on the Bright Venture, they left little to the imagination. Plus, there were mother’s books.” “Your mother had books about…?” “Also, Fonch said the Dowager wanted you to.” Creck stepped inside and sank into a thick chair. “Who?” “Her nephew, Fonch. He’s a bit of a log, but he does fly quite nicely. They have a way to funnel the force of blue hate-everything stones! It’s leather from some kind of lizard that lives way down in the deep clouds, or perhaps more like a ray… if you make a cone of the leather, it turns their loft into thrust!” “Fonch is the heir to Stiddes Island, then?” “I guess,” Ruzu said. “He suggested a licentious liaison, 271

but I don’t think he really wanted to.” “What?!?” “He certainly didn’t press for it when I told him no. I mean, not even a little bit.” “You sound disappointed.” “Well I didn’t want him to, but I suppose I would have liked him to want to a little more than that.” Creck sank further into the chair, his eyes wide but staring at nothing, his brow furrowed. “I think we’ll be leaving tomorrow,” he said. “You know, if you give her what she wants she’ll probably provide us with better supplies.” The red tone of his embarrassment deepened closer to purple. “Ah,” he managed to say. “Well?” Ruzu asked, giving him a look of wide-eyed innocence. “Why not?” “The doom-hammer,” he said, looking away. “I… it is my responsibility. What if that lieutenant tried to get his hands on it?” “Leave it with me,” Ruzu said. “I don’t understand why you don’t just chuck it into the sun, if you hate it so.” “That’s just what Sola wants,” Creck said, voice now grim. “And I can’t put you in any further danger.” “If no one knows I have it, it’s probably safer than with you,” she said. “But that’s not really what this is about, is it?” “Isn’t it?” She rolled her eyes. “You say you want to have some happiness for your next few trips around life,” she said, “But you back away when it lands in your lap. Honestly, if you don’t go make sweet love to that beautiful woman, you’re 272

never going to have another chance, right? Never ever? And for the rest of your lives, you’ll just go ‘round and ‘round missing the opportunity and always wondering about it on dark nights when you think about your cycle.” He looked away and closed his mouth. His brow cleared. “You know me better than I thought,” he said. Then he unbuckled the weapon and handed it to her. “Don’t uncover it except in dire need,” he said. She was visibly reluctant to take it, despite having asked for it. “No fear,” she said. “I’m in no hurry to see it… operate again.”

# # #

The next morning, the lieutenant with the mustache looked positively ill as he assured Creck that, yes, the Lady Glorious had bequeathed them the hull of a twenty-foot air- schooner with sails, as well as a full compliment of charts, maps, navigation tools and even a compact terralabe. “It lacks buoyancy, of course,” he sniffed, “But I understand you have a compliment of blue float-stones?” “We can put the hot air sac over the rear cabin,” Ruzu declared, “Rig the sails in a fullwing configuration until we’re in the thinner air… she’s got nice lines, really slim, I’ll bet Tawny can tow her a short distance if there’s enough loft.” “Is the Lady… er, available for our leave-taking?” Creck asked. “Regretfully no.” The mustache writhed. “But she has instructed me to assure you you’re welcome any time you might desire to… visit.” 273

“What’s your rush?” At the sound of the voice, Ruzu turned and said “Fonch!” The lieutenant’s eyebrows rose. “Young master, this is… irregular.” “Dismissed,” Fonch said, and when the lieutenant didn’t move, he tilted his head to make eye contact. The soldier ducked his head and muttered, “As my lord commands.” “Must you leave so soon, Ruzu? I mean… your comments on the suit were very, um, insightful,” Fonch said. “We must,” Ruzu said. “Now that we finally have navigation and propulsion, there isn’t a minute to lose! We have to find the Dominator and see if anyone from the Bright Venture survived.” “Like your parents,” Fonch said. Ruzu turned red, then nodded. “I understand,” he said. “Young man,” Creck said. “Has your aunt said anything about dismantling the weapon on the Robecki’s atoll? I suggested it to her, or even that she might lay a trap for any slavers who don’t yet know they’re gone.” “She… hasn’t mentioned it,” Fonch said. “It might give that gentleman you just spoke to something important to do. He seems… dissatisfied in his role here. A chance to burn some slavers might ultimately be good for everyone involved.” “Except the slavers,” Ruzu added. “I would consider them better off on fire,” Fonch said. “I might lead such an expedition myself.” “All the more reason to take a loyal retainer whose first 274

instinct might be to say ‘no.’” “I’ll make sure I bring it up with her. Or perhaps with him first, and then her.” The pair exchanged a level look. Fonch stuck out his hand and Creck shook it. There was an awkward silence. “I put some blue-thrust bending leather in the hold,” Fonch said at last, all in a rush. “A personal gift.” Ruzu flung her arms around him and kissed his cheek. “That’s enough,” Creck said, but he was smiling. “Let’s catch this next gust.”

# # #

As they sailed away, Creck thanked Ruzu for her advice. “You were right,” he said. “Well you clearly gave satisfaction,” she said, rapping her knuckles on the boat’s prow. “Or she was so embarrassed on my behalf she bought me off and wouldn’t see me,” he said. She shrugged. “Either way, this is a yar vessel.”

# # #

The next time Creck had to unveil the doom-hammer was when a pirate ship swept them up in nets and attempted to board them. By that time, Ruzu had constructed a flying suit of her own, in which two funneled bluestones on her boots let her leap great distances, or fly at will with Tawny pulling her. While Creck held off the boarding party, she flitted under the 275

pirate vessel, set its hull listing with star-fire fuel, then managed to ignite one of its powder magazines. The explosion left it barrel-rolling, its crew plunging sunward or clinging for dear life, while the tiny schooner—christened the Brighter Venture—broke free and zipped away.

# # #

When they got to the island of the Razor Duchess, they learned that the Dominant had floundered. “Aye, she was taking a load of captives to the ransom- yards of Port Far-Hope when there was some kinda uprising,” a grizzled barman with one jade eye told them. “But first things first, what be ye drinking?” “Whiskey,” Creck said. “The same,” Ruzu added. “She’ll have milk.” Creck gave her a glance, which she ignored. “What do you mean, an uprising?” “One of the prisoners was a wrencher, or some say a wizard,” the innkeep said, setting up glasses, then peering at Ruzu’s and swapping it for a marginally cleaner one. “The craft had taken some damage, and this tool-monkey found a fissure to the float bones in the middledeck. That’s one story anyhow… that he threw the whole craft out of balance and escaped while it was topsy-turvy.” “Did this fellow have a name?” Creck asked. “Or did anyone know where he’d come from?” “He was a captive from a ship called the White Adventurer or something like that.”

276

# # #

At Port Far-Hope, they spoke with a crewman from the Dominant who’d jumped ship for fear of naval discipline. He knew little more than they’d already heard, but he did describe a couple who could have been Jang and Lyida, or could have been the Delver and Holar. They’d managed to seize one of the Dominant’s hot-air escorts and had set a course straight up. Creck and Ruzu exchanged a glance. “The forecastle,” Creck said. “It had a huge floatskull at the center,” Ruzu said. “Without the rest of the ship weighing it down, it would have made a hard ascent.” “If your parents were alive and thought you were in it…” “Shh.” She cut her eyes towards the sailor. Creck paid him off and they set a course to the Big Island. They considered themselves fortunate to get a paying passenger, who was fleeing what he described as a ‘domestic entanglement.’ When he drugged Creck and tried to take control of the Brighter Venture, Ruzu wound up having Tawny mangle a large percentage of his handsome face. On Big Island, they discovered that their guest’s reputation had preceded him, and they were happy to collect a bounty for his capture. In addition to resupplying their larder, Ruzu spent her part on ammunition for the Scitanthi repeater, which she had lovingly restored. Big Island was well named, the most populous piece of land in the region by far. Searching for news about the Bright Venture they heard a thousand rumors and few facts. In the 277

end, they decided to continue out to the very edge of the world and, if nothing better presented itself, consult the Oracle Omnoculous.

# # #

“There,” Ruzu said, dragging something impenetrably black and noisomely moist before the massive onyx and chalcedony ziggurat, which dangled from the roof of the world like a teat off a pregnant sow. A platform of heavy wooden planks hung below it, chained and tied to the soil above, maintained since time immemorial by the monks of the Omnoculous temple who blinded themselves so that they might be guided not by their own eyes, but by the will of the Eye Above All. “The head of the last foul-spawn, as requested.” She was still caked with filth from their quest and battle. Some of her bandages were old and soiled and starting to loosen over scabbed-over wounds. Others, like the ones on her hands, were fresh. With a stony grinding, the Eye on the top of the temple opened. “YES,” an echoing voice replied. “YOU HAVE DONE MY WILL AND SHALL BE REWARDED WITH YOUR HEART’S DESIRE.” “About damn time,” Ruzu muttered, glaring. Beside her, Creck remained silent. He’d taken a terrible blow to the head, and it had never really stopped hurting. It had been a week, and the vision in his left eye was refusing to clear. He was starting to worry. 278

“THE ISSUE,” boomed the Oracle, “IS THAT YOU QUESTERS TWO HAVE NO SINGLE DESIRE.” “What? That’s ridiculous!” Ruzu cried, hands on hips. “All I want to know is where my parents are!” “THE ORACLE OMNOCULOUS SEES ALL, ISLANDS, CLOUDS, GODS, BEASTS… AND THE HOPES IN THE HEARTS OF SUPPLICANTS. YOUR WISH IS AS YOU STATE, BUT THIS ONE AT YOUR SIDE…” “He wants to know the same exact thing!” “BUT ALSO HOW TO BREAK THE POWER OF THE WEAPON HE CARRIES AND LOATHES.” Ruzu looked at Creck, who was pale. “You… you can do that? You know how to destroy the doom-hammer?” During the hardest battles of the previous month, he had been haunted that the thought that he might fall, leaving the burden on Ruzu… or worse, that they might both die, leaving its ghastly might to be looted by their murderers. “THE WRATH OF A GOD IS TREBLY DESTRUCTIVE WHEN HELD BACK ONLY BY HUMAN WHIM,” the Oracle intoned. “If… if we answer Ruzu’s question, can I return to ask again? I’ll complete another task, anything you ask!” “YOU CANNOT. YOU WILL NOT. YOU DO NOT.” Creck closed his eyes. He knew that if Ruzu turned to him, if he met her pleading gaze, he would be helpless to refuse. He knew that his refusal, his weakness, might leave the doom- hammer to plague humanity for ages to come. He knew the pain of the decision would be one more torment, repeated over and over as he lived this point in time over and over. He opened his eyes and she was looking at him. 279

# # #

Ruzu stared at her parents. She’d imagined this reunion so many times over the last half year, but she hadn’t expected this. Wordlessly, the family embraced. “Ruzu!” Lyida cried, tears instantly bubbling to the surface. “Oh my child, my girl, I thought I’d never…!” “Mama,” Ruzu murmurred, her face buried in Lyida’s shoulder. “You’ve changed so much! Clouds below, you’re so tall now!” Jang was just weeping, silently weeping and clutching them close. “You’ve… changed too.” Ruzu couldn’t help but look down at the lump swelling between them. They broke apart enough for Lyida to pat her pregnant stomach. “Well… um, you know, it’s been eleven months since… since the Bright Venture.” “Eleven months and eight days,” Jang added, in his quiet way. “You counted every day?” his daughter asked, turning towards him. In reply, he pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. “Every hour.” “Oh, mother, what happened to your hand?” Lyida laughed, flexing fingers that were off-color, and disproportionately large, and flecked with queer, golden hairs on the knuckles. “Healing potion,” she said. “Wasn’t quite tailor made. You should see your father’s back.” 280

Jang looked away, and Lyida sobered, then put an arm across his shoulder. “I shouldn’t joke,” she said quietly, then looked back at Ruzu. “They were… quite harsh with your father. On the Dominant.” “Let’s not talk about that now,” Jang said, blinking back still more tears. “Let us speak no more of any sad or painful thing. Creck, why are you holding back?” Jang turned, took two steps, and threw his arms around the scarred man, who was blushing furiously. “I was paying close attention,” Creck said. “I want to remember.” Slowly, he raised his heavy arms and joined the hug. “To see a friend who one feared long dead,” he muttered. “To know that I will feel this way again and again, in endless cycles… What man could need more of heaven?”