A vigilante roleplaying game inspired by the OSR

Inspired by gritty Iron Age comics, FALLEN JUSTICE is a no-holds bared, bloody knuckled homage to powerless vigilante stories.

Powered by the Venerable Knight Classics chassis, this old-school revival RPG is heavily based on classic White Box style roleplaying, but features some modern narrative mechanics.

Take on the role of a brutal vigilante out to clean the streets by force and get ready to sink your fists into the faces of low-life criminals everywhere.

This book contains no setting and is designed to be a toolbox to tell your own stories, but it is otherwise a complete game.

Sample file

GKG-025 A vigilante roleplaying game inspired by the OSR

by Alan Bahr

Sample file FALLEN JUSTICE draws heavily from the White Box line of supplements from Barrel Rider Games. We encourage you to investigate and purchase those excellent products for yourself. It also takes influence from Bloat Games’ wonderfulVigilante Hack and its supplements and fan community. And quite obviously, it’s literally based on Swords & Wizardry: WhiteBox, but FALLEN JUSTICE is a complete game.

Author: Alan Bahr Editor: Carol Darnell Managing Editor: Alan Bahr Art Direction: Alan Bahr Book Design: Mikael Brodu Interior Art: Nicolás Giacondino & Mikael Brodu Cover Art: Nicolás Giacondino Publishing: Alan Bahr 2 Published by Gallant Knight Games, 2018

Swords & Wizardry, S&W, WhiteBox, and Mythmere Games are the trademarks of Matthew J. Finch

Barrel Rider Games are the trademarks and copyright of James M. Spahn

Bloat Games are the trademarks and copyright of Eric Bloat

Gallant Knight Games is not affiliated with Matthew J. Finch or Mythmere Games™. Gallant Knight Games is not affiliated with James M. Spahn or Barrel Rider Games™. Gallant Knight Games is not affiliated with Eric Bloat or Bloat Games™.

Copyright ©2018 by Gallant Knight Games. All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and for the blank character sheets, which may be reproduced for personal useSample only. file Foreword

We all want to believe in truth, liberty, and justice. We want to believe that as long as we do the right thing the world will be a fair place where the good are rewarded and the evil are punished. We all want to believe that at its core mankind is inherently a noble creature. It’s a beautiful lie. Instead, we live in a world where corrupt politicians line their own pockets, crooked cops protect nothing more than their own interests, and those who would abuse the humble and the pure of heart are protected by unjust laws. It makes you want to punch someone in the face, doesn’t it? It makes you want to tear the whole damned thing down with your bare hands, brick by brick. It makes you want justice. Fallen Justice is a roleplaying game of grim and gritty vigilante justice. The men and women some would call heroes are often as violent and brutal as those they oppose. 3 They do evil, unforgivable, unspeakable things. They traffic in fear and hatred. They commit crimes that damn them to a brief and brutal life followed by an eternity in Hell. They do it so that others don’t have to and because other, more righteous men, aren’t willing to. In Fallen Justice, Players take up the roles of these damned saviors and Narrators portray a world that seems impossible to save. Using a simple foundation of old school roleplaying, you and your friends will tell stories of morally grey vigilantes in a dark and broken world. These are men and women who do all the wrong things for all the right reasons. With no hope for themselves, they mete out justice and vengeance, pain and punishment, to the very last drop of their blood — and they do it by whatever means necessary. SampleThis is a world of broken truth, abandoned liberty, file and Fallen Justice. — James Michael Spahn Table of Contents

Absolución...... 6 The Colossus...... 25 Colossus Class Abilities...... 25 Chapter One Weapon & Armor Restrictions...... 25 Getting Started...... 13 Granite Chin...... 25 Saving Throw...... 25 Dice...... 13 Combat Machine...... 25 Advantage and Disadvantage...... 15 Bloody Knuckles...... 25 Character Sheets...... 15 Iron Fortitude (4th)...... 26 Attribute Scores: Experience Bonus for Constitution...... 26 The Measure of a Man...... 15 The Crusader...... 27 Universal Attribute Bonus...... 17 Crusader Class Abilities...... 27 Experience Bonus...... 17 Weapon & Armor Restrictions...... 27 4 Strength (STR)...... 17 Detective...... 27 Intelligence (INT)...... 18 Underworld Connections...... 27 Wisdom (WIS)...... 18 Disguise...... 28 Constitution (CON)...... 18 Saving Throw...... 28 Dexterity (DEX)...... 18 Experience Bonus for Charisma...... 28 Charisma (CHA)...... 18 The Dark Avenger...... 29 Infamy...... 19 Dark Avenger Class Abilities...... 29 Stress...... 19 Weapon & Armor Restrictions...... 29 Stress Threshold...... 20 Dark Revenge...... 29 Hit Points...... 20 Precision Pain...... 29 Starting Money...... 20 Relentless Foe...... 29 Alignment...... 21 Safehouse (3rd)...... 30 Character Retirement...... 21 Saving Throw...... 30 Experience Bonus for Strength...... 30 Chapter Two The Legend...... 31 Character Creation...... 22 Legend Class Abilities...... 31 Weapon & Armor Restrictions...... 31 The Citizen...... 23 Living Legend...... 31 Citizen Class Abilities...... 23 Where are my Pills?...... 31 Weapon & Armor Restrictions...... 23 Brutality...... 31 The Gift of Morality...... 23 Desperation (5th)...... 32 SampleGrit...... 23 file The Marksman...... 33 Face in the Crowd...... 23 Marksman Class Abilities...... 33 Support Network...... 24 Weapon & Armor Restrictions...... 33 Neighborhood Watch...... 24 Precise Shot...... 33 Saving Throw...... 24 Specialty Ammo...... 33 Experience Bonus...... 24 Table of Contents Sniper...... 34 Utility Belts...... 51 Quick Shot (5th)...... 34 Additional Equipment List...... 52 Saving Throw...... 34 Vehicles...... 52 Experience Bonus for Dexterity...... 34 Car Chases...... 53 The Martial Artist...... 35 Vehicle Upgrades...... 54 Martial Artist Class Abilities...... 35 Drugs...... 55 Weapon & Armor Restrictions...... 35 Weapon Bonus...... 35 Chapter Four Iron Fists...... 35 Playing the Game...... 56 Practiced Defense...... 35 Action Checks...... 56 Rapid Blows (4th)...... 36 Action Contests...... 56 Saving Throw...... 36 Cooperation...... 57 Experience Bonus for Wisdom...... 36 Time...... 57 The Prowler...... 37 Movement...... 57 Prowler Class Abilities...... 37 How Initiative Works...... 58 Weapon & Armor Restrictions...... 37 Defense...... 58 Stealth...... 37 The Attack Roll...... 58 Proficient Climber...... 38 Combat...... 58 Surprise Attack...... 38 Specific Situations...... 60 Saving Throw...... 38 Damage and Death...... 60 Experience Bonus for Dexterity...... 38 The Soldier...... 39 Critical Hits...... 60 Soldier Class Abilities...... 39 Critical Fumbles...... 60 Special Attacks...... 60 Weapon & Armor Restrictions...... 39 Reckless Attacks...... 60 Weapon Specialist...... 39 Cautious Attacks...... 60 Forged in War...... 39 Healing...... 61 Combat Machine...... 39 5 Binding Wounds...... 61 Tactics (4th)...... 39 Invisible Opponents...... 61 Saving Throw...... 40 Melee Attack...... 61 Experience Bonus for Intelligence...... 40 Missile Attack...... 61 The Vigilante...... 41 Morale...... 61 Vigilante Class Abilities...... 41 Negotiation and Diplomacy...... 62 Weapon & Armor Restrictions...... 41 Manipulation...... 62 Crime is a Disease...... 41 Intimidation...... 62 Always Prepared...... 41 Loyalty...... 62 Disarm...... 41 Saving Throws...... 63 Indomitable...... 41 Remember...... 63 Careful...... 42 Saving Throw...... 42 Experience Bonus for Infamy...... 42 Chapter Five Narrator Tools...... 64 Chapter Three Dice Drops...... 64 Items and Equipment...... 43 Random Tables...... 64 Build Your Neighborhood...... 64 Equipment Weight...... 43 Neighborhood Sheet...... 70 Usage Die...... 43 Instant Street Gang Generator & Dice Drop..71 Melee Weapons...... 44 Villain Quick Generation Tables...... 74 SampleArchaic Missile Weapons...... 45 file Critical Hits Chart...... 80 Firearms...... 45 Explosives...... 46 Armor...... 46 Character Sheet...... 83 Equipment Kits...... 48 Absolución by Ed Erdelac

ssistant District Attorney Brad Grady doesn’t deserve what’s coming A for him. He’s a good man as suits go. Grady’s been an advocate for the children caught up in the bloody war against the cartels down here on the border for as long as I’ve fought it from the shadows. He’s made himself a lot of enemies prosecuting the Barrio Maya gang for driving families north out of Juarez. Just off an inspection of one of the immigrant internment camps outside 6 of town, he recently made a big splash in the national media when a stringy migrant kid broke out of line and ran to him, begging in Spanish for his mother. A bull-necked border patrolman tried to get between them, and a reporter on hand snapped a picture of Grady shoving the officer as the kid clung to him. It’s gone viral. They’re printing t-shirts. Half the country’s calling on him to run at the national level. It doesn’t take much to inspire these days. But the El Paso blue, standing in solidarity with their brothers in CBP down on the border, decided not to put a security detail on Grady’s corner room on the sixteenth floor of the Park Hotel downtown. All he has is four investigators from the DA’s office. I’ve learned Barrio Maya may have sicced Velaverde, The Green Candle, on Grady. Once a Catholic priest, he’d caught one of the bishops of Guadalajara in the sacristy doing things to an altar boy and drowned the old bastard in the baptismal font. I don’t kill as a rule, but I can’t really fault the padre for that. The guy became unhinged though, declared himself a priest of Santa Muerte, andSample now he goes around with a green skull mask gunning downfile priests, cops, and elected officials, anybody who he decides is in need of absolución‘ .’ The problem is he never leaves a shred of evidence to justify his actions, so there’s no telling if any of his victims have earned a visit from him. It’s thought that Absolución he works both sides of the law, and he has a reputation as a mad dog that can be fed false intel by anybody at all and directed at targets guilty or otherwise. Velaverde’s never been this far north, but there’s a first time for everything. I’d been staking out Grady’s hotel for hours waiting for Velaverde, staring at the green phosphors of my night vision binoculars and breaking an anxious sweat at the appearance of every emerald figure stumbling through the alley or crossing the street. But it’s not him that shows. I see the bright jade muzzle flashes down in the dark alley, but I don’t hear the shots from this height, which means suppressors. Professionals. It takes a second for my eyes to adjust to the normal dark as I blink away the afterimages from the guns. Two sicarios drag Grady’s investigators face down by the ankles out of sight. They leave a pair of red smears, like tire tracks down in the alley, then mount the fire escape, chromed-out AKMS’ bouncing on their backs. Six more file into the back elevator. They’ve got enough hardware to kill the two men posted at Grady’s door a hundred times over. If I’m not quick, Grady’s not going to see his next haircut let alone the midterms. I take a running jump. My heart floats somewhere in my stomach for four 7 seconds between the roof of the adjoining building and the fifteenth floor of the Park. I miss the grab on the iron railing, but catch myself on the sleeve of one of the hitmen. He goes flipping over the rail with a shriek, but manages to keep from plummeting. The sound of my steel-shot-lined knuckles colliding with his partner’s face cover the noise of him clanging off the landings, but I feel the vibration under my boots. He adds a Pollock splash to the two streaks of red they made of the investigators. I glance down and see him twitching. He’s managed to break his fall several times over, but he’s not leaving the alley of his own volition. I ram the second gunman’s head repeatedly into the safety glass till the pane finally breaks and follow his limp body through into the hallway, my boots crunching on glass as I sprint for the elevator, which the indicator above the sliding doors tell me is rapidly approaching thirteen. The escutcheon is missing, so I yank a screwdriver from my utility belt and Samplejam it in, sliding the door open, exposing the oily shaft. file The elevator is steadily ascending. It’s a twenty foot drop. There’s no masking the sound of my hobnails on the roof, and I hear the men inside cuss at the unexpected jostling of the car. I yank the roof hatch off and pull a stingball from my belt. The pin goes pinging off against the wall of the shaft and I drop the grenade in. Point three seconds later I hear the blast. Rubber balls and casing pepper them and smash

Absolución the mirror walls of the car, showering them all in about twenty one years of bad luck. I jump down into the middle of them, or rather on top of one of them. I hear his clavicles pop as he collapses under my two hundred two pounds, screaming. There’s too many of them too close to each other to bring their guns to play in the enclosed space. They’re all angry red welts, bleeding ear drums, and blinking eyes. I’m elbows and knees. They go rebounding off the walls of the car, bouncing back into my fists. Somewhere in all the Spanish invectives I hear ‘Crackdown.’ It’s nice to be recognized. One slides down the wall with a purpling dent in his forehead, eyes rolling, but the rest shake off the surprise and come in hard, swarming over me as the cries of the guy with the broken shoulders beneath our feet turn to dwindling groans. I’m padded head to toe, but there are four of them, and these days, it’s rare not to meet somebody in this line of work who hasn’t been on a mat or in a ring. 8 I feel my left arm twisted into a painful lock as I wriggle in the knot of grasping limbs, and somebody shouts words of encouragement. A thick tattooed arm encircles my neck. A knife glances off my body armor, rips the blue fabric of my costume. The shaven headed soledad in front of me glares over his knuckles and comes in weaving, clearly a boxer. Even with the vest my ribs start to buckle under the flurry of body shots, like a chintzy door under the hammering of a persistent caller. I push back, pinning the guy locking my arm to the back of the car, and bring both feet up. I think a rib gives, but I shove the contender back and through the doors as they slide open. The elevator chimes. A hilariously calm lady’s voice announces; “Fifteenth floor.” I flip desperately, unwinding my twisted arm and slipping my head out from underSample the big arm. I drive the top of my helmet hard into the offender’sfile face. His head hits the wall hard and he slides to the floor. Although I can hardly breathe, there’s room to do it in now. But breathing room is shooting room. They go to guns. Absolución The shots are loud in the car, and my left leg is kicked out from under me, but I throw up my hands and take the shooter down with me by the wrist. I wrench the 1911 in his hand hard right and snap his finger backwards with the trigger guard, then blow up his nose with a right jab from the floor. This sends him into a fury. He’s a broad shouldered killer with red devil horns tattooed on his forehead. He clambers over me, hammering with his good hand, unleashing a deluge of rusty warmth in my mouth. I nearly choke on one of my own teeth. Stars wheel crazily and go supernova in front of my eyes. More gunshots, but not in the car. I realize The Boxer is trading rounds with the two investigators left on Grady’s door. I don’t see how they fair, but a stray shot flies into the car and one of the gunmen sits down hard in the corner and begins doing a jig on the floor, both hands grasping his own neck, as if trying to strangle himself. Blood pumps out from between his fingers and his eyes go wide, then distant. Another shooter, a skinny, topless triggerman with a rosary tattooed around his neck, jumps over me and joins his compadre in the hallway, pistol snapping away. The long haired guy still on his feet in the car hollers for his partner to get out of the way, brandishing a stubby, glittering gold AK that wouldn’t look out 9 of place in a Sky Mall catalog. Devil Horns ignores his partner. He pulls a knife and I barely get my left hand up in time for him to stick it through my palm rather than my eye. I poke him with the butt of his own knife, smearing my blood in his face. It’s enough of a distraction to wrench the knife from my hand and stick it in Long Hair’s thigh. His AK chatters, lighting up his buddy, nearly tearing into me, but I get a hold of the muzzle and yank it down so it rakes the floor of the car. He shreds his own booted feet and collapses screaming. An elbow to the jaw shuts him up. I pull myself up in time to see the two investigators at the end of the hall slide to the floor grimacing, leaving bloody smears on the walls. My leg is bleeding, but not bad. I think Devil Horns missed the artery. The bullet’s gone in and out. I hope it wasn’t dipped in mercury. It’s a thing. My hand hurts worse, and it’s ballooning, making it hard to close my fingers into a fist. I shake it and blood flecks the wall. SampleI launch myself out of the elevator and take the two killers infile the hall by the napes of their necks like a wrestler. I drive them face first into the floor with my full weight. I’m exhausted. I hope it’s enough to keep them down. It isn’t. I manage to kick their guns back toward the elevator, and interpose myself between them and their arsenal. Absolución They circle, grinning at me like jackals, telling me what they’re going to do to me. I guess they think their friends in the alley are still coming up the fire escape. It gives me time to catch my breath. Rosary slides a machete from his belt at the small of his back. His teeth are gold, machine-like. They come in together, and that whistling machete drives me back. He gets me twice in the forearm guard, and The Boxer makes my skull ring, knowing my attention’s on Rosary’s weapon. I manage one counterpunch that gets The Boxer off me long enough to finally catch Rosary’s blade and pop it from his grip. I snake the knife edge of my hand under Rosary’s chin, chopping at that turkey neck like it’s Thanksgiving morning. He drops to his knees gasping. I put my boot upside his temple and he’s out before he hits the floor. I whisk the machete away down the hall and turn my attention on The Boxer. He nearly knocks me out cold with a fire extinguisher. I go down and he sprints for the guns in the elevator, but I snag his ankle and trip him. The doors slide shut and the elevator descends. Are there any other 10 guests on this floor? Once the battered Barrio Mayas show up in the lobby hotel security will wash their hands and call 9-1-1. El Paso PD should step out of the elevator within ten minutes if they don’t opt for caution, which they could well do knowing Grady’s up here. Are they really that vindictive? I pull The Boxer back across the carpet towards me, and the heel of his cowboy boot mashes my nose flat. We lay for a time gasping, then pull ourselves up to resume, both of us swaying in place. He’s not laughing now. I can feel blood trickling out from under my mask, and I’m huffing through my mouth. He kicks at my wounded leg with one of his pointed toes. I almost pass out, but I grab the knee and drill the side of it with my elbow guard. Something in there snaps. He yelps and limps back against the wall. We stare at each other. I don’t know how long, then some mutual unspoken agreement passes between us, and we go at each other like mountain goats. Half aSample dozen feral haymakers, jabs, zero hour blocks and failed rabbit file punches later, we’re leaning against each other like old friends at the just to remain on our feet. If there was a ref, he’d split us up with a warning. Instead I push past his groping arms and snap his head back with a sudden uppercut to the end of his chin. Absolución I almost fall on top of him. His eyelids flutter, but he’s down with a broken jaw. I can’t feel my hand anymore. I peer down the hall at the door to Grady’s room. It’s riddled with bullets, the number shot to hell. “Mr. Grady?” I call. No answer. I glance back at the blood soaked, body-strewn hall. The elevator reaches the ground floor. Ten minutes, I think. But then it starts back up. Hotel security? The cops? Or something else? I limp to the door. The lock’s taken a bullet. I push it open. It’s a nice room. Grady almost shoots me in the head when I peak in. It’s a reflex. I nearly break his hand slapping the pistol across the room. “Oh my God!” he says, backing away from me. He’s in a terry cloth robe, his soft belly sagging over his boxers. The side of his face is bleeding. Maybe he caught a stray round. “Wait. It’s….it’s Crackdown isn’t it?” It’s nice to be recognized. “It’s alright,” I murmur. Then I hear the whimper behind me, coming from the side of the bed. 11 The kid can’t be more than ten or eleven. His cheeks are streaked with tears. There’s a bruise under one eye. When I go to help him he crawls into the corner like a whipped dog and hides his face. I tell him in Spanish to get dressed, but he doesn’t move. I glance at Grady. He looks at me nervously. The blood on his cheek. Four even stripes. I wonder about his visit to the camp now. An inspection, or was it like browsing a candy store for him? “I was just….,” Grady begins. He doesn’t get to finish. I don’t kill as a rule. I almost break the rule in this instance. I only stop because the boy is sobbing. I straighten up and go into the bathroom to calm down. I run the water, lift my mask, splash my face. Grady’s teeth drop like Tic Tacs from my gloves into Samplethe sink with all the blood. file I can hear him wheezing on the floor in the next room. And the kid, crying again. I don’t recognize the guy in the mirror till I pull the mask down again. Crackdown. I’m Crackdown.

Absolución I pull the blanket off the bed and wrap the kid in it. It’s hell to lift him, but nothing compared to what he’s been through in this room. He’s rigid in my arms. Huffing uncontrollably against my shoulder. He burrows down in the blanket like the light of the hallway hurts his eyes. The elevator dings. “Fifteenth floor.” A thick cloud of green smoke billows out from the car. The figure in the green priest’s chasuble seems to float out like a phantom. But the silver and gold suppressed H&K’s in his hands , the bandoliers of gleaming ammunition in place of a confessor’s stole, catch the light. They are very real. I can hear Velaverde clinking as he comes closer. When he passes between Rosary and The Boxer in the hall, he makes them jump with a burst from each of his submachineguns. The sound is like a typewriter. He doesn’t even look at them. When we meet in the center of the hallway, I step aside to let him pass. His 12 dark eyes flit from the boy in my arms to meet mine. His guns are engraved with the skeletons of diamond eyed saints. The green skull face nods. I nod back. He moves on toward the room. I can hear him speak, muffled behind that mask. Praying. I carry the kid to the elevator and bump against the G button. The green smoke from the bomb has dissipated. Everyone I left breathing in the car is dead. A bullet to the head for each of them. The doors close and we begin to descend. In the Church, the green chasuble means Ordinary Time. It’s the color of rebirth and hope. In Santa Muerte, you light a green candle for justice. I used to be an altar boy. SampleAssistant District Attorney Brad Grady deserves what’s coming file for him. Chapter One Getting Started

FALLEN JUSTICE requires two kinds of participants, The Narrator and the Player. For Players, the first step in playing the game is to create your Character, an avatar and persona you will inhabit during the game. This is a simple matter of rolling some dice to determine your Character’s strength and other basic attributes, picking a Character class, and buying in-game equipment. If you’re the Narrator, however, you’ve got a bit more preparation to do; we cover that in Chapter 6. FALLEN JUSTICE assumes Players are familiar with the tropes of roleplaying games to a minor degree. Based on the Old School Revival genre of roleplaying 13 games (OSR), FALLEN JUSTICE doesn’t make efforts to institute rules for everything. There are deliberate holes in the rules here, and the game makes no effort to fill them. That’s up to the Players and the Narrator. We’re not here to hold your hand. Dice FALLEN JUSTICE uses several distinct types of dice, and they are abbreviated herein according to their number of sides. For example, the abbreviation for a four-sided die is “d4.” If this text requires a Player to roll “3d4” that means to roll three (3) four-sided dice and add the

Bloody Knuckles of Justice The most important rule in FALLEN JUSTICE is that the Narrator always Samplehas the right to modify the rules. In fact, it’s encouraged! Thisfile is your game, after all. The gaps in the rules—holes left open on purpose—are because much of the fun of “old school” gaming is being able to make up rules as needed. Chapter 1 - Getting Started

14

Sample file Chapter 1 - Getting Started results together. Other die types (six-sided, eight-sided, ten-sided, twelve- sided, and twenty-sided) follow in the same manner. There is no die with 100 sides. When asked to roll d100, roll two (2) ten-sided dice to generate a percentile result, treating the first roll as the “tens” and the second as the “ones.” So, if one were to roll a “7” and then a “3”, the result would be “73.” The roll of two zeroes is treated as a result of “100,” so you cannot roll a “0” on percentile dice. The lowest result possible is a “1.” Advantage and Disadvantage Some abilities or rules in the game will refer to rolling with “Advantage” or rolling with “Disadvantage”. Simply put, it’s this: • To roll with Advantage, roll two d20s and keep the most beneficial. • To roll with Disadvantage, roll two d20s and keep the least beneficial. You should not (and in case it comes up, cannot) have Advantage or Disadvantage on rolls that are not d20 rolls. 15 Character Sheets A character sheet is a piece of paper designed to organize and contain any and all necessary Player Character information, for the benefit of both the Narrator and Player. In FALLEN JUSTICE, the character sheet could be something as simple as a 3x5” index card with equipment and abilities written on the back. However, we do provide a character sheet at the back of the book (Page 83) you are free to print. We also encourage fan-based character sheets. Attribute Scores: The Measure of a Man The basic attribute scores are numbers that represent the Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity, and Charisma of a Character. FALLEN JUSTICE introduces two special Attributes, Infamy and Stress, used Sampleto measure how well-known and respected your Character is. We’llfile cover this in more detail later in the text. First, think of what sort of character you want to play. Identify which skills are important to your concept and note those attributes.