Letter Scrying Skills & Actions Items & Inventory Conflict Defending Casting Spells

Scry 3 distinct letters. You Scry and write down a letter. When facing an enemy at- To wield magic, you require a
When the game asks you to can rescry once. Those are This is the item letter you find Enemy Rolls tack or an environmental magic artefact first (e.g. To-
scry a letter, select a random your skill letters. in your starting inventory. You hazard, you can react by tem, Familiar, Grimoire).
letter of the alphabet, includ- Enemies don’t roll any dice.
can only carry 5 items, includ- Assume that all the enemy using a fitting skill (e.g. Parry,
ing diacritic characters (e.g. ö, Other than moving at a reg- ing those you wear or wield. Evade, Block), or discarding a To cast a spell, instead of
ź, ě, etc.) used in the language actions always succeed.
ular pace or talking, you can piece of armour (e.g. Shield, using a verb, choose your
in which you are playing. only attempt actions de- At any point during the game, Helmet). If you succeed, you target (a character or an
Initiative
scribed by verbs beginning you can define an item letter manage to avoid danger; inanimate object) and roll
Use any scrying method you with one of your skill letters as a specific noun starting Each combat round, scry a otherwise, you suffer harm. the dice. If you succeed, scry
like, including: drawing letter (e.g. with skill letters H, O, you with that letter (e.g. R – Rope, letter. If it’s a vowel, enemies a letter and come up with a
tiles, using a mobile app, or can try to Hit someone with a S – Spear, B – Brigandine). act first; if it’s a consonant, Moving status effect adjective begin-
rolling on the table below. Use Club, Open a Door. You can’t, Once defined, items can’t be Linguists act first. ning with that letter (e.g. B –
the empty fields for diacritic You don’t have to face every
however, attempt to Juggle). redefined. Similarly to skills, obstacle on your path – you Blinded, S – Slow).
characters or reroll the dice. players can only define each Within each group, charac-
ters can act in any order they can try to avoid and bypass
To perform actions, describe item once through the course them (e.g. Jump over Fence, Magic effects can’t harm
Scry a Letter [d66]] them using a verb and roll a of the entire game. want. If you ever need to de- or incapacitate your tar-
termine who acts first, use Crawl past an Imp). If you
•1 •2 •3 •4 •5 •6 d6. Results of 3, 4, 5, or 6 succeed, you bypass the gets, but will provide an ad-
mean you succeed; otherwise Most items should fall under the alphabetical order. vantage in some situations
1• A B C D E F obstacle and move on. If you
you fail. Write the declared one of the below categories: fail, you suffer harm (e.g. you (e.g. casting the Distracted
2• G H I J K L verbs down – they can only be • Weapons & Tools (e.g. Attacking effect on a Manticore will
fell off the Fence, the Imp no-
3• M N O P Q R
used once during the game, Axe, Keys) – used in con- To attack, use a skill verb and ticed you and attacked). make it easier for everyone
regardless of who used them junction with skills; break roll the dice, like you would to Sneak past it).
4• S T U V W X or whether they succeeded. on a skill roll of 1. with any other action. If you Remember that overcoming
5• Y Z ... ... ... ... succeed, your attack hits. an obstacle doesn’t change Magic can properties of ob-
• Pieces of Armour (e.g.
If an action requires specific the fact that other Linguists jects (e.g. casting the Gigan-
6• ... ... ... ... ... ... Gorget, Shield) – discard
context or item which is not also have to deal with it. tic effect on a Door makes it
to prevent harm from a The amount of damage you
available, you can’t perform it possible to Crawl under it).
single source. deal depends on the skill and
(e.g. Swim without water).
• Magic Artefacts (e.g. weapon you used:
Characters Suffering Harm
Orb, Wand) – allow the • Unarmed – 1 dmg Socialising
Modified Rolls When you suffer harm from
wielder to cast spells. (e.g. Kick, Punch) To influence someone, use a
Name If an item can help you in per- attacks, environmental haz-
• Healing Items (e.g. Pills, • Improvised – 2 dmg ards, or failed move checks, fitting skill (e.g. I – Intimidate,
Scry a letter. Your name be- forming an action (e.g. using
Potion, Tourniquet) – dis- (e.g. Stab with a Mace) choose a skill letter. It can’t A – Anger). If you succeed,
gins with that letter (e.g. A – Perfumes before Flirting with
card to heal someone; • Armed – 3 dmg be used until healed. If you scry a letter and come up
Anemone, C – Chadsworth). someone), you can discard it
no skill roll required. (e.g. Stab with a Dagger) lose all 3 skill letters, you die. with a psychological effect
It can be anything you want. and perform that action with
adjective beginning with
an advantage – roll 2d6 and • Contextual – 3 dmg that letter (e.g. S – Scared,
Class take the higher result. (e.g. Push down Stairs) Healing L – Livid). If you find an adjec-
Your class is defined using a • Lethal Attack – death; To heal yourself or a wound- tive which fits your verb, your
If your action would require an foe has to be unaware
descriptor and a noun (e.g. R, ed ally, use a fitting skill (e.g. action works, altering some-
item, but can still be managed (e.g. Kill, Destroy)
R – Reptile Raider). Scry 2 let- Heal, Aid), or discard a heal- one’s behaviour. Otherwise,
without it (e.g. Digging with
ters. Descriptor starts with ing item (e.g. Gauze, Salve). If your attempt fails and has
hands instead of using a Shov-
the first letter and noun with you manage to heal some- the opposite effect.
el), you can perform it with a
the second. Describe what disadvantage – roll 2d6 and one, they regain access to
you do, and how you look. take the lower result. one of their lost skill letters.

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an action or effect this way, it

Level Creation Enemies Librarian’s Duality targets a Linguist controlled
Enemies try to actively harm
by the player sitting to your
Library levels are numbered the Linguists. To move past The Librarian plays two roles
right. If the action makes no
with Roman numerals (e.g. an enemy, it has to be inca- in Bibliocalypse: the rules arbi-
sense, it fizzles. Linguists can
I, VI, X, XIV). Some elements pacitated, or each Linguist ter, and the antagonist.
perform defensive actions to
will be common to all the lev- has to successfully bypass it. Unlike in many RPGs, none of
avoid these.
els, while others will depend the players is required to be
on their numerals. To generate an enemy, scry a designated Game Master.
a letter. Its name noun be- Instead, all players take turns Alphabetical Phylactery
Theme gins with that letter. to fill in that role. Whenever The Librarian has no HP and
Linguists ascend a Library the only thing keeping them
Scry a letter. The level’s over-
For each letter in the level’s level, the next player in line as- alive is an Alphabetical Phy-
all visual theme begins with
numeral, generate a specific sumes the role of the Librari- lactery. The artefact contains
that letter (e.g. S – Space, H
enemy type: an while their character gets all the letters of the alphabet
– Hellscape, D – Dinotopia).
• I – Weak Foe (e.g. A – temporarily lost. used in the language in which
Asp) 3HP; only attacks. As a Librarian, you no longer you are playing the game.
Barrier act as an ally to your fellow
• V – Magic Foe (e.g. L –
There is a barrier on each Linguists. Your task is to gen- To destroy it, all of its letters
Lich) 3HP; casts spells
level, blocking the path for- erate a Library level, filled with must be erased. Verbs and
rather than attacking,
ward. It does not threaten obstacles and enemies trying adjectives coming from suc-
unless in melee range.
the Linguists; it’s just there. to stop their progress, as well cessful attacks, spells, and
• X – Strong Foe (e.g. as to make rulings when the social actions aimed at the
Scry a letter and come up T – Troll) 8HP; attacks need arises. Librarian, erase from Phylac-
with a noun beginning with two targets each turn; tery the letters they contain.
that letter (e.g. F – Flood, is immune to each ac-
W – Wall, D – Darkness). tion verb, status adjec- Final Encounter
tive, and item noun con- Lexiconomicon
Unless you find a way to get taining its own letter After completing the last Li-
rid of it completely, each Lin- (e.g. a Golem can’t be brary level, all Linguists arrive After defeating the Librari-
guist needs to find a way to hit by a Sword Swing, at the Librarian’s sanctum. an and retrieving the fabled
address it on their own. as the verb Swing con- No player needs to assume tome, lost words of yore re-
tains the letter G). the Librarian’s role for this. turn and the calamity ends.
Hazards Before leaving, each Linguist
Chapter Pages is awarded with a choice to
An environmental hazard is Verbal Assault “ In a world
erase a single word from the
present every five levels (e.g. There is a glowing Chapter Instead of outright attacking, where words
history of the world. For good.
V – Volcano, S – Stampede). Page at the end of each lev- the Librarian reads out loud and concepts
Hazards are barriers which el. When touched, it trans- records of Linguists’ exploits,
ports you to the next level.
began to vanish,
can’t be removed. Each which materialise and turn
turn, they will try to cause It can only be reached by against them. The End. a group of Rogue
harm to all Linguists in their those who have addressed Linguists arrives
vicinity. They can try to avoid all of the level’s challenges. At the beginning of each at the threshold of
it through defensive actions. turn, players read one verb the Forbidden Library,
Loot or adjective used by their in a desperate attempt
To generate a hazard, scry a After reaching the Chapter characters earlier that game, to retrieve the primordial
letter. Its name noun begins Page, scry one item letter starting from the top of each Lexiconomicon, defeat the
with that letter. and add it to your inventory. Linguist’s list. When you read False Librarian, and restore
everything that has been lost.
”
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