Dark Ages
A downloadable game
Something terrible is coming.
The Empire of Eagles left us. The eldest among us still remember the shape of imperial rule. Their children, only the garrisons’ backs as they marched away. We knew not where they were headed, and no news ever came. Empty forts fell into decay. Kin serving in distant legions did not return. Imperial faces faded from silver coins. Bridges crumbled, and no engineers arrived to make them whole. Did the Empire burn? Withdraw? Simply crumble? Whatever the cause, we were abandoned to our fate.
In its absence, a rupture. Long years of chaos and upheaval, but amongst the ruins, possibility.
Now we stand at the precipice of the ungiven future. A resurgence of old ways vies against the advent of new crowns. War hangs in the air like a bloody knife. Dragons stir in the earth, and dream of the world’s breaking. In distant lands, converts kneel to a bloodless corpse-god. This age is a broken thing, ours to make anew—time now for the plunge.
Dark Ages is a post-apocalyptic, historical fantasy game of personal ambition, community strife, rights claimed and rights denied.
***
This is a playtest document. It is the third draft of Dark Ages, formerly Apocalypse World: Dark Ages, which Meg and Vincent Baker developed and abandoned back in 2014.
After a fruitful and compelling experiment in archaeological playtesting, we (Andrew Gillis and Luke Jordan) have adopted it with the Bakers’ blessing. It is our intention to bring the game to publication, incorporating recent developments in the PBTA design scene while honouring the unique, original DNA of the game that captivated us in the first place.
Download
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
I just ran a search for AW Dark Ages hoping to dig up the old PDFs, so finding this was an amazing surprise. I'm really glad to see that someone has taken up the torch on this project!
Hi! A question about healing harm:
Rules for prayer, enchantment, and season's end are all clear, but medical care is only referred to here. Is this something that anybody (characterfully/narratively appropriate) can do? Is a roll required? And if so, which (only Push Through, with Aid from the healer, seems appropriate)?
Thank you! Px
Hi
Largely a matter of fictional positioning and time. In cases where a roll seems appropriate, like it's in difficult circumstances or whatever, then some mix of leap into action, and/or pushing through, could definitely be the right move.
Hi! I have a question about Season's end and Season moves:
Given the order of actions in Season's End, it reads like any hurt suffered from the results of the Season Moves would immediately be blacked out and become permanent.
Is this intended?
Hi, yes that is the intended behaviour. Harm from season moves gets locked in.
Ok, understood!
Follow-up: does this also apply to harm suffered in season moves rolled when starting play?
Yes
Hello. The game looks great, and I'm looking forward to getting a group together to play it. I assume that since it is a playtest, you are looking for feedback. Is there a particular space to provide it? Thank you.
Hi, thanks so much for your interest. There’s a link to a Google Form on the first page of the playtest document.
After a first read, this looks like a wonderful game.
As a Pendragon freak, my first thought is to use this for a campaign in Sub-Roman Britain, mixing history with the Arthurian myth.
I'm not sure I get the point of the whole "our world, but not our history" approach. To me the appeal of the game is in the setting of the Fall of Rome, so I don't really see what is to be gained by making it more vague.
Because we’re not interested in mandating as givens the existence of the exact cultural groups, systems of government, national boundaries, historical faiths, etc that existed in the aftermath of Rome’s collapse.
The idea of this being a world where Scandinavian contact with North America might have started earlier and gone further, or where Roman policy brought a sizeable Turkish diaspora to Britain, or whatever, is exciting and fruitful to us.
And crucially, that toolbox approach also leaves room for people to simply use the People procedure to reproduce history (exactly, or with a mythic spin as you describe).
My first skim through of the playbooks had my jaw hanging open increasingly wide. This is *spectacular* work - you've built something amazing on the bones of those awesome old Baker drafts, and should feel incredibly proud of yourselves.
I can't wait to dig in deeper. This might replace my long-anticipated Warriors of the World Ablaze campaign!