TEXT: Play-Test Rulebook
  Revision 1
  Mechanics, Rules, Graphic Design, Art, and Layout:
  Ben O’Neal
  Special Thanks to:
  The Forge (www.indie-rpgs.com) and all its members.
  All play-testers of Scarlet Wake will recieve their name in the credits of this rulebook when it is published if 
  they send me an email letting me know their name. Those who also post their play-testing experiences to 
  the Scarlet Wake forum (http:eclipse.netlab.com.au/forums/index.php) may also recieve a free copy of the 
  fully illustrated (by me) final version of Scarlet Wake when it is published.
  Additionally, if you are a Scarlet Wake play-tester and you need play-testers for your own game, I will play 
  your game and give you at least the same amount of feedback you give me. 
  If you review this game and email me with a link to the review (narehel@yahoo.com.au), then I will send 
  you a free copy of the finished Scarlet Wake rulebook when it is published.
  I’d love to hear your thoughts about this game, so visit my forums or send me an email to let me know.
  Thank you, Ben O’Neal
  
  Table of Contents
  Chapter 1: Introduction p3
  Playing Scarlet Wake
  Chapter 2: Character Creation p4
  Your Character Sheet
  Character Traits
  Creating Your Character
  Chapter 3: The List p8
  Bosses
  Peons
  Rigid List Creation
  Flexible List Creation
  Karma
  Chapter 4: Doing Stuff p12
  Kicking Ass
  Other Stuff
  Bringing the Pain: Fuel and Fire
  Chapter 5: Growth p15
  Fluke Rolls
  Binds in Detail
  Chapter 6: Competition p19
  Protagonist Codes of Conduct
  Antagonists
  Competing for Boss Killing Rights
  The troubleshooting Rule
  Chapter 7: Playing p23
  Play Structure
  Narration Rights
  Play Example
  Chapter 8: Endgame p31
  Winning
  Play Style Ideas
  Scarlet Wake and all associated characters, logos, and 
  illustrations are copyright ©2004 Ben O’Neal.
  All artwork is copyright ©2004 Ben O’Neal.
  
  3
  Chapter 1: Introduction
  Introduction
  Scarlet Wake is game about pain, hate, 
  and bloody revenge. With a strong 
  focus on tactics, gambling, and in-
  ter-player competition, Scarlet Wake 
  asks “Are you cool enough to be even 
  cooler?” In Scarlet Wake, your char-
  acter truly is limited only by your 
  imagination.
  This game is intended to be played 
  over several nights, as player’s char-
  acters work towards killing those who 
  have wronged them, and all who stand 
  in their way. The game ends when all 
  players have killed all those on their 
  kill-list. Scarlet Wake was designed 
  to work with between 3 and 6 players, 
  but 4 players works the best. All 
  players have their own characters, 
  and all players are involved at all 
  times. 
  These rules include everything you 
  will need to play, and all players 
  should either have their own copy, or 
  have read these rules and are able to 
  share a copy. This rulebook will take 
  you through creating your character, 
  planning the challenges he/she will 
  face, how to kill and do other stuff, 
  how to improve your character, and 
  how to make life harder for the other 
  players, while keeping the game fun 
  for all involved.
  Playing Scarlet Wake
  All players create a single char-
  acter, referred to as their PC (Pro-
  tagonist Character). They also create 
  a list of 5 characters who their PC 
  seeks revenge against. These 5 char-
  acters are known as Bosses, and the 
  list is simply known as The List. 
  Some of these Bosses (or all of them, 
  it’s up to you) will have other char-
  acters who protect them, like their 
  gang, hired goons, or employees, and 
  these characters are known as Peons. 
  Each player takes turns being a 
  Protagonist, playing their PC, while 
  the other players play the Antagonist 
  Characters (ACs), such as the Peons 
  and Bosses. When a player is play-
  ing the ACs against a PC, that player 
  is known as an Antagonist. In most 
  cases, there will be one Protagonist, 
  and the other players will be Antago-
  nists, but there are many opportuni-
  ties for multiple players to be Pro-
  tagonists playing their PCs against 
  only one or so Antagonists.
  Protagonists narrate the results of 
  any rolls they make, having full pow-
  er over their PC. They also have pow-
  er over how many Peons come at them 
  each Wave, though no control over the 
  Rank of the peons sent at them (see 
  Chapter 4: Doing Stuff, and Chapter 
  6: Competition).
  Antagonists have total power over 
  the ACs, over which Rank Peons get 
  played and when, and the use of Kick 
  to increase the challenges for a PC 
  (see Chapter 6: Competition).
                             What you need in order to play
  Throughout this rulebook, dice will 
  be referred to using the convention: 
  XdY, where “X” is the number of dice, 
  “d” stands for “die” and “Y” is the 
  number of sides on that die. So “d6” 
  is a six-sided die, and 3d6 means 
  “Three six-sided dice”.
  In order to play, you will need 
  about 5 or 6 of each of the following 
  die types: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12. You 
  will also need a copy of the charac-
  ter sheet, a pencil, an eraser, and 
  you will need to know the rules in 
  this rulebook.  
  So grab your dice, create your char-
  acter, and get with the killing!
                               
  Disclaimer
  In this rulebook “you” will some-
  times be used in reference to your 
  character. It is up to you, as a real 
  human player, to know when the rules 
  are referring to your imaginary char-
  acter, or you as the person you are. 
  If you are ever confused about this 
  distinction, Scarlet Wake is not the 
  game for you. I am not responsible if 
  you kill someone as a result of this 
  game, or harm yourself, or anyone 
  else, or suffer any loss whatsoever, 
  or commit any crime. In short, I can-
  not be held responsible for anything 
  at all you ever do. By reading past 
  this page, you are agreeing to these 
  terms.
  
  4
  Chapter 2: Character Creation
  Character Creation
  Your character in Scarlet Wake is 
  represented by their Character Sheet. 
  The Character Sheet records all im-
  portant aspects of your character, 
  and also the challenges you wish them 
  to face. A Character Sheet is pro-
  vided at the back of this rulebook. 
  Character Sheets look like the pic-
  ture on the next page, and below is 
  a description of the various impor-
  tant parts to help you learn your way 
  around the Character Sheet. 
  Your Character Sheet
  Here I will guide you around the 
  Character Sheet, to help you famil-
  iarize yourself with the important 
  traits of your PC. The picture on the 
  next page shows the Character Sheet, 
  with various areas labelled with num-
  bers. These areas are explained be-
  low:
  1: This half of the page is dedicated 
  to your character, recording all the 
  important things you need to know for 
  playing your character.
  2: Your character’s Name. You will 
  notice a little box next to your 
  Name, don’t worry about that yet, 
  we will come back to it briefly when 
  dealing with The List in chapter 3, 
  and more in Chapter 6: Competition. 
  Right now, the most important thing 
  is that you Name your character with 
  a cool Name. 
  3: These three traits: Style, Weap-
  on and Luck, are the basic primary 
  traits of your character. At least 
  one of these will be involved in al-
  most everything you ever do. More de-
  tail concerning the traits is given 
  later in this chapter.
  4: Grudge and Honour. These two 
  traits are strongly tied together, 
  in that if you lose Grudge, you gain 
  Honour, and if you lose Honour, you 
  gain Grudge. You’ll have to work to 
  make sure you do more gaining than 
  losing.
  5: Fire and Fuel. These two traits 
  are very powerful ways to increase 
  your character’s ass-kicking power. 
  Whenever you take damage, you record 
  this as Fuel, and you can “burn” Fuel 
  to give you Fire, which adds to your 
  Action Pool (see 6).
  6: Your AP (Action Pool). This shows 
  how many of each die type you have 
  available to roll when doing stuff. 
  7: Notes. You can use this section 
  to write down anything important you 
  might need to remember about your 
  character, or just to describe them 
  in more detail. 
  8: The List. This half of your Char-
  acter Sheet is devoted to your list 
  of Bosses and their Peons. You work 
  your way from 1 through to 5, and ev-
  erything you need to know about each 
  Boss you can record here (see Chapter 
  3: The List).
  9: Kick. This is a resource that goes 
  up every time you gain Fuel (take 
  damage). It does not go down when you 
  burn Fuel, and in fact, you can’t use 
  it in any way at all. Kick is a re-
  source for Antagonists to use against 
  you, so keep that in mind when you 
  want to benefit from Fuel (see Chap-
  ter 6: Competition). 
  10: Boss and Peon traits. Here you 
  can record the names of each Boss, 
  1 through to 5, their traits, and 
  the Peons that stand between you and 
  them. Each Boss must have a Name, 
  and a score for that Name equal to 
  how many players have that same Boss 
  on their list. For example, if three 
  players have the same Boss on their 
  List, then the Name score for that 
  Boss is 3. 
  The other traits of Bosses are the 
  same as your own, except that instead 
  of having a Grudge trait, they have a 
  Crime trait, which measures how much 
  they have wronged you.
  Peons are recorded here according 
  to Rank. ‘R1’ means ‘Rank 1 Peon’, so 
  here is where you record how many Pe-
  ons of each rank a Boss has. 
  Finally, the AP of each Boss is sim-
  ply their Action Pool, and shows how 
  
  5
  Chapter 2: Character Creation
  many of each die type that Boss rolls 
  against you. 
  Character Traits
  All traits are measured from 1 to 5, 
  with 5 being the maximum achievable. 
  These numbers measure the type of die 
  this trait adds to your Action Pool 
  (AP). Your AP is a product of the die 
  types from the relevant traits for 
  the action being taken. The traits 
  are rated as follows:
  1 = d4
  2 = d6
  3 = d8
  4 = d10
  5 = d12
  For example, if you have a Style score 
  of 3, then this trait contributes a 
  single d8 to your AP for any action 
  that uses your Style. 
  All traits start at zero (no dice). 
  Only Style, Weapon, Luck, and Grudge 
  (marked with an asterisk (*) on your 
  character sheet) can be added to at 
  character creation, the rest must be 
  increased through play. Once a trait 
  has been increased to 1, it cannot be 
  reduced below 1 from then on.
  Name: This trait can only increase 
  by killing Bosses. Whenever you kill 
  a Boss, your Name increases by the 
  value of that Bosses Name. See Chap-
  ter 4 and Chapter 6 for more informa-
  tion. 
  Write your PCs name on the line next 
  to the score. There are a few rules 
  for what your PC’s name can be. 
  • It must not be a real name
  • It must be at least two words
  • One of these words must be a noun
  Your Name adds to your AP whenever 
  your character does something where 
  ‘who they are’ is important. If you 
  are trying to avoid notice, or if you 
  are unrecognizable, then you don’t 
  use your Name trait in your AP.
  Style: This trait measures how cool 
  your character is at what they do. A 
  score of 1 means that they are only 
  partially cool, while a score of 5 
  means they are super-cool. 
  Write a brief description of your 
  character’s style next to your score. 
  Some examples might be “Hidden Dragon 
  Kung Fu”, or “Hardcore Terminator”. 
  You decide how your character does 
  stuff, and why it is so cool. 
  
  6
  Chapter 2: Character Creation
  Your Style adds to your AP whenever 
  you are doing something impressive. 
  This is probably going to be most of 
  the time.
  Weapon: This trait measures how 
  cool your character’s weapon(s) of 
  choice is(are). A score of one means 
  the weapon is not very cool, while a 
  score of 5 means the weapon is as awe-
  some as a weapon can be.
  Write a brief description of your 
  character’s 
  weapon 
  next 
  to 
  your 
  score. Some examples might be “A 
  Black Katana”, or “Two Automatic Pis-
  tols”. You decide what weapons you 
  want your character to have based on 
  their Weapon score (if you think a 
  sniper rifle is the coolest thing in 
  the world, but the character only has 
  a Weapon score of 3, then don’t say 
  the character has a sniper rifle un-
  til they have a Weapon score of 5).
  Your Weapon adds to your AP whenever 
  you are wielding it, either to at-
  tack someone, or to threaten someone. 
  Again, this will probably be most of 
  the time.
  Luck: This trait simply measures 
  how lucky your character is at hav-
  ing things go their way. A score of 1 
  means your character is barely lucky 
  enough to be alive, and a score of 5 
  means they often find things turn out 
  well for them.
  You must specify a lucky charm that 
  your character possesses which is the 
  source of their Luck. It can be any-
  thing, so long as it is not a part 
  of them. An example might be “Pendant 
  from Father”, or “Bullet from a Chest 
  Wound”.
  Your Luck adds to your AP so long as 
  you are in possession of your lucky 
  charm. 
  Grudge: This trait measures how much 
  your character hates those on The 
  List for what they have done to them. 
  A score of 1 means they want them 
  dead, and will try to see that hap-
  pen, while a score of 5 means that 
  they will chase them into the pits of 
  hell in order to wear their skin as 
  a hat. 
  Write a brief description of why  
  they hold their Grudge against those 
  on The List next to your score. Some 
  examples might be “Killed Wife and 
  Children” or “Murdered Parents”. 
  Your Grudge adds to your AP when-
  ever you are rolling against some-
  thing that is between you and one of 
  the 5 names on your List, and always 
  when you are rolling against anyone 
  on your List. 
  Honour: This trait measures both how 
  much your character can forgive and 
  how much they are willing to cooper-
  ate with others rather than fighting 
  them. It can only be increased by 
  allowing a Boss to live, or working 
  with another PC to share the killing 
  of a Boss. 
  Write a brief description of the 
  things you have done to increase your 
  Honour next to your score. 
  Your Honour adds to your AP in near-
  ly every roll you make, with only a 
  few exceptions.
  Fire: This trait measures your char-
  acter’s rage and ability to bounce 
  back when beaten down. Fire can only 
  be increased by “burning” Fuel. Any 
  points of Fuel can be burnt into Fire 
  at a 2:1 ratio, meaning that if you 
  burn 4 points of Fuel, you gain 2 
  points of Fire. 
  Additionally, Fire “spreads”, mean-
  ing that if you burn more than 10 Fuel, 
  you gain another Fire trait (which is 
  why there are so many little boxes 
  next to Fire on the Character Sheet). 
  For example, if you burn 16 points of 
  Fuel, the first 10 will give you a 
  Fire trait of 5 (which is the maximum 
  any trait can be), and the next 6 Fuel 
  will give you another Fire trait of 
  3 right next to the first one. So by 
  burning 16 Fuel, you can add 1d12 and 
  1d8 to your AP.
  Fire only lasts for one full encoun-
  ter. You can only burn Fuel before the 
  first Wave of an encounter, and any 
  Fire gained this way only lasts until 
  the person or people you are fighting 
  or are about to fight are dead. For 
  example, if you burn all your Fuel 
  into Fire against one person, then, a 
  minute after you kill them, you en-
  counter another enemy, your Fire for 
  this new encounter will be zero.
  
  7
  Chapter 2: Character Creation
  Fuel: This is how you record all dam-
  age done to your character. The maxi-
  mum amount of Fuel you can handle is 
  calculated by adding up all the scores 
  of all your traits, then doubling the 
  result. If your Fuel exceeds the max-
  imum, you are forced into a Bind (see 
  Chapter 5: Growth)
  You can burn Fuel into Fire to in-
  crease your character’s AP (see Fire, 
  above). Any Fuel burnt this way is 
  gone.
  Every time your Fuel increases, in-
  crease your Kick by the same amount. 
  For example, if you take 6 points of 
  damage, thus increasing your Fuel by 
  6, then you must add 6 to your Kick.
  Fuel only ever decreases when you 
  burn it into Fire. It does not go down 
  after a Bind, or for any other reason 
  than burning it for Fire.
  Kick: This trait measures how many 
  points of Fuel you have gained. Kick 
  can only be used by the Antagonists 
  playing against you. At any time they 
  desire, Antagonists can use up Kick 
  to increase the challenges you face 
  in various ways (see Chapter 6: Com-
  petition). So remember that whenever 
  you gain  Fuel, you are also giving 
  the Antagonists more power to chal-
  lenge you.
  Creating Your Character
  You start the game with 8 points to 
  distribute amongst your Style, Weap-
  on, Luck, and Grudge traits as you 
  see fit. At this stage, you cannot 
  put any points into any of the other 
  traits. To make this easy to see, 
  these traits are the ones with the 
  asterisks next to them on your Char-
  acter Sheet. The minimum you can put 
  into these four traits is 1, and the 
  maximum is 5. 
  Now your character needs a name. The 
  name cannot be a real name, it must be 
  at least two words, and at least one 
  of these must be a noun. A nice easy 
  convention is ‘adjective noun’. For 
  example, all the example characters 
  in this rulebook are named according 
  to ‘colour creature’, such as “Amber 
  Ghost”, and “Crimson Fiend”. 
  You also need to go through all your 
  traits and describe briefly the ac-
  tual characteristics of the traits. 
  For example, your must describe what 
  style your character fights with, so 
  you might use adjectives such as: 
  smooth, swift, menacing, cold, or sa-
  distic. 
  Finally, you need to start think-
  ing about their story. Why are they 
  seeking revenge? Who are the people 
  they are seeking revenge against? Why 
  did these people wrong your character 
  in the first place? You will need to 
  develop deep answers for these ques-
  tions and more, because this is how 
  you will drive your character through 
  the game (see Chapter 7). 
  In Scarlet Wake, your character’s 
  coolness is all that matters. You 
  can have anything you want for your 
  character if you think it fits. They 
  can be filthy rich, dirt poor, have 
  gadgets for every occasion or rely on 
  their wits. If you think they’d have 
  it, then they do.
  Tips for Character Creation: Creating your 
  character is the most important part 
  of playing Scarlet Wake. It is more 
  than just writing up numbers and 
  names on your character sheet, it 
  is also generating the entire reason 
  for their existence in the game. The 
  first time this will become apparent 
  is when you must narrate your first 
  scene, known as a Snippet (see Chap-
  ter 7: Playing). Ask yourself:
  “What happened to my PC to make them 
  seek vengeance?”
  “What events led up to this?”
  “How was my PC involved in the first 
  place?”
  “How can I break up this story so 
  that I can play it out?”
  “How is my PC going to go about 
  seeking vengeance?”
  “What sort of personality does my PC 
  have?”
  “Do they value anything?”
  “Do they have any unique character-
  istics, such as scars, limps, cloth-
  ing, and other quirks?”   
  It will also help tremendously to 
  imagine how you want your PC to move, 
  talk and do stuff, because you will 
  be spending a large amount of time 
  narrating these things. 
  
  8
  Chapter 3: The List
  The List
  The List is a record of the people 
  upon whom your character seeks bloody 
  retribution. These five names are the 
  reason your character exists right 
  now, and they will not rest until all 
  five are dead. The number 5 name on 
  that list belongs to the most vile 
  of the 5, the one who you will chase 
  to the ends of the earth to bring 
  justice to. The one responsible for 
  it all. Your PC will work down the 
  list, killing each Boss from 1 to 5.
  You get to create all the Bosses 
  on The List, everything about them, 
  including the people who you must 
  kill to get to them, known as Peons. 
  There are a few rules you must follow 
  though, and this chapter presents 
  two alternative methods of creating 
  your List. The rigid method is a 
  simpler and quicker method, whilst 
  the flexible method allows greater 
  control over your character’s story 
  and the challenges they will face.
  But 
  first, 
  let’s 
  familiarise 
  ourselves with Bosses and Peons.
  Bosses
  Just 
  like 
  your 
  own 
  character, 
  Bosses are defined by their scores in 
  various traits. Bosses have 5 traits: 
  Name, Style, Weapon, Luck, and Crime. 
  Crime is the only trait that differs 
  from your own character’s traits, 
  and represents the extent that this 
  Boss wronged your character. In this 
  way it is the mirror of your Grudge 
  trait, in that your Grudge measures 
  how much you hate those on you List, 
  and Crime measures how much each Boss 
  is deserving of that hate. Bosses do 
  not have Fuel, Fire, or Honour.
  Just as Bosses have Crime instead 
  of Grudge, so to do they have Karma 
  instead of Fuel. When you take 
  damage, you add it as Fuel, but when 
  a Boss takes damage, it adds to their 
  Karma. When you have reached your 
  maximum Fuel, a Bind is triggered 
  (see Chapter 4: Doing Stuff), but 
  when a Boss has reached their Maximum 
  Karma (MK), they are dead (or in some 
  other way incapacitated, depending on 
  the effect you want). 
  Whenever you force a Boss on your 
  List into Maximum Karma, you gain 
  their Name score, and add it to your 
  own. If this would increase your Name 
  score to more than 5, then the extra 
  Name gets added as permanent Fire. 
  For example, if you have a Name score 
  of 3, and you kill a Boss with a 
  Name of 4, then your Name score would 
  increase to 5, and you would gain a 
  permanent Fire score of 2, which is 
  treated as part of your Name score 
  for the purposes of determining it’s 
  use in your Action Pool.
  Peons
  Within the game world, Peons can 
  exist for infinite reasons, depending 
  on the Bosses they protect against 
  you. But mechanically speaking, they 
  exist for one main purpose: to get 
  slaughtered whilst damaging your PC 
  enough to give you a decent amount 
  of Fuel. Most Bosses will be too 
  difficult for you to beat without 
  using 
  Fire, 
  especially 
  once 
  the 
  Antagonists have a supply of Kick to 
  use against you. 
  There are 5 different types of Peons 
  in Scarlet Wake, measured according to 
  Rank. Peon Ranks range from R1 (Rank 
  1) to R5 (Rank 5), with R5 being the 
  toughest. A Peon’s Rank determines 
  their Maximum Karma (MK) and Action 
  Pool (AP). An individual Peon’s MK is 
  equal to their Rank, meaning that an 
  R2 Peon will have an MK of 2, and an 
  R5 Peon will have an MK of 5. 
  A Peon’s AP is a number of d4 equal 
  to their Rank. This means that an R3 
  Peon rolls 3d4 to do anything, and an 
  R5 Peon rolls 5d4 to do anything.
  Rigid List Creation
  First, you must give each Boss a 
  Name, using the same rules as when 
  you made your PC’s Name. 
  It is a good idea to make your 
  List in collaboration with the other 
  players, so that you can choose which 
  Bosses you will have appear on each 
  other’s Lists. The reason for this is 
  twofold: Firstly, when a Boss appears 
  on more than one List, it is worth 
  more to anyone who kills it. Secondly, 
  you can all make sure that the spread 
  
  9
  Chapter 3: The List
  of shared Bosses is equal, so that no 
  player is left out of the Boss sharing 
  (which would lower the rewards they 
  could receive). The rules for having 
  a Boss appear on more than one List 
  are as follows:
  • Any Boss can appear on more than 
  one List.
  • Any Boss on more than one List 
  must be the same number on each List 
  (a Boss at number 4 must be at number 
  4 on all Lists).
  • No Boss can appear on all Lists, 
  there must always be an Antagonist 
  available. 
  • The traits for a shared Boss must 
  be the same on all Lists.
                                                           Boss Traits
  The number of points you must 
  distribute among the traits of each 
  Boss varies according to their order 
  in The List. Bosses higher in the 
  order are tougher, while those lower 
  are weaker. 
  Creating a Boss uses exactly the same 
  process as creating your character, 
  except where you start with only 8 
  points to distribute amongst your 
  PC’s traits, each Boss starts with 
  a greater amount, depending on their 
  position in The List. The table below 
  shows how many points each Boss has. 
  You must distribute all of these 
  points among any traits you choose 
  (except Name, which can only increase 
  by that Boss appearing on multiple 
  Lists).
  Rigid Boss Creation
  Boss #
  Trait Points
  Maximum Karma
  1
  12
  24
  2
  14
  28
  3
  16
  32
  4
  18
  36
  5
  20
  40
  We can see that the number 1 Boss has 
  12 points to be distributed amongst 
  their traits and an MK of 24, the next 
  Boss at number 2 has 14 points to be 
  distributed among their traits and an 
  MK of 28, and the number 5 Boss has 20 
  trait points and an MK of 40. 
                                                                    Peons
  In addition to creating the Bosses 
  on The List, you must also create the 
  Peons that protect them. 
  You have a total of 50 Peons that 
  you can spread among the 5 Bosses any 
  way you wish, but you must use all 
  50. These 50 Peons are made up of 10 
  Peons of each Rank (so 10 R1’s, 10 
  R2’s, etc.)
  All this can be seen in the table 
  below, which shows the different Ranks 
  of Peons, the MK and AP of each Rank, 
  and how many you have to distribute 
  amongst your Bosses. 
  Peons
  Rank
  MK
  AP
  Number
  R1
  1
  1d4
  10
  R2
  2
  2d4
  10
  R3
  3
  3d4
  10
  R4
  4
  4d4
  10
  R5
  5
  5d4
  10
  Hint: Think about how much Fire 
  you are likely to need to take down 
  each 
  Boss, 
  and 
  distribute 
  Peons 
  accordingly.
                         
    Example Rigid Boss Creation
  In order to illustrate how to create 
  a Boss from start to finish using 
  the rigid method, here is an example 
  of how to create a Boss that will be 
  number 3 on The List.
  Step 1: First I pick a name. Let’s call 
  this Boss ‘Grey Golem’. He appears on 
  two other player’s Lists, so his Name 
  score is 3. 
  Step 2: Now I look at the table on page 
  8, and see that a number 3 Boss has 
  16 points to distribute among their 
  traits. So I give him Style:3, Weapon:
  4, Luck:4, and Crime:5. According 
  to the table, he also has a Maximum 
  Karma of 32.
  Step 3: Now he needs Peons. This Boss 
  is a big-time corporate guy, so these 
  Peons will be mostly security guards, 
  but he’ll also have two tough-guy 
  personal bodyguards. With this in 
  mind, I give him 6 R2 Peons (the 
  security guards) and 2 R5 Peons (the 
  bodyguards). 
  Step 4: Finally, I look at all of Grey 
  
  10
  Chapter 3: The List
  Golem’s traits including his Name 
  score, and I work out his AP. He has 
  two traits at 3 (Name and Style), two 
  traits at 4 (Weapon and Luck), and 
  one at 5 (Crime). So Grey Golem’s AP 
  is 2d8, 2d10, and 1d12 (see page 5, 
  under ‘Character Traits’). 
  Flexible List Creation
  This method is identical to the 
  rigid method right up until defining 
  the Boss traits. However, there are 
  two additional rules for sharing a 
  Boss if one or more players are using 
  the Flexible method:
  • Any player using the Rigid method 
  must be the one to define that Bosses 
  traits, and any players using the 
  flexible method must still “pay” for 
  those traits as if they had bought 
  the scores themselves (see below). 
  • All players sharing a Boss must pay 
  the same points for both Boss traits 
  and Peons, but the result is only as 
  if one player had paid. For example, 
  to raise a Bosses style score to 4, 
  all players who share that Boss must 
  pay 4 trait points.
  For the above reasons, it’s best if 
  all the players in a group use the 
  same method.
                                                            Boss Traits
  You have 80 points to distribute 
  among any of the Bosses’ traits. This 
  means you can make the number 5 Boss 
  weaker than the number 2 Boss, or any 
  other combination you want. Keep in 
  mind, however, that you must spend 
  all 80 points on your Bosses’ traits, 
  so by making one weaker, you must 
  make another stronger.
  To figure out the Maximum Karma 
  a Boss has, simply figure out how 
  many points you have spent on their 
  traits, and multiply this by 2. For 
  example, if you have given a Boss the 
  following traits: Style:3, Weapon:4, 
  Luck:2, and Crime:2; then their MK 
  would be 22 (11 multiplied by 2). 
                                                                    Peons
  You have 150 points to spend on 
  creating Peons for your Bosses, and 
  you must spend all 150.
  When using these 150 points to 
  buy Peons for your Bosses, you must 
  ocnsider the cost of the different 
  Rank Peons. The cost of a Peon is 
  equal to it’s Rank. For example, if 
  you want a Peon of Rank 3, then you 
  must pay 3 points, and ten Rank 3 
  Peons would cost 30 points. The table 
  below shows the 5 Ranks of Peons, 
  their Maximum Karma (MK), Action Pool 
  (AP), and point cost.
  Peons
  Rank
  MK
  AP
  Cost
  R1
  1
  1d4
  1
  R2
  2
  2d4
  2
  R3
  3
  3d4
  3
  R4
  4
  4d4
  4
  R5
  5
  5d4
  5
  So with your 150 points, you could 
  conceivably buy 150 R1 Peons, or 30 
  R5 Peons. However, it’s a much better 
  idea to buy a range of different Rank 
  Peons and spread them among your 
  Bosses with consideration for the 
  potential Fire you could gain from 
  them.
                              Example Flexible Boss Creation
  In order to illustrate how to create 
  a Boss from start to finish using the 
  flexible method, here is an example 
  of how to create a Boss that will be 
  number 5 on The List.
  Step 1: First I pick a name. Let’s call 
  this Boss ‘Gold Chimera’. She appears 
  on three other player’s Lists, so her 
  Name score is 4. 
  Step 2: This Boss is the mastermind 
  behind my PC’s grief, but isn’t 
  particularly awesome compared to the 
  other Bosses on The List, because 
  she is oldish and kinda frail. She’s 
  still pretty tough, but she’s not 
  what she used to be. So I give her 
  Style:2, Weapon:3, Luck:5, and Crime:
  5. This means I have spent 15 points 
  on her, so her MK is 30, and I have 65 
  points left to distribute among the 
  other Bosses. 
  Step 3: Now she needs Peons. Lot’s of 
  them. This Boss is big on her minions, 
  so these Peons will be members of her 
  private army. With this in mind, I 
  
  11
  Chapter 3: The List
  give her 20 R2 Peons and 10 R3 Peons, 
  costing me a total of 70 out of my 150 
  points. The other 80 points will give 
  the other Bosses their Peons.
  Step 4: Finally, I look at all of Gold 
  Chimera’s traits including her Name 
  score, and I work out her AP. She has 
  one trait at 2 (Style), one trait at 3 
  (Weapon), one at 4 (Name), and two at 
  5 (Luck and Crime). So Gold Chimera’s 
  AP is 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, and 2d12 (see 
  page 5, under ‘Character Traits’). 
  Tips for List Creation: In order to get the 
  most out of your play experience, you 
  should ensure that each Boss on the 
  list has a well developed reason for 
  being there. Ask yourself: 
  “How does my PC know this Boss?”
  “What did this Boss do to my PC to 
  earn my PC’s wrath? How does this 
  justify their position on The List?”
  “What sort of character is this 
  Boss?” 
  “What is their occupation?”
  “How did they get where they are 
  today?”
  “How will they react to my PC?”
  “Do they have any unique quirks 
  or characteristics, such as scars, 
  tattoos, a limp, or whatever?”
  “What sort of personality do they 
  have?”
  There is no real reason to write all 
  this stuff down, because some of it 
  may change as you play and further 
  develop your own PC. But it is a 
  great idea to start thinking about 
  all this stuff when making your List, 
  and it will really help you later on 
  when you have to narrate scenes with 
  these Bosses and describe them for 
  the Antagonists to play. 
  Peons are a little easier. For 
  starters, considering your answers 
  to the above questions, you should 
  be able to imagine the sorts of Peons 
  each Boss will have. Will they be 
  security guards? Employees? Friends? 
  Soldiers? Mercenaries? Mafia thugs? 
  Fans (if your Boss is a famous 
  person)? Ninjas?
  All you really have to do is justify 
  why each Boss has Peons, and why they 
  have as many as they do. You don’t 
  have to consider why the Peons have 
  the Ranks that they do. The types of 
  Peons that they are (thugs, ninjas) 
  will only help you when you are 
  narrating your slaughter of them. 
  If you have developed your Bosses 
  and Peons well, you will find playing 
  is much easier, and your descriptions 
  to the Antagonists will be much 
  clearer, allowing them to play the 
  Bosses, Peons, and other Antagonist 
  Characters in a way that fits your 
  PC’s story. 
  My final tip for creating Bosses and 
  Peons is to keep in mind that YOU are 
  the one creating the challenges that 
  your PC will face, and so it is up to 
  you to make sure that you don’t make 
  things too easy (you won’t gain enough 
  Fuel for Fire, and you’ll constantly 
  fall into Binds) or too hard (again, 
  you’ll constantly fall into Binds). 
  This game relies very strongly on 
  good strategy and tactics, and it’s 
  surprisingly easy to shoot yourself 
  in the foot without knowing it. 
  Once you have created your PC and 
  The List, you have everything you 
  need to play the game from beginning 
  to end, written right there on your 
  Character Sheet. Good Luck!
  Karma
  Your PC has a trait called Fuel, 
  which is how you track the damage 
  that they recieve in a fight, and 
  which also can be burnt off to give 
  you a serious advantage in the form 
  of Fire (see Chapter 4: Doing Stuff). 
  However, 
  Bosses, 
  Sub-Bosses, 
  and 
  Peons do not have Fuel. Instead, they 
  have Karma. 
  Unlike 
  Fuel, 
  Karma 
  cannot 
  be 
  burnt 
  away, 
  and 
  cannot 
  decrease 
  except by being healed with Kick 
  by the Antagonists (see Chapter 6: 
  Competition). It does not decrease 
  with time. This means that if you 
  damage a Boss, then, as part of your 
  story, many months go by before your 
  return to finish the job, that Boss 
  will have the same amount of Karma as 
  when you left them. 
  When a character has taken enough 
  damage to exceed their Maximum Karma, 
  then they can no longer influence 
  the story, either by being dead or 
  rendered obsolete in some other way. 
  
  12
  Chapter 4: Doing Stuff
  Doing Stuff
  Blowing heads off, sending limbs 
  flying, 
  painting 
  the 
  decor 
  red, 
  maiming, threatening, cooperating, 
  gambling, escaping, racing, hacking, 
  and kicking ass: these are just some 
  of the fun things your character will 
  be doing in Scarlet Wake. This chapter 
  is all about how you do stuff. First, 
  we’ll deal with the most important 
  part of Scarlet Wake: kicking ass, 
  before moving on to other stuff. 
  Kicking Ass
  For the majority of combat situations 
  you are likely to get into, you will 
  use all your traits in your AP. Any 
  time you want to do something, you 
  roll your AP, and your opponents will 
  roll their AP against you. 
                                                                  Waves
  In Scarlet Wake, combat is measured 
  in Waves. A Wave can consist of a 
  bunch of enemies engaging you, or 
  a single opponent. A Wave does not 
  last for any specific length of time, 
  and can be anything from a few brief 
  seconds to a minute, depending on 
  how the players narrate the events. 
  Additionally, a Wave does not consist 
  of any set number of attacks or 
  defences, but instead has as many 
  attacks 
  as 
  the 
  players 
  narrate. 
  However, each Wave only has one roll 
  for all participants, made at the 
  beginning of the Wave. 
  Here’s how a Wave works:
  Step 1: The Protagonist gives one of 
  four different types of signal to the 
  Antagonists. The four types of signal 
  are:
  • Holding up a number of fingers 
  equal to how many Peons you want 
  sent against you.
  • Holding both hands out, palms up, 
  and waving them towards you. This 
  gestures “Bring It On”, and tells 
  the Antagonists to send all the 
  remaining Peons at you. If there 
  are no remaining Peons, this is 
  the gesture to send the Boss.
  • Pointing at the Antagonists. 
  This tells them to send the Boss 
  at you without the Peons. If you 
  make this gesture, you cannot burn 
  Fuel, and you cannot kill the Boss. 
  Essentially this is to allow you 
  to trigger a Bind (See Chapter 5: 
  Growth).
  • Holding both your hands in raised 
  fists, 
  palms 
  facing 
  you, 
  and 
  extending the middle finger of both 
  hands. This tells the Antagonists 
  that you think you are way too 
  hardcore for your own good, so they 
  should send all the Peons AND the 
  Boss against you. This is also an 
  open invitation for them to spend 
  all your Kick against you. If you 
  manage to kill everyone in this 
  encounter without falling into a 
  Bind, then you gain double the 
  Name points from killing this Boss 
  and you have proven to the world 
  that you are cool enough to be the 
  coolest. If you fall into a Bind or 
  leave the encounter with someone 
  left alive, you will have proven 
  yourself to be an idiot, and you 
  lose all your Name points.
  Step 2: The Antagonists narrate how 
  the Peons (or Boss) are advancing 
  on the PC, and this narration can be 
  as creative as the Antagonists wish. 
  The Antagonists roll the dice for the 
  Peons or Boss, at the same time as the 
  Protagonist(s) roll their AP. 
  Step 3: The Antagonists add up all 
  the dice for the Peons or Boss, the 
  Protagonist(s) add up their AP(s), 
  and the results are spoken aloud. The 
  Protagonist(s) then choose how they 
  will distribute the points of the 
  rolls, before narrating the outcome 
  of the Wave, describing the resulting 
  carnage in graphic detail. 
                                                                 Damage
  Damage to a PC is recorded as Fuel 
  on your character sheet, but damage 
  to Peons and Bosses is recorded as 
  Karma. When you have taken enough 
  damage to make you exceed your maximum 
  Fuel, your PC is forced into a Bind. 
  When a Peon or Boss has taken enough 
  damage to exceed their Maximum Karma, 
  they are dead or otherwise rendered 
  incapacitated.
  In a Wave, if the PC’s roll is 
  
  13
  Chapter 4: Doing Stuff
  higher than the opponent’s roll, 
  then the PC can avoid all damage, 
  dealing the difference as damage to 
  the opponent. If the opponent’s roll 
  is higher, then the PC cannot avoid 
  damage, but can still choose to take 
  more damage in order to deal damage 
  to the opponents. 
  For example, Violent Angel rolls 27, 
  and her opponents roll 34. No matter 
  what, Violent Angel will take at least 
  7 damage this Wave, and if this is all 
  she takes, she cannot deal any damage 
  in return. However, she can choose 
  to take more damage, “freeing up” 
  some of her own roll to deal damage 
  against her enemies. She chooses to 
  take a total of 14 damage, allowing 
  her to deal 7 damage to her enemies. 
  Peons that take damage without dying 
  “sit out” the next Wave as they deal 
  with the pain. 
  In the next wave, she rolls 32, and 
  her opponents roll 29. Violent Angel 
  can deal 3 points of damage to her 
  enemies without taking any herself.
  The Protagonist decides where damage 
  is dealt and how, and narrates the 
  result for the other players.
  Make sure you remember to keep track 
  of the damage you take with your Fuel 
  trait, and make sure to update your 
  Kick too. If you ever exceed your 
  maximum Fuel, you are forced into a 
  Bind (see Chapter 5: Growth).
  Other Stuff
  There will be a few times where you 
  will want your character to do things 
  that don’t involve killing other 
  people. In these circumstances, it 
  is important to consider what traits 
  are involved in your AP, and who you 
  are being opposed by. All actions 
  that aren’t being hindered by another 
  character automatically succeed if 
  you want them to. This isn’t a game 
  about falling off cliffs or failing 
  to pick locks, Scarlet Wake is about 
  doing what needs to be done to bring 
  your wrath upon your enemies. 
  However, if you are trying to do 
  something which is opposed by another 
  character, then you must roll against 
  them to see who wins. This section 
  will 
  provide 
  the 
  guidelines 
  for 
  when each trait should contribute to 
  your AP, and give a few examples of 
  specific tasks. 
  Name: Are the people you are rolling 
  against familiar with you or your 
  reputation? 
  Are 
  you 
  identifiable 
  as yourself (not wearing a mask or 
  hidden somehow)? If you answered yes 
  to both of these, then you should use 
  your Name trait in your AP.
  Style: Are you moving around in a 
  vaguely 
  impressive 
  way? 
  Are 
  you 
  speaking with someone in a vaguely 
  impressive way? If so, you should use 
  your Style in your AP.
  Weapon: Are you holding your weapon? 
  Does it help your cause to be holding 
  your weapon? If so, then you should 
  use your Weapon trait in your AP. It 
  is important to note that this means 
  your exact weapon, as written on your 
  Character Sheet. No other weapons can 
  ever give you a Weapon trait score.
  Luck: Do you have your lucky charm? 
  If so, you should use your Luck in 
  your AP.
  Grudge: Do you hate the person you 
  are rolling against? Are you rolling 
  against a person because they are 
  preventing you from killing a Boss? 
  If so, you should use your Grudge in 
  your AP.
  Honour: Are you NOT trying to overcome 
  a Dilemma? If so, you should use your 
  Honour in your AP. 
  If there is ever any question as 
  to which traits to use in a roll, 
  the above guidelines are the final 
  arbiters. If you answer “No” to any 
  of the above questions, then you 
  don’t use that trait in your AP. 
  The above guidelines apply to PCs, 
  Bosses, Sub-Bosses, and other non-
  Peon characters. This means that in 
  some circumstances your PC may be 
  rolling different traits in their AP 
  than the character they are rolling 
  against (especially in Binds). 
  When rolling against a Peon for any 
  reason, including Binds, Peons always 
  use their full AP as defined by their 
  Rank.
  
  14
  Chapter 4: Doing Stuff
                                                               Examples 
  Amber Ghost: Amber Ghost is trying to 
  overcome a Bind to improve her Style. 
  She has been stripped naked, tied up, 
  and gagged by Boss number 2 on her 
  List. She is currently laying under 
  a tarp in the back of a truck, which 
  her Boss is driving to the local 
  abattoir, where he and his friends 
  are planning to go to work on her 
  while she is still alive. She needs 
  to escape her bonds. 
  She 
  cannot 
  move, 
  and 
  has 
  no 
  possessions, so she cannot use her 
  Style, Weapon, or Luck traits for 
  her AP. She rolls her AP with Name, 
  Grudge and Honour, and gets 15. At 
  the same time, the Antagonists roll 
  for the Boss, to see how well he tied 
  the bonds on Amber Ghost, using his 
  Name, Style, Luck, and Crime traits, 
  but not Weapon (he wasn’t using his 
  weapon to tie the bonds). They roll 
  for the Boss and get 13. 
  Amber Ghost escapes the bonds and 
  removes her gag, grabs a crowbar from 
  the tool box in the ute next to her, 
  and readies herself to bring the pain 
  to this Boss. 
  Jade Templar & Sapphire Knight: 
  Jade 
  Templar and Sapphire Knight have 
  decided that because they both want 
  to kill Boss number 3 on their Lists, 
  but aren’t willing to share the kill, 
  that they will race each other to 
  the Boss, with the winner getting to 
  take on the Boss alone. They agree 
  on making 5 rolls, with the winner 
  of the most rolls winning the race. 
  They aren’t using their Weapon trait 
  for their rolls, but all their other 
  traits are important. 
  Jade Templar rolls 21, 17, 28, 36, 
  and 25 while Sapphire Knight rolls 30, 
  23, 27, 23, and 22. Jade Templar won 
  the third, fourth, and fifth rolls, 
  so he arrives first, and gets to kill 
  Boss number 3 alone. According to 
  the competition rules in chapter 6, 
  both Jade Templar and Sapphire Knight 
  took damage during the race, and must 
  narrate accordingly after each roll. 
  Overall, Jade Templar gained 15 Fuel 
  (and 15 Kick), and Sapphire Knight 
  gained 17 Fuel (and 17 Kick).
  Onyx Dragon: Onyx Dragon has been 
  defeated and humiliated. A million 
  miles from nowhere and naked, his face 
  swollen and bloodied, he struggles to 
  run along the empty road in the harsh 
  sun. 
  He is going to attempt to increase 
  his Weapon to 4, and his Weapon is 
  his fists. His lucky charm has been 
  stolen, so all he can roll to improve 
  his Weapon is his Style, Weapon, and 
  Honour, and he’ll be rolling against 
  these same traits all at 4. He rolls 23 
  for himself, and the Antagonists roll 
  18 for the difficulty of increasing 
  his Weapon. 
  With every step of every mile, he 
  pushes himself, conditioning his fists 
  against anything he passes: trees, 
  road signs, wildlife, anything. When 
  he pushes too far and collapses in 
  exhaustion, he punches the ground 
  with every breath. His hands bruised, 
  cut, and bloodied, he punches on. 
  Days later, his forearms are thicker, 
  harder, and he grins with satisfaction 
  as he punches a hole clean through 
  another steel road-sign: “Next Town: 
  35 Miles”.
  Bringing the Pain: Fuel and Fire
  Fire can make a difficult battle, 
  easy, or an impossible one, achievable. 
  It is your most powerful resource. By 
  taking damage which increases your 
  Fuel, you are building up the means 
  to really lay the smack down on your 
  opponents, by burning that Fuel into 
  Fire. 
  When you burn Fuel, you must decide 
  how much you wish to burn. This number 
  must be an even number, because you 
  will be dividing it by 2 to figure out 
  how much Fire you gain. For example, 
  if you burn 24 Fuel, you would gain 
  12 Fire. 
  Because no trait can ever be higher 
  than 5, you must split your Fire up 
  into bundles of 5. Using the above 
  example, you would have 5, 5, and 2, 
  which would add 2d12 and 1d6 to your 
  Action Pool. 
  You can only ever burn Fuel before 
  the first Wave of an encounter, so if 
  you gain Fuel in a fight, you cannot 
  use it till the next encounter.
  
  15
  Chapter 5: Growth
  Growth
  Each one of your character’s traits 
  can be increased, and each one is 
  increased in different ways with 
  different rules. This chapter shows 
  you what you have to do to make your 
  character as cool as they can be. 
                                Making a Name For Yourself
  Increasing your Name trait is easy. 
  All you have to do is kill a Boss 
  on your List. When you do, you add 
  that Boss’s Name score to your own. 
  However, if you have shared the 
  killing of a Boss with another PC, 
  then you split the Name score between 
  the PCs, rounding up when necessary. 
  For example, if you alone kill a 
  Boss who appears on The Lists of two 
  other PCs (meaning that Boss’s Name 
  score is 3), then you add 3 to your 
  Name score. If you shared the kill 
  with one other PC, then you would 
  both increase your Name traits by 2 
  (3, divided by 2, rounded up). If all 
  three of the PCs killed that Boss, 
  then each one would increase their 
  Name trait by 1 (3 divided by 3). 
  See Chapter 6: Competition for more 
  information on sharing a Boss.
  If you gain enough Name to increase 
  your Name trait above 5, then any 
  extra points are recorded as permanent 
  Fire, which is treated as an extension 
  of your Name score. This means you 
  cannot use it unless you can use your 
  Name, it counts towards your maximum 
  Fuel, it counts towards your AP, and 
  it counts in determining if you are 
  a winner at the end of the game (see 
  Chapter 8: Endgame).
                                         Becoming More Stylish
  If you want to increase your Style, 
  and let’s face it, of course you do, 
  then you must first get yourself 
  into a Bind (see “A Bind in a Box”, 
  this page). Once you are in a Bind, 
  you must narrate your way out of it, 
  passing rolls when necessary (see 
  Chapter 4: Doing Stuff). 
  There are rules for this narration. 
  For starters, you must deal only 
  with the present; you cannot include 
  anything from your character’s past, 
  whether it was that morning or ten 
  years ago. For this reason, this 
  narration is known as a Present 
  Narration. A Present Narration has 
  3 phases which must be followed in 
  order to increase your Style and 
  escape the Bind:
  Phase 1: You must narrate how your 
  character 
  struggles 
  in 
  futility 
  against the circumstances of the Bind, 
  including what they are thinking, and 
  how they are feeling. 
  Phase 2: You must make any rolls 
  necessary 
  to 
  overcome 
  the 
  Bind, 
  narrating the outcomes of each roll 
  as you go.
  Phase 3: You must narrate your overall 
  escape from the Bind, and what your 
  PC is thinking and feeling at that 
  moment.
  If you fail to escape the Bind 
  in Phase 2, the Antagonists get to 
  narrate the consequences of your 
  A Bind in a Box
  A Bind is triggered any time a PC takes enough damage 
  to reach their maximum capacity of Fuel. When a Bind 
  is triggered, the Antagonists must narrate the PC into 
  a very difficult and horrible circumstance, which the PC 
  must be able to feasibly escape from. The rules for nar-
  rating a Bind are as follows:
  • You cannot kill the PC.
  • You cannot control anything that the PC says or does, 
  but you can control what they cannot do, so long as you 
  give a good reason for why they can’t do it.
  • You cannot cause any permanent injury to a PC without 
  the player’s explicit consent. 
  • The Bind must be a truly terrible circumstance.
  • The Bind must be escapable.
  • Only 3 rolls are allowed to escape a Bind, but a success 
  on one is all that is needed.
  • Once the conditions of the Bind have been set, you 
  cannot introduce any more conditions, and must leave 
  the PC to escape without further difficulties. 
  
  16
  Chapter 5: Growth
  current 
  Bind. 
  These 
  consequences 
  cannot include death or permanent 
  injury, but they can be nasty things 
  like putting your PC into a coma or 
  leaving you stranded somewhere. You 
  then fail your Present Narration, and 
  cannot increase your Style trait. Now 
  you are free to continue the narration 
  of your PC. 
                               Upgrading to a Cooler Weapon
  So you’ve made your PC, given them 
  an awesome weapon, and now you want 
  an even cooler one (or two). What do 
  you do? Well, first you need to decide 
  exactly what would be cooler than 
  your current weapon. This could be 
  anything, from grabbing another one 
  (if there’s anything cooler than a 
  sword, it’s two swords), to upgrading 
  your existing one, to getting a new 
  weapon entirely. You are free to 
  decide. 
  Now you must decide where you can 
  get this added coolness. Are you 
  going to commission it from a famous 
  weapon smith? Are you going to kill 
  the possessor of this great weapon? 
  Are you going to convince someone to 
  give you a family heirloom?
  You must also specify the exact 
  Weapon trait that this weapon will 
  bring, narrating why it is so cool. 
  Once you have decided what needs 
  to be done to get the weapon and 
  what the weapon’s score will be, you 
  must get it. To do so, you have two 
  main options: kill the possessor, or 
  bribe, buy, or obtain it from someone. 
  You must narrate the whole thing, 
  designating other players to play 
  the roles of the other characters 
  involved.
  Killing for your weapon: The score of your 
  desired weapon will be the score of 
  all the traits of the possessor. If 
  you want a weapon with a score of 4, 
  then all the possessor’s traits will 
  be 4. You must defeat them in combat 
  without using Fire. 
  This possessor can never be a Boss. 
  What sort of freak are you anyway 
  to want a weapon that belonged to a 
  person you loathe more than anything 
  in the world?
  Buying your weapon: This covers all non-
  lethal means of obtaining a weapon. 
  Again, the score of your desired 
  weapon is the score of all the traits 
  of the possessor of the weapon. In 
  this case, however, you will only be 
  rolling some of your traits, those 
  that are relevant to the task at hand 
  (see Chapter 4: Doing Stuff), against 
  the traits that are relevant for the 
  possessor.
                                                         Getting Lucky
  Everyone wants to get lucky, but 
  few are good at it. The first thing 
  you must do, is get yourself into a 
  Bind (see ‘A Bind in a Box’, previous 
  page). Now that you are in a Bind, 
  you must narrate your way out of it, 
  passing rolls when necessary (see 
  Chapter 4: Doing Stuff).
  There are rules for this narration. 
  For starters, you must introduce 
  your character’s past, bringing this 
  into the present. For this reason, 
  this narration is known as a History 
  Narration. A History Narration has 4 
  phases which must be followed in order 
  to increase your Luck and escape the 
  Bind:
  Phase 1: You must narrate how your 
  character 
  struggles 
  in 
  futility 
  against the circumstances of the Bind, 
  including what they are thinking, and 
  how they are feeling. 
  Phase 2: You must narrate a series of 
  scenes and events in your PCs past 
  which at first must seem to have 
  nothing to do with the present Bind. 
  It is important that by the end of 
  this phase, you have provided enough 
  information that the other players 
  can see how your past will help you 
  escape from the Bind.
  Phase 3: Back in the present, you must 
  make any rolls necessary to overcome 
  the Bind, narrating the outcomes of 
  each roll as you go. If your phase 
  2 was narrated well, the Antagonists 
  must allow you to re-roll once any 
  failed rolls that relate to your 
  past.
  Phase 4: You must narrate your overall 
  escape from the Bind, and what your 
  PC is thinking and feeling at that 
  moment.
  If you fail to escape the Bind 
  in Phase 3, the Antagonists get to 
  
  17
  Chapter 5: Growth
  narrate the consequences of your 
  current 
  Bind. 
  These 
  consequences 
  cannot include death or permanent 
  injury, but they can be nasty things 
  like putting your PC into a coma or 
  leaving you stranded somewhere. You 
  then fail your History Narration, and 
  cannot increase your Luck trait. Now 
  you are free to continue the narration 
  of your PC. 
                                             Nursing Your Grudge
  So you think you know what hate is 
  do you? Well, here is how you can 
  prove it. To really test your Grudge, 
  you must face a Boss, and introduce a 
  Dilemma. A Dilemma is something that 
  your PC feels very strongly about, 
  and which threatens to prevent them 
  from killing this Boss. A few examples 
  might be: the Boss is pregnant, and 
  your character feels very strongly 
  about not taking the life of an 
  unborn child; the Boss is the father 
  or mother of your PC’s child, who 
  they thought was dead; the Boss turns 
  out to be your PC’s long-lost parent 
  or sibling.
  There are a few rules for how you 
  must face and overcome a Dilemma, 
  which must be narrated in 3 phases:
  Phase 1: 
  You 
  must 
  narrate 
  the 
  introduction of the Dilemma, and 
  must narrate how your character feels 
  about the situation, and why it is a 
  true Dilemma for them.
  Phase 2: You must roll your Grudge trait 
  against the Bosses Luck trait. If you 
  win, your Grudge increases by 1 point, 
  and you have proven that your hate is 
  stronger than any other emotion you 
  might feel. If you lose, you cannot 
  bring yourself to kill that Boss, and 
  you lose 1 point of Grudge, but gain 
  1 point of Honour. If you wish, you 
  can sacrifice that point of Honour to 
  have the Antagonists make the Boss 
  attack you anyway.
  Phase 3: You must narrate the overall 
  outcome of the Dilemma, and how 
  your PC is reacting to that outcome 
  emotionally.
  If you fail the Dilemma, and keep 
  your Honour, then you don’t recieve 
  the Name for that Boss. However, this 
  rule can be over-ridden by unanimous 
  decision that your hunting of that 
  Boss was spectacular enough that you 
  would definitely make a name for 
  yourself despite not killing them.
  You can introduce multiple Dilemmas 
  per Boss, but each one must be new.
                                                      Earning Honour
  Some say Honour is the only thing 
  that can’t be taken from you. Some 
  say it is the only true measure of a 
  person’s worth. Whatever you believe, 
  there are only two ways you can 
  increase your Honour. The first, is 
  to allow a Boss to live by failing 
  a Dilemma as discussed above. The 
  second, is to accept another PCs 
  offer to share the killing of a Boss 
  (see Chapter 6: Competition). 
  Fluke Rolls
  In a combat situation, if you and 
  your opponent(s) roll the same result, 
  it’s no big deal: no-one takes any 
  damage. But what about when you are 
  rolling for a win/lose situation, like 
  trying to escape a Bind, overcome a 
  Dilemma, or improve your Weapon? In 
  these circumstances, rolling the same 
  result as your opponent allows you 
  to make a Fluke Roll. Here’s how it 
  works:
  First, determine if your result was 
  even (2,4,6, etc.), or odd (1,3,5, 
  etc). This will determine the possible 
  stakes for your Fluke Roll. Then you 
  make your Fluke Roll (a re-roll) 
  with the consequences of success or 
  failure determined by the result of 
  the intitial roll.
  If the intitial roll was even, and 
  you win on your Fluke Roll, your trait 
  increases by 2, instead of 1. If you 
  lose the Fluke Roll, you simply fail 
  the attempt as usual. 
  If the intitial roll was odd, and 
  you lose on your Fluke Roll, your 
  trait decreases by 1. If you win the 
  Fluke Roll, then your trait increases 
  by 1 as usual. 
  This is shown in the table below:
  Initial Roll
  Lose Fluke Roll
  Win Fluke Roll
  Even
  0 to trait
  +2 to trait
  Odd
  -1 to trait
  +1 to trait
  
  18
  Chapter 5: Growth
  Keep in mind though, that this only 
  applies to circumstances where you 
  can succeed or fail with a single 
  roll, and this should only ever apply 
  when you are attempting to increase 
  one of your traits via methods 
  described earlier in this chapter. To 
  re-cap, this means that a Fluke Roll 
  can only really apply to attempts at 
  increasing your Style, Weapon, Luck, 
  and Grudge.
  Binds in Detail
  A PC’s current Fuel can never exceed 
  their maximum Fuel. This means that if 
  a PC’s maximum Fuel is 26, then their 
  current Fuel can never be more than 
  26. However, a Bind is only triggered 
  when a PC’s Fuel would exceed their 
  maximum Fuel. How does this work? 
  Well, say your PC has a maximum Fuel 
  of 26, and they currently have 24 
  Fuel. If they take 2 points of damage 
  in the next Wave, then they would 
  write down “26” as their current 
  Fuel, but will not have triggered 
  a Bind. However, if they had taken 
  any more than 2 damage, or if they 
  took more damage next Wave, then they 
  would still write down “26” as their 
  current Fuel, but now they will have 
  triggered a Bind. 
  It should be noted that Fuel cannot 
  decrease in any way other than to 
  burn it into Fire. So if you get out 
  of a Bind, you will still have your 
  maximum Fuel, so any further Fuel you 
  take will immediately trigger another 
  Bind. 
  It should also be noted that Kick 
  only increases when Fuel increases, 
  so just because you might take more 
  damage than your maximum Fuel allows, 
  does not mean you take more Kick than 
  the amount you write down as Fuel. 
  When a Bind is triggered, you 
  immediately lose narration rights 
  over your PC, and the Antagonists 
  narrate the outcome of that Wave, 
  before beginning a new scene to 
  narrate the conditions of the Bind. 
  Whilst narrating the conditions of a 
  Bind, you cannot control the PC. You 
  may narrate things which happen to 
  the PC beyond the PC’s control, such 
  as being knocked unconscious, moved, 
  beaten, tormented, gagged, bound, 
  etc. but you cannot narrate how the 
  PC reacts to these things or what 
  they say.
  Whilst 
  you 
  cannot 
  cause 
  any 
  permanent injury to a PC, you are 
  allowed a huge range of freedom 
  within this rule. This is because in 
  Scarlet Wake, “Permanent injury” is 
  defined as: “any injury which could 
  not reasonably heal within a year”. 
  Additionally, 
  any 
  psychological 
  injury which does not have a brain-
  damage component (which would be 
  permanent) is automatically allowable 
  within this rule. Of course, if a 
  PC’s player explicitly agrees to it, 
  then you can inflict permanent injury 
  to a PC, thus ignoring this rule.
  When narrating the conditions of the 
  Bind, you must keep in mind that there 
  must be a concievable way for the 
  PC to escape from it. When actually 
  attempting to escape from a Bind, all 
  a player needs to do is think up a 
  suitable plan of escape, and roll to 
  see if this plan succeeds. Such escape 
  plans should cover all the details of 
  the Bind, and should be sufficient to 
  completely escape the situation. For 
  example, if part of the conditions of 
  a Bind are that your PC is in a bag 
  and bound in chains, then the plan 
  should include a narration for how 
  they can free themselves of the bag, 
  so that they can unlock the padlock 
  on the chains, then free themselves 
  of both bag and chains. Only one 
  roll is required per escape plan, 
  regardless of complexity, and your AP 
  for this roll will be determined by 
  the details of your escape plan (see 
  Chapter 4: Doing Stuff for details 
  about which traits may apply). Only 3 
  rolls are allowed to escape a Bind.
  Once you have set the conditions of 
  a Bind, the player has the remainder 
  of that scene to escape from the 
  Bind. 
  You 
  cannot 
  add 
  any 
  more 
  conditions than those set initially. 
  For example, if you fail to specify 
  what a PC has on their person, the 
  player may narrate that they have a 
  lockpicking kit in their pocket, and 
  use this in their escape plan, and 
  you cannot change this by adding a 
  condition such as “Oh yeah, you were 
  naked in that bag”. 
  
  19
  Chapter 6: Competition
  Competition
  Scarlet Wake is a game which encourages 
  player competition. You must prove 
  that you and your PC are cool enough 
  to be even cooler. You must be able 
  to handle anything they throw at you, 
  no matter how depraved or horrible. 
  Furthermore, you must occasionally 
  face the other PCs head-on, as you 
  vie for the killing rights of Bosses. 
  This chapter deals with the rules of 
  conduct when you are Protagonist, when 
  you are an Antagonist, and when your 
  PCs must compete to kill a Boss. 
  Protagonist Codes of Conduct
  The role of playing your PC is the 
  easiest, and the hardest. It is easiest 
  in the sense that you are in control 
  of your PC, and you have the final 
  say in practically everything that 
  happens to them (with the exception 
  of Binds). It is the hardest in the 
  sense that you must be on top of 
  everything, managing the logistics of 
  your rolls and creating appropriate 
  narrations 
  on-the-fly. 
  You 
  must 
  also drive the scenes, making sure 
  that there is never really a lack of 
  stuff happening. Equally difficult 
  is simply coming up with a suitable 
  storyline for your PC and the Bosses 
  (see Chapter 7: Playing, and also 
  Chapters 2 and 3). 
  Sometimes, 
  you 
  will 
  find 
  your 
  PC in the same scene as another 
  player’s PC, and at these times, you 
  (and they) must work to share the 
  spotlight equally. If you feel that 
  another player is not putting in an 
  equal effort to the scene, or if they 
  are hogging it, you can appeal to the 
  Antagonists for them to step in and 
  ensure that the spotlight is shared 
  equally. Hopefully, this will never 
  have to happen. 
  Whenever possible, you must designate 
  certain Antagonists to play the roles 
  of ACs in the current scene, even 
  if each Antagonist is handling more 
  than one character. When assigning 
  these players to these roles, you 
  must provide them with a brief but 
  useful description of the important 
  aspects of that AC, and then you 
  must let them play them as they wish. 
  However, if there is something really 
  important you wish to happen, you can 
  tell the Antagonist how the character 
  must react, kinda like how a director 
  tells the actors how they must portray 
  a line. It is suggested you only do 
  this when absolutely necessary.
  It is also your duty to make sure 
  your scenes do not go for too long 
  or too short compared to the other 
  player’s scenes. If the other players 
  feel you aren’t putting in enough 
  effort, or are getting too carried 
  away, you must adjust your playing. 
  When in doubt, majority rules. 
  Antagonists
  The rules for being an Antagonist 
  are somewhat more formalised. You 
  must, at all times, remember that 
  it is the Protagonist’s scene, and 
  their story. You can have a lot of fun 
  within these boundaries, but there 
  are a few things you can’t do:
  • You can’t decide what a PC does, 
  or what happens to them. However, 
  you may make suggestions, but it’s 
  up to the Protagonist to decide, 
  because it’s their story.
  • You can’t steal the spotlight 
  from the PC, or introduce new 
  characters of your own. You may 
  make suggestions though, and you 
  can develop a character that the 
  Protagonist gives you, but you 
  can’t make this character more 
  important than the PC. You must 
  also play ACs in the way the 
  Protagonist needs you to.
  • You must share the control of 
  Peons and Bosses with any other 
  Antagonists, either by rotating 
  control or splitting it up. This 
  includes the narration rights 
  that come with them. 
  • You must consult all other 
  Antagonists 
  when 
  deciding 
  to 
  spend Kick, and a majority vote 
  wins. This goes for both choosing 
  to spend it in the first place, 
  and how it is spent.
  These above rules are not negotiable, 
  but your group may add more if they 
  feel the need.
  On the other hand, there are a few 
  things which you have absolute rights 
  
  20
  Chapter 6: Competition
  over. These include:
  • How an AC is played. Whilst the 
  Protagonist can decide what needs 
  to  be achieved with this character, 
  It’s up to you to decide how this 
  character is going to go about it. 
  Furthermore, Protagonists can never 
  play any character other than their 
  own PC.
  • Kick. The Protagonist has no say 
  in your spending of Kick in any way. 
  • Narration rights over how ACs 
  enter Waves, but not over how they 
  exit them. 
  • Any information or details that 
  the 
  Protagonist 
  doesn’t 
  provide. 
  This means that if the Protagonist 
  doesn’t say that there isn’t a piano 
  in the far corner, then you can 
  decide that there is. You can add 
  to the environment or the ACs in any 
  way that isn’t contrary to what the 
  Protagonist describes. Maybe there is 
  a motorcycle nearby, or maybe this 
  AC is wearing a bulletproof vest: if 
  the Protagonist didn’t say otherwise, 
  then you can add it. If there is any 
  contention about something which you 
  or another Antagonist add, majority 
  rules.
  These above rules are not negotiable, 
  and your group cannot add any more 
  without total consensus. If there is 
  any concern over who gets to narrate 
  what, see the “Narration Rights” 
  section in Chapter 7: Playing.
                                                        Spending Kick
  The name “Kick”, comes from the 
  saying “Kick’em while they’re down”, 
  and this is exactly what Kick is all 
  about. Kick is the Antagonist’s real 
  power. With it, the challenges for 
  a PC can be drastically increased, 
  and tactics of a Protagonist can be 
  stopped dead. In short, Kick is the 
  Antagonist’s best friend.
  You can use Kick at any time where it 
  is appropriate to a scene, and when it 
  would make life harder for a PC. The 
  only rule is that to signal the use 
  of Kick, all Antagonists must wear a 
  sinister grin at the same time. 
  The different ways Kick can be spent 
  are shown in the table below, along 
  with how much Kick must be spent in 
  order to achieve the effect.
  Kick effects and Costs
  Effect
  Kick Cost
  Introduce Peons
  variable
  Heal a Boss
  2
  Increase Boss traits
  3
  Deprive a PC of a trait
  5
  Can’t Run, Can’t Hide
  10
  Introduce a Sub-Boss
  20
  Cause a PC roll to fail
  30
  Kill a PC
  50
  Introduce Peons: For every point of 
  Kick you spend, you can introduce a 
  Rank 1 Peon, or increase the rank of 
  an existing Peon by one. For example, 
  you could pay 10 Kick to introduce 
  two Rank 5 Peons, ten Rank 1 Peons, 
  or increase ten Rank 3 Peons to Rank 
  4 Peons. 
  Heal a Boss: For every 2 points of Kick 
  you pay, you can remove 1 point of 
  Karma from a Boss or Sub-Boss. For 
  example. If a Boss currently has 10 
  points going towards their Maximum 
  Karma, then you can pay 20 Kick to 
  remove all of them. You can only do 
  this once per Boss, per encounter. So 
  if a PC is fighting in an encounter 
  with one Boss and one Sub-Boss, then 
  you can heal the Boss once and the 
  Sub-Boss once during that encounter.
  Increase Boss traits: For every 3 points 
  of Kick you pay, you can increase 
  a trait of a Boss or Sub-Boss by 1 
  point. For example, if a Boss has a 
  Crime of 4, you can spend 3 Kick to 
  increase that trait to 5. When you 
  increase traits this way, make sure 
  to increase their Maximum Karma.
  Deprive a PC of a trait: For 5 Kick, you 
  can dictate that a PC cannot use 
  a particular trait for the next 5 
  Waves, losing that die from their AP. 
  The only traits which can be deprived 
  this way are Name, Weapon, Luck, and 
  Grudge. A PC cannot be deprived of 
  more than 3 traits at a given moment 
  through this method. All you have 
  to do is pay the Kick, and declare 
  
  21
  Chapter 6: Competition
  which traits cannot be used for the 
  next 5 Waves, and the Protagonist 
  must justify narratively why this 
  is so. Example justifications might 
  include:
  • Name: The opponents do not actually 
  know the PC, or do not care.
  • Weapon: The PC loses their weapon 
  temporarily.
  • Luck: The PC’s lucky charm gets 
  ripped off or falls off somehow.
  • Grudge: The PC finds themselves 
  respecting their opponents too much.
  The PC must also narrate how they 
  get their trait back.
  Can’t Run, Can’t Hide: By spending 10 Kick, 
  you can prevent a PC from leaving 
  their current encounter for 5 Waves. 
  For example, if a PC decides to run 
  away from an encounter in order to 
  avoid being forced into a Bind, then 
  you can prevent them from doing so 
  for at least the next 5 Waves.
  Introduce a Sub-Boss: Sub-Bosses are the 
  unique creations of the Antagonists. 
  They cannot be controlled by the 
  Protagonist, and control of them must 
  be shared amongst the Antagonists. To 
  bring them into play, you must pay 20 
  Kick out of the PC’s Kick score, and 
  narrate their entrance, including who 
  this Sub-Boss is, and why they are 
  interested in killing the PC.
  When they enter play, Sub-Bosses 
  have exactly the same traits as the 
  PC they are opposing, with the only 
  exceptions being that they do not have 
  Honour, Fuel, or Fire (only PCs can 
  have these traits). They have Maximum 
  Karma equal to the sum of their traits 
  multiplied by two (like all Bosses). 
  If the PCs traits increase while a 
  Sub-Boss is alive, the Sub-Boss’ 
  traits increase accordingly.
  Cause a PC roll to fail: By paying 30 Kick, 
  you can cause any PC roll to fail.  
  This only works when a roll can fail 
  or succeed, so it doesn’t work when 
  fighting. This is particularly nasty 
  when a PC is trying to overcome a Bind 
  you set for them. Don’t forget your 
  sinister grin!
  Kill a PC: 
  This 
  effect 
  has 
  two 
  conditions. One, you must pay the 50 
  Kick, and two, it can only be used when 
  a PC fails a Bind, during the stage 
  where you narrate the consequences. 
  When you kill a PC this way, that 
  PC’s Protagonist player remains in 
  the game as an Antagonist, and also 
  gets 40 Kick, which they can add to 
  any player’s Character Sheet any 
  time they choose. Thus, if you kill 
  a player’s PC, they can now kill any 
  other PC that fails a Bind with 10 or 
  more Kick.
  Competing for Boss Killing Rights
  If your List has names shared on 
  other Lists, and it really should, 
  then 
  there 
  will 
  inevitably 
  come 
  a time when you are faced with a 
  choice: share the kill, or take it for 
  yourself. In this section, we’ll see 
  how these situations are handled.
  As will be discussed in Chapter 7: 
  Playing, play revolves around players 
  narrating scenes for their PCs. When 
  a player is seeking to kill one of 
  the people on their List, and that 
  person is also on another players 
  List, then both players must compete 
  with each other. There must always be 
  a fight before players can cooperate, 
  and choosing to cooperate or not must 
  follow certain rules.
  Whenever it has been identified that 
  a player is attempting to kill a Boss 
  that appears on more than one List, 
  then all players whose Lists contain 
  that Boss enter the scene (with 
  appropriate narration of course). 
  There must be a fight between all the 
  PCs. This fight does not have to be 
  a literal fight, but could instead 
  be a race or some other contest, 
  but it must involve at least as much 
  risk for injury as a fight does, and 
  is handled exactly as a fight, only 
  with different narration. An example 
  of this can be seen on page 11 under 
  the “Jade Templar & Sapphire Knight” 
  example, where these two characters 
  are racing, and must narrate the 
  damage they recieve in accordance 
  with the events of the race.
  For this fight, Fuel cannot be 
  burned. The winner is the last one 
  standing, and the losers are the PCs 
  who have reached their maximum Fuel 
  (triggering a Bind). The winner gets 
  
  22
  Chapter 6: Competition
  to kill the Boss alone, keeping all 
  the Name points for themselves. The 
  losers must deal with their Binds. 
  However, at any point during the 
  fight, a PC can make an offer of 
  cooperation.
  Offers of Cooperation: When two or more 
  PCs cooperate, they can kill the Boss 
  together, and must split the Name 
  points between them, rounding up where 
  necessary. By sacrificing 1 point of 
  Honour, a PC can offer to cooperate 
  with another PC. If that PC accepts 
  the offer, they gain 1 Honour, and 
  the PC who offers cooperation regains 
  their point of Honour that they just 
  sacrificed.
  However, if a PC sacrifices 1 Honour 
  to make an offer of cooperation, and 
  the other PC rejects that offer, then 
  the fight continues, but the outcome 
  can have varying effects:
  • If the PC who rejects cooperation 
  wins the fight, then they don’t have 
  to share the Boss.
  • If the PC who rejects cooperation 
  loses the fight, they also lose 1 
  point of Honour, and are left with a 
  Bind, which the player of the winning 
  PC defines.
  • If the PC who offers cooperation 
  wins the fight, then they don’t have 
  to share the Boss, and they regain 
  the point of Honour they sacrificed 
  to make the offer.
  • If the PC who offers cooperation 
  loses the fight, then they gain 1 
  point of Grudge, and are left with a 
  Bind, which the player of the winning 
  PC defines. 
  Multiple PCs Competing for Bosses: 
  The 
  above rules work exactly the same for 
  multiple PCs, only becoming slightly 
  more dynamic in how the players can 
  choose to interact with making offers 
  of cooperation. 
  Additionally, when three or more 
  PCs are fighting, all players roll 
  once, and the player with the highest 
  roll decides how they are going to 
  distribute their damage between the 
  opponents, the player with the next 
  highest roll does the same, and so on, 
  until all damage has been distributed. 
  The player who takes the most damage 
  narrates the outcome of that Wave. 
  The Troubleshooting Rule
  If you are finding that some of your 
  players don’t seem to be very creative 
  or interesting in their narrations, 
  then try this rule out.
  At the end of every session, each 
  player writes on a small piece of 
  paper the name of the player who they 
  thought narrated the coolest stuff 
  that session. Get one player to count 
  these votes, and determine who had the 
  most votes for coolest narrations. 
  That player gets to choose one of 
  two rewards: either they can add 1 
  point to any of their character’s 
  traits; or, they can subtract 1 point 
  from any trait of any other player’s 
  character. 
  If two or more players are tied 
  for votes on having the coolest 
  narrations, then these players must 
  write down on scraps of paper which 
  reward option they intend to use, and 
  who they will use it against. These 
  scraps of paper are then revealed 
  simultaneously, and then are carried 
  out. This step is simply to prevent 
  players changing their minds about 
  the rewards they choose based on the 
  decisions of the other player(s).
  This rule is only intended for use 
  when one or more players in a group 
  are not putting as much effort into 
  their narrations as they could and 
  would like to. If this rule does work, 
  then consider abandoning it after a 
  few sessions. If it does not work, 
  meaning the quality of narrations 
  does not increase, then discontinue 
  using this rule, and evaluate whether 
  there is in fact a problem with the 
  narrations. If there is a problem, 
  and your group feels this problem is 
  infringing on their enjoyment of the 
  game, then perhaps it would be best 
  for your group if the problem player 
  does not play this game with you. 
  There are plenty of other enjoyable 
  games available which may be better 
  suited for your group, and there’s no 
  point playing a game if you or your 
  friends are not having fun with it.
  
  23
  Chapter 7: Playing
  Playing
  Now that you are familiar with all 
  the rules of the various aspects of 
  Scarlet Wake, it’s time to bring them 
  all together. This chapter will first 
  present the way play is structured, 
  and then provide a demonstration of 
  most of the rules in practice through 
  an example of play. 
  Play Structure
  Scarlet Wake has seven levels which 
  define play, from broad to specific. 
  These seven levels are: Game, Session, 
  Turn, Scene, Event, Encounter, and 
  Wave. Each level contains all the 
  levels after it, and following are 
  the definitions of each:
  Game: A game is defined by a group 
  of players playing Scarlet Wake from 
  Character Creation to Endgame, each 
  one having cleared their Lists. This 
  may span many days, which need not be 
  consecutive. A game usually contains 
  several sessions.
  Session: A session is any period of 
  time spent playing the game relatively 
  uninterrupted, 
  usually 
  anywhere 
  between 2 to 8 hours. It is probably 
  possible for an entire game to take 
  place in a single session, but this 
  is rarely the case. A session usually 
  contains a few turns.
  Turn: A turn is a period of time 
  where one player plays their PC, and 
  the others are Antagonists. They may 
  be joined by other PCs during certain 
  scenes, but this is still considered 
  that players turn. A turn can last no 
  more than 3 scenes, after which time 
  the next player has their turn.
  Scene: A scene is a period of play 
  under the control of a single player 
  consisting of a definite beginning, 
  and a clear end, often marked by a 
  change in location, mood, time, or 
  the end of an event. A scene can only 
  have one event, and cannot last more 
  than 10 minutes.
  Event: An event is signified by any 
  clearly significant occurrence in 
  the story, such as the killing of a 
  Boss, an attempt to increase a trait 
  (failed or succeeded, see Chapter 
  5: Growth), or the revelation of 
  something important about one of the 
  characters. 
  Encounter: An encounter can sometimes 
  seem a little hard to define, but it’s 
  really quite simple. An encounter is 
  defined as a period of time within a 
  scene during which a PC is engaged in 
  successive Waves with no significant 
  pause in combat. A significant pause 
  in this context means being forced into 
  a Bind, a scene change, or the death 
  of all current opponents. A typical 
  example might be a single encounter 
  during which all Peons are fought, 
  and then a seperate encounter where 
  the Boss is fought. If there is any 
  doubt about whether an encounter has 
  ended or not, or where an encounter 
  ends and a new one begins, majority 
  rules.
  Fuel can only be burnt into Fire 
  between 
  encounters, 
  never 
  during 
  one. 
  Wave: Waves are periods of variable 
  lengths of in-game time where a 
  single roll made by the Protagonist 
  is opposed by a single roll made by 
  the Antagonists to determine damage 
  dealt to either party. Waves are 
  defined in more detail on page 12 in 
  Chapter 4: Doing Stuff.
                                             Organizing the Levels
  To play Scarlet Wake, it is important 
  to organize each level properly, 
  moving from game down through to 
  Waves. This section will help you 
  organize these levels to ensure play 
  is fun and runs smoothly.
  Organizing a Game: The first step is 
  to get together with a few of your 
  friends with whom you wish to play 
  this game, let them know about the 
  general gist of the game, and ask if 
  they’d be interested in playing it 
  with you. 
  Now that you have a group of friends 
  to play Scarlet Wake with, the next 
  step is to organize a time for the 
  
  24
  Chapter 7: Playing
  first session, and to ensure that each 
  player has read this entire rulebook 
  before this first session. You should 
  anticipate an ideal session length 
  of around 4-6 hours, and pick a time 
  where everyone can make it without any 
  conflicts with other commitments. 
  Next, you all need to ensure that each 
  player will have time and oppurtunity 
  to play in all subsequent sessions 
  until Endgame is reached. Few things 
  are as annoying as starting a really 
  fun game and never finishing it. 
  Finally, you all need to agree on 
  the general style that you will bring 
  into this game. See the end of Chapter 
  8: Endgame for a bunch of ideas about 
  the styles you can play Scarlet Wake 
  in. All players should have plenty 
  of time to think about how they are 
  going to fit their character into the 
  style of the game before the first 
  session is started. 
  Organizing Sessions: All players should 
  have a shared understanding of how 
  long a specific session will run for, 
  where and when it will be held, and 
  how each player is going to arrive and 
  leave. This is absolutely crucial. 
  Almost as crucial, is the provision 
  of food for the session. A common 
  agreement is that each player brings 
  something, such as chips, drinks, 
  lollies, chocolates, or whatever, so 
  long as all players are contributing 
  to the available food. Sometimes it 
  is agreed that the “host” doesn’t 
  need to bring food, because they are 
  providing the setting. 
  Finally, double check that each 
  player 
  has 
  at 
  least 
  a 
  working 
  understanding of the rules, and that 
  each player has enough dice of the 
  right types. At least one player must 
  have a copy of this rulebook during 
  the session.
  The very first session should at 
  least partially be spent with each 
  player creating their character. This 
  is important because it allows Bosses 
  to be shared optimally, and it also 
  gets everyone thinking about the game 
  so they are all ready when it starts. 
  You should allow for about an hour for 
  everyone to create their characters 
  and organise their Lists.
  Organizing Turns: The first part of any 
  play session should be to establish 
  the turn order. This is easily done 
  by each player rolling a d12, with the 
  highest roll having first turn, and 
  the next highest roll going second 
  and so on. If two players roll the 
  same number, they get to re-roll to 
  see which plays first of the two. It 
  usually helps if players sit around 
  a table in the order of their turns, 
  though sometimes this is not possible 
  (such as with couples). 
  Each turn consists of no more than 
  3 scenes, and it is left to the 
  individual players how they will 
  spend those scenes. However, for 
  the very first turn for each player, 
  the first scene must be a Snippet of 
  their character’s past, a narration 
  of the evil which has pushed them 
  into hunting those on the list. You 
  will see an example of this later in 
  this chapter in the play example. 
  When a player’s 3 scenes are over, 
  the focus shifts to the next player, 
  for them to have their 3 scenes.
  Organizing Scenes: With the exception of 
  Snippets, scenes must begin with the 
  Protagonist designating Antagonists 
  to play the roles of key characters 
  for the scene. When doing so, you 
  must provide them with enough info 
  to help them roleplay that character, 
  such as a brief description of their 
  appearance, personality, motivations, 
  and quirks. 
  During a scene, a Protagonist can 
  only roleplay their PC, and all other 
  characters must be handled by the 
  Antagonists. A Protagonist can tell 
  an Antagonist what they want from a 
  character, but it is the Antagonist’s 
  role to play that character as they 
  see fit in accordance with the 
  Protagonist’s descriptions.
  Snippet scenes must be narrated as 
  the first scene for a player’s first 
  turn, and every scene immediately 
  following the killing of a Boss. A 
  Snippet scene must reveal something 
  about the PCs past, something about 
  their hunting of those on The List, 
  or something personal about them 
  which has or will have relevance to 
  their story. A Snippet scene cannot 
  be used for Growth. 
  
  25
  Chapter 7: Playing
  When it is your turn, use a die to 
  show which scene you are up to, to help 
  the other players be certain about 
  the ending of your scenes. Remeber, 
  no scene can last for more than 10 
  minutes, unless all the players agree 
  on a new time-limit, and strictly 
  adhere to it.
  Organizing Events: Whenever you begin a 
  scene, you should have a clear idea 
  about the event that this scene will 
  lead up to, and at least a rough 
  idea about how it will proceed. Only 
  significant 
  occurances 
  can 
  count 
  as an event. Such occurances might 
  be the killing of a Boss, doing 
  everything required to increase a 
  trait (regardless of whether or not 
  you succeed), or revealing something 
  very important about your PC or one 
  of the Bosses on your List. If you 
  fail to do any of these things within 
  the time you have to narrate a scene, 
  then you can still finish an event in 
  the next scene, but you should try 
  to press harder. Scarlet Wake is not 
  a game about admiring the flowers. 
  There are only 3 things important in 
  this game: being cool, kicking ass, 
  and becoming cooler.
  That said, you have total narrative 
  power over events and your PC, so you 
  can narrate them any way you choose. 
  Organizing Encounters: 
  There 
  really 
  isn’t much you need to do to organise 
  an 
  encounter. 
  Simply 
  initiate 
  a 
  Wave with the gestures in Chapter 
  4 and you’re in an encounter. Stop 
  the Waves and do something else and 
  you’re out of the encounter. Simple. 
  On a grander scale, however, you might 
  want to give some thought about when 
  you want encounters and what purpose 
  they serve. It’s usually best to use 
  Peon encounters before you take on 
  the Bosses, and to gain as much Fuel 
  as you can from the Peons.
  Organizing Waves: The only real advice 
  I can give you is to try to get a feel 
  for how many Peons you can handle for 
  each Wave. Try not to waste them by 
  calling on too few, though sometimes 
  this can be better than calling on 
  too many. Practise makes perfect!
  Narration Rights
  This 
  section 
  is 
  essentially 
  a 
  distilling 
  of 
  points 
  covered 
  in 
  various 
  sections 
  throughout 
  this 
  rulebook, presented in one place for 
  64 Scene Locations
  On a train.
  In an alley.
  In a night-club.
  At a movie.
  On a bus.
  At the beach.
  In a hospital.
  On the highway.
  In a dirty apartment.
  On a busy street.
  In the desert.
  On a plane.
  At an awards ceremony.
  In a penthouse.
  At the pool. 
  In a dojo. 
  At someone’s house.
  In the jungle.
  On a boat.
  In a military base.
  In a casino. 
  In an office building.
  In a graveyard.
  At a public school.
  At an internet cafe.
  On an island. 
  In a seedy motel.
  At a resaurant.
  Somewhere famous.
  At an abottoir. 
  At a construction site.
  In a secret lair. 
  In a dungeon.
  In the middle of nowhere.
  On a live TV set.
  In a park.
  On top of a building.
  In a prison.
  In a factory.
  At a brothel.
  In a warehouse.
  In a church.
  In a hotel.
  On a battlefield.
  In a submarine.
  In a research laboratory.
  At the zoo.
  In a mansion.
  In the middle of a protest.
  On a snowy mountain.
  In a castle.
  On a cliff-face.
  In a helicopter.
  Somewhere haunted.
  At a concert.
  At an airport.
  Wherever you are now.
  In cyberspace.
  In a bar.
  At a major sporting event.
  In a police station.
  At a birthday party.
  At a wrecking yard.
  On a parade float.
  
  26
  Chapter 7: Playing
  easy reference. 
  It should be noted that whilst one 
  player may have narration rights over 
  a particular aspect of the game, this 
  does not in any way preclude other 
  players from making suggestions or 
  requests. It only means that this 
  player has the final say. 
  Wave Narration: Antagonists have full 
  narration rights over how opponents 
  enter a Wave, including descriptions 
  of things like what weapons they have, 
  how they are moving, special effects, 
  what they look like, any sounds they 
  make, and how the scenery is used.
  Protagonists have full narration 
  rights over how the opponents leave 
  the Wave, including how the PC 
  interacts with them, the result of 
  this interaction, and how they may 
  die.
  Antagonists 
  narrate 
  before 
  the 
  roll, and Protagonists narrate after 
  the roll.
  Encounter Narration: 
  Antagonists 
  can 
  spend Kick to introduce new Peons 
  or Sub-Bosses to begin an encounter 
  with a PC whenever they want. They 
  have full narration rights over the 
  entry of these characters and the 
  initiation of the encounter. 
  Protagonists have full narration 
  rights 
  over 
  the 
  ending 
  of 
  any 
  encounter, and over the beginning of 
  an encounter with any characters on 
  their Lists (including Peons). 
  Event Narration: 
  Antagonists 
  have 
  narration rights over how all non-
  PC characters are played, but cannot 
  prevent a PC from reaching the focus 
  of an event. The goal is not to 
  obstruct the Protagonist’s story, 
  but to participate in its telling. 
  You have every right to spice things 
  up and bring your ACs to life, but 
  keep in mind the direction that the 
  Protagonist needs. 
  Protagonists have narration rights 
  over what events will be sought 
  after, and how they will unfold. 
  Remember though, that you can only 
  control your own PC, so you will need 
  to cooperate with the Antagonists to 
  give them enough information about 
  their characters and the general 
  direction you are aiming for. 
  Both Antagonists and Protagonists 
  need to cooperate and work off each 
  other by contributing equally to the 
  renditions of the characters and the 
  fleshing out of the scene. 
  Scene Narration: Antagonists have the 
  right to introduce almost anything 
  into a scene, from details about 
  surrounding 
  structures 
  or 
  props, 
  to information about the situation. 
  However, Protagonists have the right 
  to refuse anything introduced this 
  way if it deviates too strongly from 
  their goals for their PCs story. 
  Protagonists have full narration 
  rights over a scene, where it is 
  located (see “64 Scene Locations” on 
  previous page for some ideas), how 
  their PC sees and reacts within that 
  scene, as well as their motivations.  
  Protagonists also have the right 
  to override most things that the 
  Antagonists may introduce into a 
  scene, but this should rarely be 
  necessary. In fact, it is often far 
  easier to work collaboratively with 
  the Antagonists to set a scene, because 
  it shares the workload around. 
  There are a few exceptions to the 
  above rules. When narrating a Bind, 
  Antagonists 
  have 
  full 
  narration 
  rights over the scene of a Bind, 
  and this goes for any narrations of 
  Bind consequences if the PC fails to 
  escape. 
  Additionally, 
  Antagonists 
  have the right to end a scene if the 
  Protagonist goes over the 10 minute 
  scene limit. 
  Antagonists can never control how 
  a PC is played, and Protagonists can 
  never control how an AC is played. 
  Play Example
  The following is a short example of 
  how a game of Scarlet Wake might play 
  out. There are 3 players; Jodi, Andy, 
  and Mark. Jodi’s PC is Violent Angel, 
  and for this example we are only 
  going to deal with her first turn to 
  play her PC. Player names will be in 
  bold. Player actions such as speaking 
  out-of-character will be in bold, 
  while commentary by me about what’s 
  happening will be italicised.
  
  27
  Chapter 7: Playing
                      The End is the Beginning. Chapter 1.
  We begin our example with the first 
  turn, which was decided by rolling a 
  d12 to be Jodi’s turn. All the players 
  are sitting around a table with their 
  character sheets and dice in front of 
  them, with drinks and munchies within 
  easy reach of everyone. Because it is 
  her first scene in her first turn, 
  Jodi must narrate her first scene as 
  a Snippet.
  Scene 1: Looking down at her character 
  sheet to jog her memory, Jodi begins 
  narration of the Snippet through the 
  eyes of her PC:
  Jodi: A frozen shock cracks through 
  her bones, instantly forcing her 
  mind awake and her eyes wide open. 
  Suddenly her chest burns like fire, 
  and convulsions rack her body. Her 
  movements feel slow, as if being 
  held back, and all she sees is a few 
  shining white spots, sparkling amidst 
  a blackish blue wash. Fear tears 
  her mind open, and what is revealed 
  terrifies her more, and in that instant 
  she knows she is dying, drowning. 
  She tries to scream, but her body 
  is again racked by convulsions which 
  threaten to break her in half, and her 
  lungs burn hotter. Flailing wildy, 
  she seeks the surface, unmoving. 
  She struggles harder, fueled by pure 
  panic and burning pain, unmoving. 
  Through a distant cold numbness, she 
  feels her feet bound and weighted. A 
  human anchor in a dark cold void, only 
  her screaming pain and the sparkles 
  of the moon on the surface to witness 
  her end. 
  And now she floats, eyes unblinking, 
  watching as tiny pale specks float 
  through the water before her, their 
  delicate dance in slow motion. Her 
  hair drifts before her eyes like 
  blackened fingers, reaching out to 
  touch her... and in her last moment 
  of awareness, she reaches out to the 
  black fingers which seek to engulf 
  her... 
  ... and finds a hand, attached to 
  a figure in white, as all turns to 
  dark, and life is snuffed away. 
  Jodi decides that she wants to keep 
  the other players guessing, so she 
  declares the beginning of the next 
  scene, and must now distribute this 
  scene’s important character roles to 
  the other players. 
  Jodi: Ok that was scene one...
  Mark: Awww what?! What the hell just 
  happened?
  Jodi: Shhh. Andy, you’re gonna play 
  a tall and attractive young cop, but 
  he isn’t particularly bright. He’s 
  investigating a murder, and right now 
  he’s at the victim’s house, searching 
  for clues. Mark, you are going to play 
  a short, balding, grumpy detective 
  at the same house. This detective 
  has only seen pictures of the victim 
  after she died. In case you had’t 
  guessed, the victim is my character, 
  and you’re at her house. 
  Mark: Ok, cool. 
  Andy: Alright. 
  Jodi: There are also a bunch of other 
  cops there, searching for clues. Ready? 
  Ok. I awake with a start, staring at 
  a grey blur until my eyes focus on a 
  familiar ceiling. I look around, to 
  find myself in my room. Sitting up, I 
  try to remember what happened, but my 
  head hurts when I try. I look around 
  my room again, and notice that it 
  seems different somehow, but I can’t 
  recall exactly how it was supposed to 
  look. It just feels different. Then 
  I notice something that I’m sure I’ve 
  never seen before: a black sword with 
  a silver serpent engraved into the 
  sheath, resting on my couch. I walk 
  over to it, and as I pick it up, it 
  suddenly feels right, as if it is a 
  part of me, and I feel somehow whole. 
  Suddenly, I hear voices coming...Jodi 
  gestures towards Andy.
  Andy: “Look, I’m telling you, I’ve 
  been through her room already, there’s 
  nothing in here but some clothes and 
  candles. This girl loved her damn 
  candles...”
  Jodi: As I hear that, I quickly look 
  around, astonished to see all the 
  candles in my room! I’ve never liked 
  candles! Worse, all the candles are 
  black, and look as if they’ve been 
  used before. 
  Andy: The two cops stop outside the 
  door, one of them continuing: “... 
  and if you ask me, she was probably 
  into the occult, what with all the 
  candles being black and all.” The 
  other cop says “Maybe she just liked 
  the colour, did you ever think of 
  
  28
  Chapter 7: Playing
  that? Anyways, Barker says we gotta 
  go over everything one more time, so 
  we are gonna go over everything one 
  more time.” I open the door to the 
  room.
  Jodi: You see me standing inside, 
  dressed in a full-length white dress 
  with a black coat over the top, 
  holding a shiny black and silver 
  katana. I look slightly startled 
  and afraid, like I was expecting 
  intruders, but wasn’t really ready to 
  deal with them. 
  Andy: “Woah”, says a tall and 
  handsome cop. “Holy...” says the 
  other one, who looks like a total 
  rookie. Both of them draw their guns 
  and  aim at you. “Put down the sword 
  ma’am.”
  Jodi: I pause for a moment, then 
  sheath my sword. “What the hell are 
  you doing in my house?”
  Andy: Turning to Mark: Dude, you 
  play this other cop with me. Mark 
  nods. “Ma’am, this is a crime scene. 
  This isn’t your house, the lady who 
  lived here died. How did you get in 
  here?” I don’t lower my gun.
  Jodi: I am thrown for a second, as I 
  look at all the black candles around 
  the room, but the rest of it looks 
  exactly the same. I look confused, 
  but I say: “This IS my house, and as 
  you can see, I’m clearly not dead.” 
  As soon as I say that, hundreds of 
  images burn through my mind, too fast 
  to notice, but a few of them linger 
  for just long enough for me to see: 
  a man dressed all in white, radiating 
  light and warmth, holding a golden 
  quill; two men’s faces staring at me 
  as they lean over a railing, growing 
  smaller rapidly; a woman wearing way 
  too much make-up and a too-short 
  skirt, accepting a thick wad of cash 
  from a man in a grey pin-stripe suit; 
  a vial of blue liquid in a purse. 
  Too many images, and I collapse into 
  unconsciousness.
  Mark: Ok, we both carry you into the 
  loungeroom, lay you on a couch, and 
  tell the detective about you.
  Jodi: As I come to, I see you all 
  standing around in my loungeroom. The 
  first thing I notice is that I feel 
  like something is missing from me, 
  and I find myself feeling around for 
  my sword.
  Mark: “Is this what you’re looking 
  for?” I hold up the sword, admiring 
  its beauty. 
  Jodi: I nod. “May I have it back, 
  please?”
  Mark: I take a seat on a couch 
  facing you. “That depends ma’am. 
  First, I’m going to need to ask you 
  a few questions, and you’re going to 
  have to give me a few answers.”
  Jodi: “What do you want to know?”
  Mark: “What are you doing here, and 
  how did you get in?”
  Jodi: “This is my house. I just woke 
  up before I found you lot in here.” 
  I’m developing a scowl as I talk.
  Andy: “That’s what she said before. 
  But Tommy searched that room no more 
  than an hour ago, and he never saw no 
  sleeping lady.”
  Mark: Nodding: “You look familiar 
  ma’am, have we met before?”
  Jodi: I notice that this detective 
  does look familiar, but I can’t think 
  of why. “I don’t think so.” I turn 
  to the good-looking cop, “I’m telling 
  the truth, maybe “Tommy” wasn’t doing 
  his job. I DID just wake up, and 
  this IS my house. What the hell are 
  you guys doing here, and why are you 
  interrogating me in my own home?”
  Mark: “We’re investigating a murder 
  ma’am, the murder of the lady who 
  lived here. So you see, this can’t 
  be your house, because you aren’t 
  dead.”
  Jodi: As you say that, another 
  barrage 
  of 
  images 
  sears 
  through 
  my mind, most dissapearing as soon 
  as they appear. But one sticks out 
  above the others, a man in a grey 
  pin-stripe suit, handing money to 
  a prostitute; taking money from a 
  man dressed in black; tying down a 
  screaming man and cutting him up with 
  a butcher’s knife; pushing a litle 
  girl on a swing; tying her down to a 
  table as she whimpers... the images 
  end in a blinding flash, with the 
  man’s face burned into my vision like 
  a negative. As the image fades, that 
  face is replaced by the same face, as 
  I look at the detective. 
  Mark: “Woah, are you alright ma’am, 
  you sorta blanked out on us there.”
  Andy: “That’s what happened before 
  sir, right before she collapsed.”
  Jodi: “I’m fine.” I do my best to 
  
  29
  Chapter 7: Playing
  keep a calm face while I talk. “Maybe 
  you’re right. I don’t know how, but 
  this place looks almost exactly like 
  my home. I, ahh, had a long night out 
  last night. I must have come here 
  without realising it wasn’t my own 
  home, then broken in to the bedroom 
  when I found that my key didn’t work. 
  Maybe that cop didn’t notice me 
  because I usually sleep very still. 
  Can I have my sword back please? Then 
  I can be on my way.”
  Mark: I lean forward in my couch, 
  nodding slowly, before reaching out 
  and placing the sword on the coffee 
  table. As I lean back, I say: “It’s 
  a very nice sword ma’am, but I’d like 
  to know two more things before I can 
  let you go. First, Where’d you get 
  that sword, and why did you have it 
  on you when we found you? I can’t 
  imagine anyone going out for a night 
  on the town while carrying a weapon 
  like that.”
  Jodi: “It’s, umm, a very important 
  family 
  heirloom. 
  My 
  grandfather 
  earned it in service to the japanese 
  army in World War II. I take it with 
  me everywhere recently because I had 
  a break in a little while ago and lost 
  some other very special things, and 
  I don’t want to lose this. Not many 
  people are willing to trouble a drunk 
  girl with a sword.” I try to think 
  where the sword really came from, and 
  why I want to hold it so bad, but 
  trying only hurts my head. “What was 
  the second thing?”
  Mark: I nod slowly. “Fair enough. 
  The second thing I’ll need to know is 
  your name.”
  Jodi: “My name? Violent Angel.”
  Mark: Can I have the detective 
  recognise that name? Jodi nods. Ok. 
  My face goes pale as I realise how 
  I recognise you. “YOU!” I yell as I 
  reach for the sword.
  Jodi: I grab it before you, and 
  instantly I feel whole. I feel 
  right. I have it drawn a split second 
  later. 
  Jodi gives Mark and Andy a signal 
  to begin a Wave, by holding up 3 
  fingers. This Boss has 5 R2 peons, 
  and 2 R3 Peons.
  Mark: Andy, whad’ya reckon? 2 R2s 
  and an R3?
  Andy: Sounds good.
  Mark: The detective leaps backwards 
  over the couch, and one of the cops who 
  was in the kitchen comes around the 
  corner in response to the detective 
  yelling, when he sees you there with 
  your sword drawn, he immediately 
  draws his pistol.
  Andy: The tall cop pulls his gun too, 
  and he’s standing next to the couch 
  that the detective just jumped over. 
  Another cop who was in the hallway 
  runs in when he hears the commotion, 
  and dives at you from behind.
  Mark and Andy roll 7d4 for the Peons 
  (2 R2 peons with 2d4 each, and 1 R3 
  Peon with 3d4). They roll a total of 
  16. 
  Jodi rolls her AP, which is 1d4, 
  2d6, and 1d8. She rolls a total of 
  15. 
  Andy: We got 16.
  Jodi: 15. But I’m going to take an 
  extra 2 points of damage so I can kill 
  one of the Peons. So I take 3 points 
  of Fuel.
  Jodi writes down 3 Fuel on her 
  Character Sheet, and also adds 3 to 
  her Kick.
  Jodi: Ok. In my disorientation 
  from the exhilaration of holding 
  the sword, I don’t notice the cop 
  behind me until he smashes into me 
  and knocks me down. Unfortunately for 
  him, I manage to twist as we fall, and 
  he lands with my sword in his neck.
  Jodi notes on her Character Sheet 
  that there is one less R2 Peon left 
  for this Boss. She then holds up 4 
  fingers, signalling for 4 Peons.
  Andy: Both R3s and two R2s? Mark 
  nods. Ok, the tall guy opens fire at 
  you. Behind him, two more cops appear 
  with guns drawn.
  Mark: The cop from the kitchen is 
  positioning himself for a better shot 
  whilst protecting the detective.
  Mark and Andy roll 10d4 for the 2 
  R3s and the 2 R2s. They roll a total 
  of 28.
  Jodi rolls her AP, and rolls a total 
  of 17.
  Andy: 28.
  Jodi: 17, so I will take at least 11 
  Fuel this Wave. Hmmm. Ok. 
  Jodi updates her Fuel, increasing it 
  from 3 to 14. She only has a maximum 
  Fuel of 16. She also increases her 
  Kick from 3 to 14.
  
  30
  Chapter 7: Playing
  Jodi: I do my best to use the dead 
  cop’s body as a shield, but a few 
  bullets manage to hit me in the leg 
  and my left arm. I scream out in 
  pain but it’s barely audible over 
  the gunshots. Blood is splattering 
  everywhere as my human shield is 
  peppered with bullets.
  Jodi holds up 3 fingers, signalling 
  the Antagonists to send 3 Peons 
  against her. 
  Mark: 2 R3s and an R2 Andy?
  Andy: Yep. Wanna deprive her of her 
  Weapon?
  Mark: Heheheh, yeah!
  Jodi: Doh!
  Andy: Ok Jodi, we’re spending 5 
  of your Kick to deprive you of your 
  Weapon for the next 5 Waves.
  Mark: I’ll count the Waves on this 
  d6. This one will be the first.
  Jodi: Ok. I try to move my sword, 
  but I find that it is stuck in this 
  cop’s neck.
  Jodi decreases her Kick to 9.
  Andy: When they hear your screams, 
  the cops figure they must have shot 
  you. Two of them jump onto the couch 
  with their guns pointing at you, 
  moving closer so they can be sure. 
  Mark: The cop that is near the 
  detective has you lined up, ready to 
  fire if you make a wrong move. 
  Mark and Andy roll 8d4 for the 2 R3s 
  and the R2. They roll a total of 23.
  Jodi rolls her AP without her Weapon 
  trait, which removes her d8. She 
  rolls a total of 10.
  Mark: 23.
  Jodi: 10. Crap!
  Andy: Woohoo! Bind! Do you wanna 
  narrate this Bind Mark?
  Mark: How about I narrate the end 
  of the Wave and the scene, and you 
  narrate the Bind?
  Andy: Sounds good. 
  Mark: The tall cop looks down at 
  your bleeding body, with your sword 
  stuck in the neck of his comrade. He 
  holsters his pistol and cuffs you, 
  before pulling you roughly to your 
  feet. “Should we call an ambulance?” 
  he asks the detective. “Nah. Bitch 
  killed Ryan, I’ve got a better idea.” 
  The last thing you see is his fist. 
  And that’s the end of scene 2.
  Andy: When you finally open your 
  eyes, everything looks very dark and 
  murky. When your eyes adjust, you 
  notice a dim lightbulb hanging from 
  a dark and dirty ceiling. You are 
  lying on your back on a hard wooden 
  table, with your hands and feet tied 
  to each corner with coarse rope. 
  When you look at the table, you can 
  see that it is very dark and stained 
  in places, and there is a butcher’s 
  knife resting next to you. Your sword 
  is sitting on a shelf on the wall. You 
  can hear voices coming from behind a 
  door at the top of some stairs in the 
  corner of the room, which is starting 
  to look like a basement. 
  Mark: Awesome dude.
  Jodi: Hmmm, ok. I take it the 
  detective was the one who tied me up, 
  so I’ll be rolling against him huh?
  Andy: Yeah.
  Jodi: Alright. When I see the knife 
  and realise where I am, I really 
  start to freak out. Tears start 
  streaming down the sides of my face, 
  and I twist and turn as best as I can 
  to try to pull free of the rope. My 
  wrists and ankles start to bleed, and 
  I’m trying hard not to cry or scream. 
  My mind becomes filled with images of 
  the detective cutting pieces off a 
  man and a little girl as they scream 
  horribly. I’m going to try to push 
  myself off the table, then smash 
  myself down into it hard enough to 
  break the table. I’ll be using my 
  Style, Luck, and Grudge. What’s the 
  Boss rolling?
  Mark: It should be his Name, Style, 
  Luck, and Crime.
  Mark rolls for the Boss, rolling a 
  total of 11. 
  Jodi rolls for Violent Angel, and 
  rolls 13. 
  Mark: 11, What’d you get?
  Jodi: 13. Sweet! I gain Style! 
  Jodi increases her Style trait by 1 
  point, replacing the d6 that her Style 
  contributed to her AP with a d8.
  Jodi: Well then. I lift myself up 
  as high as I can, and with all my 
  strength, I smash myself into the 
  table, breaking it in half as I crash 
  onto the floor. I quickly untie my 
  hands and feet and filled with fear-
  fueled rage, I grab my sword as the 
  detective comes down the stairs. And 
  that’s the end of that scene, and 
  also the end of my turn.
  
  31
  Chapter 8: Endgame
  Endgame
  When all Bosses on all Lists are 
  dead, each player narrates one last 
  scene, describing the outcome from 
  the perspective of their PC. The game 
  is now officially ended, and it’s 
  time to determine who won the game. 
  Winning
  Winning the game is a matter of being 
  the most successful at improving your 
  PC and killing Bosses. To determine 
  this, add up the scores of all these 
  traits: Name, Style, Weapon, Luck, 
  Grudge, and Honour. Whoever has the 
  highest total, is the winner, and 
  everyone else is a loser. 
  If you are the winner, make sure 
  you gloat and rub it in, by dancing, 
  poking fun, throwing things at the 
  losers, grinning annoyingly for the 
  next week, and reminding the losers 
  at every opportunity of how much 
  cooler than them you truly are. 
  If you are a loser, you suck, and 
  clearly aren’t cool enough to play 
  anything. 
  I’m just kidding. You can still play 
  solitaire. 
   
  Once More Into the Breach?
  If you want to play another game, 
  even with new characters and a new 
  style, you must use half your total 
  score from the last game as the number 
  of points you have to distribute among 
  your character’s traits when you 
  create them (see Chapter 2: Character 
  Creation). You can only do this if 
  you were a loser from the last game. 
  If you won the last game, you must 
  start with the standard 8 points. 
  For example, if you were a loser 
  last game, and the total of your 
  character’s traits was 24, then you 
  would start this next game with 12 
  points to distribute between Style, 
  Weapon, Luck, and Grudge. The winner 
  would only have the standard 8 points. 
  That’ll teach the bastard for rubbing 
  it in like an asshole. 
  Play Style Ideas
  In the examples in this rulebook, I 
  have used a style of a modern world 
  similar to our real world (with 
  perhaps a hint of a supernatural 
  bent), but where swords and stuff are 
  still used.
  This section is devoted to all the 
  various ways you can play Scarlet 
  Wake and have a blast.
                                                          Some Styles
  Movies: Scarlet Wake is ideal for 
  duplicating the experience of certain 
  types of movies. Some examples might 
  be Kill Bill, The Crow (the original, 
  not those blasphemous sequels), The 
  Count of Monte Cristo, and even 
  The Princess Bride with the right 
  narrative style. Others that can be 
  easily adapted might include many Hong 
  Kong action flicks, horror movies, 
  and hell, basically any movie where 
  killing is a valid way to resolve 
  problems. 
  Other Games: Another style well suited 
  for Scarlet Wake is other games. 
  Some examples might be Diablo 2, 
  Neverwinter Nights, and Blood Rayne. 
  In fact, any game with a focus on 
  action and progressing through enemies 
  of increasing difficulty could be 
  easily duplicated with Scarlet Wake. 
  Cameo Appearances by...
  One rule which you may choose to implement in 
  your future games is to allow old characters from 
  previous games to appear on The Lists of new 
  characters, or to be potential Sub-Bosses for the 
  Antagonists to introduce with Kick. This can be quite 
  a fun way to play, especially when you get to kill your 
  old characters in epic battles. Or even better, other 
  player’s characters. 
  The reasons for doing so could be many, and might 
  even be the basis of your new character’s concept. 
  For example, maybe when your old character killed 
  one of the Bosses on their List, they actually killed 
  your new character’s mother, while they watched 
  unseen, vowing revenge.
  
  32
  Chapter 8: Endgame
  Genres: 
  Sci-fi, 
  horror, 
  action, 
  fantasy, these are all viable and 
  fun options for Scarlet Wake styles. 
  Genres like romance, and soap-operas 
  are not going to work too well with 
  Scarlet Wake, and if you were even 
  thinking of playing Scarlet Wake with 
  them, put down this rulebook, step 
  away, turn around, and never touch 
  this book again. 
                                                      Implementation
  It’s remarkably easy to implement 
  any style you want into Scarlet 
  Wake. Follow the steps for character 
  creation as usual, and in fact, you 
  don’t even have to change a single rule 
  at all. All you need to do to colour 
  your Scarlet Wake play experience 
  with a new style, is approach your 
  narrations with the style in mind. 
  For example, if you want your 
  character to be a magician, simply 
  write “Magic” next to her Weapon 
  trait, and narrate your actions with 
  your spells. If you want to give your 
  character X-Men powers, simply write 
  something like “teleportation” next 
  to your Style trait, and take this 
  into account when narrating scenes, 
  like saying “I teleport behind this 
  guy and kick him clean across the 
  room, before teleporting again an 
  instant later and appearing behind 
  the next guy...”. If you want your 
  character to have lasers for arms, 
  well... you get the idea.
  Vampires, 
  angels, 
  demons, 
  swashbucklers, 
  mutants, 
  zombies, 
  cops, assassins, magicians, soldiers, 
  pirates, thieves, and monsters; these 
  are all great ideas for characters 
  and styles which you can easily play 
  in Scarlet Wake without needing to 
  change a single rule. Of course, you 
  can change the names of some traits 
  if you feel it would help your chosen 
  style. 
                                                             Denoument
  I hope you have as much fun playing 
  this game as I had making it. You can 
  email me at narehel@yahoo.com.au with 
  your thoughts on this game.
  Visit the Scarlet Wake website at: 
  http://eclipse.netlab.com.au
  Credits
  Game Design 
  Ben O’Neal
  Layout, Graphics, and Art 
  Ben O’Neal
  Play-Testers
  Kirk Mitchell
  Malcolm Mitchell
  Oliver Chapman
  Tristan Leftwich
  Ian Donald
  Matt Mulray
  Chris M.
  Your name here?
  Contribution and Inspiration
  (In no particular order)
  Ralph Mazza (for giving me the first push)
  Sydney Freedberg (for miscellaneous help)
  Ben Lehman (more good suggestions)
  Chris M. (helpful advice and enthusiasm)
  Andrew Morris (excellent help with editing)
  Mike Holmes (for helping me understand game theory)
  M. J. Young (more help with game theory)
  Ron Edwards (for the GNS theory and the Forge)
  And numerous others who have posted to my 
  topics and provided valued responses. 
  Thank you. 
  visit http://eclipse.netlab.com.au 
  Scarlet Wake and all associated characters, logos, and 
  illustrations are copyright ©2004 Ben O’Neal.
  All artwork is copyright ©2004 Ben O’Neal.
  Kill Bill, The Crow, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Princess 
  Bride, Diablo 2, Neverwinter Nights, Blood Rayne, and 
  X-Men are all copyright and trademark of their respected 
  authors and/or copyright owners, and are not affiliated or 
  associated with Scarlet Wake in any way. 
  
  Scarlet Wake  Character Sheet          The List                               Kick [__]
  Name
  Style
  Weapon
  Luck
  Grudge
  Honour
  Fire
  Fuel
  AP: __d4 (1’s), __d6 (2’s), __d8 (3’s), __d10 (4’s), __d12 (5’s)
  Notes:______________________________________
  __________________________________________
  _____________________________________________________
  _____________________________________________________
  _____________________________________________________
  _____________________________________________________
  _____________________________________________________
  _____________________________________________________
  _____________________________________________________
  ______________________________________________________           
  [   ]:__________________________________
  [   ]:__________________________________
  [   ]:__________________________________
  [   ]:__________________________________
  [   ]:__________________________________
  [   ]:__________________________________
  [   ]:[   ]:[   ]:[   ]:[   ]:[   ]:[   ]:[   ]:[   ]:[   ]
  [__]   max: [__]
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  Name [   ]:___________________________
  Style [   ], Weapon [   ], Luck [   ], Crime [   ], MK [__]
  Peons: R1 [   ], R2 [   ], R3 [   ], R4 [   ], R5 [   ]
  AP: __d4, __d6, __d8, __d10, __d12
  Name [   ]:___________________________
  Style [   ], Weapon [   ], Luck [   ], Crime [   ], MK [__]
  Peons: R1 [   ], R2 [   ], R3 [   ], R4 [   ], R5 [   ]
  AP: __d4, __d6, __d8, __d10, __d12
  Name [   ]:___________________________
  Style [   ], Weapon [   ], Luck [   ], Crime [   ], MK [__]
  Peons: R1 [   ], R2 [   ], R3 [   ], R4 [   ], R5 [   ]
  AP: __d4, __d6, __d8, __d10, __d12
  Name [   ]:___________________________
  Style [   ], Weapon [   ], Luck [   ], Crime [   ], MK [__]
  Peons: R1 [   ], R2 [   ], R3 [   ], R4 [   ], R5 [   ]
  AP: __d4, __d6, __d8, __d10, __d12
  Name [   ]:___________________________
  Style [   ], Weapon [   ], Luck [   ], Crime [   ], MK [__]
  Peons: R1 [   ], R2 [   ], R3 [   ], R4 [   ], R5 [   ]
  AP: __d4, __d6, __d8, __d10, __d12
  *
  *
  *
  *
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Collections/Collaborative & Peer & Gm-less & Shifting GM/Scarlet Wake/SW_PTR.pdf