A Realm Between Death and Dream

The game's central setting is Tel-Kanan, a vast cyclone in the Skysea, bordered by the Sea of Death below and the forces of Chaos beyond. A combination of fluid mechanics, magnetism, and the Rephaim's magic has long held the realm’s floating islands aloft—until now. Islands everywhere are drifting out of their once-stable orbits. 

Gameplay

Like “levels” or “dungeons” in other games, the floating islands and other strange structures of the Skysea serve as self-contained units of adventure. Each place might hold a mystery for heroes to uncover, a challenge to overcome, denizens to encounter, lore to uncover, and monsters to battle. Some key ideas: 

• Ask questions like a hero. As you explore the Skysea, your hero’s aspects frame the kinds of questions you should ask about the world, and how the Guide should answer.

• Attributes are dynamic. Your four attributes—awareness, spirit, strength, and grace—represent your core qualities, current conditions, and defenses in battle. They wear down as you take risky actions and suffer blows, leaving you more and more vulnerable. 

• Fluid movement. The game assumes constant motion in battle and doesn’t use exact positioning on a grid. But your height does matter, and finding high ground grants major advantages. 

• Ideals push you. You can invoke your hero's ideals in dramatic moments, potentially turning failure into success. 

• Lore goes deep. Lore isn’t just fluff—it’s integrated with the game’s mechanics and scaffolds many interactions with other characters.  

✧  Get the free Second Edition Rulebook: itch.io → | RPG Trader →

Inspirations

The game’s setting is based on the history and mythology of the ancient Canaanites—later known as Phoenicians—and their neighbors in the Late Bronze Age. Other influences include the rich worldbuilding of N.K. Jemisin’s Dreamblood and Broken Earth series, the seafaring adventures in Patrick O’Brien’s Master and Commander series, and the science-fantasy sensibilities of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series.

The “multiplicative” gameplay and sense of freedom of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was a big inspiration for the game’s design. You’ll also find many ideas from other tabletop roleplaying games, especially Agon, Dungeons & Dragons 5e, Exalted, and Quest.

Reviews

The Folks Behind the Game

Call me Daniel. I'm the game's author and designer. This project has been a labor of love for several years now. 

I'm excited to offer the game for free, and I'm eager to continue improving it. But I couldn't have gotten this far without a lot of help. 

Special Thanks

• AFriendofJamis, for providing invaluable feedback continuously from the very beginning of development—your belief in this game's potential has truly kept me going

• Ben Kenning, for your wisdom, kindness, and encouragement—and for basically teaching me how to do all this

• Eric Clarkin, for your boundless enthusiasm and creativity, both as a hero-player (so many heroes!) and as a Guide 

• Kevin Piala, for tearing the system apart looking for imbalance and nonsense, and all your ideas for fixing it—if you like wuxia even a little bit, check his game, Path of the Peerless!

• Nicholas Diaz, fellow traveler in science fantasy, for sharing so much of your time, ideas, and positivity—if you like skyships and tactical combat, check out his game, Realms of Legacy!

• Chris Maheu II for diving into the game and all your ideas for improving it—if you're looking for a narrative system for any setting with an awesome website, check out his game, Volition!

I'd also like to thank the many fine folks on r/RPGDesign and r/RPGCreation who gave me invaluable feedback and encouragement over the years.