The Bloody Hands: REBIRTH [Tricubes Solo], Episode -1: INTERMISSION and CANON DUMP #1

On Why A REBIRTH Is Needed

A few months ago I had an idea: a solo game that could be played entirely on my phone or on a few index cards with some dice. The ultimate portable solo RPG. Not only portable physically but also mentally. Playable in about an hour across 2-3 sessions: perfect for playing in downtimes and lunchbreaks. 

This blog exists because I wanted somewhere for me to take these notes and sum them up with additional ideas and reflections so it wasn't me having to sort through a bunch of post-it notes and Google Keep documents. Continuity could be kept low with a fairly episodic vibe where I did not have to worry much about referencing various threads or open plotlines. This was in part an anti-continuity campaign where each episode was like a 90s TV show. Worldbuilding would be going on but it could be summed on a napkin to avoid scaring off new viewers. 

Over time, though, the episodes got longer and the accruing silt was getting chunkier. A lot longer. "Episode 6" took three parts and involved a lot of callbacks, world-building, and continuity. 

What's more (and more damning), the general worldbuilding became exactly the same as The Bleak + The Pearl, my SoloDark/Shadowdark campaign about adventurers risking madness and corruption on the edge of a great "darkness". The two were initial kept as a bit of opposing-twins. Hands was a campaign largely about city scenes and investigation, Bleak was largely a campaign about dungeon delving that cut out nearly all city scenes. As Bleak got more and more involved with the world building, though, it got to a point where I had no place for Hands. It was "The Bleak" lite. The third part of Episode 6 even referenced a Lighthouse. 

So, The Bloody Hands died like most RPG campaigns die: a victim of itself. When there is a single player and even he stops showing up to sessions... 

This is why : REBIRTH! is now being created. The plan is to do it comic book style (or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle style). Take enough elements to have a forward-canon, excise anything and everything that does not pop, openly contradict some elements, and generally find things that work. 

It will also return to the original style. I'll play it in bursts, heavy emphasis on a quick/relaxing game. Then, afterwards, type it up more synopsis style with some notes about new canon and ideas.

I will restart it from episode 0 and it will basically be a new world with some definite elements from the old but also some differences. 

That is all. The rest of this is going to be a "canon dump" to figure out some things and to give me a single post to refer back if I need to double check/update something. 

On the Things that Will Stay

Several of the core elements will be retained. The majority, actually. Which will ironically seem like a whole lot but most of this is broad sweep stuff that I'd like to keep around.

The People that Remain

• Arden Ulet is a not-exactly-young Guardian working for the Arcane Order. 
• His tendency to focus on side-goals and to often abandon assignments to help others, as well as butting heads with his superiors, has kept him somewhat left behind by his peer group. He has only recently been promoted to full Guardian after being stuck as a Junior Guardian for a long time. 
• He is tasked with preventing "forces of darkness" from disrupting the resonating towers and bringing down the Veil. He is a primary figure for combating The Bloody Hand, a shady organization working outside the Veil whose existence is not 100% believed by the higher ups at the Order.
• He is a Seer, able to see the past and future. He has also developed the ability to enter into his own visions for short periods of time, enabling him to travel into The Other Place, a strange shadowy/bloody realm where The Bloody Hands seem to be setting up a base. 
• The Ulet family are high ups in the Order. His mother worked on the current resonant towers and his grandparents were basically the start of the Veil. His brother, Josef, still works building Towers in their home town of Yarlkin and for a long time considered Arden to be a failure. They have semi-recently made amends. 
• Guardian. Crafty Seer. Brooding but with Preternatural Senses and Vision Walk. 4 Karma and 3 Resolve.
• Jalmar Dax is a beastmaster and Senior Agent who initially helped trained Arden and now stays partnered with the Guardian. Jalmar is opposed to the notion that those who live outside of the Veil are barbarians and regularly stands up for outsider rights. 
• Senior Agent. Agile Beastmaster with 2* animal companions and a Brutal streak. 4 Karma and 3 Resolve.
• Kif is a monkey dog who is good at stealth. 
• Ruk is a raven hawk with strong eyesight. 
• Natalia Wilson is a Junior Agent and new Apprentice Guardian assigned to be trained under Arden while she kept tabs on him. Her training is largely in demolition but over time she has become better and better and social interactions and sided with Arden overall. Still is jaded and disbelieving about the goals of the Order.
• Crafty Sappper who is skilled at Tactics but is Jaded about the Order. 3 Karma and 3 Resolve.
• Prenty Duffnot is a semi-retired Senior Agent. He was another Agent who oversaw Arden's growth into a main character, driven by his quest to find his family (who had been kidnapped by The Bloody Hand). Once Arden rescued Prenty's family, Prenty decided to spend most of his time back with his kin and largely left the Order behind. 
• Brawny Hunter with Supernatural Strength and a lean towards Vengeful actions. 3 Karma and 3 Resolve.
• Kate Corazon is Junior Guardian who being assigned by someone to watch after Arden and in her few interactions is something like a love interest but also a rival. 
• Brawny Sentinel who is Quick but Surly. 3 Karma and 3 Resolve.
• Franco Jones is a Senior Retainer. He is a boatman who is extremely good at navigating the waterways outside of the Veil. A likable fellow who tends to chat about all sorts of things but who is also hard as nails. 
• Matthew Calderon is an ex-Senior Guardian who has betrayed the Order is working The Bloody Hands. He is a Crafty Seer with Preternatural Senses but is Vainglorious. He represents something like the antithesis to Arden and still has supporters in the Order. 
• Crafty Seer with Preternatural Senses and who is Vainglorious. 

* In the original, Jalmar had 3 pets. The third was a turtle-croc. Because of the watery aspects of that companion, it has been cut out but in general the beastmaster ability has been expanded to involve talking to and working with most any animal, not just the bonded ones.

Places That Remain

• Hub is a university city and the birthplace of the Resonant Towers. Hub is a major part of the Arcane Order and is the site where Arden and his team are stationed. His family has deep ties to the area. It represents the major axis of the southern border of new Khelia.  
• Khalid City is the large capital of New Khelia Kingdom and was the capital of the Old Kingdom as well. To the north and center of Khelia, it is the major axis of the Veil. The main branch of the Arcane Order are stationed here and there are many miles between the Khalid City and the edge of the Veil in every direction. 
• Yarlkin is the home town of the Ulets and is currently a mining town that focuses on making the metal parts of the Resonant Towers for the Order. Josef Ulet is one of the major blacksmiths, here. It is a few miles southeast of Hub and recently was completed connected to the Veil (though was one of the first towns to get a Tower but it was a remote outpost for a decade).
• Fellig is a lumber and hunting town. South of Hub against the western edge of the Ord Wood. It provides food and lumber to Hub. Like Yarlkin, it was a remote station for a decade as the focus was on connecting Hub to Khalid City but has recently been added to the Central Veil. 
• The Ord Wood is a large forest south and southeast of Hub. A number of people, "The Ord Woodkin" have been attempting to get the Veil to be extended to protect the forest despite protests. In recent months, edges of the forest have been included, allowing for the Woodkin to extend their more unique way of natural living. 
• Narys was once the major southern city of The Old Kingdom. A very prosperous mining town with lots of precious metals and gemstones, it was also the capital of the old Khelia religion. During the Five Generations, many of the most prosperous people pulled into the mountains reserved for the old temples of the faith, leaving behind many of the middle-class and power folks. It was the site of fairly major corruption as the Bloody Hands and folks like Matthew Calderon conspired to reserve the Veil for the upper crust while also altering the Veil to allow the forces of darkness to take over people inside. In recent months, new towers have been installed to help protect Lower Narys after many from Upper Narys were arrested and detained. 
• Angor Mountains is a large mountain range between Khalid City and Narys that makes it difficult to connect the two cities. 
• Oakwood is an outsider town on the eastern side of The Ord Forest and far to the southeast of Hub. Despite anti-Order sentiment (and general anti-authority attitudes), the glassworks factory there does provide necessary parts for the Resonant Towers. A Tower is in town center but parts of the town remain outside of it. The town was the focus of an attack by the Bloody Hand to try out a new drug: Blood. The drug allows dark magic to grow inside of people and bypass the protection of the Veil. 
• Basinghall is an outsider town several days east of Hub near The Sundered Plains. It has recently agreed to sign on with the Order but is so distant it will be years, if not a full decade, before it might be part of the larger Veil. 
• Guillarme was an outsider town on the far east shore past The Sundered Plains. Despite being protected by a smaller Veil (Guillarme was intended to be a new distant axis point), it fell. The exact reasons are unclear but it seems the Bloody Hand sabotaged it using Blood and other agents.
• The Sundered Plains (aka, the Cracked Lands) is a large "flat" region that makes up the southeast portion of the continent. It is known for its large ravines and deep cracks requiring a network of bridges to traverse. On its other side is the coast and the ocean. 

On Things that Will NOT Be Kept or Will Be Changed/Added

• There will no longer be a sustained "Darkness" that changes and devours things. Instead, the Veil will be an anti-magical force only broken by the same "blood magic" that pours the Guardians tattoos. This means life outside the Veil is less about weird mutations and corruptions and just prone to magical rule. 
• This also means that some of the objection to the Order is because they have a monopoly on magic. Some outsider towns remain such because they not only remain free of New Khelia but also can continue to use magic.
• The general vibe will be something like apocalyptical late-/post-Victorian. Inside the Veil, there are trains, industry, communication towers. Outside the Veil, there are still some of these things but the present of magic makes it more dangerous so technology gets more suppressed. 
• Even towns with one or two Resonant Towers might be considered "outside towns" depending on their political alignment. As the edges of the Veil spread and more towers are made, it takes more and more Towers. This leads to various in-fights.
• The Arcane Order various members include Guardians (arcanely tattooed folks working directly with the Order and who are full members on active duty to maintain the Veil), Agents (folks who work for the Order, usually under the control of Guardians, but who not privy to full membership [also have arcane tattoos]), and Retainers (people who work with the Order but largely just for pay, not arcanely tattooed). A lot of Apprentice, Associate, Junior, and Senior ranks are used. Another class includes Mystics who are super-senior members of the Order who are able to use magic even in the Veil. Mystics and Guardians have another rank: Grand. Grand Guardians and Grand Mystics are rare. 
• Wildkin will be generally a term for outsiders, often nomadic outsiders, who choose to eschew life in either the Veil or even outsider towns. They often rely on magic and old lifestyles, considering civilization to the root cause of the troubles that led to the "five generations of suffering" (or, in some cases, considering life inside the Veil being too expensive). Not all are deeply anti-Veil, though, and several tribes live nearby and work with insiders. Some, like Ord Woodkin, have decided to return to the edges of civilization. 
• The Bloody Hands will no longer be strange otherworldly invaders. They will be working with strange otherworldly forces but the Hands will be essentially just humans in opposition to The Order using some of the blood magic to weave their own tattoos. The Other Place, where strange entities are part of the "blood river" is still there, but the Hands travel there rather than come from there.
• The "bubble" notion will be kept but the effect will be pretty subtle except in places where multiple Towers are in Resonance. Then it might thicken to a notable shimmer. In a lot of places, people pass in and out of their local Veil bubbles semi-frequently. 
• Creatures of the dark can enter through the Veil but almost immediately start smoking and degrading. The weaker the Veil, the smaller this effect is. Still, large creatures punching through the Veil and taking out Towers will be a threat. The blood magic can sometimes maintain these creatures for a period of time before they hit decay.
• The various "bubbles" will be more connected for a large region, making a pretty strong Khelian Veil stretch all the way from North of Khalid City to Hub. A large number of Towers resonate in that region making it very hard to penetrate the Veil. The danger tends to be in the regions where only one or two Towers are running. Insider towns between Hub and Khalid City are called "the Burbs" and rarely have active agents.