5 The Road runs from before the dawn of civilization out beyond the
6 decadent future. A cursed few find their way to it by power of blood;
7 others are brought there and can sometimes return. Within the span of
8 history we know two great civilizations are aware of the Road – the
9 failing anarchy in what they call the 25th Century and our great City
15 The road is a passage through time. The main branch of the road
16 represents what you might call "consensus history", but where it goes
17 can change over time. Minor branches exist and if you go far enough
18 away from the well trod routes you could find anything.
20 On the well-frequented parts it's a nicely maintained asphalt road,
21 going up being a 10-lane freeway in the civilized parts of "up time".
22 Whilst you will see carts and horses (particularly down-time) and the
23 occasional traveller on foot most regular users of the Road find some
24 way to acquire a motorised vehicle from the twentieth century or
27 Exits from the road move up time in accordance with subjective
28 experience - if you spend a year away from home then when you get back
29 to the exit you entered the Road on a year will have passed back in
30 your home time. As a result the exits have to be relabelled and
31 maintained from time to time. Motels and Inns exist along the fringes
32 of the Road in nearly all times.
34 The road tends to attract special people. Once you've visited you can
35 always get back although it might take years of searching for another
36 access to it. You might never get back home though!
38 The (Second) Babylonian empire runs from 626 BC until 539 BCE. The
39 player characters will start off in the city of Babylon in 580BC not
40 long after the city of Babylon has been rebuilt. The Babylonian
41 Empire is an authoritarian kingdom with unique knowledge of the Road
42 and the Fifth Bureau maintains the kingdom's current control over the
43 road - a combination of espionage, border guard, and troubleshooting
46 Bureau legend has it that the Bureau was founded by members of the
47 Fourth Bureau fleeing the fall of Babylon and that members of the
48 Fifth Bureau will likewise found a Sixth Bureau from the ruins of the
49 Fifth. You won't have enountered members of either organisation but
50 the standing order is that directions from the Sixth Bureau are to be
51 obeyed without question.
53 The three major road exits near Babylon are indicated with signs of:
55 * "The Blue Ziggurat" (currently around 620BCE)
56 * "The Hanging Gardens" (580BCE)
57 * "The Angry Snake" (530BCE, not long after the fall of Babylon)
59 These exits are all permanently manned by the Bureau.
61 There are many minor exits which go to Babylon and other parts of the
62 ancient world and the Bureau tries to keep patrols between
63 approximately the 5th century CE and the third millenium BCE.
65 After approximately the 5th century CE the high tech travellers take
66 over control (although they rarely venture downstream of about the
67 10th century) and signage is mostly written in the language of the
68 Road - foretalk. Anyone who's travelled on the Road before can be
69 assumed to speak at least some foretalk.
71 The three major arms of the state are the Bureaucracy (including the
72 Fifth), the Priesthoods (particularly of Marduk), and the Military.
74 ## Character Generation
76 * You are either a member of a Bureau special team or have been asked
78 * Characters are 50 point LoGAS characters, but you should feel
79 encouraged to sell down one or many Attributes. The average Road
80 traveller is Superior or worse in all four Attributes.
81 * Up to 5 points of Stuff either way.
82 * You must have at least one Power; otherwise the Bureau wouldn't have
83 selected you for this mission.
84 * You can spend up to 10 points on Rank, which will determine your
85 position in the local hierarchies and what mundane resources you can
86 draw on; see the table below. In principle the Bureau member with
87 the highest Rank is in charge of the mission; and any Priests or
88 Military in the team are merely advisors...
89 * If you have Eidolon then you're an elite member of the Military, if
90 you have Umbra then you're a Priest or Priestess, if you have
91 neither and Warden or Master of the Road then you're an agent of the
92 Bureau. If you have none of the above then you're either a
93 specialist of the Bureau or a private citizen who has been hired or
94 drafted (give me a backstory)
95 * You can have any items / creatures that (a) are less than 15 points
96 total. Characters without any innate ability to find road on-ramps
97 might wish to have an item with the "Pass through Door" ability to
98 help them find their way onto the Road (or rely on the others!)
99 * The computerized books from _Roadmarks_ are 7 point items
100 * You can have a C20th vehicle stashed at the Road for 1 point
103 ### Modifications to normal abilities:
105 * Warden and Master of the GS are renamed Warden and Master of the
107 * Warden works basically the same way as it does for the Stair;
108 except you're dealing with roads rather than doors. Road
109 on-ramps tend to be out of the way or down dead ends or
110 alleyways; although occasionally you'll find them in what appear
111 to everyone else to be uncompleted highway infrastructure.
112 Locking or Unlocking a road is likely to require a construction
114 * Master will work approximately the same way it does in LoGAS but
115 there will be a lot more interpretation required - if you're
116 interested in taking this we'll have to have a brief chat about
117 how it works for your character.
118 * Eidolon and Umbra can be taken at a 25 point "Initiate" level (and I
119 suggest you do rather than the full version!) - pick one aspect that
120 you're really good at and
121 everything else will work approximately a third as well.
122 * Wrighting: Wrights will be given time after the mission briefing to
123 make two icons of other party members, and can have icons for a
124 contact in the Bureau and any allies they have.
125 * Invocation: I'm not sure how this might be useful, but I'll listen
127 * Cantrips and Sorcery: these both work Really Well on the Road, and
128 less well in the real world the further you get into the
130 * Sorcerors can have up to 4 simple effects that you can use at whim
131 * (e.g. "fireball", about as effective as hitting someone with a
132 sword, "teleport 10m foward" etc)
133 * you can come up with arbitrary effects on actually useful
134 timescales (not on the scale of falling, combat, or geology
135 unless they're very simple modifications of one of your known
136 effects; but on the order of 15 minutes or so).
137 * You can spend 1 point on "Domain" which will give you a hidey hole
138 off or adjacent to the Road somewhere where people know who you are,
139 but it's secret from everyone who you haven't informed about it.
143 |Points| Agent |Specialist| Civilian | Military | Priesthood |
144 |-----:|:--------:|:--------:|:--------:|:--------:|:----------:|
145 | 0 | Trainee |Apprentice| Helot | Soldier | Acolyte |
146 | 1 | Agent |Journeyman| Freeman | Sergeant | Deacon |
147 | 2-3 |Lieutenant|Journeyman| N/A | Corporal | Underpriest|
148 | 4-7 | Captain | Master | N/A |Lieutenant| Priest |
149 | 8-10 | Major | Master | N/A | Captain | Bishop |
152 (Yes, a Captain in the Military outranks a Captain in the Bureau)
156 * 1 point: Contact from the far future or far past - you know someone
157 on the Road or off it who lives a long way from Babylon.
158 * 2 points or 4 points: Friend in Babylon. A 2 point friend is
159 someone of about your peer group and you know who they are. A 4
160 point friend is someone pulling strings higher up in the system, and
161 you have no idea who they are.
162 * 6 points: Ally from the far future or far past - you know someone on
163 the Road or off it who lives a long way from Babylon and they either
164 owe you badly or they are otherwise willing to risk their life for you.