Fallen Empires: Master of Indulgence/Maestro d' conversion

So, I had a look at Lumpley's latest iteration of Fallen Empires on the kickstarter, and kinda had a hankering to play it. But I couldn't do that without first making a conversion of the Maestro d'. The Master of Indulgence is meant to be able to represent anything from the ex-adventurer who now rules from behind the bar, to the Littlefinger who brokers in sex and secrets.

Master of Indulgence
When the world is dying, and every day is a hard-earned scrabble for survival, any little bit of pleasure is a luxury. Even while the world is dying, there are still those that trade in these pleasures, whether beer, food, sex or more unusual luxuries. People who will separate you from the essentials you need to survive, in exchange for the ability to briefly forget your everyday life of toil and misery

Name
Anika, Backhand, Esco, Graves, Julianna, Lovelace, Martin, Murder, Rache, Saffron, Target

Look
Man, woman, ambiguous, transgressing.
Dark skin, light skin.
Austere clothing, fanciful clothing, plain clothing, rich clothing, robes, or spectacular clothing.
Pinched face, boyish face, pretty face, expressive face, full face, tattooed face, porcelain face, or scarred face.
Cool eyes, bright eyes, inquisitive eyes, frank eyes, mischievous eyes, or one eye.
Fat body, restless body, stubby body, curvy body, unusual body, or lean body.
Flexible hands, quick hands, precise hands, nervous hands, sausage fingers, scarred hands, or playful hands.

Stats
Choose one set:
• Cool+1 Hard-1 Hot+2 Sharp=0 Weird+1
• Cool=0 Hard+1 Hot+2 Sharp+1 Weird-1
• Cool-1 Hard+2 Hot+2 Sharp=0 Weird-1
• Cool=0 Hard=0 Hot+2 Sharp+1 Weird=0

Master of Indulgence Moves
You get all the basic moves, and choose 2 master of indulgence moves.
You can use all the battle moves, but learn defending something you hold, baiting a trap, and turning the tables first.
O Good Advice: When a character asks you for advice while you provide an indulgence, tell them what you honestly think the best course is. If they do it, they take +1 to any rolls they make in the doing, and you mark experience.
O Master of this Place: When you Fly at Someone or use a battle moves inside your establishment, you get +1 to your roll, and may reduce the distance of the fight to whichever distance you please.
O Fingers in every pie: Put out the word that you want a thing — cold be information, could be a person, could be a service, could even be just a thing—and roll+hot. On a 10+, it soon arrives at your establishment. On a 7-9, choose 1
• You learn where you can find it.
• It arrives, but it’ll cost you extra.
On a miss, you learn where you can find it, and it is very bad news.
O Everybody eats, even that guy: When you want to know something about someone important (your call), roll+hot. On a hit, you can ask the MC questions. On a 10+, ask 3. On a 7-9, ask 1:
• How are they doing? what’s up with them?
• What or who do they love best?
• Who do they know, like and/or trust?
• When next should I expect to see them?
• How could I get to them, physically or emotionally?
On a miss, ask 1 anyway, but they hear about your interest in them.
O Just give me a motive: Name somebody who might conceivably eat, drink, or otherwise ingest something you’ve touched. If it’s an NPC, roll+hard; a PC, roll+Hx. On a 10+, they do, and suffer 4-harm (ap) sometime during the next 24 hours. On a 7-9, it’s 2-harm (ap). On a miss, some several people of the MC’s choice, maybe including your guy, maybe not, get it, and all suffer 3-harm (ap).

Equipment
You get:
• A master’s weapon
• Coin or goods worth 2 keep.
• Clothing suitable to your look.

Master’s weapons:
O A slim sword(deadly: hand-to-hand)
O A broken tableleg (deadly: hand-to-hand)
O A no-nonsense dagger (deadly: infighting)
O A lead-filled sap (deadly: infighting)
O A hidden fighting knife (deadly: brawling)
O A well-used set of brass knuckles (deadly: brawling)

History
Everyone introduces their characters by name, look and outlook. Take your turn.
List the other characters’ names.
Go around again for history. On your turn, ask either or both:
• Which of you do I find most attractive? For those characters, write Hx+2.
• Which one of you is my favorite? For that character, write Hx+3
For everyone else, write history+1. It’s your business to see people clearly.
On the others’ turns, answer their questions as you like.
At the end, choose one of the characters with the highest history on your sheet. Ask that player which of your stats is most interesting, and highlight it. ?e MC will have you highlight a second stat too.

Establishment
Your establishment features one main indulgence supported by 2 lesser indulgences (like a bar features alcohol, supported by music and good food).
 
O exotic food
O music
O private rooms
O lots of meat
O sex
O drugs
O good food
O weird sex
O competitions
O alcohol
O pit fights
O gambling
O isolation from the world’s psychic maelstrom

For your establishment’s atmosphere, choose & underline 3 or 4: bustle, intimacy, exotic, smoke, shadows, perfume, safety, velvet, savage, cozy, brass, melting pot, fire place, fire pit, acoustics, anonymity, meat, torches, eavesdropping, blood, intrigue, glowing glyphs, violence, nostalgia, spice, quiet, luxury, nudity, neutral ground, forgetting, pain, protection, grime, noise, dancing, masks, fresh fruit, subterranean, a cage.

Your regulars include these 5 NPCs (at least): Hartz, Jan, Lisa, Rogen, Soren.
Who is your best regular?
Who’s your worst regular?

These 3 NPCs (at least) have an interest in your establishment: Harriet, Pane, Xavier.
Who wants in on it?
Who do you owe for it?
Who wants it gone?

For security, choose 1 of these:
O A professional group of guards (small gang, 3 harm, 1 armor)
O A series of wards that can be activated to deal 2 harm to all inside, except those that...
                                .
Or else choose 2 of these:
O A powerful patron
O A powerful regular
O A bouncer who knows his biz (2 harm, 1 armor)
O Sturdy furniture (2 armor)
O Secrecy, passwords, codes & signals, invites-only, vouching, etc.
O Every man a warrior: your cast & crew are a gang (small gang, 2 harm, 0 armor)
O A warren of dead-ends, hideaways & boltholes
O No fixed location, always new venues

Master of Indulgence Special
If you personally provide another character with an indulgence beyond the ordinary, it counts as having sex with them.

Goals
During play, it’s your job to have your character make and pursue goals. They can be any goals you want, long term and short-. Begin by thinking what your goals might be this very morning, as play begins.

Improvement
Whenever you roll a highlighted stat, and whenever you reset your history with someone, mark an experience circle. When you mark the 5th, improve and erase. Each time you improve, choose one of the options. Check it off; you can’t choose it again.

Improvement
__ get +1hot (max hot+3)
__ get +1cool (max cool+2)
__ get +1hard (max hard+2)
__ get +1weird (max weird+2)
__ get a new master of indulgence move
__ get a new master of indulgence move
__ add a security to your establishment
__ resolve somebody’s interest in your establishment
__ get a move from another playbook
__ get a move from another playbook

__ get +1 to any stat (max stat+3)
__ retire your character to safety
__ create a second character to play
__ change your character to a new playbook
__ choose 3 basic moves and advance them.
__ advance the other 4 basic moves.

Your Keep
Your establishment provides for your day-to-day living, so while you’re open for business, you need not spend barter for your lifestyle at the beginning of the session.
When you have keep left over, you might spend it on: a night in high luxury and company; someone else’s protection, service, or labor; a weapon or other equipment; tribute to a warlord; the bribes required to turn someone’s eye or secure someone’s complicity; rich or beautiful clothing; or other things as you can arrange for them.

Excellent idea!

The Quarantine would be good for Fallen Empires, as well.

Wait, as in, a Quarantine from present day? My first thought would be an extraplanar visitor, with magic instead of tech. Like a djinn trapped in a human body with the local spirits (the maelstrom) having an issue with that. Not sure how the cool focus would work...

I kept thinking of the Quarantine as the Faceless for some reason. And having thought about both concepts now, I feel like I have to make them once I get back home.

Wait, as in, a Quarantine from present day? My first thought would be an extraplanar visitor, with magic instead of tech. Like a djinn trapped in a human body with the local spirits (the maelstrom) having an issue with that. Not sure how the cool focus would work...

Actually, I think something like "The last legionary" kinda deal (Disciplined, to fit in with the high cool, and maybe a roman fort or something in place of the stasis facility, maybe a fort's garrison was put into enchanted slumber)

Actually, while I was thinking of that, the vision got kinda cool, so ill write the blurb for my vision of it, and maybe add the rest soon.

The legionary

The magicians called you down into the vault, deep within the foundations of the keep. They bid you to lay down, as all the others had. they wove their spells, and you felt the darkness engulf you.

Now you wake, decades later, and take up your sword once again. the emperor may be dead, but the empire will never fall!

Ooh, I like that a lot. Especially the whole exploring why the great empires fell. Or rather, why they mostly fell... except for you.

Yeah, exactly.

The implication that the legionnaire's masters might have been responsible for everyone collapsing is part of the fun, remember!

I figure now is a good time (because it's chem class, and I am horribly bored)

The legionary

NAME
[Insert roman-ish names here]

LOOK
Man or woman.
Dark skin,  Light skin
Polished armour, Tarnished armour
 Young face. Scared eyes, shadowed eyes, lively eyes, clear eyes, steady eyes, lost eyes, eager eyes.
Athletic body, stocky body, thin body, compact body, rangy body.

STATS
Choose one set:
• Cool+2, Hard+1, Hot=0, Sharp+1, Weird—
 • Cool+2, Hard=0, Hot+1, Sharp+1, Weird—
• Cool+2, Hard-1, Hot=0, Sharp+2, Weird—
 • Cool+2, Hard+1, Hot+1, Sharp=0, Weird—
When you awoke from slumber, the world’s psychic maelstrom rushed in on you. Roll+hard.
On a 10+, you were able to receive it without succumbing to it; you have weird-1.
On a 7–9, you were able to hold it off; you have weird-nil. You are unable to open your brain to the world’s psychic maelstrom; getting +1weird will give you weird=0.
On a miss, it overcame you; you have weird+1, and in addition the MC must always highlight your weird.

MOVES
You get all the basic moves. You get 3 Legionary moves. You can use all the battle moves, but when you get the chance, look up defending something you hold, hunting prey, escaping a hunter, and the tactical and support moves.

Combat veteran: you get +1 cool (cool+3).
Disciplined engagement: You may always adjust the range of combat by one step either way.
Group Tactics: in battle, when you help someone who’s rolling, don’t roll+Hx. You help them as though you’d hit the roll with a 10+.
Obedient: when you go to someone for advice, they must tell you honestly what they think the best course is. If you pursue that course, take +1 to any rolls you make in the pursuit. If you pursue that course but don’t accomplish your ends, you mark experience.
Natural leader: when another player’s character rolls+Hx to help you, they mark experience.


Gear
In addition to your Haven, you get:
• A Gladius (Deadly: (deadly: on the field & hand-to-hand)
• A Dagger (deadly: infighting)
• Javelins (Thrown Deadly: On the field)
• Your armour and shield (2-armor valuable)

History
Everyone introduces their characters by name, look and outlook. Take your turn. List the other characters’ names. Go around again for Hx.
On your turn, ask:
 • Which of you did I meet first when I awoke from slumber?
For those characters, write Hx+1.
For everyone else, write Hx-2. You are not from here and you do not understand.

On the others’ turns, answer their questions as you like. Likely you’ll answer none of them.

At the end, choose one of the characters with the highest Hx on your sheet. Ask that player which of your stats is most interesting, and highlight it. e MC will have you highlight a second stat too.

Haven

As things stand at the beginning of play, anyone released from Slumber suffers both 2-harm area ap and ?-harm.
You emerged from slumber (choose 1):
a few days ago, a few weeks ago, a few months ago.

Remaining in slumber are the rest of your unit, plus (choose 1 or more):
your friends, your colleagues, your family, your superiors.

The Haven has remained untouched by outsiders. Why? Choose 1 or more:
 It’s very remote. It has powerful wards. they’re in awe or terror of the undying people within.
]When you awoke from Slumber, another soldier emerged with you. What happened to them? Choose 1:
the world’s psychic maelstrom inflicted 2-harm, killing her.
the world’s psychic maelstrom inflicted ?-harm, shattering th sanity.
the world’s psychic maelstrom inflicted ?-harm, and you were forced to kill them in self-defense.
You don’t know. You haven’t seen or heard from them

Most of the rooms have been warded by the magicians, and in your slumber, the incantations have slipped away, all but one of them are closed to you. (choose 1):

Vault: You can awaken everyone from their slumber, all at once or one by one.
Shrine: bring someone into the shrine, and leave offerings for protection, and you can isolate them from the world’s psychic maelstrom. With suitable offerings and prayer, you can use the rig to further manipulate the world’s psychic maelstrom: treat this as augury, but roll+sharp instead of rolling+weird. These gods make sense, in a way the maelstrom never will/
Healers room: the Haven includes a Ceremonial space, similar to the bonepickers still room.  Bring your patients into it and you can contemplate, understand, and transform them like a mystic can contemplate and transform reality (cf).
Archives: The Haven includes an investigative Ceremonial space in the form of its records and historical archives. Access them and you can get to the bottom of the past like A Mystic contemplate and investigates reality (cf).
Forge: The Haven includes a forge and other tools to work wood, metal, and leather. When you are in it, you may you can contemplate, understand, and transform  those substances like a mystic can contemplate and transform reality.
Treasury: you can scavenge the facility for its spare parts. Each time you do, you get 5-keep worth of equipment and valuables, to detail or use as barter, but permanently scratch out one Haven facility. (Yes, you can choose to scratch out this one.)
Armory: The Haven includes Sets of arms (Gladius, Daggers, and Javelins) and 6 suits of Imperial legion armour (2-armor valuable), intended to arm the rest of your comrades Unlock its armory and they’re yours.

Legionary special

You were there when the world ended, but you’ve been in stasis for 50 years and your
memory is only slowly returning. At the beginning of each session(Or when you sleep, I can't decide), roll+sharp. On a hit,
ask the group one of the following questions and they’ll answer it. On a 10+, you can ask a
followup question, which can be from the list but needn’t. On a miss, the MC will choose
a question and you will answer it.
— Where was I when the world ended?
— Did we know whose fault it was?
— Who did it hit worst?
— Was it sudden or gradual?
— Could we have stopped it?
— Who were the first people to know?
— What was the first year like?
— How long did we hold out hope?
— What did we try that failed?
— What were the first signs that the world was ending?
— Who did I lose?
— Who seemed safe, but wasn’t?
— What’s the worst thing I saw?
— When it reached us, what did we already know?
— What let some people survive, when others couldn’t?

Goals
During play, it’s your job to have your character make and pursue goals. They can be any goals you want, long term and short-. Begin by thinking what your goals might be this very morning, as play begins.

Improvement
Whenever you roll a highlighted stat, and whenever you reset your history with someone, mark an experience circle. When you mark the5th, improve and erase. Each time you improve, choose one of the options. Check it off; you can’t choose it again.

— get +1hard (max hard+2)
— get +1sharp (max sharp+2)
 — get +1weird (max weird+2)
— unlock a stasis facility
— unlock a stasis facility
— unlock a stasis facility
— Get a small holding (you detail) and wealth
— get a move from another playbook
— get a move from another playbook
— get a move from another playbook

— Get +1 to any stat (max stat+3)
— Retire your character to safety
— Create a second character to play
— Change your character to a new playbook
— Choose 3 basic moves and advance them Advance the other 4 basic moves

Keep

At the beginning of the session, spend 1- or 2-Keep for your lifestyle. You haven’t managed yet to fit yourself into any local barter economy. If you need some jingle, you’re going to have to figure that out.

In addition to your lifestyle, you might spend your keep on: a night in high luxury and company; someone else’s protection, service, or labor; a weapon or other equipment; tribute to a warlord; the bribes required to turn someone’s eye or secure someone’s complicity; rich or beautiful clothing; or other things as you can arrange for them.








I changed a few things, like the special move (It just felt out of place, so I used the past move from first edition in its place) and added/altered the stasis facilities to be more interesting/relevant. other than that, I basically just changed language and equipment. and If you ever read this Vincent, yes, I do spend 80% of my chem lecture doing game design.

And here is mine. Because of the basic idea, it ended up with a different focus than the original Quarantine.

Eternal Guardian
In the time of the great empires, great lords would get buried in elaborate tombs filled with treasures and guardians. Guardians with their own mind and will, that were put to slumber to guard their master eternally.
Or until somebody opened the tomb.

Name
Abel, Cloud, Guardian, Krall, Lotus, Rock, Rook, Storm, Zerx

Look
Neuter, masculine, feminine.
Made from bronze, made from granite, made from sandstone, made from wood and leather, made from mummified body parts.
Solid throughout, crystal heart, black ichor, arcane vortex, cogs and wires, constantly twisting vines
Human face, bestial face, masked face, tentacled face, no face
Dead eyes, lively eyes, sage eyes, clear eyes, steady eyes, inquisitive eyes, no eyes.
Bestial body, huge body, towering body, stocky body, lanky body

Stats
Choose one set:
• Cool+2 Hard+1 Hot=0 Sharp+1 Weird - nil
• Cool+2 Hard=0 Hot+1 Sharp+1 Weird - nil
• Cool+2 Hard-1 Hot=0 Sharp=+2Weird - nil
• Cool+2 Hard+1 Hot+1 Sharp=0 Weird - nil
You were created on different principles than those that govern the psychic maelstrom. When you awaken from your slumber, you have no connection to it.

Eternal Guardian Moves
You get all the basic moves, and choose 3 eternal guardian moves.
You can use all the battle moves, but learn defending something you hold, hunting prey, escaping a hunter, and the tactical and support moves.

O Heart of Stone: you get +1 cool (cool+3).
O Made for War: In battle, you count as a mounted warrior even on foot (+1 harm, +1 armor against non-mounted enemies; mounted enemies get no advantage against you).
O Perfect Servitor: In battle, when you help someone who’s rolling, don’t roll+Hx. You help them as though you’d hit the roll with a 10+.
O Impenetrable Defense: If you steel yourself, and do nothing but concentrate on your defense, you get +1 armor in addition to any armor you might already have.
O Inheritor of the Empire: When another player’s character rolls+Hx to help you, they mark experience.

Equipment
You get:
• 1 serious weapon or Claws (deadly: brawling)
• Armor (2 armor), specially constructed, or built into your form

History
Everyone introduces their characters by name, look and outlook. Take your turn.
List the other characters’ names.

Go around again for history. On your turn, ask:
• Which of you did I first meet when I emerged from the tomb. Write history+1
For everyone else, write history-2. You are not from here, and you do not understand.

On the others’ turns, answer their questions as you like.
At the end, choose one of the characters with the highest history on your sheet. Ask that player which of your stats is most interesting, and highlight it. The MC will have you highlight a second stat too.

Your Orders
Your makers imbued you with a number of commands (Get the first, and choose three more)

X Protect the tomb against all intruders
O Spread the rule of the empire
O Maintain the local power structure
O Protect the heirs of the imperial line
O Uphold imperial law
O Protect the weak
O Obey the orders of any Mystic
O Keep mystical artefacts out of the hands of the unworthy
O Root out and destroy all servants of the maelstrom

However, your time in slumber has weakened the commands hold on your mind. Any time a command comes up, you can choose to
• Follow it, and gain 1 experience
• Break it, and cross out the command

The Tomb
Over the course of time, the entrance to many of the chambers of the tomb has collapsed. However, they can be uncovered once again.

Uncovered tomb chambers (choose 1)
O Guardian Chamber: In this chamber stands five more guardian constructs in slumber. You can awaken them, all at once or one at a time.
O Warding Circle: Bring someone into the circle and you can isolate them from the world’s psychic maelstrom. With a little ritual, you can use the circle to further manipulate the world’s psychic maelstrom: treat this as augury, but roll+sharp instead of rolling+weird.
O Arcana Workshop: Includes a chamber with ritual components and tools for engraving and inscription. Uncover it, and you can imbue your body with magical power like a mystic would.
O Library: Includes a chamber filled with records and historical archives. Uncover it and you can get to the bottom of the past like a mystic discovering the truth about something.
O Gold and Plunder: You can scavenge the tomb for its treasures. Each time you do, you get 5 keep worth of gems and precious metals, but permanently scratch out one tomb chamber. (Yes, you can choose to scratch out this one.)
O Armory: This chamber contains 20 serious weapons and 20 suits of breastplate, helmet and boots (2 armor valuable ancient), intended to arm the soldiers of your charge in the afterlife.

Eternal Guardian Special
If you let another character work on you (repair you, modify you, decorate you), it counts as having sex with them. In addition to the other characters sex move, he gets to decide whether you get +1 or -1 history with him.

Goals
During play, it’s your job to have your character make and pursue goals. They can be any goals you want, long term and short-. Begin by thinking what your goals might be this very morning, as play begins. You can look to your commands for inspiration, or you could have different goals, to which the commands are a distraction.

Improvement
Whenever you roll a highlighted stat, and whenever you reset your history with someone, mark an experience circle. When you mark the 5th, improve and erase. Each time you improve, choose one of the options. Check it off; you can’t choose it again.

Improvement
__ Get +1hard (max hard+2)
__ Get +1sharp (max sharp+2)
__ Get +1weird (max weird+2)
__ Uncover tomb chamber
__ Uncover tomb chamber
__ Uncover tomb chamber
__ Get followers (you detail) and fortunes
__ Get a war-band (you detail) and leadership
__ get a move from another playbook
__ get a move from another playbook

__ get +1 to any stat (max stat+3)
__ retire your character to safety
__ create a second character to play
__ change your character to a new playbook
__ choose 3 basic moves and advance them.
__ advance the other 4 basic moves.

Your Keep
You require no sustenance, and so do need not spend barter for your lifestyle at the beginning of the session.

When you have keep left over, you might spend your keep on: a night in high luxury and company; someone else’s protection, service, or labor; a weapon or other equipment; tribute to a warlord; the bribes required to turn someone’s eye or secure someone’s complicity; rich or beautiful clothing; or other things as you can arrange for them.