Mistfall: Armageddon
1st EditionBest For
Groups who want long urban-fantasy campaigns built around each character's personal nemesis, with deep investment in interlocking talents, traits and freeform magic.
Core Mechanic
A check adds a characteristic and a Skill die, then subtracts a Fate die, and succeeds when the total equals or beats a Challenge Level from 1 to 30. Skill rank sets the Skill die, from d4 untrained up to d20 plus d4 at rank seven. Each hindering element in the scene adds a rank of Fate, stepping the Fate die from d4 up to d20. A total below 1 is a Bane that brings a major complication. A total of double the Challenge Level or more is a heroic triumph that earns a Boon. Players roll for their own actions and for defense against adversaries.
A single check is a characteristic plus a Skill die minus a Fate die against a Challenge Level. The depth lives in character options: each of 42 mundane skills carries four talent trees, and spells are assembled from manifestations and tags. Those options interlock with layered systems such as status trackers and rarity-based gear. Players and the Narrator have many connected pieces to hold at once.
- Free to tryQuickstartA free starter you can actually play
- Get it nowSold newIn print or as a legal PDF
- –IndexNo back-of-book index or page-keyed reference tables
- ✓GM guidanceA chapter on how to run the game
- ✓Examples of playRules shown in action at the table
- ✓Quick referenceCheat sheet or summary tables
- –Cross-referencesRules rarely point to each other by page
3 of 5 book tools found in the core book
Highlights
Each player designs a personal nemesis, and confronting it at the climax of a Nemesis Cycle (nine sessions is the recommended length) grants Edge win or lose and a characteristic increase on a win. Spells are assembled from manifestations and tags, with larger combinations costing more Soul on the caster's Corruption tracker. Damage to a player character lands on six status trackers tied to the six characteristics, so a social or financial attack wears down Influence or Affluence the way a blade wears down Physicality.
Considerations
The core book contains no ready-to-play adventure, so a first session needs the free Quick Start scenario or material the Narrator builds. Character creation runs ten steps and ends with each player co-designing a nemesis, which makes it a full Session Zero activity. The mechanical content is dark: the Insanity injury table includes self-harm and suicidal ideation, and Warlock patrons can demand the blood sacrifice of an innocent.
Third-Party Publishing
Rules license All Rights Reserved
Noncommercial fan and community content, limited quotation in reviews, shared homebrew modifications or additions that claim no ownership of the original, and parody or transformative works, provided none misrepresents its source. Commercial reuse needs the publisher's prior written permission.
Similar systems
- Mage: The Ascension — Awakened mages reshape reality while rival visions struggle to define the worldCompare Mistfall: Armageddon vs Mage: The Ascension
- Vampire: The Masquerade — Personal horror and political intrigue in the World of DarknessCompare Mistfall: Armageddon vs Vampire: The Masquerade
- Legend of the Five Rings — Samurai in Rokugan navigate court intrigue, duels, and supernatural threats while balancing sworn duty with personal desireCompare Mistfall: Armageddon vs Legend of the Five Rings
- Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Garou packs wield Rage against ecological and spiritual collapseCompare Mistfall: Armageddon vs Werewolf: The Apocalypse
- Changeling: The Lost — Fairy-tale horror where humans stolen by the Fae escape home changed and still huntedCompare Mistfall: Armageddon vs Changeling: The Lost
- The Witcher TRPG — Monster hunting and mortal danger in the world of The WitcherCompare Mistfall: Armageddon vs The Witcher TRPG