Words From Nora Blake

Dust Wardens

You are the Dust Wardens, powerful witches of myriad disciplines tasked with roaming the open American road and dispatching the monsters that prey on humanity. You have the following attributes:

  • Grit: your fighting spirit
  • Guts: your physical ability
  • Guile: your mental acuity
  • Gear: your tech
  • Glamour: your arcane craft
  • Groove: your charm and wit

Assign the following numbers to those attributes: 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3. These represent your affinity for their appropriate attributes and how many cards you draw when you attempt a daring action or engage in a heroic struggle using a given approach.

Drawn cards are those used to gain an effect in the world. You draw them by taking actions. Place these face up on the table, arranged by suit.

Discarded cards are stolen potential, the ever encroaching threat of failure and demise. You discard them when you take damage. Place these face down in one pile.

The fate of a coven is written in cards.

  • 2-5: You suffer a major setback and don’t accomplish your goal.
  • 6-10: You succeed at a cost, or forfeit your opportunity at no extra drawback.
  • Face cards: You succeed fully, gaining exactly the outcome you wanted.
  • Aces: You succeed, and activate a special ability based on the Ace drawn.
  • Jokers: These don’t count toward your hand and don’t affect your result. If you draw only a Joker, draw a second card for your result. When you draw a Joker, the GM introduces an added complication, increases the danger in a scene, or brings to bear an established harm.

If you draw multiple cards, add together the results only if the cards are of identical suits. Otherwise, your result is the highest card you drew.

Resetting the Deck

Recall all cards and shuffle the deck any time any of the following occurs:

  • The session begins.
  • A full suit of cards has been drawn and placed on the table.
  • All four Aces are drawn.
  • The party defeats a named villain or secures a valuable objective.
  • A player character dies.
  • The session ends.

Health and Damage

The deck of unused cards represents your potential and power. Your coven thrives on mystery and always stands united. When you take damage or harm, draw one card.

  • On a 2-5, take the next three cards and discard them.
  • On a 6-10, discard 2.
  • On a face, discard one. If you run out of cards in the deck, death comes for your coven.

Healing

By spending time mending wounds and resting in the narrative, you regain a modicum of your spent power. For each player involved in the healing, shuffle three cards from the discard pile into the main deck.

Basic Actions

These are your primary ways of interacting with the world. Anything not covered here is subject to GM rule and/or party consensus.

Face Your Fear
When you act despite fear or danger, draw +Grit. On a face, you do it. On a 6-10, you falter. The GM will give you a hard choice.

Apply Force
When you bring your strength to bear to attack an enemy, move something heavy, or use your body to traverse an environment, draw +Guts. On a face, you perfectly measure your strength and its application. On a 6-10, choose one, and on a 2-5, the GM chooses two.

  • You damage something you didn’t mean to.
  • You get hurt along the way.
  • You attract unwanted attention.
  • You move into a risky position.

Focus
When you take stock of your surroundings, a person, or a situation, draw +Guile. On a 2-5, ask one question. On a 6-10 ask two, and on a face ask three.

  • What am I most in danger from?
  • What is about to happen?
  • What is my best approach to _?
  • What here is useful or valuable?
  • What emotions do I sense?
  • Who here has most recently lied?

Get Equipped
When you bring out a tool or gadget to help you or operate a device, draw +Gear. On a 6-10 choose one, and on a face choose two.

  • It does the job you wanted.
  • It doesn’t require maintenance afterward.

Channel
When you weave a magic spell, state your intent and draw +Glamor. On a 6-10 choose two, on a face choose one.

  • Your spell has a significantly increased effect.
  • Your spell has a significantly decreased effect.
  • You must sacrifice something to cast the spell.
  • You attract unwanted attention.

Negotiate
When you employ charm or intimidation to get something from someone, draw +Groove. On a face, they do what you want or give you what you seek. On a 6-10, they give you an unbalanced deal or unfavorable exchange.

Special Abilities

These effects are triggered when you draw an Ace. They last until the end of the session.

  • Hearts: You may draw an extra card when drawing with the attribute you used to draw this card.
  • Clubs: You count 10s as successes and 5s as partial successes.
  • Diamonds: You may add cards of different suits to determine your draw results instead of taking only the highest card value.
  • Spades: When you suffer harm, discard only 1 card without making a harm draw.

Running the Game

As the GM, your job is to describe the world and its inhabitants, make dangers feel real but surmountable, and give your players opportunity for grand heroics, tense drama, and raucous comedy.

Adventures run in Dust Wardens should be simple, lasting two sessions at most but leaning toward one. The game shines brightest as a series of episodic adventures.

When it comes to initiative or acting order, open the scene and ask that classic question: “What do you do?”

Normally, you should swap perspective between characters and give everyone equal spotlight. However, when a player draws a full success, allow them the reins of the narrative. Let them describe how they accomplish their task. Then let them decide who moves next.

Unlike other RPGs, character progression is not a focus. Characters should develop through actions and roleplaying. If you feel that a character has changed to such a degree that their attributes no longer represent them, talk with the player about swapping their attributes around to better serve their narrative.

To prepare your session, consult the following lists and make selections as you like. But don’t feel restricted–disregard these suggestions in favor of your own creations if you’ve got an idea that better fits the style of your game, party, and players.

Monsters

Monsters roam the open roads, usually avoiding large populated areas. They generally prefer to strike at travelling individuals and small groups, which is why it’s up to the Dust Wardens to track them down and eliminate them. You should create one monster per adventure…to start with, at least!

Choose the monster’s size:

  • Humanoid
  • Beast
  • Behemoth
  • Convoy

Choose the monster’s desire:

  • Food
  • Shelter
  • Light
  • Worship

Choose the monster’s strength:

  • Invulnerable Hide
  • Incredible Speed
  • Magical Offense
  • Perfect Camouflage

Choose the monster’s weakness:

  • Magic
  • Fire
  • Faith
  • Darkness

Settings

The Setting of the adventure determines the terrain that the players will encounter in your quest. Choose at least 2 from the list or create your own:

  • Open desert
  • Winding roads
  • Train tracks
  • Abandoned mines
  • The graveyard of a forest
  • A mountain

Settlements

Settlements are where the people you are tasked with protecting live, work, love, and die. When the Wardens enter a settlement or town, they can restock on gas and ammunition, track rumors of recent attacks, and blow off steam.

The Settlement has a scarcity:

  • Water
  • Commerce
  • Hope
  • Population

The Settlement has an excess:

  • Violence
  • Idealism
  • Property
  • Animals