HOW TO PLAY ECOLOGICAL SCIENCE FANTASY RPG

Party Goals
Goals
A traveling party needs a purpose. To generate your party’s motivation, 1d10 Action What Where
roll on the Party Goals Table, or come up with your own. As soon as a 1–2. a large item 1–5. From one random
goal is accomplished, replace that goal with another one. 3–4. a priceless item location to one
Character Responses 5–6. a person or populated location.
1-2 Deliver…
A character’s response is their emotional, social, or mental reaction corpse 6–10. From one
to a situation. Whenever a character’s response is uncertain, roll 7–8. a random item populated location to a
1d10 on a character’s Response Chart. Roll during encounters, 9–10. a message random location.
party discussions, NPC interactions, etc.
1–2. in the
1–2. a missing person
Conflict ratings Breadbasket.
Each response and NPC reaction has a conflict rating that increases 3–4. an ancient relic
3–4. in the Weeds.
(+) or decreases (−) the tension in a situation. During every 5–6. an important
3-4 Find… 5–6. In the Thickwood.
encounter or interaction, sum the +/− symbols of the characters, person or rival
animals, friends, and foes. A + and a − cancel each other out. If the 7–8. In the Rustbucket.
7–8. lost knowledge
end result is at least + + + +, a violent encounter begins. 9–10. In a random
9–10. natural beauty
location.
Example: The party (Stan and Goldfish) meets a trading courier. 1–2. of rampaging
The player rolls responses for Stan (Flexible − −) and Goldfish
( Violent + + + +). The player rolls a mood roll for the Courier Imago.
( Wary + +). Stan’s − − and the courier’s ++ cancel one another out, so 3–4. of the waking
the total conflict rating is + + + +, meaning a violent encounter begins. Sleeping giant.
5–6. of an impending
Skill checks and saves 5 Warn… military attack.
Whenever a character attempts something risky or endures A random populated
something difficult, make a Skill Check or a Save against that 7–8. of slippery
location.
character’s most relevant Stat or Save number. Follow all normal weather on the
procedures related to Stat Checks and Saves as outlined in the horizon.
Cloud Empress Rulebook. 9–10. of a dangerous
Lordling or Magician.
Tracking successes and failures
Whenever a character is successful during a Stat Check or Save, 1-2. a stockpile of
mark an ‘S’ in the Party Morale box on the character sheet. chalk
Whenever a party member fails a Stat Check or a Save record an 1–5. from a random
3-4. an ancient relic
‘F’ in the Party Morale box. Record these results chronologically. location.
6 Steal… 5-6. a crest
6–10. from a random
7-8. a weapons
populated location.
stockpile
LOCATION SELECTION 9-10. a tank
When a Party Goal requires a random location, roll on the 1–2. a farmerling
appropriate tables below. festival.
3–4. a joining
Populated location. Whenever the party enters a populated 1–5. In a random
location, roll 1d10. On the result of 5 or lower, gain a new party ceremony.
location
member (max 4). 7 Plan… 5–6. a lordling dinner
6–10. In a random
7–8. a military
1. Tack Town [B18] populated location
offensive.
2. Brownbearded Cran’s Manor [B42] 9–10. a naming
3. Fort Snek [W19]
4. Dredgeopolis [W27] ceremony.
5. Old Old Town Bunker [R18] 1–4. From the
6. Order of the Broken Bread Hideout [W37] Eastern Feeding
7. Brood Monk camp [T15]
8. Harborville [T28] Grounds
9. Absolution Village [B15] 5–9. From the
8-9 Collect chalk.
Western Feeding
10. Acorn Village [B21]
Grounds
Rustbucket
Roll 1d20 and use the corresponding hex on the Rustbucket map.
10. From a random
location
SOLO PROTOCOL
Random 1–2. an ancient Imago in the Thickwood. Credits: Written by watt, Edited by Roz Leahy, Illustration: Garin
Roll 1d12 for the x coordinate (count from left to right), and 1d10 3–4. a fleshthresher in the Breadbasket. (Cover). Copyright information: Copyright 2023 worlds by watt.
for the y coordinate (count from top to bottom). If the location of the Redistribution without prior written consent is prohibited. Permission granted
10 Hunt… 5–6. a sniper–crow in the Breadbasket.
to photocopy and otherwise reproduce for personal use. All authors retain
goal doesn’t make sense with the selected hex, re-roll until it does.
7–8. ten crab rats in the Rustbucket. the right to be identified as such. In all cases this notice must remain intact.
9–10. a Lordling in the Weeds.
SOLO PROTOCOL
Gem the Wise Full Grown
1d100 CHARACTER RESPONSE TYPES NAME & ALIAS AGE
Cloud Empress Solo Protocol enables you to play the Cloud
Empress Ecological Science Fantasy Roleplaying game on your 00–01 Adaptive (− −) 50–51 Trusting (− −)
own. With the Solo Protocol you play as an entire traveling party
She/her Self-Preservationist Sellsword
simultaneously. To play, you’ll need a copy of the Cloud Empress: 02–03 Brave (−) 52–53 Agitated (+ +) OUTLOOK JOB
PRONOUNS
Rulebook, the Cloud Empress: Land of Cicadas setting book and a
Solo Protocol character sheet (downloadable at cloudempress.
04–05 Charming (− − −) 54–55 Aggressive (+ + +) 10 1
com). Take the group actions (travel, hunt & gather, rest) just as you 06–07 Collected (− −) 56–57 Argumentative (+ +)
would in a multiplayer game.
08–09 Compassionate (− −) 58–59 Arrogant (+ +)
Critical

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GENERATING YOUR TRAVELING PARTY 10–11 Confident (−) 60–61 Bitter ( + +)

2
1. Give your traveling party a name and record it. 12–13 Creative (− −) 62–63 Broken (+ +)
(+ +) Deductive
2. Generate 2–3 characters using the character creation
instructions in the Cloud Empress Rulebook. Record each 14–15 Decisive (−) 64–65 Brutal (+ + + +) (-)
character's stats, saves, AP, and some high-level details of
the character's gear on a Solo Protocol character sheet. 16–17 Deductive (−) 66–67 Critical (+ + ) Trusting

8
3. Roll 1d10 for each party member’s outlook. Their outlook

3
determines why a character might leave the traveling party. 18–19 Direct (−) 68–69 Dishonest (+ + + ) (+)
4. Fill in each character’s Response chart. To create each 20–21 Ethical (− −) 70–71 Emotional (+)
character's chart: Guilty
22–23 Flattering (− − −) 72–73 Frightened (+ +)
First, roll 1d100 to determine the type of response.
24–25 Flexible (− −) 74–75 Guilty (+)
(+)
Then, roll 1d6 to determine the probability of that response,

7
26–27 Friendly (− −) 76–77 Haughty (+ +)

4
outlining that many chart segments. Write the response name
and conflict rating (the number of +’s or −’s next to it) in that 28--29 Heroic (−) 78–79 Haunted (+)
outlined section.
30–31 Honest (−) 80–81 Idealistic (+ +) 6 5
Repeat this process, each time outlining the next section of the 32–33 Humble (− − −) 82–83 Jealous (+)
chart, until the entire circle has been divided into different response
types. If your d6 roll exceeds the remaining number of segments, 34--35 Inspiring (−) 84–85 Jumpy (+ + +)
MIND 22 ARMOR 0
simply outline the remaining segments.

Example: You roll a 62 (Violent + + + +) and a 5 (50% probability)

for your character, Goldfish. You outline the first half of the circle 38–39 Mercantile (−) 88–89 Obsessive (+ +)
and write “Violent + + + +” inside that outlined section. Then you 40–41 Observant (− −) 90–91 Protective (+) STRENGTH 30 FEAR 25 WOUNDS
roll a 31 (Guilty +), and a 3 and record the result. Finally, you
finish the chart with a roll of 24 (Creative − −), and a 4, outlining 42–43 Patient (− − −) 92–93 Stealthy (+)
just the remaining two segments.
44–45 Practical (− −) 94–95 Suspicious (+ +)
SPEED 48 BODY 56 STRESS
1d10 OUTLOOKS 46–47 Prepared (− −) 96–97 Unforgiving (+) JOB CONDITION:
Optimist. This character leaves the party upon the 48–49 Professional (− −) 98–99 Violent (+ + + +)
1 completion of 3 goals. When friends see you Panic, they
2 Pessimist. This character leaves the party whenever the must make a FEAR SAVE or they
party fails three times in a row.
NPC MOOD TABLE (SOLO) PANIC too.
Wild card. This character has no set response profile. 1d10 Roll on the Mood Table whenever an NPC’s attitude
Roll 1d100 from all available responses in each is uncertain. SKILLS:
3 encounter and interaction. This character leaves the
party when they die or the party is disbanded. 1 Generous (− − −) Blades, Street Savvy, Singing, Medicine
Follower. This character is devoted to another party 2 Friendly (− −)
4 member and will leave when they leave.
3 Curious (−)
5 Protector. When another party member would die or GEAR (max 10):
leave the party, this character leaves instead. 4 Needy Prison rags (0 AP), ankle manacles, 2 stolen
Ambitious. This character leaves the party whenever the 5 Disinterested (+) military hand bombs (1 Wound), a radio
6 party succeeds three times in a row. emitting dental implant, a stick of chalk.
Thrill-seeker. If the total number of successes and
6 Wary (+)
7 failures are ever equal, this character leaves the party 7 Afraid (+ +)
(min. 5 each).
8 Defensive (+ + +) Notes, spells, and consequences:
Self-preservationist. If this character ever has two
8 wounds simultaneously, they leave the party. 9 Aggressive (+ + +) Escaped from a Cloudling prison,
Half-hearted. When the party achieves its next goal, 10 Cruel (+ + + +) Spells: Sleepy Clone Shape, traveling with a
9 this character leaves the party. massive Imago drinking horn
Craven. When this character would die from a wound,
10 another character dies instead.
Printable character sheets at CloudEmpress.com