Ben Dutter

An Ethos Engine RPG

Copyright Sigil Stone Publishing 2016

Table of Contents
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.

Introduction
The Belly
Getting Started
Characters
Gameplay
Game Mastering
Hungry God
Tables and Seeds
Character Sheet

I: Introduction
Belly of the Beast is a grim tabletop RPG about brutal, selfish scavengers
surviving in the gut of a titanic, parasitic, world eating monster.
Hundreds of years ago a massive rock fell from the sky, crushing kingdoms
and continents beneath it. Eventually, life in the realms returned to a state of
normalcy, and the many clans continued their incessant struggle for power.
Three generations past, the skyrock - said to possess foul energies and
discordant vibrations - erupted in a disgusting ball of effluence and viscera,
revealing the creature that dwelt within it, the Swallower of Worlds, the
Insatiable God, the Devourer, or simply: the Beast.
Incalculably large, the Beast unfurled its great girth upon the land, consuming
thousands of leagues of soil, stone, and forest. One by one, the mighty
strongholds and great armies of the age fell against its inexorable
consumption.
And yet when legions, empires, and cities are swallowed whole - not all is lost.
A rare few survive the Devouring, and test their mettle living in the belly of the
Beast.
You are one of these exemplars of grit and greed: a scavenger. Hundreds of
great civilizations have been consumed, but their wares, artifacts, and

materials are ripe for the taking deep within the recesses of your new homes
guts.
Plenty are brave, desperate, foolish, or insane enough to try to make a living in
this horrid place - but few survive, and even fewer thrive.

How to Play
Belly of the Beast is a roleplaying game - that means that you and at least one
other friend take on the roles of fictional characters, living, fighting, killing,
and scavenging within the stomach of your Hungry God.
Youll discuss what your characters do and say, how they act and what they
look like, and collaborate to tell a story - all guided by these rules and the roll
of the dice.
Most of the groups players will take on the role of a single character - a
scavenger - whos skilled enough to make repeat trips away from the few
safe strongholds and into the great wastes. There, youll look for valuable
commodities, necessities of life, and pursue the dream of discovering some
swallowed treasure or digested hoard.
One player will take on the role of the Game Master (GM), who will describe
the environment, control all of the non-player characters (NPCs) - including
the Bellys many antagonists - make judgments about how difficult and
dangerous certain actions are, and ultimately illustrate the outcome of those
actions.
Its best to play with four to five players (each of whom takes on the role of one
character), including one as the GM. However, the game can handle as few as
two players or upwards of seven or eight.
Each of the characters will work together, form a company, and go on
scavenging pulls together. Your company will interact with one another, the
NPCs, and the world, all under the guidance of the GM and the rules.
How to Play Recap
Belly of the Beast is a collaborative storytelling game.
One player takes on the role of the Game Master (GM).
Each other player takes on the role of one character - a
scavenger living in the Evergut.
You say what you want your character to do, roll some

dice, and the GM determines if your character was

successful based on how difficult the Task is.

Gameplay Style
Belly of the Beast focuses on stories that revolve around a ragtag group of
scavengers doing everything they can not only to survive, but to thrive living
in this stinking cesspit of a monsters gut.
The characters are tough, cruel, greedy bastards that care mainly about
themselves, and the very few people who they might feel a hint of loyalty
toward. Driven by instinct and need, only the cunning and the grim can make
it as scavengers.
Personal tales of struggle, triumph, betrayal, greed, and the constant and
incessant need for supplies in the face of danger fit well with Belly of the
Beast.
The longer scavengers live and the bigger their hauls, the better they get at
their job. Over time, your characters will improve and command more
respect, authority, and jealousy.
Belly of the Beasts gameplay has a relatively consistent and mechanically
enforced cycle: encounter a problem or run out of stuff, look for the stuff
thatll solve the problem, get the stuff, and bring the stuff back in order to fix
the issue. Repeat until dead.

What You Need

All you need to play Belly of the Beast is one other player, some paper,
pencils, these rules, and regular six-sided dice. IDeally, youll have a group of
friends who all buy into the games premise and will play along with you.
If you can, each player should have read these rules (or at least the Quick Start
located in the back), as well as have a character sheet and their own handful of
dice.
The only type of dice used in Belly of the Beast are typical six-siders,
abbreviated as D or referred to as dice.
Once youve got a group of players ready and willing to get started, youll
determine whos going to be the GM, what your specific game concept is, and
think about your individual characters.

Dice
Belly of the Beast only uses regular six-sided dice, which I call D, die, or dice.
You really only need one, but a fistful for each player is ideal.
Sometimes, youll roll more than a single die. This is abbreviated as xd, with x
being equal to the number of dice being rolled. So 3d would be rolling three
dice.
If you gain bonus dice, such as +1d, that adds to your roll. So if you were
rolling 3d and got a +1d bonus, youd roll a total of four dice (4d).
Theres a few types of dice in Belly of the Beast, and each of these can be used
when relevant to a roll:

Base Die (BD)

The BD is the die that you get for free with every roll and attempted action you always get this single die no matter what, and its never consumed.

Advantage Dice (AD)

AD are dice given as a bonus when a character is acting in a favorable or

especially effective way. AD can come from equipment, a clever approach or
method, or other external factors.

Instinct Dice (ID)

ID are accrued by your character when behaving in a way defined by their

Instincts, as well as when successfully completing a pull or scavenging
mission.
Instinct Dice are an expendable resource, stored in your dice pool. You can
spend ID to add to your roll, but those dice are now gone, and new dice must
be earned.

Tone and Characters

The tone of Belly of the Beast is pretty dark, foreboding, and gritty (a quick
way to sum it up is Mad Max meets Valhalla Rising). Thats not to say there isnt
humor - in fact many scavengers are pranksters and tell jokes to add levity to
their otherwise dour lives. Similarly people fall in love, get married, have
families, and even live a relatively satisfying life.
Post-apocalyptic and survival stories are good for mining inspiration and
narrative cues, but at the end of the day, the characters are tough killers and

experts who go where no sane person would go in order to collect a profitable

haul.
Ultimately, this is your game and you should discuss what kind of tone or
themes youre looking to elicit. A game in which half of the players are
comedic relief might not sit well with the folks trying to play it straight.
Your characters arent glorious heroes or epic warriors, but their motivations
might be selfless or driven strictly by their natural instincts. Belly of the Beast
is just as much about exploring your characters - and how far theyre willing
to go - as it is about fighting over lost relics swallowed by a planet-eating
parasite.

II: The Belly

When the great Devourer left its rocky chrysalis, few believed the hysterical
stories from the farmers and wardens and rangers who claimed to have seen
the thing gorging up the countryside. In truth, it was unfathomable - a monster
the size of a mountain range wriggling its way through mountains and forests?
Ridiculous.
Once it became clear that these rumors were true, and not the ramblings of
the mad, there wasnt much that could be done. The Beast isnt particularly
fast, but it is completely unstoppable. It chewed through mountains like
butter, gobbled up forests, and had a taste for the densest and most vibrant
locations on the surface - especially cities.
By the time the various states and clans tried to unite as a stalwart force
against the Beasts consumption, it was too late. Millions had been swallowed,
entire continents surfaces scraped clean a league deep, kingdoms and nations
destroyed by gluttonous, gnashing teeth.
Those that were eaten found that the nightmare didnt end there - the vastness
of the Beasts innards were so great that entire settlements managed to hold
together and survive, lodging themselves in the soft guts of the creature or
atop piles of undigested rock and dirt.
Even animals and plants somehow developed a living ecosystem in the harsh
and bilious cavern-like stomach, fleeing to the high ground and terraces
formed in its calcifying guts. Eventually, its rate of consumption greatly slowed
- and the long and arduous digestive process provided ample opportunity for
enterprising and tough scavengers to survive amid the toxic fumes and caustic
acid.
Any semblance of a real economy or society has completely disintegrated, and
the many once-warring clans and peoples now warily work together in order
to keep their few remaining loved ones and possessions safe. Scavengers fill

the gaps - providing what others need and are either unable, or unwilling, to
acquire.
Its a tough job, and more die than make a living of it, but somebodys gotta do
it, right?

Swallower of Worlds
Many believe that the Beast is a scourge sent from the gods to consume all life.
Some say that it is a god, or even the God, and that the realms sole purpose for
existence is to feed the great Devourer.
That no longer matters now, as you live within the creatures vast and dark
innards. For half a century scavengers and explorers have been trying to map
and catalog the Belly, but few make it far, and such records are exceedingly
rare.
Those most informed believe that the Beast is at least a thousand leagues long,
and a tenth as wide. Its guts are moist and foul, but dry and hard enough especially when packed with a fresh mountain or city - to walk and move
comfortably for able-bodied folk.
The Beast itself generates an enormous amount of heat and refuse, its flesh,
blood, and fat giving off a faint glow in certain regions - bizarre plants and
alchemical mixtures lighting up entire lakes of saliva in luminescence, veins
and cracks in its flesh glowing in a variety of warm colors.
Composed of countless segments, many of which hold pulsing compartments
and organs, the Beasts cavernous body collects the hardiest, sturdiest, and
least digestible elements in the nooks and crannies of its musculature. These
are prime plots for profitable pulls, and are often fought over by the more
violent scavenging companies.
If a surface dweller were to be trapped within the Beast, its innards might
appear to be an unusually spiraling and massive cave. Much of the floor is
full of mud and gravel and stone, the walls are piled up refuse and calcified
ridges (and occasional fleshy segments), and the roof often disappearing up
into the blackness above. Many of the grotesqueries wouldnt appear
dissimilar from clay, mud, or other natural soils and materials to the untrained
eye - shrouded in humid mist and diffuse light.

Culture

Tens of thousands of the Swallowed live and die amid these paltry remnants of
society, often just as likely to kill one another as cooperate. Their future is
uncertain.
It is a dark time for humanity, when trust has never been more valuable, but
few can be trusted. A time when babies are born, live, grow old, and die
without ever seeing the sun. A time when the weak have long since
disappeared, and even the strongest are lucky to reach their fourth decade. A
time when useful scraps, shreds, and fragments of the Eaten Age are more
valuable than all the worlds gold or silver.
Despite this difficulty, the tenacity and determination of humanity prevails,
and its people live on. Where there were once many dozens of great cultures,
empires, and kingdoms strewn across the land, now there are but several
pockets of resistance and perseverance.
The people are often nomadic, as necessary, in order to prevent entombment
from the constant onslaught of newly eaten terrain. The oldest and most
valuable ruins are the deepest within the Beast, while the freshest and most
savory food and resources are closest to its gullet.
The economy has dwindled to a very basic form of barter, often based upon
what one has and needs immediately. Small institutions, factions, and
organizations have formed to help protect those who are willing to acquire
their daily needs, and ensure that they receive a fair portion of barter for their
work.
In times of desperation, many subsist off of the Beasts flesh and blood,
gouging out its soft tissues when they can. Its effluence has the foulest taste
and darkest taint, but those who eat it remain healthy and strong. And yet,
feasting upon the Beasts flesh leaves one paranoid, violent, and eventually
with a mind rotten and mad.
People do what they can to enjoy life, partaking in what is immediately
pleasurable and available. This has created a dichotomy of heedless hedonism
and harsh practicality, for any moment may be your last.
The concept of tracking specific lengths of time is foreign to most born in the
Belly, although there are a few cycles with relative consistency. The Beast itself
goes through stages of dormancy and activity, often sleeping through heavy
digestion periods - these are the closest thing to days, and are often referred to
as sleeps. Sleeps is used both for the Beast and for the survivors within to
refer to night time or quiet time. The longer the Beast is dormant, the less light
exists naturally within the Belly - slowly dimming to near darkness.
Longer periods are often measured in farrows, or the period of a hogs
pregnancy. For an Evergut hog the typical farrow lasts about 120 surface days,
so theres roughly three per surface year. The Swallowed generally just
measure things in farrows, although due to each passel of hogs being on a

different rotation, it is hard to measure outside of your own localized hold.

Upon reaching adulthood, for example, one might have lived through fifty
farrows.
Faith, mysticism, and the belief in the unseen or supernatural has waned for
some and grown more intense for other Swallowed. Some even worship the
Devourer, while others pray for salvation to end their hellish nightmare.
Organized religion is sparse and scattered, with small and isolated churches
and shamans doing their best to understand and survive their situation just
like the faithless.
Gender roles are both more and less important than during the Eaten Age.
Theres too few people - all of whom are tough and capable - in order to
segregate work or duties wholly to one gender or another. Plenty of women
wield spears, and plenty of men remain in strongholds and care for their
children.
However, because of the realities of human anatomy - women are treated as
more precious than men, simply because of their ability to reproduce young. A
single man with twenty women can make twenty children a year - but a single
woman can only make one child a year regardless of the number of men.
As such, men tend to take more proactive and dangerous roles within this
survivors society - the warriors, the scavengers, the hunters, the foragers. Any
position in which it is likely one or more of those wandering the vast wastes
will become injured or die is favored by men. In bloody battles or attacks by
reavers, it is more likely that men will be killed and women captured. In short,
men are expendable and women are not.
However, many men and women have foregone any notion of rearing
children - some even imbibing alchemical compounds (or subjecting
themselves to crude knifework) to become barren - in order to focus strictly on
their own survival. Most view this as a selfless act, for bringing a child into
this world, even accidentally, is horrible beyond imagining. Some would say
needlessly cruel.
This gender dichotomy is not designed to create sexism for its own sake, but
rather as an examination of human culture and reactions in a disastrous and
hellish circumstance. GMs, tread here carefully - or ignore it altogether if you
or your players are uncomfortable treading here at all.

Government
The few strongholds that have managed to maintain a semblance of stability
have established proto governments. Likewise, the more prominent nomad
clans and large families have ad hoc leaders and clan elders who command

respect and authority. However there is little in the way of known or

recognized borders, nations, or government entities. Instead, tribal rule has
been reinstated - the strong and clever dominate the rest.
While many of the survivors initially tried to cling to their past lives
allegiances and loyalties, they quickly abandoned nationalism in the face of
this hell. Over the last three generations, a few notable factions have begun to
form, but the majority remain loyal only to their closest kin and clans.

Daily Life
It isnt easy living in the Belly, but three generations have done so successfully
thus far. The majority of a Swalloweds time is spent foraging for food and the
bare necessities of life, all while under threat of cannibals, reavers, and living
within the hostile Belly itself.

Food
People living within the Belly eat whatever they can, when they can. Few
regions support any kind of natural growth - and the plants and animals that
do live in these regions are often deformed, malnutritious, or otherwise
dangerous. Much of the worlds supply of arable land has been eaten by the
Beast, its grains and other goods that arent immediately perishable can be
collected headward near the stomachs entrance.
Other groups have become experts in raising and herding various animals especially hogs - that are hardy enough to eat the waste and detritus within
the Beasts gut, and are subsequently milked, bled, or eaten as meat. One of the
few categories of animals that can truly excel within the Belly are insects,
which serve as a staple of many nomads diet, as well as used for a variety of
ingredients in alchemy. Worms and parasites of various kinds are farmed and
harvested in mass quantities, especially in regions or strongholds where
having a large passel of hogs is impractical.
Fermented grains, legumes, and hardy tubers are common, as they can be
carried or made to grow effectively in small pots, allowing someone to
consume their typical calories in butter, beer, fat, meat, fungus, potatoes, and
the rare leafy vegetable. Large stockpiles of spices, sugars, and more hardy
vegetables (such as peppers and various trees), are often uncovered in silos
and granaries that were eaten whole, their sealed and well-masoned exteriors
preventing digestion within the Beasts stomach.
Such finds are often the most valuable hauls that a salvager can muster, so
coveted that theyre rarely sold or traded, cherished and guarded against
prying hands and hungry mouths.

Throughout their lives, nearly everyone has been forced to consume the meat
and fluids of the Beast - sometimes for days, weeks, or even months. It tastes
horrible, but is surprisingly nutritious and sustaining. Its well known to
corrupt the mind of anyone who maintains such a diet for long.

Water
Most survivors dont drink fresh water. The fluids that they do imbibe are
largely byproducts of the food that they eat - blood, meat, bugs, various fungi,
and the many parasitic creatures that feast off of the Beast itself.
That being said, the entrails of the Devourer are large enough to occasionally
form clouds and rain, with the pure and clean water viewed as a boon by
many or as suspicious and tainted by others. In its inexorable slog through the
surface of the world, the Insatiable God has engorged upon many lakes and
rivers, often trapping pools of water in areas of stone and wood that are slow
to evaporate and digest in the humid atmosphere.
These sources of water are occasionally found and harvested, but few
understand what makes some water safe to drink and other water prone to
illness. It is generally regarded as much safer to simply drink hogs milk and
be done with it.

Light and Fire

Many regions of the Beasts entrails glow with an alien luminescence - often in
warm colors of red and orange, but sometimes with sheer brilliance of purple
and green. The innumerable chemical reactions within the Belly lead to some
bizarre effects, and the countless parasites and plants and fungi that have
attached to the great Beasts innards have mutated beyond recognition.
Much of the Belly is shrouded in darkness, a few lances of light brought by the
occasional bright polyp or wayward scavengers lantern. However, the fats
and oils inherent in the walls and structures of the Evergut are easy to burn,
and burn brightly.
Scavengers and strongholds alike often cultivate living and glowing plants and
creatures - insects akin to fireflies and mushrooms that pour light from their
cracked caps - to burning large lanterns fueled by the fat of the Beast itself.
When trees, fabrics, or other flammable waste is discovered - too soiled or
digested to be repurposed into a more permanent tool - it is put to use as
torches, lanterns, cooking fires, or the fuel for the few smelters dotting the
strongholds across the caverns.
Scavengers have grown accustomed to seeing in relatively low light, and
would find the brightness of the sun painful and harsh to their eyes. Lanterns,

candles, and weakly glowing lights are preferred over the white hot flare of
torches.

Dress
The entirety of the Beasts body is warm, humid, and temperate. While it
doesnt possesses a discernible climate, it does develop fog, small clouds, and
even rains clearwater from time to time.
While the weather is tame, it is anything but comfortable. People are forced to
wear fabrics and materials that are resistant to rot and the constant, insidious
decay from the Beasts internal juices. Oiled and waxed leathers, wool, and
even cured wood and bones make for suitable dress and armor. Those who
have had to barter away more of their belongings often have little to wear, and
slowly develop blisters, sores, and open wounds on their body from the
digestive fumes in the air.
Many have learned from this, especially those that have been bileborn, and can
tolerate the dissolving influence of the Beast better than most. Masks to cover
the sensitive facial tissues, and to hopefully filter some of the moisture out of
the air before it reaches the lungs, have become ubiquitous throughout all of
the sustaining cultures dwelling within the Belly.
Few people have more than one or two outfits that they wear in their daily life,
and might possess a decorative piece of attire reserved and well protected for
only the most special occasions, such as weddings or funerals. As the society
within the Beast is built upon limited resources, reusability, and scavenged
bits, nearly all of their complete clothes are cobbled together from pieces that
have been farmed from animals or salvaged.

Directions
Over the years the Swallowed have developed a rudimentary system of
directions. The cardinal directions used during the Eaten Age are no longer
practical, and often impossible to discern within the Bellys massive,
cavernous innards. Instead, scavengers and their kin determine directions
based upon the Beast itself - which direction its head, ribs, and tail are.
Something headward means that it is closer to the Beasts head than where
you are now, transversely something tailward is closer to the deeper, danker
parts of the enormous creature. Pointing ribward can mean either side of the
Beasts ribs and periphery, with right and left distinctions as if from the
perspective of the creatures own head. Occasionally, upper and lower are
used to delineate a fork or altitude shift in the Belly.

For example, a scavenger might say that something is right rib by

headward, meaning it is closer to the Beasts right set of ribs, and up toward
its head, in relation to the scavengers current location.
Scavengers - and Swallowed in general - have become exceptionally apt at
describing the rough look and size of things, highlighting what makes it
distinct and memorable from the rest of its surroundings. It isnt unusual for a
stronghold to give directions based on some key landmarks which all but the
blindest scavengers would be able to follow without incident.

Strongholds
Entire mansions, churches, castles, and cities were swallowed whole by the
Insatiable One. As such, a great many of these sturdy edifices have remained at least partially - intact. The most impressive of these have served as
epicenters of community, infighting, and struggle, as various groups attempt to
control, maintain, and repair them.
While even the hardest stone slowly erodes within the Beast, truly impressive
relics of the Eaten Age serve as bastions of hope and safety in the otherwise
horrific wastes. The most prominent strongholds have developed around
these points of light, cropping up as small and well defended hamlets.
The Bellys denizens - desperate and violent - are often its most dangerous. As
such, strongholds are wary of allowing newcomers, and their populations
grow painfully slowly. Scavengers are often only as successful as their
reputation, and trust is paramount between the Swallowed.
Scavengers who have done well to gain a strongholds trust are often viewed
with respect, or as a necessary evil, traveling between several locations,
trading their wares, and coordinating for pulls.
Other strongholds are mobile, built out of light and easily transportable
materials - such as tents and littered wagons. These strongholds can pop up
over the course of several hours, and dramatically alter the scale of power in a
region.
Due to the sprawling, cavernous infrastructure of the Beasts befuddling
organs and arteries, many strongholds are able to build in areas that are far
more vertical or inclined than traditional cities and settlements. The upward
sloping ribs of the gullet, nestled between the natural cracks and crannies
there, make for warm and safe lodgings, even if built precariously over a
several hundred pace drop.
Some strongholds and temporary bases of reavers and scavengers are built
affixed to the upper regions of the Beasts flesh, dangling or mounted in such a

way as to be inaccessible from the ground. Traveling scavengers need to be

aware of a potential attack from any angle or altitude.
In recent times, the proliferation of such strongholds, and the growing of their
communities, has been cause for larger scale skirmishes and bloodshed, as the
already limited resources are pushed to the breaking point as the population
stabilizes.

Technology
Prior to the Devouring, the realms possessed a wide array of technology and
scientific prowess. Some of the clans were on the verge of mastering iron and
alloy metallurgy, while others had established enormous empires that
stretched across continents and possessed massive architectural and
engineering works.
As a rule of thumb, the time before can be roughly modeled after the late
Byzantine Empire through the twelfth century, with a few powerful and
advanced empires and an assortment of clans and tribes that were in various
stages of Bronze to Iron Ages.
Since only the worlds smartest, bravest, and toughest managed to survive much of that technological knowledge has been kept in some isolated cases,
allowing for specialized engineers, doctors, alchemists, and metallurgists.
However, most technology within the Belly is geared toward no-nonsense
practicality, favoring things that are tough, easy to repair, or highly disposable.
Ceramics, pottery, and things that make use of the naturally calcifying soils
and properties of the Beasts stomach are incredibly common, as is the use of
animal parts - leather, sinew, bladders, and bone.
Metalwork is a highly prized skill, with a heavy preference for bronze over
most types of steel and iron, primarily due to its ability to resist corrosion and
be worked cold. Certain alloys of bronze have secret formulas, with some
legendary weapons capable of holding an edge and sheen even after years of
exposure to the Beasts caustic innards. The most famous and valuable form of
iron is known as cured steel - harder and sharper than bronze, but just as
resilient and resistant to corrosion. Few forges can get hot enough to
manipulate it - so much of it is left in its original form.
Great care is taken to preserve metal objects, constantly applying grease, wax,
oil, and other sealants over it - while ensuring sturdy and dry scabbards and
sheaths are the norm. This has led to a proliferation of bone, glass, and stonetipped weapons, especially semi-disposable weaponry such as arrows. One of
the most commonly used melee weapons is a form of axe, in which a simple
club is affixed with small but highly sharp pieces of glass or obsidian, as it is
more than capable of cutting or puncturing through a foe at a hundredth the
cost of a metal variation.

Small scale engineering has become more common in the last twenty years,
primarily realized as self-powered mills and mechanisms. The Beasts breath
and natural flowing interior allow for constantly churning production, put to
excellent use for refining grain, or the shaping, heating, and curing of clay.
Most new structures are built out of wattle and daub - as the raw materials are
in exceeding abundance within the Beasts stomach. However, the occasional
new wood, brick, or even stone structure is occasionally found. The natural
movements of the enormous creature make laying solid foundations (and
therefore large constructions) incredibly difficult.
Much more advanced and atypical technology can be found in the World
Eaters gut, deep in the layers of ruins that have been long swallowed. In such
dangerous places, overflowing with digestive juices, the bravest and most
talented scavengers are able to bring up prized possessions and marvels of
technology - such as sextants, rudimentary optics, advanced alchemical
distillation equipment, siege weapons, simple machines, and other marvels
that the Swallowed have never seen.

Cannibals
Some of the Swallowed have descended so far into debauchery, bloodlust, or
desperation that they have developed a habit - and a taste - for human flesh.
Cannibals roam through the Belly, often in small packs of dangerous
murderers and foul folk, prowling for any unsuspecting nomads, scavengers,
or lesser strongholds with which they can attack - and eat. While some didnt
willfully choose to become cannibals, the social stigma is so great that they are
often exiled from strongholds and reviled by nomads. Theyre forced to work
and live with other cannibals, hunting down their human prey.
There is nothing quite so terrifying or dangerous as being pursued by a cabal
of highly intelligent maneaters, a fear many scavengers know well. The most
dangerous of all are those who have resorted to feasting off of the Beast itself,
driving them incoherently mad with bloodlust.

Reavers
Raiders, murderers, thieves, brigands, and cutthroats - reavers are nefarious
men and women who assault whoever they can. They believe that the
common laws of courtesy and civility have no bearing in the Belly, and do
whatever they wish to prolong their short and bloody lives.

Reavers are especially dangerous to scavengers, as they often wait for the
scavengers to complete a pull, gather their haul, and then strike when they are
slow and fat with valuable salvage. Similarly, reavers will attack caravans,
foragers, and even strongholds if their numbers grow to great enough
strength. Reavers typically invest the majority of their spoils in tools of
combat, and take what they can when they can.
Most scavengers do their best to simply avoid these savage killers, however
the two groups invariably come to blows when they cross paths. The line blurs
between organized groups of reavers and nomadic warparties, but the
primary difference is that reavers are rarely related to one another in any way
other than a shared love of bloodshed.
It can be tempting for angry, violent youths to join up with a reaving party for
the promise of spoils, a life with purpose, and to exude some semblance of
power and control over an often hopeless destiny. Scavengers too, especially
whove found more pleasure in killing than pulling, sometimes devolve into
reavers - preying upon their former comrades.
These traitors are considered the most deplorable, the most devilish of all by
other scavengers. They know the way scavengers operate, the way they think,
when theyre weakest and when to strike. If scavengers engage in battle with
reavers known to be former comrades, it is incredibly unlikely any will will be
left alive.

Slavery
Slavery is an insidious, widespread disease throughout the swallowed. When
physical manifestations of wealth are extremely limited, the powerful and
cruel turn to controlling others. While most strongholds and nomadic clans
are familial and share a common kinship with one another, some are large
and powerful enough to support a slave-driven economy.
Many of the older strongholds, united under powerful leaders or a common
ancestry during the Eaten Age, have institutionalized slavery to such extensive
levels that it is considered completely moral and normal. The constant
breeding of new slaves used in myriad ways - from the laborious to the
downright unsavory - is seen as one of the few methods these swallowed
empires can retain control over their territory.
In recent memory, more than one slave army has been deployed to combat the
nomadic clans and lesser strongholds in a region, claiming many lives and
shifting the balance of power. Scavengers must navigate this dangerous
territory, both evading the slave stockades and avoiding angering or
interfering with the slave trade.

Dedicated cabals of slavers have begun to emerge, not dissimilar from reavers,
with the express intent of capturing swaths of profitable slaves to be delivered
to these powerhouses of corruption. The fate of the captured is often a short,
miserable, tormented life.

Relationships
Not all hope and love is lost among the Swallowed. Indeed, such a desperate
and difficult life makes the tender warmth of love feel like a white hot fire
raging within their downtrodden spirits. No other time in human history has
the need of caring relationships, loyalty, love, and the bonds of family been
more important or more relevant to its culture.
Scavengers are most often motivated by a personal relationship and their own
natural instincts. Driven by the needs of their community, the safety of their
family, or the camaraderie of their friends, these brave men and women
venture off into the boiling darkness in the hopes that they can improve not
only their life, but the lives of their loved ones.

The Gross Factor

How macabre, brutal, and slimy you want your rendition of the Belly to be is
entirely up to your group. The point of telling stories in a place like the Evergut
is that it serves as a clear and strong impetus for scavengers to exist: its a
brutal, post-apocalyptic, medieval world hyper focused on survival. It isnt
about heroics, it isnt about slaying the mythological creature, and it isnt
about swimming through giant veins or trying to hack through an abscess the
size of a boulder.
Its about the dangerous lives of the scavengers, their relationships, and the
interplay between civilization and our feral nature as humans. When put
under pressure, do your characters snap, or do they maintain a sense of
dignity? The Evergut can be used more as a backdrop (although many players
would cry It could never be anything as subtle as a backdrop!). The
characters are, for all intents and purposes, moving through a massive cave
complex. Sure, the walls are made out of chitin or bone or flesh instead of
rock, but is fleshy chitin so different from algae-slicked stone?
The descriptors and themes inherent in the Evergut are of constant twilight
and darkness, the insidiously caustic and hostile environment, that you can
always go deeper and deeper into an ever-worsening nightmare, and that the
best hauls are in the blackest depths. If youre familiar with sword and sorcery
or other RPG tropes, this isnt unfamiliar territory.

Some elements of the Evergut and the Swallowed culture is irrevocably nasty
for some folks, it crosses a line that theyd rather not cross. Thats fine - and
part of the reason it is so important to discuss with your group before hand.
More advice on that in Getting Started.
The Belly Recap
The last remnants of humanity survive deep within
the bowels of an incomprehensibly worm called the
Beast. The many great Empires and nations peaked
around 12th century level technology, but their
treasures and resources have all been swallowed.
The characters are scavengers, brave (or insane)
people who delve deeper into the Evergut in search of
valuable loot and the necessities of life, driven by their
natural Instincts and the need to survive.

III: Getting Started

Lets go over how to actually get a Belly of the Beast game started, including
agreeing upon a game concept and the basics of the games rules.

Game Concept
While Belly of the Beast assumes that your characters will be scavengers
looking for valuable hauls in the swallowed ruins, it helps to have a more
narrowly focused game concept to base your characters, challenges, and
stories on.
As a group, discuss the kinds of things that youre looking for accomplishing in
the game, starting out with what your characters company is doing specifically - and where exactly theyre doing it.
This is called your games purpose and place.

Purpose and Place

Your games purpose is the agreed upon goal or motivations for your
characters. While each character is individually motivated to become a
scavenger - you need to agree as a group what your specific companys
purpose is.

Are you teaming up to go after one legendary and rare piece of loot? Are you
trying to get by in a region overwhelmed by thieves and reavers? Are you loyal
to a particular stronghold, and are trying to scavenge basic supplies for them?
This generally leads into your characters place, or where exactly theyre
fulfilling their purpose. You can start out pretty broad and vague, but narrow
it down to give the GM and players some focus for their foreground,
background, and initial story arcs.
A group of characters hundreds of leagues deep in the Beasts stomach,
searching through some of the earliest swallowed ruins, will describe a much
different place than the same group operating out of a stronghold close to the
creatures maw.

Deeper Starting Questions

Some groups are fascinated by world building, and want to connect their
characters to as many NPCs, locations, and interesting backstory arcs as
possible. This effort often yields fantastic results if everyones on board. If
your group fits this description, it is highly recommended to refer to the
Starting Questions section on page XX.

Color
Agreeing upon your games color - its tone, pace, and general subject matter helps keep everyone on the same page. Think about what kind of stories you
want to create, what kind of characters fit within those stories, and what kind
of events, obstacles, and actions elicit that type of experience.
You dont need to go into a lot of depth, simply agreeing upon a light-hearted,
dysfunctional family color works fine, or similarly a game thats dark and
gritty, where were down to our last resources.

Rules Basics
Any time that your character attempts a Task, or an action that:
1. has a chance of failure, and
2. bears narrative weight
you have to roll dice to determine their level of success. Similarly, the
Enemies that you fight are treated just like Tasks. Multiple related Tasks - and
sometimes Enemies - make up a Scene.
Only players ever roll dice, the GM never rolls.

Characters can accomplish most of their typical activities without issue, and
should only roll for Tasks - not everyday actions. Tasks are often risky,
dangerous, or difficult, and exist to put pressure on both the characters and
their story.
Kicking down a door isnt a Task - unless that door blocks your path of escape
as youre about to be caught by a group of ravenous cannibals.
You can never roll more than 10d at a time.
All rolls start with one free base die (1BD), and can add in Advantage Dice (AD)
and Instinct Dice (ID). You can never spend more than 5 ID on a single roll.
Each Task has a Difficulty. To successfully overcome a Task, you have to roll
successes equal to or greater than the Tasks Difficulty.
Successes are defined by each dices face value (1-6), if your roll is high
enough it generates one success. Which numbers count as successes depend
upon your Skill and its Skill Rank - the better you are at a Skill the more faces
per die count as a success.
A Skill with a Rotten Rank will only count as a success on a 6, while a Skill with
a Brilliant Rank will count as a success on any roll of 3 or better (3-6).
You can spend ID to add dice to your roll, but once rolled those ID are removed
from your Instinct pool. In order to gain new ID, you have to act within your
characters Instincts or successfully complete pulls.
Not every roll requires ID - sometimes its better to save up your ID until you
really need them. However, the more ID you spend on a roll, the more likely
your character is to succeed.

Scenes
Scenes are collections of related Tasks and Enemies. They help the GM and
players keep track of what takes place when and where, as well as how many
dice have been earned or spent. Its easy to think of Scenes in Belly of the
Beast just like pivotal scenes in a novel, movie, or video game - this is where
the excitement happens and every second counts.
Each Scene has a rough cadence which should be followed:

Setup

The GM describes the Scene, all of its pertinent elements, and allows the
players to describe their characters actions right up to the Action step of the
Scene.

Definition

The GM defines each pressing Task and Enemys Difficulty, Severity, and
Threshold (these are discussed more in V: Gameplay and VI: Game Mastering).
Players can ask out-of-character questions or clarifications.

Action
The characters, NPCs, and environment all act and react to one another. Dice
are rolled and the meat of the Scene occurs during this step. The nature of the
Scene or its related Tasks will change during this step.

Resolution
The GM describes how the Scene is resolved, and the in-character
circumstances the players find themselves in. Any final in-character actions or
questions are answered in this step.

Conclusion
The players and GM discuss if the Scene warranted the acquisition of any
resources, pertinent information, or Instinct Dice. Characters only add ID to
their Instinct pool during this step. The Scene is now over, and gameplay
continues.

Outside of Scenes
Often the characters actions and stories will fall outside of a Scene. Any time
that the GM is describing the game in broad sweeping actions, montages, or
skipping over long periods of relatively inconsequential time falls outside of a
Scene.
For example, when the characters stop in a stronghold and decide to collect
some resources, rest up, and meet back together after several hours. That
intervening time would fall outside of a Scene, and could be briefly described.
GMs, feel free to have players roll for downtime and long term Tasks if they
bear significant weight to the narrative - otherwise rolls should be kept within
a Scene.
Rules Basics Recap
Tasks: difficult or important actions
Enemies: opponents to be overcome like Tasks
Scene: multiple Tasks with a common overall goal
Only players ever roll dice, not the GM
No more than 10d can be rolled at a time.
Rolls = 1BD + ID + AD
Up to 5 ID can be added to your roll
Tasks have a Difficulty, the number of successes

needed to pass the Task.

One Skill is always most relevant for any given Task.
The Skill Rank determines which face values of a dice
count as successes.
Scenes collect Tasks and keep the action organized.
Scenes follow a cadence: Setup, Definition, Action,
Resolution, and Conclusion.
Instinct Dice earned during a Scene arent gained until
the Conclusion phase of the Scene.