AFTERLIFE WANDERING SOULS

A QUICKSTART GUIDE
Maria Guarneri (Order #26532841)
 CREDITS

WRITING
Elizabeth Chaipraditkul

EDITING
Monte Lin

COVER ART
Lorena Lammer

INTERRIOR ART
Illustrations are copyright free images
from the British Library and edited for this book.

©Angry Hamster Publishing

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 WELCOME
Welcome to the Afterlife: Wandering Souls (Afterlife) quickstart.
This quickstart gives you an overview of setting, along with
a review of the core mechanics of the game. More in-depth
mechanics and a deep delve into the setting is included with the
full game. At the end of this quickstart, we’ve included a starting
adventure along with five pre-generated characters for you to get a
taste of playing a game in Afterlife.

If you’d like to provide feedback on this quickstart, please email Liz at:
[email protected]

Afterlife will be the third official game by Angry Hamster Publishing

to be released in the second quarter of 2019.

If you want to be kept up to date on Afterlife’s release

… join our mailing list at angryhamsterpublishing.com
… follow us on facebook at facebook.com/angryhamsterpublishing
… follow us on Twitter @angryhamsterrpg

Enjoy your time in the Tenebris, Wanderers!

CONTENTS
Setting 4
Stats 7
Mechanics 13
Adventure 18
Character sheets 31

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 SETTING

TRAVELLING THE DARK

Welcome to the Tenebris. You died and something went wrong. You
were meant to ascend to heaven, walk the path of reincarnation, be
food for worms—that did not happen. Instead, you took a solemn boat
ride across darkened water with other lost souls. Desperately trying
to retain memories from your former life, you realized you died and
cannot go back. The light at the end of the watery tunnel revealed an
endless desert, known by its inhabitants as the Tenebris—the dark.

There is no sun in the Tenebris, nor moon, nor stars. During the day,
it is sweltering and bright—at night it is dark and freezing. The sands
beneath your feet shift and writhe as if tracking your movement from
one location to the next. Inhabitants of the inhospitable place tell you
that Great Serpents live beneath all things. The sand is ever present—
waiting, anticipating, hungering for everything to go wrong.

Yet the sand does not scare you, not like the truth. The truth is your
memories are gone and you don’t know what you did to deserve
the Tenebris. Destiny itches under your skin, pushes you forward,
the end calls you. You search for your Requiem, the end to your
journey, and cling to the hope that something waits for you in the
Beyond. You only truly fear Stagnation—the death of that hope—
the knowledge that you’ll be part of the Tenebris forever.

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 TO WANDER
A Wanderer’s ultimate goal is to regain their memories and find their
Requiem—a true end in the place known as the Beyond. In order to
do this, a Wanderer must do what their title implies and travel. By
travelling into different limbos—different gateways to the Beyond—
a Wanderer can find fragments. Fragments are glimpses of memories
summoned forth by their unconscious. Finding a fragment gives a
Wanderer Resonance and when a Wanderer gains enough Resonance
they have a Break. During a Break they plunge into a full blown
memory of their past life and learn something about themselves,
bringing them one step closer to their Requiem. Each Break means
healing, a striving to remember, a fight for personality and soul.

When a Wanderer learns all the lessons they need from their past life,
they follow their Death Marks—tattoo-like markings on their skin—
to the Beyond. Their final resting place.

The road to Resonance is never simple in the Tenebris. The endless

desert is filled with strange inhabitants and even stranger creatures.
It has a history stretching back to time immemorial and secrets
buried deep within the sands.

CHARACTER CREATION
Character creation in Afterlife is done in game. All you need is a
blank character sheet, a set of six-sided dice, and a pencil to start
playing. During character creation, your Wanderer rides the boat
taking them from their mortal life to the Tenebris. Based on a variety
of dice rolls you make, your GM will ask you a series of questions,
and how you answer gives your Wanderer different stats.

The memories your Wanderer remembers during character creation

are vague and highlighted by one brilliant feature your Wanderer
refuses to forget. During play you’ll experience more concrete
memories during Breaks illuminating the shadows of your lost
memories. Things may not always happen as you remember them
and part of the journey is the surprise.

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 THE AFTERLIFE
The Tenebris comprises the never-ending desert Wanderers walk
and the various mirages that dot it. Doors to limbos are also located
in the Tenebris and appear as many different things—
a pool of water, a glowing portal, or an actual door. The Tenebris is
considered one world and mirages are the cities, towns, forests, etc.
within it. Limbos are separate planes of existence, whose entryways
can be found in the Tenebris.

Limbos may be cities, forests, or even entire worlds. Each limbo is

populated with its own unique inhabitants who have no idea of any
realm beyond their own, much like humans on earth. Wanderers
enter (and exit) limbos through the Tenebris, but consider limbos
their own realms. A limbo may appear like a person’s version of
Heaven, or it may appear totally alien—it all depends on the limbo.

Mirages are locations in the Tenebris devoid of Resonance and not

connected to the Beyond. Inhabitants of mirages understand they
live in the Tenebris and there are limbos containing other realms.
They know Wanderers consider the Tenebris the afterlife, but the
Tenebris is where they are born, where they live, and where they
die. Mirages are strange and wondrous places often with a hint of
the macabre. They could be anything from the city on the back of
a giant skeleton to an oasis with a perfectly black pool of water.

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 STATS

CORE
Your Wanderer’s Core is made of three stats: Body, Mind, and Soul.
These three stats centre them in the Tenebris and hold their forms
together. Body is your physical power, Mind is your mental acumen,
and Soul is your emotional strength.

Each Core stat has three linked Attributes. Attributes are aptitudes
your character has in certain things such as how dexterous they are
or how much education they have.
Body has:
∞∞ Dexterity—Your flexibility and speed.
∞∞ Stamina—Your endurance and constitution.
∞∞ Strength—Your vigour and muscle power.
Mind has:
∞∞ Awareness—Your sense of the world around you.
∞∞ Education—Your schooling and learning.
∞∞ Intelligence—Your thoughts and wits.
Soul has:
∞∞ Empathy—Your compassion and understanding.
∞∞ Charisma—Your vivacity and your social clout.
∞∞ Creativity—Your capacity for novel creations and beauty.

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 POOLS
After a Wanderer’s Core, they have their Concept and Vitality pools.
These stats are a type of game currency tailored to your Wanderer,
which you use, lose, and regain during the game. Your Concept and
Vitality pools both have two ratings:

A permanent rating—the maximum you may have in that pool

And
A temporary rating—the current number of points your Wanderer
has. Your temporary rating may never exceed your maximum rating
unless explicitly stated.

You can spend points at any time before your GM narrates what
happens based on your check. Also, unless explicitly stated all
references to removing or adding points to your pools always
references your temporary rating.

CONCEPT
Your Wanderer has three Concept pools linked to their Core. These
pools represent extra energy your Wanderer has to exert in their
travels. Your Wanderer can push themselves and draw upon their
own spiritual energy to come out triumphant. You spend points
from the pools to give your Wanderer an edge in the game and make
actions easier.

∞∞ Body = Ferocity—The force of sheer physical power within.

∞∞ Mind = Lucidity—Your ability to see things for what they are.
∞∞ Soul = Generosity—How willing you are to give to others.

Each Concept is linked to your Wanderer’s Core, therefore you must

spend points from the appropriate linked Concept pool to make
checks easier. If you run out of points in the appropriate pool, you’re
out of luck and have to wait to re-fill them. Once a point is spent, it’s
gone and can’t be walked back by changing your mind. You can spend
points at any time during the game and spend as many points as you
want (as long as you have them to spend).

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 Spend 1 point: Gain successes
Spend one point to gain a success or multiple for additional successes
on a check. Opponents may also spend points during opposed checks
and counteract your expenditure—possibly leading to a bidding war
between you and your opponent.

Spend 2 points: Give an ally successes

Spend two points from the appropriate pool to give your ally an
additional success to their check. Describe what your Wanderer does
to aid their crewmate. You may choose what pool you use based on
how you help. Multiple players may use teamwork to aid the person
making the check as long as their characters are in the vicinity. If the
Wanderer still fails their check—you all suffer the consequences.

VITALITY
There are three parts of your Vitality—Health, Will, and Hunger.
Each represents your Wanderer’s wellbeing and is linked to your
character’s Core just like their Concept. Unlike Concept pools,
which represent extra energy your Wanderer has to expend on
actions, Vitality represents your Wanderer’s current state of being.

∞∞ Body = Health—Your personal vigour, how healthy you are,

your constitution. When you are at 0 Health your Wanderer
dies OR you remove 1 permanent point of Will and regain
1 point of Health.
∞∞ Mind = Will—The motivation to continue your journey to the
Beyond and wander the Tenebris.
∞∞ Soul = Hunger—The ability to sustain yourself, how well you
find shelter, your monetary means.

Each pool has a maximum number of points it can hold and if any
pool empties it has dire consequences for your character.

How to use Vitality pools to your advantage and the full consequences
of a pool emptying is outlined in the full game of Afterlife.

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 MODIFYING & ENHANCING
YOUR CHECKS
After a Wanderer’s Core, Concept, and Vitality, they have a number
of tools in their arsenal, which may modify their checks. It’s not a
question of whether you’re able to perform an action—it’s a question
of what you’re willing to sacrifice to do so.

As explained in previous sections, you add points from your Concept

pools to your check to give yourself extra successes. But there is much
more you can do:

You may Modify your check using one of the below options:
∞∞ Use your Approach to give yourself a +1 die to your check.
∞∞ Use a Talent to give yourself a +1 die to your check.

You may also Enhance your check with a Trick. Tricks are small
magical effects like Talents, but less potent. They are not included in
this quickstart.

APPROACH
Based on character creation, each Wanderer has an Approach, which
broadly reflects how they deal with conflicts and is represented by
a martial item given to them by the Boatman—a Bow, a Sword, or
a Shield. This mystical item grows as they grow and stays with your
Wanderer until they die. Your Approach isn’t limited by earthly limits
on the concept of a sword, shield, or bow; Bows can deflect, Shields
can slice, and Swords can be missiles.

MODIFY YOUR CHECK

Each Approach is not only an item the Boatman gives your
Wanderer, but hints at how your Wanderer interacts with the
world. It represents how you tackle problems and what you
prioritize in stressful situations. Wanderers often claim to be able
to tell if someone is of the Bow, Shield, or Sword by only speaking
to a person and judging their responses.

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 ∞∞ Bow: Witty, quick, intelligent
∞∞ Shield: Wise, protective, hardy
∞∞ Sword: Passionate, strong, decisive

You decide how your Approach manifests in your outward

mannerisms. Not every Shield sacrifices everything to help another
person and not every Sword foolheartedly runs into every fight.
Every Wanderer is different and how they use their Approach unique.

You can use your Approach to give yourself a +1 die to your check.
When you want to use your Approach to modify your check describe
how you use your Approach to assist you.

Abigail is a Shield and in the process of helping refugees flee an

oppressive regime in the Limbo of Galoon. As the refugees flee,
she uses her Shield to cover their escape, the Shield extending
into a giant shelter from the flames of the Galoon Legion’s fiery
weapons. Eva, Abigail’s player, gets a +1 die to her check.

TALENTS
Wanderers use Talents to mould and manipulate the world around
them. They can be anything from summoning a mythical beast to
reading someone’s mind. Your Talent is a gift bestowed upon you by
the Boatman on your ride to the Tenebris. You may learn new Talents
as you advance.

Depending if your Approach is the Bow, Shield, or Sword, your Talent

will be different than those with a different Approach, but the same
Talent. Each Approach-specific Talent has three different powers. At
character creation you pick one power and can unlock the others later.

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 MODIFY YOUR CHECK
You may use your Talent’s abilities at will even when you aren’t
making a check. For example, if you can summon a car to you and
want to use it to travel the streets of a mirage, you are more than
able to. When you want to use your Talent to give you an advantage
in a situation, you need to make a check. Using your Talent in
conjunction with a check gives you a +1 die to the check.

Diego, a Sword, has the Beastspeak Talent ‘Beast’s Blessing—

Transform into a creature.’ He is chasing after a thief who
stole his crewmate’s Approach. Diego’s player Erik decides to
make a Body + Dexterity check to catch up. He uses his Talent
to give himself a +1 die to his check. Diego transforms into a
cheetah and runs down the thief scrambling over the sands of
the Tenebris.

DEATH MARKS
Waking up on the boat, your body is covered with hints of who you
once were. These hide just under your skin promising to show a
path out of the Tenebris. As you gain Resonance and suffer Breaks,
new Death Marks appear on your Wanderer’s skin. These tattoo-like
markings shift and mutate, flirt on the edge of perceptibility, whisper
forgotten secrets in your ears. Each Death Mark is linked to a specific
memory and grants you special abilities to use in game. Your Death
Marks are predetermined in character creation by your Wanderer’s
ride with the Boatman and thus their fate is sealed.

Death Marks can do various things in game:

∞∞ They help you regain Concept points.
∞∞ They give you a +1 die to your checks.
∞∞ They lower the Challenge you face.
∞∞ They give you a Trick, which helps to modify your check.

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 MECHANICS

The mechanics of Afterlife centre around making checks,

which means rolling a pool of six-sided dice (d6s) based on your
character’s stats.

In Afterlife only the players roll dice. GMs describe what the
characters experience and the challenges they face, and controls the
NPCs in the game. Players describe how they want to interact with
the world, talking to an NPC for example, and make checks to see if
their action succeeds. The GM continues to narrate the scene, and
based on how well the player rolls, declares their action a success,
deals them damage, or amps up the drama in the scene. There is no
initiative order, though in high-action scenes, it’s normal for every
player to get a turn before starting a new round of checks.

CHECKS
Announce check > GM sets Challenge > Roll > Every 4-6 is a success

When you make a check, roll a number of d6s equal to a Core stat
+ one of the linked Attributes. You decide what you roll based on
the action you want to perform and your GM sets the Challenge for
the check. Then you roll your dice pool. Every 4-6 on a die face is a
success. You must roll a number of successes equal to the Challenge.
Failing to meet the Challenge means things get worse.

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 WHAT TO ROLL
When deciding what to roll think about what your character is
doing and check the descriptions mentioned under “Core”. Pick
the Attribute description matching closest to what you want to do
(page 7).

CHALLENGE
The average Challenge in Afterlife is 2, because it isn’t often your
GM will ask you to roll for something considered “Easy.” Depending
on the situation, they may choose to make the Challenge easier or
more difficult:
∞∞ 1—Easy
∞∞ 2—Moderate
∞∞ 3—Difficult
∞∞ 4—Strenuous
∞∞ 5—Near impossible

If a player performs an action that would make the situation more

difficult, GMs should up the Challenge by 1 to 3 points, even if that
takes the Challenge beyond 5:
∞∞ +1—An ambitious idea
∞∞ +2—A bad idea
∞∞ +3—A terrible idea

Ama grabs the man trying to pass them by the shoulder, and he
spins around staring directly into her eyes. Ama calls out to the
crowd in outrage, “Everybody’s been waiting here for hours, get
back in line and wait like everyone else!” Liz sets Ama’s player,
Floor, a Challenge of 2 (Moderate)—everybody has been waiting
for hours and while most people look passively on it should be
fairly simple to get a few of them upset.

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 RESULTS
There are three different results of a check: success, things get worse,
or you succumb to a Break.

Success
Your action is a success! The two types of successes are:
∞∞ You do what you set out to do
Unlock a safe | Leap over a chasm | Read someone’s emotions

∞∞ You deal one damage to someone

Hit one target with your Approach and hurt them.

Your GM describes what happens based on your check in the story

and the scene continues. Lots of things can modify your success, such
as adding more damage or attacking more than one target, and this is
explained in the full game of Afterlife.

Floor rolls three dice and gets a 4, 6, and 2. Liz set a Challenge
of 2, and Floor has two successes, so her action works! People in
line turn and listen to Ama, shouting at the man to step back to
where he was.

Things Get Worse

Things get worse > Mark 1 XP in linked Advancement pool >
Take damage or the scene escalates

When things get worse you mark one experience (XP) in the linked
Advancement pool and the GM narrates how things get worse.
They’ll tell you what happens to your character, their allies, and the
situation they are in now. Things getting worse is a ramp up of action
in the scene; more enemies flood into the room, the person you were
trying to calm rages at you, the diamond you were trying to steal falls
through a heating grate.

The two types of things getting worse are:

∞∞ The Wanderer loses Vitality points
Your Wanderer is hurt—subtract the damage your GM tells you
from your Health.

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 Your Wanderer loses resources—subtract points from your
Hunger.

Your Wanderer loses hope—subtract from your Will.

∞∞ The scene escalates

You and your fellow players deal with the consequences:

Seeing how Ama stirred the crowd, Blanca decides to step in and
use the situation to her advantage. As everyone is distracted she
slips past a few people trying to get to the front of the line. Renee,
Blanca’s player, declares she is rolling her Body (1) + Dexterity
(3) to stealth past. Liz rules that normally the Challenge would
be 3, but since everyone is distracted it is only 2. Renee rolls
her four dice and gets 1, 1, 5, 3, one shy of a success—things get
worse. Liz rules this is the perfect time for the scene to escalate.
Someone in the crowd spots Blanca trying to sneak past and
cries out. The crowd now suspects Ama of trying to create a
distraction while Blanca snuck by. Guards from further on in the
line are drawn to the ruckus, their attention focused on the two
troublemakers—Ama and Blanca.

Succumb to a Break
You may choose to have your character succumb to a Break when
the outcome of things getting worse is too dire. When this happens,
your Wanderer dives into a terrible memory from their past life, and
in return you avoid the consequences of things getting worse. This
mechanic is explored in depth in the Afterlife corebook, along with the
difference between a Break from gaining Resonance versus succumbing
to a Break, and for sake of brevity is not included in the quickstart.

OPPOSED CHECK
Afterlife is a mostly cooperative game, but if you decide
to act directly against another player, you should both
make an opposed check. Both of you decide what Core +
Attribute you will use (it may be different for each player)
and then roll. Whoever has more successes wins. You may
spend Concept points to raise your check as normal.

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 RECOVERY
During the game you spend points from your Concept pools and
remove points from your Vitality pools. In order to regain these pools
you need to recover. Recovering is a roughly eight-hour period where
you sleep, go to a healer, go to work, or do the things you enjoy.

When you recover, regain all points in all your Concept pools and
all the points in one of your Vitality pools. If you want to recover
more than one Concept pool, you need to spend an additional eight
hours per pool you wish to recover. Recovering all three pools takes
an entire day.

ADVANCEMENT
There are two types of advancement—gaining experience points
through things getting worse and gaining Resonance. Resonance
comes from your character experiencing memories of their past lives
in game. Advancement is covered in the full game of Afterlife.

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 ADVENTURE:
THE WALL OF THORNS

You’ve heard of a place where you can glimpse memories of the past.
A land of rolling clouds and roses. Travel to the Wall of Thorns and find
what was lost before it is too late.

PLOT
The Wanderers are sold information about a limbo called the Wall of
Thorns. They travel to the Wall of Thorns and enter to find an endless
grey land with a rose wall stretching into eternity. The Wanderers meet
the Reaper of the Wall and discover her daughter was stolen by a group of
“their folk.” The Reaper agrees to let the Wanderers look at a rose on her
wall (to look into their past) if they return her daughter to her. Exiting
the limbo, the Wanderers follow a trail of rose petals to ruins where they
meet a group of Unrequited. The Wanderers save the daughter from the
Unrequited, return her to her mother, and are allowed to look into a rose
and get a glimpse of someone from their past.

INTRODUCTION
This adventure is intended to give you a glimpse into what Afterlife:
Wandering Souls is all about. The adventure is linear and more
straightforward than the tales you’ll be telling with a normal game,
and focuses on the difficult choices and painful memories Wanderers
experience during a game.

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 We recommend using the X-card during your game. As the game deals
with painful memories and moral choices, there may be some things
players don’t want to touch on. The X-card is a great tool to keep the
narrative flowing in a game while respecting everyone at the table.
Find more about the X-card here: http://tinyurl.com/x-card-rpg.

Checks are initiated by the players. We’ve given necessary NPCs and
obstacles challenge ratings, in text as Challenge #, to aid the GM
telling this story. Important facts, challenges, and special mechanics
are in bold. Suggested read aloud text is in italics, but feel free to add
your own flair to what we’ve written!

Five pre-made characters are provided at the end of this adventure.

Each Wanderer knows they’re dead and the base information shared
in the AWS quickstart guide. Though new to the Tenebris, they have
been in a few limbos.

PROMISING MEMORIES
As the players have pre-made characters, ask them to introduce who
they’re playing to the rest of the group. Ask: What does this person
look like? What are their Quirks? How do they feel about being dead?
Who are they closest to in the crew and why? Who do they feel most
removed from the crew and why?

Once you’ve established everyone’s characters, share the following

information with them:
You’ve travelled the Tenebris for a time now and stopping at a nearby
mirage bought information off another Wanderer about a limbo known
as the Wall of Thorns. The Wanderer had little to say about the limbo,
but happily sold the information to you in exchange for a few supplies
to hold them over in the Tenebris. What they did tell you is that the
Wall of Thorns allows you to take a look into your past life if you’re
brave enough to stand the memories.

The Wanderers now make their way to the Wall of Thorns

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 INTERLUDE: ENCOUNTERING
THE DARK
Most of the action of Afterlife occurs in mirages and limbos, because
all the NPCs the Wanderers can interact with live there. Some GMs
may choose to make an entire session of the characters trying to
survive in the Tenebris, but this seldom happens. Instead, AWS
represents the hardships of travelling a scorching desert by small side
scenes called encountering the dark.

While encountering the dark, players face small obstacles in the

Tenebris they must overcome as a group. You set the scene as the
GM and each player describes how they try to overcome it and
makes a single check as normal. Players should take turns describing
what their character does, and based on how their check turns out,
you describe to them what happens. The next player should play off
what happened before and make a check and so on. Encountering the
dark isn’t a true role play scene, but an opportunity for the players to
get a taste of the Tenebris.
∞∞ If the players have more successful checks than failures, the
encounter ends positively for them.
∞∞ If the players have more failed checks than successful ones, the
encounter ends badly for them. Each player takes 1 damage to
one of their Vitality pools.
∞∞ If there is a tie make another round of checks.

Normally, these obstacles are linked to each character, their

backstories, and what you’ve already established in game. For the
purposes of this adventure, we’ve created a unique scenario below
(and a few others later in the adventure) for the players to get a taste
of what encountering the dark is like.

A LONE WARRIOR
In the distance you spy two creatures, the first with the bottom half of
a horse and the upper half of a man and next to him a smaller creature
with the same features. On Earth you’d call these creatures centaurs,
but here in the Tenebris you saw an entire Wanderer Crew get throttled
for even mentioning the name. You don’t know much about these

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 creatures—but you know they hate humans and are fearsome warriors.
The adult gallops towards you guarding the child in the distance. As he
gets closer, you notice many fresh wounds on his body.

Information to use:
∞∞ The creatures are called ungkiin.
∞∞ The warrior and his young son were attacked by Unrequited
who robbed them. He killed one and fought the rest off,
but they still escaped with most of their rations for the trip.
∞∞ The warrior is angry and defensive. He doesn’t want to fight,
but he will do anything to protect his son.

Suggested checks:
∞∞ Healing the ungkiin (or his son) Challenge 2
∞∞ Reasoning with the ungkiin Challenge 3
∞∞ Intimidating the ungkiin Challenge 3
∞∞ Hitting the ungkiin Challenge 3

More successes than failures: the ungkiin leaves peacefully.

More failures than successes: the ungkiin flees, but not before
injuring members of the party (-1 Heath) or possibly robbing them
(-1 Hunger).

UNREQUITED
Through the years some Wanderers have become
jaded and dismayed in their search. They have given
up looking for their Requiem and began to ignore the
call within each Wanderer’s mind. When this happens
and the person finally gives in to despair, they become
Unrequited. Unrequited are unable to gain any new
Resonance and forget their past lives completely.
When their last memory leaves them, their Approach
changes—the Bow to the Gun, the Shield to the Whip,
and the Sword to the Hammer. More information on
Unrequited can be found in the full version of Afterlife.

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 THIEVES AND BEGGARS
The Wanderers arrive at the entrance to the Wall of Thorns.

A cast iron gate stands in the centre of the Tenebris. Hundreds of roses
wind themselves across its bars, and upon each stem multitudes of razor
sharp thorns glisten in the light of the Tenebris. Gingerly, you open the
gate and step through into the limbo. The Wall of Thorns exists in an
endless grey land of dark, wispy clouds and muffled thunder. A stone’s
throw from where you stand, a ten-meter-high wall stretches from
one end of this limbo to the other. Upon this wall sprouts thousands of
brilliantly coloured red roses. In front of the wall is a giant obsidian tail
of a creature so large you can neither see the beginning nor end of the tail.

Points of interest:
∞∞ Empty white human husks kneel, slouch, and hang upon the
mess of flowers, endlessly staring at a rose. These Wanderers
came to the limbo and became lost in their own memories.
∞∞ Tiny green and black snakes, called Serps, push roses from
one side of the wall to the other and keep pesky insects from
destroying petals. Their numbers being numerous and their job
rather mundane, Serps have developed a love for trickery and
games. The tiny snakes’ favourite targets for these games are
the Wanderers who come to the Wall of Thorns.

Trying to look into a rose on the wall or interacting with the giant
tail in front of the wall summons the Reaper of the Wall to the
Wanderers. She slithers up to them with startling speed. Her first goal
is to catch and subdue the Wanderers and then interrogate them. She
believes they are the “fleshy creatures” who stole her daughter and she
wants her daughter back.

THE REAPER
Dotted with thousands of obsidian scales, the Reaper’s giant tail glitters
in the light of the moon. Her upper half, stemming from her tail, stands
eight-feet-tall and is shaped much like a mortal woman. Her skin is a
pale white and her hair is as red as the roses she tends.

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 If the Wanderers try to speak with the Reaper, they need to make
a few checks, in order to reason with her (Challenge 2) and dodge
her attacks (Challenge 3). If the Wanderers try to attack her they
may do so, but the Reaper is an immortal being in the truest sense
of the word. She cannot die and any damage she takes is healed by
thousands of tiny serpents who weave her flesh closed. Any attacks
made on the Reaper are Challenge 3+. Depending on the actions the
Wanderers take, if the players fail their checks and things get worse,
the Reaper may deal them 1 damage, grab them with her tail, or even
order the Serps to cause mischief and hinder the Wanderers.

Players must succeed in at least two checks to calm the Reaper before
she’s willing to talk to them.

If the Wanderers continue to attack despite the Reaper’s healing abilities,

have the Reaper accuse the Wanderers of stealing her daughter—giving
the Wanderers a chance to convince her they didn’t with a Challenge 2
social check. If the Wanderers fail to convince her to stop fighting, she’ll
subdue the Wanderers and take their Approaches. The Reaper will only
give back the Approaches when the Wanderers rescue her daughter.
Continue the adventure as stated below.

Once the Reaper calms down, because she either subdued the
Wanderers or they’ve reasoned with her, she shares the following
information:
∞∞ Some humans came into her home, this limbo, and absconded
with her daughter.
∞∞ The Reaper cannot leave the limbo and her daughter cannot
survive for long.
∞∞ The Reaper’s duty is to care for the Wall and it comes before
anything else, even something so precious as her daughter.
∞∞ She wants her daughter returned to her and in exchange she
will let the Wanderers view one of her roses—the roses allow
you to see what one of your loved ones is currently doing.
∞∞ If the Wanderers ask about the husks, those are bodies
of Wanderers who spent too long in their past lives. It’s
addictive and the Wanderers should be careful not to
spend too long dreaming.

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 When the Wanderers agree to find the daughter of the Reaper, she
bites one of them (or more if they wish) giving them the ability to
track her daughter. When back in the Tenebris, the trail appears like
crimson rose petals on the sand. Bitten Wanderers are able to pick
them up and interact with them as if they were normal rose petals.

The Reaper then shoos the Wanderers out of her realm and tells them
not to come back unless they have her daughter.

INTERLUDE: ENCOUNTERING
THE DARK
Following the trail of roses across the scorching sands of the Tenebris
leads you towards a darkened horizon. A raging storm breaks through
the bright blue sky with dark charcoal clouds and thundering lightning.
Winds buffet the rose petals across the sands, stinging sleet battering
their delicate forms.

Information to use:
∞∞ The Wanderers should try to follow the trail of rose petals
through the storm.
∞∞ The storm seems to stretch ever onwards—impossible to
circumvent.The storm will not subside until the Wanderers
interact with it.

Suggested checks:
∞∞ Following the trail Challenge 3
∞∞ Braving the storm Challenge 2
∞∞ Dodging a lightning strike Challenge 4
∞∞ Protecting a fellow Wanderer Challenge 2

More successes than failures: The Wanderers successfully follow the

path of petals through the storm and continue on their way.
More failures than successes: The Wanderers get hopelessly lost in
the storm and it takes them additional time and resources to make it
to their goal (-1 Hunger).

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 PLANTING MEMORIES
The trail of rose petals leads the Wanderers to a mirage of ruins in
the Tenebris.

Bleached stone ruins stand upon the sandy dunes of the Tenebris. The
remnants of rounded structures dot the landscape, the largest structure
amidst this maze once standing three-stories high and now an empty,
broken shell. Darkly clad figures move between the remnants of the
building guarding something deep within.

The rose petals lead directly to the large building in the centre of
the ruins. A group of five Unrequited patrols the area outside the
ruins with three additional Unrequited within the building. It is up
to the players how their characters approach this situation. A direct
assault is always an option, as is trying to stealth inside, or convincing
the Unrequited to allow them in. Attacking the Unrequited patrols
and sneaking around the ruins are both Challenge 2. Convincing a
member of the Unrequited patrol to let them pass is the most difficult
(Challenge 3 or 4) and takes two social checks in order to do so.
Unrequited hate Wanderers so intimidation will likely work best.

If the Wanderers decide to completely bypass the patrols and sneak

into the building, do two rounds of checks with your players before
their Wanderers reach the building. Develop the scene naturally—
if a player fails a stealth check have a patrol head their way and ask
another player to distract them, etc. If the situation snowballs and
things go incredibly bad for your Wanderers, they may have an all out
brawl with the patrol outside—in this case make the three Unrequited
within the building prepared for the player’s attack by changing the
described scene accordingly.

Unrequited Patrol
Health: 2 Damage: 1
∞∞ These stats are for each individual on patrol
∞∞ One successful hit knocks an Unrequited unconscious,
the second kills them.

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 If the Wanderers end up capturing a member of the Unrequited and
interrogating them, use the information on page 28 to inform the
Wanderers accordingly.

Use these sights to add flavour as your players explore:

∞∞ A large statue of a pregnant woman with three arms brandishes
a giant shield woven from stalks of fir.
∞∞ A faded tableau of a dark figure on a boat ferries souls towards
a bright white light.
∞∞ Two skeletons lie side-by-side underneath a sandblasted
painting of a large tree covered in birds.

Once the Wanderers save the daughter and escape the ruins move
on to the Interlude.

SAVING THE DAUGHTER

Once the Wanderers arrive at the building in the centre they see
the following:

The rose petals lead directly to two Unrequited standing in the centre
of this large building guarding a man with a giant hammer. With one
hand, the man holds a small black snake with a mane of crimson rose
petals to the floor, and with the other, he drives a metal spike through
the small creature with his hammer. Two more spikes lay next to the
man’s feet. Where the snake’s blood peppers the ground, you see small
sprouts of a rose bush forming. A soft cry echoes through the ruins
from nowhere.

It is now up to the Wanderers to save the snake before the man

drives the third spike into her body and she dies. Make it clear
to the players that the snake is in a bad way and cannot survive
for long. The Wanderers do not only have to contend with the
Unrequited, but Hungry Ghosts who wake as the rose tree begins
to grow in their home.

Use the three Unrequited in the room as direct antagonists for your
players. The building is large enough that a fight won’t be heard by
any of the patrol left outside. Convincing the Unrequited in this

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 room to stand down is impossible unless the Wanderers show they’re
a threat in some way. Unrequited stats are listed below and each
Unrequited in the room has a different approach—the Whip, the
Gun, and the Hammer. When the Wanderers engage the Unrequited,
the Hammer stops what he is doing with the daughter of the Reaper
thus giving the characters ample time to save the snake.

The Hungry Ghosts who wake are more an environmental danger

than a direct threat. They are numerous and slow moving. Use the
Ghosts to bring in a sense of dread, to threaten Wanderers who
overcome the Unrequited too quickly, or to escalate the scene when
things get worse.

The Whip
Health: 3 Damage: 1
∞∞ Uses their whip cracks to create small explosions. These
explosions deal 1 damage to each Wanderer in the vicinity
if not dodged.

The Gun
Health: 2 Damage: 1
∞∞ Their gun splits in two and they may attack two targets at one
time.

The Hammer
Health: 3 Damage: 1
∞∞ When hit, parts of their skin turn to stone making them harder
to damage with a Challenge 3 rather than 2 on future attacks.

Hungry Ghosts
Health: n/a Damage: See below
∞∞ If a Wanderer encounters the Hungry Ghosts, they try to grab
them and drain their energy. They should make a Challenge
2 Stamina, Strength, or Dexterity check depending on if
they wish to overcome, break through with brute strength, or
wriggle free from the Ghosts’ grasp. If the Wanderer fails, the
Hungry Ghosts grab them and drain 1 point from their Will or
Health pool (whichever is highest—player decides on a draw).

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 If the Wanderers capture an Unrequited and question them as to
what they were doing and why they stole the daughter, they have
this to share:
∞∞ They heard rumours that a person could recreate the Wall of
Thorns outside a limbo if a Serp from the Wall was sacrificed.
∞∞ Unrequited have no memories left of their past lives—so they
were curious to look into one of the roses and see what it held
for them. They also planned on selling roses at a steep price to
hapless Wanderers.
∞∞ Without all the daughter’s blood, this rose bush will never grow
to full size and sprout flowers.
∞∞ The Reaper of the Wall jealously guards the roses and this
seemed the only way for them to “get a peek.”

THE DAUGHTER
The daughter of the Reaper of the Wall is a small black snake with
a crown of crimson petals attached to her head. The snake is roughly
a meter in length and cannot speak. The daughter does possess a
keen intelligence though and can understand what is said to her—
communicating back as best she can without a human voice.

INTERLUDE: ENCOUNTERING
THE DARK
Depending on how much time you have, feel free to skip this
encounter as it is intended to amp up pressure on the players to
return to the Wall hastily.

Travelling over the sands, the small snake in your possession grows
fainter by the minute. Physically she is battered and mentally she is
beyond exhausted. At your current speed and in her current condition,
you’re not sure she will make it.

Information to use:
∞∞ The Wanderers should try to get to the limbo as quickly
as possible.
∞∞ Players may use a combination of trying to cheer the daughter up,
healing her, and making travel faster in order to succeed at this.

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 ∞∞ For each character, narrate a different challenge they face on
their journey. For example: A frigid night—how do they keep
the daughter warm? A scorching day—how do they persevere
through sweltering heat? The daughter is losing petals quickly,
her vitality draining—how do they stop the fall?

Suggested checks:
∞∞ Raise the spirits of the daughter Challenge 2
∞∞ Push self physically to just move faster Challenge 3
∞∞ Heal the daughter Challenge 2

More successes than failures: The daughter survives the journey

relatively unscathed because of the Wanderers’ haste and/or their
care for her.

More failures than successes: The daughter loses all her petals and
she arrives at her mother battered and broken.

A REUNION
When the Wanderers arrive back at the Wall of Thorns, the Reaper
rushes towards them, her forked tongue flicking over the air tasting
it for a scent of her daughter. The Reaper is overjoyed to see her
returned and the two take a moment in silent communication before
the Reaper gingerly places her daughter on the Wall and asks the
Wanderers to report what happened.

If the daughter lost all her petals in the last encounter the dark
interlude, the Reaper comments on it saying, “she’s lost something.”
The Reaper is not upset with the Wanderers, on the contrary, but
mourns for what was done to her daughter.

Once the Wanderers report what happened to the daughter and how
they resolved the situation, the Reaper gives each Wanderer a chance
to look into a rose. A Wanderer cannot pick a “wrong” rose—the rose
they pick was always meant for them.

Go player by player and ask them to describe the rose they pick. Then
they should describe the image of a person they see inside the rose

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 answering these questions—What does this person look like? What
are they doing? How do they feel at this moment?

As each Wanderer gazes longingly into each rose, drinking in the

image of someone, they feel the urge to stay there forever—watching
someone they desperately want to remember. Just as they are about to
be totally engrossed in a beautiful dream never to wake, they feel the
gentle embrace of the Reaper pulling them away from the rose—
a final thank you for saving her daughter.

THE END
Upon exiting the limbo, players would normally receive Resonance
towards eventually unlocking a memory of their past life and a
Death Mark. Also, at the end of the session, the players would talk
about their experience during the game and record experience
points based on their actions. As this is a sample adventure,
we’ve foregone this step.

If you’re planning on playing a few more games of Afterlife before the

launch of our Kickstarter, you could use the Reaper in a future session
as a friendly source of information for the players. She’s been around
since the start of the Tenebris and knows many of the secrets it holds.
If the players had a positive interaction with the ungkiin and his son
in the first encountering the dark interlude, you could use the warrior
as a quest giver—perhaps he is looking for the scoundrels who robbed
him. While we mentioned that the Unrequited thought the rose bush
in the Tenebris could never grow without all the daughter’s blood,
maybe they were wrong and it mutates into a giant monstrosity.
Rather than showing a beautiful image of a person’s loved ones,
it could reveal terrible lies. You’ve gotten a small taste of what limbos
and mirages are like so feel free to use your own creativity to create
your own and bring the Tenebris to life!

Thank you so much for playing The Wall of Thorns and we hope
you enjoyed your first taste of Afterlife: Wandering Souls. If you
want to know more about Afterlife, including when it launches on
Kickstarter, please check out our contact information at the start of
this quickstart.

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 GRAYSON
ATTRIBUTE
Dexterity VITALITY
CORE CONCEPT
Stamina

Maria Guarneri (Order #26532841)

4 HEALTH
Strength 1
BODY FEROCiTY
3 3
Awareness 1
MIND LUCIDITY
Education 2 2 3 HUNGER
Intelligence
SOUL GENEROSITY
1 2 Will

31
Charisma 1
2
Creativity 1
Empathy 1

TALENTS
THE SWORD Shadowself: Slink into the shadows becoming one with them.

DEATH MARKS
Map: Once per session give a Crewmate a +1 to one of their
Concept pools.
∞∞ Memory: I found a gift from someone else I thought was lost.
 DELANEY
ATTRIBUTE
Dexterity VITALITY
1 CORE CONCEPT
Stamina

Maria Guarneri (Order #26532841)

2 HEALTH
Strength 1
BODY FEROCiTY
1 1
Awareness
MIND LUCIDITY
Education 2 2 3 HUNGER
Intelligence 1
SOUL GENEROSITY
Charisma 1
3 3 Will

32
4
Creativity
Empathy 1

TALENTS
THE SHIELD Puppetry: I hear what others cannot.

DEATH MARKS
Forked Tongue: Remove a point of Will, the NPC you are lying to
believes you without a check.
∞∞ Memory: I was caught in a lie and had to flee for my life.
 ECHO
ATTRIBUTE
Dexterity VITALITY
1 CORE CONCEPT
Stamina 1

Maria Guarneri (Order #26532841)

3 HEALTH
Strength 1
BODY FEROCiTY
2 3
Awareness 2
MIND LUCIDITY
Education 3 3 5 HUNGER
Intelligence
SOUL GENEROSITY
Charisma
1 1 Will

33
1
Creativity
Empathy

TALENTS
THE SHIELD Succor: Heal ailments of the soul.

DEATH MARKS
Sign : Reduce the Challenge you face by one with checks involving
streetwise knowledge.
∞∞ Memory: I was in a city. I sought the darkest place.
 QUIN
ATTRIBUTE
Dexterity VITALITY
CORE CONCEPT
Stamina

Maria Guarneri (Order #26532841)

3 HEALTH
Strength 1
BODY FEROCiTY
2 2
Awareness
MIND LUCIDITY
Education 1 2 2 3 HUNGER
Intelligence
SOUL GENEROSITY
Charisma
2 2 Will

34
4
Creativity 2
Empathy 1

TALENTS
THE BOW Machine: Summon transportation unique and mighty.

DEATH MARKS
Binding ropes: Reduce the Challenge you face by one when you
need to escape from something.
∞∞ Memory: I was kidnapped and it was my fault.
 HARPER
ATTRIBUTE
Dexterity VITALITY
CORE CONCEPT
Stamina

Maria Guarneri (Order #26532841)

3 HEALTH
Strength 1
BODY FEROCiTY
2 2
Awareness
MIND LUCIDITY
Education 1 3 3 4 HUNGER
Intelligence 1
SOUL GENEROSITY
Charisma 1
1 1 Will

35
2
Creativity 1
Empathy

TALENTS
THE BOW Numerology: Divide creatures in front of you.

DEATH MARKS
Safe: Spend a point of Hunger, automatically break into or steal
something.
∞∞ Memory: I stole something to punish someone.