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A game by Incertae Sedis
 Scoundrels
A fast-paced, rules-light TTRPG for lucky rogues
Welcome to Scoundrels – a game for lucky rogues. This TTRPG is made for short one-shot-style stories
that move fast and get more intense as the game carries on, and your crew of scoundrels run short on luck.
Originally made for a sci-fi setting, players take the role of a cast of thieves, bounty hunters or general reprobates
living on the fringe of the law, or well outside of it. Together with your ship, your crew dives head-long into trouble,
deliberately on the hunt for coin or credits, or accidentally as trouble finds you. Scoundrels rely not just on their
skills and abilities for success, but also their abundance of luck, which can help them succeed where an ordinary
person would fail. But luck is a fickle and scarce resource, and when its gone, there is little separating a rogue from
their fate, whether at the other end of a blaster, in the heat of an explosion, or in the bitter void of space.

Game Rules successfully perform, and have the player make a

challenging skill check. For a challenging skill check,
In Scoundrels, only situations in which the the player rolls 3d6 instead of 2, but must take the
player character has a chance of failing are subject to lower two numbers for their roll. Players can also use
a skill check. some of their own resources – their character’s
talents (learned skills) and tech (tools on their
All skill checks in Scoundrels are performed person) – to make a roll easier for themselves. In
using 2d6 dice (Table 1). A score between 7 and 11 these situations, the players can make their roll
represents a flat success – the attempted action is simple: the player rolls 3d6 instead of 2, but they
successful, period. If the skill check results in a must take the higher two numbers for their roll.1
number between 3 and 6, the action is successful, Details on character features and traits are covered
but there is a complication. Narratively, a in the Making Your Scoundrel section.
complication can be described as something that
doesn’t go quite to planned; for example, a player
trying to pickpocket a target might be successful in Critical Success with Flat Critical
swiping their prize, but could draw unwanted failure complication success success
attention to the crew as a complication. 2 3-6 7-11 12
Complications also have in-game mechanical
impacts, covered in the Luck section. Table 1: skill check results (from 2d6 dice rolls) and
their meaning
A critical success on a skill check occurs when
the player rolls a 12. This action is incredibly
successful. It’s a good chance for the GM to Most skill checks are made solo, as one
narratively show how slick or impressive the scoundrel attempts to perform a task, but
scoundrel is in their action – or potentially hand the sometimes it is necessary for the crew to work
reigns off to the player to explain how amazingly together on a singular action. In these situations, the
they succeeded at their plan. Conversely, rolling a 2 crew can perform a group skill check. The group
is a critical failure on the skill check. The action fails, result is the consensus of the crew’s rolls (for
often spectacularly, usually representing an example, if 2 scoundrels succeeded but 1 succeeded
unexpected setback for the group. with complications, the group result is a flat success).
In a tiebreaker situation, the lower result takes
The GM can decide that an action priority (for example, if there were 2 complications
attempting by a player is very difficult for them to and 2 successes, the group result is a complication).2
1 If a player simplifies a challenging roll, it becomes a
standard roll.

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A game by Incertae Sedis
 Making Your Scoundrel succeed on a skill check – even before the check is
made! These are powerful features that the
Scoundrels is intended to take little time to prepare scoundrel leans on often in the most dire of
and start, including the process of character moments. Talents and tech on the other hand are
creation. Every scoundrel needs the following features the scoundrel can rely on repeatedly to
features to be a formidable, functional member of simplify a task or action.
the crew:
In addition to these useful, positive features,
• 1 trait: a notable physical quality or no scoundrel would be complete without a few vices.
ability, which might reflect a scoundrel’s Every scoundrel also needs 3 faults, which can come
build, appearance or even their species. in a variety of forms (whose decision is up to the
player, and approved by the GM):
Examples: intimidating form, many arms, tiny size
• A vice or addiction
• 1 trigger: a powerful motive, drive, • A sordid past with certain people or factions
moral position or commitment that is • A physical weakness
significant to the scoundrel.
• A considerable debt or bounty
Examples: “I won’t tolerate someone hurting my • Neuroses, phobias or problematic
crew”, or “I do bounty hunting to afford college” personality traits, etc.

• 3 talents: honed skills acquired over the Faults serve no valuable function to the
scoundrel’s lifetime scoundrel, but do serve a narrative function. The GM
is encouraged to use faults to make skill checks more
Examples: pickpocketing, chemistry, playing the challenging for their respective scoundrels, where
bassoon appropriate. For example, if a scoundrel has an
• 1 tech: a useful piece of equipment on irrational fear of reptiles or struggles in humid
the scoundrel’s person that they have environments, the scoundrel would face
moderate familiarity with. considerable challenge trying to escape from a
rampaging giant lizard on a jungle planet, and thus
Examples: handy blaster, hackbot 3000, graffiti kit should roll challenging skill checks instead of
standard ones.

The Ship
Every crew of scoundrels needs a good ship!
Often the pride of the crew, essential for many jobs,
and sometimes even the home of the scoundrels
themselves, the ship could even be thought of as
another member of the crew.
At the start of the game, the crew decides on
essential features of the ship together, including the
ship’s name, its stations and unique modules.
• Stations: a ship has a number of stations
equal to the number of scoundrels in the
crew. At least one of these stations must be
Traits and triggers differ in function from
talents and tech: Traits and triggers are one-time use 2 In group skill checks, an individual scoundrel rolling a
features that, when used, let the scoundrel instantly complication does not impact the complication counter

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 the cockpit, and the crew must jointly decide starts at a size of 6 at the beginning of an adventure,
on the other stations.3 Examples include: with the crew starting with 6 luck tokens. The pool
o An engine room increases by 1 with every scoundrel added.
o A med bay
o A weapons battery Luck tokens can be gained, lost or used by
o An armory the crew to gain an edge in a situation. Players can
o A long-range comms station use luck tokens in three ways:

Every member of the crew must pick a • BEFORE A ROLL: a scoundrel can use a
station to be their specialty – the station they are luck token to make a skill check simple.4
most experienced and capable at using. Skill checks • AFTER A ROLL: a scoundrel can use a luck
made using this ship station are standard checks, but token to reroll a skill check as a standard
skill checks made using a station a scoundrel is not roll.
experienced with are challenging. • A scoundrel can use a luck token to
narratively explain a situation or flash
• Modules: a ship has a number of modules back to a previous moment where they
equal to the number of scoundrels in the acquired a new tech. This tech is added
crew. Each player picks one module to add to their list of tech. Each scoundrel can
to the ship. Examples include: only perform this action once.
o An extreme speed boost button
o A high-spec cloaking device
o A comm-jammer probe
o Deployable mining drones
o A radiation containment unit
Modules, similar to a scoundrel’s trait and
trigger, are single-use features to grant an instant
success on a skill check. Once used, the module
provides no additional bonus, although it can still be
used narratively when appropriate (GM’s discretion).

Luck
Scoundrels are an unusually lucky bunch, a
quality that helps them survive and even thrive in a
dangerous, cutthroat world. However, luck only lasts
for so long – the more a scoundrel pushes luck, the
more it’s likely to run out, leaving them wishing they
still had it.
The crew of scoundrels together possess a
luck pool, an amount of luck the crew has. The size
of the luck pool scales with the number of scoundrels
in the crew: for a crew of 3 scoundrels, the pool Luck can also be lost by acquiring too many
complications. The GM keeps track of the number of
3 A ship lacking an engine room does not lack engines. It lacks complications the crew has acquired. Successes with
a station that can be manned and operated by a crew complications (3-6 on a skill checks) give one
member. complication, while critical failures (2 on a skill check)
4 Using luck to make a skill check simple overrules a give 2. After 3 complications, the GM removes 1 luck
challenging skill check. token from the luck pool.

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 The luck pool itself also shrinks steadily over strongly encouraged to set expectations in advance
the course of the game. The GM is encouraged to of the game’s start so no player is surprised by a
identify 4 major events in the adventure that trigger game’s tragic end, if one occurs.
the luck pool to shrink. These events are situations
where the pressure on the scoundrels ramps up, a Of course, if the crew survives their
major hurdle is cleared, or a new threat begins to harrowing adventure, making it out the other side
loom – signifying that the situation grows more risky, with their lives intact and a job done, the GM should
dire or dangerous for the crew. If the number of luck reward the players through narration, so the crew
tokens available is equal to the maximum size of the can reap their spoils – after all, a surviving crew of
luck pool, a luck token is lost as the pool shrinks. scoundrels may take on a new job another time.

However, sometimes a scoundrel finds a bit Deviation and Experimentation

of extra luck in a dire moment. If a critical success is
rolled, 1 luck token is added to the luck pool.5 Scoundrels was originally designed to
support a science fiction setting, with elements of
When Luck Runs Out ship combat and playing to ideas of interstellar
smugglers, galactic bounty hunters, and rough-and-
At the end of the day, luck is fleeting, it
tumble rogues you’d find slamming drinks in the
doesn’t last forever. When a scoundrel’s luck runs
back of a cantina on some backwater planet. But
out, their fate is often close at hand.
there is no hard rule that a game of Scoundrels MUST
When luck reaches 0, the complication adhere to these concepts or settings! Following such
counter instantly resets. Complications accrue as a rigid set of expectations? Fah! Scoundrels’ trigger
normal, but when the counter reaches 3, the crew fingers grow restless at the very idea!
has finally met its end, and the game is over. A game
over might mean being captured by the law or an Scoundrels is just a set of mechanics to run
enemy, knocked unconscious and unable to assist fast-paced games with minimal preparation from the
the crew any further, or worse – being killed GM or players – where players take the roll of rogues
outright. The severity of the situation is context- of any kind, working together for a common goal –
dependent, and up to the GM and player to decide that goal is usually money, but it doesn’t have to be.
the scoundrel’s fate.
Some games, by the nature of the story the
What loss means for the crew depends on GM wants to tell, will have no ships at all, and that’s
the GM, the players, and the story being told. It is
okay! For those games, we recommend removing
the ship module and station content entirely, and
instead allowing the scoundrels to pick up an
additional trait and tech in its place.

For more intense games, where the pressure

ramps up quickly and severely and death looms over
every scoundrel’s shoulder, consider making the luck
pool smaller at the start. Over the course of the
game, at important story milestones, continue
reducing the size of the luck pool until it reaches 1
instead of 2. A similar tactic is useful if your game is
anticipated to be quite short, and you still want to
5 This does not apply to skill checks that already used luck.
have the scoundrels feel the danger.

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 Getting Started
Devising a story to explore in any TTRPG can be challenging, especially when it’s the first time anyone has
run or played a particular game system. Thankfully, prompts are often useful to GMs preparing their own
games, helping people without a set plan in mind get started preparing a game. The following are just a few
prompts for a few interesting adventures that could make for an exciting game of Scoundrels:

A heist job is interrupted by bounty hunters trying to collect - and the one who posted
1 the bounty happens to be a good friend of the crew!

The crew is running protection for a research team, and scientists start going missing on
2 their watch, seemingly vanishing into thin air!

An old crew member has been captured, and it's time to bust them out before the captors
3 can extract dangerous info on the crew!

A job went wrong, and the whole crew has been arrested. Time to break out of prison and
4 get back to the free-living scoundrel life!

After taking a rogue blaster shot, the crew is stranded on a strange, hostile planet while
5 the ship is repaired - but they still need to recover cargo lost in the crash!

The crew is tasked with stealing a well-guarded, priceless artifact on a transport vessel -
6 but the buyer is hiding many secrets from the crew!

Two crews were hired on the same heist job! Steal the target and escape with the prize
7 before the other crew beats you to it!

It's a turf war in a valuable sector. Your crew and allies must get the upper hand on the
8 opposing faction, and put a stop to the violence so business can resume!

On vacation between jobs, the crew encounters a horde of hungry aliens that mimic other
9 people - now they must tell friend from foe and escape with their lives!

While scavenging a stranded cruiser, the crew finds the ship completely empty, save for
10 a murderous, nigh-unkillable alien monster!

On a bounty hunt, the bounty is so desperate to escape capture that they put an entire
11 space station at risk of a violent demise!

The crew has come into possession of a powerful, immensely valuable artifact, and one
12 faction will go to any length to take it from them!

Suspense and Strained Luck

As you prepare the adventure for your scoundrels, consider what important moments are likely to be particularly
intense, risky, suspenseful, unexpected, or even disastrous. These moments are perfect times to reduce the size
of the luck pool – making it clearer that the stakes are ramping up as the story progresses. Revelations, betrayals,
climactic events, and even moments of success like an escape from danger are particularly ideal.

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