Out of the Ashes Core Rulebook

Out of the Ashes is a self-contained pen and paper fantasy roleplaying game. Play survivors seeking to protect and rebuild their communities in a world of deep magic shattered in war with a terrible evil. The war has been won, the Nameless Emperor defeated, his legions scattered or destroyed, but the cost was almost the ruin of civilisation.

Your characters are capable and heroic, wielders of innate magic, but the dangers out there are great, and your community needs you if it is to endure. It must not fall!

Much of the land is corrupt. The wilderness is not safe to travel, and tainted monsters roam and seek prey. The surviving Ministers of the Nameless Emperor are gathering their forces, still ready to seize control of the world. Yet these enemies are scattered, and hope remains. Can you keep your community safe, and rebuild civilisation?

Your community is at the centre of play. As well as creating characters, you create your community as a group, along with dangerous places to explore, and threats that menace it. You go on quests on behalf of community, until the game ends in triumph or tragedy. You’re the heroes of your community. Your community needs you in order to survive and grow.

It’s a human world, with diverse cultures, including:

The ancient Alari, with the oldest civilisation. Ageless, they no longer have children, and mere dozens remain in the world.

The nomadic Mountain Clans, exiled from their cities on the mountains and beneath the ground. Their old homes are places of terror.

The seafaring Nisians, who at first fought on the side of the Nameless Emperor in the Final War, and now seek to atone.

The Vespans, people of the last surviving city, who seek to reclaim the empire they once ruled.

It’s also a magical world. Songs have power, and every player character can make use of minor magic. Magicians of different cultures have different magical styles, including the Rune Wizardry of the Mountain Clans, the Light Bringing of the Alari, the Wind Song of the Nisians, and the Words of Power of the Vespans.

Then there are the forces of the Nameless Emperor – the Ministers, the Desecrators, and the Tainted. The Nameless Emperor and the Desecrators invaded from the void. The bulk of the Nameless Emperor’s forces, and the forces of the Ministers today, are the Tainted. They were once human, living or dead, but now seek only the ruin of others. Some have been twisted into monstrous forms by the dark magic of the Nameless Emperor, while others retain the mask of humanity. Can these ruined creatures be redeemed?