A downloadable game

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Take your rightful place and succumb to your ambition as tragic Heirs of the Leviathan

Heirs of the Leviathan is a game of High Drama, where you play Heirs, the tragic inheritors of a fragmented realm. It uses a simple system that gives you both the freedom to tell tales of hubris and desolation, and the strong foundation to build a complicated web of intrigues.

The realm is seeing turbulent times, but most other things are undefined at the outset of a campaign. However, with Oracles and evocative names, Heirs of the Leviathan sets alight the bonfire of your own creativity!

Key Features:

  • Unleash your inner schemer, in a world of intrigue and betrayal, perfect for backstabbing and political maneuvering.
  • Seize the hand you are dealt, as you swiftly generate a unique Heir, and play them to the bloody hilt!
  • Gradually establish the power relations of the realm, with the unique system for mapping Sources of Power.
  • Dwell on the original interior artwork that sets the tone for your tragic fantasy campaign.
  • Compatible with many moves from other Powered by the Apocalypse games.
  • Perfect for panoramic play, where you move between places and Heirs with an ensemble set of characters.

The game comes with an intro for players who wish a little more guidance on how to run the game, as well as Shadows of the Ancient Citadel - a Realm Starter that will help you set up a classic low-fantasy world of vassals, rival empires, and dark things hidden away in towers. Each Realm Starter adds characters, impressions, a new class, and most importantly, hand-crafted Threats to challenge your players!

Who knows what you will find in the dark recesses of the realm, when you are Heirs of the Leviathan?


"There’s quite a lot I could say about this game. How it use minimalist but evocative prompts to fuel collective worldbuilding. How its character creation is quick, efficient, and yet makes highly memorable PCs at every turn. How it encourages you to revel in the disaster and desperation without resorting to tasteless misery and exploitation. How the eventual downfall of your characters feel not arbitrary but earned, the natural outcome of a long string of increasingly poor and increasingly dramatic decision, as is the due of any good political tragedy" - Augury Ignored
"Heirs Of Leviathan accomplishes so much in its small but mighty format that it is shocking. I came away with a great sense of fondness for a game that won me over in the first read." - Split/Party

“A smooth and easy to learn system that inspires amazing gameplay. Would play again”
– Nicolai Just (playtester)
“I highly recommend this system for anyone who likes a political element to their roleplaying, people who can (and like to) act out in-universe conflicts between characters and who don’t mind not being the ‘hero’ of classic high fantasy. It was a blast!” – Zilas Bastrup (playtester)

For the zine in print, check out my Ko-Fi page
Remember to check out the Realm Starter Collection, and the free scenario Daemognosis

Updated 18 days ago
StatusReleased
CategoryPhysical game
Rating
Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars
(1 total ratings)
AuthorDithmer
GenreRole Playing
TagsDark Fantasy, Fantasy, micro-rpg, Minimalist, PbtA, storygame, Tabletop, tragedy, Tabletop role-playing game
Average sessionA few hours

Purchase

Buy Now$5.00 USD or more

In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $5 USD. You will get access to the following files:

Heirs of the Leviathan - Singles.pdf 140 MB
Heirs of the Leviathan - Spreads.pdf 139 MB
Heirs of the Leviathan - Booklet.pdf 3 MB
Shadows of the Ancient Citadel.pdf 2 MB
Odes for the Lost.pdf 25 MB
Heirs of the Leviathan - Original Zine.zip 36 MB

Community copies

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Community copy

I'll add a community copy for each sale I make. This is updated manually, so please have patience :)

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Download demo

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Heirs of the Leviathan Character Sheets A4 (Print Friendly).pdf 195 kB
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Heirs of the Leviathan Character Sheets A4.pdf 1 MB
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Heirs of the Leviathan Character Sheets A5.pdf 1 MB
Download
Fragment Sheet A5.pdf 1 MB

Development log

Comments

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(+1)

I haven't played it yet, but after reading it seems quite intriguing. It's nice that apart from minimalist, WoD style zine there is also a longer explaination and advise (odes for the lost).

There seem to has been some mixup in layoutm Printer friendly version seems to lack the disadvantage section while not-print friendly version lacks the magnitude section.

Do I read it correctly there is no way to recover Hubris Points? (It makes certain sense thematically)

Thanks for checking it out! And thanks for bringing the layout mixup to my attention - magnitude was a concept I dropped during playtesting, it appears I've uploaded the wrong version. Will be fixed shortly!

You do get to reroll your Hubris Points whenever time passes, but until then you must make do with what you have. This also means that when you do reroll, it can fluctuate a bit how many (if any) points you "recover". The fates can be quite capricious

Thanks for the reply. I must have missed the part about recovery.

One more question just to be sure - is it intended that in advantagous situation one rolls with advantage (3 dice drop the lowest) and in disadvantagous situation one rolls normally (2 dice), but escalate the consequences on failure and partial success?

That's exactly right

(+1)

Helped playtest this and I talk about it a bit here. It's great. https://auguryignored.wordpress.com/2023/08/15/heirs-of-the-leviathan-released-a...