It Takes A Child To Raze A Village is a mini RPG where you play as cultists gathering ritual components for a petulant and demanding Dark Messiah.
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It Takes A Child To Raze A Village
It finally came; the night you had all been waiting for. You gathered the sacred oils and adorned the clay homunculus; lit the incense and said the sacred, deviant words that burnt your tongue and lips.
Finally, your Dark Messiah was born. A daemon mind made flesh, with the sharpness and cruelty of the world below.
Unfortunately, It’s stuck in the body of what is, basically, a human baby and won’t be able to help you out with the next stage of Its plan until It’s a little older. Your work has only just begun…
How To Play
You are all CULTISTS for a petulant and demanding DARK MESSIAH. You’ve been tasked with gathering COMPONENTS for three RITUALS necessary to bring Its new reign of darkness upon the world, without raising the SUSPICION of the other villagers.
Assign 1,2,3,4 to the APPROACHES below:
BRASH & BRAZEN
DECEITFUL & COERCIVE
SUBTLE & UNSEEN
CRUEL & UNUSUAL
Whenever you work for the good of the CULT or towards the fulfilment of a RITUAL, say what you do and decide which APPROACH fits best.
Roll d6 equal to your score in that APPROACH. Count each roll of 4+ as a SUCCESS.
| 3-4 SUCCESSES | You get what you want |
| 1-2 SUCCESSES | You can have what you want, if you MARK SUSPICION |
| 0 SUCCESSES | You don’t get what you want, and things get more difficult. MARK SUSPICION |
Demands
Your DARK MESSIAH is petulant, demanding, and always watching.
Whenever you roll one or more 6s when rolling an APPROACH, count the SUCCESS and place any dice showing a 6 in the middle of the table.
When three 6s have been placed in the middle, the last player to roll a 6 is given a special task by the DARK MESSIAH.
Roll a d6 and immediately attempt to act out the DEMAND against the nearest object to you.
| d6 | DEMAND |
| 1 | Steal |
| 2 | Destroy |
| 3 | Burn |
| 4 | Break |
| 5 | Hide |
| 6 | Bury |
Once this is done, remove the dice in the middle and start the process again the next time a 6 is rolled.
Suspicion
The VILLAGERS are mostly oblivious to the CULT’s activities, but if they get too suspicious things will go badly for you.
You start with a maximum of 20 SUSPICION for your whole CULT. Whenever you MARK SUSPICION, you get a little closer to being found out.
If you ever reach maximum SUSPICION, then you are discovered; the CULT is driven out of the VILLAGE and your DARK MESSIAH is destroyed.
If this happens, you and the CULT will have to find another VILLAGE where you can try again.
The Rituals
The DARK MESSIAH will ask you to gather COMPONENTS so that It can perform three RITUALS and unleash Its darkness on the world.
Each RITUAL requires three specific COMPONENTS, which you will have to acquire from the VILLAGE by any means necessary. You must gather all the components for one RITUAL before you can begin the next one.
Roll a d6 on each side of the table to fill in the gaps below and name the RITUAL.
The ________ of the ________.
| 1st WORD | d6 | 2nd WORD |
| Ascension | 1 | Host |
| Consecration | 2 | Darkness |
| Beatification | 3 | Chthonic |
| Canticle | 4 | Impure |
| Observance | 5 | Unholy |
| Immanence | 6 | Abhorrent |
Once you have a name, roll d66 three times on each side of the table to generate COMPONENTS for each RITUAL. Re-roll any duplicates.
| FORM | d66 | MATERIAL |
| A pound of | 11-13 | Clay |
| A lump of | 14-16 | Ash |
| A bowlful of | 21-23 | Incense |
| Tincture of | 24-26 | Glass |
| A crown made of | 31-33 | Iron |
| A sword made from | 34-36 | Hair |
| A sceptre made of | 41-43 | Flesh |
| A doll stuffed with | 44-46 | Moss |
| A cup of | 51-53 | Twigs |
| A goblet filled with | 54-56 | Silver |
| A lyre covered in | 61-63 | Dirt |
| Antlers adorned with | 64-66 | Stone |
Once you’ve gathered all of your COMPONENTS, the DARK MESSIAH will perform the RITUAL and reward you for your hard work. After each RITUAL, choose one:
Remove a NOTABLE VILLAGER
Increase maximum SUSPICION by 5
Reduce current SUSPICION by half (rounded down).
The Village
The VILLAGE has a name like Goodwick, or Piety, or Blessed-by-the-Forest. It’s a place of god-fearing folks who work hard for their families and their home.
The daytime will be busy, with lots of people out and about, working their various jobs or making conversation. Most folk don’t lock their front doors. The sun rises high and the days are hot and slow.
The night is quiet and cold. A watch of volunteers will walk the streets. Houses will be shuttered, or candles will be lit in the windows. Wolves howl and crickets chirp.
Notable Villagers
The VILLAGE will be where you get all of the COMPONENTS required for each RITUAL. It also houses VILLAGERS, who will want to ask about your day, regard you with SUSPICION, stand in your way, or make things more complicated.
Most of the inhabitants of the VILLAGE will just be in the background, but there will be a few NOTABLE VILLAGERS for you to interact with. You will need twice as many NOTABLE VILLAGERS as there are players.
NOTABLE VILLAGERS will ask questions, get in the way, provide services, and unwittingly help out when members of the CULT are gathering COMPONENTS.
Use the tables below to generate roles for your NOTABLE VILLAGERS. Give each one a PROFESSION and two QUIRKS.
If you roll the same PROFESSION twice, re-roll; roll once on each side of the table to generate QUIRKS.
| d66 | PROFESSION |
| 11-13 | Preacher |
| 14-16 | Baker |
| 21-23 | Farmer |
| 24-26 | Blacksmith |
| 31-33 | Butcher |
| 34-36 | Healer |
| 41-43 | Bard |
| 44-46 | Candlestick-maker |
| 51-53 | Hunter |
| 54-56 | Weaver |
| 61-63 | Artisan |
| 64-66 | Potter |
| QUIRK 1 | d66 | QUIRK 2 |
| Talkative | 11-13 | Foolish |
| Inquisitive | 14-16 | Wise |
| Charitable | 21-23 | Night-owl |
| Friendly | 24-26 | Workaholic |
| Weird | 31-33 | Lazy |
| Nosy | 34-36 | Aggressive |
| Shy | 41-43 | Sociable |
| Grumpy | 44-46 | Dim |
| Greedy | 51-53 | Bossy |
| Mean | 54-56 | Arrogant |
| Nervous | 61-63 | Eccentric |
| Popular | 64-66 | Messy |
Map your Village
Grab a sheet of paper to map out your VILLAGE. It can be blank, squared, hexed, whatever makes it easier for you. You don’t need to map your VILLAGE, but it might help you out to have some visual cues.
There is always a CHURCH in the centre of the village, a FOREST on one side, and a CORNFIELD on the opposite side to the FOREST. A RIVER runs nearby.
The CHURCH is a large, stone building, filled with riches and materials for religious services.
The FOREST is dark and brooding, full of wild creatures and strange plants.
The CORNFIELD is tall, golden, easy to get lost in and glows in the moonlight.
The RIVER is fast-flowing and neck-deep; full of fish and long, straggling weeds.
Divide your paper into 6 sections – they don’t need to be perfectly equal, but they should be roughly the same size.
Number each section, then roll a d6 for each NOTABLE VILLAGER. Place their home into the corresponding section on the map.
Finally, do the same for each player.
You’ve now got a fully populated VILLAGE. It’s time to try and burn it down…
