# Day 05: Palatine - Vorian Hekat, Link of the Shadows tags: #articles/CharacterCreationChallenge/2026 #game/rpg/palatine > [!quote] [[Character Creation Challenge 2026]] > > ![[Character Creation Challenge Image.png]] ## Game of Choice Let's do something different, right? Sometimes you just get tired of playing characters who are small cogs in the machinery of the world who go out and adventure and poke at forbidden places, but ultimately don't really end up changing things for good or bad. Overthrow an evil kingdom. Another one will be back in a few years. Delve the secrets of sorcery. Someone either got there first and you're just following them, or the world itself just won't change. It'll be forgotten in five years. What if instead of starting as a nobody, you started with your hands on the levers of power in a dying world? What if you were the movers and shakers? What if armies marched and died at your command? What if the one fact that was unshakable is that the world is coming to an end? I'm excited already just thinking about it. That's the world of *Palatine*. ![[Palatine (cover).jpg|400]] > [!info]- The Palatine Hill? > For those who are playing along at home but skipped out on your history classes in high school, the [Palatine Hill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatine_Hill) was the political center of Rome, the hard kernel at the heart of the empire. This is probably something you want to know. Coming in at only 34 pages long, it's kind of an impressive showing with a solid high concept crammed into such a little space. Like a lot of indie games, it is derived from the *[[Powered by the Apocalypse]]* engine. So we know there are going to be a fairly small set of stats and a set of moves which define the way the mechanics react to what you do within the context of play. The list of inspirations is pretty interesting. Up front they cite the urban fantasy *PbtA*, *Urban Shadows*, but then go on to touch on *Dune*, the Tom Clancy novels, and *Warhammer 40K*. If your mind immediately starts putting those elements together and perking up, you probably are the right audience for this game. Page three puts together the setting succinctly and tells you up front that Neo-Terrax is a dying world containing an incalculable population crammed into colossal cities that almost cover the entire planet. There's giant underground factories, a hideously polluted atmosphere crisscrossed by constant traffic, both leaving and coming. The world is ruled by the High Palatine Council, who gather in the Grand Palace, which is staffed by thousands of servants who "attend to the whims of their omnipotent masters." Those masters are truly among the highest levels of authority in the galaxy. Yes, you are on the High Palatine Council. Come on, you're into it already, aren't you? You're imagining, you're thinking. Also on page three, as if that wasn't enough, we get a bit of a timeline, which starts at 6758 and ends at 9001. So you know we're in one of those settings where relatively deep time is in play. Let's just say that religious conflict is pretty much a norm here for extra bonus points of fun. > […] > > **7638:** A terrorist attack destroys the data network. The Great Panplanetary Library becomes a place of pilgrimage and is renamed the Unfathomable Archive. > > **8958-8979:** The First Insectoid War shakes the Dominion. The disruption of supply routes to Neo-Terrax causes famine and unrest. > > **9001:** Council of Neo-Terrax: The multi-religious presence of the planet is regularized, ending the War of the True Faith. You get the idea. Big things happen. It's a hard, nasty world, and you're smack dab at the top of it. > Palatine differs from other more traditional > role-playing games in that the characters are > very powerful and influential and never get > their hands dirty: wars are lived from an office > reading reports and the dirty work is done by > subordinates. In a game of Palatine, the action > rarely leaves the council chamber. > > -- *Palatine*, p4 There's also another important paragraph here that it's worth reproducing in its entirety because it does help define how *Palatine* is very different from many other games. > Unlike other role-playing games, in Palatine the > playing characters compete against each other > for power and glory and there can be a winner. > However, if each member of the High Palatine > Council goes about his or her own business, > planetary crises will soon wipe out the planet. > This creates a delicate balance in which the > gaming group must collaborate while the > players subtly conspire against each other. > > -- *Palatine*, p5 ## Acts of Creation Let's get stuck in. Character generation is ridiculously fast, to the point there's honestly not much to it, which is great. It means you can sit down, have an idea, and jump into becoming a member of the Administratum, the High Ecclesiarchy, or the Assassinorum in minutes or less. That's what we came to do anyway. ### Pick a Booklet Like most PbtA games, you start out by picking a playbook. In this case, it is referred to as both a booklet and as a script. It's assumed that all the players will choose different ones to start, which is just fine. The list is pretty decent: - The Governor - The Warlord - The Chief of the Secret Service - The Hierophant - The Emissary - The Diplomat - The Scientist - The Colony Leader Each of which has a different mechanism for generating their title, a different dominant attribute, and one special move that they can make, and a couple of other things, including what their initial influences are in. I'm inherently an underhanded son of a bitch, so I'm going to start by grabbing the **Chief of the Secret Service** booklet. > The gears of society are moved by the actions > of people like you who act in the shadows and > who are not afraid to get their hands dirty > > - When generating your title, your > honors are always "of the Shadows". > > - Dominant Attribute: **Cunning**. > > - You don't earn Glory: If you gain > Glory, add 1 to the Happiness of the > People. You win if you manage to get > all other players to have 8 or 9 Glory at > the same time. > > - When using The Hand of Dominion > against an individual, you never leave a > trace in addition to the other options > and can choose "The target is killed and > replaced by a Lesser Noble". > > - You start with three influences to > choose from: Police, Organized Crime, > Occultism, High Society, Politics Yes, this game has a win condition, and that's to have the most Glory. In fact, to take your Glory to 10. The Chief of the Secret Service modifies that aggressively, and I love it. As long as you make sure that every other person stays in active contention and have them at each other's throats, you can win this thing. This may be one of the most brilliant game mechanic setups I've ever seen. You'll also notice that effectively the Chief of the Secret Service can move militarily/aggressively against a character using the *Hand of the Dominion* in complete secrecy and just have them killed. Dying is something that can happen to your character in this game simply from old age. Things get rough. When you die, you pick a lesser noble template to start with, kick off with 2 Glory, and can't be targeted by anyone until you reach 5 Glory. Death doesn't mean you're out, it just means you're down. But it's so cool that the head of the assassins can just have people assassinated. ### Attributes There are three attributes with values that run from -1 to +3: *Charisma*, *Cunning*, and *Determination*. They mean pretty much exactly what you think they do. From negotiation and dialogue to critical thinking, knowledge, and observation, and finally, your instinct of self-preservation to flee or fight. We get to assign -1, 0, and +1, and then add +1 to our dominant attribute, which is cunning, of course. So let's do that. | *Attribute* | *Value* | | ----------------- | ------: | | **Charisma** | +1 | | **Cunning** | +1 | | **Determination** | -1 | It occurred to me that it would be interesting to take the character and make it slightly more balanced. Okay, he's not very good at self-preservation, but I kind of like it. He's got a fast tongue and a cunning eye and tends to get into situations which may not be ideal for getting himself out of. Less a master of whispers and more of the planet's ultimate conman. I feel like I've just combined the position of high merchant and head of assassins. I'm not hating it. ### Age As I said, age actually makes a real difference in this game because events happen in cycles. Between cycles, a period of time can pass sufficient enough to actually make you need to resist the effects of age on your body or start replacing bits with cybernetics, requiring constant nurse aides or arcane drugs. That does mean that we need to start by figuring out our age, which is pretty simple: 4D6 + 30. > 4d6 > [1, 5, 1, 6] - **Age:** 43 That's a surprisingly good roll for age. It bodes well for our ability to backstab all the way to the top of the hierarchy. ### Influences We get to pick our starting influences from the booklet. So let's pick three: | Influences | | --------------- | | Organized Crime | | Politics | | High Society | Nine out of ten times I would have taken occultism instead of politics, but this character seems to cry out for a less abstract grounding. He rubs elbows with smugglers and drug dealers as well as the hoi polloi of high society and probably acts as a procurator for them. Holy shit, I may have created Jeffrey Epstein. Let's go on. ### Mutual Influences In a typical play, there would be other players, and I would have a point of influence over one of them and have a point of influence exerted over me. That there are game mechanical methods for influencing other players is fantastic, and if there was anyone else around right now, we would certainly work that out. This also has the relatively strong implication that you need at least three players and a GM to play, though I can absolutely imagine this working pretty well without a GM if the players are of the right mindset and able to compete with one another while cooperating. ### Glory Make that, but all starting player characters begin with **Glory 5** unless you've died and had to come back as a lesser noble. You're halfway to winning! It's not going to last. ## Exunt That's it. Character complete. Ready to rock and roll. Get involved in the complex machinations of Neo-Terrax and probably make horrible decisions, cunning plays, and ultimately die horrifically to be replaced by someone of a lower house. There's no proper character sheet for this game, so we'll just put together a little text outline here. --- **Link of the Shadows, Vorian Hekat** **"Innocence is nonsense."** — *Fisck Irduin, Ministry of Internal Affairs* - *Identity & Status* - **Name:** Vorian Hekat - **Title:** Link of the Shadows - **Booklet:** Chief of the Secret Service - **Age:** 43 - **Glory:** 5 (Current) - *Vitality & Authority* - **Health Status:** [ ] Healthy / [ ] Weakened (-1 to all rolls) - **The Power:** [ ] Holds the Power (Double vote / Tie-breaker) | ***Attribute*** | ***Value*** | ***Description*** | | ----------------- | ----------: | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Charisma** | **+1** | Passion, charm, and personal interaction. Negotiation and dialogue. | | **Cunning** | **+1** | Critical thinking, knowledge, and observation. (Dominant Attribute) | | **Determination** | **-1** | Instinct of self-preservation. Toughness and quick action in danger. | *Secret Service Specialized Moves* Vorian does not pursue personal Glory in the traditional sense. - **Glory Redistribution:** If you would gain Glory, instead add +1 to the **Happiness of the People**. - **The Ultimate Play:** You win the campaign if you manage to get all other players to have **8 or 9 Glory** at the same time. You are the kingmaker keeping the crown just out of reach for everyone. *Master of Subterfuge* - **Untraceable Execution:** When using *The Hand of Dominion* move against an individual, you never leave a trace (regardless of your roll choices). - **Replacement Protocols:** You may choose the additional option: *"The target is killed and replaced by a Lesser Noble."* *Influences* You possess keys to the following sectors of Neo-Terrax: 1. **Organized Crime:** Smugglers, spice-dealers, and the underworld. 2. **Politics:** The levers of power within the High Palatine Council. 3. **High Society:** The bored aristocracy and the "hoi polloi" of the upper spires. - *Obligations* - **Supported By:** [Player Name/NPC] — *They have 1 point of Influence over you.* - **Indebted To You:** [Player Name/NPC] — *You have 1 point of Influence over them.* --- And that's it. We're ready to rock and roll. Throw down and get active. Maybe a little crazy. This is legitimately one of my favorite games that I've read in the last several months. It balances character conflict with a greater sense of integrated necessity and absolutely nails the tone that it wants to go for. What it doesn't do is actually be particularly well edited. So you get terms which change in representation halfway through (like the difference in use of playbook, booklet, and script). A good hardcore editing scrub by somebody who knows what they're doing would go a long way. But honestly, [this is Pay What You Want on itch](https://warbriel.itch.io/aa-intrigas-palatinas), and it's worth every penny of that. Is this suitable for long-term play? Yes, I would say it is. It might be the kind of game you run a cycle or two between other games, or it might be a game that you run at a higher level, representing the political intrigues of a setting that you're playing in with more traditionally placed characters. Either one would work just fine. It reminds me of another of my favorite games of all time, *[[Kingdom]]*, another game where you are playing movers and shakers in a society and your decisions help avert or weaponize crises that face everyone. If *Palatine* strikes your fancy, then it's definitely worth checking out *Kingdom* because I think it's the sort of thing you'll be into. That's all I've got here from the Eucanopolis. Tomorrow, we'll take on a game which has only recently seen a release and which is explicitly not a solo game. Don't worry, I'll get back to it eventually. Stay tuned for the next posting when something hot off the press hits the table.