'Into the Odd' - Session Zero

01_into-the-odd-fact-sheet.md

INTO THE ODD

At a Glance

Game Type: OSR (Old School Revival)

Genre: Industrial-age, low-magic, weird fantasy with cosmic horror elements

Tone: Gritty, dangerous, strange, occasionally darkly humorous

Play Style:

• Rules-light with fast, deadly combat
• Very quick PC creation; high lethality
• Old-school dungeon exploration-focused
• Player ingenuity over character abilities

Character Progression:

• Experience Levels: Novice → Professional → Expert → Veteran → Master
• Advancement through completing expeditions
• Acquiring Arcana, growing enterprises, managing war and influence
• Opportunities for "downtime"

Core Mechanics:

• 3d6 for Ability Scores (STR, DEX, WIL)
• Attacks always hit; damage determined by weapon dice
• HP is buffer to depleting STR (STR + HP = real HP)
• Ability Scores can be depleted by damage, poison, fear, and who knows what else...
• Death occurs at 0 STR; paralysis at 0 DEX; mental breakdown at 0 WIL

Distinctive Features:

• Arcana: Mysterious artifacts with strange powers
• Bastion: The largest city and starting hub
• The Underground: Vast, unknown network beneath Bastion and beyond
• Enterprises: Businesses characters can establish
• Detachments: Units for larger conflicts
• Apprentices: NPCs that accompany adventurers and also advance in experience

Game Loop:

• Prepare expeditions
• Explore dangerous locations
• Return with treasure and Arcana
• Advance character and invest gains
• Repeat with growing ambition and scope

Session Length: 1-3 hours (sessions can be long or short)

Player Count: 3-5

02_into-the-odd-intro.md

Welcome to Bastion and the Odd World

The smoke-stained towers of Bastion rise like a crown of iron and industry above a world of dark mystery. This vast city is mankind's last great hub—its factories churning, its streets teeming with the desperate and the ambitious. By day, canals carry goods from distant shores; by night, mobs hunt for otherworldly imposters among the populace.

Beneath your feet stretches The Underground—a labyrinth of tunnels, sewers, and forgotten vaults rumored to extend as far as Bastion itself. Some passages lead to smugglers' dens, others to ancient chambers sealed by secretive councils. The darkness grows deeper with each passing year, reaching upward like a hungry tide.

Beyond Bastion's walls lie the laregely forgotten Deep Country. Villages stand abandoned, their populace drawn to the city's promise of dangerous but dependable work. Those who remain in the countryside live with fierce independence and deep suspicion of city folk. Smaller cities cling to their autonomy, growing increasingly resentful of Bastion's dominance.

Tales speak of stranger places still: The Golden Lands—a paradise of limitless power that no expedition has definitively located. Some believe it lies beyond the sea, others beyond the stars themselves. The great Polar Ocean stretches northward into oblivion, claiming explorers who venture too far. Those few who return are never the same, their stories contradicting one another in disturbing ways.

You are explorers in this world of industrial grime and cosmic mystery. While others toil in factories or fight in street gangs, you brave the unknown seeking fortunes and artifacts of inexplicable power—Arcana. These strange devices hold unnatural abilities, their origins debated by scientists and religious scholars alike.

Most expeditions end in failure. Many end in death. But you are different. You must be.

The world is too large for explorers to map, and too old for academics to record. What wonders and horrors await beyond the familiar? Only those bold enough to venture into the odd will ever know.

03_game-loop.md

The Adventuring Cycle

The rhythm of Into the Odd follows a clear pattern. Understanding this cycle will help you grasp how your character grows and what drives the game forward.

Prepare for Expedition

In Bastion or another settlement, gather information, buy supplies, and rest. Your expedition is assumed to have basic supplies: rations, lanterns, and climbing gear. Anything special must be purchased.

A group of explorers may hire companions or lighter boys to carry equipment and provide additional muscle. Don't get too attached.

Explore the Unknown

Venture into strange places seeking treasure and Arcana. Most dangers can be avoided with caution and clever planning. Combat is deadly and best avoided unless the odds are in your favor.

The Referee describes what you see. You ask questions and take actions. The rules determine the outcome of risky choices.

If a character dies, their player creates a new one. Perhaps your second character steps forward to join the survivors.

Return and Advance

Survival is a victory. Death is common.

If you return to civilization with valuables, convert them to coins and consider your options:

• Advancement: Characters who complete expeditions gain Experience Levels, growing more capable. Expeditions are the core loop of an explorer's existence—each successful return fuels the next journey.
• Enterprise: Invest in a business that generates income while you explore.
• Apprentice: At Veteran level, take on an apprentice who may one day surpass you.

Rest, recover, gather information on your next objective, and prepare for another expedition.

As your notoriety grows, so do the challenges. Rival expeditionary groups will contest your claims. Competing enterprises may threaten your interests. In time, explorers of renown raise Detachments—organized forces that clash in battles beyond the scale of mere skirmishes.

Imagine the thunder of cannons as your forces besiege a rival's fortress. Picture your flagship's cannons blasting an enemy vessel while sea monsters circle below. The odd world offers conflict on every scale, from desperate duels in dark corridors to the commanding of armies and fleets.

Beyond Survival

As you progress, your horizons expand. Professional explorers might venture beyond Bastion's shadow into the Deep Country. Experts could establish ties with Other Cities or seek legendary treasures. Veterans might mount expeditions to rumored shores of the Golden Lands. Masters have been known to sail beyond the Polar Ocean, confronting cosmic mysteries directly.

With each level, your autonomy grows. What began as desperate expeditions for coins transforms into the pursuit of your own ambitions and legacy.

Most characters die unknown. Some achieve Professional or Expert level. Few become Veterans. Rare indeed are Masters.

Beyond even these achievements, some explorers chase greater ambitions than leaving a lasting legacy: eldritch immortality... cosmic transcendence... These are the stories that become legend in Bastion's smoky taverns.

The cycle continues.

04_character-creation.md

Characters in the Odd World

In Bastion's smog-choked streets and beyond, countless souls toil, scheme, and dream. You are among the few who dare to venture where most fear even to look.

We will roll up our characters together. For now, imagine them.

First Character

Who might your adventurer be in this world of industrial grime and cosmic mystery.

Perhaps you're a soldier turned factory worker who witnessed strange phenomena in the machinery, now fired and blacklisted by your former employers.

Or a disgraced academic whose unorthodox theories drove you from university halls to prove your worth in the field.

Maybe you're a canal navigator who glimpsed something impossible beneath Bastion's waterways and can't return to normal life.

Your character needs no elaborate backstory—just a spark that sets them apart from the masses. What pushes them to risk death in pursuit of the unknown?

Second Character

Prepare a second character who exists independently of the first. Death comes easily, especially in The Underground. If death claims your first character, your second will be pulled up. Should your first character survive, this second might become their apprentice, joining expeditions. Regardless, when death inevitably claims your first, this character will step forward as your new protagonist, joining the expedition between dangerous forays.

Final Thoughts

Characters in the odd world are defined less by their histories and more by their aspirations, fears, and the strange circumstances that made them explorers.

A baker can become a warrior; a scholar might wield a musket. All that matters is the drive to seek riches, knowledge, and Arcana in places where the fabric of reality wears thin.

Remember: Most die unknown. Few achieve greatness. All are changed by what they discover.