Fire Emblem. Low fantasy covering war between nations, monsters appearing, and an inevitable dark dragon trying to destroy the world.

FEA Character Playbook

Fire Emblem characters are Knights, Archers, Fighters, Swordsmen, Fliers and Mages. They do not promote, they gain advanced moves when promoted. (or can use advanced versions?)

• Knights
  • Specialize with Lances, or Lances and Swords
  • Gain Armor and Cavalry skills
• Fighters
  • Specialize with Bows, Swords, or Axes
  • Gain versatility, middle of the road between Knight/Swordsmen
• Swordsmen
  • Specialize in Swords
  • Gain convert and lethal skills
• Fliers
  • Specialize in Lances
  • Gain flying abilities
• Mages
  • Specialize in Magic
  • Gain Magic Effects

All characters are… Charismatic, Dexterous, Studious, Resilient. They have Armor and Harm boxes. They can Pair Up with up to two Allies at a time.

They have a playbook, which includes Moves, Gear, and a Movement Type.

Resilient can contribute to physical armor.

• Cross Blades (+Dex/Stu)
• Seize an Objective (+Dex)
• Rescue an Ally (+Res)
• Backup an Ally
• Pull a Gambit (+Stu)
• Assess the Battlefield (+Stu)
• Together we Ride (+Cha)
• Support Each Other (+Cha)
• Pair Up
• Command An Ally (+Bond)

When you Cross Blades, with an enemy, roll +Dexterous if you’re using a weapon or +Studious if you’re using magic.

On a 7-9, you trade blows, each of you deal harm to each other. On a 10+, Choose 1:
- You’re too hard to hit, they negate the Harm they deal you
- You’ve got a speed advantage, deal twice as much Harm by attacking twice.
- You’ve broken the enemy’s guard, give an ally +1 Forward when they Cross Blades with this enemy.

When you take a risk to Seize an Objective, roll +Dexterous.

On a 10+, advance your control of the Objective. On a 7-9, You gain some control, but the GM will give you a worse outcome, hard choice, or price to pay to do so.

When you step in to protect an Ally from danger, roll +Resilient.

On a 7-9, You put yourself in harm’s way to protect them, take whatever Harm they would have received. on a 10+, you’re ready for this, reduce the Harm you receive by 1.

When you create a clever scheme, coordinate a maneuver, or otherwise Pull a Gambit, roll +Studious.

On a 10+, your gambit goes off without a hitch, you get +1 Forward while executing the gambit. On a 7-9, choose one:
- The gambit doesn’t survive contact with the enemy
- The gambit seems to work, get +1 Forward on the next roll you make executing this gambit, but the GM will introduce a dangerous complication.

When you review your intel about a conflict to Assess the Battlefield, roll +Studious.

On a 10+, Hold 3. On a 7-9, Hold 1. You gain +1 Forward when you act on this information.
- What Objective we control is most at risk?
- What’s the best way to gain control of an Objective?
- Whose the most dangerous enemy we’re aware of?
- Who catches our eye as a potential ally on the Battlefield?
- What hidden Objective have we not discovered yet?

When you try to convince someone to help or join you, roll +Charismatic.

On a 10+, they’ll help you, and the GM may let you add them as an Ally. On a 7-9, choose one:
- They’ll help you, but they won’t join your cause
- They’ll join your cause, but not until you do something for them.
- They won’t help you or join your cause, but they’ll reveal a relationship with one of your Allies that might let that ally convince them.

When you have a discussion where you learn more about one of your Allies, roll +Charismatic.

On a Hit, choose one. On 10+, choose two.
- Increase the Ally’s Bond with you by one Grade.
- Get a Paralogue Request from the Ally

When you have an Ally join your on the battlefield, Mark down that they’ve joined you. As long as they have joined you, you can use their skill via Command an Ally.

When you order an Ally that you’ve Paired Up up with to use their Skill, roll +Bond with that Ally.

On a 10+, they use their Skill. On a 7-9, Choose 1:
- They use the Skill, but are put in a risky situation by your orders. Reduce their Bond level by 1 after using their Skill.
- They use the Skill, but take a serious wound in the process. Remove the Ally from your Paired Up List

• Your job as GM is to:
  • Keep things believable.
• Your principles are:
  • Make the Dark Dragon’s Forces take from the party directly
  • Make a path the party can fight through to gain advantages in the war
  • Show the effects of the war on the commoners of the regions the party travels through
  • Show evil people taking advantage of the chaos of the Dark Dragon’s War.
  • The Dark Dragon’s Forces aren’t evil, they’re just being manipulated. Don’t let them be monsters.
• And finally, your moves include things like:
  • Have Enemy Forces attack a person or place precious to the party.
  • Have an ally betray the party to protect something important to them
  • Give an Ally a new Paralogue
  • Have an Ally request the party to help with their Paralogue
  • Threaten an Ally with Danger
  • Have Enemy Forces expand their control over the Kingdom

An Ally is an NPC member of your party that you lead into battle. Allies have the following things, a Drive, a Need, a Bond, and a Skill.

• Drive: An Ally’s drive is why they fight against the Dark Dragon’s forces. This is a narrative guide to understand the Ally at a glance.
• Paralogue: A Paralogue is something the Ally needs to do while they travel with the party. An Ally can ask the party to help them complete their Paralogue in order to increase their Bond. A completed Paralogue can be replaced by a new one or a continuation of the first as a GM Move or result of completing one.
• Bond: Bond is numerical score from +0 to +3. Bond represents how close the Ally feels to the party and how willing they are to put their life on the line to defeat the Dark Dragon’s forces.
• Skill: A Skill is a Move that player characters can use when they Pair Up with an Ally. This Skill will always use the Bond level of the Ally at it’s stat, and it’s effects may change at higher bond levels.

FEA Ally Skills

An Allies Bond can be increased in a number of ways.

• Increase
  • As an effect of Moves, such as Support Each Other or Rescue an Ally.
  • Completing a Paralogue for an Ally should always increase the Bond with that Ally by one or even two levels.
• Decrease

A Conflict is a model of a battle or tactical situation your party is involved in. Conflicts can model massive battlefields or small skirmishes.

The core of a Conflict is an Objective. An Objective is at it’s core, a Clock. It has a number of segments that either the Party (via the Seize an Objective Move) or the GM will fill/erase. Narrative events, good and bad, are tied to an Objective’s Clock being full, empty, or at certain points. The Clock can begin full, empty, or anywhere in between.

Objectives can be under the control of a Force on the battlefield. Gaining Control of an Objective is typically done by filling the Objective’s Clock.

An Objective can have Guardians, which are defenders or obstacles that prevent the others from interfering with the Objective. Guardians can be a squad of soldiers, a ballista in the distance, a monstrous beast, etc. A single Guardian should represent a group of Guardians when applicable.

Guardians have a Harm track and tags. The Harm Track represents how much effort it takes to kill, rout, or destroy the Guardians at that Objective. Guardians will all their Harm filled no longer interfere with those trying to Seize that Objective. Guardian Moves are ways the Guardians interact with those interfering with the Objective. Tags describe how a Guardian can interact with someone who is trying to interfere with the Objective. Samples might be 2-Harm, Ranged, etc.

A Conflict has a Battlefield, which is a point crawl style map. The following is a small Battlefield:

Each point on a Battlefield has one or more connections to a different point. These connections can be traversable by all (shown here as solid lines), traversable by non-Knights (shown here as dashed lines), or traversable only by Fliers (shown here at dotted lines). While there are no formal turns nor move distances, in the time to travel between two points other character should be given the chance to act.

Any point on the Battlefield can be considered an Objective when something deems it so. That means that a point can be controlled by Enemy Forces as well. A point controlled by Enemy Forces always gets a Sub Objective like so:

This small Objective is required to be completed by each party member passing through an Enemy Controlled point. It is not required to entry one however.

A Conflict is a series of Objectives that need to be completed. Not all of the Objectives have to be known to the party at the start of the Conflict. They can be revealed via the Assess the Battlefield move, or as a result of completing other Objectives.

This Conflict uses the above Battle Map. At the start of the Conflict, the party is trying to rescue an ally of theirs from a castle occupied by the Dark Dragon’s Forces. This Objective looks like:

When they complete this objective, a new one will arise. It’s a trap! The gates of the Dungeon are sealed behind them. This is a barrier they’ll have to work their way through before they can advance out of the Dungeon point. This barrier doesn’t come with Guardians, which makes it easier to interact with.

Not only is the trap sprung, but when they discover their captured ally the party learns that they are gravely injured. The GM will maintain an Objective that’s not tied to a specific point called “Ally Health”, which they will tick down as their ally’s health wanes. Like the Escape the Dungeon Objective, this Objective has no Guardians. This Objective also cannot be cleared until the party escapes out the map the way they came, though they can delay it with a healing magic or salve.

• A System to maintain the region map and army between battles. Should include a rudimentary overview of where things are, who controls what, and what the next objective is. Should require maintaining bonds with Allies via additional activities.

• ☐ Archer as a class, since it has it’s own benefit (Range) as opposed to Fighter’s nebulous “Versatile” benefit.
• ☐ Mages split by type
• ☐ Knight having it’s own movement type.