The East Wing

2–3 players
Difficulty 3 of 3
Not recommended under 16
Available in: Français, English, Español, Deutsch, Italiano

Saint Helena Asylum, 1912. You are not insane. That is precisely the problem: someone is paying dearly for you to be. Tonight, the East Wing is left unlocked.

The rulebook at a glance

d100 roll-under
4 attributes
The rounds

Read the rules

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One-shot
The Night of the Doors
1 session · escape, evidence, tension
Cost: 1 Die for the whole table

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By the Icotale team

The world

PlaceSainte-Hélène AsylumA former monastery on a rain-lashed hill, two hours from town. Families leave there whatever they want to forget.
PlaceThe East WingThe wing for "special residents": single rooms, barred windows, and a set of rules that no one has ever seen written down.
PlaceThe director's officeAt the top of the grand staircase: a safe, files tied with red ribbon, and a false-bottomed wardrobe that the cleaning lady refuses to dust.
PlaceThe laundryThe only place where the wings meet: steam, sheets, and every rumour in the asylum.
CharacterDoctor MaussaneThe director: a gentle voice, quick diagnoses, elegant signatures. He receives families on Thursdays, always with tea.
CharacterNurse BertheThirty years of service, keys on her belt and silences that say a great deal. She tucks in the patients the others forget.
CharacterÉdouardA patient in the East Wing for longer than anyone else. He plays chess alone and rarely wins.

The rulebook

Resolving actions

Roll 1d100 under the attribute multiplied by five: you succeed if the die is lower or equal.
Under the attribute alone, it is a remarkable success, silent and clean.
Above 95, something creaks, falls or lights up: the wardens have sharp ears.

Initiative : Observation

Attributes

Nerve NRV: Keeping calm under the neon lights, lying to a doctor, holding on when doors slam.
Stealth STL: Walking without a sound, picking locks, vanishing into a corner.
Observation OBS: Memorising the rounds, spotting the key, reading a file upside down.
Persuasion PER: Convincing an orderly, winning over a patient, buying ten minutes.

Special rules

The rounds: At night, the wardens pass at fixed times. Every noisy failure brings the next round one notch closer. Three notches, and the round arrives early: you need a hiding place, right now.
Trust: Every patient or staff member has a trust gauge that words and deeds raise or lower. With high trust, they help without being asked; with zero trust, they call for help. You never force an ally: you earn them.
Evidence: Escaping is not enough: outside, the word of an inmate is worth nothing. Every stolen document — register, letter, prescription — is a piece of evidence. Leaving with three pieces of evidence means leaving free; leaving with nothing means being caught again tomorrow.

Character creation

Roll 3 dice with 6 faces per attribute, multiply the total by 5 · 1 reroll allowed3d6x5

Origins

Inconvenient heir: Committed by the family on the eve of signing a will; +1 to Persuasion.
Overly curious journalist: Was investigating Sainte-Hélène and came in through the wrong door; +1 to Observation.
Awkward witness: Saw what should not have been seen, one foggy evening; +1 to Stealth.

Vocations

Nimble fingers: Locks and pockets have never been an obstacle.
Perfect memory: Maps, timetables, faces: nothing fades.
Actor: Can play the madman, the meek one or the dying one, as needed.
Former nurse: Knows hospitals from the inside: the drugs, the codes, the blind spots.

Derived values

Hit points: Nerve ÷ 2
Defense: Stealth ÷ 2
Initiative: Observation

Starting equipment

A spoon secretly sharpened
A cufflink from before
Match ×3

Veils

Topics kept off screen: the Narrator never shows or describes them.

sexual violence
self-harm
suicide
medical treatments
physical restraint