The First Fire

1–3 players
Difficulty 2 of 3
Not recommended under 10
Available in: Français, English, Español, Deutsch, Italiano

The clan's Singing Fire has gone out, and winter is coming with a wolf's stride. Somewhere beyond the three territories, the Thunderbird keeps the lightning. Go and fetch it.

The rulebook at a glance

d6 dice pool
4 attributes
The clan's ember

Read the rules

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Campaign
The Promised Lightning
3 sessions · myth, journey, trials
Cost: 3 Dice for the whole table
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By the Icotale team

The world

PlaceThe Reindeer CampHide tents in the hollow of a valley, and at the center, the hearth of the Singing Fire — cold for the first time in clan memory.
PlaceThe Longhorn PlainThe territory of the Wolf Horde: herds of mammoths, tall grass, and hunters who don't like people crossing.
PlaceThe Ancestors' MarshA warm mist over black water. Here you can speak to the dead, as long as you don't raise your voice.
PlaceThe Rumbling MountainThe roof of the world: glaciers, echoes, and at the summit, the nest of the Thunderbird, which no one has seen up close.
FactionThe Wolf HordeThe rival clan: tough, proud, and hungry too. Their own fire is fading, but they would rather die than say so.
CharacterOld-SnowThe eldest of the Reindeer clan, keeper of the Singing Fire for forty winters. Since it went out, she stares at the mountain and says nothing.
CharacterWhite-Fang-of-MorningThe chief of the Wolf Horde: a scar from the back of his neck to his chin, and a word he has never taken back.

The rulebook

Resolving actions

Roll as many d6 as the attribute: every 5 or 6 is a success.
One success is enough for an ordinary trial, two for a legendary trial.
With no success at all, the trial costs something — time, strength or an offering — but the story goes on.

Initiative : 1d6 + Trail

Attributes

Rock ROCK: The strength of the body: carrying, wrestling, walking against the wind.
Trail TRL: Reading tracks, hunting, finding shelter before nightfall.
Word WRD: Telling tales, bargaining, calming people and beasts.
Dream DRM: Listening to the spirits, understanding signs, dreaming true.

Special rules

The clan's ember: The group carries the last ember of the Singing Fire in a horn. It weakens with every failed trial and revives when it is told a true deed from that day. If it goes out completely, the spirits stop answering Dream rolls until the next deed.
Offerings: The spirits of the territories accept neither gold nor promises: they take a memory, a song or an object that matters. Each offering given in play adds one die to the next roll — and one story fewer to tell back home.
Legendary names: After each great trial, the clan will give a new name to what happened there: the player chooses it (the Cliff-where-Nael-sang…). Speaking one of these names before a roll lets you reroll the dice once per session.

Character creation

Each attribute starts at 1: spread 10 extra points, up to 5 per attribute · no reroll

Origins

Reindeer Clan: Tireless walkers of the cold plains; +1 to Trail.
River Clan: Fishers, storytellers, ford guides; +1 to Word.
Cave Clan: Cave-wall painters, close to the spirits; +1 to Dream.

Vocations

Huntress: Three spears, one eye, zero noise.
Flint-knapper: Their blades cut the wind; their hands can do anything.
Memory-keeper: Keeps the clan's stories and invents new ones.
Dream-walker: Sleeps with one eye open, dreams for two, always comes back with a sign.

Derived values

Hit points: 3 + Rock
Defense: Trail
Initiative: 1d6 + Trail

Starting equipment

A flint-tipped spear
The clan's ember horn
A handful of red ochre

Veils

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

death of animals
famine