Playbooks & Inserts

This chapter is addressed to players, but GMs should read it, too!

The contents of this chapter are available as

PDFs in a downloadable playkit at www.lampblackandbrimstone.com. They are included here for reference, not for use during play.

When you create a PC for Stonetop, the first thing you'll do is pick your playbook.

Each playbook contains a set of choices, prompts, and options that point towards a specific character archetype, while leaving room to make your character unique.

Your playbook also serves as a character sheet. You'll use it to track your PC's stats, debilities, current HP and XP, moves, and so forth. The playbooks are designed to be printed double-sided and folded down the middle, so that they form a little booklet.

The nine standard playbooks are:

Each PC also has at least one insert. The standard inserts are also included in this chapter, starting on Inserts.

The GM has a playbook, too

When you download the playkit from lampblackandbrimstone.com, you'll also find a PDF of the GM playbook, a collection of rules, maps, and tools for the GM to quickly reference during play and prep. It's a summary of content found elsewhere in this book and Book II, and thus is not included in this chapter.

When you have questions about particular moves or other elements of a playbook (how they work, what exactly __ means, what constitutes "a creature of darkness," etc.), talk it out with the GM and the other players. Consider what's already been established or implied, and work it out as a group.

Don't be surprised if the GM turns such questions back on you. "Well, what do you think constitutes a creature of darkness?"

This isn't a trap or a trick! It's an invitation for you to help author the world. Answer with whatever seems obvious or interesting to you. Just be prepared for that answer to have lasting implications for how the move works in your game!

In this chapter