In the drowned forest sits the ruins of the City. Before the hunger of our forbears poisoned the world we called it home. For generations it was a source of salvage. But maybe, just maybe, it holds the clues we need to fix this broken world...

Foundlings are the survivors who have managed to eke out a living on the fringes of the polluted forest their forbears once called home. Foundlings live in a diaspora, and come in all shapes and sizes. The settlements to which they belong are as equally varied; some are ruthless survivalists, but most seek to live considerate lives. The chaos that followed the breaking of the Stone  lasted generations. The ruins of their ancestral home, the city, played an essential role in their survival: as they scavenged what they could despite the dangers. Repairing, remaking, and modifying the broken things into useful items helped them stave off disaster.

 

Only now that the Foundlings have managed to scrape together a patchwork of settlements and villages, have some started to look to the home of their forebears for more than salvage, and wonder if something can be done to heal the wound.

Foundlings is 36 interior pages, and a 4 page cover. The interior of the zine will be printed on 115 GSM silk paper, while the cover will be 300 GSM with a matte-laminate finish.

All of the art in Foundlings is original work created by Tsaelyh.

A Foundling has their strengths and weaknesses, these are not measured by the list of skills they know, but rather how they tackle the problems they face. The system , inspired by FATE, Star Trek Adventures, and others, is designed to reflect how the players describe what it is their Foundlings are doing. 

A Foundling's values are important, they may weaken and change over the course of game play.

Abilities are special powers a Foundling can utilise; unique ways to bend or break the rules, or gain advantages.

Gear is defined not just by it's function, but also by a short list of Tags and a number of Ruin points. Tags are descriptive words which together 'make' the item of gear. Tags are also used in the Salvage and repair systems, where finding salvage with the appropriate tag (or assembling a set of tags) can be used to fix a broken thing, or create a new thing. Ruin is a simple way of tracking the slow degradation of gear, it may result from rolling a Hitch or using the gear in rough circumstances, but can almost always be repaired.

Combat is straightforward, and like all other checks, involves the players rolling all the dice. A single roll will dictate whether a Foundling hits or gets hit, as well as what sort of damage they inflict. Damage is recorded as Strain and Injuries, both of which have an immediate and measurable impact on a Foundling's Attitudes.

Magic is a verb-noun system called Enchantment, and any Foundling can learn to Enchant.

Of course, the Settlement a Foundling belongs to is important. In the zine you will find a simple system designed to give a sense of the Settlement, as well as their neighbours...