Motherboard

In a world where magic takes the form of the technology left behind by a long-fallen civilization, a new threat rises as a malicious virus spreads through the machines that wander the Wastes.

By Meguey Baker, Rowan Hall, & Spenser Starke

Complexity Rating: •••

The Pitch

Read this section to your players to introduce them to the campaign.

Among the ancient ruins of the fallen world, the great walled cities of the Echo Vale sit as bastions of hope in an otherwise hostile land. Utilizing technology powered by a mysterious language that runs through metal threads tethered high above the valley, these citadels insulate their citizens from the Wastes, where autonomous machines roam wild and massive wandering cities scour the land for scrap. But when a malicious virus infects the machine beasts that work alongside the people of the valley, the once-docile creations turn violent. In a Motherboard campaign, you’ll use technology instead of magic as you play extraordinary heroes leaving the safety of the walled cities to travel the Wastes and bring peace to the Vale once more.

Tone & Feel

Adventurous, Epic, Innovative, Mysterious, Post-Post-Apocalyptic, Technological

Themes

Artificial Intelligence, Identity & Personhood, Innovation, Technology vs. Humanity

Touchstones

Horizon Zero Dawn, Mortal Engines, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Final Fantasy Series, Fullmetal Alchemist, Slugblaster

Overview

If your group decides to play this campaign, give your players the following information before character creation.

The Echo Vale is so named because its people live among the remains—the “echoes”—of a fallen civilization and attempt to use ancient technology for new purposes. In the hundreds of years since the fallen ones’ mysterious annihilation, the steel and concrete of the old world succumbed to the plants and animals of the valley. Grasses grew in the cracks of ancient roads, trees made homes in derelict skyscrapers, and history forgot the names of figures depicted in crumbling statues, leaving those who built homes in the husks of these once-great cities to muddle their way through the powerful programs and machines left behind.

Now, formidable settlements such as Argent make home among decaying ruins, building walls to keep violence out and workers in. Meanwhile, Carrowcroft Walkaway and other wandering cities move through the valley on all manner of vehicles, towns atop lumbering machines like travelers hauling their packs.

Above the valley lies the Network, a dense web of glimmering metal wire that shepherds information and communication across the disparate cities of the Echo Vale. Though the valley’s inhabitants have long used this ancient technology, the complex language used to create and modify the network was lost when the previous civilization fell.

Throughout the Echo Vale roam autonomous machines of the fallen world, called remnants. These automatons come in two primary forms. Some resemble animals, with features that match their living counterparts. Others were designed with a function in mind, such as defenders, builders, watchers, or domestic laborers that carried out tasks alongside their long-dead creators. Some remnants live within cities and are considered “tame”, while others roam “wild” in the Wastes, often territorial and hunting for sources of energy. Some are large enough to hold entire wandering cities on their backs, while others are small creatures that serve no apparent function aside from supplying scrap parts for the working machines people need to use each day.

These machines gain energy from a variety of sources. Remnants are drawn to power and information like organic animals to food; while tame remnants can gather theirs from connections to the Networks within cities, their wild counterparts must resort to other means. Remnants can produce energy through photosynthesis, kill other remnants for their power stores, or hunt people to siphon their energy. They act like other wild animals—always focused on their next meal, whatever they must do to get it. Rumors say that some wild remnants are able to harvest information from the brains of the creatures they kill.

The Wastes are the overgrown, hostile lands between cities that are filled with wild remnants and ancient ruins. The average citizen spends most of their life within a walled or wandering city, but needs arise that require trips out into the Wastes. City defenders must stop attacks from wild remnants, messengers run between cities when portions of the Network need repair, and some cities rely on hunting parties for food. Out in the Wastes, travelers and remnants alike can still access the Network through free data wells.

To access the vast information left behind by the ancient world, inhabitants both mortal and machine use the ports at the base of data wells, slender towers that reach up to the lines of the Network. Data wells can be found across the valley, but many exist within walled cities, rendering them inaccessible to the rest of the region. The wells in the Wastes that remain freely available become hotbeds of violence, as wild remnants use them like a watering hole for power and information. In contrast, the Pilgrims of the Spire are a group known to strongly value and protect free data wells, as they’re considered sacred places connected to the Motherboard.

The tallest spire at the center of the Echo Vale is the Motherboard, from which all threads of the Network originate. Though no one has ever been able to enter this daunting tower, each city has their own beliefs about its ancient power. Most citizens revere the massive presence within as a god, believing it was worshipped by the fallen civilization and carries their wisdom forward to bless today’s information-scarce world. Others believe it is a “master program” the technomancers of the fallen world left behind, and is therefore as fallible as any other remnant. Though the Motherboard herself does not communicate with people directly, she shepherds all data and power through the Network. Without her operating system, the valley’s technology would eventually fail. Despite what is commonly believed, some technomancers and pilgrims claim to speak to the Motherboard in the machine language, known as “kohd”.

Technomancers are the datacrafters who utilize ancient machines for new purposes. Historians work to decipher kohd, while practitioners work directly with remnants and other technology to gain a deeper understanding of this arcane language. Some forgo study of kohd entirely in favor of simply utilizing machines for their power. Most have a general understanding of how to employ the effects of the fallen world’s technology, allowing them to operate and control its powerful programs, even without understanding its inner workings. Because this tech isn’t fully understood by the people of the modern age, technomancers can manage only temporary repairs on the remnants.

Machinists are more focused on the physical aspects of remnants. Many of them work in factories or scrap works, repairing gears, wires, and processors for a variety of machines, including remnants and mechanicals (operator-driven machines). Some machinists can cobble together new remnants from spare parts, but they must use old remnant cores from the fallen world to give them life. Stories tell of wild remnants creating more of their own kind, but most consider these myths told by travelers.

Recently, a disaster occurred known as the Remnant’s Fury —a virus spread through the Network that caused the remnants to attack in the dead of night. These machines, which once worked peacefully in homes and businesses, assailed hundreds of unsuspecting people in both walled and wandering cities. In the Wastes, travelers found themselves suddenly facing particularly violent packs of wild remnants. Autonomous machines have always posed unique dangers—working remnants short out, wild remnants kill for energy—but this was different. This was a massacre.

More and more remnants are becoming violent, and those who live under the Network must figure out what to do before the Echo Vale meets a fate like the fallen world. No one knows who or what caused the malicious virus taking hold of the remnants, but for it to be this widespread, there’s growing certainty that it must somehow involve the Motherboard.

Communities

All communities are available, but some have unique aspects within a Motherboard campaign. As needed, provide the following information to your players and choose one or more of the questions to ask them during your session zero.

Loreborne

Many loreborne communities are devoted to the history of the fallen world and the technology they left behind, whether spiritually or practically. Loreborne characters could be experts in the machine workings of mechanicals or remnants, technomancers attempting to use kohd, or academics studying the history of the fallen civilization. If they have careers in any of these fields, they’ll be highly sought after wherever they go.

• You discovered something about the fallen ones you’ve never shared with anyone. What secret do you keep?
• You’ve trained as a technomancer for many years, but one thing baffles you about the remnants. What is it?
• You have a trick to get any machine up and running. What do you do, and who taught it to you?

Orderborne

In the Echo Vale, most orderborne characters belong to a group focused on protecting a larger community. They might defend a walled or wandering city, or work as contractors hired to hunt and scrap remnants in the Wastes. These characters use their skills for a price—sometimes the benefits are housing, other times scrap parts, or simply profit. Groups associated with a city often have regimented operations, while contractors who travel the valley are more likely to have unique systems and skills.

• You were once a member of a small group of contractors, but now you’re stationed in the Argent guard. What made you choose to stay within the walls?
• You have a trick for catching and scrapping wild remnants that city officials pay handsomely for. What is it, and who taught it to you?
• A loved one was badly injured in an accident during a scrap run. What happened, and why do you feel it was your fault?

Ridgeborne

The mountains bordering the valley support the spider-like web of the Network, making their peaks neutral territory. All cities are expected to contribute citizens to the Tower Watch, an independent group who tends to the towers and wires and protects the Network from the effects of wildlife and weather. Players might choose the ridgeborne community if they want to build a character who belongs to the Tower Watch or one of the smaller wandering or walled cities that make a home on the cliffs for safety.

• Do you consider yourself at home in the lower valley? Why or why not?
• There is a secret that only the Tower Watch knows. What is it?
• You once saw someone fall from a tower into the Wastes below. What led to this?

Wanderborne

Wanderborne characters may be worshippers of the Motherboard who identify as Pilgrims of the Spire. These devotees leave the cities to traverse the Wastes, facing wild remnants and violent travelers to reach the central spire. Though the tower is sealed to entrants, other worshippers establish large camps at its base and attempt to connect to the “voice of the Mother”.

• You’re certain you once heard the voice of the Motherboard. What did she tell you?
• You don’t believe the Motherboard is a god, but you traveled with the Pilgrims anyway. Why?
• The Pilgrims of the Spire protect a secret. What is it?

Other wanderborne characters are citizens of a roaming city. These civilizations range in size from only a few homes to massive metropolises that move through the Wastes. Wandering cities eschew walls, favoring movement as a means of protection from remnants and other dangers. Some wandering cities are built on mechanicals and must be driven or controlled by people, while others are built on the backs of giant remnants. After the Remnant’s Fury, the wandering cities atop remnants were forced into a dangerous position: if they can’t keep their remnant pacified, they risk losing not just their home, but their entire community.

• You were part of the team that cares for your city’s giant remnant. What do you know about its personality that others don’t?
• You were training to pilot your wandering city’s mechanical, but you left to live somewhere else. What happened that drove you out?
• Your wandering city’s remnant follows the same path through the valley and will not stray from it. Why is this?

Underborne

The fallen ones not only paved the valley in pliable gray stone, they also dug into the earth and created labyrinthine buildings underground. Underborne characters are likely members of communities that avoid the danger and strife of the valley above in the dark and twisting passages below. These underground cities fiercely protect their few aboveground entry points, but they still face danger from remnants that can dig beneath the earth—in particular, underborne communities are often threatened by old farming remnants operating in the wild.

• The buildings that make up your underground community once had a unified purpose. What do you believe this purpose was?
• Members of your community have a unique way of dispatching remnants underground. How do they accomplish this?
• Your community protects something important. What is it?

Ancestries

Some ancestries are not available for a Motherboard campaign. As needed, provide the following information to your players.

Clanks

Clanks are unavailable in a Motherboard campaign. All autonomous robotic beings are remnants, and though they have many unique forms, none have sapience.

Magical Ancestries

Some ancestries in Daggerheart have inherent magical features, like the Drakona’s Elemental Breath. Consider how these would manifest in a world where magic comes from technology, then adapt the flavor of each feature accordingly.

Classes

All classes are available, but some have unique aspects within a Motherboard campaign. As needed, provide the following information to your players.

All Classes with Spellcasting

Rather than magic, characters who use a Spellcasting trait instead utilize technology to carry out their abilities. Some come to technomancy through years of study, while others feel an innate call to the ancient ways. Characters with a spellcasting trait should decide how they utilize technology to mirror spellcraft and consider what tools, processes, or systems they need to accomplish their goals.

Sorcerers & Wizards

Since magic is technology in this campaign, sorcerers are biohackers that incorporate technology into their physical form, whereas wizards tinker with what they find and combine programs and machines together to build something new.

Druids

When druids transform into a Beastform, it wraps around them as a mechanized suit that can enhance their senses, change the way they move, or grant them unique abilities. A druid’s Beastform can look similar to the remnants of the Echo Vale or more closely resemble living animals.

Beastbound Rangers

In a Motherboard campaign, a Beastbound ranger’s companion can be a living creature, but organic fauna are considered both rare and valuable within the cities. Alternatively, they may have developed a close relationship with a remnant.

Seraphs

Generally, seraphs worship the Motherboard as their god, kohd as a holy language, and treat the many programs and pieces of technology that come from them as power imparted by their faith. Others believe there are many gods, known as the Faint Divinities, that live within the Network, shifting their presence to different areas across the vale as needed. Players should determine why their character relates to technology on a spiritual level, rather than simply employing it. They should also consider if and how they offer their devotion to the Motherboard or Faint Divinities.

Warriors

The warrior’s “Combat Training” feature is replaced with the following new feature:

For more information on Ikonis, see the upcoming “Campaign Mechanics” section.

Player Principles

If your group decides to play this campaign, give your players the following information before character creation.

Replace Magic with Technology

In a Motherboard campaign, all magic is technology. When your character casts spells, consider how the effect manifests in this world. Each time they use a weapon, consider how to align it with the repurposed and rebuilt technology of the fallen world.

• Does your character wear gauntlets with a screen that allows them to scroll through their grimoire? Does their staff crackle with electricity?
• How do they store information from the network when they aren’t connected?
• Do they have personal or shared devices that can be loaded with a variety of information types? How is this done? Do they use discs, drives, or plugs?

Contrast the Technological with the Emotional

While the Echo Vale is filled with exciting technologies and unique adaptations, it’s also filled with people experiencing hardship, fear, and love. As your character travels through the valley, fighting remnants and political adversaries, consider how the wider story affects them personally. Each time your character interacts with new people and technology, consider how they feel about them and take action based on their emotional response.

• How does your character feel about the power of the Motherboard?
• Has your character ever formed a close connection with a remnant?
• How does your character’s history influence their interactions with particular cities or individuals?

Create a Shared Language

The Echo Vale is built atop an ancient society that perished long ago. The lifestyle and language of the fallen ones was incredibly advanced, yet it still remains obscure to the Echo Vale’s modern people. It’s up to you to make a shared lexicon to describe the technology they use, working with the table to determine what your characters do and do not understand about the fallen world. This includes the terminology, application, and meaning of places and objects. Your characters may use a language that developed from the one spoken and written by their predecessors, but they’ll likely have a different understanding of words because they lack necessary context. Similarly, their people might have ascribed meaning and function to objects with an entirely different original purpose.

• What items from the old world were made of materials strong enough to survive the test of time? If portions of an object degraded, what remained?
• How much of an object’s original function is known to the people? Have they adapted items to a new purpose?
• Have they assigned spiritual value to mundane objects? Do they use items that were once culturally significant for mundane tasks?
• What words have a different meaning to today’s people than they originally carried in the fallen world?

GM Principles

Keep the following guidance in mind while you GM this campaign.

Fill the World with the Ruins of Technology

Because the innovation of the fallen ones was so advanced, the people who live in the Echo Vale today have molded their lives around the technology that remains. Even so, they don’t understand it well enough to rebuild the systems that gave the fallen world its immense power. Fill the world with the ruins of state-of-the-art buildings and machines, weather them with centuries of nature’s intrusion, and then describe the less-advanced world built among them. You may also want to decide what led to the downfall of the past civilization, then use that to flavor the world they left behind.

• What does the wreckage of a strip mall look like with a small encampment of wooden homes built within?
• What particular pieces of technology have people been able to keep running? How have they adapted them?

Additionally, you’re encouraged to reflavor Daggerheart adversaries as remnants.

• How would an adversary’s abilities manifest if they were made of circuits and steel? How does their appearance change? Do they have different motivations?

Make the Details Fantastical and the Conflicts Grounded

Though the Echo Vale is filled with fantastical technology that causes large-scale problems, each confrontation should center the struggles of its people, be they cultural, political, or spiritual. Use technology as window dressing for grounded conflict to blend the exciting details of the campaign with personal stakes for each character. You can use the abilities of remnants and the aspects of cities as allegories for the emotional experiences of the party. For example, if a member of the party recently lost a family member, you could introduce them to an NPC in the Wastes who’s protecting a remnant they were raised alongside, despite the fact that its recent corruption has caused it to become violent.

• How does the use of technology highlight a conflict between individuals or groups?
• What remnants can act as physical representations of emotional turmoil?

Pit Tradition Against Progress

There are numerous conflicting ideologies among the cities and travelers of the Echo Vale, but most can be distilled into two schools of thought: Some people want to reject their predecessor’s technology, allowing the people of today the chance to define themselves and make their own way in this new world. Others believe they must dig further into the past to harness the powerful machines the fallen world left behind.

• How do these opposing viewpoints come into conflict?
• How do the political and social conflicts affect characters personally?

Distinctions

Use this information to prepare your campaign. You can also share it with your players as needed.

Technomancy

Imagine trying to explain our modern technology to our distant ancestors—it would seem like magic. This is how technology from the fallen world should be engaged with and described by the people of the Echo Vale. Reading the ancient language of kohd and pressing buttons on screens to perform supernatural feats is impossible without the Network. People who use technology are known as technomancers, and the way they use technology is only limited by your and your players’ imaginations. Consider how this prowess will look for each player character and NPC, allowing the technological to become extraordinary.

The Fallen World

The fallen ones were a powerful people who developed the very systems that likely destroyed them, but the world they left behind is as rich as it is obscure. The shimmering wire Network overhead, steel skyscrapers, concrete buildings, and machines with their own consciousness fill the Echo Vale even as nature works to reclaim it. Here, rivers pass through cities, buildings fill with new growth, and ancient monitors hang on the wall like panes of shattered glass.

Scrap Operations

Because the modern world is built on an ancient civilization’s ruins, it relies on the scraps they left behind. Thus, there is a unique economy and set of terms built around the concept of scraps.

Scrap operations often begin with the salvagers, those brave enough to venture out into the wastes to unearth ancient technology and hunt remnants for their parts. Those who survive stand to earn considerable commission depending on what they bring back and where they sell it. Some cities only want replacement parts for their remnants, while others search for artifacts of historical significance.

Within the cities, scrappers process and sell parts for mechanical repair and technomancy. Scrap shacks are the (often illegal) businesses run by individuals, but some cities require that all machine parts pass through government hands before going to the individual market.

Those who work with remnants or practice technomancy might adopt a variety of terms. Mechanists and scrap hackers repair or rebuild machines, autonomous or otherwise, while the technomancers who work with datacraft might be called techs.

Quantum

Quantum is the currency that runs the Echo Vale’s economy. How much quantum a person has is generally stored on a small black disc that can be inserted into devices throughout the valley. People often decorate and personalize their discs to distinguish them from one another.

Network Tethers

When wandering cities and travelers want to access the Network in the Wastes, they throw large hooks known as tethers over the wires above, allowing them to charge technology and collect data from any location. Some technomancers can even intercept Network messages using tethers, though this requires specialized knowledge and equipment.

Sometimes more ambitious or desperate individuals, known as skimmers, climb up to the lines and use smaller hooks or contraptions to slide along the Network cables, allowing them to gather data and traverse the Wastes from above.

Wandering Cities

The wandering cities are a true testament to the ingenuity of the people in the Echo Vale. Most cities precariously balance atop a remnant or a specially crafted vehicle piloted by a single driver or team. These vehicles come in all shapes and sizes and very often have collections of smaller crafts that travel with them for hunting, defense, or the general expansion of their populace.

Carrowcroft Walkaway

This behemoth is one of the largest of its kind, with layers of buildings crowded atop a walking machine and guns jutting out at all angles from its turtle-like form. Recently, Carrowcroft leaders became dissatisfied with sending out small Croft Walkers to pick on less protected towns and travelers, leading them to try something much more ambitious.

For decades, the leaders of Carrowcroft have had their sights set on the abundance of technology and scrap behind the walls of Argent. They’ve recently made a number of attacks against the formidable city. The Argent guard has held them off for the time being, but not without considerable loss of life on both sides.

Now, with Argent thrown into violence by the Remnant’s Fury, politicians in the walled city worry that the Croft Walkers will come back to attack while they’re vulnerable. There’s even a rumor circulating that Carrowcroft Walkaway somehow infiltrated the Motherboard and initiated the virus, allowing them to harvest scrap from the other settlements in the valley one by one. As they use only operator-driven mechanicals, they have a considerable advantage until someone can access the Motherboard to understand the cause.

There’s also a rumor in the Wastes that, though Carrowcroft doesn’t use remnants for labor, they are harvesting their cores to use in unique ways no other technomancers have been able to before.

Other Wandering Cities

You can populate the Echo Vale with the wandering cities below or create your own.

The May Trader Caravan: A collection of smaller vehicles, this ragtag group travels the Wastes together hunting wild remnants for scrap and trading with anyone with quantum or a rare piece of technology from the fallen world. May Traders are considered especially brave, as they don’t use walls or a tall walker to keep them safe from remnants. Their caravan is a collection of mechanicals that sit low to the ground, and they sacrifice strong defenses for speed and maneuverability.

The Library: Built atop a large, spider-like remnant, the Library is a prime example of the insular nature of many valley cities, wandering or walled. Those who live here aren’t interested in adapting and developing new technologies as much as protecting items and information from the fallen world.

Nereidus: A long, centipede-like ship with hundreds of oars that snakes through the water off the coast of the Echo Vale. Those who live here share a very communal way of life. Instead of having one leader, they elect a new Mouth of the People each season.

Walled Cities

Most stationary cities in the Echo Vale were built into ancient ruins, with new walls constructed around their borders to protect citizens from remnants and raiders. Some cities also use geographical formations and ancient structures for defense, while others are rapidly developing innovative defense systems.

Argent

Argent has long been the target of attention across the valley. With the most well-preserved ancient skyscrapers, the best fortifications, and the largest collection of tame remnants in the Echo Vale, this heavily stratified city is also a bastion of wealth. Their strictly regimented guard protects the streets and borders, and their prison labor system keeps government scrap operations working twenty-four hours a day.

In the wake of the Remnant’s Fury, the leader of Argent, known as the Priv, sent messengers to all walled cities within the valley to try to unify and uncover a solution. There’s talk that they will organize and attempt to enter the tower of the Motherboard, but this would violate many of the most devout orders of the Vale.

Other Walled Cities

You can populate the Echo Vale with the walled cities below or create your own.

Calcarus: This city consists of a single ancient skyscraper, now filled with its own small forest. Its citizens have grafted numerous wooden buildings onto the tower’s exterior, using Calcarus’s height to keep themselves safe from remnants.

The Northern Oracle: The site of many pilgrimages, this small village hosts a massive amphitheater filled with screens. The High Oracle claims she can use the screens to speak to the Motherboard, but only her most devout followers have ever claimed to see it.

Switch Withawick: This city is entirely underground, and its citizens’ eyes are sensitive to light because the people rarely come up to the surface. There are two prominent rumors about the Switch: that its citizens are cannibals (unlikely), and that they know how to create new remnant consciousnesses (possible).

Designing a City

When you design your own wandering or walled city, you can start with the following questions:

• Does this city wander? If so, what is it built on? If not, what do its walls or fortifications look like?
• What does this place look like? What architectural elements are from the fallen world? What portions are new?
• In what unique ways have the people used fallen world scraps and technologies?
• How do the citizens feel about remnants? The Motherboard?
• What cultural custom is unique to this city?
• What do these people want that they don’t have? What do they have to offer others in trade?

The Inciting Incident

You can use the prompt below to start your campaign, or create your own.

After the outbreak of the Remnant’s Fury, Argent’s city guard scrambled to subdue the violent machines. But wave after wave succumbed to the malicious virus, and politicians grew more desperate to avoid widespread fear.

Priv Maelor Rhodek (orderborne elf, she/her), the city’s charismatic leader, sent a messenger to assemble a team that has the skill and experience to handle remnants, go undercover as civilians in the machinists’ Build Sector, and figure out what’s causing the remnant attacks.

Priv Rhodek gives her word that any scrap the party acquires while protecting the city is theirs to keep. In return, she asks that they collect as many remnant cores as possible so she can pass them to her technomancers to diagnose the cause of the violence. She also gives the party the name of a surprising contact to see before they head into the scrap factory where many attacks have occurred.

The contact is Mac the Scrap Jack (wanderborne faun, he/him), who runs an illegal scrap operation, making him an unlikely friend for the very person that outlaws his work. But on the Priv’s word, he gives the party a Hotspot. This illegal device can be carried as a backpack and, when set down and activated, it stalls out nearby remnants for a few moments, allowing the party to get out of a bind.

He also gives the party an offer: save one of the remnant cores they recover and bring it to him instead of Rhodek. He’ll pay them a few quantum, and they’ll have the opportunity to look at the data from the core to try and see what’s “causing all this ruckus with the rems”.

As they fight their way through the factory, does the party have compassion for the once-tame remnants, or do they dispose of them indiscriminately? Will the players try to talk to the factory workers to learn more about the Remnant’s Fury, or will they operate like a cleanup crew, keep their eye on the scrap they stand to gain? Will they bring the Priv all the remnant cores they collect, or will they save one for Mac and risk trouble from the city guard? If they perform well, will Priv Rhodek tell the party more about the Remnant’s Fury and the involvement of the Motherboard?

Campaign Mechanics

The following mechanics are unique to this campaign.

Tech Damage

In a Motherboard campaign, magic damageis instead called tech damage. This damage is caused by technomancy; it might be a piercing shrill, a concussive blast, a blinding flash, swarming nanobots, a drone emitting a high-powered plasma beam, or anything other product of supremely advanced technology.

Ikonis & Other Tools

The following sections detail how weapons, armor, and other technology are used in a Motherboard campaign.

Ikonis

Characters don’t have access to Daggerheart’s normal selection of primary and secondary weapons during this campaign.

Instead, characters receive a personalized weapon known as an Ikonis, a special weapon given to citizens of the Echo Vale when they come of age. It starts as a simple rod of metal and is designed to receive modifications as the bearer ages, shaped according to their needs. It can evolve to become many types of weapons—a staff with webs of colorful wire wrapped around its hilt, an ornate bow humming with energy, a heavy hammer designed for the forge, a spear with knobs and triggers that allow for different attachments, or anything else that might suit the wielder.

Players will design their character’s Ikonis using the Motherboard module sheet (available in the appendix or at www.daggerheart.com/downloads). Each player should take a copy of the module and slide it under the right side of their character sheet. Then, they will make selections about trait, range, and damage in the top section of the module, then make up a name and description for their weapon. Finally, they’ll record the weapon’s details in the Primary Weapon slot of their character sheet.

Ikonis are always considered to be two-handed weapons and start with the “Bonded” feature:

Augments

Ikonis also allow PCs to install augments. A character’s Ikonis starts with two Augment slots at Tier 1, showing that it has evolved from its most basic form, and it gains an additional slot at each subsequent tier. Augments can be crafted as a downtime move when PCs have the scrap to do so. (See the upcoming “Crafting & Trading” section for more information.)

An Ikonis starts with no augments installed. A character may build as many augments as they’d like, but they can only install a number equal to the Augment slots they have available. For example, even if a level 1 PC has three augments built, they can only install two on their Ikonis at a time. When they progress to level 2 (and they become a Tier 2 PC), they can have all three augments installed. While installed, augments are treated as additional features for that weapon. PCs may freely swap augments they’ve already crafted during downtime.

The Motherboard character sheet module includes a selection of base augments for PCs to choose from, but GMs are encouraged to make more to offer their players as well, using the provided options as a template.

Armor

Characters have access to Daggerheart’s normal selection of armor, but should flavor it to their preference within the campaign setting.

Network Tether

Each PC adds a Network tether to their inventory at character creation. Tethers are typically large hooks attached to a data cable. These allow travelers to toss the hook onto an overhead wire to charge their technology and gain access to the Network while moving through the Wastes. PCs must have access to the Network, via a tether or other means, to perform downtime moves.

Crafting & Trading

In this campaign frame, gold is not used as a currency. Instead, PCs can gather scrap to trade for a currency known as quantum. The Motherboard character sheet module helps to track their current scrap, along with how much quantum they have to spend. All PCs start with 5 quantum.

The Quantum Economy

Use the following conversion for Daggerheart when pricing other goods and services using quantum.

10 quantum = 1 handful of gold

100 quantum = 1 bag of gold

1000 quantum = 1 chest of gold

Gathering Scrap

When the PCs defeat remnant adversaries, they can collect scrap after the combat. There are three categories of scrap, each with an associated die size: Shards (d6), Metals (d8), and Components (d10). When the PCs are collecting scrap, determine which categories of scrap and how many of each (which determines the number of dice they roll) they can find.

Each player individually rolls the dice you determine, and the result of each die is compared to the associated scrap category table, listed here and on the Motherboard character sheet module, to determine what scrap a character receives. If a rolled result falls between two values, select the lower numbered option. A character receives one piece of scrap per die, which is recorded on the line next to that kind of scrap on the character sheet module.

Tip: Think of the numbers on the roll table as thresholds; when you reach that threshold, you get that scrap.

Scrap Category Tables

Shards (d6)

1	2	3	4	5	6
Gear	Coil	Wire	Trigger	Lens	Crystal

Metals (d8)

1	3	5	6	7	8
Aluminum	Copper	Cobalt	Silver	Platinum	Gold

Components (d10)

1	3	6	8	9	10
Fuse	Circuit	Disc	Relay	Capacitor	Battery

Scrap Reward Table

Use the following table as general guidance for scrap rewards after encounters:

Scrap Rewards	Easy Fight	Standard Fight	Difficult Fight	Very Difficult Fight
A few remnants	2 Shards	2 Shards, 1 Metal	2 Shards, 1 Metal, 1 Component	2 Shard, 2 Metals, 1 Component
Mostly remnants	2 Shards, 1 Metal	2 Shards, 2 Metals, 1 Component	3 Shard, 2 Metals, 1 Component	3 Shard, 3 Metals, 2 Components
All remnants	2 Shards, 1 Metal, 1 Component	3 Shards, 2 Metals, 2 Components	3 Shards, 3 Metals, 2 Components	4 Shards, 3 Metals, 3 Component

Relics

There is an additional category of scrap called Relics. These are unique pieces of scrap only found on specific remnant adversaries. When PCs defeat a particularly important or powerful remnant adversary, you might grant them each a Relic along with scrap from the table above. These relics should be customized based on the adversary, such as steelhorn of the stag, lens of the flickering falcon, jaw piston of the cryodrake, or gold scales of the scrappersnap. Relics are worth 20 quantum and are often used to craft powerful augments.

You should also provide opportunities for PCs to seek specific Shard, Metal, or Component rewards, whether that be through NPC contracts, hunting down particular adversaries, exploring certain areas, or through scrap shacks.

Tip: The values on the Scrap Reward Table above are designed for a campaign of around 50 sessions, with 1-2 fights per session. If you plan to do a shorter or longer campaign, adjust your rewards accordingly.

Crafting with Scrap

The characters can use their collected scrap to craft augments for their Ikonis and other items. When they have enough scrap to build an augment, they can use a downtime move and spend the appropriate amount of scrap. When an augment calls for a generic Relic, a PC can spend any Relic they have.

Some augments have prerequisites called precompiles. When this precompile is met, the augment is available to be crafted. The base augments have precompiles that require a PC to be in a certain tier, but a precompile can be anything: a certain value for the PC’s Strength or Evasion, a specific domain or class, or anything else you’d like. Augments can always be broken back into their scrap for parts as needed.

You’re also encouraged to give PCs additional tasks or challenges that utilize scrap, such as building a specific machine for a task or collecting scrap for an ally who’s trying to repair a remnant.

Selling Scrap for Quantum

Local scrap shacks in each city generally trade scrap for quantum and quantum for scrap. By default, each piece of scrap is worth its value on the previous roll table (whether players are buying or selling), and each shop has a daily stock equal to 1d10 of each Shard, 1d8 of each Metal, and 1d6 of each Component. When PCs want to buy a certain type of scrap, roll to determine how many are in stock. These values can always change at your discretion.

Writing in Kohd

Language designed by Chris Willett

Kohd, the language of the fallen world’s technology, has long been a mystery to the people of the Echo Vale. If you’d like to give your players the opportunity to learn how to decipher and write in it over the course of a campaign, you’re encouraged to use this language. We recommend delivering them messages early on from the Motherboard that they can’t read, having technomancers reveal pieces of the language to them as they progress through the story, and then finally giving them the tools to read and write the full language by the climax.

SUBROUTINE 1. NODAL WORD GLYPH CONSTRUCTION

Example Word - MOTHERBOARD

An individual language unit (word) has no discrete letters. Kohd is based on nine nodes, each representing 3 letters (other than the YZ node).

Each word is a circuit that flows from Charge

to

Ground.

Construction Step 1

To begin making the word Motherboard, draw a single node (the circle) and connect the charge indicator (the line). This is called the charge node and indicates where the word begins. Take note of the position of the charge node for the word you are writing relative to the other nodes. Both M and O are in the center node.

Construction Step 2

Locate the second node for the next letter in the word. In this case, T is down and left. Add a trace line to connect the circuit between the charge node and the new node. Every trace line runs from a source node to an end node.

Construction Step 3

The source node has the letter M in its first position, N in its second, and O in its third. For M, add one subnode (the dot) to the trace line, and for O, add three subnodes.

T is in the second position on its node, so as we connect the trace line to the node containing H, we add two subnodes.

Continuing, we can get all the way to MOTHERB. At that point, if we were to connect the trace to the MNO node, the order of letters would become vague. To keep this from happening, draw a ring around or within the MNO node and connect the trace line to that ring.

Continue on, adding trace lines, subnodes, and node rings as needed until you reach the last letter of the word.

Construction Step 4

Lastly, add the ground indicator to place the last subnode and terminate the trace.

Construction Step 5

Constructed words sometimes include too few nodes, so their orientation on the nine-node grid is vague. For example, words like felled, mount, and homing require just two diagonal nodes. In these cases, we add a null modifier to a remote corner of the glyph to indicate the relative position of the nodes involved in the word.

SUBROUTINE 2. SENTENCE CONSTRUCTION

Our example for this subroutine will be this sentence: The network carries communication from city to city.

A few of these words in kohd have simplified, non-nodally constructed forms, such as “the” and “from/to”. Refer to the following lexicon for a full breakdown of these words:

Construction Step 1

First, we signify the beginning of a sentence with a coupler, a complex series of solder points where the kohders could fuse one sentence circuit to another. An example of a coupler can be seen here; there is no significance to the various lengths in its bars.

Construction Step 2

Next, lay out all nodally constructed words in a line in order. Ignore any words with a shortened version in the lexicon.

Construction Step 3

Apply articles. In this case, only Network needs to be modified with an article, which slots into the charge node.

Construction Step 4

Add words from the lexicon. Note here that from-to replaces two words, not just one. Like if-then, it goes between two glyphs, changing it from “from city to city” to “city from-to city”. Small words from the lexicon can go anywhere they fit.

Construction Step 5

Affix periods, exclamations, and question marks to the ground node of the final word of the sentence. Commas divide the trace lines (made in the next step) with two vertical lines.

Examples:

Construction Step 6

Connect the circuit between constructed words by connecting the ground of one word to the charge of the next. Include lexicon words in this circuit. These circuit connections always begin and terminate in a simple bar. Add a trace from the coupler to the first charge node.

Final Sentence

Session Zero Questions

Ask any of these questions to your players, or make your own.

• What is your character’s relationship with remnants? How do they rely on them?
• How did your character use technology or technomancy in their daily life before the Remnant’s Fury? What, if anything, has changed since that catastrophic event?
• Describe a structure built by the fallen civilization that your character has seen before. What do you think it was originally used for? What is it used for now?
• How do remnants physically change as they begin to deteriorate into violence?
• Describe a wandering city your character once visited. What was unique about it?