Sacrifice: An Incense & Iron RPG - Branded Edition

You were betrayed. Marked for sacrifice. Branded. But they didn’t count on your determination and will to live. Or perhaps it was just pure rage. That terrible night, when your world was turned upside down, you discovered who you really are. Regardless of the reason or how, you survived. But now, you are being hunted. Terrible creatures, demons and spirits of the dead, torment your nights, and the Inquisition, the very same institution you once swore to dedicate your life to, has branded you as a heretic, a demon fiend. You travel alone, because you know that wherever you go, death will follow. But you march on, perhaps seeking revenge, or to make the world a bit less dark. One thing is clear: anyone in your way, be it a demonic Apostle or agents of the Holy See, will soon learn how strong your will to live is.

Sacrifice is a Role-Playing Game that uses a familiar set of D20-based rules and procedures. In it, you play as a Branded, a character that has been marked for demonic sacrifice. Somehow, you escaped the sinister ritual alive, but you are now chased both by demons and the all-powerful Inquisition.

As a Branded, you are no ordinary mortal. You have escaped certain death, and while the forces of evil are powerful, as is the Holy Church and its Inquisition, so is your will to live. Your determination and resilience in the face of certain death sets you apart from the common man, nothing else. What some deem supernatural abilities you know well is just a combination of experience, determination, and sometimes, pure luck. Or is it?

In Sacrifice, you explore the devastated No Man’s Land, a large swath of land between the Kingdom of Pavaria and the Cadaennor Dominion that has fallen into chaos due to the ongoing conflict between the two countries. You’re far from alone here, though: soldiers from both factions, commoners, mercenary bands, inquisitors, heretics, bandits, beasts, and demons all walk this land, some of them even making a home out of it. Will you find what you search for here?

Sacrifice Features:

• An OSR D20 ruleset easily compatible with other retroclones.
• A classless character creation system, complete with skills, feats and much more.
• As a Branded, your character is above average, capable of dealing with many opponents at once and surviving what would be certain death for others. This makes Sacrifice ideal for 1-on-1 play (one GM, one PC), although standard group play is of course possible, and even solo, thanks to the full set of GM-less rules and procedures included.
• Interesting and rich combat, with critical hit and fumble tables, morale rules, exciting Combat Maneuvers, dueling, and more.
• A feudal, human-centric ruthless world with no magic but full of demonic evil and corrupted institutions, centered around No Man’s Land, a setting strongly influenced by Kentaro Miura’s Berserk, complete with gear lists, bestiary, and a gazetteer.
• Detailed travel and hex-based exploration rules, with encounter tables that change depending on the current hex’s situation: is there a battle going on? Is it a war-torn, devastated place? Is it one of the few untouched corners left in No Man’s Land? Or perhaps you found a pocket of civilization? All these affect what you can expect to find in a hex.
• This Branded Edition brings together the content from the core rules, plus the Companion expansion, the new Tomb Robber starting occupation, as well as many fixes and small changes, none of which affect gameplay or compatibility with the previous edition.