Legacy: Life Among the Ruins 2nd Edition

The world of man is dead.

The shining cities and glittering skies have been sundered by the Fall. Now their corpses lie in pools of pollution and the twisted creations of arcane artifice haunt their halls.

The world of man is born again.

Refined by apocalyptic fires, the survivors have emerged into the light. With remembered lore, keen blades and fierce loyalty you will retake the world. 

Legacy is a game of survival and rebuilding in a world ravaged and altered by incomprehensible calamity. Craft characters and families, head out into the wasteland and create true, lasting changes in the world. With cutting edge rules, a highly flexible multi­-generational system, and more than a dozen character playbooks to choose from, Legacy has everything you need to start playing.

Families

The Cultivators of the New Flesh

Each player controls a family – a group of survivors brought together by blood, hardship or a shared philosophy. These playbooks let you customise everything about your Family, from their lifestyle (Nomadic, Dispersed or Settled) to their guiding philosophies, traditions and special Moves. You will also start with a number of Surpluses such as weaponry or land that show their particular strengths, and Needs such as medicine or leadership that define the things they’re lacking. These Surpluses and Needs tell you what state your Family is in at the start of the game, and give you clear goals to start the ball rolling.

Family Playbooks:

• The Cultivators of the New Flesh are biologists, farmers, druids and mad scientists. They hold onto the biodiversity of the old world, while splicing in the strange traits of this new world’s creatures.
• The Enclave of Bygone Lore hold on to some of the wonders of the World Before, but must decide whether to hoard the knowledge for themselves or risk using it to save others.
• The Gilded Company of Merchants survived by finding something precious and using that to barter for safety. Now their wares, whether that be art, weapons or mementoes, are their route to luxury and ubiquity.
• The Lawgivers of the Wasteland hold fast to a particular code of ethics, and fight to impose order on the new world with vigilance, fortitude and vigilante justice.
• The Order of the Titan are the homeland’s best defence against the nightmarish Behemoths that assault it. While others might hunt or hide from them, the Order sees them as the seeds of a new world.
• The Pioneers of the Depths are tied to the seas. They may be an aquatic offshoot of humanity, Lovecraftian fishmen, or lost Atlantis. Either way, they’re a resource powerhouse drawing on the bounty of the seas.
• The Servants of the One True Faith are defined by their zealous devotion to a particular cause; the healing of mankind, the renunciation of the World Before, attainment of godhood, or something else. When they channel this faith, they can accomplish superhuman feats.
• The Stranded Starfarers are alien creatures, commanding resources and technology beyond even the World Before. Their moves are broad and cause massive waves, and if left unchecked they can truly devastate or conquer the homeland. Their problem, of course, is that everyone else knows that.
• The Synthetic Hive are completely artificial, and must now decide how they relate to their builders: will they serve them, rise up against them, or win equality with them?
• To The Tyrant Kings, the Wasteland is a new world ripe for the taking. They use their ferocious edge in battle and web of vassal states to divide and conquer, until everything in the Wasteland answers to them.
• The Uplifted Children of Mankind are animals brought to human levels of sentience and technological aptitude. They must not only overcome the Fall but also take the first steps towards civilisation, self-identity, and self-empowerment.

Characters

The Envoy

Once you have a world, a family, and a particular issue your Family is facing, you then make a Character. Your Character might be the leader of your Family, an up-and-comer without a reputation, or an outcast, but no matter which the fate of the Family is in their hands. Legacy comes with eight different Character playbooks:

• The Elder has seen their family through crisis after crisis, and has the wisdom, statesmanship and loyal staff needed to deal with whatever the Wasteland can throw at them.
• The Envoy is an expert at getting other factions to do what they want. Through intrigue, diplomacy and force, they can get whatever assistance your Family needs.
• The Firebrand is an agitator and agent provocateur. Even against the greatest oppressor, they can find allies, sabotage their infrastructure and tear them down.
• The Hunter is who you go to when you want someone tracked down and stopped, whether they be a bestial horror or an invading warlord, and they’re equally proficient with stealth and overwhelming force.
• Constructed by advanced technology, The Machine has many precise tools they can draw on, even as they grapple with free will and self-determination.
• The Promethean is a technological prodigy. They don’t dabble with tech: they improve and customise it, unlocking incredible uses for otherwise expendable and peculiar devices.
• The Reaver is a raider, infiltrator and pioneer. They’ve adapted to the strange environments outside of the homeland, and now strike out of those inhospitable territories to pillage softer lands.
• The Remnant is one of those unfortunates twisted by the Fall into something inhuman. Adopted into a Family, they put their strange abilities to use protecting their new tribe.
• The Scavenger is at home in the Wasteland and can ferret out wonders no-one else could find. A sixth sense for tech lets them rig up strange contraptions and sense it out in the ruins.
• The Seeker has devoted their life to understanding the technology of the World Before, and can uncover its true function and repurpose it to heal or harm.
• The Sentinel is an armour-clad colossus of battle. Whether they’re holding back a pack of beasts or building fortifications to protect an outpost, they are the bulwark on which your enemies will break.
• The Survivor has been through worse. Far worse. They will shrug off blows, avenge the fallen, and not rest until the mission is done.
• The Untamed is uncompromisingly free, stoic and brutish; a new barbarian suited to the end of civilisation and the birth of a new world.

Each character can be personalised with your choice of looks, gear, stats and moves.

The Ages Turn

Legacy has built-in support for multi-generation play. Once your group has dealt with the issues of the age they can choose to move a generation or more into the future, and rules kick in to establish how each Family changes as the ages turn. This is also an opportunity to shake up the political, cultural and geographical landscape of the Wasteland, adding in new threats, factions and opportunities.