Bastard Games - Kings Fall

Here is the brutal truth: You will lose. A lot. The core loop of Kings Fall Bastard Games revolves around Permadeath 2.0. Not only does your character die permanently, but the kingdom itself remembers your failure.

Forty-three days in. Two candidates eliminated.

Eliminated: Prince Aldric the True (Day 12, Phase 2: The Feast of Lies — he refused to lie about his goat, so the Rotunda took his tongue, then his breath).

Eliminated: Garric the Gutter-King (Day 30, Phase 4: The Mirror Labyrinth — he drowned in a room full of clean water, chasing a reflection of himself that was never thirsty).

Remaining: Lyssandra, Voss, Mother Sallow, the Mirror Knight, and Rook.

The fifth phase begins at sundown. The bone-draw revealed it: The Bastard’s Ball. Each candidate must attend a masquerade where every mask is enchanted to show the wearer’s truest self. The one whose mask reveals something they cannot bear to see loses.

Lyssandra’s mask will show her throat before it was cut. She has nightmares about that moment every night.

Voss’s mask will show him with a shadow. He has never seen himself whole. kings fall bastard games

Mother Sallow’s mask will show the faces of every child she has sent to die. Hundreds of them. All staring.

The Mirror Knight’s mask will show nothing at all—or everything. No one knows.

And Rook’s mask?

Rook has no face to hide. No self to reveal. Rook is the game given form. When the mask touches Rook’s absence, something will happen that has never happened in three hundred years of Kingsfalls.

The Bastard’s Ball begins in three hours.

The city holds its breath.

The current Kingsfall began forty-three days ago, when Queen Aelith the Unburnt (reigned: nine months, twelve days) choked on a pickled egg during a victory feast. Her body had not yet cooled before the heralds rode out with the crimson summons. Here is the brutal truth: You will lose

Seven candidates. Seven bastards in the broad sense: not necessarily born outside marriage, but outside favor. Outside law. Outside mercy.

1. Garric the Gutter-King — A sewer rat who crawled up through the privy of the High Mint and now controls the city’s black-market aqueducts. He has no army, but he owns every drop of clean water in the lower rings. His opening move: poison the public wells. His justification: “Thirst makes men reasonable.”

2. Lyssandra of the Broken Choir — Once the royal songbird, her throat was cut by a jealous rival. She survived, but her voice became a serrated whisper that can induce madness in those who hear it for too long. She does not speak. She sings verdicts. Her first decree as candidate: all musicians in the capital must be silenced or blinded. “If I cannot sing clearly,” she signed to her handmaiden, “no one will hear a true note again.”

3. Voss the Half-Man — A philosopher-assassin born without a shadow. Literally. The sun passes through him. He claims this means he has no soul to lose. His game piece: he has already killed two of the other candidates before the Trials officially began. The rules say nothing about pre-game murder. The rules say nothing about a lot of things.

4. Mother Sallow — A crone who runs the orphanage that secretly breeds child spies. She is not cruel in the obvious way. She genuinely believes she is saving children by turning them into perfect weapons. Her first act as candidate: she released urchins into every noble household as “gift servants.” Each one carries a vial of slow venom. Each one has been told it is vitamin syrup.

5. Prince Aldric the True — The late king’s actual legitimate son, discovered living as a goatherd in the eastern marshes. He is kind, gentle, and utterly unsuited for the game. He refuses to harm anyone. He will be dead within the week unless someone protects him. No one will.

6. The Mirror Knight — A warrior in full plate armor whose face has never been seen. The Mirror Knight’s gimmick: their armor reflects the worst thing you’ve ever done. Fight them, and you fight your own sins. Two previous candidates have committed suicide after dueling the Knight. The Knight never speaks. Some say there is no one inside the armor. Some say the armor is the player. The current Kingsfall began forty-three days ago, when

7. Rook — Name only. No origin. No history. No past crimes or virtues. A blank slate. Rook appeared on the steps of the Rotunda the morning after the queen’s death, wearing a simple gray cloak and carrying a wooden crown. When asked for credentials, Rook said: “I am the game’s own piece. The board made me. I will either win or prove that winning is a lie.”

The other six laughed. The crowd did not.

The psychology behind "Kings Fall Bastard Games" is the psychology of Schadenfreude mixed with meritocracy. We love the underdog, but more than that, we love the clever underdog.

In real life, we cannot break contracts or betray our friends without social consequence. In the magic circle of the game, however, we can explore the dark tetrad of personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, sadism) in a consequence-free environment.

Furthermore, these games erase the frustration of "random chance." When a King falls in Monopoly, it's because of dice. When a King falls in Diplomacy, it's because of a knife in the back. The latter feels more earned, more visceral, and far more memorable.

The game uses a "Relationship Web" rather than a linear questline. You can marry a blacksmith’s daughter for a +3 Sword buff, or seduce the Queen for a claim to the throne—at the risk of immediate execution. Every dialogue option triggers a dice roll, but unlike Baldur’s Gate 3, the game hides the percentages. You never know if your bluff will work until the axe falls.

Use these rules to make King’s Fall harder or more chaotic. Assume modifications per group preference.

The "Games" in the title usually refers to the political maneuvering of a royal court, structured like a high-stakes strategy game.