Primer
Solace onboarding reading. The full rulebook chunked into mobile-readable sections — start at the top, or jump to what you need at the table.
What This Game Is
You play cartographers for a corporate employer that is, frankly, suspect. The game is about becoming a Path-walker, not already being one.
Things to Discover
Questions the rulebook intentionally does not answer — the Paths, Solace's secret, and certain characters' pasts. Open spaces each campaign fills differently.
What You Do at the Table
The basic loop. GM describes a situation; you describe what your character does; if uncertain, roll 5d6; the result tells the table what happens.
How Rolls Work
5d6, keep some based on your Tier in the domain you're rolling. Compare the total to a T-number. Result lands in one of five outcome bands.
Your Character
Six domains — Body, Mind, Voice, Hand, Heart, Spirit — each at one of five Tiers. No separate skill list. Effective Tier is what you actually roll with.
Making Your Character
Five steps, ~15 minutes. Pick a Background, set Domain Tiers, apply the Background's tier mod, choose a signature item, pick a hook.
Where Are You From? Building Your Origin World
Three-layer origin world builder. Five Quick Questions are enough to play; the Surveyor's Sketch and Guide Entry are optional deeper passes.
The Eleven Backgrounds
Character archetypes — your starting role in Solace, the +1/−1 tier modifier, your signature item, your hooks, and your perk. Each Background has its own catalogue page.
Stress and Your Three Pools
Body, Mind, Spirit each have a pool. Stress fills them up; at thresholds your Effective Tier degrades; full pool = Broken.
Pushing Yourself
Spend 1 Stress in the relevant pool to reroll a failed roll. Universal across Body, Mind, and Spirit. Pushing makes you closer to Broken.
Combat
Same 5d6 mechanic as everything else. Turn order is dramatic, not initiative-rolled. Each turn — one Action, one Movement, one Reaction. Damage is Stress to the relevant pool.
Recovery
Three layered systems — rest clears Body and Mind; items and aid handle each pool; pushing through is risky. Spirit recovers only via Path traversal or your Comfort Object.
Advancement
Characters grow between arcs, not session by session. Earn one Advance per arc by qualifying — Guide entries or milestones. Spend it on a tier bump, Spirit ability, signature item development, or perk upgrade.
Spirit and the Guide
Spirit is attunement to the multiverse — fuels supernatural abilities, refills on Path traversal, accumulates Resonance. The Guide is your team's reference, navigation tool, and shared journal.
Quick Reference
The at-the-table cheat sheet. Roll resolution, tier ladder, pool sizes, stress effects, combat, Spirit abilities, casting, recovery, advancement, standard items.