What Kind of Game?

In the teeth of ruin, your struggle will give your name meaning.

Steel Age is a tragic-fantasy roleplaying game about pressure, consequence and legacy. It is about what happens when steel leaves the scabbard and everyone present understands, at once, that something irreversible may follow. It is about fatigue and action, fear and resolve. It is about wounds and bonds that do not vanish, roads that take longer than they should, and choices made because no clean choice exists.

This is not grimdark. It is tragic fantasy. The world is hard, but meaning is real. Fear matters because life matters. Names matter because they are carried on the lips of those who must take their place.

What that means at the table

• 2d6, and bounded modifiers — roll two dice, add what matters, beat the number in front of you. A Master adds +3, not +13, so the dice never stop mattering.
• Momentum melee — most close combat resolves in one or two opposed rolls. Control, pressure and fatigue do the real work.
• Dangerous by design — Opening Order is set once, momentum persists, and a bad moment spirals quickly.
• Violence leaves a mark — wounds, exhaustion and lasting scars are carried forward.
• Magic is rare and feared — every Working carries Strain, and power does not come safely into mortal hands.
• No classes, no heroic rails — competence is hard-earned, never scripted.
• The world does not scale to you — a foe dangerous early stays dangerous, and survival is not the same as walking away unchanged.