The game is designed so that it can be played with zero or near zero prep. The narrator picks a monster and makes a few choices about it. They then set the first scene and describe the characters all stood round a body, sailing across the sea of Marmara or being ambushed by bandits. The players then get to go round the table and introduce their characters. They say what they look like and invent some juicy details. The narrator then asks them in turn to add something to the narrative. "Tell us about this ship you are on." "Who was this dead body you see before you in life?" "What season is it and what's the weather like?"

After scene 1 the players then drive the narrative forward by deciding where they go and what they do next. They can use their skills, backgrounds and origins to add narrative elements to the story which aid them in their quest to discover what dastardly monster is behind the recent spate of deaths. The narrative is directed primarily by the players scene by scene as they uncover clues, investigate what is going on and track the monster to its lair.

Roll 4d6, 5s and 6s are successes. Then re-roll a number of individual dice equal to the most relevant Virtue and Skill. You will then have between 0 and 4 successes. If the action has a difficulty subtract that from your re-rolls.

  0. No successes. Critical failure. Lachesis intervenes.

1. One successes. Failure and a complication.

2. Two successes. Narrow failure or partial success. Or Clotho intervenes.

3. Three successes. Success.

4. Four successes. Critical success. Atropos intervenes.

The three Moirai, or Fates, have an interest in carnificis because their supernatural gifts have made them neither mortal nor immortal. They have stepped sideways off the thread of life and are no longer bound by it. They can die either before their time or live on beyond their allotted years. Lachesis the Moirai who measures the thread hates carnificis for this very reason. They do not die when they are supposed to, when the thread she measured out stops.

When players roll very badly Lachesis sometimes intervenes in their fate and tries to do make their life miserable or even to kill them. The more the character has tried to cheat their fate the worse the consequences of her interference.

Clotho is the Moirai who spins the thread. As she has no part in measuring or cutting she has no interest in whether individuals die before or after their time. When players roll 2 successes she sometimes decides to intervene for fun, just to spite her sisters and spice things up a bit. Her interventions are neither harmful nor helpful- they are random, arbitrary and chaotic.

Atropos cuts the thread when it is a mortal's time to die. Due to the fact that the carnificis are agents of death she is quite fond of them. She knows they will die eventually so she does not mind that they cheat her sister Lachesis. If players roll very well she may bestow a boon on them- making their actions especially efficacious.

Every time the player characters perform actions to investigate and prepare they trigger rolls of the Sinister pool. They can interrogate locals, research local historical records, perform divination, examine a body, scout the surrounding country side, prepare spells and alchemical devices. 

As the Sinister level increases the machinations of the enemy, the chaos, destruction, murder and kidnap increases. Once Sinister reaches 6 things really get out of hand. Wholesale local destruction, madness and mayhem ensue and the characters will be scrabbling to try and put a stop to things or salvage what they can from the wreckage of their mission.

Because Sinister increases with defeat on rolls and defeat can, usually, be avoiding by tempting date repeatedly, it is possible to avert Sinister at the risk of increasing Doom. In other words Sinister which affects the whole cohors, the local population and the mission can be traded for personal Doom. The wellbeing and success of the group can be traded for personal tragedy.