Salt Crown
“Contar sus años no sabe
y ya sabe que el sudor
es una corona grave
de sal para el labrador”.
-	Miguel Hernandez

Somewhere in a destroyed Spain, 1938
The “Spanish Civil War” was a war fought beginning in 1936 between the Republicans, who were loyal to the democratic, left-leaning Second Spanish Republic, and the Nationalists, a group with fascist thoughts led by General Francisco Franco. Both sides in the struggle received help from other countries: the Soviet Union supported the official government while Germany, Italy, and Portugal supported the opposition. Many volunteers came from other countries including the USA. It was a proxy war where nations confronted their ideologies and tested their new weapons for the imminent conflict that would be known as  the Second World War.
But besides armored vehicles and planes, those countries started to use experimental drugs that gave supernatural to their soldiers. This great power provoked accelerated deterioration that caused users of the drugs to wither away at incredibly accelerated rates. To compensate this undesired effect, these “lab rats” were young men and women in their prime but without beloved relatives who would miss them and who had their whole lives ready to be sacrificed in the name of the faction that were using them.
Playable characters (PCs) are a group of young soldiers exposed to these experimental serums and their effects.

Beginning the game
	Which side are you on? Players must first decide which side of the conflict they will fight for: Republican or Nationalist. There are many fronts in the war, and many specialized forces. Two such specialized forces are described at the end of this game description. The game group can work for one of these forces, or for another designed by the GM or through collaboration between all players.
	Second, each player must create a character. Character creation is described in the next section. What is important to develop is your character’s personality and the power given to them by the experimental drugs. An example character, Federico, will be described in each section.

Character creation
	Characters have two attributes used to resolve actions:
	1.	Labor — Salt — Sweat
	2. 	Hope — Crown — Song
Players decide on a number between 2 and 5 to represent their character. A higher number represents a more physical character; a lower number represents someone who relies on their heart and mind more than their sinews. Characters can also be created in a random way by rolling 1d4+1. This number is called a “character number” and it effects characters’ ability to complete tasks, their youth and innocence levels, and their ability to use their powers.

Darcy decides to play a Republican named Federico. 
She rolls 1d4+1 and determines that his character number is 4.

Attributes
	Add this information to your character sheet:
1.	My character brought their _______ with them to the front. This is a secret because ________.
2.	Nobody thinks that my character knows about ______, but they do.
3.	My character hopes that they don’t see _______ during the war.
4.	My character’s favorite line of poetry is __________.

Youth and Innocence
	In the course of this game, characters will slowly lose two things: youth and innocence. These two attributes are derived from the character number.
	Beginning youth is a character’s character number.
	Innocence is six minus a character’s character number.
The loss of youth is the loss of health, beauty, vitality, and joy. Its loss (in the context of war) brings red eyes and black lungs, calloused hands, and downtrodden shoulders. Innocence lost is innocence lost.
Anything that harms a character will either do youth or innocence damage and reduce a character’s ability to act effectively – but also, and more importantly, their ability to remain full of beauty. If either youth or innocence reach zero, the character is lost emotionally, spiritually, and poetically. Perhaps they die; but, more likely, they simply fade away.

Federico is quite youthful: 4
Not unaccustomed to conflict, his innocence is fleeting: 2

Powers
	After being exposed to their faction’s experimental drugs, characters will develop super powers. The exact nature of each power, or how an individual comes to exhibit certain powers, is not fully understood; however, it is clear that a character’s powers seem linked to their most innate disposition.
The power that a character will develop as a result of the experimental drugs should be described by a short phrase. Players can determine their character’s powers and the accompanying short phrase in consultation with their GM and the other players. Or, they can roll on the following table to determine a power. This table lists dispositions and examples of powers that could be linked to each — this is not an exhaustive list of possible powers.

This character most relies on…
1.	Strength (Titanium skin)
2.	Agility (Over-jump)
3.	Sociability (Mesmerize)
4.	Intelligence (Improvise tools)
5.	Perception (X-ray vision)
6.	Presence (Energy ray)

Darcy decided to roll 1d6 for Federico’s innate disposition and got 3: Sociability.
Based on this, she discusses various ideas with her GM and they decide that Federico’s special power is the ability to communicate telepathically.

Darcy wonders how to reconcile her character’s high Character Number (4, which leans slightly toward physicality) with his innate disposition and special power. She decides that he could have been a sociable but uneducated worker, to whom the sudden ability to communicate telepathically is a little frightening.

Solving actions
If, during play, a character attempts something risky or difficult they will attempt to roll successes on 2d6. If they are attempting to accomplish something having to do with their physical ability, a success is any roll below their character number. If, on the other hand, they hope to accomplish something having to do with their mental ability, successes are rolls above their character number.
If both dice succeed, the character accomplishes their task with no complication.
If one die succeeds but the other fails, the character has “partial success” and accomplishes their task, but with complications determined by the GM.
If neither dice succeed, the character fails to accomplish their task and the GM is free to add complications as they see fit. A character who has failed also receives one serum dose.
	The GM does not roll for NPCs. All risky behavior, including conflict, is resolved with the same mechanic described above. NPCs do not roll to attack, but PCs can roll to successfully defend against an attack.

During an attack on a stockpile of Nationalist weapons, Federico attempts to leap over a barricade unnoticed. Darcy rolls 2d6 and receives the results 6 & 2, a partial success. She describes Federico successfully leaping the barricade but the GM lets her know that Federico has accidentally woken a snoozing guard!

Serum
	A character can choose to dose themselves with serum in order to re-roll their attempt to complete a task. Doing so permanently effects the character number of the character taking the dose. Serum effects physical actions by adding one (+1) to the character number and effects mental actions by subtracting one (-1) to the character number. This change to the CN takes effect before the re-roll.
	
After knocking out the guard, Federico must next open a locked door to the weapons stockpile. Darcy rolls very poorly for this task, getting 3 & 3. Federico is unable to unlock the door and may soon be surrounded by more guards.

Darcy remembers a bad roll from earlier and that because of this Federico has a spare serum dose. She chooses to use it now and describes how Federico feels the drug coursing through his mind. She re-rolls and succeeds. Federico is now able to open the lock and reach the weapons. His mind is permanently strengthened, but his body weakens.

His character number is now 3. Therefore, his youth is 3 and his innocence is 3.

Tables
	Below find several tables on which a GM can roll to generate scenarios and NPCs. Use your results on these tables to add weird mystery to your games of Salt Crown.
	
Scenarios (1d6) 
	1.	PCs must infiltrate an experimental lab run by the other faction. They find failed, grotesque experiments.
	2.	PCs must capture an enemy agent hoping to retrieve important tactical information. What they get instead is eldritch secrets with uncanny implications.
	3.	PCs are trapped behind enemy lines near a ruined site that accelerates their degeneration.
	4.	PCs are informed that an enemy spy has infiltrated their ranks. They must identify and eliminate the intruder.
	5.	The PCs begin to experience dream-like hallucinations because of their serum treatments. Soon, they realize that the hallucinations are real.
	6.	An enemy hostage knows each of the secrets of each PC and uses these secrets as blackmail to force them to betray their own side.

NPCs (1d6)
An NPC that the PCs encounter is…
	1.	A family member
	2.	A former lover
	3.	A mad scientist
	4.	A spy for the other side
	5.	A walking corpse
	6.	A lost god

Items (1d6)
	1.	A book of love poetry with cruel marginalia
	2.	Letters from the future
	3.	An alien fetus 
	4.	Poisoned rations
	5.	A porcelain doll that screams in the night
	6.	A PC’s own corpse