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 abilities 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.
	Based on its ideology and mission, the faction that the players are supporting will grant them bonuses to certain types of actions. The list below gives some suggested bonuses, but players and GMs should feel free to create their own based on the specifics of their situation.

Nationalists:
- Defending the church: Players receive a +1 bonus to one of their dice when acting to defend the doctrine, property, or personnel of the Catholic Church
- Purging the opposition: Players receive a +1 bonus to one of their dice when acting to ruthlessly or mercilessly wipe out an opposing force

Republicans:
- Popular front: Players receive a +1 bonus to one of their dice when acting to gain aid from industrial workers or peasants they encounter
- Gold reserves: Players receive a +1 bonus to one of their dice when acting to get something (aid or resources) by drawing on the national treasury

	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, each of which is tied to three types of actions:
	1.	Physical: Labor — Salt — Sweat
	2. 	Mental: 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 affects 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.

Character background
	Add this information to your character sheet:
 1.	1.	My character brought their _______ with them to the front. This is a secret because ________.
 2.	2.	My character [came to Spain/is on this mission] because another character, _____, did something meaningful for them – they _____.
 3.	3.	My character hopes that they don’t see _______ during the war.
 4.	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 a loss of hope, belief in the inherent goodness of people, and confidence that justice will prevail in the end. Its loss brings cynicism, defeatism, and an inability to trust other people.
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.
Innocence and youth cannot be regained directly by a character's own actions. They can only be recovered through a significant act of heroism or sacrifice by another (whether a player character or an NPC). The character must be willing to accept this gift in order to benefit from it, and may (depending on the circumstances) be required to roll the dice to do so (see “resolving actions” below). Sometimes healing youth may cost innocence or vice-versa.

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

Powers should be thought of as expanding the range of a character's possible actions. That is, they don't make characters better at things any ordinary human can do, but rather they allow the character to access additional possible actions that others can't do at all. A character will still need to resolve an attempt to use a power (using the action resolution mechanic described below) in the same way they would need to resolve an attempt to use an ordinary action. Players receive a bonus of +1 to one of their dice when taking an action made possible by their power.

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.

Resolving 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. After rolling, players add bonuses from their powers and factions if applicable.
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 a complication determined by the GM.
If neither dice succeed, the character fails to accomplish their task and the GM is free to add a complication as they see fit. A character who has failed also receives one serum dose that can be used later (see below).
	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.
	The type of complications experienced by a player will depend on the specific type of action.  The GM may design a custom complication for a particular circumstance, but the list below gives suggested complications for certain types of actions.

A physical action may be classified as Labor, Salt, or Sweat:
Labor: Actions done to build something or overcome a physical obstacle. Complications: You hurt yourself in the process, It took more time or resources than expected, Your enemies get one too, You attracted unwanted attention.
Salt: Actions done to destroy, exploit, or appropriate physical resources, such as killing or stealing. Complications: You broke the thing you were taking, You hurt yourself in the process, It wasn't what you expected, Someone escaped to sound the alarm.
Sweat: Actions taken to “tough it out” under harsh and dangerous circumstances. Complications: You gave away your position, You can't accomplish anything else while hanging on, It used up all of your resources.

A mental action may be classified as Hope, Crown, or Song:
Hope: Actions taken to discover a way forward, learn critical information, or put together an insight. Complications: You didn't get the full picture, You become overconfident, You are too exhausted to act on this knowledge, You are shocked and appalled by what you learned.
Crown: Actions taken to navigate or manipulate social systems such as the law, military hierarchies, or local customs. Complications: They demand a bribe or payback, You embarrassed yourself and you don't realize it, You had to compromise your integrity to do it.
Song: Actions done to inspire or win over another person to change their mind, or to retain one's own mental faculties under stress. Complications: Now you owe them something, They will resent you for it later, You hate yourself for what you had to do, You convince others but don't convince yourself, You convince yourself but don't convince others.

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.
	Serum doses do not change a character's youth and innocence. Youth and innocence are determined by the character's initial character number, and only modified by taking harm or accepting acts of healing.
	
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. However, his youth remains 4 and his innocence remains 2.

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