There is magic in all of us, even the lowliest citizens of Chaterra, like you.
This is a surreal and absurd fairy tale kingdom where the spirit of every person, animal, and plant can speak, if you’ll listen.
The world is burning, the fae have been forced into hiding, and the beloved King Aerich is lost in an eternal slumber, while the evil Witch of the Water, Nefia plots her ascension.
– Description from author
Quest Goals
These are the goals you want to achieve during the mission:
- Use your magic to awaken someone’s purpose
- Help an outsider find love and belonging
- Find joy in a harsh truth of the human condition
- Pay a high price for a small step toward equity
- Prove that none are irredeemable
The Push System
The Fires of Chaterra is based on the Push gaming system.
Push games use a single D6 dice to resolve decisions and the rules fit on both sides of a single sheet of paper.
Instead of using stats, the Push engine allows you to take a risk to avoid complications and change a weak success into a complete success.
But you need to be careful, because if you push too hard, you may fail altogether and face a misfortune.
The rules come with everything you need to create a character, deal with complications, set scenes, and run a small campaign.
To learn more about how Push games work, refer to my post on the Push SRD.
Creating a Character
When it comes time to create a character, you will select traits from 6 different tables.
The traits fall into the following general categories:
- Magic – Your personality type
- Mark – What do you believe, or a distinguishing feature
- Family – Who are you related to
- Trinket – Something you are carrying
- Story – Your background
- Bond – What is your role in the world? Who are you bonded to?
Types of Complications
Four of the complications are from the standard Push system list.
Two of the complications are specific to the quest.
The Matrix
Most of the 36 prompts in the matrix are abstract in nature. They don’t directly give you a scenario to act out or resolve.
Instead, it is up to the player to interpret the meaning within the context of the world.
With that said, more than half the prompts mention places or people within the world, and none of the prompts are generic or copied from other games.
By combining the matrix prompts with the supplied challenge options (barrier, task, fight, trap, chase, debate, contest, mystery, negotiation, endurance, threat, puzzle) scenarios become a little more obvious.
Overall Impressions
Set in a unique fantasy world, anything can happen in this Push Powered RPG.
Every prompt is unique in its own way. You won’t find a list of common prompts with slight variations in this game.
The matrix prompts are quite abstract and will require you to put on your thinking cap when setting challenges.
If you have a good imagination, you will have a lot of fun with this game.
There are more than enough unique ideas to expand the initial mission into a small campaign.
Verdict : RECOMMENDED
Safety
This game includes themes of magic & witchcraft, good vs evil, destiny, emotional support, inequity, and class struggle.
Read and play with caution, keeping in mind that you can take a break or stop completely at any time. Your mental health is important, and this is just a game.
If you ever roll a prompt that makes you uncomfortable, discard it and roll again.
Remember that you can change, ignore, rewrite or abandon any part of this game that you want.
How to get it
Designed by Brian Hazzard and Cezar Capacle
Download from : https://instadeath.itch.io/chaterra
See how this game was made
BONUS : The following video shows how the game was put together.
Note: I don't post actual prompts in my reviews. This is to protect the IP of the designer. You will need to buy the game to read the actual prompts.