
EXILE: Dark Fantasy Role-Playing
A downloadable ruination
YOU ARE AN EXILE: a teenage misfit who barely ekes by at society’s edge. You grew up in a world that cast you aside and deemed you perverse. You learned to hide or fight, never able to live free.
Tough luck. Your misfortune led you down a wicked path and now you’ve been charged with a fatal crime and sentenced to death by exile in The Below: a nightmarish underside where tarnished souls like yours are sent to rot.
Those above think they’ve ridden themselves of you, but instead you’ve resolved to escape. With only a band of fellow outcasts by your side and nothing left to mourn, you will cut across The Nightmare Lands and blaze a path back home no matter what it takes.
You shall escape, die in the attempt, or worse.
A dark fairy tale RPG of sharp blades, cutthroat kinship, and heart-wrenching gloom.
- CARD-BASED PLAY: Create your own angst-ridden exile by drawing from a combination of items, backgrounds, and ability cards. Then, bear witness to your character changing as you add, resolve, and exhaust cards from your deck.
- HEARTFELT & DEADLY: Craft memorable tales with little to no setup thanks to a unique ruleset that encourages hard choices, pushes your characters to their breaking point, and invites you to cry about your terrible decisions once the dice stop rolling.
- SHIFTING ALLIANCES: While you and the other players all need each other to escape The Below, that doesn’t mean your relationships are free of strife. By exchanging tokens and deepening your relationships, every opportunity to help each other also opens the door for disagreements, fights, and inevitable betrayal.

Digital Edition
The digital edition of Exile is a beautifully illustrated, 100-page PDF. It includes all you need to roll up a gang of miserable outcasts, detailed GM instruction on how to a full game campaign, a tome worth of in-game resources to generate characters and situations, and 1 starting adventure. A digital play template is also included with your purchase.
- 1 GM + 2-4 players
- Appropriate for both oneshots and campaigns of up to 12 sessions.
- Requires the free print-at-home kit, polyhedral dice, pencils, and tokens.
Physical Edition by Mythworks coming soon
A hard cover print run of the game is currently underway! Sign up to my newsletter to be the first to hear about it. ⚔️
See where it all starts…🌙
Embark on a strange journey across The Daydream in CRESCENT, Exile's all-ages prequel. The two games share a similar setting and ruleset, but can be enjoyed independently of one another.
Updated | 13 days ago |
Status | Released |
Category | Physical game |
Rating | Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars (21 total ratings) |
Author | Ema Acosta |
Tags | Dark Fantasy, Forged in the Dark, lgtbqia, No AI, OSR, Queer, tabletop-role-playing-game, Tabletop role-playing game |
Average session | A few hours |
Purchase
In order to download this ruination you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $12.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Download demo
Development log
- 1.2 Version Out!13 days ago
- Sheets updated to US Letter!Nov 21, 2024
- 1.1 Update!Oct 04, 2024
Comments
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I'm a backerkit backer so I cannot comment on the Kickstarter - with the announcement of an Exiles 1.1, will the Print version be of the currently released PDF or the 1.1 version?
1.1 of further! The advantage of the game taking a while is that it will print with less typos and the like :)
Hi Ema! Do you think either this or Crescent Moon (or Crescent Moon 2e) are a good fit for running a Series of Unfortunate Events-style campaign? Best wishes!
Hey Bruno! Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the series, so I can't really comment on it. The plot does remind me a bit of Locke and Key. In the case of that show, I could see a campaign inspired by it where the Adventure phases happen in the magical parts of the house. I'd say the challenge in running either game in a real-world setting is that the items and action mechanics assume a fantasy world where the characters can perform magic—That's only half the game, though. The Rest phase is much more grounded and setting-agnostic. Hope that helps!
Hm - I was thinking this was an expansion to Crescent Moon, is it just its own system? Either way - still super happy it's out, and happy to have backed it! Can't wait to put a physical copy on my shelf, along with all the other RPGs I've yet to get my friends to play...
Hey! Yeah, it started out as an expansion but over the course of development it turned into it's own game. When the second edition of Crescent releases in some ~2 months, the system will also be very similar :-) I hope you enjoy it!
Congrats on the release, Ema and team!
Thank u!!!