moralinth: Enclave edition
What does moralinth bring to the yze system?
What is the yze?
The Year Zero Engine (or YZE) is a role-playing system created and published originally by Free League Publishing that was developed alongside the Mutant: Year Zero role-playing game with which it shares its name. Following on from Mutant: Year Zero many other games from Free League used the YZE with slight setting-specific alterations but maintaining the core principles. This led to the creation of the YZE SRD (or System Reference Document) which unified the rules in a free, reference-friendly manner, and even allowed people to create content using this SRD either as supplemental material for their Dragonbane setting or to create completely new Tabletop Role-playing Games under the use of the YZE FTL (or Free Tabletop Licence).
The rising popularity of Free League Publishing and its flagship games such as Dragonbane and Mutant: Year Zero as well as fan-favourites based on established IP's such as Alien, Blade Runner and The One Ring has made the YZE a favoured choice for RPG gamers rivalling the popularity of many of the d20 systems such as DnD 5e and Pathfinder.
With the arrival of the YZE FTL (and its partner licence the Dragonbane Third-Party License) in February 2023, creators outside of Free League Publishing are now able to use their exceptionally refined and elegant YZE ruleset to create their own material. Through the YZE FTL we have been able to develop Moralinth: Enclave Edition.
why use the yze?
Back when we were deciding which other system to release alongside Moralinth: Uncanny Edition, we went through many different alternatives (there are a lot of excellent TTRPG systems on the market that allow independent creators to design unique settings using their rulesets), but the YZE always stood out as a favourite with both our writing staff as well as our playtesters. Many of us were familiar with the YZE through playing other games based on that system, and those games were among some of our favourites.
Utilizing a simple yet elegant and efficient dice system that uses primarily d6's (six-sided die), the YZE was always an easy system to get to grips with for new players and seasoned TTRPer's alike but also offered a space for narrative freedom within those rules for players to experiment in their sessions.
Another standout feature of the YZE is the "push" and interlinked "stress" mechanic which allows players to gain extra dice for the chance to produce extra successes, at the risk of things going much worse should they fail. This risk/reward style of play fits perfectly with the Moralinth theme of tapping into powers that could both help and hinder.
Along with many others, the two factors helped us feel that the YZE was a natural fit for the Enclave Edition of Moralinth. You can read more about what influenced this decision in our January 2025 update.
Moralinth: Enclave Edition is made in accordance with the Year Zero Engine FTL.
A brand-new I.P. and campaign setting, Moralinth uses the YZE System to form the structure upon which the entire setting is based. Though the campaign setting introduces many new features, the primary portion of the rules is identical to those found in the Year Zero Engine Standard Reference Document (YZE SRD).
A large and expansive tome, Moralinth includes much of what can be found in the YZE SRD, but also adds a slew of brand-new and setting-specific features, including:
a victoriana gothic-horror setting
Moralinth is set in a unique world that mirrors Earth in many ways. Technologically equivalent to the late 1800s but with entirely different geography, cultures, religion, and history, Moralinth pulls inspiration from literary and cinematic Gothic horror but moulds it into a victoriana-like aesthetic with steampunk and Lovecraftian overtones.
Mankind exists in massive walled communities called Enclaves that consist of many cities banded together and the Wilderness outside is lost to chaos and ruin.
Players control individuals with "The Spark", an ability that allows them to see past the veiled illusion of reality to peek behind the curtain and witness what really lurks in the dark. This power also grants them fantastical abilities, yet less than 2% of the world's population have The Spark. Those with The Spark refer to themselves as The Uncanny.
insanity & corruption
The minds and souls of the characters in Moralinth are in as much jeopardy as their physical bodies - perhaps even more so. Encountering secrets and entities that the mortal mind was not meant to know, characters are at constant risk of their minds breaking and their souls falling to damnation.
Moralinth introduces brand-new rules for corruption into the YZE System as well as greatly developing and enhancing the insanity rules found in the SRD.
Along with the usual statistics included in the YZE System, characters also suffer sanity loss and become corrupted. Characters gain "Corrupt Boons" and "Mental Disorders" as they pass thresholds in Corruption and Insanity respectively, and if left unchecked can lead to the end of that character.
The more a character learns about the supernatural world that exists in the shadow of the material one, the more powerful they become but their humanity is damaged along the way. Spending time in temples and asylums can sometimes reduce the character's corruption or insanity, but this balance of power is one of the central themes running in the Moralinth campaign setting.
the primordial darkness
In Moralinth the world is - unbeknownst to its current inhabitants - in its 3rd Age. In the distant past magic and the supernatural were very real, potent powers and in fact were the driving force during the 2nd Age of the world.
In modern times society has embraced the practices of science and technology, and the ways of magic are nothing more than legends and fables: stories to entertain or frighten. The average citizen of the Empire knows full well that magic and the supernatural are not real.
They are of course, quite wrong.
Magic, the supernatural and the occult, the creatures of darkness... all are starting to reappear in the world as if a great Darkness was awakening from a millennium-long sleep. Few see or recognize this insidious reemergence, blinded by science, faith, or The Delusion but a rare few see the world for what it is. These rare few are The Uncanny.
A little over three centuries ago, a single near extinction-level event birthed the return of these forces into the world: a maddening of sentient life that would later become known as The Blight; a catastrophe so major that humanity was forced to wall itself in to survive and even the most scientifically-minded or religiously faithful were forced to admit that some things were beyond the understanding of Man.
Magic and the supernatural have gone by many names and monikers but the oldest recorded name for it is The Dark. In Moralinth the majority of people are completely unaware of the existence of The Dark with The Blight being the only indicator of forces outside of their comprehension present in the world around them.
extra content
Along with the Victoriana-Gothic Horror Setting, the re-vamp of Insanity rules, the new Corruption rules and the overarching effect of The Dark you can also find the following features in the Moralinth Role-playing game:
-
3 Ancestries to choose from, each with their own distinct Origins.
-
12 new Callings each with their own Key Skills, Talents, and connection to The Dark.
-
A very Moralintheque twist on the YZE Push and Stress mechanic.
-
An Insanity system along with 20 sample Mental Disorders to get narrators started
-
A Corruption system along with 20 Corrupt Boons for players to acquire.
-
'Dark Passengers': the darker side of the character's psyche made manifest
-
'The Sight': a special ability afforded to all characters allowing them to see the world of Moralinth as it truly is.
-
Equipment tables for weapons, armour, vehicles, gear, and even housing, as well as a plethora of occult items.
-
A fully realized and fleshed-out world of eighteen separate countries as part of one expansive Empire, with a particular focus on the Imperial Capital Enclave of Elysium.
-
Advice for narrators on how to perpetuate the mood and atmosphere of a Moralinth game along with tips and tricks to make the horror-based game-play memorable and fun
-
New creatures and Non-player characters, custom character sheets, Pantheons, and more!