Every PC begins as a damned human soul.
The body is the form Lucifer dresses that soul in when he hauls it out of Hell and onto the train. Three poles define what shape it can take — flesh, machine, and hellfire — and your race lives somewhere on the triangle stretched between them.
Choose your sub-race
Soul Index & Skill Mandala
Your Body decided what you are. Your Soul Index decides how you behave under pressure: the cosmic temperament that bends every roll a few degrees off true. Pick one of four. The mandala beneath shows where dispatch can send you with confidence, and where to send someone else.
Already pinned
Your race choice baked passives into the body. They sit beneath every Soul Index decision — already counting.
Distribution at the Body / Soul threshold
Your race choice baked passives into the body before the soul layer was added. Most races start with a feather — either Chaos (a head start along the same path everyone walks) or Harmony — plus a thematic skill bump. Construct trades the feather for raw skill power. Augmented gets a feather and picks its technical axis. Below: every race's threshold gift, with your current pick highlighted.
Your sub-type's +1
Each sub-type leans into one of four archetypes — offensive (red), defensive (green), science (blue), or unique (purple). The first three grant a clean axis bump (Rigging / Resilience / Systems); purple gets a bespoke setup tailored to that race's specific purple frame. Below: every sub-type of your current race, with your pick highlighted.
Your faction ties
Each faction's starting attitude toward you, on a scale of -5 (committed enemy) ↔ 0 (neutral) ↔ +5 (committed ally). A-Tech and SABRE start near the bottom for everyone — they want the Orb back. αSync is softer (Lucifer's pact-holders inside loosen things). The Synthetics are neutral by default — they threat-assess instead of holding grudges. Construct PCs are kindred (+2); Augmented & Hellforged read as half-synth (+1). The neutrals (Un-Halted, Drifters) lean by race. Affinities move during play; this is the chargen baseline.
Where this character lands a roll
Six axes, one per ability. Each axis is the primary skill of its ability pair: the broader, more dispatch-relevant of the two. Polygon shape = the character's current dispatch fingerprint, computed live from the race+sub-type baseline plus the chosen Soul Index modifier.
Where to send them, where not to
LAYER 3 · Personality
Master trait table — buffs, debuffs and trade-offs that distinguish characters who'd otherwise share the same body and soul. Every trait has phase-based effects that reset at long rest (end of day). Used in chargen for PCs and as DM shorthand for NPCs.
7 of ~28 wired
Trade-off design: each trait has a positive phase and a negative phase that fire on different triggers. The picking model (1 from each tier in chargen) comes after we've reviewed the full master tabel.
Bound to a name
These traits are not in the player pool. They are baked into specific named NPCs by canon — character-defining quirks that shape how the GM dispatches them. Same schema as the player traits (phase-based, dispatch-scope, long-rest reset), but the binding makes them part of the character.
LAYER 4 · Carriage Posting
The Apocalypse Express is a marshalling yard, not a single train. Each carriage runs its own rail with its own purpose. Every dispatch task happens in a carriage, and each carriage asks for different work — so each carriage fits different traits. Read the rails, find your post.
🚂 Engine — top-down floor plan
5 tiles tall × 16 tiles wide. A small origin steam train Lucifer rebuilt to burn Sparkplugs (PLUG) — soul-canisters that wake a Hellfire boiler. The Hellfire Boiler (7×5) dominates the front-left as off-area. The Reliquary (2×2) holds fuel at the back-right. Cramped cab floor in between: The Pulpit (driver post, required) + 3 install slots — The Apse (2×2 · Work), The Tinker Wall (1×1 · Maintenance), The Crew Niche (1×1 · Life).
What goes where
Each tile on the floor plan maps to a card below — describing what the station is for, who can be posted there, which skills and certifications grant bonuses, and what mechanically rides on it.
Where to find them
Each install can be acquired through one of four paths: bought at a station for LEV, salvaged from a wreck or ruin, faction-rewarded at the right trust threshold, or crafted at a Workshop with parts and a TNK check. Some installs also unlock through specific story beats.
Wall bar, open saloon, and one right-side A/B alcove
The Sundown Saloon is the Train's social reactor: rumors, favors, debt, hospitality, and trouble. Row 4 remains a clean passage between carriages.
HOST
Assignable staff tile. Without A1, structured Saloon actions are limited.
The bar is a wall fixture, not a full backroom. Mirror bottle wall and counter stay flush to rows 1-2.
Middle rows stay social and playable: stools, booths, tables, reputation pressure.
Row 4 remains a full through-route between carriages. No plugin can block it.
Chaos & Harmony
Two scales, both running 1–10. Harmony is what you build by walking the line. Chaos is your Lucifer cadence — the dice that bend every roll a few degrees off true. The two meet at Devil's Mercy, the one shared lever between them. Both scales widen as the campaign moves; you only ever play with the slice unlocked by the chapter you're in.
Cadence at a glance
Linear cap progression locked: Canto I starts at cap 2, ramping to cap 10 by Canto X. The full 1–10 ladder is shown; the slice currently active is highlighted, the rest waits for later chapters.
+1 Seal · HU-1 Courtesies
Capstone: Keep the Sway or Sever the Sway
2d4 + 7 — rows 9–15 (gentle swing)
d10 + d12 — rows 2–22 (full table, ±high swing)
Your Chaos dice by level
The offset centres each pair on row 12 so everyone uses the same 2–22 table. Higher CL = wider swing: more positive ceilings and more negative floors. Canto I starts narrow; later Cantos open the table's extremes.
21 rows, every roll lands on one
The Modifier column applies to your check as OFS (Roll) — or equivalently as a DC shift on the GM side. Negative modifiers are costs; positive modifiers are gifts; neutral rows (Modifier 0) are narrative. Some entries are IAZ only (the table's Immediate Action Zone) or apply ASH (Apocalyptic Shift). Devil's Mercy can re-roll a row after seeing it — one shot per holder per chapter.
Milestone ladder
Earned by story milestones, not grinding. Major spikes at HL 1 / 3 / 5 / 7 / 9 unlock HU bands and grant +1 Seal. Minor tiers at HL 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 let you pick one from a menu that grows with each tier. HL 10 is the capstone — a permanent choice between Keep the Sway and Sever the Sway.
The six options
At each minor tier (HL 2 / 4 / 6 / 8) you choose one option. The menu grows: HL2 can pick from ①–③, HL4 from ①–④, HL6 from ①–⑤, HL8 from ①–⑥. Devil's Mercy unlocks last (HL8) — the late-game lever that lets a holder reroll a Chaos row after seeing it.
Harmony Unlocks (HU)
Site-based benefits at Harmony-affined or Neutral facilities (Chaos-affined sites ignore HU). PCs must be present on site; if multiple are present, use the highest HL among them. Suspended while Under Threat / Alarm. Each band has a hard rate-limit per chapter.
Factions of the Pause
Seven organised forces still moving through the frozen world — corporate, military, cult, and survivor-cells — plus two unilateral hostile collectives that will not parley. Every encounter is a negotiation with one of these nine. The DNA-tags (HUM / SYN / HELLISH / DIVINE) cross-reference the Body tab; here we focus on who, not what.
Seven factions you can talk to, trade with, or fight
Two collectives that will not negotiate
Onstop adversaries with zero interaction surface. They appear, they attack, you survive or you don't.
The Engine
“Every task, every journey, every event resolves through one grammar — roll two dice, add your Fit, compare to the Threshold; everything downstream is consequence.”
This tab is the mechanical grammar of the Apocalypse Express. One resolution system handles all task work: dispatch rolls, event responses, and journey outcomes all use the same 2d6+Fit vs Threshold structure with four result bands. The sections below walk through each piece in order — Roll, Fit, Threshold, Outcome, then how they chain through a full journey. Read once for orientation; return during play as a quick reference.
The Roll
Every check in the game follows the same structure: Roll 2d6, add your Fit. Compare the result to the Threshold. The four result bands are defined by the margin — how far your total lands above or below the Threshold.
| Band | Label | Margin |
|---|---|---|
| Critical Success | CS | Total ≥ Threshold + 3 |
| Success | S | Total = Threshold to Threshold + 2 |
| Failure | F | Total = Threshold − 1 to Threshold − 3 |
| Critical Failure | CF | Total ≤ Threshold − 4 |
The task card displays everything you need before you touch the dice: your Fit, the Threshold, and the probability of each band. You can see your odds before committing. If a trait applies or a crewmate can assist, account for it now.
Fit
Fit is your character’s total modifier for a given task — skill, preparation, equipment, and support all stacked into one number before you roll.
Fit ranges from −2 (untrained rookie in a crisis) to +5 (legendary specialist, peak conditions, full support). On a Threshold 9 task, Fit +3 means you only need a 6 on 2d6 for Success — comfortable odds. Fit +0 means rolling straight against the luck of the dice.
Certifications
Certifications are broader than a license, narrower than ‘general competence.’ A character trained in a profession (or, for NPCs, factory-loaded with knowledge) carries a CERT. There are 8 general cert categories in total.
Certs are acquired through training arcs, faction rewards, or A-Tech factory provisioning. They are not skill scores — they do not improve. A cert either applies (+1) or it does not. Their value lies in matching the right worker to the right station.
THE 8 CERT CATEGORIES
| Category | Tag ID | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Mechanical Engineering | mech_eng | engines, gears, pipes, install-repair, mechanical systems |
| Medical | medical | anatomy, surgery, triage, biology, body restoration |
| Demolitions | demolitions | explosives, breach, controlled destruction, sigil-lock breaking |
| Systems / Electrical | systems | wiring, computers, signal/comm, sensors, dispatch network |
| Chemistry / Alchemy | chemistry | substances, brewing, refinement, PLUG quality, αSync handling |
| Negotiation / Diplomacy | negotiation | social, faction, contracts, Lucifer-pact bargaining |
| Salvage / A-Tech | salvage | finding, identifying, recovering A-Tech / pre-Halt gear |
| Combat / Tactics | combat | military training, weapon expertise, ambush response, boarding |
Threshold
Threshold is the task’s difficulty number. Set by the task card, always visible before you roll. Think of it as the target the dice and Fit need to reach.
| Difficulty | Threshold | What this looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | 7 | Routine maintenance, a path walked a hundred times |
| Normal | 9 | Standard field repair, competent work under mild pressure |
| Hard | 11 | Critical system under load, unfamiliar terrain at night |
| Very Hard | 13 | Jury-rigged fix mid-derailment, emergency surgery in a moving car |
| Heroic | 15 | One shot at a cascading boiler failure with borrowed tools |
Most checks in a standard journey sit at 9 or 11. The base difficulty is modified by environment (+1/+2 for bad conditions) and time pressure (+1/+2 if the clock is tight) — both folded into the Threshold shown on the card before you roll. You are never surprised by a hidden modifier at resolution.
Outcome — Four Fields, Not One
Most games collapse a roll into one result: you succeed or fail. Apocalypse Express splits every roll into four separate fields, each tracked independently. Traits and gear can modify different fields independently — sometimes in opposite directions.
| Field | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Resolution | Which band did you land in? (CF / F / S / CS) |
| Yield | How much of the task’s value did you get? (CS=125%, S=100%, F=50%, CF=0–25%) |
| Duration | How long did the task take? (set by task card, not by roll result — unless a trait targets it) |
| Complication | Did something extra go wrong (or unexpectedly right)? |
Example: the Methodical trait gives +1 Fit on routine tasks but reduces Yield by ×0.75 on novel ones. These are two different fields — neither contaminates the other. A Methodical mechanic attempting a routine boiler check rolls better (Fit +1). The same mechanic on a novel emergency repair rolls normally but produces less (Yield 75%). Two conditions, two fields, no conflict.
Dispatch & the Journey Clock
A single roll covers one task in one moment. Dispatch wraps a whole journey’s worth of work into a structured sequence of rolls, aggregating their results into a single outcome for the journey via the Journey Clock.
| Journey | Phases | Clock segments |
|---|---|---|
| Short | 1–2 | 4 |
| Medium | 3–4 | 8 |
| Long | 5 | 12 |
| Phase result | Clock movement |
|---|---|
| CS | +2 segments |
| S | +1 segment |
| F | 0 (or −1 on a hazard phase) |
| CF | −2 segments + complication triggers |
| Clock fill | Journey result | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 75–100% | Smooth run | PLUG cost ×0.5, +1 minor reward |
| 50–74% | On time | PLUG cost at base rate, no extras |
| 25–49% | Rough arrival | PLUG cost ×1.5, 1 minor wear on installs |
| 0–24% | Limped in | PLUG cost ×2, major complication on arrival |
Events
Events are interruptions that fire during a journey — things that demand the crew’s attention now, while the train is moving and the clock is ticking. They fire from four sources.
| Trigger | What fires it |
|---|---|
| Authored/Scripted | GM wrote it into the journey as a narrative beat — fires at a set moment regardless of rolls |
| Outcome-triggered | F or CF result automatically triggers an event; the failure woke something up |
| State-triggered | PLUG reserves drop below threshold, fauna pressure peaks, install wear crosses a limit |
| Random | 1-in-6 chance per phase; lower stakes, keeps the run unpredictable |
Every event card has: Title · Trigger (why it fired) · Stake (what’s at risk if ignored) · Choices (2–4 options, each listing cost + optional roll + outcome). See Marlow’s run for three live event examples: Boiler Stress (state), Stowaway (scripted), Chronoshear Flare (random).
Rest
Every PC on the crew starts each journey with a Rest pool — a recovery reserve that represents their capacity to be woken mid-journey without burning out.
| Journey | Rest blocks per PC |
|---|---|
| Short | 1 |
| Medium | 2 |
| Long | 3 |
| Rest state | Effect |
|---|---|
| Rest 1+ available | No penalty |
| Rest 0 (last block spent) | −1 Fit for the rest of the journey |
| Rest −1 (woken a second time) | −2 Fit, CF chance increases on their rolls |
| Rest below −1 | PC cannot be assigned to additional tasks except mandatory events |
Double-up: Two crew members can share a wake event, each spending 0.5 Rest blocks (round up to 1 if already at 0). The pair gains +1 Fit on the resolution roll. Two tired people cooperating can outperform one exhausted person working alone.
Trait Integration
Every character carries one or more Traits — personality qualities that mechanically interact with the four outcome fields. Traits don’t just make you better or worse in general. Each trait card explicitly states which field it targets and under what condition.
When you pick your character’s traits during creation, consider which fields each trait affects and how those interact with your intended role. A character primarily assigned to routine maintenance slots benefits enormously from Methodical or Service Intelligence. A character expected to handle novel crises will find those same traits actively detrimental. Traits are field-specific bets on how your character will be deployed.
Marlow’s Medium Run
Route: Ironveil Depot → Concord Yards. A medium freight run through open scrubland and a chronoshear seam. 4 phases, 8-segment clock.
| Name | Role | Key Skill | License | Trait |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marlow | Driver (cab) | SYS +2 → Fit +1 | [RCP] +1 | Methodical |
| Klara | Bastion gunner (rear) | SLG +2 → Fit +1 | [EOD] +1 | Hyperfocus |
| PAVNN | Tender operator | — | — | Service Intelligence |
| Doc | Medic (galley/bunk) | PRY +1 → Fit +0 | [MED] +1 | Lazy |
Phase 1 — Departure (Threshold 7, Routine)
Phase 2 — Cruise (Threshold 8, Routine)
Mid-Journey Event: Boiler Stress (State-triggered, 02:47 AM)
Phase 3 — Hazard: Chronoshear Seam (Threshold 11, Novel)
Outcome-Triggered Event: Coupling Slack (05:42 AM)
Phase 4 — Approach (Threshold 8, Routine)
Journey Ladder — Final Tally
| Phase | Outcome | Change | Running total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 — Departure | CS | +2 | 2/8 |
| 2 — Cruise | S | +1 | 3/8 |
| 3 — Hazard | F | −1 | 2/8 |
| 4 — Approach | CS | +2 | 4/8 |
Certifications
A Certification is a documented formal competence — broader than a single license tag, narrower than a general stat. Holding a cert grants +1 Fit on any roll whose station or event is tagged with that cert category. There are 8 cert categories; PCs may hold up to 2 active certs, while NPCs and Constructs may carry any number factory-loaded or earned through play.