IThis is the Wrong Tavern
You came to rob the room at the top of the stairs. The door opened on a hearth full of monsters, and the only way out is through them.
TWENTY FACES
The Almanac
The complete deck of tales
First Edition · MMXXVI
The deck, bound
This book holds every tale in Twenty Faces. Twenty five worlds, five tales to a world, one hundred and twenty five in all. Each entry gives you the door in: the world, the trouble, and how much peril the road can hold.
A tale is played, not read. One hero takes point at every beat and rolls where nobody can see, and the table reads them true or reads them wrong. The ending you reach is the ending you earn, and no page here will spoil it.
Use this volume the way sailors use a chart. Pick tonight's water. The weather is up to the table.
Made by hand by Brandon George. Set in Cinzel and EB Garamond. The game lives at twentyfaces.app and plays free.
Contents
- IFantasy
- IIPirates
- IIIAliens
- IVCowboys
- VVampires
- VIHeist
- VIIZombies
- VIIINinjas
- IXWerewolves
- XSuperheroes
- XISpies
- XIIGreek Myth
- XIIIAncient Egypt
- XIVDinosaurs
- XVWizards
- XVIDetective Noir
- XVIISteampunk
- XVIIICyberpunk
- XIXEldritch Horror
- XXFairy Tale
- XXISpace Opera
- XXIIMystery
- XXIIIWasteland
- XXIVKingdoms
- XXVWrestlers
PLATE I
Fantasy
Take the crown. The dragon is still wearing it.
IIDragon's Keep
A dragon holds the mountain keep, and the valley's last hope is your climb to its lair.
IIIBarrow King
The barrow-king has woken and the dead walk. Go down into his mound and break his crown before the village is his.
IVSky Citadel
A tyrant wizard-king rains fire from a fortress a mile in the sky. Find the way up, storm the citadel, and cast him down.
VDrowned City
A drowned elven city holds the relic that can turn back a rising dark. Dive past its leviathan and raise the Tidestone before a necromancer does.
PLATE II
Pirates
Hoist the black flag. Your crew already voted, and your name lost.
IDevil's Ledger
A cursed vault, a rival on your wake, and a crew one bad night from mutiny.
IIGallows Tide
Your captain hangs at dawn, and this crew does not leave its own on the gallows.
IIIGhost Ship
A ghost ship drifts out of the fog with a fortune in her holds and a dead crew that keeps it.
IVKraken's Deep
A sunken galleon of gold lies in a kraken-guarded reef. Take the treasure past the beast, or feed the deep.
VArmada
The Crown's whole fleet has bottled the free pirates in the bay to hang them. Break the blockade and scatter the armada before the line closes.
PLATE III
Aliens
Nothing out here is warm but your ship. Something just noticed.
IDead Air
The crew is dead, the comms are dead air, and the thing between the decks is not.
IIHive
Descend into the alien hive beneath the overrun colony to end the queen and save the last survivors.
IIIColony
A terraforming colony went dark with two hundred souls and something else. Land, find the survivors, and lift them off before the hive claims them.
IVDerelict
A generation-ship has drifted dark for forty years with something living in it. Board the derelict, take the salvage, and get off before it takes you.
VSpecimen
The company's secret order: bring back a live xeno, crew expendable. One is already loose in the lab. Kill it and get home.
PLATE IV
Cowboys
Out here the law is a rumor and your six-shooter is a fact.
ILast Stand at Perdition
The gang rides at dawn, the town is running, and someone has to plant their boots.
IIIron Horse
Rob the railroad baron's gold train from the saddle before it reaches the fort.
IIILong Drive
Three thousand head, a month's hard drive to the railhead, and the ranch on the line. Hold the herd through drought and rustlers to market.
IVBounty
The Coyle gang killed the marshal and went to ground in a lawless border town. Ride them down and bring them in for the bounty.
VHanging
At dawn they hang a friend for a killing they never did, in a town owned by the man who framed them. Break them off the gallows before the rope drops.
PLATE V
Vampires
Immortality is on offer tonight. So is your throat.
ILong Night
One night to reach the crypt and end the Count before the dark finishes you.
IICrimson Ball
Guests at the vampire lord's ball, with one night to get out before the masks come off.
IIISiege of the Chapel
The brood lays siege to the chapel. Hold the consecrated ground until the dawn burns them away.
IVUndying Lord
A great city has fallen to an undying lord who keeps its people as cattle. Go in, find the lair, and end the thousand-year reign.
VThe First
When the blood-moon rises, the first of all vampires wakes and raises its ten thousand children. Descend into its crypt and end it first.
PLATE VI
Heist
Nine minutes to the vault, and a rat in the crew you never spotted.
IOne Last Score
One last score, an uncrackable vault, and a fixer with his own plans for the split.
IILong Con
Con a ruthless tycoon out of a fortune, staying ahead of his suspicion and a rival grifter.
IIIExhibit
The greatest gem on earth is on display for one night. Lift it from the gala past the world's best security, and mind the contact who wants you caught.
IVBig House
The crew's mastermind is buried in a prison no one escapes. You have one week to break in, break them out, and vanish.
VCasino
A mob casino's count room holds a take no one will report stolen. Beat the pit bosses and the eye in the sky, and walk it out before the floor locks down.
PLATE VII
Zombies
One bite is all it takes, and the dead are in no hurry.
ILast Mile
Ten blocks of dead city to the last helicopter, and one of you is hiding a bite.
IILast Wall
Hold the last settlement's wall through the night against the biggest horde anyone has seen.
IIISupply Run
The children are burning with fever and the medicine is deep in the dead city. Go in, get it, and get home before the dark.
IVExodus
The wall has fallen. Load the whole community into a night convoy and run the dead country to a mountain refuge before the horde runs you down.
VHerd
A herd of the dead the size of a town is drifting toward the settlement. Become the bait, lure it into the waste, and lose it before it turns on you.
PLATE VIII
Ninjas
You never hear the blade. That's the point.
ISilent Blade
Go over the wall to bring the clan's honor home, past a rival blade and a traitor within.
IIBodyguard
Guard a marked heir through a night of assassins and get them behind stone by dawn.
IIIMessenger
A sealed scroll names the warlord's betrayal. Carry it five hostile provinces to the emperor before the new moon, hunted every mile.
IVDemon Mask
A rival clan stole your sealed demon mask and their war-lord wears it. Climb their stronghold, take it back, and seal the curse before he stops being human.
VWarlord
A warlord musters in his mountain fortress to burn the valley clans. Climb his castle in the dark, cut past his guard, and end the war before it starts.
PLATE IX
Werewolves
Full moon tomorrow, and someone here already has your scent.
IBlood on the Snow
Hunt the beast to its lair before the full moon, and hope it is not already among you.
IICure
A friend is turning. Gather the cure from three deadly places before the full moon finishes the change.
IIILongest Night
On the solstice the full moon never sets and the pack comes down. Barricade the hall and hold every soul until the dawn burns them back.
IVWolf Among the Hunters
The best werewolf-hunters are snowed into a lodge, dying one by one. The beast is not outside. It is one of you. Find the wolf before dawn.
VHunt
The full moon catches you in the open with the whole pack on your scent. Run the frozen wild to the silver ground and turn the hunt back on the wolves.
PLATE X
Superheroes
Saving the world is easy. The secret identity is what'll kill you.
IDoomsday Hour
One hour, one doomsday device, and a city that only your team can save.
IIBreakout
The super-prison is breaking open, and your team is all that stands between the gallery and the city.
IIIFallen Hero
The greatest hero alive has gone rogue and is tearing the city apart. Reach them and bring them home before the army does.
IVDepowered
A villain has switched off the team's powers and armed a doomsday device. Stop him as ordinary people before the city falls at midnight.
VNemesis
The nemesis learned every one of your secret names, and tonight they strike at everyone you love at once. Take the villain down before dawn.
PLATE XI
Spies
Loyalty is a cover story. Even your handler's.
IHandoff
Run a defector across a divided city to the border, past the enemy and a mole in your own house.
IICipher
Break into the enemy's cipher station and kill the machine before it cracks every code by dawn.
IIICountdown
A bomb is counting down under a peace summit. Find it and kill it in one night before it starts a war.
IVMole
Your best agents are dying, betrayed from the top of your own service. Hunt the mole through your own house before they burn you all.
VMotorcade
A defector who can topple a regime crosses a hostile capital, and every service wants them dead. Run the motorcade and reach the embassy before they do.
PLATE XII
Greek Myth
Heroes end up as statues and songs. The middle part is mostly screaming.
IDescent
Descend into the underworld and bring a lost soul back before the dark keeps you both.
IILabyrinth
Into the labyrinth to slay the minotaur and lead the tribute children back to the light.
IIISirens' Strait
Sail the cursed sea home past the sirens, the strait, and the enchantress, and bring every oar back.
IVGorgon's Head
A tyrant demands the gorgon's head or your city burns. Sail to her island of statues and take it without ever meeting her gaze.
VGolden Fleece
The Golden Fleece hangs in a far king's sacred grove, behind a sleepless dragon and three deadly trials. Bring it home before his fleet runs you down.
PLATE XIII
Ancient Egypt
The tomb was sealed for a reason. You brought a shovel.
ITomb of the Nameless King
Descend into the nameless king's tomb and face the curse before it seals you in.
IIRiver of Blood
The river runs with blood and plagues fall. Go upriver and break the dark rite before the city dies.
IIISun Barque
Ride the sun-god's barque through the twelve hours of night. Drive back the chaos-serpent Apophis and bring the dawn, or the morning never comes.
IVSphinx
The Great Sphinx has woken astride the only road, devouring all who fail its riddles. Answer it, then bind the old curse beneath it.
VBronze Tide
A thousand chariots pour out of the eastern sands toward the Two Lands. Hold the river ford and break the tide before they drink from the Nile.
PLATE XIV
Dinosaurs
The island runs on teeth. You are the soft part.
ILong Way Off the Island
Cross an island of living dinosaurs to the last boat before the storm and the king get you.
IIRescue
A team is stranded deep in the island's interior. Go in and bring them out before the wet season and the apex do.
IIIEruption
The volcano has blown and every dinosaur is stampeding for the coast. Ride the fire and the flood across the island to the last boat.
IVRiver
The only way off the interior is the great river no one has run, through the gorge where the island's king hunts. Raft it to the sea.
VCompound
A hurricane kills the compound's fences and the pack is inside the wire. Hold the shelter through the night and reach the dawn boat before you are overrun.
PLATE XV
Wizards
Cast the spell. It does exactly what you said, not what you meant.
IUnmaking
Climb the black tower and break the Unmaking before the last bell empties the world.
IISummoning
Something loose in the academy is taking souls, and only a binding before dawn can stop it.
IIIConclave
A traitor archmage means to seize the high seat by murder. Win the trials, expose the plot, and stop the coup before the rite crowns them.
IVAstral Road
The archmage who anchors the city's wards is lost on the astral road. Cast off your bodies, go out after her soul, and ride the cords home.
VColossus
The academy's guardian colossus has woken wrong and marches on the city. Climb the walking mountain, reach its heart, and still it before the streets fall.
PLATE XVI
Detective Noir
In this city, the rain's the only thing that isn't lying to you.
ISetup
A rain-soaked frame job. One hero steps up each beat while the rest read them true.
IIVanishing
A torch singer vanishes, her sister is afraid, and the city would rather you stopped asking.
IIIDead of Night
A handoff went bad and you are holding the money two families want. Get out of the city by dawn.
IVTorch Killer
A killer stalks the city's torch singers, leaving sheet music on each body. Catch him before the Blue Room singer is the fourth verse.
VRansom
A magnate's daughter is snatched, and the family, the law, and the mob are all lying. Run the ransom drop in the rain and get her back.
PLATE XVII
Steampunk
A marvel of brass and steam, rated to explode any minute now.
IDoom Engine
Race a small airship to catch and stop the Iron Chancellor's dreadnought before it burns the city.
IIUndercity
The great boiler is racing to a burst that will level ten streets. Go down and bleed it in time.
IIILeviathan
Something vast is dragging the fleet under. Take an untested submersible into the black depths to find it and end it.
IVTime Engine
A mad genius's Time Engine is unraveling the present. Reach it through a foundry where time runs wrong and throw the governor before the moment is unmade.
VIron Express
The Chancellor's armored express races for the capital with a doomsday device aboard. Fight car to car to the engine and stop it before the line runs out.
PLATE XVIII
Cyberpunk
More chrome than meat these days, and the chrome is still on the payment plan.
IGhost Protocol
Steal a dead man's mind from the arcology before the ICE and the fixer burn you.
IIKill Switch
A rogue corp AI is seizing the city grid, and only your crew can reach the core and kill it.
IIIMeat Run
Smuggle a defector across the neon city to the docks before the corp burns it down to keep them.
IVBraindance
A braindance holds proof a megacorp murdered an arcology. Dive into a dead man's last hour and drag the truth out before the corp buries it.
VUprising
The corp gunned down the starving and the city is about to explode. Lead the uprising, seize the tower, and topple the arcology before it becomes a massacre.
PLATE XIX
Eldritch Horror
Something under the floorboards has been waiting, and now it knows your name.
IWhat the Deep Remembers
A drowned town, a waking horror, and one ritual between the deep and the dawn.
IIHouse That Wasn't
A house bigger inside than out, a friend lost in it, and the door closed behind you.
IIIExpedition
A first expedition to a range beyond the maps vanished. Climb to the city that cannot exist, learn the truth, and get back before it claims you.
IVBlight
A thing fell from the sky and is draining a farm of life and color and minds. Walk up the grey lane and end it before the blight reaches the county.
VGate
Beneath the town a cult is opening a gate for the thing between the stars. Descend their warren and shatter the altar before the herald steps through.
PLATE XX
Fairy Tale
Make the bargain if you dare. The woods always collect.
IWitch of the Wood
Into the witch's wood to bring the stolen children home before moonrise takes them for good.
IIGiant's Castle
Climb the beanstalk into the cloud-giant's castle for the stolen child and get down before it wakes.
IIISleeping Kingdom
A fae cursed a whole kingdom to a hundred-year sleep behind a wall of thorns. Cut in and break it before the thorns close forever.
IVSnow Queen
The Snow Queen stole a child to her palace at the top of the world and froze their heart. Cross a thousand miles of winter and thaw it before it freezes forever.
VBeast
A cursed lord roams a thorned manor in a monster's shape. Reach the man trapped inside the beast and break the curse before the dawn torches burn it down.
PLATE XXI
Space Opera
Plenty of galaxy to vanish into. The empire counted every star.
ILast Signal
Slip the blockade, crack the battle-station, and outrun the fleet before it fires.
IIDying Star
A dying star, a world at the fence, and the last transport off past the blockade.
IIIPrison Moon
The Empire holds the rebel high command on the deepest prison moon in the galaxy. Break them out before the dawn-cycle execution.
IVForest Moon
The Empire's station is shielded from a bunker on a forest moon. Drop onto the moon, blow the bunker, and drop the shield before the fleet dies.
VLast Stand
The Empire's armada has cornered the fleet at the last jump-gate. Hold the line until the free worlds evacuate, then jump before it closes.
PLATE XXII
Mystery
Everyone has an alibi. One of them did it anyway.
ILocked Room
A locked room, a house of liars, and a killer who will strike again before dawn.
IIMidnight Express
A murder on a snowbound night train, and one night to name the killer before the border.
IIIFinal Curtain
The leading man is dead and the killer is among the cast. Unmask them before the final curtain falls and the company scatters.
IVEmpty Frame
The most famous painting in the world vanished from a sealed gallery in one guarded hour. Solve how it was done and fill the empty frame.
VWarning
An anonymous note promises one guest dead by midnight. Find the target and the killer among the liars, and stop it before the clock strikes.
PLATE XXIII
Wasteland
Radiation was the mercy. Now meet the neighbors.
ILong Haul
Cross the dead lands for the last green valley before the wastes swallow your convoy.
IIWater War
Your well is dead and a warlord holds the only water for a hundred miles. Take it.
IIIRoad War
The settlement's last water-purifier has to reach Cold Springs down two hundred miles of dead highway, with a warlord's war-party in pursuit.
IVVault
A sealed pre-war vault holds the seeds to turn a dead valley green, and a warlord's army wants it too. Delve in past its mad machine and bring the future out.
VWarhead
A warlord has dug a live pre-war nuke out of the dust to drop on the last free settlement. Reach it in his war-camp and kill it before he can arm it.
PLATE XXIV
Kingdoms
One crown, a dozen heirs, and every smile in the room doing arithmetic.
IEmpty Throne
Gather the loyal houses and hold the throne at the coronation, or a tyrant is crowned.
IILost Heir
The true heir was hidden, not killed. Find them and bring the crown home before the pretender's men do.
IIIRoyal Wedding
Two kingdoms will wed at dawn to stop a war, and a saboteur means to see it fail. Get them to the altar and the vows spoken.
IVRebellion
A greedy regent has bled the realm to the edge of civil war. Expose his design and forge a peace between crown and rebels before the realm burns.
VDying King
The king is dying of a nameless poison, and his last breath means civil war. Race for the cure beyond the mountains before the realm tears itself apart.
PLATE XXV
Wrestlers
Every punch is scripted. The folding chair is not.
IBelts
Fight through a crooked promotion to the main event and win the belts for real.
IILast Run
An old lion's last run at the belt, against the monster who ended their career.
IIIInvasion
A rival promotion invades your biggest show live on the air. Repel them across a night of war and save the company.
IVTournament
Sixteen fighters, one night, one crown, and the brackets stacked against your stable. Fight through the gauntlet to the King of the Ring, clean.
VCage War
Months of beatings from the heel stable end tonight in a steel-cage war, no count-outs, no escape. Take the punishment, turn the crowd, and win it.
What never changes
- Twenty worlds free, forever. Free means free.
- No ads. No trackers. No accounts.
- Paid is worlds, not power. Nothing you buy beats anyone.
- The table comes first. Every feature serves the night or it does not ship.
Made for the table.
PLAY.TWENTYFACES.APP