The Remnant Protocol

A cooperative dice-and-card RPG based on the novel by Marcus Draper.

Players: 1–3, with an optional facilitator. Format: twelve chapters of three encounters, with a safehouse between chapters. Play in sessions; record your place after every encounter. The browser edition handles all bookkeeping. Shared-table mode uses one screen, not an online lobby.

1. What you need

One deck of 54 cards, including both Jokers; d6, d8, d10, and d12 dice; paper and pencils; these rules and the campaign guide. A d4 is needed only when fatigue reduces a d6 skill. The illustrated deck uses custom suit names but retains ordinary ranks and suit symbols. With a standard deck, designate the red Joker as The Firewall and the black Joker as The Remnant.

One player may guide the whole crew. For two or three players, share control of Naomi, Elias, and Jesse. The current lead player describes the action; everyone can advise on the shared hand. A facilitator can read the campaign aloud, or players can take turns. Decisions belong to the group.

2. Set the table

1. Start at chapter 1, encounter 1. Set Integrity 12/12, Trace 0/12, Supplies 3/6, Evidence 0, Fellowship 0.
2. Shuffle all 54 cards. Draw until you have five ordinary cards. Whenever you draw a Joker, place it face-up in the shared relic inventory and keep drawing until the ordinary hand holds five.
3. Each character starts with the skill dice printed on their sheet. No one is fatigued, and all three chapter abilities are ready.
4. Choose challenge: Pilgrim subtracts 1 from every target; Standard uses printed targets; Watchman adds 1.
5. Record the chapter’s opening state, including hand, deck order, resources, relics, and skills. This is your retreat checkpoint. In the browser, the game does this automatically.

3. The four suits

Skill tests measure an action under pressure. They do not measure anyone’s faith or spiritual worth. “Fellowship” also names the campaign’s network score; it increases when people are brought together.

4. Play an encounter

1. Read the scene. Choose one of its two approaches and a lead character. Say what the action looks like in the story. In the browser, choose the portrait and approach before rolling.
2. Commit resources. You may play one ordinary card, spend one Supply for +2, and use the lead character’s chapter ability if eligible. Each is optional; decide before the roll.
3. Roll two dice: the lead character’s die for the approach’s skill and a separate red d6 for Trace. Add the card, Supply, and ability bonuses to the skill roll.
4. Compare to the target. Equal or higher succeeds. There is no automatic failure on a 1. A roll on the highest face of the skill die is a critical only if the test succeeds.
5. Consider a Joker. After seeing the dice, you may use one held Joker. You may not use both on the same encounter. A committed Joker cannot be withdrawn.
6. Apply the result using the sequence below. Read the success or setback paragraph. Failure still moves the story forward unless Integrity reaches zero.
7. Record fatigue. Add 1 fatigue to the lead, up to 2. Remove 1 fatigue from each other character, minimum zero. Before a future roll, a character with 2 fatigue uses a skill die one step smaller, minimum d4. Trained skills are not permanently reduced.
8. Before the next encounter, refill the shared hand to five. After a chapter’s third encounter, resolve the safehouse before drawing; do not refill after the final encounter of the campaign. If the draw pile is empty, shuffle the ordinary discard pile to make a new draw pile. Held and spent Jokers never enter that shuffle.

5. Card values and court effects

Court effects work even on a failed test. Discard a committed ordinary card when rolled. A card cannot be recovered simply because its roll failed. You can also roll without playing a card.

6. Resolve in this order

1. Failure damage: miss the target by 1–2 and lose 1 Integrity; miss by 3 or more and lose 2. A success causes no failure damage.
2. Trace: the red d6 adds 0 on 1–3, 1 on 4–5, or 2 on 6. Add 1 more on a failed test, and any approach’s printed risk. Jesse’s Air gap ignores the red die and then reduces Trace by 2, but does not cancel failure or approach risk.
3. Apply court effects. Jack reduces Trace, Queen restores Integrity, King restores Supply. Resources cannot fall below zero or exceed their printed caps.
4. Check for a breach. At Trace 12 or higher, lose 2 more Integrity and reset Trace to 4. A Queen can prevent withdrawal if it restores Integrity before this check.
5. Record rewards: on success, gain the approach’s printed reward: 1 Evidence or 1 Fellowship. On a successful maximum-face skill roll, gain 1 additional Fellowship.
6. Check Integrity. At zero, withdraw and restore the chapter checkpoint. Earlier chapters stay completed. Otherwise continue. Retrying uses the same chapter opening; choose a different tactic if necessary.

7. Both Jokers: the relics

The Firewall: after any roll, prevent all Integrity loss and all Trace gain caused by that encounter. You still receive success rewards, court effects, and Jesse’s Trace reduction. If the test failed, it remains a failure. Discard this Joker permanently into the spent relic pile.

The Remnant: after a failed test, change it to a success. Receive the approach’s success reward and avoid failure damage and the failure’s +1 Trace. The red Trace die and approach risk still apply. A maximum-face skill roll also receives the critical reward. Discard this Joker permanently.

Guaranteed discoveries: at the beginning of chapter 4, if The Firewall is still in the draw pile, remove it and give it to the crew. Do the same for The Remnant at the beginning of chapter 8. Do not award another copy if a Joker was already found or used. The deck always contains exactly two Jokers in total.

8. The safehouse

After every chapter except chapter 12, record the chapter item. Restore 2 Integrity, reduce Trace by 1, clear all fatigue, and refresh all three abilities. Then choose one additional benefit:

• Rest: restore 3 additional Integrity.
• Break the trail: reduce Trace by 4 additional points.
• Repack: gain 2 Supplies, discard the entire ordinary hand, and draw five fresh ordinary cards.
• Connect: gain 2 Fellowship.

Otherwise keep the hand and refill it to five. Check for the guaranteed Jokers. At the beginning of chapters 4, 7, and 10, improve one character’s trained skill by one die step, to a maximum of d12. Then record the new chapter checkpoint.

9. Completing the campaign

Finish all 36 encounters. Record whether the final encounter of chapter 11 succeeded; that is the decisive restoration. Chapter 12 determines what the crew builds afterward.

• A Thousand Seeds: the restoration succeeded, Evidence is at least 10, and Fellowship is at least 16.
• The Word Restored: the restoration succeeded but either network threshold was not met.
• The Living Remnant: the final restoration failed. The surviving source and people continue the work.

These are alternate game epilogues. The novel remains the canonical story. The campaign guide contains outcomes and should be treated as a facilitator’s book if you want to avoid spoilers.

Worked example

Naomi takes a Witness approach with target 8. Her d10 rolls 3. She commits the 7 of Witness: +2 base and +2 for matching, making 7. Spending one Supply before rolling would make 9, a success. Without that Supply, she misses by 1 and loses 1 Integrity. If the Trace die shows 5, it adds 1 Trace, plus 1 for failure. The Remnant Joker could change that failure to success, preventing the damage and failure Trace while leaving the die’s +1 Trace.

Credits & practical notes

Based on Genesis Code by Marcus Draper. Supplied book art and portraits are used in this adaptation. Jesse was inspired by the author’s late brother Ken, as described in the book’s author’s note. Created for Deskatur.com.

The browser edition stores progress only in the current browser. Export a campaign JSON before moving devices or clearing browser data. Import restores the saved game, including a pending roll. The game uses no accounts, analytics, external fonts, or server-side game service. Sounds are synthesized locally and begin only when enabled.

This is a work of Christian thriller fiction, including fictional supernatural events and fictional technology. The tabletop expansion adds game rules and choices to the novel’s journey.