The Sleeper’s Ledgers · No. 3
The Villain Ledger
Four sheets and a table of offscreen moves that keep one enemy busy between sessions.
Printable PDF · instant download from Etsy
- 8 pages
- 4 sheets
- Screen and print editions
- Plain text for VTTs
- System-agnostic, No rules text
Three of the book’s 8 pages. The rest is in the PDF.
Offscreen Villain Moves for the GM
What does the villain do while the party is off leveling up? In a lot of campaigns, not much. They do something awful in session three and then wait in a lair, and this ledger gives yours something to do in the weeks between.
It takes about ten minutes between games. You roll once, mark a clock and write down a sign, so the next session opens with something the party could catch if they're paying attention. The sheets follow one enemy, covering who they are, the plots they have going, the people they rely on and how it all ends. The Faction Ledger handles the groups around your enemy, and Five Final Sessions runs the fight the Reckoning Page sets up.
The Villain Page holds who they are and what they want, why they believe they're in the right, and the one line they won't cross. Scheme Clocks follow three plots at once, with a visible sign written beside every segment so the party has a chance to notice before it lands on them. The Lieutenants are the four people the operation leans on, each with the place where they'd split off. The Reckoning Page is the ending, planned early, with the terms the villain would offer, the catch hidden in them, and three things they might say last.
The 36 offscreen moves come in six rows: recruitment, resources, the party, the board, upkeep and mistakes. Villains make mistakes too, and one of those is often where an investigation finds its first thread. Here's one of the moves as printed:
66. The good day. The villain was happy this week, somewhere, briefly, observed. What made them happy is the whole campaign, if the party ever learns it.
WHAT'S INSIDE
- 4 tracker sheets: the Villain Page, Scheme Clocks, the Lieutenants, and the Reckoning Page.
- 36 offscreen moves, six of them the villain's own mistakes.
- A ten-minute routine for between sessions: one roll, one mark, one visible sign.
- Bookmarked PDFs with no lock on them. System-agnostic. No rules text.
THE FILES
- SA-Villain-Ledger-Screen.pdf (the Moonvellum screen edition)
- SA-Villain-Ledger-Print.pdf (plain white, printer-friendly)
- SA-Villain-Ledger-Tables.txt (the full d66 as plain text for VTT decks and house tools)
We'll Pick Up Next Week, the free letter: sleepersartifice.substack.com
The Sleeper’s Ledgers
More Ledgers
No. 1
The Party Ledger
Six printable sheets that hold the campaign's memory, filled in the same night you play. Works with any system.
No. 2
The Backstory Ledger
A past for any character in three rolls, plus four sheets to catch what the rolls turn up. Print one for every player at session zero, or whenever someone new sits down.
No. 4
The Faction Ledger
Up to six factions each take a turn between sessions, so the world has moved a little by the time the table sits back down.
Ledgers
The Night's Ledger
Two sheets to keep next to your notes on game night, and a table of scenes for when the room goes quiet. It's free.
Free · pay what you want, The Night's Ledger (opens in a new tab)
