From the introduction: HELM is a role-playing game inspired by dark fantasy and sword and sorcery fiction, typically set in worlds resembling that of our own’s Middle Ages (5th—15th centuries). Players take on the role of bloody Men-at-arms carving out an existence in the shadow of a crumbling Empire. In this day, craven nobles play at conquest and sacrifice countless soldiers to the war machine, fueling what has come to be known as the Ruination. Masterless warriors, seeking to profit from the nigh-endless discord, fall in with armies as shock troops and supplementary forces. An integral theme of this genre is human nature and morality, as one struggles between being a good human being or falling into madness and evil.