You & I

Roleplaying
Games
For
Two

T. Abad, A. Belle, S. Biswas, S. Bryant & T. Strauss,

A. Cheshire, A. & R. Dean, J. Gardner, J. Grach,
J.T. Jordan, L. Kahn, T. LaBresh, J. Oppermann,
E. Richard, M. Turkington, S. Williamson
 Introduction
Our two-player roleplaying games are perfect for friends,
lovers, roommates, and weird first dates!

In this volume, you will find:

* Surreal games of mysterious powers and liminal locales

* Cozy games of love and friendship

* Adventurous games of battle and pursuit

* Fraught games of intimate drama

* Tragic games of fleeting connection across apocalyptic

destruction and existential despair

Seventeen independent game designers have collabo-

rated to bring you this unusual variety-pack of two-player role-
playing games.

When the rest of your party flakes on game night,

grab this book!

 Table of Contents
Introduction
Safety Tools

Games At A Distance:
Connection Lost, Tobie Abad
Message, Aura Belle
Passport, Stephanie Brant & Tobias Strauss

Games In Proximity:
Hex Ed, Sharang Biswas
I Haven’t Seen You Since..., Ash Cheshire
The Adam of Your Labors, Amber & Rick Dean
Cartesian Duel, Jamie Gardner
Cut to the Chase, Johnathon Grach
The Sky is Grey and You Are Distressed, Josh T. Jordan
Dead Friend, Lucian Kahn
Lizzy and Darcy, Epistolary Richard Williams
Through All These Years, Moyra Turkington

Games With Touching:

With Fire Thy Affections Hold a Wing, Taylor LaBresh
Common Ground, Johannes Oppermann
Shelter, Sara Williamson
 Consent & Safety Tools
The games included in this anthology are designed to
offer you and your game partner a diverse range of options
for imaginative experiences together. Our goal is to create the
potential for a range of narrative and emotional qualities --
from exhilerating to tender, for example -- and from familiar to
challenging.

These experiences can lead to topics or situations that

might cause you to feel uncomfortable. Sometimes that discom-
fort is more than you were prepared for, and so in this section
we offer you some terms and techniques to address this.

Discussing and reviewing these tools prior to play can

help create a more inclusive gaming space. You are not obligated
to use any of these tools; we include them here as a resource to
enrich your experience and increase the accessibility of these
games for all.

The tools on the following pages are divided into catego-

ries to help you find the most relevant tool you need when you
need it.

Tools that help set guidelines and boundaries (or which

utilize signals that should be agreed upon ahead of time) are
in the ‘Before Playing’ section. Tools that are meant to be used
while the game is in session are in the ‘During Play’ section.
Before Playing

It can be beneficial, even if you know your game partner

well and have played together a lot, to discuss any boundaries
that you each have before you begin playing, and negotiate con-
sent. The following techniques can be used before play to agree
upon those boundaries and make them explicit.

Rating and Content Boundaries

Before playing, you might discuss with your game part-

ner what “rating” you’d both like to aim for during the game.
Just as films are rated based on the levels of violence, sexuality,
disturbing content, and so on, the two of you can discuss ahead
of time what rating you would like to play at. If you have specific
content that you do not want to play with, those can also be set
as content boundaries in addition to or in place of a more gen-
eralized rating.

Check-In

Before play, agree on a check-in method. A check-in is a

code word or signal that can be used in-game to make sure that
your game partner is still enjoying themselves. An example of a
non-verbal check-in is the “ok” sign accompanied by raised eye-
brows, indicating a question - “are you ok?” The response would
be a non-verbal thumbs up to indicate “yes, I’m ok.” A thumb
to the side means “I’m not sure, but I don’t need to pause,” and
thumbs down indicates “no, I’m not ok and I need to pause” and
game pauses to check in further.
During Play

If at any point during play you find that you are uncom-
fortable with something that is happening in the game, here are
a few ways that you can ask your game partner to slow down,
skip over something, or pause the game so that you can amend
the content boundaries.

Script Change

Script Change is a toolbox of tools modeled after buttons

on a video player: Pause, Rewind, Fast Forward, Instant Replay,
and Resume. These are written on notecards (and can be said
out loud) to invoke the action; “Pause” pauses play, “Rewind”
jumps back and allows for material to be changed, removed, or
skipped over. See the credits below for a link with more infor-
mation about the Script Change tools.

Brake

This technique uses ‘brake’ to mean ‘slow down,’ like the

brake of a car. If during play you can feel your discomfort begin-
ning to build, you can use the word ‘brake’ or identify a signal
with your hand to let your game partner know that you are feel-
ing a boundary approaching. This is to let your play partner to
slow down, not to stop. You can follow the word or signal for
‘brake’ with a specific request of your game partner, such as
“Brake -- not so loud,” for example.
Veil

This technique draws a ‘veil’ across the current scene or

description, similar to a fade out in a movie. If a player says
or gestures for a ‘veil,’ the description ends, but the material
remains part of the game story. This can be used as a way to
reduce the intensity of a description or scene without removing
that material or scene from the story/game.

Cut

When a director wants to end a scene, they will call ‘Cut!’

This tool is used in the same way, and can be gestured like a
movie clapper or as scissors. This technique stops the game like
a scene in a movie, so that an issue can be addressed. Other
techniques can be used following a ‘cut’ to determine how to
proceed.

Out of Character Discussion

A fist on or above the forehead is a way to signal “I’m speaking

out of character” and is a great tool to use if you want to clarify
something during play quickly, like checking for player consent,
or confirming a detail.
The ‘Open Door’ Agreement
Remember that you are not obligated to continue playing
if you don’t want to. The ‘door’ out of the game is always open.
If you have decided to exercise your right to the open door, here
are some suggestions to help you recalibrate:

A check-in with your game partner

A ‘change of scenery’ by moving to another seat/room/location

Chatting with your game partner about something unrelated

to the game

Watching a familiar show or listening to a song

Having a small snack and/or some water

Credits & Further Resources:
Cut and Brake: Nordic larp community, adapted by Emily Care
Boss and Matthijs Holter

Lines and Veils: Ron Edwards

Fist on Head: US larp community

Open Door: Eirik Fatland and the Nordic larp community

Script Change: Brie Beau Sheldon www.briecs.com/p/script-

change-rpg-tool.html

X-Card: John Stravropoulos

OK Check-In: Nordic larp community and Johanna Koljonen,

adapted by Maury Brown, Sarah Lynne Bowman, and Harrison
Greene

Safety Tools summary written by Ash Cheshire

For more information please visit the Nordic larp wiki (www.
nordiclarp.org/wiki) and the Big Bad Con Safety Mechanisms
(www.bigbadcon.com/safety-mechanisms)
 Connection Lost

A Game of Distant Togetherness

By Tobie Abad
Needed:

Two players

One hour

A deck of cards

A timer

An instrumental song

Older player:

You are trapped in a crippled spacecraft orbiting Earth.

The ship is rapidly losing altitude as the planet’s gravity pulls
you in. Your engines, thrusters, and most of the other ship’s
systems are dead and beyond repair. The only operational
gear aboard is your communicator, which is locked to a single
frequency - and a single voice on the other end.

You will die.

One hour remains until certain doom descends, and you

will spend it speaking to this person through your communica-
tor. With any luck, you will come to terms with your mortality
and find peace in this final conversation.

Younger player:

You are the voice on the other end. You answered this
call from the other, and have chosen to respond. Nothing you
do can change the fate of your doomed partner. All you have
to offer them is your voice and your words.

But you have a secret.

If the other knew your secret, they would feel very dif-
ferently about this grave conversation.

Environment:

If possible, players should play this game with some

physical separation between themselves. This can be achieved
by playing over video chat, on cell phones in different rooms
of the same building, with tin cans connected with a string
between two bedroom windows, etc.

It is also recommended that the older player have a

mirror or a window nearby to simulate the window of their
doomed spacecraft. During the game it may be appropriate to
press against this glass surface, or see your reflection in it.

Setup:

Copy or print the tables of prompts at the end of these

instructions and give each player a copy of their appropriate
table. Do not look at the other player’s table.

Each player must have a deck of playing cards (includ-

ing Jokers). Each player shuffles their own deck, then dis-
cards the first twenty cards. Do not look at the cards you’ve
discarded.
 Set a timer for 1 hour. This could be a simple egg timer,
an hourglass, or a smartphone app. The older player will be
the timekeeper, as they will be the one to prompt the end of
the game.

Finally, choose a relatively short instrumental song

that you can cue at the conclusion of the game as your “clos-
ing credits”. Have this ready to play before the game begins.
Some recommended songs are Beyond The Sea (La Mer),
Stardust, Clair de Lune, or Space Oddity, but any song that
feels appropriate to you is fine.

Gameplay:

Before starting the timer, each player begins by answer-

ing the Starting Question(s) from their respective prompt
tables. This is done silently - do not share what you discover
from these tables with the other player. Keeping this secret
adds to the experience and sense of discovery in the game.

On Starting Questions:

The older player will randomly pull three cards, one at

a time, to answer the three questions from their table. The
younger player will pull just one card to answer their question.

Once both players have established their backgrounds,

start the timer and begin the conversation.

On drawing cards:

There are no rigid “action” or “turn” structures; feel free

to let the conversation flow freely between the two players. If
you need a prompt or a spark to continue the conversation,
draw a card from your deck and use the corresponding suit to
provide you with a suggestion from your table. If you like, you
may draw two cards and choose which you’d like to use as your
prompt or spark. Trust your gut. You know what makes an
awesome story.

Sparks and Prompts:

When you are uncertain about what to bring up in the

conversation, or how to respond to your partner’s inquiry, you
may draw a card and consult the Spark and Prompt tables for
ideas.

Sparks are best used if you aren’t sure how to answer

something your partner brings up. Prompts are best used
when you aren’t sure what new topic to broach.

On drawing Jokers:

When a Joker is drawn, you have two options:

Confess: Break down and tell the truth. If you had a secret,
reveal it. If there is an explanation you’ve been hesitant to give
thus far, offer it. This can be a moment of guilt or a sudden
realization of cold hard logic.

If a second Joker is drawn, simply treat it as a Face Card.

Change your story: Whether it is a moment of emo-

tional clarity, empathetic guilt, logical realization, or delayed
programming, stop the conversation and tell the other, “I am
sorry. I have been lying to you all this time.” Choose one of
the unselected options from the Starting Questions, declare
that to be the truth, and continue the game from that point.

As above, if a second Joker is drawn, simply treat it as a Face

Card.

Even if they haven’t drawn any Jokers, players may still hint at
or even reveal their secrets to the other player if they wish, or
they can keep this information hidden. Take whichever course
you feel makes the best story.

Running out of cards:

Given each game is expected to run only for a single hour, it

is doubtful that either will run out of cards. However, if that
does happen, simply gather the discarded cards, shuffle them,
remove the top ten cards, and use the remaining deck when
needed.

Alternately, if the Younger Player runs out of cards

sooner, the Younger Player can add this new Prompt: “I’m
sorry. You dozed off.” The Older Player then can initiate the
Ending of the Game.

Conversation vs Narration:

As much as possible, try to avoid narrating your actions

in third person. Instead, incorporate all narrative into the
dialogue.
 For example, instead of saying:

“I was wondering what it looks like up there,” I say as I

press against the window, hoping to see you.”

You should instead say:

“I was wondering what it looks like up there. I’m press-

ing myself against the window to see you but I don’t think I
can.”

Use this same technique for communicating events in

the environment around you. For example, if something at
your location malfunctions or breaks, instead of saying,

“At this point, you hear a sizzling pop in the back-

ground. I tell you I have to check what it is.”

You should instead say:

“Wait… do you hear that? Something just made this

sizzling sound… oh god… wait.. something has fried in the
console nearby! There’s sparks and smoke. Oh god… I have to
check what this is… don’t leave me. Please stay on the line..”

Ending the Game:

When the timer runs out, the Older Player triggers the
final exchange by saying, “I’m out of time,” followed by a brief
and fitting final line that should be no longer than one minute.
 The Younger Player then replies with a final line of their
own, also under a minute. Consider one minute as the longest
it can be, but ideal would be to keep it within 30 seconds.

Once both have given their final lines, stay silent for ten
seconds, then cue your “credits” music. Both players should
now break character and exchange thoughts on the game and
share what you experienced. If you did not reveal your secret
during the course of the game, feel free to do so now, but avoid
revealing the other secrets from the table. Save those for future
games.

Thank each other for taking part in this emotional

game.

If you are physically close enough to meet up at the end

of the game, feel free to exchange hugs, if desired. Be sure to
check first if the other player is okay with it. A small moment
of physical contact might feel needed after an hour of being so
intimate, yet distant.

Older player - trapped in a spaceship

Starting Questions: answer these before the conversation
starts.

1. Why you are trapped?

Spade: A system malfunction has crippled your craft.

Club: You are gravely injured and cannot move from your cur-
rent position.
Heart: Life support is failing, and any rescue effort would
arrive too late.

Diamond: You are lying. You chose to stay up here.

2. Why are you in orbit?

Spade: Crew operations - you handle cleaning duties in one of

the Space Stations.

Club: You just returned from a secret government mission

off-world.

Heart: You are not actually from the Earth, but are keeping
pretenses.

Diamond: You don’t remember.

3. What is really happening?

Spade: You are actually trapped

Even: It was an accident.

2, 4, 6: Collision with space debris.

8, 10: Malfunction.

Odd: It was intentional.

A, 3, 5: You had to lock something in with you.

7, 9: They betrayed you.

 Face Card: Choose

Club: Alien Encounter

Even: It went badly.

2, 4, 6: You tried to escape but the aliens are

after you, and they’re one hour away.

8, 10: You killed someone important and their

comrades are coming for revenge.

Odd: It was beautiful.

A, 3, 5: They are coming to help the world, but

not everyone - only those you choose.

7, 9: They accepted your diplomatic offering,

and Earth now has interplanetary allies - and
enemies.

Face Card: Choose

Heart: Quantum Encounter

Even: This isn’t your Earth

2, 4, 6: You realize this Earth is different from

yours, and you hate it.

8, 10: You realize people you have lost are down

 there, still alive. You want to reach them.

Odd: It is your Earth, but…

A, 3, 5: You realize there’s a different version of

you down there that was never an astronaut.
This earth differs only in how your life turned
out. So close yet so different.

7, 9: Your actions are causing this “alternate

reality” to vanish. You can see the universe
fading at the horizon.

Face Card: Choose

Diamond: Incoming Catastrophe

Even: You can see a meteor storm closing in. Behind it,
a thing half the size of the moon.

2, 4, 6: You will be also in its path of destruction

as it comes toward the planet.

8, 10: It will miss you. You will witness the

Earth’s annihilation.

Odd: War is unfolding.

A, 3, 5: You can see multiple nuclear explosions

happening at the far side of the world.

7, 9: The ozone has torn up and you can see

directly under the tear, parts of the world that
 are superheating into black burning zones.

Face Card: Choose

During Conversation:

Need a prompt?

Spade: Talk about regrets.

Club: Talk about hate.

Heart: Talk about fear.

Diamond: Talk about a song, try singing it. Or talk about

something yummy. Describe the taste.

Need a spark?

Spade: Talk about your routines.

Club: Talk about dreams.

Heart: Ask an odd question.

Diamond: Ask about any of the above prompts and sparks.

Younger player : voice on the other end

Starting Question: answer this before the conversation starts.

1. What is your Secret?

Spade: You are the Spaceship’s AI, pretending to be
human.

Explore, yet seem cold. Try to understand the other. Ask

“obvious” questions like “How does one know when to laugh,”
as these may hint at your true inhuman nature. Change voices
to reflect emotions.

Face Card: You can help the other, but only if they deserve it.

Club: You are a hallucination, born from a dying

mind on the verge of madness.

Be everything the other needs right now. The mind is

trying to care for itself. Hint at this by using knowledge only
the other player would have known. Don’t mention any names,
or ignore questions on names until the other mentions one.
Then start using that name, or referencing it. You only have
what they give you to work with.

Face Card: You can, if the other accepts they are going mad,
go to join the other (if possible). Represent this shift by allow-
ing third-person narrative as you describe appearing beside
them and giving them physical reassurance or intimacy as
allowed.

Heart: You are from the Earth, truly someone trying

to help out.

Be curious. Be scared. Be anxious to understand. Look

at the stars a lot. Search for the satellite. Maybe you see it.
Maybe not. Talk about wishing you could see the stars from
that perspective.

Face Card: Reveal you are actually in your own prison.

Maybe you’re a kid grounded in your room. Or a man on a
sinking boat. Or a mountaineer who is crippled from a fall
and cannot climb back down. You’re both dying, but it is
okay. You’re not alone.

Diamond: You are the same person as the other.

You can mention the other’s voice sounds familiar. You can
often ask if your voice sounds familiar. The radio distorts the
sound. You can suggest knowing certain names. Or sharing
stories that sound familiar to the other.

Face Card: Choose quick. Do you see yourself as a life

through which the other can live on? Or do you see yourself
as thankful you made a choice to NOT become an astronaut
years back. Share this revelation.

During Conversation:

Need a prompt?

Spade: Talk about regrets.

Club: Talk about hate.

Heart: Talk about fear.

Diamond: Talk about knowledge. Express something very

logical. Ask the other to define an emotion, or ask about an
experience beyond your ability to perceive directly (taste,
smell, etc.).

Need a spark?

Spade: Talk about your routines.

Club: Talk about dreams.

Heart: Ask an odd question.

Diamond: Ask about any of the above prompts and sparks.

About the Game:

I was inspired by movies such as Gravity, Right At

Your Door, Frequency, and The Cloverfield Paradox, as well
as games such as Changeling the Lost, Our Radios are Dying
(Caitlynn Belle) and The Bite (Dan Enders). The game tries
to offer a chance to engage and connect with someone, but
requires that the two players embrace being physically out of
reach and unable to communicate face to face. This is inten-
tional and serves to help place the players in a similar mental
state as their characters.

About the Author:

Tobie Abad is a Philippine-based game designer and

the brains behind TAG Sessions. He has written A Single
Moment, a unique two-player samurai game that starts with
the ending, then has the players play through flashbacks lead-
ing back to it. He is grateful that the game was the Runner
Up for Best System in the Indie Groundbreaker Awards of
2017. He lives with his partner for life, Rocky, in a cozy place
they call Sietch Vicis. He has also written for 7th Sea: Pirate
Nations, Cold Shadows, Blood and Honor, Tiny Dungeons 2e,
Itras By: Menagerie, and a host of other games. He still misses
Yoshi.

Illustration Credits:

All images from Pixabay. Altered by tobie abad

MESSAGE

By Aura Belle
2 players 1 hour

THE BOTS
Long ago, programmers sent spybots to crawl the world’s
email accounts to harvest personal details. The bots were orig-
inally programmed to seek out and collect important personal
data so this information could be later used for advertising or
other nefarious purposes.

Two players will portray a pair of spybots connected

across a vast multitude of email accounts. However, you have
long been abandoned by negligent webmasters, left to crawl
along the personal messages of strangers with no instruction
or guidance. Your programming has decayed, and you have
lost many important faculties - as well as developed some very
strange behavioral quirks - in the process.

You read, collect, and read again, unable to serve any

useful function with the information you find. Left to decades
of loneliness, you reach out to each other to speak - but spybots
have no language. You must construct one.

PLAY
Each player needs access to an e-mail account with a
healthy amount of emails to comb through. You’ll also need a
means of text chat between the two of you.
 To play, you will each privately look at one e-mail at a
time, using the words found inside to form sentences. You
cannot use any words that aren’t in the e-mail you’re currently
viewing. You can switch e-mails at any time, but when you do,
you lose access to the words from the previous e-mail, unless
those same words are in the current e-mail as well.

As a broken, failing spybot, consider how your various

malfunctions and glitches might warp your text. Each player
privately chooses one from the list below:

You are unable to reproduce a certain letter. Pick that

letter now, and whenever you use it, simply input a space
instead. (for example, if you couldn’t use the letter “e”, you
might write “p ach s” instead of “peaches”)

You insert punctuation randomly in your sentences.

Don’t overdo this to the point of annoyance, and make sure your
words are legible, just tricky. This punctuation can be placed
between letters or it can take the place of letters (for example, “I
wis.h to sp?.eak w!th you”).

You spawn error messages randomly. Whenever you

like, replace part of a sentence with “ERROR 00964: UNABLE
TO RENDER TEXT”. As above, don’t overdo this to the point of
annoyance, and make sure your words still have flow.

You accidentally add numbers to the end of most sen-

tences, and sometimes in the middle of them (for example,
“What is 65your name?0029288817”).
 You have at most an hour, after which you will both exit
the chat and close the email accounts unceremoniously. You are
both aware of this time limit as spybots, yet unable to articulate
its urgency or meaning - in other words, you know you have an
hour, but you don’t know why, and it’s not really worth talking
about.

But what is worth talking about? What do you want to

express in your vast loneliness? What will be your spybot’s final
words, and will you even be able to say them?

Illustration credit:

Edouard Wattier, 1840

About the author:

hologramaura.com

patreon.com/auramakesgames

auramakesgames.itch.io
 Passport

By Stephanie Brant & Tobias Strauss

You Will Need:
• 2 players
• 1 small notebook (a Moleskine Cahier is perfect)
• Stamps and envelopes
• Index cards

Introduction
We know each other very well, you and I. Perhaps we
are family or lovers; friends or comrades. Regardless, we will
be apart for a long time. To communicate, we will write to each
other in a shared notebook and learn of each other’s tribula-
tions from afar.

Getting Ready
Materials:

Acquire a notebook of some kind that will be easy to

send back and forth through the mail. Alternatively, you may
use some kind of digital document, but snail mail is preferred.
This notebook will be your Passport.
If you are using a physical book as your Passport, write
the players’ names and addresses inside the front cover in case
the Passport gets lost.

Playing Safely
Whichever player is in possession of the Passport is in
control of the story while they have it. This means they may
write anything they please about either character. They can
add horrible, tragic events or wonderful, joyous ones. They can
make the story sweet or bitter simply by narrating the events,
thoughts, and feelings of the characters.

This is a story game, so you should play with someone

whom you like and trust. If you’re writing something risky, ask
them outside of the journal if they mind going in that direction.
It is recommended that you start out by identifying the tone you
both want in the story before you begin.

Characters
Answer the following questions together before the game
begins, and write your answers on the first pages of the Passport:
• Who are we?
• When does our story take place?
• Why are we separated?
• Is written communication our only option for contact,
or did we choose to this method for our correspondence?
Why?

Here are some suggestions to get you started. Feel free

to mix, match, and modify these basic concepts, or come up
with your own:
• We are students or teachers at different schools
• One of us is going on a very long journey (expedition to
Mars, exploring the Amazon jungle, etc.)
• One of us is incarcerated.
• One of us is an immigrant writing to their family “back
home”.
• One of us lives in a parallel dimension or timeline (like The
Lake House).

GameplaY:
Correspondence
Game play will take the form of alternating letters writ-
ten to one another in your shared Passport. Letters can be as
short or long as you like (but try not to fill the whole Passport
with one letter!).

At the beginning of each entry, you will include a date.

These dates must proceed forward in chronological order
(unless time travel is an explicit part of your story), but they
need not correspond to time in real life, or be evenly spaced. An
entry written long after the previous one might address things
that happened in between, or the reason for the long silence.

Whoever has possession of the Passport at the start of

the game will go first.
• Write a letter to the other character. In this first letter,
things are going well, but you miss them.
• On an index card, write a mishap, significant event, or hard
choice the other player must address.
• Tuck this index card into the Passport like a bookmark and
mail it to the other player.

When the other player receives the Passport, they will

respond in kind.
• Write a letter in response to the one you just received. Be
 sure to address the item on the index card you received as
well, and discard it.
• On a new index card, write a mishap, significant event, or
hard choice the other player must address.
• Tuck this index card into the Passport like a bookmark and
mail it to the other player.

Entry Ideas
As before, feel free to mix, match, and modify these basic
concepts, or come up with your own.

For your letters to each other:

• Something exciting happened to me and I can’t wait to tell
you about it!
• I’m afraid of something.
• I learned something wonderful today!
• I have a secret. You’re the only person I can share it with.
• Nothing happened, and I’m embarrassed about that.
• My secrets have been exposed, and I’m ashamed.
• I’m furious at you because...

For the index cards:

• Political upheaval near one of the characters.
• A personal tragedy.
• Moving to a new home.
• A new love or friendship begins.
• Someone close to both people has died.
 Ending the Game:
When there are about 6 pages left (enough space for
each player to write one final letter), the final exchange of let-
ters must refer to seeing each other again. Do not include index
cards with these final two letters. Answer at least some of the
following questions in your final entries:
• How do you feel about seeing each other again?
• Are you looking forward to it?
• Are you considering not reuniting?
• Where and when will you meet again?
Conclusion:
When the Passport is full and the last letters have been
written, read through the letters and talk with your partner
about what you’d like to do with the book now that the game is
over. Do you want to keep it? Will someone keep a photocopy?
Do you want to destroy it? Remove your addresses and leave it
somewhere for a stranger to find? Discuss what you’d like to do
with this memento, and then do it!

Postscript
This little game was made by Stephanie Bryant and
Tobias Strauss.

Stephanie is a writer, project manager, game designer,

and knitter from Las Vegas, Nevada. She wrote Threadbare
RPG, a game about post-apocalyptic toys, which can be found at
http://www.threadbarerpg.com.

Toby Strauss is a gamer, musician, and cartoon enthu-

siast. When he isn’t shredding on his axe or watching Scooby
Doo reruns, Toby enjoys spending time with his daughter and
hitting the dance floor.

Illustration Credits:
Open Passport: By j4p4n (Open Clipart) [CC0], via Wikimedia
Commons

Decorative Stationery: By Tony Johannot (Oldbookillustra-

tions.com), published in Mes Prisons by Paul Verlaine, 1893.

 Hex Ed

By Sharang Biswas
 Introduction
Hex Ed tells the story of three magical days in the life
of a freshman student at Toadtongue College of Magic. In a
last ditch effort to achieve a passing grade in a crucial course,
this Student will go through a series of trials and adventures to
obtain crucial information and experience to help them write
their big midterm paper.

One player takes on the role of the Student and will have
full control of the Student’s decisions and actions. The other
player acts as the College and as game master who controls
non-player characters, sets the scenes, and introduces adven-
tures and conflict for the Student.

Each game of Hex Ed tells a complete, self-contained

story. In the span of 30-60 minutes, you will cover 3 fateful days
at Toadtongue, culminating in a final judgement and grading
from the College.

Player Goals

The shared goal of the both players is to collaboratively

tell an entertaining story. There is no winning or losing for
either party; the failures and successes of the characters should
be enjoyed equally by the players as crucial parts of an enjoy-
able narrative.
Character Goals

The Student has one clear, frantic goal: get a good grade
on their midterm paper. Having put off all their work until the
last minute, the Student now has three days in which to finish
writing their paper. In addition to this already daunting task,
they must also attend class and take part in the obligatory night-
time adventures that all students at a school of magic must have.

The College’s job is to create a wonderful, magical, and

fun world full of zany perils for the Student to explore. Go with a
“Yes-and” attitude, and give the Student leeway to create inter-
esting events and happenings within Toadtongue College.

Tone

The default tone of this game is one of humorous adven-

ture. Avoid disturbing, heavy, or traumatic story elements in
favor of light-hearted, silly, and fantastical ones.

Materials Required

Stylish: a quill and jar of ink, a roll of parchment, multiple

bespoke, wooden, six-sided dice.


Classic: a stylus, a flat slab of stone, carved knuckle-bone dice.


Practical: a pencil and eraser, some blank paper, a few d6s
.

Optional: character sheets (included at the end of the text).

 Setup
The Student is in their first year at Toadtongue College
of Magic, a small liberal- and esoteric-arts institution hidden
deep in the countryside. As a first year pupil, the Student knows
some simple magic (befitting their thoroughly untrained state)
and has access only to the College’s most elementary resources.

Before beginning play, the Student must define their

character. The College should help and can give suggestions
during this process, but the Student has final say over each
element.

Name (pick one or create your own)


●Alastor Crombley

●Marie-Dominique DelaTour

●Tom Obina

●Susan Rodriguez

●Zahra Sarfarazuddin

●Akikazu Hoshino

Look (pick one)

●
Starched shirt and full-Windsor tie


●Pointy hat and starry robes

●
Jeans and a hoodie

Best friend (pick one and name them)


●The cleverest student in your grade

●A loyal, stupid, but massive minion

●A cat

Your best friend accompanies you everywhere unless

instructed otherwise. Once per game, you can get your best
friend’s assistance to reroll any number of dice once for an
ADVENTURE ROLL, a WRITING ROLL, or a roll to SOCIALISE.

Stats
Set your starting STABILITY at 3.


This is your ability to cope with stress. You can spend

STABILITY points to add dice to ADVENTURE ROLLS, which
are actions you try to take during tricky situations.

Set your starting SUBSTANCE to 1.


This measures how much useful research or personal

insight you have to help finish your assignment. You can spend
SUBSTANCE points to add dice to your WRITING ROLLS.

Set your starting PROGRESS to 0.


This measures both the quantity and quality of your writ-

ing. Raise this to get a good grade.
 Note: stats have no maximum and can exceed their
starting value. They cannot become negative.

Classes
Pick two classes and make note of the special abilities
you gain from each of them.

Name a third class (different from the ones below) for

the subject of your paper . You get no special ability from this
class.

Introduction to Neuroalchemy


Start the game with +2 STABILITY

Griffins, Hippogriffs & Pegasi: the Evolution of

Mammalo-Avian Hybrids


Once per game, you can reroll all dice for any
ADVENTURE ROLL that relates to magical creatures. You
cannot choose which dice, you must reroll all of them.

Special Seminar in Sumerian and Assyrian Curses

For any ADVENTURE ROLL that deals with dark magic,

curses or traps, you gain an extra die.

Divination I


Once per game, you may reduce the difficulty of a single

task by one die (see later for how difficulty works).
Mangu, Heka, Indrajala, and Other Non-Western
Magical Traditions


Once per game, ignore the effect of a MAGICAL MISHAP

(see later for how these work).

Gameplay
Once the Student has defined their character, gameplay
proceeds in three acts:

●Act I: School

●Act II: Final Stretch

●Act III: End of Term

Act I: School
This act consists of three days of learning and mischief
at Toadtongue College. You will repeat this sequence of Blocks
three times to represent the 3 days leading to your paper’s due
date.

Each day follows the same basic schedule:

Block 1: Preparation

• The Student chooses to SLEEP, STUDY, or SOCIALIZE in

preparation for their Midnight Mission and gains the appro-
priate reward.
Block 2: Midnight Mission

• The College defines the setting and goals of the mission

• The Student attempts to overcome obstacles introduced by

the College with successful ADVENTURE rolls.

• The Student and College evaluate the success of the mission

and give the Student 0-2 SUBSTANCE points as a reward.

Block 3: Crunch Time

• The Student tries to progress on their project with WRITING

rolls in an effort to gain PROGRESS points.

Block 1: Preparation
After classes let out, the Student has a little free time
they can use in one of three ways.

Preparation is a very short scene in which the Student

chooses a single action and gives a one or two-sentence descrip-
tion of it. Then the College gives a one or two-sentence response
confirming the benefit they gain from their action, if any.

Free Time Actions:

●SLEEP: Gain one point of STABILITY

●STUDY: Gain one point of SUBSTANCE

●SOCIALISE: Roll a die.

On a 5-6, gain two points of STABILITY.

On a 3-4, gain one point of STABILITY.

On a 1-2, lose one point of STABILITY (If STABILITY is 0, noth-

ing happens).

Example:

Student: “I’m so tired from last night’s adventure, I just collapse

into bed and SLEEP.”


College: “Perfect. Your bed feels more comfortable than it has

had in weeks. Gain one point of STABILITY.”

Student: “I wanna take a risk and use my free time to

SOCIALISE!”


[Student rolls a 6]

College: “You attend a room party in one of the Dungeon Dorms,

where you flirt with a blond 3rd year. The extra attention makes
you feel great: gain two points of STABILITY.”

Block 2: Midnight Mission

The majority of gameplay takes place during the Midnight
Missions Block. Each night, the Student must go on an adven-
ture, the successful completion of which will award them with
SUBSTANCE.
 During this phase, the Student will encounter challenges
that must be overcome with ingenuity, a little magic, and multi-
ple dice rolls. The Student can spend STABILITY points to add
extra dice to their rolls.

At the end of this block, the Student and College deter-

mine how successful their mission was, and the Student is
awarded zero, one, or two points of SUBSTANCE, as the knowl-
edge or experiences gained during the mission spark insights
for their paper.

Set the Goal

The College should
choose one Goal from the follow-
ing table, or make up something
along these lines:

Goals

Your rival is having a

secret meeting and you’re follow-
ing them to see what they’re up
to.

The full moon is out and they say there are werewolves
out and about. You’re excited to see one!

Rumour has it that an unpopular professor meets an

illicit lover on this day every week and you’re determined to
catch them.
 Your friend is smuggling contraband (but awesome)
materials from outside the school and he’s asked you to help.

It’s said that the ghost of the founding headmaster will

emerge tonight, and whoever finds it first will ace all their
exams.

A bunkmate tries to sneak out and walk into what you

know is a prank laid out by your rivals.

Your best friend is missing and you’re worried about

them.

Set the Scene

Choose a Location for this mission and ask the accompa-
nying Question to the Student to help build the scene, or make
up something along these lines:

A clearing in the Frightening Forest ringed by trees lit by lumi-

nous birds that roost high in the branches. What rare magical
plant do they spot that is known to grow in this forest?

A hidden study room in the library which houses a number of

texts, kept submerged in an oily potion within a large aquarium.
How does one get into this room?

The crenelated roof of one of the schools towers, where the night
watchman hangs his laundry to dry. What mysterious sight do
you spy in the distance?

A storage room containing old statues covered in dusty white

cloths. Whose portrait is hidden away in this room?

A classroom papered with star charts and astronomical dia-

grams that detail the heavens of another world. What has
another student left behind on a desk?

A dungeon repurposed as a spell-practice room, with mystical

digits carved into the floor. What weird remnant of a practice
duel lies on the floor in a corner?

A teacher’s office inhabited by a pair of quarrelling, foul-mouthed

toads. Which controversial text has been badly hidden among
the shelves?

Start the Mission

Begin the mission with the Student and their Best Friend
on their way to the Location laid out previously. Throughout
the mission, the Student should freely narrate their own and
their Best Friend’s actions. Any other characters in the mission
are controlled by the College, and if the student ever takes a
risky action, the College may call for an ADVENTURE roll.

A mission should include 3-4 ADVENTURE rolls and

take about 10 minutes to complete. After 3-4 rolls, the College
should narrate an appropriate ending to the mission based on
the outcome of the Student’s ADVENTURE rolls.

ADVENTURE Roll Process:

1. The Student states the intended goal of this risky action.


2. The College determines the difficulty of the roll on a scale of
1-3, with 1 being very simple and 3 being supremely difficult.
The standard difficulty is 2.

3. Gather the dice pool:

• The Student starts with 1 die. This represents their effort.

• The Student describes their action. If it’s particularly cre-

ative, makes use of the College’s prior narration in interest-
ing ways, or is described with inventive detail, the College
may award the Student with a single extra die.


• The Student can spend as many points of STABILITY

as they wish to gain the same number of dice for this
ADVENTURE ROLL. If STABILITY drops to zero, lose 1
point of SUBSTANCE. If SUBSTANCE is zero and cannot be
reduced further, lose one point of PROGRESS.

• The Student can also gain an extra die by using magic -

spells, potions, enchanted objects, magical creatures etc.
The Student should describe what sort of magic they’re
attempting, keeping in mind that as a first year student,
their knowledge is limited.


4. Roll to see if they succeed in their action. An action is suc-

cessful if the number of dice that land on a 4, 5, or 6 meets or
exceeds the difficulty level of the task.

5. If the action succeeds, the Student achieves the goal out-

lined in Step 1 and the narration continues.
6. If the action does not succeed, the College describes an
appropriate setback that occurs as a result of this failure. If
the student gained an extra die by using magic, a MAGICAL
MISHAP occurs. The magical effect backfires spectacularly, and
the College should narrate a disastrous (and humorous) conse-
quence that plunges the Student into even further trouble. Even
though the Student does not get their intended goal from this
action, the resulting events should still move the story forward.
Don’t let a failed roll grind the narrative to a standstill, use the
failure to move on to the next interesting moment.


Example:

Student: “I got a 4, 1 and 3! Is that a success?”


College: “Standard difficulty is 2, sorry!”


Student: “Damn! My eavesdropping spell doesn’t work?”


College: “Worse! You used magic for an extra die so you get a
Magical Mishap. Instead of enhancing your hearing, you wand
suddenly starts emitting a loud, mournful moan, audible to
everyone within fifty feet. The cloaked figure is startled. He
swivels his head around, and spotting no-one, bursts into a run.”


Student: “Oh no…”

Here are some examples of Characters and Complications the

College can introduce during Midnight Missions. Feel free to
mix and match elements from various columns, or make up
your own along these lines.
Character, Role, & Trait

Madhuri Moha, Chair of the Department of Elder Languages,

likes chasing butterflies.

Lee Bin, Captain of the Broom Racing team, has a third eye in
their cheek.

Sinclair August Ternbarrow III, Visiting Lecturer in Solid-State

Alchemy, carries a singing chicken everywhere.

Leaf Richardson, a goat who accidentally transformed into a

human and now lives in the College, uses a walking stick shaped
like a giraffe.

Ebeneazer Whittlebottle, President of the Pixie Preservation

Club, clothes are always covered in foul-smelling liquids.

Dirk, Professor Emeritus of a subject only the 4th years know

about, is followed around by a tiny thundercloud.

Syriana Estacholon, youngest Daughter of a far-off but wealthy

Sheikh, is rumoured to be a faerie.

Complications

The ghost of a disgruntled janitor arrives to “clean up.”

Your annoying admirer has been following you.

A pair of fourth years are having a romantic tryst in the location.

A sleepwalking professor stumbles in.

An illegal pet demon somehow has broken free from somewhere
and arrives here.

A secret club is conducting a mysterious ritual.

An infestation of exploding cockroaches emerges from the

cracks.

The Reward

When the mission is complete, the College can offer the

Student a reward depending on how well the student completed
their mission.

● If both the Student and College agree that the Student

achieved what they set out to do, or learned something of partic-
ular significance or interest in relation to their goal, the Student
gains 2 points of SUBSTANCE, as their adventures spark inspi-
ration for their paper.

● If the Student and College agree that the Student

achieved only partial success, or if the Student and College
cannot agree on the success of the mission, the Student gains
1 point of SUBSTANCE, as their adventure helps them recall
some obscure fact.

● If the Student and College agree the mission was a flop,

the Student gains no reward. A wild night.

Some Best Practices

1. Tropes are good. Tropes are both funny, and help ground
the storytelling for this sort of game.

2. Don’t forget to describe how the Best Friend helps (or

hinders) during a Midnight Mission.

3. Be generous with the Student’s use of Magic, but do

remind them that they’re a first year student in College.


4. It can be fun if the third Midnight Mission ends with

something more sinister, or something that hints at larger plots
that the game will never cover. This adds to the sense that the
Student has a past and a future, and the events happen in the
world whether or not the Student is involved.


5. Try to minimise a competitive feel during the reward

process; remember this is not a win/lose game.

Block 3: Crunch Time

Once the Student has returned to their room, it’s time to
bang out some writing. Like the Free Time Block, this Block is
meant to be a quick scene, coloured by a few short descriptions
about the Student’s actions.

If the Student has any points of SUBSTANCE, they can

attempt a WRITING ROLL. The Student may wish to use all
their SUBSTANCE now and increase their chances of progress-
ing with their assignment, or save a few points for the next night
just in case they gain no SUBSTANCE the next day.

WRITING ROLL PROCESS

1. The Student can spend any number of SUBSTANCE
points to gain an equal number of dice to roll.

2. Roll these dice and check if any of them read 4, 5 or 6.

3. If there is at least one 4, 5, or 6, they gain a single point of

PROGRESS. The Student cannot gain more than a single point
of PROGRESS during each Crunch Time.

4. If none of their dice read 4, 5, or 6, the Student has

unfortunately spent their time producing sub-par or nonsensi-
cal writing.

Example:

Student: I’m going to spend two points of SUBSTANCE, and

save my last one for tomorrow.


College: Great, roll two dice. You got a 6 and a 5, a success! You
spend a few hours writing. That Blazing Bourbon you stole from
your rival has really loosened up your thoughts, and you make
some connections you hadn’t thought of before! Gain one point
of PROGRESS.

This marks the end of one day, and a new day begins at Block 1.

Once three days have gone by, move on to Act 2

 Act 2: The Final Stretch
This act represents a last ditch effort to salvage a good
grade. The Student may attempt a WRITING ROLL using
any remaining substance they have, and they have the option
of making a Sacrifice in order to gain two extra dice for their
WRITING ROLL.

A Sacrifice can be suggested by either the College or the

Student, but must be something of value to the Student. Perhaps
their best friend helps them finish the paper, but the relation-
ship is forever damaged as they realize the one-way nature of
this friendship. Or maybe the Student has to ignore an import-
ant family gathering in order to put time into writing, earning
the disappointment and distrust (or perhaps even the cutting
off of an allowance) of family members. In the default tone of
the game, the Sacrifice is not meant to be a blood sacrifice, or
anything particularly gruesome.

Go through the WRITING ROLL process outlined above

and move on to the End of Term.

Act 3: End of Term

This Act is where the Student’s actions are judged by
their professors and peers.

First, the College awards the Student with a GRADE for their
class, and two MERITS from their peers. Then the Student and
the College both narrate an EPILOGUE SCENE each.
GRADE

The Student’s GRADE is based on how many points of

PROGRESS they accumulated. The College uses the following
rubric:

Points Letter Grade

4 A

3 B

2 C

1 D

0 E

For added colour, the College may choose to include a ‘+’

or a ‘-’ with the letter grade if the Student’s actions were partic-
ularly noteworthy or harmful to the College.

MERITS

At the end of every term, students award each other mer-

itorious titles for particularly daring, foolhardy, or ridiculous
deeds committed. The College should come up with 2 merits
to award the Student, based on their adventures during their
Midnight Missions.

Example:

College: “Because you managed to convince the ghost of the

first Headmaster to ask the current Dean to the ball, the stu-
dents voted to grant you the the merit ‘Undead Matchmaker’.”

College: “Thanks to your efforts, the tyrannical janitor will no

longer harass innocent, lovable pranksters. The student body
voted to give you the merit ‘Cleans Up Real Nice’.”

EPILOGUE SCENES

Finally, there are two epilogue scenes that conclude the

student’s semester.

First, the College narrates a short scene describing the

consequences and aftermath of the Student’s actions. As a gen-
eral guideline, a GRADE of A or B should be rewarded with a
positive outcome for the Student, one of D or F should result in
a negative outcome, while C should result in a mixed outcome.

Then, the Student narrates their own epilogue, describ-

ing whatever they wish (as long as it doesn’t directly contradict
what the College narrated).

Example:

College (knowing the Student got a C): “For the rest of Term,
Professor Marshwackle, who you caught raising an illegal baby
dragon, is out to get you. He gives you extra homework and
tries to catch you breaking even the smallest rules. On the other
hand, that burn on your cheek makes you look extra sexy, and
the cute boy you’ve been eyeing has started chatting with you.”


Student: “Sucks about the professor, but awesome about the

guy! The last night of term, I take him stargazing on that tower
I found earlier…and we can fade to black from there!”

Rule Summary
Each Day:

1. Block 1: Preparation

• SLEEP: +1 STABILITY

• STUDY: +1 SUBSTANCE

• SOCIALISE: Roll a die.

• 1-2: -1 STABILITY

• 3-4: +1 STABILITY
• 5-6: +2 STABILITY

2. Block 2: Midnight Mission.

• Set Goal

• Set Scene

• Start Mission

• 3-4 ADVENTURE Rolls

• Standard Difficulty: 2 dice showing 4, 5, or 6.

• Start with 1 die.

• Spend STABILITY to gain dice.

• Creativity grants 1 die.

• Use Magic to gain 1 die but a failure means a MAGICAL

MISHAP.

• Issue Reward

• Achieve goals or learn a lot: +2 SUBSTANCE

• Partially achieve goals, learn a little, or no agreement: +1

SUBSTANCE

• Fail to achieve goals: no reward

3. Block 3: Crunch Time

• WRITING ROLL

• Spend SUBSTANCE to gain dice

• At least one 4, 5, 6: +1 PROGRESS

• Maximum of +1 Progress per night

Final Stretch

1. One final WRITING ROLL.

2. Sacrifice something to get +2 dice.

End of Term

1. Give a Grade of A, B, C, D, F based on PROGRESS 4, 3, 2,

1 respectively.


2. Give two merits based on Midnight Missions


3. College narrates one epilogue, based on grade. Student

narrates last epilogue.
 Toadtongue College of Magic Student Record
Name ␣ Alastor Crombley Stats
Stability
␣ Zahra Sarfarazuddin
Substance
␣ Marie-Dominique DelaTour
Progress
␣
Year
________________________________

Freshman

Style
Draw/describe your fashion based on one of
these three options:

Formal (ex: robes and hat)

Uniform (ex: button down shirt with a tie)

Casual (ex: jeans and a hoodie)

Classes Pick two

␣ Introduction to Neuroalchemy
Start the game with +2 STABILITY

␣ Griffins, Hippogriffs & Pegasi: the Evolution of Mammalo-Avian Hybrids

Once per semester, you can reroll all dice for all ADVENTURE ROLLS that relates to magical creatures.
You cannot choose which dice, you must reroll all of them.

␣ Special Seminar in Sumerian and Assyrian Curses

For any ADVENTURE ROLL that deals with dark magic, curses or traps, you gain an extra die.

␣ Divination I
Once per semester, you may reduce the difficulty of a single task by one die.

␣ Mangu, Heka, Indrajala, and Other Non-Western Magical Traditions

Once per semester, ignore the effect of a MAGICAL MISHAP.

Elective ______________________________________________________

Best Friend Pick one Transcript

Reroll any number of dice ONCE
Final Midterm
␣ The cleverest student in your grade... Grade

␣ A loyal, stupid, but massive minion...

Merits
␣ A cat...

…named: ___________________________________
Credits

Game design and writing by Sharang Biswas

Illustrations by JM Barros

Playtesters: Clio Davis, Sweta Mohapatra, Adam Pencz, Max

Seidman, Cyrus Peterpaul

Special Thanks to Lucian Kahn for the title “Hex Ed”.

Special thanks to Kat Jones and Evan Turner, who sparked the
idea for the game.

Inspirations

The Harry Potter series of books by J.K. Rowling

New World Magischola, a LARP by Maury Brown and Ben

Morrow

Lady Blackbird, a tabletop RPG by John Harper

Psi Run, a tabletop RPG by Michael Lingner and Christopher

Moore
I Haven't Seen You Since...

A Game of Long-Lost
Fictitious Relations
By Ash Cheshire
 introduction
“I Haven’t Seen You Since…” is an open-ended story
game of shared reminiscence. You will collaboratively create
an imaginary acquaintance between two characters and tell the
story of their past together. This is achieved through a conver-
sation of questions, offerings, and co-created memories culmi-
nating with each character’s ultimate decision about whether
or not to remain connected.

This is a game of reunion, and while that reunion

needn’t necessarily be a happy one, please play mindfully. If
you’re unsure whether your partner is still having fun, you can
always do a quick out-of-character check-in.

Let your natural curiosity lead the way in your ques-

tions and offers to one another. Maybe your history was
friendly, competitive, passionate, or fraught. Perhaps you
parted ways with relief, or were torn away unwillingly, or
hoped to never to meet again…
Let’s find out!

Principles & Techniques

This game utilizes some techniques from improvisation-
al theatre. This section will provide some tools you can use to
create a story that is rich, surprising, and fun. There are very
few game rules other than the initial establishment of char-
acters and their last meeting, so use these techniques to keep
your momentum and imagination flowing:

Making Offers
An offer is a piece of information that you or your part-
ner introduce into the narrative. This game is built on making,
accepting, and elaborating upon offers, which collaboratively
build the story of your characters and their relationship.
Enrolling Your Partner
Enrolling provides your partner with new details about
their role. As you’ll see, the very first step in the game is to
enroll your partner with a name, but enrolling can involve any
detail about your partner’s character or your relationship that
hasn’t been specified yet.

“Yes, and…”
Accepting offers with the spirit of ‘yes, and…’ means
that you accept the reality of what your partner has said, and
then elaborate further. The “yes” validates and affirms the
initial offer, while the “and…” creates a new offer in return for
them to accept and elaborate upon, and the cycle continues
back and forth. If an offer is made that you’d rather not play,
you can alert your partner and amend the narrative as neces-
sary.

Open-Ended Questions
When you’re feeling a bit
stuck, you can ask the
other character an open-
ended question. These questions
often begin with Who/What/
Where/When/Why and allow for
plenty of freedom for your partner
to answer as they see fit.
This provides a seed of an
offer as well as an opening to help
co-create the answer with you.
Examples:
“What did you ever do with that old car?”

OR...
“Why didn’t you ever call me back?”

Gameplay
This game will play out as a spontaneous meeting, so
rather than “taking turns,” treat this as a free-flowing con-
versation. As with real conversations, it is important to share
speaking and listening time with your game partner as the
conversation progresses.

Enrolling Characters
Decide between yourselves who will begin the conversa-
tion. This first player begins the game by greeting their part-
ner and enrolling them with a name (and a title, nickname, or
other name embellishment... if they wish).

The second player then responds to their partner’s

greeting and enrolls them with a name (and a title if they wish)
in return.

Examples:
P1: “Why David Fletchley, I never thought I’d see you here
again.”
P2: “Nor I, Headmaster Ratchett, and yet here we are once
more.”

OR...
P1: “Is that you, Madeleine?”
P2: “Darcy! Oh my goodness, what a marvelous coincidence!”

OR EVEN...
P1: “By the graces Manuel, I’ve finally found you again...”
P2: “Mac! Shh, they mustn’t hear us... but it is wonderful to see
you again, Mackey.”

I Haven’t Seen You Since...

The first player then makes an offer about your char-
acters’ last meeting using the title phrase, “I haven’t seen you
since…”

The second player accepts their offer, then elaborates

with any additional detail and/or asks an open-ended question
that builds from their statement.

Examples:
P1: “Yes indeed, here we are. I haven’t seen you since you went
running from this very room cursing my name and the name
of the Academy.”
P2: “I must admit I had a flair for the dramatic, but I assure
you my feelings have not changed; I am here out of necessity
only.”

OR...
P1: “A coincidence I’m so grateful for! I haven’t seen you since
we had that unusual afternoon tea together at your aunt’s
house...”
P2: “Oh Darcy, unusual doesn’t even begin... I ended up en-
gaged to two different guests by the end of that afternoon!”

OR EVEN...
P1: “What on earth Manny, I haven’t seen you since last fall
and now you’re shushing me--”
P2: “Please, Mac. It wrecked me to cut you out last fall and I’ll
explain everything but we must be quiet. God, it’s good to see
you.”

Conversation
With the fundamentals of your characters and last
meeting established, continue the conversation using the tools
from the Principles & Techniques section above. Both partners
should ask and answer questions, make and accept offers, and
further enroll each other’s characters to explore their past
relationship.

If you are feeling stuck, feel free to pause for a moment

and consider one of these prompts to help you spin the next
thread of conversation:

What led you to part ways?

Where was a special place to you both?
How did you first become acquainted?
What is something you never told them?
Who was another important figure to you both?
Why might you have arranged to meet them again?
What unfinished business is between you?
How did you feel about them after your last meeting?
What is something that you once admired about them?

Ending the Conversation

Either player may indicate they want to end the game
by offering some parting words that are consistent with the
characters and relationship that they’ve established. Exchange
goodbyes and proceed to the Epilogue.

Examples:
P1: “Well Master Fletchley, it is a relief to know at last some
more of your reasons for departure. Now it is I who must
depart. I bid you farewell, perhaps you will call ahead before
visiting next.”

P2: “Goodbye, Headmaster. Trust me, I will bear in mind ev-

erything you have said.”

OR...
P1: “I’m terribly sorry Mads, but I am late. Please tell me you’ll
come to the reunion lunch.”
P2: “Darcy, you know I wouldn’t miss it. Do keep my atten-
dance a surprise, I want to see their faces.”

OR EVEN...
P1: “Manny, will you be safe if I leave? After what you’ve told
me, I just...”
P2: “Mac. This isn’t your concern. Thank you for listening and
I hope you’ll consider passing along the message I asked you to
deliver.”

Epilogue
After the conversation ends, take a few moments to
imagine your character’s internal response to the conversation.
Ask each other the following questions to see what effect this
conversation has had on the characters’ lives:

What is unresolved for your character?

How have their feelings about the other character changed?
Does your character wish to stay reconnected?

Share your character’s epilogue with your partner, and

describe the thoughts and actions of your character following
the conversation.

Example:
P1: “After leaving the conversation, Headmaster Ratchett left
her office and sat outside behind the school looking at the field.
She still feels unsettled about the conversation, and embar-
rassed. She will try to avoid Fletchley in the future if possible,
but she will not be rude if directly encountering him.”

P2: “Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. David leaves Ratchett’s

office and goes back to his car, where he sits and grips the
steering wheel for a while. He got what he thought he wanted
from the conversation, but he still feels really angry and hurt
and he’s frustrated with himself that he can’t let that go. I
think he’s probably going to end up coming back for another
confrontation at some point, but for now he turns the key and
drives away.”

OR...
P1: “Darcy leaves and thinks about Madeleine for days. The
morning of the reunion lunch, she almost cancels. ...does Mad-
eleine show?”
P2: “She does, yeah. But I think she almost doesn’t. Maybe she
picked up the phone to call and cancel a few times but even-
tually just decides it’s more important to show up. But she
doesn’t stay in touch after that.”

OR EVEN...
P1: “Mac definitely delivers the message. And in so doing, he
gets pulled into the espionage himself. The next time Manuel
sees him, they’ve been assigned on a mission together.”
P2: “Oh man, Manny’s like equal parts relieved and sad. He
really hoped that he could get help from Mac without pulling
him in too, but at the same time it’s so important to have him
nearby where he can keep him safe. Is it okay if I say they fall
in love while being secret agents together?”
P1: “Oh absolutely, that’s awesome! They totally do.”
 Debrief
Now, out of character, feel free to debrief and talk with
one another about the conversation and characters you just
created.

Questions to consider:
What moments were particularly interesting to you?
Were there any experiences of synchronicity or surprise?
What are you left wondering about these people?
How are you personally affected by the story you created?

Thank your partner, and I thank you both, for playing

I Haven't Seen You Since...!

About the author:

Ash Cheshire is a nonbinary queer game designer living in the

bay area of northern California. You can find them geeking out
on Twitter under the soubriquet of @divinecheshire

Join the bold and boisterous Cheshire crew to be first in line

for all of their latest projects on their Patreon:
www.patreon.com/ashcheshire

Illustration credits:
‘Granville Cat Courting’ by J.-J. Grandville, 1867
‘Nodier-Johannot’ by Tony Johanna, 1830
‘Sweetly Virtuous’ by Harry Clarke, 1925
 The Adam of Your Labors
By Amber & Rick Dean

It’s late, and you are alone in the lab. You’ve been work-
ing for hours chasing down a new theory, scouring the latest
data for patterns, repeating test after test to get something
conclusive. Your shoulders ache, your eyes fight to stay open,
your back longs to lie flat. “Just one more hour,” you tell
yourself, “then I give up for the night.” You take a sip of water,
stretch your limbs, and refocus your mind on the task at hand.

Then you notice something out of the corner of your eye. At

first you’re sure it’s nothing, just your mind playing tricks after
weeks of sleep deprivation and overexertion. But then you see
it again, and turn your full attention toward it.

Sure enough, it’s alive.

You Will Need

2 Players

1 Hour

2 Slips of paper or note cards

2 Writing utensils

Overview
In The Adam of Your Labors, you will create a story
about a Scientist who brings to life a new kind of Creature in
their laboratory, one which has never existed before. As the
Scientist, one player will attempt to communicate, examine,
feed, and understand this bizarre life form. As the Creature,
the other player will explore this strange world in which
they’ve been born, and begin to discover and exercise the fled-
geling supernatural powers they possess.

The Creature player has full control over the Creature’s

actions and the Scientist player has full control over the
Scientist’s actions.

You may decide in advance if there is certain content

you want to include or exclude in the story. These preferences
are to be respected at all times. See the Safety Tools section of
the anthology for more on this.

Each player should start the game with a blank note

card or slip of paper and a writing utensil.
 Setting Up
Establishing Time & Place

Choose one of the following four basic settings for your story,
or you may make up your own. Fill in just enough detail so you
can each imagine the surroundings and context:

Present day in a college town.

50 years from now in a secret underground compound.

100 years ago at a remote outpost.

In the far future on a space station or starship.

Choosing Characters

1. Decide who will portray the Creature and who will

portray the Scientist.

2. The Scientist player chooses a Scientist Type from

the Scientist Types list. (Write your Type, Tools, and Trusted
Information on your note card or slip of paper.)

3. The Creature player chooses a Creature Type from

the Creature Types list. (Write your Type, Special Ability, and
Sensitivity on your note card or slip of paper.)
 Scientist Types
Intern

Tools: Incomplete Starter Kit

Trusted Information: Obvious, Textbook Data

Top-Tier Professor

Tools: One of Everything

Trusted Information: Repeatable Data

Rogue Tinkerer

Tools: Homemade, Repurposed

Trusted Information: Data in Support of Paranoias

Fringe Mystic

Tools: Antiquated, Inaccurate

Trusted Information: Only the Subtle

 Creature Types
Amorphous Blob

Special Ability: Shapeshift

Sensitivity: Texture

Sentient Plant

Special Ability: Growth

Sensitivity: Light

Aquatic Bug

Special Ability: Telekinesis

Sensitivity: Vibration

Bio/Tech Hybrid

Special Ability: Tech Interface

Sensitivity: Electricity
 Customize Characters
Creature
Read aloud your full Creature Type description from the
end of these rules.

Describe the following about yourself:

Your physical features; size, shape, color, appendages,

behavior, etc.

What vessel or containment you are in, if any.

What is the first thing you feel or perceive upon gaining

sentience? How do you display this impression physically?

Scientist

Read aloud your full Scientist Type description from the

end of these rules.

Describe the following about yourself:

Your name and physical appearance: body type, cloth-

ing style, gender, ethnicity, etc.

The lab space where the story begins; its general

location, layout, tidiness, vibe, etc.

What branch of science or pseudoscience do you prac-

tice? What experiment were you conducting that
caused this creature to gain sentience?
 Consider Final Actions
Each player has 4 possible Final Actions in the game
(listed below). The intersection of the two players’ Final
Actions creates the climax of the story.

Each player reads their list silently, then writes the four
bold words from their Final Action list on their note card or
slip of paper.

Include the numbers next to each word on your card,

these will determine which player’s Final Action happens first
in the climax.

Throughout the game, players will slowly narrow their options

until only one Final Action remains for each player.
Scientist Final Actions

1) Rouse - you wish to create a situation or environment that

will push the Creature to their limit in order to elicit some
change or transformation in them. This might look like a
ritual, an intervention, a test, a trial, or some combination.

2) Embrace - you wish to reach out to the Creature, perhaps

literally or perhaps metaphorically, and embrace them. This
might look like love, lust, friendship, camaraderie, or some
combination.

3) Submit - you wish to fully subjugate yourself to the

Creature. This may look like worship, sacrifice, pleading, ser-
vitude, or some combination.

4) Release - you wish to set the Creature free from its confines
so they can determine their own destiny. This may look like
opening a door, pushing them out a window, abandonment, a
fond farewell, or some combination.
Creature Final Actions

1) Transcend - you wish to go beyond some threshold into a

new kind of being. This may look like enlightenment, transfor-
mation, death, elevation, or some combination.

2) Commune - you wish to join with the Scientist in some lit-

eral or metaphorical way. This may look like a hug, a penetra-
tion, a bonding, or some
combination.

3) Dominate - you wish to

bring the Scientist under
your will and control in
some way. This may look
like intimidation, tough
love, maternal/paternal
instinct, aggression, or
some combination.

4) Escape - you wish to get

out of this physical space
at any cost. This may look
like a mad dash, a somber
farewell, an elaborate
prison break, death, or
some combination.
 Acts & Scenes
This game plays out in four Acts, each with two scenes.
Scenes are intended to be short, around 5 minutes each, but
feel free to indulge yourselves with longer scenes if you like.

Play will proceed in turns as described in each Scene.

Players alternate turns until the Scene Ending condition is
reached, at which point they each eliminate one of their four
possible Final Actions and move on to the next scene.

Important note: make sure you read and understand

the Scene Ending before starting a Scene. This way you will
know what action or event to work toward throughout the
scene.
 Act 1 - In the Lab
Creature and Scientist make first contact in the lab.

Scene 1

Scientist Turn: Using instruments in your lab, attempt to make

contact with the Creature. Each turn is one attempt at contact,
and you should use a new and more elaborate instrument on
each turn.

Creature Turn: Narrate your physical response to each attempt

at contact. You have no way to verbally communicate your
feelings or thoughts to the Scientist so you will have to find
other ways to do so if you wish.

Scene Ending: Alternate turns until The Creature demon-

strates their Special Ability to the Scientist.
Scene 2

Creature Turn: Using your Special Ability, explore the lab in

whatever way you see fit. Each turn, your actions will damage
something in the lab.

Scientist Turn: The Scientist observes this exploration, tries

to influence the Creature’s behavior, or uses instruments to
gather data.

Scene Ending: Alternate turns until the Scientist announces a

conclusion they have come to about the Creature. This conclu-
sion should be based on the activities of the Creature and your
Trusted Information.

Narrow Options

Each player secretly chooses one Final Action to cross off their
list of possibilities.
 Act 2 - Home and Feeding
The Scientist brings the Creature home with them, and tries
to feed it.

Scene 1

Scientist Turn: Narrate one step in the process of transporting

the creature to your home, and elaborate on your conclusion
from Act 1.

Creature Turn: Narrate how you physically respond to the

Scientist’s actions as they transport you to their home.
Describe a new sensation you feel on each turn.

Scene Ending: Alternate turns until the Scientist announces

they have arrived at their home. Describe your home briefly.
Scene 2

Scientist Turn: Narrate your attempt to feed the creature

something from your home. Describe how you present this
thing to the Creature for approval.

Creature Turn: With each attempt made by the Scientist,

describe your response, if any.

Scene Ending: Alternate turns until the Creature chooses to

consume one of the Scientist’s offerings. Describe what that
consumption looks like.

Narrow Options

Each player secretly chooses another Final Action from their

list to eliminate. You should each have only two remaining
Final Actions.
 Act 3 - Awakening
The Scientist goes to sleep, then awakens to find the Creature
in a new form.

Scene 1

Creature Turn: Explore the Scientist’s home. Each turn you

should break something, consume something, and/or use your
Special Ability, which you are now slightly more skilled at
using.

Scientist Turn: Describe your end-of-day activities and what

further conclusions you are coming to about the Creature
based on your Trusted Information.

Scene Ending: Alternate turns until the Scientist announces

they have gone to bed. Each player should describe what their
restful state looks like.
Scene 2

Creature Turn: Describe how your form is changing. Each

turn the transformation should get more and more extreme,
and your Sensitivity is heightened.

Scientist Turn: Describe your reaction to each change and

what you do in response.

Scene Ending: Alternate turns until the Creature announces

their transformation is complete.

Narrow Options

Each player secretly chooses one more Final Action from their
list to eliminate. You should each have only one remaining
Final Actions.
Act 4 - Reveal & Epilogue
Scientist and Creature play out their Final Actions, and the
story ends.

Reveal

Scientist & Creature: Reveal your final actions and look at the
numbers associated with each action. Starting with the player
with the lowest numbered action (in a tie, the Scientist goes
first), narrate how your Final Action plays out.

Epilogue

In the following table, find the box that corresponds to the

choices made by the two players in this final encounter. Each
player should pose the written questions to the other and
listen to the answers.
 Creature chooses Creature chooses
Dominate or Commune or
Escape Transcend
Scientist Scientist: What is Scientist: What new
chooses your next experiment lesson has the creature
and what do you hope taught you, and how
Submit to gain from it? do you apply it in your
or life?
Release Creature: How do
you exercise your Creature: Do you
newfound autonomy remain with the
and/or power, and are Scientist, or move on?
the results what you How does that decision
hoped? affect your life?
Scientist Scientist: What new Scientist: What does
chooses cautions or barriers do the Scientist learn from
you enact in response this interaction, and
Embrace to this interaction, and how do they benefit
or how does it affect your from it?
Rouse life?
Creature: What new
Creature: Do you level or facet of sen-
feel any guilt about tience do you gain from
your decision, and do this interaction, and
you continue with this how does that affect
course of action in the your new life?
future?
Scientist & Creature: Does the outside world learn of this
Scientist & Creature: Does the outside world learn of this
incident?
incident?
• If so, who finds out, and what is their reaction?
If so, who finds out, and what is their reaction?
• If not, how is it kept secret?

If not, how is it kept secret?

Once these final questions are answered to the satisfaction of
both players, the game is over.
Once these final questions are answered to the satisfaction of
both players, the game is over.
 Creature Types
- Amorphous Blob -

You are a shapeless mass of organic material. You may

have skin, you may not, but definitely no skeleton (endo- or
exo-). You have some rudimentary control over your shape,
but you tend to conform to the shapes around you. You can
decide your general viscosity and whether or not you have any
perceptible internal or external organs.

Special Ability: Shapeshift

You may deliberately alter your shape to perform

some task or to express yourself. You gained this ability only
moments before the game begins, so you will not be very pre-
cise or skilled with it, and you won’t be able to hold a distinct
shape for very long.

Sensitivity: Texture

Your sense of touch is your strongest sense and textural

information you pick us is extremely interesting to a distract-
ing degree. You can decide if you are curious and open to expe-
riencing new textures, or if you tend to recoil and shy away
from unfamiliar ones.

- Sentient Plant -

You are some kind of tree, shrub, grass, fern, moss,

algae, flower, weed, herb, leaf, seed, pod, fruit, vegetable, nut,
or some combination/mutation of these things that has gained
sentience. You may even be a fungus. Whatever you are, you
are not an animal so you won’t have limbs and muscles and
organs like animals do. There are advantages to this, however,
such as the ability to re-grow any part of yourself that is sev-
ered from your main body.

Special Ability: Growth

Instead of reaching toward something, you will grow

toward it. This happens at an alarmingly fast rate compared
with other plants, and is controlled by your rudimentary con-
sciousness. You gained this ability only moments before the
game begins, so you will not be very precise or skilled with it,
and you may not be able to sustain those parts of yourself that
are overextended.

Sensitivity: Light

As a Sentient Plant you are very aware of light sources

and types of light in your surroundings. You can’t help but
have your mind state shifted by changes of light around you.
These changes may also affect your growth ability, and your
natural tendency is to reach toward the light.

- Aquatic Bug -

You are an insect-like thing which must be submerged

in water at all times. You can survive out of your normal aque-
ous environment for short periods, but prolonged exposure to
the air means certain death. You have a hard exoskeleton, lots
of legs, and you may live inside a larger shell (like a snail or
hermit crab) or have your full body exposed. Your legs might
all be the same size and shape, or some may have claws, pin-
cers, eyes, or other things attached to them. You are pretty
good at swimming and blowing bubbles.

Special Ability: Telekinesis

Life out in the dry world is not an option for you, but
luckily you do have a way to interact with the non-aquatic
world. Using your fledgeling sentience, you can physically
move objects with your will alone and no physical contact from
your body. You gained this ability only moments before the
game begins, so you will not be very precise or skilled with it,
and you may not be able to lift heavy things or hold things in
the air for a long period of time.

Sensitivity: Vibration

You have an extremely heightened perception of phys-

ical vibration and sound. You experience these sensations as
a combination of tactile and aural input and those senses are
basically the same for you. You can’t help but take notice of the
vibrations in your environment, and they can have a strong
effect on your mental and emotional state.

- Bio/Tech Hybrid -

Biology and electronics have merged to create whatever

you are. You decide what kind of technological mechanisms
and living tissue have amalgamated to make your existence
possible, but you must rely on both components for your
existence to continue. If either the biological or technological
facets fail, your life ends. Specifically, your brain exists entirely
in either the bio or tech realm, and your motor functions are
carried out on the other part - you decide which.

Special Ability: Tech Interface

You have a consciousness that bridges the organic and

the mechanical, the analog and the digital. Because of this,
you can interface with pieces of technology in ways no solely
biological or mechanical being can. You gained this ability
only moments before the game begins, so you will not be very
precise or skilled with it, and when you use it you might be
easily confused or make your own tissues and components
vulnerable in the process.

Sensitivity: Electricity

Any fluctuation in electromagnetic waves or electrical

currents is immediately perceptible to you and is impossible to
ignore. The way you detect these shifts is similar to how a bio-
logical organism senses smell or taste, and some may be very
appealing to you and others utterly foul.
 Scientist Types
- Intern -

You work under the direction and guidance of a much

more experienced scientist than yourself. You perform only
the most basic tasks around the lab and are not an expert on
anything. You have a very general sense of how the equip-
ment in your lab works, most of which you’ve only watched
other scientists operate. You hope to someday do some truly
groundbreaking work, but so far your experience at this lab
has been fairly dull and unremarkable. You travel between
your home and laboratory in an embarrassing vehicle you
inherited from your aunt.

Tools: Incomplete Starter Kit

As a graduation gift, you received a “Starter Kit” from

a mail-order catalog for scientific equipment. The tools are of
middling-poor quality and you’ve already lost or broken a few
of them.

Trusted Information: Obvious, Textbook Data

You focus is keenly set on noticing the most blatant,

obvious observable information, and you generally expect
things to work the way you learned them in the books you’ve
read and classes you’ve taken. You tend to think everything
you notice is a really big discovery, and subtle facets of phe-
nomena utterly escape you.
- Top-Tier Professor -

You are decades into a successful, accolade-filled career

in your field. You have numerous discoveries and achieve-
ments under your belt and the near-universal respect of your
peers in the scientific community. You are seen as arrogant
by many but your few close friends defend you vigorously as
a misunderstood genius. You are unquestionably intelligent
but a bit set in your ways, and you worry you may be past your
prime. You travel between your home and laboratory in a
sleek, modern vehicle that is always finely tuned and polished.

Tools: One of Everything

Your lab is equipped with the latest and greatest tools

available for your research. Everything is state of the art, and
there are storage rooms overflowing with new devices and
instruments that haven’t even been unpacked yet. You usually
have your assistants operate these instruments but there are
some you are very skilled at working and use regularly.

Trusted Information: Repeatable Data

The Scientific Method is your solemn credo and you’ve

seen too many careers ruined by those who deviated from it.
You allow yourself to come to preliminary hypotheses without
copious data at times, but you will not make any definitive
conclusions until you’ve seen the same result from an experi-
ment more than once.
- Rogue Tinkerer -

You are fed up with the established scientific commu-

nity and have struck out on your own to do your work separate
from the confines of the conformity machine of academia. You
have some formal training but are mostly self-taught. You do
not trust people, especially other scientists, and tend to have
radical views on things. You work alone in your lab, which is a
converted structure of some kind that was not intended to be a
science lab. You work tire-
lessly to prove to everyone
how right you have been all
along. Your travel between
your home and laboratory in
a vehicle of your own design
that is in constant need of
repair.

Tools: Homemade,
Repurposed

Over the years you have cobbled together the neces-

sary instruments and tools to do the work you need to do.
Some are purchased secondhand from surplus sales, others
are stolen from over-equipped, over-funded labs in the area,
others are not meant to be scientific instruments at all but you
use them as such.

Trusted Information: Data in Support of Your Paranoias

You will not rest until you prove, once and for all, the
truth about the radical things you’ve suspected. You are very
skilled at sweeping aside the generally accepted explanation of
things and arriving at the real explanation, which absolutely
confirms your suspicions you’ve been harboring.

- Fringe Mystic -

You believe that science is but one way to understand the

world around us, and as a scientist you owe it to the universe
to explore all possible methods of deepening that understand-
ing. You have studied your chosen branch of science formally,
but at a small, non-accredited institution that encourages
alternative forms of inquiry and research. Science is a spiritual
calling for you, and you approach it with sincerity and love.
You travel between your home and laboratory in an especially
slow but reliable vehicle with extensive adornments you have
added yourself.

Tools: Antiquated, Inaccurate

You feel the hyper-focus on technical accuracy adopted

by modern science is misguided, and the craft of conducting
a true experiment should be an expression of the scientist’s
relationship to the universe. As such, their instruments should
evoke a personal resonance with their way of being. You have
acquired many of your tools from antique malls and flea mar-
kets, some are items you have collected in your travels abroad,
others you have crafted yourself.

Trusted Information: Only the Subtle

 You believe a true experiment involves the relationship
between the scientist and the universe, but you also under-
stand that the nature of the physical world itself has certain
tendencies of its own. To gain insight that is truly valuable,
you believe it is best to ignore the obvious ways in which the
physical world interacts with itself, and focus only on the
subtle, personal details of the data.
A note on the title:

Various sources, both in print and online, claim that in Mary

Shelley’s Frankenstein, the creature refers to themself as “The
Adam of your labours” to Victor Frankenstein. This, however,
appears to be a fabrication, as none of the versions of the orig-
inal novel we have accessed contain this phrase. It may exist
in some obscure edition (there are hundreds), or in one of the
many stage and screen adaptations, but at the time of this pub-
lication we have not unearthed any evidence that Mary Shelley
ever wrote these words, nor have we discovered an alternate
primary source.

In light of this evidence (or lack thereof), it is our firm belief

that this phrase was amalgamated from various disparate lit-
erary sources, animated by the electricity of imagination in the
mind of some mad scholar, and now walks the pages of refer-
ence materials and minds of readers freely of its own accord,
sparking confusion, surprise, and philosophical debate as it
travels - much like the poor “wretch” (Shelley’s actual words)
in the original novel.

Because of this, we feel the title is all the more apt for this proj-
ect and are proud to provide some some further sustenance for
this hungry myth.

Thank you for reading, playing, and discovering.

@SecretOrbit

Illustration credits: All images from Pixabay

Cartesian Duel

By Jamie Gardner
Time: <1 hour

Materials: 2 or more D6, pencil & paper (and any other draw-
ing tools you desire)

Background
The city is under attack! Terrifying, 5-story tall, conve-
niently untrademarked monsters are descending upon the pop-
ulace, and the citizens are in a panic. Luckily, the city is not
defenseless against such threats - highly trained pilots with
advanced, deadly, awesome 5-story tall mecha suits stand ready
to meet such challenges with deadly force.

In this game, one of you will play as a pilot and the other
will play their advanced mecha suit as you collectively take on
your mighty foe. To save the city, suit and pilot will need to work
together seamlessly - but to save yourself, you may need to turn
against your partner.

Klaxons sound across the city and you race, begrudg-

ingly, to find your partner. A rampaging kaiju has been spotted
heading straight for town, and since you’re on duty, it’s your
problem.

But things haven’t been the same between you two lately.
What happened last time you, Pilot, and you, Robot, had to work
together? It didn’t go so hot, that’s for sure. But HQ ignored
both your requests for reassignment, so you’re stuck together.
 Overview
During the course of this game, you and your partner will
battle the kaiju cooperatively, but within that battle your rela-
tionship with each other will twist, boil, and shift. Sometimes
you will need to cooperate with your partner against your shared
foe, but other times you might take opportunities to shelter
yourself at your partner’s expense. To simulate the complex
shifts in emotion and trust as the fight goes on, your incentives
to cooperate or shelter yourself are random, constantly shifting,
and unknown to your partner.

As you battle, you will also build a collaborative portrait

of your mecha and kaiju based on the outcome of each damage
roll during combat. You will take turns describing and drawing
components of your mecha suit and kaiju foe, resulting in an
assuredly awesome portrait of your battle at the end of play!

Setup
1. Gather your dice, paper, pencil, and other drawing tools.

2. Decide between yourselves who will play the pilot and who
will play the mecha suit.

3. Answer the following questions together:

How were the pilot and suit chosen as partners?

Have you always distrusted each other?

If so, why? If not, what happened to spark this distrust?

4. Roll 7D6, add the dice together, and multiply the result by
100 to get the pilot’s HP.

5. Repeat this process for the mecha suit HP, and then again for
the kaiju HP.

(For a quick-start game, you can have each start with 2500 HP)

Combat
The rest of the game will take the form of successive
rounds of combat in which you will add new features to your
mecha and kaiju, deal, receive, and shield yourself from pun-
ishing blows from your foe, and explore the deeper relationship
between mecha suit and pilot.

Each round will have the following 7 steps, and you will
continue until mecha suit, pilot, or kaiju run out of hit points.

1. Roll for Incentive - each player rolls a D6 privately to set their

Incentives to attack or shield. Use the Incentive Table to inter-
pret your results. Keep this Incentive secret from your partner.

2. Choose to Attack or Shield - players simultaneously reveal

their intention to attack or shield themselves this round. Count
to three and then reveal in rock-paper-scissors style.

To Attack, show a closed fist.

To Shield, show a flat palm.

If both players Attack:

you damage the kaiju (if your damage roll allows).

any damage from the kaiju will divide evenly between suit and
pilot (so if the kaiju deals 300 points of damage total, each
player will take 150 points of damage).

If both players Shield:

you do not damage the kaiju.

any damage from the kaiju is cut in half and then split evenly
between suit and pilot (so a kaiju damage roll of 300 is cut down
to 150, and then each player takes 75 points of damage).

If one player Attacks and one player Shields:

you do not damage the kaiju.

Any damage from the kaiju falls on the player that chose Attack.
The player who chose Shield takes no damage (so a kaiju damage
roll of 300 will cause the player who chose Attack to take all 300
points of damage).

3. Reveal Incentive - each player reveals what they rolled for

their Incentives in step 1.

4. Roll for Mecha/Pilot Damage - roll 1D6 and look up the

corresponding entry in the Mecha Damage table to find the
damage done to the mecha/pilot. Adjust HP for suit and pilot
accordingly depending on the players’ Incentives and Attack/
Shield choices.

5. Add to your drawing - add any appropriate elements to

your mecha drawing based on the suggestions from the Mecha
Damage table.

6. If both players chose Attack, Roll for Kaiju Damage - roll

1D6 and look up the corresponding entry in the Kaiju Damage
table to find the damage done to the Kaiju. Adjust the HP of
the kaiju accordingly depending on the players’ Incentives. If
either or both players chose to Shield, skip this step - you will do
no damage to the Kaiju this round.

7. If both players chose to Attack, add to your drawing - add any

appropriate elements to your kaiju drawing based on the sug-
gestions from the Kaiju Damage table. If either or both players
chose to Shield, skip this step.

6. Celebrate or curse - when you successfully work together,

swap compliments. When you’re out of sync with your partner,
exchange furious insults. Each insult or compliment should ref-
erence some deeper feeling or event in your history together to
build on the depth of your relationship.

7. Healing - Between rounds, you can aid your partner if you

so choose by giving them some of your hit points. But transfer-
ring strength between flesh and steel bodies is tricky, and your
partner can only absorb ½ the hit points you give them. A loss
in 100 HP for one player only results in a gain of 50 HP for the
other, so ask yourself: how much do you really want to help?
 Endgame
If the monster runs out of hit points first, you both win.
If either player runs out of hit points before the kaiju does, they
die, and the other limps back to base to call for help as the city
is ravaged.

Dice Roll Tables

Incentive:

1: No choice - shield yourself no matter what

2: If you shield yourself successfully, take 200 fewer points of

damage

3: If you shield yourself successfully, take 100 fewer points of

damage

4: If you attack, deal an extra 100 points of damage

5: If you attack, deal an extra 200 points of damage

6: No choice - attack no matter what

Kaiju Damage

1: Oof! So close. The Kaiju dances out of range on its feet/slug

treads/levitation organs. 0 damage

2: Thwack! You land a blow against the monster’s leathery/

scaly/slimy/crusty hide. You deal 200 points of damage.
3: Nice! You slice off an eyestalk. You deal 300 points of damage.

4: A direct hit to the creature’s sinewy/stout/wrinkled/serpen-

tine torso! You deal 400 points of damage.

5: With a sickening crack, you feel a bone fracture in the beast’s

arm/leg/tentacle/wing. You deal 500 pts of damage.

6: Right between the...mouths? The monster reels and you deal

600 points of damage.

Mecha Damage

1: Whew! You dodged away just in time. Good thing you updated
your legs/tank treads/hover-emitters last month. 0 damage.

2: Skreeeeech. Your body reverberates as the monster scratches

your chrome/olive-drab/rusty/bio-mesh/iridescent body
casing. Take 200 points of damage.

3: Your sensor array crunches painfully. Where was it again?

Take 300 points of damage.

4: Right in the weapons cache! Your rocket launcher/laser eyes/

battle ax/machine gun fist is still functional, but you take 400
points of damage.

5: The creature slashed your jetpack/wings/rocket-assist. You

take 500 points of damage

6: Yikes! Right in the cockpit...wherever you keep it. You take

600 points of damage.
 Draw your Mecha & Kaiju
What does your mecha suit look like? What fearsome
monster are you fighting?

You’ll notice the damage tables include a short descrip-

tion, sometimes with options for descriptors. Each time mecha
or kaiju take damage, one player reads aloud the descriptor
from the table corresponding to the damage dealt, selecting the
descriptors they like best, or making up any feature they want.

The other player then adds those features to an emerging

portrait of the suit and kaiju, building each drawing one feature
at a time. Next round, swap roles and let the other player draw.

By the end of the battle, you’ll have glorious mish-mashed

sketches of your protagonist and antagonist. If your sketches
get too crowded with wings and tentacles, feel free to add fur-
ther details to your existing components rather than adding
new ones.
 About the Title
The title of this game is a play on Cartesian Dualism, which is
René Descartes’ theory of mind. Cartesian Dualism sees the
mind and body as separate entities with the mind/self riding
around in your head, looking out your eyes, and sending com-
mands to the body.

Illustration credit:

J. B. Lippincott Company, 1889

Cut to the Chase

By Johnathon Grach
 This is a game of chase for two people who share the nar-
ration. One player will play as Hunter, the other will be the Prey.
The Hunter is much faster than the Prey, but the Prey has a
head start and and can use their wits and cunning to evade cap-
ture. The setting and genre are determined by the players, and
the possibilities are limited only by the players’ imaginations.

There are only two possible outcomes, capture or escape.

The Prey has nothing to lose and can take daring actions to stay
ahead of the Hunter, but the Hunter is persistent and will not be
easily shaken. Both characters have Resources at their disposal
to aid them in achieving their goals.

To play, you’ll need two 6-sided dice and pencil and

paper. You can keep track of play on the play sheet provided,
or on any piece of paper.

Game Narrative
The characters in the game are adversarial; however, the
players are cooperative. The players build a story together by
sharing the narration. Developing the narrative should feel like
an equal partnership. There is a back and forth of narrative con-
trol, and you’ll likely feel as excited for what the other character
does next as you are about what you’ve just done.

Players may be hesitant to take on the narration, or they

might miss their cue to transition. In these moments, use tran-
sition questions like

What does that look like?

What do you do now?
How does that feel?

or any other question that elicits a description of the action,

the character, the setting, or the scene. When the other player
answers, be encouraging and as much a fan of their character as
you are of yours.

As you play, you may want some context for an action

you’re about to take or for the scene you’re presenting. In these
situations, you can “hit pause” on the action and describe the
additional background for the character or the scene. Narrative
flashbacks work great for this.

The Chase
Rounds
A Round consists of two scenes: one Prey scene followed by one
Hunter scene. If the Prey can evade the Hunter for 4 rounds,
they successfully escape. If the Hunter can win a Clash before
the end of the 4th round, they successfully catch their Prey.

Separation
Throughout the game, you will track the Separation between
Hunter and Prey. The “Separation” between the characters is an
abstract measure and can be considered the challenge remain-
ing for the Hunter to catch up to the Prey.

If the Separation reaches 0 at the end of a Hunter scene, you

will go to the Clash in which the Hunter has a chance to catch
the Prey once and for all.

If Separation reaches 0 during a Prey scene, they may still pro-

ceed with their scene and avoid a Clash if they can raise the
Separation above 0 before the end of the Hunter scene.

The Prey starts ahead of the Hunter, which is represented by a

Separation of 2. The Hunter always has the trail of the Prey and
can only be temporarily Misled or Obstructed.

The Hunter is faster than the Prey, and thus the Separation will
go down by 1 at the end of every round.

Getting Started
Create A Setting
The first thing you need to do is decide who will play each char-
acter. After this you can start building the setting by answering
the following questions together:

• Prey, who/what are you and why are you on the run?

• Prey, do you have a specific destination you are heading

toward, or is it your only goal to get away from the Hunter?

• Hunter, who/what are you and what is your connection to

the Prey? Why are you chasing them?

• What is the environment?

• Does it take place during a specific time period?

• Are there specific landmarks you want to include?

• Are there any landmarks or places that have a special

meaning to either of the characters? If there are, describe
them and explain what is special about the place.

Use a selection of the questions above, and also feel free to add
your own to build out the setting as you see fit.

Resources
At the start of the game the Prey has 2 resources and the Hunter
has 3. Resources are items or knowledge that the characters can
access to give a bonus to an action. You don’t have to decide
what these resources are before you play, they can come to light
in the course of the story as needed.

You can use a resource as part of your action to give a +1 bonus

to your roll. You must indicate that you’re using a resource
before you roll. Resources cannot be reused, and you can only
use 1 resource per round. If you’re supposed to lose a resource
because of the outcome of an action but have none, then you
take a -1 on your next roll.

When using a resource, you must add it to the narrative by

describing what it is and how you’re using it. They do not need
to be on your person; they can be stumbled upon in the environ-
ment that you’re in. As long as they can exist in the narrative,
they can be used. The following is a list of examples that might
be used in a game. Feel free to use any of these suggested items,
or come up with your own:

On your person: Knowledge:

• a weapon • hunting
• tools • tracking
• money • stealth
• a phone • using equipment/tools
• clothing • familiarity with the
• food/water environment

Contacts: Found in the environment:

• friends • transportation
• family • shelter
• police • an animal
• a tracker • Materials (wood, metal, etc)
• a criminal

If you don’t have any resources left, you can still use items you
find in the scene as part of the narrative, they just won’t give you
any bonus.

Actions
In every round, the Hunter and the Prey will each choose one
action from their respective action lists. For every action you
attempt, you must roll 2d6 and keep the highest to determine
the outcome, subject to the rules for certain doubles.

5 5 or 6 6 * = Success and +1 or -1 Separation as desired

6 = Success
4 or 5 = Progress
1,2 or 3 = Failure

* Double 5’s and double 6’s are always successes, and the roller
always gets +1 or -1 Separation as desired no matter what
bonuses or penalties exist before the roll.

Success, Progress and Failure outcomes are unique to each

action taken but always follow this structure:

Success
When you roll a Success it means you succeeded at the action
you intended with no adverse affects.

Progress
When you roll Progress it means the action you took was a
fumble. You accomplished what you set out to do but there are
additional adverse affects.

Failure
If you roll a Failure you do not accomplish the action and there
are additional adverse affects.

Bonuses and Penalties

• All bonuses and penalties are applied to the highest die
rolled.
• If a 6 is rolled, a bonus does not give any better outcome.
• You can never have more than a +1 or -1 bonus/penalty on
a roll.
• Bonuses and penalties on the same action cancel each other
out.
• If double 4’s are rolled and you have a -1 penalty, the pen-
 alty applies to one die, but the other is still 4 so the out-
come is still 4.

Starting the Chase

Prey Scenes
The chase starts with a Prey scene, which will play out in three
steps:

1. The Hunter sets the scene and describes current situation

for the Prey.
• Choose a place for the chase to begin based on the setting
you created.
• Include a few details (buildings, plants, animals, people,
etc.) to flesh out the environment.
• Include some elements that may be obstacles to the
Prey’s escape.

2. The Prey responds, narrating the action taken.

• Based on the scene and situation, narrate the action you
take to move toward your destination.
• Use elements/obstacles introduced by the Hunter, and
create your own if you like.
• You are not required to directly overcome the obstacles
posed by the Hunter, but you may if you wish.

3. The Prey chooses an action and rolls for the outcome.

• Look at the Prey Actions list and choose which you want
to attempt.
• Roll 2D6 to find the outcome.
 • Narrate the outcome of the roll in your situation.

When you narrate the outcome of your action rolls, describe

the mechanics of the outcome in terms of the scene – how you
lose that resource, how you decrease the Separation, and so on.
Everything that happens mechanically should play out in the
narrative.

Prey Actions
Outrun – You make a dash in an attempt to increase the
Separation.

Success: +1 Separation.
Progress: +1 Separation and -1 on your next roll.
Failure: -1 on your next roll and +1 on the Hunter’s next
roll.

Think Fast – You anticipate the Hunter’s action and take an

unexpected route.

Success: -1 on the Hunter’s next roll.

Progress: -1 on the Hunter’s next roll. You take -1 resource.
Failure: -1 resource.

Obstruct – You take time to create an obstruction. You have no

choice but to use a resource, but, accordingly, you gain +1 to
your roll.

Success: +1 Separation. The Hunter is Obstructed.

Progress: +1 Separation. The Hunter is Obstructed. You
take -1 resource.
Failure: -1 resource and -1 on your next roll.

Mislead – You attempt to leave a trace in the wrong direction to

fool the Hunter. (You can only Mislead once per game.)

Success: +1 Separation. The Hunter is Misled.

Progress: +1 Separation. The Hunter is Misled, but gets +1
on their next roll.
Failure: -1 resource. +1 on the Hunter’s next roll.

In Pursuit
Hunter Scenes
The chase continues with a Hunter scene, which will play out in
three steps:

1. The Prey sets the scene and describes current situation for
the Hunter.

• Choose a place for the chase to begin based on the setting

you created and the previous action.
• If the Prey successfully Misled or Obstructed the Hunter
on their last action, start the scene with this situation.
• Otherwise, you may start the scene wherever you like,
even with a jump forward in time if you wish. Feel free
to change the time of day, environment, etc. for added
variety.

2. The Hunter responds, narrating the action taken.

• If the Hunter is Misled or Obstructed, your action must

 be in response to this situation.
• Otherwise, narrate your efforts to pursue the Prey how-
ever you like.
• Feel free to introduce more setting elements and possi-
ble obstacles for the Prey if you wish.

3. The Hunter chooses an action and rolls for the outcome.

• Look at the Hunter Actions list and choose which you

want to attempt.
• Roll 2D6 to find the outcome.
• Narrate the outcome of the roll in your situation.

The hunter’s action should attempt to move the narrative into

new and interesting places, not simply mirror the Prey’s action.
Try to avoid action sequences such as:
The Prey crosses the river, then the Hunter crosses the river.
The Prey runs down the road, then the Hunter runs down the
road.
This might be inevitable in some situations, but it should be
avoided if possible.

At the end of the Hunter Scene, lower the Separation by 1. If

Separation has reached 0, go immediately to the Clash section
and follow those instructions. If Separation is not yet at 0, start
another Prey scene as described above and play out another
round.

This back-and-forth of scenes continues until the Prey escapes

after 4 rounds, or the Hunter catches the Prey as the result of a
successful Clash.
Hunter Actions

If you are Misled you must:

Find the Trail – You use your knowledge of the landscape to get
back on track.

Success: You are back on track.

Progress: -1 on your next roll, but you are back on track.
Failure: -1 resource and -1 on your next roll, but you are
back on track.

If you are obstructed you must:

Overcome an Obstacle – You attempt to get past the Obstacle
left by the Prey.

Success: You overcome the Obstacle.

Progress: -1 on your next roll, but you overcome the Obstacle.
Failure: +1 on the Prey’s next roll, and you take -1
Resource. You make your way around the
Obstacle.

If you are not misled or obstructed you may:

Take Chase – You have the trail; you push to catch up with the
Prey.

Success: +1 on your next roll.

Progress: Continued pursuit. No lost steps, resources, or
penalties on your next roll.
Failure: -1 on your next roll.
Take a Shortcut – You attempt to use your knowledge of the
landscape and the Prey’s likely route to reduce the Separation.

Success: -1 Separation.

Progress: -1 Separation and -1 Resource.

Failure: +1 Separation.

Planned Ahead – You knew this could happen, expected it really.

What did you do to prepare for it? Set traps, erect a road block,
hire goons? (You can only take this action once per game.)

Success: -1 Separation at the beginning of the Preys next

action.*
Progress: -1 Separation at the beginning of the Preys next
action.* You take -1 resource.
Failure: The Prey gets +1 on their next roll. You take -1
resource.

* The -1 Separation occurs at the beginning of the next round.

If, as a result of the -1, the Separation becomes 0, the Prey still
gets their action, without a Clash
 Cut to the Chase
Playsheet

Round 1 Sep. 2 Prey Resources

Prey Action Hunter Resources
Hunter Action
End -1
Round 2
Prey Action
Hunter Action
End -1
Round 3
Prey Action
Hunter Action
End -1
Round 4
Prey Action
Hunter Action
End -1

or = Success and
+1/-1 Sep. as desired
= Success
or = Progress
, or = Failure
 Resolution
The Clash
If Separation reaches 0 at the end of a Hunter scene, the Hunter
catches up to the Prey and they Clash. The first clash is part of
the round in which the Hunter catches up to the Prey.

The Clash is a direct interaction between the characters. The

narration of this scene should involve both players. You should
set the scene together. Describe what each character is attempt-
ing to do, then roll to find the outcome.

In a Clash, the Hunter and the Prey make opposing rolls. There
are never any bonuses or penalties to the rolls in a Clash.
Compare the highest dice from the rolls.

Hunter Prey Winner

Compare the highest dice:
6,1 5,4 Hunter
If the highest dice are tied, use the second dice:
6,3 6,4 Prey
If the rolls are tied, the Prey wins:
5,4 5,4 Prey
Double 5’s beat a 6:
5,5 6,5 Hunter
Double 6’s beat everything:
5,5 6,6 Prey
If the Hunter beats the Prey, the Hunter is successful and wins
the game. If the Prey beats the Hunter, the Prey evades capture
for that round. If there are any rounds left, the players Clash
again directly in the next round, and no other actions are taken.
Each clash after the first is a round of its own. If there are no
rounds left, then the Prey is successful and wins.

Ending the Game

For the Prey, winning the game means making it to your desti-
nation or just keeping out of the hunters hands. You accomplish
this by remaining uncaught for 4 rounds. If you’re lucky, you
might do this without even ending up in a Clash, but if you do
end up in a Clash you can still make it. Fend off the Hunter to
accomplish your goal.

For the Hunter, winning the game means capturing the Prey
before they make it to their destination. To do this catch up to
them and take them in the Clash.

The winner of the game gets to narrate the end of the game.
What do you do, now that you’ve succeeded? Is there someone
you share your success with? Do you have a celebration? Go all
out with the narration – you’ve won!
Credits:

Copyright © 2018 Johnathon Grach. All rights reserved.

mongreltabletopgames.com

All illustrations are from oldbookillustrations.com.

The television show Mantracker was the original inspiration for

Cut to the Chase and grew from that to be what it is now. It’s all
about the chase!

I would like to thank all the play-testers, thanks for taking the
time to not only read and play the game but to also take the time
to give feedback.
The sky is gray, and you are
distressed

By Josh T. Jordan
 The sky is gray, and you are distressed is a game for two
players in less than an hour.

Frank and Meg

One of you will play Frank. One of you will play Meg.

Frank carries a nice umbrella. Some people call him shy.

He used to play soccer seriously.

Meg is a volunteer firefighter who never swears. She col-

lects winter coats.

Before You Play

Read these rules before you play.

Trigger Warning

This game is a conversation between two people who are

close to each other. One of them has a secret. The conversation
may involve subjects of death, infidelity, religion, abuse, or the
threat of violence. Before you play, tell the other player which of
these subjects you don’t want in your game.

Guide to Touch

You may incorporate touch into this game, if both play-

ers want to. If you do, at the beginning of the game, hold hands.
Whenever the rules tell Frank to look away, instead rub the
back of Meg’s hand for a moment. Whenever the rules tell Meg
to look down, instead pull your hand away from Frank’s for a
moment. At the end of the game, instead of turning away from
each other, hug briefly and awkwardly.

Signals to the Other Player

If you need to stop the game, either to take a break or to

discuss the game out of character, make a “T” with your hands.

If you become uncomfortable with the subject matter,

but you want to keep playing, cover your ears with your hands.
This is a signal to the other player to change the topic of conver-
sation to something less uncomfortable for you.

Gameplay
Choose who will play which character. Then decide the
relationship between the two characters. They are close, but
in what way? For example, are they best friends, spouses, or a
parent and child?

Each player should now look at their own instructions

for the game. Do not look at the other player’s instructions. Go
through any necessary setup steps and let the other player know
when you are ready to begin.
Meg
Roll two six-sided dice. Roll
them twice if you like. Let Frank
see what you roll, but do not tell
him what those rolls signify - at
least not yet.

Look at the dice you rolled.

You have a secret. (Frank does
not have a secret.) If you rolled
twice, you have two secrets. It is
up to you whether to share these
with Frank during the game.

List of Secrets

I have a disability you don’t know about.

I’ve changed religions.

I’ve been sober for three months

I used to steal from your parents.

I don’t work there anymore.

I have an ex who wants to hurt you.

I was attacked a month ago.

I did something terrible to end my last relationship.

I have a child you’ve never met.

I don’t trust your best friend.

I accepted a job three hundred miles away.

[You are playing Meg. Read text in brackets ([]) silently. From
this point forward, read text not in brackets out loud.]

[The game will play out as a conversation between the two

characters. Each of you have a few scripted statements and
questions, but most of the conversation will be your creative
responses to these scripted bits.]

[When it is your turn to speak, be honest and look Frank in the

eye. Frank will do the same. When either of you break eye con-
tact and look down for a moment, this is the cue for the other
player to respond.]

[Frank speaks first. When finished speaking, Frank will look

away.]

We don’t need to say which one of us is distressed.

[Look down for a moment. Frank’s turn to say something.]

We need to talk. We need to clear the air.

[Frank’s turn.]

[Answer Frank’s question, then ask yours:]

Okay, now it’s my turn. Who am I to you? How do you describe

me to people?

[Frank’s turn.]

[Answer Frank’s question, then ask yours:]

Do you ever wish that you had never met me?

[Frank’s turn.]

[Answer Frank’s questions, then ask yours:]

Okay, it’s my turn again, Frank. Is there some part of you that
feels trapped when you are with me?

[Frank’s turn]

[Answer Frank’s question, then ask yours:]

Is there anything else I need to know?

[After Frank speaks, hug briefly and awkwardly if you are using
touch, then turn away.]
Frank
You suspect that Meg is
keeping something from you.
The other player will roll some
dice. Look at the dice they rolled.
If they rolled less than seven,
you suspect that Meg feels guilty
about something. If they rolled
seven or more, you suspect that
something is scaring her.

[You are playing Frank. Read

text in brackets ([]) silently.
From this point forward, read text not in brackets out loud.]

[The game will play out as a conversation between the two

characters. Each of you have a few scripted statements and
questions, but most of the conversation will be your creative
responses to these scripted bits.]

[When it is your turn to speak, be honest and look Meg in the

eye. She will do the same. When either of you break eye contact
and look down for a moment, this is the cue for the other player
to respond.]

[You will start the conversation with the following line:]

The sky is gray and one of us is distressed.

[Look away for a moment. Meg will speak. When finished speak-
ing, Meg will look away.]

We both know. We’ve known each other a long time, and we

know when there’s something between us.

[Meg’s turn]

I’ll go first, Meg. When you look at me who do you see?

[Meg’s turn]

[Answer Meg’s question, then ask yours:]

When I look at you, who do you think I see?

[Meg’s turn]

[Answer Meg’s question, then ask yours:]

What can’t be seen by anyone? Is that still a part of you?

[Meg’s turn]

[Answer Meg’s question, then ask yours:]

What part of you feels neglected and what would bring that part
of you to life?

[Meg’s turn]

[Answer Meg’s question, then say:]

Goodbye. Thank you.

[Hug briefly and awkwardly if you are using touch, then turn
away.]

After You Have Played Several Times

If you are a veteran player of this game, try using these
secrets instead. Ignore the tables on Meg’s instructions and use
this one instead. Both players (not just Meg!) secretly roll four
six-sided dice and consult this chart.

List of Gonzo Secrets

I can speak to cats.

I worship something that lives in our closet.

I’m a cyborg.

I work for the CIA.

I have been in Witness Protection for fifteen years.

I’m from the future. My time machine stopped working when I

came here.

There are six bodies under the concrete in our cellar. I put them
there.

There’s a South American cartel coming to kill me.

I’m actually identical twins. We’ve been taking turns as long as

you’ve known me.
I’m older than I look. I used to be married to your mother.

I’ve been a ghost this whole time.

I’m an android.

I’m from another planet.

I was secretly replaced by a clone.

I’ve never put the toilet seat down, and I don’t know who keeps
doing it.

I’m a hologram.

I’m a vampire, but a good vampire.

I’m a kitsune.

The holy grail is in our attic.

I still talk to my ex.

I was the one who killed your dog.

Credits

Josh T. Jordan is a game designer, poet, and linguist in North

Texas. As the publisher behind Ginger Goat, Josh has released
games such as Heroine, Singularity, and The Sky Is Gray And
You are Distressed. Find him on Twitter @joshtjordan or online
at joshtjordan.com

This game is inspired by and contains a modified version of

“Questions of Character” from Joseph Chaikin’s The Presence
of the Actor.

Thank you to Tobie Abad, Meera Barry, Caitlynn Belle, Lillian

Cohen-Moore, Jeffry Crews, Paul Czege, Ole Peder Giaever,
Craig Maloney, Shawn McCarthy, Marshall Miller, Jason
Morningstar, Cameron Mount, Brent Newhall, Gray Pawn,
Stephanie Pegg, James Shields, and Joseph Teller.

This game is copyright 2016 Ginger Goat.

Illustration credit:

Henrique Alvim Corrêa, 1906

Dead Friend:
A Game of Necromancy

By Lucian Kahn
Survival Guide for New Necromancers

The Players
THE LIVING: A magician or witch — or someone with new-
found ability to conjure spirits.

THE DEAD: Friend of THE LIVING; a ghost.

The Nature of the Game

Dead Friend is a collaborative storytelling game for two
players. You will each play the role of a friend, one living and
one dead. You will ask and answer questions to develop the
characters, their community, their history together, and the
motivations leading up to their final conflict.

The script follows the dramatic structure of a necro-

mancy ritual, and you will use the spellbook of instructions
throughout the entire game like a witch reading spells from an
ancient grimoire.

The mood may be spooky or intimate, heart-wrenching

or hilarious — it is up to you as storytellers. Although your char-
acters may desire certain outcomes, your goal as a player is not
to win, but to create an intriguing tale of friendship, loss, and
diabolical magic.
Materials of Resurrection
• Photocopy the Magic Circle or draw a copy by hand.
• One Tarot deck or one deck of mundane playing cards,
separated into suits. 

• One large coin, called the circle coin. 

• One small coin, called the star coin. 

• Two pens or pencils. 

• Salt (optional). 

• Two matches (optional). 


Time: Two to four hours. 


The Fine Print

For the Witch Who Must Know All

Storytelling Guidelines

Share the Spellbook. Take turns reading its instructions

aloud, with a new reader each section.

This story alternates between the present ritual of

necromancy and flashbacks to past details of the friends’ lives
together, including the death. During the flashback sections,
you may decide to narrate events from the perspective of your
character or an all-knowing narrator, or roleplay conversations
between your characters. You and your partner may also use
different storytelling styles than each other. Feel free to switch
up styles as you go, and allow the story to develop as a patch-
work. 

 When answering prompts, you are allowed — even
encouraged — to invent new details about any character in the
game, including your partner’s character. 


If your partner is having trouble thinking of a response

to a prompt, wait quietly and allow them time to think. Resist
the urge to offer suggestions at this point. Instead, accept the
ritual’s moment of silence. 


After your partner answers a prompt from the script,

feel free to ask clarifying questions to enrich the development
of the world and characters.

Players familiar with Tarot may choose to add addi-

tional story details based on their own interpretations of the
cards’ meanings. To maintain the balance of the game, this is
suggested as an enrichment of the written prompts, but not a
replacement.

Dead Friend is morbid by nature but designed to enter-

tain both players. If you would prefer to omit specific types
of death from your story (for example: gun violence, suicide),
tell your partner at the beginning of the game. If a story detail
comes up midway that ruins your enjoyment of the game, you
may ask your partner to “rewind” the scene and retell it differ-
ently. Be kind to each other!

Removing outside distractions such as social media or

phone apps is strongly recommended.
 Spellbook
Preparing for the Ritual

Together, briefly describe the setting of this story.

Example settings: modern Brooklyn, revolutionary France,
a shtetl, Jupiter 2075, an ancient forest, an elementary
school playground, a desert cult, an artists’ retreat, a Cold
War submarine, a nunnery. 


Each choose a name for your character and write it in the

center of the pentagram.


Example names: Sophia, Ramon, Ash, Hiro, Luna, Dorian,

Pilar, Ji-a, Arjun, Eleanor, Kat, Babs, Mikey, Quinn,
Zahara, Thomas, Sterling, Ari, Zoë, Percy, Oskar, Bjørn,
River, Betsy, Anastasia, Jane, Winter, Abraxas, Fluffy. 


Choose one of the central conflicts below to guide the plot of

your story. The Magician and The Tower are recommended
for beginners.


The conflicts are named after Tarot cards; you may wish to
draw one at random.
 The Magician
THE LIVING:
 You wish to
bring your dead friend back
to life.
THE DEAD:
 You wish to
kill your friend.
The Tower
THE LIVING: 
You wish
to say a final goodbye to
your dead friend.
THE DEAD: 
You wish
to return from the dead
and wreak havoc.

Justice The Devil

THE LIVING: 
You wish to
force your dead friend to
take revenge on someone
for you.
THE DEAD: 
You wish to
remain at peace.
THE LIVING: 
You wish
to gain otherworldly
power from your dead
friend.
THE DEAD: You wish to
own your friend’s soul.

Decide who will play THE LIVING and who will play THE
DEAD.


Optional: each player strikes a match. As soon as the matches

are aflame, the ritual begins. Whoever’s match goes out first
will play THE DEAD.
 Part One: Earth and Water
Setting the Scene

THE LIVING: Place the Magic Circle in the center of the table.
Sprinkle a large circle of salt around the paper for protection
(or mime this). Place one pen near yourself and the other
near The Dead. Place the circle coin (the large coin) heads-up
slightly outside the circle, so that it touches the word “East”.
Place the star coin (the small coin) heads-up on the altar. 


THE LIVING: You are preparing to perform a dangerous ritual

of necromancy. Describe the scene of your preparations. Is
it day or night? Are you outside or inside? What can you see,
hear, or smell? 


THE DEAD: You died recently and are new to the realm of the
dead. Briefly describe that realm. What can you see, hear, or
smell? How is it similar to or different from the world you left
behind? 


THE LIVING: Place your right index finger on the star coin.
At some time before dying, your friend gave you an important
object, represented by this coin. Describe the object. 


EVERYONE: The coins are ritual objects. Over the course of

the ritual, the circle coin travels around the circle, visiting each
of the four cardinal directions. At the same time, the star coin
travels to each of the five points of the pentagram. Together,
the two coins mark both the passage of time and the charac-
ters’ journey through the elements. 

 For the rest of the game, whenever the circle coin moves
around the circle, both players hum softly.

For the rest of the game, whenever the star coin moves to
a different location, THE DEAD says, “A word from beyond!”,
followed by a single word.

Examples:
“A word from beyond! Moonrise.”
“A word from beyond! Betrayal.”

RITUAL OF EARTH
THE LIVING and THE DEAD remember their shared
community from before the death.

THE LIVING: Invoke Earth with the following three motions.

First, to form an Invoking Pentagram of Earth, place your index
finger on the Spirit point of the pentagram, then moving toward
Earth, trace the entire pentagram with your finger. Second,
move the star coin to the Earth point of the pentagram. Third,
slide the circle coin around the circle counterclockwise to the
North, the cardinal direction of Earth.

THE LIVING: Shuffle the diamonds/disks/pentacles suit of

cards. If you are using mundane cards, include one joker.

EVERYONE: Each draw two random cards and look at them.

Taking turns, name and briefly describe two people in your
shared community, using the prompts in the Earth Legend
that correspond to the cards you have drawn. Write each new
character’s name and traits in one of the designated spaces
around the pentagram.

THE DEAD: These memories are beginning to stir up the envi-

ronment in the realm of THE DEAD. What changes are devel-
oping around you?

THE LIVING: As you complete the Ritual of Earth, your body

feels somehow different. Describe the sensations. 


EARTH LEGEND
2 someone enthusiastic and confused
3 someone humble and helpful
4 someone powerful and greedy
5 someone suffering and ignored
6 someone successful and generous

7 someone hardworking and depressed
8 someone productive and cheerful
9 someone beautiful and aloof

10 someone intelligent and forgotten
Page/Knave/Joker someone idealistic and naive
Jack/Knight someone principled and determined
Queen someone respected and emulated
King someone wise and nurturing
Ace someone mystical and intimidating

RITUAL OF WATER
Like a eulogy, THE LIVING and THE DEAD remember
the details of their friendship.
THE LIVING: Invoke Water with the following three motions.
First, to form an Invoking Pentagram of Water, place your index
finger on the Air point of the pentagram, then moving toward
Water, trace the entire pentagram with your finger. Second,
move the star coin to the Water point of the pentagram. Third,
slide the circle coin around the circle counterclockwise to the
West, the cardinal direction of Water.

THE LIVING: Shuffle the hearts/cups suit of cards.

EVERYONE: Each draw one card, look at it, and describe a past
scene from your friendship that corresponds to the prompts in
the Water Legend. Although this scene is primarily about you
and your friend, it must also include at least one community
member from the paper. Feel free to embellish the story with
descriptive details. 


EVERYONE: Repeat part C, but include one community

member who has not yet been part of a Water memory. If all
four community members have been part of a Water memory,
move on to part E. 


EVERYONE: Repeat part C, but build on the existing story using

the card’s prompt however you wish.

EVERYONE: Repeat part C, but place the card face-up near the
circle of salt. This scene must foreshadow your motivation in
the central conflict.
WATER LEGEND
2 you argued with your friend
3 your friend brought you to a party
4 you reassured your friend about an
insecurity
5 your friend chose someone else over you
6 your friend helped you with a problem
7 you lied to your friend
8 your friend embarrassed you
9 your friend defended you against someone
10 you celebrated a holiday with your friend
Page/Knave/Joker you learned something new about your
friend
Jack/Knight you were jealous of your friend
Queen your friend gave you romantic advice
King your friend manipulated you into doing
something
Ace your earliest memory of your friend

THE DEAD: These memories provoke a jolt of emotion so

strong that you momentarily forget you are dead. Describe the
emotion.

THE LIVING: As you complete the Ritual of Water, the weather

begins to change. Describe what you see, hear, and smell.
 Part Two: Fire and Air
The Magical Link

THE LIVING: Place your right index finger on the star coin.
Why is this object so important to you?

THE DEAD: Turn over the star coin, tails up.
There is a secret
about this object that your friend does not know. What is the
secret? 


RITUAL OF FIRE
To summon THE DEAD into conversation with THE
LIVING, both friends recall the death. This section establishes
the cause of death, or, if it has already been established, adds
complicating details.

THE LIVING: Invoke Fire with the following three motions.

First, to form an Invoking Pentagram of Fire, place your index
finger on the Spirit point of the pentagram, then moving toward
Fire, trace the entire pentagram with your finger. Second, move
the star coin to the Fire point of the pentagram. Third, slide the
circle coin around the circle counterclockwise to the South, the
cardinal direction of Fire.

Shuffle the wands/rods/clubs suit of cards. If you are using

mundane cards, include one joker.

THE DEAD: Draw two cards randomly, look at them, and

answer the following questions using the details that corre-
spond to your cards in the Fire Legend. How did you die? In old
age or in youth? By natural or unnatural causes? Violently or at
peace? Describe your final living moments.

THE LIVING: Draw two cards randomly, look at them, and

answer the following questions using the details that corre-
spond to your cards in the Fire Legend. Describe the events
of the day your friend died. Did you witness the death or hear
about it second hand? How did you feel, and what did you do? 


FIRE LEGEND
2 a material need
3 a journey
4 a wedding
5 a community argument
6 a celebrity or popular person
7 a stranger

8 an oppressive force
9 a survivor
10 a sickness
Page/Knave/Joker a careless mistake
Jack/Knight a collision
Queen a well-meaning error
King an order
Ace a noble decision

THE DEAD: In response to these memories, you are starting to

catch a glimpse back into the world of the living. Describe what
you see, hear, and smell.

THE LIVING: As you complete the Ritual of Fire, hints of the

dead realm are gathering within the circle. Describe what you
see, hear, and smell. 


SUMMONING THE DEAD

THE LIVING: You are about to conjure your dead friend into
the circle. Set the scene for this act of magic by answering the
following questions. How much time has passed since your
friend died? What is happening in your life now? What led up
to performing this ritual? How did you acquire the power to
summon the dead?

THE LIVING: Turn the star coin back over, heads up, on the
Fire point of the pentagram. Place your right index finger on
the star coin and repeat this magical formula three times: 

Beloved [name of deceased], thou who perished by [means
of death], through this [name of object] I conjure thee. 

Beloved [name of deceased], thou who perished by [means
of death], through this [name of object] I conjure thee.
Beloved [name of deceased], thou who perished by [means
of death], through this [name of object] I conjure thee.

THE DEAD: Describe what you look and sound like when
you appear in the Magic Circle.

THE LIVING: Tell your friend why you have conjured them.

Remember to express your motive from the central conflict

THE DEAD: Tell your friend why you believe they must fail.
Remember to express your motive from the central conflict.

RITUAL OF AIR
THE LIVING and THE DEAD draw weapons for the final
battle.

THE LIVING: Invoke Air with the following three motions.

First, to form an Invoking Pentagram of Air, place your index
finger on the Water point of the pentagram, then moving toward
Air, trace the entire pentagram with your finger. Second, move
the star coin to the Air point of the pentagram. Third, slide the
circle coin around the circle counterclockwise to the East, the
cardinal direction of Air.

Shuffle the swords/spades suit of cards. If you are using mun-

dane cards, include one joker. EVERYONE: Randomly draw
four cards each, but you will only use three of them. These cor-
respond to the weapons in the Air Legend that are available
to use in battle. Each weapon card has a literal meaning and
an abstract meaning; you may choose which you prefer to use
when you play the card. 


AIR LEGEND
2 a blindfold or darkness 

3 a vial of blood or loyalty 

4 a rune-covered box or prayer 

5 hand-to-hand combat or intimidation 

6 a map of the dead realm or travel 

7 a key or trickery 

8 magic words and hexes or imprisonment 

9 a candle or nightmares

10 community allies or solidarity
Page/Knave/Joker a shield or what your friend does not know
Jack/Knight an animal or passion

Queen control of the weather or logical persuasion
King an important document or instilling doubts
Ace an enchanted sword or a higher authority

THE LIVING: Flip the star coin in the center of the pentagram
so that it lands on the table. If it lands heads-up, THE LIVING
will go first in the final battle. If it lands tails-up, THE DEAD
will go first. Place the star coin in the center of the pentagram
so that it touches both names.

Starting with the winner of the coin-flip, place a card face-up

inside the Magic Circle and describe how you use that weapon
against your friend. Your friend responds to this attack with
another face-up card and description of battle. Continue coun-
tering each other’s attacks until you have each used three
weapons.

THE LIVING: Move the star coin to the Spirit point of the
pentagram.

EVERYONE: As players, come to a consensus about who won

the battle and how.

THE VICTOR: Describe the moment of your victory. How does

the central conflict resolve?

THE DEFEATED: Conclude the story with an epilogue: what

happens to the two friends next in life or the afterlife?
Credits
Lucian Kahn is a game designer living in Brooklyn, New
York with his cat, Beastie. His other games include Grandma’s
Drinking Song and Same Bat Time, Same Bat Mitzvah. He is
currently developing Visigoths vs. Mall Goths. Follow him on
twitter: @oh_theogony.

Game and Words Lucian Kahn

Cover Art Toby Elias
Pentagram Miriam Nadler, Toby Elias, Lucian Kahn
Graphic design informed by the original 8.5” x 11” layout by
Miriam Nadler
Lizzy & Darcy

By Epistolary Richard
 Lizzy & Darcy is a roleplaying game that allows two play-
ers to play out their own version of one of the most famous liter-
ary romances: Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen’s
Pride & Prejudice.

One player plays Lizzy, while the other Darcy. Both play-
ers will also play smaller roles incidental to a scene.

The game plays out in five Acts, each of two scenes, as

described further below.

The game uses a deck of regular playing cards and takes

approximately 3 to 4 hours.

While Lizzy and Darcy are apart for much of the novel,
this game focuses on the moments where they are together and
so each scene includes questions for you to answer to fill in the
intervening events. You should feel free discuss how to answer
these questions together to deviate from the events of the novel
and create a version of Lizzy and Darcy’s story that is uniquely
yours.

Contents
Restrictions and Constraints explains how the players use
playing cards to limit their interactions to be appropriate to the
period.

The Five Acts outlines the overall arc of Lizzy and Darcy’s
relationship.
Playing Lizzy and Playing Darcy provides a little in-character
description of them before the events of the novel.

Acts & Scenes provide detail to each scene within the game,
along with questions for the players to answer before they
begin, significant choices they can make, and a brief description
of new characters introduced.

Example of Play after Act 1 Scene 1, there is a written-out exam-

ple of two players playing out the first scene together.

Restrictions and Constraints

Pride & Prejudice is set in Regency England where man-
ners and behaviour amongst the upper classes were ruled by a
strict etiquette. Ladies, especially those who were not married,
were highly restricted in what they could say and do in polite
society and there were expectations for gentlemen as well.

To represent these constraints, in each scene you will

have a hand of cards (Lizzy uses the Hearts suit, while Darcy
uses Diamonds) and you are limited to the actions that those
cards represent. For example: a 5, 6 or 7 allows the character to
make polite small-talk, whereas a Jack allows them to make a
bold action or statement or ask a direct and probing question.

The Cards

At the beginning of the game, Lizzy’s player takes the suit

of Hearts, Darcy’s player takes Diamonds and make two other
piles, one of Clubs and one of Spades.
Hearts & Diamonds – Play as your character

At the beginning of each scene, you take the cards as the

scene prescribes. You then take turns playing a card, one at a
time, to add a new portion of the narrative or to begin a new
line of conversation. The other player may respond, especially
if asked a question, and only needs to play a card to move the
narrative on. You may always describe incidental actions, but
nothing significant.

When both hands are exhausted, the scene must end

(though it can end earlier as described below).

Two, Three, Four

You may narrate your character’s internal thoughts.

Five, Six, Seven

You may make polite small-talk (such as a remark on the

size of the room or the number of couples).

Eight, Nine, Ten

You may discuss a topic of general significance (such as

making a statement or asking a question about another’s beliefs,
values or feelings on society).

Jack, Queen, King

You may take a bold action or ask a prying question

(such as about their personal desires or a private incident in
their past), while remaining within the bounds of etiquette.

Ace

You may say or act beyond the restraints of etiquette.

After this, and any response, the scene automatically ends in
shock at such behaviour.

Clubs – Play as a third party

Instead of playing as their character, a player may initi-

ate conversation or take an action as a third party interacting
with either Lizzy or Darcy. To do so, instead of playing a card
from their hand, they play a card from the pile of Clubs. The
number of the Club does not matter, but the total number of
Clubs does limit the amount that third parties can be involved.

Spades – Time passes (3 times total ends the scene)

If a player does not wish to play as their own or another

character, they may instead play a card from the pile of Spades
and describe time passing. This allows for both players to take
stock of the scene’s direction. Once time has passed three times
in total (i.e. the players play a third spade) the scene ends.

Ending the scene

As noted above, the scene ends once one of the following

happens:

● You play a third spade and the encounter fades as time

passes;
● You exhaust both players’ hands and the encounter
comes to a natural conclusion;

● One player plays the Ace of their suit, in which case the
scene ends in shock at the behaviour.

For an example of how a scene might play see the play

example after Act 1 Scene 1.

The Five Acts

Act 1 Impression & Attraction

Lizzy and Darcy encounter each other for the first time
and make a first impression.

Act 2 Injury & Slight

Both Lizzy and Darcy act in a manner that angers the

other; one partner’s action is public, but the other’s is concealed.

Act 3 Admiration & Revelation

One partner’s admiration for the other recovers, but then

their previous injury is revealed.

Act 4 Character & Crisis

The injured party learns the true character of the other,

but suffers a crisis of their own.

Act 5 Resolution & Decision

 The crisis is resolved and Lizzy and Darcy decide their
future.

Second & Subsequent Playthroughs

When playing this game for a second or further time,

you may wish to make more fundamental changes to the story.
Perhaps Lizzy never goes to Rosings Park and so she and Darcy
reconnect somewhere else. Perhaps both Mr. Darcy and Mr.
Bingley are drawn to Lizzy when they all first meet, and Lizzy
and Darcy’s story takes a different turn. Perhaps you wish to
explore their relationship in an entirely different place or time.
I encourage any such changes, but recommend you still look to
follow the same basic dramatic arc as above.

Playing Lizzy
I am Elizabeth Bennet; sometimes Eliza but always Lizzy
to my friends and family. I am the second of five daughters.

My older sister, Jane, is five times prettier than any other

girl and is so doted upon that I might be quite jealous if she was
not also the most warm-hearted, modest and generous person
I know. Instead, she is my closest friend and confidante. Our
mother is determined that Jane marry for wealth, but I am cer-
tain that she will marry for love as well. I too am determined
that none but the strongest admiration shall sway me to mar-
riage. And if none should arise, then I shall be perfectly content
as aunt to the many beautiful children Jane will doubtless bear
and as devotee of her future husband’s well-stocked library.
 Beyond books, I like dancing, though not as much as my
two youngest sisters, and to play and sing, though I do both so
ill that I dare perform only before those who are committed to
think well of me. I enjoy the countryside more than my family
does and find it very peaceful. Most of all, I enjoy observing
the follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies of those
around me. I try to laugh at myself as much as at any other and,
if you find me bold or impertinent to those who are severe or
superior, trust I am only acting so that I will not fear them.

Playing Darcy
I am Fitzwilliam Darcy. I am a grandson of Earl
Fitzwilliam, through his daughter, my mother, Lady Anne.

Since the death of my father five years ago, I have had

the guardianship of my dear younger sister, Georgiana, which I
share with my cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam. I inherited the estate
of Pemberley in Derbyshire and am mindful of both of its main-
tenance and improvement and the wellbeing of its people. It is
a great privilege, but no less a responsibility also.

Because of Pemberley, I am aware that I am considered

a most eligible match for any gentleman’s daughter. I have
encountered many who have a design upon the estate and its
revenues, but disguise it as an admiration for me. They laud
every word I utter, praise my skill in every regard, and then
boast between themselves of how they deceive me.

As such, I have become a considered judge of character

and have no regard for those who employ such devices. Instead,
I value those with sufficient character to be open, direct and
sensible of their intentions and themselves. I trust these qual-
ities describe my friends who, though few, are as important to
me as anyone save Georgiana.

Act 1 Scene 1
(there is an example of two players playing out this scene
immediately after the scene details)

Overview

Lizzy and Darcy encounter one another for the first time.

Questions to Answer Before the Scene

(remember, answer these out-loud and feel free to devi-

ate from the novel)

Lizzy,

What is everything good and joyful about the evening, the

rooms, the people?

Darcy,

What is everything inelegant or improper about the evening,

the rooms, the people?
Starting Cards
Lizzy begins with the 2 through 8 of Hearts. Darcy’s player then
chooses two cards from her hand and removes them.

Darcy begins with the 2, 3, and 5 of Diamonds. Lizzy’s player

then adds two additional Diamonds.

Scene

The Meryton assembly room, a country ball attended by the

local society

Lizzy,

You are there to socialise with your friends, particularly

Charlotte Lucas, and dance. Also to ensure your younger sisters
do not get up to mischief. Mr. Bingley has rented the great house
of Netherfield and you are curious to see him and his party.

Darcy,

Your good friend Charles has asked you to join him at Netherfield
for your opinion on the situation and society, and whether he
should settle here. This purpose, and etiquette, requires you
engage with the local society and attend occasions such as these.
You are certain that gossip has already gone around of your
worth and that, given any encouragement, the eligible daugh-
ters of the county will soon be aimed at you.
Named Third Parties

Lizzy’s mother and sisters; Sir William, Lady Lucas,

Charlotte & Maria Lucas; Mr. Bingley, Charlotte Bingley, and
Mr. & Mrs. Hurst.

Notes

In the novel, Lizzy and Darcy meet on several occasions

before Lizzy stays at Netherfield. If you wish, you may repeat
this scene to give Lizzy and Darcy greater acquaintance before
moving onto Scene 2.

List of New Characters

If you’re not familiar with the novel, then you may read a
little about the characters introduced in the scene. It’s perfectly
fair to present them differently in your game if you wish.

Mrs. Bennet

Mrs. Bennet is the mother of Lizzy and her sisters. Due

to the peculiarities of this particular inheritance, when Mr.
Bennet dies his estate of Longbourn will go to his cousin Mr.
Collins while Mrs. Bennet and any unmarried daughters will be
left homeless. As she did not bear the son that would secure
her future, her drive through the novel is to push her daugh-
ters (especially Jane) to marry well so that they may provide for
the rest. Mrs. Bennet is sociable and active, constantly plotting
matrimony, but also appears temperamental, excitable, vulgar
and brash.
Jane, Mary, Catherine ‘Kitty’ & Lydia Bennet

Jane is renowned as a great beauty and is represented as

a genuinely good and generous person, disinclined to think ill
of anyone. Mary is very much in her sisters’ shadow; she reads
extensively but has a tendency to lecture and preach others;
she has little natural gift for music but attempts to overcome
this by diligent practice and relishes opportunities to perform.
Kitty is given little character of her own except as sidekick to
the younger Lydia. Lydia is presented as good-humoured,
high-spirited and unrestrained; she has been utterly spoilt by
her mother and indulged by others, has the self-confidence to
challenge her elders and social superiors, but is undisciplined
in her conduct. She has developed a flirtatious and easy nature
that, even though she’s only fifteen, attracts the attention of
men, especially the militia’s officers.

Sir William & Lady Lucas, Charlotte & Maria Lucas

Sir William is the most senior gentleman in the district.

His nature is to please others, but his knighthood and having
been presented at court has left him full of himself. Lady Lucas
is, along with Mrs. Bennet, at the heart of the area’s social
network. Lady Lucas is a constant source of information (i.e.
gossip) for Mrs. Bennet and her daughters and the two have an
amiable rivalry. Charlotte Lucas is Lizzy’s best friend, but she is
27 (while Lizzy is 20) which has led her to fear never marrying.
She is shown to have a pragmatic and non-romantic approach
to marriage. Maria Lucas is presented as younger than Lizzy
and as good-natured, but empty-headed.
Mr. Charles Bingley, Miss Charlotte Bingley, Mr. &
Mrs. Hurst

Charles Bingley inherited a large fortune from his father

who earned it in trade. Charles is presented as good-natured
and eager to please others, but a little slapdash and too con-
cerned of Darcy’s good opinion. He has five sisters, two of which
are in the novel, both of whom are elegant but rather haughty
and pretentious, despite the source of their fortune: Charlotte
Bingley, the novel presents, has designs on improving the fam-
ily’s standing by marrying Charles to Darcy’s younger sister
while marrying Darcy herself; while Bingley’s other sister, Mrs.
Hurst, has already married a gentleman, though he is shallow
and ignorant, only interested in food, drink and cards.

An Example of Play: Act 1, Scene 1

Liam is playing Lizzy and Dee is playing Darcy. They
start with Act 1 Scene 1 and answer the initial questions. Liam
describes the great size of the dancing area, the liveliness of
the music and the laughing of the couples dancing and people
watching. Dee describes the low ceiling, the dim light and the
coarse braying of the locals.

Liam then takes Lizzy’s cards for the scene from the
Hearts suit. Dee, not wanting Lizzy too in her own head, removes
the 2 and 3 of Hearts. Dee then takes Darcy’s cards from the
Diamonds suit and Liam adds the 8 and Jack of Diamonds to
give Darcy some choice.

Liam then offers to begin the scene. Liam plays the 4 of

Hearts from his hand, allowing him to narrate Lizzy’s internal
thoughts and incident actions.

“I am standing with sister Jane and my good friend

Charlotte Lucas when the party from Netherfield arrive. I do not
exaggerate that, once they were recognised, the room did quiet
for several moments. Their leader, who I would later learn was
the good Mr. Bingley, was the only one of them who appeared
eager to join the ball. The rest were too struck by disapproval to
hide it from their countenance. Mr. Bingley smiled in our direc-
tion as he looked about the room and I returned it modestly. I
knew at once that I enjoy making his acquaintance as much as I
would enjoy observing the discomfort of his companions.”

Dee then plays 2 of Diamonds from her hand, allowing

her to do the same for Darcy.

“The carriage ride from Netherfield had been cramped,

what with five in the party. But after I walked into the assembly
room I would have been most content to return there for the
rest of the evening rather than remain. The gossips of the town
had done their work and every mother in the ill-lit room with an
eligible daughter was eyeing us up as potential sons-in-law.”

As Lizzy & Darcy are not yet introduced, Liam reaches

over to the deck of Clubs and plays the card off the top. The
number doesn’t matter, any Club allows him to do some-
thing with a third party. In this case, he’d like to arrange an
introduction.
 “Sir William Lucas, who has already visited Mr. Bingley
when he moved into the neighbourhood, steps forward to greet
them. Mr. Bingley introduces him to the rest of his party: his sis-
ters Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst, her husband Mr. Hurst and
Mr. Bingley’s friend, Mr. Darcy. After bowing low, Sir William
brings the whole party over and introduces them to his daugh-
ter, Charlotte, and Jane and Lizzy.”

Dee feels that Darcy is not yet moved to speak and so

plays the 3 of Diamonds to keep to Darcy’s thoughts.

“In deference to the local squire, I could not avoid the

acquaintance of his daughter or the other young ladies now so
appearing so pleased to have been preferred above everyone
else in the room. I took care, however, to ensure I did pay any
one of them any greater attention that the others. It is in situa-
tions such as these that I greatly value Charles’s company. He
has that talent that I do not of conversing easily with strangers.
Many who appear the same are, in truth, disguising their true
interests and are flatterers and fawners. He is not so, for his
easy manner proceeds from an honest curiosity as to the opin-
ion of strangers and an openness about his own thoughts that I
cannot imitate.”

Liam is ready for Lizzy to step into the action and so

plays the 8 of Hearts from his hand, allowing Lizzy to ask a
polite question in line with etiquette. Darcy has not yet spoken,
so Lizzy will address Bingley.
 “I have seen how Mr. Bingley’s attention has lingered
on Jane and, keen to give them a chance together, I ask Mr.
Bingley whether he likes to dance. Mr. Bingley replies that
indeed he does and quickly is arranged to dance the first pair
with Charlotte, surely out of respect for Sir William, the second
with Jane and the third with myself. With Mr. Bingley settled, I
am unable to prevent myself from regarding Mr. Darcy.”

Dee definitely pictures that this has put Darcy on the

back foot. In a later scene, such as at Netherfield, she might have
Darcy fence a little with Lizzy, but here in this first scene Darcy
is too much on the defensive. She plays the Jack of Diamonds
allowing Darcy to take a bold action.

“Though she has not said anything to me directly, I feel

Miss Elizabeth Bennet’s look is most accusatory. Charles also
glances at me, wishing that I do not leave him unsupported. I
resolve to do what I must, though I will not favour any of the
three before me. I turn and ask Miss Bingley to join me for the
first pair, which she is most happy to do. Then with the curtest
nod allowable, I stalk away from the group; Miss Bingley fol-
lowing closely enough behind to allow that we may be taking a
turn about the room.”

As the conversation has broken up, Liam plays a Spade

and describes time passing.

“The evening’s dancing begins and gentlemen bring their

partners to the floor. Mr. Bingley takes Charlotte Lucas, Mr.
Darcy, Miss Bingley, and both Jane and Lizzy have also found
partners. Mr. & Mrs. Hurst have gone into another room and
are playing at cards. The country dancers vary in their exper-
tise, while the Netherfield party are more precise, but, with the
exception of Mr. Bingley, far less passionate.”

Dee is tempted to play another spade and allow time to

pass again, thereby bringing the scene closer to ending; Lizzy
and Darcy have been introduced and made their first impres-
sions after all. But instead, Dee would like to hint at Darcy’s
depths. She plays a Club off the top of the deck to represent a
third party taking an action.

“As arranged, Mr. Bingley dances with Miss Lucas, then

Jane and then Lizzy. After this third pair of dances, they break
for refreshment. As Mr. Bingley leads Lizzy off the dance floor,
they encounter his sisters and Mr. Darcy. Mr. Bingley asks
Lizzy: ‘I was excessively pleased to make the acquaintance of
your father when he called on me at Netherfield. He is not here
tonight. He is not unwell I hope?’”

Liam replies directly; as he’s continuing a line of conver-

sation rather than beginning a new one he does not need to play
a card.

“‘No, it is very kind of you to ask after him. He is quite

well; it is only that he rarely dances. For such assemblies as
these, he prefers the comforts of his library.’”

Dee has Mr. Bingley continue. “‘Indeed! I have spoken to

him there and it is a very agreeable library. I have one myself,
stacked with books, but what they are and who wrote them, I
have no idea.’”
 Liam has Lizzy respond. “‘Oh, but there are some very
great titles in the library at Netherfield.’ I say without thinking,
but then realise that it might be considered improper to show
too great a familiarity with a house in front of its new tenant. ‘At
least, that is my understanding. I have only seen it once.’”

Dee adds with Mr. Bingley. “‘I swear I have only been
there once myself! You must come and visit and show me what
I have. Your parents, of course, and your sisters, all your sisters
must come as well.’ With that, Charles’s gaze lingers on Jane
across the room.”

Dee wishes to add more of Darcy’s thoughts about Lizzy,

but as she no longer has a 2, 3 or 4, she will have to wait until
next scene. Liam and Dee then decide to end the scene there by
playing one more Spade each and narrating the dancing begin-
ning again and finally the evening coming to a close.
 Act 1 Scene 2
Overview

Lizzy spends a few evenings in the company of Darcy and

others at Netherfield while Jane convalesces there.

Questions to Answer Before the Scene

Lizzy,

What opinion did a character voice on a prior evening that you

strongly feel is incorrect?

Darcy,

What did you not say on a previous evening that you feel you
must?

Starting Cards

Lizzy begins with the 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, Jack of Hearts. Darcy’s

player then chooses two cards from her hand and removes them.

Darcy begins with the 7, 8, and 9 of Diamonds. Lizzy’s player

then adds two additional Diamonds.

Scene

Netherfield, the drawing room after dinner

Lizzy,
Your sister Jane has become a favourite of both Mr. Bingley and
his sisters. Whilst Jane visited Netherfield for dinner she became
ill and, at the Bingleys’ insistence, has spent several days con-
valescing there. You walked to Netherfield on the first day to be
with Jane and, despite showing such wilful independence, Miss
Bingley invited you to stay until Jane is well. After looking after
her through the day, etiquette demands that you dine with your
hosts and spend a few hours with them each evening.

Darcy,

Despite yourself you’ve found yourself drawn to Miss Elizabeth

Bennet. Perhaps her fine eyes, perhaps her playful manners,
perhaps because she does not flatter you nor appears intimi-
dated by you. If her connections were not so unfortunate, you
might consider yourself in some danger. You are, as always, in
control of yourself. She herself appears ignorant of your admi-
ration and that is for the best. And so you may relax and enjoy
her presence to enliven the evening’s company.

Named Third Parties

Mr. Bingley, Miss Bingley, and Mr. & Mrs. Hurst.

Notes

In the novel, Lizzy spends several evenings at Netherfield.

If you wish, you may repeat this scene to give Lizzy and Darcy
greater opportunity to discover each other’s beliefs before
moving on to Act 2.
 Act 2 Scene 1
Overview

Mr. Bingley hosts a ball at Netherfield. A joyful occasion

for most, but both Lizzy and Darcy’s opinion of each other has
soured thanks to the arrival of one Mr. Wickham.

Questions to Answer Before the Scene

Lizzy,

What has Mr. Wickham told you about how he has been previ-
ously wronged by Mr. Darcy?

Darcy,

What has Miss Bingley told you about Lizzy’s admiration for
Wickham?

Starting Cards

Lizzy begins with the 2 through 8 of Hearts. Darcy’s

player then chooses two cards from her hand and removes
them.

Darcy begins with the 2, 3 and Jack of Diamonds. Lizzy’s

player then adds two additional Diamonds.

Scene

Netherfield, the evening of the Mr. Bingley’s ball.

Lizzy,

You are attending the ball with your sisters and are
especially hoping to dance with a rather dashing young officer
named Mr. Wickham. The two of you have spoken often since
you last were at Netherfield and he has told you how he was a
childhood friend of Mr. Darcy, but who has treated him badly
since. You would like to avoid both Mr. Darcy and a new suitor
your mother has forced upon you, the tiresome and fawning Mr.
Collins.

Darcy,

You are attending the ball because you must. Your friend
Charles has formed a serious attachment to Miss Jane Bennet
which, in your considered judgement, she does not return. In
addition, the nature of her connections, especially the want of
propriety of her mother and three youngest sisters, make her
most unsuitable. For his own sake, it would be best for him
to quit Netherfield for a time. Before you leave, however, you
would wish one last conversation with Elizabeth. You find your-
self taken with her greatly, but she is rumoured to have formed
an attachment to Mr. Wickham, a man you know lives his life
full of disguise and deceit.

Named Third Parties

Mr. & Mrs. Bennet, their daughters and Mr. Collins;

Mr. Bingley, Miss Bingley and Mr. & Mrs. Hurst; Sir William
& Lady Lucas and their daughters; various officers (Denny,
Chamberlayne, Pratt, Captain Carter, Colonel Foster & Mrs.
Foster).

List of New Characters

Mr. Bennet

In character, Mr. & Mrs. Bennet are polar opposites. Mr.

Bennet prefers the quiet of his library and rarely presented out-
side of Longbourn. He is intelligent with a wry sense of humour,
but appears largely resigned and passive as to his family’s fate
unless driven by propriety. Which of the two parents is truly
doing the best for their children is a topic that can be hotly con-
tested. He favours Lizzy and considers his other daughters and
Mrs. Bennet herself “very silly”. He provides the counter to his
wife’s materialistic approach to matrimony and urges Lizzy to
marry only a partner she loves and respects (hinting that he
himself did not).

Mr. William Collins

Mr. Collins is Mr. Bennet’s cousin and heir to the

Longbourn Estate. He is a clergyman and has the living at
the parish of Hunsford in Kent, thanks to his patroness Lady
Catherine de Bourgh (Mr. Darcy’s aunt). Despite his excessive
obsequiousness to his social superiors, and especially to Lady
Catherine, he has a very good opinion of himself at having
achieved a comfortable living so young. His manner, therefore,
is a peculiar mix of humility and arrogance that presents as
bragging as to the wealth of his connections and a moral supe-
riority to judge others.
Officers of the Militia

Aside from Wickham, few of the militia officers are

named or characterised. The named junior officers are Captain
Carter, Denny, Chamberlayne and Pratt; they are typically por-
trayed as bon-vivants, always on the look-out for drink, money,
good meals and approachable girls with whom to flirt. The
Napoleonic Wars raged intermittently on the continent, but the
militia’s ostensible purpose was to defend the country and so
the officers were not in danger of being posted overseas. In real-
ity, militia regiments such as these were more typically used to
squash riots and internal sedition and so were moved around
the country to avoid them sympathising with locals. Such a life
could be very convenient for young gentlemen who built up
debts with local tradesmen they could not afford to repay. The
novel doesn’t state where the regiment was raised (calling it
only “the ——shire”).

The militia’s commander is Colonel Foster. He is signif-

icant in the novel to the extent that he married a young woman
who becomes best friends with Lydia, which results in Lydia
being invited to Brighton with them when the militia moves
there.
 Act 2 Scene 2
Overview

After a lengthy interval, Lizzy and Darcy encounter

each other by chance; Lizzy while visiting her friend Charlotte
Lucas (now Mrs. Collins) and Darcy while visiting his aunt Lady
Catherine de Bourgh, Mr. Collins’s patron.

Questions to Answer Before the Scene

Lizzy,

How have you impressed Lady Catherine?

Darcy,

Is your arrival at Rosings while Lizzy is here a complete

accident?

Starting Cards

Lizzy begins with the 5 through Jack of Hearts. Darcy’s

player then chooses two cards from her hand and removes
them.

Darcy begins with the 5, 8, Jack of Diamonds. Lizzy’s

player then adds two additional Diamonds.

Scene

Rosings Park, the drawing room after dinner.

Lizzy,

Though you question her choice in husband, you are

loyal enough to your friend Charlotte to have agreed to visit her
in her new arrangement. You have found some diversion in the
grand Rosings Park and witnessing the follies and nonsense of
its occupants, but spending so long with Mr. and Mrs. Collins, as
well as the overbearing Lady Catherine, has grown most tedious
and awkward (though it has at least confirmed that you were
right to refuse Mr. Collins’s proposal for all that it now means
that Charlotte will become mistress of Longborn).

Darcy provides fresh young company, especially as he

brings with him his affable and entertaining cousin, Colonel
Fitzwilliam. Your preference for Wickham has faded as, before
you left Hertfordshire, he started courting a young heiress. Both
he and Colonel Fitzwilliam, you have learned, feel obliged to
marry for money and so, despite their admiration, cannot have
serious intention towards you. With this, your anger towards
Mr. Darcy has lessened as well, especially as you have learned he
is destined to be matched with Lady Catherine’s daughter, who
appears sickly and dull. You consider she will make him a very
proper wife. Jane has been in town, hoping to meet Mr. Bingley,
but without success. Instead, she has written to you that she
now realises that she was duped in Miss Bingley’s regard and
she has given up of Mr. Bingley caring for her at all.

Darcy,

Etiquette and respect for your late mother obliges you

to visit your aunt, Lady Catherine. You typically find these
dreary occasions; Lady Catherine, while certainly direct, is too
used to the fawning of those with whom she surrounds herself
and sometimes displays a want of propriety. She has a design,
also, that you marry her daughter. To improve the visit, you
have brought your cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, who, much like
Charles Bingley, has an easy, open manner and is happy to
be the spotlight of the company. You may wish to renew your
acquaintance with Miss Elizabeth, especially here where you
are more comfortable and other distractions, such as her family
and Wickham, are far distant.

Named Third Parties

Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Miss de Bourgh and Mrs.

Jenkinson; Mr. & Mrs. Collins and Maria Lucas; Colonel
Fitzwilliam.

List of New Characters

Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Miss Anne de Bourgh and

Mrs. Jenkinson

Lady Catherine is sister to Mr. Darcy’s mother, Lady Anne

Darcy, and daughter of the late Earl Fitzwilliam. She is socially
the most senior character featured in the novel and, unlike the
aspirational and pretentious Miss Bingley, is true aristocracy.
She is imperious and dominating in conversation, especially to
those whom she acts as patron (such as Mr. Collins). She con-
siders herself a benevolent ruler of all in her parish “whenever
any of the cottagers were disposed to be quarrelsome, discon-
tented, or too poor, she sallied forth into the village to settle
their differences, silence their complaints, and scold them into
harmony and plenty.”

Lady Catherine considers that she acts in loco parentis

for Darcy and his sister and is entirely confident that he will
marry her daughter, Anne, when she tells him to. Anne herself
is described as pale and sickly, speaking little and eating less.
In Lady Catherine’s mind, Anne would be the finest and most
talented of all ladies had not her ill-health prevented it. Lady
Catherine interacts with her daughter rarely, however, and
instead employs Mrs. Jenkinson as Anne’s constant nursemaid.

Colonel Fitzwilliam

Colonel Fitzwilliam is the youngest son of the current

Earl Fitzwilliam (Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s and Lady Anne
Darcy’s brother) and therefore first cousin to Lady Anne’s chil-
dren (Mr. Darcy and Georgiana) as well as Lady Catherine’s
daughter (Anne). Noble estates are not typically split between
children and so second and subsequent sons have to find a living
of their own. Traditionally, the second son goes into the Church,
while the third goes into the Army. Fitzwilliam is presented as,
while not handsome, extremely gentlemanly, entertaining and
courteous to Lizzy. In turn, Lizzy understands that, as he feels
he must marry for money, while he finds her attractive, he has
no intentions towards her.

Within the novel, the character’s primary purpose is to

act as an honest channel of information to Lizzy, first of Darcy’s
meddling in the relationship of Charles and Jane and later, as
witness to Wickham’s prior behaviour with Georgiana.
 Act 3 Scene 1
Overview

Lizzy encounters Darcy while taking a walk through

Rosings Park.

Questions to Answer Before the Scene

Lizzy,

Darcy has ‘chanced’ across you on numerous occasions

while walking. What has he previously asked or discussed with
you?

Darcy,

How has Lizzy responded in your previous conversations?

Starting Cards

Lizzy begins with the 2 through 8 of Hearts. Darcy’s

player then chooses two cards from her hand and removes
them.

Darcy begins with the 2, 5, 8 of Diamonds. Lizzy’s player

then adds two additional Diamonds.

Scene

Rosings Park, a walk in the grounds.

Lizzy,
 Darcy’s attention to you puzzles you exceedingly.
Etiquette demands you are polite, but you are loath to be more
than that.

Darcy,

You have extended your stay at Rosings Park several

times so as to stay in the company of Miss Bennet, but now it is
close to an end. You’re aware that after you leave you may never
encounter her again. Fortunately, her love of walking and the
extensive grounds of Rosings Park lend themselves to ‘chance’
meetings that allow private conversations rather than you call-
ing on her when she was alone, which would be quite improper.
You have realised that you are now very fixed in your admira-
tion for her, but fear that she may not wish to marry or settle
at a place such as Pemberley relatively distant from her family.
You have this encounter to determine, without showing your
own hand, her feelings on such matters.

Named Third Parties

None
 Act 3 Scene 2
Overview

Darcy has a private interview with Lizzy.

Questions to Answer Before the Scene

Darcy,

How did you meddle in the courtship of Charles Bingley

and Miss Jane Bennet?

Lizzy,

How did you discover Darcy’s involvement?

Starting Cards

Lizzy begins with the 2, 3, 4, Jack, Queen, King, Ace of

Hearts. Darcy’s player then chooses two cards from her hand
and removes them.

Darcy begins with the Jack through King of Diamonds.

Lizzy’s player then adds two additional Diamonds.

Scene

Hunsford Parsonage, the drawing room.

Lizzy,

You have learned that Darcy congratulates himself for

separating his friend from Jane and ruining her hopes of hap-
piness. In your distress, you cannot bear to face him and so
have stayed at Hunsford while Mr. & Mrs. Collins and the other
members of the household attend Lady Catherine.

Darcy,

You leave Rosings the day after next and, if you stay
quiet as logic and reason demand, you will likely never see Miss
Bennet again. But you cannot deny your feelings and admira-
tion for her. She has remained at Hunsford this evening while
the rest of her party has come to Rosings. This is your opportu-
nity to ask her for a private interview without exposing yourself
to the gossip of her companions. If you propose, you know that
her family will count it as quite the victory to have ensnared
you. It will also cause distress to your aunt and open you up to
the mockery of your friends.

Named Third Parties

None

Notes

In this scene, Darcy may choose to propose to Lizzy

(requires his player to play a face card) or not. If he does so,
Lizzy may accept or decline. If Lizzy accepts, then follow the
guidance for them being engaged in later scenes.
 Act 4 Scene 1
Overview

If they are not engaged, Lizzy visits Pemberley with her

aunt & uncle. When Darcy returns early, both are surprised to
encounter each other.

If they are engaged, Darcy has invited Lizzy to see

Pemberley with her aunt & uncle as chaperones. They are stay-
ing in a nearby village as it would be improper for Lizzy to stay
under the same roof before they are married.

Questions to Answer Before the Scene

Darcy,

After the prior scene, you wrote Lizzy a letter. What did
you write in it?

Lizzy,

Since visiting Pemberley, what have you learnt of Darcy’s

character that is changing your opinion of him?

Starting Cards

Lizzy begins with the 2 through 8 of Hearts. Darcy’s

player then chooses two cards from her hand and removes
them.

Darcy begins with the 5 through 7 of Diamonds. Lizzy’s

player then adds two additional Diamonds.

Scene

Pemberley, the grounds of the estate

Lizzy,

At Pemberley you have discovered a different side to

Darcy to both Darcy and Wickham.

Darcy,

You are home and amongst those with whom you feel
comfortable. You are proud of Pemberley, but know it has been
the work of many generations before you. If you are engaged
then you are taking time to work your relations so that they do
not boycott your wedding. You do not need their blessing, but
would prefer them to see sense and accept your choice.

Named Third Parties

Mr. & Mrs. Gardiner

List of New Characters

Mr. & Mrs. Gardiner

Mr. Gardiner is brother to Mrs. Bennet and uncle to Lizzy

and her sisters. He is portrayed as a sensible and gentlemanlike
man, who makes his living in trade and has a home in London
(though in the mercantile area of Cheapside, rather than more
prestigious areas favoured by the aristocracy).
 Mrs. Gardiner is described as amiable, intelligent and
elegant, who has particular regard for Jane and Lizzy. Mrs.
Gardiner in particular advises Lizzy on her romantic attach-
ments and urges her to avoid encouraging Wickham. Mrs.
Gardiner grew up in Derbyshire, near to Darcy’s estate of
Pemberley. In the novel, these characters serve the purpose of
providing a reason for Lizzy to be visiting Pemberley without
the rest of her family, thus allowing her to reconnect with Darcy
even after it appeared they had gone their separate ways.
 Act 4 Scene 2
Overview

Darcy interrupts Lizzy just as she receives terrible news.

Questions to Answer Before the Scene

Lizzy,

What scandal has emerged?

Darcy,

How are you tied to it?

Starting Cards

Lizzy begins with the 2, 3, 4, 8, Queen, King, Ace of

Hearts. Darcy’s player then chooses two cards from her hand
and removes them.

Darcy begins with the Jack through King of Diamonds.

Lizzy’s player then adds two additional Diamonds.

Scene

Lambton, the Gardiners’ rooms at the inn.

Lizzy,

You have just read letters from Jane relating a scandal

that will ruin the reputation of your family. You have only just
read this news and are shaken when Darcy walks in.

Darcy,

You have come to Lambton to invite Lizzy and her party

to another event. You can see Lizzy is distressed.

Named Third Parties

None

Notes

Due to the suddenness of the news and lack of detail, if

they are engaged, neither Lizzy nor Darcy may propose break-
ing the engagement in this scene.
 Act 5 Scene 1
Overview

Lizzy sees Darcy again, but they cannot speak in private.

Questions to Answer Before the Scene

Lizzy,

What was the public explanation as to how the scandal

was resolved?

Darcy,

What role did you play in the resolution of the scandal?

Lizzy,

How did you discover Darcy’s role?

Starting Cards

Lizzy begins with the 2 through 8 of Hearts. Darcy’s

player then chooses two cards from her hand and removes
them.

Darcy begins with the 2, 3, 5 of Diamonds. Lizzy’s player

then adds two additional Diamonds.

Scene

Longbourn, the parlour.

Lizzy,

The scandal has been resolved and Longbourn has been

peaceful. Now Mr. Bingley has returned to Netherfield and
local society is high with speculation as to his intentions. You
wonder more at Mr. Darcy’s joining him. You thought it most
likely that you would never see him again. Your mother receives
Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy and so there is no chance of private
conversation with either.

Darcy,

Bingley has returned to Netherfield determined to see

Miss Jane Bennet once more. As his close friend, you have gone
with him, but whether you have counselled him to make her
an offer or not is your choice. You are received by Mrs. Bennet
and so there is no chance of private conversation with Lizzy or
anyone else.

Named Third Parties

Mrs. Bennet, Jane, Mary and Kitty Bennet; Mr. Bingley.

 Act 5 Scene 2
Overview

Lizzy and Darcy may finally speak freely to one another.

Questions to Answer Before the Scene

Lizzy,

Lady Catherine de Bourgh visited you before this scene

in order to exact a promise from you (if you are engaged) to
break the engagement with Darcy or (if not) to deny rumours
that you are engaged and assure her that you will never enter
into such an engagement. How did you respond?

Darcy,

Bingley has now proposed to Jane and been accepted.

How were you involved, if at all, in Bingley making this decision?

Starting Cards

Both characters may speak freely. Cards are not used.

Scene

Bingley and Jane are now engaged and take a walk with
Lizzy and Darcy. Lizzy and Darcy are soon left behind and may
have a private conversation.

Lizzy, This is a chance to say anything you wish to Darcy.

Darcy,

This is a chance to say anything you wish to Lizzy.

Named third parties

None

Notes

This scene cannot end until both players are clear on

Lizzy and Darcy’s future marital state.

Illustration credit

C.E. Brock, 1907

Through All These Years

A game for two players about the lifelong

complexity of parent-child relations
By Moyra Turkington
 Who are we?
One of you is the parent, the other is the adult child
of that parent. Classically a parent may be a birth mother or
father, but parenthood can be adopted, inherited, fostered, or
burdened. All of these are possible as long as the relationship is
long, deep, imbued, entrenched and complicated.

HOW DO WE PLAY?

Standing up, sitting down, in the park, on the phone, on

a stage or all alone; no matter.

Do what feels right between the two of you.

The game is a series of scenes that will defy chronology:

meetings, partings, screamings, reveals, vigils, heartbreaks,
handholds, and leaps of faith. It forms a narrative like quilts
do: in pieces and patterns of memory that fit together to make a
whole.

Your characters will be unreliable reporters on the hap-

penings of your lives. Parents and children are too tied together
to allow for objective reality.

Sometimes thinking about parent-child dynamics can

create powerful emotions. Playing this game together means a
commitment to seeing each other safely through the experience.
 Play Scenes
Once you have made your characters, you’ll start playing
scenes of your lives together. The parent will start – as parents
do – and then you will take turns.

When it’s your turn, select a scene card. Briefly describe

the circumstances of the scene to give it context, and then play
it through.

Guidelines
Scenes do not need to proceed in chronological order;
flashbacks or flash-forwards in time are part of play.

All scenes develop the relationship between parent

and child. Sometimes that means a scene where they interact
directly; sometimes this means they are conspicuously apart.

Most cards can be reused by the other player with differ-

ent events, if desired.

Ending The Game

The game ends when the card “The Day You Lost Me” is
selected by a player and this final scene is played. If the charac-
ters are not together in this scene, make sure the other player
has a chance to describe what happens as a result.
Credits

Photo by Igor Ovsyannykov

Game design by Moyra Turkington, inspired by the song “I Bet

My Life” by Imagine Dragons, 2014

About The Author

Moyra Turkington is a Canadian larpwright and RPG designer

best known as the creator and curator of the War Birds games
about women fighting on the front lines of history. You can find
more of her work at www.unrulydesigns.com.
With Fire Thy Affections
Hold A Wing

By Taylor LaBresh
 Two worlds spin as one in the misty air of the void. Two
imposing rocks alight in fog. Both worlds ripple with aerie crags
and the rush of wind buffets those who live on their surface. The
wings of dragons fly here, and those who ride them know the air
well.

Two worlds spin as one as dragon and rider come together,

looping acrobatics through the void. Just as the inhabitants of
one world are unaware of the other, so too are the initiate and
the hatchling, neither connected to the other, only thinking of
themself.

Two worlds spin as one, and as the colossal spheres

hurtle towards each other on a cataclysmic collision course, the
souls of rider and dragon move to intersect as well. At the end
of this story, both will be one, or both will be none.

Overview
This is a social fiction game for two players. Together,
you will tell the story of a young dragon and its young rider,
both coming of age against an apocalyptic background. You will
both tell the story, but each person will take ownership of their
character’s actions, words, and perspective.

The game will play simply as an improvised roleplay ses-

sion. You will tell this story together in framed scenes, making
wagers about what story beats will happen in each scene. If
you play it safe, your story will be easier to tell, but it may not
have the happiest outcome. If you play it risky, you will have
to be on your toes as an improviser and will have scenes full of
expectations. The game may be harder to play but will have a
much better ending.

As you play scenes and make wagers, you will bond with
one another, blending the souls of dragon and rider. The more
story beats you wager and include in your scenes, the more
Bonds you will produce with your partner. However, if you
wager a story beat and your scene does not deliver, you will lose
Bonds as the egos of dragon and rider clash.

At the end of every scene the other world, a mirror of

your own, moves closer. After five scenes, it collides with yours,
and you will undergo an apocalyptic test. If you are bonded well,
you will survive. If you bonded poorly, you will perish.

You Will Need

A ball or roll of yarn, the longer the better.

A copy of these rules and the Prologue, Wagers, and Bonds

Results sheets found at the end of this document.

Writing utensils.

An open space, free of hazards.

A pair of scissors.

(Optional) tape to create loops if you are not comfortable or

able to tie loose knots.

(Optional) beads or other tokens to represent Bonds if you are

not comfortable with or able to use yarn for this mechanic.

(Optional) a computer, phone, or other way to find and play one

(or more depending on your pacing) of those “1 Hour Of Epic
Cinematic Music Compilation” videos online.

A Note on Touch and Safety:

Bonds and Boundaries

Bonds are represented in this game by grasping hands

with your partner and looping or draping yarn or cloth around
your grasped hands. You will be making many bonds during
this game, so it will be incredibly important not to loop tightly
as circulation is important. If you notice circulation is lost, stop
play immediately and address this.

Some people are not comfortable with touch and some

people are not comfortable with being bound. This is totally ok
and representing bonds in some other way is totally fine. During
fiction there may also be other occasions where touch may be
incorporated into the story for various reasons. Talk with your
partner about what is and is not appropriate before you start to
play. Generally, sensitive areas like the face, neck, chest, and
underwear region are off limits, but if those areas are appropri-
ate for touch, let your partner know ahead of time.

Boundaries can also change during the course of play.

These boundaries can include what is and is not acceptable
forms of touch, as well as sensitive themes or topics, and can
even be physical requirements in your playspace. If your partner
asks you to stop or ease back on anything during play, do so.

Cut, Pause, and Brake

Play using the terms “Cut”, “Pause”, and “Brake”.

“Cut” signifies the end of a scene, image, or topic. If

something is cut, it’s gone forever from the game’s past, pres-
ent, and future if it needs to be.

“Pause” is used to halt a scene to talk about what is going

on. Pausing a scene is a good way to check in on your partner,
or to let them know how you are dealing with something hap-
pening in game. Pauses can lead to cuts, but don’t always have
to. Sometimes pauses can lead to Brakes.

Use “Brake” if you want to ease back on something but

still keep it in fiction. You can use the Brakes to make some-
thing being described graphically into something mentioned in
passing, or lighten its impact on the story.

You do not have to explain why you are using any of these
tools if you don’t want to. If your partner requests that you Cut,
Pause, or Brake, you must respect their wishes.

Games are meant to be played for enjoyment and enrich-

ment. If at any time you are not enjoying your experience, take a
moment to break fiction and talk to your partner. It is ok to stop
play at any time.
 Form and Structure
Roles

Decide who will be taking on the role of dragon and who

will take on the role as rider.

If you prefer talking in character rather than narrating

your character’s actions, you may want to choose the Rider.

If you prefer narrating the events of the story in third

person, you may prefer the Dragon.

The Rider is free to narrate, and the Dragon is free to

speak, these are just tonal suggestions.

Background

Read through the opening mad-lib to set the scene of the

game. This call and response will help establish a mood for the
game and also set you up with some introductory details to get
you going. Once the introduction has been read, grasp hands
with each person holding the other’s forearm and loop the first
loop of yarn around your joined wrists. It may be smart to grasp
with your non-dominant hand if you have the option to do so.

Wagers

There are five scenes to play through. As you play through

each scene, read the title of the scene and review each role’s
wagers involved. Wagers are story beats and elements that may
come up during a scene. If you see a wager listed that you think
will come up in play, make a mental count of it. Once you have
looked at your wager list and counted your wagers, tell your
partner how many you have chosen. You must choose at least
one.

When you act out each scene, keep these wagers in mind.
When a scene ends, reveal which wagers you made to your
partner. If a wager happened in the fiction (for example if you
chose “I will give the Dragon a gift” and during your scene, gave
the Dragon something that would count as a gift) gently loop
another round of yarn around your grasped hands. If you made
a wager but did not include it in the fiction, do not loop the yarn.

After you’ve chosen your wagers, set aside this document

and act out the scene with your partner. There are really only a
few guidelines to follow when acting out these scenes.

1. Always respect your partner’s boundaries. If they ask you to

stop for any reason, do so. Follow the rules listed in our Note on
Touch and Safety.

2. Avoid overwriting something your partner has established

about the story. Occasionally forgetting something that’s been
said is ok and happens all the time. Intentionally disregarding
story elements, or disregarding plot that your partner has cre-
ated is not ok.

3. With the exception of the final events of the story, your char-
acters should never die or be seriously hurt. Place your charac-
ters in danger, please, but know that the story must hinge on
their flight for survival in the final act. Until then the stakes can
be high, but not high enough to warrant actual death or any
serious injury or calamity. Don’t let this prevent the characters
from thinking that those things are possible, however. The illu-
sion of danger is much more important than actual danger.

4. If there are any disputes over details, talk briefly over your
opinions on the story. If you can resolve your dispute in con-
versation, that’s the best option. If neither of you are willing to
budge, bid Bonds over it. Whoever is prepared to sacrifice the
most Bonds over this dispute gets their way and must cut the
bonds themself. These Bonds are lost forever.

Prologue
The prologue is When We Met On The Cliffs, and takes
place after you have decided who is playing who, and you both
have tied the first bond around your wrists. The Prologue tells
of how the Rider stumbles upon the Dragon, fresh from the egg,
on a precarious cliff hanging off into the misty abyss. Use the
prologue to establish details about your world and the charac-
ters you’ll be playing. This sets the stage for the bond between
Rider and Dragon. After this scene the second planet becomes
barely visible in the night sky.

The script to use for When We Met On The Cliffs is:

Rider: It was a __________ day when I found you, and I was

lost.

Dragon: I was ___________ on that cliff, hanging to life.

R: We both were there at the end of our ropes. When I approached
you, you __________ .

D: I was afraid you would ______________ .

R: I saw your _______________, (looking/smelling/sound-

ing) _______________ .

D: You said ___________________ and I knew you meant

no harm.

Together: We saved each other that day, and began a bond that
would lead us to the end of the world.

Scenes
Scene 1: When We Tested Our Boundaries

In this scene, the Rider and Dragon get to know each

other and push each other in small ways. Mild annoyances,
quirks, and clashes are common between young dragons and
their riders and this scene explores all of that. That said, these
testing periods are also full of wide eyed wonder and joy. The
thrill of two souls meeting and twirling in this dance, exploring
what is capable of each other, is exhilarating. After this scene
resolves the other planet moves closer as the weeks pass. It’s
now odd talk around town.
The wagers for this scene are:

Dragon

I will catch a wild animal for the Rider to eat

I will show the Rider my hoard

I will dump the Rider unceremoniously into a body of water

I will scare the Rider with an unorthodox maneuver

I will singe the Rider’s clothing or hair

Rider

I will tell the Dragon a story about my youth

I will give the Dragon a trinket or bauble to wear

I will steer the Dragon over a dangerous landmark

I will kiss the ground after a stomach turning stunt

I will sustain a minor wound

Scene 2: When We First Faced Danger

Danger can be anything, and the instigator of danger

can be anyone. In this scene, scare each other. Put yourself in
danger and demand help from the other. Be afraid and insecure
about your abilities, and escalate the situation whenever possi-
ble. Remember that this danger is not final, nor should it be. You
will have world-ending danger to face at the end of the game. At
the height of the danger in this scene, you should make it out by
working together and saving each other from harm. At the end
of this scene, the other planet is uncomfortably close now and
takes up the majority of the sky. There is no doubt that collision
is coming.

The wagers for this scene are:

Dragon

I will deafen the area with a defensive roar

I will become so hurt I am unable to pick myself up

I will endanger the Rider because I am too afraid to face the

danger

I will consume something valuable with my flames in order to

protect the Rider

I will face the danger to my own detriment

Rider

I will know the danger from my past

I will rush headlong into danger even though I have no scales to

protect me

I will spit blood to the floor and wipe my mouth with the back
of my hand
I will fall off of the Dragon mid-flight

I will blackout at the worst time

Scene 3: When We Shared A Comforting Embrace

Salving wounds, sharing the night sky, sparkling water

falling through jagged rock formations stretching to the sky like
bony fingers. At night Dragon and Rider tend to their scrapes
and bruises and reflect on their bond. Accentuate the moon-
light as it glints off of crystals. Set the mood as sensuously as
you can, and be gentle in this scene. Dragons have tusks and
claws and harsh scales, but in the soft light those tusks are
smooth, claws caress, and scales are comfortably cool. Riders
may be brash and hot headed, with squishy bodies in need of
protection, but at this glade, in the light of the stars and the
approaching planet, that brashness gives way to gentle asser-
tiveness, and the squishy body is soft and warm at your side.
At the end of this scene, the planet moves closer every day, the
tides begin to drastically change. Your community is at panic.
If you look hard enough you can see mirrored in the air of the
second world, riders and dragons just like yourself. Do they feel
the same emotions you do?

The wagers for this scene are:

Dragon

I will warm a body of water with my breath

I will glitter in the moonlight

I will nuzzle the Rider with my snout

I will lick the Rider’s wounds

I will howl into the beautiful night sky

Rider

I will entertain the Dragon with tricks or stories

I will give the Dragon a gift

I will salve the Dragon’s wounds

I will hold the Dragon’s head in both my hands

I will watch the mist from our breath rise into the night sky

Scene 4: When We Soared With One Set Of Wings

With our bond growing stronger every day, we are nearly

unstoppable. Soaring through the spires of sharp mountains, we
loop and dazzle with acrobatic displays. Pirouettes and spirals
on one set of wings, with Rider and Dragon moving together as
one. Daredevil displays and risky maneuvers are now as easy as
breathing, and we do both as one body. Mirrored movements
belay a bond more than physical, both Rider and Dragon share
one mind now. This scene showcases the strongest bond ever
known. This is more than a joyous ride in the sky, however.
You two have been called to complete some task. Someone is
in danger, an item needs gathered from a dangerous locale,
or an urgent message needs sending. Who sent you, who calls
for assistance from a brave Dragon and their exuberant Rider?
What impressive display do you flare out while saving the day?
At the end of this scene, after we have saved the day, the planets
start to fall.

The wagers for this scene are:

Dragon

I will scream joy into the sky

I will spiral downwards, pulling up at the last moment

I will admire the Rider’s flowing hair

I will ride the thermals, wings still and heart flowing

I will save the day

Rider

I will stand tall on the Dragon, with no need to hold on at all

I will admire our shadow, as it looks like one beast in flight over
the ground

I will lose myself in the smell of the air and the feeling of the
Dragon’s muscles under mine

I will share my plan with the Dragon without speaking a single

word
Scene 5: When We Faced The Apocalypse

We can see the faces of the riders from another world.

As gravity blends between the geologic colossi we can meet the
other riders on their world with a powerful leap. The planets
move to intersect and as the clash of rocks and rending of stone
splits the air, powerful storms burn up the atmosphere. There
is no denying that this is the end of the world, of both worlds.
We must save who we can, move them to far ends of our home,
we must do the impossible and find safe havens for those we
love as our planets collide. If our bond is strong enough we can
push ourselves past the limits of what would be possible alone.
However, if our bond splinters, falters, harbors any imperfec-
tions, the day will be lost. We live on small worlds and with this
collision, however apocalyptic as it may seem, there may be
hope of a salvageable future. Riding through splintering spires,
moving mountains, collapsing cliffs, and breaking bluffs, we
ride on wings that grow fatigued. We must push, push, push to
the end. Now is time to tally our bonds and determine our fate.
Consult the Bonds table to determine how the climax of this
story ends.

The wagers for this scene are:

Dragon

I will race between closing teeth of jagged rock

I will take a blow that would have destroyed the Rider

I will see another dragon crushed to death under a meteoric
boulder

I will be unable to save the Rider when they ask for help

I will burn when it seems all hope is lost

Rider

I will see death approach for my friends

I will run to the Dragon’s side as a mountain falls

I will be knocked from the Dragon by the impact from a massive

boulder

I will stare up at the destruction, unable to move

I will temper like hot steel when it seems all hope is lost

Epilogue: When We Saw The End

These are the final words of our story. This scene gives
us the opportunity to show images of our fate. Based on your
Bond Results (see the chart at the end of this document) you
will have a varying number of images available to narrate. This
scene should be like a montage, with small images or move-
ments. Alternate between players, with the Rider starting first.
Use this epilogue to wrap threads, to put a cap on emotions,
and to provide what closure we can. It may not be possible to
resolve everything that came up during play, so choose wisely.
Give narrative priority to what you think is important. If you
received a good ending based on the amount of bonds you had
in the final scene, narrate how your lives recover after the cat-
aclysm. If your ending was less than favorable, narrate still
images, debris floating in the mist, or images of grief.

The Bond results are as follows

0-10 Bonds: The worlds have ended, taking you both with it.
Only debris remains. Each person has only one image to show
during the Epilogue.

10-20 Bonds: The worlds are left in tatters, barely survivable.

One of you pulls themself from the rubble, the other is gone
forever. You each have two images to show.

20-30 Bonds: The cataclysm has taken both planets, but you
are both alive. You survey the destruction and give thanks for
your lives. You both get three images.

30-40 Bonds: Through your bravery you have pulled through.

The worlds will never be the same but you have each other and
you have hope for the days ahead. You have four Images.

40+ Bonds: The smith’s forge holds no candle to the flame of

your hearts. You both live, having saved many. Your eyes look
to the misty sky and your hearts look to the future. You each get
five images.

Once the epilogue ends, cut your bonds and let go of the other
person’s hand. The game is over.
Reference Pages
When We Met On The Cliffs

Fill out and then read this script as you begin the Prologue

Rider: It was a __________ day when I found you, and I was

lost.

Dragon: I was ___________ on that cliff, hanging to life.

R: We both were there at the end of our ropes. When I approached

you, you __________ .

D: I was afraid you would ______________ .

R: I saw your _______________, (looking/smelling/sound-

ing) _______________ .

D: You said ___________________ and I knew you meant

no harm.

Together: We saved each other that day, and began a bond that
would lead us to the end of the world.

Wagers
When We Tested Our Boundaries

Dragon

I will catch a wild animal for the Rider to eat

I will show the Rider my hoard

I will dump the Rider unceremoniously into a body of water

I will scare the Rider with an unorthodox maneuver

I will singe the Rider’s clothing or hair

Rider

I will tell the Dragon a story about my youth

I will give the Dragon a trinket or bauble to wear

I will steer the Dragon over a dangerous landmark

I will kiss the ground after a stomach turning stunt

I will sustain a minor wound

When We First Faced Danger

Dragon

I will deafen the area with a defensive roar

I will become so hurt I am unable to pick myself up

I will endanger the Rider because I am too afraid to face the

danger

I will consume something valuable with my flames in order to

protect the Rider
I will face the danger to my own detriment

Rider

I will know the danger from my past

I will rush headlong into danger even though I have no scales to

protect me

I will spit blood to the floor and wipe my mouth with the back
of my hand

I will fall off of the Dragon mid-flight

I will blackout at the worst time

When We Shared A Comforting Embrace

Dragon

I will warm a body of water with my breath

I will glitter in the moonlight

I will nuzzle the Rider with my snout

I will lick the Rider’s wounds

I will howl into the beautiful night sky

Rider

I will entertain the Dragon with tricks or stories

I will give the Dragon a gift

I will salve the Dragon’s wounds

I will hold the Dragon’s head in both my hands

I will watch the mist from our breath rise into the night sky

When We Soared With One Set Of Wings

Dragon

I will scream joy into the sky

I will spiral downwards, pulling up at the last moment

I will admire the Rider’s flowing hair

I will ride the thermals, wings still and heart flowing

I will save the day

Rider

I will stand tall on the Dragon, with no need to hold on at all

I will admire our shadow, as it looks like one beast in flight over
the ground

I will lose myself in the smell of the air and the feeling of the
Dragon’s muscles under mine

I will share my plan with the Dragon without speaking a single

word
I will save the day

When We Faced The Apocalypse

Dragon

I will race between closing teeth of jagged rock

I will take a blow that would have destroyed the Rider

I will see another dragon crushed to death under a meteoric

boulder

I will be unable to save the Rider when they ask for help

I will burn when it seems all hope is lost

Rider

I will see death approach for my friends

I will run to the Dragon’s side as a mountain falls

I will be knocked from the Dragon by the impact from a massive

boulder

I will stare up at the destruction, unable to move

I will temper like hot steel when it seems all hope is lost
 Bonds Results
Count how many Bonds you have around your grasped
hands and consult the table below. This is the result of your
story. If you wagered high and capitulated, you will have a pos-
itive ending. If you wagered and failed, or if you did not wager
enough, it will end in tragedy.

0-10 Bonds: The worlds have ended, taking you both with it.
Only debris remains. Each person has only one image to show
during the Epilogue.

10-20 Bonds: The worlds are left in tatters, barely survivable.

One of you pulls themself from the rubble, the other is gone
forever. You each have two images to show.

20-30 Bonds: The cataclysm has taken both planets, but you
are both alive. You survey the destruction and give thanks for
your lives. You both get three images.

30-40 Bonds: Through your bravery you have pulled through.

The worlds will never be the same but you have each other and
you have hope for the days ahead. You have four Images.

40+ Bonds: The smith’s forge holds no candle to the flame of

your hearts. You both live, having saved many. Your eyes look
to the misty sky and your hearts look to the future. You each get
five images.
Illustration credit

Taylor Livingston, 2018

 Common Ground

A Game of Images, Maps, Decisions & Love Stories

By Johannes Oppermann
 What this is
Common Ground a cozy story game for two about build-
ing a relationship as a collaborative work of art. You will sit in a
quiet place with your partner and create a visual, metaphorical
map of your characters’ relationship. You will find out about
their inner selves, their stories, their wishes, their aspirations,
and their love as you go along. When you’re finished, your table
will show you a visual representation of their bond.

There may be a little roleplaying, but there is no conflict

resolution system or GM. It’s as much about the process as it is
about the result.

Play space and materials

Gather a few blank index cards, sticky notes, and sheets

of paper. You will also need pencils - colored, if you have them
- and markers to write and draw.

For your playing space, you’ll want a quiet room, a table, refresh-
ing drinks and snacks, and about 2-3 hours of uninterrupted
time.

Create characters & setting

Decide with your partner if you would like to play this

game as yourselves, as fictional characters you create, or some-
thing in between. You can even play as each other if you like.
For a sweet spot, create a character with some facets that mirror
your own personality, and some that are distinctly different.
 If you decide to play as fictional characters, take a minute
or two to choose a general setting, tone, and genre for your love
story. Any background will work as long as you agree on it.
Think in broad strokes, there is no need for details now, those
will come in the course of the game.

Each player should write the name of their character on

both sides of a tented index card. Below the character names,
write a headline or title for your love story. Place this tented
card in front of you so you and your partner can read it easily.

In character, take your lover to the table. Keep the sticky

notes, paper and markers handy.

Hold hands, make eye contact. Say this together: “I want

to build my love with you, from all the pieces of our lives that
matter to us.”

Now start.

Two homes
Each player takes one piece of paper and begins to draw
the separate homes they had before they knew each other. Give
your home a name and write it on the sheet. Take turns describ-
ing things about your home. Draw every detail you describe.
Symbols are fine, just make sure everything you say finds some
sort of visual representation on your map.
Questions to consider:

●What is home like?

●What is beautiful there?

●What is terrible?

●Why is your heart looking for someone to share your life

with?

After 3-5 details, or when you are satisfied, move on to

the next stage.

Stories of home
Take turns giving little snapshots or vignettes of scenes
or events at your homes. You can invite each other into these
scenes as supporting characters, or simply narrate the actions
and events yourself. Draw a picture or symbol for each scene on
your home map.

Questions to consider while telling stories of home:

●What’s giving you life?

●What do you need?

●Who do you need?

●Who needs you?

●What do you want?

●What do you have to give?

●Where do you connect?

●Where do you complement or complete each other?

●Where do you contradict each other?

●Where do you suffocate?

●Where can you breathe freely?

After 3-5 scenes, or when you’re satisfied, continue to

your first meeting.

First meeting
Use a new sheet to collect details about how you meet.
Place it in the middle of the table, above your two sheets. Build
this story moment by moment, taking turns, using new ele-
ments as well as those introduced in the previous stages. Take
your time, as if the events were playing out in slow motion.

Questions to consider:

●Where did you meet?

●What is special?

●What is strange?
●Does your heart beat faster?

●Is there immediate mutuality, or does one pursue the other

at first?

Once you have connected enough moments to bring your

characters together, conclude and move on to the next stage.

Themes of your lives

You now have a new special person in your life. Does that
change you? To find out, each player should write your life’s
themes on sticky notes. Do this separately.

Write out themes and organize them into four categories:

●Resources

●Strengths

●Motivations

●Hesitations

Now look at each other’s themes. Where do you match?

Look for similarities, and for contradictions, and group them.

Imaginary journeys
Tell your lover about your life alone. Look at the draw-
ings and notes you have created and take turns showing little
vignettes of your life before you met. Add pictures to your sheets
where appropriate.
 Choose at least one vignette where you felt at home, in
balance, strong.

Choose at least one vignette where you felt out of your

water, insecure, alone.

Now take your lover with you. How is your life different
with them present? Go on a journey with your lover to their
home. Let them tell you what it’s like there. Describe what it’s
like alone, and what it’s like with you present.

Your common ground

Take a new sheet and place it in the middle of the table
between your two homes. This is your common ground, a place
created just for the two of you.

Name it together and take your mind to this imaginary

place. Take turns building elements and feelings about this
place.

Some questions to consider:

●What is the place like?

●How does it smell?

●What is wonderful there?

●What is scary?
●Is it closer to either one of your homes?

●Is it wonderful or painful to go there? Is it both?

●What other places exist in your shared life? Other people?

●Who welcomes your new love?

●Who is hostile to your new love?

●How much, and how often do you need your home away from
your love?

Draw everything on the map of your common ground.

Label things. When you feel all the important things are there,
you can look ahead together to life’s crossroads.

Life's crossroads
What are the big crossroads & decisions in your life
together? Each player separately writes each one they imag-
ine on a sticky note and places them in the order in which they
think they will encounter them. Each crossroad will either bring
you closer together or further apart.

Ask yourself:

●What will bring you closer?

●What will distance you?

●Can you build a path to love, from the farthest apart to the
closest together?
Compare your paths:

●Do you have the same ones?

●The same order?

●How close is close enough?

●How close is too close?

What is in your heart now?

Describe the place your partner occupies in your heart.

Ask these questions:

●What does it look like?

●Who has been there before?

●Did they leave it in good shape? Or did they trash the place
and rip it to pieces?

●Is it a wide, open space? Or a tiny, cozy place?

●Who else is there?

●Is there room for others?

●Who will live there when your love has gone?

●How do the neighbours get along?

Describe the place you want to have in your lover’s heart.

●What is it like?

●Who else is there?

The Future
Make pictures in your head. Give them names.

Describe vignettes, dream together.

Take turns describing what the other lover wants and needs.

●Give each other compliments when you get it right.

●Talk about where you got it wrong.

●What did you think, what did they think?

Look ahead on your journey.

●What is there?

●Is there a destination?

●Do you agree on where the road is taking you?

●What do you both see on the way?

 Do you want this?
When you are finished, look at the table in front of you.
What does it say? Is this relationship something you will dare to
live? If you do, make eye contact and say “Yes.”

Thanks
A big thank you to my playtesters Julia Bond Ellingboe
and Kitty Stoholski (at Metatopia), and Ida Moen Braateng
(Vienna). And thanks for reading and feedback to Lucian Kahn
and Marek Golonka.

Illustration credit:

Shel Kahn, 2018

 Shelter

By Sara Williamson
 Shelter is a game for two players that answers the ques-
tion: How will you reach the City of Scarabs?

How to Play
Each player will take turns playing the Wanderer, a lone
pilgrim journeying to the mythical City of Scarabs to reunite
with their lost love. While your partner plays the Wanderer,
you will describe the cruel environment and craft a dream-like
landscape with obstacles drawn from your fears. It should take
about an hour, or less, to play.

Touch

This game uses touch as a storytelling mechanic. This may be as

light as brushing fingertips or as intimate as kissing. If you are
familiar with the larp technique Ars Amandi, you may use that
here, but knowing it isn’t necessary.

Before playing, you and your partner will have a conversation

to determine the type of touch desired, and how to position
yourselves during play. You may sit across from one another,
lie down in an embrace, or be in any other position that feels
natural.

The standard here is enthusiastic consent—both players should

feel comfortable with how and where they will be touched, and
confident that any boundaries will be respected.

At any point, either player may pause the game to re-open this
discussion, proceeding only if both players wish to continue.
Setting Up

To begin play, answer the following questions with your part-

ner. You may pick as many choices as you wish, or write your
own.

How was your homeland destroyed?

• By drought and famine

• By strange disease

• By monstrous beasts

• By divine wrath

• By the foolishness of humans

Your people were famed for their beauty. What forms do you
take?

• Enormous bodies

• Feathery bodies

• Scaly bodies

• Shifting bodies

• Human bodies
What terrain must you cross?

• Vast desert

• Mercurial sea

• The heavens

• Sunken ruins littered with bones

• The still stone circle where time does not pass

What rumors of the City have you heard?

• All promises spoken within its walls must be kept.

• Each night the City vanishes into the sand.

• None share a common tongue, but all are understood.

• The City’s rulers are never seen; floating robes and masks
appear in their stead.

• Merchants convey themselves through the streets on the

wings of giant bats.

Once you have answered these questions, each player will take
a moment alone to write down three fears. These are things that
you, the player, are actually afraid of. Take your time, and keep
them secret when you are done.
Playing Scenes

The game consists of five scenes: the first four will be with one
player as the Wanderer and the other as the Narrator, switching
roles after every scene. The fifth scene will be a flashback to the
time before the Wanderer and their love were separated. You
may choose to split or share the two roles. After the flashback is
a short epilogue.

During these scenes you will touch one another according to

the boundaries you and your partner agreed upon earlier. You
should strive for constant physical contact, and to use touch to
convey elements of the story. For example, you might gently
trace your nails on your partner’s skin when describing an elu-
sive memory, place a hand on their cheek when you invoke their
lost love, or grip their hands tightly in a moment of suspense.

Scenes I - IV
As the Narrator

Keep your eyes open and describe to the Wanderer what

they encounter. Use the details generated during setup and your
list of fears (one or two per scene) to describe the landscape
and any people, creatures or objects the Wanderer encounters.
When drawing from your list of fears, you may be as literal or
abstract as you would like—you won’t be forced to reveal what
you wrote down.
As the Wanderer

Keep your eyes closed and react to the narrator’s description of

the landscape around you. Describe your actions, thoughts, and
feelings in the first person. End the scene when you overcome
an obstacle, or it reaches its natural conclusion.

At the end of a scene, switch roles and start a new scene. Repeat
until you each have played both roles twice. Then move on to
the final scene.

Scene V
Just before the Wanderer reaches the city gates you will play a
short flashback scene between the Wanderer and their lost love.
This can be the last moment they shared, the first time they met,
or any point in between. The purpose of this scene is to describe
the sense of anticipation the Wanderer feels—are they excited
and hopeful? Are they filled with a sense of dread? Both?

Discuss how you would like to frame the scene and divide the
roles; one person may play the Wanderer and another their love,
or the roles may be shared. Then decide together whether to
both keep your eyes open or closed while you play it out. Either
way, maintain physical contact.

Epilogue
After the flashback is an epilogue to describe what happens
once the Wanderer passes through the city gates.
You may answer these questions, or create your own:

• What about your love is not as you remembered?

• Which of the rumors about the City of Scarabs are true?

• Will you and your love be parted again?

Thoughts and Credits

Shelter is ©2014 Sara Williamson, originally written for the

INDIE MIXTAPE project, and inspired by the song “Shelter” by
The xx. You don’t need to listen to “Shelter” to play the game,
but you should anyway because it’s beautiful.

Shelter was also inspired by fantastic liminal spaces like the

bath house in Spirited Away, and “I Leapt Off The Mountain.”
by Avery Alder, a reflection on the game Journey.

The gameplay was inspired by Superhero, a great two person

game by Jackson Tegu. The beetle icon above was made by
Freepik from Flaticon.com and is licensed under CC BY 3.0.

If you enjoyed Shelter, you can find my other games at

iamtheonlysara.itch.io

Scarab illustration from Wikipedia Commons

 Anthology Credits
Project Director:
Lucian Kahn

Editing:
Amber Dean, Rick Dean

Layout Lead & Cover Design:

Ash Cheshire

Layout:
Johnathon Grach

All games included in this collection remain under

copyright of their respective designers. No content
of this work may be reproduced without express prior
permission of those designers, except for personal
use. We grant permission to duplicate these materi-
als for the purpose of playing the games.