The Others

Written by Gustavo Coelho

The Others are among us. Who they are, where they came from and what
threat they pose are some of the concerns raised by their arrival, but you
want (or need) to gather all the information you can about them.

It won't be easy... And it will probably be dangerous.

The Game
The Others is a solo journaling game that puts the player in the shoes of
someone who has to gather as much information as they can about a
newly emerging threat that nothing is known about.

This game is based on the mechanics and questions of To Graves

Unknown, by Nick Wedig. To play it you need something to record the
answers (pen and paper, a text file on your computer or even audio
recordings on your cell phone, for example), and (preferably) seven
six-sided dice, divided into three dice pools as follows:
● Three dice for the Enemy’s line of investigation;
● Two dice for the Threat’s line of investigation;
● Two dice for the Hope’s line of investigation.

Enemy
This line of investigation seeks to identify who the Others are: are they
aliens, zombies, androids or explorers from distant lands? Where did they
come from or how were they created?

Threat
This line of investigation seeks to identify what threat the Others pose: do
they intend to exterminate us, do they want to enslave us, or are we just
unlucky enough to be below them on the food chain?
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Hope
This line of investigation seeks to identify how we can survive the threat
that the Others represent: can we face them or should we seek a peaceful
coexistence? If we need to face them, do they have fears or weaknesses? If
they seek our destruction, how can we avoid it?

Playing

Setup
Once you have separated the dice and chosen the recording medium,
determine who your character is and answer the three questions below,
regarding the three lines of investigation:

● Who are the Others?

● What threat do they pose?
● How (if at all possible or necessary) to defeat them?

Keep in mind what each line of investigation represents, but leave it to

delve into them during the game.

Answering Questions
The game will take place in rounds, and in each one a question must be
answered. To find out which question to answer, roll the dice for all lines
of investigation simultaneously; the highest number will determine the
question and the perspective under which it must be answered.

Example: the player rolls seven dice to answer the first question.

● Enemy: 3 + 1 + 2 => 6
● Threat: 2 + 4 => 6
● Hope: 6 + 1 => 7

In the example above, the player will have to answer the question number
7 under the perspective of the Hope line of investigation.

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Whenever a question is answered, the line of investigation that scored the
highest value loses a die. Thus, in the previous example the dice pool for
the Hope line of investigation will be reduced to just one die.

If a line of investigation has a single dice and its number is the highest
obtained, all its future rolls should be treated as being equal to 1.

Example: the player rolls six dice to answer the second question.

● Enemy: 1 + 2 + 1 => 4
● Threat: 3 + 2 => 5
● Hope: 6 => 6

In this example, the player must answer the question number 6 under the
perspective of the Hope line of investigation. For the following questions,
regardless of the number rolled for the Hope line of investigation, it will
always be equal to 1.

If there is a tie between two or three values, the dice pools will remain
unchanged, and the question will have to be answered under the
perspective of all tied lines of investigation; in addition, this question
must be discarded for the future rounds, and you will have to consider the
question below.

Example: the player rolls six dice to answer the third question.

● Enemy: 3 + 1 + 1 => 5
● Threat: 3 + 2 => 5
● Hope: 5 => 1

In this example, the player must answer the question number 5 under
both the Enemy and Threat lines of investigation, and their dice pools will
remain unchanged. If question 5 is rolled again in a future round, the
player must answer question 4.

Finishing the Game

The game will end when you have no other questions to answer.

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Questions
12+ Why do you want (or need) to investigate the Others?

What have you discovered that was unusual or disturbing about

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this line of investigation?

What dangers have you encountered in pursuing this line of

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investigation?

Who knows something about this line of investigation and why

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they didn't tell you anything?

How does following this line of investigation put you or someone

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you care about in danger?

What big secret did you uncover by following this line of

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investigation?

How are you harmed or betrayed by someone involved in the

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investigation?

What startling information makes you doubt what you knew about
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this line of investigation?

What sacrifice do you make to find the answers to this line of

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investigation?

How is this line of investigation closed in the worst possible way

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for you?*

2 Why will you never complete this line of investigation?*

How is this line of investigation closed in the best possible way for
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you?*

* This line of investigation can no longer be followed.

This game is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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