Potential narrative effects of being Void-touched: Potential Moments:

Cross Into Oblivion — by CBass (Give a new effect or progress an existing one) (Set the scene, or transitions between scenes)
• The people around you start forgetting details Act 1:
You have nothing to be afraid of... about you, where you’re from, your name.
• Parchment with scrawling: “From nothing I’ve
Premise: A tragic horror one-shot where those who wish to forget their past must overcome fear itself. • You can’t shake the idea that something terrible come, from nothing I will return. I will never see
will happen to you or the one’s you care about. my family, not even in Yomi. I’m sorry.“
You are ronin who all sought help from a mystic of the Void called an Ishiken. They speak of a sinkhole
north of Scorpion lands within the Spine of the World Mountains. Within lays a great power which can • Recalling a time when speaking with friends or • Leaves gather in the wind, dark figures move
change the destiny of those most courageous— and foolish. None have ever returned successful. family. Slowly you realize the details are wrong. within them and then disappear.
Act 1: An injured black bear, pitch black with no chest mark, chases the party up the mountain. The party
finds a traveler whose facial features are melting away, their head is wrapped up in rags. They made it to
• You go to look for an item, but it’s missing. Act 2:

the sinkhole, but they are losing their memory too. They wish to die before their condition worsens. • Fractals of potential futures fall past your eyes.
• Blackened corpses shredded by claw marks to
the point of being unrecognizable.
Act 2: The canopy is thick, and narrow beams of light pierce through a dream-like fog. Shadowbeasts seek What future do you reach out to try and touch?
to separate the PCs, attacking and pulling from different angles. A temple façade is spotted further up the
• You see faces of agony, anger, and fear when • A still lake under the shadow of the canopy,
mountains, surely an entrance. Details as to who the temple is for are warn and near featureless. reflects regretful memories off its surface.
you look into the shadows. Who are they?
Act 3: Camp is set up for the night and each PC will have a nightmare of their demise within the temple. Act 3:
However, they also see visions of the prize that awaits them within the temple. Everyone wakes up in the • Your happiest memory starts to bubble up.
middle of the night with a chance to talk, reminisce about home, and remember their drive — their Ninjo. Suddenly you can no longer recall this memory. • An eclipse devours the warmth of Lady Sun,
now like a hungry eye gazing upon Ningen-do.
Act 4: Breaching the eroding mouth of the temple, Shadowspawn begin to hunt the PCs from the shadows. • You have sudden bursts of personality that
Faceless Mystics shapeshift into figures from the PCs’ past, giving strange and disturbing advice, and
guiding them towards the temple depths. The temple itself hosts impossible architecture, portals through
differ entirely from your own. • Stars move quickly across the sky, fire doesn’t
burn for long, and the night is surprisingly short.
time and space, and dream-like logic. (If a PC has already been lost, they return as a shadowspawn.) Each • Your arm or leg is becoming cold and numb, it is
PC finds an opportunity to resolve their Ninjo here, but it always presents an impossible choice. slowly blackening and turning translucent. Act 4:
Act 5: Within the depths of the temple, the realm of dreams completely overlaps the realm of mortals. It’s
here the mystics make an offer: If one should sacrifice the others in the name of the Lying Darkness, it will
• Your skin starts to fuse your ears, mouth, and • A crowd of faceless people clawing at their eyes
gain them the power to completely rewrite a moment from their past. Meanwhile, the world around seems eyes shut. You fight to keep them open. and mouths, moaning, blindly crawling around.
to start devouring itself. Whatever is doing this, it’s driven by the PCs overwhelming feelings of fear, desire,
and regret. The less of the PCs that remain, the slower the unmaking happens, perhaps giving a better
• You relive your past lives, but only your deaths. • Shadowy claws are visible in the peripheries of
chance at escaping the temple. (Tie up any loose ends, unresolved pasts, and held “Twist of Fate” In your oldest life, shadows rip you from reality. your vision, a presence is felt at your back.
consequences here. Everyone should work together towards a tragic ending.) • You do not recognize any of your companions. Act 5:
Epilogue: What became of each member of the party, days or even years to come? If a character survived,
how did they carry the curse of the Lying Darkness back with them? If the character was lost, how are they • The shadows feel comforting, enough to want • What looks like a black hole is encased within a
working now as an agent of the Lying Darkness? Or at least, how is their absence felt back home? to douse the lights around you. crystal tomb, the crystal is slowly cracking.

Rules: Using the Path of Waves 20Qs, replace Q5: “In the past, your character did something unspeakable • You have brief moments of deja-vu, but you are • Patches of devoured earth reveal rivers of
due to their desire, fear, or regret. How does this still affect them? What could help redeem them? proven wrong each time. elemental energy and even other spirit realms.
Amend Q17: The bond the players choose cannot be with another PC. The PCs are strangers and do not • You find yourself annoyed when others pray to Consider the following:
know each other. Instead they should make this bond about someone from their past, use that moment to the great Kami, you even ask them to silence.
talk about this individual so it will be easier to bring them into the adventure later on. When the table feels unsure: embrace tragedy, don’t
Describe to the players what the PCs do not yet know, what scholars call the “Lying Darkness” of the Void:
• You start to feel longing for a place you cannot hold back, and “play to lose.” This whole mountain is
haunted, and hungry. Also, slow down: Take the time
When an undisciplined mind, guided by worldly desires, ventures in and becomes lost. Set expectations remember ever being to, or for a song that
you’ve never heard before. to give rich descriptions. Ask pointed questions, take
that the GM’s role is to act as the allure of fear, desire, and regret. To drive wedges between the players. notes, and build off their answers. Don’t’ rush, this
For these reasons, gain your players’ consent and encourage the “Script Change” safety tools at the table. can easily be a two-part between acts 1-3 and 4-5.
Potential questions to ask during each act:
Void-touched — Mark the “Social Standing” header on the PC’s narrative character sheet. If gained again, (Questions are asked to help inform future acts) The experience is better collaborative. Make sure
place it on an unmarked header in clockwise order. If no choice exists, the PC is consumed by the Void. your players know you will: Ask what they hope will
Act 1: After that bear, what makes you feel like you happen before they make a check; what’s at stake?
Removing this condition: If the “Identity” header is void-touched, the PC may make a Scheme Action check might not be prepared for this journey? How did your Have Players narrate the outcome when they pass a
at any time to act against the party without drawing attention to themselves. Instead, this will look like an past inform your decision with helping the traveler? check. Have other Players brainstorm complications.
accident or bad luck. If the check succeeds, remove one instance of this condition. If the check fails, the PC Ask Players to co-GM when their PC dies.
may choose to remove one instance of the condition at the cost of someone noticing the betrayal. Act 2: Why is this job your last chance? Who do you
Instances are removed in clockwise order. Void-Touched cannot be removed from the “Identity” header. wish was here with you on this journey? There is an accompanying NPC character sheet to this
adventure that includes Shadowspawn, Goju, and
GM: During a PC’s check, before applying Disadvantages, you may offer a “Twist of Fate”: Act 3: Who in the party is the one who betrayed you Ninube. If you want to create your own, start with
in your nightmare? What did you see waiting for you the Rakshasa from Path of Waves as a template, then
The GM offers a complication, like causing unintended harm or collateral damage, getting lost or separated, within the temple?
sacrificing an item, betraying a comrade, or attracting unwanted attention. The Player may negotiate, but add Kata and Ninjutsu for the Goju, or add Inversions
upon accepting, they may ignore one of their PC’s Disadvantages or roll and keep one additional Ring die. Act 4: What have you sacrificed to get this far? How and Air invocations for the Ninube.
far are you willing to go to finally absolve yourself? Optional Rules: Gritty rules, Experienced PCs (+20xp),
If the check fails, the PC gains the Void-touched condition. If other PCs were Assisting the roll, they also What force is motivating you the most right now:
gain this condition. If this check is rolling contested against another PC, they may take this offer multiple One-Roll Duels, Risky Checks, Modified Rolls.
Desire, Fear, or Regret? Why?
times, gaining multiple instances of Void-Touched at once for each rolled blank dice. Regardless if the check
passes or fails, the narrative consequences happen; the GM can choose to resolve it immediately or hold it. Safety Tools: https://thoughty.itch.io/script-change

If a PC witnesses or undergoes something disturbing, they must succeed a Meditation (Void) check or gain This submission is inspired by “Trophy Dark” by Jesse Ross
Void-touched. The TN is 1 + their number of Void-Touched sections. Additionally, any time a PC fails an this submission is under creative commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0