PELGY11 $34.

95

BLACK STAR MAGIC

Ritual magic of the Belle Époque! The desperate Science Jaune of a BLACK STAR

The YELLOW KING R PG – B LA C K STA R MA GIC

MAGIC
war-torn continent! Parageometrical horrors perfected in the labs of the
tyrannical, overthrown Castaigne regime! Signing, the latest way to turn
social media dysfunction into a sorcerous reality!

Your players can master them all—at perilous risk!

Each spell is a Shock card with effects both useful and sinister. Do they
hold onto that spell they need to do that thing, even as their inner realities
start to break apart? Or do they take the safe route, and cast out the
buzzing, insistent power of the Yellow Sign?
Black Star Magic features new magic rules for The Yellow King Roleplaying
Game, including 144 startling spells, background material on Carcosan
magic in all four YKRPG settings, and GM guidance showing you how to
incorporate player-facing occult powers into your game.

Plus, a quartet of scenarios, allowing the characters of each sequence to

make double-edged deals with the world of sorcery:
• Dancer at the Bone Cabaret pits the art students of Paris against
a force that lures their Bohemian friends to the latest, hottest
nightspot. But are they the patrons, or items on the menu?
• A Casket at Le Thil sends the supernatural-quashing soldiers of
The Wars into a village haunted by subterranean enemy activity.
• Memories of a Dream Clown confronts the victorious
revolutionaries of Aftermath with a treasured but
tarnished memory of childhood—and murder!
• Love Wears No Mask finds This Is Normal Now’s ordinary heroes

PELGY11
battling an intrusive yet enthralling phone app, and the dramatic
goings-on of the subtly destabilizing dating reality show it promotes.

Play them separately, or chill your players with all of them. All they have
to lose is their grip on reality…

Written and designed by: Robin D. Laws, Sarah Saltiel, Gareth Ryder-
Hanrahan, and Ruth Tillman.
Pelgrane Press

Robin D. Laws, Sarah Saltiel,

Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, Ruth Tillman
BLACK
STAR
MAGIC
 CREDITS
Publishers: Simon Rogers & Cathriona Tobin
Written and designed by: Robin D. Laws (Carcosan Magic), Sarah Saltiel
(Dancer in the Bone Cabaret, Love Wears No Mask), Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan (A
Casket at Le Thil), Ruth Tillman (Memories of a Dream Clown.)
Developed by: Robin D. Laws
Cover art: Janio Garcia
Illustrations: Simone Bannach, Jessica Greving, Christian Knutson, Ivan
Krysiuk, Madison VanDoren
Graphic Design: Aileen E. Miles
For Pelgrane Press: Becky Smith
Playtesters: Philippe Anné, Sarah Baert, Zoe Bevan, Adrian Brooks, Elyezer
Costa, Pieter De Meyer, Aline De Meyer, Jonathan Delahaye, Bill Dennis, Jonathan
Elcock, Martin Golay, Lloyd Graney, Jones Hsu, Philip Jenkins, Christian ‘CJ’
Jensen Romer, Dave Johnson, Hunter Johnson, Blake Johnson, Like Johnson, Neil
Mason, Owein Mason, Jackie Mason, Nick Meredith, Thomas Nowell, Maria
Ramos, Anthony Ronda, Rosie, Dean Smires, Kim Smires, Rob Smith, Esther
Sybille, Rachael Williams.

Copyright © 2023 Pelgrane Press Ltd.

The Yellow King RPG and GUMSHOE Quickshock are trademarks of Pelgrane Press Ltd.
Pelgrane Press is co-owned by Simon Rogers and Cathriona Tobin.

2
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION4 The Village of Le Thil 89
CARCOSAN MAGIC 6 Scenes90
Magic Rules 6 Cards114
Eras of Carcosan Magic 8 Injury cards  114
Hermetic Occultism9 Shock cards  117
Spells15 MEMORIES OF
Science Jaune27 A DREAM CLOWN 122
Spells30 Crisis122
Parageometry34 The Alien Truth 122
Spells36 Opportunity122
Signing40 Risks123
Spells42 Cast of Characters 123
GM Guidance 57 Scenes124
DANCER IN THE Denouement147
BONE CABARET 62 Additional Antagonist Reactions 148
The Scenario 62 Alternate One-Shot Version 148
The Alien Truth 62 Cards150
Bone Bound 63 LOVE WEARS NO MASK 156
Characters65 The Scenario 156
Scenes66 The Alien Truth 156
Antagonist Reactions 81 Characters157
Cards82 Scenes158
Injury Cards 82 Antagonist Reactions 179
Shock Cards 83 Cards180
A CASKET AT LE THIL 88 Injury cards  180
The Hook 88 Shock cards  181
The Development 88 Handout #1: Unmasked 183
The Alien Truth 88

3
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Introduction
INTRODUCTION
The Yellow King Roleplaying Game sends
four sets of interconnected characters
on a head-spinning tumble into reality
horror.
Now the temptation to dip their
toes into the sinister waters of Carcosa
intensifies, with the introduction of
player-facing magic.
Each of the game’s four settings
presents spells keyed to its particular
flavor. In Paris, the trappings of their
deadly power mimic those of the
city’s thriving, feverish occult scene.
Whether the characters befriend
heretical Martinists or ceremonial
adherents of the Golden Dawn, whether
they dabble in spirit mediumship or
ectoplasmic summoning, the spell
chapter of this book has the Shock cards
they’ll covet.
Yes, to gain the ability to work
efficacious sorcery, player characters
must keep Shock cards in hand. How
long do they risk psychic dissolution
before letting them slip out of mind
once again? Or do they embrace it,
sacrificing themselves to Carcosa in
order to destroy Carcosa?
In The Wars, the study of magic
takes on the language of technology,
becoming the Science Jaune. Naturally,
it is a cruel and twisted version of
science, the magical complement to
munitions research.
4
The ex-insurgents of Aftermath
encounter magic in the form of
parageometry, the perverse discipline
of the overthrown Castaigne regime. As
they mop up its fugitive practitioners,
they too must ask themselves if the
ends justify the means. If one little
formula rolling around for a while in the
old noggin will really do all that much
harm, compared to the threat of ex-
Huss psychic guerrilla action.
Finally, the everyday investigators of
This Is Normal Now encounter magic
in a hip, viral-ready form, as Signing.
All the influencers are doing it! And
nothing is remotely out of the ordinary
about that.
In addition to these four flavors of
soul-warping supernaturalism, the
opening chapter provides the guidance
you need to incorporate them into your
game.
Then, in a quartet of scenarios, you
can put them into practice:
Dancer at the Bone Cabaret pits the art
students of Paris against a force that
lures their Bohemian friends to the
latest, hottest nightspot. But are they
the patrons, or items on the menu?
A Casket at Le Thil sends the
supernatural-quashing soldiers of
The Wars into a village haunted by
subterranean enemy activity.

Memories of a Dream Clown confronts
the victorious revolutionaries of
Aftermath with a treasured but
tarnished memory of childhood—and
murder!
Love Wears No Mask finds This Is
Normal Now’s ordinary heroes battling
RO B I N D. LAW S
an intrusive yet enthralling phone app,
and the dramatic goings-on of the
subtly destabilizing dating reality show
it promotes.
Play them separately, or chill your
players with all of them. All they have
to lose is their grip on reality…
5
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Magic Rules
CARCOSAN MAGIC
Sorcerers wielding supernatural
abilities already appear in The Yellow
King Roleplaying Game, mostly as figures
lurking in the backgrounds of the four
settings. This section shows you how to
bring them further onto the center stage
of your scenarios, and to make certain
spells available to the player characters.
In keeping with the weird horror
tradition, investigators never become
experienced wizards capable of
drawing a wide array of effects from an
ever-growing spell list. Instead, they
temporarily gain access to a potent
ritual or two. A rite conducted in one
scenario may not appear again. As GM
you can control when a spell enters
your game by placing it as an object of
investigation in a scenario. If you don’t
place it in your scenarios, players can’t
get at it. Once used, it departs your
narrative—often at the urgent insistence
of your players, who have a good
reason not to hang onto them past their
immediate usefulness.
For investigators, magic is not just
fleeting, but also costly, risky, or both.
Magic taxes its human users mentally,
physically, and morally. All magic
derives from Carcosa. Characters may
discover spells devised in Carcosa,
used both on that hostile alien world,
but here on earth. Other incantations
created by people on Earth, whether
they understand this or not, gain
6
their energy from ambient Carcosan
radiation. Simply knowing a spell,
without casting it, stresses the human
mind, bringing it one step closer to a
catastrophic breakdown. To represent
this, spells appear in the game as Shock
cards.
Magic Rules
The rules for player-facing magic are
as follows:
Spells appear as Shock cards. Players
gain them by fulfilling conditions in a
scenario. The characters might need to
locate a written spell, learn it verbally
from a GMC, or take part in a rite
conferring supernatural perception.
Continuity Spell cards are tagged as
such in their subtitles. This tag comes
into play in the case of spells that affect
other spells.
We’ll provide more guidance on
placing them in the game starting on
p. 55. But first, a look at magic in the
setting, and the spell cards themselves.
Degrees of Knowing
The Yellow King investigators can
acquire three degrees of knowledge
regarding a particular spell.
Awareness. Through the use of their
investigative abilities, they discover

that a spell exists, but don’t have a copy
of it. At this level of understanding,
they might or might not have enough
evidence to say whether the spell can
bring true power into the world, or is an
imaginary force believed in by believers
in occult forces.
Access. By overcoming obstacles
in scenes or spending Pushes, the
group acquires a copy of the spell. Its
form factor varies depending on the
sequence:
Paris: A printed page or pages from
an old grimoire, now invested with
efficacy by the Carcosa effect. A sheaf
of scribbled notes jotted down in the
crabbed hand of a wild-eyed occultist.
A set of verbal instructions handed
down orally from one magician to
another. An alchemical oil, surely to
be served with absinthe to disguise
one awful flavor with a slightly less
terrible one.
The Wars: A set of steps laid out as
one would the elements of a scientific
experiment, in a folder marked
“Top Secret.” A boîtenoire message.
Handwritten notes on flash paper,
to be destroyed after use or upon
capture. An unstable serum, to be
injected into the user’s veins with a
syringe.
Aftermath: Dense mathematical
formulae, in a binder marked with
the emblem of the Department of
Parageometrical Inquiry. A reel-to-
reel tape containing an eerie voice
reading off instructions in an oddly
stilted rhythm. The typed transcript
of an interrogation conducted
by an insurgent cell, in which a
parageometrist spilled his secrets. A
parasitic arthropod liberated from
RO B I N D. LAW S
the Bronx Park Zoological Society,
capable of beaming a spell into one’s
mind—along with a vivid sensory
recreation of your mother’s death.
This Is Normal Now: A post on
a dark web forum. An adulterated
dose of LSD, heroin, or cocaine.
An encrypted thumb drive. A
transparent layer in a PNG graphics
file. A forbidden cut scene triggered
by specific actions in a popular video
game. The arcane tattoo you got from
the needle artist who looked and
sounded a lot like Alan Moore, not
that you can remember much detail
from that drink-fueled Northampton
night.
Needless to say, in any sequence,
the text of the play, particularly
the orgiastic descent into horror
comprising its second act, likely
itself acts as a device to convey one
or more spells into its readers’ newly
vulnerable minds.
Gain. After acquiring the
instructions, the next step is to learn
them, gaining the spell. If this is the
first time the investigator has ever tried
to gain a spell, the attempt succeeds, no
roll or spend required.
Gaining a spell requires the
investigator to spend at least an hour of
world time, devoting full concentration
to the task in a safe and distraction-
free environment. The process differs
for each spell. Describe the process
with a memorable detail or two for
each spell, keyed to the themes of its
occult tradition and effect. For specific
plot reasons, you might create an
exception to this rule, allowing the
instant learning of spells a character
carries. Don’t do this for cards with the
7
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Eras of Carcosan Magic
“Discard at will” discard condition.
If your storyline really demands it,
provide a modified version of the card
with some other discard condition.
Gained spells buzz like a fever in a
sorcerer’s mind, sowing distraction, and
giving rise to unwholesome thoughts.
In its psychological impact, a gained
spell resembles a delusion or obsession,
an alien presence in the mind. Physical
symptoms might include profuse
sweating, jittery movements, rapid
blinking, and, of course, a mask-like
pallor.
Characters only gain spells
by choosing to do so. Every now
and then, you might stretch the
definition of “choosing” by having a
character unwittingly gain a spell as
a consequence of some other willing
choice. For example, if the Paris art
students attend a séance and one of
them spontaneously gains “Spiritualist
Manifestations,” that seems fair, as
they agreed to participate in a calling
down of spirits and ought to understand
the risks of that in a Carcosa-haunted
world. Gaining “Stolen Visage” simply
by opening a box or handling a mask
in a curio shop won’t seem fair unless
you flag it up as a chancy or ominous
situation. Even in cases of deliberately
accepted peril, consider requiring a
Difficulty 4 Composure test, where the
investigator gains an unsought spell only
on a failure. Don’t worry about these
niceties when the Shock card allows
the holder to discard at will. A player
unhappy to receive it can choose to
ditch it right away without suffering any
ill consequence.
8
Using a Gained Spell
When the spell is later released—
magicians might also say cast or
performed—the effect appears in the
world. The hideous sub-vocal chittering
of the spell abates, as do the outward
symptoms. As often as not, the magician
trades the psychic dislocation of holding
a spell in the mind for some other
emotional disturbance arising from the
effect.
The above describes what happens
when the spell’s card text requires the
user to discard the card to trigger the
effect. Some spells don’t impose that
requirement. They remain resident in
the user’s mind, allowing multiple uses
of the effect until some other condition
is met.
Many spells can be forced from the
mind before they are used, sparing the
would-be magician from their incessant
mental battering. Text for these cards
contains the notation “Discard at Will.”
Regaining Spells
An investigator who can still access
a spell can attempt to regain it, but it
gets harder each time. The first attempt
to regain a specific spell requires a
Difficulty 4 Composure success. The
Difficulty increases by 2 for each
subsequent attempt.
Eras of Carcosan Magic
In each of the four sequences, magic
takes on the outward properties and
cultural concerns of the times. Paris
magic derives from the fervent occult
scene of the Symbolist era. In The Wars,

it has become a military technology.
The parageometry of Aftermath
developed to serve the needs of the
Castaigne regime’s secret policemen. In
This Is Normal Now, it emerges virally,
propagating itself through malignant
conspiracy theories and Internet meme
warfare.
Hermetic Occultism
Only a handful of Hermetic sorcerers
exist in 1895. The magicians the art
students encounter may be the only
ones in the world. There are as many
of them as you need to populate your
scenarios, and no one else. They may
have been occultists for many decades,
but only since the publication of The
King in Yellow have they been able
to manifest objectively measurable
effects. Occult practitioners who aren’t
charlatans believe they’ve been working
subtle or spiritually enlightening rituals
for a long time but now see much more
striking results. Only those aware
of Carcosa attribute this increase in
potency to the influence of the Hyades.
The rest maintain allegiance to their
preexisting traditions, attributing
changes to improvements in their
own understanding, or see them as
harbingers of a coming spiritual inbreak.
Only a tiny fraction of occultists
in the thriving Parisian scene have
participated in efficacious workings
or seen evidence of this shift. The top
occultists depicted starting on Paris p.
127, may have heard rumors of self-
evidently successful magic, and could
point the art students in the direction of
real sorcerers. Unless you want to wrap
a scenario around the idea, none of them
RO B I N D. LAW S
have mastered black star magic. Because
it warps the souls and intellects of its
users, the art students won’t be able to
find benevolent GMCs to work spells
for them. At best, helpful historical
occultists such as Papus or Oswald
Wirth might be able to provide them
with artifacts imbued with Carcosan
energy. These enchanted objects pose
less danger to the mind than spells and
grant lesser benefits.
Black star magic spreads via belief in
the traditional European occult, making
formerly useless incantations and rites
of fin de siècle traditions useful to
practitioners able to attune themselves
to Carcosa’s sinister frequencies. They
require the trappings of ritual practice,
from the wearing of robes and waving
about of regalia to Latin chants and
the drawing of magic circles. Specific
incantations and accoutrements derive
from whatever earthly tradition
the sorcerer started out with almost
certainly some branch or hybrid of
Theosophy, Martinism, Synarchy,
or Catharism. As sorcerers progress,
they incorporate key motifs of the
king’s conspiracy, from the Yellow Sign
to tattered yellow robes. Fully aware
magicians realize that they’re serving
the Hyades, abandoning the cosmology
and symbology of the traditions they
once upheld.
Theosophy
Members of the Theosophical
Society, founded two decades ago
in New York City by the glowering
Russian seer Helena Petrovna
Blavatsky (1831-1891), engage in
spiritualist practices to contact the
secretive Masters of Ancient Wisdom.
9
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Eras of Carcosan Magic
Purportedly first encountered by
Blavatsky in her (likely fictional)
journey to India, they guided her
in creating her universalist esoteric
religion. Theosophists in Paris, left
leaderless by the recent death of their
doyenne Lady Caithness, the Duchess
of Medina Pomar, gather to discuss
their complex doctrine and conduct
occasional séances in search of doctrinal
clarification. Art students visiting
them might hear them discuss such
outlandish topics as:
• the single primal religion from
which all current faiths derive, as
pale reflections, which Theosophists
seek to return to in its pure form
• humanity’s development through
a series of stages Blavatsky called
“root races”, from the pure spirit first
root race, through Hyperboreans,
Lemurians, Atlanteans, the
current Aryans, and the coming,
transformative sixth-stage people
and perfected seventh root race
• European traditions of Neoplatonism
and Hermetic magic as precursors
to Blavatsky’s mythology
• the true nature of God as
both male and female
• the origin of chimpanzees and gorillas
as offspring of giant Atlanteans
who mated with humans
Jules Doinel, Camille Flammarion,
Stanislaus de Guaita, Papus, Oswald
Wirth, Charles Richet (all described
in Paris) attended the late Duchess’
Theosophical salons. When she
visited them in turn, she invariably
brought along her guardian angel, who
incessantly complained of the unjust
beheading that ended her mortal life.
10
Prior to 1895, discarnate entities
contacted by Theosophists or other
spiritualists might have been precursors
to the full onslaught of Carcosa but were
more likely delusions or inventions.
Carcosan entities sometimes play the
roles of these imaginary beings.
Spells art students might learn while
rubbing shoulders with Theosophists
include “Guardian Angel,” “Spirit
Medium,” “Spirit Manifestations,” and
“Telepathy.”
Catharism
Followers of this esoteric Christian
tendency revere the Cathars, aka
Albigensians, adherents of a dualist
Christianity in the 13th and 14th
centuries. Documents of their beliefs
were destroyed when the Crusaders
and the Inquisition crushed them.
This allows their 19th-century
admirers, notably Jules Doinel (Paris
p. 128), to project their own version
of Gnostic philosophy onto them.
Like the Theosophists, to whom he
is sympathetic, he uses spiritualist
practices to contact sources of wisdom—
in his case, the spirits of the original
Cathars. He contacts them as an
experienced visionary. In his youth as a
seminary student, visions came to him
spontaneously, including a visitation
from the Polish saint Stanislaus Kotska.
As an adult quester attendee of séances,
he had a dream visitation in which
a being called the Aeon Jesus Christ
consecrated him as bishop. He is about
to reject his own beliefs as Satanic,
perhaps suggesting that his Cathar
ghosts are showing up wearing pallid
masks and urging him to acts of cruelty
and evil.

While attending a service of
Doinel’s Universal Gnostic Church, the
art students might gather such tidbits of
doctrine as:
• the feminine principle, personified
as the Sophia, commands as much
spiritual power as the male, requiring
a role for women in the ministry
• the world fell into a degraded
state when spirit became matter
• seekers aspire liberation from the
void, or keroma, to return to the
divinity of spirit, or pleroma
• this return can only be brought
about by the unification of two
essential forces: love and science
During his visionary experiences,
he or his followers might have gained
spells he can pass along to the art
students. In addition to those listed
for the Theosophists, these might
include “Angelic Vision,” “Befriend the
Beasts,” “Sin Eater,” and “Purification
Rite.”
Martinism
Founded by Papus (Paris p. 130),
Martinism sets out to fuse the practice
of magic with Catholic orthodoxy and
science. Its stew of paradoxical elements
combines conservative social impulses
with kabbalism, tarot, palmistry, a
Masonic-style hierarchy of ranks, and
prodigious production of occult journals.
The Martinist Order takes its name
from the earlier mystical philosopher
Louis Claude de Saint-Martin (1743-
1803), who learned and practiced rites
of theurgy, working magic through the
invocation of God, saints, and angels.
Even among occultists, notorious for
dense and impenetrable writing, Papus’
thought heartily embraces the obscure.
RO B I N D. LAW S
When the art students talk to him, his
pearls of esoteric observation might
include:
• imminent scientific advances
will allow us to positively
prove the existence of god and
objectively measure the soul
• the revival of Europe will
come from Russia, whose
imperial family embraced the
teachings of Saint-Martin
• we must rediscover what the
Egyptians knew 1600 years ago—
that three principles, Providence,
Will, and Destiny, drive the
grand march of historical events
Members of the Martinist Order
might provide such spells as “Flight
From Bondage,” “Guardian Angel,”
“Mystery of Sacrifice,” “Purification
Rite,” “Sin Eater,” “Spirit Medium,”
and “Vessel of Mortification,” along
with tarot and kabbalah spells (see
below.)
Golden Dawn
Samuel and Moina Mathers
(Paris p. 129), the hospitable, party-
throwing heads of the city’s Golden
Dawn outpost, practice a Martinist-
friendly version of their order’s
Masonic-inspired ritual magic. They
rub shoulders with other key figures
mentioned here and in the occult
personages section of Paris. In a few
years, they’ll be calling down Isis, but
for the moment any Carcosan spells
they acquire to pass along to fresh-faced
art students come to them as blinding
flashes of insight during their elaborate,
robe-wearing ceremonials. Alternately,
they might be granted spells during
audiences with Secret Chiefs, flesh-
11
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Eras of Carcosan Magic

12

and-blood senior sorcerers suspiciously
similar to the Masters of Ancient
Wisdom Samuel learned about before
breaking with Blavatsky. According
to him, one such Secret Chief, who
he calls Frater Lux Ex Septentriones
(Brother Light from the North), dwells
in the city and occasionally shares
esoteric secrets with him. Mathers, who
favors a return to power of the Stuarts in
Scotland, identifies him as a Frenchman
of Scottish royal extraction. Is this
mystery figure a mortal charlatan, an
invention of Mathers, or a Carcosan
who has figured out which mask his
mark wants to see?
Spells that most fit the goings-on at
the Mathers’ place are “Benevolence of
Anubis,” “Cone of Purifying Energy,”
“Consecration Rite,” “Contact Secret
Chief,” “Initiation Rite,” “Inspired
Research,” “Ra Calls the Storm,”
“Reassembly of Osiris,” “Vengeance of
Hathor,” and “Manifest the Sophia,”
which invokes the power of the
feminine spirit of Gnostic wisdom.
Synarchy
Yet another offshoot of Theosophy,
this occult doctrine, promoted by the
aristocratic Alexandre Saint-Yves
(Paris p. 131), prepares mankind for
the unmasking of the Secret Masters,
followed by their benevolent global
dictatorship. Carcosans look at the
Saint-Yves’ books, which instruct
the various peoples of the world on
what they must to do bring about
this transformation, and think that if
synarchy did not already exist, they
would have to invent it. In its pages lies
the blueprint for the future Castaigne
regime in America. The king and his
RO B I N D. LAW S
minions might pass any spell along to
an aspiring synarchist, as they all bend
users’ minds toward the Hyades. In
particular, though they might favor
such influence-oriented sorceries as
“Bygones,” “Dulled Remembrance,”
“Extract Confession,” “Just this Once,”
“Masterful Presence,” “Peace of
Shambala,” and “Quell Anarchy.”
Rosicrucian Kabbalah
Parisian occultists such as Joséphin
Péladan (Paris p. 130) and Stanislas de
Guaita (Paris p. 128), style themselves
as practitioners of Rosicrucian
Kabbalah, a tradition several steps
removed from its complex origins
in Jewish mysticism. They come to
this technique of finding esoteric
meaning hidden in the text of the
Torah by way of Christian kabbalah,
a formerly moribund Renaissance
tradition they have revived to suit
their own enthusiasms. It weds the
idea of combing sacred texts for hidden
secrets with esoteric Catholic theology
and classical philosophy, mostly of a
Neoplatonic bent. They may pretend
some insight into the Torah but
mostly look for theurgic incantations
by subjecting passages of the Bible to
numerological contortions.
Art students who seek out Rabbinic
scholars for insights into what Papus
and the rest are talking about are
met with a mixture of bafflement
and irritation. Any respectable rabbi
disdains the miraculous effects of
so-called practical kabbalah as purely
legendary, a distraction from true
reckoning with God. The gentile occult
version? Not even worth talking about.
The community has real matters to
13
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Eras of Carcosan Magic
think about, like the Dreyfus affair and
the increasing reach of anti-Semitic
publications.
When Carcosan power infuses
Rosicrucian kabbalah, it brings
the spells “Ark of Deliverance,”
“Exorcism,” “Miraculous Rescue,”
“Protective Amulet,” “Revive Dead,”
“Speak to Dead,” and “Sworn Oath.”
Tarot
From influential occultists to back
alley fortune tellers, plenty of Parisians
peer into the future with the aid of tarot
cards. They use the French tarot, whose
suits match the ordinary playing card
deck (hearts, clubs, spades, diamonds)
14
and whose major arcana depict bucolic
scenes of mundane daily life in the city
or country. Tarot spells are: “Air Tarot,”
“Collective Folly,” “Earth Tarot,” “Fire
Tarot,” “The Game,” “Individual Folly,”
“The Four Ages,” “The Four Seasons,”
“The Four Times,” and “Water Tarot.”
Characters using them as foci for
Carcosan magic carry the particular
cards on their person, separate from
their decks.
Spells
Cards for spells arising from the
Hermetic magic of the Belle Époque
appear on the next page.

Spells
ABJURING CIRCLE
Shock; Spell
Spend X Composure as your character
makes an unbroken, 3 m diameter
circle of salt on the ground. For the
next 10X minutes (world time), Alts
and Carcosans can’t enter the circle.
Discard by spending 1 Composure.
AIR TAROT
Shock; Spell
Discard to refresh your Composure
or Sneaking. If both pools are
full, you can’t discard.
ARK OF DELIVERANCE
Shock; Spell
Repair a sinking ship, right a
careening carriage, or extinguish a
burning building, saving the lives
of any persons trapped inside.
When you do this, roll a die.
Even: discard. Odd: trade
for “Heart Murmur.”
RO B I N D. LAW S
ANGELIC VISION
Shock; Spell
Spend 30 minutes (world time) to
commune with an eerily gorgeous
angelic entity. You may then choose
a PC to gain 4 Composure or +5
to their next Composure test.
At will, trade for Divine Obsession.
ASSERT DOMINION
Shock; Spell
Kill an Invasive or Mutant by trading
this card for the Major Injury it
deals in combat. Render it helpless
by trading for its Minor Injury.
BANISH
Shock; Spell
Spend 2 Composure to send every
Invasive you can see (or that can see
you) from Earth back to Carcosa.
Discard at will.
15
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells
BATTLE LUCK:
ACQUAINTANCE
Shock; Spell
Specify a Foe you have seen or spoken
with. -2 to Foe’s combat Difficulty
when you take part in a fight against it.
Discard after that fight.
BATTLE LUCK:
CARCOSAN
Shock; Spell
-2 to Fighting Difficulty of Carcosans.
After a fight with one or more
Carcosans, Conjurelings or Spirits,
roll a die. Odd: trade for “Agitated.”
Discard at will.
BENEVOLENCE
OF ANUBIS
Shock; Spell
If a GMC you met during the current
scenario is now dead, discard and
spend 4 Composure to reverse the
timeline to 10 minutes before their
demise. You and any other willing
PCs, who spend 2 Composure
each, arrive at the GMC’s side.
16
BATTLE CURSE:
THE ALTERED
Shock; Spell
-2 to Fighting Difficulty of Alts.
After a fight with one or more Alts,
roll a die. Odd: trade for “Stirred Up.”
BATTLE LUCK:
CONSTRUCT
Shock; Spell
-3 to Fighting Difficulty of Constructs.
After a fight with one or more
Constructs, spend 2 Mechanics
to retain this card. Otherwise,
trade for “Machina Cogitata.”
BEFRIEND THE
BEASTS
Shock; Spell
Foes bearing the Animal tag
that would otherwise attack you
instead seek your affection.
Discard at will.

BLACKSTAR BURST
Shock; Spell
If the investigators have uncovered the
core clue leading to the Conclusion
scene, you may spend 4 Health to
Render Helpless all foes in that scene.
CHIROMANCY
Shock; Spell
You have mastered the predictive art of
palmistry. Select any willing PC. Roll
a die three times in sequence. Result
determines the success or failure of the
target’s next three tests, with odd results
indicating failures with margins of 2 and
even results indicating successes. No rolls
or spends occur for these tests. All failures
become consequential, even if the target
is trying to burn through them safely.
Discard at will.
CONE OF PURIFYING
ENERGY
Shock; Spell
All PCs in combat against magic-
wielding humans gain +2 Fighting.
Discard to cancel or reverse any
magical effect wielded by a GMC.
RO B I N D. LAW S
BYGONES
Shock; Spell
At the end of a scenario, spend 2
Composure to cause a GMC you have
angered or offended to forgive you.
COLLECTIVE FOLLY
Shock; Spell
After a fight against an opponent
with a Relative Challenge of
Superior or higher, all PCs
who fought refresh all pools.
Discard at will.
CONE OF PUTREFYING
ENERGY
Shock; Spell
During a scenario’s climax or coda,
spend 4 Health. A chosen human
murderer rapidly decays into reeking
sludge. You and all PC witnesses
must score Difficulty 5 Composure
successes to avoid Shocks— A Beastly
Sight/If Only You Could Forget.
17
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells

CONSECRATION RITE CONTACT

Shock; Spell
SECRET CHIEF
Spend 2 Composure to purify the Shock; Spell
interior of a location you have a Discard to alert the nearest
legitimate right to enter and occupy. accomplished human sorcerer
Until end of scenario, all PCs gain +1 to your current location.
to all tests undertaken in this space.
Then roll a die. Even: discard.
Odd: trade for “Agitated.”

COUNTERSPELL DEATH, BUT

Shock; Spell
NOT TODAY
Spend 2 Composure to cancel the Shock; Spell
ongoing effect of any GMC’s spell. After one or more PCs gain Injury
Then roll a die. Odd: discard. cards from a hazard, spend 4
Composure points and describe the
latest moment when you could have
made a different decision to avoid
it. You leap back in time to that
moment and must now take that
action. Then trade for “Flat Circle.”

DEATH CURSE: DEATH CURSE:

CARCOSAN CONSTRUCT
Shock; Spell Shock; Spell
Trade for “Radiation Poisoning” Trade for “Pinned by Debris”
to kill a Carcosan. Warning: to the to destroy a Construct.
king and his daughters, death may
only last until end of scenario.

18

DEMONIC VISION
Shock; Spell
Spend 30 minutes (world time) to
invoke a mask-faced Carcosan spirit.
It must correctly answer one “yes
or no” question. The interaction
alerts the King in Yellow to your
existence and present location.
Discard by spending 3 Composure.
EARTH TAROT
Shock; Spell
Discard to refresh your Athletics
or Mechanics. If both pools
are full, you can’t discard.
EXORCISM
Shock; Spell
Discard to cast a possessing entity
from the body of a human victim.
If the entity acts at the direct
behest of the King in Yellow, you
must also spend 4 Composure.
Discard at will.
RO B I N D. LAW S
DULLED
REMEMBRANCE
Shock; Spell
Discard to cause a human GMC
unaware of Carcosan influence
to forget a specified portion of
the last 24 hours (world time.)
EXTRACT
CONFESSION
Shock; Spell
Discard to inspire a human GMC
unaware of Carcosan influence
to describe the worst thing they
ever did. Then roll a die. Odd:
gain “Overstepped Bounds.”
FIRE TAROT
Shock; Spell
Discard to refresh your Fighting
or Riding. If both pools are
full, you can’t discard.
19
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells
FLESH MASK
Shock; Spell
Spend 2 Composure. Your face
transforms into an exact replica of a
human you have seen or spoken to.
Spend 2 Composure to
regain your real face.
If wearing another’s face at end of
scenario, trade for “Stolen Visage.”
THE FOUR AGES
Shock; Spell
+2 to all tests when you can see
an antagonist who is not subject
to ordinary human aging.
Discard at will.
THE FOUR SEASONS
Shock; Spell
+1 to tests to avoid outdoor
physical hazards.
Discard at will.
20
FLIGHT FROM
BONDAGE
Shock; Spell
Trade for “Spiritual Expenditure”
to escape any involuntary
confinement, arriving instantaneously,
unencumbered by bonds, to
a chosen, familiar place.
Discard at will.
THE FOUR LEISURES
Shock; Spell
If the GM laughs out loud during
a character dialogue scene you
contribute to during a low-pressure
scene of revelry, shopping, hiking,
or art-making, you gain a Push.
Discard at will.
THE FOUR TIMES
Shock; Spell
When you get this card, choose one
of the following periods: between
midnight and 6 AM; between 6 AM
and noon, between noon and 6 PM,
between 6 PM and midnight. Gain
+1 to all tests during that period.
Discard at will.

THE GAME
Shock; Spell
Roll a die. Even: all PCs refresh
all pools. Odd: if this card is still in
hand at end of session, you die.
Discard by using an Investigative
ability to gain a core clue.
INDIVIDUAL FOLLY
Shock; Spell
When you take a Shock or Injury
while no other PC is within 500m,
refresh all pools and gain a Push.
Discard at will.
INSPIRED RESEARCH
Shock; Spell
After confronting a GMC who works
magic, discard this card to gain the
spell card that the GM deems most
similar to the sorcerer’s key power.
RO B I N D. LAW S
GUARDIAN ANGEL
Shock; Spell
An unseen entity, who may be an
angel or the spirit of a deceased
holy person, grants protection
and occasionally communicates
with you (often irrelevantly.)
Spend 2 Composure to refresh
Sense Trouble. Refresh Athletics
on a Sense Trouble success.
INITIATION RITE
Shock; Spell
Spend 4 Composure to give another
PC a spell card you know of, but no
one in the group currently holds.
Discard at will.
JUST THIS ONCE
Shock; Spell
Discard to inspire a human
authority figure unaware of
Carcosan influence to look the
other way as you break a rule.
21
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells
MALIGN SENDING
Shock; Spell
At any time, a human GMC
you can name and have spoken
to retreats to bed as if sick. Every
hour (table time), roll a die. Odd:
effect ends, and card is discarded.
If the effect is ongoing at end of
scenario, trade for “Magician’s Pallor.”
MASTERFUL
PRESENCE
Shock; Spell
After making an Interpersonal Push,
book containing X Hermetic spells.
roll a die. On a 1, trade for “Song of
the Sign.” On a 2-6, regain the Push.
LIBERATION
FROM THE VOID
Shock; Spell
When another PC’s Injury card
requires a First Aid success to
discard, trade this for “Exhaustion
of the Pleroma” to gain that
success without making a test.
Discard at will.
22
MANIFEST THE
SOPHIA
Shock; Spell
Discard to allow all PCs who
are not men to refresh two
pools of their choice apiece.
OCCULT GRIMOIRE
Shock; Continuity
When you get this card, spend
X Preparedness. You now have a
At any time, make a Difficulty
4 Preparedness test. Success:
you gain the spell you don’t
have that the GM deems most
applicable to your current needs.
Discard after gaining X spells,
or by destroying the book.
MYSTERY OF
SACRIFICE
Shock; Spell
Trade for “Magician’s Tremor”
to refresh all pools for any
PC other than yourself.

OPEN THE WAY
Shock; Spell
Spend 3 Composure to open
a locked or sealed door.
Discard at will.
PENNY FOR THE PIPER
Shock; Spell; Continuity
Spend 4 Composure to discard a
Shock card any PC gained in the
last half hour (world time.)
Discard by significantly aiding the
current scenario’s main antagonist.
PEACE OF
SHAMBHALA
Shock; Spell
In any scene prior to the climax of
a scenario, cause Foes who would
otherwise attack you to withdraw
peacefully. They can’t attack you again
for at least an hour (world time.)
Discard at will.
RO B I N D. LAW S
PAST THE HYADES
Shock; Spell
Spend 4 Composure to turn
an ordinary doorway into a
gateway to or from Carcosa.
After doing this, roll a die. Odd:
trade for “Whisper of the Sign.”
QUELL ANARCHY
Shock; Spell
When any number of human GMCs
are causing chaos or disorder in
contravention of authority, discard
to cause as many of them as you
can see to desist immediately.
Discard at will.
PROTECTIVE AMULET
Shock; Spell
When you receive a Major Injury,
instead receive the Minor Injury.
Discard at will.
23
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells
PURIFICATION RITE
Shock; Spell
Spend a Push to allow any PC to
discard a Continuity card. After you
do this, trade for “Blackstar Blood.”
Discard at will.
SIN EATER
Shock; Spell
Discard to allow another PC to
transfer a Shock card to you.
REASSEMBLY
OF OSIRIS
Shock; Spell
After holding for at least 2
hours (table time), discard to
also discard a Continuity card
held by another player. Roll a
die. Odd: you take that card.
24
SIDESTEP REALITY
Shock; Spell
Before a fight starts, spend 4
Composure points and describe the
latest moment when you could have
made a different decision to avoid it.
You leap back in time to that moment
and must now take that action. Then
trade for “Questioning Your Senses.”
RA CALLS THE STORM
Shock; Spell
Spend 3 Composure to create a short
but powerful hailstorm that prevents
all humans from doing anything
but seek shelter for 20 minutes.
Discard at will.
REVIVE DEAD
Shock; Spell
Trade for “More Things in Heaven
and Earth” to revive a corpse that
has been dead for less than 72 hours,
so it can make good on a promise or
obligation left unfulfilled by its demise.

SACRED OATH
Shock; Spell
Discard as any number of persons
within earshot make a verbal
promise. Any GMC who clearly
breaks the promise at any time
dies on the spot. Any PC who
breaks it gains “Yellow Doom.”
SPEAK TO DEAD
Shock; Spell
Spend 3 Composure to ask up to three
“yes or no” questions of a corpse
that has been dead for less than 72
hours. All other PCs witnessing this
must also spend 3 Composure.
Immediately after doing
this, you may discard.
SPIRITUALIST
MANIFESTATIONS
Shock; Spell
When you run a séance as a medium,
you can mentally trigger common
signs of spiritual presence. These
include rappings, movement of
furniture and objects, bodily levitation,
sounds from wind instruments,
and the production of ectoplasm.
RO B I N D. LAW S
SENSE THE SIGN
Shock; Spell
Spend a Push or 1 Composure to
know whether a person’s behavior
has been influenced by Carcosa, or
if a phenomenon you are witnessing
owes its existence to Carcosa.
Discard at will.
SPIRIT MEDIUM
Shock; Spell
During a séance, you can invite a
discarnate entity to communicate
through you, vocally or with
automatic writing. The entity
always professes to be the ghost or
supernatural being you seek; Assess
Honesty may indicate otherwise.
You may then choose to roll
a die. Even: discard. Odd:
trade for “In Your Head.”
TELEPATHY
Shock; Spell
If you do not already have it, you
may choose to take “Nosebleed”
to share a thought dialogue with a
willing accomplice you cannot see.
Dialogue lasts for X minutes, where
X is your Composure rating.
25
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells
UNPALATABLE
Shock; Spell
Spend X Composure to prevent
Invasives or Mutants from identifying
you or any other investigators as
prey or otherwise attractive targets of
attack, for 10X minutes (world time.)
Discard at will.
VESSEL OF
MORTIFICATION
Shock; Spell
Discard to allow another PC to
transfer an Injury card to you.
WIZARD WARD
Shock; Spell
Discard and spend X Composure.
Designate X doors or arches in a
building you are in. Any human
GMC passing through any of
them loses all gained spells.
Discard by spending 3 Health.
26
VENGEANCE
OF HATHOR
Shock; Spell
Spend 1 Composure; all PCs gain
+2 Fighting against Foes they
have fought at least once before.
Discard at will.
WATER TAROT
Shock; Spell
Discard to refresh your Health
or Preparedness. If both pools
are full, you can’t discard.
WITHOUT TRACE
Shock; Spell
Spend 2 Composure to erase all
physical evidence of your activities
within a building or discrete area.
Spend 2 Composure to discard.

WORLD HOLE
Shock; Spell
Spend 4 Composure to turn any gate
or portal in Carcosa into a gate to
one of the game’s other sequences.
You may choose the sequence if you
know of it from your investigation;
otherwise, the result is random.
When you do this, trade for
“Whisper of the Sign.”
Science Jaune
Carcosan magic in Europe retains
its esoteric trappings until the
outbreak of the Continental War.
High commands on both sides of the
conflict then approve proposals from
a new generation of scientists to study
and the principles underlying occult
manipulation and apply them to the
prosecution of war.
In France, the Centre d’Expériences
Occulte Militaires (CEOM)
establishes a facility at Sainte-
Nazaire in Brittany. There, physicists,
philologists, historians, and occultists
join together to establish a discipline
they call Science Jaune (Yellow Science).
They develop equations allowing them
to extrapolate heretofore unknown
magical effects from grimoires and
texts recovered from Belle Époque
Theosophists, Martinists, and
Synarchists.
Are they really working alone, or
are the unseen hands of Carcosan
agents guiding them to fresh magical
revelations?
RO B I N D. LAW S
CEOM researchers do their best
to portray their activities as scientific,
rational, and reliable. They wear lab
coats, fill chalkboards with complex
equations, and produce white papers
written in reassuringly bureaucratic
jargon. When not interacting with
the brass, they concede that they’ve
merely found a new set of rituals,
regalia, and cosmology to power what
remain at heart a set of magical spells.
They started out assigning bloodless,
official-sounding names to their
arcane formulae, only to discover that
users could more readily and potently
work them when they had simpler,
sometimes colloquial names.
As the war grinds on, CEOM
administrators demand results
overcoming the chief obstacle to the
wide deployment of sorcerous soldiers.
Few people possess whatever undefined
aptitude allows them to interact with
Carcosa without immediately losing all
sense of reality. Those with the knack
for it also eventually succumb to mental
and moral dissolution after a handful
of missions. The squad might meet
27
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Eras of Carcosan Magic
an allied or enemy practitioner of war
magic who isn’t teetering on the brink.
More likely, that martial sorcerer has
already gone rogue or will in the course
of their encounter.
Though hundreds of people labor at
CEOM, either at the installation or in
the field as support staff for magicians
in training, only a handful of French
magicians fight the war at any one
time. Military Science warns any squad
members who have spontaneously
mastered a spell or two that attract
the attention of CEOM researchers
might prove extremely dangerous.
They might discover, hopefully not
the hard way, the existence of the
centre’s Département de Neurologie.
Its medical researchers aren’t above a
vivisection or two as they attempt to
identify the brain structures separating
a spell-caster from an also-ran.
The squad could also learn about
the top-secret CEOM facility when
investigating the disappearances of
comrades. The agency sucks in as many
otherwise unneeded personnel as it can,
exposing them to the King in Yellow and
then seeing which of them can mentally
absorb an “Anti-Weird” or “Specter of
Mercy spell.”
An occult arms race prevents
researchers of Science Jaune from
relenting in their desperate, ethically
bankrupt efforts to churn out more
sorcerers. They complete not only with
the nations of the enemy but with rival
departments of allied nations.
Each nation has its own organization
and term for militarized sorcery. Other
participants in the Continental War
draw on their local occult traditions.
28
In England, researchers of
Department O in Alnwick,
Northumberland feverishly develop
the essential equations of the field
they have dubbed crocology. When
stumped, they unpack their cattle prods
to force cooperation from the chained
and forever-crucified form of their
disgraced founder, Aleister Crowley.
Germans call the field crocology
too, headquartering their scientists
at the Büro für esoterische
Geschichtsforschung in Potsdam.
Russian practitioners study the
doktrina chernoy zvezdy at St Petersburg’s
Rasputinskiy Institut.
The Turks probe the secrets of sari
bilim, which they connect to ancient
tales of djinn, at the National Occult
Defense Society headquarters in
Istanbul.
Smaller powers have yet to fully staff
up their own equivalents, but all of them
fear a postwar environment run by
magically adept victors—even if they’re
currently allies.
As the most overtly outlandish of the
four sequences, The Wars best suits a
game where PCs make frequent use of
magic. Squad members can learn spells
from CEOM operatives, captured
documents, enemy researchers,
Carcosan operatives, battle magicians
they encounter in the field.
All research facilities keep texts of
late 19th century spells on file, so squad
members might be able to find and learn
their past characters’ favorite rites. Old
school occultists might still be lurking
in haunted castles and blasted heaths,
ready to bargain with spells if cornered.
RO B I N D. LAW S

29
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells
Spells
ANTI-WEIRD
Shock; Spell
Spend 2 Composure when you or
another PC takes a weird weapon
Injury; target PC refreshes all pools.
Discard at will.
BOOM!
Shock; Spell
Spend 2 Health to detonate all hidden
explosive devices within 250 m of you.
Then roll a die. Odd: discard.
CHAIN OF COMMAND
Shock; Spell
Spend 2 Composure to impel a
superior officer to follow your good
advice. Spend 4 Composure to get
the officer to follow your bad advice.
Discard at will.
30
BATTLE LUCK:
WARSPAWN
Shock; Spell
-2 to Fighting Difficulty of Warspawn.
After a fight with one or more
Warspawn, roll a die. Odd:
trade for “Disbelief.”
Discard at will.
CALL THE CAVALRY
Shock; Spell
Spend 2 Composure to send a
thought message which will be
picked up as text by the nearest
boîtenoire, or by your commanding
officer’s boîtenoire (your choice.)
Discard at will.
DEATH EXCHANGE
Shock; Spell
Discard and spend 4 Composure to
allow a character that has left play
after a Final Injury to return to life
with no Injury cards and all pools
refreshed. If you do not kill an adult
human within the next 24 hours
(world time), the PC dies again.

FALSE RESTRAINT
Shock; Spell
Anyone attempting to restrain you
thinks they’ve done it, but haven’t.
Discard at will.
FOLIO JAUNE
Shock; Continuity
When you get this card, spend X
Preparedness. You now have a book
containing X Science Jaune spells. At any
time, make a Difficulty 4 Preparedness
test. Success: you gain the spell you
don’t have that the GM deems most
applicable to your current needs.
Discard after gaining X spells,
or by destroying the book.
GHASTLY RESCUE
Shock; Spell
If you have gained the core clue
leading to the scenario’s climactic
scene, you may discard to summon
a phantasmal dragonfly flown by a
pallid-faced aircrew. It transports you
back to headquarters, then flies off.
RO B I N D. LAW S
FIELD RATIONS
Shock; Continuity
Every Loyalist and allied soldier you
can see immediately becomes fully
rested, nourished, and hydrated.
12 hours later (world time), half
of those still alive then die, and
you gain “Pit of Remorse.”
Discard at will.”
GALILEO’S FEATHER
Shock; Spell
All PCs you can see gain +3 to
Athletics or Battlefield tests to
survive falls, regardless of height.
Discard at will.
HORSESHOE
Shock; Spell
Spend 3 Composure to refresh all
squad members’ Battlefield pools.
Discard at will.
31
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells

HYDRAULIC PHANTOM
INTERFERENCE CAMOUFLAGE
Shock; Spell Shock; Spell
Spend 3 Composure to freeze a Discard and spend X Composure
stalker in its current position. to render yourself invisible to aerial
Discard at will. reconnaissance for 15X minutes.

REAR ECHELON SILENT GUNS

CONNARD Shock; Spell
Shock; Spell Discard and spend 2 Composure
Spend 2 Composure to convince to disable one artillery battery.
a superior officer that you have
or are fulfilling your orders
effectively according to protocol.
Discard at will.

SPATIAL SPECTER OF MERCY

DISLOCATION
Shock; Spell
Discard to allow all members of
your squad, plus three others, to
fit comfortably into any confined
space bigger than a coffin.
Discard at will.
Shock; Spell
Spend 1 Composure and make a
Difficulty 4 First Aid test to bring
back to life a GMC war casualty
who has been dead for less than
a day. Then roll a die. Odd: trade
for “Messiah Complex.”

32

TRUE FLAG
Shock; Spell
You feel a nagging pain at the
base of your skull whenever an
apparent human you can see or
hear is actually non-human.
Discard at will.
UNDEAD SQUADRON
Shock; Spell
If you can see the corpses of 6 or
more soldiers wearing the same
uniform as you, you may discard
and spend 2 Composure. They
animate and hold off an attacking
Foe, giving you an automatic win
with Escape result, no Fighting tests
required. All PCs test Composure
(Difficulty 4) to avoid Shocks—
Tenuous Reality/Life’s Value Ebbs.
VANISHING FORTRESS
Shock; Spell
If you have gained the core clue
leading to the scenario’s climactic
scene, you may discard to cause a
military installation to vanish from
the face of the Earth permanently.
RO B I N D. LAW S
UNDEAD ADJUTANT
Shock; Spell
If you can see the corpse of a soldier
wearing the same uniform as you, you
may discard and spend 2 Composure
to animate it to join a fight on your
side, allowing one PC to ignore a
Toll. The fight destroys the walking
corpse. All PCs test Composure
(Difficulty 4) to avoid Shocks—
Tenuous Reality/Life’s Value Ebbs.
UNDEAD LEGION
Shock; Spell
If, during a large-scale engagement,
you can see the corpses of 100 or
more Loyalist soldiers, you may
discard and spend 2 Composure.
They animate and ensure at least
a narrow victory in the battle.
YELLOW CLOAK
Shock; Spell
Spend X Composure. For the next
X hours (world time) you and every
PC who can see you looks and
sounds like members of an enemy
squadron, from language to gestures
to mastery of cultural trivia.
Discard at will.
33
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Eras of Carcosan Magic
Parageometry
In the early years of the Castaigne
regime, Mr. Wilde kept a tight lid on
the practice of magic. His deal with the
King in Yellow allowed him to keep
it out of America, except for himself.
After his death in 1927, Emperor
Hildred Castaigne kept up his suspicion
of sorcery.
After an uprising early in his reign,
the paranoid modernizer Hildred
II authorized advisers to study the
bizarre military magics unleashed in
the recently-concluded European war.
His spies stole documents stored at the
French Centre d’Expériences Occulte
Militaires and British Department O.
Eager paranormal researchers gobbled
them up, synthesizing the divergent
Anglophone and Francophone
approaches into a rigorous approach
they called parageometry. As in
Europe, practitioners prided themselves
on putting a rationalist gloss on what
was still clearly the practice of magic.
Parageometry cracked one problem
the Europeans had never quite
explicated. They learned to turn out
sorcerers by the hundreds. Sociopaths,
it turned out, didn’t crack under the
strain of blackstar working. Secret police
recruitment processes already targeted
this personality profile, turning talented
security goons into magicians became
a matter of routine. In addition to the
research staff at the DIS’ Department
of Parageometrical Inquiry, specialists
at secret police installations throughout
the US employed spells in their anti-
subversion and counter-insurgency
investigations. Periodic attempts
to expand the use of parageometry
into other corridors of government
34
ended in tears, if by “tears” one
means blood-slicked floors. Magically
potent sociopaths, imperial advisers
learned, failed to play well with others.
Parageometrical thinking had shattered
their minds after all, but no one noticed
until they were pulled from their posts
as oppressors and torturers, where
their depravity masqueraded as calm
calculation.
Regime sorcerers fought on the
front lines of the civil war, leaving most
dead or in prison awaiting trial for war
crimes. They are now as uncommon
as in Paris or This Is Normal Now.
As they mop up the remnants of the
regime, the ex-insurgents might meet
the only parageometrists who remain
at large.
Since the insurgency shattered
the gates by the insurgency,
parageometrical magic has grown
progressively draining to its users. In
this sequence, any spell from the older
Hermetic Occultism or Science Jaune
traditions costs, in addition to any
requirements listed in the card text, 2
Health points. Characters who can’t
make this spend can still activate the
effect listed in the card text, but then
must make Difficulty 4 Composure
tests to avoid Injuries—Major and
Minor: Parageometrical Exhaustion/
Parageometrical Debilitation. (Yes, this
is a Composure test to avoid Injuries
rather than Shocks.)
While most spells were devised
by Castaigne occult scientists of the
various Parageometrical bureaus and
departments, the one that changed
history, “Shut the Front Door” was
created by a rogue parageometrist
who defected to the rebels. They used

this to obliterate the ability to cast the
Hermetic-era spell “Past the Hyades,”
which permitted impromptu travel to
Carcosa. Without this working, the
physical demolition of the permanent
gates would not have permanently
defeated the regime. “Past the Hyades”
remains impossible in the Aftermath
reality. As of the start of play, the ex-
insurgents have heard rumors about
the identity of this heroic double-agent
ritualist but have been unable to confirm
them. They might discover this person’s
identity in the course of an investigation
you devise.
RO B I N D. LAW S
Even this breakthrough occasioned
heavy debate among insurgent leaders,
who until then maintained a strict taboo
against parageometry use by rebel
operatives. However, no one creates a
taboo against something no one wants to
do, and players are players, so perhaps
they’ll tempt themselves to learn either
historical spells dating back to 1895
or 1947 that they find in locked DIS
cabinets. From their own surveillance
reports or the testimony of captured
parageometrists, they might learn any
of the Castaigne-era spells listed here.
35
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells
Spells
AURA OF
AUTHENTICITY
Shock; Spell
Spend 1 Composure to get grudging
cooperation from a member of a
faction antithetical to your own.
Discard when you publicly act in a
way that makes you look like a phony.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Shock; Spell
Discard to earn the grudging
cooperation of a criminal who is not
the scenario’s main antagonist.
DROP CORPSE
Shock; Spell
Discard to conjure into being a
freshly dead corpse matching any
cause of death and any possible
human morphology (without being
a copy of a specific person.)
36
BATTLE LUCK:
HYBRIDS
Shock; Spell
-2 to Fighting Difficulty of Hybrids.
After a fight with one or more
Hybrids, roll a die. Odd: trade
for “A Diverting Indiscretion
Will Put This In Perspective.”
Discard at will.
DISTRACTION FROM
THE REAL STORY
Shock; Spell
Discard and spend 2 Composure
to cause an irresistible news event
to occur, burying a scandal that
would otherwise envelop you.
FORENSIC WRENCH
Shock; Spell
At the scene of a crime, you took
part in, leave convincing forensic
evidence pointing to an innocent
GMC you have spoken with.
Discard at will.
 RO B I N D. LAW S

IMPERIAL SPEAR INTERTWINED SELVES

Shock; Spell Shock; Spell
Discard to spontaneously immolate Look into a mirror to see and
yourself and all Foes in the converse with your PC from another
current scene, killing them all. sequence for 10 minutes (table time.)
Then roll a die. Even: trade for Discard at will.
“Extra Crispy.” Odd: you die.
Warning: for the king and his
daughters, death may prove
temporary/subjective.

LETHAL INSPIRATION LIKE A ROSE

Shock; Spell Shock; Spell
Refresh two pools of your choice Discard to destroy all police evidence
after entering a Government of a crime you took part in.
Lethal Chamber that has been
used in the past day (world time.)
Discard at will.

NOTHING STICKS SECURITY WEAPON

Shock; Spell
+2 to Politics tests. When the group
gets a Hit card (Aftermath p. 045),
discard to also discard the Hit.
IMMUNITY
Shock; Spell
Immediately discard any Shock
or Injury incurred from exposure
to a Castaignite weapon.
Discard at will.

37
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells

PARAGEOMETRICAL
NOTEBOOK PLUNDERED FATE
Shock; Continuity Shock; Spell
When you get this card, spend X Discard to give all PCs +X Fighting,
Preparedness. You now have a book where X = total Shock cards held
containing X Parageometry spells. by all. After the fight, a GMC
At any time, make a Difficulty
4 Preparedness test. Success: you you spoke to recently dies.
gain the spell you don’t have that
the GM deems most applicable
to your current needs.
Discard after gaining X spells,
or by destroying the book.

PUPPET MASTER RIVER IN EGYPT

Shock; Spell
Shock; Spell
Telepathically remote-control the
Discard and spend 3 Composure. You
body of a GMC you can see and
and all willing PCs forget a single
once spent an Interpersonal Push on.
incident you were involved in. Roll
You can control speech along with
a die. Even: also discard any Shock
other voluntary functions. Spend 1
cards taken from that incident.
Composure for each hour of control,
dropping at any time or when you
lose visual contact. Then roll a die.
Odd: trade for “Rampant Distrust.”

SHUFFLE OFF SHUT THE

Shock; Spell
Discard to die and come back to life,
at a time you specify in advance, or
when someone is about to autopsy or
damage you, whichever comes first.
Discard at will.
FRONT DOOR
Shock; Spell
Trade this card for this card to prevent
a spell you specify from being used
on Earth until end of scenario.
After witnessing or taking part
in an atrocity, trade for “Life’s
Value Ebbs” to prevent a spell
you specify from being used on
Earth until end of sequence.

38

SLIPPING IN
Shock; Spell
Refresh Sneaking before entering
a place where a person you have
spoken to has an expectation of
privacy. Then roll a die. Odd:
trade for “Trophy Hunter.”
TICKING CLOCK
Shock; Spell
After Sneaking into a place with
guards, spend 2 Composure to
know precisely how much time
you have before one of them
enters the room you’re in.
Discard at will.
WHISKEY HOLE
Shock; Spell
When you have access to at least a
bottle of whiskey, spend 3 Composure
to trade any non-Continuity
Shock card for “Intoxicated.”
RO B I N D. LAW S
THE TOUCH
Shock; Spell
You can touch a person and cause their
closest relative to suffer serious burns.
When a GMC disrespects you
in your presence, you must
score a Difficulty 4 Composure
success not to do this to them.
WE GO WAY BACK
Shock; Spell
Spend 2 Composure to impel a person
you once spent an Interpersonal
Push on to drop everything to come
to you and perform one task that
is neither dangerous nor against
their moral code. Then roll a die.
Odd: trade for “Narcissism.”
VIEW MASTER
Shock; Spell
When you close your eyes, you can
see what a particular person you once
spent an Interpersonal Push on. Spend
1 Composure for each 120 minute
period of remote sight, dropping
at any time or when the target falls
asleep. Then roll a die. Odd: trade
for “Identity Decentralization.”
39
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells

40

Signing
The resurgence of Pallid King activity
during This Is Normal Now’s present-
day bubbles up in unexpected cultural
corners. In its contemporary mask, it
gathers in chat servers, percolates on
shared document servers, appears in the
corners of widely-shared photos, and
in street protests wearing neon yellow
vests.
The events of your Paris series
happened in this timeline, but not
those of The Wars or Aftermath. Books,
videos, and podcasts focusing on the
occult namecheck Papus, Doinel,
Blavatsky, and company, along with
later figures like Aleister Crowley,
Austin Osman Spare, and Maya Deren.
Outside a circle of believers, those who
have heard of them don’t credit them
with genuine magical powers.
Far below the radar, a new generation
of Millenial and post-Millenial
magicians have stumbled across strange
sources of information concerning a
place called Carcosa and the blackstar
energy it emanates into our world.
Spread by memes, riding on the backs
of disinformation campaigns, the
techniques of power it offers have
gained a collective name among the
cognoscenti: signing.
Want to incarnate a wifi hotspot?
There’s a sign for that.
To exert power over weak minds
granted to numinously superficial
Instagram stars? There’s a sign for that.
RO B I N D. LAW S
How about turning the works of
cult and counterculture SF and horror
writers into practical magic? Yep, there
are signs for that too.
Aftermath and Wars Spells in the
Normal World
Although the historical events of
these two sequences did not occur in
this timeline, spells from these alternate
realities can leak through to This Is
Normal Now. The king’s alien minions
might bring them in from Carcosa. Or
they can slip through leaks in reality,
either conveyed here by travelers in
time and space or propagating onto
the dark web, spontaneously or as the
work product of rogue machine learning
programs.
Alternately, you might reskin cards
from these eras with revised custom
titles reflecting TINN’s contemporary
vibe. “Rear Echelon Connard” could
translate as “Personnel Evaluation;”
“Imperial Spear” might restyle as
“Suicide Squad.”
Notes on Spells
Secondary Shock and Injury cards
incurred from the use of spell cards
appear at the end of this section,
starting on p. 46.
The card “I Am My Phone” triggers
on real-world smartphone use. Exempt
players who need their phones for
accessibility reasons from receiving it.
41
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells
Spells
BALLARD SYNDROME
Shock; Spell
After holding this card for at least
two hours (table time), discard.
The driver and all passengers in a
deliberate vehicular accident refresh
Composure, discard all Shock
cards, and each roll a die. Even:
gain “It’s a Miracle You’re Alive.”
Odd: gain “Massive Injuries.”
BURROUGHS
SYNDROME
Shock; Spell; Continuity
Spend 2 Composure to intuit the
location of a so-far unplayed Core
scene of the GM’s choice. If no core
scene remains, you pay no Composure.
At will, roll a die. Even: discard.
Odd: trade for “Heroin Addict.”
CONSPIRACY THEORY
Shock; Spell
Spend 2 Composure to cause a GMC
to dismiss your strange activities
according to their favorite conspiracy
theory. If they don’t have one,
they adopt a theory of your choice
and you gain “Chaos Vector.”
Discard at will.
42
BROWSER HISTORY
Shock; Spell
When meeting a GMC for the first
time, spend 2 Composure to learn
which Interpersonal ability works
best on them, based on their broad
marketing profile as assembled by
data-mining giants companies.
Discard at will.
CAM SPOOF
Shock; Spell
Spend X Composure to become
invisible to electronic visual
surveillance for 10X minutes
When effect ends, roll die. Even:
you may discard. Odd: you
must trade for “Unvisible.”
CRONENBERG
SYNDROME
Shock; Spell
Spend 2 Health to trade for “Body
Horror” and “Organic Weapon.”
Discard at will.

CROSSOVER EVENT
Shock; Spell
Discard to receive key assistance from
a person resembling a character you
played in a previous RPG series.
Discard at will.
DUMPSTER FIRE
Shock; Spell
Discard before a fight against a Foe
with a Relative Challenge of Vastly
Superior or less. You automatically
achieve your goal in the fight, but
you and all other PCs (present or
not) take the Foe’s Major Injury card
and lose all Health and Composure.
Discard at will.
EVERYTHING IS FINE
Shock; Spell
Spend 3 Composure; a PC trades
a non-Continuity Shock card for
an Injury, as determined by a die
roll: 1-2: “Shot,” 3-4: “Burned,”
or 5-6: “A Thorough Thrashing.”
Discard at will.
RO B I N D. LAW S
DARK WEB
DOWNLOAD
Shock; Continuity
When you get this card, spend X
Preparedness. You can access a file
containing X ÷ 2 Signing spells.
At any time, make a Difficulty
4 Preparedness test. Success:
you gain the spell you don’t
have that the GM deems most
applicable to your current needs.
Discard after gaining X ÷ 2 spells,
or by destroying the book.
EDIT FEATURE
Shock; Spell
Spend 2 Composure to change the text
of any Internet post without using its
platform’s edit feature (if it has one.)
Then roll a die. Even: discard.
FIND MY PHONE
Shock; Spell
Make a Difficulty 4 Composure test
to teleport your smartphone to your
hand, or Difficulty 5 to fully repair a
broken smartphone with data intact.
Failure: trade for “I Am My Phone.”
Discard at will.
43
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells
INFLUENCER
Shock; Spell
During a dialogue scene with a GMC,
spend 2 Composure to rewind time
to restart the conversation from the
beginning. At end of scene, roll a
die. Odd: trade for “Flat Circle.”
Discard at will.
GIBSON SYNDROME
Shock; Spell
Discard while in possession of a
GMC’s hard drive or with access
to their offsite storage. You have
a vivid hallucination in which its
data is personified as a grudging
witness who answers your questions
for 10 minutes (table time.)
Discard at will.
LIGOTTI SYNDROME
Shock; Spell
Spend 1 Health; a non-hostile GMC
you are speaking to suffers the
emotional state suggested by a Shock
card a PC holds. Until end of session,
treat the text of that card as blank,
except for its discard condition. At
end of session, roll a die for each time
you did this. Odd: gain “Bent Moral
Compass” and discard this card.
44
INNER CHARGE
Shock; Spell
Make a Difficulty 4 Composure
test to restore any mobile device
to full charge, or Difficulty 5 to
recharge any larger battery, such
as that of an electric car. Failure:
trade for “Inhuman Ideation.”
Discard at will.
HOTSPOT
Shock; Spell
Spend X Composure to become a wi-
fi hotspot with a range of 90 m. Effect
lasts for 10X minutes (world time.)
If your Composure drops to 0,
trade for “I Am My Phone.”
Discard at will.
MIND OVER BODY
Shock; Spell
Spend 3 Composure; a PC trades
a non-Continuity Injury card for
a Shock, as determined by a die
roll: 1-2: “Hideous Laughter,” 3-4:
“Pack Rat,” or 5-6: “Violent Side.”
Discard at will.

NO BARS
Shock; Spell
Discard and spend X Composure
to disable all infrared sensors,
hard phone lines, and cellular data
within 90 m of you. Effect lasts
for 10X minutes (world time.)
Discard at will.
PKD SYNDROME
Shock; Spell
Spend 3 Composure. You switch
dimensional places with your
Aftermath character, who appears
with full pools, all Pushes, and no
Shocks or Injuries. After playing that
character for 1 hour (game time),
your TINN PC returns; then trade
for “Identity Decentralization.”
SCRUB FORWARD
Shock; Spell
When players are wrangling over
solutions to a logistical problem,
trade for “Flat Circle.” The group
leaps forward in time to the moment
after you have solved the problem,
though no one can remember
how. Roll a die. Odd: all other
PCs also take “Flat Circle.”
RO B I N D. LAW S
NO RAMPAGE
Shock; Spell
Discard to attack a rampager
or group of rampagers without
triggering a reprisal attack.
RESET BUTTON
Shock; Spell
Spend a Push while meeting a key
figure of an organization. As long
as you continue to hold this card,
or until you act against them again,
members of that group forget their
grudge antagonism toward the PCs.
Discard at will.
SUMMON RAMPAGER
Shock; Spell
Discard to cause the nearest
rampager(s) to converge
on your location.
If you are on scene when they arrive,
you may direct them to attack a
GMC or identifiable group of GMCs,
then gain “A Crossed Line.”
45
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells

YELLOW TROLL
Shock; Spell
Trade for “A Pact in Yellow” to
placing quasi-subliminal images of
the Yellow Sign in the social media
feed of a chosen, Internet-using
GMC, causing them to make a
mistake useful to your investigation.

BODY WEAPON BURNED

Injury; Continuity Injury
Your body grows a slimy, fleshy -2 to tests (except Preparedness).
weapon, which you describe: a Trade for “Badly Hurt” after
flesh gun, bone claw, or the like. you fail a test and then receive a
Your Fighting pool refreshes; +2 to Difficulty 5 First Aid success.
Fighting tests and -1 to Presence tests.
All other PCs lose 2 Composure.
At end of any session, spend
4 Health to discard.

CHAOS VECTOR A CROSSED LINE

Shock Shock; Continuity
The GM may dock you 2
Composure points any time
you cross an ethical line.
When you drop to 0 Composure,
trade for “A Crossed Line.”
Discard by taking a costly
altruistic action.

46
 RO B I N D. LAW S

DISBELIEF A DIVERTING
Shock
INDISCRETION
-1 to Focus tests.
WILL PUT THIS IN
Discard on any Focus success. PERSPECTIVE
Shock
-1 to Presence tests. Discard by
taking a risk to indulge a vice.

DIVINE OBSESSION EXHAUSTION OF

Shock
THE PLEROMA
You believe that angels are real and Shock
actively intervening on your behalf. -1 to Physical tests.
Lose 1 Composure at end of any scene Discard by making an
in which you fail to refer to this. Interpersonal Push.
Discard when you gain 1 or
more Composure points.

EXTRA CRISPY FLAT CIRCLE

Injury
You can’t make tests or Pushes.
If you take another Injury with
this card in hand, you die.
At end of session, trade for
“Precarious Recovery.”
Shock
-1 to Focus.
When you take the lead in gaining
a Core Clue, roll a die. Even:
discard. Odd: lose 2 Composure.

47
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells

IT’S A MIRACLE MASSIVE INJURIES

YOU’RE ALIVE Injury
Injury Counts as 2 Injury cards. Until
-1 to Physical tests. end of interval you can’t make
After a Physical failure, roll a die. tests. Thereafter, -2 to Physical
Even: trade for Shock card “Rattled.” tests and -1 to Focus tests.
If scenario is not over at end of
session, trade for “On the Mend.”

HEART MURMUR HEROIN ADDICT

Injury; Continuity Injury; Shock; Continuity
Treat any 4 you roll as a 1. Each day (world time), you
If this is the only Injury card you must describe yourself taking a
hold at the end of a scenario, discard. risk or undergoing a humiliation
to score heroin. -1 to Focus and
Presence tests for two hours
(world time) after you do so.
At the beginning of any scenario,
spend 3 Composure and roll a die.
Even: trade for “Recovering Addict.”

HIDEOUS LAUGHTER I AM MY PHONE

Shock
At the start of any fight, roll a
die. Odd: -1 to Fighting. Even:
-1 to everyone’s Fighting.
At end of fight, roll a
die. Even: discard.
Shock
Lose 1 Composure whenever
the GM catches you, the player,
touching your phone.

48

IDENTITY
DECENTRALIZATION
Shock
Margins of your failed
tests increase by 2.
When you take an Injury card,
roll a die. Even: discard.
INHUMAN IDEATION
Shock
When any other player laughs
due to the way you are treated by a
GMC, you must spend 2 Composure
or take risky or inconvenient
action to lash out at the GMC.
When you lash out, roll a
die. Even: discard. Odd: card
gains the Continuity tag.
LIFE’S VALUE EBBS
Shock
-2 to Composure tests. You may
choose to take a +1 Fighting bonus
when using a weird weapon, but
that makes this a Continuity card.
RO B I N D. LAW S
IN YOUR HEAD
Shock
A discarnate entity lurks dormant
in your mind. Once per session,
the GM may ask you to make a
Difficulty 3+X Composure test,
where X is the number of Shock
cards you hold. Failure: the entity
takes control of your body for up
to 30 minutes (world time.)
INTOXICATED
Injury
-2 to tests; +2 to Tolls. On a failed
test, make a bad, drunk decision.
After two hours world time,
trade for “Tipsy.”
MACHINA COGITATA
Shock
Lose 2 Health when anyone makes an
Interpersonal Push or gains a core clue
with an Interpersonal ability. When
this happens, roll a die. Even: discard.
49
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells
MAGICIAN’S PALLOR
Shock
To make an Interpersonal Push,
you must also spend 2 Composure.
Discard when you make an
Interpersonal Push.
MESSIAH COMPLEX
Shock
Once per session, you may gain +3 to
any non-Composure test. The player
to your left loses 3 points from their
highest General pool. If pools are
tied for first, you pick which one.
If the result of your test is
even, discard this card.
NARCISSISM
Shock
When a GMC disrespects you,
you must score a Difficulty 4
Composure success or lash out at
them, verbally or otherwise.
Discard by paying a price to
perform a selfless act.
50
MAGICIAN’S TREMOR
Shock
On a Physical success, spend 2
Composure, or it becomes a failure.
On that spend, discard, or
spend 1 Composure to trade
for “Mystery of Sacrifice.”
MORE THINGS IN
HEAVEN AND EARTH
Shock
When testing Composure due to
a supernatural event, you get a +2
bonus when your die roll is even,
and a -2 penalty when odd.
Discard when you succeed
at such a test.
NOSEBLEED
Shock
-1 to Presence and Focus tests.
Discard on a failed Presence
or Focus test.

NO, IT CAN’T BE!
Shock
+1 to Sense Trouble tests.
When you fail a Sense Trouble
test in the presence of one or more
innocent GMCs, make a Difficulty 4
Composure test. Failure: you attack
and seriously wound a GMC chosen
by the GM, then discard this card.
PACK RAT
Shock
All characters take -1 to
Preparedness tests.
Roll a die on any character’s
Preparedness failure. Odd: everyone
can tell that you tossed out the desired
item to make room for a useless
souvenir from a previous scene.
Discard by ridding yourself of an
item you established in a previous
scene as being important to you
and spending 3 Composure.
If still in hand at end of scenario, trade for
“My Collection Will Never Betray Me.”
PARAGEOMETRICAL
EXHAUSTION
Injury
-1 to Physical and Focus tests.
When you fail a test, roll
a die. Even: discard.
RO B I N D. LAW S
OVERSTEPPED
BOUNDS
Shock
-1 on your next Composure
test, then discard.
A PACT IN YELLOW
Shock
GMCs carrying the Yellow Sign
sense that you are suggestible.
Once per scene, one can compel
you to perform a favor that is
neither criminal or dangerous.
When you suffer an ill
consequence from such a favor,
roll a die. Even: discard.
PARAGEOMETRICAL
DEBILITATION
Injury
-2 to Physical and Focus tests.
When you fail a test, roll a die.
Even: trade for “Parageometrical
Exhaustion.” Odd: trade
for “No! It Can’t Be!”
51
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells
PINNED BY DEBRIS
Injury
As immediate recipient of a Difficulty
5 Athletics test, trade for “Beside
Yourself.” Otherwise your Health
pool drops to 0 and -1 to Physical tests.
Discard at end of session.
PRECARIOUS
RECOVERY
Injury
-1 to Physical tests.
On a Physical failure, roll a
die. Odd: trade for the card
you traded this card for.
Discard on a Physical success
with a margin of 3 or more.
RADIATION POISONING
Injury
Lose 1 Health at the beginning
of each interval.
If your Health is 0, counts as 2 Injuries.
If your Health is 0 at end
of scenario, you die.
Trade for “On the Mend” a day
(world time) after you undergo
treatment for radiation poisoning.
52
PIT OF REMORSE
Shock; Continuity
When presented with an
opportunity to save a wounded
GMC Loyalist soldier from
death or further harm, you must
make a Difficulty 6 Composure
test to avoid doing so.
When you do act and clearly
save the character’s life, roll a
die. Discard on an even result.
QUESTIONING
YOUR SENSES
Shock
-1 to Presence tests.
Discard when something you thought
might be unreal turns out to be real.
RAMPANT DISTRUST
Shock
-1 to Composure tests against
mental hazards. Discard by
making a false alarm that creates
a risk for any player character.

RECOVERING ADDICT
Shock; Continuity
When you take a Shock card, roll a
die. 1-2: trade for “Heroin Addict.”
SKEWED REALITY
Shock
-1 to Focus tests.
When you get information from
a GMC other PCs are reluctant
to speak with, roll a die. Even:
discard. Odd: give this Shock
card to another player.
SPIRITUAL
EXPENDITURE
Shock
Lose 1 Health each time you activate
a spell effect, gain a Shock card, or
discard a Shock card. If Health is
0, trade for “Spiritual Spiral.”
Then roll a die. Even: discard.
Odd: lose 1 Health.
RO B I N D. LAW S
SHOT
Injury
-2 to Physical tests. Counts as
2 Injury cards. Trade for “On
the Mend” as recipient of
Difficulty 6 First Aid success.
If still in hand at end of scenario, you
succumb to your injuries and die.
SONG OF THE SIGN
Shock; Continuity
-2 to Composure tests; -1
to other Presence tests.
You may refresh any pool other than
Composure by committing murder.
Discard as recipient of an
Inspiration or Reassurance Push,
or by making a Steel Push.
SPIRITUAL SPIRAL
Shock
Discard by taking an Injury while
performing an act of altruism.
If still in hand at end of
scenario, you die.
53
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells
STIRRED UP
Shock
-1 to Focus tests.
Discard by drinking or drugging
yourself into a stupor.
TENUOUS REALITY
Shock
-1 to Focus tests.
When the discard condition of
another Shock card occurs, you
may discard this card instead.
TROPHY HUNTER
Shock
When in a GMC’s private space, you
must steal a personal item, take it
home, and put it in a special place.
Discard when you suffer consequences
for the discovery of your trophy cache.
54
STOLEN VISAGE
Shock; Continuity
Your face has permanently changed
to that of a person you specified.
A THOROUGH
THRASHING
Injury
-1 to Physical and Focus tests.
On or after two intervals, trade
for “Black and Blue” as recipient
of Difficulty 5 First Aid success.
UNVISIBLE
Shock
You mistakenly believe yourself to be
invisible to people you don’t know.
Discard I interval after you
get yourself into trouble by
acting on this delusion.
 RO B I N D. LAW S

VIOLENT SIDE WHISPER OF THE SIGN

Shock Shock
-1 to Focus tests. While in your presence,
Discard by sucker-punching other player characters suffer
someone who has nothing to -1 to Composure tests.
do with the investigation. When another player character
fails a Composure test by a margin
of 1, roll a die. Even: discard.

YELLOW DOOM
Injury; Shock; Continuity
If still in hand after 24 hours (world
time), your character dies.
Discard by striking a significant
blow against the forces of Carcosa.

55
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Spells

56

GM Guidance
As you can tell from the fact that
these rules appear in a supplement and
not the core book set, The Yellow King
Roleplaying Game doesn’t need to have
player-wielded magic in it at all. My
(Robin’s) year and a half long four-
sequence home series didn’t use any of
the spells presented here. In the next-
to-last episode, I had the players make
Composure tests to activate a ritual to
enter a gate to Carcosa, but that was it.
GMs who do use magic in their
games will find that the design supports
it as a sparing side element that crops
up every now and again. Spells decrease
characters’ survival rates and impel
players to undesired actions. Their
mentally destabilizing nature keeps
them in the realm of horror magic, not
the fun and outlandish sorcery of the
fantasy genre.
Should your group embrace the
pursuit of magic with frenzied gusto,
let them have at it, spiraling ever faster
into Carcosan reality slippage. You can
always pull it back in a later sequence.
Spells only appear in your game when
you choose to seed them. Players can
never initiate their acquisition and
never get random spells your plots aren’t
ready for.
Weaving Magic into Scenarios
Many more spells appear in this
chapter than you could ever expect
to put into play even in an extended
series. Don’t try to squeeze more than
handful into your game. Think of them
not as the standard spell list from an
F20 game, where a spell that doesn’t
RO B I N D. LAW S
get used must be an underpowered,
lackluster bit of design. Instead, regard
them as plot hooks. If you have an
idea for a scenario that ought to have a
spell in it, the copious list here should
provide you either with exactly what
you’re looking for, or the baseline for
you to adapt to your needs. Alternately,
you can look at a spell and use it as
inspiration for a scenario premise.
• Your gaze arbitrarily lands on “Quell
Anarchy.” This spell ties into the
Synarchists, so you decide it’s time
you brought them, and Alexandre
Saint-Yves, to the attention of your
art students. Obviously, if they have
a chance to gain this spell, a scene
of widespread public disorder has to
feature in there somewhere, likely as
your climax. You decide that the time
has come for a Yellow Sign-inflected
repeat of the 1893 student riots.
• The spell “Anti-Weird” reminds
you that you haven’t done much with
the weird weapons of The Wars yet.
You decide to seed the chance to gain
this spell into a scenario that brings
the supernatural to center stage.
• “Plundered Fate” inspires you to
create a scenario with a tough fight at
the end, and a nasty moral dilemma.
As they did during the revolution,
do the ex-insurgents sacrifice the
few to save the many? Or will they
decide that it’s time to turn their
backs on brutal calculations?
• Have your This Is Normal Now
investigators been debilitated by
Continuity cards they wish they
had a way to rid themselves of?
Lead them to a mystery revolving
around a decadent sub-culture of
57
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : GM Guidance
car crash enthusiasts, including
the option of finding and gaining
the “Ballard Syndrome” spell.
In each case, the use of spells as plot
inspiration leads you to a setup and
payoff format, where the PCs have a
chance to seek, acquire and gain a spell
early on, and then find a reason to use
it later, probably during your exciting
climax. This technique borrows a
structural trick from the Bond movies,
where the gadgets Q dispenses in a
setup scene pay off later when 007 puts
them to satisfying and surprising use.
A few spells assist in gaining
information. As players always have a
choice to use or refuse to gain a spell,
and the player with a clue-finding spell
might not be present when needed,
never hinge the solution of a mystery on the
possession of a particular spell. It can always
provide an alternate, cooler or faster,
way to connect your scenario’s dots, but
can’t act as a roadblock and still call itself
a respectable part of a GUMSHOE
rules set. As always, characters must
always be able to navigate the mystery
with investigative abilities alone.
Likewise, the characters must have
at least one way to succeed during the
climax without the use of spells. Sure,
“Imperial Spear” provides an obvious
way for the players to be able to fight
the Yellow King and live, but see to it
that they have other options as well.
Running, for example. When you’re
dealing with the Pallid One, running is
always a solid choice.
58
Tomes
The cards “Hermetic Grimoire,”
“Folio Jaune,” “Parageometrical
Notebook,” and “Dark Web
Download” represent that weird horror
staple, the mind-shattering spellbook.
They only enter play if you decide
to place them in a scenario. You might
make the hunt for a book the entire
premise of a scenario, concluding with
their acquisition of the moldy tome,
secret military plans, spiral-bound
notebook, or electronic file. More likely,
you place it in a scenario as a side benefit
gained by pursuing alternate scenes,
perhaps requiring the expenditure of a
Push or two.
You also control which other spell
cards come into play through the use of
a tome card. What counts as the spell
most applicable to their situation is up
to you. Knowing the group has a tome,
you might decide to custom design a
new spell card, assuming that they’ll call
on it.
Even if the players have read all the
cards in this supplement, you are never
obligated to include any particular one
of them in your game. Should you see
that a particular spell isn’t just useful but
completely short-circuits your scenario,
drop it from your game entirely.
(If you take that route, allowing
the spell to pop up later, when it is less
useful, will feel like a cheat. Avoid doing
that, or make the inconsistency central
to your scenario as a sign of dread
reality slippage.)
In the game world, the character
takes physical possession of the tome
when receiving the card. (Or downloads
in the case of the This Is Normal Now

document.) When the investigator has
gained the maximum number of spells
permitted by the initial Preparedness
spend, the group presumably destroys
or otherwise gets rid of the book. A
player may have reason to want to keep
it regardless, in which case they retain
the card, which continues to count
toward their total allotted number of
Shocks before leaving play.
Tome cards don’t count as spell cards
but are still Shocks. Merely owning
one of these unwholesome documents,
punctuated throughout with scribbled
Yellow Signs, gnaws at one’s identity.
The ASCII Yellow Sign in the Dark
Web Download casts an especially
deleterious pall over all who view it.
Magic for GMCs
In keeping with the player-facing
nature of QuickShock GUMSHOE,
neither Foes nor other GMCs use the
Shock card magic system seen above.
Instead, PCs deal with the effects of
magic as they would any other obstacle
in your storyline.
When investigators fight them head-
on, magical effects might be reflected in
a couple of ways:
• as the Injury cards sorcerous Foes
deal. Nearly any overtly forceful
magic matches a basic hazard already
presented in YKRPG. Want them to
toss fireballs? Use the Singed / Burned
Injury pairing. How about a water
attack that drowns you on dry land? Go
to Cough, Choke, Splutter / Lungful
of Water. The classic force buffet, as seen
in countless episodes of “Supernatural?”
You’ll spot a bunch of ways to go,
RO B I N D. LAW S
but Picked Up and Thrown Hard
/ Monstrous Battering seems
apropos. Cloudkill? Reach for Whiff
of Cyanide / Snootful of Cyanide.
• as your descriptive narration during
a fight. For less overtly fantastical
sorcerers, have them fight with guns,
blades, and fists, but weave into your
narration bullet time, impossible
leaps, and shattering waves of force.
The effects of magic can also appear as
hazards, either physical or mental.
Treat magical booby-traps that injure
their opponents as any other hazard,
albeit ones that can appear apart from
everyday logic. These require Athletics
tests to avoid and draw on the same set
of cards found on the various hazard
tables.
Emotional or psychological harm
done by magical encounters deal Shock
cards and require Composure tests to
resist.
Magic wielded by GMC sorcerers
otherwise simply occurs, successfully
unless interfered with by the
investigators. The magicians levitate
that carriage, place a surveilling demon
inside a boîtenoire, materialize a pack
of riot dogs, or synthesize a soul-eating
batch of ecstasy. Never feel obligated
to grant the investigators equal access
to magic wielded by your antagonists.
Minds touched by Carcosa can
spontaneously create and propagate
new spells without leaving them around
for pesky protagonists to intercept and
learn. Design new spell cards if you
want, while ignoring the plaints of
players who demand equal footing with
your reality-corroding villains.
59
DANCER
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C

IN THE
BONE
CABARET
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Dancer in the Bone Cabaret — The Scenario
DANCER IN THE BONE CABARET
Nothing causes Parisians of the Belle
Époque to flock more than whispers of a
hot new cabaret. Unfortunately for the
art students, they soon discover that Le
Rêve Noir is more than a club—it’s the
nesting place of a bizarre undead entity
called a bone bound that feeds on its
patrons. Unsuspecting Parisians return
from their nights of revelry with strange
injuries, sometimes even missing fingers
or chunks of flesh—wounds from the
bone bound’s attempt to return to its full
vitality.
The Scenario
In Putting a Finger On It, the art
students encounter a fellow classmate
in good spirits, despite losing two
fingers after a night of revelry at Paris’
newest cabaret. Inquiries at Paris’ main
hospital, the Hôtel-Dieu, turn up
similar incidents. Should they visit the
cabaret (Black Dreams), the lively
tone turns dissonant once its alluring
lead dancer, Claire Patin, steps on
stage. Looking further into her past in
Home of the Media reveals she might
not be as lively as she appears. They
might learn her dark secrets through
conducting a séance (The Outspoken
Dead), or the truth might come out the
hard way—through bloodshed and loss
of limb.
62
The Alien Truth
Claire Patin, a young woman
mourning the death of her beloved
brother, became the first human to
cast a spell with Carcosan magic. Just
as copies of The King in Yellow first
began to circulate in Paris, she went
poking around the occult, looking for
anything that might bring him back.
Had she done this a year, or even a
few months before, she may not have
found anything that could have done
her harm. That was before the onset
of Carcosa. Her casting went awry,
resulting in her tragic death. The alien
energy flooding her body during the
spell reanimated her corpse, bringing
her back as the first bone bound.
Under the new name Madeline
Avenel, the bone bound casts an illusion
over all those that enter into its nest.
The foolish and intoxicated youth of
Paris’ elite artistic circles see the lively
performances of a late-night cabaret,
only to wake up in the morning with
blurry false memories that don’t quite
explain how they came to lose their
body parts. The bone bound fed subtly
on its victims on the top floor, only
taking bits of skin, perhaps a few fingers
and toes. Further investigation shows a
room in the basement where the bone
bound keeps a few bodies to continually
harvest more significant body parts
from. Should the investigators fail
 SARA H SA LT I E L

to stop it, it compels its previous
victims to sacrifice themselves to the
harvesting room, until ultimately their
dismembered corpses decorate the club’s
walls and the floors.
This scenario sets up Claire’s spell
as the inciting incident that first truly
manifested Carcosa’s influence over
the human world. The details of the
spell return later in the Black Star
Magic series of adventures in the This Is
Normal Now scenario. This scenario can
function as a one-shot or a standalone
adventure with or without the other
Black Star Magic scenarios.

SCENE ZONE DIAGRAM

DANCER IN THE BONE CABARET

INTRO
Putting a
Finger on It

EARLY LEADS

ALTERNATE CORE
Hôtel Dieu Black Dreams

DEEPER IN

CORE ALTERNATE ALTERNATE

Home of Following The Outspoken
the Media the Music Dead
CLIMAX

END
One Last Dance

Bone Bound influence of the Yellow Sign, the corpse

Foolish humans who dabble with
Carcosan power might not find peace,
even in death. The alien planet’s magic
imbues itself in those who use it, often
changing their body in unpredictable
ways. When a human dies under the
may under certain conditions transform
into a bone bound. The cadaver seeks to
repair itself and return to life, building
a structure around itself entirely
composed of body parts. It might line
the walls of an abandoned building

63

with skinned flesh and replace the
support beams with limbs taken from
its victims. Once the nest is in place,
the bone bound draws power from it.
This energy drain causes the body
parts to decay rapidly, forcing the bone
bound to find new victims to replace the
disintegrating elements frequently.
A thin illusion covers the bone
bound’s nest, applying to the bone
bound itself when it’s on the premises.
Any humans inside the nest see
whatever the bone bound wants them to
see, making it easy for the bone bound
to take the body parts that it needs from
its victims. After a few hours outside the
nest, the illusion drops away, revealing
its true form as a walking corpse. It thus
leaves rarely, save for short periods of
time in the middle of the night.
The bone bound starts by taking
small bits from its victims, eventually
devouring entire limbs over a series
of attacks. Its illusion alters victims’
memory, so they believe their injury
came from elsewhere. The bone bound
produces a coagulating fluid that allows
it to seal up its victim’s wounds, leaving
them alive for return feedings. If its
machinations come under suspicion, it
moves its nest, reestablishing it under a
different facade.
Since the original body of the bone
bound is no longer its sole source of
power, its nest must also be destroyed
to end its threat for good. Otherwise, it
reforms from the body parts left behind
in the lair.
Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
Other 4, Kill 6)
SARA H SA LT I E L
Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if the fight
takes place outside the bone bound’s nest,
+1 for each PC with a body part in the
nest, +1 if the bone bound has absorbed
people during the current scene
Toll: 1
Tags: Alt
Shocks, Minor and Major: Bone
Song/Enthralled
Characters
Madeline Avenel (previously known
as Claire Patin), a girl who became
obsessed with Martinism, (p. 11) after
the death of her brother. Having died
during a spell gone wrong, she now
feeds on cabaret-goers as a bone bound.
Leon Patin, brother to Claire Patin.
He is grief-stricken by the death of one
sibling and the disappearance of another
but knows nothing of what Claire has
become.
Elizabeth Du Roche, a friend of
the investigators. She hosts a salon
interrupted by Stepney’s dramatic tales.
Oliver Stepney, a friend of the
investigators unlucky enough to have
his finger taken by the bone bound.
Adam Dorset, an acquaintance of
the investigators who had some skin
stripped away by the bone bound.
Aristide Ducasse, a belle-lettrist
who investigated Madeline Avenel.
He halted his research when the bone
bound attempted to remove his arm.
Eugene Bihan, administrative staffer
at Hôtel-Dieu de Paris.
65
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Dancer in the Bone Cabaret — Scenes
Scenes
PUTTING A
FINGER ON IT
Scene Type: Introduction
Lead-Outs: Hôtel-Dieu, Black
Dreams
Set the scene with the investigators
enjoying a common pastime, a salon.
Enjoying a wave of popularity in 1895,
salons provide a forum for the artists
and intellectuals to engage in the
philosophical and cultural hot topics
of the day. The investigators lounge
on plush couches in the luxurious
apartment of their friend Elizabeth
Du Roche. It’s several hours into the
evening, and the wine has been flowing
freely. If the players are particularly
keen on the culture and art of 1890’s
Paris, encourage them to go back and
forth, exchanging critiques on the latest
trends, and possibly slipping in a few
snide remarks about their less talented
classmates. Prompt them with a few
snide or underhanded comments from
their classmate, Adam Dorset, of whom
no one is particularly fond.
As soon as this flags, or if your players
are more inclined to jump straight into
the mystery, narrate the entrance of
a close friend, Oliver Stepney. While
he may not know all the investigators
closely, he’s cavorted about Paris’
nightlife with one or two of them. Ask
who feels if that sort of friendship is
most in keeping with their character
to describe their notable adventures
together quickly.
Play Oliver as loud and animated, but
charming, coming into the otherwise
66
cozy apartment with a bang. As the
partygoers gather around him, he
tells a story from a few nights before,
gesticulating wildly. Give players
openings so that this shifts from
monologue to dialogue as quickly as
possible. The gist is:
• (Core, Black Dream) He was passing
his night away in a new cabaret,
Le Rêve Noir (The Black Dream)
in Pigalle, when the strength of
the drinks took him by surprise,
and his memory got blurry.
• He remembers talking to a
particularly friendly bartender.
Then things get foggy with a
vague recollection of an incident
with a horse and buggy just
outside the cabaret, and then
a sharp pain on his hand.
• (Alternate, Hôtel-Dieu) He awoke
in his own bed with no sense of how
much time had passed, with the
pinky finger and index finger on his
left hand sliced clean off. Since there
was no blood in his bed and the wound
was cleaned and treated, he assumes
he must have been hit by a horse and
buggy, passed out, and been taken
to the hospital while unconscious.
He is a bit unclear on how he
returned to his home and hasn’t
been able to find out any further
information about what happened.
• Culture: Le Rêve Noir is a new
cabaret in Pigalle. Having opened
up less than a month ago, it’s
already attracted the most trendy
Parisian artists, with its dance
performances receiving rave reviews.
First Aid (as investigative ability)/
Intuition: There’s something surgically
neat about the wound as if it was cut off

with a knife or some other implement—
it seems unlikely that such a wound was
inflicted in a horse and buggy accident.
Assess Honesty: Oliver seems a bit
shaken up by the whole experience, but
takes it in stride as a new and dramatic
story to tell for years to come. Though
he believes his version of events, his
demeanor is a bit too calm, given the
circumstances. He’s suspiciously content
to accept the mystery, rather than
interrogating the chain of events further.
Bonhomie / Belle-Lettres:
Goading Oliver into leaning into his
theatrical flair gets him to elaborate
more on the most dramatic elements
of his story, including bemoaning the
loss of his family ring that he wore on
his pinky. The ring has an emerald set
into a roaring lion’s mouth and was
made expressly for his great-great-
grandfather. It is entirely irreplaceable.
Once Oliver recounts his story,
Adam rolls up his sleeve to show the
group a long scar running from his wrist
to his elbow, making a joke about how
the drinks in Pigalle got the better of
him as well. He started out the night
drinking at a friend’s apartment in the
neighborhood, and the next thing he
remembers is finding himself sitting
on the sidewalk the next morning
with a gouge taken out of his arm. He
must have drunkenly swerved into
something. The two commiserate about
drunken escapades gone awry, and the
evening lapses back into the comfortable
drunken atmosphere that was present
before Oliver’s dramatic entrance.
However, investigators might notice
Oliver and Adam absentmindedly
stroking their wounds periodically
SARA H SA LT I E L
through the night, in a way that seems
almost loving.
HÔTEL-DIEU
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-In: Putting a Finger on It
Lead-Out: Black Dreams
If the investigators ask which hospital
Oliver would’ve been most likely to go to for
his injury, tell them that though Hôpital
Cochin is the closest, in the 14th
arrondissement, Stepney would’ve been
more likely to go to Hôtel-Dieu de Paris
as it is the largest hospital in Paris.
Describe Hôtel-Dieu de Paris as loud
and bustling, regardless of the time
of day. The doctors seem overworked
and jaded to the traumas occurring
throughout the halls of the hospital.
Gaggles of interns run about the place,
wildly underprepared for the tasks being
thrust at them. In the background,
traces of religious iconography decorate
the walls and architecture.
History: Hôtel-Dieu de Paris
is not only the largest hospital in
Paris but also the oldest. Founded by
651 AD, it has gone through many
transformations. About a century ago,
medical professionals took over from the
nuns who had previously run it. At that
time, it had a 25% mortality rate and
would sometimes house three to a bed.
While conditions have improved since
that time, it remains overworked and
overloaded.
If the investigators ask to speak to
administrative staff, harried and stressed
doctors point them in the direction of
67
B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Dancer in the Bone Cabaret — Scenes
Eugene Bihan, a brusquely efficient
man with very little patience for prying
questions. Posturing as having some
official importance (Officialdom)
persuades Bihan to stop his duties
long enough to answer their questions
and look through the hospital’s files.
In response to their questions, he tells
them he doesn’t remember anyone with
Stepney’s description. Hospital records
confirm that Stepney’s injury was never
treated at the hospital.
(Core, Black Dreams) If they bring up
Oliver’s specific wound, he says they’ve
had an influx of similar and strange
injuries from patrons of Le Rêve Noir,
though all insist their injuries came
from unrelated accidents. He’s alerted
the authorities several times, but it
doesn’t seem to have had much effect.
In one instance, a gendarme showed up
at the hospital a few days later sporting
seven toes, rather than the full ten.
Should the investigators try to sneak
into Eugene’s office, rather than speak to
him, call for a Difficulty 4 Sneak test
to get in and out without being noticed.
They don’t find any records for Oliver,
though if it occurs to them to search for
other missing limb injuries, or any other
reports mentioning Le Rêve Noir, they
find the incidents Eugene would’ve
mentioned.
If the investigators don’t think to look
for records other than Oliver’s and they
seem at a loss for clues, they might pass
two doctors deep in conversation about
the number of freak accident-induced
injuries coming from Le Rêve Noir
and how it’s a pity that the youth put
themselves at such risk by drinking to
the excess.
68
BLACK DREAMS
Scene Type: Core
Lead-Ins: Hôtel-Dieu, Putting a
Finger on It
Lead-Out: Home of the Media
If the investigators visit the cabaret
at night, they find it at the height
of its opening hours, full of life. Le
Rêve Noir is tucked away in a narrow
alleyway in Pigalle. Uneven and grimy
cobblestones lead the way to the front
entrance, which would be easy to miss
if not for the clusters of disaffected
Parisian artists smoking outside, and
the constant trickle of patrons moving
in and out of the swirling darkness
inside. The inside is cramped but in
an endearing way. Skillful waiters
deftly move between tables to deliver
liquid comfort, disrupting the lazily
drifting clouds of cigarette and cigar
smoke. An assortment of performances
parade across the stage, showcasing
high spirited singing, poetry, and other
performance art.
Do the investigators sit back and
observe the goings-on of the cabaret?
Call for a Difficulty 4 Sense Trouble
test. Successful characters notice that
though the performers seem like the
standard fare of mismatched local artists
trying their luck at the stage, none of
them return to the audience after their
set. Yet there is visibly no real backstage
area. What’s more, the audience
members appear to be paying attention,
sitting rapt before the performances,
but their expressions are dazed, and
they clap or laugh in an eerily uniform

way, without the variation in sound
and timing that one might expect.
An attempt to engage with them is
met with vacant but pleasant smiles
and distracted conversation. Call for a
Difficulty 3 Composure test to avoid
Shocks—Minor and Major: Unease/
Dread.
When Madeline Avenel walks on
stage, it’s as if all the energy in the room
collects around her. If the investigators
passed the Sense Trouble test, they
notice that the way the audience
response to her is not like how they
responded to the other performers.
Their bodies thrum with her music and
dancing. Watching the room, it’s as if
all people inside of it have become one
unified entity, swaying to the beat, and
passing the movement between them.
Her dance number commands the
stage, and even the investigators find
themselves caught in the thrall.
Art History: The current dance style
in fashion at cabarets is the can-can.
This, however, is a different type of
dance altogether, and not one that you
recognize, even with your extensive
historical knowledge of the performing
arts. There’s a jerky stiffness to her
movements as if her joints are rigid
in their place—it’s unusual but not
unappealing.
(Core, Home of the Media) Culture:
This is not a dancer they’re familiar
with, but they remember a conversation
with their friend, Aristide Ducasse, a
belle-lettrist who mentioned he was
looking into a dancer at the new cabaret.
SARA H SA LT I E L
Does the group try to talk to the
waiters or bartenders staffing the
cabaret?
Each one wears a bland and friendly
smile. They say that they don’t
remember anyone of Oliver, Aristide,
or Adam’s appearance in the cabaret.
But it’s hard to say, as they have many
visitors each night and the lighting
in the room is so low. They definitely
have no recollection of any injuries in
the cabaret. Of course, many patrons
drink a sizable amount of alcohol, and
the cabaret can’t be accountable for
what happens to them after they leave
the premises. Assess Honesty shows
them to be unnervingly devoid of any
of the tics or tells that most people have
to denote honesty. While their mouths
move in the performance of emotion,
the rest of their faces stay completely
blank.
Speaking to Madeline yields similar
results. Play her as mysterious and
flirtatious, but almost in a mechanical
way. Every hair flip or subtle movement
has the same jerky but calculated
quality as her dancing. She tries to
derail their every question by using
their surroundings, offering them
additional drinks or gesturing at the
performers, her hand glittering in
the light with an emerald and lion-
embossed ring.
Natural History/Painting: There’s
a shift in color and texture between the
skin on Madeline’s hands and her arms.
As if the two body parts belonged to
different people. Though it’s dark, the
difference is too notable to be a trick of
the light.
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B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Dancer in the Bone Cabaret — Scenes
If asked about it, Avenel says she
received the ring from her brother, as
congratulations for her dancing career.
She waves off any questions about her
past in the same way she does questions
about the cabaret, with vague, generic
answers. Assess Honesty says that she
is just as devoid of affect as the cabaret
staff. As if truth and falsehood don’t
even exist to her.
Causing too much of a confrontation
gets them immediately removed from
the cabaret by a particularly indifferent
and bulky bouncer. Call for Difficulty
3 Composure test to avoid Shocks—
Minor and Major: Embarrassed/
Humiliated. Getting rowdy with the
bouncer does not reveal the bone
bound’s true form, as the characters are
seen just as disruptive patrons, rather
than threats to the bone bound’s secret.
When the investigators leave
the cabaret, call for a Difficulty 4
Composure test to avoid Shock—
Minor: Bone Song. If an investigator
previously succeeded on their Sense
Trouble test, the Difficulty drops to
2. Those who fail the Composure test
don’t receive their Shock cards until
the next morning, waking up in their
beds with strange injuries and hazy
memories of various accidents that they
got into once separating from the group.
Those that succeed remain unscathed.
The group might try to follow Avenel
or other staff members after they leave
the club. Peculiarly, if they wait outside,
no one emerges after the cabaret closes,
no matter how long they wait.
70
HOME OF THE MEDIA
Scene Type: Core
Lead-In: Black Dreams
Lead-Outs: Following the Music,
One Last Dance
Aristide’s apartment lies close to the
river in the busy 1st arrondissement,
the perfect neighborhood for picking
up gossip about the latest news the
moment you step out into the street.
Paranoid and jittery, Ducasse only
cracks the door open a sliver when the
investigators knock on it. The smell
of rotting meat seeps out from the
apartment. His preference is to conduct
the conversation through the tiny crack
in the door, whispering that now is not
a good time. Steel, Inspiration, or
any other likely Interpersonal Ability
convinces him to reluctantly allow the
group across his apartment threshold.
Aristide’s arm hangs from its socket,
a deep cut on the shoulder, revealing
tendons and bones. The wound is an
unhealthy purplish color and is oozing
slightly. Seeing it prompts a Difficulty
3 Composure test to avoid Shocks—
Minor and Major: The Shudders/
Shaken.
Natural History/ First Aid (as
investigative ability): It looks as though
something tried to cut through the
shoulder to remove the arm but got
disrupted halfway through. Though
this wound has healed much worse
than Oliver’s, they look like they were
inflicted with similar instruments.

If the investigators don’t enter Aristide’s
apartment:
Aristide gives the following responses
to their questions, as prompted:
• (Core, Black Dreams) He
recognizes the decor described.
Le Rêve Noir is one of the newest
and most popular cabarets.
• He was in the process of writing an
article about the cabaret when it first
opened but discovered something
unusual about the performers.
• In the process of his writing, he
was threatened and decided to
discontinue his plans for the article.
• The smell in his apartment is
coming from some meat gone
bad. As he is in the process of
trying to clear the smell, he would
rather not entertain guests.
Assess Honesty: While he’s
technically telling the truth, his
statements about the cabaret are only
a small fraction of the truth. He seems
scared. His explanation for the rotting
stench, on the other hand, is an outright
lie.
Appealing to Aristide’s journalistic
desire for the truth (Inspiration) or
assuring him that they are trustworthy
(Reassurance) convinces him to
elaborate more on his story:
• While conducting research into
the performers he witnessed
at the cabaret the first night he
visited, he found that there were
no records for most of them
anywhere, except for one: Madeline
Avenel, the star performer.
• While the name “Madeline Avenel”
yielded no results, he came across a
missing persons report for someone
exactly matching Avenel’s description
SARA H SA LT I E L
by the name of Claire Patin. The
report dated back to a few weeks
before the cabaret’s opening.
• (Core, One Last Dance) He
investigated further, but when he
went to Le Rêve Noir to speak to
the performer herself, he had an
encounter that made him fear for
his safety. He cannot bring himself
to go to the authorities or investigate
any further, but says that what’s
happening in that cabaret must come
to a stop. He advises the group to
go to the hidden room behind the
curtain in the darkest part of the bar.
He says the password is “Octave”.
(Alternate, Following the Music)
Convincing Ducasse that his name will
not be brought up in their investigation
(Negotiations or Reassurance) yields
Patin’s last known address.
Should the investigators persuade Ducasse
to open the door and they see his arm:
Aristide provides the aforementioned
story without prompting. Rather than
being vague about the encounter that
made him fear for his safety, he says
that he entered into the cabaret with
the intention of demanding answers
from Madeline. On confronting her,
his memory gets blurry. All he recalls
is a lovely dream-like haze. At one
point, though, the haze weakened, and
he awoke to find a ghoulish apparition
removing his arm with a surgical knife.
It recoiled once he fought back, and he
managed to escape. Since then, he has
attempted to treat the wound on his own
but fears going to a medical professional
in case they hear this story and think
he’s gone mad.
(Core, Hôtel-Dieu) The investigators
might insist on accompanying Ducasse
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B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Dancer in the Bone Cabaret — Scenes
to the hospital. If they do and don’t
take the initiative in asking questions,
Ducasse’s injuries prompt the attending
doctor to remark on the increased
number of strange and similar injuries
he’s attended to in the past few weeks.
FOLLOWING
THE MUSIC
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-In: Home of the Media
Lead-Outs: The Outspoken
Dead, One Last Dance
The investigators might find Claire
Patin’s address by speaking to Ducasse
or by using Research to look into
newspapers from the past month,
wherein they would find the same
missing persons piece that Ducasse did.
Either path leads the group to a small
home in the banlieues to the north of
Paris.
Architecture: The house looks like
it is usually well-kept but has fallen
into slight disrepair recently—the paint
and the shutters are all in a good state
and clearly look as if they are repaired
frequently, but a thin layer of grime
covers the windows. Within the past few
months, there’s been a change in the
owner’s living habits. Despite the house
falling into neglect, someone clearly still
occupies it.
If the art students knock on the
door, they hear a slow shuffling sound
from deep within the house. Slowly
and reluctantly, the sound approaches
the door. Leon Patin opens it, barely
enough to allow the light of day to fall
on his face. A handsome man, he wears
72
grief and weariness in the creases of his
face. His hair and stubble are unkempt,
and an unwashed smell tumbles out
onto the group, renewing itself each
time he moves. Play Leon as a man
worn down by the tragedies of his life,
barely able to muster up enough energy
for conversation. In response to their
questions, he tells them:
• Claire Patin was his sister—she
went missing over a month
ago, shortly after the death
of their brother, Octave.
• He has never heard of Le Rêve Noir,
and no one in his family (Claire
included) ever showed any interest in
cabarets, nor dancing, for that matter.
If the investigators ask him any more
questions, he backs away from his door,
leaving it ajar. He doesn’t invite them in
but doesn’t seem particularly surprised
if they enter. The interior of his home is
rank and dark. It looks like it might have
been a lovely home once. The furniture
is modest but tasteful, and the art seems
to have been chosen to have a specific
aesthetic.
On the wall hangs a portrait of Leon,
Claire, and Octave. Though Claire’s
demeanor is radically different from
Madeline’s, there is no doubt that they
are one and the same.
In the corner of the room is an altar
with candles and a pentacle inscribed
into a circle.
Occult: The altar is a Martinist altar,
Martinism being a form of Christian
mysticism. Gerard Encausse—otherwise
known as Papus— founded the Martinist
Order in Paris in 1884. The practice
of Martinism centers around the
“Reintegration” of man with his divine
source and includes tarot, palmistry,

and other occult practices, as well as
Catholic orthodoxy. However, the
images drawn on the altar don’t match
any iteration of Martinism you’ve seen.
Ghastly silhouettes are grotesquely
contorting their bodies into inhuman, or
post-human, shapes.
If asked, Patin says the altar is
his brother’s, but if the investigators
aggressively interrogate him (Steel), he
clams up, responding to their questions
with grunts, or possibly silence. He
won’t stop them from looking around,
lacking the energy or willpower to do
much of anything, but the investigators
must decipher on their own the things
they find. The book of daguerreotypes
lies open on the desk in Claire’s room.
Most of her possessions remain entirely
untouched, no doubt in a vain hope that
retaining it as a shrine to her life will
increase the chances of her return.
If the investigators coax him into a
conversation by gently asking him to
tell them about his siblings or showing
empathy for his loss (Reassurance),
he is far less reticent and tells them the
following story:
• Up until three months ago, he
lived in the house with his two
siblings, Claire and Octave.
• Octave, the oldest of the siblings,
became a member of the Martinist
Order a few years ago, and
though the other two didn’t quite
understand his beliefs, it didn’t
cause any friction between them.
• Three months ago, Octave died in
a freak accident. While searching
for a gift for his beloved, he tripped
on the lip of a step, fell through a
store window, and was impaled on
the spiked railing below. Claire
SARA H SA LT I E L
was with him when it happened.
• Previously, Claire was friendly
and outgoing, but after Octave’s
death, she withdrew into herself
and became obsessed with Octave’s
Martinistic practices—something
that had never interested her before.
She was the one who added all the
silhouette drawings to the altar.
• A little over a month ago, Claire
spent all of her time going through
a book of daguerreotypes Octave
had in his collection. She wouldn’t
eat or sleep but spent days on end
flipping through the album, staring
at each image, sometimes for
hours. One day Leon came home
from his job, and she was gone,
along with a single daguerreotype.
He hasn’t seen her since.
• He’s alerted all the proper channels
and has gone on several wild
goose chases throughout the city,
following up on various claims that
people spotted her. All of them
turned out to be dead ends. At this
point, he’s resigned himself to
having lost both of his siblings.
If asked, Leon indicates the book of
daguerreotypes, though he refuses to
look at them himself as they bring up
painful memories. The book has slots
inside for each daguerreotype, so it is
clear that one is missing. Many of them
are just portraits, but halfway through
the collection, there are images of
starry landscapes and a few of a white
mask sitting on a table. More than a
passing glance merits a Difficulty 4
Composure test to avoid Shocks—
Minor and Major: The Tremors/
Hackles Raised. Investigators suffering
73

these Shocks experience a vision in
which they see black stars in a white sky
above an eerily dark lake. The corners
of the mouth on the mask curl upwards
in a ghastly grin, though it’s unclear if
the expression on the face is meant to be
representative of ecstasy or horror.
(Alternate, The Outspoken Dead) The
last two photos have palpable psychic
energy to them. One of them is of the
facade of Le Rêve Noir. The other
depicts Claire, grinning wildly and into
the eyes of the viewer. Investigators
looking at those images are filled with
the knowledge that if they scrape the
images off the copper plating to find
what’s underneath, they will gain a spell
that will grant them clarity regarding
Claire’s disappearance.
Photography: Daguerreotypes,
invented in 1839, were the first publicly
available photographic process. It
involves exposing a light-sensitive sheet
of silver-plated copper in a camera.
While daguerreotypes were popular
in the 1840s and 1850s they, have been
out of fashion for decades, replaced
by cheaper and quicker photographic
methods. Based on the aging of the
last two daguerreotypes, they’re
decades old, which is impossible, given
the subject matters. Additionally,
Claire’s smile in the daguerreotype is
exceedingly strange, since the exposure
time is much longer than is natural for
a living human to hold a smile. The
stiffness of the image is reminiscent of
post-mortem photographs, currently
popular precisely because of the long
exposure times.
If the investigators attempt to scrape
the images off the daguerreotypes in
Leon’s presence, he becomes deeply
SARA H SA LT I E L
upset and insists that they leave
for defiling his brother’s remaining
possessions. An art student can steal
the photos on a mere 1-point Sneaking
spend, as Patin is too distraught to
notice much of anything. If they ask
him about the two last daguerreotypes,
he looks confused and honestly says he
knows nothing about them, as Assess
Honesty confirms.
If the art students tell Leon that Claire is a
cabaret dancer at Le Rêve Noir, at first, he
refuses to believe them, having pursued
so many heartbreakingly false leads over
the past month. Inspiration convinces
him not to lose hope, and he demands
to go to the cabaret immediately.
A Difficulty 3 Sense Trouble success
tells the investigators that Leon would
surely be a danger to himself and them
if allowed to accompany them to the
cabaret. A Reassurance or Society
Push convinces him to stay home and
let them handle it. Otherwise, you may
choose to improvise a moment in the
final scene where Leon stumbles in and
complicates their efforts just when they
seem to have the upper hand.
THE OUTSPOKEN
DEAD
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-In: Following the Music
Lead-Out: One Last Dance
Scraping the top layer off the
daguerrotypes does not require a lot of
physical strain but is still time-intensive,
taking about an hour to complete.
As the metal shavings come off, they
stick to fingers. By the end, whoever
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B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Dancer in the Bone Cabaret — Scenes
undertook the task has a smooth,
seamless metal glove clinging to their
skin. On completion, the metal rapidly
spiderwebs up their arm, piercing their
skin at the crook of their elbow and
sinking into their veins. Once the metal
touches their bloodstream, they gain the
Shock card “Spirit Medium” and have
the knowledge to hold a séance and ask
the spirits about Claire’s disappearance.
Before the séance takes place, the player
should roll to determine whether they
discard or trade “Spirit Medium” upon
its conclusion.
When more than one character takes
part, this happens to the one with the
lowest Composure pool. Break ties in
favor of the player who has received less
spotlight time recently.
As the card-holding character now
intuits, for the séance to take place, at
least two people (including the one with
the spell card) must cut nicks into their
skin on their forehead, stomach, and
elbows, and join hands, concentrating
on unifying with each other. The metal
from the daguerreotype liquefies and
turns into an animated tendril that
moves between the bodies of the people
involved in the ritual, going underneath
their skin through one cut and emerging
out the other, coiling around various
body parts. It completes its circuit by
crawling up through the cut in the
stomach of the investigator who used
the spell and moving up to their vocal
cords. While the investigator retains
agency, there is a powerful energy
coursing through them that yearns to
speak. It tells them:
• It is the spirit of Claire,
come from the afterlife.
76
• After the death of Octave, she
scoured his belongings in hopes
of finding something that would
return him to this plane.
• Every night since starting the
search, she repeatedly dreamt of an
incantation, comprised of bits and
pieces of Octave’s Martinist texts,
and partially made up of a language
she didn’t entirely understand.
She became obsessed with the
possibility that the incantation
might bring Octave back.
• After a month of that dream, she
found a new page in Octave’s book of
daguerrotypes, one that she hadn’t
seen before, with images of symbols
and signs in impossibly bright
yellow. She removed the page from
the book and used it to perform the
incantation from her dreams, barely
knowing herself how she contained
the knowledge that she did.
• As she uttered the last words, she
was thrown into horrific pain so
violent that it felt that the air in
front of her was rent into two.
Assess Honesty confirms the story
the spirit tells.
If the investigators ask about Le Rêve
Noir, the voice changes. It becomes
harsher and more guttural, scraping
up the insides of the throat of the
investigator channeling it. This voice is
equally honest but malicious, and it is
certainly not Claire’s voice anymore. It
doesn’t take heed of the questions being
asked of it, but rather laughs delightedly
and tells them to attend to their blackest
dreams so that their flesh can join with
all the rest. If any investigators in the
circle lost body parts to the bone bound

earlier, the edges of their wounds shrivel
and peel back, revealing more bone
or muscle underneath (Conclusion,
One Last Dance). The investigator
channeling the spirit sees flashes of
images that war with each other. Half
the images are of the investigator’s own
limbs and skin peeling off and inching
like a slug towards a giant mound of
pulsating flesh. The other half is of
Madeline Avenel dancing in a cave with
walls oozing blood. With each jerk of
her body, she pulls up a strand of viscous
blood that she absorbs into her body like
a leech. A fire begins to flicker in the
cave, and the flame races towards her
along the blood. An inferno breaks out,
and Madeline continues to dance while
her whole body is alight, still absorbing
the blood around her. The last vision is
Madeline, reaching out for new blood.
At last, finding none, she collapses to
the ground, smoldering. During that
time, the skin on the investigator’s face
melts into a grotesque, stringy white
mask, visible to everyone else in the
room, not reforming until the visions
are over.
After the visions finish, investigators
aiding the séance make Difficulty 4
Composure tests to avoid Shocks—
Minor and Major: More Things in
Heaven and Earth/Anyone Could be
Secretly Dead. The art student who
led it instead makes a Difficulty 5
Composure test from them to avoid
Shocks—Minor and Major: Witness
to Carnage/ Existence is a Meat
Grinder.
The metal from the daguerreotypes
returns to the plates. If any of
the investigators look at it, the
SARA H SA LT I E L
daguerreotypes have changed. In one,
Claire reaches out of the frame, her
arm appearing in the other, dragging a
long chain of human body parts into her
mouth.
THE PASSION
OF ARISTIDE
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-Out: One Last Dance
Should the investigators lose their
direction, one of them finds an article in
the morning’s paper: Aristide Ducasse
arrested for attempted arson. The
paper paints him as delusional, saying
he believes a building holds malicious
intent towards him. It includes a brief
interview with Eugene Bihan at Hôtel-
Dieu, Aristide’s last known location
before his attempted crime.
Returning to Hôtel-Dieu and
questioning Bihan (Officialdom)
yields the following:
• Ducasse was being treated
for an amputated arm (if the
characters weren’t the ones to
take him to Hôtel-Dieu)
• He suffered fever dreams from
the moment he entered the
hospital. His doctors feared he
was mistaking them for reality.
• (Conclusion, One Last Dance) He
insisted that there was a building
that had entranced him with music,
and the only way to stop its call was
to burn its deep-dwelling heart.
Otherwise, he would feel compelled
to return once more and lose the rest
of his body to its seductive melody
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B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Dancer in the Bone Cabaret — Scenes
ONE LAST DANCE
Scene Type: Conclusion
Lead-Ins: The Outspoken Dead,
Following the Music, Home of
the Media, The Passion of Aristide
On returning to the cabaret, the
investigators find it in peak hours, but
Madeline is nowhere to be found. If
they did not go through Home of the
Media, they notice two patrons in the
darkest corner, right by the bar. They
stand around chatting casually, but
every so often look around, as if worried
about drawing attention. A server passes
in front of them, and with a blink,
they’re gone.
The entrance to the secret basement
is behind a black curtain in that corner
of the cabaret, arranged carefully to look
like a shadowy wall. Behind the curtain
is a stairwell with flickering torchlights—
at the bottom of it is a well-muscled
bouncer who demands a password when
approached.
If the art students don’t have the password,
they can distract, fight, or sneak past
the bouncer with a relevant test. If
their strategy draws attention to them,
it triggers the bone bound’s attack.
Otherwise, they can observe unnoticed.
The room below is smaller and darker
than the main cabaret. A few cabaret
patrons sit at the crowded tables, barely
visible except the occasional gleam
from their skin. Madeline stands on a
stage barely big enough for one person,
crooning softly.
If the investigators aggressively confront
her right away, she shifts into her bone
bound form and attacks. See below.
78
If the group brings Leon with them
after meeting him at his home, he runs at
Madeline the moment he sees her,
exclaiming for his lost sister, similarly
triggering an attack.
Other staff members move between
tables, coming to stand for an extended
period of time by one or two patrons.
Inspecting closer shows that most of
these patrons are missing many body
parts, the wounds in various stages of
healing. There are bloodstains on the
floor and the chairs from each of these
wounds as if the patrons had been sitting
there for weeks, unmoving, losing one
body part after another. The patrons
don’t respond if spoken to. The staff
members use knives to remove more
body parts from the patrons, some small
strips of skin or fingers, once or twice as
large as a leg. They remove it quickly
and efficiently from the entranced
audience member and sealing off the
wound.
If the investigators attack or interfere,
the cabaret reveals its true form. The
staff members are animated piles of
body parts, disguised behind the bone
bound’s illusion. Visceral, dripping,
gooey body parts coat the entirety of
the cabaret—flesh strips adhered to the
walls, pillars made of bones climbing
from the floor to the ceiling. The place
smells of rotting meat. Slick, coagulated
liquid drips from the ceilings. Though
the undead cabaret staff don’t exercise
their own agency, they can inflict a bit
of damage by slamming into anyone
attacking the bone bound. Narrate this
as part of the combat that will likely
break out in this scene. The body parts
making up the doorway seal to each
other, making a seamless wall of rotting
SARA H SA LT I E L

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B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Dancer in the Bone Cabaret — Scenes
human meat that the investigators must
push through if they try to escape. Call
for a Difficulty 5 Composure test to
avoid Shocks—Minor and Major:
Must Have Been a Hallucination/
Reality Collapse.
Madeline, as well, takes on her true
form as the bone bound. Curtains of
dripping, gooey, undulating flesh hang
from its arms and back as it continually
sucks the energy out of the stolen
body parts. It opens its mouth, and the
reek of dead breath emanates from
it like a wave. It furiously attacks the
art students, if they came here alone,
or Leon, if he accompanied them. If
the fight occurs with innocent patrons
present, the bone bound absorbs their
bodies into its nest in order to draw
more strength from them, triggering
one of the conditions that adjust its
Difficulty Numbers upwards.
Do the investigators defeat the
bone bound without destroying its
lair?
The boundaries between it and its
nest are indistinguishable. With a giant
slurping noise, rotting body parts gather
around where the bone bound lay.
Intuition: It looks almost as if the
creature was gathering strength from its
surroundings and fortifying itself with
them.
The bone bound needs a few days to
recuperate before it can gather up the
strength to move its nest. During that
time period, Le Rêve Noir still exists
but is boarded up. If the investigators
return, it only takes a Difficulty 2
Sense Trouble test to see past the bone
bound’s illusion and see the insides of
the building as a quivering mass of flesh.
Up until the bone bound leaves, it is
80
vulnerable, and cannot put up a fight if
the group returns to finish what they
started.
Do the investigators escape the
nest?
They can coax the bone bound out
since they pose too much of a threat to
it to be easily let go. Once it is outside
its nest, it’s more vulnerable and can’t
regain strength from its nest if it
receives a fatal wound.
Short of drawing it out, destroying
the bone bound’s nest is the best way to
ensure a permanent death. Fire is likely
the most efficient way to do this, but
reward player creativity if they come
up with other solutions. So long as the
investigators fatally wound the bone
bound and no body parts remain for it to
return to, it is defeated.
If the group doesn’t defeat the bone bound,
it deems the location of its current
nest unsafe and moves somewhere
where its safety is not threatened.
Describe dreams the characters have
of the bone bound in different cities,
always collecting yet more flesh.
Wherever it goes, it spreads a bit more
Carcosan energy, even interacting
with the Deuced Peculiar Business
of the investigators themselves. As
the bone bound needs body parts to
re-establish itself in its new nest, it uses
its psychological pull over its previous
victims, and Oliver disappears, along
with several other previous patrons of
the cabaret.
Coda
If the group destroys the bone bound,
the building where the cabaret once
stood crumbles to the ground. The
sudden disappearance of the popular

venue causes quite a stir among the
artists of Paris. Unless the group
provides it to him, Leon Patin never
gets an answer about what happened
to his sister, but he learns to live with
his grief. Rumors abound concerning
the cabaret’s disappearance, but none
come close to approaching the truth.
As is Parisian fashion, in a week or so,
it is forgotten in favor of the next most
exciting thing—forgotten except by
those who lost something there.
Antagonist Reactions
Oliver’s Return
Triggering Condition: The team
thinks the bone bound was destroyed
when it was merely temporarily
defeated. Alternatively, use this if
they’re playing it safe and need a little
push to head into danger.
One or more of the investigators
encounter Adam on the street as he
heads towards Le Rêve Noir. His wound,
visible under his sleeve, is at least three
times larger than it was before as if
something picked at the edges of it and
took off more skin in strips. He’s dazed
and distracted, not wanting to pause to
make conversation. He tells them where
he’s headed, says that he’s meeting
Oliver, who’s already there. If the
investigators point out that the cabaret
closed down, he waves it off, saying
that it is a special meeting arranged by
Madeline herself. Short of physically
restraining him, there is no way to stop
him from making his rendezvous.
If the group wasn’t particularly
invested in any of the GMCs, one of
them could be put under a similar
threat if they have the Shock card
SARA H SA LT I E L
“Enthralled” and fail their daily
Composure test.
Affronted Rakes
Triggering Condition: The art
students cause enough of a stir that
Madeline wants to discourage their
attentions.
Madeline encourages rich young
hotbloods among her circle of aficionados
to pay them an intimidating visit.
Realizing that they recently went to
the trouble of acquiring expensive
sword canes, she doesn’t need to spell
out her desires or resort to supernatural
influence. She merely suggests that the
performing arts have been threatened by
ignorant daubers, and American ones at
that, and lets their tempers do the rest.
A Steel or Reassurance Push
discourages them from drawing their
weapons. Otherwise, the conversation
escalates to a fight.
They become more compliant after the
Push or a defeat, explaining the above
from their point of view. The one who
does the talking is supercilious aristocrat
Puvis de Marigny. Curl your lip and
affect a nasal accent as they talk to him.
If you need them to bear the scars
of Madeline’s predation to move the
mystery forward, they do. Otherwise,
she has not yet begun to feed on them.
Numbers: Number of PCs
Difficulty: Evenly Matched (Escape
3, Other 4, Kill 5)
Difficulty Adjustments: +1 in the
afternoon (fully sober); -1 at night
(drunk); no adjustment in morning
(hungover)
Toll: 1
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Thrashed/Rapier Wound
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B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Dancer in the Bone Cabaret — Cards

CARDS
Injury Cards

RAPIER WOUND THRASHED

Injury
-1 to all tests (except Preparedness.)
After one interval, as recipient
of a Difficulty 5 First Aid
success, trade for “Thrashed.”
Injury
-1 to all tests (except Preparedness.)
After any failed, salient test,
roll a die. Even: discard.

YOU JUST LOST

A FINGER
Injury
Non-lethal. -1 to Physical tests.

IT LOOKS WORSE BROKEN FINGERS

THAN IT IS
Injury
Upon seeing you for the first
time after the incident that
saddled you with this card, any
other PC loses 1 Composure.
Discard after six hours world time.
Injury
Nonlethal. -2 to non-Presence tests.
Penalty drops to -1 as recipient of
Difficulty 4 First Aid success.
Penalty drops by 1 if in hand
at start of session.
Discard when penalty equals 0.

82
 SARA H SA LT I E L

Shock Cards

BONE SONG
Shock
-1 to Composure and Sense Trouble tests.
When you next meet up with the
entity that gave you this card, you
unknowingly let it take a piece of you.
Roll a die. 1-2: trade for “It Looks Worse
Than It Is.” 3-4: trade for “You Just
Lost a Finger.” 5-6: trade for both “You
Just Lost a Finger” and “Enthralled.”

EMBARRASSED HUMILIATED
Shock Shock
Nonlethal. -1 to Focus tests. Nonlethal. -1 to Presence tests.
Discard on a Composure failure. Discard by winning over a difficult
or intimidating witness.

ENTHRALLED
Shock

You may not act against the

interests of the entity responsible
for you taking this card, as you
reasonably understand them.
When the entity harms another
PC, roll a die. Even: discard.
Discard if the entity harms you or is
destroyed (not by you, of course).

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B LAC K S TAR M AG I C : Dancer in the Bone Cabaret — Cards

MORE THINGS IN ANYONE COULD BE

HEAVEN AND EARTH
Shock
When testing Composure due to
a supernatural event, you get a +2
bonus when your die roll is even,
and a -2 penalty when odd.
Discard when you succeed
at such a test.
SECRETLY DEAD
Shock
You can’t make Interpersonal Pushes.
Discard when your check to see
if someone really has a material
form causes you to pay a price.

MUST HAVE BEEN A REALITY COLLAPSE

HALLUCINATION Shock
Shock
-2 to Sense Trouble tests. Lose 1
-1 to Sense Trouble tests. Health each time you make a Push.
Discard when you uncover a core clue. Trade for “Must Have Been a
Hallucination” on a success that
restores normality to the world.

THE SHUDDERS SHAKEN

Shock Shock
Roll a die; lose that number of -1 to Composure tests.
Composure points, noting the
number lost. If your Composure
is already 0, trade for “An
Image Seared in the Mind.”
Discard after a night’s sleep. When
you discard, roll a die. Even: regain
those lost Composure points.

84
 SARA H SA LT I E L

THE TREMORS HACKLES RAISED

Shock
-1 to Presence.
Discard by going to a scary location.
Discard by initiating an encounter
with a scary person, creature or entity
Shock
Pay 1 Health or Composure each
time a player character (including
you) attempts a Sense Trouble test.
Trade for “The Tremors” when
your Health and Composure
pools both equal 0.

UNEASE DREAD
Shock Shock
Your next Presence or Focus test -1 to Presence and Focus tests.
takes a -1 penalty. Then discard. After any such test, roll a die.
Even: trade for “Unease.”

WITNESS TO CARNAGE EXISTENCE IS A

Shock
-1 to all tests.
Discard as recipient of a Push. Explain
why that Push would help with this.
MEAT-GRINDER
Shock; Continuity
Tests take a penalty equal
to the number of Shock
cards you have in hand.
Discard after participating
in an event that restores
your faith in humanity.

85
 B L A C K S TA R M A G I C

A CASKET
AT LE THIL
B L A C K S TA R M A G I C : A Casket at LeThil — The Hook

A CASKET AT LE THIL

This scenario for The Wars sends The Alien Truth

the squad to a doomed village in The funeral is actually the
disputed territory—but who exactly abandonment of Le Thil’s earthly
is disputing possession of the aspect; the town is drawing
village of Le Thil? close to Carcosa, presenting the
squad with a terrible decision
(The Funeral Procession)—do they
The Hook force the villagers to leave at
A boîtenoire message directs gunpoint, let the artillery barrage
the squad to oversee the consume the town, or draw on
evacuation of a village before Carcosan energies to save the
the whole region is blasted into village at the cost of their own
oblivion by Loyalist artillery (Death sanity?
Notice). There, they Meet The
Mourners—the villagers, who
refuse to leave until they’ve buried
their dead.
Key Villagers
Rene, the Mayor
The Development Thibault, the Sentry
Strange discoveries made while André, the Priest
Exploring the Village confirms Klaus, André’s Prisoner
rumors that this place is an The Funeral Director
enemy facility researching the The Dead Child, symbolic of
terrible mysteries of Science those who perished in the War
Jaune. There’s also weirdness
afoot with the Sealed Coffin.
The squad must discover The
Tunnels to track down The Funeral
Director, the key to ordering
the evacuation, but may be
interrupted by an Attack! Potential
subplots include a visit to The
Island or a meeting with The
Priest.

88
 Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan

The Village of Le Thil At the heart of the village is

There are several places called
Le Thil in France; you can, of
course, rewrite geography at your
whim if none fit. The village needs
to be close to the front lines
between the Loyalist and enemy
forces. Thil stands on the shore
of a small lake. The village is an
ancient one; the oldest buildings
are medieval, and there are
earthworks and tombs nearby that
are older still. Persistent rumors
speak of tunnels under the town,
perhaps built by Cathars or other
dissidents.
a large hall, a former tithe barn
where tithes paid to the priests
were stored, converted for use
as a morgue. Opposite stands
the village church, rebuilt after
a fire in the 1800s, now with
a grandiose spire that looms
absurdly above Le Thil.
• Military Logistics or Farming:
The war has clearly taken a
terrible toll on the village, greatly
reducing its population. Many
of the buildings in town are
abandoned and empty. Maybe
the residents fled the fighting.

A CASKET AT LE THIL
INTRODUCTION
Death Notice

Meet the
Mourners

Exploring The Barn The Priest The Island

the Village

Attack!

The Tunnels

The Director

The Funeral
Procession

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B L A C K S TA R M A G I C : A Casket at LeThil — Scenes
Scenes
Death Notice
Scene Type: Introduction
Lead-Out: Meet The Mourners
The thunder of distant artillery
has been a constant for weeks,
day and night—not that there’s
much difference between the
two, anymore. Dust and smoke
occlude the sun, turning daylight
into a sickly yellow haze. By night,
explosions and flares reflect off
the low smoke clouds. The squad
is close to the front lines here;
depending on your campaign set-
up, they may have been involved
in the thick of the fighting,
hunting for deserters, installing
experimental camouflage, or just
trying to stay alive. Scuttlebutt
has it that the Loyalists won a
major advance lately, pushing the
enemy back across the cratered
mud-flats that used to be French
fields. Apparently, this is a victory.
It doesn’t feel any different to
defeat.
One night, the company
bivouacs in an abandoned enemy
trench. Have each player describe
something they find in the
trench—one player is permitted to
find a weapon or piece of useful
gear that hasn’t been scavenged
already, everyone else just gets
a trophy, curiosity, or just rations
that aren’t the tinned pork they’ve
all been eating for weeks.
90
In the dead of night, the
boîtenoire crackles with
instructions from headquarters.
PROCEED TO VILLAGE OF
LE THIL (GRID LX) AND
EVACUATE ALL RESIDENTS
IN ADVANCE OF NECESSARY
BOMBARDMENT SCHEDULED
FOR SUNSET FOLLOWING
DAY. INHABITANTS TO BE
ESCORTED TO CROSSROADS
(GRID LY) FOR COLLECTION
AND PROCESSING. BE
ADVISED POSSIBILITY OF
CONTACT WITH ENEMY.
Terrain recalls the location of Le
Thil; it’s about four hours march
away—in the direction of the
front lines. Le Thil was in enemy
territory for years prior to the
recent Loyalist advance.
Military Science notes how
odd it is that the village should
be bombed on schedule, instead
of in response to an enemy
presence. Either command
has advance knowledge of an
upcoming enemy attack, or they’re
going to use the barrage to sow
mines or poison gas to slow any
anticipated assault.
Science or Occultism recalls a
rumor that there was an enemy
Science Jaune research facility
nearby, and that capturing this
research base was the whole
purpose of the big push—but you
know wizards, always convinced
that the war turns on their spells,
instead of bullets and brawn.

Military Logistics notes the
regrettable ambiguity in the
timetable—do they mean sunset
tomorrow (giving the squad
about 16 hours to complete the
mission) or sunset the following
day (40 hours)? Requests for
clarification are ignored; clearly,
command is busy.
So, do the characters march
through the night, or wait until
whatever passes for dawn? If
they travel by night, throw some
hazards in their path.
Meet the Mourners
Scene Type: Core
Lead-In: Death Notice
Lead-Outs: Exploring the
Village, The Barn, The Priest,
The Island
The maps, it seems, are a little
off—Le Thil isn’t quite where it’s
supposed to be. Still, following
the lakeshore, the squad locates
the little village without significant
delay. Approaching, they pass
a number of abandoned enemy
dugouts and machine gun nests,
all empty. The war washed over Le
Thil like a wave, now fallen back
into the lake.
As they approach the village, the
soldiers note the major landmarks
in the village—the barn, the
church spire, the mayor’s house.
They also spot black banners
fluttering in the gloom. A few
villagers working in what remains
of the fields pretend to ignore the
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
squad, not meeting their eyes. If
challenged, they doff their cloth
caps, suggesting that the soldiers
talk to Mayor Rene or the Director.
• Salt of the Earth: Le Thil may
have been in enemy hands for
years, but the villagers are of
French stock and are glad to
be back under French rule.
Who’s the Director, the players
likely ask? Ah, says the farmhand,
Monsieur le Director is in charge
of the funeral. Some of Le Thil’s
citizens lost their lives when the
village was reclaimed. They must
be buried in the proper manner,
with their people. The farmhands
refer all other inquiries to the
mayor. Find him, they say, in the
market square.
The Committee
A hastily assembled welcoming
committee greets the characters
in the main square. At the head
of this committee are the town
mayor, Rene, and the head of
security, Thibault. Rene’s gold
chain of office contrasts with his
black mourning clothes.
Others in the group wear
similarly dour outfits, with the
exception of Thibault, loaded down
by an absurd quantity of military
equipment. He struggles to heft a
gas mask, lamps and flares, a rifle
and multiple sidearms, enough
ammunition to fight a prolonged
battle, and even a Thunderer,
an outdated cross between a
rocket launcher and elephant gun
intended to take down a tripod.
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B L A C K S TA R M A G I C : A Casket at LeThil — Scenes
• Military Logistics:
Thunderers were retired
due to their notoriously
disastrous misfire rate.
• Intuition: When talking to the
mayor and his companions,
the squad gets the distinct
impression that the denizens
of Le Thil are oddly detached
or out of step with the world.
Maybe it’s shell-shock and the
horrors of war, or a result of
the occupation, or they’re all
a little drunk. Sometimes, it’s
as though they’re acting out
roles instead of living them.
The Mayor
Mayor Rene is so lost in
theatrical grief that he has
to be prompted to notice the
approaching soldiers. Adding to
the awkwardness, he mistakes
one of the other player characters
for the commander of the group
instead of the Lieutenant. As you
play out his dialogue with them,
convey the following:
• The mayor labors under the
misapprehension that the
squad is here to secure
the village against any
enemy counter-attack, and
has not been informed of
any evacuation order.
• In any case, they can’t
evacuate—they’re getting ready
for the funeral! A young boy
from the village was killed in
the recent fighting, and the
whole town has come together
to bury him. (In an unsettling
coincidence, the dead child has
92
the same first name as one
of the player characters, and
is referred to by the villagers
as young [NAME]. Throughout
the scenario, we’ll just refer
to him as the Dead Child.)
• The dead child was shot
by the retreating Enemy.
• Anyway, there’s no danger. The
war’s moved on. The Loyalists
won a great victory, recapturing
Le Thil. The bad times are over!
• For all military matters, the
Mayor refers them to Monsieur
Thibault, our heroic veteran.
• Inquiries about the recent
occupation are brushed aside.
Why dwell on the past? That’s
the point of the funeral—to
let people bury the past and
move on with their lives. (If
memories of the Siege of Paris
and the Commune played a
significant part in your Paris
sequence, echo them with
recollections of incidents during
the occupation of Le Thil.)
• Assess Honesty: The mayor’s
clearly pompous, and
defensive of his authority, but
doesn’t seem to be lying.
• Occultism or Humanities:
Where’s the village priest? Isn’t
it odd that he’s not in charge
of the ceremonies? If asked,
Rene shrugs. The priest is
mad, he says sadly and refuses
to believe the Dead Child is
dead. He’s locked himself up
in the church and refuses to
come out—they’ve had to make
alternative arrangements.

• Negotiation (Core): There can
be no discussion of evacuation
until after the funeral—and
the funeral director is under
the authority of The Director.
Regarding all such matters, ask
him! See The Director, p. 108.
• Where’s the Funeral Director?
Oh, he could be anywhere—
there’s a lot to get ready.
Maybe try the tithe barn?
If a character tries to use force
or threatens the mayor, then
something very bizarre occurs.
There’s a sudden sense of
discontinuity—it’s not so much
that reality changed, so much
as reality chose to ignore the
character’s actions. The character
remembers two versions of
the same event—in one, the
character attacked or attempted
to force the mayor to comply, and
in the other, the character said
something like “of course, your
honor, we would never dream of
interrupting this sad occasion.
If we who are still alive do not
honor the dead, are we still truly
human?” The character makes
a Difficulty 4 Composure test to
avoid Shocks—Minor and Major:
Out of Step/The Mayor’s Yellow
Eyes.
Thibault
Monsieur Thibault heads the
village safety committee. Like
the mayor, he’s in his sixties,
unlike the mayor, whose paunch
strains his black cummerbund,
Thibault looks like a piece of
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
dried leather topped with a shock
of wild white hair. Although he
holds no official rank, he salutes
the squad and treats them like
fellow military men. He talks in
short, staccato sentences, like
burst communications. Twitches.
Watches for snipers. Can’t be too
careful.
• Was the resistance during
recent occupation. Led the fight
against the occupying forces.
Too many [Insert Derogatory
Term Of Choice For Enemy
Here—Crowns/Blics/Cones etc,
see The Wars p. 28] for him to
give them a good fight alone.
• Spent most of the time out
on the lake. Has a cabin on
an island there. Stockpiled
supplies, made ready for the
moment to strike—but the
enemy retreated in the face of
the Loyalist advance! Damn
cowards! No grit at all.
• Now, the village must be
secured. On the front lines
here. Enemy everywhere—he’s
swept Le Thil for booby traps,
but the place still isn’t safe.
Anyone could be an enemy
agent. (Here, Thibault tries to
nod subtly towards the mayor
and company, but the old man
is so twitchy that his gesture
is exaggerated and obvious.)
• This funeral nonsense is
sentimentality. Bloody civilians,
unaware of the danger
they’re in. I buried friends in
foxholes and mud pits during
the great war. Conscription.
Military government. Fighting
93
B L A C K S TA R M A G I C : A Casket at LeThil — Scenes
men should take charge.
(Again, he wiggles his bushy
eyebrows suggestively at the
mayor, inviting the squad to
take part in his little coup.
The mayor is unruffled.)
• Military Logistics: Thibault’s
summary—”I spent years
sitting alone on an island with
a collection of dangerously
outdated firearms pretending
I was a soldier.” He’s about
as reliable as his Thunderer.
• Military Science: Still, the old
man’s warnings are sound.
Le Thil was in enemy hands—
it’d be prudent to sweep for
booby traps and secure the
approaches into town.
• Flattery: Thibault points up
at the spire of the church
tower—he wanted to use that
spot as a sniper nest, but
the stupid old priest refused
him. The Priest, p. 99.
• On a Flattery Push, Thibault
offers to row the squad out
to his island to resupply
from his personal cache.
See The Island, p. 101.
Thibault’s Thunderer: If anyone
examines the weapon closely,
they notice that it’s not loaded.
Carved on the inside of the barrel,
though, are strange symbols like
lettering in an unknown script.
Anyone who takes time to study
the ornate script gains the Shock
card “Hydraulic Interference” (p.
119). These symbols weren’t
engraved or cast into the barrel
94
Gaining Spells
The occult experiments in Le
Thil centered on channeling
Carcosan influence into
the mundane world, using
ordinary life as something
between an incubator and
a step-down transformer
for the alien energies. As
such, the enemy scientists
were unable to determine
where or what sort of spells
would “sprout”,’ as aspects
of ordinary life in the village
became corrupted by Carcosa.
For example, Thibault’s
Thunderer manifested the
Hydraulic Inference spell
because of some principle of
correspondence – the weapon
was designed to stop stalkers,
so a spell with the same effect
grew there.
Le Thil is, in essence, a
spell factory churning out new
examples of Science Jaune,
and several encounters give
the players a chance to pick up
a spell. There’s no need to use
all of them—once one or two
players have had a chance to
gain magic, that’s enough.
– they seem to have grown, or at
best, were marked onto the metal
with some caustic chemical. It’s
quite bizarre.
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan

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B L A C K S TA R M A G I C : A Casket at LeThil — Scenes
Exploring the Village
Scene Type: Core
Lead-In: Meet the Mourners
Lead-Outs: The Barn, The
Priest, The Island, Attack!,
The Tunnels, The Director
Features to mention as the
squad explores:
• Mists from the lake curl around
the buildings, making it hard
to judge distances. Despite
Le Thil’s small size, it’s oddly
easy to get lost in its winding
streets once you leave the
market square. The streets
twist and connect oddly.
• Occasionally, the characters’
footsteps echo oddly; Terrain
suggests the ground is hollow
here, that there are tunnels
below. See The Tunnels, p. 105.
• Sometimes, the characters
hear weeping and moaning
coming from somewhere nearby
but cannot trace the source.
Again, in any interaction with
the inhabitants of Le Thil, it’s
obvious (Intuition) that they’re
not behaving rationally. Whatever
the cause—shellshock, trauma,
conditioning, or some unnatural
force—the investigators can tell
these people are not in their right
minds.
• Science (or when talking with
Salt of the Earth): All of the
villagers have scars or needle
marks, suggesting blood or
96
tissue samples were taken
from them. If asked, the
villagers refer vaguely to the
occupation—the Enemy made
them all line up in the barn
for processing, didn’t they?
Everything was so strange and
unpleasant under occupation.
But that’s the war for you.
Best to forget it, to leave it
all behind. Some memories
are best left buried, no?
Village Encounters
Some curious villagers that
the characters may run into as
they explore. In all cases, the
villagers have no intention of
evacuating without the Director’s
say-so, have little recollection of
the occupation, and are more
interested in getting ready for the
funeral than anything else.
• Middle-aged Madame Linette
suffers from Cotard syndrome.
She is convinced that the
funeral is for her, and she is
somewhat annoyed that no-
one’s come to visit her body
before she’s buried. How
could all her neighbors snub
her like this? At least the
player characters have the
decency to come to pay their
respects to the deceased. Of
course, she tells them, they
can’t hear her—she’s dead.
They must be imagining her
words. If a character tries
arguing with Linette, she
claims to have a letter from
the government telling her

that she’s dead. She produces
this letter – it’s hand-written
by her and contains the spell
“Specter of Mercy” (p. 120).
• Manville and Ganelon have
volunteered as gravediggers.
They haven’t started their grim
task yet, as the priest refuses
to let them use the village
graveyard. The Funeral Director
has told them that he’s going to
make arrangements to have the
boy buried in another village’s
graveyard. While they wait, the
pair sit on a bank overlooking
the lake, idly philosophizing
about the bad luck of the poor
Dead Child—how sad it must
be to survive until the village
was liberated, only to be struck
down in that moment of victory!
• Checking the map with Terrain
discovers there aren’t any
other villages nearby—although
there’s a cross on the map,
suggesting the ruin of a church
and some other buildings on
the far side of the lake.
• Jacques, a schoolteacher, has
been pressed into service
to lead the ceremony in the
absence of the village priest.
When the characters encounter
him, he’s wandering the village
reciting the funeral rite from
a prayer missal; he asks
shyly if the characters would
indulge him by pretending
to be mourners and give
the appropriate responses.
And if one of them would
consent to play the corpse,
that would be ideal…
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
Other encounters hint to the
players that the people of Le Thil
are gifted with unusual magical
talents due to their long exposure
to Science Jaune experiments.
• Some village children play
ball with a hand grenade.
The grenade is live, but won’t
explode until the children give it
permission. They kick it up and
down the street, and when they
tire of the game, they tell the
grenade it can explode and fling
it into the lake to detonate. Play
with the children, and maybe
they’ll whisper how to cast
the spell “Boom!” (p. 117).
• Old mother Marie insists on
feeding the squad, in gratitude
for the Loyalists liberating her
home from the hated enemy.
She has only a small stew-pot,
but it seems able to provide an
endless supply of peppery pork-
sausage stew. The sausages
look like human fingers, but it’s
still tasty. If a character asks for
the recipe, Marie shyly shows
her notebook; it contains the
spell “Field Rations” (p. 118).
• Mme. Sybil’s lover was killed
in the occupation. “His body
was never found,” she says
(unaware that it’s in the corpse
vault under her feet, p. 107),
“but it feels like he’s close
at hand.” One of the player
characters resembles her dead
lover Jean—please, won’t the
character have one drink with
her? If the character accepts,
Sybil calls up the shade of Jean,
who possesses the character
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B L A C K S TA R M A G I C : A Casket at LeThil — Scenes
for a night. As possessions go,
it’s a mild case, but a Difficulty
4 Composure test is still
mandated to avoid Shocks—
Minor and Major: Ghost
Touch/The Mourned Dead.
The Church
The village church with its
high spire is closed, the doors
barricaded from the inside.
However, there are lights burning
inside, so someone’s home. If the
characters knock, see The Priest
(p. 99).
Lakeside
Le Thil stands at the edge
of a lake; oddly broad fishing
piers extend like stages over
the murky water. In the distance,
the characters can see a small
wooded island, and there are
several leaky rowboats if anyone
wants to take a trip across to The
Island (p. 101). If player actions
make it seem fitting, run The
Attack while they’re rowing out.
The Tunnels
If the characters go looking for
the tunnels, Terrain discovers
a bricked-up entrance that they
can break into with physical
effort or explosives; a suitable
Interpersonal push convinces
Thibault or Mayor Rene to show
the characters to an extent
entrance. See The Tunnels, p. 105.
Alternatively, if the players begin
to tire of a cavalcade of cryptic
weirdness, have them run into The
Director for actionable weirdness.
98
The Barn
Scene Type: Core
Lead-Ins: Meet The Mourners,
Exploring the Village
Lead-Out: Exploring the Village
The ancient barn in the middle
of the town has been converted
into a funeral home. The walls
have been whitewashed; there
are white sheets on the floor and
rows of trestle tables. It feels
much more like a battlefield
morgue designed to receive
hundreds of casualties than a
place for a single body to await
burial.
The body of the Dead Child lies
there, in a small wooden coffin,
surrounded by paper flowers. A
small queue of mourners shuffles
past the coffin, whispering to the
child.
Talking to mourners with
Reassurance or Salt of the Earth
gets the following:
• The Dead Child’s family died
during the war, although people
are vague on the details.
Poison gas, plague, a poorly
aimed bomb, a stalker—the
commonality is that they were
killed by some great and distant
force, not a particular individual.
They weren’t executed
or murdered—it was as
impersonal and mechanized as
a government lethal chamber.
• The whole village adopted
the Dead Child. He

belonged to everyone, and
everyone mourns him.
• It’s shameful what the priest
is doing. How can he deny
them the right to bury the child
on consecrated ground?
Terrain detects the presence
of cellars or tunnels under the
barn; if asked, locals say the
tunnels were bricked up during
the occupation.
The Dead Child
The face of the Dead Child is
pale and waxy, like a mask. He’s
dressed in the garb of an altar
boy. His features are angelic;
there’s no sign of any injury, but
if he was shot in the chest, the
wound would be hidden by the
robes.
If the characters ask to examine
the body, the villagers refuse. “Let
the boy rest in peace!” they cry.
Should the squad force the issue,
or sneak into the barn to examine
the body, it falls apart grotesquely
in their hands, collapsing into a
pile of disassociated hunks of
flesh, as though it was a jigsaw
made of meat. The only part that
stays intact is the boy’s face,
which retains its unearthly beauty
even after the rest of the body
has fallen away.
Picking up the boy’s corpse
is definitely worth a Difficulty
5 Composure test to avoid
Injuries—Minor and Major:
Red Hands/Le Thil Syndrome.
Medicine: No bones. No internal
organs. Just skin and muscle
tissue glued together into a
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
ghastly facsimile of a corpse.
All the chunks of flesh come
from different corpses. Lots of
different corpses.
• Military Science: Maybe,
maybe, a really bad hit from a
Suppurator round could inflict
that level of damage. Maybe.
• A close examination of the
coffin discovers more weird
growths/engravings in the
wood. Studying those symbols
closely results in the spell
“Spatial Dislocation” (p. 117)
entering the examiner’s mind.
The Priest
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-Ins: Meet the Mourners,
Exploring the Village
Lead-Out: The Tunnels
Village priest Père André keeps
the doors of his church barred;
he knows that the rest of the
inhabitants of Le Thil are corrupt
and crazed. He’ll only let the
characters in if they prove to him
(with Reassurance or similar)
that they’re not only outsiders but
represent the forces of reason
and sanctity. He ushers them
inside and closes the door behind
them again. Andre’s nervous and
feverish. Though an old man,
his manic energy makes him
seem much younger. He grabs
one of the player characters and
explains:
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B L A C K S TA R M A G I C : A Casket at LeThil — Scenes
• Le Thil is cursed. The occupying
enemy forces—they did
something to the villagers. They
experimented on them, showed
them horrible things. Put drugs
in the water, made them take
part in satanic ceremonies.
• Only the priest is immune to
this sinful contagion. That’s
why he’s hiding in here.
• The Director—he’s an enemy
agent. He stayed behind to
carry out his evil plans! He’s
conspiring with the mayor!
The funeral—it’s secretly a
plan to smuggle information
to the Enemy! The coffin’s
full of secret documents and
plans, and they’re going to
bury it in enemy territory.
• Père Andre has everything in
hand. It’d be best for the squad
to remain here in the safety
of his church until nightfall,
and then leave under cover of
darkness. If they tell the priest
about the plan to bomb the
village, he suggests that the
squad can inform the Loyalists
that Andre will deal with the
enemy agents, and therefore
there’s no need to bomb the
village. Any suggestion that
the presence of enemy agents
has nothing to do with the
planned bombardment meets
with utter dismissal. “Absurd,
my children! Absurd!”
The Priest’s Secret
Père André has his own
murderous plan to deal with the
corruption of Le Thil. He captured
100
an enemy soldier and intends
to force his prisoner to shoot
at the funeral from the church
tower when the ceremony begins.
Self-evidently chosen by God to
save the village, he dismisses
the investigators as irrelevant
functionaries.
Searching the Church
Looking around the church, the
squad discovers the following:
• The door leading to the stairs
up to the belfry is locked. If
the characters knock loudly (or
later, if they make noise), they
hear whimpering and muffled
cries coming from the far side.
• A small supply of ration tins and
a bedroll suggest that André
has been living and eating in
the church for several days.
Military Logistics: these are
enemy supplies; of the same
sort the squad may have
salvaged from the machine gun
nests on the way into town.
• A thorough sweep of the church
discovers, hidden in a wardrobe
in the sacristy: a loaded enemy-
issued rifle and a set of keys.
The Prisoner
Manacled and gagged in the
belfry tower is an enemy prisoner.
We’ll call him Klaus, though
he might be Claudio or Colin,
depending on who the Enemy is in
your game. Starving and severely
dehydrated, he has an infected
foot wound and cannot walk.
Medicine: it requires medical
treatment if he’s to keep the limb.

Grateful to be freed, he tells the
characters everything he knows
without reservation or evasion. He
eagerly surrenders if reminded to
do so.
Interrogation or Reassurance:
• He was assigned to a
position near Le Thil, where
he took a shrapnel hit
and was left for dead.
• When he woke, he managed to
crawl into Le Thil. He tried to
seek sanctuary in the church,
but the priest took him prisoner.
• Among the enemy troops,
rumors tell of strange
experiments carried out in Le
Thil. The tunnels that snake
below the town lead to some
sort of laboratory. Klaus doesn’t
know which side it belongs
to, but it’s said many people
have died here, and that the
experiments conducted there
are inhumane and unnatural.
• (core) He knows the location of
one tunnel entrance, near the
outskirts of town. He gives the
location of The Tunnels (p. 105).
Medicine / Salt of the Earth:
The prisoner has been so
starved and abused by André
that he will instinctively do as he
commands. A Salt of the Earth or
Reassurance Push, or a Difficulty
4 Morale test, break him of this
hold, affecting his participation in
the climax, p. 111.
A close examination of Klaus’
wounds shows that his bruises
and the gangrenous tissue of his
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
foot are growing into the same
strange Carcosan glyphs as
the characters may have seen
elsewhere. Given more time, the
spell “False Restraint” (p. 117)
would appear in Klaus’ flesh as
he too falls into the strange magic
of Le Thil.
Challenging André
If confronted about his prisoner,
André flies into a fury, accusing
the squad of being in league
with the Enemy. A suitable
interpersonal ability use, perhaps
coupled with a promise to aid him
in foiling the Enemy’s plans at this
juncture, impels André to lead the
squad to The Tunnels, p. 105.
The Island
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-Ins: Meet the Mourners,
Exploring the Village
Lead-Outs: Attack!,
The Tunnels
Searching the island discovers
Thibault’s little camp, hidden
beneath the willow trees that
grow thickly there. The squad
finds a small lean-to crammed
with stinking blankets, boxes of
old supplies, and plenty of guns
and ammunition. The squad
may refresh their Battlefield and
Fighting pools.
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If the squad didn’t take notice
of Thibault’s Thunderer anti-
stalker cannon earlier, they find a
second specimen buried in a box.
Again, the weapon’s unloaded
but has strange runes inscribed
around the muzzle. Anyone
studying these runes gains the
spell “Hydraulic Interference.”
The Photographs
In a rugged metal case, the
squad finds a camera with a
telephoto lens (captured from
an enemy observation team).
The camera has been used, but
the film remains undeveloped.
Photography (plus Preparedness
for the chemicals; alternatively,
the requisite chemicals can be
found in The Tunnels, p. 105). If
developed, the photographs show
Le Thil during the occupation.
Thibault is a poor photographer
even for an amateur, but the
characters can make out some
useful details:
• One photograph shows the
people of Le Thil engaging in
a carnival or other masked
ceremony. Some of the
participants are shown wading
into the lake; there’s at least
one person lying face down
in the water, drowned.
• A second photograph shows
some stern-faced men emerging
from an underground bunker.
Some wear enemy military
uniforms, others wear lab
coats and clutch clipboards
or folders of documents.
102
• Terrain: the bunker entrance,
just outside Le Thil, allows
entry into The Tunnels, p. 105.
• One of the men is the
Director, who they might later
meet and can then recall.
• A third photo, more artfully
composed and technically
proficient than the rest, shows
the far shore of the lake
across from Le Thil. A trick
of the light makes it seem
like there’s some structure
there, perhaps even a city,
mostly occluded by the mist.
Attack!
Scene Type: Hazard
Lead-Ins: Any
Lead-Out: The Tunnels
Use this scene as needed to
disrupt the players’ investigation
and add menace—after the squad
has had the chance to learn the
Hydraulic Interference spell.
An enemy stalker—a Panzer
I or similar—emerges dripping
from the lake. If the squad is
on the island or in a boat, then
they may be the targets of the
stalker; otherwise, it struggles up
the shore, clearly heading for the
middle of Le Thil.
Call for Battlefield tests
(Difficulty 5, or 6 if trapped on a
boat) to avoid the Panzer’s flame
blasts, which cause Injuries—
Minor and Major: Burned/
Roasted.
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan

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The stalker keeps its primary
cannon in reserve, angling to
annihilate the town’s central
barn-turned-morgue with a direct
blast. Before the stalker can get
line-of-sight to the barn, though,
it’s impeded—if not through
heroic action from the squad,
by Thibault, who rushes forward
with his Thunderer. This becomes
impossible, of course, if the
soldiers have taken it from him.
The Thunderer only works as
a focus for the spell Hydraulic
Interference, cast by Thibault or
an investigator who has learned
it. In place of a rocket launch, a
chill wind sweeps across the lake.
The stalker freezes in precarious
mid-stride.
Although immobilized, the
stalker’s weapons still work.
Unless rescued by a player
character, it incinerates Thibault.
Watching him pay the ultimate
price for his bravery requires
Difficulty 4 Composure tests to
avoid Shocks—Minor and Major:
Poor Bastard/Ultimate Sacrifice.
The stuck stalker continues to
lay waste to everything in range of
its flamethrower until the weapon
runs out of fuel, whereupon its
crew abandons its war machine
and attempts to flee back to
enemy lines.
The squad suffers no ill
consequences for allowing the
crew to escape. Players don’t
know that, though, and may
choose to fight.
104
Stalker Crew
Numbers: 4
Difficulty: Tough but
Outmatched (Escape 2, Other 4,
Kill 3)
Difficulty Adjustments: -1 if a
squad used Hydraulic Interference
to stop their stalker
Toll: 0
Tags: Mundane
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Barely a Scratch/Bullet Wound
Captured stalker operators
have nothing to say to the squad
except their names, ranks, and
serial numbers. They demand
to be treated as prisoners of
war according to the 1929
Geneva treaties. Maintaining
proper custody over them while
continuing the case may impose
logistical hassles you may choose
to draw out, in response to player
choices, or handwave away with
a halfway credible plan and a
Military Logistics Push.
Searching the Stalker
Searching the abandoned
stalker, the squad finds an
enemy-made map of Le Thil in
the commander’s station. The
map clearly shows a network of
tunnels under the town, marked
RESEARCH FACILITY. See The
Tunnels, p. 105.
Reactivating the Stalker
Players may focus on repairing
the stalker, because, hey, free
stalker.

Military Logistics indicates
the expected protocol: report its
presence to headquarters, leaving
it to an engineering crew to haul
away and possibly fix or otherwise
repurpose.
The spell completely fries a
stalker’s internal control system,
requiring a Difficulty 8 Mechanics
success to repair in any useful
timeframe. Whether a stalker
proves to be of any use in the
ensuing action is a matter for you
to adjudicate based on what the
players propose to do with it.
The Tunnels
Scene Type: Core
Lead-Ins: Exploring the Village,
The Priest, The Island, Attack!
Lead-Outs: The Director, The
Funeral Procession
A tunnel network extends under
Le Thil. The squad can enter its
concrete passageways, via its
heavy blast doors. A warding
symbol, stenciled onto each door
and similar in style to the Yellow
Sign, made the inhabitants of Le
Thil ignore the tunnel entrances.
The magic now fades, allowing
the locals to perceive the doors if
they make an effort to do so.
Inside, electric lights strung
on cables taped to the ceiling
would provide illumination if the
generator was working. The smell
of burnt paper and stagnant
water hangs in the air. Clearly, the
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
enemy’s retreat from Le Thil left
these tunnels abandoned.
Military Logistics: they were
reinforced or expanded by the
Enemy, but there might have been
old cellars or passageways here
long before.
The state of the bunker
suggests that the enemy
abandoned it in haste, but in
good order. The contents of its
bookcases and filing cabinets
have been cleared out or
incinerated. Scuffs on the floor
mark the spots where heavy
pieces of equipment once stood.
Holes in the walls and ceiling
show where cables once ran.
Echoes
Voices echo through the tunnels.
At first, these may seem ghostly,
but they are actually the voices of
the people in the village above.
Terrain / Military Logistics:
Some trick of construction means
noise reflects down the air vents,
turning the whole bunker into a
sort of whispering gallery. The
squad might overhear:
• Mayor Rene directing the final
preparations for the funeral.
Nothing can delay the ceremony!
He’s gotten word from the
Funeral Director that the other
village’s graveyard is ready. It’ll
soon be time for the ceremony!
• Thibault, if he’s still alive,
muttering about piles of
corpses everywhere.
• The priest, Père Andre, in a
one-sided conversation with
gagged prisoner Klaus.
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106

Incinerated Papers
After a few minutes exploring,
the squad comes to a heavy steel
door set into the tunnel wall. The
corridor floor is marked with sooty
footprints, and the smell of ash is
unmistakable. Opening the door
reveals a blackened room where
the enemy used an incendiary
grenade to destroy the papers
they didn’t carry away with them.
Little remains, but the player
characters can comb through the
few unburnt fragments of weird
technical jargon to get some clues
about the purpose of Le Thil.
• “Subliminal exposure
to… vector engendered
spontaneous generation…”
• “Biological changes in response
to mental conditioning…”
• “Approached congruence…
a full inversion.”
• “Black Dream bone
cabaret, 1895—inverted
assonance reversion?”
• If you played the Paris sequence
but not the “Dancer at the
Bone Cabaret” scenario from
this book, substitute another
callback for the final item above.
The Corpse Vault
A second sealed door. Inside,
stacked floor to ceiling, are
dozens of human corpses. All
naked, all numbered, like they’re
file records.
Accounting (or if a character
specifically checks): The numbers
aren’t entirely sequential—there
are missing bodies.)
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
A dud incendiary grenade sits
in the middle of the room, having
failed to detonate and destroy
this horrific site.
• Medicine notes that few of
the corpses have any obvious
wounds that might explain how
they were killed. Gas or poison
is the most likely explanation.
Some are weirdly distorted,
their skulls grown into masks,
or their fingers turned into bony
needle-like claws—victims
transformed by exposure to
Carcosa. Many corpses bear
strong family resemblances
to inhabitants of Le Thil the
squad has interacted with.
• Intuition (or player deduction):
The village population was much
higher before the experiments
began. The memories of these
loved ones’ existence must have
been erased or suppressed!
• Medicine: All the corpses have
marks, suggesting blood or
tissue samples were taken
from them. Some have had
large chunks of flesh taken
from them with a scalpel.
For those extensively handling
the remains, a Difficulty 5
Composure success avoids
Shocks—Minor and Major:
Revulsion/Nightmare Fuel.
The Sealed Vault
The door to this vault is sealed
and barred; for good measure,
it’s marked DO NOT OPEN.
Moaning, muttering, and arguing
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can be heard from inside. The
vault contains the remains of
the villagers whose exposure to
Carcosa left them unable to die;
they’ve fused together into a sort
of fleshy chorus.
• Medicine/Science/Occultism:
In the moment of horror, when
the investigators see this
thing, they notice many, many
little wounds gouged in the
flesh of the various composite
bodies—samples have also
been taken from this monster.
If freed, the monster pursues
the squad, though it won’t follow
them out of the Tunnels—yet.
Optionally, have the Director
show up to hustle the squad out
of danger by telling them to run
back to town.
Corpse Chorus
Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Vastly Superior
(Escape 3, Other 6, Kill 7)
Difficulty Adjustments: +5 if
the objective is Kill and character
is using any weapon lighter than a
machine gun; +1 if characters are
disguised as the enemy
Toll: 1
Tags: Alt
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Picked Up and Thrown Hard/
Monstrous Battering
The Director’s Office
This room shows signs of recent
habitation. There’s a sleeping
cot, a small gas stove and other
supplies, and a working lantern.
108
An empty freezer cabinet,
the attached car battery that
gave it power now exhausted,
has returned to the chilly room
temperature of the tunnels.
On the desk, the squad finds a
largely scorched typed report full
of jargon about “congruences”
and “resonant exposure”, and
implies that “ritual actions” can
“induce sympathetic or congruent
mental states even in unaware
test subjects.”
Searching under the bed
discovers an enemy boîtenoire in
a metal case.
The Director lurks nearby in
an adjoining tunnel. A Difficulty
5 Sense Trouble success alerts
the group to his presence. The
squad can then capture him and
question him from a position of
strength. Otherwise, he interrupts
them while they’re searching his
room, and levels a pistol at them.
See The Director, below.
The Director
Scene Type: Core
Lead-In: The Tunnels
Lead-Out: The Funeral
Procession
The elusive Funeral Director is
younger than might be expected;
intense blue eyes, downcast
mouth. Between his pale hair,
sleek head, and twitchy demeanor,
he puts the investigators in mind
of a ferret or a mink, something

small, but with teeth. He’s
dressed in a long leather coat
and military fatigues without rank
or other markings. He clutches
a briefcase; he has a prominent
bandage on his hand.
He introduces himself as the
Director; he’ll give the name
Robert if pressed.
The Director might be:
• The actual Director of this
research facility, who has
suffered a fit of conscience
and is trying to undo some
of the harm he caused.
• A Loyalist spy who infiltrated
the facility and reported
its existence to command,
prompting the recent push.
Now he fears his own side
is as bad as the other.
• Either of the above, only now
he’s gone over to Carcosa
and is using the weakness
of human sympathy and
morality as a tool to ensure
the triumph of the King.
• The actual Director of this
research facility, who stayed
behind to complete his
monstrous experiment
• A Carcosan entity wearing
the face of the Director (see
The Mask of Death, below)
He’s not entirely sure himself
which one is true.
The Director intuits the squad’s
mission here in Le Thil and wants
to convince them to abandon it. If
he has the drop on the squad, he
voluntarily lowers his gun to win
their trust. If he’s at their mercy,
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
he treats them as well-meaning
but unenlightened fellows who
need to be shown the truth so
they can make the right decisions.
The Director explains:
• The people of Le Thil were
subjected to ghastly, mind-
breaking experiments by the
Enemy. They were exposed
to—well, the Director can
see from the squad’s faces
that they too have seen the
malign mask of Carcosa.
• The experiments created the
monster that’s locked away in
the Sealed Vault. It’s made from
the dead—and the Director
fears that the inhabitants of
Le Thil are equally cursed.
When they die, they’ll rise
again, their immortal souls
chained to lifeless bodies.
• The departing enemy scientists
created the Dead Child as part
of this clean-up effort. Burying
the Child will destroy the
monster in the Sealed Vault.
• However, the Director believes
that the Loyalist scientists
are just as bad as their
counterparts—they want to
evacuate the people of Le
Thil so they can bring them to
another laboratory—another
cage like this one! They’ll be
tortured and dissected!
• He came back to stop any more
suffering from being inflicted on
the innocent villagers. There’s
one chance—to turn the evil
science of the Enemy against
itself! He’s got a briefcase full of
samples from the living visitors
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– if they bury that with the Dead
Child, the connection to… the
other place will be broken for
the living as well as the dead.
• The investigators can help—as
outsiders, they’re not tainted
by exposure. If they carry the
coffin to the graveyard in the
next village, it will ensure that
the forces of the Enemy—
the true Enemy—can not
interrupt the ceremony.
• If asked about the other village,
he seems confused—he can’t
recall mentioning another
graveyard. He just intends to
bury the Dead Child outside
Le Thil, by the lakeshore.
Assess Honesty gives little
insight—like the rest of the
inhabitants of Le Thil, the
Director’s reactions are so warped
by exposure to Carcosa that
it’s almost impossible to read
his motivations. At most, the
investigator guesses that the
Director is far less certain about
the effects of his ritual than he
claims.
The Director
Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Tough but
Outmatched (Escape 2, Other 4,
Kill 3)
Difficulty Adjustments: +3 if he
has the drop on the squad; -2 if
he doesn’t
Toll: 0
Tags: Mundane
Encounter Style: Secondary
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Grazed/Shot
110
What’s In The Briefcase?
The Director’s briefcase
contains dozens of small glass
vials, each one containing a
droplet of blood or a little scrap
of skin tissue. They’re all neatly
labeled, each one bearing the
name of one of the living villagers.
The Director intends to place
these samples in the coffin before
the burial, to symbolically tie the
surviving villagers to the funeral
rite. There’s also one unmarked
vial, and the blood in it is fresher,
belonging to the Director himself.
• Intuition: If burying a Dead
Child made of corpse bits
can counter the magic that
keeps the Patchwork alive,
then burying the briefcase
full of samples taken from
the living villages might have
a strange effect on them.
The Mask of Death
Investigators unconvinced by the
Director’s vision may try to force
the Director to cancel the funeral.
Perhaps they found Thibault’s
photographs, are determined to
carry out their mission, or just
think that performing such a ritual
is a monumentally bad idea. An
Intimidation Push, coupled with
the threat of shooting him on the
spot, convinces the Director to
sullenly comply.
If the characters refuse the
Director’s pleas but don’t threaten
him, then he tries to escape
through the tunnels. The Director
might open the Sealed Vault to
slow down his pursuers.

The Funeral Procession
Scene Type: Climax
Lead-Ins: The Funeral
Procession, The Director
In the final sequence players
choose whether to:
• allow the funeral to
proceed, watching from
a distance or perhaps
taking part as mourners
• allow the funeral to proceed,
after placing the Director’s
briefcase in the coffin
• demand its cancellation,
evacuating the village
• surprise you, players being
players, with a third course for
you to improvise a response to
If the funeral is allowed to
proceed, then the whole village,
except the priest, gathers in the
main square. Jacques, the village
schoolteacher, leads a halting
funeral service, and then the
procession begins. Villagers carry
the coffin through the streets of
Le Thil, down to the lakeshore,
and then around the lake. In the
distance, through the mists, the
investigators can see the ruins
of another village, destroyed by
the war. The parting fog reveals
the burnt-out shell of another
church and by it a graveyard. But
sometimes, it seems almost as if
they’re approaching a strange city
of tall towers, a city lit from within
by a pallid light, and they can hear
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
distant music coming from within.
They’re on the edge of Carcosa
here.
Complication: The Priest
Père André has a captured
sniper imprisoned in his church. If
not already dealt with, André has
Klaus shoot at the pallbearers
as the funeral procession makes
its away along the lakeshore. A
Difficulty 5 Sense Trouble success
spots the sniper before he fires.
A squad member serving as a
pallbearer or seeking to knock
another target out of the way
tests Battlefield (Difficulty 5) to
avoid Injuries—Minor and Major:
Bruised While Taking Cover/Rifle
Hit.
The people scatter and abandon
the funeral unless one of the
investigators rallies them with an
Inspiration or Reassurance Push.
If the squad broke Andre’s hold
on the prisoner earlier, he at the
last minute switches targets,
shooting the priest or otherwise
aiding the group.
Complication: The Funeral
Director
The Director carries his black
briefcase with him and grows
increasingly nervous as the
procession approaches the other
graveyard. As the coffin is lowered
into the grave prepared for it, the
Director darts forward and tries
to throw the briefcase in with the
Dead Child—the briefcase that
contains tissue samples from the
living villagers. Do the characters
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shoot him, triggering the Violent
Magic complication?
Complication: Violent Magic
Should the characters threaten
overt violence against the
villagers, the Mayor puffs himself
up and steps forward. He speaks
with a surprisingly commanding
presence, augmented by the
ambient Carcosan energy the
prospect of the rite has already
attracted. Daring the characters
to act, he proclaims: “But it’s
time for the funeral. They await us
across the lake!”
Using force against the
celebrants stops the rite, but
that Carcosan magic has to
go somewhere. The character
who most conspicuously shifts
to violence becomes the focus
of those malign energies. The
weapon the character used
becomes a Carcosan artifact,
transforming into a self-aware
and murderous gun of pulsing,
marmoraceous flesh. The
character tests Composure
(Difficulty 8) to avoid Shocks—
Minor and Major: From The Barrel
Of A Gun/Death’s Servant. If
gaining this shock card removes
the character from play, the
character is transmuted into a
Carcosan monster.
Any character, including the one
whose weapon transformed, who
chooses to carry the Carcosan
gun after this incident unavoidably
gains the Shock card Carcosan
Gun.
112
The Burial
What got buried here?
Just The Dead Child: The
Patchwork monster from the
tunnels is symbolically laid to rest
and destroyed. The threat from
the creature is over. The villagers
can now be collected by the
Loyalists (and subjected to more
weird experiments).
The Briefcase: If the briefcase
is also interred, then the
connection between the living
villagers and their earthly
existence is cut. The funeral
director throws open the doors
of the ruined church and leads
them inside for the repast,
the meal after the ceremony.
Through the doors of the church,
the investigators see masked
figures dancing—it’s the Court
of the Yellow King in Carcosa.
The villagers, their earthly forms
abandoned, fade away into the
mist.
The Funeral Disrupted
If the Dead Child isn’t buried,
then the Corpse Chorus from
the Sealed Vault breaks free of
the tunnels under Le Thil and
smashes its way to the surface.
You might sense that your
players will be disappointed if
they don’t get to fight it. In that
case, make this the big finishing
moment of the scenario.
Otherwise, the promised artillery
bombardment now occurs,
incinerating it and annihilating the
village.

Fortunately, the squad has
already arranged for the locals to
evacuate.
They have done that, right?
The Village Evacuated
If the investigators ensured
that the villagers did not escape
into Carcosa, then they lead a
shambling column of refugees out
of the town. The villagers become
greyer and somehow older as they
march, all enchantment falling
from them; they’re hollow-eyed
and withdrawn by the time they
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
reach the rendezvous site. “We’ll
take them from here,” say labcoat-
wearing Loyalist researchers
as they load the villagers into
transport trucks, “for processing.”
As the truck drives away, the
mayor briefly regains something of
his former animation; he gestures
at one player character who was
especially kind or understanding.
That character glimpses a glowing
magical sigil floating in the air
for a moment. This gives the
character access to the spell
“Yellow Cloak” (p. 120).
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B L A C K S TA R M A G I C : A Casket at LeThil — Cards

CARDS

Injury cards

BARELY A SCRATCH BULLET WOUND

Injury
-2 on your next test. If you succeed
at the test, you may discard a
non-Continuity Shock card.
After your next test, discard
as recipient of Difficulty
4 First Aid success.
Injury
-2 to Physical tests. Counts
as 2 Injury cards. Trade for
“Patched Up” as recipient of
Difficulty 6 First Aid success.
If still held at end of scenario, you
succumb to your injuries and die.

BRUISED WHILE RIFLE HIT

TAKING COVER
Injury
Injury -2 to Physical tests.
Discard by spending 1 point of Trade for the card “Patched
Health, Fighting, or Battlefield, or as Up” as recipient of Difficulty
recipient of 1-point First Aid spend. 5 First Aid success.
If still held at end of scenario, you
succumb to your injuries and die.

114
 Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan

BURNED ROASTED
Injury Injury
-2 to tests (except Preparedness). -2 to tests.
Trade for “Badly Hurt” after As recipient of Difficulty 6 First
you fail a test and then receive a Aid success, trade for “Burned.”
Difficulty 5 First Aid success.

GRAZED SHOT

Injury Injury
-1 to Physical tests. -2 to Physical tests. Counts as
Discard on a Physical success. 2 Injury cards. Trade for “On
the Mend” as recipient of
Difficulty 6 First Aid success.
If still in hand at end of scenario, you
succumb to your injuries and die.

LE THIL SYNDROME
Injury
-2 to Health tests.
Discard if the Dead Child is buried.

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PICKED UP AND MONSTROUS

THROWN HARD BATTERING
Injury Injury
Lose 2 Health and 2 Composure. -2 to Physical tests. Counts as 2
Discard after half an Injury cards. Trade for the card
hour (world time). “On the Mend” as recipient of
Difficulty 6 First Aid success.
If still in hand at end of scenario,
trade for “Permanent Injury.”

RED HANDS
Injury
-1 to all tests.
Discard by washing your hands
in three different scenes.

116

Shock cards
BOOM!
Shock; Spell
Spend 2 Health to detonate all hidden
explosive devices within 250 m of you.
Then roll a die. Odd: discard.
FALSE RESTRAINT
Shock; Spell
Anyone attempting to restrain you
thinks they’ve done it, but haven’t.
Discard at will.
CHAIN OF COMMAND
Shock; Spell
Spend 2 Composure to impel a
superior officer to follow your good
advice. Spend 4 Composure to get
the officer to follow your bad advice.
Discard at will.
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
SPATIAL
DISLOCATION
Shock; Spell
Discard to allow all members of
your squad, plus three others, to
fit comfortably into any confined
space bigger than a coffin.
Discard at will.
CARCOSAN GUN
Shock; Continuity
+2 Fighting when your
objective is Kill.
Regain a spent Push whenever
you fight to Kill.
Discard by getting rid of the gun.
DEATH’S SERVANT
Shock; Continuity
If you murder a human, this
counts as two Shock cards until
the end of the scenario.
At the end of each session,
roll a die. Even: replace with
No Blood More Cold.
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B L A C K S TA R M A G I C : A Casket at LeThil — Cards

FIELD RATIONS FROM THE BARREL

Shock; Continuity
Every Loyalist and allied soldier you
can see immediately becomes fully
rested, nourished, and hydrated.
12 hours later (world time), half
of those still alive then die, and
you gain “Pit of Remorse.”
Discard at will.”
OF A GUN
Shock
Whenever you use an interpersonal
ability other than Intimidation or
Interrogation, lose 1 Composure.
Discard when you use violence to
force another person to obey you.

GHOST TOUCH THE VENGEFUL DEAD

Shock
Lose 1 Composure each time one or
more players breaks from the action
to reference or discuss pop culture.
Discard as recipient of a
Difficulty 4 Morale test.
Shock
Lose 1 point from your lowest
pool each time one or more
players breaks from the action to
reference or discuss pop culture.
Discard after a ghost encounter
that does not leave you with
a Shock or Injury card.

NO BLOOD ATROCITY
MORE COLD
Shock; Continuity
Shock; Continuity -2 to Composure tests.
-2 to Composure tests. At beginning of any scenario,
During any scenario after the one spend 3 Composure and roll a
where you gained this card, discard die. On an even result, trade
by spending 6 Composure. for “No Blood More Cold.”

118

THE MAYOR’S
YELLOW EYES
Shock
You cannot contradict or
speak ill of the mayor.
When you receive this card, you
may spend a Push to also gain
the spell Chain of Command.
Discard when the mayor is
killed, or willingly leads the
villagers out of Le Thil.
OUT OF STEP
Shock
You can’t spend Pushes.
Discard at the end of the next scene.
REVULSION
Shock
Lose 2 Morale.
Discard after three hours
of world time, or when you
gain another Shock card.
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
HYDRAULIC
INTERFERENCE
Shock; Spell
Spend 3 Composure to freeze a
stalker in its current position.
Discard at will.
POOR BASTARD
Shock
-1 to Presence tests.
Discard by taking an action
that benefits others and risks
your taking an Injury card.
NIGHTMARE FUEL
Shock
You can’t spend Morale points.
After six hours sleep (world
time) in a safe location, roll a
die. Discard on an even result.
Becomes a Continuity card if
still held at end of scenario.
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SPECTER OF MERCY ULTIMATE SACRIFICE

Shock; Spell
Spend 1 Composure and make a
Difficulty 4 First Aid test to bring
back to life a GMC war casualty
who has been dead for less than
a day. Then roll a die. Odd: trade
for “Messiah Complex.”
Shock
-2 to Presence tests.
Discard by taking an action
that benefits others and risks
your taking an Injury card. -1
to tests to avoid that Injury.

YELLOW CLOAK
Shock; Spell
Spend X Composure. For the next
X hours (world time) you and every
PC who can see you looks and
sounds like members of an enemy
squadron, from language to gestures
to mastery of cultural trivia.
Discard at will.

120
 BLACK STAR MAGIC

MEMORIES OF
A DREAM
CLOWN
B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Crisis
MEMORIES OF
A DREAM CLOWN
The ex-insurgents likely scorn
any hint of nostalgia for the
Castaigne regime. But they might
feel a half-willing pang or two
when it comes to beloved kid’s
show host, the Dream Clown.
Until this scenario for Aftermath,
in which the friendly watcher over
childhood dreams returns as a
nightmare.
Crisis
In Murder on the Air, the team
investigates the murder of a news
anchor, killed on air by the Dream
Clown. They check out the crime
scene in At the Station. They meet
suspects and witnesses in Meet
the Cast, Dressing Room, and
Researching the Dream Clown
delves into the secrets behind this
iconic pop culture figure.
The Alien Truth
During the height of the
Uprising, the DIS used the
Dream Clown as part of their
psychological torture sessions.
Wanda Miller lost her husband to
one of these cruel interrogations.
Haunted by her memories, she
sets out on a mission to find and
kill the “real” Dream Clown. With
the actor who played him now
in hiding, she took a job at the
122
studio where Castaigne Kids Club
was shot in order to uncover his
whereabouts.
Her psychological state,
combined with occult texts her
historian husband left behind, has
manifested a shatterling. Taking
the form of the Dream Clown, it
acts out her animosity, perhaps to
its own purposes.
It all goes sideways in Forrest’s
Stash when Wanda finds what
she’s looking for. Will the
insurgents make it to Dreamland
in time, perhaps by Tailing Wanda,
to prevent, or abet, The Death of a
Clown?
Opportunity
Solving this case allows the ex-
insurgents to advance any of the
following goals:
• Preserve Order: It will be a huge
blow to the new regime’s order if
they can’t quickly put this to rest.
• War Crimes Trials or Truth and
Reconciliation: No matter their
preferred approach to addressing
the horrors of the old regime,
the use of the Dream Clown in
torture cannot be overlooked.
• Banish the Supernatural:
They must hunt down and
stamp out this new threat.
 RUTH TILLMAN

SCENE ZONE DIAGRAM

MEMORIES OF A DREAM CLOWN

Murder
on the Air

Meet the Cast At the Station Roll Tape

Dressing Room Researching the

Dream Clown

Passel of Papas Brooklyn Pen Forrest’s Stash Katrina Follow-up

A Fair Mistake Dreamland Wanda’s Shrine Tailing Wanda

Death of a Clown

• Harness the Supernatural: New York City’s leading television

Once they understand forces
at play, they may better
control the supernatural.
They will earn the chit “Follow
Through” and may earn “Press
Ties.”
Risks
If the group keeps tapes and
records from T-NYC, they find
themselves with a “Smear
Campaign” hit against them.
Cast of Characters
Forrest McNeil: The victim.
Became the face of post-regime
newscasting thanks to strategic
blackmail and a cache of old
records.
Katrina Hargrave: Post-
revolutionary administrator of
station. Heiress and former
freedom fighter.
Wanda Miller: The responsible
party. Receptionist and acting
assistant to Katrina Hargrave.
Husband of the innocent civilian
tortured by the DIS, now on a
quest to find and kill the Dream
Clown. Accidental summoner of
the Dream Clown Shatterling.
Malcom Yun: Weatherman in
search of a little leverage for his
career.
Ana Daoud: Television
broadcaster, face of post-
revolutionary aspirations, and
Forrest’s co-host.
Desiree “Des” Ronallo: Chief
technician at T-NYC. Too curious
for her own good.

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B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Scenes
Larry Berger: Most recent actor
to play the Dream Clown. Retired
and reluctant to discuss his past.
Alex Hatten: A former DIS
interrogator aware of the things
Berger doesn’t want to talk about.
Now awaiting possible war crimes
trial at the Brooklyn Penitentiary.
Georgette Loreto: A PFP officer
who provides access to Hatten.
She also appears in the novel The
Missing and the Lost.
Scenes
Murder on the Air
Scene Type: Introduction
Lead-Out: At the Station
As the scenario opens, the
ex-insurgents kick back in one
of their more public New York
City safe zones. About six months
have passed since the uprising. If
characters already have a regular
bar or hangout, they consider their
turf, use it. Otherwise, ask them to
describe where they spend shared
downtime together. The 11 p.m.
news broadcast plays on a small
color television.
Characters with Sense Trouble
first notice the growing stillness.
Others in the room look in
confusion at the television. They
pause in mid-sentence or reach out
to silence conversation partners.
On the screen, newscasters Forrest
McNeil and Ana Daoud, have
stopped talking. They stare past
124
the camera in concern, as though
trying to interpret something
happening behind it.
Then a distorted version of a
nagging tune, one the team hasn’t
heard for a while, crackles out
from the TV speakers. Though this
is the instrumental version, they
can’t help but mentally sing along
to the Castaigne Kids’ Club Theme.
In the sun
And in the rain
Us and the Dream Clown
We wuvs Castaigne
On screen, McNeil turns his
head to look behind him. His eyes
widen, and he begins to shout
something.
Suddenly, a bright object
appears in his throat. Blood pours
out. Daoud’s scream breaks
to static as the program goes
dead. Anyone watching at the
moment McNeil died must make
a Difficulty 4 Composure test to
avoid Shock: Minor: A Beastly
Sight; Major: If Only You Could
Forget It.
The channel stays dead. Bar
patrons break into a hubbub,
sharing speculation and wild
ideas. Soon, the phone rings.
The call comes from T-NYC’s
owner, Katrina Hargrave. One
or more members of the group
has ties to Katrina, whether
through their profession
(Journalist, Photographer, or
Marketing Coordinator) or from
the revolution. The revolutionary
daughter of a Castaigne-allied

media mogul, Katrina purchased
the station and promised open
news reporting. A Mercantilist, she
builds ties with factions that align
with her interests, particularly
around deregulated commerce.
There’s something about this
case, she explains, that requires
their special skills. In an ongoing
campaign, she’s heard good
things from their patron. She can’t
explain it over the phone—an old
caution, but perhaps someone
still listens in. Katrina asks them to
meet her at the station tomorrow
(Core, At the Station). She
promises full access to the station
and its personnel.
What you know about T-NYC
and Katrina:
• Hildred I established a
state television station
in the late 1940s.
• Leadership: You remember
Hargrave as a naive rich kid, but
a dedicated idealist. Some who’d
been fighting for years resented
her quick rise in ranks despite
little field experience. You recall
hearing her called, or even
calling her, a “Freedom Funder.”
• Trivia: Although the news media
developed several regional
stations, the Castaigne Kids
Club show filmed its episodes
at T-NYC before a live audience
of particularly photogenic
scouts and their families.
• Trivia: You’ve heard a rumor that
several episodes of Castaigne
Kids Club never aired, and
their entire audiences were
executed after strange mishaps.
RUTH TILLMAN
At the Station
Scene Type: Core
Lead-In: Murder on the Air
Lead-Outs: Meet the Cast,
Dressing Room, Roll Tape,
Researching the Dream
Clown
When the group arrives at the
station, the waiting room is empty.
A disheveled white woman bursts
into the room and greets them.
Her shoulder-length, graying hair
streams over a frumpy suit.
Wanda Miller introduces herself
and apologizes that no one
greeted them. Several of the staff
quit this morning, including Miss
Hargrave’s assistant. She might
quit herself if she didn’t have
nobody left in the world to take
care of her. Once you’re her age,
starting over gets harder.
So visibly agitated is she that
Medicine suggests she’s suffering a
dangerous blood pressure spike. A
Push of that ability or Reassurance
calms her down. She gratefully
thanks them for their kindness
and asks them what their favorite
color is, so she can maybe find a
suitable memento for them from
her former antique business. Her
gratitude bolsters the confidence
of the character making the Push,
who gains +1 to Presence tests for
the rest of the session.
Wanda offers to show them
the set where it happened and
introduce them to Ms. Hargrave
and the other hosts (Alternate,
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B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Scenes
Meet the Cast). The police ordered
Mr. McNeil’s dressing room
locked up, but Wanda has the key
and orders from Ms. Hargrave to
let them see it (Core, Dressing
Room). She can take them to
see copies of yesterday’s tape
(Alternate, Roll Tape). The originals
are with the police, of course.
In response to other questions,
she conveys the following.
• While normally on the reception
desk, she happened to have
stepped into the studio just
before the incident. She doesn't
know if she'll ever forget that.
• Yes, now that you mention it, the
Castaigne Kids Club show was
shot on this very soundstage.
• No matter what anyone says,
Mr. McNeil was nice to her.
She’s worked here a little over
four months, and he always
said good morning and knew
her name, unlike some people.
Bullshit Detector: she didn’t
like him but is probably trying
not to speak ill of the dead.
• Who are some people? Well,
Malcolm Yun, the weatherman,
barely gives her the time of
day. He always referred to
Mr. McNeil as “That Hack.”
On a Psychology Push, she
confesses a strong dislike of Forrest
McNeil. He’d worked here for over
20 years and could’ve shared his
knowledge of the station with her.
Instead, he hoarded the station’s
history like a valuable secret, and
it made her life harder. But she
insists that she didn’t want him to
die.
126
Meet the Cast
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-In: At the Station
Lead-Outs: Dressing Room,
Roll Tape, Researching the
Dream Clown; Brooklyn Pen
The main sound-stage takes up
most of the studio’s interior. In
its center sits an empty presenter
desk, small and a little uncanny
to anyone familiar with it only
from the screen. The right and left
edges of the stage contain smaller
sets with separate lighting. In
the set on the left, the characters
recognize the enlarged area map
that forecaster Malcolm Yun uses
during his broadcasts. On the right
is a smaller interview space with
potted plants and a comfortable
couch. Architecture: The
openness of this set should make it
impossible for anyone to sneak up
on broadcasters without the whole
crew seeing them.
Examination of the desk and
the floor around it (Science)
reveals the residue of strong
cleaning products. You suspect
a blacklight would show a large
blood spot and a much larger
area preemptively scrubbed of
any possible contamination. There
are no trap doors in the floor
(Architecture).
Katrina Hargrave
Katrina Hargrave wears her long
blonde hair in a severe ponytail

and a blue-gray pantsuit tailored
to make her seem taller than her
5 feet 4 inches. Her sparing use of
makeup accentuates a scar on her
cheek.
Trivia: Rumor has it that it came
from a policeman’s cambuk.
Counterinsurgency / Streetwise:
Yep, that’s a cambuk hit all right.
Trivia: Her suit probably cost
more than the average worker
makes in a month. Whatever the
regime’s fall did to her family’s
business, they’ve maintained most
of their wealth.
She welcomes the group and
apologizes for not greeting them.
Calls with various investors and
potential partners now developing
cold feet have kept her stuck in
this office. Her assistant quit this
morning, along with a few others.
Wanda is picking up the slack, but
everyone has two jobs right now.
This whole incident has undone
months of effort she’s put into an
idea to fund the station through
advertisements, and she needs it
resolved as soon as possible.
She asks them not to involve
the police. T-NYC can’t afford to
damage its ties to them, which
will surely happen if it gets out
that she brought in freelancers so
early. She offers to answer what
questions she can and reiterates
the assurance of her staff’s
cooperation:
• She did not herself see the
Dream Clown. But if Ana says
it, and doesn’t want that spread
around, why would she lie?
RUTH TILLMAN
• Over the decades several actors
played the Dream Clown. A man
named Larry Berger had the role
when the revolution came, and
the show was finally canceled.
• The official story had it that,
on signing for the part, each
actor had to agree not to
be seen in public without
the makeup. But that was
publicity department stuff.
• Growing up in her family’s
regime circles, Katrina casually
met Berger on a couple of
occasions. He seemed kindly
and a little sad as if he wished
he could break the show away
from regime propaganda and
truly serve the needs of kids.
• Berger stopped reporting for
work along with the rest of
the show’s creative staff in the
final days of the Overthrow.
He has not been seen since.
• Katrina can’t blame the poor
guy. Some say he should be
tried criminally for his part in
regime propaganda and mind
control. He struck her as a
reluctant participant, but no
one wants to hear that now.
• Forrest McNeil has been at
the station the longest, starting
more than a decade before the
uprising. If anyone here knew
Berger, it would be him.
• McNeil didn’t take part in
any revolutionary action that
she knows of. Instead, he
worked first as a janitor, then
an assistant. Of course, she
couldn’t keep on any of the
faces from the old regime.
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B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Scenes
Forrest knew the business so
well that he seemed like a
natural choice. Bullshit Detector
flags this last bit as a lie.
• Whatever killed Forrest used
an ordinary, if sharp, letter
opener. The police took it away
as some of the only physical
evidence they found. Medicine:
It would take extraordinary
levels of force for a letter
opener to do what this did.
• Ana Daoud had used the letter
opener most recently, as a prop
in a segment where she replied
to listener mail. Katrina is sure
Ana had nothing to do with
it. She can’t think of anyone
who’d actually kill Forrest.
• She dismisses any possibility
that staff who quit might’ve
been involved. Several had
come up from Suanee to
share newer broadcasting
methods. They expected
a little post-revolutionary
turmoil, but nothing like this.
On an Interpersonal Push
regarding Forrest’s history, Katrina
admits that she had additional
motivations for making him
lead anchor. As the janitor,
he’d removed quite a few key
documents and even some film.
More than a few prominent
people would keep secrets
they’d rather not see the light of
day. She and Forrest came to an
understanding about his materials.
He shared little bits of info (read,
blackmail) to help her keep this
station the only one operating in
New York, and she made him its
128
primary face. She’s never seen his
collection, but he’s bragged to her
that he knows a little something
about everyone who’s anyone.
(Alternate, Brooklyn Pen)
Characters might ask Katrina
to draw on her revolutionary
connections, rather than their own
Counterinsurgency, to look into
the DIS interrogation angle. In that
instance, she connects them to
Georgette Loreto.
Ana Daoud
A skilled reporter, Ana Daoud,
also symbolizes post-revolutionary
opportunity. Shortly after first
appearing on-air, she adopted
a headscarf. Members of all
factions celebrate her visible
choice as a sign of new liberties
following the regime’s fall. Ana
brightens her dressing room
with postcards, photographs,
torn pages of magazines, and
sketches. If investigators ask about
the locations, she tells them she
hopes to become an international
correspondent, which the country
hasn’t had in over a hundred
years.
Much like her television
persona, Ana Daoud maintains
a serious air during their
conversations. Although she
answers openly, she speaks with
deliberation. She tells investigators
that Forrest tried to cultivate an
air of consequence, dropping
names of people he’d met over
the years or hinting at secrets he’d
learned. She thinks he wanted her
to admire him, but she found him

a bore. Asked about his hints, she
offers one she can’t stop thinking
about: Forrest bragged several
times that he knew the Dream
Clown’s real name. He claimed it
was his job to make sure the actor
regularly got into and out of the
studio without anyone suspecting
his real identity.
She says she didn’t see what
killed him, probably one of the
only people here who didn’t.
Bullshit Detector: She’s lying, but
not because she has something to
hide. If pressed, she admits that
she didn’t want to say it, because
no one would believe but… the
Dream Clown. The Dream Clown
killed Forrest!
Malcolm Yun
Wanda thought she’d seen
the weatherman around today.
He must’ve gone home after
confirming that broadcasts won’t
resume until tomorrow at the
earliest.
Dressing Room
Scene Type: Core
Lead-Ins: At the Station,
Meet the Cast
Lead-Outs: Researching the
Dream Clown, Forrest’s Stash
The team’s entry interrupts
Malcolm Yun copying entries out
of Forrest’s Rolodex into his own
little address book. A middle-
30s Chinese-American man in a
RUTH TILLMAN
navy suit and tie, he copies the
pomaded hairstyle now worn by
some prominent businessmen.
After his first instinct to hide
the notebook behind his back,
he switches to bluster. Forrest
had promised to connect him
with a few sponsors looking to
start a new television station, he
claims, but never got around to it.
Wanda pulls him out of the room,
threatening to report his behavior
to Ms. Hargrave unless characters
hang onto him for questioning.
Questioning Malcolm
A surly Malcolm resists
providing information to people he
doesn’t know and has no reason to
trust. Intimidation or Reassurance
loosens him up enough to provide
the following information in
response to questions:
• Security here is a joke. He got
into the dressing room with the
spare master key kept under a
flowerpot in reception. Everyone
knows where to find it.
• Of course, he’s planning to
leave the station. This place
had too much baggage even
before yesterday. Forrest as
lead anchor? Baggage.
• (Core, Forrest's Stash) Forrest
was nobody before the
revolution and should've stayed
nobody after it. But Forrest had
the kind of clout that looks an
awful lot like Castaigne-era files,
if you know what he means.
• Malcolm initially refuses to
hand over his own address
book. He won't expose his
129
B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Scenes

130

friends to a bunch of thugs.
Whatever they need, they
can get it from McNeil's
Rolodex. Pressed further, he
shares the address book. Fresh
entries confirm his story.
Searching the Dressing Room
On a thorough search of the
dressing room, the group finds the
following:
• Several publicity photos of
Forrest—signed, framed, and
hung. Psychology: prominently
displaying signed photos of
oneself speaks to the sort of
narcissism that springs from
a shallow conception of
status, coupled with a deep
insecurity. Forrest may have
had reason to consider himself
an impostor of some sort.
• Recent snapshots of Forrest
smiling and shaking hands
with guests on set.
• A drawer containing two
identical high-quality
hairpieces and dozens of
vitamin supplements.
• A Rolodex, primarily consisting
of names and contact
information for figures whom
characters recognize from
the entertainment industry,
business, and politics. Scattered
between these are coded
entries. Research will require
some time to decode (Core,
Researching the Dream Clown).
RUTH TILLMAN
Roll Tape
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-Ins: At the Station,
Meet the Cast
Lead-Out: Forrest’s Stash
Chief T-NYC technician Desiree
“Des” Ronallo braids her dark
hair tightly to keep it out from the
machines she stewards with loving
care. She sips coffee and fidgets
with everything she touches as
she talks. Loading a projector or
performing other technical work
calms her instantly. She describes
her work as follows:
• After checking and triple-
checking, she can confirm
that the recording of the
Castaigne Kids Club theme
song absolutely did not come
from her equipment. It sounded
in the studio as well as the
broadcast, and her microphones
picked it up, but it wasn’t
playing on any of her decks.
• As chief technician, she oversees
the camera equipment and
manages the film created
during each broadcast. She
reviews and loads any pre-shot
segments they air and ensures
a smooth transition—or tries.
News broadcasts are live, but
she pieces together and manages
rebroadcasts of any old material,
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B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Scenes
although there’s rarely much
of that, mostly footage of a
few key revolutionary actions
and the People’s Congress’s
swearing-in ceremony. Aside
from completely pedestrian
stock footage and B-roll
material, the station had to give
up all of its regime-era film
to war crimes prosecutors.
• This absolutely included all the
Castaigne Kids’ Club materials.
Law: The faction arguing for
war crimes trials has taken the
position that propagandists
should be punished for
their role in supporting the
regime. With the Kids’ Club
widely regarded as a mind-
control program, it’s far from
surprising that investigators for
the provisional government
impounded its archive.
• Until now, she’s loved working
here. Katrina encourages
her to experiment with new
setups and techniques. The
single soundstage broken into
three parts was her idea. She
worked out the right camera
angles and lighting to make it
look like separate studios and
practiced transitions and timing
with the camera operators.
• She worries about how she’ll
find and train replacements
for the operators who quit,
though she can’t blame them.
She was out on the floor,
supervising when it happened.
She’ll never forget it.
132
And in response to questions
about the incident, she responds:
• She ran off a duplicate of
the film first thing after she
stopped screaming. She
knew the police would want
the original, and they’d
probably never see it again.
• The film terrified her almost
as much as the incident.
She knows that she saw the
Dream Clown appear. But
when she watched the film?
Nothing. How could that be?
• The thought scares her, but
she’d like to watch a few
segments to confirm that what
she saw with her eyes really
was the Dream Clown. She
invites them to watch it and
any player with Photography
to examine her copy frame-
by-frame for any clues.
• People Person or using
Technology to establish
rapport: Forrest allegedly
kept some of the Imperial-era
broadcasts and documents as
insurance, or possibly blackmail
(Core, Forrest's Stash.)
Viewing her copy of the film or
examining the film strip reveals the
same incident characters saw on
TV. Any characters who didn’t see
the original broadcast must make
the same Shock test.
Photography: Frame-by-frame
examination confirms that nothing
visible wields the weapon. Des
suggests that you look in Forrest’s

eyes a moment before his death.
You see the dim reflection of a
figure who ought to be in the
frame but isn’t.
Assess Honesty suggests that
she’s holding something back. If a
team member presses her further,
she relents. She shows them six
frames of the original film, cut
from the moment when Forrest
turns to look behind him. Des
uses a magnifier to show the detail
she found—the figure reflected
in Forrest’s eye clearly resembles
a clown. In her excitement, she
lets slip her plan to find the film
everyone says Forrest has and
compare these with original
images of the Dream Clown. A
Counterinsurgency, Cop Talk,
or Streetwise Push convinces
her to leave that mission to the
experts. This ensures that they find
Malcolm Yun’s body, instead of
hers, in Forrest's Stash.
Researching
the Dream Clown
Scene Type: Core
Lead-Ins: At the Station, Meet
the Cast, Dressing Room
Lead-Outs: Forrest’s Stash,
Brooklyn Pen
Characters who grew up under
the Castaignes know more about
the Dream Clown than their players.
This is what they know, including
basics from the Dream Clown’s
description in Aftermath, p.25:
RUTH TILLMAN
• History: Holt Castaigne,
who came to power in 1964,
embraced media as a way to
reach his subjects. He appeared
weekly on television and
founded the Castaigne Kids’
Club, a scouting movement
and morning television
show which every child
watched before school.
• Occultism: Revolutionary
occultists speculate that the
Department of Parageometrical
Inquiry developed techniques
to embed anti-subversion
spells in broadcasts.
• Counterinsurgency: Teachers
who observed that a child
regularly appeared not to have
watched that morning’s show
were required to report the
child to state security officials.
• As everyone knows, the
Dream Clown was a regular
character on the show. He
protected sleeping children from
nightmares on the condition
that they shared any subversive
remarks they’d overheard from
parents, teachers, or others.
• Trivia: The actors who played
him were never credited.
• Counterinsurgency: The
DIS used someone dressed
as the Dream Clown as an
empathetic, good cop figure
during sleep deprivation torture.
He promised prisoners a good
night’s rest if they confessed.
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B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Scenes
– (Alternate, Brooklyn Pen) You
know a revolutionary turned
war crimes cop, Georgette
Loreto, of the People's Federal
Police, who might be able to
shed light on this.
During this scene, suggest
characters recall their own
childhoods, during which the
Dream Clown appeared on
television throughout the Imperial
territory:
• Were they members of the
Castaigne Kids Club?
• Did they collect Dream
Clown paraphernalia?
• Did anyone turn over a family
member or friend to authorities
through the Dream Clown?
(Core, Forrest's Stash) A group
hunting the most recent actor
to play the Dream Clown will
likely seek his identity in Forrest’s
Rolodex (from Dressing Room).
Counterinsurgency breaks its
rudimentary cipher. Most coded
notes consist of one or more titles
of Castaigne-era television shows
and dates, paired with the entry
for a prominent figure. The sole
exception to this pattern is an
entry for Mike’s Midtown Storage.
Under it, Forrest scribbled two
unencoded numbers: 371 and
1895.
134
Brooklyn Pen
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-Ins: Meet the Cast,
Researching the Dream
Crown
Lead-Out: Dreamland
Contacted by phone, PFP agent
Georgette Loreto arranges to meet
the group at the Brooklyn Pen,
where many possible war crimes
defendants are currently housed.
She has arranged with the security
to allow the group into its parking
lot.
As they drive into the lot, ask the
characters present how many of
them were imprisoned during their
time as insurgents. Those who
answer yes and proceed into the
jail involuntarily recall their own
captivity. They make Difficulty
4 Composure tests to avoid
Shocks—Minor and Major: From
the Past/Grim Flashback.
Georgette meets the group in
the foyer after they undergo the
security patdown in which they
are relieved of any weapons or
contraband. A brisk, confident
black woman whose polished look
sets her apart from most cops,
especially the ex-revolutionary
ones, she tells them they’ll be
getting some private time with
former DIS Counter-Sedition
Officer Alex Hatten.
B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Scenes
Without further ado, corrections
officers lead them to an otherwise
unoccupied, fluorescent-lit room
usually reserved for inmate
visitations. Hatten, drowning in
his too-large prison grays, sits
waiting for them, mustering all the
indifference he can pack into his
thin frame.
He’d rather waste the time
of ex-insurgents, the scum he
used to hunt, than supply them
with information. Interrogation,
or Negotiation coupled with
a promise to talk to Georgette
about better treatment, prompts
him to supply grudging answers
about Larry Berger. Paraphrase the
following in response to relevant
questions:
• The idea that the Dream
Clown never appeared in
public without his makeup was
garbage. That was just a publicity
story. He was a bland-looking
guy, though, so who would
think he was the Clown when
they saw him out and about?
• Berger hobnobbed with
regime figures way above
Hatten’s pay grade.
• He was also fast friends with this
nosy janitor character, McNulty
or McNeil, or something.
• Hatten once paid McNeil $5,000
bucks for a tip revealing that a
station sound man was traveling
in subversive circles. He said
he would invest it wisely.
• Dissidents were always telling
children that the DIS used the
Dream Clown in interrogations.
136
• That was only a nasty
rumor. Until a few years into
Berger’s tenure in the role.
• That sick bastard actually
suggested to Hatten’s
bosses, who he palled
with, that the urban legend
would actually work.
• And would you believe it? It
did. Prisoners either completely
lost it when they saw the Clown
coming for him, or they liked
the Clown and confided in him.
• Berger always seemed
disappointed when his schtick
worked, and they spilled
their guts. He preferred
watching the rough stuff.
• Hatten doesn’t remember Leon
Miller. But that doesn’t mean
he wasn’t a scumbag radical
that got what he deserved.
• Where is Berger now? Dead,
is Alex’s guess. Somebody
probably smelled clown on
the creepy old freak during
the fighting and gave him
a shot to the temple.
• (Alternate, Dreamland) If they
find Larry, Alex wants his money
back. Before the revolution
broke out, Berger was hatching
a plan to build a Dream Clown-
themed amusement park called
Dreamland. He tapped everyone
in his address book as potential
investors, including Alex.
Hatten could sure use his dough
back, to hire lawyers with.

Forrest’s Stash
Scene Type: Core
Lead-Ins: Dressing Room,
Roll Tape, Researching the
Dream Clown
Lead-Outs: Katrina Follow-
up, Tailing Wanda,
Wanda’s Shrine
Mike’s Midtown Storage
occupies a narrow building
squeezed between a warehouse
and a parking garage.
• Architecture: These buildings
date back to the 1960s.
Originally constructed for office
use, they lost tenants over
various economic downturns.
New owners converted them
for down-market use, into
shabby hotels, long-term rental
housing, and storage facilities.
• Art History: Rental storage
units contain everything from
secret collections of Castaigne-
era relics and loot from the
uprising to a dead parent’s
rotting furniture that the tenant
is sure they’ll use someday.
With a little reconnaissance and
Counterinsurgency, you learn:
• The building contained offices
until a few years ago when its
new owners tore out most walls
and parceled it into small storage
lockers of dubious security.
• It’s not one of the more high-tech
establishments, but probably
still has a system of security
RUTH TILLMAN
cameras, a couple of guards,
and, to the extent possible these
days, a friendly relationship with
the police. Its barred windows
are not wired to any alarms.
The back door uses a keypad
lock that can be disabled by
anyone with Technology.
• It should have an elevator
near the entrance and a back
staircase. Forrest’s number,
371, suggests that his unit
is on the third floor.
A Difficulty 4 Sneaking success
gets the group in through the back
door, past several cameras, and
into the stairwell. From there,
they may ascend to the third floor,
skirting the handful of obvious
cameras. On a failure, they set off
an alarm (which can be switched
off in the front security room)
but do not hear an immediate
response. In fact, the building
remains far too quiet.
If they go in the front door, the
group finds the security desk and
back office abandoned. A simple
use of Technology on the off-the-
shelf electronic lock gets them into
the main building. Should they
visit the back room, a quick check
of the rental logs confirms that unit
371 was rented to Forrest McNeil.
The closed-circuit televisions
displays empty hallways except on
the third floor, where two bodies
lie on the floor.
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B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Scenes
Third Floor Tragedy
Fluorescent lights flicker on old
tiles. Chalky white walls, barred
windows, and halls of keypad-
locked doors remind characters
of makeshift prisons or mental
wards they may have experienced.
Two bodies lie in the third floor’s
narrow front hallway.
Unless someone spent a Push
to dissuade her from pursuing
this further, Des Ronallo lies
next to a dead security guard
and a pain baton. Otherwise, the
second body is that of Malcolm
Yun; substitute descriptions in
the passage below accordingly.
Difficulty 4 Composure test to
avoid Shocks—Minor and Major:
The Shudders/Shaken.
Did a Push prevent Des from
coming to the storage lockers?
During the coda or another apt
point in the narrative, be sure
to let the player know that the
Push accomplished something
important. Des contacts the
ex-insurgents to thank them for
warning her off. That could have
been her, she says, shaken.
Forensic Anthropology: Both
victims’ necks are broken. They
were also shot by the guard’s
weapon. Weirdly, the bullets
struck from an impossibly high
angle, as if the gun was floating
above their heads when fired.
A search of Des’ pockets
discovers a letter from Katrina
Hargrave, requesting the storage
company provide her with access
to recover station property from
Forrest McNeil’s locker.
138
Just behind the bodies, an open
door leads into a dark storage
room. The character with the
highest Sense Trouble rating first
notices the high-pitched keening
coming from inside. (Break ties
in favor of a player in need of
spotlight time.) The room’s light
switch fills it with yellow light
from an overhead bulb. Behind
piled boxes and film canisters, the
building’s second security guard,
Ed Hains, lies in a trembling ball.
Examination with Medicine
finds no physical injuries, but he
appears to have suffered severe
psychological shock (Psychology).
A Difficulty 4 Morale success
brings him back to lucidity.
Otherwise, he still answers
questions but does something
awful at the end of the interview
(below).
The person (Des or Malcolm)
lying dead alongside his
colleague, Cary, showed up from
Forrest McNeil’s TV station, to
retrieve company property from
his locker at the behest of its boss,
Katrina Hargrave.
After a call to management, his
partner Cary had escorted her
up here to ensure that everything
removed came from T-NYC.
Ed stayed on duty. That’s when
the other woman came in. Busy
day. Middle-aged lady, seemed
normal, frumpy, gray-haired. She
had some sob story about her
dead husband and a storage unit.
Cop Talk allows a character
to give sufficiently precise
descriptions of the station

personnel for Ed to confirm that
this person was Wanda Miller.
He hesitantly admits that the sob
story didn’t get her in—but the
cash did.
It all seemed normal till Ed heard
screaming and thumping from
upstairs, followed by gunshots. He
rushed up here to the third floor
to see the station employee and
Cary dead on the floor, with Cary’s
gun lying between them. Then Ed
saw something his brain still won’t
let him fully bring into focus. He
must have blacked out because he
woke up later, and the frumpy lady
was gone, with the contents of
McNeil’s locker strewn all around.
Absent the Morale success
required above, as Ed starts to
run out of useful information,
a Difficulty 4 Sense Trouble
test allows the ex-insurgents to
notice his hand drifting toward
his own sidearm. Difficulty 4
Athletics knocks it from his hand;
only one character may try this.
Otherwise, Ed, his mind shattered,
shoots himself in the temple and
collapses, dead, at their feet.
Unlike McNeil’s death, the gun
doesn’t float or leave Ed’s control.
Psychology: He wouldn’t have
suffered this act of severe suicidal
dissociation if the group had taken
more care of his psychic well-
being. Difficulty 4 Composure
successes avoid Shocks—Minor
and Major: Twinge/Spasm of Guilt.
Searching the Stash
The storage room holds a few
boxes of files, one spilled on the
floor, and over a dozen containing
RUTH TILLMAN
film reels. On a search ex-
insurgents find:
• Publicity photographs of
the Dream Clown spill
from an open folder.
• Other folders of Castaigne Kids
Club character photographs
include a personnel sheet
on top, including the name,
address, birth date, security
ID number, and hiring date of
the actor playing the role.
• (Conclusion, Death of a
Clown) Evidently, the woman
took the personnel sheet
bearing Larry Berger’s name,
address, and other details
for the last Dream Clown.
• (Core, Dreamland) An
empty file folder lies on the
floor. Written on its tab is
the word “Dreamland.”
• Discarded folders contain a
trove of compromising materials
on various old regime figures,
mostly news and entertainment
types. These document personal
peccadilloes, not political
crimes. You recognize names
that pair with coded entries in
Forrest’s Rolodex. Some hold
prominent roles in the new
republic, including Katrina’s
late father. She’d probably like
to see them destroyed. Should
the group hold onto them for
future leverage, add a scene
to a follow-up scenario where
possession of the documents
permits a free Negotiation Push.
Intuition: Two smaller canisters
labeled “control remotely” and
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B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Scenes
“view remotely” in faded ink stand
out as important. Each contains a
short piece of film. On holding the
film up to the light, you see sigils
intercut with regular footage.
Occultism: Broadcasting these
subliminal messages likely made
viewers suggestible to a spell.
Studying them might reveal the
nature of the spell.
Anyone who studies the series of
mind-control sigils can extrapolate
them into a pair of spells, gaining
their choice of “Puppet Master”
(p. 153), “View Master” (p. 153),
or, for those who like to live
dangerously, both.
That Little Matter...
Groups who tripped the
building’s alarm on the way in
encounter Ed’s backup, a cadre of
security guards, on the way out. If
Ed is alive, he praises them to his
fellow guards as his saviors. If not,
the guards fight with the goal Gain
Surrender. The group can stop
them by surrendering without a
fight or spending a Cop Talk Push.
Numbers: same as group
Difficulty: Tough But
Outmatched (Escape 2, Other 3,
Kill 4)
Difficulty Adjustments: +1 for
characters with Cop Talk; -1 for
characters who have Streetwise
but not Cop Talk
Toll: 1
Tags: Human
Injuries, Minor and Major: Blow
to the Head/Ringing Cranium
140
Katrina Follow-Up
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-In: Forrest’s Stash
Lead-Out: Wanda’s Shrine
If the team contacts Katrina to
tell her what happened at the
storage facility, she expresses
horror: how is she going to run the
station if this keeps happening?
She gives the following responses
to questions about why she’d sent
someone else to the facility:
• She’d figured out months
ago that Forrest kept a locker
at Mike’s, but she couldn’t
just barge in and demand
access while he was alive.
• She knew they’d get to
it eventually, so she told
Malcolm (or Des) to grab a
few little things that might’ve...
distracted from the real case.
She swears her instructions
were to leave the rest.
• Malcolm jumped at the chance
to snoop in Forrest’s locker.
(Or Des lit up at the possibility
of recovering lost footage).
• What little things? Just a few
film reels which might harm
the reputation of her late father
and several living benefactors.
After a pause, she asks whether
they recovered any of these
from the location. She could
make it worth their while.

She finds Wanda’s involvement
baffling. The receptionist always
seemed ordinary to her. She
understands that Wanda suffered
during the Uprising, but so did
many ordinary people. It’s why we
had to win.
(Alternate, Wanda's Shrine) She
checks personnel records and
gives them Wanda’s address.
Dreamland
Scene Type: Core
Lead-Ins: Brooklyn Pen,
Wanda’s Shrine
Lead-Out: Death of a Clown
The main office of the New
York Finance Department in a
gargantuan office tower near
the Fulton Street exit was only
partially looted during the
revolution.
Bureaucracy indicates that
this is the place to follow up on
the Dreamland amusement park
lead. It also allows the group
to talk its way into the trashed
records room, where Research,
after a quickly described (table
time) but arduous (world time)
search turns up tax registration
information for Dreamscope
Properties Incorporated, owned by
an investors group headed by CEO
Larry Berger. Other shareholder
names include a rogues gallery of
regime officials, Forrest McNeil,
and Alex Hatten.
RUTH TILLMAN
(Core, Death of a Clown)
Accounting: Its file includes
annual taxes paid on a pair of
adjacent industrial parks on the
north side of the Shore Parkway
not far from Coney Island. Their
assessed value is low, suggest that
they’re generating little revenue.
Architecture: Buildings on the
site are likely disused and in poor
condition, making it the perfect,
obscure place to lie low.
Research: Of the various phone
numbers associated with these
properties, only one remains in
service. If called, a man who
sounds like the Dream Clown,
albeit speaking in a normal, non-
affected tone of voice, picks up.
He denies being Larry Berger, but
on a Reassurance or Flattery Push
accepts whatever warning the
ex-insurgent calling him cares to
issue.
Tailing Wanda
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-In: Forrest’s Stash
Lead-Outs: Wanda’s Shrine,
Death of a Clown
If any character spent an
Interpersonal Push on Wanda in At
the Station, they may make use of
the “View Master” spell to watch
the world through the now-fugitive
Wanda’s eyes. When they make
contact, she’s knocking the dust
off a glossy investment prospectus.
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B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Scenes
Its cover features a color artist’s
rendering of an amusement
park, dominated by an entrance
archway over which an enormous
sculpted Dream Clown invitingly
drapes itself. Dreamland, screams
the alphabet-block logo atop the
illustration, its design echoing that
of the Castaigne Kids’ Club.
(Alternate, Death of a Clown)
Wanda rifles through the
prospectus, until her finger jabs a
page containing a reproduction
of a property survey map. She
compares it to a road map of
Brooklyn, matching it to a road
not far from the Coney Island area
in Brooklyn. They see fragments of
her bedroom’s decor as she heads
out the door.
If the spellcaster maintains
contact, her address can be seen
(Alternate, Wanda's Shrine) as she
turns the keys of all three locks
securing her apartment door,
leaves the building, and walks
to a local train station. They may
continue to view her train ride
over bridges to the Bronx and
Berger’s hideout. In the event that
they have Berger’s phone number
already, they may call and warn
him, as per the scene below.
142
Wanda’s Shrine
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-Ins: Forrest’s Stash,
Katrina Follow-Up.
Dreamland, Tailing Wanda
Lead-Outs: Dreamland,
Death of a Clown
Wanda lives in one of the many
public housing towers built in
Brooklyn in response to the late
1960s housing shortage. Cop Talk
or Bureaucracy nets her precise
address. Concrete crumbles off
its facade, as much a sign of
cheap building materials as of the
fighting that scarred this region.
Leadership gets the group past the
building’s concierge, a stooped,
elderly white man who would
rather spend the day reading his
newspaper than worrying about
who comes and goes.
Nobody answers her door,
nor do characters hear anyone
moving inside. Wanda has beefed
up her security by installing
two additional deadbolts and a
chain on her door. Picking them
(Counterinsurgency) without
attracting the attention requires
a Difficulty 4 Sneaking test. On
a failure, several scruffy girls of 7
or 8 who’ve been playing in the
stairwell notice the activity. The
children badger the group with
loud questions about whether
they’re burglars, why the lady who
lives there uses so many locks,
whether she’s got anything really
special in her apartment. Either a

Push with Leadership or succeed
at a Difficulty 4 Composure test
to avoid spectacularly losing
your cool and taking Shocks—
Minor and Major: Embarrassed/
Humiliated.In the Apartment
No one would call Wanda’s
apartment homey. The personal
touch in its main room, a framed
wedding photo of a much-younger
Wanda and her husband, hangs
above an old wooden table. The
room’s single couch appears
nearly as old as the photograph,
30 years or more. An overstuffed
chair completes the setting. Her
kitchen contains necessities for
a single person who doesn’t
entertain. Counterinsurgency or
Streetwise: The large kitchen knife
is missing from a knife block set.
Wanda’s bedroom, on the other
hand, contrasts entirely with the
rest of the place’s asceticism. She’s
covered the walls in photographs
and sketches — all pertaining to
the Dream Clown. The publicity
photographs and other images of
the Dream Crown all have large Xs
scrawled over its eyes and mouth.
In her sketches, the Dream Clown
meets a horrible end—positioned
under a guillotine, walking into a
lethal chamber, or dying by firing
squad.
A row of soft Dream Clown
dolls, the kind that characters
might’ve taken to bed as children,
sits along one wall. But these
dolls are all blindfolded and
disfigured—mouths stitched
together with thick black thread,
hands and feet cut off. A peek
RUTH TILLMAN
under the blindfolds reveals that
she’s also removed their eyes.
Occultism: This appears to be a
crude attempt at a binding spell,
with the dolls used as poppets to
represent the real Dream Clown.
Her bed sits in the middle of
the floor, encircled by a ring
of colorful stones. Occultism
recognizes these as the kind you
might find in any of the little
corner markets that peddle in
protective “spells” and talismans.
A plain wooden box shoved under
the bed contains her journal and
some notes.
(Core, Death of a Clown) On
top of the bed lies the Dreamland
prospectus (as described in
Tailing Wanda) and the map with
his hideout near Coney Island.
Science or Cop Talk: The exact
location still bears an indentation
from when she excitedly jabbed it.
When investigators read the
journal, ask the players to ask you
questions about its contents.
• As a work-at-home, small-
time antique dealer, she used
to collect and sell, among
other things, Dream Clown
memorabilia. She once held
great affection for the character.
• Even her husband, Leon, a
history professor with quiet
anti-regime sympathies,
maintained a soft spot for this
soothing fixture of childhood.
• About two years ago, he
vanished on his way home from
the university. Everyone back
then knew what that meant: he’d
been picked up by the DIS.
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B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Scenes
• He came back alive but
mentally shattered. The
sight of her Dream Clown
collectibles triggered a panic
attack, so she hid them away.
• Remembering the old urban
legend about the DIS using the
Dream Clown, she dared to
ask him what had happened.
• He admitted that it was true.
An interrogation squad,
including an agent dressed
as the Dream Clown, had
viciously tortured him. He stuck
it out as long as he could, but
in the end, he informed on
his colleagues in the history
department. He named their
every offense against the
regime, no matter how petty.
• Worse, he couldn’t shake the
feeling that under that make-
up, it was really him—the
real actor from the show.
• A few days after that, Leon
jumped into traffic on the
underground highway and was
instantly struck and killed.
• Going through his papers
seeking understanding, Wanda
mostly found notes and
documents relating to his field
of study, the Continental War.
Among them were facsimiles of
suppressed documents from a
Science Jaune facility uncovered
in the French village of Le Thil.
• Entries degrade into violent
fantasies about ways the Dream
Clown might die. Wanda
insists that he must die.
• Then she seems to be talking
to a Dream Clown that is
144
not the real Dream Clown,
that isn’t real at all, but has
become her ally, promising
to destroy and displace the
Larry Berger dream clown.
• Between violent fantasies, she
records shreds of a plan to find
Berger’s address through T-NYC.
• He must die, he must die.
Psychology: Like many bereaved
relatives of regime victims, she’s
become trapped in the worst
moments of her life.
Occult: Contact with the
occult materials in her husband’s
research, coupled with her
volatile psychic condition, may
have attracted the presence of a
remnant supernatural entity.
With the prospectus and map,
the ex-insurgents can Research his
number and call him, as seen in
Dreamland.
Death of a Clown
Scene Type: Conclusion
Lead-Ins: Dreamland,
Tailing Wanda,
Wanda’s Shrine
Larry Berger has been living
rough in one of his company’s
properties, an abandoned tool and
die shop near Coney Island. Some
day, he tells himself, the heat
will die down, and people will
remember how much they loved
their friend, the Dream Clown.
Then it will be safe to come out of
hiding, resuming his career even.
RUTH TILLMAN

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B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Scenes
If the group did not call ahead to
warn Berger, Wanda has already
broken in and surprised him in
mid-nap. She's tied him up and
is in the middle of recounting his
crimes as they arrive.
If the group successfully phoned
and warned Berger, he surprised
Wanda on her way in, dazed her
with a wrench blow to the head,
and has her tied to a chair. A
Difficulty 4 Sense Trouble success
spots him as he oh-so-innocently
drops a pair of pliers back into his
toolbox as if he wasn’t planning to
use them on her.
In either case...
Each tries to convince the
team to intervene on their behalf.
Have them direct their dialogue
to the ex-insurgents, so you're not
playing two GMCs talking to each
other.
Wanda tells them that Berger is,
in fact, the torturer who destroyed
her husband and many others.
She tells the story laid out in the
journal from Wanda's Shrine,
couched to make her sound like
the hero here. Additional details
she might provide in response
to questions, before or after the
standoff:
• She thought that the
revolution would bring her
peace, but it didn’t, not
with Berger still at large.
• She’d worked as a receptionist
and secretary before. When
she saw the job posting at
T-NYC, she knew it was a sign.
• She could use the old records
to find Berger and kill him.
146
• Imagine her fury when she
realized Forrest had at least a
good guess as to his old pal’s
whereabouts but wouldn’t tell
her. He laughed at her, even
when she cried and told him
how much she needed to know.
He told her to get back to him
when she could make an offer.
• That’s where the ghost
came in. She didn’t ask
him to do it, but now she
realizes it had to be done.
• What ghost? Why, the ghost of
all the Dream Clown’s victims,
the spirit of vengeance that
has made her its instrument.
• After that, she had to keep
going. Forrest’s death affirmed
her conviction that she had to
find and kill the Dream Clown.
She followed Des (or Malcolm)
and lied that Katrina sent her to
help carry things back. But Des
didn’t trust her, so she got angry.
• And when she gets angry,
the ghost gets angry too.
Instead, it killed Des (or
Malcolm) and the guard.
• Could she have saved them
by stopping? Maybe. Does she
care that they’re dead? Maybe
she should. But she doesn’t.
Her job on this Earth is to kill
Larry Berger. (This line makes a
great cue for the shatterling to
manifest, if you pace it that way.)
For his part, Larry:
• At first denies having any
role in torture or the DIS.
That urban legend started
before he was even born!

• Confronted with other
evidence (like Alex Hatten’s
testimony) or on a suitable
Interpersonal Push, Larry admits
to having been a spectator
at the odd interrogation.
• Once he gets rolling, he can’t
help but throw the horrible
truth in Wanda’s face. Yeah,
he remembers Leon Miller.
Good old Leon broke into a
sobbing mess the moment
Larry walked into the room in
his Dream Clown outfit and
gave him a hug. He betrayed
more than a dozen friends and
co-workers without the DIS
boys touching a hair on his
head. Disappointing, really.
• That’s why Leon walked into
traffic. Because he’d crumbled
so easily. Like a child.
When you’ve wrung what you
can from the above, or the team
moves to mop up the scene, the
shatterling materializes in the
form of a ghostly Dream Clown.
Depending on what will most
horrify and delight your players
given events so far:
• It kills Larry (unless prevented),
then turns on them, intent
on aiding Wanda’s escape.
• Revealing that its true intention
all along has been to find the
real Dream Clown and submit to
his service, it kills Wanda (unless
prevented), then turns on them.
• Your players take the initiative
by using an Inspiration or
Psychology Push or Difficulty
6 Morale success to break
through to the person Wanda
RUTH TILLMAN
used to be, freeing her to
help fight the shatterling.
Dream Clown Shatterling
Numbers: 1
Difficulty: Evenly Matched
(Escape 2, Other 4, Kill 5)
Difficulty Adjustments: +1
for each PC who believes that
the Shatterling is a creature that
cannot be physically harmed.
-1 if PCs enlist Wanda to fight
alongside them (narrate her
participation in the fight but don’t
roll for her as players do for their
characters.)
Tags: Warspawn
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Neuropathic Swipe/Neuropathic
Disequilibrium
If the Dream Clown Wins:
The group escapes with their
injuries. Wanda suffers a psychic
shock and dies—her face frozen
in a rictus of horror. Difficulty 6
Composure test to avoid Shocks—
Minor and Major: The Price of
Failure/A Morbid Scene. The
Shatterling dispels after killing
Larry Berger, who eventually
returns home despite any
warnings, even if it has to lurk for
days in order to do so.
Denouement
Reawakening Wanda’s
suppressed moral awareness
helps her on the path to
psychological recovery. Characters
may arrange for her to receive
treatment, in which case she
eventually recovers. Play up the
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B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Additional Antagonist Reactions
ironies of their moral quandary
if they choose to conceal her
culpability by protecting her from
prosecution.
Do the players instead view her
as a villain whose actions killed
innocent people? Play her exit out
of the storyline and into the hands
of authorities as their triumph over
someone who valued vengeance
over conscience.
Whether or not they deliver
the tapes to Katrina, the group
acquires the Chit: “Follow
Through.”
Delivering the tapes to Katrina
earns them the Chit: “Press Ties.”
Using them for their own purposes
earns them the Hit: “Smear
Campaign” as Katrina twists
former adventures to paint them in
a bad light.
Additional Antagonist
Reactions
Use these additional reactions to
enliven your pace as needed.
A Fair Mistake
Triggering Condition: You need
something thematic to startle
players who’ve grown a little
complacent.
On turning a corner en route
to or from the storage facility or
Wanda’s apartment, characters
encounter a neighborhood fair
parade, complete with clowns.
In a tactless appeal to nostalgia,
one has mimicked the Dream
Clown’s costume and face paint.
Any characters who experience
alarm must make a Difficulty 4
148
Composure test to avoid Shocks—
Minor and Major: False Alarm/The
Yips.
Passel of Papas
Triggering Condition: If the
characters treated the little girls
outside Wanda’s apartment badly.
A small group of angry fathers
waits for the group in the
apartment building’s lobby.
Numbers: Number of PCs, plus 3
Difficulty: Weak (Escape 2,
Other 3, Kill 3)
Difficulty Adjustments: none
Toll: 0
Tags: Human
Injuries, Minor and Major: You
Should See the Other Fellow/
Concussed
Alternate
One-Shot Version
For a one-off game, consider
connecting the player characters
directly to the station. Four
of the Aftermath character
kits—Photographer, Journalist,
Marketing Coordinator, and
Security Guard—fit neatly into
a news organization. The others
map as follows:
• Doctor -> consultant for
medical segments
• Lethal Chamber Technician
-> Chief Facilities Engineer
• Waitress -> Office Manager
in the same department as
the Marketing Coordinator
Characters began their jobs at
the station within the last few
weeks. They’ve worked there long

enough to know the names and
faces of the scenario’s main figures
but don’t know anyone well.
Changes:
• Rather than call them in “Murder
on the Air,” Katrina asks Linda
to bring the group to her when
they arrive for work the next
morning (the Doctor got a call to
come and consult). Linda awaits
them in the front room and
gathers the entire group before
taking them to Katrina. If players
consider bypassing conversation
with Linda, their characters get
the sense that the receptionist
knows a bit about everyone
and might be worth talking to.
• Katrina asks the group to keep
their investigation in-house,
though police are involved.
RUTH TILLMAN
• The Security Guard’s partner
was on duty during the
killing, patrolling the station’s
exterior. They confirm not
seeing anyone come or go and
speaking with the police.
• The Security Guard may get
Wanda’s address from her
personnel record directly.
Katrina still sends Des or
Malcolm to pick up Forrest’s
things, with the same tragic
consequences. She intends to
remove anything connected to her
father before the player characters
see it.
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B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Cards

CARDS

BLOW TO THE HEAD RINGING CRANIUM

Injury Injury
-2 to Sense Trouble tests. -2 to Focus and Presence
tests; -1 to Physical tests.
After four hours of world time,
trade for “Blow to the Head.”

NEUROPATHIC SWIPE NEUROPATHIC

DISEQUILIBRIUM
Injury; Shock
Trade for “On the Mend” as recipient Injury
of a Difficulty 5 First Aid success. If this card and the next Shock
card you receive are still in hand at
the end of the session, the Shock
card becomes a Continuity card.
When you discard a Shock card,
make a Difficulty 4 Composure test.
On a success, discard this card too.

150

YOU SHOULD SEE THE
OTHER FELLOW
Injury
Nonlethal. You can’t make
Interpersonal Pushes.
Discard after 24 hours of world
time, or when you gain another
Injury, whichever comes first.
A BEASTLY SIGHT
Shock
Tests take a penalty equal
to the number of Shock
cards you have in hand.
Discard by killing or helping to kill
the being, or another one like it.
EMBARRASSED
Shock
Nonlethal. -1 to Focus tests.
Discard on a Composure failure.
RUTH TILLMAN
CONCUSSED
Injury
You can’t make Pushes.
Discard after 48 hours of world time.
IF ONLY YOU
COULD FORGET
Shock
All tests take a penalty equal
to the number of Shock cards
you have in hand, plus 1.
Discard by killing or helping to kill
the being, or another one like it.
HUMILIATED
Shock
Nonlethal. -1 to Presence tests.
Discard by winning over a difficult
or intimidating witness.
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B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Cards

FALSE ALARM THE YIPS

Shock Shock
-1 to Sense Trouble tests; x = the result of a die roll, plus 1.
+1 to Composure tests. Lose x Composure.
On your next Composure failure, lose Discard as recipient of an
1 Composure and discard this card. x-point Morale spend.

FROM THE PAST GRIM FLASHBACK

Shock Shock
-1 to Focus tests until next interval. -1 to Focus and Presence tests.
Gain a +1 bonus to your next salient Gain a +2 bonus to your next salient
Physical test, then discard. Physical test, then discard.

FOLLOW-THROUGH PRESS TIES

Chit Chit
People believe that when you say If you're not spinning, you're
you can do something, you will. being spun.
Once per scenario, a single PC may Once per scenario, you may
make a free Reassurance Push. arrange for a story favorable to
When a GMC fears retribution you or your agenda to appear in
or blowback, you may discard the media.
this card to ensure that it won’t
occur. (Doesn’t protect against
supernatural forces.)

1 1

152

IDENTITY
DECENTRALIZATION
Shock
Margins of your failed
tests increase by 2.
When you take an Injury card,
roll a die. Even: discard.
PUPPET MASTER
Shock; Spell
Telepathically remote-control the
body of a GMC you can see and
once spent an Interpersonal Push on.
You can control speech along with
other voluntary functions. Spend 1
Composure for each hour of control,
dropping at any time or when you
lose visual contact. Then roll a die.
Odd: trade for “Rampant Distrust.”
THE PRICE OF
FAILURE
Shock; Continuity
You can’t spend Improvement points.
Discard by pursuing a lead the
team first learned of more than
an hour ago (table time).
RUTH TILLMAN
ON THE MEND
Injury
-1 to all tests. Trade for “Still
Hurting” on a Physical success.
VIEW MASTER
Shock; Spell
When you close your eyes, you can
see what a particular person you once
spent an Interpersonal Push on. Spend
1 Composure for each 120 minute
period of remote sight, dropping
at any time or when the target falls
asleep. Then roll a die. Odd: trade
for “Identity Decentralization.”
A MORBID SCENE
Shock; Continuity
You can’t spend Improvement points.
Lose 1 Health after any failed test.
Discard by pursuing a lead the
team first learned of more than
two hours ago (table time).
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B L A C K S T A R M A G I C : Memories of a Dream Clown — Cards

TWINGE SPASM OF GUILT

Shock Shock
-1 on Focus tests. -2 to Focus tests.
After a failed Focus test, discard as Discard by taking a risk to
recipient of 1-point Morale spend. atone for your past.

154
 BL ACK STAR MAGIC

LOVE WEARS
NO MASK
BL ACK STAR MAGIC: Love Wears No Mask — The Scenario
LOVE WEARS NO MASK
In this scenario for This Is
Normal Now, the investigators
look into Unmasked, a new
reality dating show airing some
unusual and disturbing content.
The Scenario
In Free Content, the show’s
first few episodes download
automatically onto everyone’s
phones. The investigators
weasel their way On Set and
find two of the show’s stars in a
state of psychological distress.
They can talk to the leading
contestant in Xavier’s Secret and
the chooser of bachelors in On
Edge. Breaking into The Room
Where It Happens shows that
the executives’ goals go beyond
creating a popular reality show—
the end goal might be fatal if the
group can’t act quickly enough.
Behind the Scenes finds clues in
the set and production design.
The Alien Truth
The executives of Unmasked
have far more nefarious
intentions than manipulating
their contestants for the sake
of melodrama. Unmasked is
produced by the Swayed—an
order of Carcosan-influenced
156
humans dedicated to increasing
the Yellow King’s influence over
this world.
In 1895, Octave Patin died in
a freak accident. After falling
out a window, he was impaled
by railing spikes below. His
sister Claire witnessed his death
and became obsessed with the
possibility that magic could
return him to life. She came
across a spell that she thought
would reunite them. In a way it
did, by killing her, leaving the
final sibling, Leon, desolate and
alone. Already, alien energy had
been pressing right up against
the membrane of reality, and the
use of a Carcosan spell allowed
that energy to breakthrough.
(Investigators interact directly
with these events in Dancer
in the Bone Cabaret, but this
scenario can still be standalone.)
Since that time, the alien
energy has remained present, but
beneath the surface. The Swayed
seek to recreate the events that
lead to the initial fissure between
worlds with the goal of bringing
Carcosa’s influence to the
forefront. Thea Patin is the Patin
family’s last direct descendant. If
all goes according to plan, Thea
will be framed for pushing one of
the contestants, Xavier Davies,
 S A R A H S A LT I E L

out a window on Unmasking day. breeding ground for Carcosan

Driven to a breakdown, Thea will
destroy herself while signing a
spell to reverse the day’s events.
Since all of it will be broadcast
live, the echoed event will gain
enough power to widen the
overlap between this world and
Carcosa.
If this scenario is being
run in “Ironic Normal” or
“Normalcy Shift” mode, this
can be framed as destroying
the Reintegration of everyone
watching—something that would
inflict enormous damage on
society’s collective psyche. In
“Real Normal” mode, it causes
havoc, creates the perfect
intervention.
The scenario assumes an NYC
setting. Translate locations to
your chosen city as needed.
Characters
Xavier Davies, the favored
contestant in Unmasked. Alex
Hatten blackmails him to
increase the show’s melodrama.
Andy Jiao, the second most
popular contestant.
Thea Patin, the star of
Unmasked, whose heart all the
contestants compete for.
Joshua Farris, a contestant of
Unmasked. He speaks in a thick

LOVE WEARS NO MASK

Rising Stars Free Content Voted Off

Spotted On Set

Xavier’s Secret

On Edge Promptly Removed

The Room Where

Behind the Scenes It Happens

Unmasking Day

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BL ACK STAR MAGIC: Love Wears No Mask — Scenes
Californian accent and can’t stop
looking at his phone.
Jack Avila, a contestant of
Unmasked. Eliminated shortly
after the investigators come on
set.
Host Forrest McNeil, a
consummate pro too busy with
his many other commitments
to notice anything awry behind
the scenes. (Players may recall
McNeil’s Aftermath counterpart
as the murder victim from
“Memories of a Dream Clown.”)
Showrunner Katrina Hargrave,
who orchestrates the show up
to its dramatic and possibly fatal
conclusion. (Another alternate
of a character from the Dream
Clown scenario.)
Daniella Proctor, a producer of
Unmasked.
Another key producer,
Alex Hatten, responsible for
manipulating Xavier. (Another
counterpart of a “Memories of a
Dream Clown” character.)
Katrina, Daniella, and Alex have
all been altered by prolonged
exposure to Yellow Sign, gaining
superhuman strength.
Set designer Daniel Zhang,
tasked with enacting hazardous
changes to the hotel.
Costume designer Patrick
O’Neil, wracked with guilt after
picking up on some of the bizarre
things going on on set.
158
Scenes
Free Content
Scene Type: Introductory
Lead-Outs: Rising Stars,
On Set, Voted Off, Spotted
Start by having the players
explain how their characters
came to be sitting on their
phones in the same cafe. Go
around and ask everyone what’s
open on their character’s phone
at this exact moment. When
they’ve described their activities,
tell them that they’re all
interrupted by a video popping
up and playing.
The video is a trailer for a new
reality TV show called Unmasked
(see Handout #1, p. 183). Most
scenes are typical for reality
dating shows: squabbling,
dramatic close-ups, and romantic
tension. Near the end of the
trailer, the actors keep pausing
in their scenes and turning to
look at the camera silently. The
scenes get faster and faster until
it seems like the mask staring
at the screen isn’t moving at all.
Colors and sounds flicker around
its immobile image. Everything
fades to black, and the video pop
up disappears.
Once the trailer closes,
everyone’s phone screen
shows an app automatically
downloading, with the same

name as the TV show. Clicking
on the app pulls up the home
screen, which is a live stream
from multiple different cameras,
following around the stars.
There’s also an “Episodes” tab.
Instructions give the user the
following information:
• For a more “intimate and
genuine experience”, the
show started livestreaming
24/7. Viewers get a behind
the scenes look at what goes
into making the magical
romance a reality—really
unmasking the process.
• (Alternate, Rising Stars)
For those worried about
following along, the juiciest
bits are still compiled into
episodes by a production
team working around the
clock to turn the drama into
content as soon as possible.
The eight preexisting episodes
are available on the app.
Research: Already, people
are complaining online. As far
as you can tell, it automatically
downloaded onto every phone
capable of having an app. Most
of the complaints involve the
app being some viral marketing
strategy thrust on unwilling
participants. No one else on the
forums discusses the trailer.
Computers: You’re not sure
how the app downloaded. It’s
not connected to your iTunes
/ Google Play account or the
cloud, nor anything else on your
phone.
S A R A H S A LT I E L
(Core, On Set) Architecture:
It looks like the show is filming
inside a hotel that you recognize
as the historic Frederick Hotel
in Tribeca, built in 1845. (Note: if
necessary, trade out for a setting-
appropriate building.)
Trivia: Disruptive Events LLC
is listed as the media company
behind Unmasked. No one
knows much about the company,
except that a few years ago,
they released a smartphone app
called Distressing Notifications—
users looking to add mystery in
their life sign up to sporadically
receive unnerving messages. Up
until now, that app was the only
thing they produced.
Disruptive Events LLC provokes
speculation on internet forums,
as they get their funding
from several anonymous but
apparently affluent donors with
unclear motivations. Notably,
moderators shut down most
forums discussing the oddity of
Disruptive Events LLC’s funding
within a few hours.
Research: The social media
accounts of the disqualified
contestants publicize the release
of each episode and document
their lives, but the tone of their
posts post-Unmasked is different
from pre-Unmasked.
Intuition: Accounts of several
disqualified contestants share a
consistent tone. Not necessarily
written by the same person, but
as if written in coordination.
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160

(Alternate, Voted Off)
Computers Push: Tracing the
location of the disqualified
contestants’ social media posts
show that they’re still in the
Fredrick Hotel.
Encourage discussion among
the characters, particularly as
they drew everyone’s attention
by being multiple people in a
cafe simultaneously playing the
same video from their phones.
Is this their first This Is Normal
scenario?
Ask them to describe how this
motivates them to work together
to uncover the source of the
strangeness behind Unmasked.
Otherwise, they know the drill.
If the players immediately
start coming up with ways to get
their characters on the show’s
set, reward their creativity. They
might bribe someone at the hotel
(Negotiation), know someone
in high places (Bureaucracy),
masquerade as a security guard
(Cop Talk), or a variety of other
methods. If they seem stumped,
or unmotivated, go to Rising
Stars.
(Alternate, Spotted) If the
players don’t follow the phone
hook, each one receives an
email from r3s1st_c2st21gne,
referencing their Freaking Weird
Moment and promising answers
on the set of Unmasked.
S A R A H S A LT I E L
Rising Stars
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-In: Free Content
Lead-Outs: On Set, Spotted
If investigators choose to watch
episodes of Unmasked:
The first few episodes are
pretty standard. As the show
goes on, it gets increasingly
dissonant and bizarre. Tie some
unusual events to the characters’
Freaky Weird Moments. It might
include things like:
• Camera shots with rampagers
passing by in the background,
even in the hotel (if playing
in “Ironic Normal” mode.)
• A romantic date between
Thea and a contestant under
the stars. The camera keeps
reversing the lighting and
showing black stars in a white
sky despite nothing else on
screen being affected.
• The livestream showing a
contestant staying up all night,
not sleeping, but just staring
directly into the camera.
• A contest based on who can
most quickly reassemble and
stitch together a dissected
human heart, thereby
winning a romantic getaway
date with Thea and a shot
at winning her heart.
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Investigators who make a point
of not watching nonetheless see
clips of the show everywhere as
it balloons in popularity. It plays
on TV screens in restaurants and
bars. Clips appear as memes and
GIFs that circulate around the
internet, Think pieces proliferate
on social media. Very oddly,
virtually none of the discussion
so much as mentions its eerie
tone.
(Core, On Set) Along with the
increased popularity, job listings
for the show keep appearing,
asking for assistants to the
producers, tech assistants,
and people to fill other similar
positions.
(Alternate, Spotted) If the
characters look at online forums
about the show, one person
stands out as notably disturbed
by the show’s weird content.
r3s1st_c2st21gne comments
only on those scenes, making
incredibly aggressive and violent
threats to destroy the show.
Computers can track all
instances of the username. It
shows up first in /yel/ forums,
where the user harasses other
people on the forum, demanding
help in bringing a stop to the
show before Unmasking Day.
Though there’s no messaging
option immediately visible for
r3s1st_c2st21gne’s account, a
Push develops a virus to harvest
email addresses from /yel/.
Alternatively, interacting
with r3s1st_c2st21gne in
the comments section and
162
providing them with an allegedly
friendly audience (Flattery or
Reassurance) can convince them
to engage directly in messaging
with the investigators. If they
establish contact with r3s1st_
c2st21gne before going on set,
the person behind the account
refuses to identify themselves
but might help the group out,
dropping cryptic hints about
places they should investigate,
or keeping a lookout through the
livestream if they’re sneaking into
somewhere they don’t belong.
On Set
Scene Type: Core
Lead-Ins: Free Content,
Rising Stars
Lead-Outs: Xavier’s Secret,
The Room Where It Happens
Improvise scenes with the
players to establish how their
characters come to be on set.
This might involve calling for
whatever tests are relevant.
However, since their being on
set is crucial to the continuation
of the investigation, a failure
shouldn’t mean that they fail to
get on to set. Rather, it should
enact a toll. That might entail
an injury for one of the players
that affects Physical tests, or it
might arouse suspicion, meaning
that investigations become
harder further down the line.
The toll should fit the method

of entry. They access set shortly
before the elimination of Jack
Avila, leaving three days before
Unmasking Day.
The Frederick Hotel is a historic
luxury hotel in lower downtown
Manhattan. The hotel is tastefully
decorated with stylish vintage-
designed rooms. Its clean,
chic aesthetic provides a sharp
contrast to the themes of lavish
excess that abound further north
in Manhattan. Unmasked has
rented out the entirety of The
Frederick Hotel for the duration
of filming, taking advantage of
the bustling city outside and the
abundance of activities.
The hotel’s lobby serves as
the staging area for the weekly
Revelation Ceremony, where
Thea eliminates one contestant,
and he must remove his mask for
the world to see his true face.
Each star has their own suite on
the 2nd floor. Except for reasons
built into the show’s structure,
the stars aren’t allowed to leave
the hotel premises. Well-attired
private security operatives guard
the entrances, keeping them in
and the public out.
(Core, The Room Where It
Happens) Two main suites are
dedicated to the producers
(Daniella Proctor and Alex
Hatten) and the showrunner
(Katrina Hargrave). One where
they’ve hooked up all their
monitors to watch the stars’
activities, and the other to
be their office and sleeping
S A R A H S A LT I E L
quarters, which is kept locked at
all times. One suite is dedicated
to costume and set design.
Electronic Surveillance: Aside
from the main cameras following
around each the stars, you spot
at least two hidden cameras
in all major spaces: the eatery,
the common areas, and the
bedrooms. They’re disguised
in photograph frames and in
decorative flower arrangements,
but they’re definitely there,
maybe unbeknownst to the stars.
Even if someone managed to
duck their personalized camera,
the hidden ones would still
pick up their every move. Most
rooms have a few blind spots—
places on the periphery that the
cameras can’t quite pick up.
The stars spend time between
official events interacting with
each other. Every so often, a
producer beckons a star over for
a quick chat, goading them in
one direction or the other.
When the group arrives,
the crew and cast rush
about, preparing for the ninth
Revelation Ceremony. (Core, The
Room Where it Happens) Call for
a Difficulty 3 Sense Trouble test.
On a success, the investigators
see Alex Hatten, a producer, call
Xavier over and whisper into his
ear, nodding in the direction of
Andy Jiao. Xavier cringes away
from Alex, shaking his head.
Hatten whispers something else,
Xavier pauses and then nods, his
shoulders slumping.
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The Revelation Ceremony
begins shortly, with Forrest
McNeil giving a recap of how the
ceremonies work. He announces
that this week they’ve asked their
audience who should be immune
to elimination, unlike previous
weeks when Thea picked her
favorite. After a suspenseful
pause, he says Andy’s name.
Xavier lets out an exclamation
and lunges for Andy. The other
contestants struggle to separate
them. (Core, Xavier’s Secret)
Through the tangle of limbs, the
investigators can see Xavier’s
mask changed. As they scuffle,
it looks like the masks aren’t
masks at all, but rather pallid
white visages with horrific
slashes for the mouth and eyes.
Call for Difficulty 4 Composure
tests to avoid Shocks—Minor
and Major: A Trick of the Light,
Surely/No Mask! No Mask!
The producers separate Xavier
and Andy, escorting them to their
rooms, faces returned to normal.
In all the chaos, no one notices
that a chunk of Xavier’s mask
broke off onto the floor. If the
investigators pick it up, they find
that there’s part of some yellow
symbol painted on the back.
164
Xavier’s Secret
Scene Type: Core
Lead-In: On Set
Lead-Outs: On Edge, Behind
the Scenes, The Room Where
It Happens
If the investigators go looking
for Xavier after the fight, they
find him in his room, watching
TV. Play Davies as charming,
but in a strained way. Having
the entire group question him
raises his suspicions, but one
or two people doesn’t strike
him as particularly unusual, as
he constantly sees a parade of
people going through his room.
Though the livestream camera
is set up, no one actively mans
it. He explains that the camera
crew can’t film 24 hours a day,
so they leave the camera set up
overnight with the assumption
that he won’t leave the room.
If he does, they’ll be notified
and return to film his activities,
since the contestants are
electronically tagged to monitor
their movements. In this scene
and others, the investigators can
stand in the camera’s blind spots
to avoid arousing suspicion.

Xavier’s room is bizarrely
decorated—all of the modern
furniture replaced with antique
furniture that jars with the carpet
and wall.
Art History: Based on the
furniture’s style and aging, all of
it is Western European, from the
late 19th century, without much
variance in the style or time
period. An oddly specific choice
for a modern reality dating show.
(Alternate, Behind the Scenes)
If asked about it, Xavier says he
didn’t choose the furniture, it’s
the way they decorated all the
stars’ rooms. Katrina Hargrave,
the showrunner, said it would be
more atmospheric.
(Alternate, Behind the Scenes)
If the investigators return the
piece of the mask to him and
inquire about the yellow symbol
on it, he thanks them and tells
them that the yellow symbol was
on the mask when it was given
to him. He assumed it was a logo
for a company but come to think
of it, he’s seen it several other
places. It must be a company
the set designers are particularly
fond of.
If asked why he attacked Andy,
Davies laughs uncomfortably and
says that he didn’t appreciate
the competition, that he feels
strongly about Thea, and that got
him fired up. Bullshit Detector
says that he’s outright lying, but
his demeanor reads as scared,
rather than malicious.
If they convince Xavier that
it’s safe to speak with them
S A R A H S A LT I E L
(Reassurance), he reaches
for the TV remote, almost
absentmindedly, and turns up
the volume, just loud enough,
so it’s hard to hear him over
it. He leans against his pillow
carefully, muffling his personal
microphone between his body
and the cloth. Alternatively, the
investigators might find a way
to talk to him without the risk of
being overheard. Either way, he
tells them the following, words
tumbling out as if it’s a relief to
finally say them:
• Initially, he had no intention
of applying to be on the
show, as he is a gay man.
• He’s been a struggling actor
for years, but has needed to
work two jobs to support his
family and barely has any time
to audition for anything.
• He was about to give up on
acting when his boyfriend sent
in his application to Unmasked.
The hope was that the show
would give him the exposure
he needed to land major roles.
This was his last-ditch effort
in following his dream.
• (Alternate, On Edge) Thea
knows the truth about him, and
they’ve developed a genuine
friendship. She purposefully
picks him as her favorite
contestant in an effort to
help him. He worries about
her, though—recently, her
behavior has changed. She’s
acting erratically and doesn’t
seem to know what’s going
on half the time. It’s nearly
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BL ACK STAR MAGIC: Love Wears No Mask — Scenes
impossible to have a genuine
conversation with her, with
all the cameras around.
• Around the second week of
filming, Alex approached him
and told him that he knew
his secret. Alex has been
threatening to reveal his
sexuality and has been using
that threat to manipulate
him into increasingly
dramatic behavior, such as
picking a fight with Andy.
• Xavier doesn’t know how Alex
found out about his secret, but
his family doesn’t know. Having
it revealed on live television
would break their hearts.
• If asked about the unusual
things going on on set,
he seems confused. He
remembers the scenes but
doesn’t register them as
being unusual in any way.
Should the group earn Xavier’s
trust with a favorable response to
his story, he offers to help them
talk to people and get into any
rooms that they need to get into.
He’s very familiar with the set
and the schedules of everyone
on it.
If the group goes to talk to the
other contestants, they find them
weary and confused. They say
that Thea and Xavier’s behavior
has changed dramatically over
the course of the show. It seems
like there’s something going on
beneath the surface, but they
don’t know what it is.
166
On Edge
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-In: Xavier’s Secret
Lead-Outs: Behind the
Scenes, The Room Where It
Happens
Thea’s room has a similar decor
to Xavier’s. If asked about it, she
gives the same answer, waving
it away as set designers taking
artistic license.
If Xavier helps the group talk
to Thea, he tells them that the
cameras following her have been
malfunctioning. If they shut down
the cameras, it’ll be blamed on
a technical problem and won’t
arouse suspicion. Generally,
there’s someone watching
the monitors, but they can’t
continually see all of them. It’ll
probably take them five minutes
to notice that something’s wrong
with them, and another five to
get to the room. There’s still the
personal microphone to worry
about, but the stars take those
off to sleep. Provided the group
visits late in the evening, they
shouldn’t have to worry about
that.
Shutting down the cameras
such that it looks like a technical
issue requires a Difficulty 4
Mechanics test, or a Technology
Push. If they go into Thea’s room
and begin meddling with the
cameras, she doesn’t help, but
she doesn’t stop them either,

waiting expectantly as if mentally
preparing herself for whatever
the show will throw at her next.
Play Thea as detached from
reality, with a constant edge of
desperation in her tone. There
are several alcohol bottles in her
room, many half empty. If asked
about them, she says that she’s
encouraged to drink before all
major events to take the edge
off.
Mentioning that Xavier
sent them calms Thea down
(Reassurance). Barring that, she’s
convinced their questioning is
part of the show and answers
as if being interviewed. If the
group uses Intimidation, she
answers their questions honestly
but breaks down in tears after
answering them, attracting
unwanted attention. In that case,
call for a Difficulty 3 Composure
test to avoid Shocks—Minor and
Major: Overstepped Bounds/
Wracked by Remorse.
She says the following if
prompted:
• She’s scared Xavier will
get sent home since he’s
the only one she trusts.
• The producers sought her
out. They said they found
her online and thought she
would be a good candidate
and encouraged her to
apply. She did so because
she needed the extra money
for her astrophysics Ph.D.
She’d assumed they’d been
interested because she’d
done a little bit of modeling
S A R A H S A LT I E L
back in college, but they
kept asking her questions
about her family history.
• Come to think of it, they
were asking about a specific
part of her history. Her
family had a story that had
been passed down between
generations—one of her
ancestors moved to the States
from France in the early 20th
century after the tragic death
of his brother and mysterious
disappearance of his sister.
Once she’d mentioned that
to the producers, they had
seemed very interested. But it
was just a story after all, right?
(If Leon died when you ran
Dancer in the Bone Cabaret
Thea instead descends from
one of Leon’s cousins.)
• She just wants the show to be
over. They schedule her so that
she never gets enough time to
eat. Half the time she has more
alcohol in her system than food.
• A few weeks ago, some set
designers came in and painted
a symbol on her ceiling. When
she asked about it, they said
it was for setting the tone.
She doesn’t know what that
means but was unable to
get any clearer answers.
• Since then, she’s been unable
to get any sleep. Every time
she closes her eyes, she has
horrific dreams about buildings
made of flesh and metal snakes
crawling under her skin. She
asked them to take it down,
but nothing’s happened so far.
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• She’s been so tired lately that
she’s been seeing things.
Sometimes she’ll see a girl pass
by the entryway of a room
she’s in or watching her from
behind the door frame. The
girl looks and moves almost
exactly like her and wears the
same mask. Thea even at one
point saw the girl talking to
Daniella Proctor, her producer.
She must be imagining things,
though. The girl must just be
hotel staff or an assistant. Thea
assumes she’s projecting the
resemblance because she’s
on edge. Plenty of women
in the television business
share her body type.
The symbol on Thea’s ceiling
is the same symbol painted on
the inside of Xavier’s mask, if
the investigators found it earlier.
Show the players the Yellow Sign
if they ask for specifics about
what it looks like. (Experienced
YKRPG hands can already guess.)
Call for a Difficulty 4 Composure
test to avoid Shocks—Minor and
Major: Whisper of the Sign/Song
of the Sign.
Photography: Based on the
camera angles, there’s no way
that symbol shows up effectively
in the shots of Thea’s room, even
if the producer’s explanation of
mood-setting made any sense.
Are investigators seeing the
Sign for the first time?
• Occultism: This symbol isn’t
associated with any occult
group that you know of.
168
• Research: Reverse-searching
the image shows that it’s
definitely not the logo for any
company. In fact, the only place
that it shows up is on some /
yel/ forums with the title line,
“Carcosa?”. Trying to click on
the forums shuts your phone
down, and when you load it
back up, it seems that things
have been shuffled around in
a way that you can’t quite put
your finger on—shadows in
the background of your photos
when previously there were
none, and heavy breathing
as ambient noise in your
songs, regardless of genre.
If the group didn’t get Xavier’s
help, they might think of shutting
down the cameras on their own.
Alternatively, with a Difficulty 4
Preparedness test, they came
to set prepared with a white
noise machine or something
similar that reduces the sound
the microphones can pick up.
They might also come up with
their own solutions for how to
talk to Thea without attracting
attention. If they don’t take any
precautions and start asking
intrusive questions, they have
about five minutes before
security comes to remove them.
When they start to run out of
questions or the scene otherwise
flags, either to fix the cameras or
to throw them out.
S A R A H S A LT I E L

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BL ACK STAR MAGIC: Love Wears No Mask — Scenes
Behind the Scenes
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-Ins: Xavier’s Secret,
On Edge
Lead-Out: The Room Where
It Happens
If the investigators wait until
the costume and set designers
are elsewhere, a Difficulty 5
Mechanics test is required to
jury-rig a magnet to serve as a
hotel key. Alternatively, with a
Difficulty 3 Sneaking test, they
can swipe the key while they’re
out and about. Or they can use
a fitting interpersonal ability to
convince a production assistant
or other entry-level staffer to
grant them access.
Inside, the suite brims with
glittering fabrics and props
whose sole function is to
create a holistically romantic
atmosphere—large white
candles, red velvet table
runners, red silk rose petals.
Less expected is the amount of
antique furniture crowding up
the room.
Art History: The style and
origin of the furniture match the
same as that in Xavier and Thea’s
rooms—if you had to guess
specifically where it’s from, you
would say Belle Époque Paris.
On one of the antique tables
lies a binder of photographs.
It seems to be an inspiration
book, full of photos of rooms
1 70
from the same time period
as the furniture. Most of the
photographs are of empty rooms,
but a few photographs have
people in them. There’s a tall,
austere man, a younger woman
with a warm and welcoming
face, and a second man with a
handsome naivete to his face.
There is one photograph of the
three of them together, one
photograph of the tall man in
front of what appears to be an
altar. The daguerreotype features
the woman, who seems to be
grieving, clad in black, with
her head mournfully lowered.
Insofar as they are visible, the
rooms in the background of the
photographs are exact replicas of
Xavier and Thea’s rooms.
Photography: These are
original prints hand-processed
in the 1890s. One, however,
is a daguerreotype made in
the heyday of that format in
the 1840s or 1850s. Which
is impossible, given that the
woman in them looks to be the
same age in both.
Medicine: The three people
bear similar enough facial
structures that they must be
related in some way.
By searching the drawers of
the table, investigators can find
costuming and set design notes
and blueprints for the hotel.
They denote the locations of
various events—the Revelation
Ceremonies, various contests
from the past few weeks. On the
blueprint for the top floor, an

arrow pointing to a window with
the writing, “replace with weaker
glass.”
Architecture: You remember
seeing spiked railing outside the
ground floor, directly underneath
where that window would be. It
struck you as unusual because
historically, there’s never been
railings on the side of the
Frederick Hotel before.
If the investigators enter when
the costume and set designers
are there, they find Daniel Zhang
and Patrick O’Neil at work,
looking over notes and sorting
through props. Play Daniel Zhang
as arrogant, speaking slowly as
if demanding time with every
single word. Patrick jitters, taking
every question like a reproach
and answering everything with
far more words than necessary.
By using Flattery, the group
can get Daniel talking about
the difficulties of set design for
the TV show. All too happy to
brag about his accomplishments
so far, he explains how he has
recreated entire rooms based on
old photographs. He changed
out entire windows, no doubt for
the purposes of some extreme
stunt they’re doing. On a Push,
he shows them the photographs,
saying that Katrina gave them
to him. He doesn’t know who
the people in the photographs
are. The producers must have
just taken a liking to that type of
decor.
S A R A H S A LT I E L
Psychology: Patrick flinches
when Daniel talks about the
window and averts his eyes—his
body language almost speaks
of… guilt?
With Daniel there, Patrick
isn’t particularly inclined to
say anything incriminating. He
mostly just mumbles answers,
not looking directly at the
investigators. He doesn’t think
there’s anything strange about
the way things have been run
on set. Bullshit Detector says
otherwise. If the investigators
wait until Daniel leaves to
attend to his duties or if they
otherwise separate Patrick
from Daniel, they can use his
guilt to manipulate him into
talking to them (Intimidation or
Inspiration.) He tells them:
• He isn’t so sure the window
replacement is for some
stunt. Over the course of
the show, he’s been asked
to do increasingly unusual
things, even for reality TV.
• A few weeks ago, Alex came
into the suite with a girl who
looked remarkably like Thea.
He asked Patrick to fit her
for her own mask and a light
blue gown-- one that Patrick
knew was identical to Thea’s
gown for Unmasking Day.
• He figured the girl was just
supposed to be a replacement
for Thea should there be
any problems with her. After
all, Thea wears a mask, and
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BL ACK STAR MAGIC: Love Wears No Mask — Scenes
that’s showbiz. He then
kept seeing the girl hanging
around the set. It seemed
almost like the intention was
for Thea to see her double.
• (Core, The Room Where It
Happens) Based on the things
they’ve requested for set and
costuming, it seems like the
executives have motivations
that don’t have much to
do with the show at all.
The Room Where It
Happens
Scene Type: Core
Lead-Ins: On Set, Xavier’s
Secret, On Edge, Behind the
Scenes
Lead-Out: Unmasking Day
If Xavier helps the group get
into the executive suite, he exits
his room and causes a distraction
by initiating a heartfelt romantic
talk with Thea. Daniella and
Alex rush to the monitor room
to determine the best way to
proceed. Catching the door just
after they leave is simple enough
that it doesn’t require a test.
Alternatively, getting in requires
the same tests as getting into the
costume and set design suite,
though if one of the characters
has already jury-rigged a
magnetic device to allow them
to enter into the rooms without
172
a key, they don’t need to test
Mechanics again.
(Conclusion, Unmasking Day)
Inside the suite, a timeline that
takes up the entirety of a wall. It
starts early in 1895, with an event
labeled “Octave’s death”. Above
it is a copy of the photo of the
tall man from Behind the Scenes.
Shortly later in the timeline is
the event, “Claire finds spells”,
followed by, “Claire’s death”
with an arrow drawn from
Octave’s death to Claire’s to
imply causality. A copy of the
photograph of the woman is
pinned to that event. A bit later is
a circle around a large part of the
timeline to denote uncertainty
about the exact time, with the
label, “Claire’s second death.”
After that, are a series of strange
events, that might include things
like:
• An entire audience of
playgoers disappears.
• Several cases of
spontaneous combustion.
• A case of patricide seemingly
committed by a 5 year old girl.
(Note: Some of the things in
the list of bizarre events might
be tied to the characters’ Freaky
Weird Moment. Alternatively, if
you played in the Paris setting
prior to this scenario but did
not play Dancer in the Bone
Cabaret, you might incorporate
elements of your mystery in this
list. Though the events of The
Wars and Aftermath take place
on a separate timeline from this

one, you might incorporate bits
and pieces from playthroughs in
those settings to demonstrate
bleedthrough in the timelines.)
Call for Difficulty 4 Composure
test to avoid Shocks—Minor and
Major: Unease/Dread. Research:
Though you can’t find records of
the deaths listed on the timelines
without more information, typing
in keywords about the other
events shows that they were all
real events that occurred around
the time the y are recorded on
the timeline. It seems that the
first few events took place in
Belle Époque Paris, but as time
went on, the location became
less specific.
There are dates in parentheses
next to “Octave’s Death” and
“Claire’s Death”. Strangely
enough, the dates don’t seem
to line up with where the events
are on the timeline. However, the
first date corresponds with the
date of Unmasking Day, with a
timestamp in the evening. The
second date has the same day,
but a timestamp for a few hours
later. Each date has a name—
Xavier, and Thea respectively.
There’s a laptop lying on a
desk in the room. It’s password
protected, of course, but
Computers resolves that issue.
Provided they search for relevant
keywords, they find:
• A newspaper clipping
from Paris in 1895 with an
obituary for someone named
Octave Patin and, shortly
S A R A H S A LT I E L
afterward, a missing persons
report for Claire Patin.
• A genealogy tree tracing
Thea Patin to Claire,
Octave, and Leon.
• Scanned diary pages from Leon
Patin’s diary, talking about the
details of his brother’s tragic
death, Claire’s subsequent
fixation with magic and its
potential ability to bring Octave
back, and her disappearance.
(Note: if this scenario follows
Dancer in the Bone Cabaret,
and Leon died in that scenario,
the pages stop abruptly.)
• Texts between Xavier and
his boyfriend, indicating a
romantic relationship, as well
as blackmail material for every
other contestant. Xavier’s file
shows up significantly more
than the other contestants,
seeming to denote a
special interest in him.
• View counts for the show’s
episodes and livestream, as
well as a projection for future
episodes. Unmasking Day is
denoted in the projections and
highlighted, with a note made
that they aim to have 5 million
viewers or higher for that day.
• A series of headshots of women
whom are nearly identical to
Thea in hair color and build.
• The application videos for
Thea and the contestants.
If the group interacted with
Thea, her demeanor is entirely
different. In the video, she
is incredibly composed,
173
BL ACK STAR MAGIC: Love Wears No Mask — Scenes
grounded, and remarkably
self-assured. It stands in stark
contrast to the intense anxiety
that rules her behavior now.
If the investigators question
the executives at any point, it
immediately arouses suspicion.
They answer a few questions
with general buzz phrases about
creating drama and suspense.
Bullshit Detector shows them
eerily devoid of apathy.
Voted Off
Scene Type: Alternate
Lead-In: Free Content
The investigators may try to
find the disqualified contestants,
whose IP addresses say they’re
still on set at the Fredrick Hotel.
While there’s seemingly no sign
of them, an investigation of Jack
Avila’s room shows a paper on
the floor the clean-up missed. It
is a photocopy of a timeline that
characters might recognize as
the timeline in The Room Where
it Happens. Below are notes
scribbled by Jack: the date of
his disqualification, the date of
Unmasking Day, Thea’s bedroom
number, and instructions on
how to jam the locks in the hotel
doors.
1 74
Spotted
Scene Type: Core
Lead In: Free Content, Rising
Stars
Lead-Out: Unmasking Day
The investigators might
engage with r3s1st_c2st21gne
in several ways. They have
the opportunity to initiate
contact at the beginning of the
scenario. Alternatively, if the
investigators are kicked off the
set at any point, they all receive
a message on their phone from
that account. The message
says that r3s1st_c2st21gne
has been watching them and
feels that they could be allied
in their attempts to take down
the show. As a sign of trust,
r3s1st_c2st21gne sends them
step by step instructions about
how to sneak onto the set again:
it directs them to a P.O. box that
has hair dye and a variety of
other products meant to obscure
their identity. It then directs
them to a back door that will be
unlocked during a very specific
time frame when the camera will
be conveniently turned off.
r3s1st_c2st21gne remains
cryptic about their identity and
overall plan. That being said,
if the investigators seem stuck
and the scenario nears its end,

r3s1st_c2st21gne might provide
them with some key information
they missed somewhere along
the way.
If the investigators contact
r3s1st_c2st21gne to ask how
to thwart without catching the
attention of the cameras, they
receive a YouTube video about an
hour long. The instructions are to
watch it, if they are truly ready
to do anything to stop the events
about to take place. It collages
various photos and short clips.
Many seem like familiar memes,
but as time goes on, elements of
the jokes change—the laughs of
a famous YouTube star become
unceasing as their face distorts
in different directions and turns
whiter and more grotesque,
the writing in text posts drips
down the screen, contorting the
language into something alien
and horrible, the innocuous video
of the cat playing piano takes a
turn when the piano keys turns
to worms that begin to devour
the cat whole. At the end of the
video, the investigator watching
takes Spell Card—“Scrub
Forward”, p. 182.
Whichever investigator gained
“Scrub Forward” has a captcha
pop up on their phone each
time they open it. The captcha
makes a different demand every
time, such as asking the user to
identify which tiles have white
masks or asking them to type
sentences that seem to be a
dialogue between two people
about a book they discovered.
S A R A H S A LT I E L
Successfully completing the
captcha makes it go away, but
at the bottom of each captcha
is the image of two eyes, dark
and glazed with death, staring
straight ahead. To cast the spell,
the investigator that gained it
can press their thumbs against
the two eyes. They feel a flash
of heat through their body, and
then their thumbs sink through
the screen, pressing against
something soft and gelatinous
until it bursts and warm blood
oozes onto their fingers, trickling
down their wrist. Jump forward
to Unmasking Day.
Unmasking Day
Scene Type: Core/
Conclusion
Lead-Ins: The Room Where It
Happens, Spotted
Katrina’s plan for Unmasking
Day, which the investigators
surely disrupt, goes like this:
• All the contestants line up
on the top floor to prepare
for Thea’s arrival.
• A woman who looks a lot
like Thea storms in, yelling at
Xavier about having discovered
his secret and him betraying
her trust. She shoves him,
pushing him further and further
backward until he body slams
through a window and falls to
the ground, where it is impaled
on spiked railing below. The
175
BL ACK STAR MAGIC: Love Wears No Mask — Scenes

1 76

woman flees. (Pursuing her is a
Difficulty 5 Athletics test. On
a success, investigators can
remove her mask, revealing
that she’s an impostor.)
Should she escape, two of the
previous contestants, now
part of the swayed, await
her to help her disappear.
• Though the crew might
put their cameras down,
at no point does the show
stop livestreaming.
• The control room cuts to Thea’s
bedroom. She should be there,
getting ready, in the same outfit
used by the impostor. Katrina
bursts in, with footage of the
killing ready on her tablet, to
confront her for killing Xavier.
The producer’s on-camera
presence breaks the format
of the show, but she can’t
trust Forrest to do her bidding
and wants it all to devolve
into chaos anyhow. Katrina
believes that by exposing her
to the Yellow Sign and the
psychic resonance of Patin
family tragedy, she has created
the necessary conditions for
a breakdown viewers will
never forget. Whatever the
specifics of Thea’s reaction,
Katrina will improvise
responses to heighten it.
Without the investigators’
intervention, that reaction, and
the fallout, are as follows:
• Thea denies going to the top
floor at all but shown the
video evidence, begins to
S A R A H S A LT I E L
doubt herself. Convinced she
murdered her dear friend and
blocked it out, she runs away
and barricades herself in one of
the rooms, piling the heaviest
furniture against the door. Jack
Avila jams the lock on the door
just to be safe, conveniently
not captured by the cameras.
• As is visible on the monitors,
Thea removes a contraband
phone from her pocket and
types on it for a few minutes,
growing increasingly agitated.
She then seemingly splinters
the phone screen and, using
a shard of glass, begins to
remove strips of her skin
and affix them to the walls.
She carries on much quicker
and much longer than seems
humanly possible, before
collapsing dead, most of
her skin gone. The strings
of flesh and gore rapidly
climb up the wall like ivy,
disappearing in the floor and
ceiling and reappearing in
other rooms. It spreads itself
throughout the building, and
the structure itself seems
to quiver and shake.
• The Frederick Hotel from that
point onwards is a focal point
for bringing Carcosan influence
into this realm. Even after
destruction, the place holds its
power. Elsewhere, the number
of “supernatural” occurrences
escalate, bringing more chaos
and destruction into the city.
177
BL ACK STAR MAGIC: Love Wears No Mask — Scenes
• If playing in “Ironic Normal”
mode, the televised
supernatural event cracks
the Reintegration of
millions of viewers, causing
havoc on the streets.
Computers: Examining Thea’s
contraband phone after her
death shows it to be a product
of Disruptive Events LLC.
With a Push, the investigators
can strip the data from the
phone, even destroyed, and
find correspondences between
Thea and an unnamed contact,
manipulating her to undertake
the signing of a spell that it
insists will bring Xavier back,
since, after all, it is her fault he
died. The actions she undertook
were part of the signing.
Did the investigators use
“Scrub Forward”?
They find themselves on set
immediately before Unmasking
Day, wearing disguises that
mask their identities. There’s a
rush to get everything in place,
but the effects of the spell are
not immediately obvious. Once
Xavier, Andy, and Joshua Farris
are in place, there’s a pause
when they wait for Thea to enter
the room, then Xavier falls to
the floor, writhing and vomiting
profusely.
If the investigators look
in their pockets, they might
find mushrooms that Science
identifies as death cap
mushrooms. Call for a Difficulty 3
Preparedness test. On a success,
they also find a thermos full
178
of silibinin—a substance that
Science indicates as a drug that
has had experimental uses in
treating poisoning from death
caps.
Medicine: From Xavier’s
reaction, it seems he’s been
poisoned with the mushrooms.
If untreated, the next stage of
poisoning is liver damage, which
is often fatal.
With a Difficulty 5 First Aid
test (Difficulty 3 if they have the
silibinin), they can treat Xavier
until paramedics arrive. On a
failure, the Carcosan energy
in the hotel accelerates his
poisoning. Xavier’s face morphs
into his mask and back again,
his fingers curving into claws
that shred the skin of anyone
trying to help him. He dies
before treatment arrives. Call for
a Difficulty 5 Composure test
to avoid Shocks—Minor and
Major: A Touch of the Shakes/An
Image Seared Into the Mind.
Investigators might look up
from treating Xavier to see both
Thea and her double in different
entryways to the room, looking
shocked.
Regardless of whether or
not Xavier dies, the poisoning
incident brings attention to the
show that the executives can’t
control, nor can they convince
Thea that Xavier’s death was
her fault to drive her over the
edge. The show shuts down,
and the overall plan to reenact
Octave and Claire’s death to
widen the fissure between

Carcosa and this reality comes
to a screeching halt. A coda
might entail conspiracies on the
internet about what exactly led
to Xavier’s poisoning and a series
of theories about the group of
people that showed up on the
livestream halfway through the
show, some of whom seemed
unconnected to the production
of the show itself.
If the investigators don’t use
the spell, there are a variety of
other methods they might use
to thwart the events intended to
unfold on Unmasking Day. This
might include:
• Disabling the cameras
and sneaking Thea and/
or Xavier off set.
• Sending a virus through
the livestreaming system
so the viewer numbers
drop dramatically, meaning
the deaths won’t bring
enough attention for the
executives’ purposes.
• Waylaying Thea’s
doppelganger, so Unmasking
Day goes off without a hitch.
• Attacking the
executives directly.
The Swayed
Numbers: 3
Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
Other 4, Kill 6)
Toll: 2
Tags: Alt
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Picked Up and Thrown Hard/
Monstrous Battering
S A R A H S A LT I E L
Even if Xavier dies, Carcosa’s
influence over this realm will
not be increased if Thea doesn’t
go through with her spell, or if
viewers are unable to see her
death.
When it becomes apparent
that they’ve failed to stage the
shocking live event they’ve been
planning, the three producers
attempt to escape. Unless the
investigators stop them, they
activate backup plans and vanish
from the scene. Disruptive Events
LLC publicly distances itself from
them. A subsequent scenario
might feature another run-in with
Disruptive Events LLC.
Antagonist Reactions
Promptly Removed
Triggering Conditions: The
group arouses suspicion on set.
If the investigators ask
suspicious questions while on
camera, try to remove Xavier
and/or Thea from the set or
do anything else that catches
Katrina’s attention, she sends a
security team to remove them
the property. The team has
instructions to use physical force
if necessary.
Numbers: The number of PCs
Difficulty: Superior (Escape 3,
Other 4, Kill 6)
Toll: 2
Tags: Human
Injuries, Minor and Major:
Black and Blue/Badly Beaten
179
BL ACK STAR MAGIC: Love Wears No Mask — Cards

CARDS

Injury cards

BLACK AND BLUE BADLY BEATEN

Injury Injury

+1 to Tolls. +2 to Tolls.
Discard when you take a Major Injury. After two intervals, trade for
“Black and Blue” as recipient of
Difficulty 4 First Aid success.

PICKED UP AND MONSTROUS

THROWN HARD
Injury
Lose 2 Health and 2 Composure.
Discard after half an
hour (world time).
BATTERING
Injury
-2 to Physical tests. Counts as 2
Injury cards. Trade for the card
“On the Mend” as recipient of
Difficulty 6 First Aid success.
If still in hand at end of scenario,
trade for “Permanent Injury.”

180
 S A R A H S A LT I E L

Shock cards

A TOUCH OF AN IMAGE SEARED

THE SHAKES
Shock
-1 to Focus tests.
Discard by engaging in
a restful activity.
IN THE MIND
Shock
-1 to Focus tests.
At the end of any interval,
make a Difficulty 3 Composure
test. Success: discard.
Becomes a Continuity card if
in hand at end of scenario.

A TRICK OF THE NO MASK! NO MASK!

LIGHT, SURELY
Shock
Discard on a successful test that
furthers the anti-Carcosa cause.
Shock; Continuity
-1 to Composure tests when not in the
presence of the supernatural. -2 when
in the presence of the supernatural.
On a successful test that furthers
the anti-Carcosa cause, trade for
“A Trick of the Light, Surely.”

OVERSTEPPED WRACKED BY
BOUNDS REMORSE

Shock Shock

-1 on your next Composure Your next Composure test

test, then discard. automatically fails, with a
margin of 2. Then discard.

181
BL ACK STAR MAGIC: Love Wears No Mask — Cards

SCRUB FORWARD
Shock; Spell
When players are wrangling over
solutions to a logistical problem,
trade for “Flat Circle.” The group
leaps forward in time to the moment
after you have solved the problem,
though no one can remember
how. Roll a die. Odd: all other
PCs also take “Flat Circle.”

UNEASE DREAD

Shock Shock

Your next Presence or Focus test -1 to Presence and Focus tests.

takes a -1 penalty. Then discard. After any such test, roll a die.
Even: trade for “Unease.”

WHISPER OF THE SIGN SONG OF THE SIGN

Shock
While in your presence, other player
characters suffer -1 to Composure.
When another player character
fails a Composure test by a margin
of 1, roll a die. Even: discard.
Shock; Continuity
-2 to Composure tests; -1
to other Presence tests.
You may refresh any pool other than
Composure by committing murder.
Discard as recipient of an
Inspiration or Reassurance Push,
or by making a Steel Push.

182
 HANDOUT #1: UNMASKED
Give this to players before the start of the session. At the beginning
of the scenario, their characters already have some familiarity with a
new reality show: Unmasked. Though they haven’t watched the show,
its advertising is prominent enough for them to be familiar with the
general premise:

• Twelve contestants compete for the love of “lucky lady”

Thea Patin, all of them wearing roughly-hewn white masks
covering everything except their mouths, so the contestants
can “get to know” Thea without superficial attraction.

• The contestants go through a series of gimmicks under the guise

of competing for true love, such as baking romantic-themed
cookies in a contest to be judged by Thea, with increasingly more
restrictions placed on their baking as they go through the recipes.

• The host, Forrest McNeil, flashes a notoriously blindingly

white smile from under his mask as he narrates the
heartbreaks and triumphs each episode.

• At this point, four contestants remain. Memes inspired by the

disqualifications and finalist reveal floods the internet. Xavier
Davies is the clear favorite to win, with a tragic backstory
and an aesthetically pleasing height difference from Thea.
Andy Jiao is a formidable competitor, with a bit of an edge
and a reasonable, yet an offensive sense of humor.

• The second to last episode is Unmasking Day when

Thea and the last three contestants remove their masks
and see each others’ faces for the first time.
 The Carcosans Are Coming
Have your The Yellow King Roleplaying Game players grown complacent
battling gargoyles, vampires, and riot dogs? Do you have a reality
horror mystery crying out for a fresh and bizarre villain to drive it?
Legions of Carcosa: The Yellow King Bestiary solves your problems
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and ordinary people trapped in unraveling normalcy.
From alien parasites to warped human conspirators, from
hungry buildings to incarnations of drought, from gods torn
from the pages of myth to war machines that hunt in wolf-like
packs, Legions of Carcosa: The Yellow King Bestiary presents 86 new
Foes to mystify, haunt and menace your investigators.
Foe descriptions key themselves to one of the game’s four
twisty sequences. Each entry also includes hooks inspiring
you to repurpose the Foe in the other three settings.
Whatever hole opens up in your reality today, an
antagonist from The Yellow King Bestiary is ready to slither
out of it, through your mind and into your heart.
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Ritual magic of the Belle Époque! The desperate Science Jaune of a BLACK STAR

The YELLOW KING R PG – B LA C K STA R MA GIC

MAGIC
war-torn continent! Parageometrical horrors perfected in the labs of the
tyrannical, overthrown Castaigne regime! Signing, the latest way to turn
social media dysfunction into a sorcerous reality!

Your players can master them all—at perilous risk!

Each spell is a Shock card with effects both useful and sinister. Do they
hold onto that spell they need to do that thing, even as their inner realities
start to break apart? Or do they take the safe route, and cast out the
buzzing, insistent power of the Yellow Sign?
Black Star Magic features new magic rules for The Yellow King Roleplaying
Game, including 144 startling spells, background material on Carcosan
magic in all four YKRPG settings, and GM guidance showing you how to
incorporate player-facing occult powers into your game.

Plus, a quartet of scenarios, allowing the characters of each sequence to

make double-edged deals with the world of sorcery:
• Dancer at the Bone Cabaret pits the art students of Paris against
a force that lures their Bohemian friends to the latest, hottest
nightspot. But are they the patrons, or items on the menu?
• A Casket at Le Thil sends the supernatural-quashing soldiers of
The Wars into a village haunted by subterranean enemy activity.
• Memories of a Dream Clown confronts the victorious
revolutionaries of Aftermath with a treasured but
tarnished memory of childhood—and murder!
• Love Wears No Mask finds This Is Normal Now’s ordinary heroes

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battling an intrusive yet enthralling phone app, and the dramatic
goings-on of the subtly destabilizing dating reality show it promotes.

Play them separately, or chill your players with all of them. All they have
to lose is their grip on reality…

Written and designed by: Robin D. Laws, Sarah Saltiel, Gareth Ryder-
Hanrahan, and Ruth Tillman.
Pelgrane Press

Robin D. Laws, Sarah Saltiel,

Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, Ruth Tillman