THE SITUATION
pencil, and a couple of dice of different col-
It’s a summer night.
The trees are towering around you and cast
long, dark shadows. The stars look bright in the
clear sky. The owls in the distance have begun
their song, creating a strange harmony with the
sound of Rippling Creek, while the fire around
which you have gathered flickers and crackles.
Like every year, you and your friends are camp-
ing out the night of August 23rd in Two Pines -
a small grove where you used to spend your
childhood summers.
Even if life has taken you to different places, ev-
ery year you always find yourselves here, in the
small town of Downers Grove, population 458.
Clean air fills your lungs, along with the sweet
smell of marshmallows toasting on the fire.
In this small corner of the woods, you feel at
peace, as if the warm summer air made every-
day life anxieties slip away from your body.
You are chatting pleasantly, recalling old memo-
ries and funny stories when a rattle among the
branches interrupts you: it seems close. Maybe
an animal that smelled the food?
One of you tries to act bold, waving a flashlight
in their hands and making a lightsaber sound
with their lips.
But the noise is getting closer, and now you can
all hear it. It is whispering your name.
A blink of an eye, and... the others are no longer
there. You are alone, in the heart of the woods,
in the middle of the night.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
WHAT DO YOU DO?
WHAT DO YOU DO?
WHO ARE YOU
If you have this book in your hand, you are the
Protagonist: the forest has chosen you, calling your
name. You must go into the darkness, only equipped
with a few items, and face your fears. What awaits
you is a rite of passage, a journey from which you will
return changed. How… it will be decided by your
choices and the rules of the game.
Start by establishing your character. What is
your name? What are your pronouns? How do
others call you? What do you do in your life?
Then, list six visceral fears, ideas, or situations
your character considers terrifying. This step
might be tricky, so here are some tips.
List your fears from the least terrifying to the
one you fear most. When doing so, you can
draw from reality or fantasy. Being afraid of an
exam is just as valid as being scared of were-
wolves.
You can freely decide how much to blend your
character with yourself, deciding how the barrier
divides you is thick or thin. If you use your real
fears, the situations your character will experi-
ence will be more visceral and personal. If you
use fictional fears instead, you will keep a cer-
tain distance between you and your character.
Finally, list three items you will take with you in
the forest. They don't have to be items with any
utility; they have to be three items you are par-
ticularly attached to. Memories of everyday life,
things dear to you, which you look for in mo-
ments of discouragement or difficulty.
For example: a pendant given to you by a
loved one. A picture of your pet. A song that re-
minds you of a peaceful moment.
YOUR GOAL IN THE To play, you need some sheets of paper, a
GAME ors (in the text, they are the ACTION DIE and the
DREAD DIE).
During the game, you will explore dark places
START THE GAME
both in the forest and the depths of your soul.
You will test your courage and discover what
To start the game, give the other players your
you will do to face a fear.
fears list, then ask them to read the following:
Don't be afraid of failing or suffering conse-
quences: dawn will come, and the forest's
shadows will dissolve, leaving you only distant You are alone, in the heart of the woods,
memories of this journey. in the middle of the night.
OTHER PLAYERS
WHAT DO YOU DO?
AND GAME TOOLS Answer them, and start the conversation back
and forth until they present you with the first
DAN
Before starting, you must find two other players danger.
who will play against you, bringing the forest
and the manifestations of your fears to life. FACE RS
GEDANGERS
Have them read the paragraph below:
When you face danger, you are physically acting to
avoid the consequences.
Thanks for agreeing to play with me. Your goal in the
game is to answer the questions I will ask you and to
When you face danger, say what you want to
put me in trouble by describing situations in which my
achieve and what you don't want to happen,
character will have to act.
then roll the ACTION DIE. If you wish, you can also
roll the DREAD DIE, but in this case, you may risk
I will describe my character's actions, and you will tell
reawakening one of your fears.
what happens around me. You will aim to introduce a
physical danger or obstacle, and to give life to my Keep the highest result:
fears when they will manifest themselves.
♦ On a 4-5-6, you avoid the consequences.
And then, always, ask me: “what do you do?”.
Say how.
♦ On a 1-2-3, the other players will describe
Your goal is to challenge me, but it is up to you as to
how what you didn't want to happen
how you decide to do so. You can try to stop me, or
becomes reality.
scare me, or try to make me abandon my journey. I
will provide you with a list of situations that I fear,
However, if you include the DREAD DIE in your roll
which you can use to manifest the dark will of the
and it is your highest die, the forest senses your
forest towards me.
presence, looking inside you for your fears.
There are two of you, so this task won't fall on just Ask the other players to choose one of your
one person. Feel free to discuss before saying fears without saying its name and manifest it.
something; you must agree on what will happen. If
you can't agree, you can use the dice to decide how
things will go.
 EARS
FACE FEARS F BEST PRACTICES
When you face a fear, you are trying to gather the
courage to stop it from taking over.
When you face a fear, say where it comes from
and when you first experienced it. Then, roll a
DREAD DIE for each fear you have already con-
fronted.
Keep the highest result:
♦ On a 6, you overcome your fear. Say how.
♦ On a 1-5, the fear is taking over.
When a fear is taking over, you are trying to resist
the urge to escape.
When a fear is taking over, talk about how its
manifestation is causing frightful feelings to
grow within you and why.
Then choose one of the following actions:
FOR PLAYING
To play The Voice in the Woods, you need groups of
three players: one player is the Protagonist, who
passes through the woods during the night,
while the other two play the forest, challenging
the Protagonist with physical obstacles and
manifesting their most hidden fears.
The game does not require any particular proce-
dures: the text guides the players step by step
around the table, directly addressing the Protag-
onist.
DANGERS - EXAMPLE
♦ A man wanders in the darkness of the night,
chanting an ancient song. His eyes are sewn
shut with red string.
TIPS FOR RUNNING
THE GAME
The two players who play the forest have an es-
sential task: to test the convictions and courage
of the Protagonist.
Those players cover a role similar to that of a
game master from other traditional role-playing
games, so the typical pressure of “leading the
game” is lighter.
Nevertheless, it is also possible to play with just
two players (one Protagonist and one playing as
the forest).
Often when playing The Voice in the Woods, the
question arises as to how to present challenges
for the character and, above all, how to manage
the consequences.
PLAYING SAFELY
Furthermore, given the particularly intimate
themes promoted by the game, the use of the
Safety Tools is recommended, and as the au-
thor, I would especially recommend the X-Card,
which, during the playtest, allowed participants
to pause the game and take a breath several
times.
The game aims to experience unpleasant
sensations (fears) and learn how to deal with
them, discovering our own strength and those
thoughts, memories, and emotions that we have
inside us but too often forget, and which can
come to our aid.
However, these feelings can take a toll on play-
ers (especially the Protagonist).
Safety Tools allow the players to freely and
safely explore these themes and elements,

EMBRACE YOUR FEARS

♦ Embrace you fear, accept it as a part of
you. Describe how this calms you, and then
continue your journey into the forest.
♦ Escape from the woods, and end the
game.
♦ Resist your fear by clutching one of the
items you carry with you, not yet marked. In
this case, mark it and say how you oppose
and how you dispel this fear.
♦ The corpse of a decomposing animal, thrown
to the side of the path. Hundreds of insects
are coming out of its bowels.
♦ A huge owl moves from branch to branch,
following you, as if you were its prey.
♦ Tall sycamores bend and intertwine, blocking
your passage.
The game's text leaves these details to the for-
est players (since there are two of them, they
can discuss the best approach).
However, unless all players (including the Pro-
tagonist) explicitly agree, the Protagonist can-
not die. They can get hurt, scared, discouraged,
deprived... but nothing can stop them from con-
tinuing their journey.
knowing that, if what we are playing becomes
too dark or too scary, you can pause everything
and cool off.
Like when you watch a horror movie: you are al-
ways aware that if the fear becomes too much,
you can pause the movie or turn it off.

HOW YOUR GAME ♦ A freezing rain suddenly falls. Banks of fog

prevent you from seeing what's around you. A game by Matteo Sciutteri (matteosciutteri.itch.io) @matteosciutteri - @MasterRPG - @TinyPumpkinsRPG

ENDS ♦ A pool of a black substance, similar to

There are three ways for the game to end:
when you have faced all your fears, when you
decide to escape from the woods, or when you
or the other players decide you have had
enough.
machine oil, from which a human figure
identical to you emerges.
♦ A small humanoid comes running from a
burrow in the ground. They dance strangely
and hold a beating heart in their hands.
The Voice in the Woods was designed for the upcoming edited volume Roll for Learning: MicroTTRPGs to use in the
classroom.
Inspiredy by: Twin Peaks (by Twin Peaks Productions, Inc.), Alan Wake (by Remedy Entertainment), The Wizard’s Grimoire (by
Meguey Baker & D. Vincent Baker), Blades in the Dark (by John Harper), The Burning Wheel (by Luke Crane), Trophy Dark (by
Hedgemaze Press llc & The Gauntlet Gaming Community llc)

This game is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Now, switch roles: one of the other players will ♦ High flames engulf the trees all around you.
become the Protagonist, and you will become Tongues of fire wave, swirling. They seem to 6 SIDED 1 TO 2 2 TO 3
one of the forest players. Ideally, the game ends walk with you. DICE HOURS PLAYERS
when everyone has played the Protagonist role,
but you can decide to stop whenever you want
and do something else.