Answering the Ferryman

A collaborative story game for two about finding peace before entering the afterlife.

You are dead. No near death experience, no miracles or resurrections; you are fully and finally
dead. Whatever you did in life, for good or ill, is done, and there's no going back. Now you can
only remember.

Your memories are murky, though. As you begin your final crossing, the Ferryman begins to
question you about your life, and the answers don't always come easily. But you have all the
time in the world; time to sort through your memories, time to address that unsettling feeling
that you have something yet to do- time to answer the Ferryman.

Overview

Answering the Ferryman is a collaborative storytelling game for two players. One player takes
the role of the Passenger, a recently deceased individual remembering and reflecting upon his
life. The other player takes the role of the Ferryman, the spirit responsible for guiding the
Passenger into the afterlife.

The game begins as the Passenger's final crossing starts. While ferrying the Passenger across the
final river, the Ferryman begins to ask him about his death and the life that came before it. The
two characters carry on a conversation and piece together details about the Passenger's life.
Their goal is to resolve whatever lingering issues prevent the Passenger from finding rest. The
game ends when the Passenger finds peace.

Answering the Ferryman is a deeply collaborative game. There are no monsters to kill or
dungeons to explore; instead, the players try to tell a satisfying story together.

The Passenger

The lone PC of the game, the Passenger can be anyone from any time or setting, and can be
initially defined using the following character sheet:
 ● Name of deceased:
● Cause of death:
● Responsible party:
● Time and place of residence:
● Unfinished business:
● Method of payment:

At the beginning of the game, the player taking the role of the Passenger should fill in the
name and two other entries in the list, leaving the remaining three entries blank. The blank
entries represent information that the Passenger does not yet remember.

It is OK to include information on the character sheet that the Passenger does not know or
remember. For example, under "Responsible party" a player might write "Harold believes his
death was accidental, but he was in fact killed by his uncle."

Two entries in the character sheet require additional explanation. Unfinished business refers
to whatever issue the Passenger needs to resolve before passing on. This could be guilt (deserved
or not), failure to acknowledge past wrongs or character flaws, lack of appropriate self-esteem,
unresolved anger or sorrow, or any other issue that needs resolving.

Method of payment refers to whatever will be used to pay the Ferryman; traditionally small
coins, but it doesn't have to be. The payment could be something related to the death (a wad of
cash in the pocket of a passenger who died robbing a bank), something sentimentality
important (buttons from Grandma's sewing kit), something shedding light on the Passenger's
friends or family (why did they bury me with counterfeit coins?), or even something
metaphorically linked to the issue that needs resolving (medals from a uniform that aren't
acceptable payment until the Passenger accepts that she deserves them).
 The Ferryman

The GM takes the role of the Ferryman, who is the primary NPC of the game. The Ferryman is
benevolent. In addition to ferrying the Passenger across the river, the Ferryman is trying to help
the Passenger find peace, or at least closure, during the trip.

By default the Ferryman acts more or less like a kindly therapist, asking questions to get the
Passenger to talk. However, feel free to change this based on the Passenger's identity and issues.
For example, if the Passenger needs to own up to personal faults, a Ferryman who acts like a
lawyer cross-examining a witness might work well, while an uncaring bartender style could play
well with a braggadocious Passenger.

Even if the Ferryman is more confrontational, remember that the goal is to find closure, not
justice or retribution. The Passenger may have wronged others in life, but he is now beyond the
reach of earthly justice and no longer has the means to make amends for past wrongs. If past
wrongs are an issue, the Ferryman should try to help the Passenger take an honest look at
himself and come to terms with what he sees.

Gameplay

As the name suggests, Answering the Ferryman consists of a conversation in which the
Ferryman asks questions and the Passenger answers them. In addition, the players can go
out of character to discuss the details of the story and the Passenger's memories. For example,
the Passenger's player might ask whether the Passenger remembers certain details, or the players
might discuss whether the Passenger is being fully honest.

If the GM is looking for topics to ask about, the character sheet makes a good starting place.
Both the established information and the blanks will usually be relevant and asking about some
of them is an easy way to get the conversation started.

Both players should try to confirm and build on each other's ideas as much as possible.
Saying "yes, and" or sometimes "yes, but" leads to interesting and unexpected stories much
more readily than saying "no." The Passenger's incomplete memory can be helpful here,
because it's only natural for the Passenger to remember additional details as the conversation
continues.

Sometimes the Passenger's memories might be questionable, whether because one of the
players has proposed something very unlikely or difficult to fit into the story, or because a
player just isn't sure whether they want an idea in the story or not. In such a case, the GM can
ask the player to roll a memory die. To do this, the player rolls 1d6, adding 1 if the memory is
particularly plausible and subtracting 1 if it is particularly implausible. On a 1 or lower, the
memory is flat out wrong, and on a 5 or higher it is correct. On any other result, the memory is
correct, but with a twist or catch that puts it in a different light. Use of the memory bie is
optional, but can be a useful way to add an unexpected element to the story.

The game ends when the story reaches a satisfying conclusion; usually with the Passenger
finding peace, or at least closure, and passing into the afterlife.

Variations

● Cold open: Instead of starting with character creation, a GM could start the game
without telling the player what's going on until the Passenger learns it in character.
● Alternate mythology: This game makes use of imagery from the Grim Reaper and
Charon, but any number of other psychopomps could work just as well. Walking with
Anubis or getting pulled aside by Saint Peter could be equally interesting settings.
● Existing character: Using a deceased character from another game instead of a new
and unknown character could be an interesting way to explore the character's career
and perhaps provide some closure.
● Flashbacks: One could break up the conversation between the Ferryman and the
Passenger with flashbacks to the Passenger's life, either improvised or played in a
different system.