Mediums and Messages

Wealdstone's Dice

Gustave Doré. Dice and Sinister Birds. 1873. Engraving.

The long-running Cairn 2e game I have been running is approaching a season ending finale, but we had a couple players who couldn't make tonight's session. Usually I would just plow onward with a mere 6 players, but it seemed like the right call to go out of our way to make sure everyone got an outro montage.

Instead, we played a little world-building game I wrote. What follows is based on the rumor of what Last Train to Bremen by Caro Ascersion is like. I haven't actually read or played the game, but I have heard it mentioned on a podcast. I imagine this game will be kind of similar but worse, so you should check out that award-winning game if this catches your fancy. It also borrows from Michael Prescott's "The Tarot of Pips".

For your own game, find a crisis that is ongoing your setting, then identify four different positionalities that might be impacted by that crisis. From there, come up with six prompts for each.

The Situation

In our game, the town of Wealdstone is being assaulted by a dragon for three days. The creature flies down, uses its vacuum breath to throw buildings and swallow valuables, then soars out of reach. It spends the rest of the time drafting impossibly high overhead.

The players take on the role of the survivors, sheltering in the ruins of town. They're a mixed group. Each player picks a role and introduces themselves with a name:

Everyone is hiding in the ruins of a partially destroyed inn, gossiping and playing a dice game to pass the time.

The Game

Each player gets three d6s to start (two if you have six or more players). Take an extra die (the Dragon's Die) and place it in the middle where everyone can see.

Each round, the player to lose the last (or the one teaching the game in the first round) leads. They roll the Dragon's Die and announces the result. Then all the players roll their dice hidden in a cup or under their hand.

The leader makes a bid, declaring at least how many dice there are showing a certain face (e.g. "at least two threes"). Then the player to their right must raise, either increasing the quantity or face value by at least one (e.g. "three threes" or "two fours"). Repeat this any number of times, but neither number can ever go down.

At any time, any player can challenge the most recent bid. When they do, everyone reveals their dice to check, counting the Dragon's Die. Whoever is wrong (the current bidder or the challenger), picks one of their dice to lose.

The Prompts

When a player loses a die, they look up its value on their roles' prompt table below and answers it in character.

If a player has no more dice to lose, the dragon swoops down and destroys the inn the characters are hiding in. End the game without revealing their fate.

Resident

Resident

  1. Name a place in Wealdstone that no longer exists. What happened there on the last day before the dragon came?
  2. You learned a secret about the dragon, the refugees, or the Ducal Guard. Who overheard you discussing it, and how has that made your life more difficult?
  3. Describe a journey through the ruined town that cost you something precious. What did you gain instead?
  4. A part of town still stands. What is it? What plans do you have for rebuilding around it once the dragon is gone?
  5. Tell us about a risky thing you tried after the dragon arrived. How did you get away with it?
  6. What is a festival, custom, or bit of village nonsense that everyone in Wealdstone used to complain about, but now misses terribly?

Refugee

  1. What did you leave behind that can never truly be replaced?
  2. Rumor says someone among the refugees knows where a cache of silver is hidden. Why does everyone think it's you?
  3. What was the hardest part of the journey you've made since fleeing your farm or village?
  4. If the dragon vanished tomorrow, where would you build a new homestead?
  5. Someone attempted to save livestock, tools, or a treasured heirloom from the dragon. What was it? How did they get away with it?
  6. Before the dragon, what was the finest meal your family ever shared? Who was present?

Soldier

  1. Name someone who died fighting the dragon. What small detail about them deserves to be remembered?
  2. Someone higher in the chain of command has been hiding another danger. What is it and how did you find out?
  3. You carried out a dangerous mission after the attack. What was the objective, and what compromise did you make to complete it?
  4. What resource, fortification, or advantage do you still possess that gives you hope? Why hasn't anyone used it yet?
  5. Describe a military plan to deal with the dragon that failed spectacularly. What absurd detail doomed it?
  6. Recall a day when your posting to Wealdstone felt easy. What convinced you this assignment might be pleasant?

Traveler

  1. You have seen a dragon before from far away. Where were you and what happened?
  2. The dragon seems interested in something you carry. What is it, and how did the dragon learn of it?
  3. What long road brought you to Wealdstone in the first place? What important goal did the dragon interrupt?
  4. You know of a place beyond Wealdstone where survivors might find shelter. Where is it?
  5. What clever scheme have you proposed for escaping, defeating, or robbing the dragon? Why has nobody agreed to it yet?
  6. Of all the places you've visited, what made Wealdstone unexpectedly memorable before the dragon arrived?

#Eyes Unclouded #practice #systems