Examples

Play Examples

PLAY EXAMPLE - Session One: Ashfen

Calder, a disgraced soldier turned itinerant scholar, arrives at the market town of Ashfen. The following draws occurred across one session, showing the oracle carrying narrative weight without requiring resolution mechanics at any point.

Opening prompt: "Calder arrives at Ashfen. Something feels wrong. What's happening in the market?" Draw: 9C, 2S, 6C - Three black cards. A knowledgeable dangerous presence controls the square. Someone is watching with patience and precision. Trained muscle is available. The market is owned.

Tavern scene: Draw: JS, KH, 7D - The working crowd is closed, but the tavernkeeper is an unexpected find - educated, warm, knows everything. Work is available but carries a hidden price.

Kennelmaster investigation: Draw: 6C, KS, 6D - Trained animals deployed as weapons on the road. The same Spellweaver presence appears again. A Beast Handler in a commercial context knows what's out there and will talk - for a price.

Getting out of the garrison: Draw: 9S, 6D, 7S - Nothing opens easily but nothing closes either. The kennelmaster's scent object brings the dogs to Calder. A patrol window exists.

Who comes down the stairs: Draw: 8C, 2D, KS - The garrison commander himself. Methodical, professional, trained underneath the scholar's robes. The King of Spades appears for the fourth time.

Note: The KS (Artificer's Workaround) appearing four times across an unshuffled sequence became the spine of the entire session - the same figure haunting every draw until he walked down those stairs. This is the deck telling a story. Pay attention when it repeats itself.

The commander's answer: Draw: AH, 3C, QS - He warned one person already at personal cost. His cover is completely burned. The Harpy's Bargain - a Conjuror working through existing channels - is the only path forward. Someone in the next town who can move where he cannot.

Session end: Calder has a quest, an uneasy patron, a woman who needs extracting, four dogs, and more questions than answers. Resolution mechanics were available throughout and never necessary.

PLAY EXAMPLE - Session Two: The Road from Ashfen

Showing resolution mechanics in play. Calder is Level 3, combat and investigation EL 7, stealth EL 5. He extracted the tavernkeeper between sessions.

Opening draw (what happened during extraction): 8H, 6S, 3C - She came willingly with a packed bag. Getting the dogs through Ashfen's streets took longer than wanted. Someone was watching the tavern and saw them leave - and didn't move to stop them. Worse, somehow.

Something is following them: Draw: AC, 9D, 4D - She doesn't know what it is but has seen it work before. Calder's border war experience identifies it as a bound construct, anchored to a physical object. There's a way past it but the cost lands on someone else.

The message cylinder on Calder's belt is the anchor. The construct was sent to follow it.

Calder circles back through the trees - Sneak, Shadowing, EL 5. Rather than invoke resolution for a scouting action that the story doesn't require him to fail, the player draws instead.

Draw: 4H, KS (fifth appearance), Xb - Calder gets eyes on it cleanly. It is not a man. It tracks by scent the same way the dogs do. The Artificer's Workaround appears for the fifth time - this is what the commander's three-year-old deal created. The Black Joker says the story just shifted again.

Running for the river - resolution mechanics earn their place. The construct is faster than Calder on open ground and closing.

Draw for opposition EL: 7S, JC, 5H - The JC (face card) is ignored for EL purposes. Two pip cards: 7 and 5. The 7S fits the construct's supernatural speed as opposition. The 5H is a yes/and - the dogs create a genuine scent diversion, quantified by a color run of five cards: b,r,r,r,r = 4 reds. Calder's EL shifts from 3 (Level only, no Athlete) to 7 with the dog bonus.

The roll: Calder declares Extra Effort, drawing 10 cards against the construct's 7.

Dead even. The construct negates Calder's lead and closes to the water's edge.

Player creativity changes the situation: Rather than spend a Luck Token, Calder throws the message cylinder downstream into the river. Three competing scent signals at the water's edge. The oracle resolves whether it works.

Draw: 6D, 0S, 8H - The gambit works but Diamonds insists on a cost - the tavernkeeper crosses but falls, injured. The construct isn't fully fooled but is methodically sorting signals, buying a window. The big dog helps the tavernkeeper stand. They cross. They move. The construct eventually chooses the cylinder downstream.

The resolution mechanics determined the crunch moment. Player creativity resolved the impasse without burning a Token. The oracle colored the shape of everything around it.

CALDER - Sample Character (End of Session Two)

Disgraced soldier, itinerant scholar. Fought in a border war, got curious about why it was happening, got drummed out for asking inconvenient questions.

Level 3 | 2 Karma (1 session start + 1 triggered Hook this session)

Ability Rank Maneuvers
Warrior 2 Swordplay 2
Loremaster 2 Local Histories 2
Sneak 1 Shadowing 1

Combat EL: 3+2+2 = 7 Investigation EL: 3+2+2 = 7 Stealth EL: 3+1+1 = 5

Hooks (all rank 1):

Known NPCs:

Current situation: One day out of Ashfen, dawn, moving on foot with four dogs and an injured Maret. Destination: the next town, and a Conjuror who can move where the commander cannot.