CHALICE

Writing, Layout and Design by Noora Rose.
Art in the Public Domain.
With thanks to Micah Anderson, Ian Woolley, Jared Sinclair, Fiona Maeve Geist, Chris Bissette, John Battle, Michael T. Lombardi, Luke Gearing, Guilherme Gontijo and Jared Sinclair.
Inspired by The Wretched, Thousand Year Old Vampire, and Artesia: Adventures in the Known World.

Anyone may publish free or commercial material based upon and/or declaring compatibility with Chalice without express written permission from the publisher, Monkey’s Paw Games, as long as they adhere to the following terms:
If your product declares compatibility with Chalice, you must state the following in your legal text and on any websites from which a commercial product is sold: “[product name] is an independent production by [publisher name] and is not affiliated with Monkey’s Paw Games.”
Monkey’s Paw Games takes no responsibility for any legal claims against your product.
The mechanics of Chalice may be reused freely.
Be cool: I don’t have lawyers.

SAFETY

Sometimes games have content or situations where a player or GM may feel stressed out, unsafe, or otherwise not having fun. Safety tools are a way for players and GMs to communicate and check-in before, during, and after a game in order to make sure everyone is still having fun, and to provide the right support when needed.

The TTRPG Safety Toolkit Quick Reference Guide and the guide to Using Safety Tools in Online Play were created by Kienna Shaw and Lauren Bryant-Monk.

Different safety tools work better for different people and games. Finding the ones that best suit the needs of everyone at the table is important, and should be facilitated through discussion at the start of every new game or new group.
This guide provides summaries of some safety tools and techniques (with the original designers’ permission) to add to your own toolkit. This includes the X-card system, the Luxton Technique, and more.

BEFORE THE GAME BEGINS

Session 0

Session 0s are a great way to begin communication, set expectations on the kind of story and play, and introduce and discuss what safety tools will be used at the table.

Lines and Veils

Lines and veils are used to set boundaries on content in a game. Lines are hard limits on content, things that the GM or the players don’t want to engage in. Setting up a line means that content won’t show up in the game at all. Veils are soft limits, things that are ok “behind a curtain” or when they “cut-to-black.” Setting up a veil means that the content might be in the game but not spotlighted or described in great detail. Lines and veils can be adjusted as needed throughout the game.

For additional nuance in setting boundaries, you may also want to set up “Ask first” for content that is ok to show up in the game but requires a check-in before implementing, and “Yes please” for content you definitely want to include.

Luxton Technique Discussion

In the Luxton Technique, have an open discussion between everyone at the table about potential trauma triggers. This is with the understanding that it’s not possible to identify every single possible trigger or trauma, and that there is no social pressure to go into details or individual justifications for a trigger.

During the Game

X, N, and O Cards

X, N, and O cards are check-in tools. They can be used by tapping physical cards, typing the letter in the chat function of the video conference software or virtual tabletop you are using, or using hand signals. Before the game begins, remind everyone that they are available and how to use them.

The X card can be used at any point if a participant is uncomfortable with the content happening in-game. When the X card is used by tapping the card or typing an “X” in the chat, the group can change, rewind, or skip the content.

The N card can be used at any point if a participant feels like they are headed towards an X. When the N card is used by tapping the card or typing an “N” in the chat, the group can change the content or have the scene “fade to black.”

The O card can be used at any point if a participant wants to continue with the content. When the O card is used by tapping the card or typing an “O” in the chat, the group is ok to continue with the content. They can also regularly be prompted by a “O?” asked out loud or in the chat to check-in if everyone is still ok.

Luxton Technique

With the Luxton Technique, when a participant comes across triggering content in play, they can choose to discuss it with the other people at the table. The participant is given complete control over that content, expressed as a need or want for how play will continue. This can include in-game directions for plot and characters, as well as out of game needs such as breaks. After the need and wants are expressed, everyone continues play to accomodate the requests.

After the Game

Debriefing

Debriefing as a group is a great way to reflect on the game, identify possible issues, highlight the fun things to continue, and work through potential bleed. Debriefing can happen right after the game or in the days following the stream.

Stars and Wishes

Stars and wishes are used to reflect on the session and communicate feedback in a positive and forward-facing way. At the end of the game, go around and get everyone to state a star and wish. Stars are things that the participants really enjoyed and loved about the game. This could include a particular moment of roleplay, an encounter created by the GM, or anything else that stuck out as something awesome during the game. Wishes are things that the participants would like to see in future sessions. This could include particular interactions between characters, potential story moments and development, or anything else that could make the game even better in the future.

HOW TO PLAY

Chalice is a solo journaling role-playing game where you chronicle the perilous journey of a Grail-seeking knight in Arthurian England. The game tells the story of the physical and spiritual descent of your knight as they quest for, and ultimately fail to find, the Grail. Your knight’s quest is a doomed one of chivalric virtue, undone by your own fatal flaws and moral shortcomings.
In order to play, you will need a deck of tarot cards, a pen and journal in which to record your journey and deed, and a quiet place in which to divine, reflect, and write. Play progresses through Prompts as delivered by the oracular presence of the tarot deck, interpreted by you, the player.

Passions and Bindings

The Knight whose saga you will bear witness to in this game is represented by two different traits: Passions and Bindings. Each time you draw a card and receive a Prompt, one of these Traits will be added, stricken, or modified in some manner.

Passions

Passions are the capabilities, skills, habits, virtues, or vices your Knight might have. A Passion indicates what your Knight can do, might do, or has done. Jousting, Gambling, I Pray At Each Chapel I Come Across, and I Cannot Tell A Lie are all fine examples of Passions.

Some Prompts will instruct you to record a new Passion. Consider how the development of this Passion will impact your Knight when writing your next Chanson.

Some Prompts will instruct you to strike a Passion. You may only strike a Passion once - cross it off your sheet, it no longer influences how your Knight moves through life, and thus no longer can be tied to Prompts.

Bindings

Bindings are key assets and relationships that are useful and valued by your Knight. A Knight will, of course, have assets and relationships outside of the Bindings written - they just might not be resources which can be spent to satisfy the mechanical aspect of the story. Of course your Knight would have a sword if one is needed, but the expenditure of that Binding would hardly be interesting. Conversely, a Sword Gifted by Lot of Orkney would be a valued and contentious artifact, and its use or loss would carry great significance. Like Passions, some Prompts will instruct in the creation or striking of a Binding, and this should be done in much the same way.

Creating your Knight

To create your Knight, first remove the Major Arcana from your Tarot deck, shuffle them, and set them aside. Shuffle the Minor Arcana and draw three cards, laying them out face down before you without looking at them. This is the skein of fate that shall determine your Knight’s origins. Starting from the leftmost card, flip them one by one and consult the tables below.

The First Card: Parents & Birthplace

Begin with the Suit.

• Cups: You never knew your parents. Their names are spoken in hushed tones, and always out of earshot.
• Pentacles: One of your parents was a cunning advisor and diplomat, renown for their counsel and honeyed tongue.
• Swords: One of your parents was a fierce warrior and a veteran of many duels and battles.
• Wands: One of your parents was a wise and powerful magician, as feared as they were respected.

Now, the card.

• A: In Camelot, where Arthur reigns.
• II: Lunden, in the Kingdom of Logres.
• III: Sussex along the Saxon Coast.
• IV: Cornwall, upon the British Sea.
• V: In the isles of the Eire.
• VI: Estregales, in Cambria to the West.
• VII: Deep within the Cambrian Wilds.
• VIII: Malahaut, in Cumbria to the North.
• VIX: In a shady grove within the Perilous Forest.
• X: Lothian, in the land of the Picts.
• P: In the far-off lands of the Saracens.
• Kn: In Hispania under the rule of the Moors.
• Q: Upon a battlefield. Your mother died giving birth to you.
• K: A Foundling. Discovered at the forest’s edge, left by the Fae Folk.

The Second Card: Your Closest Sibling

Begin with the Suit.

• Cups: Unbeknownst to you, you have an estranged sibling, raised far away in secret.
• Pentacles: You are as close to your sibling as you are with your own shadow.
• Swords: You have a fractious relationship with your siblings that often ends in blows or harsh words.
• Wands: A seer fortold that you & your sibling were destined to betray each other.

Now, the card.

• A: Your sibling is a Grail-Knight and you sought to follow in their footsteps.
• II: Your sibling is a squire to a famous knight.
• III: Your sibling took up robber-banditry and preys on the weak.
• IV: Your sibling is a skilled warrior-at-arms, well respected.
• V: Your sibling lives as a simple farmer, content to a life without risk or glory.
• VI: Your sibling is a blacksmith, famed for the beauty of their work.
• VII: Your sibling is a rich burgher, living off the labor of others.
• VIII: Your sibling is a bard, enthralling crowds with tales of chivalry.
• VIX: Your sibling is a mercenary, fighting for coin on foreign shores.
• X: Your sibling is an advisor to a lord, acknowledged for their wisdom and prudence.
  P: Your sibling is a tyrant and a bully, a terror to those weaker than they.
  Kn: Your sibling failed in some duty assigned them, and brought shame to themselves.
  Q: Your sibling took up arms against their rightful lord, and brought dishonor to your family.
  K: Your sibling went to war, and has not been seen nor heard from since.

The Third Card:

At 14, you were taken on as a Squire by a Knight of Camelot.
Begin with the Suit.

• Cups: You were raised by the Church and grew up surrounded by strong religious influences.
• Pentacles: Your family was affluent and your upbringing wanted for no material comfort.
• Swords: You were raised in a proud martial tradition among fierce warriors and cunning tacticians.
• Wands: You were raised by paegans and introduced to their mysteries from a young age.

Now, the card.

• A: Your mentor is a Grail Knight and you accompanied them upon several adventures.
• II: Your mentor is a respected warrior, renown for their skill at arms.
• III: Your mentor is a reckless and headstrong knight that rarely thinks matters through.
• IV: Your mentor is known as even-handed and fair to friend and foe alike.
• V: Your mentor is an avaricious knight, grasping and ungracious.
• VI: Your mentor is in the service of a great lord of the land and you learned much at their court.
• VII: Your mentor is obsessed with the supernatural and matters magical.
• VIII: Your mentor was themselves raised by one of the greatest knights in the land, and you are expected to carry on in a tradition of greatness.
• VIX: Your mentor is deeply impoverished and you learned of injustice and hunger both.
• X: Your mentor is a wise and learned scholar, much sought out for their sage counsel.
• P: Your mentor lies injured by a greivous blow, and conducted your instruction from their bedside.
• Kn: Your mentor is cruel and callow and has many enemies at court.
• Q: Your mentor is wealthy and powerful, envied by nobles and loathed by common folk.
• K: Your mentor was a Grail Knight that failed their quest and is burdened with the shame of it.

Upon your birth, a seer had a powerful omen. Draw from the Major Arcana.

• The Fool: A wild boar is sighted. You will be brash and headstrong.
• The Magician: A dragon is seen moving in the earth. Great powers will manifest in your life.
• The High Priestess: An owl watches your birth. You will be blessed with rare insights.
• The Empress: A red stag is seen nearby. You will lead a life of peril and danger.
• The Emperor: A red veil falls upon the moon. Bloodshed is in your future.
• The Hierophant: An auroch is seen nearby. You will lead a life of vigor and health.
• The Lovers: A satyr is seen nearby. You will live a life of hedonism.
• The Chariot: A veil descends over the sun. Your birth is an act of revenge.
• Strength: Crops are spoiled nearby. You are destined to be sickly.
• The Hermit: A lion is seen nearby. You will be strong and valorous.
• Wheel of Fortune: The midnight star is seen in the sky. You are born lucky.
• Justice: Flowers bloom upon your birth, even in winter. You will lead a life blessed by the earth.
• The Hanged Man: A spirit visits you at birth. You are touched by the Fey.
• Death: A vulture witnesses your birth. You will not be a stranger to death.
• Temperance: A dove alights nearby. You will bring harmony to those around you.
• The Devil: A black stag is seen nearby. You will live a cursed and cowardly life.
• The Tower: The Wild Hunt rages nearby. Chaos will follow wherever you go.
• The Star: A great star is seen upon the sky. You are meant for greatness.
• The Moon: A star dragon is seen in the sky. Your life will be marked by mystery.
• The Sun: The conquering star is seen in the night sky. You are destined to become a leader.
• Judgement: Ravens flock to the site of your birth. An ill omen.
• The World: A griffin is spotted nearby. You will lead a life of invention and ingenuity.

This is your Knight. From these four starting Prompts, write down three Passions and three Bindings, drawing the web of your Knight’s relationships, resources, and values. Once this has been recorded, reunite the Major and Minor Arcana and re-shuffle the cards.

To Play

A Knight’s quest for the Grail may take a lifetime. Your own Grail journey is divided into years, and each year is measured in two steps: the Deed, and the Chanson.

The Deed

Each year, draw five cards, laying them out face down before you without looking at them. Starting from the leftmost card, flip them one by one, consulting the tables below and completing any task the Prompt may assign, such as creating or striking a trait. From each Prompt you will create a Deed - a heroic undertaking only your Knight may accomplish - and those Deeds will combine with one another to create a Chanson. Continue flipping over the cards until you have resolved all of their Prompts. Discard all cards unless a card tells you otherwise.

The Chanson

From “chanson de deste,” Old French for “song of heroic deeds,” a Chanson is a weaving together of the year’s Deeds. Each Chanson should be defined by a theme or trait that links all its component Deeds together into a compelling narrative. Each Deed should be a single evocative sentence that combines what happens during a Prompt and why it matters to your Knight. Try to incorporate any Passions or Bindings that might be affected by the Prompt and include them. Write in first person from the Knight’s point of view. Relinquish control to the cards and their Prompts as sparks for inspiration and oracular storytelling. Allow the results to combine and form stories. Or don’t.

The Game Ends

If you are unable to strike a Passion or Binding when required to do so, or a prompt informs you thusly, or there are no more cards to be drawn, the game ends. Write a final declarative sentence to end your Knight’s story.

BOOK OF DOOMS

Your Prompts are as follows.

• The Fool: A youth begs to enter your service as your squire. Who are they? Why are they drawn to you? Create a Binding.
• The Magician: An ally is slain by an otherworldly adversary. Strike a beloved Binding, creating one if none are available. How do you overcome the supernatural? Create a Passion based on magic.
• The High Priestess: In the company of other knights, a seer predicts greatness for you. One of the knights mocks your naivety and slaps the seer, deriding them as a witch. Strike a martial Passion and create a rivalry Binding to put the knight in their place. Or, create a supernatural Binding to dismiss the witch.
• The Empress: While reasting in a meadow, you are approached by a pair of richly-dressed servants, who direct you to the tent of their noble patron. You are struck by the patron’s charm and beauty and become their lover. You are showered with affection and great riches - on the condition that you do not tell anyone of their existence, under pain of great ruin. Create a resource Binding. Should you lose this Binding, Strike three additional Bindings.
• The Emperor: You cross paths with an old flame from long ago. Who is it? Old feelings stir within you - are they reciprocated? Take Romantic as a Passion.
• The Hierophant: While in a holy place you are somehow mistaken for a priest. Someone confides in or confesses to you. Create a perilous Binding. What hidden truths do they unwittingly reveal to you? Who have they wronged?
• The Lovers: You are sent to fetch a noble back from far away to wed a great lord of your own land. Where must you travel, and how do you find the noble? Create a Passion. On your return journey, you suspect the noble begins to fall for you. Do you reciprocate their feelings, knowing they are promised to another? Create a complicated Binding.
• The Chariot: On a clear, bright day in an open field, a column of well-appointed and warlike knights approach you, mistaking you for another knight. How do they address you? What do they ask of you? What do you do for them? Create a Passion.
• Strength: Disaster and ruin befalls the land you travel through - a disaster you have seen before. Your quick-thinking and heroics make you a hero. How do you help? Strike a Passion and gain a Passion.
• The Hermit: A young child teaches you a lesson in humility and in appreciation of the smaller things. Create a Passion based on a pleasant memory.
• Wheel of Fortune: A massive shift of power happens at court. Lords rise and fall, wars are waged, and a new day dawns on England. Who benefits? Strike a Passion. Join in the violence to gain a Binding related to ruling others. Take Join The Winning Side as a Passion, or instead Strike two Passions.
• Justice: A knight thought to be long dead abruptly to court. How have they survived death, and what do they want from you? Strike a Passion.
• The Hanged Man: You are visited by someone you thought to be long dead. Are they real - or have they been brought back by some supernatural or even nefarious means? Create a supernatural Binding.
• Death: You are stirred by forbidden love. You pursue it, but at great cost to your social standing. Create a romantic Binding. Strike a Passion or Binding.
• Temperance: Someone you trust betrays you. Strike a Binding. Why have they done this? Do you forgive them?
• The Devil: A well-meaning would-be ally offers you a precious gift. How is it ill-suited for you as a questing knight? How do you react? Create a Binding.
• The Tower: An ally sacrifices themselves to save you. Strike a Binding. Create a Passion relevant to their love or trust.
• The Star: While on a stag hunt you are separated from your fellow knights and come across a mysterious and beautiful stranger in a golden necklace in the act of bathing. Strike a Passion. The stranger disappears afterwards, but some months later a hooded figure arrives at court, bearing a child with the same golden necklace. Create a fey Binding to raise the child as your own, or instead Strike a Passion to reject it.
• The Moon: Knights for miles around compete for honor in a great tournament. On the eve of the tournament, a beautiful and mysterious seer offers you an enchanted favor, in exchange for a favor of your own to be offered later. Strike a martial Passion and create a magical Binding if you accept, or instead create a foreboding Binding if you refuse.
• The Sun: A beloved friend confesses their romantic interest in you. How do you react? How do you reconcile this with your quest for glory? Create a complicated Binding (if necessary).
• Judgement: A social convention or taboo from your homeland is ingrained in your being. What is it? How does it hinder how you move through court? Create a courtly Binding.
• The World: You find yourself in an unfamiliar situation at court. What social mores fail you? Strike a Passion.

CUPS

• A: You are met by an old man in a fishing boat, wounded in the leg, who invites you to stay at his castle. While there you bear witness to a strange procession of young men and women in mourning carrying magnificient objects from one chamber to another - a bleeding lance, a candalabra, a silver platter, and an elaborately decorated grail. Your courtly training bids you be silent during all of this, but afterwards you are admonished by one of the girls for not inquiring about the grail.
  Do not discard this card. Put it to the side, instead. At the end of each year, after inscribing your Chanson, place any Cups drawn below it. When you have collected ten Cups, describe how the Holy Grail is within your reach at last. Toss the Ace of Cups into the air. If it lands face-upwards, describe how the tale of your life found you worthy to lay hands upon the Holy Grail. The game ends thusly. If it lands face-down, describe how the tale of your life found you unworthy to lay hands upon the Holy Grail. The game ends thusly.
• II: You come across a knight on the road, delirious and despondent. They claim to have seen the Holy Grail, to have actually laid hands upon it, but lament they must have been judged unworthy, as they have no memory of where they saw it or what happened to it. The knight begs to enter your service, unworthy as they are. For what reason do you suspect the knight was found unworthy? Create a Binding.
• III: You are captured and held for ransom by a rival seeker of the Grail. Create a rival Binding. How do you eventually escape imprisonment? Strike a Passion.
• IV: You encounter the loved one of an old foe and are forced to choose between assisting them in the face of certain death or abandoning them to die while you pursue what you both believe will surely lead you to the Holy Grail. Reluctantly, you aid them. How? Why? Strike a Passion. Create a complicated Binding.
• V: While pursuing rumors of the Grail, you come across a deep valley, filled with all manner of venemous serpents. What must you sacrifice to ensure you cross the valley safely? Strike a Binding. How do you justify its loss in the face of the Grail?
• VI: A knight returns from the Holy Land claiming to carry with them the Holy Grail. Everywhere they go people flock to them, seeking to touch the Grail and be healed, to catch a glimpse of the divine. How do you know the knight’s so-called Grail is false? Do you confront them? Create a Passion.
• VII: A passing pilgrim makes reference to a tomb that they allege belongs to Joseph of Arimathea. The journey is twice as long as promised by the pilgrim and fraught with many perils. What do you lose? Strike a Binding. When you at last reach your destination you find not a tomb but an old chapel tended by a solitary monk. Though you do not find the Grail, what do you gain from your journey? Create a Passion.
• VIII: While stopping at a wayside chapel to pray you encounter an aged knight on their deathbed, attended by several nuns. The knight claims to have safeguarded the Holy Grail for a thousand years before at last being released from duty and allowed to die. Though the knight dies peacefully before they are able to relay the location of the Grail to you, the conversation is not a total loss - what did you learn from the ancient knight that you could not have learned from another living soul? Create a Passion.
• VIX: Late one stormy night you take refuge in a desolate-looking castle, only to find it inhabited by a clannish coven of nuns. The castle and the nuns’ heraldry all bears Grail iconography, but they feign ignorance on the Grail or where it might be found. Why are they lying to you, and how do you learn the truth? Strike a Passion.
• X: You come across four knights from an unfamiliar order, worn and weary from warring in the Holy Land. They carry aloft between them an ancient cedar chest that they claim is a sacred relic and state that only those found worthy in the crucible of battle may behold the relic within. Strike any combination of four Passions and Bindings. Upon your victory, the smiling knights reveal that the chest is empty, and that worthiness is an aspiration and not a destination. What lessons have the knights taught you? Create four Passions.
• P: A Roman noble insists the Vatican is where the Grail belongs and vigorously questions any knights openly seeking out the Grail. A religious schism begins to brew as the lines are drawn between pro- and anti-Papist factions. Which side do you take? Create a Passion. Who close to you chooses the opposite side? Strike a Binding.
• Kn: Word reaches your ear of a secret chamber beneath an ancient chapel that may be the resting place of the Grail. Accessing the chamber, however, requires destroying the floor of the chapel. How do you justify your actions? Strike a Binding for your sacrilege, but create a Passion for your devotion to locating the Grail.
• Q: While lost within a deep woods, you stumble across a great revel in a night-darkened glade where strange, luminous beings frolic and cavort in a sensuous and disturbing manner. Strike a Passion and a Binding. At the head table of this Fey gathering is a golden goblet, heavily encrusted with many gemstones. In a riotous procession, each of the Fey takes a deep draught from the cup before at last offering it to you. How do you know you are worthy of the glory about to be bestowed upon you? Drinking from the proffered cup, you awake with a Grail-outline seared into your chest, a sense of burdensome purpose, and a hazy memory of what occurred afterwards. Create a Passion.
• K: A rumor of the whereabouts of the Holy Grail reaches your ears: many leagues away, in strange lands, in the hands of unfamiliar people. Your journey lasts many years and takes you away from all that you love and know. Strike all Bindings save one. What is the one thing you manage to preserve? How do you preserve it? Create a Passion.
  Do not discard this card. Set it aside where it can be seen. If this is the fourth King you have drawn, you look upon the road back to England and the years that have passed and realize by the time you return you will be old and spent, the Grail forever out of reach. How do you reconcile with this? The game ends thusly.

PENTACLES

• A: You suffer a tumultuous vision of a future event; a great battle, war, revolution, or similarly violent event. Create a Passion related to your foretold actions in this (future) time; if and when your tale reaches that future if this Passion is not yet struck, create a Binding.
  Do not discard this card. Put it to the side, instead. If and when you should draw the King of Pentacles, shuffle it back into the deck, then discard this card.
• II: You are presented with a perilous tribute, a double-edged gift that brings you much trouble and sleepless nights. Create a problematic Binding.
• III: The first still-living companion you’ve met comes to fulfill a promise they made to you a long time ago. How do you remember them? What was the promise? Create a Passion based on your relationship.
• IV: The common folk of the land you travel through rise up against their rightful lord, protesting unjust conditions and high taxes. Strike a violent Deed or Passion to support the lord, or create a lordly Binding based on your destruction if you support the smallfolk.
• V: As a result of your exploits, you are known by an epithet or nickname. What deed has prompted this change? Pick a new name that feels appropriate for whom you have become and strike your previous name.
• VI: After a long journey you return home to find that all traces of your having lived there has been scoured away, your friends and family moved on to other locales. Who is responsible? What do you do to reclaim your old home? Create a Passion.
• VII: While riding through a town, you hear a beautiful song from a tuneful voice, recanting the tale of one of your past deeds. Choose a Chanson and create a Passion about finding strength or peace in a past exploit.
• VIII: While taking refuge in a seemingly-abandoned chapel during a fierce storm, you find an object that you thought you’d lost, long ago. Unstrike a Binding that is an object or possession. In what condition do you find it?
• VIX: You find a marvelous treasure. Where do you find it? What does it look like? Create a Binding that is a resource.
• X: Deep within a mountain valley you meet an elderly hermit and share a lengthy and cordial philosophical conversation. What do you speak about? Create a Passion around dialogue.
• P: You lose an object dear to you. What is it? How do you lose it? Strike an appropriate Binding, creating one if none are appropriate.
  Kn: You give something precious to a poor beggar. Why do they stand out to you? What do you hope they’ll do with this item? Strike a Binding.
• Q: The earth hungrily swallows you and you are dropped into deep caverns. Strike a Binding. After an impossible to determine amount of time in the dark, you emerge along a coastline. Where are you now?
• K: Whilst traveling through a pastoral woodland, you feel drawn to a particular tree. You fall asleep beneath it, feeling the rhythm of the forest inhaling and exhaling all around you. When you awake, how much time has passed? What has passed you by? Strike a Binding.
  Do not discard this card. Set it aside where it can be seen. If this is the fourth King you have drawn, you realize that your extended rest has robbed you of all desire to continue your warlike and adventurous lifestyle. How do you adapt to your new life of peace and humility? The game ends thusly.

SWORDS

• A: You bond with a respected enemy over your shared past and the blood you have spilt. Strike a Passion. You become friends. Share a Binding, and gain a Binding that is shared with you.
  Do not discard this card. Put it to the side, instead. If and when you should draw the King of Swords, shuffle it back into the deck, then discard this card.
• II: You hear talk of a perfidious creature of fable and folktale and set about to hold it to recknoning. But first you must find it. Strike a Passion. In what way is the creature different from the folktalkes? How do you overcome it? Create a Passion related to monster-hunting.
• III: You espy the lowest churl, a castoff from courtly society. What do they look like? You decide to offer them a passing kindness. By what means do you do so? The churl unmasks themselves as a supernatural entity and rewards your compassionate behavior. Create a virtuous Passion.
• IV: You attend a ball in the court of a far-away lord. There are people and things on display you cannot help yourself from claiming as your own. Create a character Binding. Who were they, until you laid eyes upon them? In what way are they made yours? Create a material Binding. What is this object? In what way is it made yours? What does it mean to its previous owner?
• V: Your battle with a mighty foe lays waste to the surrounding countryside. What is consumed by the fires of war? Strike a Binding. Create one if none are available.
• VI: Someone you previously trusted makes a false accusation against you. It is believed by others. What is the accusation and why is it believable? What do you do about it? Strike a character Binding and take Fury as a Passion.
• VII: Your actions cause the death of a loved one. Either by accident or on purpose, you are responsible. Strike a character Binding or create one if none are appropriate. Take either Guilt or Grief as a Passion.
• VIII: A loved one of a knight you slew in battle hounds you relentlessly. Strike a beloved Binding (create one if none are available). Strike one Passion to escape, two to destroy your pursuer, or three to make amends.
• VIX: A protege outstrips you - stronger, fiercer, more cunning and possessed of an iron will. How do they outmaneuver you? Create a wicked Binding.
• X: You are offered accomodation by a wounded knight, with a condition: the knight wishes to take part in an upcoming tournament in honor of a beautiful noble which they love, but cannot on account of their injury. They ask you wear their armor and fight in their stead. Strike a martial Passion and create a loyal Binding to fight on the knight’s behalf.
• P: Two of your closest allies become embroiled in conflict. Create up to two beloved Bindings, if needed. Strike one of them, and create a Passion based around your resolution.
• Kn: You espy the lowest churl, a castoff from courtly society. What do they look like? You ignore their pleas for alms. Strike a Passion. The churl unmasks themselves as a supernatural entity and condemns your selfishness. What have you lost? Create a forboding Binding.
• Q: You are chosen to lead the vanguard in reclaiming a castle from a treacherous lord. In the heat of battle, you find yourself crossing blades with someone beloved to you (create one if none are available). Strike a violent Passion or Binding and win, create a cowardly or injurious Passion or Binding to withdraw.
• K: You bear witness to something indescribably beautiful: supernaturally so, in fact. What do you see? There is a stirring in your heart you did not know you were capable of. What do you feel? Afterward, you decide that you shall keep this moment in your heart forever. How do you do so? Create a Passion.
  Do not discard this card. Set it aside where it can be seen. If this is the fourth King you have drawn, you realize that to continue to pursue violence would be anathema to what you have seen today. How do you announce to your fellow knights that you have renounced violence? The game ends thusly.

WANDS

• A: A famed blacksmith promises to forge you a new, fantastic suit of armor. After six days and seven nights of labor, you are presented with the finest work they’ve ever done. Create a Binding. In this new armor you feel invincible, propelling you to take greater risks in pursuit of glory. Create a Passion.
  Do not discard this card. Put it to the side, instead. If and when you should draw the King of Wands, shuffle it back into the deck, then discard this card.
• II: You encounter a mermaid upon a calm coast. Mermaids are known to be perfidious creatures, but this one seems forlorn, lamenting something she has lost. What is it? You have an opportunity to help her. What does it cost you? Strike a Binding to create a Passion.
• III: A magician’s curse transforms you into some kind of animal. How does your new animal form reflect your true nature? Create a Passion.
• IV: You come across a swaying, narrow bridge over a deep, treacherous river. It looks barely sturdy enough to support your weight. Strike a Passion to find an alternate route, or strike a Binding to sacrifice something dear to you.
• V: You are ensnared by the machinations of a magician. Your closest allies are set against you through their sorcerous ways. Strike a Binding. Who falls prey to the magician’s wiles and who is able to see through their schemes? How do you foil the magician? Create a Passion.
• VI: You come across a marvelous castle, slowly rotating high in the sky atop a floating island. How do you make the climb? Strike a Passion. As you step through the gate, you have the odd sensation of having been here before. What makes this castle remind you of home? What’s missing? Create a Binding.
• VII: In the deep woods, you come across a revel of satyr. There is a great feast, and the food and wine is flowing. The satyr’s revels are a little too intense for mortals, and it is all too easy to lose one’s self. Strike a Binding and create a Passion.
• VIII: You are invited to take part in a stag hunt with a great lord. Separated from the others, it is your arrow that finds the white hart, greatly overshadowing the lord that invited you and possibly offending the spirit of the forest. Create a Passion related to hunting. Create a contentious Binding.
• VIX: In the deep woods, you find yourself surrounded by centaur. Wild and fierce, they insist you are trespassing across their lands and demand a tribute of you. Strike a Binding, or if you refuse to pay tribute strike a Passion.
• X: You encounter a siren while at sea. Her song drives the crew into a frenzy, some rending at their faces and others diving into the black waters. It doesn’t touch you. Why not? Strike a Passion.
• P: While traversing a stony moor, you are set upon by a pair of monstrous giants. How are the two giants able to sneak up on you so easily? Strike two Passions.
• Kn: While crossing a mighty desert, you are beset upon by a fierce roc. As the beast dives again and again, you realize it has fixated upon something you carry. What is it? Strike a Binding if you abandon it to the roc, or strike a Passion if you won’t let it go. Create a Passion.
• Q: Deep within a forgotten cave, you confront a perfidious wyrm. For several days and nights you and the wyrm exchange blows in the dark confines beneath the earth. Strike a Passion. At last, it tires before you do, but before it expires it lashes out in death with a venom-dripping tail. How do you deflect this last, desperate attack? Strike a Binding. Tales of your valor spread across the land. Create a Passion.
• K: Atop a blustery peak, you confront a fierce, fire-breathing dragon! The devilish beast’s flames scorch your armor and sear your flesh. At great cost, you are able to overcome it. What does it cost you? Strike a Binding and two Passions. What mighty hoard was the dragon guarding? Create a Binding.
  Do not discard this card. Set it aside where it can be seen. If this is the fourth King you have drawn, the wounds the dragon inflicted upon you keep you at court - a much venerated figurehead, but a paper knight all the same, your journeys and your glory behind you. Would it have been better if you had met your end alongside the dragon? The game ends thusly.