Schism Song Core

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Schism SongA storytelling game by Andrew Hauge

Core rules, Alpha 0.1

If youve got this PDF, thanks for taking a look! This isthe alpha version of my games core rules. What does that mean?Well, it means theres a lot more to this game, but Ive boiledit down to the essential core. Everything in this PDF should beenough for you to start playing.

Whyd I do this? Because I care a lot about this game, andI seriously want to make sure that the core of the game is rock-solid before I start working on the bulk of it. This is going tobe the core which goes forward into the main game, and its thebuilding-blocks of everything else.

So, what should you do with this? Play it! And once youredone playing it, let me know how it went. You can shoot me an e-mail at andrew.hauge@gmail.com with some words on how yoursession went.

Heres what I want to know: Whered you run into hiccups in the rules? Was it ever

unclear how to apply them? What were a few of your favorite moments? Be sure to

mention any mechanical contexts here. Did you want to houserule any one part of them? Why? How easy was it to understand the theme of the world?

Thanks for anything you can contribute to this game! I hopeyou enjoy it. Happy trailblazing!

~Andrew Hauge

Schism Song Core

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Long time ago, world fell apart,Final sulfur gasps of breath,Birth of the world we walkAnd drift across.

Each step a note into dusk,Each melody a spark of humanity,One by one the chorus fadingAs we sing the Schisms tune.

This is a game where you and your friends come around andtell a story about The Drifter, who wanders the empty landscapeof a worn-out world. Youll be bouncing the story off oneanother, watching it grow and turn in ways you didnt seecoming. Everyone gets working together, pulling things together,seeing what The Drifter finds and gets in trouble with.

Starting out: whatever the world looked like before, itsall broken-down and ruined now. Some folk say there were wondersin the old world, great buildings and strange devices that didwondrous things, but theres none of that around now. Theworlds been beat, and The Drifter walks alone. Maybe theyvegot company by the way, maybe they try and make a better lifethats all up to you to find out.

First of all, grab some regular dice, youll need them forthe game. Now, youll learn a little bit about The Drifter. Theeldest player gets to start, unless you figure some better wayto choose, which you might. It can get tiresome if the sameperson goes first like that again and again.

Youll learn two things about The Drifter from the get-go:their Tell and where they start the story. So what is a Tell?Its a thing The Drifter has thatspeaks to the person inside. Alook about them that, no matter how much they hide themselves,whatever faces they put on, still shines through. You cantnotice it unless youre looking for it, but the Tell gives you awindow into The Drifters heart.

The player who starts out gets to roll a couple dice. Theypick one of the dice, and have a look at the list below. The diethey singled out gets matched up with a list of tells, so theypick one of those.

The Dice The TellsA (The Loner) Distant eyes; long, dark coat;

smug smileB C (The Trail) Fiery eyes; tense stance; long,

bright hairD F (The Shelter) Big, bright eyes; sturdy,

traditional clothes; humming anold tune

E (The Crossroads) Stormy eyes; battered, scarred

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Stormy eyes; battered, scarred

hands; threadbare scarf

Youll notice that theres four ways a die can come up. Itmight seem hard to remember which is which, but think of it thisway: The Loner looks like a hero standing alone in the wilds,The Trail looks like a path going out into the unknown, TheShelter looks like a safe, protective box, and The Crossroadslooks like two crossing pathsan important choice. Its likelooking up in the stars and seeing the shapes they makethe pipson the dice make shapes that mean things.

The starting player does the same thing to work out wherethe story starts. Like before, they roll a couple of dice andpick something from the matching list.

The Dice The StageA (The Loner) The heart of an ancient ruin; a

solitary snow-covered mountainpass; a cracked, windsweptplateau; a raft on the ragingsea

B C (The Trail) A caravan passing through a darkforest; a hunting party on thearid plains; an expeditionthrough vast fields of ice;lanterns in a deep, dark tunnel

D F (The Shelter) The merchants return to themountain houses; the anniversaryof the seaside villagessurvival; the coming-of-ageceremony in a cliffside town; agreat feast in the snow-huts

E (The Crossroads) The Drifters last friend laysdying; the Drifter escapes thefire, with no possessions; theDrifter dreams a prophecy; theDrifter collapses, on the brinkof death

Now they start telling it like it is. When youre tellingthe story, we say that youve got the Lead. Heres what thatmeans: you tell everyone what The Drifter does, where TheDrifter goes. But therell be times when youre not sure what todo, or when you get weary of having the Lead. So heres how youpass the Lead to someone else: ask them a question. Keep itsomething simple, like What does The Drifter see in thecanyon? or What was this place before the Schism? or Howdoes the town react to my words?

When someone answers your question, now theyve got theLead, and they carry on like you were, telling the story and

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Lead, and they carry on like you were, telling the story and

saying what The Drifter does and where they go and what theysay. They go until they hit a spot where theyre not sure whatto do, or dont want to go on. Then they ask someone a question,and it keeps going like that, over and over.

Heres something important: youre all working off of oneanother. Youre jamming together, making something bigger thanany of you. One person starts a thread, the next person picks itup. You have to work the story of The Drifter together, whichmeans youve got to stay on the same page, or it might fallapart. Be ready to learn unexpected things about The Drifter andthe world, but be good to the others and dont take the story ina direction they arent looking for. If you catch someone doingthat, speak up, ask them can you try another way? becauseyoure not okay with it.

Theres another bit to bring up, because you dont stopusing the dice just because someones weaving the story. Thedice come in when someone thinks The Drifter shouldnt just beable to do something, that they have to earn it. (If itssomething that should be off-limits entirely, see above aboutcan you try another way?) If the player whos got the Leadsays something and you want to test them, tell them Yeah? Showme how. Then, take the dice and hand them to the player whosgot the Lead. If you remember, there were a couple dice on thetable to begin with.

The player whos got the Lead rolls, picks a die, thenlooks here to see what happens. It tells them what to say to theplayer who challenged them, and what happens next.

The Dice What HappensA (The Loner) You ask them how The Drifter

fell back to the instincts ofsurvival, forgetting what itmeant to be a person, for alittle while. Theyve got theLead now.

B C (The Trail) You ask them how The Drifterstruck forwards, and what theconsequence was, what TheDrifter had to pay to keep goingor break free. Theyve got theLead now.

D F (The Shelter) You tell them how The Driftertook the safe road, what theygave up on because of it. Youkeep the Lead.

E (The Crossroads) Choose one: You ask them what The

Drifter left behind orlost; theyve got the Lead.

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You tell them who sufferedbecause of The Driftersactions. You keep the Lead.

And so it goes. The Lead passes on or stays with you, andthe story keeps going. It keeps on, hopping from one person toanother, interrupted by questions and challenges. A good playerbuilds the story, but also looks for chances to pass the Lead toother players with interesting questions or situations thatdemand a challenge.

Theres one last thing, and its about those dice. Youresupposed to grab more than a couple dice for the game, becauseyou wont always be rolling a couple dice. The number of dice inthe middle of the table goes up or down as the game goes on,maybe even both.

Whenever someones telling The Drifters story, and TheDrifter suffers a serious hurt or witnesses something terrible,any of the other players can add a die to the table. So if therewere three dice on the table, and The Drifter fell down a cliff,a player could put another die on the table, and now The Drifterwould roll four dice every time there was a challenge.

Whenever someones telling The Drifters story, and TheDrifter finds solace or gets help from someone, any of the otherplayers can take a die off of the table. So if there were twodice on the table, and The Drifter spent time with a friendaround a campfire, a player could take one of those dice, andnow The Drifter would only roll one die every time there was achallenge.

The dice go up and down, and theyre important in twocases.

When The Drifter runs out of dice, someone or somethingoffers them a chance at permanent peace and rest. Decide asa group if The Drifter takes it. If so, the story ends. Ifnot, the player whos got the Lead tells everyone whatdestroys that chance, adds a die to the table, then passesthe Lead to someone else.

When The Drifter gets their fifth die, their burdens pushthem to abandon everyone else and retreat into the wilds.Decide as a group if The Drifter succumbs. If so, the storyends and The Drifter is never seen by a person again. Ifnot, the player whos got the Lead tells everyone who savesThe Drifters soul, takes a die off of the table, thenpasses the Lead to someone else

If youre running low on time, or the group feels that thestorys coming to a close, you can also end it when you feellike it. And thats how it goes. Now play and find out TheDrifters story.