“Real magic can never be made by offering someone else's liver. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back.” Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn She still had the nightmares, and she still felt the empty feeling when she looked at the crib. She had said, "Yes." Everything she knew said that was consent, that she was capable of making her own decisions, and that no one had applied pressure or otherwise taken away her choice. She cleaned the blood from her hands. “That’s what it feels like,” she said aloud to the corpse. She tossed the heart to her fetch. “I am getting her back.” This is a tale of magic and the things one is willing to sacrifice or make pacts to for power. Is there redemption? Recommended for 2 to 5 players. Need: 5 tokens for each player, one color separate from the rest A pack of 52 cards with 2 Jokers. The players play rival wizards within the same metropolis, trying to secure position and power for their PC’s own reasons. The reason should fit a particular formula and be written down before game starts. (Suggestions: “Reclaim the child that was stolen from me,” or “Destroy my opponents in order to claim the Orb of Mendacious Intent.”) Drawing Cards: Each suit reflects one of four situations: Diamonds: A transaction. Clubs: Violence and Sacrifice Spades: Dark Pacts Hearts: A Chance for Redemption Jokers: Special Face Cards: (count as 10 points and) Special. Players take turns describing traits of the city they live in, securing the fiction with two rounds of three “truths” each. A player can make a corresponding point to another’s truth, but cannot negate it. For example, if Artholomew says, “The city is in the shadow of a dark tower,” Bernest can say, “The dark tower is a hotel with gambling parlors on the first three floors,” but cannot say, “The light from the sun blinds the citizens with gold and white all day.” Players can spend a token to claim another three truths, but they will have to draw a card. Characters begin with 25 humanity. DRAWING CARDS: Whenever you spend a token you will draw a card. Your card’s face value determines both humanity loss (or gain, in the case of Hearts) and the horrific nature of the act. A small time wizard might only go for a dark pact worth only two points. A sorcerer may spend a 10. These cards remain in the player’s hand until played. Face Cards count as 10 for purposes of spell power, but refer to an NPC who will only have the cost of humanity as 5 now, and 5 the next round, when the mage has to repay the favour. Jokers can be traded in for tokens at a one-to-one, or they can be used to block any one spellcast. They get reshuffled in upon use. Scale of Event: ACE) Act of self-centered pettiness. TWO) Act of impetuousness or hotheadedness THREE) Act of intimidation in attempt to control another’s action FOUR) Acts of antisocial aberration done as a companion to someone else FIVE) Acts of antisocial aberration done as someone seeking companions SIX) Act of deliberate, scheming trauma SEVEN) Act of deliberate, scheming permanence EIGHT) Act to subjugate someone’s will and identity NINE) Act of slavery or control of multiple wills and identities TEN) Act of torture psychological and physical Presume that Heart cards reflect the opposite in altruism and good faith. Cost of Event: ACE) Change something temporary about self. TWO) Change something temporary about someone else. THREE) Change something temporary in a coalition of people. FOUR) Change the communication or vision of events (including the design of economic or legal factors and systems within that communication) FIVE) Change something permanent about self. SIX) Change something temporary about the environment SEVEN) Change something permanent about someone else EIGHT) Change something permanent about the environment NINE) Change something permanent about the rules of the spirit. TEN) Change something about time and/or space. To create an item that does any of these events, add two to the cost. TOKENS: Tokens are spent in two situations: 1 - claiming power 2 - reflecting back an attack Claiming power allows someone to spend a token to draw a card. That gives them the card. The face value of the card determines the narrative required to utilize the card. They are not required to fully utilize the power. For example, they draw an 8 of clubs but only need a 6, and only raise an act worth a six, but their humanity cost is taken at an eight because that was the potential power that changed their humanity. Tokens can be used to reflect back an attack - they are worth twenty points of humanity when used in this way. Otherwise, to cancel a spell one needs to use a joker card or a 2:1 humanity cost against the spell. When a player’s humanity is at zero, they are out of the game -- they are no longer human, and the witch hunters will find them. Bernest wants to bring lightning down to destroy the tall black tower that, ahem, just happens to be Artholomew’s keep. This would be a change something permanent about the environment (eight) which requires an act to subjugate someone’s will and identity. Bernest can either play an eight from a previous draw, or spend a token and get another draw. If his cards do not add up to the eight, he will need to do a second rite (adding to the evil) and spend a second token. Because he draws an eight of diamonds, he needs to make a transaction that subjugates someone’s will and identity. Should he have drawn an eight of spades, he would have needed to make a dark pact that subjugated someone’s will and identity. I leave it to your imagination. If Bernest had drawn an eight of hearts, he could choose instead to gain 8 points of humanity by doing something to free a subjugated individual, or save it to foil another wizard's plans. PLAY: Goes in rounds of one scene per player. Player can play a token and draw a card, play a card, or have a character-building scene. The character-building scene can by vote and content return a number of humanity points to the character, but only if no spells or tokens are used.