“Wait… where are we?”

Introduction

Through the Woods is a horror-fantasy role playing game about children lost in strange and otherly worlds trying to find their way back home. It is inspired by such works as Alice in Wonderland, Coraline, Over the Garden Wall as well as by classic fairy tales in the vein of Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel.

What You Need

In order to play Through the Woods, you’ll need to gather up a few things. First, you’ll need a group of about 3-6 people to play with. Not so bad, yeah? In addition, you’ll also need some pencils, paper, a standard deck of playing cards (or two?) and several dozen tokens (poker chips, beans, marbles, etc.) One of you will take on the role of the Gamemaster (or GM). As GM you will present things for the players to react to and interact with. As players you’ll have to rely on your Luck (Clubs), Wits (Diamonds), Courage (Hearts), and Might (Spades) in order to survive and return whole. There will be Doors, but they won’t always take you where you want to go. And of course, you’ll need to find Keys, but some things are better off locked away as you’ll find out. All the while, Despair will slowly chip away at your Hope. Stay brave, press onward, and never give up.

...

It happens a little bit differently for everyone -- usually in the places where the walls are thin and the brambles are overgrown. Perhaps you were playing hide and seek with some friends when a voice from the closet called out your name -- a siren song for the young and curious. You might have been digging through your toy chest when you happened to just fall right in. Who knew toy chests could be so deep and dark? Maybe it was even something as simple as waking up one morning and realizing that the bed and room you were in was not your own in spite of the striking similarities, and that the voice calling you down to breakfast did not belong to your dear mother after all.

Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter -- not anymore. No, the only thing that matters is that you’re here and here is so very different from home. The air is damp and cold in a way that cuts right to your bones. The buildings seem a little too inviting.Through the tops of the trees you can see faces in the clouds. Their eyes gaze down upon you hungrily. Their mouths move slowly, whispering things they should not know. In the distance you see a dim fire glowing. There are several children just like you gathered around it’s warmth. Can they be trusted? There are wonders and terrors of which adults could never dream of, and in the woods between worlds you will find plenty of both.

[Character Creation?]

After the players have created their characters, the GM will hand out 5 cards face-down along with 10 tokens (Hope) to each of them. Make sure that the remaining cards and tokens are placed in an area easily accessible by everyone.

…

When the outcome of something important is in question, the GM will call for a challenge. Every challenge has two components, a wager and a target.

The wager is what is at stake here and is typically determined by what it is a player wishes to accomplish. It could be “shake the wolves off my tail”, “sneak past a witch’s midnight gathering” or even something like “best the bridge troll at it’s own game”. The target is then set by the GM. The more difficult or complex the challenge, the harder it will be to meet the target. Anyone, including the GM can then up the stakes -- increasing the difficulty and potential consequences but also increasing the potential rewards.

[What does a challenge check even look like? Something like poker? Who knows!]

If the player is successful, they complete the challenge and come out all the more hopeful for it. Depending on their degree of success, the GM might also introduce a problem or complication alongside the player’s success.

If the player is unsuccessful, they do not complete the challenge -- or they complete it at a great and significant cost -- and become ever more close to being hopeless.