Fear of the Dark

Even as adults, we are brave only in the light. We spend our lives dashing from halo to halo, grasping for torches and light switches. We will not linger in the shadows, for in them could be anything. And every night the youngest of us are sent into that darkness, alone and unprepared.

We do this because we know there really are things in the darkness. Things hungry for fear. We fill their bellies with the ripest, most swollen fears, so they leave us alone. Or perhaps we think if the monsters eat their fears, they will become brave and Grow Up. Whatever the case, the pact is made. The Shadows are fed. And the children eventually stop screaming.

Eventually.

This is a game where the psychological world of the young child is 100% literally real, and being sent to bed in a dark room is to be sent into a nightmarish torture. It could be used to help young kids learn to deal with their fears, but it’s generally written to scare the hell out of adults. Parents with young children may find some of the material upsetting. As always, talk to your players about their limits before beginning the game. GMs might also want to think about their limits, as this is a game where you drive NPCs and situations to terrify and hurt children.

It’s intended for one-off games a few hours long, with one GM and two to five players. 

Kids

Players take the roles of kids trying to survive the night. You should give your kid a first name and a thing about them that is distinctive enough that they get teased about it (gently or otherwise). Remember that children look for simple distinctions and can tease someone about anything. The more mundane the better. Do you have a bike on your shirt? You’re Bike Shirt Robbie. 

Talents
Kids have three different Talents: Brave, Fast and Smart. Brave is used in social contests and resisting mental pressure. Fast is used to outrun or out-wriggle monsters. Smart is for outwitting such things. Players should order the three Talents, assigning them the numbers 1 (their best Talent), 2 and 3 (their worst).

Note: Bravery vs Fearlessness
These two words are often synonymous in common English. In this game they are vastly different. Bravery means doing things despite fear. To be Fearless, however, is to Grow Up, and is equivalent to character death.

Experiences and Items
In your short life, you have gained some Experience that might help face the things that lurk in the night. You might also have one or two items that will actually help. You have other things of course, but most of it is useless for surviving the darkness.

Experiences and Items give you Redraws (see Rules) when they apply.  Choose one of each or two of one. Some examples are below, or make up your own.

Experiences:
•	Pretending to be asleep
•	Getting out of punishments
•	Investigating weird rooms
•	Tippy-toeing
•	Being super quiet
•	Hiding so nobody can find you
•	Listening really hard

Items:
•	Flashlight
•	Sling shot
•	Walkie talkies
•	Ipod/DS
•	Drone/RC Car
•	Bike lock
•	Chemistry set

Exploring the house may reveal new Items the Kids can use. Items are tradable which makes them more flexible, but Items can also be destroyed.

Charms
These are items that, although not necessarily useful, are meaningful to you in a way that bolsters your courage, making you more powerful when you wield them. Toys, dolls, blankies, baseball gloves, lucky rabbit’s foots and favourite books are Charms. If your Charm is in your hand, you can get an automatic success on a Pull.

However, every time you use a Charm, its magic permanently fades. After three uses, your Charm is gone for good. Everybody starts with only one Charm. You may not share these; in someone else’s hands, a Charm is useless.

Rules

Whenever a Kid tries to do something, they make a Pull. Pulls can be done with a deck of cards, removing clubs and diamonds, or with a bag of counters, 13 of one colour and 13 of another (we assume black and red). The bag must be opaque and deep enough to hide the contents. Likewise the deck should always be face down and splayed out whenever a player chooses a card. The idea is that attempting something involves the player reaching into the unknown, like stepping into the darkness.

The player pulls a number of cards or a counters equal to the level of the Talent being used. So if they need to run past a terrifying toilet demon, and Fast is their level 1 Talent, they draw one card. If Fast is their level 3 Talent, they draw three cards.

If NONE of the cards are black: you have succeeded at your task! Put the cards back in the deck.

If ONE OR MORE of the cards are black: you have a choice to make. Either you fail at your task, or succeed but in doing so you Touch the Shadows.

Touching the Shadows is bad. But if you succeeded and some part of your body or mind touched the shadows, you must keep the black card or counter on your character sheet. (If you drew more than one, just keep one). Shadow touches represent you becoming inured and apathetic. If you ever have three black cards on your sheet, you become a Teen. This means you’re no longer a PC. You tell everyone their game is stupid and pretendy and leave, and become an enemy or obstacle of the Kids. (So they are not knocked out of play, such players should act as a second GM, driving their antagonist.) 

You can get rid of Shadow Touches by Pushing past your fears. This means going beyond your personal boundaries and doing something more dangerous and risky than you’ve ever done so far tonight (or ever). If you’re still in your bed, looking under it might count. But if you’ve walked around the house at night already, you’d have to go outside or into the basement to qualify. Only one card goes back per “Push”. The GM has final say on what qualifies as a Push.

Experiences, Items and any other bonuses give Kids a Redraw. This means putting back a card/counter they don’t want (ie a black one) and redrawing. If multiple bonuses apply, you may redraw many times but the card is returned (and the deck shuffled) between each redraw. Redraws happen after all the required cards are drawn. The GM can force negative Redraws (ie redrawing reds) to simulate suffering, injury or disadvantage but it’s usually better to just do a separate test to fix/overcome said issue.

The House and Its Occupants

The players are all kids. They need not all be the same family, but at least some of the kids should live in the house. The kids can have their own rooms or share some between them but it makes for a better story if they begin at least somewhat separated.

There are other people in the house – Grown Ups, definitely, and possibly also Teens. If a Kid ever takes three Touches of Shadow, they too will become a Teen. Teens typically sleep in the Basement or in their own bedroom, or will still be up after bedtime (it is ALWAYS after bedtime). Teens and Grown Ups will typically be relatives of the Kids or mysterious friends of their relatives (so weird). 

Teens have less power than Grown Ups but will likely alert Grown Ups to the presence of Kids. Grown Ups have one simple goal: keep the Kids in bed and quiet. If they ever encounter a Kid they will put them to bed and tell them to be quiet (relatives will be nice about it, friends of the family will NOT). Then they will return to making mysterious noises and laughing loudly in the main rooms of the house. Grown Ups and Teens NEVER help Kids fight monsters, but Teens might be persuaded to assist Kids do other things if they get something out of it.

Grown Ups and Teens are a threat in another way: the Shadows can use them. Anyone who is not a Kid can have their soul stolen. This allows them to move around the house looking like the person whose soul they have stolen, but with terrible black eyes and stomping feet. If the Kids can kill the shadowsoul  the soul will return to the owner. This is not an easy thing to do. 

The house is also full of shadows. The shadows just want one thing: the children to be afraid. They feed on fear. As such, although a newly-created Teen is useful to them as another soul to steal and another thing to block the Kids from fighting the shadows, they will stop preying on Teens as they offer no sustenance. Similarly the shadows don’t want the Kids to die. So they will play with the Kids and promise death, and use pain and intimidation to scare them. If you’re a GM you don’t need to tell the players the shadows don’t want them dead – but you can let them figure it out if you like.

Shadows don’t strike when Grown Ups are around – usually. But Shadows enjoy making children cry for Grown Ups. They drink deep on that, especially when the child is shouted at and punished when the Grown Up arrives, and all their work undone as the Grown Up drags them back to bed.

The house can have whatever dimensions and rooms you need. A hallway between the kids’ rooms and the lounge (where their parents are being noisy) and the kitchen will give them a buffer zone to start exploring. Don’t forget about the toilet (there’s nowhere to run in there, but kids HAVE to go) or the bathroom, and include places that are dark and scary, like the den, the basement, the garage and the porch or treehouse outside – you’ll need those for Pushes. 

Things to Do

Why would kids eave their beds at all when so much danger and opposition lies that way? Some reasons are: 

Mundane Needs
Every Kid should have something pressing on their mind from the very beginning, something they need to do before they can sleep. Maybe they left their toy or blankie in the lounge room. Maybe they forgot some homework or to get their lunch ready or to do a chore. Maybe they need a drink of water or they need to pee. Remember that doing ANYTHING except being asleep is both forbidden and dangerous and thus will require pulls (and a plan) so the tiniest mundane concern can deliver hours of plot.

The Horrible Unknown
In the dark, the human brain can make anything look like your worst nightmare, and that’s without the Shadows helping. And the Shadows can make anything look, move and sound like anything they want. Is that your sweater lying near the closet or is it a hundred snakes? You could close your eyes and ignore it but then what if it is a hundred snakes and they are getting closer all the time and by the time you look the floor is covered in snakes or worse you wake up and they are all over you and the bed and ONE IS IN YOUR MOUTH. If you look now you’d have time to run.

The Vulnerable Other
Children care about everything. The Shadows know that children care which is why they take and hurt the things the children love. Younger siblings are crying in their rooms. The dog didn’t come back from its walk after dinner. Someone is calling your name from outside. The fish didn’t get fed. Your cousin is in the hospital. Mommy drinks too much and yells when stupid Aunt Carol is over and you need her to go. People on tv are dying in wars and from droughts. And only you can save them by sending them your bologna. Can you really close your eyes to all that?

Banishing the Shadows
The Shadows can never be destroyed, but they can be banished from a house for a year and a day, if you do the right ritual - according to this kid at school (you might have to call him to get the details) or that one Youtube video you saw (again, you need a phone). Or maybe it’s in that Stephen King book your mom says you’re too young to read but is in the basement. And whatever it is will require ingredients which are scattered all over the house. Light five candles (kitchen, matches in the garage) in front of a mirror (bathroom)? Or get salt (kitchen) and pour it in a circle in the basement? Walk all the way to the corner store to buy candy to flush down the toilet? Something arcane and impossible, but maybe, just maybe you can pull it off. 

Fight the Shadow Souls
Shadows of the Grown Ups and Teens are wandering around and if you don’t kill them, you may never see the real versions again. Shadows are stupid, all they want to do is hurt people in random ways but the Souls know everything their originals know, and can plan and plot. They know where kids hide and where Items and Charms are and how to mess with them. And they can call the real Grown Ups for back up. Killing a Shadow Soul will, like Banishment, requires exactly the right object applied in exactly the right way but if you work together you might just save a soul.