The Question of the treaty

The tribes and clans of wild folk and the green peoples will nearly all speak of the treaty if question about law by a psychonaut. Any one of these folk or people may give the treaty and the Psychonaut's lack of adherence to it as a reason for not speaking with or assisting the psychonaut. A member of the treaty peoples might explain it briefly if pressed. Such an explanation would likely point out that the wild folk contains both predator and prey and that even those amongst the wild Folk who are prey themselves do in fact prey upon the green peoples. The treaty is the agreement whereby the tribes and clans of green peoples and wild folk might deal honorably with one another while still allowing room for natural predation. A fox will hunt a grouse. A goat will feed upon the bushes of many species. But despite this, through adherence to the treaty, goat folk may trade with fox folk and berry persons. The Psychonauts will naturally wonder; may they sign the treaty? And Yes, they may, if they have passed the initiation and endeared the rites of passage and earned the right to call themselves warriors under the Freepath. And foremost Psychonauts fresh to the foglands, is the primary goal.

Shadows and Artifacts

Objects in the shadowlands are not stable. Things collected in one incursion will not be retained into the next incursion unless they are attuned to the psychonaut's avatar. Things that can be attuned include artifacts, spells, watchtower links, realm keys, sparks and such. Any normal bits and pieces found in the shadowlands will fade upon departure from the shadowlands.

A More Thorough List of Ribcage Locations

• The Ribcage Castle
• The Ribcage Castle
• The Keep
• The West Wall
• The Western Tower
• The East Wall
• The Eastern Tower
• Babylon City
• Babylon Square
• The Crimson Monument
• The Crimson Wall
• The Ivory Wall
• The Empty Quarter
• The Empty Fountain
• The Hollow Shrine
• The Silver Wall
• The Gilded Wall
• The Dead Forest
• The Broken Gates
• The Iron Gallows
• The Empty Archway
• The Gates of Sorrow
• The Hanging Archway

Expanded Location list for The Drowned City

• The Grave of Brine
• The Drowned City
• The Crimson Tower
• The Ivory Tower
• The Silver Tower
• The Bridge to Heaven
• The Bridge to Hell
• The Gilded House West
• The Gilded House East
• The Circle of Rust
• The Neon Oracle
• The Asylum
• The Reception House
•   The House of Eights
• The Salt Market
• The Burning Lands
• Reactor Number One
• Reactor Number Two
• Reactor Number Four
• The Last Daytower
• Jawbone Ridge
•  Incisor Earthwork
• The Canine Cairn
• Molar Runestone

Locations of the Foglands in more depth

After leaving the Ring for the first time, the Foglands are where rookie psychonauts will end up.

 

The Plateau

The lands to the North stand upon a great shelf, rising above the rest of the landscape.

The Ribcage

In the Northwest stands the ruins of Ribcage Castle and the remains of Babylon City.

• The Ribcage Castle
  • The Ribcage Castle
  • Babylon City
  • The Empty Quarter
• The Dead Forest
  • The Iron Gallows
  • The Gates of Sorrow

The Canyon

A canyon runs North to South, a vast scar across the horizon.

• The Ghost Station
  • Inbound Station
  • Outbound Station
• The Spine of Glass
  • The Spine of Glass
  • The Poison Tree
• The Cave of the Cryptkeeper
  • The Upper Cave

The Drowned City

Surrounded by the Circle of Rust stands a vast inland Salt Sea, under which sits the great Drowned City.

• The Grave of Brine
  • The Drowned City
• The Circle of Rust
  • The Asylum
  • The Salt Market
  • The Burning Lands
  • The Last Daytower
• Jawbone Ridge

The Lowlands

To the South are the lowlands.

The Skylines

Amidst a stretching rocky desert are carved strange designs in the earth visible the sky: the so-called Skylines.

• The Hart Stones
• The Western Ruins
  • The Broken Ruins
  • The Broke Stones
  • The Barrows
  • The Dolmen
• The Buried Maze
• The Sinister Valley
  • The City of Sleep
  • The Boar Temple

The Canyon

A canyon runs North to South, a vast scar across the horizon.

• The Hollow Mountain
• The Odd Cemetery
  • The Great Cemetery
  • The Mausoleum
  • The Old Cemetery
  • The Cave of the Cryptkeeper
    • The Lower Cave
• The Ghost Station
  • The Southern Station

The Wastelands

The vast marsh and the Altar Stone: a strange monument sacred to the Giants, fill the Wastelands of the Southeast.

• The Marsh Wastes
  • The Haypenny Camp
  • The Witch Hut
  • The Fading Lake
    • The Stilt Shrine
    • The Glass Altar
• The Altar Stone
  • The Altar Stone
  • The Thinking Stone
  • The Weeping Stone
  • The Screaming Stone
• The Womb
  • The Torii Gate
  • The Kiva Hole
  • The Womb
    • The Cave of Joining
    • The Hidden Passage
    • The Innermost Cave
    • The Cave of Unborn Elders
• The Eastern Reach
  • The Totems
  • The Sky Altar
• The Tailbone

Rough Bits of the Foglands again

After leaving the Ring for the first time, the Foglands are where rookie psychonauts will end up.

The Plateau

The lands to the North stand upon a great shelf, rising above the rest of the landscape.

The Ribcage

In the Northwest stands the ruins of Ribcage Castle and the remains of Babylon City.

The Canyon

A canyon runs North to South, a vast scar across the horizon.

The Drowned City

Surrounded by the Circle of Rust stands a vast inland Salt Sea, under which sits the great Drowned City.

---

The Lowlands

To the South are the lowlands.

The Skylines

Amidst a stretching rocky desert are carved strange designs in the earth visible the sky: the so-called Skylines.

The Canyon

A canyon runs North to South, a vast scar across the horizon.

The Wastelands

The vast marsh and the Altar Stone: a strange monument sacred to the Giants, fill the Wastelands of the Southeast.

A First look at the Map of the Foglands

Charge Bonuses (Vajra Accumulation)

The Vajra totals are accumulated and spent separately. As psychonauts progress through the lunisolar year, their achievements will earn them progress points which will translate into Vajra (of the appropriate type) at the end of each month. Vajra from the previous month (and only the previous month) can be spent as progress point in order to help warriors maintain streaks and obtain Charge bonuses.

The Charge bonus is how we encourage people to keep achieving and to make a habit out of their own successes. Each Vajra has a Threshold. Earning three Vajra of any type is considered a 'Charge'. Players can
build their charge by continually earning charge status month after month. The first month that a player charges a Vajra type, they earn 1 additional Vajra of that type. Each successive month that they earn the charge the charge pays out an additional Vajra to a maximum of 3 (ie. the sixth month that a player charges a Vajra type, they will still receive 3 Vajra, and so forth).

Theoretically, this means that a player could earn an additional 12 Vajra each month (3 Ether Vajra, 3 Air Vajra, 3 Water Vajra, and 3 Earth Vajra) by the third month if they area able to generate enough progress points to charge all Vajra types.

Vajra can be burned (as stated above) on a one to one basis to fill in blank progress point slots in any Vajra category in order to earn the Vajra necessary to maintain charges. This can be instrumental in allowing players to maintain their Charge Vajra on busy months so that they don't lose their three bonus Vajra.

An Introduction to the Inner Eye

Tenebrati Darkened Dark eye or Black eye			Eye of Dusk Wine-drunk eye Red eye			Illuminati illuminated Lit eye or Bright eye
3	2	1	0	1	2	3

The Inner Eye is how one views the Shadowlands. The Inner eye begins closed and must be opened for avatars to reach any part of the Shadowlands beyond the Foglands. Those who enter the Shadowlands with a  closed inner eye end up in the Ring, or at best, the Foglands. There are benefits to all three variations on the Inner Eye.

The Darkened eye is attuned to the story and the Shadowlands. One with a darkened eye will see the secrets of the story and the weak points of foes more readily. A darkened eye will also strengthen ability in the high magick. But the darkened eye opens one up to story and one with a darkened eye is more vulnerable to the attacks of denizens of the shadowlands and also more susceptible to high magick used by others. Further, with a darkened eye the shadowlands can entrance send mesmerize one, Leaving them vulnerable and helpless.

An enlightened eye is attuned to the bonelands and to science. An enlightened eye will see through the forms that things take in the shadowlands to the metaphors they represent, granting them improved resistance to attacks and high magick. An enlightened eye also grants improved ability in the low magick. But this all comes at a cost. Seeing the bonelands clearly is taxing to the mind. The skull can overflow with the scope and scale observed. One who looks too deeply through the enlightened eye may find their mind has cracked. Further, an enlightened eye sees fewer details of the shadowlands and has difficulty invoking the high magick. In addition, the affinity for low magick also means the enlightened eye is vulnerable to low magick as well.

The eye of dusk is also sometimes called the wine drunk eye, or even beer goggles. The Eye of Dusk offers none of those benefits. But it also offers none of the attached disadvantages.

An Introduction to Artifacts

Artifacts are empowered items that inhabitants and psychonauts can wield to extend their capabilities in the Shadowlands

How Artifacts Work

To use the High Magick, a psychonaut must seek out the representatives of the Wild Folk and the Green People as they are in the Bonelands. But this works only once the Psychonaut Sorcerer has first met with the appropriate Witch or Wizard and through their guidance met and made their pact with the Demon which grants the use of that spell.

As such, the spells of the High Magick are hard to obtain and hard to obtain the fuel needed to use them. But the pay off of this high cost is that the High Magick is impressive in its power. By contrast, the Artifacts are relatively easier to obtain and relatively easy for which to obtain fuel. Of course the cost of being easier to obtain and use means that the power contained in the Artifacts is less impressive than the effects of the Spells of High Magick.

Types of Artifacts

If you've played other tabletop or computer based Role-playing Games, you'll be familiar with the concept of magic items. A key difference here however, is what items can be enchanted and imbued with magic. In most other games, the most common types of magic items are weapons and armor.

In the Shadowlands, weapons and armor are immune to the enchantment process of creating Artifacts. It is important that a Sorcerer (and especially the Storyteller) realize that this is not a technical limitation with textual loopholes. Something cannot be made an Artifact if it is intended for use as a weapon or armor, intended to attack or injure another, intended to protect the bearer or another.

The only way that this prohibition can be worked around is if the sorcerer finds a way to indirectly use the artifact offensively or defensively. Anything designed to directly attack or defend will simply fail to function.

Find Artifacts

The Shadowlands are littered with the legendary artifacts of story, ready to be re-enchanted by the Wild Folk and Green People in their role as the protectors of the Artifacts. The Artifact will be found either in a Quest that retells the tale of a previous user's acheivement, or an expedition to a location associated by myth to the artifact itself (typically its creation or destruction or greatest use).

Enchanting Artifacts

An Artifact is always found 'in the rust', its power drained and abilities depleted. In order to be used, the artifact must be re-enchanted. The process of re-enchanting the Artifact is identical to the process of charging a Spell of High Magick. The appropriate animal must be found and marked (typically photographed) by the Sorcerer. The important difference is that the Spell require a new charge before each Incursion use, while the Artifact need only be re-enchanted for each new user.

Charging Artifacts

Whereas the Spells of High Magick needs to be charged between Incursions and uses, Artifacts need only be re-enchanted. A probably enchanted Artifact can be used once per incursion.

List of Artifacts

• The Five Clans
  • The Magus - The One Leaf People 
  • The Scroll of Truth
  • A rolled scroll that, when a yes/no question related to the Incursion objective with burn to a cinder if the answer is no, and crumbles to dust if the answer is yes. The scroll will be whole upon next incursion.
  • The Scholar -  The Two Leaf People 
  • Incense Oil
  • A vial of Oil (ever full once re-enchanted) that, when lit, enables normal automatic success on a single Mind oriented action. This can be used once per incursion.
  • The Mediator - The Winter Leaf People 
  • The Hunter's Hook
  • A bone and cordage hook with a cordage line that, once per incursion, if thrown and hooked to a denizen prevents the denizen from fleeing the area.
  • The Messenger - The Water Green People 
  • The Message Trap
  • A Fish Trap that allows a psychonaut to leave a verbal message of 25 words or less. The trap returns to the psychonaut upon activation. This can be used once per incursion.
  • The Fortuneteller - The Blade Green People 
  • The Digging Stick
  • A wooden root digger, that allows the psychonaut to pierce the earth once per incursion and see an important event that happened at this spot previously.
• The Caretaker - The Village Treaty People 
• The Aura Basket 
• Once per Incursion this prevents shattering of aura, psychonaut can't take other actions beyond moving.
• The Locust - The Stone Crack People  
• The Fire Seed
• Although it does no damage or injury to any living thing (Other plants included), the fire seed will grow explosively into kudzu vines that shatters all cracks and weak spots in the surface that it is dropped/planted upon. This can be used once per incursion.

• The Seven Clans
  • The Magus - The Free Folk 
  • The Pendulum Compass 
  • Points towards Incursion objective at all times.
  • The Scholar -  The Cold Folk 
  • The Seeing Lens 
  • Translates written words in any language found in the Shadowlands. This can be used once per incursion.
  • The Mediator - The Silent Folk 
  • The Soft Moccasins 
  • Removes sound made by the psychonaut, including voice- must remove moccasins to speak.
  • The Messenger - The Wise Folk 
  • The Crystal Bee
  • Delivers non-verbal message to target instantly, message delivered by motion of the bee. This can be used once per incursion.
  • The Fortuneteller - The Swift Folk 
  • The Climbing Claw
  • A pair of gloves decorated with wolf claws, which enables climbing up any vertical or near vertical surface. Psychonaut must remove gloves to hold any object or manipulate anything with the hands.
  • The Caretaker - The Gentle Folk 
  • Spine Bone Ring
  • A bone ring carved from a single piece of spinal column of an ungulate, which enables normal automatic success on a single Hands oriented action. This can be used once per incursion.
  • The Locust - The New Folk 
  • The Salt Charm
  • Acts as bait and draw a particular type of denizen, must have some piece of something related to prey. This can be used once per incursion.
•  The Sea Folk
  • The Magus - The Old Folk 
  • The Scaled Bracelet
  • A beaded bracelet decorated with large fish scales. Once per incursion it grants a normal success on the next Scoundrel action attempted.
  • The Scholar -  The Constant Folk 
  • The Blood Bowl
  • If the character fills the bowl with salt and water (or salt water), and then bleeds into it, they can ask any one question and see a vision within the same realm of the Shadowlands that best answers the question. There is no audio and no context provided. This can be used once per incursion.
  • The Mediator - The Strong Folk 
  •  The Peace Pipe
  • Can be used once per Incursion to to remove oneself from any conflict by smoking the pipe.
  • The Messenger - The Clever Folk 
  • The Charmed Vambraces
  • A set of leather vambraces worn on the forearms that enables normal automatic success on a single Body oriented action. This can be used once per incursion.
  • The Fortuneteller - The Singing Folk 
  • The Pig Bone Pan Flute
  • Playing the Pig Bone Pan Flute before an open flame will cause the smoke from the fire to form into the shape of the chief opposition for the current incursion. 
  • The Caretaker - The Dancing Folk 
  • The Shaman Drum
  • Playing the Drum grants a normal success on the next Hero action attempted. This can be used once per incursion.
  • The Locust - The Ghost Folk
  • The Oil Lamp
  • Lighting the Oil Lamp grants a normal success on the next Villain action attempted. This can be used once per incursion.
   
  

Introduction to High Magick

High Magick is the raw essence of the Shadowlands; a weaponized essence of story. High Magick is learned through the Witches and Wizards. When High Magick is used, the caster is channeling the power of the Demons known as the Fair Folk.

Learning Magick

Magick is learned from The Witches and Wizards. Once learned, a spell must be synced to the Player's Avatar by meeting the Requirements of the Fair Folk in question. Each member of a particular court has two spells to teach: one from the relevant witch and one from the relevant wizard.

The Demon Courts

Magick in the Shadowlands is controlled by a group of Fair Folk or Demons, divided into six courts with six roles within each court.

• The Courts of the Solar Year
• The Twilight Rebellion
• The Midnight Court
• The Midday Court
• The Darkened Court
• The Courts of the Hidden Wood
• The Bone Shrine Court
• The Bone Forest Court

Spell Structure

There are 6 spells per Court. One per member of the court. Each spell has two broad focuses - Internal and External. Internal is taught by the witches and external is taught by the wizards. Each spell has three variations: Fire (critical thinking), Rose (self Sufficiency), and blade (self defense).

• Magus Spells: The Magus spells are meta spells (manipulating the rules of the world itself)
• Witch (Internal): Manipulation of the rules of the Avatar.
• Wizard (External): Manipulation of the rules of the Shadowlands. 
• Caretaker Spells: The Caretaker spells are protective spells (safeguarding what is)
• Witch (Internal): Safeguarding your own Aura and Avatar.
• Wizard (External): Safeguarding things in the outside world.
• Messenger Spells: The Messenger spells are communication spells (sending information from one party to another)
• Witch (Internal): Receiving information into the self that others are trying to send.
• Wizard (External): Sending information to others.
• Mediator Spells: The Mediator spells spells to facilitate negotiation (building connections between people)
• Witch (Internal): To build a connection between a party and yourself.
• Wizard (External): To connect to outside parties (not yourself). 
• Scholar Spells: The Scholar spells are divination spells (discovering what is unknown and hidden)
• Witch (Internal): Discover something internal to the self: remember lost information, learn things about the self that is unknown, etc..
• Wizard (External): Discover something external to the self, something about the world.
• Harbinger Spells: The Harbinger Spells are prophecy and summoning spells (bringing 'something' from elsewhere)
• Witch (Internal): Bring something external into the self (self possession/channeling). 
• Wizard (External): Bring something external into the present (prophecy of some sort).

Design work for Character sheets to be used during play

Early design work for the character play sheets for gaming. The idea here is to make gameplay quick and intuitive, to not require massive reference books to take each action.

A quick collection of photos of the first draft of the Book of the Crescent Sun

 The Book of the Crescent Sun is the record book used to keep track of activities used between games to generate Vajra for use in gaming session and the Incursions into the Shadowlands.

Accumulating Vajra

Vajra is accumulated, as indicated, is accumulated by doing things in the real world.

There are four sub-types of Vajra: Aether Vajra, Air Vajra, Water Vajra, and Earth Vajra. Aether Vajra is earned by doing 'self-care' activities, such as exercise and meditation and journalling and planning. Air Vajra is earned by doing 'Critical Thinking' Activities, such as asking the three questions or attempting to disprove assumptions. Water Vajra is earned by doing "Self Sufficiency' Activities like gardening or survival skill practice. Earth Vajra is earned by doing 'Self Defence' Activities such as strategic games and martial arts training.

A Complete list of activities and how to earn the Vajra is provided in The Book of the Crescent Sun. In the Quick Start Guide, we don't cover this in detail, because the first adventure is where the players earn the ability to invest any Vajra beyond Aether Vajra. A PDF file of the Book of the Crescent Sun is available free on our website. Attached to the Quick Start Quick is an abridged checklist for accumulating Aether Vajra for the initial adventure session.

Defining Vajra

Vajra is the fuel on which the player's Avatars function. Vajra is the mystical energy of the human will and story. And it is literally this in the case of Blood Red Dreaming. Vajra is earned by doing valuable things in the real world, and recording those actions in a book (Called the Book of the Crescent Sun- because we are preposterously pretentious). Players are literally mythologizing their daily actions and routines.

The idea here is to tie your entertainment to your daily routines, in order to make doing things valuable to your success and happiness easier by gamifying those activities.

We are hacking our brains' dopamine production to help achieve our long term goals in a way that will sneak past all of our collective human failings. So yeah, ridiculously pretentious.

When Auras Break

Aura failure types

• Aura SHIMMERS
• and becomes WEAKENED
• -1 to Action Resolution Attempts.
• Aura SHUDDERS
• and becomes CRACKED
• -2 to Action Resolution Attempts.
• Character loses next action to reconstitute Aura.
• Aura SHATTERS
• .... Ouch
• The Avatar is expelled.
• Allies can rescue.
• Aura SHATTERS irreparably...
• The Avatar is expelled.
• Allies cannot rescue

Maintaining your Aura

An Aura has three states: Stable, Weakened, and Cracked. An Aura begins each session Stable. When a player takes Aura damage, they can burn Aether Vajra to prevent the Aura from dropping states. If a player cannot absorb Aura damage, then each point of unabsorbed Aura Damage reduces the Avatar's Aura by a Single State.

Investing your Aura

When Players begin any incursion into the Shadowlands they must spend Vajra. They must spend one vajra of any type to enter the Shadowlands in the Ring or at any location in another Realm for which they have visited the Bonelands counterpart in the last lunar month. To enter any where else, at least one player must have the key to that Realm, and they must spend two vajra of any type. This vajra is not retained, being expended in the using.

After that players determine how much vajra of each type they wish to take with them into the Shadowlands. The vajra types are kept separate, but players may invest as much of their vajra as they like. Any Vajra not invested may not be used in the game.

Aura

When the players begin an adventure session, they begin by investing their Avatars with Vajra (see that Section) that they have accumulated through work done between sessions. The Aura is the Avatar's ability to remain corporeal within the Shadowlands.

If a player's Aura shatters their Avatar is expelled from the Shadowlands, and they are limited to passive assistance for the remainder of the session. A player who achieves a mythic goal in a session regains all invested Vajra. A player who survives the session, but does not achieve a mythic goal gains no Vajra back. A player whose Aura shatters loses all invested Vajra.

Hand Size, Card Recovery, Drawing with an Empty Hand

The hand size is five cards. On an Amazing Success, the active player(s) only, not assisting players, may draw 3 cards up to a full five cards. On a Normal Success, players draw 2 cards or to a full hand. On a problematic Success, players draw up to one card or to a full hand.

If a player fails, they regain no cards. During Sequels, the player may spend two vajra to draw one card- up to their maximum hand size.

If a player has no cards in hand, they may always draw a single card- face down- to boost an action resolution attempt. In this a zero is applied towards the player avatar's own total value (giving no boost). Players may bolster other players attempts, but may not draw cards in such cases even if the active player succeeds.