Gameplay Resolution and Basic Mechanics

Gameplay Resolution is done with a deck of cards rather than with dice. A Player's Avatar in the Shadowlands can do whatever the player themselves is physically capable of doing. Anything beyond the capacity of the Player requires the expenditure of cards to accomplish.

The Deck

A deck of 72 custom cards with values of 1 through 4 and two sigils: one for Action Type (6 possible types) and one for Style Type (5 possible dual types).

Card Values

• 12 cards with a value of 0
• 24 cards with a value of 1
• 18 cards with a value of 2
• 12 cards with a value of 3
• 6 cards with a value of 4 

Action Types are divided in two groups: Skill and Story.

Mechanics

Players can perform any tasks in game that they can perform in real life.  To perform an action beyond their real life ability, they must use VAJRA, COOL, or cards.

Tasks are assigned difficulty based on how far beyond the player's current ability the attempted task is. The difficulty is divided into 3 categories: possible, impossible, beyond the impossible. The storyteller does not tell the players the difficulty beyond those three descriptors. Difficulty levels 1 through 3 are POSSIBLE. Difficulty levels 4 through 7 are IMPOSSIBLE. Difficulty levels 8 through 12 are BEYOND THE IMPOSSIBLE. Nothing has a difficulty level higher than 12.

1. New. The task is unfamiliar to the player, but they have done similar and potentially harder things in the past.  
2. Untested. Beyond the player's current capabilities, but achievable in the near future, beginner's luck is entirely possible here.
3. Challenging. Beyond the player's current abilities and near future progress, but potentially achievable.
4. Unbelievable. This would be difficult even for somebody trained to do exactly that.
5. Ridiculous. This would be difficult for an expert in the field.
6. Epic. This would be nearly impossible for the best in the world.
7. Legendary. This would be the equivalent of the first trans Atlantic flight, the first 4 minute mile, etc... 
8. BEYOND THE IMPOSSIBLE. This is simply not physically possible and could only happen in the Shadowlands.
9. BEYOND THE IMPOSSIBLE. This is simply not physically possible and could only happen in the Shadowlands.
10. BEYOND THE IMPOSSIBLE. This is simply not physically possible and could only happen in the Shadowlands.
11. BEYOND THE IMPOSSIBLE. This is simply not physically possible and could only happen in the Shadowlands.
12. BEYOND THE IMPOSSIBLE. This is simply not physically possible and could only happen in the Shadowlands.

First Thoughts on Your Avatar

From Wiktionary

Etymology

1784, Borrowing from Hindi अवतार ‎(avtār) or from Urdu اوتار ‎(avatār), both borrowed from Tamil and Sanskrit अवतार ‎(ava-tāra, “descent of a deity from a heaven”), a compound of अव ‎(ava, “off, away, down”) and the vṛddhi-stem of the root तरति ‎(√tṝ, “to cross”).

In computing use, saw some use in 1980s videos games – 1985 online role-playing game Habitat by Lucasfilm Games (today LucasArts), by Chip Morningstar and Randy Farmer, later versions of the Ultima series (following religious use in 1985 Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar), and 1989 pen and paper role-playing game Shadowrun. Popularized by 1992 novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.

Noun

avatar ‎(plural avatars)

(Hinduism) the incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu.

The physical embodiment of an idea or concept; a personification.  

(computing or gaming) A digital representation or handle of a person or being; often, it can take on any of various forms, as a participant chooses. i.e. 3D, animated, photo, sketch of a person or a person's alter ego, sometimes used in a virtual world or virtual chat room.  

THE EARTHLY INCARNATION OF A DEITY, PARTICULARLY VISHNU

THE PHYSICAL EMBODIMENT OF AN IDEA OR CONCEPT; A PERSONIFICATION

A DIGITAL REPRESENTATION OF A PERSON OR BEING

---

Every role-playing game out there uses an avatar. Normally the avatar is described as being your 'character', like actors taking on a role. But this game uses the older form, more like performing Shaman and witch doctors taking on the essence of a god or demon or spirit. And also like astral projection, save that you are not projecting into the astral realm, but the fictional realm: the Mythic World- the Shadowlands.

And unlike most Role-playing games, you do not get to choose anywhere near as much about your avatar as you might like. You project yourself, dreaming, into the Shadowlands.

What the Shadowlands Are

The Dreamtime of the Australian Aboriginal mythology depicts the ideas that some things of spiritual dimension exist outside of regular time or 'everywhen', to steal from anthropologist William Edward Hanley Stanner. Traditional Australian spiritual practises include walking song lines and singing the necessary songs to hold the world together. The writer, Alan Moore, argues through much of his more esoteric writings that story itself is magic, quoting everything from the bible to hermetic writings of such occult figures as John Dee. Grant Morrison talks about his encounter with his own fictional creations that he invented to act as fiction suits for himself to transform his life by dragging the fictional version of himself into the 'real world'.

What does all this mean? Probably not much yet. But the short answer is: fiction is a place. 'Once upon a time' is an incantation to opena portal to a timeless land. When this book calls gods, or magick or demons and many other things fictional, do not for a second think that we mean something tricky or fancy. We do in indeed mean fiction in the classic sense of the word. But also do not imagine that just because something is fiction that means that it is not real.

Prelude

We cannot wait for a savior.

The story needs YOU, right now, to stand up and be a protagonist.

 

You must find the role that you can play and take up the mantle.

You must be First Mother or First Hero, the Witchdoctor or the Walker, perhaps the Dreamer.

You must be a Witch or a Wizard, join the Tenebrati or commune with the Primal One.

 

And you will likely fail. You may even die. But your efforts will not be in vain.

 

You will not be the whole of the story for the character whose role you played.

But together with hundreds or thousands of other First Mothers and First Heroes, Storytellers and more,

You will move mountains, you will turn pages, until the story is a circle and the world is whole once more.

Exodus The Epilogue

The Epilogue

We could hear the adults chasing us in their heavy leather boots and big black vests. They yelled back and forth to each other to keep contact and yelled at us to come back to the relocation center. We ignored them and ran, flinching or ducking as the spotlight beams of their flashlights wavered across us in the dark.

I could see Mildred Sanger's dead body laying on the table mind as we ran. I hated what the adults had become and hated most of all what my mother had allowed herself to become.

The air was cold and damp from the rain earlier, and the ground was slick- forcing us to be careful as we ran. If we slipped on a wet tree root, if we lost our footing on damp leaves, we would be caught and we would be going back.

As I stopped and crouched low under the bent trunk of a tree to catch my breath out of sight, Wolf stopped and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't stop. We can hurt later, when we're safe. You can do this bud."

I took several slow breathes and then nodded and took off again, Wolf keeping pace beside me. In the darkness I could see Owl in the lead, a swagger in his retreat I hadn't seen before. I could see Raven and Viper side by side, moving like ghosts through the forest.

But I could still hear the adults chasing. There were lots of kids in the woods tonight. We had made this as difficult as we could for the adults, but they still had most of the advantages. We had to run until they gave up, or we were going back to the relocation center, where we would almost certainly die the slow death of starvation and lack of hope.

And so we ran on in the black woods as the pillars of light from the adults flashlights danced above our heads and the shouts of adults accompanied us like a soundtrack.

I looked at Wolf, "We're family now, for real. Tribe against the world. Now, we are warriors. Win or lose, live or die- we are warriors."

* * *

So that's the start of our story. We were kids. We were just like any other kids that you know. If you are a kid, we were just like you.

Now we aren't. Now we are warriors. I wouldn't wish the events that we experienced on anyone, but it made us who we are. And I have to admit, that I like who I became.

Would I like us to get back everyone and everything we lost? I don't know. I would like to get back everyone I lost. But everything I lost can stay lost.

I didn't know it, but I didn't need all that junk then. And I don't need it now.

And I'll tell you what- neither do you. None of that stuff matters. What matters is what you can do and who you are.

I'm a warrior.

We are warriors.

Who are you?


"Beneath this mask there is more than flesh...
Beneath this mask, there is an idea, Mr. Creedy
...and ideas. Are. Bulletproof."
- V For Vendetta

Exodus Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty
So This is Good-Bye...


We ran through the streets. It was hard to avoid noticing that no lights were on, and very little had been cleaned. The Streets were slick with ice. Cars were buried in snow that, in many cases, had frozen solid on top of the vehicles. The windows of numerous storefronts and several homes had been broken.

We knew that the adults placed under house arrest weren't being kept in the Community Center. Since it had been turned into the Relocation Center we'd all spent too much time there, and it wasn't big enough to hide the more than one dozen adults who had been placed under 'house arrest'. Since only community center and town hall had heat, it was easy to conclude that they must be in Town Hall.

Now the funny part is that because everyone had been chasing us towards the edge of town, when we doubled back and headed to the business center, nobody was around to see us. We arrived at the Town Hall, and checked for a way in. The front door was unlocked, open in fact. Which made me nervous. Lights were on in several rooms, We fanned out and looked everywhere except the council chamber. We could hear a voice or voices in the council room and nobody wanted to draw us into a confrontation in the center of town. Once everywhere else had been searched however, and it was clear that no other room had any of the house arrest adults, we quietly decided to check the council room.

We walked in to see Professor Tuttle with a bottle labelled Vodka in his left hand and a highball glass in his right hand. He sat quietly in the Mayor's seat, looking into nowhere.

As we entered the room, he looked at us, “Seven Billion people with nothing original to say, singing the same self-centered apocalyptic song for the last ten thousand years. And we have the audacity to think that this is our story.”

“Then give it up.” I said.

“And do what? We've scribbled all over the storybook. There's nowhere left for any other stories. We've taken stories away from everybody for all time. We've broken the world, and all we can do is hang on. Maybe, when everything stops falling, there will be something left over.”

“So you're going to keep doing this? Keep helping them run this monstrosity? You turned us in. I'm pretty sure it was you who betrayed Bart as well. Is that what you call hanging on? I call it running from a bear and tripping your friends to feed the bear.”

“This is the only way, and even if it's broken there is nothing else. No other way.”

Viper stared at Professor Tuttle with a ferocious, venomous anger.

“So how do you know that? And even if you're right, what does that mean? And even if you're right, so what? Is there any value left in what you're trying?”

“Good questions.” He said with a bitter laugh.

“You tried to teach us how to think, but you stole what you taught from Raven’s dad, without ever understanding how to ask yourself three questions. Raven's Dad is locked in some dark room somewhere with Bart and they're being fed a weak stew made from Mrs. Giller's cats. And you helped make that, because you don't have the courage to ask yourself those three questions you tried to teach us.”

Professor Tuttle didn't say anything. He just sat there.

“Come on, he's never going to grow up.” Owl said to Viper, who shook her head disgustedly.

“I'm going to raise the alarm now.” Professor Tuttle said in a hollow shell shocked voice. “You'd best run.”

“Betrayer to the end?” Wolf asked.

“This is how it has to be. The good of the many. Survival of the culture. This is how it has to be.”

He pulled a sports whistle from his pocket and blew three long blasts, and then three short blasts on the whistle. We listened to bells ringing in the distance, echoing the alarm the Professor had raised. Owl stared at Professor Tuttle and shook his head. I don't know what I was expecting Owl to do to Professor Tuttle as Owl stepped toward him, but when Owl suddenly backhanded Professor Tuttle across the face I was so shocked I actually yelled in surprise.

Owl looked at me. He didn't say anything, he just looked for a moment and then turned back to face Professor Tuttle. The Professor's nose was bleeding and he looked at Owl with a weird look on his face, somewhere between anger and respect and despair. Owl looked back at Professor Tuttle with utter disgust.

“You have to do more than just talk a good game Professor. You have to get your hands dirty. And my hands are so dirty that they're red. You don't know me, or any of us anymore. Just remember we gave you a chance. This was your chance. We know what you are know, and if you are half a smart as we always thought you were, you know what we are know. Your side has the advantages right now, but it stay like that. We're retreating now, but don't mistake that for victory. We win. And next time we meet, you better be ready.”

Viper turned back to Raven.

“We don't have time to find your parents now, but we aren't abandoning them. We're coming back for them. I promise that we're coming back for them and for Bart and anyone else we can save.”

Raven nodded.

Exodus Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen
The School is on Fire
        
We could see the fire burning from across town. We kept to the shadows, and stayed out of sight. It was impossible to feel safe though, because across town we could hear the unmistakable sound of gun shots. The gun shots were sporadic and there were long pauses between them. But when they sounded, the gun shots sounded in little mobs of sound.

The gun shots were a mixed blessing. If Owl's dad was being fired on, then he was still alive and still acting as a solid distraction from the supply group that Viper was leading. But if he was being fired on, then he hadn't got away clean and was still in danger.

As we skirted from the shadows of one building to another, I started to feel uneasy. As I tried to put my finger on the cause, I realized that the gun shots had stopped. I listened. I could still hear men shouting back and forth, although I couldn't make out the words. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

"Do you think my dad is alright?" Owl asked as we watched the fire from across town.

I wanted to lie to him. But I couldn't bring myself to do it, not even to comfort a friend.

"I don't know. He's pretty cool. But there would've been lots of guards with guns and all."

"It's weird to hear people calling him cool. And weirder to not know if he's alive."

We don't see the setting of the fire, because of course it took place during the training sequence.

We could see the fire burning from across town. We kept to the shadows, and stayed out of sight. It was impossible to feel safe though, because across town we could hear the unmistakable sound of gun shots. The gun shots were sporadic and there were long pauses between them. But when they sounded, the gun shots sounded in little mobs of sound.

The gun shots were a mixed blessing. If Owl's dad was being fired on, then he was still alive and still acting as a solid distraction from the supply group that Viper was leading. But if he was being fired on, then he hadn't got away clean and was still in danger.

As we skirted from the shadows of one building to another, I started to feel uneasy. As I tried to put my finger on the cause, I realized that the gun shots had stopped. I listened. I could still hear men shouting back and forth, although I couldn't make out the words. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

We arrived at the meeting point. And we waited. Hidden in the shadows, minutes crept by as we watched flashlight beams move in the distance and listened to the shouts of adults.

We had heard gun shots earlier of course, but all in the direction of the school. Nothing in the direction of Viper's group. But that didn't mean that they hadn't escaped clean. That didn't mean they had escaped at all. And that certainly didn't mean that they were safe.

Finally a quiet whistle caused us to turn, further back in the alley, we could see Viper's group. We joined them and stared at our new tribe as they laid out the duffle bags and backpacks filled with everything from rice to tarpaulins.

As we took stock of the equipment and supplies, I noticed Wolf watching the lights from the fires. They were visible even from the alleyway.

"The fires are spreading. It's pretty impressive." Wolf said.

"It's a good thing that it's winter." I added.

"Yeah, but we've been hearing gun shots, so it wasn't completely successful." Hawk said.
 
"They have multiple stockpiles, this was never going to get rid of all their weapons. The idea was cripple their ability to use force, not remove it." Owl said

"Well, we've crippled an angry monster, but we're still within biting distance." I said.

"Isn't that the truth." Owl said as he watched the lights from the fire flicker in the distance. He stared for a long time, until people began to shuffle awkwardly.

"Your dad's not coming my man. He's on the run and doesn't want to bring the heat back to us." Lion said.

Owl nodded, clearly unconvinced.

"Bud, your dad is the man. He pulled himself back together when every other adult went nuts. He'll make it."

"Maybe." Owl said.

"Maybe he let himself get caught to buy us more time." Sparrow offered.

"I hope not. My dad doesn't treat traitors well." Wolf said quietly

"He was never on your dad's side." Viper said.

"That's not how my dad will look at it." Wolf answered.

"That's if he even got caught." I said.

"That's if he even survived." Owl finished quietly.

I sat there thinking about how readily we talked about people not surviving. It wasn't a conversation that I would have guessed that I would have to have so frequently.

"This is it." Owl announced, "from here there is no turning back. We screwed up when we tried to hide in town. We screwed up when we tried to stay at cabin so close to town. From here we disappear. We leave town and we keep going. We don't look back and we don't stop until town more than a day's walk away at least. We don't live in safehopple bluff anymore. Nobody does. Safe hope bluff doesn't exist any longer. And it is time to leave."

We loaded up and began to head out. Everyone was out in force though, not just Them, and we had to move in the shadows and be very careful. Fortunately when I say everyone, I mean everyone who was still fit and healthy. And, the grim reality was that this reduced the number of people who could be seraching for us pretty considerably. Whenever we had to cross Main Street, I could see Mr. Wolf in the distance. He was coordinating the search, pointing where he wanted groups to go. He was limping, I noticed, but it didn't seem to be slowing him much.

"Does that man ever stop?" Owl asked in frustration.

Wolf looked at him.

"He might if he were dead, but I'm not sure. Remember buds,” Wolf added to the restof the group as we moved, “Owl's dad did a number on their guns and ammo situation. But we know they have more than one place that they use to keep that stuff. So that means we''re deep behind enemy lines. And they have guns. We don't." Wolf said.

And, as if on cue I heard an alarm cal go up. And suddenly we were all running to the cover of the next alley as shouts and commands echoed behind us. We were almost to the end of the alleyway when a gun shot rang out behind us.

They were shooting at us.

For a half moment, I almost froze. Several kids did.

“Move! Or you're an easier target! Go! Go!” I could hear Owl and Viper a little further to front yelling much the same things. I scrambled behind a steel dumpster as the gun shots echoed in the alley way. I was being shot at. We were being shot at. They were willing to shoot at children now. That was new.

"Well, I think we've conclusively rendered ourselves their enemies." Sparrow said. As he huddled beside me.

"We need to get some guns of our own," Lion said, "You know, even the odds."

"Do you know anything about gun safety? Or how to properly use a gun?" Owl said from behind a dumpster further down the alleyway.

"I play Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty."

"Then any gun you hold is going to be more dangerous to yourself and us that it will be to any opponent." Owl said. Then Owl paused as the shooting stopped.

“He's reloading,” Owl said sharply, “Now, run!”

We ran and quickly out distanced Them. I don't think most of the adults knew the back alleys of town quite as well as the kids. They probably did when they were our ages, but things change- and adults don't cope with change very well. We were nearing the edge of town when we rounded a corner and came face to face with my mother, holding service revolver at her side and flashlight pointed right at our group.

Nobody said anything, and I pushed my way to the front. She gave me a disappointed look. And then she lowered her flashlight so that it wasn't pointing at me.

"This isn't the right way." She said quietly.

"Was brutalizing Bart the right way, mom?"

"We make the compromises we must to defend what we hold dear."

"You don't have anything left, mom. You've given it all away in compromise. Including me." I said.

"I can't let you leave." She said.

I thought about this. I knew my mother was an outstanding shot with her service pistol. But I didn't think she could bring herself to shoot a child. Still, I wasn't sure that I could take that chance.

"So what will you do mom? Will you shoot us? On your own, that's the only way you're preventing us from going. Will you call for others? We won't stop for them either, and then they'll have to shoot us. Can you live with either of those options?"

She didn't answer.

"Here's an easy answer. You never saw us. You told me before everything exploded that people end up doing far too many things they later regret. Well you've compromised your morals for people whose actions you hate before. You can do it again, once more, for me.  Or," I paused and took a breath, "Or you can shoot your son in the back."

We looped back around and took a detour to avoid my mother. The problem that I was noticing, was that we were faster than the adults in almost all cases, but there were too many of us to effectively hide, and so when we came around another corner and almost ran over Viper's parents, I can't say that I was surprised. It wasn't as though we were having great luck at this point.

Viper’s Mom stared acidly at us over a flashlight beam, “Do you know what you’ve done?”

“Yeah mom, I do. We’ve made it harder for Mrs. Winter to use force to scare everyone into submission.”

“You’ve destroyed what little semblance of order that was left. You’ve plunged Safehope Bluff into anarchy.”

“It was a dictatorship before we blew things up. If you want it to stay a dictatorship, I’m sure Mrs. Winter will be willing to keep ruling over you.”

“You’ve abandoned your family!” Her father said with crossed arms.

Viper scowled, "You abandoned me when you made me give most of my rations to the brats because they're crybabies. You abandoned me every time you put them ahead of me. I wasn't your family, I was your Cinderella. You can keep your family. I'll make my own."

"Let's get out of here," Owl said, "We're done here."

“No, we can’t leave town yet. We aren’t done.”

“Why not? What’s left?”

“Who’s left? THat's what I’m thinking. I want to see if we can find my parents, and Bart”

"We all want to save our parents." Hawk added," My moms are cool. They've never been jerks to us- but they won't come. I tried to convince them that we should leave, and they were just like 'where would we go?', so I don't see how we can help the adults. They're all kind of blind."

“Why bother? You saw my mom, adults are useless.”

“My mom and my dad opposed all of this until they were stopped. And Bart help them and us the whole way along. And my parents are smart, they could help us. And they might be only one’s besides Owl’s dad who understand, even a little, what we’ve learned.”

"Owl's dad was awesome, and he may have died to buy us time to get these supplies. My dad was one of the few adults who helped us realize what we needed to do. If he's alive, then he can help us and so can my mom. They wouldn't be useless- they would actually help our chances at survival. And let's be honest here. Even with our gear, it's going to be hard going for us too. We're gambling different than the adults, but we're gambling and we need all the resources we can get. And my parents are good resources.

Viper nodded, "You've got a point. I'll go with you."

"We aren't leaving anyone behind, buds." Wolf said.

"Never leave a man behind." Lion said.

"Why not, it's not like we haven't cheated death enough already." Sparrow added.

A murmur swept through the group and I realized everyone was going to back Raven on this. It was an odd feeling. But I guess, when you draw a line between your group and the rest of the world; your loyalty to that group gets really strong really fast.