Vade Mecum
Use an RPG book to pick some hidden strengths for your avatar.
Use ANOTHER rpg book (preferrably a sourcebook or core rulebook) as your Vade Mecum
On your turn, your avatar becomes the star of the game.
But you will also need a reader.
The reader has authority over your turn.
The reader's authority comes from random passages read out of the vade mecum.
Whenever the reader has to (or wants to) make a ruling about what's going on in the game, he or she must back it up with a passage read (aloud) from the vade mecum.
You and the reader (and anyone else involved in the scene) can interpret this passage any way you want to (therefore, the more vague the rules, values or passages you're quoting, the better.) Final authority for this interpretation lies with the reader.
So, not only does picking the right reader for your turn become important, it also starts your turn.
Begin your turn by picking any other player's avatar to act as your reader for this turn.
If that reader ended up in a cliffhanger situation last time, your avatar automatically gets to rescue them.
You describe how this happens. (Feel free to accept hints from the reader on how it goes down.)
If your avatar got into a cliffhanger situation last time, your reader has the right to ask you how your avatar escaped.
You get to make up how your avatar escaped, too, but you must pay a price for this privelege.
Turn one of your dilemmas into a hidden strength to show how this narrow escape changed your avatar's outlook.
If you turn your last dilemma into a hidden strength, your turn ends and your darkest hour begins! (Skip the rest of these instructions and turn to that page.)
Once you've exchanged rescue stories with your reader, if any, your turn begins in earnest.
Until your reader says otherwise, you decide what your avatar can and can't do.
Your reader does have a few other rights as well. Your reader can ask you any question he or she likes and you must answer it honestly.
During your turn, your avatar trusts the reader implicitly, and with good reason.
Your reader cannot betray or mislead you during your turn. Your reader can not upstage you. Your reader has special priveleges to show the other players what your avatar thinks and feels, not to make you look like an idiot (unless you want to look like an idiot.)
Other players may get involved in your turn, too. If they do so, they must take on the role of a mouthpiece.
A mouthpiece may only contribute to your turn in one of three ways.
The mouthpiece may reveal a vital element to your avatar, based on the kind of voice the mouthpiece got assigned.
- Guides reveal a vulnerability to your avatar which improves your fighting chances against a troublesome character in the game.
- Survivors reveal a destiny to your avatar which improves any one of your chances against a troublesome character in the game.
- Bombshells reveal a scandal to your avatar which improves your political chances against a troublesome character in the game.
- Crooks reveal a plot to your avatar which improves your tactical chances against a troublesome character in the game.
- Insiders reveal a cover-up to your avatar which improves any one of your chances against a troublesome character in the game
.
- Eccentrics reveal a loophole to your avatar which improves your technical chances against a troublesome character in the game.
Alternately, the mouthpiece may reveal a challenge to your avatar which decreases the chances of taking on a troublesome character (whom the mouthpiece gets to name.)
Lastly, the mouthpiece may also reveal a clue to your avatar which leads you to a new place or a new person to investigate.
Once everyone has had a chance to participate, the reader may ask you into a tight spot.
The reader does this by giving a warning or asking a pointed question which underlines one of three things.
- The reader can bring up a troublesome character, one that did not show up as a mouthpiece this turn.
Your avatar must face this troublesome character and end your turn.
If your avatar has better chances than the troublesome character, you win the confrontation and your reader may reveal a twist which takes the story of the game in any direction your reader wants it to go. (readers can roll on the twist table for some ideas.)
If your avatar has worse chances than the troublesome character (or equal chances) then your reader will describe some doom which befalls your character. This puts your avatar into a cliffhanger situation and, until your next turn (or until someone rescues you as their reader) it will appear your avatar has perished.
- Alternately, the reader can worsen the mission, describing to you an awful discovery which makes it look like either the team will fail or the consequences for failure will cost even more than you first thought. (Again, there's a table.)
- Lastly, your reader can
Darkest Hour