Chapter exploration and Quest cards

Moving around in a Chapter

Note that each chapter is unique, not only in by its atmosphere but by the way that you will progress in the setting. Unlike your typical adventure game, we aren’t evolving on top-down 2D maps, but from an immersive point of view where the characters will evolve “in 3D”.

The Location and pathways structure allow the players to move up and down, from one point to another without tedious series of corridors, and allow the author to create many different approaches depending on the setting; you will not progress in the same way whether you are in the very “vertical” chapter 3, the various indoor/outdoor zones of the sanctuary, or  the narrow streets and rivers of chapter 2…

Shorcuts and secret ways

If you have read our rules, seen our videos or played the Prologue, you know how to progress in a chapter: one location at a time. But what if you could jump from places far apart, totally changing your options? And we are not talking about Teleportation Portals.

The city of The Cult is a nest of smugglers, surely there is a way to move around sneakily by secret passages and the many rowboats on the river ?  It would be pretty sweet to have a thematic way to totally change your approach to distances and reality.  By the way, did you notice that each location 00, the one that depicts the whole setting, has a lock?

Maybe something will allow you to flip it to show very precious information about the whole chapter.

Quest Cards

The game contains 20 Quest cards. These cards are hidden in the chapters, and unlock various assets to your party — most of them are positive (but not all!).

Once you collect them, they will alter your surroundings and impact your progression in many ways… When a Quest card is found, it is kept by the player who drew it, but placed in a common pool at the beginning of the next chapter, and will be given to the first player who finds a use for it; a convenient and hassle-free way to benefit the whole party!  Today let’s focus on Allies, Items and Artefacts.

Allies

Allies can be met in all chapters. Sometimes there is only one, at other times you can find several of them. Whenever an ally joins your party, it will trigger new Stories and alter events and locations in the chapter.

The mechanic is simple yet effective: each ally has a dedicated icon. When the icon is displayed on a Location or a Story and the Ally is with your party, you have to draw the Story card of the corresponding number. Otherwise, nothing happens and you keep exploring the setting as usual!

These icons can be found on multiple Locations in each chapter, and will drastically modify your experience of it. Somebody who knows the place, have special relation with its inhabitants, will certainly impact your progression and understanding of the story?

Allies can trigger new Stories, flip Locations, drawing or removing enemies… The possibilities are almost endless. Also remember that Allies will carry over from one chapter to the next!

Items

Quest cards also display items to be found in the chapters. If an item is used only for one chapter, it is usually a simple story card to keep with you. But if it is in a Quest card, the long-term memory of the game, it means that it will be useful in the following chapters, either by raw gameplay effects, or new stories related to it. It would be pretty cool if an item casullay found in The Sanctuary could trigger a surge of magical power in The Pit, wouldn’t it?

Artefacts

In each chapter, our heroes can try to find a very powerful magic item: an Artefact. There is at least one unique artefact per chapter. It is not needed to complete the adventure as it’s not a main objective, but it has very strong gameplay effects that will boost your party once per chapter, at the timing of your choosing.

Whenever you want to use it, you have to draw a Story with a specific number. This number remains the same from chapter to chapter, but its effect will not! Some Artefacts’ efficiency might wane as time passes, or trigger different effects depending on the setting. Finding this items of powers will be most welcome to beat the increasing difficulty of the game.

We could go on and on about this, but we could delve into serious spoiler territory. So we’d rather remind you that you can now try the Prologue on Tabletopia!