The Shivering Circle: Charity Shop of the Damned

The Shivering Circle is now available to buy in digital format at DriveThruRPG.com (print is coming soon).

Part of the text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. What this means is that you can use the rules for The Shivering Circle in your own horror games (or even other sorts of games if you want), and that includes games you can sell, as long as you give due credit.

You can find a beta playtest of the game here, although the rules have changed slightly, and an excerpt here. But here's one more of the more whimsical horrors the village of Hoddesford has to offer you...

The Shivering Circle: Setting Materials, Updates

It's been months since I posted up a set of playtest rules for my attempt at a folk horror role-playing game (which you can find here), and if I've been quiet the last few weeks, it's partly because I've been working on We Don't Go Back, but also partly because I've been trying to get this written up into a small yet perfectly formed book. I thought I'd give an update about what I'm doing with it, and supply some excerpts from the setting material I've written...

Moyra, Trader of Qeraf

Backers of Chariot will be glad to know that Cosmic Memory is finally on its way. This is one of my favourites from Malcolm's collection of supporting characters. It has a delicacy, a poetry to it. It felt right.

He has fixed His sign in the sky

I wonder how long it took for the news to filter through, that things had changed, that the sons of the old emperors had fought and one had died, driven headlong into the river as the Milvian Bridge collapsed and his own retreating forces, panicking, tried to cross, dragged to the bottom, drowned.

Jaa-Shani, Lord of Saturn

It's been a while since I posted something from Chariot. This is from the upcoming supplement Cosmic Memory, and is by the inimitable Malcolm Sheppard. Backers will see the draft for this in a week or two and the thing will be released in the wild as a pdf by September, all going according to plan. Backers, and only backers, get the pamphlet.

City of God #1: Inchoate History

While I've been waiting for the draft of Cosmic Memory to be polished off, I've started working and planning for Chariot's companion game, still provisionally titled City of God. 

A map

Burn it Up. Tear it Down.

XVI. The Tower

As I write, the Chariot crowdfunder campaign, successfully funded and one stretch goal up, is over in about (looks at watch) 21 hours. It hit its goal twice over, and that surprised me because I  did not know if something that's so very much about my vision, and my very personal imagination would strike a chord with anyone at all. Like a lot of the things I've done, it has attracted a small number of people who are passionately invested in it.

Which is not a thing to be sad about. I'm of course going to keep writing, but as the last post before the finish line, I thought I'd post the last page of the book. 

Qeraf, The Seven Cities and One

The inevitable Crowdfunder update: Having sailed gently and gracefully past the £1000 mark like one of the aerial yachts of Caiphul, I'm pleased to say that I am able to pay Malcolm Sheppard money (and good, proper money, or something more approaching good proper money than the RPG industry usually offers) to write a chunk of material for the game, 10,000 words of it.

There are two days to go!  Please, even if you don't want to give us your money, share it on the usual social media, like Chariot on Facebook, follow me on Twitter and check out the Indiegogo campaign. Everyone who contributes more than a pound gets to see all the drafts.

OK, done. On to today's extract. 

I'm in an ebullient mood. So, one of the more fanciful, romantic corners of the setting today. Who doesn't love a flying island?

Magic: a Few Examples

I. The Magician

Before I start!

OK, listen. Chariot's crowdfunder has fewer than 72 hours to run. At the time of writing, it's only £12 short of its first stretch goal (which would mean my being able to pay Malcolm Sheppard to write more material for the game, a catalogue of supporting cast members for your games) and therefore £1012 short of making its second stretch goal (rich background on the science and society of Atlantis, as written by Stew Wilson). Let's be honest: I don't think somehow I'm going to make it on the second goal at this stage, but stranger things have happened, and Stew deserves your love as much as Malcolm. If you've supported Chariot already, please share, support, tell folks. Because you never know.

[Edit: OK, so it made its stretch goal a half hour later and Malcolm's already been told he's good to go.]

It's still at http://igg.me/at/ChariotRoleplay  

So the magic system I wrote about here and here is pretty simple. You spend the points, you do the magic, and there are some things you just can't do, but pretty much anything else you can. But what can you do? Sometimes "anything" just doesn't tell you quite enough. So here are some examples...

Magic: Mechanics

Three of Wands

Magic rules are the fiddliest thing of any fantasy game, and how your magic rules work are a major part of the flavour of the game, and so they were the biggest headache for me in all sorts of ways. In the end, though, this is what I came up with and I'm pretty happy with it. It's going to make more sense if read in conjunction with my previous post on magic systems.

Of course, there's only a few days to go of the Chariot Crowdfunder! You can still support me and I would really like it if you did.

Five Facts Concerning Mu, Built on Hope and Blood

XX. Judgement

Next time, I'll delve into the magic system and some examples of what one can do with it, but first another extract from the world section, this time about the land of Mu. Chariot's crowdfunder is healthy but has but a short time left. The price of the game will be higher when it goes on general sale, so please do consider helping or sharing.

The Theory of Magic

Chariot's crowdfunder now stands only about £92 short of its first stretch goal, with 15 days to go. Please tell your friends about the game, share my posts and contribute if you like my writing. 

Anyway, after all that painful family history and difficult words about rape, it's business as usual, as today, we have another excerpt from the magic rules of Chariot. Tomorrow, some explanation on how this goes together, but today, the structure of a magic system based upon a theosophical Atlantis. People knowledgeable in Western occultism will probably recognise bits. That's not a bad thing. 

On Slavery, and the Violation of Consent

Page of Wands

This post carries a warning. If you are offended or distressed by discussions of human consent and the violation thereof or if they bring back things you'd rather they didn't, please stop reading. I'm on your side here, believe me.

If you like my writing and you agree with what I'm getting at, you can still support Chariot here, and I would love you to do so. VII.CHA.BE.CHA

What Magic Can't Do

Seven of Wands

An excerpt from Chariot's magic section. It might seem unduly negative, but the way that the magic of Chariot works, it's actually easier to define what magic can't do rather than what it can. These limits on magic, by the way, are the ones codified by early Theosophist William Quan Judge in Occult Arts, which you can read here, here and here. Judge was responsible for the US branch of the Theosophical Society, still based in Pasadena, making a decisive break with the Indian/UK branch shortly after Madame Blavatsky's death, leading to there being, now, two Theosophical Societies. Why? Leadbeater, basically. 

And don't forget: I'm still funding! Help us get to our stretch goals at http://igg.me/at/ChariotRoleplay
  VII.CHA.BE.CHA

In Lemuria

9 of Wands

The section on Atlantis is now 100% written. Lemuria, though, is dreamlike, and its inhabitants think in songs and verse and dance. I decided to do something different with Lemuria. Lemuria's section is written as a poem. Here's some of it.

So I made a game

So I made a game where the point is altruism. Seriously, your character is a demigod, doomed, yes, but unable to be beaten. There's no point in self-actualisation; your character is already about as far as you can go on that road. No, the struggle, and the point, is in making a difference in a larger sense. It lies in freeing the slaves, standing as an accusation against the horrendous human sin we call “empire” and getting people off the land when it sinks, when the bombs fall and the meteorites hit and the land breaks in two. You fight a harder battle. Heroism is in who you save, because the lot of your hero is, as is the way of heroes, to conquer the armies of the world and to die in the end of the age.

And I made a game where there are no monsters. There are only fallible people and animals following their nature. Sure, some of the greater villains might even call themselves monsters, but one thing I've learned is that when you call yourself a monster, you only use it as a perverse badge of pride, as a way to hide from the true banality of your failings. Because the greatest crimes – empires, institutionalised slavery, genocides – they're a function of smallness. They're failures of imagination, failures to be better. You can be better. Here: you know what's going to happen, you know when you're going to die; what will you do with this?

VII.CHA.BE.CHA 

Chalidocean, City of the Golden Gates, Dream of Empire

XVI. The Tower

Important piece of lore today. Today's post isn't in the current draft but will be in the new version I'm uploading Friday, which you can get hold of early if you support Chariot at http://igg.me/at/ChariotRoleplay.VII.CHA.BE.CHA

Why the Black Sun is Winning

XVII. The Star.

The Chariot Crowdfunder continues apace and would love you to support it.

In the meantime, here is an assessment of where Atlantis is going at its end.

Cercenes, City of the Vine

Five of Cups, Five of Wounds: A Cercenian citizen.

We still have over seven weeks left in the Chariot funding campaign and we're still reaching, straining towards our stretch goals, the first of which is a suite of supporting cast as written by the inestimable Malcolm Sheppard.

Tomorrow, I'm going to talk about why the Black Sun is winning, but for now, here is another of the stranger creations of my private Atlantis, the city of Cercenes.