Ceremony In Shadow

Introduction

In "Ceremony in Shadow," players take on the roles of aspiring occultists in a world that has fallen prey to dark forces. Supernatural threats and occult mysteries plague the land, and player characters must band together to survive and uncover the secrets of the occult. The game uses a modified version of the Caltrop Core system in which player characters have three primary abilities – Brutality, Aptitude, and Faith – and can gain "Occult" tokens to add to their rolls, but risk increasing their Corruption with each token they acquire. 

Each player character also chooses a Type – The Knower, The Watcher, or The Maker – which grants them a unique ability but also a unique flaw. Knowers are historians, scientists, and priests. Watchers are thieves, wanderers, and hunters. Makers are inventors at best, alchemists, or worst of all, sorcerers. As a Knower, player characters rely on their knowledge of the supernatural to help uncover the mysteries of the occult, but their expertise comes at a cost of preexisting Corruption. As a Watcher, player characters observe the world around them and gain insight into the supernatural, but must also be wary of growing too dependent on their observations. And as a Maker, player characters can use their abilities to weave their own occult workings, but risk succumbing to Corruption in the process. 

In "Ceremony in Shadow," player characters must explore a dark and foreboding world, face down terrifying supernatural Threats such as Effigies, Devourers, and Enigmas, and uncover the secrets of the occult without succumbing to Corruption. The world around them is in a state of decay, and the survival of the player characters and their communities may depend on their ability to unravel the mysteries of the occult and stave off the supernatural threats that seek to destroy them. 

How To Play

 Ceremony in Shadow is a game for two to four players and a Game Master (or GM, the person responsible for running the game). The players control player characters, describing their actions and rolling four-sided dice, or “d4s” to determine the effects of those actions. Using recording tools such as pencil and paper/cue cards or electronic devices, as well as their imagination and four-sided dice, the GM and the player characters collaborate to tell a story over the course of play - one in which the player characters attempt to gather the occult knowledge necessary to survive in a decaying reality, risking their lives, sanities, and souls in the process. As player characters gain occult knowledge, they’ll also need tokens of some kind (coins, bottle caps, poker chips, etc) to track the Occult Tokens they gain. The game is usually played in sessions of 3-4 hours, which may cover part or all of a solitary Chapter (known as a One-Shot), or one in a series of Chapters. 

Art by Grant Jeffery, https://www.instagram.com/myohmykinoeye/

* This work is based on Caltrop Core, published by Titanomachy RPG. The Caltrop Core SRD is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

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