309A.B.
- Harvestide
A poor harvest in Brackendon. Two vills went to the almonry.
- the Long Dark
In this year the Grimwall was walked end to end by no man, the third year running, and the mile-forts stood open to the weather.
Palette
Ink and candle by default; vellum by choice. One accent — a dull gold — and three semantic colours that mean something: cold blue-grey for the Shadow side, a sickly grey-green for the Hollowing, madder for harm. Every pairing here clears WCAG AA against its own background in both themes.
Surfaces
page
#0e0c0a / #f3ede1
the page itself
surface
#15120e / #faf6ec
a lifted field
raised
#1c1813 / #fffdf7
tooltips, toasts
inset
#0a0908 / #e9e1d1
wells, tracks, inputs
Rules
rule
#2b2419 / #dcd1ba
the ordinary hairline
rule-hard
#40372a / #b9ab8f
a division that matters
Text
ink
#ece3d1 / #1e1913
narrative prose
ink-soft
#c8bca4 / #453c2f
secondary prose
ink-mute
#a2957c / #635948
glosses, labels
ink-faint
#857a68 / #736a59
the quietest thing legible
Gold — the one accent
gold
#c9a227 / #7d5f0d
Grace, Triumph, focus
gold-bright
#e6c766 / #a17c14
hover, the focus ring
gold-dim
#6d5714 / #cbb682
gold hairlines
gold-wash
#241d0c / #f0e6cb
the faintest gold field
Shade — the Shadow side
shade
#8ba0ae / #3f5361
the Shadow die, Setback, Ruin
shade-dim
#3d4a53 / #a8b4bc
cold hairlines
shade-wash
#14191d / #e6ecf0
the Ruin plate
Hollow — the Worm
hollow
#97a56f / #55603a
Hollowing, the Worm stirs
hollow-dim
#4c5436 / #aab093
sickly hairlines
hollow-wash
#16180f / #ebedde
a hollowed field
Madder — harm and cost
madder
#c2685a / #8d382a
wounds, Tarnish, Cost
madder-dim
#5d2d25 / #c9a49c
wound hairlines
madder-wash
#1e100d / #f4e4e0
a bloodied field
Silver — the Silver die
silver
#ded8c8 / #3c3a34
the Silver die and its total
silver-dim
#4b4740 / #c3bdae
the die’s facets
Typography
The typography is the graphics. Narrative prose is set in a system serif at 18.5px over a 66-character measure with real leading; chrome is a smaller sans in letterspaced small caps. Nothing is loaded over the network, so there is no flash and no shift.
Narrative prose · 18.5 / 1.7 / 66ch · drop cap
Rain since Lentmonth, and the Wex up over the stepping-stones, and the carts coming down the drove road behind them with the last of the seed corn. The ford was knee-deep and loud. On the far bank the willows had been pollarded so long they had gone knuckled and strange, and there were men standing in among them who were not there when the light was better.
He put his shield down into the water and felt the current take it and lean on it, the way a hand leans on a door. The stone underfoot was good. The stone had been good for three hundred years, which was the point of a ford.
Headings
Display
Section
Scene heading
Card title
Chrome labels
Default small capsGoldShadeHollowMadderSerif small caps
Numerals
0123456789 — tabular lining
0123456789 — old-style, in prose
mono 0123456789 — ids and hex
Measure
This paragraph is exactly 66 characters wide at the narrative size. Any longer and the eye loses the line-start on the return sweep.
Rules, ornaments & cards
Space and rule-lines instead of boxes. A card is usually a shift of surface with no border at all; the framed forms are reserved for things that must be lifted off the page.
Rules
Muster
Cards
Flat — the default
A shift of surface, no border
Used for nearly everything.
Ruled
A single hairline
aside
For grouping that space alone cannot carry.
Plate · gold
Lifted off the page
A Triumph, a Grace, a thorn restored.
Plate · shade
Cold
A Ruin.
Badges, stats & states
Badges
NeutralGraceShadowHollowedWoundedQuiet
NeutralGraceShadowHollowedWounded
Stats and pips
Vigour
12 / 18
Deeds
7
Tarnish
3 / 10
Renown
31
Renowned — an audience with a shire lord
Standing22 / 100
Unrest3 / 10
Spinner & empty
The Steward is decidingAwaiting NestRehydrating the Chronicle
No ventures on offer
The roads are shut and nobody is riding. Take a House action and wait for the thaw.
Form controls
Field
Anglo-Saxon dithematic — Aethel-, Ead-, Wulf-, Os-.
A seat must be named. A House without a hall is a rumour.
Only you will see this.
Select
Grants four key skills at rank 2 and one Feature.
Four are withered. Choosing one is choosing a campaign.
Slider
6 hard
trivialhardbeyond
The ladder from RULES §1.3.
5
Set at the Interlude, not here.
Tabs, tooltips, dialogs & toasts
Tabs
Panel: sheet. Arrow keys move between tabs; Home and End jump to the ends.
Tooltip
Momentum
Dialog
Toast
A Grace is given
Static specimen.
The Steward played Aethelric
He held the line, per his standing orders. Override for 1 Momentum.
Scroll area
The Grimwall runs seventy miles from the Long Straight to the western sea, and there are mile-forts at every mile of it, and there has been nobody in any of them since the ninetieth year.
The Vessics built it to keep the Cairn-clans out. The clans have not come south in four generations. Something else uses the gates now, and it is not going north.
House Grimhold swore the Thorn of Watch — that the Wall be manned. House Grimhold is a name on a burnt roll in an abbey nobody visits.
The Weighing
Two d10, an itemised ledger on each side, the Margin, and the band. The dice tumble for six hundred milliseconds on arrival and not at all under prefers-reduced-motion. The omens are set as marginalia, the way a scribe would gloss a page.
all six states below re-tumble
Triumph
- Silver die
- 10
- Attribute
- +4
- Skill
- +3
- Momentum
- +2
- Ashgrim
- +1
Silver total10
- Shadow die
- 9
- Difficulty
- +6
- The Rain
- +1
Shadow total9
Margin—
Weighing
The dice are still falling.
Success
- Silver die
- 10
- Attribute
- +3
- Skill
- +2
Silver total10
- Shadow die
- 9
- Difficulty
- +4
Shadow total9
Margin—
Weighing
The dice are still falling.
Success at a Cost
- Silver die
- 10
- Attribute
- +4
- Skill
- +2
- Wound
- −1
Silver total10
- Shadow die
- 9
- Difficulty
- +5
Shadow total9
Margin—
Weighing
The dice are still falling.
Setback
- Silver die
- 10
- Attribute
- +2
- Skill
- +0
- Untrained
- −2
Silver total10
- Shadow die
- 9
- Difficulty
- +6
Shadow total9
Margin—
Weighing
The dice are still falling.
Ruin
- Silver die
- 10
- Attribute
- +4
- Skill
- +3
Silver total10
- Shadow die
- 9
- Difficulty
- +8
- The Dark
- +2
Shadow total9
Margin—
Weighing
The dice are still falling.
The Reckoning's Eye
- Silver die
- 10
- Attribute
- +2
- Skill
- +4
Silver total10
- Shadow die
- 9
- Difficulty
- +10
Shadow total9
Margin—
Weighing
The dice are still falling.
Compact — as embedded in the log
20vs9(+11)TriumphA GraceAethelric — Hold the Whispering Ford until the carts are over
12vs8(+4)SuccessAethelric — Persuade the reeve of Grimsditch to open his rolls
10vs10(+0)Success at a CostThe MirrorAethelric — Carry Mildgyth out of the fray
3vs14(−11)RuinAethelric — Read the Vessic inscription by lantern-light
8vs20(−12)RuinThe Worm StirsFalteringAethelric — Stand between the Hollowed thing and the child
16vs20(−4)SetbackThe Reckoning's EyeA GraceThe Worm StirsThe MirrorAethelric — Speak the ninth name at the Drowned Ring
Clocks
A pie of segments. Threat reads as menace, Quest as hope, a monster's Doom as the Worm's own green. Hidden clocks show as ??? and reveal by degrees — nothing in this game may kill you from hiding.
Sizes — 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
2 / 4
3 / 6
4 / 8
5 / 10
6 / 12
Fill states
0 / 8
2 / 8
4 / 8
6 / 8
8 / 8
Tones
What walks the Lychway
Threat5/8drifts +1/season
Three carters have not come back off Brackendon Moor, and the fourth came back wrong.
Recover the oath-rolls of House Vellacott
Quest4/6
Forty years burnt. Copies were kept. Somebody kept copies.
The warding of the Whispering Ford
Ritual3/10
Nine names, spoken in order, on nine successive nights.
What the working is waking
Backlash4/6
It fills on every Cost, Setback and Ruin, and on every Shadow ten.
Mildgyth is bleeding out
Dying2/4
It fills one per round unattended. Physick, Rites, or a Grace will stop it.
Black Shuck
Doom3/4
It ticks at the end of its turn, on every Ruin, and on every Shadow ten.
Talk the reeve into opening his rolls
Suasion2/6
The reeve has heard enough
Patience3/4
The hunger-gapStruck
Season12/12
Struck. The granaries at Ashholt are empty and it is six weeks to the shearing.
Hidden clocks — progressive reveal (RULES §10.4)
??? (Grimsditch)
Unknown?/?
Something is turning. The tidings name the shire, and no more.
??? (Coldcombe)
Threat6/8
A rumour names the kind of it, not the shape.
The barrows above Coldcombe are opening
Threat6/8
From the inside.
Stacked layout
What walks the Lychway
Threat5/8drifts +1/season
Three carters have not come back off Brackendon Moor, and the fourth came back wrong.
Recover the oath-rolls of House Vellacott
Quest4/6
Forty years burnt. Copies were kept. Somebody kept copies.
Virtue & vice
One slider from −5 to +5. Which way the character leans is the first thing you see; the extremes are drawn as states rather than as numbers, because at ±5 the slider takes the wheel.
Every state of one pair
Exemplar — controlling
Cruelty+5Mercy
Exemplarthe Merciful — controlling. When Tested, the engine says what you do. Resist once a chapter for 2 Momentum or 1 Grace.
Insistent
Cruelty+4Mercy
InsistentActing against it costs 1 Momentum.
Leaning to the virtue
Cruelty+2Mercy
Invoke at rating 2. Tested when an enemy helpless, a debt that could be forgiven.
Balanced
Cruelty0Mercy
Balanced. Neither may be invoked.
Leaning to the vice
Cruelty-2Mercy
Yield at rating 2. Tested when an enemy helpless, a debt that could be forgiven.
Insistent
Cruelty-4Mercy
InsistentActing against it costs 1 Momentum.
Fallen — controlling
Cruelty-5Mercy
Fallenthe Cruel — controlling. When Tested, the engine says what you do. Resist once a chapter for 2 Momentum or 1 Grace.
All six pairs
Craven+3Valour
Cruelty+5Mercy
Betrayal+4Troth
Indulgence0Temperance
Pride-2Humility
Tyranny+1Justice
Adjustable (character creation)
Craven+2Valour
Invoke at rating 2. Tested when facing fear, standing when others flee.
Drag, or focus the track and use the arrow keys.
The Hollowing
Always visible. Quickened is almost invisible chrome; by the Wanhope the label has opened out and started to breathe. The escalation is in weight and letterspacing, never in noise.
Strip — the six ranks
Quickened8
Souring27
Withering42
Hollowing68
The Wanhope88
The Reckoning97
Panel
The Realm — the Hollowing42 / 100
Withering
02040608095
Blight in the fields, murrain in the herds. The Hollowed appear.
Local reading
Brackendon — Hollowing61
House crests
A Blazon rendered as arms: field tincture, an ordinary, a charge and a cadency mark, in the correct heraldic tinctures. Nine Houses, nine unmistakably different shields.
House Thornfell
We keep the watch that was set
Sable, a chevron or, a thorn argent
House Merewald
The water remembers
Azure, a fess argent, three barrulets wavy argent, a crescent for difference
House Ravensholt
No mercy to the Worm’s men
Gules, a chief sable, a raven sable
House Vellacott
Read it aloud
Argent, a pale purpure, a lantern or, a label for difference
House Grimhold
That the Wall be manned
Vert, a saltire argent, a tower sable, a mullet for difference
House Harrowdene
None in our tenure starve
Or, a bend gules, an oak vert
House Bramblewise
Nine ways, nine wells
Purpure, a pile or, a worm sable, an annulet for difference
House Stanwich
The ward kept whole
Argent, a cross azure, a crown or, a martlet for difference
House Aldenshaw
The oak is tended
Vert, an oak or, a rose for difference
Sizes
The Fellowship bar
Four numbers that must never be more than a glance away. Momentum belongs to a character and Dread to a scene, so the bar is told about both.
Fellowship4 / 6Grace2 / 5Aethelric's Momentum2 / 6Dread1 / 6
Your turn
Fellowship1 / 6Grace0 / 5Nest's Momentum0 / 6Dread5 / 6
Awaiting Bleddyn
Fellowship6 / 6Grace5 / 5Mildgyth's Momentum6 / 6Dread0 / 6
Withering42
The zone map
Abstract positions, not a grid. Laid out by breadth from the first zone, so any encounter draws without hand-placed coordinates.
- Fellowship
- Foe
- Neutral
- Acting now
Choices
Every check states its attribute, its skill, its difficulty and the honest odds of each outcome band. A locked choice always says why — a lock without a reason is a bug, not a mystery.
What do you dopress 1–6
press 1–6, or use the arrow keys
Another player’s turn — odds hidden, all disabled
Nest is deciding
Temptation & compulsion
The gain and the cost are set in identical type, in identical columns, in identical colour, and the two buttons are the same button. The interface must not lean. When the slider is at ±5 it is no longer an offer, and the card says so.
An offer
The reiver is face-down in the ford with your boot on his back and no strength left in him. He is perhaps fifteen. He is also the one who put the spear through your shoulder at Hærfest, and he knows the way through the moor.
Hold him under until he stops.
Gain
The Thornmarch hears of it. +2 Silver on every Command Weighing for the rest of the chapter, and the reivers do not come back to this ford.
Cost
−1 Mercy, +1 Tarnish. Nest sees you do it, and the Bond drops to 2.
Refusing costs 1 Momentum.
Aethelric is Tested on Cruelty — an enemy helpless, a debt that could be forgiven.
Compelled — Mercy at +5
Compelled
the Merciful · the slider is at +5 and controlling
Your Mercy stands at +5. It is not a preference any longer; it is the shape you have worn yourself into.
Aethelric takes his boot off the boy, hauls him up by the collar, and puts him on the bank coughing river-water.
What it gains
+1 Deed. Nest will remember it. The boy will remember it for longer.
What it costs
The reivers keep the far bank tonight, and the way through the moor stays theirs.
Resisting costs 2 Momentum or 1 Grace, once a chapter. It shifts Mercy/Cruelty to +4.
Offer with no Momentum in hand
The reiver is face-down in the ford with your boot on his back and no strength left in him. He is perhaps fifteen. He is also the one who put the spear through your shoulder at Hærfest, and he knows the way through the moor.
Hold him under until he stops.
Gain
The Thornmarch hears of it. +2 Silver on every Command Weighing for the rest of the chapter, and the reivers do not come back to this ford.
Cost
−1 Mercy, +1 Tarnish. Nest sees you do it, and the Bond drops to 2.
Refusing costs 1 Momentum. You have none, so it costs +1 Dread instead.
Aethelric is Tested on Cruelty — an enemy helpless, a debt that could be forgiven.
Compelled, and cannot resist
Compelled
the Cruel · the slider is at −5 and controlling
Your Mercy stands at +5. It is not a preference any longer; it is the shape you have worn yourself into.
Bleddyn puts the boy under the water and holds him there, and does not hurry.
What it gains
+1 Deed. Nest will remember it. The boy will remember it for longer.
What it costs
The reivers keep the far bank tonight, and the way through the moor stays theirs.
Bleddyn cannot resist: it wants 2 Momentum or 1 Grace, and there are neither.
The narrative log
Eight kinds of block, one measure. It auto-scrolls only when you are already at the foot of the page; if you are reading further up it offers to take you down instead of dragging you. Only the tail is mounted.
scroll up first, then append, to see the polite notice
The Whispering Ford
Rain since Lentmonth, and the Wex up over the stepping-stones, and the carts coming down the drove road behind them with the last of the seed corn. The ford was knee-deep and loud. On the far bank the willows had been pollarded so long they had gone knuckled and strange, and there were men standing in among them who were not there when the light was better.
Aethelric put his shield down into the water and felt the current take it and lean on it, the way a hand leans on a door. The stone underfoot was good. The stone had been good for three hundred years, which was the point of a ford.
Aethelric
They will not cross while we stand in it. Carts first. Then us.
Nest
And if they have a bow among them?
AethelricThen I will be very wet and very surprised.
20vs9(+11)TriumphA GraceAethelric — Hold the Whispering Ford until the carts are over
The first of them came at the shield and went off it sideways into the water, and did not get up quickly, and the second one thought better of it. Behind him the cart wheels found the stone and held.
Grace +1 — a Silver ten. The Fellowship holds 2.
Quest clock “Hold the crossing” +3 — Triumph. Now 5 of 6.
3vs14(−11)RuinNest — Read the Vessic inscription by lantern-light
Nest went for the weir and the weir went for her, a spar going out from under her boot with a sound like a bone. She got her arms over it. It was not dignified and it was not fatal.
Momentum +1 — a Setback teaches. Nest holds 3.
Nest
I am fine. I am entirely fine. Do not look at me.
Written in the Chronicle
In this year the ford at Wexmere was held against the reivers of the Thornmarch by Aethelric of Thornfell, of the Ash Branch, with four at his back and the seed corn behind him; and the corn came through; and it was reckoned afterward that he had no orders to be there.
16vs20(−4)SetbackThe Reckoning's EyeA GraceThe Worm StirsThe MirrorAethelric — Speak the ninth name at the Drowned Ring
Afterwards, in the dark, with the carts gone on and the rain finally stopping, he found he could not remember the name of the vill they had burned at Grimsditch, and this frightened him more than the willows had.
The Chronicle
Set as an annal: the year in the margin, seasons within it, and importance carried by prominence — a footnote is small and grey, an age-defining thing gets an ornament and the largest text on the page.
The Annals of the Ash Branch
Anno Bindingis
310A.B.
- the Greening· an age-defining thing
In this year died Osgar of Thornfell, of the Ash Branch, in his bed and not well; and the seat passed to Wulfstan his eldest; and Aethelric his second took service on the marches, having no land and no wish to be given any.
- the Long Dark
The barrows above Coldcombe were reported open by a shepherd, who was not believed, and who did not repeat it.
311A.B.
- Harvestide
A spear-thrust through the shoulder at the Whispering Ford; and the carts came over; and the reivers took nothing but a lesson.
- the Long Dark
Milk soured at Nettlestead for eleven days. The Bramblewise was sent for.
312A.B.
- Wolfmonth· an age-defining thing
In this year the Hollowing was reckoned at two-and-forty across the realm, which is Withering, and the Lord Beacon of Hallowmere kept the Long Watch alone, no other Beacon coming; and it was said in the shires that four thorns were withered and the fifth going.
- the Greening
The vill at Grimsditch burned in the night. The cause was not established, and the reeve was not asked twice.
Newest first, notable and above
312A.B.
- Wolfmonth· an age-defining thing
In this year the Hollowing was reckoned at two-and-forty across the realm, which is Withering, and the Lord Beacon of Hallowmere kept the Long Watch alone, no other Beacon coming; and it was said in the shires that four thorns were withered and the fifth going.
- the Greening
The vill at Grimsditch burned in the night. The cause was not established, and the reeve was not asked twice.
311A.B.
- Harvestide
A spear-thrust through the shoulder at the Whispering Ford; and the carts came over; and the reivers took nothing but a lesson.
310A.B.
- the Greening· an age-defining thing
In this year died Osgar of Thornfell, of the Ash Branch, in his bed and not well; and the seat passed to Wulfstan his eldest; and Aethelric his second took service on the marches, having no land and no wish to be given any.
- the Long Dark
The barrows above Coldcombe were reported open by a shepherd, who was not believed, and who did not repeat it.
309A.B.
- the Long Dark
In this year the Grimwall was walked end to end by no man, the third year running, and the mile-forts stood open to the weather.
Empty
Nothing yet is written. The years are still to come.
The character sheet
Dense but ruled: identity at the head, the mid-scene numbers on one line beneath it, then attributes and corruption on the left and skills, virtues and the life on the right.
Aethelric of Thornfell, the Merciful
Sworn Blade of House Thornfell of the Ash Branch — Second-born, keeps both Troths
27 wintersRaised in the garrison at Thornfell Barhe/himactive
We keep the watch that was set
Vigour12/18
Resolve11/14
Guard5
Composure7
Swiftness6 + d10
Load8
Momentum2/6
Doubt1/3
Deeds7
Renown31 · Renowned
Attributes
- Might4
- Deftness3
- Wits3
- Lore2
- Bearing3
- Faith2
Corruption
Tarnish3Marked
−1 Silver on Rites and Courtesy. Dogs dislike you.
Dread marks1 of 3 this chapter. Three brings an Affliction.
Wounds & afflictions
- Spear-thrust through the shoulderserious
Taken at the Whispering Ford, holding the crossing while the carts went over. It aches before rain.
Arms −1 — 2 seasons to heal
- Two fingers shortlight
The left hand. He does not speak of how.
Craft −1 — a Scar; it will not heal
- Will not sleep indoorsaffliction
Since the vill at Grimsditch he sleeps in the yard, in weather, and rises before the bell.
Gear
WeaponAshgrim
Off handKite shield, painted over
ArmourMail and plates
TrinketsSt Osgar's token
CarriedWool cloak, oiled · Cold iron nail · Bread and salt
CarvingsThorn on ash wand (1)
Skills
Might
- Arms
- Athletics
Deftness
- Archery
- Horsemanship
- Stealth−2
- Larceny−2
- Craft—
Wits
- Woodcraft
- Insight
- Hedgecraft−2
Lore
- Physick−2
- Letters
- Antiquary−2
- Beastlore
- Runes−2
- Blightlore−2
Bearing
- Courtesy
- Rhetoric
- Command
- Heraldry
Faith
- Rites
An unmarked untrained skill may be attempted freely; −2 marks an Impediment for attempting it untrained.
Virtue & vice
Craven+3Valour
Invoke at rating 3. Tested when facing fear, standing when others flee.
Cruelty+5Mercy
Exemplarthe Merciful — controlling. When Tested, the engine says what you do. Resist once a chapter for 2 Momentum or 1 Grace.
Betrayal+4Troth
InsistentActing against it costs 1 Momentum.
Indulgence0Temperance
Balanced. Neither may be invoked.
Pride-2Humility
Yield at rating 2. Tested when credit to be taken, counsel to be heard.
Tyranny+1Justice
Invoke at rating 1. Tested when power held over one who cannot resist.
Oath-debtsTroth, sworn in chapter 4. Act against them and take a Tarnish.
Bonds
- Mildgyth the ReeveOath
He swore to see her tenants through the hunger-gap, and it is Reedmonth.
- Wulfstan Ash-BranchKin
His elder brother, who holds the seat, and who does not write.
- Nest ferch OwainLove
Neither has said it aloud. Both Houses would object.
Ambitions
See one mile-fort of the Grimwall manned again2 Deeds
Be reconciled with Wulfstan before either is buried1 Deed
Hold the Whispering Ford against the Court2 Deeds
Talents
- Oathwardtier 1
When you Invoke Troth or Valour, an ally in your zone also gains +2 Silver this round.
- The Shieldwall Taught at Thornfelltier 2
While Steadfast, allies in your zone gain +1 Guard.
Of the bloodline
- Of the Merciful Line
His grandmother spared the reivers at Nettlestead, and the story is still told against him.
- The Thornfell Pride
Three generations have refused counsel from a lesser House, and three generations have paid.
The Shadow
He let the Grimsditch vill burn because putting it out would have cost him the ford, and he has told no one, and he tells himself it was the ford that mattered.
Only you see this. The Chronicler presses on it.