DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY A light-hearted narrative phantasy Concerning the grimmest of topics For two or more participants By Nicholas Wedig Teapot Dome Games, Ltd. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA. The firm of Boxmuller and Sons had never been accurately named. The deceased proprietor, Hopewell Boxmuller (Myocardial ischaemia), had no sons. He simply liked the sound of the name and so he dubbed his emporium of sideshow props in a manner ill-befitting his childless state. Thus it was that, when the old eccentric died, the property passed into the joint custody of a variety of greatnieces, second cousins and his half-sister's stepchildren. The inheritance laws of Perdido Island are notoriously byzantine, so such displays of inheritance law are by no means unusual. What was noteworthy were the experiences of these relatives as they voyaged to inspect their newfound estates on Perdido Island. Having chosen to eschew waiting for the daily ferry from the mainland, the family rented a small sailboat, the "New Dawn", from a local fisherman. This, too, is not the unusual part of the story. Nor is the fact that Perdido Island was seeing extremely low tides that day, due to a solar eclipse a quarter of the way around the planet. The first truly unusual part of the story came when the sailboat, captained and crewed by a family of amateurs, ran its hull up against the newly exposed mast of the long sunken HMS Caliban. The sunken schooner's mast pierced the hull of the rented vessel, and the New Dawn sank. There were no survivors. And yet, the deaths of the Boxmuller relatives is not the end of the story. The premature demise of the unskilled mariners is just the beginning of an even stranger tale... Photo caption: Boxmuller brothers Ernest and Friedrich wish the Grim Reaper a fond farewell as He departs for a bicycle tour of Europe. Upon their demise, the Boxmuller family found themselves in the Bone Orchard, as most souls do once their earthly existence has been terminated. The Bone Orchard is the abode of the anthropomorphic personification of Death. Once He has collected a soul from its dying body, the Grim Reaper (as He is colloquially called) guides the lost soul into the Bone Orchard, and there to the Veil of Souls. As He led them toward the black swirling miasma of the Veil of Souls, the Grim Reaper paused for a moment. With a hesitation that implied uncertainty, the embodiment of mortality made a proposition to the Boxmuller relatives. The End of All Things, you see, had diligently been working with no respite the past several millenia. He was becoming weary of His traditional task. He wanted to take a break from ending the lives of mortals. The Grim Reaper wished to relax and, for just a short time, stop Reaping souls. In short, Death needed a holiday. And so it was that He made an offer to the mortal family whose souls He was shepherding. The Grim Reaper would return the family to their mortal lives and let them live once more. In exchange, the Boxmullers would act as substitute Reapers while Death was on holiday. In the moments just before a person died, the Boxmullers would go to the dying, stand by their side and touch their flesh. Then the soul would shuffle off its mortal coil and follow the ersatz Reaper back to the Veil of Souls. Once it passed through the Veil of Souls, the spirit would go on to whatever afterlife awaits. The Boxmullers would act as the substitute Deaths of Perdido Island. Perhaps dumbstruck by the metaphysical weight of their experiences, none of the Boxmuller clan thought to ask how long the Reaper's holiday would last. This was the first of their many mistakes. The next thing that they new, the Boxmuller family found themselves washing up on the beach of Perdido Island. Their boat had crashed but, miraculously, each and every one had survived. A postcard sat on a nearby barrel, bearing a peculiar legend: "Try tailing Mrs. Frankholter for the afternoon. Yours, Mr. D." This postcard would prove to be the first of many from the Grim Reaper to the family. Each subsequent card would be more cryptic than the last. But each card would also lead by a circuitous and improbable path to a dying person. WELCOME, NARRATORS! _Death Takes A Holiday_ is a collaborative story-telling entertainment. It is intended to be played by a small coterie of friends and acquaintances, perhaps two to five in number. You will each portray a unique Primary Character (PC) and collectively you will collaborate on portraying the minor characters (NPCs) and establishing the setting and other details. You have control over your Primary Character's thoughts, feelings, and intentions. But the moment your character attempts to have a meaningful impact on the world or when you try to state something about the external world, then you are making a statement. Other participants in the game will be given the opportunity to modify or change your statement in certain specific ways. The other people at the table will be able to change what you said by applying a response to the statement. The responses are formalized reaction designed to add additional fictional detail and introduce plot complications. There is a limited pool of responses to pick from. Once a specific response is used, it cannot be reused until the pool empties and refreshes. Once each response has been used once, the pool refreshes and all then each response can be used once more. Each important NPC, object, location or plotline will get its own story sheet, which is a list of important information about the fictional element, along with what responses have been used to modify it. A story sheet records what you need to know about that element, and identifies its relative importance to the game at large. The more details added (and the more input and feedback other players provide), the more important that character, object, or location is. CUSTOMIZING THE SETTING Before you begin play, everyone as a group will need to customize the setting of Perdido Island. You will do this as a collective, by taking the basic framework provided and modifying it to make it unique. On the next page, you'll find a list of statements about Perdido Island. Everyone should read over them and discuss as a group what they like and what they don't like from the list. Then you will select each response and apply it to one statement. Each Response changes, modifies or adds detail to an existing statement. Just use each response once to modify a statement, and make sure each statement and response get used once. "Yes, and" means that the you add an intensifying detail to the statement. "Yes, but" means you accept the statement as true, except for some exception or contradictory detail. "No, but" means the statement is untrue, though a minor similar detail might be true. "No, and" Means the statement is untrue, and then you go beyond simple negation and describe the island as reflecting the opposite. "Try it a different way" in this instance gives you the ability to rephrase, rename or change an element while keeping the statement more or less accurate in general theme, even if the specific details are changed. "That's a funny story, actually" means that this element will be developed through play into a longer, more detailed story of its own. Perdido Island -Has a population of approximately 7,000 (which means an average of one death per week). About half the population lives in the town of Fable's Demise -Is known as a popular vacation place for people from the mainland -Has an incompetent police force, specifically Sheriff Horatio Slack (Misfire) and Deputy Irving P. Zalewsky (Slippery Rock), but it has a canny coroner named Dr. Isabel Sparrow(Nephrosis) -Its temperate forest are home to strange spirits and minor nature gods not usually seen by modern man -Is fundamentally a modern day American city in terms of social norms, technology and legalities, though it is anachronistic in aesthetics and style. -Every graveyard on the island has a single grave labelled "Fisher" which the Boxmullers can use to access the Bone Orchard, the otherworldly abode of Death. YOUR BOXMULLER When you begin playing Death Takes A Holiday, you will need to create a Primary Character. Your initial Primary Character will be one of the Boxmuller family. As the game progresses, other characters will become available for use as Primary Characters. But for an initial fictional "seed", you will create one of the Boxmullers. To create a Boxmuller, you will take the list of Boxmuller traits and modify it. Though every Boxmuller shares some similarities with their kin, each is a unique individual. Thus, you will accept some Statements, negate some and modify others. Your Boxmuller sheet has a checklist of each Response: "Yes, andÉ", "Yes, butÉ", "No, andÉ", "No, butÉ", "Try it a different way", "Try it a different way" and "That's an interesting story, actuallyÉ". You will use each Response once to modify a Statement about your new Boxmuller. Since there are more statements than Responses, some Statements will remain unmodified. "Try it a different way" means here that you will reword the Statement to be more or less equivalent, even while the general sentiment of the Statement is accurate. "That's a funny story, actuallyÉ" means that this is a story that will be developed in play. Take a Story checklist, write an initial statement on it, and be prepared to address that issue further later in the game. -Has few ties social ties outside the family -Cares about the Boxmuller to their left -Has been granted the ability to see how someone will die, just by looking at them -Has been granted the ability to see spirits and ghosts -Has fond childhood memories of the island -Did something shameful in their past that they now wish to hide BEING A SUBSTITUTE REAPER Death has set up a simple system for handling His absence. Every day or so, the Grim Reaper would send the Boxmullers a postcard. (These cards arrive via mysterious means to wherever the Boxmullers happen to be, not via the mundane postal system.) Each postcard would be emblazoned with a cryptic clue as to who was about to die. If the Boxmullers follow the clues provided, they eventually arrive at a person who was about to die. The route to the dying person, though, is usually a twisty series of improbable coincidences and unlikely occurrences. Only rarely is anyone mentioned on the postcard the target of the Reaping. More often, finding the person mentioned on the postcard leads the Boxmuller into a deeper adventure, eventually finding the doomed individual. It is generally assumed that the Grim Reaper chose such a strange, unwieldy method of operation for a specific purpose. The best guess is that Death did not want the Boxmullers attempting to manipulate or alter people's destinies or to profit from their mystical foreknowledge. But as the Grim Reaper is an anthropomorphic personification instead of a human being, His motives are hard to discern at best. To aid in their work, Death granted the Boxmullers some magical abilities. One is the ability to identify how an individual will die merely by looking at them. The ability only conveys a single, brief detail of a specific word or phrase. Often the cause of death will be indirect or non-obvious: a cause of death like "Holes" might refer to a sinkhole in the ground that they fall into, or it might refer to the strain of digging a hole causing a stroke. Or it might be a bullet hole, perhaps in their skull. Or it could be a misaligned hole in a piece of machinery causing a one-ton iron wheel to go rolling off course and over our hapless subject. The causes of death are ambiguous enough so that you the players can surprise each other with how they apply, and also so that you can apply creativity to make sure the cause is applicable to the situation at hand. Similarly, it is rarely clear from the postcard who is going to die. So you can always have a different NPC arrive on the scene with a more clear cause of death, if you have otherwise narrated yourselves into a corner. THE ACT OF REAPING Removing the souls from a soon-to-be deceased is a simple affair. The Reaper simply needs to approach the subject and briefly touch them some time in the last few minutes of life. All the about-to-die notices is a slight chill run down their spine, as their immortal spirit separates from their mortal form. Once released from the body, the soul is free to follow after the Reaper back to the Bone Orchard. Subsequent to their death, the deceased haunt the Reaper as a ghost, following them everywhere, until they are brought to Veil of Souls. Once they enter the swirling maelstrom of psychic energies, the spirit passes on to whatever afterlife awaits them. Despite their curiosity, the Grim Reaper chose not to reveal the secrets of the universe to the Boxmullers beyond those necessary to do His job. Revealing cosmic secrets is not really His department, you see. Canny readers may begin to wonder about the parameters of this exercise. "What happens if the Reaper chooses not to Reap" they ask, along with a variety of other questions. Assuming the death occurs as preordained, then the individual dies but their animating life force remains inside the body. These unfortunate individuals remain dead but active, as one of the un-dead. Undead beings come back in a variety of forms, from shambling reanimated corpses to intangible ghostlike creatures to stranger things still. Similarly, the pain of their death tends to warp the personalities of the deceased. When a character dies without a proper Reaping, you as players should apply these statements to them, and modify each one with a response from the checklist: - Is a rotting physical corpse, though he/she can still move act as a living person can - Has unnatural, inhuman hungers - Has strange new inhuman abilities to drain the life force out of living things that he/she touches - Remembers their life prior to their death - All the hatred, envy, depression and other negative emotions of their old life are amplified - All the joy and love and positive emotions of their life are warped in unhealthy ways The other way for a Reaper to interfere with the natural order is to prevent the death itself. By correctly deciphering Death's postcard ahead of time, a clever Reaper might be able to identify who is about to die and prevent that death. This may seem like an act of mercy, but it isn't. If a soul survives beyond the time of its preordained death, then another must die in their place, shortly thereafter. Even worse, you have performed no mercy to the person you saved. The soul can only survive for so long on this mortal plane of existence. Any soul left in contact with the earth for too long withers, until it is barely there at all. To outside observers, the person seems fine, but any ability to feel joy or love dwindles away until they become a cruel, spiteful and destructive individual. They will never again know happiness, and they will only bring pain and suffering to those around them. The only way to free such a soul is to repeat the circumstances of their death. Recreating the cause of death intended to do the subject in will kill the living body and release the corrupted soul. CAUSES OF DEATH Unsteady ladder Misquotation Rounding error Leopard Karaoke Piso mojado Malpractice Elevator repair man Texting while driving #3 socket wrench Holes Tapdancing Late for work Falling Facebook event invitation Chemotherapy Martyr complex Suicide Suicide, but not their own Tree falling in the forest Ceiling collapse Misfire Mischief Prank Distracted Faulty brake Mango fruit Hubris Christmas decorations Entropy Irrationality Performance review Truck! Lasers Hard work Sun going supernova Kites Tragedy Broken glass Disagreement Heartbreak Clerical error Bus running late Technical error Staring at the stars Curious puppy Training exercise Visiting head of state Basement flooding Gas leak Unsteady ladder Escaped zoo animal Bathtub gin Not seaweed Improper preparation Ominous prophecy Poor maintenance Unlisted ingredients Gerrymandering Food poisoning Surprise Bacon Infidelity Lost in thought Folk music Frogs Reinstating the estate tax Papercuts Late night, no coffee Coupon for $2 off Dropped wedding ring Daylight savings time Planned obsolescence Poor eyesight Lightning strikes twice Coconuts Faulty firehose Too much fatty food Brain aneurysm Steroid abuse Shouldn't have eaten it all Should have exercised Prank gone wrong Cold blooded score settling Excessive guilt Botched assassination Alcohol Racing Drugs Horses Poison Aircraft misadventure Duel of honor Duel of wits Motorcycle Crash Snake bite Road accident Skiing Glee club Coincidence Starvation Test of strength Momentarily defenseless Scaphism Insect torture Thrown roof tile Drunken mule Wooden leg Late seafood Faulty parachute Fungicide Carelessly tossed match Homeopathic medicine Surfboard Paranoia Explosive decompression 25 pound box of quarters Sudden braking The Gideon Bible Limnic eruption Windstorm Frustration Improper headcount Hypoxia MRI too close to metal Explosive hair bleach PRIMARY CHARACTERS A t the start of each scene (session?), you pick a Primary Character from the list of potential Primary Characters. Your Primary Character is one that you control exclusively. You get to narrate their thoughts and feelings unimpeded, and you are responsible for roleplaying out their actions and advocating for their goals. The other players will have their own PCs, who you cannot directly control with your narration. But for any other characters, anyone can narrate their actions, and any such narration can be modified using the response system. You can't take control of someone else's PC with narration or with a response. If Bob says that his PC Zebulon is scared or proud or hungry, then that is the case, as it is Bob's privilege as Zebulon's player. But once Zebulon starts trying to affect the outside world, you can use a response to modify how Zebulon's actions affect other people or things. After playing for a bit, your pool of potential PCs will grow larger than the number of players, meaning there will be some excess, unplayed potential PCs. Some groups might want to maintain tight control over their Primary Characters when they're not playing them. In such groups, each Primary Character belongs to their primary creator, even when that player is not currently playing them. So if I gave the most input on Deputy Zalewsky, then he would be mine to control as needed, and other players wouldn't be able to use him as a PC. Other groups might have less player ownership of characters. In this case, once a character is a potential PC, anyone can pick that character as their PC for a story, perhaps asking my permission first. This is one of many places where you should try to fit Anything can be a Primary Character, if you play it right. Though you initially start with the Boxmullers as potential PCs, others become available as choices as you play. Anything that has completed one story checklist, has a motive to act and a way of affecting the world can be your PC for a scene or for a storyline. (Astute readers may not that this makes Perdido Island itself into a potential PC, as well as the Bone Orchard or other locations. This also can make other fictional constructs into potential PCs. Even past storylines might be PCs in the right sort of game, as when a character's past deeds come back to haunt them. Heck, the musical soundtrack could be a viable PC if you want. These are advanced, experimental techniques that I want to test out after we have basic gameplay sorted out. ) THE SEQUENCE OF PLAY Most of the game will take the form of free roleplay and open narration. You describe what your Primary Character will do, your fellow performers will describe for their PCs. And occasionally, one player will need to narrate something beyond the bounds of that player's PC. Perhaps facts about the setting need established, or NPCs established or portrayed. Perhaps some other player attempts something, like climbing a wall or piloting an aeroplane or convincing the local magistrate to free her imprisoned cousin. When you declare new facts like this about the world, the game calls it a statement. Most statements you make about the game world will go uncommented. You will make a minor declaration about how your PC does something mundane - drinking a cup of tea, perchance. If the other players nod amicably or say "Yeah, okay" or don't say anything at all, then what you said becomes a true part of the fiction. That is to say, your character has succeeded in sipping the tea. Bravo. But what if another player were to lodge an objection to the consumption of the camellia sinensis's sweet nectar. Perhaps your doughty compatriot thinks the tea might be poisoned, or the teapot empty, or they wish to have their Primary Character slap the teacup from your hand. Each of these events is a narrative turn away from your proposed course of action and along some new direction. Or perhaps the player wishes to augment the described action: "Yes, you drink the tea, and it is delicious", or "Yes, and you drink an entire ocean's worth of tea." (Who knew Lady Cottington's teapot was so large?) On most occasions, the other players won't trouble you over minor or mundane details. Drinking tea or crossing the street or shutting a door should usually be let past with simple acceptance. But it is important that you as a player remember that you have the power to modify even the smallest of details, should the occasion arise. This system does not differentiate between the stomping of a gnat and the slaying of a squadron of rebellious angels in apache helicopters. When a player makes a statement about the world around them, any other player has the option to let it pass into truth. Each player can simply accept what was said with simple nods or by saying "yes" or by saying nothing at all. If they wish to make any meaningful change to the statement, then they can choose to modify this statement's nature by picking a response. There are six responses, which should already be getting familiar to the observant reader: - Yes, and... - Yes, but... - No, but... - No, and... - That's a funny story actually... - Try it a different way. Each Response is helpfully printed on a marker or card or some kind of "chit". Initially, all responses are placed in a pool so as to be available for use. Locate the pool of chits together in a group, where any of your merry band of players can and may reach them, manipulate them, coddle them and (perhaps) love them, if only for a moment. When player uses a response, that response is expended and cannot be used again until the pool is refreshed. Take that response's chit and place it in a separate area, perhaps dubbed "the discard area" or "The Pit of Shame". Since these exiled responses are unusable, your options to respond dwindle as the narrative progresses. Note that "Try it a different way" and "That's a funny story actuallyÉ" have special rules for their actions. They're covered in the next section, along with some advice on how to use the different responses. At this point, just be aware that "Try it a different way" is never expended or sent to the discard pile. The pool of responses diminishes over time, until eventually only "Try it a different way" remains. When "Try it a different way" is the sole occupant of the pool, then you can refresh the pool. Finish resolving whatever happens because of the last statement and its response. Then, before the narrative moves on and more statements are made, you should move all the responses back from the Pit of Shame and back into the pool. Their penitentiary exile has been served, and they may be employed once more to modify future statements. (Their recidivism rate is appalling, though.) THE RESPONSES Much of _Death Takes A Holiday_ consists of modifying other people's statements via responses. For this reason, it is advisable to consider each potential response in some detail. The first four responses are relatively straightforward. The last three, however, have some special rules for how they apply. YES, AND This response takes a statement and amplifies it. Using this response, you can add additional detail to a statement or increase the scope of a statement. Use it to expand the effect of a statement in directions other players might not have considered. It is important to not make the "and" clause negate or lessen the primary thrust of the statement. This is easy to do grammatically, but it is really the province of the "Yes, butÉ" statement. YES, BUT Now, this response generally agrees with the statement, but it negates or lessens the primary statement. Try not to make the "but" clause override the initial statement. That is what a "No, andÉ" response is for. Make sure that the majority of the statement is true, albeit with some exception or drawback. NO, AND This is the only time that you have the outright authority to completely negate another player's input. Every other response preserves at least a sliver of the original intention in some way. "No, andÉ" does not. It completely shuts out the proposed input, and then goes a step beyond to assert the opposite. So use this response carefully and judiciously. NO, BUT This negates the initial statement, but not entirely. Some portion of the goal is achieved, or some piece of the idea is true. Try to make sure you don't completely negate the statement, while also making sure you don't completely agree without negating any. THAT'S A FUNNY STORY, ACTUALLY This response suggests that the statement is more complex that it seems at first, or that it leads to unforeseen consequences. For example, if the statement was about a player character attempting someone, then using "That's a funny story, actuallyÉ" might mean that their goal requires further effort and detail before it is completed. Alternatively, you might use the same phrase to mean that the action was successful, but that it sparks the start of a new storyline as a consequences of the act. Thus, is Yvette is trying to break into a wealthy landowner's estates, "That's a funny story, actuallyÉ" might mean the sneaking in is an interesting enough sequence that we should look into it in detail and describe her illicit entrance rather than simply cutting to her being inside. Or the same phrase might mean that she succeeds in entering the compound covertly, but that this endeavour leads to further consequences -perhaps a servant notices evidence of her passage after she is in the building, and begins seeking out the intruder. Regardless of how it happens, you start a new story sheet for the new complications. TRY IT A DIFFERENT WAY This response is slightly special. It doesn't change or negate, exactly. It says to the narrator that there is something unappealing about their narration. It suggests that they might have a good idea, but the specific details aren't quite right. It is always be an option, so that you can always suggest, politely, that something strikes you as wrong about what was suggested. Perhaps you find that something said doesn't fit your mental image of a location or character. Or the statements lead into narrative directions you would prefer not to follow. You should take a second to explain your qualms, then allow the narrator to craft a new, alternative statement that works in a different way. STORIES Any important fictional element in the game has a story. Each story will have its own story sheet, which is a place to record details and facts that people establish about the thing during gameplay. As you play, you will develop the stories of people, places, objects and actions. As an element becomes important to the game, you may want t start a story sheet for that person, location or storyline. If you visit St. Alban's Cathedral once, it will be helpful to have some record of what it is like so that the next time a PC visits the cathedral, it is similar and you can build on previous detail. Any time an important new fact is established, make some note of it. Your understanding of an important object will grow and change. You will discover hidden depths to characters. The "That's a funny story" response means that each story will spawn new stories as well, so as you play the world will grow in depth and detail. Your starting Boxmuller's sheet is a story sheet, as are the sheets of information for Perdido Island, Boxmuller and Sons or the Bone Orchard. Any postcard that Death sends the Boxmullers is itself a Story, as it will lead them on strange new adventures into unknown places. On the story sheet, you have a checklist of responses. As each response is applied to a statement about that fictional element, check it off. When every response has been checked off, a major milestone has been reached for that fictional element. If it is a character, the character has become developed enough to be useable as a Primary Character. Erase the checks and start tracking the checks anew, until the next major milestone for the character. (Locations, objects and stories could also be used as PCs after their checklist is completed, but that's more complicated and weird.) If the checklist was for one of the Grim Reaper's postcards, then it is time to narrate how some character meets their death. One of the Boxmullers pursing the death hinted at on the card will witness the death of another character (barring anything unusual, like the Boxmuller saving the character). Most of the time, this other character will be a minor NPC. But it could easily be a major NPC or even a PC under appropriate circumstances. The Boxmullers themselves have already been through their fated demise, so they are not going to die unless circumstances are unusual in some way. (The player of a PC is the only person who can narrate their PC's death) GROWTH AND CHANGE After any time playing, you can choose one completed character, location or other fictional element and modify a piece of information on their story sheet. Use "Yes, andÉ" to make the fact more important, or use "Yes, butÉ" to change the meaning of a fact. "No" responses negate a previously true statement, which might be because you have changed your mind about something, or your character has grown or changed. Or maybe it shows a secret being revealed or a lie uncovered. "That's a funny storyÉ" will make that fact an important story on its own for next session. In general, you want to reach some sort of group consensus if the thing modified is a still a minor character or if it isn't owned by anyone specifically. If you're changing a detail on the sheet of your own Primary Character or another fictional element that you have responsibility over, then go hog wild. Just let your other players know what you're changing, and why. At the end of a session, the group should discuss what they enjoyed and what they didn't. Then they should choose one of the responses and apply it to a rule of the game. Go back through the rules here and write a note in the margin about how "Yes, it's accurate, butÉ" or how it applies in "a different way". The group as a whole needs to reach a consensus on what rules gets changed and how it gets changed. But each session you should be hacking the system, modifying it in small ways or large ways, until it becomes a game better suited for your group in particular. I don't know your group as well as you players do, so I hope that you make "Death Takes a Holiday" into a game that you enjoy playing. STRANGE THREATS Perdido Island may prove to be an inhospitable new home to the Boxmuller family. Now that they are imbued with a magical power over death itself, other interested parties are likely to intervene in their affairs. Many such groups may have benevolent intentions, as with doctors trying to save sick patients or grieving family members trying to preserve a dying aunt. Most heartbreaking of all are the parents trying to prevent their children from dying. Use these sort of moral dilemmas to create difficult decisions and moral quandaries for the standin Reapers. Other entities, though, wish to oppose the Boxmullers for selfish or malevolent reasons. The shadowy Tithonus Society's members wish to live forever so that they can gain complete control over society. The forest spirits enjoy playing with human lives, and manipulating their destinies. And the Widow's Walk Shipping Company is a front for a cabal of the undead, who desperately want to avoid whatever afterlife awaits them. HOW TO USE THE THREATS There are two ways to use the threats contained herein. You can modify them up-front, or you can develop them in-play. If you know that you want to use a specific threat and make them an important part of the game, you can do all your modifications before you start playing the game. Discuss the threat with your fellow players, and apply each response to a statement, just as you did with Perdido Island and the Boxmuller and Sons store. This prepares the threat in question to be used as a Primary Character right away. You could also introduce the threat in the middle of a game session. Then, instead of stopping to discuss each and every detail, you can instead check off responses to statements as those statements become relevant to your game. This will get you into regular play faster, but the threat will take longer to become usable as a Primary Character. The responses might not line up so that you can check off each response neatly in a row when each statement becomes relevant to the game. THE WIDOW'S WALK SHIPPING COMPANY -Is run by two widowed twin sisters, Mrs. Eudora Restwell (Electrocution) and Mrs. Iphigenia Belvedere (Mayhem) -But their husbands, Ambrose Belvedere and Ruben Restwell, still live on as the zombie leaders of a secret tribe of undead that live in the company's numerous warehouses -The company only does enough legitimate shipping to act as a cover for its smuggling enterprises, which is itself a front for the undead coven -Hides any undead seeking refuge from the mundane world -Is seeking measures to prevent the souls being reaped from their undead members -The undead are divided into two factions: Those that wish to maintain secrecy (led by the Restwells) and those advocating open rebellion against the living (led by Ambrose Belvedere). THE TITHONUS SOCIETY "It is better to spend your time at funerals than at festivals. For you are going to die, and you should think about it while there is still time." Ecclesiastes 7:3 -Is a secret society, comparable to the Freemasons -Has more wealth and resources than you would believe - Is led by the centuries old Tithonus, who was granted eternal life but not eternal youth and is now unbelievably old. - Wants immortality so that they can control society and maintain that control forever - Make their base of operations on the island in a desanctified monastery - Because of their strange experiments into immortality, they have developed a variety of odd superscience gadgets and black magic rituals FOREST SPIRITS "I said 'Hey man, do you think you can help' He said 'Of course I can - I'm an elf. We're not just fictional device. We sail ravines and give advice.'" "The Present Tense Turreen", Moxy Fruvous -Are strange in form, unpredictable in personality and inhuman in desires. -Do not understand the long term consequences of their actions -Most people don't realize that they exist because they try to hide from human beings. -Are terrified of machines because they don't understand them -Can place enchantments or curses on those who please or displease them -Will make bargains or gamble for intangibles (like emotions, destinies, souls, etc.) with people who can find their secret hideaways in the forest WARLOCKS AND NECROMANCERS "Quaff while thou canst: another race, When thou and thine, like me, are sped, May rescue thee from Earth's embrace, And rhyme and revel with dead." "Lines Inscribed upon a Cup Formed from a Skull", Lord Byron, -Have been seeking entrance to the Bone Orchard for centuries -Can bind the undead and force them into servitude -Seek power for entirely selfish reasons -Misuse and abuse their power over life and death -Seek the knowledge of how to raise people from the dead and create zombie minions -Come from an exotic, far off land -Are fond of elaborate speeches and shows of power beyond what is required to get the job done. INSPIRATIONS Original game concept by Sam Zeitlin. Many thanks to him for letting me use it. -NOVELS: Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett, particularly those that focus on Death himself (Mort, Reaper Man, Soul Music, etc.) -SHORT STORIES: Machine of Death, edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo and David Malki -TELEVISION: Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies, created by Bryan Fuller. -GILLIAM: Time Bandits, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus dir. Terry Gilliam -VIDEOGAMES: The Professor Layton games by Level 5 Games -MOVIES: The Triplets of Bellville, dir. Sylvain Chomet, Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain, dir. Jean-Peuret Jeunet and Kiki's Delivery Service dir. Hayao Miyazaki SOUNDTRACKS -Mumford and Sons (All of it) -Old folk music, particularly Appalachian murder ballads and any songs where death and love are tragically intertwined, e.g. "Where the Wild Roses Grow" by Nick Cave, "Three Ravens" performed by Peter Paul and Mary, "The Banks of the Ohio" by all sorts of people. -Johnny Cash, "Hurt", "When the Man Comes Around", "In My Life", "Further On (Up the Road", etc. -Colin Hay, "Waiting for My Real Life to Begin", "Beautiful World", "Up in Smoke" -Jennifer Spector "Virginia", Gallery 2 "Baking a Cake for the Lord", Todd Snider "Money, Compliments, Publicity", Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormons "your Glass Eye" -The Beatles, "Hey Jude", "Eleanor Rigby", Simon and Garfunkel "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", etc. GAME INSPIRATIONS Fiasco, by Jason Morningstar Nobilis 3rd edition, by Jenna Moran Archipelago II, by Matthis Majcher Puerto Rico by Andreas Seyfarth Polaris, by Ben Lehman Gnomic by Pete Suber Happy Birthday, Robot and Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple by Daniel Solis POSTCARDS FROM DEATH I always said that firearms and ferris wheels don't mix. -The Farewell to the Flesh Be at the corner of Fifth and Wolverstone at half-past four. Though the weather will be sunny, make sure you bring your umbrella. -The Oncoming Storm Go to the boardwalk this afternoon. Make sure you bring some money for ice cream. -The Icy Hand Go to the 10:15 showing at the Hollyhock Theatre, and check aisle 3, seat C. -The Final Curtain Many comedians talk about dying onstage, but only a few actually do so. -Your Worst Critic Just like the song says, Father McKenzie is writing the words to a sermon that no one will hear. Isn't that cute? -Not Religious, Myself Oh, this afternoon's ballet recital will be most interesting. -The Dancer Macabre The fool looks at the arrow, rather than where it points. -The Inevitable Destination The Italians have a saying: "When the game is over, the king and the pawn go in the same box." -a Chess Grandmaster Follow the red dog down the alley. It knows where it is going. -The Ultimate Destination Helena Mocknaughton has begun receiving love letters from her husband once more. Which would be sweet and touching, had he not died in 1997. -The End of Romance. "Professor" Baldwin's leap from "The City of Quincy" is gonna get somebody killed. But it's not the "professor". -The Final Flight It's picture day today at Grunderson Elementary School. I wonder whose photo will be taken by the county coroner instead of the school photographer? -Memento Me I wouldn't get upset over what is in the barrel at the Widow's Walk Shipping Company. After all, getting upset didn't help the widows any. -The Cause of Grief Mrs. Snowflower has terminal lymphatic cancer. But that will not be today's cause of death. -A Scorpio Allison Jemeny is attempting to bargain her way out of her own impending demise. See that she meets her fate as per the proper schedule. -A Bit of a Stickler for Punctuality Lighthouse tours will soon prove more dangerous than Mr. Manciple had anticipated. -Unexpected yet Inevitable Ou est Monsier Bredoteau? --le Grande Morte Time waits for no man, but the clocktower of St. Albans might stop for a certain young lady. -Time's Arrow Points to Me THIS IS AN OPEN SOURCE GAME So please, play it and modify it and make it your own. And share it on the internet and let me know if you do any of those nifty things with it. Contact me at nickwedig@yahoo.com. Death Takes a Holiday by Nick Wedig is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to: Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA. Because the rules are randomizerles, verbal-based and self-modifying, this game would be well suited for play online via IM or wiki or email or whatever. To aid in this course of action, a raw text version is available so that you can use it to seed your wiki or copy and past info where you need it, or whatever else you need to do to get playing. You can find the raw text by pointing your browser to: http://nickwedig.libraryofhighmoon.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Death-Takes-A-Holiday-raw-text.txt