That’s not the case in Ten Candles, written by Stephen Dewey for Calvary Video games. Ten Candles is a tragic horror recreation set in a sunless post-apocalyptic world the place a anonymous menace lurks within the darkness and it differs from all different horror video games I’ve performed in a single main respect: Everybody dies.
Whereas this will likely appear very unhappy, I feel this recreation is finest used as a instrument to discover what it means to hope. The small print of the world, the apocalypse, and even the enemy change each time you play this recreation which I feel leaves storytelling teams with a joyful glut of prospects.
The Setup of Ten Candles
To play you want a stack of index playing cards, a black marker for every individual on the desk, 10 six-sided cube of 1 colour, a handful of six-sided cube of one other colour (one per participant), a voice recorder, a fireproof bowl, and 10 tealight candles. Set the candles up in a circle across the bowl, move 5 index playing cards and a marker out to every participant, place the ten six-sided cube of 1 colour inside attain of all gamers.
Characters are made up of Traits, a Second, and a Brink. Traits are a one-word descriptor written on their very own index card and every character has two—a advantage and a vice. Moments are an occasion that may occur in the course of the recreation that may give your character an opportunity to seek out hope within the darkness. Brinks are hidden traits which can be solely accessible to the character as soon as they’ve exhausted every part else—they’re the determined, secret, and harmful elements of your character.
These playing cards are organized in stacks with Brinks flipped over face down on the underside of the stack, and no a couple of character’s Second lively on prime. Whichever card is on prime is lively, however all elements of the character must be roleplayed always, no matter whether or not they’re lively or burned. As soon as the stacks are constructed they will not be modified.
Gameplay
When characters are constructed and all candles are lit, every character takes turns recording their final voice message for the world. This serves to arrange the sport and middle the gamers on their character’s objective.
The candles function ambiance, gameplay instrument, timer, and lightweight supply (ideally the one gentle supply) in the course of the recreation. Candles will not be relit beneath any circumstances.
Characters will encounter conflicts and can roll the accessible communal cube pool to resolve them. If the roll has even one six the result’s successful, if any die exhibits a one which die is misplaced for the rest of the scene. If the roll has no sixes, it’s a failure and a candle is darkened. When a candle is darkened the group strikes to the subsequent scene. Utilizing these battle rolls narrative management is handed backwards and forwards between the Recreation Grasp (GM) and the gamers. Whoever good points narrative management with every battle roll will narrate the end result of the battle.
To reroll all ones, a personality might burn their trait—actually burn it. The participant units the index card alight on one of many candle flames and locations the cardboard to burn within the fireproof bowl. If a trait is burned in a battle, it should be part of the narration of the battle decision. As soon as burned, that Trait is now not accessible to the participant to reroll, however should nonetheless be roleplayed as a side of the character. The method of burning reveals the subsequent card within the stack which now turns into lively.
When a Second turns into lively, the story steers towards that occasion and when it turns into a battle, a roll is made. If the result’s successful, then the character has discovered hope and good points a hope die, one of many handful of six-sided cube that could be a totally different colour from the communal pool. This die isn’t misplaced on ones, and might succeed on a 5 or 6. When a Second is lived, no matter success or failure, it should be burned to disclose the subsequent card within the stack.
A Brink will not be performed till it’s lively, as soon as all different issues have been burned away. Then it might be burned to reroll ones in the identical manner {that a} Trait could be. If the battle roll succeeds then the sport proceeds as regular, if it fails then the character loses any hope die that they had.
Why It’s Helpful
Ten Candles is a recreation the place all of the characters are doomed. The whole lot concerning the recreation works to create stress. The low gentle helps you are feeling the dread your characters would really feel in a world with no gentle, the place they lurk within the darkness.
The truth that you can’t relight a candle as soon as it out makes folks cautious and purposeful with their actions, lest they darken a candle accidentally and restrict essentially the most valuable useful resource they’ve—gentle.
With every darkened candle a die transfers from the communal cube pool to the GM’s cube pool. Which means as a recreation goes on the gamers have a decrease and decrease likelihood of success and the GM has the next and better likelihood of gaining narrative management. The gradual burn of this elevated helplessness aids in making a story by which characters cling to the smallest embers of hope that they’ll discover.
Establishing Truths
With every darkened candle you undergo a ritual as a gaggle referred to as Establishing Truths. The GM begins by saying “These items are true. The world is darkish.” Then the group goes across the desk beginning with whoever has narrative management on the time and establishes one small reality concerning the world for every lit candle. The ultimate reality for the final candle is all the time mentioned by the gamers in unison: “And, we’re alive.”
This ritual will increase in solemnity and dread as every new candle is darkened. When just one candle stays the totality of the ritual consists of the GM saying “These items are true. The world is darkish” and the gamers responding “And we’re alive.”
Apply Ten Candles to Your Writing
The strain and desperation that Ten Candles is about up for helps when writing about tragedy, martyrdom, dread and hope. When taking part in, you discover hope and heroism within the smallest most unassuming moments. The gamers know their characters will all die, however, even so, the characters battle and combat towards their doom.
You can find when taking part in that the smallest victories are celebrated with fanfare normally reserved for world-saving occasions. Your characters will cling to unusual hopes, argue over tiny selections, and die in methods you’d by no means have imagined by yourself.
This recreation illustrates human desperation in new ways in which permits so that you can get shut and study the form of it. Working the sport helps information you in the right way to finest create stress and dread which supplies you apply you should utilize in negotiating stakes and pacing your writing.
It’s a superb use of three hours that may change your perspective drastically, and I extremely suggest it.
