chalice

Published by Monkey’s Paw Games MMXXII.

Words and layout by Noora Rose.
Editing by Mx. Vi Huntsman.
Special Thanks to the Penicillin discord.
Inspired by The Wretched, Thousand Year Old
Vampire and Artesia: Adventures in the Known
World.

Anyone may publish free or commercial material

based upon and/or declaring compatibility with
Chalice without express written permission from
the publisher, Monkey’s Paw Games, as long as
they adhere to the following terms:
If your product declares compatibility with Chalice,
you must state the following in your legal text and
on any websites from which a commercial product
is sold: “[product name] is an independent
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Monkey’s Paw Games takes no responsibility for
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The mechanisms of Chalice may be reused freely.

Be cool: I don’t have lawyers.

 how to play
halice is a solo Prompts, delivered by
journaling role- the oracular tarot deck
playing game and interpreted by you.
where you chronicle the
perilous journey of a
Grail-seeking knight in
Arthurian England. Passions and
During the game, you
will tell the story of your Bindings
Knight’s physical and
spiritual descent as they he Knight
quest for, and ultimately whose saga you
fail to find, the Grail. will transcribe
Your Knight’s quest is is represented
doomed. Their chivalric by two sets of traits:
virtues will be surely Passions and Bindings.
undone by their fatal Each time you draw a
flaws and moral card and receive a
shortcomings. Prompt, one of these
Traits will be added,
To play you will need a stricken or modified in
deck of tarot cards, a pen some manner.
and journal for
recording your journey
and deed, and a quiet
place in which to divine,
reflect and write. Play
progresses through
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Passions no longer be tied to
Prompts.
assions are
your Knight’s Bindings
capabilities,
skills, habits, very knight has
virtues or vices. These Bindings—key
indicate what your assets and
Knight can do, might do relationships
or has done. Jousting, that are useful and
Gambling, I Pray At Each valuable to them. A
Chapel I Come Across, I Knight will, of course,
Cannot Tell A Lie. These have assets and
are all fine examples of relationships outside of
Passions. the Bindings written,
but those can’t be spent
Some Prompts will to satisfy the story’s
instruct you to record a mechanical aspects. Of
new Passion. Consider course your Knight
how the addition of this would have a sword if
Passion will impact your one is needed, but the
Knight when writing expenditure of that
your next Chanson. Binding would hardly be
interesting. Conversely,
Other Prompts will a Sword Gifted by Lot of
instruct you to strike a Orkney would be a
Passion. You may only valued and contentious
strike a Passion once— artifact, and its use or
cross it off your sheet, it loss would carry great
no longer influences significance.
how your Knight moves
through life and thus can Like Passions, some
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 Prompts will instruct The First Card: Parents &
you to create or strike a Birthplace
Binding, and this should
be done in much the egin with the
same way. Suit:

Creating your
Knight • Cups: You never knew
your parents. Their
o create your names are spoken in
Knight, first hushed tones, always
separate the out of earshot.
Major and
Minor Arcana. Shuffle • Pentacles: One of your
both then set the Major parents was a
Arcana aside. Draw three cunning advisor and
cards from the Minor diplomat, renowned
Arcana, laying them out for their counsel and
face down before you honeyed tongue.
without looking at them. • Swords: One of your
This is the skein of fate parents was a fierce
that shall determine warrior and a veteran
your Knight’s origins. of many duels and
Starting from the battles.
leftmost card, flip them
one by one and consult • Wands: One of your
the following tables. parents was a wise
and powerful
magician, as feared
as they were
respected.

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 ow, the card:
• IX: In a shady grove
within the Perilous
Forest.

• X: Lothian, in the
land of the Picts.
• A: Camelot, where
Arthur reigns. • P: In the far-off lands
of the Saracens.
• II: Lunden, in the
Kingdom of Logres. • Kn: Hispania, under
the rule of the Moors.
• III: Sussex, along the
Saxon Coast. • Q: Upon a battlefield,
where your mother
• IV: Cornwall, upon died.
the British Sea.
• K: A Foundling
• V: Eire, upon its discovered at the
many isles. forest’s edge, left by
the Fae Folk.
• VI: Estregales, in
Cambria to the west.

• VII: Deep within the

Cambrian Wilds.

• VIII: Malahaut, in
Cumbria to the
North.

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 The Second Card: Your
Closest Sibling ow, the card.
Your sibling …
egin with the
Suit:

• A: … is a Grail-
• Cups: Unbeknownst Knight and you
to you, you have an sought to follow
estranged sibling in their footsteps.
raised far away in
secret. • II: … is a squire to a
• Pentacles: You are as famous knight.
close to your sibling
as you are with your • III: … took up
own shadow. robber-banditry
and preys on the
• Swords: Fractious at weak.
best—meetings with
your siblings often • IV: … is a skilled
end in blows or harsh warrior-at-arms,
words. well respected.
• Wands: A seer foretold
that you and your • V: … lives as a simple
sibling were destined farmer, content
to betray each other. without risk or
glory.

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 than they.

• VI: … is a • Kn: … failed in their

blacksmith, assigned duty
famed for the and brought
beauty of their shame to
work. themself.

• VII: … is a rich • Q: … took up arms

burgher, living off against their
the labor of rightful lord,
others. bringing dishonor
to your family.
• VIII: … is a bard,
enthralling • K: … went to war and
crowds with tales has neither been
of chivalry. seen nor heard
from since.
• VIX: … is a
mercenary,
fighting for coin
on foreign shores.

• X: … is a lord’s
advisor,
acknowledged for
their wisdom and
prudence.

• P: … is a tyrant and a
bully, a terror to
those weaker
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 The Third Card: to their mysteries at
a young age.
At 14, you were taken on
as a Squire by a Knight of ow, the card.
Camelot. Your mentor…

egin with the

Suit:
• A: … is a Grail
Knight and you
accompanied
• Cups: Raised by the them upon
Church, you grew up several
surrounded by strong adventures.
religious influences.
• Pentacles: Your affluent
• II: … is a respected
warrior,
family ensured your renowned for
upbringing never their skill at arms.
lacked material
comfort.
• III: … is a reckless
• Swords: You were and headstrong
raised in a proud knight that rarely
martial tradition thinks matters
among fierce through.
warriors and cunning
tacticians. • IV: … is known for
being even-
• Wands: You were handed and fair
raised by paegans to friend and foe
who introduced you alike.

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 learned scholar,
• V: … is an avaricious oft sought out for
knight, grasping their sage
and ungracious. counsel.
• VI: … serves a great • P: … lies injured by a
lord of the land grievous blow,
and you learned and conducted
much at their your instruction
court. from their
bedside.
• VII: … obsessed with
any matter that is • Kn: … is cruel and
supernatural or callow and has
magical. many enemies at
court.
• VIII: … themself
raised by one of • Q: … is wealthy and
the land’s powerful, envied
greatest knights, by nobles and
expects you to loathed by
carry on the common folk.
tradition of
greatness.
• K: … was a Grail
Knight who failed
• VIX: … is deeply their quest and is
impoverished. burdened with
You have learned the shame of it.
of injustice and
hunger both.

• X: … is a wise and
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 pon your future.
birth, a seer
bore witness • The Hierophant: An
to a powerful auroch is seen
omen. Draw nearby. You will lead
from the Major Arcana. a life of vigor and
health.
• The Fool: A wild boar
is sighted. You will • The Lovers: A satyr is
be brash and seen nearby. You will
headstrong. live a life of
hedonism.
• The Magician: A dragon
is seen moving in the • The Chariot: A veil
earth. Great powers obscures the sun.
will manifest in your Your birth is an act of
life. revenge.

• The High Priestess: An • Strength: Crops are

owl watches your spoiled nearby. You
birth. You will be are destined to be
blessed with rare sickly.
insights.
• The Hermit: A lion is
• The Empress: A red seen nearby. You will
stag is seen nearby. be strong and
You will lead a life of valorous.
peril and danger.
• Wheel of Fortune: The
• The Emperor: A red veil midnight star is seen
falls upon the moon. in the sky. You are
Bloodshed is in your born lucky.

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• Justice: Flowers bloom • The Star: A great star
upon your birth, even shines in the
in winter. You will heavens. You are
lead a life blessed by meant for greatness.
the earth.
• The Moon: A star
• The Hanged Man: A dragon is seen in the
spirit visits you at sky. Your life will be
birth. You are marked by mystery.
touched by the Fey.
• The Sun: The
• Death: A vulture conquering star is
witnesses your birth. seen in the night sky.
You will not be a You are destined to
stranger to death. become a leader.
• Temperance: A dove • Judgement: Ravens
alights nearby. You flock to the site of
will bring harmony your birth. An ill
to those around you. omen.
• The Devil: A black stag • The World: A griffin is
is seen nearby. You spotted nearby. You
will live a cursed and will lead a life of
cowardly life. invention and
ingenuity.
• The Tower: The Wild
Hunt rages nearby.
Chaos will follow
wherever you go.

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 his is your The Deed
Knight. From
these four ach year draw
starting five cards,
Prompts, write down laying them out
three Passions and three face down
Bindings, drawing upon before you without
the web of your Knight’s looking at them. These
relationships, resources cards represent Deeds—
and values. Once this hasheroic undertakings only
been recorded, reunite your knight may
the Major and Minor accomplish. To discover
Arcana and re-shuffle what they entail, flip the
the cards. leftmost uncovered card
and find its Prompt in
To Play the tables below, follow
its instructions, then
Knight’s quest reveal the next card.
for the Grail Once you have resolved
may take a all the Prompts, discard
lifetime. Your all cards unless
own Grail journey is instructed otherwise.
divided into years, each
of which is measured in
two steps: the Deed and
the Chanson. The Chanson
rom “chanson
de deste,” Old
French for
“song of heroic
deeds,” a Chanson is a
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weaving together of the
year’s Deeds. Each The Game Ends
Chanson should be f you are
defined by a theme or unable to strike
trait that links all its a Passion or
component Deeds into a Binding when
compelling narrative. For instructed to do so or if a
each Deed, write a single prompt informs you
evocative sentence from thusly, the game ends.
the Knight’s point of Write an incomplete
view, describing the Chanson, finishing it
Prompt’s events and why with a final declarative
they matter to your sentence to end your
Knight. Try to Knight’s story.
incorporate any Passions
or Bindings that were
affected by the Prompt.
Relinquish control to the
cards, allowing their
Prompts to act as sparks
for inspiration and
oracular storytelling.

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 book of dooms Passion and create a
MAJOR rivalry Binding. If you
ARCANA dismiss the witch, create
a supernatural Binding.
The Fool: A youth begs to
enter your service as a The Empress: While
squire. Who are they? resting in a meadow,
Why are they drawn to you are approached by a
you? Create a Binding. pair of richly-dressed
servants who direct you
The Magician: An ally is to the tent of their noble
slain by an otherworldly patron. Struck by the
adversary. Strike a patron’s charm and
beloved Binding. How do beauty, you become
you overcome the their lover. You are
supernatural? Create a showered with affection
Passion based on magic. and great riches—on
the condition that you
The High Priestess: In the do not tell anyone of
company of other their existence, under
knights, a seer predicts pain of great ruin. Create
greatness in your future. a resource Binding.
One of the knights Should you lose this
mocks your naivety and Binding, strike three
slaps the seer, deriding additional Bindings.
them as a witch. If you
put the knight in their The Emperor: You cross
place, strike a martial paths with an old flame
from long ago. Who is
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it? Old feelings stir The Chariot: On a clear
within you—are they bright day in an open
reciprocated? Take field, a column of well-
“Romantic” as a Passion. appointed, warlike
knights approaches you,
The Hierophant: While in a mistaking you for
holy place you are another knight. How do
somehow mistaken for a they address you? What
priest. Someone confides do they ask of you? What
in or confesses to you. do you do for them?
What hidden truths did Create a Passion.
they unwittingly reveal
to you? Who have they Strength: Disaster and ruin
wronged? Create a befalls the land through
perilous Binding. which you are
traveling—a disaster you
The Lovers: You are sent to have seen before. Your
fetch a noble back from quick-thinking and
far away, to wed a great decisiveness make you a
lord of your own land. hero. How do you help?
Where must you travel, Strike a Passion and gain a
and how do you find the Passion.
noble? Create a Passion.
On your return journey, The Hermit: A young child
you suspect the noble teaches you a lesson in
begins to fall for you. Do humility and in
you reciprocate their appreciating the smaller
feelings, knowing they things. Create a Passion
are promised to another? based on a pleasant
Create a complicated memory.
Binding.

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 Wheel of Fortune: A
massive shift of power
happens at court. Lords
rise and fall, wars are
waged, a new day dawns
on England. Who
benefits? Strike a Passion.
If you join in the
violence, gain a Binding
related to ruling others
and either take “Join The
Winning Side” as a
Passion, or strike two
Passions.
Justice: A knight thought
to be long dead abruptly
returns to court. How
did they survive death?
What do they want from
you? Strike a Passion.
The Hanged Man: You are
visited by someone you
thought long dead. Are
they real, or have they
been brought back
through supernatural or
even nefarious means?
Create a supernatural
Binding.
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Death: Stirred by
forbidden love, you
pursue it at great cost to
your social standing.
Create a romantic
Binding. Strike a Passion
or Binding.
Temperance: Someone you
trust betrays you. Why
have they done this? Do
you forgive them? Strike
a Binding.
The Devil: A well-meaning
would-be ally offers you
a precious gift. How is it
ill-suited for you as a
questing knight? How
do you react? Create a
Binding.
The Tower: An ally
sacrifices themself to
save you. Strike a
Binding. Create a Passion
relevant to their love or
trust.
The Star: While on a stag
hunt you are separated
from your fellow knights
and come across a
mysterious and beautiful
stranger. They are
bathing, wearing
nothing but a golden
necklace. Strike a Passion.
The stranger disappears
afterwards, but some
months later a hooded
figure arrives at court,
bearing a child with the
same golden necklace. If
you raise the child as
your own, create a fey
Binding. If you reject it,
strike another Passion.
The Moon: Knights for
miles around compete
for honor in a great
tournament. On the
tournament’s eve, a
beautiful and mysterious
seer offers you an
enchanted favor in
exchange for a promised
favor of your own. If you
accept, Strike a martial
Passion and create a
magical Binding. If you
refuse, create a foreboding
Binding instead.
The Sun: A beloved friend
confesses their romantic
interest in you. How do
you react? How do you
reconcile this with your
quest for glory? If you
reciprocate their interest,
create a complicated
Binding.
Judgement: An ingrained
social convention or
taboo from your
homeland hinders your
movement through
court. What is it? How
does it change your
actions? Create a courtly
Binding.
The World: You find
yourself in an unfamiliar
situation at court. What
social mores fail you?
Strike a Passion.
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 below it. When you
CUPS have collected ten Cups
cards, describe how the
• A: You are met by an Holy Grail is within
old man in a fishing your reach at last. Toss
boat, wounded in the the Ace of Cups into the
leg, who invites you air. If it lands face-up,
to stay at his castle. describe how your life’s
While there, you bear tale made you worthy
witness to a strange to lay hands upon the
procession of young Holy Grail. The game
men and women in ends thusly. If it lands
mourning carrying face-down, describe
magnificent objects how your life’s tale
from one chamber to made you unworthy to
another—a bleeding lay hands upon the
lance, a candelabra, a Holy Grail. The game
silver platter, an ends thusly.
elaborately decorated
grail. Your courtly • II: You come across a
training bids you stay knight on the road,
silent, but afterwards delirious and
you are admonished despondent. They
for not inquiring claim to have seen
about the grail. the Holy Grail, to
Do not discard this have actually laid
card. Put it aside, hands upon it, but
instead. At the end of lament they must
each year, after have been judged
inscribing your unworthy, as they
Chanson, place any have no memory of
Cups you’ve drawn where they saw it or
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 what happened to it. aid them. How? Why?
The knight begs to Strike a Passion. Create
enter your service, a complicated Binding.
unworthy as they are.
What flaw do you
suspect made the • V: While pursuing
rumors of the Grail,
knight unworthy? you come across a
Create a Binding. deep valley filled
with all manner of
• III: You are captured venomous serpents.
and held for ransom What must you
by a rival seeker of sacrifice to cross the
the Grail. Create a valley safely? Strike a
rival Binding. How do Binding. How do you
you eventually justify its loss in the
escape? Strike a face of the Grail?
Passion.
• VI: A knight returns
• IV: While following from the Holy Land
what you believe to claiming they carry
be a sure path to the with them the Holy
Holy Grail, you Grail. Everywhere
encounter the loved they go people flock
one of an old foe. to them, seeking to
When forced to touch the Grail and
choose between be healed, to catch a
saving them from glimpse of the divine.
certain death or How do you know the
abandoning them to knight’s so-called
pursue the Holy Grail is false? Do you
Grail, you reluctantly confront them?
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 Create a Passion. by several nuns. The
knight claims to have
safeguarded the Holy
• VII: A passing Grail for a thousand
pilgrim makes years before at last
reference to a tomb being released from
allegedly belonging duty and allowed to
to Joseph of die. The knight dies
Arimathea. You seek peacefully before
it out, but the journey they can relay the
is twice as long as Grail’s location, but
promised and fraught the conversation is
with many perils. not a total loss. What
What do you lose? did you learn from
Strike a Binding. the ancient knight
When you at last that you could not
reach your have learned from
destination you find any other living soul?
not a tomb but an old Create a Passion.
chapel tended by a
solitary monk.
Though you do not • VIX: Late one
find the Grail, what stormy night you take
do you gain from refuge in a desolate-
your journey? Create a looking castle, only to
Passion. find it inhabited by a
clannish coven of
nuns. The castle and
• VIII: While praying all the nuns’ heraldry
at a wayside chapel, bears Grail
you encounter an iconography, but they
aged knight on their feign ignorance of the
deathbed, attended Grail or its location.
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 Why are they lying to
you? How do you • P: A Roman noble
learn the truth? Strike
a Passion.
• X: You come across
four knights of an
unfamiliar order,
worn and weary from
warring in the Holy
Land. They carry
aloft an ancient cedar
chest which they
claim holds a sacred
relic. You ask to see it,
but they state that
only those found
worthy in the
crucible of battle may
behold it. Strike any • Kn: Word reaches
four traits. Upon your
victory, the smiling
knights reveal that
the chest is empty
and that worthiness
is an aspiration, not a
destination. What
lessons have the
knights taught you?
Create four Passions.
insists the Grail
belongs in the
Vatican and
vigorously questions
any knights openly
seeking it out. A
religious schism
begins to brew as
lines are drawn
between pro- and
anti-Papist factions.
Which side do you
take? Create a Passion.
Who close to you
chooses the opposite
side? Strike a Binding.
your ear of a secret
chamber beneath an
ancient chapel—the
Grail’s resting place?
Accessing the
chamber, however,
requires destroying
the floor of the
chapel. How do you
justify your actions?
Strike a Binding as
your sacrilege is for
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 naught, but create a your chest, a sense of
Passion for your burdensome purpose
devotion to the Grail. and a hazy memory
of what occurred
afterwards. Create a
• Q: While lost within Passion.
a deep wood, you
stumble across a
great revelry where • K: A rumor of the
strange, luminous Holy Grail’s
beings frolic and whereabouts reaches
cavort in a sensuous your ears: many
and disturbing leagues away, in
manner. Strike a strange lands, in the
Passion and a Binding. hands of unfamiliar
At the head table of people. Your journey
this Fey gathering lies lasts many years and
a golden goblet, takes you away from
heavily encrusted all that you love and
with many know. Strike all
gemstones. In a Bindings save one.
riotous procession, What is the one thing
each Fey takes a deep you manage to
draught from the cup preserve? How do you
before at last offering preserve it? Create a
it to you. How do you Passion.
know you are worthy Do not discard this
of the glory about to card. Set it aside in a
be bestowed upon pile reserved for any
you? Drinking from Kings you have drawn.
the proffered cup, you If this is the fourth King
awake with a Grail- you have drawn, you
outline seared into look upon the road
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 back to England,
contemplate the years
that have passed and
realize that by the time • II: You are presented
you return you will be
old and spent, the Grail
forever out of reach.
How do you reconcile
with this? The game
ends thusly.
PENTACLES • III: Your earliest
• A: You suffer a
tumultuous vision of
a violent future
event—a great battle,
a war, a revolution.
Create a Passion
related to your foretold
actions. If and when
your tale reaches that
future, if this Passion is
not yet struck, create a
Binding. • IV: The common folk
Do not discard this
card. Put it aside,
instead. If and when
you draw the King of
Pentacles, shuffle it
back into the deck and
discard this card.
with a perilous
tribute, a double-
edged gift that brings
you much trouble
and sleepless nights.
Create a problematic
Binding.
still-living
companion comes to
fulfill a promise they
made to you long
ago. How do you
remember them?
What was the
promise? Create a
Passion based on your
relationship.
of the land you travel
through rise up
against their rightful
lord, protesting
unjust conditions
and high taxes. If you
act in support of the
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 lord, Strike a violent
Binding or Passion. If • VII: While riding
you act in support of through a town, you
the smallfolk, create a hear beautiful
lordly Binding based on singing in a tuneful
your destruction. voice, recanting the
tale of one of your
past deeds. Choose a
• V: As a result of your Chanson and create a
exploits, you gain an Passion about finding
epithet or nickname. strength or peace in a
What deed has past exploit.
prompted this
change? Pick a new
name that feels • VIII: While taking
appropriate to who you refuge in a
have become and strike seemingly-
your previous name. abandoned chapel
during a fierce storm,
you find an object
• VI: After a long that you thought
journey you return you’d lost, long ago.
home to find that all Unstrike a Binding of
traces of your having an object or possession.
lived there have been In what condition do
scoured away, your you find it?
friends and family
moved on to other
locales. Who is • VIX: You find a
responsible? What do marvelous treasure.
you do to reclaim Where do you find it?
your old home? What does it look
Create a Passion. like? Create a Binding
that is a resource.
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• X: Deep within a
mountain valley you
meet an elderly
hermit and share a
lengthy and cordial
philosophical
conversation. What
do you speak about?
Create a Passion
around dialogue.
• K: Whilst traveling
• P: You lose an object
dear to you. What is
it? How do you lose
it? Strike an
appropriate Binding,
creating one to strike if
none are appropriate.
• Kn: You give
something precious
to a poor beggar.
Why do they stand
out to you? What do
you hope they’ll do
with this item? Strike
a Binding.
• Q: The earth hungrily
swallows you,
dropping you into
deep caverns. Strike a
Binding. After an
impossible-to-
determine amount of
time in the dark, you
emerge along a
coastline. Where are
you now?
through a pastoral
woodland, you feel
drawn to a particular
tree. You fall asleep
beneath it, feeling the
rhythm of the forest
inhaling and exhaling
all around you. When
you awake, how
much time has
passed? What has
passed you by? Strike
a Binding.
Do not discard this
card. Set it aside in a
pile reserved for any
Kings you have drawn.
If this is the fourth King
you have drawn, you
realize that your
extended rest has
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 robbed you of all desire set about to hold it to
to continue your a reckoning. But first
warlike and you must find it.
adventurous lifestyle. Strike a Passion. In
How do you adapt to what way is the
your new life of peace creature different
and humility? The from its folktales?
game ends thusly. How do you
overcome it? Create a
Passion related to
SWORDS monster-hunting.

• A: You bond with a • III: You espy the

respected enemy over lowest churl, a castoff
your shared past and from courtly society.
the blood you have What do they look
spilt. Strike a Passion. like? You decide to
You become friends. offer them a passing
Share a Binding and kindness. By what
gain a Binding that is means do you do so?
shared with you. The churl unmasks
Do not discard this themself as a
card. Put it aside, supernatural entity
instead. If and when and rewards your
you draw the King of compassionate
Swords, shuffle it back behavior. Create a
into the deck and virtuous Passion.
discard this card.

• II: You hear talk of a • IV : You attend a ball

in the court of a far-
perfidious creature of away lord. There are
fable and folktale and
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 people and things on you. It is believed by
display—you cannot others. What is the
help but claim one of accusation and why
each as your own. is it believable? What
Create a character do you do about it?
Binding. Who were Strike a character
they, until you laid Binding and take
eyes upon them? In “Fury” as a Passion.
what way are they
made yours? Create a
material Binding. • VII: Your actions,
whether by accident
What is this object? or on purpose, cause
In what way is it the death of a loved
made yours? What one. Strike a character
does it mean to its Binding or create one
previous owner? to strike if none are
appropriate. Take
• V: Your battle with a either “Guilt” or
mighty foe lays waste “Grief” as a Passion.
to the surrounding
countryside. What is
consumed by the fires • VIII: The loved one
of a knight you slew
of war? Strike a in battle hounds you
Binding or create one relentlessly. Strike a
to strike if none are beloved Binding or
available. create one to strike if
none are available.
• VI: Someone you Strike one Passion to
previously trusted escape, two to destroy
makes a false your pursuer or three to
accusation against make amends.
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 closest allies become
• VIX: A protege embroiled in conflict.
outstrips you— Create up to two
stronger, fiercer, beloved Bindings, if
more cunning and needed. Strike one of
possessed of an iron them and create a
will. How do they Passion based on your
outmaneuver you? resolution.
Create a wicked
Binding.
• Kn: You espy the
lowest churl, a castoff
• X: You are offered from courtly society.
accommodation by a What do they look
wounded knight, like? You ignore their
with one condition: pleas for alms. Strike
The knight wishes to a Passion. The churl
take part in an unmasks themself as
upcoming a supernatural entity
tournament in honor and condemns your
of a beautiful noble selfishness. What
whom they love, but have you lost? Create
cannot on account of a foreboding Binding.
their injury. They ask
you to wear their
armor and fight in • Q: You are chosen to
their stead. If you lead the vanguard to
fight on their behalf, reclaim a castle from
Strike a martial a treacherous lord. In
Passion and create a the heat of battle, you
loyal Binding. cross blades with
someone beloved to
you. Create a Binding
• P: Two of your
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 if none are available.
To win, Strike a violent
trait. To withdraw,
create a cowardly or
injurious trait.
• K: You bear witness
to something WANDS
indescribably, even
supernaturally
beautiful. What do • A: A famed
you see? Your heart
stirs in a way you did
not know you were
capable of. What do
you feel? Afterward,
you decide that you
shall keep this
moment in your
heart forever. How do
you do so? Create a
Passion.
Do not discard this
card. Set it aside in a
pile reserved for any
Kings you have drawn.
If this is the fourth King
you have drawn, you
realize that to continue
to pursue violence
would be anathema to
what you have seen
today. How do you
announce to your
fellow knights that you
have renounced
violence? The game
ends thusly.
blacksmith promises
to forge you a new,
fantastic suit of
armor. After six days
and seven nights of
labor, they present
you with their finest
work. Create a
Binding. In this new
armor you feel
invincible, propelling
you to take greater
risks in pursuit of
glory. Create a
Passion.
Do not discard this
card. Put it to the side,
instead. If and when
you draw the King of
Wands, shuffle it back
into the deck and
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 discard this card. looks barely sturdy
enough to support
your weight. To find
• II: You encounter a an alternate route,
mermaid upon a calm Strike a Passion. To
coast. Mermaids are cross, strike a Binding
known to be to sacrifice something
perfidious creatures, dear to you.
but this one seems
forlorn, lamenting
something she has • V: You are ensnared
lost. What is it? You by a magician’s
have an opportunity machinations. Their
to help her. What sorcerous ways set
would it cost you? even your closest
You may Strike a allies against you.
Binding to create a Strike a Binding. Who
Passion. falls prey to the
magician’s wiles and
who is able to see
• III: A magician’s through their
curse transforms you schemes? How do you
into some kind of foil the magician?
animal. How does Create a Passion.
your new animal
form reflect your true
nature? Create a • VI: You come across
Passion. a marvelous castle,
slowly rotating high
in the sky atop a
• IV: You come across floating island. How
a swaying, narrow do you make the
bridge over a deep, climb? Strike a
treacherous river. It
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 Passion. As you step overshadowing the
through the gate, you lord who invited you
are struck by the odd and possibly
sensation you have offending the spirit of
been here before. the forest. Create a
What makes this Passion related to
castle remind you of hunting. Create a
home? What’s contentious Binding.
missing? Create a
Binding. • VIX: In the deep
woods, you find
• VII: In the deep yourself surrounded
woods, you come by centaurs. Wild and
across a revel of fierce, they insist you
satyr—a great feast are trespassing across
where food and wine their lands and
are flowing. The demand a tribute of
satyr’s revels are a you. Strike a Binding
little too intense for or, if you refuse to pay
mortals, and it is all tribute, strike a
too easy to lose one’s Passion.
self. Strike a Binding
and create a Passion. • X: You encounter a
siren while at sea.
• VIII: A great lord Her song drives the
invites you to take crew into a frenzy—
part in a stag hunt. some rend their faces,
Separated from the others dive into the
others, it is your black waters. It
arrow that finds the doesn’t touch you.
white hart, greatly Why not? Strike a
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 Passion.
• P: While traversing a
stony moor, you are
set upon by a pair of
monstrous giants.
How are the two
giants able to sneak
up on you so easily?
Strike two Passions.
• Kn: While crossing a
mighty desert, you
are beset by a fierce
roc. As the beast dives
again and again, you
realize it is fixated on • K: Atop a blustery
something you carry.
What is it? If you
abandon it to the roc,
Strike a Binding. If you
won’t let it go, strike a
Passion. In either case,
create a Passion.
• Q: Deep within a
forgotten cave, you
confront a perfidious
wyrm. For several
days and nights you
and the wyrm
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exchange blows in
the dark confines of
the earth. Strike a
Passion. At last, it
tires before you do,
but as it expires it
lashes out with a
venom-dripping tail.
How do you deflect
this last, desperate
attack? Strike a
Binding. Tales of your
valor spread across
the land. Create a
Passion.
peak, you confront a
fierce, fire-breathing
dragon! The devilish
beast’s flames scorch
your armor and sear
your flesh. At great
cost, you are able to
overcome it. What
does it cost you?
Strike a Binding and
two Passions. What
mighty hoard was the
dragon guarding?
Create a Binding.
Do not discard this
card. Set it aside in a
pile reserved for any
Kings you have drawn.
If this is the fourth King
you have drawn, the
wounds the dragon
inflicted upon you keep
you at court—a much
venerated figurehead,
but a paper knight all
the same, your journeys
and your glory behind
you. Would it have
been better if you had
met your end alongside
the dragon? The game
ends thusly.

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