“You are responsible for this, monster. You and your kind have built a world out of darkness, claimed status as American gods, and waged war for the oaks. You have conspired from the shadows, manipulating everything from governments to street bums, CEOs to soccer moms, to feed your dark agenda. You distract us with pervasive violence, mind-numbing television, and desperate hedonism, all the while you lurk just out of sight, pulling the strings.

That changes now. I am the Chosen One. Welcome to the end of the world.”

Playing the Web — Object of the Game

Web of Shadows is a game where each player controls a supernatural conspirator — an Other — in a world superficially similar but far stranger and more dangerous than our own. It is also a world in crisis — the Chosen One has appeared as foretold, and the apocalypse is coming. Each game of the Web of Shadows is the story of the end of the Others’ world.

The important elements of the story are laid out on the table in a Web of cards and strings. Each card on the table represents one element in the story. A card can represent an individual character, an organization, a place, a thing, or even an ideal. Each card has four ’spaces’ on it for characteristics of that card. The first characteristic is the card’s name; the other characteristics are filled out in play. Each card also has four holes punched into its corners. These are used to bind the card to other cards with lengths of string to represent relationships such as love, hate, duty, familial bonds, history, and the like.

Play consists of a sequence of scenes. In each scene some of the players will roleplay events which grow and manipulate the Web of cards on the table. The rest of the players will serve as the audience, and determine how the roleplay affects the Web. In any given scene, you might be called upon to play any character in the Web, including the Chosen One. There are three kinds of scenes — Development Scenes, Backlash Scenes, and Endgame Scenes. The bulk of the game consists of Development Scenes, which are started by the players taking turns around the table. Backlash Scenes occur when Tension causes the masses of humanity to boil over with rage, and occur in between Development Scenes. Endgame Scenes occur after one Other has been fully Exposed, and the apocalypse is being decided.

Through the course of play the world of the Chosen One, as represented by the Web of cards on the table, will radically change and eventually become so entangled that it collapses into an apocalypse — the end of the world. There are two potential apocalypses — one in which some of the supernatural Others are drug out into the light of day and exorcised from the Chosen One’s world, and one in which the supernatural Others throw off their disguises and wreak havoc on the world. Your goal is to manipulate the Web so that you end up on the winning side — safe in the shadows as some Others are exposed, or out rampaging across the world when the apocalypse comes.

The Prophecy — Starting the Game

Begin play with a number of index cards equal to the players in the game. Number the cards on the back, shuffle them, and pass one card out to each player with the number face down. Then, starting with the player who has the “One” card and proceeding in ascending order, each player turns over their card and narrates one line out of the Prophecy which foretells the coming of the Chosen One. As they do so, each player lights a candle next to them; dim the house lights when the Prophecy is complete.

The first player must include in their line where the Chosen One is destined to arise; the last player must name the Chosen One. All other players contribute something else about the Chosen One or the prophecied End of the World. When the Chosen One is named, the last player writes the name across the top of a new card, circles it, and punches a hole in each corner of the card. The Chosen One card is placed in the dead center of the table.

Preparing your Other Card and Facade Cards

Each player then turns their card over and prepares it for play as an Other card, representing their supernatural conspirator. Punch four holes along the top of the card, and then write down the left-hand side the words “Name”, “Need”, and “Shame.” These are the three characteristics of all Others. Unlike the rest of the cards in the game, which can have lots of different kinds of characteristics, Other cards always have these three.

Do not fill in the characteristics now. Your Other’s characteristics are filled in not by you, but by the other players during the game. An Other’s characteristics, once determined, cannot be changed.

The Names of Others are always evocative: Demmorash the Scourge, Titania the Everlight Champion, or Zebulon the Undermaster. Names suggest a great deal about the nature of the Other, but the best names suggest more possibilities than can all be true at once.

The Needs of Others are always derived from humanity: blood, tears, dreams, devotion, or the like.

The Shame of an Other is what sets that individual apart from the rest of their kind, if any. One might have killed the only human woman he ever loved; another might have abandoned his homeworld to utter destruction; yet another might have broken the laws of his kind.

Deal each player three blank cards with holes punched on all four sides; these are Facade Cards. Facades are special cards employed by players to project their conspirator’s influence into a scene in a more powerful way. Facades may be the Other physically present but in supernatural disguise, an illusion sent from afar, minions acting in the service of the conspirator, or any other such explanation. Facades are usually used more than once, and develop a certain personality of their own; this personality may reflect the real Other, but this is not necessarily true. You do not need to determine your Facade’s apparent or true nature now; you will define the apparent nature when you play the card. The true nature of your Facade should remain a mystery — even to yourself — until it is lost in a Backlash. Until then, think of it in terms of what it appears to be, rather than worry about what it “really” is.

Place your Other and Facade Cards in front of you, along with ten tokens.

Widdershins — Basic Turn Structure & Development Scenes

After the Prophecy is delivered, play consists of a number of rounds where each player around the table gets a turn. The first player is whoever started off the Prophecy. Each player frames a Development Scene and decides both who will play which characters in the scene and who will judge the lasting consequences of the scene. After the scene concludes, play proceeds to the player to the right

On your turn, you must spend a number of tokens equal to the characteristics written down on your Other card (this will start at zero). If you cannot spend tokens, you must increase Tension (below) by one for each token for which you are short. If this triggers a Backlash, you lose your Development Scene and a Backlash Scene is framed, instead (see below). Spending tokens cannot be skipped.

Once you have paid your tokens (if any), frame a scene involving some of the cards in the Web on the table. Players’ Other cards cannot be included in a scene unless they have been drawn into the Web. Choose one or more players to serve as the scene’s Audience, and assign roles to the remaining players. These roles do not need to correspond to cards in play on the table — players may roleplay “incidental” characters as easily as characters bound into the situation. Others and Facades may only be played by their owners (unless the Facade has been lost in a Backlash, at which point it acts as any other card).

Players with roles write down their Machinations for the scene — what changes they will be trying to effect on the Web in the upcoming scene. The scene-framer then begins narrating the scene, with everyone involved describing what their assigned character is doing in the scene. Audience members do not add details or actions to the scene, but they can call for and participate in conflicts. The Scene ends when either the scene framer or all the Audience players call “Cut!”

Machinations — Accomplishing Things in Scenes

Each player with a role in a scene takes a moment before the scene begins to write down on a blank card how they want to manipulate the Web through the events in the upcoming scene. This is their Machination for the scene, and there are four flavors. They may Reveal characteristics, Corrupt characteristics, Bind cards, or Sever cards.

Revealing adds a characteristic to a card caught in the Web. The card must have an empty characteristic slot. You might write “Reveal that Tony saw the murderer flee.”

Corrupting changes a characteristic on a card in the Web to something else. You might write “Corrupt Jenny’s Popular Girl into Willing Thrall.”

Binding connects a card to a card in the Web. You may introduce new cards into play in this way; if it is a new card, you must write a name across the top as it is placed on the table. You might write “Bind Jenny to Tony.”

Severing cuts a connection between two cards. All cards must be connected, eventually, to the Chosen One; if a Sever would cut the card off from the Chosen One, it is invalid. You might write “Sever Jenny’s connection to Tony.”

These cards are then passed, face down, to the Audience members. The Audience members may look at the cards but do not turn them over. After the scene is concluded, the Audience members select one or more of the Machinations to come to pass. Characteristics are revealed and corrupted and connections are bound and severed according to the instructions on the selected cards. A Machination must be possible for it to be selected; the Audience cannot select two Reveal Machinations that apply to a card that only has one blank slot. For each card selected, each Audience member may take two tokens from those spent in the scene. If there are not enough tokens to pay each audience member, those with the fewest tokens are paid first. The rest of the tokens are discarded.

Conflict — Contests, Arguments, and Fights in Scenes

When two players come to a disagreement over the course of events in a scene, either player may call for Conflict. The player who calls for conflict is the aggressor; the other player is the defender. The aggressor begins by spending a token to activate any characteristic or connection involved in the scene and explaining briefly why that argues for their point of view; the defender must spend a token to activate another characteristic or relationship to respond. Then the roles reverse and the defender activates something to which the aggressor must respond. Roles continue to flip back and forth until one player does not respond, either because they have run out of spendable tokens or there are no more applicable characteristics or relationships. The other player then gets his way.

Audience members may also trigger Conflicts, spending their own tokens to activate any of the characteristics involved in the scene, just like anyone else. This is a tactical choice — if the Audience can tempt another player to spend tokens, they can collect them afterwards when they ratify Machinations.

Using your Facade Cards

Blank Facades can be brought into a scene and bound to any card in that scene with open holes. Facade cards already in play can appear in any scene if they are connected to another card that is in the scene — either as a character being played, the location the characters are at, or a prop in the possession of a character being played. Both methods cost one token, and can be done at the start or in the middle of any scene. If you introduce your Facade into the scene, you roleplay the Facade in addition to your assigned role. Audience members may not introduce their Facades into scenes.

In a scene, a Facade does not costs its owner a token to activate its characteristics and connections. When playing your Facade, however, you may spend tokens to perform supernatural tricks and stunts. You may spend one token as normal, or spend two or even three tokens, which requires your opponent to activate two or three characteristics of his own to respond. However many tokens you spend, this always increases Tension by one.

At the conclusion of a scene, if any of the selected Machinations attempt to Bind an Other card into the Web, the player of that Other may substitute one of his Facade cards, instead. If he controls a Facade card already in play and it has open holes, he may use that card. Alternately, he may introduce a new Facade into the Web at no cost.

Using your Other Card

In the rare cases that an Other is drawn into the Web, they may be included in a scene. Others may be explicitly included in scenes by the scene framer or brought into a scene if they are connected to any other card already involved in a scene. Unlike Facades, it never costs tokens to bring an Other into a scene. Once in a scene, any of their characteristics can be activated without a token by anyone in conflict with them. On the other hand, a player roleplaying her Other may spend tokens as a Facade to demonstrate supernatural powers; these tokens count double (so one token from an Other must be countered by two tokens by any opponents). An Other’s supernatural powers always increases Tension by one.

Feeding — Replenishing Tokens in Scenes

At any point in a scene, any non-Audience player may declare that they are Feeding. They must select a card with at least one defined characteristic that is involved in the scene to Feed on. This allows the player to regain tokens up to their limit of ten tokens. Doing this, however, always increases Tension. The player may gain two tokens for every point of Tension they add. If their Facade is in the scene, they may gain three tokens for every point of Tension. If their conspirator is in the scene, they immediately replenish their entire pool, but immediately trigger a Backlash.

The other players may attempt to prevent a Feeding from occuring by initiating Conflict. If the would-be Feeding player loses, he may take one token that was spent in that Conflict, but cannot Feed for the duration of the scene.

Feeding also acts as a Corruption, turning one characteristic into a notation that the card was the target of a feeding. If the card represents a person or group of people, they were fed on; if the card represents a place, people were fed on there; if a prop, someone holding the prop was fed on, leaving telltale marks on the prop, and so on. Feeding corruption happens immediately and does not need to be ratified by the Audience. Further, once a characteristic is so corrupted, it cannot be changed again.

Players may not Feed during Backlash Scenes.

Tension and Backlash — Consequences

Tension represents the general unease of humanity, who, while they are not consciously aware of the Others among them, still have a gut feeling that tells them that something is not quite right. Unsubtle acts of the Others increase that feeling of unease. If Tension reaches a certain Threshold, the Others’ supernatural manipulation has attracted attention and a Backlash of dire consequences follow.

The Threshold is based off of the number of players in the game, calculated according to the box at right. Each time a card is Corrupted or a connection is Severed, Tension is increased by one. Each time a Facade or Other uses supernatural powers in a scene, Tension is increased by one. Tension is also increased whenever a player Feeds. Whenever Tension meets or exceeds the Threshold, a Backlash is triggered. If a scene is in progress, it ends immediately (don’t forget to ratify machinations, however).

Backlash and Discovery

When a Backlash occurs, the Chosen One starts to put things together. On the first Backlash, every card connected to the Chosen One is marked by drawing a circle around its name. These are the people, places, and things that the Chosen One has got to know, either through deliberate investigation or happenstance. On every subsequent turn, every card connected to a marked card has its name circled as the Chosen One’s understanding of the situation grows.

Total up the number of circled cards that each player has Fed on (one card that has been Fed on by the same player multiple times still counts as one card). Add the number of that player’s Facades that has a circled name. If the player’s conspirator card has its name circled, double the total. Whoever’s total is highest is at least partially Exposed, and one of their characteristics will be set by the other players. If more than one player tie for the highest total, everyone with the high score is Exposed.

Framing Backlash Scenes

Each unexposed player makes a suggestion for how to define one of the Exposed Other’s characteristics, and the player with the lowest total chooses one. The exposed player also loses a Facade of their choosing — either one of their blanks or one already in play, which becomes a normal card. The Exposed player then takes a turn framing a scene, even if this upsets turn order, where the Chosen One somehow discovers the Other’s Exposed characteristic and the Facade is killed, dispelled, abandoned, or somehow nullified. The Exposed player chooses one or more players to serve as the Audience, and Machinations are played and resolved as normal in this scene.

Tension is thereafter reduced back to zero, to inevitably climb back up to the Threshold again.

Hell on Earth, or Safe in the Shadows — The Endgame

When the first player is fully Exposed — Name, Need, and Shame — the Endgame is triggered. During the Endgame, go around the table once, starting with the player to the right of the Exposed player. Each player frames one scene based off of one of the lines from the Prophecy that opened up the game. Audience members and Machinations are used as normal. Backlashes are still possible, and Backlash Scenes do not count towards the Endgame round.

When the Endgame round is concluded, count how many players have been Exposed and how many remain at least partially in the shadows (with at least one characteristic undefined). The balance of players determines the nature of the apocalypse.

Hell on Earth - If the Exposed outnumber those still in the shadows, they win the Hell on Earth victory. The Others emerge from the shadows and institute a reign of terror and casual abuse of humanity, with the Exposed Others leading the charge.

Safe in the Shadows - If those in the shadows outnumber the Exposed or match their numbers, they win the Safe in the Shadows victory. The masses of humanity rise up once more, this time finding the hidden lairs of the Exposed Others, dragging them into the light, and destroying them.

The winning side narrates a final scene to determine the details.

1) What is your game about? Supernatural demihumans conspire in the shadows to manipulate the unknowing world as the apocalypse descends.

2) What do characters do? Well, there are lots of characters, not all of them owned by the players, and at any given time a player might be playing any number of them. So. The supernatural Others pull strings and use their influence to make things happen in scenes, or very occasionally get to bust out and go crazy with their supernatural potency. Facades try to deflect attention from one supernatural Other and bring somebody else into the light, instead. The Chosen One tries to find out what’s happening and end it — although they may not uncover all of the Others involved. And lastly, the “normal” characters all bump around, doing their own thing and getting Fed on and getting terrified and manipulated and coerced.

3) What do the players do? Players manipulate a web of index cards and strings that represent the game’s situation. On their turn, players frame scenes, assign roles, and choose their audiences. In scenes, they forward their address of the situation. As audience, they judge which addresses are ratified. In everything, they try to expose the other players’ conspirators while keeping their own hidden in the shadows.

4) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about? The setting is always derived from the situation, which is developed in play. This allows the supernatural conspirators to have broadly-applicable and terrifically potent powers at manipulating things from “behind the scenes”.

5) How does Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about? There is no separate character creation phase. Conspirators, in fact, are defined as a penalty to the controlling player — they prefer to remain undefined, in the shadows. Other cards are defined through play, as needs and desires arise. Characteristics and connections are revealed, corrupted, bound, and severed. Cards that are “Fed” on are left with an indelible mark.

6) What types of behaviors/styles does your game reward (and punish if necessary)? The game has both immediate and long-term strategies involved, most of which rely on misdirection and shady alliances. Allowing your conspirator to be exposed — and having its characteristics defined by the other players — drains resources. And while everyone is trying to stay in the shadows, the mounting Tension means that not everyone will be able to do so — and many actions that might be used to scramble further into the shadows only increase Tension.

7) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game? On your turn, you must pay tokens for every characteristic defined on your conspirator. As an audience member, you may spend tokens in conflicts to tempt the other players to spend tokens, as well, which you are then able to harvest when you ratify the scene’s addresses.

How are responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game? Players take turns framing scenes — the framing player assigns roles and chooses one or more people to play the audience. Those with roles to play roleplay “as normal” although without a GM running NPCs, for one scene. In-scene task-based resolution is provided by bidding chips, and the audience can provide adversity through this means. At the end of the scene, the audience members ratify one or more of the roleplayers’ addresses to the situation.

9) What does your game do to command the player’s attention, engagement, and participation? You either have a role to play and an address to push or your are in the audience, making the others push their addresses and deciding who succeeds.

10) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like? Uh, see #8.

11) How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about? The baseline of the game is that something is going to happen and everyone at the table has weak tools to affect what that is going to be. You can propose or you can decide, not both, and you don’t get to choose which one you get to do. So there’s lots of subtle (and not-so-subtle) pressure happening, lots of deals and forcing people into situations where they must help you to help themselves, and the like.

12) Do characters in your game advance? If so how? No. This game plays out in one session.

13) How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about? The game is about the end of the world. You play it, the world ends. So you play for keeps, and without ‘holding out’ for being all badass in some later session in the hazy land of tomorrow.

14) What sort of product or effect do you want the game to produce in or on the players? Gleeful backstabbing and hidden agendas, mostly, under a thin veneer of moody shadows-and-candles gothy stuff.

15) What areas of the game recieve extra attention or color? Why? Everything is framed in conspiratorial language, and in fact only the interactions between players (heavily dosed with selfishness and shameful intentions) have any real detail.

16) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Manipulating the situation directly through the cards on the table. I so want to see if this actually works.

17) Where does your game take the players that other games can’t, don’t, or won’t? As this game was created as a response to games which promise eldritch shadowy conspiracy and can’t deliver, this game takes players into the realm they’ve been unable to access. This puts players in positions of very compromised power, with clear long-range goals and totally obfuscated short-term goals.

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game? I’m shooting for microgame format like Conquer the Horizon, although it may have outgrown that basinet. If so, I may actually lay it out, manufacture it, and charge real cash money. However, the props needed to play (hole puncher, string, et cetera) may make it an infeasible commercial product.

19) Who is your target audience? Folks who like horror movies not for the startle-scares but for the looming sense of dread, those who want to explore the “dark side” of society, and those who are willing to experiment a little to get there — this is not a standard roleplaying game.