Escape from Midsummer

Premise

One midsummer night, when the veil between the faewilds and our world is thinnest, a number of people wandered over to the other side. It was fun exploring at first, but they’ve noticed something is wrong. The realm is making a claim on them – transforming them into a part of itself. Will they be able to escape before sunrise when the fae claim you forever? Play to find out.

Escape from Midsummer is a GM-full horror role-playing game for three players. Players play as people trying to escape from the Faewild AND aspects of the Faewild that are trying to claim them forever. Trigger Warnings: Body Horror, Gaslighting

Setting up the Game

Place your safety tool(s) of choice on the table, and ensure all players have been introduced to their use. Always prioritise the safety of everyone at your table.

the Aspects of the Faewild

There are three Aspects of the Faewild.

  1. the Environment,

  2. the Temptations,

  3. the Monsters. Combat with fae monsters is an immediate failure. Run, hide or look for a creative solution instead.

Read out the descriptions of each. Each Player plays as one aspect.

GM-variant

If your table is extremely uncomfortable playing without a GM, you may assign one. That player does not control an Escapee, but controls all three Aspects of the Faewild.

Game Structure

Escape from Midsummer is a game played in 5 Acts.

Act 1

Tables for

  • Moments
  • Locations in the Faewild
  • Fae NPCs
  • Random Mutations

Narrative Structure

  1. Layer 2 - environment. show evidence of being on the right path.
  2. Layer 3 - set back / sow suspicion. play on player’s personal drives.
  3. Layer 4 - monsters. the characters can see the goal, it’s just out of reach.
  4. Layer 5 - reach the gateway. Mirror shows them their mutations – will you be able to accept yourself and go home.
  5. Epilogue

Character Creation

  1. What is your character’s occupation?
  2. Why does the faewild love you? What about you is attractive to the fae?
  3. What drives you to return home?
  4. What is your character’s name?

Rolling the Dice

To play the game, you need two six-sided dice and a different colored six-sided die, which we will refer to as the dark die.

Attunement

Attunement is the measure of how much the faewild has dug its claws into you. It starts at 1. If it reaches 6, you are lost to the faewild and can never return home. (see Losing Yourself below)

Whenever your Attunement increases, either make up a mutation that is fictionally appropriate or roll on the mutation table, and record it.

When the faewild makes a claim on you or you encounter something alien that disturbs your human mind, make an Attunement Roll by rolling the dark die. If the result of the dark die is greater than your Attunement, your Attunement increases by one.

Risk Roll

When you attempt a risky task, say what you hope will happen and ask the other players what could possibly go wrong. Then gather dice.

  • Take one light die if you are doing something within human capabilities
  • Take another light die if your occupation would give you an advantage on the task OR if you accept a Fae Bargain from another player. (see Devil’s Bargains below)
  • add the dark die if you take the risk to draw on the Fae realm’s power, including any of your mutations, to aid you in the task.

Roll the dice. The die with the highest result tells us how well you performed the task. 1-3 You fail. The Player whose Faewild Aspect is currently dominant decides how it goes wrong, taking into the account the ideas offered when you asked what could go wrong. 4-5 You succeed, but there’s some kind of complication. The Player whose Faewild Aspect is currently dominant describes the complication, then you describe how you succeed, or vice versa. The complication may be connected to the one of the ideas offered when you asked what could go wrong, but it doesn’t have to be. 6 You succeed. Describe how. If the highest die is a dark die, and the dark die is higher than your current Attunement, increases your Attunement by 1.

If a player is unsatisfied with their result and their highest die was not a dark die, then they may add a dark die to their dice pool and reroll them.

Fae Bargins

When you gather dice to make a Risk Roll, any other player can offer you the second light die if you accept a Fae Bargain from them. The Fae Bargain occurs regardless of the outcome of the roll. You make the deal, pay the price, and get the bonus die.

The Fae Bargain is always a free choice. If you don’t like it, just reject it or suggest how to alter it so you might consider taking it. Anyone may veto or suggest alterations to a proposed Fae Bargain, especially if it would also impact their character.

Help Roll

If another player has made made a Risk Roll that includes at least one dark die, you may offer help after they roll. If they accept your offer, say how you expose yourself to danger and roll one light die. Your light die’s result is included when considering the overall success of the Risk Roll. But if your light die’s result matches any of the dark dice, increase your Attunement by 1.

You can only mark a maximum of 1 Ruin when helping on a roll. This is particularly relevant when a player re-rolls a Risk Roll. The helping player doesn’t re-roll their light die. However, you still mark 1 Ruin if any re-rolled dice show the same number as your light die (provided you haven’t marked 1 Ruin already due to this roll).

More than one player may offer to help, in which case each player rolls their own light die. The helped player can incorporate all of the light dice into their own Risk Roll.

Reduction Roll

When a character’s Attunement reaches five, they unlock the Reduction Roll. When the character takes action to reassert their humanity, roll the dark die. If the dark die is lower than their Attunement, decrease it by one and erase a fictionally appropriate mutation.

Losing Yourself

When your Attunement reaches 6, you are permanently claimed by the Faewild. This is an important moment: Everyone focuses on your last actions as you are mutated for the last time in the game, and lose your last connection to your humanity.

With your character lost, continue play as your Faewild Aspect, with a special focus on the offering of Fae Bargains.

To Do

Player’s sheet: 1/2 Aspect; 1/2 Party information

Play reference: 1/2 Act structure; 1/2 Rolls.

Credits

This work is by Mr.Zech (https://mrzech.itch.io).

This work is based on Trophy (trophyrpg.com), product of Jesse Ross and Hedgemaze Press, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Trophy is adapted from Cthulhu Dark with permission of Graham Walmsley. Trophy is also based on Blades in the Dark (found at http://www.bladesinthedark.com/), product of One Seven Design, developed and authored by John Harper, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).