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The Quiet Year: History's Shadow A map-making game of post-collapse communities  quote:For a long time, we were at war with The Jackals. But now, weve driven them off, and we have this a year of relative peace. One quiet year, with which to build our community up and learn once again how to work together. Come Winter, the Frost Shepherds will arrive and we might not survive beyond that. But we dont know about that yet. What we know is that right now, in this moment, there is an opportunity to build something. What's this game about? The Quiet Year is a map-making game about post-collapse communities, written and designed by Joe McDaldno (who also wrote Monsterhearts, Perfect and Ribbon Drive). The players take on the very fluid role of the ideas of the community rather than controlling any one character. Characters still appear they're still very important as the individual faces of the community but the game is played from a bird's-eye rather than first-person view. We'll tell the whole community's story through the titular quiet year, rather than the stories of a select few of its members. This isn't a game about apocalypses or world-shaking catastrophes, or their immediate aftermaths. As 'post-collapse' suggests, it takes place after all that. Think of the tribes, villages and strongholds that might exist generations after a calamity that shatters our modern way of life communities that struggle with their present concerns, like how to secure clean water or what to do with a murderer, while emerging from the shadow of whatever distant crisis created the new world. Over the course of the game we might personally discover the source of that shadow even if the community doesn't. Ultimately, however, both the community's story and the game itself will be cut short by the arrival of the Frost Shepherds. We'll draw the map itself as the game goes on, turning it into a combination of physical and cultural cartography which marks out the places, people and events most important to the community. How do you play it? The rules are very simple. Each turn represents a week in the life of the community. On your turn you draw a card from the card oracle that comes with the game, resolve whatever event it describes, then choose to begin a project, discover something new on the map or hold a discussion on an issue. All the while you'll be drawing on the collective map, marking places, resources and events with symbols or illustrations. The card oracle is a list of events, conflicts, decisions and descriptions corresponding to each card in a standard deck of playing cards. Most of the cards have an element of choice. Here's an example: quote:Introduce a dark mystery among the members of the community or... Conflict flares up among community members, and as a result, a project fails. The game as it's played is a combination of helping and hindering the community. There isn't really any right or wrong balance it's more a matter of doing what makes sense to you on your turn, based on what's come before and the inspiration of the card oracle the game uses. The book basically describes the dual roles the players take on as being a passionate advocate and a dispassionate experimenter and that sums it up pretty well. Personally, when I played the game I had moments where I was pushing the community towards destruction (like bringing threats closer and destroying vital resources) and then moments where I wanted the community to come out fine. Where can I get the rules? If you already have them, no problem, if you don't then I can PM or email you a basic version. I encourage you to buy the full version here on Joe McDaldno's site. It's not that much bigger, but it's pretty cheap. If you like it, you might as well buy it. You can also get it by Paying With Good Deeds, such as charity work and acts of kindness to people you know or the general public. The rules of the game will be slightly modified to suit online play, but these things will be mentioned in the actual game thread. Mostly they'll be small changes in procedure to fit the format. What should I expect in general? Player Numbers The game is supposed to work best for 2-4 players, but online I think it'll work better with 4 to keep the pace up. However, the game seems to have a reasonable number of people on the forums who're interested in it (or were a couple of months ago), so if there are more potential players this thread can act as a recruitment thread for more than one session. As long as we get enough people for each potential session to have 4 players we should do fine. Pacing The game should last about 2-4 weeks and the system comes with a pre-arranged end (drawing the King of Spades, which signifies the arrival of the Frost Shepherds). Of the three games so far, the only one which ran to completion had a pair of pretty decent stretches of about 1 post per day per player. That's probably the best speed to go at, but realistically we'll probably be going at a pace less than that. Please make sure you'll have enough time for that (a turn takes about a quarter to half an hour to do). At the same time, it's possible to play too quickly. Blasting through at a speed like a season a day would kill part of what makes the game interesting in PbP it'd take away the time between turns which gives you an opportunity to think about the story and the setting. Part of what makes it interesting to me, at least. Past Games The Heart's Cartography: the story of a tribe living on a cold, industrial coastline and their struggles with the aftermath of the brutal war they fought and new enemies who threaten the quiet peace. The only game to have finished so far, and the first one. This should give you an idea of how the game normally plays out. Game #2: The misadventures of a community living in an aircraft graveyard by the sea. When Grognard Met Storygame: the story of a warring, schismatic religious society living in a dead forest, whose beliefs develop into mysticism and atheism. Credit The rules summary which will be sent to any player who doesn't have the rules, as well as the fancy cards we'll be using, were both made by Kestral, who facilitated the first SA game of The Quiet Year. Signing up Just post here, adding whether or not you have the game so I know who to send the rules to. If you want to get into the mood a bit, add one of the following to your post, as well as an image or two or a piece of music: Discover Something New in the uncharted regions around a community, which complicates its life. For example: Our scouts found a new chamber deeper in the complex than we'd been before. A black-on-yellow triskelion was emblazoned on the door, and the room was filled with a discomfiting warmth and thrum. Begin a Project to resolve a problem or put a community's resources to use. For example: Our saboteurs head South to plant their gunpowder charges around the Obsidian Tribe's camp. It'll take them a week, just as long the Tribe doesn't move out to make another assault on our encampment. Hold a Discussion on an important issue to a community, which it may well be divided on. For example: Despite the food shortages, should we focus on the construction of the carrion shrine? When we have enough players we can start setting up the game, which is where we'll define the tone of the game and general aspects of the world, discuss elements we do and don't want to see and so on. The game itself will be run in a separate thread (or multiple threads if we get enough players for multiple games).          
UnCO3 fucked around with this message at Mar 15, 2013 around 13:50 |
| # ? Mar 8, 2013 23:59 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 00:05 |
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This looks cool. I've never played it before or even really know the rules, but I'll sure as hell give it a try.
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| # ? Mar 9, 2013 00:05 |
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I just checked the designer's page for the game again and he's put up the card oracle, so if you want to check it out you can see it here. As for the rules, the game is very lightweight. The rules for setting up and playing the game take up about 4 pages in the 15-page rulebook - the rest is the oracle, play examples, advice for playing the game and so on.
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| # ? Mar 9, 2013 00:33 |
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This sounds amazing, and I'll be grabbing the rulebook tonight. I'd love to try it out.
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| # ? Mar 9, 2013 00:47 |
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I was sad that the game I was in petered out before Winter. I definitely want in on this game if there winds up being room. Edit: Discover Something New  A plastic boat washes ashore with strange corpses inside. They look like they might have been people once, but the bodies are something... different now. One keeps making an odd whirring sound, despite being obviously dead. ibntumart fucked around with this message at Mar 9, 2013 around 01:10 |
| # ? Mar 9, 2013 00:55 |
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I'm so in. I'll Discover Something New soon, I have the book.
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| # ? Mar 9, 2013 02:36 |
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I've never played this before, and I have every intention of buying the rules but I can't seem to get his site to work. Mind PM'ing me the rules? Hold a discussion:  Our envoys to the Gods of the North have not yet returned. With winter soon approaching, should we mount an expedition to find them? Edit: Hey, just so everybody knows, The Quiet Year is on sale at DriveThruRPG for $4.50. Fausts Pen fucked around with this message at Mar 9, 2013 around 04:03 |
| # ? Mar 9, 2013 03:54 |
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^^ Thanks for the heads up! This sounds awesome. I'll be picking up the game soon and will post something after that. nerdpony fucked around with this message at Mar 9, 2013 around 06:43 |
| # ? Mar 9, 2013 03:58 |
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I bought the gamebook, so you don't have to PM me the rules. Start a Project  The beasts that inhabit the forests around our settlement are acting strangely, coming closer and closer to our lands. We will start a 3 week project to discover why. Am I doing this right?
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| # ? Mar 9, 2013 06:29 |
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I've been wanting to play this since I first heard of it, but I've sworn off gaming for a bit while I try to get some stuff in order. In the spirit of things, I'm going to have to drop a contempt token.
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| # ? Mar 9, 2013 08:18 |
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djw175 posted:Am I doing this right? quote:Project Completed: Katherine's quiet rabble-rousing has demonstrated that the war with the Jackals did not scar every member of the community alike. While most of us find the idea of more bloodshed abhorrent, the Jackals taught some of us that expedient violence prevents worse atrocities later. When Katherine makes her intent to kill the slaver public, a handful of people stand by her. They leave the community and establish a new camp in the woods between us and the mountains, vowing to do what we do not have the heart for. They will not let Taker return to the Cold Winds alive. JamezBfod posted:I've been wanting to play this since I first heard of it, but I've sworn off gaming for a bit while I try to get some stuff in order. In the spirit of things, I'm going to have to drop a contempt token. Current players: UnCO3 (I have the rules) djw175 (has the rules) Majuju (has the rules) ibtumart (do you have the rules?) A RICH WHITE MAN (has the rules) Faust's Pen (probably has the rules now) nerdpony (has the rules) We need at least 1 more, then any number of 4 more. Important: We have more than enough players for 1 group, so we'll be splitting up. So that everyone does a story they're interested in, I think we should each say which genres we're more interested in playing. For example: mundane-fantastic, high-tech sci-fi, fantasy, bizarre horror like The Night Land, something modern-day (or close, like The Lord of the Flies) or something else. This is more about which genres you're okay with rather than which particular one you really want to play (if you have a strong preference). If there's any clear difference in preferences we can split along those lines, otherwise randomly. Personally, I'm fine with pretty much any genre (though if it's fantasy I'd prefer it to be the weirder kind).
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| # ? Mar 9, 2013 15:15 |
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I like bizarre horror and hi-tech cci-fi.
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| # ? Mar 9, 2013 18:05 |
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More images, for a certain kind of horror:         
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| # ? Mar 9, 2013 18:38 |
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I'm down for whatever but would prefer not hi tech sci-fi.
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| # ? Mar 9, 2013 21:08 |
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Room for one more player? Sign me up, I'm definately interested. I don't own the rulebook, at least not yet. And I prefer low-tech scifi. Discover something new: Our explorers have found the ruins of another settlement. There were signs of fighting and violence, and the place had been looted clean. The most uncomfortable discovery was that the corpses were fresh, the settlement had been destroyed recently. 
Lord Hypnostache fucked around with this message at Mar 9, 2013 around 22:56 |
| # ? Mar 9, 2013 22:22 |
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Now that we have 8 players I think I'll start the setup after 24 hours or when there are 12 players, whichever comes first (if there's 9, 10 or 11 players by then, the last few can wait and see if anyone else comes along).
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| # ? Mar 9, 2013 22:49 |
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drat. I'm the unlucky number nine. I'm hoping four more people will want to play. I have the rules. Assuming enough people are gathered, I'm up for any genre. I'm pretty adaptable. Discover Something New  While going to harvest clams, the bodies of several sea-beasts were found washed up on shore. They were immediately butchered and a feast was held in honor of Our Lady Ocean. A few wondered what had caused the mass death of these creatures, but their murmurings were silenced by the mirth of the others. genericangst fucked around with this message at Mar 10, 2013 around 01:14 |
| # ? Mar 10, 2013 01:03 |
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Just wanted to throw my vote in for weird horror or low-tech sci-fi. And I totally have the rules now!
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| # ? Mar 10, 2013 05:00 |
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Glad to be ten, if ye shall have me. This sounds like jolly good fun. edit: For genre, anything somber will do. I think I'd at least prefer modern or slightly futuristic, though. So another for low-sci-fi? And if a game starts, I'll buy the rules immediately. I literally have the money on standby, but I want to make sure I have a game before I spend it. Dirty_Moses fucked around with this message at Mar 10, 2013 around 06:16 |
| # ? Mar 10, 2013 05:07 |
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I do have the rulebook and as for my preference, I prefer near future (as in within a couple of hundred years versus thousands), but am okay with high tech. I also find the thought of playing this in a terraforming project gone wrong intriguing.
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| # ? Mar 10, 2013 07:31 |
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I kind of think a space colony setting could be cool.
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| # ? Mar 10, 2013 09:12 |
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We don't have 12 people but I think groups of 3 should be able to work. I think the following groups should work out: Group A: UnCO3, Majuju, nerdpony Group B: ibntumart, Lord Hypnostache, Dirty Moses, Faust's Pen Group C: A RICH WHITE MAN, djw175, genericangst My reasoning for group B is that all of you stated a preference for low-tech science fiction, either as a main preference (out of 2) or as your only one. For group C, the first two of you want high-tech science fiction and genericangst's okay with any genre (djw, you can probably fit subtle eldritch horror into the setting too). As for group A, all of us are pretty much okay with anything (or at least, nerdpony and I are and Majuju hasn't said anything about their preferences). A RICH WHITE MAN, ibntumart and I have definitely played the game before, so for the sake of running things smoothly we'll be posting the threads and setting up the map and cards. I have a game thread OP mostly written out I'll PM it to the two of you some time tomorrow and the other two will be pretty simple to do. Before we begin each game there are a few things we should do within our groups: 1) Discuss the tone and genre of the game. Pick a specific genre, and talk about where the story should be set on the continuum from subdued to crazy. Is the world different to ours? On a rough level, what sort of technological developments might the community have from the beginning? It might be easier if we just post our strongest preferences for this and then A RICH WHITE MAN, ibntumart and I will form an average or inclusive setting. 2) Mark our limits. Name anything you really don't want to see in the game surprise sex, domestic abuse, violence towards children, torture and so on are examples. Say for each thing whether you're alright with it happening off-screen or being implied, or whether you don't want any mention at all. 3) Give the game world a general characteristic or two. Is the region cold and snowy or icy? Is it coastal, mountainous, inland? Is the land flat and open, is it a hilly forest, is it in underground caverns? What kind of flora and fauna are there? What's the sky like are there any changes to the celestial bodies? What differences might there be between the mapped world and our own? I (and ibntumart and A RICH WHITE MAN) will make a general description of the world based on our groups' answers to 1) and 3). If everyone in the group's interested in playing that, we go ahead with it, if not the other people in the group can revise it. Once we've done that, we need to do the following: 1) Describe our Palette of ideas that are always and never acceptable to add to the story. This is something taken from Microscope via the last game of The Quiet Year I was in. Each of us should say one thing we don't want to be in the game and one thing we're fine with. Negatives overpower positives, so if I say I'm alright with mutants and you say you don't want to see any mutants, then there aren't any mutants in our story. 2) Each give a key resource for our community to start with it could be material, like clean water, food or shelter; social, like enemies, children or traditions; or abstract, like mercy, identity or faith. Once we have these we'll each need to vote on which one will start in abundance the others will be scarcities. On abstract resources: a few of these in a game makes things more interesting, but it's not a good idea to go overboard. Starting with one is a good idea, and we might use a few more as we go through the game, but material and social resources do well enough at posing abstract questions (like food is scarce and there's a trading party in the village, how bad is the situation really and what is the community going to do?). 3) Describe one key feature of the landscape the community's home, a natural formation, an old and large piece of old technology, a route, some well-known fauna, an offshoot of our community, something else. Add both of those to the map (when it's up) and we'll be ready to go.  Recruitment is still open for 2 more players, 1 for a high-tech science fiction game and 1 for whatever game setting group A comes up with, but you've got to get in before we finish setup. Okay, here's my stuff for group A: 1) I'd prefer a toned-down game with a sombre, serious, subtly strange atmosphere, though the occasional absurd moment is fine too. As I said, I'm fine with pretty much any genre, but there are a few things I'm specifically interested in trying out: a) a tower, maybe a block of flats in some post-collapse world, and the map covers the different floors and the surrounding area or b) something in or near a glass and steel geodesic dome covering a kind of retrofuturistic 'house of the future!' exhibit, with a nuclear family of robots following deteriorating routines as the exhibit's power source slowly runs dry, again in a post-collapse world. 2) I'd rather not see surprise sex at all, or child abuse or torture directly. 3) Something urban-ish, I don't mind about the surrounding ecology. Aside from that, maybe the stars have all gone out, maybe there are strange shapes moving outside in the night, maybe some species have gone a bit weird. UnCO3 fucked around with this message at Mar 10, 2013 around 23:43 |
| # ? Mar 10, 2013 23:41 |
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I really like that setting idea, specifically the tower/projects one. Maybe set it some place like Kowloon, where it's essentially a super-dense urban structure intergrown and packed with who-knows-what? Both the tone and the ecology sound great, too.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 00:29 |
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1. Since our group is going with high tech, I want it to be at least a little weird. Whether that's from an alien/supernatural presence or from people being in isolation so long doesn't matter to me. Though I do think any alien presence should be implied rather than stated at first if we're going to have it at all. We remember how to use a lot of the technology that we have, but we might not understand why it works or have the resources to replicate what we have. We should have much higher computing capacity than we have now, and possibly even have artificial intelligence. I'd like it if robots were a part of our day to day life, especially if they had AI. 2. No surprise sex. Torture and child abuse should be veiled. 3.If we're going for a space colony, I'd prefer us living on a moon with water. We may or may not have a naturally breathable atmosphere, but we don't necessarily have to create fresh water to drink or rely on stores. I'd also like it if our moon was orbiting a gas giant, but I can't be too picky. I'm sorry if this sounds disjointed, especially #1. Once things get defined we're going to be on the fast train to space madness. genericangst fucked around with this message at Mar 11, 2013 around 01:47 |
| # ? Mar 11, 2013 01:45 |
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genericangst posted:1. Since our group is going with high tech, I want it to be at least a little weird. Whether that's from an alien/supernatural presence or from people being in isolation so long doesn't matter to me. Though I do think any alien presence should be implied rather than stated at first if we're going to have it at all. We remember how to use a lot of the technology that we have, but we might not understand why it works or have the resources to replicate what we have. We should have much higher computing capacity than we have now, and possibly even have artificial intelligence. I'd like it if robots were a part of our day to day life, especially if they had AI. Yeah, this sounds good.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 01:51 |
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Alright, if you guys don't mind, I'm definitely interested in playing this! Personally, I'm pretty much okay with anything genre-wise. Weird sci-fi/horror could be pretty interesting though.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 02:10 |
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I'm definitely cool with space colony on a planet/moon with Eldritch Horrors. I'll get a gamethread up soon I guess! AlanWhats, we have a spot open in our group if you want in.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 02:24 |
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This game seems really intriguing, I'd like to be a part of this! I have the rules already Discover something new: Our exploration of the dilapidated vessel showed that it had once been the location of another settlement. The presence of what appeared to be personal items seems to indicate that they left quickly and in a hurry. One of our scouts reported hearing strange skittering and growling. The others were quick to dismiss his claims with a hint of annoyance
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 02:29 |
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A RICH WHITE MAN posted:I'm definitely cool with space colony on a planet/moon with Eldritch Horrors. I'll get a gamethread up soon I guess! AlanWhats, we have a spot open in our group if you want in. Sounds good to me! I take it we're going to do the fleshing out of the setting in the gamethread then? Edit: I realized I was being an idiot. Let me put down my three answers real quick. 1) As I said before, weird sci-fi is good with me. I'm cool with pretty absurd stuff as long as we can generally keep a human element to it all. I'm okay with the alien horrors being on the outskirts at first, but I would like to see some strange and unusual lifeforms or cultures. Perhaps some form of reproductive mechanical life? 2) No surprise sex whatsoever. Domestic abuse and violence against kids should be veiled and off-screen if we even bring it up. Torture should also be veiled. 3) Perhaps the colony would be positioned in a valley next to a mountain range? It would help explain the water supply, plus it could give us a tactical advantage if we ever need it. The mountain range itself would be a series of extinct (or perhaps only dormant) volcanoes. AlanWhats fucked around with this message at Mar 11, 2013 around 08:15 |
| # ? Mar 11, 2013 03:51 |
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I'll be on the lookout for your PM. Until then: 1) I'd prefer a sci-fi setting without psionics, magic, or eldritch horror (though horror generally is a good theme for survivalist sci-fi and I'm all for it). I'm still keen on a terraforming project gone awry or some other Big Project vital to the environment not going as planned due to whatever caused the collapse. 2) No graphic descriptions of torture. 3) The sky is often full of dark clouds, but rarely any storms. The sky has a greenish tint.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 06:40 |
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Final groups are as follows: Group A: UnCO3, Majuju, nerdpony, Indigo Cephalopods Group B: ibntumart, Lord Hypnostache, Dirty Moses, Faust's Pen Group C: A RICH WHITE MAN, djw175, genericangst, AlanWhats
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 08:50 |
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1) A good old fashioned apocalypse sounds good to me, with mutations and things being the basis of any horror that happens. I'd prefer the tech level to be low, maybe up to modern tech, but no alien ray guns or anything like that. 2)No surprise sex and no torture on screen. 3)The area is densely vegetated and swampy, stalked by twisted creatures carving out new niches in the undergrowth and canopy.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 13:32 |
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1) I agree with others, keep the tech level low and no weird alien-psychic-cthulhus. There could be some rare items of modern day/near future tech level but no way of building more of them. 2) I agree with what others from group B have posted. 3) There are ruined towns and cities left behind by the apocalyptic event.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 13:47 |
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1. I like low sci-fi, though I wouldn't mind the inclusion of mutants, rogue A.I., and other slightly campy things as long as they're implemented with care. I like the terraform idea; maybe an attempt to turn, say, the Sahara into a more heavily forested area due to over-population and resource needs that failed due to the collapse. So the land is half-terraformed and the people assigned to "colonize" the area are now living in a tribal/agrarian sort of society? 2. I'm okay with anything, honestly. I assume if surprise sex or torture come up we can just handle it tastefully and fade-to-black. 3. I live the cavern complex idea. Maybe not too extensive, but in a reversal of expectations, the caves are actually the safest place, and where the majority of the community lives, with the game chronicling the attempts at expanding beyond. Dirty_Moses fucked around with this message at Mar 11, 2013 around 23:58 |
| # ? Mar 11, 2013 23:11 |
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Looks like groups B and C are ready to move onto the second stage of setup (after A RICH WHITE MAN and ibntumart come up with the general worlds for their groups). Currently Majuju and I are waiting on nerdpony and Indigo Cephalopods. In the meantime, everyone should make accounts at Roll20 if you don't have one already. This is what we'll be using to store and draw cards. We'll be using scribblar to make the maps, but only the people who're making the rooms there need accounts.
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 23:55 |
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UnCO3 posted:Looks like groups B and C are ready to move onto the second stage of setup (after A RICH WHITE MAN and ibntumart come up with the general worlds for their groups). Currently Majuju and I are waiting on nerdpony and Indigo Cephalopods. Sorry, unexpected internet outage and semi-functional cell phone have kept me from replying. You'll hear from me tomorrow.
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| # ? Mar 12, 2013 01:35 |
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UnCO3 posted:
1.) I like all of this, especially the old abandoned tower/block idea. I'm definitely down with going for a more subtle strange. 2.) Agreed 3.) A dense urban setting in the middle of a large city area would be nice, with most of the buildings still standing and structurally sound. Or perhaps a more wasteland-ish setting that's in the middle of nowhere, perhaps near the ruins of a small town or some sort of military or industrial facility.
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| # ? Mar 12, 2013 03:38 |
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I have the cards and info (thanks for the PM, UnCO3: those cards *are* fancy!), and it sounds like my team is pretty much on the same page. So here's what I'm getting: Our community lives underground, sort of like Fremen in sietches from Dune. Except much smaller and probably not as stable. Outside and upside are strange and towering vegetation, as big as trees but decidedly different otherwise. Odd and unpredictable gases cloud both the mind and the predators that call the hyperswamp home. We occasionally come across machines and weird metal relics, but we often don't understand what they are and certainly can't make more of them. Does that sound good? I'll add any last minute tweaking and hope to get the IC thread up tomorrow night. (I'm going out with my wife, though, so it might not be till fairly late tomorrow night.)
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| # ? Mar 12, 2013 06:48 |
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ibntumart posted:I have the cards and info (thanks for the PM, UnCO3: those cards *are* fancy!), and it sounds like my team is pretty much on the same page. So here's what I'm getting: That all sounds great to me! I'm looking forward to it.
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| # ? Mar 12, 2013 19:57 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 00:05 |
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Sounds good to me.
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| # ? Mar 12, 2013 21:51 |
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