Contents

The book is meant to be read in order: each part adds one notch to the game.

Author’s note and licenseThis book is made to circulate. 0 · IntroductionWelcome, reader. 1 · The CoinThe coin is the simplest of oracles. 2 · The tarotThe coin is the oracle of closed questions; the tarot is the oracle of open ones, those whose possible answers you do not know in advance. 3 · The sceneThe scene is the raw playing space: where you play, where you write your adventure. 4 · The everydayThe everyday is what plays out when you have kept a minor at the opening. 5 · Acting on the worldJumping from one roof to the next, forcing a door or picking it, standing your ground, searching a room, setting a machine down in the wind: the moment your… 6 · FateThere comes a moment when feeling your way is no longer enough, when a card of fate tempts you, and you take it. 7 · The world aroundYour character is not the center of the world — only the one through whom you look at it. 8 · What is pendingA game does not hold together by what has happened: it holds by what is not finished. 9 · The world sceneThe world scene is the moment when you set down your hero’s pen and watch the rest live, far from your character’s eyes. 10 · The stirringThe stirring is the world running without waiting for you: it brings stakes to life, and it restarts the ones that are asleep. 11 · Who you areA character exists by two things: what he is, and what he does. 12 · Playing alonePlaying solo, nothing answers you or resists you, except chance and yourself. A · Carrying another settingThis book sets down a system; above all it opens a grammar. B · The tarot, in briefNever handled a tarot deck? C · The 78, card by cardYou draw a card, and nothing comes. D · Play aidWhat follows is not to be learned: it is to be found again. E · The lexiconThe game does not have many words, but each one designates one thing and one only.