Once you have run the first incursion, you will likely want to run more. And for this reason, the authors have provided you with a template for further incursions.

The first incursion includes information about many ingredients and elements found in The Ring that either will not appear because something else is included. It also includes things that do not appear because they are not part of the incursion. And of course, many of the ingredients and elements can be reused in different ways.

Use these and this template to craft your own incursions. And then share them with others.

Three Acts

Act 1

(1 scene)

The Call

Act 2

(3 scenes)

The Threshold
The Crossing
The Twist

Act 3

(2 Scenes)

The Ordeal
The Confrontation

In Detail

The Bazaar

The Storyteller should set the tone here. Provide an immediate sensory experience to the Psychonauts. Describe two visual descriptors and one descriptor involving sound and one involving sound. Of the descriptions, three should match in tone and feel, and one should seem slightly contradictory.

For example: in describing the tax collectors guild house in the City of Mirror, a storyteller might comment on the dim light and the dust floating through the sunbeams from windows. They might add that the Psychonauts notice the smell of book glue, and that they hear the distant screaming children in some distant chambers. The Storyteller should avoid being too flowery, and should give the establishing description the way they would describe something in the real world.

The Storyteller should allow the Psychonauts to take in the atmosphere and maybe take a preliminary action or two, but should quickly move to the Call

Scene 1 – The Call

The Storyteller chooses whether call will be delivered by a victim or a quest giver. The two options are functionally the same but motivate psychonauts in different ways. The victim or quest giver will be one of three options: another psychonaut, one of the others, or an inhabitants. The Storyteller will choose one of these options from the narrative cards in the Deck of Fire. That narrative card will be the major narrative card for the first scene.

These two plot hooks will be combined by The Storyteller to form the plot of the call.The call provided should be shocking and urgent and demand action from the psychonauts with clear and dire consequences presented both implicitly and explicitly. For example, a droid with a hidden message from a princess begging for help (Star Wars: A New Hope), a pregnant and bleeding woman who runs past the heroes while a pair of thugs follow with guns (Shoot ‘Em Up), or Alien Motherships appear over all major cities in the world (Independence Day).

The Storyteller needs to both grab the psychonaut’s attention, and present them with both a clear threat and a clear course of action. The Storyteller also needs to remember the disposition of the Psychonauts and motivate based on what actually interests the psychonauts. Not everyone will feel compelled to rescue a princess without a reward. Some people are more Han Solo than Luke Skywalker. And the Storyteller needs to remember what will get their psychonaut’s rolling.

That said, the Call knows where you live. The Shadowlands is the world of stories. And in the depths of the Shadowlands, the story is very powerful. And psychonauts who try to sabotage the story will find that the storyteller and its defenders will respond aggressively. The story is alive, and intelligent and doesn’t like smart asses. That said, the story loves a twist, the story loves a surprise, the story loves a subverted trope. So the Storyteller should work hard to avoid railroading the players. The players should never be told that they cannot do something or cannot try something. And the players should likewise never be told that something is impossible or simply fails, everything has a chance of succeeding

The Pursuit

Three scenes: rock, paper, and scissors- each with two phases. Solving one of the scenes will unlock the solution to the matching scene, and complicates the other scene. As an example, solving the paper scene will unlock the rock scene and complicate the scissors scene.

The Storyteller then moves one or both of the phases from the scene aided to the scene complicated. This will either completely resolve the scene or leave it with a single phase to resolve. And will result on the complicated scene having either a total of three of four scenes. The phases should relate to the scene they were taken from if possible, as complications spill over into other scenes.

Each scene has three possible phases, each of which can activate first. The Scene itself will include only two of the phases based on how the psychonauts start and proceed through the scene.

The Pursuit is the most chaotic in execution of the three acts, and the Storyteller should remember that every action taken and every result achieved by (or imposed upon) the Psychonauts should move them towards the Showdown. This does not necessary have to be a good thing. But every interim event, good or bad, helpful to the Psychonauts or their adversaries, should move the Psychonauts closer to a final confrontation. Nothing should stop the action or roadblock the action, instead the story should move closer to its conclusion. Every failure or fumble by the Psychonauts allow the opposing forces to advance their own agendas. No matter how bad things get, if some of the Psychonauts still have an intact Aura, then the story should move towards a conclusion- to the Showdown.

Scene 2 – The Threshold

The Threshold is the point in the tale where the Storyteller takes the previously introduced plot hook and draws the players in and removes all chance of retreat. This is a part of the hero’s journey, the hero has crossed the threshold into the special world and no retreat is possible. And so the Storyteller will then tie the victim or quest giving character to one of the Pursuit scenes: paper, scissors, or rock. Using the current Incursion as an example; if the Storyteller decides to use Brewmaster Bobby Indra for his this role, he then needs to connect Bobby to either the Men of Black and White, the Hound, or the Dreamwalker. Perhaps Bobby is being pursued by the Hound and needs help.

The character will also point out the other two Pursuit scenes, either as possible help or as dangerous complications. So continuing the previous example, the Storyteller might have Bobby point out that he’s been dodging the Men of Black and White after speaking with the Dreamwalker. The Storyteller will have the character make a direct request for help from the Psychonauts.

Scene 3 – The Crossing

The Crossing is the point where the story seems to turn in the protagonist’s favor. This should happen here, even if the Psychonauts fail the ARC Cycles in this scene (contriving to have them succeed by accident amidst their failure).

The crossing should also further commit them to their course of action and move the plot along and increase the pace the of the story. This is point in the sports movie where the rag tag team of misfits starts to believe in themselves, work together as a team, and to start their winning streak montage sequence.

Scene 4 – The Twist

The Twist is the scene where the context is changed and inverted and the psychonaut’s understanding of the story is transformed. Typically this will be the result of a disaster, even if the psychonauts succeed in the ARC Cycles of this scene. A perfect example would be the escape from the death star with the plans in Star Wars: A New Hope. The heroes shut down the tractor beam. They escape the Death Star with the plans of the Death Star. They defeat the Tie Fighters sent in pursuit. But the Empire has planted a tracking beacon on the Millennium Falcon and now the Death Star is zeroing in on the rebel base! Prepare for the Final Showdown!

The Showdown

The Triple Options

The Showdown has three required solutions that are always available.

An action check for hero/scoundrel/villain type actions.
An action check for mind/body/hands type actions.
A cinematic action check (such as a sacrifice play)

Three optional solutions will also be provided. These are all story based. The Storyteller chooses only one to use and does not tell the psychonauts. The Storyteller chooses and matches the three solutions to the three scenes from the pursuit, both the chosen and excluded solutions. Resolving the first will provide hints for the associated optional solution. Resolving the aided scene will provide a hint for its associated optional solution as well. The Psychonauts do not receive the hunt for the scene which was complicated. The hints will be both positive and negative. For example: ” I’ve heard that the pillars in the cathedral are unshakable,” or “I’ve heard that those pillars don’t actually attach to the ceiling.”

This means there are a total of four possible solutions. But a Storyteller must keep in mind that nothing is impossible in the Shadowlands. The Psychonauts may latch onto the idea of breaking the pillars despite, or perhaps because they were told that the pillars were unshakeable. In the event that the Psychonauts wish to attempt something which the Storyteller did not conceive or thinks is ridiculous, they are encouraged to rate the challenge at: Beyond the Impossible, and to set the actual numeric number as high has seems reasonable.

The Storyteller is also reminded and cautioned not to set the difficulty of any plans they do not like at ludicrously high levels. Creativity on the Psychonauts’ part is to be encouraged, and the Storyteller should encourage this creativity. And the better thought out the plan is, the more credence the Storyteller should give to its chance of success. And likewise, the more cinematic and impressive the attempted plan sounds, the better its chances of success in the face of its own apparent improbability. The Shadowlands work on the function of Narrative Causality, and the deeper into the Shadowlands one progresses the more one finds that narrative logic outweighs the laws of physics and nature.

When designing or running an Incursion, the Storyteller should also remember that by the end of the four phases the Incursion and its story are complete. If the Psychonauts fail all four phases of the Showdown, but some manage to survive all the consequences, then the Storyteller needs to find a way to resolve the Incursion in the Psychonauts’ favor. Reaching the end of the Incursion means the Psychonauts have either survived or not. But obviously simply surviving will not produce as epic as victory as actually triumphing into the Showdown.

And the more tenuous the survival, the less dignified the victory, and the more outside interference will play a role in the Psychonaut’s survival.

Scene 5 – The Ordeal

The beginning of the finale is always the point int he story where the heroes or protagonists seem to be losing, and to keep losing. A textbook execution of this occurs in James Cameron’s Avatar. The final battle begins as a huge massacre for the Na’vi as the battle mechs and the attack helicopters devastate the warriors and their living mounts. Gina Rodriguez dies (because of course she does) . The romantic rival dies. The other avatar using scientist’s avatar is shot to pieces. Even an amazing success should be depicted here as dragging success from the jaws of failure.

Scene 6 – The Confrontation

This is the moment of resolution for the story. Either Luke Skywalker succeeds in resisting the Dark Side and redeems his father, or Wonder Woman understands why she fights and defeats Aries, or Tony Montana fails to overcome his faults and is blown to pieces in a hail of cocaine and gunpowder. If even one psychonaut survives, the Storyteller should create a successful conclusion to the story- but it does not have to be dignified. And if the psychonauts all lose the Avatars, then the failure should be glorious and over the top in nature.