The Play

Most Role-playing Games bill themselves and operate as games with a storytelling element. Blood Red Dreaming is a story with a gameplay element. All participants should remember this, the story is paramount. This is not a game that you are trying to win. This is a story you are trying to tell. This is why participants are not called players, but psychonauts. You are performers who are exploring your own minds by telling a collective story.

And Blood Red Dreaming facilitates this by making the form of the story match the three act stage play in basic construction.

Themes, Beats, and Chekhov

Every Incursion needs a theme, roughly three main story beats, and at least one (but no more than three) Chekhov points in order to feel complete to the psychonauts. A premade Incursion (such as this one) will include these for the Storyteller.

A Theme is the central element of the story. Not a plot point, but an idea upon which the story has something to say. The Storyteller should use the theme to shape actions of the supporting characters and craft the plot around the psychonauts. Theme is critical for creating unity in the story. By having a unified theme, the story will be memorable and your friends we talkin about it for years after.

Typically the Storyteller will not explain the theme directly to the Psychonauts, it is better if the Psychonauts experience the theme even if they never articulate clearly themselves. As an example, in the first incursion from Into the Ring, the theme is loss. The Cosmonaut dogs have lost their home. The Men of Black and White have lost the prince and princess. When Bobby indras flask is discovered, not only will he be lost but he will have lost his flask.

A Beat is a planned moment of plot significance to draw the psychonauts back towards the main story. Psychonauts will get distracted and so at the end of Act One, and in the second and third scenes of Act Two, the Storyteller should include descriptive events to draw the attention of the psychonauts back to the central story and the ticking clock of the plot.

The Beat at the end of Act One is referred to as the Bait. The Purpose of the Bait is to spur the Psychonauts into action, prompting them to engage and voluntarily cross the Threshold into the Arena. The Beat in the second Scene of Act Two, is referred to as the Trap. The Purpose of the Trap is to psychologically lock the Psychonauts into the narrative and make them feel committed to seeing things through to their conclusion- regardless of the cost. The Beat at the end of Act Two is referred to as The Price. The purpose of the Price is to connect the Psychonauts and their actions to the action of the story and make the psychonauts feel as though their actions have caused the current situation- that they are responsible for the bad things happening in  story. The goal of the Price is to guide the Psychonauts to identity with the story and drive them to a final confrontation with destiny.

A Chekhov point (the name being a reference to Chekhov’s Gun) is something that is noted early in the story (Act One is best, Scene One of Act Two is the latest this should happen), that is described clearly and then left aside until being brought back late in the story (either Scene Three of Act Two or in Act three). A Chekhov point can be a key item (from a key to a literal Chekhov’s Gun), it can be an action (crossing the streams), it can a location (the Source of the Matrix), or something else. Including a Chekhov point makes the story feel better constructed and more complete to Psychonauts, as though the other shoe has dropped.

Technically a Chekhov point can be anything foreshadowed early and then called back as a critical point in the finale. In practice, the Storyteller will find that it is typically easiest to think of Chekhov points in three subcategories, Chekhov’s gun, Chekhov’s guy, and Chekhov’s gimmick. Chekhov’s gun refers to any prop from a weapon, to a tool, to anything else that is a physical object. Chekhov’s guy refers to any character, whether a human or not. And Chekhov’s gimmick refers to any other plot device narrative or setting or similar.

Checking such resources as the TV Tropes website will produce a Treasure Trove of ideas. And many more subcategories of the chekhov’s gun technique. Rookie storytellers are advised to stick to the basics three subcategories until they feel more comfortable playing with the tools provided here.

Deck of Fire

The Deck of Fire is a collection of potential Story Elements. Each new Incursion created by Aardvark, Aardwolf, and Ape Productions will include a new set of cards for the Deck of Fire. The new deck will be all the Storyteller needs to run the Incursions in the associated Incursion book. But Storytellers are also free to mix and match these cards when crafting their own Incursions. And blank cards will be included in all premade decks so that Storytellers are more easily able to add their own cards.

Deck of Fire cards are divided into three types: Narrative Cards, Challenge Cards, and Setting Cards.

Narrative Cards

Narrative Cards drive the story. These cards add Story Elements to gameplay that the Psychonauts may invoke in order to gain the bonus listed on the card during the ARC cycle. If the psychonauts fail to make use of a Narrative Card in the scene currently in play, the Storyteller should endeavor to invoke the Narrative card against the Psychonauts and apply the value of the card as a penalty against them in the ARC Cycle. In both cases, this must make sense for the story as it is currently unfolding.

Challenge Cards

The Challenege Cards are the beating heart of the Deck of Fire and its connection to the ARC Cycle. Each Challenge Card will depict an attempt by the story to oppose the Psychonauts, a literal challenge which they must overcome to proceed. And these challenges will be what the psychonauts must triumph against in the ARC Cycle of that Scene.

Each card will include recommended Difficulty ratings, but not a specific value. The ratings are recommendations and the Storyteller is under no obligation to use the recommendation, although since the psychonauts will also be able to see the recommendations, a storyteller is advised to provide a reason for a differing rating to justify the change to the psychonauts in the interest of fairness.

The Major Challenge Card will provide the base challenge rating, and the minor Challenge Card will add a modifier of the number listed. Note that the psychonauts may invoke the minor challenge card in their favor through clever storytelling. But if they fail to do so, then the Storyteller uses the minor card to modify the challenge against them.

The purpose of the difficulty level is to provide an exciting story session with proper rising action, an appropriate challenge with the possibility of failure the whole way through.

Setting Cards

Setting Cards provide the stage upon which the play is performed and story is told. Within a gameplay context, the setting cards provide story elements which the psychonauts may invoke to their benefit and which the storyteller may invoke as penalties if the psychonauts fail to make use of them first.

• The Deck of Fire for Into the Ring