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Chuubos Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine - Quest Cards

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)

69 views298 pages

Chuubos Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine - Quest Cards

Uploaded by

Ben Moi

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

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Cleaning up an Old House

(Example 1)

Art by Ryo Kawakami

XP
Cleaning up an Old House
(Example 1)

Bonus XP
You can earn a bonus XP towards this quest at any time (but only once per scene/15
minutes) by explaining some of what’s happened in the past scene—your being ex-
hausted and shaking, your backpack being full of hammers, the reason you showed up
at a friend’s house in time to rescue them from a ﬁre—as
“It’s the house, you see.”

Quest Flavor 25
That’s why you were in the neighborhood. That’s why you’re sick. That’s why you’re
staring blankly at someone’s hallway. That’s why you didn’t have anywhere to sleep
and went over to visit them. It’s the house, you see.
Pick some standard phrase to indicate this, it doesn’t have to be the one I just said,
and just use it or a close variant when you want to claim the XP.
What’s yours?

______
Cleaning Up an Old House
(A Goofier Form)

Art by Beatrice Pelagatti

XP
Cleaning an Old House
(A Goofier Form)

Bonus XP
You can earn a bonus XP towards this quest at any time (but only once per scene/15
minutes) by proposing a theory about how something will help you with renova-
tions. For instance, if you’re being attacked by zombies, you might exclaim, “Endlessly
reviving flesh! I bet this could fix my insulation problem!”
Note that you have to actually consider this theory. I mean, it’s OK if someone stops
you, but the point isn’t to come up with something goofy to say, the point is to come up
with a goofy idea to think—or, put another way, to show that everything you encounter
25
is being filtered through the screen of “I’ve got to get this house into shape.”
Cleaning up an Old House
(As a Dramatic Structure)

Art by Antonio Minuto

XP
Cleaning up an Old House
(As a Dramatic Structure)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest—
☐ if you are injured while working on the old house
☐ if you have a gathering of your friends there, and they pitch in.
You can earn each such bonus once per quest, for a total of 10 XP.

Quest Flavor
25
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest by:
working on cleaning or repairing the old house
sleeping over at a friend’s because your house isn’t ready yet
telling an anecdote to your friends about the house and its condition
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
A New Hobby

Art by Carlos Sneak

XP
A New Hobby
(Peaceful Version)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when...
☐ You’re dazzled by a visit to a great collection or store for this hobby;
☐ Someone demonstrates why you shouldn’t underestimate the depth of complexity
and heart put into this hobby;
☐ You become involved in a fan project for creating, modifying, distributing, or
building upon the things of this hobby.
You can earn each bonus once, up to a total of 10 XP in the short version and 15 XP in the full. 25

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
you’re enjoying or thinking about the newest thing you’ve bought for your hobby
you have a geeky discussion with a fellow hobbyist
you daydream hobby-related elements into the world around you 35

you attend a large hobby-related gathering

you put work into the hobby (e.g. organizing an event, working on a fan project,
building a model, or parsing a complicated story.)
you experience the wistful sorrow of someone who can’t afford to buy the
latest thing
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
A New Hobby

Art by Carlos Sneak

XP
A New Hobby
(Passionate Version)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ you have a ﬁerce, hobby-themed battle with someone;
☐ you get sick from spending too much time and money on your hobby instead of
carefully attending to rest, nutrition, and health;
☐ you receive and must carry forward “the dreams” and often the symbol or
nickname of a great geek/hobbyist who is retiring or stepping back from the hobby
due to, e.g., injury or the birth of their child.
25
You can earn each bonus once, up to a total of 10 XP in the short version and 15 XP in
the full.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest by:
working on hobby-related stuff
getting worked up about your hobby 35

supporting your hobby in ways you probably shouldn’t

using your hobby or hobby-learned skills to help overcome the problems
in the rest of your life
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
A New Job

Art by Filippo onez Vanzo

XP
A New Job
(Comedic/Stylized Version)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when...
☐ You uncover a secret ﬁghting tournament (possibly actually just a bridge/dice
tournament or something) related to the job;
☐ You make a new friend, often a troubled kid, overburdened and meek person your
own age, or kitten;
☐ You use the ﬁrst (or other long-awaited) money from the job on an unexpected
expense for someone else.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
35
the business struggles with money
the authorities fail to understand your problems
an enemy appears!
a new client shows up
an older mentor explains the dizzying scope of the work
you’re transﬁxed with interest in something seemingly completely
unimportant, but related to the job
that unimportant thing comes into play sometime later on
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
A New Job

Art by Filippo onez Vanzo

XP
A New Job
(Pastoral Version)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ someone is injured or goes into labor at work and you help them to the hospital;
☐ somebody brings you snacks during a festival because you’re stuck at work;
☐ you have to take over for the person who originally taught you the ropes.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest by:
working on relevant chores
talking about your work
35
doing or taking advantage of stuff you learned at work
showing people your work at the ofﬁce
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Bind

Art by Filippo onez Vanzo

XP
Bind
(Dramatic Version)

Bonus XP
You can earn a bonus XP towards this quest at any time (but only once per scene/15
minutes) by proposing a theory about how the bound horror should approach human
existence. This could manifest as:
☐ speculating about how to connect to the horror and make it understand the human
world;
☐ attempting to explain the human world to it;
☐ helping it understand how its past and future actions ﬁt into the human context.
...but ultimately it just boils down to this: propose a theory, earn an XP.
Your character must propose the theory aloud or, at minimum, in their ofﬁcial inter-
nal narration—it can’t just be you, as the player, at the table, it has to be IC.

50
Bind

Art by Kirsten Moody

XP
Bind
(Casual/Comedic Version)

Bonus XP
Arrange for a sign. It says “Over the Top.”
You can earn a bonus XP towards this quest at any time (but only once per scene/15
minutes) when your interaction with the horror gets, or the consequences of binding it
get, a little over the top.
Or, for that matter, when you decide to make them a little over the top.
When that happens, hold up the sign or otherwise declare/observe that things have
gotten over the top and you can claim the XP.
You don’t even have to say anything in character! You just have to be willing to hold
up a sign. It’s even OK if sometimes you’re being ironic or making a suggestion instead
of an observation, as long as an observation is more typical.

50
Concentrated Awesome

Art by Kirsten Moody

XP
Concentrated Awesome

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest if there’s a scene where you’ve been cut
off somehow from your normal power sources, memories, or sense of self, but use your
deep connection to this environment to still be pretty awesome.
You can earn this bonus once, for a total of 5 XP.
20

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest by:
having a montage of incidents showing off your situation mastery
hanging out admiring the thing or situation
exaggerated tongue-in-cheek drama about the thing in question
having a casual conversation while doing what “should” be exciting or
difﬁcult things in the situation or with the person in question—e.g., arguing
over laundry or talking about stuff you’ve been reading with your Connection
4+ SO while ﬁghting to stabilize a storm-tossed ship
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Connecting with Someone

Art by Filippo onez Vanzo

XP
Connecting
(Casual Version)

Bonus XP
You can earn a bonus XP towards this quest at any time (but only once per scene/15
minutes) by declaring that what you’ve been doing in the current scene is to build your
connection with something or because you’re learning how to live with that person or
thing.
Pick a standard phrase to indicate this, and then just say that phrase or some close
variant when you want to claim the bonus. For instance:
 “I want to know you a little better.”
25
 “I’m getting the hang of this place.”
 “I think we really connected.”

What I recommend is figuring out what you’d say towards the end of the first scene
you’re really working on this quest in—if you find yourself saying something goofy,
like “Let’s work hard to be friends!” then your quest phrase will be goofy. If you’re
being all refined and stuff and wind up with just “I’m emoting, ‘yeah, you’re... pretty
OK,’” then that’s the phrase instead.
Regardless, you find something that says—
 this scene? It’s an “I’ve been connecting” scene

and then you say that, seriously or ironically, to earn a bonus XP for this quest.
What do you say?

______
Connecting with Someone
(Dramatic Version)

Art by Stefano Corrao

XP
Connecting
(Dramatic Version)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest if you:
☐ get in trouble trying to reach out to or connect with the target of this quest;
☐ get in trouble trying to help the target of this quest, and it or they in some fashion
support you.
You can earn each bonus once per (repetition of the) quest, for a total of 10 XP.

25
Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest by:
listening to stories about (the target of this quest)
consciously trying to connect with (the target of this quest)

for a person:
helping out with the daily life of (the target of this quest)
talking about (the target)’s life, or sharing a bit of yours

for a place/situation:
exploring how to live in (the target of this quest)
talking to people about how they live in/with (the target of this quest).

spending time with the target and thinking about the parts of that that are
“different” from your usual life.
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
The Door Into Memory

Art by Kirsten Moody

XP
The Door Into Memory

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest if there’s:
☐ a heart-wrenching scene in the past;
☐ an incredibly touching scene in the past.
You can earn each bonus once each, for a total of 10 XP.
Quest Flavor
Once per chapter (...subjective, I guess), you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest by:
25
making a friend in someone else’s memories
having an ironic encounter
having a goofy encounter with yourself
having a great time with some lost attraction
failing utterly to stay uninvolved with and out of sight of events
having a sudden reason to worry that you can alter time or the host’s mind
manipulating their memories
doing something you really know better than to do in the “past”
seeing something you’d much rather not
getting stuck or lost and having to ﬁnd your way out
watching something historical play out
having a meaningful conversation with a PC or important NPC in the “past”
talking in the present about the things you’ve learned in the “past.”
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Mental Training

Art by Elizabeth Sherry

XP
Mental Training

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest:
☐ In the unlikely event that you witness a toad swallowing a stone containing 1+
worlds, or do so yourself;
☐ When grief or some monster haunts you in your studies;
☐ When something corrupts you or is eating you slowly;
☐ If you get the chance to use your increasing knowledge and diligence to help on a
major research project;
☐ If ﬁnancial (or other pragmatic) reasons not to continue this training raise their heads.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 25 XP, although I’d be surprised to
see you get more than 15 of these XP.
Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
you travel strange roads through campus
you’re discovered sleeping on your books 40

you join or do things with a strange group of students

you study something in nature
you build a project with 1+ other students
you study or discuss your studies with 1+ friends
there’s a montage of classes, term papers, tests, and/or other studies-related stuff
you reﬂect on or discuss a bit of poetry
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
The Object

Art by Antonio Minuto

XP
The Object

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest if:
☐ your object is stolen;
☐ your object serves as a useful reference in deciding some conﬂict or solving some
mystery;
☐ the object helps you sort out your head on something;
☐ your object either contains some important secret, or people falsely believe it does.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 20 XP.

Quest Flavor
Pick a Region. 1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
you use the object as the framing device for a monologue/montage
the object is involved in an interesting incident from the daily life of the
Region
40
you and the object witness a detailed, interesting sight from the Region
people act goofy about you and the object
you refer to your object for organization, inspiration, or security
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Keeping a Detailed Record
of Your Life

Art by Kirsten Moody

XP
Keeping a Detailed Record
of Your Life

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest if:
☐ your diary is stolen;
☐ your diary serves as a useful reference in deciding some conﬂict or solving some
mystery;
☐ keeping better track of events in your life helps you sort out your head on
something;
☐ your diary either contains some important secret, or people falsely believe it does.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 20 XP.

Quest Flavor
Pick a Region. 1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
you use “dear diary” as the framing device for a monologue/montage
you record an interesting incident from the daily life of the Region
40
you record a detailed, interesting sight from the Region
people act goofy about you writing a given incident down
you refer to your notes for organization, inspiration, or security
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Keeping a Simple Record
of Your Life

Art by Carlos Sneak

XP
Keeping a Simple Record
of Your Life (20 XP variant)

You can earn a bonus XP towards this quest at any time (by only once per scene/15
minutes) by proposing a theory about how something is going to get framed in
your diary.
The classic version of this is reinterpreting the events around you in a comedic fash-
ion with stuff like “Dear diary, today my friend Jessie choked tragically to death on a
handful of French fries,” when that hasn’t even happened, or at least, Jessie isn’t actu- 20
ally dead, just yet.
Your character must propose the theory aloud or, at minimum, in their ofﬁcial inter-
nal narration—it can’t just be you, as the player, at the table, it has to be IC. However,
you don’t have to belabor the fact that it’s a theory about how you’ll record something
in your diary—just saying it, as in the example above, is ﬁne.
Physical Training

Art by Kirsten Moody

XP
Physical Training

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You get in trouble—someone tries to shut down wherever you’re training, or keep
you from attending it;
☐ Your training is interrupted with a chance to help deal with some disaster (where
heavy physical work is useful in prevention, mitigation, or recovery);
☐ You have a vision or ﬂashback of some sort as you pass out from exhaustion.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
you wander home exhausted but happy after a lot of exercise
someone comes upon you as you’re training and watches for a while
there’s a training montage 40
you struggle against a (training) barrier you can’t get past
you bond with someone through ﬁghting/competing with them
you let out your emotions through exercise/training/practice
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Poisoned

Art by Kirsten Moody

XP
Poisoned
(Storyline Version)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ something horriﬁc happens to you because of this quest;
☐ you have a climactic confrontation with your “other” self;
☐ something happens to tie the “other self” to one of the other active stories or
quests.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest through:
a dizzying vision of the enemy
wrestling with your sense of self 35

an impossible encounter
dealing with some relevant internal baggage
trying to understand what is happening
suffering a bout of more general sickness/hallucinations
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Divided
Self-Possessed
Poisoned
XP
Poisoned
(Any-Time Version)

Bonus XP
This quest comes with a division of states—there’s the you who is stable, grounded in
the world, and is also the only you; and then there’s the you who is sharing existence
with at least one thing making dizzying defiance of the boundaries of yourself.
There’s a sign (Divided/Self-Possessed) for this—a reversible card, which you could
in theory have on the table in front of you in play to show which state you’re in. You
can earn a bonus XP at any time (though only once per scene/15 minutes) by flipping
the card, showing that you’re moving between states—that you’re grounded and things
are fine, or that you’ve either gone into a state of distress or are actively being haunted.
If you can’t actually keep the card in front of you, holding up the card with the rel-
evant side facing people or just saying or emoting something appropriate can earn you
the XP instead.

35
Preparing for a Festival

Art by Kirsten Moody

XP
Preparing for a Festival

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You help to deﬁne/establish (for the players, I mean) an important part of what this
event will be about;
☐ It’s the week before the event’s supposed to happen and nothing’s ready!
☐ 0-3 days before the event, a huge problem comes up or remains! And then you
solve it.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest for:
planning the layout (of festival booths, stage props & lighting, etc.)
35
coming to consensus on the event’s biggest features (e.g., music, attractions)
preparing and rehearsing for things
constructing the things you’ll need (festival booths, props, costumes, &c.)
posting bills
getting people the equipment that they’ll need
dealing with completely goofy problems
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Taking Care of a Small Child
(Dramatic Version)

Art by Antonio Minuto

XP
Taking Care of a Small Child
(Dramatic Version)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest if:
☐ something happens to the child that gives you a reason to panic, but at some point
afterwards things are mostly OK.
☐ you celebrate Children’s Day, Shichi-Go-San, or Christmas with the child.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 10 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest by:
taking the child with you on a walk, light chore/adventure, or to a PC gathering
having a conversation with the child about something goofy
having a conversation with the child about something surprisingly relevant
teaching or telling stories to the child
40
teaching or telling stories to the child about the PCs’ adventures
having a meaningful conversation with a PC or important NPC about the child
actively taking care of the child
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Taking Care of a Small Child

Art by Ryo Kawakami

XP
Taking Care of a Small Child
(Casual Version)

Bonus XP
You make faces at that baby! You cuddle that kid, or let them drag you around, or an-
swer their questions, or show them off.
Basically you emote:
“Kid. Kid. ♫Kid kid kid♫.”
or some variant thereof.
Anyhow, you can fuss over the child—or whatever you do habitually, which might
be squinting at them, wiping their nose, or rolling your eyes at them for an older sib-
ling—for a bonus XP up to once per 15 minutes/scene.
The best way to do this, I think, is to get a prop—probably a cloth doll or amiguru-
mi, because those are easiest to fuss over. Don’t worry so much about what you say or
emote: pick up the prop and physically fuss over it for the XP! You can attempt to use a
real small child here but they are unruly, intermittently available, and demanding: they
may even require a share of the earned XP!
If you don’t have a prop or child available, you can do without one: earn the XP
by saying or emoting whatever seems appropriate to show that you’re off in interact- 40
ing-with-small-child world.
If the environment is appropriate and the HG is OK with it, you can use picking up
the prop or saying or emoting whatever as a way of indicating that the kid in question
has just come onto the scene.
Science!

Art by Carlos Sneak

XP
Science!

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ you fall under the burden of the quest: something explicitly puts the problem in
your hands, or you explicitly take it up;
☐ you construct some sort of defensive perimeter;
☐ you encounter Jade Irinka, the former sun, or the Headmaster of the Bleak
Academy;
☐ three chapters slip by without obvious IC progress on the quest.

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 20 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest through:
sympathizing with, or assisting, the outcast and the wrong;
dreams calling you to a place of danger 40

listening to stories of strange things happening in Big Lake;

regaling people with a legend of some epic danger related to the quest—
typically a legend invented by your player but occasionally forwarded from
previous discussions with the HG;
complaining to the other PCs about the progress of your investigations/work;
reluctantly allowing yourself to be dragged away from it; or
reluctantly allowing others to get involved with it

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Science!
(Simplified)
XP
Science! (Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ you fall under the burden of the quest: something explicitly puts the problem in
your hands, or you explicitly take it up;
☐ you construct some sort of defensive perimeter.
20
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 10 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest through:
witnessing the fates of the wicked.
dragging other Main Characters into your work.
proposing new theories about the subject of your investigation or calling—
e.g., the Outside, tsukumogami, Bluebell Park, the Bleak Academy, or the Titovs.

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Someone’s in Trouble!

Art by Filippo onez Vanzo

XP
Someone’s in Trouble!

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You formally commit (aloud or in an emote) to trying to help this person;
☐ They open up to you while talking to you in their home or important haunts;
☐ Some element of their problem bridges from the metaphorical or emotional to the
real—e.g., a gate opens from their nightmares to the world, or a fear turns into a
curse, or someone who always gets a little too carried away gets physically carried
away shortly after a reference to that tendency.

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you: 35
catch eerie glimpses/foreshadowing of a threat to them
have a sleepover/slumber party/visit to their dreams
listen to them explaining their despair
are shown one of their secrets
hunt down some speciﬁc bit of trouble
drag them somewhere they really shouldn’t be

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Someone’s in Trouble!
(Simplified)
XP
Someone’s in Trouble!
(Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You formally commit (aloud or in an emote) to trying to help this person;
☐ Some element of their problem bridges from the metaphorical or emotional to the
real—e.g., a gate opens from their nightmares to the world, or a fear turns into a
curse, or someone who always gets a little too carried away gets physically carried 20
away shortly after a reference to that tendency.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 10 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
identify or hypothesize about the “real” threat that will emerge
feverishly work on an idea to help
dig into their secrets
invoke or bargain with some terrifying power to save them

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Engineering!

Art by Paola Del Prete

XP
Engineering!

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You complete a major inventory, map, survey, or other exploration of the territory
(often dream- or dream-like territory) at hand;
☐ You work towards a reconciliation between apparent rivals, enemies, opposing
forces, or even with something oppressing you or someone you care about;
☐ You ﬁnd a hidden well or spring of pure or untainted water.

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
clean, prepare a ritual space, or do maintenance work 35

eat with someone strange in a literal or metaphorical cave

catalogue or explore the territory at hand
groom a dog or similar animal connected somehow to the quest
are penned in somewhere by rain
bear witness to strange visions

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Engineering!
(Simplified)
XP
Engineering! (Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You ﬁnd or gain access to a major inventory, map, survey, or other exploration of
the territory (often dream- or dream-like territory) at hand;
☐ You’re recruited or asked for help by what had previously seemed to be a rival,
enemy, opposing force, or even oppressor;
☐ You ﬁnd a hidden well or spring of pure or untainted water.
25
You can earn up to two of these bonuses, for a total of 10 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
write off some portion of the situation as a loss, and trash/seal it
imprison someone or something
call upon some terrifying or mysterious power connected somehow to the
quest
present yourself to “your public” in a dramatic pose for admiration; put on airs
declare what must be done

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Above the Fray

Art by Carlos Sneak

XP
Above the Fray

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You stand in a storm, overlooking a pit or dangerous depth;
☐ You stand before a dead power that was or is greater than yourself;
☐ You have a moment of spiritual insight and forgiveness, and are able to explain or
solidly commit to both.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
trust yourself to a dangerous (and Arc-relevant) part of the setting, e.g., if the
Arc is focused on the Outside, going out to sail on or meditate in it.
35
explore daily chores in that part of the setting
deal with a child who lives/hangs out there
get sucked into goofy fun there—a ridiculous game or silly experience,
despite a tense situation or environment.

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Above the Fray
(Simplified)
XP
Above the Fray
(Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You enact a meaningful judgment—impose a penance, punish a criminal or enemy,
or forgive someone in an ofﬁcial capacity;
☐ You seek and receive some sort of divine guidance;
☐ You have a cathartic breakdown. 20

You can earn up to two of these bonuses, for a total of 10 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
you review reports or records of a dangerous part of the setting, e.g., the
Outside or Bluebell Park, somehow relevant to the substance of this Arc.
chores pile up while you ﬁgure out what to do
someone cooks for you, brings you a hot drink, or puts you to bed
in “walk and talk” decision-making scenes

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Walking the Boundaries

Art by Elizabeth Sherry

XP
Walking the Boundaries

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You walk among ﬂowers in a place where somebody died;
☐ You read or tell someone the stories of a place’s history;
☐ You share a precious drink or meal with someone, where “precious” is relative to
your available resources (and not necessarily absolute);
☐ You say goodbye properly to an old friend.

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 20 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest by:
tending a garden or caring for a bit of wilderness
making repairs
40
staring into a ﬁre
watching children or animals playing
playing ball, Frisbee, or something of the sort
having an encounter with something that seems at ﬁrst to be dramatic and
scary, before turning out to be perfectly safe and friendly
waking up with water dripping on you, moss growing on you, or an animal
nosing you
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Walking the Boundaries
(Simplified)
XP
Walking the Boundaries
(Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You walk among ﬂowers in a place where somebody died;
☐ You dream or share a story or two of a place’s history;
☐ You say goodbye properly to an old friend.

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 15 XP.

25
Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
indulge in a lazy routine (e.g. wearing pajamas all day)
indulge in slightly less lazy morning routines
tend a shrine, grave, museum, or mausoleum
are pointlessly cleaning or organizing, and a visitor interrupts
play with a dangerous thing

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Adventure GET

Art by Carlos Sneak

XP
Adventure GET

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ Trouble starts or gets much worse in a well-staged way—whether that’s
accidentally walking backwards into an enemy camp, breaking into a supposedly
empty manor during what turns out to be a dinner party, or declaring that
everything’s ﬁne as long as there aren’t any werewolves around just before
werewolves show up;
☐ Someone rescues you;
☐ You stand in a shadowed place and tell someone a secret, then run away before
they can react.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 15 XP.

Quest Flavor 35
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
sneak into somewhere you shouldn’t go
risk trouble by digging into somebody’s secrets
drag others into your affairs/arrange their lives for them
propose a theory about the underlying situation you’re in
tell someone a story related to the underlying situation you’re in
get into trouble trying to help somebody else
risk trouble in the name of adventure!
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Adventure GET
(Simplified)
XP
Adventure GET
(Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You stand in a shadowed place and tell someone a secret, then run away before
they can react;
☐ Trouble starts or gets much worse in a well-staged way—whether that’s
accidentally walking backwards into an enemy camp, breaking into a supposedly 20
empty manor during what turns out to be a dinner party, or declaring that
everything’s ﬁne as long as there aren’t any werewolves around just before
werewolves show up.

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 10 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
you discover a secret
you express your boredom and interest in adventure
you drag someone somewhere they really shouldn’t be
whatever trouble’s been dogging you shows up and/or escalates

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Let’s Doing!

Art by Kirsten Moody

XP
Let’s Doing!

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You meet a new antagonist, ally, or romantic interest. (As designated by destiny/
the HG—if someone unexpectedly becomes something like that, it may or may not
count);
☐ Three chapters pass without obvious IC progress on this quest. (That is, whatever
problem you’re trying to solve gets no closer to being solved.)

You can earn each bonus more than once, up to a total of 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
narrate your impression of a PC, Main Character, Arc-related NPC, 35
labyrinth, high place, or key location for the Arc, as if explaining them to
a reader or video game player; you may do this IC or, if nobody minds,
suspend play for a moment and do it OOC.
drag other Main Characters into your quest-related activities/investigations
grandstand about your reasons for being on this quest
talk with somebody about your dreams for the future
talk with somebody about death
get hurt emotionally by somebody somehow involved in the story of this Arc

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Let’s Doing!
(Simplified)
XP
Let’s Doing!
(Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ you’ve met, or seen, all the key players in this Arc.

You can earn this bonus once, for a total of 5 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest through:
sympathizing with, or assisting, the outcast and the wrong;
proposing new theories about the subject of your investigation or adventure—
the Outside, Bluebell Park, the thing under the Titov shrine, or whatever else;
complaining to the other PCs about the progress of your investigations/plans;
or
reluctantly allowing yourself to be dragged away from them.

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Labyrinth Diving

Art by Carlos Sneak

XP
Labyrinth Diving

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You find or gain access to a major inventory, map, survey, or other exploration of
the territory at hand;
☐ You’re recruited or asked for help by what had previously seemed to be a rival,
enemy, opposing force, or even oppressor;
☐ You find a hidden creek, flow, or spring of pure or untainted water.

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
write off some portion of the situation as a loss, and trash/seal it 35

imprison someone or something

call upon some terrifying or mysterious power connected somehow to the Arc
present yourself to “your public” in a dramatic pose for admiration; put on airs
declare what must be done
feed a stray cat

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Labyrinth Diving
(Simplified)
XP
Labyrinth Diving
(Simplified)

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of of 10 XP.

25
Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
hang out near a fountain or water feature
eat with someone strange in a literal or metaphorical cave
catalogue or explore the territory at hand
are penned in somewhere by rain
bear witness to strange visions

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Climbing the Sacred Mountain

Art by Carlos Sneak

XP
Climbing the
Sacred Mountain

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You release some guilt or burden that had been weighing you down;
☐ You struggle alone on an arduous and metaphorically “upwards” journey;
☐ The wind knocks you from a height;
☐ You are struck by an insight or revelation that changes everything

You can earn up to three of these bonuses, for a total of 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
hunt desperately for solutions
35
stagger on despite a wasting illness
rise above/conquer some element of your situation
show someone an amazing view or vista
admire a distant bird, ornithopter, or zeppelin
see the sun break through the clouds
learn what it is that must be done

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Climbing the Sacred Mountain
(Simplified)
XP
Climbing the Sacred
Mountain (Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You release some guilt or burden that had been weighing you down;
☐ You’ve reached a “landing” (a place to stop and catch your breath) on an arduous
and metaphorically “upwards” journey;
☐ You are struck by an insight or revelation that changes everything.

You can earn up to two of these bonuses, for a total of 10 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
rise above some element of your situation
stare out at an amazing vista
talk about something bad that’s happened to you
talk, while feverish, to a bird, bird-like person, or bird-like entity
struggle with sickness, weakness, rough environmental conditions, and your
own frailty
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Down

Art by Elizabeth Sherry

XP
Down

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You watch somebody die. It can be an animal but only if it’s emotionally affecting
(brutal, or an animal you cared about);
☐ You get into a ﬁght with someone you care about;
☐ You break down from grief or shock;
☐ You get really, viscerally sick—it’s either life-threatening or really gross. You don’t
have to nauseate squeamish players by going into the sickness itself but you do
have to play up the toll it takes on you.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 20 XP.
Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
talk with someone about someone or something you’ve lost
hug a large animal, e.g., a deer
walk with the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy
wander in a daze
45
you can’t eat or drink, or can’t keep something down
you fall apart a little, skipping your usual hygiene/self-maintenance tasks
wander a graveyard or at the edge of a cliff
lock yourself in a bathroom
self-harm
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Down
(Simplified)
XP
Down (Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You visit a throne room and stand before a seated (e.g.) King or Queen.
☐ You’re sent into an underworld, be it basement, cave, oubliette, dungeon, or literal
world of the dead;
☐ You’re hung on a hook, cruciﬁed, tied to a wall, suspended by telekinesis, used as a
scarecrow, or otherwise imprisoned or bound above the ground. Agony is optional
(you could be in a canvas sack that is hung from a hook, or stage-show-style
cruciﬁed); suspension and imprisonment are not.

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
35
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
you have to abandon something precious, leaving it behind
you’re lost
you’re thirsty
you encounter the dead
you share a meal with someone while sitting on cracked stones

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Changes

Art by Filippo onez Vanzo

XP
Changes

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ you have a traumatic transformation or dissociation scene in play, where your
reality gets weird because your true nature is changing or revealing itself.
☐ you see a confusing vision, nightmare, or premonition of your or someone else’s
death.
☐ you meet and get the chance to help a mysterious child ﬁnd their way.

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
wrestling with/expressing nameless feelings of loss that make you act 35
unnaturally
trying and failing to burn things, to light them on ﬁre
getting confused about who and where you are
listening to stories about things that were lost when Jade Irinka died
talking with somebody about your destiny/nature and what it means
talking with somebody about why there’s such a thing as death
dealing with acne, braces, your period, ear infections, or other annoyingly
intrusive elements of physicality.

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Changes
(Simplified)
XP
Changes (Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ There’s a scene where people are disapproving or bland but most importantly
unfazed by your showing up with extra limbs or unusual physical alterations, e.g.,
a disdainful “Oh, that’s just like you to have those tentacles” or “Acne! Nobody
told me we were supposed to have acne today! (muttered) Showoff.”
☐ You meet Death, the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy, or some other feared
personage, but because you’re delirious or have reason to believe that it’s just
somebody dressed as them, you have a pleasant chat instead of anything else. 25

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 10 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
dreaming of merging with a great and branching tree
uncontrolled shapeshifting, possibly in a dream/imagination spot
being surrounded by dancing shadows—the same
noticing some weird mark or change in your body

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
The Refusal of the Call

Art by Kirsten Moody

XP
The Refusal of the Call

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ you accept, or at least are clearly tempted by, someone’s offer to help you ﬁght off/
resist your destiny.
☐ you stand in the shadow of an enemy’s fortress or cathedral.
☐ you give yourself into someone else’s hands, making yourself terrifyingly
vulnerable either physically or emotionally.

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
talking with someone about the principles that are the most important to you 35

describing yourself as a helpless pawn of fate

wondering if you’re actually good or evil
trying to replace or repair torn clothing on a tight budget
you’re overburdened—you work too hard, and with too little
you get confused about who and where you are
fretting over whether you’re actually on the wrong side

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
The Refusal of the Call
(Simplified)
XP
The Refusal of the Call
(Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ you build or show a strong emotional bond to an “opposite number”—someone
working at cross purposes to what you will become.
☐ they offer to help you but you have to turn them down.
20
You can earn up to two of these bonuses, for a total of 10 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
pleading with an enemy to understand you
exploring and having fun
a phone rings but isn’t answered
someone helps you while you’re throwing up (from overwork? Sickness?
Drinking?)

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
The Belly of the Whale

Art by Kirsten Moody

XP
The Belly of the Whale

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ you have a profound spiritual experience where you seem to blend into the world
around you.
☐ you’re trapped.
☐ you defeat an “opposite number” or rival, only to have a scarier enemy or problem
arise.
☐ you’re rescued by somebody
☐ you rescue somebody else.
You can earn up to four of these bonuses, for a total of 20 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
you stand barefoot in a high place, looking down at the world
you get stabbed through the torso, possibly in a dream/imagination spot
your hair grows in real-time, possibly in a dream/imagination spot
45
you bring light in the darkness
you comfort someone
you sit by the water eating fried ﬁsh with one or more friends
birds cluster around you
you manage a contemplative moment between troublesome circumstances
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
The Belly of the Whale
(Simplified)
XP
The Belly of the Whale
(Simplified)

Bonus XP
This quest takes place in a context where you’re out of your element, where you’re
transforming or being transformed into something else.
You can earn a bonus XP towards this quest at any time (but only once per scene/15
minutes) by proposing a theory about what will happen to you.
20
Your character must propose the theory aloud or, at minimum, in their ofﬁcial inter-
nal narration—it can’t just be you, as the player, at the table, it has to be IC.

This can be a 20 XP, 25 XP, or 35 XP Quest

The Belly of the Whale
(Simplified)
XP
The Belly of the Whale
(Simplified, Variant)

Bonus XP
You’re dissociating from reality.
You are dissolving into these places that you ﬁnd yourself in. You are awakening a
strange new self inside. Everything is turning into teeth and rivers inside you.
Something is being born.
20
You can earn a bonus XP towards this quest at any time (though only once per
scene/15 minutes) by declaring that you can feel the touch of the impending miracle
upon you—you can phrase it another way; just give some indication that you’re trigger-
ing this quest condition—and then free-associating for a few moments about what your
character is experiencing, feeling, thinking.
Talk about being cold, or warm; talk about visions; whatever. Flare up the light in 25
you. Cut your teeth on cold. Have a greenness stuck in your mouth, somewhere, ugly,
stopping up your tongue as you try to pry it loose. That kind of hing. That brings you in
a bonus XP for this quest.

This can be a 20 XP, 25 XP, or 35 XP Quest

The Trials of the Sun

Art by Carlos Sneak

XP
The Trials of the Sun

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You reclaim a lost legacy of a parent or mentor.
☐ You humble some enemy, bending them completely to your will.
☐ You unleash, or are taken over by, a bleak power.

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
your hands/arms sprout bladed vines, possibly in a dream/imagination
spot
35
you merge with/devour someone else, possibly in a dream/imagination spot
you experiment with powers that you shouldn’t
you assert your power or your destiny
you talk about your sense that there’s a hole in the world
you wander in the dark, remembering some grief or loss
you use an elaborate, magical-looking key

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
The Trials of the Sun
(Simplified)
XP
The Trials of the Sun
(Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You build a model, duplicate, icon, or eidolon of yourself.
☐ Someone else tells the story of how you lost or damaged some potential you once
had.
☐ Someone realizes that they were afraid of you for all the wrong reasons. (It’s OK
for them to wind up more afraid, less afraid, or about the same, as long as the
reasons change.)
25
You can earn up to two of these bonuses, for a total of 10 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
you transcend or apotheosize in some fashion.
you or your player give a monologue about the nature of your power
you propose an enemy’s fate
you commune with an angel or the holy part of your nature.
you perform some sacred chore (e.g. feeding a holy ﬁre).
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.

Special Note!
If the game and your powers don’t support literal apotheosis/angels, handle these
things as a spiritual effect—intangible and only sort of visible, but nevertheless
“real” for purposes of the scene.
Apotheosis

Art by Beatrice Pelagatti

XP
Apotheosis

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when you:
☐ Hold a representation of the sacred eternal—a philosopher’s stone, an elixir of
immortality, a key to the world—in your hands.
☐ Return to where you started the game or the Arc, ﬁnd it ruined or damaged, and
rebuild/repair it.
☐ Meet something that could be considered “the other half” of yourself.
☐ Witness an eclipse.
☐ Swallow a lizard, enemy, or ally spirit whole.
You can earn up to four of these bonuses, once each, for a total of 20 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
can’t ﬁnd water
40
ﬁx something broken or unwhole
eat hot cross buns or melon pan.
guide someone else through a long journey or struggle
dig up someone frozen and rescue them, possibly in a dream/imagination spot
grow a new mouth or eye, possibly in a dream/imagination spot
merge with a book of some sort, possibly in a dream/imagination spot
pass through the gates of the Bleak Academy
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Apotheosis
(Simplified)
XP
Apotheosis (Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when you:
☐ Wander strange, misty landscapes.
☐ Stare at a living creature frozen in or behind some sort of crystal.
☐ Release light from or open an eye in your forehead.

You can earn up to two of these bonuses, once each, for a total of 10 XP.
25
Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
shatter an enemy’s weapon barehanded
possess or inﬁltrate an enemy or place with your spirit/energy
ﬁght imaginary enemies, hallucinatory enemies, spirits, or shadows
talk to people about your dreams for the future
call upon one of your big powers in a dramatic fashion

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Beautiful and Far Away

Art by Roland Hansson

XP
Beautiful and Far Away

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ Others stumble on your Secret Place.
☐ You establish a reason why you need the Secret Place—why it’s sustaining you,
why you’d be at risk without it.
☐ You establish a reason why the Secret Place is hurting you, breaking you,
damaging your ability to live an ordinary life.

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest through:
guiding someone through the Setting of the Arc 35

talking with somebody about the Secret Place

talking with somebody about what dreams are, as compared to reality;
talking with somebody about whether the world deserves to exist, whether it’s
good or bad, or whether that even matters.
get in a row with somebody over/about the Secret Place
refusing to retreat to the Secret Place, even though things are very bad. or
retreating to the Secret Place.

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Beautiful and Far Away
(Simplified)
XP
Beautiful and Far Away
(Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You demonstrate how you need the Secret Place—how it’s sustaining you, why
you’d be at risk without it.
☐ You demonstrate how the Secret Place is hurting you, breaking you, how it’s
damaging your ability to live an ordinary life. 20

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 10 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest through:
having a troubled dream
talking with/ranting at somebody about the Secret Place
babbling poorly-formed philosophy or metaphysics at somebody
retreating to the Secret Place.

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Fascination

Art by Carlos Sneak

XP
Fascination

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when you:
☐ Express your fascination with someone or something dangerous and irresponsible.
☐ After that ﬁrst reward, go a long way out of your way physically in order to study
the operation and mechanisms of somebody else’s powers (e.g., a ﬁeld trip to
Horizon to watch the Wish-Granting Engine at work.)
☐ Make yourself terrifyingly vulnerable, e.g. as an act of social/romantic trust, an act
of folly, or as bait for a trap.

You can earn up to three of these bonuses, once each, for a total of 15 XP.

Quest Flavour
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you: 35
confess a secret desire
have a troubled dream about glass, magic, and the Outside
investigate the shrine family magic for dealing with troubled dreams
dream about a Main Character or Arc-related NPC
hang out with someone you like while they do their thing
get into goofy trouble for, with, or because of somebody else
talk with someone about the various bad ends people can come to in fairy
tales, stories about wishes, and stories about witches

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Fascination
(Simplified)
XP
Fascination (Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when you:
☐ Witness something amazing, even by your standards.
☐ Get badly hurt when you weren’t expecting it.

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 10 XP. 20

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
investigate someone’s powers
argue with someone about the proper use of some power
express your fascination with somebody
explain to someone, or argue with them about, the workings of shrine
magic, the Arc’s Setting, or the Outside

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
This is So Surreal

Art by Filippo onez Vanzo

XP
This is So Surreal

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You freak out—you have a minor or major psychological breakdown because you
can’t cope with these wishes;
☐ You give a monologue—often comedically serious IC, though not necessarily so
OOC—to explain why a wish is a bad idea;
☐ You receive some implausible honor or reward for your conduct in handling a
wish, or as part of the wish’s execution itself.
You can earn each bonus once each, for a total of 15 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
35
you’re seduced by the wonder and utility of a wish
marveling at the way a wish changed the world
things get chaotic or absurd because of a wish
you help some important place or person weather the course of a wish.
you’re forced to break a personal commitment—use a power you hate,
break a promise, or whatever—in order to resolve or weather a wish.
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.

Special Note!
Anything that can go wrong in the same way a classic wish can (including most
Imperial miracles and some magical spells) counts as a “wish” here.
This is So Surreal
(Simplified)
XP
This is So Surreal
(Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You freak out—you have a minor or major psychological breakdown because you
can’t cope with these wishes;
☐ You give a monologue—often comedically serious IC, though not necessarily so
OOC—to explain why a wish is a bad idea;
☐ You receive some implausible honor or reward for your conduct in handling a
wish, or as part of the wish’s execution itself.
25
You can earn up to two of these bonuses, once each, for a total of 10 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
you reject part of a wish that would have been useful
you get lost in the Outside
things get chaotic or absurd because of a wish
you’re forced to break a personal commitment—use a power you hate,
break a promise, or whatever—in order to resolve or weather a wish.
you have nightmares full of the symbolism of your personal or Arc-related
traumas.
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.

Special Note!
Anything that can go wrong in the same way a classic wish can (including
most Imperial miracles and some magical spells) counts as a “wish” here.
This is Such a Bad Idea

Art by Kirsten Moody

XP
This is Such a Bad Idea

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ Someone normally trustworthy or goofy goes on a power trip and winds
up grinding you under their malevolent heel; or, more generally, you suffer
unpleasantly from their use of the power that they’ve seized;
☐ You’re put into an awkward, embarrassing, or at least highly goofy or counter-type
role by a wish, probably with details suggested by the HG and other players;
☐ You manage to become a “power behind the throne” or otherwise steal a portion of
the power in play over the course of a wish.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 15 XP.
Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
ritually drawing on the powers the wish has given you 35

enjoying the changed world, letting it corrupt you

you overcome some obstacle in the world of the wish
you’re forced to break a personal commitment—use a power you hate,
break a promise, or whatever—in order to resolve or weather a wish.
you struggle with the circumstances of the wish
the wish does something really strange to your life
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.

Special Note!
Anything that can go wrong in the same way a classic wish can (including most
Imperial miracles and some magical spells) counts as a “wish” here.
This is Such a Bad Idea
(Simplified)
XP
This is Such a Bad Idea
(Simplified)

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 10 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
things get really weird
you give up and just go with it
you’re forced to break a personal commitment—use a power you hate,
break a promise, or whatever—in order to resolve or weather a wish.
there’s a big parade or festival

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.

Special Note!
Anything that can go wrong in the same way a classic wish can (including most
Imperial miracles and some magical spells) counts as a “wish” here.
You’ve Lost Them

Art by Kirsten Moody

XP
You’ve Lost Them

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You help to impersonate, construct a robot double for, or otherwise replace the
Lost Person;
☐ You get in some kind of completely unnecessary trouble because that person is
incomplete or missing;
☐ You get atypically emotional when it really sinks in that they’re gone, damaged, or
changed;
☐ Your ﬁrst full or nearly-full book on this quest comes to an end.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 20 XP.
Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
your life is a mess
you struggle to understand the loss
you talk to someone about memories, metaphysics, and the soul
you talk to someone about death
45
you encounter some shocking consequence of a wish or similar power
you watch somebody self-destructing
you dream of shipwrecks and drowning
you dream of the Lost Person’s true self, their real self, somewhere far away
a week passes and nothing has gotten better
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
You’ve Lost Them
(Simplified)
XP
You’ve Lost Them
(Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ You help to impersonate, construct a robot double for, or otherwise replace the
Lost Person;
☐ You get atypically emotional when it really sinks in that they’re gone, damaged, or
changed. 20

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 10 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when:
someone soliloquys about the loss
you communicate somehow with the Lost Person’s true self, far away
you wander Fortitude1 with the Lost Person or with or as their stand-in
there are signs that things may be getting better after all

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.

1 or some similar Region in an out-of-Town game

Something Heals

Art by Kirsten Moody

XP
Something Heals

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ Someone comforts you in a time of need.
☐ You break your rules or patterns in a big way in order to help or save somebody
else.
☐ Something goes right, because of luck or fate or divine intervention or somebody
else—basically, because of not-you—when everything seemed lost.
☐ You absorb some power, force, place, or energy into yourself.
You can earn each bonus once, for a total of 20 XP.

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
have a precious moment with something you thought that you’d lost
talk with an old friend about your shared adventures
have an ordinary, happy day at your job or other place of work
sit with someone and eat crackers and soft cheese
45
stand in, or lean against, an arch overgrown with ivy
watch a ship sail away across Big Lake
dream of a faraway friend, loved one, or Main Character
bid an emotional farewell—you or someone else is moving on
show someone a wonder
You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Something Heals
(Simplified)
XP
Something Heals
(Simplified)

Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
☐ Someone comforts you in a time of need.
☐ You break your rules or patterns in a big way to show someone a kindness or take
them under your wing.
☐ You absorb some power, force, place, or energy into yourself.

You can earn up to two of these bonuses, once each, for a total of up to 10 XP.
25

Quest Flavor
1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:
talk with someone about the things you’ve lost
feed leftover meat to a stray dog
have a kind of over-the-top day at your job or place of work
tell someone the stories of your adventures
show someone a secret (often the Arc’s Secret Place)

You can combine this with an XP Action, but you’re not required to.
Side A
I Know
What I’m
Doing
Side B

(You don’t know what you’re doing.)

Side A
It’ll be
OK
Side B

(You don’t know what you’re doing.)

Side A
Calm
Side B

!!!!asdfasdfaegoihaergF*CK
Side A
I’m
Fine
Side B

(Please make it stop.)

Side A
Given my position...
I could hardly do
anything less
Side B

(Where am I?)
Side A
Calm
Side B

I can hear it
whispering in my head
Bring the Storm
XP
Bring the Storm

Bonus XP
You’re summoning a storm.
This quest comes with a division of states—there’s the you who is grounded in the
world around you, and then there’s the you whose mind can be suddenly snapped away
from the here and now into the chaos of the coming storm. Your thoughts may suddenly
be snatched from you and blown about as the clouds that you’re dragging closer rip
from their leashes. You’ll be vague and unfocused for a while when that occurs.
I’ve made a sign for this—a reversible card, which you could in theory have on 25
the table in front of you in play to show which state you’re in. You can earn a bonus
XP at any time (though only once per scene/15 minutes) by ﬂipping the card, showing
that you’re moving between states—coming down to earth or being ripped out into the
storm.
If you can’t actually keep the card in front of you, holding up the card with the rel-
evant side facing people or just saying or emoting something appropriate can earn you
the XP instead.
Here and Now
Distant Storms
The Mirror House
XP
The Mirror House

Bonus XP
You’re building or taking control of a looking-glass that serves also as a portal—
an opening to a reflected copy of the glass-maker’s shop where you work. It’s a 15
place where you can seal away glasswork too dangerous to keep in the physical
world and let it temper for a while in the light of the reflected sun. You might also
use it to keep a secret room that stores rare treasures in or to duplicate objects (with
a left-right flip) by pulling them through the glass.
You can earn a bonus XP at any time (though only once per scene/15 minutes) by
proposing a theory about how you should construct or revitalize such a glass. This
can be technical or just a vague discussion of the world, light, glass, the Outside, and
reflections.

Imbuing the Glass

If you are creating the mirror-house rather than simply invoking its power, this quest
costs an additional 30 XP.

45
The Blessing-Piece

Art by Elizabeth Sherry

XP
The Blessing-Piece

Bonus XP
You’re designing, building, or evoking the power of a piece of glasswork that expresses
your strong feelings for someone—your wish for their safety and prosperity and health, 15
your blessings upon them.
You can earn a bonus XP at any time (though only once per scene/15 minutes) by
explaining what you’re doing in a scene or what you’ve been doing through this lens—
“I’m thinking of [name’s] future.” or
“I want to make [name] something special.”
The idea is that by saying that, you either conﬁrm that something is actually about
your good wishes for that person and your work on this particular piece of glass, or you
make yourself seem a little goofy and perhaps overly earnest.

Imbuing the Glass

If you are creating the blessing-piece rather than simply invoking its power, this quest
costs an additional 30 XP.

45
Fly Away

Art by Kirsten Moody

XP
Fly Away

Bonus XP
You’re dissociating from reality.
There is something reaching towards you as if from a vast distance away. There is 15
something struggling inside you to change its form.
Like a chick trapped within its shell—
You will let the sun and the wind and the Lake and the air and the changes inside
you break you free and give you another form, something that will make answer to your
needs.
You can earn a bonus XP towards this quest at any time (though only once per
scene/15 minutes) by declaring that you can feel the touch of the impending miracle
upon you—you can phrase it another way; just give some indication that you’re trigger-
ing this quest condition—and then free-associating for a few moments about what your
character is experiencing, feeling, thinking.
Talk about being cold, or warm; talk about visions; whatever. Clenching muscles in
your arms. Foxﬁre in the sky. Whatever. Random rambles and chill sensations across
your back, the sun full in its glory in your head behind your eyes. That kind of experi-
ence, the taste of the wind in your teeth, and that brings you in a bonus XP for this quest.
XP

60
XP

60
Work and Study—
A Generic Pastoral Quest
XP
Generic Quest
(Work and Study)

Bonus XP
There’s something you’re working on:
15
______
20
You can earn a bonus XP towards this quest at any time (but only once per scene/15
minutes) by explaining away what you’ve been doing or trying for in the current scene
as part of that thing you’re doing. 25
Pick a standard phrase to indicate this, and then just say that phrase or some close
variant when you want to claim the bonus.
What’s your phrase?

35
______