Beyond the Greenwood is a set of notes for a romantic fantasy game built on the Freeform Universal System by Nathan Russell and The Shivering Circle by Howard David Ingham. It was inspired by the multi-hued fairy books of Arthur Lang, Arthurian legends and modern interpretations such as David Lowery’s The Green Knight and even George Romero’s Knightriders, Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain (specifically Taran Wanderer), and other works. You will need some paper and pencils, a few six-sided dice, and a tarot deck to play.
Tone & Safety
Fairy tales and folklore shaped the development of the game. The characters in Beyond the Greenwood live in a world where adventurers are noble of heart, spirits speak to passersby from old trees, and subtle magic plays a role in daily life. There is evil in the world–rising from sources such as fearful and thoughtless rulers, natural disasters, or warped elements of the supernatural–and common folk and adventurers sometimes pay a high price to keep others safe.
Your group should spend time before making characters discussing the types of stories you would like to tell and the general tone you would like. You can give novels or movies as examples, or set ratings for different topics. If there are any topics that the group absolutely does not want in the game you can discuss them now.
You must discuss in-game safety tools before the game begins. Your group can use X-cards, cut and brake, or any other tool. Just make certain that everyone is familiar with the practice before you begin.
Character Creation
Players and the game master work together with one another and the game master to create characters by answering a series of questions.
“What is your name?” You can write your character’s true name, a name given to them by strangers, or a colorful name they’ve given themselves as they set off into the world.
“Who are you?” Describe the character in a brief phrase. “Minotaur warrior.” “Elven sage who sometimes weeps when spying the moon.” "Uncanny herbalist.”
“What do others notice about you?” This question defines the character’s key value or trait–the aspect of their personality that shines like a light to others. The four core traits are:
Compassion reflects how much you care about others.
Courage reflects your ability to face fear and danger.
Dignity reflects your sense of self worth and character.
Hope reflects your ability to carry on and dream of a better tomorrow.
“What can you do?” List one or two skills or unique abilities. Your answers can help refine your description of who the character is. Maybe you can hear trees singing or see in the dark. You might be a skilled chess player or a talented archer.
“What inspires you?” What ideal or goal drives the character to explore the world?
“Whom do you love?” What person (or even place) is always in your character’s heart?
“What do you carry with you?” Describe one or two unusual pieces of gear your character carries on their journeys.
“What do you fear or what makes you feel ashamed?” This can be a deep secret, or something you’ve shared with the other characters.
Note your answers on a piece of notebook paper.
A character might look like this:
Emeris Fairbriar
Who am I? A gnomish woodcarver
What do other notice about me? My sense of Hope
What can I do? I can make toys for children and sing reasonably well
What inspires me? Seeing a streaming brook, and imagining it joining rivers and the sea.
Whom do I love? My parents
What do I carry with me? A carved cedar badger that appears in my dreams, a stout hiking staff
What causes me shame? I travel the world while my brother and sister remain in our village
Actions
When the outcome of a character’s action is in doubt, frame the action as a question and roll 1d6 to see if they succeed:
6: Yes, and. . . .
5: Yes
4: Yes, but. . . .
3: No, but. . . .
2: No
1: No, and. . . .
“And” and “but” results add complications or twists, giving partial successes or failures or pushing results beyond what the character expected.
Roll two dice if the character has an advantage in the situation due to their skills or characteristics. The player picks the result they would like. If the character faces a disadvantage–such as someone acting while injured or frightened–the player rolls two dice and the GM picks the result. Depending on the tone of the story and the way you want things to unfold, the GM could pick a higher number for the outcome or the player could pick a lower one.
The Winter Phase
If you are a player, draw a tree at the top of your character sheet along with five small bubbles or boxes. More artistic folks can work five leaves into a tree motif. If your character faces a situation in which they must betray a key value or spurn something they love, or fails to meet a source of fear or shame in a mature way, fill in a bubble, briefly noting the nature of the challenge they faced. Your character must withdraw from the story to heal and reflect on the challenges they’ve faced when the final bubble has been filled.
The Winter Phase of the game represents the time the character spends recovering and healing, and has two parts. As a group, choose three key moments from the list of crises. Draw a tarot card for each, and discuss how the character reflected on the experience and eventually moved toward healing. The player then makes a change to the character, such as adding a new detail to one of the questions they answered during creation or replacing their key trait with another (such as replacing Dignity with Compassion) to reflect how they have evolved.
The second part of the Winter Phase continues the main story and focuses on the other characters, detailing their activities until they are reunited with their missing friend. The player whose character has withdrawn becomes a co-GM, with the two dividing duties however they like.
If you are playing a game with a single player and a GM, your Winter Phrase will only include the first part.
Notes
Oddly enough, Beyond the Greenwood began as an idea for a gritty sword-and-sorcery game. I’d wanted to use The Shivering Circle for a gloomy fantasy adventure, with characters moving one step closer to an unnatural or ill-omened doom each time the player marked off a stone. As I was toying with the idea, though, I started thinking about the idea that a character’s fate could be positive or more mixed in tone, and began to focus on healing and rest as part of a process of change.
In addition to The Shivering Circle and Freeform Universal, inspiration came from story games played on the late Google+, as well as Jackie Tremaine’s Wanderlust and Paul Taliesin’s Thus Began the Adventures of Eowyn.
The public domain image below the title is by Virginia Frances Sterrett.
Please share any questions or comments with me at shae.davidson@gmail.com.
