Ten Candles RPG

These things are true. The world is dark. And we are alive.

The following has been modified from the official game rules, meant to make the game more stream lined, and may be modified further.

Ten Candles is a game about telling the story in ten scenes. Between scenes, players have an interlude where they can build the story by introducing a 'truth' to the story. It is important to know that this is Tragic Horror, not a Horror Survival like in Dread. In Dread, it is possible for some, most, or even all player characters to survive (statistically improbable as it might be). In Ten Candles, all of the player characters will either die or be dead by the tenth and final chapter.

Ten Candles is thus not about asking yourself 'How can my character survive' but 'How can my character try to make the most of her or his remaining time'.

It is important that while you, the player, knows that your character is doomed, your character must try to hold on to hope. Rage against the dying of the light. Who knows, maybe those two short guys with the hairy feet will manage to actually get that stupid ring to the volcano if you can hold out long enough.

The story is told by the GM and the players. The GM is in charge of setting the initial story and running the non-player characters. Each Player has a character in the story and can also influence the story by stating truths at the end of each scene.

Character creation: Each character has four Cards: a Virtue, a Vice, a Moment, and a Brink.

Virtue and Vice : Virtue and Vice are both traits; some aspect or skill of the character that can be described in one or two words. A Virtue is a trait that usually helps a character get out of trouble (level-headed, charismatic, martial artist) while a Vice is a trait that usually gets a player into trouble (hot-headed, greedy, claustrophobic). While the two traits are not the only aspects your character has, these two should be at the core of your character, something that has shaped your character into who she or he is at the beginning of the game.

Moment: This is an idea for a moment your character will want to achieve in the story. You create it by finishing the sentence "I will find hope when...". It might be when you save a child, when you hear the voice of your parents, or even 'When my car finally starts'. Each character will be given a chance (At least once) to have their moment in the story, if possible. However, be aware that your moment is not certain. Hope may not come for your character. "The dice giveth, and the dice taketh away. Blessed by the rolling of the dice."

Brink : Initially, this is hidden information. It is a short description of what your character has done or will do, when survival is on the line. It is something that your character would only do if that character had no other option. For Batman it might be using a gun, for Superman it might be taking a human life, for Sherlock Holmes it might be risking James Watson dying. Your 'Brink' can not be used until you have used your Vice, Virtue, and Moment.

Once you have established your Vice, Virtue, Moment, and Brink, arrange them into a 'Stack'. The Brink should always be last. You can then order your Vice, Virtue, and Moment in any order you want, in the order they will be played. Ideally, only one player will start with her or his Moment as their top card. Each of these top three cards can be used once (and only once) and must be used in the order arranged at the beginning of the game. Usage of the 'Stack' is explained later.

Game Play:

The game consists of ten scenes, or rounds. There is a communal pool of six sided dice. Each scene it restarts, with ten dice at the start of the first scene, nine dice at the start of the second scene, and so on till the final scene only has one dice at the start. Later scenes will usually be shorter then earlier scenes, since the dice pool is smaller.

At any time in the scene there is something the GM feels needs to be rolled for, all the remaining dice in the communal pool are rolled. Any dice that come up 'one' are removed from the communal pool for that scene (unless the Stack is used, see below). If any dice come up 'six' then the scene continues, with varying degrees of good. Rolling to explore an abandoned grocery store, a single six might mean only that no one is hurt while several sixes might mean you find several boxes of unopened soup cans or find an untouched aisle of camping supplies.

If the roll has NO sixes, the scene comes to an end, with the GM resolving the current scene and cutting to the interlude.

A player, after a successful roll, can chose to describe what happens over the GM's description. If the player uses this 'Actually' ability, they describe what happens after the roll but the scene immediately ends. The GM may veto the player's description, but only if the GM feels the player's ending is potentially story breaking or violates an already established truth of the story. This should be done sparingly, as ending scenes early mean less time for the story to evolve and be explored.

GM: Two sixes. You silently enter the abandoned S-Mart, to find that most of the contents have been raided. After several minutes of searching, you manage to find three cans of unopened dog food and a dented can of lima beans.

Player: ACTUALLY, we end the scene with us finding some lights on and discover several store employees and customers, hiding in the back. They've been managing to keep a generator running and the shelves, while mostly empty, still have enough supplies for us and the other survivors to go for a few days. The survivors welcome us and agree to aid us on our journey.

GM: Ok, I can work with that. Ok, time for the intermission.

A GM may also allow a player to describe the result of a roll, without requiring the player to end the scene early.

Use the Stack:

If the top card of a player's stack is their Moment card, they may choose to incorporate their moment into the current scene. It has to make narrative sense (IE, if their moment is saving a child, then the child had to have come from somewhere and the child must be at serious risk from something in the scene.) The player then rolls. If the roll succeeds (at least one six) the player gets a 'hope' dice. when a player has to roll, the hope dice is rolled along with the communal dice. Once a moment has been achieved, the hope dice for that player can only be lost if the player fails a brink check (see below). Regardless of success or failure, the Moment card is removed from their stack and the next card becomes the top card of their stack.

If the top card of a player's stack is their vice or virtue, then they may choose to 'burn' that trait at the end of a roll. If the roll has one or more 'ones', the player announces they are going to burn a trait. The player then explains how their virtue or vice is going to allow them to influence the scene. All of the ones are then rerolled, with any new sixes counted to the size of success and any new ones removed from the game. The used vice or virtue is then removed from the stack, revealing a new top card.

If the top card of a player's stack is their brink (which can occur only after the other three cards are used), a player may use their 'brink' to reroll ALL of the dice. The brink must make sense as part of the story (IE, trying to cross a parking lot during a tornado, there is no way that Batman using a gun would help.) If the roll succeeds, the player is allowed to keep their brink card and may use it during a future roll. If the roll fails, the player's brink is removed and their stack is now empty. Also, if the player had a hope dice, then that hope dice is now gone.

End of the scene

The intermission between with the dice pool being reset (nine dice after scene one, eight dice after scene two, etc. The scene begins with the GM (or if a player chose to end the scene, the player who) stating the first truth:

Players (including the GM)) then take turns announcing one truth, until a number of truths have been stated equal to the number of dice. So, nine truths will be stated after the first scene, eight truths stated after the second scene, etc. The last truth is not spoken by any one player but is by all players: "And we are alive."

Example:

Narrator: And that ends scene four, so six truths. These things are true. The world is dark.

Player #1: One of the survivors we found is the town vet, who is able to help John's broken leg.

Player #2: It turns out the house we're in has two Five gallon containers of gasoline for our truck

Player #3: We have enough sleeping bags for everyone.

GM: The Vet doesn't have any pain medications meant for humans.

Player #1: There is no pain medication in the house, at all, and John keeps waking up in the night due to pain.

All players: And we are alive.

The GM may strike any truth that the GM feels is potentially story breaking, in which case the player gets to make a new truth. Each truth should apply to the immediate situation: a truth may replace a previously spoken truth. Truths can be positive OR negative, the goal is to tell a good (Satisfying) story.

Edited by Nodrog on Sep 30th 2021 at 11:31:30 AM

I'm interested, but how would this work in play by post? More specifically, the truth establishing, which doesn't seem like something that could work when no one's talking to each other.

I was imagining the GM would set up a 'player list' for players to take turns stating truths, with a time limit a player has to post a truth. Alternatively, it might be a 'first come, first served' with a cool down period: A player can post once every 24 hours (or some other time) but once the number of truths have been posted, that's it