Turn Sequence
Original Card Text
Choose which Fetish will be the first Seeker, the others are Eyes.
If a Seeker dies, their search is over and from now on can only be an Eye.
[…]
Seeker! [rules to open a scene]
[When a scene ends] Pick a new Seeker and repeat from the start.
[…]
When everybody has been Seeker once, the turn ends; start a new turn.
[…]
The game ends when no one can be a Seeker anymore.
Play is structured in turns. Every turn players cooperate to:
- open a scene
- play through whatever might happen
- close the scene
This cycle repeats until each Fetish in play meets an end to their story.
During a given turn one player acts as the Seeker and plays their own Fetish, while all other players act as Eyes and play the rest of the world.
There are two ways to handle this structure: alternating and sequential. Both are valid, but different play groups might prefer one or the other.
-
Alternating Play : Each turn the role of Seeker passes to the next player on the left. This is the original way to play, a bit fragmented and chaotic, but it grants everyone both time in the spotlight (
) and behind the curtains (
). Additionally, different stories get to inspire each other as they develop in parallel, one scene at a time. -
Sequential Play : The role of Seeker doesn’t change until their story ends. This makes for a more linear and coherent gameplay, and some groups seem to cherish this above all else. It is valid, but it risks tiring the Seeker while making the Eyes feel sidelined. And of course the story-to-story influence becomes minimal and uni-directional, from what comes first to what follows after.
After a Fetish’s mortal life ends, their search is over: their player may not be a Seeker anymore. The game ends when there can be no more Seekers.
The Search and the Ritual
Original Card Text
When a Seeker successfully performs three Ritual Actions they finally remember their divine name; they must describe a scene where, using the simple tools of this mundane world, they destroy their prison of flesh and transcend this human reality.
Their search is over and from now on can only be Eyes.
[…]
[When the Eyes set rules for an action outcome] the Seeker can say that what they are doing is a Ritual Action.
The core of the game, the final goal of every Fetish, is to gather the scattered fragments of their divine name and, thanks to this knowledge, become a God again. The only way to achieve this is to perform successfully three Ritual acts.
Each Fetish card presents two possible acts that count as rituals. Their wording is intentionally vague and ambiguous, meant to evoke and provoke rather than to describe or prescribe; it is a metaphor that the player must make sense of for themselves. Whether an action counts as a ritual is up to the Seeker, as explained in more detail later.
Opening a Scene
Original Card Text
Seeker! You are in a place of urban decay at the borders of society: describe it.
Now the Eyes say:
- what mortals are present
- what is slightly bizarre
- what is dangerous here and now
When the game initially begins, elect the first Seeker. Shuffle the chosen Fetishes together and randomly draw one. Or let the player that feels more inspired and ready go first.
The Seeker opens a new scene by describing the location where their Fetish finds themselves, keeping to these rules:
- they are in a modern metropolis
- they are in a place of urban decay at the fringes of society
- no other Fetishes are present
Now the Eyes collaborate to add the following details. These are mandatory and very important, no exceptions:
- there are mortal people present - describe how they look and what they do
- there is something slightly bizarre - describe what it is and why it feels off
- someone is in danger here and now - describe who, how and why
These details frame scenes that focus on the dramatic moments in a Fetish’s life, the moments of risk and decision making, the moments of empathy or violence, the moments of confrontation with oneself and others. These are the moments worth playing in this game.
People
The mortals could be friends, adversaries, or accidental witnesses. The point is this: the Fetish is never truly separated from the city’s population.
Bizarre
The game world is our real world – rational, tangible, mundane – but some small detail will always look strange in the eyes of a Fetish, adding a slightly surreal touch to how they experience things.
Danger
Danger can mean physical harm but doesn’t have to.
Think of everyday life on the streets:
- a tense conversation might escalate
- a shaky situation might degenerate
- a difficult task might lead to failure and humiliation
- an urgent need might force a confrontation
- a fleeting opportunity might present a hard choice
In all of these scenarios the Fetish might be the one directly endangered, or they might be a witness to someone else’s hardships. The focus is on what they choose to do (or not do) about it.
Ideally each Eye should provide one of the three elements (people, bizarre, danger) or at least contribute with some additional details about the situation (is it raining? is there a peculiar smell in the air? what colour are the little girl’s mittens? etc..).
A single Eye can provide more, or all, elements but this should only happen if there are less than three Eyes at the table. No Eye should stay silent during this phase of the game.
Playing a Scene
Original Card Text
Seeker! Say what you do and think.
Eyes! Say what the mortals do, add new ones, make things happen.
All can add scenographic details.Keep going until someone describes an action that is Difficult or Perilous or Both; someone else has to point it out and say it out loud!
[…]
When the Seeker does a D/P/B/R action, the scene ends.
Now that the scene is open, play happens as a conversation.
-
The Seeker describes what their Fetish says, does, thinks and feels.
-
The Eyes describe everything else.
- What the mortals in the scene say and do and how they appear, never how they feel or what they think.
- They can introduce new or known mortals in the scene.
- They can describe events that happen here and now – it start raining, a siren blares in the distance, you do find a key under the doormat, etc.
- They describe what the Seeker sees, smells, hears, tastes, feels on their skin.
This conversation goes on, back and forth between Seeker and Eyes, until one of the following conditions is met:
- the Seeker describes a Fetish action and an Eye calls it out as Difficult (D)
- the Seeker describes a Fetish action and an Eye calls it out as Perilous (P)
- the Seeker describes a Fetish action and an Eye calls it out as Both (B) difficult and perilous
- an Eye describes a mortal’s action and the Seeker calls it out as D. or P. or B.
When a mortal performs a D/P/B action the rules resolve it and then the scene continues.
When a Fetish performs a D/P/B action the rules resolve it and then the scene ends immediately. The next Seeker opens a new scene.
Of Space and Time
Fetishes will never meet each other in play, so there is no need to coordinate their stories in terms of time and location. They might happen in different decades, in different cities, on different continents. Not only that, but each scene could be set in a different metropolis, if that is what your story requires.
There is no rule about scenes having to happen in strict chronological order. By all means, play the Fetish’s life out of sequence; it tends to make play a bit more difficult to follow and to keep coherent, but it doesn’t strictly break the game.
There is no rule requiring scenes to happen immediately after one another. Some may occur just moments apart, while others take place days, months, or even decades later. This flexibility makes the timeline easier to manage while opening interesting narrative doors.
Narrated events must make sense to all players, but each scene could happen at a different time and place with no need to explicitly describe how the transition happened. Just remember that the Fetish has no powers and will age like everybody else.