The First Gathering

The First Gathering is about introducing everyone’s characters; it’s meant to be short enough that you can play it at the end of the character creation process or just before jumping into another mode like Into the Grey. If you’ve played Cracks in the Mirror, this ritual will feel very familiar.

This process brings the characters you’ve made into the story in three stages:

  1. Introducing Your Character: Each player goes through the entire process to introduce their character.
  2. Developing the Group Dynamic: Once everyone’s character is present, they meet each other.
  3. Now It’s A Party: Once everyone has met, they find a reason to work or travel or live together.

If the players created their characters before meeting to play as a group, give yourselves permission to take a bit longer with this ritual; otherwise, it’s okay to gloss over details that everyone is already familiar with from the character creation process.

If this is not the first time your group is playing The First Gathering with these characters, you can use this ritual as a way to initiate a new story arc, allowing the players to bring their characters to whatever narrative you’re about to explore together.

Before We Begin: The Boundary

When we tell stories, we inevitably leave some details out, some rooms unexplored, some doors closed. We do this for our own safety and for the safety of those around us. If you haven’t already done so with your gruop, take a moment now to discuss: What is a boundary you will not cross in this story? How close to it are you willing to wander before you turn away?

Your boundary can be something your character would want respected or it can be something you care about personally. For example, Dee has a fear of heights, but their character does not. They might say, “I’d like to set a boundary on detailed descriptions of vertigo or other feelings of being up high. We can go to high places, but I as a player don’t want to experience that feeling in my imagination.”

You can set more than one boundary, and you can add more as the story progresses or as you think of them. If privacy is a concern, you may want to consider some form of anonymization, such as a shared digital document or a trusted facilitator.

Respecting boundaries is about more than just not crossing the line; it’s about knowing when a boundary needs to remain entirely outside the scope of the story, even in reference. If your character has a pet and you want to set a boundary around that pet’s safety, you may want to establish that as a convention of play: that this pet will never come to harm, and will never even be perceived to be in any danger, no matter the stakes of the scene.

Once the boundaries are set, we can begin. We can adjust them at any time as needed, but for now we have enough to get started.

Introducing Your Character

Answer each of the following questions to describe your character’s outlook, physical appearance, circumstances, or present mood. For each question, either choose a response from the available options or invent your own.

The Silhouette

When you enter the scene, we don’t see your face just yet; just the outline of your body.

What are you wearing that changes the shape of your silhouette?

  • A dress or skirt
  • A suit of armor
  • A cloak or cape
  • A hat
  • A scarf
  • Nothing. My garb is fitted to my form.

Optional: What does your silhouette remind us of when we first see you?

The Form

As we see more of you, we notice details about your body that will help us form a mental image of you throughout the story.

Which of the following, if any, best describes your physical form?

  • Drake: A winged, reptilian form that calls to mind the memory of dragons, for those who are old enough to remember them.
  • Fey: A form that is ever-changing.
  • Gemfolk: A form made of living crystal.
  • Human: A mammalian primate form that is mostly hairless and usually walks on two legs.
  • Spiderkin: An insectoid form that weaves tapestries of silk.
  • Sun Child: A constructed form made of wood, metal, and other seemingly inert materials.

The Mask

As you step out of the Grey, the wandering mists that are scattered across the world of Mnemonic, your form resolves and we see you clearly, wearing the mask that protects you from the Grey’s more dangerous effects.

What is your mask made of?

  • Wood
  • Stone
  • Crystal
  • Metal
  • Glass
  • Cloth

Optional: Describe your mask. What is its shape? What colors make up its design? Is it plain or decorated? Does it cover your mouth? Your eyes? Your head?

The Lie

Now that we have a picture of you in our mind, let’s find out a little more about who you are.

What lie has your community tried to make you believe about yourself?

  • I speak too much.
  • I don’t try hard enough.
  • I’m not smart.
  • I’m dangerous.
  • I’m better off alone.
  • I’m only as valuable as the things I create.

Remember: This lie isn’t true about you.

The Source

Where do you derive your strength?

  • From the company of others.
  • From the work I do.
  • From spite for those who did me wrong.
  • From knowledge of the goal ahead.
  • From the world around me.
  • From nothing; I haven’t found it yet.

The Power

Nobody just stands there in the mists looking mysterious. Everyone’s doing something. What is it that you are doing, when you first appear?

Choose one of the following:

  • You Do Something Impressive: You spot someone in need of help and use one of the skills associated with your strong suit to help them.
    Remove a Complication from the Adversary’s pool.
  • You Do Something Necessary: You’re in trouble when we first see you, but you quickly get out of it.
  • You Do Something Foolish: You’re in way over your head, probably because of something you did.
    Add a Complication to the Adversary’s pool.

Everyone’s good at something. What are you good at? Tell us your Strong Suit, and the two skills you’ve chosen that are associated with that suit.

The Name

We see you, we know you. We just need to know what to call you, in the context of this story. What name should we use?

Wrap It Up

Give us one more detail to get excited about this character, then give the focus to the next player so that they can introduce their character too.

Developing the Group Dynamic

Now that each of you has a character, it’s time to place them into context with each other. Take a moment to breathe, drink some water, do some physical exercising to re-orient yourself, and then come back and proceed.

As a group, discuss each of the questions below to imagine the circumstances of your group coming together. You might not all have met on the same day, and that’s okay; imagine the meetings in bits and pieces, scrape them together and see how they fit. If you need to adjust the timing of events, you can do so.

The Place

Where are we right now? Choose one of the following locations, or come up with your own:

  • A busy city marketplace
  • A quiet gathering
  • A festival
  • A road to somewhere
  • The middle of nowhere
  • A boat

Optional: Does this place have a name?

The Reason

Why are each of us here?

  • To find something or someone
  • To escape from something or someone
  • To experience the place itself
  • To get to somewhere else
  • I was lost
  • I don’t remember

Optional: If you went there for a reason, did you complete your task? If not, what stopped you?

The Tether

Using your characters’ roleplaying hooks, figure out the rest. How do you engage with each other? Who speaks first? Do you all like each other right away, or does it take some time to get comfortable?

The Inciting Event

Something happens, unrelated to anything any of you did, that draws all of your attention. Add a Complication to the Adversary’s pool, and discuss:

  • What just happened?
  • What are we going to do about it?

Now It’s A Party

When you introduced your characters, you were all doing something. Now it’s time to see how those somethings come together. Add them to the Inciting Event, and we’ve got ourselves a party.

Quickly build a Group Scene using the pool of Complications you accumulated when you introduced your characters:

  1. Set the Stakes: Gather one die for each of the Complications in the Adversary’s pool.
  2. Make the Plan: Have each player choose a skill. Since we’re not using the deck yet, anyone can choose whichever they like.
  3. Execute the Plan: Have each player roll a number of dice equal to the rating of the skill they chose, keeping only the highest roll.
  4. Things Go Wrong: Roll the Adversary’s dice, and keep them separate.
  5. Sort It Out: Starting with the lowest roll, have each player describe their actions in the scene. If a Complication die interrupts the order, describe how things go wrong. When you get to the highest roll, determine Victory or Defeat based on whether the highest roll belonged to the Adversary or one of the players:
    • Victory: The characters overcome the scene’s obstacles and resolve the scene on their own terms. The player with the highest roll describes how their action brings the scene to a close. If multiple players have the highest roll, those players work together to describe their collective action.
    • Defeat: The characters are overwhelmed by the consequences of their actions and are forced to live with them, at least for now.
    • Draw: In the case of the players sharing the highest roll with the Adversary, the players take the victory.

Whether the scene ended in Victory or Defeat, The First Gathering ends here. Take a moment to wrap things up. Discuss what your characters intend to do next and what you plan to do next.