Through the Grass

A vacant lot in the middle of a nostalgic city built a century ago, where modernity creeps in slowly.

A field of grass enclosed by a square of old houses abandoned after an earthquake two years ago, where one can easily get lost.

A sea of green that goes on forever, but seems to lead those who enter it to another world.

Premise

Through the Grass is an intentionally surreal game which will possibly be some kind of heroic fantasy or cosmic horror (depending on player choices).

Characters

Characters are probably ordinary people (but more than one option will involve this not being so) with fairly ordinary skillsets. There is unlikely to be anything exceptional about them.

They begin with 12 points which can be allocated between any number of 'beats', which are skills, lifestyles or even philosophical idioms which they can depend on to change their circumstances or even succeed in the world. Beats are limited to 5 points maximum. Example Beats:

• Athletics
• Hunter
• Ordinary High School Student
• Mysterious Waif
• "This is my story."
• "It'll be alright!"

Using beats is always unrolled, and opposed by the environment's natural rules. 1 could represent parkour in modern society, 3 would be mastery of kung fu or another ancient martial art and 6 would be something mystical like wuxia flight or breathing fire. A character must have the minimal score to succeed, or else expend resources to succeed. Different realms may operate by different rules, causing these inherent resistances to vary.

There are no opposed actions, rather a character may defend by accomplishing an action which would logically invalidate the intended result of the attack on them. Combat is resolved not by overpowering opponents through force but by creating circumstances where their beats do not allow

Characters then choose one of their Beats and define it as their Raison d'Etre, the aspect of their lives which allows them to continue living. When using this beat, they roll a single 1d6 dice and add the result to their values. At minimum a Raison d'Etre allows a character to do incredible things.

Finally characters have 7 Willpower, the currency of the heart, which they may expend to add to their total value of any action and return at every scene. At various opportunities characters will be able to exchange willpower for various permanent additive bonuses to their abilities.

Of course, expending the currency of the heart in such a manner may have profound results...

Recommended Concepts

• Students doing a test of courage.
• A NEET looking for their lost cat.
• A city worker just doing a survey of the lot.
• A child returning home to find it no longer exists.
• A hunter of the supernatural.