3.

Interlude
1. Introduce & Explain Fates
1. Pass out Fates
2. Have everyone foreshadow their Fate
3. Explain & Change Trust
4. Introduce Scene 2: Auntie & Uncle Tengu
1. Have players declare Watch order
2. Have Uncle Tengu call out watching Samurai.
1. Have Uncle Tengu give watching samurai the message.
3. Have Auntie Tengu wake a sleeping ronin.
1. Have Auntie Tengu give sleeping ronin the message
4. Provoke various samurai to a fight
5. Give players a moment to reflect on events.

THE MOUNTAIN WITCH

Of Wolves and Tengu
A 15-30 minute demo for 2-4 players #1
Requirements: 8 six-sided dice.
Five Pregen Character Sheets
Fate Cards
(8 Tokens) x four different colors

Purpose
The purpose of this demo is to highlight the dual-nature of Trust
by showing the players the importance of Aiding through one
short combat scene, and then sow the seeds of mistrust in a
second scene.

Script: Intro
<Begin the demo by placing a copy of the book in the hands of
the players, giving each player a copy if you have enough.>

Outline

GM: This here is THE MOUNTAIN WITCH, which could be

described as 'AKIRA KUROSAWA meets RESERVOIR
DOGS' the RPG <or some other equivalent samurai meets
gangster film reference>. You each play a dirty, grubby, lowlife ronin who---when hard-up for cash---is hired to kill the
mythical Mountain Witch of Mt Fuji.

1. Intro
1. Pass out characters
2. Introduce Scene 1: Wolf Attack
1. Roll for Surprise
1. Explain Rolling
2. Introduce Wolves
1. Roll for first conflict
1. Explain Degree of Success
2. Explain Damage, if necessary.
3. Explain Trust
1. Pass out and explain Tokens
2. Explain Trust Options
4. Finish battle with Wolves
1. Ask if anyone wants to use Trust to Aid.

<Randomly hand out the pregen charsheets, announcing the

name, zodiac sign, and abilities of each character as you do.>

Script: Scene 1: Wolf Attack

GM: The adventure usually begins at the bottom of Mt Fuji as
you slowly start your climb up to the Witch's castle. Let's say
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you have just started out and you're still in the forest at the base
of the mountain. But you're not alone. There are other
creatures---servants of the Witch maybe---that roam these
woods.

<Whenever the next conflict occurs.> GM: Now we roll

again, you all against me, except this time I get to roll one die
for each wolf.

<Pause a moment to see if the players react.>

<Roll for the conflict and then let the appropriate person
narrate. Point to the Degree of Success section on the
charsheet as you explain what can be done with the roll. If
someone took damage, explain that damage acts as a
temporary penalty to one's roll. Again---and this time its
important---let the dice just sit there while you explain how
trust works.>

GM: I'll also tell you that these creatures are looking for you.
Let's roll to see if they find you, or if you find them first.
<Hand each player a die.> We all roll together, you all against
me.
<Have everyone roll. For this conflict, the GM should just roll
a single die. Make sure to leave the dice alone, as they stand
on the table. While you explain the conflict & resolution.>

<Assuming the players lost, continue with the following. If

they won, say something along the lines of, I know you guys
won that conflict, but let's say you lost... and change the
players' dice as if they had lost.>

GM: We now take the highest die that you guys rolled, which
is a {whatever} <point to the die>, and compare it to my roll,
which is a {whatever} <point to your die>. Since {my/your}
roll was higher, {I/you guys} win.

GM: Normally, we take the highest die from your group and
the highest die from my group of enemies and compare. This is
actually a rather brutal resolution system... But here is where
Trust comes in...

GM: The creatures stalking you are a pack of wolves, {a

number equal to the number of players} of them. Wolves
represent the spirits of the mountains themselves, and they can't
be happy that you are trespassing on their land. <Depending on
how the roll went, explain either that the wolves sneak up on
characters, that the characters sneak up on the wolves, or that
both the characters and wolves see each other that the same
time. Don't worry about Degree of Success, outside of simply
winning, losing, or tying.>

GM: At different times throughout the game, each of you will

rate how much your characters trusts one another. And based on
that rating, characters gain Trust points that you can use to
either help or betray each other.
GM: These tokens represent each character's trust. <Hand
each of the players a different colored pile of tokens,
announcing each character's color as you go.> This
represents the trust each character gives to others. For example,
if {whoever} trusts {so and so} only a little, he might only give
them one token <take one chip from {whoever's} pile and give

<If the players won, ask them if they want to attack or do

something else. Follow their lead, but still push for the wolves
to attack. Otherwise, just have the wolves attack immediately.>
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back so to speak Aiding, can roll a 12.

it to {so and so}>. But if he trusted him a lot, he might give him
four or five. <Hand {so and so} some more tokens. After a
short pause, take the tokens back and give them to {whoever}.
>

GM: When you want to spend a point of Trust to help or

betray someone else, you can only spend those tokens given to
you by that person. In other words, if {whoever} what's to Aid
{so and so}, {whoever} can only use the {whatever color}
tokens given to him by {so and so}, he cannot use the {random
color} tokens given to him by {another player}.

GM: Now, just to start the game, we use the characters' zodiac
signs to determine how many trust points everyone starts the
game with. Ally zodiacs begin the game with three Trust points,
Enemy zodiacs zero, and everyone else two. <Go character by
character, announcing their zodiac once again and who they
are allies or enemies with. Pass the each player the
appropriate number of tokens from each of the respective
characters as you do. Again, point to the charsheet as you
explain.> Real quick, a character's allies and enemies just
explains who they get along with, it doesn't mean to imply that
characters are literal allies or enemies. This is just based off
the Asian zodiac, and its the same thing you'll read if you go to
a Chinese or Japanese restaurant.

GM: So now, does anyone want to spend a token to Aid

someone in the conflict against the wolves? <Wait for a
response, and then finish the conflict.>

Script: Interlude: Fate and Trust

GM: Now you see how basic conflict resolution works. If that
was all the game involved, the adventure would be a pretty
straight forward march up the mountain. But the game is a little
more... interesting than that. The adventure quickly becomes...
complicated by dark Fate. <At this point, pull out the Fate
Cards and show them to the players.> Each of the ronin carry
with them one of six secret, dark Fates. <Show the players each
of the six fate cards, reading the titles as you go.>

GM: You spend these tokens to do a few things. First, you can
spend a token to Aid another character in a conflict. Second, you
can spend a token to buy the right to narration a conflict. And
lastly, you can use these tokens to betray another character in a
conflict. <Point to the trust reference section on the charsheet
as you explain.>

GM: Take a card, and make sure no one else sees which one
you hold. <Shuffle the cards and pass one out to each player.>
It is up you, the players, to make the exact details of your
characters' Fates. At any time, you may make up any fact about
your character's past, the environment, the Witch, or even your
fellow player's characters, *IF* it relates to your character's
Fate. In fact, it is your responsibility to bring these Fates into
play, I as the GM will nothing to do with it.

GM: For right now, Aiding is the really important optione.

Instead of just taking the highest die to determine who wins a
conflict, when a character Aids another, their dice are added
together. So as in the last conflict, without Aiding you guys lost.
But if one of you guys had Aided, your dice would have added
together to equal {whatever}, and you would have won. So you
should see that I, as GM, am only limited to rolling a six, no
matter how many dice I roll. But two PCs, standing back-to3

soft voice from the woods, just beyond the light of the fire:
'Psst... Pssssst... Hey samuai...over here!'

GM: Let's assume now after your encounter with the wolves,
night is approaching, so you decide to set up camp. What I want
each of you to do now is narrate one little thing that each of
your characters do that foreshadows their Fate. Just something
small that each of them does secretly while setting up camp. It
doesn't have to reveal the fate, just hint at it. <Allow each
player to narrate this foreshadowing.>

<The goal here is to get the character alone in the woods. If

they try waking the other characters, tell them they find
nothing, and when the other characters go back to bed, repeat
the scene. If necessary, try to calm the character by saying
something along the lines of, Hey, be quiet, it's just me!
Com'on over here.>

GM: Now, with that in mind, we re-evaluate Trust. In a normal

game we would go a couple scenes before doing this, but this is
just a short demo. Everyone give back the the tokens to their
respective owner, trust doesn't carry over, it gets re-distributed.
<Make sure everyone gives back their tokens.> You can do one
of three things: You can increase the trust you're giving a
character by one point, you can keep it the same, or you can
lower it by any amount. You re-evaluate trust on a character by
character basis---so you can increase one person's trust while
decreases another, if you want. You don't have to change
everyone's Trust the same.

<When the character leaves the fire to find the voice...>

GM: Again you hear the voice, 'Pssst, up here!' You look up
and see a glowing set of eyes staring at you from the branches
of a tree. Upon closer examination, you see that they seem to
belong to a large bird. A *VERY* large black raven. The bird
speaks to you, 'I bring a message from the master, he says that
the plan is good, all you need to do is say the word at the
gate...'
<Allow the player a moment to respond, but before
continuing...> GM: Meanwhile, back at the camp, {whoever}
is waken by a voice... 'Psst... Pssssst... Hey samurai... over
here!' <At this point, basically copy the above scene with the
new player, except this time, it's a little old lady with a black
shaw, rather than a bird, that's speaking to the character.>

<Go player by player and ask them if and how they want to
change the trust they are giving to different characters. Make
sure they re-distribute tokens according.>

Script: Scene 2: Auntie and Uncle Tengu

<What's happening is that both these creatures are tengu, the

bird is Uncle Tengu and the little old lady is Auntie
Tengu. Both of them *think* they are talking to the right
character, but the fact is neither one can tell the difference
between ronin. The tengu should be played with a sense of
both cruelty and humor.>

GM: So night falls on the camp, and you all decide you need
to set up a watch, which order do yo want to go in? <Allow the
players to declare their watch order.>
<Whenever you want, usually during the first watch, start the
following encounter, addressing which ever player is standing
watch...> GM: As you sit around the fire, you suddenly hear a

<During the exchange with these two tengu, make sure to

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jump back and forth between players frequently.>

General Tips

<The goal with these exchanges is both to sow the seeds of

mistrust between characters, and provoke a fight with the
tengu. It is important you follow the players' lead. If they
don't play along, simply have the tengu run back to the other
and say something along the lines, Wha?... but you... Wait!...
{Auntie/ Uncle}! I spoke with the wrong ronin! Who can tell
them apart! Now we must kill them all! If they do play along,
say something like, Now I see why the Master trusts you, you
are such a strong and skilled warrior!... I don't know how you
put up with those dirty and good-for-nothing ronin... I would
kill them if I were you... *I* could kill them now, if you want...
If that doesn't provoke the player, you can have the other
tengu show up and say something like, What are you doing?
That's the wrong ronin!... Or was I talking to the wrong
ronin?...Who can tell them apart, now we must kill them all!>

Don't explain anything until it comes up in play. And when

you do explain, just explain enough to get by. I try to show this
in the script
Point to the character sheet. Always point to the character
sheet or the quick reference section when explaining rules. This
way, players know where to look if they forget.
Tell them what to do. Don't worry if the players understand or
memorize the rules. Just tell them what to do and push them
along.
Try to follow the players' lead, if possible. Running the demo
is a balancing act of trying to push the players along and making
the players feel free to do whatever they want. Most of the time
players act fairly predictably, but if they surprise you, try to play
along.

<An effective technique in sowing mistrust is to have the

tengu complement the character in question while insulting
the others. Another technique is to have the tengu proclaim
the virtues of the Witch, while pointing out the flaws of the
other characters. This is particularly effective if the other
characters acted against the character in question in the
earlier scene.>

Cut the scene short if it's taking too long. Don't worry about
completing the demo. The demo is just meant to give players
a taste. In fact, the trick is to give just enough of a taste to make
the player want more (and buy the book). So if a scene is
dragging, end it and continue with the demo.
Use Tokens to represent Trust. This demo sheet has been
written assuming that the GM will use tokens (poker chips or
some other object) represent Trust points. Though this is not
required, I have found that for demos, players have a better time
keeping track of physical chips than numbers on the character
sheet. (This also means that the demo sheets don't get marked up
by pencil marks, so they can be re-used.)

<Another possible course of action is to have one (or all) of

the other ronin simply overhear the other two ronins'
conversation with the tengu. If so, just let the player(s) decide
how they wants to react.>
<After the fight with the tengu, or however the scene ends,
give the players a moment to reflect on what happened, and
then end the demo.>
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