All of us stories

In the end, we're all stories.

If there's an afterlife, which I disbelieve, then there are precious few ways of reaching back from afterlife to life with a status update. Once breathe is gone from our lungs, and the fire out in our brains, synapses still; there is nothing left of us among our friends and family other than our stories.

Or rather their stories. Their stories of us.

And that's the only thing anyone can guarantee as an afterlife. We will be the stories told by those who choose to remember us.

I do not know my great grandfather's name. But I know he fled from his home in Finland during the first World War. Finland was under Russian occupation and Finnish boys were being conscripted to the front lines to die for glorious Mother Russia. My great grandfather borrowed a Swedish friend's passport (this was the days prior to photo ID) and fled Finland under a false name. He entered the United States through Ellis Island, and then mailed the passport back to his friend, changed his name and moved to Western Canada and started a new life. And he did this all, knowing only two words of English: 'Yes' and 'No'.

I have no idea how accurate or inaccurate this story remains. The story was told to me by my mother. She based her understanding of it on her mother's story and the other details she could unearth. My grandmother based the story upon the tales told to her by her father, my Great Grandfather.

I do not know how much of the story has changed. I do not know my Great Grandfather's name. But I know his story. And I have told it countless times to friend and family. This is his afterlife, his story continues on because I tell it.

I hope that when I die, I will have left a story- even if only one- worthy of being retold across generations.

This is the engine that drives Blood Red Dreaming.

A Quick Look at the Elders

The Old Ones and Outsiders - The Eldritch Abominations
 
The Elders are the greatest denizens of the Shadowlands, beyond everything else in the Shadowlands. The Elders have many forms, although none of them are able to fully approximate human form with any skill. They are sympathetic to humans in the Shadowlands, but think in such alien ways that they are very dangerous to deal with directly or from whom to seek aid. The Elders are the personification of concepts, and only Man of Void/Lady of Fire might ever have a connection to some actual human.

• The Three (Mystery, The Great Serpent, The Weaver)
• The Four (The Survivor, The Shepherd, The Primal, The Sleeper)
• The Fear Touched (Man of Void/Lady of Fire, The Hound, the Grey)
• The Guides of the Fallen (The Little Green Man, The Rainbow Moth)

First Attempt at an Inspiration Piece for Arcadia

Initial artwork for Blood Red Dreaming, the Realm of Arcadia. No utopia or idyllic land of fairy tales. Mistake it as such to your pain and surprise. The land of the Free Peoples, be wary and be strong.

An Introductory look at the Tribes

The Hungry Empire erected the City of Glass. But people refused to fall in line. Some people survived in the shadowy margins. Before that, for 666 generations the tribes lived by the Song. Before the rise of the Hungry Empire. Now they call the stories of Arcadia home. These free peoples, both in Arcadia as they were in days of old, and in the City of Glass as they struggle for survival, these people are the Tribes.

Introduction to High Magick

High Magick is the raw essence of the Shadowlands; a weaponized essence of story. High Magick is learned through the Witches and Wizards. When High Magick is used, the caster is channeling the power of the Demons known as the Fair Folk.

Learning Magick

Magick is learned from The Witches and Wizards. Once learned, a spell must be synced to the Player's Avatar by meeting the Requirements of the Fair Folk in question. Each member of a particular court has two spells to teach: one from the relevant witch and one from the relevant wizard.

The Demon Courts

Magick in the Shadowlands is controlled by a group of Fair Folk or Demons, divided into six courts with six roles within each court.

• The Courts of the Solar Year
• The Twilight Rebellion
• The Midnight Court
• The Midday Court
• The Darkened Court
• The Courts of the Hidden Wood
• The Bone Shrine Court
• The Bone Forest Court

Spell Structure

There are 6 spells per Court. One per member of the court. Each spell has two broad focuses - Internal and External. Internal is taught by the witches and external is taught by the wizards. Each spell has three variations: Fire (critical thinking), Rose (self Sufficiency), and blade (self defense).

• Magus Spells: The Magus spells are meta spells (manipulating the rules of the world itself)
• Witch (Internal): Manipulation of the rules of the Avatar.
• Wizard (External): Manipulation of the rules of the Shadowlands. 
• Caretaker Spells: The Caretaker spells are protective spells (safeguarding what is)
• Witch (Internal): Safeguarding your own Aura and Avatar.
• Wizard (External): Safeguarding things in the outside world.
• Messenger Spells: The Messenger spells are communication spells (sending information from one party to another)
• Witch (Internal): Receiving information into the self that others are trying to send.
• Wizard (External): Sending information to others.
• Mediator Spells: The Mediator spells spells to facilitate negotiation (building connections between people)
• Witch (Internal): To build a connection between a party and yourself.
• Wizard (External): To connect to outside parties (not yourself). 
• Scholar Spells: The Scholar spells are divination spells (discovering what is unknown and hidden)
• Witch (Internal): Discover something internal to the self: remember lost information, learn things about the self that is unknown, etc..
• Wizard (External): Discover something external to the self, something about the world.
• Harbinger Spells: The Harbinger Spells are prophecy and summoning spells (bringing 'something' from elsewhere)
• Witch (Internal): Bring something external into the self (self possession/channeling). 
• Wizard (External): Bring something external into the present (prophecy of some sort).

A Preliminary List of Denizens

The Outsiders 

The Elders

• The Three (Mystery, The Great Serpent, The Weaver)
• The Four (The Survivor, The Shepherd, The Primal, The Sleeper)
• The Fear Touched (Man of Void/Lady of Fire, The Hound, the Grey)
• The Guides of the Fallen (The Little Green Man, The Rainbow Moth)

The Fair Folk

• The Broken
• The Sheedr, The Faidr, The Gnomon
• The Sold Ones

The Spirits

• The Old Spirits (The Quiet Ones, The Sickly Ones)
• The Miscreated
• The Psychopomps (The Iron Horses, The Rust Vultures, Ghost Bears, Stone Turtles, Stellar Jays)

The Monsters

• The Abominations
• The Wendigo  (The Stillborn Army)
• The Giants (The Grigorim)
• The Chimera (The Bakumera, The Name Eater, The Story Hunter, )

The Gods

• The Dead Gods 

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The Inhabitants

The Tribes

• The Ancient Tribes
• The Last Tribes
• The Mountain Stronghold
• The Northern Mystics
• The Peasant Warriors
• Strongiron Village
• The Displaced Horde
• People of the Abandoned Harvest

The Folk

• The Seven Clans
• The Free Folk
• The Cold Folk
• The Silent Folk
• The Wise Folk
• The Swift Folk
• The Gentle Folk
• The New Folk
• The Sea Folk
• The Old Folk
• The Constant Folk
• The Strong Folk
• The Clever Folk
• The Singing Folk
• The Dancing Folk
• The Ghost Folk

The People

• The Five Clans
• The One Leaf People
• The Two Leaf People
• The Winter Leaf People
• The Water Green People
• The Blade Green People
• The Stone Crack People
• The Village Treaty People

 

---

The Archetypes

The Locust Touched

• True Believers 
• The Locust King 
• The Officers (The Truth Speaker, The Dragon Lord, The Bone Man, The Cinnabar Lady)
• The Black and White
• The Knights of Unity
• The Knights of Purity 
• The Faithless
• The Oil Cloth Rebels 
• The Good Charlatans 
• The Crusader Bureaucrats 
• The Lost Children 

The Free Path

• The Thread Bearers
  
  • The Circle Walkers(First Mother, First Hero, The Kudavbin King, The Witch Doctor, The Dreamwalker)
  • The Witches
  • The Wizards

An Introduction to the Law

There's nothing more reassuring than realizing the world is crazier than you are.

Thor: The Dark World

The Storyteller

The Storyteller is the player who agrees to open the way into the Waking Shadowlands, so that the other players may send their Avatars through the Ring.

The Avatars and Auras

The Personal Projection of a psychonaut sent into the Waking Shadowlands to achieve victory in grand adventures and quests.

The Aura is the psychonaut's ability to maintain their Avatar in the Waking Shadowlands

Tools

Tools of the Psychonaut profession, their tricks of the trade: Magick and Artifacts and their related skill trees.

The Deck and Action Resolution

Actions are resolved first by asking if the psychonauts HAVE previously done the action in the Bonelands.

Vajra

The energy built between sessions and used during incursions.

Concerning Tools

A psychonaut brings only their vajra and their residual self image (to steal a term from the Matrix) into the Shadowlands during an incursion. But a psychonaut can leave things in the Shadowlands to collect and use on their next incursion. These are the tools of their avatar, psychic enhancements from the Shadowlands, grafted onto a psychonaut's avatar to serve their will.

An Introduction to the Denizens

The beings of the Blood Red Dreaming are all fictional, which is to say that they live inside stories. Some began life as real people, sometimes more than one real person merges to create an archetype. Some beings are ideas incarnate. They exist as personifications of concepts or seasons, times or places. These beings live in the Shadowlands, because the human mind more readily remembers stories and more readily remembers characters. And so within the human mind, within the Shadowlands, we find many strange denizens- monsters and fair folk, spirits and gods, and eldritch abominations greater and older than any god could hope to be.

The Denizens are divided into several broad categories: The Others, The Inhabitants, and the Archetypes.

The Others

The Others are also divided into several order (arranged here from most to least powerful): Elders, Spirits, Gods, Fair Folk, and Monsters.

All the denizens will assist Sorcerers in the Shadowlands, but all have a price. Elders demand stories. Spirits demand attention. Gods demand worship. Fair Folk (Demons) demand payment. Monsters demand blood.

The Inhabitants

The Ancient Tribes, the People and the Folk: the inhabitants are just that- they are the beings that inhabit the Shadowlands. Not possessed of any great supernatural powers in the universe of the story, the live and get by as they can.

The Archetypes

Arguably the strangest of the Denizens, the Archetypes are Avatars of beings from the Bonelands. But these are reusable hollow avatars and many people will step into the roles of the Archetypes and play the parts of hero and scoundrel and villain.

The Archetypes are Divided into several Groups, which can easily divided into Freepath and Locust Touched.

I am for that thing in your genome that demands it. I am for that thing which keeps you animals alive. I am, at most, a slice of monkey suspended within the stuff of universal intelligence. You are a monkey in nice clothes.

In the harsh environment you refer to as a habitable planet, group behaviors are required to survive long enough to procreate. Since you are stupid monkeys, you have no natural affinity for group altruism.

And so you have evolved a genetic pump that delivers pleasant chemicals to your monkey brains. One that is triggered by awe and fear of an anthropomorphism of your environment. Earth mothers. Sky gods. Bits of bush that catch fire. Interesting-looking rocks. An oddly-shaped branch. You’re not fussy.

When your brain does this idiot work, you stop in front of that bump or stick and consider it fiercely. Other monkeys will, like as not, stop next to you and emulate you. Your genetic pump delivers morphine for your souls. You have your fellow monkeys join in. Perhaps so they can feel it too. Perhaps because you feel it might please the stick god to have more monkeys gaze at it in narcotic awe.

The group must be defended. Because as many monkeys as possible must please the stick god, and you can continue to get your fix off praying to it.

You draw up rules to organize and protect the group. Two hundred thousand years later, you put Adolf Hitler into power. Because you are, after all, just monkeys.

I am your stash.
— Morrigan Lugus, Supergod #3

A Quick Synopsis of the Realms

The land of story, of myth and legend, or religion and politics, of fantasy and dreams. The land where everything is metaphor and analogy, where everything is symbolic.

The Realms

The Ring

The chamber at the end of universe, but is it this universe or the last one? The Ring is the permeable shell through which avatars enter the Dreaming Shadowlands and through which they must pass to use any gates to move from gate to gate. Think 'Event Horizon' or Nightcrawler's teleport ability. But it's a drug trip. This implies that drug trips dip people into the ring unprotected with their minds exposed.

The Foglands

The land of ignorance and obscurity. The first place everyone who enters the Shadowlands ends up in after they pass through (or bypass) the Ring. The Fogslands of Leng is the unformed land of the unconscious: Urizen and Eden, depending upon how the player enters and what happens. This is how people end up in the Shadowlands if untrained. This is always the first mission. This is the equivalent of the Astral Plane or the realm of dreams and many dreamers end up here.

The Mirrored City

The land of the Locust King and his Hungry Empire, his false utopia that hovers- a castle city in the sky. Without secret knowledge of the Free Peoples, wanderers in the Shadowlands will be hard pressed to move deeper, beyond the grip of the False King and his Hungry Empire.

Arcadia

This is not utopian or idyllic, but many mistake it as such to their pain and surprise. This is the land of the Free Peoples, and it is wild and independent, so be wary and be strong.

The Painted Labyrinth

The Painted Labyrinth is the place of trials, the deepest part of the Shadowlands, a realm of initiation and the keeper of ancient mysteries. All who seek to become warriors must journey here, but have a care- the labyrinth devours the unwary.

The Hollow Heart

The Secret Heart of the Shadowlands and the counterpoint to the Ring. The Hollow Heart is the bottom or the 'root' of the Shadowlands. A dimension of darkness. This is the source code of the Shadowlands and the cheat code of the realms.

The Bonelands

The so-called real world, the world of flesh and bone, the world of fact and science- the alien world so far beyond the capacity of the human mind that we created the Shadowlands again and again to escape it.

The human mind is a small thing, and fragile. The universe on the other hand is vast. Indeed, the universe is vast beyond human imagining. To say that the universe is beyond human comprehension is to undersell the scope of things quite spectacularly. The human skull runs over trying to hold the seemingly impossible scope of the universe. The concept of zero drove men mad. The idea of an infinity universe terrified the wise. The Catholic Church was so threatened that it declared heretical idea of earth as a tiny speck in a small galaxy in an insignificant corner of a universe so vast that light could only trek across it slowly.

What is the Shadowlands?

We don't live in the real world. We live in a fantasy world constructed by our mind.

How can this be?

Because we can't access the real world. Our senses are ridiculously limited in their perceptions. Sight is limited to the so call visible spectrum, unable to see infrared or ultraviolet, radio waves or x-rays. We see thirty  frames per second, making the very fast and the very slow virtually invisible to our senses. Our hearing is likewise limited, and our sense of smell fails to notice all kinds of deadly vapors. We can't perceive radiation, except when it sickens or kills us.

In addition, the idea that our sense will function properly is something frequently disproven, near-sightedness, far-sightedness, blindness, deafness, colorblindness, hallucinations and much more reduce our already limited knowledge of the real world.

And what of our assumptions? Humans don't come hardwired with the knowledge that an adult possesses, and no two adults accumulate the same body of knowledge, the same cultural baggage, the same heuristics and contexts, stories and biases and on and on.

Introduction to the Ring

The Ring is the place where everyone begins their quest into the Shadowlands. People wander through the Shadowlands in a haze before awakening and beginning their lucid dreaming endeavors into the Shadowlands. The Ring appears innocuous to most travelers, who remain ignorant of where they truly reside when they step into the ring. The Ring is the refuge of a dying universe in the Dark Era. It may be a shadowlands future for our universe. It may be the universe preceding our own, the universe from which the Man of Void and Lady of Fire sent their message, which guaranteed their rebirth in the new universe- through message, through story.

Design work for Character sheets to be used during play

Early design work for the character play sheets for gaming. The idea here is to make gameplay quick and intuitive, to not require massive reference books to take each action.

Welcome to the City of Glass

Concept Art for the Painted Labyrinth

The Painted Labyrinth is the deepest Realm of the Shadowlands that is 'easily' accessible. The most dangerous and abstract realm of the Shadowlands. As all Realms of the Shadowlands represent cultural memory of history, encoded as stories. The Painted Labyrinth is the long term storage of ancient stories and histories, where history has been encoded as myth and legend. The Painted Labyrinth is a land of archetypes and monsters, the land of trials, the taste of death, a path where heroes go to learn whether or not they are in fact heroes after all... or fail forever.

I'm not 100% happy with this art piece for the Painted Labyrinth, but I want to provide content at a decent place. I want to enable people to play Blood Red Dreaming without myself present to walk people through the process. So here is an image. It is an imperfect attempt, and I will probably try again, but for now it is enough.

A quick collection of photos of the first draft of the Book of the Crescent Sun

 The Book of the Crescent Sun is the record book used to keep track of activities used between games to generate Vajra for use in gaming session and the Incursions into the Shadowlands.

Welcome to the Ring

Here, as promised is the inspiration piece for the Ring. It's obviously more symbolic than the piece I did for the Foglands. For the moment, that feels right. I may go back and make a more representational image later down the road, but right now, this feels like the right place.

Welcome to the Foglands

A concept piece for the Foglands. I am working on art pieces to help establish the mood and feeling for the various Realms of the Shadowlands.

The next piece to look out for will by the Ring. Which, in all honestly, probably should have gone up first.

Spending Vajra

Aether

• Can absorb Aura Damage at the time or damage on a 1 to 1 basis
• Can be used to bolster other player attempts on a 1 to 1 basis
• Can buy new cards. 2 vajra to buys 1 card

Air

• Used for Critical thinking actions on a 1 to 1 basis
• Can dispel or resist magick. Action Attempt as normal, Vajra spent on a 1 to 1 basis
• Can expose new weak points. Action Attempt as normal, Vajra spent on a 1 to 1 basis

Water

• Used for Self sufficiency style Actions on a 1 to 1 basis
• Can repair Aura damage after the fact. 2 vajra repairs 1 Aura level.

Earth

• Self defence can boost conflict resolution on a 1 to 1 basis
• Can shift Inner Eye Value. 2 vajra shifts Inner Eye 1 degree.
• Can be used to 'overcharge' Aura. 2 vajra adds 1 Aura level.

Regaining/Losing Vajra

Vajra cannot be regained while players are engaged in a session. But if the Players achieve their Mythic Goal, they will recover the Vajra they invested at the start of the session, regardless of how much they have burned in said session.

If a player's Avatar survives the adventure but does not achieve a Mythic Goal, they retain only that amount of their invested Vajra that was not spent during the story Session.

If a player's Avatar is Shattered, the player will lose all Vajra at the end of the Session. They can still spend their Vajra after being ejecting from the Shadowlands, but only on passive effects.

Accumulating Vajra

Vajra is accumulated, as indicated, is accumulated by doing things in the real world.

There are four sub-types of Vajra: Aether Vajra, Air Vajra, Water Vajra, and Earth Vajra. Aether Vajra is earned by doing 'self-care' activities, such as exercise and meditation and journalling and planning. Air Vajra is earned by doing 'Critical Thinking' Activities, such as asking the three questions or attempting to disprove assumptions. Water Vajra is earned by doing "Self Sufficiency' Activities like gardening or survival skill practice. Earth Vajra is earned by doing 'Self Defence' Activities such as strategic games and martial arts training.

A Complete list of activities and how to earn the Vajra is provided in The Book of the Crescent Sun. In the Quick Start Guide, we don't cover this in detail, because the first adventure is where the players earn the ability to invest any Vajra beyond Aether Vajra. A PDF file of the Book of the Crescent Sun is available free on our website. Attached to the Quick Start Quick is an abridged checklist for accumulating Aether Vajra for the initial adventure session.

Defining Vajra

Vajra is the fuel on which the player's Avatars function. Vajra is the mystical energy of the human will and story. And it is literally this in the case of Blood Red Dreaming. Vajra is earned by doing valuable things in the real world, and recording those actions in a book (Called the Book of the Crescent Sun- because we are preposterously pretentious). Players are literally mythologizing their daily actions and routines.

The idea here is to tie your entertainment to your daily routines, in order to make doing things valuable to your success and happiness easier by gamifying those activities.

We are hacking our brains' dopamine production to help achieve our long term goals in a way that will sneak past all of our collective human failings. So yeah, ridiculously pretentious.

Some of the Many Many Influences behind BRD

The vajra system is inspired by the Dark Souls Souls system. The Avatar concept is inspired by Hong Kong action Theatre and its star system. The accumulation of progress from outside the game is inspired by Pokemon go and other ARG games. The story element mechanic is inspired by the Fate core system and its aspect mechanic. The playing card resolution system is inspired by psychosis Ship of Fools and tarot card resolution system. The enemy weakness system is inspired by shadow of Colossus and Legend of Zelda boss battles.

Additional game mechanics inspiration comes from rifts, wushu, fudge, alternate and probably others we didn't notice we influencing us. Story and sitting inspiration come from a myriad sources. Including Stephen King's Dark Tower series, Dark City, The Matrix, the Invisibles, dot hack, neverwhere, the Discworld novels, in the mouth of madness, persona, bloodline and dark souls, the work of HP Lovecraft, planetary, star trek V, far cry 3, hyper light drifter, Ishmael, the holy, Shadow of the Colossus, Legend of Zelda, green grass running water, mage: the ascension and too many more to name.

We all started out playing Dungeons and Dragons and Legend of Zelda. As such it would be hard to estimate just how much of an influence both of these things were upon the game

When Auras Break

Aura failure types

• Aura SHIMMERS
• and becomes WEAKENED
• -1 to Action Resolution Attempts.
• Aura SHUDDERS
• and becomes CRACKED
• -2 to Action Resolution Attempts.
• Character loses next action to reconstitute Aura.
• Aura SHATTERS
• .... Ouch
• The Avatar is expelled.
• Allies can rescue.
• Aura SHATTERS irreparably...
• The Avatar is expelled.
• Allies cannot rescue

New Ideas, Unsorted: Geo Caching

• Incorporate geocaching into blood red dreaming. 
• Use for special weapons and new location.

Other Book Cover Designs

Comparison of Cover Design

First design above, second design below

Maintaining your Aura

An Aura has three states: Stable, Weakened, and Cracked. An Aura begins each session Stable. When a player takes Aura damage, they can burn Aether Vajra to prevent the Aura from dropping states. If a player cannot absorb Aura damage, then each point of unabsorbed Aura Damage reduces the Avatar's Aura by a Single State.

Investing your Aura

When Players begin any incursion into the Shadowlands they must spend Vajra. They must spend one vajra of any type to enter the Shadowlands in the Ring or at any location in another Realm for which they have visited the Bonelands counterpart in the last lunar month. To enter any where else, at least one player must have the key to that Realm, and they must spend two vajra of any type. This vajra is not retained, being expended in the using.

After that players determine how much vajra of each type they wish to take with them into the Shadowlands. The vajra types are kept separate, but players may invest as much of their vajra as they like. Any Vajra not invested may not be used in the game.

Aura

When the players begin an adventure session, they begin by investing their Avatars with Vajra (see that Section) that they have accumulated through work done between sessions. The Aura is the Avatar's ability to remain corporeal within the Shadowlands.

If a player's Aura shatters their Avatar is expelled from the Shadowlands, and they are limited to passive assistance for the remainder of the session. A player who achieves a mythic goal in a session regains all invested Vajra. A player who survives the session, but does not achieve a mythic goal gains no Vajra back. A player whose Aura shatters loses all invested Vajra.

Hand Size, Card Recovery, Drawing with an Empty Hand

The hand size is five cards. On an Amazing Success, the active player(s) only, not assisting players, may draw 3 cards up to a full five cards. On a Normal Success, players draw 2 cards or to a full hand. On a problematic Success, players draw up to one card or to a full hand.

If a player fails, they regain no cards. During Sequels, the player may spend two vajra to draw one card- up to their maximum hand size.

If a player has no cards in hand, they may always draw a single card- face down- to boost an action resolution attempt. In this a zero is applied towards the player avatar's own total value (giving no boost). Players may bolster other players attempts, but may not draw cards in such cases even if the active player succeeds.

The Deck of Void

Gameplay Resolution is done with a deck of cards rather than with dice. A Player's Avatar in the Shadowlands can do whatever the player themselves is physically capable of doing.

Anything beyond the capacity of the Player requires the expenditure of cards to accomplish. If they are unable to do the action in the real world, the Storyteller will define the Difficulty and Consequences as listed in that Section.

The player will then attempt to have their Avatar resolve the action. This can be accomplished by spending Vajra, using Story Elements in play or playing Cards from their hand.

The Deck of Void is a 72 card deck. Every card has a value between 4 and 0. Each card is assigned an Action type as well as listed in that Section: Hero, Scoundrel, Villain, Mind, Body, or Hands.

Each card has a Denizen, Realm or Season depicted on it to help provide players with mythos lore and world familiarity through play.

There are six cards with a value of four, the highest value in game and thus the rarest. There are twelve cards with a value of three, eighteen cards with a value of two, and twenty four cards with a value of one.

All the cards with a value between four and one have a denizen of the Shadowlands depicted on them. There are twelve value zero cards, divided into two groups based on what they depict. Six cards depict Realms in the Shadowlands. Six Card depict the mythic seasons.

Cards with a value between four and one can be laid to boost the chances of success. Player may play cards on any attempted action, even if it is not their attempt.

Cards with a value of zero nullify all card bonuses (and only card bonuses) played prior to the zero value card being played.

This can be used against another player, who may elect to spend more cards to counter the effect. If played against a Denizen, then the single card played by the Storyteller is negated and no more cards will be laid by the Storyteller for that action. A value zero card that is played which matches the action type (hero, scoundrel, villain, mind, body, hands) nullifies the cards already played, and halves the difficulty- provided the player can describe in story what is done to make this occur.