DIALECT Backdrop: A House of Shadows

This, like yesterday's post, is a backdrop for the absolutely phenomenal language game, Dialect.

A HOUSE OF SHADOWS
At first, when the grownups left, we thought we'd be fine on our own. The first few days were uneventful. We read in the library, or watched the lawn fringed by forest. Then, one night, the house was bigger than we remembered; throughout the next day it grew, and grew, and we could no longer find the outside rooms.

We came to the House together, as children, but the House has grown. The Wood creaks without, the wood creaks within. Now its corridors are countries, and its chambers continents. We cannot find the Front Hall, which was there only moments ago. There are people in the House, other than us; and they are strange, and mysterious, and cunning. How long can the House hold us?

Aspect Generation Questions

Children's Games. We are all children, ranging from the ages of eight to eighteen; how do we know one another? If we're family, what kind? Are we something else?

A House Not Home. This isn't where we began; something brought us all to this house. What was it? Why are we here?

Free Aspect. The choice is yours.

Community Questions

• What other things live in the House? How many of them are there? Are they friendly?
• What part of the House do we call our home?
• How long have we lived here, in the House, away from the grownups?
• Is there anything dangerous or scary about the House? If so, what is it?
• Are the children divided by age? By gender? What makes the older children different from the younger children?

Age Transitions

Entering Age 2. An event to foreshadow the end of the Isolation. It finds its way into all conversation and is impossible to ignore.

The creaking has started again. Parts of the House, way near the edges of the known lands, have vanished; we cannot reach them. We speculate that the House may be shrinking again, losing its mystical nature. No one knows the cause, but its undeniable: something is changing. What do we do, knowing the House is shrinking again?

From deep within the House there comes a grumbling, grinding rumor—the true Masters are returning. Everywhere you look, you see signs of their approach: portraits weep blood, the stairs twist at your hand. Who are these Masters, and is there anything to fear?

Entering Age 3. What was foreshadowed has come to pass. The end of the Isolation is near. There is no escaping it.

Countries have disappeared overnight. Seas have been swallowed by the floor, and whole stories of House have simply evaporated like dew. It is happening: we are losing our connection with the House. Will anyone take a desperate act to preserve our new life here?

They have come. The House bends to their will. They have established a powerful court in the center of the House, and the tendrils of their control roam the long halls. They will soon bring everything under their sway. Shall we submit? Can we? Or do we stand and fight?

Entering the Legacy. The last moments or the aftermath.

It was over just like that; the snapping of fingers, the tick of a clock. The House groaned. The Wood groaned. Then it was all gone. The wide countryside beneath skylit halls, the countries and secret places of the House have all vanished. The grownups are back, and coming through the front door. But surely, our time in the House has marked something—us, or It, or both. What is left? Who will know?

All of the House is under one rule. The Masters control everything; it was theirs since the beginning. They have returned, and the mighty corridors thrum with their intention. Though our little community of outsiders has been made subject to alien laws and ways, some of us may still preserve a memory of the world outside the House. What do we do, now that the outside is gone? Who remembers? Who forgets?

DIALECT: A New Isolation

So, my tabletop group played a single session of Dialect last week. None of us had ever played before. I'm a backer, so I printed out the booklet and the cards, and we set to work learning the rules. We chose The Outpost as our isolation, which was a good starter. Now, I was very worried about this game because it seemed like something I would love, but which required an intense amount of linguistic buy-in. My guys and gals are not good at buy-in (well, ONE of them is). But rather than be turned off by the game, everyone really loved it. We still use some of the words we invented for our doomed colony.

In case we play again soon, I want to have some homebrewed isolations ready. HERE THEY ARE:

AWAY FROM SHORE
Once, there were ways to get from the Spires to other places. They say there was enough wood to build boats, way up on their cloud-capped peaks. No one has seen a boat in a generation. Swimming between the caves is easy; swimming on the great open Sea is not.

We live together, in the caves or on the Spire peaks, beneath the sun. We fish, we laugh, we paint upon the cave walls, and use the fibers from the plants high above to weave nets, lines, and some even dream swinging bridges between the great Spires. There may have been another home, far and away beyond the sea, but we no longer remember it.

Aspect Generation Questions

We Come From the Sea. Our society is small, but tightly-woven. What impact does the Sea have on our lives?

There Is Not Plenty. Our resources are very constrained, living on the Spires, but somehow we survive. How?

Free Aspect. The choice is yours.

Community Questions

• How do we travel between the Spires?
• How is our society organized?
• Do we have laws? What does justice look like to us?
• How do we ensure that we do not deplete our resources?
• Why did we leave our ancient homeland?

Age Transitions

Entering Age 2. An event to foreshadow the end of the Isolation. It finds its way into all conversation and is impossible to ignore.

The first one to see sails on the horizon was a child; they were not believed. But now, enough of us have seen them, out there, across the waters, to know it is true. We are not alone. What does it mean to us that there are others out there?

Disaster! Fire, or flood, and something critical, something that cannot be replaced, has vanished forever from our home. What can we do to replace it? Who will struggle against the inevitable, and why will do others disagree?

Entering Age 3. What was foreshadowed has come to pass. The end of the Isolation is near. There is no escaping it.

The ships have come within sight now. We have seen them on the decks. They are traders from far away, with salt in their hair and weatherbeaten faces. It is only a matter of time before they try to sail into our home. What do they want with us? Do we want to meet them, or are they the shadow of fear?

We needed it. We could not live without it. Our home is not the same now that it is gone, and we are dwindling. There is time yet, time to make a mark that lasts forever on this old stones. What will we do to be remembered? Is there still a chance to escape?

Entering the Legacy. The last moments or the aftermath.

They have cruel weapons but they also have goods that we have never seen. Some of us go with them, and some of them come to stay. They set up an outpost on our Spires, and bring us the wood to make ships. When they speak of home, we know there are so many more of them than us. How many of us cling to our old ways? Who goes out into the world?

The Spires are nearly empty now. There is a hollow wind blowing through our caves. We have done our best to live out here among the waves, but someone will come upon these stones again. Who will find what we have left behind? What have we left them?