The Quiet Year - Week 6

Week Two


The Jack of Hearts is drawn.

You see a good omen. What is it?

or...

You see a bad omen. What is it?

A local medium gazes into her crystal ball and sees the American flag running up that pole once more again at last.

---

Discover something new.

The creek has widened significantly — perhaps with the season. Two young lovers run off to the creek to skinny dip. (Their hands are kinda forced by the lack of bathing suits.) One gets caught by the undertow, and drowns. Another ghost. The creek thirsts yet.

(Note: Gorge Descent project dice should have reduced by one. Granola can update the map on his turn by reducing it to 3.)

Week 3


The Two of Hearts is drawn.

There’s a large body of water on the map.
Where is it? What does it look like?

or...

There’s a giant, man-made structure on the map.
Where is it? Why is it abandoned?

The great steel skeleton of a massive ship lies unfinished to the south of town. No one knows its purpose; the raving madman who began it kept screeching something about cycles before passing away years ago.

An unfortunate Discovery in the middle of the night. The ghosts have become restless; their ambient whispers transforming into cacophonous din that makes sleep all but impossible. The noise seems to abate in the morning, but not by much.

Week 4


The Nine of Hearts is drawn.

A charismatic young girl convinces many to help her
with an elaborate scheme. What is it? Who joins her
endeavors? Start a project to reflect.

or...

A charismatic young girl tries to tempt many into
sinful or dangerous activity. Why does she do this?
How does the community respond?

(Note that if Sanzh chooses the former, they can if they wish Start a (second) Project for the latter portion of their turn.)

They call her Scarlet. She talks to everyone, emboldens them with a vision. The Route is dying, she says. We need to find out what happened. With a pickup truck from the graveyard the community begins to gather supplies for an expedition far from the town, to get to the next settlement and find out what happened. Such an endeavor will take more than a month-- not only to fix the broken truck, but to gather food, water, and fuel for the journey.

While she and her followers work, other talk. Should this expedition be allowed?



(starting a discussion)

Discussion: Should this expedition be allowed?

"Too hasty, gallivanting off elsewhere looking for new opportunities that may or may not exist. We've an obligation first to know the true scope of what is available to us here and now."

Chwoka can now add an argument to the discussion, followed by Granola, then Sanzh, before we roll into Week 5.

(On Discussions)

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Spoiler

You open with a question or a declaration.
Starting with you and going clockwise, everyone
gets to weigh in once, sharing a single argument
comprised of 1-2 sentences. If you opened with a
question, you get to weigh in last. If you opened with
a declaration, that’s it for you.

A discussion never results in a decision or summation
process. Everyone weighs in, and then it’s over. This
is how conversations work in communities: they are
untidy and inconclusive affairs.

Each discussion should be tied to a situation on the
map. When a discussion ends, mark the situation it is
attached to with a small dot.

It’s important that we stay concise. If any of us feel
like we have more to say on a topic, we can always
hold another discussion about it at a later point.

"The hell do you mean, 'find out what happened'? Nobody comes down this lonely stretch of asphalt because there's no reason to, so it's stupid to waste our resources on an expedition instead of getting this dump back in shape."

"Not only is it allowable but imperative! If something's happened we need to know now while our fate is still in our hands."

"The caravans that plied this road sustained us, once. Losing them would mean a definite end, no matter what else we build."

Week 5


The Four of Hearts is drawn.

What important and basic tools
does the community lack?

or...

Where are you storing your food?
Why is this a risky place to store things?

We store our food in the motel - nonperishables in the disused guestrooms on the upper floor, where most communal resources have been stashed after that one siege. (The balcony's still pockmarked from bullets). The extended Eagle clan keeps everything in order per the head of the family Don's instructions. If anyone needs anything, you can stop by the motel reception and one of the Eagle kid cousins will likely be sent up to fetch it.

The frozen and refrigerated goods - what few remain from when the trade routes were thriving - are kept in the cold storage of the adjoining Eagle Bar.

This whole arrangement has worked out fine, with Don Eagle mostly proven to be a generous community leader. He's a real contrast to his late father Glenn, whose ghost lingers around the motel swimming pool and likes to tell his relatives (and anyone else in the vicinity) what a disappointing businessman his eldest son turned out to be.

---

Poking around in the abandoned sheriff's office, a Discovery is made: A concealed lockbox which somehow escaped the attention of looters and raiders. Out of respect for its presumed owner, the late town sheriff, we leave it where we found it until we decide what to do with it.

Week 6


The Eight of Hearts is drawn.

An old piece of machinery is discovered, broken but perhaps repairable.
What is it?
What would it be useful for?

or...

An old piece of machinery is discovered, cursed and dangerous.
How does the community destroy it?

(On projects reaching completion)

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Spoiler

Unless your card specifically told you otherwise (in
bold text), the next step is to reduce each project die
on the map by 1. If a project reaches 0, the die gets
removed and the project is completed. Whoever
started the project gets to tell everyone how it turns
out, and update the map to reflect its completion.

If a project finishes early (because a card says that “a
project finishes early” in bold text), it is instead the
responsibility of the active player to tell everyone how
it turns out and to update the map.

If your card’s bold text had you place a project die on
the map just a moment ago, that die doesn’t reduce
during this week. It’s just now getting under way.
When a project gets completed, it is assumed that it
went successfully and is beneficial to the community.

In some cases, it might make sense to have an
investigative project end with a hope dispelled. Even
in these cases, the completion of a project should
always feel like a step forward, not backward. This
doesn’t always mean that the whole community is
happy with the results, though.

(For this turn: Chwoka will answer one of the questions posed by the Oracle (and update the map if needed), Project Dice will reduce and I'll resolve the canyon descent (as said Project's starter), then Chwoka can Start a Project/Hold a Discussion/Discover Something New.)