B. Session Moves
The session moves fit into the flow of mechanics and fiction before, during, and after play. They provide methods for setting up content boundaries, adjusting content in the midst of play, and starting and ending your Starforged sessions. They are intended for solo, co-op, and guided modes.
Unlike most other moves, these session moves function primarily from the perspective of the players instead of your characters. They are a tool to moderate and facilitate safe and enjoyable play.
When you begin a significant session or chapter of play, do all of the following.
- Adjust flagged content as needed.
- Review or recap what happened last session.
- Set the scene by envisioning your character’s current situation and intent.
In addition, you may spotlight a new danger, opportunity, or insight. This can include a scene hidden from your character’s perspective. If you do, envision a brief vignette (you may roll or choose on the table below for inspiration). Then, all players take +1 momentum as you return to play from the viewpoint of your characters.
| Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| 1-10 | Flashback reveals an aspect of your background or nature. |
| 11-20 | Flashback reveals an aspect of another character, place, or faction. |
| 21-30 | Influential character or faction is introduced or given new detail. |
| 31-40 | Seemingly unrelated situations are shown to be connected. |
| 41-50 | External factors create new danger, urgency, or importance for a quest. |
| 51-60 | Important character is put in danger or suffers a misadventure. |
| 61-70 | Key location is made unsafe or becomes mired in conflict. |
| 71-80 | Unexpected return of an enemy or threat. |
| 81-90 | Peril lies ahead or lurks just out of view. |
| 91-100 | Unforeseen aid is on the way or within reach. |
Make this move as a checkpoint at the start of a session. Take a few moments to set or adjust any flagged content, reflect on recent events in your story, and frame the current situation.
You may also use the optional prompt to introduce a brief vignette. This purely narrative scene can enrich your setting, reveal aspects of your character, add details to people and factions, or introduce “off-screen” complications and opportunities. If you are playing with others, work together to envision the scene, or take turns from one session to the next.
If you are playing solo, you may often play for only a few minutes a time, picking up the game and leaving it again as casually as you would when reading a novel. If you are playing co-op, you might participate in an online game using asynchronous chat. If your game isn’t organized into discrete sessions, you should use this move to mark a new chapter. The beginning of a new chapter can come after a dramatic cliffhanger, or when a meaningful narrative thread has been resolved. Emphasizing those transitions will add structure create moments to recap and reflect.
When you encounter flagged content, reject an oracle, resist a consequence, or otherwise need to shift your circumstances within the game for your comfort, enjoyment, or narrative cohesion, pause and identify what needs to be changed.
Choose as many options as appropriate.
- Reframe: This didn’t happen the way you first thought. Envision the moment from another perspective in a way that diminishes or changes the content.
- Refocus: This is not the most important thing happening right now. Envision how the spotlight shifts to change the focus.
- Replace: This happens but with a small adjustment. Switch out an element and envision how this new detail changes the scenario.
- Redirect: Adjust the trajectory to involve a helping hand. Envision how another person or party becomes involved.
- Reshape: The situation changes completely. Envision what happened instead.
The Hereafter is a slippery place - sometimes things change on the whims of strange currents or timelines get modified. When something occurs in your game that you do not want to happen, or want to adjust, make this move and treat it narratively as the Slip altering your world. Do whatever changes are necessary to ensure everyone is still enjoying themselves and are comfortable continuing play. Chalksworn is still just a game at the end of the day, and games should be fun for the people playing it.
Multiple options can be used at a time to make change or minimize the content as much as is needed. The changes you make can include elements of the fiction as well as mechanical outcomes. If this move is triggered because of flagged content, consider whether you need to Take a Break before or after this move is resolved.
When you need to take a breather and attend to the needs of your real physical body, pause the game and take a few minutes to do whatever you need to do.
Then, choose one.
- March On: on: Continue the session. You or an ally may add +1 on the next move (not a progress move), bolstered by your reflection and past experiences.
- Stop for now: End a Session.
Use this move to introduce a point in the game flow where you pause and reflect on the events of the story. When gameplay gets immersive or intense, it can be easy to ignore physical cues like hunger, thirst, etc. Also, if something significant just happened it may be helpful to do this move so that everyone has a moment to think things over so they know what to do when they come back to the game.
A good time to trigger this move is after you resolve a progress move, whether it be a hit or miss. This can include progress moves for quests, connections, expeditions, and combat. Ideally, this triggers at least once for any significant session of play. Even if the resolution of this particular challenge is not noteworthy or you feel it doesn’t require much reflection, the break is an opportunity to get a glass of water, go to the bathroom, or even just check your posture before moving on.
Ultimately, do this whenever you need a break for a bit for whatever reason.
After you Take a Break, you can choose to continue play or End a Session. If you continue play, you may add +1 on whatever move occurs next in your game so that people are encouraged to get back into the action of play.
When you end a significant session or chapter of play, reflect on the events of the game and identify any missed opportunities to mark progress.
- If you strengthened your ties to a connection, Develop Your Relationship.
- If you moved forward on a quest, Reach a Milestone.
Make this move to mark the end of a session. This is an opportunity to transition from the fictional space of the game and think or talk about the dramatic moments, thrilling successes, agonizing failures, unexpected surprises, and what lies ahead in your next session.
You will also consider whether you missed any chances to mark progress on a connection or quest during play. Those milestones can sometimes pass you by during intense scenes, and this is an ideal moment to recap and catalog your successes.
Optionally, you may also make note of anything you’d like to focus on for your next session. Consider your character’s goals and the elements of the story that interest you. This act of writing it down, putting a stake in the ground, is a reminder and encouragement to pick up that thread when you next Begin a Session. If you are playing with others, be respectful of sharing the spotlight and work together to affirm the aspects of the story and setting you want to explore in more detail, or take turns suggesting a focus from one session to the next. If you are playing as the guide, use this input from the players to help kick off the next session.