TEXT: THE DEEP FOREST
  A map game of post-colonial weird fantasy.
  A re-imagining of The Quiet Year.
  Mark Diaz Truman and Avery Alder Mcdaldno
  Art by Jules Silver
  
  Chapter One: Gather
  As the facilitator, read this entire book and complete the tasks outlined 
  in this chapter prior to inviting others to join you at the table.
  What This Is
  This is a map-drawing game. You collectively explore the struggles of a 
  community of monsters, trying to rebuild and heal after driving off the human 
  occupiers. It’s a game about community, difficult choices, and decolonization. 
  When you play, you make decisions about the community, decisions that get 
  recorded on a map that is constantly evolving. Parts of the map are literal 
  cartography, while other parts are symbolic. Players work together to create and 
  steer this community, but they also play devil’s advocate and introduce problems 
  and tensions into the game.
  Supplies
  The Deep Forest requires 2-4 players and 2-4 hours.
  In addition, it requires:
  •	 A blank piece of letter-sized paper
  •	 Pencils, erasers, and several index cards 
  •	 Six dice (smaller is better)
  •	 20 Contempt Tokens (possibly stones or glass beads)
  •	 A deck of regular playing cards
  •	 The	Oracle (which includes a page of reference cards)
  
  Preparing Your Space
  Some preparation is required before you are ready to teach The Deep Forest to 
  others. Begin by clearing your table or play space of any unnecessary objects. 
  Aim for a minimal environment.
  Separate the deck into the four suits (representing four seasons). Place each 
  in a separate stack. Place the blank piece of paper in the centre of the table - it 
  will become the map of your area. Around it, array the remaining supplies: the 
  pencils, dice, Contempt tokens, summary cards, and index cards.
  On one index card, write two column headings - Adoptions and Taboos. On a 
  second index card, write the heading Names.
  A Fleeting Year
  A full-length game of The Deep Forest tends to run 3-4 hours including teaching 
  time. If you’d prefer to play a shorter game, you can do so with this adjustment: 
  before play, remove 4 cards from each of the suits (which represent seasons). 
  Make sure to remove the Queen of Diamonds (Summer), and make sure to keep 
  the King of Spades (Winter) in the cards you play with.
  
  Chapter Two: Survey
  As the facilitator, you will read the regular text of this chapter aloud 
  to the group, following the instructions written in italics.
  The Opening Story
  Read aloud.
  For a long time, our monstrous home was occupied by invading humans. Now, 
  finally, we’ve driven them off, and we’re left with this: a year of relative peace. One 
  quiet year, with which to dismantle their settlements and reclaim our lands. Come 
  Winter, a band of heroes will arrive and we might not survive the encounter. This 
  is when the game will end. But we don’t know about that yet. What we know is 
  that right now, in this moment, we monsters have an opportunity for healing and 
  self-discovery in our deep forest, away from human eyes.
  
  Explaining the Tools
  Let’s start by familiarizing ourselves with our tools.
  Point to the blank page. This is our map. Before playing, we’ll establish some of 
  the landscape and the monsters who live here. As we play, we’ll update the map 
  to reflect new discoveries, conflicts, and opportunities. Parts of the map will be 
  literal cartography and other parts will be symbolic. We’ll try to avoid writing 
  words on it, though common symbols are fine.
  Throughout the game, we’ll all be responsible for drawing on this map. It’s fine to 
  draw poorly or crudely, but all of us are going to draw.
  Point to the dice. These are project dice. When a monster starts a project, we’ll 
  place one on the map to note how many weeks it will take to finish. Each week, 
  they tick down by one. When a die reaches zero, the project is complete.
  Point to the Contempt Tokens. These are Contempt Tokens. They represent any 
  tension and frustration that might arise between our monsters.
  Point to the summary card. This is a summary card. It’ll remind us what to do 
  each week of The Deep Forest, and in what order.
  Explaining the Deck
  ♥
  ♦
  ♣
  ♠
  Spring
  Summer
  Autumn
  Winter
  Point to the four suits in turn, and explain that they correspond to the four seasons. 
  Taking the stack of spades, show everyone the King of Spades. 
  When this card is drawn, the game will be over. It could come at any time during 
  Winter.
  Shuffle the spades, and place them face-down on the table. Shuffle the clubs, and 
  place them on top. Repeat with diamonds, and finally with hearts. As you shuffle 
  each suit, remind the group of its season.
  
  Who We Are
  We all have two roles to play in this game. The first is to speak for the members 
  of this community, and to care about their individual and collective fates.. The 
  second is to dispassionately introduce dilemmas, to provoke difficult situations 
  and see what comes of them. The Deep Forest asks us to move in between these 
  two roles.
  The game will ask us to speak as various monsters in the community, and take 
  actions on their behalf. Each time we do so, we’ll indicate which monster we 
  are speaking or acting as. For the purposes of this text, “monster” can be either 
  a single monster or a clutch of smaller monsters who live together. When you 
  introduce a monster to the map, remember that it must be able to communicate 
  and act, albeit perhaps unclearly or through some sort of magical means.
  We shouldn’t feel that any single viewpoint belongs to any one of us, and are 
  invited to speak for different monsters throughout the course of the game. By 
  explicitly calling out the actors and perspectives of the monsters, The Deep 
  Forest allows us to explore how individuals shape communities, as well as how 
  individuals cope with the scars of occupation. 
  We’ll also be presented with opportunities to introduce issues for the community 
  to deal with in the wake of the occupation. This will often happen when we draw 
  cards or use the Uncover Something Old action. By dispassionately introducing 
  dilemmas, and then returning to our other role as members of the community, 
  we create tension and make the community’s struggles feel real. If there’s an issue 
  you struggle with in real life (like whether a space can be truly safe), introduce 
  situations that call it into question.
  
  Sketching Occupation
  Before the game begins, we must establish the nature of the occupation and the 
  lingering impact it has had on the area. We begin with a brief discussion (taking 
  four minutes at most) about what the humans built here during the occupation. 
  This can be as simple as someone saying, “how about a military outpost and 
  barracks?” and everyone else nodding in agreement.
  Once the general nature of the occupation has been decided, we choose a 
  player to draw a notable landmark that the humans left behind. This might 
  be a lighthouse, giant statue, or adobe church. It is best to keep this drawing 
  small and simple. Next, the remaining players demarcate the borders of the 
  occupation. This might mean drawing several rectangles to represent fenced-in 
  fields, or a wide trapezoidal shape to represent a human village. These borders 
  aren’t an exhaustive inventory of the occupation, but rather a starting point for 
  understanding its impact.
  One player should introduce a landmark, and then the rest of the players should 
  demarcate the borders of the occupation, before proceeding.
  Introducing Monsters
  At this point, each of us should introduce one monster and tell us briefly about 
  its nest or dwelling. When we introduce our monster and its home, we then 
  sketch our contribution onto the map. These sketches should be rough and 
  simple, leaving lots of blank space for additions during play. We each introduce 
  one monster this way, but it is understood that there are additional monsters in 
  our community, perhaps a half dozen that are as-yet unnamed.
  As an example, a group might decide to set their game in the shadow of a 
  wizard’s tower. The first player introduces a monster: “Alright, a clutch of 
  kobolds, the Eidoo, has taken up residence in the old stables.” The next player 
  adds, “A hill ogre, Tezog, lives in the quarry a short distance away from the 
  tower.” The third player adds, “A clutch of tree sprites called the Wisps has carved 
  out several trees at the edge of the clearing as a nest.” The final player says, “A 
  ball of radiant light has taken up residence at the bottom floor of the tower. It 
  communicates with feelings, but the other monsters call it Sol.” As details are 
  added, the players draw them on the map. Record the names on your index card.
  Everyone should introduce a monster and add it to the map before proceeding.
  
  Adoptions and Taboos
  Next, we each declare an important remnant left behind by the humans, 
  something which we might have either adopted as our own or declared taboo 
  after the occupation.
  Some examples are:
  •	 aqueducts and canals
  •	 a dark orb of farsight
  •	 a human memorial
  •	 domesticated animals
  •	 crops and fields
  Identifying a human remnant makes it both alien and important. If you 
  pick “alloy metals,” you’re indicating that monsters didn’t have access to that 
  technology before the occupation and that there might be some usefulness for 
  that remnant now.
  As a group, we now choose one of those remnants to be an Adoption. It gets 
  listed on the index card under Adoption, and whoever called it now draws 
  something on the map to represent how the monsters have adopted that human 
  remnant into their lives. The other remnants get listed as Taboos, and the players 
  who called them draw something on the map to represent the community’s 
  fear and distrust of those resources. Remember that symbols and symbolic 
  representations are fine, but words should be avoided.
  Have everyone declare a human remnant and decide which one has been Adopted. 
  Update the map to reflect before proceeding.
  
  Chapter Three: Rules
  Pass the book around the table, letting everyone take turns reading these 
  sections aloud to the group. Once you have finished this chapter, begin play.
  The Week
  The basic unit of play in The Deep Forest is the week. Each week is a turn taken 
  by one player, with play proceeding clockwise around the table. Weeks should 
  take an average of 2-3 minutes to complete.
  During each week, the following things happen:
  •	 The active player draws a card, reads the relevant text aloud,  
  and resolves it. They follow all bold text.
  •	 Project dice are reduced by 1, and any finished projects are updated.
  •	 The active player chooses and takes an action  
  (Uncover Something Old, Agree on Something, or Start a Project).
  Drawing Cards
  As there are 52 cards, there are 52 weeks. We won’t necessarily get to play all 
  of them - the heroes could arrive any time during Winter to interrupt our 
  community’s progress.
  Most cards have two options to choose from, separated by an ‘or…’ divider. Pick 
  the option that you find the most interesting and fitting, and read the text aloud. 
  The card might ask you a question, bring bad news, or create new opportunities. 
  Many cards have specific rules attached to them, which are written in bold text. If 
  you drew the card, it’s up to you to make the decisions that the card requires.
  If a card asks you a question, think about whether your answer could be 
  represented on the map somehow. If it fits, update the map to reflect this new 
  information. For example, if the card asks you about the feeding habits of the 
  community, you might end up drawing a hunting ground in the nearby woods.
  
  Working on Projects
  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.
  Uncover Something Old
  One of the action types is Uncover Something Old. Reveal something 
  from before or during the occupation. It might present a problem, offer an 
  opportunity, or a bit of both. Draw it on the map. Drawings should be small and 
  simple: smaller than an inch, finished within thirty seconds.
  We can use this action to introduce unresolved issues and dilemmas, resurfacing 
  the history of the community. It might even be something that is familiar to the 
  community members but surprising to us as players. When individual monsters 
  get introduced through this action, we’ll give them names, and record those 
  names on our index card.
  Some example situations:
  •	 A mass grave is found north of the community.
  •	 A pack of werebeasts emerges from the woods.
  •	 Forgotten tales of the end times start to circulate.
  •	 An ancient rite is completed for the first time since the occupation.
  •	 An archaic religious symbol appears in the sky.
  
  Agree on Something
  Another of the action types is Agree on Something. Open with a statement about 
  a problem or issue in the community. Going clockwise, everyone else then gets to 
  weigh in once, sharing their agreement with your statement or describing what 
  their silence looks like. Remember to indicate which monster is speaking… or 
  not speaking.
  Agreeing on Something never results in a concrete decision. Everyone weighs 
  in (or stays silent), and then it’s over. This is how conversations work in 
  communities: there is much left unsaid to preserve the peace.
  Each agreement should be tied to a situation on the map. When an agreement 
  ends, mark the situation it is attached to with a small dot.
  As an example, a community might agree on how to punish the ball of light 
  for failing to warn the community about problems at the wizard’s tower. The 
  first player says “The Eidoo say ‘We should punish Sol by locking him into the 
  tower.” The second player says “Tezog sits in silence, picking something from 
  his ear and then eating it, disinterested.” The third players says “The Wisps buzz 
  around and say ‘Yes! Sol is dangerous.” The fourth player says “Sol radiates grief, 
  but stays silent.”
  It’s important that we stay concise. If any of us feel like we have more to say on a 
  topic, we can always Agree on Something about it at a later point.
  
  Start a Project
  The final action type is Start a Project. You choose a situation on the map, 
  and tell us how some of the monsters address it.  It doesn’t matter if the entire 
  community supports the project or not - work begins. Projects might focus 
  on decolonization efforts, the restoration of old customs or edifices, or new 
  endeavors that will move the community forward.
  Some example projects:
  •	 The mud wurms & Rothwen begin dismantling the fences that the humans built.
  •	 We’re teaching the draken tongue to our village young.
  •	 Sordid leads several others in restoring the runic arches. 
  As a group, quickly decide how many weeks the project would reasonably take to 
  complete (minimum 1 and maximum 6). Remember that you are a community 
  in recovery. Many of your powers have lain dormant, and your traditions 
  acquired stigma.  Is your community prepared to tackle this project? Must 
  healing and practice transpire first? Be generous with your assumptions, but do 
  remember that your community needs to build capacity slowly. 
  Place a die on the map wherever the project is taking place, with the die face 
  matching the number of weeks it will take to complete.
  Updating Remnants
  At the start of the game, we’ll have Adopted one remnant and declared at 
  least that many to be Taboo. These lists serve as guides for interpreting the 
  community’s ongoing discourse about the occupation. Throughout play, we’ll 
  update these lists to reflect changes in our perspective, whenever we feel that it is 
  appropriate to do so. Maybe the completion of a project induces an Adoption or 
  sparks a Taboo. Some weekly cards will alter these lists as well.
  
  Balancing the Actions
  Uncover Something Old lets us introduce situations and dilemmas into the game, 
  uncovering the time before and during the occupation. Agree on Something 
  lets us all talk about the state of the map and the dominant opinions of the 
  community. Start a Project lets us solve our problems and grow. By respecting 
  this division of purpose, we make sure each week involves making important 
  decisions. 
  It’s important that we respect the purpose and balance of the three types of 
  action. We shouldn’t use Uncover Something Old to skirt our problems by 
  conveniently encountering the very supplies we lacked. We shouldn’t Agree on 
  Something about situations we haven’t even mentioned or introduced yet.
  Contempt
  If ever you feel like a particular monster wasn’t consulted or honoured in a 
  decision-making process, you can take a piece of Contempt and place it at the 
  edge of the map, nearest the lair of the monster you feel was overlooked or 
  ignored. If someone starts a project that you don’t agree with, you don’t get to 
  voice your objections or speak out of turn. You are instead invited to place a piece 
  of Contempt.
  Contempt will generally remain on the map for the rest of the game. It will act 
  as a reminder of past contentions and slights, signs of discord within a diverse 
  community. In addition, you can discard it back into the centre of the table in 
  two ways: by acting selfishly and by diffusing tensions.
  If a monster ever wants to act selfishly, to the known detriment of the 
  community, you can remove a Contempt token to justify the behaviour. You 
  decide whether the behaviour requires justification. This will often trigger others 
  placing Contempt tokens in response.
  If someone else does something that you think a monster would greatly support, 
  that would mend relationships and rebuild trust, you can remove a Contempt 
  token to demonstrate how they have diffused past tensions.
  
  Death
  Every death has the potential to drastically change the community. When a 
  monster dies, take a moment to think about the repercussions that might crop up.
  If this was the last monster involved with a project, we can decide that the project 
  is abandoned. If that’s the case, we’ll remove the project die from the map. If 
  others continue to work on it, it continues as before. The death of a monster 
  could also have an impact on our Taboos and Adoptions. If a superstitious monster 
  dies, does something cease to be Taboo? If a knowledgeable monster dies, do we 
  still know how to maintain an Adoption? We can modify these lists as needed.
  Restraint
  In playing The Deep Forest, we must refrain from free-wheeling discussion 
  about what to do next. There are specific mechanics in the game for discussing 
  community issues and demonstrating our displeasure. When we play, we won’t 
  speak out of turn or attempt to circumnavigate these mechanics. These rules work 
  to demonstrate how difficult it is to engage the entire community in conversation, 
  and how tensions and disagreements tend to linger across weeks or even months.
  Pacing
  At the beginning of the game, we’ll only have a basic sketch of the landscape and 
  scarce information about the monsters who live here. From this humble place, a 
  rich tapestry will emerge. How, and at what pace?
  The cards of Spring will prompt introspection, reminding us that the occupation 
  left us forever changed. We should use Spring to become familiar with the 
  mechanics and structure of the game. There won’t necessarily be a lot of tension 
  or conflict during Spring, and this is fine. In Summer, our community’s unity 
  will be tested. As the monsters who live here regain their footing, old conflicts 
  resurface and new dramas emerge. In Autumn, the larger world will start to 
  intrude upon our home, bringing with it hopes and dangers. In Winter, the 
  community will continue its work and preparations, and as players we will contend 
  with the dramatic irony of knowing that the heroes could arrive at any moment.
  If ever the map feels lacking or the monsters seem to have resolved the issues 
  already raised, we can introduce new dilemmas. What happens when a 
  monster destroys a key resource? What happens when someone is accused of 
  collaborating with the humans?
  
  Chapter Four: More
  As the facilitator, be familiar with these sections. During play, you may reference 
  and read sections from it whenever they seem relevant or important.
  Parsing
  Should you feel that someone has misinterpreted the rules, pause them. Find 
  the relevant section of the text and read it aloud. As much as possible, call 
  attention to how the rules function, rather than why you think a specific 
  player has misused them. Allow players to be the ultimate arbiters of their own 
  contributions.
  Immigration
  When new monsters arrive to the community, it’s best that they also comes 
  as solitary individuals or small clutches. The Deep Forest takes on a radically 
  different tone if suddenly three dozen orcs arrive in a community that may only 
  have eight or nine monsters total. Make sure that your additions challenge the 
  community, but don’t unbalance it so completely that one set of monsters is the 
  dominant group by numbers alone.
  The Heroes Arrive
  During play, it’s best to leave the heroes an elusive mystery - perhaps hinting at 
  what they might be, but never directly answering.  The game ends abruptly when 
  the King of Spades is drawn. The card is read aloud, and the game immediately 
  concludes. Once the game is over, it is fine to talk about what the heroes might 
  have been, what their arrival might have meant for the community, or any of the 
  other situations that were faced throughout their year. With the game over, the 
  limits placed on communication and discussion are suddenly lifted.
  
  Design Notes
  from Avery Alder Mcdaldno.
  I grew up largely oblivious to my surroundings, and especially to the histories 
  and oppressions that resided in them. I didn’t really understand, growing up, 
  that I was occupying Kootenay/Ktunaxa and Sinixt space. I moved to Vancouver 
  without understanding that it was unceded Coast Salish territory, that it belonged 
  to the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waluth people. And then I wrote The 
  Quiet Year without understanding the ways that its design tacitly replicated 
  colonial narratives of ownership and ‘unclaimed’ land.
  Part of my desire to write The Deep Forest was to address that last one, to create 
  a Quiet Year that centred upon decolonization. But I also wanted to explore 
  something more familiar to me, queer and trans - the ways that otherness and 
  monstrosity are sometimes reclaimed or leveraged in the process of coming to 
  know ourselves.
  Elena Rose wrote a piece called on cartography and dissection, touching on both 
  colonialism and queerness, and words from it jump to mind now -
  “You hear, across the water, those words: Here Be Monsters. You hear them 
  inking it onto you, steering well clear of your borders or making a beeline 
  for savage lands to tame and profit from. You know your insides are not 
  navigable. You know that no matter how you say, look, I can tell you where 
  you are, you’re right here, all you will hear back is a new name given to you, 
  the Undiscovered Country. 
  Wave your arms and shout, if you like. I’m doing it too. You’ll still hear the 
  question: What are you? 
  I’m not a what. 
  Yeah, but what are you?”
  I wanted to write a game about the ways that collective recovery can shape a 
  community - bringing people together or fracturing them, erasing difference or 
  forcing us to see it more clearly.
  
  Design Notes
  from Mark Diaz Truman.
  I didn’t really think about being a Mexican-American game designer until after 
  I had already written two games. It literally never occurred to me that I might 
  have something to say about my own experience growing up as a Hispanic kid 
  in New Mexico, the state famous for the Pueblo Revolt. My games were just like 
  everyone else’s games.
  While designing The Deep Forest, Avery introduced me to a Junot Diaz quote 
  that was particularly apt -
  “You know, vampires have no reflections in a mirror? [...] And what I’ve 
  always thought isn’t that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. It’s 
  that if you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the 
  cultural level, any reflection of themselves. And growing up, I felt like a 
  monster in some ways. I didn’t see myself reflected at all.”
  It’s strange, I think, what a lack of mirrors does to a person. You know that you 
  have a story, but since you can’t see it outside of yourself, maybe you’re just crazy? 
  Maybe you should get on with the process of stamping out whatever Other is left 
  inside you before everyone else realizes that you’re something different.
  I wanted to design a game that drew out decolonization as a process of recovery, 
  a slow growth from one mindset to another. It’s not what came before, largely 
  because what came before was destroyed, but it holds the potential for a healing. 
  Yet like many attempts at decolonization, we know it will be cut short long before 
  it can truly finish.
  My hope is that The Deep Forest is a mirror, one that reflects back what you bring 
  to it, the roles you traditionally play and the conquests you traditionally attempt. 
  
  Due Credit
  This game is by Mark Diaz Truman and Avery Alder Mcdaldno.
  You can see more of Mark’s work at Magpie Games.
  It is dedicated to Jeremy Zimmerman, a Patreon supporter.
  The cover art is by Jules Silver, a Mi’kmaq and Cree artist from Regina. 
  For more of her work, visit Morningstar Artistic Creations. 
  Titles in Leander, text in Minion Pro.
  Special Thanks
  Scott Foster, Philip Espi, Jeremy Zimmerman, James Stuart, Evan Silberman, 
  Jeremy Tidwell, Joe Beason, Peter Woodworth, Aaron Friesen, Jesse Wolfe!, 
  Simon Brunning, Sam Anderson, Penda Tomlinson, Andrew Cain, Ash, Ivan 
  Dervisevic, Andrew Medeiros, Jane Friedhoff, Kit La Touche, Scott Underwood, 
  Greg Sanders, Richard Greene, J. Walton, Hel Apocalypse, John Harper, Jess 
  Downs, Julia, Brand Robins, Rob K., Emily Short, Rafael Rocha, Dylan Nix, 
  Jason Pitre, William Lee, Sean Nittner, Brendan Adkins, Cheryl Trooskin-Zoller, 
  Nathan Black, James Graham.
  This game was made possible by a total of one hundred ninety-four patrons.
  For the full list, visit buriedwithoutceremony.com/little-games
  Buried Without
  Ceremony
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Kid Friendly/7. RPGs/Ages 8-10 (Attention span of 2 hours +, Proficient in basic math, Starting to read or reading chapter books)/Deep Forest.pdf