The Guest at Greave: our first Sacrament game around a real table
Until now, every game of Sacrament has been played on the Sacrament RPG Table, in a browser. This one is different. The Guest at Greave is our first test of Sacrament around a real table: paper, pencils, dice and people in the same room.
The adventure
The Priory of Saint Cordula sits on a shelf of rock above the Greave Pass, the last consecrated ground before the Unhallowed lands. Every dusk the brothers light a fire on the bell tower so the village below knows they are alive. Three nights ago the fire did not burn.
The heroes carry the winter supplies up the mountain. The snow closes the pass behind them. Inside are eight people they have never met, a cold chapel, and a question nobody wants to ask out loud.
It is five scenes, for three to five heroes, about four hours of play. The fights are short. The real game is the talking between them: who goes where, who is alone with whom, and who you would trust to hold the lamp. If you know a certain 1982 film about an Antarctic research station, you will recognise the shape of it.
It uses the current rules: a Target for each scene, Effort against obstacles, countdowns, catalogue loot, and the Horror meter rising towards 7, 14 and 21. A few rulings belong to this adventure only, such as how fire works, and the text marks them clearly as GM choices, not rules.
Read it or print it
It is written for the GM. It tells you who the monster is. If you are going to play it, stop at the first page and let your GM read the rest.
For the players
Players need a hero and the rules close to hand, not the adventure.
- Make a hero with the character builder, then print or save it as a PDF character sheet
- The player cheat sheet, two pages with checks, Effort, Push, the Horror, healing and dying: download the PDF (A4) or US Letter
Everything for the table, in one place
There is now a Play in person page with everything you need to run this around a real table: what to bring, who keeps track of what, and the rules on one page. It also has new downloads:
- The print-and-play kit: nine sheets with a quick reference, a blank character sheet, the Horror track, a fold-up Target sign, foe cards, countdowns and a healing log. A4 or US Letter.
- Before the Snow, the opening reading for one of the players to read aloud. No spoilers. A4, US Letter or listen to it narrated (4 minutes).
- The players' map of the priory, safe to put on the table. A4 or US Letter.
- The whole adventure, narrated, for the GM to listen to while preparing. It gives away every secret. MP3, 37 minutes.
Why a real table
The VTT does a lot of quiet work: it rolls, adds, tracks HP and keeps the Horror meter honest. Around a kitchen table, nobody does that for you. This game will show us which rules are easy to carry in your head, which numbers people forget, and where the table had been hiding a rough edge.
If you run it, we would like to hear how it went: what worked, what slowed you down, and anything you had to make up on the spot. Tell us on the feedback page.