TEXT: The Marriage of Persephone
  A Main Course RPG as Quests and a Play in Two Parts
  an Iron Game Chef Entry for 2006
  by Mendel Schmiedekamp
  March 19, 2006
  Forward
  This RPG is the second main course of a Full
  Course of Love and Death, coming between
  the ﬁrst main course of Someone to Love and
  the third, One More Hour. The couple to be
  married is one of the most successful couples
  in the prior game of Someone to Love. Like-
  wise, the team of heroes after gaining the fa-
  vor of the gods in The Marriage of Persephone
  will return to life once more, to attempt their
  last mission or betray it to seek some measure
  of peace in their lives. Like all games in this
  Full Course, The Marriage of Persephone is
  intended for ﬁve players.
  As a game designed for Iron Game Chef
  2006, it is necessary to discuss the allotments
  made for that contest. Indeed, for the theme
  of time, Marriage of Persephone fulﬁlls the
  two sessions of 6 hours requirement, including
  the intervening 2 weeks. And it uses the fol-
  lowing contest terms: Law, Actor, and Team.
  When You Need a Hero . . .
  Periodically, Persephone, queen of the under-
  world, takes a particular fancy to the love
  lives of her subjects. And when she does, she
  throws an elaborate wedding for her chosen
  couple. Some might say that she’s compen-
  sating for her rather lackluster wedding with
  Hades, but you don’t tell a god things like
  that.
  The underworld is not a very good place
  for weddings, but Persephone insists on mak-
  ing it happen. There are monsters and wan-
  dering souls to clear, there is the endless
  build up of decay and darkness, which Perse-
  phone insists does not suit a wedding, and
  the underworld is not the most lively place.
  Hades often ﬁnds himself needing to make
  things ready for the festivities, and entertain
  the guests when they arrive, tasks that are,
  frankly, beneath the dignity of the lord of the
  dead. But as luck would have it, a team of
  heroes has recently joined the ranks in the
  Elysian Fields, a team who doesn’t know any
  better than to accept a deal from Hades. Cer-
  tainly good luck for Hades and Persephone,
  not so good for the heroes though.
  In Marriage of Persephone, you play the
  members of this team of recently deceased
  heroes as they perform quests and entertain
  the guests. If all goes well, you can gain the
  favor of the attending gods, and maybe re-
  turn to life long enough to deal with unﬁn-
  ished business. If it doesn’t, well this sort of
  thing is always a gamble, isn’t it.
  1
  
  Gods in Residence
  A game of Marriage of Persephone revolves
  around the ﬁve gods who will be attending
  the wedding. The team can earn favor from
  each of them, but each god has laws to follow
  as well.
  • Hades - King of the Dead, Wealth,
  and Pretty Much Anything Under-
  ground. Hades is pretty even handed,
  he is mostly concerned that the heroes
  don’t ruin the careful arrangements he’s
  made among his subjects.
  • Persephone - Queen of the Dead and
  Spring. Persephone can be more fright-
  ening than Hades, because she will get
  angry, and Hades always listens to her.
  • Ananke - Necessity. Ananke is every-
  where, she attends essentially by de-
  fault, although she does seem to ﬁnd
  the idea of a wedding in the underworld
  endlessly amusing.
  • Eros - Love.
  Eros is the wedding
  crasher of the gods, and he routinely
  gets carried away by the festivities.
  • Thanatos - Death. Thanatos doesn’t
  get many wedding invitations, so he’s
  also a regular at these events.
  Who Do You Call?
  Having passed through Lethe, your hero re-
  members little of his or her former life. All
  that remains is a dull ache, a suggestion that
  something in the world of the living is left
  undone. Most souls would simply learn to ig-
  nore that calling, but heroes are made from
  sterner, and arguably more foolish, stuﬀ.
  So when Hades oﬀered your characters a
  deal they jumped at the chance. And Hades
  is nothing if not fair. He and each of the other
  four gods who will attend the wedding have
  oﬀered a special gift to the heroes. To make
  your hero, choose a name and determine the
  nature of your ﬁve gifts.
  Gift of Hades - Wealth
  Hades gives the player a supply of wealth.
  This need not be physical riches of gold or
  gems, but it is always something of value to
  people. It could be a wealth of tales or songs,
  a harem of souls, a herd of livestock, or any-
  thing else that can be given in exchange.
  Gift of Persephone - Growth
  Persephone gives the gift of growth. Growth
  may be a physical thing, allowing the hero to
  grow plants quickly or to increase in size to
  that of a giant. Or growth may be a more
  abstract thing, such as building doubt, trust,
  or anger. In any case, the hero need only be
  present to cause the growth to occur.
  Gift of Ananke - Reality
  Ananke is present throughout the worlds,
  both those of the living and the dead. She
  grants the gift of reality. This gift grants the
  hero any one aspect or power from their mor-
  tals days.
  This is the most ﬂexible of the
  gifts. It could be puissance with the sword or
  expertise at computers, the only restriction is
  that it be something a mortal could do.
  Gift of Eros - Romance
  Eros gives the most troublesome, and poten-
  tially the most useful gift, romance. This gift
  gives the character some quality which others
  ﬁnd instantly alluring. It might be stunning
  eyes, a beautiful voice, a fancy suit, or any-
  thing else that would attract attention. Un-
  fortunately this gift tends to cause souls and
  demons to fall in love with the character. And
  2
  
  Eros will become irate if the heroes mistreat
  someone who has.
  Gift of Thanatos - Taking
  Thanatos gives the simplest and most dan-
  gerous gift. He provides each hero with the
  ability to take away something. This may be
  taking a life, taking away madness, or emo-
  tion. All that matters is that what is taken is
  gone, and that something remains in the loss.
  This power is limited by the fact that Hades
  requires an exchange to occur, which may be
  through his gift of wealth, or his wife’s gift of
  growth.
  Gambling with Fate
  The ﬂow of Marriage of Persephone is a ro-
  tating series of scenes, where each player de-
  scribes what his or her hero is doing, in turn.
  If the hero is attempting to overcome a quest
  or impress a god with a performance, then
  the hero gambles with fate. If successful this
  gamble can provide the virtue needed to com-
  plete a quest or impress the gods, or it can
  inﬂict the ire of the gods. It’s all up to you.
  In either case, once a gamble with fate oc-
  curs, the player describes the outcome, based
  on the roll, including what went right or
  wrong. Play then passes to that players right
  as that player begins to describe what his or
  her character is doing to try to please the
  gods.
  The gamble mechanics requires three dice:
  a 6 sided die (d6), a 12 sided die (d12), and
  a 20 sided die (d20). The initial roll is al-
  ways of the d6. You may then roll the d12,
  if the d12 rolls above the value showing on
  the d6, the d12’s value is used instead.
  If
  not, the result is an impasse and no virtue
  is added. For a quest, no further rolls can
  be made using that approach, although for
  a performance the only penalty is no virtue
  gained. If the d12 did roll above the d6, you
  may attempt to roll the d20. If the d20 rolls
  above the d12 then you use the d20’s roll to
  determine virtue. Otherwise you fail, giving
  both an impasse and reducing the favor of a
  god of your choice by one. If you did not fail
  or impasse, then you gain one virtue for every
  full 5 you rolled on your highest die.
  Using a gift gives a special beneﬁt to an
  action. If at least one virtue is gained from
  gambling on an action using at least one gift,
  then one additional virtue is added
  To sum up:
  • Roll a d6
  • You may roll a d12
  – If the d12 equal or lower than the
  d6 - gain no virtue and an impasse,
  you must change tactics in a quest.
  – If the d12 rolls above the d6, use
  the d12 for virtue, and you may
  roll a d20.
  ∗ If the d20 equal or lower than
  the d12 - lose one favor, gain
  no virtue and an impasse, you
  must change tactics in a quest.
  ∗ If the d20 rolls above the d12,
  use the d20 for virtue.
  • Every 5 (round down) of the ﬁnal roll
  gives a virtue.
  • If you used a gift and gained virtue,
  gain one additional virtue.
  And lastly a short example of the me-
  chanic:
  Morik, being played by Sandy, is attempting
  to convince a satyr spirit to perform at the
  wedding. He’s oﬀering the satyr a song from
  his collection, as given by Hades. Sandy rolls
  the d6, showing a 5. Sandy might be happy
  with that outcome, since she gets two virtue,
  3
  
  one from the roll and one bonus from the gift.
  But let’s say she wants more. She rolls the
  d12, which shows a 7.
  She doesn’t get an
  impasse, but she also doesn’t get more virtue.
  She decides to go for broke, and try the d20.
  However, the d20 rolls a 3, meaning she fails.
  Instead of two virtue Morik will be oﬀending
  one of the gods, and ensuring that the satyr
  cannot be bribed with songs any more.
  As you can see, gambling with fate is not
  always safe.
  Failure comes from greed and
  hubris. But then again, so do great heroics.
  On a Quest
  Marriage of Persephone is a RPG played in
  two sessions.
  The ﬁrst is the questing ses-
  sion, where the heroes attempt to complete
  ten quests in preparation for the wedding.
  At the beginning of that ﬁrst session, you
  make your team, and then go in two rounds
  with each player describing one quest.
  Af-
  ter adding these to the quest sheet, mark the
  teams favor with the gods as one, and then
  it’s time to begin solving the quests.
  Each quest requires twenty virtue to com-
  plete, and until that much virtue has accu-
  mulated on a quest, no one may describe the
  quest as ﬁnished. Quests need not be per-
  formed in any speciﬁc order, or even one at a
  time. Indeed, part of the fun is the frenzy of
  activity in trying to get everything ready.
  And if this were not enough, the gods
  place another limitation on these quests.
  Each god has a quest law, which restricts
  what the team can do as they seek to com-
  plete their preparations. If their quest law is
  violated at any time during the quest session,
  the favor of that god drops by one. The gods
  may give the team some breathing room, but
  if it is clear that a law was violated, then you
  should ensure that the price is paid.
  On the other hand, performance of the
  quests is a good way to gain the favor of the
  gods. When you complete a quest by gaining
  at least twenty virtue, you gain two favor,
  split between two diﬀerent gods.
  Quest Laws
  • Nothing is Free (Hades) - Everything
  has a cost, and that cost must be payed.
  • Don’t Give Up (Persephone) - Once
  you’ve started a quest you cannot aban-
  don it.
  • Violence has Consequences (Ananke)
  - A violent solution always leaves its
  mark.
  • Can’t Hurt Who Loves You (Eros) -
  If someone loves you you cannot know-
  ingly do them harm.
  • Don’t Take Sides (Thanatos) - Always
  stick to the neutral path in a conﬂict.
  Example Quests
  The following are a dozen example quests,
  but there is certainly room for many more.
  • Clean a family of nightmares from the
  stables
  • Gather the musicians for the wedding
  • Make a wedding cake that will sate the
  appetites of the gods
  • Clear the ﬁeld of carnage for the recep-
  tion
  • Make
  Cerebus
  presentable
  for
  the
  guests
  • Remove demonic MMORPG players
  squatting in the castle guest rooms
  • Wash the muck and decay from the cas-
  tle walls
  4
  
  • Find a great poet to perform for the
  wedding
  • Slay enough demon beasts for the feast
  • Hire souls to pad the guest list
  • Climb the peak of Sisyphus to plant a
  beacon
  • Assemble ﬁve perfect horses for the
  wedding carriage
  A Little Research
  Unlike many RPGs, Marriage of Persephone
  requires something a little extra. Namely be-
  tween the ﬁrst session and the second you
  have homework. The second session will be a
  performance put on by the team, but the roles
  which will be played are those of real people.
  In fact, these roles must be people newly met
  by that player between the two sessions. To
  make this viable, a full two weeks should oc-
  cur between the two sessions. Any less and
  it might not be possible to meet three new
  people. And any more and you invite pro-
  crastination.
  When you meet new people for this pur-
  pose, you want to ﬁnd out the basics. Find
  out names, jobs and interests, and so on. It’s
  usually best to be honest, tell them that you
  are interested in basing a character oﬀ them
  for roleplaying or interactive ﬁction.
  Some
  people might ﬁnd that strange, so be careful
  and polite. If they decline, then don’t press
  the matter.
  Some people may ﬁnd this harder than
  others. There are a variety of strategies to
  ﬁx that. Try a new activity or social circle,
  you usually get a large number of people in-
  troducing themselves. Or ask a more extro-
  verted friend to introduce you. The impor-
  tant thing is to meet these people, and then
  bringing what you’ve learned to the next ses-
  sion.
  Entertaining the Guests
  At the beginning of the second session, you
  should all describe the three people you met
  in the intervening two weeks. These will be
  your roles. Once this has been done, you may
  begin to narrate the play, starting with the
  ﬁrst act.
  Like the quests, each god has placed re-
  quirements on the play the team is perform-
  ing. These are broken down by act. For ex-
  ample, in the third act Eros wants to see
  Lovers Meeting, while in the second act,
  Hades wants to see a Robbery Revealed. The
  full list can be found on the theater sheet, as
  well as the gods sheet. While many of the
  gods have placed laws that appear to con-
  nect, such as Eros demanding lovers in each
  act, the scenes which satisfy these laws need
  not involve the same characters, nor even re-
  lated. For example, the lovers reunited might
  be husband and wife, one of whom had fallen
  in love with another role entirely, a role which
  died in the last act to satisfy Thanatos.
  Each act, each player may make one, and
  only one, gamble with fate to satisfy each law.
  This must be done during a scene where that
  event is occurring. Gifts may be used during
  the performance, but since the heroes are the
  actors, you they must be used theatrically, as
  special eﬀects or as a breaking of the fourth
  wall. Remember, the roles do not have these
  gifts, they are normal people, indeed the nor-
  mal people you sought out between the ses-
  sions. For example, if a hero can make plants
  grow, then she could grow a tree to set the
  stage for a meeting deep in the forest which
  may end in murder or love. This type of use
  gives you the advantage of using a gift for the
  gamble with fate.
  Each act ends when all players agree to
  end it, and then the next one begins. If a
  god’s law is not attempted during an act, you
  5
  
  lose one favor from that god. If at least ﬁve
  virtue is accumulated for the law during the
  act, then you gain one favor from that god.
  The Favor of the Gods
  Once the performance is ended, the gods will
  grant their rewards to the team.
  Each fa-
  vor translates to a single reward. During this
  part of the game, ﬁrst remove any favor which
  was promised to others. Then gain one re-
  ward from each god for each remaining favor.
  If all goes well, this might let you stop that
  nagging sense that something has been left
  undone.
  But all you get is a chance.
  The
  gods won’t solve your problems for you.
  Rewards
  • Hades - Hades will grant a person the
  memories of their mortal life.
  • Persephone - Persephone will grant a
  person a momentary return to life.
  • Ananke - Ananke will grant any gift
  that can be given by another god.
  • Eros - Eros will send a message from a
  person to anyone that person loves or is
  loved by.
  • Thanatos - Thanatos will hold oﬀ on
  a person dying for up to one hour.
  6
  
  Hero Sheet
  Player Name:
  Hero Name:
  Gift of Hades:
  Gift of Persephone:
  Gift of Ananke:
  Gift of Eros:
  Gift of Thanatos:
  Role 1:
  Role 2:
  Role 3:
  7
  
  Gods Sheet
  Hades Favor
  • Gift - Wealth
  • Quest Law - Nothing is Free
  • Act 1 Law - Something is Stolen
  • Act 2 Law - Robbery Revealed
  • Act 3 Law - Thief Discovered
  • Act 4 Law - Thief is Captured
  • Act 5 Law - Thief is Punished
  • Favor - Return Memories
  Persephone Favor
  • Gift - Growth
  • Quest Law - Don’t Give Up
  • Act 1 Law - Something is Lost
  • Act 2 Law - Remorse Over Loss
  • Act 3 Law - Anger Over Loss
  • Act 4 Law - Transformation
  • Act 5 Law - Rejection of Loss
  • Favor - Return to Life for Moment
  Ananke Favor
  • Gift - Reality
  • Quest Law - Violence has Consequences
  • Act Laws (All of Them) - Reﬂect an Event from Your Quest
  • Favor - As any other god
  Eros Favor
  • Gift - Romance
  • Quest Law - Can’t Hurt Who Loves You
  • Act 1 Law - Love at First Sight
  • Act 2 Law - Lovers Separated
  • Act 3 Law - Lovers Meet
  • Act 4 Law - Lovers Challenged
  • Act 5 Law - Lovers Reunited
  • Favor - Send Message to Loved One
  Thanatos Favor
  • Gift - Taking
  • Quest Law - Don’t Take Sides
  • Act 1 Law - Someone Dies
  • Act 2 Law - Something Dies
  • Act 3 Law - Someone Dies
  • Act 4 Law - Something Dies
  • Act 5 Law - Someone Dies
  • Favor - Remain Alive for an Hour
  8
  
  Quest Sheet
  Quest 1:
  Virtue:
  Quest 2:
  Virtue:
  Quest 3:
  Virtue:
  Quest 4:
  Virtue:
  Quest 5:
  Virtue:
  Quest 6:
  Virtue:
  Quest 7:
  Virtue:
  Quest 8:
  Virtue:
  Quest 9:
  Virtue:
  Quest 10:
  Virtue:
  9
  
  Theatre Sheet
  Gods
  Act 1
  Act 2
  Act 3
  Act 4
  Act 5
  Hades
  Something Stolen
  Robbery Revealed
  Thief Discovered
  Thief Captured
  Thief Punished
  virtue:
  virtue:
  virtue:
  virtue:
  virtue:
  Persephone
  Something Lost
  Remorse Over Loss
  Anger Over Loss
  Transformation
  Rejection of Loss
  virtue:
  virtue:
  virtue:
  virtue:
  virtue:
  Ananke
  Reﬂection of Quest
  Reﬂection of Quest
  Reﬂection of Quest
  Reﬂection of Quest
  Reﬂection of Quest
  virtue:
  virtue:
  virtue:
  virtue:
  virtue:
  Eros
  Love ar First Sight
  Lovers Separated
  Lovers Meet
  Lovers Challenged
  Lovers Reunited
  virtue:
  virtue:
  virtue:
  virtue:
  virtue:
  Thanatos
  Someone Dies
  Something Dies
  Someone Dies
  Something Dies
  Someone Dies
  virtue:
  virtue:
  virtue:
  virtue:
  virtue:
  10
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Collaborative & Peer & Gm-less & Shifting GM/Full Course of Love and Death/The_Marriage_of_Persephone.pdf