Leaving things to Chance§
As you play, there will be moments where the outcome is uncertain, and you will not find the host simply deciding based on their principles satisfying. Sometimes this is because a main character wants to achieve something, and sometimes it is because they want to avoid a danger.
In these moments, a player may put forward an outcome, either a risk they wish to avoid or a reward they hope to achieve. The host will then add one or two other facets to the table, resulting in a mix of possible outcomes in the moment.
The player then draws cards, and assigns them to the outcomes, to answer the questions of the moment.
Risks & rewards§
There are a particular set of risks and rewards to bring to bear in this game. For the full set, see Appendix: Outcomes.
Procedure§
Once there are outcomes on the table, shuffle the deck (keeping any cards that have already been used for magic separate, as always), and draw two cards. If you have acted in accord with a star or root, deal one more card for each of those you have enacted. You may also spend role tokens one-for-one to get more cards. Once you have checked your stars and roots, and spent any role tokens you wish to spend, you may look at the cards you have drawn.
If you have marked any passions or wounds, and that passion or wound would impede or influence any of the outcomes on the table, you must now discard the highest-value card you have of each suit matching your passions and wounds.
Now, allocate one card per outcome, setting aside any extras. If you have too few cards, treat any outcome with no card on it as though it had an ace on it.
Interpret the outcomes based on the cards you’ve put on them, then shuffle all the cards you drew back into the deck.
An example§
Mr. Nightingale, the vicar, has come to visit Longford in the hopes of some time alone with Miss Bellamy, but Mrs. Bellamy, her grandmother, has cornered him with some concerns about the scriptures. As the three of them sit in the drawing room, Miss Bellamy gazing longingly at the beautiful spring day outside, Mr. Nightingale attempts to speak secretly to Miss Bellamy, to tell her he has feelings for her. “Well, you see, you must consider this passage in light of the Song of Solomon, one of the most romantic parts of the Bible…” The Host considers the situation, and decides that he’s risking making a misstep. The worst he could do would be say something awkwardly overt, so it’s no going to be embarrassing himself.
He considers his stars and roots: Rowan, the realist, would give him a card if he could explain that there’s no other option than the one he sets out. Jupiter, the Ruler, would give him a card if he invoked his rightful authority over someone else. While he can see how to involve either of these easily with his scriptural interpretation, they both feel a bit inappropriate for a veiled confession of love.
He has one more way to get extra cards here, and that is to spend role tokens: he’ll willingly spend one, so he has two outcomes and three cards to assign to them.
He draws: the seven of clubs, ace of hearts, and four of spades. This is not good. The ace and the four are both bad outcomes, and the seven is a middling outcome. He counts his blessings that he has not had to mark “morose” and thus discard the seven. He tosses the ace, and puts the seven on speak secretly and the four on make a misstep. He communicates his feelings for Miss Bellamy, very clearly to both her and her grandmother. As slipping such amorous hints into his scriptural interpretation is hardly a good example of Christian morality, he marks a reputation towards “hypocritical”.