How to Play
Requirements
To play
this game you will need:
-
A
Pencil/Pen
-
A
piece of Paper
-
2
six-sided Dice
Remorse tells the tale of an
ordinary-yet-cowardly and troubled man caught up in the world-changing events depicted
in the video-game, Half-Life.
Through the story you will determine whether your character can overcome his
fear and forgive himself for his cowardice, or whether they will find
themselves unable to rise to the challenge...
As you
progress through the story you will find yourself faced with situations called
'Fight-or-Flight Events' that require the player to choose between a brave
option and a cowardly one.
While it
is left up to the player whether to choose between the two, the brave
option will require you to roll one
six-sided dice to determine whether your character can even attempt to
perform the act.
The brave
option is marked by a number in brackets, it'll look like this:
'Will you try to perform this brave act? [6]'
The
number at the end of the question represents the dice roll that is required to
be able to attempt the act but beware,
once you perform a bravery roll, there's no going back!
If your
bravery roll matches the requirement in the question, you will then need to
roll both six-sided dice,
this will determine whether your character successfully performs the act of
bravery. The criteria for this second dice-roll is represented the same way as
the first, by a number in brackets:
'If you roll [6 - 12] go to X1, if not, go to X2'
The 'X' here represents the passage number
that you would have to turn to for each respective outcome.
However,
the second dice roll is an unknown. In some cases, meeting the criteria will
mean success, but in others meeting
the criteria will mean failure, the
only way to find out what happens to your character is to read on!
In both
dice-roll events, the number in brackets can either be a single digit: '[5]' or a range of numbers: '[1 - 4]', and these numbers are never
coherent with any other event, so there's no rolling for the highest number!
Use the
paper and pen to keep a tally of the number of successful brave
acts your character performs, this will be used to determine how they progress
throughout the story.
So, to
re-cap, when at a 'Fight-or-flight':
1. You must
pick either a brave or cowardly option, the brave
option will be marked with a number in brackets ('[6]')
2. Picking a
brave option requires you to roll one six-sided dice that matches
the number shown in brackets
3. Meeting
this criteria, you will then roll two
six-sided dice to match another number shown in brackets below the question
4. You will
then be instructed to move on to a designated passage number, depending on the
outcome
It is important to note that if you fail to successfully perform a brave act, the outcome will most likely be your death (though not always.) However you must also not avoid the brave options as they play a key role in how your characters story ends!
Tip: Brave options vary in difficulty, a good
way to judge the difficulty of a brave
option is to look at the dice roll requirement. For example, a brave option with a [6] requirement will be a lot more difficult to achieve than an
option with a [1 - 4] requirement.
It's also
important to note that the
brave choices will become less dangerous as the story progresses, due to your
characters increasing confidence. Good
Luck!
1
You're going
back to that place in your head again. As the tightly packed commuter train
rushes through the suburban landscape you notice none of it, not even the
people around you, too lost in self pity and resentment. You are an office
clerk in a dead-end job, you are in your mid-twenties, completely unmotivated, and
you know it . It's been another one of those days, negative thoughts circling
in your head, distracting you from your work, it's ok though, you don't think
you do a good job anyway. You're thinking again of how you long to get out and
see the world, you might just have that
life-changing revelation while you're out there, maybe you'll feel like you
know what you want to do with your life... You want to be a more assertive
person, to take less shit from your co-workers, but you're too stubborn to see
it as cowardice... all these things you want to change about yourself, yet you
don't do anything to make it happen, you never do. You sink further into your
exhausted, depressed mindset. It seems like only a moment that you flit back to
reality to the realisation that the train doors are about to close and it's
your stop. As you make your way through the streets to your house, you retreat
back inside your mind once more.
You cross the threshold to your
house, the comforting smell of dinner brings you to the surface briefly, but it
only serves as a reminder to the fact that you still live at home with your
mother. You know you should appreciate her more, she's so good to you, yet you
can't help but resent her. There is no conversation at the table. You exchange
pleasantries and thank her for the meal before heading to bed. You know she'll
have noticed your mood, you're being sulky and acting in a way very unfitting for
someone of your age, but you just want to be alone. You tell yourself you'll
feel better in the morning.
The next day you go about your
usual routine, and while you wouldn't say you're feeling "better" you
have managed to push the negative thoughts to the back of your mind. You go to
the kitchen where your mother is leaning against the counter by the window,
looking out at the weak morning sunshine while the TV runs in the background.
You're running a little late today so your mother simply makes you a cup of
coffee as you take a seat at the table, no time for anything more. "I
could see how down you were last night", she says, you look past her and
try to focus on the television, it seems to be a breaking news report of some
kind '...strange activity in New Mexico
over the past day or so seems to have escalated in the last few minutes...'.
It's no good, you turn your head back to face her, "I know you're feeling
a bit lost right now-" '...receiving
alarming reports from the surrounding area...' "-but trust me, things
will get better if you want them to, you just have to make it happen" '...earthquakes-' -bzzzt- ‘-light
anomalies...'. You look down into your coffee cup as all those negative
thoughts you had staved off come surging back, anger for your mother pulsing
along with them because it was her fault, you stand, look her in the eyes and
give her a very nasty look, "please don't give me that look, it reminds me
of your father", she says looking slightly hurt, "What's wrong? What
did I say?". You turn and leave her there without another word, too bitter
to open your mouth and say anything.
Anger pulses through you as you
take your coat and open the door. You shut it behind you, silently cursing your
mother for ruining your day before it had even started, but as the latch clicks
behind you, something breaks through your spite. A slight rumbling beneath your
feet, but how, what could it be? You know there hasn't been an earthquake felt
here for nearly forty years, and that was only a moderate one at best, yet here
you are feeling a growing tremor beneath your feet. A faint high pitched sound
that seems to be getting louder also catches your ear, just as you notice the
sky appearing to grow brighter behind the house. You walk across the front
garden to the other side of the street to see what's happening as the wind
begins to pick up, feeling slightly alarmed.
In the distance you see a bright,
shimmering wall of light that stretches along the horizon as far as the eye can
see. It appears to be travelling towards you at a ferocious speed. You have
very little time to react. The sound and the intensity of the earthquake
increase tremendously, you cover your ears. As it draws nearer you see the
intensity of the wall dissipating and you notice it's actually made up of thin
strands of blue light that flit into and out of existence as quickly as they
appear. The beauty of the spectacle belies its destructive force as it passes
overhead. A great lurch in the ground throws you off your feet, you fall hard,
deafened by the screeching. As you stagger to your feet, slightly dazed, your
hearing returns. Car alarms along the street blare as the light storm fades
into the distance, taking the sound and the earthquake with it. You see a thin
crack in the pavement where you were stood, and another running along the road.
Windows in houses all around are cracked and some shattered completely. People
who had not already been stood watching the sky outside flood from their homes.
You cross back to your house, the anger at your mother forgotten and unlock the
door as, unseen to you, something worse than the storm makes itself known.
You stand in the hallway as a
flash of green light illuminates the house and is immediately accompanied by a
huge crash that shakes the building. Your focus is immediately drawn back to
the kitchen however as you hear a loud crashing sound followed by a chilling
scream that becomes muffled halfway through. You press yourself to the wall and
edge closer to the kitchen doorway, heart racing, panicked beyond anything
you've ever felt before. You hear more crashing as you reach the doorway and
peer into the kitchen. Your mother
stumbles around the kitchen, frantically trying to remove the horrifying four
legged creature that has somehow engulfed her entire head, a small trickle of
blood runs down her neck.
Try to save her? [6]
If
you roll [12] on your success roll,
turn to 11. If not, turn to 3
Flee? Turn to 9
2
As the creature
bears down on the old man you notice someone has lost a shoe in the commotion
and it lies at your feet, your instinct screams at you to run and save
yourself, but instead you find yourself kicking the shoe at the creature in the
hope that it might distract it. Unfortunately, as you expected, the shoe flies
past the creature which continues, unfazed by your attempted projectile
skidding along the floor behind it. You turn away as the thing launches itself
at the terrified man. You have to leave, right now, and the only way to do that
is to climb through the doors already broken window in front of you, you try to
be quick, but find yourself fumbling to remove the last few spikes of glass
from the window frame. Eventually you begin your climb through, trying your
hardest to ignore the sounds of the creature eating its fill, except there are
no sounds like that, there's no sound at all from the now empty train station,
you turn your head just in time to see the creature charge at you. In your panic
you launch yourself the rest of the way through the empty window frame. The
creature crashes into the door with a loud bang, or maybe that was the sound of
your already injured head catching the edge of a desk placed just inside the
doorway as you jump through... The world vanishes as you fall unconscious. Turn to 13
3
You can't bring
yourself to do anything that might save her, fear has you glued in place. You
wish you weren't so cowardly... You turn your head away from the scene and run.
Turn to 5
4
As you run
towards it, you see the station is packed, they've got the doors shut and you
see a myriad of faces peering through windows. You reach the door and are
worried that someone might hold it closed, but you are let in by a scared
looking station patroller. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" he asks,
almost pulling you inside the building. You tell him, through gasps for air
after your flight that you're fine and he instructs you to find somewhere to
wait as they are hoping some trains may be running into the city at some point,
you ask if anyone knows what's going on, fruitlessly. How could anyone know what was going on? you ask yourself. You make
your way through the crowd of worried faces, you hear chatter and the a few
crying children, but apart from that this place while not exactly calm, in its
organised, semi-relaxed state, makes a complete contrast to the world outside.
You find yourself a clear patch of wall to stand against, you let yourself
catch your breath some more, and feeling slightly more relaxed, you run your
hand through your hair before closing your eyes and leaning your head against
the wall too. You jolt it back to its upright position almost instantly as your
thoughts stray to your mother. You block them out, you're not nearly ready to
face them yet.
For a long time you stand there,
listening to the troubling sounds, wondering just what's going on, and whether
its affected anywhere outside of the US. You watch as a disgruntled father
takes his family out of the station, apparently under the belief that staying
in the station is a death sentence. You start to wonder what you're going to do
yourself, as there seems to be no sign of the trains. As you glance around to
see what other people are doing you notice it. The rumbling begins again.
Another storm is approaching only much, much faster; before you know it the
ground is trying to throw you off your feet again as the building shakes around
you. People have barely had time to react as the storm passes overhead, the
building lurches violently, your head crashes against the window of a door,
dazed once again as the storm fades, you place your hand behind your head and
see a small patch of blood on your fingers. People around you try to pick
themselves up off their feet as the commotion recedes slightly. Everyone holds
their breath, they know what might be coming next, and it does.
A bright green light fills the
room as something about the size of a tiger materialises in the middle of the
crowd. Screams echo all around as the thing begins to attack anyone nearby.
Amid the sudden eruption of people trying to escape, you see a man try to
restrain the creature, only to be thrown back by a jab from the strange
squid-like tentacles that protrude from its face. As if it weren't horrifying
enough already, it then proceeds to spit a luminous green liquid at the man who
screams in pain as it sticks to his skin, burning like acid. You look away as
the creature begins swiping at people with its tail. As you turn you see an old
man has fallen and is moments away from meeting the creature face to face.
Help the old man? [3 - 5]
If you roll [6 - 12] on your success roll, turn to 6. If not turn to 2
Try to climb through the doors
broken window? Turn to 8
5
You open the
door to utter chaos, people run past the house terrified, you can hear screams
coming from all directions as you turn to see what they're running from. A
monstrous creature is silhouetted through the smoke of a burning house,
flamethrowers erupt from its arms as it lets out an unearthly roar. Terror grips
you as you join the few people still running past your home, you see a flash of
green lightning emanate from a lawn on the other side of the street, assuming
it to be some sort of teleport as another of the small four legged creatures
falls from its centre. It pounces on a man unfortunate enough to be passing by
and engulfs his head. You turn and continue your flight, thinking of nothing
other than to run.
You don't know where you're
going as you run. All around you see more flashes of green, people running,
others fleeing in their cars, bizarre creatures chase people from their homes. Something
draws you to the train station, most likely routine, you have no time to stop
and think on it as the chaos continues. You reach the alleyway between blocks
that you would normally use to get to the train station and hesitate, thinking
the narrow path might be dangerous to use right now.
Use alleyway? [3]
If you roll [4 - 7] on your success roll, turn to 10 If not turn to 7
Follow the street to the right?
Turn to 12
6
As the creature
bears down on the old man you notice someone has lost a shoe in the commotion
and it lies at your feet, your instinct screams at you to run and save
yourself, but instead you find yourself kicking the shoe at the creature in the
hope that it might distract it. To your surprise the shoe hits the creature
right in the eye, causing it to stagger for a moment, letting out an odd
croaking sound as it does. Another, much younger man takes the opportunity to
go and help the older man up, escaping just as the creature seems to find its
bearings before it turns and charges, straight at you. Without a moments
hesitation, you throw yourself through the already broken window behind you,
gaining a few cuts on the broken glass as you do. The creature crashes into the
door with a loud bang, or maybe that was the sound of your already injured head
catching the edge of a desk placed just inside the doorway as you jump
through... The world vanishes as you fall unconscious. Turn to 13
7
As you move into
the alleyway you realise it's narrower than you feared. You allow yourself to
slow down to a cautious pace. The screams and noise seem to die down slightly
as you move further along the path, the tall, ominous hedges bearing down on
you. As you near the end of the alleyway, you stop and linger for a second to
catch your breath, you close your eyes as all the terrifying sounds return. You
see the flash of green illuminate your eye-lids, but it's already too late, you
feel the creature engulf your head and clamp down. You thrash about for a
moment struggling to breathe, before running in the direction of the end of the
alley way. As you run out into the street you have only a brief moment in which
you register the sound of a cars engine before it hits you and you crash to the
ground, your body shattered beyond repair. Your story ends here.
8
As the creature
bears down on the old man, you turn away from the imminent horror, but as you
do someone runs past you and throws a shoe they found at your feet, it hits the
creature straight in the eye, causing it to stagger for a moment, letting out
an odd croaking sound as it does. He then takes the opportunity to go and help
the older man up, escaping just as the creature seems to find its bearings
before it turns and charges, straight at you, obviously assuming you were the
one who threw it. There's nothing else for it, you throw yourself through the
already broken window behind you, gaining a few cuts on the broken glass as you
do. The creature crashes into the door with a loud bang, or maybe that was the
sound of your already injured head catching the edge of a desk placed just
inside the doorway as you jump through... The world vanishes as you fall
unconscious. Turn to 13
9
You find no
courage to do anything but watch as your mother struggles for a moment, before
you instinctively turn and run from the scene, your fight or flight instinct
has kicked in, and flight won. Turn to 5
10
As you move into
the alleyway you realise it's narrower than you feared. You allow yourself to
slow down to a cautious pace. The screams and noise seem to die down slightly
as you move further along the path, the tall, ominous hedges bearing down on
you. As you near the end of the alleyway, you stay alert. As a green flash
erupts behind you, confirming your fears, you waste no time looking back and
start running again, you're nearly there. Turn
to 4
11
You find the
nerve to start making a move into the kitchen, but as you cross the threshold
another of the small creatures you hadn't seen leaps at you from the side of
the room, barely missing your head. It's all you can take, your courage is
gone. Wishing you weren't so cowardly, you turn your head and run. Turn to 5
12
You decide
against taking the alleyway, choosing instead to keep running along the street
to the right, it's a slightly longer but more open route to take. As you run
past yet more houses you watch in horror as an ambulance speeds past you and
slams into a tall, short haired man, still in his dressing gown, sending him
flying for what seems like an unnatural amount of time. Rounding the corner you
make your way through a slightly less frenzied street, you're almost there. Turn to 4
13
You stir,
feeling like something very solid hit your head, and only when you've finished
moving your aching limbs from their awkward positions do you realise that's
exactly what's happened, and what's worse, as you pull yourself up into a
seated position against the wall, you remember where, you are, and why. This
realisation comes as your sense of pain and nausea seem to be rebooted as you
feel both kick in at the same time. Your head is pounding from its impact with
the desk, and as you bring your hand to it you feel a grotesquely big lump
accompanied by the feeling of hair matted by dried blood. It seems like an age
before you can bring yourself to move from your seat against the wall, but the
silence of the station, and everything outside of it brings you to make a move.
Peering over the edge of the
empty window frame you see nothing living as you'd expected, but what you
didn't expect to see were the bodies. A pile of them, in the middle of the
room, with pools and smeared blood decorating the floor around it. You have no
idea how much time has passed while you were unconscious, but these bodies
appear to be relatively fresh, so it can't have been more than a few hours.
Still, the eerie silence places doubt in your mind, but you have no intention
of staying in what appears to have become the two-legged crocodiles lair.
Ignoring your pounding headache and increasing nausea, you ready yourself to
leave the station...
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