Shiver: A One-Shot for Trophy Dark
A downloadable Trophy Dark Incursion
Shiver
a Trophy Dark incursion by Madeleine Ember
It has barely reached midwinter, and already starvation has come. There is no help coming from far off Fort Duhrin. Legends tell of the Everspring: a place in the forest of Kalduhr where trees are bountiful with fruit, game that lies down at your feet, and rivers of sweet, golden honey.
You have volunteered to find it. Head into the forest and save the lives of your friends and fellow townspeople, or die trying.
Content Warning.
This incursion contains potentially triggering content related to eating disorders, specifically the effects of malnutrition/starvation, and animal suffering due to natural causes (not from human abuse).
Print & PDF
If you would like the print version of Shiver, you can purchase the print and pdf from Cold Hearth Collective, Indie Press Revolution, or Melsonian Arts Council
Actual Plays
Listen to a recorded play of Shiver run by our friend magsmaenad at https://soundcloud.com/magsmaenad/actual-play-of-shiver-a-trophy-dark-incursion-by-ember-and-ash or on YouTube:
Media
Jason Walters from Indie Press Revolution talks about Shiver on their YouTube Channel:
Rooted in Trophy
Shiver is a one-shot adventure incursion for the game Trophy Dark by Jesse Ross, available at trophyrpg.com. If you do not already have Trophy Dark, the basic rules required for play are included.
Community Copies
If the purchase price of Shiver is a hardship for you, claim one of the community copies below. For each purchase of Shiver at regular price, we will add one additional community copy
Purchase
In order to download this Trophy Dark Incursion you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $8 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Editions
Support this Trophy Dark Incursion at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Community Copies
If the purchase price of Shiver is a hardship for you, please claim one of these community copies, free of charge, no questions asked.
Development log
- Print CouponAug 28, 2020
Comments
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Shiver is a fully standalone atmospheric winter horror scenario for Trophy Dark, themed around feasting, scarcity, and cold.
It feels a little like a Russian folktale version of Annihilation.
The PDF is 20 pages, with strong writing, an extremely smooth layout, one lovely grayscale interior landscape, and a sweet/tragic/atmospheric cover.
The cover art is an absolute standout, but the book has a consistent visual impression throughout.
Content-wise, Shiver leads with a content warning and safety tool recommendations---which is extremely welcome in a horror game.
Because it's a Trophy system game, Shiver's tendency is towards atmospheric horror, and it approaches this from an attrition-and-inevitability angle rather than with more obvious traps and monsters. The game's hazards largely involve infirmity, deprivation, and a sense that things have already slipped past the point of saving---although they are also frequently supernatural.
Mechanically, Shiver adds an extra mechanic onto Trophy's usual loadout, in that PCs have food that's been packed for them, and they can use it to avoid Ruin rolls.
The PCs also need this food at various points during their journey, creating a strong sense of resource scarcity---even though the mechanics for tracking food are quite simple.
All of the game's mechanics (including a neat and flavorful character creation section that's unique to the scenario) are at the back of the book, and everything is explained well. There's character creation charts, background choices, and even unique spells.
There's also ample GM advice---and I think Shiver would be easily runnable by someone who is not just new to Trophy but new to tabletop as well.
Overall, you might want to avoid this if someone in your group would be deeply bothered by horror involving scarcity or excess of food. It's very well written, and the horror can hit pretty hard because of that.
However, if what you want is a snowy, ominous, terrifying fairytale about going into the winter woods and seeing what provisions lie there, you should get this.
It's really good.
Minor Issues:
-The snowflake background that's on most pages looks really nice. It feels slightly odd that it's not on all of the interior pages, though. The fully white pages stand out a bit.
-Page 4, the snow-blanketed animals and the emaciated bear, unless the GM intervenes, these might provide the food the PCs need.
Madeleine Ember delivers one of the most harrowing Trophy Dark experiences ever, daring players to trundle through snow, wasting away while otherworldly delights tempt them towards further destruction. While reading this incursion, you can almost see your own breath and feel the pull of the Everspring yourself, well before actually sitting down at a table with players where all this terror will actually spring to life via the group's collaborative effort. Don't sleep on SHIVER. If you fall asleep, the snow may blanket you and you may never be found again.
Thank you so much! 💙