For a unique Halloween experience, give the horror roleplaying game (RPG) Ten Candles a try this year! One of my more memorable Halloweens a few years back was spent trying out this total-party-wipe game with some new friends. Played in darkness except for flickering candlelight, it’s probably not a great choice for online gaming. But we’re all back in person again, right? If weather conditions allow, outdoor play is extra spooky and random, as the October wind may snuff out a few candles. As the rulebook says, “Ten Candles is a tragic horror time-based cooperative storytelling game through which you will tell the story of a dark world and those who fall victim to it.”
These things are true: The world is dark, and you are alive.
Various Ten Candles scenarios are available in the rulebook (or the gamemaster [GM] may come up with their own), but it is always a game of darkness. In real life, it is played in a darkened room, and in-game, the premise is a world gone literally dark. The sun no longer shines, night is eternal, and the monsters have come out to play. The player characters aim to survive as long as possible in the apocalypse. But no one gets out of here alive.
Ten Candles Supplies
- Ten tealight candles (or any candles that will burn themselves out within a few hours)
- A fireproof container
- Index cards and markers
- Recording device, such as a smart phone
- Ten six-sided dice of two different colors
- Three to six players and a GM
Ten Candle Characters
The characters need Traits, a Moment, and a Brink. Much of the character creation is a group activity, so there is no need to come up with anything beyond a basic concept (if even that) before game night.
Traits describe the character, and each person has a positive Trait (their virtue) and a negative Trait (their vice). Traits have a game mechanic function as well as informing the roleplaying.
The Moment is an event in the spotlight for each character, their chance at fleeting hope.
Brinks are hidden and come into play when the character is down. Way down. These are extreme Traits that represent things the character would never normally do.
Write a Character
The group lights three of the ten candles then each person writes one virtue Trait and one vice Trait on separate index cards. They pass these cards to other players.
After the GM sets the scene by reading the module introduction, the players brainstorm character concepts that work with the situation the GM described and the Traits their friends gifted them with. They can make a few notes about their character on a Concept Card.
Plan Moments of Hope
With three more lit candles, the players settle on their Moments: a personal scene or event for their character in which they will find hope. At the top of a fresh card, each player writes “I will find hope…” then fills it in with the Moment they have in mind. The Moment event should be 1) reasonable, 2) clearly worded, 3) flexible. Some examples: “I will find hope in a moment of prayer at a quiet church.” Or “I will find hope when the fallout shelter’s door closes.”
The group will weave the Moments into the story as it unfolds, and a successful roll will indicate the character has gained hope (and an extra die) during their time in the spotlight.
What About the Brinks of Despair?
After lighting three more candles, the group considers their Brinks. The Brink is a hidden Trait and represents the extremes to which the character might go. Each player writes a Brink for another player. On a blank card, they write “I’ve seen you…,” then complete the thought with something dark and dangerous. The phrase needs to be short and applicable to many situations.
Ten Candle Scenes
Final Arraignments
The characters begin the game with whatever the players actually have in their pockets. They set the Concept Card aside, then make a stack with the rest of the cards, Brinks on the bottom with Traits and Moments in any order desired. Only the top card for each player is active.
Game Play
Lighting the final candle, the group begins the story, told together through a series of scenes. The candles’ burning time will determine the length of the scenes. Early snuff out, either as part of game play or randomly (the way candles do), shortens the scenes, or eliminates them completely.
As in most RPGs, the GM is running the monsters as well as other natural and man-made obstacles. As the group encounters these challenges, any that are complex, risky, or amenable to a chance outcome will require a conflict roll. The active player at that moment rolls the communal dice pool. The game starts with ten six-sided dice, but the number of dice in the pool fluctuates and gradually decreases as the game progresses.
Narration rights is a good thing to have; the narrator at any given moment can describe how the conflict plays out, such as what is behind the locked door the party has successfully kicked in. A food cache? A vampire? The GM and players make an opposed roll to control the story. However, the players can seize the narration by snuffing out a candle. (Which advances the game timer.)
Literally Burning a Trait
Is conflict resolution always up to chance? No. In case of a failed conflict role, an active player with an active Trait can burn that trait for a reroll. They work the Trait into the conflict narration—how it helps them succeed, then burn the card (safely, in the fireproof container). If they fail the roll and their Brink is active, they may embrace it and reroll their entire dice pool, also working the Brink into the conflict narration and subsequent roleplaying.
A Change of Scene
A snuffed candle, deliberate or accidental, brings on a new scene. Stuff has happened, things are different now, and reality is formally acknowledged at the end of every scene.
Establishing Truths
Going around the table, the GM and players can speak new truths about the story and game world. The GM says, “These things are true. The world is dark.” Each player then states a single truth, continuing until the number of truths equals the number of now-lit candles. The final truth is spoken in creepy unison, “And we are alive.” Establishing Truths is a useful game mechanic as well as storytelling device. The Truths will go forward in the story.
Ten Candles is an engaging break from your game night routine. It puts storytelling and cooperation front and center. (Along with burning things.) It brings back the delights of campfire ghost stories with interesting twists, and you can play it with objects readily found around your home or bunker.
Attention to gaming safety (emotional) will ensure a good time for people with varying levels of interest in horror. For example, degree and type of violence, whether violence happens on or off stage, protect the animals, etc. Even if you aren’t a great fan of things that go bump in the night, you might want to give Ten Candles a try.
Have you played Ten Candles? How did it go for you? What is your favorite Halloween gaming fun? Share it in a comment on this blog. (Click the blog title and scroll down to see the comment box.) If you enjoyed reading about this collaborative storytelling game, you might like my review of Microscope.
The Big Cinch from Montag Press, is an award-winning supernatural noir adventure by Kathy L. Brown. Sean Joye, a fae-touched young veteran of 1922’s Irish Civil War, aims to atone for his assassin past and make a clean, new life in America. Until he asks the wrong questions…
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