Knowing the Game
> What is Spirit Guide?
Spirit Guide is a pick-up-and-play TTRPG set in the real
world, mostly. The game takes at minimum two players,
with no hard upper limit for the maximum number of
players. In Spirit Guide, players explore the mystical
Spirit World usually hidden from everyday perception.
In the Spirit World, players may encounter wayward
souls, spirits, demons, and any assortment of monsters
both malevolent and benevolent.
> Reading this Handbook
This handbook describes all of the mechanics of Spirit
Guide. Many specific aspects of the game are Bolded
when they are first defined, to make recognizing
important information and finding definitions easier.
Playing the Game
> Roles
In a campaign of Spirit Guide, players are assigned one
of two roles.
> The Seer is the game’s facilitator, referee, and
the one in charge of designing the world the other
group experiences. The Seer ‘sees’ into the Spirit World
and describes the goings on to the other group,
granting them the ability to do the same temporarily.
> The Mages are the game’s explorers and
heroes, they are the sole humans able to interact with
the Spirit World from the Material World. Mages follow
guidance from the Seer to achieve their goals, usually
encouraging peace amongst spirits.
> Picking a Deck
All Mages’ Resonance Deck has an Affinity, determined
by the Suit of the cards in the deck. Your Affinity
determines which Aspect you’re best at and which
Aspect troubles you. A deck’s Affinity is elemental,
aligning to Fire, Earth, Water, or Air.
> Fire decks have the Hearts suit. The Fire
Affinity means you are best at Anchorage and are
troubled by Balance. You are powerful and
unpredictable.
> Earth decks have the Spades suit. The Earth
Affinity means you are best at Resonance and are
troubled by Attunement. You are knowledgeable and
grounded.
> Air decks have the Diamonds suit. The Air
Affinity means you are best at Attunement and are
troubled by Resonance. You are present and collected.
> Water decks have the Clubs suit. The Water
Affinity means you are best at Balance and are troubled
by Anchorage. You are true and untethered.
> Spiritual Aspects
> The Spirit World
Everything in the Spirit world has many traits that make
up how it behaves and what it is capable of. Having an
The Spirit World is an entire universe that occupies the
affinity in one of these Aspects makes one especially
same space as the Material World that everyone lives
significant. A Mage’s Aspects determine the degree to
in outside of the game, without directly interacting with
what they can or cannot accomplish. The four Aspects
it. The Spirit World is the realm in which all flavors of
are
souls, spirits, and other mystical creatures not found in
the Material world exist and live.
> Anchorage - How strongly one holds on to the
Spirit World, how they can change it. Someone with an
affinity for Anchorage may be able to easily move a
large boulder.
> Attunement - How much control one has of
themselves, what limits of the reality they can
circumvent. Someone with an affinity for Attunement
may be able to effortlessly fly.
> Balance - How well one can maintain or
promote equilibrium, what ways they can evade
conflict. Someone with an affinity for Balance may be
able to talk an old spirit out of an ancient grudge.
> Resonance - How well linked one is to their
perceptions, how they understand and intuit the world
around them. Someone with an affinity for Resonance
may know who is standing in a river just by hearing the
water’s flow.
> Exploring
> Uncertainty and Resonance
It is the job of the Mages to experience the Spirit World,
Any time the outcome of an event is uncertain, the Seer
but must do so through the help of the Seer. When the
Seer is present, they may describe anything they
observe in the Spirit World. They reveal what
deviations there are from the Material World and what
goings-on populate the Mages’ surroundings. From this
point, Mages are capable of interacting with the Spirit
World for as long as the Seer is there to describe.
If the Seer isn’t present, they are still capable of
revealing aspects of the Spirit World to a Mage. A
Mage may supply a Seer with a photograph or video for
the Seer to describe, revealing a snapshot of the Spirit
World in the moment the photo or video was taken.
Digital communication like this is useful for finding
unique spiritual locations, quests, and items. This
approach is limited, though, and isn’t conducive to more
complicated activities like conversing with spirits or
starting quests.
The most effective method of play is for the Mages to
find unique locations, share them with the Seer to learn
what lives in the Spirit World in that place, and then
convene in person to explore them more in depth.
and a Mage may attempt a Resonance, or the
attempted alignment of spiritual wavelengths to
influence something in the Spirit World, done by
drawing cards from a deck. When a Resonance is done,
all players involved in the check draw a card from their
Resonance Deck. The players then find their Degree of
Resonance.
A Degree of Resonance is the numerical distance
between the players’ cards. To find the Degree of
Resonance, start with a drawn cardand count either up
or down to the card the other player drew, incrementing
your Degree of Resonance by 1 for each step. For most
checks, a Degree of Resonance of 3 or less is
considered successful, with higher degrees causing
complications.
> Face Cards have unique values for counting
Degrees of Resonance. Jacks count as 11, Queens count
as 12, and Kings count as 13. Aces count as both 1 or
14 and may cause the count of resonance to “wrap
around” the range of numbers by counting from two to
Ace to king or the other way around. Jokers cause a
special event, to be discovered by the Seer.