Cursed Chronicle • 2018 rpg

You are historians charting the course of a cursed Artifact through the ages. You'll need a deck of cards and up to 9 players.

Decide what the Artifact is: an item and descriptor. Give it a Boon and a Curse. Example: Silver Goblet, Wealth / Violence.

Take as many numbered cards as players, making an unbroken sequence starting with 2. Shuffle and deal one to everyone, face down.

Shuffle together all face cards and one Ace. Deal one to everyone, face down, ensuring someone gets the Ace. Never reveal yours.

You will tell the history of an Artifact Bearer. Your number represents their order in the Artifact's succession, 2 being most recent. Your face card suggests their Fate:

Hearts: Passion
Diamonds: Vice
Spades: Conflict
Clubs: Growth
Jack: Family
King: Enemy
Queen: Stranger

Take turns: Reveal your number, then describe your Bearer. Tell how:
... they acquired the Artifact,
... its Boon and Curse affected them,
... they died.

Weave a consistent chronicle of the Artifact's history.

However: the Ace-holder is the current Bearer of the Artifact, covetous of its Boon. Tell an apocryphal history of your assigned Bearer, warping the other players' histories.

At the end, players try to determine who the Bearer is.