a u ry k o

T E
Fo S H N
&P Ic
DIGITAL ILLUSTRATIONS: Casey Cookson, Sam Mameli
EDITING & PROOFREADING: Shasta Howe
SONG LYRICS: Gabe Soria
WRITING, ILLUSTRATION, LAYOUT: Cecil Howe
BASED ON PRIOR WORKS BY: Robert J. Schwalb
SPECIAL THANKS TO: Ofelia, Adelaide, Shasta, Herman,
several hundred Kickstarter backers, as well as dozens of
playtesters, tom fools, well-wishers, advice givers, and friends.

© 2019 Cecil Howe Backgrounds, cartography, and page

ISBN: 978-1-7335743-1-0 arts by Cecil done in traditional
https://www.theforesthymn.com mediums. Characters by Casey and
Sam done digitally. Type is EB
Best viewed as a book, or with right Garamond and Old Cupboard
facing pages! throughout.
 t s e!
W hat you're having a gander at just now is A Cursory Guidebook To The
Forest Hymn & Picnic. You might think of it as a quick guide, or an
initial primer to the fuller tabletop adventure game that is simply called
The Forest Hymn & Picnic. As it is cursory, it has nearly everything in the game but in
a smaller amount and quickly abridged. As well, this guide only covers adventurers at
level 0, and not beyond. Keep all of this in mind as you read, and temper your
expectations accordingly!

This guide is ordered in a way to quickly introduce the world of The Forest Hymn
and explain how the game is played. After that are the sections on creating
adventurers, a short bit on magic tricks, tips for narrators, an extracurricular activity,
and several short lists of things.
 e fc s
I NTRODUCTIONS A RE I N O RDER ....
Setting Up ....................................................
THE FOREST HYMN ......................................
Forest Facts ...................................................
Life In The City ...........................................
Among The Scary Trees ............................... 2
PLAYING THE GAME; THE BASICS ......... 4
Questions & Answers .................................... 4
Throwing Dice ............................................. 1
The Conversation ......................................... 1
Testing Your Luck ........................................ 7
A Time & A Place ........................................ 8
Time & Place In Play .................................. 9
An Example Q&A Roll ............................... 19

V
C HARACTER C REATION .......................... 3
Fair Token .................................................... 3
Choosing A Forest Dweller ........................... 3
Animal Folk ................................................. 4
People ............................................................ 5
Ghosts ........................................................... 2
Characteristics .............................................. 2
Assigning The Numbers ............................... 2
Signatures .................................................... 0
Background Parcels ...................................... 2
Subjects, Grades, And You ............................ 4
Filling Your Pockets ...................................... 7
In Conclusion ............................................... 7
PLAYING THE GAME; MORE STUFFS ..... 8
Brawling ...................................................... 8
Helping Hands ............................................. 8
Getting Hurt ................................................ 9
Health Concerns ........................................... 9
Getting Unhurt ............................................ 0
Spending Money .......................................... 1
Magic Tricks ................................................ 3
NARRATOR FACTS .......................................... 6
SEVERAL LISTS .................................................. 4
ON THE POND ................................................. 0

V
 t o sa e n e !
T he Forest Hymn & Picnic is a tabletop adventure game. Like its cousins it's
played with books and pencils and papers, usually at a table crowded with
people all talking over one another and spilling their drinks. It's a game that
uses a book and dice to play make-believe. There are rules to this particular kind of
make-believe though—rules that help mitigate the details of whatever mischief you
bring upon yourselves. This book contains those rules and procedures you'll need for
playing pretend in a world of ghosts, animals that talk and wear hats, lost people,
witches, tea parties, and trees with scary faces.

In this game, there are two types of players. There is the narrator, whose task is to
create plot for the others to upend, introduce a cast of characters to meet, and to
preside happily over the rules. Everyone else will pick one of the three types of Forest
Dwellers and act as adventurers who'll be exploring the woods, diving into small
town politics, uncovering dastardly plots, and exploring old haunted ruins. There
may be a bit of theft of services here and traveling theatrics there, or even a fall festival
bake o too! Above all else, TFH&P is a game of passing times and changing seasons.
Each adventure may not be related to the one before it or after it, but they are all
quick glimpses stolen from the window as the adventurer's lives move on.

6
 g p!
P laying this game requires a few supplies: this guidebook, printed character
sheets, pencils, and erasers. You will also need a smattering of dice with sides
of 6, 12, and 20. To round out your list you will need some spare paper and a
coin. The Forest Hymn & Picnic is best enjoyed by three to ve people, two to four
hours at a time.

One of those players must be the narrator and the rest the adventurers. Narrators
will decide how the adventure will start, task challenges to be overcome, and
generally oversee how everything plays out. Adventurers will create and play Forest
Dwellers who will attempt to overcome those challenges, interact with plot points or
characters, and whose actions will decide how the adventure ends.

e th n!
B efore you can play in The Forest Hymn you should at least have a bit of
knowledge of these strange woods. It is an old and odd place. The entirety of
the world, from one edge of the map to the other, is covered in thick copses
of trees, haunted ruins, crisscrossing creeks, and rarely traveled highways. When not
giving pause to the occasional town, the forest is full to the brim with strangeness; a
gang of Raccoons and Rats might leap from an alley with their pistols drawn to
demand your purse, Ghosts bring up vegetable gardens on the grounds of their
lonely estates, and travelers might be drawn to a night's rest by following the gentle
smell of a pie cooling in a window. Brigands terrorize the road in broad daylight, a
band of Dogs take up as funeral musicians, woodwitches trade lies over drinks and
cards, and folks everywhere seem to constantly be readying the place for whatever the
next celebration may be.

Adventurers have their choice of three types of Forest Dweller in this world, each
covered with more detail in character creation. There are the aloof and ever
pragmatic People, who've been dropped into the laps of other dwellers by The Stork
and are bit out of place. Animal Folk are the most commonly encountered dweller,
and they are the walking and talking civilized relations of the more wild animals of
the forest. Finally there are the Ghosts; becostumed spirits with a penchant for the
supernatural and a curiosity for exploring the similarly strange Forest Hymn.

What follows is a brief overview of the world in which this game takes place.

7
 S S !
T his book is only a cursory guide, and as such it deserves an
equally cursory guide to the woods you'll be traipsing in and out
of. Do not think of this as the only information true of the world,
however, as Forest Dweller descriptions, adventure prompts, magic
tricks, and many other facets of this game each work hand in hand to
illuminate the ner details of The Forest Hymn.

Magic seems to permeate everything in the woods. It ebbs and ows

as the seasons change. Forest Dwellers attuned to the seasons can use
magic for very neat tricks! Very bad things and very good things can
come from these parlor illusions.

Despite being very full of scurrying Forest Dwellers all coming and
going on their curious business, the woods seem to always feel empty.

Ruined towns, manors, estates, and villages can be found hiding

secrets throughout the woods. They were left unguarded by Old
People and others have since moved in—some not so nice!

Those who live in The Forest Hymn are called Forest Dwellers,
and the three most prominent would be the curious People, the
gumptious Animal Folk, and the reclusive Ghosts. There are other
creatures in the woods—Riverbelles, Fellers, and Skeletons, to name
only several—but the bulk of this game concerns only these three.

The forest gives pause here and there to low hills, small clearings,
and shadowy hollows where the Forest Dwellers have built their small
towns.

Old highways and trails that connect one town to another tend to
disappear or change their ways, and no one can explain this nor predict
it. As a result there is no known atlas. Only the Postal Carriers seem to
go unbothered by this.

8
The witching hour in The Forest Hymn is twilight; just before
supper, before a stomach can be too full to get anything productive
done.

Festivals, celebrations, holidays, and fairs are all storied a airs. If

they could, Forest Dwellers would set the gears of their pocket watches
by whenever the next shindig is scheduled.

Manners and customs are likewise important in The Forest Hymn.

To be caught wearing an unfashionable cap or to be overheard singing
the wrong words at choir practice is to be the subject of much gossip.

If one were to walk into the village public house to nd a brawl

has broken out over which meal of the day is best, it would be business
as usual. Usually these quiet down until an argument begins over
whether bourbon or wine pairs better with breakfast.

Forest Dwellers are deeply superstitious and prone to being easily

scared. Most never venture very far from their homes and only the
bravest will step o the road in search of adventure.

Food is venerated among all who live in the woods. Family recipes
are invaluable treasures, a garden of heirloom vegetables is consecrated
ground, and every meal is a feast. A plate is o ered to even the worst of
enemies.

The forest is far too thick and woody for traveling any way other
than on foot, but the highways are often navigated by bicycle or cart.
As well, at bottomed boats driven by pole and the occasional great big
paddle-wheel boat can be spotted on the rivers.

Outside a town's wooden post and rail fence, nothing is ever as it

seems—lies, cheats, illusions, mischief, magic, and thievery run amok
through the woods. In some towns, the situation barely fares better.

9
 i e n e t !
D otting the tops of hills and sleeping deep in the hollows are the many
towns and villages of The Forest Hymn. Each varies in size from just a few
or so Forest Dwellers to several hundred. Many creatures live in the woods
and in the country, but those lonely estates and noisy boarding homes are not
covered in this book! What is included, however, is a cursory look at a typical town
you might stumble across.
01. School houses are one or two room a airs curiously found on the edge of town
or further a eld. Some think this is so students living in the woods are not tardy, and
some think it is so Monsters creeping from the Spookwood will get the children rst.

02. Town Halls are where Forest Dwellers gather for important town matters,
mayoral elections, and other very o cial, bureaucratic matters.

03. Libraries can be found in almost every village and town the forest over—they are
great centers of learning and research. Despite agreeing that libraries are very good,
most dwellers never set a foot inside of one.

04. Public houses and shops tend to dominate the lots closest to town halls and
commerce chambers. In larger towns with many business owners and very wealthy
dwellers, you would nd a Third Bank Of The Stork nearby.

05. Farms and elds can be found on the edges of town and creeping dangerously
close to wherever the woods begin and city life ends. Farmers grow crops not just for
eating, but for show as well. Most holidays and fairs have a competition for the
largest vegetables or things pickled well.

06. Homes have beds and Forest Dwellers are fond of sleeping! Every house in the
woods—nestled into town or otherwise—has a unique smell of whatever that
family's best recipes are, having been cooked most often.

07. Greens and lawns can be found between buildings or up against the fences that
keep the woods from reclaiming towns. During holidays and festivals and fairs,
these public areas are teeming with well wishers and merry makers, carnival
games and rides, grange displays, and great spreads of food. Local grumps
quite enjoy letting the mayor know how much a nuisance these areas can
be.

08. Mills, whether they are the watermills of towns in low hollows or
windmills on high hilltop towns, are vital in making bread. In The Forest
Hymn bread is highly regarded as a symbol of all foods, which is of course
a constant conversational topic.

09. Post O ces are in every single village and town throughout the woods.
Without exception, every town has one. The Postal Carriers are themselves a bit of
a mystery, as no one else seems to be able to navigate the labyrinthine roads as well as
they can.

10. Barns have horses and cows, the latter of which is very important for cake.

1
 o g e a yt s!
I mproper and disingenuous is what you might call it if you were only provided
a cursory guide to the more pleasant sides of The Forest Hymn. So presented
thusly, like the warnings of a concerned mother, are a few cursory details of the
more sinister side of these strange woods.

On a dry, well-lit day the woods are quiet and nice enough. If you can nish with
your errands unbothered before the sun sets, or if you avoid becoming lost, then The
Forest Hymn is a downright pleasant place. But Spookwood is the death of that, the
end of health and good tidings. Wherever patches of this haunted wood roam, only
nastiness and ruination and catastrophe can be found.

You'll know you've stumbled into this by the agonized looks the trees give you, their
trunks twisted into faces of horror and contempt. The sky will darken, the only bird
song you'll hear will be the shrill caw of the crow, and the air is cold enough that even
on the hottest summer day you will see your breath. It is a dangerous place where the
trees trip you at every step or knock the hat from your head as you pass beneath their
naked branches!

But the trees are not the worst of it—not by far—as that would be the vicious and
ribald Monsters that call Spookwood home. They are creatures of fear manifested.
Superstitions, misheard bumps in the night, whatever lurks under the bed, or even
being afraid of trying split pea soup are all fears that can transform the malevolent
magic of the Spookwood into a terrible Monster.

There is a light however, and it is the Skeletons who call the Spookwood home.
Unlike the Monsters, Skeletons aren't involved with any disastrous and villainous
behavior. They gather to play their upbeat funeral music, gamble at cards and dice,
and will heartily welcome anyone lost among the dead, scary trees of the Spookwood.
While Monsters can and will leave the Spookwood, the Skeletons can not—not a
single bone can be set across the line that separates the sunlit forest from the haunted
one. There are tales of Skeletons trading secrets and magic tricks to any lost fool who
can help them keep their instruments in good repair.

2
 a g e ; s!
N ow that you are a bit more cozy with the woods, you could perhaps
make your rst adventurer. But that would be a small mistake, as you
wouldn't know what each of the bits and baubles on your character
sheet do. This section will explain the game's procedures so that when you are truly
ready to create your adventurer you will not be lost in the woods. Have a blank
character sheet on hand to easily reference as you read.

In tabletop adventure games there are rules to resolve challenges that crop up in play.
Looking for tracks on the road, shooing over-stayed company from a friend's cottage,
or attempting to decipher some ancient recipe for pudding are a few examples of
actions that are resolved with dice. A dice roll is best used when the narrator presents
a challenge to the adventurers and the outcome is not easily predicted. Walking from
one house to the next in broad daylight needs no dice roll, but sneaking between
bushes at night would certainly require it!

o s& e s!
W hen the narrator prompts you with a challenge or obstacle with
unknowable results, you will make a Question & Answer (Q&A) dice
roll. The question is the challenge at hand and the answer is the total
result of your dice roll. For example, the question might be "can I outrun these
bandits on the road!?" and after your dice roll the answer could be "I only rolled a 7
and could not outrun those highway robbers." After which, you and the other
adventures would get a chance to react to whatever happens next. Nearly every roll
you make must meet or exceed 10 for a success. Your answer results are not only just a
failure or just a success, however.

Answer results of 1 to 4 are utter failures, or ops. You may not attempt the same
thing in the same way, and must nd another way to overcome a challenge. A locked
door cannot be opened and whoever locked it might spot you in your burglary. Flops
generally lead to retreat or defeat.

Answer results of 5 to 9 are only partial failures, or ukes. You may have failed your
attempt, but there is still hope. A locked door might not open but a passersby might
tell you they believe the second story window is loose enough to open, if you can
reach it. Flukes generally add a new challenge in reaching the same goal, without
causing any real harm or alarm.

4
Answer results of 10 to 15 are normal successes, or favors. Nothing bad happens,
nothing stupendous happens. A locked door is opened and the adventure can
continue.

Answer results of 16 to 20 are resounding successes, or fortunes. Not only is the

challenge overcome, but some additionally great thing might happen. A locked door
is unlocked, and whoever locked it is out for the night. And they've left the lights on
for you! Fortunes generally lead to removing further challenges.

h g e!
T hese Question & Answer rolls use a combination of the twenty-sided die
(d20), characteristic modi ers (MOD), and additional six-sided dice (d6)
in the form of gifts or gags. Gifts add to your rolls while gags subtract from
them; but you only ever use the highest result of your gifts or gags with your answer
total. For example, if you are adding two gifts to your Q&A roll then you would roll
1d20 plus the highest result of 2d6—if the d20 lands on 11 and your d6s come up 3
and 5, then your total answer is 16. 5 is the higher of the two gifts, and is added to the
11.

In the case of two gags it would be subtracted; you would roll 1d20 minus the
highest result of 2d6. If your results are again 11 on the d20 along with 3 and 5 on
the d6s then your total answer is 6. Again, 5 is the highest of the two gags and is
subtracted from 11. Gifts and gags cancel one another out on a one-to-one ratio: if
your Q&A roll has 2 gifts and 1 gag, you would only need to roll a single gift because
the gag took away one of the gifts.

Modi ers come from your primary characteristics, and contribute only small
numbers to your Q&A rolls. For example, you may have an agility MOD of +2 that
would add 2 to your answer total, or subtract 2 from the answer total if your agility
MOD is -2. Gifts and gags come from your subject grades. If you have a grade of +1
in a subject, then you would add a 1d6 gift to your Q&A, or if the grade is -2 then
you would add 2d6 gags to the roll. Characteristics, MODs, subjects, and grades
are all outlined in the character creation section of this guide.

Q&A S L L E E O N
O ET NT E X A D6 R L

1
 ec e o !
S urmounting challenges with Q&A rolls requires a quick back and forth
conversation between the narrator and the adventurers. Adventurers must tell
the narrator how they want to overcome the challenge or what they want to
do. Narrators would then tell adventurers what trouble might come with that plan,
or at least give them time to discus the various pitfalls therein. It is during this
conversation when both the adventurers and narrator would decide which subjects
and characteristics would apply to a Q&A roll.

1
Imagine an adventurer wants to somersault over a rushing creek to audition for a
traveling circus, and imagine that they are good at acrobatics and strong in the leg.
They would tell the narrator that the plan is to apply their agility MOD as well as
their grade in the funambulist subject to their Q&A roll. The narrator would then
tell the adventurer that since this is an audition, they would need to impress the
ringmaster to get the job, and would need to apply whatever their grade in
entertainer might be. Looking over their character sheet the adventurer sees a grade
of only +1 in funambulist and -3 in entertainer, which would give their roll two gags.
At this point the adventurer could either continue with the Q&A roll or devise a new
plan. Adventurers can and should apply their subjects and modi ers in any
combination that they can devise, as long as it seems feasible and everyone at the table
agrees it makes sense.

g u k!
Y ou may notice on the blank character sheet you've been cross referencing as
you read, that there is a characteristic for luck, and a spot for your fair
token. When you rst make your adventurer you will get a luck score and
you will ip a coin to determine whether your fair token is heads or tails. Both your
token result and luck score can be used whenever you make a Q&A roll to attempt
changing your fate. Testing your luck gives you a chance to turn a op or a uke into
a favor—or, a failure into a success. Choosing to test your luck should be done
sparingly, as it depletes your luck score, and you cannot test your luck if your score
has been reduced to 0.

To test your luck you must have at least a score of 1 in your luck characteristic, and
you must declare before you make the Q&A roll that you intend to test your luck.
First subtract 1 from your luck score, then make both your Q&A roll and ip a coin
at the same moment. If your answer total is less than 10, a op or uke, but your
coin toss lands the same side up as your fair token then the failure is ignored and the
answer is considered a success of 10, or a favor.

Testing your luck can only change answer results to 10; if you test your luck and your
answer result is a favor, it does not become a fortune upon having good luck. No
one is that stupendously lucky.

7
 e& e!
A s it were, time is very important in The Forest Hymn. Animal Folk keep it
meticulously, Ghosts are intrigued by it, but People are bored by it.
Arriving on time for appointments is duly expected. Even magic and the
supernatural operate on a schedule. Place is paramount as well; everyone has a place
at the table, every Forest Dweller has a place they feel at home—each lost thing is in
the last place you look! These are not just facts true in the world of The Forest
Hymn, they are true of the rules to this game as well. As you make your way through
the woods and dabble in adventuring you do so in places and each action takes time.
Below is a cursory overview of the times and places this game uses, with more speci c
details throughout the guide as needed.

Theaters are large, abstract places. A theater could be an entire town, a haunted
manor, a low valley, or even a particular stretch of woodland highway. The size of a
theater is not as important as what it contains, which are the various stages linked by
something in common. Think of theaters as areas that would take quite some time to
explore or navigate.

Stages are smaller abstract places. If the theater is the town, then the stages would be
the individual buildings within it. The public house would be a stage, the mayor's
basement would be a stage, and the neighboring tailor's house would be yet another
stage. In a highway theater, a portion of the road would be a stage and a covered
bridge over a river might be another. Like theaters, the size of a stage is not as
important as what it contains; a small area of space an adventurer might easily move
about or explore by eyesight alone.

The schedule is how a narrator tracks each day. On the narrator's script the schedule
is divided into 10 boxes. Like places, the schedule is abstract; a single box is not a
speci c hour in the day, rather it is a portion of the day. Two of the boxes, however,
are labelled sunrise and twilight to give everyone their bearings. As time passes the
narrator will check o schedule boxes to show the day passing by, and once all of the
boxes are checked a new day begins.

Spring, summer, autumn, and winter are the four regularly occurring, predictable
seasons in The Forest Hymn. Each lasts approximately 90 days and makes up the 360
day year of the Banquet Calendar. Years are not numbered, rather they are ordered
and named Breakfast, Lunch, and Supper. Each new year begins when the mealtime
of that year is enjoyed—a great celebration of pancakes and eggs, hazelnut crepes and
blackberries, sausage and co ee at sunrise would ring in a new Breakfast Year! As you
might expect, once a Supper year has ended the next year begins with a Breakfast year
and so on and so forth.

8
 e& e n a !
P lace is primarily a narrator's tool, and one way stages and theaters are used is
to add and remove di culty to situations. For example, you might be
preparing to make a Q&A roll to eavesdrop in a very crowded ballroom. The
ballroom is the stage, and because it is crowded and loud—all that waltzing and
whatnot—it becomes much harder to eavesdrop. In this case the narrator would
impose an extra gag on your Q&A roll because of how loud the room is.

Place is also used as a way to contain the signature moves or magic tricks you gain
during character creation. For example, a magic trick that causes a very swift gust of
wind may e ect the entire theater you're in, thus creating mischief in stages other
than the one from where you used the trick.

Time and place intersect mostly in travel; traipsing about the woods through various
stages and theaters moves the schedule forward block by block. Some signatures and
magic tricks work di erently depending on how far along the schedule is. The
schedule is also used when recovering wounds, which is covered later.

Finally, seasons can provide a way for narrators to add a variety of weathers to their
adventures. More importantly though, seasons e ect magic; some magics ow
through the forest easier during certain seasons. For example, Starling's Note is a well
known spring trick that will compel a ock of starlings to write a note in the sky. If
you were to use this trick in any of the other three seasons, it will be much harder to
pull o . It may even have a completely di erent outcome! This guide has a small
excerpt of magic tricks in the following pages.

n eq a l!
N ow we will turn all of this into a cursory example of play; a sum of all its
parts in working order. Imagine your good friend Fiona is playing this
game through the eyes of an Animal Folk, a young Deer called Petal. In
this example Petal needs an evening primrose—a yellow ower that blooms only at
night—to ask their darling to an upcoming dance. The example includes the initial
challenge, with an example of each potential outcome.

9
 NARRATOR: "The schedule is just after twilight, making
it harder to see and putting a gag on any Q&A rolls
Petal—a Deer unless you use a light. If you're trying to spot some
played by Fiona—is primrose without going over the wall, use any grades
attempting to steal
you have in bouquet, reconnoiter, or slink to add gifts
some evening
primrose in their and gags to your roll."
hometown. We join
Petal peering over a FIONA: "Petal has a +1 in bouquet, a +1 in slink and
stone wall into nothing in reconnoiter, but I still want to make the
Young Oak Q&A roll trying to spot some primrose before I go into
Sonnet's cemetery,
where the Ghost the cemetery."
lives and is known
to grow this NARRATOR: "Sounds great! You can make your roll with
particular ower. one gift; since the nighttime gag cancels out one of your
two gifts."

Example 1: Flop. Fiona makes their Q&A roll: 1d20 lands on 2 and the 1d6 gift lands
on 1, for a total answer of 3.

NARRATOR: "An answer result of 3 is a op; you peer over the wall but are unable
to see much of anything at all.

Example 2: Fluke. Fiona makes their Q&A roll: 1d20 lands on 8 and the 1d6
gift lands on 1, for a total answer of 9.

NARRATOR: "A 9! That's a uke! You peer over the stone wall and see some
nearby primrose, but you knock over a stone in the wall and Young Oak
comes out of their door! They don't see you, but sneaking will be harder."

Example 3: Favor. Fiona makes their Q&A roll: 1d20 lands on 6 and the
1d6 gift lands on 6, for a total answer of 12.

NARRATOR: "A 12 is a favor! You look over the stone wall, spotting
some evening primrose about twenty feet in front of you. You'll need
to go in, but you'll be safe from being seen."

Example 4: Fortune. Fiona makes their Q&A roll: 1d20 lands on 15

and the 1d6 gift lands on 4, for a total answer of 19.

NARRATOR: "A fortune! 19 is a great roll. Before you look into the
cemetery, you notice—just out of the corner of your eye—several
beautiful primrose blooms growing at the foot of the wall. This won't
even count as stealing!"

0
1
 c a e o !
N ow that you know the basics of how The Forest Hymn & Picnic is
played, you can make your forest adventurer. You should have the
following: a character sheet, dice, your coin, a pencil, and an eraser.
Think of character creation as playing along; as you read through the following pages
each of the spaces and words on the character sheet will be explained as you ll them
in. Be sure to use a pencil while writing on the character sheet, as your adventurer
will begin to change and become more unique throughout the process and you may
need to erase!

i n!
C haracter creation begins by determining your fair token. Forest Dwellers
are a superstitious lot and you'll nd very few who don't believe in luck.
Most adventurers will use their token to test their luck during Q&A roles,
and certain types of fortune tellers or witches can change luck through signatures
and magic tricks! To determine your fair token, ip a coin into the air and write
down whether it lands on heads or tails in the fair token line on your character sheet.

c ea
A fter you've marked down your
fair token you will need to pick
a type of Forest Dweller:
Animal Folk, People, or Ghost. In the
following pages you will nd brief
descriptions of each option. Once you've
made your decision, write it down in the
character sheet section labeled
description. Be sure to leave room to add
to this spot as you go.
t e !
Picking a type of Forest
Dweller is only the very
beginning—adventuring
characters for this game start
with generic details and
quickly taper to become very
unique. For example, if you
pick an Animal Folk in this
step, you will determine exactly
what kind of Animal they are
in just a few pages. Likewise, if
you choose to play a Ghost
now, you will pick an
outlandish costume for them
soon enough!

3
 l k!
W hen the rst generations of Old People began leaving The Forest
Hymn, the animals walked out of the woods and put on their clothes.
They read books, learned to talk, and picked up the rusting tools found
in crumbling workshops. The animals moved into the old houses and beat the dust
from the drapes, repaired the fences, and they made themselves a comfortable new lot
in life. People had all but vanished, and Animal Folk were enjoying their things
immensely.

These days, the Animal Folk are the most plentiful of the Forest Dwellers; they're a
pleasant crowd and most of them are content to lead simple lives. It's rare for Animal
Folk to travel too terribly far from the town they've always lived in. They've rebuilt
old places and moved in their cousins and sisters and they've elected mayors. They
teach the young ones how to read, which fork to use for salad, and how to properly
wear a napkin on the tops of their heads. You could describe the Animal Folks as
pretending to be people, but they do a good enough job of it that their odd
mannerisms are often overlooked.

Not all Animal Folk are content to play house and raise vegetables before it gets too
cold. These Forest Dwellers have a knack for getting into trouble; they excel at the
ner arts of burglary and con dence games, skullduggery and mischief. Even the
most well-meaning of them are prone to throwing inhibition into the wind to get
what they want.

l k s!
T here is nearly no such thing as an Animal Folk family secret. Recipes,
hidden fortunes, closeted skeletons, and even scandalous a airs tend to
become town history in short, due time. Gossip is ensconced among these
gabby creatures about as well as a shallow creek holds a heavy rain.

Animal Folk of the bird variety do not y, and no one is sure why. No one seems to
be bothered by it either, as going up in a pedal balloon is far more thrilling!

It is customary in The Forest Hymn to capitalize the rst letter when writing the
type of animal an Animal Folk is. This helps separate the wild animals from the city
going ones. For example, a frog might keep you up at night with their endless
croaking but a Frog might keep you up at night while drunkenly blowing into a
stolen clarinet.

4
 e!
P eople are few in The Forest Hymn. Once upon a time they wandered to
and fro without care, cutting back the forest and staking their claims.
Where they went is still a mystery to most, but most don't care too
much to gure it out. The forest is strange enough without the worry of some
mystery in the back of everyone's mind.

When they nally did return, it was in the basket of The Stork; a drunkard
who let loose a bundle over owing with cooing, crying children into the
woods. This has repeated often enough that the People have returned. When
they can, Animal Folk and Ghost alike will take in the orphaned People and
raise them as proper as possible. But People are naturally lost in the woods;
wandering o for odd reasons and nding themselves in constant trouble.

People possess curiousness of the wood and a toughness about them that most
Animal Folk consider rude or imposing and that Ghosts nd intriguing.
Unlike the other Forest Dwellers that prefer to settle down, People prefer to
leave their foster homes and wander in the woods—hoping to maybe nd a
way out and back to wherever they're from, or to explore the ruinous places
left lying about the place by Old People. What few that stay will take up steady
jobs or learn some trade, staying as patiently nearby their families as they can
stand.

e s!
N ot even the oldest Ghost can remember why the Old People disappeared
and will often join People in the woods for a chance at jogging their
memories, or discovering some forgotten detail.

Even People that take to picnicking in the woods and disappearing for months on
end will visit their mothers in the winter. They also often show up out of nowhere to
sporting events, hoping to win.

People have a penchant for ghting that their foster parents try to drive out of them.
Young People who don't shake their bad manners tend to set out into the woods
looking for a ght.

5
 t s!
Ghosts are as quick as People and Animal Folk to fall in
love with the smell of freshly baked breads or a good roast
warming in the hearth. Despite being able to smell, they
cannot eat. To keep proper company they will simply
pretend to eat or politely decline, feigning having a late
meal just prior. Again and despite this, Ghost make
excellent cooks!
Most Ghosts are quite reclusive—tending their gardens
and reading their books in peace are their hobbies of
choice. Occasionally, however, you'll nd them as bakers,
farmers, or even keeping shop.
 s!
O f all the strangeness and unease that slinks among the trees of The
Forest Hymn, Ghosts are probably the least worrisome and far
more agreeable than those damned Monsters stalking about the
Spookwood. Ghosts live among the People and Animal Folk of the woods;
they're a mostly polite lot who prefer to keep to themselves or a small coterie
of company. Despite that they are essentially the living dead, Forest Dwellers
are delighted to call a Ghost their neighbor.

A Ghost is a shapeless mist, a gust of life that can be blown away in a light wind
to never be heard from again and so they dress accordingly. The clothes they wear
are lled to the brim with odds and ends to keep them stapled to the forest oor, and
then tightly sewn or tied shut—holding them in and giving them all the faculties of
People and Animal folk alike. Of the few Forest Dwellers who view the world with a
scholarly lens, most agree that the costumes a Ghost wears has some connection to
their former life.

There is no doubt that The Forest Hymn is blanketed by an eerie fog of the
supernatural; it makes the hairs on the necks of people stand straight and it's what
convinces old missus Pig to button the shutters tight when the sun goes down.
Ghosts pay it no mind, however, as they seem to have a natural attunement for what
many would call the occult.

2
 c a e s!
O nce you've picked your Forest Dweller you will assign characteristics.
Primary characteristics are a measure of a few fundamental traits; higher
scores mean you do well in an area and lower scores are slight weaknesses.
Secondary characteristics are traits that are less set in stone than the others. These
characteristics are far more prone to change and are often in uenced situationally.

Each of the three primary characteristics have a possible score of 5 to 15—with an

average score of 10—as well as a bonus modi er labeled MOD on your character
sheet. The modi er is determined by how far above or below 10 the characteristic is.
For example, if you start with a strength characteristic of 11 it gives you a modi er of
+1. If you happen to start with a strength of 9 then your strength modi er is -1.
Secondary characteristics do not have modi ers. Over the course of the game your
characteristics may change, going up or down, and each time they change you must
be sure to change the modi er as well.

g e e s!
F or primary characteristics you will assign and record on your character sheet
the following numbers in any order to strength, agility, and resolve: 11, 10,
and 9. After you've chosen which number will live where, remember to
determine each modi er. Once you've done that, determine your secondary
characteristics by assigning the following numbers to health, wealth, and luck: 4, 3,
and 3. Your defense score is equal to your agility score.

c a
p ae y s c a
c e
a ys
n , ,9 o n , ,3 o
t h h
t h
e k
n n e ! n n e !

2
 Y C S S
STRENGTH is your physical mettle. The number of pies you can eat
or how many graves you can dig and then rob before sunrise. This
isn't simply a measure of muscle, however; you'd be quite surprised
how large a slice of pie a very small Mouse could eat! Great strength
can even come from knowing to lift with your knees and not your
back. Use for tasks of the body.

AGILITY is your re exes and dexterity; how deftly you can get away
from Old Man Buttons after you've quietly stolen apples from his
cart. But it isn't enough for agility to be speed alone, so much as it is
a measure how well you move your body in whatever way you can.
Keep in mind that a Forest Dweller who's bound to a crutch is still
capable of being very agile. Use for tasks of movement.

RESOLVE is power of concentration and determination, willpower,

and your connection to the supernatural. This characteristic is a
measure of heart and mind, something deeply personal and found
in many di erent ways. Use for tasks of the heart, and of magic.

C N Y C S S
HEALTH is your general fortitude; a measure of just how hurt you
can get before you are too hurt. Beside the box where you record
your health is a box to record wounds . If the number of wounds
you have becomes the same as or higher than your health score you
fall unconscious.

WEALTH is your purchasing power. Rather than tracking each and

every penny you pick up o the ground, wealth is used to generalize
the amount of money you have access too—whether it comes from
your coin purse, a debt owed to you, or from the deep pockets of
your rich aunt.

LUCK is precisely as it sounds; the chance that you bump into the
love of your life on the street rather than a pickpocketing piller.

DEFENSE is the barrier that separates you from not taking a wound
or taking one. Your defense can be bolstered by magic tricks,
signatures, or even by wearing a thick barrel around yourself. Your
defense score can never be lower than your agility score.

9
 u s!
O ne of the neat things that comes with each adventurer is a signature. These
are useful faculties and techniques you can use to accomplish things in
ways simply using your subjects could not. Some of them may even seem
magical! You will gain and lose signatures as you level up and nd your Way in the
Woods. Find the signature that matches the type of Forest Dweller you've picked
and write it on your character sheet in the appropriate area.

N L
ANIMAL FOLK
Whenever you make a Q&A roll to exit a situation—be it
running away from someone you've slighted, retreating
from a brawl, or generally trying to remove yourself from a
bad situation—you may do so with 1 extra gift.

S T N G
PEOPLE
Whenever making a Q&A roll to use an object in your
inventory for a purpose other than it's explicit intent, you
may do so with 1 gift. Examples of this include using a loaf
of bread to plug a leaky boat, using mail to start a camp re,
or riding a chair down the roof.

N P
GHOSTS
You may take one wound to use your lling on a friend or
foe. Keep in mind that your lling from the background
parcel either cause wounds or removes them. Any living
creature you use your lling on can make a Q&A roll with
their resolve modi er to dodge this.

0
 g d a s!
E very adventuring Forest Dweller begins with a series of vagaries, anecdotes,
histories, and little facts that you can use to develop a unique personality and
character to play. Some of these even include bene ts or detriments to your
adventurer's various characteristics and subjects. As this is a cursory guide, instead of
including the myriad options and tables you would normally use to develop these
details, four parcels for each Forest Dweller have been provided for you to choose
from. Find the group of background parcels that match your Forest Dweller type,
and choose one parcel you like most. Paraphrase your choice into the description
section of the character sheet, and be sure to make any adjustments to your
adventurer as instructed by bolded terms.

If you are playing an Animal Folk, you may replace the animal in your background
parcel with any of the following: Badger, Bear, Crow, Crane, Deer, Fox, Grackle,
Goat, Hedgehog, Hare, Hound Dog, Hen, House Cat, Mouse, Opossum, Otter,
Pig, Rat, Toad, Skunk, Weasel, Wolf.

L K
1. You are a Pig who has recently traded in the short pants of your youth for the
blouses of adulthood. You've stolen every piece of clothing you've ever owned, you are
prone to dancing, and you require ne cutlery at every meal. As a young child you
were lost in the woods for several weeks. Add 1 to your Resolve.

2. You are a Crow who has reached your later years, hoping to nd a place to settle
soon. Your clothes are very ne and formal and you have many powdered wigs, you
sing when it would be impolite, and have poor manners. Your family made a fortune
selling chairs with three legs for the price of a four-legged chair. Add 1 to Wealth.

3. You are a Hare in your teenaged years. Your clothes are all secondhand, you are small
and often unnoticed, and you are quite uncomfortable in the rain. You lose your shoes
and hat often; daily sometimes. Add 1 to Resolve but subtract 1 from Luck.

4. You are a Toad of middling age. Your clothes are loud and brightly colored, you
often correct the perfectly good posture of others, and you are scared of the dark.
When you were a young Animal you ate a prize-winning vegetable and blamed it on
someone else. Add 1 to Health.

2
 E
1. You were dropped by The Stork into the hands of a very large Animal Folk family,
and left as a teenager to make it easier on your poor mother. You are impeccably clean
and you prefer to sleep on the oor. You have a brass button that seems to constantly
go missing and turn up behind your ear. Add 1 to Luck.

2. You were raised by wolves into young adulthood before being forced to move into
town. Even though you've settled in ne, you still howl at every full moon. You never
learned to read, and you love practical jokes. You wear an earring with a porcelain,
crying dove. Subtract 1 from Resolve, and you can speak to wolves.

3. You were dropped by The Stork into the care of a Ghost famous for winning many
soup cooking competitions. You carry a ask of bourbon at all times, and you are
afraid of horses. You carry a toy pop gun. Add 1 to Resolve.

4. You were found in a cabinet of pots and pans by an Animal Folk family, and are
known to wear pots for hats despite being an adult. You have no sense of pitch but
don't know it, and you have poor manners. You have a small white vial with a ower in
it that does not die. Add 1 to Health.

H S S
1. You wear a wide, formal hat decorated with dozens of fake owers atop your head,
which is a sack of hay with buttons sewn into a face. Your costume is shoddy clothes
t for gardening but not company, and it is lled with spiders that wound. Add 1 to
your Bouquet subject.

2. You wear a moth-eaten tricorne cap and short powdered wig atop your head, which
is a large tea kettle orally decorated with a corked spout. Your costume is old sporting
clothes, and it is lled with whiskey that removes wounds. Add 1 to Strength.

3. You wear a white bonnet of ne lace atop your head, which is a pumpkin with a
crudely painted face. Your costume is stolen from a moldering scarecrow, and it is
lled with bees that wound. Subtract 1 from Resolve.

4. You wear a very long and curly, bright orange wig atop your head, which is a log
with a poster stapled to it. The poster is a portrait of a criminal with a wanted notice.
Your costume is formal ballroom attire lled with assorted hard candies that
remove wounds. Add 1 to Wealth.

AUTHOR'S FOOTNOTE: click each dweller type to randomly

generate a background parcel using the full game text !! 3
 ,g , d u!
E ach adventurer has a set of subjects that reward you with gifts or jabs you
with gags when making Q&A rolls. For the purpose of this game, subjects are
broad skills and abilities picked up through apprenticeship, study, or use.
However, no one is so great at one discipline without lacking in another; there are
some subjects that you will have a weakness in.

A positive grade in any given subject awards gifts and a negative grade gives gags.
Grades range from -3 to 0 to +3, and the amount of gifts and gags rolled is equal to
your grade in the subject. A grade of +2 becomes two gifts, or a grade of -1 becomes
one gag—a grade of 0 means no gifts or gags are to be used. Subjects are applied to
Q&A rolls whenever possible, whether you decide to apply them to a roll or as the
narrator requires.

To determine which subjects you'll begin with, rst read over each one on the
following page. Choose four subjects and record them in the appropriate area of your
character sheet each with a grade of +1. After that, choose ve subjects and record
them on your sheet with a grade of -1. The grade you have in each subject will change
over time, generally when you begin to pick your Way in the Woods—or level up.

i t c d
c e u c e e
s s
n n
o c o e
1 o
-
c o e

4
 S O S !
B OUQUET : Knowledge of owers, grasses, trees, vegetables, and
most natural plants in the forest.
B REWER : Knowledge and ability in the cooking of soups, spirits,
tinctures, or poisons.
C HICANERY : Skill in petty con dence games, burglary, thievery,
general criminality, and bullying.
C OLONEL : Ability to lead and direct, especially under stress.
C OXSWAIN : Understanding of boats, carriages, bicycles, pedal
balloons, or any other kind of moving craft.
DAGGERS : Skill and ability with weapons held in your hands.
D ECORUM : Public manner and etiquette, knowledge of custom,
procedure, and pomp.
E NTERTAINER : Skill in performing drama and music; acting,
busking, or puppetry.
F UNAMBULIST : The ability to perform feats of daring movement
such as somersaults and dives, vaults and rolls.
G AMBLE : Playing the odds and counting the cards; earning
pennies from chance.
J OCKEY : Ability to care for and pilot animals.
L EDGER : Studied knowledge of commerce and all that is
pecuniary.
P ISTOLS : Skill with weapons that shoot or are thrown.
R ECONNOITER : Ability to gather information and spot what is
intended to be hidden.
S LINK : Ability to move or hide silently, often in daylight or
plain sight.
S ORTILEGE : An ability to tap into the world of the supernatural
and skill with magic tricks.
S URGERY : Knowledge of medical procedures, ailments, and
cures.
TRADE: Skill in the making of goods or providing a service; smithing,
painting, cobbling, tending bar, and more.

3
 S N S
2 Y R S 1 2¢ H&C R 1 1¢
2 N C 1 1¢
S L K& Y 1 3¢
3 L S 1 3¢ L K GT S 1 5¢
5 E O E 1 3¢ I G S 1 3¢
GO N Y 1 2¢ A P E 1 2¢
GO S 1 1¢ C G S M ) 6¢
B XO S 1 2¢ C G E M ) 5¢
S K ( ) 2¢ W R 1 3¢
N R 1 1¢ A E H 1 4¢
N E 1 1¢ CC L 1 5¢
C S 1 3¢ E&T CC 1 2¢
R 1 4¢ S L 1 5¢
Y N N 1 2¢ H L ( ) 3¢
S O S Y 1 5¢ LB W& R ) 4¢
G O & I ( ) 7¢ L L N N ( ) 3¢
R 1 2¢ L A E E 1 3¢
RO E S 1 3¢ C E ( ) 4¢
E L E 1 1¢ T Y O ( ) 6¢
E B X O A C S 1 2¢ E ( ) 6¢
E P YB E 1 2¢ LO N P( ) ¢
E E L OT ( ) 4¢ S E ( ) 1¢

3
 g u s!
T he instruments, food, baubles, and other whatnots you carry on your
adventures are important, but you will not have room to pick up every
shiny thing you see. You can only carry so much! Most items have a size:
they either take up one (1) slot of your inventory or two (2) slots. Some items are
large (L), and only one large item can be carried at a time. Your carry limit is
determined by your bag.

To begin, choose whether you have a rucksack, backpack, or fancy suitcase. Each bag
has a capacity of 7 slots, and the section of your sheet labelled capacity should be
marked 7.

Before choosing what things to begin your adventure with, account for any stu s
you acquired when making your character by adding them to your inventory with a
size of 1. This includes presents and heirlooms and anything else you may have
gained. Then, pick and choose items from the Knicks and Knacks list, noting on
your sheet how many slots you lled by adding the size of each item together. You do
not have to ll up all 7 slots of your bag, but you cannot carry more than your
capacity.

Any time you encounter a list of items, numbers appearing in parenthesis will always
be its size. Each item on the Knicks and Knacks list also includes a price for narrators
to use as needed, but you may ignore this for now.

nc o !
F inally, the very last step in drafting your Forest Dweller is taking all the
individual pieces from character creation and establishing a consistent
personality. Think about all you know of your adventurer thus far
—characteristics, background parcels, brief histories, and your subjects. Each of these
morsels are scant details of an overall picture and you must now ll in the blanks. You
should now ll out the description section of your character sheet with a brief but
overall impression of your Forest Dweller.

That's that! You now have a cursory understanding of how The Forest Hymn &
Picnic is played and your very own adventurer with which to play. The following
pages are additional, minor rules of play as well as advice for narrators, information
about magic, and an extracurricular activity!

7
 b g!
U nfortunately you may nd yourself with a need to raise your sts and
weapons to brawl with some upstart, or to defend yourself from an
attack. This works just like any other Q&A roll with some slight
di erences. To begin, you may only brawl with a foe who occupies the same stage as
you—unless you're using some sort of projectile or special ability. If that is the case,
the foe must at least be in the same theater as you and within eyesight.

Second, when you are making Q&A rolls to brawl your answer result must be the
same as or higher than your foe's agility or defense scores; whichever is bigger. If your
answer result is lower than their agility or defense then your Q&A roll is a failure and
they will have a chance to brawl back at you.

And thirdly, using a Q&A roll to brawl does not have the same range of success or
failure as a normal Q&A roll. If you intend to wound, you either do it successfully or
miss. Combatants take turns trading attacks until one party is defeated or capitulates!

Brawling uses each of the same things a regular Q&A roll might: subjects,
characteristics, signatures, items, and magic tricks. The di erence between brawling
and doing anything else is that you intended to wound your foe or otherwise avoid
being wounded. Keep in mind that an exchange of blows can be avoided; if you nd
yourself on the cusp of sticu s you could try to use decorum to parley,
entertainment to distract them, or even chicanery to throw dirt in a foe's eyes and run
away.

g s!
F rom time to time there will be a situation where you want desperately to help
a friend as they make a Q&A roll they may fail. Perhaps they are out of luck to
test, or they're under some health condition working against them. Whatever
the case may be, in some situations you can extend a helping hand to your comrade.
If your friend is attempting a Q&A roll and using a subject you likewise have a
positive grade in, you can plan to help them out and add 1 gift to their roll. For
example, if Arturo is using their +1 in reconnoiter to nd the deed to some old house
among a very messy desk, Sanni—who also has a +1 in reconnoiter—can add one gift
to Arturo's Q&A roll. However, if Arturo rolls a op for their Q&A roll despite the
help, Sanni cannot then attempt to do the exact same thing.

8
 g u t!
Y ou are not invincible! As you adventure further into the woods you will get
scrapes and bruises, you may have your heart broken, and you may even fall
o a ladder while dropping presents down some family's chimney during a
blizzard. Bookkeeping these injuries is done through your health characteristic and
the character sheet box labelled wounds. These are abstract things, however, and not
just a measure of actual physical injury. Health and wounds work together to paint a
picture of your overall wellness.

Getting hurt will usually come from failing Q&A rolls, and when that happens you
will put a number, usually just 1, in the box labelled wounds. When the number in
the wounds box is equal to or greater than the number in the health box, you are
unable to do anything. Either you've become physically incapacitated or you've
become too emotionally distraught to act. Your coterie of friends will have to nurse
you back to good—or at least decent—health. The narrator will say how many
wounds you accrue, and possibly impose more consequences such as a broken limb
or an inability to play songs in major chords.

hc e s!
T hroughout your time in the woods you will certainly come across strange
a ictions; each with its own e ect on your health and wellness for good or
for worse. These health concerns come from a variety of sources and
should be taken quite seriously—here is a cursory list of several:

Jubilant: A moment of pure happiness that gives you an extra gift on all of your
Q&A rolls until the schedule advances 1 block.

Bedridden: A terrible sickness or poison strikes at you and causes a great amount of
fever and pain. If bedridden, su er a -2 on each of your Q&A rolls until the schedule
advances 2 blocks.

Spooked: Paralyzing fear—you've been absolutely terri ed by some terrible thing.

Becoming spooked means you are completely unable to do anything at all until the
schedule advances one block.

Woodslost: A fever dream caused by spending too much time alone and lost in the
woods. If you become woodslost you cannot use signatures or magic tricks, or any of
your subjects. This a iction lasts until you spend at least a full schedule recovering,
but can cause permanent damage!

9
 g u t!
N ursing yourself or your pals back to good health can be done through the
right medical supplies and a Q&A roll with the appropriate subjects
—surgery, bouquet, brewer, and even sortilege are all subjects which might
be used for healing. Attempting to heal someone this way is at the mercy of your
answer results, which could go something like this:

On a op (1-4), healing is not successful and the medical supplies are destroyed.

On a uke (5-9), the patient removes 1 wound but the medical supplies are destroyed.

On a favor (10-15), the patient removes 1 wound.

On a fortune (16-20), the patient removes 2 wounds.

A second way to recover wounds is by

having a picnic. If the entire party has
something to eat, and at least one block
of the schedule is spent relaxing within a
safe stage, then each adventurer can
reduce their wounds by 3.

Healing those who have fallen

unconscious requires at least
two schedule blocks and a
Q&A roll for each block.
Food and appropriate medical
supplies must be available,
and the entire theater where
you picnic must be safe.

When attempting to heal a Ghost, the trade

subject is used rather than surgery. A needle and
thread, or rope of some kind must be used to seal
them back up before they leak into the sky.

0
 g o e !
W hen you've come to a point
where you are ready to make a
purchase or otherwise use your
hard earned pennies, you will use your wealth
characteristic. As mentioned, wealth is not the
s!
Pennies are the only currency
exact number of pennies you have but it is a in The Forest Hymn. That's
general idea of just how much purchasing not cents, pence, coin, bean,
power you have. To make a purchase, ask the or farthing—it's just penny.
Each one is a small, round
narrator how much something costs. If the copper a air with a portrait of
cost is the equal to or lower than your wealth The Stork stamped on one
score, you can a ord it and may acquire it. If side and a large 1¢ on the
the cost is higher than your wealth score then other. No one is sure where
you can buy it by subtracting the di erence these coins are minted or who
between the cost and your score from your
rst started trading them for
goods and services.
current score. For example, you spot a Fancy
Tea Set with a cost of 5¢—you wish to have
it to impress a lover—but your wealth
score is only 3. You could purchase the tea set by subtracting 2 from your
wealth, which would leave you with a wealth score of 1 and a fancy new
tea set.

Sometimes you may not have enough to make a purchase, but

must anyways. This is a situation where you may end up in
debt, creating quite a pickle for yourself. Whatever
arrangement you come up with is between you, the
narrator, and whichever character you're getting into
business with. Keep in mind that you can also try to
negotiate prices, steal things, or otherwise attempt to
get what you want by any tool you have available!

You may be able to sell your gently used things back to some vendors or by
running classi eds in the local paper. Please do not litter the woods with your
unwanted things.

1
 ct s!
S cholars of magic have known for quite some time that the supernatural moves
through the leaves of trees the same as the seasons change. There is a di erent
type of magic most prominent in summer, spring, autumn, and winter each.
As you make your Way in the Woods, you no doubt will cross paths with magic tricks
of all types!

Using a magic trick in this game requires a Q&A roll just as any other challenge
requires. Like brawling, however, there is a slight di erence in how a magic trick
Q&A roll works. Namely, if you are attempting to use a magic trick during the
season with which it belongs then it is business as usual; you would perform the
Q&A roll using your sortilege grade as well as your resolve MOD.

If, however, you are trying to use a magic trick in the o season—a spring spell deep
in the heart of winter for example—then that trick is much harder to pull o . When
you attempt to use a magic trick o season, you su er a -3 or a -5 penalty to your
Q&A roll. The penalty depends on just how out of season your magic trick is: if it is
the season directly before or after the trick's required season the penalty is -3, but if it
is the season furthest from the required one then the penalty is -5.

For example, the spell STARLING'S NOTE is a spring magic trick that allows you to
have a ock of starlings write out a short note in the sky, nearby whomever needs to
see it most. As it is a spring trick you may use it in spring with no penalty. If you use
it in either summer or winter you must subtract 3 from your nal answer result
before you determine if it was a success or not. Similarly, if you've decided to use this
trick in autumn, you would subtract 5 from your answer result before determining
success.

There is no limit to how many magic tricks you can use or when you can attempt to
use them, but some require a minimum subject grade or characteristic score before
they can be learned. Magic tricks also have a duration, or a length of time the magic
remains in e ect. Some tricks happen instantly with no lingering e ects, some e ects
last an entire day, and some last only a portion of the schedule. If a magic trick has a
duration that is a number, its e ect lasts that number of schedule blocks.

While some magic tricks will instruct you to use di erent subjects and characteristics
when making your Q&A roll, all magic tricks require you to apply any grade in
sortilege you may have, as well as your resolve modi er.

3
 A W C S
g e SPRING
REQUIREMENTS: Resolve 11; DURATION: Entire Day
If used on a building, it will sprout two or four bird legs and have a
mind of its own for an entire day. The building will act similar to a
domesticated chicken unless controlled through other means, and if it
isn't stopped the building will nd a smaller building to nest atop at
sundown. On a op, the building grows wings instead and ies away.

a g's e SPRING
REQUIREMENTS: None; DURATION: Instant
Starlings from all over the woods dash from their nests to the sky,
spelling out a message of your authoring. This ock is big enough that
whomever you need to see the message will see it. Not uncommonly,
pen pals will use this trick to reach one another in the case of an
emergency or urgent good news. On a op the birds spell out swears.

e ne s SUMMER
REQUIREMENTS: Sortilege +1, Resolve 10; DURATION: 2
Turns your eyes into spotlights! Wide beams of light shoot from your
eyes and can illuminate an entire stage. The beams of light do not
intersect at all, but they are hot enough to burn thick paper instantly, or
even melt snow.

a u w a a SUMMER
REQUIREMENTS: Resolve 10; DURATION: 1
Sneeze out some doves and everyone occupying the same stage as you
bursts into uncontrollable laughter. They are unable to do anything but
laugh. This laughter is contagious, and anyone entering the stage during
the ruckus will begin to laugh deep from their belly as well. Everyone
a ected becomes Jubilant.

4
t k et e AUTUMN
REQUIREMENTS: Strength 10; DURATION: Instant
Conjure a ghostly wind that tricks a tree into shedding all its leaves in a
pile, anywhere in the stage you occupy. This can be used regardless of
the season, and is often used to cover tracks or hide the evidence of some
crime. Trees will begin to grow their leaves back the next day.

ep e's t AUTUMN
REQUIREMENTS: Agility 10, Sortilege +1; DURATION: Instant
Disappear in a cloud of purple, glittering smoke and appear instantly
stepping from any container in the same theater you occupy. This
container can be a purse, a barrel, or any spacious thing meant to hold
other things. The size of the container does not matter. On a op you
disappear and reppear in the same spot, only 1 schedule block later.

s , a s WINTER
REQUIREMENTS: None; DURATION: 1
A short lullaby that will extinguish any light source in the stage you
occupy. This trick will draw shades and curtains and make every
attempt to turn the stage pitch black, but cannot extinguish the sun. On
a op, this trick will instead make the stage bright enough to blind all
occupying creatures.

W S WINTER
REQUIREMENTS: Resolve 11, Sortilege +1; DURATION: Entire Day
Snowballs rise from the ground and begin to circle your head. Each one
can be told to y in any direction you wish, landing with enough force
to knock down a child. They must hit a target occupying the same
theater as you. When making the Q&A roll for this trick, a favor grants
you 3 snowballs and a fortune grants you 6.

5
 A R S !
K nowing the rules and procedures of The Forest Hymn & Picnic
is the shared responsibility of everyone at the table—narrators
and adventurers alike. The narrator, however, has a responsibility to
create the initial morsels of adventure and to react spontaneously to
the decisions the adventurers make. If you have read each section of
this guide, then you should be well acquainted with how the game is
played. Collected here, however, is a cursory list of advice and
procedures you'll no doubt nd helpful and useful all the same.

This is a game of hijinks and jocularity; keep the mood and tone
silly, but don't be afraid to pepper a few melancholic bits here and
there. For example, open an adventure with a funeral where the
procession drops the co n and a dozen jars of beans falls out. The plot
could revolve around a mayor faking their death to run o with the
festival decoration fund!

Create adventures where the end is not that important, but how
the adventurers get to the end is. If you dangle candy in front of the
players they will take it, but if you leave several trails of candy around
the place it could lead to new, interesting and ne places. Let the
adventurer's actions drive the story to new places.

Hand the adventurers a task to solve and encourage them to use

every tool at their disposal to succeed. Items, signatures, and subjects
can all be strung together to overcome challenges in whatever way the
player can imagine. The only time a narrator should object is if the
solution to a problem makes absolutely no sense. For example, using
coxswain and bouquet to ride a tree down a hill isn't so absurd but using
a candlestick to pick a lock wouldn't work.

Use the narrator's script liberally to plan loosely for each session. It
has sections for plots, side plots, plot twists, characters, theaters, and
stages. Make the plots thin and malleable, make the side plots quick to
nish, and make the plot twists delicious. There are also places to list
characters, notes, and rewards.

6
Here is a cursory process to create the menagerie of oddball
characters the adventurers will meet: give the characters 3 personality
traits, 2 secrets they are hiding, 1 motivation, and a friend or a special
item. If you think there is any chance the adventurers will be brawling
with that character then you will need a few numbers—defense, resolve,
and sortilege if they use magic. Adventurers do have a habit of picking
up friends along the way, and if they want to bring a character with
them then make the adventurers ll out a character sheet for their new
friend.

The schedule, theaters, and stages are strong tools for storing
information you need for adventures. Use the schedule to trigger
events at certain times of the day, or a way to limit time adventurers
have. Bake Q&A gags into theaters and stages; a loud room (stage)
makes it hard to hear and a gambling riverboat (theater) with a lot of
expert criminals aboard makes it harder to steal. It would be extremely
hard for the adventurers to cross a river (stage) in a particularly thick
part of the woods (theater) under the darkness of midnight (schedule).
The schedule should be lled out as the adventurers travel; the average
distance between two interesting things is half a day. Travel time can be
reduced with a means of travel and a Q&A roll.

Pay attention to the adventurer's descriptions and backstories and

details to nd ways for incorporating their stories into yours. Do not,
however, pay too much attention to their subjects, signatures, and
items. Create challenges regardless of what abilities the adventurers have
—encourage them and cheer for them to overcome those challenges
using whatever they have at their disposal.

As narrator, your hardest task is reacting to Q&A rolls when they

veer in a direction you're not prepared for. You can shift some of this
weight to the adventurers by asking them leading questions before they
make their rolls. Don't be afraid to break the veil between story and
games, either. For example, ask a player what they want if their roll is a
fortune, and ask them how they think a op should play out.

4
 O S U S
E E NAB X 1 1¢ E GO C F E ( ) 5¢
R G Y A E ( ) 5¢ C E G OT 1 8¢
CC I &C B C E 1 4¢ K , E H E 1 3¢
C P Y E 1 2¢ M'S N S & E 1 5¢
C R S & C N 1 3¢ RC A 1 1¢
E O A NA G K ( ) 3¢ R & OT S 1 2¢
H Y CC H 1 3¢ O A , 1 2¢
E
A S A L A 1 2¢ S NC E A ( ) 5¢
A S I HC O E 1 4¢ E B B N NA S 1 4¢
E , OT T O H Y 1 2¢ E E O E 1 2¢

L O S
L E RA E ) 5¢ G U W— E ) ¢
K O S 1 3¢ L N & S ) 9¢
B XO I EC K 1 2¢ S E ) 7¢
U RL E ( ) 4¢ A E N A E ( ) 5¢
S E ) 8¢ L ) 4¢
L N I 6¢, N R R 1 G I 1 2¢
P Y L ) 7¢ E N E 1 1¢
S O N N L 1 2¢ L E L 1 2¢
A C E 1 4¢ N'S U EO S ( ) 6¢
GC F E G— R 1 7¢ DL RB E 1 4¢

4
 S O L
, 8¢
With two wheels and your own feet you can go anywhere! Bikes can easily be found
around the woods. Seats 1. Reduces travel times by 1 schedule block.

t e , ¢
A at bottom raft used for going between towns on calm rivers; driven by pole. Seats 3
with enough room for several small crates. Reduces travel times by 1 schedule block.

e d g , 4¢
Any manner of janky and haphazardly made buggy that's pulled by an old horse who
coughs. Seats 1 with enough room for several small crates. Does not reduce travel
times.

- n e y a e e rf , 8¢
An overlarge vegetable or fruit, transformed into a carriage through some magic trick
and pulled by a huge moose. Seats 4. No Q&A roll needed to travel; reduces travel
times by 2 schedule blocks.

, 4¢
A stubborn donkey and friend to no one. Refuses to do much of anything without a
sweet treat or two. Seats 1 for an extremely long ride. Increases travel times by 1
schedule block.

g e f l ,1 ¢
A tall and muscular horse, swift in the leg and with deep red eyes. This horse seats 2
and radiates fog in a very eerie way. Anyone in a stage with this horse must pass a
Q&A roll with resolve MOD or become spooked. Reduces travel times by 2.

m , ¢
Like a bicycle but with room for more rear ends—2 to be exact! Everyone riding this
bike must pass a Q&A roll to reduce travel times; travel times reduced by 2.

a , 7¢
With a strong back a Forest Dweller can carry 1 passenger and two small crates quite far
with this. The puller and passenger can change places to travel without needing a rest
stop. Reduces travel times by 1 schedule block if driven nonstop.

9
 o e o d!
S ometimes the adventurers will need to pass a few blocks of the schedule, and
some of those times they may pass it next to a river or pond or lake. Perhaps
they would enjoy a bit of shing? ON THE POND is an extracurricular activity
of patience and leisure. It requires the adventurers have shing poles and bait for each
person shing. As well, each participant will need 5 six-sided dice, called 5d6—be
prepared to share dice if needed.

Begin by setting the scene and deciding how much of the schedule the adventurers
plan on shing. It takes at least 1 block of the schedule to have a go at catching sh.
Adventurers with time to spare and patience to suit can choose to spend more of the
schedule on the pond.

When an adventurer is ready to sh, they cast their line and roll 5d6, hoping to get
consecutive results with at least three of the dice. For example, three of the dice
results can be 2, 3, and 4 or 4, 5, and 6, etc. This is a snag, and if an adventurer snags
a sh they roll 2d6 and consult the table on the next page to see what they catch.

However, adventurers can choose to exercise a bit of patience and toss the catch back
to spend another block of the schedule shing. If they make another snag, they can
add or subtract 1 to their catch roll by tossing it back. Adventurers may toss and snag
up to 5 schedule blocks, potentially turning their bad
catch roll into a more pleasant one! At the end of their
time on the pond, adventurers will roll 2d6 and add
or subtract the number of snags they hooked to see
what their nal catch is. Additional snags
can be added to, or subtracted from,
the catch roll in any combination.

Additionally, adventurers can test

their luck when they roll for their
catch. If they are lucky and the coin
lands facing their fair token, they
can roll 1d6 on the treasure table.
 T E A CH
. a y e h!( ) s r+ h
A large, legendary sh of your own design; you will be quite famous!
. n e l ) s r+ h
A sh of solid gold! *You can only carry it by completely emptying your inventory.
. w o s 1 s r+ h
A new sh discovery with healing properties! Eat to remove all wounds.
.p i - gf e k h 1 s r 1d6 h
The rarest possible milk sh; sells to the highest bidding chef.
. l u o 1 s r 1 h
It coughs on you as you bring it in; wake up tomorrow bedridden.
. n s 1 s r 1 h
Unremarkable in every way. Not rather delicious, even.
. t c l 1 s r+ h
Very exciting at rst, but then a bit of a letdown.
. 0 d t h ) s r 1d 1d6 h
It needs some means of travel to carry, and varies on the scale of deliciousness.
. a ec r l e 1 s r+ h
Most crappie are not colorful and shiny, but this one is. Gain +1 to luck.
. e ha ie
The sh jumps from the water and cuts you! Receive 1 wound; the sh escapes!
. a y d h!( ) s r+ h
Add +3 to luck if you toss this sh back, but -5 to luck if you sell or eat this sh.

E
1. The sh has a mouth full of pennies; +1 wealth.
2. You also pull up a pair of S R Y B O S that give +1 to defense.
3. You reel in a l x (1) that holds another box. You have two boxes now.
4. The sh teaches you sh secrets. If you toss it, you now roll 6d6 to snag sh.
5. The sh has another sh in its mouth. Roll again on the catch table.

6. You also reel in 1 item of your choice from the Knicks and Knacks list on p. 36.

1
 C G N !
T his is just the beginning! The Forest Hymn & Picnic is
coming winter 2020 and here is some more things you
can expect to nd:

The full, unabridged manuscript including detailed rules

with examples for each procedure, a hefty narrator's section,
and a complete overview of the forest. There are other
dwellers messing about, including the Lumberists, the
Riverbelles, and even a secret war between nightshades and
gourds!

Many more exiciting extracurricular activities including

fair games, sack races, and occult garden planting!

Lifepath leveling up, including thousands of combinations

of Ways in the Wood. In TFH&P your numbers don't go
up, they change as you get older. Some Ways include
Librarian's Assistant, Rakehell, Drum Major, Beleaguered
Poet, Engineerist, Friend of Bees, Almanac Witch and so
many more!

Lists and lists of usable material for your game including

adventure prompts, random sightings, several dozens of
magic tricks, interesting characters, items, and even example
names of things!

More whitespace in the layout! The cursory design of this

book has left little room for breathing and resting your eyes.
TFH&P will be coming in a reasonable 6 inch by 9 inch
format, with larger text and wider margins!

Much more art, including an interior cover illustrated by

Levon Jihanian. For more information and to be noti ed
when the full game is released, visit theforesthymn.com!