The Queen Smiles

The streetlights are on--but they're flickering strangely.  Do you remember that tree being there?  And what's with that commercial--should they even be airing something like that?  Wait--what is that?

The Queen Smiles is a modern urban horror game with a novel premise: the Queen of Faerie and all Her Kin are returning to our world--as conquerors.  Whether resplendent elfin knights, cunning wild hunters, or hungry cruel nightmares, it remains to be seen, but they have already left their mark on our mundane world, and they will arrive soon.

The Queen Smiles uses a narrative, lightweight system similar to Succession and Chamber+Circle, with one key addition: The Royal Die keeps the Queen's motives and nature a secret from the outset, but through play, your group will uncover Her plans, values, and alien mind.  As your group encounters the strange emissaries of Arcadia, you will find your world slowly altered, face inexplicable events from the approaching fae, and through it all will need to understand the Queen's purposes.

The Queen Smiles blends elements of pulp noir and detective stories, cosmic horror and weird fiction, and the unifying theme of Celtic lore through modern eyes, and focuses on ordinary individuals coping with extraordinary risks.  The rules and guidance cover eight of the twenty-one pages.  The remainder details the kinds of adversity that Arcadia can reveal, and will guide your group on telling a story of mundane risks and uncanny dangers, in which reality is tumbling down.

The game requires a set of six-sided dice, and may call for up to an hour to introduce and establish all players' characters, for a group of three to four.  The game is intended to give game-manager responsibilities to all players, and the rules expressly assume this.  However, organizing play using a traditional game-manager/player structure is possible, if not intended.