Casting Shadows

The tenth day of #RPGaDay2026 invites us to take a dream journey through one of the cool games designed by the founder of RPGaDAY, David F. Chapman. The game is called WILD and it pits its characters against the perils of dreams using a direct line to our imagination and creativity: a custom 78-card tarot deck. On this first day of our trip beyond the wall of sleep, our underpinning concept is the weekly filter of Associates, and the daily filter of ‘Fair of Face.’ The prompt for today is ‘Secret.’

May I be the first to welcome you to ClarIT, the world’s pioneer in dreamshare technology. You’ve gone through the rigorous process of determining if you have what it takes to be an oneironaut — an explorer in the uncharted worlds
of the unconscious mind – and you’ve proven yourself to be capable of keeping your head, while venturing into the unknown places of someone else’s mind.

WILD – Wake Initiated Lucid Dreamshare, p2. David F. Chapman

Like last week’s exploration of a game, WILD makes it easy to speak and think of who the character is and what they can do with the same sort of language choices a person might make when describing them in the real world. We might introduce a friend by name, and add that they are professor and motorcycle afficionado to help spark a connection – or at least leave two prompts hanging for those awkward first questions after an introduction. In the same way, WILD gives us characters who we generate by considering their Persona in contrast to their Shadow. This is who they are and it is refined by the Shadow, which is what hampers them in fully being that Persona. Of the five short steps of chargen, three are largely non-numerical and not reliant on set game terms for interaction in play. The other two are Abilities and Skills and are defined with a quick distribution of points, which maps smoothly into the sort of personal comparison we do automatically, such as, “She is better at this job than me and I am more athletic than any of my co-workers.”

That is a good start for now, so rather than talk about it, let’s look at a character!

Alex Monroe has been working toward something ill-defined but important for their whole life. At an impasse with funding for the next stage of a major project, Alex applied to the creators of the ALIS dreamshare technology for a summer position. If even half of what is being reported about this tech is true, it might reveal something important about what to do next. Life is a process of slow steps. Getting the application to ClarIT accepted is just one of a long string of important steps toward… the goal. If what this company promises is possible, and if it can be kept out of the wrong hands, then maybe what Alex wants is possible, too.

Alex is honest, hardworking, and gifted. Among friends and family, when some of the barriers come down, there is something in their eyes which is infectious, appealing, and so very attractive. Usually though, the good looks nature assigned to Alex are smeared by a blank and distant expression, hidden behind a screen of clean but too long hair, and obscured by a fish-out-of-water distraction and fashion sense that only really matches one place – a fabrication shop for dreamers and bleeding edge designers.

Ok, two card pulls, some introspection and improvisation, a few quick point assignments, and we have our first character! With a glance at the sheet we can talk as or about Alex, and once play begins, we will settle into this free but firm framework very easily.

Tomorrow is Tuesday, August 11th and our prompt is Tact. The weekly filter for next week stays Associates but our daily filter will change to ‘Grace.’ You might want to prepare now for a gratuitous dog picture…

See you then!