Walkthrough: Harrow's Landing
Harrow's Landing is DiceLedger's starter world: a river town in the late 1800s, on the night the last steam ferry fails to come back. This page tells you how to play it, and then, behind a spoiler warning, plays it from the quay to the ending.
How to play
Where it runs today
Open /play and the game runs in your browser, with nothing to install and no account. The dice are seeded, and the seed is in the address after #seed=. With seed 6, and the same lines typed in the same order, your rolls are the ones on this page. Open /play with no seed and the page picks one and writes it into the address, and your night goes its own way.
The same game also runs in the terminal harness, from a checkout of the DiceLedger repository (Node 24 and pnpm). Build the pack, then start a session:
pnpm install pnpm --filter @diceledger/starter build pnpm harness --pack packs/starter --seed 6
There, --seed 6 rolls the same dice. Leave the seed out and the harness picks one and prints it.
What you type
You name everything by its id, the lower-case name the game prints beside it: doolan-inn, hollis-barrow, read-the-current.
look,move <exit>,take,drop,give,use,talk,wait- The free verbs. They roll nothing:
move wharf-row,look dockhands. overcome <approach> <target>- Get past an obstacle. Most of the night is this, aimed at a place's checks.
create-advantage <approach> <target> <words...>- Make or work an aspect, in your own words.
attack <approach> <target>,defend <approach> <target>- Harm a character, or meet their attack.
choose <id>- Pick a choice the story offers. It rolls nothing.
/moves, then a number- Every move open to you now, numbered. Typing the number takes that move.
/sheet,/who,/look,/help,/quit- Your character sheet, where everyone is, where you are, the full command list, and leave.
The approaches are careful, clever, flashy, forceful, quick and sneaky. Your character starts at careful +3, clever +2, flashy +2, forceful +1, quick +1 and sneaky +0, with 3 fate points. After each move the game suggests up to four lines you could type next, and /moves lists all of them:
> /moves Moves open to you (type a number to take one): 1. overcome careful read-the-current Read the river's current 2. move doolan-inn The Doolan Inn 3. move wharf-row Wharf Row 4. move lantern-walk Lantern Walk 5. look Look around 6. wait Wait Actions are shown at your best approach; type the line with another approach to use it.
How a roll works
An action shows you the odds card first: what you roll, against what, the chance of each of the four outcomes, the aspects you could invoke, and what the roll may cause. Answer y to roll or n to back out. The roll opens a short decision window. Spend a fate point to invoke an aspect with invoke <id> bonus (+2) or invoke <id> reroll, then pass to take the roll. The window offers the aspects the odds card listed. You have 20 seconds to answer. Nothing interrupts you, but an answer that comes later is not applied, and the roll stands as it is. When the window closes you get the result strip, then the narration, then the numbered lines of the event log (lines starting with #).
> attack careful dockhands attack with careful, at dockhands You roll 4dF +3 (careful +3), against dockhands's roll, rated +2. Odds before invokes: fail 26.1% tie 15.5% succeed 32.4% with style 26.1% Aspects you could invoke: aspect-4 "Slick Planks" (scene); dockhands-aspect-1 "Crane's Dockhands" (target); dockhands-aspect-2 "Paid to Keep the Pier Quiet" (target) It may cause: nothing Check: exchange Roll? (y/n) > y You: +-0+ (+1) +3 = 4 Against dockhands: 0+00 (+1) +2 = 3 Fate points: 3 Invoke with "invoke <id> bonus" (+2) or "invoke <id> reroll": aspect-4 "Slick Planks" (a fate point); dockhands-aspect-1 "Crane's Dockhands" (a fate point); dockhands-aspect-2 "Paid to Keep the Pier Quiet" (a fate point) Or "pass" to take the roll as it stands. 20 seconds left to answer (SYS-42); then the roll stands as it is. > invoke aspect-4 bonus You: +-0+ (+1) +3 +2 from invokes = 6 Against dockhands: 0+00 (+1) +2 = 3 Fate points: 2 Invoke with "invoke <id> bonus" (+2) or "invoke <id> reroll": dockhands-aspect-1 "Crane's Dockhands" (a fate point); dockhands-aspect-2 "Paid to Keep the Pier Quiet" (a fate point) Or "pass" to take the roll as it stands. 19 seconds left to answer (SYS-42); then the roll stands as it is. > pass Result: succeed-with-style, 3 shifts (6 against 3). The attack hits. dockhands takes 3 shifts of harm. Exchange 1: dockhands to act: meet them with defend <approach> dockhands, or concede before their roll (SYS-9). Fate points: 2 Stress: [ ]1 [ ]2 [ ]3 Crane's Dockhands's stress: [ ]1 [ ]2 [x]3 Player struck Crane's Dockhands with Careful in style, beating Good (+3) by 3 shifts. Crane's Dockhands took a hit of 3 shifts. Crane's Dockhands took the blow and marked stress box 3. Exchange 1: it is Crane's Dockhands's turn.
How encounters work
A contest is a race played round by round. Each round is an overcome against the other side, and the first to three victories wins. The game explains:
A word on contests, just this once: this is a race, not a fight. You both roll each exchange, and the first to three victories takes it. A win with style counts twice.
The strip keeps the score, for example Contest round 1: hollis-barrow takes it with style. Victories: you 0, hollis-barrow 2. You can't walk out until it is over.
A challenge is played task by task. Each task is an overcome naming one of the place's checks, rolled against the place's baseline difficulty, and the strip names it: Challenge task 1 of 3, Steer through the fog: succeed-with-style. How many go your way decides the end. In a contest or a challenge, create-advantage makes an aspect but scores nothing.
A conflict is a fight, played by turns. On your turn you attack or create-advantage. On theirs, you defend <approach> <them>. The strip says whose turn is next: Exchange 2: your turn: attack, create an advantage, or concede (SYS-9). When a blow lands on you, you choose how to soak it up:
You are hit for 2 shifts (SYS-8). Absorb it to accept the roll: "absorb box <n>": a free stress box (1, 2, 3) "absorb <mild|moderate|severe> <words...>": a free consequence (mild (2), moderate (4), severe (6)), in your words, or the pack's if you give none "absorb box <n> <mild|moderate|severe> <words...>; <mild|moderate|severe> <words...>": a box and consequences together, one after each ";" "absorb default": the smallest box that fits, then the mildest consequence (box 2)
Anyone with nothing left to absorb a hit is taken out, and in a one-on-one fight that ends it. You can concede before their roll: you lose the fight, but you are paid a fate point, plus one for each consequence you took in it. The loser leaves by an exit from a list. You pick it with exit <name>: your own when you concede, theirs when you take them out. If they take you out, the game picks yours.
> concede You concede the conflict (SYS-9), for 1 fate point: one, and one for each consequence you took in it. The conflict is over: you lose it (you conceded). Fate points: 4 #14 conflict:concede player concedes in wharf-row, for 1 fate point #15 trigger:award-fate-point player gains a fate point #16 trigger:cue-narrator player cue: A word on fate points, just this once: you have just earned one, and after any roll you can spend one to invoke an aspect that fits the moment, for +2 or a fresh roll. #17 trigger:encounter-ended the conflict in wharf-row is over: opposition wins; the loser conceded Pick your exit from the conflict (SYS-24): type one of exit driven off exit dunked off the pier exit knocked flat exit shown the door > exit shown the door #18 trigger:cue-narrator player cue: conceded: shown the door
The full walkthrough
The night has six guarded facts, and this route finds them all, crosses the river and picks an ending. It is the harness's recorded world starter-full-arc-played: type each block's lines in order on seed 6, and the dice fall as described.
Spoilers: the full walkthrough, which solves the mystery and reveals all six facts
The Landing: read the river
overcome careful read-the-current y pass
Careful (+3) against Average (+1). The dice come up
0-0-, a tie (1 against 1): you read it, at a minor cost. That is the first fact,sandbar. Fog on the River now marks the scene, and a conviction unlocks: the river takes its due.You watch the water long enough to learn its habits. What the current carries down past the ferry stage is a curl of green paint, a length of cordage and a hat, and nothing heavier: no planking, no spars, nothing that comes off a boat that has broken up. The ferry is not sunk. She is aground somewhere upriver, and whole.
The Doolan Inn: ask Cass
move doolan-inn overcome clever ask-cass-about-jonah y pass
Walking in marks you Not From Here, and unlocks the conviction A Stranger's Welcome. Clever (+2) against Mediocre (0) succeeds, 1 against 0, and you now carry Promised Cass I'd Find Him.
Cass dries the same glass three times while she talks. Jonah took the ferry out at dusk for the last run, the way he has a thousand nights, and should have tied up hours ago. He is stubborn, she says, and prouder of that boat than of anything, and he would never leave her to the river. She wants him found tonight, and she is asking you because nobody in this town will.
Jonah's room: the debt
overcome careful search-jonahs-room y pass
A success with style, 4 against 1. You take
jonahs-letter, learn the second fact,debt, and carry Jonah's Own Hand. Your standing with the Wharf Company falls by 1.Under a loose board by the bed is a tin box, and in it a letter Jonah never finished, in his own square hand. Folded inside are notes of hand signed by Augustus Crane, going back five years. Added up, the Wharf Company owes Jonah a ruinous sum, years unpaid, and Jonah has kept every scrap of proof.
Out, and back through the inn door
move the-landing move doolan-inn move the-landing
Coming back in with Cass's promise on you, the game offers a compel on Promised Cass I'd Find Him, whose trouble would move the night's clock on by 1. The terminal has nothing to type in answer yet: the offer is logged, and your fate points stay at 3.
A word on compels, just this once: one of your own aspects is being turned against you. Take the trouble and you earn a fate point, or pay one to wave it off.
Lantern Walk: the code
move lantern-walk overcome clever study-the-lantern-pattern y pass
A tie, 1 against 1. The third fact is
code, and it is also a way across the river. Your standing with the Lantern Society falls by 1.You walk the line of posts twice to be sure. The lanterns are not all hung alike: some high and some low, some clear and some shuttered, and the order runs differently from one fog night to the next. That is no custom. It is a code, and every lantern on the Walk is spelling out a message for someone across the water.
Chapel Steps: the river lore
move chapel-steps overcome careful hear-the-river-lore y pass
A success, 2 against 0. This is not one of the six facts, but it is the town's side of the story.
An old woman at the shrine tells it the way her grandmother told it to her: the river takes one in every generation, and on fog nights it comes for its due. The Society's lanterns are lit to guide the lost home, and you leave the river a ribbon or a stone so that it takes something else instead. She does not ask whether you believe it. She has already tied a ribbon on your behalf.
The Telegraph Office: the wire
move telegraph-office overcome clever read-the-wire-log y pass
A success with style, 4 against 1: the fourth fact,
wire, and the aspect Barrow Sat on a Wire. Leavelift-the-ferry-keyalone. Failing it under the constable's nose starts a battle of wills.The log is freight prices and river levels, page after page, until this evening. At dusk, just before the last run, Jonah Doolan wired the magistrate's office upriver: he would come in the morning with proof of a wrong the Wharf Company had done him. The entry is in the operator's neat hand, and Constable Barrow, who reads every line of this log, has said nothing of it to anyone.
Across town to the Company office
move chapel-steps move lantern-walk move the-landing move wharf-row move company-office
Your first step onto Wharf Row offers a compel on Not From Here, whose trouble would be The Town Closes Ranks. In the office, leave
the-ledger-roomalone too. Failing it is how the fight on the docks starts.Ada Pell: the silence
overcome clever draw-out-ada y pass
Four pluses,
++++: 6 against 1, with style. The fifth fact issilence, and you carry Ada's Confidence.Ada Pell sets down her pen and lines it up with the edge of the blotter. The night the ferry went, she was working late by the window, and she saw a lamp on the far bank: shown, covered, shown again, the way a signal is. She told Mr. Crane. Mr. Crane told her she had seen nothing, and that a sensible clerk would forget it.
The warehouse: the cargo
move wharf-row move warehouse overcome careful examine-the-crate-bays y pass
With style, 4 against 1. The sixth and last fact is
cargo.Down on your knees in the empty bays you find it: a sweetish reek soaked deep into the boards, and a broken slat stenciled with a small painted lantern. These bays held crates of untaxed spirits, run across on the ferry, and the lantern is the Lantern Society's own mark. By the wear on the floor, it has gone on for years.
The riverbank: find a boat
move riverbank-path overcome careful find-a-sound-boat y pass
A tie, 1 against 1, but you still get A Sound Boat.
Most of the boats at the moorings are past saving, but one is tight and dry, with a good pair of oars and a bailing can tucked under the thwart. She will take you across, if anything will.
Launch the crossing
overcome quick make-the-crossing y pass
Quick is only +1, and the odds card says so: a fail 38.3% of the time. Seed 6 rolls 2 against 1. You push off, and the game says: “Player began a challenge of 3 tasks: Steer through the fog, Bail as the water rises, Read the lanterns on the bank.”
A word on challenges, just this once: this is a handful of tasks, each its own roll, and how many go your way decides how it ends. Anyone beside you can give up their own action to lend a hand.
The three tasks of the crossing
overcome careful find-a-sound-boat y pass overcome careful find-a-sound-boat y pass overcome careful find-a-sound-boat y pass
Each task is an overcome naming one of the path's checks, rolled against the path's difficulty of 2. The three come out with style (5 against 2), a success (3 against 2) and a tie (2 against 2). “The challenge is over: mixed.” That is enough, and the boat carries you to the Far Bank.
The current lets go of you all at once, and the boat grinds into the shallows of the far bank. Up among the willows a campfire burns, and the people around it get slowly to their feet. One of them is Jonah Doolan, wet to the knees and very much alive.
The ending
choose keep-the-towns-secret /quit
You have three endings to choose from:
broker-a-deal,keep-the-towns-secretandreport-to-the-magistrate. The recording lets the river have its story, which ends the night.You let the river keep its story. By morning the town is telling it again over the inn fire: the fog came up, the river took its due, and this once it gave its people back. Jonah is home, Cass cannot stop smiling, and nobody asks you how.
What you found
sandbar: the ferry is not sunk. She is aground upriver, and whole.debt: the Wharf Company owes Jonah a ruinous sum, and he kept the proof.code: the Society's lanterns spell out messages for someone across the water.wire: Jonah wired the magistrate before his last run, and Constable Barrow kept quiet about it.silence: Ada saw a signal lamp on the far bank, and Crane told her to forget it.cargo: the ferry ran untaxed spirits under the Lantern Society's mark, for years.