While exploring the dry, dust-moted corridors of Æther Corp’s Head Office, I stumbled on the rooms of our now long-defunct Observancy Department.
Ensconced amid the smell of yellowing, typewritten paper and polished parquet flooring was a locked wooden cupboard that housed a selection of Field Agent Handbooks, covering the years 1924 to 1926 & 1928.
The Department spent their time observing the world around them while going about their normal everyday activities, noting down suspicious activity and tapping into their extra-sensory perception (ESP) by using their standard issue pendulum (a key on a string) & dowsing board.
Each year they refocused their efforts on a new object of suspicion (such as animals, clouds, plants and landscapes) while capturing their observations in these A6-sized workbooks.
Each handbook includes:
- Around 10 pages of instruction, advice and information
- Around 65 structured pages for observations, maps, notes & sketches
- A dowsing board on the back cover
Once complete, dossiers can be sent back to Head Office to be signed & stamped in order to chart the Agent’s rise through the four ranks from Operative to Field Agent (Second & First Class) to Special Agent.
After trialling some of these activities myself I find there might be something to their suspicions so I’ve reopened the Observancy Department and invite YOU to join the Ætherial Corporation’s most covert operation, its Field Agents.
The Field Agent Handbooks are a set of four solo RPGs/LARPs designed to be played when out and about. The handbooks are written as in-world artefacts and help you make observations about the world around you.
The Handbooks
Each handbook follows a similar format with these common pages:
- Title page with space for your name and date hired
- Letter from the department director
- Equipment required
- Instruction on how to fill out your handbook
- Instruction on how to use your pendulum
- Instruction on where to send your handbook
- Dowsing board printed on the back
As the Department refocused their efforts each year, they amended & updated the details on those pages and added additional pages as needed.
1924 Revolution
We suspect the animal kingdom of plotting a revolution & you are here to help us understand their devices.
Our mission in the Observancy Department is to spot any such behaviour or signs of suspicious activity, note them down, and draw our conclusions.
Additional pages include:
- Blank map with grid references
- Table of potential signs of revolutionary activity
- List of weather types and symbols for notation
1925 Leviathan
The age of flight is still in its infancy and we have heard worrying reports from our aeroplane & dirigible pilots of giant beasts that roam the aether.
Our fresh mission is to observe the clouds, look for unusual signs & cloud formations, and attempt to discern the activity & anatomy of these sky-bound leviathan.
Additional pages include:
- Common anatomy of leviathan (hypothesised)
- Illustrated chart with types of clouds and symbols for notation
- Illustrated means of estimating distances
- Table describing beaufort scale
- How to draw simple cloud shapes
- List of weather types and symbols for notation
1926 Communication
While we were looking upward, we didn't think to concern ourselves with the growing cacophony in our very own gardens, forests, and fields.
Our mission turns to our leafy neighbours to see if we can understand their speech and intuit their meaning throughout each season.
Additional pages include:
- Signs and shapes to look out for
- Size estimation chart
- List of weather types and symbols for notation
1928 Giants
From the landscape sprung the flowers, but who formed the landscape? Newly discovered texts indicate the folklore might be true and giants may have indeed existed.
Our mission is to lower our gaze to the ground to identify oddly shaped mounds, mimetoliths (rocks resembling faces), gouged earth, and suspicious urban planning decisions. Under the hills there may be sleeping colossus.
Additional pages include:
- Signs to look for
- Common rock types
- How to draw landforms & rocks in an isometric fashion
Field Officer Book Wrap
Well organised Field Agents can keep their handbooks together with this handmade book cover.
Made with dark grey 100%-wool felt, brass coloured eyelets, and two sets of red elasticated bands, the cover measures 5 by 7 inches when closed and can comfortably hold all four handbooks (plus one extra with an additional band).
It also includes a tag with an eyelet from which you can attach your pendulum key when not in use.
Coming 6 February 2024 — Get notified on Kickstarter!
Already Available
Print at home in pamphlet or pocketmod format NOW for $2 at itch.io
Inspiration
The original one-page pocket handbook was inspired by two zine games:
- The (Un)Naturalist by Donnie Dynamo (for seeking out unusual animal activity), and
- Wreck this Deck by Becky Annison (for blurring the lines of reality)
And if you like your RPGs outdoors and with things on string then you might also want to check out Conkerers by Cat Elm.
We wish you well in your endeavours and remember:
Watchful is our watchword
-
Drops of Æther
30 May 2021
Writing without fingers — Space age interfaces — Magic, with a little 'm' — A character sheet for the table
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Occurrences in the Æther
9 May 2021
Tone of Voice — ZineQuest 4