Snarekin

Theatre Royal · The Tabletop · By Desire of the Audience

or, A Hundred & Fifty-One Creatures Cut From Card

Every monster is a jointed card puppet on brass pins. Every room is a scene change. Every fight is a performance, and the house keeps count.

I
The Garden in which things are gathered
Take a monster out to the forest, the wheat field, the fishing spot or the mine and harvest with a click. No timers, no energy bar. The higher its level, the rarer the finds.
II
The Props Room in which nothing is born knowing
Wood, grain, fish and ore become keys, bread and draughts. Monster loot becomes moves. No species comes with a moveset: you craft every ability, and each one you equip is spent from stock.
III
The Tour in which a key is spent
Twenty dungeons, four rooms and a boss apiece. Wipe and you're thrown out of the theatre, but anything you caught or looted on the way is yours to keep.
IV
The Cast List in which colour is earned
A species you've only met is printed Penny Plain. Catch one and it comes Twopence Coloured. Shinies turn up in tinsel, one in five hundred and twelve.
V
The Nursery in which an egg is kept warm
Leave two in the daycare. The egg hatches as you win fights, and either parent can pass on its species.
¶
Entr'acte: The House in which you are watched
The stalls fill as you win and empty as you lose. A full house throws bread on stage, cheers for extra XP, and now and then simply jeers.

Turn-based, no reflexes
Same species, same level, same stats
One type each, nine in all
Played solo

Dramatis Personae · Twenty of 151

The Company

No. 001Common
Shiny!
Emberling
Fire
A coal-warm newt the size of a teacup; its crest is the only flame it owns.
No. 002Common
Shiny!
Dewpuppet
Water
A water sprite on strings, dripping from its own control bar.
No. 003Common
Shiny!
Vinemarrow
Grass
A marrow that got up and walked out of the kitchen garden.
No. 005Uncommon
Shiny!
Sparkwick
Electric
A chamberstick candle burning blue-white; it gutters when frightened.
No. 007Uncommon
Shiny!
Glimmoth
Light
A small moth whose abdomen is a lit gas mantle.
No. 009Common
Shiny!
Propface
Neutral
The comedy mask from the props basket, still grinning on its stick.
No. 010Rare
Shiny!
Cinderjaw
Fire
A cast-iron parlour stove; the grate is its teeth.
No. 015Boss
Shiny!
Curtainmaw
Dark
The house curtain itself, gathered into a mouth and hungry.
No. 019Common
Shiny!
Blazemaw
Fire
A pantomime dragon: two stagehands under one painted head.
No. 039Common
Shiny!
Mistback
Water
A fog-whale drifting over the stage with a lighthouse on its back.
No. 042Uncommon
Shiny!
Puddlerig
Water
A brass diving suit walking around with nobody inside.
No. 066Uncommon
Shiny!
Clayhorn
Earth
A minotaur turned on a potter’s wheel.
No. 081Uncommon
Shiny!
Surgehorn
Electric
A nursery rocking horse with a unicorn’s horn.
No. 088Rare
Shiny!
Chargeback
Electric
A tin wind-up robot that marches until it falls over.
No. 092Common
Shiny!
Draftling
Wind
A bedsheet ghost blown along by a draught.
No. 099Common
Shiny!
Breezewing
Wind
A folded paper crane that unfolded its own wings.
No. 116Common
Shiny!
Lumenjaw
Light
A carved pumpkin lantern with a crooked grin.
No. 127Common
Shiny!
Voidtail
Dark
A black cat with its back up and a tail like a question mark.
No. 131Common
Shiny!
Gloomjaw
Dark
The Punch and Judy crocodile, a glove puppet all teeth.
No. 136Boss
Shiny!
Murkrig
Dark
The puppeteer’s own two hands, reaching down with the strings.