Introduction

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Camp S- Cape is a narrative-focused, horror, group tabletop roleplaying game set in the titular
Camp South Cape. One participant in this game takes on the role of the chief storyteller, known as the
Game Master (or GM for short), while the other participants (2 to 5 recommended) are players. Players

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take on the roles of youths looking to escape the camp before the terrible threats of the place do them
lasting harm. Due to the potential dark themes this game presents, it is recommended that players be at
least 13 years of age, and that steps are taken to ensure there is mutual agreement on subject matter and
limits are established for game content amoung your group.

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Communal Creativity

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At its core, tabletop roleplay is a collaborative and communal activity. Everyone is working
together to craft the story and have an enjoyable experience. While the GM takes on the role of the story's
antagonists and threats, the GM is also responsible for the friendly and helpful characters. The GM
shouldn't be out to "get" the player-characters. The threat of failure and consequences are not meant to
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punish players, but instead to inspire them to try harder or make new efforts to solving the challenges their
characters face.

Camp S- Cape does involve a persistent and oppressive threat as part of the core narrative conceit.
This should be created by the GM after consulting with the players. Informed consent is the cornerstone
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of a positive and enriching roleplay experience, so the GM section of this book contains tips for how to
achieve that. Players should do their part too, offering ideas and expressing concerns.

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 Sometimes it can be scary to express what you really want to say, especially if you're not having an
enjoyable time while everyone else seems to be. If you can't find the courage to speak out loud, consider

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using other clear forms of communication: Written messages or requesting a break from the game are
both good first steps. Take the opportunity they offer to ask to speak to the GM in private, or another
player who you trust to be your advocate.

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Ultimately, do what's right for you and your group. Everyone is a different person, with different
experiences and different interests. Discussing those differences in advance is a really good way to help
avoid misunderstandings and harm.

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 Setting

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Camp S- Cape can take place anywhere the players and GM would like it to, but this rulebook is
written with the assumption that your group will be playing in South Cape, Labrador, Canada. This is a
fictional place based on some real world information and experiences of one of the authors. Feel free to

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modify it to your needs, though. When you play or run this game, it's more important that the setting suits
your needs, rather than trying to cleave to some standards set by a distant stranger.

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 Situated on the southern coast of Labrador, South Cape is an oddity. Most of the land in the area is
made of rolling hills and rocks, with little vegetation other than bushes, grasses, and other hardy-but-small

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plants. But the South Cape is covered in pines and deciduous trees, vines, and even some that are fruit-
bearing. This is thanks to a freshwater lake nestled in the centre of the headlands that make up the
peninsula that is South Cape. The lake has a beach to the west, and boggy marshlands around the north,

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east, and southern edges. There is a very small stream that runs from the lake down to the ocean cliffs that
surround the Cape, terminating in a tiny waterfall that turns to a fine mist before it ever reaches the salty
brine below.

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 There are two paths that lead down the cliffs to reach the ocean beaches and caves below: One that
is long, winding, and tedious. The other is short, perilous, and in serious disrepair. A ramshackle wooden

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pulley-lift was built in the 1980s, but it was locked down after some . . . "incidents." The woodlands that
surround the lake have been culled down the western coast and a rudimentary road leads north-south.
This road is winding and steep at the north, where the Cape's headlands rise up above the low hills of the

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mainland.
Over 50 kilometres east from the nearest bit of civilization, the very small fishing village of the
Red Bay on the Boney Shore, Camp South Cape has become barely self-sufficient. The abundance of
wood makes for plenty of kindling for the various iron stoves and furnace. While the lake water isn't safe
to drink directly, it can be boiled to be made potable. A number of gardens are set up along the Mess Hall

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building, semi-detached from the Main Office. In the gardens are mostly potato and cabbage plants, with
twisted roots and vines of many other failed attempts at more diverse produce.
The Main Office building is the first building most new arrivals will see; large enough to hold fifty

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youths and ten adults, it's the best building on the campgrounds. The cabins for the youth campers are all
in sorry condition, most with holes in the ceilings or walls, rotting wood, and dangerous moulds growing.
Meanwhile, the cabins for the Camp Counsellors are in fairly good condition, comparable to the Main
Office. The Mess Hall is roughly between the cabins in terms of its state of repair. Pests of both the
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rodent and insect kind plague the food stores kept there. Meals are typically grain porridge in the
mornings, no lunches, and dinners of some variety of potato and cabbage. Every few days, some meals
feature mysterious protein slop that tastes vile.
There are a number of hiking trails through the woods, but the deeper you go, the less reliable the
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maps and trail markers become. The Counsellors recommend that campers watch out for moose, as the
ornery meat-tanks on spindly legs have been known to trample unwary youths. Some campers swear that
in the darkness of the night, they've heard or caught glimpses of some other beasts in the woods, such as
wild boars or wolves. The Counsellors deny that any such animals have ever been found on the Cape.

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The lake contains some fish, mostly small, but the Counsellors strictly regulate fishing as an
activity: All catches must be released back in to the lake, unless a Counsellor is the one who caught the
fish. There is also a colossal pike or other sharp-toothed fish of some sort in the lake. It's been known to
bite swimming campers.
The camp seems to have a real problem with weather as well. Heavy downpours with severe
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winds are common, but they don't seem to hit the mainland with the same intensity or frequency. It's also
been known to snow in the summer on occasion, and then a day later have a record heatwave. And, of
course, somehow the mosquitoes come out in droves rain or shine.

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The caves down at the bottom of the cliffs are submerged during most of the day, and aren't
accessible until about an hour before and after Low Tide is reached. The Counsellors strictly forbid
anyone attempting to get in to the caves. The Groundskeeper, however, seems to travel down to the caves
every day at the same time. Some campers think he might be a cultist of some sort, going down to
perform evil rituals. Others think he's a retired pirate, and has treasure down there. The teenage campers
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assume he's got a stockpile of booze or some other contraband tucked away down there. No matter what,
though, the Counsellors don't seem to know, or don't care that he does it.

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 Finally, the ruins of an old settler village is situated near the eastern cliffs. The Counsellors strictly
forbid any of the campers from visiting the ruined buildings without supervision, and most of the activities

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that they bring the youth there for are simply walking tours at a rather extreme distance. Campers are
certain they see shadows moving between the hollowed out husks of those old wooden buildings, but the
Counsellors are quick to explain it away as tricks of light and small woodland critters.

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In short: Camp South Cape would be a nightmare all on its own, even without the threat of some
supernatural monster lurking in the cover of night, waiting to devour the kids . . . or worse!

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How to Play the Game

The rules for Camp S- Cape are fairly simple. Whenever you want your character to do something

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challenging that has a chance of failure or drawing unwanted attention, you make a roll with d4 dice. The
number of dice you roll is determined by the kind of action you want to take, and an associated value
called an Approach. There are four Approaches:
Brainy - This is the cerebral and academic Approach. A character with a high Brainy score would do
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well with solving problems that require analyzing puzzles or recalling encyclopedic knowledge.
Tough - This is the physical Approach. A character with a high Tough score could be a great athlete or
shrug off pain easily.
Handy - This is the technical and creative Approach. A character with a high Handy score could feel
naturally able to make arts and crafts, or possibly construct tools and devices.
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Slick - This is the social and sneaky Approach. A character with a high Slick score would be able to use
cunning or a silver tongue to fix (or even cause) problems.

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 Any individual die which shows a result of 3 or 4 after being rolled counts as a Successful Step
and your GM will let you know how productive that is. A roll that doesn't have any Successful Steps is a

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failure, and uses up narrative time for no benefit. When performing a particularly risky activity, or one
which might bring unwanted attention to your character, then the associated roll has an additional risk:
Any dice result that contains one or more 1 after being rolled counts as a Misstep.

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Your GM will let you know if the Misstep has immediate negative ramifications, or if it is being
"banked" for later. If you accumulate enough Missteps, then the Camp Counsellors will eventually bring
you to The Main Office. This limits your character's options for activities. You may either attempt to
Make Nice with the Counsellors and get set free from The Main Office, or you may attempt to Distract
the Counsellors to aid your fellow players' characters in avoiding Missteps of their own.

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If you choose to Make Nice, then your character will be performing tasks for the Counsellors'
benefit. This may be innocuous, or it may threaten to set back your characters' progress in their escape
efforts. The GM does not need to tell you the truth in this case, so be careful! If you choose to Distract

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the Counsellors, then your character must remain in The Main Office until the end of the narrative day, but
any Successful Steps you roll may be used to nullify 1s rolled by other players. The GM will let you
know when the Counsellors aren't being distracted any more.
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You may be wondering what your objective is in all of this. Well, it's to ESCAPE, of course!
The method by which your characters escape from the camp are up to you and your GM. Come up
with ideas. Brainstorm. Get creative. Ask for help, if all else fails. The GM is here to help you have an
enjoyable time, so feel free to ask them for suggestions or tips. The GM may ask you to make a Brainy
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roll though, to represent your character wracking their brain for the idea to come to them in the context of
the narrative. Even if you fail the roll, or get a Misstep on it, the GM should still provide you with an
idea. It should just happen to be a bad idea. But don't worry! Even bad ideas can spark better ones, or
move the plot along and open new opportunities.

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 A player-character in The Main Office can't escape the camp with other player-characters. They
will either need to be rescued first, or broker a deal for their release with the Counsellors.

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Also, at a certain number of Missteps known to the GM, The Hunt begins! This is the final stage
of the game: It's do or die! Either your characters manage to escape, or they're caught for the last time.

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Example of Dice Rolls
Lucinda is a fairly Tough (3) and Handy (3) young woman, but she's not a fan of books (1 Brainy)
or trying to deal with other people (1 Slick). She would like to try to repair the engine of the broken pick-
up truck that the Groundskeeper has parked next to The Main Office. Her friend Parvati managed to
secure a toolkit earlier, and handed it over to Lucinda.

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Lucinda is attempting a Handy Approach, and would roll 3 of the four-sided dice. Her results are a
3, a 4, and a 1: Two Successful Steps and a Misstep. The GM informs Lucinda's player that she is making
good progress on the engine, until one of the Camp Counsellors shows up and tells her to stop messing

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with the Groundskeeper's truck.
Lucinda waits until the Counsellor leaves, and then makes another attempt. This time she rolls
three 2s. No Successful Steps, but no Misstep either. The GM lets Lucinda's player know that she hasn't
made any more meaningful progress, but it still took time. She only has enough time for one more
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attempt before curfew
With her third attempt, Lucinda's player rolls two 1s and a 3: One Successful Step and another
Misstep. Yup, only one Misstep! It doesn't matter how many 1s you roll normally in a single Approach
attempt. Any number of individual 1s still only count as one Misstep at most (unless you have a Quirk
which states otherwise). The GM lets Lucinda's player know that she only make a little more progress
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before the Counsellor comes by again. Quite upset at Lucinda, he makes a note to tell all the other
Counsellors that she's misbehaving, and will be asking the next Counsellor who sees her break the rules
tomorrow to bring her in to The Main Office.

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 Player Character Creation

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Your character is the fictional cipher you interact through the game's narrative. Your character
doesn't need to be anything like you, and offers a great opportunity to explore character traits and
experiences which you don't normally get to have in real life. But just because it's a great opportunity

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doesn't mean that you're not allowed to make a character who is more familiar to you instead.
What you should strive to do, however, is make sure your character has a reason to want to help
the other player-characters. Maybe they're just a really good person. Or maybe they know that teamwork
is the only way to succeed. Or perhaps the other player-characters were already friends with your
character. Be sure to discuss this with the other players and the GM in advance. It can also help flesh out

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your character's backstory, which in turn can help define their personality traits a little more clearly.
Remember that normally there isn't any kind of magic or superpowers for your characters. At
most, the Camp S- Cape game may feature a supernatural monster threat, but your characters are still

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meant to run away to escape. This might feel a little demoralizing. That's kind of the point. Horror
stories rarely have triumphant endings for the protagonists. Usually it's more about just making it through
by the skin of their teeth . . . or not at all.
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After you've got a character idea in your head, you get 8 points to distribute between the
Approaches when you create your character. No Approach can have fewer than 1 Point, or more than 4
Points.
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For example:
Pravati has 2 points in Brainy, 1 point in Tough, 2 points in Handy, and 3 points in Slick.

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 You will also get to select or invent one Quirk, and select or invent one Perk. These are unique and
represent something special about your character that may modify how the rules work for one or more of

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the Approaches, or how your character interacts with other game mechanics or narrative elements.
A Quirk is something that has both a positive and a negative aspect to it. A Perk is strictly positive.
Sample Quirks Sample Perks

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Nose for Trouble - Your character Heavy Sleeper - Your character is Polyglot - Your character knows Acrobatic - Your character gains
has an easy time detecting and always well-rested, but will be many languages. The GM will give one additional Tough Approach dice
distinguishing different scents, but difficult to wake up, even in an you opportunities to use that to if the activity requires acrobatics or
suffers from allergies or sinus emergency situation. learn something or make friends gymnastic precision. Normal Tough
problems that cause complications. with someone. rolls are unaffected.

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Likeable - Your character is well-
Know-It-All - Your character is liked by almost everyone, but that Crafty - You may declare that Food Motivated - Your character
well-read and knows how to solve a means you also attract hanger-ons. your character has a reasonable has a big appetite! You may reroll
lot of problems in theory.

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In You may choose to declare one homemade item that is valuable to one die on any Approach that is
practice, they tend to annoy people. Successful Step on a Slick roll that your escape effort once per session. directly related to food in any way.
You may roll Brainy Approach to had no Successes originally, but the
aid other player-characters even on GM will then saddlebag you with an Lucky! - Your character Can Drive - Your character knows
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Tough and Handy tasks, but any unwelcome NPC companion later. sometimes experiences some very how to drive, unlike most other
Slick Approach Missteps you make fortunate turn of events. Once per campers. The GM will offer you
count for two instead of just one. session you may also treat 2s rolled motorized vehicles to use in your
as Successful Steps. escape somehow.
When making your own Quirks and Perks, feel free to get creative! GM has final veto, though.
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It's recommended that you write down your character's Approach values, your Perks and Quirks,
and any notes or reminders you'd like about your character on some paper. This will be your "Character
Sheet," and it can be very helpful for keeping track of things over many different sessions.

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