Cracks in the Mirror

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The world is filled with buried memories, ruined places from before the end of the age of war. It has taken centuries to rebuild, and some things remain buried beneath the rubble of the places most ruined by time and catastrophe. Trinkets, stories, memories. Pieces of the past that once belonged to your family, that were stolen, or broken, or forgotten.

Now, you have been sent to recover these things. For yourself, for your family.

Mnemonic: Cracks in the Mirror is a GMless game for up to four players. In it, you will work together and on your own to develop characters and a group, and then venture into the world to uncover your family's lost history.

A single session is expected to run approximately 1 hour per active player, with time at the end for reflecting on the experience. The game supports ongoing stories across multiple sessions through the repetition of rituals. You can create a new group of characters each time you play, or keep the same characters from session to session.

No GM Required

Mnemonic: Cracks in the Mirror consists of a series of leading questions and story prompts. The world and the story of your characters is entirely driven by the choices you make—about who you are, where you came from, what your part of the world is like. The game is intimate by design; every player is in control of their own part of the story, and no one player is in command of the narrative.

To play, read the text aloud with the members of your group, and answer the questions as you feel comfortable. Safety tools are provided within the text.

The game requires no one to serve as Game Master or facilitator, although your group may decide to have one player read the prompts aloud for the entire group.

What You Need

The rituals of play are laid out for easy viewing on a smartphone screen, and are provided in three different color themes:

• Light: Dark text on a light background
• Dark: Light text on a dark background
• Printer-Friendly: Dark text on an untextured white background, specifically designed to be printed at home

In addition to the game book, your group will also need a single standard poker deck (Jokers included).

Each player may also want to have some paper and writing materials, to keep track of their characters' progress through the world.

Credits

The following people directly assisted in the testing and design of this game:

• Playtesting: Cass Kay, Eli Kurtz, Jenn Martin
• Sensitivity Consultation: Mercedes Acosta

Without the help of these people, Cracks in the Mirror (and most of the world of Mnemonic as it exists today) would not be as successful as it is. Thank you.