Forecaster: The Body You Share

You are an apprentice forecaster. Forecasters are responsible for sparring with weather spirits, protecting your world from natural disasters. You’ve been training for years but to physically interact with weather spirits all apprentices must undergo a journey where they will battle many tests and complete an Graduation Ritual, gifting them their true forecasting power. The ritual involves communing with a nature spirit, sharing with them a true understanding of your one self and letting them join in it. You’ve been training for years but you now have cause to suspect the ritual will fail for you. Because you are not one self. You are more than one.

What is Forecaster?

Forecaster: The Body We Share is a fighting game of selves-discovery, for 2 or more players using a deck of playing cards. You tell the story of a System, four characters sharing one body, and their journey. 

Forecaster is set in a magical realist world where spirits and strange powers are a mundane part of modern life. Your characters are an apprentice Forecaster living in a small university town getting ready to undertake a journey where they will spar multiple opponents in preparation of the final ritual to unlock forecasting abilities. The fact of your plurality is a semi-recent discovery. Given the emphasis placed on the idea of knowing a singular self for the ritual to be successful, many of you have wondered if your plurality means it will not work as expected, or perhaps even fail. Still you will undertake the journey, try and gain some understanding, and confront the possibility that your future is not what you know. 

You draw a trail of cards to determine the scenes of your journey, and the opponent's you encounter in each.

In a given scene one player is the Front, the system member currently in control of the body, another player is the Opponent, an external character the system must meet and fight as part of their journey, and other players act as any other system members who are co-conscious in talking scenes. Fights are played as a trick-taking game between the Front and the Opponent. In the fight phase the player who was the Front acts as the whole system, switching between members as determined by the suits if playing cards.

Interested in a physical copy?

You can order a print-on-demand magazine if Forecaster: The Body You Share in the Lulu Bookstore. If you order a physical copy you can email your receipt to mackenziealter@outlook.com for a digital download key.

Read how the game plays

We've put the Example of Play up on our blog here.

What people are saying about Forecaster: The Body You Share

"Like Jacob wrestling the angel, Forecaster takes us to a violent and sweaty place to figure out who we are, how we fit into the world, and how the world fits in us. But if that sounds like undergrad religious studies boloney, don't worry: Forecaster is also a fast-paced beat-em-up game with evocative tables that ensure everyone will kick ass and look cool doing it. Can't wait to play." - Aaron King, Patchwork World Sixth Edition

"This game presents a compelling narrative and complex fight mechanics clearly and concisely, making it a great option to pick up and play without prep or pre-planning." - Jack Blair (Space Legs, This Game Will Force You to Stop Procrastinating Your Gender Crisis)

"It's a personal subject, written with vulnerability through the easily relatable context of a fighting game. Its thoughtfully made & informative, with examples of play that make it easy to learn." - Gem Room Games (High Magic Lowlives, 9 Lives to Valhalla)

Purchase Includes

• Digital edition of the game, a4 sized, in spread and pages
• ePub and Kindle editions of the game
• Playing Cards dot IO template
• Characters Sheet
• Sample Characters pdf