The Sun
Optimism, Truth, Light, Solarpunk, Naked Horse Rides, Success, Childishness, Innocence
We’ve been through a dark set of cards, you and I, but finally we’ve made it through to The Sun.
There’s no negative interpretation here: The Sun is a good card. I guess the Sun earned it by being the thing that all life on Earth depends on and rotates around.
The Sun is all good vibes and warm days. This is a beach vacation. The only people who don’t like the sun are vampires and software developers.
There’s a certain naivete and childishness to being this optimistic: the naked child on that horse is happy in a pretty uncomplicated way. Don’t they know that they have responsibilities to attend to?
Friends & Foes
The Shonen Hero is young and so optimistic and determined that they’ll win the day, even if they aren’t the smartest or most skilled.
The Baby Soft can always convince people to help by just being so soft and sweet and helpless. They’re so naive you can’t help but want to protect them, right?
The Helpful Stranger doesn’t need to provide assistance, they just do, because that’s the right thing to do.
The Good Turn Deserves Another remembers a time that they were helped and are looking to return the favor.
The Well-Meaning Extremist believes in their goals and ideals so strongly that they are blind to the damage that they can cause if applied naively.
The Recurring Comedy Antagonist makes up for not being terribly dangerous by being funny to keep defeating.
The Lawful Stupid is good, good in an uncomplicated black-and-white way that makes them very easily to manipulate. The ability to perceive shades of gray would make them much more effective.
Hooks
The Beach Episode is a great opportunity to take your players and put them in a different context than they’re used to: sure, they’re brave heroes who stare down the odds of death every day, but what happens when they have to throw a birthday party?
The Calm Before the Storm is a period of rest and relaxation before a big event. Players can shop, level up, regain hit points, tune their lutes, sharpen their swords, and generally hit a relaxing beat before continuing on their journey. Metagamers have grown to fear a particularly generous calm before the storm: a full heal and an equipment shop right next to a suspicious black door? Things are about to get real saucy all up in here.
Locations
The Hope Spot - a physical representation of a moment of respite or hope in a dark place. An oasis, a shaft of light with a flower growing, a pleasant clearing in a terrifying forest.
The Weird Little Town exists in a place where no town should exist, occupied by unusual creatures or people. Despite its strangeness, it’s still a place to restock and rest.
The Treasure Hoard is just an uncomplicated pile of riches. That’s nothing but upside! - so long as greed doesn’t ruin it. But that won’t happen, right?
The Tea & Potion Shop is a warm, friendly place, with a greenhouse and a lot of regulars.
The Gardens are host to a plethora of well-maintained plants, some dangerous, many of them delicious.
The Desert Dunes have to deal with too much sun. The heat here is a threat, and managing shade and water start to become a matter of life and death.
Treasures
The Warm Ring doesn’t do any one thing well, but instead makes a lot of little things slightly more effective.
The Dazzling Light is not just useful for lighting – it’s also so extremely, disarmingly bright that it can be used to briefly stun the unwary.
Names
Ray, Sol, Sunny, Apollo, Cyrus, Elio, Helia, Helios, Ravi