Harvest is a game for 3-5 players across 3-4 sessions, and uses the Belonging Outside Belonging system, invented by Avery Alder and Benjamin Rosenbaum for their paired games Dream Askew & Dream Apart.
This system is a diceless, GMless, token-driven engine that rewards the characters for taking complicating or compromising action with the resources they can spend to embody the community’s values and hold it together in a tight, circulating economy. But temptation beckons—calling them to sacrifice tokens for good to invoke the vast and ancient Powers of the Island’s folklore (and the cruel Imperial forces of the mainland).
As play proceeds and the stock of tokens dwindles, there is only one way to unlock more: discover omens of the Island’s terrible hunger and advance the progress of the Sacrifice.
In a game of Harvest, each player will choose a member of the community to play – such as the established Old Name, the restless Young Blood, or the conflicted Homecomer. Together, you will sketch the landscape of the island: its beauty and its terror. Across three escalating acts, you’ll explore the island’s buried secrets, succumb to community pressure and private desperation, and turn against each other.
Because this much is certain: One of you must die, blood spilled to feed the land. And another must wield the knife. The only question is – who?