In T13, the Tapestry is the Alpha and Omega of the World-Building process, it is where we begin, and where we end. Tapestries are the plans, scaffolding, and building blocks that we build our Games and Narratives with. Typically, a Tapestry will define the setting and everything else that you need to know about the Game, or Narrative, from the tiniest details, like what colour insects live in which areas of the local forest, all the way to huge details like where in the Omniverse the story is happening.
Because of the way T13 works, you can start out with an idea for a Tapestry, build down into the fine details, expanding the Tapestry as you add Plots, Descendants, Characters, Annexes, Hitches, Notes, Maps and Proficiencies. Or you can begin from a single Location, Character, Descendant, or even a Proficiency, and build up, and out from there, exploring progressively larger areas and narratives, as you prefer.
The Tapestry can tell you what Rules a Game (or Story) might use, what Genres it conforms to, and what the world of the Narrative — which can be the whole of the Omniverse (if you really want), although usually Referees and Authors stick to their own Multiverses, or maybe just a single town and it’s weird other-world equivalent — looks like in the various Eras that might be visited (assuming time-travel is allowed, even if you don’t allow time-travel, it can be very useful to know something about the recent and distant past, for world-building purposes).
Early on the Tapestry might be a few collected ideas, a mood board for development. Later, after you have done some work, it becomes a guidebook or outline to produce your game or narrative. Eventually, a Tapestry can be a sandbox or even a whole game in its entirety, telling you everything you need to know to run that game from beginning to end, or a clear framework that a novel can be written from.
Tapestries can begin with a few ideas, but we try to collect and collate these thoughts early on, and build an elevator pitch to the whole idea, this might be as simple as, “A hero rises to protect the down-trodden”, or “A darkness rises in the land”, or be as complex as “In a city that transcends all of space and time, we follow a schizoid gumshoe detective, and his imaginary friends, as they try to solve a murder with no body, no weapon, no suspects, and perhaps no victim.”
We add to this pitch the Motto of the Tapestry, which may be something like, “Keep them guessing”, “Spell everything out”, “Dance around the subject”, “Bigger Explosions”, “As seen on TV”, “Spectacular Extravaganza” or “You can never have too many Ninjas”, or perhaps something more sensible, such as “Lawyers can’t argue physics”.
The Motto of the Tapestry is meant to inform the rest of the Tapestry. It gives us some overarching themes or just some goals or intentions. If you have no ideas about a particular Scene or Story, refer back to the Motto of the Tapestry, it will help your Tapestry feel more coherent if the Motto is regularly worked into the Narrative.
Maps and pictures can be added during any phase of a Tapestry’s weaving. They can be helpful for showing specifics of locations (“Where’s the Trap?”), or for expressing moods and feelings that would require many more words. Generally, it is better to create your own maps and images for your own Tapestries, but there are plenty of resources available on the internet.
You can also begin building Events that you know are part of the History of the World, as well as key points of the Story that you want to tell. These Events should always be considered guidelines at this point, you are making out a rough sketch, or prototype of the Tapestry, not its final form. Characters (especially Player Characters) often bend and break these Events when they get involved in them, and a good Yarn-Teller knows that things rarely go as they planned.
There is a balance to be found between Events that are so big the Characters cannot hope to affect them, such as Cataclysms and Disasters, but which have a profound influence on the Characters, and those smaller Events, such as someone missing a bus, that the Characters might easily influence, but which have no profound repercussions.
In a game, huge Events beyond a Player Character’s reach and control can feel linear, not unlike Rail-roading, as there is nothing the PCs can do to affect it, but as long as the more minor Events ripple out from the major, which can be influenced by the Player’s choices, then the Player’s feel as though they have agency.
Let’s consider a Disaster scenario where a Comet strikes the Northern Kingdom. Depending upon how the Yarn-Teller handles this Event and the situation the Players will react differently.
If the PCs are in the Northern Kingdom and are immediately destroyed by the Comet, that’s obviously bad. Okay, some Heroes may be able to wind back time a little, get some warnings out, and possibly escape in a second iteration of events, but that’s still not great.
Having a comet hit the Northern Kingdom and utterly destroy it is fine, if, first of all, the PCs don’t live in the Northern Kingdom. Then it is just news that they will hear. The following collapse of civilization, darkened skies and disastrous harvests in the south, roving bands of robbers, and caravans of migrants, will impact them, but allow PCs to take advantage of the chaos somehow, or at least make meaningful decisions for their own safety and survival.
Some Events are considered too large to be meaningfully impacted by Characters, cosmic events, acts of god, that sort of thing. We call these Boundless Events as they are almost unlimited in Scope and are rarely controlled by PCs. Unbounded Events include things like the formation of stars, planets and the beginnings of life, plus events like the mass extinctions that came before us. Boundless Events are cosmic in scope and scale.
Smaller than Boundless Events are Sacrosanct Events that are events that were set in motion by gods and other divine beings, the birth of a new religion (or god) is generally considered a Sacrosanct Event. Often the works of Saints and other Holy people are considered Sacrosanct, which can extend to the establishment of individual Temples and Churches. Grunts and Heroes may understand the Sacrosanct Event as being of “Religious Importance”, and time-travellers are often wise to avoid tampering with these events, for many reasons. It is worth noting that there is considerable apparent cross-over between Boundless events and Sacrosanct events in many cultures, with Boundless events being attributed as Sacrosanct by members of specific religions. In these cases the Boundless event is considered simply as having a greater Scope than a normal Sacrosanct event.
Less significant than Sacrosanct Events are the Keep Events. Keep Events are protected or fortified spans of time that can last for centuries in some cases (Sub-Roman Britain [400AD-700AD approx] are a Keep Event held by the Chronomasters in many timelines), any Yarn-Teller that enters the Keep Event becomes another Keeper of the event (tasked with preserving the event as stated) any Keeper who tries to alter the Keep event will be immediately ejected from the Keep event to an Alternate Time-line nearby. Grunts and Heroes may understand Keep Events as “Fortified Historical Periods” or “Protected Chronologies”
Cascade Events are events that may began small, but grow with time, like a domino effect, often spreading as Social Interactions amongst millions of people, until they reach almost Boundless Event size. They include the largest events of human history, and are referred to by Grunts and Heroes as “The Tide of History”, “Uncontrollable Chain of Events”, or “Escalating Causal Sequences”. Cascade Events are usually not directable or divertable, although occasionally less powerful Cascades can be “tweaked” by powerful Yarn-Teller Pacts. Yarn-Tellers may struggle to even influence a Cascade once it is under-way, and many find themselves swept along, or escape via a Causal Nexus or Crux to found a new timeline.
Causal Nexus Events, Causal Nexuses are created by multiple Yarn-Tellers interacting to manipulate a time-line together (essentially by stacking Cruxes on top of each other). Causal Nexuses can be considered as “Hardened History” or “Static Chronological Events” by Grunts and Heroes.
Smaller than Causal Nexus Events are Crux Events, which are powerful events created by Yarn-Tellers when they divert history and create new time-lines and alternate worlds. Cruxes can also be created by the Death of any Character liberating their Chi and Sway as Yarn in that moment. Cruxes can be considered as “Tipping-points in History” or “Chronologically Strategic Events” by Grunts and Heroes.
The smallest of Tapestry events are Chronoliths. These are moments of time that are used by Heroes (particularly Mercari and Paradox Warriors) as anchor moments in history, that they imbue with Chi so they can reload and return to that moment with greater ease. Chronoliths may be understood by some Grunts and Heroes as simply as memorable, or targetable, moments “Dawn this morning”, “Monday, 12pm” or “Remember that time you lost your keys, and we had to break into the house through the bedroom window?”