How Duskhaven Works
You play by replying to one email each morning with one thing your character does, in plain English. The city answers the next day. Everything below is what moves under the surface — and in Duskhaven, everything you gain costs something.
The Morning Letter & Your Move
Each dawn a letter finds you: where you stand, what just happened, and a fork. Reply with one move — fight, sneak, charm, cast, bargain, run, anything you can say your character can try. You are never limited to the options offered; those are only the paths the city sees. A single line is a fine reply. Silence has its own consequences — the world moves on without you, and not gently.
Fortune
Every move carries a measure of luck — the Fortune chip on your letter, a number from 1 to 20. It is rolled fresh for you each day and it is honest: it is not the whole story (your skill and your approach matter more), but on a cruel day even a clever plan can slip. The city speaks of it only as fate — "the night was kind," "luck ran out two streets early." You will never be told a number in the prose; the chip carries it.
Silver
Your purse. Silver is earned by deeds, theft, patronage, and payment, and spent on wares, bribes, passage, and people. The number on your status card is the truth of what you hold — the story will never quote you a running total, only what a night earned or cost. Merchants cross every active player within their first days; the finest wares sit just past reach — one or two recruited friends closer. Silver moving between two characters always leaves one purse and enters another; nothing is minted from air.
Level & Growth
Level is how strong you are becoming — the powers and rewards you accumulate. It rises as you act. The milestones matter: a Title at level 3 (what the city calls you), a powerful item at level 5 (a named thing of real weight, yours to keep), and a companion at level 7 — a pet, a person, or a band of followers who act at your side. On the even levels you are offered a new ability: pick the power, and pick your move, in one reply.
Abilities
Permanent powers, each doing one clear thing — a blade that passes unseen, an eye nothing crosses unmarked, a web of street children who report to you alone. Every ability also has a limit: once a night, only in the dark, only on the wounded, at a cost that bites. That is what makes it a tool and not a cheat — the power is real, but so is the leash, and a clever player wins by knowing exactly when to spend it. What each one does, and where it stops, is stated plainly the day you choose it.
Renown — Fame Is a Spotlight You Cannot Switch Off
Renown (1 to 5) is how much the city notices you — separate from how strong you are. It rises when you triumph where people can see it, and a deed done in the dark, with no witnesses, moves it not at all. But renown is not a prize to be maximized. It is a choice with a price, and the wise play it deliberately.
The Reward
A known name opens doors. Factions court you and enemies fear you. In any public or social contest — a trial, a bargain struck before a crowd, a claim on a prize — your reputation is weight on the scale. You make the Daily; being famous spreads fame.
The Price
You cannot vanish. A face the whole city knows cannot slip a cordon, wear a disguise, or melt into a crowd — someone always clocks you. Your enemies watch you. Merchants price you as someone who can pay. The spotlight never switches off.
And so the shadow has its own power. A character of low renown — a nobody — sneaks, shadows, infiltrates, and disappears where the famous cannot. No one hunts a face they do not know. A spy, a thief, an assassin may want to stay unknown, and trade the spotlight for the freedom of the dark. Some nights the smartest move is one that costs you renown on purpose. In Duskhaven, everything you gain costs something — even fame.
Your Faction
You are sworn to one of the five powers. Their standing in the city rises and falls with what their members do — and recruiting a friend to your cause lifts it directly. The power highest at season's end wins the city, and its sworn are remembered in the epilogue. What your faction wants, and the doors it leaves open for you, are printed in the Daily each morning.
Recruiting
Bring a friend through the gate and the city pays you: silver, and your faction rises. Your personal invitation link is in every letter — share that, not just the address, or the gate has no way to know they came for you.