October's Shadows: A game of struggle and survival in Revolutionary Moscow casts the PCs as a group of people from a variety of social classes and political affiliations who live together in a mansion in the wake of the October Revolution. The house is intended to serve as a microcosm of the chaos in Soviet Russia from October 1917 to September 1918.

The players define their own characters, including a pair of related NPCs. They then collectively define their environment, including the physical nature of the house they live in, elements of the house that can influence external events, and other NPCs affiliated with the group. Over the course of the following months, different events and conditions are thrown at the group, who use their own traits and the traits of affilated NPCs or household elements (including "the gun", the only way to kill another character) to perform actions (including electing a leader during the subcommittee meeting). Contests are resolved by rolling a die for each relevant trait, earning "books" as they are alternately revealed. During their turn, the two players describe their actions and how they counter the other player's actions, with no conclusive results until books are spent to purchase goals. Goals include injurying an opponent, meta elements like ending the conflict, changing relationships, or making permanent changes (to either character; concept is not sancrosact).