Optional Rule : Thread bonus
Identifying a Thread is rather like dealing a wound to the Shadow, in that a handful of Shadow Tokens are removed from the general pool to deal with separately, a difficulty of Thread tokens + 5.
In the story it may take a number of scenes to deal with a Thread, first to identify it, and then to work out how to resolve it. However the core rules provide no mechanical bonus to pursuing a Thread for some time, it doesn’t get any easier to deal with than it was when you first noticed it. This means that there is no rules incentive for taking time to work out why a Thread exists, you might as well just make up a tenuous explanation and make a Change.
With this optional rule the difficulty for resolving a Thread drops by 1 for each scene after the first that you spend following the Thread and attempting to work out why and how it relates to the Shadow. This does not change the number of Shadow tokens assigned to the Thread, nor the overall Shadow strength, the bonus applies to resolving the Thread only. Note that this lowered difficulty can result in an overshoot.
Optional Rule : Embracing the Shadow
The Solipsist rulebook (page 78) offers one way to make a deal with the Shadow. The Solipsist gains 5 Infestation and a level of Shadow Taint, while the Shadow loses a token. This represents the Shadow giving a portion of its power to the Solipsist, in return for tainting their future interactions.
This alternative rule allows a Solipsist to give in to the Shadow’s corrupting influence in the very act of fighting it, allowing the tainted Animacules of the Incursion to merge with his own, drawing on them for strength while at the same time damning himself.
Whenever a Solipsist is making a Change to destroy a Shadow, resist an un-change, or resolve a Thread he may embrace the Shadow. This involves opening himself to the Shadow’s strength to try and beat it. Embracing is much like Pushing, in that it lowers the difficulty by 5, but at a cost. In this case the cost is gaining a level of Shadow Taint, plus an un-tick on each Obsession used.
You cannot both Push and Embrace on the same Change but you may (if your group likes such things) claim to Push when in fact Embracing, by telling the GM in a note, or in advance, that you want to do so. Do this if you want to keep the fact that you are allowing yourself to be tainted a secret.
Optional Rule : Shadow Regeneration
As a group of Solipsists fights a Shadow Incursion it will inevitably lose tokens as Threads are resolved and Un-Changes made. Normally the Solipsists will push on regardless, eventually taking on the Incursion at it’s core, but it doesn’t always work like this. In some stories the Solipsists may find themselves dead, and too short on Infestation to return to life anywhere near the Shadow, or desperately in need of grounding. In these cases they may decide that retreat is the best option and take some time away from Shadow fighting to re-gather their strength.
In these cases you may decide that the Shadow Incursion will also regain strength while the Solipsist’s leave it alone, spreading it’s influence further and further as it unravels more of reality. You can represent this by giving it additional Shadow tokens, at a rate of one per player for each session (or significant period) they leave it alone. Note that this bonus can take the Shadow above the number of tokens it originally had.