Mythender Draft Zero

By Ryan Macklin

Introduction

What is a "Draft Zero?"  It's what I call something that that I write that looks like a draft, but isn't really the first draft.  I'll do that after I write this, playtest a bit, write what I'm missing, then do an outline based on what I know and write from there.  What you're reading are really my collected notes on how I think Mythender works, in "draft" form.  Shitty first drafts, baby!  Woo!

What is Mythender?

At its core, Mythender is a role-playing game about being the best warriors in all of Europe who, through awe-inspiring action and teamwork, bring the fearsome beasts and creatures that dwell within Mythic Norden to their fall.

Who are these Mythenders?

Mythender is a title given to only the bravest, strongest and fiercest warriors who have proven themselves in battle by slaying a creature so ancient and powerful that there are tales – myths – told about these awesome beings. Legend has spread all across Europe and even to lands beyond, of a place that Christendom has only begun to spread, in the frozen North, where such beasts still thrive.


The question to ask is not “who are these men?” but “why do men travel this path?”


Warriors from all across the known world seek to prove that they are second to none in the arts of battle. These men seek to become Mythenders for glory.


Church men and laymen alike have felt the divine call to them, to rid the land of its ancient pagan beasts. These men seek to become Mythenders for God.


Many more have reasons their own to travel and risk themselves to become Mythenders – the squire who wants to marry the noble girl, the son who wants to gain his father’s respect, the old warrior who wants one last adventure before he goes off into that twilight, the fool who seeks to become a myth himself.


Why would you leave your home and all you know, make a treacherous journey to a forbidding land, deal with people who see you as an outsider and encroacher, fight beasts that have killed countless men before you and potentially become lost to this land yourself?  What is worth all that?

What is Mythic Norden?

There is an ancient land to the north of the known world, a land of hearty people and their beautiful, eternal, white winter. This land is full of contradicting tales of monsters and heroes, of kingdoms vast and small alike, of unspoiled wonders in the midst of treacherous regions.


Mythic Norden is not a land that can be found in history books, but it is one that can be found in inspiring heroic tales and active imaginations. Its landscape cannot be mapped or drawn, but it can be wondrously painted and sung about. Distance is not measured in kilometers or even how far a horse can travel, but in how far a song can travel and where the next legend lies.


Time itself almost ceases to flow as we know it and instead flows with a will its own. To some, Christian monasteries arrived in this land so long ago, they know not a time without one. To others, these foreign outsiders have just begun to encroach upon their lands. And to others still, speak with them on the subject and they will know not of what you speak. This land has always had Christian outsiders. This land has never had Christian outsiders. Mythenders traveling in the frozen north will encounter lands both modern to them and untouched by time alike.


If you have heard tales of heroes and myth, then you have seen this land with your mind’s eye. If you have only read about such strange, far-off places called “Denmark,” “Norway,” “Sweden” or places by other names, then you know not of Mythic Norden.

What are these Beasts?

Beyond the edges of Christendom lie refuge for pagan beasts and monstrous creatures. The beasts of Mythic Norden are among the fiercest and most cunning in all of mythic history, and thus make more worthy adversaries and conquests for Mythenders.


What we know of these beasts we know from the legends told of them. We know these abominations from their own myths. To a Mythender, a beast’s own myth is its downfall.


There are tales of drakes and dragons make their nests of gold and treasure in mountain caves. Rumors can be heard about trolls live under bridges, waiting for hapless passers-by to strike. Parents often tell their children about goblins lurk in the eerie leafless forests, hunting down little boys and girls for their nightly meal. An old, lonely man that no know knows will babble on in the mead house stories about nymphs that capture young warriors – not with the arts of war but the arts of women – and steal their very youth away.


Many foolish young men chase after creatures that even the old pagan gods could not kill, especially that ever-elusive wyrm, Jörmungandr. Others hunt down every claim of a dire wolf or wolf-man, to claim the life of Fenrir for himself. But only those who truly, with all their being, seek their own doom hunt down the old gods themselves. Often, veteran Mythenders who have nothing left for them back where they came from will embark on such a final epic quest.


While many Mythenders are prepared for monsters of Nordic legend, they are so very often unprepared for monsters that have fled other lands, running from the onslaught of Mythenders past, and made their home just beyond Christendom. Travel long enough and listen to the takes of adventurers, and you just may hear men rant and rave about bull-men from Greek legends, sorcerous spirits from Araby, even strange snake-dragons from the far-off lands of tea and fire. Exiled from their lands, they fight with a burning heat that this land has not felt is a very long time.


Mythic Norden is truly a vast wonderland of frozen beauty and raging peril.

 

Overview

Mythender seeks to teach the game to all the players and be a more effective reference by explaining how to play first, how to create characters second, and how to craft legendary adventures third.  While there is a chapter on the world of Mythic Norden, we will also add plenty about the world as the book continues.  [That said, I think I need to write everything else first, and then over again, before I can write the Overview.] 

 

There are three sets of rules that all use the same character stats, but uses those stats in different ways:

 

Some basics (which will be a dumping ground for notes until I actually write up this chapter properly):


Heroes

Heroic Success and Heroic Failure

The key to understanding how Mythender works as a game is to understand the paradigm of success & failure, and how it differs from other role-playing games you may have played.  (For those who are playing Mythender sa their first role-playing game, I am humbly honored.  This section may not may that much sense to you, because I'm writing it to those who have a classic role-playing notion of "success" and "failure," including my own alpha playtest group.)

In a typical role-playing game, a character's success is a signal of their impact on the world.  When you are successful at hitting an evil wizard, that foe is harmed.  When you are successful in climbing a cliff, you have moved closer to your goal at the top.  But when you fail at these things, nothing happens -- failure is the status quo in role-playing games.  You say where you are, your foe is no more harmed, and overall the world is exactly at it was before you attempted your failed task.  There's nothing wrong with this in general, but in many games this sort of failure is distressingly common -- and that commonality & lack of story movement is what makes failure frustrating and boring in many games.  One of the goals of Mythender is to avoid this boring, frustrating element, and that is done by not allowing this sort of result to happen in the game.

It should be noted that there is a form of failure in many games that is interesting, and it goes by many names: "critical failure," "fumble," "catastrophic failure," and many more.  This failure is not just about denying a success, but making the situation worse for the character -- a critical failure when attacking your foe could result in you losing your sword, for instance.  These failures are relatively rare, and even though they are not beneficial to the character, they do keep the story moving and are generally not boring.  When dealing with failure in mythic stories, it is these failures, and not the common, everyday failures described above, that stand out and are worth noting.  That said, one cannot simply replace the boring, story-halting failures with these critical failures one-for-one -- to make critical failures commonplace would rob them of their dramatic tension and ultimately lead to a frustrating game.

That's where the paradigm shift in Mythender comes in.  Instead of common failure being the status quo, success is.  Heroes are assumed to be successful at the individual actions they attempt.  Climbing a cliff, striking a foe or even talking to someone about giving you aid will all be successful.  But, this raises an important question:  "If success is assumed, what's the point?  Doesn't that make success pointless?  Doesn't that make it boring?"

If you don't add anything else in, the answer is a big, firm "yes."  But tales of myth, as well as wuxia stories and many other larger-than-life genres, do add in something else.  They add dynamics to success that make it interesting, so that a given success doesn't always feel the same as the one before it.  Mythender handles this in a couple different ways:

Success builds up.  Every little success -- climbing that cliff or striking a foe -- builds up a Heroes ability to achieve greatness and perform mythic feats.  Successes generate Mythic Power, a currency that can be spent during the adventure's climatic battle to push a Hero beyond his mortal limits.  The one who fights through dangerous foes and faces the worst Mythic Norden has to offer is more prepared than the warrior who has faced no tests before going into that final battle.  Within the final battle, success is used to generate massive effects, much like "critical successes" in other games -- though, unlike in those games, these are bought with the Heroes' successes rather than a fluke of random chance.

Success doesn't mean "unscathed."  To say that a Hero is successful in climbing the unclimbable cliff doesn't mean that our Hero did so without risk or loss.  The Hero who reaches the top unscathed as successful as the one who reaches the top, but with injury, personal loss, or fatigue.  There is something constantly at risk when dealing with the perils of Mythic Norden, and even though our heroes are assumed to succeed, they aren't assumed to do so without struggle.

Success in battle doesn't mean "do damage."  In other role-playing games, success in combat immediately results in damage -- sometimes a devastating amount, but often times it is a small wounding, requiring a great many successes to bring down a tremendous beast.  In Mythender, success doesn't translate immediately into damage, but instead into posturing, flesh wounds, and other small effects whose purpose is only to build up your side's ability to perform those devastating, critical hits that we see and read about in mythic tales.  When you buy a damage effect with those earlier successes, you may very well cripple or end a life.  (Players used to other games with heavy combat may have problems with this at first, as they narrate successful actions that should severely harm a foe even though their foe will feel no immediate effects.)

If this part still seems confusing, imagine a Errol Flynn-style climatic swashbuckling sword duel.  Both opponents are constantly successful, with their thrusts, parries, ripostes, dodges, maneuverings, etc.  It is only when one side spends the successes they've accumulated that a serious effect happens -- disarming a foe, rearming yourself, kicking dust in the other's eyes to blind him, causing him to halt in fear and, of course, grievously wounding him.

Greater success can be achieved, if great failure is put on the line.  In Mythender, there is a concept called "Grandstanding," which is where a Hero seeks to succeed and show off to such a degree that he abandons for a moment the notion of assumed success.  The benefit for this is gaining Mythic Power even faster than normal, but at a chance of failure that only Heroes know -- failure that cripples and denies them, failure that causes them to change their plans, failure that truly changes their world.

Failure is always invited by the Hero.  The GM cannot force a character to Grandstand.

Both success and failure keep the story moving.  Failure never simply causes the Heroes to be in the exact same situation they were in beforehand.  At best, those who have succeeded help those who have failed, and at worst a Hero has failed so greatly that the story has been irrevocably altered.  The one who fails to Grandstand striking down a foe -- perhaps by taunting him with his words while performing various feints -- could be rescued by a comrade who has succeeded in his own task, turning one man's defeat and humiliation into another's success, allowing the story to move on.  But, the tale could turn worse for that Hero by truly embracing failure, by discovering that the sword use by his fiendish foe was coated in a rare poison, or by being captured by the brigands, forcing his comrades to journey after him.  Regardless of what happens, the story has moved on, never resulting in a "oh, well, try again" feel to the game.  This sort of failure is called Failing Big.

Even Failing Big is worthwhile.  The Hero who allows himself to be rescued allows the story to move forward favorably for the group, at the cost of his own lack of success and lack of generating Mythic Power.  Contrast that with Failing Big, where the story moves in a very different direction because the failure is catastrophic (such as in the example above).  When Failing Big, a Hero is fueled by his devastating defeat even more than with a Grandstand success.  More Mythic Power is generated when a player accepts his Hero suffering horribly at the hands of fate, far worse than he would if he simply failed.

Characters: Heroes & Mythenders

Heroes in Mythender are not defined simply by what they can do, but what they do well and what they want out of being a Mythender.

Traits: Talents of a Hero

The Seven Heroic Traits

There are seven Traits available to Heroes, and a few more available to Beasts (covered later).  These Traits represent natural abilities, trained skill and blind luck that every hero and warrior has within himself.

 

List of Heroic Traits:

Choosing Favored Traits

Of these seven, each player picks four of these Traits to be their Heroes' Favored Traits.  These four Traits are not simply what a Hero is good at -- the Heroes are proficient with as many or as few of the Heroic Traits as they wish -- but which Traits are important to the Hero's own sense of purpose and sense of self.


[Design Note: I might drop this idea in favor of making up your own Traits, a la PDQ and other games.  The system is Trait-Agnostic, and I utilize this later when I do up the Mythic Beasts chapter, but I do partly like having assumed Traits and having a setup where everyone is going to share at least one Trait with someone else (since any two sets of four Traits out of a choice of seven will contain at least one common Traits)]

Building Traits

As a starting Hero, take 15 Trait Points and divides them between your four Favored Traits, giving each a minimum of 2 points.  The points put into your Traits becomes that Trait's Rating.

 

The Advantages of High Traits: Mastered Traits

The higher a Trait's rating, the better off that character is when using that trait with Convincing, facing a Challenge or in the midst of Battle.  In Convincing & Battle, you'll roll a number of dice equal to the Trait you're using, with more dice always being better.  During a Challenge, you'll typically only roll one die, and you want that to be equal to or under your Trait rating.

 

In addition to being more proficient when invoking a Trait during Convincing, Challenge or Battle, for every Trait that is at 6 or higher, this is Mastered Trait.  Each Mastered Trait gets an additional Signature Move during Hero Creation. (See "Signature Moves," later.)

 

The Advantages of Being Well-Rounded: Mythic Power

While picking high Traits presents obvious advantages, true Heroes must be careful to over-favor one or two Traits at the expense of others.  In Mythender, the ability to tap into the same Mythic Power that Mythic Creatures do, you must be successful at everything you care about.  In game terms, that means you need to achieve success for each Trait when Convincing, Challenges and Battles in order to gain Mythic Power.  We'll go into more detail in the "Mythic Power and Heroic Advancement" section, later in this chapter.

Mortality:  Hopes and Dreams of a Hero

While a Heroic death may happen in Mythender, that is not the worst of what Heroes must face.  In Mythic Norden, those who would do battle against its legendary Beasts have an even graver fate awaiting them, should they stray down the wrong path -- that of becoming Lost to Myth.  Heroes must walk a fine line between gaining Mythic Power to battle these terrible creatures and retaining their Mortality.  The key to retaining Mortality is through the reasons a Hero has not only for gaining the reputation of a Mythender, but also for coming back home -- Motivations -- and the trinkets and mementos a Hero carries with him to remind him on these reasons -- Reminders.

Motivations

A Motivation is a Hero's reason for traveling to Mythic Norden, fighting dangering Beasts, and coming back home with the title of Mythender.  Without the last part, the need to come back home, a Hero will not be able to escape the trap that lies deep within Mythic Norden, of taking a Hero away from the world and turning him into a being of Myth.  For a Mythender to become Myth is a truly sad fate, as it pits him against his brother warriors and all those who come after them, heeding the same call he once did.

Heroes have three Motivations:  the Motivation they would tell anyone while loose-lipped in the mead houses of Mythic Norden -- the Known Motivation; the Motivation they keep secret to only themselves and their closest confidants -- the Secret Motivation; and the Motivation they do not themselves yet know -- the Unknown Motivation.

In game terms: Each Motivation works the same: they have four Mortality Boxes on each one.  As you risk Reminders (see Challenge System chapter), you may check off boxes on the appropriate Motivation, edging closer to being Lost to Myth (see Becoming Lost to Myth, below).

When creating your Hero, you need only detail your Known Motivation right away.  If you know what your Secret Motivation is, write that down as well; otherwise, write it down by the time you end your first or second session.  Your Unknown Motivation will be created during play, when you have lost so much Mortality that you're only left with the Motivation you never knew you had.  (Covered in Becoming Lost to Myth)

Reminders

Reminders are items that a Hero keeps with him that remind him why he fights and why he wants to go back home.  Some reminders, like a family heirloom sword, also serve a practical purpose.  Others, like a lover's handkerchief, only serve as reminders.  In some cases, such as the last Mortality box on a Motivation or all of then for the Unknown Motivation, even a strong memory can be a Reminder.

When creating your Hero, write down at least one item relating to each Motivation you noted down.  If you are waiting to note down your Secret Motivation until later, include at least one Reminder when you do.

In game terms: a Reminder is an item that can be Risked during a Challenge.  If lost, then the associated Motivation gets one box checked off.  (Covered in Becoming Lost to Myth)

Signature Moves:  Specialties of a Hero

While Traits cover a Hero's talents in broad strokes, Signature Moves highlights a Hero's specific talents, either due to special situations, advanced training, or simple a focused application of how they understand their Talent.  Every Talent has at least one Signature Move, with Mastered Traits (Traits with a rating of 6 or higher) having an additional Signature Move for each Rating over 5 (i.e. a total of 2 Signature Moves at Rating 6, 3 at Rating 7, etc.).  These bonus Signature Moves are free only during Hero Creation.

There are four parts to a Signature Move:  Associated Trait, Relevant Use, Condition, and Effect.

Associated Trait

Each Signature Move is associated to one and only one of a Hero's four Favored Traits.

Relevant Use

Each Signature Move applied to only one of the three game systems: Convincing, Challenge or Battle.

Condition

A Signature Move is a specific, specialized application of a Trait -- one that cannot be used all the time.  Every Move has one of two types of Conditions, Action Conditions and Situation Conditions.  All Battle-related Moves must use Action Conditions.  Convincing or Challenge-related Moves may use either type of Condition.

Actions Conditions are Conditions based on narrated actions.  These conditions are about a particular display of power, advanced martial move, meaningful invocation or other action that will create the Signature Move's effect.
Examples:
Aaron is picking a Prowess Signature Move as a Battle Move.  Since he must pick an Action Condition, he decides on "when I leap from high ground and thrust my spear at my foe."
Matt is picking a Faith Signature Move as a Battle Move.  He decides on "I stand my ground as my foe thrashes about me.  Then I step forward and demand my foe to return to pit from whence it came!"
Situation Conditions are Conditions based on narrated actions.  These conditions are about specific elements of the environment or current situation that facilitate utilizing that Trait better for the Hero.
Examples:
Aaron is picking a Command Signature Move as a Convincing Move.  He decides on "when dealing with soldiers."
Matt is picking a Nimbleness Signature Move as a Challenge Move.  He decides on "when the winds rage and threaten to knock lesser warriors about."

Effect

A Signature Move's Effect has to do with the mechanical effect on the game.  The Effect is related to the Relevant Use.  The standard Effect is to increase the Trait's Rating by one for the purposes of that Action's roll, though there are some additional Battle Effects that may be chosen instead.

Convincing Move Effects:  The only effect available for Convincing is the standard Effect.

Challenge Move Effects:  The only effect available for Challenge is the standard Effect.

Battle Move Effects:  In addition to the standard Effect, another Battle Effect available is to add one Temporary Momentum Die when rolling for the Action.  (See Battle System for more information.)

Signature Moves for Mastered Traits

Additional Signature Moves on a Trait may either be new traits or stack the same effect on the same trait.

Artifacts: Tools of a Hero

[Design Note:  To be honest, I need to rethink this, because I took all my ideas for how mechanically to do Artifacts and turned them into Signature Moves, though the idea behind Artifacts are more over-the-top than Signature Moves, with pagan swords that freeze foes or stuff like that.  I'll have to finish writing the Battle system before I get back to this.]

Other Character Elements

[Design Note:  I should probably write something here, but I'll have to play the game some first.]

Mythic Power: Battle Ability & Heroic Advancement

Heroes doing battle against Beasts in Mythic Norden tap into the same Mythic Power that has sustained these Beasts since time immemorial.  Mythic Power is gained by being heroically successful, and is used to defeat powerful foes and gain further heroic ability.

Gaining Mythic Power

Every time you're successful with an Action (in Convincing, Challenges and Battles), put a tick mark next to the Trait linked to that Action.  When you have one tick mark on each Trait, trade in those tick marks immediately and give yourself one point of Mythic Power.  See the individual systems for more information. 

Using Mythic Power

During a Battle, Mythic Power can and should be spent to fuel powerful Actions.  See the Battle system for more information.

Heroic Advancement

After a Mythic Beast is vanquished, Mythic Power you gained and spent becomes fuel for Heroic Advancement.  This is used to increase Trait Ratings, buy new Signature Moves, and recover things a Hero is recently Risked and Lost.


Advancement Points:  Once a Beast is vanquished in Battle, the GM declares the Beast's Advancement Limit if he hasn't already.  A Hero's Advancement Point reward is equal to the number of Mythic Power he has gained during this adventure, up to the Beast's Advancement Limit, and the amount the Hero has spent in Battle, again up to the Beast's Advancement Limit.  If a Hero gains enough Mythic Power and spends it all, he can get as much as twice the Beast's Advancement Limit as his reward.


Spending Advancement Points to Increase Abilities:  Various advancements cost various amounts of Advancement Points.


Spending Advancement Points to Regain That Which Was Lost:  Anything Risked and Lost during a Challenge in this adventure can possibly be regained.  Anything not regained after this adventure is lost for good, but in some cases can be re-bought by Increasing Abilities -- notable Trait Ratings and Signature Moves.

Becoming Lost to Myth

When a Hero Risks and Loses some of his Mortality through his Motivations and Reminders, his attachment to the Mortal world of his birth is slowly gnawed away by the influence of Mythic Norden.  Individual losses do not have an immediate effect on the Hero's connection to the Mortal and the Mythic, but once all the Mortality Boxes on a particular Motivation have been checked off, a number of things happen:

Risk Restrictions

Once you have lost a Motivation, you may no longer make any Risks involving losing Morality Boxes on that Motivation.  Should you buy the Mortality Boxes on that Motivation back, it is no longer a Lost Motivation and you may again make Risks involving it.

Flesh Out Motivations

If you lose your Known Motivation and do not have your Secret Motivation filled out, immediate stop and define your Secret Motivation and associated Reminders, as per the Mortality section of character creation.

Should you lose both your Known Motivation and Secret Motivation, and do not have your Unknown Motivation filled out, immediate stop and define your Unknown Motivation and associated Reminders.  As you have played your character, you should have seen how your character has grown and behaved enough to understand what underlying Motivation he himself wasn't truly aware of until this soul-wrenching moment, where he was almost stolen away and Lost to Myth.

Increasing Mythic Ability

Having one or more Motivations Lost grants powers in Battle beyond anything a Hero firmly attached to his Mortality can accomplish.  This will be discussed more in the Battle System, but here are the abilities in brief:

Losing the Last Thread of Mortality

Losing your last Mortality Box is almost, but not quite, enough to push you into Mythic Norden's cold, cruel bosom.  Once you have lost all your Motivations, you will continue to play until you reach the climatic battle at the end of the adventure, and play through that battle.  Your actions then will determine if you are Lost to Myth or are able to come back from the brink.  Should you not be Lost to Myth due to the Battle, you must regain at least one Mortality Box during character advancement, or Myth will take you anyway.

[Design Note:  If you're reading inspiration from DRYH's Exhaustion mechanic, you're spot on.]

Challenge System

In Mythender, any time the Heroes are challenged by some situation that is neither a social situation (covered by Convincing System) or a climatic batter (covered by the Battle System), the Challenge System is used to detail the events that happen because of that situation.

The Heroes Are Inherently Successful

Notice that I didn't say "the Challenge System is used to see if the Heroes win or lose."  In Mythender, the Heroes are assumed to succeed at any challenge thrown at them.  Uncompromising success is the status quo in Mythic Norden.  The unclimbable cliff will be climbed.  The uncrossable river will be crossed.  The untameable beast will be tamed.  This is a day in the life of those who would challenge the old gods.


That said, the perils of Mythic Norden are not without risk.  In every challenge, the Heroes will risk something important to them -- a weapon to slay their foe, their very health, or even trinkets from their old lives that remind them of who they are and why they are fighting.  Success is guaranteed, but remaining unscathed is far from it.  The knight could lose the pagan sword that freezes all it touches while climbing the vast cliff.  The peasant boy may lose the necklace his love gave to him while crossing the raging river.  The woodsman may be gored while taming the frenzying beast.

All that said, there is a rare and special exception:  the Hero who invites Failure into his life, for the chance to come out of a challenge with even more Mythic Power than he would otherwise.  Heroes can always keep Failure away, but it is the Hero who courts that ever-dangerous mistress who will fair a chance at slaying the old pagan gods and putting an end to Mythic Norden's ways once and for all. 

Challenges in Mythic Norden

The Heroes will face a number of challenges during their journey to slay Mythic Beasts.

Challenges Declared By GM


Challenges Offered By Players

Facing a Challenge

When facing a Challenge, you go through the following steps:

State what you risk



Make your action

(Matt's example should be one to illustrate "an offer")

Resolve rewards and consequences

Grandstanding: Risking Failure for More Mythic Power

Failing Big

 

Convincing System

At times, Heroes will want to convince someone to do something that they either don't want to do or are reluctant to do for whatever reason.  That's where the Convincing System comes in. 

NPCs: Convictions & Reactions

Convictions

In Mythender, anything that an NPC wouldn't just do without hesitation when asked is called a Conviction.  Convictions are specific beliefs & desires, such as:

  

Unlike many other RPGs, this is intended to model three different social elements:

 

It attempts to do this without making the GM's life harder when making an adventure and playing the game.  When you're creating NPCs for an adventure (which will be a later chapter), you can create as many or as few Convictions for each character as you like.  However, when the Heroes engage an NPC about something you haven't written down, all the GM has to do is decide how the NPC feels about that and note down that Conviction on their NPC sheet.

 

Convictions have numeric values used in the Convincing System to determine when the Hero has convinced the NPC to go against that Conviction.  Along with ther number are plain terms to facilitate ease of on-the-fly Conviction creation:

Reactions

Along with Convictions, NPCs have Reactions.  Reactions are actions that a Hero can state that modifiers to a First Impression, such as bribing, flattering or threatening an NPC.  Like with Convictions, Reactions are statements with numeric values attached.  Some example statements could be:

 

These Reactions have numeric values attached -- positive values for Reactions that help the Hero convince the NPC, and negative values for Reactions that hurt the NPC.  As with Convictions, these Reactions also have a plain term along with the number to help the GM during the game:

 

Cumulative Reactions:  An individual reaction isn't cumulative -- if a person responds positively to flattery, the Heroes can't just keep flattering him into submission.  However, different Reactions are all cumulative, whether positive or negative, until the GM decides a particular Reaction is Trumpted or Lost.

 

Trumping Reactions:  NPCs may react favorably to some interactions, until a Hero provokes an Opposed Reaction.  Likewise, NPCs may react unfavorably to some interactions, until a Hero provokes an Favorable Reaction.  For some NPCs, they may forget previous Reactions if you present them with a Reaction they feel strongly about; others will keep those previous Reactions in mind.  A greedy person may forget that you threatened him if you suddenly present gold, but another may keep that threat fresh in his mind.  It depends on the NPC, the Conviction and the Reaction, and is subject to how the GM feels the NPC would react.

 

Losing Reactions:  Some Reactions, particularly certain positive ones like flattery, require continued interaction in order to not lose their modifier.  If the Heroes stop triggering a particular Reaction, the GM can decide whether or not that Reaction continues to affect the NPC.  In most cases, when it's lost, it can be triggered again to regain that modifier.

 

New Reactions on the Fly:  Should a Hero do something that the GM feels the NPC would react to, either positively or negatively, the GM should note it down and apply it right away.

 

NPCs and Rationality:  NPCs are under no obligation to be rational.  Some people are, some people aren't -- this goes as much for NPCs worth interacting with as anyone else.

Heroes: Using the Convincing System

When a Hero wants something from an NPC and that NPC doesn't immediately give in (an Unnoteworthy Conviction), the GM can ask the Hero is he wants it enough to use this Convincing System.

State the Desire

The Hero states what he wants to convince the NPC of.

Example:  Barthalomew wants to convince an old woman to tell him the secret about a drake he's hunting.  He has heard from others that she's rumored to know.  His player, Aaron, states that he wants to convince the old woman to spill about the drake.

First Impressions

The first interaction the Hero does, with respect to convincing the NPC to do what he wants, is the First Impression between that NPC and all the Heroes.  As the Heroes are a group of outsiders, the First Impression one makes will affect everyone else.

 

After the player narrates the interaction between his Hero and the NPC, the Trait appropriate to that Action will be rolled using the following method:

Rolling Trait in Convincing System:  Take a number of dice (d6) equal to your Trait Rating.  Roll those dice and add them together.  The result is your First Impression Value.  This is what your Convincing Value starts at.

First Impression & Physical Traits:  Physical Traits like Prowess and Nimbleness do not apply when Convincing others.  If you're using force to get your way, whether as a threat or as torture, that is the Command Trait.  If you're trying something like a footrace to win a contest or something like that, that's either Guile or that's actually invoking the Challenge System to settle this (or possibly Convincing an NPC to accept the results of a footrace).  Even when using a physical method, this is still about social manipulation.

 

Second First Impressions:  If the Heroes are particularly crafty and an NPC is not paying particular attention, they may find a new way to create a new First Impression.  Should this seem plausible, the GM should allow it, but keep the original First Impression value and situation noted down.  Also, consider new Reactions based on suspicion or a feeling of being tricked or betrayal -- such methods are likely to produce unfavorable or irrational Reactions.

 

First Impressions & Reactions:  Depending on the interactions the Heroes do during the First Impression, some Reactions may be triggered immediately.  Apply them right away.

 

If the Hero's Convincing Value is equal to or higher than the NPC's Conviction Value, then the Hero convinces the NPC.  Otherwise, follow-up interactions are needed to successfully convince the NPC.

Follow-up Interactions

Other Heroes' interactions: 

Convincing

Long-Term Desires and Staying Convinced: 

Success, Failure & Consequence

    Success

 

    Failure

In the Convincing System, there are only three ways to fail: trying to convince against an Unbreakable Conviction, triggering an Opposing Break Reaction, or walking away before you succeed.  The first two are due to interactions the Heroes do, and could possibly be worked around by trying other Convictions or Reactions.  The last one is purely a choice by the Hero -- the NPC cannot force the Hero to give up, so this failure is completely his choice.

    Consequence

Changing the Desire Partway Through

Additional & Future Desires

 

Battle System

Dice in the Battle System

The Battle System not only uses a lot of dice (d6s) for each player, but two groups of visually-distinct dice (such as two piles of dice with each a different color).  When rolling in the Battle System, you'll be rolling two different dice pools at once:  Action Dice and Momentum Dice.

 

In my group, we use little white dice for Action Dice and little blue or black dice for Momentum Dice.  You'll want at least ten dice for Action and twenty dice per player (including the GM) for Momentum.

Flow of the Battle System

The way the Battle System flows is not typical in most role-playing games...  

Overview of the Battle System Elements

Action Dice:  Dice associated with the action that you are doing in a round

Momentum Dice:  Dice associated with your continued progress and increased battle ability

Effect Points:  Points accumulated by your side that are spent to create Effects (such as Damage to your fore)

Starting a Battle

Actions

The flow of actions:

  1. Describe the Action
  2. Invoke the appropriate Trait as Action Dice
  3. Add in your Momentum Dice
  4. Modify the number of Action Dice or Momentum Dice depending on your

Effects & Damage

Ending a Battle