Mister Monster's Workshop

Tag: Game design

  • Psykers being psykic

    Psykers being psykic

    I have been hard at work this week adjusting the Dark Heresy Careers to my new idea of how to structure the port. Mostly it has given met yet another new idea for how to structure the port that I will eventually have to adjust the entire rule set to, but… let’s leave that for the future, I think.

    Anyway, the part I’m most proud of is the modified rules for psychic powers. As with most things DH, I keep struggling to keep it simple and elegant, but end up having to settle for making it simpler than the original rules (which is, let’s be honest, not a very high bar to clear). In this case, I had to give psychic powers a slightly different structure than most special moves, by incorporating the Fettered/Unfettered/Push scale from Deathwatch and onward. The goal being to make something that’s relatively straightforward to use but still captures the randomness of Warhammer 40,000 psychic shenanigans.

    Thus, I present to you, my new and improved rules! The progression in psychic strength depends on four Talents, like so:

    TALENT: PSY RATING 1

    When you draw on the power of the Warp and get a result of 10+, you achieve a Minor Success on if you used the power on Unfettered strength and a Basic Success if you used the power on Push strength.

    TALENT: PSY RATING 2

    When you draw on the power of the Warp and get a result of 10+, you achieve a Minor Success on if you used the power on Fettered Strength, a Basic Success if you use it on Unfettered strength, and a Major Success if you used the power on Push strength.

    TALENT: PSY RATING 3

    Choose one Psychic Discipline. You may now learn Psychic Powers from it.

    TALENT: PSY RATING 4

    When you draw on the power of the Warp and get a result of 10+, you achieve a Basic Success on if you used the power on Fettered Strength, a Major Success if you use it on Unfettered strength, and an Absolute Success if you used the power on Push strength.

    And all of those refer to the actual move draw on the power of the Warp, which looks like this. Brace yourself now, this gets long:

    SPECIAL MOVE: DRAW ON THE POWER OF THE WARP

    When you draw on the power of the Warp, decide which strength to use: Fettered, Unfettered, or Push. Then roll +Willpower. 10+, you succeed at a level depending on the strength you used and the Talent that gave you access to the move.

    • Minor Success: you activate a Minor Psychic Power that you possess, but you exhaust your will; take -1 ongoing to draw on the power of the Warp until you’ve had a chance to rest and meditate.
    • Basic Success: you activate a Minor Psychic Power that you possess.
    • Major Success: choose one of:
      • You activate a Psychic Power that you possess.
      • You activate a Minor Psychic Power that you possess, and also hold 1 that can be spent on activating a Minor Psychic Power that you possess at a later time without the need to roll.
    • Absolute Success: choose one of:
      • You activate a Psychic Power that you possess, and also hold 1 that can be spent on activating a Psychic Power that you possess at a later time without the need to roll.
      • You activate a Minor Psychic Power that you possess, and also hold 2 that can be spent on activating a Minor Psychic Power that you possess at a later time without the need to roll.

    In addition, if both your dice showed the same number, you manifest a Psychic Phenomenon depending on the strength you used and the number rolled.

    • Fettered: your disciplined caution keeps most of the energies you wield in check, only allowing them to hint at their undying malice.
    1. For a few seconds, voices echo oddly around you, as if you were standing in a vast cavern.
    2. A loathsome stench spreads around you.
    3. A fine coating of frost grows on every surface in your immediate surroundings.
    4. All animals in your immediate surroundings become spooked and restless.
    5. All food and drink in your immediate surroundings instantly spoil.
    6. All mirrors within your immediate surroundings crack.
    7. All plants within your immediate surroundings wither and die.
    8. Blood pours from stone and wood around you. Any carven idols or statues appear to be weeping blood.
    9. You and everyone within short range of you become short of breath for a few seconds, unable to run or exert themselves until the feeling passes.
    10. For a few seconds, utter darkness descends on an area within reach of you.
    • Unfettered: you trifled with forces beyond your understanding, and some of their destructive potential slipped your grasp. You still contain the worst of it, but all the same you’ve just demonstrated why psykers are not safe to be around.
    1. Everyone currently looking at you are forced to recoil in fear as they see you with a horrifying visage for a split instant. You also gain 1 Corruption Point.
    2. All mechanical devices around you temporarily seize to work. All ranged weapons drop to 0 Ammo.
    3. Ghostly apparitions appear around you for a few seconds. You and every player within short range of you gain 1 Insanity Point.
    4. Everyone within short range of you are knocked off their feet by a sudden earthquake.
    5. A piercing wail causes everyone within short range of you to be deafened for a few hours. Anything made of glass shatters.
    6. Uncontrollable Warp energies courses through your unprotected mind. You gain 1d5 Insanity Points.
    7. You and every player within short range of you gain 1d5l Insanity Points from glimpsing the heart of the Warp.
    8. A psychic shockwave emanates from you. Roll to refuse to fall, and everyone within reach of you becomes stunned for a long moment.
    9. Everyone within reach of you suffers a momentary rage and must attack whoever is closest to them. Players also each gain 1 Corruption Point.
    10. You and everyone within reach of you are flung about as high into the air as a second-story window. Anyone who can’t stop their fall somehow suffers injury as normal when hitting the ground again.
    • Push: foolishly, you opened the gates of the Immaterium wide, and what now comes pouring through them is beyond anyone’s control. The cost of your hubris may be steep.
    1. You wink out of existence and appear again, without knowledge of the intervening time, about half a minute later.
    2. Blood rains from the sky, and for the next short while you can only draw on the power of the Warp with Push strength.
    3. You switch bodies with another person near you for a few seconds. You gain 1d10 Insanity Points from the experience, and if the other person is a player, they do as well.
    4. Dark energies course through your body. You gain 1d10 Corruption Points and cannot attempt to draw on the power of the Warp again for an hour.
    5. The Warp touches everyone around you. You and every player within long range of you must roll to shield yourself with disgust.
    6. A Lesser Daemon materialises. It will eventually be forced to return to the Warp, but before then it’s free to work its malice.
    7. You become the epicentre for an explosion of psychic energy. You and everyone within reach of you take a hit for 1d10h damage, and all your carried equipment is instantly destroyed, including your clothes.
    8. Gravity reverses itself within long range of you, causing everything to fall upward for about half a minute.
    9. A daemon possesses you. It offers you your body back in return for you performing a heinous act that will irrevocably doom your soul. If you accept, the daemon remains in the back of your mind for as long as you work towards your sinister goal, ready to take back control permanently if it thinks you show insufficient enthusiasm, only leaving once you have held up your end. If you refuse, or if the daemon declares you in breach of the agreement at a later date, you permanently become a Daemonhost; make a new character.
    10. A rift in reality is torn opens and you’re sucked through, never to be seen again. Make a new character.

  • Moves, moves, moves!

    I have been hard at work with my Dark Heresy port this week, and I think I’m actually getting somewhere. I’ve edited the basic moves so that they amount to something comprehensive (which forced me to add even more of the damn things, but screw it, at this point I am making a complete mockery of the whole “rules-light” nature of PbtA anyway, so I might as well go crazy), moved more of the combat rules out to the weapons section, and begun editing the Careers and their lists of Advances again. This time I’ll turn it into something that’s easy to play! Yeah, I know I’ve said that before…

    Anyway, here are the basic moves as they stand now. Aside from editing them a bit, I also arranged them by type so they’re easier to keep track of.

    COMBAT MOVES

    MELEE

    When you bring down the hammer, roll +Weapon Skill. 10-14, you achieve a Basic Success. 15-19, you achieve a Major Success. 20+, you achieve an Absolute Success.

    • Basic Success: choose 1 option below. You may spend Righteous Fury to choose additional options, 1 for each Righteous Fury spent. Each option can only be chosen once. If you have training in the weapon you are wielding, you also hold Righteous Fury, which can be spent now on additional options or saved for later.
      • You inflict a hit on an enemy within range of your weapon and do damage according to your weapon and the enemy’s type.
      • An enemy who has you within range of their weapon does not inflict a hit on you.
      • You occupy the enemies within range of your weapon and keep them from engaging your friends. Hold 1 that can be spent on nullifying a hit from one of those enemies on another player or NPC. You may not deflect hits against yourself this way.
      • You push an enemy back to the range of your weapon or keep them from getting closer than that.
      • You knock down an enemy within range of your weapon or keep them from getting back on their feet.
      • You gain or maintain a grappling hold on an enemy within hand range.
    • Major Success: the same, but also hold Righteous Fury, which you can spend on an additional option now or save for other purposes.
    • Absolute Success: 20+, the same, but select 2 options.

    Examples: Exchanging blows, tackling an enemy, giving ground while looking for an opening.

    RANGED

    When you unleash the fire and fury, roll +Ballistic Skill. 10-14, you achieve a Basic Success. 15-19, you achieve a Major Success. 20+, you achieve an Absolute Success.

    • Basic Success: choose 1 option below. You may spend Righteous Fury to choose additional options, 1 for each Righteous Fury spent. Each option can only be chosen once. If you have training in the weapon you are wielding, you also hold Righteous Fury, which can be spent now on additional options or saved for later.
      • You inflict a hit on an enemy within range of your weapon and do damage according to your weapon and the enemy’s type.
      • You cause all enemies within range of your weapon to fall back, get in cover, or stay in cover.
      • You establish a kill-zone within the range of your weapon. Hold 1 that can be used to inflict an automatic hit on an enemy moving into or through that zone while you continue to cover it. The hit does damage according to your weapon and the enemy’s type. You immediately lose the hold if you take your eyes off of the kill zone.
      • An enemy who has you within range of their weapon does not inflict a hit on you.
      • You are not driven back, pinned down, locked into melee, or otherwise have your freedom of movement confined. You may also, if you so choose, alter your distance to the enemy closest to you by one category, e.g. from reach to close or from short ranged to long ranged.
      • You do not need to reduce your Ammo by 1. This cannot be chosen for an Ammo-S weapon.
    • Major Success: the same, but also hold Righteous Fury, which you can spend on an additional option now or save for other purposes.
    • Absolute Success: the same, but select 2 options.

    Examples: Charging in guns blazing, laying down fire to cover your escape, taking aim from a sniper nest.

    TRAVERSAL MOVES

    DODGE

    When you make a tactical withdrawal, roll +Agility. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: you escape whatever you were fleeing, but terror leaves its mark on you. Gain 1 Insanity Point.
    • Basic Success: you escape whatever you were fleeing with enough margin that you feel merely a passing fear.
    • Major Success: you either escape with a comfortable margin, or you manage to snatch something useful or valuable up along the way at the cost of gaining 1 Insanity Point from the heedless risk.
    • Absolute Success: you escape with a comfortable margin and also manage to snatch something useful or valuable up along the way.

    Note: This move is triggered when you attempt to escape a location and its accompanying dangers completely. If you are just manoeuvring for a safer position within your current location, e.g. leaping into cover to avoid enemy fire or ducking under a sweeping blade, use escape a tight spot instead.

    Examples: Racing to catch the last life pod, fleeing from a fight, getting out of the blast radius.

    CLIMB

    When you overcome an obstacle, roll +Strength. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: you make it through, but it leaves you exposed or vulnerable for a moment.
    • Basic Success: you make it through quickly and cleanly.
    • Major Success: you either make it through quickly and cleanly, or you allow yourself to be exposed or vulnerable for a moment in order to clear a path or show a way for the next person to follow you; if you choose the latter, you may allow one other player to share your progress without making a roll of their own.
    • Absolute Success: you make it through quickly and cleanly while also managing to clear a path or show a way for the next person to follow you; you may allow one other player to share your progress without making a roll of their own.

    Examples: Pushing your way through a crowd, wading through a treacherous swamp, scaling an enemy fortification.

    CONTORTIONIST

    When you escape a tight spot, roll +Agility. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: you make your escape, but it’s a near thing; you lose 1 Wound and suffer the loss of one piece of gear of the GM’s choice.
    • Basic Success: you make your escape, but not unscathed; choose whether to lose 1 Wound or abandon one piece of gear.
    • Major Success: you make your escape in one piece.
    • Absolute Success: you make your escape in one piece, and you feel confident in your ability to slip free of any trouble; lose 1 Insanity Point.

    Examples: Slipping out of someone’s grip, scurrying into cover, squeezing through a narrow gap.

    SWIM

    When you charge boldly onward, roll +Strength. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: you close the distance, but in heedlessly barrelling forward you exhaust yourself; take -1 ongoing to Strength and Agility rolls until you’ve had a chance to rest.
    • Basic Success: you close the distance with plenty of vigour to spare.
    • Major Success: you either close the distance with vigour to spare, or you exhaust yourself (take -1 ongoing to Strength and Agility rolls until you’ve rested) to arrive quickly enough to gain some sort of unexpected advantage or opportunity.
    • Absolute Success: you close the distance with vigour to spare and also arrive quickly enough to gain some sort of unexpected advantage or opportunity.

    Examples: Swimming through an underground passage, chasing down a fleeing enemy, leaping a gaping chasm.

    STEALTH MOVES

    CONCEALMENT

    When you find a hiding place, roll +Agility. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: you manage to find a hiding place that will obscure the subject for a while, but that will soon be searched in the ordinary course of things.
    • Basic Success: you find a hiding place that won’t be uncovered by anything but a thorough search.
    • Major Success: you either find a hiding place that won’t be uncovered by anything but a thorough search or a hiding place that will remain secure for the foreseeable future; however, the second hiding place also holds the risk of what is hidden there being in some way damaged or endangered before it can be retrieved.
    • Absolute Success: you find a hiding place that will remain secure for the foreseeable future, no matter how many people look for it.

    Examples: Hiding behind some crates, burying evidence, smuggling contraband past customs.

    SILENT MOVE

    When you move unseen, roll +Agility. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: you make it across a stretch of territory unseen, but you have to take the long way around or remain in hiding for some time, costing you valuable time.
    • Basic Success: you make it to where you are going deftly and quietly.
    • Major Success: you can make it to where you are going deftly and quietly, but along the way you stumble on a chance to examine or overhear something along the way that others would have preferred to keep secret from you, at the expense of risking detection.
    • Absolute Success: you make it to where you are going deftly and quietly, and along the way you manage to examine or overhear something that others would have preferred to keep secret from you, without risking detection.

    Examples: Sneaking up on an enemy, circumventing a sentry, making it through a secure area unchallenged.

    RESISTANCE MOVES

    CONTEMPT

    When you armour yourself in contempt, roll +Willpower+your current number of Disorders. 9-, you suffer a Failure. 10-14, you achieve a Basic Success. 15-19, you achieve a Major Success. 20+, you achieve an Absolute Success.

    • Failure: the shock is too much for you, and part of your mind irrevocably shatters. Choose a Disorder.
    • Basic Success: while you hold on to your reason, you are deeply shaken. Choose a Trauma.
    • Major Success: you maintain a white-knuckle grip on your rational faculties.
    • Absolute Success: in a flash of clarity, you realise that death in the service of the Emperor is an honour, not something to fear. Hold Righteous Fury.

    Examples: Encountering a grisly murder scene, facing a monstrous xenos, experiencing something unnatural.

    CAROUSE

    When you fight the effects of poison, drugs, fatigue, or extreme conditions, roll +Toughness. 9-, you suffer a Failure. 10-14, you achieve a Basic Success. 15-19, you achieve a Major Success. 20+, you achieve an Absolute Success.

    • Failure: you take -1 ongoing to rolls with one particular Characteristic until you’ve had a chance to rest and recover. The GM decides which Characteristics, depending on what the exact causes are.
    • Basic Success: your hardy constitution makes it possible for you to push on, but perhaps at a price. Choose one alternative below.
      • You take -1 ongoing to rolls with one particular Characteristic, as from a failure.
      • You suffer serious medical harm. Take 1d5l damage that is not affected by Armour. Toughness modifies normally.
      • Your refusal to slow down runs the risk of making you pass out. Roll to refuse to fall.
    • Major Success: you shrug off the effects.
    • Absolute Success: you not only resist, you start to build up a tolerance. Reduce the current penalties gained through failures to fight the effects by 1. If more than one Characteristic is affected, you choose which one gets a reduced penalty.
    • Absolute Success: in a surge of willpower you banish all mortal weakness. Lose all current penalties gained through failures to fight the effects.

    Examples: Resting the effects of drugs or poisons, pushing on without water or rest, enduring extremes of temperature.

    DISGUST

    When you shield yourself with disgust, roll +Willpower. 9-, you suffer a Failure. 10-14, you achieve a Basic Success. 15-19, you achieve a Major Success. 20+, you achieve an Absolute Success.

    • Failure: Chaos infuses your very bones. Advance your Damnation Track by two boxes.
    • Basic Success: you manage to hold back the worst of the dark transformation, but some of it still takes hold. Advance your Damnation Track by one box.
    • Major Success: your flesh refuses to bend to Chaos, but instead breaks out in stigmatic bleeds. Take 1d5 damage, not reduced by Toughness or Armour.
    • Absolute Success: by near psychotic determination, you deny the Ruinous Powers a grip on you… this time.

    Examples: Reading a forbidden text, facing a daemon, witnessing a dark rite.

    ENDURANCE

    When you refuse to fall, roll +Toughness. 9-, you suffer a Failure. 10-14, you achieve a Basic Success. 15-19, you achieve a Major Success. 20+, you achieve an Absolute Success.

    • Failure: the tribulation is too great for you, and you pass out.
    • Basic Success: you stagger on, but your inner reserves are dwindling. Take -1 ongoing to further rolls to refuse to fall until you’ve had a chance to rest.
    • Major Success: whether through unyielding faith or simply a burst of adrenaline, you bring your treacherous body back under your control.
    • Absolute Success: your suffering brings you a vision of the Emperor. Lose 1 Corruption Point.

    Examples: Suffering a Crippling Injury, being put through torturous pain, being sedated by powerful drugs.

    INVESTIGATION MOVES

    AWARENESS

    When you keep an eye out, roll +Perception. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: the GM tells you one detail of your current surroundings that is odd, notable, or out of place. She doesn’t tell you why, only that the detail for some reason sticks out to you.
    • Basic Success: the same, and the GM also tells you why the detail is noteworthy.
    • Major Success: the same, and the GM also tells you what the wider implications of the detail is and what it might portend.
    • Absolute Success: the same, and take +1 forward to any roll that makes use of or makes reference to your observation.

    Examples: Stopping to smell the air, taking a look around, listening to your instincts.

    EVALUATE

    When you evaluate your surroundings, roll +Intelligence. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: the GM tells you of one nearby inanimate object or feature of terrain around you that could be valuable or otherwise useful to you.
    • Basic Success: the same, and the GM also tells you which such object or feature (which can be the same one or a different one) that some relevant NPC or group would most desire to own or control.
    • Major Success: the same, and you may declare which particular NPC’s or group’s needs you’re able to anticipate. Alternatively, you may describe a particular sort of person to cater to.
    • Absolute Success: the same, and the object or feature you found for your own use was especially well-chosen; take +1 forward to make use of it.

    Examples: Surveying the contents of an armoury or market, looking around for an improvised weapon, finding the best spot to land a ship.

    GAMBLE

    When you count the odds of some potentially risky course of action, roll +Intelligence. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: you get a hunch. You may ask the GM whether doing something would, in her opinion, be a good idea. She tells you either “yes” or “no.”
    • Basic Success: the same, but you’re able to pinpoint what the hunch is based on. The GM tells you “yes” or “no,” and also tells you what she’s basing her assessment on.
    • Major Success: the same, and you develop a lucky streak; if you follow your hunch, hold 1 that can be spent on making a roll of exactly 9 be treated as a roll of 10-14.
    • Absolute Success: the same, but your luck is truly unbeatable; by spending the hold, you can turn any result of 9- into a result of 10-14.

    Examples: Sizing up an enemy, checking the security, estimating someone’s reaction.

    INQUIRY

    When you conduct a thorough investigation, roll +Fellowship. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: you learn some broad rumours that have been flying around, but either any other interested parties learn that you have been asking questions, or the people who tipped you off had their own sinister reasons for doing so.
    • Basic Success: you either learn an actually juicy tidbit at the cost of attracting attention or being lured into a trap, or you learn the broad rumours without any adverse consequences.
    • Major Success: you learn the broad rumours, and you also have a lead to learning something highly useful, but it will likely involve going somewhere dangerous or drawing attention to yourself.
    • Absolute Success: you learn both the general rumours and something highly useful without any adverse consequences.

    Examples: Eavesdropping in a bar, casually asking questions, offering a reward for information.

    LOGIC

    When you apply logic to a complex problem or vexing mystery, roll +Intelligence. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: the GM gives you a hint towards the mystery’s solution or lets you unravel part of the problem, but your unfettered thoughts flirt with sedition; you gain 1 Corruption Point.
    • Basic Success: you get a hint or make progress without ill effects.
    • Major Success: you either get a hint or make progress, or you completely unravel the mystery or solve the problem at the cost of gaining 1 Corruption Point.
    • Absolute Success: you completely unravel the mystery or solve the problem in a way that is safely in line with the Imperial Creed.

    Examples: Finding your way through a maze, solving a riddle or puzzle, piecing together bits of evidence.

    SCRUTINY

    When you see corruption everywhere, roll +Perception. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: the GM tells you if someone around you is lying to you.
    • Basic Success: the same, and the GM also tells you what part of what they said was a lie.
    • Major Success: the same, and the GM also provides you with the most likely thing that they are hoping to achieve with their lie.
    • Absolute Success: the same, and you may ask one question of your choice. If the liar knows the answer, you manage to deduce what it is.

    Examples: Study body language, ask leading questions, analyse past behaviour.

    SEARCH

    When you search an area, roll +Perception. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: you find or notice something that hints at what has previously happened in this place.
    • Basic Success: the same, and the GM also tells you what the most likely backstory is for your find.
    • Major Success: the same, and the GM also tells you where you should go next if you want to find out more.
    • Absolute Success: the same, and the GM also tells you what probable dangers will face you if you proceed with your investigation.

    Examples: Examining a murder scene, ransacking an office, excavating a xenos ruin.

    INTERACTION MOVES

    BARTER

    When you strike a hard bargain for something that is at least potentially for sale, roll +Fellowship. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: you manage to strike a deal, but it’s a bad one; you will need to pay much to get little, or there is some additional hidden cost like attracting legal trouble.
    • Basic Success: you manage to acquire what you need at a fair price.
    • Major Success: you get what you need at a significant discount.
    • Absolute Success: you get what you need in return for nothing but a promise of repayment at some hazy future date.

    Examples: Negotiating a fraught alliance, buying illegal goods, bribing an official.

    CHARM

    When you turn on the charm, roll +Fellowship. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: you manage to appease suspicions or calm an argument, making the other party willing to at least talk things over.
    • Basic Success: the same, and you also talk the other party into doing you a small favour that won’t cause them more than a momentary inconvenience, like letting you have the next dance or pointing out a useful person to talk to.
    • Major Success: the same, and the other party also relaxes around you, potentially letting down their guard.
    • Absolute Success: the same, and the other party considers you a cherished friend from this point forward… which of course doesn’t mean he definitely won’t stab you in the back, only that he’d be sorry to do it.

    Examples: Offering a respectful greeting, buying a round of drinks, declaring your honest intentions.

    COMMAND

    When you bark an order, roll +Fellowship. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: your orders are carried out in a haphazard sort of way, but some people never manage to get anywhere with their appointed tasks and others end up doing things only vaguely related to what you said.
    • Basic Success: your orders are carried out with what passes for competence in the Imperium, but without much enthusiasm and with everyone doing the least amount of work they can get away with without actual dereliction of duty.
    • Major Success: your orders are carried out to the largest reasonable extent to which the ordered people are capable of them.
    • Absolute Success: your faithful minions are so determined to make you proud that they exceed themselves, performing far beyond their regular capacity.

    Note: Like all moves, bark an order must be plausibly triggered. In its case, this means that the people being ordered around must in some way be susceptive to command; either because they are officially on the player’s payroll or because they are uncertain and eager for someone to tell them what to do. Conversely, disciplined underlings being told to perform routine duties will follow such orders without the need to trigger this move.

    Examples: Rallying frightened and confused people, getting mutinous underlings to snap into action, making poorly trained troops execute a complex strategy.

    DECEIVE

    When you tell a cold-blooded lie, roll +Fellowship. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: your lie is believed for now, but the truth will soon come out.
    • Basic Success: the lie will be believed until some pressing evidence against it is revealed.
    • Major Success: the lie will either be believed until some pressing evidence against it is revealed, or the mark will believe your lie indefinitely, even in the face of evidence to the contrary. However, the second option requires you to truly commit to the lie to the point where you’re not even sure yourself what is real and what is not; you gain 1 Insanity Point.
    • Absolute Success: the mark will believe your lie indefinitely, even in the face of evidence to the contrary.

    Examples: Professing your innocence, impersonating an Imperial officer, feigning compliance.

    INTIMIDATE

    When you become a figure of terror, roll +Strength. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Minor Success: you manage to bully the victim into submission for now, but they will drag their feet in anything you make them do and betray you at the earliest opportunity.
    • Basic Success: the victim will do your bidding as long as you remain in their presence, but as soon as you are out of sight they’ll start plotting revenge.
    • Major Success: the victim will continue obeying you even after you have left their presence, too terrified to even think of going against you.
    • Absolute Success: the victim not only continue obeying your orders after you have left their presence, but will be so desperate to please you that they will act in whatever they perceive as your best interest whenever they get the chance.

    Examples: Cocking a gun, name-dropping powerful friends, slapping someone around.

    SPEAK (LOW GOTHIC)

    When you make yourself understood, roll +Intelligence. 10-14, you achieve a Basic Success. 15+, you achieve a Major Success.

    • Basic Success: you find a way to convey basic concepts and broad ideas (e.g., “I am a friend,” “there is danger in that direction”).
    • Major Success: you find a way to communicate effectively albeit stumblingly, but the precision is still lacking; take -1 ongoing to all moves that require you to be understood.
    • Absolute Success: you device a way to communicate freely and perfectly.

    Examples: Signalling through gestures or other crude codes, overcoming a language barrier, getting through to someone in the grip of terror or berserker rage.

  • More warhammering

    Today’s session turned out to be Dark Heresy, which reminded me that that port may have come a long way, but it’s still in an unfinished state. The basic moves work well enough, but they just don’t feel comprehensive in the way I want – I can usually find one that fits, but not always. I don’t have that problem with the WoD ports, despite them having half the number of basic moves. I don’t know. Maybe I need to think a little more broadly. For instance, today I ended up jury-rigging a move that’s really meant for communicating across language barriers and use it for getting across to someone in an agitated state – making it more generally a move to make someone listen and understand who would otherwise be unlikely to do either. That might be a way to approach it.

    Combat could use some fine-tuning, too. For one thing, I need to do something to make grenades less tempting to break out for everything. They do a ton of damage, but that’s supposed to be offset by them being awkward to use at close range and expensive to stock up on – I think I may need to try a little harder to enforce both those things.

    Also, copy-pasting together the actual options faced by a player whenever they succeed at throwing a grenade (as a Blast weapon) is still getting old. I don’t know, should I just write up separate combat options for each major type of ranged attack (Blast, single-shot, semi-auto and full auto)? That sounds awkward, but it might be a step in the right direction.

    Need some more flavourful GM moves, too. I’ve been using the regular, game-agnostic set (deal damage to them, take away their stuff, give them a tough choice, etc), but they’re not terribly inspiring. I’m thinking some more like:

    • Confront them with brutality and oppression, with them on the receiving end or not. The Imperium isn’t a nice place to live. Terrible things happen to perfectly ordinary people on a regular basis, ranging from merely being worked to death in a fabricarum to being hunted for sport by degenerate nobles. With this move, play up some routine horror, either as a background event (which they might try to stop, if they’re feeling foolhardy) or something that affects them directly.
    • Show them that they’re small. It’s a vast universe, and even the most accomplished human is only qualified to deal with a small part of it. With this move, reveal that the players are completely out of their depth, dealing with a situation far more complicated (and perhaps deadly) than they can even begin to address. Something as simple as finding your way through a labyrinthine hive city can be daunting, and once poorly understood technology and convoluted organisations get involved, things may simply be beyond your ability. For obvious reasons, this move must be used with care, to not cause the players to just stop trying. However, it’s integral to the setting that some problems just aren’t solvable.
    • Have something go terribly wrong on a large scale. Industrial accidents. Natural disasters. Entire swaths of space stations losing life support. When things go wrong in the Imperium, they tend to go wrong in a downright operatic way. With this move, smash something up that changes the entire environment the players are in. They should still have a reasonable chance to survive, of course, but they will likely need to start running.

    Something like that. I’ll need more of them, but that’s a little more fitting for the setting.

  • Magey moves

    Magey moves

    This week, I managed to move on with my Mage: the Ascension port and write up a list of GM moves. This is something like my fourth or fifth version of this list – as usual, Mage resist easy summary. But I think this set works with my conception of Mage as a game about mystery, conflicting viewpoints, and the contrast between the magical and the mundane.

    • Introduce a tantalising mystery or an opportunity to learn. Every mage desires, in one form or another, to learn – to better understand a world that is strange, complicated and often contradictory. The fundamental GM move, then, is to offer the players something to learn about. Perhaps they stumble on the outer Ripples of a Mystery (see the section of Mysteries for details), or maybe they catch wind of a rare book of lore, a wise spirit, or a master who might share his knowledge with the worthy. It can even be something entirely mundane, such as the location of an elusive enemy. Whatever it is, it should not come cheap; the players will have to do the legwork if they want to unravel the enigma.
    • Add another ingredient to the witch’s brew. The world is a battlefield between billions of competing wills, and even a straightforward conflict between two parties can grow complicated in a hurry. With this move, introduce another factor to the scene that comes from a different Paradigm or with another agenda than any of the extant ones. The factor can be an NPC or an inanimate force, seemingly mundane or overtly supernatural – what matters is that it’s different, making the scene feel more disjointed and chaotic. For example, the players might spot a Dreamspeaker rival of theirs while infiltrating a Syndicate-owned night club, or have their Verbena grove invaded by a little grey-skinned alien. Less dramatically, if the players are arguing with their chantry leadership about some course of action, an impasse might be taken as an invitation by a previously neutral cabal to suggest their own preferred plan.
    • Remind them that they walk a world of dust. The world is a harsh place, full of petty injustice and bleak misery. With this move, introduce some purely mundane problem – a mugger, a flat tire, a failing business, a bad cold. The problem can even be the simple fact that things take time, and that the world won’t sit still while the players spend a week digging through the library for information on their enemy. Magic can solve a great many of these issues, but of course that tends to lead to problems of its own; force the players to choose between dealing with things like a Sleeper, reminding them of their fundamental humanity, or invoking greater debt in the form of Paradox or unwanted attention from using their supernatural powers to escape everyday concerns.
    • Have a carefully laid plan go awry. Mages know better than anyone how easily clever plans can go spectacularly wrong. With this move, what someone tried to do – whether the player, one of their allies, or the enemy they were opposing – has a drastic unintended effect, causing a huge mess that doesn’t do anyone any favours.
    • Offer their heart’s desire, at a cost. A mage knows that the world is his for the taking, but everything has a price. With this move, present the players with an opportunity, whether to get the upper hand in a fight, to discover a clue to a mystery, to win a convert to their cause, or otherwise get something they want. However, either make the opportunity fleeting and necessary to act on immediately, without any chance for the players to hedge their bets, or hint that there will be considerable downsides to seizing it.
    • Let them be touched by the flames. Mages try to avoid physical danger, and most of the dangers they face are of a subtler kind. All the same, it’s a dangerous world out there, especially if you take an aggressive approach. With this move, deal Damage to a player, with a level determined by precisely what the source is.
    • Inflict a slow poison or a lingering curse. Any mage knows that the subtlest cut is the one that will barely be noticed at first. Wounds can fester, poisons can take time to kick in, and curses can ruin your life over a period of days or months. With this move, have a player be poisoned, infected, or otherwise compromised, but only hint at it for now; keep the full effects in store for later.
    • Punish them for breaking the laws of the world. Mages attract the wrath of the Consensus by their very nature, and especially so when they use magic carelessly. This move either causes a player to mark Paradox, or creates a Paradox Effect with a level proportionate to how much Paradox the player currently has marked, or – as is usually the case when a player fails an Arete roll – both. It is also appropriate when a player draws attention to some ongoing Effect, when interacting with something supernatural and volatile, or when in the presence of a Maurader.
    • Challenge or threaten their values. Every Tradition value something, if only because it’s something they rely on for power. Hermetics revere the written word, Verbena places of unspoiled nature, Choristers hallowed ground. With this move, place something a player’s Tradition considers special and powerful in the cross hairs, perhaps as part of a plot by a rival Paradigm, perhaps just as a natural consequence of events. This can be a player’s own foci, a location where their Paradigm is strong, or just an abstract value or ideal that’s being contradicted or suppressed. Either way, this gives them a chance to practice what they preach, and stand up for something greater than themselves.
    • Confront them with folly. The ignorant and deluded can be more dangerous than the outrightly malicious, if only because they are so much more numerous. With this move, have an NPC’s failure to see the world for what it really is either cause trouble for the players or provide them with an opportunity. People who are obviously wrong are people who need tutelage, which can strengthen a player’s Paradigm, but they can also dig in their heels and insist on a disastrous course of action unless the players can stop them.
    • Let them define their own reality. A mage practices his craft as much in his way of life as in his spells. With this move, simply ask the player to describe something, whether a character, a location, or a piece of history. Then take that description and add something to it, preferably something that makes the players’ lives more difficult.
    • Teach them that nothing ever truly ends. The consequences of a mage’s actions echo down the ages, and lessons learned frequently have to be rediscovered. With this move, bring an element – a character, an event, a location, an arcane principle – that had seemed over and done with back into play.
    • Make a Paradigm Move. When the players are dealing with some particular Paradigm, you can make a move unique to it that expresses its flavour and feel. This move can be overtly supernatural or merely philosophical, depending on the situation, but either way it represents a particular idea of how the world is meant to work.

  • Principles of magehood

    This week, I’ve been hacking away at my Mage: the Ascension port. I think, at this point, that I have run enough of the game to actually get a feel for it, so now it’s just a matter of getting it out on paper in a way that’ll make me remember it (and possibly explain my way of doing it to others who want to try, but let’s be honest, it’s mostly for my own benefit).

    I’ve written up a new set of Principles that are meant to inform everything the Storyteller does. It was tricky to formulate them in ways that weren’t specific to any particular paradigm, but which still felt flavourful and non-generic. Not sure if I succeeded. Have a look:

    • Be a fan of the player characters. The characters are the larger-than-life, troubled antiheroes of this story of magic and horror. Give them every chance to make choices, and to suffer for them; to stand tall, or fall short; to find wisdom, or be brought low by hubris. Let them show who they are, not as a favour to them, but because you want to see it too.
    • Start and end with the fiction. A move is only ever triggered by the fiction, and its outcome must always ripple through the fiction. Never say something happens because the rules say so. Instead, show what event or condition in the world led to it. Likewise, don’t just state mechanical outcomes (e.g., “mark a wound box” or “take +1 forward”)—explain what they mean (e.g., “your arm’s sliced fending off the dagger,” or “a blessing guides your aim”).
    • Offer no escape from magic. To be Awakened is to live an interesting life, whether you want to or not. Mystery and intrigue will find you. Wherever the players go, let their magical destinies ensnare them ever deeper. Never let them rest for long without introducing a new problem or worsening an old one. The path to Ascension waits for no one — if you don’t seek it out, it will come knocking.
    • Showcase eccentric oddballs, alternative subcultures, and fringe beliefs. Mages aren’t normal people — and neither are the Sleepers they deal with. Neo-pagans and techbros, political extremists and cultists, fringe scientists and secret societies: every NPC should believe in something, and that something should be out of step with the mainstream. Some chase utopia. Others just want to feel something. But none of them believe in half-measures.
    • Contrast the sordid with the sublime. Mages deal in higher truths — glorious destinies, lofty ideals, and sacred dreams. But each is also a creature of fragile, hungry flesh. They reach for the stars while standing ankle-deep in mud. A path to godhood may lead through alleys so filthy and grimy that the very idea of magic seems like a cruel joke.
    • Fill the world with mismatched fragments of possible realities. Behind the curtain, countless paradigms clash — each one shaping reality, each wildly incompatible with the others. Mages make belief into truth, at least part of the time, leaving contradictions and broken stories in their wake. And the world is littered with the detritus of past workings — wonders abandoned, horrors forgotten. Mix mythologies and genres freely: let the world itself seem unsure whether it’s a wuxia epic, a spy thriller, a Norse saga, or a psychedelic fever dream.
    • Give everything arcane significance. Everything is magic, sooner or later. Every office drone on their 35-minute lunch break is unknowingly enacting a grand occult working of efficiency and monetary worship. Every addict shooting up in a condemned building is fumbling toward ecstatic revelation. No action is without philosophical weight — whether the actors know it or not. When imagining a scene, always ask: what higher vision — successful or failed — shaped this place?
    • Place a mystery behind every corner but keep it half-hidden. For a mage, the world is one vast riddle. Nothing is ever straightforward — there’s always a hidden force at work, a scheme unfolding, an impossibility pushing against Consensus. But mysteries rarely announce themselves. What players see first is a minor oddity: a strange coincidence, a subtle wrongness. Whether they pursue it is up to them.
    • Wrap the fantastic in the prosaic. This complements contrast the sordid with the sublime. Every act of magic brings consequences — and depends on logistics. A face-melting curse ends with a trip to the ER and a surgeon muttering “acid attack.” The God of Storms must be summoned with ingredients that arrive in shipping boxes. Spells punch holes in reality — but the rest of the time, mages live in the same world we do, and must navigate its systems.
    • Portray social and environmental ruin. The World of Darkness is a monument to failed utopias. Cities meant to be marvels now rot with smog, slums, and broken infrastructure. Streets reek of exhaust. Everyone’s at once overmedicated and sicker than ever. The system is crumbling — but for now, it clings to life with a rictus grip, too stubborn or afraid to admit it’s already dying.
    • Show spots of beauty and meaning, always in danger of being erased. The world isn’t dead — just almost. In the middle of polluted hellscapes, some still fight for dignity. Amid mass-produced junk, real art and brilliance survive. These things are always at risk — of being destroyed by bitterness, or forgotten in apathy — but they are hope. Let them shine.
    • Make everything someone’s creation, but only sometimes under anyone’s control. Nothing just happens. Every event, horror, or miracle began with someone’s will — or their failure to act. Every demon was summoned. Every curse began as fear. But control is an illusion. Most magical acts spiral far beyond what anyone intended. Chaos is more common than success.

  • Fiddling with Talents

    Fiddling with Talents

    This week, I have been working on my Dark Heresy port. I’ve decided that I’m mostly satisfied with how the rules work, but they need to be easier to look up. Since the system is so based on slight upgrades to existing abilities, it leads to a lot of flipping back and forth through files to figure out what a character is even capable of. That won’t do.

    The approach I decided on is to make each player’s character sheet less of a copy-paste from the rules and more something you build up according to the rules. That way, you can ignore all the rules that don’t affect that particular player, and concentrate on what applies to them, personally.

    So I’ve been writing the basic moves up like this:

    When you show healthy paranoia, roll +Perception. 10-14, you achieve a Minor Success. 15-19, you achieve a Basic Success. 20+, you achieve a Major Success.
    • Minor Success: if you are in some sense in danger at the moment, you sense an eerie feeling of menace, but no details of the nature of the threat.
    • Basic Success: the same, but if you are in fact in danger, the GM also gives you a hint as to how and why.
    • Major Success: you learn precisely what the danger is.
    • Absolute Success: you not only learn what danger is threatening you, but also the most promising way of avoiding it.
    Examples: Stopping to smell the air, glancing behind you, thinking back on what danger signs you might have missed.

    Then a player will start out with a move that looks like this:

    When you show healthy paranoia, roll +Perception. 10-14, if you are in some sense in danger at the moment, you sense an eerie feeling of menace, but no details of the nature of the threat. 15-19, the same, but if you are in fact in danger, the GM also gives you a hint as to how and why. 20+, you learn precisely what the danger is.

    Examples: Stopping to smell the air, glancing behind you, thinking back on what danger signs you might have missed.

    Then, if that player takes the Awareness (Known) Talent (which bumps up the results of a successful move to show healthy paranoia), the move gets altered to this:

    When you show healthy paranoia, roll +Perception. 10-14, if you are in some sense in danger at the moment, you sense an eerie feeling of menace, and the GM also gives you a hint as to how and why. 15+, the same, but you learn precisely what the danger is.

    Examples: Stopping to smell the air, glancing behind you, thinking back on what danger signs you might have missed.

    And if the player further takes the Awareness (Trained) Talent, which adds an additional result on a roll of 20+, the move again gets rewritten to this:

    When you show healthy paranoia, roll +Perception. 10-14, if you are in some sense in danger at the moment, you sense an eerie feeling of menace, and the GM also gives you a hint as to how and why. 15-19, the same, but you learn precisely what the danger is. 20+, you not only learn what danger is threatening you, but also the most promising way of avoiding it.

    Examples: Stopping to smell the air, glancing behind you, thinking back on what danger signs you might have missed.

    You see what I mean. At every turn, the player’s sheet only contains the information that will apply to that player themself. This would absolutely not work if we were still using pen and paper like some sort of savages, but of course these are modern times and everything is stored in easily edited .txt files.

    I do worry that this will make it more troublesome for the players to choose new Talents, since now the information on what a move actually does and the information on how it is altered by a Talent will exist in two different places. But I’ll see what happens when I have a chance to run a session with the new PDF.

  • Honour to the Administratum

    Honour to the Administratum

    This week, my players ended up exploring the byzantine bureaucracy of the Imperium of Man. Maybe it’s fitting, then, that most of my thinking this week has been about bookkeeping.

    Character bookkeeping, I mean. It’s not an especially sexy topic, but it’s something that really makes a difference for how easy it is to run a roleplaying session. You want to be able to tell, at a glance, just what rules apply to a character – what their abilities are, what modifiers are affecting them, what they can and can’t do. Because having to stop all the time and flip through the rulebook is freaking annoying.

    One of the charms of Powered by the Apocalypse style games is that they seek to make bookkeeping easy. Rules are kept as modular as possible, so that you usually just deal with one paragraph of text at the time, not three or four different ones that are spread throughout the book. When that isn’t possible, information is often repeated so that it appears everywhere it needs to be, even if that means adding to the page count. It’s part of what makes these games so smooth to run.

    As I’ve mentioned before, when porting Dark Heresy I eventually had to admit that I couldn’t make it quite that nice. I’ve tried my hardest to not make rules depend on other rules that depend on still other rules, but it’s still a big, sprawling, messy game set in a big, sprawling, messy world.

    For example, one thing that I struggled with in today’s session was constantly having to adjust the options available for fighting for the particular weapon the players were using. You see, my rules for ranged combat go like this:

    When you unleash the fire and fury, roll +Ballistic Skill. 10-14, choose 1 option below. You may spend Righteous Fury to choose additional options, 1 for each Righteous Fury spent. Each option can only be chosen once. 15-19, choose 2 options. 20+, choose 2 option, and hold Righteous Fury.

    • You manage to disengage from melee and get onto at least a range of reach to the nearest enemy.
    • You hit a single enemy within range of your weapon and inflict weapon damage on them.
    • You inflict 1 damage on an enemy Horde within range of your weapon.
    • A single enemy who has you within range of their weapon does not hit you and inflict weapon damage on you.
    • An enemy Horde who has you within range of their weapons does not hit you and inflict weapon damage on you.
    • You are not forced to retreat or to take or stay in cover.
    • You cause a single enemy within range of your weapon to find or stay in cover.
    • You establish overwatch; the first single enemy within range of your weapon to leave cover (including to fire a shot of their own) takes 1d10 damage, reduced by Armour.
    • You do not need to reduce your Ammo by 1. This can not be chosen for an Ammo-S weapon.

    Examples: Firing a lasgun, throwing a knife, sniping from ambush.

    But when you’re wielding a weapon with the Blast tag (such as the frag grenades my players were flinging around), the following extra rules apply:

    When you unleash the fire and fury with a weapon with the blast tag, you may also choose the following options:

    • You inflict 1d10 damage on an enemy Horde within range of your weapon.
    • You hit every character in a group standing closely together (such as enemies engaged in melee, allies covering each other’s sides, etc) within range of your weapon and inflict weapon damage on them.

    However, when you unleash the fire and fury with a weapon with the blast tag, you may not choose the following options:

    • You hit a single enemy within range of your weapon and inflict weapon damage on them.
    • You cause a single enemy within range of your weapon to find or stay in cover.
    • You establish overwatch; the first single enemy within range of your weapon to leave cover (including to fire a shot of their own) takes 1d10 damage, reduced by Armour.

    So while I can normally just copy-paste in the list of a player’s options as they succeed at something, neat as you please… here I have to edit the whole thing on the fly every time (okay, so after the first time I guess I should have saved the edited list, but I didn’t think of that at the time). And there seems to be no easy solution to it, beyond writing up the full list of options for every single weapon in the book… and that seems a little much even for PbtA.

    And then there are all the things that players can do, which are adjusted when they take certain Advances, and the things they implicitly can’t do because there are other Advances that allow you to do those things… It’s a lot.

    I think maybe I should restructure the port into a more traditional format. Man, Warhammer 40,000 fights back hard against being PbtA-ified! Possibly it thinks that it’s heretical or something…

  • Let’s make – ze magic!

    Let’s make – ze magic!

    So… what did I randomly end up working on this week? Because the only certain thing is, it wasn’t what I was meant to be working on!

    Yeah, it was my Mage: the Ascension port. I wrote up some more definite Paradox Effects to have a grab bag of them ready.

    Mage is one of those games that are definitely crying out for different rules. Not necessarily simpler rules, not necessarily more complex rules – just anything other than the mess it’s saddled with, which manages to be at once overly convoluted and vague and directionless. It is, accordingly, one I’ve put a lot of work into, and I’m by no means finished yet.

    The heart of the system, though, is the spellcasting rules, which rely on two separate moves, like so:

    WORKING MAGICK

    When you cast a quick spell, describe the Effect you’re after and how you will use your Spheres and Paradigm to achieve it. Then roll +Arete. 7-9, choose 2 options below. 10+, choose 3.

    • The Effect lasts until the end of the scene.
    • The Effect does precisely what you intended, no more and no less.
    • The Effect affects something other than yourself.
    • The Effect doesn’t deplete your mystical will (-1 ongoing to all Arete rolls until you get a chance to rest).
    • You don’t need to mark Quintessence.

    When you perform an elaborate ritual, describe the Effect you’re after and how you will use your Spheres and Paradigm to achieve it. Then roll +Arete. 7-9, choose 2 options below. 10+, choose 3.

    • The Effect lasts for as long as you need it to.
    • No hard-to-replace resource is lost, destroyed, or used up.
    • The ritual doesn’t take a long time.
    • You don’t need to mark Quintessence.
    • The Effect is especially strong, adding +1 to the mechanical effects (i.e., it does Damage-2 instead of Damage-1, clears 2 wound boxes instead of 1, gives +2 ongoing instead of +1 ongoing, etc).

    Take -1 ongoing to rolls to create a magickal Effect for each Effect you currently have active. Note that an Effect only have to be maintained if it either affects a living being (who inherently exert spiritual pressure to return to their natural form) or if its continuation is considered impossible under Consensual Reality. Thus, witch-light hovering in mid-air must be maintained, but if you use a spell to set a piece of wood on fire, the wood will keep burning on its own once ignited.

    The main power of magick is to change or explore the fiction. If you use magick to create a hole in the ground, then now there’s a hole in the ground; if you use magick to read someone’s mind, the GM tells you what they’re thinking about. Magick rewards creative thinking and clever approaches, not brute force. However, if it really comes down to the nitty-gritty, a magickal Effect can do the following things if the caster can explain how:

    • Create a Damage-1 (Damage-2 for Forces) weapon for its duration.
    • Clear 1 wound box.
    • Give a weapon Damage+1 (Damage+2 for Forces) for its duration.
    • Give a weapon the AP tag for its duration.
    • Grant someone Armour+1 for its duration.
    • Grant +1 ongoing to specific actions for its duration.

    PARADOX

    When you work magic carelessly, Paradox can result. Mark Paradox for each condition that is true:

    • The Arete roll failed.
    • The Effect was vulgar, i.e. obviously magical; couldn’t have been reasonably mistaken for coincidence, a trick of perception, cutting-edge technology, etc. Effects that could be plausibly explained away are called coincidental. This condition never applies in the Umbra or in a sanctum dedicated to your Paradigm. Note that repeated uses within a short period of time can make a coincidental Effect become vulgar; one strange coincidence might be accepted, whereas several in short order can itself be seen as a sign of supernatural power.
    • The Effect was vulgar and at least one Sleeper who is not a sincere believer in your Paradigm observed the Effect take place.

    A character has 15 Paradox boxes divided into Paradox rows of three Paradox boxes each (or 20 boxes in rows of four if the character has Background: Familiar). When the GM makes a Paradox Move, the severity of the move depends on how many rows are fully filled in.

    Paradox is the Consensus punishing you for your temerity in defying it, so to banish it again you must show that you can play by the rules even when it’s inconvenient. Thus, every time you fail an Attribute (not Arete) roll, you clear 1 Paradox box.

    Arete, for comparison, starts at +0 and can rise as high as +2 at the end of a long campaign, but you also take +1 to any Arete rolls that fits your Avatar Essence, and another +1 for any attempt to cast a Rote you have previously memorised. Combined with the way you’ll often have to choose to take penalties to Arete, and the way that Paradox builds up over time, it makes magic something that starts out very powerful as a mage steps fresh into the scene, but gets increasingly iffy as a situation drags on – which feels like how it should be.

    All in all, this system is working out reasonably well in playtests so far, and gives me plenty of opportunities to both make my players feel powerful and to mess with them – both of which are things that I, needless to say, especially enjoy…

  • It’s a Miracle!

    It’s a Miracle!

    I actually managed to work a little on Starlight Dreams (or whatever it’ll turn out to be called) this week. I’ve gotten some distance through sketching out the rules for Miracles. So far, I’ve only gotten two out of the five “Harmonies” that auturges can wield written out, but I think I’m starting to get a feel for it. Here’s what’s up so far:

    MIRACLES

    Players can perform Miracles by spending Esteem. A Miracle is a way to immediately create a Fancy, without the need for any kind of roll or even for a description of how it’s done – the Fancy just comes into being through an exercise in divine will. The kind of Esteem spent depends on what the Miracle is intended to do. The Guide is the ultimate authority on what the Esteem cost of a particular Miracle should be, and complex Miracles may require a combination of different parts of Esteem. The following is a guideline:

    • Righteousness Esteem is spent to harm, move, or enhance something.
    • Charity Esteem is spent to heal, protect, or control something.
    • Beauty Esteem is spent to create, hide, or beguile something.
    • Serenity Esteem is used to heal, enhance or protect yourself.

    The amount of Esteem needed to perform a Miracle depends on how impressive the Miracle is intended to be. The following is a guideline:

    • 2 Esteem: a tiny flicker of divine power, enough to create a Passing Fancy.
    • 4 Esteem: a sturdy magical work, enough to heal or inflict a point of Stress, or create a localised Enduring Fancy.
    • 6 Esteem: a display of true godhood, like the creation of a single Whim of distinct personality and agency or a specific location within an existing Sphere.
    • 8 Esteem: a breathtaking act of greatness, enough to awe an entire population or create a temporary Sphere-spanning effect.
    • 10 Esteem: the permanent creation or fundamental alteration of an entire Sphere.

    A player can only perform Miracles that fit the theme of yts Harmonies. Thus, a player needs the Harmony of the Body to heal wounds, the Harmony of Growth to make a forest sprout from the ground, the Harmony of the Abstract to make two feuding parties immediately make peace, and so on.

    Harmony of the Abstract:

    • Righteousness: terror and fury. The auturge ignites negative feelings, then blows on the sparks until they become an inferno. Enemies can be struck with fear, and allies can be infused with zealous hatred that grants strength to their arm. Whims created through Righteousness and the Abstract tend to be dark, spectral creatures, more living nightmares than solid beings, who exist solely to whisper horrors in people’s souls.
    • Charity: hopeful gospel. The auturge spreads feelings of hope and love, of sanctity and purity. Yt can cause hatred to fade away and bitter feuds to be dismissed as a passing madness, forge bonds of heartfelt friendship and weave tapestries of deep reverence for what has been blessed. Whims created through Charity and the Abstract tend to be pristine angelic figures that embody the gentlest of virtues.
    • Beauty: just law. The auturge lays down edicts that will shape nations, dictating the actions of Whims. Populations can be divided into tribes without any other alterations of their inherent natures, and different behaviours can become either unthinkable or mandatory for any Whim who regards ytself as virtuous. If Whims are created through Beauty and the Abstract, they tend to be stern judges or lawkeepers, existing to guide the just and punish the guilty.
    • Serenity: esoteric lore. The auturge creates layers of knowledge that, if studied, grants ability – whether to control the world, or to master the self. While wise magi and master warriors cannot be conjured out of thin air, a pathway for regular Whims to become such eminent beings can be laid through Serenity and the Abstract. While this can provide an auturge with powerful servants and populations that grow and improve on their own, it also holds risk; Whims who stray from the true path can easily become dangerous Glooms.

    Harmony of the Body:

    • Righteousness: tooth and claw. The auturge causes ytself or another creature to grow fearsome natural weapons; slashing claws, rending fangs, horns and stingers and talons. Alternatively, yt can grant brute animal strength to ytself or yts chosen, making them capable of greater physical feats. Whims created through Righteousness and the Body are, naturally, likely to be ferocious predators of whatever sort.
    • Charity: creature comforts. The auturge heals open wounds in ytself or others, or grants biological nourishment and protection like warm fur, thick scales, nutritious milk, or even the taste of yts own living flesh. Whims created through Charity and the Body vary greatly in their appearance, but they are almost always in some way cuddly and lovable.
    • Beauty: feral grace. The auturge grants ytself or another creature the ability to move unhindered in the environment, whether that means racing, climbing, digging, flying, swimming, or any other means of getting from one point to another. Alternatively, yt can provide other means of adapting perfectly to the environment; camouflage or the ability to thrive in great heat or cold are some examples. Whims created through Beauty and the Body tend to be vibrant and graceful creatures with colourful plumes, glistening scales, magnificently patterned fur or other splendid adornments.
    • Serenity: animal instinct. The auturge sharpens yts own or another’s senses to impossible levels, or bestows quick instincts in areas where careful thought is more a hindrance than an asset. Whims created with Serenity and the Body tend to be skittish and observant, often with great arrays of eyes and feelers that let them perceive all that is going on around them and to react with lightning quickness to it.