Story System

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During the game the GM will narrate actions for NPCs, set scenes and provide antagonists, while players describe their own character's actions.
== Interest ==
Every character has three traits, interest is stored in these traits and represents how interested people are in seeing that thing crop up in the story again.  Each trait starts every story mission with 1 interest (interest resets every mission) and has a maximum of 1 interest (before advances). Interest can be gained (up to your cap) by failing "That might not be so easy..." challenges, or by invoking "But surely..." phrases.
Interest determines your right to heroic spotlight.
*E.g. If a druid has interest in their nature trait, they can make plants grow. However, if they are out of interest then although they can make plants grow it is not going to help the situation mechanically. Its someone else’s turn to take the lead.
A lack of interest does not mean a lack of ability
*E.g. The druid can still narrate, and choose to fail the check. However, they don’t necessarily need to fail because of an inability, but because something interesting is preventing them from succeeding. E.g. there is something blocking primal energy.
== Phrases ==
Anyone can use any of the following phrases at any time...
=== "Do it differently!"===
The person who last narrated something must describe it again, but differently.
No justification is needed to invoke this but it should be used when you disagree with a piece of narration for out of character reasons, for example it isn't in keeping with the tone of the game, breaks established facts or overreaches what should be possible.
If you want to stop something happening in character, use "That might not be so easy...".
This phrase is particularly useful if you feel someone is overreaching what should be possible, especially when compared a character's traits and their scopes. This applies both to normal narration or at the end of a "That might not be so easy..." challenge (see below).
=== "More detail please."===
The person who last narrated something must add more detail to their narration.
=== "That might not be so easy..." ===
Use this when someone narrates an action you feel should be challenging and has interesting consequences for failure. Because of this, always try and narrate the results of your actions. Don't "try and stab the orc" but instead "cleave the orc's head from his shoulders".
 Add descriptors to your actions, that way if you need to fail, you still have options.
*E.g. Don't say "I dispose of the minotaur" (failing to do this means he will always be a problem). Instead say "I defeat the minotaur in hand to hand combat", then when you fail, you still have options.
*E.g. Don't "Get into the castle" (failure means can’t get in), "Break down the gates to get in" (failure means you can't break the gates).
A player or the GM can invoke this phrase but the results are always about whether the player gets their way or not. If a player invokes the phrase they may want to add what it is their character wants from the exchange, especially if it isn't clear.
It's also worth noting that "Do it differently!" and "More detail please." can be used during the resolution of this phrase.
The player then chooses one of the following options:
* Spend 1 interest from a trait and narrate how you succeed, using that trait in some way.
If your traits are restrictive, remember you can use your advances, history, background, and the world around you to justify and flavour the usage.
* Regain 1 interest in any trait and narrate how you fail.
If the player(s) were looking for information it's enough to say that it was found and let the GM say exactly what it was.
==== Harder Challenges ====
Once the phrase has been invoked the GM can choose to make the challenge harder than usual. This should be reserved for particularly hard or involved challenges, it should be quite possible for an entire mission to pass without this happening.
The GM first picks how much threat to provide.
Try and split the threat into individual problems to overcome and set the threat to that value. e.g. when fighting a Balrog you could set it to 5 - one for it's combat prowess, one for it's fiery aura, one for it's ability to fly, one because it can summon allies and a final point because it has hellish magic.
You can set a higher value if the player is clearly overreaching what they should be capable of.
The following stages are repeated until the threat is exhausted or the players choose to lose.
* The GM states what is stopping the player from achieving their goals and assigns it an amount of threat (usually 1).
* Players can collaboratively spend interest to counter all points of threat, narrating how their various traits help.
* Alternatively they can choose to fail the entire challenge and the instigating player regains an interest.
* Repeat until there is no threat remaining, in which case the instigating player narrates their victory, otherwise the GM narrates their failure.
==== PVP ====
If a player wants to oppose another player's actions they can spend interest to do so (and narrate how they are using their traits to hinder the other player). This directly adds to the amount of interest needed to complete the challenge. The interest should be spent after the GM decides how hard the challenge is but before the targeted player decides to succeed or fail.
=== "What are you prepared to sacrifice?" (GM) ===
You can use this phrase when a player is trying to do something that should be beyond their capabilities. For instance going one on one with a Dragon and expecting to win.
The player(s) have 2 options after this phrase is invoked:
*Back down.
*Offer something they are willing to lose that permanently affects their character. This must include taking at least 1 mark, but may also include anything the character values (traits, advances, reputation, significant relationships, etc.).
The GM can then either:
*Approve the sacrifice (accepting the player's action)
*Reject it (along with the player's action).
Multiple characters are allowed to sacrifice together, but it is not required. See Character Evolution for more details about gaining marks.
If a player wants to offer to gain a new affliction they should do it by taking enough Marks to gain one.
If players end up sacrificing too much, you should try to make sure the narrative outcome reflects the sacrifice.
=== "But surely..." (GM) ===
The GM can offer a bribe to make a player take an action in keeping with their character's nature (particularly your drive or flaw), or to activate a character's afflictions.
Either:
* Turn it down.
* Gain 2 interest and carry out the suggestion.
If the player turns it down the GM can choose to drop the subject or offer 1 extra interest to up the ante.
 This should be equivalent to failing a check. Something is going to go wrong for the character.
Conversely, if the player turns this down, nothing bad should happen. The player resists their flaws, or their afflictions do not come into play or are easily bypassed.
=== "But surely..." (player) ===
Similar to the GM version, except this is used by a player against their own character. State an unwise action you feel your character would take in keeping with their nature (particularly their drive or flaw), or a difficult situation you feel would arise because of your afflictions. The GM can either accept the suggestion and you gain 2 interest or they can offer up a counter proposal that should exaggerate the effects of the action.
When the GM makes a counter proposal, if you accept you gain 3 interest, otherwise you don't gain any interest (you can still do your initial suggestion if you wish, but will not gain interest from it).
When saying "but surely I" you can draw on anything about your character that could cause trouble, not just your flaw.
== Damage ==
It is now possible to become damaged during your adventures, normally through stupid, unfortunate, or downright dangerous situations or actions. Invoke a flaw where you jump off a cliff? Fail to stop an orc cutting your leg off? Stab yourself in the eye with a magic rock? Probably damage is coming your way.
Damage is given out purely at the discretion of the GM, the GM will also tell you how long it will last, anything from the rest of the mission to the end of the weekend. Damage never persists beyond a weekend.
When you take damage, mark one of your traits as "damaged". From now until the damage clears up, if you try and use this trait for a "not so easy" check, roll a d6 first, on a 1-3 you must fail the check instead (regaining interest as normal, which can go in any trait), on a 4-6 you may spend the interest from this trait and succeed.
Try and avoid using this, it should not come up every mission. Also, by default most damage should only last til the end of the mission (when serious medical care can be applied at Unity City), though feel free to extend this for particularly serious incidents.
If your character has more than 3 damage at the same time, apply a second damage to any of your traits. Extra damage does not make it harder to use the trait, but the trait will not return to normal until all damage on it has healed.
Category:Rules