OK, so now we know how to figure out if our character succeeds at what they’re trying to do. But wait, there’s more!
Before you get too comfortable with your chances of success, you should know that the dice can have effects on your behavior beyond merely indicating success or failure. We are rolling with traits called Virtues and Traumas, after all! Sometimes behavior takes precedent over conscious intent; most of us have experienced doing something without thinking, and every roll in Middens and Morals contains the chance for that to happen. Count the kept dice that have results equal or lesser than your score in the Virtue at hand. This number indicates whether your character acts from their best self, their worst self, or the usual combination of the two that most of us spend the most time acting from. Your character might not take the action you set out to do when you made the roll thanks to the result; if so, simply narrate a new version of your character’s actions.
Each result of a roll has special implications, and high or low trait values may influence interpretation. The Virtues quantify a character’s likelihood to act in one of two generally opposed ways. Therefore it is not enough to know merely that a character does not feel particularly merciful — the player must know whether the character actually acts cruelly. The binary traits of Middens and Morals define the chances of either. If all of the kept dice are equal to or lesser than your Virtue, write a checkmark next to the Virtue, and your character acts strongly in accordance with the Virtue. The action need not be outrageous or extreme, but ought to be apparent enough to be noticed enough by others, and to make the character feel that they have revealed strong emotions or perhaps even compromised etiquette, strategy, practicality, their word, or suchlike in some way. If there are some kept dice that are higher than the Virtue, but the majority are equal or lower, your character acts in accordance with the Virtue. This result indicates that your character felt, and was moved by, the feelings and values expressed by that Virtue. Thus, if they made a Merciful roll, they feel that they should grant mercy in this instance. You may decide precisely what action ensues within that limitation. Write a checkmark next to the Virtue if and only if the action is somehow significant to the story or your character. However, you may choose to have your character act in the opposite manner: The penalty for disobeying the roll result is a checkmark next to the opposite Virtue. If the majority of kept dice are higher than your Virtue, roll a single d10. If the result is less than or equal to your score in the opposite Virtue, your character acts in accordance with that second Virtue. Otherwise, you may choose freely how the character will act. No checks are written. If all of the kept dice are higher than your Virtue, the opposite Virtue gets a checkmark, and your character immediately acts in accordance with the checked Virtue. If, by some chance, the divide between higher and lower/equal to your Virtue is an even split, 50/50, no checkmark is written, and your character may do whatever the hell they wanna.
The next time your character gets a chance to rest and introspect after having achieved something of at least minor significance to them or the story, look to see which Virtues have checkmarks next to them. For each one, starting from the upper left of the list and proceeding from left to right, roll 1d10. If the roll is higher than the associated Virtue, increase that Virtue by one (make sure to reduce its complement by one to maintain the necessary total of 10).
One of the key tasks of the GM is to decide when an action performed by a character deserves a checkmark as described above. The action need not have been preplanned as a test or challenge, nor need it be the result of a roll. For instance, if a player decides that his character will slay a peasant who has insulted him, the Gamemaster is more than justified in giving that knight a checkmark for both his Proud and Cruel traits, even though no resolution rolls took place.
But wait! There’s even more!
Every roll also has an intensity level determined by the GM that reflects how rough the situation and the action can be on your character’s mental stability. Different stresses have different intensity levels, ranging from 1–10. These are also called ranks. The higher the rank, the more extreme the stress and the more you’re likely to suffer. If your Hardened Trauma of the same type as the one you rolled is the same as the rank of the stress or higher, however, you don’t have to worry about it. You automatically keep your head because you’ve faced this down before and prevailed. Example: You make a rank-4 CrFV 48 roll. You have Hardened Violence 5. You don’t have to roll.
Just like the dice you kept determined whether or not you acted in line with your Virtues, the dice you don’t keep determine whether you lose your shit. If the majority of these dice are higher than the intensity level of the roll, increase your Hardened Trauma of the type rolled by 1. If the majority are equal to or lower than the intensity, increase the appropriate Failed Trauma by 1 instead and choose one of three reactions: panic, paralysis, or frenzy; the roll may have other long-term effects as well. If you panic, you run away at high speed. You can take no action except to run full out in the direction farthest from what made you panic. On the other hand, disturbing events often produce paralysis: indecision, terror, and a general “deer in the lantern-light” effect that persists until the stimulus ceases. This can be completely silent, or accompanied by screams and moans. Frenzy is just what it sounds like. You attack the source of discomfort with any means at your disposal. You can’t dodge or attempt any fancy moves, like multiple attacks on a single target. You just swing or punch or start biting. You act like this until the stress that triggered the behavior is gone. Until then, you must follow your choice. If you frenzy against someone who can beat the holy heck out of you, you are not able to run away. You fight until you or your opponent is dead. While you’re in any of these states, the unkept dice of your rolls have no other or more effect on your mental state or Traumas. You’re too screwed up to process any other stresses. If, by some chance, the divide between higher and lower/equal to the intensity level is an even split, 50/50, neither your Hardened or Failed Trauma is increased, and your character may do whatever the hell they wanna.
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