An Example of Trauma in Action: You swing your holy leaden mace at a wizarding weirdo, and make a rank-4 CrFU 41 roll to do so. You have Hardened Helplessness 2, but that doesn’t do you any good. You only have Hardened Unnatural 2. You have to check the unkept dice, of which there are three. One of them comes up higher than 4, and so you increase your Failed Unnatural by 1 and flip your lid, attacking the mage with mindless frenzy. The wizard defends herself by using a magical attack which lets her tear chunks out of you with her bare hands. Your Reflex roll to defend against the spell is a rank-5 CoHU 33 check, but since you are already out of your mind, you don’t even have to look at your unkept dice. You just increase your Failed Trauma for the first one. If, instead, two had been higher than 4, you would change Hardened Unnatural to 3.
Sample Intensities for Violence Rolls
1 ~ Defend against a weapon—shot at or slashed.
2 ~ Witness an act of torture.
3 ~ Get attacked at random. Resist brief torture.
4 ~ Strike a killing blow against someone in a fight.
5 ~ Be present at a massive battle, with hundreds of deaths on both sides.
6 ~ Perform an act of torture.
7 ~ Deliberately kill a helpless target.
8 ~ Resist torture for an hour or longer.
9 ~ Witness a brutal mass execution.
10 ~ Watch as someone you love is tortured to death.
Sample Intensities for Unnatural Rolls
1 ~ Experience a preternaturally strong deja vu.
2 ~ See a creature or machine that cannot logically exist.
3 ~ Realize that a vision you had of the future has come true.
4 ~ See convincing proof that 2+2 does not equal 4.
5 ~ Be successfully attacked with magic.
6 ~ See someone you know killed by magic, without any visible or “rational” cause.
7 ~ Have a conversation with a loved one whom you know is dead.
8 ~ See an animal with human features.
9 ~ See the dead rise.
10 ~ Realize that the reason you and your husband of ten years have never had children is that he’s not really a human being.
Sample Intensities for Helplessness Rolls
1 ~ Unintentionally humiliate yourself in public.
2 ~ Be exiled from a land you love.
3 ~ Fail at something when it’s imperative that you succeed.
4 ~ Get dumped into a pit of maggots.
5 ~ Spend a month in gaol.
6 ~ Watch your spouse committing adultery.
7 ~ Be placed in a situation where you have to either saw off one of your limbs or die.
8 ~ Watch someone you love die.
9 ~ Watch someone you love die because you tried to save them and failed.
10 ~ Be possessed, yet conscious, as your body commits unspeakable acts against your will.
Sample Intensities for Isolation Rolls
1 ~ Spend a day without seeing anyone you know
2 ~ Spend five hours deprived of sensory input.
3 ~ Spend three days without talking to another human being.
4 ~ Be abandoned by someone you love and trust.
5 ~ Spend a week in solitary confinement.
6 ~ See someone you thought you knew intimately behaving in a fashion completely contrary to her normal behavior.
7 ~ Spend a month in a country where no one speaks your language and where you can’t make yourself understood no matter how hard you try.
8 ~ Be deeply, painfully, and violently betrayed by someone you love.
9 ~ Be treated like a stranger by your closest friends.
10 ~ Spend a month deprived of sensory input.
Sample Intensities for Self Rolls
1 ~ Break a minor promise.
2 ~ Be confronted with proof that your self-image is incorrect. (“I’m very responsible; I’m sure I’ve written you back every time I said I would.” “Actually, you’ve ignored me so many months I started keeping track in my journal. Lessee, November, December, . . . January . . .”
3 ~ Secretly gratify an urge that is unacceptable to your upbringing and background. (Spit on a religious icon of your faith, date a person of another race if raised in a racist home, have a homosexual affair if you come from a homophobic background, etc.)
4 ~ Lie to conceal some aspect of your personality from a close friend or loved one who trusts you implicitly.
5 ~ Fail to act on one of your Virtues above 6 because it’s “too dangerous.”
6 ~ Deliberately deceive someone you love in a way that is certain to cause them terrible pain if they find out.
7 ~ Discover that you have inadvertently committed an act of cannibalism.
8 ~ Deliberately act completely contrary to one of your Virtues above 6.
9 ~ Kill someone you love.
10 ~ Deliberately destroy everything you’ve risked your life to support.
Sunday, September 2, 2018
Friday, August 31, 2018
Introducing Forsetilafom (Fantasy Friday #11)
In time, even this character’s watchfulness couldn’t see every gradual corruption. As questionable magical activities came into vogue amongst this character’s peers, they almost fell to the same subtle spiritual disease as everyone else, almost found themself transformed into a wrathful brute. The nobility of their spirit wouldn’t allow them to trip over the line, however, and that drove them back into study. The loremaster’s smug grin as this character sheepishly came to the library after some years of frippery and social engineering was a bother, but a small price to pay as the pair’s research unearthed ancient secrets and a creeping spiritual rot. Strengthening all the spiritual purity they had, this character managed to throw off the effect and once more act as the Bulwark of Courtly Virtue to exorcise it, finally. The old Gold Dragon in Strength gives two tokens it doesn’t actually have to Intelligence.
This character’s incipient devotion to study was somewhat cut short as they were given an actual position, with power as well as honor, within the court. As High-Reeve, this character served to decide cases brought to the court in their host’s stead. Though young, they served well, with justice and supreme judgment as such until they decided to go adventuring. Despite some grumbling at their age, the sheer force and easy joy of their presence prevented anyone from moving against them. Nonetheless, they felt the need to prove themself and that was what brought them to travel the realm as High-Reeve Adventurer. The Silver Dragon in Intelligence gives one of its tokens to Charisma.
This character’s final ability score array thus comes out as:
Strength 8 [-2 points]
Dexterity 14 [5 points]
Constitution 15 [7 points]
Intelligence 13 [3 points]
Wisdom 15 [7 points]
Charisma 14 [5 points]
Constitution missed a 16 by one point, giving one point to Wisdom and one to Charisma. Similarly, Dexterity has one extra point, which trickles down to Intelligence.
We seem to have already determined a race and a homeland for this character ~ they are an asimar (yes, it’s spelt that way in my world) from Natsiyaasim. We should probably name them; I rather like the idea of naming them Forseti, after the most just of the Aesir. One’s noble house is important to most of Natisyaasim’s populace. Each raskokabajho who settled there with Blessed Imye gave rise to several such noble houses, each descended from that raskokabajho. Looking over my notes, I determine that Forseti is a scion of the raskokabajho Nosilebo, patron of Natsiyaasim’s various houses of carnal love. Taking a peek over at a Kushiel’s Legacy series wiki, I see that Namarrese houses include L’Envers, Fhirze, Le Blanc, Le Doux, and Lafons. (Namarre is the region of Terre d’Ange settled by Naamah, the equivalent to Nosilebo; the equivalent region of Natsiyaasim is called Nosleborre). Looking at the meanings of these names, I decide Lafons (http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Lafond) is the most appropriate for Forseti and remove the end to make the name work better with Natsiyaasim’s langauge.
In English/D’Angeline, their name would thus be “Forseti Lafo”, but in the language of Natsiyaasim, such a name would be constructed as a genitive phrase (Forseti of Lafo). I based the genitive construction in this language on that of Sumerian, so they are expressed as a single word constructed as follows: OWNED.OWNER.m. In this case, Forseti is the “owned” and Lafo the “owner”, so their name comes out as Forsetilafom, the asimar (a word that means “pertaining to that which is of the angel”, much like D’Angeline is an adjectival form of the prepositional phrase “d’Ange”).
As an aasimar descended from Nosilebo, Forsetilafonsom gains +2 Wisdom and +2 Charisma, some protection against negative energy, a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Perform (erotic arts), the ability to cast detect desires once per day, and darkvision. As to Forsetilafonsom’s class, well, that’s not nearly as obvious (this is an interesting inversion of Boanerges’s process!) I think looking through the book Heroes of the High Court might be a good place to start . . . . The biggest things that jump out at me from that book are a couple of spells (one far in the future, as its 6th or 7th level) that would seem to entice Forsetilafonsom into becoming a cleric, inquisitor, sorcerer, witch, or wizard. And the silksworn occultist. At first, I was ready to pass on the silksworn, as psychic powers are a Scarhasi thing, but the silksworn occultist’s spells are arcane! For the moment, that puts occultist in the front running.
Heroes of the High Court also reminded me of Ultimate Intrigue, so I’ll check that out now. And the dandy archetype for rangers wins the day! It’s absolutely perfect! Forsetilafom is officially a ranger (dandy). 6d6 roll a dead average 21, making them 41 years old (significantly younger than Boanerges). I’ve been thinking about Forsetilafom’s gender, and I think I really like the idea of them being genderqueer. I often feel myself as an inside-outsider in a society so heavily binarily-gendered and have found that such a position can be both quite revealing and very powerful. Perfect for Forsetilafom. So I’ll average the heights and weights listed for male and female aasimar. Again, the dice come out right in the average; in this case, it’s 2d8 and that gives Forsetilafom 5’10” of height. They’re just a tiny bit skinny, at 140 pounds.
This character’s incipient devotion to study was somewhat cut short as they were given an actual position, with power as well as honor, within the court. As High-Reeve, this character served to decide cases brought to the court in their host’s stead. Though young, they served well, with justice and supreme judgment as such until they decided to go adventuring. Despite some grumbling at their age, the sheer force and easy joy of their presence prevented anyone from moving against them. Nonetheless, they felt the need to prove themself and that was what brought them to travel the realm as High-Reeve Adventurer. The Silver Dragon in Intelligence gives one of its tokens to Charisma.
This character’s final ability score array thus comes out as:
Strength 8 [-2 points]
Dexterity 14 [5 points]
Constitution 15 [7 points]
Intelligence 13 [3 points]
Wisdom 15 [7 points]
Charisma 14 [5 points]
Constitution missed a 16 by one point, giving one point to Wisdom and one to Charisma. Similarly, Dexterity has one extra point, which trickles down to Intelligence.
We seem to have already determined a race and a homeland for this character ~ they are an asimar (yes, it’s spelt that way in my world) from Natsiyaasim. We should probably name them; I rather like the idea of naming them Forseti, after the most just of the Aesir. One’s noble house is important to most of Natisyaasim’s populace. Each raskokabajho who settled there with Blessed Imye gave rise to several such noble houses, each descended from that raskokabajho. Looking over my notes, I determine that Forseti is a scion of the raskokabajho Nosilebo, patron of Natsiyaasim’s various houses of carnal love. Taking a peek over at a Kushiel’s Legacy series wiki, I see that Namarrese houses include L’Envers, Fhirze, Le Blanc, Le Doux, and Lafons. (Namarre is the region of Terre d’Ange settled by Naamah, the equivalent to Nosilebo; the equivalent region of Natsiyaasim is called Nosleborre). Looking at the meanings of these names, I decide Lafons (http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Lafond) is the most appropriate for Forseti and remove the end to make the name work better with Natsiyaasim’s langauge.
In English/D’Angeline, their name would thus be “Forseti Lafo”, but in the language of Natsiyaasim, such a name would be constructed as a genitive phrase (Forseti of Lafo). I based the genitive construction in this language on that of Sumerian, so they are expressed as a single word constructed as follows: OWNED.OWNER.m. In this case, Forseti is the “owned” and Lafo the “owner”, so their name comes out as Forsetilafom, the asimar (a word that means “pertaining to that which is of the angel”, much like D’Angeline is an adjectival form of the prepositional phrase “d’Ange”).
As an aasimar descended from Nosilebo, Forsetilafonsom gains +2 Wisdom and +2 Charisma, some protection against negative energy, a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Perform (erotic arts), the ability to cast detect desires once per day, and darkvision. As to Forsetilafonsom’s class, well, that’s not nearly as obvious (this is an interesting inversion of Boanerges’s process!) I think looking through the book Heroes of the High Court might be a good place to start . . . . The biggest things that jump out at me from that book are a couple of spells (one far in the future, as its 6th or 7th level) that would seem to entice Forsetilafonsom into becoming a cleric, inquisitor, sorcerer, witch, or wizard. And the silksworn occultist. At first, I was ready to pass on the silksworn, as psychic powers are a Scarhasi thing, but the silksworn occultist’s spells are arcane! For the moment, that puts occultist in the front running.
Heroes of the High Court also reminded me of Ultimate Intrigue, so I’ll check that out now. And the dandy archetype for rangers wins the day! It’s absolutely perfect! Forsetilafom is officially a ranger (dandy). 6d6 roll a dead average 21, making them 41 years old (significantly younger than Boanerges). I’ve been thinking about Forsetilafom’s gender, and I think I really like the idea of them being genderqueer. I often feel myself as an inside-outsider in a society so heavily binarily-gendered and have found that such a position can be both quite revealing and very powerful. Perfect for Forsetilafom. So I’ll average the heights and weights listed for male and female aasimar. Again, the dice come out right in the average; in this case, it’s 2d8 and that gives Forsetilafom 5’10” of height. They’re just a tiny bit skinny, at 140 pounds.
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Scapegoat or not, this alien religion is the one everyone worries about (Traveller Tuesday #10)
Let's roll yet another 1d20 for the God View of the next religion. Another 12 gives us another remote monotheim. That's actually kind of interesting: Azeyrenawt is the numerically dominant religion in the Guild-State (I think) and this gives it two foils: one with a very different take on shared origin and the other with a similar theology. That contrast continues into the religion's Spiritual Aim, as an 8 on 2d6+1 tells us that the faith's focus is more on the individual than on society as a whole like in Azeyrenawt. In fact, it shares an Aim with the Bio-Witches described in the last post, framing ethical decision as providing benefits in and of themselves. We'll see if this religion is more prescriptive about right and wrong than the Barnwells, however.
Oh, wow! It seems likely that this religion is much more willing to tell its followers what's right and what's wrong. What makes me say that? The 5 I rolled on 2d6+1 for Devotion Required. Unlike every other Isheean religion with their monthly, bimonthly, or once to a few times during your life requirements, here we have a religion that demands devotions several days per week! I can imagine that difference alone can build a distance between them and the overculture, complete with distrusting prejudices of them as a brainwashing cult.
Its Organizational Structure ~ roll of a 4 on 2d6-2 , which is a rigid hierarchy with most decisions made at the local level ~ adds yet more strength to both the religion's ethical proscriptivity and its image amongst the rest of Ishee as a brainwashy cult. Despite Azeyrenawt's human supremacist theology, this faith is probably the one considered dangerous by most Isheeans (and some of its resonances with the bioroid identity religion of Scientological Witchcraft probably doesn't help either faith).
Although . . . a 6 on 2d6-3 reveals that the faith's several required services a week consist of formal church ritual with only limited teaching. No, on the other hand, that makes perfect sense. The limited teaching amounts to a dripdripdrip of theological bits paired with a reminder that right and wrong are their own reward, followed by a list of good and bad things. It's honestly not far from the Roman Catholicism in which I was raised. Maybe this faith is descended from one of the Catholic faiths, one stripped of Heavenly rewards?
And yet another reason for the Isheean population to be wary of this faith: a 2 on d6-2 means that it's zealous in its proselytization efforts. Here, we have witnesses going door-to-door and people sitting and/or preaching at intersections, and friends who will inevitably mention that you should join their religion if you spend enough time with them. In fact, I'm now starting to see this faith as some sort of Calvinist Catholic faith tinged with elements from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Calvinist, because predestination of afterlife can create the view of ethics this faith possesses. That 2 also tells us that it's a one-species-only religion, the third on Ishee. It seems that there are deep, deep genetic rifts on this planet. The political conflicts ~ contractual hijinx, offworld wars finding a battleground here, etc. ~ seems to have at least two more societal conflicts joining them: the echoes of the schism in the Rose Brothers and conflicts between the species.
OK, let's work out the size and name of the religion before I begin speculating on what the one-species nature of this religion means. 5 on 2d6-2means there's hundreds of thousands of worshippers. I'm thinking that this will account for most of the remaining Ishee population, but random.org refuses to allow it, giving the faith 243,163 adherents, 78% of whom live on Ishee. And dWikipedia will name it . . . the Johnny Mellis Christian Church of the Blues-Metal Gospel? Naw, I don't like that. How about just Mellis?
OK, so that naming has pushed me to think of Mellis as an alien religion, rather than a human Christian-derived one. I don't yet rightly know the details of the alien species that follows Mellis, but I'll work that out! It does make me think that Mellis might be centered primarily in TCI, which tells me that TCI (which is a captive state) might be an alien outpost. Only, TCI has like ten times the number of sophots as Mellis does, so I think the dynamic needs to flip. Mellis is the dominant faith of the stateless captive state faction, the one that's pursuing an offworld conflict with TCI's masters here on Ishee. Might be time to name that group . . . Our Lord's Militant Mellis Church.
I'm not tryna decide right meow, but that does remind me that there's a stateless faction led by a messiah controlled by some sort of council. Obvi, that'll be tied to one of these religions . . .
The religious landcape of Ishee:
4,966,607 sophonts (31% of the population) atheist/agnostic/non-religious/other
7,690,230 sophonts (48%) Liberty Fellowship of Spirit-Listeners (known as Fellows, Associationists, or Listeners)
6 sophonts (essentially 0%) Lost Secrets of the Rose Brothers (generally just called gerontocrats or old fogies)
429,593 sophonts (app. 2.7%) Beaumont Cosmological Computing System (generally called Beaumonters, Algorithmists, or Systemites)
1,506,003 humans (9.4%) Azeyrenawt (generally called Azeyrenawti)
656,874 sophonts (4.1%) Clarencian Unit of Monastic Rose Brothers (generally known as Clarencians, Science-Monks, or (the) Unit)
67 bioroids (essentially 0%) Barnwell Tradition of Scientological Witchcraft (generally known as Bio-Witches or Barnwells)
189,667 alien!species#1 (app. 1.2%) Mellis (generally called Mellits)
582,307 sophonts (app. 3.6%) not yet accounted for
Oh, wow! It seems likely that this religion is much more willing to tell its followers what's right and what's wrong. What makes me say that? The 5 I rolled on 2d6+1 for Devotion Required. Unlike every other Isheean religion with their monthly, bimonthly, or once to a few times during your life requirements, here we have a religion that demands devotions several days per week! I can imagine that difference alone can build a distance between them and the overculture, complete with distrusting prejudices of them as a brainwashing cult.
Its Organizational Structure ~ roll of a 4 on 2d6-2 , which is a rigid hierarchy with most decisions made at the local level ~ adds yet more strength to both the religion's ethical proscriptivity and its image amongst the rest of Ishee as a brainwashy cult. Despite Azeyrenawt's human supremacist theology, this faith is probably the one considered dangerous by most Isheeans (and some of its resonances with the bioroid identity religion of Scientological Witchcraft probably doesn't help either faith).
Although . . . a 6 on 2d6-3 reveals that the faith's several required services a week consist of formal church ritual with only limited teaching. No, on the other hand, that makes perfect sense. The limited teaching amounts to a dripdripdrip of theological bits paired with a reminder that right and wrong are their own reward, followed by a list of good and bad things. It's honestly not far from the Roman Catholicism in which I was raised. Maybe this faith is descended from one of the Catholic faiths, one stripped of Heavenly rewards?
And yet another reason for the Isheean population to be wary of this faith: a 2 on d6-2 means that it's zealous in its proselytization efforts. Here, we have witnesses going door-to-door and people sitting and/or preaching at intersections, and friends who will inevitably mention that you should join their religion if you spend enough time with them. In fact, I'm now starting to see this faith as some sort of Calvinist Catholic faith tinged with elements from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Calvinist, because predestination of afterlife can create the view of ethics this faith possesses. That 2 also tells us that it's a one-species-only religion, the third on Ishee. It seems that there are deep, deep genetic rifts on this planet. The political conflicts ~ contractual hijinx, offworld wars finding a battleground here, etc. ~ seems to have at least two more societal conflicts joining them: the echoes of the schism in the Rose Brothers and conflicts between the species.
OK, let's work out the size and name of the religion before I begin speculating on what the one-species nature of this religion means. 5 on 2d6-2means there's hundreds of thousands of worshippers. I'm thinking that this will account for most of the remaining Ishee population, but random.org refuses to allow it, giving the faith 243,163 adherents, 78% of whom live on Ishee. And dWikipedia will name it . . . the Johnny Mellis Christian Church of the Blues-Metal Gospel? Naw, I don't like that. How about just Mellis?
OK, so that naming has pushed me to think of Mellis as an alien religion, rather than a human Christian-derived one. I don't yet rightly know the details of the alien species that follows Mellis, but I'll work that out! It does make me think that Mellis might be centered primarily in TCI, which tells me that TCI (which is a captive state) might be an alien outpost. Only, TCI has like ten times the number of sophots as Mellis does, so I think the dynamic needs to flip. Mellis is the dominant faith of the stateless captive state faction, the one that's pursuing an offworld conflict with TCI's masters here on Ishee. Might be time to name that group . . . Our Lord's Militant Mellis Church.
I'm not tryna decide right meow, but that does remind me that there's a stateless faction led by a messiah controlled by some sort of council. Obvi, that'll be tied to one of these religions . . .
The religious landcape of Ishee:
4,966,607 sophonts (31% of the population) atheist/agnostic/non-religious/other
7,690,230 sophonts (48%) Liberty Fellowship of Spirit-Listeners (known as Fellows, Associationists, or Listeners)
6 sophonts (essentially 0%) Lost Secrets of the Rose Brothers (generally just called gerontocrats or old fogies)
429,593 sophonts (app. 2.7%) Beaumont Cosmological Computing System (generally called Beaumonters, Algorithmists, or Systemites)
1,506,003 humans (9.4%) Azeyrenawt (generally called Azeyrenawti)
656,874 sophonts (4.1%) Clarencian Unit of Monastic Rose Brothers (generally known as Clarencians, Science-Monks, or (the) Unit)
67 bioroids (essentially 0%) Barnwell Tradition of Scientological Witchcraft (generally known as Bio-Witches or Barnwells)
189,667 alien!species#1 (app. 1.2%) Mellis (generally called Mellits)
582,307 sophonts (app. 3.6%) not yet accounted for
Sunday, August 26, 2018
Complications from die-rolling (Design Domingo #10)
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.
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.
Friday, August 24, 2018
But does it always turn out the same? (Fantasy Friday #10)
Let’s create another character with the Three-Dragon Ante system. It’s a test of the reliability of the system: if this second character comes out significantly different from the first, it’s a sign that the system is a robust and a useful one. If every character comes out the same, then this system wouldn’t be very useful, would it?
This character’s card spread is:
Nature: Blue Dragon 2
Spirit: White Dragon 4
Body: Princess
Mind: Brass Dragon 2
Nurture: Silver Dragon 8
Strength: Gold Dragon 6
Dexterity: Blue Dragon 1
Constitution: Blue Dragon 7
Intelligence: Silver Dragon 2
Wisdom: Gold Dragon 13
Charisma: Brass Dragon 7
Much more heroic than Boanerges, with six metallic dragons! And yet at the same time, three blue dragons, which hits a threshold of significance. Maybe this character is from the desert (Not!Sahara? The Scarhasi deserts? Somewhere further afield?) . . . Or mebbe the character has some electrical association. Ironic, since the name I stole from the Bible for the last character (Boanerges) means “Sons of Thunder” in Aramaic bastardized by Hellenic authors. Also, because I’m already thinking about Africa cause of Boanerges, I’m reminded of Shango, the Yoruba orisha associated with lightning, and his wife Oya, who is the thunder, and their rather . . . tumultuous marriage (storms occur whenever they argue, which is often).
This character’s nature is almost as vain, resilient, and forceful as the last’s; I give six tokens from Nature to Body and three to Mind. Not a great sign when looking for differentiation between the two. Luck pushed them, however, towards the speed, ferocity, and agility of a white dragon. My first thought is that, while Boanerges is a preening barbarian dandy (when not the Unseen Heart of the Flame, of course), this character is more akin to the arrogant villain of a racing movie. They know they’re the best and they are overly assured that anyone who contests that will be eating their dust. They don’t show off to convince people to give them whatever they want, they just win always. Regardless, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma all get a token each.
The next card, somewhat sadly, inspires chuckles as I read it. The Princess denotes something very different from anything in Boanerges’s spread ~ that being diplomacy and influence ~ but has (at least for now) a very similar result. Constitution gets 4 tokens and Dexterity 2. I’m going to say that, however this turns out, that Princess in the Body position indicates that this character is devastatingly beautiful. Who knows if that will be in line with the rest of their occupation and reality or just a three-dimensionalizing extra quality? Although, a brass dragon’s wise and very perceptive mind lurks behind those good looks, so maybe they really are a social character who fights in courts rather than blood-mudded fields or the fantasy fucking Vietnam of a dungeon. Wisdom gets all three of Mind’s tokens, in a dramatic departure from Boanerges’s stats.
The adult Silver Dragon in Nurture continues the welcome distinction from Boanerges, as its judgment and justice give its token to Wisdom. I’m starting to get an image of this character ~ a noble of an evil realm forced by an uprising to flee as a child to another kingdom which, despite (or perhaps because of) its own goodness took them in and gave her a home. All that remains of their home culture is a vanity and an unrelenting drive for survival; all the rest of them is filled with the wisdom and the empathy and the justice of their rescuers. At the same time, their noble status among the houses of the realm and the friendship of their host has given them a solid place in their host’s court but their lack of any sort of realm or muster has left them without any sort of power amongst that court’s intrigues. Some years before they came of age, they learned to rely on a creative wit and judicious use of their good looks when those intrigues threatened the virtue of that court, maneuvering the host noble into uselessness and leaving the strong will of this character as the only advocate for justice. It was very Jacqueline Carey. Which, in turn, suggests that the character comes from Aoqina, my campaign world’s Europe-equivalent, specifically the realm of Natsiyaasim, which is based on Terre d’Ange (with influences from the Vikings and a religion tracing back to the grandchild of a Presterjho archangel who fought at a Troy-equivalent with Jedi expies).
Anyway, the adult Gold Dragon in the Wisdom slot gives two tokens to Charisma as the struggle for the soul of the court brings them much fame and skill at leading people with honor and nobility of spirit. That their host showered honors upon them as the Bulwark of Courtly Virtue only deepened the effect. Hilariously, the old Brass Dragon in Charisma just gives it right back. Where many would be tempted to just revel in the glory and the veneration of all the nobles around them ~ and this character was sorely tempted, considering their nature and early training ~ they resisted, and took the position of Bulwark quite seriously. Piercing eyes watched everyone, and discerned when and how to intervene without conflict to preserve the sanctity of the realm. Without conflict, to be sure, as this was a job of glittering laughter, not the dim and judgmental work of an inquisitor.
Of course, vanity could not be held at bay for long. It never hindered their work, but it is true that this character came to enjoy their position, the favor of their host, and the rewards of their good looks. Several relationships ended in tears and anger as this character’s incisive mind caught notice that they were founded upon the other’s desire for advancement, privilege, or ability to get away with some vice or crime, but for the most part, this character was free to indulge themselves in the gleaming giggles of play amongst the court. That old Blue Dragon in Constitution steals two tokens from Strength. The Blue Dragon in Dexterity isn’t so old, however, so it only steals one token from Intelligence, as these pleasures and this work call for time to be spent on them to succeed. Besides, studying with the castle’s loremaster was always yawn-inducing, so the distractions were quite welcome.
This character’s card spread is:
Nature: Blue Dragon 2
Spirit: White Dragon 4
Body: Princess
Mind: Brass Dragon 2
Nurture: Silver Dragon 8
Strength: Gold Dragon 6
Dexterity: Blue Dragon 1
Constitution: Blue Dragon 7
Intelligence: Silver Dragon 2
Wisdom: Gold Dragon 13
Charisma: Brass Dragon 7
Much more heroic than Boanerges, with six metallic dragons! And yet at the same time, three blue dragons, which hits a threshold of significance. Maybe this character is from the desert (Not!Sahara? The Scarhasi deserts? Somewhere further afield?) . . . Or mebbe the character has some electrical association. Ironic, since the name I stole from the Bible for the last character (Boanerges) means “Sons of Thunder” in Aramaic bastardized by Hellenic authors. Also, because I’m already thinking about Africa cause of Boanerges, I’m reminded of Shango, the Yoruba orisha associated with lightning, and his wife Oya, who is the thunder, and their rather . . . tumultuous marriage (storms occur whenever they argue, which is often).
This character’s nature is almost as vain, resilient, and forceful as the last’s; I give six tokens from Nature to Body and three to Mind. Not a great sign when looking for differentiation between the two. Luck pushed them, however, towards the speed, ferocity, and agility of a white dragon. My first thought is that, while Boanerges is a preening barbarian dandy (when not the Unseen Heart of the Flame, of course), this character is more akin to the arrogant villain of a racing movie. They know they’re the best and they are overly assured that anyone who contests that will be eating their dust. They don’t show off to convince people to give them whatever they want, they just win always. Regardless, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma all get a token each.
The next card, somewhat sadly, inspires chuckles as I read it. The Princess denotes something very different from anything in Boanerges’s spread ~ that being diplomacy and influence ~ but has (at least for now) a very similar result. Constitution gets 4 tokens and Dexterity 2. I’m going to say that, however this turns out, that Princess in the Body position indicates that this character is devastatingly beautiful. Who knows if that will be in line with the rest of their occupation and reality or just a three-dimensionalizing extra quality? Although, a brass dragon’s wise and very perceptive mind lurks behind those good looks, so maybe they really are a social character who fights in courts rather than blood-mudded fields or the fantasy fucking Vietnam of a dungeon. Wisdom gets all three of Mind’s tokens, in a dramatic departure from Boanerges’s stats.
The adult Silver Dragon in Nurture continues the welcome distinction from Boanerges, as its judgment and justice give its token to Wisdom. I’m starting to get an image of this character ~ a noble of an evil realm forced by an uprising to flee as a child to another kingdom which, despite (or perhaps because of) its own goodness took them in and gave her a home. All that remains of their home culture is a vanity and an unrelenting drive for survival; all the rest of them is filled with the wisdom and the empathy and the justice of their rescuers. At the same time, their noble status among the houses of the realm and the friendship of their host has given them a solid place in their host’s court but their lack of any sort of realm or muster has left them without any sort of power amongst that court’s intrigues. Some years before they came of age, they learned to rely on a creative wit and judicious use of their good looks when those intrigues threatened the virtue of that court, maneuvering the host noble into uselessness and leaving the strong will of this character as the only advocate for justice. It was very Jacqueline Carey. Which, in turn, suggests that the character comes from Aoqina, my campaign world’s Europe-equivalent, specifically the realm of Natsiyaasim, which is based on Terre d’Ange (with influences from the Vikings and a religion tracing back to the grandchild of a Presterjho archangel who fought at a Troy-equivalent with Jedi expies).
Anyway, the adult Gold Dragon in the Wisdom slot gives two tokens to Charisma as the struggle for the soul of the court brings them much fame and skill at leading people with honor and nobility of spirit. That their host showered honors upon them as the Bulwark of Courtly Virtue only deepened the effect. Hilariously, the old Brass Dragon in Charisma just gives it right back. Where many would be tempted to just revel in the glory and the veneration of all the nobles around them ~ and this character was sorely tempted, considering their nature and early training ~ they resisted, and took the position of Bulwark quite seriously. Piercing eyes watched everyone, and discerned when and how to intervene without conflict to preserve the sanctity of the realm. Without conflict, to be sure, as this was a job of glittering laughter, not the dim and judgmental work of an inquisitor.
Of course, vanity could not be held at bay for long. It never hindered their work, but it is true that this character came to enjoy their position, the favor of their host, and the rewards of their good looks. Several relationships ended in tears and anger as this character’s incisive mind caught notice that they were founded upon the other’s desire for advancement, privilege, or ability to get away with some vice or crime, but for the most part, this character was free to indulge themselves in the gleaming giggles of play amongst the court. That old Blue Dragon in Constitution steals two tokens from Strength. The Blue Dragon in Dexterity isn’t so old, however, so it only steals one token from Intelligence, as these pleasures and this work call for time to be spent on them to succeed. Besides, studying with the castle’s loremaster was always yawn-inducing, so the distractions were quite welcome.
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
First we had Science-Monks, and now we have Bio-Witches?? (Traveller Tuesday #9)
We're so close! The 1d20 gives us a 14. One of the more unusual options (and one that I've added, as explained before), that means this is a religion of self-worship. It's a path concerned with becoming, realizing, or just being a god your own damn self. You might say it's a form of monolatry ~ the existence of other gods (other people) in actuality or possibility is recognized, but only one (the self) receives devotion. The Spiritual Aim can give us a lot more information about what that means, so let's roll that 2d6+2. An 8 tells us that the religion sees ethical action as their own reward, separate from any other spiritual awards.
Hmmmm . . . so if people are or can become gods, then this religion might preach that they're unable to be controlled or bound. We are all bound to be free, but that freedom is total as apotheosis and near-omnipotence approach. Far from draining ethical questions of meaning (as some might expect), this intensifies their importance, while stacking all of their weight on the decisions and introspections of the individual. The only ethic the faith can teach is that only the individual can decide their ethics and that they have a supreme obligation to do so.
Of the various apotheotic systems I can think of (some Satanisms, Mormonism, Thelema, the Feri/Faery tradition of witchcraft, etc.), I keep thinking that this religion we're creating right now most closely resembles Thelema and Feri/Faery. It could even make some sociohistorical sense, tying into the Freemason/Rosicrucian element of the Rose Brothers.
Another 8 on 2d6+1 reveals a monthly Devotion Required of followers of this faith. Though the form of this is decided a few steps down the line, I imagine this is a ritual designed to trigger memory of or progress towards one's own divinity, probably in some way related to moon-phase rituals of old. With a third 8, we get a loose hierarchy with most decisions made on a local level; the coven is the primary unit of the faith, though initiates of higher degrees do form connections and cultivate some power beyond that level. Those churchly positions carry some weight but lack much power over the covens within their remit. Covens are probably rather larger than many Wiccans would expect: say, maybe, a couple hundred people at the highest end.
We roll 2d6+1 for Liturgical Formality and get a 9. Rather than being transformational rituals, the monthly devotions emphasize communal teaching with limited ritual. Now I'm thinking of mixing in some self-help, inspirational/motivational speaker elements. Like, the theologies and many of the ethics of the faith are drawn from things like Thelema and Feri/Faery, but their monthly services resemble Tony Robbins, Landmark Forum, and things like that ~ imprecations to claim your pre-existing divinity and applying a number of techniques to liberate people from their own blocks that prevent them from stepping into that godhood.
You know, thinking about it, if we vague up that formula a bit, it could also describe the Church of Scientology. There are probably bits of that mixed in here.
Missionary Fervor gets a 5 on 2d6-2: active but intolerant of other sophonts. Once again, “active” here means there are efforts to get the word out but they don't necessarily affect the day-to-day lives of most adherents. I am tempted to make it another human-supremacist religion, what with fairly strong ideas of a heavy mix of human faiths feeding into it. But I think, instead, I'll mix in yet another element: Black Identity religions like the Nation of Islam, Rastafarianism, and the various incarnations of the Nuwaubians.
In my Traveller universe, there's a good century of rampant genetic engineering à la Transhuman Space and Eclipse Phase before the Greys manage to answer their lost ship's distress call (à la GURPS Black Ops) and we end up fighting a war against them. The War Against the Greys only ends when a small Spiritualist cult reveals that they have developed John Murray Spears's New Motive Power technology into noosphere-based FTL travel with the aid of the Casey Jones Effect. One legacy of that transhuman era is the widespread presence and use of bioroids (such as the Aslan model developed by the Turkish militry, the Vargr models developed by a Scandinavian company from licensed Aztechnology Xolotl specs, and others) in the early interstellar period. The first conflict of the Galactic Age was a bioroid revolt against their enslavers, seceding to form their own polity.
I'm now seeing the religion we are creating as a Bioroid Identity movement, a religious response to their once and continuing oppression at the hands of the evolved species, and primarily of humans. In that sense, saying that they are “intolerant of other sophonts” is somewhat of a misnomer. They aren't intolerant of humans and evolved species, but it would be as inappropriate as a white Rasta or member of the Nation of Islam.
We roll a 1 on 3d6-5 for the religion's size. Huh, another surprisingly small religious tradition. Whereas the Lost Secrets are small because it's old, this one is small because it's new, putting it in a very similar social position to the Black Identity religions at their origin points. In both cases, they are responses to oppression both fed by and in contrast to an overarching societal optimism. Random.org tells us that there are precisely 67 members of the faith. All of them will be on Ishee, of course.
And finally we roll the dWikipedia for a name: the Barnwell Tradition of Scientological Witchcraft.
The religious landscape of Ishee:
4,966,607 sophonts (31% of the population) atheist/agnostic/non-religious/other
7,690,230 sophonts (48%) Liberty Fellowship of Spirit-Listeners (known as Fellows, Associationists, or Listeners)
6 sophonts (essentially 0%) Lost Secrets of the Rose Brothers (generally just called gerontocrats or old fogies)
429,593 sophonts (app. 2.7%) Beaumont Cosmological Computing System (generally called Beaumonters, Algorithmists, or Systemites)
1,506,003 sophonts (9.4%) Azeyrenawt (generally called Azeyrenawti)
656,874 sophonts (4.1%) Clarencian Unit of Monastic Rose Brothers (generally known as Clarencians, Science-Monks, or (the) Unit)
67 members (essentially 0%) Barnwell Tradition of Scientological Witchcraft (generally known as Bio-Witches or Barnwells)
771,974 sophonts (app. 4.8%) not yet accounted for
Hmmmm . . . so if people are or can become gods, then this religion might preach that they're unable to be controlled or bound. We are all bound to be free, but that freedom is total as apotheosis and near-omnipotence approach. Far from draining ethical questions of meaning (as some might expect), this intensifies their importance, while stacking all of their weight on the decisions and introspections of the individual. The only ethic the faith can teach is that only the individual can decide their ethics and that they have a supreme obligation to do so.
Of the various apotheotic systems I can think of (some Satanisms, Mormonism, Thelema, the Feri/Faery tradition of witchcraft, etc.), I keep thinking that this religion we're creating right now most closely resembles Thelema and Feri/Faery. It could even make some sociohistorical sense, tying into the Freemason/Rosicrucian element of the Rose Brothers.
Another 8 on 2d6+1 reveals a monthly Devotion Required of followers of this faith. Though the form of this is decided a few steps down the line, I imagine this is a ritual designed to trigger memory of or progress towards one's own divinity, probably in some way related to moon-phase rituals of old. With a third 8, we get a loose hierarchy with most decisions made on a local level; the coven is the primary unit of the faith, though initiates of higher degrees do form connections and cultivate some power beyond that level. Those churchly positions carry some weight but lack much power over the covens within their remit. Covens are probably rather larger than many Wiccans would expect: say, maybe, a couple hundred people at the highest end.
We roll 2d6+1 for Liturgical Formality and get a 9. Rather than being transformational rituals, the monthly devotions emphasize communal teaching with limited ritual. Now I'm thinking of mixing in some self-help, inspirational/motivational speaker elements. Like, the theologies and many of the ethics of the faith are drawn from things like Thelema and Feri/Faery, but their monthly services resemble Tony Robbins, Landmark Forum, and things like that ~ imprecations to claim your pre-existing divinity and applying a number of techniques to liberate people from their own blocks that prevent them from stepping into that godhood.
You know, thinking about it, if we vague up that formula a bit, it could also describe the Church of Scientology. There are probably bits of that mixed in here.
Missionary Fervor gets a 5 on 2d6-2: active but intolerant of other sophonts. Once again, “active” here means there are efforts to get the word out but they don't necessarily affect the day-to-day lives of most adherents. I am tempted to make it another human-supremacist religion, what with fairly strong ideas of a heavy mix of human faiths feeding into it. But I think, instead, I'll mix in yet another element: Black Identity religions like the Nation of Islam, Rastafarianism, and the various incarnations of the Nuwaubians.
In my Traveller universe, there's a good century of rampant genetic engineering à la Transhuman Space and Eclipse Phase before the Greys manage to answer their lost ship's distress call (à la GURPS Black Ops) and we end up fighting a war against them. The War Against the Greys only ends when a small Spiritualist cult reveals that they have developed John Murray Spears's New Motive Power technology into noosphere-based FTL travel with the aid of the Casey Jones Effect. One legacy of that transhuman era is the widespread presence and use of bioroids (such as the Aslan model developed by the Turkish militry, the Vargr models developed by a Scandinavian company from licensed Aztechnology Xolotl specs, and others) in the early interstellar period. The first conflict of the Galactic Age was a bioroid revolt against their enslavers, seceding to form their own polity.
I'm now seeing the religion we are creating as a Bioroid Identity movement, a religious response to their once and continuing oppression at the hands of the evolved species, and primarily of humans. In that sense, saying that they are “intolerant of other sophonts” is somewhat of a misnomer. They aren't intolerant of humans and evolved species, but it would be as inappropriate as a white Rasta or member of the Nation of Islam.
We roll a 1 on 3d6-5 for the religion's size. Huh, another surprisingly small religious tradition. Whereas the Lost Secrets are small because it's old, this one is small because it's new, putting it in a very similar social position to the Black Identity religions at their origin points. In both cases, they are responses to oppression both fed by and in contrast to an overarching societal optimism. Random.org tells us that there are precisely 67 members of the faith. All of them will be on Ishee, of course.
And finally we roll the dWikipedia for a name: the Barnwell Tradition of Scientological Witchcraft.
The religious landscape of Ishee:
4,966,607 sophonts (31% of the population) atheist/agnostic/non-religious/other
7,690,230 sophonts (48%) Liberty Fellowship of Spirit-Listeners (known as Fellows, Associationists, or Listeners)
6 sophonts (essentially 0%) Lost Secrets of the Rose Brothers (generally just called gerontocrats or old fogies)
429,593 sophonts (app. 2.7%) Beaumont Cosmological Computing System (generally called Beaumonters, Algorithmists, or Systemites)
1,506,003 sophonts (9.4%) Azeyrenawt (generally called Azeyrenawti)
656,874 sophonts (4.1%) Clarencian Unit of Monastic Rose Brothers (generally known as Clarencians, Science-Monks, or (the) Unit)
67 members (essentially 0%) Barnwell Tradition of Scientological Witchcraft (generally known as Bio-Witches or Barnwells)
771,974 sophonts (app. 4.8%) not yet accounted for
Sunday, August 19, 2018
The basic resolution mechanic in Middens & Morals (Design Domingo #9)
TABLE: Effects of Traits on Spellcasting
Virtue 1-4: can’t cast spells tied to this trait
Virtue 5: can cast up to 2nd-level spells; no bonus spells
Virtue 6: can cast up to 4th-level spells; 1 bonus 1st-level spell
Virtue 7: can cast up to 6th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st- and 2nd-level spells
Virtue 8: can cast up to 8th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-level spells
Virtue 9: can cast up to 9th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-level spells
Failed 0: can’t cast spells tied to this trait
Failed 1: can cast up to 2nd-level spells; no bonus spells
Failed 2: can cast up to 4th-level spells; 1 bonus 1st-level spell
Failed 3: can cast up to 6th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st- and 2nd-level spells
Failed 4: can cast up to 8th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-level spells
Failed 5: can cast up to 9th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-level spells
Hardened 0-1: can’t cast spells tied to this trait
Hardened 2: can cast up to 1st-level spells; no bonus spells
Hardened 3: can cast up to 2nd-level spells; no bonus spells
Hardened 4: can cast up to 3rd-level spells; 1 bonus 1st-level spell
Hardened 5: can cast up to 4th-level spells; 1 bonus 1st-level spell
Hardened 6: can cast up to 5th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st- and 2nd-level spells
Hardened 7: can cast up to 6th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st- and 2nd-level spells
Hardened 8: can cast up to 7th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-level spells
Hardened 9: can cast up to 8th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-level spells
Hardened 10: can cast up to 9th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-level spells
How To Make Rolls
When you want your character to do something that requires a roll, you’ll negotiate with your GM to identify one of the 26 Virtues and one of the ten Trauma scores that applies to what you’re trying to do. For example, many (but not nearly all, or even most) attempts to hurt someone in combat involve Valorous and Hardened Violence (abbreviated often as a VaHV roll). Use your character’s motivations, reasons, and emotional experiences to determine which Virtue and which Trauma to use ~ WHY your character is taking the action and HOW they feel about it is what’s relevant here. Talent, training, and such things are usually much clearer decisions, and are reflected by things like skill ranks and feats and such. Once you know which Virtue and Trauma are involved, grab a number of d12s equal to your score in the Virtue and roll them.
Choose a number of those rolled dice equal to your Trauma score plus one and then total the results of those dice. Add the skill ranks relevant to the action at hand, and any other modifiers that might apply (spells, magical items, feats, etc.) If the total equals or exceeds the Difficulty Class (DC) of the roll, your character has succeeded! When abbreviating a roll for quick notations and speedy reading, create a four-letter abbreviation consisting of the two letters indicating the Virtue and the two indicating the Trauma; add a plus sign and the relevant skill (if there are any modifiers that will always be added, indicate those with one or more additional plus signs) and follow the whole thing with the roll’s Difficulty Class. Thus, a difficulty 60 Intimidate roll using Cruel and Failed Isolation could be written as a CrFI+Intimidate 60 roll.
Sample Difficulty Classes
0 ~ Mundane ~ Getting out of bed; remembering the details of your equipment
6 ~ Very Easy ~ Striking an immobile target; recognizing an old friend
12 ~ Easy ~ Carrying half your weight; finding a misplaced item
18 ~ Average ~ Lifting your weight; remembering someone you’ve seen once before
24 ~ Moderate ~ Jumping a ten-foot ditch; recognizing someone in disguise
29 ~ Difficult ~ Scaling a cliff without rope; finding a well-hidden object
34 ~ Very Hard ~ Diving safely from a waterfall; remembering someone’s exact words
44 ~ Heroic ~ Out-wrestling a troll; naming all of your ancestors in order
64 ~ Impossible ~ Shattering stone with bare hands; outwitting a god
There are times when simple success is not enough. When a character needs to accomplish something truly spectacular, something which will warrant mention in the songs and legends told about them to future generations, Inspirations are the means by which that can be accomplished. When a player declares they are acting with an Inspiration, they are choosing to voluntarily increase the DC of the task his character is attempting, by an increment of 5 per Inspiration. Inspirations are generally made when a player feels their character’s heavenly virtue, psychological damage, and abilities will allow them to easily exceed the DC for a given task. The most common use of Inspirations is to allow characters to perform special actions in combat, but individual GMs can allow any number of different effects with sufficient Inspirations; after all, the world itself is bending to your character’s fulfillment of both parts of being a mortal in the world. Players who wish to try unconventional or creative actions that are not covered by the basic rules should simply ask the GM how many Inspirations will be required to succeed.
A character can make a maximum number of Inspirations per roll equal to a quarter of their level, rounded up. An 8th-level character, for instance, can make 1 or 2 Inspirations per roll, but not 3. Some mechanical effects grant a character Free Inspirations. These give the benefit of having made an Inspiration without actually increasing the DC of the roll in question, and do not count toward the maximum number of Inspirations that may be made per roll. Free Inspirations may also be used to reduce the DC of the task being attempted by 5 instead of augmenting the roll in the same way as a normal Inspiration.
Inspirations are not without risk, however. If a player declares Inspirations on a roll, and the result of their roll fails to meet the new, increased DC, the roll fails. This is a failure even if the result of the roll meets the original DC but falls short of the new, increased DC.
Virtue 1-4: can’t cast spells tied to this trait
Virtue 5: can cast up to 2nd-level spells; no bonus spells
Virtue 6: can cast up to 4th-level spells; 1 bonus 1st-level spell
Virtue 7: can cast up to 6th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st- and 2nd-level spells
Virtue 8: can cast up to 8th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-level spells
Virtue 9: can cast up to 9th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-level spells
Failed 0: can’t cast spells tied to this trait
Failed 1: can cast up to 2nd-level spells; no bonus spells
Failed 2: can cast up to 4th-level spells; 1 bonus 1st-level spell
Failed 3: can cast up to 6th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st- and 2nd-level spells
Failed 4: can cast up to 8th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-level spells
Failed 5: can cast up to 9th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-level spells
Hardened 0-1: can’t cast spells tied to this trait
Hardened 2: can cast up to 1st-level spells; no bonus spells
Hardened 3: can cast up to 2nd-level spells; no bonus spells
Hardened 4: can cast up to 3rd-level spells; 1 bonus 1st-level spell
Hardened 5: can cast up to 4th-level spells; 1 bonus 1st-level spell
Hardened 6: can cast up to 5th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st- and 2nd-level spells
Hardened 7: can cast up to 6th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st- and 2nd-level spells
Hardened 8: can cast up to 7th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-level spells
Hardened 9: can cast up to 8th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-level spells
Hardened 10: can cast up to 9th-level spells; 1 each bonus 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-level spells
How To Make Rolls
When you want your character to do something that requires a roll, you’ll negotiate with your GM to identify one of the 26 Virtues and one of the ten Trauma scores that applies to what you’re trying to do. For example, many (but not nearly all, or even most) attempts to hurt someone in combat involve Valorous and Hardened Violence (abbreviated often as a VaHV roll). Use your character’s motivations, reasons, and emotional experiences to determine which Virtue and which Trauma to use ~ WHY your character is taking the action and HOW they feel about it is what’s relevant here. Talent, training, and such things are usually much clearer decisions, and are reflected by things like skill ranks and feats and such. Once you know which Virtue and Trauma are involved, grab a number of d12s equal to your score in the Virtue and roll them.
Choose a number of those rolled dice equal to your Trauma score plus one and then total the results of those dice. Add the skill ranks relevant to the action at hand, and any other modifiers that might apply (spells, magical items, feats, etc.) If the total equals or exceeds the Difficulty Class (DC) of the roll, your character has succeeded! When abbreviating a roll for quick notations and speedy reading, create a four-letter abbreviation consisting of the two letters indicating the Virtue and the two indicating the Trauma; add a plus sign and the relevant skill (if there are any modifiers that will always be added, indicate those with one or more additional plus signs) and follow the whole thing with the roll’s Difficulty Class. Thus, a difficulty 60 Intimidate roll using Cruel and Failed Isolation could be written as a CrFI+Intimidate 60 roll.
Sample Difficulty Classes
0 ~ Mundane ~ Getting out of bed; remembering the details of your equipment
6 ~ Very Easy ~ Striking an immobile target; recognizing an old friend
12 ~ Easy ~ Carrying half your weight; finding a misplaced item
18 ~ Average ~ Lifting your weight; remembering someone you’ve seen once before
24 ~ Moderate ~ Jumping a ten-foot ditch; recognizing someone in disguise
29 ~ Difficult ~ Scaling a cliff without rope; finding a well-hidden object
34 ~ Very Hard ~ Diving safely from a waterfall; remembering someone’s exact words
44 ~ Heroic ~ Out-wrestling a troll; naming all of your ancestors in order
64 ~ Impossible ~ Shattering stone with bare hands; outwitting a god
There are times when simple success is not enough. When a character needs to accomplish something truly spectacular, something which will warrant mention in the songs and legends told about them to future generations, Inspirations are the means by which that can be accomplished. When a player declares they are acting with an Inspiration, they are choosing to voluntarily increase the DC of the task his character is attempting, by an increment of 5 per Inspiration. Inspirations are generally made when a player feels their character’s heavenly virtue, psychological damage, and abilities will allow them to easily exceed the DC for a given task. The most common use of Inspirations is to allow characters to perform special actions in combat, but individual GMs can allow any number of different effects with sufficient Inspirations; after all, the world itself is bending to your character’s fulfillment of both parts of being a mortal in the world. Players who wish to try unconventional or creative actions that are not covered by the basic rules should simply ask the GM how many Inspirations will be required to succeed.
A character can make a maximum number of Inspirations per roll equal to a quarter of their level, rounded up. An 8th-level character, for instance, can make 1 or 2 Inspirations per roll, but not 3. Some mechanical effects grant a character Free Inspirations. These give the benefit of having made an Inspiration without actually increasing the DC of the roll in question, and do not count toward the maximum number of Inspirations that may be made per roll. Free Inspirations may also be used to reduce the DC of the task being attempted by 5 instead of augmenting the roll in the same way as a normal Inspiration.
Inspirations are not without risk, however. If a player declares Inspirations on a roll, and the result of their roll fails to meet the new, increased DC, the roll fails. This is a failure even if the result of the roll meets the original DC but falls short of the new, increased DC.
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