WickedThought

When I watched Neil Peart’s A Work in Progress, he talked about his approach to writing drum parts for songs. Alex and Geddy bring him musical structures–more like sketches–complete with a drum machine part. Then, Neil throws everything he has at it, filling the song with every trick he’s got. As the process goes, he whittles the bits down until he has a structure he’s happy with.

Throw in everything, then boil it down.

It surprised me to learn that because Neil’s approach is pretty much exactly how I design game mechanics. I throw all the mechanics I’ve got in my head into the game, then during playtest, I slowly remove the parts that just don’t work. Boiling it down.

During playtest, I watch how the players approach the game. I watch for mechanics they use and mechanics they don’t use. The ones that they remember to use are the ones that are fun. The ones they forget to use are the ones that aren’t. Those are the first to go.

Then, I watch how people use the mechanics. For example, last Friday’s playtest showed me the “Duty” Motivation/Passion/whatever was too easy to abuse. The definition could stretch all over all the other M/P/w’s. So, I re-thought the idea, and decided that not only should Duty get ditched, but Motivations/Passions/whatevers should, too.

Loyalties? Nobody used them. What’s more, the question kept arising, “So, it’s like an aspect, but different.”

In fact, a lot of mechanics came out that way. Like an aspect, but different.

Time and time again, the players kept coming back to aspects. They’re fun, easy to understand, and cool.

Steam pouring over the pot lid now. My glasses steam as I look in.

Virtues remain. I made them mandatory, so players are always using them, but the same comment keeps coming back. “I like the fact that I can’t have all of them.” I do, too.

Virtues and aspects. And the Provinces. We had a ball with Provinces.

1. What is your game about?
2. How does it do that?
3. What behaviors does it reward?
4. Why is that fun?
   

Damn him, that Sorensen! I’ll get him. And his little dog Magnus, too!

The ven revere two kinds of “patron saints.” The first, minor suaven, or household spirits, are family members who have passed into Solace but are only revered by family members or a small number of ven. These suaven bestow minor blessings, omens and prophecies to those who remember them. Major suaven, otherwise known as jivalaven, are revered all across Shanri. Temples and shrines dedicated in their names stand on every island.

Your character can devote himself to one or more of these suaven, winning their favor and blessings. Your devotion to a suaven is measured in ranks–just like everything else on your character sheet. If you revere a suaven, you are said to have Devotion to that suaven.

Minor Suaven
As a beginning character, you have 3 points to spend on Devotions to minor suaven. The higher your Devotion, the more attuned you are to that suaven. You may spend all your points on a single suaven, or you can spread them over one, two or even three.

Like our own patron saints, the ven associate the suaven with a particular attribute. Just as Saint Jude is “the patron saint of lost causes,” so is Althana Steele the suaven of desperate measures. Athana is not the only patron saint of desperate measures — there’s a lot of them–but everyone has a favorite.

Knowing a suaven teaches you details of that suaven’s life. The more you learn, the more you know how to communicate with a suaven in his dreaming state. You learn symbols associated with that suaven, surround yourself with those symbols, and further attune yourself to her slumbering mind.

For the purposes of character creation, you can create your own minor suaven. All you need is:

a) Name: this is what you call your patron saint
b) Attribution: what is your patron saint the patron saint of?
c) Symbol: you need a symbol for each rank of Devotion

For example, for one of her minor suaven, Shara chooses a beloved aunt, Ysaelda. She was a kind of surrogate mother for Shara, teaching her everything Shara’s mother wanted her to know, kind of a dowager duchess from those little books she loved to read. When she passed into Solace, Aunt Ysaelda left Shara the secret of her mother’s journals.

The first thing I need to make Aunty Ysaelda one of Shara’s suaven is a name. Okay, I got that.

Next, I’ll need an attribution. Just what does Shara associate most with her aunt? Ahah! I’ve got it. “Discreet affairs.” Even into her later years, Auntie Ysaelda was always surrounded by charming men hoping to win her favor. No-one ever knew about her dalliances. She kept those absolutely secret. So, for Shara, Aunty Ysaelda is the patron saint of discreet affairs. Making them and keeping them.

Finally, I need a symbol for each rank of Devotion. I’m giving Aunty two of Shara’s three Devotion points, so I need two symbols to associate with her. After thinking about it for a while, I remember how much Ysaelda loved lilies. White lilies to be exact. So, for Shara, one symbol of her beloved aunt is white lillies. For the second, I think a particular kind of wine. Blackberry wine is a favorite of mine, so let’s make it a favorite of Ysaelda’s, too. These two things are the most powerful reminders for Shara when she thinks of her aunt. When she visits Ysaelda’s shrine, she always remembers to bring white lilies and a glass of blackberry wine.

Now, if you show your suaven the proper respect, reverence and adoration (like bringing wine and flowers to their shrines), the suaven return your kindness with blessings. A blessing is a bestowment of bonus dice for risks that involve the suaven’s attribution. In other words, if Shara is confronted with the truth of a discreet affair, she can call upon Auntie Ysaelda’s blessing and get bonus dice to protect the identity of that affair.

In order to get those bonus dice, you have to spend a point of Style. Spend a Style and you get a number of bonus dice equal to your Devotion rank.

For example, a jealous wife confronts Shara about one of her…

… hey wait a minute. Cliche. Shara is anything but cliche. Let’s start that again.

For example, a jealous husband (there ya go) confronts Shara about one of her discreet affairs. He demands she tell the truth of the matter. Shara, always following her good Aunty’s example (and trying to play off her reputation), denies everything. Does she tell a convincing lie? Does the husband believe her?

This is a contested Cunning risk.

Both Shara and the husband must make Cunning rolls, hoping to beat the other’s total. Shara calls upon her aunt’s spirit to guide her. I spend a Style and add two bonus dice (equal to Shara’s Devotion to her suaven, Ysealda) to my roll.

That’s how it works.

You can have a suaven of swords, a suaven of bridges, a suaven of gardening, a suaven of just about anything. You may not have a suaven of “winning rolls.” That would be lame. I spend a Style and tag you with “Lame.”

These are the rules for lesser suaven. The rules for greater suaven come later.

From the weekend, after a big violent fight scene, the following rules changes are in effect.

1) You may not invoke more than one aspect, tag more than one aspect and compell more than one aspect for a single risk. That is, you may only invoke one aspect, tag one aspect, and compel one aspect per risk. That means you can utilize up to three aspects per risk.

For example, Shara finds herself in a duel. She cannot invoke more than one aspect, tag more than one aspect or compell more than one aspect. That’s a total of three aspects she can work with. She could invoke two aspects here–both being appropriate to the risk–but she cannot use more than one. Likewise, she knows two of her opponent’s aspects that she could tag for this duel, but for this risk, she can only tag one. If an aspect was appropriate for compelling–like “bad temper” or “unsure”–she could also compell it, but she could only compell one.

2) Tagging or compelling another character’s aspect costs one Style Point. Give the character that Style Point. By the way, you may compell your own aspects. The GM will give you a Style point for doing so.

3) Style points may no longer be used to increase the number of dice you roll. They can only be used for specific purposes:

a) Tagging and compelling aspects
b) Gaining “blessing dice” through a suaven
c) Other things we’ll talk about later

4) Suaven now provide “blessing dice.” You can spend a Style point to activate that blessing. Most suaven give a bonus to a specific kind of risk. Fencing, flirting, hunting, etc. More on the suaven later.

These changes significantly lower the number of dice you can get for a risk. That’s a good thing. During the fight scene, one player was rolling 25 dice. That’s a bit too much for a starting character.

More changes later.