Well... there we are. Giant Flying Spaghetti Monster willing, Godwyne will be a character in this story.
Love to see your follow-up, if you're back in a writing groove. Or let me know if you'd like to kick the following chapters over to me as ideas. Fay and Morgan would totally go for that sort of persuasion. As upper-class students in a rival house, they would love to have Golondrina serving them. I've hinted that Minerval goes for kinkier practices than Leontes, though just "Lick us out!" would be plenty good. I thought about owing favors for a bit on the way home. I think the main rules question that was hanging on was how it would happen that a FAVOR the player character owes gets called in. Maybe owing a favor could hook up to a new rule related to having a GOAL to achieve. This could motivate a player to act on an owed favor. When you owe a FAVOR to someone else, it becomes a GOAL for you. Here's a sketch at a GOAL rule that could work for owing favors. When you try to ACHIEVE A GOAL, roll 2d6 (against an appropriate attribute, probably at a penalty?) On a 10+, you ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL. Cross it off. Gain +1 XP. If the GOAL was a FAVOR owed to someone, you may take +1 to ENCOUNTER them or MAKE AMENDS. On a 7-9, you ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL. Cross it off and choose one: * You do a rushed, mediocre, or sloppy job. Describe the plot consequences. * You give up your goal to help someone else. Gain a FAVOR from them and roll to GET OUT OF TROUBLE. * Through your action, someone else doesn't get what they want. Treat as a 10+, but gain an ENEMY. * You needed help. Treat as a 10+, but expend a FAVOR or owe your helper a FAVOR (a new GOAL). * You overextended yourself, got hurt, or got embarrassed. Treat as a 10+, but take a CONSEQUENCE. On a miss, choose one: * You weasel out of it or miss the opportunity. Cross off the GOAL. Roll to GET OUT OF TROUBLE. * You pass it along to someone else. Cross off the GOAL. Expend a FAVOR or owe your helper a favor (a new GOAL). * You can't quite get it accomplished. Keep the GOAL. If this is an assigned task or a FAVOR owed to someone, roll to ENCOUNTER them at -1. We could do something where more difficult goals have a specific extra payoff. Kinds of Favors by Trait, where "me" is the person wanting the favor from the player character. Some of these would work as non-Favor Goals. vs. AMBITION: People stuff. Make excuses for me. Make an introduction for me. Talk someone into helping me or giving me something. Talk someone out of being mad at me. Help my social event go well. Convince others to take a particular action on an important matter. vs. BRAVERY: Physical stuff. Be my bodyguard when I do something dangerous. Help me do a difficult task. Go get something that is physically challenging to get to. Wrangle a fierce beast. Be my second at a secret duel. Help me practice or stand in for me in an athletic contest. Help me fight a monster. vs. CUNNING: Philosophical stuff. Help me practice a new spell. Help me do a potion, charm, or divination. Help me break a code. Help me find out a secret. Help me figure out a mystery. Help me figure out who did something. Help me figure out why something happened. vs. DILIGENCE: Perfectionist stuff. Help me put the House Chambers in order for an important visitor. Help me complete my class project or report. Help me research a magical spell, historical event, or other topic in the library. Help me find my lost item. Take care of my (something) while I'm gone/busy/in infirmary/in detention. Do my detention task for me. The missing piece here is other sorts of GOALs -- perhaps things you've taken on for yourself, for your House, or even for Boarbristle Academy. How do you get them? Do you start with one? Does your House Tutor or Master/Mistress give you one, perhaps in an ENCOUNTER? Do your professors give you tasks? ("Mix this potion!") Professors will generally give you CUNNING or DILIGENCE goals, though BRAVERY might factor in self-defense, Dark Arts, or Magical Creatures. House-assigned goals will most likely be vs. DILIGENCE or AMBITION.
+2 or +3 is rather a rocking big bonus in the 2d6 world, given that you would also add BRAVERY for something athletic. This could work if there were Broom Polo rules where you might have to take penalties (competing against a serious rival team). There are no specific Broom Polo rules, so at this point you could write a Broom Polo scene as DEFEND THE HONOR OF YOUR HOUSE or maybe even CONFRONT YOUR ENEMY, or maybe an important match would be a GOAL (see my reply to @moonblack) with a test of +BRAVERY at a penalty of -1 or -2. (If you'd like, we could sketch out a rule for a match). I think the right scale for a Character Move like Born on the Handle might be something like: Born on the Handle: +2 on any Move related to Broom Polo or flying a broom to chase, evade, or make other physical maneuvers. I'll get right on reviewing Godwyne. Thanks for your contribution!
Well, to be fair, the Bonus needs to be comparable to a simple +1 to Bravery (another option), and Bravery itself can be applied to a variety of other situations. So I wasen't sure which of the two would be more 'fair' in comparison. Thank you though. I'll be sure to check in if I have any more question... or if people have requests.
Thanks! You're roaring out of the gate with Godwyne. He seems like a fine example of an "old money" types in House Draconis. No doubt there will also be ill-mannered climbers pushing and shoving for place in the same House, no less. Another way of dealing with stacked-up bonuses (vs. raising difficulties) would be to cap the bonus at +4. That would let you offset penalties like having a CONSEQUENCE (playing with a headache or a hangover) or getting cornered into DEFEND THE HONOR OF YOUR HOUSE at a -1 (after CONFRONT YOUR ENEMY).
Thank you. Capping at +4 seems fair... specifically because any more would make total failure on a task an impossibility (Since +4 still leaves the possibility of snake eyes/ two 2s). Which in and of itself is impossibly, since there 's always a chance, no matter how could you are at something, that you can completely drop the ball. Also... considering the Broom Polo bonus, its not entirely game-breaking. After all, Broom Polo is a team sport, and so even if one player is above average, that doesn't mean his actions alone can carry the game. Unless you just want to treat the game as tests for the player, and not invent a new rule. (Though, if you did invest such a rule, I suggest doubling all numbers and rolling 4d6s instead; one set and modifier for the player, the other set and modifier for the team. For Broom Polo, for example, this team modifier could be raised through drilling (Diligence), planning new plays/tricks (Cunning), and recruiting the best players (Ambition), or something to that effect)
If Broom Polo appeals, we can explore rules for it. Maybe something where the game is resolved over several moves and strategy/tactics choices.
Alright. I'm not trying to impose... just get a solid understanding of what mechanics I might have to work with. Speaking of which, what are you thoughts on implementing the Crush mechanic? I've done the rolls for Godwyne's other first-scene choices, and got an 8 for his attempt to get into the Leontes girl's arm and use her as cover for him exiting the boat with the upperclassmen. I was thinking of making the result one where he gets ashore free but ends up with a Crush, as the girl he's 'escorting' interprets the nervousness he lets through in the wrong way. If you're not ready for that yet, I could always substitute something different (A complicated success where he has to GET OUT OF TROUBLE by finessing his way out of the conversation without letting down his cover)
Mostly I didn't write rules because I didn't want to get ahead of myself and didn't want to track too many running numbers from chapter to chapter. (That's why all bad lingering effects get folded down into a CONSEQUENCE or an ENEMY.) I'd be happy to hear your suggestions for unfolding a match into more detail. I haven't tried to develop them any further. If you like the draft Crush rules from above, I'll go ahead and paste them in as a new Rules chapter and tweak them if I notice anything (Or you can comment). I figure we'll learn by doing.
Adding a jumping-off chapter for optional rules, so they can be written separately until they look like they should be pulled into the main rules. https://chyoa.com/chapter/Optional,-Variant,-and-Suggested-Rules.223282
Added the Crush mechanic under the title "Hanger-On", pretty much as written. -1 on rolls against them, you can blame them for failures, you can enlist their help, and you can eventually get rid of them or converting them to friends. So she can imagine you're suppressing affectionate interest, and she'll cling to your as her first-day hero. https://chyoa.com/chapter/The-HANGER-ON-who-gets-in-your-way.223291
My apologies for the delay. The last few days have been somewhat hectic for me. However, a few more chapters should be up tonight.
You've been a great contributor! Happy for chapters whenever you're ready. I'll be online tonight but out and about tomorrow.
No problem. There should also be more tomorrow... though, I must confess, as usual I have far more ideas then time to write them well Also, quick question... how are you supposed to read chapter comments? I haven't had to do it since the site update and... for some reason scrolling up doesn't seem to be working.
The mobile site has two panes that you can switch between by clicking the red stack menu button. The regular website seems to work OK for me but there are two scrollable panes, one inside the other, and the scrollbars are subtle. Play around with scrolling until you get it to work.
I dangled a couple of suggestions for alternative character rules at Boarbristle Academy: * An adversary/monster/invader * A teacher/staff member Any interest? And then there's: Should we add another Academy?
1. I see no issue with that. 2. Probably not yet. Considering you and I are the only contributors at the moment, it'd probably be spreading resources too thin.
