Transcript:
Drama debt: get credit for your conflicts.
(quote tweeting: https://twitter.com/PrismaticWastes/status/1742185624390516853)
In this mechanical system, your character starts with certain amounts of dramatic credit. Your equal share of the group spotlight credit, and action credits for your skills, powers, etc.
To do something cool and successful that moves the plot or your character arc forward, spend action credit and character spotlight equal to the magnitude of the action, from 1 (cosmetic coolness) to 10 (setting redefining awesome).
Spotlight spent can be handed to another player character you haven't given spotlight to yet, or given to the GM to reset your ability to give spotlight to other players.
Action credit spent uses up that credit, and can put you into debt for it.
Action debt is limited to the absolute value of the character's base credit for the action type; a character with "fire magic 5" could achieve a magnitude 10 action by spending all 5 and going 5 into debt.
This dramatic debt can be paid several ways. First, time.
Each session reduce the debt by 1 in each action the character has debt for, and refresh any used credit in actions where there is no debt. This is the boring backup way to clear debt.
The other coins which pay this debt are pain, virtue, and audience approval.
Pain is failure. By failing at anything, you can pay off dramatic debt, or even save up credit for dramatic success up to your current spotlight available. You still can't take any single action alone worth more than twice your base action credit, you can just pay it instantly.
Failure comes in the same magnitudes as success. Cosmetic, practical, personal, indefinite, permanent, deadly, protagonist/antagonist deadly, setting altering, plot finishing/starting, world revolutionizing. 1-10.
Virtue is a matter of living up to standards the game, setting, character themselves, and game group expect the character to live up to. Actions in support of virtue can refund their spent credit up to the magnitude of the virtue displayed. Failure on virtuous ground is worth 2x.
Virtue conditions should be pre-defined for characters, groups, and settings. The decision will be up to the group including GM in play, but the target should be known
Group approval is easy. If another player was entertained by your action, refund one point. If the GM enjoyed it, refund one too; if both, refund half. If everyone enjoyed the action actively, refund all debt incurred by it.
GM actions for NPCs is somewhat different. The GM starts with only spotlight. This is spent to establish an NPC's action credit. Establishing it off screen costs double and must have at least some on screen mention, though it can be after the fact. On screen takes an action.
Establishing an NPC's action credit can't be done with an action directly affecting PCs or anything on their character sheets. It must target friendly but less important NPCs, scenery, etc, and show how good at things and willing to act the NPC is.
Once established, the NPC may use the credit to affect players characters according to the magnitude scale. When NPCs would go into debt - which they may do, according to the limit of the absolute value of their established credit - the excess goes to the dramatic credit of PCs.
GM chooses how to distribute the dramatic credit to PCs affected by the NPC's action.
NPCs have automatic refresh for previously established capabilities, but only after every player has paid into the GM's pool since the last refresh.
Specific game settings will define what powers, skills, and other traits there are, and the kinds of action they apply to.