Malachite

I know, I almost forgot about it too for a bit there. Answering this ask got me to pull out my design doc packet though, and that meant I finally decided to make progress on something that wasn't autism-blocked by "I can't get a corkboard right now": the core narrative mechanics for Sealed Pacts. I like what I've come up with, so let me give you an introduction.

Quick Baseline

Where ICON is stapling combinatorics-driven tactical combat to Forged in the Dark narrative systems (following on from Lancer and its Bonds), Sealed Pacts is my attempt to staple one-step-abstracted tactical combat to Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) systems. To that end, I'm bridging the 1d20/2d6 gap by using 2d10; 10– is a miss, 11–16 is a partial success, and 17+ is a full success (20+ would be a critical, but I figure that will be explored more w/ character advancement options). With that, let's talk specifics.

Core Narrative Stats

From what I've seen PbtA games usually have 4–6 core stats, with the overwhelming majority having 5. Considering I'm designing away from Lancer though, where it has 4 core combat stats, I like the parity of having 4 core narrative stats too. These are:

• Leather: your raw speed/power & ability to take hits. I really like this name, but also I know it's kinda stupid/opaque/unsupported-by-theme so I might rename it later to something like Body or Muscle.
• Acuity: your ability to apply techniques or circumvent problems; also covers thinking things through.
• Terror: your ability to do magical shit, broadly defined.
• Empathy: your ability to do social shit, broadly defined.

This also conveniently gives narrative stats the acronym LATE (or at least something-ATE if I change Leather), which is nicely pronounceable. I'm admittedly a bit worried that I've got a pretty narrow play space stat-wise given that I have to come up with (based on current plans) 96 distinct Moves using these stats, but that's a bridge I'll cross when I come to it. I think I'm more likely to start by cutting the Move count in half (i.e. only give narrative Moves to the 16 Major Powers, one for each of 3 levels) than I am to add a new stat, though, since I also like how this system connects to...

Consequences

I respect the idea of the harm clock as originally described in Apocalypse World, but frankly... it just feels too much like hit points & death saves, mechanically. Like yes, I know, that's not actually how they're supposed to behave, but that's still how they feel because you're just saying "okay I can soak The Danger Consequence up to N times before I Roll To Not Die." As a result, I'm much more attracted to the conditions system pioneered in Masks: A New Generation and adapted in Thirsty Sword Lesbians. It creates a bit of a softer tone for the story and turns "taking harm" into a (directed) narrative generator, rather than the simultaneously broader & more focused prompt of "how do you heal."

Two problems arise with adapting conditions to Sealed Pacts. First, as originally written conditions penalize specific basic Moves. For reasons I'll get into when I talk about the basic Moves, I want to push people more towards the 96 additional Moves they'll get from their pacts. If I have conditions only affect basic Moves, that will render them near-meaningless to higher-level characters that have a comfortable toolkit of pact Moves. So, rather than penalizing specific Moves, my conditions penalize entire stats. Second, Masks and TSL both have 5 conditions. I have only 4 stats. If I want to avoid double-penalizing, that means I can only have 4 conditions – which also means characters can only take 4 conditions before I need to have Something Happen. I think I've found an interesting solution to this problem, but I'll talk about that after I've introduced the conditions themselves. They are:

• Hopeless: You've lost all belief in The Fight. You're not putting your heart into much of anything, whether that's beating up bad guys or saving yourself. Take -2 to Leather, as it becomes harder to really give anything your all. To clear Hopeless, you have to give up early in some kind of struggle, then get yelled at by an ally for doing so (this can be an inspiring "how could you give up" yelling, an angry "what the fuck" yelling, a quieter "are you okay" yelling, whatever; you choose if it works).
• Inadequate: You aren't sure if you, personally, can Do Enough. Are you actually just depending on your friends to solve all the problems? Are you really contributing anything? You should really just go it alone, that way you'll know if you can cut it. Take -2 to Acuity, as you refuse to use every resource available to you in order to solve your problems. To clear Inadequate, you have to get into trouble while trying to prove yourself, then get rescued by an ally (presumably with a "hey, I'm here for you" talk; you choose if it works).
• Uncertain: You don't know what's the Right Decision anymore. Your confidence is all out of whack, you're second-guessing everything you do, and you're pretty sure you've already fucked something up. Take -2 to Terror, as you struggle to impose your will—the core of all magic—onto reality. To clear Uncertain, you must deliberately & explicitly choose not to act in a dangerous situation, then have an ally reveal how your inaction caused harm (you choose if it works).
• Spiteful: You aren't going to Let Them Win, no matter what you're fighting about. Whether it's your beliefs, your solutions, your actions, whatever, you have to be correct, and anyone suggesting otherwise can get fucked. Take -2 to Empathy, as it's hard to really understand others when you refuse to accept that maybe they're right (at least within their own contexts). To clear Spiteful, you must force a small victory in a confrontation, then be shown by an ally how that small victory fails to fit into the bigger picture (e.g. by being insignificant or actively harmful; you choose if it works).

The pattern of these conditions is 1) change your character's current outlook on situations, 2) take -2 to a stat (up to a 19% reduction in success chance, though it has less impact for particularly high/low stat characters), and 3) clear the condition by having a Classic Magical Girl Trope Scene. I like that this setup drives character interaction around the specific conditions they're dealing with, rather than having the restorative prompt be "I dunno, support each other." It also means that to clear your conditions, you have to indulge in them, at least a little. I don't think this will affect most people who're familiar with PbtA, but I hope it'll help the people who're approaching this game from a crunchier mindset (coughcoughlikeme) actually play out their characters' emotional states.

Now, some bonus fun with conditions. First of all, conditions are how I'm bridging the combat experience with the narrative experience. Basically, whenever a player depletes one of their health bars in combat (i.e. hears Deathbells [HP], becomes Shadowed [Corruption], or is completely Taken Out [either]), at the end of the combat they mark a condition. Have a bad fight, you could mark up to 3 conditions all at once. This makes it even more important to ask "should I keep fighting" rather than just "can I keep fighting" (and might spur trying to clear conditions mid-combat), but it also feeds into the second aspect: what happens when you can't mark another condition. It's a classic magical girl trope that allies will become evil and evildoers will become allies; thus, if you take more conditions than you can mark, rather than simply being swept off-stage for the rest of the scene, you temporarily become a villain. During this time, they should have at least one scene interacting with the greater forces of Corruption to reveal their plans, motivations, etc, then spend the rest of their villainous interlude trying (and failing) to defeat their former allies using the "power" of their conditions. I'll probably write some like, "villain phase" Moves and basically align them with the GM, using openings to set up dangerous situations that the heroes then have to resolve.

So, that's how conditions affect narrative gameplay, but what the heck are they actually affecting anyways? (Incredible segue, I know.) Enter...

The Basic Moves

So, on the one hand I have to design 96 Moves that are all meaningful, so I can't make a pactbearer's basic Moves too powerful. On the other hand, a pactbearer will have at most 12 additional pact Moves available to them, so the basic Moves still have to be incredibly versatile. Thus, my guiding principle in writing these Moves was that they should be able to solve just about any problem, but always have some kind of cost attached. This leaves pact Moves to be more situational, but also succeed with few-to-no strings attached. 4 stats means 4 kinds of problem-solving and thus 4 basic Moves:

• Charge In (Leather): triggers when you try to solve a problem by simply being strong, fast, and/or capable of enduring whatever problems arise.
  • 11–16: Succeed, but pick 2:
    • Take a condition
    • Something important breaks
    • Someone is put at risk by your actions
    • The enemies escape
  • 17+: Succeed, but pick 1 of the above options and 1 of the below options:
    • For the rest of the scene, when you Charge In you automatically get an 11–16 result
    • You will be remembered for what you do here
    • You're separated you from your allies; they can't help you now
• Figure It Out (Acuity): triggers when you try to put the pieces together on a situation using intellect & observations.
  • 11–16: Ask the GM a question and receive an answer of yes, no, or N/A, then pick 2 consequences of asking the question:
    • A relationship breaks down
    • You make and immediately act on a logical leap (which may or may not be correct)
    • You are put into danger
    • The shock of realizing the answer prevents you from sharing it for the rest of the scene
  • 17+: Ask the GM a question and receive a one-sentence answer, then pick 1 consequence of asking the question from either the above or below list:
    • Dangerous people know you have your answer
    • In understanding the answer, you expose something about yourself
• Make Miracles Happen (Terror): triggers when you try to do something that should be impossible using raw magical force.
  • 11–16: Reality fights back; take a condition, then pick 2 ways your success is incomplete:
    • You achieve the letter but not the spirit of your goals
    • Only you can benefit from the effect or everyone except you can benefit from the effect
    • The surrounding area will be broken/destroyed by Corruption when the effect ends
    • Your magic hurts someone unintentionally
  • 17+: You succeed, but it hurts; pick 2 consequences of casting the spell:
    • Take a condition
    • Put someone in danger
    • Develop a troublesome reputation based on this event
• Have A Chat (Empathy): triggers when you try to understand someone & their situation through conversation.
  • 11–16: Show weakness (the GM may have the NPC inflict a condition), then ask 1 question:
    • What's wrong?
    • What do you want?
    • What would make you like me?
    • Who do you care about?
  • 17+: Get invested in your conversation partner (the NPC may ask for help from you, either now or at a later date), then ask 2 questions from above or below:
    • What do you need?
    • Why do you care?

For each of these Moves, the default "10–: GM makes a Move" applies to ensure GMs have plenty of freedom in responding to the narrative. Mentally, I think of Charge In and Make Miracles Happen as direct problem solvers, while Figure It Out and Have A Chat are indirect problem solvers; the former provide immediate solutions, while the latter tell you how a problem can be solved (ideally with just roleplaying interactions; I always hate "rolling so I know what to roll" situations). Also, while I use the conventional "triggers when" phrasing of PbtA Moves, in my head it's perfectly acceptable to look at your character sheet and say, "Okay, I'd like to Charge In;" this is another allowance towards crunchier players who struggle with PbtA's nebulous "just tell a story, the GM will say when you need to roll" mindset.

Next Steps

On the bright side, finishing this brings me one step closer to having another Sealed Pacts prototype ready. On the down side, this was the most readily accessible design problem to solve. To get the prototype ready, I need to 1) make a new test combat map and 2) figure out a GM-side system to directly flag enemies as Active Threats within the broader Move system, and I want to 3) figure out the pantheon's organization to 4) design 2 or 3 Major Powers' uniforms, abilities, & narrative Moves so a play group could conceivably play a small campaign of Sealed Pacts. Practically speaking I may just have to delay "could conceivably play this game long-term" to the next iteration, especially since the combat system is still in such heavy flux, but it'd be nice.