Thursday 16 July 2015

Traitors Gate - The Invitation: Samuel Watkins

The rain had not stopped since lunchtime and Samuel's shop was as dead as it usually was but at least the pitter-patter outside gave him something to listen to. He had thought about rearranging the display racks, perhaps polishing one or two prized items he kept on display but he knew nobody would really notice. He considered the plans for organising the repair room at the back of the shop. As he turned around in his chair towards the room however, he couldn't bring himself to move to open the door. In fact he even blamed it for blocking his path. Everything today seemed like too much effort.

The tinny bell that hung above his door brought him back from wandering in his thoughts. A young girl, perhaps eight or nine had come in shivering under an umbrella. She had been crying or perhaps the rain had stung her eyes. He saw that as she approached him, she was biting her bottom lip and sniffling, he knew that she was definitely upset. She was well spoken for a young girl so she must have some money behind her but being this far down in the city meant it wasn't a lot. It was that, or she didn't want people to know she was here, again betraying her wealth. This excited Samuel a little, the rich had far more interesting pieces of Numenera and a girl this young may be more susceptible to tricking her into parting with her possession. She meekly placed an orb on the table, it seemed to be made of brass but it had tarnished. It didn't balance correctly and as it wobbled to its side, part of it came loose. It seemed to be some sort of on arm attached to the spherical shell and the inner workings of the device. He shook it in his hand and blew on it. The young girl started to cry a little, telling him not to tell her father that she had broken it.

Her concern tugged at his morals. He knew this was a valuable piece, perhaps an automaton of sorts. It could be easily sold or put into his private collection. It would take time to fix, perhaps enough time to squirrel it away before anyone would find out. The girl had started to fiddle with odds and ends on the shelves, reminding him that he still needed to buy a seat for his customers. The look of worry on her face about her father stopped his selfish thoughts. He told her that she should come back with her father later on after he had finished work and he would explain everything. She smiled a little and quickly grabbed the sphere back before leaving. As the door shut, he instantly regretted letting the orb disappear. He mumbled a defence about not being skilled enough to help the girl, an argument that left him disappointed in himself.   

A few hours later the girl returned. With her was not her father but an older girl, around sixteen. She explained that in her father's absence she was in charge of the household. The older  girl was more obvious about her wealth. Her nose was nearly pinned to the ceiling as she lightly fingered over the trinkets on display. She looked with disdain at the tools he had on his desk. She proudly stated that her father worked for Lord Narrkonis and that the most likely reason Samuel couldn't fix the device, was due to the poor quality of his equipment. She told him that even their servants had better equipment, hand-me-downs from her father when new technology had been developed. Samuel bit his tongue not to curse her out of his shop and kept thinking of the younger girl and saw how she looked at the floor as her sister spoke. The older sister told him that her father had the device on loan from Lord Narrkonis and needed to be fixed urgently. She offered him the use of the servants equipment at their house with a barbed tongue. She gave him the address and told him specifically that where were servants in the house before leaving.

Within the hour he had made it over to the back entrance of the house. The walkway was silent but he pout that down to the proximity to the outer edge of the city. He was about to speak when he heard what he thought was the young girl screaming. His heart raced but pressed onwards. He passed the coat stands and the wash room to a dimly lit corridor. For a moment he swore he could see the shadows ahead flicker in front of him. He walked with caution towards the end. A low murmur could be heard from the walls to his left. They were clearer through the door and he tried in vain to open it, so he knelt down to look through the lock. He could see much. The room was dark and there was no light from a window. He saw the flash of something metallic, a blade perhaps and stumbled backwards hitting the wall. He tried to calm his breathing before standing up but he still felt light headed. He turned to his right back to the open door and then left to further down and against his better judgement, went in search for help.

Around the corner of the corridor a figure stood in his way. A portly woman for her size a little shorter than himself. She was dressed in maids clothing but refused to answer him. He stepped forward and put his hand on her shoulder. She felt nearly weightless and his gentle touch knocked her over. She fell to the floor like a wooden board. He panicked and checked for her pulse. She was most definitely dead but there was something about her that wasn't right. She flesh was stiff but pliable and her arms and neck had sewn up cuts across them.  The sound of something hard and solid hitting the wooden floor in the locked room jolted him upright. He knew the girls were in trouble and with desperate strength, he kicked the door down. He was greeted by the familiar smell of rusty metal and cross between copper and iron. The overhead light gave off little but it was clear to see what lay in front of him The two girls were at opposite ends of the room, both sat in chairs with the older one tipped over onto the floor. She lay there motionless in the pool of blood beneath her. In the middle of the room  there  was a flower in a vase and a wooden box with a crystal inlay, untouched by what had happened. He went to the older sister and righted her stiff body nearly falling back to the floor. Might like the servant, her body was covered in  cuts, most of which had been sewn. The one that ran down the length of the underside her forearm had been left open. It was stuffed with cloth and padding.

There was one thing he could do and even though he knew the house was most likely empty, he made sure he was alone. He took off his glove of his right hand and laid it on the girls forehead. He asked her who did this to her and where they went. The door was locked and the was no window to flee through. The nerves in her left eyebrow twitched a little and her pupils dilated. Her tone of voice was familiar to him almost a comfort. She blamed Samuel for what had happened to her and that she had died before she had seen whoever had cut her open had left. He instantly pulled his hand away and the vague semblance of life was snuffed out. He swallowed deeply as he put his glove back on. He looked back down at the open wound and started to pull out the cloth, finding only more stuffing and bone. A clink on the floor drew his eye to a parchment, sealed with an wax and imprinted with an orchid almost an exact copy of the flower in the middle of the room. As he broke the seal the stitches burst in both of the girls, showering the room in bloody rags, their bodies now a husk of skin and hair. He clenched his heart, scrunched his eyes and rocked back and forth to calm his breathing.

It is finally time for us to meet if you wish to be liberated of your burden. Take the flower and the box. In seven days time at noon you will receive further instructions. I have one last task and then your secrets will be yours.

Samuel looked over at the table at the vase and the wooden box. He brushed off the fluff and bloodied cloth from the table and looked at them more closely. He took the box and put it in his pocket, while the flower remained its vase in his hand. As he walked out he took one last glance at the bodies of the girls and sighed slightly, knowing he could soon be set free.

Wednesday 15 July 2015

Traitors Gate - New Mechanics

As I mentioned in the previous blog I'm introducing new mechanics: the Social Grapple, Information Exchange, Blackmailing and Guilds, so I thought I would give you a little bit on how it all works. Some of these work on expanding the current system of XP to use as a more varied currency in hopes to encourage PCs to create player intrusions as a risk and reward strategy.

The Social Grapple

Used for:  To force NPCs or PCs to carry out certain actions or provide truthful information.
How is it carried out: 
  1. Each player & NPC assigns a Social Disposition rating to each player, the party or NPC every session. This is a value to represent the level of the relationship and trust. The value is eqivilant to the Cypher System Task Difficulty and is used as the base for the creation of the resulting Task Difficulty. This is only known between the GM and the player.
    • Social Disposition Key
      Social Disposition/ Task DifficultyContext
      1Best Friends Forever
      2
      3
      4
      5Strangers/Neutral
      6
      7
      8
      9
      10Mortal Enemies
  2. When a Social Grapple is initiated, the attacker designates which of the two methods of manipulation they wish to use in this attack. These are skills that can be taken akin to any other skill used within the Cypher System but are mandatory on a character sheet. [It is optional whether one of these skills or Resolve can be trained during character creation.]
    • Awareness - Using physical means to manipulate such as seduction, ritual and manners. It is the art of knowing how to convey the body in a manner that is reflected of a purpose. Can be used to identify behaviours,motions (body language) and etiquette that would otherwise go unnoticed. As a skill the GM can add an additional asset depending on the societal stature of the user.
    • Cunning - Using knowledge as a means to manipulate such as exploiting weakness, secrets and trust. It is the art of knowing the pressure points of a person's personality that can be manipulated with words or machinations. Can be used to formulate plans, deceive or deflect inquiry and acumen.
  3. Each player now rolls against each-other on this particular skill. For every level of training they have in the skill , add 3 to the dice roll. Conversely an inability would  minus 3 from the roll.
  4. The winner of this roll modifies the Social Disposition to their favour by the number of times the skill has been trained. Attackers have the SD reduced while defenders have it increased. If the winner has no training then the SD remains the same and if they have an inability, the task is modified to their detriment.
  5. The attacker and defender then repeat steps 3 & 4 for the skill of Resolve. This like Awareness and Cunning is defined as a skill, it is mandatory on character creation and is included in the optional training.
    • Resolve: Using the constitution and willpower of an individual to enforce or detect an act of influence. It is a mental faculty that allows a person to overcome their weaknesses, to bolster their opinions and moral compass or to endure stress and harm that would otherwise render the individual unable to continue.
    • Quick Reference Guide
      Difficulty
      Tactic WinnerResolve WinnerMod12345678910
      Attacker Skilled (-2)
      Attacker
      Skilled (-2)-4-3-2-10123456
      Trained (-1)-3-2-101234567
      None (-0)-2-1012345678
      Defender
      Skilled (+2)012345678910
      Trained (+1)-10123456789
      None (+0)-2-1012345678
      Attacker Trained (-1)
      Attacker
      Skilled (-2)-3-2-101234567
      Trained (-1)-2-1012345678
      None (-0)-10123456789
      Defender
      Skilled (+2)1234567891011
      Trained (+1)012345678910
      None (+0)-10123456789
      Attacker Not Trained/Draw (0)
      Attacker
      Skilled (-2)-2-1012345678
      Trained (-1)-10123456789
      None (-0)012345678910
      Defender
      Skilled (+2)23456789101112
      Trained (+1)1234567891011
      None (+0)012345678910
      Defender Trained (+1)
      Attacker
      Skilled (-2)-10123456789
      Trained (-1)012345678910
      None (-0)1234567891011
      Defender
      Skilled (+2)345678910111213
      Trained (+1)23456789101112
      None (+0)1234567891011
      Defender Skilled (+2)
      Attacker
      Skilled (-2)012345678910
      Trained (-1)1234567891011
      None (-0)23456789101112
      Defender
      Skilled (+2)4567891011121314
      Trained (+1)345678910111213
      None (+0)23456789101112

  6.  After the two rolls, the attacker is now left with a resulting modified Social Disposition. This should now be treated as a Task Difficulty. The attacker and defender then state either to the group or individually if they have a piece of information on the other. If this is so and used, it will augment the TD by 1.
  7. The attacker can now use Persuasion or Deception to help them beat the target number. The attacker cannot use effort to help further augment the difficulty to their favour as this has been replaced with the Social Grapple but the attacker may use other assets.
    • Colour Key
      ColourDefinitionPersuasion/Deception
      Automatic SuccessNo
      Natural RollConditional
      Needs Training or SkilledYes
      Needs Skilled + AssetsYes
      Impossible-

  8. If successful the defender must carry out the desired action or answer truthfully to the questioning by the attacker. If unsuccessful, the defender has an opportunity to change their Social Disposition.

That in a nutshell is how I'm running that addition. It has been play tested but it is still a work in progress so if things go a little awry on the show, this is probably the reason why.

Information Exchange

The information exchange is the second mechanic brought in. It allows the use of information and XP to influence the game.

Information is used as a currency. Each player has 12 pieces of secret information:
  • Real Name
  • Home town/abode
  • Parents
  • Parents profession/s
  • Sibling/s
  • Influential associate
  • Current occupation
  • Current place of work
  • Fear
  • Goal
  • Phobia
  • Blackmailed event
This information is revealed in a number of ways.
  • A PC failing to complete a blackmail task 
  • A PC spending XP
  • Information revealed by audience vote.

XP & Information Exchange table
Info RqXP RQName RqReward
02NoUnnamed Information
04NoNamed Information
04YesKnown Name Information
06YesRequested Information
12NoBlackmail PC
10NoSG Difficulty Reduction
74YesKill PC

Blackmail

Blackmail is a task set for each player at the start of the session. If that player completes the task, they are rewarded but there are consequences if they fail. Players can be blackmailed by the GM, other PCs and the audience. These tasks must push a character out of their comfort zone in ways which may throw them into chaos, danger, misfortune or into a social faux-pas . Players are rewarded with the ability to blackmail when they have gained information that they know is relevant to a specific PC.  

InstigatorSubjectTask StateResult
GM/ AudiencePCSuccess PC gains +2 XP
GM/ AudiencePCFailUnnamed Information about PC revealed next session
Blackmailing PCPCSuccess PC gains +2 XP Blackmailing PC gains nothing
Blackmailing PCBlackmailing PCFail +4 XP OR Non Specific Information about PC

Guilds

Guilds are the second way to use XP. These are currently a work in progress and will develop over time as my players become more interested in this avenue. I will be turning to the audience for relevant rewards.

Each rank will give the players certain static bonuses. These are either automatically applied or can can be activated multiple times by visiting the guild with a specific cool-down on reactivation.

For each rank the players must complete tasks equal to the rank they next wish to attain. To attain Rank 1 they must complete one quest, Rank 2, they must complete two quests ect. When a rank is attained it is also the amount of tasks needed for a player to move down a rank. Each guild is mutually exclusive and if a player completes a task for a different guild, they will loose 1 level of that rank. When that reaches the threshold of the rank they will go move down. 

If a player wishes to stop this from happening, they may spend XP. 4XP will permanently place that player in the rank they are in. A further 4XP can then be expended to gain ranks if they do not wish to complete quests. This process is separate to levelling and to reach rank 10 will require either 40 XP or completing 55 quests. 


Reminder: All of these are currently in testing and are being used live within the actual-play. If things go wrong (which they will undoubtedly will) please remember nothing is finalised and will be subject to retconning.