Something just occurred to me as I reread the Action descriptions in the Quickstart: As it stands, almost every Action is a verb. Which is cool, it makes it easy to grok what they’re about and helps encourage mechanical statements that flow more readily in conversation (e.g. “I Prowl past the guard” vs. “I use Stealth to sneak past the guard.”)
The one exception right now is Mayhem. Which is a great term, don’t get me wrong, but as the one noun in a list of verbs it sticks out to me. Now, maybe I’ve just been watching a little too much Archer lately, but might I humbly suggest, in lieu of “Mayhem,” the Action be called “Rampage?”
“I mayhem through their front lines.” I mean, maybe that’s not proper English, but it’s certainly awesome English. I think John just needs to add a note that in Duskwall, mayhem is a verb.
I dunno, Mayhem seems more like an Effect to me.
“I Rampage through their front lines.”
“Cool, let’s see how much Mayhem you cause.”
I’m too in love with Mayhem, it’s true. I had to leave it in place (at least for now).
Rampage is excellent.
I’m also a fan of Wreck.
Ooh, you know, I think I might like Wreck even better, just for the opportunity to say “I Wreck their shit” and have it mean something mechanically.
Using Mayhem as a replacement for the Force Effect says potentially interesting things about the game and the setting. Like, sure, it still covers charging screaming into a bloody fight, but Mayhem as an effect rating could also cover certain aspects of social engineering, introducing chaos and confusion into a faction’s ranks, and just sheer bloody-minded achievement of your goals no matter what you have to break to do it. I could see the Slide rolling Sway + Mayhem to start a vicious rumor about Bazso Baz or the Hound rolling Discern + Mayhem to get intel out of a Red Sash drug mule by just utterly breaking the poor bastard’s mind.
As a resistance, I could see rolling it to stay cool, focused, keep your eyes on the prize even while things go to hell all around you, tune out distractions, maybe even keep your cool while a friend is tortured right in front of you (or you’re threatened with graphic violence personally).
I dunno, just a thought.
I always love to hear your thoughts, Travis. 🙂
Mayhem is AWESOME, but I do like your observation on Blades verb vernacular Travis. Wicked. My vote is for the archaic: Vitiate 🙂
If you’re going to change it to a verb, I agree that “wreck” is very clear.