In the game I’m currently playing we’re a cult, and the cult leader wants to do that typical cult leader thing where you tell someone their secrets and then they think you are magic and join your cult. Except she wants it to be actual magic and not just having your underlings spy on people. So we brainstormed the skeleton of a special ability and I’ve got the responsibility of writing up a finished version so she can take it next time she gets a playbook advance.
Here’s what I’ve got so far, thought I’d post it here for y’all to look at. If you have any thoughts about it, let me know!
Eyes of a God, Voice of a Prophet
You can look past a person’s flesh and stare into their soul, divining some secret details that will frighten or impress them when your knowledge is revealed. Take 2 stress when you do this, plus 1 stress for each extra feature: their reaction lasts for hours or even days instead of mere moments—you divine secrets to provoke a different reaction (such as joy or sorrow)—you frighten or impress and entire crown, instead of just one person.
(I was also thinking maybe you could determine what sort of secrets were revealed, instead of picking a different emotion. Like, if you have some idea of something that a person is hiding, you could say that gets revealed. Learning secrets isn’t the primary focus of the ability though, it’s just a bonus and the point is to impress or frighten them so they become more susceptible to influence.)
Not bad, if a little verbose.
My suggestion would be to reduce the up front stress cost and attach it to an action (like study) or imply that it will require an action. That way if the character wants to look into the soul of a powerful demon or the emperor or a skilled whisper you have the option of throwing interesting consequences their way. As it is, if it becomes dangerous they’ve already invested three stress or so AND they are looking at a potential resistance roll
The structure of the move looks fine to me. It works like Ghost Veil, you trigger it to open up the fictional situation and what action you can take against a difficult or impossible obstacle. Not being tied to a particular action is a feature, though certain actions will naturally complement it.
I can see how making it stressful to provoke a different emotion says something cool about being a cult leader. But not sure it’ll be worth the price. I think I’d give them a choice of reaction when they pick the move, to reflect the kind of cult leader they are, but that’s it they’re locked in.
Instead, what about focusing your hidden secret idea on deepening the emotional connection, rather than swapping it. Like “you divine secrets to hook their interest as well as their attention, but just short of how to make them believe in you”. So something following the con idea, where you first must get their attention, then interest, then confidence you offer something real, and finally their decision to commit. This seems like it might align with the cult recruitment idea.
I might change the third feature – 1 stress to affect a crowd might get out of hand. Could this maybe lean on the ritual rules and therefore incur a stress cost based on the size of the crowd being affected? I don’t have the magnitude table handy, but I know John broke down numbers of groups of people into magnitude tiers too.
The point of the ability (for this player) is to divorce this power from the die rolls entirely. Just spend stress and a thing happens. But it’s not a ritual because rituals require a downtime action to perform. Like Ghost Veil, it’s the kind of thing you generally end up using once per score if at all, plus it’s kind of an “opening move” that requires follow-through, but yeah it’s possible 1 stress for a crowd might be too cheap. And I think maybe it’s good if she gets pwned for using this on a demon if the rest of the cult doesn’t step in to help out? (my character’s already started irresponsibly channelling our goddess through his body, so he would). I think I want to see how that stuff shakes out in play. Maybe “small crowd” as a qualifier?
Here’s me trying to tighten it up a bit:
Eyes of a God, Voice of a Prophet
You can look past the flesh and stare into a person’s soul, divining some secret details that will shock them when your knowledge is revealed. Take 2 stress when you do this, plus 1 stress for each extra feature: the answer to one question you ask of your target is also revealed—they remain emotionally vulnerable for hours or even days, instead of mere moments—you shock a small crowd, instead of just one person.
Yeah, I think I understand the point of the ability – I was just waving at the ritual rules as a possible touchstone for costing stuff!
I think that if “small gang” is good enough for the Cutter’s Not to be Trifled With, “small crowd” is good enough here.
One other point: the description of what you get without spending extra stress is a little indistinct. Could it be phrased more directly? “You can push yourself to look past the flesh and stare into a person’s soul, learning of a hidden vulnerability or shocking secret. Take 1 stress for each extra feature: …”
This changes the effect of the ability slightly, but knowing one of those things is likely to “shock them when your knowledge is revealed” regardless. The way it’s phrased implies that you must also use that knowledge, there and then, to shock the person – is that something you would want to make more obvious?
Yeah, that’s a thing I was kind of struggling with in the writing. Like, I think it would be fine if the secrets are revealed (to everyone) at the exact moment she speaks them aloud, but I struggled to find a way to word that. Take 2 stress to reveal aloud secret details about a person that will shock them? To speak someone’s secrets to them and shock them? It’s so awkward. Also, “you can divine someone’s secrets, take 2 stress to reveal them” sort of implies the first part is free, when it’s not.
I also like that maybe finding some juicy secret is a backup benefit, because an emotional reaction is kind of wishy-washy mechanically, and depends on the GM playing the NPC.
This is difficult! Here’s another stab at it:
You can push yourself to surrender to disturbing insight into a person’s soul, speaking aloud a hidden vulnerability or shocking secret. Take 1 stress for each extra feature: they immediately answer one question aloud, honestly — they remain emotionally vulnerable for hours or even days, instead of mere moments — you shock a small crowd, instead of just your target.
Hopefully “hidden vulnerability or shocking secret” conveys that the thing you’re saying is something that you don’t otherwise know, but that’s still not explicit.
Hmm, yeah I like the “surrender yourself” part, that maybe holds it all together.