I’m considering a compendium playbook of sorts, offering all players (at least on my players’ cult crew) new special ability options based on cult’s selected deity features. Basically this allows PCs to take on formal priestly or divine abilities not available to normal people.
The following are far from refined, but in the theme of others sharing ideas, here are some possible ideas that emerged from considering the Alluring feature. As I said, very much work in progress, but I’m enjoying the direction it’s headed. What do you think?
Lusts of the Flesh: Gain special armor against the sensual allures of romance and bodily lusts. When you roll a crit while seducing someone with romance or bodily lust, clear 1 stress.
Otherworldly Allure: Choose a gender. Characters who are attracted to that gender tend to find you irresitably alluring potentially improving your position on Mask rolls involving seduction. You may use your exposed body as a fine item for related effect and resistance rolls.
Spectral Touch: Your allure is no longer skin-deep, but crosses barriers between living and dead, mortal and immortal, or corporeal and ethereal. You are able to interact physically with the forms of willing spirits and supernatural beings as if they had normal, tangible human bodies (without the aid of electroplasm). This ability does not extend to weapons or gear you possess. You may attune to interact with unwilling beings as if they had normal human bodies.
Demands of Love: When you ask one of the following of someone who has fallen in love with you exclusively, your lover will trust you and do his or her best to comply. When there is risk in your requested task, roll Attune, Command, or a Mask action to determine the outcome or danger to your lover.
– Bring you something they possess (like acquiring an asset without using Supply)
– Kill or harm a competitor for your love or affection
– Develop a taste for something unsavory or unnatural
– Pursue an action that kills your lover
Flesh-forger: You may slowly alter your form by spending stress. A minimum of 1 stress alters your existing features to be unrecognizable.
+1 stress to alter size or body composition (including gender).
+2 to represent a specific person or intricate features that you have studied.
+2 to also alter the appearance of your worn clothing and gear (they still function according to their original form).
+1 stress to achieve any alterations immediately.
Heartstrings: When you make skin contact with someone for long enough, you sense his or her secrets. Reveal one of the following:
– Their vice of choice
– one of their most immediate lusts or infatuations
– one of their lowest moments
– one of their greatest achievements
– one of their deepest desires
– one of their greatest fears
First, generally, these look awesome! Great work.
Now some specific feedback. I’ve provide a possible re-writes of the moves and some reasons why. Please feel free to ignore. I’ve been doing ALOT of this recently and couldn’t help but take a crack at these.
Lusts of the Flesh Armor against seduction could very easily be rolled into The Slide’s armor vs. persuasion. Matter of taste really, but this move might prove too narrow in scope.
Otherworldly Allure I wouldn’t limit this by gender. I’d just say :
You are strangely, irresistibly, alluring. Describe how. You may use your exposed body as a fine item for related effect and resistance rolls.
Spectral Touch:
Your allure is no bound to the realm of the flesh, but crosses barriers between living and dead, mortal and immortal, or corporeal and ethereal. You can attune to touch the forms of willing spirits and supernatural beings as if they had normal, tangible human bodies.
I think it’s okay to let players use this to extend to their gear. There’s lots of great fallout and devil’s bargains you can use as a GM to “Balance” that.
Demands of Love This one is hard. It seems you’re reaching for a move that let’s you allow an NPC lover to use your stats and take the fallout.
If that’s the case perhaps something like this:
When you ask someone who’s heart is yours to preform a task for you, they will. Use your action scores to determine the outcome.
This is an interesting idea. You’ve essentially co-opted an NPC into being an extension of your character. I’m not sure I like that, but I’m not sure I don’t…
Flesh Forger One of the things I’ve been experimenting with is using lasting effects as a cost for extremely powerful moves instead of just stress. They provide a fun bit of fiction.
When you spend uninterrupted time you may shape shape your body to meet your whim (alter your appearance, gender, size, etc) Take a lasting effect Warped with segments equal to the magnitude of the effect (2-6) based on time required, permanence, completeness of the effect, and pain you’re willing to endure.
Heartstrings None of the other moves use lists like this but, coming from the *World games I totally understand the desire to use them. The compromise I’ve made with myself is using 3 examples with an “etc” so people know that they’re not constrained to only the list.
That aside, what you’re shooting for here is +1d on gather information, right?
When you make skin contact with someone for long enough, you sense their deepest secrets, greats hopes, hidden fears, etc. +1d when you gather information this way.
Thanks Dylan Green! That’s exactly the kind of feedback I am hoping for. Brevity is not my strong suit in these sorts of things. I love the idea of a lasting condition as a cost, like in your version of Flesh Forger. That’s great new tech for the game from existing materials.
For most, I was trying not to assume rolls were necessary for the fictional events to occur.
For example, on the last one about learning secrets, I guess I hadn’t thought of it as Gathering Information exactly, but either making bribery/allure easier by offering what someone wants (minor NPCs), or fueling character development and perhaps drama in the game by giving manipulate-able depth to more important NPCs.
For the one about getting a love to do stuff for you, I was less thinking they were an extension of your PC, and more that your influence over them (Command/Sway/Attune if a roll is needed) fueled their capacity to do things you normally can’t with those actions or with your spheres of influence.
Andrew Shields any further flavorful fiction-first ideas for Allure-related special ability options for devotee cultists of an alluring deity? I’m having fun thinking of the Xp segment triggers for unlocking these similar to your awesome sinister unlock options..
Let’s see! First, I think overall this is a horrible and manipulative area to delve into, and it could cause great discomfort to people at the table. Hate is easier than its twin face love, and when you meddle with hearts, there is little that is more invasive. But, if you have a grown-up group that wants to dig into the all-too-familiar horrors of twisted love, here’s some ideas.
For “Lusts of the Flesh” I’d go straight-up immunity to (non-supernatural, just to keep it interesting) seduction, also with the stress clearing.
“Otherworldly Allure” is great except I’d drop the gender. I really like “Spectral Touch.”
For “Demands of Love” I’d come at it from another direction. Instead of saying it works on someone who already loves you exclusively (SO open to interpretation) I’d make it a supernatural effect to MAKE someone love you completely. Default to a 6 segment clock, and when it is full they are full-on infatuated crush mode to the point of pushing away others they used to care about and doing anything you say. Treat them as a gang, if sending them on a mission, but allow various other stats to roll for commanding them. Mundane influences can push-pull the clock when seducing them, but once they are yours, only supernatural influences can open the push-pull clock back up.
What powers would I add? These are all activated by some combination of looking in the target’s eyes, touching the target, and whispering names.
Jilt: Spend 1 stress. The target will feel rejected by the thing the target values most, for 24 hours, no matter what assurances are made to the contrary. Prepared or strong-minded targets may attempt to resist, requiring a Sway roll to overcome their resistance.
Lover’s Mask: The target will see what they value most in a lover when they look at the target, whether it is there or not. Sex with the target breaks the spell.
Warm Approval: Overcome a clock to temporarily warp the target’s needs, using appropriate actions and effects. Once successful, the target feels a desperate need for your approval. This lasts for about a week.
What would be the playbook-style actions to gain favor? They must provoke or provide the following:
* Heartbreak. Utter desolation.
* Delirious infatuation.
* Uneven sexual encounter, the more imbalanced the power the better.
* A moment of perfect happiness, sexual melding in utter bliss.
* A work of art that instills deep feelings related to desire.
* Introduce a new obsession into the world.
Invert: The magnitude of a feeling does not change, but it reverses. Love becomes hate, desire becomes revulsion, and vice versa. This lasts until the target sleeps. You cannot choose which of the target’s passions will be affected.
Pipe Dream: In the act of offering the target what the target wants most, gain a glimpse into what that may be, in an illusion both you and the target (but only you and the target) can see. The target can resist, providing a clock to overcome. If the target resists, the target feels an aching loss; this can be 1 stress per 2 clock segments of resistance, a lasting effect with 1 segment per 2 segments of resistance, or for NPCs a painful sorrow.
Mood Swing: Infect the target with either the delirium of a crush, or the malaise of a bad breakup. This lasts until the target sleeps. Tough-minded or resisting targets can provide a clock of resistance.
(For the “Introduce a new obsession” goal, that means someone is now obsessed over something they were not obsessed about before. It doesn’t have to be an obsession no one has ever had.)
Excellent.
As a down time complication, I’d add that an empowered character would be vulnerable to a dream that instructs the character to create a romance where none exists, correct or destroy one that is faltering, or destroy a strong romance. A specific one is called out. The character need not understand why, just needs to be obedient and get busy with meddling. =)
It could be intriguing to come up with 6 things that the god could demand of an empowered follower during down time, so if an appropriate complication came up you could roll to see. That would further the mysterious agendas of the divine intruding on play and inspiring scores.
Perhaps play devotion like VIce, fictionally pursuing the demands/desires of the deity, rolled for free during downtime (or just as a project). Success grants favor/empowerment for the next score, but failure brings obligation. In that sense, it’d be like economic rolls for hardholders/hocuses in Apocalypse World.
Adam Minnie To clear stress, and also to pursue the god’s whims. I like it. In fact, you could even say that if the character accepts down time projects, then that grants +1 effect level, like spending coin, when the project is done.