I mentioned this at the end of the Feeding rules post, but I'd like to ensure that backgrounds are concrete entities in general. You don't pay XP for them, so there's an expectation that they'll be able to grow or be destroyed. Also they could use some clarity on how they augment things and what they can do when they're not augmenting.
With that in mind, I think backgrounds can have a generic augment difficulty of 7. Between disciplines and abilities. This makes backgrounds useful. Unlike abilities, however, it is somewhat dangerous to be relying on your backgrounds all the time. Retainers are loyal, but if discovered by a rival they can be harassed, incapacitated, imprisoned, or worse. Allies might help you achieve a goal, but they will necessarily know of your actions and may request favors in return. When Resources are thrown around, it is hard to conceal what you are doing. Mentors may not always grant favors, and may also request favors or loyalty in return. Many thanks to J. for arguing with me about some of these a month or two ago. I think it'll make the game better.
Allies - Each dot represents a specific person with a specific area of interest (i.e. influence category). Allies can augment any action within the discipline, or you can use allies to preform a story action so long as one of them has an appropriate story pool. Each dot of Allies also lets you control one additional level of influence beyond the cap of 15.
Contacts - Contacts can act in lieu of an Information type action (Follow, Gauge, Trace, Watch), but cannot be augmented then. Alternately, Contacts can be used to augment an information type action. There should be some drawback but I'm not quite sure what it is.
Domain & Domain Security - Its in the feeding rules. Also your Domain must be assigned to an influence category, and dots of domain count against the influence pool. I might consider an action that lets you convert a level of influence into a level of Domain. Levels of Domain Security might also reduce someone's ability to feed in an influence and count as dice for defense if your influence is attacked.
Herd - Covered in Feeding rules.
Mentor - Your Mentor will only augment a single action, and it usually happens as advice. Also using your mentor often will likely results in the mentor requesting favors.
Influence - Each dot of Influence counts as three levels. You're capped at 15 levels of influence, though Allies and Retainers let you manage more.
Resources - Resources let you add to any action, but you risk losing Concealment or Stealth. Individuals who aren't even watching might notice your actions if you aren't careful.
Retainers - These are each individuals with a specialized set of skills. They can augment any action or preform story-based actions. They can also deliver messages and manage your influence if you are incapacitated or absent. Retainers also add to your maximum amount of influence.
One thing I'm still thinking of is a general scale of how many actions or influence levels it should take to build up your Backgrounds. In theory it shouldn't be as easy to gain a first dot in a background as it is for a fifth dot. Most RPGs would have it be somewhat random anyway, though I could see a Gain Domain action at least where you convert some influence into a dot of Domain. That'd lower your influence, but presumably you could regrow it if there is still any influence left in the pool. The Elite or Trade influences might allow you to do something similar for Resources.
With that in mind, I think backgrounds can have a generic augment difficulty of 7. Between disciplines and abilities. This makes backgrounds useful. Unlike abilities, however, it is somewhat dangerous to be relying on your backgrounds all the time. Retainers are loyal, but if discovered by a rival they can be harassed, incapacitated, imprisoned, or worse. Allies might help you achieve a goal, but they will necessarily know of your actions and may request favors in return. When Resources are thrown around, it is hard to conceal what you are doing. Mentors may not always grant favors, and may also request favors or loyalty in return. Many thanks to J. for arguing with me about some of these a month or two ago. I think it'll make the game better.
Allies - Each dot represents a specific person with a specific area of interest (i.e. influence category). Allies can augment any action within the discipline, or you can use allies to preform a story action so long as one of them has an appropriate story pool. Each dot of Allies also lets you control one additional level of influence beyond the cap of 15.
Contacts - Contacts can act in lieu of an Information type action (Follow, Gauge, Trace, Watch), but cannot be augmented then. Alternately, Contacts can be used to augment an information type action. There should be some drawback but I'm not quite sure what it is.
Domain & Domain Security - Its in the feeding rules. Also your Domain must be assigned to an influence category, and dots of domain count against the influence pool. I might consider an action that lets you convert a level of influence into a level of Domain. Levels of Domain Security might also reduce someone's ability to feed in an influence and count as dice for defense if your influence is attacked.
Herd - Covered in Feeding rules.
Mentor - Your Mentor will only augment a single action, and it usually happens as advice. Also using your mentor often will likely results in the mentor requesting favors.
Influence - Each dot of Influence counts as three levels. You're capped at 15 levels of influence, though Allies and Retainers let you manage more.
Resources - Resources let you add to any action, but you risk losing Concealment or Stealth. Individuals who aren't even watching might notice your actions if you aren't careful.
Retainers - These are each individuals with a specialized set of skills. They can augment any action or preform story-based actions. They can also deliver messages and manage your influence if you are incapacitated or absent. Retainers also add to your maximum amount of influence.
One thing I'm still thinking of is a general scale of how many actions or influence levels it should take to build up your Backgrounds. In theory it shouldn't be as easy to gain a first dot in a background as it is for a fifth dot. Most RPGs would have it be somewhat random anyway, though I could see a Gain Domain action at least where you convert some influence into a dot of Domain. That'd lower your influence, but presumably you could regrow it if there is still any influence left in the pool. The Elite or Trade influences might allow you to do something similar for Resources.
I think part of the drawback for Contacts could be that they're limited by their focus (contacts in the Arian Christian faction might not be able to provide much information about any Pagans) or the information they provide is filtered through their focus (contacts among the Greek merchants provide a very trade/mercantile focused take).
ReplyDeleteFor Resources I'd be tempted to say that using them too often might deplete them or to allow them to be boosted one turn at the cost of a lowered Resource total for two or three subsequent turns (ie a loan)
A though, not necessarily a good one: If you're considering allowing folks to turn influence into domain/resources you could do the same thing with contacts/allies/retainers. You could also look at contacts/allies/retainers as three distinct levels, using influence to gain contacts, turn contacts into allies, and allies into retainers. It make some sense that you would use you influence to meet certain people and could step by step bring them closer into your inner circle.
ReplyDeleteFor contacts I think the drawback is that information actions is all they can do. You can't use them to attack or grow or many story based actions. Compare that to allies who operate on a more quid-pro-quo basis and the trade off may be worth it. Allies obviously can do more but the ongoing cost should be higher.
Nice. I was debating if there should be a general "Convert influence" action maybe, which would let you try to gain more backgrounds through something more than just story actions.
ReplyDeleteI do like the thought that Contacts has a built in limit. I think assigning each dot to a specific group (My contacts represent the Pagan Cult of Kybele the Great Mother, The local Potters, etc.) may also give people some way to interact with your opponents backgrounds. That way your contacts can also be attacked with story actions and such.
I do also like the idea of things like resources maybe taking a temporary hit. Like each successful die can't be used again next turn. I'll have to check with John about how awful this might be to implement in the website.
ReplyDelete