Challenges → Encounters → Actions

Oh my!

It occurred to me today that the demos and playtests I’ve run in the second half of 2024 (technically 7 months, as one took place in May) have provided more substantial fertile ground for improvements to S&P than I ever really foresaw, which has me excited to share my new insights and changes with folks going into 2025!

I built the slides below out of an aim to help clarify the procedural flow of declaring the desire to “do a thing” and what that looks like from start to finish: In the process of that, and

• thinking about criticals (a different post), and

• renaming both the Resolve attribute and the Preternae trait,

it helped me to

1. more tightly establish the difference between interaction, power and attack challenges,

2. decouple power challenges from preternae,

3. make a stronger distinction between Competence (and its related skills), Resolve, and

4. make them relevantly distinct from each other.

“I [want to] <do a thing>”

• What is the thing you [want to] do?

• Why do you [want to] do the thing?

  • What are your goal(s)/objective(s)?

  • What’s at stake?

Nonviolent Challenges (might initiate nonviolent encounter):

• interaction (sensing, learning, communicating);

• power (exerting dominance through words, activity)

Violent Challenges (might initiate violent encounter):

• attack (anything that could inflict injury, either physical or preternae)

Nonviolent challenges will initiate nonviolent encounters; has the possibility to escalate further to violent encounters; you can always de-escalate in the opposite direction.

Violent challenges might initiate violent encounters from the outset, skipping nonviolent encounters altogether; you can always de-escalate in the opposite direction.

“I [want to] <do a thing>”

• What is the thing you [want to] do?

• Why do you [want to] do the thing?

  • What are your goal(s)/objective(s)?

  • What’s at stake?

1. Pick a skill that makes sense with respect to the thing you want to do

2. Roll a # of dice equal to that skill’s rating (that’s called ‘issuing a challenge’)

3. Add the corresponding attribute value (modifying attribute) to the highest die rolled* and compare with opponent

• Optional: Check if you have enhancements that apply

  • * By default

“I [want to] <do a thing> (that’s one of my preternae)”

• What is the thing you [want to] do?

• Why do you [want to] do the thing?

  • What are your goal(s)/objective(s)?

  • What’s at stake?

Depending on the description/application of the preternae you’re using, it might “shakes hands” with one of your skills:

1. Pick a skill that makes sense with respect to the preternae you want to use;

2. Roll a # of dice equal to that skill’s rating (that’s called ‘issuing a challenge’);

3. Add the skill’s paired attribute value (modifying attribute) to the highest die rolled* and compare with opponent

• Optional: Check if you have enhancements that apply

  • * By default