Neo Shinobi Vendetta: Fate Pre-Gens

I ran two sessions of my anime-ninja-sci fi mash up Neo Shinobi Vendetta online last month. That’s the game I talk about on this week’s Gauntlet Roundup podcast episode. We had a great conversation and I recommend listening to it. I discuss the purpose of the setting, shifting tone in play, and the challenges of action in a story environment. Plus sweet ninjas chopping off heads.

I’ve posted NSV material before. I have entries covering the overall setting as well as a shorter version. I also wrote up the game’s shinobi powers. Originally I wrote NSV for Action Cards, our Fate-influenced homebrew. I’ve run it that way f2f and a half dozen times at Origins and Gen Con. Because I hadn’t yet worked out cards in Roll20, I went with Fate Core for our Gauntlet sessions. If you compare the AC and Fate versions, you’ll see how easy conversion is. You can find the AP videos here and here. 

Our characters have sixteen skills, some powers, and a few stunts. It’s a larger pool of options than standard Fate, so it’s probably closer to Atomic Robo in power level. Each character has a "corruption"-- some of these trigger if they roll ++++ or ----. Others give a cost. I decoupled the stunt/refresh connection in making these characters; they’re crafted particularly for one-shots+. I also opted to go with a stress pool rather than check boxes. That’s purely about keeping things simple and easy to teach online.

CONCEPT Master of Guile 

TROUBLE Don't Stop Deceiving 

REFRESH 1                        STRESS 13

SKILLS

AIM +3                                 PHYSIQUE ---

ATHLETICS +2                    SCIENCE ---

DECEPTION +4                   SOCIETY +3

DEXTERITY +5                    STEALTH +2

FIGHT +3                             TECHNOLOGY +1

INVESTIGATE +2                UNDERWORLD +4

KNOWLEDGE +1                WILL +1

STUNTS & POWERS

• Compensation (Memetic Base): You may use Deception for Fight tests.  
• Hijack (Ghost Set): You can see through the vision of others. Distance and barriers determine the difficulty of the test required.  
• Mirrors (Wizard Set): You can generate a host of duplicates by spending 2 stress. These can distract, help evasion, or other effects. They wear out quickly.  
• Spider (Wizard Set): You can cling to walls and other surfaces with perfect control as if walking normally on the ground. This includes ceilings, sides of moving cars, and even sword blades. This does not give perfect balance and you can be knocked down or off.  
• Always a Way Out: +2 on checks made to create an advantage whenever you’re trying to escape from a location.  
• Clever Disguise: You may assume disguises as an action. Your skill and technology allow you to resist scrutiny where it might otherwise fail.  
• Memetic Overlay Corruption: atavistic reactions, possession, reversion of other states, or disorientation.

CONCEPT Voice of the Nano-Kami 

TROUBLE Echoes in My Head 

REFRESH 2                        STRESS 12

SKILLS

AIM +4                                 PHYSIQUE ---

ATHLETICS +1                    SCIENCE +3

DECEPTION +3                   SOCIETY +1

DEXTERITY +2                    STEALTH +2

FIGHT +2                             TECHNOLOGY +4

INVESTIGATE +3                 UNDERWORLD +1

KNOWLEDGE +5                 WILL ---

STUNTS & POWERS

• Disintegration (Nanoswarm Base): You can deal stress to hardened structures: walls, structural supports, vehicles. This can be used for an attack or to set up other effects.  
• Flight (Nanoswarm Base): Spend 2 stress to become capable of flight for a scene. Pick two when you fly: Agile, Fast, Carry Others, Hi-Attitude, Long Distance, or Super Silent.  
• Rebuilder (Nanoswarm Base): You can reshape existing material into new forms, duplicate objects, or even create a new item. States and types of matter can be changed.  
• Subdual (Invoker Set): You can declare any attack nonlethal. Additionally as an action you can put to sleep any grouped noncombatants or bystanders.  
• Data Surveyor: You have an acute eye for accounts. You can easily pick out patterns and problems in a fraction of the normal time. You're also an expert at using bits and pieces to track people. You can test to locate someone at a particular time or guess behavior based on the past and get quick results.  
• Fast Friend: On entering a new social situation (party, meeting) you may spend a fate point to rapidly make a good friend or contact.  
• Nanoswarm Corruption: collateral stress, brief independence, misread commands, or even visible scarring and marks.  

CONCEPT Lumbering Mountain of Poison 

TROUBLE Painless

REFRESH 2                        STRESS 12

SKILLS

AIM ---                                 PHYSIQUE +4

ATHLETICS +2                   SCIENCE +5

DECEPTION +2                  SOCIETY +1

DEXTERITY ---                   STEALTH +2

FIGHT +3                            TECHNOLOGY +3

INVESTIGATE +4               UNDERWORLD +1

KNOWLEDGE +3               WILL +1

STUNTS & POWERS

• Armor of God (Demon Set): You add +2 physical stress for each condition taken.  
• Body Shaping (Genocolony Base): You can reshape your body. Extend limbs, grow bigger, shrink to half size, perform contortions, or slip into tight gaps or containers  
• Reweaver (Genocolony Base): You may also take an additional 4 point condition.  
• Bend Bars/Lift Gates: You may spend a fate point to perform an absurd lift, pull, or other feat of strength.  
• Mad Science: You may use Science tests to do a major attack or effect if you have access to materials. You mix chemicals, rewire systems, etc. quickly. Limit 1 crazy plan per scene.  
• Retag: When being individually hunted or pursued, you can spend a fate point to re-center the hunt on another target you come into contact with. This creates an additional obstacle for your pursuers.  
• Genocolony Corruption: DNA absorption, rampant consumption, bizarre growths, and uncontrolled tentacles and the like.  

CONCEPT Whispers of the Coiled Serpent 

TROUBLE Some Call it Cowardice 

REFRESH 2                        STRESS 13

SKILLS

AIM +5                                 PHYSIQUE ---

ATHLETICS +1                    SCIENCE +1

DECEPTION +3                  SOCIETY +2

DEXTERITY +1                   STEALTH +4

FIGHT +3                             TECHNOLOGY ---

INVESTIGATE +2                UNDERWORLD +2

KNOWLEDGE +3                WILL +4

STUNTS & POWERS

• Deathcloud (Sorcerer Set): You may perform an electrical attack hitting a tight group. This targets everyone close by. Add +1 stress per target and divided it evenly among the targets.  
• Id Insinuation (Psychic Base): You may slightly cloud the minds of targets in an area within sight for effect. You can also spend a fate point to edit short term memories on a target.  
• Savior (Saint Set): You may heal an ally in combat as an action. Roll against a difficulty of 0. By spending a fate point you may affect two targets.  
• Alarmist: You have an instinct for avoiding traps, sensors, and alarms. You gain +2 to checks to spot and circumvent them.  
• Precise: You can hit absurdly small and precise targets with ranged attack. If you need to roll, reduce the difficulties for size and environment,
• Wicked Edge: You do +2 stress using Fight.    
• Psychic Drawback: You do not suffer corruption, but using talents takes a toll on your body. Each use costs stress to activate. Pay for ongoing talents when first turning them on. This stress cannot be healed via other effect in combat, but does heal naturally with rest.  

CONCEPT Meticulous Planner

TROUBLE Mercy for the Innocent

REFRESH 2                        STRESS 12

SKILLS

AIM +2                                 PHYSIQUE +1

ATHLETICS +4                    SCIENCE ---

DECEPTION ---                   SOCIETY +2

DEXTERITY +4                    STEALTH +5

FIGHT +3                             TECHNOLOGY +3

INVESTIGATE +3                UNDERWORLD +2

KNOWLEDGE ---                WILL +1

STUNTS & POWERS  

• Hurdle (Dragon Set): Shinobi can ordinarily make high jumps and leaps, at least twice normal distance. When you use this power, you may make insane leaps and jumps.  
• Lull (Chimera Set): By concentrating you can create an area nearby that, when scanned, causes most devices to read most common & expected results.  
• Soul Sense (Chi Field Base): You sense lifeforms in a short radius, even through barriers. You may tag targets (up to 3). You know direction of tagged targets and do +2 stress to them.  
• Cleaner: You’re an expert at removing evidence from a scene. You gain a +2 to all tests for this. You can also clean a scene after the fact.  
• From the Darkness: You do +2 stress when attacking a surprised opponent.  
• Scoundrel’s Reflexes: You may make a stealth check to hide yourself even when surprised, without penalty.  
• Chi Field Drawback: You do not suffer corruption, but using talents takes a toll on your body. Each use costs stress to activate. Pay for ongoing talents when first turning them on. This stress cannot be healed via other effect in combat, but does heal naturally with rest.   

CONCEPT Body of Metal 

TROUBLE More Machine than Human 

REFRESH 2                        STRESS 12

SKILLS

AIM +1                                 PHYSIQUE +1

ATHLETICS +3                    SCIENCE +4

DECEPTION +3                  SOCIETY ---

DEXTERITY +2                   STEALTH +3

FIGHT +4                             TECHNOLOGY +5

INVESTIGATE +2                UNDERWORLD ---

KNOWLEDGE +2                WILL +1

STUNTS & POWERS  

• Instinct (Serpent Set): When struck in melee, you do 1 stress back to your attacker.  
• Sensory Array (Cybernetics base): You can see in absolute darkness, aware 360 degrees, perceive microscopically & telescopically, and are protected from blinding/deafening.  
• SubDermal Plating (Cybernetics Base): Reduce any physical stress done to you by 2.  
• Sinuous (Serpent Base): You do +2 stress in grapples. If you've grappled a target, they take the first 2  stress done to you outside of the grapple. 
• Grappler: +2 to tests made to create advantages on an enemy by wrestling or grappling with them.  
• Mastercrafted: Twice per session you can reroll a result if you explain how your personalized advanced equipment helped you out.  
• Cybernetics Drawback: The most obvious source of powers; can only be concealed with difficulty. While you do not suffer corruption, your implants render you vulnerable to humanity-based effects. Take +2 stress from mental or psychological attacks. 

If you have any questions, hit me up.  

Action Cards: What the What?

I'm finishing up prep and printing for my two Origins Games on Demand options. Both use Action Cards, the game I'm most comfortable with. I've talked about that homebrew before; it's what I've used for most long-term campaigns in the last decade and a half. You can see a brief overview of it here, though some details have changed. I've been working on a full, complete version of the rules and I'm about 95% done with the rough text. I drew this post from that to act as a companion piece to the overview. I discuss the basics, how Fate fits with AC, and where it came from.

WHAT IS ACTION CARDS?

Action Cards is an rpg using individual character decks as a randomizer. Each deck is tailored to a particular character and contains with several unique cards. When you test for an action, you draw a card and check the results. Most cards have results across four categories, while others have special effects, offer choices, or allow you to narrate the results. Your decks can be marked up, modified, or gain new cards over the course of a campaign. It acts as unique dice for your character. It evolves and changes with play.

WHAT DO PLAYERS HAVE BESIDES DECKS?

You have a character sheet to record skills, damage, aspects, and special abilities. Depending on how the GM sets things, this sheet can be minimal. You’ll also have tokens for fate points to spend and possibly dice for damage (depending on the options).

Action cards has two ways to create characters: standard and draft.

CHARACTER CREATION: STANDARD

In basic character creation you get a deck twenty-four card deck. Six have results pre-written in in the four areas, common to all decks: Social, Physical, Combat, and Mental. Eight have blank results. You distribute ratings among these: Catastrophic, Bad, Just Missed, OK, Great, and Amazing. How many depends on the campaign. Next you have six special cards all decks share. Finally each deck has four blank cards. You’ll create unique cards for your character- one all-around positive, two mixed, and one bad. After assigning results to your deck, you’ll pick skills and stunts based on the setting.

CHARACTER CREATION: DRAFT

For one shots or short campaigns, you can draft your decks. Everyone begins with a set of common result and special cards. You then draft additional result cards. In this process, you try to grab the best results for your character’s focus. You also draft two good and one bad unique cards to fill out you deck. Draft decks will usually be tailored to the genre and setting, with different effects and card titles. As above you finish out character creation by picking skills and stunts.

HOW DO YOU PLAY?

When making a test, the GM tells you the result needed to succeed and what kind of draw to make (i.e. a Great Physical pull). You draw and check if you’re happy with the result. If not you have the option to repull by using a relevant skill or invoking an aspect with a fate point. Alternately you can invoke that aspect to raise the result by one degree. You can use various means to redraw up to twice, but have to go with your final draw.

You usually reshuffle your deck after every couple of scenes and after every three rounds in combat. GMs can also call for a reshuffle if decks are getting low. You can spend a fate point to reshuffle at any time. The GM reshuffles their deck more frequently.

Many cards have catches or dramatic options on them. Unique cards may require you figure out how your action fits with the fiction. You always have the opportunity to control this narration, but the GM can also take it over if you get stuck.

WHAT DOES THE GM DO?

When running an active opposition- mooks, bad guys, monsters, etc- the GM uses their own 32-card deck. It contains several unique cards, but mostly result cards broken into four categories representing quality: Average, Trained, Skilled, and Elite. NPCs fit overall in one of these categories. They’re further tuned with Skills (redraws), Qualities (+1 to the result for something specific), Aspects, and Stunts.

OPTIONS

Action Cards works as toolkit. In a few places the GM or group decide how you’re going to handle things at the table (skills, damage). There’s a strong core, but plenty of ways to tweak what’s here. We’ve used variations for different kinds of campaigns. Small tweaks- like increasing to decreasing the time between reshuffles- can dramatically impact the tension.

WHAT HAVE WE USED THIS FOR?

We’ve used Action Cards for many different long running campaigns: a fantasy riff on Battlestar Galactica (The Last Fleet); multi-dimensional problem-solving (Ocean City Interface); steampunk fantasy school (Libri Vidicos); Cyber-Ninjas (Neo Shinobi Vendetta); dogfighting pilots (Sky Racers Unlimited); and standard fantasy (Sellsword Company, Masks of the Empire, Guards of Abashan, Relic Hunters) among others. We’ve adapted it other settings including Fallout, Glorantha, Legend of the Five Rings, Changeling the Lost, HALO, My Little Pony, and Star Wars. It’s also worked for one-shots from capers to superheroes sessions

WHAT THE WHAT?

Reading-- but not getting to play-- two games influenced me to put together Action Cards: Lace & Steel and Castle Falkenstein. The former has a card-driven dueling & repartee system. The latter uses playing cards for resolution. I’d also tried an early attempt at a CCG rpg, DragonStorm but the group didn’t like it. In the background I had my dissatisfaction with Rolemaster, Champions, GURPS, and my various homebrews, all of which I was still running. When I finally sat down to write up the game, I knew I wanted a few things:

• Players would have their own decks. They’d be mostly the same, but have unique elements. We wouldn’t work from a shared deck.
• They would be able to mark up, draw on, and change their cards. It would be yours and reflect both you and your character.
• We’d keep the resolution simple, with basic success levels.
• It would move fast and part of the fun would be in making choices based on card-counting.

Those elements have remained true throughout the various versions. We’ve bolted a ton of extra modules to Action Cards: action points & countdown initiative, combat styles, traits with global bumps, hit locations, weird deck manipulation, additional factors like mana on cards, wound levels, and more. And we’ve jettisoned those over time. Usually the changes have been to simplify elements. Some have added granularity (like our Damage options).

ORIGIN STORIES

We started playing Action Cards in 1999, beginning with a swashbuckler mini-campaign done for a friend’s group, and then two modern urban fantasy campaigns. From there I kept refining, tuning, and changing the game to fit many different campaigns. In 2011-2012 I tried to play around with Strands of Fate. I’d read Spirit of the Century & Diaspora but I couldn’t figure them out. I missed something. But Strands, a game I ultimately didn’t like, finally gave me insight into Aspects. That idea fit with many things I’d been trying to do with Action Cards and took over for a whole range of messy mechanics. Eventually I brought over other elements: action types to establish a clear language, stress & consequences, a set skill list, and stunts as an organization system for feat-like things.

Why play Action Cards?

…if you like the idea of a card-based rpg.

…if you dig the concept of marking up cards Legacy-style.

…if you like Fate but hate the dice.

…if you’re intrigued by the thought of card-counting and push-your-luck in an rpg.

…if you want toolkit relatively easy to tweak to various genres.

…if you like goofing with new systems.

The beta version I'm finishing up is intended to get the basics down in one place for Action Cards after years of play and multiple iterations. I've added options throughout the book. It is a toolkit. All of that with terrible layout and minimal art! So far I’ve only included a few of the campaign frames, enough to give you a feel for how they operate. They’re also the ones I have draft deck versions available for. A full version will have more. Even more importantly the next version will include a discussion of how to adapt the idea of Action Cards to a more conventional Fate game. I hope that will serve the additional audiences of GMs who like reading new setting material and people who really dig Fate but want to tweak it.

WHAT’S FATE HERE?

• Aspects: We embrace this idea. Characters have aspects and the players can use these to define actions, environments, and many other elements. You can invoke aspects for a bonus to a test or to add and element or effect to the fiction.
• Fate Points: In game also gives PCs fate points which they can use invoke aspects, power certain stunts, and a few other tricks. The GM have a pool to use for adversaries within a scene. A character’s fate points reset to their “refresh” at the beginning of most sessions. In play, characters can gain fate points by accepting complications and compels, often based on their trouble aspect.
• Skills: As in Fate, skills define a character’s expertise. Different Action Cards frames will have different skill lists, but generally aim for about 20-24 skills to cover the genre.
• Stunts: We call special powers and abilities stunts and generally follow Fate’s pattern for these. They’re listed under affiliated skills.
• Action Types: We use Fate’s four basic actions (Create Advantage, Overcome, Attack, and Defend). We add a fifth, Discover, which can be seen as a tweak of Create Advantage.
• Success Ladder: Like Fate, we use descriptor words for success and failure levels. Action Cards actually invests more heavily in that, skipping most numbers in favor of descriptors.
• General Approach: Action Cards shares Fate’s general approach: collaborative creation, success with costs, looser conflict resolution.

You’ll see other bits and pieces as well. We draw from the Fate SRD so several major concepts.

WHAT’S NOT FATE HERE?

• Cards: That’s pretty obvious. There’s the Deck of Fate, but Action Cards operates differently with each player using a unique and tuned deck. The cards act as an individual randomizer. It also varies from many other card-driven games in that there’s no hand-management.
• Card Counting: You don’t reshuffle after every draw. Let’s say there’s a “Moment of Glory” card still in the deck. You got a decent result, but could do better. Do you use a skill to keep drawing? This might seem like a meta-distraction but it adds tension and choice in play.
• General Attributes: While it doesn’t exactly function the same way, the results for the four areas (Combat, Social, Physical, Mental) can be imagined as conventional “stats” from other games. That’s complicated by the presence of other cards in the deck, but you can picture it that way.
• Skills: Fate Core focuses on skills. They shape and define a character’s abilities. All tasks fall back to these. In Action Cards skills become more a bump or add-on. Skills allow redraws from the raw results of the cards.
• Loose Skills: In Fate a skill has a solid definition of what you use it for. For example, you buy a stunt to use a skill in a new context. Action Cards operates more loosely: if you can justify it, you can use it. We do have parallel stunts which allow you to draw another category for an action type, i.e. Mental for Defenses.
• Decoupling Refresh and Stunts: Fate points aren’t connected to stunt limits. We use other mechanics to control these. Generally it means characters will have more stunts and can even choose to focus on that over skills or developing their deck.
• Granular Advancement: The system doesn’t use milestones. Instead players spend experience to buy things. WAIT! DON’T RUN AWAY. It has worked for us. Players buy up results on their cards, write in “edges,” purchase skills, acquire new stunts & powers, add new cards to their deck. That supports one of the most important parts of this game…
• Ownership: Players mark up and own their deck. They cross out, erase, and scribble on these cards. It might sound odd, but our players have dug this- even more than doodling on their character sheet. Edges, result buy-ups, and unique cards all make a deck feel like your character. You learn and appreciate other player’s decks over time. You can add different color inks, stickers, and card sleeves to this. If you’re doing a Print-and-Play version, you can tailor the cards even further.
• Stress & Condition Cards: Action Cards uses a granular stress system. Boxes on a stress track are one-for-one. Rather than consequences, players can reduce damage taken via condition cards. These go into your deck and clog it up.
• Damage: Rather than margin of success for damage, Action Cards offers two options. The first uses the cards themselves and the second requires dice. Both offer more granularity. Using dice for damage seems weird, and my only justification for offering this is that players like rolling damage.

So that's the basics. I hope to have a "beta" document (plus deck files) up on DriveThru in the next couple of months (before Gen Con I hope). I'm not under any illusions this is the greatest rpg out there. But it is the system I've tuned to my GMing style. At the same time, I've seen other GMs successfully tweak it to their approach. I want to put together a version for interested gamers which they can run or borrow ideas from for their own games.

Experience: Keys, Aspects, Fate, and Otherwise

DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A PC?

Note: all of this is very rough twiddling…moreso than usual.

In an earlier post I talked about advancement systems. There and in the related Play on Target episode, I mentioned my preference for point-buy development systems. They don’t have to be that complicated. The incremental advances from 13th Age feel like point-buy to me. Fairly regularly you get an incremental advance to spend and have choices about what to buy. When we played Rolemaster we switched to development points instead of experience. It’s been a regular part of my gaming from Champions to James Bond 007 to GURPS to Storyteller. Our homebrew, Action Cards, has always used points (XP or Eeps). Even when I adapted Fate elements over to it, I stuck with that rather than Milestones.

I’ve kept my approach static over multiple Action Cards campaigns. The advancement costs changed, but little else. That’s despite having played in another GM’s AC:Fallout game where he crafted an entirely new system. At the end of sessions he dealt out Experience Cards which we drafted. They included raises to spend, access to new perks, and one-shot power cards. I never followed up on that, boringly keeping the same mechanics with equal points doled out to each player.

I’ve tuned Action Cards so a typical session awards 3-5 points. We hit the low end if we didn’t accomplish that much or have interesting interactions. I gave out more if the plot advanced or we had some dynamite scenes everyone engaged in. I hand out equal amounts to everyone at the table. I don’t give bonus experience to particular players. But now I wonder if that’s the right way to go. It's fair, but is it encouraging fun play. I skip bonuses and player-by-player xp because I think it doesn’t encourage anything special and runs the risk of feeling unfair.

POINT TO POINTS?

But what if the system actually did something? At first glance it looks like Fate Core’s milestones do that, but they actually don’t. They encourage moving the story forward, but it’s the whole story for everyone and everyone gets the same advance. You could make an interesting variation with individual character milestones set by the players. Combine these with incremental advances. Right now aspects pushing toward playing "in character." Could we have other means to support this?

I don't want to go too high-level, game-designer-y with my thinking here. I want a system, point-based, where I can dole out a few shared points. Then players can earn some more, ideally in ways they’ve chosen for their characters. Some PbtA games do this: trading X points for an advance. The table gets points based on what happens in the session (“1 point for making progress towards the Big Bad.”). But individual players can gain points in other ways, often taking one for any 6- fail. That’s cool, giving the feel of a learning experience. Can we tailor that for individual characters?

Keys offer one approach. I have to credit Rich Rogers for pointing me to this. They come originally out of The Shadow of Yesterday. They’ve been used more recently with Lady Blackbird. Each key offers a flaw, drive, or behavior tic for the character. They gain points for “hitting” those keys. In Lady Blackbird that creates an active economy. When you hit a key you get points which can be immediately turned into dice for tests or saved to gain new abilities. Lady Blackbird’s aimed at short-run, but the system’s robust enough for several sessions of play. When I went to put together a basic key list, I drew from both of those as well as various LB hacks I found.

I made keys a part of Crowsmantle. I use it directly as an xp system (without the immediate spend mechanic from LB). Players can gently hit a key for 1 point or slam down on it heavily for 3 points. They can also “buyoff” the key by changing their lives, thereby gaining 10 XP. I ended up adapting that to our new Middle Earth Action Cards campaign. It's worked well there- though a couple of players have chosen more difficult keys. I’ve given them the option of switching.

KEYS AND ASPECTS

When I went to assemble my Magic, Inc one-shot I used keys. But my experience with ME:AC had shown me aspects and keys had some overlap. So I modified the mechanic. Players could only gain 1 point for hitting a key, but they’d get a fate point for it. If they saved up three points they could spend that on a new skill or stunt in play. Players still had aspects for definition and fate point spends. But they only began with a single refresh. It worked well for the one shot, giving players cool hooks and they actually used.

So I’m wondering if that could work in longer-term play. Could I use it with Action Cards or a point-buy system for Fate Core? Would I have to ditch the idea that key hits generate fate points? How would those interact with aspects? On the one hand they might complement them, but on the other they could overwhelm and change the economy. It might work better for Action Cards, since we’ve cut the number of non-trouble aspects down. Keys could be a set of quick hit things like the trouble aspect. I’m not sure. There’s the additional problem that as I’ve used it in Magic, Inc, this approach does something I usually don’t like: experience as in-game currency (ala HeroQuest, DramaSystem, and Numenera).

When I originally defined the keys, I wrote that players only get the points if their action complicates the situation. As I went along, I became less sure of that. Some of the keys merely express behaviors (like making other players laugh). If I locked it down so that you’d only get points if that made things worse, I’d undercut that incentive. Maybe characters should have three keys of specific flavors: behavior, drive, and flaw. The former would be for character expressive play while the latter two only give points when they cause problems. But once I do that, I’m not sure if I’m gaining anything vs. just using aspects. And it doesn’t answer the XP/currency problem. Should some keys generate fate points and others generate XP? Maybe players could pick what they get when they hit them? Have I made that super effing complicated then? Not sure.

Anyway, that’s my meandering for today. I want a point-based system for advancement for Action Cards (or Fate) that rewards character play, let players buy something each session, isn’t too hard to track, and still allows some character aspects.

KEYBOARD OR RING?

In the list below, you’ll see the keys I’ve put together. I’ve tried to keep them tight. The ones I’ve italicized come from Magic, Inc and only have a 1 XP level.

• Key of Bad Liar: You’re terrible at lying. Hit this key when you’re caught out telling a fib.
• Key of Banter: You have a knack for snappy comments. Gain +1 XP when you say something that makes the other players laugh.
• Key of Better Than This: Hit this key when you’re able to demonstrate how your background and upbringing make you overqualified for the pedestrian tasks assigned you.
• Key of the Bruiser: Your enjoy overpowering others. Gain 1 XP every time you defeats someone solo in battle. Gain 3 XP for the solo defeat of someone more powerful than you. Buyoff: Suffer a defeat in combat.
• Key of the Commander: You’re accustomed to giving orders and having them obeyed. Gain 1 XP when you come up with a plan and give orders to make it happen. Gain 3 XP when you organize and lead a large force. Buyoff: Acknowledge someone else as the leader.
• Key of the Competitor: You love contests and love to win. Gain 1 XP when you enter a competition. Gain 3 XP when you actually win such a contest. Buyoff: Gracefully concede to another.
• Key of Conscience: You must protect the weak. Gain 1 XP every time you defend someone who is in danger and cannot save themselves. Gain 3 XP when you take someone in an unfortunate situation and change their life to where they can help themselves. Buyoff: Ignore a request for help.
• Key of Conspiracy: It’s more involved than they think. Gain +1 XP when you spin an elaborate baseless scenario about your situation.
• Key of Could-Have-Been Once: You once had ambition and drive. Gain +1 XP when you give up on a course of action because it seems unrealistic
• Key of Curiosity: Hit your key whenever you your curiosity sidetracks you or gets you into trouble.
• Key of the Daredevil: You thrive in dangerous situations. Gain 1 XP when you do something cool that is risky or reckless. Gain 3 XP when your recklessness protects your companions but causes you great harm or loss. Buyoff: Be very very careful.
• Key of Faking It: You lied on your resume. Gain +1 XP when others expect you to be able to do something you actually can’t.
• Key of Fear: Select what triggers your phobia—spiders, snakes, undead, being underground, etc. Gain 2 XP when you flee the source of your phobia instead of fighting it. Buyoff: Fight or face your phobia.
• Key of Greed: You love wealth. Gain 1 XP every time you make a deal that favors you in wealth. Gain 3 XP every time you double your wealth. Buyoff: Give away everything you own except what you can carry lightly.
• Key of the Guardian: You are a loyal defender of another PC. Gain 1 XP when you make a decision influenced by them or protect them from harm. Gain 3 XP when you follow their orders against your instincts. Buyoff: Sever your relationship with them.
• Key of Honor: You follow a personal code of honor. Gain 1 XP whenever you keep your word, defend your reputation against insult, or protect those to whom you are obligated. Gain 3 XP when your code causes you major loss or harm. Buyoff: Commit a dishonorable act.
• Key of the Impostor: You are in disguise or often maintain disguises. Gain 1 XP when you perform well enough to fool someone with your disguise. Gain 3 XP when you fool a group for an extended period. Buyoff: Reveal your true identity to someone you fooled.
• Key of Knowledge: You love discovering secrets and weird restricted information. Gain 1 XP when you uncover a previously hidden or secret fact or long-lost piece of information. Gain 3 XP when you publish or reveal this knowledge that others want kept secret. Buyoff: Pass up an opportunity to learn something important.
• Key of the Liar: Lie about something when you don’t have to.
• Key of Liquid Lunch: It’s always time for a drink. Gain 1 XP when you sidetrack yourself in order to down a couple of drinks.
• Key of Management: You rely on your team. Gain +1 XP when you steal credit for someone else’s success.
• Key of Martyrdom: You thrive on personal pain and suffering. Gain 1 XP every time you take a Wound and 3 XP every time you become Injured. Buyoff: Flee a source of physical or psychic damage.
• Key of the Matchmaker: You like seeing romantic pairings work, though perhaps not your own. Gain 1 XP when you try to set up a pairing. Gain 3 XP when you try to set up a pairing and it actually clicks. Buyoff: You turn your attention to your own romantic life.
• Key of Memory: You’re terribly forgetful. Gain 1 XP when you forget a key fact from one scene to the next. Gain 3 XP when your forgetting gets you in trouble or puts you in danger. Buyoff: Remember a vital detail at exactly the right moment.
• Key of the Mission: You have a personal mission, defined at the start (discuss with the GM). Gain 1 XP every time you take action to complete this mission. Gain 3 XP every time you take action that completes a major part of this mission. Buyoff: Abandon this mission.
• Key of Naiveté: You’re a sucker for a sob story, scam, or pretty face. Gain 1 XP whenever you do what a stranger asks you to do. Gain 3 XP when your trust leads to a major betrayal. Buyoff: See through someone’s manipulation.
• Key of the Nice Girl: Gain 1 XP when you do something nice because that’s what’s expected of you. Gain 3 XP when being nice costs you a significant opportunity. Buyoff: Loudly put your own interests ahead of someone else’s expectations.
• Key of Obsession: You have favorite: sports team, TV show, food. Hit your key whenever you’re sidetracked by having to prove to people how awesome it is.
• Key of the Odd One: Gain 1 XP when you do something small but weird to everyone around you. Gain 3 XP when you do something that causes you to be excluded from a group or event. Buyoff: Figure out what’s driving this behavior.
• Key of Order (Procedures): Things have rules. People are supposed to stick to the rules. That’s how things should work. Gain 1 XP when you try to correct someone’s violation of a rule. Gain 3 XP when your complaints change the person’s action or decision. Buyoff: Let the breaking of rules go by unremarked.
• Key of the Outcast: You have been exiled or banned from somewhere. Gain 1 XP when your status causes you trouble or is important in a scene. Gain 3 XP when you’re brought into direct contact with the source of your exile. Buyoff: Regain your former standing or join a new group.
• Key of Panic: The pressure’s on. Gain 1 XP every time you take a condition card.
• Key of the Paragon: You’re a noble, wealthy, or the scion of a famous family. Therefore you’re a cut above the common man. Gain 1 XP every time you demonstrate your superiority. Gain 3 XP when you make a significant positive impression on a peer or superior. Buyoff: Disown your heritage.
• Key of Partyer: It’s always time to rock the house. Gain 1 XP when you drop a chunk of change on party times. Gain 3 XP when you spend all of your money on such entertainments. Buyoff: Hit rock bottom.
• Key of the Procrastinator: Gain 1 XP when you’re able to successfully delay a due date for yourself. Gain 3 XP when you manage to finish something major after the last minute after putting it off. Buyoff: Get something done well in advance.
• Key of the Prudent: You avoid combat like the plague. Gain 1 XP every time you avoids a potentially dangerous situation. Gain 3 XP every time you stops a combat using means besides violence. Buyoff: Leap into combat with no hesitation.
• Key of Renown: You’ll make a name for yourself or die trying. Gain 1 XP when you brag or put yourself at risk to do something unnecessary or foolish that will add to your reputation. Gain 3 XP when you hear your rep mentioned by strangers. Buyoff: Give someone else credit.
• Key of Rivalry: Choose a fellow PC as your rival. Gain 1 XP when you compete with them and boast about it. Gain 3 XP when you deal your rival a humiliating defeat. Buyoff: Cede a competition to your rival.
• Key of Romance: You’re a hopeless romantic. Gain 1 XP when you fall in love with someone. As well gain 1 XP when your lover (or would-be lover, if your love is unrequited) is endangered and you act to rescue them. Gain 3 XP when your love leads to punishment or more than one of your lovers meet and come to a realization. Buyoff: Marry or break up with a long-time romantic partner.
• Key of Sales: You like to make deals and trade favors. Gain 1 XP when you bargain, make a new contact, or exchange a favor. Gain 3 XP when you make a big score through your dealings. Buyoff: Cut yourself off from your network of contacts.
• Key of the Skeptic: Gain 1 XP when you find an alternate explanation for a fantastical event. Gain 3 XP when your unwillingness to accept the strange keeps you from progress or success. Buyoff: Finally acknowledge the reality of the Realm.
• Key of Soft Touch: You are, at heart, kind and gentle. Gain +1 XP when you show kindness or mercy.
• Key of Spendthrift: If you have money, you’re supposed to spend it. Gain 1 XP when you drop a chunk of change non-essentials. Gain 3 XP when you spend all of your money on that way. Buyoff: Make a budget.
• Key of Thievery (Klepto): Ooooh the shinies. Gain 1 XP when you steal something cool or score a big payoff. Gain 3 XP when you steal something legendary, named, or unique. Buyoff: Swear off stealing forever.
• Key of the Thrifty: People toss away good stuff. Gain 1 XP when you rescue and hang on to something someone throws away. Gain 3 XP when a rescued object proves useful. Buyoff: Clean out your hoard.
• Key of the Tinkerer: You just can’t leave it alone. Gain 1 XP when you modify, improve, repair, or patch some object or place. Gain 3 XP when you do this against the wishes or desires of the owner. Buyoff: Pass up the opportunity to mess around with technology.
• Key of the Traveler: You love exploring places and meeting new people. Gain 1 XP when you share an interesting detail about a person, place, or thing or go somewhere exciting and new. Gain 3 XP when you go somewhere lost to the ages or normally forbidden to you. Buyoff: Pass up the opportunity to see something new.
• Key of the Twice Shy: You’ve learned to avoid blame, but reflexively avoid credit as well. Gain 1 XP when you can pin your success on someone else. Gain 3 XP when they readily take full credit. Buyoff: Exclaim your own awesomeness.
• Key of the Unrequited: You fall into love and infatuation easily and deeply. Gain 1 XP when you fixate on a new persons. Gain 3 XP when you do a risky or embarrassing thing in front of that person to gain their attention. Buyoff: Suffer a painful rejection.
• Key of Vengeance: You have a hatred for a particular organization, person, or even species or culture. Gain 1 XP every time your character hurts a member of that group or a lackey of that person. Gain 3 XP every time you strike a major blow at that group or person. Buyoff: Let your enemy go.
• Key of the Vow: You have a vow of personal behavior you have sworn not to break. This could be a dietary restriction, a requirement to pray at sunbreak every morning, or something else like that. Gain 1 XP for every session in which you don’t break this vow. Gain 3 XP every time you don’t break this vow even though it causes you great harm. Buyoff: Break this vow.
• Key of the Watercooler: Hit this key when you hear someone repeat a rumor you spread.
• Key of the Widow(er) (Bad Break Up): You lost your significant other truly and finally. Gain 1 XP when you make a connection between something in a scene and your lost love. Gain 3 XP when your pining interferes with new potential relationships and friendships. Buyoff: Lock away or dispose of the last of your mementos.