Incursions are stories, and stories are no fun if the reader know how they will end. During an incursion, you are both reader and main character, and so a method is needed to allow psychonauts to tell the story to each other and yet not to know the outcome.

The Action Resolution (ARC) Cycle

Each Incursion is a story told in three acts: The Bazaar, The Pursuit, and the Showdown. The Bazaar has a single scene. The Pursuit has three scenes. And the Showdown has two scenes. And each Scene has two phases, followed by a sequel. The Storyteller will guide the Psychonauts through the scenes by running the ARC Cycle once for each Phase.

 

The ARC Cycle: Step By Step

Step One: The Scene is Set and Explained

• Scene is explained
• The Challenge level is written down and placed face down
• Challenge and Consequence hints are given

 

Step Two: Players commit their play

• Active Player(s) lay down their cards
• Active Player(s) commit any Vajra they wish initially
• Active Player(s) decide if they wish to use any magick or artifact or similar
• Support Players may choose not to commit anything at this time with no penalty

 

Step Three: Storyteller draws card face up

• Card’s value is noted
• Storyteller privately notes new total difficulty level

 

Step Four: Players whether or not to bolster

• Support Players may now elect to commit cards or Vajra to bolster
• Support Players may not also elect to use Magick or artifact or similar
• Active Player may not bolster

 

Step Five: Difficulty level is revealed, total difficulty is added up.

• Success or Failure Type is determined.
• Consequences are assessed.
• Active Player may commit Vajra to absorb damage to Aura

 

Step Six: Success or Failure Resolution

• If successful. Note degree of Success. Storyteller provided description of results
  • If Success is Amazing, Storyteller includes explanation of additional success skipped
  • If Success if Problematic, Storyteller adds new Story Element
• If a failure. Damage to Aura is applied.
  • Additional complications are noted and described by Storyteller
• If Aura Shatters Supporting Players may attempt to reinforce the broken Aura by
  • Committing Vajra
  • Using relevant artifacts, magick or similar.

Step Seven: The Sequel

• After two ARC Cycles (2 phases), the scene is concluded.
• All the psychonauts a brief moment to do none action resolution business. Discuss and plan and consider.
  • Allow players to use certain abilities, usable only during Sequels.

 

The Components of the ARC

Basic Actions

You take action in the Shadowlands the same way that you take action in the Bonelands. You do it. In this incursion you will do so through narrative, by narrating your part in the story, rather than by physical exertion. It is important to remember, however; you are in the Shadowlands now. And you interact with the shallows of the Shadowlands through your senses and through your physical exertions. Your view of what feels like the real world is a fractured and false one. But if you are reasonably sane, then the differences between the Shadowlands you live in and the Bonelands underneath will be slim enough that you can interact safely with the Bonelands by using the Shadowlands you have in your head.

 

Unchecked Actions

Players may do anything in game that they are capable of doing in the real world, no resolution required. If you can run a marathon or bench press 200 lbs or read Spanish in the real world, then you can do the same things in game. Period. Nothing else required.

 

Checked Actions

If players wish do something beyond their capabilities, something they have never tried, or something completely foreign, then action resolution is required. The players must spend resources, cards from, their hands, vajra points or other story elements in order to hit the difficulty rating of the action. If they fail to meet the difficulty, the suffer the consequences of failure.

 

Difficulty Levels

When a player is confronted by a challenge that requires them to spend resources, the storyteller will present it as follows: Difficulty levels, Consequence Levels and Opposed Actions. Tasks are assigned difficulty based on how far beyond the player’s current ability the attempted task is. The difficulty is divided into 3 categories: possible, impossible, beyond the impossible. The storyteller does not tell the players the difficulty beyond those three descriptors. Difficulty levels 1 through 5 are POSSIBLE. Difficulty levels 6 through 15 are IMPOSSIBLE. Difficulty levels 15 and above are BEYOND THE IMPOSSIBLE.

Once the storyteller has told the players the category of difficulty, the exact level of difficulty is written down and placed face down. The Player(s) may then attempt the action by laying cards, spending points, and activating story elements.

The Storyteller will then explain the Consequence level, which is either MILD (1), UGLY (2), DISASTROUS (3), or APOCALYPTIC (4). If a characters fails, then the consequence is applied as a penalty in some way to the situation. The penalty may be added to the difficulty of attempting the action again, say as in picking a lock. The penalty may be applied to the character’s avatar as damage (more on that later), say as in injuring oneself attempting to jump up over a wall. the penalty may be applied as enhanced difficulty to later actions, say as in setting off an alarm that makes subsequent stealth attempts more difficult.

Players may choose to apply FOOLISH OPTIMISM to any action attempt where the consequence is not APOCALYPTIC. FOOLISH OPTIMISM, increases the Consequence level by one, and decreases the difficulty by one level (not one category, one level only).

If a player fails by more than two points, they suffer a consequence one level worse than they would otherwise have suffered.

Storytellers may set Difficulty and Consequence levels as they see fit, however a good rule is that in general a consequence should be around half the difficulty level.

If the action involves two individuals competing: fighting, debating, playing chess, racing, etc… then the difficulty level is determined slightly differently. The Storyteller will determine, after discussion with the involved parties, what the base difference in skill is best estimated as being. The person at a disadvantage experiences that disadvantage as a penalty. The difficulty level is then the other individual’s total value played on the action. The consequence is still determined by the Storyteller.

 

Possible (1 to 5)

Actions that are Possible are actions that are either within the Psychonaut’s abilities but something they cannot yet do consistently, or something beyond their current ability but which they might achieve through luck or chance.

Impossible (6 to 15)

Impossible actions are those which would be difficult even for somebody trained to do exactly that, would be difficult for an expert in the field, or the equivalent of the first transAtlantic flight, the first 4 minute mile, etc…

Beyond the Impossible (15+)

BEYOND THE IMPOSSIBLE. These are actions simply not physically possible and could only happen in the Shadowlands.

Too Difficult to Attempt

NONE! No task is too impossible in the Shadowlands!

Storytellers should never tell a player that an action cannot be attempted. After all, impossible is only the second category of difficulty in the Shadowlands!

 

Consequence Levels

Things can always go wrong. When a psychonaut fails and attempted action, then there are consequences. The storyteller will tell a psychonaut the category of consequence that the psychonaut risks when planning an action. Certain actions taken by a psychonaut can alter the consequences of an action. And a psychonaut may chose not to attempt an action if the consequence level presented by the Storyteller is higher than the psychonaut is willing to risk experiencing.

Importantly, the Storyteller does not tell the psychonaut the precise consequences. Indeed, the Storyteller may not even determine the exact consequences until the attempt fails. The important part of describing the consequences is that they move the story forward. A success and a failure both move the plot of the story towards the Showdown. A failure will do so in a manner which puts the psychonauts increasingly at a disadvantage, but will still move the plot forward.

There is also the possibility that the consequences will shatter the Aura of one or more psychonauts. If that occurs, the plot still moves forward, but possibility with fewer psychonauts still active in the Incursion.

 

Mild

• Attempt fails Apply an increase to difficulty level of 1 to subsequent attempts Apply a penalty of 1 to subsequent attempts Apply a penalty of 1 to later related action attempts
• Apply 1 point of damage to Avatar Aura

Ugly

• Attempt fails loudly and visibly Apply an increase to difficulty level on 2 to subsequent attempts Apply a penalty of 2 to subsequent attempts Apply a penalty of 2 to later related action attempts
• Apply 2 point of damage to Avatar Aura

Disastrous

• Apply an increase to difficulty level on 3 to subsequent attempts Apply a penalty of 3 to subsequent attempts Apply a penalty of 3 to later related action attempts
• Apply 3 point of damage to Avatar Aura

Apocalyptic

• Apply an increase to difficulty level on 1 to subsequent attempts Apply a penalty of 1 to subsequent attempts Apply a penalty of 1 to later related action attempts
• Apply 4 point of damage to Avatar Aura

 

Success Types

• Amazing Success (Succeed by more than 3 points): Succeed and skip next challenge or generate positive Story Element
• Normal Success (Succeed by at least one point): Succeed
• Problematic Success (Succeed by tie): Succeed but generate new challenge or drawback (Generally a Story Element)

 

Flash and Sizzle

Players can boost their Avatar’s chances of success by taking short term bonuses in exchange for penalties down the road. These take the form of four modifiers to actions: Foolish Optimism, Risky Actions, Bad Decisions, and Sacrifice Plays.

 

Risky Actions

Players may add up to +3 on any action by explaining how they taking some to boost their chances of success. This becomes a Story Element card with an identical value as a penalty that the Storyteller may apply later in a way that matches and/or relates to the risk taken.

Bad Decisions

Players may transform a failed action into a Problematic Success in exchange for a Story Element that has an ongoing penalty affect that lasts until the remainder of the session unless the reversal is applied.

Foolish Optimism

Players may choose to apply Foolish Optimism to any action attempt where the consequence is not apocalyptic. Foolish Optimism, increases the Consequence level by one, and decreases the difficulty by one level (not one category, one level only).

Sacrifice Play

Players may voluntarily shatter their Aura- removing them from active gameplay for the remainder of the session- in exchange for an amazing success on an action.

 

Action Types

Hero, Scoundrel, Villain, Mind, Body and Hands

This is a story, never forget that. And as such, it follows story logic, not physical laws. And as such, the players can influence the outcome by calling upon the story in very direct ways. They can reach out to the Weaver and the Firebird and the Serpent and the Grey and other other Elders of the Story and ask for their assistance in resolving their incursions. Players can double the value of a card that they play (see detail in the Deck of Void Section for details) if the card they play has an Action Type matching the action that they are attempting.

Actions can be defined in one of two ways, by their virtue, and by their method. By virtue we mean whether the action would be considered the action of a hero, a scoundrel or a villain. There is no hard and fast set of tables for this. The player will have to argue through storytelling why an action matches the virtue listed on the card that they are laying. If the storyteller agrees, then the value of the card is doubled for the attempted action.

If the player is matching their Avatar’s method of resolving the action with the method listed on the card, then things are more straightforward. There are three methods defined: mind, body, and hands. Mind means that the method of resolution is primarily intellectual: involving thought, persuasion, charm, problem solving and so forth. Body means athletic performance, from feats of strength and endurance pain resistance and fasting. Hands mean learned skills, from automotive repair to juggling to swordplay.

As you read this you may be noticing grey areas and overlap. Yes, that’s fine- it’s up to the players to convince the storyteller through their own storytelling why the method matches. That’s the point of this, to encourage storytelling not attempts to exploit loopholes and so forth.

 

Heroic Actions

The word Hero comes from an ancient Greek word with a meaning that roughly translates as defender. The Hero protects. The Hero saves. The Hero lays down their own life for others, sacrifices for others.

Scoundrel Actions

The Scoundrel serves the greater good, but does so while profiting themselves. They scheme and sneak, they break rules and fudge the truth. But they help the story nonetheless. Scoundrels profit themselves AS they help the story. If you are only profiting yourself, you are not a scoundrel.

Villainous Actions

A villain seeks their own power and their own benefit, damn the consequences and damn the lives of others. One does not need to be cruel or vindictive to be a villain. One must simply put one’s own needs above all others.

Summary

The Hero acts first for the cause. The Scoundrel makes the cause profitable for them. The Villain acts first for themselves. Note that this is dependent upon what the cause is. If it seems like an obviously villainous character is acting in service first of a cause, and thus must be a hero, look at whether the cause they are serving itself meets the definition of villainous.

 

Mind Actions

Mind Actions are actions where success is dependent upon the intelligence or clever thinking. Mind actions are varied, the only constant is that success is dependent upon the quality of the thinking of the person attempting the access.

Body Actions

Body Actions are actions where success is dependent upon the athleticism of the being attempting the action. From feats of strength and agility, from acts of endurance and pain tolerance, Body actions are the actions of whole body.

Hands Actions

Hands Actions are the actions of learned skills. Repairing a car? Hacking a computer? Picking a Lock? Fighting a duel with Lightsabers? Practical skills that one learns through study and practise are the essence of the Hands Actions.

Summary

Mind Actions are the actions of thought. Body Actions are the actions of athleticism. Hands Actions are the actions of careful skill.