To Be Resolved

First Draft of Progression Rules

I've been sort of stymied by how to represent character development in Hellbenders so far. We know that so far in our game, characters have:

I was pretty sure going into the game that I'm not interested in counting experience points. The closest I got to XP was thinking about the end-of-session questions in The Electrum Archives, but even then I was fairly sure that my vision of an advanced Lost Soul is someone who has gotten stranger, not necessarily stronger. I was focused on narrative development.

So I put out an APB on the Prismatic Wasteland channel to make sure I wasn't missing any progression models. I reviewed Luke Gearing's Against Incentives, Gestaltist's We Haven't Said Everything About Character Advancement Yet, Mindstorm's Ringing the Bell, Journalling XP by Bommyknocker and was even thinking about Pris's Failure, Diegesis, and Ability Score Increase until Elmcat reminded me of a great post by Valeria about Mythic Bastionland.

A lot of Hellbenders is inspired in varying parts by the fun I've had playing Mythic Bastionland, so this was an inspired fit for our game. Her original post is more interesting than my conversion to our setting/mechanics so you should read that instead, but here is a first draft of character advancement for Hellbenders.

Character Development: Promises, Cautionary Tales, and Testimonies

One consequence of becoming a Lost Soul is that it imbues your promises with deep gravity. They are added to your soul’s ledger. A true Promise lights a fire in your belly and can only be fulfilled through superhuman elbow grease. Lost Souls may commit themselves to three Promises at a time. Some example Promises are:

A valid Promise is phrased as an “I will” statement with a clear action and objective. It is possible for a player to make an “Eternal Promise” that can never be fulfilled. Whenever a Lost Soul would make a Save crucial to keeping a Promise, they may instead Burn all remaining Reserves in that Suit to automatically pass the Save. If the Lost Soul cannot Burn 2 or more Reserves, then success comes at a consequence. Once declared, a Promise can only be stricken from your character sheet when it is Fulfilled or Broken. When you fulfill a Promise, you may convert it to a Testimony. When you break a Promise, you may record it as a Cautionary Tale.

Cautionary Tales

Cautionary Tales are a record of the burned bridges that a Lost Soul leaves behind. They are a supernaturally-binding manifestation of regret: a Lost Soul must behave in accordance with their Cautionary Tales.

Players may invoke their own Cautionary Tale to avoid trouble, but the Dealer may call on those tales to introduce a complication. Cautionary Tales may be assigned to a player’s Legacy in order to shape how the Legacy develops over time, or it may be assigned to a player’s Creditor to modify their Faux Pas condition. You can only be bound to three Cautionary Tales at a time. If you would take on a fourth, you may erase a prior tale.

Testimonies

Testimonies are a record of your Lost Soul’s commitment to their word. A Promise kept in service of your Past Life becomes a Testimony that positively shapes your Legacy. A Promise kept in service of your Creditor becomes a Testimony that allows you to modify the conditions of your contract and take on more characteristics of the Creditor. A Promise kept in service of your Special Interests allows you to create a friendly contact and take on a new, additional Special Interest.

Legacy Development

Once you have a total of at least 3 Cautionary Tales and/or Testimonies assigned to your Legacy, you gain access to the Cultivate Legacy Downtime Action. Additionally, when you encounter an NPC you may invoke your Legacy and Save against your primary Suit. On a success, the NPC has heard of you and may spread the word about meeting you.

First-Order Thoughts

I think this system is cool. Like really cool. Like Mythic Bastionland, I want a Lost Soul at character generation to be able to do everything a character can mechanically do in the game. I still want there to be value in playing a character over time and seeing their ability to affect the world change in turn. I think there are specifics to nail down on what sorts of modifications you can make to contracts and Faux Pas conditions, or exactly what the Cultivate Legacy downtime action does, but this structure feels like what I had in mind a month or so ago. This will probably require another round of work on character sheets too! I figure once I have this and an enumerated list of downtime actions in place, I'll be ready for the next revision of playtest documents, so stay tuned and let me know what you think!