[GroupDesign] - Advanced Archivism

[Kirk Mitchell]

Or when things get out of balance, the player has to choose to sacrifice (burn/fade out) either Host or Archivist Traits until things are restored

Nasty, very nasty. I like it. I agree completely, players are so much more creative than rules could possibly be written for. I look forwards to this game.

Also, Michael, I am a bit confused about your post, do you think you could give a bit more information?

Kirk

[Doug Ruff]

Doug, can you clear up those mechanics you posted earlier? Maybe an example of how it would work in a game session?

OK, here's an example of what might happen during a possession. Morgan is an Archivist, and she wishes to possess Tom, a security guard. The reason for this is that he wants the guard to "accidentally" disable the main alarm system to the building.

Morgan has a maximum Presence of 20, but she can choose how much to apply at any given time. Tom is a "vigorously alive" chap with a maximum Presence of 8; however, his "unstressed" presence is only half of this (4). Tom's body can safely contain a total Presence of 10, without suffering ill effects.

To start off with, Morgan possesses Tom with a Presence of 2. (so the scores are Morgan 2, Tom 4, Total 6.) This means that Tom can use his traits up to a level of 4 without "pushing" himself, and Morgan can use Archivist traits and Logoi up to a level of 2 (ie not much).

Morgan Rides along with Tom while he does his nightly rounds, then she attempts to control his actions when he checks the alarm control box. In order to ensure victory, she raises her Presence to 6; the alarm controls are disabled.

However, she forgets that Tom is still aware of his own actions; even though he doesn't realise that he is being controlled, he is aware that he is switching off the main alarms. This wierds him out a bit, raising his stress levels, and also raising his Presence to 6. He is now caught between switching the alarms back on and walking away, and his tension levels are rising...

At this point, the Presence scores are (Morgan 6, Tom 6, Total 12) - Tom is suffering minor Burn (2 points, as he is 2 over his safe Presence total of 10).

Cursing her own ineptitude, Morgan uses a Logos to erase Tom's memory of his switching the alarms off; however, this is a Presence 8 power. This raises the total Presence to 14 (from 12), so Tom takes another 2 points of Burn.

Tom walks away from the console, satisfied. His Presence drops to it's standard level of 4; Morgan follows suit, dropping her Presence to 3.

At this point, Tom hears a noise in the foyer of the building. This triggers him to full alertness (Presence 8). As Morgan is Presence 3, another point of Burn for Tom.

The noise turns out to be two armed robbers, who have nothing to do with the Archivist's plas to break into the building. Tom has a nightstick, but no firearm; the robbers both have pistols. Morgan decides to use her "inhuman speed" Logos to enhance Tom's actions, and make him charge down the robbers before they have time to react.

However, "inhuman speed" requires a Presence of 15; as Tom is at Presence 8, he would take 12 more points of Burn (rising from 11 to 23 total Presence.) Morgan decides to mitigate this by suppressing Tom's own Presence - she doesn't want to Fade him out completely, so she supresses his Presence to 1.

The Presence scores are now (Tom 1, Morgan 15, Total 16) so Tom will still take 5 more points of Burn (Presence rose form 11 to 16).

From Tom's perspective, everything goes strangely numb and time appears to slow down. It's almost as if someone else is guiding his actions as he charges down the two armed men; he knocks the gun out of one thug's hands, and takes the gun from the other one, before they even have a chance to react to his movement. At this point, he hears his own voice say "if I were you, I wouldn't be here right now." The robbers flee.

Tom then collapses into a shaking heap. He's taken a total of 10 Burn (2 + 2 + 1 + 5) and 7 points of Fade from having most of his personality supressed (from 8 to 1). It's a good job he's got medical insurance...

[Note: one thing I have added to the mechanic here is the concept that Host Presence varies with "awareness" or adrenaline levels. The default Presence value is half of it's maximum, and it could be less if the Host is tired or ill.]

[Michael Brazier]

Michael, I just want to be sure I'm understanding correctly. In your system, hosts become (effectively) a non-renewable resource for the Archivist? Using powers wears out the host and/or Archivist?

That was the idea, yes.  But now I think Doug Ruff's Presence mechanic works at least as well and is simpler.  About that, however:

Cursing her own ineptitude, Morgan uses a Logos to erase Tom's memory of his switching the alarms off; however, this is a Presence 8 power. This raises the total Presence to 14 (from 12), so Tom takes another 2 points of Burn.

Tom walks away from the console, satisfied. His Presence drops to it's standard level of 4; Morgan follows suit, dropping her Presence to 3.

So, if total Presence goes over 10, then under 10, then over 10 again, the Host gets Burnt twice over?  Why then would an Archivist ever let total Presence fall under 10, once she'd let it rise above that?  In the example, if Morgan had kept her Presence at 8, Tom's shift to full alertness (from 4 to 8) would have raised the total Presence to 16, 2 points above the prior maximum of 14, for 2 more points of Burn -- a total of 6.

What this mechanic doesn't capture is the case of an Archivist trying to persuade a Host to do something without controlling him ... try this: roll a die for each point of the Host's current Presence; each die that beats a target number lowers the Presence requirement for the next Logos used by 1.

[Doug Ruff]

So, if total Presence goes over 10, then under 10, then over 10 again, the Host gets Burnt twice over?  Why then would an Archivist ever let total Presence fall under 10, once she'd let it rise above that?  In the example, if Morgan had kept her Presence at 8, Tom's shift to full alertness (from 4 to 8) would have raised the total Presence to 16, 2 points above the prior maximum of 14, for 2 more points of Burn -- a total of 6.

That's a good question. My main answer is that Burn represents something that strains the Host's body. If a body was holding more than it's presence limit for an extended period, I'd assign the Burn again. For the time being, I'm going to suggest that:

- Burn is assessed over the course of a single "encounter": a Host's total burn is equal to the maximum presence their body held, minus their "safe limit".

- "Encounters" are of short duration. In the example, switching off the alarm and dealing with the intruders were separate scenes.

What this mechanic doesn't capture is the case of an Archivist trying to persuade a Host to do something without controlling him ... try this: roll a die for each point of the Host's current Presence; each die that beats a target number lowers the Presence requirement for the next Logos used by 1.

You're right about this being missing. So far, the mechanic assumes that if the Archivist has the higher Presence, they are in direct control of the Host's actions, and if the Host has the higher awareness, they are in control.

(Side note: this gives another reason for Archivists to drop their Presence, if they want their hosts to do the thinking/acting for them, they will need to cede control.)

However, the suggestion you've made assumes that te Archivist is going to use a Logos. What if the Archivist is simply trying to persuade them to wear the blue tie to work this morning? (In a time travel campaign, this could be a significant event!)

Suggestion: This is an opposed conflict between the Host and the Archivist. Each "side" starts with a value equal to their Presence, if the Host has any relevant personality traits (eg. "Hates Blue 3") These are added to the mix. I'd be tempted to use a Sorcerer opposed roll, as these tend to give the underdog a fair chance of winning.

The advantage of using this approach is that the Archivist can keep their Presence rating low, low enough to avoid Burning the Host, and still have influence on things - especially if they pick suggestions that the Host would be inclined to go ahead with anyway. The downside is that the Host may not do what the Archivist wants - but that's free will for you.

[Tobias]

Doug - coincidence that it's the Host taking all this Burn and Fade? Could you work an example where the archivist 'suffers' as well?

[Spooky Fanboy]

Doug - coincidence that it's the Host taking all this Burn and Fade? Could you work an example where the archivist 'suffers' as well?

Here's a random idea, take or leave: What if, in the normal course of events, an Archivist doesn't take Burn or Fade...unless s/he chooses to take it on the Host's behalf? Being immaterial, I don't see how often damage comes up in the course of normal events. Well, normal for disembodied time-architects/repairpeople...

So why would an archivist bite the bullet for it's Host? Common decency is one reason (maybe it's what separates the "good" Archivists from the "bad" ones), maybe it's simply a philosophy of "waste not, want not" (How difficult is it to possess a new Host after the initial one has been selected in the timeframe?), maybe the Host him/herself has a Destiny or plays an important part somewhere down the road.

This doesn't solve the problem of what damage does to Archivists, of course, nor does it solve the problems of battles in Archive-Space. But it is something to think about. At least I think so.

[daMoose_Neo]

Hmmkay-
If the Archivist Burns, I'd assume they were doing something that WOULDN'T be using or taking advantage of the Host's body- its a known fact, humans bodies can take or give only so much.
In previous examples then, the Archivist might take 'Burn' in a situation where they make the Burglers guns misfire instead of giving the Guard superhuman speed- they take Burn because they have to invest more of themselves into the timeframe, as opposed to just riding along or enhancing the Host.
Thus, Polterguiests or "car key gnomes" might really be Archivists making slight changes in situations where they couldn't (or wouldn't) allow a Host to be Burned. Rules might be associated for such a situation:
* Only Logi over a certain point can be opted, otherwise you still have to nudge the Host here or there
* Has to be line of sight of the host (The Guard sees the Guns)

[Doug Ruff]

Doug - coincidence that it's the Host taking all this Burn and Fade? Could you work an example where the archivist 'suffers' as well?

More "lack of completeness" than coincidence, unless you consider it a coincidence that I forgot to address this!

OK, here's the big Bone of Contention: I don't think that an Archivist can take Burn from this type of activity. That's beause I think that Archivist "Burn" is best expressed as the result of changes to the Host Time Tunnel which eradicate the Archvist's personal history.

(Confused? It's in this thread. Michael Brazier came up with the original idea, I believe.)

However, I think that Archivist Fade is entirely possible within these rules, and Spooky Fanboy has pretty much hit on how.

If the total Presence rises above the Host's capacity to hold it in, one of three things will happen:

1) The Host takes Burn;
2) The Archivist suppresses the Host's Presence, which gives the Host Fade;
3) The Archivist suppresses his own Presence, which gives the Archivist Fade.

The first two examples are already posted, so when will the third one come into play. Please note, if an Archivist is increasing his Presence to fuel a Logos, there is no point in them immediately suppressing the presence, as the Logos will just "fizzle out" for lack of power.

However, if it is an increase in the Host's presence that causes the overflow, the Archivist has to make a nasty choice.

For example, Tom the Security Guard realised what was going on with the alarm console, his Presence went from 4 to 6. Morgan could have chosen at that point to just reduce her Presence down from 6 to 4 - but as this was a "forced" choice, she would have taken 2 points of Fade and wouldn't have kept control of the situation.

I'm going to suggest that an Archivist cannot suppress a Host's Presence as a direct reaction to the Host's Presence increasing. This leaves us with a symmetry of sorts:

If the Presence overflows as a result of the Archivist increasing in presence, options (1) or (2) can be taken.

If the presence overflows as a result of the Host's Presence increasing, options (1) and (3) can be taken.

What I would also like to see (but am not sure how to deliver) are circumstances where the Archivist cannot do anything other than take Fade... this is because I like the idea of an Archivist geting "trapped" in a Host a a result of Fading to zero Presence. As the rules stand, the Archivist always has the option of Burning the Host instead. Any thoughts?

BTW, for daMoose_Neo: I don't think your mechanic fits Archivist Burn, but the idea of Archivist using powers that "make things happen" rather than energising the Host, could be seen as something that runs the risk of Burning Reality - I think this was discussed elsewhere in one of these threads (sorry, vague.) Probability Manipulation would be a dangerous power in this setting, I think...

[Michael Brazier]

What this mechanic doesn't capture is the case of an Archivist trying to persuade a Host to do something without controlling him ... try this: roll a die for each point of the Host's current Presence; each die that beats a target number lowers the Presence requirement for the next Logos used by 1.

You're right about this being missing. [...] However, the suggestion you've made assumes that te Archivist is going to use a Logos. What if the Archivist is simply trying to persuade them to wear the blue tie to work this morning? (In a time travel campaign, this could be a significant event!)

True.

What I'm trying to capture may not fit in with the possession theme at all ... I'm looking, I suppose, for a way that Archivists can interact with Hosts that's less, um, exploitive and domineering than the way you've been describing.  I envision Archivists who enact the role of muses, conferring superhuman insights (hints of the Transcendent) instead of superhuman powers, and ultimately initiating their Hosts into the status of Archivist.  Many people have supposed that mortifying the flesh will purify the spirit and give enlightenment ... couldn't we say that some of these were being tutored by Archivists, accepting Burn voluntarily for a better communion?

[Sydney Freedberg]

I know we're waiting for new, focused threads, but in the meantime, couldn't help commenting:

Michael Brazier's idea of Archivist-as-Muse is a very cool one -- it's been sort of implicit in vague ideas about different levels of control, but never put forth with this much punch before -- and we should work out mechanics that allow this option.

I also am intrigued (as I've said) by the idea of Presence caps, but I am loathe to introduce more mechanics than necessary. Perhaps instead of being an independent variable, Presence could be derived in a relatively straightforward manner from things we know we have to have, e.g. the Host's Humanity and/or Free Will?

Now, would a Host with high Humanity (lots of Passions) and lots of independent-mindedness (however we express that mechanically) be one with less room for an Archivist to operate, or more? Or perhaps simply a harder tool to control, but also a much more powerful one, as compared to some passionless, impressionable nebbish?

Arguably Free Will might help the Host resist his/her own Passions, not just the promptings of an Archivist-possessor,* so there might be a four-fold set of options here:

Low Free Will, low Passion/Humanity (balanced at low level): An easily lead milktoast. A nice easy ride, but you won't get anywhere fast.
High Free Will, low Passion/Humanity (unbalanced): Cold and determined and very much in control of themselves -- these can be scary people. The one advantage to possessing them is they don't have overwhelming emotions that might cause the Archivist to Fade.
Low Free Will, high Passion/Humanity(unbalanced): Teenagers, characters from tragic operas, and anyone else whose feelings can override their judgment. Very hard to ride, but damn powerful. If you can get their Passions aligned with what you want, let 'em rip.... and hang on for dear Fade.
High Free Will, high Passion/Humanity (balanced at high level): Martin Luther King. George Orwell. Winston Churchill. Leonardo da Vinci. Fully human and yet fully in control. An Archivist has very little chance of overmastering such personalities -- but if you can influence them, or even make yourself a partern to them, now you're cooking with gas.

{* EDIT -- Possible mechanic: A truly free decision, being inherently unpredictable, is represented by a dice roll: say, 1d6 where 1-3 is "don't do it" and 4-6 is "do it." Human Passions and Archivist influence, whether subtle whispers or brutal overrides, count as modifiers in one direction or another (e.g. "Loves Juliet:5" adds 5 to the probability of Romeo running off after Juliet). A Host's level of Free Will counts as "armor" against both Passions and Influence. And even if the results would be totally determined by Passions/Influence -- e.g. modifiers total +5 on a roll of 1d6, or +19 on a roll of 1d20 -- there should be some kind of critical failure/success mechanic so that on a roll of, say, 20 the decision goes against all the influences in the world.}

[Michael Brazier]

Now, would a Host with high Humanity (lots of Passions) and lots of independent-mindedness (however we express that mechanically) be one with less room for an Archivist to operate, or more? Or perhaps simply a harder tool to control, but also a much more powerful one, as compared to some passionless, impressionable nebbish?

Maybe the idea that the Host's Presence can vary should be expanded ... the Host's Will rating sets the upper limit on their Presence, but unless the Host is "stressed" they won't apply all of it.  Hosts have several Passions (each Passion is some specific thing the Host cares for) and become stressed when (and only when) one of their Passions is threatened.  (And a Host can become unstressed, having less effective Presence than usual, if the Archivist suggests an action in line with their Passions.)

Security guard Tom, for instance, has a Passion related to the building he guards, which is threatened by Morgan's command to disable the alarms, and more strongly by the burglars breaking in.  Or else a Passion for surviving applied as well, reinforcing the first.

In fact, say the Host has a list of Passions, ranked from most to least important.  As Burn accumulates the least important Passions get blocked; as Fade accumulates the most important Passions get blocked.  And a Passion's position on the list (ignoring any that are blocked) sets how much the Host's Presence can shift if that Passion is in play.

[Doug Ruff]

As this thread hasn't been formally closed, I'm going to post this. Tobias, if you want to shut this down, please say, but I think there is still life in this thread.

This is fresh from my related post in the Nailing Axes thread, where Transcendence vs Humanity has come up again, and I have suggested that it is a key element of the "mental state" mechanics, including possession. Also, that it fits Sydney's description of Opposed Good Things, which means that it is ideal to have high, but balanced, "scores" in each of these areas.

I'm going to attempt to write this into the Presence Mechanic in this thread, and I'd like your feedback.

Firstly, Archivists appear to have more Transcendence than Hosts, and Hosts may have more Humanity than Archivists (the base assumption is that an Archivist tends to become somewhat "detached" from their human drives and passions.)

In the Presence mechanic, Archivist Logoi are rated by the Presence which an Archivist must "manifest" within the Host in order to use them.

So, suggestion #1: Hosts and Archivist both have a Transcendence score. For a Host, this is the maximum amount of Presence they can safely contain; for an Archivist, this is the maximum amount of Presence they can manifest.

An interesting consequence of this is that a Host with high enough Transcendence could safely manifest Archivist Powers, and could be on the way to becoming an Archivist themselves.

Suggestion #2: Humanity represents the maximum amount of Passion that a Host or Archivist can safely contain. This means that high Humanity doesn't necessarily mean a nice person - it may also indicate the potential for highly destructive Passions.

I'm thinking that Passions should be "triggered" by circumstances that bring the Passion into play, and they also stack with each other. So if I am affected by Rage(5) and Sorrow(2), that's a total passion of 7.

Here's the sting: during Possession, any Passions of the Archivist or the Host can be triggered, and they will all affect the Archivist and the Host.

So, if the Host has the active Passions Rage(5) and Fear(3), and the Archivist also has Active Passions of Duty(4) and Sorrow(2), that's a total Passion of 14 for both Archivist and Host.

Suggestion #3: Will is determined by the application of Presence (free Will) and Passion ("unfree" Will). The Host is assumed to apply their Presence against the Archivist unless there is a very good reason not to.

For example: An Archivist wants his Host (a policeman) to shoot a fleeing criminal. The Archivist has a Presence of 6, the Policeman has a Presence of 4. But considering this Act triggers the officer's Passions of Duty(4)(to uphold the law) and Fear(2)(of losing his job). The Archivist has one active Passion, Duty(3)(to a Better Future).

Archivist total Will is 6 (Presence) + 3 (Passion) = 9. But the policeman has 4 (Presence) + 4 + 2 (2 Passions) = 10, so he doesn't shoot.

Suggestion #4: Whenever total Archivist + Host Presence exceeds the Host's Transcendence, the Host (always the Host) suffers Burn. Whenever the total Passion exceeds the Host's Humanity, the Host suffers Fade. Whenever it exceeds the Archivist's Humanity, the Archivist suffers Fade.

There are still several rough edges to this (especially, what does Fade do in this system?) but it does seem to allow for high Humanity and high Transcendence to co-exist, while maintaining a coherent(ish) mechanic.

[Andrew Morris]

Okay, here's my attempt to rework the mechanics we've been discussing. Feel free to shoot me if I bastardize anyone's ideas too much.

Presence(which I don't like, name-wise -- perhaps "Energy" or something else?), is a wholly independent trait, set at will by the player. Humans start at 0 Presence. Exceptional humans might have Prescence on their own, but certainly not more than 2 points. Even that would have to be someone like, say, Jesus. A score of 1 Prescence could be fairly common, though, perhaps as much as 1-2 percent of the population. Prescence becomes the cap for the total amount of the Archivist's traits that can be used in any action. Host traits are never limited, which is why it makes sense to find the best-suited host for the task at hand.

Increasing Presence causes Burn on a one-for-one basis. Raise Presence by 4, the host takes 4 points of Burn. Presence can be lowered, removing points of Burn on a two-for-one basis, rounded up. Lower Presence by 5, the host gets rid of 3 points of Burn.

Fade is volunatrily taken in order to succeed where it would not ordinarily be possible to do so. The host takes fade in order to allow an action using Archivist traits to succeed, whereas the Archivist takes fade to allow an action using host traits to succeed.

Example of play:

GM: "Okay, you come to vault door. It's securely locked from the outside, leaving you trapped with a limited supply of air."

Player: "Right. First things first, raise Presence to 1 so that I can use Metabolic Control, reducing my host's need for air to almost nothing."

GM: "Sure, no problem, he takes 1 point of Burn. The effect is..."

Player: "Nope, as soon as the Metabolic Control has been established, I lower Presence back to 0."

GM: "Good idea. Okay, your energization of his body was small and fast enough that nothing bad happens to the host. Since you're not actively powering the Logos, it'll wear off in about a day or so, but your host is fine for the moment. What now? You're still trapped in the vault."

Player: "Right, I just needed a moment to think."

(At this point, the player attempts to get more information from the GM, determining if there is anything within the vault that can be used to help escape. Finding no such thing, he decides he'll have to use his Archivist powers to get him out of this jam.)

Player: "All right, I raise Presence to 2 so I can use Molecular Analysis and get a look at the locking mechanism."

GM: "Okay, you now have a mental picture of the entire structure of the vault door, down to the molecular level. In addition to the complex mechanical locking device, there's an electronic  time lock and a series of mechanical and electrical alarms. Your host takes 2 points of Burn. You can tell he's feeling a bit sick, but nothing major happens."

Player: "Damn, I'll have to bring out the big guns and energize him up to 7, so I can make him out of phase with other matter and walk through the door. Hey, wait a minute...he's a bank security guard, right?"

GM: "Sure."

Player: "Oh, I'll scan his mind and see if he's got any useful information."

GM: "Smart move. He knows this particular system very well, including a flaw in the locking mechanism. It only works from the inside, and it will set of the alarms, but he can definitely open the door."

Player: "Let's do it then. I'll lower Presence back to 0."

(Since the player is now using the host's abilities, no Burn is generated. The host is now only at 1 Burn, and Presence is back to 0. The player goes on to track down the enemy who locked him in the vault. He's now engaged in a battle with a dark Archivist and has been forced to raise his Presence to 10 during the course of the battle.)

GM: "The dark Archivist deflects your Zero-Point Energy Beam and responds with..."

Player: "Hang on a sec. How easily did he defend against the beam?"

GM: "Very easily. It didn't seem hard at all."

Player: "Oh boy, I might be getting into more trouble, but I'm gonna Fade the host to try and get the beam through."

GM: "How much?"

Player: "Can't risk going too low...5 points of Fade."

GM: "Ouch, you can feel your host's psyche start to crumble as you drain his life-force to power the attack. The Zero-Point Energy Beam is still partially deflected, but it does burn through his shield, vaporizing his left arm."

(And so on.)

[Doug Ruff]

Andrew,

Interesting, I'm going to make a couple of comments, and ask a couple of questions.

Firstly, a comment about the Presence scores for Hosts. I'd like to see a bit of a wider range. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that I'd like the opportunity within the rules to "damage" Host Presence - which means that a very low presence needs to be a bad thing, and not the human norm. The second is that a larger range allows for an Archivist to slowly "mentor" a Host by helping them to increase their Presence (with Archivism being the eventual goal. This is Michael's idea originally, but I support it.)

Secondly, a question about Archivist Fade. If Host traits are never limited, how does Archivist Fade help the Host to succeed?

Another question, do you also intend mechanics for the Humanity/Passions angle?

And another comment: I'm kinda attracted to the 2-for-1 rules for removing Burn. It's simple, and accounts for long term effects.

Finally, a note about the term "Presence". I think it's more suitable than "Energy" because it captures more of the essence of what makes a person (or Archivist) special. It has connotations with "personality" "stage presence" and "being all there". It may not seem like a powerful enough word to describe a trait which can power Logoi, but if you think of Presence as being the quality which makes a person more Real, and which therefore gives them more control over reality (and History) then I think that it's more than adequate.

[Andrew Morris]

I'd like to see a bit of a wider range. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that I'd like the opportunity within the rules to "damage" Host Presence - which means that a very low presence needs to be a bad thing, and not the human norm. The second is that a larger range allows for an Archivist to slowly "mentor" a Host by helping them to increase their Presence (with Archivism being the eventual goal. This is Michael's idea originally, but I support it.)

The limited range might be because we are viewing Prescence to be two different things. In my view, Presence (or whatever) is the degree to which the Archivist has manifested in the host. It has nothing to do whatever with how alert, spiritual, or capable the host is. In fact, looking back on it, I'd like to remove the option for the host to have even a 1 or 2 Prescence. That was just a bad idea for this particular framework, and was based on earlier stuff with no regard for the essential changes in the system that I'm putting forward.

Secondly, a question about Archivist Fade. If Host traits are never limited, how does Archivist Fade help the Host to succeed?

Just because they aren't limited by a cap, such as Archivist traits are, doesn't mean they will always be great enough to succeed. In this case, the Archivist can invest some of his power into the host directly, rather than using him as a conduit for the Archivist's own powers, which subjects the Archivist to Fade. Sorry, I didn't cover that in my example.

Another question, do you also intend mechanics for the Humanity/Passions angle?

There's still room for them, of course, but not as part of the central mechanics. That's one of the main differences I'm putting forward -- the majority of the focus in on the Archivist. The host is the mysterious, limiting factor. Because of their free will, they are essentially the wildcard which makes betting mechanics work.

if you think of Presence as being the quality which makes a person more Real, and which therefore gives them more control over reality (and History) then I think that it's more than adequate.

Right. As I pointed out, this is not how I'm viewing Presence in the mechanics I've put forward, which is why (for this mechanic) I think a different terminology is required.