First Quest: YA Fantasy Keys

[Judd]

After tinkering and playing with some TSoY I've got this idea of how to tinker with it.  The tinkered version is a standard fantasy and it is what I wish had been there when I was thirteen, looking for a role-playing.

It is about young people leaving home to have an adventure saving the world.

The keys are the first things in my head and how they could shape a game if the list was restricted, slowly becoming more and and more as the game went on.

PC's have three stages in this game.  Young, Heroes and Legends and there are keys unveiled to each stage to show the characters' development.

The only major difference between this game and standard TSoY, other than taking the game out of Near and a possible difference in how pools are refreshed.  Keys not only say how a player get's XP but it also says how they can grant XP to other players.  These are listed under the keys under Granted XP.

Other keys from the book will be thrown in, as will some Secrets but I'm not done thinking this out.  The following is right from my notes.

Young Keys

Key of Vengeance: Your character has 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 2 XP every time your character strikes a minor blow at that group or person (killing a member of the organization or one of the person's lackeys, disrupting their life, destroying their property).
Gain 5 XP every time your character strikes a major blow at that group or person or learns in their heart to forgive the enemy.
Buyoff: Let your enemy go.

Granted XP:  1 XP every time a companion helps you in your fight against your enemy. 3 XP every time your companions risk life and limb in your battles with your enemy.  5 XP if a character teaches you to forgive your enemy and let your hatred go.

Key of the Quest:  Your character is on an important quest that they must see to the end.  This could be saving a prince or princess, fighting a dragon or defeating an evil wizard. 

Key of the Quest is an important Key, one that will shape the game and should not be taken likely.  Every player at the table should have a say in the quest's goals, as they will likely become important focal points for the game.

Gain 1 XP for every scene when you are pursuing the quest meaningfully. Gain 2 XP every time your character does not budge from their quest's path even though it is an inconvenience. Gain 5 XP every time your character does not break from this quest's path even though life and limb are in peril.

Granted XP:

1 XP for every time your companions aid you on your quest.  5 XP for remaining with you until the quest's completion..


Buyoff: Quit this quest, knowing that stopping now will mean you never finish its goal.

Key of Curiousity: Certain aspects of the world are fascinating to this character and they will go to great lengths to learn more about them.  The player should note a subject in the world that interests their character; this subject should interest the player too.  The subject could be how Magic works, how the Trollbabes got their horns or simply: Dragons.

1 XP every time your character pursues a curiousity or mentions the subject in a scene.
2 XP every time your character pursues this character even though it is inconvenient.
5 XP every time your character risks life and limb to pursue more knowledge concerning this subject.

Granted XP: 1 XP every time

Buyoff: Dismiss this topic as uninteresting and pass up an opportunity to learn more about it.

Key of the Companion: Your character is the companion to someone who will be a great hero, helping them on their way to becoming a legend and probably becoming a legend in the process.

1 XP when this character is in a scene with their benefactor.
2 XP when this character aids their partner in a conflict.
5 XP when this character becomes Harmed in an attempt to aid their partner.

Granted XP: 1 XP when your partner thanks you for your help.  3 XP when your partner trusts you with their life.

Buyoff: Disavow your friendship with the hero or simply quietly decide that they do not need your help anymore and walk away, never mattering them quite as much ever again.


Hero Keys would have keys like:

Key of the Calling:

Key of Power:

Key of the Crown

Key of True Love

Key of the Traitor:

And Legend Keys would be:

Key of the World's Fate:

Key of Lost Love:

Key of the Artifact:

I want to have the keys represent a progression in power and character's maturity.

Key of the Artifact is worth writing out, its kinda cool.

So there is a Key of the Artifact and Secret of the Artifact, entirely seperate but linked to the same dingus.  The players author said dingus when everyone at the table has the Key or Secret of the same artifact.

Those who have the Key, gain XP from protecting it from enemies.

Those who have the secret, make up a power they get from it.

Yes, you can have both.

So, artifacts are like imbued items on crack and the whole party has to agree to have them.

If one person does the Buyoff for their artifact and not everyone at the table has it, then there is a scene where the artifact is lost.  Everyone can set stakes at will but in that scene, the Artifact will be lost to the party.

So, how does the group get from Young to Hero to Legend?

Alright, there are different areas on the character sheet for different kind of keys.

Keystone Keys are important to the character.  When they are young, they are why the character is leaving home.  Quest, Curiousity, Vengeance, etc.  When everyone has bought off their Keystone Keys about home, they become Heroes.

Once Heroes, they remain as such until one of the PC's gains a Grand Master Level skill, then they are all Legends, one of them ready to ascend at any moment.

There can be PC's who are not young folk leaving home.  There would be Mentors.  Mentors must take Key of the Mentor, which would give them XP for teaching the other PC's things and helping them grow.  Mentors can be crusty old warriors, wizards and talking animals.  There would be rules so that Mentors don't step on anyone's toes during chargen.

I think this is almost becoming its own RPG.  If it does, I'll probably call it First Quest.

::scurries to subject to add First Quest to header::

[Judd]

Keystone Keys are important to the character.  When they are young, they are why the character is leaving home.  Quest, Curiousity, Vengeance, etc.  When everyone has bought off their Keystone Keys about home, they become Heroes.

I meant to write Cornerstone Keys.

Doh.

While Legends and Heroes, Cornerstone Keys would be about why their character is a Hero or a Legend.

Keystone Keys...ugh.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

This is a frightfully good hack, Judd. Giving other players goodies for supporting your characters' issues is a really good design idea.

[Judd]

Thanks, Josh.

There are a few other touches that are coming to mind.

XP = Bonus Dice, so they can both be little chits or beads or whatever that you can hand to players or that players hand to each other.

I'm going to continue taking notes and hopefully jot some of this down during the winter break.

[joshua neff]

Judd, I'm stealing these and incorporating them into my cut-&-paste collage of TSOY and Uresia, for starting my daughter off on RPGs. These Keys will fit perfectly. Yoink!

Thanks!

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Cheese and rice, Judd! This is good stuff. You really need to publish this one - it's a great adaptation of a fantasy genre that doesn't get used nearly enough.

What happens when you've bought off your Young Keys but not everyone else has? Can you go ahead and get Hero Keys, or do you have to wait?

[Matt Wilson]

Wow. Very Cool!

[Valamir]

In the face of all this praise, I'm going to point out one thing that immediately struck me when reading this.


parts like

every time your character does not budge from their quest's path even though it is an inconvenience. .....every time your character does not break from this quest's path even though life and limb are in peril.

(and there are several like this scattered throughout).

seem tailor made to turn players into "My Guy" robots, only now they wouldn't just be My Guying to some imaginary concept in their head...they'd be My Guying because the rules tell them to "never break from the path".  Seems like an undesireable behavior to be not only encouraging, but requiring.

Maybe that's just because these are notes and not the final text.

[Judd]

Ralph,

Good call on the key wording.

That is something I will work on really carefully.

Judd

[Bret Gillan]

I think the way they're worded is fine. I disagree that they're "required" - yes they encourage this behavior with the highest XP awards, but there's nothing making this behavior mandatory in every possible situation that it arises. If all the Keys that could encourage a player to be a fun-wrecking asshat are removed, I don't think you'll have many Keys.

[Joe Zeutenhorst]

Should a Young character get Key of Vengeance? I'm not sure if that fits my conception of YA fantasy. Might also be hard to run with compared to Companion/Curiosity.

I'd give 'em a Key of Hatred, where it is about hating the thing instead of actually destroying it. Kind of Anti-Curiosity. Key of Hatred could "level up" to become Key of Vengeance when the character moves from Young to Hero. Something like this:

Key of Hatred
1 XP every time your character pursues an object of hatred or makes the hatred relevant in a scene
2 XP every time your character issues a denouncement to an object of hatred directly
5 XP every time your character experiences loss caused by his hatred or when he learns in his heart to forgive his enemy

[Bankuei]

Here's a good one to add to the mix:

Key of the Ideal:

Your character has always held some belief or ideal to be absolutely true, such as "The power of friendship", "The Knights of the realm are true, just and incorruptible", etc.

1 XP every time your character emphasizes or shows off their Ideal
2 XP every time your character keeps faith in the Ideal despite good reason to doubt it
5 XP every time your character holds faith in spite of contrary evidence that threatens his or her life.  ("I know there's still good in you!  Fight it!  You don't have to do this, you're still a hero!")

Buyoff:  Give up the ideal or belief.  Face reality.

Chris

[Judd]

Thanks, folks.

I think now what I need is some time and space to read over some YA fiction and flesh out my outline for this game and then begin writing.

Thank you all for the feedback and the suggestions.

More on this when I have more to tell.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Judd,

Just in case you haven't read it, Garth Nix's Sabriel and the rest of this series are excellent young adult fantasy.

[Judd]

Right now my winter reading list includes:

Alexander's Prydain series
Pullman's His Dark Materials
Lewis' Narnia
Cooper's The Dark is Rising
and now

Nix's Sabriel.

My plate is pretty full.

Thanks, Clinton.