[Polaris] Thou Art But A Hurricane: Event Meter?

[Darren Hill]

In this thread about a game at Indie Hurricane, an interesting technique was mentioned:

She also added a little event meter, where every time someone (anyone!) failed an experience check, we came that much closer to one of (4?) major turning-point events determined by the setting, that we must immediately set a scene for. This worked so well! It seems like a natural part of Polaris, and I think I heard somewhere that Ben wished he had thought of it himself.

Can someone describe this technique in a bit more detail?

[Moreno R.]

Hi Darren!

I assume that you already looked at the other threads about Thou Art But A Warrior here at the forge and story-games, and you looked at the information on Anna's blog http://wundergeek.blogspot.com/ about the game, so I don't need to talk about the general premise of the game, the differences with Polaris, etc, and what you are searching for is only information about the specific "Discord" mechanism.

Well, I don't know if the rule changed from the playtest copy I used, but it worked like this: are you familiar with the experience mechanism in Polaris, and the way it measure the change in the character from Zeal to Weariness, to betrayal and/or death? The discord mechanism is added to this, and act on the setting in a similar way: every experience point that any character gets is added to the "Discord" tally, too, and at specific points (5, 10, 15, 20) something specific happen that hasten the destruction of the Caliphate (and change the nature of the threats your mistaken can use against you)

[Arturo G.]

The nice thing is that the Discord fired events are things that affects the setting and all the characters. It somehow transform the situation escalating the conflict with the Mistaken.
I have not got the opportunity to try this game on actual play, but it looks like a very simple mechanic that helps a lot to focus the story.

[Darren Hill]

Hi Darren!

I assume that you already looked at the other threads about Thou Art But A Warrior here at the forge and story-games, and you looked at the information on Anna's blog http://wundergeek.blogspot.com/ about the game,

Er, no. I've been out of the touch for a while. I didn't realise TABAW was a separate game, I thought it was just the title of a single convention game of Polaris.
I can't find any pages on Anna's blog about the game itself (just about the layout) - older posts don't seem to come up. Maybe it's a browser issue.

so I don't need to talk about the general premise of the game, the differences with Polaris, etc, and what you are searching for is only information about the specific "Discord" mechanism.

Well, I don't know if the rule changed from the playtest copy I used, but it worked like this: are you familiar with the experience mechanism in Polaris, and the way it measure the change in the character from Zeal to Weariness, to betrayal and/or death? The discord mechanism is added to this, and act on the setting in a similar way: every experience point that any character gets is added to the "Discord" tally, too, and at specific points (5, 10, 15, 20) something specific happen that hasten the destruction of the Caliphate (and change the nature of the threats your mistaken can use against you)

I think I need a few more details to properly grok how this works, but it certainly sounds interesting.

[Moreno R.]

Er, no. I've been out of the touch for a while. I didn't realise TABAW was a separate game, I thought it was just the title of a single convention game of Polaris.
I can't find any pages on Anna's blog about the game itself (just about the layout) - older posts don't seem to come up. Maybe it's a browser issue.

OK, these are some links about the game.

For a description of the game, Anna wrote here this one:
"[..] Thou Art But A Warrior - a setting hack of Polaris written for the setting design contest back in December. Thou Art But A Warrior is a game in which you play Muslim Knights in what is now Spain at the beginning of the Crusades, just as the Christian armies of Charlemagne are poised to sweep over the mountains and recapture all the land that the Muslims had occupied for four hundred years."

All started with a contest here at the Forge, the Setting Design Challenge. It was a challenge to create new settings for indie games. You can find many threads in the Endeavor sub-forum about different entries, but here is a list of them, and here the results: TABAW won the contest.

This is the review thread: Thou Art But a Warrior: Setting Challenge Review

This is Ben Lehman take on the game after he did try it: [Thou Art But A Warrior] I wish my game was this fun

This is another playtest: [Thou Art but a Warrior] The Fall of a Kingdom

There are other thread on the game on Story-games, but I hope these are enough to convince you to buy the game when Anna will publish it for this year's Gencon...  ;-)

[Darren Hill]

Thanks for the links, Morena. This is a game I'm now very interested in.

[AXUM]

so I don't need to talk about the general premise of the game, the differences with Polaris, etc, and what you are searching for is only information about the specific "Discord" mechanism.

Well, I don't know if the rule changed from the playtest copy I used, but it worked like this: are you familiar with the experience mechanism in Polaris, and the way it measure the change in the character from Zeal to Weariness, to betrayal and/or death? The discord mechanism is added to this, and act on the setting in a similar way: every experience point that any character gets is added to the "Discord" tally, too, and at specific points (5, 10, 15, 20) something specific happen that hasten the destruction of the Caliphate (and change the nature of the threats your mistaken can use against you)

I think I need a few more details to properly grok how this works, but it certainly sounds interesting.
[/quote]

Hello:

This mechanick sounds like The Horror Revealed rules from "My Life With Master".


Ax

[Moreno R.]

Hi, Ax!

Well, I don't know if the rule changed from the playtest copy I used, but it worked like this: are you familiar with the experience mechanism in Polaris, and the way it measure the change in the character from Zeal to Weariness, to betrayal and/or death? The discord mechanism is added to this, and act on the setting in a similar way: every experience point that any character gets is added to the "Discord" tally, too, and at specific points (5, 10, 15, 20) something specific happen that hasten the destruction of the Caliphate (and change the nature of the threats your mistaken can use against you)

This mechanick sounds like The Horror Revealed rules from "My Life With Master".

Not really. The "horror revealed" rule work like a cap on the value of Self-loathing: to avoid getting a value too high, when you reach a certain amount of self-loathing, you narrate a horror revealed scene of your own choosing instead of getting another point of self-loathing.

So, it's personal, work as a cap on one of your "traits", it's free narration (with some limitation), doesn't have any other mechanical effect.

The "discord" mechanic is global (everybody is hit by the consequences, PCs and NPCs alike), don't work as a cap (you still get the experience points), what happen is hard-wired in the game rules (simplifying a lot, it's like, for example, in MLWM when the sum of the self-loathing of all minions reach 10, the mayor of the village is killed by the master, when it reach 20, the castle of the master is destroyed and he must flee with all the minions, and when it reach 25 it start the endgame without having a minion who refuse an order), and has a lot of effect on the game...

Most of all, the Discord mechanic is like a clock that tell you that the end of everything you love is near. You see it going on, point by point, until the end arrive. It's much more in the heart of the game that the Horror Revealed "meanwhile..." scenes...