the mini-supplement of adventures that never was

[Benjamin]

Hey all,

A while ago I thought it would be great fun to write a mini-supplement; and while I still think that it would be so to do so, I can't right now seem to get this thing started/restarted/finished or whatnot.  So, I thought I might show what I got, and see what happens; worst-case, I figure no one has time to look at it; middling-case, someone says, "hey, I can use this as is"; best-case scenario, someone says something that reinvigorates me and I decide this mini-supplement is much more important than my paper on Kitsch and the Apocalypse.

This minisupplement took the core rulebook setting as its default.  I tried to flesh out some of the things that I needed to make the setting live for me (Chapter One); after that are the adventures, only one of which is even near complete: the first (near complete) was a mob story, with a lot of subplots; the second was going to be a story about the Sanzoku and monsters from another dimension; the third was about an angry child tracking down a deadbeat dad that wasn't.  Then there was going to be a miscellany of random ideas: sorcerers, demons, unclassifiable things.

Anyway, I posted some of it http://home.uchicago.edu/~benjb/">here.  If you have any questions/problems/exhortations, I'll be here, working on my Kitsch/Apocalypse paper.  I'll need the distraction, so don't hesitate to post/write.  

Yours,
Ben B.

P.S. Especially, Ron, if I shouldn't have put this up at all.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

Wow, it's been two years since you last posted, man! Nice to hear from you.

And I'm cool with posting all this stuff. Let's get some discussion going.

Best,
Ron

[Benjamin]

Would you believe I just remembered my password?  
(And updated my profile and email.)

True, it's been a while since I last posted.  Maybe I'll make up for lost time?  Though lurking does come naturally...  
Either way, good to be back in the forum melee.

yours,
Ben B

[Mike Holmes]

Hi Ben, welcome back.

I like your humanity definition in general, and I like how you spelled out the loss conditon for Empathy. In bold, even. What I was wondering - I'm a slave to symetry - is what the loss condition for Truth is? Is it failing to search? Or is it failing to follow up a lead? Or is it conforming? I think that the loss condition is an important thing to make clear for both sides. Or maybe a joint one overall.

Mike

[Benjamin]

You've got a good point, I am missing a statement about what might cause a Humanity loss roll in reference to the search for True Knowledge.

The symmetrical statement about risking Humanity should probably be something like: You risk Humanity when you ignore (or possibly avoid) your search for True Knowledge (and True Knowledge itself).

For example, if a character walked down a street and didn't give the homeless man any money I wouldn't necessarily call for a Humanity (empathy) loss roll; likewise, if a character walked down a street and didn't use the Key on the homeless man who was the Gatekeeper, I wouldn't necessarily call for a Humanity (true knowledge) loss roll.  

But if the character never helped out those who needed help, I would call for a roll (sometime -- not each time); and if the character ignored the path to True Knowledge (if, for instance, they knew the man was the Gatekeeper, but refused to use the Key because it would kill him) I would probably call for a roll.

I guess, the three possibilities you brought up for a loss condition (failing to search/failing to follow up a lead/conforming) really seem very related -- or rather, I think if you combine them, you get what I mean: if you don't follow a lead (i.e., ignore your search) because you are conforming, that seems like a good place for a loss roll.

I imagine that most of the time, though, players would have a lot more opportunities for risking their Humanity/Empathy.

Does this a) help?  b) seem possible?  c) seem interesting?