Conditions

Conditions are the dynamic and diverse set of positive and negative circumstances that can impact the health and status of a character.

Players are responsible for defining and managing the conditions for their characters.

Boons and Banes

Conditions are divided into boons and banes.

BOONS: Positive conditions representing advantages to a character’s health and status. Boons are acquired as the positive consequences of performing self-help actions or as a beneficial effect of an action performed by an ally. Boons can help a character navigate tough situations or gain an edge in challenging scenarios.

BANES: Negative conditions that reflect difficulties, setbacks, or weaknesses affecting a character's abilities. Banes are acquired from the negative consequences of performing actions. Banes can accumulate and hinder a character's effectiveness, requiring them to seek ways to recover or mitigate these drawbacks.

Health and Status

Conditions are tracked and managed using a set of aspects related to a character's health and status.

Health aspects are the elements that reflect a character’s physical and mental resilience and vitality. These aspects measure how well a character can perform under physical stress and maintain mental stability.

PERFORMANCE: Physical abilities, such as strength, stamina, speed, and agility. They reflect how well a character can handle physically demanding situations. Performance boons include increased stamina or temporary boosts in speed, while banes might represent fatigue or injury that reduces physical capacity. For machines, performance reflects how well gear or equipment operates under stress, such as the handling of a vehicle or the power of an engine.

CONTROL: The ability to manage reactions and maintain stability, covering aspects like energy, sanity, mental acuity, motivation, reasoning, and empathy. It reflects the stress associated with self-control, adaptability, and focus. A control condition could include mental fatigue from decision-making, emotional strain from empathy, or difficulty maintaining concentration during complex tasks. For equipment, like a spaceship, this might involve maintaining access to the ship's central computer and life support systems.

Status aspects reflect a character's social standing, influence, and access to resources and support networks. These aspects help define how well a character is positioned within the game world in terms of reputation, alliances, and material stability.

IDENTITY: A character’s reputation, social status, and how they are perceived by others. It encompasses factors like appearance, influence, and public image. Identity boons might involve an enhanced reputation or recognition, making it easier to garner respect or loyalty from others. Banes could include damage to one’s reputation or social standing, possibly leading to distrust or prejudice. For equipment, identity covers visible aspects, such as wear or cosmetic damage, that affect how valuable or impressive an item appears.

SUPPORT: A character's ability to sustain operations by accessing necessary resources, maintaining their equipment, and securing aid from allies. This aspect reflects their financial stability, logistical support, and overall readiness to meet the demands of the game world. Support boons could signify increased financial resources, better access to supplies, or supportive alliances. Banes could involve a lack of resources, debts, strained relationships with allies, or equipment in poor condition. For equipment, support covers resource-based needs, such as fuel, maintenance, or access to parts and repairs, necessary for equipment to function effectively over time.

Managing Conditions

A condition is referred to by its aspect and type. A negative condition impacting a character's performance, like a wound, is called a performance bane. Alternatively, a positive condition like a magical protecting ward is called a performance boon.

Each health and status aspect has 3 checks for tracking boons and 3 for tracking banes. Boons and banes are dynamic, and players should expect to be adding and removing conditions to their character sheets continuously during gameplay.

THE HONOR SYSTEM

The game system relies on a player honor system to ensure the true nature of a character's condition is respected in the narrative. Game mechanics are only concerned with the level and type for each aspect.

Players are expected to keep notes related to the specific narrative details of each condition added to their character during gameplay, and to roleplay fairly concerning their conditions.

When performing actions, players should advise the host of any conditions that potentially impact the ability of their character so the difficulty of the challenge can be adjusted to reflect the current condition of the character.

Incapacitated

When a character has no remaining checks for a specific aspect, that aspect of a character's ability is incapacitated. That aspect cannot be used when performing actions until at least one bane has been resolved and removed from the character. For example, if a character accumulates 3 banes to their performance aspect, they are physically incapacitated. They cannot move on their turn or perform physical actions.

Players can continue to perform actions that involve the remaining aspects of the character. Players should be creative and strategic in finding alternative ways to help the group and accomplish their goals even while one or more aspects of their character have been incapacitated.

Character Death

Character death in the game is always a player's choice and a risk they must be willing to take. Anytime a player chooses to push a character past their normal limits, they can choose to perform a Heroic action.

A heroic action allows a player to ignore the restrictions for using an aspect that is incapacitated. Think of a heroic action as one final desperate push to try to overcome a challenge.

SUCCESS: If the player's action is successful (complete success or mostly success), the character survives. Any negative consequence of the heroic action can be ignored.

FAILURE: If the player's action is a failure (complete or mostly failure), the character is dead. The player can narrate their character's death and proceed to design a replacement character.

There are no limits on when or how often a player can choose to perform a heroic action (if their character is not dead).