Wolfe Tracks: November Wrap up

Pull up a chair an lets chat a bit about November!

Well, this was a busy month! November tends to be for me, so it isn’t that much of a surprise. But! I moved those milestone markers along! So it’s all been worth it. Now, if you’re just here for the stories, well don’t worry, a new Windtracer Tales chapter/episode is out this coming Wednesday, and the next Death Whispers is out Dec 13th.

Windtracer Tales: Dark Device of the Great Chasm

If you’ve been reading along on this one, it’s coming to a close. Now, this does not mean the end of Windtracer Tales. Nope. Just Dark Device of the Great Chasm. As a matter of fact, I’m working on the notes for the next story today! No title yet (titles are SO HARD), but it’s looking like it may have something to do with the Kingdom of Jata that lies to the northwest of Tela’s home city of Ishnanor. Naturally, Tela, Ki, and Mikasi will all be there. Maybe one more! But I want to keep a lid on that.

If you haven’t been reading Dark Device of the Great Chasm, well, the list of chapters for that serial is right here!

Legends of the Privateers: Death Whispers of the Etherwave

This is the new kid on the block. Three chapters down and I’m enjoying where it’s going. It has, I think (but you are the best judge of that) it has a different “voice” and feel to the setting. Maybe a little darker, with plenty of pitfalls and action.

This one is on a bi-weekly release schedule, just to give me some breathing room to get a solid chapter/episode out for you. It’s been an interesting experiment. Works for me with the writing, I still hope it isn’t too slow for readers! I surely hope not!

If you haven’t been reading Death Whispers of the Etherwave, jump on over to the serial and its chapters here!

Hoist the Colors

The game rolls on! This month I worked on two rules, one for what I call Threat and the other is Infamy. They’re tied together a bit as one impacts the other. Let me wax on, wax off a bit on that.

Threat

This one might seem familiar to those more used to D&D, Pathfinder and so on. Threat is very much like a Challenge Rating. But it’s got more work to do outside of that.

The concept of Threat is one of the key concepts of Hoist the Colors. Threat represents effectiveness. This could be how effective, or deadly, a creature might be, the strength of a faction, or danger presented by a strange Otherworld relic.

But Threat isn’t just a measurement of what the world throws your way. Threat is also used to represent how much of a challenge a Privateer crew can be against the world, its creatures, and factions. See? This is where the Challenge Rating parallel comes in!

Every Privateer crew starts off their stories at a Threat 0, at most a 1. At this point, your influence on the world is minimal. At best you’ll be treated as a minor threat. Over time, while your crew gains resources, builds alliances, and explores the world your Threat level increases. Each time your Threat level grows, it brings both opportunity and risk. You and your crew gain access to more assets and connections, but you’ll also attract the attention of formidable foes.

It impacts gameplay by modifying Fortune Rolls, determining how much impact you and your crew’s actions have in situations outside of direct combat. In this case, add the Privateer’s threat rating to any fortune roll in situations they have had a direct impact.

Gameplay with assets and Threat work in a similar fashion. Here you’ll roll your threat rating when you and your Privateers need to gain a temporary asset to solve a problem. This could be hiring a specialist NPC, borrowing a powerful relic from an allied faction, and so on.

How it works is that you would add your threat rating to an appropriate Action (Sway, Command, etc) being used to gain the temporary asset. In that way, it’s not unlike a Fortune Roll, but one rolled by the player, not the GM. The result determines the quality of the asset.

• 1-3: Poor quality (-1 below standard).

• 4/5: Standard quality (equal to the Threat rating).

• 6: High quality (+1 above standard).

• Critical (two 6s): Exceptional quality (+2 above standard).

As always, the GM narrates the ‘quality’ and what it means for the asset. For example, a poor quality ship part might have been refurbished but have a faint crack in it, so it might break under stress. But a high-quality part component might have been made with an arcane aspect from the Etherwave Arcana, and so have magical effects.

Typically, threat is paired with a player Action when rolling for assets. But this isn’t always the case. If you, or a member of your Privateer crew, need to borrow assets from an allied faction or guild, the GM may simple have you roll just your Threat rating alone for narrative reasons.

Threat can be increased through what is a Threat Growth roll. And yes, you can fail that roll, which means your Threat rating of how dangerous you and your crew are stays the same. It also means you could get yourself marked for death because well… you’ve been busy!

Threat Growth is where Infamy comes in. So, lets jump over to that.

Infamy

Infamy is sort of like a meta-currency. All RPGs have them in one way or another. Some trackable state or measurement that impacts the game in one way or another. Experience points in D&D are a meta currency.

Overall, Infamy is tracked on a scale from 0 to 12. The higher the number, the greater the notoriety or problems that will come your way. Each part of the scale will affect you in your career as a Privateer. Each point represents the crew’s reputation in the narrative, good or bad, because of heroism, mischief, or less than heroic deeds.

Infamy basically serves two big purposes in Hoist the Colors:

Short-term consequences (when the GM needs one … and they often need one …), like say the crew accidentally completing a job, called a Warrant, which upsets a rival crew or faction, who then wakes up and chooses violence that day toward the PCs!

Long-term progress. This is 100% the tie back to Threat. This is that moment when on PC rolls for their entire crew to see if they can unlock a higher Threat rating for the crew (… without making themselves a target for assassination!…).

Infamy is awarded based on the crew’s actions. Like (and these are just off the cuff examples):

• Gaining an alliance or securing a trade deal (+1 to +3 Infamy)

• Publicly defeating a powerful rival (+2 to +4 Infamy)

• Completing significant missions (+3 to +5 Infamy)

It all depends on the narrative for that session!

Infamy does come with consequences. Most everything does in Hoist the Colors, otherwise it wouldn’t be fun.

This is where Infamy becomes a measurement for the GM to know how much trouble the PCs are in against the world. Think the old ‘Reputation’ system I’ve seen tossed out in Pathfinder and other games. Here are a couple of examples:

• 4 Infamy: Minor scrutiny or interest from a faction or rival.

• 8 Infamy: Significant response, such as a rival’s direct interference into the PCs plans or a faction’s demand to the PCs to aid, or stop, some action.

Infamy can be lowered, if the PCs need the heat taken off them through “Downtime Actions” (things the characters are doing between sessions), or if they make a successful Threat Growth roll (which can even reset Infamy back to 0).

Now, what’s above is the basics of both Threat and Infamy. It is so not everything, there is more! But this is the meat and bone of both and how they connect, and really interact with each other. Not really something to obsess over during game but they should make a great measurement for the GM (and PCs) to have a way to see how they are viewed, or impact, the world as they play!

So, What Else?

With me, there is always more. Beyond the game, and the two serial fictions you’re getting to read, I’ve notes for a third setting. Yes, I went there. Not sure where, or if, it will materialize into anything. But this one might be on a slow burn for awhile, until I can clear my schedule a bit. Rest assured, if these ideas come together and start giving me the vibe that created Windtracer Tales, Hoist the Colors, and Legends of the Privateers, you’ll be seeing a new section show up above!

In any case, that’s it for now! See everyone next time!

For more about Hoist the Colors or any of the other fiction I write, please consider subscribing as I would really appreciate the support, sometimes I post behind the scenes on writing, worldbuilding and more. If you’re wanting a deeper look at Hoist the Colors, take the plunge here at the link: Hoist the Colors.

-Kummer Wolfe