On the Move!

Well, I've finally taken the plunge. I've been spreading myself far too thinly for a long time, so I'm bringing all my points of access into one location.

If you want to read the kinda blogs you read here, then you'll have to turn your RSS feeds and bookmarks to: this link.

If you want it all, aim at my blog.

You will find all parts of my efforts combined into a big mixed blog. The categories will separate it into the old familiar content streams, so take your pick.

This is one of my first php-based web design efforts, so expect a little rough on the edges. I've integrated a blog, a forum and a wiki (as well as I could) to allow a better place for feedback rather than blog comments and to have a place where explanations can grow and evolve as my understandings of the world do.

I hope you like it and humbly invite you to join in the fun!

Fang

Hiatus

I'm going to take a little time off to write the first draft of Scattershot. If you want to follow my progress, check here regularly.

Fang

Why Stop Play?

I've been mulling over how, in every game I've played, LARP or RPG, play stops disconcertingly when combat begins. Every LARP I've played has been punctuated by the huge amount of resources needed to resolve even the simplest violence in-game. This sucks the action out of virtually everything else. You chara doesn't have combat skills? You get the sidelines.

How can I change that for The Unseen? Simple.

Every combat ends in one round catastrophically. There won't be any calculations and both parties will suffer either severely or devastatingly. Why? Well, given the setting, these beings are incredibly powerful and it only stands to reason that when they act it is decisive. Likewise, unlike LARPs I've been in, this makes combat bloody, dangerous and horrific. It won't be 'clash of the bad-asses.' One round and everything is over, short and sweet.

It follows the ideal: don't own a gun unless you plan to carry it; don't carry a gun unless you plan to bring it out; don't bring out a gun unless you are going to shoot it; don't shoot a gun unless you aim at a person; and don't shoot at anyone unless you plan to kill them. Basic gun safety.

On the other side, death isn't possible. Anyone worth playing is immortal in the classical sense. This will force participants to find other ways to destroy each other, far more interesting ways, much more secretive and Machiavellian ways. The whole point of the game, after all.

This is how I plan to emphasize the horror, underscore the hidden machinations and limit the number of breaks in the game play. I bet I think I'm sooo smart.

Fang

Miscellaneous Bits

Let's try a few scattered tastes of The Unseen.

1. First of all the subtitle is "Plying the Courts of the Hidden Kings." What are hidden kings? Amoungst mortals these would be people like the Capo Crimine of the Cosa Nostra or the venerable 'Boss Hogg' (portrayed by the late Sorrell Booke) of Hazard County.
   
   Except when you enter the world of modern fantasy. Magic is real. Dragons are real. Færies are real. Typical mortals cannot perceive the strange and unusual or just about everything mentioned in this game. Thereby you can have clans of vampires, tribes of werewolves, guilds of ghosts, traditions of magic users and so on. Dozens of groups functioning secretly from each other, vying for control of resources both real and fantastic. That's where the shadow kings and tension flow from.


2. Now as an ARG, each player will have a cover; they will pretend to be themselves. They will go along with their 'normal' lives only spending as much time as their mortal guise can spare to delve into the politics of occult. For the sake of privacy, people will be cautioned to fictionalize themselves (changing the names to protect the innocent). This allows people to play whenever they want wherever they want and with whomever is available, even asynchronously.
   
   Needless to say, in the nearly impossible case of chara death, players will simply refictionalize their lives for a new chara.


3. As an example of a 'secret society', I offer the Red Caps. These are fæ who engage in human cannibalism; they are not related as a species, but as a movement. The wearing of the red cap is a call out for support of other members of this seemingly disorganized body; it is also a threat to any who champion the cause of the mortals.
   
   I imagine the fun of putting on a red stocking cap (the cap can take any form) shopping for Xmas presents, flaunting your in-game status, but only to other players. It may be still more fun to wonder about every red chapeau wearer who could be a player on a 'mission'.

I'll leave you with that for today, see you in 14!

Fang
(Who doesn't own anything red...yet.)

A New Age Begins

Okay, it's been a bit more than 11 days. I'm not as in-flow with my GTD stuff yet, but I am getting better at it.

Here's what's happened and will happen:

1. I've created The Unseen wiki.
2. Next, I'll be looking into migrating material from a Blogger account to my TikiWiki blog and then copying The Unseen material over.
3. The material here will remain as it is (no matter how hard it is to make out).
4. On The Unseen wiki, I will reorganize this material to be more readable and printable.
5. Starting now, this will be just my change log. I will consider closing this depending on what you request. (In the comments please!)

Let me detail my early thoughts on operating an LARP ARG.

First off, it won't be quite so 'the user has no ideas where the content is' like commercial ARGs. The officially supported material will be available on the operator's site (TheUnseen.ScattershotGames.com for the playtest). Members are welcome to create any kind of puzzles and leads to unofficial material; this will be subject to regular contests. Striving to win these contests will bring things closer to certain standards of 'solvability' and 'quality'.

Next, I am going to dig up all the notes I created about secret societies for The Unseen. These will appear on the site in three forms: direct, historical transcription of the notes; sections rewritten for the game (either part of the 'downloadable' source or as one of the web-supplements); and finally, as password-protected mini-forums / sites for the players to make use of.

Attendance, scheduling, networking and journals will appear in the 'general' areas of the wiki. This will help people schedule their play better and keep interested when unable to attend. This won't be like a typical LARP. Play will be 'available' at all times in one fashion or another. You can email other chara (not their players directly due to confidentiality issues), call them (only if certain permissions are given), as well as chat, forum and 'facebook' with them.

I believe that a LARP ARG will work very well with a social networking site built in. The primary one will be Out of Chara (OoC) and allow people to discuss anything relating to the game. The In Chara (IC) spaces will be tailored to fit the ambiance in terms of theme and 'technology' as well as restricted only to chara who have in-game rationale for access.

I'd also like to offer rewards for OoC bloggers who keep up a steady news flow for people to feel more involved as well as interest new members.

In form, the game will have participants using chara which live secretly under the cover of the player's real identity; this is what we used to call 'avatar play' in the old days.

I'll bring you more later! See you in 14....

Fang Langford

Cover

This is where I will keep the Update list:

7/14/7 Okay, it's been more than a year, but I'm back. I'll probably be able to keep this up for a while now that I'm organized. (Thanks to GTD and RtM) First thing I'm going to do is start moving The Unseen material, as you see it here to an Unseen wiki. Then I will reorganize it to be readable and then convert this to just my change log.

Know what the first really big change is? The Unseen will be a combination LARPG and ARG. See you in 11.

6/28/6 Added a link to a promised section about No-Myth Gamemastering to Chapter 5.

2/26/6 Archived 'Bibliography' to the Appendix. Seeded components of the section named 'Biblography' to the appropriate areas. Thumbnailed a replacement Bibliography, now drafted.

2/26/6 Archived 'Glossary' and 'Appendix' to the Appendix. Cut off section named 'Glossary' from the 'Table of Contents' and posted it to Glossary now drafted.

2/24/6 Completed 'Cover,' finishing off the original set of posts. Now all that is left is to edit it into a working game!

2/24/6 Cover originally entered.
2/24/6 Title Page originally entered and drafted.
2/24/6 Preface originally entered.
2/23/6 List of Illustrations originally entered.
2/23/6 Dedication originally entered and drafted.
2/23/6 Table of Contents originally entered.
2/08/6 Chapter One originally entered.
1/30/6 Chapter Two originally entered.
1/12/6 Chapter Three originally entered.
1/11/6 Chapter Four originally entered.
1/11/6 Chapter Five originally entered.
12/31/5 Chapter Six originally entered.
12/25/5 Index originally entered.
12/24/5 Bibliography originally entered.
12/23/5 Glossary originally entered.
12/15/5 Appendix originally entered.

Title Page

Scattershot Presents:

The Unseen

Plying the Courts of the Hidden Kings

by Ajmir Einstein Fang Langford


Copyright 2002
Handbook for the Recently Deceased Press

Preface

Was "Introduction"

From above:

"What if pixies lived in your garden, trolls under that bridge, or the neighbor really was an ogre? And you suddenly could see them!" -- Fang Langford

From before:

Introduction - Set the 'Editorial Voice'

Play example goes here.

From the Forge:

Strategically placed pieces of seeming fiction will actually be cleverly disguised examples that the chapter following it will rely heavily upon. Subtle system characteristics will be doubly hidden and be referred to more than one chapter backward (such as "remember the example back in Chapter Two where...").

Another innovation we plan (and this is the reason for the extensive index), is combining creature, gizmo, or non-player 'cast' lists with the "Genre specific mechanics." That way not only does each power, spell, or otherwise have a concise example, there is also a goodly list of base creatures/non-player characters/gizmos for the reader to start with.

The secret plan is to introduce examples in a special way. Rather than isolated concentrated examples sprinkled randomly through out the book, I decided several things:

1. All examples would contain the same characters. The 'players' would be the 'chara' from the companion book.¹
   
2. The examples taken together and in the order presented, would create a 'full' story: beginning, middle and end; complication, crisis, climax, resolution and denouement; all characters encharacterized, both 'players' and 'chara;' setting, character, theme, plot, style and action; characterization,
   setting, conflict, tone and irony; statement of conflict, rising action, 15 steps of complication; all done in tiny snippets of story.
   
3. They would showcase some of the 'catalog' of elements elsewhere in the book.²

Here are the original product specifications:

Title: The Unseen
Subtitle: Plying the Courts of the Hidden Kings
Handout 1: Live Action Rules
Handout 2: Avatar Rules
Handout 3: LARP Magic
Features: Live Action & Avatar Rules
Premise: The Horror Within Oneself
Augmentary Feature: Reflection Shifting
Augmentary Feature: Monsters as PCs
Augmentary Feature: Magic Users
Augmentary Feature: Tabloids
Card Game Notes: Tarot Motif/Magic
Card Game Notes: Færie Catalog
Card Game Notes: Useful LARP Resolution
Universe: U3 - with Færie visitation
Dynamic Background: Seelie versus Unseelie plus Fianna
Notes: Related to Charles DeLint's works

Fang Langford

¹ All twelve Scattershot products were scheduled to come out in pairs:

Universe 6: The World of the Modern Fantastic Superheroes	Færie Tales Typical Fantasy RPG
The Unseen: In the Courts of the Hidden Kings Færies, Trolls, Vampires and et cetera in the Modern World	Steel Cages: Ten Minutes Old and It's Free Cyberpunk
Gothic with a K Vampires, C'thulhu and Horror	"Romance Novel" 'Nuff Said
Tales of the Laughing Fox Science Fantasy with Laser Swords	Double Feature Cinematic and Over-the-Top
Sinclair Cat: Consulting Detective Detective, Steampunk and Anthropomorphics	"Time Travel" 'Nuff Said
"Spec Trek" (Split-Infinity Drive) Think Distant Speculative Future Battleships	ÆgisTech Mecha & Street Kombat

As you can see, I hadn't "named" all of them yet.

² Scattershot trade secret: It's boring to have a list of spells. It's boring to have a list of monsters. Why not combine them and spice that up?

List of Illustrations

I've completely rewritten the Challenge and MIB system to incorporate Solomon's Auction inherently. I think this is the first step towards revamping Scattershot to run on Experience Dice (Ex-Dice here). from http://scattershotdesign.blogspot.com/2006/02/ive-completely-rewritten-challenge-and.html

Challenge

Self-Applied is Modifier

• Improves Chances


• Increases Potential Result


• Complicates Detail


• Based on Ads, yields Gimmes


• Based on Disads, yields Keepers


• Instead of 'Whiff,' close results are as unmodified; misses are like minor Catastrophic Miss

Offering an Ex-Die, another player may Challenge

• Makes an Roll More Difficult


• Lessens Potential Result


• Complicates the Detail


• Can Specify the Alternate Result

Take the Challenge as a Keeper and roll or....
Offer more Ex-Dice to ignore the Challenge

1. Take turns raising the 'pot' until....


2. The highest bidder is the winner, Challenge is thus blocked or enforced


3. Loser takes the 'pot' as Keepers from the winner


4. No double jeopardy: roll continues without further Challenge (by Mike Holmes)

Anyone may take Loaners or receive aid from another players at any time

For Rules Disputes

• Negotiate stakes to be clear to all present


• The Non-contenders must suggest at least two compromises,an accepted compromise ends the Auction


• Winner's stakes take effect

Dedication

This is dedicated to the one I love.

And the work I did on Scattershot when I didn't know any better.

Table of Contents

Originally posted on the Forge, but their html parser has mangled all older postings; so:

These are Scattershot's Mechanix isolated from the Techniques. (See glossary for the descriptions of italics items throughout.)

SOLO PLAY - Solitaire Play is anything you do separate from the Group. You then make decisions and changes to only the things you are the Proprietor for. Dice usage (other than to generate Detail) is avoided.

Creating/Evolving a Character - There are no limits on development points for initial Character creation. (Players may elect to set their own starting limits, either independently or by Group consensus. These include things like development-point challenge cut-offs, thematic bias, or et cetera. The Gamemaster is not allowed to place development point restrictions on anyone other than the Non-Player Characters.) Placement of concentrations of development points is an indicator to other Players of the Character's focus of design; efficacy overlap must be negotiated before Play begins. Later points are purchased using Experience Dice. It costs 1 development point to raise any Rating by 1. All the abilities a Character possesses will have Ratings costing at least 1 point. The Defaults for abilities 'not paid for' have specified Opportunity restrictions in their listings.

GENERAL PLAY - During General Play no Mechanix are used. Ratings are treated simply as guidelines used mostly when unusual or notable. Whatever the Speaker says is what happens in the Game. Play passes between Players in no formal order and at no specific time interval. The Speaker is the Proprietor for any element they introduce into the Game (unless they pass it to someone else, like the Gamemaster). A Speaker should be careful when affecting anything another Player is the Proprietor of (no permanent changes are allowed without at least the tacit approval of the Subject's Proprietor). Specific Play may be called for any time there is disagreement over the direction the Narrative is taking or to suggest Complications.

SPECIFIC PLAY - In Specific Play, the Mechanix are infrequently used, mostly to create Detail, to support tension (by the introduction of uncertainty), to negotiate contended Narrative direction, or for other Players to offer Complications. Play still passes between Players in no particular order or rate.

Ratings - These represent the capacities for Action.


• Statistics - Every Character in the Game has them and they begin with a base Rating of 10 (which is the same as 8 plus development points spent - 12 implied points are already spent here).
  
  
  • Strength - This is the Magnitude Stat of raw muscle power Action.
    
  • Agility - This is the Stat for Invoked, Immediate or Involved untrained physical prowess Actions.
    
  • Hit Points - Not a measure of a Character's health, this is actually the Resource Stat for the amount of 'fight left in ya.'
    
  • Reaction - An Invoked Reactive Stat Rating, this is the Character's effective 'response time.'
    
  • Observation - This is the Invoked Immediate or Involved Stat for gathering relevant information from sensible sources. How much may be 'searched' in once Action is indexed on the UE Chart.
    
  • Power - Power is the Magnitude Rating for most Special Abilities (and sometimes also functions as the Resource Rating powering the same, depending on the listing).
  
  
• Free Skills - Not fully counted as Ratings (for minimum cost purposes) because of their limited Opportunity and usability. These optional Invoked Ratings are listed as a 'laundry list,' that has a special cost of up to 5 Free Skills for each development point spent. The starting level of each Free Skill is given on that list. Any increases are at normal cost (+1 for each development point).
  
  
• Skills - These are also optional Invoked Ratings as listed. Easy Skills cost 11+development points spent on them, Intermediate cost 10+points, Difficult are 9+ (and so on for Exceptional, Renowned, Incredible, Nigh Impossible, and Legendary, which apply mostly to Special Ability listings). Each Skill listing gives predetermined Time/Quantity/Opportunity limits, Scope/Duration bases, and information on 'how to Default to the Skill.' Talent and training are purchased identically (after which they are combined) differing only in the Character's description and with the Detail created during the Application Phase of Resolution.
  
  
• Special Abilities - These are genre-specific, extra-normal abilities. They are generally tied to the Power Stat to determine 'how much' they may affect (indexed on the UE Chart during Character creation/evolution).
  
  
  • Superpowers - These flashy inhuman abilities are used mostly beyond hand's reach. Each power's narrowly defined effects are determined at time of the Character's creation/evolution. They don't normally require Power expenditure.
    
  • Magic - This is the ability of producing nearly any effect imaginable made possible by expending Power (in its Resource facility). Their practice is usually thematically restricted.
    
  • Spells - These narrow-use, discrete abilities are set during Character creation/evolution and rarely require expending Power. They are most often 'purchased' from schedules using a simple cost incentive system.
    
  • Please ask for further samples from other genres of interest.
  
  
• Advantages/Disadvantages/'Character' - These frequently offer Residual modifiers in situations that they relate to. They also may function as a specialization of efficacy or deficiency (For example; 'Dexterity' is +1 Agility with the hands; 'Can't Cook' eliminates food preparation Defaults). They are also used as Characterization guidelines for post-Session Experience Dice Rewards.
  
  
• Modifiers - These bonuses (or penalties) are added (or subtracted, respectively) to a Rating at the end of the Opportunity Phase of Resolution when unraveling Question. They represent variations of difficulty due to the situation in Play.

Resolution - Resolve Question with Actions. In the following three Phases, an Action is begun in the Opportunity Phase, impartially concluded in the Decision Phase, and becomes a part of the Narrative during the Application Phase.


Choose - Pick an Action for your Character during the Opportunity Phase of your Character's Opportunity. When you indicate this Action, the Character is actually starting to do it in the Narrative. This Action cannot imply any kind of response on its Subject's part. (You could throw a 'boot to the head,' but you cannot 'kick their teeth in' because it implies their teeth will be there, waiting.) Choose the Rating that most suits this Action and combine that Rating with the appropriate modifiers to best approximate the chosen Action.

MIB numbers - Uncertainty and impartiality are introduced in the Decision Phase of resolution by rolling dice. From the above modified Rating, subtract the sum of 2d10 to get the Made-It-By (or Missed-It-By, when the difference is negative) number. This is the numeric measure of the quality of success of an Action and is used to determine the impact of the Resolution on the Narrative.

Adding/Subtracting Experience Dice - You may alter any MIB number by applying Experience Dice to it. Anyone who observes a MIB roll may contribute, regardless if they have a Character who is a party to the Action or not (even by preempting the actual MIB roll with their Experience Dice). Experience Dice are rolled and their face value is added or subtracted to the MIB as the die roller sees fit. If you don't do well enough, go ahead and roll another; this may lead to 'bidding wars' where one Player adds an Experience Dice then another subtracts one and then the first adds another, and so on. Once all the dice have landed and been totaled, the Decision Phase ends; this is how the basic MIB number is determined.

'Rules of Engagement' - When your Character performs an Action that includes another, you are Engaging them. You can't do something to someone else's Character unless you do it with their Player, and their Character becomes the Resistor. You decide only your Character's portion of the interaction, the other Player decides their Character's reaction, at times a contested MIB roll is needed to resolve whose Action takes precedence and 'defines' the resulting interaction.

Contested rolls - During the Opportunity Phase, the active Resistor may decide to oppose the Action being resolved (when their Character can and does perform another Action to Complicate or counter this Action) and thus also rolls a MIB number. Both parties have stated their Actions during the Opportunity Phase, now the rolls and MIB totals (including any Experience Dice) of both are done simultaneously during the Decision Phase so that the basic MIB numbers may be called out at roughly the same time. After that, subtract the Resistor's MIB number from Actor's to get the Resultant MIB (RMIB) number. An RMIB is treated exactly like any other MIB during the Application Phase.

Buy a Success/Spend a Success - During Application Phase, you may alter the results by adding or subtracting to MIB total based on how it related to the Narrative. Both sides in a Contested roll may do this.


• You may buy a MIB up to 0 (minimal success) by introducing Complications for your Character. Each Complication taken adds 1 to the MIB. The maximum number of Complications is equal to the Epic Index* number.
  
• If you have a high enough success, you may 'spend' MIB points on Benefits, 1 Benefit per point spent. Every point the MIB number is higher than the Critical Juncture number is automatically taken as Benefits, see below.

Deciphering MIB numbers - Following all the adjustments, the remaining MIB number defines the amount of impact the Action has upon the Narrative. Consider the range of possibilities between the greatest degree of success and the worst failure. The Critical Juncture threshold affects all exceptional rolls; if the positive MIB number equals or exceeds Critical Juncture, it is called a Telling Blow. If the Missed-It-By number is lower than minus the Critical Juncture number it is a Catastrophic Failure. Between those are a number of degrees of success and failure as created by Mechanical results and Proprietor Narrative descriptions.

Interpreting Contested Actions or RMIB numbers - Once the RMIB has been settled, the Actions of the two (or more) participants in the contest are commingled. A positive RMIB means the Action that initiated the Contest determines the result; the more positive it is, the more the Actor's Action overshadows the whole interaction. The more negative the RMIB is, the more the Resistor's Action characterizes the result; neither is completely ignored, but their portion of the synthesis is determined by the RMIB. An RMIB of 0 means the Action succeeded by only the tiniest of margins, possibly a pyrrhic victory; this result usually has little Mechanical impact on the Narrative (except the Complications taken by both sides). Contested Actions are also affected by Critical Junctures only when one of the initial MIB numbers succeeds the Critical Juncture threshold in the first place.

Critical Junctures - When a Telling Blow is scored, the Proprietor of the Subject or recipient Character is compelled to improvise additional colorful and long-term consequences (lasting at least to the end of the Session). This may include adding additional disadvantages to the Character (accounted for indexing the MIB on UE Chart facet of 'Points,' which is usually 1), accounting for each additional point as either Complications for the Subject or Benefits for the Actor, or other in-Play effects. For a Catastrophic Failure, the Player of the Actor must do the same for themselves.

Results - In order to determine the Mechanical result, a number of different choices are available. The MIB (or RMIB) number may be multiplied by a Factor before subtracting it from a Resource Rating (the Factor is indexed from UE Chart using the Magnitude Rating for that Action). The Action may create a Residual modifier (equal to the index of the MIB on UE Chart facet of 'Bonus,' most often this is just a 1). It may be used simply as a numerical scalar of results. Or any combination of these, as the Player of the Actor decides. Results are applied to the Narrative at the end of the Application Phase. Calculated penalties for reduced Resource Ratings do not take affect until the next 'lull' (like the return of Specific or General Play at the end of Mechanical Turn Sequencing).

MECHANICAL PLAY - This is the most rigidly formalized type of Play. It is most often used for combat, but not always, other possible uses include things like generating Detail with the strict timing of events, for tension.

Turn Sequencing - One of the main features of Mechanical Play is rigid sequencing of how Players take their turns.

Scope/Duration - always keep in mind that Mechanical turn sequencing is most appropriate for Immediate Durations on the Individual Scope level. Shift the Scope up at least one level if the number of Non-Player Characters equals or exceeds the number of Players.

Combat Initiative - Melee does not begin with the first 'swing.' Whichever Player makes the decision (during General or Specific Play) that Melee is unavoidable calls for the shift to Mechanical Turn Sequencing, and their Character takes the first Turn. This often precipitates hasty battle preparations and the like, but these then occur during the early parts of Mechanical Play. Whoever seizes this initiative might be ready first.

Rounds/Turns - Each Player may conduct 2 Immediate Actions (and a few Involved) for each Turn of every Character they have. After the each Player finishes all of the Actions that they wish for all their Characters' Turns, Play passes to that Player's right. After every Character has had their turn, Play 'completes' the circle and returns to the initial Player who takes their Characters' next turns. Once around the circle of the entire Group is called a Round.

Immediate Actions - These are the units of activity for the Characters during Mechanical play. Each listing for a Rating defines what kinds of Actions may be performed with it. Most Characters may move up to 7 yards running as an Action. Other Actions are usually resolved with MIB rolls.

Free Actions - These do not really count as Actions. They don't weigh heavily enough on the time requirements for Actions and often occur simultaneously with them. These include things like Looking Around (Invoking an Observation roll), Dropping an Item, Falling Down, Moving a few steps (about a yard), making a Soliloquy, Changing the application of a Special Abilities already in use, the Last-Ditch Dodge (at a -2 penalty), or any other act accepted as 'Free' by the Group during Play. A Character may perform as many Free Actions as the Epic Index* number during each round. Except in Cinematic Games, no more than one of each kind may be performed each round by a Character. These may even be performed during another Character's turn. If desired, an Action may be expended specifically to restore the full capacity to perform these Free Actions a second 'cycle' during the round.

Forfeiting - When another Character Engages yours on their turn (and your Character hasn't done this twice already), you may forfeit one of their upcoming Actions and perform a Reactive Action. This may lead into a series of Following Actions.

Following Actions - During Melee an Engaged Character may perform an Involved Action that works like a series of attacks, defenses, and movements but only count as one Action. Each included attack is treated as a separate Engaging Action where necessary. Such a Flurry of Actions continues (along the lines predetermined by the ability 'scripting' it) until an attack 'hits' (from either Engaged combatant) or there is an Interruption. A Flurry can last for no more 'Actions' than as many as the Epic Index* number of the Game.

Combat Advantage - The Detail of some Actions (and some Free Actions) may create an Advantage for one combatant in Melee. Because these are too diverse to list, we divide them into three categories: you can Seize, Hold or Check an Advantage. Each significant Advantage you hold against your foe (up to a maximum of the Epic Index* in number) is a continual Residual penalty (after the Action that resulted in it) of 1 to all of the Subject's rolls. Each Advantage Checked by foe eliminates 1 point of this penalty. Changing who you have Engaged in combat with erases any Advantage you hold against others.


Here are some examples to get you started:


Seizing the Advantage (where none was had before):

• Having the foe Yield it to you.
  
• Take the Lead when foe seriously falters.
  
• Having (and using) better Reach.
  
• Take the Upper Hand after a good hit or when foe must Dodge as the Last Resort.
  
• For an All-Out Attack (with no thought for defense).
  
• By Finding an Opening when foe's defense versus Feint is poor enough (less than 0).

Holding the Advantage (when you already have some):

• Cornering your foe.
  
• Focusing on them (you are thus Off-Guard to all else).
  
• Pressing Your Attack by 'advancing' into it.
  
• Take the High Ground.

Checking the Advantage (that is held against you):

• An Upset happens when a foe makes a crucial mistake and it erases all previous Advantage (such as a Catastrophic Failure).
  
• Backing Off (good against Pressed Attacks).
  
• Focusing on your foe (thus you are Off-Guard to all else).
  
• All-Out Defense (leaving the only Actions possible as defense or movement)
  
• Take the High Ground.
  
• Trick your foe into Yielding it to you (like the old 'sand in the eyes' trick); this also erases all previous Advantage.

Rewards - Characters receive Rewards for what they do as consequence of their actions within the context of the Game. Players receive Rewards of Experience Dice for things that make the Game enjoyable for much of the Group (whether during Play or not). Infrequently the separation between these will blur for explicit reasons described in the Techniques section. The enjoyment Players give themselves is its own reward. Experience Dice are awarded either after the Session consistent with the overall enjoyment of the Session for most of the Group (equal for all Players plus bonuses for exceptional contributors) or by vote for something like 'most valuable Player.' There are also on-the-spot Rewards for well-Played Detail that clearly increases the enjoyment of Play. Either Gamemasters or the Players may make these awards (Players out of their own stock of Experience Dice which the Gamemaster usually replaces out of the 'common stock'). Some post-Session Rewards will be withheld when a Player Plays significantly outside of their Character's description (usually on the Character Sheet), as this is their 'contract' of Characterization expectation with the Group.

Chapter One

From before:

Chapter One - Basics

• Sample Characters
  
• How to be a player
  
• Using the mechanics
  
• Gamemastering

Previously:

This is almost exactly what I had in mind for the follow-up to No Myth Gamemastering. I will be forever indebted to Chris for spelling Flag Framing out.

Chapter Two

From before:

Chapter Two - Character in Depth

• How to create a character
  
• Genre specific mechanics
  
• What's in it to play?

Previously: on Kallisti Press, in "Shadows and Strings," Joshua BishopRoby wrote:

In an offhanded comment in Changeling vs Vampire I pointed out how while both titles highlighted shadowy political machinations in the text, the presented rules did not actually support play involving that content. Most of the World of Darkness line talks big about politics and pulling strings from the shadows, but in actual play, this usually just turns into character and setting color. Players get to feel good because they get to say, “I’m a Reformist! That means I’m not a stuffy Traditionalist!” Generally this is followed up by working for the Duke without question, and me shooting myself in the head.

Now, if I wanted to rip out all the stuff that I liked about the setting of those games — shadowy conspiracies of demihumans lurking in the shadows of the modern world — and create a system to support the political and conspiracy play, how might I go about doing that?


Thematic Components
Politics:

Relationships, Power, and Need
Fantasy:

The Other and Transformation
Secrecy:

Facades, Shame, and Fear
Let’s boil the concept down to three elements: politics, fantasy, and secrecy. Politics is all about relationships, power, and needs. Fantasy is all about encountering the Other and transformation. Secrecy is about facades, shameful truths, and fear. Connecting these, we get… the Other, behind facades, exercise power through relationships to feed their shameful needs, fearful of what happens if they’re found out.

I’m missing transformation, though, which should permeate the entire thing. Yes, this sounds exactly like what lots of the World of Darkness was trying to be. But it also falls into the same trap as the WoD: these aren’t protagonists. No, I don’t mean good guys, I mean proactive characters.

These guys are parasites, clinging to the underside of the world, purely reactive. Their goal is nothing constructive, it’s mere survival, a continuation of the status quo. Not people I’d be too interested in playing. You know what this needs? This needs T. S. Eliot. The only way that the Other will be able to step out of the shadows is to transform their world, but they fear that transformation as much as they fear the vengeance of humanity¹. So the concept becomes: the Other, behind facades, exercise power through relationships to feed their shameful needs, as fearful of the vengeance of humanity¹ as they are of transforming their world....

What about the characters and players, though? The characters, obviously, are individuals from the ranks of the Others that are caught up in the transformation of the world that they both fear and need. Some might work towards transforming the world; others work against it. They do so by exercising that power through facades and relationships, careful not to upset the status quo too much too fast for fear of inciting the vengeance of humanity¹....

The original novelty of the World of Darkness line was its inversion of the encounter with the Other. Instead of being the knight lost in the land of faerie, you were the faerie lost in the real world.

Following this he continues with an interesting experimental game that doesn't have a bearing here, but please give it your attention. This part is pure gold for The Unseen, though. If you change the humanity¹ to Status Quo. Being a game about færie courts, the status quo is highly important. Being as so many kingdoms are 'closed' (sealed in a lake or et cetera), the currently 'open' have a vested interest in keeping them closed. But that never stops sex, greed, or family, does it? What makes it interesting is that you can't just 'look' at someone to know if they are fæ.

That should frame what I want so far.

But what to comment on thematically...?

Fang Langford

Chapter Three

From before:

Chapter Three - How to Use the System

• When to use the mechanics or not
  
• Genre specific mechanics (changes depending on the book)
  
• Whatever lists are needed by genre

Previously:

Another archive find! This one occurred before No Myth Gamemastering, so those modifications will be necessary first.

The Game in Outline:

Mechanix ("->" means alternatively "begets" or "influences"):

1. Players (inc. gamemasters) -> Personae -> Interaction -> Play -> Narrative -> History
   
2. Context: Persona versus (Relationships and Circumstances) before (Background and Props) create Sequences via Mechanix
   
3. Ownership: Proprietorship, Gamemaster, Player, and Speaker
   
4. Play: Solo, General, Specific, and Mechanical
   
5. Systematic: Detail, Question, Challenge, and Contests
   
6. Ratings: Numeric (Magnitude, Invoked, and Resource), Direct (Advantage, Disadvantage, and Character)
   
7. Action Phases: Opportunity, Decision, and Application
   
8. Resolution Cycle: Circumstance -> Modifiers -> Resolution -> MIB number -> Adaptation -> Play
   
9. Modifiers: Time/Extent/Opportunity, Props/Consumables/Workspace/Labor, Scope/Duration of Subject, Engagement (En Guard/Focused), and the UE Chart
   
   1. Scope: Individual, Squad, Mob, and higher
      
   2. Duration: Immediate, Involved, and Scenic
10. Obliged: Critical Juncture (Epic Threshold), Telling Blow, and Catastrophic Failure
    
11. Contesting: Deliberate, Latent, Residual, and Modifiers
    
12. Circumstance -> Initiative -> Turns -> Following Actions (Flurry/Interruption) -> Combat Advantage
    
13. Rewards: Keepers, Gimmes, Freebies, Loaners, Payback, Buy Back, and Development (and Plot Device/Deus Ex Machina)
    
14. Mechanical Complication: Hands-Free, Basic, Intermediate (Tournament), Advanced, Collectible Card Game

Style:

1. Approaches: Avatar, Swashbuckler, Joueur, and Auteur
   
2. Commitment: Ambitious, Intentional, and Passive
   
3. Internal Reference: Self-Conscious versus In Context
   
4. Sharing: Self-Sovereign, Referential, and Gamemasterful

Techniques Thus Far:

1. Sine Qua Non (Adds to Ownership) - Your Persona: Keep It Simple, Share
   
2. Genre Expectations (Adds to Context) - Know what you're playing
   
3. Mystiques and Intrigue (Adds to Sine Qua Non and Genre Expectations) - Where to focus; how to engage
   
4. Who's in Charge? (Adds to Ownership: Speaker) - How to play together
   
5. Challenge (Adds to Systematic: Challenge & Interaction) and King Solomon's Auction (Adds to Ownership & Who's in Charge) - Avoiding fights; good gamesmanship and alternatives
   
6. Creating Detail (Adds to Play & System) - Mechanix only when you need them
   
7. Suspense is Killing Me (Adds to Creating Detail & Mystiques and Intrigue) - Spare the dice and save the Play (Spoil the Players)
   
8. Experience Dice and Genre Expectations (Adds to Genre Expectations & Context: Genre Expectations): Style (Adds to Style: Approaches, Commitment, Internal Reference, Sharing), Central Concept, Metaphor, Motif, and Running Gag - How to organize the expectations beyond the 'Portable Elements'

Upcoming Emergent Techniques:

1. Genre Expectations (Adds to Genre Expectation) - Genre Expectations are composed of the 'Portable Elements' (and are often listed by them), but grow out of expectations of 'mood,' 'atmosphere,' 'tone,' or et cetera, that 'filter' all of these:
   
   1. Personae: The active elements or 'vehicle' that connects players to the play
      
   2. Mechanix: Establishes a player's 'right of way' (Adds to Genre Expectations: Speaker), provides explicit 'tools' to create play (Adds to Systematic & Resolution Cycle), and reinforces Genre Expectations (Adds to Rewards & Context) 'when all else fails' (Adds to Play: ...Specific, and Mechanical)
      
   3. Props: Further empowerment for actions as abilities (Adds to Modifiers & Systematic: Challenge), descriptions (Adds to Players: Interaction & Context: Props & Systematic: Detail), or goals (Adds to Context: Sequences & Rewards: Plot Devices & Mystiques and Intrigue)
      
   4. Relationships: Simultaneously the representation of active elements and the networking that exists between them within the game; makes the game 'more than the sum of its parts' (Adds to Ownership: Proprietorship, Gamemaster...) and creates some of the realms to play in (Adds to Context: Relationships & Mystiques and Intrigue)
      
   5. Sequences: 'Expectable' chains of events as guidelines that are both abstract and ordered (Adds to Context: Sequences), providing both a way of reinforcing Genre Expectations by enticement for following them (Adds to Rewards: Keepers...Freebies...Payback) and inspiration for moments of quandary (Adds to Mystiques and Intrigue & Creating Detail & Suspense); often given in fragments or abstracted into general 'story' structures
      
      1. These 'chunks' reach down to where Involved and Scenic Actions reach up to; for example, the 'Romance Novel' CCG supplement will be Scenic-Action/plot/whimsy cards
   6. Background: Simultaneously the representation of the passive elements and their value 'in the scheme of things,' waiting to be brought into play and/or acted upon
      
      Setting, History, 'scenery,' 'bedrock,' 'can be in-motion/undirected,' 'available to be used'
      
   7. Circumstances:
      
      Connects Personae to Background 'field of play' 'avenues'
      
      not just the relationships between the elements, but sometimes their relationship to the Self-Conscious narrative (like tension, being crucial). 'scenery,' 'site/startpoint,' 'Dynamic Status Quo: redux' [prior to "Starting a Game"]

Game Flow:

1. Challenge (Redux) – Mechanix (get into die rolling situations, "Hey, I'm not gonna let you...")
   
2. Playering/Gamemastering [prior to "Rewards..." and "Group Persona..."]
   
3. Starting a Game (or a Session) [prior to "Negotiating..."]
   
4. Who the Speaker is & Spotlight Time (Who's in Charge Redux)
   
   1. Sharing the Responsibilities (Having a Ref and Such) - Techniques
      
   2. Live-Action Role-Playing 'Logistics' (and Missing Players) - Problems
      
   3. When Approaches Contrast (Using Them in Play) – Problems
5. Warm-Ups

Gamemastering:

1. Gamemastering/Playering [duplicate to show relevance to "Playering..."] – 'sharing play,' 'it's not really real,' 'all roads don't lead to Rome if Rome doesn't exist,' 'faking an inspiration/improvisation,' 'you could control, but why?'
   
   1. Good gamesmanship – spotlight issues/problems (gamemasters too)
2. Gamemastering Mystiques (Yours and Others)
   
3. Rewards Mechanix [after "Mechanix"] (Adds to Genre Expectations: Mechanix)
   
   1. Keepers, Gimmes, Loaners, Freebies, Payback, Buy Back
      
   2. Giving, Receiving, Sharing, Lending, and Borrowing
4. Using Experience Dice (activating Props, plot devices, development, and et cetera) – Mechanix [after "Props"] (Adds to Props)
   
5. Handling Advantages/Disadvantages - Mechanix [after "...Really Ambitious..."]
   
6. Genre Expectations as 'the Hammer' - Techniques [prior to "Advanced Analysis"]
   
7. Background Creation/Maintenance [after "Relationships"] (Adds to Genre Expectations: Relationships...Backgrounds)
   
   1. Dynamic Status Quo/Ecological 'Leveling' – using Circumstances
      
   2. Gamemastering K.I.S.S. (stay close to your GenEx and Approaches, c. f. Transition) [after "Transition"] 'more sharing'
8. Breaking Up is Hard to Do – Problems

Scenic Breakdown:

1. What's a Scene For and When Does It End? [after "Sequences"] [after "Who is the Speaker..."] (Adds to Genre Expectations: Sequences)
   
   1. Pacing, Pacing, Pacing (do it by the Approaches)
      
      1. The Tension Spiral – always appropriate (watch the clock)
         
      2. Making 'a Story' (Thematic and Climactic Ambitions)
         
      3. Sharing the Spotlight (...with the Background/gamemaster too)
         
      4. 'The Opposition' (the illusion of the Ambition of Competition with the gamemaster)
         
      5. Fusion (Portable Parts)/Emulation (dangers/joys of copying)
         
      6. Transition [prior to "...K.I.S.S..."]

Playering:

1. Origins, Precipitating Events, Drives, and Direction for the Persona or Game [after "Persona"] (Adds to Genre Expectations: Personae)
   
2. Negotiating Sine Qua Non (and Genre Expectations) [prior to "Advanced Analysis"]
   
3. Group Persona Creation (and Individual) [prior to "Getting Really Ambitious"]
   
   1. Persona Development - Mechanix
      
      1. Finding an Approach Compromise – Techniques

For the Connoisseur:

1. Write your own GenEx [after "...as 'the Hammer'" and "Negotiating..."] - Central Concept, Metaphor, Motif, and Running Gag then Background, Props, Relationships, Circumstances, Sequences, Personae, and Mechanix
   
2. Getting Really Ambitious
   
3. Advanced Analysis (of other games)

Chapter Four

From before:

Chapter Four - How to Use Combat

• Deciding on the proper use of conflict for your games
  
• Combat

Previously:

Oh great. As if I didn't have enough trouble ; )

Moyra Turkington has described the way to capture about half of Scattershot. It's like the difference between 'putting your two cents' and 'a penny for your thoughts.' Most traditional gaming is about the two cents; everyone is expected to 'go after' what they want. Hers is about flirting and enticing another, the reward is the sign of approval for the efforts. That's exactly where I was going with Mystiques and instant rewards in Experience Dice, but I really didn't know it.

Now that I can tap into her 'pull' versus 'push' thinking, I may just be able to write the Scattershot material the way I wanted. With the complications stuff too.

There seems to be a fair amount of confusion about what she's saying, but to me it's all about opening up, revealing, and trusting. You aren't judging someone else's play into your comfort zone, you are inviting them to do whatever they want to please you. It's not a passive technique at all, but an enticement or an invitation. It's a great way to create connection between the other players and the character, between the other players and the character's player. And it doesn't need to be character specific; considering the Proprietorship aspect of Scattershot, any proprietor can pull in terms of their 'property.'

I'll leave the rest of this thinking for later (during the redesign).

Chapter Five

From before:

Chapter Five - Who Plays All the Rest?

• Gamemastering (I was made to promise to add this to Scattershot.)
  
• Motifs and genre conventions

Previously:

I found this in my search for 'the olde stuff'

When we were working out the ‘supplements’ side of Scattershot, we paid attention to a fact that retailing experience brought back again and again; if you don’t bring out new role-playing gaming products regularly, you lose your ‘front row’ seat to sales (and interest). But how to do that without succumbing to ‘editionitis’ (printing second and higher editions of the rules)? Modules? (Those are only sold to a smaller and smaller share of the market who are already buyers of the line.) Updates? (I don’t know about anyone else, but I hate having to scan three or four books to find one rule; that’s too much ‘handling time.’) What then?

I got an idea from both Palladium’s pre-Rifts lines and GURPS’ world books. It should be something light, and very narrow-genre (each one of its own creation, thank you), yet it should contain at least some of the main rules (always a flaw I found in GURPS). Yet Palladium books cost too much to be light. What then?

Well, a long time ago, I segregated Scattershot’s mechanical complexity into three tiers (to avoid GURPS’ innumerable ‘optional rules’ search-time problem). We decided that we’d put only the first tier of the mechanics in each of these ‘genre books,’ as we’d come to calling them (with ample references to a ‘core set’ of books). We’d also spend most of our design time on the mechanics in the core books (twelve of them now, with no more in sight) so they’d never need major revision/updating. This also meant the first tier of mechanics, as it appears in the ‘genre books,’ would be fairly static (not the presentation, just the mechanics themselves, did I mention that core book twelve is meant to be in comic book format even though it carries roughly the same mechanics as all the others?).

What this means is that anyone right off the street could pick up a ‘genre book’ and be able to approximate play (with the static, first tier mechanics, this makes for a shorter production schedule, crucial for making a profit at media tie-ins and licensed products - fad chasing). These books would lead consumers back to the core set of books which cross-reference each other (in as user friendly - not ‘where did those rules go’ – a way possible, each book offers modular rules + narrow-genre information that can be used to augment any other), inviting the consumer to buying the whole line. (This is much like the effect the ‘Open Gaming License’ was supposed to have on Player’s Handbook sales.)

Since we’d be treating every little narrow-genre as it came up and these products hung from the ‘structure’ of the generalized genres presented in the core books, we’d never run out of source material (or fads to chase after). Production time and costs would be low, so we could catch as many trends as possible (without losing our publisher’s shirt), and the price at the counter would likewise be lower for the entry-level consumer (I am still amazed at price tags over thirty dollars).

Add to that that we have a similar type of tie-in planned as a collectible card game and also an electronic console game tie-in in development, means we can be as diversified as needs be.

The Unseen in one of the twelve core products, however I'm taking out the LARP rules until I get some playtesters (if ever). Here I mostly want to explore the Genre Expectation and product format.

Which means I need to come up with the 'second focus' for the game. I believe all my products come out flat without a 'second focus.' Add to that rearchitecting the Mechanix and Experience Dice stuff to fit the new Complication Resolution model, rebuilding the Experience Dice Mechanix to create proper currency between sections of the game and to reinforce the designed-in play goals (based on some reward cycle articles I've read recently on some blogs around here).

Chapter Six

From before:

Chapter Six - Using Other Parts of Scattershot

• Fusing genre conventions from the other products

Previously:

I've been struggling a lot lately with something I remembered about the original design of The Unseen...it was meant to be the LARP entry of Scattershot. An obvious ploy to garner the Vampire: the Masquerade LARP people.

It kinda couldn't be both really; a tabletop with LARP patched on or a LARP with optional tabletop rules.

I'm a bit at a loss. To be true to the original vision or...?

Yer right. I'll make it a tabletop and scratch-rewrite it if I need it to be a LARP.

Thanks, it's always good to talk to you.

Index

So I imagine you are all wondering why I am using these wacky blog titles. --'Why the heck is he listing the parts of a book ass-backward?'

It's simple when I explain it.

See, in a few more posts, I'm not going to be posting to this blog anymore. Just edit, edit, edit. For example, this particular entry will probably not get changed all that much until the very end. For the near term, it will be a list of things that I want in an index (including their alternative names), done manually.

That's how it will go with all the posts on this blog. Each will be modified to closer and closer to its final form. Somewhere in the string of posts, I'll have to figure out where to keep the changelog, mebbe the cover; I'm not sure.

In theory, you'll be able to print the whole document out and play it. Perhaps I'll monkey with the front-page html so it looks a book. I will eventually add artwork too. I know enought DHTML to make the CSS covert it to a 'printer friendly version' without reloading the page.

But at the moment these are listed as plans so that I can pick up this project if I'm absent for a long time.

Fang Langford

Bibliography

Many Thanks to the Forge
Palladium
GURPS
Mekton II
RGFA
John R. Kim

Glossary

• Actor - The Character performing an Action (possibly contested by a Resistor).
  
• Application Phase - The last Phase of any resolution, MIB numbers are converted into Narrative consequences.
  
• Applications of a Ratings - These determine how a Rating can be applied in Play. They are Instantaneous, Reactive, or Residual in nature (see the specific listings).
  
• Benefit - Anything that makes a result 'better.' Mechanical Benefits include all of the time/Quantity/Opportunity limits, for example, are Subject goes farther, Subject goes faster, effect covers more area, Action takes more time (or less if that's better), affects more points, gives higher bonus, affects more Subjects, has a higher Factor, or 'sifts' more information. Benefits may also improve Scope/Duration bases for an Action. Lastly, anything that notably suits the circumstances of Play, but are not Mechanical in nature.
  
• Catastrophic Failure - Happens when a MIB (or RMIB) falls at or below the Critical Juncture number in the negative (for example, if the Critical Juncture number is 7 a MIB of -7, -8, or less is a Catastrophic Failure). The Player of the Actor creates these additional results the same way a recipient does for a Telling Blow.
  
• Character - Any active element in the Game. Players invest a lot of time, effort, and passion creating a special kind of Character called a Player Character; as their primary contact point in the Game, Proprietary issues should be closely adhered to in their case.
  
• 'Character' - Advantages and Disadvantages of small Mechanical impact on the Game, these are used more as the basis of Characterization Rewards. The cost of these is a single development point for up to 5 'Character' elements
  
• Characterization - The fashion in which a Player represents their Character. This is expected to be consistent with the information on the Character Sheet.
  
• Character Sheet - An on-paper record of all notable aspects of a Character, given either as Ratings or as descriptions.
  
• Cinematic - A type of Game where the Narrative is characterized as nearly cartoon-like in quality as in many B-movies.
  
• Complications - Anything that makes a result more difficult. Mechanical Complications include all of the time/Quantity/Opportunity limits, for example, are Subject doesn't get as far, Subject doesn't go as fast, effect covers less area, Action takes longer (or lasts for less time if that's worse), affects fewer points, gives lower bonus, affects fewer Subjects, has a lower Factor, or 'sifts' less information. Complications may also decrease Scope/Duration bases for an Action. Lastly, anything that suits the circumstances of Play notably, but are not Mechanical in nature, may also count.
  
• Critical Junctures - Chosen before the Game begins, the Critical Juncture is the numerical limit past which (the MIB number equals or exceeds Critical Juncture, positive or negative) the Proprietor of the Subject is compelled to improvise additional colorful and long-term results. For positive results this is called a Telling Blow, for negative it's a Catastrophic Failure. The sum of the Critical Juncture threshold and the Epic Index* must not exceed 10.
  
• Decision Phase - The middle Phase of resolution, this is when the dice are used to impartially generate the basic MIB number that defines the results of the Action being resolved.
  
• Defaulting - Modifying a Rating possessed, but not directly related to, an Action your Character has no ability for (usually with a penalty). For abilities your Character cannot even approximate; Easy abilities Default to a roll 11 or less, for Intermediate to a roll 10 or less, and for Difficult, 9 and under; there are also Opportunity limitations as listed for each skill to be Defaulted to. (Defaulting between Scope levels is an extra -1.)
  
• Detail - Information and Play that increases the interest and enjoyment of the Game. GARK! Mechanical Detail includes all of the time/Quantity/Opportunity amounts, as well as, for example, how far a Subject goes, how fast a Subject goes, what area an effect covers, how much time an Action takes, how many points an ability affects, how high a bonus is, how many Subjects an Action affects, what Factor an Action gives, or how much information an Action 'sifts.' Detail may also reflect the Scope/Duration bases for Actions. Detail may be rather Mechanical (Specific numbers and such) or very Narrative (colorful additional information).
  
• Duration - The time scale that Actions function in. Not in chronological units but as Immediate (happens quickly), Involved (takes a short while), and Scenic* Actions (which occupy entire scenes by themselves).
  
• Engaged/Engagement - When the Action of one Character affects yours to the degree that a response becomes possible; yours can become Engaged in their Action. Your Character cannot become Engaged if they are Off-Guard towards that Actor (unless they succeed with a Reaction roll, at a -2 penalty, which predisposes some kind of Reactive Action).
  
• Epic Index* - Chosen before the Game begins. Many things (such as the maximum number of Following Actions in a Flurry, maximum number of Complications 'spent' to raise a MIB, maximum number of Free Actions usable in a round, maximum number of Combat Advantages in Play at one time) are limited by Epic Index* number. The sum of the Critical Juncture threshold and the Epic Index* must not exceed 10
  
• Experience Dice - These 6-sided dice are given to and retained by the Players and may be used to affect the Narrative in a Mechanical fashion. Once used, they are given to the Player whose Action they were used in (to the Gamemaster is the Action was unopposed). Those given to the Gamemaster are returned to the 'common stock.'
  
  
  • Earn them for doing anything that makes Play fun for others in the Group, bringing food, Playing well, making others laugh (when appropriate), doing your part to support good Play, and et cetera. These awards occur between the Play Sessions, coming usually from the Gamemaster, but Players may vote them as for an MVP, for example.
    
  • You can instantly give them (out of your own stock) to anyone for exceptionally enjoyable episodes they provide during Play. The Gamemaster usually replaces those given by Players, when appropriate. Even the Gamemaster will do this.
    
  • Borrow them whenever you like (from your 'adharmic bank account'); an example, that you are not limited to, is when you run out. These are saved by whomever you use them 'against;' later, at the discretion of the 'saver,' they must use them 'against' you.
    
  • Buy them for the price of 2 dice for each development point - This single Mechanic is still in playtrial
    
  • Keep them for yourself and use them for or against anyone's Characters (including your own); Rewards for good Play goes to the Player not the Character, you may use them on any of your Characters.
    
  • Roll them during anyone's Decision Phase and add or subtract them as you see fit. Roll them when it's not in Mechanical play and they're treated exactly like a MIB of their face value. (This is the 'Deus Ex Machina' method of affecting the Narrative.)
    
  • 'Spend' them to improve your Character. Take as many Experience Dice as you wish and roll them together for a total; compare this total to the following schedule. 6-9 nets 1 development point, 10-13 = 2 points, 14-17 = 3, 18-21 = 4, and so on in increments of 4 per point.
  
  
• Factor - The multiplier facet from the UE Chart when applied to a MIB or RMIB number during the Application Phase.
  
• Flurry - A sequence of Following Actions that function as a single Involved Action but with several MIB rolls; these are loosely scripted by the skill or ability that defines them. One of the most familiar is Fencing's Parry-Riposte; in Scattershot the combination is a single Involved Action. (Notice too, how it begins with a Reactive Action.)
  
• Game - Not just published materials, this includes the Play of the thing and all the elements within a specific incarnation.
  
• Gamemaster - This is the Player who 'Plays all the other Characters.' Instead of generating their own Player Character, they take on the roles of all the Non-Player Characters and moderate the properties of them. As the central facilitator of Play, they are traditionally (but not always) called upon to be the Proprietor over most Subjects the Players are not directly the Proprietors of.
  
• Gamist - According to Ron Edwards, this is a mode of Play characterized by competition. See his works for further details.
  
• Group - The circle of Players, including any Gamemasters, who are a part of creating the singular Narrative.
  
• Immediate - A Duration specification usually equal to a single Action (considered loosely 1½ seconds of time). Immediate Actions are completed swiftly, almost as quickly as they are started.
  
• Individual - The personal level of Scope. Most Subjects here are singular or very small groups (less than a handful) and it is frequently used in conjunction with Immediate Duration.
  
• Instantaneous - An Application of a Rating describing how the Actor chooses when to use the ability. In Mechanical Play, these only occur on the Character's Turn as an Action or as a Following Action.
  
• Interruption - Any Action that a Flurry is not 'scripted' to deal with. If successful, it causes the current Flurry to end suddenly.
  
• Invoked - Actions or Ratings that are for conscious or deliberate behavior on the part of the Actor. These also include Reactive Actions.
  
• Involved - A specific Duration usually taking the time of a number of Immediate Actions. These may occur concurrent with an ongoing scene and sometimes require a series of die rolls to be resolved piecemeal.
  
• Magnitude - A Rating that gives the basis of either how much may be affected or how much of an effect related Action will have. These are indexed on the UE Chart at the time of Character creation/evolution and noted on the Character Sheet.
  
• Mechanix/Mechanical - The actual 'rules' of Scattershot. The term 'rules' is avoided because of its divisive nature and because 'Mechanix' is suggestive of Scattershot's interrelative quality. The practice of Scattershot is divided into Mechanix and Techniques.
  
• Melee - Individual Immediate physical combat fought with hand weapons or less.
  
• Mob-Level Scope - One of the higher Scope levels. When dealing with Subjects on this level, each separate Action affects more than a handful people (or represents the Actions of a similar number together). Most frequently in Mechanical Play this is used to create skirmish level battles. A skill like Strategy is at the Mob-Level Scope (while possibly applicable to Squad-Level Scope as well).
  
• Narrative - The sequence of Actions and events that occur in Play at the Character level of the Game.
  
• Narrativist - According to Ron Edwards, this is a mode of Play characterized by Character Play making (sometimes) symbolic statements on knotty moral or ethical issues with emphasis on Player power over the Narrative. See his works for further details.
  
• Non-Player Characters - Not usually as fully fleshed out as Player Characters, these supportive-role Characters may be Played by anybody.
  
• Off-Guard - When a Character is concentrating on one thing (usually for a Mechanical Benefit) to the point where they do not get their normal sensory rolls. If the Character attempts and succeeds at a Reaction roll at -2, they must perform a Reactive Action towards what their Player was having them reacting to.
  
• Opportunity - Access to an ability or access to a Subject. Some abilities only work in certain circumstances, thus Gills could not be used to exempt oneself from a Gaseous Attack outside of water. Other times a Subject may be 'out of reach' of an Actor's Action, like behind cover.
  
• Opportunity Phase - The first Phase of resolution, this is when an Action is chosen and a Rating is modified to suit.
  
• Phases - An Action is begun (and given a modified Rating) in the Opportunity Phase. It is impartially concluded (by die roll against that Rating) in the Decision Phase. This Action becomes a part of the Narrative (when the result is interpreted) during the Application Phase. Experience Dice distribution is only allowed during the Decision Phase of resolution.
  
• Play - The actual context of the Game. Whatever happens that moves the Narrative forward is a part of Play.
  
• Player - Anyone who participates in the creation of the Narrative, whether actively or passively. This includes the Gamemaster.
  
• Proprietor - The Player who 'owns' some element within the Game. Usually a Player becomes the Proprietor for anything belonging to their Character or arising from their Character's description or Actions. This also means that the Gamemaster is largely the Proprietor of the world within the Game (seeing as their Characters, the Non-Player Characters, own much of it), this is relaxed whenever a Player first brings up something that no known Non-Player Character is connected with. Players may turn over any element they are Proprietor for to any other Player whenever they wish. You may use other's elements only with their (at least tacit) approval.
  
• Quantity - The amount of something, such as the weight of a Subject, which can be affected. This may also be things like how long the Subject might be affected, how far away it could be, how broad of an area, what amount of points it has, or how much information might be affected.
  
• Question - Any situation left undetermined by the Speaker comes into Question. During conflict, Question is usually resolved via the impartiality of dice using Mechanically designated probability weighting. The rest of the time, Question usually represents Narrative elements that the Speaker wishes to leave to uncertainty. 'Not knowing' automatically creates a degree of tension and 'freshness' in the Narrative.
  
• Reactive - The Application of a Rating in response to an agency outside of the Character who is 'reacting.' Usually anything that causes a Reactive Ratings roll is also an Engagement.
  
• Residual - An Application of a Rating as a continuing modifier. Residual modifiers that are generated as a result of an Action index their MIB number on the 'Bonus' facet of the UE Chart for this modifier (and usually find a 1). Many advantages and disadvantages function as Residual modifiers on all situations that meet their Opportunity requirements.
  
• Resistor - A Character who, by being Engaged, may actively oppose an Action being done by the Actor, usually by making that Action contested with a die roll.
  
• Resource - A Rating that represents an amount of something that may be Mechanically affected. Primarily these are Hit Points and Power. Any ability that has the capacity to drain or temporarily lower any other ability will treat that Rating as a Resource Mechanically.
  
• Scenic* - A specific Duration that is usually for actions that 'take up' an entire scene by themselves. Thus a Scenic* Action is usually treated outside of Play, as between Played scenes.
  
• Scope - Sometimes Subjects are treated in aggregate groupings. Mechanically this is separated into Individual, Squad, Mob, or Higher Scope. Single Subjects compose the Individual Scope, around a handful is Squad, and larger groups counts as Mobs. Even larger groups like neighborhoods, districts, armies, or countries are possible, but are only rarely used because of the time scale usually associated with their Actions.
  
• Session - The continual Play of a single Game in one sitting.
  
• Simulationist - According to Ron Edwards, this is a mode of Play primarily characterized by exploration of Character, setting, situation, or system and on preserving the in-game causality. See his works for further details.
  
• Speaker - To avoid confusion, there is usually only one Speaker at any time (some alternatives include dialogue and interview-style descriptions). Who the Speaker is usually passes from Player to Player in an informal matter depending largely upon the requirements of who the Proprietor is for what is in Play. During Mechanical Play, who the Speaker is, formally travels counter-clockwise around the Group. While a Speaker may request information about things in Play, the response does not automatically change who the Speaker is.
  
• Squad-Level Scope - A medium Scope level. When dealing with things on this level, each separate roll or Action affects about a handful people (or is the Actions of a similar number working together). In Mechanical Play, this can be things like gang warfare. A skill like Strategy is probably applicable to a Squad-Level Scope, but so would be an Individual-Level Scope skill like Tactics. (And you'll note that these Default to one and another across Scope lines.)
  
• Subject - The prop, Character, or area that is the focus of an Action, the scale of which is frequently determined by the current Scope of Play.
  
• Techniques - The methods described elsewhere for the application and use of Scattershot's Mechanix.
  
• Telling Blow - Happens when a MIB (or RMIB) is at or above the Critical Juncture number (for example, if the Critical Juncture number is 7, a MIB of 7, 8, or higher is a Telling Blow). The Resistor creates the additional results required by this occurance.
  
• Types - The three Types of Ratings are Invoked, Magnitude, and Resource; these Types indicate how the Mechanix make use of these Ratings. Few Ratings are treated as exclusively of one Type (for example, Power is usually a Magnitude, but when used for Magic, it acts as a Resource).
  
• UE Chart - The geometrically progressive capacities chart used to predetermine the Quantities of Subject that can be affected or the Quantity of effect produced. Not to be confused with how the quality of effect is designated by the MIB.

* These are in dire need of renaming; any advice is greatly appreciated. Advice on renaming any of the items in the glossary is also greatly appreciated.