Dev Diary #2 - Stats and Basic Moves

So, last week, I announced this project and discussed my inspirations for this game. Today, I'm gonna get into the mechanics of the game itself, namely the stats. While I can't get into all the details, I can share names and ideas, and tease a few things like Playbook names and other mechanics.

Now, into the dev diary. Note that names and associations between stats, playbooks, and moves are non-final and may change between now and release.

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The Stats in Fire of Rebellion are Sage, Fool, Child, Poet, and Warrior.

These stats each reflect different aspects - different archetypes - of a character's identity. Over time, these aspects may shift, reflecting the evolution of your character, their understanding of themselves, and how others view them. This is pretty identical to the Label shifting mechanic seen in Masks.

Now, let's go over these one by one.

Sage

The Sage stat revolves around looking back to a time long past, before the dark times of the Empire. Those with a high Sage stat often have firm ideas of what the pre-Empire days looked like, though the way it is spoken of makes it seem like a legend. For those with a low Sage stat, the past lies in obscurity. Note, however, this stat is not primarily about knowledge but about certainty.

This is reflected in the moves: speak truth of legends and live the stories of the past.

Speak truth allows the players the opportunity to define their world's history as they understand it. "Truth" is used somewhat loosely here, given the nature of history and how certain details can be exaggerated or downplayed, omitted entirely or simply made up.

Live the stories allows one to accomplish feats one may have heard of in legends (which the player can make up on the spot if they want). It's pretty broad as far as moves are concerned, but it's meant to cover scenarios other moves do not cover.

Playbooks that start with a high Sage stat are the Orphan and the Veteran.

Fool

The Fool stat deals with the world as it is here and now. It does not concern itself with legends and stories like the Sage, and neither does it concern itself with Hope and Magic like the Child.  It concerns itself with what is in front of you and what you can reasonably conclude from that. When you're surrounded by idealists and romantics, someone has to ground them with uncomfortable truths.

This is reflected in the moves: assess the situation and weigh words and actions.

As far as PbtA is concerned, these are pretty basic moves for fishing out information on situations and people, respectively. Not much to add to them, though the latter is not restricted to individuals or even people, necessarily.

Playbooks that start with a high Fool stat are the Defector and the Survivor.

Child

The Child stat, as I mentioned, deals with Magic and Hope. Where the Sage looks to the past, to myth and legend and the world that was, and the Fool looks to the present, to the hard cold facts of the world that is, the Child looks forward, to possibility and wonder, to the new world that can be.

The Child's moves are: look for hope and embrace the magic.

Look for hope is another move where the player gets to define the scenario when the fiction is pretty dire. Perhaps the Empire has your crew on the run, but a player decides that there is a small hiding place nearby where you can recover. Or you are under siege, but suddenly you find a hidden escape. It's a move meant to keep the game from getting to bleak when it doesn't need to be.

Embrace the magic is somewhat more passive. The game assumes that magic of some kind permeates the world. The most basic way of interacting with it - outside of respectfully observing its phenomena - its embracing it, welcoming it into your body, and letting it work through you at the GM's discretion. It is a move that involves uncertainty and vulnerability, but with potential reward if you can handle it.

Playbooks starting with a high Child stat are the Chosen and the Exile.

Poet

The Poet stat focuses on the power of words in affecting the world. It's about reach out, communicating to other people, saying what needs to be said. The Sage knows their legends, the Fool their facts, and the Child their hope. They have them, but you speak them. You know what needs to be said when you want to warm the coldest hearts, soothe the deepest aches, and to move immovable wills.

The Poet's moves: inspire, comfort, or support and persuade, provoke, or coerce.

I don't have much to explain about these, as these seem self-explanatory enough. In short, inspire, comfort, or support is a simple drama move for emotional intimacy and such while persuade, provoke, or coerce is pretty much the normal "get an NPC to do something for you" move you see in a lot of PbtA games.

Playbooks starting with a high Poet stat are the Beacon and the Princess.

Warrior

Our last stat is the Warrior. As one would assume, it's the combat stat. More exactly, it's about action and assertion. Because that is what it will take to change the world and to resist the changes the world imposes on you.

The Warrior's moves: battle a threat and assert yourself.

The former is a catch-all for offense and defense and is the move for combat scenarios. Given the detail needed to discuss any combat system, I will go into the details of this move in a future dev diary.

As for the latter - earlier I mentioned how your stats will shift over time. That will often be due to the influence of other characters, both PCs and NPCs. But you don't have to listen to others - in the end, you decide who you are. That is the essence of this move.

Playbooks starting with a high Warrior stat are the Knight and the War-Child.

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That's all for today. I hope the detail I provided gave you enough of an idea of what I want this game to be. If not, or if you have questions or concerns besides, let me know in the comments!

Next week, I'll be talking about PC relationships, Faith, and the relevant moves.

Until then, enjoy your week!