my truth in movement

 finding a fine balance between rules lite and gorged on content, today. thinking about capital c-c-c-Combat; rounds, movement, actions, etc. okay so i'm going to lay it out as such;

julia soboleva putting worms in my mind (and legs)

first, some terms

so you know Combat? make it SPORT. it covers all kind of tense exchange- combat aka killing each other, viciously; conversations that tide the line between brawl and word-sex; chase scenes of cruise proportions; dramaticals slowed down to slow-mo, unravelling unto some tragic truth-

i want something a bit More. make that WAR. terrible and hungry. set its end point as Tradition, that's the result of whatever goes on in your WAR. everything and anything and all things that occur in WAR are the result of a Declaration. players make them and a declaration declared occurs and cannot be taken aback. all declarations move towards the tradition.

got that? sorry. SPORT & WAR. true and two, terrible things. what we make of games.

 dragan bibin for sure gets the dark heart of my mind . for sure

SPORT - exchange / combat / conversation

i like this trend of twos for things like these. things pretending to be clear-cut, no-nonsense. SPORT has Moves & Manoeuvres.

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Moves are the concise and known acts one may perform during SPORT:

attack a creature, deal damage

say a word or sentence, out loud

cast a spell, speaking words of power

move up to one space, nearby

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Manoeuvres, therefore, are confided - made up of - everything else ever. they require dice rolls to be successful, it is where fate rears a smily and ugly head. this is not exhaustive, but perhaps some examples:

leap a chasm / ford a fast-flowing river / convince a foe / convince a doubtful friend / sneak past the guards / decode a cipher / decipher a text / understand foreign speech / brave the elements / dodge a trap / wear a disguise, successfully / stave off panic

 pls pls plssss listen to Wicked City by Jockstrap

REACTIONARIES - creatures / monsters / friends

sneaking something extraordinary to me in here; very likely not that to you nor anyone. breaking the rule of two for sure, but who really cares. the REACTIONARIES are the ones opposed to you (the player). they react. when you (the player) use a Move, they gain a Move. when you (you get it) use a Manoeuvre, they gain a Manoeuvre. everything you do aids their agency.

note - Moves & Manoeuvres given to REACTIONARIES are split across any and all REACTIONARIES present. don't care if they are all opposing to one another; the point is they oppose You.

 casting spell of consequence . i love this image it's from an old Jackie comic (no. 359 ty @comicslams)

WAR - fate / desolation / dissolution

something something it all ends here- no really, it does. WAR is for all those times everyone at the table agrees it has gone on long enough, it's time to put it all to a puttering end, etc.

players make Declarations - of which are set and detailed below - which move, in a fashion, towards fulfilling the Tradition - the end goal of this terrible particular session of WAR. that does not stop you from doing whatever the hell you want to whoever the hell you want, though.

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Declarations are set in stone, must be done and are as thus:

die / beg / hide / charge / wound / hide / defend / curse / barter / bemoan / scream

i haven't included the word kill here, and for a reason. there is something there, haunting and chilling, in the image of a great figure or common soul- wounded so immediately that all involved in the telling would agree being killed is the result. or this great figure wounded beyond belief and maimed so bloodily, so to the point that their blood-covered self is finally declared dead between player and referee. grim stuff.

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Traditions are the end state. everyone packs up, calls it a day. they are split into two main components. the target, and their ideal state:

the king / pontifex / rebel / beast / monster / city / camp / army

is

dead / captured / ransomed / flayed / destroyed / found

you WILL create a mind image you WILL of anne hathaway at war

here is my trick, but not really. WAR has its own reactionaries. for each Declaration a player makes, the referee makes a declaration of their own. take from the same list above. i'm tempted to include some rules of what a referee may or may not do; but fuck it. maybe talk amongst yourselves like adults. maybe no killing players. maybe encourage killing players. maybe "wounding" a player inflicts 1D6 damage like most other weapons. have some grim fun with it.

ty for reading

- alexandria x