[Any text in these kinds of brackets is commentary and to be removed.] [The text is provided with three levels of headings, the chapter, subchapter and subsubchapter. The first type is not designated specially. There's also a number of "boxes" and "sidebars" for layout purposes. They are suggestions only, as far as placement goes.] [The text includes a number of formatting conventions: /cursive or other emphasis/ *bold or other emphasis* _underline or other emphasis_ - list x)numbered list [any other comments or guidelines are in brackets] These are to be removed during layout.] [Language editor: English is not my first language, so take especial care in considering sentence structure. Any stilted forms are most likely not intentional.] [the table of contents, for editor's convenience. To be removed. The Battle of the Frozen Waste Situation and style The folly of Johan Schleyr Style Goals of play Play preparation Character creation and player roles Roles Characters Basics of narration Bag and the stones Stone colors and meanings Fists and stone manipulation Conflict resolution Challenges Conflict narration and burning stones Repercussions and traits Drama and sacrifice Metaconflicts Ambassador in conflicts Negative traits and healing Waiting for dawn Turn structure Conflict particulars Advantage counters Last phase: the Dawn of battle Turn structure Conflict particulars Outsiders in the battle Winning the game and aftermath The artifact play and others The Artifact Play Avoiding battle The Outsider plays Variant rules No Ambassador Ambassador as GM Play in other worlds ] The Battle of the Frozen Waste /The Knights of Snow, they are straight and true... perhaps too straight, for the revered Oracles have cast the stone of displeasure for them seven times, seven times in seven times seven years past, and the order has grown weak... now it's time for their judgement, for the Ambassador has risen. Ambassador: the great demon of the North, the one with the bone castle and only fangs and talons for children at night. The lord of the werewolves, they say. And only the Order stands in his way.../ The Battle of the Frozen Waste casts the players in the roles of brave paladins (for each and every man of this valiant troupe is one after the day is done) who face the terrible demons of ice in a battle to decide the fate of the middle lands. The game starts only a day before the battle, and will end in victory or defeat for mankind and life or death, honor or shame for individual paladins. What you need: - Some four players, three at minimum - Some colors of stones - A bag suitable for holding many stones - Some pens and paper Situation and style [fancy subchapter]The Folly of Johan Schleyr The Knights of Snow (or /Northern Order of Knight-Chevaliers in Service/, as they are formally known) were established after the last time the ravening creatures of the north penetrated the southern climes, bringing early snow and horrible death to the lands of men. After terrible sacrifices and wholesale slaughter the demons were driven off, but not without leaving the middle lands in ruins. When the imminent danger had passed the knightly order was soon left to control the bordermarches alone, as the then-emperor first turned his gaze to the west and then lost his throne and the empire to the various hereditary lords of the realms. This didn't mean any sagging of the effort, though; the lords all but for Fleur Sirocco pledged support to the Order, and for a long while they send men, weapons and supplies that the Grand Masters of the Order put to good use, expanding their dominion to the north and building forts long beyond the pale of what the man had known before the demons came. Then, as the reader probably already guesses, the attention of the Lords started to sag, what with human life being short compared to creeping of the glaciers. The men, the weapons, the supplies... they all came more infrequently, and then in smaller and smaller quantities. This didn't spell doom for the Order, though, for then the bordermarches could support independent vassals, and the Order could pledge it's protection to the meager populace in exhange for what it needed to survive. Then there were the Oracles. The personal mages and soothsayers of the late emperor, the Oracles didn't waste any time in offering equal service to the Lords when their star seemed to be in the rise. Soon it was that for every lord there was an oracle, and they adviced their lords with utmost wisdom and insight. One could even say that the oracles were priestesses in a noble religion. First the oracles were one in their advice and supported the Order, but later on they, like every man of the midlands, forgot the Knights of the Snow. First it was a singular exception, that the stones should turn against the Order, but then it was all the more frequent and the robed mathriarchs were one in saying, year after year and every seven years in grand council, that there was no need, that the Order was fattened by the rich lands of the marches, that the demons were asleep in the north and would not rise. Of course they were wrong. The Order knew, but was not listened to. The Lords wasted their strength skirmishing against one another and the western sidhe, The Oracles blinded themselves to the truth. When the legate for the Ambassador came, announcing His strength... The Order knew that they'd stand alone, and likely nobody else would if they should fall. But the Knights of Snow... they are a hard, hard fellowship. Hard as ice, in heart and head. 'Though some of the men might have deserted the forts when the legate came, 'though some knights voice their disagreement... the Grand Master Schleyr didn't flinch, but instead send his riders and mustered both old-timers and young boys of the fief against the coming darkness. And when the Grand Master rode, the Order was behind him almost to the man, with forts near and far emptying to answer the Great Call. Great were they to the eye, the Knights of Snow... but greater the darkness, as they should come to know. All the ritters, bowmen and spears hardly enough to withstand the darkness, not to talk of striking back. Only valor will help them now, when they ride to meet the Ambassador on the field of honor. It is said among the men that the Grand Master harbors an oracle, you see. It's said that he knows that the forts and fortresses, even the great castle of Svärtafors will fall if the Order will not assemble and ride to the field. There is no choice, whisper the voices, for the Ambassador has unearthed from the dark sepulchre the forgotten artifact, the Desangraal, the Chalice of Doom. The chalice that will overflow darkness and blood, should the winter solstice come to pass unchallenged. Thus it is that the Knights of Snow ride to meet the darkness in the far north, in the hopes of seizing the Ambassador unprepared. The land is however against them, and the troops are bloodied by both freezing cold and constant skirmishes with ghouls, barbarians, werewolves and even worse things. Now, the end is near. The outriders have sighted the shadows and the troops within them, seen the Ambassador in it's terrible beauty and horrible monstrousness exhorting the demons. The Order will arrange for battle come dawn, for tomorrow is the day of the Solstice, the shortest day and the darkest night of the year. [subchapter]Style of the game The Battle of the Frozen Waste (BFW) is a limited-length roleplaying game suitable for independent play or as a pro/epilogue for a longer campaign. In BFW the players tell the story of a great battle between the forces of light and darkness, reminiscent of modern fantasy literature. A reader familiar with the heavy post-tolkienist fantasy tomes will have recognized how those books most commonly will peak in an epic battle where the fate of all that is good hangs in balance. BFW strives to capture that epic moment of gore and glory in a game, preferably without the five-hundred page preparation. The style of play in BFW is primarily and most importantly pathetic. Pathos is the cornerstone around which everything else will be built. Whether the game will be a paean for heroism or gritty exercise in cooperation and bravery, it's pathetic nature will shine through strong. The colours should be used with abandon, swathing the knights in heraldic tinctures and gold and silver, while giving the demons darkest attributes imaginable, with crests of blood and pain. This is the moment of truth for a whole world, and neither realist nor animation palettes are sufficient; strive for colours worth the masters of renaissance, colours where lead and arsenics blind the painter all the while giving the audience the richest feast possible. Pathos is about distilling reality. [subchapter]Goals of the players The players of PFW balance between telling a satisfactory story and trying to win the game for themselves and their chosen characters. Notably there is no mechanic against being an asshole, and such is really not needed; if ever a sufficient number of players is agreed, a single player is quickly dealt with either in or outside the game. Communication is key, as always. That being said, usually the player and character intentions are in unity, because the players have ample opportunity to use minor characters to demonstrate and focus narrative intentions outside their character's purview. The best strategy for winning is to tell the best story, in which case everybody wins, whether light or darkness prevails. Play preparation Although play itself is a largely linear process, there is a number of rules for creating characters, narration and resolving conflicts that tend to crop up through the game. These are explained before going forth to prepare the Battle. [subchapter] Character creation and player roles Characters are created now and then during play, but most likely each player will want to have at least one ready before play begins. As usual, it's not a bad idea to consult with other players about types of characters desired. Player roles are a partially separate consideration: before creating characters the players are assigned roles that define the rough place of their characters in the game. The roles are Order, Ambassador and Outsider, and each player will take one. [subsubchapter] Roles Before beginning play the players divide between them the roles, by preference, randomly or in some other manner. The only limitations are that there can only be one Ambassador and at least one player has to play the Order. The Order represents the forces of good. The Order players have primacy of narration in the domains of midlands and can introduce knights, seers and heroes as their characters. The general turn sequence of play will turn around the Order players, as theirs are the assumed main characters of the story. The Ambassador is of course the evil devil of Frozen Waste, lord of the werewolves and ice demons. He will play only himself and cannot introduce other characters. He has primacy of narration in the waste. The Ambassador has very little active role, being primarily a reactive force in the game. The Outsiders are everyone else, be they ice barbarians of the waste or mysterious sidhe of the west. Outsiders have primacy of narration nowhere, but are always second in the narration order. They can introduce characters that are neither slaves of Ambassador or vassals of the midlands or the Order. Outsiders combined have about the same amount of space in the turn sequence as a single Order player, being that they are mainly supportive characters. [subsubchapter] Characters Each of the above three roles may introduce various characters to the game between scenes. The possibilities and their limitations are introduced and outlined below. It should be stressed that despite general description, the only absolutes of the character types are their limitations. Otherwise the "high noble" might well be a peasant savant and the "hero" a heir to the realm. *Order* characters are nearly always part of the march of the Order. They are generally at least somewhat loyal to the Grandmaster and midlands, although this may well change during the game. The possible characters are as follows: /High Noble/: the masters of the Order, either born and bread northlanders who've risen to their positions with experience, or southerners who have gained their position by deeds or breeding outside the order. The High Nobles will advice the Grandmaster in planning the Battle and will lead the men in battle. Grandmaster cannot be played as character. /Ritter/: lesser nobles and their closest men. All men mounted, in armor and willing to fight are considered ritters in the order, although some may hold higher social positions than others. These are the strong offensive fist of the Order when fighting the Ambassador, not the least because many demons are averse to steel most ritters are clothed in. /Footman/: armed either with pikes or bows, the footmen are the actual backbone of the Order's army, able to withstand horrible attacks with bravery. Footmen are commoners, and are usually led by commoners or petty nobles. /Oracle/: there are other magicians in the middle lands, but apart from the barbaric ice shamans there is none in the icy wastes behind the borderlands able to withstand the Ambassador's corrupting influence. The Order however has some oracles, whose magical and arcane knowledge might spell victory, if trust is acquired and treachery avoided. All the oracles are women or effeminates. /Hero/: the general riff-raff that joins armies of freedom in fantasy epics and will save the day against all odds. By definition these can be anything, from talking animals to forgotten princes. They have to still have a reason for being there, though, both from the viewpoint of the high nobles and their own. *Ambassador* has only one character, Ambassador Himself. It's up to the player to detail Him (or indeed Her) in any way he wishes. Any demons, werewolves or other minions of the Ambassador are considered a part of Him as a character. He is always present in any scene played. Ambassador is the Frozen Waste, in a sense. *Outsider* characters are anyone else not falling into the above character types. They can be magical beings, barbarians, servants of the supply train or dark allies of the Ambassador, for example. Apart from story considerations and character motivations the above types of characters do not have special effects on play, but are all handled in the same way. The character creation can be finalized by the players detailing for each other's benefit any pertinent details of their characters, shedding light as to /why/ they want to play this particular character. If nobody wants to play the Ambassador it's time to use one of the rules variants in the last chapter. If more than one player wants to play Him, likewise. If nobody wants to play the Order, draw lots on it. For Outsiders it's a great benefit for players of that role if there's as few of them as possible. If a deadlock is reached in this matter the players may well make independent choices. New characters can always be introduced between scenes. Characters can also be moved from one player to another freely. If multiple players want to promote the same minor character to character status it's time to draw lots or start a metaconflict as explained later on. [subchapter]Basics of narration In general the players can tell any kind of stories they want to, being in no way limited to just their own characters. The only limits to this behavior are the /narrative domains/ and challenges other players may wish to institute. The narrative domains regulate what details a player may decide on: if a given aspect of the narration is the domain of a player, it means that another player may only narrate for it if given permission or if he wins an appropriate conflict over the fact. On the other hand, when a player narrates within his domain his narration cannot be conflicted, although it's results well may be. If a player owns a given domain he is said to have the /primacy of narration/ over it. First of all, the character of a player is always his own narrative domain. Thus other players may not decide what such a character does or feels without a challenge (a charm cast by the Ambassador, say). On the other hand, the player may always narrate his character's feelings and actions without other players being able to challenge. Apart from these personal domains there are the domains of Order and Ambassador. The former is the property of the Order players and includes anything originating from the midlands. The latter is of course regulated by the Ambassador and includes anything owing it's existence or fealty to His power. The case of the Ambassador is simple, as he is alone in deciding over the matters of the Frozen Waste. If he wills that soldiers slain by werewolves become werewolves, it will be so. Within the Order, however, the players have to have a concensus on a given matter to wield comparable power of narration. Without it a single player is constrained to only make /non-limiting/ narrative statements. A non-limiting statement is such that it concerns itself with only a given instance, not with an universal rule. Thus "There is a knightly order of the South." is a non-limiting statement, while "There is only two important knightly orders, Snow and Sand." certainly is limiting. The latter kind can only be made by concensus within the Order. It should be noted that statements about any abstract groups of people, if taken as absolutes, are always limiting; only a concensus can decide that "the ritters would never betray Grandmaster Schleyr." When two narrative domains collide neither player has the primacy of narration, and their narrations are thus considered equal. If the narrations should be in disagreement a challenge is needed to resolve the situation for one or the other, or an Outsider has to interfere. Outsiders do not have a fixed domain of narration, but instead reign supreme whenever two domains are in conflict. Outsiders have the primacy of narration over all things that belong to neither of the two domains. Also the Outsiders always have primacy over a player outside his own domain: If the Ambassador narrates about the politics if the imperial electorate, Outsiders outrank the Ambassador and any Order player has primacy over both. Similarly for an Order player telling of the hazards of journeying in the Waste can be pre-empted by an Outsider, while the Ambassador can deny both. [subchapter]Bag and the stones Before play begins the players will prepare the Bag and the stones. Each player will add a fist of stones of any color he wishes to the Bag until an Order player passes. After that each player will assign one meaning to one color. All these matters are detailed below. The number of stones in the Bag will strongly influence the length of the game. Generally it's to the benefit of the Ambassador if there is really few or really many stones in the Bag. The Bag itself is any bag suitable for holding the stones in such a way that the players cannot see them. After the bag is ready the play of the game can commence from the first phase, Waiting for Dawn. [subsubchapter]Stone colors and meanings The players will decide freely how many and what colors the stones used in the game are. Generally more colors will make for a more heroic and cinematic game, while few colors, even only one, will mean straightforward and gritty play. Also more colors will make the gameplay somewhat more complex. The relative amounts of different colors will also affect play in deep ways better experienced than explained. For the first game some three or four colors in equal amounts will probably suffice. During the game the players get the opportunity of adding /meanings/ to the stones. Indeed, they can do this whenever they wish outside conflict by burning a stone of the same color from their free stones (explained later on). They will also each assign one meaning for free before play begins. The meanings themselves are simple symbolic connections represented by one or two words. Good ones are Ambassador, werewolves, battle, magic, ritters, persuasion, honesty, Grandmaster, elves, barbarians, swimming, or whatever the players fancy. The most important limitation is that the player proposing the meaning must be able to explain to others when in the narration the meaning applies and when not. The meaning of the meaning has to be clear, so to speak. Apart from the above the meaning is non-applicable when it would cause a color to be applicable in all possible situations. Universal meanings are thus not allowed, and the burden of proof lies on the player introducing the meaning. The introduction of a meaning is always challengeable by other players, in which case the stone in question is only discarded if the player still has it after a successful challenge. The other players will most likely want to challenge contradictory meanings within the same color, as well as fuzzily defined meanings. [subsubchapter]Fists and stone manipulation A fist of stones is defined as any number of stones (including none) a player can hold on his palm with the fist closed. The free stones are stones the player keeps before himself on the table for all to see. Generally stones come from the Bag by fists, move to a player's free stones and are then used in conflicts. When the stones are used in conflicts they will either burn or be used for various effects. Burned stones of the Order players go to the Ambassador's free stones, while those of the Outsiders go back to the Bag. Ambassador's burned stones are removed from game. In general any stone that is discarded without putting it anywhere else is burned. The free stones of the Order players are public information, while those of the Ambassador are secret. Outsiders will reveal their free stones when they participate in a conflict. Fists of stones are always secret. Stones in the Bag are secret, except for evaluation by weight, sound and other such means. Any other information is public, although players can confer privately if they wish. [subchapter]Conflict resolution While the game will normally advance as a free-for-all of storytelling, any disagreements between players about the game's direction are handled through challenges between the players. An accepted challenge leads to a conflict, which is then resolved through the rules in this chapter. There are two types of conflict, the actual conflicts between fictional entities and the metaconflicts, which happen when the players object to each other's general behaviour. [subsubchapter]Challenges A conflict will only happen when a player objects to narration by another player, and then only if the narrating player does not have primacy of narration over the fact in question. Usually this happens when a character controlled by the narrating player tries to do something to an aspect of the game residing in the domain of the other player. A ritter attacking a wandering werewolf, say. Such an objection is called a /challenge/ and will initiate the conflict if accepted. When a challenge is given and is by the rules the other player has to either accept the correction and continue narration on another course, or he has to accept the challenge. In the latter case a conflict begins. All players are always eligible to participate in a conflict once it is initiated. The conflict itself is a simple matter: each player conceals his free stones, chooses a fist out of them and reveals it simultaneously with others. Any players that do not have empty fists are participating in the conflict. Other players will judge any mechanical disagreements and may react through their domains of narration in non-mechanical ways. If the conflict narration warrants, the players may want to start another conflict before the first one is finished. If this is the case, the new conflict is resolved first and the old one is continued afterwards. [subsubchapter]Conflict narration and burning stones When the conflict stones are revealed any participating player may seize narration by telling what happens next in the story and choosing a stone with a correspondent meaning from his conflict stones. The other players may either accept the narration or counter it with an interruption and an appropriate stone. In the first case the original stone goes on into a repercussion (see below) chosen by the player, while in the latter case it is burned. The interruption may either pre-empt the last narration with a new version or continue right away from where the other player left off. In any case the stone used to interrupt has to have a meaning appropriate to the narrative content of the interruption. Interruptions are interruptable, so if the players are trying to achieve different things by their stones, they will most likely go back and forth in their narration for some time before one gives up. On the other hand, a pre-empting interruption is pre-emptable only through doubling the cost in stones, so players only rarely employ the grand strategy of insisting on a narrative development. The conflict narration is always particular and won't end a scene. There is no limits to the content of the narration per se, but the mechanical results are limited by what the repercussions may consist of. Players still react normally through their characters and may add non-mechanical details freely to the narration. Everything else within the local social contract is acceptable, including control of NPCs, staging implausible coincidences, heroic character actions or whatever the conflict participant desires. The only limit are the free stones the player is prepared to pay for his narration. The correspondence of stone meanings and narrative actions is judged by local sensibilities alone. If there is problems with that, the players have clearly chosen too complex meanings. A stone that is either used in repercussion or burned cannot be used again during the conflict. It is most important that not all stones are playable at all times, but that the meanings of the stones constrain the players in their narration. Especially already stated facts about the setting, stated either during this conflict or earlier, are binding in conflict narration. A player could have demanded conflict when the fact was established, or could have interrupted then if the fact was stated during this conflict. In either case the player is constrained by formerly established facts when using stones, and it may well be that a given stone has no meaning that can be used in a certain situation. If this is so the player may have to discard unusable stones when the conflict ends. The other players supply judgement in unclear situations, by vote if need be. If the players find that they frequently have priority issues about who gets to interrupt (possible only if at least three players are in the conflict), the players should work out a system either random or based on reaction time. This is needed to stop two players from hogging the narration, but is better left for the play group to sort out. The conflict ends when no player has appropriate conflict stones left. If one or more players still have stones left, but no-one wants to burn them for effect, a forced burn happens. This may be the case if neither side really wants to affect repercussions, but both have bid substantial conflict stones to stop the other one. If no burns are forthcoming both players burn an appropriate stone at the same time and jointly narrate the burn based on the colors. The forced burns continue until a player is willing to seize narration or the stones are all used up. The players can add meanings to colors as long as the fists have not been opened. No meanings may be added as long as a conflict is going on. [subsubchapter]Repercussions and traits When a narrative intention goes by without interruption the player may invest the chosen stone as a /repercussion/ instead of burning it. Repercussion stones can be used either as /negative traits/, /healing traits/, or /fact pools/. Burned stones are not so widely useful, but one of them per conflict can be diverted as a character /trait/. *Traits*: Whenever a character participates in a conflict where that character's player burns a stone, the player may immediately put the burned stone into a trait of the character instead of discarding the stone. This increase in traits is only possible once per player per conflict, must happen to a character actually participating, and the trait must be appropriate to the color of the stone. When a new trait is begun for a character the player will write down the name of the trait and put the stone on the name. From now on all stones of the same color will go to the trait until there's three stones on it, after which the player may start another trait or continue adding until satisfied. Traits are used in exactly the same way as other stones in a conflict, except that they can only be used for their own meaning and they are not discarded after use. Every trait stone can only be used once per conflict, though, and they cannot be invested in repercussions. Traits can only be gained and used if the character participates in the conflict. A player can participate without the character participating and vice versa, but the player will always decide if his character participates. Like the player, the character cannot be forced to participate as long as he's ready to carry the story consequences. *Negative traits*: A player can use any conflict stone that's not interrupted as a negative trait for any character participating in the conflict. Negative traits are like normal traits in that they are added to a character, but their stones are usable by the opponents of that character instead of the character himself. The meaning of the trait depends on the stone color, but is probably along the lines of physical or mental damage. Negative traits can only be added to characters that participate in the conflict at hand, and they cannot be such that they affect all actions of the character by their interpretation. *Healing traits*: A player can use any conflict stone that's not interrupted to remove a negative trait stone from any appropriate character. This has to still of course make sense color and storywise. *Fact pools*: The most useful and versatile way of using repercussions is to put the stones in question into one or more fact pools. These are simply groups of stones given a name and set aside. They work exactly like traits for conflicts, except that they are not part of a character and any player may use the stones in them if the meaning of the pool and the stones supports his narration. Unlike traits there can be multiple colors in a given pool, and both the meaning of the pool and the colors of stones have to match for a player to use them to his benefit. Traits and fact pools are the primary way of representing facts of the game world. For example, an attack of ice demons might result in a bunch of stones for the Ambassador player to invest in repercussions. He might use them to savage individual characters with wounds and madness, or he might narrate the demons breaking into the command tent and killing the Grandmaster, in which case it is amply justified to put all the stones into a fact pool called "confusion of Order leadership". Later on Ambassador or anyone else can use the stones in the fact pool whenever the confusion caused by the assassination would benefit them. In any case of stone manipulation the changes made have to be defended in the narration. A character gaining negative stones has to get wounded somehow, a character gaining a trait has to demonstrate it, a fact pool has to correspond with the facts of the matter. Any manipulation has to be linked to the story, the meanings of the stones, and possible traits or fact pools the stones come from or go to. [subsubchapter]Drama and sacrifice In addition to the above simple conflict resolution, there are a couple of special effects, the /dramatic effort/ and /sacrifice/. The Ambassador can do neither, while the Outsiders can only use drama, and the sacrifice is the sole option of the Order characters. *Dramatic effort*: If a player uses all of his free stones in one color his is considered a /dramatic/ effort, but only if he had at least one stone in that color in the first place. A dramatic effort cannot lose a conflict; when a player with dramatic effort cannot interrupt a stone with one of his own, he can always interrupt by a suitably cinematic coincidence or some such for free. Thus the dramatic effort will at least tie the non-dramatic ones. An effort that uses up two colors is called /heroic/, and trumps even a dramatic effort, but has to have a character of that player present in the conflict. By adding further colors the player can force ties against even greater efforts. Two equal efforts interrupt each other normally, and a lesser effort can interrupt a greater effort normally as well. *Sacrifice*: A player may discard one of his character's traits by writing the color on a piece of paper and including it in his fist. This is considered a /sacrifice/ by that character, and has to be the highest trait of a given color for the character. The narration will include the character sacrificing something (pertaining to the trait, presumably) and the player may count all stones of that color in all his traits, his opponent's traits and opponent's burned stones to his benefit instead of his opponents, in any meaning of that color. Two sacrifices in the same color negate each other (the traits are still lost), each player can play only one sacrifice per conflict and a sacrifice is only possible if the character actually has a trait to sacrifice at the start of the conflict. [subsubchapter]Metaconflicts Players can also hold conflicts over disagreements that do not have immediate narrative meaning. Such a conflict is called a metaconflict, and can be over any stupid thing humans manage to invent. Metaconflicts are the same as normal conflicts, except that there's no traits, domains of narration or repercussions, because the conflict isn't over narrative in the first place. All stones are usable, though style points go to players who manage to include the meanings in some way. Instead of narrative intentions the players introduce arguments, and instead of interruptions they introduce counterarguments. The last argument left standing wins. The most common metaconflict is probably over whether a meaning someone is trying to give a color is suitable for the game. Metaconflicts should be used when socially appropriate, that is, when the players feel that in-game resource should be used to confirm an opinion. A player should not be allowed to be a jerk just because he has many stones, but rather all disagreements about real, fun-affecting things should be dealt with by simple voting or whatever method people normally use. The key rule is that a metaconflict is only appropriate if both sides have enough merit to their argument to actually argue the case. [subsubchapter]Ambassador in conflicts The Ambassador has traits in the same way other characters do, but in His case they are much more externalised. The Ambassador is always considered to be present in any conflict at all, and his traits most likely manifest through his minions. The Ambassador cannot be damaged with negative traits from repercussions, either. Otherwise the Ambassador is played like the other characters, in accordance with the later rules about scene resolution. Appropriate traits for the Ambassador deal with how he manifests to the other characters. "Werewolves" could be his trait for werecommando raids, for example, while "Black magic" is the catch all phrase for being an oppressive presence in the coucil of the high nobles. [subsubchapter]Negative traits and healing The characters can take truly legendary amounts of violence both physical and spiritual; indeed, how far the players go in that regard is simply a factor of their understanding of pathetic fantasy epic. As with many other things in BFW the mechanics are not affected linearly by how much a character is wounded, but rather it's the joy and duty of the player to tell others how battered our hero is, and he /still/ goes on to further carnage. Accordingly characters can only die after being reduced to /danger of death/ by negative traits, and even then it's up to the player to narrate the character dead (except in the Battle, which is explained further on). Being in danger of death simply means that the character has more negative traits than positive traits and free stones of the player combined, so the actual "danger" can be spiritual or social rather than physical. In any case, the character cannot participate in conflicts and must relinquish all challenges as long as things stand. The only ways to get out of danger are to get more free stones, get another player to use repercussions of a conflict to heal the negative traits or to let the Ambassador heal the character. The Ambassador /can/ do this to Himself, but that won't matter before the Battle. If the Ambassador player agrees to heal the character, an amount up to the character's positive traits plus free stones /of the Ambassador/ in negative traits can be negated for as long as the Ambassador player doesn't wish for them to return. Upon such a return the Ambassador may also initiate any suitable conflict against the character as dark powers convene to take His blessings away. The character is essentially in a vice of the Ambassador, however it's dressed up for the story ("He's talking in my head!" is a classic for sure). Needless to say, but healing can only happen if both players agree. It's also possible, although unlikely, for the Ambassador to heal characters not yet in danger of death. The Ambassador can also continue to negate negative traits from characters to up to the maximum after the initial healing. Ambassador can do nothing for characters over this, so even a character backed up by the Ambassador is going down after reaching double his positive traits plus free stones of both players in negative traits. Waiting for Dawn When the roles and characters are selected, the Bag and the stones prepared, the first phase of play will begin. It's called /waiting for dawn/ and tells about the last day before the battle. Most likely this is the longer of the two phases, and in any case is not limited to simply the battle preparation, but will rather range wide over the waste and midlands when the players tell the story thus far. Waiting for dawn starts with the Order's march at about the time that the outriders make contact with the Ambassador's forces. What follows is probably some frenzied preparation, a camp and an early dawn on the chosen battlefield. The phase will end with dawn, when the two armies confront each other over the field. At the start of the phase each Order player takes a fist of stones from the Bag, and the Ambassador and Outsider players take fists of any stones they wish from outside the game. If at any time the Bag is emptied the phase will end after the current scene. If this should happen as a surprise the players are allowed to shortly tie the major strings of story without mechanical repercussions, but otherwise it's assumed that everyone gets a good night's rest before the battle instead of plotting and telling stories until sunrise. [subchapter]Turn structure Play will progress with players taking turns to interact with the setting, NPCs and other player characters. Other players not currently in character will communally take on the traditional GM tasks, preserving the domains outlined in play preparation (that is, the Ambassador won't describe any Order stuff or play Order NPCs, and the Order players won't play wilderness or monsters). The point here is two-fold: first, the players will have opportunities for detailing (and therefore strenghtening) their characters, and second, they have the opportunity to perform heroic deeds to better the Order's chances in the coming confrontation. A central decision is how much effort the players put toward each of these goals, and whether they strive for the artefact option detailed later on. During the waiting the round goes as follows: each Order player takes a turn, after which the Outsider players have a closed auction for one turn, using stones for auctioning. Rounds continue until the Bag empties. The order of the turns withing the round can be arranged to whatever is convenient. The Ambassador doesn't get a regular turn during the Waiting; instead His minions and pure will will harass the Order in various ways. If all goes well for him he will be that much more powerful come the morn. Maybe the Order will break during the night and the whole battle becomes unnecessary, who knows. During each of his turns the player will perform the following actions: 1) Draw a fist. 2) Frame a scene. 3) Play the scene. The appropriate scene with it's mechanical results is played to a completion, after which it's the next player's turn. The detailed explanation of the actions follows. 1) *Draw a fist*: the player will take a fist of stones from the Bag and put it on the table with his free stones. These are used later to play the scene. If the Bag is emptied this is the last scene of the Waiting. 2) Frame a scene: the player has complete control over the scene his character will appear in. The player may decide that other characters or NPCs are in the scene and may arrange matters within bounds of believability to his satisfaction. The scene may happen in the present of the Order's march or camp, or in any past or future point of time. The latter kind of scenes are played with exactly the same rules as other scenes, but are assumed to be fiction of some kind (either flashbacks, fantasies or plans). Players still always play their own characters and appropriate NPCs in all scenes, and will later acknowledge the truth of facts established in (true) flashbacks. It's assumed that anything the players frame is consistent in some frame of reference with the other scenes already established, making a logical whole. 3) Play the scene: The scene is played in the normal fashion, with each player controlling his own characters' actions. Every scene ends after a conflict resolution is narrated, regardless of the conflict in question. A scene may also end without a conflict when the players of all characters in the scene agree. In this case the player may invest any amount of his free stones in an /advantage counter/, which are explained a little later. [subchapter]Conflict particulars During the playing of the scene all players except the Ambassador player can start conflicts whenever they wish by challenging the narration. If another player concents, a conflict is started. This is played as indicated in the last chapter, and the Ambassador player may take part. Metaconflicts do not end the scene, but otherwise the scene is ended soon after the conflict. A player can bring his own character or NPCs to the scene whenever they wish, as well as narrate other events they prefer. If another player disagrees he can start either a normal or a metaconflict over it, depending on the kind of narration. For example a player character coming into the scene can only be stopped by either metaconflicting it (over realism or whatever) or setting some actual narrative challenges for the character to overcome outside the current action of the scene. This of course will draw the narration out of the scene and into the conflict, which will then end the scene after the conflict. The same holds true for minor character, with the distinction that in their case the disagreeing player can make the conflict over the NPC's feelings or other inner movements. Such an inner conflict is maybe easiest to narrate as a debate or maybe a series of flashbacks, but in any case this kind of conflict will end the scene too. The Ambassador doesn't get turns during the Waiting, but he can still narrate anything concerning the frozen waste. He cannot start conflicts, but can join in on conflicts started by the other players. The Ambassador character is considered to be in the scene for trait use and gain. [subchapter]Advantage counters A player gains an advantage counter when the scene is ended without a conflict and it indicates some fact that will be of use in the battle. The advantage counter is gained by putting an amount of stones aside into it, not unlike a fact pool. Like a fact pool, the meaning of the counter has to correspond to the narrative, as well as the stones. When a player gains an advantage counter, he puts the stones used to buy it aside with a short note about the situation where the counter was gained. Gaining an advantage counter is a sign of a benefit that has accrued for the Order (or the demons) in general, and thus the narration should probably tell about alliances, new intelligence about the enemy, a commando strike at the demons or powerful magics gained, as examples. Something that will help the Order in the future. Any player may during the scene announce the advantage counter, at which stage the other players have to either accent or announce conflict with whatever is the in-game reason for the counter (or a metaconflict, of course). If two players resist the advantage counter (not counting Ambassador), they can postpone both the counter and the conflict to a specified later stage of the scene, if they should so wish. If the advantage counter goes through, the staging player will narrate it based on the stones he puts in the counter. This is similar to conflict narration, with each stone providing color and detail for the narration. The scene ends after this counter narration. As mentioned, the stones are put aside in a way similar to fact pools with an explaining note, to wait for their use. The note should include also the composition of the counter, in case stones get mixed up later. Advantage counters are used in the next phase to sway the outcome of the battle. Hopefully they will be enough, because the Order is otherwise horribly outnumbered. The Dawn of Battle When the Bag is emptied the Dawn comes, and with it the battle. If the Order has an advantage counter detailing their plan of attack they will take to the field with an aggressive strategy. Likewise they will be the defenders in the confrontation if their strategy is planned in such a way. The Ambassador will attack if the Order won't because He fears the Menorah of Salvation (detailed in the next chapter). The battle cannot be avoided if Grandmaster Schleyr survived the night or the council of high nobles won't surrender when offered terms by the Ambassador. If for some extraordinary reason the players have the power to avoid the battle consult the next chapter about the Chalice and the Menorah. The Ambassador has various monsters and barbarians in excess of ten times the amount the Order has of men, so the only hope for the Order is superior tactics and pure heroism. These will be provided by the players, when their characters take to the field to die or triumph. The game continues to be played in turns, except that now it's the Ambassador and the Order which take turns. The day is only a couple of hours long so most of the battle is probably fought in darkness or magical light. When the midnight comes the Ambassador will activate the Desangraal (Solstice, remember?) and plunge the whole of the waste in deathly darkness, finishing the battle for the forces of darkness. To win the Order has to achieve victory before midnight or the characters have to activate the Menorah of Salvation at exactly midnight. The latter is explained in the next chapter. Players do not get any more free stones than they already have, except for the Ambassador who cheats and takes stones with both fists from outside the game before the phase begins. [subchapter]Turn structure The attacking side has the first turn, after which the Ambassador and Order take turns until the game end. On each turn the players on that side narrate the battle until the other side challenges, at which stage a battle conflict is played out. After the battle conflict each of the players on the side whose turn it is have an opportunity to frame an embedded scene similar to those during the waiting (except for not drawing stones). One of the embedded scenes can instead be a duel conflict, wherein a player challenges a character participating in the melee. The duel conflicts are normal conflicts in all but that only the challenger and the challengee can burn stones and the challengee has to be in actual melee. Additionally, should the challengee decline the conflict, he cannot take part in any conflict for the rest of the game, either the character or the player, without express and continuous permission from the challenger. The Ambassador will not decline any challenge. Essentially the challengee who declines has lost his courage and either escapes or changes sides. [subchapter]Conflict particulars The battle is played in a way similar to the waiting, except that the advantage counters can be used. Then there is the edge, marking who is winning, and the embedded scenes which are played normally. Conflict narration works normally. The players can now inflict negative traits on the Ambassador through massacring His host of demons and barbarians. These traits are still local, however, so depending on the narration they might, for example, concern the left wing of the Ambassador's forces or only his cave trolls. The edge is a marker that is used to signify a very specific case: when either the Ambassador or the Order has the edge, the other side cannot use any positive traits or fact pools to it's benefit in battle conflicts. The edge always goes to the winner of the last battle conflict, so nobody has it at the start. The advantage counters are used only in battle conflicts, not the normal ones. A player may invoke the counter by putting a piece of paper with the counter's name into his fist. These stones are then used in narration of the advantage during the conflict narration. The advantage counter must be narrated continuously and is not interruptable if the other players cannot or won't burn exactly the same combination of stones as the one making up the counter to do it. If the counter is interrupted it is removed, but otherwise it is reusable in a later battle conflict. Any character who falls to danger of death in this phase will die if not tended to and saved from the battlefield immediately. As far as time goes, the night will fall pretty soon this far north at the time of the Solstice, but the midnight and the activation of Desangraal will only arrive when all players agree. Thus the battle will continue to some degree until all characters have escaped or died on the field, or until it's agreed that it's time for Desangraal. [subchapter]Outsiders in the battle Outsider players will get a turn after each Order and Ambassador turn, and will use them in the same manner as in the waiting. Unlike other players they still use the Bag, claiming stones equal to the number of Outsider players at the start of their turn if there is stones in the Bag. The Outsider players will bid normally for the turn each time it is offered. There is no specific winning condition for the Outsiders, but they can choose their own goals or opt to side with one of the two sides of the battle. [subchapter]Winning the game and the aftermath The game ends when either the midnight arrives or the Ambassador loses a duel or all the Order characters are dead or give up. Note that the Ambassador won't escape or avoid the melee, being a haughty dark lord in the extreme. In the former case the Ambassador wins the game and engulfs the Order in eternal darkness by the power of Desangraal, or is destroyed in blinding white light if the Menorah of Salvation should be activated. If the Ambassador loses a duel the character succeeding in the feat has vanquished the dark lord, disintegrating His army. In the last case it's the Ambassador who carries the day, for then no-one is there to stop him from activating the chalice of Doom. After the game ends in some manner the players will narrate an aftermath. This happens by each player stating facts in turn about how things turned out after the battle, putting stones into the Bag for each fact as per the meanings of the stones. Any player, including the Ambassador player, may at this stage use his stones to narrate the classical ending with appropriate flourishes, depending of course on who won. Any free stones left to the players are used to narrate grand outlines of what happened next, concentrating on the next hours or days or whatever. It's good to use the meanings of the stones to guide the telling, and it's bad form to try for an interrupt. Of course one can narrate without stones too, but the stone will always trump the no-stone even after the battle. Trait stones, counter stones and pool stones are taken one at a time and used to narrate about the fate of the character or thing in question. If not possible, they are used for the general narration above. Players have primacy on their own characters' traits, but any other stones are free game. This is the opportunity to fill holes and tie strings of the story. Any stones used in these narrations are put into the bag one at a time, so that when the players finish all stones are bagged. The pace and order of the aftermath narrations is completely free, and disagreements are frowned upon. The players should honor the victor and his ideals in the narration, but not step on the protagonism rights of the loser either. After all the stones are in the Bag, it's tied shut and thrown into a closet. The game is over. The artifact play and others It is possible that the narration will end up avoiding the battle altogether, making the latter phase very different indeed. Such a development is called a /play/, and each such will use it's own rules. The most important of these is the "artifact play", centering around gaining and using the menorah of Salvation. [subchapter] The Artifact Play The Ambassador isn't as strong as He looks. It's the winter he draws his strength from, winter and the darkness of night. He fears the midlands still, and would continue to fear had he not the Chalice of Doom, Desangraal. With this mighty artifact the Ambassador can lay darkness over the midlands and bring winter to the south. The Chalise has to be activated exactly at the time of Solstice, the darkest night of the year. Then the Ambassador will lift Desangraal towards the skies and let the rays of the black moon overflow from the chalice over the earth. There's hardly anything that will stop the Ambassador, except if the Order should be able to break his armies of werewolves and ice demons and some hero confront him personally and slay his earthen form. That'd do it, but it's quite unlikely. In truth the Ambassador fears Santalabra, the Menorah of Salvation. As ancient as it's counterpart, this holy artefact of light will counter the curse of Desangraal if brough forward in the right way. This is what the Ambassador fears, although it seems highly unlikely that Santalabra should surface at this late date. Now, we all know that unlikely things happen in fantasy stories, and it's possible here too. All that is needed is cooperation of players and some luck. Here are some conditions for activating the Menorah: - A character has to have a flashback adventure of five scenes, such that in the course of it the character gains the Menorah. When this condition is fulfilled the character may at any time draw Santalabra from his backbag. - There has to be advantage counters worth five stones of arcane knowledge, holy mysteries or ancient history. When this condition is fulfilled the character who placed the counters may at any time recognize Santalabra and understand the full threat of Desangraal. - A character has to have five stones in traits that exemplify virtue, virginity and overall goodness. When this condition is fulfilled the character is able to activate the Menorah of Salvation if it should be at hand and someone explains the significance of Santalabra to the character. If Santalabra and the activator can be hidden from the Ambassador until midnight and the Menorah is activated at the same time with the Chalice, Desangraal will blow up and destroy Ambassador's earthly form. His mostrous army will disappear or escape with the suddenly breaking bright dawn. If the Menorah should be activated too early or not be activated the Order is doomed, as are the midlands if another coincidence won't save the day after the game ends. [subchapter] Avoiding battle This alternative mechanic works both ways; if the Order should be content with survival and won't push onward to attack the Ambassador, He will activate Desangraal at midnight and win. The Ambassador is ever too haughty to try to escape, He will much rather freeze his enemies as they come and ascend some suitably impressive high spot to take on the power of the dark moon. If the Order should accede to some peace proposal or another of the Ambassador, and are able to convince him that he has no fear of the Santalabra, there will be no battle. The battle turns will go by without fighting when the armies disengage, and the Ambassador will presumably activate Desangraal when the midnight arrives. Conflicts can be started normally, by the rules of the Waiting. If the Ambassador can be somehow stopped from activating the Chalice the game will quickly move across the limits of this rules set. It's possible, although very unlikely, that the players could maneuver some characters to confront the Ambassador alone without a battle. In this case the duel rules apply, but the feat is almost impossible without alerting the Ambassador's army and setting the battle in motion. If the Ambassador player doesn't want to activate Desangraal for some reason he will win the battle but lose the war. The survivors of the Order will return to the midlands with a warning and reinstate the old oaths against the cold. The Ambassador cannot get away from the frozen waste without activating Desangraal, and the next opportunity comes only when the moon is black during the winter Solstice - approximately two hundred years, more than enough for the midlands to get ready. Some Ambassador might be content to be the master of the waste, who knows. [subchapter] The Outsider plays By their very nature the Outsiders are hard to define. They can be whatever the players wish for, be it fairies or gods, barbarians or old monsters. If there is an Outsider player in the game, he can make all these characters and use them to achieve unlikely outcomes. Mostly the function of the outsiders is to join one or the other side in the battle, but they also have the option of /usurping/ the winner. When either the Order or the Ambassador has won and the aftermath is being prepared for, any Outsider can declare for one or more Outsider characters about the outcome, narrating the secret plan the character has in place for turning the tide yet once. If usurpation happens the aftermath is postponed until this bid for ultimate power or a narrow chance for saving the midlands has passed. If an Outsider opts for usurpation the players will instantly switch roles, so that the Outsiders and the losers switch places. If it's the Ambassador places are changed with, only the declaring Outsider takes on the role and other Outsiders keep to theirs. The role only affects the rules applied to the players, not the narrative significance of their characters. After roles are figured out the turn structure of the Battle is started anew, with the usurper taking the first turn. Play will proceed normally until the character in Ambassador role loses a duel, all others give up, or there is no more stones in the Bag. Variant rules [subchapter] No Ambassador If no player plays the Ambassador, his free stones are put in the middle of the table and the players will communally take on the role. This variant of play might be overall easier for players with strained social relations, as it will not be nearly as adversial. Not everyone is suited to cooperation through competition. General narration in this variant is not divided in any way between the domains, as all players share equally of both midlands and the frozen waste. It's the job of the players themselves to paint the Ambassador black and white, terrible and beautiful. They shouldn't stint in color, for their own valor will shine all brighter from the terrible darkness. In this variant any player may use the Ambassador stones in a conflict by putting an Abassador token (a piece of paper with His sign) in his fist with the amount of stones he wishes to use. The players have to use up any Ambassador stones they have marked in such a way as long as there is appropriate stones in the Ambassador pool. Every Ambassador stone will cause a repercussion that hurts the Order, however, regardless of interruption, and will never end up discarded or in positive traits or any other possible place. The user decides on the repercussion within the limitation. Ambassador stones are not considered for dramatic efforts or sacrifices. Ambassador will always be willing to heal a character, provided that he gathers his weapons and loyal followers and deserts the Order for the demon camp. There he will tell everything he knows of the battle order and will serve the Ambassador the best he can, even returning as a mole if appropriate. In the Battle Ambassador will assign duel challenges to any character caught in melee by all the other players taking a fist of Ambassador stones against the character. Any player may narrate another to a melee situation within normal narrative limitations. Ambassador will only take prisoner characters that claim knowledge of Santalabra. The Ambassador will arrange his army three waves deep, with details the players prefer. Three consecutive battle conflict wins (meaning no defeats on that wing) are needed for any character to reach the Ambassador, and the character has to join the melee in all three conflicts. The Ambassador stones are used in battle conflict by all the players, with them taking one fist of their own stones and another of Ambassador stones. Ambassador fights all duels, with the above mechanic of every other player taking a fist against the challenger. [subchapter] Ambassador as GM This is another possibly easier variant. It should be noted that one feature of normal play is that players might well misinterpret the rules and think that the Ambassador is some kind of gamemaster. Well, in this variant he is. The variant differs from normal in two ways, in rules and in goals. The first difference is that the Ambassador has infinite free stones. The second is that the Ambassador is not trying to win in any sense of the word. The infinity thing means essentially that the Ambassador has as many stones as he wants to use in any given moment. If he for some reason lacks stones at a given moment, the other players will each give him a fist from outside the game. The winning thing means that the Ambassador now has a fundamentally different take on play. He could destroy the Order any time he chooses, but won't, because his goal now is to faciliate the storytelling for the other players. He will take part in conflicts and put up a convincing front, and even win if it should go to that, but in every decision his first worry is that the story be enjoyable for the players. This is a hard concept to wrap your mind around if roleplaying in general is not familiar. The Ambassador will play the opposition, but not to win, but to give. He will strive to make the other players' characters protagonists of the passion play, and to make the Ambassador Himself the villain, believable but vulnerable to defeat. [subchapter] Play in other worlds The game is highly customisable for use in any world of high fantasy. Such customization has six main elements, the number of colors and their meanings, the roles and narrative domains, the character types and the artifact rules. Some pointers on each follow. First of all, it should be realised that there is no limitations in the game for playing through an entire fantasy epic. The great battle will come last, but cunning play will take the opportunity and narrate what happened before then in flashbacks and remembrances of the characters. An unexpected form to be true, but one entirely usable. The first step in creating an appropriate atmosphere is choosing the right composition of stones for the epic, whether it's the pulpy fantasy of Moorcock, concrete visions of Tolkien or vague phantasm of the later authors. Nothing stops the players from choosing the right composition of stones and assigning a number of meanings for them before the game even starts to ensure that the right themes emerge. A hundred stones, three of them white, and the white stones with the meaning of "One Ring", for example... The player roles and allowable character types, as well as accompanying domains of narration play a key role in how the stones flow and who makes the key decisions. The domains in BFW are relatively simple, but what if each of the nine world of viking mythology were domains? Finally, the different plays, including the artifact play, are a straight tool for customizing the content of the first phase. By fiddling with the requirements for artifact victory the designer of the scenario can easily degree the extent and detail of the flashback adventures the characters go through to strive for artifact victory. For a player wanting more world detail nothing is easier than choosing a favourite fantasy world and setting the game there. On the other hand, inventing a new world certainly keeps the game fresh.