Read on Twitter
Sitting on the couch watching over the kid while Ash gets some sleep, so I guess I'll talk about some #Pentola design goals tonight! 
https://twitter.com/TrebuchetOps/status/1259632262997594117
https://twitter.com/TrebuchetOps/status/1259632262997594117
I'll try to cover these ones at least, and may meander. Feel free to ask me questions or whatever!
- Gameable Lore / Anti-Canon Setting
- Consequential Change
- Violence as Fail State
- Dense Rolling
- Urban Toybox
- Open Troupe Play
- Factional Focus / Domain Play
- Gameable Lore / Anti-Canon Setting
- Consequential Change
- Violence as Fail State
- Dense Rolling
- Urban Toybox
- Open Troupe Play
- Factional Focus / Domain Play
Gameable lore
I'm not a huge fan of having or giving homework to players or refs, so my preferred way to deliver setting info is via mechanics and changes of game state. So what does this actually look like?
I'm not a huge fan of having or giving homework to players or refs, so my preferred way to deliver setting info is via mechanics and changes of game state. So what does this actually look like?
Powers, spells, reputations, vocations, factions, equipment all tell you about the world while helping you define your characters—but so do the available factions, the locations, the random encounters, the NPCs, etc.
This intertwines with/supports the anti-canonical setting.
This intertwines with/supports the anti-canonical setting.
@stratometaship wrote the canonical blog on anti-canonical settings, which is worth a read (link below), but in short:
Since it's true every table has different preferences & tastes, I'm leaning *into* this "problem" and making it a pillar of the world. https://www.wizardthieffighter.com/2019/anti-canon-worlds-and-the-uvg/
Since it's true every table has different preferences & tastes, I'm leaning *into* this "problem" and making it a pillar of the world. https://www.wizardthieffighter.com/2019/anti-canon-worlds-and-the-uvg/
There is no "real" or "right" Pentola except at the scope of any one table. The canonical truths of the world are bounded by each table and only established when they come into play by the ref or the players.
So what does support for this look like? When it's brought in by the players, it's the collaborative addition of truths go a world that happens in so many games, trad/osr and otherwise; this doesn't need or get much mechanical support beyond some guidelines and reminders.
The other sort gets a lot more support in the mechanics directly, mostly in the form of procedural generation tables for NPCs, factions, items, spells, places, hooks, encounter tables, etc. This provides a gameable generation of lore by and for the ref to bring in.
This does two main things: 1st, it offloads the scaffolding of these world details for the ref (if they choose to use the tools), and provides the shape and color of examples for the setting's lore without imposing a full canon. 2nd, it partially gamifies running the game itself.
A combo of off the shelf examples, rules for full generation and fast generation for the content, and guidelines for adding content and how to intertwine it with existing details makes up a large portion of the gameable lore in the book (that which isn't directly player-facing).
Consequential Change
The parts of character growth that most interest me as a player and a ref are their relationships to each other and to the world, seeing the consequences of their choices for themselves and the world around them.
The parts of character growth that most interest me as a player and a ref are their relationships to each other and to the world, seeing the consequences of their choices for themselves and the world around them.
In #Pentola, I wanted to integrate and support reputations, relationships, and organizations, incorporating them into characters mechanically and highlighting them in play. This also extends to their skills, vocations, spells, and items, too.
Acquiring and managing these is all done in play, not via leveling or out of play mechanics. More on the specifics of this later, if you're interested!
Basically, use your skills, invest in your relationships, lean into your reputations, and you'll see them change over time.
Basically, use your skills, invest in your relationships, lean into your reputations, and you'll see them change over time.
In addition to the mechanics, their guidance and advice for how to incorporate longer term consequences for player actions and their effect on the city (or parts of it), as well as some subsystems for domain play.
Finally, and Pentola-specific, there's Knacks which are a sort of magic feedback loop between people and what they do/believe. Essentially, the supersaturation of magic causes people to *change*, manifesting magical abilities related to those actions/beliefs.
This sees characters gaining knacks in play as a consequence of how they play their characters, causing even pregen characters to wildly differentiate over time.
It's also a staple of gameable lore in the world, coloring factions, vocations, cultures, and believers alike.
It's also a staple of gameable lore in the world, coloring factions, vocations, cultures, and believers alike.
