BITs Updates

[hidetzugu]

Clearing and revising per earlier Discord convos...

"The appearance of power is power itself" was the first lesson of Alagash. I will use the power of his name to secure what I need to go find the Red Diamond.

Holding this one fulfilled. (His using the appearance of power to provide help in the DoW acted towards it; the opportunity otherwise is now passed.)

"The appearance of power is power itself" was the first lesson of Alagash. I will overcome my fear of these creatures so as to remain respected among the group.

Summoning is the folly of the mad. I will convince others not to summon beings too powerful for human ken, like Algash did.

This was oriented to create intra-party interaction, but our Summoner PC is gone.

Summoning is the folly of the mad. I will keep Sabit and her misguided cult from pushing Suen into dangerous action.

I must learn magic to restore Ku-Aya to me permanently. I will find knowledge in Tekomel.

This is still good.


...does that look okay to everyone? Happy for discussion.

Maybe it's better to separate these out?

[hidetzugu]

I wanna slightly modify my "Never let them shoot from a distance" Instinct but I'll wait until after whatever encounter we're about to run into so the change doesn't interact with it

[hidetzugu]

Something I'd like some help brainstorming regarding the Herzebuh scene

Herzebuh nods, solemnly. "The gods above love those who make only promises they can keep. This is a good answer, dwarfess. I release Urkazzar to you."

He takes his knife out and buries the point in his hand until it draws blood, and, sheathing the weapon, extends his bleeding hand to you.

"We are in your debt for your actions tonight, so I vow to extend the law to you even as alghuraba. I will ask She Who Knows the Signs to keep you safe when we go to her."

She looks quizzically at the hand at first, then calls Finnithir over.
"Though we have no Longbeards present, and no Mazar-âmân to record it, I herby borrow the watchful eyes of the First Born to serve as witness to my Oath. Only death will prevent me from bringing Urkazzar out of the City."
She mimics his cut on her own hand and clasps his.

Mazar-âmân: Dwarven Book of Oaths.

If this was a real Oath, witnessed by a Longbeard Oathswearer, I'd be forced to change a Belief to match it. As it stands I'm not but I feel inclined to write something about keeping Urkazzar (and the rest of you squishy people) safe. Not sure what I'd drop though...

the meteor belief will trigger thanks to the emberstone and I like having an excuse to push you guys for magic... maybe we squeezed all the juice we could out of the "being in a rush" belief?

• The key to every job is speed. Get in, get the diamond, get out. No distractions.
• I am truly lucky to have found so many magically Gifted humans to work with. I can't wait to see their craft!
• If this is a town build on a meteor crater... could we find meteor veins under it?
• I vow to Finnithir to build a Hold so full of art and riches that no one would dare question our marriage.

[VVhite-Crow]

If this was a real Oath, witnessed by a Longbeard Oathswearer, I'd be forced to change a Belief to match it. As it stands I'm not but I feel inclined to write something about keeping Urkazzar (and the rest of you squishy people) safe. Not sure what I'd drop though...

the meteor belief will trigger thanks to the emberstone and I like having an excuse to push you guys for magic... maybe we squeezed all the juice we could out of the "being in a rush" belief?

• The key to every job is speed. Get in, get the diamond, get out. No distractions.
• I am truly lucky to have found so many magically Gifted humans to work with. I can't wait to see their craft!
• If this is a town build on a meteor crater... could we find meteor veins under it?
• I vow to Finnithir to build a Hold so full of art and riches that no one would dare question our marriage.

I personally like the speedy one. It's nice for us to interact with and I'm curious what comes out of the careful Orienteering test, currently going on.

Btw, your objection about the added disadvantages for BL tests is interesting. I didn't dare to question the DM as I rolled.

If I were you I'd probably drop the meteor veins one. The argument "Dwarf" is again valid but it's hard to motivate the others to dig holes in the city.

Writing this I realise that there already is a big black hole in the ground, where we're going. Ô.o

[hidetzugu]

If I were you I'd probably drop the meteor veins one. The argument "Dwarf" is again valid but it's hard to motivate the others to dig holes in the city.

Writing this I realise that there already is a big black hole in the ground, where we're going. Ô.o

I actually wrote 'the speedy one' and the 'dwarf likes to mine' one with the intention that they would be at odds with each other (Giving Eric the opportunity to, on the way out, place a nice juicy mineshaft to create some inner conflict in Lilly).

That said, on a meta level, I don't think I like how the 'the speedy one' interacts with the rest of you guys. It potentially pushes me towards being the asshole that, when another PC is doing something cool, is poking at that PC to wrap it up and move on. We saw that a bit in the camp, at the 'Player Level' I was excited to see Farouk and Suen interact with the outlaws, but at a character level, Lilly was impatient to leave. This Player/Character conflict can be productive at times but here I feel it wasn't.

The Player wanted to see more so the Character didn't make too much of a fuss on arrival (when I was thinking Lilly could have starting to fight Farouk about 'no! we're not stopping with these people! stop wasting time').

And later the Character's wants took priority so we left in he night (avoiding the Player-wanted assassination attempt on Suen that might have been coming ).

We could argue that us leaving earlier contributed to whatever horrible thing is about to hit us, which is nice... but I think the 'speedy' Belief is a very fine edge to walk on, in regarding to provoking interesting fiction. While the others are positive (if they cause something cool) to neutral (if they don't), this one might actually be positive to negative (since it can cause something cool but also prevent something cool from happening).

[Eric.D]

My thought is that it would be fine to replace the belief that you need to be fast, but continue to play the character that way. BWHQ uses the Character Folio to track Beliefs over time, allowing players to get a better sense of who their characters are and how they've grown.

We've used them at the table to award Embodiment when a character's past continues to affect their current choices.

[VVhite-Crow]

Like mentioned on Discord, I worked on Farouks BITs.
I think I got a better feeling for what does and what doesn't work, over the time we were playing.
I dropped the Belief about asking the outlaws about the red diamond. Even though I got a bit of artha out of, I somehow never got an answer. Maybe Mekertu still finds time to share his thoughts about the diamonds whereabouts later!? Nutesh said that the diamond is in the central building but I don't think we have any evidence.
It's up to you to decide if the Belief counts as fulfilled or not.

I also dropped the Belief about helping Nutesh find a Mentor. If Ku-Aya should take this place Farouk won't be any help and, on a player level, I think there is no longer need for a Belief about another character.

While brainstorming Farouks beliefs I also thought about what I want from the game. I know it's (to an extent) the way I write for Farouk, but I really don't want him to stay as fearful and insecure till the end of the game. Just so you know how to amplify my fun.
Edit: Oh, and I would love to see Suen freed from Sabits influence in an epic DoW!

[hidetzugu]

Replacing Belief:

The key to every job is speed. Get in, get the diamond, get out. No distractions.

These people are defenceless children without me! I will keep them safe in and out of the city.

[hidetzugu]

Replacing Instinct:

Never let them shoot from a distance

Always find the best position for close-quarters combat

I'm not sure this is the best wording but basically I'm looking for a chance to "Tatics myself" into a door frame or some other type of bottleneck to control the flow of combat as we travel from building to building in the city