Originally shared by Jesse Burneko
So, I have added a "fear" mechanic to Necropolis which I absolutely don't want abused. The intention is to underscore the supernaturally horrific elements of the setting and contrast them with the every day violence the PCs are already well hardened towards. I hope this wording makes that clear.
Keep It Together: When you first engage an unnatural situation roll+Cool. On a 10+ you keep it together, take +1 forward. On a 7-9 pick one:
- Take -1 ongoing until the situation is resolved or at least removed.
- You make a mistake that draws attention. The MC will advance an appropriate countdown clock.
- You lose or break a vitally important item or piece of equipment.
- Hesitate. The MC will make an appropriate move.
This move is extremely rare and is usually prompted by a character’s response to the MC’s reveal an unnatural situation move. There are two really critical words here: engage and unnatural. So first, the situation must actually be unnatural. The characters are professionals used to encountering all kinds of stress, dangers and violence. They normally have no problem keeping it together in the face of immensely brutal events. For this move to be relevant the situation must actually be unnatural in origin and obviously so to the characters.
Second, the character must be attempting to directly engage the unnatural thing. Actions which involving side-stepping or avoiding the unnatural element of the situation do not trigger the move. In this way this move is usually a precursor to another immediate follow up move. This short cut phrasing may help: “In order to
