The goal of Crescendo is to truly enable long-term play. It requires a full set of standard dice, zocchi dice, and a journal.
This is a play report on a playtest. While most of the game is nailed down I'm still refining a few things, here and there. Sometimes that means I'm rather wrong in an idea.
The setting of Crescendo is always in flux, it's always shifting around. The Seven Dooms are the ways, that the setting is in flux. These are goals, with the means of accomplishing them totally up to the Judge. Doomsd are public knowledge so that the players are aware of the pressure cooker.
Yes, seven is too many. That is on purpose.
No matter what the players do the setting will shift beneath their feet, creating new problems that they could not have anticipated. This is essential for a game story that needs to run a long time, as story threads wrapping up kills stories.
The Seven Dooms
1. Not all post-medieval information we have is true, especially gunpowder and antibiotics; people are at the mercy of nature.
2. There is a flame of goodness at the center of Heranyt, linked to the hearts of all creatures on the planet. This is not so for other planets.
3. Some beings have set up their own anti-flames, anti-points of light. They are corrupted and horrific beings, who try to destroy those not like them.
4. The elves fly amongst the Ring of Tears, the sub-orbital remnants of their continent. Strange things are said to live there.
5. The dryads of The Glade will go to war with Fort Falls.
6. La Fourchette will be abandoned, even with oncoming winter.
7. The dwarves will provoke Fort Falls into a war.
The rules of Crescendo dictate that the player picks one of these Dooms for the Judge to challenge them with. Prince picked #5, The Glade wanting to go to war with Fort Falls.
Girac's Beliefs
1. Superiors should be obeyed. 4 RP
2. It is natural to use force to advance your own interests. 7 RP
3. You should stick by your comrades. 5 RP
Yes, Beliefs have health, called Resilience Points. If you fail rolls it hurts your Beliefs, and there are also Resilience Rolls, which target RP as well. You're going to see them in this session and this session only, because they've been removed in future drafts.
Girac's Traits: Loyal, Quick to Anger
The Judge gets to pick one of the player's Beliefs. I decided that I wanted to see what would happen if Girac was forced to go against the "using force" Belief for an extended period of time. Would he go along with it? What would he do? So I decided that there was a dryad who wanted to stop the oncoming war and was willing to actually talk with the humans... who she usually despises for being susceptible to her charms. It was a delightuflly easy pressure cooker to set up: Girac was already a short-tempered guy, so let's see what he did when he had someoen who didn't like him trying to actually use diplomacy!
The Poem, drafted in the last session, is a thematic reinforcer for a few sessions. Prince will be rewarded for choosing actions that speak very strongly for or against The Poem. After testing for about a year without a poem it became apparent to me that a thematic focus was necessary for arcs, one that shifted every few sessions to change things up. This is what we drafted up for the session zero:
The Poem
Sing to me, O Muses!
Of man-killing Sota
And the zenith of his rage
With his resentful fist of iron
Sota smote Tuntemata
he split and crackehis silver skin
And nightshade blood rained from the heavens
Before Sota then came The Inquisitor (Viivoty)
And queried "Why then have you smote my son?"
Sota laughed: "How could I not, given what we are?"
With all that done (it took less than five minutes to pick a Doom and a Belief), we began play! Crescendo is meant to be mostly conversation, with spikes of mechanics that shift things in wild and unexpected directions. The book is chonky, sure, but it's a book that only gets used in spurts of intense moments, with everything going back to the conversation right afterwards.
Girac was waiting at the docks for his brother-in-law Galbert to come back from his logging expedition along with his sister Veronique and his sun Luc. It had been a few months and everyone was eager for Galbert to come home. Galbert did not come to his wife and adopted son, but went straight to Girac and asked to talk in private, immediately. Galbert and Girac went to a nearby alleyway. Galbert's explanation poured out hardly a moment later: Galbert had met a dryad. A real dryad. Things had... happened... with said dryad. And she had asked to talk to a soldier of Fort Falls. Girac made Galbert swear a solemn oath to never have relations with the dryad again. Galbert tried to say that his oath may not be worth much, for he could not resist the dryad, but Girac forced the point, making him swear heavily to never see the dryad again. Commending Galbert for his resolve, Girac told Galbert he would meet with the dryad at one in the morning, two days hence. Galbert promised to hold to his oath and left. By the time he came back Veronique was upset, but Girac helped smooth things over.
Girac went to Master Girard and asked him what he knew about dryads. Master Girard told Girac druids were very secretive creatures. They had a bewitching effect on anything sapient at all, and were highly dangerous in that regard; it was almost impossible to resist a dryad, at least for long. Reaching into his desk Master Girard pulled out a curious dagger, explaining that dryads were deathly afraid of cold iron, and if they found someone with cold iron on them they would fly into a rage. To provoke a dryad was to die. He handed the dagger to Girac, repeating to not get caught with it.
Girac then went to one of the soldiers who was on guard duty. He told the guard that he was set to met a wench from La Fourchette, the town just outside of Fort Falls, and he asked if he the soldier would let him out. The soldier smiled wickedly; this was old hat, he let soldiers out of the fort all the time for such ventures, in fact he considered it his primary duty! Girac told the soldier if he wasn't back in a half hour to call the guards and get ready for trouble; the "girl" had brothers and they may not take kindly to someone messing with her. The soldier was only too happy to comply with such a request.
When the night came, Girac snuck out to the docks of La Fourchette and waited for the dryad. When she showed up Girac was shaken to his core; here was something far more beautiful than he could have ever expected.
It was here I interjected by calling for a Save. Saves are only called for when a player's narration doesn't have a plausible explanations for time, skill, tools, and general temperament like traits or bad crap like traits. In this case dryads are passively enchanting and arousing to other sapient creatures. It is not something the dryad controls, others are just immediately captivated by her. Girac had to try and resist this unfortunate fact about dryads.
There's six stats to the game, rated in dice sizes: Brawny (strength and constitution from other games), Nimble (fine motor skills), Agile (gross motor skills), Cunning, Empathy, and Willful. Prince and I agreed that Willful, which doubles as a spiritual/social resistance/offensive stat, was the principle stat to use in this case. Girac had Stoic at +4, which was a really damn good skill for this particular case. He also had the cold iron knife, which I ruled improved his Willful die by a step, from D7 to D8.
I, as Judge, always start at a D20, and add something called the Fate Counter. That starts at 0, but is increased by the margin of success of the players. So the better the players do makes the game harder on them. Eventually the Fate Counter will trigger a Twist, which is a plot twist that also resets the Fate Counter to zero. So there's a natural ebb and flow to the game, as the world resists the player more and more until things finally reach a boiling point, and then resets.
I then introduced Prince to Stones, which are a type of metacurrency that make dice rolls easier for the player. You get more of these Stones from either the character There are three types of Stones:
Mythos Stones: when you spend these the Judge has to lower his dice by a step (so from D20 to D16, to D14, D12, D10, etc). The immortal of the poem (in this case Sota the Suicide) interferes with the game to your benefit. The Judge says how. Both players then journal the supernatural occurrence into their journals as they see fit.
Dynamis Stones: this lets a player reroll his stat die and/or the Judge's save die. The player narrates how one of his Traits gave him a burst of strength, and he and the Judge write down their versions of it in their journals. The player underlines what he wrote.
Persona Stones: the player increases his Stat die by one step. He has to tell the Judge how his relationships with others and the setting have given him strength. They both write that down into their respective journals.
Prince currently has two of each kind, and can only spend two at a time. So Prince spent a Mythos and Persona point, decreasing my dice to a D16 and his dice to a D10.
Here's what I wrote in my journal for the Mythos Stone: "A bee, a symbol of Sota, flitted near the dryad, and the enchnatment lessened a bit as the dryad's passive focus shifted to the bee; dryads love bees the way humans love dogs".
For the Persona Stone: "Remembering his conversations with Master Girard and Galbert, Girac tried to summon more strength. He had to resist! This was the enemy!"
The roll off happened, me at D16 vs Prince's D10+4.
He failed by 1, meaning his Belief " It is natural to use force to advance your own interests", which had 7 RP, now had 6 RP instead. You don't want it to hit 0, bad stuff happens. I gave out a Condition "Enchanted by the dryad" at level 1, and we got back to it!
He could feel the enchantment, the need to be possessed by her, to be with her, come over him. He had to resist. He must! A bee, a symbol of Sota the Suicide, drifted by the dryad in the dark, and she was distracted a moment, as dryads all love bees the way humans love dogs. Girac could not resist; he was under the sway of the dryad.
The dryad, for her part, regarded him with annoyance. She could not control the effect she had on Girac, but did not want him, not now at any rate. She had come here to talk. She took a step forward and Girac growled at her, telling her to stay away, to not come even another step closer! The dryad acquiesced, asking Girac of whether he knew of the declared vengeance her sisters had sworn upon Fort Falls for the attempted rape of their Queen. Girac said everyone knew of it and were worried. The dryad told him that she had personally stopped the rape attempt and had killed the man herself. But something about the whole incident was wrong to her, and she needed a human who knew the uniform of various soldiers to identify the body. Would he come with her? If he did they may be able to stop the attack on Fort Falls and La Fourchette. Girac agreed without hesitation, he needed no enchantment to agree to such a proposal!
The pair hurried out of La Fourchette, into The Elder Forest. Baleful Eous and Observant Tuntematon, the moons, were bright, the stars were out. The Ring of Tears, the remnants of the elven continent, glittered as they hung in the sky, oversized jewels.
Within a few steps into The Elder Forest the dryad turned and snapped at Girac: could he please be quieter??? Girac apologized, but the only way he could move quieter was to move slower. The dryad took hold of Girac's hand and spoke in a voice that sounded like the wind rustling through leaves. She then ran, hand in hand, with Girac.
Right through a tree.
And a bush.
And so on.
They ran much more quickly than Girac ever could have expected, with an abandon no human could have ever managed. By the time they got to a glade and stopped Girac was exhausted. The dryad spoke once more as the wind and all of a sudden Girac could feel his body on the ground again, he could feel the wind, the moons' mixed lights, all of it, all over again. It was thoroughly disorienting. The dryad gave Girac about ten minutes to recover, and then showed him the body.
It looked nothing like Girac or any other human he knew in Fort Falls or La Fourchette. The man was bald and clean shaven, covered in a light black and white cotton that would have made more sense in a warmer climate, as opposed to the more northerly humid climes of Fort Falls and La Fourchette. The dead man had a bag on him made out of a strange leather. Girac picked up the bag; in it were four strange cylinders, one of which shone with an odd green light. The dryad cried out in agony, pleading with Girac to put it away. She screamed that thing was profane to all life, to put it away, now, now please!! Curious, Girac put it away gingerly. He swore that he had never seen such a thing in his life, had no idea what it was, and that the dead man was not of his locale, and never had been. The dryad touched the garments of the corpse and Girac's, nodding to show she understood the difference. She was going to call her Queen, who had exiled her for reasons she would not get into, not right then and there. The point was that Girac was walking into a very fragile situation and needed to keep his head down unless the Queen herself talked to him. Girac made his promises.
The dryad opened her mouth and spoke like the wind once more.
So I'd forgotten to do a Resilience Roll, again. It's something I thought was necessary for the game because it keeps to the concept of the psychology of the character being primary. A roll-off occurs, with the margin of success going to the Fate Counter (which is currently at 0) or the margin of failure damaging a Belief.
Prince spent a Mythos and Dynamis stone, and this is what I recorded:
Mythos Stone: "The glade was mostly composed of yew trees, which allowed Sota to help Girac."
Persona Stone: "Girac's loyal nature provided him an enormous burst of internal strength".
And Prince forced a reroll on me, and passed a by a huge margin of failure, to 4! So the Fate Counter goes up to 4.
At this point in the cycle a Resilience Roll always precedes a Save. In this case it was to see if Girac would be ensorcelled by the Queen of The Glade as well. Prince argued that his previous Condition should actually count as a bonus to his own roll! I agreed, and he got a +1 step to his stat die, which we decided would be Willful again, along with another +1 step because of the cold iron dagger.
The roll-off was me at D20+4, versus Prince's D10+4. Not good odds, but after an initial bad roll Prince spent a Dynamis, which forced a reroll: he succeeded by 5!
Here's what I wrote for his Dynamis expenditure: "The loyalty of Girac was so powerful that it drove him, demanding more of him, pushing the wiles of the Queen of the Glade away."
Now, part of what's going on in the background is that, every time that Fate Counter goes up (it's currently at 9) I'm rolling a D20 to see if I roll under said counter. Whenever I do a random twist occurs. We'll get into what the means more next session, but just understand for the moment that each success drives the chances of something crazy happening in the narrative up.
The light became brighter, the birds louder, the wind kicked up. In walked the Queen of the Glade, in her fully unadorned splendor. It was a level of allure and beauty totally unexpected. Girac, even though he was enchanted by the other dryad, could feel that the pull of the Queen was of a completely different level. He had already failed once, he could not afford to fail again. Looking at the yew trees, the symbol of Sota the Suicide, holding the dagger he had hidden on him, and steeling his resolve, Girac refused to give in, even a little bit.
The Queen laughed; it had been a long time since anyone had resisted her, Girac was an interesting human being indeed! She also found it funny that Girac had a cold iron knife on his person; did he really think he could threaten her with it? She conversed with the dryad a few minutes, and confirmed with Girac that the human who had attempted to rape her had nothing to do with the humans of Fort Falls and La Fourchette. Girac swore it was so. He then brought out the green-glowing tube. The Queen flinched, and demanded that Girac put it away; it was the remnant of a dryad, somehow ripped from her tree and imprisoned. It was the foulest of things, a profanation that nobody should tolerate. Girac put the cylinder back in the bag immediately, apologizing profusely.
The Queen then requested that Girac allow himself to be examined by the other members of her Glade court. They would want to verify themselves that the human in question was not of Fort Falls or La Fourchette. Girac reluctantly agreed. They relocated the corpse into a small thicket, so that Girac would not have to contend with the effects of all the dryads of the Glade at once. Eight of them came and examined the corpse and Girac, one by one.
This is where it gets bad. See, by now the Fate Counter is at a +9, which is a pretty heft bonus to my rolls. Prince has spent a lot of his Stones, having only one Dynamis left, which means he can't shift luck to his side all that much. He either makes the rolls or he doesn't. So far Prince had been rolling hot, but would his luck hold? Would he be able to withstand the wiles of not one, not two, not four, but eight dryads, one after another? For the good of his people?
We agreed it should just be one Resilience Roll and Save for all the dryads. Eight rolls was too much, and frankly Girac had shown an unusual willpower up until this point.
He bombed the Resilience Roll, knocking out "It is natural to use force to advance your own interests".
The Save was even worse, even with the reroll.
Dynamis: "The dryad's promise to protect Girac gave him strength, allowing him to have more resolve. The tree trollops would not enrapture him! He would stand strong!"
The margin of fail on the Save, which always damages a Belief, also knocked out another Belief. I asked Prince which one he wanted to reduce to zero, and he chose "You should stick by your comrades", because screw Galbert for getting him into this crazy situation!!!
So that's not one but two Beliefs knocked out. What does that mean? What's the terrible thing that happens with one Belief going out, nevermind two? Prince wanted to find out but we were out of time.
NEXT TIME: we'll find out. I've run enough of these to know it's not good. Oh, and Resilience Rolls will be mercifully gone. It's clunky in game and even clunkier to write about.
If you want to hop onto the Discord to ask questions or read the current draft of Crescendo, click here!
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