The social arts (No I still haven't finished re-writing Heart! Bug off!)

Full disclosure: the Courtier's Arts were my favorite secret art. They had some strong contenders too; the prophecy-creating Scholar arts were conceptually brilliant (they did more for Sidereals at my table than hundreds of awkwardly-written charms ever did) and the Priest's arts essentially encapsulated all of the most gonzo stuff I love from stuff like Inuyasha and A Chinese Ghost Story.

Still, nothing truly compares to twisting somebody's heart inside out with your words. My favorite characters are always slimy social bastards. Take this beautiful monster for example:

Image beautifully crafted by Craig Mulligan, by the way

My Dune homies certainly recognize Harkonnen #1 the late, great reincarnate Baron Vladmir Harkonnen. A character so morbidly and deliberately obese that he cna barely move, much less defend himself in a galaxy filled with posthuman super martial artists who can see the future.

Yet, he's one of the most dangerous villains in the Duniverse. Hell, he's so dangerous that he effectively threatens one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy long after his death (at her hands, none the less!). The hell how is that sassy cow capable of being that deadly?!

He's smooth as iced milk is how. He's cunning and treacherous, and he knows how to leverage the darkest parts of the human heart to his inescapable advantage. He's a social manipulator par excellence; he can bend your desires into needs and ensure that he's holding the purse strings to your loyalty. His armor is reputation, his weapon is grace, and he coats in in the poison of your most shameful desires.

There's a lot to detest about him (read for yourself; Dune enriches the soul), but I love his insidiousness, his never-ending and self-justifying systems of intimidation, manipulation and cruelty that feed his invincible vanity.

Really, he's just the best bastard.

But, there's not really a good foil for him in Dune. His self-serving evil is countered by an equally self-serving practical literalism, misguided but sincere zealotry, and a futile and unproven appeal to the nobility of the human spirit. Not exactly a philosophical rebuke, it's all held up as essentially identical. At least, on the immortal and cosmic scale at which the characters of Dune operate.

But Legends had solid foils for their philosophical evils; at least, on paper. Every good virtue was balanced by an evil one; there was at least a well-set-up battleground for battling characters to test the rightness of their chosen virtues against their rivals.

The problem with Legends, as always, was that it was perfectly balanced; this is really the same problem spun in a different way. Our minds and hearts recoil from the uncanny valley of moral ambivalence that's implied both by Legend's stalemate and Dune's hyper-zoomed-out minimizing of the entire moral struggle. Our issues are too immediate, too hot in our blood to be answered in such a tepid way; especially at a table filled with intrigue, heroes, villains!

We want our good and evil to be immediate! We want consequences! Wicked villains! Justice-thirsty heroes! Glory! Righteousness! HONOOOORRRRR

Legends actually did a great job of this with the courtier Arts; you could totally adhere to good or evil philosophies, and your adherence to and spreading of them had in-game results.

My efforts were a bit mixed; I already made it so that anyone could be a social bastard by causing this game's analog to Passions, so I put the ability to be a philosopher sage and redeem people socially in the Gupt Kala.

This actually mirrors my personal relationship with emotions and philosophy; I've always been haunted by painful emotions, but it took a ton of sincere work and effort to learn about philosophies that gave me the tools to live an ethical life.

It also incidentally makes the art of healing with social interaction feel lost in the apocalypse, which makes characters that learn in rare and skilled; sort of psychologists of the fallen world, healing the broken hearts and minds of its people.

But don't get me wrong; they can also send them straight to hell with magically-reinforced contract law. Check it out:

...

Art of the Sage

Skill: Heart

Taught by: Golden Lions, Silver Phoenix, Five Star Spirits

Sadhana: The Seven Wisdoms

The devious manipulators of society can sow discord easily; a poisoned word in the right ear can twist the heart, filling it with anger, sadness, or obsession. But the sage learns a nobler path; the way of discipline, philosophy, and proper action. The Seven Wisdoms are destinies of proper thought and deed, doctrines echoing with the noblest aspects of the universe. 

These philosophical outlooks are created like Imbalances: however, rather than punishing characters and driving them into mad fits of passion, they inspire and reward them for noble and high-minded actions.

That is assuming of course that you’re working on a tight time scale (an Action scene) and that your target is unwilling to listen to your teachings. For willing recipients in Real-Time scenes, you need to spend only a single action to create the positive Imbalance. In Montage scenes, you may so empower any number of recipients to the zenith of your ability.

The most potent Imbalance that can be created depends on your Mastery level, according to the following scale:

Initiates: 2

Artists: 4 

Masters: 6

Grandmasters: 8

After it is created, any of these passions may be Inflamed by a Heart action from anyone, just like a normal Imbalance. However, only a practitioner of this Sadhana of sufficient mastery may “break the cap” and increase it beyond these limitations. 

The Seven Wisdoms

Earth Wisdom: Stoicism

Earth teaches this lesson: you can endure. Those taught the wisdom of the stoic withstand the hurts of body, heart and soul unbent. They stand where others fall, unchanged at their core no matter the agonies they suffer. When a Stoic chooses to act in accordance with a Dharma in the face of pain, danger or other hardship, they may claim their bonus.

Fire Wisdom: Joy

Fire teaches this lesson: joy can live in your heart. Those taught the wisdom of the joyful keep an undying zeal alive within them. When they act in accordance with a Dharma by sharing the joy of life with another, or defending that joy, they may claim their bonus.

Water Wisdom: Tranquility

Water teaches this lesson: all things seek balance. Those taught the wisdom of tranquility become islands of calm in a chaotic world. When they seek to fulfil a Dharma in the face of chaos, panic, terror, danger, or any other emotionally turbulent force, or when they defend natural or societal tranquility from violent disruption, they may claim their bonus.

Air Wisdom: Detachment

Air teaches this lesson: nothing is permanent. Those taught the wisdom of detachment comprehend that even the universe must one day return to nothingness. Not nihilism, but rather a recognition of the temporary and fluctuating nature of reality; a conscious rejection of the illusion of ownership and permanence. Their untroubled minds allow them to claim their bonus when they must make a significant sacrifice to fulfill a Dharma.

Wood Wisdom: Growth

Wood teaches this lesson: that which lives must grow. Those taught the wisdom of growth understand this vital direction; they seize, encourage and cherish growth and the natural blossoming of life. When those following the natural way seek to fulfill a Dharma by protecting, encouraging or experiencing growth may claim their bonus. Note; cancer grows as naturally as a flower: encouraging the growth of a wicked philosophy fulfils the requirements of this advantage.

Metal Wisdom: Logic

Metal teaches this lesson: with thought and effort, you can comprehend this world. Logicians seek to understand their world through careful thought, experiment and deductive reasoning. When logicians seek to fulfill a Dharma by approaching a problem which thwarted them with a new strategy, they may claim their bonus.

Cosmic Wisdom: Enlightenment

The Cosmos teaches this wisdom: truth exists in impenetrable mystery, necessarily beyond the knowable and known. Students of this recursive and elusive wisdom achieve harmony in the absence of mind, what the ancients called Divine Emptiness. When an adherent seeks to fulfill a Dharma by enlightening an enemy of its true meaning and purpose, they may claim this bonus. 

Mudra: Mandate of Fire and Stars

Treaties are the laws that bind societies; how much more so when sanctified with the implacable will of Heaven and backed up by the cruelty of Hell? The Shadow Arts Master ratifies the agreements of nations, codifying their rules of engagement, drawing their lines of battle, and ensuring their conjoined loyalty with the all-destroying blade of the gods dangling precariously above.

This Mudra allows the creation of Divinely Sanctioned Treaties; these agreements are backed not by arms and threat, but by the deep and vengeful sorcery of the cosmos. Those that dare break their sworn word face the wrath of Heaven and all the furious reprisal of Hell.

This Gupt Kala expands the Heart skill, allowing the creation of divinely-reinforced agreements between parties. These magical contracts are constructed thusly:

 Two or more parties agree to be bound by a sworn covenant. Anything might be agreed to, but there must be some tangible benefit for all parties involved; the divine withholds its blessing from an agreement which lacks some token peppercorn of consideration for all involved.

All parties further agree to be punished under a sanction should they violate their agreement. The degree of the Sanction determines the difficulty of the required Heart action to bind the treaty (1 Step= Rank 2, 2 Steps= Rank 4, 3 Steps= Rank 6, and 4 Steps= Rank 8)

Any caveats which allow exceptions to this are clearly laid out and agreed to as well

Finally, in the witnessing of the Shadow Artists, all parties formally swear to the covenant

To successfully bind the treaty together, the Artist must use a Heart action of appropriate Rank. Greater levels of mastery allow ever more terrifying sanctions with powerful enough action.

When used to sanctify agreements between individuals, this Mudra may be used in a single Real-Time action. To bind larger Populaces together, it requires a Montage action and representatives who Heaven and Hell recognize as speakers for those bound by the covenant.

Covenants last as long as specified in the agreement. If an expiration is not agreed upon, then it lasts for either the lifetime of all parties and their inheritors, or until dissolved by mutual agreement; whichever comes first (usually the death one).

The classic covenants

Over the long cycles of history, some covenants have emerged countless times as useful and predictable agreements between societies.

Trade Agreement: The parties involved agree on terms of trade between their societies. This might involve tariffs for importing foreign goods, or allow only certain items to be traded, or certain people to traffic in certain goods. It might restrict certain varieties of trade, or place minimums or upper limits on certain types of goods.

Alliance: A formal declaration of comradery and cooperation between societies, especially useful in times of war and other strife. May require allied parties to join forces in the wars of any ally, mutual defense for a shared border, or merely monetary support of one another’s war efforts.

Non-Aggression Pact: A less cumbersome agreement than an alliance, this covenant formalizes a lasting peace between its signers. Although lacking the reward of a full alliance, this agreement has been skillfully maneuvered into effective wartime defenses as nations select foes and non-aggressors to cover their flanks. It is also a classic first step on the road to trade agreements and alliance, so makes an effective “gateway” treaty.

Honor Duel: Sometimes wars last so long and claim so many lives that everyone involved gets completely sick of the entire affair; still, honor must be served. In these cases, a formal covenant outlining the rules for duels of honor is extremely helpful to create some token bloodshed in service of a greater peace.

Letters of Marque: Civil society sometimes has need of skillful scoundrels to selective break their own rules. In these fringe cases, it’s best to be legally clear about what these ne’er-do-wells are officially allowed to get away with. These covenants codify selective wicked deeds that their bearer may perform under the full blessing of the law. This protects the sanctioned wrongdoer from the consequences of their own actions and legal reprisal.

Sanctions

Destiny itself upholds the covenants of the Shadow Artist; those who break their sworn vow must face the furious wrath of the heavens and vengeful universe for their trespass. Less skillful artists negotiate for direct and temporary punishment, while the legendary grandmasters call down curses to ruin civilizations that dare dishonor their treaties.

Sanctions are Dynamic Content which is unleashed if a covenant is broken. The more powerful the Shadow Artist, the more steps are added to the content. An Initiate only has one, while a Grandmaster has all four steps.

The Catalyst for these is all the covenant itself. If there’s some dimension of the agreement that allows those breaking it to squeeze out of punishment (such as a Caveat, p.XX) then this can remove the Catalyst and cease the sanction. 

When a covenant is created, the master chooses the depth of the Sanction, up to the limits of their capabilities. For example, they might create less onerous treaties with lighter sanctions, if they wish.

Plague Sanction

A wasting sickness seizes all those who trespassed against the covenant. The graveyard of the world is still choked with the bones of those claimed by this horrifying covenant. Weaker levels of this sanction effectively create weaker illnesses; the higher echelons, adding as they do ever more horrible symptoms, 

Montage Dynamic Content

Initiates (Step 1): The oathbreakers come down with fever, sweats, and a hacking phlegm-filled cough.  This is a Rank 1 Sickness Imbalance. It’s dramatic penalty is identical to a chest wound, as character double over in hacking fits due to any strenuous activity. Characters that come into contact with a plaguebearer suffer this and all other stages of the cursed illness unless they succeed on a Rank 2 Endurance roll to fend it off.

Artists (Step 2): The fever breaks, and the plaguebearers devolve into shuddering chills. This a Rank 2 Sickness Imbalance. It’s powerful to kill between 1-10% of a Populace that contracts it after one Montage scene (roll a d10). It’s dramatic Penalty is akin to having both legs broken; the character’s cold chills and shaking make grace and speed impossible.

Masters (Step 3): The chill takes it’s next form; hideous boils, vomiting, diarrhea, and thick, yellow sweat. This kills and additional 1-10% after the conclusion of a second scene (roll another d10, adding to the first’s body count). Characters this sick have a Rank 3 Deadly Sickness Imbalance; if they take the dramatic penalty and roleplay the horrific symptoms above, they gain 1d10 Aggravation.

Grandmasters (Step 4): Those few unlucky survivors begin to rot; their flesh deepens into the color of a bruise and their flesh necrotizes. Their tongues swell with pus, and their eyes bleed out of their skulls. Only 1-10% of an affected Populace will survive this horrific malady. Characters with this plague have a Rank 4 Deadly Sickness Imbalance; its Dramatic Penalty is a complete shutdown of both arms and legs, and comes with 1d10 Aggravation for trying to act at all.

Famine Sanction

The material wealth, typically food but really any possessions, of the oathbreakers crumbles away, putrifies, rusts, or otherwise gradually becomes worthless. Much of the wealth of the ancient world melted away due to this merciless sanction. Weaker levels of this sanction impoverish or starve those who dare to break their word, while the higher levels turns all the world’s wealth into their foe; taunting them but offering no comfort, no sustenance, no shelter, and no aid.

Montage Dynamic Content

Initiates (Step 1): What could be chalked up to bad luck causes 25% of a Poulace’s Productivity to become worthless (locusts swarm wheat fields, cave-in bury precious ores, machines go awry and delay production, etc.). Each affected character additionally loses a random 25% of their least valuable material possessions due to accident, carelessness, and annoying misfortune. 

Artists (Step 2): Clear and unambiguous misfortune causes the loss of the next quarter of the Populace’s productivity (up to 50% now). Characters lose the next 25% of their material possessions, sparing their most cherished and powerful but otherwise ruining whatever else they claim as their own.

Masters (Step 3): Horrific, clearly magical misfortune destroys the lion’s share of a Populace’s Productivity (an additional 25%, for a total of 75%!). Character’s lose 75% of their worldly wealth and possessions, even cherished, irreplaceable and powerful items.

Grandmasters (Step 4): Heaven withholds even the barest mote of fortune from the doomed Populace that advance to this stage: the entirety of their wealth and worldly good (even food!) is annihilated in a cursed disaster, leaving them to starve. Characters are similarly impoverished. Furthermore, any who dare offer them aid are quickly stripped of their wealth and food as well, suffering the curse along with the unfortunate character!

Mischief Sanction

Bad luck, misfortune and a generally miserable fate befall those unfortunate word-breakers that defy this sanction’s covenant. This ranges from annoying and only modestly dangerous to full-blown cursed with an inescapable fate. 

Montage Dynamic Content

Initiates (Step 1): Troublesome and irritating coincidences, misfortunes, and a general souring of luck plagues a Populace under this sanction. Although not enough to do more than annoy them, their Status Quo changes to reflect their bad temper and poor fortune, and NPCs will comment on their bad luck. For characters, they must roll twice for any Volatile Content, accepting the result of the GM’s choice.

Artists (Step 2): Incredible and dangerous bad luck befalls a Populace at this level; this counts as a Minor Hardship, and NPCs will be desperately praying, practicing taboos, or otherwise indulging in any superstition to assuage their horrible turn of luck. Characters labor under the burden of a Rank 1 Bad Luck Spiritual Imbalance. It’s Dramatic penalty requires the full engagement of either a hand, foot or sense in the practice of a weird ritual taboo to ward off their misfortune.

Masters (Step 3): Legendary misfortune plagues a Populace at this level, counting as a Significant Hardship. The people cry out to the gods for mercy and are desperate for a cure to their woes. Characters must content with a disastrous Rank 3 Bad Luck Imbalance, Further, They must roll for Volatile Content no matter what they’re doing at the start of every scene.

Grandmasters (Step 4): Doom befalls the luckless Populace that suffer under this sanction; this counts as a Major Hardship. NPCs you meet are wrecks, bemoaning their cruel fate. Characters endure a crippling Rank 5 Bad Luck Imbalance, in addition to the increased Volatile Content above.

Monstrous Sanction

The World of Ashes and Ghosts once was known by another name, when it belonged to the merciful and creative hands of humankind; in this fallen age, it is gripped instead by the claws of crueler masters. This sanction steers the destinies of ever deadlier monsters towards those foolish enough to go back on their oaths.

Montage Dynamic Content

Initiates (Step 1): Vermin plague the oathbreakers. Populaces have their food stores eaten and spoiled, losing 1d10% of their food: this might cause a Hardship if there’s not enough food remaining to feed everyone. Characters have a terrain-appropriate swarm of vermin arrive as Volatile Content to trouble them.

Artists (Step 2): Opportunistic beastmen, mutants and other dangerous creatures are drawn to the oathbreakers. Select an appropriate local Populace of monstrous humanoids to prey upon a Populace; they become keyed to the area and the Status Quo changes to reflect their parasitic nature. For characters, this monster Populace hounds them, sending Groups alongside any Volatile Content encountered to opportunistically attack them.

Masters (Step 3): A powerful monster (Effort 7+) arises from the deep, dark places of the world to wreak havoc. Populaces endure a Significant Hardship as it lairs in their territory, permanently changing the Status Quo as it uses them as a food or slave supply. Characters must deal with the creature as though it were Volatile Content.

Grandmasters (Step 4): A monstrous demigod (Effort 12+) is summoned to rain horrors on the oathbreakers. A Populace endures a Major hardship and, should they survive, must live under the bootheel of the creature (either as it’s favored food supply or as a conquered people). Characters must vanquish the beast as though it’s Volatile Content; if they fail to kill it but otherwise drive it off, it will heal and trouble them again at every opportunity.

Caveats

As they say: rules are meant to be broken. In the case of caveats, they can at least be bent. A caveat is a specific, intentional exception to following a covenant. Although a player is always free to plead their case to the GM, the existence of caveats helps strengthen a Player’s ability to break their word and worm out of the consequences. 

The classic caveats

Over the long stretch of history, a few classic caveats have emerged.

Trial by Duel: A trespass against the covenant must be ratified by a public accusation. The accused may absolve themselves against wrongdoing by challenging the accuser to a duel to the death and winning. This caveat is favored by the Gold Lions and other martial brotherhoods, since it encourages justice through martial excellence.

Caste Immunity: Certain societal castes are simply not bound by the covenant; such is the privilege of power. This caveat is favored by the Silver Phoenix and other royal-minded clans, as it solidifies their power and keeps their subjects in their place.

Knife in the Darkness: If the trespass has no witnesses, the covenant ignores it. This is a favorite among the Shadow Vipers and other groups of assassins, as it encourages the sharpening of killing skills and subtlety by rewarding it with freedom from consequences.

Ritual Exception: If certain circumstances are met, the covenant selectively does not apply. For example, a covenant against killing might be waived against those that betray their clan. The Emerald Kirin and other ritualistic clans favor this caveat, as it ensconces the rules of society within the framework of religion. 

Committing to things is hard! Gupt Kala, I summon thee!

I baked my very first cherry pie today

Took it on easy mode; I did not hand-make the crust, I just bought it from a store. Also, I just got canned cherries; Fresh seemed like they'd be too tart? Maybe not; I don't know much about cherries.

Look at that; I pied

I also watched Tank Girl on amazon. Not bad.

Gonna check out that comic next. Looks like it rules

Anyway. I gathered you here today to talk about the game! Specifically, that I want to get the Lone Wolf Fists playtest Done already!

It's been kicking my ass a little. So I decided to jump around in my trademark fashion and work on the Gupt Kala.

The Secret Arts

There were these things in Legends of the Wulin called the Secret Arts. I've talked about them before; they were basically ways of manipulating all the status effects characters tended to drag around with them due to whacking out their Chi with irresponsible training or being passionate, violent assholes that got injured and fell in love and hate constantly.

There were five:

Warrior's art - Your strategy and combat philosophy

Doctor's art - Your traditional acupuncture/magic medicine to change your Chi wuxia doctor. Classic.

Priest's art - Blessings, curses, and other magic woo that came out of strong emotions

Courtier's art - The assholes who were causing and manipulating said emotions and

Scholar's art - Somewhere between Sherlock Holmes and the Sidereals from Exalted, you made predictions and they wouldn't so much come true as just hang around and make trouble for everybody

Some of these were way, way better in play than others; there's a reasonably famous example of a courtier in one of Arik's games hanging on the sidelines of a duel and just talking while stealth-unleashing these punishing Courtier's Arts and this sad sack who effectively couldn't fight back. That's not even the most heinous thing courtiers did; I loved them devious assholes.

The Ups and Downs

Weapons of the Gods relegated the secret arts to an appendix; Legends had the balls to put them center-stage. You didn't have HP in that game, you got dice put on you that got rolled if you were hit hard enough; any sets would turn into Chi Conditions.

There were some benefits to doing it this way; it was a cool system, making it central meant it got more play. On the other hand, it was just complex enough that it tended to slow things down, so that was a pretty big drawback.

Chi conditions manifested in an uneven way too; like, I once had a player burn the palms of somebody's hands, so they had to drop their weapon, which had this cascade effect where they couldn't use their external style anymore. So it was a choice between two different numbers of penalties: that's not really a choice, you choose the small one.

There were some rough patches in the writing, proofreading, playtesting and editing. Like, read back through any of my stuff; it's decent, but a hot mess in dire need of a solid proofread and re-write. Imagine if I had a deadline and that stuff was printed in your hardback. You can see why the editor got frustrated with how that book was released.

Since the chi condition stuff was so central to how the secret arts worked, that system being equal parts chore and mess had the knock-on effect of obscuring some of those problems I talked about with the secret arts. And there were a ton of cool, unique ideas in that section; so much that it would've been extremely hard to playtest all of them prior to release.

The Bottom Line

The end result of all this was a glorious hot mess of a game that's beloved to this day. So much so that I spent my last weekend before semester writing over three thousand words trying to create my own system for Lone Wolf Fists based on that design.

I've got 1.5 written: my take on the warrior's arts, and half my take on the courtier's arts.

Since you fine people decided to show up and read, I post the first here for your perusal.

....

Gupt Kala

Secretive sibling of the mystical martial arts, the shadow arts or Gupt Kala are a subtle discipline. Strategic, comprehensive, and attentive, they offer their students new ways of perceiving the world. Some are mystical traditions, some are schools of deep philosophical thought, but all offer versatility and power beyond simple martial excellence.

Learning Gupt Kala

Each school of thought and discipline in the Gupt Kala are known as Arts: Art of the General, Art of the Seer, Art of the Diplomat, etc. They are learned as encompassing arts, rather than as single Techniques: those that master the Novice level of the Art of the Sorcerer will have a comprehensive suite of powers and charms at their disposal, rather than a single powerful special move.

Because of their holistic nature, they tend to permeate more widely than the mystical martial arts: no single clan lays claim to a given Art. They’re more widespread: a Shadow Viper organ-reader might clash with a Brotherhood of Freaks tortoiseshell-cracker over a mighty prediction of the martial world’s fate.

Characters of any faction may begin the game with an Initiate-level Gupt Kala from their Clan’s list; all clans offer more than one. Achieving greater power in the arts requires learning a higher Discipline from a teacher or manual, similar to Techniques.

Initiates are novices of the secrets; they have mysterious and unexpected abilities, but their powers are subtle and weak

Artists are established and skilled experts; their command of the arts grants them a library of deadly and unanticipated tricks

Masters are recognized powers of the secret ways; their powers are unknowable and dreaded

Grandmasters are the secret lords of the mystical world; living gods of inconceivable magic might

Costs of Mastery

As with Techniques, you need a master or manual to teach you the shadow arts. If you find one which has the type and discipline level of Gupt Kala you wish to master, then you must spend a Montage scene training and spend Kharma equal to the Cost of Mastery.

Initiate: 20

Artist: 40

Master: 80

Grandmaster:  160

Although the levels are similar in power and cost to Techniques, they operate very differently.

Powers of the Gupt Kala

Like Techniques, the Gupt Kala are special disciplines characters may use to gain a tactical advantage. However, they’re more subtle and comprehensive than Techniques, offering a tactical toolkit of useful abilities.

Every Art is centered in a single skill: generally Heart, Intellect or Spirit. By infusing their knowledge and mastery of the skill with Prana, characters can push their abilities with the skill to beyond human levels.

This functions identically to using a Technique: the Cost and Rank depends on the Discipline level achieved, although they’re considered to have any Facing the player wishes:

Initiate: Rank 1/ Cost 6

Artist: Rank 2/ Cost 13

Master: Rank 3/ Cost 22 / Achieve up to Rank 7 effects

Grandmaster:  Rank 4/ Cost 34 / Achieve up to Rank 8 effects

In addition to this gross display of power, Gupt Kala offer a wealth of unique tricks and powers to their adherents. These take the form of mystical spell-like powers called Sadhana, and ritualistic investments of magic force called Mudra.

Sādhanā

Sadhana are the quick works of magic practiced and perfected by a Shadow Artist to round out their tactical capabilities. They function similarly to Imbalances, Techniques, and other powers that function on the truncated timeframes of an Action Scene. 

Here are some example Sadhana that many Gupt Kala offer:

Advantageous Imbalances: Like typical Imbalances, a player chooses whether their character will adhere to the Dramatic restrictions during a round or action. However, if they do, they are granted additional Effort Dice to roll during your turn. The number of bonus Effort are equal to your Discipline level (Initiative 1, Arist 2, Master 3, Grandmaster 4). While adhering to the Dramatic restrictions, the GM has final veto over any proposed action if they feel it violates the spirit of the restriction.

Mystical Manipulation: Like Techniques, these special moves cause no physical harm. Rather, they build aggravation towards an Imbalance. The kinds of Imbalance that the artist may create are detailed within the Art. These function exactly as Techniques, with Facings, Rank and Effects. These can be defended against just as other attacks.

Elemental Awareness: The Six Earthly Elements underlie all reality: Metal, Earth, Wood, Air, Fire and Water. Beyond these are the Divine Elements of Heaven and Hell. Secret Artists learn to move, think and act in accord with these all-permeating principles of the cosmos, granting them powerful insights and unique advantages.

Mudra

Mudra are the rituals and long-scale works of deep sorcery mastered by the Shadow Artist to establish and consolidate their magical powers in the world. They function as long-term projects, environmental interaction, puzzle solving, resource acquisition, and other actions appropriate to the delicate, longer timescales of Real-Time or Montage Scenes.

Here is a selection of Mudra offered by some Gupt Kala:

Magical Summoning: Adherents to the laws of the cosmos can call on strange and powerful allies. They can call up demons, call down small gods, or draw forth elemental beasts from the earth’s stygian depths. The length of alliance and reliability of the ally vary, but the general power level of the summoned being is determined by the Discipline level of the artist.

Environmental Conversion: Holy places are sanctified to heaven; haunted locals cursed by Hell. Sanctuaries of the natural world are consecrated in the green touch of the old earth. A Shadow Artist can infuse an area with magical energy and thereby bring ancient magical laws to bear on the reality of the place.  The specific alteration to reality are detailed within the Gupt Kal, while the area converted is reliant on the artist's Discipline Level: Initiates can convert one Field, Artists a Tract, Masters an entire Domain, while Grandmasters can convert a whole Region.

Spiritual Covenants: Gupt Kala allows mortals to bind and control the immortal forces of the world.  Whether these be demons demanding wickedness, djinni wish-granting, or services to the small gods, the weird spirits of the universe grant powerful favors to those with the mystical skill to bind them.

....

QUICK BREAK

Hey I know you're probably all chompin' at the bit to check out some examples; that's rad, I was eager to write 'em too. I just wanted to squeeze in some stuff about why this take at the warrior's art rules and what I was tryin' to do here.

Okay so, the warrior's arts in LotW worked thus:

1. You choose a tactical approach based on one of the five elements

2. You did that and got a bonus

3. If you saw somebody else doing that, you could fuck with them and take away their bonus

There was a touch more nuance than that, but that's the bones of it. This made the warrior's chi condition bonuses way easier to get, and gave them a new tactical approach to nullifying it that other warriors had the best chance of exploiting.

Which is actually pretty great! In theory.

In practice, warrior's simplicity and self-focus made them really vulnerable among the secret artists; without investing in social or magical defenses, they could get rocked pretty hard and didn't have the fine manipulation to manage bad chi conditions or cure themselves.

They also merely strengthened a very obvious and universally used combat approach, rather than getting a more flexible and unexpected tactical approach. All the other artists got tricks, the warrior merely grew their beatin' stick to max size.

This effectively meant that they were "half" secret-artists; they could boost themselves up, but could only sabotage other warriors.... And only sometimes.

LotW also didn't have super-well developed strategic gameplay; leading armies and other badass warrior things didn't have the mechanical muscle to manifest at a table in a satisfactory way. This further injured the appeal of the warrior's secret arts; there just wasn't a war system for them!

But hey, guess who's got two thumbs and just wrote a war system for LWF?

What.... No ME you idiot!

This post needed more Tank Girl.

Anyway war rules in the post apocalypse. Also, I wanted all my favorite mass combats from Avatar the Last Airbender to be things in this game. So they are.

Aww yeah. that's the spice.

The tactical approach idea was gold, so I kept that as the bedrock of the Gupt Kala. But you can also train your post-apocalyptic legions into benders while you're at it.

What's the worst secret art NOW, fool?!

....

Art of the General

Taught by: Emerald Kirin, Golden Lions, Radioactive Scorpions, Five Star Spirits

Sadhana: The Fourteen Strategies

Laid down by the warring elements shortly after the dawn of time, the ancient laws of warfare have governed the molding of reality ever since. Generals learn to see the influence of elemental balance and imbalance in everything. These things being plain, they can adopt a strategy of boon or bane against the prevailing element, whether in the war-torn terrain or the heart of their foe.

Adopting one of the classical strategies is a Sadhana. It manifests as either a Harmonious or Discordant Imbalance, aligned with or opposing a particular element. In this way, there are a total of fourteen strategies, from Harmonious Earth to Discordant Cosmos.

Harmonious (Element) Strategy

Absorbing the tactical nuances of your surroundings, you bring yourself into strategic alignment with a combat strategy forged in the cradle of existence. This functions as an Advantageous Imbalance: the specific actions dictated by the strategy are outlined in the element list below. For your tactical superiority, you gain a bonus Effort die commensurate with your mastery level as indicated below:

Initiate: 1

Artist: 2

Master: 3

Grandmaster:4

Discordant (Element) Strategy

Every strategy has a weakness; masters of the Art of the General recognize the strategic nuance of the foe’s battle plan, even when they are blind to it. By adopting one of the Elemental Strategies, they rob the foe of their assumed advantages and  leave them defenseless in the face of their superior skill.

Against an opposing (Element) Strategy, foes benefiting from advantageous terrain have their benefits reduced against your actions. If this penalty is severe enough, then you gain a bonus to the Rank of a single action against them so long as they otherwise claim the advantage during their turn. For example, if they benefit from increased defense against your allies by taking cover under a concrete rampart, then you may claim an Earth Strategy bonus against them this turn.

The Elements oppose one another like so:

Wood opposes Earth (roots break through dirt)1

Earth opposes Water (mud drinks the river)

Water opposes Fire (rain drowns the wildfire)

Fire opposes Metal (heat softens steel)

Metal opposes Cosmos (iron tames the lightning)

Cosmos opposes Air (the heavens direct the gale)

Air opposes Wood (the tornado uproots the tree)

The Ranks of penalty faced by our foes depend on your mastery level, as indicated below: Initiate: 1

Artist: 2

Master: 3

Grandmaster: 4

Elemental Strategies

Earth: Taking advantage of the literal battle ground, you adopt a defensive position. You must act reserved; offense is only possible from a position of defense, such as archery from a rampart or a spear poking through a concrete bunker. You may adopt a smothering, encompassing strategy based on earthwork traps, landslides, avalanches, falling rocks, or similar strikes.

Water: In a fluid environment, the dominant strategy is reactive. You must go with the flow of your surroundings, attentively waiting for the opportunity to act. You are purely responsive; you may attack when attacked, act when acted upon. You can initiate strikes, but only if being carried along by the surrounding environment in the form of a current, strong wind, or surprisingly an explosive force.

Fire: Fire does not wait; it acts. You must be as fire; relentless, destructive, and overwhelming. You must adopt an all-out offense, attacking or attempting to destroy parts of your environment. Defense is possible, but only until you have the opportunity to use all of your available resources to attack. You cannot hold back or show mercy, but may choose to cripple rather than kill a foe.

Air: You are as the air; unpredictable, powerful, and elusive. You adopt an evasive, unpredictable strategy, meeting offense with evasion rather than defense. You might strike from concealment, or use a secret advantage to surprise and confound your foe. Highly unusual and unlikely strategies are encouraged by this approach. You cannot remain still, either to press a sustained offense or defend an entrenched position; air is not patient enough for such activities. 

Wood: You are as inevitable as the root, as supple as the leaf. You move purposefully, slowly gaining and consolidating control of the battlefield. A favorite strategy of chain-fighters, grapplers and those who control and overpower their foes, it allows for powerful (if straightforward) offense and defense. You may not use surprise or speed, but must act predictably and gradually to overpower the foe. The greatest restriction of this approach is its reliance on the root; your feet must stay firmly on the ground and your stance must be strong to benefit from this approach.

Metal: Metal bends and cuts, striking precisely from a specified angle with precision and focusing its force for full impact. You must be like metal; precise, focused, and specific. Your strategy need not be predictable, but must be tightly focused. Although you remain both flexible and tough on the defense, surprise and redirection can blunt your cutting offense. A blade cannot cut from it’s flat side; a foe which directs your offence nullifies it.

Cosmos: Magic is powerful, but relies on its mystery as its true strength; so to, does your strategy. You adopt an unusual strategy, relying on surprise and mystery to overwhelm the foe. Your approach is as bound by predictability as the unbending laws of magic; a foe that sees through the mysterious element of your strategy can utterly unravel it’s advantage.

Mudra: The 7 Tactical Approaches

The art of the general is the art of war itself. It is an encompassing art; war is waged over many terrains, it permeates all space and time. The laws of conflict are the laws of the universe. Masters of these arts learn the secret sorceries of this truth; they train their armies to conquer in the endless theatres of war.

The Seven Approaches are part magic, part martial; the master’s ritual is somewhere between training and meditation, forging the soldier’s minds, bodies and souls according to one of the seven ancient strategies. 

This training occurs during a Montage scene. The listed Rank of Action must be achieved with a Spirit action for the training to be successful. If it is, the Army/Group acquires a new Tactic. Note that multiple Tactics may be taught with sufficient additional Spirit Actions of appropriate Rank.

The Rank required and Tactics taught are: 

Initiate: 2

Artist: 4

Master: 6

Grandmaster: 8

Tactics of the 7 Approaches

Earth: Tactic of the Siege

The Tactical Approach of Earth concerns its training with the art of siege warfare. It’s adherents become experts at defense, able to weather enemy raids and artillery bombardments as though ensconced in the invincible belly of the world.

Impervious Mountain Strategy

Cost: 

Novice: 6

Expert: 13

Master: 21

Ultimate: 34

Rank: 

Novice: 0

Expert: 1

Master: 2

Ultimate: 3

Facing: Any

Effect: The defense positioning, phalanx drills and shield-wall strategy empowered by this maneuver are without peer. In addition to defending against an assault, this defense creates a (total defense -1 Rank) defensive fortification that houses the army against future attacks. 

Keywords: Defensive, Counterattack

Water: Tactic of Naval Warfare

The Tactical Approach of Water trains captains and sailors to master the art of naval warfare. Marine assaults, ship-to-ship melee, even the bizarre warfare of submersible craft are all empowered by this comprehensive aquatic training.

Captain of the Tsunami Approach

Cost: 

Novice: 6

Expert: 13

Master: 21

Ultimate: 34

Rank: 

Novice: 1

Expert: 2

Master: 3

Ultimate: 4

Facing: Any

Effect: Empowers only attacks from ships; this includes amphibious assaults, boarding actions, broadsides, even coastal bombardments. Additionally, defends against any such actions, or against any attacks targeting a sea vessel.

Finally, may be used by an entire army to cross a body of water; their swimming fortified by it’s elemental magic. This is the only way in which it empowers Endurance.

If used for defense, the Army can command the seas to harden into defenses structures made of ice; this ice is mundane and will melt at sufficient temperature. This structure provides defense equal to (defense roll -2 Rank)

Keywords:

Effect: ...

Keywords: Versatile

Skill: Endurance

Fire: Tactic of the Scorched Earth

The Tactic of Fire is as destructive and viciously effective as a surging wildfire; defenses are smashed, cover burned, buildings razed and the earth salted. Devastating and short-sighted, this tactic is more often used as a threat against intractable foes due to it’s hideously destructive nature. If only the architects of the Apocalypse had been so frugal...

Slashing Wildfire Offense

Cost: 

Novice: 6

Expert: 13

Master: 21

Ultimate: 34

Rank: 

Novice: 1

Expert: 2

Master: 3

Ultimate: 4

Facing: Any

Effect: Defensive positions used to defend against this Tactic are permanently reduced by 1 Rank as they’re scorched, cut and broken.

In addition, this Tactic creates a Bonfire Disaster attached to the target Field. It is beyond the control of the army that created it; it is much easier to start a fire than to control it.

Keywords: Elemental, Destructive, Offensive

Air: Tactical of Aerial Warfare

The Air Tactical Approach teaches mastery of the skies; it emphasizes ranged warfare, superior positioning, and unusual strategies such as the use of hang-gliders to gain height advantage over earthbound foes. It opens the vertical as a strategic consideration, granting an impressive advantage over less maneuverable foes.

Peregrin Sky Mastery

Cost: 

Novice: 6

Expert: 13

Master: 21

Ultimate: 34

Rank: 

Novice: 1

Expert: 2

Master: 3

Ultimate: 4

Facing: Any

Effect: Through basic lightfoot training, this powerful Tactic allows an army to soar over their foe’s heads or leap up to intercept flying foes. It allows the Army to launch Attacks as though Ranged and above the defenders, meaning they can only be struck back if the foe has weaponry that can return fire. Additionally, it allows attacks against aerial foes even when the Army is otherwise unequipped to fight back. 

Finally, it allows the Army to take Agility actions as a character.

Keywords: Offensive

Skill: Agility

Wood: Tactic of Guerrilla Warfare

The Tactic of Wood trains its adherents in the brutal art of guerrilla warfare. A darling of revolutionaries, beleaguered defenders and impoverished soldiers, the ruthless and efficient strategies taught by this tactic are a nightmare to face.

Jungle’s Hungering Teeth

Cost: 

Novice: 6

Expert: 13

Master: 21

Ultimate: 34

Rank: 

Novice: 1

Expert: 2

Master: 3

Ultimate: 4

Facing: Any

Effect: Uniquely, the Army may take a Senses action to hide themselves so long as they’re in dense terrain (it need not be natural terrain: dense urban ruins or rotted factory depths work as well as dark jungles). 

Opposing Armies who take damage from this Tactic take an additional 1d10 from disease and exposure. Additionally, they lose 1 Loyalty at the end of this scene from the demoralizing psychological warfare.

Keywords: Versatile, Stealth

Skill: Senses

Metal: Tactic of Mounted Warfare

The Tactical approach of Metal concerns itself with mounted combat; from the thundering charge of ancient cavalry to the earth-quaking onslaught of tank legions. It is the tactic of the lancer, the blitzkrieg, the penetrating flank that rolls up a battle line and crushes the foe beneath hoof, wheel or tread.

Iron Horse General

Cost: 

Novice: 6

Expert: 13

Master: 21

Ultimate: 34

Rank: 

Novice: 1

Expert: 2

Master: 3

Ultimate: 4

Facing: Any

Effect: Mounted armies using this powerful Tactic simultaneously create both an Attack and Agility Action. Empowers only attacks and Agility actions from mounted Armies: this might be horses, tanks, even motorcycles might be launched between rooftops.

Keywords: Offense

Skill: Agility

Cosmos: Tactic of Mystical Warfare

The Cosmic Tactic empowers soldiers with rituals and meditation techniques allowing them to cross between the mortal and spirit planes. Such mystic-soldiers are a powerful police force against wayward gods, a potent defense against marauding demons and an outstanding strongarm to knuckle rebellious spirits into submission.

Ghost-Fighting Fists

Cost: 

Novice: 6

Expert: 13

Master: 21

Ultimate: 34

Rank: 

Novice: 1

Expert: 2

Master: 3

Ultimate: 4

Facing: Any

Effect: Allows it’s practitioners to both strike immaterial spirits and defend against purely mystical attacks. Further, it empowers them to interact with the spirit realm as long as acting ritualistically and in concert together.

Keywords: Versatile

Skill: Spirit

Hea- no, wait.... Content? Again?

Bear with me on this one: I promise I was trying to work on the Heart rules.

Here's what happened: Heart is pretty much what it needs to be. So much so, as a matter of fact, that it made me realize that I needed to re-design more of my previous writing in order to be as good as Heart.

I'll get around to it: I need to fix up the Populaces it can influence at once and a few other minor things. Really though, it's almost exactly what it needs to be; it even works with the new scene rules just fine. Very pleased.

Also, mildly drunk.

Because what I did instead was to re-write the Content rules. Since I'm apparently crazy.

No but I had logic behind this: I didn't have rules for the Norms/Customs/etc. that Heart referenced. I had Populaces, but no real way to bring them into the game like I could with Monsters or NPCs. It hit me; why not just make them act like entries in the Monster Manual?

And from there I spiraled deliriously out of control into a full-blown re-write of the Content rules.

...

Ultimately, the first go at Content didn't work. I couldn't figure out how to use my own rules in play. You've got to count that as a failure, right? Like that just won't do.

But what I did was, I ran a few sessions of D&D to cool off and get my head back in the game. Think of it like a sanity check (a business sanity check, not a Call of Cthulhu sanity check although, they have a lot in common).

Anyway. I realized that, at a foundational level, I knew how to make dungeons: I knew how to run them, how to map them, key them, how to build encounter lists for them. I could actually explore the worlds I made in D&D in a way that I couldn't in LWF.

The new run at the content rules is an attempt to translate that knowledge, that ease of creation and use, into my game. I'm super excited about this take on them, I think I really got the mix right in two ways:

1) Game Masters can now confidently build explorable areas, monsters, populaces, and NPCs and run them at the table with ease

2) You can use pre-existing dungeons in my game now

So I can finally, finally, run the outstanding House of Paper Shadows in Lone Wolf Fists. My life rules now.

These bad boys make creating content for your table much friendlier. Take a gander.

....

Creating Content

As the Game Master, your head is doubtless filled with radical ideas about the kung-fu post-apocalypse. It might be intimidating to figure out how to translate all of those cool thoughts into this game: that’s what this section is for. Here, we’re going to teach you how this game approaches Content; that is, the persons, places, things, and events that fill your world and allow you players to explore the ruins of your own personal vision of the World of Ashes and Ghosts.

Another brief look at playing the game

Imagine this: you’ve got your players gathered around your table. They’ve got their characters made, sheets and dice at the ready. They’re all looking at you expectantly: it’s time to start the game!

But, how do you do that?!

This is a moment of panic if you don’t have a plan. If you’re a complete rookie, you might not know anything about what’s expected of you. Even if you’re an RPG veteran, you might not know what this game expects from you.

Thankfully, since you’ve read the example of play, you have a pretty decent notion of what you’re going to be doing in either case: You’re going to describe what the characters are doing, recap any recent events, tell them where they are and what they notice, and start asking players what they want to do. 

That’s the basics of how you run everything: you describe what the character’s senses and intuition tell them, you describe the actions of NPCs, you ask players what they do, and use the rules and your best judgment to resolve the outcome of their actions.

Content is what you’re going to use to inform those descriptions: it’s the places, the people, the terrain, the dangers, the monsters, the events, even the weather of the game’s world. There are three varieties:

Stable Content: The places, populations, inhabitants, etc. of the world. “What’s there”
Dynamic Content: The plots, intrigues, plans, catastrophes, and goings-on of the world. “What’s happening”
Volatile Content: The movement, habits, coincidences, fate, and unplanned chaos that mixes up 1 and 2 above in new, unpredictable and interesting ways.

Stable Content: Locations, Populaces, Monsters and NPCs

Stable Content is stuff that tends to stay the same or return to the same state after a while. A building is “stable” in that, when players visit it again, it will still be a building. A village is similarly “stable”; even though new things will be happening, the general tone and type of activities (scavenging for food, watchmen at their posts, children sharpening primitive tools etc.) will not change. This section teaches you how to craft such consistent things that players might visit time and again.

When you begin to create Stable Content, it’s best to start from the ground up. Literally, I mean: you should design a location for the characters to explore and interact with.

The smallest building block of places is a Field. Fields don’t map to a specific amount of ground or space, nor do they have easily quantifiable dimensions; they’re closer to “your immediate surroundings”, a nebulous but nonetheless comprehensible concept of “here” in your mind. 

They’re made this way on purpose: you want to have enough breathing room in the finer details and dimensions to allow for awesome kung-fu action descriptions, without getting bogged down in the minutiae of an area’s measurements. Think of them as having “fuzzy edges” that allow you some descriptive elbow-room when the kung-fu lightning bolts start flying.

If the players ask you a question about the size, scope etc. of a Field, use your best judgment, based on your conception of the Shared Mindspace, in conjunction with your notes, to adjudicate an answer. The “how big” of a Field is determined by your answering of these questions.


Elements of a Field

Fields are a bit mushy on the edges, but are otherwise very real to the characters: “Downtown” isn’t very easy to draw a border around, but it still exists in your mind as a place you can visit. So it is with Fields.

Fields are composed of the following Elements:
Description
Elements
Inhabitants
Terrain
Secrets
Rooms
Let’s examine each in turn.

Description
What do characters see when they enter a Field? What’s there? What do they hear, smell? The description tells you: it’s the broad strokes of what a Field is and what’s in it. Ideally it should be a very brief and punchy entry: “A desolate patch of irradiated wastes, haunted by mutant coyotes” is enough to tell you what it is and what’s there, as well as fire your imagination and fuel your description at the table.

Elements
Everything you describe as “being there” is a part of your game’s Shared Imagined Space; it can be interacted with, broken, used as a battering ram, etc. You might think of this as “applying rules to the game’s imaginary world” on an ad-hoc basis. To contrast, Elements are specific features of a Field that you’ve given rules beforehand. These might be in terms of specific game mechanics (“A Boulder requiring a Rank 4 Power action to lift”) or descriptive (“A mystical statue that answers any single question truthfully, once per lifetime”). Only the most noteworthy and interesting features should be included in this entry: otherwise, it’ll quickly get cluttered.

Inhabitants
Who lives in this Field? Are their desperate haunters of the wastes here, scavenging for survival? A slumbering Arquabamalu, hungry to mete out vengeance on those that dare disturb it’s rest? A pack of mutant rats? Whatever: if it inhabits the Field, it’s mentioned here. Generally this is a very simple “what’s here and what it does” entry: “A pack of mutant rats lairs here” or “A terrifying Scorpion Demon slumbers here fitfully”. Note that, because this is a living description, the entry describes the creature’s Status Quo: that is, the activities that they return to most frequently, rather than what they’re doing “now”. This is to allow you some flexibility in describing them: a group of barbarians might generally be in camp sharpening their weapons, but if the characters sneak in after dark, they’re more likely asleep. 

Terrain
This is a game of kung-fu action in the post apocalypse: characters are going to fight over any ground you put under them. This entry describes that ground, including any notable dangers, obstacles, or other features.

Secrets
Not everything present in an area is evident on a casual inspection; hidden dangers await the unwary and secret treasures reward the bold explorer. This entry is an extension of the Description, listing things hidden to casual inspection of an area. Anchors for Dynamic Content (described later) are also listed here.

Rooms
However you slice it, Fields are pretty big. They’re also “outdoors”; they describe locations, patches of ground, neighborhoods, etc. Sometimes you’re inside though, or sometimes players go indoors within a Field; like, are those abandoned apartment buildings really abandoned? Rooms are just that; they’re the individual rooms in the larger Field. They’re made just like Fields; they have Description, Inhabitants, etc. They’re just smaller and located within the Field. If a Field has a sufficient density of Rooms, it’s designed like a Tract (p.XX) which is to say, a place of enough detail that it’s explored the same way as a much larger area.

...

Fields aren’t on their own; they tend to cluster together in geographically linked groups. We call these groups Tracts. Bigger than Fields, Tracts are still “a place” but are broader; if a Field is a block, a Tract is a neighborhood. 
Within a Tract, neighboring Fields bleed together somewhat; their inhabitants move between them, events in one influence neighbors, and the general character of the entire place is codependent and intermingled.

Elements of a Tract

When you begin to create your own content for this game, you’ll want to begin by thinking on the scale of Tracts. This is because a single game session’s needs are ideally met by the character’s exploits within a single Tract; it is a place the characters explore, the populaces they influence, the monsters and villains they battle, the treasures they uncover. Everything you need for a satisfying session of Lone Wolf Fists should be contained within a Tract.

Tracts are composed of the following elements:
Area Map
Field Key
Terrain Type
Encounter List
Notes
Let’s examine each in turn.

Area Map
This is a graphical representation of the layout of the Fields which comprise the Tract, along with its borders and points of egress between them. It looks something like this:


Note the numbering: this allows you to look up the specifics of each field in the Key, described later.

The map is important because it reveals to you, the GM, how the different Fields are arranged in the game’s world. For example, looking at the above map, you can tell that areas 5 and 3 border area 4; characters would have to pass through 3 if they wanted to get to area 2. This provides a way players to interact with your world by genuinely exploring it: places are solidly “there”, and the spatial relationship between them is constant and unchanging (barring some earth-shattering kung-fu!). It also means that players cannot simply “teleport” to where they want to go; they must play out the clambering over intervening places, making them an ongoing tactical consideration.

Key
The Key is simply the numbered list of all the Fields within your Tract. The full entry for each Field is present under it’s entry. This allows you to quickly reference the details of each place the players enter as they explore the Tract (this is detailed under the exploration rules p.XX).

Terrain Type
The predominant terrain in the area. Deserts, ruins, shanty towns, toxic mires, primordial jungles, poisoned oceans, and cursed cities are all common varieties. Determines what sort of creatures, phenomena and weather are present in the area by providing a Terrain Encounter Chart (p.XX)

Encounter List
The population of a Tract, comprised of mortals, monsters, even weird environmental phenomena, don’t stand still; they move and blend and fight in unexpected ways. Fully covered later in Volatile Content, this important facet of Tracts allows these interesting and unpredictable movements of content to manifest in your game.

Notes
Any important information about the Tract is described here. This might include its local politics, history (ancient or modern), noteable secrets, it’s owner, notable inhabitants, destinies, curses or blessings, strange weather, etc. Whatever is listed here generally applies to all of the Fields in the Tract and helps define them as a single “place” in the minds of the players.

...

Of course, you’ll ideally play more than a single session of Lone Wolf Fists; a single Tract isn’t going to cover an entire campaign’s worth of adventure and intrigue! You’re also most likely brimming over with ideas for Tracts; before you know it, you’ll have a dozen or more prepared. 

When Tracts are clustered in the same area, they are grouped together as a Domain; if a Field is a block and a Tract is a neighborhood, a Domain is an entire city. A single Domain contains enough linked Tracts to supply your table with entire campaign arcs, even entire campaign’s worth of play sessions. Within it, boroughs and towns lean against one another, their populations forming an interlinking web of plots, intrigues, conspiracies, alliances, rivalries, and all manner of weird organic relationships.

Elements of a Domain

A Domain should be the focus of your preparation for your fledgling campaign. A single Tract is great for your first session, but to really give the players a solid area to explore, you’ll want variety and complexity: what better way to get it than to simply create more than one tract together?

Domains, composed of multiple connected Tracts, are ecosystems of adventure and intrigue. Players might retreat from their initial adventure and find themselves embroiled in another. Perhaps they’ll get an early taste for conquest if they trounce the first Tract: a bordering one with a powerful warlord could provide a fantastic continuation of this adventure as their blitzkrieg envelops the entire Domain in a war!

Domains are composed of the following elements:
Overview
Domain Map
Tract Key
Notable NPC Headquarters
Tract Encounter Key
Resource Output Tally
Let’s examine each in turn

Overview
This entry sums up what the Domain is “about”. Part history, part conflict thesis, the entire reason that you’d want to adventure here is spelled out in a few punchy sentences for easy in-game reference.

Domain Map
Similar to Tracts, Domains have an eagle’s-eye view of their entire area and its constituent parts.

Each of the keyed areas here is an entire Tract. This serves the same function as a Tract’s map, establishing and maintaining the spatial relationship between the constituent Tracts.

Tract Key
A list of the component Tracts. Each entry references it’s Tract’s full entry, which is detailed above.

Notable NPC Headquarters
A brief list of all the major players and their place in the Domain. This comes in handy when determining the events that transpire in the Domain during Montages, as well as what the fallout of certain activities might be (for example, if the player’s invade a warlords territory, he is likely to retaliate against them!).



Tract Encounter Key
A list of all theTracts in the Domain. Useful when characters travel fast or far, this entry blends the disparate denizens of a Domain in interesting ways as players adventure through it. Fully described under Volatile Content (p.XX).

Resource Output Tally
A brief list of all the Resource Nodes, where they’re located, what Resources they produce (and how much), and who currently controls them. This is incredibly useful because it quickly communicates to you who has control of the food, wealth and weapons of the Domain!


Now that you know where the action takes place, you’ll want to know who (and what) lives there. This information is also considered Stable Content but, unlike the landscapes listed above, it is much more fluid and changeable. 

Populations are the mortal humans which inhabit the world (they are also known by the archaic name Ningen in the fallen World of Ashes and Ghosts). Huddled together in primitive sietches and clans, they rely on one another to eke out their miserable existence in the devil-haunted graveyard of the world.

Populations are composed of the following elements:
Description
Status Quo
Number and Archetype
Loyalty/ Morale
Statistics and Equipment
Group
Fashions, Norms, Traditions
Sanctions
Castes and notable NPCs
Let’s examine each in turn

Description
A small blurb describing the population. “ A starving tribe of spear-wielding scavengers” or “A musclebound band of wasteland barbarians, smeared in warpaint and blood”; you don’t need much to give you an idea of who they are and what they’re all about. Keep it punchy.

Status Quo
The general state of affairs that the Population maintains. This is what they’re doing when players first encounter them. Similar to Description above, this only needs a brief entry to give you an idea of what they’re doing. “The tribesfolk scavenge the irradiated wastes for food” or “The barbarians torment captive, participate in bloodsports, and binge-drink moonshine distilled in radiators between raids”
Status Quo is a very important spice to get right. It’s not the static “t-pose” that lifeless pre-play NPCs revert to when not interacting with players; it’s what a small society does without the player’s involvement. It’s the lives of the world; a description of what these people would be doing without heroes messing with their lives. It’s not static, it’s stable; this is an important distinction to keep in your mind. 

Populations will generally return to their Status Quo unless massively disrupted (ie; unless they;re conquered, brainwashed, killed or otherwise have their whole way of life disrupted). This means players might encounter a Populace, leave, and come back to them and effectively encounter the same situation. This makes sense; very few people change a city by visiting it; it’ll be effectively “the same city” when they return.

Number and Archetype
The Number is simply the total number of people in the Population. Archetype is one of the six varieties of Scavenger, Farmer, Harvester, Builder, Acolyte or Soldier which describes what the people do and where their competencies lie.
Scavengers have no resources, not even food. They have a high mortality rate, living like desperate animals in the world’s graveyard.
Farmers have a plot of arable land or other means of producing a food crop, or hunt from a renewing population of game animals. They are healthier and live better lives than Scavengers, but are vulnerable to conquest if not protected.
Harvesters have a non-food resource they’re extracting from the environment, like oil, coal, or gold. They trade this resource for their needs, like food and protection. They are proud and comparatively affluent, but powerfully reliant on their labor for their prosperity.
Builders manufacture the raw materials from harvests into more sophisticated final products. They are considerably more affluent than the lower castes, but rely on a sophisticated infrastructure of machinery and factories to support their lives.
Acolytes are monks, cloistered away from the ravages of the world. They create no physical goods, but trade in secrets, knowledge, and mystical rites for their wealth. Because of their rarified and potent knowledge and capabilities, they tend to be materially very wealthy, even if they technically eschew material indulgence and leisure.
Soldiers are fighters, warriors, and other warfighters that earn their living in blood. They either prey on less warlike people, or protect them from other raiders for their wealth.

Loyalty/Morale
Fully described elsewhere (p.XX), this trait measures the Populace’s belief in and loyalty to their leadership. If it’s low, they tend toward rebelliousness and opportunism; if high, they’re more disciplined and obedient.

Statistic and Equipment
The game mechanics of a typical member of the Populace, listed in terms of Effort, Focus, Health, etc. Also includes the gear that an example member of the population would possess. 
Examples:
Wasteland Scavenger
Effort 1
Health 1 box (-d10 damage from deprivation, might result in encountering a recently starved corpse)
Gear Tattered clothing, a piece of rusted metal used as a knife, a hand-carved trinket coated in filth

Mutant Barbarian
Effort 2
Health 1
Gear Repurposed scraps of armor (2), Chainsaw refitted into swords, axes and polearms (As Heavy weapon)
Note fights in a berserk rage, never retreating and always pursuing foes that flee

Group
Going alone is dangerous in the World of Ashes and Ghosts. This entry describes the typical group encountered by players; for example, mutant barbarians might be encountered in a “Warband of 10, supported by a rocket-wielding ordnance mutant and a leader with Effort 3 and Health 2”. This is useful if players start attacking the Populace, as it tells you how they organize their defenses and what resources are at their disposal. 

Note that most members of a Population will be self-sufficient to just survive the harsh conditions of their fallen world. If fully mobilized, divide the total Population Number as evenly into Groups as you can; any remaining members of the Populace are defenseless members; children, the elderly, the infirm, etc.

Fashions, Norms and Traditions
These three entries describe the current beliefs, social mores and laws of the Population. Each of these has its own entry, with room for three sentences describing them. Most primitive or isolated Populations will have a single “slot” in each category, while more sophisticated, urbane and established societies will have more. When a new Fashion, Norm or Tradition is introduced, it removes an older one if there’s not an available slot for it.
Fashions are the current trends and popular subjects of debate and modes of thought the Population is experiencing. They inform and color your description of the Populace and act as a conversational jumping-off point when interacting with characters.
Norms are the ways the Population behaves: are they courteous to strangers, hostile? Do they make contracts or rely on their word as their bond? What are their greetings, their goodbyes? Not every cultural nuance is outlined here, only the ones that invite social sanction if violated. For instance, breaking your word is a great recipe for making enemies in most cultures!
Traditions are the laws of a Population. They enforce, prohibit or demand certain kinds of behavior. Violating the edicts of a Tradition invokes a Sanction (see below).

Sanctions
When the laws of a Population are violated, the ways they respond are detailed under this entry. Sometimes simple and brutal (mutilation, execution, trial by combat) sometimes esoteric or bizarre (being coated in honey and hurled into a mutant insect nest, branding, summary judgment by a local spirit), they are as varied and weird as real-world law (which is to say, this is an outstanding place to show off just how unusual the World of Ashes and Ghosts can be!).

Note that, the Population may lack the power to enforce their Sanctions against the mighty Lone Wolf Fists; this is fine, but their society demands they try to.

Castes and Notable NPCS
Societies often have positions of influence and leadership that are served by a traditional Caste; the most-capable of a generation inhabits each of these roles. The name and duties of any extant Castes are listed here, along with their current title holders.
Additionally, any notable NPCs (either in important or raw power) are listed here.

Before we move on to shaking up all this stability, one final word on inhabitants: they’re not just humans. Monsters, Spirits, Demons, Ghosts, etc. can all be keyed into places. The rules for these fantastic and terrifying beings are detailed elsewhere (p.XX)



Dynamic Content: The World in Motion

Sometimes that ol’ Status quo gets royally shaken up; all it takes is a mutagenic cloud rolling over a peaceful village to alter it forever. The Lone Wolf Fists tend to rock the stability of places and people they visit; what do you do with “stable” buildings when they blow up? Or “stable” villages that devolve into flesh-eating mutants?

That’s where Dynamic Content comes into play.

Changing things

Any Content can become dynamic; it should all start in it’s Status Quo, but when something big happens (disasters, construction, frenzied zeitgeist, etc.) they begin to change. This change is tracked with two simple additions to their elements:

Catalyst: The cause of the change.
Stages: The number and type of Scene over which these changes take place. Includes sequentially numbered descriptions of each stage of the change.
Let’s examine each in turn.

Catalyst
Something has to knock a piece of Content out of it’s Status Quo and get it changing. For landscape, this might be a powerful destructive force (okay it’s really likely to be that) but also maybe a construction project, building it up from ruins back to habitability. For Populaces, this might be a new leader rising up and forging them into an invincible fighting force (or press-ganging them into cannon fodder, whatever). 

Sometimes the Catalyst must be constantly present to affect the change: if builders stop working, construction halts. If a fire stops burning, any remaining structures are spared it’s ravages. Other times the Catalyst merely sets events into motion; punching the top of a mountain with the force of a scud missile starts the avalanche, but after that momentum takes over.

In whatever case, the Catalyst is listed here, with a brief description of how it’s causing the change.

Stages
Change doesn’t happen all at once; even a volcanic eruption happens in stages (granted that first one is a doozy). The number of Scenes over which the change takes place are listed here, along with the type of Scene (Action, Real-Time, Montage) the change occurs in.

What does it mean for change to take place over a type of Scene? Let’s unpack that a bit
Action Scenes are explosions. They’re disasters, they’re something that happens fast and has bad consequences. You’ve got to move fast and think on your feet to survive being at ground zero of one of these babies.
Real-Time scenes are weather; they’re crowds panicking, poison gas clouds rolling over a city. They’re acid rain, typhoons, roiling toxic sandstorms. They stick around and define a big chunk of time; you leap away from an explosion, but you’ve got to endure a sandstorm.
Montages are slow but permanent changes; construction, erosion, magical transformations. They’re big and ponderous and obvious, making them paradoxically vulnerable and inevitable, like a dinosaur with a big, exposed neck.

The specific number of scenes determines the relative speed of the event unfolding.
1-3:  Quick; these are the fastest of this class, closer to happening in a faster scene (or lightning quick in the case of Action Scenes)
3-4: Average; these events set the bar for their speed category. 
5-10: Slow; these are the snails of their category, bordering into the next slowest type of scene (or agonizingly ponderous in the case of Montage Scenes)

What is happening during each step of the event? These entries describe the change in both descriptive terms and mechanical ones. Each Stage lists the following:
The number of Scenes or Turns it lasts
What is happening during this Stage
Mechanics that the Stage brings with it
For example, a collapsing building might have the following stages:
Collapsing Building (Action)
Stage 1: The entire structure sways and groans ominously; all Agility actions require +1 Rank to resolve as the floor tilt crazily. Lasts 1d5 Rounds
Stage 2: 1d10 random rooms implode during this stage (Rank 5 crushing to all occupants). Glass explodes and sprays in all directions (Rank 2 cloud of cutting shards). Lasts 1 round
Stage 3: the entire building collapses, floor by floor, into rubble. 2d10 floors, starting with the bottom and continuing upward, totally collapse per turn until the building is completely demolished (Rank 5 crushing to all occupants). Lasts as described.
Stage 4: A cloud of concrete dust billows out from the ruins, causing a lingering choking and blinding hazard to everyone in this Field. Lasts for 1d10 rounds until the dust settles.

Let’s take a look at a few more examples

Action Scene: Spreading fire
Catalyst: A Fire Hazard. Heats up surrounding terrain until it combusts.
Stage 1: Terrain immediately surrounding the Hazard begins to heat up, becoming a Rank 1 Burning Hazard if touched. This Hazard increases by 1 Rank every round until it equals the Catalyst’s Rank or until it reaches a Rank sufficient for the material to combust. If it combusts, move on to Stage 2.
Stage 2: The terrain combusts. Air and gases explode as a one-time (Catalyst’s Rank +1) Hazard (only this round). Water and liquids evaporate into non-combustible gasses, creating a lingering obscuring and choking effect (Catalyst's Rank -1) (1d10 rounds). Wood bursts into flame, creating new Fire Hazards (degrades and burns over 2d10 rounds). Stone melts into magma and Metal into liquid and flows into its surroundings (3d10 rounds).
Stage 3: Neighboring terrain to the newly combusted material begins to heat up as Stage 1. This affects all terrain at (the current scale of the Hazard +1). So, if a single element is burning, it spreads to the encompassing Room or equivalent material, then to the Field, then onto neighboring fields, then the entire Tract, then neighboring Tracts, etc. This stage lasts as long as the previous stage, running concurrently.
Stage 4: The material begins to cool as the heat bakes off into the surroundings. Air rushes in to the void left by combusted gases. Wood turns to ash. Stone and Metal begin to re-solidify and take on the shape they most recently held as liquids. Water and other liquids form into clouds and scatter to nearby areas, forming into smaller liquid elements (1d5 per Rank lost per round). Rank of Hazard reduces by 1 per round until totally dissipated.

Real-Time Scene: Atomic sandstorm
Catalyst: Weather pattern; there is an Eye to this storm that maintains it for its duration. It can be disrupted with a sufficiently powerful crosswind or other disruption (Rank 7+)
Stage 1: Ominous winds prevail as the storm bears down; it’s gigantic, a wall of roiling sand and multicolored lightning that blots out the sky and is visible for miles. Creeps closer for 1d10 Turns.
Stage 2: High-energy winds and sand particles whip the characters as they enter it’s curtain of tempestuous matter. Rank 2 blinding effect. Lasts 1 round of turns.
Stage 3: The characters are engulfed in the storm. Roll a d10 to determine what happens to them this round:
1-3: Buffeted by high winds (Rank 4 push Effect, as throw)
4-8: Disoriented by chaotic innards of the storm (Rank 4, blinding and deafening effect)
9-10: Struck by bolt of static lightning (Rank 5 electrocution attack)
Lasts for 10 turns, or the length of 1 Action Scene. After this, the storm disperses.


Montage: Wasting plague
Catalyst: Patient Zero; the first carrier to manifest this illness as a mutation of some otherwise non-deadly disease. They pass it on to a host Population; it doesn’t matter if they stick around, the damage is done once the sickness begins to spread.
Stage 1: Silent carriers, the Population is highly contagious but shows no outward symptoms of the illness. Coming into close contact with a member of the Populace spreads the disease to a character unless they fend off the infection with a Rank 3 Endurance action. Lasts 1 scene.
Stage 2: Contagion bursts forth in revolting form. Whenever a member of the Populace is encountered, roll a d10 prior to describing them; if you roll 3+, they are obviously infected and miserable or dying. This counts as a Major Hardship. Lasts 2 scenes.
Stage 3: The pestilence mutates and moves on, or the survivor’s immune systems evolve to fight it off. The area inhabited by the sick Population becomes infested with a horde of vermin appropriate to the area that gather to feast on the dead. This stage concludes after 1 scene, but the new vermin are a permanent addition to the area unless exterminated.
Volatile Content: mixing things until they explode

The predictable changes created by the other types of content are not sufficient to model an entire world, even an imaginary one. Of course, actually tracking all of the complex schemes, movements and the frustrating and unending intervention of cosmic destiny is far too much work to offload onto our beleaguered Game Masters (you’ve got enough to worry about already!). Still, the messy, chaotic interactions of the world demand to be included. 

Enter Volatile Content.

Volatile Content seeks to model this churning mishmash of interaction and chaos and keep your game’s world fresh, dynamic and unpredictable.

The Process

Some actions or activities invite trouble; they do this by calling for a Volatile Content check. Here’s how you do that:
Pause the action
Roll a single d10 against the Trouble of the party’s current location. Roll against the Tract unless in a Montage scene or unless the players are moving across more than a single Tract this action; in these cases, roll against the Domain’s Trouble
If the check succeed in summoning Volatile Content, roll on the appropriate Encounter Category Chart. This selects one of the four Encounter Charts for an area
Roll one final time on that encounter Chart to determine what shows up
Introduce the Content into the scene

There is another, much simpler way to call up Volatile Content: pause the action as before, then spend some of the party’s accumulated Zui equal to the Content’s Zui Cost. The Content enters the scene in exactly the same way. Note that you can do this at any time, not just when Volatile Content is triggered!

Building Blocks of Volatile Content

Volatile Content has two major components:
Encounter Lists, which randomly introduce elements of the game’s world to the game itself
Zui consequences, which models the inevitable comeuppance that befalls characters who dare to cheat fate!
Let’s examine each in turn.

Encounter Lists
Encounter Lists simulate the movements of the creatures, people, weather, and legends of an area. Every Tract has an Encounter List; it is composed of 6 parts:
Level of Barbary
Trouble
Encounter Category Chart
4 Encounter Charts (Terrain Encounters, Keyed Creatures, Keyed Populations, Named NPCs)
 Master Encounter Lists, possessed by Domains, possess an additional element:
Tract Encounter Key
Let’s examine each of these elements in turn.

Level of Barbary
The world’s graveyard is a wild and untamed place; mankind has fallen from the world’s throne, and the reigns of the wastes are warred over by monsters, demons and the strongest and most vicious of humanity. To represent Mankind’s desperate struggle to regain the lost and cherished treasure of civilization, the Level of Barbary is employed. This is represented by a simple 3-point scale:
Savage lands are ruled by monsters, or are utterly ruined and inhospitable
Conflicted lands have no lord; Monsters and men war over them, with no clear master
Civilized lands are ruled by humankind; this is not to imply they are good, but they have leadership and laws and so are part of humanity’s triumph, even if otherwise cesspools of reprehensible vice
The Level of Barbary determines the Trouble rating. Additionally, each Level has its own unique Encounter Category Chart. The Level of Barbary can change due to the events of the game.

Trouble
This element represents the likelihood of danger finding the characters while in an area. Any time something triggers a check for Volatile Content, roll a d10: if it is equal to or above the area’s Trouble rating, then trouble finds the unlucky characters!
Savage Lands have Trouble 3+
Conflicted Lands have Trouble 5+
Civilized Lands have Trouble 8+

Encounter Category Chart
Untamed lands are more dangerous than those mastered by humankind; wanderers are more likely to encounter monsters, demons and worse than potential allies or fellow heroes. Conversely, as places become more tamed, wanderers are likely to encounter groups of questing humans, or powerful characters patrolling their lands.

To simulate these trends, the Encounter Category Charts are used to determine which of the four Encounter Lists produce Volatile Content. Each Level of Barary has its own list, below:


To determine which Encounter list to use, roll a d10 and consult the chart; the number on the die will correspond to one of the 4 categories.

The Four Encounter Charts
The things encountered in a place come from that place; either they are inhabitants of the wilderness, or their lair is nearby. In untamed lands, wastelands and monster-haunted wilderness, monsters and creatures of the land are more common and encounters are savage and deadly affairs. In civilized lands, mortal humans and heroes are more commonly encountered, and these meetings might be neutral or even benevolent; challenges tend to be social in nature, rather than purely physical.

Each of these four categories of encounter (Terrain, Creatures, Populaces, NPCs) has its own Encounter Chart in an area. They are constructed very simply: for each type of content (Empty Tracts, Keyed Populaces, Keyed Monsters, and Keyed NPCs) follow these steps to construct the Tract’s Encounter Charts.
Divide 100 as evenly as possibly by the number of Fields where the type of Content is Keyed. For example, if there are four Fields with Populaces keyed, divide 100 by 4 to get 25
Key the chart with each portion going equally to each entry. For example, for the 4 Populaces, each would have a 25% chance of being encountered (1-25 Population A, 26-50 Population B, 51-75 Population C, and 76-100 Population D). The lowest entries should be the “weakest”, with higher numbers “stronger” in sequence, “strongest” on top.
Any non-equal remainder should be smaller than the other entries. This is assigned to the most powerful entry, making it a comparatively rare encounter.

To roll on these charts, roll a d100 rather than a d10 (this is done by rolling 2d10, counting the leftmost as the “tens” column and the rightmost as the “ones”; treat a result of “00” as 100).

This takes care of Tract Encounter Charts, but what if the characters are exploring a larger area? Real-Time and Action scenes are generally localized enough that Tract Encounter Lists are sufficient, but characters acting in Montage scenes or those traveling at incredible speed might find Volatile Content from anywhere within their entire Domain!

There is one final element of Volatile Content necessary to blend an area’s Content on this scale; the Tract Encounter Key.


Tract Encounter Key
To make the Key, follow the procedure for creating an Encounter Chart, above, but distribute the 100 equally among the Domain’s Tracts. If there is a “remainder”, it should go to the Tract which houses the most powerful single NPC.

The Domain’s Level of Barbary is Savage if most of its Tracts are Savage, Civilized if mostly Civilized, and Conflicted in any other case. This sets its Trouble.

To use the Tract Encounter Key:
Any time the characters move across more than one Tract in a Domain, roll the Domain’s Trouble
If Trouble is encountered, roll d100 on the Tract Encounter Key. This determines the Tract in which the Content originates
From here, follow the Volatile Content procedure normally for that Tract

If characters move beyond the threshold of a single Domain, then decide which Domain should generate the Volatile Content freely. They’ve invited significant danger with that kind of reckless travel!


There is another way to invoke Volatile Content; the character’s own bad kharma, or Zui, might draw down a misfortunate encounter with the denizens of an area whenever it tickles Fate’s fancy to do so. We call these deliberate and necessary misfortunes Zui Consequences

Zui Consequences

Fully described in the Destiny section (p.XX), Zui is additionally a dimension of Volatile Content (albeit one you choose rather than roll randomly!).

The Zui Consequence list
Below every Encounter list there is another: rather than being keyed, each entry has a cost in brackets. This is your game’s Zui Consequence List: the troubles of destiny, chosen by the players, to plague them when they fight the edicts of their chosen fates.

Unlike other Volatile Content, you may interrupt any action and introduce these disasters into a scene. Simply pick up Zui from the player’s character’s equal to the listed cost in Brackets and introduce the Content as normal.

As players accept Kharmic burdens for their characters in the form of Dharmas, your Zui Consequence list grows. Each Dharma comes with it’s own Zui Consequences, which add to your list for as long as the Dharma benefits the players (usually for the entire campaign, unless something utterly destroys it). Players will tend to fatten the list considerably over the course of your campaign, giving you myriad options for troubling them if they accumulate Zui!

However, you may also summon any available Volatile Content for a Zui cost. This is because lands, peoples, even monsters each have their own destinies; Zui may choose to entangle the heroes in these struggles in lieu of acting in a more predictable fashion. Such is fate! 

Assigning Zui Costs to Volatile Content
Populaces, Monsters, Hazards and NPCs may all be assigned a cost in Zui to summon them. This obeys the following metrics:
The Power of the Content
The Threat Level to the characters
Let’s examine these.

The Content’s Power is calculated as follows:
For Populaces/ Monsters
+1 Zui cost per
2 Effort (minimum 1 cost) (Each Effort comes with 1 Health Box)
Focus Slot
Open Chakra (comes with 1 Slumbering Chakra, max 7 total Chakra)
Per unique power, Rank 1
Greater unique powers are +1 Zui per Rank
For NPCs
2 Zui times Degree of Mastery (2 Zui for Degree 1, 4 Zui for Degree 2, etc.)
For Hazards
1 Zui per Rank of Hazard

The Contents Threat determines its initial danger or hostility to the characters
Is it a mere inconvenience? Content that isn’t harmful or hostile to characters might be closer to an opportunity than a threat. This follows the cost listed above.
Is it potentially dangerous, but possibly an opportunity? Multiply the cost by two to account for the risk.
Is it exclusively a dangerous threat to the players? Multiply the cost by three to account for it’s purely deadly nature!

Place the calculated cost in brackets next to every entry on your Encounter Charts and viola’: you have a full suite of Zui options with which to bedevil the heroes!