Twenty

From AdamWiki

Contents 1 Credit 2 GM 3 Character Generation 3.1 Stats 3.2 Keys 3.2.1 Skeleton Keys 3.2.1.1 Warrior 3.2.1.2 Explorer 3.2.1.3 Scholar 3.2.1.4 Noble 3.2.2 Elite Keys 3.2.2.1 Paladin 3.2.2.2 Priest 3.2.2.3 Sorcerer 3.2.2.4 Thief 3.2.2.5 Scion 3.2.2.6 Druid 3.2.2.7 Archer 3.3 Traits 3.3.1 Trait List 3.3.2 Open Traits 3.4 Equipment 3.5 Sample Character 4 Play 4.1 Conflicts 4.1.1 Taking Burdens 4.1.2 Using Burdens 4.1.3 Winning 4.1.4 Surrender 4.1.5 Character Death 5 Changes to Characters 5.1 Burdens 5.1.1 Disabled 5.1.2 Removing Burdens 5.2 Regeneration 5.3 Advancement 6 Obligations

Twenty is a fantasy role-playing game about balancing responsibilities in the face of different demands.

This game design withered on the vine. See Towerlands for its replacement.

Credit

I stole a lot from FATE. I took inspiration for the conflict resolution system (multiple, orthogonal conflicts) from kill puppies for satan. I stole ideas outright from The Shadow of Yesterday. I've certainly taken ideas from Dogs in the Vineyard and Sorcerer. Dave Cleaver helped build the conflict resolution system and deserves co-credit for design on that.

I swear I hadn't read The Exchange until after I wrote most of this revision! Levi and I were just sharing a brain cell this month, or something.

GM

Designate one person as the game master (GM). The GM will be responsible for creating challenges for the players to encounter. The players will create characters and test them against the GM's encounters.

Character Generation

Each player creates one character using the following process: distribute points to stats, choose a key, unlock traits, select traits, select equipment.

Stats

Each player has five core stats: Physical, Mental, Social, Emotional, Spiritual. These are large, catch-all categories that appear on every character sheet and are otherwise treated like traits (see below). Assign 1 box to the stat you want your character to be worst at, 2 to the next, and so on up to 5 for the best.

Adam is creating Gorand the Barbarian. He assigns his stats as follows:

Physical [][][][][], Mental [][], Social [][][], Emotional [], Spiritual [][][][]

Stats are important because they represent how many burdens you can take before being disabled. There are five kinds of burdens, mapping to the five stats. Adam's character, Gorand, could take 5 physical burdens, but only 1 emotional burden, before being disabled. (Burdens and being disabled are described later.)

Keys

Each character has one key at start. These will necessarily be skeleton keys, since a new character cannot meet other prerequisites. Through the advancement process, a character can gain traits and meet requirements for the conditional keys.

A key is a way of identifying what is important to your character. It's called a "key" because it unlocks traits for you to choose. Over the lifetime of your character, you may earn additional keys that unlock more traits. You might also abandon a key and pick up a new one in its place.

A key that has no prerequisites is called a skeleton key. You can choose these when you create your character and at any other time in your character's life.

An elite key has prerequisites. You cannot choose an elite key unless you meet all of its prerequisites.

Skeleton Keys

None of these keys have prerequisites. The "Traits:" listed after each description are the traits "unlocked" by the key. If you have the key, those traits are available to you.

Warrior

You are skilled with weapons and accustomed to a hard life of battle.

Required Traits: none

Minor Goals: Engage a new foe in combat. Defeat a foe in combat. Earn a physical burden.

Major Goals: Prove yourself the superior fighter of your group, by their admission. Defeat a powerful foe in combat (dice of at least 1.5 times your total dice). Earn a 3-point physical burden.

Traits:

Arms You have practiced with a variety of weapons.

Bows You have mastered the self bow.

Crossbows You are an expert with a crossbow.

Knives You are an expert in knife fights and with throwing knives.

Marching You can march quickly and for long periods of time with less rest than usual.

Polearms You have trained specially with long pole weapons like quarterstaves, halberds, spears, and bills.

Swords You have trained in a variety of sword styles.

Warfare You have studied the art of war and have fought in many battles.

Explorer

You are used to going into crazy places like dark ruins and scary forests.

Required Traits: none

Minor Goals: Learn about a new place. Go into a place you've never been before. Discover something new.

Major Goals: Go to a distant land you've never been before. Fully explore a complex ruins. Be the first to map a new territory. Make an important discovery through exploration.

Traits:

Brawling You can wrestle and box and fight without weapons.

Climbing You are good at climbing things with and without tools and ropes.

Exploring You have a sense of curiosity and wanderlust and a knack for getting into lost or forbidden places.

Good Sense of Direction You generally don't get lost easily and always know which way is north.

Keen Eyesight You have keen eyes and great perceptive abilities. You notice things others don't.

Maps You know how to read maps, survey land, and draw accurate maps.

Survival You can get along in the wilderness and stay warm and dry and fed.

Good Luck No matter what the world throws at you, somehow you manage to find a way out of it.

Scholar

You are a master of weird knowledge and research. You feel most at home in a library.

Required Traits: none

Minor Goals: Read a new book and tell your friends about it. Find a new stash of books. Learn a new, weird fact. Earn a mental burden.

Major Goals: Make an important discovery of knowledge or applied science. Get a lot of people to accept a new theory. Earn a 3-point mental burden.

Traits:

Alchemy You have studied arcane procedures of chemistry and properties of minerals and fluids.

Astrology You know the stars and planets and constellations and can tell fortunes.

Books You can recite passages from books and use this knowledge at a whim.

History You've studied local and world history and prefer not to repeat it.

Mathematics You understand numbers and calculation and symbolic modeling (yeah, math).

Religion You've studied the history of organized religion, theology, and the catalog of divine beings.

Science You have studied science and can apply basic physics and engineering.

Studious You have a penchant for memorizing and learning.

Noble

You live a life of luxury and privilege, and spend a lot of time at court and making political deals.

Minor Goals:

Major Goals:

Traits:

Proud You take great pride in the honor of your high station.

Educated You have a basic education and can read and write.

Great Wealth You have access to large sums of money, in silver or credit, when you need it.

...

Elite Keys

Paladin

You are a holy warrior, with an oath and a mission.

Required Traits: Divinity 2, Arms 2, Oath 1, Mission 2.

Traits: Holy Vengeance, Arms, Swords, Warfare, Leadership, Horsemanship.

Priest

You are a vessel of your deity, performing miracles in his or her name.

Required Traits: Divinity 2, Knowledge 4, Religion 1.

Traits: Holy Vengeance, Healing.

Sorcerer

You command the power of magic! You deal with dark forces and arcane runes.

Required Traits: Knowledge 4, Dark Pact: 2.

Thief

You are an expert in taking things that are not yours and not getting caught.

Required Traits: Troubled Past 1, Sneaky 2.

Scion

You are the ruler of a land, chosen by Gaia herself.

Required Traits: Leader 2, Land-bonded 6, Divinity 2.

Druid

You are a priest or priestess of Gaia.

Required Traits: Nature 4, Gaia 4.

Archer

You are an expert with a bow. Required: Bows 4. Traits: Long Shot, True Aim. Traits: ...

Traits

Each trait has a sort of score that represents how many times you can use it. The score is really represented with check boxes that you check off every time you use it. You can erase the check marks when you rest or heal (see Regaining Trait Boxes, later). You start with a certain number of boxes. When you advance, you gain points to spend on boxes.

A new character gets 3-6 traits (it's up to you how many). They must be selected from the traits allowed by your key selection (or the open traits). Each starts with 0 boxes. Then distribute 10 boxes among them.

Trait List

This is the list of traits. The players and GM can make up lots more, too.

Alchemy You have studied arcane procedures of chemistry and properties of minerals and fluids.

Astrology You know the stars and planets and constellations and can tell fortunes.

Arms You have practiced with a variety of weapons.

Beautiful You are a very attractive person.

Books You can recite passages from books and use this knowledge at a whim.

Bows You have mastered the self bow.

Climbing You are good at climbing things with and without tools and ropes.

Crossbows You are an expert with a crossbow.

Dark Pact You have made a pact with a powerful spirit that makes demands of you.

Divinity You have devoted your life to all that is holy and good.

Exploring You have a sense of curiosity and wanderlust and a knack for getting into lost or forbidden places.

Fletcher You can make high quality arrows.

Friendly You get along with most people.

Gaia You worship Gaia, the earth goddess.

Good Sense of Direction You generally don't get lost easily and always know which way is north.

Hard Work You are no stranger to back-aches and don't complain when a hard job has to get done. You just do it.

Healing You've studied mundane and herbal treatments for curing diseases and healing the body.

History You've studied local and world history and prefer not to repeat it.

Holy Vengeance When someone violates something important to your deity, you get very angry.

Horsemanship You are good with horses and you are a great rider. You can fight from horseback.

Keen Eyesight You have keen eyes and great perceptive abilities. You notice things others don't.

Knives You are an expert in knife fights and with throwing knives.

Knowledge You study a variety of intellectual subjects and can apply that knowledge to solving problems.

Land-bonded You have a strong tie to the earth in a particular land (specify where). It protects you and serves you as long as you protect and serve it.

Leader You know how to get people to do what you want, through coercion or force of personality.

Lifting You know how to pick up really heavy things and move them short distances.

Long Shot You can shoot farther than most.

Marching You can march quickly and for long periods of time with less rest than usual.

Mathematics You understand numbers and calculation and symbolic modeling (yeah, math).

Mission There is something you are compelled to do (specify what).

Nature You understand the power of nature and can survive in untamed lands.

Oath You have taken an oath or vow of some kind (specify what).

Polearms You have trained specially with long pole weapons like quarterstaves, halberds, spears, and bills.

Religion You've studied the history of organized religion, theology, and the catalog of divine beings.

Science You have studied science and can apply basic physics and engineering.

Smart You are just generally an intelligent person.

Sneaky You are able to do things without getting caught.

Strong You have great muscle.

Stubborn You have a strong will.

Swords You have trained in a variety of sword styles.

Transport You're familiar with trade routes and the logistics involved in moving stuff for long distances.

Troubled Past Earlier in your life, bad things happened to you (specify what). You don't like to talk about them.

True Aim When you take the time to aim, you can hit things with great precision.

Warfare You have studied the art of war and have fought in many battles.

Wise You make good decisions and usually do the "right" thing.

and so on...

Open Traits

Open traits are always unlocked, regardless of your keys. The following traits are open:

Strong, Smart, Wise, Sneaky, Stubborn, Beautiful, Friendly (and so on...)

Equipment

Write down anything you think your character should have. You can always do this unless prevented by a burden (a special kind of trait). This equipment doesn't gain you any special benefit.

Special equipment can be used like traits. That is, they have a score (in boxes, like traits) and you can check off those boxes for an advantage.

When you create your character, you can pick two pieces of equipment that are special. Give one two boxes and give the other one box. Don't worry about money.

Equipment can break. This happens when you use it and your opponent rolls really well or you roll really badly. More on this later.

Sample Character

Gorand

Stats: Physical [][][][][], Mental [][], Social [][][], Emotional [], Spiritual [][][][]

Key: Warrior

Traits: Arms [][], Swords [][][][], Strong [], Friendly [][], Marching [].

Equipment: "Honeybee," a sword [][], wine flask [], traveling gear, food, empty treasure sack

Play

Play procedure stuff here...

Conflicts

Conflicts are easy. First of all, everyone involved should define a clear goal: what they want to happen.

Then everyone explains what they're doing to make that happen and picks a trait. Everyone rolls a d20 for each box that trait has unchecked. Check one of its boxes.

Compare everyone's highest die. The highest roll is currently "winning" but no one achieves their goal yet. In descending order, everyone gets to say what is happening. You can say stuff about other characters that makes sense in the context of the scenario and what they were doing but can't "put words in their mouth." You can't contradict anything that has been said. Once everyone narrates, you have completed the first "exchange."

Then everyone picks another trait with a number of unchecked boxes at least as high as the number of the current exchange (at least 2 now) and rolls one d20 for each of its unchecked boxes, then checks one of them. Again, everyone's highest roll is compared to everyone else's and everyone narrates in descending order.

You don't have to check off a trait; you can "stand" on the dice you have but you can come back in later if you want. If you ever roll a 1, you are forced to stand and you can't bring in more dice this conflict. If you can't roll more dice because you don't have a trait with enough unchecked boxes, you are forced to stand.

Once everyone stands, resolve the conflict to see who gets their goals. Compare the highest dice and do one final narration, in descending order. This time, you get to narrate about your goal. You still cannot contradict anything said before.

Example:

Gorand

Key: Warrior

Traits: Arms [][], Swords [][][][], Strong [], Friendly [][], Marching [].

Equipment: "Honeybee," a sword [][], wine flask [], traveling gear, food, empty treasure sack

Dragon

Keys: Dragon, Enormous

Traits: Enormous [] [], Talons [] [], Ancient and Wise [] [] [], Winged Flight [], Fire Breath [] [] [] [].

Adam is playing his character Gorand when the GM describes a giant dragon along his path. He can go around, the GM says, but it'll make him late for Gorand's brother's wedding. Adam says that Gorand would never run from a battle, so he asks for a conflict. Adam declares his goal: "I want to kill this dragon and get to my brother's wedding on time. I'll start using my Friendly trait, trying to butter it up and get it off guard. 'Wise ol dragon, you are quite handsome and powerful. Can I beg your forgiveness for being so small and perhaps you'll let me go by?' I say, trying to sound like I mean it."

The GM nods and looks over the dragon's traits. "The dragon is Ancient and Wise (three boxes)."

So they roll dice. Adam rolls 2d20 and gets 12 10 and the GM rolls 3d20 and gets 14 6 5. The GM is winning. He narrates first. "The dragon curls its upper lip and breathes smoke on your face, leaving you sooty. He doesn't seem to care. In fact, he rears back in a way that you know can only be followed by a lunge and grab with his teeth..."

Adam says, "Crap. Okay. I'm gonna whip out my sword and slice its neck off. I'll use Arms to start." He picks up 2d20.

The GM says, "Not Friendly? You still have a box left?"

Adam says, "I'm not feeling friendly any more."

The GM says, "The dragon is Enormous! When it moves casually, it's ten feet away. You have a hard time getting close enough to hit it." He picks up 2d20.

They roll. Adam rolls 15 7 and adds it to his 12 10. The GM rolls 2 11 and adds it to his 14 6 5. Adam is winning now so he gets to narrate first. "It's not that big," says Adam. "I slash at the dragon and move up closer to its body. It's still on the ground."

Taking Burdens

Figure 1: Assigning Burdens

d20 roll	1-4	5-8	9-12	13-16	17-20
stat	Physical	Mental	Social	Emotional	Spiritual

At any time in a conflict, you can take a burden and make your opponent discard as many dice as you like. Burdens are negative or "bad" traits that are written by your opponent. The burden you take has one box for each die after his first that beats your highest die. So, if she has 20 19 19 17 6 and you have 15, 15, 12, 11, 9, you can assign four burden boxes to toss enough of her dice to be winning (toss the 20 19 19 17). Your opponent gets to make up a single burden and tell you to write it on your sheet. It gets a number of boxes (like a trait) as just described above. In the boxes, write the numbers of the dice you made her toss. So you'd have four boxes with 20, 19, 19, and 17 in them.

Each burden has a type corresponding to one of the five stats (Physical, Mental, Emotional, Social, Spiritual). Roll a d20 and assign the burden to the stat that comes up on the chart in Figure 1.

The opponent describes the negative effects of the burden for you to note on your sheet. This can be anything one can imagine but it should make sense in the context of what just happened to the character. You must live with that burden until you get rid of it (see Removing Burdens, below).

At this point Adam's dice are 12, 13, 15. The GM's dice are 6, 14, 17.

The GM narrates first. "Okay, the dragon does this little hop about eight feet in the air and slashes at you with his talons."

Adam says, "I'll take a one-die burden."

The GM tosses the 17 back into the dice bag and thinks. "Um, the dragon's talons rip across your face... the burden is 'flesh wound across my cheek.'" The GM finishes his narration, "Then the dragon pumps his wings and is twenty feet in the air, flapping its wings and pushing dust around. It's hard to see anything now."

Adam writes 'Flesh wound across my cheek' on his sheet under Burdens and puts a 17 in the first box.

Of course, a player never has to accept a burden. He can always surrender the conflict to avoid it. The GM's job, then, is to choose burdens for the player that are as painful as possible (and that make sense within the fiction). If the player thinks the goal of the conflict is worth the burden, he'll take it; if not, he'll surrender and lose the goal but also avoid the burden.

Using Burdens

Any time your opponent has burdens, you can use them on your side. The numbers inside the box represent virtual dice that you can steal in later conflicts. You cannot use them in the conflict that generated the burdens.

To use the burdens, put a new d20 in your pool with that number showing. You must explain how you are using this trait against your opponent's character. You can use each burden die only once per conflict and you do not check them off. They are available for use in every conflict until they are "healed."

Say you have burden, Socially disgraced by the king [15] [9]. That means that there is a virtual 15 and a virtual 9 available for your opponents to use against you. You're involved in an argument with your beloved, the princess (played by the GM). During a conflict, the GM tells you he's using the 15. He grabs a d20 and puts it into his dice pool with the 15 showing, then explains how the princess says she would never be seen at court with the likes of you, backhandedly referring to the earlier incident with the king. The 9 is still available for later use in this conflict.

Winning

The conflict continues until only one person is left standing or no one can bring in more dice. At that point, the highest die of the players left standing wins the entire conflict. That player gets to narrate first, then the remaining standing players narrate Players who surrender get to narrate after, in reverse order of when they surrendered (most recent first).

Since it's hard to uncheck trait boxes, smart people will not use up all of them in the first conflict. When you run out of boxes, all you can do to turn the tables when you're behind is take additional burdens, and that sucks.

The GM wants more dice. He needs a trait with three unchecked boxes and Fire Breath is all that applies. "Um, the dragon rears back and belches the fantasy equivalent of napalm at you."

Adam braces. "How many dice?"

The GM says, "Oh, just four." He picks up 4d20.

Adam nods. "I've had worse. I'll use my Swords and bring in four dice, too." He picks up 4d20, as well.

They roll. Adam adds 20 16 8 8 to his pool. The 20 looks great! The GM adds 18 16 13 5 to his pool.

The GM says, "That's all I got. I stand."

Adam nods, "And I'd have to stand, too, and I'm winning anyway."

The GM says, "Final narration is yours, my friend."

Adam says, "As the dragon rears back, I charge it and leap onto its neck and thrust my sword into it! The foul serpent writhes in the air in pain as disgusting stuff oozes out of its throat and it suffocates on its own blood and collapses on the ground. I stand on top the corpse, victorious."

The GM adds, "Down the road on the other side of the dragon, a caravan has stopped to watch your battle. They run up to you and toss themselves on their knees, begging, 'You must come with us! The big one has my son!'"

Adam asks, "The big one? Greaaat..."

Surrender

At any time in a conflict, you can surrender. If you do this, all your dice go away and you're out of the conflict and you don't achieve your goal. No one can assign you additional burdens. If someone starts to assign you a burden, you can surrender right there and avoid taking it.

The GM should surrender when a conflict doesn't seem interesting any more. When a player is clearly going to win it, just give up and move onto the next cool thing.

What if, in our example, the GM hadn't had the dragon's fire breath at the ready?

Adam braces. "How many dice?"

The GM says, "Um, one" He picks up 1d20.

Adam nods. "Is that all? I'll use my Swords and bring in four dice, too." He picks up 4d20, as well.

The GM waves him off. "Forget it. I surrender! Go ahead and narrate first."

Character Death

Your character can die only if you lose (or surrender) a conflict in which your opponent's goal was the death of your character. Disabled characters (see below), however, can be killed easily. Since players control how many burdens they take, but not where they're assigned, it's possible to take some chances with the dice and end up disabled, and thus become easy to kill.

Changes to Characters

During a game, a character will change in different ways. This section discusses the procedures for changing characters.

Burdens

Burdens were discussed earlier in the Conflict section. A burden is some condition on the character, represented as a trait. As long as the burden trait has unchecked boxes, the character is subject to the full power of the burden. Characters receive burdens in conflicts, when the player willingly takes on the burden to make her opponent discard high dice.

Burdens fall into one of five categories (physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual) that map to the five stats. Physical burdens affect a character's health and strength. Mental burdens harm the character's ability to reason and remember. Social burdens impact the way others perceive the character. Emotional burdens affect how a character deals with stress and reality. Spiritual burdens impact the character's relationship to nature and the divine (and magical ability).

A player should track each type of burden separately. The character sheet provides a space for burdens under each stat. When an opponent assigns a burden, the dice choose what kind of burden it is and the opponent must make sense of that within the story. You'll find, however, that you can justify almost any kind of burden with enough creativity (a dragon smacking you in the head could scar your face and make you ugly (social), cause a bleeding wound (physical), jar your brain and make you dizzy and incoherent (mental), give you a fear of dragons (emotional), or dragonmark you as bane of Gaia (spiritual).

Disabled

A character's stats (Physical, Mental, Social, Emotional, Spiritual) indicate how many dice of burdens a character can tolerate without being disabled. When you receive a burden and assign it to a stat, if the total number of burden dice under that stat exceeds the total number of boxes (checked or unchecked) in that stat, the character is disabled. A disabled character automatically loses all conflicts he enters as if he had immediately surrendered.

The disabling effect differs depending on the circumstances. A character who is physically disabled might be knocked unconscious, crippled and unable to move, or suspended in a magical field that doesn't allow the character to move. A character who is mentally disabled might be brain damaged or could be too tired to think. A character who is socially disabled might be too embarrassed to speak or could have their reputation ruined. A character who is emotionally disabled might be paralyzed by a phobia, suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, or crushed by the loss of his girlfriend. A character who is spiritually disabled might be cut off from his source of magical power or could be out of favor with his deity or just be having terrible, terrible luck.

In any case, the player of a disabled character still has options for play. Even an unconscious character has waking moments where he can mumble. A disabled character is not dead. The only way to kill a character is to lose a conflict where your character's death was your opponent's goal. Of course, if you are disabled and no one is around to protect you, it is easy enough for your opponent to launch a follow-up conflict to kill you -- and you automatically lose.

Removing Burdens

To get rid of a burden, a player must launch a conflict specifically designed to do so. The player must have already played out events that lead to a reasonable chance of getting rid of whatever thing the burden represents. For example, a character with a physical burden of 'Flesh wound across my cheek' [17] [15] would need to seek out a healer or something. The player or duly appointed representative for this conflict (e.g., the healer) must win the conflict.

The GM rolls for the burden. He converts the numbered burden boxes to dice (so a 'Flesh wound across my cheek' [17] [15] burden starts with two dice: 15 and 17). The "healer" (which could be the character) gets to treat this like a normal conflict and bring in dice as normal. Every time the player brings in dice, the GM gets to roll a new d20 for each of the burden's boxes (so the 17,15 example would bring in two new d20's). These are rolled and added to the pool. In this way, the GM never has to "stand" during a healing conflict.

If the player wins the conflict, he checks off one box per die that beats or ties the GM's highest die. That is, if he ends with two dice greater than or equal to than the GM's highest die, he can check off two boxes of the burden.

If the player loses the conflict, the GM may add his highest die to the burden as a new box. In other words, the "healing" made it worse.

The player, if he likes, is free to take additional burdens during a burden-reducing conflict, though it may be folly. The GM may very well choose to create a new burden of the same type (e.g., while trying to heal your leg, the healer set it wrong and now you have a terrible limp, or maybe he ruptured an artery). The GM may not take burdens during a healing conflict.

Adam's character, Gorand, has one burden: 'Flesh wound across my cheek' [17] [15]. He has role-played finding a healer, who is looking at his wound. The healer has Spiritual 5 and two relevant traits, Healing 2 and Shaman 1.

The GM takes two dice for the burden and sets them on the table as 15 and 17.

Adam, rolling for the healer, rolls d20 for the Shaman trait: 7. That doesn't help. The GM narrates something about pain and a bloody face, then Adam narrates wincing and stuff.

Adam goes for more dice. He uses the Shaman's Healing and rolls 2d20 and gets 16 12. Better!

The GM gets 2d20 as well (the burden has two dice). He rolls 18 4. Tough luck for Gorand. The GM narrates something about the Shaman poking it with a stick and making it worse.

Adam goes for more dice. He uses the Shaman's Spiritual to call the healing powers of the gods. On 4d20, he gets: 19 14 7 2.

The GM rolls 2d20 more: 6 4. Adam is winning, so he narrates Gaia's green light sealing the wound shut. The GM adds something minor.

Adam decides to stand. The GM has to stand, too, since he only gets more dice when Adam does. Adam has 19 16 14 12 7 7 2 and the GM has 18 17 15 6 4 4. Adam has only one die (19) that beats the GM's highest die (18), so Adam checks off one of the two burden boxes -- the 17, of course!

Regeneration

Throughout the game, you check off a lot of boxes. When traits have all their boxes checked, you can't use them. Obviously, you want to be able to uncheck those boxes.

Each key lists minor and minor goals that you should strive to achieve. Every time you accomplish one of those minor goals, you may uncheck one checked box. If you accomplish a major goal you may uncheck up to ten checked boxes -- though you probably prefer an advancement (see below).

Advancement

Each key lists major goals that you should strive to achieve. Every time you accomplish one of those goals, you earn an advancement. An advancement is a small, permanent improvement to your character in the form of new keys or traits or trait boxes. When you earn an advancement, choose one of the following:

Add a new key. You must meet all the prerequisites for the key you choose. This unlocks new traits but doesn't give you any new traits or boxes.

Add a new trait. Choose a new trait from those that you've unlocked and write it on your sheet and give it one box.

Add three boxes. Choose three traits and give each of them one more box.

Swap a trait. Remove a trait that you have and replace it with a new one that is unlocked to you. It gets as many boxes as the one you crossed out. (Essentially, you're just renaming one trait.)

Obligations

An obligation is when a character promises some service to another. In exchange for agreeing to take an obligation, a character gains a free trait. As long as the character holds up his promise, the trait is available for use like any other.

The obligation is recorded as a special type of trait that goes in the Obligations section of the character sheet. The player records obligations from him and to him so the GM doesn't have to record stuff for the many characters he plays. There is no limit to the number of obligations a character can have.

An obligation has a description of the promised service and a trait (with a number of boxes). The description must loosely describe what the promise is, but this is not a legal contract. The person granting the trait can change his mind at any time and rescind the offer (and the trait is lost).

To be able to grant a trait, the granter must check a number of boxes of the trait being granted in exchange for the obligation. (The GM must use his free dice for this.) These boxes cannot be regenerated like normal. When you check them off, color them in or something different than the normal way you check off traits. The granter can cancel a grant at any time, however.

The trait must be something that can be given or transferred. However, you can rewrite the trait to make sense. For example, you grant your Spy Network trait to someone, but tell them to write down Information on the Prince, because that's the service you're giving. You're just using your Spy Network trait to "power" it (and you cross off some boxes of that trait).

The caravan master, played by the GM, says, "Powerful barbarian! Please help me! The big dragon has taken my daughter!"

Adam grins slyly, playing Gorand. "Why should I help you? Are you not a vile Corsillian?"

The GM nods, "Indeed, but if you help me, I shall spread word of your brave deeds all over the land and everyone shall know your name." He goes on, no longer in character, "I'll offer you an obligation. If you get his daughter back, you get Fame in Corsille, two boxes." He checks off two of his free dice to pay for the obligation.

Adam agrees and writes it down.

Gorand kills the big dragon and returns the caravan master's daughter. The caravan master is pleased, saying, "Everyone from here to Corsille shall know of this!"