True Names, Curses, and Rage (WIP)
I am preparing to run a game, as of yet unnamed, but it got me thinking about a few different concepts: true names, cursing, and emotions that come to the character as if from the outside. I've tried to codify them into system as such, and would love some feedback.
My intentions and goals with the first two concepts is to make magic that is accessible and doesn't require too much specialisation, that can be used in the spur of the moment, but still carries risk with it. True Names can be used for bringing spirits to the bargaining table, invoking demons and such, while Cursing is the more aggressive version of that. Both of these were made in the mould / stolen from Weird Writer.
With the Anger system, my idea was to make a simple Pendragon-style Passion system like the one I outlined here, but which can also be used in a slightly more freeform fashion, and in a less social setting. The "problem" I usually come upon with Passions is that, for your Love (Wife) to take centre stage, your wife must be close to you, and in the game I'm preparing the players will be very far away indeed from any sort of settlement or civilisation. Not just in a wilderness, but in a land forbidden to enter entirely. Anyway, the system itself is inspired by the way that emotions are talked about in the Iliad, where Ares (conflict) seems to descend upon someone and possess them to take action.
CALLING UPON A TRUE NAME
By knowing the true name of a thing, that which spoke it into existence, one can control it. Gods may not be controlled in this fashion for they themselves are names.
Base Potency: 3
Add
- +1 per additional person who chants or sings the name (max +3)
- +2 if the name is written
- +3 if the name is repeatedly written in a proper vessel (a bowl, a clay tablet with an illustration of the thing, a papyrus) Subtract
- -0 if warding against (do not do this to me)
- -1 if commanding (do this)
- -2 if summoning (come to me)
- -4 if changing (as you are, so you become)
Roll d6s equal to remaining Potency:
6- The thing is free from your power and you may nevermore attempt to command it in this way again.
7-9 The desired effect takes place but the spirit has been angered. Subtract -1 from the next attempt at commanding it.
10-11 The exact desired effect takes place.
12 The desired effect takes place and the request is received respectfully. Add +1 to the next attempt at commanding it.
CURSING
By whose authority are you damning them? This will determine Base Potency, but it will also determine which Mishaps can occur:
2 By the spirits of the earth and the sky
3 By the spirits of the Underworld and the wrathful dead
4 By a lower deity of your culture or one of their messengers
5 By the supreme deity of your culture who embodies justice and retribution
Add
​+3 if it’s considered harmful by a whole community instead of only by the caster.
​+5 if it’s nearly universally considered heinous in most circumstances.
​+1 for each person affected directly by the offender’s deed (max +3)
​+2 if the curse has been written down
+2 if the curse is deemed suitably ironic considering the offense.
Subtract
- -1 if the offense was accidental.
- -1 if the offender is properly warded against it.
- -1 if the offender desires to be cursed for whatever reason, or if the curse targets someone related to the offender.
- -2 if no foul action was taken against the caster, or if the effort the caster is putting into the curse seems disproportionate to the offense.
Effect: it’s an inconvenience injury (-1); it’s a deeply stigmatizing condition/debilitating illness (-2) [when in doubt, assume this Effect]; it makes social interaction or living within the world nearly impossible, potentially ruining a life (-3)
Duration: a week (-1); a month (-2); a year (-3); as long as hatred exists (-4) Roll a number of d6s equal to remaining Potency (min. 2) and take the two highest. Check the result:
​6- the curse backfires.
7-9 the curse is cast but the caster can’t fully control it. Roll a mishap.
10-11 the curse works as intended.
12 the curse works, but its power goes above and beyond as the caster gets lost on their hatred. Roll a mishap.
WHIPPING UP A RAGE
All persons have many spirits inhabiting their body. The spirit which animates them to be happy, for instance, lives in the stomach and tickles at the sight of a loved one. No spirit is more powerful however than that which lives in the hands and feet: the god anger. The Animating God, that which moves you to protect your pride, to do fierce battle, and to inflame you when things need be done.
Your anger goes from 1 to 6; you determine that number by inviting it into your heart. Whenever you do battle, add that number to all attacks and damage inflicted. Besides that, name up to your current Anger of things you would kill over: your Hate towards someone, your Loyalty to your leader, your Jealousy of someone, your Pride, your Love. Needless to say, these things must be around you in the Forbidden Lands, your past life has already been forfeit.
However, whenever your darker impulses might have the possibility of flaring up, you roll your Anger-in-6 chances of being animated into doing something you might regret later. This can be something as small as a perceived yet unintended slight against your manhood, or as great as a direct challenge issued towards you.
On top of that, when it becomes clear one of the things you named before is no more or you will never have access to it again (having your pride utterly crushed, being betrayed by the leader you trusted, seeing your loved one dead), count as follows starting at 1:
Your Anger was currently at 1 to 4, add +1
Your Anger was currently above 5, add +2
The cause of the crisis is due to your own action or inaction, add +3
Roll a d6 under that number.
If you get a 1, unless in rolls where 1 is the minimum roll, you go mad. The character is removed from the game for a week if Anger was at 1; for 1d6 weeks if it was at 2 or 3; for 1d6 months if it was at 4 or 5; and for 1d6 years if it was at 6. You flee the scene to the wilds and become a beast such as a dragon or a giant bull and may only be brought to heel by true love or friendship, or someone employing your true name.
If you get under the number, you go into a deep depression and get -5 in every roll for 1d6 hours if Anger was at 1; for a day if it was 2 or 3; for 1d6 days if it was at 4 or 5; and for 1d6 weeks if it was at 6. The character becomes weak and inert, perhaps periodically going blind from crying or becoming enveloped by a strange goop that takes effort to be removed from. He can be healed by true love and the other circumstances above, but this will require some sort of roll, and if the person fails, the character lashes out violently - perhaps slapping his true love before storming off. If the character is attacked, they snap out of it until the attacker flees or dies, or until the melancholic suffers significant damage, in which case they snap out of it permanently.
If you get above the number, there is no effect.