T13 uses Ordeals to model complex situations and combinatory Tests, especially combat scenarios, complex social interactions and Descendant Creation Ordeals.
We break Ordeals down into Stages in a number of different ways depending upon the needs of the Narrative, the type of Ordeal and the expectations of the Characters and Players.
Stages and Ordeal Types
Stages are arranged in various configurations by Ordeal Type.
| Type | Suitable For | Description | Image | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Railroad | Simple Linear Ordeals such as Item Creation, Lock-picking, or Linear Travel | Each Stage follows on from the previous Stage only if the Character completes that Stage. If they have to build a fire in the forge as the first step and fail, they will never forge that sword. There may be choices (from Kings, etc) in individual Stages, but the choices are generally irrelevant to the next Stage. It matters very little if the forge is lit with wood or paper, or if the main fuel is charcoal or coal, or if the bellows are pumped by hand or foot. | ||||||||||
| Forking | Any activity that has simple choices, with limited repercussions from those choices. Such as Travel Ordeals, Item Creation Ordeals, or simple Tournaments. | Forking is similar to the Railroad, but is complicated because Choices generally create different routes through the Ordeal. If a King indicates a number of choices then there will be multiple routes from that point to the end of the Ordeal. When making a Sword you have a choice whether to work from ore, or a prepared ingot, whether to cast the blade or fold it, etc. Each choice has different effects on the Difficulty of the next Stage, and can even vary the number of Stages, or the Stakes, of the Ordeal. | ||||||||||
| Pyramid | Any situation where multiple options are roughly equivalent, but absolute Failure is not a real option, but adds additional complications before the goal can be realised. | The Pyramid stack begins with One Stage, but then each Stage after that has an increasing number of choices. It is designed for situations where Failure is an option in each Stage, but does not stop progress towards the goal. When creating a sword if you fail to light the forge, perhaps you instead use electricity, or magic, to melt the metal ore. Success in each Stage means proceeding down the Right-most Choice, Failure will lead to the Left choice beneath the Stage you are in. When Stages offer choices, these Choices may lead to various Stages on the next level as the Yarn-Telller decides and Character chooses, however failure can result in moving left at the same level, or even being moved up to a different level in a location that cannot lead back to the choice. | ||||||||||
| Block | A simple representation of a either a physical grid of locations, or a complex Ordeal such as a Heist. | The Block spread consists of a grid of Stages. These may represent physical Locations, that are similarly connected as a Cartesian grid. Movement between Stages is directed by the players Actions, if they are successful they can move into the next Stage of their choice. Failure means they must move in a different direction, usually chosen by the Yarn-Teller, or a random 1d8 roll
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| Tree-of-Life | This spread is intended for situations where there good, bad and indifferent end results, or where an Ordeal begins from a Choice of how to begin. It can work great for social Ordeals such as persuasion and seduction. | Also known as the three Column Spread. This is essentially three parallel railroads, but the Characters can switch tracks at any time. The Three columns can represent a best-case, a middle-case and a worst case scenario, and Characters will shunt from column to column as they choose and as they manage to deal with the Stage. | ||||||||||
| Web-of-Wyrd | Complex Inter-Character Interactions, and situations where attempts to short-cut the situation result in additional complications and obstacles. | The Web-of-Wyrd spread is a complex way of thinking about Ordeals, usually to create Sandbox style Ordeals where multiple Characters can interact outside of a direct map. Like any spider-web, the Web of Wyrd has a number of guidelines that meet in the middle, and then a line that spirals in from the outside to the centre. Where any two lines cross there will be a Stage card. Each Character can travel the web, like a spider passing along any line they like. But they can only travel in the direction they choose if they beat the Stage Difficulty. Any Cards skipped by travelling in or out along a guideline (rather than following the spiral) may be used as Obstacles instead. | ||||||||||
| Semi-Grid | Semi-Grids are intended for improvised complex Ordeals, that include events like dead-end results that require restarting or doubling back. It is especially good for improvising Motional Ordeals. | The Semi-Grid is essentially a Block Spread with some cards “randomly” missing. This limits the ways the Ordeal can be passed through. Yarn-Tellers can remove cards randomly (removing a card on a dice roll of 6 on a d6 for example), or as they see fit. There should be at least one way through the Semi-Grid though. | ||||||||||
| Node-Map | Any sort of Ordeal can be represented by a node-map, or flow chart. However, node-map Ordeals require a certain amount of preparation, and can be difficult to set up, off the cuff. | The Node-Map is a complex way of thinking about Ordeals. Stages are the major nodes of the map, connected by paths that may include Obstacles and may loop back, or branch, as required. Node Maps are commonly set up by a Yarn-Teller ahead of time as a complex Ordeal that will be performed by the Characters. | ||||||||||
| Geo-Map | Geographical locations, explored by Characters, such as a classic “Dungeon”. | The Geo-Map is most literally a Map of the Ordeal Locations, that has key points (the Stages) marked within it. If a room is a Stage, then Obstacles like Doors must be overcome to get to the next Stage. Rooms may have Difficulties that need to be overcome (climbing Stairs, walls, pushing through clutter, or actual Obstacles or Traps). | ||||||||||
| Type | Suitable For | Description | Image |
The Stages of an Ordeal can represent a number of different things, depending upon the type of Ordeal that is being represented. These include:
- Geographical Locations: Each Stage can be a room in a dungeon, a town on road, or a path through a forest. In this case, crossing the Stage (to pass to the next one) requires beating the Difficulty of the Stage, and represents the Difficulty of crossing a street, walking up hill, climbing a cliff, surviving a fall, etc.
- Procedural Point: Each Stage can be a point of procedure in a Method or process. In this case the Difficulty of a Stage must be beaten before the Character can proceed to the next. For example, The Scientific Method can be represented by 5 Stages (although you can break this into finer Stages also if required) each Stage having its own Difficulty.
- Formulate a Question on a Topic — this will include researching the Topic to see what is known about it. (e.g. If you are trying to cure a disease you should research everything known about the disease to)
- Create Hypothesis / Identify Variables / Make Prediction — The Hypothesis is a conjecture based on all the available knowledge. The variables are measurable data that you can compare. The Predicition is the result that can be expected if the Hypothesis is proved E.g. You might conjecture that Vitamin D will disrupt the virus, the variables would then be, the rates of illness in the population and the levels of vitamin D in that population, and the rates of survival and recovery. The Prediction being that those with higher Vitamin D are more likely to have better outcomes.
- Test Hypothesis / Conduct Experiment / Gather Data — This is often considered the most important step (usually by non-scientists although some scientists can feel this way too), and often can even be an Ordeal in its own right, as the experiment has numerous steps and operations that could be Stages in their own right. E.g. You may need to draw blood, inject meds, conduct scans, monitor temperatures, heart rate, blood pressure, vitamin levels, or a host of other complex procedures.
- Analyse Results / Data — This is sometimes considered the most important step (usually by scientists as they feel this is where the real science happens, proving or disproving the hypothesis), and again could be broken into smaller Stages or even a separate Ordeal. This can be a complex statistical analysis of thousands of Test results, or it could be a detailed study of a single result.
- Communicate Results / Write Paper — This is actually the most important step in the scientific process, although it is often forgotten, as it is through communicating these results that science as a whole grows. Your paper is added to the body of knowledge on the topic and adds more information to the available research for the next question that is asked.
- Psychosocial Stages: Sometimes the Stages can represent Psychosocial states such as emotions that a Character will experience while in that state. In this case the Difficulty can represent the complexity of a particular emotional or social state, such as maintaining a calm exterior while being harassed. Psychosocial Stages are often arranged in quite unusual ways, the emotion of Sadness for example, is usually placed closer to Happiness than Love or Anger, although there is no reason that all emotional states could not be one step from each other in a network.
Stage Difficulty
Each Stage has a Difficulty that is set usually between 2 and 45 (1-3 cards). Stage Difficulty is usually considered in Pips or Chi, rather than Score or Sway. But you can convert between the two as required.
Perhaps for example when considering Item Creation a Character may design a new Descendant that has a total Score cost of several hundred Chi. This would be impossibly expensive to buy, and incredibly difficult to obtain with a single roll. However, an Ordeal can break this cost up, often the simplest way to break up an Item Creation cost is to calculate a sensible number of Stages and Difficulties for each Stage, by finding the factors of the Difficulty. This, combined with the idea that Stage Difficulty can vary between 2 and 45, gives us some ideas of around where to look.
If we have a Difficulty of 242 for example, has factors of 11 and 22 that could work, with 11 Stages with a Difficulty of 22 each. Although, typically you would not want each Stage to have exactly the same Difficulty and you may wish to reduce the number of Stages and raise the Difficulty. Differing arrangements of Stages can let a Character shortcut their way through an Ordeal with a lower Difficulty than might be expected if the Yarn-Teller or Referee arranges the Stages correctly.
You can also offer different paths through the Ordeal, based on how different Stages go as not every Ordeal has to be a railroad.
Describing the Stage
It is usually the Referee or Yarn-Teller’s job to describe the Stage as the Characters enter it.
If the Stage is a Location, then the Referee/Yarn-Teller should describe the physical attributes of the Location. How does the Location look? Does it smell of anything? What can the Characters hear? Is there weather? Is it warm, cold, damp, what do the Characters feel? If there are Psychology effects involved, what else might the Character sense?
If the Location has a large Vegetation Annex, for example,
If the Location has a large Vegetation Annex, for example, then describe the scents of the forest, hints of pine, damp rotting wood, crisp floral hints and distant perfumes, sunlight is dappled by the susurrating leaves and the shadows stir and dance with the wind.
When the Stage is not a Location, but a step in a procedure or a similar event, then the Referee/Yarn-Teller will still be required to provide Location information about where the Stage takes place, but more importantly they must explain the Stage requirements to the Players.
For example, when beginning an Descendant Creation Ordeal, the Referee/Yarn-Teller may describe the first Stage as Preparation, and explain that the work space needs to be cleared, the second Stage may require the materials to be gathered, or for a design to be made. Eventually the Referee/Yarn-Teller may be describing how the “Flangelhoop” is too tight, and they need to “Ramajack” the “Throtweebler”, or whatever.
Ordeal Stages and Tide of Battle
During combat based ordeals you can use the Tide of Battle rules to add complications and twists to the combat. Each Round one side will be able to claim that the Tide of the Battle is Flowing with them. This allows the Yarn-Teller or Referee to affect the Stage of the Ordeal with a Tide of Battle Ordeal card.
Tide of Battle cards can have various effects, but usually boost the abilities of the Flowing Side against the Ebbing Side, although they can alter the situation radically including changing the Tide of Battle so that the Ebbing Side Flows next and vice-versa