In a T13 Game, Players can either be Grunts (or maybe Goblins) working for more important people, or they can be Heroes who bend their own fates, slip between universes, but are still mostly pushed by circumstances and the plots of others, or they can be Yarn-Tellers and be a part of narration of the story. However, while Yarn-Tellers can be Weavers, they are themselves still the subjects of Weavers themselves, notably other Yarn-Teller’s Narration, Plots, and the whims of the cards.
Yarn-Tellers are narrators, or point-of-view Characters. They can tell us part of the story they experienced, their own way. As such, they get to make some of the story up.
They have a number of tricks that they can perform to accomplish this, but unfortunately other Yarn-Tellers have the same tricks at their disposal, and the Referee has a few more, just to keep the big Plots satisfied (and fed).
That’s because while Yarn-Tellers may be narrators, and story-tellers themselves, they are not Authors writing a Novel, or Wyrd herself (usually), so they are subject to the events that are taking place around them, just like everyone else.
Generally the Yarn-Teller Characters are subject to larger Plots, like the greater cycles of History, acts of the Divine, the Forgotten, and the Increated, and never forget the potential catastrophes of open-ended Multi-(or Inter)-dimensional Wars.
Narration
Narration is what sets a Yarn-Teller apart from other Characters, and it grants Players immense power, and with that power a huge responsibility. You see, if you have been playing a Grunt, who managed to survive long enough that he developed into a Hero, up until now all the narration, when you think about it was probably been done by one person at the table, the Referee.
In some games, where the Referee is called a Games-Master or Dungeon-something-or-other, they literally have to do all the heavy lifting of narration, this is similar to T13 Grunt play.
Other Story-based roleplaying games have a more collective story-telling experience. Often there will still be a Lead Narrator for the Story, but Characters narrate their own actions and the results with the Lead Narrator (or whatever they call them) perhaps modifying the narrated result with a “Yes, but…” style of complication. This is similar to T13 Heroic play, where the Characters could narrate their actions, but the Referee would still determine the final results.
This leads us to T13 Yarn-Teller narration. Each Yarn-Teller Character has their own Stories they want to tell, whether it is the tale of their rise to power, fame, glory, a quiet retirement surrounded by grand-children, or a different happy ever-after. Players too probably have ideas for tales, perhaps sparked by some events earlier, or Characters they met along the way. Players often have ideas for Arcs that other Characters in the group could have. And here is where Yarn-Teller Characters shine.
A Yarn-Teller Player can narrate events, almost exactly like a Referee. The main difference is the Yarn-Teller Characters have to follow some rules about their Narration.
- If you are mid-narration and the Referee says something, stop narrating and check what it was. It might be important to the game, or it might have been them asking for the chips, but better to be safe than narrate something they are immediately going to ret-con.
- Your narration should be from your Character’s perspective, and usually in their voice. If the Character has a lose relationship with the truth, then no one expects them to be a reliable narrator, and that will allow them a lot a easy ret-cons if they need to.
- While your narration is from your Character’s perspective you are expected to narrate the reactions of NPCs to other Player Character’s actions. If you don’t the Referee, or any other Yarn-Teller could use them as a vehicle to Seize the Spotlight and continue narration.
- Yarn-Telling is a more gruelling and tiring experience than playing a Character normally, so it is okay to hand the reins off to another Yarn-Teller while you collect your thoughts or recover. You’ll always be able to take the Spotlight again later.
- Try not to interrupt another Yarn-Teller when they are narrating. Even if you have paid for the privilege. Wait, until they have at least finished the statement they were making, and if possible try to continue their narration in your own style instead as you spend your Yarn.
- Yarn-Teller’s narration is more limited in Scope than a Referee’s narration, generally. Yarn-Tellers can use only the following perspectives
- 1st Person: Yarn-Tellers are free to use almost all 1st person statements such as “I draw my sword”, “I decapitate the guard with my telekinesis”, “I see you get shot by the other guards, taking a Crippling Wound”.
- 2nd Person: Yarn-Tellers are limited in that they cannot compel another Player Character’s actions by narration alone. You can say “Your counter-attack has no effect,” or “As you step forward the floor tile clicks under your foot, a moment before a huge explosion,” in response to things they have said they are doing, but you can’t say, “You decide to walk into a trap,” or “You feel sad about what you did to me earlier, and give me the treasure,” as these would not respect the Character’s or Player’s agency. Unlike usual the compelled Character’s Player and not the Referee is the final arbiter here.
- 3rd Person limited: Yarn-Tellers can employ a range of 3rd Person narrative techniques, but they should avoid 3rd Person Omniscient narration. That is to say describe what is available via your own Character’s senses, don’t reach into Character’s minds and describe their thoughts.
Yarn-Teller Voices
Yarn-Tellers are narrators of the story. They usually narrate from a first-person perspective (and occasionally a second or even third person perspective, especially for the Referee). However, there are different styles of Yarn-Telling and we call these styles the Voices of the Yarn-Tellers.
- The Bedlamite: A Yarn-Teller Character who is actually delusional, or perhaps who is coloured by previous trauma, or emotional dysfunction. Bedlamites create Stories that blur the lines of reality and fantasy, favouring prophecies, dream scenes, Monsters, fringe science and Conspiracy Theories.
- The Blowhard: A Yarn-Teller Character who likes to move the Plot forwards themselves, they create Stories for their own Character to make Gains and to make themselves look good.
- The Borrowed Bard: A Yarn-Teller who delights in retelling other peoples stories with a new spin. Often they borrow Shakespeare, or some movie or TV show, and can be just as guilty of Railroading as the Historian, unable to adapt the Plot to the actions of other Players.
- The Builder: A Yarn-Teller who like making maps and letting Players explore them. Don’t expect Stories with deep Plots, but do expect days of travel, which can be used for Characterization. Builders are often also quite tactical, and most favour modelled and simulationist play.
- The Clown: A Yarn-Teller Character who does not take narrations seriously and consciously plays with conventions, truth, and the reader’s expectations. Clowns create Stories to make others laugh, or create confusion and absurdity.
- The Daredevil: A Yarn-Teller who mainly likes narrating action sequences. Their Stories can be superficial, but are usually fun. Daredevils can get out of control though, and accidentally arrange unsurvivable situations that can cause Retcons and Showdowns to occur to allow Characters to survive.
- The Fabulist: A Yarn-Teller Character who lies and ignores established facts about the game world. Fabulists favour complex fantasies, and lighter themes, but mostly just run roughshod over other people’s world-building efforts.
- The Grim: A Yarn-Teller who delights in gritty realism and negative consequences. The Grim is most likely to kill a Character as part of their Story, and their Stories are often complex and filled with moral ambiguities and shades of grey.
- The Historian: A Yarn-Teller who draws their complex, often politically charged, dense Plots from actual history. They change the names, and may combine a few Characters (or separate one person into two), to make it less obvious, usually. They can however end up like a Railroader, unable to change history.
- The Journalist: A Yarn-Teller who may actually be a chronicler or reporter, but that’s not what’s important about them. The Journalist delights in noting, recording and reusing things from other Yarn-Teller’s narration, their Stories are woven deeply into the world, they reuse others Characters and Locations.
- The Kid: A Yarn-Teller Character who has a limited view of the complexity of Stories, and the world. They favour simple Stories, usually Good-vs-Evil, Monster-of-the-Week, and The-Bad-Guys-Done-It types of Plots, and rarely narrate reasonable responses from law enforcement, politicians and other authorities.
- The Noire: A Yarn-Teller who uses plenty of metaphors and darker themes, but often tell fairly simple Stories, with only a minor twist or two (and in fact many of the twists they use are almost tropes of their preferred genres).
- The Pantser: A Yarn-Teller who mainly narrates off the cuff. Pantsers can be great, reacting to other Yarn-Tellers and Heroes easily, but they can also be random, and easily forget things they have improvised before.
- The Practised Genius: A Yarn-Teller who mixes all of the other Yarn-Teller types together into something that isn’t an incoherent mess. This isn’t a Voice that is even real, it’s more of where we are all wanting to get, but no one has ever really managed it.
- The Purple Poet: A Yarn-Teller who favours long words, and longer descriptions. They often are great world-builders, but their plots are often overly-complex and difficult to follow.
- The Thespian: A Yarn-Teller who mainly narrates their stories through the Extras and NPCs. These are often Yarn-“Show-don’t-Tellers”, and as such their Plots can be light on Exposition and Revelations tend to be hidden in Red Herring conversations.
- The Train Driver: A Yarn-Teller who specialises in narrating pre-written stories. They may be great writers, or trope masters, but they don’t play well with others.
- The Visionary: A Yarn-Teller who specialises in narrating visual descriptions. They can treat their Stories as describing cinema, and sometimes are so busy using symbolism and references that they may fail to include an actual Story.
- The Watson: A Yarn-Teller who narrates Stories where they make themselves a lesser, or support role for another Character. Watsons are usually detail-oriented and quite grounded, their Stories often feature powerful NPCs.
Facet based Narration
Each Facet has its own suggested Narration Technique. These techniques can each make narration more fun and engaging, they can act as pointers for Players with less experience with Narration, or be used to offer Narration Challenges or as part of a Narrative Showdown.
Narration Challenges are set by the Referee, and are usually of the form, narrate this Scene with this Facet’s Narration Technique. Experienced groups could have the current Narration Facet be decided by the current card atop the Discard pile, changing everytime even a Hero plays a Wyrd tarot card. Failure to narrate in technique will incur additional Failures automatically. Successfully using the Narration could grant additional Successes, but more often a Gain would be an appropriate reward.
| Facet | Narration |
|---|---|
| Awe ⚊ ♦ Suit: Diamonds ♦ Ordeal Trump: Preparation (Research / Work / Patience) / Movement (Sneaking / Sprinting) / Listening Description: Diamonds represent the finer things of life, they are bright and sparkling. Representing the creative even spiritual aspects of materialism such as beauty and art, that transcend base materialism like wealth. Despite this the Diamonds are recognised as being the Coins suit of the Tarot, with a strong tie to Elemental Earth. Tarot Meaning: Travel, Money, Business, Contracts, Deals, Voyages. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Travel (e.g. Chase, Race) / Creativity (e.g. Smithing, Painting). Diamonds act as Trump for the following Action Types: Art, Building, Charming, Crafting, Driving, Emoting, Forgiving, Keeping Your Cool, Listening, Meditation, Motion, Prayer, Preparation, Research, Sprinting and Working in general. Any type of action can be prepared with a Diamond. Parry:Seize the initiativeThe cards of the original attack (less the matched card) are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool. They may then play as many cards as their Descendant/Annex normally plays including the Parry card (1-4) usually into one of their Style Reserve, and then immediately discard any cards over Pool Limit. Soak: ReadyThe matched Attack card is immediately Prepared by the Defender (as they wish). The Soak card is discarded. | Pathetic Fallacy — The Pathetic Fallacy is a narration technique where the narrated atmosphere, from object descriptions, to the weather, is described through the lens of the Character’s emotions and mood. For example, for a Character wrapped in depression, the sunshine may be described as weak or stark, rather than warming. This narration technique can emphasise the emotional state of a Character, and can be useful in games to guide Player Character’s emotional performances. |
| Burden ♣ Suit: Clubs ♣ Ordeal Trump: Defence / Trade / Control / Magic (Negative) Description: Clubs represent the power of politics and a stoic, blind materialism. Clubs can be seen as a dark corrupting force on the world, crass materialism, sin, magic and anger, but the club is also symbolic of protection, law and justice. In the Tarot the Clubs are called Staves or Wands, in some traditions they represent Intellectual Air, but in most they are Fire. Tarot Meaning: Power, Fame, Politics, Ability, Money. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Wealth, Politics, Power. Clubs act as Trump for following Actions: Bartering, Controlling, Corrupting, Emotional-intensity, Guarding, Magic, Displaying might, Politics, Self-Defence, Socializing, and Trade Negotiations. Clubs can be used to defend any type of attack. Parry:DisarmAll the cards of the attack are immediately discarded, along with the Parry Card. The remaining cards of the Defender’s Parry can now each be used to cause the Attacker to drop a Descendant (starting with the attacking weapon usually), can also cut armour straps, belts etc, or steal hats. This basically adds RT equal to the card Pips to the Annex that was used to attack. Every 5 Pips also creates a point of GRT for the Character (representing how much time the Character must spend picking up, or readying the weapon again. Court cards additionally may damage the Descendant that was disarmed, as standard for the Stakes. Soak: WardThe matched Attack card, and one other randomly selected Attack card are discarded. | Amplification — Amplification is a rhetorical technique that can be used in Narration to draw additional attention to, add importance to, or exaggerate certain parts of a description or text. Amplification can be simple exaggeration and hyperbole, but more often it relies on repeating a particular part, word or thought, to draw attention, each repeat will add additional details or greater hyperbole to this thought to bring it forwards. E.g. You crest the hill and sight an army; an army that fills the plain beyond the hill, stretching from horizon to horizon; an army of armoured reptilian giants, their banners emblazoned with a blood-red snake wave atop their raised spears as they march; the army of the Cobra-king, it can only be the greatest number of lizard-warriors ever gathered, and they are marching towards you. |
| Craft ⚊ ♦ Suit: Diamonds ♦ Ordeal Trump: Preparation (Research / Work / Patience) / Movement (Sneaking / Sprinting) / Listening Description: Diamonds represent the finer things of life, they are bright and sparkling. Representing the creative even spiritual aspects of materialism such as beauty and art, that transcend base materialism like wealth. Despite this the Diamonds are recognised as being the Coins suit of the Tarot, with a strong tie to Elemental Earth. Tarot Meaning: Travel, Money, Business, Contracts, Deals, Voyages. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Travel (e.g. Chase, Race) / Creativity (e.g. Smithing, Painting). Diamonds act as Trump for the following Action Types: Art, Building, Charming, Crafting, Driving, Emoting, Forgiving, Keeping Your Cool, Listening, Meditation, Motion, Prayer, Preparation, Research, Sprinting and Working in general. Any type of action can be prepared with a Diamond. Parry:Seize the initiativeThe cards of the original attack (less the matched card) are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool. They may then play as many cards as their Descendant/Annex normally plays including the Parry card (1-4) usually into one of their Style Reserve, and then immediately discard any cards over Pool Limit. Soak: ReadyThe matched Attack card is immediately Prepared by the Defender (as they wish). The Soak card is discarded. | Neologism — This Narration technique involves the crafting, or coining, of a new word or phrase (although technically a protologism initially this becomes a neologism practically the moment it is written down). This is often done as a part of world-building, but must be included within the narration of the tale. Neologisms can be nouns, verbs or what ever is required, and these can be “nonce words” intended for one use, or “Sniglets” with their humorous definitions. |
| Dominion ⚊ ♣ Suit: Clubs ♣ Ordeal Trump: Defence / Trade / Control / Magic (Negative) Description: Clubs represent the power of politics and a stoic, blind materialism. Clubs can be seen as a dark corrupting force on the world, crass materialism, sin, magic and anger, but the club is also symbolic of protection, law and justice. In the Tarot the Clubs are called Staves or Wands, in some traditions they represent Intellectual Air, but in most they are Fire. Tarot Meaning: Power, Fame, Politics, Ability, Money. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Wealth, Politics, Power. Clubs act as Trump for following Actions: Bartering, Controlling, Corrupting, Emotional-intensity, Guarding, Magic, Displaying might, Politics, Self-Defence, Socializing, and Trade Negotiations. Clubs can be used to defend any type of attack. Parry:DisarmAll the cards of the attack are immediately discarded, along with the Parry Card. The remaining cards of the Defender’s Parry can now each be used to cause the Attacker to drop a Descendant (starting with the attacking weapon usually), can also cut armour straps, belts etc, or steal hats. This basically adds RT equal to the card Pips to the Annex that was used to attack. Every 5 Pips also creates a point of GRT for the Character (representing how much time the Character must spend picking up, or readying the weapon again. Court cards additionally may damage the Descendant that was disarmed, as standard for the Stakes. Soak: WardThe matched Attack card, and one other randomly selected Attack card are discarded. | Multiplicity — Narration is often strengthened by multiplicity, whether it is as simple as repeating a word for emphasis, or narrating a tale from a multiplicity of perspectives and Characters. At its simplest this Narrative technique encourages the Yarn-Teller to narrate from a Character’s perspective that you have not seen or heard before, this is often an establishing narration for an Extra. |
| Enigma ♥ Suit: Hearts ♥ Ordeal Trump: Healing (Survival / Magic) / Deception (Hide / Feint) / Magic (Positive) Description: Hearts represent Love, Family and the comforts of home. Hearts are the warmth of a cosy fireplace, and social wealth rather than material. In the Tarot the suit is called Cups, and represents the feminine and elemental Water. Tarot Meaning: Love, Relationships, Affections, Family, Sympathy, Peace. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Nurturing, Farming, Relationships, Medical. Hearts act as Trumps for the following Actions: Blending in, Cooking, Escaping, Healing, Hiding, Hunting, Insulting, Joke-telling, Lying, Magic, Mimicry, Riddling, Spinning a tale, Surgery, and Survival. Any type of Wound can be healed with a Heart. Parry:Locked RespiteAll unmatched Cards from the original attack are Discarded by the Defender, however with each card they Discard they may either use the card to Heal/Stabilise one of their own wounds (or damage to the Parrying Descendant), or they may use the card to slow their attacker with additional RT (Pips) or GRT (Pips/5). Soak: DisengageThe Soak Card acts as a Heal card, and is discarded along with the Attack card. This immediately Heals all Wounds in play that have less Pips, including the remaining Wounds in the Attack, by one Wound Level (discards Distracts). | Sub-Rosa — Sub-Rosa narration is secret, confidential narration, that is not intended for everyone. Sub-Rosa Narration usually includes normal vocal narration, but perhaps at the same time a note may be passed that contains additional information. Sometimes a Yarn-Teller may move to a different room, or send Players out of the room to create secret and confidential narration. It should be noted that the content of this Sub-rosa narration is intended to be of a nature that the Character would not want to be shared (such as the details of how their secret plan is going). |
| Fury ⚊ ♣ Suit: Clubs ♣ Ordeal Trump: Defence / Trade / Control / Magic (Negative) Description: Clubs represent the power of politics and a stoic, blind materialism. Clubs can be seen as a dark corrupting force on the world, crass materialism, sin, magic and anger, but the club is also symbolic of protection, law and justice. In the Tarot the Clubs are called Staves or Wands, in some traditions they represent Intellectual Air, but in most they are Fire. Tarot Meaning: Power, Fame, Politics, Ability, Money. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Wealth, Politics, Power. Clubs act as Trump for following Actions: Bartering, Controlling, Corrupting, Emotional-intensity, Guarding, Magic, Displaying might, Politics, Self-Defence, Socializing, and Trade Negotiations. Clubs can be used to defend any type of attack. Parry:DisarmAll the cards of the attack are immediately discarded, along with the Parry Card. The remaining cards of the Defender’s Parry can now each be used to cause the Attacker to drop a Descendant (starting with the attacking weapon usually), can also cut armour straps, belts etc, or steal hats. This basically adds RT equal to the card Pips to the Annex that was used to attack. Every 5 Pips also creates a point of GRT for the Character (representing how much time the Character must spend picking up, or readying the weapon again. Court cards additionally may damage the Descendant that was disarmed, as standard for the Stakes. Soak: WardThe matched Attack card, and one other randomly selected Attack card are discarded. | Pacing — Pacing Narration, where the Yarn-Teller uses their Narration to control the pacing of the narrative. Short sentences and vivid verbs pack punch into Warp Scenes. To decelerate the pace during a more comfortable, relaxing Weft Scene, Yarn-Tellers should be encouraged to indulge an array of articulate, expressive, detailed and occasionally decidedly difficult to parse lexemes, including longer sentence structures (that may include multiple asides), and additional, but related, clauses. |
| Gossamer ⚊ ♠ Suit: Spades ♠ Ordeal Trump: Attack / Perception / Penetration (Opening / Navigation / Logic) Description: The Spades Suit is the suit of suffering, said to be good for the soul, but miserable for a Monday. Competition, perception, endurance and curiosity are positive aspects associated with the suit, but spades also represent destruction, betrayal, distance, might and death. In the tarot, the Suit is replaced with Swords, which (depending on the tradition) may represent either damaging Fire, or more commonly the cutting intellect of Air. Tarot Meaning: Misfortune, Suffering, Loss, Mourning, Treachery, Betrayal, War, Lawsuit, Conflict. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Confrontation (e.g. Warfare, Lawsuit), Competition (Sports, Quizzes etc), Perception (Spot Hidden). Spades act as Trumps for the Following Action Types: Attacking, Balance, Climbing, Contagion, Desecration, Destruction, Feats of Strength, Lock-picking, Navigation, Perception (Search/Spot), Staying power, and Stoicism. Spades can be used for any type of attack. Parry:Redirect-AttackThe damage from the original attack (less the Parried Card) is redirected by the Defender to the Attacker, their Descendants or their Allies. Soak: Counter-AttackThe matched Attack card is reflected back at the Attacker, or their Descendant, as Narratively appropriate. | Dialogue — The Yarn-Teller speaks “In Character”, narrating as an actor would play the Character. This spoken dialogue is often an excuse for an info-dump, but a careful Yarn-Teller can use dialogue to “show” as well as “tell”. Clues about a Character’s hitches, persona, core and geometry can all be expressed through dialogue, additionally Psychosocial data such as Character’s current impressions of each other should be revealed during dialogue, with Characters often reacting immediately upon another Character they have strong feelings about immediately and unreservedly, although even a guarded reaction can tell you things. |
| Heresy ⚊ ♥ Suit: Hearts ♥ Ordeal Trump: Healing (Survival / Magic) / Deception (Hide / Feint) / Magic (Positive) Description: Hearts represent Love, Family and the comforts of home. Hearts are the warmth of a cosy fireplace, and social wealth rather than material. In the Tarot the suit is called Cups, and represents the feminine and elemental Water. Tarot Meaning: Love, Relationships, Affections, Family, Sympathy, Peace. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Nurturing, Farming, Relationships, Medical. Hearts act as Trumps for the following Actions: Blending in, Cooking, Escaping, Healing, Hiding, Hunting, Insulting, Joke-telling, Lying, Magic, Mimicry, Riddling, Spinning a tale, Surgery, and Survival. Any type of Wound can be healed with a Heart. Parry:Locked RespiteAll unmatched Cards from the original attack are Discarded by the Defender, however with each card they Discard they may either use the card to Heal/Stabilise one of their own wounds (or damage to the Parrying Descendant), or they may use the card to slow their attacker with additional RT (Pips) or GRT (Pips/5). Soak: DisengageThe Soak Card acts as a Heal card, and is discarded along with the Attack card. This immediately Heals all Wounds in play that have less Pips, including the remaining Wounds in the Attack, by one Wound Level (discards Distracts). | Red Herring — Red Herrings are often clues that mislead or misdirect characters. Sometimes they exist only to distract from some other clue, idea or Character. Other times the Red Herring Narration can be used to draw attention to something and then cause it to be discarded from further consideration. |
| Inertia ♠ Suit: Spades ♠ Ordeal Trump: Attack / Perception / Penetration (Opening / Navigation / Logic) Description: The Spades Suit is the suit of suffering, said to be good for the soul, but miserable for a Monday. Competition, perception, endurance and curiosity are positive aspects associated with the suit, but spades also represent destruction, betrayal, distance, might and death. In the tarot, the Suit is replaced with Swords, which (depending on the tradition) may represent either damaging Fire, or more commonly the cutting intellect of Air. Tarot Meaning: Misfortune, Suffering, Loss, Mourning, Treachery, Betrayal, War, Lawsuit, Conflict. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Confrontation (e.g. Warfare, Lawsuit), Competition (Sports, Quizzes etc), Perception (Spot Hidden). Spades act as Trumps for the Following Action Types: Attacking, Balance, Climbing, Contagion, Desecration, Destruction, Feats of Strength, Lock-picking, Navigation, Perception (Search/Spot), Staying power, and Stoicism. Spades can be used for any type of attack. Parry:Redirect-AttackThe damage from the original attack (less the Parried Card) is redirected by the Defender to the Attacker, their Descendants or their Allies. Soak: Counter-AttackThe matched Attack card is reflected back at the Attacker, or their Descendant, as Narratively appropriate. | Timed — Timed Narration is a trick similar to pacing, but instead the Yarn-Teller sets an absolute time-limit on a Scene. When the timer ends, regardless of what is happening in the Narration will stop. This may mean an alarm will go off, a time-bomb will explode, a race will begin, or whatever Timed event is occurring occurs. Ideally during the Timed narration a big clock will display the countdown so that everyone knows exactly how much time is wasted and by whom… Clever Yarn-Tellers can pause and start multiple clocks so that split parties will not burn through linear time simultaneously. |
| Jeer ♥ Suit: Hearts ♥ Ordeal Trump: Healing (Survival / Magic) / Deception (Hide / Feint) / Magic (Positive) Description: Hearts represent Love, Family and the comforts of home. Hearts are the warmth of a cosy fireplace, and social wealth rather than material. In the Tarot the suit is called Cups, and represents the feminine and elemental Water. Tarot Meaning: Love, Relationships, Affections, Family, Sympathy, Peace. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Nurturing, Farming, Relationships, Medical. Hearts act as Trumps for the following Actions: Blending in, Cooking, Escaping, Healing, Hiding, Hunting, Insulting, Joke-telling, Lying, Magic, Mimicry, Riddling, Spinning a tale, Surgery, and Survival. Any type of Wound can be healed with a Heart. Parry:Locked RespiteAll unmatched Cards from the original attack are Discarded by the Defender, however with each card they Discard they may either use the card to Heal/Stabilise one of their own wounds (or damage to the Parrying Descendant), or they may use the card to slow their attacker with additional RT (Pips) or GRT (Pips/5). Soak: DisengageThe Soak Card acts as a Heal card, and is discarded along with the Attack card. This immediately Heals all Wounds in play that have less Pips, including the remaining Wounds in the Attack, by one Wound Level (discards Distracts). | Humour — Narration should often include humour, this can be limited to purely in dialogue, with funny characters saying funny things, but can include concepts as diverse as ludicrous premises, silly situations with comedic consequences, and juxtapositions including bathos. |
| Key ⚊ ♠ Suit: Spades ♠ Ordeal Trump: Attack / Perception / Penetration (Opening / Navigation / Logic) Description: The Spades Suit is the suit of suffering, said to be good for the soul, but miserable for a Monday. Competition, perception, endurance and curiosity are positive aspects associated with the suit, but spades also represent destruction, betrayal, distance, might and death. In the tarot, the Suit is replaced with Swords, which (depending on the tradition) may represent either damaging Fire, or more commonly the cutting intellect of Air. Tarot Meaning: Misfortune, Suffering, Loss, Mourning, Treachery, Betrayal, War, Lawsuit, Conflict. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Confrontation (e.g. Warfare, Lawsuit), Competition (Sports, Quizzes etc), Perception (Spot Hidden). Spades act as Trumps for the Following Action Types: Attacking, Balance, Climbing, Contagion, Desecration, Destruction, Feats of Strength, Lock-picking, Navigation, Perception (Search/Spot), Staying power, and Stoicism. Spades can be used for any type of attack. Parry:Redirect-AttackThe damage from the original attack (less the Parried Card) is redirected by the Defender to the Attacker, their Descendants or their Allies. Soak: Counter-AttackThe matched Attack card is reflected back at the Attacker, or their Descendant, as Narratively appropriate. | Sensory — The Yarn-Teller can increase immersion for the audience, by focusing on sensory details the Character can perceive, this includes evocative imagery to engage the visual cortex, as well as environmental noises, smells, scents,and tastes, of course. But sensory details can also include information on temperature, humidity, the direction the wind is blowing and other emotional responses to subtle sensory signals. |
| Liberty ⚊ ♥ Suit: Hearts ♥ Ordeal Trump: Healing (Survival / Magic) / Deception (Hide / Feint) / Magic (Positive) Description: Hearts represent Love, Family and the comforts of home. Hearts are the warmth of a cosy fireplace, and social wealth rather than material. In the Tarot the suit is called Cups, and represents the feminine and elemental Water. Tarot Meaning: Love, Relationships, Affections, Family, Sympathy, Peace. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Nurturing, Farming, Relationships, Medical. Hearts act as Trumps for the following Actions: Blending in, Cooking, Escaping, Healing, Hiding, Hunting, Insulting, Joke-telling, Lying, Magic, Mimicry, Riddling, Spinning a tale, Surgery, and Survival. Any type of Wound can be healed with a Heart. Parry:Locked RespiteAll unmatched Cards from the original attack are Discarded by the Defender, however with each card they Discard they may either use the card to Heal/Stabilise one of their own wounds (or damage to the Parrying Descendant), or they may use the card to slow their attacker with additional RT (Pips) or GRT (Pips/5). Soak: DisengageThe Soak Card acts as a Heal card, and is discarded along with the Attack card. This immediately Heals all Wounds in play that have less Pips, including the remaining Wounds in the Attack, by one Wound Level (discards Distracts). | Figurative — The Yarn-Teller can use figurative Narration, full of tricks like antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy and simile, and if they especially clever they may even use this as a chance to include world-building, such as metaphorical references to some fantastical beast, although not all Yarn-Tellers have a dragon’s gilded tongue. |
| Miasma ♠ Suit: Spades ♠ Ordeal Trump: Attack / Perception / Penetration (Opening / Navigation / Logic) Description: The Spades Suit is the suit of suffering, said to be good for the soul, but miserable for a Monday. Competition, perception, endurance and curiosity are positive aspects associated with the suit, but spades also represent destruction, betrayal, distance, might and death. In the tarot, the Suit is replaced with Swords, which (depending on the tradition) may represent either damaging Fire, or more commonly the cutting intellect of Air. Tarot Meaning: Misfortune, Suffering, Loss, Mourning, Treachery, Betrayal, War, Lawsuit, Conflict. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Confrontation (e.g. Warfare, Lawsuit), Competition (Sports, Quizzes etc), Perception (Spot Hidden). Spades act as Trumps for the Following Action Types: Attacking, Balance, Climbing, Contagion, Desecration, Destruction, Feats of Strength, Lock-picking, Navigation, Perception (Search/Spot), Staying power, and Stoicism. Spades can be used for any type of attack. Parry:Redirect-AttackThe damage from the original attack (less the Parried Card) is redirected by the Defender to the Attacker, their Descendants or their Allies. Soak: Counter-AttackThe matched Attack card is reflected back at the Attacker, or their Descendant, as Narratively appropriate. | Pastiche — Yarn-Tellers can use their narration to evoke the style of something else, often in the form of many magpied pieces. Perhaps they draw attention to an event by relaying the information in the form of a news bulletin, or they may invoke the style of speech of a favourite television show character, inserting them into the world as though this Character is some Alt of the original. Pastiche can be used to help mimic the thematic elements and tropes of particular genres, for example, Spatial-folding, Warp Drive, Hyperspace, and Warpspace are all FTL technologies, but each anchors the audience to particular universes. |
| Nature ♥ Suit: Hearts ♥ Ordeal Trump: Healing (Survival / Magic) / Deception (Hide / Feint) / Magic (Positive) Description: Hearts represent Love, Family and the comforts of home. Hearts are the warmth of a cosy fireplace, and social wealth rather than material. In the Tarot the suit is called Cups, and represents the feminine and elemental Water. Tarot Meaning: Love, Relationships, Affections, Family, Sympathy, Peace. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Nurturing, Farming, Relationships, Medical. Hearts act as Trumps for the following Actions: Blending in, Cooking, Escaping, Healing, Hiding, Hunting, Insulting, Joke-telling, Lying, Magic, Mimicry, Riddling, Spinning a tale, Surgery, and Survival. Any type of Wound can be healed with a Heart. Parry:Locked RespiteAll unmatched Cards from the original attack are Discarded by the Defender, however with each card they Discard they may either use the card to Heal/Stabilise one of their own wounds (or damage to the Parrying Descendant), or they may use the card to slow their attacker with additional RT (Pips) or GRT (Pips/5). Soak: DisengageThe Soak Card acts as a Heal card, and is discarded along with the Attack card. This immediately Heals all Wounds in play that have less Pips, including the remaining Wounds in the Attack, by one Wound Level (discards Distracts). | Environmental — The Yarn-Teller can deepen immersion by deepening their description of the environment. This can mean reminding them that they are in a woodland glade by having a huge insect buzz by, and describing a pine scent with a hint of something else hiding beneath it. |
| Orthodox ♦ Suit: Diamonds ♦ Ordeal Trump: Preparation (Research / Work / Patience) / Movement (Sneaking / Sprinting) / Listening Description: Diamonds represent the finer things of life, they are bright and sparkling. Representing the creative even spiritual aspects of materialism such as beauty and art, that transcend base materialism like wealth. Despite this the Diamonds are recognised as being the Coins suit of the Tarot, with a strong tie to Elemental Earth. Tarot Meaning: Travel, Money, Business, Contracts, Deals, Voyages. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Travel (e.g. Chase, Race) / Creativity (e.g. Smithing, Painting). Diamonds act as Trump for the following Action Types: Art, Building, Charming, Crafting, Driving, Emoting, Forgiving, Keeping Your Cool, Listening, Meditation, Motion, Prayer, Preparation, Research, Sprinting and Working in general. Any type of action can be prepared with a Diamond. Parry:Seize the initiativeThe cards of the original attack (less the matched card) are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool. They may then play as many cards as their Descendant/Annex normally plays including the Parry card (1-4) usually into one of their Style Reserve, and then immediately discard any cards over Pool Limit. Soak: ReadyThe matched Attack card is immediately Prepared by the Defender (as they wish). The Soak card is discarded. | Objective — Objective narration creates an unbiased point of view, there will be no descriptions of emotions, feelings, or disclosure of inner thoughts (unless a Character is a psychic, telepathic or similar). Character physical actions will be described, but never the reasons why they performed these actions. There should be no interpretation or sub-textual symbolism, a Character displaying an emotion, such as sadness, must be described physically acting the emotion out, perhaps by sobbing, or more likely perhaps slightly pouting, trembling their lip, creasing their forehead, opening their eyes wider as they glisten with tears, or turning their face away and lifting a hand to their cheek. |
| Phoenix ⚊ ♥ Suit: Hearts ♥ Ordeal Trump: Healing (Survival / Magic) / Deception (Hide / Feint) / Magic (Positive) Description: Hearts represent Love, Family and the comforts of home. Hearts are the warmth of a cosy fireplace, and social wealth rather than material. In the Tarot the suit is called Cups, and represents the feminine and elemental Water. Tarot Meaning: Love, Relationships, Affections, Family, Sympathy, Peace. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Nurturing, Farming, Relationships, Medical. Hearts act as Trumps for the following Actions: Blending in, Cooking, Escaping, Healing, Hiding, Hunting, Insulting, Joke-telling, Lying, Magic, Mimicry, Riddling, Spinning a tale, Surgery, and Survival. Any type of Wound can be healed with a Heart. Parry:Locked RespiteAll unmatched Cards from the original attack are Discarded by the Defender, however with each card they Discard they may either use the card to Heal/Stabilise one of their own wounds (or damage to the Parrying Descendant), or they may use the card to slow their attacker with additional RT (Pips) or GRT (Pips/5). Soak: DisengageThe Soak Card acts as a Heal card, and is discarded along with the Attack card. This immediately Heals all Wounds in play that have less Pips, including the remaining Wounds in the Attack, by one Wound Level (discards Distracts). | Beacon — Beacon narration is simply drawing attention to anything important that is happening, such as a change of Location, a new Character appearing, or some Action, but otherwise letting time pass in Character dialogue. Beacon narration is particularly helpful with travel and when dealing with large groups of Characters, so the Yarn-Teller can let (or use) conversation to fill a gap, before interrupting with their important event. Rather than narrating that, “you chat in the coach for three hours and then are attacked by highwayman”, beacon narration would encourage the Yarn-Teller to start a conversation in the coach, which they later interrupt by having the coach driver point out the unsavoury types ahead. Beacon narration relies on the Yarn-Teller being able to settle back, allowing other Characters to chat in Character, and responding in kind themselves as the various extras (or their own Character), but they must be able to command attention when something important is happening, ideally by use of first, second or third person narration as required. |
| Quiet ♦ Suit: Diamonds ♦ Ordeal Trump: Preparation (Research / Work / Patience) / Movement (Sneaking / Sprinting) / Listening Description: Diamonds represent the finer things of life, they are bright and sparkling. Representing the creative even spiritual aspects of materialism such as beauty and art, that transcend base materialism like wealth. Despite this the Diamonds are recognised as being the Coins suit of the Tarot, with a strong tie to Elemental Earth. Tarot Meaning: Travel, Money, Business, Contracts, Deals, Voyages. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Travel (e.g. Chase, Race) / Creativity (e.g. Smithing, Painting). Diamonds act as Trump for the following Action Types: Art, Building, Charming, Crafting, Driving, Emoting, Forgiving, Keeping Your Cool, Listening, Meditation, Motion, Prayer, Preparation, Research, Sprinting and Working in general. Any type of action can be prepared with a Diamond. Parry:Seize the initiativeThe cards of the original attack (less the matched card) are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool. They may then play as many cards as their Descendant/Annex normally plays including the Parry card (1-4) usually into one of their Style Reserve, and then immediately discard any cards over Pool Limit. Soak: ReadyThe matched Attack card is immediately Prepared by the Defender (as they wish). The Soak card is discarded. | Symbolic — Symbolic Narration is the use of metaphor, simile, allegory, imagery and symbols to create deeper emotional and artistic complexity in narration. Symbols can stand for ideas and qualities, most importantly as emotions experienced by Characters, and therefore can create sub-text in the narrative via the imagery that is used. If rain is symbolic of sadness and a rose of romantic love or secrecy, then rain on a rose… is a romantic disappointment or secret sadness. |
| Rook ♣ Suit: Clubs ♣ Ordeal Trump: Defence / Trade / Control / Magic (Negative) Description: Clubs represent the power of politics and a stoic, blind materialism. Clubs can be seen as a dark corrupting force on the world, crass materialism, sin, magic and anger, but the club is also symbolic of protection, law and justice. In the Tarot the Clubs are called Staves or Wands, in some traditions they represent Intellectual Air, but in most they are Fire. Tarot Meaning: Power, Fame, Politics, Ability, Money. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Wealth, Politics, Power. Clubs act as Trump for following Actions: Bartering, Controlling, Corrupting, Emotional-intensity, Guarding, Magic, Displaying might, Politics, Self-Defence, Socializing, and Trade Negotiations. Clubs can be used to defend any type of attack. Parry:DisarmAll the cards of the attack are immediately discarded, along with the Parry Card. The remaining cards of the Defender’s Parry can now each be used to cause the Attacker to drop a Descendant (starting with the attacking weapon usually), can also cut armour straps, belts etc, or steal hats. This basically adds RT equal to the card Pips to the Annex that was used to attack. Every 5 Pips also creates a point of GRT for the Character (representing how much time the Character must spend picking up, or readying the weapon again. Court cards additionally may damage the Descendant that was disarmed, as standard for the Stakes. Soak: WardThe matched Attack card, and one other randomly selected Attack card are discarded. | Avoidance — Avoidance Narration is used when a Yarn-Teller has a particular piece of information that they must keep guarded from other Characters. This is not really a case of a secret (although it can be), but more protected information, such as someone else’s secret, where the Yarn-Teller does not have the information and wants to avoid accidentally interfering with another Plot or Yarn-Teller. Avoidance Narration should employ distraction, try talking about something other than that topic, you can add sudden attacks by Bad Guys whenever it gets brought up, or anything else that might work really. |
| Sin ⚊ ♣ Suit: Clubs ♣ Ordeal Trump: Defence / Trade / Control / Magic (Negative) Description: Clubs represent the power of politics and a stoic, blind materialism. Clubs can be seen as a dark corrupting force on the world, crass materialism, sin, magic and anger, but the club is also symbolic of protection, law and justice. In the Tarot the Clubs are called Staves or Wands, in some traditions they represent Intellectual Air, but in most they are Fire. Tarot Meaning: Power, Fame, Politics, Ability, Money. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Wealth, Politics, Power. Clubs act as Trump for following Actions: Bartering, Controlling, Corrupting, Emotional-intensity, Guarding, Magic, Displaying might, Politics, Self-Defence, Socializing, and Trade Negotiations. Clubs can be used to defend any type of attack. Parry:DisarmAll the cards of the attack are immediately discarded, along with the Parry Card. The remaining cards of the Defender’s Parry can now each be used to cause the Attacker to drop a Descendant (starting with the attacking weapon usually), can also cut armour straps, belts etc, or steal hats. This basically adds RT equal to the card Pips to the Annex that was used to attack. Every 5 Pips also creates a point of GRT for the Character (representing how much time the Character must spend picking up, or readying the weapon again. Court cards additionally may damage the Descendant that was disarmed, as standard for the Stakes. Soak: WardThe matched Attack card, and one other randomly selected Attack card are discarded. | Unreliable — Sometimes in fiction a Narrator is not reliable, this may be because they are insincere, deliberately misleading the audience, or they may have some other bias that causes their narration to minimise some of the events, ignore Characters or emphasize something else, like their own actions. Yarn-Tellers are also encouraged to colour their narration in terms of their Character’s beliefs. To a Yarn-Teller criminal, all police officers are corrupt or cruel buffoons, where as they are intelligent free-thinkers. For a Yarn-Teller detective, he may think the uniforms are a bit dim, with a few bad apples among them, but compared to the criminal scumbags they bring in, they are the shining blue light of hope for humanity. No Character ever thinks that they are the Villain of their own story, and rarely will they think a friend is evil. Even actual Villains believe their diabolical plots serve some good, even if it is only making them more powerful. |
| Trial ⚊ ♠ Suit: Spades ♠ Ordeal Trump: Attack / Perception / Penetration (Opening / Navigation / Logic) Description: The Spades Suit is the suit of suffering, said to be good for the soul, but miserable for a Monday. Competition, perception, endurance and curiosity are positive aspects associated with the suit, but spades also represent destruction, betrayal, distance, might and death. In the tarot, the Suit is replaced with Swords, which (depending on the tradition) may represent either damaging Fire, or more commonly the cutting intellect of Air. Tarot Meaning: Misfortune, Suffering, Loss, Mourning, Treachery, Betrayal, War, Lawsuit, Conflict. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Confrontation (e.g. Warfare, Lawsuit), Competition (Sports, Quizzes etc), Perception (Spot Hidden). Spades act as Trumps for the Following Action Types: Attacking, Balance, Climbing, Contagion, Desecration, Destruction, Feats of Strength, Lock-picking, Navigation, Perception (Search/Spot), Staying power, and Stoicism. Spades can be used for any type of attack. Parry:Redirect-AttackThe damage from the original attack (less the Parried Card) is redirected by the Defender to the Attacker, their Descendants or their Allies. Soak: Counter-AttackThe matched Attack card is reflected back at the Attacker, or their Descendant, as Narratively appropriate. | Contradictory — Contradictory Narration is narration that opposes the narration another Yarn-Teller is making. This may be a direct contradiction, such as reversing the results of the last battle (which may create a Yarn-Tangling Ordeal), but more often this is an indirect contradiction, such as having both sides think they both lost or won the last battle, this changes nothing for one side, but everything for the other, and is less likely to create a Yarn-Tangling Ordeal. |
| Virtue ♦ Suit: Diamonds ♦ Ordeal Trump: Preparation (Research / Work / Patience) / Movement (Sneaking / Sprinting) / Listening Description: Diamonds represent the finer things of life, they are bright and sparkling. Representing the creative even spiritual aspects of materialism such as beauty and art, that transcend base materialism like wealth. Despite this the Diamonds are recognised as being the Coins suit of the Tarot, with a strong tie to Elemental Earth. Tarot Meaning: Travel, Money, Business, Contracts, Deals, Voyages. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Travel (e.g. Chase, Race) / Creativity (e.g. Smithing, Painting). Diamonds act as Trump for the following Action Types: Art, Building, Charming, Crafting, Driving, Emoting, Forgiving, Keeping Your Cool, Listening, Meditation, Motion, Prayer, Preparation, Research, Sprinting and Working in general. Any type of action can be prepared with a Diamond. Parry:Seize the initiativeThe cards of the original attack (less the matched card) are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool. They may then play as many cards as their Descendant/Annex normally plays including the Parry card (1-4) usually into one of their Style Reserve, and then immediately discard any cards over Pool Limit. Soak: ReadyThe matched Attack card is immediately Prepared by the Defender (as they wish). The Soak card is discarded. | Faithful — Faithful narration is as honest and truthful as the Yarn-Teller can manage. The Yarn-Teller should include at least one additional hint or fact everytime they narrate to the players, giving them a sort of hotter/colder feel about what they are trying to do. Of course there’s absolutely no guarrantee that the Faithful narration will be believed, especially later when it may even be retconned. |
| Wyrd ♣ Suit: Clubs ♣ Ordeal Trump: Defence / Trade / Control / Magic (Negative) Description: Clubs represent the power of politics and a stoic, blind materialism. Clubs can be seen as a dark corrupting force on the world, crass materialism, sin, magic and anger, but the club is also symbolic of protection, law and justice. In the Tarot the Clubs are called Staves or Wands, in some traditions they represent Intellectual Air, but in most they are Fire. Tarot Meaning: Power, Fame, Politics, Ability, Money. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Wealth, Politics, Power. Clubs act as Trump for following Actions: Bartering, Controlling, Corrupting, Emotional-intensity, Guarding, Magic, Displaying might, Politics, Self-Defence, Socializing, and Trade Negotiations. Clubs can be used to defend any type of attack. Parry:DisarmAll the cards of the attack are immediately discarded, along with the Parry Card. The remaining cards of the Defender’s Parry can now each be used to cause the Attacker to drop a Descendant (starting with the attacking weapon usually), can also cut armour straps, belts etc, or steal hats. This basically adds RT equal to the card Pips to the Annex that was used to attack. Every 5 Pips also creates a point of GRT for the Character (representing how much time the Character must spend picking up, or readying the weapon again. Court cards additionally may damage the Descendant that was disarmed, as standard for the Stakes. Soak: WardThe matched Attack card, and one other randomly selected Attack card are discarded. | Foreshadowing — Foreshadowing narration is narration that gives a hint, clue or vision that reveals something from the future of the Story. It could be a Character dialogue that rumours what is in another location, or it may be a dream or prophecy that creates a future event, that the Yarn-Teller may even invest Yarn in creating and therefore insuring that the event will come to pass. |
| Yonder ♠ Suit: Spades ♠ Ordeal Trump: Attack / Perception / Penetration (Opening / Navigation / Logic) Description: The Spades Suit is the suit of suffering, said to be good for the soul, but miserable for a Monday. Competition, perception, endurance and curiosity are positive aspects associated with the suit, but spades also represent destruction, betrayal, distance, might and death. In the tarot, the Suit is replaced with Swords, which (depending on the tradition) may represent either damaging Fire, or more commonly the cutting intellect of Air. Tarot Meaning: Misfortune, Suffering, Loss, Mourning, Treachery, Betrayal, War, Lawsuit, Conflict. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Confrontation (e.g. Warfare, Lawsuit), Competition (Sports, Quizzes etc), Perception (Spot Hidden). Spades act as Trumps for the Following Action Types: Attacking, Balance, Climbing, Contagion, Desecration, Destruction, Feats of Strength, Lock-picking, Navigation, Perception (Search/Spot), Staying power, and Stoicism. Spades can be used for any type of attack. Parry:Redirect-AttackThe damage from the original attack (less the Parried Card) is redirected by the Defender to the Attacker, their Descendants or their Allies. Soak: Counter-AttackThe matched Attack card is reflected back at the Attacker, or their Descendant, as Narratively appropriate. | Distant — Distant Narration is both emotionally distant and often physically describing distant events. These can include events that are reported, or observed, by a Character or anything that is received via a descendant, such as a telescope, binoculars or a video surveillance system. Distant narration never conveys all the possible information, often emotional details and a lot of subtleties are lost. |
| Zeal ⚊ ♦ Suit: Diamonds ♦ Ordeal Trump: Preparation (Research / Work / Patience) / Movement (Sneaking / Sprinting) / Listening Description: Diamonds represent the finer things of life, they are bright and sparkling. Representing the creative even spiritual aspects of materialism such as beauty and art, that transcend base materialism like wealth. Despite this the Diamonds are recognised as being the Coins suit of the Tarot, with a strong tie to Elemental Earth. Tarot Meaning: Travel, Money, Business, Contracts, Deals, Voyages. Ordeal Text: Ordeal Types: Travel (e.g. Chase, Race) / Creativity (e.g. Smithing, Painting). Diamonds act as Trump for the following Action Types: Art, Building, Charming, Crafting, Driving, Emoting, Forgiving, Keeping Your Cool, Listening, Meditation, Motion, Prayer, Preparation, Research, Sprinting and Working in general. Any type of action can be prepared with a Diamond. Parry:Seize the initiativeThe cards of the original attack (less the matched card) are immediately added to the Defender’s Ordeal Pool. They may then play as many cards as their Descendant/Annex normally plays including the Parry card (1-4) usually into one of their Style Reserve, and then immediately discard any cards over Pool Limit. Soak: ReadyThe matched Attack card is immediately Prepared by the Defender (as they wish). The Soak card is discarded. | Skipping — Skipping Narration is intended to make narration less tied to the inertia and pacing. If the pacing suggests a slow section while the Character’s are travelling from one location to another, skipping narration would suggest to drop this section entirely, don’t mention it at all and slip straight to the destination. A skipping narrator may also skip individual narration of Actions in the Ordeal Phase and skip straight to a summary narration that combines all the Phase Actions. |
| Facet | Narration |
As an Optional rule the Character’s Persona(s), Core(s) and Hitches can grant the Yarn-Teller access to a limited number of narration techniques. This can be useful to give Characters distinct narrative voices, or to create a continual Narration Challenge.
Referees can also use this table to suggest narration techniques that they might use based on Conflict Embodiments, the current Tone, and the current roster of PCs or NPCs.
Yarn-Telling Techniques
There are a number of Yarn-Telling techniques that T13 uses to gamify the Yarn-Telling narration.
- Seize The Spotlight: Yarn-Tellers can spend at least 1 Yarn to seize the spotlight, grab the talking stick, become the Point of View Character, or however you think of it, anyway this lets them narrate the current scene.
- During their Narration they can describe things how they want, and others are encouraged to stick to those descriptions later, unless they want to spend more Yarn to seize control back.
- The Referee can always spend more Yarn than anyone else to seize control back, however all Yarn spent by the Referee must be noted on the Plot and paid out in the Gains.
- When Yarn-Telling you still have the same cards to interpret. If the Significator of the Scene is “The Priest” then whatever the Scene is it has to have some spiritual or ecclesiastical connection. If the Scene is a Revelation then the information that you must reveal is described in the cards too (and may reference a Yarn-Teller’s Plot that you have no information for — which can be a good reason to never Steal the Spotlight during a Revelation.
- Passing the Spotlight: After you’ve narrated a bit, be it a Scene Introduction, or an Act or whatever, you can decide where the Spotlight goes next. Passing Narration like this can be interrupted for 1 Yarn again, and goes to the highest bidder in a bidding war.
- I Bet It’s… : Yarn-Tellers can interrupt the Yarn-Teller, even the Referee to edit a detail, and change something about a situation. The Editor must bet Yarn on their Edit, if it is accepted by all the other Yarn-Tellers then the Yarn is returned and they get their edit, if the edit is rejected then the Yarn spent is lost. The Referee should gauge Tone and Genre on adjudicating edits as well as the needs of the Plots. The minimum Yarn bet (the blind) is usually the Yarn cost of the detail (Annex, Descendant, Character, Province, etc) that is being changed.
- Scene Bending: Yarn-Tellers can adjust a Scene that is currently being narrated by the Referee or another Yarn-Teller, this is done by playing a Yarn-Card to replace one in the Scene already. Scenes have a Scene Beat Type, a Scene Significator, and then details that depend upon the Beat Type. The Played card must be incorporated into the Narration in one of these possible card positions as the Player wishes.
- Spawn Subplot: Yarn-Tellers can play any card with a Hook Scene Type (any Ace) to start creating a new Subplot.
- They can then play cards to define the Conflict, Plot Significator, the Hook, and so on.
- Spawned Subplots are usually Stories or Tracts, and you can think of them as the Yarn-Teller getting to guest GM a session, although you don’t have to play through them in one go and the Referee doesn’t actually give up the reins entirely.
- The Yarn-Teller is the narrator of their Subplot, they define the Conflict and Hooks, they generally narrate the actions of the Plot’s Extras and Archetype NPCs, and can, of course, Hook themselves, other Player Characters, or Referee Characters from other Plots.
- The Yarn-Teller now owns that Subplot and can use the appropriate cards to unlock the next Scene of their Subplot, Revelations for example are triggerable with a 5 or Queen, a Subplot must be closed with a King (Completion).
- The Yarn-Teller must play their own cards to define each Scene of the Subplot in turn, alternating Warps (or Tests and Ordeals) and Wefts (or Revelations and Gains) through the Loom, and a Final Ordeal, Test, Gain or Revelation, before the Completion.
- Normally a Yarn-Teller Character is Hooked to their own Subplot.
- Yarn-Tellers are responsible for care, feeding and maintenance of their Subplots, failure to feed a Subplot can result in it feeling abandoned, and an abandoned Subplot becomes the Referee’s Plot.
- Subplots must be fed Yarn by having interactions with Characters, although how often depends on the Referee and the number of other Yarn-Tellers in the narrative, as well as the cards available, of course. Failure to feed a Subplot (by playing a card that could have triggered a Scene) results in removing Yarn from the Subplot. If the Subplot ends up empty of Yarn it becomes Rogue and may become another Yarn-Teller’s responsibility.
- Retcons, Flashbacks and “It could have happened that way, or…”: Yarn-Tellers can argue about a Scene and decide they want to change something that already happened. This has a cost, and an element of risk too. The Cost depends on the nature of the Retcon and Change (see the the Sway Table) or how far back in time the change is being made (Extend Duration) whichever is larger. The risk comes from the fact that after you finish your alternate history, the other Yarn-Tellers must vote between the versions, as to which version is the universe that they continue. What’s more, after the first Retcon is paid for then every Yarn-Teller can add their own potential Retcon, for only 1 Yarn (although if you are full of Chi that can be quite a lot), with all Yarn-Tellers voting for the best version of the Scene by their own criteria.
- “Yes… And…”: Yarn-Telling is about building exciting stories, while you can retcon things, it is much better to accept the Story as it is being told, but add you own turns (and occasionally Twists) to the Story. Agreeing with another Yarn-Teller and then building upon what they have said will pay you 1 Yarn, giving you enough Chi to reach the next Yarn point (up to filling your Character).
- “Yes… But…”: Complications make Stories more interesting, if you think a Story has become boring, why not interrupt to add a complication to another Yarn-Teller’s story? Adding a complication to another’s story involves paying a point of Yarn and playing a Yarn card as a Snag. The Yarn-Teller must incorporate the Snag (or replace it with a Snag of their own from their own Hand or Pool). If they replace the card, you get your Yang back, otherwise that Yarn goes to the Plot or Subplot you interrupted.
- “No… But…”: Trashing other people’s ideas is pretty mean, but sometimes they haven’t understood what you are trying to do, and could have ruined your Story, but you have to admit they did give you a good idea. If you cancel someone else’s narration by paying Yang, but incorporate something from their attempt into your own Retcon, or retelling, then they get 1 Yarn and so do you.
- Narrative Showdown: Narrative Showdowns can occur whenever a Scene becomes contested between two or more Yarn-Tellers. During a Narrative Showdown two Yarn-Tellers construct their own parallel Narratives, and then a third Yarn-Teller (usually the Referee) must pick between them.
- A Showdown is declared by the Referee. The Defendant will defend the narrative as it stands, the Challenger wishes to change the Narrative to incorporate their changes.
- The Yarn-Tellers involved in the Showdown must draw a card. The Challenger Draws first, the Defendant second.
- Each side may still back out by discarding the card, and concede the narration, or they may bet that they can narrate the card.
- The Challenger decides what aspect of the card will be narrated. They might choose a Warp aspect such as a Snag, or a Weft aspect such as a Gain.
- The Challenger also decides the opening bid and the Stakes. Generally, Showdowns have Wounds and / or Yarn bet on them, for example you might bet Three Mortal Wounds and 20 Yarn on your narration.
- The Defendant may either Fold (and concede the Narration — negating the challenged Scene), Call (matching that bet and agreeing to narrate) or Raise (increasing the bet and putting the Challenger in the position of having to Fold, Call or Raise themselves). The largest bet that can be made is “All-In” which will hand the Character over to the other as a new Alt (and should only be used in extreme circumstances, or as part of a Highlander / Battle-Royale scenario).
- Whichever Yarn-Teller calls must narrate their card first, in the decided manner, using the same aspect, and accepting the bet.
- If they are the Challenger they narrate a Scene to replace the one they Challenged, now as either a Warp on themselves that gives them the Wounds they agreed on (including potentially death), or as a Weft for the Challenged Yarn-Teller that costs them Yarn (and may even make their Character into an Alt of the Challenged Character).
- The Challenged Yarn-Teller must narrate the Scene as though it followed their own original Challenged Scene, either as a Warp on themselves (with Wounds) or as a Weft on the Challenger (with Yarn or potentially a Character on the line).
- Regardless of who is narrating what, those Bets are not yet paid.
- The Yarn-Tellers must then agree who follows them, usually the Referee, but any other Yarn-Teller will do. If they cannot decide, they may instead roll a d6 each, repeatedly, with the lowest roll losing.
- Whoever narrates next then draws a card. It must be narrated to follow one of the two scenarios described, and is known as a Judgement. It either upholds the original Challenged Scene, and the Defendants Scene that follows, or it follows the replacement Scene and the Challenger wins. Which way it goes will depend upon the Player’s belief of which makes the most sense and what card they have Drawn to follow.
- The Judgement should also, where possible, now redress the issue of who lost the bet. Returning to the winner their bet Yarn with a Gain, or Healing them, and causing Wounds to the loser. Basically, the bets are now Paid. If both Characters went “All-In” then as the winning Character “dies”, Quantum Immortality kicks in, merging their consciousness with the other “Show-downer”, and then they become the Dominant Personality. In some games, the Loser of the Showdown may now play their Character as a Split Alt in that Character, but more normally they go and create a new replacement Character (often a Fresh of the same power level).
- Quantum Contest: Quantum Contests very like Narrative Showdowns, but are left unresolved. They are advanced techniques, that create stylistic choices like unreliable Narrators. Ambiguity is often the hallmark of the Quantum Contest, we like to think that history happened a certain way, a Quantum Contest implies that history can actually be multiple choice.
- Each Yarn-Teller that contests a Scene can narrate it themselves. They must pay for the right, however, by using a Retcon as the base cost.
- Each Yarn-Teller narrates the Scene (with the other Players reacting as normal to the events that occur) including playing through any Ordeals, Tests, etc.
- All versions of the narration are considered equal. No one version is decided as the “True” version and the game moves on to the next Scene. All Players can decide for themselves which one was true for them, and Hero Characters (especially Mercari and Paradox Warriors) can claim to remember two or more versions with no problems. All versions of events can be referenced as having happened, later. Gains made in one version may be different to those made in another, but both are available to those who made the Gains. The only caveat to this is that a Grunt Character must choose which Gain they made if they have a choice between two in each telling. The Grunt will only remember the history that they got the Gain from. Conversely, it is fine for another Grunt in the same game to remember the other version, especially if they were the one who got the gain in their memory.
- Eventually the events may become remembered by those who were there as some strange mix of the two distinct histories. Even by Grunts who only really remember one version, if the alternative is repeated around them enough, they’ll incorporate the history they don’t remember. Referees can narrate some weird mixes of how people talk about things to give Players (or readers) the idea.
- Yarn-Tangling Ordeal: An Alternative to the Narrative Showdown and Quantum Contest that allows card play to determine exactly what happens during a complex Yarn-Weaving with multiple Yarn-Tellers competing. See Alternate Ordeals Rulepage for detail.
Yarn-Tellers and Plots
Generally speaking, Plots are Yarn-Tellers themselves, therefore Yarn-Tellers can create Plots, just as Plots can create Yarn-Teller Characters. However, setting a Plot in motion is not an easy thing for any Yarn-Teller to perform. Let’s think about an example of how a Yarn-Teller may get a Plot rolling.
Imagine a Wizard, we’ll call him Magister John Elfolk, he’s a Yarn-Teller. While Magister Elfolk is travelling to the capitol, he is accosted by a gang of ruffians, he could easily destroy the ruffians, of course, but instead asks why they would risk attacking a mage. He cows the gang with a few simple cantrips and a threat from a summoned Plasma Elemental, but asks them why. The leader of the gang, a Hero called Jim Chapel responds that the local Lord, Baron Darkonfell, has raised taxes on their homes fourteen times in six months, driving them to crime. Magister Elfolk decides to investigate, and a few spells later discovers that the Baron is another Yarn-Teller, and quite a powerful one at that, but that the Baron is indeed raising ridiculous taxes over and over on his lands. Annoyed at the disturbance to his travels and blaming the Baron, the Wizard decides to create a Subplot of his own to harass the Baron. He can create a Subplot by using any Ace Yarn card and then set the Conflict so that it will Hook Jim Chapel and probably Hook Baron Darkonfell, although there is no real guarantee that the Baron will bite, unless John Elfolk wants to hang around and force the issue, by getting Hooked himself, which he clearly isn’t. Now the Subplot is ready to go, and John Elfolk can go on his way, with Jim Chapel now effectively his agent of revenge. At least, until Baron Darkonfell realises a Plot has Hooked him and narrates a better ending for himself, as Elfolk is unlikely to continue feeding the Plot cards afterward.