Cares

This page covers the basic mechanics of Cares.

Cares are what your character feels strongly about.  Cares are the core of what really matters to a character.

The cares listed here are necessary for creating deep, complex, believable characters.

Cares are a crucial part of the social system in this TTRPG system.

5 Categories of Cares

The 5 categories are: Connection, Long Term Goals, Short Term Goals, Vice, and Emotions.

Connection

Your character’s connection to a person, group of people, or place is a defining character trait.

Connection is important not just for heroes, but also for villains; connection can make even the most reprehensible villain look sympathetic.

Your connection doesn’t have to weigh you down, keeping you from going out on fantastic adventures.  Instead, your connection is one of the big reasons your character does all the dangerous things they do; to preserve the people or place that they love.  Frodo walked all the way into Mordor in order to save The Shire.  Your connection gives you roots, but doesn’t make it impossible to branch out.

This doesn’t mean that your connection will never cause internal conflict in your character.  It will.  This should be embraced & played through.

Changing Connections

Your characters’ connection is inalienable.  It cannot be removed or drastically altered by any number of dice rolls within the framework of the social system of this game.  The only thing which can drastically alter your connection is a dramatic & important change in the game’s story, and/or the consent of the character’s player.  Some changes in the story mandate a change in the nature of a connection.  For example, the death of a child may alter the connection from being about loving & protecting to being about grief & vengeance.

Example Connections

• Love & friendship
  • A parents love for their children
  • Love for a spouse
  • Love for a parent
  • A best friend
• Membership in a community
  • A town
  • A neighborhood
  • A church
  • A professional circle
  • A government
  • A patron
  • A secret society
• Negative Connections
  • Vengeance
  • Hatred
  • Fear
  • Unrequited love

Recording A Connection

This is simple.  Find a place on your character sheet and jot it down.  It doesn’t need to be long & flowery.  A few words will do.  Just make sure it can be understood by another reader.

Multiple Connections

Sometimes it will be appropriate to have more than one connection to a person or group of people.  This won’t break any rules, but should be done with caution.  A connection is a serious thing in this system, and has major mechanical effects on the social system of this game.

Vice

In this system, a vice is something that your character enjoys a little too much.  Your character will often pursue their vice to the detriment of one or more of their other important cares: connections, long term goals, short term goals.

Your vice doesn’t need to be one of the 7 deadly sins, although those are valid choices.  A vice can even be something that most could consider a good thing, like an addiction to running or weight lifting.  As long as it’s a behavior that can be indulged in to the possible detriment of your other Cares, it is a vice.

Player characters can earn experience by pursuing their vice.

Long Term Goals

What does your character hope to accomplish in the long term?  This must be a (proactive) driving need, ambition, or goal.

Your long term goals will change as you play the character, and that is ok.

Long term goals might not be required at character creation for players.  Ask your gamemaster.

Long Term Goals are inalienable.  They cannot be removed or changed by any social actions.  Only the player of the character may choose to change their long term goals.

Example Long Term Goals

Zuko must restore his honor by capturing The Avatar.

Luke must redeem Darth Vader.

Frodo must destroy The One Ring.

Long Term Goal Rewards

Successfully completing a long term goal grants 30 experience.

Long Term Goal Failure

Failing a long term goal means that it is now impossible to achieve that goal due to some change in the narrative.  Delaying the completion of a long term goal is NOT the same as failure.

Failing a long term goal grants 15 experience.  The reward for failure only applies if the character took decisive action to try to succeed at the goal.  If failure is caused by delaying, ignoring, or otherwise not trying to succeed, no reward is given.

Multiple Long Term Goals

A maximum of 2 active long term goals per character is recommended.  1 of these long term goals should be related to the overall plot or story.  1 of these long term goals should be personal & character specific.  Usually, a group of player characters will have 1 long term goal in common.

GM Advice For Long Term Goals

The huge 30 experience reward for long term goal completion is not meant to be given out often.  It should be rewarded at the end of a lengthy story spanning at least 10 game sessions, up to 20 game sessions.

Short Term Goals

Short term goals are what your character wishes to accomplish soon.  Short term goals can reward your character with experience.

Short term goals are not required at character creation for players.

Example Short Term Goals

• Reach a destination
• Complete a military objective
• Gain vital information
• Delve a dungeon
• Aid a friend in need

Recording Short Term Goals

You should record a list of your short term goals on your character sheet.  This list should be brief, and should be easily understood by anyone who views your character sheet.  Do not delete short term goals that you completed or failed, simply mark them as completed or failed.  Completed or failed short term goals can factor into sense motives actions.

Changing A Short Term Goal

New information can change your goals.  A group of do-gooders may accept a mission to protect a trade caravan, only to discover that the caravan belongs to a wicked slaver.  These do-gooders may decide to turn on the caravan & free the slaves.  Choosing to change a short term goal does not result in failure of the goal for the purposes of earning experience.

Short Term Goals & Social Actions

See the task action.

Self Determined Short Term Goals

Taking on a short term goal is not always a result of a character using the task action on your character.  Sometimes you’ll give yourself a short term goal.  Gamemasters should allow some amount of this, but it shouldn’t happen more than once per game session.

Short Term Goals Relating To Long Term Goals

In many cases, a character’s short term goals will relate directly to their long term goals.  This is encouraged.  While some short term goals may not have anything to do with a character’s long term goals, some short term goals will be a simple list of steps in order to achieve a long term goal.

Examples

Frodo’s long term goal is to destroy The One Ring.  His short term goals might consist of:

• Reach Rivendell
• Cross the misty mountains or the gap of Rohan
• Enter Mordor
• Reach Mount Doom

Short Term Goal Rewards

Successfully completing a short term goal grants 2 experience points.  This reward can be gained up to twice per game session.

Short Term Goal Failure

Failing a short term goal means that it is now impossible to achieve that goal due to some change in the narrative.  Delaying the completion of a short term goal is NOT the same as failure.

Failing a short term goal grants 1 experience.  The reward for failure only applies if the character took decisive action to try to succeed at the goal.  If failure is caused by delaying, ignoring, or otherwise not trying to succeed, no reward is given.

Emotions

Your character feels things.  These feelings are important to the way they behave, and to their short term goals.

Influencing a characters emotional state is a core part of the social action system in this game.

In this system, an emotion is something your character is feeling right now, in this instant.  This system does not attempt to handle deep, subconscious emotions.  Instead, the emotions of this moment can affect your short term goals.

Emotional Intensity

Emotions have an intensity rated from 0 to 3, with 3 being the highest intensity.

Emotional intensity is used as a guide for how your character behaves while feeling that emotion.  Sadness at intensity 3 means that your character is crying.  Anger at intensity 3 demands decisive action (possibly violence) against something or someone.

Emotional intensity rating 0 is the default state for most characters.  Characters who are having a bad day may default to an intensity rating of 1.  Reaching an intensity of 2 or more requires quite a bit of drama.

Emotion Targets

Emotions are contextual.  They do not exist in a void.

Emotions are directed at something or someone (even yourself).

Emotion targets do not always have to be logical, but they should be sympathetic(understandable).  For example: If you’re waiting in line at the DMV, your annoyance could be directed at the DMV bureaucracy, or at the people in front of you in the line.  Either of those options is understandable, even if illogical.

Emotion targets are important for social actions.

Connection & Emotional Targets

Your connection can be a target of your emotions.  Even if your connection is normally a positive relationship, you can feel negative things like anger or disgust toward them.

Emotions & Short Term Goals

Your emotions, especially intense emotions, can affect your short term goals.  See: the task social action.

Default Emotional State

The default state of all characters emotions is 0 intensity.

As mentioned above: this system only deals with emotions that are intense in the here & now.  This system does not deal with deep, subconscious, or chronic emotions.

A player may decide that their character’s emotional state isn’t at 0 at the beginning of a scene – they simply need to have a reason that they can explain to the GM.

Emotions List

This list is here for reference, but most players will not need it.  You’ll be able to navigate most emotional scenes without it.  This list is based on the real life theory developed by Robert Plutchik.

8 Core Emotions

Complex & Combination Emotions

The 8 core emotions can be combined to portray more complex feelings.