Resolution

In role-playing games, when a player wants their character to perform an action with an uncertain outcome, we have to resolve that action. In The Shadow of Yesterday, almost all resolution is what we call conflict resolution. It's a bit of a confusing term: don't all role-playing games have rules for resolving conflicts?

That's true, but many resolve conflicts piece by little piece. If your character's fighting someone, for example, each hit might be a separate task that gets resolved in some games. Using this game, the entire fight is resolved at once, and then we describe how it went down. Those ups and downs may still be described, but the outcome of the entire conflict is what the system determines.

The ability check
The way we determine outcomes is called an ability check. When performing an uncertain action, the player needs to state her basic intention for the character and the ability they are using. (They don't have to have this ability on their character sheet, but, as you'll see, it helps.) This is not a full description of the action, as the dice provide a randomizer that let the player know how well this action happened. After stating the character's intention, deciding on stakes, and choosing the relevant ability, the ability check is made.

The ability check involves a dice roll. This roll uses special dice you can find at hobby stores or online called "Fudge dice." They were originally invented for a neat little role-playing game called Fudge. They are six-sided dice; two sides of them have plus signs on them, two sides are blank, and two sides have minus signs. If you don't have any, you can make your own really easily. Get a red and a green marker and some white dice. Color two sides red and two sides green, and you've got Fudge dice. The plus sides are +1, the blank sides are 0, and the minus sides are -1, in case you didn't know. An even better way to make your own Fudge dice from ordinary six-sided dice can be found in Jonathan Walton's article "Baby's First Fudge Dice" in the online magazine Fudge Factor.

After you've got weird dice, the process is pretty simple: roll three dice and add them to your character's rank in the ability being used. As you probably remember, each ability rank has a number associated with it. That's what you use here. So, a character who is a Competent (1) in Scrapping that rolls two pluses and a minus on the dice has a total of 2. That's your success level (SL). There's only one trick to this: you can't get lower than zero. It's a hard bottom number, and if you end up with -1 or something, it's just zero.

Just like every ability rank has an associated number, each success level has an associated name.

That name is just there to help you describe the outcome. It doesn't have a mechanical effect. A Marginal success is all that is needed to succeed at any task in the game.

Expanding the ability check
The ability check is the core of this system and all other mechanics derive from it, this injection of fortune, that serves as resolution for both instant actions and entire scenes. Here we break down the ways the mechanics grow from the ability check.

Ability check range
Every ability check in this game can be described in terms of range. The term range refers to all the possible outcomes of an ability check. As the player rolls three Fudge dice, results from -3 to +3 plus a character's pertinent ability are always the range of a check. Note that a unskilled character (0) has a range with no result better than Great (3), and a character with a Grand Master (4) ability cannot fail. Related to this is the idea of an average outcome, the outcome most expected with any level of ability. Since zero is the most likely outcome on any roll of three Fudge dice, unskilled characters can be expected to fail the majority of the time. Characters do not succeed on average until the have a Competent ability (1).

Range seems like a simple concept, and it is. It's also very important, though: notice that a character with even no ability always has a chance of beating a Grand Master, albeit small. This is entirely on purpose: with this system, your character has a limit to how good she might do at a task, but it always might be good enough to beat the other guy.

Using abilities together
If you want your character to perform a complex action that uses two abilities together, decide with the Story Guide which ability is most appropriate to the action and which is secondary. The secondary ability is used first and the success levels are used as bonus dice on the second ability check. The Story Guide and player will have to decide what happens if the first ability check is failed: in some situations, the second ability check can still be attempted without harm; in others, the ability check can be attempted with a penalty die; and in others still, the second ability check cannot be attempted.


 * A character is trying to cut a thong from a guard's belt and snatch his keys, using Bladework to chop the thong, and Stealth to grab the keys without being seen. While she is using Bladework to actually get the keys free, the Stealth part of the action is most important. The player makes a Bladework ability check. If successful, the success levels are converted to bonus dice on the Stealth ability check. If unsuccessful, however, the keys are still on the guard's belt, so the Stealth ability check cannot be attempted.


 * Another character wants to approach a wild bear without getting attacked using Animal Ken. In order to help with this, she's going to attempt to remember what bears like to eat and see if she can find some, using Woodscraft. The Woodscraft ability check is secondary, and if successful, will add bonus dice to the Animal Ken ability check. If unsuccessful, there is no complication; the character just must approach the bear with no food gift.

Bringing Down the Pain
Simple ability checks are well and good, and make resolution a quick and painless matter. Sometimes, though, for that dramatic punch, you need something a bit more gritty and focused. In this game, that is an expanded resolution system called Bringing Down the Pain. Bringing Down the Pain is a unique option for players to allow them to not only get out of sticky situations, but focus the story where they want it.

Any player involved in a conflict can Bring Down the Pain after a resisted ability check. Normally, a player has to abide by the results of this check. However, when a character belonging to a player - a player that is not the Story Guide - loses at a resisted ability check, that player does not have to accept the outcome. Instead, she can ask that the Pain be Brought Down. On the flip side, a player can demand this even when she succeeds at a resisted ability check. This not only allows her to zoom in the imagined camera on this conflict, but is the only way to permanently injure or get rid of a major named character controlled by the Story Guide.

The Story Guide cannot Bring Down the Pain. She can request it, but another player involved in the conflict must actually declare it.

When a player declares they are Bringing Down the Pain, action breaks down into a blow-by-blow, gritty basis instead of overall conflict resolution. This can be called task resolution. Both sides of the conflict must make certain their intention - their goal - is clarified and well-stated, for it is very important here. This intention must be clear, but can allow room for differing actions to achieve the goal: "drive away these opponents in battle," "embarrass the noble in front of his peers," or "out-perform this guy on the guitar" are all fine intentions.

After intentions are stated, everyone who has a character involved in the conflict should state what their one action for this volley will be. Actions can be changed during this stage, where everything, even actions hidden to the characters, is discussed in the open. (In Ron Edwards' Trollbabe, this is called the free-and-clear stage and I'll use that term here.) Whose actions affect who is important to establish here. Actions can be visualized as perpendicular or parallel actions. What I mean this is:

Perpendicular actions get in the way of each other. If Violet's action is to stab Lore with a spear and Lore's action is to kick out Violet's legs from under her, these actions are perpendicular. They're fighting each other, and part of that is keeping advantage.

Parallel actions do not necessarily get in the way of each other. Let's say Violet is trying to convince Lore to join her ragtag group of misfits. Lore would rather her shut up and is cooking her dinner, hoping the smell of his righteous cooking distracts her. Both of these people can do this at the same time, and the winner will definitely have an effect on the loser, but as far as actions go, they don't get in the way of each other.

There is one other type of action, the defensive action. You can use a relevant innate ability (Endure, React, Resist) to resist what's happening to your character. You cannot deal harm this way, but otherwise it counts as a perpendicular action.

It is highly important to distinguish whether actions are perpendicular or parallel ahead of time and be very clear about it. The first time you use Bringing Down the Pain, it could be confusing. You see, with a normal ability check, you really can resist someone attacking your character by talking them out of it. That's because the entire conflict is at stake. In Bringing Down the Pain, the only things that can resist someone attacking your character are attacking them back or blocking their blow. That's because that roll's stakes are that one task.

If the two sides of a conflict cannot decide on actions - if one keeps changing theirs depending on the other - it is up to the Story Guide to resolve this. Hopefully, it can be resolved through player negotiation. If not, the side who wants a perpendicular action must take a defensive action.

After the free-and-clear stage, everyone rolls ability checks for their action. If this is the first action in Bringing Down the Pain, the winner at the roll that initiated Bringing Down the Pain gets bonus dice to her first action equal to the difference between her and her opponent's success levels. If two characters are taking action against each other (perpendicular actions), the check is a resisted ability check. The loser at this check takes harm equal to the difference between the success levels, possibly modified by Secrets. If the actions are parallel, both sides take harm equal to their attacker's success level. If one action is defensive, and that player wins, she gets bonus dice to her next action equal to the difference between the success levels.

When all rolls are resolved, another free-and-clear stage begins. This continues until one side of the conflict gives up, at which time the winners' intentions happen. The trick to Bringing Down the Pain lies in this rule: in any free-and-clear stage, a player can announce that she is changing his character's intention completely. This could change from "sneak up on my enemy" to "kill my enemy," "best the queen in a war of words" to "seduce the queen," or even "out-play this guy on the guitar" to "magically put this guy to sleep." She does not have to state the new intention until the next free-and-clear stage. During this volley of rolls, she may only make a defensive action.

There is one exception to the idea that it takes a round to change your intention. If you and an opponent find yourself at a stalemate - you have perpendicular actions and roll the same success level - you can both immediately change intentions.

Using more than one ability
Each use of an ability in Bringing Down the Pain is an action. To use one to get bonus dice for another, it cannot deal any harm or absorb any harm; it is a perpendicular action with no effect. This is exceedingly dangerous to try unless you have someone to cover your back.

This in no way supersedes using a defensive action to get bonus dice for your next action.

Surprise
Surprise is not part of the Bringing Down the Pain system. Instead, it takes place before-hand. If a character acts against another, and the latter has no clue what's going on, the player will not be able to make an ability check to resist. This still counts as a resisted ability check, and the player can announce that he'd like to Bring Down the Pain.

As stated before, the winner at the check that initiated Bringing Down the Pain gets bonus dice to her first action equal to the difference between her and her opponent's success levels. This is an indicator of her opening advantage.

Harm and defeat
"Harm" in this game does not necessarily refer to physical, blood-and-guts rending of flesh and bone. Instead, it is a quality of both the character in the context of the game world and the character in context of the real world. Harm is a count-down of when a player loses control over his character, and can be expressed as any of these things in-game:


 * Cuts and bruises
 * Fatigue and weariness
 * Embarrassment and crushed esteem
 * Loss of concentration and will

Whenever a successful ability check is made against a character while Bringing Down the Pain, that character takes harm. The base harm is equal to the success level of the acting player's roll, which can be modified by Secrets or weapons. Again, the type of action being done against the character does not matter - you can take harm from seduction as easily as you can from a sword.

Take that success level and check off the corresponding box on the harm tracker on your character sheet. If that checkbox is already filled, check the next highest unchecked one. Write down beside the checkbox either "Vigor," "Instinct," or "Reason," depending on the type of harm you took. This is usually determined by the associated pool from the ability used to harm you, but might be different if everyone involved agrees.

You'll see that one to three harm is bruised. This means on your very next ability check, you'll have a penalty die. These add up - if you get bruised twice in a round of Bringing Down the Pain, you'll have two penalty dice. Level four and five harm means your character is bloodied. All your abilities that are associated with the pool that you took the harm from now take a penalty die. If you are bloodied twice in the same pool, you still only take one penalty die. These do not stack. Level six harm means your character is broken. If broken, in order for your character to perform any action, even defense, you must spend a point from the ability's associated pool, and you still receive one penalty die to this action.

Harm past broken results in the attacker's intention immediately happening.

At any point during Bringing Down the Pain, a player may decide that the harm taken is enough for this conflict and give up. Before a free-and-clear stage, the player gives up the conflict, and his opponent's intention occurs. It is often a good idea to give up before your opponent changes to a more deadly intention.

After Bringing Down the Pain, harm shakes out. That means that all damage collapses into the low end of the harm tracker. As an example, if you had checks at 2, 3, and 6 on the harm tracker, they'd collapse to 1, 2, and 3 after Bringing Down the Pain. This applies even to harm from before Bringing Down the Pain, so feel free to get in a nasty scrape if you're hurt.

Healing works exactly opposite of harm: if someone rolls an ability check to get rid of your harm (First Aid and Counsel could do this, for example), it removes the harm you have corresponding to their success level, or the highest harm you have if their success level is higher. If all your harm is of a higher level than their success level, nothing is healed. The harm does not shake out afterwards and one character can only attempt to heal your character once in a scene.

There is another method to heal your character: self-healing. By spending a number of pool points equal to the level of a harm your character has taken, you can remove that harm from the character. The points must be spent from the pool associated with that particular harm. If the harm level is higher than your maximum pool, you can spend some points, refresh your pool, and then spend more later.

When to Bring Down the Pain
Every time something doesn't go your way, you might be tempted to Bring Down the Pain. It's not necessarily a good idea to do so. You really have to examine the conflict and your strategy for it.

If someone beat you in an ability check even though the odds were against them, then go for it. Over many rolls, their luck will run out. The same thing applies if they got in a good roll because of several bonus dice: they won't have those dice in Bringing Down the Pain.

If someone beat you by using an ability very different from yours, Bringing Down the Pain might be a good idea. If they keep that up in Bringing Down the Pain, it'll be a parallel action, and you'll both take damage. If you can deal it out faster than they can, Bringing Down the Pain's a good idea.

Taking on someone in Bringing Down the Pain that's just plain better than you in the ability you plan to use is a bad idea. A Master in Sway will crush a Adept in Sway in an argument drawn out into Bringing Down the Pain.

If it appears that you have the advantage in Bringing Down the Pain, go for perpendicular actions. You'll hurt your opponent and stay unharmed yourself. Likewise, if it's unclear, parallel actions guarantee that your opponent will suffer and perhaps give.

And while we're on this topic, if you get into Bringing Down the Pain and it's obvious you'll lose over the long run, quit. Give up. Some players want to keep going until their character's taken all the harm they can, but you set yourself up to be quite weakened in the next scene, where you'll want your character to get her revenge or make her great escape. Don't fall into this trap.

Multiple characters in a conflict
For simple ability checks, having multiple characters involved is easy to handle. If the characters are using varying abilities, each building to help another one, it's handled like one character using abilities together. Decide the order the checks have to be performed in, and have each player roll, with success levels being added as bonus dice to the next player's roll. As with one character, failure at an ability check may mean that the overall action cannot continue, that the next player must roll a penalty die on her ability check, or that the checks may continue, with no penalty dice.

If multiple characters are using the same, or fairly equivalent, abilities to perform a task together, use the method above, with the following caveats:


 * Failure always means the next player adds a penalty die to her roll.
 * Always roll from the character with the highest ability to the character with the least ability.
 * If a penalty die is given from the Story Guide because of difficulty, it applies to all rolls.

This does mean that having a character helping who is weak with the ability may hinder the task.


 * Mike, Wil, and Susan are going to have their characters Miska, Wolf-Snarl, and Skala try to open a stuck door together. All of them are using Athletics to do this, pushing against the door with their shoulders. Their scores are Wolf-Snarl, Adept; Skala, Competent; Miska, Unskilled.


 * Wil rolls success level 2. With two bonus dice, Susan rolls success level 3. Finally, with three bonus dice, Mike rolls a 0, with a 0 for Miska's lack of Athletics, for success level 0 - a Failure.


 * Wil has Wolf-Snarl growl, "Out of my way, weakling," and grab the door alone. Even with a roll of -1, Wolf-Snarl scores success level 1 and yanks the door open.

If Bringing Down the Pain is the ultimate way to test two differing wills, how to you manage it when more people want to get in on the fun? The standard way is easy: whenever one player declares that she wants to Bring Down the Pain, any character around can get involved. Part of the declaration of intention is who you're planning to affect: your character can only harm that character until you change intention. The Bringing Down of the Pain does not end until only one character is left standing, or all the other players have given up.

The gestalt method of group Pain-Bringing may be an easier and more fun way to arbitrate these situations. If everyone on one side of a conflict has a similar intention towards the other side, you can use the above rules for a group ability check when everyone is using similar abilities. In the gestalt mode, anyone can spend from their pools to help anyone else,. Harm taken is distributed by the winning side to one or more of the losers. (A singular harm can be split up; for example, level 4 harm could be level 2 to one loser and level 1 to two other losers.) Whenever a character is broken, her player falls out of the group Pain-Bringing.

Weapons and armor
Ah, weapons and armor - the love of any player, and an oft-fetishized part of any role-playing game. In this game, harm is, as shown above, an erosion of a character's ability to get her way, instead of always being physical pain and suffering. Therefore, weapons aren't just swords, knifes, clubs, and the like, and armor isn't just padding a character wears on her body. Anything can be a weapon - but only in certain situations.

When using a weapon, if your character is successful in an action, you can add the weapon's rating to your success level. If you are unsuccessful, the weapon does nothing. Your success level cannot go above Ultimate (6) because of a weapon. Armor subtracts from the success level of actions taken against you. Armor cannot lower a success level past Marginal (1). In both cases, the items can have +1, +2, or +3 ratings. The level of the rating is determined by the specificity of the harm or protection.

Weapons and armor with a +1 rating work in specific situations determined by action taken, and often ability used. Examples include:


 * A sword that gives +1 harm in combat.
 * A royal crest that provides +1 to your success level when involved in diplomacy.
 * A lute that deals +1 in attempts to win a crowd while playing it.

Weapons and armor with a +2 rating work in situations with a specific type of people, environment, or other restrictions. Examples include:


 * A mace that gives +2 harm against "hard" armors, like plate or chain.
 * The Seal of Maldor, which provides +2 protection against the law in Maldor.
 * A set of snowshoes, which increase your success level by +2 in attempts to race across snowy areas.

Weapons and armor with a +3 rating work in rare situations or against particular persons. Examples include:


 * A writ of birthday immunity, which gives +3 protection against any attempt to prosecute its owner for crimes committed on their birthday.
 * A set of goggles which provide +3 while trying to see motion during an eclipse.
 * A dagger forged to kill the Potenate of Ammeni, which deals +3 harm in attempts to kill her.

An item can have more than one rating - it can have up to three +1, two +2, and one +3 ratings, but only one can be used in any roll.

Weapons and armor can occur in the game in two ways. The Story Guide can declare any item in the game to give +1 harm or protection in a particular situation. For example, someone using a sword to fight an unarmed person could be given +1 harm to all her attacks, or someone with a sack of gold could be given +1 harm to influence someone else. Alternatively, any player can declare her character's equipment to have a bonus with the Secret of Imbuement. This purchase is subject to Story Guide approval.