The Old World - Grim and Perilous Beta v3

planning. However, if you decide to advance
the party tension meter anyway, explain
your decision to the players and move
it by at least two segments. If you think it's
too much for a given situation, you probably
shouldn't move the indicator at all.
• Acting against the team's reputation. As we
explained earlier, a party builds its reputation
in a specific way that depends on its archetype.
After all, society expects mercenaries
to be brave and gangsters to be ruthless,
so when a group acts in a manner inconsistent
with its reputation, it can lose renown,
but usually the first result will be an increase
in tensions within the team. The rule of
thumb is: if a team behaves in a manner inconsistent
with their reputation, move the
party tension meter by at least 3 segments
(more depending on how much their actions
damage their reputation). Any subsequent
misconduct should also move the meter by
at least 3 segments, as well as result in the
loss of a Renown point (as long as anyone
outside the party has learned of their deeds).
Turning a Party Tension
Meter back
Similarly to all threat indicators, a party tension
mater can be turned back, however, it
should be quite rare. For example, you may
allow spending t to turn the meter back (but
only once per encounter/scene!). Also, achieving
important goals and outstanding successes
may reduce some tension between the party
members. If the party was really invested in reducing
tension to zero, you could allow it under
the condition that they come up with a good
plan how to do so and are ready to bear the appropriate
costs. One interesting idea might be
to organize a tavern crawl that would eat up a
significant chunk of the party's money. Or, for
more devout parties, an all-night penance and
a generous offering to the temple. The possibilities
are endless, but it's important that their
cost is steep enough to discourage the party
from taking advantage of it too often, while
at the same time not taking too much time or
pulling the party away from its real goals.
Managing Renown
New rules and special abilities can give players
a strong incentive to make decisions that
only increase their Renown. So what can you
do to prevent this? The simplest answer is:
Don't do anything! If this is exactly what players
want their characters to be occupied with
and you are having fun presenting them with
new challenges, there's nothing wrong with
that. However, we understand that sometimes
you may want players to participate in a more
structured story, and chasing Renown may
distract them unnecessarily.
In this situation, we first suggest constructing
a story that fits the archetype chosen by
the players. For example, if the players have
decided that their PCs will form a smuggling
gang and bring in illegal goods from the Border
Princess, pose problems for them with law
enforcement, hostile competition, or untrustworthy
clients. This will cause their Renown
to grow naturally with the development of the
plot and even drive it further.
Also, don't hesitate to talk to the players if the
chosen archetype of the team does not fit your
plans. Then help them choose a different archetype
that fits the story better.
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