Step 5: The Bidding War

As I fell, I realized that I was smiling. Others were falling, too. Dozens. Hundreds. Armies. They were not smiling. They thought they had lost.
Well, we had lost. We would never rule Heaven. But we had gained an opportunity. We would rebuild our own realm, one where we would decide the rules. Not Him. Not men.
We would rule. And I would be First among us.

Let the Deck of Ideas lie a little. It will return shortly.
Now is the time to start the Bidding War. During this bidding war, led by the GM, the players will attempt to outbid each other for Ranks (or equivalently Levels) in each of the four main Attributes: Backstage, Stage, Presence, Whispers. During this entire step, the GM's goal is to get Players interested in winning each of the four auctions, as the mock-rivalries between Players translate into actual rivalries between their characters and will have consequences on the design of the setting.
By the way: as you may already have gathered, the type of godlike entities to which the Player Characters belong is called Comedians.

A first introduction to Attributes

This game has five Attributes:

• Backstage covers the domain of Comedians, and anything that deals with that domain, including your influence among Comedians, shortcuts through reality, any title or otherworldly domain that you may have;
• Stage covers the domain of mortals, and anything mundane, including your wealth, your intelligence, your strength, ...;
• Presence covers whatever makes a Comedian supernatural, including their immortality and their powers;
• Whispers covers whatever abilities or allies your Comedian has acquired by dabbling with forbidden powers and enemies;
• Favour/Disfavour is a special attribute that mainly covers your Fate and Luck, or lack thereof. There is no bidding on this attribute and Ranks will be attributed at a later stage.

Furthermore:

• Comedians with a higher Rank are considerably more powerful than lower-ranked Comedians – do not forget that this is a game where the Player's Characters are often rivals, possibly even enemies, even if the players are friends; if a Player is losing the Bidding War to another Player, this translates to the fact that their Comedian is on the losing end of a rivalry with the other Comedian;
• Players with a higher Rank have the opportunity to decide just how much more powerful their Comedian is;
• Players with a higher Rank have the opportunity to model the setting to match their Comedian.

The Rules

Each Player starts with 100 points for character creation. They may, however, get into debt by spending more than these 100 points. Doing so will turn a Comedian's Favour into Disfavour, which will have consequences on their characters both during creation and during ulterior sessions.
Players bid to achieve a higher Rank. Each bidding round follows this sequence:

1. GM introduces the Attribute on which the Players will bid. The GM's job is now to get Players interested in everything that a higher Rank will allow them to do in the game.
2. Each player makes a secret opening bid for this Attribute. An opening bid of 0 is disappointing but acceptable, if a Player wishes to keep points for a later Attribute or, as we'll see later, a Prop.
3. GM reveals secret opening bids and initial Ranking. Player with highest bid has Rank 1, player with second highest bid has Rank 2, etc. Players with no bid are Unranked.
4. GM encourages Players to increase their bids. More bidding in an Attribute will translate to this Attribute being more used during both setting creation and later sessions. In other words, GM, please whip them into a bidding frenzy!
5. Once players have stopped bidding, officialize final Ranks and establish a Level for each player. Levels are exactly the opposite of Ranks. The character with the lowest bid has a Level 1. The one immediately above has a Level of 2, etc. If two characters are Unranked, they share a Level of 1 and the one above them has a Level of 3, etc.

Points used for bidding are not recovered.

Bid for Backstage

The Backstage is the hidden part of the setting that belongs only to the Comedians and their servants, PCs and NPCs alike. It may be Mount Olympus as well as a hidden Administrators-only segment of the Cyberspace, the highest floors of the Dominion Skyscraper or the Court of Miracles in the bowels of 17th century Paris.
PCs with higher Rank in Backstage are more powerful in every situation that involves the Backstage, whether it's about knowing the history and of the dark secrets of the Backstage, having authority or influence over other denizens in the Backstage, entering or leaving the Backstage covertly or in emergency, taking advantage of its powers visible or hidden... Having a higher Rank in Backstage gives you the opportunity to decide exactly how much powerful this makes you. Who sits above you and who owes you fealty? How much influence have you had over the last thousand years?
Players with higher Rank in Backstage get to design the very nature of the reality beyond the mundane veil. To shape the secret realms, decide whether they hide circles of hells or entire universes, to decide who else lives in the Backstage and how to enter it, to determine how old it is and how Comedians live there.
Without Backstage, you are nothing and noone to Comedians. This makes Backstage the most important of Attributes.

Bid for Stage

The Stage is the visible part of the setting. The mundane world, exposed to all. It may be based on today's Earth, or on any time past or future, or any piece of fiction. It may be a city perpetually at night, floating in the void, full of bystanders who believe that they live on Earth. It may be a fantasy take on Ancient China, full of Wu Xia and Jiang Shi, a world conquered by an Artificial Intelligence that attempts to reeducate humans into living through the precepts of Buddha, just as well as tribes of post-industrial nomads wandering through the endless storm caused by Global Warming.
PCs with higher Rank in Stage are more powerful in every situation that involves the Stage. As the Stage covers the laws of physics and intellect in most of the universe – everything outside of Backstage – that makes your Comedian smarter, faster, more agile, better educated, more robust, more street-wise, wealthier, more influential among mortals. Having a higher Rank in Stage gives you the opportunity to decide exactly how much powerful this makes you: are you an emperor, a billionnaire, the mastermind behind all crime, a poker player betting entire solar systems, or perhaps the ultimate architect?
Players with higher Rank in Stage get to design the entire world. To pick the stakes, the threats, the movers and shakers, and how much they owe your Comedian.
Without Stage, you are nothing and noone to the result of the world. This makes Stage the most important of all Attributes

Bid for Presence

If the Comedians are godlike, the Presence is what inherently makes them so. The Presence is what grants the Comedians their immortality and their godlike powers. What does it look like? You will have to define it. It may include visible or invisible effects, from summoning nightmares to traveling into stories and paintings, from collecting souls to controlling elements, from influencing probabilities to reading past, present and future. It may have a cost, to you or to others.
PCs with higher Rank in Presence simply are more godlike. They are more resilient to anything that could damage Comedians. With their supernatural abilities, they can do more, better, longer, more discreetly. Simply put, they wield a higher power.
Having a high Rank in Presence gives the player the ability to decide what a Comedian is, how much they can do with their powers, at what cost and how Comedians can be beaten. Presence transcends Stage and Backstage. Having a high Rank in Presence also lets you design character progression.
Without Presence, are you even a Comedian? This makes Presence the most important of all Attributes.

Bid for Whispers

The Comedians are godlike and are usually each other's worst enemy, but even petty gods have titans, or devils, or giants, or dark symmetries. They are the Whispers. They want Comedians dead, or trapped, or consumed, or tempted. Very little is known about them. Surely, no Comedian would deal with such dangerous partners, would they?
PCs with higher Rank in Whispers have studied power that lurks in the shadows. They can protect against it. They may have deals with the Whispers. They may be playing both sides. They may even have access to *some* of the power used by the Whispers, whether supernatural or political.
Having a high Rank in Whispers gives the player the ability to design what little is known on the Whispers, their powers, their weaknesses, and how to wield them against other Comedians. A high Rank in Whispers makes you the best line of defense against the Whispers, or perhaps their best agent.
Would you let anyone else wield that power? Whispers is the most important of all Attributes.

About Favour/Disfavour

There is no bidding on Favour/Disfavour. Ranks/Levels in this Attribute will be determined later during character creation.

Examples

Alice's group

Let's see what the Bidding War looks like for Alice's players:

Backstage

• GM: Let's look at the inital bids! We have 5 for Bob, 10 for Carla, 5 for Erik and... I don't see any bid for Frieda, is that normal?
• Frieda: Yes, I haven't bid on Backstage.
• GM: Are you sure? You are losing the opportunity to have *any* control on the kingdom of Comedians, however it looks like!
• Frieda: Yes, I'm sure.
• GM: I can see that someone has already started plotting against the others. Frieda has a plan!
• GM: So, our initial Ranks look like
  • Rank 1 for Carla, the uncontested master of Backstage!
  • Rank 2 tied for Bob and Erik, far behind Carla.
  • Unranked for Frieda, who might not even be welcome Backstage.
• GM: Robbing Rank 1 from Carla would only take...
• Bob: 10!
• GM: You can't bid the same value as Carla, I'm afraid. But make it 11 and you're first!
• Bob: 11, then!
• Carla: 15!
• Erik: 18!
• GM: So we now have...
• Bob: 25!
• Carla: 26!
• Erik: I give up!
• GM: You're not recovering your points by giving up. In fact, giving up doesn't exist. So, what about bidding 10 more points to be first?
• Erik: No, I give up. Just keep my 18 points, I'll use the rest somewhere else.
• GM: As you wish. So, for the time being, we have
  • Rank 1 for Carla, still master of Backstage!
  • Rank 2 for Bob, only one point behind, and still so much less powerful than Carla.
  • Rank 3 for Erik, one of the least powerful Comedians Backstage.
  • Unranked for Frieda, who might not even be welcome Backstage. All wonders what she might be plotting wherever she resides!
• Bob: Oh, damn it, 27!
• Carla: 28!
• Bob: 35!
• GM: My oh my, what a change of ranking. Bob is now the master. Carla, will you let him walk away with such an affront?
• Carla: ... Yes, I think that I will.
• GM: So, the current Highest Rank is Bob, with 35 points. Going once... going twice... gone! All hail Overlord Bob, Highest Ranker in Backstage!
• Carla: I'll get you!
• Bob: Not Backstage, you won't.

For the sake of brevity, let's skip the banter from the rest of the Bidding War.

Stage

• Initial bids:
  • Carla: 0
  • Erik: 5
  • Frieda: 8
  • Bob: 9
• Carla: 10
• Bob: 15
• Frieda: 18
• Bidding ends.

Presence

• Initial bids:
  • Carla: 15 points
  • Erik: 15 points
  • Frieda: 15 points
  • Bob: 10 points
• Carla: 20
• Erik: 25
• Carla: 30
• Erik: 40
• Carla: 41
• Erik: 45
• Carla: 50
• Bidding ends.

Whispers

• Initial bids:
  • Frieda: 5
  • Carla: 10
  • Erik: 10
  • Bob: 9
• Frieda: 11
• Carla: 12
• Frieda: 13
• Carla: 15
• Frieda: 17
• Bidding ends.

Mario's group

Backstage

• Initial bids:
  • Naomi: 0
  • Oscar: 12
  • Pria: 10
  • Qimmiq: 19
• Pria: 26
• Oscar: 32
• Qimmiq: 39
• Pria: 42
• Bidding ends.

Stage

• Initial bids:
  • Naomi: 6
  • Oscar: 0
  • Pria: 11
  • Qimmiq: 7
• Oscar: 12
• Naomi: 14
• Pria: 19
• Qimmiq: 23
• Naomi: 26
• Qimmiq: 28
• Naomi: 30
• Bidding ends.

Presence

• Initial bids:
  • Naomi: 0
  • Oscar: 14
  • Pria: 20
  • Qimmiq: 14
• Qimmiq: 24
• Oscar: 26
• Qimmiq: 29
• Pria: 32
• Bidding ends.

Whispers

• Initial bids:
  • Naomi: 10
  • Oscar: 15
  • Pria: 1
  • Qimmiq: 5
• Naomi: 20
• Oscar: 25
• Naomi: 30
• Oscar: 35
• Naomi: 45
• Bidding ends.

Variant: Cooperative teams

As we'll detail in the next step, bidding wars are designed to generate competing characters. Some groups, however, will prefer cooperative character creation.
In this case, each Player starts with:

• one Attribute at Level 4
• one Attribute at Level 3
• one Attribute at Level 2
• one Attribute at Level 1
• 10 character creation points, to use for Props and Favour

The rest of character creation proceeds unchanged.