Nerth:

in Down Shift

Using the DownShift Systembook

    Introduction to the Passages.   The biggest challenge in RPGs today is this specific point. Publishers think they want all GMs to run roleplaying games as "Rules as Written", and therefore maintain intellectual property control of content (meaning allowing only their own playtest people to create the rules for EVERYTHING). Generally, players want to BE the playtest people, to see what their ideas will do against a constant, stable background, with their creativity primary in the decision-making process to drive the story (Sandbox). Novice gamemasters want to tool around the rules for their own playtest, with their ideas of how the adventures develop (Railroads). Nycos Adventures are the fourth option, None of the Above.  

A Shift In Paradigm

The Passages process is a conversation between the Director and the players as a collective. During the conversation, the adventure unfolds. The Director provides information about the Setting (where the adventures are happening, what resources the players have access to, the persons with whom they can communicate, etc.). The players, armed with that information and the Persona (the characters they are playing) armed with their particular Skills, navigate that Setting and create opportunities for whatever Scenes may arise. The Director then establishes the parameters for the Scene, outlining the conditions that may impact the Skills the players wish to use, and determining how many stages the Scene might consist of. (Whether the players know the number of Stages or not is up to the Director. That piece could go either way)   As the first Stage begins, the conversation shifts to a dialogue, as the players state Actions, the Director responds with Skill Checks (Contested and Uncontested, as the case may be) and/or Combat Sequences. After each Stage completes, the Director makes any Conditional changes in the narrative, the players offer their ideas about the Scene, and they continue.   All die rolls are accomplished with percentile dice, and success for Skills Checks are low numbers, for Combat are high numbers.   That's the "Game Mechanics" in a nutshell. Now let's discuss Passages itself.    

People Are Fascinating.

We read books, watch dramas, and even simply "People-watch". Playing a game that lets us be another person, to play a role, is a charming, alluring means to that same end. In role-playing games, characters interact with the elements of the Story that the Director sets forth, making decisions, taking actions, and facing the consequences and the rewards of the process as if they were those people. This is easier to understand in Passages than perhaps in any other system. Steps will draw you further into the story over time, at your own pace. Maybe you'll choose a Persona to play that enchants you, or allows you to enter the fantasy realm in new and different ways. Perhaps you will ascend mountains, or live on a broad plateau and enjoy watching the majesty of herds of wildlife roam. Or, in a different case, you'll wander or race down one Passage or another. It's all up to you. Coming to grips with taking on roles in a game isn't particularly difficult. We've all been "the banker", dealing with the media of exchange in games, or "the caller", reading the cards that impact gameplay, etc. Those with a history in RPGs are even more familiar with the idea that the character one plays in the game means certain duties, tasks, and the like. Each falling according to the details of their character. NycosRPG's Passages, however, has a slightly more sophisticated approach.    

The "A" Train: BASE, PLACE, ESTATE, WAYS & STAKES

  One moves down a passage by taking steps, moving forward, exploring the twists, turns, and alternatives the passage provides. It often is best to have at least some form of outline or direction, so you can know you are on the right path, going the right direction. The "A-Train" list above is the essence of the process. Each step down the Passages will add basic or selected skills to your arsenal, defining little by little the Persona you are playing.   Over the next few pages, you will be able to see how they relate to one another and how they are all drawn together by these linking pieces, the skills that the Persona develops not only at creation but also in progression along the Passages.   Before we actually get into the building process from the list above, consider first what kind of person you imagine this other self to be. Flashy dancer, good with a wrench or a laptop, or slow and methodical student of the arts of technology or medicine? White-collar arcologist or Waste-bound Roadent? Dandy or scalawag, tradesman, tinker, soldier, or spy? There are no set classes that bind your decision, and perhaps you will take a few steps in a half dozen along the way. Only you can determine the direction of the Passages for you.   So, before we go too far into the weeds of the stories that are possible, let's look into the process of creating your Persona, shall we?   It's all about that BASE.   Individuals share many qualities, but each is very unique. They don't have a quantitative metric by which one can measure improvement, but players inevitably attempt to do so. The Pillars of Persona, as they are collectively known, are categorical in nature. Grace, Cognizance, Brilliance, Presence, Resolve, and Resilience all differentiate one Persona from another in Passages. They form a kind of descriptive framework for the character. They are not meant to be definitive nor limiting, but rather a kind of life lattice, the interweaving of the physical with the technological.   We all live to find ways to advance ourselves, to move along the pathways of life, and become more. More wealthy, more talented, more skilled. So it is with Passages. Advancement comes through experience and actually doing things is exactly how you get better at them. The skills your Persona may endeavor to learn aren't limited by a pre-written skills list - though some are offered as examples, of course. They aren't assigned on the basis of arbitrary "level advances", nor are they randomly chosen at whim by players as a means to "maximize" or "optimize a build". Instead, the director and players engage in the Director's story, and along the way, skills arise, players discover new pathways or direction or even blaze their own, and the Persona moves along the Passages, improving holistically along the way.   Then, consider also where in the culture, in the very world of post-apocalyptic futures, do you see your home? The wildernesses of the interior of a great nation, or in the shadows of a great city. Among most societies of Nycos, for example, there are populations, sects, cultures, and more. Perhaps you hail from a conservative or religious heartland, or from a frosty frontier coastline. One's knowledge and customs are associated closely with their homeland.   And what about peerage? Perhaps your Persona is of means, or of the streets. Stories can hinge on a scrap of bread, or on a high-level tech heist. Should your Persona have wealth, how generous or selfish will he be? And if he must suffer want, how would he seek his fortune? Money does not make the man, nor must a hunt'n'peck typist become a tyrant.   Ultimately, before the Persona joins the scene, what belongings, resources, properties, and livestock is he or she responsible for? How well fitted, or how lacking in assets are they?   So, the whole subject could be stated like this:   "Once the BASE has been established, the player chooses where they come from (Place), social strata (Estate), vocations (Ways) and property they will begin with (Stakes)"