Trackers

The V23 rules often instruct players or GMs to start a tracker. A tracker is simply a mechanism that abstractly represents some state within the game. For example, there are trackers on your character sheet for marking your current Health and Nerve levels, and whatever method you use to keep up Health, Nerve, Luck, and other dynamic game stats is technically a form of tracker. Trackers can take many different forms and the best method for representing a particular tracker depends on how it's used in the game. A few common examples include:

• Numbers or tick marks on paper: This works best for things that only one player needs to track, like a PC or monster's current Hit Points.
• Pre-Generated graphics or forms: Examples include the Health and Nerve trackers mentioned previously. These kinds of trackers work best when there is specific game information tied to different values or ranges on the tracker or when the tracker's meaning or game effect is based on value ranges that aren't uniform across the entire tracker. In both cases, the details can be included in the graphic.
• Game Components: Countdown dice, track & marker mechanisms, and similar components from other games work well when you need a tracker to be easily visible to everyone at the table. A card or board that allows you to use markers along a numbered path or grid is especially useful if you need to track where multiple characters or groups are on the tracker (a race or foot chase, for example). Simply choose a unique marker for each character or group and move them to the appropriate spaces as values change.
• Counters or tokens: If you have a tracker that will change frequently during the scene--especially if it's one that all the players should be able to see--place a note card or piece of paper in the middle of the table. As the value of the tracker increases, place counter stones, poker chips, or some other token on it. If the tracker's value decreases, remove the appropriate number of tokens.
• Dice: If the tracker value has a 1 to 1 relationship with some dice value (for example, the number of challenge dice added to some action related to the thing being tracked), use the counter/token method with dice as the counter.

A single increment of a tracker is generically referred to as a "tick," though we may occasionally use terms like "point," "counter," or "box" when referring to specific rules that lend themselves to a particular tracking mechanism.

Changing Trackers

You can add or remove ticks from most trackers by spending either successes from die rolls that allow you to affect whatever the tracker represents (for trackers active during the game) or Downtime (for trackers representing your off-screen activities). It's best when each success or point of Downtime moves the tracker by 1 increment, but that isn't always possible. Some trackers move (or can be moved) based on other factors, some examples of which are listed below. Downtime trackers especially can often be moved in multiple ways.

Sample Tracker Movers

• Luck: For most trackers, spending a point of Luck is equivalent to spending success. Luck can't be used to advance downtime trackers.
• Money:Cold hard cash can often be substituted for time and effort, especially for downtime projects and trackers that involve currying favor or establishing a good reputation with people who can be bought.
• Time:Downtime points represent time spent during downtime, but in some cases trackers change as time passes during an adventure. For example, a monster's venomous attack may start a tracker that ticks off every hour the wound goes untreated with increasingly detrimental effects as the tracker fills up. In some cases, the time interval may be paired with a die roll. In this example, the character makes a health check every hour, with failure indicating that the effects of the poison intensify.
• Specific Game Events or Character Actions: Some trackers change when a specific thing happens. For example, an Elder God's "Slumbering" tracker may decrease by one tick for each cult ritual the PCs fail to interrupt. When it reaches zero, the cosmic horror awakens. In some cases, the event may trigger a roll that determines whether the tracker moves. For example, a wizard who's trying to decipher an ancient spell scroll might get to make a roll for every hour they spend studying the scroll, with success moving the "comprehension" tracker forward.
• Dice Effects: Some trackers may move when a particular die combination is rolled. For example, a character's Amulet of Luck regains a charge each time anyone in the same scene as the owner rolls a Lucky Break.
• Random Die Rolls:Random rolls are often used for trackers that represent background events. For instance, if a scene or adventure takes place during a severe weather event, the GM may make a random roll each scene (or turn, or hour, or whatever) to determine movement along a tracker that determines whether the storm intensifies or hits a lull.

Creating a Tracker

While some game rules have pre-existing trackers built into them, most trackers are the result of an ad-hoc ruling by the GM to allow some narrative factor to be quantified for purposes of pacing and game mechanics. Therefore, most trackers are unique to the situation being tracked, but there are still some general guidelines that can help you make sure that the tracker works the way you need it to. When you decide that a tracker is the right way to handle a game situation, you should decide the following:

Tracker Set-Up

The first step is building the tracker itself. You'll need to decide the following:

• How many ticks are on the tracker? Is there an upper limit? A lower limit?
• What's the starting value for the tracker? While most trackers start at zero and count up, that's not always the case. Some trackers may have already been active off-screen before they became relevant to the game, while other may have starting values based on the situation when they begin. For example, each participant's starting spot on a chase scene tracker is based on where they were when the chase began.
• Does the tracker move up, down, or in either direction depending on the situation?
• What happens when the tracker reaches its maximum value?
• What happens, if anything, when the tracker reaches zero
• Does the current value of the tracker (or the range within which the current value falls) have unique game effects or a specific story meaning?

Tracker Movement

Once you've designed the tracker, you'll need to decide what causes it to move, in what direction, and by how much. For example, if players move the tracker through successful rolls, you'll need to decide what kinds of action rolls can increase the tracker and (if possible) what sorts of rolls move it backwards. You'll also need to decide whether the tracker moves by one tick per successful roll or if ticks are bought with successes. If the latter, you'll need to decide the success to tick ratio. If the tracker moves then the character spends money, you'll need to determine how much each tick costs.

Limitations and Special Cases

Finally, you'll need to establish any rules that limit tracker movement or cause the tracker to change in special ways. Examples include limits on how often the tracker can be moved, how many ticks it can be moved at once, and whether there are any situations that can cause the tracker to end without resolution, automatically succeed or fail, or otherwise deviate from the standard rules. If there are multiple markers on the tracker, you might also need rules for what happens when they land on the same space, are adjacent, or pass one another.

Common Types of Trackers

This section provides some guidelines for tracker types that are frequently useful during adventures, but this is by no means a comprehensive list and the rules here should be tailored to the needs of the current game situation.

Stat Tracker

A stat tracker keeps up with the current value of some game mechanic, like Hit Points. Common methods of tracking stats include tick marks, crossing out or erasing the old value and writing down the new one, and using counter tokens, candy, or game components like life counters or countdown dice.
Example: Mana Points that the character spends to power spells and can restore (usually up to some maximum based on other game stats) through rest or by performing certain magical acts.

Condition Tracker

The Health and Nerve trackers are two examples of condition trackers, which track the current state of something. Condition trackers usually come with special rules based on the current value of the tracker. While condition trackers are most often used to keep up with character conditions like poisoning, diseases, or injuries, they can also be used to track changes in environmental, political, or other more abstract conditions.

Example 1: A drunkenness tracker with the following value ranges: 0-2: Sober; 3-5: Tipsy; 6-8: Drunk; 9-11: Sloppy; 12+: Blackout. Each range has different effects (penalties to physical tasks, bonuses to courage, etc., rules for projectile vomiting and passing out checks, etc.). If a character waits 30 minutes between drinks, the tracker doesn't move. If the character drinks faster, each drink increases their drunkenness by 1. The value drops by 1 for each hour that the character goes without a drink. Sobering mechanisms like cold showers, black coffee, and near-death experiences allow the character to make a health check to try to sober up. The success cost to reduce the tracker by 1 tick is equal to the tracker's current value.
Example 2: When a character knocks over a lantern during a combat scene, it starts a fire that will grow until someone puts it out. The GM decides that the fire starts with a value of 1 and increases by 1d6 each round. When the tracker reaches a multiple of 6 (6, 12, 18, etc.), a fire die comes into play. Fire dice are rolled whenever a character takes any action that involves movement in or near the part of the scene that's on fire (which grows with each fire die). On a roll of 5 or 6, the character must either spend a success to avoid the flames or take damage from them. Characters who take fire-fighting actions can reduce the fire counter by 1 per success. When the tracker reaches the number immediately below a multiple of 6, a fire die is eliminated.

Clock

Clocks track time, and are typically used to keep up with whether or not things like spells or temporary conditions are still in effect. The longer the timeframe, the more subject to GM fiat the clock becomes. For example, the "current time in the game world" clock that's always running in the background is nearly always a judgement call by the GM based on how much has happened since the current time was last established.
Example: A character drinks a Potion of Troll Strength that last 5 hours, so the GM draws 5 boxes on a piece of paper and writes "Troll Potion" above them. Each time an hour passes in the game, the GM marks off a box. When all boxes are checked, the potion's effects end.

Countdown Timer

A countdown timer can simply be a clock that counts down to zero instead of up to some value. For example, if the GM in the previous example decided to give the player who drank the potion 5 poker chips and take one back each hour instead of drawing boxes and marking them off, they'd technically be using a countdown instead of a clock. In this kind of situation, the difference between a clock and a countdown timer is negligible.
More often, a countdown timer represents a clock that the heroes are trying to beat, which means you need a way to decide how fast the characters can do things. For this kind of timer, the clock has a whole number that represents whatever unit the clock is counting down in, but it also has a decimal portion, with each decimal point representing the next lower unit of game time. Whenever the players do something, the GM decreases the digit corresponding with the timeframe of the action. Unless the action has an unyielding duration, the player can roll (even if a roll is not usually required) to do it faster. Success from the roll can be spent to add one to the decimal place to the right of the one that matches the timeframe of the action they took. With enough successes, they can stall or even turn back the timer. In some cases (especially when the party splits up), it may be helpful to give each character or group their own individual countdown clock rather than trying to synchronize everything to a single clock.
It may be helpful to read the Time section before the example below.
Example: The inaugural episode of Kevin Smith's new docuseries profiling costumed crime fighters features The Ultra Squad, and the team has gathered in multimedia room of their secret headquarters to enjoy the show. Unfortunately their watch party is cut short during the first commercial break when Dr. Malevolent appears on screen to inform viewers that he's planted a bomb somewhere in the Ultra City International Airport that's set to go off at 10:15 tonight. The show airs at 8pm EST, which means it's around 7:15 in Ultra City when Malevolent announces his intention to blow up the airport. The GM starts a countdown timer at 3 that will drop by 1 for every hour that passes. If it reaches zero before the heroes deactivate the bomb, Dr. Malevolent gets the big boom he's hoping for. The counter goes out to 3 decimal places: the tenths digit represents turns, the hundredths digit represents rounds, and the thousandths digit represents segments. The timeline of events is as follows:

• The GM decides that it will take the Ultra Squad a turn to suit up and leave Ultra HQ. Each player can roll to get moving a little faster, but only the slowest player's roll will affect the clock since they can't leave until everyone's ready. Crime Buster has the worst roll with only 1 success. Since the timeframe of the action was a turn, the success increases the rounds decimal place on the clock, bringing the timer up to 2.91 (-.1 for the turn action, +.01 for Crime Buster's Success).
• It's a 30 minute (5 turn) trip from headquarters to the airport, so the driver of the Ultra Van (once again Crime Buster) can make 5 driving rolls to get there faster. The GM also decides that each member of the team who can fly can make 1 roll (treated as a turn action) to help out by helping to navigate from the air. The base drive time takes the timer down to 1.41, but the players get a total of 13 success, bringing it back up to 2.54. They arrive at the airport at around 7:45.
• Before they can start looking for the bomb, the team will have to spend a few minutes mobilizing the airport staff, filling them in on the plan, making sure they've got access to secure parts of the building, etc. This is another turn action, and since the team already came up with a division of labor for this part of the mission on the drive over the GM rules that every player can make a Savoir-Faire check to speed through the getting to know you stuff. The timer drops to 2.44, but the players bring it back up to 2.51 with successes: The airport staff is ready for them and already has everything in place and under control.
• The GM informs the PCs that there is now a "Find the Bomb" progress tracker going in addition to the timer. When the PCs take actions that will aid in locating the bomb, they can uses successes to advance this tracker. The GM does not tell them how many ticks are on the tracker. It's up to the players whether to spend their successes to get closer to the bomb or to hold back the clock.
• The GM is kind of lying. While there is a "Find the Bomb" tracker, it has to reach 150 for the players to find the bomb. If the PCs just blindly roll to search the airport, they'll have to roll really well to find the bomb through sheer accumulation of successes. In reality, whenever the players collectively put 5 success toward finding the bomb in a single turn (the default timeframe for most investigation actions), they'll find a clue or trigger an event that will help point them toward the bomb.
• After finding some clues that indicate that one of Malevolent's minions is working at the airport and questioning the HR department about recent hires, the Ultra Squad manages to locate and subdue the henchman. After some questioning (and punching), the thug spills the beans. It's on the other end of the airport (1 turn to get there) and disabling the bomb is a 1-turn action. Unfortunately the timer is down to 0.17 at this point. The GM decides that each player now has their own countdown timer, starting at .17, that their movement roll will increase. Characters will arrive at the bomb's location in the order of their timers, highest to lowest.
• Kid Spectro rolls 8 successes thanks to the Law of Fives, which means he gets there first with a counter value of 0.15. Even though he's not qualified (TN 5), he starts working on the bomb, but the GM tells him not to roll until 0.05. As other players arrive, they have the option of taking over the bomb disposal, but the timer restarts 1 round tick after they arrive. The first few squad members don't know any more about bombs than Spectro, so they don't stop him. Crime Buster knows a few things about explosives, but he didn't get any successes on his roll to run across the airport (it's those damn cigars!) and doesn't arrive until .07. Since taking over would mean starting a 1-turn action with a timer of .06, Crime Buster lets the Kid take his shot. Spectro fails his roll, which means the timer drops to 0.5. Crime Buster moves in at .04. He needs to diffuse the bomb with at least 0.01 left on the clock, which means he needs to roll 8 successes (7 to bring the clock up from -0.06 to 0.01 plus 1 to disable the bomb). This is probably a good time to spend some Luck.

Progress Tracker

A progress tracker fills in as a person reaches some goal or milestone. It's like one of those cards that you get punched each time you go to a restaurant that's worth a free burrito when all the spots are punched. The represent putting effort towards some goal that you reap the rewards of once the tracker is full. Scene-level progress trackers typically get filled in by spending successes and trackers for off-screen activities use downtime. In between, trackers may earn ticks for successes, specific character actions or game world events, or through any of the other methods described earlier. Most progress trackers only pay off when they're full, but in some cases they may have benefits or effects that increase as different thresholds are passed.
Example 1: The PCs need to cross a large underground cavern and go through the door on the other side. There's just one problem: The chasm is occupied by scores of goblins who don't want to let the heroes through. Since the PCs really don't have time to kill every single goblin, the GM decides to let them each start a tracker to fight their way through the horde. Players can use successes from combat rolls to make headway. They can also attempt to run, tumble, or otherwise move through the horde without fighting, but a failed roll will leave them open to attack by the goblins. A character makes it to the door when their tracker reaches 10.
Example 2: After their favorite tavern is trashed and its proprietor murdered by bloodthirsty elven marauders, the PCs decide that they want to re-open the place. The GM decides to use three different trackers for their progress:

• Rebuilding tracks the process of restoring the building itself. If characters do the work themselves, each character can fill in 1 box per point of downtime they spend up to a maximum of 1/2 Hero Factor per week. If they hire people to help, unskilled workers tick off one box per week, apprentices are worth 2, journeymen contribute 3 ticks, and master craftsmen can fill in 5 boxes per week. Each time the tracker reaches a multiple of 10, the PCS must spend 50 Gold Pieces on supplies before they can tick off any more boxes. When the tracker reaches 25, the building is restored to structural soundness (there's no risk of the floors collapsing beneath them and they can sleep in the building without getting rained on). At 50, all the basic fixtures (tables, a working kitchen, etc) are in place. The PCs could open for business now if they wanted to, but it would be a very bare-bones operation with limited capacity. At 75, the bar is fully equipped, decorated, and ready for business.
• Relationships involves finding reliable vendors for supplies and dealing with local bureaucracies, nobles, or crime lords, or other entities who must be placated to keep the operation from shutting down. Boxes can be ticked off by spending 1 point of downtime or by role-playing a negotiation during the game. Ticking off each box costs 1d10 Gold Pieces in deposits, legal fees, bribes, etc. When the tracker reaches 5, the PCs have everything in place to open the bar with a limited menu and liquor selection at a cost of 1d4 x 20 Gold Pieces per month. At 10, they can keep the bar and kitchen fully stocked for 2d6 x 10 GP per month. Each point beyond 10 allows them to save 1d6 GP per month by leveraging their relationships with alternative suppliers. The relationship tracker maxes out at 15 and remains in effect after the business opens.
• Staff tracks the process of hiring the barmaids, cooks, security goons, and other employees needed to keep the place running. The staff tracker has 15 boxes (one for each employee needed) that can be ticked off by spending a point of downtime or by role-playing the hiring process. The last two boxes on the tracker--for head cook and steward--can only be filled in through role-playing, but can be ticked at any time. In most cases, staff members will expect to start work immediately. If the bar is still being rebuilt, they count as unskilled workers. Once the rebuilding tracker reaches 50, they count as apprentices since the work being done involves preparations that are more closely related to their skill sets.

Social Trackers

Especially in games that involve diplomacy or intrigue, trackers can be used to quantify relationships, reputations, and even popular opinion. The details vary from game to game, but the important thing to remember with social mechanics is that completism is the enemy. The values of a most social trackers can be hand-waved based on context and play history. You only need to keep track of the ones that are relevant to the current storyline (the attitudes of the noble the PCs are trying to influence) or have important implications for a PC (a patron's favor, for example). Many social trackers are unaffected by success or Downtime expenditures, only moving in response to character actions and story events.
Example 1: A character who belongs to criminal gang has a Clout score that tracks their place in the pecking order. When the character does something that's good for the organization (pulls off a major heist, establishes a safehouse, or secures a new drug connection, etc.), they gain Clout. When they do something that hurts the group (starts a fight with a rival gang, attracts unwanted police attention, or harms a person under the gang's protection), they lose Clout. The character's Clout determines how easily they can call upon group resources, the extent to which they can boss around other members, and their likelihood of being chosen to lead a crew to perpetrate gang-sponsored crimes, among other things.
Example 2: A character who has gained Grax the Whisperer as a patron starts a tracker representing Grax's current disposition towards them. When the character does something that benefits Grax, the tracker moves upwards. When the character asks too much of Grax or does something that interferes with his plans, their tracker moves downward. Different ranges of tracker values correspond with bonuses or penalties to rolls when the character asks for assistance from Grax (a failed roll moves the tracker down). If the tracker ever drops below zero, Grax ends the relationship and--depending on the circumstances--may even label character an enemy.
Example 3: The players have decided that Count Arschloch is an evil tyrant who must be deposed, so they begin spending their spare time fomenting revolution. The GM creates a weighted tracker to measure the local populace's attitude towards the count: 5 or less: Happy; 6-20: Complacent; 21-30: Apathetic; 31-40: Disgruntled; 41-45: Angry; 46-49: Powderkeg; 50 +: Full-scale revolt. The tracker starts at 25. Players can use Downtime to move the tracker toward revolution by complaining about the count, working with his detractors, and engaging in similar activity. However, this method is slow going, with the tracker only moving 1 spot for every 5 Downtime spent. The faster way to move the tracker is to uncover (or produce convincing evidence of) Arschloch's misdeeds through play and reveal them to the public. The base tracker movement is based on the severity of the misdeed: Routine (appointing a relative to a position they're not qualified for): 1 tick; Minor (misappropriating funds): 1d4 ticks; Moderate (kicking puppies): 1d6 ticks; Serious (persecuting innocents): 1d8 ticks; Severe (necromancy): 1d10 ticks; Unthinkable (necrophilia): 1d12 ticks. If the PCs come up with a particularly effective or dramatic way to reveal the information to the public, one player can make an appropriate roll (usually Savoir-Faire or Skulduggery) and add the successes to the tracker. In addition to player actions, the GM creates a random event table that includes things like PR moves by the count (sponsoring a public feast or parade), new crimes or plots by the Count that the PCs can uncover (presented as a "nothing happens" result until the PCs uncover evidence of the scheme), unpopular policies instituted by the Count (a tax increase), actions by other actors (a mutiny in city guard barracks), and other events (a tornado destroys a heavily populated area, leaving many citizens homeless). The GM rolls on this table every 2 weeks and moves the tracker accordingly.

Position Tracker

A positioning tracker keeps track of where someone is in relation to a someone or some thing. They're most useful for things like chase scenes and races, but can also be used in some combat situations to keep track of where characters are located without using miniatures.
Example 1: When the PCs foil a plot by East German agents in Berlin, the commies realize they're outgunned and attempt to flee. The party decides to chase them, so the GM has everyone make a Heroics roll to determine their starting position in the chase. Each character's starting position is equal to their successes, but the Germans add 1d6 to their starting positions since they have a head start. Each round, characters involved in the chase can make a Heroics roll and add their success to their position. The GM sets the following rules for the chase:

• Characters can make melee attacks on anyone with a position within 1 point of their own (so a PC at position 12 can attack Germans at 11, 12, or 13).
• Ranged attacks can be made on characters within 10 points of the attacker (a PC at 15 can attack bad guys with positions of 5-25).
• If a bad guy gets more than 20 points ahead of the closest pursuing PC, the PCs lose sight of them and can no longer pursue them unless they want to leave the chase to look for clues, interrogate bystanders, etc.
• If any character falls more than 20 points behind the nearest other participant (friend or foe), they are too far behind to catch up and can no longer participate in the chase.
• When a German agent reaches a position of 50, they make it to a checkpoint at the Berlin Wall and cross over into East Germany. They can no longer be pursued without the PCs getting shot at and creating an international incident.

Example 2:The PCs are travelling through the swamps and have just entered a small clearing when a group of lizard men appear from the woods on the other side and begin moving to attack. As the PCs get their bearings, the realize that the clearing is sloped, with solid ground on the western side but a steady downward slope that eventually disappears into a pool of swamp water that covers the eastern edge of the clearing. The lizard men are swamp natives who will suffer no penalty when moving and fighting on the boggy ground to the east, but the PCs are not. They'll suffer a +1CD penalty when they're on the swampy half of the clearing and a +2CD penalty if they end up in the water. Naturally, the lizard men will try to keep the fight on the east, while the PCs will want to keep it to the west. The GM has each player who intends to engage the lizard men in melee roll 1d6 to determine how far west they are when the fighting starts. He makes a similar roll form each lizard man. PCs who plan to stay out of the melee (archers or non-combatants, for example), roll 1d6+10 for their position. The GM sets the following rules for the positioning trackers:

• Characters with a positive position are safe on the western side of the clearing and suffer no penalty.
• A position of 0 to -9 indicates that the character is in the boggy area on the eastern side of the clearing and (if not a lizard man) suffers the penalties described above.
• If a character's position reaches -10, they're standing in swamp water.
• A position of 20 or higher means that the character has entered the woods and undergrowth that surrounds the clearing. This takes them out of the fight, but probably introduces a whole new set of problems.
• During their turn, a character can uses successes from combat rolls to alter their opponent's position by 1 point (plus or minus) per success. Doing so changes the attacker's position by the same amount (and in the same direction).
• Characters who don't attack can make a movement roll to change their own position, but doing so may expose them to attacks of opportunity.
• In order to make a melee attack against a character, they must close to a position within 1 point of the target for most weapons. Characters armed with spears, pole-arms, and similar long-reach weapons may attack from up to 2 points away.