The first thing players and the GM do is to agree the type of challenge they want to face, and the specific objective they want to pursue initially. They’ll set out a path with the key milestones they expect to hit as they go after it.
This is the single most important part of the character phase.
It can start off very vaguely – because nothing has yet been agreed – and as such may be slow moving without some prompts. However, by the end of it, the characters will have a solid idea of what type of world they are going to be playing in, and what they are going to be doing.
Seeds of Change
The scenario objective is rooted in the seeds that the players bring to the character phase. These become elements of the world that point to what’s wrong with it, and that the cabal want to change.
All the players should dive into the seed bank to speculate on the kind of world that the cabal is in:
- give elements names and rumours.
- speculate on what’s broken, or just plain weird.
- suggest what might need to be altered.
As ideas get thrown around, a challenge will start to emerge that the group can start framing into their first scenario objective.
Describing the World
Along the way, as the first objective is defined, the group may also
- describe their high-level character concepts – the type of individual protagonists they want to play
- agree the sort of challenge they want to kick off the campaign with
- settle on a base location for the cabal
- identify a primary antagonist
- hint at a prospective ally
If the objective setting step gets bogged down, addressing these aspects of the world may help unlock it and make progress.
Framing Objectives
The objective can be framed in terms of the outcome or change effect that the cabal want to realise in the world that they start describing.
For example, in generic terms, the cabal may want to:
- Discover: research and locate an item, some lost knowledge, a person or place
- Recover: rescue or restore a person, group or item
- Create: introduce a new entity or initiative
- End: terminate a person, group or practice
- Resist: oppose an existing force, power or threat; prevent its spread
- Escape: find a way out of a place or condition before it’s too late
- Connect: form an alliance or establish a new relationship
- Bless: encourage or increase some kind of behaviour or occurrence
- Curse: diminish or impede some kind of behaviour or occurrence
- Ward: protect an area from something
- Develop: pursue a new character identity; grow in stature, power or influence; ascend to be a godwalker
Examples of possible starting objectives are provided in Book 2: Run, chapter 3 (p25 pdf).
Defining Objectives
Each scenario objective is defined by three characteristics
- Closure: the players define how they will know (or rather, believe) they’ve achieved the objective.
- Scale: the GM decides if it’s impact is local, weighty, or cosmic.
- Path: the players set out the relatively petty and intense milestones they intend to follow towards the objective, appropriate to the scale.
If the objective is considered as the outcome or effect that the cabal wants, the means to get there is path. Performing a ritual, summoning a demon, robbing a bank, chasing a lead, and so on, might typically be steps to achieve some other change, rather than ends themselves.
Achieving an Objective
As the group sets its objective, it’s worth considering how objectives are mechanically handled. They are measured on a percentile scale, starting at 0%. As milestones are hit, the objective rating increases. When it gets to 100% the objective is automatically met, and the outcome is achieved. A group can also take the plunge and risk pushing accomplishment before it is at 100%.
This has important considerations:
- An objective can be achieved ‘off-screen’ – the characters do not have to engage the target directly if they set out a path that creates the conditions for it to happen.
- The closure that the group describes is what they believe and not necessarily what they know to happen when an objective is met. There will be fallout and consequences that come back to haunt or tempt the cabal, which may influence subsequent objectives.
In the character phase, the group is only defining their first objective. When an objective is achieved, the success a cabal achieves in that is rolled into the next objective, if it’s related (equivalent to half the objective rating).
Reference: Book 2: Run, chapter 2, Objectives. Examples are provided for objectives at different scale (p15 pdf) and for petty and intense milestones (p17 pdf).