Telling Tales

Telling Tales

The foundation of TT-CC-Smooth is the “Tale”, something you say about the world or your character. Every tale falls into one of three categories: Good, Neutral, Bad, as told from the perspective of the active player’s character.

Neutral Tales

Typically told before the dice are cast

A neutral tale is anything that neither benefits nor hinders the active character. Neutral tales may help propel the story forward or help everyone visualize the current situation.

On a neutral tale, a player may:

  • Describe what their character sees – “I recognize that uniform.”
  • Speak in character – “You have my axe!”
  • Succeed at a simple, risk-free task – “I go look at the door.”
  • Declare an objective – “I’d really like to get inside that vault.”
  • Attempt something uncertain – declare an approach and roll dice
    • I climb, hand over hand to get up the rope.” (normal action)
    • “I want to help, by pulling the rope up from the top.” (bolstering)
    • “This is taking too long. I see a faster path up, but I’d have to clear that overhang, so I can’t use the rope.” (audacious action)
  • Spend a resource to activate a trait – where required in the trait description

 

 

Good Tales

Told after you get a high dice roll

Good tales have a significant, positive benefit for the active character.

Narrative Descriptions for Good Tales

When you get a good tale, choose one of the Narrative Description options below and describe what happens. If you can’t decide, look to the GM or collaborate with your group. The option must make sense, given the objective you described in your neutral tales.

  • Succeed at your uncertain action
    • “I dove out of the way, just in time.”
    • The potion worked, I can feel my flesh knitting back together.
  • Discover something beneficial
    • “Hey, look, a Cave!”
  • Gain the upper hand
    • “I draw my opponent backwards, feigning weakness until I have him exactly where I want him.”
  • Provide help
    • “Take my hand!”
  • Overcome an obstacle
    • “I picked the lock on the door and it opens. We’re a little bit closer to our goal.”
  • Look to the GM to see what happens

 

 

 

 

 

Mechanical Effects for Good Tales

Once you’ve chosen and described your narrative option, figure out which mechanical effect it has below. Collaborate with your group if you’re not certain.

 

  • Mark box(es) on a challenge track – to simulate making progress toward the end of the challenge.

 

Mark one if you’ve acted normally, or three if you’ve followed a shortcut or taken an audacious action. Some traits will also grant bonus challenge boxes.

    • Normal, direct and obvious actions mark 1 box
    • Shortcuts mark 3 boxes, but must be discovered first
    • Difficult shortcuts (audacious actions) mark 3 boxes and can be invented by players on-the-fly

Note: Marking boxes isn’t always an available option. If your objective was “stop, drop and roll”, no amount of success gets you any closer to defeating the wizards opposing you if you agreed that challenge boxes represent wizard health.

 

  • Remove a mark from a resource track
    • Health, Wits, Endurance, Signature Resource, Defense, etc.: [/] → [ ]
  • Gain a new resource track – Cover, etc.
  • Gain a new ordinary item – like a sword, rope, or ladder.

 

 

 

Powerful magic items are reserved for the GM to award when the situation calls for it. Possibly after you complete a difficult challenge.

 

  • Grant someone the “bolstered” single-use temporary condition
  • Identify a shortcut opportunity – Shortcut opportunities allow you to spend a subsequent good tale to mark three boxes on the challenge track instead of one.

 

 

Bad Tales

Told after you get a low dice roll

Bad tales have a significant, negative impact on a character. They represent moments in the story where things take a dramatic turn for the worse. Don’t feel bad about receiving a bad tale. They also represent problems to overcome and opportunities for character growth.

Narrative Descriptions for Bad Tales

When you get a bad tale, choose one of the Narrative Description options below, and describe what happens.

If you can’t decide, look to the GM or collaborate with the group to choose.

Note: some gaming groups prefer that the GM decides or has final say on all the bad tales. That’s fine, but we encourage you to try letting players choose their own bad tales first.

 

  • Your action backfires
    • “The magic is too powerful, I can’t control it. Look out!”
  • Discover a New Threat
    • “Oh damn. They brought friends.”
  • Notice an existing threat is getting worse
    • “The chasm cracks and I can’t see the bottom anymore”
  • Lose position or Cede the Advantage
    • “He’s a better negotiator, why did he have to bring his kids into it?”
  • Expose your weakness or vulnerability
  • Lose a golden opportunity (only if you had one)
    • “The door is closing. We just lost our way out”
  • Take a blow or suffer a lingering condition
    • “The sword hits me in the shoulder”
    • “The poison is making me sick”
  • Lose or break something
    • “I snagged my pack on the way down. Pretty sure something fell out.”
  • Surrender, pass out, or die
  • Look to the GM to see what happens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mechanical Effects for Bad Tales

Once you’ve described your bad tale, figure out which mechanical effect it should have. In most cases it will be obvious which mechanical effect fits the narrative option. If you’re uncertain, collaborate with your group.

  • Create a new challenge, subchallenge, or setback/delay.
  • Lose a Resource – Make a Mark “[/]” on any of your relevant resource tracks (Health, Endurance, Wits, Defense, Signature, etc.)
  • Lose Equipment, Make note of which items go missing
  • Lose a pre-established Shortcut Opportunity
  • Write a new lingering condition Make another mark on a previously marked resource box [/] → [X] to indicate a lingering condition. Then, write the name of a condition on your character sheet (eg: sick, blind, lost, etc.).

 

 

Note: Lingering conditions require at least a CL3 challenge to be removed [X] → [ ].

  • Escalate a previous condition Fill a previously marked resource box completely:[X] → [∎] to indicate that the lingering condition has become permanent.

Permanent conditions are cannot be removed. Collaborate to determine if there’s any mechanism for recovery of permanent conditions in your game. If you allow it, it should require at least a CL10 challenge.

  • Take Disadvantage on your next roll
  • Mark a box on an NPC project track
  • Surrender, pass out, or die – Take a break or permanently retire your character