Crises

Play

Tal and Moss return to Raider’s Gate after a few weeks visiting a foreign Realm.

Ref: Okay, so as you ride to the gate a sentry notices you and shouts an order to open up. The portcullis creaks upward, allowing you to ride into the courtyard. A horn sounds, and another sentry scrambles to quickly pull your banner up, hanging proudly above the hall.

Tal: Nice to see the place is still standing.

Ref: Sure, but let’s see what’s been happening while you were away. Roll a d6.

Tal rolls 3, scoring a Dilemma. Ref rolls two Crises for Tal to choose from, getting Chaos and Doubt.

Ref: Hmm… okay… As you enter the hall you’re greeted by your Council, and the Steward gives you an overview. She explains that the coffers are full, the harvest looks good, but there are whispers of an uprising in the Realm, in both field and Court.

Tal: What for??

Ref: She beckons to the Sheriff who explains that these things are usually started by somebody who wants to seize the Holding for themselves. He has a few agents that he can send out to nip it in the bud, but he’ll need to focus on the dissent in the Court or out in the wider domain. You’ll have to investigate the other yourselves.

Moss: Well we know most of the people in Court, right? I think we could handle that side ourselves.

Tal: Yeah. I tell him to send his agents out to speak with the Vassals and I’ll investigate the dissent inside these walls.

Ref: Great, he heads off to start work on that. How are you starting your own investigation?

Tal: Do we have a dungeon?

Thoughts

Crises need to walk a fine line between creating interesting problems for the players to solve without becoming an annoyance that makes the Knights never want to leave their Holding, or reluctant to return when they do.

It’s a small, unrelated detail, but here I like that Ref doesn’t just cut to the Knights sitting in Court. They’ve been away in a distant land for weeks, so it’s nice to indulge a little in the feeling of returning home.

Early on, Ref faces one of the more difficult prompts, creating a Dilemma between two Crises, in this case Chaos and Doubt.

Exactly how the choice will present itself is left to the Referee’s discretion, so here their Sheriff is able to resolve one of the Crises while the other is left to be handled by the Knights personally.

The Dilemma could be presented in a less direct way. Perhaps a lowly Vassal comes to Court to challenge the ruler’s authority. Allowing them to do so could spread Doubt within the Court, whereas dealing with them too harshly could cause Chaos through a popular uprising.

Improvising these in the middle of a game can be challenging, so if Ref struggled with this they might prepare the outlines of a few Dilemmas ahead of the next session, keeping them on hand for if they’re needed.

Remember that any part of the game is only worthwhile if it’s serving the type of game that the group wants to play. If the constant presence of Crises begins to wear the players down then mix it up. Shift the focus to some specific interpersonal drama with Court, or have a new Myth rise to prominence. The Crisis system is just one way to make rulership challenging, and Referees should feel free to experiment with other methods.