Resolve Points

Resolve Points (aka skill points, build points, experience points, chips, tokens, etc.) measure the learning curve, luck, and experience of Contractors, and can be used to improve skills.

Earning Resolve

Resolve is earned as followed.

Participate in a Contract: Exactly that. Win or lose, you earn 1 Resolve – even if you die.

Write a Journal: 1 Resolve.

For the average Contract, a Journal should cover the relative points of the Contract, detail any deaths, the method of invitation, and be at least 1 full page. For a Side Game, it should be much more in depth, almost a short story; a full 2 pages is the minimum. All Journals must be posted within 7 days. Resolve is not awarded for Downtime Reports, but you are free to write them if you wish.

Handicap: A major setback you voluntarily add to your character, such as Blind, Moron, or Paraplegic. When you successfully complete a Contract in which your Handicap caused significant difficulty, you may be awarded 1 additional Resolve. This award is up to the GM, and should not be considered an automatic bonus. (If you die but the GM rules that you would otherwise qualify for it, you receive the additional Resolve for the Handicap even though you didn’t complete the Contract.)

Hardcore: You are not allowed to spend Resolve during the Contract. You receive 1 additional Resolve for a Hardcore Contract. (You do not receive extra Resolve for running a Hardcore Contract.)

Ringer: If you are allowed to play a "Ringer" (an NPC who furthers the plot), you earn 1 Resolve if you fulfill the designated plot line for which the Ringer was created (usually by dying). Ringers do not receive bonus Resolve for Hardcore Contracts or Handicaps, but may write Journals.

Run a Contract or a Side Game: 1 Resolve

Highlander: If you referee a “Highlander” scenario (a Contract with only one possible winner), you gain 1 extra Resolve. (You do not receive extra Resolve for playing in a Highlander Contract.)

Golden Ratio: If you have a PC who has advanced to Harbinger status, and you referee a Contract which results in at least 1 PC death but still results in a victory for at least one PC, you receive a Gift and 1 extra Resolve. This Gift must go to the sponsoring Harbinger. NPC Harbingers are not eligible.

Contracts should be designed to produce one fatality and at least one victory. However, they should never be modified on the fly to achieve this; players who perform well may win without casualties, while those who perform badly may suffer multiple fatalities, or even a total party kill. The GM should remain an objective referee, interpreting player actions but not influencing them.

Your GM may require you to write up and submit your scenario in order to receive credit (Resolve and potentially a Gift) for running it.

Resolve is awarded to the player rather than the character; it can be saved as long as desired, and can be spent on any of your characters. So, for example, if your first three characters die without spending their Resolve, your fourth character can spend it all. A Gift, on the other hand, cannot be saved, but must be awarded immediately, and can only go to the character who earned it.

You receive one Gift when you successfully complete a Contract.

Submitting Scenarios

You receive 1 Resolve for writing up and submitting a scenario you have run. Scenarios must be approved by an Admin and submitted as open source (under the MIT/Expat License) in an approved format. (LibreOffice format is preferred but not required.)

Only original scenarios (rather than existing scenarios converted from other systems) can be submitted for Resolve.

Reporting Contracts

All Contracts should be reported for tracking purposes. At a minimum, this should include the name of the Contract, the date it was run, the GM, the sponsoring Harbinger, the names of the players and characters, any deaths, whether each character (and the GM) received a Gift, and the amount of Resolve awarded to players and to the GM.

Optional In-Game Uses

Resolve may also be used in-game, subject to GM approval. Some cells (Hardcore Campaigns) do not allow in-game use of Resolve.

Pull Yourself Together!: By spending 1 Resolve, you may reset your Wound or Stability rating to Negligible/Startled temporarily. Every turn thereafter, your rating automatically degrades by 1 until your actual rating is reached. This effect may not be used if you have received a Mortal or Shattered result.

Just a Flesh Wound/Shake It Off: At the end of a combat, you may spend 1 Resolve to reduce a Stability or Wound Level by 2. This effect can only be used once per result, and may not be used for Mortal or Shattered results.

Re-roll: You may spend 1 Resolve to re-roll a single result.

Buy a defence roll: You may spend 1 Resolve to get a defensive roll when you otherwise would not have one.

The content of this page is licensed under the MIT/Expat License.