And, here’s another #Stonetop playbook: The Judge. As always, feedback and criticism welcome and appreciated.
This was actually the first playbook I made for Stonetop, and it was the proof-of-concept for a lot of the structures that appear in all the classes (the backgrounds, the additional setting questions on the back page, the increased flexibility in choosing moves). Not a whole lot has changed since the original, but I don’t think many folks took a close look (as it was buried in with the original teaser).
Bit of trivia (for those who care): this whole project stemmed from a long-running D&D 4e campaign. The Judge was a role that one of my players came up with to justify playing a paladin of Erathis. Some of the coolest details (IMO) come straight from that character: the Chronicle, the Legacy background, the ancient armor as symbol of authority, the juxtaposition of scholar & warrior.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0lFq3ECDQDQRDRlWTNkXzhjUWs
I’ve totally missed this Stonetop business, have you just started it? It looks great.
Nah, I started work on it about a year ago, but Day Job has been pretty hellish the last 6 months and it’s had to sit on the back-burner. But hopefully no more!
Glad you like it.
These are great! Can’t wait to see more
I love the layout and options. I may hafta look at my own homebrew and adopt some of your thinking… Keep it up!!
Wow, I love the Judge. I always like characters focused on scholarship, and this is a great way to do it.
Sub
Jeremy Strandberg Just offering some well-deserved props; I’ve been following your #Stonetop project for some time now, and it’s excellent.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Looks great Jeremy Strandberg I really like the way it covers the supportive and wrathful aspects of the Judge.
Some possible tweaks/suggestions:
Background
Make the “choose 1” clearer. (I missed the grey font when I started scanning through the Judge, which made the three backgrounds confusing until I realized my mistake.)
Moves
There doesn’t seem to be a move that covers the actual job of being a Judge. E.g:
Judgement
When you hear and pronounce judgment on a crime or dispute, roll +WIS. On a 10+ your decision is accepted as final. On a 7-9 your decision is accepted but not by all.
And, a possible advance:
Judges Wisdom
When you quote relevant wisdom from the Chronicle, add +1 to your Judgement roll.
Aegis of Faith
When you bear a shield, it can block spells, magical effects, and insubstantial foes.
Also, if feels like there should be some benefit when using Aratis’s shield for this move.
Mirror Shield
The ‘no target at all’ option seems redundant given you already have Aegis of Faith.
When you Defend with a shield, you can spend 2 hold to reflect a spell or magical effect onto a different target.
Breaking of the Bread
The following may be simpler:
When you share a proper meal with someone, you each consume a ration and heal 1d8 hit points.
What happens when you share a meal with an NPC?
Censure
Who has to be in your presence? The being?Your allies? What if someone goes away and comes back again?
Not sure this answers all those, but it may help:
pick one:
– Allies who hear your denouncement deal +1d4 damage ongoing against it while in your presence
– It does -1d4 damage ongoing when in your presence
Mark of Chaos
Nice move, but think it needs some more parameters around it.
Can this be used against other player characters? What’s to stop the Judge abusing this move (e.g. instantly turn the population of Stonetop against the other players)? Does there have to be some test of veracity for the mark to stick?
What happens when you mark someone held in high esteem by another steading? Do others from that steading automatically turn against them?
These questions may also apply to Censure.
Chronicler of Stonetop
Alt:
When you write a chronicle of recent events and share it with the other players
Smite
How dark/corrupt/chaotic does something have to be to trigger this move?
This stacks with Crusade, yes?
Truth or Consequences
You can use this against NPCs as well?
Undiminished
As worded, the player needs to understand the difference between Defy Danger and Defend to get how this differs from Aegis of Faith. That’s likely to be confusing for new players.
When you avoid, resist or power through dark/corrupt/chaotic magic and roll a 6-, you may treat the result as a 7-9.
Thanks, Michael! Good, thoughtful feedback as always.
I specifically chose not to include a move about passing judgment, because I didn’t want to mechanize it or make it reliable. Truth or Consequences and Bear Witness help, but I wanted actually judging to be left to the player’s decision and ability to communicate those decisions. And not everything needs a move, right? The fiction of “I’m the Judge” should carry a lot of weight by itself.
For what it’s worth, here’s the thinking that lead to my suggesting some sort of Judgement move:
Anyone can rule on a crime or dispute. However, when it’s the Judge who gives the ruling, I’d expect people to be more likely to accept that decision.
Without support for their judgements, the Judge has no advantage over other characters when it comes to having their rulings accepted by the people of Stonetop.
Also, many players like to play characters they couldn’t in real life.
Giving some backing to their judgements lets the Judge perform its role with credibility, regardless of how much the player behind the character may stumble over their words at the table.
What support to give the Judge’s rulings?
Rather than affect the decisions themselves (for the reasons you outlined), the move I threw in focuses instead on how people react to those decisions. Using a roll for that means there’s the possibility of a Judgement being taken well, badly, or some mix of the two.
Presumably the GM can decide a judgement has been expressed so wisely no roll is necessary or that acceptance of a decision may be based on factors much wider than the just the decision itself.
The move I suggest is just one idea. No doubt you have ideas for handling this that will be a much better fit for Stonetop.
(p.s. Considering the move I drafted, the following may be a much better trigger:
When you are asked to pass judgement on a crime or adjudicate a dispute )
“Without support for their judgements, the Judge has no advantage over other characters when it comes to having their rulings accepted by the people of Stonetop.”
Except that they’re the Judge. They have a fictional advantage.