My players found this book last week and yesterday they used it but it didn’t feel right to GM fiat it.

My players found this book last week and yesterday they used it but it didn’t feel right to GM fiat it.

My players found this book last week and yesterday they used it but it didn’t feel right to GM fiat it. So I made a move instead.

THE LITTLE BOOK OF HARM When you leaf through the sentient book , looking for an out-of-the-ordinary help on a situation, roll+int.

12+: You find a solution that not only works but is also free of side effects.

10-11: You find something that will help your situation but at a cost. Pick one side effect.

7-9: You find something that will help or change the situation at hand, but it will have side effects. Choose three side effects.

6-: I think the phrase is “may you live in interesting times.”

Side effects:

+ It’s unstable and causes issues you may have to deal with.

+ Whatever it is, you will take some direct damage.

+ The people around you take damage from the solution you find.

+ It draws immediate, unwelcome attention.

+ You have to do something terrible in return. Maybe now, maybe tomorrow, or the coming season but there will be a price to pay.

A small pocket book, it’s red cover worn from use and abuse. The title is no unreadable, even if the proper language could be deciphered. Inside the pages are filled with weird symbols and paragraphs that are not helpful or understandable as they seem to change when the page is not open. Here and there though, among the changing pages there are notes in the margins.

7 thoughts on “My players found this book last week and yesterday they used it but it didn’t feel right to GM fiat it.”

  1. And since it’s sentient, monster instinct and moves.

    The Book of Domhnall the Ambitious

    Instinct: To turn the reader more and more into Domhnall

    + To store reality as paper

    + Unleash what is stored

    + Hide and show pages at will

    + To manipulate the reader’s senses

  2. Magi max It was in the first draft and it also had a once per day limit. Considering the potential of power in this thing and that players should be able to complicate and screw up their lives as many times as they’d like, I removed the day limit.

    I also re-read the equipment moves section in Urban Shadows and the example there and decided that it would be okay if a real crit was the only way to not have to pay any price. It balances the potential of abuse without hard limitations.

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