Let’s try this out. Example failures for example intents. One intent and 3-5 failures per post, please.
Intent: I pick the lock to get into the room…
[ul]
[li]You open the lock, but it’s now broken and the door won’t close[/li][li]You open the lock, but your lock picks are hopelessly broken[/li][li]You open the lock, but accidentally leave something behind that can be traced back to you[/li][/ul]
I’m uncomfortable with all of those. They work, but I prefer to have the failure consequences block the intent. Unless the intent is to get in and leave no evidence of intrusion and save the lockpicks, those don’t work. Sometimes fuzzier failure works, but not always.
Intent: I craft an object to accomplish a task. That can be making a boat to cross the river and catch the brigands fleeing with your husband, with boatwright, making a magical spear to slay the dragon, cooking/baking to feed the grumbling army.
[ul][li]You craft your thing, but it fails at the worst moment. The boat springs a giant leak half-way across the river. The spear snaps in combat. You got something wrong and now the camp is groaning with food poisoning just as the enemy comes into sight!
[/li][li]You craft your thing, but you know it has a fatal flaw (good with some intents, not with others.) The boat might be a crude raft that can make the crossing only once—you can use it to catch up, but how will you get your husband home when you’re fleeing the bandits? Now you have to kill or delay them all somehow. You know the spear is filled with power, but it’s too much for your mean craft and will shatter after a single blow. How can you make that blow count? The meal’s made, but you’ve used far too many ingredients while messing up, and now you’re out of provisions. You’d better do something quickly—capture the enemy supply train, fight through to a friendly stronghold, bargain for provisions from a nearby neutral party—or your men will starve and desert en masse.
[/li][li]You craft your thing, but you take too long (great with working carefully). By the time your boat is made the brigands have a day’s ride on you. You should have ridden up to the ford instead! By the time you’ve made your spear half the village has been burned to the ground and the livestock eaten. You’ve made supper but it’s long after the sun’s gone down. Morale is awful and a quarter of your men have deserted in frustration at the delays.
[/li][/ul]
Intent: I use my sword to get people out of my way so I can exit the ballroom unharmed…
[b]Skill[b] Intimidate
FoRK Sword
Failure:
[ul][]They hold me off and I’m unable to exit without a fight[]I exit but lose my sword[]I am forced to retreat in the wrong direction[]I exit with my sword in me (taking damge)[*]I exit head-first into the guard patrol responding to the commotion[/ul]
I think it’s more fun if we make consequences for each other’s tasks and intents! Maybe make one consequence for the three previous task/intents and then make a new task/intent?
I pick the lock to get into the room [to hide from the temple guards]
If you fail, the door opens before you finish and you’re face to face (or face to belly, as you’re kneeling) with a startled young temple virgin.
Make a boat to cross the river and catch the brigands fleeing with your husband.
If you fail, your crummy 15-minute boat breaks up and is swept down the river. You lose the brigands’ trail entirely. How will you try to find them now?
I use my sword to get people out of my way so I can exit the ballroom unharmed.
If you fail you can escape the ballroom, but the young Count Mondegreen bravely tries to seize your sword and loses two fingers. His uncle, the deadly Sir Norwin, won’t take that well.
New task and intent:
I’ll woo the innkeeper’s fiery daughter by singing below her window at midnight.
Losing the bandits is a bad consequence for failure unless there’s already a good alternative to finding them. It smacks of the whole getting stuck problem that BW failure is supposed to avoid.
I’ll woo the innkeeper’s fiery daughter by singing below her window at midnight.
Fail and the innkeeper’s fiery son comes out to give you a drubbing.
Fail and the innkeeper’s daughter is smitten indeed, but your fair voice also attracts the dangerous attentions of the Fair Folk.
I use Remarkable Magic Mud-wise to know of a special kind of mud found along this riverbank that has healing properties - I want to use it to patch up my wounds.
[ul]
[li]If you fail, the mud you find is full of parasitic insect larvae that enter your bloodstream. The wound closes, but you’ll have other problems down the road!
[/li][li]If you fail, the mud only works for as long as you leave it on the wound. As soon as you take a bath or something, your injury will return.
[/li][li]If you fail, the mud heals the wound but paralyzes your leg.
[/li][li]If you fail, digging up the mud unearths a river crocodile’s eggs - and mama’s right nearby!
[/li][li]If you fail, it turns out the mud is actually a blood-thinner. Instead of healing the wound, it makes you start to bleed to the next wound category.
[/li][li]If you fail, it turns out the mud “fixes” the wound by adhering to your flesh and merging with your body. You’ll get the “Bizarre Leg Bulge” trait, which gives you +1 ob to all Speed tests.
[/li][/ul]
This is fun!
EDIT: Oh, just saw Ten of Swords’ post. Okay, hold on a sec…
Make a boat to cross the river and catch the brigands fleeing with your husband.
If you fail, your boat goes down the river with you still in it! Maybe you can still catch up, if you can make it out of the Thornswamp alive…
I use my sword to get people out of my way so I can exit the ballroom unharmed.
If you fail, someone screams, trips, and knocks over a candle onto a drapery. Now everyone’s running and shrieking, and there’s a big fire between you and the door!
I’ll woo the innkeeper’s fiery daughter by singing below her window at midnight.
If you fail, she’s not even there to hear you - she’s already gone off to the ball with your rival. (Is this reasonable? How important is it that failure be a direct consequence of the character’s actions? It seems highly desirable at least.)
Oh, and yeah, the book pretty explicitly says that on failure, the stated intention does not come to pass. Right there on page 31. So using intent-plus-twist failure is technically a house rule in BWG.
Personally, I don’t think it’s contrary to the spirit of the system to leave that option on the table. But it is contrary to the rules.
Apologies if it’s a faux pas to wait only for two - just want to keep the game going.
I’ll woo the innkeeper’s fiery daughter by singing below her window at midnight.
If you fail she laughs at you and demands that you prove your love by turning all traffic away from Bristle Creek Bridge until the church bells ring on Sunday morning.
I use Remarkable Magic Mud-wise to know of a special kind of mud found along this riverbank that has healing properties - I want to use it to patch up my wounds. (Your consequences are already great, SeaWyrm… it’s a tough one!)
If you fail, the magical mud you find isn’t healing mud - it’s sleeping mud. The search crews from the prison will find you caked in mud, sleeping peacefully under a tree.
I want to use my Wine-Tasting to sample the trader’s so-called Kalgan red and see if he really has access to restricted vintages—in which case I must know more!—or if he’s scamming me.
If you fail, your suspicions color your palate and you wrongly believe his superb Kalgan red is a ruddy Mawport dishwater. He’ll take the Kalgan red to your competitor, Gaston.
New intent: I’ll write a devilish and anonymous piece of satire that will humiliate the governor into resigning or make the king recall him.
I’ll write a devilish and anonymous piece of satire that will humiliate the governor into resigning or make the king recall him.
If you fail, your attempt at satire goes completely over your audiences head, and everyone, the king included, thinks that your stand-in for the governor is actually a likable, sympathetic character. Furthermore, the governor’s political enemies determine your true identity, conclude that you are obviously a paid propagandist for the governor, and take actions against you.
I use Remarkable Magic Mud-wise to know of a special kind of mud found along this riverbank that has healing properties - I want to use it to patch up my wounds.
You also recall that in order for the mud to work, you have to pass a test set by its guardian ogre.
I want to use my Wine-Tasting to sample the trader’s so-called Kalgan red and see if he really has access to restricted vintages—in which case I must know more!—or if he’s scamming me.
You can’t quite tell from the limited sample. If you really want to know, you have to steal or buy a full bottle of it.
I’ll write a devilish and anonymous piece of satire that will humiliate the governor into resigning or make the king recall him.
The satire gets into the wrong hands, and now the governor’s seen it–and nobody else has.
Intent: I win the loyalty of my reluctant companion.
Task: I cook a delicious meal.
I use Remarkable Magic Mud-wise to know of a special kind of mud found along this riverbank that has healing properties - I want to use it to patch up my wounds.
The remarkable magic mud also has unforeseen side effects, fit to the circumstances. You attract all the mosquitos for miles and get the equivalent of a Sup wound, or you find yourself slightly phosphorescent for a few days, making stealth impossible. Or a mild acid eats through your clothes and now you have to replace them.
I’ll write a devilish and anonymous piece of satire that will humiliate the governor into resigning or make the king recall him.
It all goes well—except for the anonymous part. Now the governor knows your subversive agenda and wants to get his hands on you. Oh, and everyone knows you have an axe to grind, so the effects are rather limited. Of course that guy is whining.
You succeed—all too well. Instead of a political process, you get an angry uprising. Now the province has risen up in rebellion. The governor has been hanged. The king is mobilizing his armies to quash the fledgling republic. For bonus points, combine with the previous, and now the king wants your head in particular for starting this mess.
Intent: I win the loyalty of my reluctant companion.
Task: I cook a delicious meal.
Again, you succeed in winning loyalty but at the expense of far too many of your supplies. Better hunt well or find a town to buy up more staples.
Your cooking just isn’t up to snuff. Your companion sells you out at the first opportunity. Hey, not all consequences involve partial success!
Your companion isn’t impressed and doesn’t finish his meal, but he’s willing to tolerate you for a while longer on the condition that you provide him with good food later. Since you can’t manage it yourself (Let It Ride!) you’re going to have to find and pay a gourmet chef, and soon!
I use Remarkable Magic Mud-wise to know of a special kind of mud found along this riverbank that has healing properties - I want to use it to patch up my wounds.
When you arrive the Sisters of Mercy are applying all the available mud to the wounds of Lepers, leaving none for you.
I want to use my Wine-Tasting to sample the trader’s so-called Kalgan red and see if he really has access to restricted vintages—in which case I must know more!—or if he’s scamming me.
You agressively slurp the wine down the wrong way and splurt it all over the young Count sitting at the next table. If you’re noble, he demands satisfaction, if not he has his men beat you severely.
I’ll write a devilish and anonymous piece of satire that will humiliate the governor into resigning or make the king recall him.
You satire makes the King look foolish for installing the governor, he is not happy and instigates a search for the author.
I win the loyalty of my reluctant companion by cooking a delicious meal.
Gasp! Where there peanuts in that salad?!
This is fun! Don’t forget to add new tasks and intents so we can keep it going!
New task/intent: I want to divide the orcish camp between the warchief and his lieutenant. I’ll use Poisonous Platitudes to convince the warchief to search his lieutenant’s quarters, and I’ll fork in Ratiquette to have the rats of the camp steal jewels from the warchief’s lodge and carry them to the lieutenant’s lodge while the sun is high.
I want to divide the orcish camp between the warchief and his lieutenant. I’ll use Poisonous Platitudes to convince the warchief to search his lieutenant’s quarters, and I’ll fork in Ratiquette to have the rats of the camp steal jewels from the warchief’s lodge and carry them to the lieutenant’s lodge while the sun is high.
You wormtailed friends hope to please you & return the jewels to you instead, and when the Warchief finds nothing in his lieutenant’s quarters, his suspicion fall on you.
New task: I shall bind the ghosts of dead enemies to defend the hall against assault, binding them in a circle in the gatehouse. [linked test, Circination then Summoning]
[ul][li]The Chief and his lieutenant spot the rats, and have a big rat-hunt and rat-feast. They have united the camp.
[/li][li]The Lieutenant has already won the jewels in a game, and now is rumored to be magically controlling the rats.
[/li][li]They see through my attempt, and agree to put all their hostility aside at least long enough to skin me…
[/li][li]The Lieutenant’s cronies see the railing of the Chief as the perfect time to end the Cheif’s chieftainship.
[/li][li]The Lieutenant is backed by the shaman, and the chief knows it. He quietly recovers his jewels, and goes away fuming that you humiliated him by proving he can’t protect his own goods. Cue new enemy. The Lieutenant, meanwhile, is annoyed about them having gotten there, and suspects you of having arranged it. Two new enemies, and no actual division of the camp, just the leaders.
[/li][/ul]
Setting: Flaming river, on far side is a keep with tower guards, it’s dusk.
New Intent: Get across the River of Fire to the Keep of the evil wizard withut being seen by his guards.
Task: Use my Acrobatics, FoRKing Staff to vault over and land quietly.
You make it to the other side, but land loudly, attracting the attention of the Wizard and his guards. Your back is to the flaming river as the Wizard starts lobbing fireballs at you from the battlements of his keep, and the guards are quickly advancing on you.
This is a great thread. Stick to the format. No discussion!
On a success you’re still taking damage. Convection!
On a failure you don’t vault far enough and are forced to give yourself an emergency push at the end. Your staff goes up in flames and you arrive unarmed and with no way to vault back.
Intent/Task: I want to use Conspicuous with a Doctrine FoRK to draw attention to myself as I regale the crowd with fire and brimstone preaching. That will give my sister the distraction to pick some pockets so we can eat tonight.
Stick to the format.
I win the loyalty of my reluctant companion by cooking a delicious meal.
If you fail, he has other hungers in mind, good looking. He tries to push himself on you after dinner.
I shall bind the ghosts of dead enemies to defend the hall against assault, binding them in a circle in the gatehouse. [linked test, Circination then Summoning]
If you fail, the circle cannot contain them and the entire hall is swiftly overtaken by the dead, forcing the living out into the snow. The ghosts remain within, drinking your mead and singing songs in their foul foreign tongue.
New Intent: Get across the River of Fire to the Keep of the evil wizard withut being seen by his guards.
Task: Use my Acrobatics, FoRKing Staff to vault over and land quietly.
(I love Wayfarer’s answer where you lose your staff.) If you fail, the smoke above the river blinds you and you miss the ledge you were aiming for and end up dangling from a gargoyle, which animates and seizes you. If you can’t break free you’ll pass out in the smoke and be at the wizard’s mercy.
New task/intent: I’ll brew a poison that will suppress my pulse and respiration for three days to fake my death. With me dead, Leonardo’s men will have no reason to threaten my family. I’ll be buried in the family crypt and my apprentice can open the crypt on the third day and release me. (Rolling Poisons with forks from Alchemy and Herbalism, perhaps.)
I slash at the ropes in an attempt to set the prisoners free
-You cut through the ropes, but accidentally slash a prisoners arm, too.