Fading Memory — Roleplayer Guild

Alrighty folks, this post will be seeing much in the way of revision as time goes on. I will be updating it with relevant information and using it as an ongoing log of just what the heck is even going on. Seeing as I've never run the system before, I will be utilizing some of the prewritten material I have in order to facilitate our initial soirees in the House. As such, please do not read through the GM materials in the handbook and quick start guide.
Saga Structure

Household is a game told in a 'Saga', the term used for a 'campaign' in this setting and system. Specifically our game will take place within a period of time that will later be known as 'The Fragile Peace'. These years of opened borders and unparalleled Household travel are also years of trouble and highlight the tensions of neighbors who were once foes coming to terms with a world of peace and the struggles therein. Your characters will be the agents in this Saga, experiencing and influencing The Fragile Peace.

A Saga is composed of Chapters, which are themselves composed of Paragraphs. If I were to equate these to more common D&D vernacular, it means that our Campaign is built out of Adventures, which are themselves comprised of Quests. The book has a recommended length of a Saga, but we will go by feeling for our purposes. There is something unique about the presentation of Household that I will discuss, however...

Household encourages changing characters, and having concurrent groupings of Littlings who experience the world simultaneously in different places. I rather enjoy this element to the system, but understand if this does not call to everyone as it does to me. This would allow the players to witness different and potentially far apart sections of the House from fresh sets of eyes, and potentially contribute to the Saga of The Fragile Peace with different perspectives and ideologies without sacrificing one particular group's cohesion or besmirching a character's ideals to do so.

Advancement is tied to progressing along the Saga, particularly concluding a Chapter.

Advancement

When reaching the end of a Chapter, I will declare that it is time to Advance. When you Advance your character, you will note a new Experience. Experiences represent critical moments of significance to the character, and can be either Helpful or Hindering, but are usually Helpful. 'Scars' are their counterpart, and are usually Hindrances. This, of course, means that situationally they can be the opposite, such is the nature of things.

Typically you will gain one Experience per chapter, but if highly motivating or inspirational things occur during the game I as the GM can bestow additional Experiences. Examples of 'Experiences' are thus;

I climbed the Great Stairs!
I became a Parent.
I was in prison.
I broke a leg.
I can't trust anyone anymore.
My sister is the best.
My gecko will never leave me.

so on and so forth; the relevance will come from the events in character and will motivate your decisions on what Experience best defines their time in the Chapter.

Somewhat more mechanically inclined, Advancement also comes with gaining 2 Skill Points to distribute, and occasionally the opportunity to learn new Moves or gain Traits (read: D&D Feats).

Another extraordinarily important thing to explain is Littlings and their Contractual Obligations. Contracts are important to the Little Folk, and everything in the house is defined by Contracts and their concessions by the Forces or their representatives. The Forces are virtually any natural force or concept, and in my eyes they are held to a level that most settings would call deities. All the Littlings are bound by contracts, ranging from their Hereditary contracts which define individual Folk-Type bindings and benefits, to Personal Contracts which are individual Littlings gaining unique favor with one Force or another.

Contracts

Contracts are defined by Concessions and Counterparts. Concessions are what the Force is bestowing upon the character, whilst Counterparts are the behaviors or services expected of the character. Breaking a contract results in Terrible Terrible Things (TTT's). The three primary types of Contracts are the Hereditary, which bind all Folk-types by their strictures, the Personal, which are individual remarkable contracts granted by the Forces, and Welcoming, which permit entry into otherwise unpassable locales or destinations-- such as the fireplace, where a Littling may otherwise burn up!

Hereditary Contracts represent a character's forebears making a deal with one of the Household Forces. The principal contracts are thus;

Fairy - Contract of the Starchild
-The Starchild contract is what bestows the Fairies their remarkable wings. In return for this incredible boon, all Fairies are bound by their names; any agreement signed by name must be obeyed, lest they suffer TTT's.

Boggart - Dear to the Hearth
-The Hearth bestows upon Boggarts the strength of one hundred littlings. They can temporarily 'Go Juggernaut', growing greatly in size (up to double their ordinary and typically already daunting size) and gain immense physical prowess for the time. This wears them down somewhat when it wears off, and usually results in a loss of Decorum due to ripped clothing, but their true Counterpart is being bound by their word; Boggarts must always honor their word, lest they suffer TTT's

Sprites
Salamander - Out of the Spark
-Salamanders are granted Enlightenment by their contract with the Spark; they can glow bioluminescently from their hands, feet, and nose. Yes, they can 'turn this off and on'. Additionally they will receive epiphanies and flashes of inspiration from time to time.

Sylph - Out of the Draft
-Sylphs are bestowed a legendary Lightness by the Draft; they have hollow bones, long and slender, and as such they walk so lightly as to not even disturb dust in their passing. By holding their breath they may 'bloat' for a short period of time, further enhancing their already natural weightlessness.

Undine - Out of the Drain
-Undine are bestowed Water Retention by their contract; their bodies absorb water like great sponges, and as such they are incredibly durable and hardy to the point of even withstanding incredible falls. Mighty blows that would fell other Folk simply cause Undine to swiftly lose their stored water and become disheveled.

Sprites all share the same Counterpart. All Sprites are bound by deals negotiated and sealed with payment. Should they fail to obey this, they will suffer TTT's

Sluagh - Revenant from Farbeyond
-Bestowed by the unknowable Forces of the Farbeyond, Sluagh are granted the benefits of being Unbleeding; their blood is dense, dark, and flows slowly- but is possessed of incredible healing factors. As such, Sluagh are naturally resistant to poisons and drunkenness, and can withstand otherwise lethal blows; a duel to last blood is not something that fazes Sluagh duelists, who can outlast many foes. All Sluagh are bound by their debts, however; any agreement bound by a lost bet must be obeyed lest a Sluagh suffer TTT's

The House

The House itself is a wonder, built by the Master for his Family. It has been many years since the Master walked the halls of the House, however, and no Littling has the strength to master the House itself. A such, the House's exact proportions are unknowable. The greatest of scholars have theorized that a great contract binds the domain of the House, and as such locations within the House are mysteriously perceived in warped measurements. A common example of this is a City within a Drawer; once you enter into the city, the expanse may exceed the literal confines of the Drawer as measured from outside. This phenomenon is noted in many places in the House, and is functionally the game's way of going 'things are as big or as small as they need to be for the importance in the story'. I dig this part. It even notes that the Dining Table's surface is often measured  to exceed the area between the four legs of the table, which causes no end of bickering among scholars who try to explain this phenomenon beyond the conventional assumption of a Contract.

Mechanics

 Trust a sprite if you pay them
 A boggart if they give their word
 A fairy if they sign their name
 And a sluagh when they say 
“you should never trust me”
 Household Proverb

The core mechanic of the game is pairing 'Fields' with 'Skills' to amass a die pool, then rolling and searching for matching sets of results. This is where player agency shines, as you get to decide how your character is approaching a scene or obstacle and pitch it to the GM (There would rarely be a situation where I would feel the need to arbitrate these decisions).

There are four fields (Society, Academia, War, and Street), and twenty skills. On the character sheet they are grouped by typical associations, but this is not a restrictive grouping.

When an action carries a risk, or when it can lead to important Consequences that would influence the development of the story, then it’s time for you to roll the dice.
 There are two kinds of dice rolls in this game:
  Ӵ ACTION ROLLS: For these rolls, you are the one who states the Action, and you can freely choose the Field and Skill you’ll call into play.
 Ӵ REACTION ROLLS: For these rolls, the Narrator asks you to React to a specific event, calling into play a specific Field and Skill

you could approach a situation by trying to be stealthy, warranting a Street+Caution to sneak and bypass hostile presences, or perhaps in a party you may be trying to fly under the radar whilst remaining present on the ballroom floor and that would fall under Society+Caution. A situation of a precarious alchemical laboratory in the midst of a firefight requiring you to juggle reagents and components? Could just as easily be Academia+Craft as it could Academia+Dexterity to avoid cataclysm. This is the primary interface with which the players interact with the world, by choosing a Field and Skill, justifying the choice, then rolling the dice and acting out the results.

The difficulty of these actions is decided by the GM, ranging from 'Basic' to 'Impossible' (one pair to five of a kind), but there are nuances to these rolls and your ability to interact with them, but that can be delved into later if folks are still interested in this game. 'Critical', AKA Three of a Kind, is the 'standard' difficulty to be expected for most tasks that are worth rolling for. If you somehow roll 6 of a kind, that's called a 'Jackpot' and it basically allows you to take over the narration of the scene as a whole and describe how you achieve your goal for the scene. Hey, it gives me a break as GM, I'm all for it.

Reaction rolls are similar to Action rolls, except that I, the mighty GM, would dictate what roll is appropriate for the declared action. This comes up in Combat, unexpected circumstances, emergencies, and otherwise dramatic moments. Enemies do not roll to hit you; you will be called on to React to them, as deemed appropriate by the GM, to avoid harm and embarassment.

The core mechanic of interaction with rolls is 'Rerolls' and 'Free Rerolls', which all I'll elaborate on for now is that you can risk what you currently have to try and improve the result- unless it's 'Free', in which case always take your reroll as it cannot harm you!

Characters will have access to specialized maneuvers called 'Moves' which give them unique abilities or access to 'Free Rerolls'; think of these like Feats in D&D.

Instead of tracking HP you have 'Stress', and it acts as plot armor, social graces, physical might, whatever you need to fluff it as to understand this system is an abstract and simple portrayal of the heroics and struggles of these little folk. Taking too much 'Stress' results in becoming Overstressed, and risking 'Bowing Out' of the scene- the game does not overtly risk death upon anyone without their consent outside of few remarkable circumstances. Situationally you may suffer 'Conditions', which modify die pools in relevant fashions. Becoming Hurt, for example, makes it harder to wield your War field and imposes maluses on your physical efforts.

There are some other nuances and mechanics, and a limited method of advancement, but this covers the 'mechanics' of Household to an extent that it should help you decide if this style of gameplay seems fun to y'all.

In this hypothetical, my Boggart by the name of Eniston Poglwogl, is attempting to sneak past some gendarmes who are in an offensive patrol arc around my intended heist target. I shall take my hypothetical Street field of 2 and my hypothetical Elusion skill of 3, and shove them together to make a pool of 5 dice. My GM tells me the difficulty of the test is Critical [three of a kind].

I roll the dice, and get two pairs (two basic successes)

This is not enough to reach the threshold of a Critical difficulty, and as such there will be consequences for Eniston Poglwogl in this situation- although my two basic successes may situationally still permit certain benefits, such as declaring I reached certain positions before I got caught. I have scored at least a Basic Success (one pair), therefor I have the opportunity to Reroll. As I have no sources of a 'Free Reroll', I will gamble with the normal Reroll; roll all non-matched dice again, but if I do not improve my result I will lose one of my current successes. Seeing as the GM was generous enough to let me know the difficulty ahead of time, I know I may as well gamble on this one. Thus I reroll my singular failed die;

the 6 became a 2, my success does not improve and I lose one of my basic Successes.

Eniston is caught out in the open, tripping over his own untied shoelaces and into the sight of the gendarme, but managed to regain footing and break into a run to gain some distance before the guard managed to blow their whistle.

This is just one simple example of how the dice mechanics can function.

Conflict comes in various forms. Mechanically, these situations will hold to the same Action or Reaction roll system the rest of the game is built upon.

As described above, conflicts come in many shapes and sizes- and explicit combat is not the only way for a Littling to suffer stress! Generally Conflicts will operate in 'Turns', situationally favoring the Players or the Opposition. If the circumstances favor the Players, all the Littlings will get an opportunity to begin the Conflict with an Action; otherwise Conflict will begin with a Reaction phase dictated by the GM.

This system does not use Initiative, nor hard turn orders, or anything of the sort. Nor does the GM track specific opposition stats or stress or actions. The exception to this is Duels, which will be described separately.

Unless otherwise stated by the GM, Combat will be handled by summing the opposition into a group. I may describe a literal number, such as ten or five or fifteen, deserters; this is largely mechanically irrelevant. The ability to narrate and fluff as you desire within the prescribed environment is shared between the players and the GM once the outlines are established, and dictated by the die rolls. This means that if our party ends up in an ambush of ten deserters, all players are functionally attacking the same mechanical entity; 'The deserters' share stress and exist as a narrative tool for the GM to impose Reaction Rolls onto the players. Sometimes a single entity, such as a spider, or a centipede, or a particularly noteworthy duelist, could even constitute the same combat circumstance!

In Combat, all Actions and Reaction rolls use the War Field

Eniston Poglwogl, Boggart Thief, is accompanied by Verafina Nightshade, a Sluagh huntress, and Ace of Spades, a Fairy scissor-for-hire. Eniston previously failed to sneak past the gendarmerie to reach his goal, and is thinking through a new plan with clues discovered by Verafina separate to his own escapades. Their camp is suddenly surrounded in the night; twelve dirty and poorly armed deserters are trying to make a move.

Because of this ambush scenario, our Littles were poor in setting up camp and did not keep a watch, the Combat begins with a Reaction. Based on the traits and abilities the GM has decided upon for these deserters, the Littles need Critical Successes to avoid harm in this initial ambush. The GM describes how the deserters act, and dictate the Reactions needed to avoid harm to each Player; 

Eniston's reputation as a scrappy brawler precedes him, and so the deserters wield their few firearms in an opening fusillade against the players. The GM calls for War+Athletics to swiftly seek cover against the hail of fire. This is a decent pool for the scrappy Boggart, but a poor pool for the roguish Ace of Spades, whilst Verafina has a favorable pool for this roll.

All three players roll and seek a Critical Success (three of a kind). After pursuing rerolls and making use of traits or Aces, Eniston gets two basic successes (two pairs), Ace of Spades rolls his comparatively small pool and only gets one basic success (one pair), whereas Verafina is extremely lucky and rolls two critical successes (two three-of-a-kind rolls).

Verafina has scored sufficient 'additional successes' to share in the wealth with her companions; she decides to spend her extra Critical success protecting Ace of Spades as well. She describes how she weaves through the gunfire elegantly, before reaching out and pulling Ace of Spades out of the way of harm entirely. Her shared success mitigated the harm coming towards both of them.

Eniston, however, did not achieve a full success. Failing a Critical Reaction roll typically results in suffering 3 Stress, however he rolled two basic successes. He may mitigate the damage suffered with this; Eniston describes how as the first shot takes him low in the arm, he dives to the side and runs into the mushroom thicket for cover. He only suffers 1 Stress instead of the full 3, his lesser successes reducing the threat.

It is now the Players turn to Act, and Eniston gleefully describes as he Goes Juggernaut... The deserters may have chosen the wrong travelers to ambush!

Aces and Jokers

Duels

The rules for Dueling will be screenshotted below for easy reference. The DM has a few optional rules to make use of to add diversity to duels, and they will be utilized as they arise.

Weak Spots

Battle is not solely the domain of the powerful scissors-for-hire or thugs of the Household, and the quick-witted or conniving can find ample room to turn the tide against a party's foes with their intellect or schemes. This is where 'Weak Spots' come in.

To keep this abundantly clear, each Opponent can only have ONE weak spot, and it can only be taken advantage of ONCE. They are a diverse and potentially very powerful tool. The rule for discerning weak spots will be screenshotted below, and for the sake of clear mechanical expectations I will state that Weak Spots are randomly determined by a series of tables upon a Littling searching for one.

Brawls!

A brawl is like a Combat, but for Littlings to duke things out with Fisticuffs! To keep it simple, a Brawl uses mostly the same rules as a typical conflict, except that it is solely meant for outright unarmed brawls of the chaotic, tavern-sprawling, nature. Once someone dares to draw a true weapon, the typical combat rules take precedence once again and will ensue from that point forward.

In a Brawl, the exception to the standard rules is that regardless of Action or Reaction turns, on successful rolls you will inflict Stress on the opponent, and on failed rolls you will suffer the stress. Brawls are a chaotic, sometimes senseless, flurry of blows!

Ranged Combat and Cover

Making a Trade and Raising the Stakes

These mechanics are similar but subtly different. Making a Trade is an opportunity for you, the player, to suggest a reasonable alternative to suffering Stress for GM approval. Reducing decorum, a stray bullet catching your coin pouch, breaking a favored piece of equipment, suffering a condition, etc., are all examples of 'making a trade' with the GM. As always, the GM has final say on whether or not they accept the trade.

Raising the Stakes, on the other hand, is a bargain offered by the GM. You may at some time succeed on a roll; as strange as this may sound, it is bound to happen. Occasionally the GM may attempt to entice you into a reroll, trying to improve your result, with a bribe of additional information, improved outcome, or other favorable circumstances. Perhaps you succeeded in your bribe, but the GM offers 'Let's raise the stakes; if you reroll and improve your result, you will learn something from the disgruntled guard about their boss'. Whether you accept such stakes is up to you; failure will result in losing your already earned success!

Leaving Combat

This one is rather simple; to leave a combat situation, you roll Elusion+War against the Opponent Difficulty. If you're the LAST person to leave, you get a -1 to your roll! Sometimes holding the line can be difficult, after all.

Setting and Map; The House

Brief Summary and description of the Demesne Contract here.

Yep.

Uh-huh.

There is a timeline, various maps, and detailed historical/cultural artifacts to each of the nations, major cities, and the Folk of the House. I will elaborate on what I feel is necessary as time passes, but for now this will be the launch of the OOC as I shuffle the character materials to all those interested.
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The Final Flame of a Fiery Bird

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