Author’s Diary: Update for the Week of May 1, 2020

(Contribute to our Patreon campaign for updates every weekday or join us on the Radio Free Covenant Discord server! You can also listen to the latest episode of the Radio Free Covenant podcast!)

It’s a been a busy week. We’ve gotten more done the the playtest rules. Click through to see what we’ve done.

MEDICINE BID

Cure: Remove a physical drain (EXAMPLE: a poison, a disease, bleeding, or radiation poisoning) or mental drain (EXAMPLE: stress, horror, fear) from a character

• To Accomplish: 
  • Drain from Environment: Fixed Medicine bid, set by FM
  • Drain from Character: Target equals that character’s bid to create the drain
  • The characters must make separate bids for each drain xi wants to cure.
  • Can cure drains in organic characters, not inorganic ones like robots or vehicles
  • Can only be performed on one patient per bid
  • Does not work on drains with specific cures
• Successful Bid: The character removes the drain from the patient. This does not heal any damage caused by the drain, but it does prevent the drain from doing further damage to the patient.
• Unsuccessful Bid: 
  • Nothing happens.
  • The patient takes an amount of biological chapter damage equal to the character’s bid.
  • Anyone trying to cure this drain in this patient suffers 1 disadvantage to all Medicine bids.
• Suggested Traits: Knowledge, Medicine
• Suggested Advantages: 
  • The character and patient are in a facility specializing in the type of curing being done (EXAMPLE: a hospital for physical drains, a mental ward for mental drains, etc.).
• Suggested Disadvantages: 
  • The character is not using appropriate equipment.
  • The patient is from a different species.
  • The patient has 1 or more physical or mental conditions.
  • The patient has more than 1 drain.

Treat: Remove a physical condition (EXAMPLE: exhaustion) or mental condition (EXAMPLE: demoralized) from a character

• To Accomplish: 
  • Condition from Environment: Fixed Medicine bid, set by FM
  • Condition from Character: Target equals that character’s bid to create the condition
  • The characters must make separate bids for each condition xi wants to treat.
  • Can only treat physical conditions in organic characters, not inorganic ones like robots or vehicles
  • Can only treat mental conditions in sapient characters and pets
  • Can only be performed on one patient per bid
• Successful Bid: The character removes the condition from the patient. This does not heal any damage caused by the condition, but it does prevent the condition from further affecting the patient.
• Unsuccessful Bid: 
  • Nothing happens.
  • The patient takes an amount of biological chapter damage equal to the character’s bid.
  • Anyone trying to treat this condition in this patient suffers 1 disadvantage to all Medicine bids.
• Suggested Traits: Knowledge, Medicine
• Suggested Advantages: 
  • The character and patient are in a facility specializing in the type of treatment being done (EXAMPLE: a hospital for physical conditions, a mental ward for mental conditions, etc.).
• Suggested Disadvantages: 
  • The character is not using appropriate equipment.
  • The patient is from a different species.
  • The patient has 1 or more physical or mental conditions.
  • The patient has 1 or more drains.

Diagnose: Learn what is ailing a patient and how to treat xir

• To Accomplish: 
  • Fixed Medicine bid, set by FM
  • Can only diagnose organic characters, mounts, and pets, not inorganic ones like robots or vehicles
  • Can only be performed on one patient per bid
• Successful Bid: 
  • The character learn all of the following:
    • The patient’s status, which can be either:
      • Conscious
      • Unconscious or comatose (incapacitated from scene damage)
      • Dying (incapacitated from chapter or long-term damage)
      • Dead
    • All of the patient’s drains
    • All of the patient’s conditions
  • The character learns the cure or treatment for 1 of the patient’s drains or conditions (FM’s choice). This can give the character 1 advantage to Medicine bids to cure or treat this drain or condition.
• Unsuccessful Bid: 
  • The character learns nothing.
  • The character suffers 1 disadvantage to heal, cure, or treat the patient.
• Suggested Traits: Knowledge, Medicine, Perception
• Suggested Advantages: 
  • The character and patient are in a facility specializing in the type of diagnosis being done (EXAMPLE: a hospital for physical conditions, a mental ward for mental conditions, etc.).
• Suggested Disadvantages: 
  • The character is not using appropriate equipment.
  • The patient is from a different species.
  • The patient has 1 or more physical or mental conditions.
  • The patient has 1 or more drains.

MOVEMENT BID

Move: Move your character 1 area during a scene

• To Accomplish:
  • Fixed bid, target of 10
  • Can be made as many times as the character wishes during xir turn
  • Must be made once for each area the character moves through
  • Can be made for characters, vehicles, mounts, pets, and ROVs
• Successful Bid: The character moves from xir current area to an adjacent area, assuming that the character is able to travel between the two.
• Unsuccessful Bid:
  • Nothing happens.
  • The character slips and falls prone.
• Suggested Traits: Agility, Athletics, Chasing, Evasion, Knowledge, Movement
• Suggested Advantages:
  • The character is larger than size 5.
  • The character has more than two hands and feet (or four paws).
  • The character’s body is designed for moving through the terrain (EXAMPLE: a monkey swinging through a jungle, a snake slithering through a narrow tunnel).
  • The gravity is lower than what the character is used to.
• Suggested Disadvantages:
  • The character is smaller than size 5.
  • The character is intoxicated.
  • The character has injured or lost the use of xir arms or legs.
  • The character’s movement is restricted (EXAMPLE: by a net, shackles, rope, handcuffs, or another character).
  • The character’s footing is uncertain (i.e., a narrow ledge, an icy sidewalk, etc.).
  • The character is moving from or to difficult terrain.
  • The character is fat, heavyset, or dense.
  • The gravity is higher than what the character is used to.
  • The character is moving in zero gravity or freefall and is not trained for it.
  • The character is trying to remain hidden while xi moves.
  • The character is overburdened.

PERCEPTION BID

Read: Reading another character’s intentions or truthfulness

• To Accomplish:
  • Opposed perception bid vs. opponent’s Stealth or Trickery bid
• Successful Bid: The character gets a sense of the opponent’s intentions or whether xi believes that xi is telling the truth. This is not mind-reading. The character will only get the kind of information that they could get from reading the opponent’s behavior and facial expressions.
• Unsuccessful Bid: 
  • The character believes the opponent.
  • The character gets an incorrect impression of the opponent’s intentions or truthfulness.
• Suggested Traits: Influence, Knowledge, Perception, Stealth, Trickery
• Suggested Advantages: 
  • The character has a career or job where they need to read intentions or truthfulness (EXAMPLE: a police officer, a private investigator).
  • The opponent is a tie, close friend, or someone with whom the character interacts on a regular basis.
• Suggested Disadvantages: 
  • The character cannot read the opponent’s facial expressions or body language (EXAMPLE: the opponent is wearing a helmet with an opaque visor, the opponent is communicating over a radio or by text)
  • The character is blind, deaf, or otherwise missing a relevant sense.
  • There is a language barrier between the character and opponent.
  • The character and opponent are from different domains.
  • The character and opponent are from different species.

Discover: Uncovering hidden items or characters, either through sight, sound, or any other sense or means

• To Accomplish: 
  • Opposed Perception bid vs. opponent’s Stealth or Trickery bid
  • If the opponent is an item, then use the Stealth or Trickery bid used to hide it as the bid’s target.
• Successful Bid: The character finds the opponent or item.
• Unsuccessful Bid:
  • The character does not find the opponent or item.
  • The character thinks xi finds something, but it’s in a different location than the opponent or item.
• Suggested Traits: Influence, Knowledge, Perception, Stealth, Trickery
• Suggested Advantages: 
  • The character has a career or job where they need to find hidden people or items (EXAMPLE: a police officer, a burglar).
  • The character has 1 or more sensors that can be used to help in the search.
  • The character has the time and ability to make a thorough search.
• Suggested Disadvantages: 
  • The character is blind, deaf, or otherwise missing a relevant sense.
  • The character does not have sufficient light or is in a distracting environment (EXAMPLE: loud noises, flashing lights, overpowering smells, etc.).
  • The opponent or item is camouflaged.

---

That’s it for this week! Stop by next week for more, or contribute to our Patreon page for updates every weekday.