Rules Summary for Covenant

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Featured Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

We finished the current draft of the playtest rules yesterday! To celebrate, we’re going to post a updated summary of Covenant’s rules. You can also read and comment on the current version of the rules summary of Google Docs.

Click through for more.

PRONOUNS

• These rules use the genderless pronouns xi and xir.
• This convention replicates a Covenant custom of referring to strangers with genderless pronouns until their genders and/or preferred pronouns are known. There are two reasons for this:
  • The Orion Arm’s sapient species have gender cues that untrained members of other species often can’t recognize.
  • Many sapients, including humans, do not adhere to a strict male/female binary.

Gendered Pronouns	Genderless Pronouns	Gendered Example	Genderless Example
he, she	xi	He opened the door.	Xi opened the door.
his, him, her	xir	She picked up her things.	Xi picked up xir things.

PARTICIPANTS

• Each Covenant game has 2-6 participants.
• Participants: There are 2 types of participants:
  • Players: The players are the story’s main characters 
  • Force Majeure: The Force Majeure (FM) fills the role of gamemaster in other roleplaying games
• The players and FM play or “run” characters.
• Characters: There are 2 types of characters:
  • Player Characters (PCs):
    • Run by the players
    • Usually (but not always) the main characters
  • Non-Player Characters: 
    • Run by the FM
    • Includes characters that oppose the PCs (EXAMPLE: monsters, opponents)
    • Includes characters that might help the PCs (sometimes for a price) or are neutral (EXAMPLE: contacts, bystanders, merchants)
• The No Down Time Rule: If a player doesn’t have a PC involved in a scene, then the FM should give xir an NPC to run, even if it is one of the PC’s opponents.

TIME

• Time is measured in the following way in Covenant:
  • Scene:
    • A scene is a single encounter with other characters, a trap, a puzzle, etc.
    • Each character participating in a scene takes a turn.
    • A round is when every character in a scene takes a turn.
  • Chapter: A chapter is a series of related scenes, usually a single plot arc.
  • Story: A story is a series of related chapters that should tie up all plot threads.
  • Interstitial: An interstitial is the time between scenes.
  • Intermission: An intermission is the time between chapters.
• Recharging: These time periods are important, for they determine how often characters regain or recharge used abilities and resources.

DISCIPLINE

• What It Is: Covenant does not use dice. Instead, it uses a characters’ discipline to resolve xir conflicts and determine if xi can perform tasks.
  • Discipline combines a character’s physical, mental, social, and financial resources.
  • Players can roleplay how their characters spend their discipline however they want, as long as it doesn’t change the results of what they are doing
• Sharing Discipline: 
  • If a character makes a bid, then other characters — friend, foe, or neutral — can contribute xir Discipline to the bid as well.
  • Characters don’t have to wait for their turns during a scene to share Discipline.
  • Characters don’t have to take a special action or have a special ability who share Discipline.
  • Characters share Discipline to a bid at that bid’s cost (see Advantages and Disadvantages for more). EXAMPLE: If a bid is double-cost, then a character must share 2 Discipline for every 1 that xi wants to increase that bid.

TIES

• Characters get their discipline from ties.
• Every tie has two characteristics:
  • It is important to the character.
  • It is something that the character can lose.
• Losing Ties: If a character loses a tie, xi loses the discipline from that tie.
• Losing All Ties: If a character loses all xir ties, the character is eliminated from the game.
• Discipline: Each tie is worth 100 discipline.
• Starting Ties: Each character starts with 3 ties.

BIDS

• To accomplish tasks, characters spend discipline to make bids.
• The higher a character’s bid, the more likely it is to succeed.
• Discipline spent on bids is considered scene damage (see Damage Severity below).
• Types of Bids: There are 2 types of bids.
  • Fixed Bid:
    • A fixed bid is made against a target set by the FM.
    • If the character’s bid exceeds the target, then the character wins the bid and accomplishes xir task.
    • If the character’s bid does not exceed the target, then the FM wins the bid, and the character fails at xir task.
    • If a character succeeds at a fixed bid to overcome an obstacle, then xi will always be able to overcome that obstacle without spending additional Discipline or making additional bids, as long as conditions don’t change.
  • Opposed Bid:
    • An opposed bid is made two characters:
      • Attacker: Character trying to make a change in the game world 
      • Defender: Character trying to prevent a change in the game world
    • Whoever’s bid is higher wins the bid.
    • Ties go to the defender.
    • Bids made against an item created another character (EXAMPLE: a character trying to pick a lock) are opposed bids. The defender’s bid equals the bid the character made to create the item.
• Storytelling Control: Whoever wins the bid gains storytelling control for that bid and can describe its results.
• Failing Forward: The winner of a bid (either the FM or a character) can choose to let the loser fail forward or “succeed with conditions”.
  • Setback: The loser’s actions cause a related problem. 
  • Silver Lining: The loser fails xir task, but gains something unexpected.
  • Improvement: The loser fails this time, but gains 1 advantage to xir next bid against the same target.
  • Tactical Advantage: The winner loses this bid in exchange for winning xir next bid against the loser or gaining a tactical advantage against the loser.
  • Condition: The loser succeeds, but suffers a lingering effect as a result.
  • Ablative Gear: The loser succeeds, but loses a piece of gear selected by the FM in doing so.
• Sacrificing: 
  • A player can sacrifice xir character if xir party is in an unwinnable scene.
  • A sacrificed character doesn’t necessarily have to die. However, xi is removed for the rest of the story.
  • How to Sacrifice: To sacrifice a character:
    • The FM determines the effect of the character’s sacrifice.
    • The FM tells this to the player who is sacrificing xir character, along with any other details that xi should include in xir description.
    • This player then gains storytelling control until the end of the scene and describes its resolution, including how xir character is lost.
  • Benefits of Sacrificing:
    • When a player sacrifices xir character, xi can make a new character with the same number of Discipline, ties, assets, and tokens (see Assets and Tokens below), plus 1 additional token from good karma.
    • This new character can be introduced during this story or a future story.
• Automatic Bids:
  • Characters don’t have to spend discipline or make bids to succeed at a task if any of the following apply:
    • The task is required to move the story forward.
    • The characters have unlimited time and resources.
    • The characters are not under stress, under attack, under a time limit, or facing obstacles.
    • The players can accomplish the task through roleplaying only.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

• Advantages: Anything that benefits a character’s bid gives that bid 1 advantage.
• Disadvantages: Anything that hinders a character’s bid gives that bid 1 disadvantage.
• Effects: The only thing that matters is whether a bid has more advantages than disadvantages.
  • More Advantages: Spend 1 Discipline to raise the bid by 2. This makes the bid half-cost.
  • More Disadvantages: Spend 2 Discipline to raise the bid by 1. This makes the bid double-cost.
  • Equal Number: Spend 1 Discipline to raise the bid by 1. This makes the bid normal-cost.
• Banking Advantages: Characters can bank 1 advantage from each successful bid, as long as those bids have advantages.
  • Banked advantages can be spent to either:
    • Give the character 1 advantage on a bid
    • Give an ally 1 advantage on a bid
    • Give an opponent 1 disadvantage on a bid
  • Banked advantages are lost when the character starts xir next turn. 
• Spending Advantages:
  • A character can spend a bid’s advantages to gain additional benefits.
  • Each advantage spent reduces a bid’s total number of advantages by 1.
  • A character can spend all of the advantages that xi has on a bid, if xi wants.
  • A character must spend xir advantages before xi starts spending Discipline on that bid.
  • Spending 1 Advantage:
    • Increase a bid by 5, or…
    • Impose 1 disadvantage on your opponent during an opposed bid
  • Spending 2 Advantages: Immediately recharge 1 asset so that it can be used for the current bid (see Assets for more).
• Stunting Bids:
  • Characters make their bids harder to gain beneficial effects. This is called stunting.
  • Bids can only be stunted if they are half-cost or normal-cost.
  • When a character stunts a bid, the bid:
    • Increases in cost 1 step:
      • Half-cost bids become normal-cost
      • Normal-cost bids become double-cost
    • Loses all its advantages and disadvantages
  • Stunted bids have 1 of the following effects:
    • Turns the character’s next bid into a half-cost bid
    • Turns an ally’s next bid into a double-cost bid
    • Turns an opponent’s next bid  into a double-cost bid
    • Inspires allies, giving 1 advantage on all their bids until the character’s next turn 
    • Intimidates opponents, imposing 1 disadvantage on all their bids until the characters’s next turn
    • Preventing an opponent from moving until the character’s next turn
    • Anything else that the FM thinks is appropriate

ROLEPLAYING EFFECTS ON BIDS

• A participant can improve xir characters’ chances of success with good roleplaying and a good backstory.
• Characterizing: A participant can describe xir character’s actions in a particularly vivid way when making a bid. This is called characterizing.
• Flashbacking: If a character fails or loses a bid, xi can describe a scene from xir character’s earlier life that may help xir with xir bid. This is called flashbacking.
• When characterizing or flashbacking a bid, the player should confine xir description to no more than 3 sentences or 1 paragraph to save time.
• Characterizing and flashbacking a bid both add 1 advantage to that bid.
• The player can characterize xir character’s bid, then flashback it if xir character loses or fails the bid.

DAMAGE SEVERITIES

• A character’s discipline is grouped into 4 groups or damage severities:
  • Free Discipline: Can be spent freely
  • Scene Damage:
    • Represents:
      • Bruises and “stun” damage
      • Stress
      • Minor embarrassment
      • Committing minor crimes
      • Calling in favors
      • Short-term expenditures of money, credit, and social capital
    • Recharged into free discipline at the end of each scene
  • Chapter Damage:
    • Represents:
      • Potentially lethal wounds
      • Mental trauma
      • Losing face
      • Committing felonies
      • Endangering contacts or straining the characters’ relationship with xir
      • Long-term expenditures of money, credit, and social capital
    • Recharged into free discipline at the end of each chapter
  • Long-Term Damage:
    • Represents:
      • Limb loss
      • Long-term mental trauma and brain damage
      • Committing capital offenses like treason
      • Burning contacts
      • Permanent loss of money, credit and social capital
    • Only recharged by completing quests or with cybernetic implants

DAMAGE

• If a character is damaged, xi moves discipline from xir free discipline to one of xir three damage categories, depending on the type of damage taken.
  • Scene Damage: Discipline is moved from free discipline to scene damage.
  • Chapter Damage: Discipline is moved from free discipline to chapter damage.
  • Long-Term Damage: Discipline is moved from free discipline to long-term  damage.
• Resistance Bids: If a character is damaged by an attack, a trap, or the game’s environment, xi must make a fixed Resistance bid to move discipline from free discipline to another damage severity.
  • The Resistance bid’s target equals the damage dealt by the attack, trap, or environmental damage.
  • A Resistance bid’s damage severity equals the damage severity of the attack, trap,  or environmental damage (EXAMPLE: If the character is damaged by a weapon that does chapter damage, then the Discipline spent on this bid must be moved from xir free discipline to chapter damage).
• Incapacitiation: If the character fails a Resistance bid, then they are incapacitated. The level of incapacitation varies depending on the damage severity, but its effects are determined by whoever has storytelling control.
  • Scene Damage:
    • The character falls unconscious.
    • The character runs away.
    • The character gets fed up and leaves.
    • The character is detained briefly by the authorities.
  • Chapter or Long-Term Damage:
    • The character falls unconscious and lies dying on the ground.
    • The character suffers a nervous breakdown.
    • The character is so humiliated that xi has to go into hiding.
    • The character is under so much suspicion that xi is arrested.
• Effects of Incapacitation: An incapacitated character cannot participate in the game until xi is healed. If xi is not healed by the end of the scene, then xir fate depends on how xi was incapacitated.
  • Scene Damage: The character wakes up and rejoins the game when xir scene damage recharges at the end of the scene.
  • Chapter or Long-Term Damage: The character is eliminated from the game.

DRAINS

• Drains represent anything that does sustained damage or damage-over-time to a character or item.
• Drains have 4 elements:
  • Cycle: How often the drain damages the target (EXAMPLE: “every round”, “every 15 minutes”, “every day”)
  • Magnitude: The amount of damage the drain inflicts every cycle
  • Severity: The severity of the drain’s damage. This can be:
    • Scene damage
    • Chapter damage
    • Long-term damage
  • Cure: How to stop the drain from damaging the target (EXAMPLE: “putting out the fire”, “taking the antidote”, “cutting off your deadbeat brother or taking care of his loan shark”)
• There are two kinds of drains:
  • Fast Drains:
    • Have cycles measured in rounds.
    • Are automatically cured at the end of a scene (or the end of the scene if contracted during an interstitial). This assumes that the characters can turn their attention from surviving the scene to helping stricken allies.
  • Lingering Drains:
    • Have cycles measured in minutes or longer.
    • Keep damaging a character until:
      • Xi is reduced to 0 free Discipline
      • Xi receives the drain’s cure
    • May be cured at the end of the chapter, when characters have time to go to a hospital or therapist and recuperate, but only at the FM’s discretion

CONDITIONS

• Conditions impose lingering advantages, disadvantages, or other effects on characters.
• Conditions have 2 elements:
  • Effect: What the condition does and, if it imposes advantages or disadvantages, which bids it affects
  • Cure: How to get rid of the condition
• There are 2 kinds of conditions:
  • Fast Conditions: Are automatically cured at the end of a scene (or the end of the scene if contracted during an interstitial). This assumes that the characters can turn their attention from surviving the scene to helping stricken allies.
  • Lingering Conditions:
    • Keep affecting the character until xi is cured
    • May be cured at the end of the chapter, when characters have time to deal with them, but only at the FM’s discretion

ASSETS

• Every character has assets.
• A characters can use xir assets to: 
  • Lower the costs of xir bids or allies’ bids
  • Increase the cost of opponents’ bid
  • Do things that they normally can’t do
• There are 3 kinds of assets:
  • Traits: Qualities that are inherent to a character
  • Goals: Special traits that represent a character’s motivations
  • Abilities: Special powers that a character can use under the right circumstances

USING ASSETS

• Once a character uses an asset, xi can’t use it again until it recharges.
• How quickly an asset recharges is based on how it is used.
• Some assets have more than 1 use.
  • Each use of an asset has its own recharge frequency.
  • If an asset has more than 1 use, then the character can only utilize 1 use at a time.
  • Once an asset is used, the character can’t utilize its other uses until it recharges.
  • Generally speaking, the longer it takes to recharge an asset’s use, the more powerful that use is.
• There are 4 ways to use assets.
  • Expend:
    • The asset recharges at the start of the character’s next turn in a scene.
    • If the asset is expended during an interstitial or intermission, then it recharges when the character’s bid is resolved.
  • Tap:
    • The asset recharges at the end of the scene.
    • If the asset is tapped between scenes, then it recharges at the end of the next scene.
  • Exhaust:
    • The asset recharges at the end of the chapter.
    • If the asset is exhausted during an intermission, then it recharges at the end of the next chapter.
  • Destroy:
    • The asset is destroyed.
    • The character permanently loses the asset.

TRAITS

• Traits are:
  • Anything that is inherent to a character
  • Any item that a character has on xir person
  • Any item to which a character has access (EXAMPLE: a vehicle, a workshop, a laboratory, etc.)
• Traits can include:
  • The character’s skills
  • The character’s species
  • The character’s gender
  • The character’s sexual orientation
  • People that the character knows, including contacts and enemies
  • Cultures that the character is part of or knows
  • Areas that the character comes from or knows
  • The character’s ties
  • A vehicle or piece of gear
• Using Traits: 
  • Characters use traits by tapping them.
  • Traits cover fairly broad areas and can be used for any applicable bid.
    • EXAMPLE: A character with the Rifles trait can use it for bids to:
      • Shoot a rifle
      • Defend from or avoid a rifle attack
      • Maintain or repair a rifle
      • Upgrade a rifle
      • Know a rifle’s range and capabilities
      • Buy a rifle
      • Deal with characters who use rifles — in other words, talk shop
  • Characters can use tapped traits to either:
    • Add 1 advantage to a bid.
    • Add 1 disadvantage to an opponent’s bid.
• Ties:
  • A character’s ties can also be tapped as traits.
  • Ties provide a character with Discipline even when they are tapped.
• Gear:
  • Some traits represent items. These traits are known are gear.
  • Some gear is necessary to perform certain tasks.
  • Other gear increases the character’s capabilities or resistance.
  • A piece of gear may have more than 1 use.
  • Each use of a piece of gear may have a different recharge frequency.
  • Generally speaking, the longer it takes for a use to recharge, the more powerful it is.
  • Using any 1 use of a piece of gear prevents the character from using any other use of that piece of gear until the gear recharges.
• Negative Traits:
  • Traits can also be considered negative traits.
  • Traits become negative traits through:
    • Politics
    • Prejudice
    • Being incompatible or a hindrance in the current situation
  • EXAMPLE: The Fighting trait might be a negative trait in situations where the character is trying to use diplomacy or peaceful persuasion.
  • A negative trait is considered expended until the conditions that turned it into a negative trait no longer apply.
• Sharing Traits:
  • If a character makes a bid, then other characters can tap their own traits to give the bidding character advantages or disadvantages.
  • The sharing character chooses the effects of xir shared traits. These effects can be all the same or a mix of different benefits.
  • Characters don’t have to wait for their turn during a scene to share traits.
  • Characters don’t have to take a special action or have a special ability to share traits.

GOALS

• Goals are a special but optional kind of trait that represent a character’s motivations.
• Goals have 3 components:
  • Conditions:
    • The character must fulfill the goal’s conditions by a certain deadline, usually the end of the current chapter or end of the story.
    • It’s possible for a goal to have conditions that can’t be fulfilled. When this happens, the character immediately fails that goal. EXAMPLE: The character has a goal of protecting someone. If that person dies, then the character fails that goal.
  • Stakes:
    • The character must put up stakes for xir goal.
    • These stakes are chosen by the character and can be anything or anyone that xi can lose.
    • If the character fails the goal’s conditions, then xi loses the stakes.
  • Catharsis:
    • The character must choose a catharsis for xir goal.
    • The catharsis is an additional reward that the character receives above and beyond the benefits of fulfilling xir goal’s conditions.
• Characters can have 1 major goal and 1 minor goal at any time.
  • Major Goal:
    • The goal is a long-term one.
    • The goal must be fulfilled by the end of the story.
    • The catharsis cannot be greater than gaining a new tie.
  • Minor Goal:
    • The goal is a short-term one.
    • The goal must be fulfilled by the end of the current chapter.
    • The catharsis cannot be greater than a new tie being made available to the character.
• Goals can be tapped like traits for any bid that would further that goal.

ABILITIES

• Abilities are powerful skills or talents.
• Abilities let the character do something that xi normally can’t do, like disarm or trip an opponent.
• Abilities may have more than 1 use.
• Each use of an ability may have a different recharge frequency.
• Generally speaking, the longer it takes for a use to recharge, the more powerful it is.
• Using any 1 use of an ability prevents the character from using any other use of that ability until the ability recharges.

AREAS

• Covenant uses areas to structure the space in a scene.
• Areas are usually 10 meters square, but they can be smaller or larger. 
• During spaceship fights, areas can mean thousands or even millions of kilometers on a side.
• There are two types of areas, which can exist side-by-side in the same scene:
  • Walled-off areas that are accessible to each other only by doors or windows (EXAMPLE: the rooms in a building or spaceship, etc.)
  • Arbitrary section of a larger space (EXAMPLE: a long corridor, a hangar, a field, interplanetary space, etc.)

WEAPON RANGES

• Areas show who can attack who, as well as where everyone is.
• There are three kinds of attacks: close attacks, ranged attacks, and area attacks.
  • Close Attacks:
    • Characters can make close attacks against any character in the same area.
    • Characters are assumed to be constantly maneuvering and jockeying for a position during a fight, hence why everyone can attack everyone else in the same area with close attacks.
    • Close attack weapons can include, but aren’t limited to:
      • Unarmed attacks
      • Swords
      • Spears
      • Clubs
      • Knives
  • Ranged Attacks:
    • Characters can make ranged attacks against other characters in other areas.
    • Characters can only make ranged attacks into areas into which they have line-of-sight.
    • The number of areas separating attacker and defender during a ranged attack is the attack’s range.
    • Ranged attack weapons can include, but aren’t limited to:
      • Bows
      • Guns
      • Thrown weapons like knives and javelins
  • Area Attacks:
    • Characters can make area attacks against every character in 1 area, be they friend or foe.
    • Characters can make area attacks into any area where they can make ranged attacks. However, specific area attack weapons may break this guideline.
    • Area attack weapons can include, but aren’t limited to:
      • Grenades and other explosives
      • Automatic weapons like machine guns and assault rifles
      • Artillery
      • Many vehicle-mounted weapons

SIZE

• Covenant assigns everyone and everything a numerical size based on its longest dimension.

Size	Longest Dimension
1	0.125 m (~5 in.)
2	0.25 m (~10 in.)
3	0.5 m (~1.6 ft.)
4	1 m (~3.3 ft.)
5	2 m (~6.6 ft.)
6	4 m (~13.1 ft.)
7	8 m (~26.2 ft.)
8	16 m (~52.5 ft.)
9	32 m (~105 ft.)
10	64 m (~210 ft.)
And so on	And so on

• The FM can adjust these sizes based on shape:
  • Thin or Long: Reduce size by 1.
  • Massive, Thick, or Fat: Increase size by 1.

RELATIVE SIZES

• The important thing about sizes is the difference between them, not what their exact values are.
• Relative sizes affect opposed bids, especially Fighting, Stealth, and Resistance bids.
  • For every 1 size the attacker is smaller than the defender:
    • Add 1 advantage to the attacker’s Fighting and Stealth bids.
    • Add 1 advantage to the defender’s Resistance bids.
  • For every 1 size the attacker is larger than the defender:
    • Add 1 disadvantage to the attacker’s Fighting and Stealth bids.
    • Add 1 disadvantage to the defender’s Resistance bids.

CALLED SHOTS

• Characters can attack specific parts of an opponent’s body with a called shot.
• A successful attack to a character’s body part:
  • Does normal damage
  • Imposes disadvantages
• Any additional effects from a called shot last until the character receives any healing or the end of the scene.
• Body Parts: Characters have make called shots on three different body parts:
  • Leg:
    • Size Difference: -2 size
    • Effect: 1 disadvantage to Movement bids and any bid that uses the character’s legs
  • Arm:
    • Size Difference: -2 size
    • Effect: 1 disadvantage to Fighting bids and any bid that uses the character’s arms
  • Body:
    • Size Difference: -3 size
    • Effect: 1 disadvantage to Resistance bid vs. that attack, 1 disadvantage to mental bids

TOKENS

• Instead of experience points, characters receive tokens.
• What Tokens Are: 
  • Tokens represent characters becoming more competent and confident and their life experience widening as they progress through a story.
  • Each character who survives to the end of a chapter gains 1 token.
• Improving Characters:
  • Participants can use tokens to improve their characters during intermissions.
  • Each token a character spends during intermissions lets xir:
    • Gain 1 trait for which xi is qualified
    • Gain 1 ability for which xi is qualified.
• Using Tokens as Story Control: Participants can also save their tokens for story control — that is, to make direct changes to the game or to bids. There are six kinds of story control:
  • Scene Edit: Edit a scene to add something beneficial
  • Second Wind: Immediately recharge all scene damage
  • Recharge: Immediately recharge all traits, abilities, and gear
  • Cure: Remove all conditions and drains
  • Succeed:
    • Automatically succeed at 1 bid
    • Cancels out another character’s Fail story control
  • Fail:
    • Force another character to fail 1 bid
    • Cancels out another character’s Succeed story control

CHARACTER CREATION

• Character creation currently has 3 steps:
  • Buying Assets with Tokens:
    • Each player starts the game with 10 tokens.
    • Each players can use xir tokens to buy some or all the following for xir character:
      • Traits
      • Abilities
    • Each player does not need to spend all of xir tokens during character creation. Xi can save them for later in the game (see Using Tokens as Story Control for more).
  • Choosing Ties:
    • Each participant should choose 3 ties for xir character.
    • Each tie provides the character with 100 Discipline.
    • Each participant should put as much detail into xir character’s ties as xi can.
  • Buying Additional Gear:
    • Each character may make Influence and Crating bids to buy or craft additional gear.
    • Gear is sold at the listed price.
    • Discipline spent during this step in character generation is regained before the game starts.

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That’s it for now. Talk to you next week!