Update for the Week of August 27, 2021

(Covenant’s playtest rules are out! Download a copy now and tell us what you think! If you like what you see, think about becoming a patron!)

Featured Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

We’ve finished the foreign policy for the company-states in the Archimedean Confederation! Find out more below the fold.

Here’s what we want to talk about this week:

• The Archimedean Confederation
• The game mechanic of the week, ties
• How to become a playtester

ARCHIMEDEAN CONFEDERATION

Not a whole lot to talk about this week. We finished taking notes for the indigenous states’ foreign policy in the Archimedean Confederation. We finished the company-states’ foreign policy last week, so we’re done writing about foreign policy for now.

All we have to do now is the military doctrine for the company-states and the indigenous states. We’ll start with the company-states, as we have a clearer picture of them in our heads. That’ll give us more time to think about the indigenous states.

We had hoped to have all this notetaking done before the end of August, but it looks like it’s going to be the first week of September. After we’re done with that, we’ll start transcribing our notes to index cards and building up an Archimedean Confederation index card file.

Remember, we’ll be making these domain summaries available to the public when we finish all of them. However, if you become a patron, you’ll get each one as we finish it!

GAME MECHANIC OF THE WEEK: GOALS

We’ve talked about traits. It’s your character’s main method for countering negative effects from the environment and other characters when making bids. Most traits differ only in the kinds of bids to which you can apply them. However, there is one special kind of trait, and those are goals.

Goals are something relatively short-term tasks that your character wants to accomplish, like escorting a child home or winning a race.

They’re different from ties because they don’t last as long as ties. They have to be accomplished by the end of the current chapter or story, so your character doesn’t have time to gain the same attachment to them as xir ties. They’re also different from other traits, because your character can take them at any time without spending character build tokens.

Goals are also optional. Your character doesn’t have to have any goals, if xi doesn’t want.

There are two types of goals:

• Major Goal: Something that has to be accomplished by the end of the story
• Minor Goal: Something that has to be accomplished by the end of the chapter

All goals have three parts:

• Requirements: What your character has to accomplish to fulfill the goal
• Stakes: What your character loses if xi doesn’t fulfill the goal
• Catharsis: What your character gains if xi fulfills the goal

BECOMING A PLAYTESTER

Have you downloaded Covenant’s playtest rules yet? Did we mention that they’re free? If not, do it now! They’re free! All we ask is that you tell us what you think about them. You can send your feedback in two ways:

• Email us at radiofreecovenant@gmail.com
• Join our Discord server

---

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