Actions & Interaction

What is an Action?
Actions are how a character interacts with the world around them. An Action results when your character decides to take some initiative in changes their surrounding environment or the people inside it. Every Action should have a clear Method, Target(s), potentially Risk(s), and a Goal.

The Method of completing the Action is the combination of the Trait needed to succeed and the Skill being used to get the job done. Explain in the context of the scene why relying on that specific Trait & Skill is their chosen means to accomplish their goal. In some cases, the Trait and Skill will be dictated by the Dealer. If the character wishes to take any additional Risks, these should be declared as part of the Action's Method.

An Action's Target(s) are the intended entities that will be influenced by its success. By default, most Actions effect only a single Target, with additional entities increasing the Difficulty of the Action.

An Action has Risk(s) when it is especially reckless, involves using items for unintended purposes, requires navigating danger to even complete, or otherwise has consequences regardless of success. Risks and their consequences are largely determined by the Dealer, though there are some obvious ones, such a throwing a two-handed hammer or avoiding an attack by jumping into a river.

The Goal of the Action is the desired result of taking it in the first place. Based on the result of the Draw, this may succeed beyond your intent or fail just as spectacularly.

Unopposed Actions
An Unopposed Action is one that does not directly conflict with another entity.

For an Unopposed Action, The Dealer draws a number of cards equal to the Difficulty, determined by the specifics of the action in question, playing them(rounding down) face down. The Actor initiating the action then draws cards equal the their chosen Trait + Skill. The Actor may play a number of cards equal to their chosen Trait and the Dealer playing all of their drawn cards. Once all cards are played, each participant may choose to play Wildcards face up, directly adding to their totals.

The Result of the action is determined by the combined totals of the Dealer and Actors' cards. If the Actor's total meets or exceeds that of the Dealer then the Goal of the Action is achieved with at least one Success. To determine additional successes, subtract the lower total from the higher one – an additional Success is gained for every 10 left over. For instance, a draw resulting in a 5 vs. a 15 would be 2 Successes – a 5 vs a 25 would be 3 and so on.

Opposed Actions
An Opposed Action is one that directly influences another entity against its will or otherwise will meet significant resistance from some outside force or entity.

In this case, all Actors involved draw their Trait cards as before, playing them face down, before drawing a number of cards equal to the relevant Skill in question, usually chosen by the Actor and resisted by a relevant Skill dictated by the Dealer. All involved Actors may then alternate substituting individual Trait cards with Skill Cards from their hand face up until all players have on the table a number of cards equal to their chosen Trait. Then each participant may alternate playing any additional Wild Cards.

The Result of the Action is determined as before. The Goal of the action is applied to all Target(s) with a totaled Hand equal or below that of the originator of the Action. Additional Successes are determined as normal based on the results of the individual card total of each Actor.

In some cases, the Dealer may ascribe the action extra Difficulty – this ranking is added directly to the Trait cards drawn by the Target(s) of the Action. This Difficulty can also be negative, in which case these cards are added to the Trait cards of the Actor attempting the Action.

Interaction
An Interaction begins when a single opposed Action is not enough, or has consequences involving the continued efforts of outside forces or entities. Combat is an obvious example, but this can also include long-term projects, involved processes, anything one opposed draw cannot resolve.

During an Interaction, all Actors involved maintain a Hand of cards, drawing 5 + their highest Trait at the beginning of each turn. The Interaction is handled in a sequence of turns representing about six to fifteen seconds of action, dialogue, and chicanery. At the beginning of each Turn, every Actor plays at least 1 card face down as their Initiative. Once every player has placed this card, they each may choose to play additional cards face down until they play a number of cards equal to their Intuition. Starting from the player with the lowest value Initiative Card, each Actor chooses an Action for their character to take that Turn. This sequence repeats for each Actor until all actions are spent or skipped. At the end of the Turn, each Actor discards any unused cards. These Turns continue until all involved actors decline to take additional Actions to sustain the Interaction, usually because at least one of them is dead.

Actions During Interactions
During Interactions, Actors do not draw additional cards based on their Skill when performing an Action. Instead, Actors use their hand of cards to represent the opportunities found and squandered during the entire affair. While Trait cards are played face down as they would during any other Action, during an Interaction the Actor may choose to discard a number up to their relevant Skill of Trait Cards to replace them with cards from their hand, playing these replacement cards face up.