Passions

Passions are used to assist players and Game Runner in deepening the nature of the character, introducing plot hooks based on a character’s desire or prejudices, and helping the player to understand who their character is, what drives him, and so on.

A Passion can be for anything – a person, an organisation, an ideal, even an object. Passions are typically described by a verb such as: Desire, Despise, Destroy, Espouse, Fear, Flee, Foreswear, Hate, Love, Loyalty to, Protect, Repudiate, Respect, Seek, Subvert, Torment or Uphold.

Passions are measured in the same way as skills; they are rated between 1 and 100 (or higher). A Passion can be improved in the same way as a skill, or it can be increased or decreased by the referee depending on circumstances.

Beginning characters may start with up to three Passions, each based on two Characteristics, with a bonus of +40 to the first, +30 to the second and +20 to the third – the player deciding the order of importance. These can be tied to their culture, profession or personal foibles. For example, in a Sword & Sorcery campaign the character might take: Hate (Stygians), Distrust (Sorcerers), and Desire (Alcohol); whereas in a Dystopian Sci-Fi game the character might choose Loyalty (President), Destroy (Aliens) and Uphold (the Law) instead.

Passion Table

Using Passions

A Passion is any deeply held commitment that has the capacity to influence events during play. Although they can be used as stand-alone Abilities (to call them skills is to do them a disservice), Passions are further expanded below to explain in more detail how they work and how they can influence Mythras Imperative characters and campaigns. In summary, Passions can be used thus:

• To augment another skill, reflecting the depth of one’s feelings and how it drives action. When used in this regard, the Passion adds 20% of its value to a skill being used, as long as the augmentation is thematically and dramatically important.
• As an Ability in its own right to drive choices, desires and emotional actions and responses. When used in this way a Standard roll is made against a Passion to determine how strongly the character thinks and feels about something. If a roll is a Success, then the character acts in line with what the Passion would dictate. If the roll Fails, then the character can act freely without feeling constrained by the Passion’s drives.
• To oppose other Passions – even those held by the same character. This is typically used where two Passions would conflict. For instance, a personal love might dictate a course of action that would be contrary to an Oath or loyalty. Here use an Opposed Roll between the two Passions, with the more successful determining how the character acts.
• To resist some form of psychological manipulation or magical domination. In certain cases where a character is being forced into performing an act contrary to their Passions, they may substitute either for Willpower in the Opposed Roll.

New Passions can be developed at any point during a game session if the circumstances warrant it. One might instantly develop ‘Hate X’ where someone else does something that would strongly invoke hatred to arise. A lord or chief calling for an Oath would immediately establish a Passion of ‘Loyalty to X’ as soon as that Oath is taken or sworn.

New Passions developed during play in this way cost no Experience Rolls and are established there and then. Of course, characters can also choose to establish a Passion during improvement, at the cost of an Experience Roll to gain a Passion at its Base Value.

Deepening and Waning

Passions can increase during a game independently of Experience Rolls, based on the strength of whatever occurred to trigger the increase. Also, they can, and do, wane. A strongly held belief can be shaken by many things, leading to that Passion being either reduced or, in more extreme circumstances, reversed completely.

For instance, a character with ‘Trust Chieftain’ might, if their chieftain acts treacherously, either reduce their Passion or turn into ‘Distrust Chieftain’ at the same percentage. The Game Runner needs to determine whether a Passion reduces or reverses. If it reduces, then it does so according to the strength of the source of the change.

The Deepening and Waning table shows by how much the Passion changes.

Deepening and Waning Table

Random Passions

Passion Types

Passion Subjects

Based on Mythras Imperative, Written by Pete Nash and Lawrence Whitaker, and published by The Design Mechanism, Copyright 2023.

Material on this site not covered by other ownership or copyright statements is Copyright © 2024 Robert Prince.