Esoterics and lost words are small magical wonders – small items and creatures and spirits containing arcane energies containing endless possibilities. They are tracked simply by name – such as “liquid goblet,” “smoky lava,” or “sticky gizzard.” In their most basic utility, esoterics are used to recover and repair merits, to fuel some merit abilities, or to give a character an edge in an action. Likewise, lost words can help enhance narrative actions. However, esoterics and lost words are much more versatile. They can be spent to create almost any small, brief narrative effect of the player’s choice– whatever they want as long as it makes sense within the esoterics name and description. They can be eaten, wielded, or thrown for endless purposes.
From a game design purpose, esoterics serve a few purposes that are useful for GMs and faction leaders to understand:
- They provide players with limited use items that allow characters to have abilities outside their normal wheelhouse and useful for testing ideas planned for future merits.
- The goal to acquire esoterics acts as an underlying drive for long-term narrative.
- The search of and spending of esoterics helps motivate characters to explore the world. Players want esoterics to gain new one-use abilities, to recover from harm, to barter with other characters, to build new temporary merits, and to invest in the growth of their character.
- Esoterics and lost words give patrons leverage to hire player characters
- Patrons have an explicit excess of esoterics so that they have something intrinsically desirable to trade for the services of other characters. Even within their own factions, a patron can only order another character with the exchange of an esoteric to that character upon the completion of the task.
- Esoterics and lost words act as the in-game “currency” for bartering and trade.
- Finally, esoterics and lost words act as a general currency within the game that players can spend and trade between themselves and NPC magical dealers and quest givers.
Usage
Esoterics and lost words have several different uses in which they can benefit characters:
- Enhance: Players can risk an esoteric or lost word by using it with in an action check to add a +1 bonus die to that check check, but if the check fails the esoteric or lost word is spent.
- Many merits require a character to spend esoterics or lost words to utilize their merits. If the ability requires an action check, the check still gains the +1 bonus as though the esoteric was risked.
- Spend esoterics alongside XP to advance your character and gain new merits (see the Character Components section)
- Furthermore, Esoterics can be used independently on their own for unique benefits
Esoterics | Exotic and magical materials
The majority of esoterics are physical; exotic materials, fruits, and creature parts with unique properties that are difficult to acquire in most settings.
E.G: gravity stones, mithril, adamantium, vantablack dust, glycerin, crystal fruits, jars of glowing insects, the venomous organ of a felled beast.
- Useful for crafting gear, potions, meals, and salves for temporary merits with a craft action
- Spend to create a brief magical effect related to the item.
- Useful for repairing and healing merits with a restorative action
- Recovered by searching ruins, abandoned buildings and vehicles, and stripping defeated enemies, harvesting useful monster organs or plantlife.
An esoteric can be spent for a single one-time magical effect – almost anything a player can think of that makes sense for the object. The limitations of what a esoteric can do are simple:
- It can only have a single effect
- A lasting effect cannot last more than 10 seconds
- Harm cannot deal more than 1 mark of harm before considering vulnerabilities
- Harm can only have 1 type, and only blast harm can harm multiple creatures.
- Utility and mobility effects can only affect targets within line-of-sight.
Lost Words | Narrative given spirit
A magical essence which lives in the mind; a lost word is knowledge and story given spirit, a single word or phrase waiting to be spoken. They can be recovered anywhere gossip and lost knowledge might be obtained, where the mysteries of the cosmos may worm their way into a bystander’s mind, or where spontaneous stories and gossip are created.
- Discover: Spend to learn information related to the words without making an action check.
- Whisper: Spend to alter the world around you, creating a scene aspect related to the words. No action check is required.
- If the word is a noun, spending the word is a good way to cause that noun to somehow appear in the scene.
- Shout: Spend to alter the world around you in a major, but less controlled manner. The GM introduces disruptive elements to the scene related to the words. No action check is required.
- Game Masters are encouraged to reward players who invoke injuries against themselves with a lost word. If no Game Master is present in the scene, another player can nominate such an action for a lost word and suggest the word itself.
Coin | The magical embodiment of money
Simple but effective, authentic coin is intrinsically desirable by most people and can be exchanged almost anywhere for goods and services and other esoterics. Unlike other esoterics, coin has much less utility and is not nearly as useful creating magical effects. However, coin has a simple but useful magical quality: to-be desired.
- Coin can be exchanged for other esoterics, requiring little bartering at shops, and is universally taken at any location. Coin is the new gold-standard.
Tags
Tags are specific words that can be found on an esoteric or lost word that confirm an explicit, uncommon feature. These are often in single quotes beside the actual esoteric name: eg: ‘pure’ black powder. Most tags are simply descriptive in nature, though some may have special benefits or consequences. Special tags include:
- Positive:
- Pure: Clears an extra mark when used to recover a merit or an injury
- Negative:
- Cursed: When using or spending a cursed esoteric, you take a medium trouble as if you had failed an action.
- Rotten: Will make a person sick if eaten (1 level injury)
- Volatile: When the holder takes physical harm, the esoteric may start to spark, fizz, or otherwise release painful and unstable debris. The holder takes 1 additional harm if they do not drop the esoteric. The esoteric stabilizes within a few seconds.
Recovering Esoterics
Esoterics are most often recovered through a specific merit or by taking a lengthy action to acquire one. They can also be gained by bartering with other players, taking an order from a faction patron, as a reward in a scene from the GM, or by trading and bartering with other NPCs.
Artifacts
Although made of magical material, Artifacts are not actually esoterics. Instead these items act as individual, often powerful, pieces of gear for whoever holds them. Most games will have very few artifacts, all of which are often interlinked with several character goals and stories. Artifacts are similar to many merits, except they can be traded, lost, or stolen.
Ultimately, artifacts are very helpful tools at the roleplayers disposal (if they can find them) but any overarching story should NOT be involved in any core plots from the narrative team. Doing so can risk conflicts with lost or hidden artifacts, artifacts that are “busy” in other scenes, and other possible troubles.