Do you go to the dungeon?

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Inspiration

Who can have it?

There is a "bank" of course,
Then each player character has their own pool,
and all the NPCs have a shared pool.

So inspiration that a beloved ally of the players gets, can be used by the evil hobgoblins against the players.

Bank

Insp that's from:

  • triggered mechanically,
  • undertaking a quest,
  • taking a dive,
  • changing your character

all come from the bank. Insp from conceding emotionally can only come from the bank in one special circumstance, but it's a pretty common circumstance, enough to be probably the biggest influx of insp to the game. See under Using It! for details.

Getting It!

Triggered Mechanically

Your wound threshold can give you insp!

That's it so far but maybe I'll cook up more insp-giving triggers in the future.

Undertaking a Quest

When you set out on a quest related to any of your TIBFs, most likely an ideal or a bond, you get insp. You get the insp as you start out on your quest. You need to tell the group this and reach for the insp; you are the best expert on your own ideals or bonds.

The quest could be adventure (saving a boyfriend from a dungeon) or more mundane mercantile venture (like selling wine). But it has to be something serious, not something that's done within 20 minutes at the table. The effort has to be serious too; not just "Oh shit I'm dying, I promise to go try to quest for a sword tomorrow just give me the insp now so I can live though this!"

We play sandbox and ofc you don't need to follow any "quests" or shit like that, that goes against the spirit of sandbox. Buuut… for the purps of getting quest inspiration:

  • You can only have one quest at a time
  • You have to stick to it for at least three sessions (or until you succeed or die)
  • You get the insp as you start the quest, not after
  • As mentioned, it's one of your TIBFs that drive you to it

Taking a Dive

You can get an insp when one of your TIBFs, most likely an ideal or flaw, cause you to give up on a task.

If it's a task that costs time, like many dungeoneering tasks (such as spending 10 minutes searching a hallway for secret doors), you can decide give up after the time has been charged.

If it is a task that is determined by a roll, such as picking lock, you need to give up before the roll is made.

This "giving up" is beyond just not trying; it represents trying and failing. You messed up trying to pick that lock. You looked sloppily when trying to find that secret door.

Again, you need to be in charge of this; no-one knows your ideals and flaws as well as you do. This is also your chance to turn those lingering injuries (scars, missing arms etc) to inspiration gold!

There are some limitations on dive inspiration:

  • It must be something another PC actually wanted you to do. No "I try to look for pink elephants oops I guess I fail"
  • It must be something you actually would've had a chance to do if it weren't for your flaw preventing you. No "I try to lift Manhattan oops I fail"
  • As mentioned, it's one of your TIBFs that prevent you from succeeding

Changing Your Character

When you chose add new traits, ideals, bonds or flaws, based on what has happened in the game, you get insp for each one you add. You may erase any old ones at the same time; for example "I am a pacifist" can become "I thirst for vengeance". This is your chance to let your character reflect how it's actually being played and let things that happened in the game change your character and you get rewarded for it.

Exceptions:

  • The ones you add during character creation don't get you insp
  • Adding Lingering Injuries to flaws is great! (Ablist, but these wounds are a great source for quest inspiration or dive inspiration!) But that don't give you insp. They're a freebie.

Conceding Emotionally

(A.k.a. getting Hillfolk insp!)

This should be one of the easiest & coolest way of getting insp.

Look over your TIBFs, and/or the TIBFs on one of your fellow players. It's can just as likely be a trait, ideal, bond or a flaw.

Really challenge it. Like, here is an example ideal from the PHB: "I will do whatever it takes to become wealthy". Good hillfolking really puts that to the test, maybe to the point of the ideal breaking down and changing over time, maybe to the point of the ideal standing hard as steel but everyone else changing around it.

Start a serious convo about it or that stems from it. Try to make these convos be about one request, a.k.a. one "petition". It's OK if they drift, sure, but it's easier if it's about one thing, something you want. They want something from you or you want something from them. Again, you have to be clear that this is going on; not necessarily explicitly calling out the "scene" in "scene terms" but make some kinda gesture at the insp jar or w/e…

Granting the other person's petition, or getting your own petition refused, can give you insp. See details under Using It! below. It's the conceding person that gets the insp, not the "winner"! HELP!! I always get this backwards T_T It's so confusing

But the short tip if the party as a whole wants to net this kind of insp from the bank is to concede to people who don't have any insp.

It can't be something the granter would easily grant. No. "Give me a light?" "Sure!"
It has to be a struggle; rule of thumb: it should be something where the outcome of the conversation isn't obvious

Using It!

You can empty your own insp pool to impose advantage or disadvantage on any d20 roll, unless it already was at zero, obv.

When someone grants you your petition, or you refuse their petition, pay them one insp as reward/compensation/consolation/celebration/bribe. If you didn't have any, take one from the bank to give them. This is the only time you can pay insp from the bank.

If the conversation isn't going the way you want to, you can pay them two insp to force the issue. They have to make a significant emotional concession; not necessarily giving you exactly what you want but some sort of respect or validation. They can counter that force by giving you three; leaving you with five. You can't start new shit with them for a while.

If other people are having a convo that you would be physically able to walk in on, you can pay the person who started it one of your own insp to join in.

Keeping It!

If you have more than 0 insp at the end of the session, you start the next session with 1 insp.

Tip

Outside of the freebie you get from staying awake at your wound thresholds, the other sources of insp are all player initiated. Learn some of the ways to get insp and apply them if you want to have insp. (Great for crit fishing and sneak attack!)

Maybe it's a rare thing to undertake a new quest when you're 60 feet under ground in the T9G, or it's too harsh taking a dive when your life is on the line. But keeping your character's TIBFs up to date is a relatively cheap way to get insp.

And starting some serious emotional drama that causes characters and relationships to change or bruise up against each other beyond just cozy tea time might not be "cheap" for the characters and all the heartbreak that lies ahead. But it's probably the easiest way to add some insp to the table.