# Welcome ## What is Harmony Drive? Harmony Drive is the Heroic Chord SRD. In other words, these are the rules of the game Heroic Chord, stripped down to their most basic elements! Consider this a “blank” game that you can rewrite in your own image to tell your own kinds of stories. If it would help, I’ve included a workbook that might help you get your thoughts in order. ## What is Heroic Chord? Heroic Chord is a big adventure game in the tradition of Dungeons and Dragons or Ryuutama. Like most games in that style it (and by extension, this SRD) is meant to play ongoing stories with characters who grow as they face challenges. You can make your game as involved or as stripped-down as you like, of course, but this might be a large project. The vibe of Heroic Chord is kind, but not always gentle. It is a game about people coming together and taking care of one another in a hostile world. So, the specifics (the assist pools, the spell pieces, the abilities, et cetera) try to portray a world in which people are unified against danger. If you would like to know more about Heroic Chord, you can find it and our actual play series Sword of Symphonies at[ http://www.peachgardengames.com](http://www.peachgardengames.com/) ## License Information You are free to create Harmony Drive games. All I ask for is credit using the Attribution Text below. The contents of the SRD, both rules and text, are available for use under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license. You just put the following on your copyright page: _This work is based on the Harmony Drive system from Cat McDonald and Peach Garden Games, and licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)._ All the text should be the same size as the rest of your copyright section, and not redacted or obscured in any way. If you’re publishing electronically you can make “Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license” a link to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ You can’t imply that Cat McDonald or Peach Garden Games is endorsing you or sponsoring you unless special arrangement has been made with you. You may not use any material from Peach Garden Games product that is not included in this SRD, including but not limited to specific prompts and artwork, without permission. You must create your own original material using the Harmony Drive system as a base. You can’t use the SRD to make anything that would be prejudicial to Peach Garden Games or Cat McDonald's honor or reputation. You are free to make use of the Driven by Harmony logo in your games and promotional materials etc. It's included with this SRD when you download it from itchio. If you use the Driven by Harmony logo in your game, also add the following text: _The Driven by Harmony logo is © Cat McDonald, and is used with permission._ You are free to color and resize the logo to suit your project, but the logo should not be materially altered in any other way. Finally, nazis, homophobes, transphobes, and other bigots are expressly forbidden from making new content using the Harmony Drive system. If you have to ask whether this includes you, it does. # The Basics Harmony Drive games revolve around the following three pillars: **Self-Expression** The magic system and encounter system are intentionally built to give players freedom to engage with problems in their own style. Your game should let players be themselves, and do things in their own way, without being left behind by their team. **Teamwork** Harmony Drive games are written to encourage the players to work together. Whether they’re combining their powers to cast combo spells or using their skills to overcome an opponent together, characters in Harmony Drive games succeed or fail as a team. **Difficult Choices** The Edge Success system is built so that players have the freedom to choose failure. The combat system is built so that players can choose to take big hits. Good things and bad things happen to the players, and both of these are in the players’ hands to choose. The GM’s job is to give them difficult choices. ## Dice Mechanic The dice mechanic in Harmony Drive is a pool of six-sided dice. When players want to take an uncertain action, they build a dice pool. - _One die for every point they have in the relevant stat (I call them Facets, but feel free to rename them)_ - _One die for every character level if they have a relevant Skill_ - _Two dice if they can mark off a relevant part of their Key._ Any dice that come up a 5 or a 6 are counted as Successes. A challenging task can require 1-3 Successes to complete (outside combat). Any dice that come up 2, 3, or 4 are ignored. Any dice that come up 1 are counted as Edge Successes. When a player rolls a 1, they inform the GM, who offers them a consequence. If the player chooses to take the GM’s consequence, they count the 1 as a Success. This consequence can be mechanical, like losing HP, or it can be narrative, like upsetting an NPC or getting lost in the woods. The important part is that the player is presented with a difficult choice. ## Casting Spells A character has a list of words called “Spell Pieces”. These may come from a class, or they may be chosen from a list. They should probably have around six. These are Personal Spell Pieces. The scene also has its own Spell Pieces. The GM comes up with these when describing a place, and gives them to the players when they ask. These are Terrain Spell Pieces. In order to cast a spell, a player takes one Terrain Spell Piece from the GM and one Personal Spell Piece from their own list. They describe what they want this two-word phrase to do, and then they work with the GM to decide how much of their Magic the spell will cost. Then, the player describes what the spell looks like, feels like, and any other sensory effects. The good news is you won’t have to write any spells for this system. The players will be creating spells as they go, in a conversation with their GM. You will have to do three things: - _Choose Spell Pieces for characters or classes that are thematic and convey your game’s core ideas. Use different kinds of words, or words that can be interpreted in different ways. If your game is gritty and post-apocalyptic, maybe use words like “Barren” and “Choking”. If your game is calm and verdant, maybe use words like “Growing” and “Soft”._ - _Decide how your GM Spell Pieces work. In the base system, they are attached to the scene to encourage players to reach out and interact with the world. But in your game, GM Spell Pieces might be attached to an encounter, or to a deity ruling over a situation. Choose something that you want the players to mix with, reach out to._ - _Decide what happens when your players use too much magic. In Heroic Chord, this is called Scatter because is causes a dissociative state. To use an earlier example, though, perhaps the GM Spell Pieces come from deities. Maybe reaching out to that deity too much incurs a debt, or possession._ The GM should cost spells based on how far they go to solve problems. Heroic Chord includes this list (which is based on Scatter going from 0 to 10) - _Add one success to the Advantage Pool in combat – Gain 1 Scatter_ - _Advance a Goal in combat – Gain 1 Scatter per difficulty of the Goal (see Combat, PN)_ - _Target gains / loses 1 die on a certain action – Gain 1 Scatter_ - _A small boon – Gain 1 Scatter_ - _A stepping stone to solving the problem – Gain 2-3 Scatter_ - _A solution to a small problem, a large step toward a large problem – Gain 5-7 Scatter_ - _Solve a large problem outright – Gain 7+ Scatter_ If other players would like to add to a spell, they can contribute their own words. If players choose to combine their magic like this, then all the involved players get a say in how the spell works and what it does, and the players get to split the Magic cost however they like, as long as everyone involved pays a portion of it. > #### To Do – The Basics > > What is the concept of your world? > > What will you call the Magic resource? > > What happens when Magic is all spent? How is it regained? > > Where do players get Spell Pieces from? # Anatomy of a Character Here are the things that make up a character in Harmony Drive. Characters in your game may use all of these mechanics, or only some of them. I’ve tried to explain their functions as best I can to help you choose what works for your game. ## Facets Facets are the stats of Harmony Drive. A character has: **Daring** – The tendency to do, to choose an action and commit. **Understanding** – The tendency to study, to use information to solve problems. **Sensitivity** – The tendency to take in information about your surroundings, to use your senses. **Subtlety** – The tendency to hide your actions or your motives. **Adaptability** – The tendency to wait and see, to change course based on the situation. These Facets were chosen to express how a person chooses to solve problems, not any innate or immutable characteristics they may have. A person in a Harmony Drive game can be as physically strong as they like, or as wise or charming as they like. The other reason for these Facets is that the concept of Intelligence as a concrete and immutable quality of a person is ableist. It has been used to excuse eugenics and countless other atrocities, including racial and class injustice. We chose “Understanding” as a measure of a person’s willingness to solve problems by thinking about them and gathering information, not as a measure of their “intelligence” or, heaven forbid, “IQ”. In the base game, a character starts with 1 in each Facet, and then adds 5 more split among the Facets as they choose. You might want to change this by giving the players more or fewer points to divide up. You might also want to set maximums to prevent players from placing all their points in a single Facet. If you decide to rename or re-imagine the five Facets, please bear in mind that this is a game about the choices people make. I would implore you not to regress to a traditional stat line that depicts absolute qualities! But if other tendencies and choices would fit your game better, by all means substitute them. ## Skills The base game has 19 different skills in it. You may want to have more or fewer in your own game. - _Art_ - _Athletics_ - _Engineering_ - _Fashion_ - _Finances_ - _Focus_ - _Humanity_ - _Language_ - _Medicine_ - _Navigation_ - _Performance_ - _Politics_ - _Riding_ - _Spirits_ - _Survival_ - _Tactics_ - _Tinkering_ - _Tracking_ - _Weapons (Long-Range, Mid-Range, Melee)_ Modify this list all you like! Try and come up with a list of things your characters will need to know how to do to get by in the world you’ve created. When writing up your Skills section, try and give examples of ways different approaches could change how the skill is used, and suggestions for Edge Success bargains. A skill entry should look something like these: **\*Spirits:** The knowledge of the world’s many spirits, demons, and monsters. Roll Understanding/Spirits to remember the name of a noble demon, or Daring/Spirits to command a ghost to leave a home. (Edge Success: The invocation you use to subdue a spirit attracts another one, the spirits in the area are all alerted to your presence, the spirit obeys your command but will not leave your side after)\* **\*Warp:** Experience with the warp tunnels that take ships from one end of the galaxy to the other, and the creatures that dwell there. Roll Daring/Warp to charge the ship headlong into a tunnel, or Subtlety/Warp to emerge without creating a Warp Flare. (Edge Success: A Warp Demon notices your ship, you come out further from your destination than you intended, a pursuing ship manages to take the same tunnel)\* A character starts with nine skills. They get five from their Class (more on that coming up) and four more of their own choosing. That means that a starting character has roughly half the game’s skills. If you want a wider difference between characters’ skill sets, feel free to have characters start with fewer skills, or write a longer list. ## Specialties Specialties are optional abilities that change the way a character interacts with the encounter system. They’re not necessary, but they help add variety between characters of the same class on a tactical level. A character chooses one at creation. If you decide to include Specialties in the game, I would suggest making at least ten. Enough that players can make characters repeatedly without doubling up. A Specialty looks like one of these: **\*Emissary** – Against a Noble Demon or its Lesser Daemons, the difficulty for you to Redirect is reduced by 2.\* **\*Trick Shooter** – When rolling Ranged Weapons to add to the Advantage Pool, add an additional success.\* **\*Stalker** – No matter what abilities an Encounter uses, you can always roll Subtlety. When rolling Subtlety to advance a Goal, add an additional die.\* **\*Hunter Hunter** – Against a Vampire Hunter, the difficulty for you to Destroy is reduced by 2.\* **\*Cavalry** – When mounted on your dragon, the GM cannot offer “you are injured” as an Edge Success condition.\* When writing Specialties, be careful to try and keep them at about the same power level. If one of the Specialties is numerically just better than the others, then it becomes the “correct” choice, and then your hard work on the other Specialties will be ignored! ## Personal Spell Pieces When a player casts a spell, they have two lists of words to choose from: their own Personal Spell Pieces and the GMs Terrain Spell Pieces. Whether or not your game includes classes, you will need some way for the players to build their Personal Spell Piece list. In the base game, each class comes with 12 Spell Pieces, of which the players get to choose six. You might want to have the players choose freely from a large list, or obtain Spell Pieces based on equipment or other items, or choose from a class list. How you divide up the Spell Pieces is up to you and will tell the players a lot about where they get their magic from. As I mentioned before, a character in Heroic Chord has six Personal Spell Pieces. This number isn’t set in stone – a smaller number will leave the players with fewer options, and a much larger number may make it difficult for them to decide on a spell to cast. Spell Pieces may look like these, though you can choose any words you like: - _Watching_ - _Waiting_ - _Cruel_ - _Leaf_ - _Blood_ - _Fang_ - _Piercing_ - _Devastation_ - _Meteor_ - _Starlight_ - _Connected_ - _Passage_ ## Key _Key_ is a list of five motivations that drive a character. Your players are free to choose any five motivations (things like “heroism”, “competition”, or “greed”) they like, so there’s no need for you to make a list for them. You might want to rename it (“Key” is part of Heroic Chord’s music theme) but aside from that, or maybe changing the way Key works, you can leave this part alone. When a character invokes their Key, they mark off that word from their list. Then, they roll an additional two dice on their next skill roll. When all five words from their Key are marked off, the character gets their Magic refreshed, and they can cast their Signature Spell until the arc ends. When a new arc begins, all the marked off Keys are restored and it’s time to start again. Does it have to be five? Well, no. I chose five because it’s an easy number for players to get their heads around while still being enough that they may not get around to featuring all five in every arc. If you choose to have a smaller Key, then players will hit their Signature Spell more often. If you choose to have a larger one, then players will take a longer time at character creation, but they’ll have more descriptors and a better idea of their character as a person. A person’s key might look like one of these: - _Courage_ - _Selflessness_ - _Hunger_ - _Attention_ - _Violence_ - _Gentleness_ - _Equality_ - _Love_ - _Self-Sacrifice_ - _Impulsiveness_ ## Signature Spell Like Key, your players can choose any two words they like for their Signature Spell Pieces. When they complete their Key, they have access to those two spell pieces, which they can use as either a Terrain Spell Piece or a Personal Spell Piece, until the arc is over. This is a mechanic meant to give players freedom to describe their character’s special, unique magic. If you decide to omit this mechanic, or change it to something else, consider doing something else that lets players express themselves freely. A Signature Spell can be anything, but it might look like this: - _Soaring Dragon_ - _Endless Suffering_ - _Brutal Fang_ - _Healing Gaze_ ## Lesson When a player first builds a character, they choose a Lesson that this character needs to learn. This plays into the advancement mechanic, which we’ll talk about more later on. But it serves a second important purpose: it signals to the GM what kind of story arc the player wants to tell about their character. Like Key and Signature Spell, this is a place for freeform player input, but this is a direct line of communication to the GM. In other words, if you decide to change the advancement system, consider adding another way for the players to tell the GM what stories they envision. A lesson might be something simple like _Look Before You Leap_ Or it might be something more tailored like _The Emperor’s Will Is Not Always Absolute_ ## Health and Magic In Harmony Drive, a character has 10 HP and 10 Magic When they reach 0 HP or 0 Magic, they lose consciousness. This system has no mechanism for character death. That’s not to say characters can never die in this game. Rather, it means that character death is a decision the player and GM make together, rather than one made by the game system. If you choose to change these numbers, feel free to! Remember the changes you made when you are making encounters or helping characters cost their spells. In Heroic Chord, “Scatter” is a measure of how much the character has pushed themselves out into their surroundings, so unconsciousness is the result. That doesn’t have to be the case. You might choose to think of magic differently, and change the consequence for overdoing it. Scatter is recovered by a good night’s rest. You might choose to have magic come back in a different way, but be careful not to make it so precious that players never cast spells! **\*Scatter** – When players cast spells, they blend with the environment, provoking a dissociative state. Recovered by resting.\* **\*Debt** – When players cast spells, they call on a divinity, who will remember this, provoking a curse. Recovered by carrying out elaborate rituals.\* **\*Hunger** – When players cast spells, they burn up the blood they have consumed, provoking a weakened state. Recovered by feeding.\* > ### To Do – Anatomy of a Character > > Are you renaming any of the core stats? > > What kinds of Skills will your players need? > > Will you be using Combat Specialties? > > What kind of Combat Specialties will they need? > > Where do players get Personal Spell Pieces? > > Are you changing Key and Signature Spell at all? > > Are you changing Lesson? If so, how do players communicate what they want their story to be about? > > What are the Magic and Health resources in your game? > > How much Health and Magic do the players have to start? # Classes Classes are a way to bundle abilities, skills, and spell pieces in flavorful little packages. Classes are going to take a lot of work, but they’re worth it – they give players a foothold in your world, and a way to start imagining their characters. When imagining classes, it might help to think about the major sources of power in your world, and the lenses through which people experience that power. If your world has gods, like Heroic Chord’s world of Amylte, do they lend their power to people? If so, how? Every game answers these questions in different ways. Try and find something special and meaningful to you! # Anatomy of a Class A class in Harmony Drive has the following things attached: - _Lore, backstory, and information_ - _12 Spell Pieces to choose from_ - _Five Starting Skills_ - _Three Abilities per level_ - _An Assist Pool_ Obviously, you can add things or change things for your own game, but this is what the base game looks like. **\*Wandering Magi** – Expert trackers blessed by the god Wandering Hector, who have carried out a pilgrimage in a sun-scorched desert.\* **\*Monastic** – Vampires who carry on and preserve the traditions of the medieval era, who live in isolation from mortals and live through art.\* **\*Warptouched Ace** – Pilots who have spent enough time in Warp Tunnels that their hearts are attuned to the spaces between space, and a Warp Demon sits on their shoulder.\* **\*Violet Scaleknight** – Riders of the Radiant Violet dragons, whose gentleness and beauty grants their riders a mysterious presence.\* ## Abilities Abilities are ways that players can customize their approach to their class. Every class has a list of three abilities per “level”, and as characters advance they choose a new ability from their class list. This lets two characters in the same class play differently and have different strengths and weaknesses. When writing abilities, here are some tips: - _Try writing abilities that appeal to different styles of play_ - _Don’t make abilities depend on each other with prerequisites, but do make them play well together._ - _Use abilities to show players how you think a class should play_ Good abilities are hints that lead players down certain paths. If you imagine a certain class as a defender who looks out for teammates, then give that class abilities that help them do that! **\*Anchor Note:** When you cast a spell or Chord, if you do so while playing music, you gain one fewer Scatter. (Tidal Navigator, Season 1)\* **\*Supporter:** You can gain two Scatter in order to gain an additional action in a round, provided you use both your actions to increase the Advantage Pool. (Enduring Crusader, Season 2)\* **\*Gallantry:** If there is a helpless person nearby, you gain an extra action in combat to protect them. This can be an NPC or incapacitated ally. (Windswept Cavalier, Season 4)\* **\*Rush of Life:** Your first spell after feeding costs half as much Blood (Stalker, Season 2)\* **\*Dragon Eye:** You can spend one Humanity to be able to perceive the world through your dragon’s senses, even if the two of you are very far apart. (Golden Scaleknight, Season 1)\* Coming up with lists of abilities can be time-consuming. Try making them one level at a time, take your time, and don’t be afraid to re-use abilities that would fit multiple classes. You might want to write Abilities that grant additional Assist Pool Abilities, too. (Read on for more about Assist Pools) You can write abilities for as many levels as you like, but you should have at least three. ## Assist Pools _Assist Pools_ represent a special source of power, outside the player, that they have access to. Characters in your game might have a sentient weapon they can connect to, or a demonic familiar, or a friend in a high place. The important thing about Assist Pools is that they represent a special power players can turn to for help. In the base game, they’re tied to classes as a central feature. Assist Pools have the following: - _A resource pool_ - _Spell Pieces_ - _Abilities_ - _A Consequence_ **Assist Pool: Cloud Elk** As a Cavalier, you are accompanied by a Cloud Elk, a flying friend who will carry you on their back in battle even though they are nervous and easily frightened. They may only like you, or they may get along with your friends, but either way, you're the only one they really trust. If anything happens to make you lose your elk (and your GM should never have this happen without talking about it with you), you can still use its Spell Pieces and Soothing Presence ability – it never really leaves you. Until you meet a new elk partner, though, you cannot fly. **Spell Pieces:** Misty, Flight **Lightning Field:** (2 Scatter) Your Elk creates a strong electric charge between its antlers. If you fire an arrow through this charge, it carries with it a bolt of lightning, adding 4 additional successes to your attack roll. **Soothing Presence:** (1 Scatter) Your Elk spreads its beautiful wings, sheltering everyone within its wingspan. Anyone who is being prevented from using a Facet due to consequences of an attack can use that Facet this round. **Escape Route:** (3 Scatter) Your Elk carries you far up, away from danger, interrupting any attack aimed at you. You can only use this ability while mounted. **Consequence: The Wild Speech** You understand animals and they understand you. The more you Scatter into this pool, however, the less other human beings understand you. If you fill your Assist Pool completely, you lose the ability to comprehend human language. You cannot speak any language, write, or use any sign language, though you can try your luck with gestures. Until this pool is emptied there will always be a barrier between you and your fellow humans. **Assist Pool: Judgement Angel** As a Parson, you are in tune with the Celestial Law that governs all things, and are observed at all times by an Angel of Judgement. This Angel does not descend unless it feels there is no other choice, but it is always there, a presence you (and certain very sensitive and unlucky others) can feel, ominous and cold and otherworldly. As killing a Parson is forbidden by Celestial Law, if you ever reach 0 Health, the Angel will descend and immediately use force to try and end the situation. If you are killed, the Angel will hunt your killer to the ends of the Earth. **Spell Pieces:** Cold, Cruel **Judgement Hammer** (4) The Angel comes down hard on your foe with the full force of its cruelty, advancing Destroy once. **Number the Sins** (2) The Angel recites the wrongdoings of its target. Add 1 Success to a roll to Destroy for every Health you have lost this combat. **Book of Names** (1) The Angel whispers in your ear some horrible secret about a person. If they have broken Celestial Law, you know immediately. Otherwise, you know some other minor secret they keep. **Consequence: None Of You Are Without Sin** You belong more to the Law than to the World, and begin to lash out against other party members for perceived slights. You do not choose who you lash out against, but you do choose the manner. You may attack them, or you may utter a Condemnation Prayer, or you may simply deliver a brutal and neverending lecture, but your focus is on their crimes and not on the task at hand. ### Resource Pool You might want your Assist Pools to have their own resource, or you might use your game’s Magic or Health resources. What matters here is that there’s a finite amount of power here. In Heroic Chord, the Assist Pool has its own running total, which caps out at 5. ## Spell Pieces You might want to set some special Spell Pieces aside for the Assist Pool. If the players want to use these words to cast a spell, they need to spend 1 from their Resource Pool. These words might be very different from the class’s normal words. ## Abilities These are powers that the players can use in exchange for spending their Assist Pool resource. Like the Spell Pieces, these should be different from things the players can do on their own – they represent an exceptional source of help. Otherwise, though, they’re not too different from Class Abilities. The Abilities above are just examples. You should try and make some that are inexpensive and easy to use, and others that are more expensive and represent a greater investment. Here are some more examples: **\*Clarity:** (2 Scatter) You make a minor prediction about events yet to unfold, such as where a person will be found or what kind of creature will attack. (You may need to bargain with your GM for this.) Your prediction comes true. (Wandering Magus – The Watching Stars)\* **\*Call Specter:** (2 Scatter) A phantom appears to aid you. For the next three rounds of combat, there is a ghost present who will make attacks, using the same skills and facets as you do. The phantom is no one you recognize, a fallen warrior from the place's history, and they do not speak. (Enduring Crusader – The Fallen)\* **\*Conjure Tunnel:** (3 Grounding) You immediately create a Warp Tunnel. Where it leads is up to the GM, but it will definitely deliver you from the situation you find yourself in. (Warptouched Ace – Warp Demon)\* ## Consequence For every Assist Pool, there is a pool of some kind of resource. There should also be a unique consequence that happens when the player runs out of their resource. Think about what happens when your characters get too close to this special source of power. In the example above, a Windswept Cavalier who becomes too close to their animal friend becomes further away from their fellow human beings. This is a great way to add flavor to your classes, and to encourage your players to make dramatic choices, so take your time to make these special and interesting. > #### To Do – Classes > > What are the different paths to power in your world? > > Are you using classes? If not, how will players get abilities? > > What kinds of abilities do players of every class have to choose from? > > If you’re not using the default advancement system, when do players choose abilities? > > What extra powers can the players call on? > > What are the powers they gain from this? What are the consequences? # Challenges You’ve learned most of how the game is played already in the past few chapters. We’ve already talked about how skill rolls work, and how magic works, and this is going to cover most of the situations the players find themselves in. Before you get to work, especially on things like abilities and combat specialties, let’s talk about what “combat” means in Harmony Drive. We call it an Encounter system, because it’s used for combat, but it’s also useful for a variety of other situations. Any time the players are in a crisis, where time is of the essence and there’s an element of danger, it’s time to have an Encounter. # Encounters Let’s start by taking a look at an Encounter: **\*Shipwreck** (2 turns per round)\* _Destroy: 4 (Banish, purify, or destroy Shipwreck)_ _Redirect: 8 (Lure Shipwreck elsewhere)_ _Outlast: 6 (Survive until dawn or escape)_ _Shipwreck manifests as a blue-black cloud like ink swirling through water. Buried in the absolute darkness of its body is something solid that can be felt or struck, but never seen. Every so often something deep inside its formless body flashes with a warm orange light._ _Fog (2) – The Horror expands, spreading its inky cloud out around itself. No one can use Sensitivity rolls to see their surroundings._ _Slam (3) – The Horror creeps close to a party member, slamming its solid core into them for 2 damage and knocking them over, preventing Daring rolls for the next turn._ _Siren Song (2) – The Horror flashes that peculiar orange light from inside the cloud. Everyone who can see the light gains 2 Scatter._ _Breaking Wave (1) – The Horror manifests something solid within its form and rushes over a person, knocking them over and preventing Daring rolls for the next turn._ _Splinter (3) – The Horror crashes into a target, slamming the wreckage at its core into them for 3 damage._ Players may enter into Encounters when they find a monster, or when there is a natural disaster, or when they need to do a high-stakes negotiation with a powerful entity. When the Encounter starts, every player makes a roll to build the Advantage Pool. The Advantage Pool is an abstract way of describing the things that give the players the upper hand in combat. In the base game, they roll Adaptability/Tactics, but in your game that roll might be different. They count the total number of successes everyone got into one pool. Once the pool is formed, it’s time to start. Instead of having an initiative order like many games of this type, there are two phases: **The Player Turn** and the **GM Turn**. The first thing that happens after the first Advantage Pool is formed is the Player Turn. ## Player Turn The players can each take one action during the Player Turn, one at a time, in any order they like. When they are in an Encounter, there are essentially two things a player can choose to do. They can choose to **Advance a Goal**, or they can choose to **Contribute to the Pool**. ### Contribute to the Pool When they Contribute to the Pool, they are taking tactical actions that will give the team an advantage. This can be literally anything the player can think of that might give the party an edge. They might climb a nearby structure to get a better view, or they might cast a magical barrier to protect the party. They might try to talk the opponent down, or summon a helpful spirit. If they contribute using a skill roll, they add their total successes to the party’s Advantage Pool. If they contribute using a spell, they add the total Magic cost of the spell to the Advantage Pool. ### Advance a Goal When players Advance a Goal, they are taking a step toward ending the Encounter. In the base game, there are three different ways of doing this: 1. **\*Destroy.** To defeat the Encounter through brute force.\* 2. **\*Redirect.** To convince the Encounter to take a different course.\* 3. **\*Outlast.** To survive the Encounter and escape alive.\* As you can see in the example above, each of these will have a different difficulty and definition. An Encounter with a wild animal may be easy to Redirect if the party wants to frighten it away, but difficult to Outlast if it decides to pursue them. An Encounter with a forest fire may be difficult to Destroy if the players try to put it out by themselves, but easier to Outlast if the players can only get to safety. The difficulty of each Goal is the number of successes needed to advance it once. In the example above, it takes 4 Successes to advance Destroy once. Players don’t need to roll all these successes at once. They can take successes from the Advantage Pool too. They can also advance Goals by casting spells – in the base game, spending 1 Magic is equivalent to 1 success. Once a Goal has been advanced five times, then the Encounter ends. The players have successfully Destroyed, Redirected, or Outlasted the danger. ### GM Turn Once every player has taken an action, then it’s time for the GM to take their turn. Every Encounter has a set number of turns per round. Pay attention to this number – as a rule, the more actions an Encounter gets per round, the more difficult it is. If the Encounter has the same number of actions as the party, it will be very challenging. The GM chooses actions from the Encounter’s list. Every action has a cost next to it – if the players pay this many successes from the Advantage Pool, they defend against the attack and nothing happens. For every action the Encounter tries to take, the party has an opportunity to spend successes to defend. If there aren’t enough successes in the pool to defend, or if the party decides not to defend, then the action happens and the party faces the consequences. They might take damage, or lose the ability to use a certain type of roll for a round. There might even be story consequences, like an attack against other nearby people or a fire spreading. Once the GM has taken enough actions, it’s time to go back to the players. ## Advancement We’ve already talked about Lesson, the important theme that the player chooses for their character’s special arc. Advancement in Harmony Drive is meant to resemble an RPG or a TV series, in that every character gets their own side story in the spotlight. Lesson is a part of that. When a GM is ready to start telling a long-term story in Harmony Drive, first they choose a player to get the spotlight for a couple sessions. Then, they use that character’s Lesson as a guideline for these couple sessions. Once this arc is over, two things happen. - _The character in the spotlight gets to increase two of their Facets by 1 each._ - _Every character in the story gets to take an additional Skill._ - _Every character in the story gets a chance to change their Lesson or Key._ Then, the GM moves to tell a story about the next character, repeating this process until everyone in the party has had a chance to enjoy the spotlight and learn their Lesson. Once everyone has had their own arc, then the GM tells a finale arc to tie everything together, which ends the Season. Once the Season ends, every character gets to choose a new ability from their class list. They can choose any ability from their current Season or lower. Consider “Season” this game’s equivalent of “Level”. Then, if everyone wants to continue telling stories with the same characters, everyone chooses a new Lesson and the process starts all over again. > #### To Do – Challenges > > What kinds of encounters will be in your game? > > Will you use Destroy, Redirect, Outlast, or something else? > > How will characters advance in your game? > > If you’re not using spotlight arcs, do you have a way to make sure the characters share the spotlight? # Glossary Adaptability – A facet of a character. Describes how much the character likes to solve problems by coming up with a new approach to fit the situation. Assist Pool – A resource that lets the player call on an outside force for help. If the Assist Pool runs out, the character faces a certain Consequence. Daring – A facet of a character. Describes how much the character likes to solve problems with direct action. Edge Success – A die that comes up a 1. A player can count this as a Success as if it were a 5 or 6, but only if they agree to a consequence presented by the GM. Encounter – A challenge the characters need to overcome when time is of the essence. The game’s combat system. Facets – A character’s “stats”. Facets describe a character’s preferred ways of solving problems. Key – A list of a character’s unique motivations. When a character acts in accordance with an item in their Key, they mark it off and add two dice to their skill roll. Lesson – The lesson a character needs to learn, used to help the GM plan a Spotlight Arc about the character. Sensitivity – A facet of a character. Describes how much the character likes to solve problems by taking in information from the surroundings. Signature Spell Pieces – Spell Pieces that are available to the character after they have marked off every item in their Key. These can be anything – the player can write whatever they like. Specialty – An ability that changes the way a character interacts with encounters. Spell Pieces – The words players put together to create their spells. One of them comes from their own character, and one of them comes from the GM. Spotlight Arc – A short story revolving around a character’s lesson, usually only a couple sessions long, after which the character grows. Subtlety – A facet of a character. Describes how much the character likes to solve problems by hiding their motives or actions from others. Success – A die that comes up a 5 or 6. In an encounter these are counted, and outside an encounter a player typically needs 1 to 3 to succeed at an uncertain action. Understanding – A facet of a character. Describes how much the character likes to solve problems by connecting information.