Leverage

What is Leverage?

Maybe someone just spilled their darkest secret to you, or maybe you save their life and now they feel they owe you.  Maybe you caught them doing something suspicious and now they're afraid you might tell on them.  Maybe they got drunk and spilled the beans about something juicy.  These are all situations where you would gain what's called Leverage. 

Gaining Leverage

Leverage represents emotional/social influence, or manipulative power over another person.  There are many ways to get Leverage on someone, including but not limited to:

• When they vent to you
  
• When you successfully flirt with them or turn them on
• When you strengthen your bond
• When you intimidate them
• When they feel they messed up and want to make it right
• When they feel they owe you
• When you learn a juicy secret about them
• When you have a Backstory Connection with them (see below!)
• When you succeed an important roll against them (at discretion of all involved)
• When they fail an important roll against you (at discretion of all involved)
• And many more situations! If it feels like your character should be giving Leverage, then go for it! 

The first time during a scene that someone succeeds at an Influence roll against you, respond however you think it makes sense, and they gain Leverage on you.  If they attempt further Influence rolls on you in the scene, you can choose whether to give them Leverage or not.  It's recommended, but not required if it seems like too much or doesn't make sense. If you fail an Influence roll against another PC, it's also recommended that you give the target Leverage, depending on how those involved feel about the interaction. 

Unless you have an Advantage that says you get Leverage under certain conditions, it is up to the other player to decide whether the situation warrants giving you Leverage.  Please be fair to each other when deciding if it's appropriate, and remember that it might be interesting for the story for people to have Leverage on each other.  

Storing Leverage

You can store any amount of Leverage on any number of characters, which is handled in your Tracker, a panel that will be added to your character sheet.  Each time one of the above happens, you gain one Leverage.  Since Leverage represents a subtle power imbalance between two people, when someone has significantly more Leverage on you than you have on them, you as a player should take that into account in the way your character reacts to them.  Maybe they feel more shy than normal, or more defiant than normal, or more compliant than normal. How this manifests in your character's personality is up to you, and is dependent on the story you've told with that character so far! 

Applying Leverage

So, what is all this actually for, you ask? You can do a number of things with it:

• Tempt someone to do what you want.  When your character wants something from another, you can say to the other player OOC that you are applying Leverage.  In character, you don't have to state what you want directly; it can be subtle or implied. Out of character, make it clear to the other player what the character has to do in order for your request to be satisfied.  If the person you are applying Leverage on does what you want, they get one Character Point. 
• Debuff one of their rolls against you by 1, which you can decide after the roll is made. 
• Buff one of your rolls against them by 1, which you can decide after the roll is made. 
• Add 1 to damage you deal to them, which you can decide after the roll is made. 

When you spend a point of Leverage, gain 1 character point! 

Backstory Connections make the world come alive, and give you more inspirations for what to do with your scenes.  Backstory Connections encourage you to work with other players to fill out your character, and result in giving and gaining some Leverage to start out with!  

Whenever you make a Backstory Connection with someone, you both gain 1 character point.

Backstory Connections can be made for a lot of reasons, so feel free to get creative.  

Connections like most of those above should give either 1 or 2 Leverage, depending on how intense or impactful the story you come up with turns out.  For every connection you make, you get 1 character point.  There is no limit on the number of points you can earn in this way. If a character that you had a connection with retires, dies, or leaves, you keep your character point. All Backstory Connections require consent from the other player. 

Example

Suppose there are characters named Bob, Joe, Fred, and Larry.  Bob's player proposes, "How about I saved Fred's life?"  If Fred's player agrees, then the two of them work out the details, and then Bob gains 2 Leverage on Fred.  They both write it down on their character page and gain a character point.  Then Fred and Larry work out a story in which Larry stole Fred's girlfriend and feels bad about it. 

Humans learn their true names the first time they use magic or have it used on them. It consists of their first name, or whatever name they think of themselves as, plus one word in Sylvan that illustrates their personality. They are the only person in the world with this true name.

Speaking a person's true name such that they can hear it affects them as if you had spent a point of Leverage. That is, you have the following options:

• Speak their true name and then ask/tell them to do something.  If they do it, they get 1 character point. 
• Speak their true name and then make a roll against them.  Your roll is at +1. 
• Speak their true name as you deal damage to them. You do +1 damage (apply this last, after wounding, vulnerabilities, etc. Never multiply it.) 
• Speak their true name, and if none of the above happen, their next roll against you is at -1. 

Angels, demons, genies, faeries, and spirits all have unique true names that they know intrinsically; this is different from the name given to them by their creators/parents. Speaking their true name such that they can hear it affects them as above, but at +3 instead of +1.  This is a -4 point disadvantage for these races.  Mixes of these races with humans are at +2, and this is a -2 point disadvantage.