I’m starting a campaign next month where I’d like to blend concepts from Worldfall with concepts from the base game.
For some context, we’re basing the campaign concept on stories like the Coldfire trilogy (C. S. Friedman) and Amatka (Karin Tidbeck), where the planet is psychoreactive. The Worldsoul as the GM Cabal is really perfect for this! But, our campaign is more humans learning to survive with this strange planet and its manifestations of their fears than Worldfall is meant for, so I’d like to take some of the more combat-oriented elements of base Legacy.
Most of this can be handled narratively, but I’m struggling a bit with mixing and matching Cabals & Families, specifically around the mechanics of Reputation vs Treaties, and coming up with Inheritance moves since inheritance mechanics are more stripped down in Worldfall, and adding “How do you fight?” “How are you defended?” questions.
Have any of you blended these playbooks together? How did you reconcile the mechanical differences?
Huh, that’s an interesting concept! I’d be happy to give some advice, but first: what elements are you looking to keep from Cabals, and which are you looking to introduce from Families?
We’ve been discussing that very question amongst the player group, and have yet to find a concise satisfactory answer haha. My take on it is:
* Cabal Landmark structure of Before (pre-arrival)/Worldfall (brought with us or made on arrival)/Threat
* Family structure of Treaties, with ongoing debate as to whether cabals/families in the same settlement should use Reputation internally and Treaty externally.
* Unsure so far on Stake your Reputstion and Declare Alliance
* Family-type suggestions for “how do you fight” etc.
* I like the simplicity of inheritance for Cabals just affecting Tool Up, but the Family inheritance moves are pretty cool. That’s another one I’m stuck on which way to go.
Also of note, I’d like to use the Constitutional Convention wonder to represent the first colonists’ agreed upon structure for dealing with the new challenges. E.g. in Coldfire they go to feudalism with “neo-” prefixes (Neocount, etc), in Amatka they go authoritarian communist, both with the goal of imposing order on a force they don’t fully understand. I have no idea what my players will use as an approach, but the CC seems like a good way to codify it.
I’ve never hacked systems together like this before, so general tips around making these calls would also be appreciated!
Hmm, alright! It’s certainly a thorny issue, but it’d be easy at least to expand the Cabal’s Inheritance options to Family-style Asset options. The political sphere is the tricky part, but maybe it’d be useful to use the simpler Influence system from Free From the Yoke instead of Legacy’s treaties (substituting Reputation for Favour, perhaps?). See attached.
As for overall advice… I’d say to put together a clear idea of what you want your version of the game to do, and how that differs from Legacy and Worldfall. Set out an Agenda and Principles of your own, and then you can use those to evaluate every choice you’re faced with.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zn_jxBaFeCTUPuRXPv0gOb8fXDxYpxKLvhZyFgBg5gzfI2jvGf8o6x_gRnWqcj_z3xwZ-JM0Kl6Tro386k7e6g_Z2ICBoPMy4SnQ=s0