Mechanics in focus: Covenants and you!
over 4 years ago
– Sun, Nov 10, 2019 at 12:40:56 PM
Hey folks,
When I asked for suggestions about what part of the system to dive into, the overwhelming response was Covenants. This makes a lot of sense - they’re a key piece of how the game works, on a mechanical and an emotional level. So here’s the details!
A Covenant is, at its core, a relationship. A bond between your character and others that helps you understand yourself better as you see yourself through their eyes. They’re a mini-playbook that bolts onto your character, the game’s long-term advancement track, and a way of enshrining relationships between your character and others as a core part of Voidheart Symphony.
I’ll talk through the common features of covenants, and the way that your core covenant - the Crew Covenant - changes the formula a little.
Arcanum
Its Arcanum defines what kind of relationship this is. What does this person provide for you? Are they Justice giving you an insight into this city’s systems - and how they’re failing people? Are they the Star, a creative force broadening your horizons? Or the Fool, helping you let go of fears and embrace life?
The same person can present different arcana to others - a kindly teacher might be a guiding Heirophant to a teen rebel, but after work when they get home they’re the dependable Lover of another PC.
If you’re ever unsure what arcanum to assign to a relationship, each comes with descriptions of the relationship at its best and at its worst - the ways in which they make your life better for being a part of it, and the ways in which they’re imperfect, fallible and inconsiderate.
Crew Covenants have an arcanum too, representing the sort of person the crew is letting them become. This is something you’re searching for, something you’re aiming to be but you’ve been unable to find this anywhere except with the group. When you’re picking your Crew Covenant, ask: Why is this something I want to be? How is acting like this harder without the group? How is the group helped by me growing into this role?
Also look at the three arcana presented by your playbook - each will come with ideas for what the crew means to you, and a question to ask the group to help set up your initial social dynamics. You can go off-menu if you like, picking another arcana - if you do, work out a different question to ask the group, and remember that more than one player can answer in the affirmative!
Rank
Each covenant also has a rank, determining the depth of the bond. At rank 3, the relationship is firm and strong; at 0, the covenant is weakened and betrayed - it won’t provide you any benefits and is on the verge of vanishing entirely.
Covenants are formed and strengthened through Projects, long-term investments of your time and energy. As you help your friends with their issues, Checking In with them to get a sense of what they want from you, you’ll understand them more and get better at using the powers they give you - but they have their own problems, and sometimes they’ll ask you for help in return. Fail to help them and you put the covenant at risk. Each arcanum also describes how you might nurture or betray it, if you’re needing suggestions.
Crew Covenants grow differently - you fortify them by aiding your friends in their struggle against the castle, and risk it when you mess things up. When your friends need your help and you’re not present, you can appear as a manifestation of the covenant itself - but if your spectre is banished, the covenant is weakened.
When your crew covenant is risked, that’s not necessarily the end of it. Risking the Covenant is a gamble - you might ruin it, but you might introduce to the table a memory from your relationship that puts the current events in context and even strengthens the relationship.
And if things are truly dire? You always have the option of doing something that would disappoint, upset or betray a covenant to get a reroll on any action - lowering the rank in the process. There’s a power in betrayal that the castle is always willing to support, and that leaves a mark even if your contact never learns of your betrayal.
Moves
So what do you get from this relationship? Each Arcanum offers three abilities:
The Hangout Move triggers when you Check In with the relationship, spending time to see how they are. For NPC covenants, you trigger their move; for Crew Covenants, both of you trigger each other’s. (If three or more PCs are hanging out together, that’s more likely Let Your Hair Down than Checking In).
Hangout moves can offer you insights into the world or your relationship, can give you useful resources to take forwards, or just provide an interesting scene (see the Moon and the Fool).
The City Move gives you assistance with your investigation. New sources of information, ways of touching the hearts of those you encounter, modifiers to the basic moves and more. You can use this at any point - you don’t need the covenant’s assistance to unlock these powers.
The Castle Move, on the other hand, is an overt supernatural power you can call on. When you use a Castle move granted by another character, it's up to you how that manifests - using their training in unexpected ways, a phantom version of the contact appearing and lending you their aid, or drawing on magical power within you?
Beyond Individuals
And then there’s two special covenants that go past your relationship with specific others. Between them The World and The Void set out your rebel’s relationship with power.
The more you accept the Castle’s power after defeating Vassals, the more your Void rank will grow - tempting you to use its power to make others serve you while removing all impediments to your own freedom.
On the other hand, your World rank sets out your connection to the mundane city around you. By giving up power and using it to help others, you build a mutual relationship that can help you get out of trouble, find hidden places in the city, and even pull your supernatural foes into the mundane world and strip them of their unholy power.
They don’t oppose each other directly, but someone with high World and Void walks a knife edge - their shortened Fealty gauge makes them at risk of being taken over by the castle, while their World rank lets them take the pressure off if they can somehow keep finding opportunities to refresh it.
Q&A
So, that's the broad overview of Covenants. Any follow-up questions, or things you'd like me to go into further detail on?
And next time, I think I'll go into Confrontations - openings, qualities, vassals and weapons!
