What would you sacrifice to save another?

Preparing Yourself

An Introduction

Divine Right began as a game about exorcism, where the Characters saved peoples' souls at the cost of their own well-being. As design continued it became clear that my notes explored the Premise given above, under the title graphic, rather than push a game of exorcism. A modern setting with slight paranormal activity is the closest thing to a default setting, but I kept in mind possibilities ranging from Mike Mignola's Hellboy comic to stories you might hear on the evening news.

This game allows a large amount of freedom for both Players and the GM. Before play, the group should sit down and discuss what level of controls the Players and GM are comfortable with. At one extreme, the Players may only narrate within strict specifics of their roll results. At the other, a GM may not even be necessary. In any case, the rules as written are how the game is meant to be played. If your group alters the rules it is either no longer Divine Right, or an improvement to the game. In either case, I encourage you to let me know!

Tools of the Trade

To play Divine Rights you will need a pencil and paper, and one 20-sided die per Player. The GM does not need any dice. Tokens to keep track of the Dilemma Total are recommended; something simple and small.

Character sheets are not necessary, but may help you keep track of your Character. A character sheet needs only entries for Concept and Risks. The GM should have a sheet of paper ready to record the Theme and Dilemma for the gaming session.

Populating Your Game

Theme & Dilemma

If you have no character for use during play, do not create one yet. Every session of Divine Right should revolve around a Theme and Dilemma. Remember the over-arching Premise of the game, What would you sacrifice to save another, when coming up with the Theme and Dilemma.

Theme: This should be the question or thought in everyone's mind during play. The Theme is not a specific question, but rather a refining of Divine Right's Premise. Two example Themes are provided:

What is the price of vengeance?
What is the strongest bond between two people?

Dilemma: Creating the Dilemma narrows the Theme into a springboard for the gaming session. A good Dilemma is something the Characters must face head-on, and allow exploration of the Theme without providing definite answers. Each example below corresponds to an example Theme from above:

A murdered man's spirit possesses his still-living kin to wreak vengeance, terrifying his innocent family.
The increasing insanity of a man forces him to choose his family or his wife; the two are opposed in the methods to help him.

In Divine Right these Dilemmas will often lead your Characters down terrible and unnatural paths. Introducing a supernatural element to your Dilemma is encouraged. If your Theme is When is murder justifiable?, an exorcists' Dilemma could be A possessed innocent is slowly killing an entire town.

Dilemma Total
Long Game	70-80 points
Typical Game	40-50 points
Short Game	25-30 points

To bring this into the game, unless the GM and Players have all agreed beforehand on a Theme and Dilemma, every Player (GM included) rolls a die. The highest roller chooses a Theme. The second-highest creates a Dilemma. Then the Dilemma is given a Dilemma Total, agreed upon by the group. Every narration accompanying a Sacrifice should move towards resolving the Dilemma without solving it outright. The only time the Dilemma can be solved is when the Dilemma Total reaches zero.

Player Characters

A Character is not a laundry list of traits that affect gameplay. There are two simple things to concern yourself with when creating a Character:

Concept: This should be concise, best as a phrase or single sentence. It should sum up your Character as she relates to the Theme and Dilemma. You should dicuss with the entire group before finalizing your Concept. Some questions to ask include:

Does my Concept allow for exploration of the Premise, Theme and Dilemma?
Is my Concept interesting to me, as a Player?
Will my Concept allow functional play within the gaming group?

Risks: What kind of risks your Character is likely to make will help you narrate your Sacrifices. You should describe some potential hazards that your Character is likely to encounter.

Playing Divine Right

Playing & Sacrifices

Where most roleplaying games concentrate on the introduction and quick resolution of many minor conflicts, Divine Right emphasizes its Premise. Conflicts only come into play where a Character is given the opportunity to risk her well-being to help solve the Dilemma, or the Dilemma is directly confronted. In either case the mechanics require you, as Player, to:

Analyze the past events and potential future,
Consider what Sacrifices may be made,
Decide whether to offer a Sacrifice in order to close in on the Dilemma,
If you Sacrifice, make the Sacrifice Roll (see the next section for details), and then
Narrate the results of your Sacrifice Roll.

If the GM feels an opportunity for a Sacrifice is not made, then he should announce this and tell the Players an amount of points he plans to add to the Dilemma Total if nobody acts. If the Players are still unwilling, he adds the points (between one and five) to the Dilemma Total and provides an in-game tangling of events. Multiple Players may opt to make a Sacrifice at the same time, but a Player may rescind her Sacrifice at any time before rolling. This lets the group discuss and decide who makes Sacrifices before every Player rolls, which may cause confusion.

Keep in mind the Sacrifice Roll is not a universal tool to resolve conflicts. Any conflicts not tied to a Sacrifice are resolved through narration, through both the GM and Players. If the group disagrees on any of these outcomes, allow all sides to present their case and the Players should take a vote (with the GM breaking any ties).

The Dilemma cannot be resolved if the Dilemma Total remains! Sacrifices made can only further a resolution in part unless you have reached the Final Scene, described below.

The Sacrifice Roll

Dilemma Points Earned
Sacrifice	Dilemma Points
Small	One Point
Eventful	Three Point
Mortal	Five Points

When making a Sacrifice, the Player declares whether she will attempt a Small, Eventful or Deadly Sacrifice. The potential risk corresponds to the Dilemma Points earned for the session. Once the type of Sacrifice is decided, remove the Dilemma Points from the Dilemma Total and roll your die. The tens and ones digit are read separately. The tens digit determines who narrates your Sacrifice: Zero means the GM narrates and One means you narrate. The ones digit is considered the actual value rolled. Add the Dilemma Points earned to the ones digit and consult the Roll Results chart. A roll of 20 lets you lower the Dilemma Total without making any Sacrifice; you, as Player, must narrate this fortunate turn of events.

Roll Results
Roll + Points	Actual Sacrifice
2-6	Small
7-9	Eventful
10+	Mortal

Small Sacrifice: Making a Small Sacrifice involves something that disadvantages your Character for the current situation only. Examples include slight injuries, losing money or a faltering in belief. Small Sacrifices can set your Character up for later losses, provided the losses are predictably minor.
Eventful Sacrifice: Eventful Sacrifices cause a major impact on your Character and the story, with effects carried the rest of the session. The results of an Eventful Sacrifice should have large effects, but should never take the Character out of play. Betraying a friendship or suffering from a broken limb are both fine examples of this Sacrifice.
Mortal Sacrifice: Players should take care before attempting a Mortal Sacrifice. Sacrifices of this magnitude will always nearly or completely change the Character's role during play. This can be death, insanity or another consequence left to your imagination. While in many cases this takes your Character out of play, you can still affect things as explained below under From Beyond.

The actual Sacrifice rolled must be played out and should somehow get closer to solving the Dilemma. If, after removing the Dilemma Points, the Dilemma Total reaches zero then you should run the Final Scene, described below.

From Beyond

A Mortal Sacrifice inflicts such terrible punishment on the Character that she may be unable to continue being effective in-game. From here, there are two options. The first being the Player creates a new Character or takes on an NPC as her Character. If this is undesirable, she may influence events "from beyond." During play, this Player may subtract between one and five points from the Dilemma Total provided she can:

Provide a justification that follows the Theme and
The other Players (GM breaking ties) vote that the justification is valid.

Lastly, a a functional Character may be briefly handed over to the Player allowing her to make a Sacrifice, both the roll and narration. How often this is exercised depends on the comfort level of the group, but allowing another Player control of your Character is encouraged as an experience.

The Final Scene

Once the Dilemma Total is at zero (or less), the Dilemma is on the verge of being solved. From this point on, the Dilemma can be solved with a reasonable narration. The last Sacrifice made must still be carried out, and the Player may even opt to solve the Dilemma through the Sacrifice.

Afterword

Rules Variations

The following rules variations can be mixed and matches as the group sees fit. It is recommended that your group plays a few sessions without any variations before trying these out.

Mortal Dilemma: When the Dilemma Total reaches zero, the Final Scene cannot be narrated until a Player makes a Mortal Sacrifice.
Under Pressure: Every scene begins with a Sacrifice Roll. Players must either volunteer or be randomly chosen to roll.
Nothing Comes Easy: Only Eventful and Mortal Sacrifices can be made.

Thanks & Recognition

The Forge: The best forum for indie game development. I thought long and hard about how this game should be designed, as it is my first purposefully Narrativist game. I wouldn't have even begun to think about game design and theory if it weren't for the Forge.

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Copyright Notice

This entire document and all contents is Copyright � 2002, by Zak Arntson. Permission to duplicate for personal use and captions for review purposes is granted. You must receive explicit permission from the author (email: zak@harlekin-maus.com) to use this game and any portion therein for public use, such as publication or convention play.