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Inspiration & Obstruction Pools

As play progresses, the player characters will feel the effects of how well or how poorly circumstances seem to be going for them. Occasionally they will become inspired or circumstances may come to head to leave them feeling overwhelmed. These effects are tracked using an Inspiration Pool and an Obstruction Pool.

Inspiration Pool

The Inspiration is filled by uncanceled Epic results in the player characters' favor. Only Epic results in the Natural roll are counted and not after Adjustments have been made.

The following roll results add Inspiration to the Inspiration Pool: 

  • Add 1 Inspiration if there is 1 Epic Positive in a holy elohim's roll, or 1 Epic Negative in an enemy character’s roll

  • Add 3 Inspiration if there are 2 Epic Positives in a holy elohim's roll, or 2 Epic Negatives in an unholy elohim’s roll

  • Add 7 Inspiration if there are 3 Epic Positives in a holy elohim's roll, or 3 Epic Negatives in an unholy elohim’s roll

  • Add 12 Inspiration if there are 4 Epic Positives in a holy elohim's roll, or 4 Epic Negatives in an unholy elohim’s roll

  • If there are ever 5 or more uncanceled Epic Positive results in the player characters' favor, the Host can decide what effect it will have on the Inspiration Pool or the game in general. This is so rare, some players may never even witness it and should be celebrated accordingly if it ever should occur.

Perception Interactions made by the Host do not affect the Inspiration Pool. Neither do  Epic results in Obstruction Events. Any time numbers other than 12 or 1 are treated as Epic results (such as Surprise) they do not add to the Inspiration Pool.

When the Inspiration Pool fills to 7 or higher, the player characters will receive a benefit. Each player will choose whether their character will receive an Inspiration token or refresh one use of one of their Basic Attribute Perks. After each player has made their choice, Inspiration is removed from the Inspiration Pool equal to the number of players with plus 2. (Defeated characters do are not counted.) If the Pool is still over 7, the benefit is triggered again. The Pool cannot go negative if there are more than 5 players.

Inspiration is a reward of engagement in the game and so the responsibility of tracking and adjusting the Inspiration Pool can be handed over to the players.

Obstruction Pool

The Obstruction is filled by uncanceled Epic results not in the player characters' favor. Only Epic results in the Natural roll are counted and not after Adjustments have been made.

The following roll results add Obstruction to the Obstruction Pool: 

  • Add 1 Obstruction if there is 1 Epic Negative in a holy elohim's roll, or 1 Epic Positive in an unholy elohim’s roll

  • Add 3 Obstruction if there are 2 Epic Negatives in a holy elohim's roll, or 2 Epic Positives in an unholy elohim’s roll

  • Add 7 Obstruction if there are 3 Epic Negatives in a holy elohim's roll, or 3 Epic Positives in an unholy elohim’s roll

  • Add 12 Obstruction if there are 4 Epic Negatives in a holy elohim's roll, or 4 Epic Positives in an unholy elohim’s roll

  • If there are ever 5 or more uncanceled Epic results not in the player characters' favor, the Host can decide what effect it will have on the Obstruction Pool or the game in general. This is so rare, some players may never even witness it and should be be given the appropriate gravitas if it ever should occur.

Perception Interactions made by the Host do not affect the Obstruction Pool. Neither do  Epic results in Obstruction Events. Any time numbers other than 12 or 1 are treated as Epic results (such as Surprise) they do not add to the Obstruction Pool.

When the Obstruction Pool fills to 7 or higher, there will be an Obstruction Event. The Host will usually initiate the Obstruction Event immediately, but the Host is also free to delay the Obstruction Event if they feel it may better fit later.

Obstruction Events

When an Obstruction Event is triggered, the players may feel affected by existing circumstances or a new story-related event may take place. Either way, the Obstruction Event threatens to adversely affect the player characters.

An Obstruction Event plays out just like a Social Interaction against the player characters. To determine what kind of Interaction and how strong, the Host will make a standard roll of 7d12, plus one additional d12 that can be easily distinguished from the others. The single d12 will determine what motive the Interaction will take:

  • 1-4 = Excite

  • 5-8 = Subdue

  • 9-12 = Affirm or Aim

The 7d12 will determine the Skill of the Interaction, which is equal to 2 plus the total number of Positive results rolled, ignoring all Negative results. If there are no Positive results rolled, the Skill is 2.

Once the type and strength of Interaction are determined, roll a separate Social Interaction against each players character. No rolls related to an Obstruction Event add to the Obstruction or Inspiration Pools. After the Interactions are resolved, Obstruction is removed from the Obstruction Pool equal to the Skill of the Interaction. If the Pool is still over 7, another Obstruction Event is triggered. If the Pool would go negative, leave it empty instead. If there are any Archons present when an Obstruction Event takes place, they will gain 1 Obstruction token. However, the total Obstruction tokens distributed cannot exceed the Skill of the Interaction. If there are more Archons than Obstruction tokens able to be distributed, give Obstruction to any Chief Archon first and then to the Archons with the lowest number of Obstruction tokens.

When playing without technological assistance, it can be quicker to have each player roll the Obstruction Event against themselves and make any Adjustments to it. This may not work well for every group, however, as it can be confusing for players to make Adjustments in the opposite direction they normally would want to when they were the one rolling.

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