This is part 3 of my test run with the Radiance Adventure Engine from Oddfish Games. Read part 2.
Recap
Let me do a quick recap before we proceed any further, and before Radiance starts to get more granular and detailed.
So far I have a core adventure problem, an overall theme that the entire adventure should reflect, “Laura must convince Fernando, a stubborn drug dealer, to comply with their plan or adopt their perspective”, and the storyline for the adventure’s first stage, “Rufio Pina wreaks vengeance on Fernando for crimes or deeds committed to Rufio’s old partner (and lover), Cristos”.
Let’s put a bit more flesh on either of these. Not too much, you don’t want to come up with an elaborate backstory or starting situation, as well as writing what happens in the story from here. You need to leave space for your roleplaying to create the fiction.
Core Adventure Problem
Laura has been undercover with the cartel for a long time. She has gained the trust of el jefe Fernando, but it’s a hard life and Laura wants out. Either she can convince Fernando to take a trip to the US, and likely get apprehended by the DEA, or to let Laura go to the US on her own, in order to escape the cartel.
Stage 1 Storyline
Some time ago Laura managed to palm off suspicion about a mole in the cartel and frame Cristos, Rufio’s partner and lover. Cristos was quickly executed on Fernando’s order, but Rufio knew in his heart that Cristos could not be the mole. Since then Rufio has planned his vengeance on Fernando, which is the starting point of this adventure.
To get the ball rolling, let’s say we start at the point where Rufio has managed to kidnap Fernando’s wife Morisa and get away with a suitcase with a million dollars.
The Path
Next step in the Radiance hierarchy is to resolve the current storyline with one or more paths. The instruction on the Vengeance story card reads: “Paths: Our hero sets a narrative goal related to this story and roleplays a series of paths to achieve it.” The card also allows me to draw two path cards and choose one of them, and that I need to resolve two paths to finish this story.
Laura’s narrative goal will be to get Morisa back alive—if Rufio escapes out of Mexico, it might be useful for Laura to convince Fernando to let her go after Rufio.
Here’s the path I’m going with: Feats of Endurance.
Each path card has its own storyline that has to be resolved with actions. Actions are the actual roleplaying scenes where Radiance engages the chosen RPG system to solve conflicts, tests, etc.
The card’s storyline is “Our hero must overcome detail – an obstacle that requires endurance and mental discipline to overcome.” I draw the detail card Feast, with the additional words abundant, festive, gratifying, none of which I find fit terribly well. The image on the opposite side also gives me nothing, so I’ll have to ponder a bit.