Acquiring Prospects
If the actions of the PCs or notable NPCs have managed to mitigate all of the threat for an Attribute during a season, and that PC has some amount of Bonus Successes remaining, they can convert those bonus successes into Prospect.
As total prospect for a community increases, the PCs can discover this in various ways. Members of the community are hopeful about their future. The kami in a location are happy. Visitors seem to see opportunity in the area.
Prospect on its own, does nothing.
However, a PC or noted NPC can observe a prospect by spending 2 Opportunities * * on their monthly Taking Responsibility check. If they are successful, the GM will share what action the PCs might take in order to exploit their accumulated Prospect and turn it into a Benefit for the community. GMs can also, of course, share this directly, without requiring an observation if they wish.
As total prospect for a community increases, the PCs can discover this in various ways. Members of the community are hopeful about their future. The kami in a location are happy. Visitors seem to see opportunity in the area.
Prospect on its own, does nothing.
However, a PC or noted NPC can observe a prospect by spending 2 Opportunities * * on their monthly Taking Responsibility check. If they are successful, the GM will share what action the PCs might take in order to exploit their accumulated Prospect and turn it into a Benefit for the community. GMs can also, of course, share this directly, without requiring an observation if they wish.
Benefits
A Benefit can be used to do any of the following, with a GM's approval:
In order to exploit a Prospect and turn into a Benefit, the PCs will need to act on that prospect. This may mean going through an intrigue to request a trade route to go through your village or to arrange a beneficial marriage, rescuing a sacred statue that can be used to bless a shrine that looks over your village, inspiring the community to prepare and build a new rice field, cleaning out the local opium den, or wooing an artist who will come paint a picture of your village and increase its fame and prestige.
- Attract members to a community, potentially fulfilling a role deficiency
- Buy a Feature for the community to mitigate threat
- Eliminate a Hazard
- Improve the standard of living for the PCs or others in the community
- Be converted into koku for the benefit of a lord or for taxes
- Buy influence in Court (per The Influence Game)
- Ultimately, to increase the size and overall prosperity of the community
In order to exploit a Prospect and turn into a Benefit, the PCs will need to act on that prospect. This may mean going through an intrigue to request a trade route to go through your village or to arrange a beneficial marriage, rescuing a sacred statue that can be used to bless a shrine that looks over your village, inspiring the community to prepare and build a new rice field, cleaning out the local opium den, or wooing an artist who will come paint a picture of your village and increase its fame and prestige.
Prospect |
Benefit |
Actions Required to Exploit |
Benefit Gained (Select 1) |
2 |
Trivial |
1-4 momentum by an individual. |
|
4 |
Minor |
5-9 momentum by an individual or small group. |
|
6 |
Meaningful |
10-15 momentum by a group of individuals. |
|
12 |
Significant |
16-20 momentum by a group of individuals, often in more than one scene. |
|
15+ |
Amazing |
20+ momentum by a group of individuals. This will usually require multiple scenes, and sometimes a whole adventure |
|
If a community is able to exploit 2 Amazing Prospects without any attributes being decreased due to Perils between the two Prospects, the community has the opportunity grows 100% permanently, and therefore can move one Size up on the Community Size table (modified by GM discretion).
Example: Golden Petal Village has accumulated over time 12 Resilience Prospect. Their current Resilience is Resilience: Good. They can choose to add a resilience feature to the Village, for example, building a new storehouse. They can bring in a skilled carpenter to their village to help them respond quickly to disasters. They can make the village more resilient overall, moving its resilience from Good to Great. Or they can save their Prospect, waiting to see if an even better possible Benefit comes along, one that allows them to grow.
Obscuring Benefits
A GM may choose to spend a portion their accumulated threat to instead obscure the possible benefit that could come to the community. If they do so, the PCs must spend a cumulative number of opportunities equal to the number of threats spent in order to detect the potential benefit. These opportunities can be made as part of the monthly Taking Responsibilities role, or they can be spent in associated standard 5th Edition Opportunities made for other roles associated with being in the community or its area, including:
* * Air: Notice an interesting detail about a character in the scene, such as an advantage or disadvantage. At the GM’s discretion, you may establish a new detail for an NPC.
* * Earth: Suddenly recall an important piece of information not directly related to the task.
* * Fire: Notice something missing or out of place in the vicinity that is not directly related to the task.
* * Water: Spot an interesting physical detail present in your environment not directly related to your check.
* + Void: Feel a chill down your spine, notice a sudden silence, or detect another sign of the supernatural if there is a spiritual disturbance in the scene. Extra * gives an increasingly precise location for the supernatural occurrence.
Additional Shuji and abilities like that of the Spy Title ability that allow a PC to discern rumors can also be used to help find obscured Benefits.
* * Air: Notice an interesting detail about a character in the scene, such as an advantage or disadvantage. At the GM’s discretion, you may establish a new detail for an NPC.
* * Earth: Suddenly recall an important piece of information not directly related to the task.
* * Fire: Notice something missing or out of place in the vicinity that is not directly related to the task.
* * Water: Spot an interesting physical detail present in your environment not directly related to your check.
* + Void: Feel a chill down your spine, notice a sudden silence, or detect another sign of the supernatural if there is a spiritual disturbance in the scene. Extra * gives an increasingly precise location for the supernatural occurrence.
Additional Shuji and abilities like that of the Spy Title ability that allow a PC to discern rumors can also be used to help find obscured Benefits.
