I think I understand utilizing traits fairly well but could use some guidence on Passions..

From what I understand (from reading the book) that a Passion can be invoked by the PK (with GM approval) or mandatroy rolls often when a Passion is 16+.

Any other guidence on Passions? A failure could be a disastrous event so I would think that they don't happen too often but I am a bit fuzzy on all this.

I think I understand utilizing traits fairly well but could use some guidence on Passions..

From what I understand (from reading the book) that a Passion can be invoked by the PK (with GM approval) or mandatroy rolls often when a Passion is 16+.

Any other guidence on Passions? A failure could be a disastrous event so I would think that they don't happen too often but I am a bit fuzzy on all this.


Yes, passions are only mandatory at 16+. Below that it's entirely optional.

Ironically it's usually a much better deal to roll a passion of 16+ anyway, whereas my players with passions at 12/13 consider them a bit too dangerous to roll in most circumstances.

As you note, they're potentially dangerous so people will only voluntarilly roll them when the chips are down. Not only can a failure see your roll become harder it can reduce your passion, so there's a real strong imperative not to use it except when desperate. Make sure players realise the stakes before every roll.

Odds are likely you're group will have at least one person with a strong Hate (Saxons) to start with when the GPC begins, and there's enough Saxon fights that this is the most likely one you'll see used. (Especially true if you use Book of Battles and your group get double-attack by great spear wielding terrors!) My group contains some surviving characters with 10+ years experience now and one of t hem has Hate (Saxons) 21 - not much of an increase as he started with about 18 IIRC. At that level success is mostly a question of degrees.

I sometimes think that sometimes, when passions are compelled, success and failure should be flipped; a critical success means that your heart is broken, while a fumble indicates uncharacteristic apathy or clear-headedness. Lancelot certainly had a very high Love (Guinevere) passion, and so when she confronted him with evidence of his unfaithfulness and a barrage of abuse, he did go mad--in game terms, I think, he had his passion compelled and rolled a crit, not a fumble.

I sometimes think that sometimes, when passions are compelled, success and failure should be flipped; a critical success means that your heart is broken, while a fumble indicates uncharacteristic apathy or clear-headedness. Lancelot certainly had a very high Love (Guinevere) passion, and so when she confronted him with evidence of his unfaithfulness and a barrage of abuse, he did go mad--in game terms, I think, he had his passion compelled and rolled a crit, not a fumble.


I can certainly see the logic here. Encountering the lady you love being unfaithful probably would produce worse results the more you love her; having your faith in God shattered is probably harder to deal with the bigger a part of your life faith was; or similar.

Could this sort of situation be more of an opposed trait roll of some sort? For your above story example, possibly Love (Guinevere) vs Orate to see if Lancelot can explain himself correctly or if he is caught up by his emotions at angering Guinevere. (Though you could argue Guinevere herself has used her Love (Lancelot) to boost her own skill to deliver a particularly stinging rebuke...)

For a vaguely similar example, I used a Love (Family) Vs Just roll last session to determine if a Knight would follow the rule of law to revenge the death of his sister, or if he'd swear vengeance at any cost. In that case passing Love (Family) was the "bad" option, and criticaling it probably means doing something really stupid like vowing to slay the sister of the murder in revenge or breaking hospitality to have your "justice".

Passions can be rolled like anything else in the game so pairing them up with passions, traits or even skills in opposed rolls can be used to cover some odd situations and produce interesting results.

I sometimes think that sometimes, when passions are compelled, success and failure should be flipped; a critical success means that your heart is broken, while a fumble indicates uncharacteristic apathy or clear-headedness. Lancelot certainly had a very high Love (Guinevere) passion, and so when she confronted him with evidence of his unfaithfulness and a barrage of abuse, he did go mad--in game terms, I think, he had his passion compelled and rolled a crit, not a fumble.

I think she heaps over 40 points of doubt onto his roll

So circumstances made him less passionate? More apathy equals more of a chance to become all mopey and depressed about it, while intense passion means you're more likely to be perfectly fine with dramatic and unpleasant events, as long as you just have to try to do something about it?

In the case of Guinevere vs Lancelot I think he actually criticalled his passion. He did betrayed his love for Guinevere and hurt his love. The only thing he could do was to punish himself. In this case go crazy.

I do not think a succesful passion roll is always a good thing. It depends on the reason you must make the roll. In the example Lancelot felt bad about his actions, but seeing his love hurt pushed him over the edge. So his passion dictated that he would need to punish himself for it. A failed passion roll or even a fumbled one would have made him shake his head and say sorry and continu with his life.

A succesful passion roll dictates your actions, but the action in itself does not need to be