The Structure of Play

This is a roleplaying game for two players. One will play a Chel'qhuri Beast Hunter (that player is called the "Hunter"), while the other plays the opposition (and is called the "Challenger"). The mechanics support multiple Hunters, and notes for multiplayer games are provided in the Optional Rules chapter, but the basic rules are explained for two players.

Overall, the game has the following structure:

First, the players set up of the adventure. Then they roleplay freely until the Challenger presents a challenge to the Hunter. This starts the negotiation process, which often leads to Conflict Resolution. Once the challenge is resolved, the Hunter receives his reward and the Challenger determines the consequences. Then the players return to free play until they enter a new challenge or end the adventure.

Setup

As you set up the adventure, you need to figure out what's at stake for it. The adventure as a whole has a purpose, something that the Hunter wants to achieve, and individual challenges represent certain obstacles that the Hunter needs to overcome on his path toward this goal. Beast Hunts are an obvious example: the Hunter needs to complete the adventure to kill the beast and gain a new tattoo. However, other adventures also need to have a large-scale goal. For example, the stake of an adventure could be establishing peace between two tribes of Chel'qhuri, bringing down a group of brigands, retrieving an important religious artifact from old ruins, establishing a trade agreement with another people, or whatever else interests you. If the Hunter loses the adventure, that goal is not fulfilled. The chapter on Adventures has more details on this subject.

The Hunter and Challenger have to select a few things before starting an adventure:

Character: The Hunter plays one character, a Beast Hunter, through the adventure. Rules for creating and advancing characters are provided in the Character Creation and Development chapter.

Pool: The Hunter selects the adversity pool for the adventure (which is just called the Pool), which provides the Challenger with the currency to "buy" elements of challenges, such as enemies that the Hunter must face. At the beginning of the adventure, the Hunter determines how many points there are in the Pool for the whole adventure. When the Pool is empty, the adventure concludes and the Hunter receives a chance to refresh his character. The more points you put in the Pool, the longer the adventure will take to play out (and the more challenging it will be).

Limit: The Hunter also determines the maximum amount of Pool points that the Challenger can spend on any single challenge, which is called the Limit. The higher you set the Limit, the more difficult each challenge can become.

You can use coins to keep track of the Pool for the duration of the adventure, or just use notepaper and pencils.

Opening Salute

Before play begins, the Hunter and the Challenger salute each other in Chel'qhuri fashion by grabbing each other's lower right arm with their right hand (think of it as reaching too far into a hand shake and taking hold of the wrist instead). This salute expresses the intention of the players to respect each other, play for fun, and separate in-game activities from their outside relationship. That separation goes both ways: connections outside of the game, such as animosity or romantic interest, stay outside and don't interfere with the purpose of the game. Healthy competition and in-game events stay within the game and should not be taken personally. That doesn't mean you should not talk about what you liked or disliked about the game afterwards; you should definitely do that. It means that you recognize that part of the Challenger's job, for example, is to make things tough for the Hunter, and you don't carry any bad feelings about that outside of the game. You respect and accept each other's role in playing this game together.

This gesture is similar to saluting in at a martial arts class. You acknowledge mutual respect and the fact that for the duration of the event, you will push each other hard, maybe enough to cause a little pain, but you both know that you do it to help the other person grow. It expands the boundaries of your interactions for the sake of the activity you'll be doing together.

Be sure to discuss any optional rules or modifications that you are going to use before you salute in.

The opening salute is an integral part of the rules and should not be overlooked.

Free Play

Like most roleplaying games, this one should have a good amount of free play time. That is, the Hunter and the Challenger simply play out events, with the Hunter describing what his character does and the Challenger acting for all other characters, beasts, and the environment. However, the Challenger cannot throw challenges at the Hunter without invoking the negotiation rules (see below).

While the Challenger controls all characters other than the Hunter's, the Hunter retains veto rights over characters that are named in his traits, and over actions that concern his original tribe as a whole, for example "Your mother commits suicide" or "Your tribe casts you out". He can negate anything that the Challenger decides about the actions of these characters and the tribe, but should only do so if the actions ruin the player's enjoyment of the game. If you need to discuss these issues, salute out and resolve them before saluting back in to continue the game.

Challenges

Once the Hunter's character encounters obstacles that prevent him from reaching a goal, whether it's the adventure's goal or a smaller goal that the Hunter has determined, a challenge is officially declared. This process begins with negotiation. The Challenger explains to the Hunter exactly what the problem is, whether it's a group of bandits blocking the way, fire raining from the sky, or a sudden onslaught of doubt in the Beast Hunter's mind planted by a supernatural force.

The Challenger, when freely roleplaying, should allow the Hunter to get his way unless there's an interesting challenge at hand. Stick to that and you will enjoy playing and focusing on the interesting challenges that much more. Remember, the Challenger's budget is limited, and any introduced challenge will cost her, so spend it wisely. Once the Hunter encounters an interesting challenge, use the negotiation rules and/or Conflict Resolution to play through it.

The first thing to be established in a challenge is: what is it about? What? the outcome that the Hunter is fighting for? What's the goal, what's at stake? If the Hunter doesn't care, he can always give up at any point during the challenge, so you need to make sure that the stakes are worthwhile. However, if the Hunter gives up during Conflict Resolution, the Challenger regains any adversity points that she spent on it.

Challenges can either be presented by the Challenger or asked for by the Hunter. For example, during a Beast Hunt, the Challenger can state that a pack of hungry wolves stands between the character and the entrance to the cave leading to the beast. Or, the Hunter's character is in Norrogaan, and he states: "I want my character to impress the councilor. The Challenger can then start the negotiation by asking: "How are you going to do that?" The game works best when Hunter and Challenger work together to a certain degree in agreeing on appropriate challenges. A goal like "I want to steal this Chel'qhuri artifact out of the Jos villa might lead to several challenges, as in: "First you need to sneak into the villa at night, then there are guards, and finally there are traps surrounding the artifact. Each part could be played as an individual challenge, or it could all be one big challenge, but the Challenger should be explicit about exactly what the challenge is, when it is initiated, and what the goal and possible outcomes are.

Stakes for a challenge cannot be something that would make the character lose the whole adventure. "Will my character be captured?" is a perfectly legitimate stake, because "Will my character escape?" can be the next challenge that allows the Hunter to continue the adventure. However, in an adventure where the overall goal is "Make peace between these two tribes", the stakes of a challenge cannot be "Will I establish peace?" because that would solve the larger adventure goal. Also, stakes cannot be effects that are mechanically represented in the game ("I want to gain a +3 resource" or "Will I take a fatal wound level?" are not acceptable stakes).

The negotiation process is described in detail in the next chapter, and Conflict Resolution in the chapter after that.

Closing Salute and Breaks

When you end your session, you salute out the same way that you saluted in (see Opening Salute, above). Only after that, you can (and should) discuss what happened in the game, what you liked and disliked, and what could be better.

If at any point during your session you feel that things are going downhill and you are not enjoying the game, you should announce that you need a break. First salute out, and then discuss the problem before you salute back in (if you decide to continue play). Taking a break is also advised when you feel that the in-game events are getting too far out of your comfort zone. For example, if the Challenger decides to offer a challenge by having a character rape another, and the Hunter doesn't want to go there, salute out and talk about it. Don't get pushed where you really don't want to go. Remember that the game is based on mutual respect and the goal of fun. The closing salute, like the opening salute, is not optional.