Impetus #

Your goal during the impetus is to set the stage, get the players comfortable interacting with the world of Society of Rafa, and convince the characters to get involved in the action. 

Building players’ comfort  #

A good trick for building a player’s comfort is to start off with a mundane activity, such as eating breakfast. Ask each player, “What are you eating and doing” to start off player interaction. Experienced players often respond by bringing details in from character creation, while new players may need an invitation to do so. 

Convince characters to participate  #

Some players will resist going along with the conceit of the plot hook. In those cases you will need to be a bit more active in courting their involvement by examining whether it seems like the player or the character is resisting.

If the character does not have the motivation to participate, you can concoct narrative reasons that they might go against their natural inclinations. Maybe an NPCs teases them. Or Rosh Rafa Shai insists as their boss. Try to use details from the character building to prod them along. Play to their self-interest.

Remind players of key materials #

Hand the Medical Records and Book of Spirits to different specific players, which gives them ownership and responsibility for the information they contain. 

Medical Records: You can either have an NPC, such as Rosh Rafa Shai, hand the players the scenario specific medical records. If that does not make sense for the story, ask the players if they want to grab the medical records before going off on their mission.

Book of Spirits: Ask who is in charge of the Book of Spirits for the group. If you have a Counselor or Shepherd of Souls specialist among the Circle, remind the group that these specialties usually carry the book. 

Key Scenes #

The scenes are the key settings and plot points that drive your scenario, especially important for contextualizing the moral dilemma at the heart of your scenario. Consider efficient ways of packing relevant characters together and what parts of their personalities to really showcase in their interactions and dynamics. Writing some disconnected lines of dialogue in the voice of NPCs can be very helpful for packing mannerisms and relevant information to refer to during the session.

It is ok if you cannot use every line of dialogue or description. Instead, stay aware of what information the players need from the scene. Even if the players do not react the way you expect or you miss the opportunity for a particularly key line, find other ways for the players to get that information. Are there moral dimensions to the scenario that you want to introduce to players? What hooks do players need to get to the next key scene?

Roleplaying persuasion #

In Society of Rafa, players do not roll for persuasion because they are expected to roleplay their persuasion. If a player has something to say, let them and give them the benefit of the doubt in how they represent their persuasion. Pay more attention to players’ arguments and intentions, rather than whether they stutter or explain their thoughts out of character. 

Players find this approach very powerful. As one beta-tester wrote:

“[It was validating to] talk and be a person with an NPC— who is also a person— and come to a mutual understanding without a bunch of dice making your really great argument fail for no reason at all.”

The lack of persuasion rolls does increase work on the Storyteller to roleplay and determine consequences of conversations. 

• Character Motivations: What types of arguments will convince a particular NPC? 
• Plot and pacing: Are you early in the scenario and convincing the NPCs would end the action too early? Or are the players getting tired? 
• Add a condition to persuasion: One storyteller had the NPC require all the Rafas to be in consensus to convince her.  
• Trust: Does the NPC trust the Rafas? Within the scenario, have they gained or betrayed the NPCs’ trust? 
• Instinct: Ultimately you need to go with your gut.

If you are truly on the fence on how the character would react, feel free to do a simple pass/fail roll yourself with a d10. 

Major Maladies #

Many scenarios contain a major malady, which is a serious illness or injury with symptoms that shift throughout the scenario. Unlike minor maladies, the players must solve the root cause of the illness to heal the patient. Patients will experience negative symptoms at the storyteller’s cadence, so players will probably have to manage symptoms to keep patients from deteriorating too far.

Energy  #

Each NPC has a Current Energy and Max Energy. The Max Energy reflects their general health. You cannot heal someone past their Max Energy. The highest possible Max Energy is 13. Some characters will have lower Max Energy. For example, an elderly person past their prime might max out at 8 instead.

The Current Energy reflects their current state based on their major malady, symptoms, and Rafas’ healing successes. As a Storyteller you can track the Current Energy using something similar to the last page of the Character Sheet. 

Rolling for Symptoms  #

Occasionally roll a d4 to cause symptoms of the patient’s major malady. Rolling the Major Malady is a good pacing device. Use rolls to drive the plot forward, give players clues, break up silence, or add drama. For example, if the players keep going in circles about a possible solution, roll for a symptom. If you do not feel comfortable determining when to roll a major malady, you can set up a timer for yourself.

Concluding the Session #

Prepare to leave a fairly substantial amount of unstructured time for players to reason through their solutions and enact them. There will probably be substantial playacting to realistically allow players to bring parties together and align everyone to their chosen action. A scenario ends when the players feel like they have solved the dilemma. 

Feel free to prepare epilogues giving players more opportunity to interact with the setting and NPCs if it feels right. If the Capped Jesters end by having a party, invite the players to join the drunken revelries in the forest. Such an opportunity to interact with Avodai life outside the professional role of Rafa can be very enriching to their attachment to Kahal. Encourage any side quests they want to embark on. 

Finally, encourage players to mark up information in the Medical Records and/or Book of Spirits. Both materials are designed as diegetic pieces within Kahal, so that players feel ownership of this world as co-creators with the Storyteller and game designers.