7.2 Creating Goals

There are four ways in which goals are created. First, the GM establishes them when setting up the conflict. Second, the GM establishes them during a conflict. Third, the players suggest them during a conflict. And fourth, some goals always exist as default options.

Goals that are established at the beginning of a conflict tend to result from the way the story is going and the nature of the adversity in the conflict. Often, a fight is about something other than just beating the other side. Something’s at stake. This is represented with a goal or two. If the PCs already planned for the conflict and put up traps or made other preparations, you can also have starting goals representing them using their advantage in that regard.

During the conflict, especially with an inexperienced group, the GM can establish goals that help out the PCs. If the PCs are facing a powerful enemy and have a hard time getting through the defense, or if they are faced with a condition that impacts them but they just don’t know how to deal with it, the GM can throw them a boon to spice things up.

Note that the goal does not have to describe how the PCs can do it, as this leaves the door open for the players to come up with creative ways to achieve a goal. In order to achieve a goal that exposes the adversity’s weak spot and lowers its defense, for example, they could peel the armor off the enemy, toss gasoline at it and light it, or talk the arrogant evil summoner into letting his guard down.

Other goals can be established during a conflict to introduce story complications. For example, civilians could pop up that are caught in the crossfire, or important items show up that one of the characters could snatch on their way out. By establishing these during the conflict, you can alter the course of a battle and make it that much more interesting.

Player-suggested goals are a great way of allowing the players to express what they care about and how they want to handle a conflict. The example of exposing the enemy’s weak spot could just as well be a suggestion from a player that the GM happily establishes.

When a player suggests something, the GM should always establish it in some form, unless it is completely nonsensical in the context of the story (blowing up the whole planet with a firecracker), would ruin other players’ fun (stealing other PCs’ pants in the middle of combat—if they aren’t willing to play comedic right now), or is otherwise outright disruptive.

Finally, some goals are always available by the rules. The prime example is the ability of anyone to disarm a character with a Soulbound Weapon, and conversely, that character’s ability to regain it. These goals do not need to be written down, because they’re already described in these rules. A gentle reminder here and there might help keep players aware of their options, though.

Default Type

The categories of goals listed in the following sections are all advanced uses of the concept of goals. You should be very familiar with basic goals before you use them, but once you do, you’ll see how much variety they can add to your conflicts.

Always assume that a goal is the default type (unique, single, joint) unless you decide otherwise when you create it, and make sure to write any deviations from the default next to a specific goal.