7.3 Unique, Parallel or Individual

Goals are by default unique. A unique goal is one that exists only once, anyone can try to achieve it, and when it’s resolved it’s put aside. Goals can also be parallel or individual.

A parallel goal exists for one or both sides of a conflict, and each side can only achieve their own. This represents events like races, where each side strives to achieve something faster than the other side. Parallel goals don’t have to be the same on both sides, but they often reach toward the same end.

Sometimes a parallel goal only exists for one side. In the “Destroy Fortifications” example above, the goal would be parallel if one side could achieve it but the other side couldn’t prevent it. If the defending side could somehow, for the rest of the conflict, keep the other side from achieving that goal (by achieving it themselves and determining the outcome accordingly), it would be a unique goal instead.

Individual goals exist for each character individually. For example, “Escape from the Pit” could be an individual goal: each character has to achieve it, and those that don’t get stuck in the pit at the end of the conflict. While the goal has to be achieved for each character, one character can achieve it for another instead of herself (a PC in the example could give another PC a boost or toss her out of the pit while remaining in it herself until she or someone else achieves the goal for her).

Individual goals can also be limited to specific characters whose situation or opportunities differ from the others. For example, if one character is on board of an airship while the others are on the ground, but they’re all fighting in a conflict together, the airship character might have goals that relate to properly steering the airship, something the other characters down below can’t achieve.