< Combat Systems? | Dramatic Systems | The Gentry >
The Hedge is a vast and frightening real, shaping itself via the emotion and fears of those that enter into it, its thorns digging away at the soul. It is roamed at will by the Fair Folk, inhabited by vicious Hobgoblins, and home to more danger than can be easily comprehended. Yet despite that, its also home to many boons, from "friendly" Hobgoblins, Hollows that serve as relatively safe havens, and Goblin Fruit that can be harvested for purposes both good and ill. It's expanse empowers Tokens and gives birth to various Trifles and Oddments, as well, and it even deigns to serve as a dueling field for the fae.
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Survival + equipment Action: Extended (3-7+ successes, 10 minutes per roll). Cooperative Specialties: The Hedge; Navigation, Mazes Notes: Entering the Hedge is a Clarity 10 breaking point.
The Hedge is dangerous in most circumstances, but there are many reasons to brave the thorns. When a Changeling first sits out into the Hedge with a goal, the Storyteller should decide how hard it will be to reach that goal and how dangerous the trip will be. He then assigns a target number based on that decision, anywhere between 3 and 7 successes or even more (but see below, and consider assigning more than one destination rather than huge numbers of successes). The target number describes how many successes are needed before the Changeling and his party reaches a Destination. This is a relatively safe place in the Hedge, where the benefits outweigh the dangers. It might be the safe hollow he was looking for, a clearing with a number of Goblin Fruit or anything else. These destinations are not necessary safe, note, but the potential gains are always great and worth the risk.
Of course, in order to reach these destinations you have to brave the rest of the hedge. Each roll, successful or not, that doesn't turn up the number of successes you need to reach your destination deposits you in another part of the Hedge. These locations might have benefits as well, but these are always matched by dangers or risks equal to the potential benefit. This doesn't necessarily mean combat, and its possible to travel through the Hedge without dodging danger at every turn, but the more encounters you run through before you reach your destination the more likely it is that you'll run into something that you really don't want to deal with. Even relatively "friendly" spots in the hedge can hold hidden threats that are all the more dangerous for not being obvious.
One of the safest ways to travel in the Hedge, though, is in a group. Additional members of your group can keep a weather eye out, spot hidden paths that might be safer, scare off dangerous Hobgoblins or spot dangers that you can then veer around. As many members of the group as wish can help with the Hedge Navigation roll; all make the Intelligence + Survival roll noted above and their successes add dice to the main navigators dice pool. In most cases the best navigator will be in charge of leading a given expedition, but in some circumstances someone else might have to take the lead irregardless. The details of this can be worked out with the storyteller.
Suggested Modifiers: On a Trod (+0), On a Path (-1 to -2), Off the Path (-3); Well-known Area of Hedge (+0), Unfamiliar Area of Hedge (-1 to -2); Party was in Conflict less than two successful rolls ago (-2), Being Chased (-3)
Stryck Wiki