Passions
Passions are the visceral reasons you step forward—or refuse to. They are not ornamental background. They are rated abilities that can push a skill over the line, force your hand, or steel you when someone tries to break your will.
Starting Passions
Begin with up to three Passions. Each is built from Characteristics plus a rank bonus:
| Priority | Bonus |
|---|---|
| First Passion | +40 |
| Second | +30 |
| Third | +20 |
Base Characteristics depend on the object of the Passion:
| Object | Base |
|---|---|
| A person (romantic or familial) | POW+CHA |
| An organisation or group | POW+INT |
| A race or species | POW×2 |
| A place | POW+INT |
| An object or substance | POW×2 |
| A personality trait | POW+CHA |
Name them with a verb and a target: Love (Mira), Loyalty to (the Free Captains), Hate (slavers), Uphold (the Code), Fear (deep water), Destroy (the Machine Cult). Tie them to culture, career, or private history.
How to use a Passion
Augment a skill. When your Passion clearly drives the action and the moment is dramatically right, add 20% of the Passion to the skill for one roll. Do not stack this casually—it is for scenes that touch the nerve.
Roll as an ability. On a Success, you act in line with the Passion. On a Failure, you may act freely without its pull this time. Use this when the Games Master (or you) asks whether the Hate flare rules your judgment.
Oppose another Passion. Love vs Loyalty, Courage vs Fear—Opposed roll; the winner directs the choice.
Gauge commitment. Higher percentage means deeper devotion. Compare with allies who share a cause.
Resist mental pressure. When someone forces you into an act that betrays a Passion, you may substitute the Passion for Willpower in the Opposed roll if the Games Master agrees it fits.
Gaining and changing Passions
New Passions can appear mid-session when the fiction demands them—an oath sworn, a betrayal witnessed. Those cost no Experience Rolls; take them at base value immediately. You may also buy a new Passion at base value later by spending an Experience Roll when training time allows.
Passions deepen or wane when events hit them hard:
| Depth of change | Adjust Passion by |
|---|---|
| Weak | 1d10 |
| Moderate | 1d10+5 |
| Strong | 1d10+10 |
A Passion may reverse entirely (Trust Chief becoming Distrust Chief at the same value) if the provocation is outright betrayal rather than mild disappointment. Experience Rolls can raise (or, with permission, deliberately lower) Passions the same way as skills.
Playing them
Lean on Passions in play. Tell the table when a scene touches one. Ask for an augment when you charge the slaver who branded your brother. Accept that a failed Passion roll means your character hesitates—or chooses the colder path—without needing a long out-of-character defence. Passions are permission to care loudly.