Design Secrets, Leverage, and Scandals

Do not give every character five secrets. Create one only if revealing it would threaten a relationship, obligation, identity, public story, or future decision. Write the truth, the cover story, who knows, and what revelation would change.

Leverage should always have a concrete basis and target. 'I know your secret' is not enough; describe what the holder can plausibly ask for and what using the leverage costs. Heartline gives any fitting Leverage one bonus die because the interesting difference between Soft, Strong, and Decisive leverage is scope, not arithmetic.

Scandal is a different layer. Ask what story outsiders are telling, how far it has spread, and why it is spreading now. Public belief can be wrong. A false story should still have concrete effects until people gain reason to change what they believe.

Do not use Scandal as automatic punishment for sexuality, queerness, or nonconformity. A world's prejudice can exist when deliberately part of the premise, but the system's default pressure should come from specific institutions, commitments, hypocrisy, reputation, and competing interests rather than treating intimacy itself as shameful.