Mythic Strains: a StoryPlaying Game


by Mendel Schmiedekamp

Every character in a story has a purpose. And these purposes change from scene to scene. A supporting character can suddenly enter the spotlight and become the center of the action, at least for a while. As we chain stories together, making our little mythologies, the different characters often vary drastically in importance. This effect is especially noticeable in both ancient and modern myth cycles. A central cast of characters each capable of being the center of all the stories, but each character becomes part of each other's cycle. And the movements are often subtle and deep. Juxtapositions of seemingly unconnected characters brings to light new aspects of each, as well as the world within which they reside.

The purpose of Mythic Strains is to provide a roleplaying construct that more easily permits and encourages this style of play. Instead of contriving a collection of characters who consistently cooperate on some (equal or unequal) level, Mythic Strains generates a chain of stories where the focus shifts between characters, and their interactions.
 

What is a Mythic Strain?

Each character is described by four tarot cards. Each card is given a name. This describes what feature of the character this card represents. Three of the cards are permanent, while the fourth is changed at the beginning of each story. This card represents the character's role in the story. Minor arcana typically describe mundane ability and supporting roles. The Cups suit represents influence and interaction with other people. The Swords suit represents mental ability and clear perception. The Wands or Staves suit represents physical aptitude and prowess. The Coins or Pentacles suit represents the technical skill and resources the character possesses. The numbered cards indicate specialization, with the lower numbers implying great skill in the suit, but correspondingly less ability in the other areas. The royal cards indicate special ability, usually due to training or other advantages. The major arcana indicate major roles and story based effects, each with a unique area of influence.

For example:
Harry Whelin
Fixed:
    5 of Cups - Winning smile
    Ace of Staves - Built like a rock
    Temperance - Focused
Story:
    Page of Coins - Resilient pick-up truck		 Ghelia Mosferd
Fixed:
    Queen of Wands - Doctor of history
    7 of Staves - Aerobics class
    4 of Coins - An honest broker
Story:
    Death - Needs more excitement

How do you make a Mythic Strain?

Draw 6 cards from a Tarot deck.

Choose 3 of them.

Give each of those a phrase to describe how the card relates to the character.

Describe any other details of the character you wish, or develop them as you play.
 

But do the cards mean?

Minor Arcana:
 
Suit Area of Influence Examples
Cups Social activities and Influencing people Fast talking a police officer, being the life of the party, getting someone to trust you.
Swords Mental activities, cunning, and knowledge Solving a riddle, noticing a potential threat, predicting an opponent. 
Wands / Staves Physical activities, power, and prowess Breaking a door, resisting a fall, leaping from roof to roof.
Coins / Pentacles Technical and financial resources and ability Firing a gun, bribing a guard, hacking a computer system.

Numbered cards (Ace through 10) are used for two reasons. First, any action in that arena for which this card is lowest, has d10's rolled over this number to determine hits. Second, any action not in that arena which does not have a card in the appropriate suit, is rolled under the highest number card with a d20 to determine hits. Ties in either case are failures unless the name of one of the cards is appropriate to the action being attempted.

Royalties, provide a reroll of one die per action related to the suit of the card. They also act as numbered cards as follows:
 
Face Card Number equivalent
Page 8
Knight 6
Queen 4
King 2

In general the role described by a minor arcana story card is to provide assistance and support (or perhaps complications and difficulties) associated with the suit of the card.

Major Arcana:

Major arcana come with several advantages and disadvantages. First major arcana cannot act as numbered cards, and so without at least one minor arcana a character can do nothing. On the other hand, a major arcana implies a deeper importance to the setting. As such they can take an additional wound at the cost of being unusable for the remainder of the story. (Wounds are described further below.) Major arcana also provide bonuses to certain situations based on each card. Lastly if supernatural powers are permitted in the game, major arcana permit the use of such abilities, by being chosen as the name for the card. This last effect is mutually exclusive with the extra wound provided by the card, so one or the other must be selected when the card is drawn.
 
Major Arcana Effect Supernatural Elements
0 The Fool If you miss a roll by 3 or more hits, you succeed (minimally) in spite of yourself. Contrary, Divine Fool
1 The Magician  One Reroll on any roll involving scholarly knowledge or it's acquisition. Hermetic magic, Scholarly sorcerer
2 The High Priestess One Reroll on any roll involving personal knowledge or intuition. Secretive magic, Spiritualism
3 The Empress One Reroll on any subtle manipulation of another person. Enchantment, Geas
4 The Emperor One Reroll on any overt manipulation of another person. Alignments, Mind control
5 The Heirophant One Reroll on any roll involving knowledge gained through experience. Religious, Ceremonial magic
6 The Lovers One Reroll on any roll involving your romantic interests. Tantra, Sympathetic magic
7 The Chariot One Reroll on any roll using non-primitive technology. Technomagic, Mad science
8 Strength One Reroll on any roll primarily using brute force of any kind. Willworker, Berserk
9 The Hermit One Reroll on any roll involving only yourself. Diviner, Search for Enlightenment
10 The Wheel of Fortune One Reroll on any roll where chance plays a primary role. Fate, Chaos magic
11 Justice One Reroll on any roll which aids the underdog or hinders the one on top. Paladin, Vengeful dead
12 The Hanged Man One Reroll on any roll which maintains the Status Quo. Traditionalist, In between
13 Death One Reroll on any roll which significantly alters a persons life. Undead, Ghosts
14 Temperance One Reroll on any roll related to self-control and resisting enticements. Ascetic, Self-denial
15 The Devil One Reroll on any roll based only on passion and instinct. Lusts, Diabolism
16 The Tower All rolls in your presence have Drama and Difficulty increased by 1. Madness, Ill-fated
17 The Star One Reroll on any Swords roll. Astrology, Aliens.
18 The Moon One Reroll on any Cups roll. Illusions, Shapeshifters
19 The Sun One Reroll on any Wands roll. Raw power, Clarity
20 Judgment One Reroll on any successful roll. Apocalyptic, Inescapable 
21 The World One Reroll on any Coins roll. Enlightenment, Subtlety

And how do you play Mythic Strains?

Each action in the game has two ratings, Drama and Difficulty. Drama is a rating of how important the action is. A Drama of 0, means the action is so unimportant, or possibly to easy, to even be rolled. A Drama of 4 or 5, represents an important action, which has a wide range of outcomes. All significant combat actions are Drama 4. The Difficulty of a roll is either a number from 1 to the Drama, or contested. In the first case, the player rolls the appropriate die a number of times equal to the Drama and needs to get at least as many hits as the Difficulty. In the later case, all characters involved roll for hits. The second largest number of hits becomes the Difficulty for the roll. In either case the number of hits above the difficulty translates into significant positive effects of the action. If the difficulty is failed by 3 or more hits, then something bad happens the the character who failed that significantly.
 
Drama Difficulty Action
1 1 Break down a door
2 1 Find origin of a smell
3 2 Fast talk a man on the subway
4 3 Fast talk a policeman
4 Contest Attack someone in combat
5 4 Disarm a nuclear device

Can we beat people up now?

Any suit may be used to participate in combat. However some suits are able to trump other suits.
 
Suit  Trumps Combat Style
Cups Staves Feints and Bluffs
Swords Coins Strategic 
Staves Swords Direct and Violent
Coins Cups Better Weaponry

A trump permits a reroll if any opponent is using the the trumped suit. A combat action should be declared for any group of combatants who are only attacking each other. Note, this often makes allies much better if the intention is to avoid being hurt, rather than to hurt the enemy. Allies typically will interfere with offensive plans.

Any hits over the difficulty may be inflicted as wounds. This is indicated by rotating a card upside down, or inverting the card. If all your cards are inverted your character is unable to act for the duration of the story, until they are some how recuperated. Major arcana may be flipped over, losing their effect to alleviate a wound. Note, this can only be done with a major arcana which is not used for supernatural powers.
 

What other options are there?

Supernatural Elements:

Supernatural actions are done in the same way as any other action, choosing an appropriate suit and rolling for hits. All magic should be of Drama 5, and Difficulty at least 3, or contested. This affords the opportunity for a significant failure regardless of the action. The Narrator has last say on the effects of magic, but it must be appropriate to the name chosen for the major arcana card. The most important feature of supernatural abilities is that they should be consistent from story to story. They should fit the personality and other aspects of the character using them. Keep them interesting, and don't let the effects over power the story.

Redraws:

When making a character if you really don't like any of the cards you drew, you can place them aside and draw 5 more. Build a character from these. You may continue this process, drawing one fewer each time, but at 3 cards that becomes your character. If you didn't like the 15 cards you drew before, it's probably best just to take some and start playing anyway.

Growing Characters:

Characters if they have under gone some significant change in the story, may remove one of their permanent cards, and replace it with the story card. In this way eventful stories allow characters an opportunity to grow and change. The Narrator must permit this exchange, as in some cases there is not a significant enough effect from the story to make this change reasonable.
 

But how do you run one of these?

There are two ways to run a game of Mythic Strains. First, if you are a seat-of-your-pants, style Narrator, you can have the players draw their story cards at the beginning of each story. And then work out with each of them what to name each card. Then just start the story, and work the cards into a story, letting each character enter into the role associated with the card they drew. If you like you can have players take the parts of minor characters until their character becomes involved in the story. This requires a fair amount of on the spot creativity, and can be taxing when a character gets a card that seems inappropriate for them. The alternative is to draw the cards (or even select them) before the game, and plan out what each means for the characters involved. Using that strategy you can describe the story, at least in outline, before the game. This is more useful for Narrators who like to plot out their games before they start. In either case quick characters may be developed by simply drawing a number of cards, from 2 to 5, based on the desired power level of the character.

Inspiration for Mythic Strains primarily derived from two sources. First, was the Sandman series of graphic novels, where even though there was a clear main character, stories abounded containing him as a side role or cameo. This style is also reminiscent of myth cycles, where different heroes often appear in each other's stories. As such characters and the things they do should be novel. Characters and their stories are unique, not merely because one deck of cards is used to generate them. They should be exceptional, and affect the world in which they live. May they live in interesting times.


© 2002 Mendel Schmiedekamp