medical uses of drugs

Dream Factory

Totems and Tracking Traits, oh my!

The base mechanic in Dream Factory is the Outcome Check(OC), which you use for, well, determining outcomes – whether it’s the player or the GM that gets to decide how something turns out.  In order to win an OC, the player needs to get a higher total than the GM – so the more dice they can roll, the better a chance the player has to do that.

Players get extra dice by invoking Traits.  Each character sheet has four listed, descriptors of the player’s character’s four most dramatically central aspects, invented by the players and approved by the GM when the character was made.  Traits can be anything that meets the following criteria:

  • Not so broad it would always apply.  Example: “Powerful”
  • Not so narrow you wouldn’t get much use out of it.  Example:  “Nice Shoes”
  • Something that the audience would want to see the player invoke a lot.  Example:  the character of Spiderman being “Quippy.”

Of course, the GM has the final approval.

The basic idea is that when an OC is needed, the player decides which of his four Traits he wants to invoke – and asks the GM if that use is appropriate.  (If the character is trying to bust down a door, perhaps the GM will approve invoking “Athletic” and “Special Forces Training”, but not so much with “Alert” or “Charming”.)  Once the dice have been rolled, if the player does not win – no harm, no foul, the invoked Traits get returned to their normal, unused state.  If the player *did* win, the Traits they invoked are not returned to fresh, but are instead considered Burnt – at least until such time as a different mechanic in DF is used to refresh them.

Therefore, each Trait can be in one of three states: Fresh, if unused; Burnt, if used-up; and Risked, if currently invoked in the middle of an Outcome Check.  But how do we track that, the current state of Traits for each player?

The boring though easy way is on a piece of paper.  Every time the player invokes a Trait, put a small line next to it – as if you were underlining a space.  That denotes a Risked Trait.  If the player wins, add in two vertical lines and a line at the top to convert the original underline to a small empty box.  This denotes a Burnt Trait.  And when the player refreshes that Trait, fill in the empty box – that denotes it is fresh again, and you can start the process over again.  (If the player invokes a Trait and doesn’t win, just scribble out the underline or turn it into a completely filled box.)

That method works fine – and I have used it to great effect when gaming by telephone, but there is another much faster, much more obvious, and much more visceral way to track Traits when gaming face-to-face – using Totems.

In Dream Factory, Totems are sets of physical objects, each one representing a different Trait.  You want each player to have four Totems, the set of four sharing an obvious characteristic, but the four Totems should also be differentiated from each other as well.

For example, one player may use a set of Koosh balls of four different colors.  Another might use a set of small bean bag animals, four different animals.  Another may use small nerf replicas of balls used in games – a mini-football, mini-baseball, mini-soccer ball, and a mini-basketball.  Players have used all of the above in games I have run.

The key is the Totems should be at least as big as a golf ball, but not so big that the player can’t keep and manage four near them.  The Totem should preferably also be soft-ish and not too heavy.

Tracking Totem Traits is easy.  Write down on the character sheet which Totem goes with which Trait.  For example, the Koosh ball player might make the red one his first Trait of “Athletic”, the blue one his second Trait of “Special Forces Training”, and so on.

Then whenever a player invokes a Trait, they take the related Totem and put it in a separate area in front of them – like how poker players push the poker chips they are betting forward.  If the Totem gets Burnt, the player hands (or more likely tosses gently and underhand – which is why soft and light Totems are preferred) the Totem to the GM.  When the Totem gets refreshed, the GM simply tosses it back, to go back with that player’s other unused Totems.

That’s why it’s important the each player’s Totem set is unique – the GM and players need to be able to see at a glance (looking at the currently Burnt Totem pile in front of the GM) which of the Totems belong to which player.  So if one player uses a particular Totem set, every other player’s Totems should be visually distinct.  Luckily, you go to any toy store or hobby shop, they have tons of low-cost knick-knacks, ideal for this purpose.  Just make sure that two players don’t show up with the same idea and the same (or overlapping) sets of Totems.

The fact is, using Totems is fast and easy.  Trait tracking with paper and pencil is quite doable – but if you can opt for Totem use, it will really speed up your game.  Plus, it adds to the viscerality factor – it’s fun to chuck them to (not at, now – behave!  <grin>) the GM, and its equally fun to get them tossed back when regaining them.  Plus it gives all players something to fiddle with as they think and game.

After playing with Totems for a few years now, I can definitively say, use them.  Your game will thank you for it.