The Riddle of Steel Spiritual Attributes

Gifts & Flaws — Vows

This is basically a tribute to the excellent game FATE, and its Aspect Bidding process. Basically the GM can tempt his players to follow act upon their character's Flaws by bidding Drama (or Luck) Points. The Core Rules about Flaws and their TNs are superceded by this rule, if used.

The Bidding Process

When a character finds himself in a situation where one of his Flaws apply, the GM may bid Drama Points to have the player act upon the Flaw. The Flaw level sets the limit to the Drama Point bidding war about to commence.

Bidding Limits

Minor Gifts & Flaws: The GM can bid a maximum of 2 Drama Points
Major Gifts & Flaws: The GM can bid a maximum of 5 Drama Points

Be sure to adjust these limits as fits your campaign, based on how freely you award Drama Points. Also keep in mind that players may choose to accept high bids rather than counter them, meaning that he just earned a bunch of Drama Points, at the cost of control over the story.

Example

Let us imagine a character with the Major Flaw "Bad Reputation". Here's the scene.

GM: (Bets one poker chip by pushing it forward - representing one Drama Point) The guard at the gates of the city look at you suspiciously as if remembering your sordid past.

Player: (Calls the bet, matching it) No, he cannot possibly recognize me given the beard I've grown, and the reputation was built on me being a pirate, not a nomad.

GM: (Raises the bet another point, 2 total) Well your reputation precedes you, plus it's well known fact that Dustbeard and the Crimson Pirate are one and the same.

Player: (Calls again, 2 total) Nope, he just can't place his finger on who I am. I look just like any other dust-ridden nomad to him.

GM: (Raises, 3 total) You see a gleam in the guard's eye as he recognizes you.

Player: (Calls, 3 total) No, he just thought he did, still can't place me.

GM: (Raises, 4 total) "Hey, don't I recognize you from somewhere?" says the guard, rubbing his chin.

Player: (Calls, 4 total) "No, you mist be mistaken, this is my first visit to Marketa.", answers the character.

GM: (Raises, 5 total) "Wait, I have it at the tip of my tongue, aren't you... Wait, I have it," says the guard.

Player: (Calls, 5 total) "I'm afraid you're mistaken, you must have me confused with another poor desert nomad," replies the character.

GM: That's the limit, so I'll collect your 5 Drama Points, and the guard lets you pass into the wondrous city of Marketa.

PC: That was expensive, but I couldn't afford to be found out at this time. Dustbeard slips into the city without being recognized.

Note that if at any point the player runs out of Drama Points, he is unable to call the GM's bid, and has to accept the outcome of the bid. The GM or player involved can fold at any time and accept their opponent's bid.

Luck

Luck dice are applied after the regular roll, and the player in question can tack them on one at a time until he runs out, or gets the number of successes desired (or gives up). Remember that Luck is refreshed at the beginning of each session.

Burning Luck

Burning a Luck point permanently (it will not refresh, but has to be earned again as normal), brings an automatic success as if the exact TN had been rolled, but is only usable in situations normally out of your hands. Luck points can be Burned even after they've been used for the session.

Improving Skill Levels

Using the rules from the TROS Companion regarding improving Skill levels with SA points, actually give more weight to SAs. Why would you want to encourage using Skills just for the sake of improving them, if the dramatic story content is absent? My recommendation is to go with the TROS Companion on this one, and raise Skills with SA points.

Temporary Spiritual Attributes

You can use social Skills to grant Temporary SAs. Say you're commanding a detachment of foot soldiers carrying the king's standard. You want to impress upon them how important it is to keep the king's standard flying throughout the battle, so you use your Leadership (or Oratory, or whatever..) Skill to influence them. If you win the conflict, they get a Temporary SA called "Drive: Keep the King's Standard Flying" or something to that effect, I'm sure you can think of Destinies, Faiths, Passions, or Oaths in the same vein.

I recommend only applying this rule to "faceless hordes" or non-named NPCs lacking SAs. Characters with already defined SAs cannot be forced to accept new ones, and could simply spend one down to zero and pick a new one.

Temporary SA Levels?

Well this depends a little on how cinematic your campaign is. You might just want to apply the MOS, always grant the new SA at 1 die, or spend Drama Points up to a maximum equal to the MOS.

Temporary SA Level

Base the Temporary SA Level on how Cinematic your Campaign is, listed below are three examples.

Equal to Resolution MOS
Drama Points spent (up to a maximum of the rolled MOS or 5, whichever is lower)
Set SA level (0 or 1 die perhaps)

Forced Oaths (or Vows)

If you play using the Oath SA introduced in the TROS Companion, you might want to allow forcing an SA upon someone by squeezing an Oath out of them, but that should really be handled on a case by case basis. If you instead use the family of Flaws from the Core Rules called Vows, you should refer to the section above called Gifts & Flaws — Vows.