Last week, I gave you the first two phases of the Winos & Wastrels downtime management system that I'm developing for use in my home games to figure out how characters spend their time and money in between sessions. One of the key features of this system is buying into two different Interests; one Goal and one Temptation, both of which are drawn from the same list. Goals take a positive spin on the Interest, whereas Temptations take a negative one. Today, I'm going to look at a few different Interests and what they mean in the positive (Goal) and negative (Temptation) aspect.
Intemperence (Temptation) - Your passions drive you not merely to drink, but to consume in excess. You spend the nights of your Upkeep Turn draining bottle after bottle as you descend further and further into dipsomaniac stupor that will likely leave you far worse for the wear.
Gluttony (Temptation) - The angels of your better nature desert you whenever you are confronted with the opportunity to consume. Your days are marked with large breakfasts, vast midday meals and sumptuous evening feasts, but never is any bite enough to sate your vast illusory hunger that covers the rents in your soul you attempt to fill with food.
Forbidden Knowledge (Temptation) - Some would call you obsessed and indeed perhaps you are, but the knowledge that consumes your every waking thought is not the sort that can be found cheaply or easily. When you come by your lost grimoires of prohibited arcana or scrolls of forgotten secrets, you devote every waking hour to their study, to the detriment of your social life, your sanity and your soul.
Greed (Temptation) - Wealth is an end in and of itself, you come to believe, and you pursue its accumulation mercilessly and without regard to whom may be harmed in your pursuit. You call in every debt, break any contract and haggle all deals to ensure your maximum profits, destroying your own good name and every fool unlucky enough to owe you money.
Vanity (Temptation) - Whether you craft your own objects or have them manufactured for you, you adore items of opulent and decadent form and design, adorned with the finest in rare metals and fine gems. Assuming you can afford them. Regardless, you craft or commission the gaudiest objets d'art and artifacts you can manage, flaunting the results, tasteful or not.
Snobbery (Temptation) - In an attempt to improve your station in society, you burn bridges and step on the backs of your social inferiors. You demand absolute obedience from those below you in the social (or economic) order and punish insubordination and failure quickly and without mercy. Your passions drive you to build your legend on the backs of those you deem inferior.
Lust (Temptation) - Investing whatever means are at your disposal, you indulge in the passions of the flesh as continuously as possible during this Upkeep Turn. Given the opportunity, any opportunity, you will turn against even your own better judgment and well being to sate your lust for physical companionship, often to your own detriment as you attempt to compensate for your emotional inadequacies with debauch.
Sample Interests
Drink
Connaiseurie (Goal) - While others may simply drink wine, ale or whiskey, you make it your business to truly appreciate it. Perhaps you're a brewer or distiller or even vintner who takes pride in your work; perhaps you're a sommelier whose knowledge of alcohol is your trade. Then again, perhaps you just really like to drink and have turned the simple act of imbibing into an art form. Regardless, you spend this Upkeep Turn indulging your passion for the finer drinks in life and finding no small measure of reassurance and succor at the bottom of each bottle.Intemperence (Temptation) - Your passions drive you not merely to drink, but to consume in excess. You spend the nights of your Upkeep Turn draining bottle after bottle as you descend further and further into dipsomaniac stupor that will likely leave you far worse for the wear.
Food
Gourmanderie (Goal) - Whether a chef or merely the possessor of a notable palate, you devote the majority of this Upkeep Turn to not merely feasting, but more accurately to the sensation of taste itself. Exotic recipes, rare ingredients and the proper degree of skill necessary to marry the both together are the passions you pursue this Turn, as if enlightenment can be found in happy taste buds and a sated stomach. Who's to say it can't?Gluttony (Temptation) - The angels of your better nature desert you whenever you are confronted with the opportunity to consume. Your days are marked with large breakfasts, vast midday meals and sumptuous evening feasts, but never is any bite enough to sate your vast illusory hunger that covers the rents in your soul you attempt to fill with food.
Lore
Arcana (Goal) - Your thirst for knowledge knows few bounds and you spend the bulk of this Upkeep Turn mired in research, study and scholarship of a type of your choosing. Perhaps you seek to unlock metaphysical truths of the nature of reality or simply a better understanding of animal husbandry; it matters not, for you have made the study of any arcana or apocrypha your bailiwick. Who knows what secrets you might discover?Forbidden Knowledge (Temptation) - Some would call you obsessed and indeed perhaps you are, but the knowledge that consumes your every waking thought is not the sort that can be found cheaply or easily. When you come by your lost grimoires of prohibited arcana or scrolls of forgotten secrets, you devote every waking hour to their study, to the detriment of your social life, your sanity and your soul.
Wealth
Industry (Goal) - For others, making money is a struggle; for you, it is an art. You spend this Upkeep Turn bolstering your business interests and working at growing your own personal wealth through clever manipulation of markets, dutiful management of your goods and services and careful implementation of solid business practices.Greed (Temptation) - Wealth is an end in and of itself, you come to believe, and you pursue its accumulation mercilessly and without regard to whom may be harmed in your pursuit. You call in every debt, break any contract and haggle all deals to ensure your maximum profits, destroying your own good name and every fool unlucky enough to owe you money.
Creation
Craftsmanship (Goal) - You set about either commissioning or manufacturing a great work of artistic skill and supreme craftsmanship. This Upkeep Turn, your great work may not be accomplished, depending on its nature, but great strides are made toward its completion; at the end of the appropriate amount of time, your investment will pay off in an artifact of such quality that it shall be treasured by your heirs for generations to come.Vanity (Temptation) - Whether you craft your own objects or have them manufactured for you, you adore items of opulent and decadent form and design, adorned with the finest in rare metals and fine gems. Assuming you can afford them. Regardless, you craft or commission the gaudiest objets d'art and artifacts you can manage, flaunting the results, tasteful or not.
Status
Reputation (Goal) - Although you may not be actually altruistic, you strive to cultivate an air of magnanimity and largesse at home in the highest halls of society. You devote this Upkeep Turn to cultivating your contacts with nobility, clergy and the merchant class in order to as much be well-known in the halls of power as to have important allies from whom favors may be called in.Snobbery (Temptation) - In an attempt to improve your station in society, you burn bridges and step on the backs of your social inferiors. You demand absolute obedience from those below you in the social (or economic) order and punish insubordination and failure quickly and without mercy. Your passions drive you to build your legend on the backs of those you deem inferior.
Companionship
Romance (Goal) - Romance is the pursuit for emotionally fulfilling companionship (whether physically fulfilling or not) and for this Upkeep Turn, you pursue it in whatever guise you find it. Though it may bankrupt you, you endure potential hardship after potential hardship in search of that psychic satiation that romance brings.Lust (Temptation) - Investing whatever means are at your disposal, you indulge in the passions of the flesh as continuously as possible during this Upkeep Turn. Given the opportunity, any opportunity, you will turn against even your own better judgment and well being to sate your lust for physical companionship, often to your own detriment as you attempt to compensate for your emotional inadequacies with debauch.
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