cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/9721677
I have a player in my newly starting Abomination Vaults campaign that wanted the Cursed background. As part of that, I asked them what kind of curse they would have, and they came up with/saw an idea for their curse that they liked and suggested.
Their initial suggestion would be that their PC would forever be unable to open doors, which I liked the flavor of, but based on the wording of the Cursed background, was worried that it would be too much of an ever-present mechanical obstacle. Note: This player is new to TTRPGs and PF2e, so may not understand the ramifications of mechanical limitations.
To try and match what they suggested, but expand on the curse a little bit, I suggested that they perhaps are occasionally compelled to close doors on themselves instead, which the player liked.
To make it more defined and consistent, I whipped together this curse, and would like feedback on it's implementation and overall feel.
Curse: Caspian once insulted a fey creature by enclosing it within a room, in an attempt to trap it. The fey then cursed Caspian to close doors on themselves under stressful circumstances.
When Caspian approaches or crosses a doorway under a stressful environment (this may be during exploration of a dungeon or during combat), a will save may be requested to be rolled, with a DC for Caspian's level. (Level 1 = DC 15) This may occur up to 3 times per day. [Should this be more limited?]
[Daily prep: does it reset difficulty? Maybe a refocus type activity to reset difficulty or prevent the will saves for a period?]
Outcomes:
Critical Success: Caspian overcomes the desire to close the door, and no new will saves must be made for the remainder of the day
Success: Caspian overcomes the desire to close the door, but the DC for the next will save is increased by one difficulty level. [maybe should be a +2 each time?]
Failure: Caspian is unable to resist, and must spend an action [should this be a free action only for curse? opening doors takes actions too] to close the door in front of, or behind them, [figure out in what scenarios they close it before/after crossing] The DC difficulty modifier is then reset.
Critical Failure: As failure, but Caspian is unable to open the door without attempting a new will save. The DC of this will save is the basic DC difficulty, and a failure does not increase the DC difficulty.
My current thoughts for targeted input are denoted in [square brackets], but I'd like some general feedback as well. My intention is that this is an obstacle that may end up in a more dangerous circumstance, but isn't guaranteed to get them in trouble all the time.
The question about the refocus activity would be a way to prepare for the possibility of the curse, like when the players know they are about to enter a dangerous area, similar to pre-buffing.
If I'm watching a let's play, I personally am not expecting the player to know everything. Part of the interest to me is watching a person newly experience obstacles and making mistakes, especially when I'm already familiar with a game that they're playing.
As for what to say, I think it could be something like just explaining your thought process out loud. See a tech/research Item that interests you? You could talk about how you might be able to use it, even if you are making incorrect assumptions. (One of my favourite youtubers quite frequently makes guesses at lore of horror games he's playing. Sometimes he's right, sometimes he's wrong. Either way it's something I personally enjoy.)
You could then also verbalize how you're planning to reach that tech, which lets your viewers know what you plan to do, and how you plan to do it. It could be something like:
I wouldn't worry too much if you don't end up doing everything perfectly or according to plan. Getting distracted with some other project is a very common thing in Factorio, and I would assume most viewers would be able to relate to it as well.
All that said, don't feel forced to do so on my recommendation. It is definitely extra work, and it is really strange to talk to the air and record your voice when you get started.