The Liz Hack: The Loop, System Strain, and Stress

One of the central ideas of The Liz Hack is that there is a core identifiable loop to each session, making it so you always feel like you accomplished something. Blades in the Dark is my chief example here, because it in my opinion managed this flawlessly. With that in mind, I set out to map this to the structure of a classic dungeon delve. What I came up with initially was this:

In the Prep phase, PCs stock up on supplies, gather rumors on the area they’re venturing into, etc.

In the Plunder phase, the PCs set out exploring, finding and looting dungeon sites, getting into random encounters, and so on. This is the phase that adheres the most to, for lack of a better term, the standard old-school elfgame chassis. 

Pullout was initially added so that I could keep the “P” gimmick, because I thought it was funny. However, the more I design the rest of the game, the more it feels extraneous. I might just keep Pullout as a single move of getting back to town, with the risk of terrible things happening on the way back. 

Party is the downtime phase, and hopefully gets across the intended vibe of “Blowing a year’s worth of income in a month in an attempt to forget The Horrors.” Here’s where the PCs recover, potentially work on long-term goals, and so on and so forth.

The question becomes “How do you make sure the players actually come back to town to spend their ill-gotten gains?” The traditional way is via things like food and carry weight, and while I do plan on having Encumbrance added in, one of the goals is to make it so the party isn’t tracking rations, because that is, in my opinion, boring. 

The answer again came from Goblin Punch and Blades in the Dark. Namely, the System Strain and Stress ideas I discussed briefly last time. Goblin Punch in particular added the sense of brinksmanship that I wanted to add to the Plunder phase. What I cooked up looks a little something like this:

System Strain: 

System Strain represents the body’s ability to recover from all the damage that has been done to it.

Every time one of the following happens, gain a point of System Strain:

• You recover any amount of Hit Points outside of a town. 

• You may gain an amount of System Strain equal to (6-STR Mod-CON Mod) in order to gain an extra Action during a combat or exploration turn. This can be done a maximum of once per round.

• Certain enemy attacks may add System Strain.

• Environmental effects may add System Strain.

Stress: 

Turns out going into a dark hole in the ground and getting stabbed is bad for your psyche! Who knew?

Every time one of the following happens, gain a point of Stress:

• Every Exploration Turn you spend in complete darkness adds a point of Stress.

• You may gain points of stress to add an amount to any given skill roll, 1-for-1

• You may gain an amount of Stress equal to (6-INT Mod-WIS Mod) per level of the spell slot in order to recover a spell slot (Example: A PC with +1 INT and +0 Wisdom would gain 10 Stress in order to recover a level 2 Spell Slot). 

• Certain enemy attacks may add Stress

• Environmental effects may add Stress

Breaking Point: Any time you gain System Strain or Stress, after the action is resolved the PC rolls a d20. If the PC gets over the amount of points they have, nothing happens.

If a PC gets under their current System Strain or Stress, they must make a DC 15 Fortitude or Will Save. On a success, they lose a point. On a failure, they take Lasting Damage (for System Strain) or Affliction (for Stress), rolling on the relevant chart below. 

Lasting Damage Chart

1. Weeping Wounds: Heal 1 less point from all sources.

2. You’re Gonna Carry That Weight: Reduce your Encumbrance value by 5

3. Twisted Viscera: Penalty to Seek Treatment rolls

4. Exhausted: Can only Move or Act in a given turn

5. Limp-Wristed: You can no longer Critically Hit (backstab still ok)

6. Ceaseless Stench: You take a -2 for the purpose of recruiting and retaining Hirelings and Henchmen. 

Affliction Chart

1. Fearful: Upon starting a fight, you have disadvantage on attack rolls or checks until you make a Mental save. 

2. Bravado: You take a -2 penalty to AC. It’s not like you’re gonna die, you’re the main character!

3. Megalomania: Every time you Aid Another, gain 3 Stress

4. Honor Code: Every time you use dishonorable means (sneaking, poison, etc.) gain 3 Stress

5. Ascetic: Reduce your Supply Value by 5

6. Profligate: Every time you get out of a dungeon, you must give 1d6 Loot to charity, getting nothing in return. 

If your total number of Lasting Damages and Afflictions is greater than (some number, atm I’m working with four because that’s what Blades did), your character retires, spending their Stash to determine their standard of living.

Reducing System Strain and Stress would be done in the Party phase (more on that at a later date). I’ll be adding more Lasting Damage and Afflictions, but I also wanna make sure that it’s like…sensitive to folks with disabilities? Not sure how else to put it. I just feel like it’d be kinda shitty to take someone’s real issues and turn them into a negative status effect in my fantasy elfgame. To quote Mark Thompson, designer of the combat wheelchair, anyone can be an adventurer, and I want to honor that. If this ever gets published with any sort of budget, a sensitivity reader or three is definitely gonna be in there.