Demands represent problems, conditions, or pressures the world places before the Heroes during a Challenge.
The WorldKeeper may establish one or more Demands when a situation contains important competing concerns. A Demand defines what must be accomplished, not how it must be accomplished. The Heroes decide which Demands they address, who addresses them, and what abilities, Pathways, Keywords, equipment, resources, or advantages they use.
Demands create pressure without removing choice.
CREATING DEMANDS Copy link
When a Challenge contains several meaningful pressures, the WorldKeeper may establish up to three Demands.
Each Demand should describe a clear problem, condition, or objective within the fiction.
For example, while attempting to return an injured Akansi to her home:
KEEP HER BREATHING Her rooted organ cannot sustain her for long outside the mountain.
FIND A WAY INSIDE The known passage into the Halderin has collapsed.
EVADE PURSUIT Something has followed the Heroes through the storm.
Demands should never prescribe a specific Performance or Pathway. The WorldKeeper establishes the problem. The Heroes determine the solution.
ANSWERING A DEMAND Copy link
Any Hero may address an active Demand.
Describe what the Hero does and resolve the action normally. A Performance affects a Demand only as much as the action could reasonably accomplish.
A Hero might prepare by creating an advantage, gathering information, acquiring resources, or helping another Hero. They might advance the situation through meaningful progress, or attempt a breakthrough that resolves the Demand outright.
Failure may leave the Demand unchanged, worsen its circumstances, accelerate its consequences, or transform it into something new.
The fiction determines what changes.
DIVIDING ATTENTION Copy link
Heroes do not need to address Demands one at a time.
Different Heroes may pursue different Demands during the same Moment, while several Heroes may work together against one. A single Performance may also affect multiple Demands when the action reasonably addresses them together.
Demands represent competing pressures, not a sequence of required tasks.
CONQUERING A DEMAND Copy link
A Demand is Conquered when its underlying problem has been meaningfully resolved.
There is no required number of successful Performances. A clever solution may resolve a Demand immediately, while a difficult one may require preparation, cooperation, resources, or several Moments.
When a Demand is Conquered, resolve any associated Reward and remove or clear it.
REWARDS Copy link
Some Demands provide a Reward when Conquered.
Rewards may include Reserve, Boons, resources, information, improved Position, reduced Escalation, new access or opportunity, stronger relationships, changes to the Currents, or another benefit appropriate to the fiction.
Not every Demand needs a mechanical Reward. What the Heroes preserve, prevent, discover, or accomplish may be reward enough.
LOSING OR ABANDONING A DEMAND Copy link
Heroes are never required to Conquer every Demand.
They may choose to ignore one, abandon it, or accept its consequences because another problem matters more.
When a Demand is Lost or Abandoned, resolve its Result and remove, change, or retain it as appropriate. Its consequences may extend beyond the current Challenge and may alter the Currents.
Choosing not to answer a Demand is still a meaningful choice.
DEMANDS & TIME Copy link
Demands use Rhuna's existing Time system.
When a Demand is sensitive to Time, the WorldKeeper determines how often it responds to the passage of Minor Time.
A rapidly developing Demand might respond every Minor Time, while a slower one might respond every second, third, or fourth Minor Time.
For example:
KEEP HER BREATHING Time: Every Minor Time
THE STORM APPROACHES Time: Every 2 Minor Time
SUSPICION IS GROWING Time: Every 4 Minor Time
When the required Time has passed, resolve the Demand's Result.
A Result might cause Wear or Impact, increase Escalation, introduce a threat, remove an opportunity, alter the Currents, change the Demand, or otherwise reshape the Challenge.
A Result does not necessarily end the Demand. It means the situation changes because the Heroes did not resolve it in time.
DEMANDS & ESCALATION Copy link
Escalation may change the pressures facing the Heroes.
As a Challenge Escalates, the WorldKeeper may make a Demand more urgent, accelerate its Result, change its circumstances, introduce a new Demand, or alter its Reward or Result.
A Demand might begin as:
FIND SHELTER Copy link
and later become:
REACH SHELTER BEFORE THE STORM BREAKS Copy link
The Demand evolves because the fiction has changed.
USING DEMANDS Copy link
Not every Challenge needs Demands.
Use them when several meaningful pressures, objectives, or consequences compete for the Heroes' attention, especially when a situation should feel urgent, dangerous, or difficult to resolve with a single Performance.
Do not create Demands merely to force Heroes into specific Pathways or abilities.
The important question is not:
"Which Pathway must you use?"
It is:
"This needs to be dealt with. What are you going to do about it?"
RESOLVING DEMANDS Copy link
A Challenge does not require every Demand to be Conquered.
A Demand may be Conquered, Lost, Abandoned, transformed, or made irrelevant by events.
The Heroes may accomplish their primary goal while losing something important, fail at one objective while creating another opportunity, or accept one consequence to prevent something worse.
Those outcomes help shape the final Resolution of the Challenge.
THE PURPOSE OF DEMANDS Copy link
Demands create pressure through priorities rather than restrictions.
The Heroes may divide their attention, work together, solve several problems at once, or deliberately sacrifice one objective for another.
The WorldKeeper establishes what the world demands.
The Heroes decide how they answer it.
A Demand defines what must be accomplished—not how it must be accomplished.