Old friends and new travelers, welcome!
In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at Passions, one of main characterization tools players in Against the Darkmaster have to make their heroes truly unique.

But first, let us thank you all for the outstanding support we received these days: our Deluxe Quickstart Rules have been downloaded already almost a thousand times, and reached the Best Silver Seller rank on DrivethruRPG in under a week! This wouldn’t have been possible without you, thank you from the bottom of our heart!

To get back to our main topic, we believe that in a Tabletop RPG, what makes characters memorable aren’t much their stats, but their quirks and motivations. Players at the table are probably gonna forget very quickly that Tim the Warrior had a +25 Brawn bonus, but they’ll always remember that he strived to become a Knight of the Sun but that his impulsive, devil-may-care attitude frequently put him into trouble.

Passions are there to help you create characters everyone will remember, but that’s not all!
Since they award you with Drive Points when they’re “triggered”, Passions also fuel your character’s heroic deeds, giving birth to a cycle of risks and rewards. Basically, this means that when your characters act like heroes, getting into trouble because of their Passion, they get rewarded with Drive Points, which they can spend to get a boost in a dangerous or dramatic situation.

This cycle is completely in the hands of the players, who get to decide not only how to spend their Drive Points, but also how to get them by writing their Passions!
If you’re a player, use your character’s Passions to set your priorities at the table. Think of them as little spotlights, shining over your favorite parts of the setting and situation you’re exploring. They’re your way of saying “yes, more of THIS, please!” to the GM and the other players.

But Passions are a great tool for the GM, too! Since they show clearly what the other players find interesting about their characters and the game world, they make it easier for GMs to create challenges and scenarios the players will feel automatically invested in.

In fact, as we say in the Quickstart Rules, writing the characters’ Passions is a collective process, that should involve both the players and the GM, and link the heroes to the situation at hand.

In the next article, we’re going to see how to do that, by looking at our iconic characters’ Passions and how they’re tied to the Beast of Willow Lake introductory scenario.