Indirection Rules

At the very beginning, and in each drift, everyone may partake in aesthetic discussion. Indirection points are earned by making subtle and metaphorical references, rather than speaking directly.

This is mechaniced by doing a quick circle of telephone-pictionary, based on subject cards drawn. (Those who are likely to be good at this may roll Int or Grace with any art/poetry/literature skill, draw [square root(successes)] cards, (truncate down, but minimum one). This will score two points for each person down the line who guesses the correct phrase.

NPCs will get indirection points based on how good the GMs think they are at talking about art, and communicating indirectly.

Indirection points are spent on favors, but they cannot be asked directly. One must remark to someone else about something that one desires, and spend indirection points on the favor. (There will be cards for this, to keep track of it).

Someone who is given a favor to ask indirectly has three choices:

• Pass it on to someone else. This earns +1 IP for the passer and the favor accrues another +1 IP, if the passer has no interest in the favor. (For the purposes of this mechanic, all PCs have interest in each others' favors, all Tokais have interest in each others' favors, and any other teams at the party all have interest in each others' favors, unless the GMs explicitly grant an exception.)
• Discard it. Someone who discards a favor loses IP equal to the number currently on the favor.
• Give it to the person who it is meant for.

Each person may only carry one favor at a time. Ending the party carrying a favor will cause social penalties. Ending the party with negative IP will cause social penalties. A favor cannot be passed to someone who has no actions remaining before the end of the party, unless they are the person it is meant for.

A small or low-cost favor requires about five IP. A notable but not onerous favor requires about ten. "Declare me heir to the kingdom" is still about fifty. "Let me do a harmless ritual on your wall" is in the ten-fifteen range.