Moral Code

A moral code is a model for behavior. It includes one prescription (“I must”), one proscription (“I mustn’t”), one crisis of faith, and one source of inspiration. These represent the character’s hopes and fears for themselves and the world around them.

Prescriptions
A prescription should represent what the character hopes to be.

A prescription is composed of a target, a trigger, and a response, and always begins with “I must.” Note that a prescription should be something active that your character does, not passive. For example, a character who wanted to be strong and intimidating might choose:

Target: A foe

Trigger: Insults me

Response: Attack them

This would be written as: I must attack foes who insult me.

For the target, you want the description to be specific. If you are good, consider what kind of people your character wants to protect or help. If you are evil, consider what kind of people your character finds threatening. Try to avoid naming specific people or things, like your brother or your house, but use classes of things like friends and houses.

If the type of person is likely to come up very rarely you might make consider making the trigger more broad. If the type of person is very rare, you might make the trigger very specific.

The response should be clear enough that everyone will know whether or not you’ve performed it, but general enough that there might be several ways to play it out in different scenarios. This keeps the prescription from becoming boring or rote.

Other examples of prescriptions:
 * I must thank the nearby trees, if there are any, when I start a fire.
 * I must offer my opponents a chance to yield before I start fighting.
 * I must donate 1/10th of my gold to any temple I pass.

Proscriptions
The proscription represents what the character fears they might become.

A proscription is composed of a target, an action, and an exception and always begins with “I mustn’t.” A proscription should limit your character from acting rather than force them to act. For example, a character who fears being too gullible might choose:

Target: A shop owner

Action: Overcharges

Exception: Extreme poverty

This would be written as: I mustn’t overpay a shopkeeper unless they are extremely poor.

As with prescriptions, you don’t want to make this anything too common or annoying. Watch out for exceptions that really mean never or always.

Other examples:
 * I mustn’t kill animals except to eat.
 * I mustn’t strike first except to protect others.
 * I mustn’t lie except to reveal a liar.

Crisis of Faith
A crisis of faith represents what the character fears the world might really be like.

The crisis of faith starts with “I experience great doubt when…” It relates to a target that you care about, such as the kind of people you want to help or protect yourself from. The second part is an event that triggers the crisis of faith.

For example, a character who is a great believer in the power of justice might choose:

Target: The innocent

Event: Receive injury

This would be written as: I experience great doubt when the innocent are hurt.

A crisis of faith should be an uncommon event for a character. If your character is be too naïve they will be questioning themselves constantly. However, vulnerability is one of the things that makes games like this more interesting to play. If your character never questions themselves or their worldview that can be a wasted opportunity.

Try to avoid connecting crises of faith to a single failed roll. Rolling a 1 is already disappointing, so if it also triggers a crisis of faith that can be too random and overwhelming. It is common for a pattern or series of failures to trigger a crisis of faith, but try to find a crisis of faith that is based on the decision of a character and not just luck.

Other examples:
 * I experience great doubt when someone willingly gives away something of value for free.
 * I experience great doubt when something I have built falls apart.
 * I experience great doubt when my friends question my motives.

Changing Your Moral Code
A player may choose to trigger a crisis of faith for their character at any time. Optionally, a player may choose to change a character's alignment or moral code after a crisis of faith.

Source of Inspiration
A source of inspiration represents what the character hopes the world might really be like.

In the real world it is common for inspiration and mental recover to happen in isolation, like a long walk or reading a good book. In a game this is a very boring thing to play, so a source of inspiration must take place with another person. It can be any person, but never alone.

The source of inspiration starts with “I am inspired when…” There is little structure beyond that inspiration other than for it to be linked to the character’s ideals. Some examples:
 * I am inspired when I share a place of natural beauty.
 * I am inspired when I intimidate others with a feat of strength.
 * I am inspired when I play a prank on someone.

Moral Code and Role-playing
You can use your moral code to guide your character’s decisions as you play the game. Characters are free to choose to act in a way that violates their moral code, but doing so has consequences.

Characters and GMs should decide together whether an action or situation matches the character’s moral code. An important part of this decision is what is right for the story at this time—is it a good time to spend time on a character’s internal struggle or is this part of the story intended to be focused on a shared plotline?

Another part is the system itself. Will points and influence attacks can have an important strategic role. If the player is trying to twist an interpretation of the character’s moral code just to win an advantage in a conflict, the GM should look at that suspiciously.

Important NPCs also have moral codes. Generally, a follower’s moral code will match the leader, so it will be common for many NPCs to share the same code.