In Tavern Tales, players have more control over the narrative than in traditional roleplaying games. Tavern Tales operates on "Tales", a type of currency spent by describing what happens in the game world. - When a player rolls 15 or higher, they get a good tale. When they roll 10 or less, they get a bad tale. -
Players can also obtain "dramatic tales" in a number of ways:
When players want to accomplish something long or complex, the GM may set up a "challenge track". This is a number of checkboxes which must be completed in order to complete the challenge. Typically, a good tale will be required in order to tick a checkbox.
Your challenge isn't necessarily linear. It might be a braided, multi-threaded path. There will be detours, delays, and shortcuts, all depending on your actions.
Sometimes a character will find themselves in a situation where they have a unique opportunity to shortcut the challenge. In those cases, the GM may make the roll-difficulty one step harder, in exchange for the opportunity to knock off 3 ticks on the challenge track. Sometimes you need a hail mary.
Characters may spend their actions assisting each other, or otherwise improving their situation. This is called a bolster action. If you get a good tale as a result of a bolster action, you may "spend" your bolster on someone to increase their roll.
Characters may spend their actions assisting each other, or otherwise improving their situation. This is called a bolster action. If you get a good tale as a result of a bolster action, you may "spend" your bolster on someone to increase their roll. A roll to bolster should generally be one step easier than a roll to directly attack the same challenge.