While designing FiveEvil horror roleplaying I’ve put a lot of thought into how to build smart, powerful new gameplay loops within the broader 5E game system.
One of the biggest changes is to Inspiration. Inspiration is a currency in core 5E that will be familiar to every D&D player… but not super familiar. The problem with Inspiration is it never quite works as well as you want it to. It feels like it should be a big deal, but it inevitably fades into the background.
Inspiration is an on/off state: you can only hold one Inspiration at a time, so you either have it or you don’t. You become Inspired when you do something that reflects your character’s key personality traits (or if the DM reckons you are a cool kid). Then you can spend that Inspiration later to make an ability check easier. Simple loop: earn it, spend it.
Inspiration is a bit like a little “10% off” discount coupon you clip and put in your wallet for later. It has the same limitations: it’s easy to forget that you’ve got it, and even if you do remember, are you sure you want to use it now? Maybe you’ll make an even bigger purchase later on and that 10% would go a lot further then… So it just sits there, unused.
And since you can only hold one Inspiration at a time, you have no particular incentive to think about your personality in the mean time.
In FiveEvil, we flip this all around.
Instead of Inspiration, we have Desperation. If Inspiration is like a discount coupon, Desperation is like a credit card with no limit. Tap it any time! Really need to make this roll? Take a Desperation for a boost! Just missed the target? Take a Desperation to make up the difference! Want to make this hurt? Take a Desperation for extra damage! If you need it you can have it, no questions asked!
But, like a credit card, there are strings attached. For one thing, desperation is carefully named. As your pile of Desperation increases, you get more frazzled, and more likely to make mistakes every time you roll the dice.
You need to get rid of this pile of Desperation before you start really messing things up! You get rid of Desperation by expressing your personality. Indulge in your habit, remove a Desperation. Face your flaw, remove a Desperation. Focus in on your bond, remove a Desperation.
If you’ve done all that, and you still have Desperation left over? That’s when things get risky. You have to roll some dice and if you’re unlucky, then one of your personality aspects gets messed up. That thing where a horror protagonist survives but you can tell they’ll have nightmares for the rest of their life? That.
So this is the gameplay loop around which FiveEvil desperation is built: go into debt for a mechanical boost -> express your personality to clear the debt.
It’s a direct inversion of the 5E loop for inspiration (express your personality to get a coupon -> use the coupon for a mechanical boost) but, crucially, it dodges all the things that grind that version of the loop to a halt.
You’re never second-guessing whether you need to save up for later on, you’re focused on your immediate need.
Also, your character’s personality is central: you’re using it to feel better, but also risking it if you go too far.
This gameplay loop is the thematic heart of FiveEvil, and in play it just works in a way Inspiration never quite did. I’m really proud of it.
You can start playing with Desperation right now, using the free download preview and mini-campaign FiveEvil: Splinters.
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BONUS: here’s grotesque and upsetting skeleton host Clive Evil interviewing me about desperation!