Truths Use and Care

Achtung! Cthulhu
1

I really like the concept of Truths in the game.

For the GM setting the scene and adding a Dread or Otherworldly during a scene to show the vibe shifting and raising drama is amazing.

Trying to put into words the players using and making on the fly truths has been more difficult.

What have others done to explain and teach the use of Truths?

2

I’ve found truths incredibly flexible to give a very quick set of bullet points for a scene, however conversely, I feel they are mostly there for you, the GM. You jot them down to a scene to establish the baseline (Example Scene truths - Raining, Strong Winds, thunder and lightning) and simply describe the scene as such. A truth is often nothing more than a normal thing the players interact with. For my players, I described it roughly as follows.

“A truth is a factual element of the world, something that exists without question. An example would be a wall is well maintained and sturdy. Players and the GM can interact with truths, to alter the fundamental state of the truth in question. For example, a character can take a sledgehammer to a the wall and change that walls truth from ‘sturdy’ to broken. And so on. Q truth can also describe a key characteristic of a person or thing, that John is a ‘Keen Marksman’ or Fred is a ‘Yellow-bellied Coward’, in this case a truth is simply something that is factual about a person’s character. Simply put, a truth is a simple shorthand for demonstrating the factual state of a thing, a quick way of confirming the facts about a person, thing or idea.”

That may be a bit flowery, but hopefully that helps! Main thing is to remind people that truths can change as time goes on.

2 Likes
3

Thanks.

I like that.

Still getting my head around the system.

4

I’m not sure why but I frankly really hate the term “Truth”; it seems to grind my gears. I just prefer “Statement of Fact” or “Factual Description” or even “Function”

5

I tend to use the term Aspect, as it is quite similar to the function of Aspects in FATE RPG, where this idea seems to come from. - An Aspect could be positive or negative, depending on the situation, so that term fits quite well - and most of my players are used to that FATE term anyway.