QuestNoir: Why Use Technoir?

I've had a fascination with Technoir for some time.  You can find out more about the game itself by checking out my review of it.  It is also the first game that compelled me to start working on a full-on hack of a game.  Sure I've made some small custom stuff for D&D, but I've never wanted to Make something at this scale.

Technoir is presumably a bad fit. You don't roll against the Environment in Technoir. If you're doing something like hacking, you're rolling against whoever is monitoring the system, since it's a cyberpunk setting: everything is always connected. Otherwise, you just fuckin' do it. You don't need to roll to break down a door if it's not on a network, watched, or in a place someone can hear it. Hell, even picking a lock can just Happen if there's nobody to catch you.

And a big part of a fantasy setting is facing the Environment! Travel, weather, traps, "solving" the dungeon room, so on and so forth.

So fuck it, we can still do that.

For a Dungeon, this is easy. The traps had to be set by someone: use their stats. Make it one of the named characters who serves the Big Bad of the place. Instead of challenging the Trap's stats, you challenge the person who made or set it. Hell, you could even give Regional stats for the Environment if you needed to say "This Desert has a Fight of 4, making it difficult to Endure".

Part of the reason why I want to try this system is because I feel like the Transmission and Plot Map system lends itself well to Adventures, Quests, or Intrigues. Giving the GM a puzzle to put together of seemingly disconnected pieces, only for them to go "no, no, I got this". Like, if your starting 3 plot points are Verrick the Blackguard, A Goblin cave, and a Mana Storm. You could connect them in a bunch of ways.

• Did Verrick recruit the Goblins to initiate the Mana Storm?
• Is Verrick taking shelter in the Goblin Cave from the Mana Storm?
• Are the Goblins responsible for the Mana Storm, and Verrick wants to use it?
• Does he want to stop it?

Player leans on their Connection to get some gear or something at the start, and roll on their table, and now they're on the board. Talk again, and we can add the Mythic Elvish Bow to the grid and connect it to one of the previous 3 nodes.

• Was it stolen by the Goblins and Verrick is trying to recover it?
• Is Verrick using the bow as their primary weapon?
• Is the Mana Storm vulnerable to the power of the Bow, or does the Bow get amplified by it?
• You can see more about Transmissions here.

Another big reason is one of Technoir's core features: Push Dice.

Push Dice is the bargaining mechanic of the game.  At the beginning of the game, everyone starts with 3 Push Dice, sans the GM.  You use Push Dice to invoke your Adjectives and Tags on your gear to gain an extra die on a roll, or to boost your Verb when defending.  Your Push Dice "Recharge" when you're about to roll, refreshing for use.  A Charming character can invoke that adjective when Coaxing someone to get an additional die on the roll.  

The big thing though, is that if you want an effect to stick, or last longer than a few moments (up to the end of the scene, but not usually), is you have to Spend your Push Dice.  You can only Spend a die that you've invoked, so you can't try to make something stick if you're just rolling with your base Verb stat.  The players having all the Push Dice means that they're in charge of escalation.  It also means that you can't use magic as a 1 stop shop for solutions, as you have to spend a significant resource for it to actually matter.  

Sure, you can cast some spells for minor, Fleeting effects, but if you want your thing to Stick, is that you have to give the GM a die.  If you want it to be Locked, you have to give 2.  If you want to affect multiple targets with your effect, you have to use at least 1 Push die, instead of gaining the extra die.  

This is nonstarter for some.  How can a mage feel magical if they're not doing Magic all the time?  Cantrips don't count!  I can understand that feeling, but it's not the type of story I find super interesting.  Magic should be a tool in your tools chest, but it should not be the Only tool you possess.  This is a mental note for me that I need to establish the limits of magic and the Cast verb.  I don't want Cast to become something that replaces every other Verb in your repertoire.  And hell, not being able to do that might torpedo this whole project, but this is something I want to tackle.  

But maybe I don't.  The limit of the Push Dice means that if you want to cast an Invisibility on yourself, you have to make it Sticky, so you need to give me a die.  If you want to cast it on the whole party, you need to spend 2 dice, and then give me one to make it last.  And then you have the narrative control of being invisible sure, but when it comes time to roll, Invisible only gives you another Tag to invoke, not an automatic bonus.  This would be useful if your group has nobody who's sneaky, or if nobody has an adjective related to hiding, but it won't fully break the game.  

The core system is so good for this in my opinion, because it lets you tell stories that escalate and ebb and flow based on player actions.  You try to make something Sticky on the Vampire fledgling, and then I can now return the favor to the party when I introduce a Golem or something that hinders you.  The goal of a Fantasy story isn't to just waltz through the ruins and get what you want with no problem.  You should want to struggle and have setbacks, but persevere and get what you came for.  

These stories are at their best when something breaks wrong.  When a tension is introduced.  When something is underestimated and comes back to bite you.  When you stumble into a chamber that's way more dangerous than you expected.  THAT'S fantasy storytelling to me.

It seems like such a fascinating system to weave into a mystery on the fly, and building it out seems cool. I think this is the primary answer to "Why Technoir".