8.9 Invocations

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Invocations

The Dealer might introduce the supernatural into the game through the use of Woe chips, or by uncovering horrific and supernatural elements in response to the PC’s investigations. However certain players also have the ability to introduce the supernatural through the use of their character's Invocations.

Invocations represent players having some control over the supernatural and metaphysical forces which are woven through the fabric of the frontier. In the base game of Texarkana, four monikers have the potential to learn invocations:

• ‘Doc’ might start the campaign with an obscure text of forbidden knowledge, containing one or more rituals;
• ‘The Kid’ might start the campaign with a sentimental item or heirloom attached to a piece of folklore;
• ‘Lucky’ might begin the campaign with a signature item which they have a superstition attached to;
• ‘Buffalo’ might begin the campaign with a pouch of herbs, fungus, cactus or other natural remedy.

Regardless of what form the Invocation takes, there are general rules relating to the use of Invocations:

• Each Invocation may only be called upon once per session (whether successfully or unsuccessfully);
• Calling upon an Invocation always requires Burning a card (and subsequent loss of Will). If an Invocation requires you to play a card at any point, that card is considered Burned.
• All invocations treat Tomes cards as trumps unless otherwise noted;
• Failing an attempt to call upon an Invocation will always generate one Woe chip for the Dealer;
• Invocations are always tied to a specific object, and cannot be called upon without that item being in the player’s possession;
• Woe cannot be spent by the Dealer to interfere with the resolution of Invocations.

Invocations take several general forms:

• some Invocations are used proactively and independently by the player: these types of Invocations are always nominated to be used ahead of time by the invoking player, and require that player to commence cardplay by Burning a card. Each of these Invocations always lists an appropriate Difficulty Value (DV), which the Dealer should note prior to resolution of cardplay, rather than the typical secret nomination of Difficulty Value. Remember that Woe cannot be spent to interfere with Invocations;

• some Invocations are used to target specific opponents: in these instances, the Invocation will tell you which suit rating of the NPC will set the DV for the invocation, and the Dealer should note this secretly as usul (remembering that Woe cannot be spent to interfere with Invocations).

• some Invocations are used reactively: these types of Invocations are able to be used when certain criteria are triggered - typically to retry a previously failed test by the player. In this case the player Burns an appropriate card to commence the Invocation, and the Dealer flips a card in response, using the same Difficulty Value as the initial attempt (or otherwise a DV noted by the Invocation). Only apply the results of this retried attempt, and ignore the results of the initial attempt.

Example Invocations

Superstition - Lucky Charm: Begin the campaign with a rabbit's foot, amulet, or other trinket. When you fail a test to dodge a ranged attack while wearing this charm, you may burn any card to retry the attempt.

Folk Remedy - Calming Pipeweed (DV -3):  spend an entire scene smoking pipeweed and contemplating. On a success, draw three cards then discard two cards.

Ritual - Foul Litany: During a free-for-all, choose any number of opponents within short range. Burn a card to invoke Foul Litany, which each chosen opponent opposes individually using their Hearts suit. For each success, that opponent gains one Injury chip until the end of the scene. For each failure the GM gains one Woe chip.

Next: Suit ratings and proficiency

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