Curiosities and Mechanics (Patreon)

Someone asked me recently about the Faunus Curiosity and when there might be an opportunity to make progress on it, since its mostly sat dormant since the beginning of the quest. So, I thought I'd talk a bit about Curiosities and how they came to exist as a mechanic.

They weren't planned, strictly speaking. I knew going in to the quest that I wanted some form of development system because part of what I personally enjoy about quests is seeing the progress of the protagonist as they become stronger or more skilled. I also knew I didn't want to rely on dice. However, I wasn't sure exactly what I did want.

When the players voted for Curious in the first update, it immediately clicked what I needed: if curiosity was their defining trait, then it only made sense for it to be a mechanic. The first two Curiosities – Dust and Faunus – were added simply because they were the two most obvious choices at the time. If I'd had the experience then that I do now, I wouldn't have added the Faunus...but, at the beginning of the quest, I was still floundering in the dark and trying to find my way. More on that later.

Curiosity immediately clicked for me. It represented in a real, mechanical way both who the entity that would be Obsidian was and began to demonstrate how different they were from a human. It allowed me to incentivize and directly reward pursuing knowledge, which quickly became a core part of Obsidian's character. I've always enjoyed when mechanics are tied to character traits or lore, and this was such a golden opportunity I couldn't pass it up.

However, the fact that it originally blindsided me led to a small problem: the Faunus Curiosity. The issue with it is that the Faunus, along with the Grimm, are intrinsically tied to one of the biggest and most fundamental mysteries in the quest: What is the nature of Remnant? This naturally means that resolving it requires information that won't be available for some time. If I'd been wiser, I wouldn't have dangled it before the players so early just to let it sit there undeveloped for the entire length of the quest, but alas.

Now fortunately, I should have some opportunities to allow people to pursue it sooner than later.