Mortal Needs 3.0: A little more life between the fights (Patreon)

Hey everyone!

Mortal Needs was one of the first modules I made, and it is still a special one to me. I wanted the everyday things to matter a little more in our games. A meal after a long journey. A warm place to sleep. Someone noticing that another character is frightened, exhausted, or quietly having a very bad time.

Those small things can give us a reason to care for our characters, and for each other, even when nobody is rolling initiative.

This update brings the module much closer to what I had in mind. There is a new look, a smaller place for it on your screen, and a lot of attention to making it easier to use during a session.

Mortal Needs is free, and you can find it in Foundry's package directory. No Patreon subscription is needed to use it.

I also made a trailer for the update. Please give it a little volume if you can. The poor adventurers have been through quite enough to deserve a soundtrack.

A small home for the whole party

The new GM dock keeps the company together in a compact view, with distinct icons, clearer colors, and a darker, illustrated style. You can move it wherever it feels comfortable and collapse it when you want more space for the scene.

To change a need, just drag its meter a little in either direction. Hold Shift for a gentler adjustment, or open the need for an exact value and the plus and minus buttons. It is meant to be something you can do as the story unfolds, without losing your place in it.

A personal view for each player

Players get a smaller dock for their own tracked character, so they can keep an eye on how they are doing without needing the whole party on screen. Clicking a need opens its details.

The GM chooses what players can see and whether they can adjust their own values. Everyone can put their dock where it suits them. The wizard already has enough things open.

Give a condition a moment in the story

There is a little feather beside each portrait in the GM dock. Click it to send a description of that character's worst visible condition to chat. It can be a quiet nudge to the table: perhaps someone could use water, warmth, or a kind word.

You can use this even with automatic narration turned off. If you prefer automatic messages, they follow changes in condition, group rapid adjustments together, and leave a little breathing room between ordinary updates. Critical changes can still call for attention.

Consequences that are easier to understand

Opening a need now shows its state, its configured consequences, whether they are applied, and guidance for recovery. Labels such as "Exhaustion +1" are much friendlier to read in the middle of a game.

Where the game system supports them, temporary penalties also appear as named effects on the character sheet. Recovery has received attention too, including repeated penalties and situations where more than one need applies the same condition. You can choose automatic removal, a prompt for the GM, or manual removal.

The idea is to make it easier to see what is happening to a character, and what getting better means.

A quicker way to set things up

When your game system has a suggested consequence for a need, the configuration explains what it does and when it starts. Click Use recommendation to add it in one step. Once it is saved, the same spot gives you an Edit rule button if you want to change it.

Fear is also available as an optional built-in need. It starts disabled, so you can bring it in when it fits your game. Choose the needs and consequences that help your table tell its story. Sometimes a cold night needs a rule. Sometimes it just needs a blanket.

Come give it a try

You can install Mortal Needs from Add-on Modules > Install Module in Foundry by searching for its name.

If you are updating an existing world, your tracked characters, need values, custom needs, and rules are kept. I recommend making a world backup first. Older direct attribute penalties may need a manual review because their original changes were not recorded.

Thank you for helping me keep working on these ideas. If you try it, I would love to hear how it feels at your table, especially whether it helps those little moments outside combat find their place.

Take care of your adventurers. They are doing their best.