The Stick of Power
Prior to the commencement of any campaign, all players are required to locate a quality stick.
A quality stick:
- is chunky in the hand
- does not shed meddlesome stick bits
- is long dead
- has at least one part that is smooth
- has at least one part that is not smooth
If a player does not arrive with a stick as requested, you now know them to be of questionable character.
Concurrent with session zero activities, the players - NOT the GM - will participate in stick pageantry.
Through considerable pomp and circumstance a stick among sticks will be chosen. Players are afforded wide latitude in setting the standards by which claimant sticks are judged. Should an irreconcilable difference of stick opinion be reached, majority rules. In the event of a tie, a winner will be decided by the brutal calculus of war.
The victorious stick is now ascended to the status of
Stick of Power
The Stick of Power serves two functions.
#1:
During play, the holder of the Stick of Power may offer the stick to another player as a bribe.
- "My stick is yours for the taking if Dorcas totally eats shit during this jump."
- "Does Laurence have feelings for Nadia? My stick, if he reveals his heart's truth."
- "Would Cheri get drunk and hit on the mayor for... my stick?"
#2:
At any time, if the table is vexed by emotionless bickering (rules lawyering, navigation hesitancy, loot disputes), the current owner of the Stick of Power may raise it above their head and - using hands only, without the assistance of tools or environmental leverage - snap off a segment of the Stick of Power. The dispute is immediately resolved in accordance with the stick bearer's will.
Broken segments may be kept as artifacts of dispute, to be displayed upon the mantle. Write a summary of the argument on a note card or engraved placard as a warning to your future selves.