[This post is part of a series examining Archipelago 2 and what parts of that game might help solve some issues in Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple. Previously: Ritual Phrases, Destiny Points, Ownership]

Resolution

Archipelago: The resolution cards randomly resolve situations in a variety of "Yes, but..." and "No, and..." interpretive statements, for example...

• Yes, but… The character succeeds, but something completely unrelated goes wrong, for the character or someone she cares about.
• Yes, but only if… The character can get what she wants – but only if she chooses to make a certain sacrifice.
• Yes, and… The character succeeds, and achieves more than she expected.

In addition, Fate cards add little wrinkles to the story that involve the element of the story that you own. For example...

• Somebody important to this character faces dire trouble because of the element you own – life-threatening illness, bankruptcy, doubt in their faith or similar.
• The element you own is interfering with this character's desires, wishes or needs.
• Something important is stolen from this character by someone connected to the element you own.

Do: Do focuses heavily on the "Yes" outcomes that are listed in Archipelago, to the exclusion of the few "No" outcomes. That's something I staked in the ground really early in the game and something I will stick to. This game is not about success or failure.

I haven't explicitly broken out these resolutions in Archipelago's terms before. I've just kinda said "You succeed, now describe that success." and "Now the troublemakers describe how it causes another trouble." or "No new troubles are created. In fact, you get to resolve an additional trouble!" but nothing really helpful to give tools or context. Right now, all narrative options are available all at once.

What the resolution cards and fate cards do well is define some creative constraints. Instead of cards, I think I can make the game board do these things. This is what the board says right now.

As you can see, the board pretty much only focuses on telling you when you do or do not cause more trouble, gradually making the latter more likely as you move along the board.

If I added some of these Archipelago resolutions and fates to the board's outcomes, then things get much more interesting. Then you get to choose between two flavors of resolution.

Something more like this

[Level 3]
Depending on the size of your Grace Set, do one of the following:

ø: ✔ Troublemakers tell a story: The pilgrim succeeds, but something completely unrelated goes wrong for the someone she cares about. That person faces dire trouble because of the element the player owns. This trouble incorporates the first symbol on the letter.
✔ The storyteller writes down this trouble on a new trouble card and adds !!.

○ or ●: ✔ The Storyteller tells a story: The pilgrim gets what she wants – but only by breaking a bond to the pilgrim belonging to the player on her left.

○○ or ●● :  ✔ Troublemakers tell a story: The pilgrim succeeds,
and achieves more than she expected. Perhaps even a bit too much. This trouble incorporates the second symbol on the letter.
✔ The storyteller writes down this trouble on a new trouble card and adds !!!.

○○○ or ●●● : ✔ The Storyteller tells a story: The pilgrim gets what she wants – but only by changing a bond to the pilgrim belonging to the player on her right.

The "symbols" mentioned up there refer to the symbols stamped onto each letter that represent the kind of troubles you'll find on that world. Romance, politics, violence, natural, etc.

So let's say you're playing Do. Your group has made it to the third space of the board, as noted in the example above. If you were to draw ○○●, then your choice is to either succeed and in doing so change a Bond, or succeed and in doing so cause more trouble. By my count, that takes two whole steps out of the gameplay procedure and speeds up the game significantly. (Previously, you had to choose to break a Bond before resolving a trouble, an option that was tough to remember when you had so much other stuff going on.)

I'd just like to take a moment and thank Remi Treuer for pointing Archipelago to me. It's given me a lot to think about, even if I've misread a whole bunch of the game. :P