Declare a Truth

Declare a Truth is a Gasp designed by René-Pier Deshaies-Gélinas of Fari RPGs used in Renegades that allows player more control over the narrative, but like most things Breathless, it might come at a cost.

Rule

When the situation is dire, or if you are looking for a way out, you can declare a new truth about the world. If your fact is a small truth, it just happens, but for big truths the GM adds a “but...” afterwards.

The GM gets the final say on this, so work with them to make sure your fact works well with what has already been established. Once used, you'll need to "catch your breath" to declare a new truth.

Designer Notes

This simple mechanic gives players a lot of control over the story, and will encourage them to roll less often, since declaring a truth is easier than using a skill. In order to prevent players from becoming too reliant on this, they can only use it once per "catch your breath". In your game, you might want to rely on another meta-currency or require the players to be in certain situations before they can declare a new truth. The GM can always decide to throw bigger problems at the scene if they feel the new truth is too big, so this usually balance things out fine.