The world is a huge and mysterious place to children, most of it is already mapped and claimed by adults. Some thrive in that environment, it has a place for them and celebrates their talents and achievements. Others are not so lucky and have to carve out niches of their own, they stake claim to hidden and forgotten areas and use them as space to forge their own identities and private sub-cultures. These liminal, transformative boltholes are fragile, remaining secret is what gives them power. Intrusion risks the personal bonds and shared history of the people who grew up together there.
The Barrens from IT is a good example of a secret treehouse, it’s free of adult influence in a way a normal treehouse isn’t, but the spot down by the reservoir a band of teenagers go to smoke and drink could be just as applicable if it's special to them.
Taboo: Losing its exclusiveness. People can come and go from the secret treehouse but if it’s colonised by a large group of outsiders it loses gravitas as a crucible for bonding and transformation. Outsiders can know about it, they just can't make use of it. Excessive use by adults does it too, you might visit briefly to regain a whiff of the nostalgic magick that defined you growing up but squatting there is unhealthy and damaging.
Associated Avatars: The Explorer, The Shaman, The True King.
Resonant Avatars: The Child, The Fool, The Outsider.
Symbols: Small, ramshackle buildings, junk food wrappers and cigarette butts, graffiti and tree carvings, isolation and freedom from a stifling community.
Adjuncts
1%-50%: Kids come to the secret treehouse to get away from their problems and stake a claim to themselves. Sharing this with your buddies creates a syncretic experience that lets you lean on each other and work as a group. It’s limited to one relevant hunch roll at a time but everyone can roll and pick the single best result. The caveat is that any matched roll or fumble takes automatic precedence, the worse the better. Kids are well-known for doing stupid shit, often it’s their mistakes that create the more memorable stories.
51%-70%: On the other hand, some problems aren’t so easily solved and sometimes you just need to get away from them. Play can be a cathartic escape and a reminder that there is a world outside of what might be waiting at home or at school, however small. Engaging in this kind of escapism can be good for the soul, gain the Therapeutic feature or can flip-flop on an identity that already has it while in the secret treehouse.
71%-90%: The secret treehouse is a redoubt and a community. It offers safety, bonding, development and discovery:
- Better: “Crap, I’m sorry! It’s fine, you’re fine! Please don’t tell mom!” +20% to Medical rolls to fix the injuries caused by roughhousing, accidents and childhood misadventure (even without an appropriate identity you can roll at 20%). Most of the time the result indicates it wasn’t really as bad as everyone dreaded and the ice pack definitely helps. The caveat to this power is that if an adult/authority figure cops wise to Kyle’s broken leg then the healing evaporates as it turns out to be exactly as bad as originally thought.
- Faster: Kids make fast friends easily and for those in the secret treehouse it’s them against the world. Any bonding experiences at the secret treehouse count for double the benefit (+10%) to relationships. Unfortunately the inverse is true, damaging and coercing relationships knocks off 10%. It’s a special place and spoiling that seems especially shitty.
- Cheaper: Weird shit turns up in weird places and the kind of spaces that secret treehouses occupy epitomize this. Usually it’s dirty magazines, beer bottles and hubcaps but with a successful roll something that fits a current need might show up. More likely it'll be something that acts as a unique catalyst, either in conjunction with current events or on its own.
91+%: The borders of reality seem more porous here. Even though the real world might be 90 feet away where the hillside crests to abut a busy highway, the secret treehouse can seem as isolated as the most secretive grotto. A successful roll keeps non-members out, they can stumble around the area for hours and not come across the clearing where you’re hiding out. If there’s any contention over whether someone has membership they probably don’t.
99%: Eventually you have to leave leave childhood behind, whether it comes out of a climactic and traumatic event or you just age past it. The secret treehouse rewards the former and marking a rite of passage that separates you from it is powerful. Completing a relevant objective is a good benchmark for what qualifies. Doing so at the secret treehouse grants an one-time 10% increase to one of your identities. The downside is that using the secret treehouse after this invokes taboo for you.
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