It was at this time last week that it occurred to me I might have fuel to continue the month, creating new ideas for Sanction Genre Setups. If you take the themes through to 31 August, they chunk up into groups of three with one spare.

Would that work? Could it? Was it asking too much of me? (The answer to that last one is probably, “Yes.”)

Gut Feeling

Having already written about the first three days, my attention turned to the prompts for Days Four, Five, and Six: Charm, Burden, and Reach.

That combination immediately suggested a game built around social interaction.

If there’s one thing I’ve found myself increasingly interested in as a designer, it’s creating games where the obvious solution isn’t to punch someone in the face—or level a gun at them. Better still, where those options aren’t even the second, third, or fifty-seventh choice. There are plenty of games that handle violence brilliantly. I’m far more interested in exploring worlds where the real challenges are social, emotional, political, or reputational.

So, what exactly do Charm, Reach, and Burden mean for a character?

You’re Failures

It reminded me that I’d already explored similar territory with The Agency, one of the genre setups included in the Sanction core book.

In The Agency, you’re not elite spies. You’re the ones who spectacularly failed. Intelligence agents who proved so catastrophically unsuitable for frontline work that they couldn’t be trusted with live operations anymore. Unfortunately, they also knew far too much to simply let go. Instead, they’re quietly shuffled off to the jobs nobody else wants.

The inspiration was obviously Mick Herron’s Slow Horses, but I wanted to push beyond simply recreating that premise. The result was a game centred as much on dysfunctional relationships as espionage. Every assignment became an opportunity for these deeply flawed characters to realise that, despite all evidence to the contrary, the only way they were getting through the day was by relying on one another.

What I particularly enjoyed was that The Agency doesn’t rely on traditional physical attributes. Instead, your effectiveness is measured by three very different Resources:

• Network — who you know and who owes you favours.
• Cover — who you can convincingly pretend to be.
• Tradecraft — the professional skills that keep you unseen, unnoticed, and one step ahead.

Could those Resources occasionally support physical action? Certainly. But there was never a dedicated “Fight” stat waiting to solve every problem. Violence wasn’t absent; it simply wasn’t the focus.

Looking at Charm, Reach, and Burden, I realised they offered a similar opportunity.

Are We Rolling?

Rather than describing what a character can physically accomplish, they describe how they move through society. Charm is your ability to engage and persuade. Reach is the network of people, platforms, or influence you can call upon. Burden represents everything you carry with you—your obligations, reputation, past mistakes, or the emotional weight that never quite leaves your shoulders.

That feels like fertile ground for a game where the greatest obstacles aren’t monsters or mercenaries, but people, perceptions, and the consequences of being seen.

I’m not entirely sure where this particular idea will end up yet, but that’s one of the pleasures of #RPGaDay. Sometimes the prompt doesn’t inspire a finished answer—it opens a door to a question worth exploring. And, in my case, it usually leads to a cover image long before any element of an actual book exists…

How does Charm manifest in your creations? I look forward to reading about it in your RPGaDay post.

#RPGaDAY2026