Mood

Mood is the one piece of character state that moves during play. A person starts with mood <word> on the create line and changes with change mood to <word>, which is an ordinary statement and can sit in any row body. The built-in moods are calm, content, cheerful, nervous, anxious, panicked, angry, furious, sad, grieving, suspicious, confused, and resigned.

A story that wants its own shade declares one against an existing mood with define mood <new> like <existing>, optionally narrowed by a modifier: restless, stiller, darker, or brighter. The new word behaves like the mood it derives from — so define mood fearful like anxious, but darker gives you a word that reads as your story's own while still selecting everywhere anxious would.

Mood is read, not obeyed. Rows can condition on it (when it is anxious), Manner colors delivery by it, and Initiative can refine an occasion by it. Do not use mood to model a lasting trait — a person who is permanently short-tempered wants a personality word, since mood is the thing a scene is expected to move.

define mood composed like calm
define mood fearful like anxious, but darker

create Jonas Reed
  a person, proper
  mood anxious

define topics for Jonas Reed
  about "the vault":
    change mood to fearful
    phrase jonas-on-the-vault
end topics