"Perseverance don’t care about your plans. It cares about your grit. And maybe your aim."
— Eliza Kane, Commonwealth Ranger

Welcome to Perseverance, where law is a rumor, survival is personal, and stories are forged in grit and gunfire. This post is for GMs looking to run the setting, whether you’re planning a one-shot smuggling run or a long-haul campaign of shifting allegiances and frontier justice. Let’s talk about the kinds of stories Perseverance is built for, how to set stakes and pace episodes, and how to use geography and factions to bring the world to life.

What Kind of Stories to Tell

Perseverance is a setting that thrives on small-scale drama, personal stakes, and the clash between rugged survival and fraying authority. It doesn’t ask for galaxy-spanning campaigns – it asks: what are you willing to risk today?

Smuggling Runs and Shady Deals

"You fly quiet, you don’t ask questions, and you don’t look in the crates. That’s the deal."
— Kael Drummond, riverboat captain

These stories are Perseverance’s bread and butter. Smuggling is more than just getting from A to B – it's about who you’re avoiding, who you’re lying to, and what’s really in the crate you thought was harmless tech.

Scenarios to explore:

• You’re hired to deliver a cargo to a mining settlement, only to discover it’s weapons for separatists.
• A rival crew undercuts your smuggling contract – do you outfly them, sabotage them, or make a deal?
• One of the crew finds out the cargo is alive. Now what?

Themes: loyalty, desperation, ethics in the grey zone, reputation vs. survival.

Frontier Justice and Moral Gray Zones

"A badge’s just a piece of metal. Out here, it’s the person wearing it that counts."
— Sheriff Dale Foster, Rust Creek

The law on Perseverance is personal. Whether you’re a Ranger trying to hold a line or a sheriff caught between your town’s needs and the Governor’s orders, you’re going to make tough calls. What kind of justice do you serve when everyone’s got blood on their hands?

Scenarios to explore:

• A respected rancher is accused of murder. The town wants revenge. The evidence says otherwise.
• A Ranger brings in a dangerous outlaw – but the prisoner’s crimes helped save a settlement from raiders.
• A vote in town might legalize corporate mining that will destroy the water table. Your deputy’s family works for the company.

Themes: corruption, conflicting duties, truth vs. peace, personal codes.

Survival in the Wilds

"The wind’ll flay you clean if the cliffs don’t crack first. Best keep moving."
— Jesse Hale, pit boss, Iron Mesa

The planet itself can – and should – be the antagonist. Storms, blizzards, dustquakes, and megafauna all make for compelling threats. Use the environment not just as color, but as pressure. It doesn’t care who’s right or who’s winning.

Scenarios to explore:

• A trade caravan goes silent en route to Glacier’s End. A white-out storm is closing fast. You're the only ones close enough to check.
• You’ve made camp on unstable mesa ground. A sudden quake exposes old tunnels… and what sleeps in them.
• Crossing the plains during mating season for ironhorns? What could go wrong?

Themes: isolation, endurance, resourcefulness, human vs. nature.

Faction Entanglements and Shifting Power

"Every choice out here puts you in someone’s ledger. Best know whose."
— Victor Lang, Perseverance Metals

No one holds total power on Perseverance – not the Commonwealth, not the warlords, not the cartels. But they all try. PCs can get caught in the crossfire, used as pawns, or become players themselves in the planet’s shifting alliances.

Scenarios to explore:

• The Free Miners’ League asks the crew to escort negotiators to a truce summit. The Cartel wants it to fail.
• A Commonwealth colonel offers the crew citizenship, wealth, and a clean slate – in exchange for betraying their current employer.
• An old friend from a PC’s past resurfaces, now working for the Black Veil Society.

Themes: trust and betrayal, power and compromise, ideals vs. reality.

Community Stories and Found Family

"We stick together, or we don’t survive. It’s that simple."
— Benji Cole, caravan leader

Beyond the guns and grit, Perseverance is also about people building something new at the edge of everything. Troupe-style crews, interconnected communities, and deep emotional stakes fit here beautifully.

Scenarios to explore:

• A PC’s hometown faces an impending crisis – disease, flooding, corporate eviction. Do they return and help?
• One crew member wants to leave the outlaw life behind and settle down. The past won’t let them go quietly.
• Founders’ Day celebrations turn dark when an old secret resurfaces.

Themes: belonging, sacrifice, rebuilding, the weight of legacy.

How to Set Stakes and Pace Episodes

"Every job’s a story. Every story’s a test. And every test cuts deeper than the last."
— Sandra “Lark” Vance, Dust Runner captain

Think episodic – but with teeth. Perseverance works best when sessions feel like tightly framed TV episodes from that golden age of storytelling: Buffy, Firefly, X-Files, Fringe. One mystery, one job, one problem to solve. But underneath it? Something bigger stirs. Recurring enemies, faction agendas, slow-burning character arcs. That’s your season plot.

Design sessions like episodes:

• Start with a hook: a job offer, a cryptic message, a new arrival in town.
• Center everything on a story obstacle: What must be done? What stands in the way?
• Let the episode resolve… but not everything. A clue slips through. An enemy escapes. The job changes you.

The Season Arc builds in the background:

• A faction grows bolder.
• A long-lost contact keeps reappearing.
• A question keeps hanging in the air: Why did the Governor really recall the Rangers?

This balance lets you pivot between high-paced action and long-term investment – without railroading or heavy plotting.

Framing Your Stakes: Make Every Conflict Matter

"You don’t draw unless you’re ready to bleed. That’s the price of making things count."
— Jace “Burn” Halloran, Dust Runner pilot

In QuestWorlds, you're not rolling for small actions – you’re resolving story obstacles. That means every roll should answer a dramatic question. It's not "Can I do the thing?" It's "What happens when I try – and what’s at risk?"

Let’s unpack how to frame compelling stakes that fuel the story.

1. Ask the Right Question

Your first job as GM is to define what this scene is really about. That means:

• What does the player want?
• What’s standing in their way?
• What could go wrong?

Good framing examples:

• Do you get the fuel shipment past the Commonwealth checkpoint before they scan your transponder?
• Do you talk the townsfolk into standing up to the Cartel?
• Do you stop the cliff strider before it crushes the only working comm tower in 500 klicks?

Weak framing examples:

• Do you climb the tower?
• Do you fix the engine?
• Do you shoot the outlaw?

Those aren’t story obstacles. They’re tasks. If it doesn’t carry dramatic weight, it doesn’t need a roll – just let it happen, or fold it into a broader contest.

2. Define the Stakes – All of Them

When you introduce a contest, spell out what happens on each outcome:

• Victory: What does success look like? What changes?
• Defeat: What’s lost? What gets worse?
• Zero-degree Victory: You get what you want, but it costs you – in reputation, resources, or unintended consequences.
• Zero-degree Defeat: You fail to achieve your goal, but something good comes out of it – a clue, an ally, a shift in perspective.

You don’t need to narrate all these possibilities up front, but you should know them. It keeps the roll sharp and grounded in the fiction.

Example:
You're in a tense negotiation with a rebel faction to gain passage through their territory.

• Victory: They agree – and offer you intel on a shared enemy.
• Defeat: They see through your story and mark you as spies.
• Zero-degree Victory: They agree, but word gets out – you’re now on the Commonwealth’s watchlist.
• Zero-degree Defeat: They turn you away – but one of their lieutenants tips you off to a smuggler’s trail that bypasses their camp.

These nuanced outcomes keep the narrative moving forward while still reflecting the costs of action in a harsh world.

3. Tie It to the Fiction

Always ask yourself:

• Who else is affected?
• What faction is watching or reacting?
• What changes if they succeed – or fail – here?

This turns every scene into a lever. A seemingly small success might ripple through a whole region: shifting alliances, upsetting a rival, or triggering a new opportunity.

4. Let the Stakes Bite

"If nothing changes, why’d we even roll?"
— Mira Vos, tech scavenger

Don’t be afraid to let the world push back. Stakes should be sharp enough that even a success can leave a scar.

That’s not about punishing players – it’s about making their choices feel real. When every contest reshapes something – a relationship, a reputation, a risk – it reinforces that this is their story, not just a sequence of scenes.

Use Zero-Degree Results to Push the World Forward

"Some wins leave scars. Some losses open doors."
— Tessa Dorne, Ranger

The zero-degree outcome – where the resistance and player rolls cancel out – isn’t a muddy “kinda-succeeded” moment. It’s a storytelling engine.

This result signals that the immediate situation is resolved, but the consequences complicate things. The story doesn’t stall – it pivots. Something shifts. A price is paid, or a new opportunity emerges.

Think of zero-degrees as catalysts. They don’t end the story. They twist it.

What They Really Mean

Zero-Degree Victory:
You succeed, but it costs you. Maybe someone important gets hurt. Maybe the secret gets out. Maybe the way you won shifts how others see you.

• You get the stolen data, but now a rival crew knows you have it.
• You convince the outlaws to back down – but only by promising a favor you really didn’t want to owe.
• You make it to the town on time – but your skiff is damaged, and the storm's still coming.

Zero-Degree Defeat:
You fail, but you still get something – information, an opening, a shift in tone or loyalty. The scene doesn’t end with a door slammed shut – it ends with a window opening next to it.

• You lose the duel – but the sheriff respects your stand and calls off the bounty.
• You don’t make the delivery – but you learn who sabotaged the route.
• The rebels don’t accept your help – but one of them decides to keep in touch.

Why It Matters

In QuestWorlds, you’re not aiming for “pass/fail” – you’re aiming for movement. Every contest should change the situation, reveal new truths, or shift the balance of power.

Zero-degree outcomes help you:

• Add drama without stalling progress.
• Keep victories from feeling clean or consequence-free.
• Make defeats feel like stepping stones instead of brick walls.
• Enrich the world by showing how people and factions respond.

When you use zero-degrees well, every roll keeps the fiction alive – layered, messy, and real.

Pacing Tricks: Escalate, Twist, Reframe

"Plans never survive the dust. If they did, this place wouldn’t be called Perseverance."
— Lucia Vex, Queen of the Dust

A great session has rhythm. Not just action, but escalation. Not just surprises, but reveals that matter. Not just resolution, but consequences that echo.

To pace Perseverance well, think like a showrunner. Treat each session as an episode with structure, tension, and payoff – but be ready to adapt as the players push against the world.

Escalate

Start simple. Complicate quickly.

Even the smallest jobs or local disputes should lead somewhere messy. Introduce factions with conflicting goals. Add pressure from the environment. Have someone double-cross the crew. Or just let the situation spiral because someone got nervous and reached for their sidearm.

Ways to escalate:

• A rival crew shows up with the same goal.
• The cargo turns out to be more dangerous than expected.
• The local sheriff is missing – and the Cartel moves in.
• A storm front advances faster than predicted.

Tip: Escalation doesn’t have to mean more enemies. It means more at stake.

Twist

Give the players what they want – then turn it sideways.

A twist is about changing context. The crew completes the delivery, but their employer turns out to be a war criminal. The town you saved is controlled by a secret cult. The outlaw you spared is now preaching rebellion in your name.

Effective twists:

• Change the meaning of what just happened.
• Challenge a PC’s values, history, or community keyword.
• Reveal a hidden faction, agenda, or cost.

The best twists don’t negate player choices – they complicate them.

Reframe

A good session doesn’t just end – it shifts.

Reframing means showing the players how their actions changed the world. Did they spark a rebellion? Shift a faction’s opinion? Save a town that now wants to name a street after them? Or maybe things didn’t go their way – and now someone’s gunning for them.

Ask yourself:

• What’s different now?
• Who is angry, grateful, suspicious?
• What has this story set in motion?

Bonus tip: Show the aftermath through a quiet moment. A child mimicking the PCs. A news broadcast warped by propaganda. A character’s shaken voice on the radio.

Don’t Fear Disruption

"You don’t need a perfect plan. You need something worth crashing into."
— Grim Navarro, Dust Runner enforcer

Let yourself interrupt your own story.

When pacing feels flat, shake it up:

• Drop a new complication halfway through – weather, betrayal, pursuit.
• Add a moral choice the crew didn’t expect.
• Introduce a wildcard NPC with history.

The world of Perseverance is alive. Let it breathe, push, bite, and pull. If the players feel like they’re in a world that watches them and responds, you don’t need scripted plot twists. Just reactions.

Using Factions and Geography for Tension

"You want to understand this planet? Don’t look at a map. Look at who’s fighting over it."
— Captain Jerro Quinn, independent trader

In Perseverance, power is always contested – and so is the land. Factions and geography aren’t just background dressing: they shape every encounter, every journey, every choice. This section helps you use both to create meaningful tension at the table.

Factions Aren’t Lore – They’re Pressure

Factions in Perseverance aren’t monoliths. They’re story engines. Each one represents a worldview, a power structure, and a potential ally or enemy. Treat them like NPCs with their own wants, flaws, and blind spots.

• Give factions faces: memorable individuals who embody their goals.
• Let them react: change tactics after setbacks, escalate after defiance.
• Introduce splinters: not every Ranger agrees with the Governor; not every Cartel smuggler wants a war.

Think of each faction as a living force in the world, ready to lean on the PCs, offer aid – or turn hostile.

Geography Creates Drama

The terrain isn’t neutral. It shapes how people live, fight, and survive. Each region of Perseverance offers distinct tensions:

• Red Canyons: Close-quarters tension, ambushes, vertical danger.
• Thundergrass Expanse: Wide open threats, megafauna, weather.
• The Mountains: Isolation, scarce resources, high-altitude hazards.
• Glacier's End: Cold, ruin, ancient secrets, survival horror.

Use terrain like a character. The setting should challenge movement, communication, and morale.

Combine Factions + Geography

Where factions collide with geography, you get the best tension:

• A rebel cell is holed up in a mine no one will admit exists.
• The Cartel controls the only pass before the snows hit.
• A Commonwealth base sits over a geothermal vent the Free Miners claim as sacred.

Let players feel the pressure of geography and politics with every step.

Travel is Never Just Travel

Getting from one settlement to another? That’s an episode.

Make travel decisions dramatic:

• The safe route is slow and guarded.
• The fast one crosses Cartel territory.
• The desperate one? Glacier’s End.

Factor in how past choices change the map. If the crew burned a bridge with the Black Veil Society, maybe they now control the checkpoint they once passed freely.

Anchor Scenes in the Map

Use place names and visual detail to build immersion. Anchor scenes to the map, but let factions and politics redraw the landscape session by session.

Example hooks:

• A dam project threatens to flood an outlaw town.
• A ghost signal is traced to a buried skiff in the Red Canyons.
• A roaming megafauna herd is herded by smugglers weaponizing it against settlers.

The world is always shifting. Let geography and factions shape that evolution in ways players can feel.

Memorable NPCs in a Harsh World

"You don’t last long out here unless folks remember your name. And fear it, if possible."
— Lucia Vex, Queen of the Dust

Perseverance runs on characters who are as tough, layered, and desperate as the world they live in. Whether they’re allies, rivals, enemies, or something in between, your NPCs should do more than deliver exposition – they should shape the choices your players make.

Ground Every NPC in Purpose

Forget long backstories. Start with three questions:

• What do they want right now?
• What line won’t they cross?
• Who do they owe or fear?

From that, build personality through action.

• A desperate sheriff might stall the PCs to protect their smuggler cousin.
• A Commonwealth scientist might help the crew – then try to recruit them.
• A Free Miners' leader might offer a deal that sounds fair… until the third condition.

Give Them Voice, Vice, and Values

Make NPCs pop with small, repeatable details:

• Voice: Speech patterns, slang, accent. (“Don’t rightly care if you’re good. Just be fast.”)
• Vice: Something indulgent or shameful they’re hooked on.
• Values: A principle they won’t break – even if it gets them killed.

A smuggler who never works Sundays. A cartel bruiser who can’t read. A rebel commander who carries their dead lover’s scarf into every fight.

Let Them Change (or Refuse To)

NPCs in Perseverance aren’t static. Track how the crew affects them.

• Did someone save their life? They’ll remember.
• Did they betray the PCs? Let them twist the knife.
• Did they fail to act? Show the cost.

Growth, grudges, and guilt should ripple through the campaign.

Tie Them to Place and Power

Link each NPC to a place, a faction, or a resource:

• The mechanic who keeps a whole canyon settlement running.
• The mayor in bed with the Cartel.
• The retired ranger living in exile – but still wired into the Guard network.

When a character matters to the world, the players care more about what happens to them.

Offer Complicated Help

In a setting like this, favors have teeth. NPCs who offer aid should want something in return:

• A former friend wants you to kill the bounty hunter who’s after them.
• A fence will sell you info – but only if you’ll help their kid escape the frontier.
• A warlord gives you shelter – but expects loyalty when the fighting starts.

Make every deal a choice. Make every ally a gamble.

Wrapping Up: Grit, Story, and the Frontier Ahead

“A plan gets you started. The dust, the people, and the choices – that’s what writes the story.”
— Mira Vos, Dust Runner mechanic

Perseverance isn’t about perfection. It’s about decisions under pressure. Your job as GM isn’t to script a plot – it’s to light sparks, raise stakes, and breathe life into a world that remembers what the players do.

Set clear obstacles. Let factions push back. Use the terrain. Fill your world with flawed people who want things and won’t let go.

And when in doubt? Escalate, twist, reframe – and let the crew carve their story into the dust.