StraTHACO is an web application to design plots & crossing PC storylines in tabletop roleplaying games, through systematic exploitation of character sheet flags.
StraTHACO implements the notion of THACO as defined by Xyrop in Strategic Gamemastering, part 2: Data organization and exploitation through the THACO:
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THACO stands for Thematic Holistic Analytic Character Outline, also known as Table for Historicised Analysis of Character Objects. The THACO is a graphical tool, a table/grid which aims at providing a systematic overview of all data gathered during the first phase, organized in rows and columns.
The THACO is made up of at least twice as many rows as there are player characters. Each couple of rows correspond to a particular Player Character:
The upper row, background, corresponds to the background & past history of the Player Character. The lower row, objectives, corresponds to the current objectives of the Player Character. THACO Columns
The column headers of the THACO correspond to the various categories of objects which the data gathered in phase 1 of the Strategic Gamemastering method can be split into.
The common object types, ordered into column headers are Theme, Location, NPC and Item. Since a player-character might have several of each, these column headers are numbered
- Theme {1, 2, 3, 4, ... , n}: The themes that are attached to the player character as a being, or to the player's expectations for the game (which are often related, as seen in part 1). For example, a deposed brutal barbarian chieftain from the steppes would probably garner the themes Combat, Savagery and "Exile" in the background row. If the players shows hints of being willing to enter combat regularly, the same "Combat" theme might also appear in the objectives row. Should this Player Character wish to remedy his exile from his tribe, then the Outcast theme might be appropriate for the objectives row as well (These themes can also be deduced from the highest skill sets of a PC as evidenced on his character sheet. For example, a PC with an extremely high skill in stealth will probably lead the GM to add a "stealth" theme to said PC background or objectives row).
- Location {1, 2, 3, 4, ... , n}: The locations that are important to the player character, whether featured in his personal history, or being important locations regarding his objectives. The aforementioned barbarian chieftain from the steppes would probably garner the "Steppes" Location in his background row.
- NPC {1, 2, 3, 4, ... , n}: A type of NPC that the player-character either had to interact with in a meaningful way in his past (which qualifies said NPC as a background object), or intends to interact with in an narratively important manner. The cunning nephew who betrayed and deposed the barbarian chieftain PC is a "background row" NPC, whereas the thaumaturgist that the barbarian intends to work for would fit in the objectives row.
In some cases, it might be useful to distinguish NPCs which have had (or will have) strongly negative interactions with the Player-Character, since cases of strong enemity between the PC and a NPC may have an important impact on the way that said NPC can be exploited in the narration.
- Item {1, 2, 3, 4, ... , n}: A particular item or type of item that has significant meaning to the PC. For example, the barbarian chieftain might garner the Hyperborean obsidian broadsword as one of its item-type objects, either in the background row (if he has been in contact with the sword before) or the objectives row (if he intends to do something with the sword, e.g. retrieve or destroy it).