The Arc Models Quests Character Membership
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Quests

Pick the belief you would most like to be wrong about.

A quest is finite. One belief, one repeatable action, five reps, and at each rep you name how you felt. When it finishes, it arrives on your line as a milestone that took work, and the flag stays where you planted it.

Creating Character

The awkward conversation

I believe

I am the kind of person who avoids saying the hard thing.

So I will

Say the awkward thing within a day of noticing I am avoiding it.

2 of 5 Evidence gathered

Nothing is lost if you miss a week. The trail is still there.

Rep by rep

The fear goes down as the reps go up

Every rep asks the same question the arc asks: how did that feel, and how strongly. Afraid at eight becomes calm at three, and that change is the whole story, in your own words rather than guessed at.

Why five and not fifty

Repetition is what turns an argument into a memory your brain will reach for under pressure. Five is enough to have happened. Fifty is a job.

How it felt: courage in steps

Do one brave thing at a time, and watch the feeling change.

At every rep you name how you felt, in your own word, and how strongly, one to ten. Nothing is filled in for you and nothing is guessed.

A handful of reps later you look back and the reading has moved. Afraid at eight on the first, calm at three by the fifth, and the whole run lays out on your arc beside the flag. Nobody has to tell you you're braver. The reps say it, in your own words, and they say it in days rather than seasons.

A finished quest on a sample arc: the flag planted on the day of embarking, five reps each labelled with how it felt, and the pennant filled in on the day of the last one. Hover a rep for its card.

The flag: the day you committed

The day you embarked is a real day.

Embarking on a quest plants a flag on your arc, on the day you committed. Not the day you wrote it down and thought about it. The day you meant it.

The flag keeps two dates: the day you embarked and the day you were aiming to finish by. When you finish, both are still there, so you can see what the thing actually took against what you thought it would take. Most people are surprised, in both directions.

Every flag flies its pillar's colour, so one glance at your line shows which of the six ways you were growing. And the flag stays after it's done. A finished quest isn't tidied off your line, because it's one of the places your line changed direction.

The pillars a quest can grow

Six ways a person actually changes.

Frequently Asked Questions

The things people ask about quests.

How a quest works

What is a quest?
One brave thing, repeated. You name the belief you'd like to be wrong about, choose a single action that tests it, and do that action five times, recording how each rep felt.
Why five reps and not fifty?
Repetition is what turns an argument into a memory your brain reaches for under pressure. Five is enough to have happened; fifty is a job. Nothing stops you embarking on the same quest again.
What do I record at each rep?
How you felt, in your own word, and how strongly, from one to ten. Nothing is pre-filled and nothing is guessed, which is the only reason the change between rep one and rep five means anything.
How does a quest end?
At the fifth rep it finishes and arrives on your line as a milestone that took work. The pennant stays planted on the day you embarked, so you can see what you committed to beside what it actually took.

Doing them

What makes a good quest action?
Something small enough to do this week and specific enough that you'll know when it's done. “Say the awkward thing within a day of noticing I'm avoiding it” beats “be more assertive”, because one of them has a moment attached.
What if I miss a week?
Nothing is lost. There are no streaks here and nothing expires, so a quest waits exactly where you left it, with every rep you've already gathered still on your line.
Can I run more than one quest at a time?
Yes, though two is usually plenty. A quest asks for real attention, and three at once tends to mean none of them gets any.

What it counts for

Does a quest earn anything?
Every rep earns Experience in how you think, feel and do, and the finished quest lands on your arc as evidence. No stat, badge or level can be bought, which is the rule the whole game is built around.
Is a quest just a habit?
No. A habit asks you to keep a chain of days going. A quest asks whether the feeling changed, which is why each rep is recorded in your own words rather than as a tick.