So reading the rules it says that you explain the effect of an attack then they player decides to take the effect or stress to avoid. You have one example in there that is pretty straight forward the Death Vapor scene where its stress or die most everyone will choose stress over death, but in another example you talk about the blade digging a bloody furrow in their ribs which is not inherently lethal. What happens when the player lets the attack happen? The quick start assumes the players are going to stress out to avoid every time. Do they instead take trauma? I get that if take an injury you get a healing clock until you feel better but it seems like something is missing.
So reading the rules it says that you explain the effect of an attack then they player decides to take the effect or…
So reading the rules it says that you explain the effect of an attack then they player decides to take the effect or…
I believe the rules say that the player takes a lasting effect. In the case of the knife it could be bleeding, but it could also be dead. That’s up to the gm. In either case, the player is likely to take the stress, even if it would lead to truama because those conditions suck. For the sake of arguement, let’s say the effect was not a permanent on, like bleeding, and the player chooses to take it. Then the gm would make a count down clock for that condition and a trigger for that clock. Every time the pc fulfills a condition that helps take care of the effect, the gm will mark segments off the clock. In this case, the condition would likely be seeking medical attention. When the countdown clock is full, the effect goes away. The gm can decide the player takes a minus to certain actions as long as the effect persists.
The cool thing about this system is that if the gm wants to, they can play around with the clock. Maybe in the case of my bleeding situation the gm thinks it makes more sense for the countdown clock to count to the characters death. Then they can run it so that after a given amount of in game time, they mark a segment of the clock. If the pc gets medical attention before the clock runs out, thier saved. If not they bleed out. In games actions, like running, could accelerate the clock while others, like bandaging the wound, could pause the clock. How you run your clocks is ultimately up to you.
It seems like that’s all fiction-based. If you have a cut across your ribs, then you have a cut across your ribs. Maybe running from the cops becomes Desperate when it would be Risky, because it burns to breathe. An otherwise Controlled climb would become Risky if you have a twisted ankle. If you don’t take care of it, maybe you have to roll Effect so that it doesn’t get infected and add to your misery.
It’s very elegant, actually. I really like how this system works, the more I re-read the quickstart.
If you open a healing clock, could that effect maybe do a -1d onto rolls where it makes sense regarding the fiction?
It might as well be leading to change a risky situation into a desperate one,… like if the one who’s foot got cut of try to bolt away from danger … “running” (speed limping / ignoring the pain)
I would agree with both those concepts Jennifer Fuss. I’d also say the gm can apply both and make the decisions of when either or both apply as they arise.
David Rothfeder I just noticed that it does state it as well in the rules summary for actions. Thus, in those regards I believe effects taken have a bigger influence then stress. As stress doesn’t do anything unless you collected enough to get your fourth trauma box filled..
I think this is what the Recovery roll is for during downtime? I love the idea of injuries changing danger of the situation, depending on the fiction.
That is correct. Stress is also easier to clear out. So why would a pc ever choose to take the effect? Because it can be awesome for the story.
The minor wound you take now saves stress you can spend to avoid the lethal blow later. Sure, you can just blow through your stress and take trauma, but you won’t be playing that character for long.
You get shot in the shoulder so that you can dramatically leap out of the way of the factory-wide explosion later.
I’ve noticed that in my solo playtests, John – If you treat stress like hit points, and don’t take some effects, you take trauma reasonably quickly.
Regulating the danger levels of effects is going to be a great way for gms to set the tone for different scores!
I like the suggestion of making future rolls related to the injury change danger level and maybe a healing clock.
Btw, recovery clocks are in the rules. Quick start, page 12.
Yeah I saw that before, if I remember right the example was a broken leg. That’s what got me thinking I was missing something. Because if I scoop out your eye there isn’t much need for a recovery clock if you accept it other than the initial healing. The part I think I was missing was the increased level of difficulty with rolls associated with the injury.
I would definitely put a recovery clock on a knife to the eye. 🙂
Cool – and there’s how lasting effects work on page 12 also…minus 1d or 2d to relevant rolls. Excellent. Thanks John.