Got some questions! 🙂
1) There are itemsin the white area of the sheet and some in the grey. Is there a difference, or are they all available at any time?
2) I hope I can articulate this well…lol So, let’s say the PCs are using Prowl in a Risky move to sneak past some guards. They need to fill a 6-segment clock to complete the task. The danger would most likely be getting caught, correct? So, if the lead rolls a 6 and overreaches, they face the danger. Now, at this point do they get to roll for Effect? If so, and they get a crit (say, with a 6 plus the overreach bonus), it lists that they avoid the danger. However, since they overrreached they face it…
My confusion is if they faced the danger would they not roll for Effect? Or would a good enough Effect roll cancel said danger? In the “death vapors” example the assisting PC faces the danger, but how might that work here?
I’m sure my players are going to do a lot of sneaking, so I’d like to be prepared for this, since I’m sure it’ll come up more than once! 🙂
1) All the items are available, its just those in the white area are generic and the same across all character sheets, while those in the grey are unique to a character sheet.
2) Whenever you do it, make an effect roll to determine the scope of your success. That tells you how many segments to fill on the progress clock for the Prowl.
Whenever you face the danger, you either take the effect (get caught) or take stress. If don’t want the effect, make an effect roll to resist the negative effect. That tell you how much stress you have to take to avoid getting caught.
If you do it and face the danger, this all still stands. Effect roll to determine the action’s scope and another to determine how much stress to take to avoid the effect (or just accept the effect)
1) Â Grey area items are different on each sheet, white area items are the same on all sheets. Â You have them all, it’s just a question of what you carry with you. Â You can access to items on other sheets as a playbook advancement option.
2) Â Not entirely sure myself. Â I think if you would probably narrate it as though they almost got caught but then didn’t, and let them off without spending any stress. Â I’m thinking of having to pay the cost of 0 stress. Â
Hey Ben Liepis,
1.) The items in the grey area are unique to that playbook. The one outside the grey area are universal to all playbook.
2.) If the goal of the character’s Action is ‘to get past the guard without being seen’ and the danger is ‘the guards see you’, you’re going have a hard time parsing the roll result if it reveals, “You do it but face the effect of the danger.”
The easiest way to avoid this is to always make sure that the success of the Action and the danger that might manifest are not mutually exclusive. This usually doesn’t take too much tweaking. The Action goal becomes ‘get into the Bluecoat watchtower’ and the danger can remain ‘the guards see you.’ That way they can’t cancel each other out.
So under this setup, if the lead rolls a 6 effect and over-reaches, the crew gets into the watchtower lickety-split, but are  discovered in the process nonetheless. Easy peasy.
I can’t  remember off the top of my head if the quickstart start explicitly calls it out , but I learned about this pitfall the hard way during our first session where a Command roll to intimidate Bazo Baz went totally off the rails.
I feel like this is an important point: “The easiest way to avoid this is to always make sure that the success of the Action and the danger that might manifest are not mutually exclusive. This usually doesn’t take too much tweaking. The Action goal becomes ‘get into the Bluecoat watchtower’ and the danger can remain ‘the guards see you.’ That way they can’t cancel each other out.”
I agree, ensuring your goal and the danger can occur at the same time is crucial.
Vasco (I hope not using “+” and such is OK), that is an awesome point and example. Thank you. Actually, thanks to everyone for being patient and helpful.
I feel giddy with having to unlearn so many habits that, while good GMing in some games, might not be as useful here.
Glad to be of help, Ben. If I can save you (or anyone else) the frustration of sussing that out, it’s well worth it.
It’s appreciated. I really want to take it for a spin but our Edge of the Empire game needs a good pause-point, so we’re waiting. Add in stealing bits of reading when I can and the obvious eludes me. 😉
This is a game where (to steal from Burning Wheel) figuring out the intent behind the task is very important. “I want to sneak past the guards” isn’t really what the character wants, it’s just how he’s getting to what he wants. He wants to get somewhere and the guards are the obstacle.
How I’ve had success running it is that success means getting what you want. Enough success to fill the clock means that obstacle can no longer be a problem in the process of this score (you can now get past guards without trouble). And the danger is usually from the obstacle, not the intent.
There are cases where intent and obstacle are really the same thing. “I want to kill Clynwood in this duel. The obstacle is Clynwood and his sword.” Those are cases where you can’t move on fictionally, really, until the clock is filled, and they also tend to be important moments.