GM Technique
On failure, ask the players what went wrong. Be specific. “What did you miss climbing through the jeweller’s broken window?” Lean on features the player has already portrayed about the character. “How is your vice, or traumas, a problem? What is it about your heritage or background that gives you away or gets in the way?”
Ooh, nice tip. Your players aren’t going to make themselves look like chumps unless that’s okay by them.
I love to give the player a choice between their character making a mistake versus circumstances going against them, so it’s only their “fault” when they want it to be.
Brilliant!
As a bonus, asking about vice, heritage, etc., prompts the players to express and struggle so they can get that juicy XP at session end.
Nice, Oli. I like how this feeds back into the XP mechanics. It also adds depth to the PC in question: the hound didn’t miss his target because he’s a bad shot, but rather because his alcoholism is out of control – why is that? Is he trying to cope with a crippling loss in his life, etc?
You could also use this to start a new clock, e.g. Coping with Tragic Death.
Narayan Bajpe, nice! Like an grief clock you tick with every fail that you blame it on. And when the clocks full, what? You’re over you’re grief and you let it go? Or you find a message scrawled, in blood, on the ceiling above your bed letting you know they’re baaack?
WeIl it could be two project clocks, one grief clock you fill up as you say above, and one “making peace with it” clock. Fill up the grief clock first and maybe your Hound’s personality is permanently colder. Fill up the making peace with it clock and maybe your Hound has more empathy for others. Or it could be entirely external, like you are haunted (grief) or you can deal better with ghosts, etc.
Before doing any of this, I’d ask the player how big a deal this is for their character. If it’s a big deal, I’d probably make a clock or two about it
Narayan Bajpe hmmm… it’s great if the GM nudges a player to develop his character, but then starting clocks on it? I don’t feel that it is up to the GM to do this, but he might instead suggest to the player to start a clock, maybe as a downtime project to change his vice.
Maybe it’s just me, but otherwise I would, as a GM, feel like taking a little bit too much control over the players character.
By the way, I think devil’s bargains are also a good way to make use of a characters background:
For example in case of the Hound who suffered a loss:
“You want to take out the guard from a distance? Ok, here’s a devil’s bargain: when you line up the shot, you recognize your target as a childhood friend of your late brother.
Oh, just a five despite the extra die? Well, what about a lesser harm ‘feeling guilty’ as a consequence?”
Once again, Oliver makes it into the book. 🙂