Hey all

Hey all

Hey all,

A bunch of questions, mostly to clarify things in my head. Thanks for any contributions!

COMBAT

1. A PC moves to attack an NPC. Is this resolved in a simple roll or with a clock? If a simple roll, how do you determine the difficulty of the action roll?

2. Say this was a bar brawl instead. A group of five thugs has surrounded the PC and the PC decides he’s going to make an example of them and wants to go lethal (so they fight with death in mind as well): is this resolved with a simple roll by the player on each opponent, a clock or a simple on all at desperate?

EFFECT

3. P5 suggests the effect of the roll is determined beforehand, but seems to lean towards an arbitrary position chosen by GM and/or player. Now in a scenario where players are not eager to suffer consequences and go straight for the insta-kill (unlike the the example set by the excellent Bloodletters AP) – is there some default stance a GM can use without having to be the one to pull the players back?

4. Obvious but while I have the mic – Do the “ticks” in the effect levels box on P10 refer to ticks you make on a clock?

CLOCKS

Faction clocks: “When the PCs take downtime (page 20) the GM ticks forward the faction clocks that they’re interested in.”

5. Does this mean nothing else moves until the players interact with it?

6. With the above in ming, the given scenario is that the players are working for/with the Lampblacks vs the Red Sashes. Both factions have “defeat opponent” as a clock – how do you trigger the rivals? Is this done via GM fiat, with a narrative – or by a fortune die? And how would you judge the effect offscreen?

-B

9 thoughts on “Hey all”

  1. As goes without saying, this is my best understanding of the game.

    COMBAT

    1. Is the NPC some random dude or someone important that should be taken seriously? If the first, one roll. If the second, consider a clock. As for position, if the NPC has the upper hand in some significant way, it might be a desperate action. If the PC has the advantage, it might be a controlled action. If neither has an advantage or disadvantage, it’s probably a risky action. Position is always determined from examining the fiction.

    2. The player definitely doesn’t have to roll to take out each individual gang member. Give it a clock unless the thugs are total chumps. If the PC wants to take them all on at once and escalated the situation to “kill or be killed,” consider making the roll a desperate action with increased effect.

    EFFECT

    3. Do you have players that insist on avoiding consequences and failure? That sounds like a terrible place to start, just so you know. I’d consider having a conversation with your players about how the game is typically ABOUT those consequences/failures. “Embrace Scoundrel Life” is a best player practice for a reason, after all. Beyond that, I’d say that the GM should think about whether or not an insta-kill is possible in the given circumstance, and consider any points brought up by the players. If it’s not that hard, let them roll for the insta-kill. If it’s just not possible, explain why that is in the fiction. If it’s possible but not with their suggested approach, tell them as much and maybe have a conversation about what other approach might get them that insta-kill.

    4. Yes.

    CLOCKS

    5. It could mean that, if you’re only interested in the factions the PCs are interacting with. If you’re interested in what other factions are doing, and those factions’ agendas might affect the PCs in interesting ways, then tick forward their clocks as well. It pretty much means exactly what it says.

    6. I don’t quite understand the question, sorry.

  2. The way you pose a question has a lot to do with how it is answered. For combat, I generally set the stage and let a roll resolve it unless there’s a reason not to. In the first example, I’d set the position and let the player sort it out one way or another with a roll, and I’d also clarify that a complication could be taking damage from a counter-attack.

    The rules really are a toolbox, and you can pull out what applies best. I usually tell players in a grand melee like the second example that every round they don’t fill the clock they take a level 1 harm (or whatever is appropriate) that they can resist or take on armor as normal. Then I name the clock “Break Them” or “Kill Everyone” or whatever is appropriate to what they’re trying to do. That helps clarify the outcome too. “Drive Them Off” might be a 4 segment clock where “No Quarter, No Prisoners” might be a 6 segment clock.

    The GM moves faction clocks when the GM feels like it, and that’s cool. Whether the GM is taking many factors into account and sagely interpreting them, or pretending to do that and just moving stuff, it’s all good.

    Tension is higher when the GM says “These faction clocks are going to advance very down time that the effort goes unchecked” because players have attention drawn to that, they have warning. They can take action to check those efforts themselves, or maneuver someone else to do it.

    It is often helpful to have competing factions trying to get something more interesting than crushing the other side. You could give the Red Sashes the goal “Secure Backing With the Trade Committee” and the Lampblacks the goal “Establish Dominance of the Warehouse Guilds” and when one fills the other is frozen or degrades.

    If it really is kill or be killed, make it a tug of war clock instead of two clocks.

  3. Speaking of clocks for faction agendas, you may also want to have a look at Fronts in Dungeon World. They work in a similar way, but as the threat progresses you pre-plot rumours and news that gives the players hints that things in the world happening.

  4. I generally agree with Blaze Azelski’s answer, but I want to add a little clarification to #6: That’s “the GM ticks forwards the clocks of the factions THE GM is interested in”. So nothing moves without the GM’s interest, not the players’. It’s entirely possible for the GM to have all kinds of schemes going on, but MOST of what he’s interested in probably has to do with stuff that bears on the players, because lets face it, a world in which a bunch of stuff happens but none of it has to do with the PCs can be easily simulated by not bothering with all that work. 😉

  5. Thanks all, you’ve confirmed/answered the questions exactly as I hoped.

    Lastly – with regards to #6 Faction clocks, do these move via a roll or by GM fiat?

  6. Adam Brimmer

    Initially, I was rolling them, but I think there’s also room for fiat here.  I’ve been rolling faction tier for situations where I really don’t know what happens, but if  there’s something specific you know about, I’d just fill some ticks.

  7. Adam Brimmer

    One time to use a fortune roll:

    “When you need to make a determination about a situation the PCs aren’t directly involved in and don’t want to simply decide

    the outcome.”

    How many die they get:

    “When a faction takes an action with uncertain outcome, you might

    use their Tier rating to make a fortune roll.”

    So as Mike says, you can roll for when you want to play to find out, and you can just decide when you think one outcome is obvious or for some reason better.

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