On when to roll attune.
So I’ve run quite a few BitD and S&V sessions at this point, and I was hoping to get opinions on how other GM’s adjudicate use of attune.
In both settings I’ve seen a trap where for the player with high attune everything becomes an attune roll:
– “I’m gonna try to intimidate some information out of this guy – the lights flicker as I release spiritual energy and a horrible visage of death appears around me. I ask, coldy, ‘last chance, tell us the password’ as the ghost behind me wails with delight at the possibility of consuming another soul.” Cool right? Is this command (with a ghost)?Is this attune (to intimidate)? Is it attune (summon a ghost) and then command (scare)?
I like the general guidance of “player chooses skill then GM sets effect/etc” since both skills seem appropriate in this case. The issue is a player’s probably going to try to pick their highest skill (that’s fine, play to your strengths PC!), and suddenly any action that has something “weird” brought into it is suddenly attune, whereas other players spread their rolls around.
All the other skills kinda feel like “what” skills, that is, what are you trying to do. Rig an explosive. Pilot a ship. Sway a guard. Whereas attune feels more like a “how” since attuning generally isn’t the end goal itself. Attune to scare a hostage. Attune to consort with the ghost of X.
Any thoughts? This isn’t actually a “problem” or anything, but curious how other folks think about it 😀
How I would run it, using the example you gave:
When you say “last chance, tell us the password”, you’re not attuning to the ghost field(or rather, you are as part of your description, but it’s not the actual ACTION you’re taking that’s intended to have an effect — intimidating the person is), so it’s not an attune roll — you have to actually be doing the thing the action describes to pick that action. That’s more command or (maybe) sway. Now, given the description, you could have an attune roll as a setup to increase effect or something like that — that sounds appropriate and lets them use their attune. If that’s too much rolling, it could be the description of how they push themselves for greater effect or a bonus die (contacting the ghost field is stressful!) and/or the side effects of said hungry ghost or putting your spiritual signature in the ghost field could be a devil’s bargain. Combine these at your convenience according to what makes sense in the fiction.
Alternatively, if the player just can’t live without rolling attune on everything, they can take the Rook’s Gambit ability. That’s what it’s there for: to let you roll your strongest ability on everything with a little imagination and a stress cost with the added bonus of meaning you’re not a weasel for doing so. Don’t be a weasel. 😛
In the given example, I would say that they would be using attune as a set-up for a command roll.Think about a scene in which a torturer is displaying his big scary knife to intimidate his victim; the menace isn’t in the fact that he has a knife, but how he presents it. In your example the ghost is the knife, it may be scary on its own, but just having it isn’t enough to make someone afraid they’ll use it on them.
I would also say that Attune is a “What” skill, you just need to reframe how it’s used: rather than “Attune to scare a hostage (making them instantly divulge the information we want)” try “Attune to scare a hostage (making them more likely to talk)” and “Attune to consort with ghost,” could be reinterpreted as “Attune to summon or stabilize the ghost so it may be consorted with.” Basically try thinking of the discreet actions which the players are trying to make, or try to think of the other actions in similarly broad terms, so as to be more consistent: “I escape be Wrecking the wall,” or “I Tinker with the hostage’s internal organs until they tell me what they know.”
In my games, I am VERY generous with what you can use attune for. I do that on purpose because defining what the Ghost Field is, is a part of the discussion of my table. So when a player says, “I roll attune to do X” they are stating something that is true about the ghost field.
Real world example. One of my players is a whisper, and in one of the first sessions, he says, “I roll attune to cause the smoke from my cigarette to wrap around that guy and strangle him.” And Im just like, “Well thats dope as hell so yes go ahead and roll.” So now in my game, attuning to control elements of nature is a thing. players can do it, NPCs can do it. Its an aspect of The Ghost Field.
So my advice is, roll with it and allow these things to define what your Duskvol looks like.
To the contrary, I’ve always felt attune itself was specific enough to discourage it’s use for most of what you describe. The way effect is determined helps ensure what you describe won’t happen unless it makes sense.
To unwrap this a bit: attune does what it says: “attune to spirits, and the ghost field; channel [direct or guide, not create] electroplasmic energy; perceive and communicate with ghosts.” We already know that the best action for intimidation should typically be command. While what you describe attune doing could be an action the players agree is valid, it should work better if they attune to setup a follow-up action rather than shoot for the direct effect through the attune roll – since attune obviously isn’t the best fit (command is).
Also, a tip for GMing this game: when you say how risky and effective, note that this is also your time to say what effect is certain, and what isn’t! [Tell them the consequences and ask]. I.E. Here’s one way you could have responded: “sure, you could attune to create the visage you want AND use it to intimidate in one action, but it won’t also be under your control – making this desperate at best and the effect of the intimidation limited at best. Plus, even if you succeed, the spirit will get to exact its vengeance on you with the dealing of spiritual harm.”
Further, you might suggest an alternative solution to guide their decision as well: “A better way might be to attune to control the spirit first -which seems desperate too, but the risks are different and fewer if you fail. You won’t lose the opportunity to summon the spirit or use this tactic later, for example. And after such a display of power, I agree it will be much easier to command the information from them.”
📍
Also, if word gets around that there’s some Whisper magicking information out of people, someone is going to hire another Whisper to protect their shit. And that’s when they’ll have to pay the piper, in a potentially explosive and delightful way