A couple questions for GMs.
Suppose I want to put up a score to assassinate the Red Sashes Boss.
I make a pair of 4 sect. clocks fot thugs, another two or three 6 sect. for THUGGSS, and a 10 sec. clock for the boss, who is really not to be trifled with.
1) If they kill the boss, the score is over, right? Even if, ingeneral, the other clocks aren’t depleted? I’d say yes.
2) What stops a Gm from putting out 20 clocks, just because “this is going to be very hard, right?”
Is there any safety mechanism other than “be a fan”?
1) Not an official ruling or anything, but when at the table players have taken an action that completely invalidates an obstacle, I’ve just removed the clock entirely. I think that should be pretty rare though: if it’s a clock that’s down from the start, I think it represents an obstacle to fulfilling your objective. Therefore, if your goal is ‘Assassinate the leader of the Red Sashes”, and one clock is ‘Thugs’, that’s a clock you need to overcome before trying to stick a knife in Mylera, whether you overcome them by sneaking past, fighting them, bribing them, sicking spirits on them, or whatever. If the clock still has segments, you’re not past all the thugs yet.
2) Nothing, I guess? But as you say, the GM should be trying to make scores thrilling, dangerous challenges, not to stop the characters cold.
I’d also note that having different clocks for essentially the same obstacle (Thugs) strikes me as a bit odd – if they have lots of powerful thugs, I’d say just make the clock bigger, and maybe impose a -1 on action rolls when the elite thugs are in play.
I’d say what stops the GM from putting out 20 clocks is player buy-in. Its a group thing yeah? If they are not having fun, but the GM is rubbing their hands in maniacal glee, there is a disconnect in the conversation.
Remember you jump to the score as soon as you can, no pre-planning (on the players or GM’s account). If dangers have already been fictionally established then so be it. Otherwise as a group you can come up with the potential obstacles to the score.
I agree with Tom, have the thugs as one category, the boss as another and some other obstacle in between – the GM reference has some cool lists for ideas.
The GM can put down 20 clocks, but the players don’t have to play them. “20 clocks? Uh, no. Let’s revise this thing or do something else.”
…As in “make the dangers clear and be ready to rewind”, yeah.
As a side note, several identical clocks is laaaame. I was just trying to be simple.