More combat between games

[Rule Hound]

It has been brought to my attention that some players feel that their narrated events from between games is pointless and that their down times are wasted and they are not accomplishing anything. That they would have been more successful if they got to engage the enemy with tests.

I will first point out that almost every narrated scene contains "easter eggs" in them, further plot clues or achieves someones character goal and so forth. Rather than simply drop them into your lap and say there is a book that can help you in the Red Deer library called this on this shelf we try to get your characters more involved and chase a clue if they pick up on it. We rarely choose something or a location at random, and if we do we work very hard to make the "random" become part of the plot.

Anyways, IF (and we are still personally against it) we were to open up the limited possibility of Character death between games by allowing encounters to possibly be fatal, is this something (provided we can come up with a way that fits our life/time scheduled) that players would like to see?

[Jaak Alemayehu, Shango Kholo]

Personally, even when I've totally bombed DT actions, I have found them adequate.

I've noticed that some DT actions have been given separate boards, and have heard that there's been combat vs NPCs. So I'm confused as to what the concern is..?

Great things can be accomplished by Teaming up for DT actions; perhaps if some are finding that they are not accomplishing much, they could seek out allies and/or call on boons to get support to fill in the skill sets they lack?

[Rule Hound]

yes and no to the combat with NPC's between games. They have been narrated scenes based on descriptions of what was being done and multiple test results.

ie. lets say you go hunting evil goats from Transylvania with 2 others. out of 5 tests 1 person looses 1 and wins the rest, the second person ties 3, looses 1 then wins, the 3rd person completely botches and looses outright 2 tests and ties 3.

Results would be character 1 doing pretty good but taking a little damage, character 2 would put up a nasty fight and manage to succeed through the skin of their teeth. Character 3 would get their ass beaten but somehow character 1 manages to intervene and help thus everyone survives and the one who won 4 of 5 tests comes out heroic. A scene would be written to represent each characters skill set and how they might have performed in the fight, what worked and what didn't. The results were determined based on the number of people hunting goats but how well they succeeded depends on the tests.

Lets say it was just you hunting bunnies and forgot your holy hand grenade at home. you lost or tied all tests. You would fail. We tried letting people always choose their own penalties and then come up with a story as to what happened that caused the end result. But no one was doing that so we started writing stories to further the plot and give a character something to tell at game (the main purpose in using the quest system from Werewolf as our downtime system).

Or if you succeed and still have one test left there is a chance you can win the bonus "extra" side effect. Sometimes unrelated info that you came across in your endeavors or sometimes a bonus to what you were trying to accomplish.


Anyways, back to the combat. As of current there has been no direct possibility of character death between games. Combats have been decided based on basic test results then narrated (though we have given flaws or derangements and/or used characters to further our plots). There is the possibility that if someone has enough information gathered, figured out the exact location of one of the "bad guys" and uses downtime actions to assault that a death could result, but we would time freeze the characters and then run the scene at game with a warning that back up characters should be brought (as happened with Father Balaam).


The difference we are questioning on (based on character/player input) for consideration is not just using the 5 tests to determine how well you do if you hunt something down. Win or you loose but escape (or fail to find your target). But to use them to see if you find your target (or them you) and then let you throw actual combat tests to win and or flee (you might not get away if you are loosing).

[Rule Hound]

Board scenes are generally for posterity sake (easier to save into the hidden area of the board) and to manage several characters and get their input at once. Try to play it out more as to how multiple option outcomes may occur and give players more choice. Or in the case of the Meadery try to write something for each character to give them a personal character development story and let the others see what they can actually do when pressed.

No one realizes how fearful Lyrah could be, including herself. So part of it was assisting in character development and demonstrating what she was actually capable of and providing a "psychotic break" to help her move her character from an aspect she had not been enjoying and to where she conceptualized the character to be.