Finally making good, what should I be sure to do?

[Tim Alexander]

Hey Folks,

I owe Joshua some actual play that I said I'd give him weeks ago, but next week I'm going to make good and we'll be giving the game a whirl. It seems to be remarkably straightforward from the text, but I'm curious as to what people have found to be the parts of play that are either overlooked, missed, or should be especially high lighted in first time play? Suggestions for how to convey the game to players who won't have read the text?

Thanks,

-Tim

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Awesome!

Tim, the only such thing I'm aware of is a mushy rule that I clarified here. If there are other bits, I'd like to hear them, too!

[Tim Alexander]

Hey Josh,

Got the chance to play last week and I'm working on an actual play post for you. We're going to probably finish up this week and we had a couple questions:

1) What happens when you pull your own token during a round?
We basically decided it worked like the first turn. You got the token, but had no opportunity to risk/win one, and drew again.
2) What happens on a tie?
  We called it a push and left the conflict unresolved with no one gaining/losing tokens.

We're having a blast playing.

-Tim

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Got the chance to play last week and I'm working on an actual play post for you.

Excellent! I look forward to reading it.

We're going to probably finish up this week and we had a couple questions:

1) What happens when you pull your own token during a round?
We basically decided it worked like the first turn. You got the token, but had no opportunity to risk/win one, and drew again.

Just toss it back in the hat and draw another one.

2) What happens on a tie?
  We called it a push and left the conflict unresolved with no one gaining/losing tokens.

Count yourself lucky! There's only a 1/512 chance of doing that if you're each throwing three dice. It's impossible if one person is throwing more than the other. What happened exactly?

... Hm. You know, there used to be tie mechanics, but they were apparently thrown out of the rules.

The new, canon rule is this:

When there's actually a tie, that is, every single die comes up totalling the same (like the Opposition rolls a 3, 2 and the Toy rolls a 2, 1 and there are no other dice in play), increase the stakes, then roll again.

We're having a blast playing.

Excellent! I can't wait for your AP.

It sounds like you're playing one story in multiple sessions. Is that right?

[Tim Alexander]

1) What happens when you pull your own token during a round?

Just toss it back in the hat and draw another one.

Funny, we were doing that at first, but changed midway since it seemed a departure from the only similar situation given in the text. Guess we'll go back to doing it the other way. :)

2) What happens on a tie?

Count yourself lucky! There's only a 1/512 chance of doing that if you're each throwing three dice. It's impossible if one person is throwing more than the other. What happened exactly?

Whoa, those numbers indicate we're doing something seriously wrong. In play the oposition had two traits, each with one die. The player had three traits. So, the opposition narrated one trait, the player narrated two and won. Next roll the opposition narrates the other trait and the player only managed to narrate one, rolling one less than the opposition, resulting in a tie. But that seems off given your odds above. Also, should I assume that if someone is rolling more than one die any ties cancel? That's why an uneven number of dice can't tie? If that's in the text, I totally missed it.

When there's actually a tie, that is, every single die comes up totalling the same (like the Opposition rolls a 3, 2 and the Toy rolls a 2, 1 and there are no other dice in play), increase the stakes, then roll again.

Gotcha.

It sounds like you're playing one story in multiple sessions. Is that right?

Yep, we just didn't have time to finish.

-Tim

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Funny, we were doing that at first, but changed midway since it seemed a departure from the only similar situation given in the text. Guess we'll go back to doing it the other way. :)

2) What happens on a tie?

Count yourself lucky! There's only a 1/512 chance of doing that if you're each throwing three dice. It's impossible if one person is throwing more than the other. What happened exactly?

Whoa, those numbers indicate we're doing something seriously wrong. In play the oposition had two traits, each with one die. The player had three traits. So, the opposition narrated one trait, the player narrated two and won. Next roll the opposition narrates the other trait and the player only managed to narrate one, rolling one less than the opposition, resulting in a tie. But that seems off given your odds above.

Well, so that's about right. You'll have a tie, like, what, 1/90 in 1:1 conflicts. So my numbers are off, but not so off.

One thing it sounds like you might not be doing is setting up the conflict before the Toy player rolls. First the Opposition rolls while narrating, then the Toy rolls. That means that the Toy player knows what sie's getting into.

Also, should I assume that if someone is rolling more than one die any ties cancel? That's why an uneven number of dice can't tie? If that's in the text, I totally missed it.

It's in the text, but it's phrased stupidly, something like "if the top dice read the same, go to the next dice down" or some crap like that, which means the Toy player wins ties because only the Toy player can throw more than one die at a time (assuming that's what sie does). It's confusing because it's an artifact from a previous version that, while the rule still holds, is much simpler given the other rules that changed around it.

So, the rule I said above, that rule goes.

When there's actually a tie, that is, every single die comes up totalling the same (like the Opposition rolls a 3, 2 and the Toy rolls a 2, 1 and there are no other dice in play), increase the stakes, then roll again.

Gotcha.

No, see, I'm screwing you up.

The Opposition is only rolling that 3. The Opposition isn't rolling more than one die at a time. The Opposition rolls a 3, the Toy rolls a 3, then you increase Stakes and reroll. This can only happen if the Toy player is only rolling one die. That's why it comes up so infrequently.

It sounds like you're playing one story in multiple sessions. Is that right?

Yep, we just didn't have time to finish.

Excellent. I don't know if that's been done before, and I've been curious to know how it comes out.

[Tim Alexander]

One thing it sounds like you might not be doing is setting up the conflict before the Toy player rolls. First the Opposition rolls while narrating, then the Toy rolls. That means that the Toy player knows what sie's getting into.

That part we were doing right, but there were a surprising number of times when the toy's player narrated only one trait. We had a fair amount of the rest of group nudging people in one direction or another, or saying, "Eh... that use doesn't have any bearing on the conflict" sort of stuff happening. We also seem to be doing a lot of narrating the child's actions, much more so than the toy, which contributed to the above I think.

It's in the text, but it's phrased stupidly, something like "if the top dice read the same, go to the next dice down" or some crap like that, which means the Toy player wins ties because only the Toy player can throw more than one die at a time (assuming that's what sie does). It's confusing because it's an artifact from a previous version that, while the rule still holds, is much simpler given the other rules that changed around it.

So, the rule I said above, that rule goes.

The Opposition is only rolling that 3. The Opposition isn't rolling more than one die at a time. The Opposition rolls a 3, the Toy rolls a 3, then you increase Stakes and reroll. This can only happen if the Toy player is only rolling one die. That's why it comes up so infrequently.

I got it the first time. About midway through the sentence my head went, "do it like Sorcerer" and then I glazed over the numbers and such.

Excellent. I don't know if that's been done before, and I've been curious to know how it comes out.

Saving state was a little awkward since you need to know who's turn it is and who's got what left in the hat, but not a big deal. I'm also curious to see how it effects people's investment in what's going on.

-Tim

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

One thing it sounds like you might not be doing is setting up the conflict before the Toy player rolls. First the Opposition rolls while narrating, then the Toy rolls. That means that the Toy player knows what sie's getting into.

That part we were doing right, but there were a surprising number of times when the toy's player narrated only one trait. We had a fair amount of the rest of group nudging people in one direction or another, or saying, "Eh... that use doesn't have any bearing on the conflict" sort of stuff happening. We also seem to be doing a lot of narrating the child's actions, much more so than the toy, which contributed to the above I think.

Ah, then you need that rule. The game wants you to bring in all your traits, so you gotta increase the stakes until the players are pushing their characters hard enough to bring in their Characteristics.

Excellent. I don't know if that's been done before, and I've been curious to know how it comes out.

Saving state was a little awkward since you need to know who's turn it is and who's got what left in the hat, but not a big deal. I'm also curious to see how it effects people's investment in what's going on.

I continue to anticipate your AP.