[Shock:] Some questions and errors

[Eric J. Boyd]

Joshua,

I picked up Shock: at Gen Con and finished reading it today. I'm very pleased to finally have a game for exploring real science fiction issues. That said, I'm a bit disappointed by what's missing from the book. The main thing is the material you posted in reply to Ron's question here. I'm befuddled - why isn't this material included in the book? It seems essential for play.

Another notable omission is guidance on establishing a *Tagonist's fulcrum on the praxis scales. Can I choose a fulcrum of 10 or 1, guaranteeing failure on one side of the praxis scale unless a d4 pushes me into success? It seems an important thing to know.

There are also several errors or questions raised in your example sidebars accompanying the fiction.

(1) On on the bottom of page 5, it's stated that Joshua spends 3 Credits, yet he rolls 5 dice to oppose Vincent. Shouldn't he be spending 5 Credits?

(2) On page 43, Ben spends 3 of Joshua's Antag Credits to oppose Vincent's character Thorium. Is this really kosher? Shouldn't Joshua's Antag Credits be focused on making his character's life miserable, not helping him against other *Tagonists? This seems to be a direct violation of the rule on page 35 that an Antagonist must apply their dice against the Protagonist's player's wishes.

(3) On page 45, Vincent rolls 4d4 on his own intent. This should be 4d10, right?

(4) Generally, it would improve clarity for there to be labels throughout the examples indicating whether a player is acting as an Antagonist (and for who) or as their Protagonist. There are labels in some places and I generally understand how things are flowing, but more clarity never hurts.

Thanks again for putting together a beautiful book and a rockin' game. I'm hoping to get some actual play in very soon and I'll be sure to post about it.

Cheers,

Eric

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Joshua,

I picked up Shock: at Gen Con and finished reading it today. I'm very pleased to finally have a game for exploring real science fiction issues. That said, I'm a bit disappointed by what's missing from the book. The main thing is the material you posted in reply to Ron's question here. I'm befuddled - why isn't this material included in the book? It seems essential for play.

It's there, but obviously not clearly.

Another notable omission is guidance on establishing a *Tagonist's fulcrum on the praxis scales. Can I choose a fulcrum of 10 or 1, guaranteeing failure on one side of the praxis scale unless a d4 pushes me into success? It seems an important thing to know.

Eric, you've pointed out a serious missing piece of information: the Fulcrum can't be smaller than 3 or larger than 8. I was certain that this was stated in the text, but now I can't find it. Thanks for pointing this out.

(1) On on the bottom of page 5, it's stated that Joshua spends 3 Credits, yet he rolls 5 dice to oppose Vincent. Shouldn't he be spending 5 Credits?

You are correct. This is an artifact of a previous version of the rules.

(2) On page 43, Ben spends 3 of Joshua's Antag Credits to oppose Vincent's character Thorium. Is this really kosher? Shouldn't Joshua's Antag Credits be focused on making his character's life miserable, not helping him against other *Tagonists? This seems to be a direct violation of the rule on page 35 that an Antagonist must apply their dice against the Protagonist's player's wishes.

Well, this is a decision made at game time. What's happening is, Ben is acting as Vincent's antagonist in that example. It's a grey area that a given group will have to agree on. It's an example and not a rule because it doesn't actually have any effect on the application of the rules.

(3) On page 45, Vincent rolls 4d4 on his own intent. This should be 4d10, right?

That's correct.

Thanks again for putting together a beautiful book and a rockin' game. I'm hoping to get some actual play in very soon and I'll be sure to post about it.

I look forward to it!

[Iskander]

Another one for the errata, I think, from the sidebar on p. 30:

"They roll. Alice's d10s: 2, 3, 5."
...
"Alice's 7 [from a d10]"

Bob was robbed!

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Alice is a big cheater!