Bliss Stage rules questions

[Adam Biltcliffe]

So there's a handful of things I couldn't make out from a couple of read-throughs of Ignition Stage:

The pilot templates have "special abilities" on them that aren't mentioned anywhere in the rules. It looks like these are supposed to be exercised exactly once, at character creation, but I wasn't quite certain. Is using the 'bad' special abilities (Devoted Lover, Seasoned Veteran) compulsory? Do relationships destroyed by the Seasoned Veteran ability generate Bliss?

The mission goals for the first mission suggest that pilots can hotshot in order to take other pilots' targets. I was a bit confused by how this squares with the injunction that hotshotting shouldn't resolve ordinary mission goals. Are the incoming enemy pilots really supposed to be shared mission goals as described much later in the section on having multiple pilots on a mission?

An anchor's loss of control over the dream as a result of a 0 or - in Pilot Safety only lasts for one action, so control is restored if the pilot puts a + in safety next time, right?

If an anchor is killed during a mission by backlash resulting from a broken relationship, what happens to the mission, or is it down to the group to decide?

Pages 112 and 113 seem to say in one place that any pilot returning from a mission gets a priveleged interlude action, but in another place that that only happens if the mission was a success (how much of a success?)

The judge of an interlude action is obligated to select an outcome which provides mechanical benefit, right? So she can't say something like "that action looked like trust-building, but your relationship is stressed, so nothing happens"?

Am I missing anything with humanization actions, or more specifically, with the point of tracking the relationships they create? As far as I can see the only two effects they have are 1) if one of the characters involved somehow becomes a pilot, and 2) the new relationship can be the subject of trust-breaking, and therefore generate fallout actions. Is there anything else?

The 'new face' consequence on page 142 says that the new character has a default starting relationship with everyone (which I guess means the default starting relationship from each character's pilot template?) except the pilot of the mission. Does this mean they have no relationship with the pilot? (Having no relationship at all between two characters doesn't seem like it can happen any other way. Is it the same as having a broken relationship?)

In the example of placing dice on page 104, is Chris supposed to be playing badly? He assigns his dice as ++, +0, 0, 0, 0-, --, when he could have assigned the same dice as ++, 00, +, 0, 0-, -- for a strictly better outcome. Or have I misunderstood something? (On the same page, is his claim that destroying a 2-intimacy relationship generates 4 Bliss just an editing error?)

Thanks for any answers! I'm hoping I'll get to play this soon, but I'd like to feel like I understand the rules before I try to explain them to anyone else.

adam

[Ben Lehman]

So there's a handful of things I couldn't make out from a couple of read-throughs of Ignition Stage:

The pilot templates have "special abilities" on them that aren't mentioned anywhere in the rules. It looks like these are supposed to be exercised exactly once, at character creation, but I wasn't quite certain. Is using the 'bad' special abilities (Devoted Lover, Seasoned Veteran) compulsory? Do relationships destroyed by the Seasoned Veteran ability generate Bliss?

Right on all counts. The only ability which isn't "just at character creation" is that the Rising Hero gets three starting trust with everyone.

The mission goals for the first mission suggest that pilots can hotshot in order to take other pilots' targets. I was a bit confused by how this squares with the injunction that hotshotting shouldn't resolve ordinary mission goals. Are the incoming enemy pilots really supposed to be shared mission goals as described much later in the section on having multiple pilots on a mission?

This is a little unclear. You can't hotshot to bypass your own mission goals. Hotshotting to take over someone else's is fine.

An anchor's loss of control over the dream as a result of a 0 or - in Pilot Safety only lasts for one action, so control is restored if the pilot puts a + in safety next time, right?

Yes.

If an anchor is killed during a mission by backlash resulting from a broken relationship, what happens to the mission, or is it down to the group to decide?

My thought on this is that it would be an automatic "-" result in Pilot Safety for the remainder of the mission, or an instant cancellation. It'd be up for the GM and the group to decide, depending on the circumstances.

Pages 112 and 113 seem to say in one place that any pilot returning from a mission gets a priveleged interlude action, but in another place that that only happens if the mission was a success (how much of a success?)

That's an error. Any pilot returning from a mission gets privilege.

The judge of an interlude action is obligated to select an outcome which provides mechanical benefit, right? So she can't say something like "that action looked like trust-building, but your relationship is stressed, so nothing happens"?

Correct. There must be a mechanical effect from each interlude.

It is theoretically possible to have a situation where none of the possible results of an interlude action can take place (one-on-one scene, the relationship is 5 intimacy, 5 trust, no stress, and the pilot has no trauma.) In this case, another character must enter the action before it can resolve.

Am I missing anything with humanization actions, or more specifically, with the point of tracking the relationships they create? As far as I can see the only two effects they have are 1) if one of the characters involved somehow becomes a pilot, and 2) the new relationship can be the subject of trust-breaking, and therefore generate fallout actions. Is there anything else?

You're not missing anything.

The 'new face' consequence on page 142 says that the new character has a default starting relationship with everyone (which I guess means the default starting relationship from each character's pilot template?) except the pilot of the mission. Does this mean they have no relationship with the pilot? (Having no relationship at all between two characters doesn't seem like it can happen any other way. Is it the same as having a broken relationship?)

The pilot of the mission should, at the GM's discretion, have a more powerful starting relationship with the person that they've brought in.

In the example of placing dice on page 104, is Chris supposed to be playing badly? He assigns his dice as ++, +0, 0, 0, 0-, --, when he could have assigned the same dice as ++, 00, +, 0, 0-, -- for a strictly better outcome. Or have I misunderstood something? (On the same page, is his claim that destroying a 2-intimacy relationship generates 4 Bliss just an editing error?)

Let me look this up and get back to you.

It looks like you've got a good basic handle on these things!

yrs--
--Ben