universalis drinking game

[kwill]

based on a very quick discussion after our recent game where templates were abused horribly (Vampires had Martial Arts, Super Strength, Something Else and would Die If Burnt (otherwise immortal), meaning that bringing 5 Vampires into combat was an instant 15 dice to the Complication)...

The Drinking Game Tenet
Every time you invoke a Tenet or instantiate a Template, you take a drink

which of course means you take a drink for invoking the Drinking Game Tenet

comments? (comments on template abuse also welcome)

[Valamir]

Heh...when has "take a drink" ever really been a punishment...?

I think I'd need more info about why you chose the word "abuse" before commenting on it.  What was the down side?

[Tony Irwin]

based on a very quick discussion after our recent game where templates were abused horribly (Vampires had Martial Arts, Super Strength, Something Else and would Die If Burnt (otherwise immortal), meaning that bringing 5 Vampires into combat was an instant 15 dice to the Complication)...

The Drinking Game Tenet
Every time you invoke a Tenet or instantiate a Template, you take a drink

which of course means you take a drink for invoking the Drinking Game Tenet

comments? (comments on template abuse also welcome)

Hey David, a Vampire subcomponent will only have an importance of 1, regardless of how many traits the Vampire master component has. So you can simply eliminate a Vampire during the complication for one coin (page 47). Targetting a controlled Vampire like that gives the other player the right to start a complication though, so when narrating your intended elimination be sure to play to the Vampire's weaknesses and your characters' strengths.

For example paying 5 coins for an elimination allows you to narrate one of your guys accidentally shooting out a gas main thus enveloping the vampires in burning gas.  Your opponent can resist by turning this into another complication with his Vampires versus your Flaming Gas (martial arts won't help them now), but even then you have every right to challenge and say there's no way the vampires wouldn't turn and flee the burning flame.

It's hard to keep track of different pools though - and it works best if you insist that people use the group traits (vampire x5) instead of creating individual mooks, otherwise you'd really have to eliminate them one by one.  But it's cool when it works, can be very cinematic - fights within fights, everyone depending on someone else. Always reminds me of Indiana Jones movies, lots of little cause and effect stuff going on in the midst of brawls and gun fights.

[komradebob]

The last post brought up a question I've been wondering about for a while.

Regarding masters and dice used in complications:
Doesn't the master component only give dice equal to the number of relevant traits involved in the complication?

Frex: I have a master component, say, MC:Orc, made up of the traits, Deadly fighter, wilderness tracking, cannibal, thick hide, and hard to kill, for 5 traits total.

In a combat with an orc ( traits=MC: Orc, Heavily armored, armed with Axe), The orc component has a total traits of 3, but could use perhaps 6 dice (The three for its own traits which are all applicable to combat, plus one each for Deadly fighter,thick hide, and hard to kill, gained from MC:Orc). The orc would not get 8 dice to use, because wilderness tracking and cannibalism (from MC:Orc) might not apply to a single combat.

Am I understanding this properly?

Okay, follow up question:
If the above orc brought a couple of pals (org group:x3), do I multiply 6 applicable traits x3 (value of group), or simply add 3 dice for the group, to the 6 applicable traits?

Second follow up question:
Has anyone run into problems in games due to minimalist play style issues for some things with rather more expanded descriptions for others?

Example:
Bob creates a mercenary soldier that he wants to be a major character later. Going minimalist, Bob figures that the role Mercenary soldier probably will adequately describe the character's employment background. Any time something comes up that might have some relation to that employment background, he figures he'll be able to get a die roll. He then proceeds to use coins to define more , say, social aspects of the character.

Jim, OTOH, introduces TRogs, a race of vicious bad guys, and spends several coins to flesh out the deadliness of these fellows and creates a master component to do so. This is especially necessary, because the other players in the game have no idea what Jim is imagining Trogs to be like.

In game, Bob's mercenary has a fight with a trog. Bob's mercenary has only one die to use for being a mercenary. The trog has several, because Jim has defined multiple combat related traits for MC:Trog.  Bob's merc will probably get whipped up on.

The problem: Jim never really intended Trogs to be vastly better combatants than an experienced mercenary soldier. Really, he just wanted to define Trogs as something different than say, orcs or Klingons.

Has anyone dealt with this issue successfully? I own a copy of Uni, buit haven't played it yet, but this was one of the problems I foresee coming up.

Thanks for any advice,
Robert

[Valamir]

Am I understanding this properly?

Precisely correct

Okay, follow up question:
If the above orc brought a couple of pals (org group:x3), do I multiply 6 applicable traits x3 (value of group), or simply add 3 dice for the group, to the 6 applicable traits?

Add.

The Group Trait is a Trait like any other.  Same logic as you used above.

"does having a thick hide help me in combat?"  I'd say so, take a die for it
"does having a thick hide help me pick a lock?" Probably not, so no die...unless someone added that the lock had razor sharp edges and barbs to discourage thieves...then yeah, you could make an arguement that it would and see if it gets challenged.


"does having additional numbers help me in combat?"  I'd say so, take a die for it.
"does having additional numbers help me pick a lock?"  Probably not, so no die...unless maybe it was a giant lock the size of a building and you needed many people to try and work it.

The number at the end (x3) works just like if you had "Tough Hide x3"  You'd get to use your Tough Hide Trait 3 times in the same Complication.


I split your second follow up into a new thread.

[kwill]

okay wow,

first of all, "abuse" was used specifically because I felt frustrated in scenes where two players were bringing in hordes of vampires and werewolves and smacking down on characters under others' control

in retrospect there were many ways to deal with this, including a "No more damn giant combats!" tenet - we agreed afterwards that the game had been a bit uncreative and combat heavy (as in, the only Complications were combat - I've run into this problem before with new players)

secondly, insisting on groups + the group trait being just one die (as opposed to a multiplier, which is what we did, doh!) is *exactly* the kind of solution I was looking for, excellent!

one of these days I'll play a game and get all the rules right at once ;)