Trollbabe rules change clarification

[stingray20166]

This is going to be an interesting month for me -- Elfs this Friday, TrollBabe on Saturday and Sorcerer next Friday.  If my brain doesn't explode I'll be fine.

Anyway, in this thread:
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=10416&

Ron said:

1. The Social roll is now based on the lesser end of the number scale, not the greater. So Tha, with a number of 3, would have Fight 1-2, Magic 4-10, and Social 1-3, not 3-10.

2. Magic, as a principle Action Type, is constrained in its application to long rituals. In other words, it's lousy for snap-shot spells in a moment-to-moment crisis situation, and gets penalized. Snap-shot spells are now accounted for only by the re-roll item (remembered spell).

Just want to make sure I have this clear -- if the answers to both of these are "yes" then I am good.  

For 1, "lesser end of the number scale" threw me a bit.  This means that Social is always going to be a range from "1" to "TrollBabe Number", right?
So if Retta's number is 7,
Fight:  1-6
Magic: 8-10
Social: 1-7

For 2, "snap-shot spells" are "penalized".  Is the"penalty" just that you have to check off "A remembered spell"?

Thanks,

Nick

[rafial]

For 1, "lesser end of the number scale" threw me a bit.  This means that Social is always going to be a range from "1" to "TrollBabe Number", right?

I'm fairly sure the answer to this one is "no".  It's the smaller range that includes the Trollbabe number.

So if your number is 7, you have

Fighting 1-6, Magic 8-10, Social 7-10

If your number is 4 you have

Fighting 1-3, Magic 5-10, Social 1-4

[Alan]

Hi Nick.

Under the new rule, Social is always the lower chance of the two interpretations:

Number = 7
Fight: 1-6
Magic: 8-10
Social: 7-10

Number = 4

Fight: 1-3
Magic: 5-10
Social: 1-4

-----------

About Magic

Remembered Spell should only be ticked off to get a reroll in conflict.  

I don't know how snap-shot spells might be penalized.  Perhaps, rather than a die penalty, the GM, in the Free and Clear phase, should make it clear that the consequences of failure (and even success!) are much worse than normal.

I do have a great example of using ritual magic.  The player has to roleplay some preparation.  This is from actual play last week:

Zal wants to stop a mystic deathbear from returning to his lair while a troll friend goes inside, into the deathlands, to recover his son.  Before the bear is lured out, Zal collects a bunch of rocks and recites runes over each one.  Then she places them in a ring before the cave.  As the bear emerges, she snatches up one to leave an opening and runs, luring the bear after her.  As soon as she has a chance she doubles back (a Fight conflict).  She arrives with the deathbear hot on her heals.  

At this point I declared a magic conflict, whole conflict.  Goal: keep the bear out of the cave until my friend emerges.  The GM, John Harper, changed that to exchange by exchange.  This was the first magic roll I'd made in the whole preparation.

For the first exchange, I said I'd drop the rock in place and incite the final words.  I won and John declared I activated the spell, but I'm outside with the bear.  

Next exchange: the bear, being a deathbear, senses something amiss and tries to enter the cave.  I call on the barrier to repell him.  I believe I won that roll too.  So I won 2 of 3 and my goal: the bear was kept occupied until my friend could emerge.

How was he kept occupied?  

Chasing me through the woods -- from a story viewpoint, a very cool bit of irony I had not planned on.  Getting rid of him was a whole other scene.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Alan's got it right for the Social roll.

In my games, Magic is just right out the window as a conflict type when the conflict is immediate and in-your-face. Some of the examples that include Magic with Fight presume that the conflict is taking place over a period of time, i.e., maybe a sustained period in a battle.

If you want to cast a snap-shot spell, then use the Remembered Spell item for a re-roll in the middle of a Fight and/or Social conflict. It is not penalized in any distinctive way.

Best,
Ron

[John Harper]

Quick clarification: we handled "no instant magic" in the game with Zal by having one scene in which Alan talked about Zal preparing for her spell (over a period of an hour or so) followed by the casting of said spell in the next scene. I'll probably use that method as the example for future Trollbabe play -- i.e. you can't call for a Magic conflict unless you've prepared to cast the spell in a previous scene.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi John,

That's a pretty good rule. I also suggest that if the conflict itself seems to be a lengthy one, just by its circumstances and the nature of what's happening, then announcing a Magic conflict is OK.

For instance, in the very first Trollbabe game ever, Dav's character found herself gazing after a white lynx which had bounded across her trail into the woods. Dav announced a Magic conflict in order for his character to scry out and locate the lynx.

This made sense to me, because there was nothing else happening in the scene which made time important (i.e. nothing urgent or pressing) and it didn't really matter how much time the conflict took.

As it happens, he failed and a bunch of trees crashed down, narrowly missing the trollbabe.

Best,
Ron

[stingray20166]

Crystal clear, now.  Thanks, everyone.

Nick