[TSOY] Some clarifications needed...

[Squeeze]

Hi,

First I'd like to thank Clinton for his amazing work on Anvilwerks games : those games are enlightening ! (They are my first experience into indie games, and so far I love them)
However, I'm here because Ive got some questions about Tsoy resolution system, and I would love some clarification :

- How do you handle group Bringing down the pain ? I know there is a specific paragraph in the main rulebook about the question, but Im not sure I did get it the right way.
Let's say there's a fight, between a group of minion and the PCs : a minion succeed in stabbing a character with intention to kill. The PC decides he want the pain to be brought down (it's his only way to avoid certain death right ?).
Now we enter Bring Down the Pain mode (BDPM) : do you only resolve the duel between the PC and his foe, or does the entire scene swap to BDPM ?
In this case how do you handle initiative ?

- In BDPM, with multiple foe, how many defensive actions are you allowed to take ? Are they specific rules about this point ? (Maybe cumulative dice penality for each foe your fighting ?)

- About Attributes now : what innate attribute are you supposed to use when you want to hit someone with a weapon, but you don't have any specific fighting attribute ? Is it Athletics ?

- In the complex resolution example, one of the character, Gael, use an ability called Venom-Blade. What kind of abilitie is it ? It seems to be too narrowed to be an open ability, and it doesn't look like a cultural attribute (Ammemi are supposed to be bamboo fighter ?)

- And at last : do you have any advice on giving starting gear for characters ? Ive got tricky players who always want to grab some magical stuff out of me during the creation process :)

For those questions, any example would be really appreciated ...
I know my questions are heavilly focused toward fight, and it's not the prime theme of TSOY, but to satisfy my players I will eventually have to give them some action ...

I know my english is kinda poor, I hope you did understand me though ...

And by the way, Merry Christmas everyone !

Squeeze

[Squeeze]

Come on guys, I really need help, I'd like to play a Tsoy game at my next play session, and those answers are really crucial to me...

Help me become a transcendant story guide ! ;)

Thanks,

Squeeze

[Clinton R. Nixon]

- How do you handle group Bringing down the pain ? I know there is a specific paragraph in the main rulebook about the question, but Im not sure I did get it the right way.
Let's say there's a fight, between a group of minion and the PCs : a minion succeed in stabbing a character with intention to kill. The PC decides he want the pain to be brought down (it's his only way to avoid certain death right ?).
Now we enter Bring Down the Pain mode (BDPM) : do you only resolve the duel between the PC and his foe, or does the entire scene swap to BDPM ?
In this case how do you handle initiative ?

What Bringing Down the Pain encompasses is up to the group. If the others want in the scene, then let them. Otherwise, it would just encompass the duel. As far as initiative, there isn't any such thing.

- About Attributes now : what innate attribute are you supposed to use when you want to hit someone with a weapon, but you don't have any specific fighting attribute ? Is it Athletics ?

Generally, Scrapping.

- In the complex resolution example, one of the character, Gael, use an ability called Venom-Blade. What kind of abilitie is it ? It seems to be too narrowed to be an open ability, and it doesn't look like a cultural attribute (Ammemi are supposed to be bamboo fighter ?)

I made it up using the Ability creation rules. It is pretty narrow, but created abilities often are. It's a Fighting ability for him which involves a specialized long dagger grooved to hold poison.

- And at last : do you have any advice on giving starting gear for characters ? Ive got tricky players who always want to grab some magical stuff out of me during the creation process :)

They can feel free to take the Secret of Imbuement during character creation. That will give them magical equipment.

I hope you guys enjoy playing! Thanks for the questions.

[timfire]

I will just add this about initiative, which is the way I would run things (not sure about Clinton, though). If more than one person is fighting a single target, I would just roll all the dice together, figure out what happens, and then designate damage after the round. For example, if Sam is fighting 2 bandits, and successfully wounds one but fails to defend against the other, I would designate damage to both Sam and the given bandit (even if it means Sam is killed/whatever).  I would then come up with some sort of narration that makes sense for what happened.

[Squeeze]

Hi,

Im so sorry I took so long to respond you guys, your help was really appreciated.
Ive had the chance to run a TSOY mini-session, with 3 of my friends, creating some characters, and handling complex situations to get a taste of the system.
For this very first try we've made character without any culture affiliated, cause we hadn't had time to talk about the background.
Even if it was a real short session (3hours), we had a real blast :

So we ended with a Goblin troubadour, an albino Ratkin Knight-wanabee, and an 8-year old lil' girl with some Thief and social manipulation abilities.
We went through the classical tavern fight and other kind of typical fantasy situation, but the important part is that the system ran smoothly !
They all got how key worked and used them geniusly :
My favorite example is the Goblin Troubadour who had Key of the Masochist, and did by purpose sing really awfully in a Tavern in order to get Beaten ! Then the Kight-wanabee jumped into the Fight in order to defend the Goblin (Key of the Conscience).
Finally, in all this mess, our sweat thief was runing around cutting some pouch and stealing coins (Key of Glittering Gold obviously).

Well it was a really great session, Im looking toward more fun the next time ...

Anyway : Thanks a lot Mr Nixon.

Best regards,
Squeeze