Rules Questions From Another Source

[yogshog]

I did know that (though in the interest of play-testing-ish behavior instead of actually starting a full campaign, we used the "giant-sized annual" timing rules, so it didn't take too long to get to page 5.

Is that more of a hazard of those timing rules? It just seems that before stage 5, the GM can get several aspects to just below transformed, have one hero yield to get onto page 5, then in the next assessment after that hero has yielded, transform-transform-transform.

It just seems odd that the GM can put the aspect out of the player's reach during assessment - it seems like an anticlimax to have the final strife aspect transformed in a situation where the heroes have *no* chance of changing it - all the GM has to do is prolong the conflict as long as possible. Now, I know you're assuming people are going for story over strategy, but since it's so difficult for the players to redeem an aspect I suspect their awareness of the fact leads to more of a competition psychology than a story-emphasis strategy.

But maybe I'm swrong and it was all about the timing.

[Michael S. Miller]

Hmmm. I've never run into that problem during my games. Normally my players have me so on the ropes card-wise by the time endgame rolls around that I rarely get a chance to Transform much of anything. Maybe you're just a stronger card player than I am.

In any case, I like the sound of your idea about requiring victory for Transformation. I suggest you play it that way and see if the game is any more fun. Then, definitely let me know how it goes!

[enderbean]

My group also ran into this issue. Part of the reason this came up for us was that we had 3 heroes and 3 villains. Also I intentionally devestated one of my own aspects because I wanted to redeem it later.

We decided that while an aspect can be assessed to Transformed during a conflict, the transformation doesn't take effect until the end of the conflict, so if the hero wins it can still be redeemed.

We also allowed for aspects to be transformed during enrichment, but only if the aspect is involved in a conflict between the enrichment scene and when the fifth part of the arc starts. This guarantees that the player always has a potential oppurtunity to redeem an aspect. It also can lead to situations where a hero is forced to choose between two aspects that are sitting at or one step away from Transformed. So far we haven't had any problems with these rules, but we aren't even finished with the our arc yet...

One side effect of allowing it to transform during an Enrichment scene is that the GM can force me to pick a fight with a particular villain by pushing my aspect to one away from transformed. Or not, if he wants another villain to see more play time.