Black Pawn, White Pawn

[Mike Holmes]

I did indeed indicate that "accumulating" 8 pawns of one or the other variety caused one to enter Endgame. This is no longer the case -- now the issue is relative. Should the difference of your current total of white and black pawns ever equal 8 (or greater, I guess), then you enter endgame. You might have 0 Black Pawns and 8 White to do this, or 57 Black Pawns, 49 White to do this. The exchange of Pawns in the game will be pretty fluid, with players and GM Sacrificing and Capturing Pawns regularly to various effects and consequences.

Very nice. That should work fine.

As for your CharGen, you have avoided the problem by using the Split Pool method. One pool for traits, and one for skills. Which works, but does not allow for variation. All players will have 8 trait points. All will have the same dice. If you are fine with that, then you're in the clear. Given the odd setting, I'm tempted to overlook this oddity.

Another point however is that your average stat is 1.6 for starting characters. This means that evey player will have at least two poor (1) stats, and there are only 60 starting sets of attributes. Is this supposed to be so limiting? Does this represent the character adjusting to the new environment? Why the very limited scale for attributes? Some of us like rolling lots of dice. I don't think many people will have trouble with four or five.

What happens if I try something for which I have no skill? d3? What use are the templates?

Mike

[Walt Freitag]

there are only 60 starting sets of attributes

35.

- Walt

[Nick the Nevermet]

This may be a stupid question, but could you explain endgame further?

Originally, if a character accumulate 8 black pawns, (s)he enters an endgame where the character can enter check and has some mortality issues.  8 white pawns, and the character takes narrative control.  

Now, a character enters endgame when the difference between the two is equal or greater than 8.  I assume then that whatever one is higher determines the endgame's 'color'?

Also on the subject of endgame, what is the in-character understanding of it? (I'm new, and I'm going to be avoiding jargon I don't totally understand, so bear with me)  For example, if a character enters black endgame, they enter check and may die, as I understand things.  How does this get played out?  Does it take the form of bad luck, or does he get sick, or something else?

As another random question, I'm curious to see what other words from chess jargon are finding their way into this game.  I could blather out several (tempo, openings, midgame), but this is a real minor curiosity on my part.

in any case, i'm interested in reading more.

[Matt Snyder]

This may be a stupid question, but could you explain endgame further?

Originally, if a character accumulate 8 black pawns, (s)he enters an endgame where the character can enter check and has some mortality issues. 8 white pawns, and the character takes narrative control.

Now, a character enters endgame when the difference between the two is equal or greater than 8. I assume then that whatever one is higher determines the endgame's 'color'?

That's correct.

Also on the subject of endgame, what is the in-character understanding of it? (I'm new, and I'm going to be avoiding jargon I don't totally understand, so bear with me) For example, if a character enters black endgame, they enter check and may die, as I understand things. How does this get played out? Does it take the form of bad luck, or does he get sick, or something else?

Endgame has everything to do with a character's predetermined Quest. So, that means each character's Endgame will be different. It's up to the player to decide how this get's played out. There are only a few parameters that define the character's fate -- as in how much "damage" he might have, etc.

Endgame is meant to empower players to take control of the game, and become creative narrators of their character's fates. It's up to them to create and describe just how their character's death or victory plays out in-game, as you put it. It could be bad luck or illness as you say, but that's entirely up the player. It could be: Lost duel w/ rival swordsmen; descent into delusional madness; the character drowns; the character becomes lost forever in the labyrinth; the character destroys his own soul clock in a fit of hopeless rage after losing his lover. The possibilities are many!

As another random question, I'm curious to see what other words from chess jargon are finding their way into this game. I could blather out several (tempo, openings, midgame), but this is a real minor curiosity on my part.

Other chess terminology that will be used in the game:

En Passant -- used to describe the process in which players are forced (by other players) to capture Pawns, whether they like it or not!

Sacrifice -- the act of losing or "spending" a Pawn.

Capture -- the act of acquiring a pawn spent by another player (including the GM).

Opening, Middle Game, Endgame -- this isn't really a hard-and-fast rules terminology, but instead becomes a means to describe how game play progresses. Roughly, Opening = Character creation, Middle Game = Bulk of game play, Endgame = Resolution of individual Quests.

Castling -- this becomes a "special move" for Rook characters, basically making them more effective in combat. Each Archetype has a similar function (Knights have the non-Chess term Flanking, for example, though it's meant to imply their unusual jumping ability in chess).

Gambit -- Any single conflict resolution in which Pawns are sacrificed to affect the outcome.

Tempo -- I may use the term tempo to describe the order of action, what most games typically call Initiative. However, in this case Tempo is more like chess than it is initiative. That is, each "side" takes turns (typically, the PCs vs. the GM and his NPCs), and gaining tempo (i.e. moving up in the action order) can be beneficial.

There are a couple others -- Grand Master being the term for Game Master, for example.

[Nick the Nevermet]

Endgame has everything to do with a character's predetermined Quest. So, that means each character's Endgame will be different. It's up to the player to decide how this get's played out. There are only a few parameters that define the character's fate -- as in how much "damage" he might have, etc.

ok.
...hmm.
I wish I had an articulate response or question to ask to continue this, I don't at the moment.  Sorry.
Thanks for the response.