[Roach] Getting Drunk

[Jason Morningstar]

We got a great question about getting drunk in Roach play recently and I thought I'd lay it out here as well.  The drunk rule appears under "Resisting the Roach", p.50.  Here's Steve's answer with my commentary:

The rules say that "getting drunk in a Scene allows you to resist the Roach's Command, but costs a point of Reputation and lowers your Personal Die by one size for the entire Scene."  Further they state that getting drunk prevents you from using your Opportunity during the Event, but that you can get drunk at any time.

The intent is that, if you decide as a player not to obey the command, it's a choice that spans the rest of the Event.  You spend one Reputation and are more or less drunk the entire time afterward.  You don't get the Roach die (d12) and your Personal Die is lowered by one size as well.  You can't take advantage of the Opportunity, but you don't have to do something unspeakable either.

This is obviously open to abuse - you could stroll through most of an Event before getting drunk at the last moment to shirk your obligations.  While this could happen once by happenstance, if it happens twice I'd address it as friends and see if you can reach consensus on whether or not that is a fun way to play.  In practice I rarely see people choosing to get drunk - even the bad Commands are delicious story meat. 

[Ron Edwards]

'Cept for the time one person played her character to get drunk, resisted what the Roach told her to do, and then did something ten times as heinous as the command!

Eww! I tried to block it from my memory! But no!

Best, Ron
Roach-fan