[Contenders] Dry run generates some rules questions

[Caesar_X]

I'm really looking forward to playing Contenders this upcoming week.  So coffee mug in hand and 'Eye of the Tiger' on the stereo, I sat down this morning to generate a quick Contender and work through some of the rules.  Which led me to a few questions and possible concerns.

Who is your Contender?  Booker T.
Where does he come from?  Augusta, GA
Why does he fight?  Because his daddy wasn't around and his momma told him he needed to be a man.
What kind of individual is he?  Honest and loving, but fiercely protective of his family and his reputation.

Hope: (Contender: 2), (Connection: 0)
Pain: 1
Cash: 1
Rep: 2

Technique: 2
Power: 4
Cover: 2
Conditioning: 2

Connections:
-Auntie M. has a gambling problem and a thyroid condition keeps her from working.
--Hope: That she will get her thyroid condition cured.
--Fear: That she will lose her house from gambling debts.

Comments:
1.  Contender generation was very quick and smooth and allowed me to put some quick personality to my boxer and his situation.  Very satisfying.  I WANT to see what happens to Booker and his Auntie M.
2.  I was initially confused about why the jokers were in the deck until I found the 'Crossing Over' section in the rules.  Slick way to bring Contenders' stories together.

Questions/Concerns:
1.  Why wouldn't a player just keep generating new connections since they don't require Cash to generate Hope?
2.  When generating a Contender, does it matter where the Hope points go (Contender vs. Connection)?
3.  Why would a player add Pain points during generation?
4.  When a boxer uses Dirty Tactics, it seems implicit in the rules that they have a 50/50 chance of having it called out on you?  Actually it seems less than 50/50 since the narrator gets to choose and using Dirty Tactics would seem to give you an edge of doing damage in that round.  Or did I miss something?

Feel free to jump in if I missed something in the rules.

Thanks,
Chris B.
Caesar_X@yahoo.com

[rafial]

I can handle some of these

1.  Why wouldn't a player just keep generating new connections since they don't require Cash to generate Hope?

A new connection only gives you a free point of hope if it is your only connection - pg 23, second column, second paragraph.  Otherwise, a new connection starts with 0 hope.

3.  Why would a player add Pain points during generation?

It makes it easier to successfully generate cash via a work scene.

4.  When a boxer uses Dirty Tactics, it seems implicit in the rules that they have a 50/50 chance of having it called out on you?  Actually it seems less than 50/50 since the narrator gets to choose and using Dirty Tactics would seem to give you an edge of doing damage in that round.  Or did I miss something?

Hmmm... well the narrator is the holder of the high card drawn during the scene, no matter to what purpose, so if things wind up such that you are drawing more cards than your opponent, then yeah, it'll skew a little off 50/50.  In my experience with the matches, it's not if you fight dirty, it's when.

[Gregor Hutton]

...and possible concerns.

I think the best thing is not to be concerned before play. The advice I would give is (i) trust the rules, (ii) play the game.

The thing I found with Contenders was that once I was playing through the scenes I could see why the rules were a certain way, what those rules engendered in game and how they facilitated a really great game.

[Malcolm Craig]

2.  When generating a Contender, does it matter where the Hope points go (Contender vs. Connection)?

From my own point of view, when creating a character, I'd stick one of those two extra points into Hope for your connection. To me, it gives value to the connection and added impetus to a fight scene if you decide to burn hope. As far as I recall, when we were creating our boxers for 'This Must be The Place', we all ended up with 1 hope for ourselves and 1 hope for our connection.

3.  Why would a player add Pain points during generation?

As Rafial pointed out, it makes it easier to get cash from work scenes from the get go. However, it also adds to the story of the character. Why is your pain that little bit higher? What caused it? Pain in Contenders is an ever increasing thing that has a massive impact on the character and their story. You can use it to your advantage, but that just causes even more pain. As Joe says in the book: "Pain begets pain".

4.  When a boxer uses Dirty Tactics, it seems implicit in the rules that they have a 50/50 chance of having it called out on you?  Actually it seems less than 50/50 since the narrator gets to choose and using Dirty Tactics would seem to give you an edge of doing damage in that round.  Or did I miss something?

Dirty tactics are good if you're confident of drawing many more cards that your opponent, otherwise there is a very good chance they'll get narration and the referee will be on your ass. That aside, we've had a couple of incidents of dirty tactics in our game, one of which resulted in the boxer getting caught, the other one didn't. All depeneds on the luck of the draw. What dirty tactics really do is show how desperate the boxer is getting: they will resort to anything, even the potential loss of the match, to have a chance of winning. Dirty tactics, plus bringing the pain, plus burning hope...we've not had a scene like that yet, but it one be an immensely powerful thing to have occur.

As Gregor quite rightly says: play the game and trust the way it works. Once you get into the rhythm of setting and choosing the various scenes, it'll all come together. And it'll be great.

Cheers
Malcolm

[Caesar_X]

Awesome feedback, guys.  I'll post another topic after we play this week!

Thanks,
Chris
Caesar_X@yahoo.com