[UnSpeakable] Rules Questions for an upcoming Con Game

[hix]

I'm going to be running Unspeakable (the Lovecraft supplement for Inspectres) at Kapcon next weekend. There's no Actual Play yet, but I will write about it here once we do.

In the meantime I found a couple of rules I need to clarify. Any help would be appreciated.


Pit Dice[/b]

Can a player roll as many Pit Dice as she wants? Like 10 or 20 or all of them?
Are all the Pit Dice that you've just rolled then removed from play?

When rolling Pit Dice, can a player use:

(a) the Take 4 rules, if they've taken 4 or more dice? <My answer is 'Yes, but why would they want to?'>
(b) Teamwork, if two or more players take Pit Dice and roll? <My answer is 'Yes.'>


'Franchise' Dice[/b]

What's the formula to calculate how many Franchise Dice to assign to an adventure? Equal to Pit Dice? Double Pit Dice?


Unspeakable Skills[/b]

Can anyone explain why using Unspeakable skills "begins the endless descent into madness"? Options I've considered include that:

(a) it makes Unspeakable skills desireable, because you don't have to draw from the Pit
(b) using Unspeakable skills prompt Sanity checks, or
(c) the dice you roll for your Unspeakable skill are examined using the new Stress rules (ie. you roll a 1, you lose a Sanity die; you roll a 6, you add a die to the Pit).

***

In terms of setting the scene, I've decided to go into the game with a few more ideas than I normally would with a game of InSpectres.

I figure I'll say that the players' friend, Micah Brody, an African-American writer who's been living in a run-down coastal house has written them a disturbing letter. Once they arrive at the house, they discover Micah has gone missing.

From there, I'll present four things to spark their imagination & investigation:
- a nearby racist township
- lots of scrawled notes and books in the house
- the woods, where there are strange noises and glimpses of things moving out there, and
- "There's something odd about that beach."

[Jared A. Sorensen]

Can a player roll as many Pit Dice as she wants? Like 10 or 20 or all of them?
Although the game doesn't expressly say, I would limit it to the player's current Sanity score.

Are all the Pit Dice that you've just rolled then removed from play?
Yes.

When rolling Pit Dice, can a player use:
(a) the Take 4 rules, if they've taken 4 or more dice?>
(b) Teamwork, if two or more players take Pit Dice and roll?

A) No (there are no skills, just the Sanity attribute). UnSpeakable skills can use the Take 4 rules.
B) Yes.

'Franchise' Dice
There are no franchise dice. The game can only end when one person has gone insane. Which means even if the group has all the pieces to solve the mystery, the game can't end until someone's gone crazy. If the mystery is not solved, the crazy person just adds to the group's problems.

Can anyone explain why using Unspeakable skills "begins the endless descent into madness"?
That's just me using colorful language. Option A is true, option B is also true (either using the skill or witnessing the skill's use).

- J