[In a Wicked Age] Multiplayer conflicts, Character ownership

[Hans]

A group of us here in Toronto are going to try In a Wicked Age long term.  First session went very well, but with 6 (yes 6) players, multiple participant conflicts were the rule, not the exception.  There was at least one conflict with 5 participants with constantly shifting alliances.  This generated a lot of questions, since those rules are not exactly the most detail section of the current draft. 

Hence, some questions.  Mostly I'm hoping Vincent will tell me how he does it, but feel free to put your two cents in even if you aren't Vincent Baker.  Some of these questions may require a new draft of the rules to truly answer, which I don't expect Vincent to do just because I'm asking him for it.   

Questions on conflicts:

* More than one advantage die on any roll, possible or impossible? 

* If possible, multiple We Owe check offs (because dice are compared multiple times) or multiple advantage dice from multiple wins (because you are challenged more than once) carried over to next round, possible or impossible?

* At what point in a multiparticipant conflict do you determine who gets on the We Owe list? When you get challenged and have to answer?  At the very first roll comparison?

* Who counts as in conflict with you when you decide who gets on the We Owe list in a multiparticipant conflict?  Just the person(s) who challenges you?  Can you end up on the list more than once in a conflict?

Questions on Characters:
* In the 2nd and subsequent chapters, when the top character on We Owe must be in the chapter, does the player who played that character last have to play them?

* More generally, what "ownership rights" do players have over the character's they create if they show up again (through We Owe or through repetition of elements)?  I can see three levels of this:
**Complete ownership - can't appear unless their creator plays them.  This would seem to mandate that you must play your character if it tops the we owe list.
**GM takes over - can appear, but taken by GM if creator does not play them
**First choice - can appear, but creator has first choice to play them, others can play if not chosen by creator
**No rights - can appear, creator only gets to play if they can get to the character before someone else claims it.

* If either of the last two options above is correct, it seems to me you would need to record both the player name and the character name on the We Owe list, and that you can only check off entries when you were the player of that character.  Does this seem right?  If either of the first two options is correct, then the player's name is uncessary.

[lumpley]

In order:

1. One player can roll at most one advantage die. Any number of players may roll an advantage die, if they got one.

(In the new rules, you'll lose a die for being disadvantaged instead, but that doesn't work with the old rules' dice.)

2-4. If someone challenges you or you answer someone, you're "up against them." If you're up against anyone with bigger dice than yours, you MIGHT go on the owe list. At the end of round one, everyone who's left in the conflict, who might go on the owe list, does.

a) You're go into a conflict against someone with bigger dice, and b) you aren't shut out of the conflict at round 1. That's when you go on the owe list.

If you don't go up against someone with better dice than you in round 1, you don't get on the owe list, no matter who you go up against in later rounds. Who you launch conflicts against, and who launches them against you, that's what the owe list cares about, not how sides shift within conflicts.

Also, accordingly, you can go onto the owe list at most once per conflict.

5. Characters are owned. Only you can play your characters. When your character tops the owe list, you're required to play her in that chapter.

For repeated elements, here's what. Say that my character for chapter 1 is the gentlewoman bandit, stylish and daring. Her name's Ilai. I play her, she goes on the owe list, etc. Then at chapter 5, when someone else tops the owe list altogether, "a gentlewoman bandit, stylish and daring" comes up on the oracle.

I have a choice, right then. "Oh, that's Ilai" is one choice - I'll play Ilai in this chapter. "Huh, must be some other gentlewoman bandit" is the other choice - Ilai isn't in the chapter, but some NPC gentlewoman bandit who's someone else entirely is.

Here's another possibility, kind of related. I've played Ilai a couple of times, and at chapter five, when someone else tops the owe list, "a healer priestess on pilgrimage to the birthplace of her order" comes up on the oracle.

I have a choice, right then. If I want to, I can say "oh, that's Ilai" - and I'll play Ilai in this chapter, and what do you know, she's become a healer priestess on pilgrimage since last time we saw her! Only choose this if you're actually transforming your character offscreen like that.

-Vincent

[Hans]

Thanks Vincent.  Very helpful answers.  Some follow ups...

Also, accordingly, you can go onto the owe list at most once per conflict.

Therefore, given the following:
1) I get Challenged by someone who has more sides than me;
2) I am not doubled, and in fact stay in the conflict.  I get we owe.
3) In the same first round, I get challenged AGAIN by someone else who has more sides than me.
4) I am not doubled again.

I do NOT get on the we owe a second time.  I have had my fun.

I have a choice, right then. "Oh, that's Ilai" is one choice - I'll play Ilai in this chapter. "Huh, must be some other gentlewoman bandit" is the other choice - Ilai isn't in the chapter, but some NPC gentlewoman bandit who's someone else entirely is.

How does this relate to using a character from the last chapter?  Let's say I am at the top of the we owe list, and the chapter we just completed had Ilai in it somehow.  Ilai is on the We Owe list from that chapter (just not at the top).  I pick "gentlewoman bandit" for the next chapter.  Does Ilai's player still have to check off a we owe entry to play her in that chapter, or does she get a free "in"?

Here's another possibility, kind of related. I've played Ilai a couple of times, and at chapter five, when someone else tops the owe list, "a healer priestess on pilgrimage to the birthplace of her order" comes up on the oracle.  I have a choice, right then.

Same question as above about check off for last chapter, plus do you think it would be reasonable to have two or more "permanent" versions of a character floating around; Old Ilai and Young Ilai, for example?  Or would this be the "create a one-time character sheet" thing you describe, with the character sheet not becoming a permanent fixture in the game?

I won't ask what to do if two or players want to bring in old characters to fill in as the healer priestess.

[lumpley]

Cool!

1. Correct!

2. You DON'T have to check your name off the owe list, if the oracle serves you up.

3. It'd be fine to keep both an old Ilai and a young Ilai in play, each with their own sheet, I suppose.

4. A bad fistfight, with a trip to the ER for the loser, is the most fair solution I can think of.

-Vincent

[Hans]

Thanks!