rules-thoughts

[Petter Sandelin]

My sorcerer game is doing brilliant, five sessions played and a sixth probably finishing this storyarc soon. At this point I have two rules questions(sort of) and after we’re done with the sixth session I’ll see if I can post some general stuff about it all.

All of the listed rituals take anywhere from half an hour to three hours to perform correctly. A sorcerer may attempt to speed things up, but in doing so his or her relevant score is reduced to one die.

I can understand that reducing the score is good for preventing banishing demons thrown at you right away, and requires some more effort put into sorcery. BUT, more than 50 percent of the sorcery and certainly the most dramatic in my games occur like this, in a few seconds. I’ve decided skip the penalty and hand out negative dices for obstructive actions if banishing etc. is taken to lightly(I haven’t actually needed to do this). Thoughts?

performing a sacrifice entails making another humanity check. If it is a human sacrifice, this check has a penalty equal to the victim’s humanity instead of the usual single-die penalty.

Am I both stupid and blind? What usual single-die penalty? Can’t find it.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Petter,

The single-die approach to snap-shot rituals is nowhere near as limiting as people think it is. Role-playing bonuses and cooperation, as well as using victories from previous related rolls, get these rolls into the six or seven dice range.

Another approach to deal with this is to encourage the players to deal with the problem in terms of time - when the characters do have a few hours to themselves, let'em use it. I've been thinking lately that role-players have been trained to think that anything that happens in large time-units is just set-up, whereas substantive conflict must occur in minutes and seconds. I suggest encouraging players to turn this around - you present them with a problem that occurs in seconds of game-time, but they deal with it later, in terms of hours and days.

As for the single-die penalty, as I recall, originally Humanity checks for a sacrifice were to be made against [Humanity - 1]. That ought to be in the Summoning ritual explanation. However, if it's not, then that business about two instead of one is a holdover from the PDF (dammit, not another one ...).

Best,
Ron

[Blake Hutchins]

The single-die approach to snap-shot rituals is nowhere near as limiting as people think it is. Role-playing bonuses and cooperation, as well as using victories from previous related rolls, get these rolls into the six or seven dice range.

Ah, yeah, thanks.  This makes a lot of sense, and was a question I'd shared.  It really highlights the die bonus/rollover victories aspect of the game.

Best,

Blake

[Petter Sandelin]

The single-die approach to snap-shot rituals is nowhere near as limiting as people think it is. Role-playing bonuses and cooperation, as well as using victories from previous related rolls, get these rolls into the six or seven dice range.

Hmm. I must say I still feel that a penalty always is a penalty, but in this case, it does aqquire something and getting those bonuses shouldn't be hard if you're in a so tight spot that you have to use "one second sorcery".

Thanks,
Petter.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Petter,

I've been thinking a lot about the way people have been trained to role-play over time, and the bounds and parameters that are very hard to see from inside.

Specifically, I have realized that most people are accustomed to a "slow hooks, slow development, imposed deadline, rapid climax" model of an adventure/scenario/story.

For example, we have Our Heroes living their daily lives. Something happens, and they then have hours or days, possibly more, to think about it, investigate, and try to discover what's up. When they do discover something, it means they have to act immediately. When they come to the climactic confrontation of the situation, it must be resolved in seconds (ie traditional RPG combat).

In other words, the "time unit of attention" shrinks as play proceeds. There's a telescoping of in-game-world time that matches the typical action movie or typical Lovecraft story.

However, there is no reason on this earth why stories must occur in this fashion. I'm even thinking of some of the great Conan stories, like Tower of the Elephant, in which fight scenes are fast and furious, but the climactic events occur over hours.

You might consider preparing in such a way that permits players to come up with climactic solutions that are not "telescoped" into second-by-second events.

Best,
Ron

[Petter Sandelin]

Spread it out sounds great to me. Actually, when I think about it some climatic resolutions spread out over time has occured in our game. I guess thats because with or without the single die rule, rituals support this style of play. People just expect rituals to take some time and if rituals are a central part of the game..

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Petter,

Yes, that's exactly it. But isn't it odd how most role-playing assumes and enforces the "telescoping" phenomenon?

Anyway, I'd like to hear more about your game, from tip to toe. What kind of Humanity rolls happen, and how often? What are the relationships with the demons like? What sort of character activity has really excited the players at the time? How often does the group meet, and how long do the sessions last?

Best,
Ron

[Petter Sandelin]

But isn't it odd how most role-playing assumes and enforces the "telescoping" phenomenon?

Yeah, sure it's odd. My first thought would be that it comes from the obsession of combat. Making a detailed system for a dramatic activity which is over in seconds and making that system an important part of the rules, isn't that saying good drama happens in seconds?

btw. I'm posting that general post now..