[It was a mutual decision] Trust enhanced scores?

[Arturo G.]

Hi !

I have been reading "It was a mutual decision", expecting to have an opportunity to play it. I have a couple of small questions about the rules.

- When you expend Trust to grow-up another score, it is said in the rules that the new socre is considered still less than the new value when it is relevant. I can find only one place in the rules where it is relevant: Who chooses first the black dice.
Am I missing any other thing?

- The rat-ticks transform the score in the rat-like one when they are more than the enhanced value, not the original. Is it right?

- If a team has a Trust of 2 and already has 2 rat-ticks on it. If they spend one trust point, does it automatically trasform the Trust score in Murderous?

Thanks!

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Arturo,

The rule about scores' ranking only applies if the scores are currently tied. That is what is meant by "relevant." Otherwise, use their numerical values no matter what the starting values were.

For example, let's say one team spent Trust to increase Needy to 4, from 3. Well, now their score is tied with the other team's Stubborn, which began at 4 and is still at that value. These scores are currently being used in a given scene.

The first team gets to choose black dice first because the Needy is "ranked" at 3 despite its current value of 4.

However, let's say that the first team had spent Trust more than once, in earlier scenes, and had increased Needy to 5. In this case, Needy 5 and Stubborn 4 are being used. There is no tie, and so in this case, the second team has the lower value and gets to choose black dice first. The original value of 3 for the first team's Needy is not relevant in this situation.

To answer your related question about when these go-first situations are important, it applies in some cases besides black dice: which team gets to begin a phase of play, and which team may spend Trust in a given scene.

You are correct: the rat-ticks must exceed the score's current value, not its original value. Since the ticks are always placed on the currently-lowest score, spending a lot of Trust is risky in this way: the team is dramatically increasing the chance of the character becoming Murderous. Also, if a score of (say) 2 has two tick marks, it is legal to spend Trust to raise it to 3, "saving" it from risk to a small extent.

Note that if a score's name changes due to tick-marks, however, that is irreversible. Trust may be spent on it, but will increase the value of the new-name score, not the old name.

(To remind readers of an important rule: Trust may only be spent one point at a time, per scene.)

You are right about the tick-marks and Trust. In the situation you describe, Trust will automatically become Murderous 2.

Best, Ron

[Arturo G.]

Everything is pretty clear now. I'm really expecting to have the opportunity to play it.

Thanks, Ron!