[Solar System] Minor Omission

[Paul T]

Eero,

I just noticed something about the text:

You never specify or explain how the players know to assign Harm in particular Pools. Clinton's version does say something about this: he suggests basing it on the Ability just used to harm you, but says the group can decide on something else, should they all agree to do so.

How do you do it?

[Eero Tuovinen]

Good catch, that goes right alongside the equipment bonus limits in my errata files.

When I play, the type of Harm is always based on the fiction - with the standard Pools it'd be Vigor for physical stuff, Instinct for emotional and Reason for willpower/sanity-related things. In Near this tends to strongly favor Vigor, but I don't have a problem with that in the context - Vigor is a bit under-represented as a source of utility in Near, anyway.

[oliof]

[Eero Tuovinen]

That one was intentional. Ten is a nice, round number, and I wanted to slightly accentuate the initial lack of Pool points. This isn't objectively the better choice, but it's what I prefer: while less Pool discourages some players from spending it, it also makes buying more of it more attractive, and makes it likelier that conditions related to empty Pools kick in at the beginning of play. I could imagine going even lower, to something like 8 points, easily enough; the lower you go, the more acute choices related to Pool spends are, and the easier it is for players to make a discernible difference in character durability by getting more Pool. I could even imagine starting a game with 5 Pool points, especially in some grim and petty genre. In those conditions you'd get 20% more Pool with just one Advance!