[StM] - Questions about rules

[Lavinia]

Hello :-)

First of all, please forgive my bad English, it's not my mother tongue.

Last Saturday I played Shooting the Moon, it was funny and satisfying, we had to skip the third turn because we were short on time, but it turned out very well! I can't wait to play it in a more complete way!

My friends and I have some questions about the rules:

1)During Beloved turns you can "Accept a suggestion given by the other Suitor's player. Add related trait chosen by them".
If S1 suggests something for S2 and S2 refuses, has S1 spent one of his Responses?
If S2 accepts, both Suitors spend one Response or only S2?

2)During Suitor turns: S1 tries to gain more dice suggesting a Response involving the aspects of the Beloved. If he/she refuses, S1 has wasted one of the Responses or he can declare something different?
The suggestion must be given in the fiction with interaction between Suitor and Beloved or can it be decided between players without being said in the fiction?

3)Among the options for gainig dice during Beloved turns there is the sacrifice. Does "one per turn" mean one for S1 and one for S2 or only one Suitor can use it?

Tank you very much!

[Emily Care]

Hi Lavinia,

Thanks for playing! Glad to answer your questions:

1)During Beloved turns you can "Accept a suggestion given by the other Suitor's player. Add related trait chosen by them".
If S1 suggests something for S2 and S2 refuses, has S1 spent one of his Responses?
If S2 accepts, both Suitors spend one Response or only S2?

If S2 refuses, S1 has not spent a Response. They get to choose to do something else.

If S2 accepts, S2 gets four dice for taking the suggestions and the new trait. If the Beloved agrees, and what is suggested fits, S1 can also get three dice for "creating a complication for the other Suitor". But this doesn't have to be one of their responses unless they want it to.

2)During Suitor turns: S1 tries to gain more dice suggesting a Response involving the aspects of the Beloved. If he/she refuses, S1 has wasted one of the Responses or he can declare something different?
The suggestion must be given in the fiction with interaction between Suitor and Beloved or can it be decided between players without being said in the fiction?

If the Beloved refuses, S1 can make a different Response. The Suggestions is decided on the player level first, then becomes part of the fiction if the players so choose.

3)Among the options for gainig dice during Beloved turns there is the sacrifice. Does "one per turn" mean one for S1 and one for S2 or only one Suitor can use it?

Each Suitor can make one sacrifice per Beloved Turn. So there can be two per Beloved's Turn, one per Suitor.

Many thanks! These are excellent points to clarify.

Best,
Emily

[Lavinia]

I thank you very much for your answer, now Isee we didn't understood the "suggestion" rules. I'll print your answers and put them in the rule book to be sure to do it right next time!

another question: I'm going to run two StM games at InterNosCon, a convention that will be held here in Italy next month (if I remember correctly, you kindly accepted to revise one of your articles for the occasion) and one of them will have more than three players. I decided to try this after reading your actual play "Love's Reflection, or The Daughter of Deception". At the moment we are four, so I was thinking 2 players for the Beloved, one player for each Suitor, if a fifth person wants to join two players per each Suitoe and one for the Beloved and if we find a sixth player, two for each role. This way I think the game would be more balanced, but I don't know if this is the best arrangement. Can I ask you what would you do with four and five players? Do you have any advice about how to decide who is better suited to be Beloved/Suitor?

Again, thank you and forgive my bad English.

[Emily Care]

Hello,

More excellent questions that come up often when playing the game. I would agree with your assessment: if there are four people, assigning 2 people to the Beloved gives good balance. If there are 5, two to each Suitor does the same. And as you read, playing with 2 people per character tends to work very well, with players alternating playing the character in in-character scenes, and generally working together to make the character even more interesting than with just one person playing it. Two heads are better than one.

I've also had games of Shooting the Moon and Breaking the Ice where there were players who wanted to mostly watch, but who were able to give suggestions about what any given character might do, or new traits, etc.  So if you go beyond 6, you could do that.

Do you have any advice about how to decide who is better suited to be Beloved/Suitor?

Since the Beloved gets the most attention thrown their way, I find this is a good role for newer or more uncertain players. In a four player game, I would co-play the Beloved with any player who fits this description.  The Suitors are called up on to be more active in their pursuit of the Beloved and presenting hurdles to the other Suitor, so giving these roles to more experienced or confident players works well.

I also think about gender of the players when choosing these roles. If I am the only woman at the table, and I feel that there be any discomfort about the romantic aspect of things, I cast myself as the Beloved. If there is no issue with respect to that, or if I want to defuse anything tensions *I'm* feeling (cons can be wierd), then I put someone else in that role.

Generally, it comes down to spotlight and activity. The player(s) in the Beloved's role are those that will be sought after, but who will be somewhat less active in the game. The Suitors will not be in every scene, but the players will be called upon to be more active in throughout. Choose by your judgement, or by the players' desires, about who would fit best in each of these types of roles.

Thanks again. Have fun at the Con!

[Lavinia]

Since the Beloved gets the most attention thrown their way, I find this is a good role for newer or more uncertain players. In a four player game, I would co-play the Beloved with any player who fits this description.  The Suitors are called up on to be more active in their pursuit of the Beloved and presenting hurdles to the other Suitor, so giving these roles to more experienced or confident players works well.

Fortunately there will be another player who has experience with the game to help me with the rules, so we could both help the inexperienced players. Everyone has experience with indie/forge games, so they know how to act to create interesting fiction (I already played with every one of them on different occasions), but guidelines are always nice!

Thank you again, if something interesting comes out from these two games I'll post it! :-)