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InSpecteres question...

Started by Drew Stevens, February 19, 2003, 04:12:23 PM

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Drew Stevens

Question- Do all the Franchise dice earned from completing a mission go to the Company?

Because if they do, it seems like companies grow at a gangbusters rate.  I mean, I make a start up franchise (5 dice) and go on a 14 die mission- and suddenly I've got a 19 (minus a few for dealing with Stress) business.  One more mission like that, and it's a home office.

Further, there doesn't seem to be a way of actually permanently losing franchise dice other than Bank loses.  Despite the whole chunk of the game which is effectively devoted to 'So you're declaring Chapter 11'.

Was this intentional, or have I had a serious Failure to Understand?

Jared A. Sorensen

Quote from: Drew StevensQuestion- Do all the Franchise dice earned from completing a mission go to the Company?

Because if they do, it seems like companies grow at a gangbusters rate.  I mean, I make a start up franchise (5 dice) and go on a 14 die mission- and suddenly I've got a 19 (minus a few for dealing with Stress) business.  One more mission like that, and it's a home office.

Further, there doesn't seem to be a way of actually permanently losing franchise dice other than Bank loses.  Despite the whole chunk of the game which is effectively devoted to 'So you're declaring Chapter 11'.

Was this intentional, or have I had a serious Failure to Understand?

Hi, Drew.

All Franchise Dice earned after a mission go into the company, yes.

However...as anyone who has played InSpectres can probably tell you, it's not all peaches n' cream. A lot of your company finances will be eaten when employees go on vacation. Even more get used up to pay for the various Cards. If the missions are cake, yeah, you're going to grow quickly...but if the missions are cake, the team shouldn't be earning the big bucks.

It sounds like you missed the part about Card dice being expendable resources. Nothing in InSpectres "replenishes" at the end of a mission or at the start of a game unless you pay into it.

- J
jared a. sorensen / www.memento-mori.com

jburneko

Drew,

I've played A LOT of InSpectres and I still haven't gotten it right.  It takes A LOT of practice to get the pace of those Stress Die rolls right.  The problem is a lot of people are used to Call of Cthulhu, Chill, Deadlands and other horror games where just a single bad "fear" roll can really hose a player, so a lot of people learn to stear away from those rolls in really dramatic moments because they don't want to "ruin" the great pace and moment of the game with an arbitrary result.

With InSpectres if you're not hosing the players with those Stress Rolls and the choices about how to allocate and use those franchise dice aren't central to play, you're missing the point.

Don't be affraid of the Stress Dice.  Stress Dice are really the GMs only input in the game.

Jesse