Our Second Game

[Bob McNamee]

We use index cards for Component notation.

When we add in components to a scene, the person who controls the component puts the card in front of them, and transfers it to another player in the case of a takeover.

[magependragon]

We use index cards for Component notation.

When we add in components to a scene, the person who controls the component puts the card in front of them, and transfers it to another player in the case of a takeover.

This could be very handy to help with the who owns what when and where problems our group sometimes have.

Just question about paying for traits on components. If I was to say introduce a the following character how many coins shoud I pay: Samantha the white haired sage leaned heavily on her old knarled walking stick.

I think what I am trying to ask here is do you pay for purely descriptive traits that would never have any effect other than setting up what the character looks like so I would say 1coin to create the character, one to make her a sage and one for the walking stick which could be used as a weapon. Possible another one for the fact that she leaned heavily on the walking stick but that would be iffy to me.

[Christopher Weeks]

Just question about paying for traits on components. If I was to say introduce a the following character how many coins shoud I pay: Samantha the white haired sage leaned heavily on her old knarled walking stick.

I think what I am trying to ask here is do you pay for purely descriptive traits that would never have any effect other than setting up what the character looks like so I would say 1coin to create the character, one to make her a sage and one for the walking stick which could be used as a weapon. Possible another one for the fact that she leaned heavily on the walking stick but that would be iffy to me.

I'm answering as a rookie for two reasons.  I think I know the answer and it helps me to solidify ideas.  You can pay for as much of the description as you want.  Paying a Coin enshrines however much or little you can get away with as a Fact of the game.  And different  groups have different levels of acceptance for how much a Coin will buy.

You could say "Samantha[1] the white haired[1] sage[1] leaned heavily on her old knarled walking stick[1]" if the fact that she was white haired is important and the walking stick is not.  But you could also create her walking stick as a component: "Samantha's[1*] walking stick[1] is a 1.3 meters long[1] cherry branch[1] polished smooth by time and time[1]."  The implied ownership trait "Samantha's" gives Samantha a freebie trait like "owns Samantha's walking stick."  But I think if this were just decorative narration that you were going to leave to someone else to possibly flesh out, you could also just write it as "Samantha[1] the white haired sage[1] leaned heavily on her old knarled walking stick" and pay only two.

So, this rookie thinks you could pay as few as two and as many as eight or more Coins, depending on how much story-importance you wanted the character to bear.

Now we'll see if the experts have corrections to make.

Chris

[Valamir]

Chris nailed it perfectly.

I don't have a copy handy to give a page reference for the Color rule, but this:  

You can pay for as much of the description as you want. Paying a Coin enshrines however much or little you can get away with as a Fact of the game. And different groups have different levels of acceptance for how much a Coin will buy.

summarizes it nicely.

The knobby walking stick could be just pure color, it serves no purpose whatsoever than to assist in the shared vision of what the character looks like.

The knobby walking stick could simply be another one of Samantha's Traits, at which point it can be used to provide a die in any Complication where a knobby walking stick would be useful (crossing difficult terrain, giving someone a bash on the head, etc)

The knobby walking stick could be a seperate component if it was worthy of having special traits of its own (like say Gandalf's Wizard Staff, or potentially a Hogwart's Wand).

If set up as a seperate component, the knobby walking stick could even be made a "Master Component" if it was the sort of non unique that would have many examples of in the game (like say a Nimbus 2000)

[Bob McNamee]

Even if you don't buy the walking staff as an item early on. There's nothing from stopping you from dropping a Coin or two on it later, say during a Complication, when you could use a Trait or two.

The previously stated description, even though not bought,  gives you a good rational for introducing it later.