A Boost question

[colin roald]

All of the above leads most people in my games to request Boosts before the "everyone goes for their guns" moment, so as to enjoy the benefit of the extra dice immediately. That's risky, though, because it might lead to a wasted Boost (and a hungry demon) if the character has jumped the gun and no particular altercation ensues. If the guns are out already, so to speak, then you're stuck with rolling the Power as described above.

So if I'm reading the rules right, Boost applies to your next action, whenever that might be, rather than the next few seconds, whether or not you do anything.  Is that right?  

If I have the right idea of the Sorcerer Way To Do Things, the 'hang fire' time that you can wait before taking advantage of a preparatory Boost is probably  one scene and not a day or a year, so we head off D&D style questions of whether your sorcerer "of course" has a Boost prepped all the time.


colin

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

The above post was split from More on initiative and aborts.

Hi Colin, and welcome to the forum.

So if I'm reading the rules right, Boost applies to your next action, whenever that might be, rather than the next few seconds, whether or not you do anything. Is that right?

That phrasing puzzles me just a little. An action in combat is defined at about a few seconds, maximum, so they aren't contradictory. But maybe you're talking about non-combat stuff and time at a longer scale?

If I have the right idea of the Sorcerer Way To Do Things, the 'hang fire' time that you can wait before taking advantage of a preparatory Boost is probably one scene and not a day or a year, so we head off D&D style questions of whether your sorcerer "of course" has a Boost prepped all the time.

Ah! I guessed right. What you're saying is close, but subject to some local interpretation regarding the specific play group. Here are some possible misinterpretations to watch out for.

1. Demon turns on the Boost and then however-much time goes by, with the character eating breakfast, brushing his teeth, spending a day at work, riding the train home, and then using that Boost to bop the burglar he surprises. That ain't gonna happen.

In other words, next action means next action. That's a hell of a breakfast that guy ate, but that's it.

2. The demon always knows to Boost the character in times of trouble. That will lead to some "No, not now!" misunderstandings and, eventually, a resentful demon. They know very well how vulnerable they are when using this ability.

3. I'm actually pretty forgiving about "Boost me first thing when someone attacks me" commands, in terms of demon understanding. That's not too hard to interpret and isn't a bad command, per se. Tactically it's a little questionable, due to the aforementioned vulnerability.

4. During combat itself, I know the rules say "one action" during combat, but I sometimes cut the player a bit of slack - usually I figure that a demon who's well-fed with its Need can keep the Boost burning for maybe another action or two.

I'm not sure I've really quite managed to answer your question, so let me know.

Best,
Ron

[colin roald]

Hi Colin, and welcome to the forum.

Thanks!  I've been sucked into reading my way through all of this to the point I'm now starting to make plans to try running a game.

A couple months ago I would have said I was a Sim gamer, I suppose as much as anything because the pretension of Nobilis and Amber have always turned me off, and the first time I looked at the Sorcerer rules I completely didn't get it.  But between Art Deco Melodrama and Jesse's Gothic Fantasy, the light is dawning.  

I don't know if it's possible to understand what Sorcerer is trying to do just from reading The Apprentice -- reading descriptions of actual play is unspeakably more enlightening.  Personally, I would suggest you ought to link and/or quote some of those discussions much more prominently on the 'What is Sorcerer/About the Game" page.

Anyway, back to my question.

So if I'm reading the rules right, Boost applies to your next action, whenever that might be, rather than the next few seconds, whether or not you do anything. Is that right?

That phrasing puzzles me just a little. An action in combat is defined at about a few seconds, maximum, so they aren't contradictory. But maybe you're talking about non-combat stuff and time at a longer scale?

Okay, let me elaborate.  The piece that triggered my question was:  "...leads most people in my games to request Boosts before the 'everyone goes for their guns' moment..."    In my mind, the whole point of an "everybody goes for their guns" moment is that nobody knows quite when it's going to be -- up to that instant it's not clear if there's going to be a combat at all.  Then the tension breaks and everybody scrambles to be as quick off the mark as possible -- from that nanosecond onward, everyone is In Combat, and all actions including Boosting need to be run through the initiative system.  I would never allow a player to try to back up time and claim he did something "just before" the moment broke -- that to my mind cheats the whole drama of a face-off moment.

So, if you want to allow people to be sure of being able to use a Boost at that uncertain First Moment of Combat that might be about to happen, it seems like the sorcerer needs to be able to "prep" a Boost and hold it, like a gunfighter unbuckling his revolver.

This seems justifiable in game terms -- if you're comfortable talking about the duration of an ability like Armour as "One Scene", I don't see why the duration of Boost couldn't be Next Meaningful Action.  Usually, that would be the next action that requires dice to be rolled.  The sorcerer is walking around with this big charge of potential energy around him somehow on hair trigger, and he can carefully do little things like stepping forward or talking or eating corn flakes without releasing it.  But the moment he launches into action, his concentration goes with it and the Boost hits, whether he likes it or not.  And if he doesn't use it within several minutes (One Scene), it grounds out and dissipates anyway.

Do you see anything wrong with that logic?

4. During combat itself, I know the rules say "one action" during combat, but I sometimes cut the player a bit of slack - usually I figure that a demon who's well-fed with its Need can keep the Boost burning for maybe another action or two.

Check.


colin

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Colin

I see what you're after. I think I'd be a bit of a hard-ass about the situation you're describing - the rubber's hit the road, and everyone's into that nanosecond you're describing, and yeah, if you want a Boost now, you just need to hope your demon is going to give it to you, or be committed to commanding it this round and getting it the second.

What I was (probably badly) trying to articulate in the other thread can be broken down as the following possibilities.

1. The demon is committed to protecting its master. Hence it will use Boost as its first action in a combat with fairly good judgment.

2. The demon is ready for a "Go" command from its master just prior to the explosive situation, and turns on the Boost so that it's active during the first round. This depends, I think, on whether both characters have enough lead-time or presence of mind to recognize that something is about to go down.

a) "We're entering the warehouse ... get ready with that Boost." "Roger that." This follows your next-significant-action logic.

or b) "Shit! We're surrounded! Go go go!" I might be the aforementioned hardass or I might call for a perception-type roll to see whether the demon gets the Boost up before anything else happens. Again, it depends on details of the immediate terrain and whether the demon was alert to danger at the time.

Best,
Ron