[DiTV] Is there a reason...

[Klaus_Welten]

... not to choose all Excellent and Big items?
... not to invoke Demons all the time to get all those free d10s?

[5niper9]

Hi Klaus,
there are reasons to act against these.
Excellent and big items are nice to add  some flavour, but if you overdo it you get a caricature. I always try to imagine characters in movies with these qualities (for example Rambo has a BIG knife or Excalibur is an EXCELLENT sword).

The free d10s are really nice and you should use them to all extend when they are in you repertiore, but sometimes the sorcerer have personal reasons not to do this. It's very situational.

Best,
René

[Brand_Robins]

I've noticed that my sorcerers tend not to invoke demons when all the Dogs are present and fully armed in the same room with them.

Maybe that's because of all the big excellent guns the Dogs carry?

Anyway, it does depend a lot on sorcerers and their relationships with demons. A crazy kill em all Manson sorcerer may just whip out demonic mojo every chance he gets. But a sorcerer based on a more subtle false doctrine may be less likely to go to the wall every time.

And as for the big excellent items, there's no real reason other than that townfolk might make fun of you. Like the scenes in every western ever where the too fancy guy from back east rides into town and all the cowboys start having a laugh about his big excellent hat.

[jburneko]

One of my players really, really got a kick out of having a crappy horse at d4.  Man, that poor animal.  It made for great chase scene later in play.

Jesse

[Noclue]

Yes. There are reasons.

You won't get a chance to have a dude with a crappy gun, or a Book of Life that's missing pages and the cover's falling off. And traits like "I'm an excellent shot - 2d4" are fun too. Don't forget to take a few of those.

As for demon dice, use them when you think they are appropriate and you'll have a fun evening. Use them all the time, in every conflict, and the game will go flat and you'll wonder why you didn't have fun.

[lumpley]

Klaus, as you may have noticed, this is kind of a nervy thing to ask. You set everyone to groping for reasons - but taken together the reasons don't really become a solid reason, right?

Here's what's going on:

If, as a player, you choose all big and excellent belongings, the game will go forward and be a lot of fun, and those big and excellent belongings will each contribute its unique character to play. If you choose all crap belongings, the game will go forward and be a lot of fun, and those crap belongings will each contribute its unique character to play. If you choose a mix of belongings, the game will go forward and be a lot of fun, and those mixed belongings will each contribute its unique character to play.

If, as GM, you always invoke demonic influence for those d10s, the game will go forward and be a lot of fun, and the constancy of those big dice will give play a certain quality and intensity. If instead you pick and choose when you'll invoke demonic influence for those d10s, the game will go forward and be a lot of fun, and the inconstancy of those big dice will give play a different quality and intensity.

There's no reason why you wouldn't choose to make all your stuff big and excellent, but also there's no reason why you would. Either works great. It's your choice.

There's no reason why you wouldn't choose to always invoke demonic influence, but also there's no reason why you would. Either works great. It's your choice.

My only advice here is this: if you don't want to do something, don't choose to do it. Since everything you can choose works great, choose to do the thing you want to do.

-Vincent

[Michael Pfaff]

Also, didn't you say in a podcast, Vincent, something about people with big and excellent guns wanting to USE those big and excellent guns - and so it's an interesting dynamic once you pit them against a moral dilemma like escalating to guns and getting all those big dice or giving in to your brother who might just not want his wife to sit at the table or whatever...

Sorry if that doesn't make sense. You said it much more elegantly.

Mike

[lumpley]

Sure, absolutely. Your choice of belongings matters just as much as how you rate them. A big and excellent gun contributes its unique character to the game; a big and excellent Book of Life contributes its different unique character to the game.

Ben Lehman likes to take "big, excellent mail" as a belonging, so that he gets 2d8 when he delivers a letter to someone.

Klaus, what do you think of all this? Is it making sense to you?

-Vincent