Topic: Story Tokens and Inspirations
Started by: Keiko
Started on: 3/22/2008
Board: Muse of Fire Games
On 3/22/2008 at 4:06am, Keiko wrote:
Story Tokens and Inspirations
A few questions
Story Tokens and Inspirations are granted to players, correct?
Can Inspirations be used to effect Dice that are otherwise too high for the character's Abilities?
For example, if I have an Inspiration of 3 and the highest Ability my character has is 4 while the Conflict I want to affect is 5 can I use that inspiration to lower it?
On 3/23/2008 at 2:25pm, 1of3 wrote:
Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
Keiko wrote:
Story Tokens and Inspirations are granted to players, correct?
Correct.
Can Inspirations be used to effect Dice that are otherwise too high for the character's Abilities?
Yes, they can.
On 3/24/2008 at 8:21pm, Keiko wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
Stefan wrote:Keiko wrote:
Story Tokens and Inspirations are granted to players, correct?
Correct.
Can Inspirations be used to effect Dice that are otherwise too high for the character's Abilities?
Yes, they can.
Thanks!
On 4/4/2008 at 1:41pm, Melinglor wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
Uh, no they can't. Sorry.
Page 25: "By spending an Inspiration a player may raise any one die to the value of the Inspiration."
Peace,
-Joel
On 4/4/2008 at 8:57pm, Keiko wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
So rolling a 6 is makes a conflict pretty much a done deal since no Abilities can be higher than 5?
My group is a bit hazy on what mechanics are “In game” (relate to the characters and their goals, personalities, etc) and which are “out of game” (relate to the player’s desires and metagame concerns)
Is this close?
Claiming is Out of Game, Character Motivation doesn’t have to be taken into account when Claiming
Staking is tied to Character motivations
Actions and becoming Allied is tied to character motivation
Second Question
Could someone explain the procedure for Resolving Conflicts (awarding Story tokens, Debt and inspiration, who narrates what) in Baby Steps™ We want to be sure we have it right.
On 4/5/2008 at 12:25pm, TonyLB wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
Keiko wrote:Correct.
Claiming is Out of Game, Character Motivation doesn’t have to be taken into account when Claiming
Keiko wrote: Staking is tied to Character motivationsCorrect.
Keiko wrote: Actions and becoming Allied is tied to character motivationNot ... not necessarily Actions and becoming allied is tied to the results of character action ... which may well be counter to character intention. It's totally possible for a character to, with the best of intentions, make things worse.
Goal: Dirk Diligent convinces the police chief that they should be allies
Dirk: Look Chief, I've simply got resources in the criminal underworld that the police need. I just want to help. (Uses "Sincere" to roll a die from 2 to 4)
Dirk's sidekick Hammy: Yeah ... like, you're not allowed to beat the truth out of people, and we do that all the time! (Uses "Say the exact wrong thing" to roll the die from 4 to 1).
Keiko wrote: Second QuestionAt the end of a page, if there is a claim on the winning side of a conflict then it resolves.
Could someone explain the procedure for Resolving Conflicts (awarding Story tokens, Debt and inspiration, who narrates what) in Baby Steps™ We want to be sure we have it right.
(1) The person who placed that claim ("the claimant") narrates how it resolves.
(2) Each player on the winning side distributes the debt they staked to people who were (at one point or another) allied with one of the losing sides.
(3) Each player on the losing side takes back twice the debt they staked on the same drive they staked it from
(4) The claimant matches dice between opposing sides.
(5) For each pair (or lone, unpairable die) the claimant writes up an inspiration equal to the difference between the value of the two dice (so a 5 matched with a 3 makes a 2 inspiration ... an unmatched 6 makes a 6 inspiration, etc.)
(6) The claimant takes all the inspirations where the high die in the pair is from the winning side
(7) The claimant distributes all other inspirations to someone on the side the high die comes from
Small enough steps, or should I break it down further?
On 4/8/2008 at 10:13pm, Keiko wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
Wow, that's great but just to make sure we have this right. What Inspirations would this set up generate?
Supporting 2 [Susie’s Player]
Opposing 1 [Aeon’s Player]
[Third side created by dice splitting] 3 [Shiv’s Player]
Assuming this was the arrangement when time came to Resolve this conflict? Can Shiv's player choose which dice he wants to pair up or this there some pre arranged order?
On 4/8/2008 at 11:42pm, Melinglor wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
Keiko wrote:
So rolling a 6 is makes a conflict pretty much a done deal since no Abilities can be higher than 5?
Don't forget that you can stake and split to get smaller dice, which yo can then roll up higher.
On 4/9/2008 at 4:03pm, Keiko wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
Melinglor wrote:Keiko wrote:
So rolling a 6 is makes a conflict pretty much a done deal since no Abilities can be higher than 5?
Don't forget that you can stake and split to get smaller dice, which yo can then roll up higher.
Could a player opposed to that side stake debt, split the dice and try to roll one of them down?
On 4/9/2008 at 4:04pm, Keiko wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
Oh and is it the highest die or the highest value on a conflict that determines what rating and Ability needs to affect it?
On 4/10/2008 at 2:04am, Melinglor wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
Whey you use an ability, you roll one die on the conflict. So you still can't roll a die that's a six. But which side of a conflict is ahead is determined by the sum of all the dice on that side.
So if you've got a six on your side, with a six on the other. You can stake 2 debt and create a 3 and a 3, then roll up one of the dice. Say you get a 5-now you're ahead 8-6! And the only way your opponent can beat you is to stake debt of his own.
Does that clear things up?
Peace,
-Joel
On 4/10/2008 at 4:50am, Keiko wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
Melinglor wrote:
Whey you use an ability, you roll one die on the conflict. So you still can't roll a die that's a six. But which side of a conflict is ahead is determined by the sum of all the dice on that side.
So if you've got a six on your side, with a six on the other. You can stake 2 debt and create a 3 and a 3, then roll up one of the dice. Say you get a 5-now you're ahead 8-6! And the only way your opponent can beat you is to stake debt of his own.
Does that clear things up?
Peace,
-Joel
As I understand you must use an Ability that is equal too or higher than highest die currently on the Conflict. So if one side is a 6 the Conflict is almost impossible to affect because Abilities have a maximum rating of 5.
So I wondering if a Player could stake Debt to split a 6 into two 3s then use an Ability rated at 3 or higher to attempt roll down one of the threes even further?
For example
The Conflict is rated
For 6
Against 1
My character's highest ability is 5 but I have allot of Debt and I need to get that 6 down. So I stake to Debt on the For side, split it into two 3 then attempt to roll down one of the 3s?
I realize is is a bit self defeating since I've given the For side the potential to get something higher than 6 (up to 12) but otherwise my character couldn't Affect the Conflict at all, right?
On 4/10/2008 at 12:22pm, TonyLB wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
Legally, you could do that ... but why would you? You've now created a situation where instead of being behind 1 to 6, you're behind 1 to 3+3. At best with a single roll, you're going to reduce that to being behind 1 to 3+1, which still loses ... and that's a one in six chance.
If you're going to bet on a one in six chance, why not just roll the 1 die, and hope to get a six and tie? Then you can split the die you're actually in favor of (the "against", in your example) into 3+3, and there's plenty of time to roll it up later.
Is there something I'm missing here?
On 4/10/2008 at 1:05pm, Keiko wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
TonyLB wrote:
Legally, you could do that ...
Ah thanks.
but why would you? You've now created a situation where instead of being behind 1 to 6, you're behind 1 to 3+3. At best with a single roll, you're going to reduce that to being behind 1 to 3+1, which still loses ... and that's a one in six chance.
If you're going to bet on a one in six chance, why not just roll the 1 die, and hope to get a six and tie? Then you can split the die you're actually in favor of (the "against", in your example) into 3+3, and there's plenty of time to roll it up later.
Is there something I'm missing here?
It’s a 2 in 6 chance of reducing the total since you could roll a 1 or 2 and that would drop that sides total to 4 and 5 respectively.
In this instance it was two players trying to use team work. One was going to split the die and try to roll it down a little on their Action and another was going to try to roll up the opposing side, possibly splitting it as well. I guess a Player could spend a Story Token for another Action or use another character to roll up the opposing side as well. Dropping the total gives greater chance of not only matching but actually beating the total if I’m reading things right.
As I understand, you need an Ability of 6 (or a 6 point Inspiration) to use on a Conflict with a value of 6 since the Ability has to be rated equal too and higher than the highest die on the Conflict? When you split the dice it drops the highest dice value to 3 so opens up many more Abilities to use in affecting the Conflict
Or am I totally screwy here?
On 4/10/2008 at 10:28pm, JohnUghrin wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
Keiko wrote:
Oh and is it the highest die or the highest value on a conflict that determines what rating and Ability needs to affect it?
Neither. Its the value of whatever die you want to affect.
So you could have a side with a 6 and a 1. To roll the 6, you'd need to split it first by staking debt. To roll the 1, well anything should work.
At least, that's how I've been playing it.
On 4/10/2008 at 10:47pm, JohnUghrin wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
Keiko wrote:
As I understand, you need an Ability of 6 (or a 6 point Inspiration) to use on a Conflict with a value of 6 since the Ability has to be rated equal too and higher than the highest die on the Conflict? When you split the dice it drops the highest dice value to 3 so opens up many more Abilities to use in affecting the Conflict
Or am I totally screwy here?
One die does not grant "protection" to other dice on the conflict. So, yes, you couldn't immediately affect the 6, but you could go right ahead and affect the 1 with any ability at all. Even if the 6 and 1 were on the same side, you could roll the 1.
In the situation you describe, your best bet would be to use an Inspiration on the 1, split that result with as much debt as possible and roll up one of the dice. You could even use an Inspiration after the roll if you like. (Assuming you have an Inspirations as well as debt lying around.)
So for example, your turn might go like this:
1) Starting with a lonely 1 die, use a 4 point Inspiration to make it a 4
2) Stake 4 debt to split the 4 die into four 1 dice. (1-1-1-1)
3) Roll one of the 1's (let's say you get a 3.) 1-1-1-3
4) Use a 3-point Inspiration on one of the 1's. 1-1-3-4
Now your side has a total of 8, and two 1's for potential allies to easily affect. This makes your side more inviting to other players, since they won't have to stake debt just to get in on the action (as they would with the 6.
Of course, all this is assuming I understand the rules correctly myself. :)
On 4/13/2008 at 1:35am, Keiko wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
JohnUghrin wrote:Keiko wrote:
Oh and is it the highest die or the highest value on a conflict that determines what rating and Ability needs to affect it?
Neither. Its the value of whatever die you want to affect.
So you could have a side with a 6 and a 1. To roll the 6, you'd need to split it first by staking debt. To roll the 1, well anything should work.
At least, that's how I've been playing it.
Looking again I see that you are right; I've been misreading it. Ain't a doofus.
On 4/13/2008 at 11:29pm, JohnUghrin wrote:
RE: Re: Story Tokens and Inspirations
Keiko wrote:
Looking again I see that you are right; I've been misreading it. Ain't a doofus.
Don't worry about it. My first time, I totally botched the rules for reactions (we were spending story tokens and inspirations all over the place.) Your question prompted me to reread the rules and I noticed a few more things that I had missed. Although, mercifully, these were sins of omission. "Oh, I didn't realize you could do that at the beginning of the scene."