Hi,

I'm going to offer Poison'd this weekend in the Games on Demand room at Kapcon. One thing that's not clear to me is what happens when you strike a Bargain. On page 18, it says "The person you've bargained with, player or GM, should write the bargain down and hold your Soul as collateral, until you fulfill it."

What are the mechanical ramifications of holding someone's Soul as collateral? Can you give or withhold the Soul from success rolls?

If a pirate has struck multiple Bargains with different people, do they all hold his Soul as collateral?

And, out of interest, is there anything neat that people do to represent this 'collateral-holding' in the game's fiction?

Hi Steve,

Here's my gut talking, and it's pretty much the way I run Poison'd.

Absolutely, yes, withold those Soul dice.  They're yours, goddammit!  Oh, and some other scurvy sea dog says he's got a hold on a soul, and so do you?  Sounds like it might come to a fight...

We don't do anything special other than the actual emergent behaviours between debtor and debtee...which are pretty wild.

Cheers,
D

Mechanically:

Let's say that Pigfuck Dan (my guy) swore to protect Ned McCubbins (your guy) from being branded. Until Pigfuck Dan does protect Ned, you hold my soul as collateral. Mechanically, what that means is that you can withhold a number of dice equal to my soul stat from any one roll I make. It doesn't have to be a roll that includes soul, it can be any roll. When you withhold those dice, though, you've released me from my promise, same as if I'd fulfilled it.

-Vincent

Thank you for your kind and tolerant explanations, guys. I, of course, am an idiot - I was busy studying the second half of the book, and completely ignored the lucid, clearly-headed explanation of how Soul is used in Bargains that's in the character creation section.

I'm looking forward to seeing those behaviours emerge in play, Darcy.