Being Captured & Sincerity

[Don D.]

My wife and I have come up with our Master and the rest of the background but we had a couple questions about the rules...

1. Can you please explain the reasoning behind the capture occurring when Weariness > Reason?   Why is a capture more likely the lower the reason score is?  

2. Could someone explain when the Sincerity die is to be granted?  I can see it when dealing with connections but how can it be used when dealing with the Master? Or inanimate objects? Maybe and example or two would help me understand.

Thank you,
Don D.

[Eero Tuovinen]

1. Can you please explain the reasoning behind the capture occurring when Weariness > Reason?   Why is a capture more likely the lower the reason score is?  

It's not that Reason is lower, it's that Weariness is higher. That's sensible, as Reason doesn't actually change during the game - only Weariness climbs up, so it won't be sensible to think about Reason being high or low or anything - it just is.

When the character is weary enough, he doesn't care enough to resist capture. A situation he'd escape easily in a normal case will suddenly prove insurmountable.

There is no inherent reason for using Reason in the formula, as far as I know. It's primarily symbolic: when the influence of Weariness surpasses the influence of rationality, the story is seemingly stalled by getting captured.

2. Could someone explain when the Sincerity die is to be granted?  I can see it when dealing with connections but how can it be used when dealing with the Master? Or inanimate objects? Maybe and example or two would help me understand.

My take on the sincerity die is that it's used when the other dice are not enough to indicate approval of a choice the character made. That is, when the character acts in a particularly moral manner (whatever the moral), this is affirmed with a special die. This is what is meant by "It’s having influence over the outcome, rather than provoking it." The influence is over the other players, not over the action.

The other way to read the rules would have sincerity mean behaviour that breaks the social order. There is a certain balance between the Town, the Master and the Outsiders, and disrupting that balance is Sincerity. It doesn't matter how the balance is disrupted, just that we can never go back. This interpretation is largely in collusion with the above moral one, but is harder to explain to people.

There's no problem with inanimates in either case, as the definitions do not hinge on other people.

[Don D.]

"It's not that Reason is lower, it's that Weariness is higher. That's sensible, as Reason doesn't actually change during the game - only Weariness climbs up, so it won't be sensible to think about Reason being high or low or anything - it just is.  When the character is weary enough, he doesn't care enough to resist capture. A situation he'd escape easily in a normal case will suddenly prove insurmountable. "

      I think I am just not understanding what Reason represents.
      In our game we have set the Fear rating at 5 since the master is a noble, hate venting, and diabolical.  We have therefore set Reason at 3 hoping to show that the populous is superstitious, cowered & from a poor, backwater locale. (using the default 19th century eastern european town).  We see these people as having little control over what happens in the 'game environs' since they are so oppressed by the Master.  This being said, why would a minion be captured quicker in this environment than in a more influencial, 'reasonable' , moral town?
     How are Fear and Reason interconnected?  What would a high Fear, high Reason town look like?  Compared with a high Fear, low Reason town?

[Don D.]

"There's no problem with inanimates in either case, as the definitions do not hinge on other people."

But when are the dice rolled by a minion vs. an inantimate object?

Which die would be given in this situation...
"No master, please don't make me bring you her head, she is my friend, you wouldn't make me kill my own friend, you couldn't be that cruel..."  Would this be the desperation die or the sincerity die (since the minion is being desperate here but she is also being sincere (and moral) in her desire to protect her friend against the Master.

Could some people post some examples that have cropped up during play that would help me understand?

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

In a high-Reason environment, the townspeople would be less panicky and less likely to seize and mistreat a Minion without asking questions.

Your portrait of the town makes perfect sense - because Reason is low, the townspeople are more prone to sudden and hysterical actions.

Here are some older threads which directly or indirectly apply to your question:
Love, Fear, and Reason settings
My Life with Master rules question
"My Life with Master" demo at GenCon (this is the one in which your "what does Reason represent" question is answered)

As for your questions about the Sincerity die, I suggest that this rule is so unusual relative to most role-playing games that you might do well to let your brain work on it without seizing for an immediate answer.

Maybe this concept will help: if other people at the table react emotionally toward the player's role-playing, in such a way that they are on the Minion's side, then award the Sincerity die. You will have to keep your "emotional antennae" poised to perceive this kind of response, both toward the other people and toward yourself.

In other words, when you and the other folks are fully emotionally touched during play, during a conflict, then award the Sincerity die.

Best,
Ron

[Don D.]

Thank you very much, I get it now.