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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: fantazero on February 27, 2012, 03:30:54 PM
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How often do you/or a player
Make Compels
Make Declarations
Have inter-party Social/Mental/Physical Conflicts?
Law break?
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Compels? Many times. Probably 2-4 times per character per session, with another 1-3 group-wide Compels based on campaign aspects or situational things that affect everyone. My players' self-Compels are included in there, but most Compels are started by me.
Declarations? Between 0-3 total all session. And most of the time they're the answers to questions my players ask me. "Is there a back window I could get in?" and then I say "Spend a FP or make a roll and there is."
I have yet to have a conflict between PCs that had to go to the game mechanics. They've had conflicts, but it was solved through RP alone or OOC discussion.
I don't have any wizards in my group, so Lawbreaking doesn't apply. Even so, they generally seem to try to keep human opponents alive (rock salt/beanbag rounds, leg shots, beatdowns vs. outright murder). They're not superheroes but they save the ultraviolence for the monsters.
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Declarations? Between 0-3 total all session. And most of the time they're the answers to questions my players ask me. "Is there a back window I could get in?" and then I say "Spend a FP or make a roll and there is."
I go one step further to promote a more engaged storytelling experience. When the players ask, "Is there a back window I could get in?" I respond with something like, "I dunno, is there?" and nod to their FP cup. Perhaps it's not so important a situation and they "Investigate" it. Most of the time, though, it gets them to shift gears and come back with "It's a good thing I checked behind that shrub and found the underused basement window that I couldn't see when I first approached," and throw a fate point accross the table at me.
I have yet to have a conflict between PCs that had to go to the game mechanics. They've had conflicts, but it was solved through RP alone or OOC discussion.
My preferred method, too. In my games, the mental stress track is generally reserved for supernatural or magical interference and social is more for courtly situations.
... they generally seem to try to keep human opponents alive (rock salt/beanbag rounds, leg shots, beatdowns vs. outright murder). They're not superheroes but they save the ultraviolence for the monsters.
That's great! I always appreciate it when I have a group like this. It's far more fun, for me, to run a game of songworthy heroes than to arbitrate peoples' violent fantasies.
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How often do you/or a player
Make Compels
About 2-3 times per session. I'm always a little worried that I'm not compelling enough, but it always seems to work out.
Make Declarations
Yeah, with us, these things are usually along the lines of, "Is there a way I can get in?" "Sure, what'd you have in mind?"
Have inter-party Social/Mental/Physical Conflicts?
Social stuff's typically covered by RP, Mental haven't had anything, and physical only once (The party tank got some bad juju dumped on her, and ended up basically replacing the boss battle that I'd originally had in mind. The party generally agreed it was pretty awesome.)
Law break?
I've yet to throw anything at the party that was non-human, but that's about to change, and it should be interesting to see how they handle it.
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Make Compels
2-3 times per scene. I like to keep things lively.
Make Declarations
Once or twice per scene. It should be noted that we really only make declarations (I.E. the mechanical function) when it has a direct benefit to the character. If my players just want to add details to the scene then there's no reason to stop them.
Have inter-party Social/Mental/Physical Conflicts?
Almost never. My local group has been gaming together for 10-20 years though (depending on which member we're talking about) so we all have a fair expectation of how each of us behaves. No one's terribly surprised when disagreements pop up and we're quick to find a solution outside of the game.
Law break?
I would look at the underlying question here. We don't necessarily break the laws often because we aren't always mortal spellcasters. There are several of us who regularly draw on that kind of drama though, who like the dark side and playing with that line.
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How often do you/or a player
Make Compels
Usually a lot when the story starts to stall or when starting a new session. Once the group starts getting a plan underway I find I need to compel considerably less (or not at all).
Make Declarations
Constantly. I find that (as I mentioned above) encouraging players to declare as often as possible makes them start to imagine/visualize the scene and stay engaged. It also makes for a better story.
Law break?
The first time I had a mortal wizard in the game, I made the first encounters against non-human opponents. It wasn't until he had been warned of the laws that human opponents started becoming likely. The warden who warned him about losing his head was so convincing and scary that he was ever-vigilant from then on.
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Compel?
Self-Compel i think at least once per scene, up to 3.
As a GM i try to get to the more or less the same numbers. 2 compels per scene should be a minimum but sometimes it's hard in the mist of things...
Declare
Depends how much the GM is willing to improvise. In general, a lot
Inter party conflict
Didn't happen until now but i would have no problem with that (burning wheel mindset)
law break
didn't occur until now
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How often do you/or a player
Make Compels
Make Declarations
Have inter-party Social/Mental/Physical Conflicts?
Law break?
From a player's perspective-
Take Compels: I've only bought off about 3 in the long term game I'm in that we've been playing since we got the books (well over a year). I think our game needs a few more compels per character each session in fact. (self and GM related) I self compel a bit less than I should also, mainly because I'm afraid of bogging down the game by constantly trying to get another fate point and seeing if the compel is contested by the GM. Dunno if it would happen, but I'd rather not have it become an issue. That's a personal issue our group needs to work on.
Make Declarations: As needed. More the longer I play the game and get used to the idea. At present I'd say between 2-3 a game, meanwhile I maneuver about double that....roughly.
Inter-party conflict: Social - all the time - always handled through roleplay. Mental - none since we lost the White Court PC. Physical - about once every other or every two games; much less lately. We strictly roleplay our characters and often knock each other around when speaking doesn't get the job done. It happens less the more our characters mature and the threats grow greater.
Law Break: Only law broken so far: was seeking outside lore and that was 90% plot device, only one character suffers from that due to a roleplaying situation where he chose to go farther than the rest of us...awarding him the permanent change to his sheet. Awside from that we don't break laws of magic.
Grey areas though....
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Inter-party conflict: Social - all the time - always handled through roleplay. Mental - none since we lost the White Court PC. Physical - about once every other or every two games; much less lately. We strictly roleplay our characters and often knock each other around when speaking doesn't get the job done. It happens less the more our characters mature and the threats grow greater.
Grey areas though....
Why don't you use the social conflict system? You can still roleplay all your stuff but you have a rules solution to get moving and not bock down play. Also the social characters get a few more bang for their buck.
(again, i am coming from a burning wheel perspective here)
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Why don't you use the social conflict system? You can still roleplay all your stuff but you have a rules solution to get moving and not bock down play. Also the social characters get a few more bang for their buck.
(again, i am coming from a burning wheel perspective here)
It's been my experience that any dice rolling tends to slow things down. Any fight I've had in freeform roleplays tends to be done a lot quicker (30-minutes for, say, a 5-on-5 scuffle), while fights in Dresden tend to take an hour or more, since in addition to deciding what to do, everyone has to figure out the mechanics of it.
And my groups are composed of mainly freeform gamers, who're just more comfortable acting out the social situations than rolling dice for it.
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It's been my experience that any dice rolling tends to slow things down. Any fight I've had in freeform roleplays tends to be done a lot quicker (30-minutes for, say, a 5-on-5 scuffle), while fights in Dresden tend to take an hour or more, since in addition to deciding what to do, everyone has to figure out the mechanics of it.
And my groups are composed of mainly freeform gamers, who're just more comfortable acting out the social situations than rolling dice for it.
Worded more eloquently than I would have done.
Exactly my sentiments.
EDIT: point of fact - 3 does not belong in the word Worde(3)d.
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It's been my experience that any dice rolling tends to slow things down. Any fight I've had in freeform roleplays tends to be done a lot quicker (30-minutes for, say, a 5-on-5 scuffle), while fights in Dresden tend to take an hour or more, since in addition to deciding what to do, everyone has to figure out the mechanics of it.
And my groups are composed of mainly freeform gamers, who're just more comfortable acting out the social situations than rolling dice for it.
Then why put points into the social skills?
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Then why put points into the social skills?
Generally the GM in my games takes them into account, just without the rolls, but admittedly they do end up considerably lower than the physical and mental skills.
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Again, Mr. Death's answer is pretty close to mine but...
Also, some powers require them.
Also, sometimes you can gloss over situations like convincing unimportant NPC's (security guards, store clerks, etc with a quick. (I explain I'm in a hurry to the guy giving me a speeding ticket, or I intimidate the security guard - insert quick roll - game moves on seemlessly)
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Make Compels
As often as I can make it interesting. A lot. Some sessions have been almost nothing but handing out Fate Points to fuel the awesomeness that was going on :P
If it makes for a more interesting game (my players wishes are interpreted by me through their aspects, so), then I offer Fate Points.
Make Declarations
Annoyingly, almost never. I'm trying to get the players to utilize it, but it seems only one player "gets" the concept.
Have inter-party Social/Mental/Physical Conflicts?
None yet. It'll come though.
Never run a long-term campaign where there wasn't at least one conflict in-party where someone needed a good beatin'/talkin' to/mind control ;)
D&D and WoD both make such things all too tempting :)
Thankfully, with the right players it can be a blast!
Lawbreak?
Hasn't come up either. No mortal spellcasters IMC and main enemy is Red Court anyway, so it hasn't been much of an issue.
And considering that (if I ever get to play *sigh*) want Cassandra's Tears more than any other power, I don't think any character I'd play would get there anytime soon.
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I self compel a bit less than I should also, mainly because I'm afraid of bogging down the game by constantly trying to get another fate point and seeing if the compel is contested by the GM. Dunno if it would happen, but I'd rather not have it become an issue. That's a personal issue our group needs to work on.
You shouldn't really need to worry about this. The only thing the GM can contest about a self-compel is whether or not it deserves a fate point, the action itself occurs because you want it to. So self-compel and then ask for the fate point later, then you can worry about whether it's contested or not.
Annoyingly, almost never. I'm trying to get the players to utilize it, but it seems only one player "gets" the concept.
This seems bizarre to me. Most of the time the second one player gets the concept of skill declarations all of the other players jump right in to something that is clearly designed to give them an advantage. Have you talked to them about it?
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Wow, I'm surprised. @admiralducksauce @sinker @CottbusFiles @Harboe and others, how you manage to do so many compels? Can you give some examples? An example scene with compels listed would be great. I'm gonna search in this forum's archives in the meantime.
I must be misunderstanding compels. Right now I'm using them mostly to lure characters into action and that's not needed very often.
Do you use many compels mid-battle?
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Don't forget about self-compels; if your characters don't need to be "lured" into action, chances are they're playing to their aspects anyway and might deserve a fate point.
As for compels during battle, I don't do them terribly often; more often I have enemies invoke something for the +2 against a PC, or set up compels at the start of a scene to last throughout (compelling "Narrow Walkways" to keep an acrobat from dodging with Athletics for the duration) or to make the first round interesting (Compelling a psychic's "I Know Before You Do" to throw her into the path of an ambush attack meant for someone else).
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Wow, I'm surprised. @admiralducksauce @sinker @CottbusFiles @Harboe and others, how you manage to do so many compels? Can you give some examples? An example scene with compels listed would be great. I'm gonna search in this forum's archives in the meantime.
I must be misunderstanding compels. Right now I'm using them mostly to lure characters into action and that's not needed very often.
Do you use many compels mid-battle?
I get a lot of mileage out of group Compels based on campaign themes, actually. "You're On Your Own" has been printing FPs for my players ever since the start of my campaign - cops are abusive and unbelieving, the PCs don't have a support structure, and they're all basically outlaws. Each adventure leaves one more city they can't go back to. One PC is a compulsive thief, and he self-compels really well. Plus, it's easy to Compel him for selfish ends (although he refuses most of these Compels). Another PC has "Driven By Redemption" - it's always there to throw a monkey wrench into the "default" player thinking of "let's kill them all and take their stuff". But generally I end up coming up with a shitty situation or twist of the plot knife, THEN figure out how to Compel each PC. Sure, some of those Compels are more appropriate to some PCs than others, but at the very basic level, most everyone has an Aspect relating to helping out their friends or getting in over their heads. All I need is a good Compel on one PC and I can chain that into Compels for just about everyone else to drag them along on the misbehavior.
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How often do you/or a player
Make Compels
Make Declarations
Have inter-party Social/Mental/Physical Conflicts?
Law break?
Compels- in the exposition, vague plot guidance, tbh my group does more self-compels (mainly because I forget sometimes).
Declarations- fairly often, they're great for roll-boosting.
Inter-party- Depends on the group. The players on site I've played with do it mostly during exposition, and very rarely afterwards. My IRL group knows each other well and do it much more often :D
Law break- Rarely, if ever. Most people don't build their class with room to allow it.
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Wow, I'm surprised. [...]@Harboe [...] how you manage to do so many compels?
Whenever there's a lull in the action, I mentally run through a list of whatever aspects they have that I can remember and try to compel the most interesting ones.
Having a member in the group who has "Peacekeeper" and another with "Drawn to Battle" has led to some great moments.
Also, when I write the adventure, I try to add in notes saying "here, you could compel X using Aspect Y for some fun results."
I'm of the opinion that, much like the spice on Arrakis, the Fate Points must flow.
Can you give some examples?
When the PCs (more or less) had to defeat a particular ice giant, I compelled the honourable nature (I forget the name of the aspect) of one character. The player got what I was trying to do and rather than have a big fight between everyone, he challenged the giant to a single combat, using only their swords.
It led to an awesome fight, by the way with (IIRC) a total of 16FP having been spent during that scene (a couple previous to the fight, most during).
When the Red Court and the White Council were scheduled to meet to discuss a truce, a (self-)compel on one characters Peacekeeper and the others Drawn to Battle led to a great in-character discussion of whether they should try to help the peace talks (saving innocent lives in the process) or try to sabotage them (so that their own personal vendetta against the Red Court wouldn't be squashed by the, now, full attention of the local Red Courts).
I must be misunderstanding compels. Right now I'm using them mostly to lure characters into action and that's not needed very often.
I think it's the intent that characters should be lured into action or inconvenienced by compels. I see it as a "Take an awesome point for moving the game in the right direction" deal.
I'll compel for:
- Stuff that complicates matters.
- Things that makes things more interesting.
- Things that are awesome.
- To keep the game moving.
Do you use many compels mid-battle?
No.
It hasn't really come up, to be honest. Our resident mass-murderer is perfectly happy killing things. Our resident Believer/Knight is mostly trying to stay alive and destroy the occasional Red Court (but never without provocation) and our weremonkey mostly just annoys and disorients enemies in combat.
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Make Compels
About as often as the GM does, or maybe once or twice more per session. I don't want to give a GM more work than he wants to and how often the GM compels is a good indication on how much work they want.
Make Declarations
Quite often; A couple times per scene at least, without counting rituals.
Have inter-party Social/Mental/Physical Conflicts?
Once or twice per session/adventure/major campaign part.
Law break?
Over 100 times during the longest campaign I'm still playing in, not counting behind-the-scenes stuff and routines. :o
What? If nobody ever broke the laws, there wouldn't be any need for laws to begin with. Besides, tentacles are fun!