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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Baron Hazard on October 01, 2012, 08:43:50 PM

Title: How to pay this compel?
Post by: Baron Hazard on October 01, 2012, 08:43:50 PM
So one of my character is the "True bearer or the Witching Cloak" his trouble is "I have what everyone wants"

So in a session where his trouble is more or less the plot and you have hitters constantly crawling out of the woodwork or what have you. How would you pay that compel? every scene? or every hitter? lets say a WCV and RCV both working seperately make a grab at the same time. would you say that is two plot points or one? What if they come back later, after a couple of scenes of downtime. New compel? or same compel?

Thanks!
Title: Re: How to pay this compel?
Post by: PirateJack on October 02, 2012, 12:51:42 PM
I'd pay it per scene.

What you're essentially paying him for is the conflict his trouble starts, and the two hitmen are basically part of the same conflict.

Aside from that it's a matter of balance. One of my characters has the 'Insufferable Genius' Trouble, which he plays to a fault (though he will regret it). Naturally this brings up a load of opportunities for compels on that aspect, but it would also mean overloading him with fate points pretty much every time he speaks. This is a bit unfair to the other players, so I've limited the compels on it to once per scene (though exceptional cases are excluded from this). This gives him a decent chance to build up fate points, but also means he's got a limited supply, and of course there are some scenes where he just doesn't get a chance to speak. :P
Title: Re: How to pay this compel?
Post by: Mr. Death on October 02, 2012, 02:25:30 PM
You have to be careful with that, though--it could easily lead to the player being swimming in fate points if the whole plot is spurred on by his Trouble.
Title: Re: How to pay this compel?
Post by: PirateJack on October 02, 2012, 06:54:54 PM
I level it out by making sure he has to spend a decent amount of fate points.
Title: Re: How to pay this compel?
Post by: Sanctaphrax on October 02, 2012, 08:18:36 PM
There's no rule.

So really, it's up to you.

Personally I'd Compel once per separate problem. A problem could be "you spend four scenes fending off assassination attempts by 10 semi-competent drug addicts" or it could be "a warlock assassin tosses a killing spell at you". As long as it's roughly as dangerous as the cost/benefit of one Compel warrants.
Title: Re: How to pay this compel?
Post by: Mr. Death on October 02, 2012, 08:42:47 PM
There's no rule.

So really, it's up to you.

Personally I'd Compel once per separate problem. A problem could be "you spend four scenes fending off assassination attempts by 10 semi-competent drug addicts" or it could be "a warlock assassin tosses a killing spell at you". As long as it's roughly as dangerous as the cost/benefit of one Compel warrants.
Yeah, I think that's how I'd play it too. The WCV and RCV's presence in the story is the compel, not each action they're taking.
Title: Re: How to pay this compel?
Post by: PirateJack on October 03, 2012, 12:52:54 PM
There's no rule.

So really, it's up to you.

Personally I'd Compel once per separate problem. A problem could be "you spend four scenes fending off assassination attempts by 10 semi-competent drug addicts" or it could be "a warlock assassin tosses a killing spell at you". As long as it's roughly as dangerous as the cost/benefit of one Compel warrants.

That sounds a decent way of doing it, I think I'll probably steal this method, if that's alright with you? :P
Title: Re: How to pay this compel?
Post by: Sanctaphrax on October 03, 2012, 10:03:22 PM
No it's not alright with me.

When I post about how I would play something, I expect everyone else to avoid ever playing like that again. My uniqueness demands it.

Even if you were going to do it that way before I posted anything, it's not okay.

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: How to pay this compel?
Post by: JDK002 on October 07, 2012, 08:00:30 PM
Another method you could use sparingly is to remember that just because it's one characters Trouble, doesn't mean other players can't be part of the compel.  In cases where his Trouble causes overt problems for the entire group, like all of them being jumped by Red Courts, you can easily justify giving a Fate Point to everyone.  Though again I stress to use that sparingly.  Giving everyone a FP right before a conflict due to forcing a conflict can cause the players to steam roll the opposition.