[Trollbabe] Going back over a scene

Started by Bret Gillan, July 24, 2012, 12:38:40 PM

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Bret Gillan

Hey Ron,

I had a question regarding this sentence on page 52 of Trollbabe.

QuoteIf you'd like, you can go back over that whole scene and beef up each roll with an extended Series of re-rolls within it, using re-roll items.

Does this mean that if you've failed three rolls in a roll in an Action by Action series, thereby failing the series, you could choose after the third Failure to try to go back to a previous roll? I realize that this isn't necessary, you could just re-roll the third roll and continue all the way to the end, but I'm trying to understand the significance of this statement and what exactly it means to go back over a scene with re-rolls.

Ron Edwards

Uh-oh ... we have to do a very thorough readjustment of your reader-perspective for that sentence. It's not describing a rule at all. It's talking to you as a reader, and how you can learn more from the example that was just provided in detail in pages 50-51. The words "go back" are talking simply to you in terms of "go back to page 50 and re-read the example with this alternative way for the player to have handled the situation."

To review the example: it shows a Fight conflict set at Action-by-Action Pace, hence requiring best three-out-of-five full successes for the trollbabe to achieve her goal. To make this point, I have the trollbabe take no re-rolls, just so I can focus on success vs. failure for each of the rolls. In this case, she fails three rolls in a row, so that fulfills the requirement for ending the conflict.

To repeat, the sentence you are quoting is not in any way a procedural rule regarding how to play the game. It is an instruction for the reader, to help you understand that the fundamental relationship between Pace and number of successful rolls is unchanged even if the player decides to make each one of those rolls more complicated with re-rolls.

Let me know if that helps or makes sense.

Best, Ron

Bret Gillan

That makes perfect sense. I took too much of a magnifying glass to the text at that point. Thanks!