[IAWA] Particular Strengths questions
Ry:
Quote from: lumpley on March 14, 2008, 04:52:35 AM
Particular strengths add a lot to the color and texture of the game without reaching very deep at all into its real functioning. Do what seems fun with them, case by case. They can't break the game.
OK, but what if I really, really seem to be using 2 Particular Strengths - i.e. Elemental Magic to make the Sword of Kings be all fiery. ? If I end up rolling 4 dice because I've got an extra particular strength, does that break the game?
Christoph Boeckle:
It hadn't occurred to me that particular strengths tended to throw characters out of the fiction, that's quite interesting.
Ryan, check out Vincent's reply number 5 in his first post, you only choose the dice for one particular strength, even if the fiction involves multiple ones.
DainXB:
In this thread
http://www.story-games.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=5328&page=2#Item_28
over on Story Games, there was some discussion of particular strengths. In my (incredibly wordy) 'virtual play' example, I had characters using multiple Particular Strength dice in conflicts, and Vincent in his reply did not say that doing so was wrong, so I have been presuming that it was OK (although self-defeating if you are trying to get on the Owe list with that conflict).
Admittedly, that was a side-note to the question I was asking and that Vincent was answering, so possibly he just missed it. Ryan, you were in that thread as well; that may be where you picked up the idea, too.
In another thread (which I can't seem to find now, dammit) there was the concept of negotiating dice-changes in mid-conflict. Below is the quote from Vincent that I pulled from that thread and pasted into my 'Notes about IaWA' file:
By default, you roll the same dice forward, with the winner of the last round adding an advantage die in this next round. If you want to do something else, you have to both agree to it - and either of you can end negotiation simply by demanding the default.
If you're like, "hey, instead of rolling this advantage die, how about I bring in my exorcism?" I'll be like "sure," every time. Easy - no particular strength is as good as an advantage die. But if you're like, "hey, in addition to rolling this advantage die, how about I also bring in my exorcism?" I'll be like, "pff. No."
Or maybe I'll be like, "okay, but I'm switching to directly with violence," and you'll be like, "sure," and so that's what we'll do." -- Vincent
By extrapolation from that, using two or more Particular Strengths at once could be a result of between-round negotiation. Using Ryan's example, going into round two, I come up with the idea "I use Elemental Magic to make the Sword of Kings blaze with fire." My opponent says "OK, but I'm switching 'Directly' to 'for Myself' now, since I'm in fear of my life from your flaming sword." and puts in a bigger die. Or he says "No, your sword blazes, but your dice don't change." (and neither do his) and we roll forward. Would that be legit?
Stacking up multiple powerful Particular Strengths makes it harder and harder to get on the Owe list in conflicts where you are strong, but there's something appealing about the idea of two characters, over the course of many chapters, becoming legendary near-demigods as they strive against one another. (Against one another because no one else is even a challenge, anymore. They can't get on the Owe list conflicting with 'lesser beings'. :) )
--
DainXB
lumpley:
The reason to not roll multiple particular strengths at once is that each additional die you roll reduces the value of the advantage die.
Two probably wouldn't do too much harm, but "roll at most one" is a prettier rule than "roll at most two."
-Vincent
Valvorik:
The answer to the first #3 puzzles me a bit.
You can use a PS to assist another character without being involved in a conflict? I thought a basic principle in IAWA was "no risk, no gain", in that you've got to be in a conflict to affect it and that you never add dice to someone else's rolls, you weigh in on their side.
I admit in a game using the draft rules I got annoyed when the GM brought in dice from an NPC not present as helping someone present, such that that NPC was indirectly influencing things but not subject to answering any challenge from my character or others in the conflict and thus not at risk.
Rob
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