[IAWA] Profiling approaches to the Owe List

Started by Ry, June 28, 2008, 09:32:28 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Ry

I'm very slowly working on a random generator to shake out consequences of a conflict.  One element of doing so is profiling player approaches to the owe list. 

Disclaimer: All these are approaches to a single conflict, not approaches to play as a whole.

Hyper players use the Owe list right away, as often as possible, regardless.
Aggressive players use the Owe list right away, only holding back in the first round if they're poised to go on the owe list.
Reactive players use the Owe List if their opponents have advantage dice over them.

Can anyone help me out with some more profiles?

Ben Lehman

Cautious players never use the owe list for dice.
Conservative players only use the owe list for dice if they're not crossing out the last instance of their name.
Very conservative players only use the we owe list for dice if it will not hurt their standing (i.e. their name appears twice in a row.)

yrs--
--Ben

Moreno R.

Hopeful players only use the owe list for dice at the last roll, if they are at disadvantage, hoping to get the advantage die anyway with a lucky second roll and saving their name on the list
Desperate players use the owe list from the first round only if there are at least "x" or bigger die size of difference between the rolls (for example, they don't do it going with a D8 D6 against a D10 D8. They do it going against a d12 d10 with a d6 d4 because the risk of losing in the first round is too great, and they need the second advantage die to win)
Ciao,
Moreno.

(Excuse my errors, English is not my native language. I'm Italian.)

Alan

I try to get my name on the Owe list twice before I use it. Then I use the low one and leave the high one so I have a chance to choose the Oracle for the next episode. After that, my strategy would be to alternate, earn, spend, earn, spend, etc.-- with the caveat that I only buy advantage die when the conflict is important to me. Sometimes, I'm happy to see where it takes me.

- Alan

A Writer's Blog: http://www.alanbarclay.com

Moreno R.

Quote from: Ryan Stoughton on June 28, 2008, 09:32:28 AM
Disclaimer: All these are approaches to a single conflict, not approaches to play as a whole.

Maybe this limits too much the available approaches.

For example: "never, ever, use the owe list", alone, it's not a sensible approach to the game. But if you look at the "big picture", it's a sound tactic to play "the underdog" in a single session, fighting a lot of losing conflicts only to get a lot of times in the owe list, with a disposable character, to get his name on the list enough times to have a lot of "ammo" to fight in the following sessions with other characters.

(I did a particular version of this, playing THE PAST of a character: let's call the character in an old age "A", when he is fighting to rebuild his fortune. The I played "B", the character some years before, when he did lose everything. "B" lost everything, it's already in the fiction, but it's assured that he will be "A" in the future. So I could play "B" losing every single conflict and getting really low on stats because even if it was killed, it would not have "stick" and he would be there again, as "A", in the following session, with half a dozen names on the owe list to use.....)

Another approach: wasting a name of the owe list anyway, no matter the rolls. Why? Because it was the first one, and you don't want to be forced to use that character again in the next session.
Ciao,
Moreno.

(Excuse my errors, English is not my native language. I'm Italian.)