[Poison'd] Ambitions and 2on1 fights
Michael Loy:
Yes: Michael. Even changed my sn ... I really haven't frequented the Forge much, so that was kind of a throwaway name.
Vincent doesn't really give much guidance on these things in the text (perhaps he'll jump in soon), but I figure it's at least a reasonable way to take an ambition like that.
- edit - Ah! He just did jump in.
Though honestly, I'd probably keep it relatively simple, since this is a pirate adventure tale (maybe Talking to people in port -> Rescuing old ex-pirate from a fortress -> Buying or coercing a map from him -> To the island!). You could probably achieve it in a couple of sessions (less if you already have the Leisure).
Still, I think Leisure is generally intended to be how the pirates achieve their more far-reaching ambitions - you can use it to literally buy access to things outside your normal reach. For a parallel example, how would you deal with the 'to fuck (here name the daughter or son of a man beyond your station)'? Port scenes, Leisure expenditure to gain access to high society, and etc.
I think you should generally have to work pretty hard for an ambition. Maybe not really hard, with all of them, but none in the book really strike me as easy to achieve, exactly.
For instance, the most straight-forward ambitions, like you mention, are targeting other PCs ... they're right there, easy access. However, PCs are also the most dangerous animals in the game, and crossing them is altogether bad news. I think it's telling that you can't have an ambition like "Kill Tom Reed, the ship's cook". You can want to kill anyone, but it's only ambitious if he's a PC or 'beyond your station'.
Still, this is all theoretical. If everyone's satisfied with the results of this particular quest for immortality, you're good. And hey, they've bought into this curse idea, which gives you plain permission to dick around with that a bit. Pretend this is Apocalypse World, and make a hard move. (c;
Wonder what happens if the captain's taken prisoner, on shore, by the King's men? Maybe the sea decides it wants him back?
Christoph Boeckle:
Hi guys
Vincent: arghl, of course I should have included that information. I looked at page 10 and decided we were having something dangerous, but not fighting. So Titus (Flint's player) rolled Devil and I rolled Ambition. This was for reaching the volcanic island.
Found the notes about the volcano!
We started with the idea that it'd be a Prize worth 6. I threw this together:
Profile 6 (since this was supposed to be a conflict just for Flint, and not the Dagger or the Crew, so I went 4 for the base, a nasty pirate already, then added some descriptors as if it were a Fortress),
It's securely positioned.
It has a grim reputation.
It's imposing.
It's lightly gunned (natural dangers, but not a massive downpour of lava).
Accursing & Disease thrown into the mix. It was as if I had spent four points for an exceptional opponent, and two points for the cruel fortunes (which adds up to six, as per the captain's wish, except the result was not leisure, but the fountain of youth).
Then we described how the ship arrived, how the three PC pirates tried to climb the slope. I had them roll some dice. I can't remember what! Probably Soul vs Devil. Two failed, only Flint managed to get to the top. I thought it would have been arbitrary to demand another roll ("roll till you fail!")
(This leads to a follow-up question: what's the Profile a Fortress good for if it doesn't have Brinkmanship? Or how do I calculate its Brinkmanship? Or how do I fight a Fortress, actually?)
Michael Loy:
I know a fortress works like a ship ... use its commander's Brinkmanship. Obviously not applicable here, so probably just determine Brinkmanship as if for a military commander?
Actually, maybe it'd be better to just use The Storm, and pretend it says The Arbitrary Natural Force (and use fortress rules instead of ship rules). Then it would just automatically escalate, which'd make as much sense for a volcano as it would for a storm.
As a personal note: Fire-Spewing Volcano = Fortress? I like that. Filed away for future use.
Christoph Boeckle:
Hi Michael
Sorry if it looks like I'm ignoring you. I actually have read and thought about your posts and appreciate your time spent helping me out. I'm not very talkative because I'd like to see what Vincent has to say before I go on with the discussion of the various points..
Cheers
lumpley:
So there's nothing in character creation that allows a player to say that their character knows where the fountain of youth is. "I search for the fountain of youth" is a statement of a goal, which you don't roll for, not a statement of an action, which you might.
"I search for the fountain of youth."
"Cool! You don't have any leads. What do you do? Where do you go? Who do you talk to? What's your plan?"
At this point, as GM, you haven't even confirmed that the fountain of youth exists, let alone where it is or how hard it will be to get to. All that is up to you; the player can't will it into existence or make a roll to find it.
If you decide that it does exist, I recommend that you make bargains and spending leisure the real barriers. Maybe you decide that there's some former sailor who has the map tattooed onto his scalp, right? Finding out about that guy means making bargains and spending leisure; meeting him means making more bargains and spending more leisure; getting him to shave his head means more. (Or I suppose NOW there's a fight, if they'd rather just take it from him.)
"So you've found out by spending all your leisure getting sailors drunk that there's this guy who knows something, but by all accounts he's retired to the monk's life in Spain. What do you do?"
As for the fountain itself, I wouldn't even make it a prize. I'd just make it a bargain with God or a bargain with the devil. God: "if you find my precious fountain of youth, win your way to it, and drink from it, I promise you eternal youth." The devil: "hey wanna cheat death? I made this fountain. Find it, drink from it, we'll talk."
-Vincent
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