[SS / TWoN] Mechanics questions

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Eero Tuovinen:
Sure thing, let's look at your examples.

Your example is a bit incomplete in that we don't know why the SG is introducing the temple guards. There are essentially two legit reasons: either the SG wants to start a new scene with a bang right after the Refresh (either a "you fight guards" scene or "you wake up in jail" scene, doesn't matter), or he wants to bring in a chance at a Vigor refresh via a harmless tavern brawl. So if the guards are boisterous comic drunks Conan bests with ease (perhaps a simple unresisted Ability check, failure signifying that Conan is bested himself, but to no ill effect), then that's just a typical Vigor refreshing scene.

The third and more insidious motivation here would be that the SG wants to ruin the refresh scene by sending in a dangerous complication. This is not what refresh scenes are for: once a player requests a refresh scene, the SG is obligated to provide one (unless there is an outstanding situation going on mandating the character's attention), and once the scene is under way, he's obligated to not ruin it as a refresh by bringing in serious threats. Either the refresh finishes before the guards arrive, or the guards are not a serious threat, but rather a part of the refresh tableau. If the SG is intent on springing the guards, he should tell the player that he can't have a refresh because guards are hunting Conan, and in fact when Conan is at the tavern that night, guards arrive, looking for him... in other words, give an adventure scene instead of refresh.

In general, the activity of fighting does not disqualify a refresh per se, or even the act of making an Ability check. Only once your situation is so serious as to engage the conflict resolution system and set serious stakes will the situation be clearly inappropriate for a refresh. Note the distinction between task and conflict resolution here: we can resolve tasks in a refresh scene, such as the non-consequential dueling that happens at the beginning of a He-Man episode; once the characters start to really care and consequences start flying, though, it's obvious that the scene is not a refresh. The SG should not instigate this change in the nature of the scene, but sometimes players do: two players declare that they want their characters to make out, but then an argument breaks out and it so happens that the scene evolves into high drama, instead. The same goes for PCs interacting with NPCs, of course; the players don't always realize the hidden tensions in the scenes they go for, and thus a scene intended as a refresh might prove to be something else entirely.

Aetius:
Ok, Eero, sorry for the unspecified thing. In my head was obvious that the guards aren't here to negate the refresh, but evidently I failed somewhere to write it :-P

You confirmed some of my thoughts of these days (down to the "Ehi, we can call this easy fight a Vigor refresh, right?" thing) and clarified even more the topic of the thread for me, thank you very much ^^

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