thread: 2007-08-24 : Poison'd errata and Q&A
On 2010-01-01, FireSoCold wrote:
Okay. So, that clears up the issue about GM Xs except for one little thing. Since this thread is mostly regarding the ashcan and not the ?first edition? printing; is the description of the Cruel Fortune: Accursing correct in the book as it is written? Specifically about the bit where the GM gets 2 Xs for every fight and that?s the only time you (as the GM) ever get Xs? Just want to clarify that one last bit on the Xs.
Moving on?
I?m still unclear about mob combat when there is an NPC side. Everything in the book seems clear cut and dry when one PC wishes to have a conflict with another PC, or even a PC versus a single NPC?the rules seem to work great. Fast, deadly, colorful, and narrative. However, when one side comprised of a unified PC crew goes up against any company/mob/ship consisting of NPCs?is gets a little hazy and I think I?m reading the rules wrong. This is how I understand it thus far: I?ll use The Dagger vs. The HMS Resolute as an example.
- Assuming my PCs choose to make The Dagger with no particular positive or negative characteristics. This means she is a two-masted, ship rigged, Bermuda sloop with 16 guns and a company of 80 salty dogs to crew her, which in turn equates to a profile of 8.
- Now let?s throw her against The Resolute per the example in the book: A three-masted warship with 22 guns and some where around 200 men on board. Profile: 11.
- The crew of The Dagger, lead by a PC captain with a brinksmanship of 6 and a profile of 4 along with five other PC crew members loyal to their new captain, decide it?s a good idea to charge The Resolute and preemptively end their worries by sending her to Davy Jones? locker. In terms of in-character decision making this sounds like a foolish idea, but when I look at the resulting battle wagged with the dice?It?s not a half bad plan.
- Pursuit begins and it?s a contest of PC captain vs. NPC captain. Since this is a ship to ship battle, I?m assuming that the profiles of the ships are compared to determine the dice I (the GM) will use for this fight.The Dagger?s 8 vs. The Resolute?s 11 profile makes for a difference of three which is added to my base of 6 fight dice.
- So I?m rolling 9 dice. My PC?s captain takes up his brinksmanship of 6 dice and hands one of these dice to each of the five PCs in his crew. This is ofcourse assuming that since the PC?s are manning the guns, crawling the rigging, loading weapons, and preparing to board, they along with their captain giving the orders constitute a ?side? where the NPC captain and his crew do the same. The non-captain PCs in turn each add another die to their hand and since they all collectively want to be rid of The Resolute they opt not to betray their good captain and roll their dice along with his. When all is said and done there are 11 dice rolled on the PC?s side against 9 dice on mine.
- Based on that, a pirate sloop going up against a better armed English warship has a greater than average chance of sinking her. Mind you if the PCs had decided to design The Dagger differently, they could?ve had a higher profile; offsetting the dice to 13 or even 14 against the GM?s 9. These odds are consistent in every phase of the battle vs. The Resolute because I?m not even factoring in the possibility that the PC?s captain can trump the NPCs even further by expending Xs.
If this is what you intended when you created this system, I?m totally cool with that! I like a cinematic feel to a pirate game and fictionally I can easily conceive how a smaller pirate vessel could overwhelm and sink an English warship provided the pirates where faster and able to make good use of increased maneuverability or capitalize on the weaknesses a larger ship has vs. a smaller one. I just want to make sure I understand how the rules work when my player group (who numbers in at least 6 besides myself) decides to deal with The Resolute or any ?PC side vs. NPC side? conflict for that matter. I felt like I missed something when I realized that a group of PCs could just go bitch slap the hell out of The Resolute with their starting Xs alone even before they repair The Dagger. I suppose I should just scale up The Resolute?s profile when dealing with a player group of this size. Between having Xs to spend and the ability for PC crew to ?aid? their captains with additional dice, PCs seem to have loads of advantages stacked against strictly NPC threats.
So, just to make sure I?ve got this right?.
Is there anything I screwed up in my example?
We?ve established that GM?s don?t have Xs to counteract any used by the PCs. But in PC mob vs. NPC mob fights, does the NPC captain have officers that he can give some of his fight dice to just as a PC captain hands out brinksmanship dice to his fellow PC mates? Is there anything NPCs have to offset PC advantages in fights?
One last question?
In a PC mob vs. NPC mob fight, only the PC captain spends his Xs on the dice, right? And at the end of the fight, only the PC captain gets awarded Xs for an advantageous victory. But if a non-captain PC decides to aid his captain by rolling into a fight, he looses all his Xs at the end of combat because he participated in the fight. How are non-captain Xs used in a mob fight? Why would a non-captain PC ever forfeit the 8 Xs he?s built up just to add ONE additional die to his sides fight if abstaining only meant keeping his 8 Xs and gaining an additional 2? Even if his character really wanted to join that fight, it seems like a piss poor player choice.
Vincent, I want to thank you in advance for weathering this deluge of questions. I know it?s a lot. But, I?ve been roleplaying for longer than I care to admit and I?ve run numerous successful campaigns in dozens RPGs. About six months ago I got interested in the ?Indie? style of RPG format and I?ve ever since been considering bringing something new to my players. I?ve picked up and read Poison?d, Sorcerer, The Mountain Witch, Cold City, and The Burning Wheel. Poison?d will be the first ?Indie RPG? experience my gaming group will have. I know my players and they?re going to need to understand the ambiguity of certain rule systems. This game is a bit different from the conventional stock they?re used to, but everyone?s exited to play. That?s the only reason I?m asking these questions so explicitly, because I know that?s how my players will come at me when the game kicks off. I just want to make sure I got it right. So, I appreciate your patience in fielding my questions.
Thanks,
~FSC
