Aspect duration

[ARedthorn]

Simple enough one this time... How long does a fragile aspect last if unused? Does it fade at end of scene, or last until used, or somewhere situationally in between?

[Taran]

Only sticky's last until end of the scene.  In combat, I usually say one exchange, so if it doesn't get used, it goes away.

Outside of combat, I guess it depends how much an "exchange" lasts.

[TheMouse]

I usually figure that they last at least until that character's next action, otherwise a single character doesn't even get to take advantage of their own Maneuver.

Most of the time, I figure that the Aspect lasts as long as it makes sense. Got a guy in your sights? So long as neither of your moves around too much, and so long as no one tries to break the Aspect, I'd say it lasts for a bit.

[ARedthorn]

The specific example I'm thinking of... none of my players picked up much in the way of resources (only one of 5 players has a +1... just a weird oversight during creation that none of them have fixed)... and while I'm not going to punish them for it, it has from time to time made things more difficult (ie, they found other ways past an obstacle, but the direct route with a bribe or some such would've been easier).

One of them wants to start a session with a declaration/maneuver to say that he's been saving up and has an aspect <Emergency Savings>... something he'd rather not use, but has worked on building up just in case. Resources, difficulty 3 (base for unopposed maneuver) would require him a +2 on his roll... not easy, but possible. Since it's reasonable within the narrative, as well as being possible in the mechanics, I have no problem with it... but does he need to wait until the scene where he needs it to make that roll? It seems kind of odd that if he does it as prep work (which it is, since the saving up occurred during the 3-5 months of down time between games, and can't be refreshed once used), that the bank account would mysteriously cease to exist if not used within in the first few minutes of the game.

In this case, my judgement call would be that he can keep it... but I want to know if I'm opening the door for similar prep-actions breaking the game, or if the book had anything specific to say on it (I couldn't find it, and I figured it may have come up before).

[Masurao]

Of course, it's your decision, but I doubt this is what is intended with maneuvers. This sounds much more like a character aspect to me, than a temporary one created through a maneuver/declaration. And even if it was done like a maneuver, why make it an unopposed one? That money needs to come from somewhere. At least make it more difficult, because something unexpected might come up, or throw compels at him for that roll, I don't know... This just sounds a bit... too easy to me.

Perhaps an option would be for him to roll Resources against 3 and gets any shifts, he may save those shifts as his funds. Then he can use one shift for a +1 to a Resources roll at a later date. Only allow such a roll periodically and he can't make the same roll if he still has emergency savings left... On the other hand, if they are emergency savings, you could really limit his use of it. "What do you mean, you're gonna buy a flamethrower with that money? You might need it for next month's rent!"

Also, if he has +1 Resources and rolls +2 he only gets a fragile aspect, so he needs to use it ASAP, he needs at least one more shift of effect to get it sticky.

[sinker]

Most people will tell you that a fragile aspect only lasts a few exchanges at most, and here's the RAW behind that.

the aspect is considered
fragile—that is, it can only be tagged once
and then it goes away.

And,

A tag is subject to one key limitation: it must
occur almost immediately after the aspect has
been brought into play. Some minor delay is
acceptable, but should be avoided when possible.
At worst, a tag should happen sometime during
the scene in which it was established.

So those two things together would suggest that a fragile aspect lasts only an exchange or two. Here's the thing though this is all up to the GM. The GM may choose how long a fragile aspect sticks around based on however long they feel is appropriate.

For your specific example though, consider this.

Fragile aspects are usually
described as very momentary changes of circumstance—
if you use Guns as a maneuver to aim at
a target and you don’t get any shifts, you might
call that aspect A Quick Bead. When you
attack the target, you can tag it; but then you
lose your bead on him for some reason, like he
shifts position or slips behind cover or something
else.

So fragile aspects aren't really supposed to have permanence. Something like "I found some cash" is much more likely than "I've been carefully establishing an emergency fund over the past few months." Perhaps establishing an aspect that has such permanence may not be possible as a fragile aspect, and might require 4 shifts instead of 3.

[Sanctaphrax]

They last until the group forgets about them, in my view.

That's not a joke. Once it stops being relevant, you forget about it and it disappears.

I feel as though nailing things down any more firmly than that would cut off possibilities for no real gain.

I like the idea of emergency savings as an aspect. In order to balance it, you might require that the player only try to create such an aspect when he hasn't used his Resources to buy something that session.