Blocks vs sight & hearing

[Ursine Enigma]

Too much to throw in one attack?  I'm using Incite Effect: Darkness for it (think Grue from the web serial Worm).

If characters are Blind & Deaf as a taggable aspect, is it fair to then tag that as part of an Ambush action? 

This is a submerged level game with a Sposored Mage (Charon's Greywalker), a Focused Air Channelling Changeling, a gun crazy ex-cop & a mostly noncombatant Changeling skilled in Glamours.  I'm filling in as GM & frankly, 2 blasty mages throwing weapon 5 or 6 is hard to balance around without killing the not so blasty characters.  Hell, as a player I saw just one blasty Mage be a bit of a headache.  This seemed like a good way to level the field for at least one combat.

[UmbraLux]

If characters are Blind & Deaf as a taggable aspect, is it fair to then tag that as part of an Ambush action? 

They're certainly taggable as part of an attack.  It'll be situational, but I suspect using them as part of a Stealth Ambush would be difficult.  Going suddenly deaf and blind should be a big clue that someone who dislikes me is nearby...

I'd suggest using the aspects for compels instead anyway.  You're not going to use ranged attacks if you can't sense anything at range. 

[Ursine Enigma]

But when the mooks ( who can see) come at them in the darkness, that's the ambush reducing their defense. 

[UmbraLux]

Sure, and they may well tag/invoke those aspects to reflect their advantage. 

However your capitalization of "Ambush action" made me think you were discussing the Ambush trapping under Stealth.  It would only apply to the first recognizably hostile act...which is probably when things go dark. 

[Sanctaphrax]

However your capitalization of "Ambush action" made me think you were discussing the Ambush trapping under Stealth.  It would only apply to the first recognizably hostile act...

The book doesn't actually say that.

By my reading of Your Story you can actually ambush someone during a fight, as long as they don't expect you to attack them. Never occurred to me that that reading might be controversial until I read your post.

So yeah, I'd say you can tag the Aspect to boost an ambush.

[UmbraLux]

YS142;  "When you decide to strike, the victim gets one last Alertness roll to see if he notices something at the last moment. "  Emphasis added.   

All the prospective victim needs is to notice something going on.  This is a good thing (TM) in a game with no facing and many types of stealth.  There's no requirement to notice "you" - just something.  If he doesn't notice the something "you" get the advantage but that doesn't mean you need to track who notices whom individually.  That'd be a nightmare in any good sized battle. 

[Sanctaphrax]

I think that "something" means "something related to the attack". I mean, obviously there are plenty of things you could notice that have nothing to do with detecting an ambush.

And tracking who notices who in a big fight is easy. Everyone notices everyone, unless someone is hiding. If someone is hiding, use the hiding rules as though no fight was going on.