Author Topic: Another Compel Question  (Read 1808 times)

Offline KnightKD

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Another Compel Question
« on: December 29, 2011, 05:23:22 PM »
Example 1:
Sheri has the the aspect "Spiritual State Department" meaning she's always looking for the diplomatic solution. In our last session the group had found a potential foe's hideout. Sheri wanted to knock on the front door and offer an alliance. Others in the group wanted to sneak up and attack. I compelled her aspect, offering her a fate point if she approached openly. She did (while the rest of the party waited in hiding as backup). After a couple social rolls the minions within the house told her to go away and come back when the boss was home.

Did she deserve the fate point?
My own thought is yes, because the action put her at potential risk, but the situation didn't worsen because of the compel, so technically her aspect didn't make things harder.

Example 2.
Rhapsody has the aspect "Solitary Hunter." While searching the city for the bad guys lair, she finds a promising lead. Instead of calling the rest of group, I compel her aspect and offer her a fate point if she investigates the dark ally alone. She does and gets jumped by several supernatural foes. Because she's a weretiger, she does alright against them, but there was obviously added danger from the encounter because she was alone.

In this example I think it's fairly obvious that she deserved the fate point. What I'm really asking is, Is this a good aspect for the group, since it means that Rhapsody will be doing things without the rest of the players on a semi-regular basis?

All thoughts appreciated

Offline Katarn

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Re: Another Compel Question
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2011, 05:48:23 PM »
Example 1.  Absolutely.  She followed the compel (which is technically the only requirement).  Provided she didn't try to weasel out of it, she definitely gets it- the fact there was risk only heightens the suspense.

Example 2.  Fate Point, obviously.  As a longtime D&D player, I am against consistently splitting up the party (it's just more time-consuming).  However, there's nothing wrong with doing it periodically.  Use in moderation, and if your party likes to do solo asides, be sure to give other PCs the opportunity to do so.

Offline computerking

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Re: Another Compel Question
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2011, 06:25:53 PM »
Hopefully one of the other characters has a complimentary Aspect like "Safety in Numbers" or "Born Leader" so you can compel that character to ride Rhapsody's ass about running off alone. Or perhaps amp up the opposition so that Rhapsody occasionally fails when she goes solo.

A final fun thing to do is run the scene, and if Rhapsody succeeds, run a scene with the others who (while waiting for Rhapsody) find out that the lead Rhapsody just ran down is a red herring or a potential ally, who Rhapsody just alienated.

Conflict is fun Roleplay!
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PS: %^#@ Orbius. This may or may not be relevant to the discussion, but whatever.

Offline sinker

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Re: Another Compel Question
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2011, 06:52:02 PM »
Example 1:
Did she deserve the fate point?
My own thought is yes, because the action put her at potential risk, but the situation didn't worsen because of the compel, so technically her aspect didn't make things harder.

If you want to give the compel more teeth then make it work behind the scenes. Work with the consequences of those actions. The baddie knows they are coming (or is at least aware of their existence). Amp up his interest in them. Maybe he starts sending goons around, or when they eventually bust down his door he has tailored some defenses specifically against them.

Example 2.
Rhapsody has the aspect "Solitary Hunter." While searching the city for the bad guys lair, she finds a promising lead. Instead of calling the rest of group, I compel her aspect and offer her a fate point if she investigates the dark ally alone. She does and gets jumped by several supernatural foes. Because she's a weretiger, she does alright against them, but there was obviously added danger from the encounter because she was alone.

In this example I think it's fairly obvious that she deserved the fate point. What I'm really asking is, Is this a good aspect for the group, since it means that Rhapsody will be doing things without the rest of the players on a semi-regular basis?

This one is a little harder to answer and is going to have to do with who you are as a GM and who your players are. Personally I'm good at working several groups at once, jumping back and forth at the right times, so that one group stays in suspense or spends some time planning while I'm working with the other group. And my players know me and know I'm coming back to them, so they don't worry about it either. Not everyone works like this though. The most important question I would ask is do you believe that you can work with this aspect while keeping the spotlight on all of the players? If so then that can be real fun, but if not then don't feel bad asking the player to include themselves a bit more. If it contributes to everyone's enjoyment of the game then there's no reason not to.

Hopefully one of the other characters has a complimentary Aspect like "Safety in Numbers" or "Born Leader" so you can compel that character to ride Rhapsody's ass about running off alone. Or perhaps amp up the opposition so that Rhapsody occasionally fails when she goes solo.

Personally I love this kind of thing, but again you have to know your players and know how they will handle this. I know for a fact that there are some of my players who believe so strongly in the party dynamic that they will refuse any sort of player conflict. I had a situation once where one player had pictures of another player meeting with a sworn enemy (he was being mind controlled which would have come out in the course of play). They had only known each other in game terms for a month or so and had only been through a few adventures, and yet the first player immediately turned down the possibility that the other was working with this enemy. It sucks, but you have to work around your players (or find new ones, which can be a harrowing task on it's own).

Offline noclue

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Re: Another Compel Question
« Reply #4 on: January 22, 2012, 06:53:06 AM »
Example 1: she gets the FP for accepting the compel. The more pertinent question is was it a good compel? From what you write she approached a bunch if minions and bested them in social combat. What was at stake had she lost?

Example 2: it's a great to have aspects that separate you from the rest of the group sometimes. Hopefully, the character also has reasons to be with the group as well. My "undiciplined sorcerer" was constantly going off by himself, righting wrongs, summoning Titania for a social conflict (she spanked me), releasing an elder trickster god from bondage...it drove my friend the "diligent student wizard" crazy. :)