Re: Rafters Pub (OOCs)
Yes, Disarming Smile requires a Hero Point.
The book is actually a bit wishy-washy on what a 'session' is. For the most part, it seems to mean a 'game session'. But that isn't defined either. In general, however, it would seem to mean each time the group of players get together. Based on the evolution of the game and the application during game conventions, I'd have to say that's meant as a 'four-hour session'. Players get together one evening a week and game from 6-10 or so (or 7-11). Even if they get together more than one night per week, each one is a 'session'.
There was a time when my gaming group got together on Sundays and gamed for 8-10 hours. In that case, I'd say it was 2 sessions back-to-back, perhaps breaking for supper being the delineator between the two sessions.
The 7th Sea book says a session is an Episode, but seems to define Episode as a 'game session'.
In other words, what they seem to be saying is that these 'once per session' abilities should be restricted to once each time your group gets together... a sort of 'one per customer' thing.
Obviously, this becomes problematical at best with online/PbP games. However, you could easily interpret an Episode as a Scene. Or, to qualify it a bit better, a Major Scene. Like the old movie and radio serials, each episode tended to be a limited event--set-up, derring-do, chase, cliff-hanger. Scenes weren't normally strung together... or, if they were, they weren't involved scenes. An adventurer might fly to Rio and then take a boat up the Amazon. A conversation on the plane, however, would only be a minor scene to establish some important plot information, but otherwise there wouldn't be any significant event/threat/danger/etc.
So, that's what I'll do for this game.
The current scene is two-fold: the Beast in the chandlery, and the confrontation in the tavern. When any of those characters change scenes, that's a new 'session' (provided the scene change is significantly different). Example: Vasily and Valentino could go to the chandlery, but unless something significant happens in the chandlery, it would only be a minor scene change.
How does that sound?