I was asked a question about what a character could do, asked in private, which I'm happy to answer in private.  But, we have a number of players here who might also have ideas which can help. If you have questions about something you're trying to do, we can talk it out as a group if you feel comfortable with that.  We can discuss things in ooc, so we don't tie up the action of the scene.

Also offering my apologies.  Several distractions of late.



Sophia walks beside the wagons, or ahead if not on an established roadway.  Do we have established roadways?  I'm not making any assumptions about the setting, so I'm afraid I have to ask the stupid questions...

We notice three bandits come from the front and two from behind.  They're humanoid figures.  Since no horses were mentioned, I'm assuming that the bandits are unmounted.  Is that correct?

Can you give us a bit more of a description of what we actually see?  Do they look like miitary?  Or are we taking Bandits to mean certain things, like disheveled, unruly, alrmed, etc.?


Aspects:
A Wagon In The Road
Trees and Underbrush
This message was last edited by the player at 18:40, Mon 19 Sept 2022.

Hi.  I the one that PM the GM.

I think the bandit are on horses.  I update my post as I asked if Saulas could effect the horse and GM kindly said yes he could panic the horse.  So that what he going to do.  If I understand this right it make it harder for them to hit up as they trying to control their houses as well.

I didn't see anything in the GM's post that said the bandits had horses.  However, we have horses.

It would be epically amusing if the GM thought you were talking about scaring our horses...  In which case, I'm glad I grabbed my bow first!

If I remember rightly we are following horse tracks? but I maybe wrong.

Sorry for the confusion. I didn't say specifically say they had horses, but that's a reasonable assumption, so I "yes and" it. I like to think of the game as a shared story, and I left things a bit vague so you guys could fill in details that you want.  I think I left it a bit too vague, that's my goof up. I'll detail the setting a little better in the IC thread, and I'll be sure to give a more detailed description in he future.

This thread, message #57:
Sophia walks beside the wagons or ahead if not on an established roadway.

I've revised my most recent post to clarify her position with respect to the wagons.


Thank-you for the updated description.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:26, Wed 21 Sept 2022.

I don't see any reason for Katerina to change what she'd posted... except maybe the intent.  Is she looking to cause bodily harm or to warn them to take us seriously?  Both are well served by her action!

Actually, if I'm reading the turn order, the order would look like this since we made our post after the GMs.

Bandits then Chiatracles, Saulas, Katerina, and Sophia, then Bandits

So Katerina would not know of the parliament. Either way, she's a soldier, mercy is for those that surrender.

I was offering the option. Sophia acts before Katerina, so if Katerina wanted to listen to Sophia, she could. She doesn't have to.

I think we're good to go for another GM post.

Sorry for posting so late. I was working overtime last week.

Don;t worry.  All Gm have day and even month when thing don't work and they cannot post.

Main thing is you don't give up on the game and do post when you can.

So of my best games have taken 6 month brakes then ran for few more years.  Just how thing are on this web site.

Stress

One of your options to mitigate the effect of a hit is to take stress.

The best way to understand stress is that it represents all the various reasons why you just barely avoid taking the full force of an attack. Maybe you twist away from the blow just right, or it looks bad but is really just a flesh wound, or you exhaust yourself diving out of the way at the last second.

Mentally, stress could mean that you just barely manage to mitigate some comment, or clamp down on an instinctive emotional reaction, or something like that. Stress boxes also represent a loss of momentum—you only have so many last-second saves in you before you’ve got to face the music.

Your stress boxes each have a shift value. By default, all characters get a 1-point and a 2-point box. You may get additional, higher-value stress boxes depending on some of your skills (usually Physique and Will). On your character sheet, you have a number of stress boxes that have different values.

When you take stress, check off a stress box with a value equal to or greater than shift value of the hit (and only that stress box). If there is no next available box, you’re taken out of the conflict.

Remember that you have two sets of stress boxes! One of these is for physical stress, the other for mental; you’ll start with a 1-shift and a 2-shift box in each of these. If you take stress from a physical source, you check off a physical stress box. If it’s a mental hit, check off a mental stress box.

After a conflict, when you get a minute to breathe, any stress boxes you checked off become available for your use again.

Consequences

The second option you have for mitigating a hit is taking a consequence. A consequence is more severe than stress—it represents some form of lasting injury or setback that you accrue from the conflict, something that’s going to be a problem for your character after the conflict is over.

Consequences come in three levels of severity—mild, moderate, and severe. Each one has a different shift value: two, four, and six respectively. On your character sheet, you have a number of available consequences, in this section:

When you use a consequence, you reduce the shift value of the attack by the shift value of the consequence. You can use more than one consequence at a time, and even combine the use of stress and consequences if they’re available.

However, there’s an additional penalty. When you use a consequence, your character also gains an aspect that represents the lasting effect incurred from the attack. The opponent who forced you to take a consequence gets a free invocation, and the aspect remains on your character sheet until you’ve recovered from that consequence. While it’s on your sheet, it gets treated like any other aspect, except because the slant on it is so negative, it’s far more likely to be used to your character’s detriment.

Unlike stress, consequences cannot be reused until you’ve recovered from them, which may be long after the conflict is over. Also unlike stress, you only have one set of consequences; there aren’t specific slots for physical versus mental consequences. This means that, if you have to take a minor consequence to reduce a mental hit and your minor consequence slot is already filled with a physical consequence, you’re out of luck! You’re going to have to use a moderate or severe consequence to absorb that it (assuming you have on left).

Still, it’s better than being taken out, right?

Naming a Consequence

Here are some guidelines for choosing what to name a consequence:

Mild consequences don’t require immediate medical attention. They hurt, and they may present an inconvenience, but they aren’t going to force you into a lot of bed rest. On the mental side, mild consequences express things like small social gaffes or changes in your surface emotions. Examples: Black Eye, Bruised Hand, Winded, Flustered, Cranky, Temporarily Blinded.

Moderate consequences represent fairly serious impairments that require dedicated effort toward recovery (including medical attention). On the mental side, they express things like damage to your reputation or emotional problems that you can’t just shrug off with an apology and a good night’s sleep. Examples: Deep Cut, First Degree Burn, Exhausted, Drunk, Terrified.

Severe consequences go straight to the emergency room (or whatever the equivalent is in your game)—they’re extremely nasty and prevent you from doing a lot of things, and will lay you out for a while. On the mental side, they express things like serious trauma or relationship-changing harm. Examples: Second-Degree Burn, Compound Fracture, Guts Hanging Out, Crippling Shame, Trauma-Induced Phobia.

Recovering from a Consequence

In order to regain the use of a consequence, you have to recover from it. That requires two things—succeeding at an overcome action that allows you to justify recovery, and then waiting an appropriate amount of game time for that recovery to take place.

The action in question is basically an overcome action; the obstacle is the consequence that you took. If it’s a physical injury, then the action is some kind of medical treatment or first aid. For mental consequences, the action may involve therapy, counseling, or simply a night out with friends.

The difficulty for this obstacle is based on the shift value of the consequence. Mild is Fair (+2), moderate is Great (+4), and severe is Fantastic (+6). If you are trying to do the recovery action on yourself, it’s two steps harder.

Recovery for physical damage will use the lore skill, and a couple people have aspects and or stunts which can help.

With six damage, do I have any choice but to be taken out of the conflict? It's higher than the highest possible consequence, right?

Hi.

I am still getting my head round the rules for this.
However if I read this right I go straight to moderate Consequences with only taking +3 damage?
As you cannot seem use unused boxes to soak up the damage?

In reply to Chiatracles of Urcadia (msg # 70):

That is a bit of a text wall I left for you. I'll list out the options for your situation.

For Chiatracles

You could take a a 2 shift stress and a moderate (4 shift) consequence.

You could take a mild (2 shift), and a moderate (4 shift) consequence.

You could take a a severe (6 shift) consequence.

I recommend the first option because stress disappears after the combat. A moderate consequence will persist for a while, but we have healers and magic which can speed up the healing.

For Saulas

You could take a 1 shift stress, and a Mild (2 shift) consequence

You could take a moderate (4 shift) consequence.

Again I recommend using stress first if you can.

A mild consequence could mean the attack hurt but didn't penetrate or it was only a minor cut. A moderate consequence means you were struck hard enough to need medical attention. A severe consequence means something like you could bleed out.

If you're in a combat and you think you will use up your stress and consequences, you can concede instead of defending, and you will have some control as to what happens. If you defend and are still taken out you're at the mercy of the enemy.

OK thanks for that.

That also make more sense.  So you can soak up 1 damage with 1 shift stress.

So yes:- I will take:-  "You could take a 1 shift stress, and a Mild (2 shift) consequence".

Second if I read the rules right.  If I am to heal this myself it is +4 to heal?
So I would have +3 and +2 toward it.

The reason I asking is I have post in mind but what make sure it fits with rules.
Once Saulas is healed he will turn his attention to Chiatracles
This message was lightly edited by the player at 15:15, Mon 10 Oct 2022.

In reply to Saulas of Britannia (msg # 73):

For full success in healing your own mild injury you would need to beat a great(4) difficulty on the lore roll. If you and Chiatracles take cafe of each other you can avoid the +2 difficulty.

You also always have the option of "conceding" the fight.  That's the "yeah, you win." approach.  The benefit to conceding is:

• You receive one fate-point for the concession plus a fate-point for every consequence you received in the conflict. (so... concede now and you'd get two fate-points for use later)...
• more importantly, you have a greater say in what the end of the conflict means for your character (like "left for dead on the battlefield" instead of "stripped and taken into camp in shackles"). 

This might be to our advantage since us being taken prisoner might well mean confirming whether they've got the children as prisoners, too...

Hey, GM!
Sophia was successful with the Arrow attack.   Was "Arrows At the Ready" used or do I still have a free invoke on that?

Now, if I read the scene correctly, Katerina blocked B1's attack, killed B2 & B3.  Sophia killed B4, and Saulas knocked B5 from his uncontrolled horse.  That would mean that B1 & B5 are still active.   B5 was "knocked from the horse" so is likely on the ground...
This message was last edited by the player at 03:25, Tue 11 Oct 2022.

The combat is over. Katerina killed the bandits in front, Sophia killed bandit 4, and Saulas took down bandit 5, but he didn't say he was going for a kill. If you choose you could interrogate him. Unfortunately it's too late to concede the fight at this point, and the tactical advantages didn't get used. These were just patrolling nameless guards who were pretty squishy enemies. There will be tougher enemies in the future who won't go down so easily.

Ah gotcha.  When Katerina knocked aside the first bandit's blow, she also killed him.  I missed that.

I wasn't actually suggesting we concede this fight.  I was simply advising that this is always a mechanical option in a conflict.  Sometimes, you just don't want to take more shifts of stress.

Ohhhhhh, I can both take stress and a consequence? Okay, let's take 2 stress and a moderate consequence, then. Do I decide what consequence, or is that the GM's job? It'd reasonably be something like "deep sword wound"...

Depends if it sounds thematic enough. Like Burnt Leg or Broken Ribs

For yours, I'd say you should be given Deep Gash

I'm sorry that I've been silent.  I'll post something this weekend