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Isaac Karth
Grand Rapids
Michigan
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On page 106, when taking damage, after Consequences: "Mark this box and all boxes below it. If the highest box to be marked has already been marked, the damage "rolls up": mark the next higher box and all below it."
This sounds straightforward if you have, say, three marks already and take an attack that generates three shifts: XXXOO rolls up to become XXXXO. But what if you already have four marks, and you take that same three-shift attack? Does it roll up again?
As I read the rules, it's a bit ambiguous. The naive interpretation implies that it keeps rolling up, so a full stress track character can be taken out by a one-shift hit. Comparison with other FATE implementation leads me to believe that the intent might have been to limit it to one "roll up", though.
Am I completely off base? Did I miss a clarification elsewhere? How has everyone else been playing this?
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Shawn McCarthy
Canada
Winnipeg
Manitoba
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As I understand it, if everything up to that stress box is checked, it will fill the next one above - exactly as you're reading it. In your example that would mean filling the 4th box. If 4 are filled it would go to the 5th box. In that case, it's the Straw that Breaks the Camel's Back. It will still require a lot of small hits to Take Out a long stress track, especially if the target is willing to throw all their Consequences into soaking up the ticks.
In terms of description, at 4 of 5 on the Heat track the ship's alarms are screaming and cooling pumps are redlining trying to dump heat from the core. Another burn in that situation probably means blowing the engine or at least causing a fault so bad it will leave the ship drifting until repairs can be affected - you're out for the scene.
Or on a personal track, a filled 2 with the rest of the boxes open might be a lingering injury. Taking a 2-shift hit would be the slug gun scoring a hit on a thigh, adding to the preexisting sprained ankle you've been favoring since a bad fall. It wouldn't make sense to ignore the tick of prior damage by just filling in the first box.
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Brad Murray
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
http://www.vsca.ca/Hollowpoint
Hollowpoint is out! Be a bad man.
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Shawn has it -- hits on marked boxes roll up to the next free box.
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I explained the rules to our group today but I totally skipped this part for now (it was a LOT to take in with compels, invoking and scope. Scope is hard to explain, too, but I think I’ve got it by now).
Dreading that part…
I kinda like the rule but it’s yet another thing in an already crunchy game.
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arbmouser wrote: Diaspora is crunchy?! Since when?
I do not understand the question.
Since Fate was first published? Since Diaspora was published?
How can I phrase it so you understand.
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William Hostman
United States
Eagle River
Alaska
Gaming in Greater Anchorage area, Alaska since 1978. Looking for Indy-willing RPG players in Eagle River (or willing to drive to Eagle River). Geekmail me if interested.
Yes, this really is what I looked like when I uploaded that avatar. Not that it's quite current anymore.
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arbmouser wrote: 2097 wrote: Since Fate was first published? Since Diaspora was published?
How can I phrase it so you understand. I don't think you can, since neither FATE nor Diaspora are crunchy. It's very abstract and rules light compared to games like D&D or World of Darkness. Crunch would suggest a high degree of simulation that must be taken into account. For example, in D&D and other games you have to keep track of the weight you are carrying. There are specific distances that the character can walk, run, swim, etc. per turn, and there are the same specific ranges for weapons measured down to feet. There are tons of other examples I can give. If you think FATE games are crunchy, whoa are you gonna flip your lid when you play Pathfinder. lol
The rules for SOTC and Diaspora are VERY crunchy. Far heavier on the crunch than, say, Moldvay/Cook D&D.
In terms of page-count, word-count, and discrete number of mechanical definitions, both SOTC and Diaspora are crunchier than same-said Moldvay/Cook.
SOTC is definitely easier to get someone started on, but it's not "rules-light". Rules-Light is Barbarians of Lemuria...
Unlike D&D, however, SOTC and Diaspora are very much unified mechanical approach designs - the players won't be encountering the crunch nearly as often as in D&D. And SOTC and Diaspora are both highly modular, so some chunks won't get used often, if at all, by some groups.
I'd put SOTC about rules medium...
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arbmouser wrote: If you think FATE games are crunchy, whoa are you gonna flip your lid when you play Pathfinder. lol
I am aware that Pathfinder and other AD&D derivatives are more crunchy in some senses, not in all. I’d say that D&D basic (i.e. SOTU, S&W) can be less crunchy.
However, I’ve played (and made) games that are without a doubt less crunchy than Diaspora.
The specific example was that stress tracks (for a few reasons; maybe it’s worth it) work differently than boxes you just tick of, one per damage. This is harder to teach players than just ticking the boxes off.
And I’ve forgotten this rule everytime we’ve played. Even though this thread happened between my last session and the one before that, I still made the same mistake and just saw the stress tracks as “hit points”.
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