Bloody Vs. Instead of Fight
Instead of using the Fight mechanic, I chose to have the conflict resolved with Bloody Vs. This felt a bit anti-climatic.
I was unprepared to drop into Fight, but in hindsight really wish I would’ve. Having a Fight running parallel to a Range and Cover could’ve increased the dramatic tension at the table – if paced properly. In addition, the death of Felix, one of Menas’ goals, was very anticlimactic.
Lady Gwen and My Daughter
Towards the end of the game, my daughter held up a sign saying “I’m bored and tired.” The session was winding down, so I hastened to the end.
That evening, in talking with Savannah about Lady Gwen, she said she wished her character could fight – after all that is one of the ways to interact with the system. I instructed her to have Lady Gwen demand to be taught archery.
Lady Gwen could be a much more active participant in combat if she relied more heavily on prayers. I believe the abstract Faith system may work against her. An idea I have is to create a handful of Prayer cards that she can reference during conflict.
Indivisible Action Sequences
When Savannah was thinking of what prayer to have Lady Gwen mutter, there was a suggestion to choose a lower obstacle prayer – Hinderance at Ob 4-6 – so she could get away and then immediately follow-up with another prayer to help Holden get away.
There are two problems that I see. First, the Hinderance prayer would’ve needed to have been muttered as part of the Speed vs. Speed test. We could’ve retconned this, but it didn’t feel like it would help.
Second, it felt like that would run contrary to “Let it Ride” principle. Namely, if we broke the narrative into steps, Lady Gwen and Holden have been cornered. The hinderance would apply to the test “We try to get away.”
Lady Gwen can use it to get away, but Holden has failed the test. He can’t get away. The next hinderance would need to be injected into the current state; Holden is now in a Fight with 3 bandits. Certainly the hinderance would aid Holden, but not directly in the escape.
Artha Awards
Given that we are playing with 5 players, two of them being under 18, I’ve altered the way we do Artha awards. If we have a humdrum session, I’ll award 2 Fate and 1 Persona to each character and then have the group choose a workhorse and Most Valuable Player (MVP 📖). Players can petition for more, but must make a strong case.
If the session seems to click, and players are in character, I’ll up the base award to 3 Fate and 2 Persona.
Does it create Artha bloat? Perhaps. Am I fully engaging the system? No. Are we enjoying ourselves? I hope so, because I know I am.
Asking the Table for Feedback
I am terrible at asking for feedback concerning my campaigns. I want to know if I’m engaging the players. I’m usually pretty bad about folding their back stories into the main story and instead prefer to let actions generate reactions and fold those reactions back into the story.
So players that are reading this, what could I do better? What do you want to see?