Hello,
In this thread I asked about the mention of protagonists reaching a "crisis point" in Cold City, and if that was an endgame mechanic.
If, as a result of Consequences, two of the Attributes for a character reach zero, then they have reached a crisis point.
The paragraph continues that it's now time to start thinking about your protagonist's end, but as confirmed in the other thread there's no mechanics to back this up.
Now I have yet to play Cold City, so I'm not sure how often players end up at this "crisis point" of having two Attributes zeroed out. Could someone share their play experience on this topic?
I'm curious what it would do to Cold City to snag Dust Devil's endgame mechanics and call the very next conflict to use a zeroed out Attribute your protagonist's last? I'm a huge fan of endgame mechanics, as they can really drive play. Perhaps in Cold City you can use Trust through Betrayals as a means to prolong your end, thereby giving you players a choice of remaining loyal to friends, but having their protagonist exit the game, or betraying friends in order to stay in a little longer. Sounds at least like a fun experiment to me, what do you think?
TTFN,
Yoki
Sounds like a great idea to
Submitted by Adrian Price on Tue, 29/01/2008 - 19:06.
Sounds like a great idea to me - I had a bit of time today and got to thinking about your suggestion and came up with the idea of adding 'cold points' as well, which would work like chips in Dust Devils. It does complicate the purity of your take, but I like the shape of the result. (Warning: it's pretty long...)
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REVISED CRISIS
Any time 2 Attributes are reduced to 0 the player has to choose whether their character exits the game immediately after the current conflict, or after the next conflict that requires a character use an Attribute currently at 0, regardless of that conflict’s success or failure.
The character in Crisis gets to narrate the outcome of the conflict regardless of who won the conflict. If the Crisis comes about in the next conflict where the character needs to use a 0-rated Attribute, that Attribute is treated as fully-restored for the purposes of that conflict only, representing a final reserve of strength or spirit the character draws from.
If the character has any remaining cold points they may be spent to aid an ally or setup an enemy, described below.
COLD POINTS
Cold points are a player resource option additional to the usual Cold City rules, representing an accumulation of the numbing emotional cold of the cloak and dagger world, with betrayal and deceit hiding behind every action. Conversely, they can be spent to ‘come in from the cold’ for a brief respite.
Cold points are gained from:
• Complications from Negative Traits
Each time a negative Trait used in a conflict comes up as the high die a related complication results. In addition, the player gains 1 cold point.
Similarly, if a character’s negative Trait introduces significant complications for the character during play outside of a conflict, 1 cold point is gained.
• Being Betrayed
Each time a character’s Trust in another character is used to betray him or her, the character gains 1 cold point.
Cold points can be spent on the following:
• Reroll
Once per conflict a character can spend 1 cold point to reroll some or all of their dice pool.
• Initiate a Recovery Scene
In addition to regaining lost Attribute points after successful conflicts, a character can regain 1 lost Attribute point per cold point spent by initiating a recovery scene. The scene should not involve any conflicts and represents the character ‘coming in from the cold’ for a short while – possibly in the form of a flashback.
Once an Attribute has been reduced to 0, a recovery scene will not allow points to be restored to it.
• Avert Crisis
Before a character enters their Crisis conflict they can spend a cold point to temporarily avert the Crisis. Throughout the conflict their Attribute remains at 0, so the chances of success are slim, but they do not narrate their final Crisis scene.
As mentioned above, any cold points left over after a character has undergone their Crisis can be immediately spent to:
• Setup an Enemy
1 cold point can be spent to introduce a complication for another character based either on one of the target character’s negative Traits or on one of the Crisis character’s Traits. This nets the target character 1 cold point.
• Aid an Ally
Cold points can be spent on a one-for-one basis to restore another character’s lost Attribute points or to change a Trait from negative to positive. In this case, Attributes currently at 0 can be restored.
The player should narrate how their aid manifests, such as a dossier of information mailed after their character’s death. This may result in additional benefits beyond the restoration of Attributes.
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Any obvious problems/comments/tweaks?
Cheers,
Adrian
Interesting
Submitted by Malcolm Craig on Tue, 29/01/2008 - 23:49.
Some interesting and detailed proposals.
If I may, I'd like to add into the mix some text from Hot War which, as has been stated, is an evolution of the Cold City mechanics. In Hot War, I've changed Crisis Points and potential endgame scenario from Cold City. What follows may be useful to this discussion:
"Crisis Points
Whenever an attribute reaches zero for a PC or an NPC, this triggers a crisis point. Attributes can reach zero through a series of consequences or through a major failure consequences immediately dropping the attribute down to its lowest level. Crisis point have differing natures, according to the attribute that has been reduced.
When Action reaches zero, this means that the PC or NPC has suffered serious physical trauma, injury or perhaps even death.
When Influence reaches zero, this means that the PC or NPC has tipped over the edge into madness, catatonia, has lost their social abilities, willpower or some other serious mental injury.
When Reason reaches zero, this means that the PC or NPC has lost their reasoning ability, their intelligence or knowledge or has been pushed to a state of extreme confusion and self-doubt..
When a PC or NPC reaches a crisis point, the choices open to whoever is controlling the character depend on the nature of the crisis point. Action hitting zero may well indicate that the character has died as a result of violence meted out during a conflict. In the case of PCs, there is always the possibility to retire the character because of the crisis point. They might die, go irrevocably mad, become a drooling husk devoid of intelligence or many other options. If the character is to be retired, then the very next scene should take the form of an epilogue for the character. This epilogue is total under the control of the player who's character has suffered the crisis. They should tell the story of how the characters career with the SSG has ended in an appropriate fashion.
It might be the case that a player doesn't feel that the character is quite ready to be retired, that they have more to offer t the ongoing story. This is perfectly acceptable, but there are a few rules to follow.
Characters who have hit a crisis point can take no further, active part in conflicts (for the moment). The player can still talk about what their character is doing in scenes, but the character can take no active part.
The character must have a scene, in the near future, where their crisis is resolved. This scene is entirely up to the player and could involved hospital treatment for a seriously injured character, psychiatric help for a character who has been pushed over the brink of madness or the character, their brains scrambled and their wits scattered, lock themselves away with their books and papers for an extended period of time.
When the character returns, the attribute that was at zero can be brought up to half (rounding down, with a minimum of one) its original level.
The character must lose a positive trait that was used in the conflict that precipitated the crisis point. If no positive traits were used by the character, then choose one which is most appropriate to what happened in the conflict.
The character must gain a negative trait related to their crisis point and the situation that precipitated it."
I will, of course, also be responding to the proposals suggested in previous posts.
Cheers
Malcolm
Contested Ground Studios
Very slick!
Submitted by Adrian Price on Mon, 04/02/2008 - 20:58.
Sounds really cool, I am very keen to give Hot War a go when it's published. I do really like the option this new rule gives for continuing on beyond the crisis point, as I've always liked the idea of players deciding when their character drops out of the game.
I have a question, if you don't mind talking more about a yet-to-be-published game:
Attributes can reach zero through a series of consequences or through a major failure consequences immediately dropping the attribute down to its lowest level.
How does this major failure get triggered? Is it just a result of the other side succeeding by a lot, or is it in some way related to how committed the losing character was to the conflict?
By the way, do you have any provisional ETA for Hot War?
Cheers,
Adrian
Consequences
Submitted by Malcolm Craig on Wed, 06/02/2008 - 20:26.
Attributes can reach zero through a series of consequences or through a major failure consequences immediately dropping the attribute down to its lowest level.
How does this major failure get triggered? Is it just a result of the other side succeeding by a lot, or is it in some way related to how committed the losing character was to the conflict?
By the way, do you have any provisional ETA for Hot War?
The failure gets triggered via consequences, which are different in Hot War from the way they are handled in Cold City. However, if endgame mechanics were desired for Cold City, the mechanics that currently exist could easily lead to the crisis point situation above.
It's more a fact of giving greater advice on handling crisis points than introducing anything that is drastically different in mechanical terms. Any one of the three suggestions given for endgame resolution are equally workable.
At the moment, I don't have a provisional release date for Hot War.
Cheers
Malcolm
Contested Ground Studios