Okay, I have some actual rules questions that arose from our last session. Some of this is a non-philosophical recap of my “stakes vs. obstacles” thread. Some is just other lingering stuff I forgot to mention.
Untrained skills in a Versus test: We didn’t know how to double the Ob in a Versus test so we just doubled the result of the trained side’s roll. Is this okay? Did we break something vital?
Intent, consequence, obstacle, and timing: In an independent skill roll, are the consequences negotiable with the player making the roll or are they stuck with whatever the GM tells them it’s going to be? Negotiating intent and counterintent is explicit in the Versus test rules but not so when it comes to an Independent test.
Followups re timing: Do the intent and consequence get committed to before the Ob is set? Can either side back out of the roll or renegotiate after the GM sets the Ob (or after the player tallies up his die pool)? Can the GM reset the Ob (or increase the consequence) if the player asks for more? Basically, is there a “timing” element that one or the other side can get trapped into or are all elements of the roll negotiable until the roll itself is made?
Rewarding Artha: Each Belief can pay you each maneuver, but can any individual Belief pay you more than once in a maneuver? How about (playing) Traits or (ignoring) Instincts? And what is the function of the P/D next to the Beliefs and Instincts? (This last bit is where we began to wonder if getting Persona is a once-per-belief-per-Maneuver thing.)
That’s exactly right. If both sides were untrained, you could just do opposed stat tests to ease handling time.
It’s always negotiable, but a lot of the fixed obstacles are pretty clear.
Until the actual test is being rolled, it’s open for negotiation.
Just one point per thing earning it.
That’s to track if you spent that artha in the pursuit of a Belief, in which case the Belief becomes eligible to be converted into a special trait. See the “Evolving a Belief or Instinct” heading on page 341.