[Rules questions] Tie making, turn taking

It’s my second reading of the TB book and there are some things I don’t understand. Maybe someone is so kind to offer advice…

p.64 Making Ties
“It’s possible to use your traits and fate points to create ties. This is a good strategy for earning checks to be spent in camp.”
How do I use those to create ties? Does it mean that I could use a trait to increase the chance of a tie, by adding +1D in cases when my opponent is stronger, for example? And then I maybe could earn a check by once again using a trait to break the tie in my opponent’s favor?
Somehow it sounds a lot easier (“good strategy”) - did I miss something?

p.68 Turn Taking
“A character who has not acted this round must act in the next round before anyone else who has already taken an action.”
In the Conflict Example pp.176-178 the players don’t seem to abide by this rule. Taika who hasn’t acted in the first round of conflict should act first in the second round. Or did the fact that some characters left and then re-entered conflict in the first round somehow reset turn taking?

Also in the Conflict Example, did Merrill know that the last action was a Defend? I understood that the conflict leader doesn’t reveal the actions she selects. But Merrill seemed to know…

p.68 Dispositions
“Teammates may help with the listed ability or skill.”
But you can’t help using the abilities listed in the table column “Add to Rank”, can you? Because only the conflict leader uses his ability’s rank. So, the “listed ability” is only implicitly listed in the table row “Other: You choose”, right?

“If your Nature applies to a conflict, you may roll it in place of the listed raw ability.”
Same here. Raw ability is not rolled but it’s rank is added. So, is Nature rolled instead of the listed skill or is it’s rank added instead of the listed raw ability’s rank?

Wow, that’s quite some question marks… I’m thankful for any hints, answers, or opinions.

I think “making ties” could be worded “making ties more likely” to avoid confusion.

Luke, Thor and Megan didn’t act in the first turn. They only provided help to Jared and Joss. So, they’re all able to act.

Players know what actions were picked, it’s only a reveal to the GM. And even that isn’t really necessary once the GM has picked actions. It’s just fun.

I believe the disposition rules mention rolling the ability to cover situations where the CC is rolling Beginners Luck, but I could be wrong. Generally, you’re rolling a skill and adding it to the ability. Players can help if they have the necessary skill or Nature, if the conflict matches a descriptor.

Thanks for your answers, James!

Concerning the Conflict Example, I apparently got confused by the fact that Thor is given an action in both rounds - but in the first one he gave it to Merrill, so he hasn’t actually acted before the second round and everything’s according to the rules.

Concerning the Disposition rules, I still think it’s not worded properly in the book. It should rather read:
“Teammates may help with the listed skill.” (not “ability or skill” - otherwise everyone could help every round, because all have the base abilities, Will and Health.)
"If your Nature applies to a conflict, you may use it in place of the listed raw ability. (not “roll it” - the following examples show that Nature serves as the base to which the die roll is added.)

Regards,
Günther

I’ll definitely cop to ‘use it’ rather than ‘roll it.’

As for “Teammates may help with the listed ability or skill” – that’s because some actions list a skill (like Attack and Feint in Kill conflicts) and some actions list an ability (like Maneuver and Defend in Kill conflicts). i.e., if the action uses a skill, you may help with that skill. If the action uses an ability, you may help with that ability.

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You don’t roll Dispo every round, just once.

Thor, is that relevant for Disposition rolls?

Sorry, as far as rolling for disposition is concerned, it says relevant ability or skill to cover conflicts in which the conflict captain is rolling Nature rather than a skill to determine disposition. It also covers potential custom conflicts the GM might create in which you roll an ability to set disposition.

In an attempt to be perfectly clear: You may only help with whatever it is you roll. If it says you roll Fighter and add the result to a base of Health, you may only help with Fighter.

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Thanks. It’s gradually getting clearer in my head, but still kind of dim light condition, so I’ll try to summarize my rules understanding and you may correct me…

  1. The conflict captain rolls whatever it listed (in the table it’s skills, but could be an ability) or substitutes it by Nature if it has a relevant descriptor.
  2. The other players may help the roll with whatever is listed or substitute it by Nature with relevant descriptor. (If the captain uses Nature, they can still use the listed skill.)
  3. The captain adds the listed base ability to his roll - this, he can’t substitute by Nature.

After your answer, Thor, I’m not sure about (2) because you seem to say that if the captain uses Nature, helping players roll an ability instead of the listed skill…?

EDIT: Sorry, I misunderstood your sentence as stressing that ‘ability’ was included to cover the case that the CC rolls Nature, but you likely meant that for this case it was stressed that the helpers contribute with something relevant from the list (that’s not Nature but skill or ability).

1-3 are all correct. I think you’ve got it!

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Great, thanks!