Top 3 tips to SoTC

Discussion of all things relating to roleplay (Tabletop and LARP).
Post Reply
User avatar
Skyman
Proud Regent
Posts: 8026
Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2003 3:00 am
Location: North Park
Contact:

Top 3 tips to SoTC

Post by Skyman »

What are your top 3 tips to playing Spirit of the Century?
Image
User avatar
devlin1
Adroit Pirate
Posts: 5910
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2004 12:00 pm
Location: 612 Wharf Avenue
Contact:

Post by devlin1 »

0. Cut out stress tracks. They just delay the drama.
1. Self-compel your aspects. Don't be afraid to get yourself into trouble.
2. Think big. The crazier the idea, the better.
3. Encourage players to come up with a few scene aspects at the start of every significant scene, then put them all in the middle of the table on index cards or a little whiteboard where everyone can see and use them.
Mike Olson
‎"In this economy, it's not easy to feed a growing family. So we eat Haunkkah gelt for dinner and look at a picture of broccoli." --Paul F. Tompkins
Spirit of the Blank: A blog.
Roll Some Dice: Another blog.
User avatar
mcellis
One-Armed Skeleton
Posts: 83
Joined: Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:16 pm

Post by mcellis »

All of Devlin1's rules are on the top of my list for playing SotC, but here are a few more:

Spend Fate! Hording is boring.

Maneuvers are a lot more fun then just hitting someone.

Take some consequences they're new aspects that you can use as well.

Use the Environment, ie if there isn't a chandelier swing on then put one in the scene and swing away, if your GM gives you a hard time spend a fate point to shut him up and get back to swinging.
User avatar
cczernia
Posts: 5581
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2003 3:00 am
Location: Clairemont
Contact:

Post by cczernia »

Great tips. What is a good way to give players more fate. I find that compelling comes up rarely. A player is lucky to get compelled once per session (and rarely remembers to compel themselves).

Also, how do you scale SotC for the number of players. I find that if there are a lot of players the easily overcome any obstacle they encounter even if I increase the number of enemies. However, in small number players seem to quickly run out of Fate.
constraints breed creativity
Chris Czerniak
RPG San Diego meetup
User avatar
devlin1
Adroit Pirate
Posts: 5910
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2004 12:00 pm
Location: 612 Wharf Avenue
Contact:

Post by devlin1 »


[quote="cczernia"]Great tips. What is a good way to give players more fate. I find that compelling comes up rarely. A player is lucky to get compelled once per session (and rarely remembers to compel themselves).[/quote]
After every scene, I take a look around the table to see how they're doing on Fate Points. If they're low, I'll find some after-the-fact reason to give them a point or two for what just happened. Like if your character tells Andy's authority-bucking character to go attack a monster, and Andy's character attacks some other monster instead, I'll toss Andy a Fate Point for playing up his character's "Bucks Authority" aspect, even if he didn't mean to do it.



The best thing, IMO, is to have one person at the table who knows how to be a Fate Point whore, and let him set the example for everyone else. When you look across the table and some guy has three times the Fate Points you do, you start to seek out opportunities to make up the deficit.


[quote]Also, how do you scale SotC for the number of players. I find that if there are a lot of players the easily overcome any obstacle they encounter even if I increase the number of enemies. [/quote]
I've had good experiences with shit-tons of minions in groups of three, with a number of groups exceeding the number of PCs by one to three. The more groups, the lower their quality -- so you might have 21 Average minions split up into seven groups of three to face off against four Great PCs, or 15 Good minions in five groups of three against the same party (although that encounter will be significantly tougher than the 21 Average minions). If that seems too ridiculous, reskin the groups as single adversaries, but have them behave like minions. That is, as they take damage and "lose" minions from their "group," they get progressively worse.



I guess what I'm saying here is that you shouldn't be afraid to massively outnumber the PCs. And if there's a leader-type among those minions, make the players either grind through the minions to get to him or force them to come up with a clever/dramatic solution that will let them attack him directly, like swinging on a chandelier over the minions' heads or something.



Game balance is way less important here than in most games. Let them get in over their heads. I noticed that in Morgan's Mars games at Strategicon, he routinely puts us up against enemies with +6 or +7 (or more!) in their apex skill. We often have to spend Fate Points just to maintain parity. That's good -- it doesn't let us get comfortable.



(Personally, I think this was a reaction to his Shattered Earth games, in which the PCs almost always rolled over everything we came up against, which wasn't nearly as much fun for us or him -- although the premise is great and I had fun, so don't get me wrong, MC Ellis).



Also, if possible, try to insert a non-combat scene between fight scenes, so players can more easily (or more intuitively) earn some Fate Points from compels. I think GMs and players often forget about the possibility compels in the middle of a fight. I know I do.


[quote]However, in small number players seem to quickly run out of Fate.[/quote]
More so than when fighting multiple enemies? How so?

Mike Olson
‎"In this economy, it's not easy to feed a growing family. So we eat Haunkkah gelt for dinner and look at a picture of broccoli." --Paul F. Tompkins
Spirit of the Blank: A blog.
Roll Some Dice: Another blog.
User avatar
Skyman
Proud Regent
Posts: 8026
Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2003 3:00 am
Location: North Park
Contact:

Post by Skyman »


[quote="devlin1"]The best thing, IMO, is to have one person at the table who knows how to be a [b]Fate Point whore[/b], and let him set the example for everyone else. When you look across the table and some guy has three times the Fate Points you do, you start to seek out opportunities to make up the deficit.




[/quote]

:mrgreen:

Image
User avatar
mcellis
One-Armed Skeleton
Posts: 83
Joined: Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:16 pm

Post by mcellis »


Once again I'll echo just about everything Devlin1 is saying about giving out Fate Points. Like most games with a Fate/Drama/Action/Oomph points I find that they work better when you throw them around like poo in a monkey house. And definitely one of the best ways to get that started is by having a ringer on the other side of the table start flinging them for you.


[quote="devlin1"]
Game balance is way less important here than in most games. Let them get in over their heads. I noticed that in Morgan's Mars games at Strategicon, he routinely puts us up against enemies with +6 or +7 (or more!) in their apex skill. We often have to spend Fate Points just to maintain parity. That's good -- it doesn't let us get comfortable.



(Personally, I think this was a reaction to his Shattered Earth games, in which the PCs almost always rolled over everything we came up against, which wasn't nearly as much fun for us or him -- although the premise is great and I had fun, so don't get me wrong, MC Ellis).
[/quote]


That's pretty much where it came from, after following the suggestions in the book I found that giving the opposition at least a +6 in their top skill to be the way to go. It does keep things interesting and forces the Fate Points to start flying. I also only spend bad guy's fate points on attack never on defense, and I also never use the first free tag on aspects that the players have maneuvered onto the scene, though I may us it later with a fate point on an attack.



Mainly I do it because in a con scenario I don't have time to play six bad guys like actual player characters with compels and working the mechanics, as well as coping with their assorted minions. Currently my bad guys basically are stated out with two numbers, two to three spaces for consequences, and about five aspects apiece. The two numbers being their (physical)/(mental/social) skill number. If they're more of a physical threat I give them a 6/4 split, if they're more of a mental threat I give them a 4/6 split. If they're skilled in both areas a 5/5, or if they are particularly strong in one area I might go with a 7/3 or 4, and if they are the really big main bad guy they might get a 6/6 split.



A nice side effect of this is when players go after the villains that they are mismatched with, like when the psychic goes after the huge dumb brute. It can really make the fights interesting as both characters are going strength against weakness, rather then strength against strength.

Post Reply