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Are there group moves?
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Are there group moves? When 2 or more players Undertake a Journey together or Battle, how do you determine the outcome? Forgive me if I've missed in the rules.
I only just discovered this game myself, so probably not the best person to answer. But, having just finished reading the rules, I think it's safe to say that when you play with multiple players you share a progress track on journeys. Any player can make the Undertake move, when appropriate in the fiction. You would also share a progress track for enemies, and for any Iron Vow that is shared by the characters.
I think you do not share the Bond track, but I'm not 100% certain on that. Also, multiple players share a single Supply status track.
The only thing that is kind of a "group" move is Aid Your Ally, which is identical to Secure an Advantage, except that the bonus accrues to another player instead of to you. So, basically, only one character will roll to Undertake the Journey, but the other party members can do things to help, like scouting a trail, securing food, tending mounts, or whatever. All that stuff just counts as an Aid move, adding a bonus or momentum for the player who will make the main roll.
Ken Hubbard everything you said is accurate as far as I understand the rules as well. Aid your Ally is a general move you can make to help the "main" character for a move get into a better position to score a strong hit. (All of the progress bars you mentioned are in fact shared, you also share one Supply track when playing as a group. Bonds are not shared, though it is possible for multiple party members to have bonds to the same community or person.)
Hi, Colin Madden! Ken Hubbard has done a good job summarizing things. One person will make the roll for Battle or Undertake a Journey. There are also some progress moves which are similar, in that one person will make the move to determine the outcome of a journey, fight or quest when you have a shared progress track.
Dealing with outcomes:
If you Undertake a Journey and score a hit, it's relatively easy to parse the outcome. The player making the move gets the momentum bonus (if any). The supply track is shared, so taking -1 supply impacts everyone.
On a miss with Undertake a Journey, you're typically waylaid by some sort of event, so it's relatively easy to apply that to the fiction in a way that impacts the group. Or, if you're looking to handwave things and move on, you can just apply a momentum penalty, narrate how someone is injured and takes harm, etc. You can mix it up, especially if you are on a string of misses and aren't eager to zoom into another perilous event.
With Battle (or End the Fight for that matter), it's similar. You'll just need to think bigger picture about how to apply an outcome based on your objectives for the fight. Strong hit means you've achieved that objective unconditionally. Weak hit means you've done it, but not without cost. That can mean you lose some secondary objective, one or more of you suffers some significant harm, you are forced to leave something behind, etc. You can use the End the Fight weak hit options as inspiration for the Battle outcome.
A miss on Battle should have fairly dire ramifications for your group, based on your objective and the intent of your foes.
Also, see the callout on page 86 for a specific summary of using the Battle move with allies.
Shawn Tomkin Thanks! So regarding special modes of movement such as the Horse Asset or Shadow Walk. You can't use those assets to move your entire party can you? I know that shadow walk has a specific option for it, but Horse does not.
I'd give the bonus if the person with the horse asset is making the move. This can be justified in the fiction by them scouting ahead, the horse driving the pace for the group, etc.
I only just discovered this game myself, so probably not the best person to answer. But, having just finished reading the rules, I think it's safe to say that when you play with multiple players you share a progress track on journeys. Any player can make the Undertake move, when appropriate in the fiction. You would also share a progress track for enemies, and for any Iron Vow that is shared by the characters.
ReplyDeleteI think you do not share the Bond track, but I'm not 100% certain on that. Also, multiple players share a single Supply status track.
The only thing that is kind of a "group" move is Aid Your Ally, which is identical to Secure an Advantage, except that the bonus accrues to another player instead of to you. So, basically, only one character will roll to Undertake the Journey, but the other party members can do things to help, like scouting a trail, securing food, tending mounts, or whatever. All that stuff just counts as an Aid move, adding a bonus or momentum for the player who will make the main roll.
Ken Hubbard everything you said is accurate as far as I understand the rules as well. Aid your Ally is a general move you can make to help the "main" character for a move get into a better position to score a strong hit. (All of the progress bars you mentioned are in fact shared, you also share one Supply track when playing as a group. Bonds are not shared, though it is possible for multiple party members to have bonds to the same community or person.)
ReplyDeleteHi, Colin Madden! Ken Hubbard has done a good job summarizing things. One person will make the roll for Battle or Undertake a Journey. There are also some progress moves which are similar, in that one person will make the move to determine the outcome of a journey, fight or quest when you have a shared progress track.
ReplyDeleteDealing with outcomes:
If you Undertake a Journey and score a hit, it's relatively easy to parse the outcome. The player making the move gets the momentum bonus (if any). The supply track is shared, so taking -1 supply impacts everyone.
On a miss with Undertake a Journey, you're typically waylaid by some sort of event, so it's relatively easy to apply that to the fiction in a way that impacts the group. Or, if you're looking to handwave things and move on, you can just apply a momentum penalty, narrate how someone is injured and takes harm, etc. You can mix it up, especially if you are on a string of misses and aren't eager to zoom into another perilous event.
With Battle (or End the Fight for that matter), it's similar. You'll just need to think bigger picture about how to apply an outcome based on your objectives for the fight. Strong hit means you've achieved that objective unconditionally. Weak hit means you've done it, but not without cost. That can mean you lose some secondary objective, one or more of you suffers some significant harm, you are forced to leave something behind, etc. You can use the End the Fight weak hit options as inspiration for the Battle outcome.
A miss on Battle should have fairly dire ramifications for your group, based on your objective and the intent of your foes.
Also, see the callout on page 86 for a specific summary of using the Battle move with allies.
Shawn Tomkin Thanks! So regarding special modes of movement such as the Horse Asset or Shadow Walk. You can't use those assets to move your entire party can you? I know that shadow walk has a specific option for it, but Horse does not.
ReplyDeleteI'd give the bonus if the person with the horse asset is making the move. This can be justified in the fiction by them scouting ahead, the horse driving the pace for the group, etc.
ReplyDeleteAhh that makes sense... I'm taking things too literally. Been a while since I played a more narrative game.
ReplyDelete