Framing the Contest

[Shawn Carpenter]

On 1/14/2020 at 6:26 PM, jajagappa said:

I just had an inherent feeling that it was better to roll the dice, consider the outcomes and the margin of victory, and see where the story went from there

This is my approach as well, frankly. It's not easy to codify into a rule, but it's the best approach for me.

[jajagappa]

1 hour ago, Shawn Carpenter said:

It's not easy to codify into a rule, but it's the best approach for me.

I think the challenge particularly is for a new GM because it's easy to read the rules and think that you have to spend a lot of time coming up with contest, framing it, and determining all the consequences.  

[jrutila]

When I frame the contest I tend to give some idea what the negative consequences might be. I do it in a vague way so it gives the contest more meaning when players know that they can lose and what it would mean. It is also a test for me (as the GM) if the contest is actually even a contest that should be had. As the defeat should always have some interesting outcome story-wise. The final benefits and penalties are always determined from the dice and player's ideas.

In extended contest the penalty can also sharpen during the contest. My players were going with the goal of getting to Grave Hill past Lunar guards (Eleven Lights). At some point the extended contest went to be a horse riding contest and it became clear that if one of the players (having already 3RP against him) would've losed his contest his horse would have changed hands to the Lunar riding champion. This was something we came up during the contest (after three rounds or so). There was a bet so he was well aware of losing his companion (until they steal it back) in the case of defeat.