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Cold City: Houserules

Page history last edited by Adrian 12 years, 9 months ago

Using Tools

Rather than tools adding a flat 2D to the wielder's dice pool, they add between 1D and 3D depending on their utility and compared with what the opposition has at their disposal. Usually, the bonus is 2D, but in some cases this shifts. For example, in a three-way fight, the unarmed guy gets 0 bonus dice, the guy with a knife +1D and the guy with a sabre +2D.

Negative traits can also be used once per scene against a character, like a Tool, e.g. blinded by bright light (-) could also give opponents a 2D bonus once per scene if they come up with a cunning ruse to use it – traps and so on work the same way, or as bonus-dice conferring separate conflicts.

Multiple Participants in a Conflict

These break into two distinctive groups: one where the characters have the same goal, but are equally involved in the conflict and at risk, and one where there's a lead acting character and other characters are performing purely supporting actions, e.g. giving cover fire or providing a distraction.

Multiple lead actors

Each rolls their normal, full dice pool against their opponent as if they were alone in the conflict. Each wins or loses the conflict independently, with the overall winner with final narration rights. While on one level this allows more dice to be rolled against a ganged-up upon opponent, Consequences are also applied individually so it is harder to amass the required 3 Consequences to send an opponent into immeidate Crisis.

Supporters

Supporters roll their pool just as if they were acting alone and any successes are added as bonus dice to the lead actor's pool, exactly like the Currency rules in Sorcerer. Only the lead actor's roll is compared against the opposition for the purposes of determining Consequences. Consequences from the conflict may be spread across supporters, but each supporter cannot take more than half the Consequences (positive or negative) applied to the lead character.

Option: Extended Conflicts

Taken from Trollbabe, extended conflicts allow greater focus on dramatic or pivotal conflicts. Stakes are initially set as per usual, but can be altered during the conflict if desired (see below).

Pace

The initiator of the conflict determines the initial Pace, choosing between one, three and five rounds. To win the overall conflict stakes the victor must have won the majority of rounds in the conflict.

The principal opponent may then alter the Pace up or down one step (one round to three rounds for example), setting the final Pace for the conflict.

As soon as one party cannot win the conflict, the conflict ends. For example, in a Pace 5 conflict, if one party wins the first three rounds, the conflict is over.

Different Attribute and Trait combinations can be used in each roll, as long as plausible and supported by the narrated fiction and Stakes can change as plausible based on previous events in the conflict.

Conceding a Conflict

One party may concede the conflict mid way through with their opponent's agreement. If so, then the conflict ends, the Stakes are resolved as per the concession agreement (e.g. the conceding character agrees to spill his secret) and each character gains 1 Consequence to spend per round they won in the conflict's previous rounds, e.g. if this is the second roll of three and the conflict is abandoned, whomever won the first and second rounds get 1 Consequence each to spend.

If there is no agreement, then the conflict continues to its bitter conclusion.

Consequences in an Extended Conflict

Consequences apply at the end of the overall conflict only, not after each round. Instead, successes in one round apply as bonus dice to the victor in the next roll in the conflict. They represent positional advantages, cuts and scrapes of yet-to-be-determined severity, gaining a morale edge and so on.

Final Consequences equal those from the final roll plus 1 per previous round won - if you won the conflict by 2-1, then you get final roll + 2 Consequences to inflict and your opponent gets 1 to inflict, so you may win but suffer injury for example.