When do you decide your effect?

[Duck Call Lass]

Someone check me on this to make sure I'm reading the rules right.

Okay, you take an action. You say "Ultra Girl is going to fly at full speed into Carnage" and you roll the appropriate dice, and you get an effect die.

Carnage says (well, The Watcher says) he's dodging, and he rolls dice. Maybe you miss him, maybe you hit him, maybe he steps down the die, maybe he counterattacks with his effect die against you. But for purposes of this question, we'll say you succeed in your action and get a d8 effect die against him.

Once you know that you have an effect die, now you decide what it is: if it's physical stress, emotional stress, mental stress, a complication, an asset, and so on. You could choose the obvious -- physical stress -- or something else like "I create a Got Him Right Where We Want Him d8 asset" or "I give him a Stuck In The Wall I Punched Him Into d8 complication."

Right?

You don't have to declare it when you narrate the initial fiction, i.e., "Ultra Girl is going to fly at full speed into Carnage and do physical stress," and you don't even have to declare it after you roll but before the reaction. You only choose what the effect is once you've compared the two results.

Right? That is my reading of OM50. Tell me if it's right or wrong?

[formorach69]

As far as I was aware you have to declare intent before you roll the dice. So if your intent is to cause physical "damage" such as "I sock him in the jaw and send him reeling" you should do it before you roll. Then the intent basically tells you what the effect dice will be used for.

I could be wrong. Can anyone else clarify?

[Newtsy]

OM46:
"As a player, when it’s time for your action, you need to make your intent as clear as possible to the Watcher and other players before you even pick up the dice."

That, to me, supports the idea that you must declare exactly what you are going for with your action, which would include the type of stress being dealt.

~N

[Cam]

You have to make your intent clear, but your intent can be entirely narrative and not mention game mechanics at all. "I'm going to smash the living daylights out of the robot!" does imply physical stress, but "I'm going to throw the Hydra agent across the room" could theoretically imply emotional stress being the leading outcome, especially if the throw wasn't intended to harm but just freak the Hydra agent out.

Cheers,
Cam

[Newtsy]

You have to make your intent clear, but your intent can be entirely narrative and not mention game mechanics at all. "I'm going to smash the living daylights out of the robot!" does imply physical stress, but "I'm going to throw the Hydra agent across the room" could theoretically imply emotional stress being the leading outcome, especially if the throw wasn't intended to harm but just freak the Hydra agent out.

Cheers,
Cam

LOVE this system!

[MidnightBlue]

I'm stating my intended effect along with my action just to be as clear as possible in-game and let others react accordingly.

[Duck Call Lass]

You have to make your intent clear, but your intent can be entirely narrative and not mention game mechanics at all. "I'm going to smash the living daylights out of the robot!" does imply physical stress, but "I'm going to throw the Hydra agent across the room" could theoretically imply emotional stress being the leading outcome, especially if the throw wasn't intended to harm but just freak the Hydra agent out.

Cheers,
Cam

Okay, thanks, this does clarify things for me -- mostly!

[Venshad]

You have to make your intent clear, but your intent can be entirely narrative and not mention game mechanics at all. "I'm going to smash the living daylights out of the robot!" does imply physical stress, but "I'm going to throw the Hydra agent across the room" could theoretically imply emotional stress being the leading outcome, especially if the throw wasn't intended to harm but just freak the Hydra agent out.

Cheers,
Cam

So, if you keep throwing that guy around, inflincting Emotional stress, you can make him so angry/frustated, that he simply fade out?

[Supplanter]

So, if you keep throwing that guy around, inflincting Emotional stress, you can make him so angry/frustated, that he simply fade out?

You can pick anything from the Fight, Flight or Freeze suite really. The behavioral expression of being stressed out emotionally could look like a physical defeat in the fiction.

{Emotional stress steps up past D12}
Watcher: Forgetting years of training, he hurls himself at you while dropping his guard completely. The collision of his chin with your fist is epic, brief and conclusive.

"Hey wait a second, Jim! This guy just got stressed out emotionally and you described a physical conclusion! Double You, and Tee Eff too!"

"Yes, well. What does it mean that he was punched unconscious as a result of being stressed out emotionally, rather than being stressed out physically? It means that when he wakes up, he's got emotional trauma. Not physical trauma. That is a fictional fact. It matters to the story. Heck, it is the story. 'Are you injured?' 'Only my pride.' It's what dude has got to deal with as a result of this fight."

OR, emotionally stressed-out guy could be so scared he runs away. Or so angry he stalks off. Or so sad he just stands there crying. Or so intimidated he collapses in terror. Or so amused he has a heart attack from laughing. Whatever consequence grows out of the series of actions that results in the stress-out.


Jim