As a general thing, a number of the "right" spirits will wander by the Open Spirit World portal. The "Spirit Face" ability will allow the hero to determine if a spirit is "too Weak", "too Strong" or "About Right". The first few times a new player/practitioner wants to find a spirit take them through the whole procedure - doing the rituals to open the Spirit World; using Spirit Face to find the "right" spirit, binding it, etc. After the player has the general idea, you can probably dispense with the full-blown contest and just make him roll to bind the spirit, making the assumption that the hero knows what he's looking for & how to deal with it.
Ask the player "What sort of power level are you going for?" It would be just as crazy to ask for a rating of 10W3 if the player's Worship [Spirit] ability isn't up to the challenge! Once you know what the player is looking for, figure out if there is a spirit of exactly the power level he's looking for, or if there is one a point or three away from that number - these are the ones that register as "about right" (for this you'll have to use some sort of decision-making tool: flip a coin, roll a die, make an arbitrary decision, whatever).
Every once in a while, say "There aren't any spirits available that match your criteria" and give him a choice of aborting the contest (this would be in the "Spirit Face" phase, so there's no real danger to it), or going for a "too large" or "too small" spirit, or for a different spirit entirely. Again, use your decision-making tool to help you here.
And sometimes they'll be ambushed by a large, hungry spirit (usually when they have a bad roll to Open Spirit World...).
RR
It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has
done what he has done.
- Richelieu
> How do you suggest you determine the power level? say the spirit
> rating is 8 to 18, given the option the player would be crazy to
> select a rating of 8. So do you just give them the spirit rating at
> the max? A dice roll? There seems to be little guidance on this
> point.
As a general thing, a number of the "right" spirits will wander by the Open Spirit World portal. The "Spirit Face" ability will allow the hero to determine if a spirit is "too Weak", "too Strong" or "About Right". The first few times a new player/practitioner wants to find a spirit take them through the whole procedure - doing the rituals to open the Spirit World; using Spirit Face to find the "right" spirit, binding it, etc. After the player has the general idea, you can probably dispense with the full-blown contest and just make him roll to bind the spirit, making the assumption that the hero knows what he's looking for & how to deal with it.
Ask the player "What sort of power level are you going for?" It would be just as crazy to ask for a rating of 10W3 if the player's Worship [Spirit] ability isn't up to the challenge! Once you know what the player is looking for, figure out if there is a spirit of exactly the power level he's looking for, or if there is one a point or two away from that number - these are the ones that register as "about right" (for this you'll have to use some sort of decision-making tool: flip a coin, roll a die, make an arbitrary decision, whatever).
Every once in a while, say "There aren't any spirits available that match your criteria" and give him a choice of aborting the contest (this would be in the "Spirit Face" phase, so there's no real danger to it), or going for a "too large" or "too small" spirit. Again, use your decision-making tool to help you here.
And sometimes they'll be ambushed by a large, hungry spirit (usually when they have a bad roll to Open Spirit World...).
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