Re: One session per season...

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 09:29:30 -0800

> > That's one thing that's always confused me. "Progress"
> > during "down-time". Your "take a keyword level" sounds
> > good. But the actual rules on the subject don't seem
> > to allow for any of this. In fact, doubling HP cost
> > for anything that isn't "in-game" would seem to make
> > it extremely hard for these people who spend most of
> > their time farming to get any better at farming.
>
> If you say that your character is farming between adventures, even if you
> don't play it, you should avoid the double cost. The double cost rule is
> there to encourage that the things you buy match the things your character
> has experienced. Whether you experience it in moment-by-moment play or in
> backstory shouldn't matter - both are equally valid experiences for the
> character. (She doesn't know that her player paid no attention to the time
> she spent farming! Her god was neglecting her! :))

This is the reasoning behind the rule getting written. The Double Point cost should apply to things that don't fit either the game events that have occured, or reasonable extrapolations of what you may have down in down'time. A Farmer farms, so any points spent for "down-time experience" in farming (whether you're allowing Keyword increases, or just buying up "Sow Crops") should be at the normal cost. Basically *any* keyword "down-time" experience should be at the normal rate - because keywords are what your hero does when he's not being played in the game. If the player says that during the down-time he is looking for training in XYZ ability, then that, too, should be counted at the "normal" rate - maybe make him roll to see if he finds/convinces someone to teach him the ability.

The Double-Cost is really for things that come out of nowhere - "I want to buy "Belch Acid 13"...

RR
C'est par mon ordre et pour le bien de l'Etat que le porteur du pr�sent a fait ce qu'il a fait.
- Richelieu