RE: [DL] Charting Survival vs. Fate Chips

["Ashman, Joel" <jea2@c-cor.com>]

I like to think that characters should have chips left over between gaming
sessions.  I believe that the main points of the game are:  Character
Development, Learning the 'Big Picture', and being able to do something
about it.  If the players are constantly making new characters due to AD&D
(Accidental Death and Dismemberment), then, though the players may learn the
'Score,' their characters may never, which is a big difference in terms of
roleplaying.   Our Marshal was somewhat conservative with the chips for a
while, until he noticed the rule change.  Until then, one of our players
spent over 6 months of regular weekly playing saving chips to up a die type
from D6 to D8.  My first three characters were all killed in their first 2-3
sessions due to 'rapid chip attrition'  And since character advancement to
Expert levels is so costly, the odds are not in a character's favor to ever
become Heroic.  Also, one gunshot wound can use up most of a characters
chips.  Most of out players lose all their chips within the 1st round, some
in the first action.

My point:  Players don't have as much fun if their characters are dying, or
aren't advancing.   Remember, you can always give bounty points instead of
chips.  Maybe work out a balance of both, so that characters have chips in
hand when the baddies approach, and have points for a new skill at the end
of the day.

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Bob Fletcher [mailto:bobfletch@erols.com] 
Sent:	Monday, January 29, 2001 1:12 PM
To:	deadlands@gamerz.net
Subject:	Re: [DL] Charting Survival vs. Fate Chips

> Combined with the fact that my posse survives every
> adventure with hardly a scratch no matter what I throw
> at them and it seems like the posses on this list are
> rolling up new characters every other week, I've
> formulated a theory.
> Now, I'm wondering if I'm just too generous with my
> fate chips.  I generally hand out a white chip every
> time someone does something funny/dramatic.  Or is the
> fact that you now hand out Fate Chips instead of
> bounty really a significant difference in terms of
> survival?

    I'd say you're probably just giving away too many chips.  I haven't had
a character die in my Hell on Earth campaign yet, but I regularly beat the
hell out of them and make them use up most, if not all, of their chips.  On
average, I'd think that a player should have 2-6 Bounty Points worth of
chips left at the end of a session for advancement.  Sometimes a character
will have more, sometimes less.
    Generally, I give a Red Chip and one or two White Chips out after a
combat, or a Blue Chip and some lesser chips if it was a particularly tough
fight.  I give out the occasional White or even Red Chip for roleplaying
Hindrances and doing something inventive during a game, but that's the
extent of it.  It has to be something pretty impressive for a character to
get a Blue Chip, but that's the way it should be.
    If it was me in your situation, I'd start to slowly cut back on the
number of chips you give the group during the game.  If you cut them off all
at once, they might resent it and you don't want a bunch of dissatisfied
players on your hands.  If you have a particularly good bunch, you could
explain the problem to them at the beginning of the next session, and just
start from there.


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