RE: [DL] Rules Tinkerin': Fate Chips

["Matthew M. DeForrest" <mmdeforrest@worldnet.att.net>]

Alan:

I've a handful of tricks for making characters spend their chips more freely
for you.

Ask the following to your players at regular intervals: "Make a Cognition
Roll."

Sometimes, there will be nothing important to lean.  Do it just to keep them
on their guard and make sure they never know if the baddies are on the way
or not.

On other occasions, have them notice something that has nothing to do with
the current adventure but will aid them somewhere down the line (For
example, hearing the sound of a ghost rock engine in the distance -- a sign
that the villain with the airship is on the move and in the area.).

On some occasions, it's the only thing keeping them from getting
bushwhacked.

Don't forget to tease them, either.  If they're in combat and have just
missed, ask them if they want to spend a chip or not without telling them
how much they missed it by.

As for their not spending any red chips, that's your problem, not theirs.
My players (the game's on hiatus for a little while) almost never spend red
chips either.  That's because they're playing smart.

Make sure that the NPCs that show up have Bluff, Ridicule, Overawe and other
non-combat skills that can make a posse member flinch or act irrationally if
they don't spend a chip on the combat of wills.

Keep an eye on their skill development and challenge them to improve in new
and interesting ways.  For example, when my posse made out their characters,
I gave them a set of skills that they could buy up cheaper than others.  For
the MD in the posse, it included, Language: Latin and Language: Greek.  He
also has a few other types of Medicine than listed in the main rules,
including Meatball Surgery and Professional: Triage.  This allowed the
players to create more fully rounded characters while draining their chip
supply.

The biggest drain on the posse's chips, however, is that they have had to
face baddies on their home terrain without too much time to plan.  As a
result, the villains know more and have set defenses planned.  Now this does
require some more preparation -- and has led to a long gunfight or two I had
planned not happening when my posse outsmarted me and the NPCs, but it has
led to the posse having to burn some chips to make it through the combat.

The best advice I can offer, if your wallet can stomach it, is to get a hold
of _Nightmares of Mine_ -- a perennial favorite of the list.  A good scary
description of something can make players spend chips like water.  After
all, there is little difference between a skilled gunfighter and the Walkin'
Dead on a mathematical level.  Given a good description of a man so pale
that he looks bloodless shambling forward, staggering through a blast from a
shotgun and slowly and deliberately taking aim at your person that will make
a posse spend chips like water.

I hope this helps.

Matt