Re: [DL] Black Chip

["Ben Rasmussen" <nyddoybdyle@hotmail.com>]

Far from an official rule, the black chip use to reside on PEG's site but
since has been taken down. I've been hesitent to post the article since
PEG's site mentions that they were planning on including the good articles
and adventures in an upcoming epitaph. But it's not that hard to turn up the
original article using internet archives....

Plus, everyone seems to use their own slight varrient on Black Chips.
Myself, for example, allow for more then one black chip in the pot at a
time. And I use both versions, but if a posse member draws it, it ends up
just taking up a slot for their precious chips and I can spend it from their
pool at any time.

Maybe now, when this comes up we can just point to the listserve archives.

So, all that being said, here's the original...

The Black Chip
    By Chad Day and Roger Bert

Just as fate smiles on those that persevere against the odds and accomplish
their goals, fate also frowns upon those that cause trouble and fail their
desires. When the posse royally screws up an adventure and ends up leaving
things worse than when they started, they earn a "Black Chip". Some examples
of screwing things up include raising a fear level, a major public disgrace
for the posse, letting tough opponents get away, getting involved in the
wrong side of a dispute and gaining major notoriety for their magical or
bizarre talents which would draw the attention of the Tombstone Epitaph or
government agency.

When a posse member draws a Black Chip from the fate pot, fate frowns upon
the group... and bad things are soon to come. Remove the Black Chip from the
game just as you would a used Legend Chip. The posse member who drew the
Black Chip does not get to draw a replacement chip. During the session,
something bad will happen to the posse and that something will most likely
notice the player who drew the Black Chip first if possible. For example, if
the posse earned the Black Chip because they angered, attacked and fled from
the notorious bandit "Six-gun Sanchez", then maybe he came looking for the
posse for revenge. And Mr. Sanchez most likely walks into the local saloon
just as the unfortunate individual who drew the Black Chip was coming down
the stairs... alone. Sanchez will most likely take out his pent-up
aggression on the poor sap right then and there, or follow the individual
back to the posse before he begins causing trouble (depending how deserving
he is and what kind of mood the Marshal is in). Say the posse earned the
Black Chip because their huckster gained a reputation as a practitioner of
the black arts, then maybe a team of Pinkertons or a posse of bounty killers
will be aiming to take him dead or alive. Only the players may draw Black
Chips. The possibilities are endless, but any way you look at it, the Black
Chip is an omen that something wicked this way comes...

As an alternative, if the Marshal draws the Black Chip from the fate pot, he
may treat it as a Legend Chip for himself. During that session, something
bad will happen just as if a posse member had drawn it. Under this system,
if the Marshal draws a true Legend Chip he returns it to the fate pot and
does not redraw; therefore only the posse may have Legend Chips and only the
Marshal can keep and use Black Chips. There may only be one Black Chip in
the fate pot at a type.

A good way to mark the chips is to spray paint some of your extra blue
chips. Use gold paint for a Legend Chip and black spray paint for a Black
Chip. A permanent marker will show on a gold painted chip to mark it so that
you can remember how the posse earned it. The posse won't have more than one
Black Chip, so the Marshal can decide which is the most interesting to keep
in the fate pot.


--
Ben Rasmussen

"Going to war over religion is like arguing over who has the better
imaginary friend." Richard Jeni