In case it's of any interest, the way I play fate chips/bounty is...
I award bounty on the completion of a story arc - not after every session. This means that people generally improve between plots rather than suddenly during them. I also award at this time any roleplaying fate chip awards as well (however am planning to change this to rewarding them at the specific time). Therefore the players have to reply on their 3 chip draw at the start of a session.
Chips can be converted to bounty only at the end of a story arc (including any chips just awarded). The maximum amount of chips held is 10 with any additional chips being lost.
I find that the idea of "wasting" chips causes my players to use them in the game even when no combat is occuring.
Cheers
Roy
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