Hey Randy, >I'd like to ask you a question regarding Fate Chips and Bounty. From my experience running HoE, I find that players don't usually end up with many chips for their character to convert to Bounty. It is a problem that has been consistent through out playing in HOE as well. >They tend to spend it to try and survive whatever horror I send their way. Well that is what they are there for after all but it is really a juggling act between surviving encounters and gaining new skills or powers. >The players that DO end up with chips are usually the ones that go down early in a fight or avoid the situation entirely. >So the players whose characters do most of the fightin' end up with less chips than the ones who go down early. Well you should reward chips to those players only that contributed substantially to the defeat or destruction of a bad guy. If they go down fighting and don't spend chips to keep going then they should get a lesser chip than everyone else. If the player avoids a fight and is not playing hindrances like pacifist, don't give em nothing for that encounter. If they are playing that type of hindrance well give a lesser chip like a white for playing the hindrance but don't do it often. They will quickly realize that not doing nothing gets them nothing and will hopefully become more active. Do that and the characters that used more chips will replace them quicker and keep them on a even balance with the other cowards or chip thrifts you got in the party. >What's more, if a player makes a conscious decision to limit the number of chips he's willing to spend on a given encounter, the other players seem to resent the holdback of chips since it means that they'll have to spend more! Well it is that players chips and that is understandable. They are trying to manage between both fighting monsters and improving there character. If possible all players should be trying to do that. >Usually what happens is that everyone commits their chips to a fight so they get out relatively unscathed, but then they have nothing left for bounty so their characters don't advance very much. I can not tell you how many times the party has had to throw in all there chips to save a party member, it happens and as long as the person holding back shares when it comes down to that situation they shouldn't be looked at poorly. The best way to off set this type of problem is to use Bounty Points and Chips as rewards. I think it was a big mistake for PEG to get rid of Bounty Points and our group still uses them. I understand some real munchkin players with characters with 50 grit and all 6D12's in everything had something to do with those type of decisions but for the well balanced groups it can be murder. In a 1 night adventure we might get 2 to 3 chips usually 2 white and a red but maybe better depending on how bad the encounter, etc. and also we get 1-2 bounty points. In a longer story arch setting, usually 1-5 bounty and about x2 the number of chips. It really depends on the difficulty. This should however give you an idea, anyway, of how our group does it. Don't forget that equipment and things along that line can make up for lose of chips, etc. > Players don't feel obliged to spend almost all their chips on every given encounter? The flip of the coin is that there is nothing saying they can not take a few light or heavy wound in a few locations while fighting. If they are throwing in chips just to avoid getting their armor bloody then that is not your fault marshal and when they complain about not advancing then point out that they could spend less chips in a fight for advancement later. Well that's about it. Sean
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