Dresden RPG

So we're playing and things are going a little stutteringly here and there, with people finishing up characters and GM inexperience. But it's been entertaining. We've been running into issues with self-compelling, though...


Some of the self-initiated compels really seem... weak to me. But I can't help but wonder if things would be going differently with a less scattered plot.

Example 1: Spiritual toughs start showing up. Two group members veil from view. Two remain in sight to assess/talk. Talk doesn't last long as the native spirit-types are just pissy. Bear shifter charges! One veiled characters steps out to intercept and attack, quoting their 'Got your back!' aspect.
Question arises whether this actually complicates things enough to qualify as a compel. In a lot of ways, it seems like just taking advantage of the situation, as the 'enemies' have already committed to attacking.

Example 2: Bear is clubbed unconscious, fight gets more complicated and ends with bear's companions withdrawing. Character quotes 'Little miss fix-it' (which is conceptualized in a medical sense) aspect to stay and tend the bear 'til he wakes, arguing this is disadvantageous because he could be pissy when he wakes.
But... leaving him and/or killing him outright both strike me (at least) as more risky in the long run as it makes definite enemies of his companions at the least.

Example 3: (Not a self-compel, but) The GM compels a character's Warden aspect to get them to take another character (injured Warden) off to get help.
Is that not something they'd do anyway? Does that complicate or make trouble? It could if something happens in the Nevernever, but we haven't seen if that's the case.

And there were a few other similar cases. It feels to me a little like we're trying too hard to get more compels into play and it's becoming 'too easy.' But... I dunno...

Comments

  1. kyn_elwynnJuly 30, 2010 at 10:23 AM

    I -think- the compels should be invoked when the character would rather do something else instead. "We need to stay veiled even during the attack." 'Got your back' forces the character to de-cloak and join the fray. "We should just leave this thing here, it'll be fine."/"Kill it. that way it won't come back to harm us later." 'Ms. Fix-it' forces her to prevent the loss of life if it can be helped. "You gonna be okay? Alright, let's keep moving on." 'Warden' forces the character to tend to his associate's injuries.

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  2. marinredwolfJuly 30, 2010 at 12:18 PM

    That sorta fits my gut feeling, but the section talking about compelling your own character muddies the waters. GM compels make more sense to me, but where do you draw the line in deciding your character would act a certain way because they just would under the circumstances versus because a particular aspect forces them to? I've... personally encountered situations in the past where a character 'had to' act a certain way in my mind and I winced through it, but those have been rare, rare. Certainly not once per session or more often.

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  3. marinredwolfAugust 3, 2010 at 10:53 AM

    So another member of the gaming group posted a smiliar question on the forums: http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,20109.0.html After reading some of the responses there, my current thoughts on compels are as follows: I'm not by any means against fate points being more common, but I do feel it has to involve more than just playing to your aspects. If I get a fate point every time Agent Blair flashes his badge, that strikes me as excessive. There has to be some complication from it. In both the examples with Hannah, I feel they were situations that could have caused complications and could have been worth fate points. But it's not about what could happen, but rather what does. And that's where negotiating the compels come in. In most games, players decide their character's actions based on what's happening at the time. Dresden actually allows us to go beyond that. So instead of "well, stepping out of the veil could negatively impact me/us," it should be more "okay, I'm making a compel out of attacking the bear, how does this make things 'worse.'" It's not really a compel until there actually are consequences. And the way things played out so far with these choices really doesn't seem to qualify to me - the shifters were still talked down from pursuing combat with us and Teddy didn't really seem uppity one way or the other. Going the compel route, I think it very likely 1) we would not have parted ways with the shifters on anything approaching neutral terms and 2) Hannah would probably be Teddy's target in some way for future aggravation. I was actually amused by one of the replies that implied Teddy might, instead of being hostile, be so taken with Hannah's prowess/kindness as to be obsessed with her in an "amorous" way. That's the sort of angle that isn't exactly negative (in the obvious sense), but it can definitely be a "complication." Similarly, compelling Malek to take Ben for healing doesn't seem very compel-ish yet. Now, if we were on a tight deadline for action somewhere else (and aware of it) or if something were to happen during the trip in the Nevernever...

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