Hi, all!
First, I want to apologize for making my debut here by starting yet another morality thread. I have read all of the morality threads I could find, and I have read the morality and conflict sections of the rulebook several times. I very much do not want to be, as Donovan Morningfire called them, one of those “OPs [who] didn’t want to bother learning how it actually worked”
Despite that, I still have a few questions about the morality mechanic, how it is supposed to work, and whether the places in which I find it lacking are my fault or the mechanic’s fault. There are four questions below, answers to any or all of them are appreciated.
Before I dive in, I should mention for context that I have GMd one brief (1-session) tabletop game, but I predominantly GM a PBEM game - we started with EotE but are trying to bring the party’s force user into the new system.
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The first question is, ‘how do I define a ‘session’ a PBEM game?’ With Obligation I just rolled when it felt appropriate, and if a ‘session’ was a little longer or a little shorter, so be it. But with Morality I am worried that the choice of when to roll that D10 will have a much bigger and potentially biased impact.
We have come up with two ideas, but I’m not happy with either of them - 1) roll ‘per encounter’ and use a smaller die - probably a D4. 2) Don’t roll at all and use some kind of ‘anti-conflict’ to generate positive morality. The first option is workable but I worry about balance (at the very least, it reduces variability). The second option has some appeal (see the third question, below), but ultimately I agree with the many posts opposing this idea in other threads - it is easy to game the system without adding anything to the narrative. Before FAD my group actually house-ruled a system for force-using EotE characters to fall which did involve a random element in part for this reason.
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I have reviewed the table on page 220, but I don’t understand how certain situations are supposed to play out. For example, recently, our Force user (a Smuggler:Thief/Force Sensitive Exile) broke into an office to steal some things to help oppressed farmers resist a tyrannical local regime. Her motivation for this was partly to help and partly for the reward (it was not monetary but the person who gave her the job hit her motivation right on the mark). She got caught by a loyalist, and promptly started trying to lie her way out of the situation, first to extract herself and try again, then to protect the person who had gave her the job and then finally just to protect herself. Turns out, all of it was unnecessary, the loyalist wanted no part of any fights, and as their conversation progressed, it became apparent that the situation was much more complicated than the PC had previously thought, and in fact her actions, even if wholly successful, might actually make things worse for the people she was supposed to be helping. The loyalist simply showed the Force user to the door and she left to figure out how to proceed with this new information.
So my question is, where do I assign conflict here? She was attempting to steal something, which is 2-3 conflict, but this can be mitigated if she is stealing from a corrupt authority to give back to those in need, which she thought she was doing… even if she had some ulterior motivation as well. Plus, ‘mitigate’ does not mean ‘annul’. Further, her later revelations indicated that her altruistic motive was not so straight forward, and she may actually have been stealing something from people who could ill-afford to lose it, which is supposed to increase conflict. Of course she never managed to steal anything at all. Additionally, she told lies which were entirely unnecessary and at least partially motivated out of self interest (get out of here and back to the job, save myself, don’t get in trouble, etc), which suggests 1 conflict to me, but they were also lies as a means to avoid violence as a first resort, which is also 1 conflict and, in my opinion, much worse, so I feel that she should suffer less conflict than if she had pulled her blaster even if the rules suggest otherwise (to me).
In short, I have no idea how much narrative conflict should be applied here. Suggestions?
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All that is required for good to triumph is for men to do nothing.
I understand and generally agree with the problems inherent in using some kind of ‘anti-conflict’ to drive Morality up, but it still bothers me that the way to become a paragon of light is only to avoid darkness, even if you never do anything worthy of ‘light’. One of my players pointed out that the fastest way to become a light side paragon is simply to mind your own business and preferably be somewhat dimwitted so as not to notice what is going on around you. Is this my failing as a GM to provide a sufficient number of difficult choices? Or am I just being paranoid and no player would really do this just to go light side and I’m overreacting to something that ‘feels’ wrong but works as a game mechanic?
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‘Triggering Morality’
I have no problem dealing with the ‘session’ issue in terms of triggering morality - I will do it the same way as I do obligation. But I am underwhelmed by the mechanic as I understand it and am hoping someone will clarify for me. I love obligation because it is appreciated both by my players who like to interact with the system and those who like to role play (I don’t have much experience with duty). But triggering Morality, as far as I can tell, will really only excite the latter group of my players. At first I really liked the idea, because any systemic incentive to role play more is great in my book, but I don’t see this mechanic filling that role. If it isn’t meant to be a ‘systemic incentive to role play’ that’s, fine, too (I'd appreciate clarification there), but I will probably want to modify it in some way if that is the case.
As far as I can tell, when a character’s morality is triggered, the GM puts a situation in their path that will allow them to role play their emotional strengths and weaknesses, and if they do so, the net of the D10 roll minus conflict is doubled at the end of the session. I can't see any systemic incentive to role play a emotional strength if you want to go dark, or a emotional weakness if you want to go light.
I’d like clarification that my above understanding is correct. If so, I am leaning toward the following house rule (yes, it will help people rise or fall faster), but feedback is definitely appreciated - When a character’s morality is engaged and the character's player role plays BOTH to their emotional strengths and emotional weaknesses, the player may choose, prior to the roll, to multiply the morality die roll (not the net result) at the end of the session by 0, 1, or 2. Basically giving players the opportunity to engage with their emotions for a risk/reward tradeoff (if they engage with emotional strengths/weakness and avoid/accrue conflict in the hopes it will be mitigated by the die roll/lack thereof).
Too long, didn't read - Four questions on the application of the morality mechanic separated by dashed lines.