Heyas!

Please don't incinerate me -- I'm just making sure I've got the right ruling for these:

If a PC doesn't generate/accrue Conflict in a session,

1. s/he still makes the Conflict roll at the end, right?

2. & s/he will always add to his/her Morality score, (becoming more & more a paragon of the light side of the Force) right?

Thanks for your time!

Lete

MTFBWY

A

Yes, even if they did not gain any Conflict, they still roll, and then the rolled amount gets added to their Morality.

Lathrop is correct, and it's one of the sticking points for those folks that don't like the Morality/Conflict system, as it can be very easy (in their eyes) for a PC to become a Light Side Paragon, simply by virtue of avoiding actions that would earn the PC points of Conflict.

However it's also apparent that most of them weren't referring to the useful chart of suggested Conflict penalties on page 220, or assuming 'well if it's not on the chart (like eating the recently deceased) then it doesn't generate Conflict," the later of which is blatantly false. In fact, most of the actions that are a gaming group's "standard operating procedures" will generate at least some Conflict, and the particularly nastier acts will generate Conflict for any PCs that didn't try to intervene, invoking "guilt by association" for said heinous acts.

That is what I was pondering. According to the chart, it's still difficult not to accrue Conflict, of at least one (& I'll bet it'll be amended towards even more Conflict gain or more Conflict-oriented actions). & that is just "one way". For instance, in my group, they rather have their F. Powers fail when DPs show in the Force Die than generate Conflict.

Bottom line: It's hard being a "good force user" in F&D.

Thanks

L

MTFBWY

A

Totally.

What happens when you are forced to choose between two evils? Let the bad guy kill the innocent little girl, or kill the bad guy to defend the innocent girl? You did what you knew was right, and yet there's still that internal conflict in your heart, asking yourself, "Was there another way...?"

Conflict is easy to come by.

I do like the idea of choosing between two evils, but I especially like the ideal where Conflict is awarded for choosing the easiest or most expedient path. This is especially true when the players don't necessarily know what will happen if they stick to the light side option. I like the idea of reminding players, especially force users, about all the witnesses they are leaving. If they don't do anything about it, their notoriety with the Empire will increase to a level where they have inquisitors in their starship's overhead bins. Avoiding that situation provokes creativity and often requires letting atrocities go unanswered.

There's a reason that it's called "conflict" instead of just awarding dark side points as in previous systems. If you see a stormtrooper accost, assault, and arrest a simple fruit merchant for not having a permit, by default the game assumes you (the good guy) feel like you should act. Whether you do act or not is ultimately up to you, but you definitely feel conflicted if you decide that discretion is the better part of valor.

especially if your Jedi is travelling with murder hobos. Don't step in to stop the torture? Conflict. Don't stop the murder of a surrendered enemy? Conflict. Player characters being player characters around a Jedi can lead to conflict.

Totally.

What happens when you are forced to choose between two evils? Let the bad guy kill the innocent little girl, or kill the bad guy to defend the innocent girl? You did what you knew was right, and yet there's still that internal conflict in your heart, asking yourself, "Was there another way...?"

Conflict is easy to come by.

When we played the 'Lost Knowledge' adventure my Consular/Healer was trying to save a dying NPC. I didn't have time for a Medicine check so I used my characters Heal power. It came up all Dark side pips. If I had not used the Dark Side, earning one conflict (and one strain) to activate the power then the NPC would have died and I would have earned several (five?) Conflict for failing to take action to save a dying person when it was within my power to do so.

A few sessions later a member of the party was falling from Medium Range and would have taken 30 points of falling damage (and 20 strain). I used 'Move' to grab her out of the air to save her. Again it came up all Dark side pips and I took the Conflict for using them to save her, rather than take the greater Conflict for failing to act to save her (and so I could save her).

I started with a Morality of 50 and just got up to 72, despite taking Conflict evey session and rolling only slightly better than average. Along the way I've been following the Jedi Code at least as well as Qui-Gon, despite spending Dark side pips almost as often as not.

Totally.

What happens when you are forced to choose between two evils? Let the bad guy kill the innocent little girl, or kill the bad guy to defend the innocent girl? You did what you knew was right, and yet there's still that internal conflict in your heart, asking yourself, "Was there another way...?"

Conflict is easy to come by.

When we played the 'Lost Knowledge' adventure my Consular/Healer was trying to save a dying NPC. I didn't have time for a Medicine check so I used my characters Heal power. It came up all Dark side pips. If I had not used the Dark Side, earning one conflict (and one strain) to activate the power then the NPC would have died and I would have earned several (five?) Conflict for failing to take action to save a dying person when it was within my power to do so.

A few sessions later a member of the party was falling from Medium Range and would have taken 30 points of falling damage (and 20 strain). I used 'Move' to grab her out of the air to save her. Again it came up all Dark side pips and I took the Conflict for using them to save her, rather than take the greater Conflict for failing to act to save her (and so I could save her).

I started with a Morality of 50 and just got up to 72, despite taking Conflict evey session and rolling only slightly better than average. Along the way I've been following the Jedi Code at least as well as Qui-Gon, despite spending Dark side pips almost as often as not.

And that's how it's done.

Flipping pips isn't supposed to be that big a deal, it's your actual choices that are supposed to decided if you go dark or light.

It's also a matter of consistency, as each CRB has pointed out. If you are constantly and consistently flipping DPs and using dark side pips to fuel your powers, that "quick path to power" will eventually corrupt you. But yeah, taking a dark side pip every now and then can otherwise just be a momentary exertion of power, after which you take a moment to "center" yourself to avoid yielding to your emotions.

No one is perfect, after all. People are complex, and playing a "perfect" character is weird. That's how lawful good paladins got a bad name It's not about instances and one-off occurrences, it's about habits and patterns in behavior. If one is in the habit of using negative emotions to fuel their powers, the outcome is set.

Also it's a matter of what you're representing. The conflict from using dark pips might be less about "oooooohhhhh you're using the dark side!!!! ooooohhhhhoooohhhhhh it's eeeevvviiiiillllll" and more "Oh... was the force REALLY necessary for this? REALLY?"

A good tip to put this into perspective is that even the darkest of the dark can still spend a Dpoint and strain and use light side pips if they like as well.