What I really wanted to was to create a Poll. However I can't seem to find a way to do that on this forum, so just the question will have to do.

I've seen a few opinions from digging around in older threads, but I wanted a more dedicated thread devoted to just this question.

Do you let your players spend Threat & Despair generated from your NPC's roll? (ie when the GM rolls and it comes up with threat or despair, the players choose how to spend this threat/Despair)

*I know RAW (EoTE CRB pg205) says that the GM may give players the "option" to spend it. So i'm just curious who actually allows it.

I'll give my answer, which is probably the most common answer: "Yes, but I reserve the right to veto suggestions that do not feel fitting to the nature of the scene."

I'll hear them out. We're all trying to create a good story here.

The book says that players spend advantages and triumph while the GM spends threat and despair. The problem with this is that it feels like it was written on the assumption that a PC was making the roll vs an NPC, and that obviously doesn't happen when an NPC is acting, with the by-the-book result that the players are spending their good symbols and the GM is spending their bad ones. So yes, I flip it around in that case - if it's an NPC, the GM spends the adv/tri and the players spend the thr/des.

That said, my experience is that the ideas tend to be collaborative regardless of who is officially supposed to be spending them.

I ask their opinions at times but honestly I do a better job of being creative with them over all so I typically do it all myself. If anything they see a Despair and automatically suspect Death and Woe, and at times I prefer to bank them for later use. They would actually probably beat themselves up worse than I do since they tend to 'go for throat and eyes' with their Triumphs and I tend to be more narrative.

29 minutes ago, 2P51 said:

I ask their opinions at times but honestly I do a better job of being creative with them over all so I typically do it all myself.

My players are close to this (some better than others), but I still hear them out. I don't like to waste a lot of time watching them hem and haw, so if something isn't forthcoming I'll make a suggestion, and if they think it's reasonable we'll go ahead.

No I do not. My players are frequently too indecisive on spending Advantage and Triumph from their own rolls; the last thing I want to do is make it worse.

11 hours ago, whafrog said:

My players are close to this (some better than others), but I still hear them out. I don't like to waste a lot of time watching them hem and haw, so if something isn't forthcoming I'll make a suggestion, and if they think it's reasonable we'll go ahead.

15 minutes ago, Vorzakk said:

No I do not. My players are frequently too indecisive on spending Advantage and Triumph from their own rolls; the last thing I want to do is make it worse.

Personally, since my player are new to "story telling" as well as the system I find this is the case for me also. They still are trying to grasp how to spend their own which I often find myself having to offer suggestions.

12 hours ago, 2P51 said:

I ask their opinions at times but honestly I do a better job of being creative with them over all so I typically do it all myself. If anything they see a Despair and automatically suspect Death and Woe, and at times I prefer to bank them for later use. They would actually probably beat themselves up worse than I do since they tend to 'go for throat and eyes' with their Triumphs and I tend to be more narrative.

It's my hope that they'll be able to contribute more once they are more experienced, but for now I'm finding my players always indicate that my suggestions are way better than what they could have come up with

Thanks for the input everyone.

In general I agree with everyone hear in that I think you should allow input, but reserve the decision for yourself. There is an important exception though: If a talent specifically allows an enemy despair/threat to be used in a certain way, I will allow the player to do so. If a despair allows the targeted player to disarm his opponent, or get a free attack, he can spend it thus without argument.

14 hours ago, 2P51 said:

I ask their opinions at times but honestly I do a better job of being creative with them over all so I typically do it all myself. If anything they see a Despair and automatically suspect Death and Woe, and at times I prefer to bank them for later use. They would actually probably beat themselves up worse than I do since they tend to 'go for throat and eyes' with their Triumphs and I tend to be more narrative.

Pretty much this. My players don't take the initiative.

Yes, I allow them if they have an idea. I usually have some idea, but nine times out of ten I'll take their idea over my own. However, like others have said, I reserve the right to veto anything that isn't appropriate. (I'll usually invite them to try again, if they'd like.)

It all depends on who has a good idea. Like everyone else, for the most part, I will veto an idea which doesnt fit, but if someone has a good idea, we go for it.

We do also have a sort of informal rule that we wont take alot of time figuring it out tho. If no one has a good idea in a minute or so, we just default to a boost die or some such, to keep the game moving

I do not have a monopoly on good ideas. Any and all suggestions for dice roll outcomes will be entertained.

In battle: I let my players spend the threats and despairs of the NPCs, they just use the standard list out of the book for this, may be not much narrative there but it helps to not drag out the fights even more (it is hard enought to get more than the typical "I hit, with 12 damage breach! use the advantage to... eeehhmm... boost the next and player X") Still I have the veto right especially for despairs where I mostly offer some narrative solutions to give it at least a bit more of impact.

Out of battle: 9 of 10 times my players don't have any ideas so I'll make something up.

(my players suffer from too many years Shadowrun and DSA ("Das Schwarze Auge" ->translates-> "The Black Eye" not sure if it is known out of germanys borders)

Mostly, yes.

The thing I add is that I try to get them to describe what happens, not just the game effect.

I ask for ideas and make the decision after that. Sometimes I use their ideas, sometimes my won.

I usually leave the option only, but sometimes it's tricky getting them to be proactive. I have one player who only likes to deal with hard mechanics, one that tries to be creative with force powers and glosses over the rest. Two that are on the less experienced side. And one that tries to use dice rolls for things that don't require it while overlooking the actual rules for affecting narrative.

So in short, sometimes, but they're not too keen on it.

It all depends on the circumstances, but if the players have a cool idea, sure, why not.

I'll take suggestions from the players if they've got them, but unless it's a character talent that operates around utilizing threat/despair (such as Improved Parry or Counterstrike as two examples) I reserve the right to make the final call.

In general, I try to let the person or side making the roll spend advantage and triumph and the opposition person or side spend threat and despair.

Given that the player is the result of threats and dispairs when being rolled against; generally we chose what happens with those when they are rolled against us while the gm has absolute authority on the success and the advantage.

I'm not against it but it's never come up. If a player suggests a use that's more detrimental to his character - and by extension, more fun - then I'll certainly allow it.

On 13/08/2017 at 2:40 AM, ThreeAM said:

What I really wanted to was to create a Poll. However I can't seem to find a way to do that on this forum, so just the question will have to do.

I've seen a few opinions from digging around in older threads, but I wanted a more dedicated thread devoted to just this question.

Do you let your players spend Threat & Despair generated from your NPC's roll? (ie when the GM rolls and it comes up with threat or despair, the players choose how to spend this threat/Despair)

*I know RAW (EoTE CRB pg205) says that the GM may give players the "option" to spend it. So i'm just curious who actually allows it.

I figured it needed reminding. This isn't threat/despair generated from a character's roll, but rather generated from an NPC against a character .

In my EotE game I do allow the players a say in it....It gives them a sense of ownership in the game. I find its just another way to keep all the players invested in the session...

I also find that in my 20+ years of GMing that players are their worst enemy! They will hose themselves far worse than I ever could. Which is very cool and I love their creativity in the moment.

On ‎19‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 9:42 PM, Donovan Morningfire said:

I'll take suggestions from the players if they've got them, but unless it's a character talent that operates around utilizing threat/despair (such as Improved Parry or Counterstrike as two examples) I reserve the right to make the final call.

This is how I do it too. Some players still don't quite understand the way in which these are applied, and spend 1 threat like it's 3, 3 like it's 1, and will suggest with their own failed attacks that the advantage be used to trigger some secondary effect which damages the target. If the average group's values for threat and despair was like a currency, it would be a stable one whereas this guy is basically the Zimbabwean dollar.

Other players though will come up with situationally perfect suggestions.