This came up recently and the players pretty much kinda had a revolt against me on it claiming that no matter how many fatigue/stress symbols appear on the reckless dice roll, it only generates one fatigue or stress, and not one for each icon rolled.

The wording on the icon's description is somewhat vague as it just says that if at least one of the symbols shows up in the roll, but it doesn't specify you gain one token for each icon rolled.

That is totally correct:

Regardless how many Exertion symbols are rolled, the character only suffers one stress or fatigue. The same goes for Delay symbols. In my opinion this was ruled this way, because there are no counter-symbols like banes vs. boons.

The more stance dice you use, the more likely it is to get Delay or Exertion. That's hard enough.

Have fun and good game.

Your players are correct. Even if you rolled 6 Reckless dice and got the fatigue symbol on all 6 of them, you'd only take 1 actual point of fatigue.

Remember that buying Stance dice is supposed to be a benefit, it's a thing that you spend XP on. They're supposed to be better than the blue dice. If buying more stance dice seriously increased the chance of you incapacitating yourself in a single bad roll, they wouldn't be a very attractive advancement option.

Also, the Stance system is part of what makes this game nuanced and unique. Making a deep stance position too dangerous would decrease the value and variety of the system. You only get to adjust your stance for free once per round, so a player with a lot of reckless dice will already open themselves to a lot of fatigue if they want to start rolling the good dice right from the start.

The same goes for Conservative dice and Delay symbols. If one bad roll could result in all of your action cards getting delayed (or one action shut down for all three acts of a major conflict), those dice wouldn't be worth the risk.

Just to agree with the other posters. The rules are clear on this, it states quite clearly you gain one (1) fatigue or one (1) stress depending on the type of activity performed. If they had intended for these to change depending on the number rolled the wording would have been different.

Lexicanum said:

*sigh*

But that is the problem, it does NOT say it clearly. If it was as clear as you are writing it out specifically says ONE and bold and all that jazz, it would be quite clear.

PanzerKraken said:

Sure, I'm not saying you can't be confused, but it really does say just one. Look at page 44, under Rare Outcome Symbols:

Exertion: The task was more taxing than expected. If at least one exertion symbol appears in the results
pool, the character performing the check suffers 1 stress (if it was a mental task) or 1 fatigue (if it was a
physical task).

It doesn't say, 1 per result or for each or any indication that these effects are cumulative. And the "At least" part is meant to encompass results that are 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 exertion symbols. In other words, the rule is basically saying: "if you have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or more exertion symbols the performer of the check suffers 1 stress or 1 fatigue".

The text itself has no mention of per result or per die rolled or per symbol, that's all externally added either by misunderstanding or adding in "rules" that have not been stated anywhere in the rulebook. What I've learned from reading these forums, is basically take the rules as written and apply the path of least complication.

here is the official word if it makes you feel more confident. i could see what you are saying so I asked just to be sure:

Exertion and delay are binary results. They are either "triggered" or "not triggered" – there is no increasing magnitude.

For example, exertion is triggered if one or more exertion symbols are generated in the dice pool results. Regardless of whether there are 1 or 4 exertion symbols, the effect has been triggered and the character would suffer 1 stress or 1 fatigue.

Cheers,

Jay