I ve created my own house rules to fix minor problems or balance a few issues but I started to wonder how to change the stress system ( fatigue is OK).

Already every things that worked "once per session" now can be used "once per adventure chapter" (including fortune points) so I was thinking to allow character to reduce stress as per RAW at the end of the chapter.

At the same time I ll remove the chance to get stress with a duble skull on a mental action and I ll give instead fatigue point as per normal actions.

Also I want to remove the chance of passing out from too much stress but increase the risk of taking insanity that should last at least the entire chapter.

I m eager to receive any suggestion!

You could probably increase the stress insanity bit by simply lowering the threshold by one.

jh

Why do you feel you need to do this?

Rally action takes of stress or fatigue by 1/success on a 1d rule. Rest remove all stress and fatigue for free. First aid may cure wound and take of some of it.

If That's not working for you, houserule the rally action as we do : you may decide during a rally that you recover with no roll a number of fatigue equal to your toughness or a number of stress equal to your will power.

What is to stop a player "Assessing the Situation" 5 times in a row and removing a days worth of hard labour pretty quickly and immediately?

It doesn't make sense to me, the stress and fatigue system is a great concept, but it doesn't feel "realistic".

A GM needs to place a limit on that. Meditating in the middle of combat would quickly get one killed in my game. I usually allow once per encounter and none per story mode.. Fatigue and stress are supposed to come and go easily. They're not wounds afterall.

A GM needs to place a limit on that. Meditating in the middle of combat would quickly get one killed in my game. I usually allow once per encounter and none per story mode.. Fatigue and stress are supposed to come and go easily. They're not wounds afterall.

1. Story Mode - Travel

2. Encounter Mode - Fight

* accrue Stress and/or Fatigue during fight

* only one Assess the Situation allowed (Recover 1 Stress and 1 Fatigue on success)

3. Rally Step - 1 Round of Rest

* recover 1 Stress & 1 Fatigue

AND

* recover Fatigue equal to successes on Easy (1d) Resilience check

OR

* recover Stress equal to successes on Easy (1d) Discipline check

OR

* other Rally Action - PG p79

4. Encounter Mode - Fight

* accrue Stress and/or Fatigue during fight

5. End of Episode/Encounter

* recover Fatigue equal to Toughness

* recover Stress equal to Willpower

6. Story Mode - Travel

* Fatigue and Stress locked at balance

Is that accurate?

The issue I have with RAW Stress & Fatigue is that Assess the Situation is pretty much a (1d) bulk Block/Parry/Dodge, with a 2 recharge and recovery abilities for S&F. It kind of negates all the S&F.

The issue I have with RAW Stress & Fatigue is that Assess the Situation is pretty much a (1d) bulk Block/Parry/Dodge, with a 2 recharge and recovery abilities for S&F. It kind of negates all the S&F.

I'd look at it this way as a GM: If your players have time to Assess the Situation, combats and social encounters are too easy and not over quickly enough. Get some glass cannon monsters that do a lot of damage all at once (high strength/agility) but lower wound thresholds. Throw in a combination of henchmen and individuals that would otherwise be henchmen (henchmen goblins and individual goblins.)

When it comes to social encounters give each player 1-3 rounds of contributing to the encounter. Remember that they cannot gang up on a person they are attempting to influence (give a bonus white to assist only if the player has credible evidence to assist in influence).

jh

< quote: So, as an example, would the following be a fair assumption of how you're running it?>

I think I'd only use the rally step if their lives were in danger and the combat was taking extra long.

If they got in a bar fight (encounter 1) and accrued some stress/fatigue, they can't stack Assess the Situation with the End of the Encounter.

Having a Rally Step probably wouldn't be relevant in a bar fight.

Getting ambushed again after the bar fight would probably be a 2nd encounter.

If they ran and hid, that may be story mode and it may be encounter mode, but the effect would probably be a good time to say, "Sorry, I'm going to rule that you dont' get enough down time running away to Assess the Situation."

In fact, it got me thinking: why not HOUSE RULE that Assess the Situation has to occur in the first 3 rounds of combat or in the first 2 rounds after a Rally step? That might be the best way to keep it reasonable.

Also, make the describe how they're going to do it. If you're sitting in a closet, hiding, you're not assessing jack so it would be disallowed. You'd have to put yourself somewhere you cold see the action.

Lastly, if players nerf the Assess the Situation bit, I'd let them for a while..and then like I posted above, increase the monsters on them. If they're not killing, they're getting killed. Offense is always tougher than defense in this game.

jh

In combat, my players seldom "sacrifice" a turn to do assess the situation and it's far between rally steps. In my games stress and fatigue are a very real danger in encounter mode.

And in story mode I do not allow spamming actions, so they cannot use assess the situation over and over again until they are rested, they would have to rest.

In combat, my players seldom "sacrifice" a turn to do assess the situation and it's far between rally steps. In my games stress and fatigue are a very real danger in encounter mode.

Yeah. Assess The Situation is basically "I'll pass my turn to recover some fatigue/stress". If a character is able to do that several times, the GM is making the fights WAY too easy.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I think you guys have answered my issue with the recommendations that I "disable" AtS when back in Story Mode.

To date I have just been resetting their S&F to 0's after fights just to keep it low rent. I did this with the assumption that they could just spam AtS anyway, so characters just take 5-10mins to "catch their breath" and "calm down" whilst mechanically resetting to 0.

With end of encounter recovery of S&F equal to W&T it usually ends up 0 anyway.

Disabling AtS in Story Mode should carry some remaining S&F on now.

I think "Fatigue" is poorly named. The word conjures up images of long-term exhaustion...

"I'm so _fatigued_ from that back-breaking day of hard labour I did yesterday."

That's not at all what the mechanic is trying to emulate. Mechanical fatigue in the game rarely lingers for hours, and almost never sticks around to the next day. It crops up suddenly and with little warning, has a chance of knocking you out, and then goes away as just as fast. It comes from short intense actions, not long slow exertions.

If "Fatigue" were renamed "Winded", it would much better match what it represents.

"I'm _winded_ from all this recent activity, but give me a moment to catch my breath and I'll be good to go."

That's what the mechanic is trying to model. "Assess The Situation" might as well be renamed "Catching Your Breath".

Once I realized that, it stopped feeling so weird. Of course the PCs could recover all their "Fatigue" if they just relaxed for a couple minutes, since Fatigue mainly represents being short of breath (and not necessarily tired or sore).

If the GM wants to apply some sort of long-term penalty for a long hike, a hard day's work, staying up all night, or exposure to inclement weather, use a Condition card. There are several Conditions that represent that effort and difficulty far better than a couple points of Fatigue ever will. When in doubt, use "Overwhelmed" (+1 Purple on Physical checks, IIRC).

When a PC makes a roll during a story part of the game- do you still apply the "attempt a stunt" card? Like a bane/boon lose/gain a stress or fatigue based on the roll? Then additional banes/boons have other effects?