As a preview of some of the advise and suggestions I’ll be releasing for Hero’s Banner, I thought I’d post the major rules changes.
Passion Checks
Change 1. No player is allowed to make less than three passion checks until his character’s passion score reaches at least 50 points. As a result, no player may initially take less than the 30-point bonus when re-rolling a failed conflict check. This change serves to speed up play, but still allows for narrative control when it most matters: during endgame.
Change 2. Players are no longer required to bring in one of their connections when making less than three passion checks. In play, connections inevitably show up. Either the GM frames a connection into a scene directly, or the players include them naturally. Otherwise forcing a player to integrate his connection into a scene after the fact is a bit artificial.
Breakdowns
Under the standard rules, breakdowns occur whenever a player rolls doubles on a passion check. The player then immediately stops making passion checks. So if the player was supposed to make three passion checks and rolls doubles on the first, then he would ignore passion checks two and three. In play, this rule unnecessarily slowed the pace of the game.
Change 3. A breakdown still occurs on a roll of doubles, but the player should finish making the full series of passion checks before narrating the breakdown.
Endgame
Change 5. Players are no longer required to use the chart described on page 72 when narrating their epilogues. Instead, the narrating player should answer the following questions during endgame:
- Did the character have any regrets?
- Did the character live a fulfilling life?
When answering the questions, the players should take into consideration the number of connections he has under the “winning” influence, as well as the people he had to thrust aside to accomplish his goals.
The original chart sometimes imposed artificial restrictions. Endgame is more meaningful when the players address open-ended questions that get at the same meaning.