Part IV: Mechanical Guidance


Table of Contents
Special Thanks
Part III: Born Tabula Rasa
Character Creation Summary
Part IV: Mechanical Guidance
Part V: Just In Time
Using Fragments
Example: Using Fragments
Purchasing Fragments
Fragment List
Example: Sudden Discovery
Switch #2: Just In The Knick of Time
Mike Says: Switch #2
Naming Fragments
Exceptions
Switch #3: Weekly Special
Using Fragments Revisited
Example: Modifiers
      The game has begun.  In front of you lies a sheet of paper without any Fragments on it at all.  For a while, this lack of definition will suffice, but sooner or later you will begin to think about your character in different ways.  Normally, play continues uninterrupted, but eventually everyone will find their characters in questionable circumstances.  The GM will surprise you with situations that challenge the loose character concept simmering in your brain.  Perhaps the time will come when you want to reveal a secret about your character to the group.  Now is the time for a Challenge .  With Challenges come new Fragments, and Fragments are the key to discovering character in PERSONA.

MIKE SAYS...
     Yes, yes.  Discovering character sounds super nifty and all, but let's face it sometimes you just want the players to roll some dice.  Challenges work great for this too.  It doesn't always have to be about revealing deep dark secrets and ultra important personal discoveries.  Maybe you just want to see if EchoRip can jump over the chasm and that's it.  No Fragment purchase necessary.

To initiate a Challenge someone must request one.

SWITCH #1: ROLLING WHEN YOU WANT TO

SWITCHED OFF
     The GM can always request a Challenge.  Doing so simply means that one or more of the player-characters is in some sort of trouble and the time has come to see what they're made off.  When this switch is off, only the GM may request and initiate Challenges.  However, there's nothing stopping you from asking the GM to request a Challenge on your behalf.  Of course the GM can refuse, but it never hurts to ask.

      If you are GMing, try to present situations that will at once include a combination of the players' developed Fragments and also some less popular choices.  This technique will help to push the players in new directions, or alternatively, to tackle new problems with an ever-increasing bag of old tricks.
MIKE SAYS...
     I've never played with this switch on even if it is the default setting.  Things always work out fine for me.  I set the scenes and initiate the Challenges, and my players make things happen.  Just like in any other roleplaying game.

SWITCHED ON (DEFAULT)
     You may request a dice roll (we'll get to dice in a minute) or a Challenge that requires you to make a dice roll at any point during the game.  The requested Challenge may involve other player-characters and does not necessarily have to follow the normal chronology of the current situation (flashbacks, etc.).  The GM must immediately incorporate your request into the game unless another player objects.  A player who objects is required to provide some explanation as to why the requested conflict would violate the game-world or ongoing story.  You and everyone else might try to convince the objector otherwise, but in the end that player has final say.  Objecting to a requested Challenge costs two Character Points.  You may never object to a Challenge requested by the GM.

     If you make a request then you must purchase at least one Fragment level after your roll.  Other players involved in the requested Challenge do not have to spend any Character Points unless they wish to do so.

EXAMPLE
     EchoRip, our female motorcyclist, has just busted in on a gang of mobsters all sitting around playing poker.  EchoRip's player, Ben, chimes in to request a Challenge before the GM can get a word in edgewise. "I want a flashback scene with EchoRip and the mobsters.  We are all in a gunfight together against the cops and EchoRip is alongside the mobsters."
     Ben hopes to pick up the Comrade (friendly with Big Tony's gang) Fragment with his requested Challenge so that EchoRip can begin her poker scene on good standing.  However, another player has decided to object. Sonya explains that it's important to the ongoing plotline that none of the PCs know any mobsters personally.  Sonya won't listen to any of the other players' pleas, pays two Character Points, and denies Ben his requested Challenge.

     Once a player successfully requests a Challenge it's time to bring out the dice.  Dice add randomness to the game and help to resolve conflicts between two equally matched opponents.

DICE THRESHOLDS

     The number of dice that you will roll in any given Challenge depends on the total number of Character Points you have received from the GM.  You will always roll six-sided dice and you will always roll at least three of them.  Once you learn about the way in which Fragment Totals (see pg. 18) affect the outcome of a Challenge, you should consider that the numbers involved could get quite high.  At some point during the game the GM may announce that everyone should add another D6 to their pool.  The purpose being to offset outrageous totals and to ensure that dice will actually have some sort of effect.

     The Dice Thresholds are left up to the GM to decide.  If everyone starts the game with 35 Character Points and 3D6, then perhaps you will gain another die when you reach 70 Character Points.  Maybe you won't gain a fourth until 140 total points.  The exact numbers depend on how focused most players are about their Fragments.  When you spread out your Character Points among a bunch of unrelated Fragments then the dice will have a greater affect vs. a player with three or four maxed out abilities.  Either way, dice thresholds are set at the same value for every player.

MIKE SAYS...
     Well, you could play with Dice Thresholds, or you could just see what happens when everyone sticks with the original 3D6.  Personally, I think this whole business is too much effort.  Maybe I'm lazy, but I don't know when dice are affecting things and when they're not.  I just want to get to the whacky roleplaying.
     I suppose if all of my players were complaining about not having enough dice I'd say, "Take an extra one."  But otherwise, I say just let things happen.

DIFFICULTY RATINGS

     In the average Challenge the first mechanical event to occur will be the GM assigning you a Difficulty Rating .  A Difficulty Rating is simply a number, a number that represents the importance of the Challenge to your character.  A high number means that the Challenge is harder to overcome, while a low number equals an easier Challenge.  A harder Challenge will require more Fragments to beat and therefore will result in more character discovery.  When the GM decides on a Difficulty Rating she's really asking you to learn a little or a lot about your character.

MIKE SAYS...
     Ok, here I just disagree.  Sorry Tim, but I've never done this.  When I pick a Difficulty Rating for one of my players I'm not thinking about character discovery.  I just sort of think to myself, "How tough is this enemy?"  Maybe you discover character as a side effect, but it's not on my mind.
     When you first start a campaign, you will purchase many new Fragments with your Character Points because any Difficulty Rating is something large.  Likewise, the longer the campaign, the less Fragments you will have to buy when a standard Challenge occurs.  To a certain extent, dice and the random factor work to offset high Fragment Totals, but overall it's for this reason that PERSONA is best suited to shorter, well defined campaigns.  At the same time, when something character-defining happens in the latter stages of a story, you'll know it.  Difficulty Ratings can get up there, and as the game progresses those numbers will necessarily rise at a steady rate.

ROLLING DICE

     The Challenge has been requested, the Difficulty Rating has been set.  Now it's time to roll the dice.  Take at least your 3D6 and let'em go.

     Dice in Persona explode, meaning that when a die shows its highest value you need to re-roll it and add the new result to the total.  There is no limit to the number of re-rolls you may take insofar as each new roll comes up six.  When luck favors you, there are limitless possibilities to your actions.

     Dice in PERSONA are not added together, but instead considered individually. When all explosions have been dealt with to their own ends, you are looking for the best die (greatest numerical value) of the three. That is the value you will add your Fragment Total to.

     In order to resolve a Challenge you take the number you rolled and add it to your Fragment Total (I'll explain Fragment Totals in the next section).  If the total equals or exceeds the Difficulty Rating then your character has overcome the Challenge.  While you are in charge of deciding how exactly your character handles the Challenge, when the time comes, the GM narrates the way in which your character succeeds or fails.

EXAMPLE
     EchoRip is sitting in a dingy warehouse playing poker and wants to make an impression.  It comes to her bet, and she tosses in a charred datastick.  "What's that?" one of the mobsters asks.
     "Protocols for Transfire's new Medusa ICE."

     "Ok, let's break this down," the GM chimes in.  "Your Difficulty Rating to intimidate is 10."
     EchoRip's player, Ben, rolls 3D6 and comes up with a 2, 6, and 5.  Ben takes the 6 and re-rolls it.  Another 6!  Another re-roll.  This times it's a 1.  Ben moves on to Fragments with a base total of 13 (more than enough on its own to succeed).  If two, or all, of his original dice had been sixes, then they all would have exploded, but he would still only take the best single result.

     Difficulty Ratings cover the vast majority of Challenges in PERSONA.  Even when you are up against twenty henchmen, or haggling with the local merchant, a Difficulty Rating will get the job done.  However, when two PCs go head to head, forget about Difficulty Ratings altogether.  Simply match dice rolls and Fragments Totals against each other.  If you have the highest result, then you win.  Your GM may use this method in rare cases for very important NPCs as well, but again, a simple Difficulty Rating usually suffices.



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