<strong><span class="bbc_u">Rules, Reminders, and Tips</span></strong><br/><br/>A simple system reminder!<br/>All rolls are 1d6.  Results are almost always as follows:<br/><br/>1 = Drastic Failure.  Lose two pool points.  Costs an extra three points to reroll one of these, for a total of five points down per '1' rolled during a contest.  Ouch!<br/>2 = Quotidian Failure.  Eh.  You failed.  Costs a pool point to reroll.<br/>3 = Exasperating Failure.  Missed it by<em>that</em>much!  Costs a pool point to reroll.<br/>4 = Hair's Bredth Success.  Made it by<em>that</em>much!<br/>5 = Prosaic Success.  Yay.  You succeeded.<br/>6 = Extraordinary Success.  Go, you!  You get an automatic boon of two points to the appropriate pool.  It costs three points for an opponent to make you reroll one of these.<br/><br/>Pool Points are a bit weird--they're like special limited-ammo weapons in a video game.  You only have so many at a time, and they allow you to do things like reroll failures (usually a good idea) or force an opponent to reroll successes (also usually a good idea!).<br/><br/>If you do not have an ability, and you fail to use the Overarching Rule of Efficacious Blandishment on your own behalf, you have a -2 penalty on your roll.  Yes, that means that only a '6' is going to work...and it's merely a Hair's Bredth Success, not an Extraordinary Success.  (On the bright side, a Drastic Failure will only cause you to get stuck.  Pool points don't drop below zero...except maybe Health).<br/><br/>Boons give you extra pool points.  These do not go away when your pool refreshes...unless enough time has passed that everybody refreshes all their pools.  Yes, this means that you may have a pool higher than your current Ability.<br/><br/>Levies cost you pool points.  That just makes it harder to overcome misfortunate dice.<br/><br/><strong>Lead Me Not Unto Temptation (I Can Find It Myself)</strong><br/><br/>Something which the Quick Start rules do not make terribly clear is that the Resist (Temptation) checks are not something which must always be made.  If giving into a particular temptation is something you want to do anyway, or doing so does not get in the way of something else more important...you need not roll.<br/><br/>An example: while going about your business on a visit to Kaiin, you just happen to wander into The Tracks and stop at a casino.  This is likely going to cause some sort of temptation: most likely Avarice (easy money!) but possibly also Rakishness (cute waitstaff) or Gourmandism (good food at low prices).<br/><br/>If you have nothing better to do with the afternoon and you state openly that you'll spend a few hours gambling (or if you're so broke you can't even pay attention), then you don't need to check.<br/><br/>If you're on an important mission for a cranky Archmage and you've got his 600 terces burning a hole in your pocket, then you have to check because it looks like so much fun and besides you're a good hand with a deck of cards and the Archmage surely won't begrudge you a couple of drinks...<br/><br/>The only down-side to having a Resistance of 0 is that you don't get to reroll your failures.  You still get to try to stay on task, and a '6' gives you the same Boon of 2 extra points as everyone else.<br/><br/>(more to come)