New Mechanic: Faustian Bargain

#1

How many times did your players or you (as a player) had to make a clutch attempt and fail miserably? What if you are the last person in the round who can save your dying comrade from certain death? What happens when nobody has a Hero Coin? Enter Faustian Bargain.

Faustian Bargain
A player can reroll any dice as if he had a Hero Coin. In return, the GM gets a Hero Coin (DM Coin?) to use it later.
While the GM has an unspent coin, no further Faustian Bargains can be made by anyone.
“Your prayers are heard little one, yet the balance must be preserved.”

Essentially the player in question gets a reroll to make things right but so does the universe, to preserve the balance. Can be epic but also can be devastating if the player misses again and the GM adds Ultimate Effort to the next damage he rolls. :japanese_ogre:

Dark Dealings a Ghost Mountain Mechanic Idea
#2

Wow, this idea actually made my head spin. You could reroll the dice as a player and give the GM a GM COIN to use later on, but there are also possibilities of calling the universe to help you in ways of story. I’m thinking of the Devil’s Bargain from Blades in the Dark: https://fictivefantasies.wordpress.com/2016/10/01/devils-bargain/ .

An example could be: You’re in the bandits hide-out to save the woman you love. You are all getting beaten up by the leader and you use the Bargain to ask the universe for help. What happens is that the woman escapes the cage and heals you all for (Basic) Effort in her turn. After the fight is over, it seems like she has taken a liking for your party member, troubling inner-party dynamics and adding drama.

Another example could be: You are trying to convince King Henryk of Grey to give you more treasure upon completing the quest. You roll a 1 on your charisma attempt, making Henryk like you even less and he thinks about hiring another party. Yet with the Bargain a treasurer-adviser comes to help you and agrees that you will get a better reward for your struggle. This quest is too important to give to anyone else. The King now agrees, but the other end of the Bargain is that the guild/party that wasn’t hired is spilling nasty rumors about you and when you come back, some merchants don’t even want to talk to you, some nobles distance themselves from you.

I would say that in this approach there should be some connection between the good side of the Bargain and the bad side. I really like your idea too though, just wanted to present a more plot-based possibility of the Bargain…

#3

Glad you liked it!

In return I like how you used the concept in the context of a story instead of just mechanics. Great thinking! Though one must be careful not to upset the gods by overriding dice rolls for overarching things. Wink wink. :wink:

#4

It’s very binary or Yin Yang :yin_yang: . I like it, but I have to get over my inhibitions about using :herocoin: Hero Coins against players. I’ve always enjoyed empowering players, but keeping the GM at RAW level. Maybe this will give me the balance I need to move beyond that? :thinking:

#5

Ordinarily I share your concern about buffing the GM since the GM doesn’t need any and it doesn’t feel good. But I’ve made an exception in this case because it is not actually buffing the GM per se; it is providing a cost for a last ditch effort from players. This mechanic just gives a last chance to players to actually succeed at something which they can’t otherwise succeed no matter what. In fact it is expanding their options which is always nice and it is entirely in their control.

If giving any advantage to the GM offends your sensibilities period, you can nerf what the GM gets out of this. Maybe just an attempt becomes EASY or something along those lines.

#6

No, I agree with you @Khan . If the player gets something beneficial from a desperate situation AND they fully understand the potential negative consequences from that “last ditch” benefit, then it’s only fair for the GM to dish out said consequence.

#7

I’m implementing this mechanic in our next Oathsworn game.

#8

Yay! Can’t put in words how much that makes me happy. Will you guys be recording? Please say yes lol :sweat_smile:

#9

This sounds pretty damn good. I really like the idea.

#10

Yup, recorded and all pretty thanks to Jason at Roll For Effort. :metal: Here’s a link to check out last week’s game. The situation is dire, my friend.

#11

Are you kidding, I’ve already watched it. :grin: I guess I hated the cliffhanger as much as you guys did. Let’s see how you guys will get out of that situation (if you can!) :smiley:
When Alex said Oathsworn, it didn’t ring any bells because nowhere in the Youtube channel it says Oathsworn (that I could see).

Anyway, thanks and rock on brother! :metal:

#12

:bulb:
I was trying to implement something similar back when I was playing Savage Worlds, but it never worked out. Then again I was thinking of it like a board game or wargame. I’mma borrow this for a game one day.

#13

This is fantastic! Definitely using this in my current 5e game and future ICRPG games.

#14

Here you can see Faustian Bargain in action:

#15

Did I do it justice?

#16

Arrrrghhh, must waaaatch naaao

#17

That is the definition of a rhetorical question :smiley:

Too bad Dave didn’t succeed though. Would have been awesome if he did.

#18

Cahm ahhhn, do id naaahww! (read in Arnold’s voice)