Infamy Spends and Adapting Strategies

2 INFAMY SPENDS AND ADAPTING STRATEGIES

A particular challenge of online play is that sometimes you want to shift tack if a current strategy isn’t working, or spend Infamy Spends to make success more likely. Given your post might actually involve a number of rolls, it would be cumbersome to have to ask you for each roll whether you want to use an Infamy Spend. And so, I won’t.

If you want to use an Infamy Spend or adapt strategies on the fly, the best way to do it is in the form of conditional statements. Let’s consider the example of play from the first section again.

I lean in, perfect teeth bared, my smile enchanting but predatory. I encourage Lady Francesca to talk about herself, feigning interest in her petty life, engaging with her and making her feel listened to. Slowly, I drive her towards the real topic of conversation: what she really thinks of the local Deacon. At the crucial moment, I ask her the following: “You have quite enchanted me, Lady Francesca: what a delight. I can only suppose how much the Deacon must appreciate your company in the Church.”

I smile that predatory smile once more: “Unless, of course, he is a bore? I have never met the man.”

Though you think that Lady Francesca will enjoy talking about herself, you can’t be sure: and you remember that she gave you a long tour of her greenhouse last time you visited. Moreover, it might be crucial that you get more information on the Deacon, such that you want to use an Infamy Spend and improving your chances. As such, you might instead post as follows:

I lean in, perfect teeth bared, my smile enchanting but predatory. I encourage Lady Francesca to talk about herself, feigning interest in her petty life, engaging with her and making her feel listened to. I scope those areas of conversation that interest her, latching onto her interests, even if it involves discussing the minutia of running that damned greenhouse.

Slowly, I drive her towards the real topic of conversation: what she really thinks of the local Deacon. At the crucial moment, I ask her the following: “You have quite enchanted me, Lady Francesca: what a delight. I can only suppose how much the Deacon must appreciate your company in the Church.”

I smile that predatory smile once more: “Unless, of course, he is a bore? I have never met the man.”

[I’d like to use an Infamy Spend to +10 to the crucial Test to get information on the Deacon, unless you think my chances are already pretty good (above 60%).]

Note that this post explicitly states how you want the Infamy Spend to be used. If you don’t give this level of detail, then I will use the Infamy Spend in what I take to be the most sensible way in order to accomplish your goal. Ultimately, I am not trying to screw you over.

When it comes to combat, it may be hard to specify when you want an Infamy Spend to be used, and you’ll have to rely more on my judgement for how to use them. For example, you might post that ‘[I’d really like to kill the Deacon before his guards arrive, so I’d like to use up to one Infamy Spend in the first few Rounds to ensure he’s put down.]’. From there, I’d use my judgment: if he’s close to death and you really need to make the next hit to finish the combat, I’d use an Infamy Spend on your next Ballistic Skill Test.

Conditional statements are a great way of glossing over uninteresting aspects of forum-based roleplay. I’d encourage you to use them as much as possible, especially if you can’t make many posts that night.