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Secret of the Hidden PocketIf my character Gord has the Secret of the Hidden Pocket, can he retrieve any item, even an item I never said he owns to begin with? For instance, if Gord is trapped in a locked room, can he use Hidden Pocket to retrieve a set of lockpicks even if I never said that Gord carried lockpicks? Secret of the Hidden Pocket can be used to retrieve anything small. Lockpicks is a totally great example. [1]
Secret of ImbuementWhen you spend an advance on Imbuement, do you have to name the particular item you're Imbuing, right there? Or does having the Secret give you the ability to Imbue items in general? Name the item right there.
It says, "in addition, you can use this Secret to imbue the item with the power of another Secret". Suppose I want to Imbue my stylish Indiana Jones hat as +1 armour, and also with a Hidden Pocket. How much does that cost? Two advances. One to Imbue the armour rating; and one to Imbue the power of Hidden Pocket. (In the Finnish translation, Eero Tuovinen broke Imbuement into two secrets, one that adds weapon and armour ratings, and one that adds the powers of other secrets.) Note, you do not separately or previously have to buy Hidden Pocket.
It says, "You can add one weapon or armor rating to the item each time you take this Secret." Does that mean that if I spend a second advance, I can Imbue my splendid hat as +2 armour, in all combat situations? No. "Add a rating" means "add an additional situation in which the item counts as a weapon/armour, and a modifier for that situation", not "bump up a modifier by one".
What if I Imbue Mighty Blow? Since it costs are reduced by one, does that mean I can get +1 harm for free? Yes. [2]
Secret of the Mighty BlowFrom the text, it's hard to say exactly how this Secret works. Do you spend Vigor pool for bonus dice for your attack ability or are you adding directly to the Success Level of an action like a weapon bonus? You add to the SL, like a weapon. [3]
Can you wait until after you've rolled to see how much Vigor you want to spend to improve your result with Mighty Blow? Indubitably yes. [4]
Secret of the Sudden KnifeIf the victim of Sudden Knife fails her Endure check, does she take only level 6 harm, or is it both level 4 and level 6? It's both. [5]
Secret of the Unwalked PathWhy do you need a Secret to hide your tracks? Wouldn't tracking someone who was trying to hide their tracks normally be a contested roll? There's a couple of different answers to this one, potentially. The easiest one is that its damn hard to cover your tracks in a lot of wilderness situations, and most people just can't do it. Imagine trying to hide your footfalls in a mud-slick forest, on a sandy beach, or the like. So this is an example of a "spend one die from a pool to use an ability in an unusual way" Secret.
As Storyguide, I'd let anyone who wanted attempt to cover their tracks, but they'd have to go slowly, make Stealth checks, and I'd often apply one or more penalty dice to their attempt. Similarly, they'd run into all sorts of potential barriers and obstacles: "Uh oh, guys... muddy riverbank. We have to go around this to some place stonier, and lose some time." If anyone was pursuing you, it'd be a nightmare. But you could always make the attempt.
WITH this Secret, I'd let you run at top speed through the woods, crashing through brush, heading in any direction you liked, making only Woodscraft checks, and leaving traces that required beating your check to follow. In classic fantasy terms, its the druid or elf who is so nature-wise that they're difficult to track under any circumstances. [6]
Secret of ZuCan syllables be used on only one target at a time? You should differentiate between the three different functions of the syllables. They're completely separate rules-wise, and should always be evaluated independently. That said, nouns are obviously used on only one "target", the thing you're summoning into existence. The others are trickier, and what follows is my interpretation, as the book doesn't comment clearly.
The basic principle is that uttering the word costs pool, while its effects do not cause extra costs. So one uttering will cost one pool, regardless of hypothetical several targets. Likewise a basic principle is that the utterer chooses his target, which is verified several times in the text. Thus you can order somebody around, for example, without simultaneously ordering others at the spot. A third basic principle is that the target may always resist the effect of the uttering with a roll of his own.
Based on the above three principles this can be played two ways: either you always have one target, or potentially everybody in the hearing range can be your target, exact choice by the zu-speaker. I don't see any text against either interpretation in the book. I can see playing it both ways, but prefer the latter, myself; my feeling is that zu needs the extra boost, and as every target gets to resist individually, it's all good.
The case of the verbs is straightforward after you decide either way on the above. However, I should mention that the qualitative words (I seem to forget the proper English term) act in a way that justifies several targets now and then regardless of the above: as the text describes, you can use a zu to directly or indirectly influence another character's action; both saying "quick" to a runner and "quick" to wind blowing on a climber produce an effect. I have to read the logic of the indirect method to mean that should the same wind blow on several climbers, they would all get the penalty dice; after all, it's the wind that produces the penalty dice, so it makes some sense to have it produce them equally to all climbers. But I can see how somebody might want to interpret the wind as color only, to avoid too creative uses of zu. (What I mean: if you decide that the wind gives the dice imbued by zu to anybody it blows against, you could easily use one uttering to influence several unrelated conflicts at once; for example, a boat could be benefited by the same wind that dicomfits the climbers.)
That was somewhat complex. The short version: I think that the words should affect anybody in the hearing range, should the zu-speaker wish it so. [7]
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to come up with good Zu syllables and their different forms? Remember that ultimately the combination of three English concepts does not have to make sense to you, as long as it might make sense to a Zaru. So if you need to stretch a bit to get an useful and fun syllable, then do so. In practice, try to think up at least one good use for each form of the syllable; if you can't, then it's probably too weak. [8]
What happens when the possessor of a Zu-syllable dies? It's really up to the Story Guide. Some possibilities:
Joćo Mendes: I've come to assume that character transcendence is when new syllables come into the world or lost* syllables are restored. A transcending character could easily gain knowledge of a few new/restored syllables, then retire to live out the rest of their days in peace, all the while dispensing (or losing) those syllables to Zu speakers around them. (*) If you're using the version that states that only one person knows a syllable at a time, remember that if that person dies, the syllables (s)he knows become lost. George (Twobirds): In my game, 'lost' Zu words, or words that were in someone's head when they died, or even just forgotten, make their way to secret places in the world. The place I used in my game was a tree, and each leaf had a word of Zu written on it (in a written language no man could duplicate). You read the leaf, you gain the word, and the leaf wilts. This led, encouraged by the players, to me making up an Ammeni conspiracy to find these places and hoard all the lost Zu words, even going so far as to say that this was the real reason for the enslavement of Zaru. Josh (shadowcourt): I think the spontaneous creation idea should be handled gently-- there might be times when it's worthwhile, but there's a LOT of exciting story potential in having to hunt down reclusive elders in the swamps who know Zu syllables and convincing them to part with them (or stealing it from them). As always, let the story be your guide-- if it suits the gameplay in a cool way that's dramatically significant and makes the players say "Whoa!", then go for it. |
