Untitled - Index of - Free

many times, and is 'getting ready' to ambush him as he
comes out of the bath, take the computer chip he now
possesses, and then head straight for the border.
Why is this about to happen? Well, when our hero
originally attempted the seduction ofTatiana, the Director
went through the normal route for resolving the outcome.
Starting with the 'Basic Resolution Flowchart', at the top,
we'll follow these decision steps. The Director determined
that the plotline didn't require a particular outcome, and
that due to Tatiana's extreme loyalty to her country, and
years of experience as a spy, that even the Seduction
Skill of our hero wasn't enough to overcome her. There
was no way the Director was going to release the tension
early on this one, and so she has decided to give our hero
False Hope. That wasn't terribly difficult. Now, at this
juncture in the hotel room, the Director has decided to
finally release the tension. No otherfactors have changed,
and so our hero will still Fail. However, the Director has
decided not to hurt him, but to teach him a lesson.
Therefore, we'll follow the path on the 'Interpersonal
Resolution Flowchart' marked 'Let them know they were
Lucky. Then give them another chance.' Notice how one
outcome has smoothly flowed into another, guided by
story events and roleplay alone.
The Director decides that due to the close match in
Skills, our hero should have been About Capable of the
seduction (it was Tatiana's Loyalty Personality Trait that
assured him of Failure), and we'll therefore follow the
'About Capable' path. The reason for the continued
Failure is still Tatiana's loyalty to her country, and so we'll
use the 'Motive' path for the factor. That leads to the
Result which reads 'The enemy battleship fires several
warning shots across your bow. They repeattheir warning
not to enter contested space. The line remains open.' The
Director translates the Result as follows.
Upon emerging from the bathroom our hero is taken
by surprise. Tatiana delivers a stunning blow to our hero's
head, and he obligingly slumps to the floor. Tatiana
quickly searches our hero's clothes, finds the computer
chip, and turns to depart. That was the 'warning shots
across the bow'. Tatiana pauses for a moment, bends
down and lightly kisses our dazed hero. 'I'm sorry' she
says, 'It would have been beautiful. Maybe another time?'
She does not kill our hero, and her last statement indi­
cates that the 'lines remain open'. If all goes well, our hero
will catch up to Tatiana and get another chance. Next
time, who knows?
Stop! No way! The Actor playing our hero doesn't
like that ending. This super-spy is a 'Lady's Man'. The
Actor spends one Plot Point (see 'Plot Points' described
in the chapter titled 'Improvisation') and Activates that
Descriptor, declaring his seduction a Success. Our hero
wishes to come around just as Tatiana bends down to kiss
him good-bye (the strike to the head wasn't as hard as it
might have been). Our hero can then grab Tatiana by
64 Theatr-lx - The Core Rules
surprise and kiss her. She can't leave ... she can't believe
it... what a man ... she's been seduced! Now that's better.
The Director likes the use of that Trait, and gives our hero
a full Success. Looking at 'Let them know they've done
well.', still at 'About Capable', and using 'Mood' this time
as the critical factor, the Result reads 'He lowers the
shotgun he had aimed at you. "Oh what the hell. I didn't
really want to have to shoot you anyway."- Seems you just
made a friend.' Well, more than a friend in this case.
MAGNITUDE OF RESULT
One piece that's left off of the flowchart outcomes is
the Magnitude of your Results. Instead, an average
example is given to communicate the structure of the
desired outcome. This structure should be easily applied
to most situations, and the Magnitude of the Result
modified to fit the need. The Magnitude of a Result should
be based off the difference between the performer's Skill
Rank and the Difficulty, and upon the sequence of actions
in question.
Skill Rank Vs. Difficulty
We'll start with judgements of Skill Rank and Diffi­
culty. Basically, the less competent a character is to
perform an action, the thinner or more coincidental should
be any Success, or the harsher should be any Failure. For
example, if you intend to give an Actor false hope of
Success, and the role she plays is very competent in the
required Skill, then you might give her only a feeling that
she could be close to victory, setting her up for an
unforeseen disappointment. If the role in question is
barely competent to perform the task, then false hope
might imply wild exaggerations of the possibilities, lead­
ing the Actor to make some unwise decisions in the
situation.
Risk
You must also make your Result fit the actions in
question. This comes down to a basic judgement of risk.
If the action taken was highly risky, then Failure will
generally be that much worse. Also, unless the role
undertaking the risk is highly competent in the area,
Success should tend to involve more coincidence as well.
For example, close range starship dogfighting with laser
cannons is normally a fairly risky endeavor. Failure in that
endeavor may mean death. However, it can also mean a
damaged ship, or only that your quarry gets away. So
even a Failure in this risky an event may not mean death.
But now, imagine the same fight in a constantly shifting
meteor swarm, with rapidly hurtling rocks large enough to
destroy your ship. Now this is a risky event. Any Failure
here is going to be really bad. Any pilot that can make it