What to do with a threat that has completed its countdown?

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Nic.W

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What to do with a threat that has completed its countdown?
« on: January 17, 2013, 03:22:27 PM »
I had an affliction threat for the supply wagon of the caravan with a countdown for the consequences of not addressing the scarcity of food, and basically the ball has been dropped by the players. So now the last scraps of food are monopolized by a militant faction in the caravan, people are hungry, friends are betraying each other. So basically everything is great!

But what do I do with this threat? It feels like it's done, and split off into the various threats which are consequences of the original. Is this what other people have done?

Re: What to do with a threat that has completed its countdown?
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2013, 07:05:47 PM »
I believe the text indicates (I'm not sure where, if at all) that such fulfilled countdowns get spun into new Threats and/or Fronts based on the fallout (heh heh) they cause, as the MC determines. Sucks to be the players. Now they have new problems. And sometimes that's going to happen: players either don't catch, or don't prioritize a problem. Sometimes that's alright: it makes the landscape more interesting.

An unaddressed countdown is one way the Hardholder can lose a Hold, for instance. At that point, the Hardholder shifts from keeping the Hold, to retaking or reestablishing the Hold. Or doing something else entirely. But now that enemy-held Hold has its own impact on the surroundings, with numerous conflict possibilities.
"Above the tortured heavens
So full of silent waiting
Howl screams of birth and triumph
Unlock the faceless hating"

- Darkest Of The Hillside Thickets, "Ogdru Jahad"

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Nic.W

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Re: What to do with a threat that has completed its countdown?
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2013, 12:29:18 AM »
That makes sense in terms of driving play forward rather than circling the drain, so to speak. I think this has really turned me on to the value of the countdown in terms of giving the threat teeth.

Re: What to do with a threat that has completed its countdown?
« Reply #3 on: January 22, 2013, 01:14:42 PM »
As a additional, typically fronts and their related countdowns should have a number of stakes with them; the completion of these countdowns should be a decider to many of the related stakes and lead to a significant change in the lives of the affected NPC's. Maybe people died or now they don't have enough food or are leaving for elsewhere or having to make a deal with the devil, what have you.

To me, when you make a countdown, the stakes are how you covert it's resolution into real effects as per the principles. In part, the segments indicate what actions npc's will take but the stakes are what happens when a countdown is completed or resolved.