Conflicts

## Different Kinds of Conflicts

A Conflict represents a significant scene in a story where the outcome is contested between two sets of Characters.

The most well known of these would be the Combat Conflict, where two opposing sides fight until one side overcomes the other or achieves a particular goal during that fight.

However Conflicts can describe many different kinds of scenes. They could be a chase scene, where one set of Characters attempts to evade another set. It could be an intense negotiation, such between two leaders looking to avoid, or perhaps start, a bloody war. Or it could be friendly game of sport between two sides, but the stakes may nevertheless feel hugely important to those involved in the sport.

Within 7e all Conflicts will follow a similar structure: Participants in the Conflict will take turns to perform certain actions which will affect the outcome of the Conflict, and the Rules of the Conflict will dictate how these Actions will progress the Conflict towards a particular resolution.

It is the intent that the all **significant** Conflicts have a structured set of rules which allow Players to make meaningful choices in how the Conflict is resolved. It is up to the GM to decide when the moment is right to use the Conflict rules. For example, it would be appropriate to initiate the rules for a dramatic and tense negotiation between the Characters and a Pirate King they require assistance from, but it would not be appropriate to use these rules for negotiating a better price for a meal from the tavern keeper.

A list of different sets of rules for different Conflicts are presented at the end of this Chapter.

## Fate Points and other Common Rules

Between the Conflicts presented you will find many common rules.

The commonest rule you will find between them is the concept of Fate Points.

Fate Points represent the progression of a Conflict towards a particular outcome. In a Combat Conflict, Fate Points may represent how close to death a Character is. In a Chase scene, it may represent how exhausted the participants are, or a negotiation it may represent how the resolve of the parties is being broken down.

In many ways, Fate Points can also represent the "Plot Armor" the participants have. For example, in a Combat Conflict a common bystander may have only 1 Fate Point, whereas the Player Characters will all each have 5 Fate Points. Because of this, it is much easier for the bystander to fall in combat rather than the Player Characters. However by the same virtue, a significant villain for the Story may have many more Fate Points than the Player Characters to ensure that their plot relevancy grants them at least *some* immunity to the machinations of the Players. Because of this you will find that many more powerful Characters will have a greater many Fate Points, making them harder to kill, persuade or chase down.

The other most common rule that will be found is how the conflict is Structured. Typically, time is conveyed in a dilated fashion during a conflict, so that the actions and reactions of the characters is allowed to play out in significant detail. A complete set of actions and reactions between the Characters involved will be described as a Round, while each individual players actions within that Round will usually be restricted to their Turn. The length of time of both Turns and Rounds will vary depending upon the context, however as a rule of thumb fast paced action scenes such as Combats or Chases will be much shorter in duration.

The Actions a Character can take will be described within the Rules of the Conflict. Additionally your Character may gain rules specific to them which modify these rules, or allow them to perform different sets of Actions unique to them. While engaging in a Conflict you should be mindful of the rules of a Conflict as well as the capabilities of your Character.