How many non-performer roles can a PC fill?


Extinction Curse


I can see that no two PCs can fill the same non-performer role in a circus act, but how many different roles can a single PC fill?

Can a single PC be both a security guard and an extra clown, or can they fill only one role?


So, the book doesn't actually say but I assume it should be only one. How else are you supposed to get the bonus throughout the whole show if that person isn't fully committed to it.


Short answer: one (1)

Long answer: just like Zioalca says, the book doesn't quite manage to say it out loud. It comes close, but no phrasing can be said to unambiguously rule out other interpretations. I imagine it's a case where when something is obvious to you as a writer it's easy to forget to make it obvious to your readers as well. Oh well.

But since the rules definitely doesn't say something like "two" or "five", we are reasonably left with two options
1) they meant one. Just one.
2) they meant "many" as in "all of them"

Since option 2 is clearly unrealistic, I'm gonna go with #1.

Developer

BastionofthePants wrote:

I can see that no two PCs can fill the same non-performer role in a circus act, but how many different roles can a single PC fill?

Can a single PC be both a security guard and an extra clown, or can they fill only one role?

Just one role.


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Now that we have an official answer (thanks Ron) I can continue by:

Ron Lundeen wrote:
Just one role.

That being said, BastionofthePants, I don't see a huge balance issue in allowing more non-performing roles being filled, if you feel it's unfun to have so many of them unfilled. After all, with four players, and most of them actively performing, there's always going to be lots and lots of such roles that remain unused.

As you can read in other threads in this very forum, I allow each player to select one NPC as their character's friend or relation. That is, each player declares something like "I've fallen in love with Axel (from Axel's Amazing Aviary), and he's now my character's boyfriend" or "The Tattooed Woman (Talaha Roadwatcher from The Sideshow of Everyday Marvels) is my drinking buddy, and we have no secrets from each other".

This gets them a special +5 bonus to social interaction vs that NPC. For instance, if a player happened to select Axel, the +5 bonus would apply to the Diplomacy/Intimidation check needed to make him perform ("Axel the Unproven", page 7 of The Show Must Go On).

It also means I'm going to level up that NPC as a circus performer (if applicable) so that he or she or they remain "competitive" as the players level up. In other words, the players don't have to sideline their old friends as they make new ones (=finding more NPC circus performers in books 2 and beyond).

And one more thing - and here I'm finally getting to the point ;)

I allow a player to choose to have "his" or "her" NPC fill a non-performing role instead of leveling up.

Maybe a player isn't interested in having Axel perform his aviary trick as the circus levels up. Maybe the player instead prefers Axel to fill the role of Carnival Barker or Costumer.

Another player might select The Unjoined Twins (Hesper and Meitas Jaxis). Since they don't have a circus trick, there is no leveling up to be had. But the player might be happy with them filling the role of Backup Clowns, what do I know?

What I do know is that, yes, this slightly boosts the players ability to pull off successful Shows (since four players can now fill up to four non-performing roles while still performing their own circus trick). But you can always counter that with more mid-Show challenges like ruffians that threaten to disrupt the circus.

The important thing is that if you feel it makes the Circus more alive when NPCs can help the heroes pull off Circus Shows, and you feel you can handle the extra boost this gives the heroes, you should feel free to experiment with breaking the official rule of "one role per PC only".

Cheers :)

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