::::::Possible Spoiler for the Intro Campaign::::::: I am not a complete bear of little brain, but I have to admit, I am somewhat bumfuzzled by the advancement rules in the game. Let me give you an example and maybe y’all can help me out a little.
My CMO, Lt. Cdr. Brill, Tellarite male M.D.
As part of our adventure he blew a hole in the bulkhead of the ship and caused his Captain to be sucked out into space. In the direction of full disclosure, he knew the Vulcan Captain was infected with a Neural Parasite, he DID NOT KNOW the “Vulcan” was actually a Romulan spy. He had a value called “I’m a Doctor, not a…helmsman” (or whatever"). My character is unaware of the Captains true nature, and feels he has murdered his Captain, albeit accidentally, but when he fired the phaser that blew the hole out of the side of the ship - he was aiming for the Captain. (He was aware of the need to increase his phaser setting to kill, to affect the Neural Parasite infected characters).
So, I am challenging the Value of “I’m a Doctor not a …helmsman (fill in the blank”) to “I am a Doctor and a Murderer.”
Query: Is this the correct method for challenging a Value? I am uncertain how the Value is supposed to be changed. As we are still learning the system we have not tried anything like this before. Should it be “re-written” somehow else?
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Just to clarify, players actually challenge their own values, not the GM. That being said, you could encourage your player to challenge his value in that way in effort to help him learn to use an important aspect of the game. That would be a great way to do it! He could roleplay his guilt and so forth. You could even follow up with an episode some time in the future where he finds out the truth.
S31, Apologies, I did not make this clear - the CMO is my character. Hence my query…instead of marking an important event in his life - what is the purpose of the milestone? Perhaps it is because we are used to playing Pathfinder, and receive skill/class ability/combat improvements per level. More over, I am concerned I am not handling this event correctly - i.e. within the scope of the rules.
Oh, my mistake. It sounds like you’re doing it correctly. I wish my players would get involved in their characters as much. I find that challenging values is something my players do infrequently.
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So, in most cases, the process for challenging a value is handled collaboratively between player and GM, and works as follows:
The character is in a situation where one of their personal beliefs (i.e., one of their Values) would hinder, impair, or otherwise complicate their actions. The player can suggest this, or the GM.
The player then chooses either to accept a complication immediately, or to challenge the Value (and cross out the existing Value text - the crossed-out Value can’t be used again). Either way, they’ll gain one Determination, though challenging may only be done once per mission. If this is agreed to by both player and GM, then it goes ahead. If you challenged a Value, you may spend the Determination immediately using a different Value. (This frames it as a personal conundrum - either your Value impairs you, or you break from your Value)
When the character gains a milestone (they’ll get one at the end of that mission, if they challenged a Value), the player may choose to rewrite the text of a crossed-out Value, to represent how the character’s beliefs have changed - once rewritten, you can use the new Value as you wish. You don’t have to add the rewritten Value immediately - you can leave that until a later milestone if you wish, and adjust some other aspect of the character in the meantime.
So, the situation you described is close enough to correct that I’d let it slide as GM, but I’d ask you to challenge or suffer a complication before firing the phaser (he’s choosing to use lethal force, that’s the immediate issue) - the complication might make you hesitate or second-guess yourself and make the action harder or add some other problem, while challenging the Value represents a severe break from the character’s beliefs.
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