Each scene will have an amount of stakes, usually based on a STACK being managed by the dealer. These stakes are represented by a pile of chips which are placed on the scene once the primary goal of that scene has been established. To reach the goal of the scene the team must reduce these stakes to zero by succeeding on the actions they perform.
The Effort that players are betting on their most consequential actions represents how effective their successful actions were. Once winning bets are paid out at the end of an action, the dealer and the winning players narrate how the actions they were performing play out in the scene. Include the effects of failed actions as well, as they may cause COMPLICATIONS. As each action plays out, a number of chips equal to its payout are removed from the stakes on the scene until the stakes reach zero and the conflict of the scene is resolved.
When a scene’s stakes are cleared, the team may continue to act in it - after all there may be some other unresolved reason the scene was taking place. A player may also find an opportunity to GATHER INFORMATION. When a scene has reached its satisfactory conclusion, the team should be ready to either begin a new scene or move on to DOWNTIME.
At the beginning of a play session, each player will be given a pile of six chips to represent their character’s starting effort. Bets placed by the player come off of the pile immediately, and effort recovered and paid out from a successful action is immediately placed on it.
If a player has zero effort remaining, they may continue to act, but are not able to commit to any action which may progress their goals - they must BUY IN to be able to do so. When you buy in, you are immediately granted a new pile of six effort and assign three INJURIES to your character. These injuries usually represent the wear and stress you have put yourself under, but are only just beginning to notice. They could also represent old injuries flaring up, a chronic condition acting up, or have any other narrative explanation which would be appropriate for the character.
You may always choose to retreat from a scene while there it still has stakes. The liminal spaces of the Jackrooms or the twisting corridors of a dungeon allow for all manner of escape from all manner of situations, the team will just have to handle a potential loss of progress. If a circumstance ever arises where all members of a team have zero effort remaining the team is said to be FELTED, and the team must retreat from that scene and accept the consequences for doing so.
When the goal and danger level of a scene is established by gathering information, the dealer will represent the stakes on the scene with a number of chips based on the threat that scene represents:
- A high-pressure scene where the team must act quickly to avoid certain doom has stakes equal to 150% of the dealer's stack which that scene will progress.
- A low-pressure scene where the character can take their time and are conceivably safe until they move on has stakes equal to 50% of the dealer's stack which that scene will progress.
- Scenes which do not present an immediate escape-ending hazard, but are not necessarily a safe place to linger, have stakes equal to the stack which that scene will progress.
- A dungeon's ultimate encounter, such as a boss monster or final complex puzzle, will have higher stakes than expected based on the scene's threat level. For such a challenge, add one chip to the stakes for each player on the team. This means that a scene whose stakes would be zero due to a stack being cleared will still have these extra chips as its stakes.