Loving The Character: The Comforting Anchor

Why no, writing Dean had nothing at all to do with me picking this one to go next.

Loving The Character is a series about how to play each of the common character types in Bliss Stage. It will consist of discussion of both the mechanical aspects of the type and tips on how to portray them sympathetically - even when they're screwing up.

This article marks the first step outside the spotlight of the Pilot types and into the world of Anchors. In some ways, Anchors are easier to play than Pilots. You’ve got fewer relationships to juggle, less direct spotlight time, and a clearly defined place to fill in the story. So a lot of what I could say here will apply equally to other types of Anchor. Therefore, I've tried to focus in pretty tightly on the places the Comforting type is different.
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Key Mechanics

The special ability of the Comforting Anchor is to reroll any or all dice placed in a Threatened or Endangered category.

This is potentially really, really handy – or possibly, completely useless. It helps your Pilot operate longer and better with Trauma… but it only works well when two things are both true.

1. Your Pilot has Trauma. Ideally, 1 or 2 Trauma, not more. If I’m the GM, and your Pilot has 3+, I force relationships whenever I can rather than threaten/endanger, or I threaten multiple categories at once and make you triage.
   
   
2. Your Pilot is rolling well on their Mission rolls. The Comforting Anchor can shore up a category that’s in trouble, but ONLY if the GM lets them by threatening or endangering. You’re much more effective at getting rid of one or two excess – rolls in a generally good roll than saving a key relationship when the dice come up bad, the way a Savvy or Experienced Anchor can. As GM, I try never, ever to threaten that relationship that’s in trouble – because I want to take +s away from the threatened categories. Go ahead, reroll that -- in Safety. You aren’t going to make it much better.

The Cruel Math of Anchor Rerolls

I hope you’ve already figured out never to reroll any die that’s not a -. The Comforting Anchor has it worse, though. Often, in order to make any difference on a bad roll, you’ll be forced to reroll 2 or even 3 dice. And each die only has a 2 in 3 chance of improving (1 in 3 of getting to +).

Dice Rerolled           – result             = result            + result
1                            1/3 (33%)          1/3 (33%)        1/3 (33%)
2                            3/6 (50%)          2/6 (33%)        1/6 (17%)
3                          14/27 (52%)      12/27 (44%)       1/27 (4%)

The way it works is that non-threatened categories will tend to take priority for the scarce resource of +s. Plowing 2 or 3 + dice into one category is rarely wise. So most often, you’re staring at (at best) = - in a threat, or = = - in a danger. Sometimes it will be worse than that. You’re going to be picking up the pieces of something that went really wrong much more often than you’re going to be saving the day.

Basic Play Tips

Encourage caution in your Pilot. You’re the one who’s going to have to get them out of trouble when things go wrong. Remind them that they have limits.

Don’t be afraid to pull the plug early. It’s way better to risk aborting a mission than to have one go south badly – you don’t have the resources to protect your Pilot like some Anchors do.

Advocate for your Pilot with others. The healthier their relationships are, the less mess you have to worry about. If they can take a few = or – dice from time to time, that’s more + to help you and your pilot when you need them.

This one is a bit meta. Provide good Nightmare ideas when your Pilot is in Safety trouble. This will make your GM want to threaten Safety instead of something else (and hear more of your lovely and twisted ideas), and ultimately, Safety is a better sink for bad dice than other categories are. Trauma Relief is relatively easier to get than other interlude results in many cases.

It might not be a bad idea to build a decent relationship with more than 1 Pilot if you have the opportunity. Your ability is uniquely suited to helping a Pilot who is in temporary rough shape due to Trauma, and if you can do that for more than 1 Pilot, you’re really valuable!

On the flipside of that, you might NOT want to get overly intensely involved with your primary Pilot. Trust, sure. But they are going to be relying on you in some hairy situations, and you are going to want to do things like kick them out of a mission when they don’t want to quit. The more you can keep that relationship professional, the easier it’s going to be for both of you. Maybe.

Why Are You An Anchor?

You’re a natural therapist, confidant, giver of necessary hugs and little white lies.

You’re trying to protect someone you care about from the ravages of Piloting.

You’ve been pushed into it by someone – and you never were very good at saying no to someone who says they need your help.

You already lost someone special to the War. You want to protect your Pilot they way you couldn’t protect that other someone.

Choose Your Weapon

Almost any Pilot can benefit from working with a Comforting Anchor sometimes. But you are especially helpful to a Seasoned Veteran. She is starting off with Trauma already, and has a lot of burdens to carry, and not a lot of people to count on. She needs you.

You also work pretty well with an Innocent Sweetheart. His tough relationships can take a lot of punishment, freeing you up to deploy your Comforting where it does the most good.

You may want to stay clear of the Devoted Lover. If you’re their “special someone”, it might work out okay, but usually you’re going to have a lot trouble keeping them afloat. The necessary (little-I) intimacy of your relationship with the Lover may spark jealousy.

Playing A Lovable Comforting Anchor

Don’t be a doormat. Yes, you’re Comforting. But you have emotional needs too. Find a way to meet them, whether with your Pilot or (preferably) somewhere else.

Be a good listener. Not just with your Pilot (who’s going to need those Trauma Relief scenes), but with others as well.

Lie. Tell people what they need to hear. Protect them from the hard truth until there’s time for them to hear it without breaking.

Don’t take it personally. You’ll probably have a fair amount of conflict with your Pilot. Remember that it’s not always him talking. A lot of it is the Nightmares, and the War. He’s got the hardest job in the world, and you have to be there for him.

Forgive. But don’t forget. Or vice versa. But don’t do both. That way lies doormat, and boring.

Please tell me about your Comforting Anchors!