Plot Points

Getting Plot Points

• Complications. When you roll dice for a Test or Contest, any die that rolls 1 (in your main pool, not your side pool) can become a Complication. The Watchtower can then buy these dice to put in the Trouble Pool; she gives the player who rolled them 1 Plot Point per die.
• Distinctions. There are a bunch of Distinctions that can earn you Plot Points; generally of the form "Earn a Plot Point when you Choose to have your Lead do something that makes causes them trouble".
• Opponent Gives In. When you're in a Contest and your opponent gives in (after rolling dice), they give you a Plot Point.
• Opponent's Spent Plot Points. When you're in a Contest or Test, and your opponent spends Plot Points on their rolls against you, you get them. But you have to set them aside; you can't use those Plot Points until the Contest or Test is over.
  • Cam on the Cortex forum: Spend on your rolls means adding dice in from other Traits on your Lead Sheet (like another Value) or including a third or fourth die, or activating Special Effects. (He also mentions buying a second Stress die from your opponent's sheet.) Creating a Useful Detail can happen any time, outside of a Contest or Test, and so even if you create one during the course of a Contest you wouldn't hand over the PP.
• Step Back a Drive. You can step back a Drive (a Value or a Relationship) to gain an immediate Plot Point. This can be spent right away on a d6 Relationship, but the usual use is when someone wants to Give In in a Contest and doesn't have any Plot points. (Source: Cam Banks on the RPG.net boards.)
• Fall Conveniently Unconscious. You can choose to fall unconscious when you take Stress, but not enough to cause you to be Stressed Out. This earns you a Plot Point (and also lets you step back all of your Stress one level.) See page 56.

When are Plot Point set aside?

Under some conditions (see above), Plot Points gained during a Test or Contest are set aside until it's done. Based on where this rule appears (page 9, right column), I'd guess they're set aside when received from an opponent spending them on rolls — in other words, when spent on the things listed in the "Spending Plot Points" section of that page — and not when received for things in the "Earning Plot Points" section. In short, I think that when the Watchtower buys one of your Complication dice off of you, you don't have to set that Point aside, and you get to spend it right away. Also, I guess you can gain Plot Points with Distinction Earn triggers in mid-Contest and use them right away too.

Using Plot Points

See page 9 for more information about these. I think these are all, or mostly, things players can do with Plot Points. Since the Watchtower has an unlimited supply, it'd be unfair if she could just spend unlimited Plot Points to drag an infinite number of dice into a roll. Looking over the examples of play (pages 59-62), it looks like most of the Watchtower's manipulations of the dice pool involve removing dice from Trouble.

• Roll More Dice. Before a roll, you may spend a Plot Point to roll more dice.
• Include More Dice. After any roll, you may spend a Plot Point to include more dice in your result out of those you just rolled.
• Useful Detail. You may also spend a Plot Point to exploit a Useful Detail from the story and add a d6 to your pool. A Useful Detail lasts for the remainder of the scene, and you don't have to keep paying for it (but anyone else who wants to use it has to pay once for access to it).
• Add a Relationship. Spend a Plot Point to add a d6 Relationship with a Feature to your sheet. Remember to write a statement! After the first scene in which it's added, the Relationship automatically steps back to d4.
• Activate Assets. Some Assets (Distinctions, Heritages, Abilities) have triggers or Spend abilities that give you a benefit when you spend a Plot Point.
• Use a Special Effect. Ability Special Effects let you spend a Plot Point to do something cool. If you're activating a Special Effect in a Test or Contest, the Plot Point you spent to do that also lets you add the die for that Ability to your dice pool as a second Asset. (Watchtower Report, page 81, upper right.)
• Get Help from Resources. Spend a Plot Point to get Aid from an Extra or Location that isn't on your sheet.
• Give In. If you're the reacting player in a Contest, and you've rolled dice, you have to pay your opponent a Plot Point when you Give In.

That box at the top of page 9

There's a horribly-edited "Watchtower Alert" box at the top of page 9 that has not one, but two pronouns with unclear antecedents. I'm pretty sure that what the box means to say is something like this:

When a player buys a Useful Detail, it's always at d6. When you, as Watchtower, buy a Useful Detail, you can do it the same way players do. Or you can choose to remove a d8, d10, or d12 from the Trouble Pool and use that for your Useful Detail instead. (You could also do this with a d4 or d6 out of the Trouble Pool, but why would you? That would be making life easier for your players.)