Now let us turn to the "Consequences" section near the top of the middle blue column. A Consequence is just like an EmotionalReaction, with one big difference: EmotionalReactions are subjective, while Consequences are objective.

Suppose, for example, that Fred hits Tom so hard that Tom is injured. Tom can have an EmotionalReaction to being hit: he might become more angry. That's a purely subjective response; different Actors might respond differently to being hit. It also depends on your point of view. If you're the one being hit, you're probably going to get angry. But if you're a bystander, you might not care at all. Hence, the EmotionalReaction is a purely subjective effect, and is always tied to a specific Role. But the injury is not a subjective matter; that always happens irrespective of the personality of the hittee. That's what we have Consequences for.

You apply Consequences in exactly the same fashion that you apply EmotionalReactions. Click on the Consequences button to raise the Consequences menu, which is itself a list of submenus listing different variables. When you select one of those secondary menu items, SWAT creates a new Script button just underneath the Consequences button. If you click on that Script button, you'll put that Script into the Script editing area on the right, where you can edit it.

Let's try it out. First, go to the Prop Editor and modify the ownership of the Props as follows:

Tom gets whiskey bottle, chair, and pillow

Fred gets cane and club

Next, go the Script Other: hit with: hittee: hit with: 4Prop: Acceptable (remember, this is our shorthand for Category Other, Verb hit with, Role hittee, Option hit with, WordSocket4Prop, Acceptable Script). The Acceptable condition is currently set to "true," meaning that every Prop is acceptable. Let's change this to

AreSameActor

     ReactingActor

     Owner of:

          CandidateProp

You can find "Owner" in the Prop menu.

This means that the only Props that are Acceptable are those that the ReactingActor owns. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?

We've set up the situation, now let's make a Consequence. Let's say that, when one Actor hits another with a Prop, then the other Actor gets ownership of the Prop. So, while still in the Verb "hit with," go to the Consequences menu, submenu "SetProp," and select "SetOwner." That creates a new Script button for SetOwner. Click on that button to edit the Script. You see the following:

     Prop?

     Owner?

The Prop is This4Prop, the Prop that was used to hit with. This can be found under "This Event" in the menu at right. 

The Owner is ThisDirObject, the Actor who was hit. Again, it's found under "This Event." 

After you fill out this script, run Storyteller and see if it works as you would expect.

Next Tutorial: Hijacking

Previous Tutorial: Emotional Reactions

  This tutorial by Storytron, Inc. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.