Respect is the currency of the game development system, used as Experience and tokens and bennies and any other tool you can think of that improves a character, or gives them advantage.
Respect is also a value used by Gobbos within their social group - a sort of peer system.
A Gobbo without Respect is vulnerable to a number of problems:
Gobbo's gain Respect by playing the game and achieving success. The GM will award Respect points as follows:
+1... Attending the game session
+1 to 3... for success in the mission.
+1... for ending the session with no Showoff cards left.
+1... for being refused the play of a Showoff card by the GM.
+1... for passing a Challenge (this usually goes to everyone in the group, but you can opt out if your character finds the challenge difficult).
+1... for Dealing with Death - this is normally added on top of any reward AND assumes you survived.
+1... for surviving an encounter.
+1... for defeating a minor Boss.
+2... for defeating a Boss.
+1... for being unusually amusing or inventive. This is awarded by a unanimous agreement of the players.
Respect points can be accumulated without limit. They can be spent to gain the following improvements to your character:
Whenever a Gobbo is facing a test (and thus also during Challenges) they may elect to escalate the risk by declaring they will "Deal with Death".
The simple result of this is that the worst result becomes Death, and hence falling back on your last egg, losing Blood etc. The up side of this choice is that you gain extra Respect if you succeed WELL at it. Most tests in the game will not be difficult to overcome by default, they present a small to moderate risk of failure because constantly presenting a major risk of failure will see a lot of failing Gobbo's and unhappy players.
So when you decide the DWD the difficulty of the task will become a level harder because you are essentially gambling.
An example DWD result might look like this:
Failure... You dont look Sicilian in the slightest, you die.
Less than target... You fail and lose Respect
Target or higher... You just pass, but not sufficiently to gain any bonus Respect.
Roll a Boost... You pass with Glory and Respect, you are a Winner! Gain 1 Respect.
In Combat Effects.
In an encounter Gobbo's will be able to Play an Adventure Card - Dealing with Death, on themselves or another player. This will have the effect of increasing the damage dice used for all attacks on that player by an extra 1d6.
The weak must be culled so the strong survive! If you do survive you gain 1 Respect.
The use of this is limited to the number of cards in play per session.