New skin: The Gorgon

7 thoughts on “New skin: The Gorgon”

1. Howdy. There actually is a Medusa Skin floating around out there. I think if you dig through the posts here you’ll find it. Not to say you shouldn’t continue working on your Gorgon Skin though, especially as I don’t recall the Medusa Skin attempting to deal with antisocial behavior.

   Names, look, origin, and stats all look good, though the opening text is a bit too textbook for my tastes. It reads like someone describing the Gorgon, rather than making the reader feel as if they are the Gorgon.

   Somethings bugging me about the Sex Move. The consequences of not using a blindfold is great and totally in fiction, but something doesn’t feel right. Also, why specifically call out using a blindfold? Wouldn’t not being able to see each other during the act be enough? That would open the door for lots of other interesting situations as well.

   I’m not entirely sure how Darkest Self is different from the regular Petrification move. Darkest Self says you have to trigger the Petrification move on each person you meet unless they are avoiding your gaze. That’s pretty much the same trigger for Petrification. Also, you could simply word Darkest Self as “You automatically meet the gaze of each person you encounter…” as meeting their gaze will trigger Petrification.

   The part about walking around with your head down or up (and getting the Condition Freak or Scary) should be a mandatory move. Not part of Background. Also, I would drop the last part of Background, as most String exchanges total up to four. That’s not set in stone though.

   With Petrification are you intentionally giving out two Conditions? Petrified and the one from the normal Shut Someone Down move? Because that’s what’s going to happen. Which is fine, I just wanted to clarify.

   Whoops, I see you’re currently editing the Skin, so I’ll wait to comment further.

2. I’m aware of the Medusa – this is in very different territory.  And I’ve finished updating, thanks.  Most of your comments have lead to edits – and I look forward to the rest of them.

3. I really like what the Sex Move is trying to do, but I don’t know if having the Gorgon make assumptions about the other person’s motivation is enough. Would the move work if the Gorgon player asked the other character’s player about their motivation? Just allowing the Gorgon to think something doesn’t seem strong enough. Something like:

   “After sex, choose one:

   – tell them you think this was a just a pity-fuck and give them a String against you;

   – tell them you think this was motivated by true affection and give them 2 Strings against you.

   Your partner will then say if you were right or not. If you were, you both get +1 forward.”

   This forces the Gorgon to tell the other person what they think first and rewards them for being right.

   I would break the social condition part off as it’s own mandatory move. So the Gorgon would start with two moves selected and get to choose two more. The two parts feel like different things, and so feel like separate moves to me. Also, I don’t know how I feel about the Gorgon being able to lose that condition. I might make it permanent.

   Siren’s Cousin feel really powerful. +1 to two moves when you’re not using sight is cool, but the “or if they’re Petrified” makes it too strong. Would the Gorgon get an additional +1 if they could use the Condition normally too? Just having it trigger when they Gorgon can’t be seen is enough (and really freaking cool).

   I’m not a fan of You’re Slowing Down, only because I’m not a fan of “penalty” moves. The person can already have their condition tagged to make actions against them more effective. I would prefer a more fictional effect, such as always being able to act or react before anyone with the Petrified condition.

   I like Slow the Body Down (though not the name). I would cut it to just “When you tend someone’s wounds, heal 1additional harm and give them the Petrified condition.”

   I’m not sure what None Shall Pass is trying to do.

   I think Oops! needs some sort of mechanical component, or at least a clearer way of determining who the Gorgon cares about. Otherwise it’s far too easy to earn XP. Maybe something about losing all Strings you have on that person?

4. I’ve tweaked the sex move.  The 1 Forward for being right is now the important part rather than the strings, but there’s a cost and risk to guessing they mean it.  And once more I’ve threaded it more tightly back to social exposure.

   Siren’s Cousin -> reverted to original (and no it wouldn’t have triggered twice – singleton rule).

   Slow the Body Down -> Numb the Pain

   None Shall Pass is putting yourself in the way and taking advantage of the fact that when you want to be you are really scary.  The first version gave someone you were rescuing +2 to Run Away as the biggest effect.  No one wants to try to walk past an angry gorgon… Tweaked nearer the original. 

   Oops! I don’t want a mechanical component for now.  I think the care about + honesty demands should be enough.  This needs playtesting.

5. The social condition isn’t its own mandatory move for what it’s worth because it leads to the same gap that Feathers from the Second Skins can.  Feathers is clearly meant to be offset by Shred the Looking Glass (or whatever it’s called) – but if you’re stealing moves from other skins you can steal Feathers without anyone being able to shred the looking glass.

6. You can tell when a skin’s a good one when you post it at your local group and three hours later someone’s set up a game just so they get to play it 😀

7. I’ve now created a formatted version.  (Up to v 0.50)

   https://docs.google.com/document/d/14a-FgjPHhpP6EFYaXEHlKYKf-ToRpGJQcGI3nRZ3ukU/edit

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