Hello Everyone, just got my copy and I am now absorbing the material as my boys (9 and 7) really want a run…this week-end.
I have a couple questions regarding consequences on PCs:
1) When an NPC targets a PC with an “attack”, how do you determine the severity of the consequence to assign?
This is especially true as, if I understand well, the Gm does not generate action, but throws PC in front of situation that could cause them harm.
So, if one of my PC is being attacked by “Destructo”, the evil power house, should I assume that if he succeed at his attack its at least a severe consequence? As the Gm does not roll dice, can I actually use the same moves as the PCs?
2) If you already have a minor consequence, is it bumped up to severe if you get another minor consequence?
How would you define powers with limitation?
This one is probably easy, but I have to ask. If your PC has a power with conditions, how do you fit it in the Power description (sorry, I am off with proper naming…just finished first reading)…
For example, my son wants to play a guys who gets stronger and tougher when he ‘eats’ fire…
PS: This game is fantastic for a “busy father” Game Master.
You assign severity by being honest with the fiction. How dangerous are bullets? How dangerous are they if a character can Simply React Faster Than Any Human? How dangerous are they if a character is Bulletproof? Use your common sense for a situation (“this villain channels the Power Ultimate, the stolen heart of a quantum star…”) and apply it to what your character’s powers are (“…but the Kalladak, Khan of the Kosmos is a living black hole so…”) to give an honest best guess of what the severity should be.
More often than not you’re served by remembering: a Minor Condition gets worse on its own if you don’t deal with it, a Moderate Condition probably takes a roll or dedicated action to shake off, and Severe Conditions take something even more. Think about how bad something will mess up a hero: that’s the severity.
Never EVER use the same moves as PCs! Those are for them! You have your own moves that you trigger: if someone rolls a 6-, looks to your for an answer, or gives you a perfect opportunity that must be responded to.
Conditions do NOT normally escalate, you simply take on more and more. It is TECHNICALLY reasonable to tell a player to roll a number of conditions together into one more appropriate condition, but no: two minors do not equal a major, etc.
Can you please explain what you mean by define a power with limitations?
As for getting stronger when eating fire, that’s easy:
“Simple: Double my strength by eating something like a campfire.”
Done. Now it’s easy and it pretty much always happens unless circumstances are extenuating. Then, as the GM, you take this into account when they give someone a condition (“hey so since you ate fire, if you choose to deal a consequence, I’ll make it one level higher”) or when they’re getting roughed up (“normally this would be Critical, BUT since you ate fire…”)
Basically, what Alfred said. You’ll still want to be familiar with the player moves so you know when they trigger and can walk the players through them until they learn them, but you’ve got your own list of EIC moves you can use that are way easier!
When you need to make a move, you simply choose one off the list (most of the time you won’t even need to do that, you just say what happens next in the game as a natural result of what happened before). Print out the EIC sheet so you can choose something off the EIC moves list in case you’re not sure what to have happen next though.
In terms of limitations, the players choose how well their character interacts and gets along with people, how well they fit in and make friends, and so on. That choice determines what they can add to their Powers Profile, and however many extra Bonds they get. So if your son chooses to play a Hulk-type character, who is super power but, because of that power, has a really hard time fitting in, making friends, forming long-lasting relationships, then they’ll get to add more cool things they can do to their Powers Profile, but will get less Bonds, which show how hard it is for them to form a bond with another person and how few important people they have.
Hopefully between us both we managed to get everything, but let me know if anything is still unclear.