Condition Clarifications
My initial read is that when you Directly Engage a threat and trade blows you both inflict a condition on the other. When you avoid their blows you don’t get a condition.
The condition you get is not (usually) the villain putting you in that state. You attack Cygnus and she explodes sonic into you ears isn’t her wanting to make you angry. It is you getting angry, probably about her getting you so easy.
Who choses what conditions are inflicted? Just GM on both sides or do players get to choose how/where they are vulnerable?
When someone attacks the Dread Queen and wants to inflict Insecure on her, does their result fizzle or should I tell them “She doesn’t do Insecure, try something else”?
When you directly engage a threat and trade blows, on the GM side it means the villain is usually marking a single condition, and follows it up with a condition move—so for example, when you smash Geomorph in the face, then the GM chooses to mark Afraid, and Geomorph follows up by “throwing up blocks and walls,” perhaps literally in his case! He summons large walls of earth up from the ground to protect him.
In turn, the PC (if they choose not to resist or avoid the blow) is most likely taking a powerful blow when the villain strikes back. So that means the PC should roll that move to see what happens to them next. So when you’re smashing Geomorph in the face, he’s sending a pillar of stone into your abdomen, and you’re taking a powerful blow. Roll the move!
If the PC does choose to resist or avoid the blow, then they wouldn’t take a powerful blow.
Unless specifically called out otherwise, when a PC marks a condition, the player gets to choose what they mark. And similarly, when a villain marks a condition, the GM gets to choose what to mark. So you’re absolutely right—Geomorph isn’t punching you in an attempt to make you angry. You’re getting angry as a result of Geomorph punching you.
This is also how you deal with the Dread Queen and becoming Insecure—since the GM is choosing what condition she marks, she simply doesn’t get Insecure. The GM’s job is to keep the villains feeling consistent and in character with their own drives and superhuman schtick.
When the GM is making a hard move, though, the GM has every right to tell the PC to mark a specific condition. For instance, if the PC gets a miss on the directly engage roll against Geomorph, then maybe it means Geomorph traps the PC into an earthy tomb—and the PC has to mark Afraid.
Let me know if that helps, sir! This is great for me to know what needs more attention in the book!
Thanks a lot!