The Nova
I’ve been reading the pre-release stuff and mostly getting pretty excited about it. However, I’m puzzled about the Nova (which is worrying, because I know one of my likely first player group wants to play it).
The book says the Nova “can’t do it [ie wield their powers] without paying a high price” and is “heavily tied up in their own head”. The thing is, I can’t see anything about that in the playbook. There’s some references to past collateral damage, and an assertion in the summary text that “other people get hurt” but the mechanics themselves don’t seem to support that.
Looking at the MC moves, I see I’ve got access to “make their powers flare out of control” and “reveal the terrible truth about their powers”. Is that the bit I’m missing above? Is it a case of using these moves when they roll a 6 or less? If so, I have to say, it would be nice if those moves were included in the playbook, since they’re so key to understanding how the Nova works. If not… I’m stumped.
Also 7-9 on Unleash.
Tim Franzke isn’t that the same for everyone, though? Is the point that the Nova’s abilities are on a bigger scale, therefore bigger consequences?
You’ve pretty much got it. Nova’s are extremely powerful, but when things go wrong, they have the potential to go REALLY wrong for the Nova due to that power.
References to that are scattered throughout the playbook. It’s in their team moves, backstory, and relationships. It’s also in their moves a little bit via Reality Storm.
The demeanor options and Burn mechanics show how heavily this weighs on the Nova. The way the playbook is written, there’s no room for a Nova who endlessly delights in their power. This is also in the moves a little bit via Elemental Awareness.
If you feel that your player might not understand what the Nova is all about, tell them! Point these things out to them, and if you need to, you can even show them the MC moves for the Nova that help indicate what the playbook is about.
It’s in the power selection as well. Cosmic Power doesn’t come without consequences.
The big thing to remember is that the nova is probably taking more conditions than most other playbooks, because of the way burn works. That means they’re much more likely to miss on basic moves and get the worst result when taking a powerful blow. Because of the fiction surrounding the book and the GM moves for that playbook, you’ll see many misses (and even some 7-9s) result in loss of control.
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