Question: How do people deal with the Infernal’s sex move? The dark power gains strings on someone else… Then what? How would you go about spending the strings on this person? What happens narratively?
Bonus question: What about non-Infernals who take Soul Debt? As written, it’ll trigger a Darkest Self that isn’t the Infernal’s, but I feel that doesn’t make much sense… Maybe better to have an alternate Darkest Self for the Dark Power trigger?
Context: I’m a player in a game, and my character has some odd sexual tension with the Infernal character, so I’m just exploring possibilities a bit…
The Dark Power is an NPC character. So just like other NPCs the MC can have the Dark power spend a String to:
– Put the NPC’s action against them at an Advantage;
– Add an extra harm to whatever harm the NPC is dealing to them;
– Place a Condition on them;
– Offer them experience to do what you want;
– Come out of nowhere with a hard move.
In one game I was in, the Dark Power spent a String on the Infernal to offer them an XP to kill and eat the heart of the person they were currently with.
Also, you’re right. A non-Infernal who takes the Soul Debt move will trigger a Darkest Self that isn’t the Infernal’s. That means they won’t have the clause about leaving their Darkest Self when the Dark Power has no Strings on them. Tough. They’ll have to get out of their Darkest Self another way.
How exactly those strings get spent depend on the fiction you’ve established about the dark power–they have their claws in the infernal’s partner some way or another, but how that manifests can be different from game to game.
As far as Soul Debt triggering a Darkest self other than the Infernals, I suspect that actually works out pretty well in play in a lot of cases. Think about the episodes of Buffy where supernatural powers were able to bring out the dark sides of Angel and Spike through their machinations. Or imagine a situation where a demon can snap his fingers and cause the Werewolf to start changing involuntarily, even though there’s not a full moon to be seen. Whatever power they have to grant the PCs wishes can also be turned against the PC to make them a monster. Generally, the more externalized a Darkest self is, the easier it is to justify the dark power creating that state. Werewolf, Ghoul, and Ghost will work great. Darkest selves that are more internalized my require additional fictional explanation–try things like driven to rash or violent actions by insidious whispers.
Fun fact.
Once I had a Dark Power gaining strings over themselves by having sex with an Hollow that had sex with an Infernal.
If you don’t think you can’t make sense of Soul Debt with your character, don’t take it.
But I honestly don’t see any problem there.
The Dark Power will simply have different powers over you. When it is strong enough it will turn you into an hairy monster, invisible, would alter your psychology…
You will have an harder time shaking off those strings, but that’s clearly because the Power made different things to you then to Infernal. It will not suggest, you are not valuable enough,no , it will command.
If you then want your character to evolve into a full fledged Infernal, you do it with an End of Season advancement.
All good answers, thanks. I guess the part I’m scratching my head over is that, after all that, the dark power still has the strings. So doesn’t Darkest Self trigger again right away? Or right after the next bargain? Seems… Kinda weak.
FYI, I’m a Ghoul, and she’d totally be into more power, which is why I’m trying to think about it… But you’re probably right Ezio Melega, Infernal skin-change at end of season might make the most sense if I go that route.
If the Dark Power has 5 Strings on you, yes. You enter your Darkest Self. So, you’ll need to get the Dark Power to spend some of those Strings if you want to break the loop.
Fair enough Chris Stone-Bush.
Harpal Khalsa I was also thinking about a Darkest Self rewriting ^^
I’ve just laid out how I would interpret the mechanics. There’s no reason you have to do the same thing, as it is rather harsh. The only wrong way to handle this is a way that doesn’t work for you and your group. 😀
I might make a hybrid Darkest Self myself… Normal Darkest Self is triggered, but with the resolution mechanic from Infernal? That could be fun… I don’t know.
Think about a Werewolf that adds a line to their Darkest Self: “Whenever you hurt someone, the Dark Power loses a String on you” 😉
But what Chris said keeps being the ur-rule.
You have many options, use whatever makes sense to you and your group. ^^
Indeeeeeed. I’ll burn this bridge when I come to it! Question: Answered.
This was interesting to read, thanks for posting!
My two cents, I love that the Dark Power is basically the only NPC that can get Strings on other NPCs, by them having sex with and Infernal. As an MC usually the last thing I would want are NPCs trying to spend Strings on each other (I’m not here to play the game with myself!), but with the Dark Power it works great. I always take it as a sign that the Dark Power has taken an interest in the NPC and use the Strings to come out of nowhere on them with hard moves. Of course, the moves might be directly targeting the poor NPC but my real target is the Infernal – it’s a great way to make your Dark Power scary without having to have it beat up or threaten the Infernal.