I have a question regarding Unleash vs Directly Engage.
Directly engage is stated when you exchange blows with a powerful foe, however one of the options on Directly engage is to “take something from them.”
In creating effects that hamper foes, im not certain if its unleash or directly engage, especially when the effect isnt supposed to harm the person.
Examples:
Arachnid Lad shoots webbing to blind the thugs. Is that unleash or directly engage (to “take away their eyesight”)?
Stunlock creates a gravity well around the BBEG to render him too heavy to move. Is that unleash to change the environment or directly engage to “take away his movement”?
Popsicle is freezing Starbursts legs together in blocks of ice. Again is that unleash or is that DE to remove use of legs?
If you’re not trying to hurt someone, it’s not directly engaging, is the short version.
Fair, so pretty much for all of those youd go with Unleash? I guess it makes sense though technically some of those arent “changing your environment” (nor the other 2 options).
Those actually sound like “directly engage” to me. The heroes are trying to disable their enemies and render them helpless. You’re probably creating a condition, and possibly even creating an opportunity for your allies.
Using “unleash your powers” deprives the villains of retaliating as a direct response to the attack, since “trading blows” doesn’t come into play.
It comes down to whether the bad guys can hit you back. Because they have to be doing so as part of the same exchange for directly engage, otherwise it doesn’t qualify.
I treat unleash as the universal Plan B, ’cause it’s intentionally vague and its results being “you do it” just aren’t as inherently interesting as the other moves. Use it as the fallback when no other move fits: if Arachnid Lad blinds the thugs but they can still swing/fire blindly, there’s a trade of blows on the table there (so you can go for the directly engage instead of unleash), or if Stunlock is pinning the villain down in order to mock him for not being as strong as he thought he was, provoke it up.
Don and Matts opposite views are why I asked the question.
Also Dons view goes against the popular “Spider man was -2 Danger” theory
No, I agree with Matt. It comes down to whether the bad guys can hit you back. If so, you’re directly engaging. If you’re blinding the thugs while they’re shooting at you, or you’re freezing Starburst’s legs together while she’s tossing energy bolts at you, you’re directly engaging.
If the bad guys have absolutely no way to hit you back–if they have nothing but knives and clubs, and you’re way off on a rooftop, then you might be unleashing your powers. But the text for “unleash your powers” suggests that it’s a push. You’re overextending yourself. If you’re ensnaring ordinary street thugs with your webs, and they can’t reach you, I don’t know if I would even have you roll for it.
If there is no potential cost, no chance of failure, then there’s no need to roll. You either do it or don’t.
The goal for directly engaging is to inflict a condition on your opponents; it doesn’t have to be damage. Likewise, in the case where the fiction doesn’t provide a visible way for the character to be affected if they fail (like the rooftop attack example above) I would think the GM has the wherewithal to add an element to do so. Maybe the hero notices a red dot on their body; someone has a bead on them!
My two cents, anyway.
Matt Morton’s idea of “are the bad guys hitting you back?” is a very useful baseline, because yes—if they aren’t hitting you back, it’s not a directly engage! If you’re springing a surprise attack and they aren’t aware of you, you just straight up inflict a condition or an effect. If they aren’t actually resisting or fighting back, then they aren’t actually a dangerous threat, so it’s not directly engage, either.
But here are the specific examples you bring up, and a reasoning around each.
“Arachnid Lad shoots webbing to blind the thugs. Is that unleash or directly engage (to “take away their eyesight”)?”
Unleash. The reason being that the core action Arachnid Lad is taking is not directly engaging. Arachnid Lad isn’t trying to harm the thugs, not trying to smack them into submission. He’s trying to overcome an obstacle, achieving a very specific effect.
Now, Arachnid Lad could directly engage a threat, diving into their midst and pummeling them with fists, and in the midst of that fight shoot webbing into their eyes, “taking something from them” but still directly engaging. The distinction is that in this version, shooting webbing into their eyes is essentially an extra, an additional effect—but the core intent of the directly engage move is to knock them out.
“Stunlock creates a gravity well around the BBEG to render him too heavy to move. Is that unleash to change the environment or directly engage to “take away his movement”?”
Unleash. You nailed it, it’s changing the environment. Again, think in this case that “take away his movement” is the secondary, bonus effect of directly engage. If you’re not after the core purpose of the move—smacking them—then you’re not directly engaging.
“Popsicle is freezing Starbursts legs together in blocks of ice. Again is that unleash or is that DE to remove use of legs?”
Again, depending upon the way it came up, it’s probably unleash. If the player specifically says, “Gah! I don’t want to get in close to Starburst. I fly around her at top speed so she can’t hit me, and then I fire ice blasts at her legs to hold her in place!”, then that’s unleash. The “question” the move is answering is all about your ice powers, and whether or not they can hold Starburst.
If the player instead said, “Alright, I come charging in at Starburst. I’m going to try to entirely encase her in ice—I want her out of this fight. I’ll start with her legs. And I don’t care if she’s firing starblasts at me.” Then that’s probably directly engage, the keys being that the player is fine trading blows, and the player’s intent is to take Starburst down, removing her from the fight, more than producing an effect or change.
So this all comes down to intent. If you want to make the distinction super clear for yourself, ask your player—”Is it more important for you to hurt her or knock her out, or is it more important to hold her in place?” If the former is more important, then it’s directly engage. If the latter, then it’s unleash your powers.
Hope that helps!
My understanding, though, is that Unleash is not simply using your powers, it’s extending your powers beyond their normal range to achieve an effect. Just shooting webbing into the thugs’ eyes isn’t Unleashing; using it to catch and keep the top three floors of a building that have been sheared from smashing on the pedestrians below, though, definitely is.
I think the key here is that, unlike more conventional RPGs, using your powers in Masks does not require rolling; it’s handled by the fiction. Arachnid Lad blinds the thugs; fine, they’re blinded, move on.
If the GM feels that an action like that would inflict a Condition on the thugs, he can have AL Directly Engage, with the result of a failure being that, perhaps, one of the thugs grabs an innocent as a hostage. Now what is he going to do?
Going back to this, when I look in the rulebook, it directly gives examples of “holding” or capturing enemies in both the Unleash and its adult move.
I wish that portion was more clear.