So one of my PCs recently re-rolled into a Beacon, and chose ‘No Powers and Not Nearly Enough Training’, but the…

So one of my PCs recently re-rolled into a Beacon, and chose ‘No Powers and Not Nearly Enough Training’, but the…

So one of my PCs recently re-rolled into a Beacon, and chose ‘No Powers and Not Nearly Enough Training’, but the thing is is that I don’t really understand how that move works. What does it means when it says you can add the new technology as an ability if the line is empty? What would you fill it with, the new piece of tech they got? And when would it no longer be full and so the player the can get more tech? Any help would greatly appreciated.

4 thoughts on “So one of my PCs recently re-rolled into a Beacon, and chose ‘No Powers and Not Nearly Enough Training’, but the…”

  1. So, say you’re fighting EDM — aka Electronic Death Metal, an Iron Man-looking villain who uses wicked powerful sound waves to ruin everyone’s day all the time. You guys wallop him.

    What does the Beacon do? Why, he picks up EDM’s BeatDropper gauntlets that the villain used to call up localized earthquakes. He writes “BeatDropper – earthquakes” on the line of ‘No powers and not nearly enough training.’ The line was empty, the player writes it in, and now its an Ability — its a power, like everything else on the front of the Beacon playbook. The character can now do some earthquake stuff.

    Now, lets say the party goes up against Brute Force, the Living Malware — a computer ghost kind of thing. Your Beacon tries to use the BeatDropper on him, thinking maybe the vibrations will mess up his insubstantial form. The Beacon rolls a miss! Oh no! Time to make a hard move! Maybe you decide, because you warned the Beacon about this, that Brute Force takes control of the BeatDropper and explodes it from the inside in the Beacon’s hand! The Beacon marks a Condition, and has to clear the Line for NPaNNET!

    Those are examples, but basically stuff like that.

  2. The key is that there is no rules surrounding when the line empties, so it’s up to the player and GM to choose how that happens. For example, the GM might make a supervillain directly target The Beacon’s gear, or maybe the PC could decide to immediately toss his current piece to get something new.

    According to the playbook’s language, you’re supposed to write the name of the gear on the line. “You can write it [the new piece of gear in] as a new ability”. So if The Beacon gets a BB gun, they should write something like “Red Ryder BB Gun” and not “BB Guns”/”Weaponry”/”Guns”. Then, when they first use that piece of gear as part of an engage, unleash, or defend move, they can choose to roll with mundane instead of the usual label.

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