Playtest Report: The Reformed
There is a problem with the way the obligations the Reformed has play out in our game. For one there was no reason so far for the Reformed to get back to her villain contacts for help. Now that is on both the player and the GM of course but a character wanting to get away from these villains wouldn’t really go directly back to these characters for help especially when they come to them with their own problems all the time.
In addition the calling in of a favor or crashing into the reformed’s life takes up way too much screentime. In a 2 hour session all playtime can be taken up by that thing, especially when the reformed is eager to work off their debt. While this has lead to one story development that everyone enjoys (I think) other times it feels like a drag that we need to get through before we get back to that other cool stuff.
In addition the move triggering every session has proven to be a problem. A session can easily take up very little in game time. Last session one of the Reformed contacts asked them to guard an exchange of contraband vs. cash for them and we didn’t get to that evening happening before the session wrapped because moves snowball. So next session by the wording of the move the same character would call our Reformed again for help even though the thing they were supposed to be doing hasn’t even happened yet.
To fix the timing problem we will move that trigger to “when time passes”, just as the Janus does. We will also add a Janus to our game and so we will see how their downtime moves feature differently in the game and how much time it takes.
How were your experiences with the Reformed’s contacts in your game and how did you handle it?
Extra thoughts: What the hell hero has been used 2 times so far I think, both times to just inflict a condition. The character also has the A Mirror Darkly move which I fully forgot about so far because for that character I was focused so much on their contacts. Will try to bring people he hurt more into the spotlight now that I remembered.
Brendan Conway and 1of3 may like this.
Creating 3 different supervillains at char creation is frontloaded. No other PC requires you to do so much.
“Do me a favor” means even MORE NPCs.
Also, I have no idea how you would fairly arbitrate “Genius Intellect” as a power. Can you go backwards in time, saying “I woulda thought of that?”
Does it justify letting you Pierce the Mask on a villain’s scheme when you first find a clue?
Also the Team Moves seem too specific to trigger more than once per teammate. Is that your experience T. Franzke?
Adam Goldberg the thing about the Team Moves coukld be right. We definetly had problems with “tell me what you would do something dark for” however.
Genius intellect could work. We don’t have that in play but it still follows the rules of Unleashing your powers. You can use it to hightend your sense or overcome an obstacle and are reliant on your rolls. No experience in play but I think it could work.
May main problem with “Tell me what you do something dark for” was that I didn’t figure out, how I can weave that into normal narration. Most other team moves don’t rely on the triggering character saying something specific in addition to the trigger.
What the Hell, Hero, I always used for condition because the it is pseudo influence. It has to be used at once. And there was nothing I wanted from the individuals right then and there. So making them suffer, was the best option. If it were normal Influence it would play out much differently.
I’m not sure how much team moves should be used at all for it to happen so much.
And I guess you were a bit unlucky with the dice, or your reformed is asking for too much help from the wrong people 😛 “your reformed” soon to be mine too, hehe.
And you guys have two test characters running around (suggested number is 1 I believe?), does the other one cause any supposed “trouble” with gameplay?
I don’t think unlucky, is right. The villains come calling on 7+. That is already more than 50% on 0 favors. And the character starts with 2/1/0 favors on the three villains.
so maybe the 7-9 should be made a more numb villain response and not a come calling! one
I think Obligations needs a good deal of tinkering. I’ve been using the “When time passes” for it as a house rule for a while as well. I think there needs to be an easier way to bleed Obligation so it doesn’t take up so much of a focus in the game and also follow the miss, hit, 10+ method other moves have.
I think a clarification like this could help:
On a 7-9, they approach you for information.
On a 10+, they demand some action on your part.