Has anyone dealt with a change of playbooks after a label lock?
I have a delinquent in the game I’m running that keeps mentioning that she might end up switching to a janus when she gets her 6th advance (we already have a genius little sister she supports and an alcoholic mom in the fiction) and last session she used her moment of truth to lock her savior (and introduce that the villain they were facing was actually her dead beat dad in perhaps the most shocking moment of role-playing I’ve ever been involved in).
Anyway. Do you keep the labels locked when you switch playbooks or unlock them and essentially start over? Would you still have access to adult moves?
I assume it’s more of a case-by-case basis, but wondering what the popular opinion is.
The adult moves one is actually in the book; whenever you change playbooks you keep any advances below the line marked, so you maintain access to any adult moves.
This is also why I’m of the opinion that you keep your locked labels locked. Locking labels is part of growing up, and I think that’s a one way street. You’re also supposed to keep anything internal and central to your character when you change, and I would say that includes the big self-identification that a label lock is.
Basically, changing playbooks is taking a step sideways, not a step backwards.
Lock’em.
It hasn’t come up, but I’d say keep them locked.
The “however” would be if the player came up with an in-game reason why the character was radically shaken up. For example a Legacy who was mutated into a Transformed might justify a change. It depends on the narrative.
Brings an interesting question, though. If you change playbooks after unlocking and using both moment of truths, does that mean you clear the “Unlock your moment of truth” above the line and can gain it a 3rd time on a future advance?
…I would lean towards yes, and if pressed would probably go further – changing playbooks allows unlocking and reusing any Moments of Truth, and not just the one above the line.
That’s more for story purposes, though, and is something I’d GM-fiat over any mechanical description that contradicts it. The Moment of Truth is a defining moment for that character, in that role. It’s bringing to bear the full weight of the role they play, and their situation that allows them to be that role. Any change drastic enough to change their playbook, is drastic enough to change that role completely, and it’d be interesting to see what those changes do to them in their Moment of Truth. Which is more drama, which is good.
But if you used your 2nd moment of truth, that carries over to the new playbook because it’s below the line.
That was my point about gm-fiat. Despite mechanically carrying over when changing playbooks, if the player wanted, I’d allow them to wipe and reuse that one as well, for the reasons above.
As GM, my word trumps the book. There’s generally little reason to trump the book, but the ability is there.
At that point we’re talking about 5 level-ups being spent to pull that off – 4 for Moments of Truth, and 1 for playbook change. If the player wants to sacrifice that much potential growth elsewhere to be a badass 4 times, well, I use those moments of badassery for drama, and it all works out in the end.