Questions and observations from last night’s game:
What does it mean that a gimmick starts “and resets” at a certain audience level? When does this Reset occur? Is it supposed to be part of the Over move?
I care for the advancement mechanism hitting at 4 audience, because some of my players are really looking for ways to game that and make sure audience slingshots between 3 and 4 as much as possible. I’d prefer a simple Gain an Advance at the end of the episode, when you resolve a feud, or gain a championship, and add a different incentive to be at 4 Audience (the Over move might be enough, or perhaps gaining 2 momentum whenever you hit the top spot.
My players don’t have any problems building up Heat. Scorpio built all the way up to 4 heat with Prince in one session easily, and I think ended up scoring 2 audience off of that. Heat isn’t really degrading between the talent.
When should a move that overrides or changes my booking be retconned into the scripted storyline (Run-In, the Heel move specifically, a player calling an audible, certain botched finishers, a champion using Champion’s Advantage if you have them booked to win), and when should it count as breaking Kayfabe?
The “reset” is for when the whole promotions audience grows. I just checked and realized that rule isn’t actually on the Creative sheet, so that’s my bad! It should read:
AUDIENCE GROWTH: If the Talent has a total Audience of (# of players x 3) or more, your viewing audience has grown! Everyone resets their Audience as per their Gimmick.
I’m hearing you about the Audience thing. I think in long-term play with small groups and in single-sessions with large groups it’s been working fine as is, but you’re playing a longer term game with a larger group than I have, which is clearly hitting that positive feedback cycle harder.
What if it’s simply “the first time you hit +4 Audience in an Episode”? I like the in-play feeling of ramping up Heat with someone, working a big match and having that turn immediately into Audience which turns into an Advance, but once you do that once you don’t get more Advances during the Episode. Over Move stays the same.
For Heat, another rule that hasn’t made it onto the reference sheet: when you complete a Feud, reset to Heat 0 with them. Sorry!
For Swerves: I always play it as retconned, with the die result telling me whether it “works” and is appreciated by the crew backstage, or whether it was something they’ll roll with but are unhappy about. If the player clearly articulates that they’re intending to break Kayfabe, they should actually roll Break Kayfabe instead! This model is a sliding scale depending on your table sense with your players, of course.
If it’s unclear on the face of it, it’s just a judgement call on your part, – like, there is the idea of the “worked shoot” where the wrestler plays like they’re breaking Kayfabe but it was all planned in the back anyway.
“For Swerves: I always play it as retconned, with the die result telling me whether it “works” and is appreciated by the crew backstage, or whether it was something they’ll roll with but are unhappy about”
How would you do that for a Heel spending momentum to take out their opponent? Both times that happened, I had them roll to Break Kayfabe to see how it was received by management (not well.)
I think the working together to make audience go back and forth is actually a really cool spandrel of the advancement mechanic because that’s how wrestlers “should” be acting—working together to get everyone a time in the spotlight and growing the promotion.
Oh, to me, that’s part of the show. Heels cheat to win! It overrides your booking because that’s where I chose to put player agency in terms of influencing Creative’s plans, not because it’s breaking Kayfabe.
If they’re using the Heel move to simultaneously Break Kayfabe, that’s fine too. I would ask the player if they’re intention is to actually hurt or mindfully break the planned booking in order to clarify intention, but it can be both.