With Great Power - Questions

[Michael S. Miller]

No-one connected to the real villain.

Is that a rule?

No. I've run great Enrichment scenes where the PC hero is trying to convince his father to give up his Supervillain ways and come clean. The main distinction is one of emphasis: in Enrichment Scenes, the point is to set up future conflict, to emphasize potential problems. In Conflict scenes, it's actually to battle those conflicts, even if the "battle" is a heated argument.

If Nate now starts his next enrichment scene with: "I decrease the suffering of Pearl by liberating her", is it certain that she will end the scene free? Or could the GM pick a fight, turning the scene into a conflict scene? Or does doing against the wishes of the villain like that in itself constitute picking a fight? Or could the GM set her recapture as his stake?

Well, it depends.

Remember that decreasing Suffering can be inked any way you like, so even if the increase from Threatened to Imperiled represented Pearl getting captured, that doesn't mean that to decrease from Imperiled to Threatened you MUST free her. That's an option, but so is an easing of tension between Pearl and Noir, or whatever.

Also, suppose the Plan insists on Pearl being captured and Nate wants to free her. That's gotta be a conflict scene. However, the following is perfectly legit:

NATE: I want an enrichment where I free Pearl so I can reduce her Suffering.
GRACE: Mudslide will actively resist that, so I would have to pick a fight about that.
NATE: Darn it! I need an enrichment before my next conflict to beef up my hand! Could I have an enrichment about another Aspect?
GRACE: Sure. It's your enrichment, after all.
STEPHEN: You could also have the enrichment be about Pearl, but maybe it's about you finding her, but not being able to free her right now for some reason, and assuring her that you'll be back as soon as you can. That would decrease the tension between you, and you could reduce the Suffering of the Aspect.
NATE: Yeah. What he said!
DEANNA: You remember that reducing Suffering costs cards from your hand, right?
NATE: D'oh!

I could keep going, but you get the idea.

Does that help?

[klausok]

Yes, thanks. I am looking forward to playing the game.