Trouble with a Conviction Strife Aspect

[Jon Hastings]

(The players in the WGP... game I am GMing should avoid this thread).

So, James is playing the Hypernaut, a Green Lantern, cosmic cop type character (although with more trippy/new agey sci-fi color) and his Strife aspect is "Conviction: Man is meant to dwell among the stars".  It is solidly on the Progress side of our Struggle, which is "Progress vs. Tradition".

When I was coming up with the villain's Plan (obsession: Progress), I had no trouble working with this Strife Aspect: obviously, the villain - a Human-Jovian hybrid calling himself Jove who wants to turn everyone else on Earth into a Human-Jovian hybrid (note: Jovians are a kind of sentient bacteria) - knew that the Hypernaut was the only one who could stop his plan, so he had to show him that Humans, as they are, aren't meant to dwell among the stars: they have to evolve first (into Half-Man/Half-bacteria creatures, of course).  I figured Jove could do this by showing the Hypernaut how humans are too busy fighting each other etc. to be ready for the power & responsibility of Galactic citizenship.  Hypernaut would doubt his conviction and might even come to see that Jove had a point!

Now, working with the players, I can see how we can script, pencil, and ink these kinds of scenes as Enrichment scenes, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what it would look like  if Jove targets this Conviction in a Conflict.  Aside from Gloating between throwing punches ("You fool Hypernaut - can't you see that your beloved Humans will never be ready for Space without my help?"), I can't see how Jove could really cause suffering to this Aspect.

This issue hasn't come up yet during play (we've played one session and had a blast - I hope to get an AP posted soon), but I can see it coming.  I'm worried that (a) our original set up was a little too cerebral and/or (b) I'm overthinking this and should just let the game go where it goes.

Anyways, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Michael S. Miller]

Okay, I can see that if Jove wins, you'll Transform the Aspect to "Man is meant to become Human-Jovian hybrids." But what have you come up with for Capturing it? That's what I look to when setting my Stakes in a conflict.

What does might it look like in the comic when Hypernaut reaches his lowest ebb? Does he turn in his badge of office? Does he realize that Human-Jovian hybrids possess several advantages and begin to investigate? Does he invite some of that sentient bacteria into himself for a test drive?

Remember also that Stakes are at the bottom of the Struggle -> Strife -> Plan -> Stakes chain. They work well when very concrete: A person leaves with another person, a building is damaged, a reputation is ruined.

I also think that play will make it obvious once you're used to the characters and their issues, and the way that your playr tends to manifest the Suffering of this Aspect. That's another reason why Enrichments are so important.

[Jon Hastings]

Hi Michael,

What does might it look like in the comic when Hypernaut reaches his lowest ebb? Does he turn in his badge of office? Does he realize that Human-Jovian hybrids possess several advantages and begin to investigate? Does he invite some of that sentient bacteria into himself for a test drive?

Remember also that Stakes are at the bottom of the Struggle -> Strife -> Plan -> Stakes chain. They work well when very concrete: A person leaves with another person, a building is damaged, a reputation is ruined.

Okay - that really clicks for me.  Thanks for the assistance!  I'm going to go back over the Plan before our next session with an eye towards making things a little bit more concrete.

-Jon