[Capes] Who owns what, and why keep characters?

[Neil the Wimp]

I'm trying to get my head around Capes and how all the resources flow around.  My understanding is that Debt is owned by the character, while Story Tokens and Inspirations are owned by the player.  Is that correct? 

If so, why should I bother to keep a character around for more than one scene?  If I put a character in a scene, it will accrue a bunch of Debt as I do things.  Other players are doing the same.  When a conflict plays out, the players get Story Tokens and Inspirations (that can apply to any character) and there are some characters with a bunch of Debt.  A little debt is useful, and it's worth using those characters again.  But why should the heavily-endebted characters ever come into play again? 

Is this a bug, a feature (disposable characters!), or am I missing part of the in-game economy that makes heavily-endebted characters useful?

Ta,

Neil.

[oreso]

Chiefly, because even a heavily indebted character is still a character. If the character matters to you and the other folk at the table, you'll keep playing with them because you like them. Also consider that getting people invested against your characters is the way you harvest resources from them.

Disposable characters is a feature though. I quite like killing off characters myself. 

[Hans]

After playing for a while, one of the things I have noticed is that I don't get quite as much Debt piling onto my characters as much as it used to.  I think this is for a few reasons:

* I am learning how to more efficiently use the game, especially when to use the check offs, exactly what to roll on, etc.
* I am learning when to NOT to try to win something by gaining debt.
* I have learned how to stake debt more efficiently.

Capes, more than almost any other RPG I have played, has a skilled play component.  The more you play, the better you get at it.

What Oreso said, though.  The reason a heavily endebted character stays around is that people want to play them.  Also, any time a character piled high with debt shows up in a scene, the other players should be seriously thinking about whether this is a scene in which they should lose by JUST enough to get their hands on all those potential story tokens sitting on that character.

[Neil the Wimp]

Thanks for the replies.  I understand it now.

What Oreso said, though.  The reason a heavily endebted character stays around is that people want to play them.  Also, any time a character piled high with debt shows up in a scene, the other players should be seriously thinking about whether this is a scene in which they should lose by JUST enough to get their hands on all those potential story tokens sitting on that character.

So, I bring out a heavily endebted character and stake that debt on a conflict.  I'll win that conflict because others are greedy for the story tokens and I'll get a bunch of Inspirations in return.  Cunning.  

Thanks,

Neil.

[Hans]

So, I bring out a heavily endebted character and stake that debt on a conflict.  I'll win that conflict because others are greedy for the story tokens and I'll get a bunch of Inspirations in return.  Cunning.  

You MAY succeed.  I don't want to give the impression its easy.  A few things to remember...

* You can't stake Debt from more than one Drive on a conflict.
* You can't stake more Debt than the Drive strength.
* You have to hope that people will be more greedy for story tokens than eager to win the Goal/Event itself.
* You have to hope that people will be more greedy for story tokens than eager to keep you from getting said Inspirations.

In this process, its nice to have an additional non-powered character handy to help out.  And fair warning, people will fight over the darndest things sometimes.

Overall, its much better to manage the debt on a character in the first place, then to get heavily endebted.

If a character gets REALLY into debt (especially on 1 strength drives, which are nearly impossible to clear out), as in never in a million years will that character ever get out of it, one thing you might try is play something like "EVENT: Character X is transformed completely" (as in "Event: Warren Worthington is transformed by Apocalypse").  People will fight over this big time, most likely, as everyone will want a chance to rewrite the character in a dramatic way.  But regardless, after that scene is over, you make up a new character sheet that is "Transformed Character X" and start over again (Angel gets thrown into the dustbin, and Archangel gets created).

[TonyLB]

In this process, its nice to have an additional non-powered character handy to help out.

... and/or Inspirations.  Inspirations + Debt also = Great Power.

Often, when I have a jailed/dead/otherwise-inconvenienced villain with a load of debt, I'll start playing some minor villains who (it will later turn out) are the minions of the big villain, enacting his plan of escape and revenge.  I save up some Inspirations from that, and then when I pull the major villain back out, I have a pre-existing cast of support characters, as well as inspirations that naturally fold into his plan ("Ah!  THAT is why they were stealing the Necropolis Diaries ... it all makes sense now!")