I learned Capes lite (never played capes "hevi") at Terpcon, and got the handout. I'd like to try a couple of scenes with my friends this week, but there are a few things I seem to recall that are not adequately explained in the handout I got.

First, I like the handout in general. I like the schpiels, and their numbered format with the explanatory text. But there seem to be some things I think you missed.

First, in the "things you'll need" section, you don't mention little colored bits (in the games I played trivial pursuit wedges were used). These were used for claiming goals for a given character. I can't see how you'd play without something like this.

On the very first round (er "page")(shpiels 6-8b), you have the brick (the "brick" = the person who reads and groks the rules of a new game and explicates them to everyone else)... ahem... you have the brick explain to players that they can do one of two things for their action, make a new goal, which is fresh and unclaimed (1,1 on the dice, no claims) OR you can change a die face, by using an ability to roll a die.

But no-one has claimed any goals yet, so what's the point of my rolling any dice? (and for that matter, what's the point of anyone's reaction rolls?) All of the sides are unclaimed, so when we finally get to our first claiming round (in this example game, at the beginning of the second "page") someone else could claim that nice 6 I rolled, or whichever side already has a decent roll. Sure, I rolled it, but there's nothing on that side to claim it as mine in any way. Or was one color die supposed to mean "generally good guys" and the other one "generally bad guys"? Not every goal has such clear "sides"...

It seems to me that you should have everyone create a goal if they wish, and then go around and give everyone the chance to claim a side, and THEN have people do the goal/roll thing. Or say that when you choose to roll an unclaimed die, you automatically claim it (by putting a token next to it -- remember, you don't mention claim tokens in this text, but I don't see how you could play this game without them!) It sure sounds like that's what you're telling people to do when you talk about "taking control of conflicts." (but then you also say you're only allowed to put out one new claim per round/"page")

Come to think of it, I kind of had this problem in one of the games I played (after we split up, and the game designer went with the other group.) I used my debt to double a claimed side, so as to free up a third stake, and on the next claiming round, someone else took it.

And I don't see any mention of that: creating three (or more?) sides to a conflict. Is that something that's in the "hevi" rules that we were inadvertently playing with, or did you just forget to mention it in the "lite" rules? Or were we totally doing it wrong?

And do you resolve a goal if one of the sides is unclaimed? Seems like you should leave it open, but then again, maybe not. It would be an easy high number for an Inspiration... And if there are too many goals out, and you're only allowed to put one claim out per round, you might have a number of goals which are only half-claimed as it were. And if I stake debt on that, and no-one opposes me, those are story tokens that don't get handed out -- basically wasted. (bad for the fun-factor of the game, I would think.)

I saw someone's question about whether you can cross off three things in the same column, but I didn't see the answer. If you're really competitive, it could potentially make a difference, you know. If you're dealing with limited resources (all checkboxes, no super powers) you'll want two 5's available to you, (columns, with 1,2; 1,2,3,4,5; ,1,2,3,4,5 are going to be nominally better than columns with 1,2,3; ,1,2,3,4; 1,2,3,4,5) and if you have a super power, why cross off any of those -- cross off all checkbox powers -- hey, it just makes sense. I see this as a flaw in the game design iteslf, but kind of a minor one.

Since you only get story tokens if you lose against someone who has staked debt, doesn't that kind of hose you story-token-wise if none of your opponents happen to double/triple down? I mean if it's all one-on-one, and you lose. Well, you just lose...

And the "having over 5 debt" thing was explained badly to me when I played, I think. (We quit just when it would have become applicable.) Does it matter how many you have over 5? At what point do you re-roll that highest die of yours? Any time you have a high die in any conflict? Just the highest single die among all the goals that are being resolved at a given time (so you'd re-roll just before you resolve?) Or what? This is unclear.

Sigh... I really didn't mean for this to get so long (and kinda whiny? hope not...) I REALLY should be in bed... But I just thought of some MORE questions...

When I learned by playing the other night, people were allowed to keep their reaction roll if they liked it, or keep it the same as it was (higher or lower, depending on which way you were trying to change it.) So, let's say I roll a 4 for my action. One of my opponents reaction-rolls a 5... and chooses to let it stay a 4. Is that how it works? 'Cause I don't see anything about that in the handout...

At one point someone wanted to put out a goal that was "kill superheroX" And it was mentioned that "killing" goals were not allowed, just "harming" goals. Or that they were, but there were some other more complex consequences that went with them. Is this some stuff in the "hevi" rules? How should I explain this to my potential new players. No killing allowed, just harming? Because I said so?

Also, someone chose to veto a goal "because it had to do with [his character] directly" (A villain put out something like "reprogram Bob to be my eternal slave". We kind of moderated it to be "reprogram Bob to be a villain" which worked out. But what's the official word on vetoing of goals?

Okay, I think that's it for now. I'd love to try this out with people but then I realized I didn't have confidence in my understanding of the rules, and the handoud didn't adequately clear up my questions.

Thanks,
"jenasolian"

PS: nothing like a newbie trying to learn/teach your game from scratch from the written rules for uncovering missing data...

Okay, I don't really love to respond line-by-line with quotes, but I think the density of questions here calls for it. I hope people will forgive me if it comes across as argumentative. That's not the intent.

jenasolian wrote: First, in the "things you'll need" section, you don't mention little colored bits (in the games I played trivial pursuit wedges were used). These were used for claiming goals for a given character. I can't see how you'd play without something like this.

All of the sides are unclaimed, so when we finally get to our first claiming round (in this example game, at the beginning of the second "page") someone else could claim that nice 6 I rolled, or whichever side already has a decent roll. Sure, I rolled it, but there's nothing on that side to claim it as mine in any way.

Or say that when you choose to roll an unclaimed die, you automatically claim it

And I don't see any mention of that: creating three (or more?) sides to a conflict. Is that something that's in the "hevi" rules that we were inadvertently playing with, or did you just forget to mention it in the "lite" rules? Or were we totally doing it wrong?

And do you resolve a goal if one of the sides is unclaimed?

And if I stake debt on that, and no-one opposes me, those are story tokens that don't get handed out -- basically wasted. (bad for the fun-factor of the game, I would think.)

I saw someone's question about whether you can cross off three things in the same column, but I didn't see the answer.

Since you only get story tokens if you lose against someone who has staked debt, doesn't that kind of hose you story-token-wise if none of your opponents happen to double/triple down? I mean if it's all one-on-one, and you lose. Well, you just lose...

And the "having over 5 debt" thing was explained badly to me when I played, I think. (We quit just when it would have become applicable.) Does it matter how many you have over 5?

At what point do you re-roll that highest die of yours?

When I learned by playing the other night, people were allowed to keep their reaction roll if they liked it, or keep it the same as it was (higher or lower, depending on which way you were trying to change it.) So, let's say I roll a 4 for my action. One of my opponents reaction-rolls a 5... and chooses to let it stay a 4. Is that how it works? 'Cause I don't see anything about that in the handout...

At one point someone wanted to put out a goal that was "kill superheroX" And it was mentioned that "killing" goals were not allowed, just "harming" goals. Or that they were, but there were some other more complex consequences that went with them. Is this some stuff in the "hevi" rules? How should I explain this to my potential new players. No killing allowed, just harming? Because I said so?

Also, someone chose to veto a goal "because it had to do with [his character] directly" (A villain put out something like "reprogram Bob to be my eternal slave". We kind of moderated it to be "reprogram Bob to be a villain" which worked out. But what's the official word on vetoing of goals?

PS: nothing like a newbie trying to learn/teach your game from scratch from the written rules for uncovering missing data...

Great questions and answers, but this...

TonyLB wrote: If you have already used stakes to split dice then you may take the dice on your story tokens to form a new side at any time.

Ack... debt tokens, not story tokens. Of course. Duh. Good catch.

When you've Staked on something, and already split, you can take those debt tokens and their associated dice away to make a third side at a later time. It's not a "split now or forever hold your peace" thing.