Scene Distinctions: Redux - A House-Rule Option

[Cam]

Interestingly, it was Dave and Phil, two of my assistant developers, who brought the whole scene distinction issue to me because THEY had problems with scene distinctions not getting used. It's not been much of an issue for me. I think we're going to include it into Civil War as an option in a sidebar, rather than make it official errata.

Cheers,
Cam

[Doc_Nova]

I need to chime in with Supplanter's angle here: the combination of scene distinction + personal distinction used at opposite ends of the die spectrum on each roll actually dilutes their value while similarly diluting the value of plot points (which, previously, had to be taken by sacrificing a higher die for a lower die).

Personally, I would rather see, as has been mentioned, scene distinctions turned into something more like a narratively appropriate asset/complication. Darkness, as that has been thrown out as an example, is a complication for Joe Thug; he can't see, has no uber-sense, and stubs his toe on the table. Spider-Devil, however, has Radar-Spider Super Sense and makes a solid claim to be able to navigate (it tingles when my toe gets near that table!) in the dark room. Heck, he might even be able to leverage that Darkness die code (whatever it might be) into a positive, adding its value due to his stealthiness.

I think this would make them more valuable in game play, would make their presence far more noticable, and would also allow for greater variance in value (they could range from d4 to d12). You could still include the opportunity to earn a PP, too, if the option to make the scene trait a complication earned you a PP.

[Supplanter]

Interestingly, it was Dave and Phil, two of my assistant developers, who brought the whole scene distinction issue to me because THEY had problems with scene distinctions not getting used.

They're just bad people, those two.




Jim

[Battlechimp]

Personally, I would rather see, as has been mentioned, scene distinctions turned into something more like a narratively appropriate asset/complication.

Not to mention there is already some precedent for doing exactly this in so far as stuff in the game can have their own trait that get rolled together with the doom pool in opposition- see the Beast example with blowing up the APC or Colossus wanting to smash through a door, those have traits of their own.

Mechanically and conceptually it's only a small hop over to the scene itself having such traits that can be used as assets or complications as appropriate.

In fact I might just try this out and call them Scene Complications, as I'm hard pressed to think of a scene where EVERYBODY always get a benefit so Scene Assets don't make much sense.

[Duck Call Lass]

With the "One scene plus one personal, one at D8 and one at D4 every roll," the trade-off goes away completely. I just AM getting a D8, a D4 AND a PP every roll, for all practical purposes. And because it's one more die to gloss, it makes scene and personal distinctions LESS vivid at painting the narrative picture rather than more, if anything.

Thanks, Jim -- this argument is quite persuasive to me.

[Supplanter]

It just seems to me that it is a perfectly legitimate choice for the player/Watcher to decide whether to use Scene Distinctions or not.

Am I mistaken on this?

Nah. You're not mistaken at all. By the RAW, Scene Distinctions are available for anyone who wants to use them. And that's cool. And you know, it's not as if there aren't plenty of other mechanical details to pay attention to already. This is just a thing you can do, that will help foster some things I enjoy seeing in gaming generally, and this game specifically.

Basically my answer to Caiomhe also goes here. I just didn't want to give the impression I was ignoring you.


Jim

[Supplanter]

I like the idea of Scene Distinctions, however they are only a narrative tool to me.

Cool. However! Remember when you posted about Rad Guy's player always doing the same Stunt? With this rule in place, he's got a reason to mix it up a little. He's rewarded for meaningfully incorporating the Scene Distinction when Stunting. And Scene Distinctions change from scene to scene! Which means that, to the extent he wants the higher die, he'll change up his Stunts too. Everyone at the table gets more variety out of Rad Guy. Rad Guy gets a D10. Everybody wins and all shall have prizes!


Jim

[chaosnet]

I think I may try to incorporate the "Stepped Up Scene Distinction" and see how that goes. It will definitely encourage my troupe to use the scene distinctions over their own frequently used Personal Distinctions.

Hopefully using a D10 won't imbalance anything.

[Duck Call Lass]

Cool. However! Remember when you posted about Rad Guy's player always doing the same Stunt? With this rule in place, he's got a reason to mix it up a little. He's rewarded for meaningfully incorporating the Scene Distinction when Stunting. And Scene Distinctions change from scene to scene! Which means that, to the extent he wants the higher die, he'll change up his Stunts too. Everyone at the table gets more variety out of Rad Guy. Rad Guy gets a D10. Everybody wins and all shall have prizes!

Another way to encourage Scene Distinction use is by making up a Milestone that gives XP when you do it.

[konate]

Giving xp for use of a SD could lead to them being used exactly once a scene. But, it could also help keep the idea of utilizing SD's in players' minds, so that they may be used more.

I like the idea of having choice, but feel some detrimental SD (looking at you darkness) are just plain ingnored, which takes away from the presentation of the scene. Some SD are better handled as complications, in my mind.